The Hunger Games

How aquatic are you?
Have you ever spent an extensive amount of time treading water?

I was, at one point, a competitive (that word used loosely in my case) swimmer, and part of our strength training was water treading.

We'd gather in the deep end, chuckling to ourselves at our good luck at getting out of a "hard" workout, and for the first few minutes of treading, we were in paradise. Longer treading, though, can get you pretty worn down (for some, that moment comes when they start treading).

At that point, our coach would start to yell out variations on the form. Hands in the air, arms to the elbows, arms all the way up, arms only, each with an impossible feeling timer. By the end of that half hour or forty-five minutes, we'd be wet-sweating. Sweating in a pool is a really awkward feeling.

Treading water takes discipline, determination, and steady, steady pacing and patience with yourself.

Today, I tread water.

I woke up in a dark room on a dark morning with a dark mood.

I did not want to get out of bed or pray or move. However, I needed to do all three of those things regardless of how I felt toward them.

I went with the "keep moving" choice (in regards to my previous post), forcing myself to push against the oppressiveness of...shoot, I don't even know what. Against my spirit's antagonizer.

Thus, The Hunger Games.

Distract your hungry spirit through making daily tasks a game.
And, because my fridge is still bursting with random need-to-be-used fruits and veggies, it was hunger games in that respect as well.

Apple cinnamon oat muffins. I did an alteration of their original recipe to include the oats, two extra cups of apples, and a couple other oddities. They yielded two dozen muffins and a small loaf of bread, and didn't even make a dent in my apple-achian mountain. 

 Next to conquer was Carrot Kingdom. Jansie sent me her favorite carrot soup recipe, which I doubled, cut down, and added to. My editions were basmati rice and oregano and subtracted the heavy cream. Oh my goodness, it is good stuff. Pour some into a mug and hold in your hands on a cold day. Healthy, warm, delicious, and different.

For dinner, I used up a head and a half of my wee lettuces to put together a salad. For my real food, though, I sauteed more mushrooms (gave up and froze the rest of them. There's only so many mushrooms one girl can consume) with a yellow onion and little capsule thing of garlic. Then, after I set those aside (Lainey doesn't like mushrooms), I browned some Irish beef (ground beef here is called minced beef) with Italian seasoning and fresh Thyme, added some bolognese sauce we had around, the rest of the can of tomato paste from this morning's soup, and 8 small tomatoes I found on the counter. Booyah. Dinner.

For dinner, I was joined by Elaine. She may not have come out of her room at all, but I went and got her because I figured (rightly) that she wouldn't have eaten otherwise. Or would eat a bagel at 2am. And I'd made sure that nothing in our meal was against her healthcode.

Mostly we sat in silence (which I am coming to both understand and be comfortable with), while I focused on looking pleasant and ready but not anxious to talk.

When she's tired, she just spouts off random bits of information and thoughts, and I've learned that she's really not going for a response, so I listen and wait for more.

She was feeling pensive and share-y about Nelson Mandella's death and the struggle of her friends back in Africa, says that on sleepy days, her mind is halfrica, half here and half there. Her concern and heart and knowledge of the people there is quite admirable.

Dessert was more apples. Apple crisp this time. The easiest ever recipe. Took all of 5 minutes to prep and 40 minutes to bake. Just enough time to sit down with some good Seamus Heaney poetry.

Bubbly, gooey, and hot fresh from the oven, oozing over vanilla bean ice cream and washed down with a glass of milk.

Yes, I was eating it on my puzzle. It was my nest for study and leisure today.

Please note the mini-heater that I keep by me. I tote it about the house with me when I change rooms. This picture actually captures pretty accurately everything I did today. Cute.

I never did come out of my weightedness of the morning. But I also didn't let it define the day for me nor how I behaved in all the hours before I go to bed again and hopefully sleep this off.

It's treading water, taking patience and measuredness.

Parts of the exercise or day are exhausting, parts are strenuous but not undoable, but all of it inevitable. You're not allowed to drown or quit practice (it would need to be in that order) any more than you can realistically quit a bad day.

It's like the back of our horribly "scripture out of context" team t-shirts said back then, "1 Corinthians 9:27: 'I beat my body into submission, bringing it under complete control, to keep myself from being disqualified after having called others to the contest.'"

Spirit and the Spirit of God within us is stronger than the body, stronger than the mind.