Small Victories

This blog is about exactly what you would think. The small victories in life. Those "win"moments that make you feel better about any less-than-victorious moments. I had a few of those moments today.

Today was DDS Iron Chef. The secret ingredient was garlic and I made Spinach Dip Mac and Cheese. I fixed it last night and all I had to do this morning was bake it for half an hour. Somehow I managed to wake up, preheat the oven, pop in the casserole dish, get dressed, eat breakfast, and make it to work in time. Best of all, unlike the day I took Buffalo Chicken Dip to work, fresh out of the oven, my mac and cheese didn't spill out of my LIDDED Pyrex dish and into my handy dandy insulated Pyrex carrier. While I didn't win Iron Chef (that title went to someone with a crock pot full of piping hot chicken tetrazini, a feat I could not achieve with my casserole dish), everyone seemed to enjoy my dish and it was all eaten up. Victory.

I ordered my first consultative examination today. I had to do it in front of the whole class so everyone could see how it's done, but now one of my claims will be in some sort of progressive status instead of just sitting stagnate because I don't know how to everything that is necessary to do my job. And I didn't get to do most of it because the trainer hijacked the mouse from me, but still, victory.

I ran a 10 minute mile for the first time in months. I'm back to the pace I was before I put weight back on and before the DC-move and before I was engaged and living with Paul and planning a wedding. I didn't do it after half an hour of exercise like I used to, but I'm confident that I could. It just so happened that a treadmill was open when I left the locker room and it's easier to get an elliptical when it's busy so I took the treadmill while it was available. Victory.

My granny was and my mom is the champion of pan gravy. It was always just the right consistency, not too thick or thin, and never too bland like a lot of gravy. It usually had little chunks of chicken or pork or deer or whatever its base was and it was always delicious. And tonight, though I didn't necessarily join their whisking ranks, I made a mean pan of gravy to go with the equally mean pork chops, garlic red skin mashed potatoes, and green beans. It didn't have the little dripping chunks in it (that sounds about a billion more times disgusting than it should), it was flavorful and thick, but not overly so, and it was just good. Also, my potatoes, pork chops, gravy and green beans were all done cooking within five minutes of each other and nothing had to sit around and get cold. Victory x2!

What are your latest small victories? Or big ones for that matter!