Michael & Liz are Bloggable

So tonight Liz and I are standing in the kitchen. Cole was standing at the edge of the kitchen in the living room and Liz starts saying "he's walking! he's walking", and Cole had taken 3 steps on his own before plopping down. I didn't get to see it since most of my head was in the refrigerator. I stood him back up to see it for myself, and he took a few more steps and plopped down. Liz then grabbed the camera and recorded the video below.

I have to give you a warning though, Gryffin and Daisy are especially annoying when we give all our attention to Cole, especially during these obviously large moments. No matter what we're doing with Cole, they are in our face craving attention, despite the endless attention they get at all other times of the day. With Gryffin, it's his ball. With Daisy it's her obsession with attacking Gryffin when he chases his ball. So out of context, my reaction to Gryffin and his ball may seem like an over-reaction. It's not.

Here is Cole in all his glory:


ColeWalksAlone from Michael Fulton on Vimeo.


And yes, I accidentally chucked his ball over the fence into the neighbors yard.

Only losers quote themselves, but I'm going to do it anyway. Late last year I said the following phrase.

"What's good for your stomach, is good for your wallet, and vice versa. "

 You ever notice what the cheapest item on the menu is? It's usually salads. It also tends to be the healthiest. What's healthier and cheaper, eating at a restaurant or eating at home? That's a no brainer.

My New Year's Resolutions all have to do with health and finances. This phrase has almost become our family mantra or ideal at this point. I want to keep my weight down and I want to hit our budgets every month, and the 2 concepts absolutely work hand in hand.

So to start the year, Liz proposed her own 1 month challenge to us. Can we go an entire month without eating out? I'm sure to some people that would be a breeze, and for others that would be torture. For us this is a moderate to difficult challenge.

We really like eating out though. Liz even said just now "10 days, that might be the longest we've ever gone without eating out." Honestly, the hardest part is staying away from ice cream or frozen yogurt places. No matter how strict our vegan diet is, that may be a food Liz will never be able to give up. And I can't say I put up much of a fight. But even in restaurants, with our desire to be mostly vegan, the choices are not always there. So in that sense the month has been pretty easy.

Liz is also getting creative with meals. Tonight we had "seitan", which was freakin' delicious. It tasted really good and had the feel of steak or pork.

The other benefit of this no-restaurants-month is that we have had absolutely no trouble meeting our weekly budget for food money. Food money is easily our toughest section of the budget. We always have to borrow from another section to make up for our over spending on food each month. Some months it even causes us to spend more than we make, which is a serious budget no-no. But when you don't go out to eat, food costs less, and we are certainly seeing the benefit of that in our budget.

I'm hoping this month carries over to months in the future, we don't need to eat out as much as we have in the past.

Cole got a walker for Christmas. Up until today he hasn't really shown any interest in it. But today he crawled over to the walker, stood up and took off. Our mouths dropped to the floor. His first go at it, wasn't anywhere near the definition of walking, he was practically running. He's just trying to keep up with it! I grabbed the camera and over and over again he kept running with the thing. Check out how awesome it is:




We're just wondering how long it will be until he drops the walker and keeps going!

I'm beginning to think blogging is not the best use of my internet time. There are some people who read it, which is nice and I appreciate it. But I feel like most of our family (with a few obvious exceptions) I intend to blog for don't even read it or pay attention to it. So I'm contemplating retiring the blog, but we'll see.

 I knocked last year's resolutions out of the park. They were to "Go Vegan" for 6 weeks and to run an ultra marathon. I think I ended up doing 8 or 9 weeks on a strict vegan diet and I ran 62.5 miles in the Lake Hinson Ultra. Mission accomplished.

 Here are my New Year's Resolutions for 2013:

1. Negative Split Weight. For running, when you negative split, it means every interval, whether that be mile or lap, is faster than the previous interval. Every interval is incrementally faster. I want to do that with my weight this year. Every year is the same story. At one point or another I lose a little or a lot of weight and then pat myself on the back with 78 zebra cakes. I inevitably put the weight back on. So this year I am challenging myself to not gain whatever weight I lose. Obviously I am going to make an effort to lose weight, but the real challenge will be to maintain and not gain it back. So from the first of the month to the next, I have to be within 2 pounds or less than the month before. The lowest weight also carries over, so if I weigh 180, then 181.5, I can't go up to 183. I am giving myself that 2 pound buffer just so I don't drive myself crazy near the end of the month. So I am going to try for 12 straight weigh-ins to always weigh within 2 pounds or less than my lowest weight total. Hopefully this gives me some "maintenance" training.
   
   
2. No Soda. Moderation is not in my vocabulary. When I say no soda, I don't drink soda. When I allow myself a soda, I drink it every meal, take baths in it, and brush my teeth in it. It's awful. So for the fourth time in my life, a no soda resolution. Even as I write this post, I am enjoying one of my last Coca-Colas.
   
   
3. 6 Perfect Budgets. This one involves Liz a little bit but she's more than on board. 2012 has been awful for our family budget. We've messed up somewhere every single month. November and December have been especially TERRIBLE. It's a combination of bad planning and unexpected expenses. I decided, since I am a very serious resolution maker, to make it a goal to hit our budget on the nose 6 out of the 12 months. I even thought 4 was a good goal, but Liz responded "seriously? not even half the year?". Very good point. So I refuse to lose this year, we have far too many financial goals to be so whimsical about dipping into savings when we spend more than we make. 

Health and finances! Two of my favorite topics. To me, these are some tough resolutions. Hopefully I can take them down!

I have not blogged very much this Fall, mainly because I have been extremely busy. More on that... maybe after the new year. 

I need to look up what my average movie per month rate is now after 6.5 years of Netflix membership. With Cole, our average is starting to slow down, but that's OK. I'm trying to watch more movies I'm interested in because of that. For a while I'd try and watch everything, but I'm starting to turn on my filter.

September: 

• The Sitter (2011) - 3 stars - I expected a lot out of Jonah Hill, and this was so-so. Obviously it had it's funny parts, but it could have been better. 
• Digger (2006) - 1 star - I've become a huge Paul Rudd fan, but even he couldn't save this movie. The plot, of a clam digging family on Long Island, sounded promising. But it severely disappointed. 
• Red Riding Hood (2011) - 4 stars - I think Liz liked this movie more than I did. It definitely wasn't what we expected. I was really waiting for the wolf to be dressed in grandmother's clothes, but that never happened. 
• Our Idiot Brother (2011) - 4 stars - I LOVE this movie. Paul Rudd is the youngest in the family with 3 older sisters, so naturally this movie intrigues me. At times I've also felt like the idiot brother in the family. But Paul does such a good job of acting like an oblivious simpleton. He gives a big wake up call to his sisters and works to break down their walls they've built up. I also love his blind love for his dog Willie Nelson. 
• Born to be Wild: IMAX (2011) - 4 stars - It's narrated by Morgan Freeman. If nothing else, you get to listen to him talk for 40 minutes. But it's interesting to hear about conservationists efforts to save animals.
• Rango (2011) - 2 stars - This movie DID NOT need to be 1 hour and 47 minutes. It could easily have been summed up in 30 minutes without missing a beat. It was goofy and funny, but just dragged. And the ending, like many movies, seemed like it was just drawn out of a hat from bad movie ending ideas. 
• Over Hear Dead Body (2008) - 4 stars - Once again, Paul Rudd to the rescue. This movie was a 1 or 2 star movie, but Paul Rudd's hilarity seriously saved the movie. Even his first scene on camera had Liz almost spit her drink out. He's awesome. 
• The Eagle (2011) - 4 stars - As much as it dismays me, I really like Channing Tatum. He did a great job. This plot and story, while obviously far-fetched, was really unique. I was impressed. 
• What to Expect When You're Expecting (2012) - 4 stars - This was an ultimate chick-flick, but really, what do you expect from a movie with this title? I think this was another one Liz enjoyed more than me. I think Elizabeth Banks was the best character as an owner of a baby/pregnancy store who struggled to get pregnant. And Anna Kendrick did a great job too. That's the second movie I've really enjoyed of hers (the first being End of Watch). 
• Modern Family: Season 3 - 5 stars - This and Parenthood are our favorite shows on television. 

October:

• Prometheus (2012) - 2 stars - I expected a lot out of this movie. But there was far more unanswered about this movie than things that made sense. It proposed tons of questions and mysteries, but gave absolutely no effort to answer any of it. So annoying. 
• The Vow (2012) - 5 stars - Obviously the ultimate chick-flick. You can't help but like Channing Tatum's character and sympathize with Rachel McAdams. She has amnesia, remembers nothing of having been with him, and he loves her trying to get on with his life after the accident. It was predictable as all chick-flicks are, but still enjoyable. 
• The Object of My Affection (1998) - 3 stars - Another Paul Rudd movie. I like Jennifer Aniston, but Paul Rudd carries the movie. It wasn't really spectacular though, just an average movie all around. 
• The Debt (2010) - 4 stars - Not a movie you want to play catch-up in after having missed the beginning, but that's what happened. It was a very complicated and weird plot, but certainly kept you engaged. 
• The Beaver (2011) - 2 stars - I wanted to see this movie because it was the first movie that Mel Gibson was involved with after his complete meltdown. As it turns out, this movie was apart of his complete meltdown. This movie was STRANGE and really felt like a carry-over from his crazy life into a movie. 
• The Five-Year Engagement (2012) - 3 stars - I'm a huge Jason Segel fan, but he could have been much funnier. This movie had a LOT of potential, but didn't live up to my expectations. It was mildly funny and entertaining though, hence the 3 stars. 
• Glengarry Glen Ross (1992) - 2 stars - I got this movie sent to us because I'd heard it had a pop-culture reference that I should understand. That didn't seem to be the case and we watched a terrible movie along the way. Almost nothing happened and you felt sorry for all the characters on top of it. 
• The Dilemma (2011) - 4 stars - Vince Vaughn + Kevin James = Awesome. This is the second time we've gotten this sent to us, and I enjoyed it just as much the second time. 
• Soul Surfer (2011) - 3 stars - I don't give too much sympathy for surfers that get eaten by sharks. That's why I will never run a marathon in the Serengeti wearing a referee's uniform. But it was based on a true story and it was an enjoyable come-back story. 
• John Carter (2012) - 2 stars - This movie completely collapsed at the box office and NOW I know why. This had HUGE potential. The idea and concept of an unknown world on Mars was intriguing. But they went and took a poop on the plot and ending. I gave it 2 stars because of it's premise and the sweet graphics, but that's it.