You Learn Something New Every Day - Champ or Chomp?

Another new category I will use throughout this year is "You Learn Something New Everyday".  My father used to say that, and although as a teenager, I didn't think he knew ANYTHING, I have to say that I'm beginning to believe it.  


I love to learn new things; from completely useless facts to important and useful knowledge.  So I will embrace this category and actively try to learn something new every day.  Now with yesterday's post about being a member of the "Right" family, I won't be able to use my knowledge as often, but it never hurts to have it.

So on to the knowledge.  I learned this weekend from my friend Brad, that the saying was originally "Champing at the Bit" (meaning impatience or frustration when delayed), not "Chomping at the Bit"  as we hear more often.  Who knew? I have to admit that I have been using "Chomp" for 49+ years.  The word Champ means to chew noisily.


So me being me, I looked it up online to see if I could figure out how it evolved. According to Wiktionary - Champ was the original use.  Chomp was introduced later and is apparently acceptable as well.  


So, today, I share a little known fact (thank you Brad) that I will plan to use a few times in the coming weeks.  Going forward, I will share more learnings, some small and hopefully some large.  It will be fun to keep track of how many things I learn and see if my father was right! 


What have you learned today?

Commentary

I really do encourage and appreciate your comments on this blog as I go along.  As I've mentioned, I hope this will become a community of people helping each other through the journey.


I have had several inquiries from people who wanted to post a comment, but couldn't make it work.  Here is one way that will work, so please feel free to add your two cents to the blog.


I think the easiest way to be able to post a comment here, or any other blog for that matter, is to have a Google account.  Getting a Google account is fast, easy and free (and they wont' send you spam).  Just log into Google - go to the top right and click on create an account now - it will only take a minute or two.


Then when you want to post a comment, write your note and then click on the "select profile" drop down menu and choose Google Account.  I don't have any connection with Google, but it was the easiest account I found when I was looking.


Please feel free to email me comments as well and/or post them on Facebook - I love the feedback.

I'm a Member of the Right

The "Right" Family, that is.  We just returned from a terrific weekend at Spider Lake with our Friend Brad.  I realized, not for the first time, during the weekend that all four of us in the KilKenney family like to be right.  Jack calls us the "exacto" family.  I don't think I truly understood that until I stopped and listened to how many times we corrected each other over inane facts this weekend.  Do you really have to skip a turn in Scrabble if you get all vowels and you put your tiles back?  Does Cousin Jan work FOR the MLS or WITH the MLS?  Is it a Shirley Temple or a Roy Rogers? and on and on.....


I'm not sure how it all got started. Are we just a competitive group?  Does being right make us feel that much better?  Do we all need more attention?  I honestly don't know the answer, but I do know it needs to stop because it gives me a headache.


So as a part of this self-insight journey to my 50th birthday, I guess I need to admit that as the matriarch of the "Right" family,  I have the power to make, at least my participation, stop.  That, of course, means I need to start letting things go, and not feel the need to be right (at least all the time).  I have to admit, that doesn't come naturally, so I feel some work coming on.  I am going to try to catch myself before I correct unimportant facts and let the conversation flow. I'll let you know how it goes in the coming months.  At the very least, it will be a good exercise in restraint.


Does this register for anyone else? Again, in my quest for self actualization, I'd love to hear any stories, tips or ideas.

My Favorite Things - Spider Lake

I will begin categorizing these posts as I go forward to make it easier to follow along. Today, I am beginning today I am beginning a regular category called "My Favorite Things" I will post thoughts every so often of some of my favorites - foods, places, people, gadgets, recipes, products etc. I hope you will add your favorites to the list so we can share the ideas.

I have to start today with my favorite place in the world. Spider Lake, Wisconsin. We are lucky enough to have a cabin on Spider Lake and I am truly at peace when I spend time here. I love being here anytime - Summer, Fall, Winter or Spring. I love it for 24 hours or a longer vacation. We all slow down here, and I think even the boys fight less at the Lake. It's a great place to read, write, study, cook, eat, walk, run and just think.

Again, I feel blessed to have this place, and one of the things it has taught me is that I need, on a regular basis, to find a place to stop, think and reflect. I want to get better at that in my daily life. We are all trying to keep everything in our lives moving forward - work, family, and tons of outside interests and challenges. I think it is important in that balance to figure how to not lose ourselves in the process. It's a work in progress, and I'd love to hear what works for you.

As I mentioned, the cabin is a great place to think and one of the things I will be thinking about this weekend is this blog. I enjoy sharing my thoughts and ideas, but I really want to use it to build a community where those of us who traveling this mid-life journey can learn from each other. I will think about and expand my list of topics in the coming posts, but please feel free to add any ideas you have.

A Rainy Travel Day

I am heading to the cabin today with Jack & Charlie after school conferences. We don't have much internet access there, but I will plan to post tomorrow and Sunday, at least and promise to have pictures to share.

Maggie's Zines

Ok, true confessions time - I love magazines. I actually think I might have a little problem with magazines. I enjoy the web as much as the next person. I'm spilling my guts on this blog right? But there is something about a magazine that completely takes me in. I love the pictures - especially in cooking magazines. I love that I can find help to solve almost any problem in a 2-page article, and I love that I can read a magazine while watching a movie or television show.

I was really disappointed to hear that Gourmet Magazine is going out of circulation. I know I probably sound old, but it seems like the end of an era. I get my recipes from Epicurious much of the time, but nothing beats seeing pictures of the food in print. I'm also one of those people who keeps old copies of cooking magazines just in case I might need a recipe a couple of years later. Of course, I'm not so good at finding the recipe when I need it, so I'm often back to the web to search.

I plan to do my part (in moderation, of course) to support the circulation of my favorite magazines and I hope I can continue to indulge this little obsession for years to come.

Try More Tri's

My second goal for this year, in keeping with the health theme of yesterday, is to do at least 4 Triathlons. I did my first Triathlon - the YWCA Women's Triathlon, in August of this year. It was an amazing experience. I highly recommend it to anyone doing a triathlon, especially for the first time. It was truly inspirational to be passed on the bike portion (and I was passed by almost everyone) and see that many of the women were in their 50's, 60's and beyond.

I spent many hours prior to the event talking myself out of it. I didn't start that 12 week training program until about 8 weeks out, I had a slow bike, I could drown, It might rain etc... I knew it would be hard, and it was, but what I didn't realize, was how much fun it would be.

Now lest you think I am a dedicated triathlete, I promptly took about 2 months off of training after completing the race in August. Shades of my post yesterday, but now I'm ready to get back in the game.

I got a fabulous new bike for my birthday/anniversary from Bill & the boys, so I running out of excuses. I will continue to do some spinning, swimming & running over the winter so I can be ready to get back on the road for Spring. I plan to choose one triathlon a month for June - September of 2010. I do hope that putting these goals in writing for all to see will help me accomplish them.

Because sometimes I like to read about things more than actually do them (this will be the subject of a few posts to come, no doubt), I found a great book called the Slow, Fat, Triathlete by Jayne Williams. It's a smart, funny read for anyone thinking about entering this wacky sport.

I hope that actually putting these goals in writing for all to see will help me accomplish them. I am trying to keep them reasonable and I pray that it will be fun to look back at the end of the year to see how I've done.

Again - please feel free to share your experiences here - what's worked for you to stick to a training program? What goals are you working toward as you take your journey?