Fat Nerd Fit

As a general rule, I try to give teenagers the benefit of the doubt. I know that they can be annoying and loud and obnoxious. They do dumb things and will act oddly just to get the attention. I didn’t think it at the time, but I am confident that adults felt the same about me when I was a teenager. At the book store, I run two very teenager heavy sections. Some of the teens do get on my nerves because they are still developing their people skills. A couple are just obnoxious in general. But the vast majority of them are awesome people-in-progress. Adults gave me tons of leeway and patience when I was younger, and I try to extend the same courtesy. As you’ve no doubt heard a million times: if you treat them as adults, they will behave as adults. I take them and their thoughts and ideas seriously. I listen to their opinions and engage them in conversation. We debate who the best Robin is (Dick Grayson). We discuss our theories as to where the MCEU is going. Who would win the Hulk...

I don't tell secrets unless someone is in danger. I know of no one in danger, therefore I have no secrets I am willing to share.

Relaxation is a key part of taking care of yourself. We can schedule the days, check off the to-do lists, accomplish all the thing- including eating right and working out- but that’s not all you need to do. Sometimes you need to do nothing. In a perfect world, I’d love to put time aside to relax once a week, or more often. But, usually, I’m lucky to get in purposeful relaxion once a month. I’m one of those multi-taskers that can’t sit still very well. As I type, I am working on catching up on blogtober, watching Spider-Man Homecoming, baking muffins, and thinking about what must get done next week. Oh, and playing around on the Stargate Forum. But, when I do get around to relaxing, my favorite thing to do is to give myself a facial, take an Epsom salt bath with some essential oils, listen to my spa playlist and read a book. My dog gets really confused when I do this and usually lays on the bathroom rug judging me silently. I like to do this when no one else is home so I can hav...

I have no problem growing old. I refuse to grow-up.

I try very hard to respect people’s phobias. I try very hard not to make fun of people for them, or tease them about them, or belittle them because of them. I am scared to great-googly-moogly of geckos. The house I grew up in had so many geckos! I saw them crawl out of a sink faucet, ninja out of a crack in a countertop, and freaking materialize in the middle of a room as I walk across it. They died in light fixtures and left creepy gecko corpse shadows in the ceiling. They jumped off the door at you when you approached just trying to get into the house. I have stepped on something “wet” in the middle of the night only to wake up to a corpse in the middle of my bedroom in the morning. I had a lot of friends tease me over how much they freak me out. I know that they had no intension of being mean. It was intended as good-natured ribbing. But that teasing struck me harder than the other times because I felt like my fear was something I had no control over. I could try a n...

My husband and I are the stuff-keepers of our families. We love old stuff in general, but I think photos are pretty awesome. I love seeing old photos of family members I have never met, those who passed away before-or long before- I was born. I think it gets especially cool when I see a picture of an ancestor with an object that I have from them. The best example is: I have several Shlitz glasses and a cocktail shaker from my great grandparent’s bar. At a recent family reunion somehow brought tons of old photos and one was of said great grandparents in said bar. Very awesome. My husband is a “the fourth” in his family. We have an old photo of “the first” and his wife. I think it’s easy in this technological age to forget that photos were not so omnipresent even twenty years ago. There was a time you had to plan ahead to bring your camera. There was a time you had to find a friend who even owned a camera. There was a time when photos were so rare that people only had their pictur...

I love to read. My favorite book series is Harry Potter. I’m part of the Hogwarts Running Club and read the books at least once a year. Outside of Harry Potter I like Young Adult and Teen books. I like using books as simple escapism. I know that at 33 I am far too old to be reading the same books I recommend to parents of twelve year olds, but I have to learn enough life lessons in the real world. I like simple stories that allow me an hour or so to live outside my own existence. Stories of peasant girls becoming princesses, history nerds becoming hero's, and boys who live in the cupboard under the stairs saving the world without anyone knowing. At the bookstore, we are allowed to check out books like a library without the time limit. I grab a book off the shelf read it and put it back- averaging two to three book a month. I judge a book by it’s cover first, then the summary. I’ve been let down a few times (Wildflower, I’m calling you out) and pleasantly surprised by others (B...

I love a good movie. I love bad movies. I appreciate most movies. Not horror movies. I can’t do horror. When I see a horror movie I turn into a 1940s woman: I have pearls specifically for clutching in horror movies. I will never say I have good taste in movies, but I enjoy an entertaining movie. Some of those movies are terrible (Disney Channel Originals!) and some are awesome (A League of Their Own!). I just look for something that entertains me. 1000+ points for giving me an ending I can’t predict a third of the way through. With my degree in Creative Writing, I have developed the annoying ability to figure out the ending very early in a movie. This isn’t a special power or something that makes me unique, but it is a side effect of my interests. It makes it hard to enjoy movies, let alone TV shows, but it is part of who I am and how I am able to look at entertainment. I can see a trailer for a movie and usually tell you what its about. I vividly remember a conversation I had wi...

So today’s topic is love. I’ m not sure which love to talk about. I have a romantic love, my husband. I have familiar love. I have objective love. But I think the true goal of love in self love. Love of self and situation leads to true and complete contentment. I love who I have become over the years. I look back on me in junior high, high school, and college and see a me-in-progress. Who I am now is an almost complete me. I am the sum of my experiences. I am made up of who I love and who loves me in return: My parents and sister who loved me first, my husband, my pets, my friends. I am people whom I respect and respect me in return: coworkers and acquaintances. It has taken me over thirty years to come to accept, be proud of, and love who I am. Do I have space to grow? For sure. Will I become more? Oh, yeah. Am where I am supposed to be right now? Of course. I love and accept me for who I have become, who I am and who I will be. I have not become whole or complete, bu...

Loves me a good kitchen. I love cooking and will happily spend all day chopping, boiling, baking, and seasoning. I’ve lived in apartments for the last eight years, so I’ve been stuck with tiny galley kitchens that don’t give counter space to roll out dough much less do anything more than basic cooking. When I was in junior high and high school I took all the cooking based home ec classes. My junior year of highschool an alumnus of the Culinary Institute of America came to my home ec class to teach us how to make crapes. It was at that point that I seriously started considering becoming a chef. My sister worked in restaurants at the time and was getting her degree in Hotel/Restaurant Management. After some research and thinking, I opted not to train to go professional because for me a large part of why I enjoy cooking is sharing what I make with friends and family. I didn’t want to burn out on cooking as a profession and not want to cook for loved ones. I opted to go into writi...

At the bookstore we love our terrible jokes. The winner comes courtesy of a (we think) seven year old girl at story-time. It's an amazing two parter of (we think) her own creating. Why did the chicken cross the road? To visit the ugly guy! To be immediately followed by Knock! Knock! Who's there? The chicken Best. Joke. Ever.

I have caught up!! Blogtober #9: Ice-cream This is another one where I’m not sure what to say. I’m in the minority in that I’m not a huge ice-cream fan. I’m not anti-ice-cream. I’ll eat it. I’ll buy it at the store. I just never crave it. I have self-control around it. A tub of Blue Bell can sit in my freezer for a month or more. Hell, I usually end up having to toss it because it gets freezer burned. Also, I like ice-cream with my chocolate sauce. That’s really what I like ice-cream for, it’s an excuse to eat a bowl of chocolate sauce. I saw on an episode of Good Eats how to make your own chocolate sauce from scratch. I haven’t done it, yet, but I have a feeling that I’ll probably eat more ice-cream when I have a scratch made chocolate to go on top. When I order dessert at a restaurant I usually opt out of a la mode. Give me a sopapilla with honey any day. Just a nice big piece of cake. Warm pie. Apple crisp. Keep your ice-cream.

I guess an October blogging challenge is the perfect time of year to talk about Holidays. I like family-centered holidays. I don’t get too into patriotic ones, or phony gift/card/candy giving ones. But give me Thanksgiving and Christmas any day of the year. My parents, because of employment moved away from their families. My mom ended up just one state away, but my dad moved from the northeast to the south. Growing up, most holidays were just the four of us. Every other year for Thanksgiving we would go to see my mom’s cousin and spend the holiday with that side of the family. We still do the every other year thing with that side of the family. On off years we didn’t do much. There’s no point in going too crazy to feed four people. You can only do so much with a thousand pounds of turkey before it goes bad. But on travel years we took part in the traditional Thanksgiving with turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole, rolls, pies, etc. Christ...

I have a love/hate relationship with goals. I love to set them and work towards them, but I am bad at actually achieving them. When it’s something that outside forces have a play in, when there’s something else there to help push me, I can do it. I got good grades all throughout my schooling. I am a good employee that goes out of my way, puts in the overtime, and doesn’t shy away from hard work. I frequently become the go-to person for a special project that needs to get done. But when it comes to something that is just on my shoulders and doesn’t effect anyone else, I have a hell of a time sticking to it. When I was working part time and had all the time in the world all day most days it was easy to make my goals part of the routine, but as soon as things got shaken up the goals were the first to go. I make token efforts, but man can I make some excuses. I keep thinking I’ll do it tomorrow, or get back into it next week (everyone knows Monday is the best day to start over on anyt...

I know that as a woman, the stereotype is that I love flowers and will instantly forgive anything if you think to send me flowers as an apology. I don’t get it. I like flowers. I think they’re pretty. But I have never been one to get excited over a corsage, bouquet, or single stem rose. Don’t get my wrong, I do not look down on my husband when he buys me flowers as a gesture of love. Our first valentine’s day he got me a single rose, he’s brought me sunflowers (my favorite flower) randomly just to be sweet. I appreciate the gesture and I keep those flowers alive as long as I can. I like the idea of gardening (I live in an apartment with terrible sunlight so I can’t actual garden) but, I’m more into the idea of practical gardening. I want to grow herbs and vegetables. I may branch out (branch…plants… get it??) into flowers at some point, but even then it’s a sort of an afterthought. Hell, I gave my wedding bouquet to a little girl. Her mom offered to dry and preserve it for...

I guess I’m getting 5 points off for handing this in a day late. Thursdays are very weird days for me. I open the store, but husband has the day off. Also, at this point, I haven’t actually seen husband since Monday night, or even Sunday morning because our schedules diverge so wildly. Thursday night is our un-offical weekly date night. We go out to dinner when I get home and just spend time together. But anyway, onto the topic at hand. Education I was one of those people that really enjoyed school. I was very fortunate that from kindergarten to a bachelor’s degree I had less than a half dozen “bad” teachers. I had several super supportive teachers who really encouraged me and helped me recognize where my talents lay and pushed me to work at it. As I’ve moved on into the full-time adult portion of my life I’ve found that I’m always attracted to an opportunity to learn more. My first reaction to any new interest is to study it, read about it, google it, find documentaries on...

Day four’s blogtober topic is “date.” Short of the standard Miss. Congeniality joke “April 25th. Because it's not too hot, not too cold, all you need is a light jacket” the first thing that comes to mind is dating. I don’t have a whole lot of experience dating, I only had one serious boyfriend and I ended up marrying him three years ago. But the man knows how to plan a date. Our very first date, which we have recreated several times, was to the Perot Museum in Dallas which at the time had just opened. By the by the Perot is amazing and I love going there. After four visits I’m a little over the standard exhibits, but they host some fabulous exhibitions that are worth every penny. A museum is a perfect place for a first date. We had been talking online for a little over a month when we first met in person. By being at a museum there was always something to fill the awkward pauses in conversation. We still have jokes from that first date that come up in conversation today. I...

I have no idea where to go with this one. I’m not a car person. I have my truck which I’ve been driving for 10 years now and I plan on driving it until it no longer functions as a mode of transportation. I don’t like car shows. I’m not into sports cars or luxury cars. I just like a car that is functional and has a couple bells and whistles. (My husband’s car has blue tooth and I really want that for my next car!) Super extra bonus if the car is a hybrid or electric. I’d adore a Tesla, but practically it’s so far out of the cards I haven’t even bought the deck that card is in. So, um, yeah. Car. There you go.

First of all, I have to give a shout out to all my new readers. My Blogtober post yesterday was far and away the most read blog post I’ve ever had! Thank you for stopping by you guys and I hope to see you around some more! And now, without further ado Blogtober #2: Babies I love babies. I love baby humans. I love baby animals. I love baby bugs. Tiny things are adorable. When I’m on a plane or at a restaurant and a baby is squealing or giggling I think it’s too cute. Happy babies can make loud happy baby noises around me all they want. I don’t care if we’re in a small enclosed space. Even crying and screaming babies don’t really bother me. I know that they’re just trying to communicate that something is wrong and they can only get their point across in so many ways. As a matter of fact, I get annoyed with the parents faster than I do with the baby. I have been told throughout my life that I’m great with kids. People feel compelled to tell me that in very random situations. I wa...

Blogtober #1 I’m going to give this Blogtober thing a chance. I’ve never done anything like this, but- as I stated in my last post- I’m trying to get a new routine going. Part of what I want to do is write more consistently, so Blogtober is a great place to start! This is a challenge issued by Mandi Morrison over at hexmumblog.com . She has compiled a list of topics, one for each day of October, and the point is to blog every day using the topic as a prompt. Day One: All About Me I always feel like there’s not a whole lot to say on this topic. I don’t really know why, but I always get uncomfortable when people want me to talk about me. I know that sounds counter-intuitive when I’m here writing a blog about myself, but the anonymity of the internet helps. I can think of two people in my real life that even know this blog exists. One I know for sure doesn’t read it and one I’m not sure. For some reason knowing that people I know may read this makes it harder for me to write ...

Dudes, I don’t even know where to start. Life has been passing me by at an alarming speed but in a good way. Nothing new has really happened, but I’m settling into my new normal. My schedule at the bookstore has found its constant. One great thing about this place is the full-time people have consistent schedules, even though it’s a retail job. The schedule still posts every week, but it’s really more of a confirmation of what you already know than a crap-shoot of hoping you can make plans with your friends. I’d forgotten how nice it was to be able to make plans in advance. I do not miss the corporate world in the slightest. I’ve been doing office jobs since I graduated from college and none of them made me as happy as the bookstore does. I’ve worked in payroll, in investments/oil, and the legal world. Yes, they all paid better than I get now, but the quality of life was atrocious. I was working crazy hours, not sleeping well, totally stressed, unhealthy, and unmotivated. My c...