Some people have not reported their minutes for the ab contest, and therefore, these results are not official. If you still need to report, please do so in the next 24 hours.


1. Cyndy and Abby - 47 points
2. Liz and KC - 37 points
3. Amy and Avery - 32 points
4. Pat and Emily - 31 points
5. Anne N. and Molly - 22 points
6. Anne B. and Maritha - 21 points
6. Theresa and Sheila - 21 points

I hope the scores are right. They probably are; although there may be a mistake or two. The thing is, it doesn't really matter. It's a contest with no prize, and we are all winners for doing our abs.

Also, the importance of abs is really insignificant compared to the importance of the upcoming election. I will be following my friend Lee's example and blogging Barack until he wins. I have purchased a Barack bumper sticker and have displayed a Barack sign on my property. I will also be featuring images of Barack on this website, which I will grab from Lee's website. Here's one encouraging you to continue to work on your abs:



You can look for October's ab contest at Go Mom Go. I'll be playing because otherwise I don't do any abs.

It's time to report your work for the week, intrepid ab-refiners!

You were either a Saturday or a Sunday starter, and there were four possible five-minute sessions at three-points each. I did my abs on Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday for 12 points. I also get a bonus point for doing 10 different exercises, for a total of 13 points. Hooray!

Molly, who scored 0 points last week, called this morning to report in. "What was I supposed to do this week?" she asked.

"Oh no." I said, "I'm not falling for that. First you tell me what you actually DID."

It turns out she did three sessions for 9 total points. Much better! Congratulations, Molly, on your solid effort. Your abs thank you, I'm sure.

Everyone can report in the comments. If you did 15 different exercises, your bonus is 2 points.

And now we push to the 30th with this extra challenge: Do a total of 15 minutes of abs (your choice of days) by Tuesday. If you do that, you earn five extra points for your team.

For five summers in my late teens and early twenties, I taught environmental education at a camp in Northern Minnesota. I used to handle snakes, turn over rotten logs, and compare notes on interesting mammal sightings with my colleagues. A bear on a morning run? Check. A fox on the soccer field? You bet. A bat in the church sink before mass? My gardening gloves and I totally took care of that, thank you very much.

Since then, I've become a total wimp about wildlife. I don't like bugs, I don't like birds, and I for sure don't like anything in the least bit large.

So, the other night when two raccoons were just hanging out by the oak in my front yard, climbing up and down the tree and staring at me with their beedy little eyes, there was no way I was going out to the car, which required a walk within fifteen feet of them, to get the candy I'd purchased to eat with my friend Jordan.

Jordan gave me a hard stare. "Give me the keys," she said, and then she marched out the front door, clapping her hands together and yelling to the "racoonies." One of them slunk toward the back yard, and the other one scrambled up the tree.

"You are so brave," I told her when she came back with the Hot Tamales.

Another hard stare from my pal. "Well," she said, "I just have never heard of raccoons attacking anyone."

"But they're rabid," I whispered. Jordan rolled her eyes and handed me the candy.

And then today, I looked up from my computer and saw a gigantic wild turkey standing on my fence. As I was running for the camera, I saw another wild turkey standing a few feet down.




The turkeys stayed on the fence for an hour. Good Lord!

Attention wildlife: we live in the middle of the city. Please seek entertainment elsewhere.

With 13 of 14 participants reporting, here are the current ab stats through Saturday. Sunday's points will be added to our next check-in total - this one is just for the first three sessions (MWF, or TTHS).

1. Pat and Emily - 17 points
2. Liz and KC - 16 points
3. Avery and Amy - 15 points
4. Anne B. and Maritha - 12 points
5. Cyndy and Abby - 9 points
5. Theresa and Sheila - 9 points
7. Anne N. and Molly - 6 points

Pat, Liz, and Amy got 9 out of 9 possible points. Excellent work, women! Emily scored a 2-point bonus for amazing variety - check out the comments for ideas from her.

On Saturday, we'll check again on our efforts. You're either a Saturday-starter or a Sunday-starter (your choice), and then you have to maintain an every-other-day schedule until our next check-in next weekend. The variety bonus will stand as is. Then, we'll push to the finish on the 30th and one team will be declared a winner.

Ok, so after all my tough talk, I totally forgot to do my abs on Thursday (I was a Tuesday starter); however, I did do 10 different exercises for a bonus.

I did regular crunches, plank pose, side planks right and left, bicycles, bicycles with arms, scissors, crunches with my legs to the left and right, and this horrible thing that Dan demonstrated for me where you lie down, keep you arms to the side, and raise and lower your straightened legs while trying to "walk forward" with your glutes. It was so awful, I can't even tell you.

Here's how we'll do the scoring: 3 points for each of your ab sessions done on the correct day. So I have 6 points for that - 3 for Tuesday and 3 for Saturday. Then, if you did 10-14 different exercises, you get 1 bonus point. That brings my total to 7. If you did 15 different exercises, you get 2 bonus points. For the bonus, you have to list your exercises in the comments.

Ok, so post your points below for the first three sessions! Like, if you started on Monday, just score until Friday - don't include Sunday if you've kept going. And then, if you want to switch from odds to evens, you can do that this weekend. We'll report in again next week.

I was sitting around in the bathroom reading Waiting for Birdy while Shef zoomed cars around the tub, and I laughed out loud at one of the author's descriptions of the last days of pregnancy.

"What are you laughing about?" Shef asked. "Sarah Palin?"

"How do you know about Sarah Palin?" I asked.

"I've heard of her," he said, simply.

"No, I'm not laughing about Sarah Palin," I said.

As if. I wish. Sob, sob.

All right, let's review the rules: you MUST do your abs every-other day. That's your main way to earn points. You cannot deviate from your every-other-day schedule and still hope to win. Also, you have to do your abs for five minutes. You can do more, but you won't get any more points. If you do less, you won't get your points at all. We will obviously be working on an honor system here - if you cheat, you're only cheating yourself.

There will be a bonus for including a variety of exercises. If you can do ten different moves per week, you'll get a bonus. You may get more of a bonus if you do fifteen moves. Keep track of the exercises you try for our weekend check-in post.

Ok! So, here are the partners with links to each person's blog. If you have a blog that I don't know about, please post the link in the comments and I'll add it!

Team 1: Cyndy and Abby

Team 2: Maritha and Anne B.

Team 3: Avery and Amy

Team 4: Theresa and Sheila

Team 5: Pat and Emily

Team 6: Molly and Anne N.

Team 7: Liz and KC

Just so you know, I'm planning to totally "bring it" in this competition.