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Monday Musings

So it’s Sunday evening and I’m attempting to recuperate from a busy Easter weekend. I love having family around and all the controlled chaos that goes with grown kids, their spouses and grand babies. My daughter in laws birthday also landed on this weekend so it was just a whole lotta cooking and food and more food.

I know this. My body just doesn’t dig the richer foods or extra it isn’t used to. I don’t mean I over eat, it’s just that nibbling on stuff never lets me be hungry. And of course, cooking, it seems I’m sampling something, a hazard of the job I guess.

I was up late Saturday night assembling like… a zillion Easter baskets. Yeah, all my kids are adults. Yeah, they all still expect Easter Bunny to deal up the goods. Last year I got all clever thinking I’d just do “couples” baskets for the married ones.

I almost had a revolt on my hands….sooooo… I didn’t do that this year 😛

But the candy… I’m always worried I won’t have enough and it will be midnight and I’ll be short on what I need and then I’ll find myself shaking old tic tacs out of my purse to fill in the gaps.

However, the opposite usually happens. I realize I have like 40lbs left after filling up everyone’s baskets ( this happens at Christmas too)

I’m so prepared. I’m turning into my mother.

20180401_174352 — What do I DO with all of this now??

So yeah, adequate sugar. Am I the only one who has thought that candy companies have us over a barrel from Halloween through Easter? I still have Christmas candy for heavens sake.

I’m rather sick of it all.

I think the first few pieces are really the best, after that it’s just, well eaten ’cause it’s around. When I hold out and don’t have candy for awhile, especially chocolate, those first little pieces are always like euphoria.

Admit it, I’m right aren’t I?

Of course Easter morning always starts with homemade yeast cinnamon rolls.. if I’m lucky I get one to chase along with my coffee while I’m doing a hundred other things. My sons will arm wrestle for the last one in the pan….

20180401_072057 — Who needs canned rolls??

Last year, I made beautiful cupcakes that were loaded with an obscene amount of cream cheese frosting in happy spring colors. Needless to say, the fam was asking if they were making an appearance again….

20180331_135502 — Yeah, when I’m not running, cycling, writing, or flipping antique furniture, I love making pretty things

20180401_131844 — An Easter tree ’cause…why not?

Anyway, overall, I’d say it was a successful Easter weekend. I made those amazing carrots again and I’ll add recipe at the end. I shared it in my spotlight on carrots post, if you missed it, find it here. https://sassyfitnesschick.com/2018/03/02/spotlight-on-carrots/

I’m just ready to get back to eggs and veggies and zero sugar. What about you?

In other news of the week….

Kinda stoked over finishing the little 1930’s waterfall vanity I picked up a month ago. I really wanna post like….80 pics… but I’ll try and limit myself here haha

20180228_161007 — Say hello to Belle. This is what she looked like when I dragged her home. I love the hardware on it as well as the decorative design that is still in amazingly good condition.

20180228_160848 — Look at the original wheat design on vanity, it’s on handles too.

20180327_220602 — Here’s Belle in her finished glory 🙂 I cleaned up handles and I always try to maintain what is “original” to piece, like the wheat design. The crisp colors compliment it so nicely

20180327_150728 — Even after cleaning the inside of drawers, they were still a bit crusty. So, some pretty paper took care of that issue. You can see dovetailed joints of drawers.

Belle was another one of those “better idea” projects someone had. As you can tell they had sanded top down but didn’t progress further than that. It also had a broken drawer with a missing piece. It didn’t stop me from dragging it home. Hubby is pretty amazing and actually cut a fit a perfect piece to rebuild drawer. He also did the dovetailing on it too. He never ceases to amaze me and what he can do. I do like to maintain as much as possible on a piece, but sometimes human “help” or just time ( at close to 90 years old it can have some issues that need a current fix to make it usable again)

I’m so happy with how it came out. This is a piece I’m selling and hope finds a happy home to love her. I can’t tell you how satisfying it is to watch something old and tired, come to life again.

I have a couple other pieces on the verge of being revealed too. Like my sad, pathetic 10.00 table. Talk about someone’s “better idea” project. Poor thing.

I’ll keep you posted 😉

So my battery also decided to start dying in my phone….

I hadn’t planned on a new phone last week but long story short, it was more practical to do that than attempt to get the battery out of my not so very old phone to have a new one put in. The upside to it? It does take some amazing photos ( as you can see with my Easter and cupcake pics and the pics of Belle)

Given I do photos for my blog, ( tell me you appreciate them!) and will be posting pics of my flipped furniture to sell, and well hey, selfies too ya know? ‘Cause I’m like “one of those people” haha

The phone is a definite bonus to also being able to communicate with people who want me. Imagine that.

I never really thought much about how much I use my phone for when I’m out on the go. I ran into Starbucks for a coffee and was like…” Ah.. no phone. No app. No pay.” I had to use my bank card/ aka cash. So many other ways I use it that I became aware of not having it for awhile. It’s weird how dependent we become on stuff like that, isn’t it?

And finally, how about some food?

I made a few new recipes this weekend I’ll share with you that were the bomb. Find them below….

I used this carrot recipe at lunch. I didn’t have maple syrup this time so I drizzled a little honey on them and it was just as tasty….

https://www.southyourmouth.com/2015/10/southern-style-green-beans-potatoes.html#_a5y_p=4748504

The fresh green bean recipe with red potatoes and crisp bacon bites was rather yummy. But the best part was the delicious chocolate cake I made for my daughter in laws birthday.

You just can’t go wrong with chocolate cake. It’s like… heaven. This recipe was so moist and the frosting was the kind you just wanted to slather all over you.

https://www.averiecooks.com/2017/05/best-triple-chocolate-layer-cake.html

Just note, I realized after I was starting the cake, it wasn’t a triple layer cake, only a 2 layer cake. It was really good though so I might overlook that 😉

We topped it off with coffee ice cream making it a perfect dessert, or so we believed.

And a last one… who doesn’t love a good roast? Who doesn’t love not having to labor forever over it? I used this recipe for Friday night dinner and it was amazing. The meat just fell apart. I thickened the broth right in crock pot and let it simmer a bit to make a gravy.

There were no left overs. And once again, I’ll stress, with the beautiful weather and longer days, I want to be outside, not having to spend tons of time on food prep. Crockpot meals are where it’s at.

ok so share… how was your week? Do you use crockpots? if so, any favorite meals? How was your Easter?

Monday Musings

So another Sunday evening and I’m attempting to unwind after a long evening and a busy week. I have coffee by my side, my warm solace, as a sit here letting out thoughts from the day and the week gone by.

I may regret all this coffee later, but for now, it’s delicious and soothing, an enjoyable way to end a rather long day.

20150215_195819

Speaking of my day. My daughter has decided she wants to start cooking a meal during the week and Sunday is the day she’s chosen.

Is that ok with me? Huh? Say what?? Food I don’t have to cook? I’m down for that. Soooo down for that.

I actually think she’s showing off her potential future wife abilities to her boyfriend who enjoys her efforts.

It’s like he’s studying and taking notes… “Can cook, check.”

Anyway, it is nice to sit down and eat and not have to do it. It actually gives me more time outside in the lovely afternoon working on my projects without stopping to make dinner.

In the process of watching all my kids ( who are adults) roam in and out of the kitchen and put dishes in the washer, I am semi-amazed to watch them barely crack the door open and work their plate or cups in without pulling out the rack and doing it you know, the easy way.

Like, “Hey, we paid full price for a dishwasher that completely opens to allow you to easily put your dishes in!”

I’m not complaining, I mean at least they are making the move to not leave them on counter.. but still I find it amusing…

Stupid things heard in the news this week….

Well, truth be known, I’ve heard a lot of stupid things in the news. I’m left wondering “did someone read that out loud before they decided to use it?”

For instance… “ The foods you choose to eat can impact your health”

Like really Susan? You mean if I choose to eat Cheetos, cheap convenience store hot dogs and wash it down with a Big Gulp Diet Coke followed by a King size candy bar for dessert it’s not the same as having a Salad loaded with colorful veggies and grilled chicken breast or having a whole grain sandwich with a side of fruit ??? And that will have an impact on not only my health but my ability to wear skinny jeans?

You don’t say.

Ah, there are so many other cheesy things. I need to keep a journal and write them down. I don’t know, maybe the world just lacks common sense and the news needs to remind us of that.

So yeah, whole colorful healthy foods are better for you than colored Cheetos AND your fingers won’t turn orange either…

In the ways of things that make me laugh….

I like to laugh. I love people who can make me laugh. We can be friends if you do that easily. If you happen to have my off beat, quirky sense of humor, that’s even better. Sometimes I find humor in the most unexpected things.

For instance, I was randomly trolling a online site looking for my next potential furniture project when I came across this photo….

knee pic — Photo bombed by a leg… no it’s not mine.

Ok, my first thought was, ” another poor victim of that awful blue paint”. But then I was thinking, why on earth is her leg just stuck in that photo? Certainly she is aware that her leg is in the photo before she posted it, right?? Like, how do you miss it?

So I read through the brief description of table for sale. At the end it says “it goes to my knee”.

This dear reader, if you’re not following yet, is her unit of measure.

That is how tall the table is.

It goes to her knee.

I happened to have taken a sip of coffee the day I saw this and almost choked on it from a very un lady like outburst of laughter that was more like a snort.

I’m giggling sitting here writing this thinking again how insane that is… I mean.. my knee to floor ratio is like… 22 inches.

So, I don’t even know how tall you are Karen. How the heck am I supposed to know the length of your leg from floor to knee to know how tall that table is and if it would work for me ? IF I did want it in that awful color….

you’re laughing, right ? 😛

New things I’m perusing….

I got this book recently. A friend was reading it and I thought it sounded interesting so I grabbed a copy.

20180321_154231 — One of my fun spring time pleasures… coffee and reading on the patio at my fav coffee hangout

I am in the first chapter. He talks about the hierarchy of order in creation. He talks about lobsters of all things. Do you know if a lobster loses a fight with another lobster he not only loses his confidence but something more extreme happens. If a dominant lobster is defeated its brain basically dissolves. Then it grows a new, subordinates brain one more appropriate to it’s now lowly position. It’s original brain just isn’t sophisticated enough to manage the transformation from king to bottom dog without dissolution and regrowth.

Isn’t that crazy?? Yeah he does have footnotes to support that although I haven’t, you know, checked his sources.

That’s all I have to offer now on it. Lobsters can grow new brains. Ha who knew?

So the guy writes in a fun way that is already making me laugh ( see above how I feel about that) while getting his point across.

I don’t know about you, but sometimes life is busy and sometimes it is chaotic and well, rules are good to help keep balance, right? So I’m slowly picking my way through this when I’m not running.. or working on one of my many furniture projects…

Speaking of….

Hubby tells me today on his way out… “Now no new projects ok?” Of course as he says it we both know…well yeah… he’s likely to find something new soon… haha

I however, smiled and told him probably not….I mean… unless something reallllyy awesome showed up 😉

Ok so, he’s a pretty cool guy and he really does encourage my shenanigans. He is my creative carpentry assistant when I encounter something that I can’t fake or learn on the fly… like.. building in the lower part of a drawer on a 1930’s vanity I scored last month.

Belle, as I named it, is almost done and will be ready for her debut soon and I’m so excited at how it’s turning out.

Not only did hubby create the bottom half he had to do some dovetailing on it ( that’s what you get with older furniture, those cool interlocking drawer pieces. Check it out…

20180324_170409 — the light board is what he did… pretty cool eh?

So now Belle has a repaired usable drawer. I’m always amazed at the stuff he knows how to do…. Nifty right?

I also got to spend some time outside enjoying our emerging spring weather working on my antique Sligh dresser I got last weekend. Poor baby, it’s gonna need a ton of work. It’s pretty low on my project list right now, but I am going to try and do little things on it mixed in with my other stuff.

20180320_194551 — All that hard bumpy stuff is old paint that needs scraped. The smooth part is it’s original finish.

And I did get a new piece this week. The sweetest night stand that matches my project dresser, a real fixer upper, Eleanor that I mentioned in previous posts. https://sassyfitnesschick.com/2018/02/26/monday-musings-5/

In the beginning, I totally wasn’t feeling the love with Eleanor and almost considered flipping her in “as is” condition. I got it for 50.00 and in serious need of lots of veneer work. I’ll say this… I’m now done with the repairs (yay) and she’s ready for her new look and I am totally in love with it now. Both are a French provincial style and both will be painted the same colors.

Just look how cute this nightstand is…..

20180321_164212

20180321_164305

And I’m pretty thrilled it doesn’t require any repair work, it’s just ready to have it’s face lift 🙂

What about that cute little door on it? I love it.

Alrighty well that’s a wrap on my musings, thoughts and various fun projects. I can hardly wait to show you some more of my transformed sad pieces in the upcoming weeks.

Tell me how your week went. Have you read anything interesting lately? Are you enjoying spring weather yet or are you still trying to escape the clutches of winter?

Small Success And Great Ambition

It was the typical usual morning. Wake up, do some stretching before stumbling out of bed and heading to kitchen for the first of my coffee fix.

Let dogs out, let dogs in, feed dogs, let dogs out.

Grab second cup of coffee and check in to social media world. Scrolling through I can see who’s been up all night if there are a zillion posts from them ( sleep people, sleep) I keep on scrolling squinting with one eye pasts the political posts and cheesy memes, blandly go through all the advertisements and for sale ads (unless some cute furniture item catches my eye) smile at the usual real life, real people photos, giggle over some posts that make my day already at the still dark thirty hour, and then, sometimes, something comes along that makes me pause and think… like this one..

great ambitions

I read it, then read it again. I kinda just let it breathe over me. There are some posts that strike me like that. They make me pause, reflect, look inside and examine it and then consider it’s impact on me.

The person posting it asked what it meant to the reader and was encouraging feedback. Although it was still early in the morning I let my mind engage and began thinking of what it meant to me, how I perceived it and what my take was on that thought.

I am not the only one I pondered, who has had great ambitions or currently has them.

Of course I believe those are largely dependent on the individual too. I mean, my ambitions might not be as big as someone else’s, but then, mine are quite a bit bigger than others.

If we get lost in the pursuit of our ambitions it might be easy to dismiss the small successes that lead us there, right? We could be so single minded and focused on the “big” thing we are pursuing we could stomp right over small successes and never give them a thought, perhaps even not seeing them as relevant.

In general, I think people can be so focused on hitting the goal, they may miss the important things learned on the journey getting there.

Those small things are what grow us, build us, and shape where we go and who we are along the way. If we are moldable, we learn and that shapes us on our way to the bigger things we pursue.

As I pondered those ideas in the early morning hour I started thinking about how learning to run one mile had led to me running more miles until ultimately, several years later I did a race that had 31.6 miles in it.

It took lots of small successes for me to step out and do a 50K. It took time building my mileage little by little.

I never took it for granted, the privilege and ability of my body to run.

Small success to me meant overcoming things like a desire to stay in bed when it was dark out and I was getting up to go for my long run. Or leaving when it was cold or wet. Overcoming myself to do bigger things kept me on the path to those bigger ambitions I had.

Similarly, I thought about last year when I made the commitment and signed up for my first duathlon. There were so many small successes that led to me ultimately not only doing it, but placing first in my age group too.

After my very first training session that was a bike ride, immediately followed by a run, I wondered what I was doing.

It felt awkward. My legs felt like spaghetti noodles the first half mile. I wondered if I was really going to be able to get this thing down.

I did it again the following week and the week after that. Not always fast, not always the most skilled, but I did it. It then turned into a run/bike/run training session.

And I got stronger, not that the training was easier, I was adapting to it.

Small baby steps all the while I was keeping my eye on the prize, that big thing my overachieving self was pursuing. An ambitious goal for a average middle aged female athlete, competing in the race listed as the toughest in the state.

If there’s anything athletics has taught me, ( well, it’s taught me a lot but….) it’s taught me to appreciate all those small things that get me to my final goal, the big thing I’m pursuing. Because it takes week after week of those small things to nail the lofty ambitious goals I tend to set for myself.

As I continued to sip from my almost empty coffee cup, I thought of so many other things in my life that if looked at in a separate way, might seem inconsequential, yet again they had a specific place in my life for getting me to that “bigger” thing.

I always want to be pursuing something ambitious, something bigger than life that scares me a little. I don’t want to get so comfortable being “comfortable” that I lose the rush of a new dream or vision or opportunity to challenge myself some more.

But I never want to become complacent and unaware of the small steps, the small victories, and sometimes not noticed successes that lead me to the top, for those things pave the road to my accomplishments.

So I’ll leave the same thought with you, that my friend left with me….

How do you personally define this? Do you relate? Do you ever think of the small things as being important to the “big” thing you pursue? Or do they seem unimportant?

Monday Musings

Hello beautiful people! It’s Sunday evening as I write this and I find it ironically funny I’m tossing down black coffee like it’s free beer night at the bar and following it down with some Peanut M&M’s while I get ready to write a post for my health and fitness blog.

I have weaknesses ok? Don’t judge me.

Anyway, life without some chocolate is just boring, can I get an amen?

I once was on a committee with a man who always brought chocolate to our meetings, usually M&M’s. He called it brain food.

I called him a smart man. I always angled to sit by him. We all worked better with that brain food 😉

It’s ok though, I’ve been grinding it out this week with my workouts so I’m thinking my treats are ok.

One of my training sessions was miles with a lot of big back to back hills thrown in. And I’ll tell you, I always know where my glute muscles are after those sessions!

20180314_110134 — Yes, I’m standing on the hill in the middle of the road. Check out the scenery I have to suffer through while doing hills.

It was one of those cooler than I anticipated when I took off kinda mornings. Perfect opportunity to rock a beanie for maybe like, the last time this season.

It’s cute. It doesn’t matter that my hair was soaking after 😛

But hills. Yeah, speed work in disguise so I try and make sure I hit them a couple times a week. I weirdly like doing hills even though it really is hard work. It’s satisfying hard work.

Of course the week in training also contained things like heavy doses of strength training and some cycling.

Spring is coming though and I’m really looking forward to getting back into heavier workouts.

and by that I mean longer miles on the bike and back to once a week brick sessions, (run/bike/run ) to start whipping those legs back into shape. I am planning to do the duathlon again this year. I think it’s good to make those sessions a part of my weekly training even if I am months away from it happening.

On the subject of spring….

Am I the only one who lurched into last week with the whole daylight savings time business? Like those first few days feel all wonky. Midafternoon I think I have hours till dinner and I realize I gotta quit what I’m doing and make plans to feed the natives. Worse is morning when it’s pitch black out and I’m stumbling around looking for coffee trying to not think it’s really only 5 a.m. and that’s why my body feels like its still in a fog. Forget the fact I’m up to my usual time the night before which may contribute to said fog. Of course then I still think it’s early morning when it’s really later, especially if it’s cloudy or foggy out… bleh.

This week has been better though… I’m doing it… go me.

In other shenanigans of the week…..

My furniture adventures… yes I know I promised a post on that and it’s coming… sometime….

Meanwhile, while you wait…

I picked up some more cool stuff I just can’t live without being stored in my work barn. Ha, I kinda joke. Some pieces are for flipping and a few are because I don’t want to part with them.

20180306_122724 — I only celebrate my win after I bag the game and am heading home. A few treasures back there…

It’s kinda hard, flipping stuff. I mean when I invest time into it and love on it, well, maybe I don’t want it to leave. But for real, I pick certain things I know I’m going to specifically give new life to and then hope someone will want to take it and love it after I finish it. Then there are pieces that make my heart sing and I want to have hang around for awhile. Look at one of the little things I had stashed back there….

20180306_180932 — I loved this little piece immediately. It’s on castors, which I think are kinda old school cool. Those drawers are cute too. The top was a mess and I wasn’t sure what would be underneath,

20180318_185734 — Look… some elbow grease and those water stains were only surface. Some pretty wood hiding under there.

So, yeah I kinda love this piece so for now, it stays with me…

I got this turn of the century Sligh desk on Saturday… gah… look at it….

20180317_135642 — Sligh desk circa early 1900s

20180317_135718 — So much pretty detail…soooo much work to do on her…

They just don’t make things like this anymore. I of course bought it off a lady who lived in the middle of nowhere and had it in her barn…lucky me. More on this project later… oh and it should be mentioned I kinda name my projects ’cause “desk” and “dresser” just sound dull and boring.

Say hello to Anastasia. It’s the perfect name for such a lovely piece with so much lovely detail and delicacy.

ok and finally for this week on my side project… I introduced you to my early 30’s china hutch weeks ago. I did not tell you her name however.

Say hello to Scarlett. I’m sure you’ll understand why I chose it for this piece….

20180317_150006 — Look how lovely she looks now.

20180318_115836 — A peek in the drawer. I love how old and vintage it looks with the wood still showing through and some stenciling to dress it up a little.

20180213_135002 — The day I brought it home. Sad, dirty and in desperate need of an updated look

So there’s a little snap shot of some of my projects. I’ve got several in the works right now that I hope will be finishing in the next week or two. A few are flips so here’s hoping they find new homes quickly 🙂

And before I leave you….

You know I’ve gotta talk a bit about food right? Have you ever realized when you are really, truly, deeply hungry it tastes amazing in a way it doesn’t when you aren’t that needy? It’s true.

That being said, I’d be remiss to not share a couple tasty things I whipped up this week. One pan meals… cause I’m all about getting a healthy meal together without being in kitchen all night….

And that’s a wrap boys and girls. Tell me how this past week went? Have anything fun or exciting ahead of you?

Monday Musings

Welcome to another edition of Monday Musings. You know what’s been on my mind this week? Wondering how much wet, sloppy, soggy, foggy, soupy grey weather you have to be in before your feet start getting webbed.

I’m seriously so over it. I took off for a run on Friday, like I just don’t care anymore. Either run, or lay on the sofa and drink coffee.

Nah not really.

I’d do strength training or some other indoor activity. Ha rowing! That is an appropriate activity for such hideous weather.

We’ve had more grey, wet weather than sun this year.

South Texas people. This isn’t Seattle but the weather gods don’t seem to know that.

But today… as I write this… we had sun.

Sweet glorious, beautiful sun. Blue skies. Warm air.

I wanted to just act like a huge lizard and lay out in it but alas, I had projects. Fortunately for me, I could do those projects outside AND enjoy the spectacular day before it’s creepy counter part returns soon.

What projects you may be pondering?

If you’ve read the past few weeks I’m having fun doing some furniture flips. You can find more on it in this post….https://sassyfitnesschick.com/2018/02/19/monday-musings-4/

I should be noted that I only seem to manage to go get said furniture on some of these sloppy, grey, foggy days.

I’m becoming a pro at it.

So my recent acquisition I scored this last week.

I had been stalking a dresser on an online site. I loved the lines of it and the cute, big mirror, not to mention the nifty vintage hardware that it had.

Oh and she wanted 100.00 for it. Of course I was fully planning on negotiating that price with her. I can bargain like a fisherwoman 😉

Anyway, I was asking her a couple questions on it one morning and she just changes the listing price to 50.00! Ok I couldn’t message fast enough I was coming to get it.

Coming to get it in the wet, cold, pouring rain.

20180225_195738 — Dragging home my newest find

So I got the piece and headed home to unload it in the rain and I realized that I wasn’t “feeling it” and by that I mean when I get a piece I usually am already formulating a plan or vision for it. I’m excited over it. I am eager to get started.

It bothered me that I had gone through all of that and wasn’t feeling in love.

It was like trying to feel something in a relationship and nothing is there.

Oh no!

I decided to wait a day or so and go back and look at it again to see if I felt differently. I thought the weather was putting me in a bad mood ( haha) I made the determination if I didn’t start “feeling it” I could just flip it in it’s existing condition ( I bought it knowing it needed repair but that doesn’t bother me) and at least double my money.

Ok well…. after a day or so going by… and looking at it again… I saw it with fresh eyes. All the things I loved about it to start with. I realized what was bugging me was the horrible re done stain and varnish job someone had done to it. I also realized that with my skills it would look totally different when I got it finished.

20180225_083107 — A 50.00 vintage find… and it does look cute and I can hardly wait to start

20180225_094157 — Then there’s the cool hardware. I loovveee the lion heads 🙂 All they need is a little cleaning

Ok and one other object I acquired this week. A friend actually gave it to me, it had been her mom’s, and her grandfather made it. It’s like a little kitchen type thing. She knows I have girl grandbabies and thought I might be able to fix it up… I’ll let you take a look at what I started working with….

20180225_143108 — I’ve lovingly named it the Green Goblin

So I do have a vision for this piece and I think it will be SO cute… but first… I have to get it to a place a can work my magic on it… so I spent the sunny afternoon outside making it look like this….

20180225_184643 — Better now, yes? That orange and green was awful to cover up

So now I have a clean slate to work on, more or less. I can hardly wait to transform it. You’ll have to check back to see what’s up with it.

Gathering up furniture is work…

One thing I’ve learned I am grateful for… being strong. I’ve been dragging things around and sometimes I don’t have much or any help so it’s nice to handle things when I can.

One thing I’ve been focusing more on are movements that are good for upper body/core strength. I’ll share a few moves I’ve been adding into yoga for that…

I’ve been focusing on moves that really target my shoulders and upper body… planks and push up’s of all kinds are also kinda handy for that 😉

I wanna make sure I keep building upper body strength for life AND fetching old furniture 😉

Doing all that work makes me hungry….

Can I share some new recipes with you I experimented with this week that everyone went crazy over? Tasty and overall pretty simple… even better.

Don’t tell anyone, but I’ve figured out if I throw something in the crock pot, I can work on my projects longer and not stop to do a lot of prep for dinner… shhhh 😉

Really though? A hot tasty meal that’s slow cooked all day? How can you go wrong?

Speaking of meals, this week we’ll look at tasty inexpensive ones that are also healthy. Of course there will be some more spotlight posts, fitness stuff and whatever other goodies may come dancing out of my head.

Tell me. What’s been new in your week? Tried any new recipes? Do you use crockpots? Pushed yourself a little more athletically or tried a new workout?

Monday Musings

Wow. Is it Monday again? Time for another edition of Monday Musings and what not in my life.

Time.

Ever notice how funny that is? It’s a commodity we all have and are all given the same amount of each day. Sometimes it seems to crawl by, like when you’re stuck in some god awful boring meeting. A few months ago I was in such a one and I felt myself settling into that “to comfortable zone” as in, if I didn’t start moving around or do some active deep breathing I was going to take an unscheduled nap. I glanced at my watch and scrolled to my heart rate.

49.

My heart was getting just as comfy and relaxed as the rest of my body haha

But then there are occasions when time seems to fly like when you’re with people you really like or are doing something fun. Time then moves all to swiftly.

Deadlines make time seem to move faster.

Being stuck behind a driver who doesn’t know where the gas pedal is makes time crawl by. 😛

I think, as we get older we are much more mindful of it than when we lived careless days as children.

Speaking of time, it makes me think of seasons. This in turn makes me hopeful that spring is in the near distant future. It’s been a whole lotta grey, misty, dreary, foggy and overall gross days here in the happy land of south Texas this winter season.

I’ve tried not to think that last February I was running in shorts a lot and by March was rocking a decent enough tan that people thought I was using a tanning booth.

That. Will never happen.

I assured a lady my golden skin was a by product of spending time outdoors on bike or foot, not a tanning bed.

All that to say the other day I actually got to hit the road in shorts and I forgot the pure freedom of running with less stuff hanging off me. It was glorious and reminded me that sun and daily sweat sessions will be here before I know it.

IMG_20180216_120520_692 — Hello sunshine! What a wonderful treat

I’m not whining. Oh no, I’d never be a whiner, but it will be nice to really start logging some miles again and not have to worry about safety issues ’cause of fog and sloppy roads.

If I complain when the humidity cranks up again and its nothing but sun and I’m sweating out the weight of a small child on a run, you may nicely remind me I asked for it.

In the context of time management

When I hit the floor in the morning my mind is already spinning for what I’m doing in the day ahead. I sometimes worry if I have ADD as I can be wanting to do ALL of my projects, errands, and necessary house requirements at the same time.

What I have started doing is writing down all the things I want to do and picking one or two in my day alongside everything else to get it done. I try and get the necessary, not usually my most fun things done, ( like cleaning) out of the way then I can work on my fun projects.

Like my furniture shenanigans.

Last week took me into the big city to this seedy little dive in pursuit of a 1930’s china cabinet I had spotted online.

20180213_182725 — Yep, that’s my big game in the back 😉

Oh, so when I’m at this little hole in the wall shop which, really, was a time warp of treasures from decades, and decades gone by ( I am planning a field trip back there) the only person working was this short little older lady wheezing and huffing telling me she should probably be in the hospital ’cause she might have pneumonia.

WHAT?!

Of course I’m thinking, “she’s the only one here who is supposed to help me get this out and loaded??” She mentions having a dolly, I ask her to get it, thanking God at times like this I’m strong and capable and I wheel it out making jokes I should get more of a discount since I’ve gotta load it too. I did get them to drop it 35.00 😉

Anyway, she was able at least to help lift the other side with me into my vehicle.

Yesterday I spent more time prepping it for it’s transformation. Sanding, cleaning, dusting, digging (leaves??) out from under the drawer, doing a little repair work ( the decorative wood in door needs replaced. Once upon a time it had glass but I’m not putting glass back in it) removing the hardware etc. it’s so close to starting the fun part.

But before we leave this topic… I also got the cutest little cupboard… I tried to leave it behind I just couldn’t. I managed to get it for half of what it was marked 😉

It looked like this…..seriously though… how CUTE is it??

20180213_134905 (1) — How sad IS it? The obvious before pic.

It didn’t take long for me to catch a vision for it. I finished it today. I am totally, completely in love with it.

What do you think about it’s make over?

20180218_154859 — The ugly duckling transformed

I will share some more adventures on this topic in upcoming weeks 😉 I have a couple pieces in the works.

In some final musings…

Have you ever wondered why foods you thought were so good when you were a kid, don’t really taste good at all when you grow up?

My youngest son had brought home a half gallon of premade chocolate milk one day. I never drink chocolate milk unless I’ve come off a long hard workout then it’s a delicious instant recovery drink. But I always make it, you know with milk and chocolate syrup… yeah I’m bad.

Anyway, I opened the fridge and there it sat… and I thought …heck yeah.. I’m just gonna have some.

The first chug it was like…. ACK! It tasted like and reminded me of, the way the school cafeteria had smelled.

Which was not good, I might add.

Weird, I know. That chug was all I got in.

Then there’s things like fish sticks. boxed macaroni and cheese, most cheap sugary cereals, and bad thin crust boxed pizza.

Ok true and well, I’ve grown up, but I think I really enjoyed that as a kid. Thank goodness my tastes have changed.

My kids are adults… they complain since I “got healthy” I don’t buy fun foods anymore. This translates to ” crappy, walk in pantry or go to freezer and grab pre made foods and snacks with zero nutritional value”.

They can go buy their own minced, diced, chopped, prebaked fish sticks and what not..

Is it just me? What about you? Have you left foods behind that aren’t seemingly as tasty as they once were?

In the way of food… this week coming up we will be looking at healthy cheap meals, and of course a few spotlights on various fruits and veggies (’cause ya’ll seem to dig those posts), fitness, and as always a little sassy, cheeky attitude to go along with it.

You’ll just need to check back in here and see what’s up 😉

Now tell me…

What are some favorite foods that hang on from childhood? Do you have any new healthy foods you’ve tried this week?

This Is Me

“I am who I’m meant to be, this is me, look out ’cause here I come and I’m marching on to the beat I drum, I’m not scared to be seen, I make no apologies, this is me…..”

So I finally got to see “The Greatest Showman” this weekend when hubby and I took off for a date night. I’d read the reviews and seen my friends posts and assessments of it, but really, you won’t get it till you go see it.

greatest showman

The movie is a musical so if that’s not your gig than you might go see Star Wars or a current documentary or something 😉

One of the songs called “This Is Me” resonated with me, and I know probably many others. I have a few songs in my arsenal on my ipod that are what I think of as my “fight songs”.

No. I don’t go beat people up.

I mean they are the songs that stir my blood, stir my passion, make me think deeper into myself, make me consider all I’m made of. These songs push me and challenge me in the depths of a hard workout or when I need to remember who I am and all I’m capable of doing.

In an interesting way this ties together quite well for my Monday Musings, a safe place for my otherwise random thoughts to come bouncing out all in one place. This is a rather new thing so if you’ve missed previous weeks, it’s short reading for you but you can find them here….. https://sassyfitnesschick.com/2018/01/22/monday-musings-2/ or here….

https://sassyfitnesschick.com/2018/01/15/monday-musings/

So today’s musings.. this might be a rant….fyi……

I recently saw (again) another article that was titled something like “ Make up tips for women in their 20’s, 30’s, and 40’s.” There are other similarly stated articles I’ve seen, just change it up to “fashion” “exercise” or whatever.

All for women in those decades.

Mind you, not that if I did read it I would do what it says #rebel but I’ve just always laughed ’cause it’s like if your out of the 40’s, older than that well, you’re just a lost cause. We’ve got nothing to offer you, sorry.

I find it vaguely amusing.

Oh. I should make a disclaimer here to all my guy readers. This post might be more “girly” than what I usually dial up… so if you wanna leave…well I understand. Do they have similar things for men? Tips, fashion ideas etc for your age group? Please tell me if they do cause I’m like…curious. I’m pretty sure guys don’t deal with all that stuff, nor do they mostly care.

Some others that amuse me most circulate through Facebook and it’s all about posting photos of yourself to proclaim your beauty and tagging other beautiful women so they can say the same thing.

Recently there’s been one ( undoubtedly started by an older woman) basically acknowledging all of the glorious beauty of being a 20 something woman, but pointing out being older means we’ve earned wrinkles, given birth, raised kids, had years of no sleep and caffeine deprivation and grey hair and all that crap… meaning like, ya know, we’ve lived life. Then you post a photo and put your age.

It’s like in a backhanded way of apologizing for not being young. Like really.

I guess because I’m not a follower and “march to the beat I drum” I have no interest in participating in a copy and paste status someone else started to justify my age, or worse yet, apologize because I’m not a younger age?

Maybe it’s because if I do a creative photo or one that seems rather striking or fun, I simply share it because it pleases me, If others like it, well that’s cool too. I do it when the mood strikes me. I enjoy being creative, clever and fun.

Maybe because of the age I am, I just feel less and less like I need to apologize for having lived life or that I’m doing life,

No, I’m not 20, 30, or 40 something. I’ve lived all those and done it fairly well. Those years were all good, would I go there again ?

Probably not.

Those years have brought me to where I am today… who have made me who I am. To have lived those years has allowed me to own myself more, to be more confident in who I am, to express myself freely ( in whatever form I choose to) to worry less about others opinions, to live freely and boldly, unapologetically.

I know I will be to strong, to outspoken or bold for some. I will be to energetic and to athletic for others. Some might think I don’t say or do the right thing. I do not follow middle aged rules and that really can trouble some. I will not and have not stayed in “the box” for getting older, and gosh some don’t like it when you don’t play by those rules. I’m far to edgy for others. I don’t have to fit in molds of other women. I can be deep and reflective as easily as I can be cheeky and sassy, those who choose to really know me, will know that.

And really, it’s all ok… “I make no apologies, this is me..”

I don’t have to be less. I don’t have to shrink away or be quiet. I don’t have to be “younger” to prove my worth or value or anything else. I don’t have to act like anyone else. I don’t have to do a copy and paste status to justify my age, having laugh lines, or being beautiful.

I don’t need news stories or society telling me if I’m over a certain age I can’t do something, wear certain clothes or act in certain ways.

If there’s one thing I’ve learned by now at my… advanced age ha… I can do whatever floats my boat.

So that’s where my random musings have been this week. Pondering why there is the ever present need society places on women to justify who we are or where we are in life, or worse yet, apologize because we aren’t younger. prettier, smaller, taller, more educated, more talented, or anything else you wanna add to this list.

If we’re fortunate and blessed we will see many decades and we will become stronger, more confident and powerful in knowing exactly who we are and what we’re about.

My only wish is to age gracefully, to love passionately, to continue to have fun and be energetic, to see the unique beauty of others around me, to embrace all of life, to not be afraid of speaking boldly, and to be unapolegetically myself, laugh lines and all.

My hope is that you too will embrace who you are, where you are right now at this point in time and live freely in it, man or woman, no apologies.

“I’m not scared to be seen, I make no apologies, this is me…..”

20171122_093540

Monday Musings

Good morning beautiful people! If you’re reading this, then it means my mission was successful on Sunday night of actually sitting down and churning something out for you while you toss down your coffee and eat a stale bagel. Welcome to my Monday musings.

I can’t contemplate the week ahead without feeling some level of success over the past week.

A good week back on with my workout schedule and getting to a more focused eating plan. I just feel better when I’m in my normal routine after all the holiday festivities.

Speaking of that…. am I the only one who ever wonders… does anyone REALLY use those little replacement bulbs for those strings of lights? I have like… 10,000 of them. I can literally guarantee you I have zero patience with the idea of going through bulb after bulb trying to find the dead culprit.

None. Nada. Zilch.

I just wanna meet someone who might actually have the skill level and the patience of multiple saints to sit and do it…

It’s not this chick.

Oh. And I finished getting all of my Christmas decorations down and put away so there’s that. I’m just bummed when it’s all taken down. It looks so empty and non-festive. If you read my Christmas post you’ll know I enjoy decorating a little…ha.. well…a lot…. https://sassyfitnesschick.com/2017/12/08/the-most-wonderful-time-of-the-year/

I did a few new things this year I loved so much. They were of course, the last things to go.

20180114_210743 — I’m still having coffee in my fun Christmas mugs though.. ’cause why not ?

However, once it’s all put away I do enjoy a fresh start and re-doing things and changing the house around. Sometimes, this confuses hubby who is a creature of comfortable habit. I’m sure though, he will adjust 😉

I got to work in the Batcave today ( my newly married son’s room he’s now vacated) so I’m excited over finally getting to do something fun with it that doesn’t reflect “20something bachelor guy lived here”

I’m also chomping at the bit to get back to a new interest I picked up at the end of the year… chalk painting. I’m a little bit hooked on it now that I have a couple projects under me (like my bathroom cabinets that look stunning) and I now have a list of things to do.

Seriously, that paint can make the ugliest thing ever look rather amazing. Perhaps I’ll do a fun lifestyle post on it sometime.

in other news….

my blog for my keto- dash diet review I wrote last year is still trending at the top of Google search so there’s that. Seriously, ya’ll out of millions of postings on this topic I’m currently #2… actually it bounces between there and #1 but I’m good with both….so I think it’s just a bit super cool.

You can find it here if you’ve not seen it…. https://sassyfitnesschick.com/2017/07/21/keto-and-dash-diet-review/

I’m working on a book review for the new release of the paperback “Lean Habits” which will be coming to you soon.. right here… so hang around for that.. or you can read my first review while you wait… https://sassyfitnesschick.com/2015/10/07/lean-habits-for-weight-loss-book-review/

Pinterest is at the top of my focused list so I’ve been pinning and learning more about working that avenue. Find me there as well and follow my healthy food boards. I’ve got some tasty things pinned.. check it out… @sassyfitnesschick If you’ve got any good blogging tips with it, offer them up, please.

Speaking of tasty. I’m doing a fun little project on my social media experimenting with different veggie recipes with the hope someone might want to eat more of those yummy morsels. On my experiment list is cauliflower. I know you’ve heard of all the crazy things you can do with it besides you know, eat it in it’s given form 😉 I decided once and for all I’m going to see if it can really be used to make pizza crust or my new interest.. cheesy breadsticks???

SAY WHAT?!

I’m gonna be your lab rat and will report to you my findings. I will admit, at this point, to being rather skeptical. I guess we’ll see.

Regarding my athletic shenanigans, I’m pretty sure I did my coldest ride, ever, on Saturday.

By that I mean it was in the low 30’s with a wind chill dipping into the mid 20’s. That mind you, was if you were standing still, NOT flying down the road at fast speeds riding a bike in it like some crazy fool.

I only did 13 miles but it was better than nothing and anyway by then my extremities were numb so that made it a lot of fun too.

Coffee was really…really… good after that… but when isn’t it?

And in regards to coffee.

Topping my list of new favorite things for the week, Starbucks is featuring their Blonde roast right now and I’m kinda into it. Have you tried it?

And speaking of my lovely bike. I ordered a new saddle that should be here any day and a fun bag to stash my random stuff in while I sail down the road… like my camera for those on the run selfies.

Because #socialmedia, right? Keep up with me there on Instagram and Pinterest as well as my Sassyfitnesschick page on Facebook.

Now here’s to Monday and a week of new opportunities!

Birthdays And Reflections On Another Year Older

A New year begins today.

New goals. New perspectives. New opportunities to love, laugh, play, and breathe life in.

I’m talking about another birthday to celebrate, specifically mine.

Humor me. I can do that since I’m the birthday girl today, right ? 😛

Birthdays get me a bit reflective some years. Not in a weird “OMG I’m getting OLD!!” way. I’ve never really had “issues” with hitting any certain age… I’m just happy to still be invited to the party, know what I mean?

Chronologically, I know what the calendar says and it technically puts me somewhere between “getting old but not as old as dirt” status. That chronological thing is set in stone for all of us.

However, how I live my life and the things I do with myself determine how young I feel and to a great extent, how I age.

My reflections on the past year have made me smile and tear up almost all at once.

In this last year I welcomed a beautiful new granddaughter into my life, and lost my dad to a battle with Alzheimers a few months later. Only two months after that I walked the path of grief with my daughter in law through the loss of her father.

In between those months of loss, my oldest son announced he would be getting married later this year.

There have been many “up’s and down’s” that also go along in a families life and a married life.

There have been those “normal” kinda days that you realllllyyy cherish and appreciate on days that are hard. And there were days that were very, very hard.

Life and death. Joy and tears. The past and the future. New goals and plans. Hope and anticipation. Excitement and disappointments.

And suffering. If I’m writing an honest reflection to you today, I will say there has been a lot of that in this year too.

Birthdays remind me that I’ve been privileged to experience it all…. the good, bad and everything in between. They aren’t a guarantee or a given to any of us.

This is my fourth one without my Mom and it still makes my heart ache to not have her with me for it, or have her make my cake ( although my daughter does a great job making me one 🙂 or receive the beautiful cards she used to give me.

I’ve embraced every new year I’m given. I don’t think about age as I find it irrelevant to whatever I want to do nor do I give much thought to it.

I have a fun group of young friends. They don’t see my age either. They like me, think I’m “cool” and give me a hard time about my athletic shenanigans ( as in, they tell me I’m crazy 😛 )

I find them refreshing and their enthusiasm and sometimes out right craziness makes me laugh.

We learn from each other.

They talk about their struggles and dreams, or family or whatever is on their mind. I’m old enough to offer life wisdom to which they sometimes ask for. Sometimes, we just talk about deeper things like… music. 😛

I have friends my own age because it’s only those who’ve walked similar paths with you who can truly relate to some of the struggles you may be currently in or offer advice that only a “older” person might offer.

I’ve found though that age is a number and that there is great maturity in many of my young friends, just as I’ve found great immaturity in people older than me.

Like a kaleidoscope it shows me different colors of life… beliefs, thoughts, opinions, and personal view points.

I believe you are richly blessed when you have a wide circle of people who care about you and who add a fullness to your life.

On the topic of learning…

I’ve made it a point over these past years to learn about the people who interact in my life.

The checker at the store, the baristas who happily serve me coffee, a random customer I engage in conversation ( ahhh maybe more than “a” person hahaha)

Why? People matter and my life seems richer when I do. Because I often walk away with a new perspective being around people from my “usual” circle. Different thoughts and views can be a good catalyst to make me really think about what I believe and why.

I’ve learned to freely give away a smile to a person I walk past, I have no problem dishing a compliment to a woman I think looks pretty or has something on I think looks like the bomb. I’ve had it done to me and I know what an unexpected “gift” it is to receive.

On social media I comment on something they’re doing, especially if it offers them encouragement or support, like working out or losing weight.

I mean, why not?

I’ve tried to practice the art of not “withholding”… compliments, smiles, encouragement, praise, etc. because people NEED that stuff.

It makes me feel good to offer that back to others.

The older I get the more I embrace more of what life is… all of us twined together in some form or another…

I’ve realized more than ever this past year that my tribe is the most valuable gift I possess in this wild ride of life. My husband is strong, fearless, and the most patient loving, giving, generous man on this planet. I’m so blessed to have him.

My kids who are now all adults have turned out rather amazing in spite of some worrisome years in the past. It’s crazy to me they are getting married and having babies and living in their own houses and all that other stuff… I can’t be that old… can I ???

Ah yes, indeed I am, and it’s perfectly ok.

I’ve never felt stronger, more energetic, fit, or fierce in my life. I have no wish to be any other age or place than where I am right now. I’ve earned these years and all that goes with them… smile lines and all… and I don’t try to hide it.

My only desire is to age gracefully, love wildly, not be afraid to take on new things, and truly appreciate all I’ve been blessed with.

So I stand on the threshold of another year. To take on harder challenges, to stretch myself, and hopefully to be able to grow more in my thinking and understanding, to learn, laugh and love more.

I’m surrounded by people who love me warts and all, who celebrate my achievements and challenge me to be all I can be, there is no greater blessing.

So cheers to another year, another pure gift of life, for which I am beyond grateful.

Ordinary Kids

ordinary

So it’s getting to be that time of year again. Some years, I get to participate, other years I’ve been able to skip it. Those are the years we save our money and our sanity.

What you wonder am I talking about ?

Having the privilege to graduate another child out of school.

The culmination of years of homework, teacher meetings, open houses, class parties, field trips, school projects, peanut butter sandwich lunches, new clothes shopping, tons of school supplies, sleep overs, class birthday parties, band concerts, yearly school pictures, dances shows, football games, fun and unexpected calls from the Principal ( if you have boys you may understand this better 😉 ) early morning practice sessions, after school tutoring, school dances, boy friends, girl friends, college applications, college testing…

Ok.. I could go on… the list of things you do in a child’s school career is rather vast and endless. At times you wonder if you’ll ever get to the end of it.

I can say I’m there. My final one is exiting school and heading into the big world with college in her future.

We’ve ordered announcements, taken final pictures, and done the hundred and one things that seem to come crashing in the last few months of school.

I gotta admit this. She’s the last of my big brood. By this time I’ve pretty well felt like I could lead parent/teacher night. Or that I could predict with certainty that when I showed up for another year starting in dance, it would be same lines, new year. Or that some things in school just never changed much and it was comforting already knowing the drill on it.

I was the older, smarter more seasoned mom. I figured that in a few years they’d get it too… it takes some moving through the ranks before you learn you can say “no” to things.. 😉

By the time my daughter hit Senior status I was pretty much like… “just deliver me the necessary paperwork”.

I knew the drill for it all. Many of teachers through middle and high school had already had the rest of the crew… a new year was like old home week… meet and greet… just another new family face rolling through their room.

Although in all fairness to my daughter, one of my sons had made quite a um…mark… on several teachers going through various grades.. she’d get the “ohhhh… you’re so and so’s sister?”

If you have kids then you may have one of these… the high energy, high maintenance, social, outgoing never slow down, yet charming, kid.

Anyway, thankfully, the daughter child was probably a bit more quiet and laid back than previous brood members who went through.

No matter what the bottom line was this…

Get them through. Get them on that stage wrapping their hand around that cherished diploma.

I swear when middle son walked the stage it was ALL I could do not to stand and cheer and whoop like some wild woman. There were debatable days in his final year I wondered if we’d make it.

Now each class has it own “cream of the crop” the “crème de’ le crème” right? You know the ones who’ve been marked since first grade to be the Validictorian ? Every kid in the class knows it. They simply accept it as what’s going to be and move on.

Then there’s the whole “class ranking” thing which was making my daughter get all twitchy one day till I reminded her…

“they don’t hang a number around your neck when you walk the stage. No one will know, and honestly, no one cares..”

I reminded her when she’s out in the real world it will be completely irrelevant as well.

Then there’s the whole college thing. The angst of wondering if one will want her… if she will “make the cut” or be found acceptable. It doesn’t help when her friends are collecting admin letters like candy at a parade.

I reminded her that she could only go to one school and she will still get her degree to do what she wants.

In a community that’s big on pushing college it’s a lot of pressure on kids ( and parents) to feel like they need to perform up to some lofty expectations.. who’s.. I’m not sure…

’cause you see I have ordinary kids and it’s ok.

I’ve never tried to make them do things they didn’t want to do.

Support them in their goals and plans, yes. Push my agendas and desires on them, no.

We learned the hard way when we registered my oldest son for a semester of college, paying cash for it so he wouldn’t have any debt. He went like… three times? and then he said something that really paved the way for the rest of the brood yet to come down the college path way…

He said “you never asked me what I wanted to do. IF this was what I wanted”

Ouch. Point made.

Did I consider him any less successful for not jumping on the college boat? Not at all. My son has always had an artistic bend and was in a band. He traveled around the country for months with them. He lived every 19 year old young mans dream… being in a band in a new town every night, living for those moments on stage. Living in new places and eating off value menus and sleeping folded up in a van driving down highways in the dark of night. He didn’t do that forever. He settled down and works with his brother now in a family business.

Two of my other sons have wanted to pursue college. One went for awhile and then quit to take on a floundering business that he has turned into a success over the past few years. One is in college right now working on his degree.

But through these years of raising kids and wanting them to find and embrace what their own passion is I realized it’s ok, really ok, for them to be ordinary.

And I don’t mean that in a plain vanilla way or that they lack value, substance and intelligence because they are all very bright, funny, and clever. They know how to learn and teach themselves things and they are always actively learning.

I mean they don’t have to live someone else’s ideals or expectations or get caught up in the hype with friends and feel like they are somehow “less than” ’cause they perceive the friends are somehow more successful. I don’t need to have them do things to feel validated as a parent.

I saw a T-shirt recently that made me laugh ’cause it’s how I feel so often. It said:

“Worlds okayest Mom”

Maybe I need to buy it. It reminds me I can be me, can be the best mom I can without having to “do it all” or be at every meeting or every event, or get my kids into Harvard.

At the end of the day its about my kids being happy, successful, productive adults and maybe even a bit, ordinary.

However, if they make an impact in their personal worlds and are decent human beings, I will consider them, and myself, quite successful indeed.