My buttal region has finally stopped itching AND my first workout mix CD arrived in yesterday's mail.

Coincidence? I'll let you decide.

The tattoo has completely healed and came out well. It is still shockingly bright which means Rudolph, The Red-Nosed Reindeer is not the only individual with a body part about which you could say, "And if you ever saw it/ You would even say it glows."

Yes, I am the proud possessor of nether regions which could be used as an emergency beacon in a time of crisis.

Talk about your multi-tasking.

I have been marching said buttal region the quarter mile down to my mailbox every afternoon in the hopes that one of my mix CD's might appear. I am pitifully excited at the prospect of getting parcels from strangers. You cannot begin to imagine how mental with excitement I was when yesterday my mailbox held a small gold box from Stephanie.

I was positively giddy when I saw that the CD inside not only comes with a track list, but is even decorated with a Big Adventure theme.

Originally, MarnCo (the ruthless multinational behind The Big Adventure) was only going to give away one Kinder egg per exercise mix CD. Tightwads. But when our publicity department saw the work that had gone into this CD, it was decided to go all out.

SANTA PACKS CONTAINING FOUR--COUNT 'EM FOUR--KINDER EGGS HAVE BEEN PURCHASED!

I know. I am as stunned by this turn of events as you are.

The spousal unit is convinced that this is mix exercise CD business is madness and now that I've been handing our address out, one day a creepy internet person will come up here and kill us in or sleep or something.

"But I'm giving them candy," I told him. "These are the sorts of people who take candy from strangers."

It's impeccable logic such as this that has made me the woman I am today.

Okay, so the CD was very pretty. BUT could it do what I needed, could it push me through my two 30 minute cardio workouts?

I give it the justly coveted Ten Sweat Bead Rating, the highest accolade possible. Normally, I burn about 310 calories per 30 minute run on the elliptical machine, and the last eight minutes or so are me praying for a truck to come crashing through the gym wall or something So I Can Be Saved From My Suffering.

Today I broke 330 calories on each run (which means I was going a lot faster) and had so much fun the time flew past.

Part of that was the sheer variety on this CD, which spanned 50 years worth of music--everything from Elvis' "Burnin' Love" all the way to Ricky Martin's "Shake Your Bon-Bon".

Oh, and it even set free my Inner Garth.

Yes, for several minutes a 51-year-old woman on an elliptical machine in a small Vermont town was head-banging to ACDC's "You Shook Me All Night Long".

Sometimes I even surprise myself.

--Marn

P.S.--If you're doing any of your Christmas shopping at Amazon this year, why not do it through Blue Sphere? Five per cent of what you spend will be donated by Amazon to Blue Sphere, and will be given to the Foster Parents Plan of Canada.

Yep, you get to make a large corporation cough up five per cent of its profits AND at no cost to yourself you get to help some poor kids out. What's not to love about that, eh?