I prefer to weigh myself with clothes on so when I see that number, I can reassure myself that I’m wearing an extra forty pounds of clothing.

Longtime readers of this blog may remember previous installments detailing our winning ways at the FPC Youth Group Trivia Night Fundraisers. Tonight we entered into the arena as defending champions, and all of the other pretenders to the throne were gunning for us. As we laid out our food (pizza rolls, mini sandwiches, hot wing dip, candy, strawberries, jelly bellies and strawberry cream cheese dip) and prepared ourselves mentally, we could feel the eyes of the crowd bearing down on Table 11.

The first category, “I Spy”, gave three landmarks and the task to identify the city in which they reside. The seven correct answers (out of 10) was a rather inauspicious start, to say the least. Thankfully, we received perfect 10’s on the next two rounds — “Breakfast of Champions” (Identify the athlete on the front of the Wheaties box) and “Who Said That?” (Attribute the quote to the person who spoke it.) The Wheaties challenge was pretty easy, with my Dad coming through with a clutch performance, identifying Lou Gehrig. Who Said That was quite a bit trickier, and our 10 could have just as easily been a 6, but we made a couple good guesses. Unfortunately, due to our poor start, we were still behind the leaders, and would be for a while.

The next category focused on M&M’s and we got 9/10. Did you know that before M&M’s were available to the public, they could only be had if you were a soldier in WWII? Neither did we, that was the one we missed.

The next category was a special one where they played a snippet of a sappy love song and we had to identify both the song and the movie it was from, with one point for each, and 20 possible points. Due to Katie’s status as the sappy love song expert, we got 16/20, bringing us closer to the front of the pack. The next few categories saw Team 11 clawing our way to the top. Our surprising ability to identify photos of nuts, identify superheroes, and know some random shit about insects got us into solid position, down just one with two rounds to go.

In the ninth round, the category was “I take the fifth”, in which we were asked to answer questions that the average fifth grader should know. Unfortunately, we did not know the food pyramid (big surprise there — I thought I was a nutrition master), and two correct answers were overruled by a certain team member who shall remain nameless.

Damn.

It was looking bleak. Table 10 and Table 22 were ahead by 4 going into the final round, and Table 11 needed a miracle. Fortunately, the final category was all about Harry Potter. Jackpot! The unnamed teammate from the previous round came through and redeemed herself by sweeping this category. As we stood around waiting for the scores to be tallied, the tension in the room rose to unprecedented levels. Finally, finally, finally the scores were revealed and….

We have a tie!

Team 10 bombed this category and were completely out of the running. Team 22, however, needed 7 to close us out, but only got 6. It all comes down to the tiebreakers, and this time, we guessed right. Our final score was 95 out of 110 and we had guessed 90. Team 22 guessed 83. You see what happens when you believe in yourself!!?!?!

Oh yeah! Who are the champions?

It’s here! It’s finally here! Voltron, on DVD! I have waited so long for this moment! This is one of my absolute favorite cartoons of the 80s! Screw My Little Pony ‘n’ Friends, Rainbow Brite, The Care Bears and The Smurfs! VOLTRON RULES!

Just some birthday wishes from your two favorite people in St. Louis! We hope that you’re having a wonderful birthday and sending you lots of love and kisses!

You see, I’m not a weekday breakfast person, mostly due to the fact that I get up too late to eat a bowl of cereal, scramble some eggs, make toast, that kind of thing. And when I get to the office, I immediately get to work and don’t even think about it. I’m also not hungry in the morning. Since the girls in my office are constantly trying to lose weight, I thought I would join in and see what else I could do besides just running at the gym. So, I started drinking a Slim-Fast shake for breakfast, but not for lunch, just breakfast, to kick-start my metabolism because “breakfast is the most important meal of the day” blah, blah, blah. Does it count when it comes out of can? I was actually surprised that the shakes aren’t too bad. They are drinkable and it even tastes like chocolate, just like it says on the label. So, along with “eating” breakfast, I am actually making smarter choices on what to have for lunch instead of what looks good (good-bye fried foods) and making smaller portions for dinner. Also, less snacking (damn, and I just bought those four boxes of Girl Scout cookies from Bob’s cousin). We’ll see how this goes, I’m giving myself two weeks before I crack.