Tebowing

I am a diehard Dallas Cowboys fan folks, and since my boys didn’t make it into the playoffs (said as I wipe a tear away) I have to admit that I’m rooting for Denver. Usually the Patriots are my fallback team because we lived in Boston for three years, I think Belichick is funny and Tom Brady, even though a DB, is just a freaken stellar of a quarterback. I don’t watch a lot of football, even though it’s on Saturday, Sunday, Monday, and sometimes Thursday for hours on end in our home. I can handle a game or two, but sitting in front of the TV from 11am to midnight watching it makes me want to clean the house, or read, or poke my eyes out. Kyle is a huge Chiefs fan, and I mean huge, and he can’t even help himself when it comes to Denver this year. The story of Tebow is hard not to get caught up in. A good kid getting drafted and playing his heart out, honoring his God, and not being a thug or jackass has won a place in my heart. Saturday night’s game is now being called a miracle.

This got me thinking, I don’t think that Tebow is being blessed with amazing wins and talent because he is such an awesome Christian. I think he is being blessed because he is highly visible and is allowing God to use him. If you look back at the people God used in the bible all of them are jacked up in some way or another. Noah got drunk and naked, Moses killed a dude and buried him in the sand, King David sent a man into battle so the dude would die and David could have his wife…. The list goes on. So often we are afraid of what people will think of us when they find out we are Christians. Will they still like me? Will they think I’m weird? What if they tell other people I’m weird? Will they think I’m going to beat them over the head with a bible? Will they think I don’t like them? I think these are the questions that get in the way of letting God use us to our fullest. It’s funny too because the people that don’t ask these questions are the ones that we look up to. They are comfortable in their own skin and being around someone that is content brings contentment in our own hearts and minds. I know that it’s only a matter of time before boy wonder does something to fall from grace, but honestly, I would seriously question his authenticity if he didn’t. We are all human, and we all do something that’s stupid and that is what makes us human again.

So make fun of the guy that inspired “Tebowing it”, and disagree with his beliefs, but you gotta admit, he’s a pretty stand up guy.

Boxing myself in

This morning was successful, but I wasn't happy about it. I just didn't want to get up. Last night was my normal stay-up-until-11-watching-a-football-game-I-don't-really-care-about Monday night, but at least Nicole and I ate decently healthily. I really didn't have any reason to sleep in, not to be really tired. But, I drug my unhappy butt out of bed and commenced with one of the few workouts that I enjoy- hitting a heavy bag in a boxing workout. It's good exercise and it helps me get work frustration out.

I may have mentioned this before, but there are really only a few exercise routines that I like. I hate running. I despise swimming. Even road biking sucks. I'm perfectly content riding an exercise bike in my basement, lifting weights, boxing, or playing basketball (which I haven't done in probably 10 years.) This makes a program like Ninja Fingers a little more of a challenge to find something that gets my heart rate up, yet I won't either get bored or get frustrated and quit.

Any suggestions?

The work/exercise balance

One thing that I have realized in restarting Ninja Fingers is that I had a totally different work/life balance the last go around. When we started the first time, I worked for a company that was going out of business. I was still getting paid by them, but we basically didn't have anything in stock to sell. As a result, it was easy for me to either exercise in the mornings, and go into work a little bit late, or to come home mid-afternoon and work out. I'm one of these people that either has to exercise first thing in the morning, or at a time that is a couple hours after eating. I'm also taxed at the end of the day, so I have a hard time working out right after work.

This go around, I work sometimes 12 hours a day. I'm usually at my office between 8 and 8:30 am, so to find the time and energy to work out in the morning is tough.

I'm trying not to sound whiny, or that I'm complaining- it's just tough to drag myself out of bed at 5:45 or 6 am to work out. So, if you see me, please give me a fist bump, and tell me to stop being lazy.

Trying to restrain "Cheat Days"

One of the things that a lot of successful lifestyle eating and exercise plans share in common is the concept that if there's really something you want to eat, go ahead and do it. Just realize that you will have to do some extra work to cover for it.

At the beginning of Ninja Fingers, Nicole and I each allowed ourselves one cheat day per week where the rules were relaxed, and we could indulge those food fantasies that had been following us around all week. We usually set aside Saturdays as the day where she would eat fast food, I would eat buffalo wings, and we would always feel bad on Sunday.

This weekend, I failed miserably. Friday I should just write off all together as the caloric destruction I did to my body Friday night was of epic proportions. Did that stop me from doing it all again on Saturday? Nope. Oh, maybe Sunday was better. Nuh uh.

This week, I will continue to try to make healthy decisions every day, exercise as much as I can, and keep my cheat day to what it should be- one day.

-Kyle

My name is Nicole Harsha, and I’m addicted to TV

As I come out of my six hour movie haze I realize that I’m hungry and thirsty. I get up from my couch bed and make my way past the shoe cemetery, dog hair tumble weeds, dirty laundry dump, clean laundry dump and enter the land of crusty dishes and slimy pots and pans. Never mind that this is the fifth cup that I have had a beverage out of today, creating more dishes for me to clean, I still reach for a clean glass and pour myself some water. Here is what goes through my head as I look around on my way back to the couch.

Man, this place is a mess.
What’s that smell? Is it in the kitchen sink or the trash?
Look at all that laundry.
Why do we always leave our shoes in the living room to step over?
Where did I put my, ooooh, Hanna is now available on demand. I’ll watch that then clean. Yeah, that sounds good.

I love TV. Actually, I love movies and now that we have a million movie channels I find that I can’t pull myself away from the screen. They are my way of escaping the world for a couple of hours. Ever since I was a kid I’ve had this way of tuning out the world and only hearing what was on TV. My sister used to make a game out of it and see how many times it would take me to realize she was calling my name. It never got past five.

Lately, I’ve let television rule my life. Instead of using it as a relaxing couple of hours I’ve been escaping into oblivion. The entire weekend Kyle was gone fishing I watched movies. I could have done so much with my time, but I chose to “rest” instead. Even as Kyle watches football (something I don't enjoy watching all day), I still lie around and do nothing. Well, I’m tired of being a filmy goo on the couch. I say that as soon as I’m done typing, which I’m secretly using as a procrastinating ploy, I’ll clean this house and do the laundry! Damn it, I will be lazy no more.... at least until Cowboys and Aliens is available at red box.

Charlie nesting in a pile of dirty laundry.

I am fat, and I am tired

Hello all. Yes, we are back again and I am fat.... again. Here are my problems with being overweight.
1) I have struggled with this my entire life. Realizing that it will be a life long thing sucks.
2) My clothes don’t fit and they don’t make clothes I like in my size.
3) Girls that have a “pooch” are not fat. So please stop complaining about it. It infuriates me.
4) I hate having my picture taken.
5) Its effected my health on the inside. My liver enzymes are pretty elevated and my doctor thinks it’s due to my fat intake.

I have to say that I’m comfortable with my squishy body until I actually see myself. We had our Smashie team pictures taken and I hate the way I look. I thought that they were going to "fix" it by photo shopping off belly pounds. Alas, it did not happen so I’m stuck with it. I look pregnant (which I’m not) and I have to deal with it being my fault. I ate the food, I didn’t keep on top of it, so now I have to lose the weight…again. Here is the pic. Everyone looks pretty smoken, except me. Oh well, I’ll get over it one day.

On a lighter note, our first local bout is on Saturday! I’ve worked for about year to get to this point and I am so excited!!! We are lined up to play the M-80s who are picked to win the championship this year. This was starting to play with my head a little until we scrimmaged against them this week. It was just like playing any other team. We can so do this! We’ve got AMAZING seasoned players on our team and I have been just blown away by their knowledge and athleticism. These girls are awesome and I am so honored to be on a team with them.

These past few weeks have been pretty busy with work and derby. Practice until 10pm and getting up at 5 or 5:30 is starting to take its toll. I've neglected my love and my laundry. So my love took care of the laundry! Big thank you to Kyle for folding, straightening, and washing this week. I really really appreciate it! xoxo

Go Smashies!!!!!

Rest

We need rest.

As a nation, Americans are over-worked and under rested. Just think about it- the term "workaholic" has almost become a badge of honor in our society. We are constantly caffeinated, and even when we aren't "working" we are constantly inundated with a stream of information from our emails, cell phones, Twitter feeds, Facebook pages, Sportscenter, News at 6, Texts, etc, etc, etc.

This has led us to become a nation of people that will die early while being fat, stressed to the max, and with no concept of real connections with people.

We have forgotten what it is like to sit back, relax, unplug, and enjoy the world around us.

This weekend, I decided to change that. I went down to the Lake of the Ozarks with three other guys that I barely know. On Friday, after we watched the end of the Cardinals game, I turned my cell phone off ((GASP!!!)). Not once until I got home Sunday evening did I check my email, twitter, or facebook.

You know what? It was awesome. We spent time as guys fishing, farting, playing cards, cussing, and talking about relationships, God, and how we were going to fix the problems of the world. By the time I got back on Sunday I realized that the information overload that I had unplugged from had very little relevance on my life during that day and a half. My company was still in business, my wife still loved me, and my house hadn't burned down. I was a great combination of rested and exhausted- it felt great.

I would encourage you to do the same. Sometime soon, truly unplug for a day or two, you'll thank me for it.