Happy Valentine's Day: A Tall Order

The flower shop van just slid into the space in front of our store and hurriedly the deliverer hopped out, trudged across the slippery road and somewhat steep icy banks, to drop a modest yet lovely (from my nosy view here) red and white bouquet to the H&R lady across the street.

Ah, love blossoms....

This morning, before school, we madly iced cookies with pinks and reds (and the odd orange gummy tarantula - because doesn't a spider just scream "love"?) .  (Cruelly tempting me, of course, as we briskly squashed creamy homemade icing and sprinkles on to the not-so-homemade sugar cookies.)  The kids ingested wayyyy too many red-dye-filled marshmallow hearts and hot lips and so I imagine them, with a flurry, making their way through the day of class parties and made-in-China glossy valentines.

Is that all it has become?  Do flowers really say "I love you" as much as regularly taking the garbage out without having been asked, or as deeply as getting up mid-sleep to assist some puking, ill child, and letting the other parent flop back into somewhat-fitful sleep?  Does a giant, mushy card that costs over $4 really mean more than the fact that your partner comes home to you every single evening, come hell or high, whiny attitudes?  (Yes, that is from me who actually caved to Harlequin-ish expectations and purchased one of those overpriced cards yesterday when I was in buying a wedding gift.)

^{1 Corinthians 13: 4-7
4} Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵ It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶ Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

We've likely all heard this a gazillion times, encapsulated in wedding performances and procedures.  But do we REALLY get it?  Can we as sinful humans escape the self-seeking bit and hurdle that part about anger?  Can I really ignore all those wrongs without compiling a list (and ignoring, of course, all of my own wrongs)?  Am I kind and patient and always honouring my partner?

That's a tall order.

Much taller than simply yanking out the credit card to purchase some brilliant floral design.  Much more difficult than composing some sweet ditty in a valentine's card (that will likely end up in the trash within the week).

Geesh.  A tall order.  A very tall order indeed.

Happy Valentine's Day!  May you fulfill that tall order...(or atleast get closer that I seem to be getting!?)

Boring...as in Dull rather than Drilling a Hole Into Something

Here's the thing: I never, ever wanted to, and made a vow in my early 20s not to, become boring.

And I think I have.


Dictionary.com defines it as...

bore

² /bɔr, boʊr/ Show Spelled [bawr, bohr] Show IPA verb, bored, bor·ing, noun

verb (used with object)

1. to weary by dullness, tedious repetition, unwelcome attentions, etc.: The long speech bored me. 

noun

2. a dull, tiresome, or uncongenial person.

3. a cause of ennui or petty annoyance: repetitious tasks that are a bore to do. 

 Origin:
1760–70; of uncertain origin

 Synonyms 1. fatigue, tire, annoy.

Antonyms 1. amuse; thrill, enrapture.

 

Dull.  The opposite of dull is sharp and I certainly must allow for the fact that my mind is not so much in the "sharp" department anymore.  Sadly.  So my mind is dull.

 

Tiresome.  Tired, yes.  That proves a constant.  But tiresome?  Would others willingly concede to me being a tiresome person with whom to be around?

 

Uncongenial.  Hmmm...

Why am I sharing this?  To get some sort of recognition that I am still a good person?  Nah.  Because I'm too boring to have anything else about which to talk?  Probably.

 

Fatigue.  Tire.  Annoy.

Geesh, I think I feel like a nap now...

What do YOU think makes a person NON-boring????

Munchy Mondays: What's Going In?

Please join me every Monday for discussions on/about food...

"'If you want to lose weight, go to the kitchen...if you want to get fit, go to the gym,'" offered one of my friends who had heard the quote somewhere.

When this Lifestyle Challenge journey began, one of the first things I did was to study, and start to follow, the Canada's Food Guide.  http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/fn-an/food-guide-aliment/index-eng.php  Shocking was the fact that as a 19-50 year old female I am supposed to eat 6-7 grains every day.  Don't get me wrong, I love my breads and carbs (and wonder if I should've born European from whence originate all those dark, crusty loaves that are so darn delicious...), but 6-7 grains a day?  I tried...granola, seedy bread, oats, quinoa...there's only so much with which you can stuff yourself.  If you were relying on only hearty, nutty, grainy  bread as your grain, you would have to eat 6-7 slices a day!?!



And 7-8 veggies...that's 7-8 cups of veggies!  Again, I tried...fortunately I love veggies, all veggies, raw or cooked, in salad form or heaped on my plate.  And yet I couldn't get 7-8 cups a day in...

Then, when chatting with the same friend who told me of the above quote, the subject arose and she commented, "My problem with the Canada Food Guide is that it is so MUCH - I can never eat all that in one day!"  The light bulb went on...ping!  Perhaps I don't need to eat ALL that amount...just watch the ratios...don't binge on meat...eat grains but eat more veggies...don't stuff my face just to say I have eaten it when I really don't want it and can't fathom another teeny bunch of cauliflower sliding down my throat, covered in cheese or not....

Sounds like a strange "awakening" and yet it was a freeing surrender.

What DO we shove into our faces in the kitchen that takes so long to remove from our hips and butts?

Salt...sodium...or whatever you choose to name this heart-hardening "spice"...
Food in boxes or bags or anything other than their own natural packaging (i.e peel for a banana)...
A lot of things we shouldn't...

Fortunately the meals at our home haven't changed that much...although I sure spend a lot less on those blue and white boxes from work that used to constitute our "protein"!?  :)

So, making changes in the kitchen...

Munchy Monday

Please join me on Mondays for discussions on/about food.

The satire is not lost on me that as I pen about food and food issues I have splashes of salmon juice from my baked fish lunch spotting the front of my M&M Meat Shops work shirt...

Ever heard of Barbara Kingsolver?  Or her husband Steven L. Hopp or her daughter Camille Kingsolver?  Have you noticed the asian tweedish green cover of her book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life poised on some bookshelf somewhere?  (You can even take an online tour of her farm at http://www.animalvegetablemiracle.com/)

An interesting read...eye-opening...

For instance, did you know that "The average food item on a U.S. grocery shelf has traveled farther than most families go on their annual vacations" (p.4)  & that "each food item in a typical US meal has traveled an average of 1500 miles" (p.5)

Kinda scary, hey?

Here's a review...

From www.kobobooks.com

Bestselling author Barbara Kingsolver returns with her first nonfiction narrative that will open your eyes in a hundred new ways to an old truth: You are what you eat.

"As the U.S. population made an unprecedented mad dash for the Sun Belt, one carload of us paddled against the tide, heading for the Promised Land where water falls from the sky and green stuff grows all around. We were about to begin the adventure of realigning our lives with our food chain.

"Naturally, our first stop was to buy junk food and fossil fuel. . . ."

Hang on for the ride: With characteristic poetry and pluck, Barbara Kingsolver and her family sweep readers along on their journey away from the industrial-food pipeline to a rural life in which they vow to buy only food raised in their own neighborhood, grow it themselves, or learn to live without it. Their good-humored search yields surprising discoveries about turkey sex life and overly zealous zucchini plants, en route to a food culture that's better for the neighborhood and also better on the table. Part memoir, part journalistic investigation, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle makes a passionate case for putting the kitchen back at the center of family life and diversified farms at the center of the American diet.

"This is the story of a year in which we made every attempt to feed ourselves animals and vegetables whose provenance we really knew . . . and of how our family was changed by our first year of deliberately eating food produced from the same place where we worked, went to school, loved our neighbors, drank the water, and breathed the air."

Bravely Writing The Truth: Sisterhood Errors

I have survived the -23 degree assault on the few uncovered parts of my face as we trudged only a few blocks to school (parking a few blocks away and walking, cold-induced tears streaming down and freezing mid-way down our cheeks, as opposed to driving the entire way to school has to be worth something?), marched with a friend for an hour around the arena's indoor walking track, visited the police station to be told once again that my record check still wasn't complete (despite being started last August), mopped up the sugar-less coffee that I inadvertently poured all over our keyboard, desktop, and files, and JUST had a vivid realization that I am a terrible, terrible sister.

It's one thing to forget to pack a second pair of gloves into your child's backpack, or to fail to recall a library book's due date (or even where in your home that library book may be currently situated), or even, as frustrating as it is to other parties involved, to draw a blank about an appointment of some sort.

But to forget to arrange your schedule to be able to attend your sister's final wedding dress fitting...Yikes. 

Sorry, Treva.

Writing bravely means to me writing the truth.  Even when it is a horribly inconsiderate truth you wish you didn't have to share.

Munchy Monday: When Life Hands You...

Please join me every Monday for discussions on/about food...

"When life hands you lemons..."  What's the finale for that one?  Surely almost all of us have heard it?



"When life hands you lemons...MAKE LEMONAID"

But there's wayyyy more to make than just juice when given some of those lusciously tart orbs of lemony flesh...

When I started this getting fitter journey my sis forwarded me info on an eating programme she has been following: first thing in the morning involves a glass of warm water with a chunk of fresh. slightly squeezed lemon.

"Why?" I asked my mom as we headed down the citrus aisle in the Florida grocery store, seeking to buy a handful to share.  "Cleansing," she responded.

But, wait: there's more.  More than just cleansing our gut and liver expurgation (don't you just love that word?  Roll it over your tongue a few times...expurgation...and I mean expurging toxins not our liver...)  According to health-tipz.blogspot.ca here are just a few benefits of lemons

• give a healthy glow to the skin
• lower blood pressure
• fight infection
• "deactivates free radicals" and therefore prevents diseases such as cardiovascular, cancers, and strokes
• kills bacteria in seafood
• relieves asthma
• removes wrinkles [I always wonder why our society is so obsessed with ridding us of the signs of experience and memories and wisdom and maturity???]
• hydrates the lymph system

Those sour, seedy fruits sure pack a punch...

Ashley Pitman asks, "if you're already a lemon water junkie, what specific benefits have you noticed?"

I could list a dozen things I am hoping to notice...but first I am curious: where do lemons even come from?  (Perhaps that sounds a stupid question but one I have nonetheless.)

Here's what I found on http://wherefoodcomesfrom.com/article/5812/Where-Lemons-Come-From
Guess it's not exactly part of the 100 Mile Diet.  Oops.  Well, enjoy albeit...  And don't be surprised when I remark upon your radiant skin and sudden immunity to colds!?

Production Of Lemons & Limes By Country
	Country	Metric Tons	% Of World
1	India	3,098,900	22.34%
2	Mexico	1,891,400	13.63%
3	Argentina	1,113,380	8.03%
4	China	1,058,105	7.63%
5	Brazil	1,020,350	7.36%
6	United States	800,140	5.77%
7	Turkey	787,063	5.67%
8	Iran	706,800	5.10%
9	Spain	578,200	4.17%
10	Italy	522,377	3.77%
11	Egypt	318,111	2.29%
12	Peru	233,032	1.68%
13	South Africa	215,980	1.56%
14	Thailand	171,074	1.23%
15	Chile	155,000	1.12%
16	Syrian Arab Republic	142,200	1.03%
17	Lebanon	113,100	0.82%
18	Guatemala	110,600	0.80%
19	Pakistan	88,120	0.64%
20	Colombia	87,474	0.63%
World		13,871,976

Back From Florida...and Still Pumped

Back from a very different vacation than most years...

Oh, yes, the same holiday we are blessed to go on every year with my parents to a timeshare on the Gulf Coast of Florida and yet different because VOILA...EUREKA...this gal finally figured out that an attitude alteration was indeed a necessity.

I used to begrudge the fact that our children wanted to run the beach, swim for hours in somewhat frigid temperatures, and juts plain go go go...I just desired a good book, a comfie couch, and some alone time; for moi that added up to a restful time away.  It never, ever happened.  I was always disappointed.

This year involved the challenge of earning points for this blasted lifestyle change journey I have embarked upon.  And the point earned (from a walk, or some sort of recreational activity, for example) came with the bonus aspect of being an amazing amount of fun.  Pretending to be stingrays chasing each other about the pool or running (okay, jogging) through incoming foam-covered waves between quick bend-and-grabs for pretty shells about to be kidnapped by the current.

I EARNED points for drinking 6-8 glasses of water a day (sadly, previously drinking 2 in a day was a record), following the Canada Food Guide and recording what I ingested in a food journal.  Downtime before bed or reading earned me a point as did praying and spending more time with family.

I LOST points for the evening I had a couple of glasses of wine, and the afternoon ice cream sundae that just didn't feel like it was worth that point loss.  (And which, after finishing, our too-smart son eyed me up and asked, "so when are we going to go wear that off by getting another point?")

Now, don't get me wrong: as I sound all easy-schmeasy about it all, it was far from that.  I have been a woman used to over-indulging and justification. Sometimes I didn't want the 2 cups of veggies without the after-bonus of some overly-sweet and decadent dessert.  Some nights I didn't want to jog the five storeys of steps up-and-down 5 times, huffing and puffing and begging for survival (but thanks to my supportive husband I did, even on a couple of nights when he refrained from joining in - and by the end of the week we had even cut 1 minute and 20 seconds off of our time!).  Many times anything appeared better than blueberries and yoghurt and once during the travel time I wanted so desperately to get a Big Mac that I nearly caved (but the Asian salad wasssss good).

But I did it.

And I will keep doing it.

As I ran on the tread mill at the gym tonight I just kept going minute by minute...I knew I could make the 30 minute mark and I exceeded it by 3 whole minutes...

Baby steps.

Tonight I had to fight myself not to eat any, let alone all, of the four pieces of the leftover butterscotch marshmallow treats that my husband's aunt brought when she came for dinner.  I don't intend to fully deprive myself but I have to keep asking, "is it worth it?"  Did ten years of yes, yes, yes get me to where I want to be?

Baby steps.

Back from Florida and still Pumped!!!