Ready for an Experiment?

Sort of wish social experiments weren’t so morally questionable because I come up with some good ones. Think gentlemen’s clubs and masks. But maybe I shouldn’t even mention it here. After all, that PhD is still on the table.

A stranger asked what do I do when my spouse isn’t home? Surely he didn’t get the answer he was looking for. Unless he has a foot fetish.

Officially unofficially reached old lady status. I now proudly make my own iced coffee and all I think about when being away from home is this – When I get home, I’m going to make a cup of coffee! Welcome to my boring life.

Although I love a good charcuterie board, it’s come to my attention not everyone is familiar with the ingredients. And since they are varied, I’m not judging. Nonetheless, I’m happy to share my redneck, backwoods upbringing, though it did me no favors, is less apparent as I get older. Allow me to explain in blunt terms:

Cheese comes in many colors, flavors, and smells. Try them all!
Meat, namely prosciutto, does not require cooking. Just eat it!
There will be items you’re not familiar with. Refrain from turning up your nose, you ungrateful prude.
Have fun! It’s food! Food is great!

Great news! I’ve successfully blogged for 2 years! Funny how this was the opportunity I waited what felt like a lifetime for; now I can’t imagine not doing it. It isn’t a chore. I don’t dread it. Still, after 2 whole years, I love spilling my heart and mind all over these pages. A friend of mine likened blogging to a digital journal – and she’s not wrong. Cheers to more years!

an award!

Received some fantastic feedback on a previous post Using that Psych Degree. If you haven’t seen it, you’re missing out. I paid a lot of money for this geniusness inside my brain. Whoever thought I wouldn’t be blogging at year two was mistaken. P.S. no one said that. I think.

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I ask you –

Any social experiment additions to my list?

What’s your favorite item on a charcuterie board? Better question: do you know what one is? Should I have added a photo here?

Best guess time – how many years will I blog?

I’m a Pioneer!

I need friends. Running friends. Running friends who only run when it’s incredibly hot outside and I can’t go out there to run. Too much? So I joined Strava.

Find me on Strava!

Then I decided to channel my inner woman of the wild and become a canning master! Next up: living in a hut and churning my own butter. Right. I know.

Strawberry Jam!

Jam

As a writer, grammar and spelling are important to me, as well as consistent fonts across a document. It’s my job. I appreciate when someone’s email signature line is short, concise, and, most importantly, legible! You may be asking how an email could possibly be anything other than legible; rest assured, I’ve seen it all. It’s not pretty.

Full disclosure: I don’t believe everything I read on the internet. Tell me you don’t either. So I did my own research. Turns out it is true!

My dreamer mindset got a little excited, to tell the truth. But as for adding it to the bucket list? No thanks. The part that negated all my dreams was “The real-life walk would be grueling, filled with scary animals and diversely bad weather.” Nope, nope, and nope. Next, please.

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I ask you –

What’s your Strava information? Please comment below. I need friends!

Have you ever canned anything? What should I can next?

Tell me something on your bucket list!

Monday Mayhem

With the heat and humidity quickly rising to practically unfathomable degrees, I knew I wanted to spend my long holiday weekend resting and not doing anything to require copious amounts of thinking. Per the usual idea. But even as I write portions of this post on a Thursday afternoon feels-like-my-Friday, I’m struggling to take my mind off the big things.

Iced coffee afficionado

You know how sometimes you can feel change is coming…there’s something in the air, the anxious way you react, or where your mind drifts no matter what you’re engrossed in? Can’t be just me! Anyway – that’s where I’m at.

Today is Day 31 of my planned May Run Streak! Seeing as my personality is either all in or not at all, I kind of feel like I should just keep running, right? 90 days sounds good. It would get me right up to August then I can reevaluate. To race or not to race. That is the question. Hmmm. I could take a short break in August, pick up training in September, then finalize a race for either Nov or Dec. Got me thinking.

Or I could streak until Jan 2022. I could. But I probably won’t.

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I ask you –

Is it a full moon? Have the forces changed?

Should I keep streaking? Or train for a fall race?

Happy Memorial Day, fellow followers. Wars have been fought and won based on the sacrifice of many. Let us never forget.

Day in Photos, pt 17

Finally! With movie theaters beginning to reopen, there’s a possibility I might attempt to stay awake long enough to see something other than matinee.

my first choice!

I love coffee almost as much as I love running. Some days even more. But coffee is so expensive. Not that I mind paying for what I love and there’s several (one in particular) locally owned coffee shops I adore. However, I was pleasantly surprised at my ability to make decent iced coffee at home using my Keurig and some Green Mountain Vanilla Cream over ice coffee pods. It was soooo good!

brown, not black and not definitely not white

And, I have an ice cream addiction. A Halo Top addiction. Creamy, sweet, and keto-friendly?! Be still my heart. There’s 6 flavors of incredibleness. My boss saw me in the grocery store with a cart full of ice cream; he didn’t even blink. I pretended not to notice him. We have a mutual understanding.

Seeing as how I’ve never perfected any type of mechanic skills, my next trick is to convince you all I can restore an old truck. Ok, stop laughing. I feel the need to do this. No idea why. Something similar to the below photo. Nostalgia.

used with permission

I’m editing this post earlier than my usual, last minute, holy-crap-it’s-Sunday-afternoon time frame. Part of me self-congratulatory; the other part is fearful I’ll find other things to include over the weekend and will have to re-do the entire layout. Cheers to living dangerously!

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I ask you –

Any new movies you’re looking forward to seeing? Top Gun: Maverick. Fast & Furious 9. Hotel Transylvania 4.

What kind of tools are required to restore an old truck? And do you want to help me?

Tell me your favorite ice cream flavor!

Random Things, pt 11

There’s nothing easy or simple about reflecting on your past. It can be ugly back there.

new life in the neighborhood

I think back to my first marriage and how every sign pointed to a dead end street. But we blindly charged forward. We both had come from unhealthy upbringings surrounded by addiction and loss. Did I mention we were 18 & 19 yrs old? Hardly an age to be considered adults much less make such a profound choice. And we were wildly different. I was studious and practical whilst he was carefree and spontaneous. Prude meets bum. We were two kids with very opposite viewpoints on almost everything. A match made in heaven!

There’s comfort in this: “When fear knocks on the door of your life, let faith answer!”

Lately I’ve found myself connecting with much older and much younger people more than those my age. Could it be just a season of life? Maybe it’s always been this way and I didn’t notice.

Something made me think about how my addiction to coconut oil has become a habit to rub off on others. Get it, get it. Even before it was a “thing”, I was using coconut oil on my skin, face, hair, you name it. Personally I attribute my overuse of it to the reason I survived pregnancy sans stretch marks. Well, no more than I started with. Many years ago, my destroyer berthing mates knew if I had been in berthing by the smell of my lotion (pure coconut oil). I guess there could be worse smells. Now as I slather it on by the handful, even my mini gets in on the action. Like mother, like daughter. Some say it clogs your skin, etc but mine has never been healthier. Thousands of island-inhabited women can’t be wrong.

On a scale of 1 to You’re Fired, how well would it go over if every time I walked into the restroom at work, and noticed another person in the stall, I yelled “HOWDY, BATHROOM BUDDY!”? Can I tell you a secret? Anytime I go into the restroom in public and can sense (or smell) (or hear) other people being very quiet, I feel like they just want to poop in peace so I try to leave as quickly as possible. Kel, you’re so weird. Do men’s restrooms not behave this way? Why not?

my demise

Run streaking is going splendidly. The hottest run was nearly 87 degrees. My only saving grace was the incredibly strong, 20+mph winds. So instead of it feeling like a sauna, it was like a dryer! That’s always fun. I’ve managed to secure time during my lunch hour to go out to run so I consider myself very lucky. Until it gets above 88, then I’m out. Yay sunrise runs! “People make time for what’s important to them” – this is mine.

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I ask you –

How many times have you been married? Bonus points if you hit your state’s limit on marriages. Texas is 5, by the way.

Do you talk to others while in the restroom?

Tell me your go-to motto!

Where the Lost Things Are

How often is it you do a double take at something you see (or think you’ve seen)? Imagine my surprise then.

Returning to a low carb lifestyle was in my summer plans, but when I nixed the races at the end of May, I knew I didn’t have a whole lot of wiggle room for the donut-and-ice-cream plan I’d been following. Lucky for me, there are alternatives everywhere if you know where to look. Or can cook.

And don’t think for a minute I gave up cookies! No, no, no. I make a keto-fied chocolate chip cookie dough eaten straight from the container in the refrigerator. Have you tried the espresso chocolate chips yet?! Trust me!

Lastly, I stayed out until 9:42pm recently. The mom voice inside me was practically tangible when it said ‘Kel, you can not be out this late again.’ Surely I’ve mentioned my lifelong 8:30pm bedtime? I was absolutely sloth-like the next morning. Pitiful. Sad, too.

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I ask you –

Have you ever painted rocks?

What time do you typically go to bed?

Name the weirdest thing you’ve ever seen outside!

The ‘A’ Words

Credit: https://unsplash.com/@caleb_woods

Working with a youth group, it’s expected to encounter a gamut of topics. No limits. But when awkwardness came up, I stumbled a bit. Seems our next generations think life gets less awkward as one ages. Haha I wouldn’t know.

For example, twice in just one day, I encountered cringe-worthy situations. The first was about another person’s finances; the second pertaining to a divorced couple where I’m friends with each party and have known them since pre-wedding. It can get tricky. But the truth of the matter is this: it definitely doesn’t get easier. Perhaps the level of awkward is easier to manage (my sound advice is avoid, avoid, avoid!). Yet somehow it continues to happen. Oh lucky me.

Side note – there’s nothing I dislike more than observing other’s awkwardness situations. Except maybe a root canal. Seeing as how I haven’t had one of those, I’ll take my chances.

Edit: a previous Monday’s post detailing the face I make when told I should walk the stairs – a few days later, the same person began to laugh when they saw me walking my usual lunch time route and stated “You are amusing to me!” Insert sweet smile. Another “A” word.

I love the innocence of youth, the belief things won’t change so quickly, how honest and open our young people can be about topics considered taboo by older beings. We have two ears to hear and one mouth to listen. In boot camp, there was this one word that began as a call to action; however, it developed into a word of curse-like variety. The word was “ears”. Essentially it meant close your mouth and listen to this important message. But, in the hands of nearly every female in our unit vying for attention on whatever was life-threatening at the moment, it became loathed and dirty. My favorite memory was a young woman attempting to go to sleep one night who, after having had enough of hearing “Ears!” every 6 seconds, yelled out “No more ears! Just shut up!” Couldn’t agree more. I’ve never looked at, or heard rather, the word ears again without thinking back on that memory. I wonder what they use now? Masks?!

Assumptions is another “A” word with negative connotations. You don’t need me to mention the old adage regarding assuming one thing or the other. I believe perception and assumption fit unwell together…basically like perception is reality and seeing is believing…both phrases I firmly disagree with. A lot like “if it smells clean, it is clean” and we all know that isn’t true!

The title? Awkwardness and Avoidance. With a sprinkling of other words.

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I ask you –

What’s your favorite “A” word? Only PG-rated in the comments, please.

Do you consider yourself awkward? I’m not awkward. I’m just plain weird!

Tell me your best cringe-worthy memory!

Slow Roll

Awhile back, my boss requested I add “Drive By Discussion” to the calendar with a list of people to meet with. So I did. But for the remainder of the day, I was met with “why would you write that?” or “did she really say that?” Yes, yes she did. Clearly I Amelia Bedelia’d it. Accidentally on purpose. It was just too funny not to take advantage of. No sense of humor, I tell ya’!

Anyway, as I took a weekend to complete my own drive by of others’ homes and yards and gardens, the gorgeous Texas photo opportunities were limitless. Hope you enjoy. And, if not, oh well.

the tiniest, sickly looking flower on the bottom right was in my yard, of course

For someone who can’t keep one plant alive, I sure enjoy looking at the fruit of other’s hard work. Too bad horticulture and the like aren’t inherited. Consolation prize. I got humor!

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I ask you –

What’s your thoughts on drive by’s? Not funny?

Have you ever stolen plants from someone else’s yard? I thought about it!

Tell me your favorite local/native flower!

‘When the Going Gets Tough’

I’ve been studying a daily devotional called No More Unglued Mama Mornings. This 5-day plan may very well be one I go back to again and again. Thus far, my favorite line has been – “I can’t own this situation and let it throw me into frantic, fix-it mode. I let the consequences of their choices scream, so I don’t have to. I have what it takes to be the mom!” I am the mom! It references “immature leadership” many times and I feel so drawn to those words because if those words aren’t pointing directly at my mini, next to stubbornness, nothing else is.

Driving to the school to register my mini for kindergarten, I felt the familiar stirrings of anxiety unchecked. No need to ask why. It was quite apparent to even oblivious me. My sweet girl has been concerned about not being able to make friends, what to do if/when someone says something mean to her or her friends, and many other uncertainties concerning being social. May I remind you: she is a social butterfly and has never met a stranger so I feel this whole situation is mute. Nonetheless, I hear her fears loud and clear.

Because – big reveal – I’m having the same ones. As ridiculous as it may seem, I’m dreading having to interact with her classmate’s parents. My problem (well, a laundry list of them) is I am an observer, a flower on the wall, a sit in the back and wait for it type of girl. So my butterfly baby forces me to take center stage and jump right in. Why couldn’t I be blessed with RBF? You know, resting b**ch face. Then I could quietly blend in. Oh, and I’m a brunette which naturally makes me more approachable. Research it. Truth. I’m doomed.

the face that screams “come talk to me!”

In related news, I am already good friends with the mom of another young lady who will also be entering kindergarten at the same school and I do know the mother of a young boy in the same situation. With 3-4 kindergarten classes, I don’t know the chance they’ll all be in the same class but it did make me feel better knowing I know a few parents there.

In closing, I leave you with this: yesterday’s mess can become today’s message!

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I ask you –

Are you approachable or considered standoffish?

How often do you feel unglued?

Care to share your favorite motivational statement?

Whose idea was this?

How do people have time to binge shows? Maybe I’m doing this all wrong. One of my favorite radio shows plays a game where the hosts have to guess what show it is based on clues, like theme song, date it aired, etc. I never get the show right presumably because I haven’t watched any of them. Hahha presumably.

Is this a time management issue? A priority issue? I do like television. There are shows I enjoy so what’s the deal?

Feels like I never have enough hours in my day for hobbies. For me, a schedule is like a chessboard where each piece has its place and I try to fit checkers into the empty spots. Plug and play! Sometimes it’s an ‘oh crap, I need to paint my toenails’. Then there’s the ‘did I send out thank you cards yet?” No, those are still sitting atop your laptop. Other times, and this is my favorite, ‘I have a blog idea!’ so I rush off to write it down before it ends up in a forgotten heap.

in case you thought running was glamorous

To hear others tell it, failure is a good thing. Check out this article about goals. The process of achieving a goal is perhaps more important to long term success than actually achieving the goal. So all the training, all the extra required sleep, all the fretting is worth more than crossing the finish line. This is why I’ve decided to nix the race at the end of the May. A different opportunity has presented itself and I know full well if it happens sooner rather than later I won’t be able to do both. Promise I’ll fill you all in when the time is right. For now, I’m still following the training plan for the most part; with the weather getting warm quickly, I’m doing the best I can to listen to my body and plan for the days ahead. By faith, I’ve been able to run faster than I’ve ever run before nearly this entire cycle. Amazing what you can do when you let go.

Well, geez, why didn’t I think of that myself?!

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I ask you –

What hobbies do you enjoy?

Are you good at trivia questions?

Give me your best piece of advice!