Day One Hundred Seventy-One: Ft. Worth Firsts

Today was the first day in months that we that we had a completely blank day on the calendar with no activities of any kind scheduled. We jumped at the opportunity to check out a couple of the things on our local bucket list. We started with brunch at Blue Mesa Grill in Ft. Worth, which is a place we've never tried before. We are definitely suckers for an all-you-can-eat buffet brunch, and everything was delicious! Afterwards, we headed out to the Ft. Worth Nature Center and Refuge for some hiking around Lake Worth. It was a beautiful place, and the weather was perfect! What a wonderful way to fill the blank spot on our calendar and work in a couple of Firsts as well!

Blue Mesa Grill in Ft. Worth

Ft. Worth Nature Center Trail map

One of the lovely views from our hike

Day One Hundred Seventy: CAP PT Test and Uniform

Ruth recently became a cadet in the Civil Air Patrol, and to advance through the ranks, she has to take and pass certain physical, academic, and drill tests at particular intervals. Today was her first PT test and the first PT test I have ever been witness to. It was interesting to watch, and I enjoyed learning about the process. Ruth did wonderfully and easily passed. She was the only female participant, and she definitely held her own.

Afterwards, she stopped by the organization's supply closet to rifle through the donated uniforms they had on hand to see if there were any in her size. It was the first time I have seen her in a military uniform. It was a mixed bag of emotions for me, but mostly I felt so proud.

The Sit-and-Reach portion of the PT test

Day One Hundred Sixty-Nine: Stepping out of my Introvert Shell

I have heavy leanings toward introvertedness. I do not easily or comfortably make connections with new people. I see this as a flaw in myself, and it's something I have to consciously work on. Therefore, I was proud of myself today for initiating interactions with two different people--one in person and one via Facebook. The face-to-face interaction occurred at Weston's basketball game with the mother of one of his teammates, and we ended up chatting during the whole game. This seems completely normal and not at all edgy, I know, but for me it's a bit out there, so bear with me. Because of our divide-and-conquer system of delivering our four kids to their different activities, I have only ever taken Weston to one basketball practice (where I actually sat in the car in order to get some writing done) and have only gotten to attend one other game. So, I haven't met most of the parents and had the opportunity to engage in bleacher small talk with them (which I honestly don't really love, but which seems to be the way most conversations get off the ground). But before the game started tonight, I overheard this mom say something interesting to one of the coaches and decided to strike up a conversation on that topic. It was delightful to visit with her and reminded that social interactions don't have to be (that) hard.

The Facebook interaction was even more bizarre for me. I follow a group of "worldschoolers" with something like 40,000 members from all over the world. They are a great source of travel information, and following the group is a way for me to travel vicariously when I'm not traveling in real life. Someone posted something recently that resonated with me. I responded. We had a brief virtual conversation and realized we both live in Flower Mound of all the crazy things. The connection seemed so serendipitous that I immediately sent her a PM and invited her to lunch, which is way outside my normal MO. These were two pretty big Firsts for me, and I'm proud of myself for operating outside my comfort zone.

Day One Hundred Sixty-Eight: Homemade Bone Broth

A year ago, we purchased a quarter of a grass-fed, pastured-raised cow from one of our friends. Once it was processed, one of the things we ended up with was a couple of bags of beef bones. My friend told me they would make excellent bone broth, which was something I had been reading about and wanting to try, so it seemed perfect. Obviously, making homemade bone broth didn't immediately make it to the top of my to-do list, and here I am, a year later, just getting around to it. One of the things that kept me from doing it earlier was that it seemed to be quite a lengthy and, by many accounts, smelly process. Motivated by my knee injury to increase my collagen intake and knowing that bone broth was a good source of collagen, I started looking more seriously at recipes. It turns out, you can make bone broth in the Instant Pot, cutting down on cooking time as well as odor. Win-win. It actually smells fantastic, and we are so excited to give it a try! (We're thinking maybe French onion soup! Ooh, my mouth's watering already!)

Bone broth and all it's goodies still in the Instant Pot

Finished product

Day One Hundred Sixty-Seven: Turmeric Supreme

I am recovering quite well from my knee injury and have recently started running again. It's been (and continues to be, in many ways) a slow process, but I'm so thankful for the progress I've made. Since the injury, I've been trying to do everything I can to strengthen my knee and ensure that it keeps performing well for me into the future. I have tried incorporating collagen and turmeric powders into my diet, but frankly, they are inconvenient to use, and the turmeric powder can really stain clothing and skin, so I find myself passing on them more than using them. A couple of months ago, I switched over to collagen supplements, which are much more convenient. I don't know why I didn't think of also switching to turmeric supplements at the same time, but I didn't. However, this afternoon, while perusing the supplement section of my favorite natural-leaning grocery store, I came across the Gaia Turmeric Supreme line, which included a formulation specifically for joints. I decided to give them a try. It's obviously too early to tell if they will make any impact, but they are definitely more convenient and less messy than the powder.

Day One Hundred Sixty-Six: Homemade Body Wash

I love playing around with homemade beauty products. They usually work well, smell great, and have only ingredients I can pronounce. Plus, there is a bit of a mad scientist in me that just likes to see what will happen when I mix this with that (but a safe one, because I do generally follow recipes-- at least the first time I make something). I've tried making lots of different things, but this was my first attempt at body wash. It smells amazing, and I can't wait to try it out in my morning shower.

Day One Hundred Sixty-Five: Juan Canary Melon

While shopping at the Grapevine Farmer's Market yesterday, I came across a melon I had never heard of before and decided to add it to my basket. This morning, we cut up our Juan Canary melon, which has a hard rind, like a squash, and flesh resembling a pear. It's a sweet melon and doesn't really taste like anything else I've tried. We put some in a smoothie and some in a fruit salad. We love discovering new-to-us foods!

Juan Canary Melons on display