Resolutions, Mercy, and I cut my finger

How popular are new years resolutions? Sometimes it is hard to tell if everyone does some kind of resolution based on the number of opinion type of news articles that I see, or if it is just a small group of dedicated people who make absurd attempts each year.

This year, I made two resolutions:

• run a half marathon.
• eat “The mediterranean diet”.

The first one I actually started back in December because I wanted to get a head start. Using my garmin watch, it can create a custom plan, so I just do what it tells me to do each day and try not to think or rationalize it- otherwise it is too easy to just not run each day.

Instead of thinking about how fast I am going, or how many miles I need to run, I am doing it just based on TIME, thinking “I just have to run 30 minutes today, it doesnt matter how fast.” Somehow, I am now running faster and farther than I have before. This running plan says to walk/run a few minutes at first to warm up, and a few minutes at the end to cool-down. Since I am not as young as I once was, this I can easily do, along with anything else that will prevent an injury. Right now I am up to 10 mile runs, and feeling pretty good about it!

Taylor and I are also doing the mediterranean diet. What is it? A pretty flexible diet where fruits and veggies are the bulk of the meal, and carbs and protein become a smaller portion. It doesnt call for no dairy, but we have cut in goat cheese, and a bit of mozzarella. For proteins, it calls for less beef and chicken, and more fish. Its only been 2 weeks, but last night we had an amazing shrimp, tomato, and spinach meal:

Between the running and the change in the diet, I feel great! Some pounds are down (thats not the major motivator for me, but it is neat to see), blood pressure is down (an issue in my family), sleeping way better, and the biggest part: my mind feels more clear. It would be easy to go down the road of my armchair based opinions about why, but I will spare you that talk for now…

Mercy

Can I just take a moment to share how fun this kid has been? The moments during a normal week have been so, so special:

1. When she wakes up, she runs out of her room, and find the first parent, and gives a gigantic hug.
2. At church, she loves to be held when we sing the songs. She is getting a tad heavy (or I need to workout), but this can slide for as long as possible.
3. Rosie was at a sleepover, and I asked: “Mercy, when Rosie is gone, do you miss her?” Mercy replied, “Daddy, I miss her so, so, so much everytime she is gone.”
4. When I carried out the garbage, she wanted to “surprise” me by putting a new trash bag in the can before I got back inside.
5. When I was cleaning the house, it got quiet and she disappeared. I found her cleaning her room to surprise me.
6. Even though she annoys Rosie often, she simply will not go to bed without a hug from Rosie first. She will get out of her bed and find Rosie, and take a hug from her before her day is complete.
7. She cried the other day because her hair isnt as long as Rosies. I just picked her up, and asked her about her baby dolls in an effort to change the topic.

This year, Mercy is big enough to join Rosie for two of our favorite January traditions: the daddy-daughter dance, AND our annual trip to a UNC game in Chapel Hill with the Lineberrys (we missed last year, but have a good streak going besides that!)

I cut my finger

One of the first of the healthy meals this year ended up with some particularly nasty results- my first really good cooking accident. I was making a healthy meal and it called for putting some greens in a food processor to make a sauce. We dont have a food processor, so I was using our “immersion blender”. Some of the thick sauce was on the blade, so I was getting it out with my finger, and my palm hit the sensitive power button. Taylor likes some things that make me squeamish, so I am going to share:

It doesnt look like much, but as far as I can tell, the blade went 1/4 through my finger 6 times. When taking the princess bandage off the next morning,the pain was incredibly intense. I saw an urgent care doc the next day who cleaned it well, and told me to keep it clean and change the bandages regularly for a week to keep it from getting infected.