Progress!
I saw that tweet pop up last night from my good friend Jessica. She followed it up with “I’m embracing my awesome this week, and making a habit of it.”
Intrigued, I just had to click. This is what I saw. Which led me to this.
Claim Your Awesome. It’s a movement that’s catching on. And why wouldn’t it? Who doesn’t love being awesome? I certainly love it.
But a movement like this is also meeting resistance. People think claiming your awesome is conceited. At first glance, I thought that was downright ridiculous. And then I started to think about my own awesome. And the more I thought, the more I felt like I was being too boastful with my I’m-Awesome thoughts.
I flat-out admit in my About section that I’m a self-deprecator. In my loony little brain, it makes perfect sense to hit myself in the gut before anyone else can hit me because, then, I win. I beat them to it, and I win.
What do I win?
::cue the crickets::
Andbutso I read Jessica’s tweets, then Karen’s LiveJournal entries, and I’ve been thinking about all since then. I should claim my awesome.
But what awesome should I claim? I can claim __________ but that’s nothing special. I can claim ________ but I hate that I’m doing that.
And this, folks, is what the movement is trying to defeat within ourselves. Even after reading, after feeling the movement, I still sit here knocking myself down.
This. Should. Not. Be. Difficult.
I read a friend’s blog today about how much life sucks, but her daughter makes all the suck go away. I nodded along with the feeling of the suck, but then I kicked my injured self by thinking I don’t have children to make the suck go away.
I have myself. I have Rob. I have my friends. I have my family. I have my pets. I have my books.
No “but I don’t have __________.”
There is enough suck in this world – my little world and the big, giant one I only hear/read about – without me adding to it.
I am AWESOME.
I am fiercely loyal.
I am hysterical.
I am smart.
I am good at telling stories.
I am good at writing stories.
I have never broken a bone.
I am using my Infertility Suck to help others feel less alone and to educate people who just don’t know.
I am honest.
I am confident.
I am making a difference in people’s lives.
I encourage people to read.
I deserve compliments.
I deserve smiles.
I deserve hugs.
I deserve respect.
I deserve to respect myself.
How are you awesome? Spread the movement. Leave a comment and tell me about it. Write about it on your own blogs. Tweet about it. You are awesome. I am awesome. We? Are. Awesome.
Full disclosure: The self-deprecator in me tried to argue with each point I wrote, but I knocked that bitch down on her ass.
Holy crap. Can you smell them? CAN YOU?
Once upon a time I went to a restaurant in Raleigh and was passed a side dish my dear friend Laura ordered. Sweet potato something or other in a little crock.
OMG. SFG.
Laura was sweet enough to share the taters with me that night, and we both declared the dish food from heaven, something we’d be more than happy to eat as a meal. With nothing else.
Tonight? That dream came true.
For me.
Laura had to hear me talking about it from two hours away, and for that, I apologize.
Laura, I’m SO SORRY.
But you guys. These are so easy and dreamy that I can assure you all Laura will be making this tomorrow night. She won’t suffer for long.
On with the show.
The basic flavors were sweet potatoes, onion and bacon. I figured I’d work with those, olive oil, maybe a little butter and maybe a little salt. Nothing else.
No, seriously.
(Warning: I cook my bacon in the microwave because I CANNOT STAND the splatter burns, and I don’t have a splatter screen.)
Roasted sweet potatoes with bacon and onion
2 large sweet potatoes
1 large onion
5 slices of bacon
enough extra virgin olive oil to coat (maybe 2 tbs.?)
1 tbs. butter
1 tsp.(ish) kosher salt
Preheat oven to 425.
Wash, peel and scallop the sweet potatoes. Slice the onion and separate the rings. Set aside.
Line a plate with a paper towel, lay out the bacon, cover with another paper towel and microwave for 4 minutes.
Bacon won’t be crisp and maybe a little undercooked. GOOD. Wipe down a 9×13 glass baking dish with the bacon-grease soaked paper towel. Chop up the bacon. Load up the dish with the sweet potatoes, onion slices and bacon. Drizzle with olive oil and toss to coat.
After about 15 minutes, I peeked and saw that things were a little dry. This is where I stirred in the 1 tbs. of butter, then I covered the dish with foil. Maybe cover it at first and you won’t need the butter at all.
Um. So I didn’t check how long it took exactly. My nose told me when it was done. I think it was somewhere from 30-45 minutes.
I’m sorry this is in no way an exact science! I’m going from tastebud memory from almost two months ago, and this is my first (highly successful) attempt. To be entirely honest, I didn’t think it’d turn out this awesome.
Yay for surprises!
Neighborhood Watch
Shelves in progress
One shelf, made, painted, mounted and in use
What IF? A Portrait of Infertility from Keiko Zoll on Vimeo.
Read Keiko’s blog for the full story on her brilliant video.
