Excuses, Excuses

If you really want to do it, you do it. There are no excuses. - Bruce Nauman

It is wise to direct your anger towards problems - not people; to focus your energies on answers - not excuses. - William Arthur Ward 

When it comes to getting healthy and maintaining a healthy lifestyle (in all aspects!) like many of us, I can be quite the bundle of excuses. What excuses do we tell ourselves when we start or are in the midst of our weight loss journey?

I hate to exercise. I just don't have the time.
We have to move.  Cardio keeps our hearts happy, blood pumping and GI tract moving. Get the good air in and the bad stuff out.
Take walks, find a partner or co-worker and really hold each other accountable
Find something you like to do
Sign up for a class at a gym or Zumba
Try an online challenge, run around with your kids, or pets.

I hate “diet foods”
How about just food.  Real food?
Before we put the whatever it is that is heading for our mouth in our bodies, ask, Is this good fuel for my body?
If I can't remember how carpy I felt the last time I ate an entire bag of gourmet chocolates - thinking if I eat them today they won't tempt me tomorrow - then I try to write down just how awful I felt afterwards.  And even why I felt the need to scarf them down in the first place.  Tomorrow's temptation is just another type of excuse!

It will take too long.
Every day is a step closer. How long did it take to put on the weight? Why should we expect it to come off any faster than we put it on?

I've tried and failed so many times
I fall off the wagon all the time, but every day is a new chance. I might not like the result, but taking accountability for my actions IS a success.
Ask for help.
Find a support group with a common goal, to get and stay healthy. If one group doesn’t work, find something that will.

Remember, deciding to make a change comes from us alone, but actually making that change doesn't have to be a solo effort.

What kind of excuses do you tell yourself and what ways are you going to focus your energies on solutions instead?

Going Rogue!

We are in an interesting situation with our WeightWatchers at Work program. In order to keep our program going, we need 15 “paying” members to join. I say paying because leeches maintainers like me, don't count since hitting goal and getting lifetime (staying within 2 pounds of goal) gets you a free pass. Anyway, we don’t have enough people and the people that we do have talked this last week about how hard it was to keep on plan without the support of weekly meetings.

So….

We decided to go rogue.

We are going to still get together for community support just without all the bells and whistles and program materials from Weight Watchers.

I believe in the program. I believe in the support. I believe that through checking in and the accountability of these meetings we can lose or maintain our weight. I believe in it so much, I offered to volunteer my time to lead the weekly rogue meetings. Not WeightWatchers, but weekly support.

Oh.

Em.

Gee.

What did I just do? Me, afraid of public speaking. Me, not wanting to be some BFKIA. Me, not wanting to obsess or talk about weight loss.

But then again, these are all fears that the people in the meetings I go to may not have, and they can help me. And maybe, just maybe some of the fears that they have, I might be able to help with…or at least ask the questions and others in our little rogue community might be so over them.

I guess just being aware of the fears in the first place will help me keep them in check.

Here is our little plan:

Regardless if people chose to use eTools, pointsplus or even use a free versions, like LiveStrong or SparkPeople we’ll get together each Wednesday at lunch time and talk about our overall weight loss journey.  

Overall Structure of the 30 minute meeting

• Check In/Weigh In 
• Celebrate Non-Scale-Victories (NSV) 
• Tips/Tricks/Recipes to share 
• Topic of the week
• Discussion 
• Wrap-up with a commitment based on discussion topic/Inspiring Quote/Story 

Tomorrow’s topic – Excuses! (Since, well, it is *easy* to make the excuse we won’t meet since we don’t have a meeting leader! Excuse SQAUSHED!)

Do you want to join in too virtually?  I am thinking I'll post the meeting topic bullet points Wednesdays, the same day as we meet. And some ideas shared soon there after. 

Friday's Drawers - A come back

Fresh food and a fresh start.

It's Friday! And another edition of Friday's Drawers, one that I am actually posting. *gasp*

And I can report that not only has this share been pic'd and posted, many of the items have been prepared too.  *double gasp*

What did we do?

• Veggie, chard noodle soup with homemade chicken broth, (See the broth in the background) celery, carrots, and some of the chard at the end.  
• Roasted beets tossed with olive oil in a 400 degree oven until tender (about 45min-1hour)
• Tuna sandwich with crunchy celery for dinner.
• Snacked on pears too! yum!

What will I do with the rest?

• I have some kale in our garden so I am thinking I'll do this potato kale recipe or adapt it.
• I love eggs with chard and a little salsa or ketchup, yes I know, but I like them that way.
• I think I have some carrots left, so I'll attempt a slaw with that cabbage. In the mean time, I've been digging this purple cabbage recipe from last week's share. 

Red (Did I say purple? It looks purple) Cabbage & Apples

Ingredients
1T canola oil
1 head of shredded red cabbage
1 tart apple - peeled, cored and chopped
1 T water
1 teaspoon salt
ground black pepper to taste
1 T white sugar or honey
1 T cider vinegar

Directions
1. Heat oil in a medium size saucepan. Stir in cabbage and onion; fry until wilted. Stir in apple and water, salt and pepper. Cover and simmer about 25 minutes.
2. Pour vinegar and sugar into the mixture while tasting for desired sweet and sour taste. Cook another 5 to 6 minutes.
(adapted from allrecipes.com)

Hi ya!

The fastinistas over at Another Mother Runner have been challenging and inspiring us with stories about "Why We Run."  Oh my!  There are so many runners and so many reasons and so many writers that we can go on and on about why we run. The series has been hilarious, rebellious, tear-jerking, redemptive and ALL of them are inspiring.

I am honored that SBS and Dimity asked me to contribute.  You can read it here.

If you are coming here from there, welcome!

I would LOVE to hear about why you run.  I know why I run, but feel free to comment about what makes you lace up your pumped up kicks.

And after you run, maybe you could take a look around and see some of the odd looking produce I find in my CSA box every week and give me some tips on how to make them tasty?

Thanks for stopping by!

TMI Tuesday with RLAM Divas

The lovely long-legged ladies over at the real Run Like a Mother facebook page do a TMI Tuesday question each week.  They get questions that we runner-mamas would like to know but are sure our spouses or non-runner friends would look at us in horror if we even asked. Or maybe they would run screaming from the room.  Hey maybe that is how we should recruit runners!  Anyway, the responses are hilarious, serious and helpful all at the same time.

This week question reminded me of a post I did awhile back on one of my favoritest inventions.

"TMI Tuesday, and Heather wants to know: what do you do when the heaviest day of your period and a long run or race coincide? "I had major issues today," she says, "And I only ran 7 miles." Any advice?"

Oh yeah.  Two words.

Diva. Cup.

The lil cup even comes with its own lil sack and
pin to let everyone know you are the Diva ordering l'Omelette Rouge

Previously posted here. 
________________
Warning: this may be a TMI post, but this is my blog and I like talking about my vagina and I think this topic is relevant. Warning over.  

Heeeeerrrre’s…..TOM!!!! 

Kidding…not him. (If the TMI warning didn't lose you, then talking about my vagina and then showing a picture of Tom Cruise probably did. Oops. Sorry.)

I’m talking about TOM as in Time-Ofthe-Month.

A.K.A.

Auntie Flo's stayin' over

Scarlett's Come Home to Tara
Trolling for Vampires
A Dishonorable Discharge from the Uterine Navy
Feelin' Menstru-riffic!
Massacre at the Y
T-Minus 9 Months and Holding
Game Day for the Crimson Tide
Panty Shields Up, Captain!
Arts and crafts day at panty camp
Taking Carrie to the Prom
Playing Banjo in Sgt. Zygote's Ragtime Band
Ordering l'Omelette Rouge
Rebooting the Ovarian Operating System

Don't these seem like O.P.I. period shade names? IrishBonnie, you really are quite creative!

Anyway, my BFF during my TOM is not food, but something else. Frankly, (I find it funny that this post is about women’s menstrual cycles, yet I bring Tom and Frank into the picture)…wow stick with one train of thought, Christy….

Frankly, I don’t really get cravings or food issues around those days. I just try to remember to drink enough water to avoid the migraines and eat right to avoid the um…bloat. Other than that I don’t change a thing. But….I used to have other issues.

Damn-flippin-horrible-achy-o.m.g-I-can’t-even-move-debilitating-feel-like-my-uterus-is-wrung-like-a-towel-type-CRAMPS.

Until the Diva entered my life. Ah.The Diva.

And by Diva I mean the Divacup.

THIS PRODUCT CHANGED MY LIFE!

What is the Divacup you ask? It looks like a mini-chalice (Oh, believe me, the irony is not lost on me!) made of silicone. Fold it over, pop it in, twist and the suction keeps it in place, collects everything it was intended to collect with no leakage and you never feel a thing.

It pretty much fulfills all the pre-requisites for a cheapassmama like me. 

• Environmentally friendly. Who wants to contribute to the billions of sanitary pads and tampons that are dumped each year? We've used canvas bags since I was a kid, why not get a re-usable period product?
• Keep my body chemical free! Most tampons and pads contain surfactants, adhesives and additives. Many pads contain polyethylene plastic whose production is a pollutant. And dioxin, a known carcinogen, is a by-product of the bleaching process of tampons containing rayon. Yeah, I only want um… known substances near my hoohoo. (Is that "Known" in the biblical sense? *ahem*)  
• I can run! Running with a tampon sucks. I don’t know what it is, but I it rubs all up in there and hurts *shudder* not to mention the leakage issues. (TMI…forewarned!) But the Diva cup? I ran 9 miles last week with no issues. In fact, I really do forget that I have it in. I clean it out every morning in the shower and that is about it. Good.to.go. 
• I am cheap. Der. So why in the world would I spend $150-200 bucks a year on feminine hygiene (so…hygienic with those chemicals) products, when I can spend about $25 bucks for the Divacup which lasts well over a year and then some?!

So, you survived the TMI post. And now you want to get it, right? Or maybe you already know about this little gem but didn’t know who else knew. Me! Me! Me! Or maybe this just grosses you out. Leave a comment…anonymously if you’d prefer. I’d love to hear your feedback.

If you want to get one for yourself, check out Divacup online. If you don't want to order online, I got mine at Whole Foods, in the outer aisle….in the feminine hygiene aisle.

Wordless Wednesday - Community Garden

 

Cold Summer Squash Soup - For Real this time

The other day I put up a picture of all our squash to force me to give an update with the soup I was planning on making.  It worked, I did make the soup.  I am not sure which was more exciting, using up some of those up there or using the immersion blender again. That thing is a dream!

Actually I really was trying to figure out what else to do with all this squash. Here's somethings we've done:

Stir fry with butter.

Grilled.

Steamed.

Squash with marinara, pasta  & Parmesan cheese.Yum.
Given them away. 

Even since this picture was taken, I've had to pick about 3 more. Yes, I really do think you can sit and watch them grow.

So it was quite a blessing when I saw a cold zucchini soup recipe pop up on my facebook feed through Food, Inc and Takepart.com.  This comes from Two Kitchens.

Cold Squash Soup
1 tbl or so of olive oil and some butter
1 onion chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
6 zucchini or summer squash , or a mix (I used some zephyr squash, thinking they were kinda already mixed ) 

4 cups broth
sour cream for garnish

Immersion blender.

In a large pot over medium heat, cook the onions and garlic in the olive oil and/or butter until they're brown.
Add zucchini and summer squash, toss with the onions. Add the broth and bring to a boil. Once boiling, cover, lower heat to a simmer, and cook 10 minutes, until zucchini are tender.

Let cool to lukewarm and blend. Serve lukewarm or cold. Garnish with sour cream.

_____

Zucchini, yellow squash, zephyr squash

Browning the onions

Adding the squash

Broth & the immersion blender

With yogurt - I didn't have sour cream.
In hindsight, I wish I did have sour cream....

 __________

Ok, a couple things.  I didn't really care for this soup as I made it.  I didn't like it cold and I don't think the zephyr squash was the best idea. Nor the yogurt.  I wish I hadn't used that.  BUT I did change it up and as leftovers I had the soup hot, and added Parmesan cheese and it was pretty good.  I tried cheddar and didn't think that worked too well, but the parm...ok. I did not try it with sour cream, maybe that was my downfall. 

Abundance of squash

Between our garden and our farmshare, I think some cold squash soup is in order. 
I've never done it before, so this is my post to make sure that I do....
Stayed tuned!

Friday's drawers - Peaches!

Eggplant, lettuce, shallots, green beans, dandelion greens, tomotoes,
peaches !!! squash

I had one of these peaches and all I could think of was Xena.

As for the rest:

• Tomatoes & basil along with the Lemon Boys from our garden
• Izzy likes the green beans raw
• I'm thinking some egg plant parm with pasta
• And maybe butter beans and shallots 

Edible...Everything?!

This week Izzy had a surprise get well gift from Gigi (Gramma-Great = GG = Gigi) and Granddaddy: an Edible Arrangements princess fruit arangement.  The fruit was a fine complement to the "pink stuff" to crush those pneumonia bugs.  And unlike the pink stuff, the basket was certainly enjoyed by the entire Z family.

Like in a day.

Contemplating strawberries, honeydew or the crown...

fresa it is. 

"I love you. We love you. You give us the heart." - Simon

In the Z household we love fruit sure, but there was more to this basket than just sticks of cantaloupe, grapes, strawberries, honeydew, and butterfly & heart shaped pineapple.  There was one more treat.   

See the decorative green stuff hiding the foam brick and bucket between the fruit sticks?  Yup. Kale. Totally edible.  And around here there is no way we are going to let that kale go to waste! 

You got it!  Yummy kale chips!

Quick Refresher:
Preheat oven to 350.
Rip the kale into chip sized pieces taking the leaves off the tough stems.
Coat with some olive oil & sea salt. A tsp or 2 goes a LONG way.  You can even give em a good rub down.
And bake for about 10 minutes. Watch them! So they don't burn, I mean.  Don't just watch them.

Or if you are like me and don't feel like taking all the pans out of the oven in a hurry to scarf these puppies down, you could just use the toaster over.  Two small batches and done.

David smelled them a mile away....Ok, not really.

But this is where he ended up after coming back from his mile+ walk this evening. So I guess you could say he smelled them after a mile away. That would be true. Literally.

I don't know if the edible arrangement folks know that you really can enjoy ALL of their arrangement...even the decorative filler. What kind of cleaner eating mama would I be letting good kale go to compost? 

Friday's Drawers - Beet that honey

Baby bok choy, peppers, tomatoes, chard,
onions (these were awesome!) squash, beets, eggplant, garlic

This was our share from Aug 5th.  I am so far behind on posts!  

The star in this bunch were the beets.  The bok choy was good too, I sauteed that with ginger, orange juice and soy sauce.  But it was the beets with my friend Alison's recipe that was the best. 

I roasted them at 350 for about 1/2 hour. I used the toaster oven and that worked well. 

Once they are cool, they are wicked easy to peel.  Cut them into 1" chunks and put them in a container with 2 parts balsamic to one part honey. Let them steep overnight. I ate them as is, they were so good.  But Alison makes it with goat cheese, walnuts, avocado, arugula, and dried cranberries.  She uses the honey balsamic juice left over from the soaked beets as the dressing. 

I also made them with white balsamic and they were fantastic!

Thanks Alison for sharing! 

Friday's Drawers

Da share. Yum.

Friday's Drawers - A plan

This week's CSA had some kale, red leaf lettuce, corn, zephyr squash, blueberries, tomatoes and cucumbers. Seems pretty normal!   Ok, zephyr squash - I hear of squash, but zephyr?  It sounds like a Dr. Seuss character. Nope. It was however, the name of the NBA team Washington Wizards in 1962 when they were in Chicago - the Chicago Zephyrs. Otherwise, zephyr seems to show up in video games and comic books a lot. And squash. Huh.

Back to the share.

What did I (or do I plan on doing) with this share?

The corn was grilled (Yum!) along with the squash from our garden. The tomatoes & lettuce have been in pesto chicken sandwiches, burgers, and salad.

The kale is going into my red lentil soup. We go through so many red lentils, I finally broke down and get them in bulk here. Set to arrive on my doorstep today - Thank you Amazon Prime!  It might seem too hot for soup, but 1. this is so dern good.  and 2. It freezes really, really well.

And then there are the blueberries.  I had every intention of making pancakes....but I keep on just snacking on them.  Plus it was too hot this weekend. Blah. I do have to do something with them right quick.  Or freeze them pronto.  (Note to self: look up how to freeze berries.)

As for the plan, yes there is a plan for the food, but I am starting to ponder a plan for this blog.  It is about a year and a half old, which is pretty cool since I don't think many blogs make it past a year.  But I'm feeling the need for a fresh mix. I have some ideas peculating around for a series of posts; book reviews, new recipes, product reviews, even some transparency/accountability (gasp!) ideas, but if you have some topics you would love to discuss, or hear me rant about in my own corny way, I'm all ears! (Get it....corny....ears....)

Eat well, be well!
Christy Z.

Garden score - today's picks

This makes me so happy. I actually grew something othr than my offspring.

A Little Vacay, A Little Run and A Little Surgery

We arrived in OC (Ocean City, NJ) late Wednesday night after Simon got his cast off (yay!) around lunch time and we headed out here with an unintentional bathroom stop at "Gigi's Friendly's" the same friendly's we stop at every year. Unintentional, because we decided to try to get there as quick as possible and make the trip without a sit down dinner, but when a 4yo bladder calls, the whole mini-van listens. The first available stop....Gigi's Friendly's!

Simon's cast is off!

The beloved road trip to OC!

I still had my appetite and enjoyed my meal as well as some of David's spicy fries. (Cue the dramatic music.)

We got to OC and I started to feel a little backed up. But nothing major, yet. I hadn't run in a few days and felt like I could use it. But a run just wasn't happening - so it goes. I could always run some time...we were going to be here for almost 2 weeks. There was too much going on, David was headed for MD for the day, we had to plan David's birthday celebration and Izzy was in full on Mama-mode. And I wasn't really feeling up for a run. We tackled other things like Congo falls! (A Simon fear from last year.) The beach! The Under-Toad! An Izzy shower! (An Izzy fear.) Woot!

Besides I figured I was just backed up from being a bit dehydrated, a couple long beach days, not moving around as much even though we were walking and I wasn't eating the same chobani & granola every morning.

By day 3 of pain, and several more days of other tummy trouble, with Izzy on her like-a-bike and me in my running shoes we ran/shuffled/biked 7 blocks to CVS for some over the counter relief. Tonight was the Red Sox vs. Phillies game and I was GOING! It kinda worked. Sort of. By the afternoon the pain wasn't as intense, but mind you I only ate a chobani all day because I wasn't hungry and I wanted to save room for CHEESESTEAK!! (You can't go to philly without a cheesesteak!) So we went to the ball game, had great seats (Thanks Rob!) and a great time (Thanks David!) and great food - cheesesteak and crabfries. Besides that food was SURE to get things moving right, right, right????

Red Sox lost.  But still a fun game. And man....those seats!

Tasty, yes.  But this is what got me up at 3am in terrible pain. 

Tasted even better with the wrapper off!

By 3 am I couldn't take it anymore. I felt like I was so backed up and there was no place for the food to go. I tried going to the bathroom again. No luck. I just wanted this shit out of me dang it!

I got on my running gear. Izzy woke up, I got her back to bed. I wrote a quick note on a paper plate to David and 3:30 in the morning I finally went for my run. 

 

I ran to 12th street from 22nd. About 2 miles total. Just enough to see the stars, feel the ocean breeze, hear the waves and talk to God. There was a LOT said.

"This pain is so great. And not just this...."
"But you know what to do. Just keep moving forward."
"You've done a lot of things. You can handle this and the next and the next."

But then I heard the most important thing.

"You are loved because of who you are. You may or may not be liked because of what you do or say, but that is not the point. The point is to love and be loved. So just be."

And then I got to the end of my run.

I didn't see a single soul.

How often does that happen? I have never, ever been on a run where I never saw a single car, person, bike, walker, runner, police officer (good on that since there is a curfew I found out after the fact!).

Walking back to the house at around 4 am with this realization, the same voice said:

"Did you feel alone?"
"No. Not once."

"Because you aren't." 

----------------

I got home and wrote down the line I heard about love on the back of the paper plate I wrote to David that said: "I am going for a run. I love you."

I slept about 1/2 hour then was up again in pain. Took another ducalax and nothing. After nothing happened again, and I was still clearly in pain, David took me to the ER. We were checked in by 7am.  They hooked me up to an IV gave me a shot of something for the pain, but it helped a little.  They gave me something stronger a bit later then in for an ultrasound.  David kept my mind off by talking about the last time we were in the ultrasound room.

Soon after they wheeled me back in the bed (that is one of the most helpless feelings ever) to the ER, the surgery consult came back and said I needed to have my gall bladder removed.  It was acutely inflamed and he didn't think I would be able to make it back to Boston for elective surgery.  He was kind and helpful and reassuring.  He assured me that he has many people that come in from out of town and he knows this is hard but he sees I am in pain and can get me in the OR for surgery by 2. 

He said he would do laparoscopic cholecystectomy - the gentler way of removing the gall bladder and only perform open surgery if he needed to.  What does this mean?  It means they made four incisions and blew me up like a balloon and removed my gall bladder using a video camera. The pain was worse than anything I have ever felt (I delivered both children naturally, and ran a marathon and this was way worse. I would NEVER wish this on anyone!)....but the pain was met with smiles as David and I recounted every happy moment, every happy word we could think of. Simon....Isabella....waterslides.....as I drifted in and out of consciousness. 

He never left my side.
He never left my side.

After surgery, I woke up in recovery with David there, gall bladder gone and a different pain, like I was punched in the gut, back and shoulder repeatedly, but lots of dilaudid (trippy!), percoset and sleep helped. 

And a little goofiness from David....

I love the Airlife!  I love to boogie!
David was making bong jokes coaching me to reach 1000!
Dang was that hard to hit!  

Two days in the hospital and some recovery at my grandparents' house - extending our vacation - and staying a bit longer in the most healing place on earth. Besides, everything at Gigi & Granddaddy's house is pretty much already accessible! We stayed for a follow-up appointment with the surgeon and then back home for kid's camp, some normalcy.  Recovery is typically 7-10 days, but no sit-ups, heavy lifting or things that involve stomach muscles for 6-8 weeks. I am not sure what this means for running.  

Ironically there are no dietary restrictions.  But I will still try my darn-dest to stick to the outer aisles anyway. :)

Flowers from Brian & Jeanie.

The most wonderful welcome home sign ever.  Yes.

It is good to be home.  I will never forget that run.  I will never forget this vacation.  And I will never forget the love and support that I felt for and from my family.  I love you.

_____________

I found out that this is hereditary (both of my grandmothers had their gall bladders removed) and typically happens in women.  And sometimes in women that have lost a lot of weight.  I am curious, have you had your gall bladder removed either with elective or emergency surgery?  

Making Sense(ing) of it all.

I am an ISFJ.

If you know what that means, then you already know by putting myself into one of  the16 MBTI boxes, I like the orderly consistent behaviors that the MBTI indicators type. Sort of a self-fulfilling prophecy.

One of the big battles I have is with the "S" in me. People are typically an "S-Sensing" or an "N-Intuition"(or maybe somewhere in the middle. See I AM trying!) To determine if you are an "S" or an "N" one question that helps is "Do you prefer to focus on the basic information you take in or do you prefer to interpret and add meaning?" Or if you are like someone I know once said, "Do you like poetry or not?"

I don't.  

I wish, wish, wish I did.  I try to.  But I just don't get it.  It isn't literal enough.  What if what I interpret is "wrong"?  My friends would argue that that isn't the point; that you are meant to take what you can out of poetry.  I say, tell that to my English Teacher that still had to grade our papers. 

In any case, I decided to try to "get" poetry and Isabella & I have been reading some of the poetry books that  her Gigi has given her over the years.  I figure maybe a now 4-year old (HAPPY BIRTHDAY IZZY!!!) can help me interpret poems from her eyes. Heck, it seemed to help her process Simon's broken arm when the night it happened she recited Humpty-Dumpty and Ring-around-the-Rosie!

And in a different way to help me understand poems, I started to read the Psalms.  I always steered clear of them.  They seemed so antiquated, overly happy with their harps and trumpets and singing; or morbid with their enemies and dust to dust; and sometimes both! The Pslams just seem so OUT there.  Like "look at me! the Lord is SO MAJESTIC!" I didn't get them. I think one profile of mine described me as having a "distrust of the fanciful" and Psalms just seemed too fancy.  I mean, even the world Psalm with the silent "P" thing is too fancy.  Words should be written as they sound.  ISFJs do SO well in Spanish!

But,at the same time, I don't think it is right just to dismiss something entirely because I don't get it.  So I have been trying to at least read the Psalms.  I may not understand or interpret them, but I will try.  

This week, I came across this Psalm and decided to give it a whirl.  I read it.  And then let it sit. 

Here it is:

Psalm 8
O Lord, our Sovereign,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!

You have set your glory above the heavens.
Out of the mouths of babes and infants
you have founded a bulwark because of your foes,
to silence the enemy and the avenger.

When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars that you have established;
what are human beings that you are mindful of them,
mortals that you care for them?

Yet you have made them a little lower than God,
and crowned them with glory and honour.
You have given them dominion over the works of your hands;
you have put all things under their feet,
all sheep and oxen,
and also the beasts of the field,
the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea,
whatever passes along the paths of the seas.

O Lord, our Sovereign,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!

And then something came out of it.  I recalled it when I saw a youtube post on facebook, and then when I started writing more and more meaning came out of it.  Here is the youtube post:



I don't know about you, but when I see this, when I listen to this little girl talk about potatos, when I listen to Isabella process her brother's broken bones, I am moved to try to put understanding around poetry, around the Psalms around my life, around my choices.  Even if those choices are as simple as reading a poem over a Disney book or picking an organic sweet potato over a seemingly similar looking non-organic one.

Maybe this will help me get out of my ISFJ box and put me somewhere in the middle.

Do you know your type?  Do you care?  What about poetry....do you read it, write it, love it, hate it, strive to understand it? What about this Psalm?  What does it say to you? Inquiring ISFJs want to know!

Friday's Drawers: Baby, baby bok choy

Kale, romaine lettuce, potatoes, vidalias, mushrooms,
blue berries, broccoli, baby bok choy

My dad & step-mom came out to the east coast all the way from Arizona because the couldn't wait to try some of these veggies from our farm share and our garden!  It had nothing to do with Isabella's 4th birthday, visiting Simon or meeting their newest granddaughter, my niece baby Dune.  Nooooo.....it was all about the baby bok choy.   

Regardless of the baby they were really coming to see, it was a good visit and I did get to make a quick easy, point friendly meal for their visit. 

Orange-Ginger Baby Bok Choy

Ingredients:

1T EVOO

1 carrot, cut into matchsticks

2 T fresh grated ginger

1 lb baby bok choy, cut into 1/2 inch slices 

1/4 c. orange juice

1 T brown sugar

1 T soy sauce

1/2 c peas

1/2 c sliced mushrooms 

1t cornstarch mixed with 1T water

Directions:

In a large skillet, heat EVOO add the white parts of the baby bok choy, carrots, ginger and cook until tender about 3 minutes.  

Add the mushrooms, baby bok choy, orange juice, brown sugar, soy sauce and cover and cook until the baby bok choy begins to wilt, about 3 minutes.  

Uncover, stirring frequently, add the peas, and corn starch mixure and cook for another minute or so.  

Serve over rice.  

We also made a really good Cesar salad with the Romaine lettuce, fried rice with the vidalia onions for the kids, and strawberries & blueberries for dessert.  A good use of the share for one meal!

What is your favorite baby bok choy recipe? What do you like to cook up when you have special visitors in town.  

Bike to work day 2.0

Back in May when bike to work week actually I happened, I had every intention of trying to bike to work, but somehow I kept finding an excuse. I don't know the route; the roads could be too busy; running is one thing, but I haven't biked more than 3 miles in 10 years, would I have the stamina?; I don't have a commuter bike (hey, at least I *have* a bike - albeit a mountain bike circa 1991); but the kids LIKE picking me up from the train station; it's too hot, it's too cold, it's raining.  (Actually the month of May did have a lot of rain.) But really, these were all just excuses that I used to keep myself going to/from work with the car-train-walk combo.

I had every intention even of trying out the commute this last weekend as a test run.  But 9 miles out and 9 miles back didn't seem like a good plan (me and a 3 yo were just having too much fun playing outside was told as I started to get ready to go...."Mama you must stay here forever and ever!")  So with Saturday's test-ride out, I thought for sure I wouldn't be bike-commuting  this week.  But on Tues when my train/carpool buddy took a different train, I finally got up the courage to try my bike commute.  I was going to have to try it sometime anyway and a Tuesday is a good a day as any.

So with my maps.google.com directions carefully written on the back of an envelope tucked in my shorts, bike helmet on, change of clothes in the bag, water, gps watch (Yeah, I know - why would I need directions written down....I still haven't mastered that feature on the garmin yet.), tires pumped, kisses all around and a quick prayer to get me there safely, I hopped on and made my way to work.

The first thing I learned - biking uphill is NOT the same as running uphill.  Dang!  I was nonplussed to see that my "average pace" on my garmin going up a hill was about a minute to 2 minutes slower than when I run that same hill.  Once I got over that - the hill and my puzzling thoughts, I kept on riding right up to one of the hairier intersections.

But that led me to something else I learned on my bike.  It is not a race.  My workouts and runs are often measured, with time, distance, pace goals. Biking to work was about getting from point A to point B safely, saving a few bucks, getting some fresh air, enjoying the ride and *hopefully* getting there before my train normally would.  And  burn a few calories so I can eat more. 

(I wished I biked on Wed & Friday this week too, when my train was way delayed both days!)

Lastly, I was pretty darn scared about commuting than I expected to be. Safety was part of it, but mostly because I just feel so vulnerable out there on the road with all these big metal objects around me.  Especially ones with people in them. On their smart phones.

But I think then I thought about a one of Molly's posts I just re-read recently about being scared: “It must be something like walking out on the rope at Xel-Ha—it’s scary till you start, then you’re so busy concentrating on what comes next, the next step, you forget to be scared.”

I am happy that I biked to work. It did feel like an accomplishment, (not to mention a decent workout) but really, I am prouder of the fact that I did something I was scared to do.  I am still a bit scared, especially at some of the busier intersections, but with a mountain bike I can always hop the curb an bruise my butt on the sidewalk bumps so I hope to add biking to my modes of transportation options more often.  I have a feeling I will get to see a lot more things that I miss when riding the train or driving everywhere.

Do you bike anywhere?  Or do you have something that you've been putting off because it just seems a bit too scary?

Apparently, this guy here, he as no fear. But man, do I wish he would at least wear a helmet!