Thoughts on Motivation and A Great Meal

Oh, man, I have been trying to get back on the blog more frequently. When I last posted on Monday, I had every intention of getting back on Tuesday and finishing our vacation pictures.  The days seem to take on a life of their own, demanding my time.  These last two weeks have been too scheduled for what I think summer should be.  But that has been what life has required lately. 

We are six practices into the cheer season.  My squad of 20 (20!!!) has learned 28 cheers and the first section of their dance.  Oh, yeah, that time of year that I have to choreograph and teach a dance!  So outside of my box.  At the start of one practice that came on the heels of a very demanding cheer day, I sent a text to Brad that said simply, "Tell me why I do this.".  His response was sweet and encouraging.  And the bottom line of what he said was, "Because you love your girls."  Yes, I do.  My biological girls and these others that I spend six hours a week with.  They are sweet, sweet, sweet.  What a privilege to coach them, a privilege I don't take lightly.  So, yeah, I'm tired.  But it's worth it.  And once all the other behind the scenes stuff is done, and all I have to do is coach my own squad, it will be much better.  Unfortunately the timing of that will be right about when it's time to head back to school and work.  Oh, well.  I love my girls.

I finally made the decision to take a couple weeks off running.  I got to the point that my knees ache so badly every night, and my body just hurts.  It's so ridiculous to do something with the motivation of health and wellness and have it harm and hurt. So instead of running, I've gone back to a workout dvd that I LOVE and have MISSED!  Oh, it beats you up in such a good way. My muscles hurt so much (in a good way) that I strategized when to use the bathroom to limit the number of times I had to get down and get back up.  If you know what I mean you totally know what I mean.  I've loved doing this workout.  I feel stronger all over.  But other parts of my body are responding less favorably to not running.  And I hate that part.  Why?  Why does something that takes so long to achieve go away so very quickly?

So, the motivation I'm looking for is this:  I am going to get S.T.R.I.C.T (hang around cheerleaders too long and you start to spell everything) with my eating.  I'm going to give it a fair shot and see what happens to my body as it approaches 42.  Things look very different lately and I don't like it.  Vain?  Yes.  I'll own that.  I had a loooooong talk with Brad last night about all this stuff, and I'll share more about this later.  But I'm going to try some new things.  I'm going to apply my discipline to some other areas of my life.  I'm not too happy about it.  But if I wait until I'm happy about it I may never do it.  I roll my eyes and get irritated just thinking about it.  But I'm going to do it anyway.  I will stop short of changing the name of my blog to "carrot sticks and broccoli", but hopefully I will incorporate some new foods I choose to love into meal ideas that maybe you will like too.

Let's dip our toe in the water, shall we?  No need to dive in head first.  This dinner that we love is just a toe.  A nice balance of healthy and unhealthy.  You can choose the ratio to suit yourself.  But it is so very easy and so very tasty.

Have you seen the bags of sweet mini peppers?  Safeway has them, Costco occasionally has them.  They are so sweet and yummy. My obvious sweet tooth is drawn to the sweeter veggies, and I love these grilled.  Grab a bag of these, a package of smoked kielbasa sausage, some ripe tomatoes, and a sweet onion.  And some skewers.  See what's coming??

Just cut the peppers in half, remove the seeds and pulp.  Slice the tomatoes and onion into wedges. Cut the sausages up into decent sized chunks.  Sprinkle all the veggies with a little Johnny's seasoned salt and some garlic powder.  Then just start threading them onto your skewers.  (If you are using wooden skewers, do soak them first so they won't catch on fire!)  You can do any arrangement you like.  Grill them, turning as necessary.  Make a big pot of rice to go with this, a big yummy salad, maybe some rolls that you toast on the grill right before you eat....mouth watering.  The tomatoes are so very yummy grilled.  If you haven't done that before, you must try it.

So here we go.  My mind is chewing on a lot of thoughts about health and it's pursuit and the motivation for it and the balance in the pursuit...so many thoughts.  As I sort them I'll share them.  For accountability.

And, a final thought....I saw "The Help" yesterday.  I wish I had brought my camera.  The four of us were the young, hot chicks of the theater.  Yeah, I'm serious.  Imagine THAT!  Great company, great time away...and the movie?  A MUST SEE!  I really want to go see it again.  There was applause at the end of the movie, and people sat and watched the credits.  That good.  If you haven't read the book yet, I'm disappointed in you.  Go get it, read it, and then go see the movie.  And bring a tissue.