Signs I'm Growing Up

I thought it would be a great idea to bake bite-sized brownie bites for a ladies night on Wednesday. When that ended in broken Pyrex all over the kitchen floor, did I cry? Nope, I didn't. That's for the Old Jessie. Did I swear? Nope, that's for other people. I just said a bunch of loud nonsense non-swear words, locked Billy in the bedroom, and swept up the mess.

This is why my wonderful husband cooks, and I don't. I wonder if he'll bake me a new dessert to take to Ladies Night?

Resolutions 2012

I realize that I haven't posted here since March, and I probably won't write much this year, either. But I still wanted to do some declarative New Years Resolutions, since I didn't last year. Since there were no 2011 goals, let's look back at 2010:

For 2010:

• I would still like not to get burned, but I would also like not to be afraid or bitter regarding situations in which I may get burned or have in the past - YES!
• I need to open an IRA or something - YES!
• I need to run a few half marathons so I feel like a runner again - YES!
• Spill less, whine less, hug more. - I guess this one is a little subjective, but I don't think I'm known anymore for spilling or whining. Unless I'm cold.
• Eat organic, at least partly - YES!
• Balance grad school, work, social life, and maybe even a love life - All except grad school. That sucked.
• Enjoy all of my many blessings in life, and play the hand I'm dealt. - Yes. And I am feeling quite blessed as of late.

Overall, a success, more so than in any other year in the 00's. So here's the plan for this year, many of which make use of social networking:

For 2012

Every day goals:

• Record all of my running and workouts on Daily Mile
• Record my nutrition on My Fitness Pal
• Journal about my blessings and prayers
• Read the Bible, using the Life Journal Reading Plan

Things I'd like to do but won't feel bad if they don't happen:

• Save money for a down payment on a home
• Get a haircut
• Lose 20 pounds
• Finish my PDP
• Run another marathon
• SuperSecret Goal

The Great Egg Experiment

For a long while I've been on a mission to make the perfect hard boiled egg. Up to this point, all efforts have failed. But now I'm on Spring Break with time on my hands, and I'm trying the scientific method on this beast. I have a dozen eggs and an electric vegetable steamer. I'm trying one egg at a time and adjusting variables such as cooking time and amount of water in the basket. Stay tuned to find out how each trial goes.

Trial 1: Bottom reservoir of steamer full. 1 egg in dry basket. Time: 30 minutes. Immerse in ice water for 10 minutes after cooking.

Observations: Eggselent. The shell peeled right off, and there was no green ring around the yolk. Yum.

Trial 2: Turns out there's actually divots made for eggs in the steamer basket. Trying that for 30 minutes.

Observations: 30 minutes was too long using this method. One egg cracked open and leaked, the others just cracked. Taste was good and shell removal was easy.

Conclusions: I will continue using the basket with a 30 minute cooking time and ice bath. Hopefully having eggs around will help me to curb some of my snacking urges and lead to generally healthier living for me.

School Bullying

I Just finishing reading Please Stop Laughing at Me by Jodee Blanco. The ending, just like the ending to her talk at my school, is driving me nuts. After all those kids did to her, how can she forgive them without a second thought, and become best buds with them? I understand how she longed for their acceptance, but I just can't see how she lets go of years and years of anguish and hurt. Maybe she's a better person than I, but it just doesn't seem realistic to me.

Now, it's not like I was bullied as a kid, at least not like Blanco was. I was teased, my peers loved the fact that I cried easily and tried to make me all the time. I was called names as a high schooler that I still shudder to hear now as an adult. I was generally ignored by the "popular kids" throughout middle school, and into high school. On one occasion in middle school, a girl threatened to beat me up, and it terrified me for months. When I was in elementary school, I was sitting in a corner at recess, and a large girl named Mateeka actually sat on me. I was more "unseen" than bullied. So no, my life was not miserable. But I was definitely never one of the in crowd.

Which is why I can't imagine a high school reunion scene like the one Blanco describes at the end of her book, where she opens up to her tormentors, and tells them how glad she is that they like her now. Sometimes I see people that are so great at forgiveness, and their lives are probably better as a result. They say that to hold on to past hurts is like letting someone rent space in your head for free (Rob Bell, paraphrased), and that the only one it hurts is yourself. So forgiveness is a good thing. It's biblical. Jesus calls his followers to forgive a person who has wronged you "70 times 7 times." But I honestly find it hard to befriend someone who has hurt me that many times. That just seems stupid to me, because you're just opening yourself up and allowing them to hurt you all over.

This isn't a very developed post, I know. But I'd love to hear some of my reader(s) thoughts on the subject of forgiveness, the past, and/ or school bullying.

Also, please note - while I have a hard time accepting Jodee Blanco's unilateral forgiveness of those that ruined her childhood, I loved her book, and the action points that she provides for kids and adults involved in bullying. Hearing her speak and reading her book will change the way I counsel my students, and one day, my own children. I highly recommend the book to anyone who ever was a child, who has children, or who works with children. I would even recommend it to high school students who are mature enough to handle some strong language and violence.

Pre-Emptive Therapy

I trained for and ran my first marathon this October (yea!). I tried once before and failed due to injury, and stayed out of the game for too long, with disastrous results. This time around, I decided I actually wanted to finish the darn race, so I tried a different approach. I made an appointment with a physical therapist BEFORE I was injured, to prevent the inevitable onset of the shin splints that plagued me for so long. And guess what? I accomplished my goal of running pain free, and will probably run another marathon this year, with the goal of beating my first time.

Why do I tell this story, when so many of you have heard more about my shins that you could ever dream of? It's because I felt GREAT after my race. I followed the recovery plan, gave myself lots of rest, and promptly forgot everything I learned in PT about the benefits of frequent tissue massage with The Stick. "That's for when you're injured," I kept telling myself. "I'll use it when I feel sore," I said. So I increased my mileage up and up, and felt great. And today I hurt my ankle, so of course I went running for the tool I know to work so well, only a tad too late. Should have been using it all along to PREVENT injury in the first place.

I do this in so many other places in my life. I know that regular journaling helps me to process my thoughts and emotions, thus preventing any major breakdowns in sanity. But when do I actually reach for the pen? When something's going wrong. Stretching out my muscles makes them feel better, but I only seem to do that when they're already tight. Putting away my clothes every day helps my room to stay neat and orderly, but I prefer to let it become a FEMA disaster zone before panicking and spending a day cleaning. And the list goes on and on.

Moral of this little tale? Think about what you do to solve a problem in your life, and do that on a consistent basis before the problem ever surfaces its ugly head.