I can't say I'm thrilled about my options but they're what I've got

This petition showed up in my inbox. When I read the email I was like how the fuck is that even possible? Then I clicked on the petition link, and I saw that the family in question? Isn't white. And then I was all "Oh. Yeah, I can see it now." HOW HORRIBLE IS THAT. Please consider signing the petition.

The Whole9 folks have come out with a Whole30 FODMAP shopping list. I'm debating whether or not I want to give this a try. Giving up onions and garlic right now is not something I want to do. I just bought new bags of minced toasted onion and garlic from Penzey's and I cooked up a giant mess of kale with onions and garlic--enough to last me at least a week or two. I've also got two heads of cauliflower and a bunch of broccoli in the fridge. With the failure of the AIP experiment, I'm not exactly enthusiastic about putting myself in Food Jail again. But if it could help with my constant abdominal inflammation for KCRF, it's worth a shot. pondering

Sunday's session with Andrew was fantastic. Lots of fun movements (including a combination dumbbell snatch and overhead lunge that killed me but worked every single part of my body from toes to fingers), and things that made me feel badass (like pulling a sled). I brought up the issue of The Rope again and Andrew suggested we see where I was. I wasn't hoping for much, but I managed to hoist myself off the ground and got the rope wrapped halfway around my leg before Andrew mentioned that the rope needed to go the other way around my leg. Of course, by the time I got untangled and tried to re-wrap the opposite way, my shoulders were done. But hey! I spent several seconds off the ground. That felt amazing and empowering.

It got me thinking about my different experiences with body movement this weekend. For the first time ever, bellydance made me feel bad about myself. But my (admittedly baby-step) attempts at strength training made me feel like a fucking badass.

Do I need to be done with dance for a while? I can't in good conscience back out of KCRF at this point, but do I need to hand off the Smoker dance organizer to someone else after this season? I've identified as a bellydancer for a long time--half my life. Giving up that part of my identity would be distressing. But would it be better for me in the long run? Is it worse to hold onto something I can't do to my standards and satisfaction anymore? For me, definitely yes. Is it something I need to do at this point? I'm unsure. I can't realistically evaluate this until after KCRF, but it's something I need to think about sooner rather than later.

I really fucking hate opportunities for emotional growth.

Surprisingly Good Chicken Soup

Tonight's soup turned out shockingly good. So much better than I expected it to, I'm putting it here.

Surprisingly Good Chicken Soup
2-3 chicken breasts, diced
3 large yellow squash, diced
A Whole Hella Bunch of Baby Kale (I used 2 cups cooked, which is probably close to 6 cups raw)
1 onion, diced
2 c chicken broth
1/2 can coconut milk
1/4 c mayonnaise
2 c cauliflower puree
1 T dried tarragon
1 T dried chives
1 -2 t dried parsley
salt & pepper to taste

Brown onion in small amount of oil. Add broth and squash to pot. Simmer until halfway cooked/tender. Add chicken and cook until done. Add remaining ingredients and simmer ten to fifteen minutes.

See what I mean? I really did not expect it to be so good. Just looking at it, it's another one of those "WTF am I going to do with this teensy amount of mayo and god damn it I can't believe I accidentally bought breasts instead of thighs again and *sniff*sniff* is this coconut milk still good?" concoctions. This one turned out better than most, though.

Go, me.