A thought....

I don't normally post more than once per day, but I was cruising around facebook this morning.... (yes, I have a facebook account.) and I came across this group: "I believe in God because..." and it started me thinking. The thing that popped into my head is a quote from my favorite author: Madeleine L'Engle. Not from one of her children's books, but from a book on prayer. I found it again, and it so moved me that I had to share it with you all. 

- "There are three ways that you can live life – three again – remember that great writers always do things in threes.

"You can live life as though it’s all a cosmic accident; we’re nothing but an irritating skin disease on the face of the earth. Maybe you can live your life as though everything’s a bad joke. I can’t.

"Or you can go out at night and look at the stars and think, yes, they were created by a prime mover and so were you, but he’s aloof perfection, impassible, indifferent to his creation. He doesn’t care, or, if he cares, he only cares about the ultimate end of his creation… You don’t matter to him, I don’t matter to him, except possibly as the means to an end. I can’t live that way either.

"Then there’s a third way: to live as though you believe that the power behind the universe is a power of love, a love so great that all of us really do matter to him. He loves us so much that every single one of our lives has meaning; he really does know about the fall of the sparrow, and the hairs on our head are really counted. That’s the only way I can live."

You know you're a grown-up when.....

You decide to cancel a vacation because it's the "sensible" thing to do. And you don't really feel all THAT bad about it.

I'm tri-ing, I'm tri-ing

Lately, I have been full of life-lessons. Today will be no exception.

Sunday I participated in the Siesta Key Sharks Triathlon. It was a 1K swim (.62 miles), a 21K bike (13 miles) and a 5K run. (3.1 miles.) This would be the second year that I have participated, and last year was FANTASTIC. This year, I let my head get in the way. Here's the summary:

2007 Triathlon

I mean, I loved it. I started with a goal time of 100 minutes. As I went from event to event, I merely did the best that I could. I had no sense of how long it was taking me to do various events. (Actually, at one point on the bikes, one of the many volunteers called out to me - "Half Way There" and I thought, well, crap. I thought the end was around the corner. That's how far off my timing was...... So when I finished my run (which was ON THE BEACH) and came around the corner and saw the clock and it said 90:42 I was elated. 30 seconds later when I crossed the finish line, and had crushed my goal time by almost 8 minutes, I thought I was the triathlon goddess. Seriously. So I definitely was going to do next year's event.

2008 Triathlon

I am totally prepared. My equipment has gotten better. Plus I have been training for the marathon, so I'm in better shape than I was last year. I have my watch, I have my sunglasses, I am set. The night before, I went over my stats from the previous year. 14 minutes on the swim 41 minutes on the bike, 30 minutes on the run. Plus an obscene amount of transition time. I can do better than this, I think..... let's see: new goal time is 85 minutes. I can DO this.

The morning of the tri arrives. I am out the door at 5am sharp. I have my spot laid out and all my various and sundry "stuff" ready for action. It's now 6:30. I still have an hour to kill. The nervous energy is permeating my stomach. I run into some friends and say hi.

I meander on down to the beach to wait for the starting gun. Whew. I hit the water. (and booooy it's a little chilly.) I swim. and swim. and swim. and swim. and swim. I get out of the water and look at my watch. 23:18. WHAT?? 22?? What have I done? I thought I swam well, I certainly swam hard. I did much better than last year. I did get kicked in the head once by someone doing the breast stroke ‹rant› NEVER DO THE BREAST STROKE DURING A TRIATHLON OPEN WATER SWIM. YOU TAKE UP TOO MUCH SPACE AND YOU'LL KICK SOMEONE IN THE HEAD ‹/rant› but I had a good swim.

Well, this is where my head got into the way. Instead of listening to the people yelling "Good Swim. Great Time. Keep Going" I was totally focused on 8 minutes more. 9 minutes more. 9 minutes more. And that was what I did for the entire time. My bike was about the same as last year which was totally acceptable, since there was construction and a farmers' market in Siesta Key that morning. My run was 2 minutes faster. My transitions were MUCH better. In fact, I finished the tri only 6 minutes longer than last year. But when I crossed the finish line at 98:04, I was, well, peeved. So instead of being elated, I was annoyed. My husband and children were there to watch me (at my request) and I was in a lousy mood.

Later, when I checked the score boards, I saw that I placed 7th in my age group. Out of 28 people. That means I was in the top 25% for my age. (Not overall by a long shot, but that's OK.)  And then I started to feel OK about myself. After talking with one of the other swimmers who was commenting on the horrible current that we had to swim AGAINST for most of the swim, I felt even better about my performance. By the end of the morning, I was feeling downright proud.

There are TWO lessons here:

The first and more prevailing: Don't let you head get in the way of your optimism.... I could have had a GREAT time and a wonderful race. I didn't. The blame lies solely with me. This goes beyond just the triathlon, though. In these uncertain economic times, Pragmatic Optimism (to borrow from a newsletter written by Doug Van Dyke of DVD Consulting Inc. - and my DH) is the rule of the day. Don't be stupid, but don't let yourself get bogged down in the depression of the day. (He said it much more eloquently than I.)

The second lesson is this: sometimes goals need to be readjusted. Just because you set a "goal" doesn't mean that it's set in stone and written in blood. You can change things. If there are other people involved, make sure you communicate with them, that way you stay in integrity, but sometimes, just sometimes, life gets in the way of achieving things exactly the way we have planned. Roll with it.

And as for me, well, I am going to train like a madwoman for the marathon and then for the next triathlon. As long as I keep on tri-ing, it will be good!

runner's highs and lows

As some of you do (or don't) know, I am currently training for the Marine Corp Marathon in October. It's in Washington, D.C. I am excited and scared at the same time.

Well last weekend was an 18 mile run. It was grueling. It took me 4 hours to run 18 miles. (for those of you who don't run, that qualifies as sucking. Sucking Wind.) 

Well, this past weekend -- Sunday actually -- was my 20 miler. I was scared. No, really, scared. Do you know how long 20 miles is? Next time you're in your car for longer than 5 minutes, look at the odometer and clock 20 miles. For those interested in my route (and to get an idea of just how far 20 miles is....) we started in a neighborhood about 2 miles north of the Lowe's off of SR 70. Then ran all the way up Tara Blvd. to Linger Lodge, to Lakewood Ranch Road (through River Club) all the way to the Hospital. AND BACK. (it's the "and back" part that Kills ya.)

Well, I ran. And ran and ran and ran and ran. I did it in 3 hours and 31 minutes. That averages 10:16 per mile. It's not going to win me any medals, but it's respectable. Definitely respectable. More importantly, I learned that it really IS all in my head. I can do this.... even if I have to crawl the last 6 miles, I know that I can do it. Even MORE importantly, I felt great afterwards.

Isn't that the way life is? When you believe that you CAN do something you usually DO. And that's my zen-mantra for the day. I think I can, I think I can, I think I can....

By the way, I finished out the evening later with a HUGE grass fed cheeseburger with homemade sauerkraut and a large glass of real milk. :)

Whatever happened to our cookbooks?

I am extremely lucky to come from a family that cooks. My father's family (while not chefs themselves) were in the restaurant business, and my mom's family is Italian. (nuff said.) So when I moved out on my own..... many, many years ago..... my mom bequeathed upon me a boat load of cookbooks. Many of which came from the 1960's and before. Yes, they had paper then. 

Now here's the interesting comparison.... 

The cookbooks that I purchased myself in the mid 1990's, in a misguided attempt to eat healthy (read: vegetarian and low fat....) are full of "stuff". You know, start with one can of fat free cream of mushroom soup. Add two packets of ranch dressing mix. Stir in 3 T. of preservatives. Add 1.5 c. of chemicals, etc, etc, etc. -- and these cookbooks are supposed to be HEALTHY!! Ha!

The cookbooks from the 60's, well, just for comparison, let me share with you the recipe I made last night. This comes from "The Around the World Meat Cookbook" published in 1964.

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

Swedish Pot Roast

1 Beef Roast (I used a shoulder roast from Peaceful Pastures - grassfed organic beef)

2 T. Butter

2 c. Beef Stock or Broth

1 Chopped Onion

2 Bay Leaves

Salt and Pepper to taste

4 anchovies

2 T. sugar

2 T. cognac

1/2 c. heavy cream

2 T. arrowroot powder (optional) ::note: the arrowroot is not in the original recipe. I added it to thicken the gravy a little::

Melt the butter in a dutch oven. Brown the beef on all sides. Remove to a plate and keep warm. Add broth to pan and bring to a boil. Add sugar, onion, bay leaves, and anchovies. Add meat back to the pot. Cover and cook on low until tender, at least 2 hours, turning occasionally. (I cooked mine for three.) ::note: after browning your beef, you could just as easily put this in a crockpot.::

Remove beef from pot and keep warm. Bring broth to a boil. Add cognac. Boil for 2-3 minutes to evaporate the alcohol. Reduce heat to a simmer. Add heavy cream and arrowroot (optional). Simmer 2-3 minutes until gravy is thickened.

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

I served it with hot buttered whole wheat noodles, a big green salad, and carmelized cauliflower. (cauliflower, butter, garlic salt in a frying pan on the stove at med high heat for about 15 minutes. stirring regularly until the cauliflower is brown on most sides and tender.)

It was fantastic. Did you notice that there wasn't one boxed, prefab, preservative-laden item anywhere on that list? As a side note, there wasn't a speck of beef, noodles, or cauliflower left on my table at the end of dinner.

hmmmmmmm..... interesting.

September & October Order Dates

Howdy everyone!! 

Just wanted to update you on the delivery dates for the rest of September and October. Jackie from the CBC has graciously volunteered to have her house be the pickup point for those of you in Sarasota. She lives near University and Lockwood Ridge Road. Directions to follow later via email.

Please Note: If you do NOT pick up at the Central Buying Club in Sarasota, your delivery location will not change.

Deliveries for September and October will be as follows: 

9/12 (CBC)

10/3 (Jackie's House)

10/17 (Jackie's House)

11/7 (CBC) – and back on schedule!

Life Lessons and other things...

Sometimes I wonder if God deliberately puts situations in our path to ensure that we learn a lesson.... My lesson: I am really bad a delegation. (no, really. bad. bad. bad.)

So my husband and I fell into two free nights in Orlando. Here's the catch: it had to be THIS Thursday and Friday. My first thought was: well, that stinks. I can't do that. I have to sort and deliver vegetables on Friday. And then I began to sulk. no, really. sulk. sulk. sulk. And then my DH looked at me and said, "can't you delegate this to someone?" And so I thought. (insert Winnie the Pooh melody here...) think.think.think. (Ok, enough with the Pooh.) Who could I delegate this to? More importantly, should I really be chained to being here EVERY Friday to make sure that veggies can go out? What happens if one of my kids gets sick? What happens if I get sick? What happens if there is an emergency? and so on (Anyone ever read "Very Worried Walrus?")

And then I started thinking about the fact that no one could ever do the veggie sorting as well as I do. and then I started laughing. It's vegetables for goodness sake..... it's not rocket science. What's the worst thing that happens? Someone doesn't get as many plums as they ordered and gets an extra mushroom. No one is going to die. No one is going to get angry (hopefully). So, with that being said, I am delegating. (I woke up in the middle of the night with cold sweats about my delegation...) but I am delegating. Yup. I am.

That being said: 

...MANY THANKS TO MY WONDERFUL FRIEND RENA FOR HELPING THIS WEEK...

...THANKS TO SHARON FOR HELPING EVERY WEEK AND DONATING HER GARAGE FOR OUR SORTING ENDEAVORS...

...THANKS TO JESY (OUR FANTASTIC AU PAIR FOR HER HELP WITH EVERYTHING AND ENABLING US TO DISAPPEAR FOR TWO WHOLE DAYS)...

...THANKS TO KIM FOR HER SORTING HELP...

...AND THANKS TO YOU FOR BEING A PART OF OUR COOP AND BEING PATIENT WITH US WHEN WE MAKE MISTAKES... :)

Have a great week!