Weekend Quote: Guess I’m a Comet?

OK, I’m freaking out.

Like butterflies in my stomach, nervous, jittering freaking out!

Tomorrow is the Leader of the Pack CrossFit competition which I entered, oh … I don’t know … about 3 months ago.

I have a habit of doing this. I’ll sign myself up or plan something in the future as a “distant” goal and then all of a sudden it sneaks up on me. Time has a habit of just continually moving doesn’t it?

AHHHHHH!

Sorry. Told you. I’m FREAKING. OUT.

I need to enter the just-show-up-and-go-with-the-flow zone.

Deep breath.

OK.

Anyway, I came cross this quote on GoodReads.com and it kind of captures my philosophy for doing all the crazy things I’ve done these past 8 years like signing up for races, Mudders and now CrossFit competitions. It all comes down to shoving myself out of my comfort zone.

I say “kind of captures my philosophy” becuase the author loses me a bit with her metaphor. She struck me as a rambler much like myself and it made me smile.

“I have realized; it is during the times I am far outside my element that I experience myself the most. That I see and feel who I really am, the most! I think that’s what a comet is like, you see, a comet is born in the outer realms of the universe! But it’s only when it ventures too close to our sun or to other stars that it releases the blazing “tail” behind it and shoots brazen through the heavens! And meteors become sucked into our atmosphere before they burst like firecrackers and realize that they’re shooting stars! That’s why I enjoy taking myself out of my own element, my own comfort zone, and hurling myself out into the unknown. Because it’s during those scary moments, those unsure steps taken, that I am able to see that I’m like a comet hitting a new atmosphere: suddenly I illuminate magnificently and fire dusts begin to fall off of me! I discover a smile I didn’t know I had, I uncover a feeling that I didn’t know existed in me… I see myself. I’m a shooting star. A meteor shower. But I’m not going to die out. I guess I’m more like a comet then. I’m just going to keep on coming back.”
? C. JoyBell C.

See what I mean? Maybe I’m just too distracted to follow the whole meteor/comment thing but she hit the nail on the head for me with this line…

“…it is during the times I am far outside my element that I experience myself the most. That I see and feel who I really am, the most!”

I really think we build safe little bubbles, convincing ourselves we can’t do this, we’re too fat to do that, we’re too old to start now, blah, blah, blah.

I popped my bubble when I decided to wear a tank top on a hot day. It sounds so stupid simple but when I trace back the steps that got me here, right now, freaking out about a CrossFit competition tomorrow, that’s where I end up. That was the first time I “hurled myself out into the unknown” so don’t think you have to go and commit to a marathon to get started. Start where you are and do what you can, when you can regardless of how silly you think it sounds to other people. You never know where it will lead you, and let me tell you from experience, it’s fun finding out.

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Guess where I’ll be this weekend

Will I be attending a cake-eating convention? Have I signed up for a couch-azzing marathon? Those things sure do sound enticing, but…

Nothing says “weekend family time” like a trip to watch low-level wrestlers stomp the hell outta each other inside the ring. This family field trip was personally selected by yours truly, and will no doubt seal the deal on my Mother of the Year merit badge.

Thank you very much.

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Can You Guess What This Mystery Food Is On My Spoon?

Could it be some creamy, sweet tasting vanilla frosting? Mmmmm. I could eat me summa that right now. Sure does look like vanilla frosting, doesn’t it?

But noooo. What you see there on my spoon is actually the cooled-off grease puddle that was leftover in the pan after cooking pork sausage links. Had I not drained the grease AND paper-toweled the sausage before feeding it to the Greedy Faamily, this grease glob would be infesting their bodies right now. But of course we know there’s no fool proof way to escape all the grease 100%. If you’re eating fatty foods, what you see pictured here is DEFINITELY getting into your body on some level.

Here’s the thing… so many people say “eh, just chew on some grass fed and organically-raised animals instead”. Well, yes. We do that. I buy all of my meats from the Amish people. But before you start feeling all connected to mother earth and natural and holistic because you eat organically-raised animals, know this: it does NOT make you exempt from the saturated fat trap.

Large grease globs of animal fat need to be dealt with in your diet. It does not matter if you got the meat from a local, organic farmer, or from a large industry producer that makes the animals lay in their own sh!t and fester with E-coli. Saturated fat is saturated fat.

Please, my dear friends. Go on and enjoy those sausages and bacons, but you gotta cut back on the fatty foods and do it only in moderation. If you don’t feel like taking my advice, perhaps you can start a pre-payment plan on your future gastric bypass & coronary artery combo-surgeries.

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Wednesday Weigh in: Guess What I did today…

Recorded a podcast! That’s right, if the baby cooperates tomorrow I should FINALLY have a new podcast video to share.

YAY!

Other news? Not much going on today. I did workout for the first time since the half. I was NOT feeling it but I mushed through and felt fabulous afterwards.

I’m doing great on the food front too. I have 2 fun ideas to share on GreenLiteBites once I sift through the pictures. One involves acorn squash, and the other spaghetti squash. I’m LOVING the fall produce!

I did post Little Guy’s lunch from yesterday and Little Bean’s stats from his 6 month check up. I also shared (what I think) is the cutest video ever. Click here and judge for yourself. :)

In geek news, I shared my obsession with domain names and a great promo code for Register.com.

That’s about it for today. I’m off to have a little watermelon. I promised myself only fruit after dinner, no more endless bags of pretzels or grabbing handfuls of the Husband’s Doritos.

Darn Husband. ;)

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Congrats to DietGirl on 10 years of blogging! (And you’ll never guess what she’s giving away)

Ok, that’s not true, you can probably guess what she’s giving away, and it’s not a two-headed squid.

My friend Shauna Reid, author of The Amazing Adventures of Dietgirl, has been writing on her delightful blog of the same name for 10 years now. I have to give her big props for her dedication and work ethic. Ten years is like a century on the Interwebs. Thanks for all the laughter and tears, Shauna!

And as if I couldn’t love her more, she’s giving away two advance release copies of CHOCOLATE & VICODIN to kick off her 10th Birthday Sell Out celebration. Just head over to this post on her site, leave a comment and you’ll be entered to win. Keep checking in every day, too, because Shauna’s giving away a lot of great stuff and entries are open to people outside of the US.

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