In The Kitchen with Kate: Wordless Wednesday Edition

I saw this recipe on Pinterest the other day and couldn’t wait to try it. Homemade Veggie Nuggets!

That looks neat, right? Vegetarian chicken nuggets! And the ingredient list really was simple: Carrots, parsnips, potato, broccoli – and then some oil, egg and breadcrumbs.

The reality:

So, mine is a different color… I can work with that… but it was also a totally different texture… well, let’s try it anyway, so what if the cookie cutter didn’t work and I pulled out the melon baller… It could still work!

Yeah.  No.

I am a Runner

Happy Pre-Friday everyone! The other night I clicked a link on Twitter, read this blog  and then shed some tears. Several of you have been here for the last several years and know my journey to get healthier, and how I’ve started running and stopped, started and stopped more times than I can count.

It took some time to for me to actually start “running”. I worked up to it. I walked. A lot. I did the elliptical. I tried outside. And came right back in. It’s hard. And there are people out there. People that could see every jiggle and bounce my body took with each stride.

It has been almost a year since I started “running”. And up until a few weeks ago, I still wouldn’t have called myself a runner. Y’all remember my first 5k from a few weeks ago? Remember those two girls talking and I distanced myself from the conversation because I thought they were friends – but come to find out, they were strangers too – they just had allowed themselves to embrace the running community, where as I hadn’t yet. I was standing there waiting for someone to tell me that I didn’t look like a runner. That I shouldn’t even be there.

That’s the little voice in my head that I live with. That I think most of us live with. That voice that can come up with 1,000 reasons why you shouldn’t do it. Why you shouldn’t run that race, why you shouldn’t take the new job, why you shouldn’t move across the country. Or even why you shouldn’t say yes to that invitation that your friend issued.

But you know what? Not once has that voice been right. I always have fun when I say Yes to the invitation. Taking the new job led to an amazing life, one I couldn’t have imagined that allowed me to be there more for my son. And you know what, not a single person at that race told me I wasn’t supposed to be there. Not a single one even gave me a sideways glance. Everyone I encountered smiled, and spoke, and invited me in.

And now I can say that I’m a runner and not put the quotation marks around it.  Now I can share with all of you what, up until this point, was pretty much only known if you follow me on Instagram! I was afraid to put it out there.  I was afraid to declare my intentions.  The little voice was telling me that I wouldn’t find acceptance.  Fortunately, I am stronger, WE are all stronger, than that little voice.

So, go run.  Go paint.  Go capture a soul through your photography.  Go step outside your comfort zone and take the new job.  Move.  Explore.  Do.

And go read Ashley at Rather be Runnin’: 

Rather Be Runnin’

P.S. I linked to some old posts of mine, which was weird, because (1) they were old and apparently my writing style has change (hopefully for the better) and (2) they were not even telling the story the way I thought they were!  So, you don’t have to bother to go back and read them!

I’m Falling Apart!

I’m not sure what I did, but when I woke up this morning my calf felt a bit “off”, but I suited up and went running anyway! Since I’m finally making progress on the Couch to 5k, I wasn’t about to let a bad nights sleep that resulted in my calf feeling a bit “off” hinder my progress!

I got home, showered and went to work. A few hours later, my calf really hurt. A little bit after that I couldn’t stand it – I had too much to do to not be able to walk. Read that sentence as “I had too much shopping to do”

Digging through my medicine cabinet I found 1 last heat pack. It was meant for your back or hip, but darned if it didn’t wrap nicely around my calf!

I am sure I looked quite ghetto doing all of my shopping with a massive white wrap around my leg and a slight limp!

I did it anyway!

 

Well, I did take it off for the Target run – it was coming loose and I wasn’t patient enough to re-wrap it!

I felt the affects – and put it back on to drive back home.

OH – but, guess what I saw in the stores! Yes, I know that they are starting Back-to-school early, but you’ll never believe this:

Christmas!!  Christmas in JULY!!!

Anyway, eventually my shopping was done and I was headed home; however, on the way home I saw a mobile blood drive. And, well, it was time for me to donate again. And it’s the right thing to do. I save three lives each time I donate! And, well, July donations got a coupon for a free pint of ice cream.

I would have donated anyway.  Most likely.  🙂

So, I flipped a youie once traffic was clear and headed in. Low and behold, there was no wait! I was meant to be there!

I did all of the qualifications and took my test and got settled in the chair.

About 10 minutes later they were wrapping a bandage around my arm and moving me to a chair on the other side of the van. They could not get into my vein. They got all around it – and they knicked something because I already have a massive bruise forming – but they couldn’t stick me.

Fortunately, it only took about 4 minutes for them to figure it out on the other side and 5 minutes later they were wrapping me up and I was getting my cookies and juice.

Let’s recap:
Big white wrap on my calf.
Big blue bandage on my right arm.
Big blue bandage on my left arm.
Scabs healing on my knuckles (trampoline park was still worth it!)

Yeah… I turned 40 and it looks like I’ve fallen apart!