Friday, September 6, 2013

Adventures in Housewifery, a Meltdown, and a Hard Hat

WHOA! Two posts this week...that is CRAY. (alright...I left this in there because I thought it to myself, started laughing, typed it, and laughed even harder at the fact that I sound incredibly stupid saying that...just go with it...)

Yesterday I went ballistic in the kitchen. When I was done, it literally looked like a housewife had exploded. Crockpot, cookie sheet, fry pan, mixing bowls, cheesecloth, multiple glass food-keeping containers, kombucha kit, cutting boards and knives...that's a lot for the kitchen of a 624 sq ft apartment, I will tell you that right now.

When I listed all the things I did, it actually didn't really justify the explosion of housewifey-ness. The crockpot had been used to render lard. The lard got poured into a jar, the crispies (WOW YUM) went onto the cookie sheet and truly crisped in the oven. The chicken carcass with part of its breast meat went into the crockpot, with some melted lard still in the bottom, along with some water, carrots, onions, and spices. Bone broth. The two GIANT bundles of kale from last weekend's farmer's market got stripped of their stalks, massaged with olive oil and salt and garlic powder, and onto the cookie sheet to make three batches of kale chips. The kombucha is ready to go, but we haven't started it just yet...I'm super excited to do it though, I LOVE kombucha and it's so expensive at the store.

So, to recap, all I got out of the housewife explosion was kale chips, lard, and chicken broth...

Fast-forward to bedtime last night...complete meltdown. I'm not even going to try and sugar-coat this by saying it was a mini or minor or baby meltdown - we are talking absolute raging storm of a meltdown. I attribute this to one thing, with many contributing factors: STRESS. About everything. Stress, embarrassment, feelings of failure, worry, hormones getting back on track after giving up my Rx...all of these things, and more, contributing to one BIG STRESS.

The only thing else I'm going to say about this meltdown is that I'm damn relieved that we did sledgehammer swings at the gym this morning. It didn't solve all my problems, but it gave me an outlet for the cortisol build-up to be utilized. Man, sledgehammers are an AWESOME workout. In addition, I killed 135 lbs in a couple dead lifts, 115 lbs in several more dead lifts, about 35 pull-ups, and some serious battle rope slams. So, go me. Everything else is crumbling around me, but I am KILLING IT AS A WARRIOR WOMAN.

Oh, and earlier this week I got promoted to my blue shirt. [There's a progression of colored shirts we are working through; promotion happens via participation in challenges (fitness assessments, must have improved since previous) and regular attendance to reflect dedication to the mission.]

Then a couple hours ago I found a great blog post by the wonderful Steve over at Nerd Fitness. I enjoy his blog because he really doesn't focus on labels of lifestyle, he seriously is all about motivation and creativity and dedication. This guy...man, he just seems to always have a post that picks me up right when I need it. Not that Friday is a great day to need a pick-up, since it's the start of the weekend and supposed ultimate relaxation, but still. This post is actually from the other day, but I didn't hunker down at my Feedly reader until a couple hours ago, so here it is!

He's calling it a 30-Day Hard Hat Challenge. It basically says: stop it. Stop whining and complaining and stop feeling like a failure, put your damn hard hat on and get through it. Pummel or crawl or whatever...just get through it. If you go through a single day without getting through something you know you need to do, that's too many days. BETTER NOT ALLOW IT TWO DAYS IN A ROW. Pick yourself up, put your hard hat on, and do it.

If you haven't clicked on that blog post at Nerd Fitness yet, I highly suggest it. In fact, I suggest reading all or most of his posts. Some can seem repetitive because he's basically finding different analogies to help motivate people, whether with regard to health and fitness, profession, or just life in general. BUT, there's always one for whatever off-day you're having. So it's kind of nice that it's repetitive. And who doesn't need to be reminded once in a while to just do it. And if it's worth doing (read: worth stressing out about NOT getting it done...), do it ALL OUT. No half-assing this business. Crawl if you have to (metaphorically, of course). But do it and make it your best crawl ever.

Anyway, I think that's all for now, loyal readers. Haha. Thanks for reading, and enjoy this nice little bit of sunshine trying to poke through the storm from this morning.

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