My Pants Are Shrinking!

Over the past few months, like so many other people, I’ve been doing a lot of extra eating. Mostly stress eating. I’m sometimes careful with my food choices, but usually I don’t give a fig how much butter, sugar, carbohydrates and chemical preservatives are in the food. Hand me a bag of chips and that’s the last you’ll see of them. Give me a can of cashews, those babies will be gone. Dill pickles are devoured like candy. I guess you see the trend here – salt! It’s all about the salt.

Read Full Post »

Back Away From the Buffet

I don’t know about you, but I love to eat. I like all kinds of food and I like to try new foods. I know there are a lot of people, some of my readers included, who are basically burgers and pizza kind of people, but I’m adventurous when it comes to trying food. Oh sure, I like meat and potatoes as much as the next guy, but I also like to try stuff. Within reason. Some things I’m pretty sure I won’t eat. 

Read Full Post »

‘Tis Strange But True

Hello blog friends. Because I know how much each and every one of you enjoys wasting spending a few minutes each Monday here at the Edge of Eternity, today I bring to you another installment of weird facts. You’re welcome. Now grab your coffee, Mountain Dew, iced tea, bottled water, wine, or whatever beverage you prefer, sit back, put your feet up and enjoy the silliness.

Read Full Post »

It’s That Time of Year Again.

It’s the beginning of a brand spanking shiny new year, full of hope and promise. That means, out with the old habits and in with the new resolutions. Lose weight, exercise more, eat healthier, save more money, blah, blah, blah. You all know the drill.

Read Full Post »

New Year – New Goals – New Determination!

It’s almost January – let the dieting, working out, eating healthier, spending less, drinking less, and other awesome goals begin! Here’s to a good two weeks of purging the old habits and staying focused on those resolutions. Mark my words, by the end of January there will be a noticeable decline in gym attendance and longer lines at the burger joint drive through windows.

Resolutions are wonderful; however, rarely attainable. Most people make the same resolutions every year or set such high estimations of their sticktuitiveness that they are setting themselves up to fail.

I’ve never been a fan of resolutions. I have goals, sure, long term things I’d like to do or accomplish. But I don’t set out to start something new every January simply because it’s a new year. I always make it my resolution to make no resolutions. And guess what? I always reach my goal.

However, this year, I’m changing things up. I’m going to make some resolutions. I’m going to do some wild and crazy things this year. I’m not sure when, or where, or how, but I’ll blog of them when they happen. Stay tuned.

If you’re a resolution maker – kudos to you and good luck. If you need some ideas for some simple, attainable resolutions, may I suggest a new hobby? Check out the video below for an idea that might work for you.

Happy end of December dear blog followers! Here’s hoping 2017 is fabulous. And here’s to making goals you can stick to.

Do you make resolutions? Do you start every new year on a diet, determined to do better than last year? Are you searching for your inner wild child?

Word of the day: Saxicolous

Fun fact about me: I’ve grown fond of pecans since living in Mississippi.

Original post by Jansen Schmidt, December 2016. Video courtesy YouTube (Studio C)

Read Full Post »

New Year’s Resolutions. Good idea or not?

So here it is – 2012!

Happy new year to my loyal followers and welcome to newcomers. I hope your winter holidays were safe and enjoyable. Now let’s get down to some serious business and start the new year right.

New year, new resolutions.  Today we start our diets, we are resolved that we will lose those 10, 20, 30 pounds of holiday reveling. We will go to the gym more often, we will condition our bodies for that marathon we’ve always said we would run. We are done shopping, we will save money. We will volunteer more at our children’s youth activities, in their classrooms, at the homeless shelter. We will finally clean out the garage, our junk drawers, the attic. We will, we will, we will!  But the real question is – for how long?

My resolution has been the same for the past three years – I will not make any resolutions. That way I’m not letting myself down when I stop dieting, stop going to the gym, stop training for the marathon, take one box of old junk from the overstuffed garage to goodwill and call it quits. I know, that’s a cop out. But the reality of it is, several years ago I decided to make more “realistic” resolutions, ones I could actually achieve and therefore feel good about myself. Well, I realized in July or August of that year, that I wasn’t really sticking to my resolutions, I was simply enforcing my habits. If something is a habit, you don’t need to remind yourself to do it. Habits are not resolutions.

So what is a resolution? According to Webster’s New Lexicon Encyclopedic Dictionary of the English Language, a resolution is: The quality of not allowing difficulties or opposition to affect one’s purpose. Hmm. Okay. That said, why do people really give up on or forget about their resolutions? My answer – I become lazy. There are no difficulties preventing me from not stuffing that chocolate bar into my mouth, unless it’s a two pounder that I’m trying to eat all in one mouthful. No one prevents me from going to the gym. There is no opposition to me sitting down in the chair and writing 1,000 words a day. So why is it so hard to stick to the resolutions?

It’s psychological. We psych ourselves out about it. We are so overly adamant that we will do heroic things, that endorphines actually race through our body and pumps us up. We feel fantastic! Nothing will deter us. Then along comes January 15th and we slip a little bit, but we make excuses, like we just need a day off. Then February 1st rolls around and we have to think long and hard about what it is we were supposed to be doing better this year. When we can’t remember, the same adrenaline gushes around in our bodies, frantically looking for justification as to why we quit running, dieting, writing. That adrenaline spikes our nervous system to extreme stress levels and now we feel like horrid lazy bums so we might as well just eat what we want in front of the t.v. and be happy.

Hey, I understand. I’m not here to judge. It’s too dark and cold to be running anyway. It’s not safe and we’ll probably catch pneumonia. We can’t let that one lonely slice of chocolate cake go to waste, after all there’s children starving in India. Sure, we maybe didn’t write 1,000 words today, but hey, we sure thought about the plot and character arcs a lot, that counts for something.

Here’s my advice folks. Slow down, breathe. Enjoy the little things along the way. Have dessert once in a while. So you don’t run a marathon, or lose 20 pounds. Are you healthy and happy? Are you spending quality time with your family? Make a resolution to enjoy life a little more this year. Smell the flowers. Savor the flavor of your food. Hug your kids one extra time every day. Don’t stress on the resolutions. If you’re happy, life is good and you don’t need them anyway.

So those are my sage words of advice for this month. Now tell me, do you, or do you not make resolutions? Are they attainable? Do you feel good or bad if you do or do not attain them?

Word of the day:  Coarctate

Fun fact about me:   I am allergic to salmon.

Read Full Post »