Played my "horn"

Today, I did a couple of things that could have made my blog, but the best thing I did was get my flute out this evening and play. I used to teach flute full time. Which means, at one point in my life, I was playing from 7:30am to about 9pm, five days a week. That is a ton of playing and teaching. I loved it. I have had a career change and don’t teach flute anymore, which means, I don’t play much anymore, either. But today, I judged some middle school kiddos play at a solo contest. When I got home, I decided to get out my “horn” (as we say in the biz). Man, what a revelation! I had forgotten how amazing it is to be able to play. I didn’t sound like I used to and it didn’t matter so much. It is the most rewarding thing EVER. It is completely mentally and physically engaging. There is nothing else I do that takes over my total mind and soul like playing. That sounds corny, but it is completely true. You have to be totally aware of what is on the page, what is happening with your fingers and breathing, and what is artistically coming from the instrument. It is so difficult!! I have decided that I will never go this long without playing again. It is a gift that can never be replaced by anything else. Today, I wished that I still taught flute all day. What an amazing gift to give. I am so lucky that my teachers gave it to me.

Ordered new glasses

For a person who wears glasses everyday, this a major deal. It’s like plastic surgery without the pain, price tag, or permanence. You change your looks and you’re sorta stuck with it for the next year or so…especially if you’re cheap like me and refuse to buy more than one pair of glasses per prescription. So, today was the picking out of the frames and I can’t wait to see what they actually look like when I get them back with real lenses in them. It’s difficult when you have vision like I do, “Mr. Magoo-ish” is how I would describe it, because I can’t really tell how they look because, oh guess what, I can’t SEE! I get really close to the mirror and do my mandatory head tilt and hair flip, but I’m so close to the mirror that really I’m just looking at my eyes and not my whole face. So, hopefully I won’t look like a big dope next week when they come in. Oh, here’s something new for me…I bought prescription sunglasses, too! And they are oh, so movie star!! Again, let’s hope I don’t look like I’m wearing those “shades” they give you at the eye doctor after you’ve had your eyes dilated! My husband said they made me look like Audrey Hepburn. Which you think would be good, but I’ve heard him say more than once that “Audrey Hepburn looks like a giraffe”…hmmm. This entry is neither inspiring nor entertaining, but it is the best thing I did today. Who knows, maybe next week I’ll post pics with me in my new glasses…ha….fat chance!

Broccoli

Today, I ate broccoli. Several weeks ago I decided that I was going to make a concerted effort to eat fruits and vegetables. Not a big deal, right? Well, yeah, it kinda is. I like fruits and vegetables well enough. I mean, they’re not a cheeseburger and fries, but they’re fine. The problem is two-fold. First, I have figured out that I can maintain my figure and only eat a few veggies here and there. If I had to eat them to stay in my jeans, then, baby, I would be eating some serious roots, and plants, and what not. But, honestly, that’s just not the case. Second, it takes actual effort to eat fruits vegetables. Let’s begin with fruit, you have to pick the right ones or they taste, well, for lack of more sophisticated verbiage, nasty. I have a difficult time finding the 10 minutes in which a plum tastes good. On to veggies, the problem here is laziness. I hate to cook. I love food from a can, box, or some sort of carton/tub that resides in the refrigerator and takes less than 5 minutes to prepare. I don’t like cutting, chopping, steaming…what an enormous pain in the butt!! So, in light of my issues, I have decided to buy frozen veggies which I can prepare pretty quickly, not as quickly as a bowl of cereal but I can handle it. I also have decided that organic fruit really does taste better than the fruit that is not grown by hippies. I’ve begrudgingly started buying organic fruit and giving each piece a big sniff before it gets chosen. The ones that don’t make the cut get tossed back into the pile with nose germs on them…maybe it makes them more organic?? So, I’ve been doing a great job on my new goal. I’ve eaten plants and crap every day! Well, except that one day I made beanie-weenie…shut up, I used turkey hotdogs!

Didn't get on Facebook

Normally, on a Sunday morning, I have breakfast, and while I leisurely drink the beautiful elixir that is coffee, I get on Facebook to do my stalking. After I finish my daily dose of stalking, I go to my “farm”. Yes, I am a farmer-girl. My farmer name is Mabelle. Why do I do this? I have no clue. It is utterly useless. It is time consuming and provides no real benefit to my life, yet I must make certain that none of my fictitious fruits and veggies “go to waste”. What a travesty that would be…to whom, I’m just not sure…maybe fictitious starving children? So, I harvest, work on other people’s farms, plow my farm, replant my farm, and send gifts to my other crazed farmer friends. This takes a significant amount of time and effort and when I’m finished I really need a break. Enter Bejeweled Blitz. This is one of those “twitch” games (I’m told that’s what they are called). Anyway, the problem here is that they put your friends’ scores right there on the board! Well, I am not going to let them all beat me! So, I play until I have a higher score than at least one of my friends. This also takes a significant amount of time and gets very stressful since you have to be very quick to obtain a high score. So, to calm down, I play Brick Breaker. This is a game to be played at your leisure. However, they once again make it a competition so I am obligated to play until I beat SOMEBODY! WELL, NOT TODAY!! I got up ate my breakfast, drank my coffee, and started my Sunday chores. I had all the errands run, grocery shopping finished, and ½ the laundry done by 1pm! Which left plenty of time the rest of the day for stalking, farming, obsessive competition, and more stalking. I love a good productive Sunday!

Run, baby, run

At the gym today I ran. I was so happy that I smiled the entire time. People coming in either smiled back, seeming to enjoy my happiness or they looked at me like I had escaped from the mental institution. I couldn’t help it, though. I was listening to my ipod and every song was better than the next and nothing was hurting! (see previous post about injury) I was really, honestly happy. I sort of put things into perspective during that short run. I realized that running a little is better than not running. I can’t really explain now how everything seemed right with the world while I was running that 3 miles. I just felt lucky and grateful. I have so much and today I got that little part of my life back and I felt so grateful for everything…the music, my strength, my new running shoes (thank you, honey…they were my valentine’s present), and my unbelievably awesome life. My husband used to have the song “Check Yes Juliet” as my ring tone. Here is part of the chorus:
Lace up your shoes…Run, baby, run….don’t ever look back…
He changed it when I got hurt because it made me sad. I think I’m ready for him to put it back.

Took a nap

I’m not a good nap-taker, just like I’m not a great at home movie-watcher. I always think about the things I could be doing besides taking a nap or watching a movie. When I got home from my conference today, I was so tired. It could have been the hour of statistics I listened to that zapped the energy out of everybody at the workshop…even 5 cups of coffee couldn’t keep me alert. But it was probably all the stress of worrying about driving (see previous post)! At any rate, I took a nap. I think that maybe it wasn’t the nap that was the best thing about the day, though. I think it was that I didn’t feel guilty about taking a nap! It was great! After I woke up, I cleaned the house a little and probably got more done than I would have if I hadn’t gotten some rest. I guess that maybe sometimes it’s okay to just stop for a minute…okay it was an hour and a half, but you get the point!

Didn't freak out

I hate to drive. My husband drives us everywhere. Sometimes I won’t go places just because I don’t want to drive. I hate the traffic and the other drivers, who are, by the way, all rude and FAR less careful than I! Today, I am in Austin for a conference and Austin is traffic hell. Not only is the traffic inhumane, it is freaky difficult to get around. The next thing you need to know about my driving ability is that I have NO sense of direction. None. To me, north is whichever way I’m facing. I get lost going to the grocery store in my own neighborhood…seriously. So, naturally, I couldn’t sleep all night thinking about all the possible things that could go wrong this morning traveling from my hotel to the conference site. I could get lost, get in a wreck because I’m lost, get stuck in traffic and be embarrassingly late, and worst of all, not be able to find an easily accessible Starbucks on the way. Well, I sort of got lost, but it was an easy fix…and NOT my fault. Streets should have one name, not a name and some number…or, I don’t know, if it has more than one name, could we put BOTH names on the sign??? Anyway, I didn’t really get lost and the traffic didn’t make me freak out! Oh, I got there an hour early…yep, one hour early. You just can’t be too careful!

Chatted with strangers

Last night we went to a wine festival. Fancy, huh? Well, sort of…it is Texas and I don’t care if it is a wine festival, Tejas is Tejas! There were fancy couples, fabulous couples (I think you know what I mean there), and just folks who wanted to get their drink on! We are a little of the first group and a little of the last group! Oh, and there is food at the wine festival, for obvious reasons. It’s very important to have a tamale or two to soak up that cabernet! But what I really love about the wine festival is how everybody is friendly and “chatty”. I love to chat with people, even people I don’t know! I had a conversation the other day with my boss about “civility". I think that what I enjoy most about the wine festival is the mass of civility, ya know? Everybody is polite…excuse me, please, thank you. I think, as a general rule, that civility is not very stylish anymore. So, at the wine festival folks got a little dressed up (another aspect of civility that you don’t often see now a days…says the curmudgeonly old lady), put on their best manners, and enjoyed a little social time with strangers; it was fun. Here’s to civility...it’d be nice if it were like that without the aid of wine...not that I mind the wine!

Enjoyed the "cheat"

I am a food nazi. I worry about every calorie and fat gram that goes into my body. So, I choose my cheats very, very carefully. Today, my husband took me out for my favorite meal, breakfast. I LOVE pancakes, and I especially love these blueberry, orange, granola pancakes at a fancy hotel restaurant downtown. They are so good they don’t even need butter or syrup! The next part of the morning, we attended my husband’s professional convention. On the exhibit floor they have truckloads of chocolate and cookies and yummy stuff. I mean it’s just there for you to take and enjoy…and enjoy, I did!! I ate milk chocolate, dark chocolate, chocolate almonds, chocolate raisins, chocolate turtles (the peanuts and caramel kind, not shell and funny looking head kind), chocolate chip cookie, white chocolate chip cookie, some sort of chocolate chip mint cookie (that one stunk), and finally, the best of all, chocolate with peanut butter. I was literally a kid in a candy store. Okay, I’m not a kid and it wasn’t a candy store, but the effect was the same. I was hopped up on sugar and happy as a clam. I work hard to stay in shape and the days of indulgence are few, and most of those are laced with guilt. Not today…woohoo!

Let it go

I have started this entry four times. I even tried to change my “best thing” to something else, but I ended up going back to this: I got really mad first thing this morning and I then I just let it go. You know how you can just ruin your whole day by getting angry about something somebody did or said? Well, I didn’t do that today. I got mad and just decided not to let it define my day. So, I had an amazingly productive day. I got a ton done and the day zoomed by. I LOVE those days! No cute story today, just a really good day that I pulled from the jaws of anger…HA, that was purely for dramatic effect.

Quit being a big ole whiney-baby

Today I was grumpy and my stomach hurt, and I thought it was going to be hard to find something positive to write about, until around 2 o’clock. I’m shuffling down the hall with a crabby look on my face and a teacher I know quite well is walking towards me. She is smiling, says hello, and asks me how I am doing. I start telling her how I just don’t feel good today…blah, blah, blah…I then realize that the person I’m telling this to has cancer and is going through Chemo…yep. What an idiot I am. I realize how stupid I must seem and tell her, that, you know, really, I’m fine. Actually, I’m great, thanks for asking! So the best thing I did today was gain a little perspective. Tomorrow my stomach is going to be fine and I’m pretty sure the PMS isn’t life-threatening. Tomorrow she is still going to be going through stuff I can’t begin to understand and she’s going to be doing it while she teaches 3rd graders, like she’s done every single day for 30+ years. She taught a 40 year old a little something today.

Changed my routine

I LOVE a rational plan and a successful routine. I hate trying new things that I am not sure I will end up doing successfully. I don’t hate it like a rational person. I mean I hate it in a “she’s just not hooked-up right” kind of way. Well, today I changed my workout. I know, I know, this seems like nothing but it really is a big deal for me! I bought a book with all these crazy exercises with a stability ball. Let’s discuss a stability ball for just a second. It should be called an instability ball. It’s round for heaven’s sake! Consider that before beginning an exercise on the instability ball, one has to “mount” it in some fashion. This really presents all sorts of opportunities to embarrass oneself in front of the gym-going public. Once you have successfully wiggled yourself into position on this thing you are required to perform physical tasks while maintaining your precarious position on the stupid ball. It is hard! I mean, I am in really good shape, people, and it was hard!Today I sucked it up and embarrassingly and clumsily balanced myself on the “ball of satan” and did some stuff pretty poorly. It was easily the best thing I did today.

Talked to somebody from "home"

Today at work I had to do some research and called my former high school in West Texas. I don’t know what you know about West Texas. Here are some unpleasant things about it. It’s dusty. It’s windy. There are tornadoes. It’s flat and mostly brown, even in the spring. It’s about ten years behind in fashion. It’s about 25 years behind in other aspects of modern life. Here’s what’s good about West Texas, the people. Yeah, I know, there are bad people, too. But, for me, some of the kindest, most wonderful people I have ever known are from West Texas. So, today, I talked to a real West Texas Lady. She had that beautiful accent…yes, it is beautiful…it does not mean you are stupid, it means you live in West Texas. She had no idea who I was but was as kind to me as if we were long, lost friends, or better yet like we were “kin”. She was helpful, gracious, and ended the conversation by saying how nice it was to chat with me and to give her a call if I needed anything else. Maybe it has nothing to do with her being from West Texas. All I know is that I could picture her sitting there with perfect make-up, big hair, manicured nails, and a big genuine smile. That made me think of home and there’s not a thing wrong with that.

Watched a teenager dance

Last night I chaperoned a high school band dance. This is not at the top of my list for a Friday night activity, but you do what you gotta do! So, I watched kids dance, eat pizza, play Guitar Hero, and have a great time. I danced a little with them (Party in the USA, thank you, Miley Cyrus) and had a fun time. Hey, did you guys know there is a “dance” for everything now? When I was a teenager, we sorta just got out there and wiggled around, there were no real “steps”. Well, NOT NOW…they have all these “choreographed” dances. It’s like line dancing except harder and to cooler music…very weird. I provided the kids much entertainment trying to learn these dances. It just stressed me out so I went back to my “wiggle around” method! That also seemed to entertain them, too, hmmmm….??? But, by far, the best thing about the night was watching a teenage girl attend her very first dance. She was wide-eyed and proclaimed that the band should have one “every two months”. I’m not sure how she picked that interval, but it sounded about right! She danced with her girl friends and hung around one particular boy quite a lot. The last dance was, of course, a “slow” dance. As I danced with my husband, we spotted our first-timer dancing with that particular boy. I’m not sure I have EVER seen anybody with that big a smile. It was pure happiness and excitement on her face. For me, it’s hard to remember that first slow dance with a boy, but looking at her face, I sure wish I could! It was sweet and innocent and everything it should have been.
Free band parent DJ, left over chips and cokes from the concession stand, 4 hours out of my life, pizza $164.00....happiest 15 year old girl in the world….priceless.

walk around without hurting

It sounds like I have some sort of horrible injury or affliction that makes me spend all my days in pain. This is not the case. Eight months ago, I got a stress fracture in my foot from running. For a runner this is BRUTAL. The hurting is one thing, but the absence of running is just nearly unbearable. Running serves many purposes for me. It keeps me fit, it makes me feel strong and successful, and it gives me time to turn my brain off and just, well, run. All that being said, my foot has hurt every day for 8 months, some days more, some days less. I’ve been adding running back into my workouts VERY slowly. The day after my very short runs, my ankle is always very sore. Yesterday, I ran about 3 miles (not far) and today my foot did NOT HURT!!!! Glory, glory hallelujah! I know this is not interesting to a single person, but it is just enormous for me. So, yep, the best thing about today was not having a sore foot. Did I mention that my hamstrings, quads, and back are sore? Running sucks! ;)

Hung out with an old dude

I used to eat lunch with my husband, but our schedules don’t mesh anymore and so every day I “cook” the yumminess that is my Lean Cuisine in the office kitchen. This is not the social Mecca that you might imagine ;) Now, I spend every lunch with the previously retired old fella who delivers the mail. We have NOTHING in common. He is a politically incorrect, opinionated, old, country coot. So every day we chat and we chat; he doesn’t eat because, well, he has terrible eating habits! He’s a meat and potatoes man. He had a tootsie roll today. Here’s what I’ve learned about my lunch buddy in the last five months. He is genuine. I mean he has not an ounce of pretense in his being. He is funny and makes me chuckle. He is faithful to his God and his family. He loves his grand-daughter enough to raise her since she was born and help her with her “lessons” every single day, even if that math “sure is hard”. I would never tell him, but when he’s not there, I’m disappointed. We’re going to keep trying to solve the world’s problems over a Lean Cuisine and tootsie roll in the office kitchen every day around noon. Maybe one day, I’ll convince him to eat some Greek yogurt….yeah, that’s not going to happen.

I bought snacks....

Yes, that's right, the best thing I did today was buy snacks! I did some other good things today, but really, my favorite was buy snacks. One of my most hated tasks at work is being the buyer, keeper, and organizer of all snacks used in meetings. Yes, this is as ridiculous as it sounds. It takes no skill, intelligence, or talent to accomplish this task so, I hate it! I put it off and get irritated about it. Well, today, with the help of the big boss and his jeep, we went and bought enough snacks, salty and sweet (because that's important..grrr..), to feed a small country. Then to top it off, I ORGANIZED, that's right, internet friends, organized the snacks. I mixed them beautifully, put them in plastic bins for easy access, stacked the remaining unopened boxes neatly, and I didn't eat one thing while I did it! Not even a bite-sized Snickers...mmmmm....snickers....maybe tomorrow the best thing I do will be "eat a bite-sized snickers"!

I stepped outside my "box" today.

Today, I created this blog. Seems like a minor thing but this is WAY out of my comfort zone. I am a "only do it if you know FOR SURE how it's going to come out" kind of person. I have no idea how, or if, this is going to be a fun/positive/meaningful thing for me or for anybody else, but I am giving it a shot. That makes me feel good today, seriously good.

My intent is for people to use the "comment" space to share the thing they did that made them feel good, or great, or successful today...or for comments about my posts or other posts. Wow, this is really, really out of my box....yay me!!!