Cheap Grace

Definition: Cheap grace basically teaches that we can win our race without cost or commitment to training.

I read the above statement again and again. And again. And maybe again, too.

Some call it discipline, I rather think of it as escapism. My friend and neighbor came upon me walking one evening after I had spent nearly 90 mins working on a new section of my manuscript. He might see my walking the same stretch of roadway nearly daily as discipline when, in reality, it’s just a convenient path to unwind my mind and seek (literally) new words to bring to life this idea in my head.

Conundrum: I need access to a setting, a group of people for my study, yet I’m not certain how this comes about. Organically? Do I show up and sweet talk my way into their good graces? Cold calling? Exactly how does this happen, inquiring minds must know.

Unrelatedly, remember a previous post about getting kicked out of meetings for laughing too much? Real life possibility. Cue the most recent meeting where a group titled Pheasants Forever was mentioned. I snorted laughing. Later, thankfully after the meeting concluded, I asked if this was a real group. Indeed, it is. But better was the question by an equally funny coworker who asked “Do the peasants fly?” I nearly peed on myself when I retorted how peasants are people!

Anyway, cheap grace.

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I ask you –

How would you define cheap grace?

Are you guilty of engaging in an activity to seek escape?

Pheasants Forever – ever heard of them?!

(The post Cheap Grace first appeared here at Running on Fumes.)

Tri and Tri Again!

The intent was to share here how I competed in a recent Mini Triathlon. But you won’t be reading a recap as I decided the day prior to forego the event in lieu of keeping myself alive. Slightly dramatic but not by much. Originally when I considered it, the weather had been hovering around the 75° mark and it was raining near daily. Then, summer arrived. The projected high on the day of the Mini Tri was 99°. Despite it starting around 78-ish°, the humidity was rapidly increasing.

All this to say, maybe next time. It’s not worth chancing it. Nonetheless, I was out there doing director things and playing witness to the other able-bodied individuals with Triathlon goals. Base support was awesome, we recruited different groups of people to help facilitate the event as it spanned multiple smaller events and a large footprint. Personally, I love seeing our team get together and DO outside the office.

Team Fitness!

Also, I’m trying something new. I want to keep track of my weekly exercise activities and the addition of manuscript pages in an effort to see valued change 1 yr from now, when I project completing this doctoral journey. My plan is to add a screenshot of my weekly activities via the Garmin app with a numerical indicator of manuscript pages. (I don’t have an activity list for Wk 2 but I know I added 9 pgs.)

For example, the below was from Wk 3:

Additional pages: 18

Despite the fact these variables probably have zero correlation, it’s an interesting concept to me. I like lists and comparing things, although not typically numbers because I’m not number-y, I’m word-y. As it stands, I can’t imagine there will be anything to this beyond being able to look back at it, mainly because I don’t run/cycle/walk between 4-6am because that’s when I’m writing. Additionally, I don’t run/walk/cycle between 5-8pm because it’s either too hot, raining (as of late), or I’m working on my manuscript. Therefore, my work day is primarily when I engage in exercise so one rarely precludes me from doing the other, except on the weekends when I attempt to do both. Since I’m not tracking just the weekends, the data is mostly garbage stats. Thank you for listening while I worked all this out.

Nonetheless, it gives me something to look forward to so without further ado –

Week 4 Activity + Pages Report:

Additional pages: 11

_________________

I ask you –

What teams are you a part of?

Any insight into my stats game?

Pros/cons of tracking activity stats!!

(The post Tri and Tri Again! first appeared here at Running on Fumes.)

Updates!

I thought with the first iteration of manuscript feedback I would feel like a puppy with its head down and tail between its legs, sadly moping around after being chastised. Maybe I’m just immune now. Probably a good thing I don’t get my feelings hurt too often anymore because – what’s feelings? – after 2 years of writing for a page count, I no longer have to do that. I can just write for quality and content. What a concept! Anyway, there was a fair amount of red garnishing the margins of my submission but nothing unmanageable. I’ve only been writing my whole life so you’d think I would have it figured out by now.

On the subject of figuring it out – mini has completed her first few years of elementary school and will soon be headed to a more concise portion of the formidable elementary school system. Seems she and a few classmates are a bit nervous to leave behind the teachers they have essentially grown up around. My mama heart is simply amazed at the progress she has made, especially in terms of reading and math. Watching it finally “click” are moments I never want to let go of. From single sentence reading folders then to chapter books, her interests are slightly unpredictable but incredibly beautiful. As her brain fills with information, I want to capture these moments forever. She’s a caring, thoughtful, helpful friend; I see it in everything she does and how big her heart is when she’s around others. Elementary school may not be a traditional milestone to anyone else, yet, if one digs deep, the foundational stones are being laid before my eyes. And you can’t get these memories back.

Other notable memories and observations – if I don’t stop laughing at these meetings, I’m destined to get kicked out. Ah-ha! It’s like they make me incredibly giggly thinking about inappropriate things and once I start laughing, I’m done. No focus.

Included in the no focus section for this post – the photo below is me hiding under McK’s desk, lying in wait to scare her. Spoiler: it worked. She yelled and jumped. Payback for the time she scared me in my office. Work is fun!

_________________

I ask you –

What’s the ideal color to write in the margins?

How often do you scare someone?

Define “figuring it out”.

(The post Updates! first appeared here at Running on Fumes.)

Significant. Hot dogs.

What’s fascinating about the leadership role and a dissertation is the perplexing desire to convince others to care. Crazy, right? Dubbed the “significance of the study” section, the goal is to convince a bunch of strangers that your topic is both important to everyone, including you, and relevant to some issue in society today. It’s so much fun, I’m here to tell you.

Once I made my 15-week plan for this course, my appetite and desire to type tanked. Attributed mostly to allergies and the realization that mini is leaving soon on her TN/CA fun-filled summer adventure, I know I’ll be left with a lot of time on my hands to write. And write. And write some more. Although I’m looking forward to diving in and wracking up the page count, I’m also…meh. Pretty sure it’s just a phase though.

Lastly, what I thought was a phase has turned into a longstanding love affair with hot dogs. So sarcastic. I do not love hot dogs. I don’t even like hot dogs. I’m sick of hot dogs. Alas, I am in the hot dog business.

Those are my hot dog friends. And that’s a cooler filled with hot dogs. We brought the band back together for another hot dog escapade. The third, in fact. If I never see another hot dog, it will be too soon. I know a hot dog song and will gladly sing it for you.

___________________

I ask you –

What does it mean to be significant?

Do you like hot dogs? Wanna buy some?

Tell me your summer plans!

(The post Significant. Hot dogs. first appeared here at Running on Fumes.)

Daily Driver

We traveled a lot of hours together recently to move her storage unit contents closer to home. Travel, sort, load = 10 hours. Travel, unload = 1.25 hrs. Well worth it. Considering we’d both been dreading this for nearly 3 yrs, I think we did a great job and had a lot of laughs along the way!

It’s apparent we should have our own podcast. If you think I’m funny…haHA! Parts is a riot.

Except when she made me drive myself, like a peasant, to work 2 days in a row. And, the first day, it hailed resulting in numerous dents. To be fair, she got a cracked windshield out of it so I’m not truly complaining about my dents. Inside the fitness center, it sounded like WWIII. Alas, no major injuries were reported, just lots of broken windows.

Now that I’ve returned to my chauffeured-lifesyle, I’m sure I’ll never see hail again. One can only hope.

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I ask you –

How many times have you moved?

Have you ever suffered hail damage?

Tell me your thoughts on carpooling! Big fan, as long as it’s with Parts.

(The post Daily Driver first appeared here at Running on Fumes.)

Making Things

I made a pink lemonade creamsicle with Sugar free pink lemonade, Jordan’s Skinny Syrups coconut, heavy cream and ice. Amazing!

I like jelly beans. I don’t like Dunkin. Didn’t buy them but was considering it.

Still recovering from Air Show. My poor feet took a beating. Once the chronic pain returned, I could tell something wasn’t right. There’s extensive bruising under and around my pinkie toe, as well as a large swollen area under the toe, nearest the side of my foot. It’s non-weight bearing and, early on, was causing pain on the outside of my calf. What now? So, short of religious usage of ibuprofen and staying off it as much as possible because right I’m totally on top of that then here we are. Again.

Also trying red light therapy for mini’s skin issues, as well as testing its claims to be great for healing. We’ll see how it works out.

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I ask you –

Do you like creamsicles?

Have you ever tried red light therapy?

Tell me your favorite brand of jelly beans!

(The post Making Things first appeared here at Running on Fumes.)

Learning to Listen

Learning to listen… without response. Recently, I heard a radio program where a gentleman shared a story about how his daughter walked into his bathroom one morning while he was shaving and she let him have it. No introduction. No finality. She wailed on him and then walked out. He didn’t mention it until much later when she asked him to lunch and stated she couldn’t believe he stood there and just took it. His response, “Sometimes people just need to get it out”.

Nicaraguan coffee beans!

The overarching theme of the man’s story was being a good listener. We all struggle with hearing to reply rather than listening to understand. Often, people (ahem, children) need to get it all out. They need to speak until they’ve determined they said enough, when everything is “out”. The proverbial data dump of words. I encounter adults on a near daily basis that also need to be heard and I’m fortunate to have 2 ears to listen and only 1 mouth to speak. Watch one, do one, teach one.

As what’s-his-name would say, and now the rest of the story. What was his name? Onomatopoeia. Commonly mispronounced and more commonly misspelled, onomatopoeia means a word that also indicates a sound. For example, hiss, buzz, or splat. It’s a fascinating word not often used. Until my dinner table. Mini brought it up which fostered a conversation about what it meant. Something Waller? Bill? Truly, I had no idea! I’d heard the word before but never used it. Now you can!

Was it Dan…Jones?

_________________

I ask you –

Did you know the definition of onomatopoeia?

What was that guy’s name? And now you know the rest of the story.

Listener. Responder. Choose one.

(The post Learning to Listen first appeared here at Running on Fumes.)

Who Signed Me Up?

Let me apologize first. It got…hectic for awhile. So if this post looks like a mini version of me wrote it, then…she didn’t. It was me. At this moment, I’m probably still running off of adrenaline, coffee, and a single hand’s worth of sleep. Two words: Air. Show. Help.

Dubbed the “Ice Queen” for the duration of the weekend, I found a home in my cozy club car, making a million trips to various food and beer tents providing much needed ice, soda, and chips, on occasion. They even gave me a walkie talkie, of which I was extra careful because I didn’t want to accept any fines for using my Sailor language. Disclaimer: I did say one bad word.

I’m laughing because it seems I took a lot of selfies yet I have no actual Air Show photos. In hindsight, I saw the Thunderbirds perform at least 3x and I saw demos and reenactments at least twice. It truly was an incredibly successful weekend. As I finish this post Monday morning before publishing, my feet ache but my heart is full. I met wonderful people, worked with the best of the best, and was privileged to support the public and the installation.

I love this stuff. But if we didn’t do it for another 7 yrs or so, that’s fine by me.

And on the subject of ice –

I found my summer activity: Curling! A whole club dedicated to learning and perfecting curling techniques! Looking for my winter gear right now. Also, I’m taking volunteers to be my partner. Must love laughing, and falling. Will train.

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I ask you –

Have you ever attended an Air Show?

Did you know there were curling clubs? Me neither!

Tell me your summer plans!

(The post Who Signed Me Up? first appeared here at Running on Fumes.)

Doing Some Things

Totally phoning it in on this post because it’s Saturday morning and I got nothing.

Joy ride with my bestie. “POL”

BOGO. Two coffees are always better than one.

Parts. Doing Parts things.

My feet hurt a lot lately.

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I ask you –

Have you ever taken a joy ride disguised as on-the-job training? Me neither.

How much coffee is too much?

Tell me the last thing you did! This should be fun.

(The post Doing Some Things first appeared here at Running on Fumes.)

Did we make it?

I considered not even prepping this post in case the Eclipse of 2024 turned into Apocalypse 2024. Alas, I like to be prepared. Just in case, you know.

But if I didn’t write this post, you wouldn’t be entertained with the most ridiculous photos of my whackadooness. Out of everyone enjoying the eclipse, I think I had the most fun. And definitely got the most compliments for my headwear!

I also have an 8 yr old now. When did this happen? Now, she asks hard questions and is a mini gremlin upon wakeup. Not unlike age 7. I just want her hands to always stay this small.

Alas, the volleyball season has come to an end (for our team anyway). The official record is 4-4, which isn’t bad in my book. Sure, we beat ourselves up several times and missed a few easy volleys but, personally, I made it out alive so that’s a win! One teammate wasn’t so fortunate; he suffered an ankle fracture early season. If all I had was bruises of varying degrees and a heavy reliance on ibuprofen and heating pads – meh.

Definitely worth it. But maybe next time I’ll just coach.

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I ask you –

Did you check out the eclipse? Better question, who didn’t?

What do you think of my hat-making skills?!

Tell me how old you’ll be at the next eclipse! Just add 20.

(The post Did we make it? first appeared here at Running on Fumes.)