Apps I’m using…myfitnesspal

Wasn’t too long ago that I stepped on the scale and that’s what it looked like, yup I paint my toe nails also!!!  I maxed out at 237 pounds, all my clothes were tight, and worst of all I had to hold my breath when I tied my shoes so I wouldn’t pass out.  I have never been a fan of fad diets, they just don’t work long-term, and I am not willing to completely give up some of my favorite foods.  The only way I saw it was I needed a lifestyle change.  I can no longer eat 3 Snicker bars and have 4 Mountain Dews in a day, I’m not 21 anymore.

I decided the best course of action was portion control; I had to start counting calories.  Being a person who always was into “stats” (i.e. softball stats, baseball stats, and fantasy football) I needed to find a program that would keep track of my calories, and make it “fun”.  I started with the “Lose it” app, which is a great app, but I have found better now.  Recently my good friend Jaime turned me on…to the app “myfitnesspal”.  The app has a website that always is syncing back and forth with your smart phone app.  If I happen to be at work and I forgot my phone at home I can log into my account on the world-wide web and log all of my food.  When I get to my car and check my phone it’s like crazy magic how what I just logged is already in my food diary.  The food database on myfitnesspal is HUGE, and if you have an Iphone with the bar code scanner you can scan your can of soup and the app will populate all the info into your diary.  Another nice feature is that you can enter a recipe and the program will calculate the calories for  you.   Along with the extensive food database there is also a great exercise database.  If you can’t find your exercise you can google it to find the calorie burn and create the exercise and add it to the database.

If you need “something” to help you on your weight loss journey I would recommend myfitnesspal as the perfect accountability partner.

Meguiars clay bar…make your car new again

If you want your car to look as shiny and feel as smooth as the day it rolled off the line then clay bar is for you.  One of the old codgers I work with, who happens to be a car NUT, told me about this product.  Just like the name implies the kit includes 2 clay bars, yup clay like your kids play with.  The kit also includes a microfiber towel, spray detailer, and a sample bottle of spray wax.  There are kits out there that come with only one jumbo size clay bar, break it into two pieces before you start.  The process is quite simple once you get your car washed.  You want to work in 2′ x 2′ areas, and you want to use plenty of detailer to keep the car lubed up so the clay bar glides over the car easily.  After applying plenty of lube work the clay in a circular motion.  Once that area is done wipe it dry with the microfiber towel.  this is a great way to remove sap, road grime, water spots, and any other minor surface blemish.  However, this does not fix scratches.  I had a bunch of scuffs where the gas cap hangs when I fill up, and this removed almost all of them.  The whole process including washing the car took me about a hour and a half.  BEWARE if you drop the clay bar on the ground it is now junk, that is why you broke the big one up into two pieces.  All it takes is one little pebble worked into the clay and you will scratch your car up like crazy.

 

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Death penalty…Brewer vs. Davis

At 11:08 pm EDT Troy Davis was pronounced dead by lethal injection.  At 7:21 EDT Lawrence Brewer was pronounced dead by lethal injection.  I have already seen a  handful of Facebook posts calling for the end to capital punishment, but not a single post referred to Mr. Brewer.   Mr. Davis, although proclaiming his innocence, was found guilty by a jury of his peers per our Constitution.  Mr Brewer also had exhausted all of his appeals per our Constitution.  So why is when a self proclaimed innocent man is executed it creates a public outrage.  If a person was truly against capital punishment shouldn’t they also want to save Mr. Brewer?

So you want a garbage disposal…but you have a septic tank

It’s funny when we moved to Georgia and mentioned a garbage disposal the builder’s rep looked at us like we were dumb.  Apparently garbage disposals are just not that big of a deal down here in the dirty dirty, and I think that attitude comes from the misconception that if you have a septic tank you can’t have a garbage disposal.  After a bit of research on the world wide web I discovered the Insikerator septic assist disposal .

Be careful it is a 3/4 horse beast that can handle most anything. Another great feature is that it injects a chemical into the septic system to help break down all of the crud in the tank.  This model was a little more expensive, but I figured every other month I am buying septic tank treatment anyways, why not pay the extra and not have to worry about it.  Installation was a breeze, however I do recommend sticking fairly close to the instructions.  Be sure to buy some extra plumbing pipe pieces so that you aren’t going back and forth to the store.