Confession:
(But not the juicy kind...sorry!)
Lately, I've been having SUCH a hard time staying motivated in my running. It has become sort of a chore, instead of the privilege I viewed it as, before. I don't want to quit or anything like that, but I think I need a change of scenery.
Anyway, I read a runner's forum online and this very topic came up...what do you do when you don't want to do it?
There were all sorts of inspirational thoughts and ideas, but it all came back around to the famous basic Nike (pronounced Nike-eee, I was informed and duly noted) slogan: Just do it.
Just do it.
This morning, while I was running, I was thinking about how this really applies to all areas of my life. I'm always saying to myself, "I wish I was a little more organized," or "I'd like to have a flatter tummy," or "I want the kids to see Yellowstone park, before they're teenagers and don't want to be seen with me."
The almost too-simple fact of the matter is that if I want to have more organization, I shouldn't hang around waiting for the Rubbermaid Fairy to clonk me over the head with a plan, I just need to do it. Most of the things I want to be are completely attainable...except, maybe, NFL team owner. And right now, who wants to own an NFL team, anyway?
Just do it.
Want to learn French? DO it!
Lose 10 lbs? DO it!
Hang a photo in a gallery? DO it!
Make a souffle? DO it!
Learn to golf? DO it!
Get your papers in color-coded, alphabetized, chronologically synchronized files? DO it! (Bless your heart..)
Wishin' don't make it so, to quote Ian Tyson. And it might hurt. In fact, most change hurts in one way or another. But then, again, I just read about a monk who lost both legs from meditating too long...so, inertia can hurt, too, I guess.
No excuses, no whining, no elaborate plans...just do it.
So, I'm going to find another running route, tell myself every morning to suck it up, Buttercup and hit it again.
*One of the sayings on the running forum that I laughed at and promptly put on my mental fridge was:
"It's not sweat, it's your fat cells crying..."
Isn't that good?
Now, what are you doing, today?
Saturday, August 13, 2011
Friday, August 12, 2011
Through the Window
I almost forgot...
I'm part of a blog/photo challenge that my friend Patricia at Pollywog Creek started this month! The challenge is to take pictures from a window, through a window...any sort, and post them on my blog or hers. I can't figure out, exactly, the process, but when you see this little symbol on Fridays:
Window into my cousin's life where one afternoon, girls in white dresses rode horses and walked through wheat fields...
I'm part of a blog/photo challenge that my friend Patricia at Pollywog Creek started this month! The challenge is to take pictures from a window, through a window...any sort, and post them on my blog or hers. I can't figure out, exactly, the process, but when you see this little symbol on Fridays:
...you'll know that's my photo for the week.
If I'm incredibly inspired or ambitious, there may even be more than one.
Anyway....
Here are a couple oldies that are favorites:
From the train window, on my way to Whitefish...
Molly in the window, so happy to be part of the family romp....
The Denver Zoo...a window into worlds of animals I'd only ever really read about....
Through the barn window/door....brand new life....
Window into my cousin's life where one afternoon, girls in white dresses rode horses and walked through wheat fields...
Huh?
I'm going to start a new category on the Chronicles with signs I encounter on the road of life that make me laugh or groan...or both.
I drove past THIS sign three times, in Lewistown, laughing AND groaning, before I finally stopped to take a picture. Central Montana really embraces Charlie Russell and his art, but in this case, I think perhaps the business owners chose the wrong iconic Russell image to promote (?) their business....
I drove past THIS sign three times, in Lewistown, laughing AND groaning, before I finally stopped to take a picture. Central Montana really embraces Charlie Russell and his art, but in this case, I think perhaps the business owners chose the wrong iconic Russell image to promote (?) their business....
*{Patricia...this IS my "Through the window.." picture! Took it out of the car window!}
It looks a little fishy, to me...
One of the things I love about Lewistown is the fish hatchery. My Grandpa Mosby used to take us kids out there when Grandma's "show" came on, so we would be out of the house and unable to interrupt or discern the plot of what was actually a corny soap opera. (We were never allowed to call it her "soap"...it was always her "show".) It's one of the nicest, most peaceful settings in the state of Montana, in my opinion, with stately old trees, little rock bridges, Big Spring Creek burbling through. There's a tank with monster trout that you can feed fish chow to, 5 cents for a handful. The tank is relatively new...when we were kids, there was an old, dark stone tank and the fish in it were truly monsters...gnarly, hooked bottom jaws, scary fish eyes that looked hungry all the time, skin that was more black than rainbow. The fish in the new tank are just flabby and long, and they are no more scary than Fat Albert.
My sister and her little family joined us on Saturday morning. The cussins always have a good time together and Jen and I brought our cameras along to play with. Here are some of the images!
Couple hundred baby trout in the tank Angus checked out. These were actually around 10-12 inches long, which is a pretty good sized baby trout!
I've always thought it was funny that the fish were delivered in tank trucks. I don't know why it seems so odd to me, because that's about the only way it could be done, really.
Her Royal Highness somehow found the stinkiest, swampiest black mud to wallow and jump in, causing me to scold her and rendering her....
...very grumpy for the sweet picture my sister took of us. Maggie thought it was completely unnecessary for me to make such a fuss over a little mud, and "showed me" by scowling in all the pictures. This is the least pouty one....little brat.
My sister, Jen, her husband Darren, Liv and Kamryn...ALL smiling like movie stars! We're missing Khyrsten, my oldest niece, in this picture.
And isn't that old bridge just the coolest?
This picture makes me laugh, only because every picture Darren took, he was so cotton-pickin' impressed with himself and his obvious natural gift for photography that he'd comment, "I missed my calling!" or "Darn, I'm good!". It was no use pointing out to him that it was the subjects of his photos that made him seem so awesomely gifted, or perhaps the gorgeous setting, or maybe the really good Canon Rebel camera that auto-fixed exposure/focus/etc. He was convinced it was his magic touch.
Gramps used to tell stories about people he thought were interesting and sometimes he'd shake his head over the character and say, "He's a caution...". I'm sure he'd have said that about Angus....
My sister and her little family joined us on Saturday morning. The cussins always have a good time together and Jen and I brought our cameras along to play with. Here are some of the images!
Fish chow...
Carefully sprinkled in the tank...
Big honking trout, looking for an easy meal!
And they make a horrendous splash with their fat old tails, after swiping the chow!
Angus is looking at the nursery tanks. There were almost no fish in these tanks...I think everyone must've been re-stocking reservoirs that were finally full this spring.
Couple hundred baby trout in the tank Angus checked out. These were actually around 10-12 inches long, which is a pretty good sized baby trout!
I've always thought it was funny that the fish were delivered in tank trucks. I don't know why it seems so odd to me, because that's about the only way it could be done, really.
Her Royal Highness somehow found the stinkiest, swampiest black mud to wallow and jump in, causing me to scold her and rendering her....
...very grumpy for the sweet picture my sister took of us. Maggie thought it was completely unnecessary for me to make such a fuss over a little mud, and "showed me" by scowling in all the pictures. This is the least pouty one....little brat.
My sister, Jen, her husband Darren, Liv and Kamryn...ALL smiling like movie stars! We're missing Khyrsten, my oldest niece, in this picture.
And isn't that old bridge just the coolest?
Girl cussins, all pretty...
Girl cussins, all silly...
This picture makes me laugh, only because every picture Darren took, he was so cotton-pickin' impressed with himself and his obvious natural gift for photography that he'd comment, "I missed my calling!" or "Darn, I'm good!". It was no use pointing out to him that it was the subjects of his photos that made him seem so awesomely gifted, or perhaps the gorgeous setting, or maybe the really good Canon Rebel camera that auto-fixed exposure/focus/etc. He was convinced it was his magic touch.
Gramps used to tell stories about people he thought were interesting and sometimes he'd shake his head over the character and say, "He's a caution...". I'm sure he'd have said that about Angus....
Enough!!!
My poor little Chronicles have been suffering...
And I apologize to those of you who faithfully check in, to catch the latest, scintillating news from Cohagen.
While I was loading the dishwasher this morning, I decided part of the reason is that I've been looking at Facebook a lot more, and posting little blurbs there. Apparently, I'm not one of those people who can run both a blog AND a Facebook page. I think there's more value in my blog, and most of the same people read it, so I've decided to check FB only on Sundays and Wednesdays and write about life here, at the Chronicles.
So.
What's new in Cohagen?
Our new school teacher is here! Joni and Aaron Carroll arrived last weekend from North Carolina, bringing two U-Hauls of shtuff, 4 dogs (I think) and shocking the heck out of me when they recognized us in the grocery store. Aaron is a Chronicles reader (who scolded me for the lack of recent posts) and Joni recognized the kids and I from pictures, here. I was sort of dazed, having driven in from the Dutton Family reunion in Lewistown, and heard this voice down the pasta/beans/juice aisle: "That's Mary!" And a woman I've never seen in my life came hustling over like we were old friends. All I could think was, "I missed a cousin, somehow...?!" Maggie latched onto them, immediately, and started giving all sorts of friendly advice and guidelines, completing her earlier interview and informing both Carrolls that they "could" stay until she went to high school. (We're having a rough time with this whole "new teacher" thing...)
The Carrolls will be featured in a future Chronicles profile post, with pictures and all that. (See, Aaron? You want posts, you got posts...about YOU!)
The farmers around the area have begun harvest, sort of jerkily, because everything is ripening oddly. I'm headed out to the field today to take some photos, for those of you who like farm-y sorts of posts. Stay tuned for THAT thrilling, upcoming segment...
The Garfield County Fair is going on this week! Yesterday, the Farmer and I went in to judge 4H projects. He judges things like woodworking, metal working and poetry. (I KNOW. Poetry. Who knew?!) I judged 4H foods and photography again. I'm not big on vampire things, but remember how cartoonishly vampires are depicted when faced with garlic? Pulling their cloaks across their faces and shuddering? That's how I feel about chocolate chip cookies and brownies after I judge the fair. I vant to run avay...quvickly...from any baked goods, today. Lots of good little cooks in Garfield County!
In other news, our hired hand Dixie left to pursue her dreams in Helena, MT. (Okay, that was maybe a little romantic for "seeking employment out of Garfield County"...) We miss her; lunch was always fun, because she was always bringing us the latest gossip and scandal rocking Jordan that week. Now, we've got nothin'. Even the meatloaf tastes less exciting. (You know....because meatloaf is generally a rocking sort of main dish...)
Football is back!
Another year of character building for a San Fransisco 49ers fan.... Again. Still.
My consolation is that no matter how awful my 49ers are, the Broncos are consistantly worse!
Last year, I won a rather glorious bet on the 49ers/Broncos game that was played in London. My prize was that the LOSER betting for the Broncos had to start every email to me with the score: SF24-DEN16. It was so, so sweet...mostly because it was a score that will be burned in both our heads for at LEAST two more years.
This year, the 49ers and the Broncos won't face off at all, and I'm not gonna lie...the season sort of pales because of it. There goes our one chance of winning a game...!
In garden news, I have 109 stubbornly green tomatoes, 6 zucchini that will become fritters tonight, 30-ish carrots without tops (because Angus can pull tops off, but not carrots out of the ground), relentlessly cheerful marigolds, and stems of everything else that the grasshoppers have devoured. Oh! And more toads and frogs than we've ever seen. And you'd think they'd be just completely obese, these amphibians, because of the multitude of grasshoppers, but they are actually modestly trim. That may be because they're spending all their time hopping away from the kids.
We transported one hapless toad to Lewistown for the family reunion, where he sat for three days in a little old plastic bug case, looking at himself in the motel mirror. He was too depressed to die. Maggie was completely mystified as to why he refused all the luscious bugs she offered up to him and finally agreed to release him in the wilds of Frank Day Memorial park in the labrynth garden under the daylillies. The vacuum of the empty container immediately sucked in two skinny earthworms who reside there, still. Worms are more resiliant, but less interesting. Further bulletins as events warrant...
We have three kittens for give-away!
Kid trained, mother approved! All orange and white tiggers...contact us if you are interested at all. I'll throw in a free bag of zucchini with every sucker....I mean, taker.
That's all the news that IS news, from my house.
Stay tuned for more zucchini recipes, a farm girl fashion show, the New Teacher Feature, a startling new Crazy Mary question and answer, bum calf updates, harvest horrors and much, much more...
And I apologize to those of you who faithfully check in, to catch the latest, scintillating news from Cohagen.
While I was loading the dishwasher this morning, I decided part of the reason is that I've been looking at Facebook a lot more, and posting little blurbs there. Apparently, I'm not one of those people who can run both a blog AND a Facebook page. I think there's more value in my blog, and most of the same people read it, so I've decided to check FB only on Sundays and Wednesdays and write about life here, at the Chronicles.
So.
What's new in Cohagen?
Our new school teacher is here! Joni and Aaron Carroll arrived last weekend from North Carolina, bringing two U-Hauls of shtuff, 4 dogs (I think) and shocking the heck out of me when they recognized us in the grocery store. Aaron is a Chronicles reader (who scolded me for the lack of recent posts) and Joni recognized the kids and I from pictures, here. I was sort of dazed, having driven in from the Dutton Family reunion in Lewistown, and heard this voice down the pasta/beans/juice aisle: "That's Mary!" And a woman I've never seen in my life came hustling over like we were old friends. All I could think was, "I missed a cousin, somehow...?!" Maggie latched onto them, immediately, and started giving all sorts of friendly advice and guidelines, completing her earlier interview and informing both Carrolls that they "could" stay until she went to high school. (We're having a rough time with this whole "new teacher" thing...)
The Carrolls will be featured in a future Chronicles profile post, with pictures and all that. (See, Aaron? You want posts, you got posts...about YOU!)
The farmers around the area have begun harvest, sort of jerkily, because everything is ripening oddly. I'm headed out to the field today to take some photos, for those of you who like farm-y sorts of posts. Stay tuned for THAT thrilling, upcoming segment...
The Garfield County Fair is going on this week! Yesterday, the Farmer and I went in to judge 4H projects. He judges things like woodworking, metal working and poetry. (I KNOW. Poetry. Who knew?!) I judged 4H foods and photography again. I'm not big on vampire things, but remember how cartoonishly vampires are depicted when faced with garlic? Pulling their cloaks across their faces and shuddering? That's how I feel about chocolate chip cookies and brownies after I judge the fair. I vant to run avay...quvickly...from any baked goods, today. Lots of good little cooks in Garfield County!
In other news, our hired hand Dixie left to pursue her dreams in Helena, MT. (Okay, that was maybe a little romantic for "seeking employment out of Garfield County"...) We miss her; lunch was always fun, because she was always bringing us the latest gossip and scandal rocking Jordan that week. Now, we've got nothin'. Even the meatloaf tastes less exciting. (You know....because meatloaf is generally a rocking sort of main dish...)
Football is back!
Another year of character building for a San Fransisco 49ers fan.... Again. Still.
My consolation is that no matter how awful my 49ers are, the Broncos are consistantly worse!
Last year, I won a rather glorious bet on the 49ers/Broncos game that was played in London. My prize was that the LOSER betting for the Broncos had to start every email to me with the score: SF24-DEN16. It was so, so sweet...mostly because it was a score that will be burned in both our heads for at LEAST two more years.
This year, the 49ers and the Broncos won't face off at all, and I'm not gonna lie...the season sort of pales because of it. There goes our one chance of winning a game...!
In garden news, I have 109 stubbornly green tomatoes, 6 zucchini that will become fritters tonight, 30-ish carrots without tops (because Angus can pull tops off, but not carrots out of the ground), relentlessly cheerful marigolds, and stems of everything else that the grasshoppers have devoured. Oh! And more toads and frogs than we've ever seen. And you'd think they'd be just completely obese, these amphibians, because of the multitude of grasshoppers, but they are actually modestly trim. That may be because they're spending all their time hopping away from the kids.
We transported one hapless toad to Lewistown for the family reunion, where he sat for three days in a little old plastic bug case, looking at himself in the motel mirror. He was too depressed to die. Maggie was completely mystified as to why he refused all the luscious bugs she offered up to him and finally agreed to release him in the wilds of Frank Day Memorial park in the labrynth garden under the daylillies. The vacuum of the empty container immediately sucked in two skinny earthworms who reside there, still. Worms are more resiliant, but less interesting. Further bulletins as events warrant...
We have three kittens for give-away!
Kid trained, mother approved! All orange and white tiggers...contact us if you are interested at all. I'll throw in a free bag of zucchini with every sucker....I mean, taker.
That's all the news that IS news, from my house.
Stay tuned for more zucchini recipes, a farm girl fashion show, the New Teacher Feature, a startling new Crazy Mary question and answer, bum calf updates, harvest horrors and much, much more...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)