Merry Christmas! I hope everyone had a joyous holiday! Mine was interesting! This was my first Christmas on my own in 13 years. I didn’t have a huge family dinner to get ready for. I didn’t have the planning and decorating. In a way it was sort of sad. I didn’t even put up a Christmas tree this year.
It was my first lesbian Christmas!! I thought Santa would bring me rainbows and things! Just kidding! It was my first Christmas where I wasn’t stressed about the fact it was Christmas! I made an apple pie for the girlfriend and tacos and went to her house. We watched movies, I napped, we ate, I napped, we watched movies and ate! And then we went to Chinese food! It was amazing! There was no tension, no complaining about family members, no worrying if the nephews liked my Christmas presents, nothing!
I did get the greatest Christmas present this year though! I know it sounds sappy, but this amazing girl I’ve met! She brings out this big stupid grin on my face when I see her and makes me so damn happy!
Category Archives: Life
Rainbows and fractures
Sorry it’s been a bit quiet on the blog front. I have been off skates for about three very long weeks since I fractured my hip during a fall at practice. I have about three weeks of off skate time left and I am aching to get back on my skates!
More on the war front:
Recently I came out to my friends and family as a lesbian. I have been married for 11 years and I have a daughter who I worked very hard to get pregnant with. However, I have not felt right in my own skin. I have known for a few years that I was interested in women.
When I joined derby, I never expected to meet a woman who I would be willing to throw away my safety net, jump on the high wire, and just start going. But then I met, we will call her DB. There was something about this woman and I knew instantly that I had some connection with her. One day at practice she flirted with me, as she does with everyone, and I knew I had to have her. Long story short, we’ve been together for almost two months.
In those two months I have rediscovered myself. It feels like there has been a damn in my mind and that damn has broken free. I want to write again. I want to make beautiful objects. I want to feel sexy and alive. The best part is, I don’t want to this for her. I want to do this for me! Sure she reaps the benefits, but I am doing it for me!
More on this topic later, but SURPRISE! this blog had been taken over by a roller derby loving, nerdy adventuring, book reading lesbian!
Lessons learned in the past 16 days
In the past two weeks I have found a new side of myself. I have discovered a new passion and a new love in my life! Going down that road I have learned some life lessons.
1.) I have discovered a competitive nature I didn’t know I had, not only against other people but against myself. This sounds like it would be beneficial to growth and all that, but it has lead to some serious frustration on my part. I want to be where everyone else is, speedily skating around the track, learning to block and hit, etc. Instead, I am this timid skater who is going to be an easy target on the track.
2.) I overthink things WAY too much. Last night during practice, I was told to focus on my coach. I did and holy shit! I was skating! The moment I went back to thinking about what I had to do, on my butt I fell!
3.) Derby isn’t a hobby! It is a sport but more than that, it’s a lifestyle and baby, I’m hooked. I wake up barely able to move because I am using muscles I didn’t know I had and my first thought isn’t “what am I doing?” my thought is, “when the hell do I get to practice?”
4.) The girls on my team aren’t teammates. They aren’t friends. They are family! I have never walked into a group of people and felt so welcomed and loved! There are girls on this team who know exactly what I am feeling. We have similar stories. We get each other. I know if anything was to happen on track and off most, if not all, of these girls would have my back!
So maybe isn’t life shattering news for some of my readers but it is important to me. I have finally found a place where I belong. I am accepted 100%! No one thinks I am weird. I don’t have to hold back. I can be myself. I can cry, scream, cuss and shout and as long as I get my ass back up and try again, I am going to make my spot on this team.
Cheesy Garlic Bread Monkey Bread
Lately I’ve been trying to serve fresh bread with dinner. I got a bread maker for my birthday last year and I love being able to make bread with ingredients I can pronounce. Well today we planted our herb garden with a very crabby five year old! So needless to say, I forgot to get the bread going. With the hubs and daughter at ballet, I searched Pinterest for a quick bread idea. So the following was inspired by ideas on Pinterest and really driven by the fact I didn’t have the necessary ingredients for the original recipe!
Cheesy Garlic Monkey Bread
1 can of Grands biscuits
5-7 triangles of Laughing Cow garlic and Herb “cheese”
1/2 stick of butter
2 tablespoons of garlic
Heat the oven to 350 and place the butter in a bunt pan. Stick the pan in the oven while the oven is warming up. Meanwhile, cut biscuits into quarters using a pizza cutter or whatever you can fid to cut said biscuits. Roll each quarter out with a rolling pin (or do it my way and mush it out with your fingers) put 1/8-1/4 of a triangle of cheese in the middle of each biscuit quarter and pinch closed. Pull the bunt pan out and add two tablespoons of garlic to the melted butter (I just realized you could throw the garlic in with the butter in the very beginning). Add the biscuit pockets to the bunt pan and bake for 20-25 minutes until golden brown. Allow to cool for a few minutes and invert onto a pan! Enjoy!
Yes! I know this is neither clean or healthy, but it sure is yummy!!
The Best Day of Your Life!!
Weight Loss Challenge Update
I am happy to report that despite everything that has been happening over the past week, I have still managed to drop 4 pounds! My daughter has contracted some type of plague and has been running a fever, vomiting, and have nuclear green, glow-in-the-dark snot coming out of her nose! It hasn’t been fun to deal with and since she has been home from school, I am totally off track with my exercise. We won’t go into the fact that the past three or four nights I have resorted to “fend for yourself” dinners. However, I am drinking a lot more….water and tea….and I am taking my vitamins regularly. I have noticed a major improvement with my cravings and my energy level is much higher!
So that is why the blog has been a little quite this past week, but never fear. Starting next week you will see more recipes, motivational quotes, and much, much more!! I hope everyone is having a fantastic week!!
If you haven’t had a chance to check out my Personal Trainer’s webpage, go!! She is amazing!! For only $30 a month you get 24/7 access to a personal trainer, personalized training and meal plans, and someone to be accountable to while still being flexible and working out at your own pace!! Make sure to tell them that Kimberly Mangan referred you!!
http://www.fitandflourishing.com/2013_HEALTHY_REVOLUTION_.html
Skinny recipes
Lately I have been in a cooking mood! I love to cook, especially when I get stressed out. I usually follow the recipes, at least the first attempt, but sometimes I like to alter my recipes from the get go. I created an amazing recipe for some Peach Apple Bread by taking a couple of recipes and meshing them together.
In my search to get better organized and eat at home more often, I discovered a website call ziplist.com. This website it my new savior! Not only can I make a weekly menu, create a shopping list, and store all my recipes I’ve found online, on one single website, but they have an iPhone app as well! I don’t have to write down my list! I can just use my phone and check things off in the store!!
I have also discovered a website called skinnytaste.com. This lady is AMAZING!!! She has a recipe for a peanut butter thai chicken slower cooker recipe that is to die for! She also has a recipe that I am dying to try out, stuffed buffalo chicken! I’ll let you know how it goes!!
Bullies are Mean!
Bullying is a major topic in schools these days and it is very serious subject. However, I have to wonder how many people realize that bullying doesn’t stop after you graduate from school. Maybe people assume that as we get older we just learn how to deal with it. I guess in a way that is true, however, it doesn’t make it hurt any less.
I have been bullied my entire life. I remember getting into a fight in sixth grade with a boy in my class because he was picking on me. I had enough and lashed out (and got a few good licks in too). Freshman year in high school I was forced to endure an entire period of band where the other members (literally only two people were not involved) made fat jokes about me, drew pictures, and humiliated me. That was 16 years ago and I remember that day every time I get an moment of self pity/low self esteem. The effects of bullying last a lifetime!
I am almost 30 and I am dealing with bullies in my life today. It never goes away. We just learn how to deal with it a little better. I refuse to allow the mean people in my life to get me down. Think about the next time you get ready to make a nasty comment about someone. I am not innocent of making negative comments and gossip. But I have to remind myself that those words cannot be taken back. Even after I say I am sorry, the scars will remain.
Overnight refrigerated oatmeal
I was introduced to an innovated idea via a posting on Pintrest the other day, refrigerated oatmeal! As I have posted before, breakfast is a hard meal for me. I need foods that both myself and the kiddo will eat that are healthy. I have found the more substantial the first meal is the less I munch throughout the day!
This oatmeal includes an ingredient called Chia seeds which you can find at Sunflower Market or Whole Foods, Fry’s might even carry them as well. They are loaded with Omega 3 fatty acids! I played around with two favors during my experiment chocolate cherry and raspberry vanilla. The base of the oatmeal is:
1/4 cup old fashion oatmeal
1/3 cup skim milk (I used almond milk because of the kiddos allergy)
1/4 cup of Greek yogurt
1-1/2 tsp chia seeds
From here I added about 1/3 cup of frozen fruit, 1 tsp of extract (almond with the cherries and vanilla with the raspberries), 1tablespoon preserves, and 1 tablespoon of cocoa with the cherry flavored one. I added this all to these amazing freezable canning jars that I found at Walmart, screwed on the top and shook them up! (Don’t add the fruit before shaking if you are using fresh or canned fruit, stir the fruit in after shaking.) then they sit in the refrigerator overnight and the chia seed and oatmeal absorb the liquid and soften.
I am not a huge fan of the chocolate cherry concoction. I ended up adding about 1 teaspoon of honey this morning to make it more palatable. So I will continue to tweak it.
Rubens: Quesadilla or Sandwich?
Last night I made one of my favorite meals! It has been a rough day. I ended up throwing away everything in my refrigerator because my kiddo figured out how to turn off the freezer and refrigerator. (long story, moral of which is to lock the touch pad on the front the the fridge) After dealing that disaster I didn’t really feel like spending more time in the kitchen. So I picked up some pastrami, broccoli slaw, thousand island dressing, tortillas, and mozzarella cheese to make Ruben Quesadillas. I usually make this from corned beef that I have cooking in the slow cooker, but the pastrami was a quick substitute. I actually think I liked it better!!
Ruben Quesadillas (adapted from Pampered Chef)
8 oz. pastrami thinly sliced (corned beef, turkey, or even tofurkey would work depending on your tastes)
1 small bag of shredded mozzarella (Swiss is awesome too and you can use more if you love cheese!)
1 bag of broccoli slaw (found in the produce section)
1 bottle of 1,000 Island Dressing (I used the light)
8 small tortillas
Layer the ingredients in the following order: Tortilla, mozzarella, meat, broccoli slaw, dressing (Small amount approx. 2 T), cheese, and top with tortilla
I bake mine on the Pampered Chef stones in the oven at 400 degrees for about 30 minutes, but check them occasionally to make sure they tortillas are not burning. You can also grill them on a griddle, but this takes a little bit longer. Serve with additional dressing to dip in and ta da! you have dinner!!
From Fat-u-lous to Fabulous!! 