Week Five of meal planning, cooking and tracking! If I spend any more time in the kitchen, I'm gonna sprout an apron, sensible pumps and a string of pearls. But I've discovered something odd in the last couple of weeks. I've been acting like an Oompa Loompa. One word: candy.

For the last two weeks, my sweet tooth has been in overdrive. Maybe it’s a summertime fun thing, I don’t know. What I do know is, I’m not an Oompa Loompa. I can’t live on a chocolate river and eat sugar teacup flowers. Nope. No can do. If I end up at the high end, or over my calorie range lately, candy is the likely culprit. It’s perfectly fine for me to sprinkle a small amount of Heath toffee bits on top of my oatmeal in the morning. I have no problem with that. However, chugging them from a Dixie cup is not recommended. (Hypothetical situation, of course...) If I smuggle healthy, air-popped popcorn into this summer’s latest blockbuster at the movie theatre, does that mean it’s okay to inhale a vast amount of chewy sweet tarts? Methinks not.


I didn’t even notice it was wearing a witch’s hat, until I took this pic. That explains so much...


Mr. Wonka, sir, while I adore you and expect to find my own Golden Ticket any day now, I beg to differ. You are feeding more than my imagination. Kindly cease and desist.

So, to address this issue and nip it in the proverbial bud, I joined the four-week Tame Your Sweet Tooth Challenge. I’ll finish this up, right before I go to DisneyWorld. That’s a good idea, right? It’s not like I’d be tempted by sweets, there... Anyway, I’ll let you know how that goes.

In other news, I’m proud to say that I’m wearing out my elliptical. What an accomplishment! (The NordicTrack help desk dude said that was a very positive attitude for me to have. He’s not used to such Sparkiness.) The squeak turned into a chirp, then into a full-out shriek (the elliptical, not me, BIGGEEKDAD). And fear not, PICKIE98, Chubbs and Pudding are tucked away in their house of awesomeness, so we don’t have guinea pigs stuck in the gears. Nope. NordicTrack thinks my bearings have lost their lubricant. Boy, if I had a nickel every time somebody said that... They’ve ordered replacement parts and Marvin The Elliptical Wizard will be out to fix it in the next week or so.


In the meantime, I’m going to continue with strength training and amp up the hooping. I started doing interval hooping, just for kicks. We do it sometimes in class, but I hadn’t really done much of it at home. I program my interval timer and waist hoop normally for three minutes, then as fast as I can for one. Lather, rinse, repeat, until the back of my neck starts to sweat. It doesn’t feel like as much of a workout as hoopdancing outside, but good golly, it’s 100 degrees out there. The hoop and I would both melt. So, I’ll do what I can, how I can and when I can.

Spark on, brave Sparkers! I’m off to find some Fizzy Lifting Drinks.
JUST KIDDING!!
I’m really looking for Everlasting Gobstoppers...
NOT REALLY!

I am not an Oompa Loompa, I am not an Oompa Loompa.