Peer Pressure is a Killer

My friend, Amanda, who is also a blogger (check her out at mandaelyse.blogspot.com) confronted me today about my abandonment of kate's little adventures.

"Kate, I think you should blog again." she said, "I've found that it helps me find enjoyment in the things that I don't always like to do."

I pondered this pearl of wisdom for the rest of the day, remembering how I used to spend hours and hours crafting blog posts only to become frustrated when it seemed like nobody noticed. When I think about it now, I realize that I did enjoy blogging for blogging's sake, especially when I didn't put pressure on myself to be witty or cute. Recording the simple events of my life has the potential to become a special kind of therapy...a chance to reflect, redirect, and refocus my mental energy to include the small stuff that makes up my day-to-day.

For instance, I made chicken noodle soup for dinner. And it was delicious. I haven't been taking great care of myself lately, especially when it comes to the kind of food I've been eating, and this classic entree from my childhood was just the thing I needed to set myself straight.

That said, I have been ruined for canned soup. I just can't eat it anymore. Not when there's Mrs. Grass noodle soup mix and fresh veggies simmered gently with hearty chunks of real white-meat chicken. I've always been picky about meat, wary of tendons and discolored spots or chunks of rubbery fat. Let's just say chicken wings and I don't get along. But when I make my own soup, I don't have to worry about picking out the gross "pseudo-meat" chunks floating in the overly-salted broth.

Cheesy as it sounds, I slurped my dinner and thought of my mom...and I was happy.

It's things like this that I need to blog about. For me. For my mental health. To recognize the little adventures of life that first inspired me to blog. If someone else is so inclined to share these small revelations, to come along on a silly road to nowhere and everywhere, they are most welcome.

Feel free. It's gonna be a fun ride.

P.S. The only canned soup that will forever be part of my lifebood is Campbells Tomato Soup (Possibilities) :)

Just MADDENING!

So I ordered some books on half.com the other day.

This was a big step for me because the last time I ordered books from an online bookseller (amazon.com), one of them never arrived. And my account wouldn't allow me to access the shipping information, despite the confirmation email I'd been sent telling me "you're 20 dollar novel has been charged to your credit card and shipped." If the book was ever actually shipped, it must have gotten sucked into an alternate reality by an intergalactic vortex, for it certainly never made it to my mailbox!

ANYWHO, I ordered four novels last week, all of which were part of the same series. I'd read the first one before and enjoyed it, so when I found the rest of the books for 75 cents each, I had to purchase them. I'm a sucker for a good deal, especially on books. And shoes. And blank journals. But that's another story for another post.

WHAT WAS I SAYING? Oh, yes. The books. Sorry. 

To my great delight, the first book arrived within two days of my ordering it, and I devoured it like a ravenous lion. Seriously, I don't read books, I INHALE them. It was just as entertaining as I'd recalled, and so I began to compulsively check my mailbox in eager anticipation for the second book in the series to appear.

ALAS! When I ripped open the packaging surrounding the next book to arrive on my doorstep, I found it contained the third book instead of book #2! This was puzzling, for I'd received the confirmation emails in chronological order, and so had assumed that they would be delivered as such. This benign feeling of confusion was quickly replaced by mild frustration, which rapidly turned into a malignant, burning annoyance. 

I was stuck in literary purgatory, for I held in my hot little hands a wonderful new book, but I couldn't possibly read it without completely ruining the other wonderful new book that I had purchased, but had not yet received. Since patience isn't exactly my strongest character trait, this irritation simmered as I waited for the correct book to appear, occasionally glancing longingly at book #3. 

Today, when I arrived home after class, I was ecstatic to see another book-shaped package in the mailbox. Peace and happiness flooded over me as I began to plan the evening around my new reading material, imagining myself sitting out on the porch, sipping some strawberry lemonade as I lost myself in the novel. However, this serenity was short-lived, for as I tore open the package once more, I discovered that the fourth book had arrived instead of the second!

"AAAARRRRGGGHHHH!!!!" I cried, throwing my head back with a primeval roar of anguish and rage. I gripped the offending book with shaking hands, my hopes and dreams for an evening of quiet relaxation ruined. Infuriated, I stomped up to my room and tossed book #4 on top of the likewise-discarded book #3. 

And so here I sit, venting on this blog instead of polishing off a good mystery novel. Every once in awhile I pause to glare at those prematurely-delivered books as they call my name like a Siren's song, tempting me to my own destruction. 

It's only going to be worse when book #2 arrives, because then I'll have three books whispering "Read me. Read me. READ ME," while I'm trying to study for my Wednesday exam. 

Figures.

It's really not THAT bad I guess.

I went for a run tonight, and I must say, it was a somewhat pleasant experience. 

For all of you who know me, this statement might be a little bit of a shock. You see, I've always insisted that I hate, hate, HATE running. I've never been able to understand those who claim to enjoy a nice long run. In fact, I don't think the words "nice" and "long run" should even be used together in the same sentence. That said, tonight's jog was markedly less terrible than I'm used to.

It might have something to do with the perfect weather, or the cool breeze that accompanied me as I trudged along. It might be due to the wonderful new running shoes that were on my feet, or perhaps the fun, motivational itunes mix blaring through my earbuds. 

Amazingly, I did not want to kill myself at any point in the run, nor did I feel like collapsing onto the grass like a dead fish when I was done. Sure, I was sweating profusely and I got a cramp in my side that half-paralyzed my diaphragm. Sure, the second half of my route seemed to be at a 45-degree incline and I had to spit out massive amounts of unnecessary saliva along the way (as daintily as possible, I assure you). But, overall, my misery failed to overshadow the endorphin rush that came from doing something purely physical; something to get my heart pumping and adrenaline surging. It was a battle to convince myself to even get out the door, but once I did, I was glad for it. 

And while I'm fairly certain a marathon is NOT in my future, if nothing else, I'll sleep well tonight. 

Dear Weather Radar,

You are the bane of my existence. 

The ONE night a HUGE storm system barrels across the plains, headed straight for Chicago, you are "down for maintenance." For as much as I once loved you, I now curse you. How dare you deprive me the joy of monitoring cloud front progression or analyzing lightning activity?!? In my hour of need, you have abandoned me, Weather Radar. It's over between us.

Don't bother calling. Nothing you can do or say will make me forgive this grievous injury. I've moved on...to Brook's portable Weather Tracker. 

"Swinging" refrigerators

Today I witnessed an amazing feat of strength and strategy, the likes of which I have not seen since the 2010 Winter Olympics.

Two guys from Sears brought us a new fridge. 

Now, you might think that the previous two statements are unrelated, but in fact, they describe the same event. For not only did the two 20-somethings (Benny and Sergio) hand deliver our beautiful new refrigerator, but they managed to wrangle our gigantic old fridge out of the house and into the garage using nothing but brute strength and a couple of straps. 

How did they do it, you ask? Well, by "swinging."

Yes, that's the technical term... and yes, it did quickly digress into a snarky joke among the four of us. These guys proudly claimed to be "Professional Swingers."

So, basically, they intertwined two large straps, looped them under the fridge and over their shoulders, and then hoisted it off the ground. As if this wasn't hard enough, they proceeded to slide the massive machine through our narrow 1950's-sized door frames by alternately opening and closing the fridge doors as they adjusted the angle of the large metal box, squeezing it neatly through the doorway without a dent or a scratch. 

Even more impressive, they managed to do it without cussing at each other. 

But most impressive was their uncanny ability to manage all this while simultaneously flirting with us. 

AMAZING.

In other news, Nate the Plaster Man also spent the afternoon at our house, fixing and painting the kitchen ceiling. Due to all this excitement, yours truly was stuck babysitting all (two) of our valuable possessions while strange men came and went from our abode. Just to be clear, spending a Saturday trapped in my own home, ticking away at an endless, boring to-do list is not enough to keep me mentally occupied. So if you notice an unusual amount of activity, by myself, on certain social networking websites, it's because I was going flippin' stir-crazy. 

Please don't judge me. 

Am I the only one?

While visiting some good friends last week (in FLORIDA...more on that later), I found myself in strangely familiar conversational territory. While we were getting pedicures (Ritzy, right?), a familiar tune started playing through the salon's speakers. 

"Hey, who can name that tune?" I asked my friends, feeling certain that they'd recognize it straight away. Instead, all I got in response were dual blank stares, then furrowed eyebrows, followed by that curious, quizzical look I get sometimes when people are questioning my sanity.

"I don't know!" one said, and my jaw dropped.

"Seriously? It's the theme of Man From Snowy River!" I exclaimed, fully expecting her to smack her forehead and wonder how she could've forgotten. 

More quizzical looks ensued.

"You guys have seen that movie, right?" I asked into the cricket-chirping silence. 

Both shook their heads, glancing at each other and shrugging.

"What's it about?" one asked.

"Well, it's about this mountain cowboy whose dad dies and the other cowboys say he can't live up in the mountains anymore because he has to earn his status as a real man, and in the meantime he falls in love with the daughter of the rancher that he's working for, but then he tries to chase a herd of wild horses and loses a really expensive horse..."

About halfway through my summary I'm hit by a realization: This movie sounds REALLY DUMB. And I can tell by the looks on my friends faces that they think so too.

"...but, yeah. It's actually a pretty good movie, so, um...and the soundtrack is really good too...yeah, so..." I muttered, trailing off in embarrassment. 

The girls blinked at me, looked at each other, and I stared intently at the person painting my toenails, trying to come up with something clever or witty to change the subject.

"So, are we going to play Euchre again tonight? That was fun yesterday, huh?" I finally managed to squeak out, effectively ending the awkwardness. 

All of this got me to thinking, and my thinking turned into musing, and musing into blogging (naturally): Does anyone else have a few movies that they genuinely liked, but are ashamed to admit it? Now, I'm not referring to "Adult Movies" here (because we like to keep it PG-13 here on Kate's Little Adventures), but your typical guilty-pleasure flicks, or even just some obscure or older movies that it seems like nobody else in the world has seen. If a summary of the plot reminds you of a certain Kraft pasta product (it's the cheesiest), it belongs on the list.

For your reading pleasure, I'll post a few of my personal faves here in hopes that you folks will add to it via the comments part of this blog. Let's go interactive, people!

1. The Man from Snowy River -- 'nuff said

2. Mulan -- Disney's first real attempt at an empowered female lead character.

3. The Newsies -- a young Christian Bale singing and dancing? Yes please.

4. Twister -- I always wanted to be a storm chaser. So sue me.

5. Romancing the Stone -- a 1984 film starring Michael Douglas. So bad and so good.

So, I'm sure I could come up with more, and I will post them as I do, but feel free to add your own personal favorites. I promise no one will judge you... or at least if we do, we'll keep it to ourselves. :)

HEALTH

1. Drink plenty of water

2. Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a beggar


3. Eat more foods that grow on trees and plants and eat less food that is manufactured in plants


4. Live with the 3 E’s — Energy, Enthusiasm and Empathy


5. Make time to pray and read your Bible daily


6. Play more games


7. Read more books than you did in 2009

8. Sit in silence for at least 10 minutes each day


9. Sleep for 7 hours
a night

10. Take a 10-30 minutes walk daily. And while you walk, smile.