Dancing Along

Dance has resumed from winter break and not a moment too soon for my two impatient young dancers.  Most especially, KC misses the classes during any hiatus.  After a couple days of rest (literally) I hear "I miss dance so much."

Last night he came out of his ballet class literally on cloud 9. He felt he had made great strides on his tour jete, and chatted about it all the way home.  He also assists with teaching a class on Wednesdays and was telling me all about how well his students were doing and how they were nearly ready for the winter show.  He was glowing with pride as he told me and I am so filled with gratitude that he has this opportunity.  Not just the opportunity to grow in his dancing skills but the chance to learn how to share that passion with others and inspire them.

Finding Me

Or perhaps I should say, finding more of me.  I got a little lost there for a few years.  Lots of kids, lots of stuff going on.  It was and is, all GOOD.  This is not a whine post.  I have enjoyed the parenting journey more than I have words for.  Sure there have been and will continue to be hard times. But my kids and my wife?  They are the best of my life.  Hands down.  That said, I have realized that along the way, kid needs, family needs, tended to supplant any time for myself.  I certainly enjoyed taking the kids to the park every night. And I got some level of fitness from it.  But was it a work out?  Not really.  I grew to treasure summers not just because it is my favorite season, but because with no taxi responsibilities for the kids activities I could take zumba once a week. (and the year she offered it twice a week, I was there for both of them.)

I discovered hot yoga purely because it was the only thing that fit my schedule year round.  Most Saturdays I can devote 9 to 10 a.m. to my yoga practice.  Not every Saturday, but most.  And when I started doing that, I started realizing that really, an hour a week for myself was maybe not quite enough.

I started carving out more time to read in the evenings before i fell asleep.  I refuse to let myself go to sleep  after just doing piece work and planning the next homeschool class.  I told myself I could stay awake for at least 20 minutes each night to read and found that most nights I exceed that. (perhaps even a bit more than i should, but oh, the joy of a good book!)  Because I am on Goodreads I learned the other day that last year I read 53 books!  I think the year before I read something like 12 so that is really a big improvement.  I was always a big reader, somehow evening exhaustion, the challenges of reading in bed when you had two littles that coslept. well it had just drifted away for a bit.

Likewise I have been making time for more fitness in my life. I am weird in that I like to work out.  It relieves stress and helps me feel warmer for at least the 30 minutes or so that I am doing the routine.  I joined an on line fitness group with unlimited videos to follow so that i can keep changing up what I do and do it in the comfort of my home.  It seems doable even when the taxi duties resume next week.  Thus far I have exercised regularly this week and I love that I can change what I do.  Tonight it was Barre and yoga, last night I did a step class. 

It is important to keep this body moving.  This carcass is nearly 60 now and though I have always been flexible and am not a person prone to aches and pains, flexibility and tone just doesn't hang around if you don't work to make it so.  I want to be able to do hikes that interest me, to walk on beaches comfortably long into the future.  Making that a reality means not forgetting to move now.

All of that also I hope helps me to be a better parent and a better spouse.  When I am more relaxed I am more attentive, more receptive to others.  I am a "fixer" by nature, but if i have worked out I am more likely to just listen which tends to be what people really want, instead of charging off trying to save the day!

So though I will likely never again be able to spend 3 and 4 hours a week in a dojo, I have found a reasonable way to enjoy myself and meet this need. 

Ready,Set, Go!

It is early morning and my vacation is over.  Soon i will get into my freezing car and head to work.  I have enjoyed my vacation greatly but I am also (I think) ready to return to work. Too much down time leaves me feeling restless.  I am better about lazing around (what my friends call relaxing but what to me feel like lazing!) in the winter.  I did some workouts, took some walks, got the things done around the house that needed doing post holidays.

But by yesterday I had wrapped that all up.  And today I would have been seriously bored.  So today I am grateful to return to a job that has sustained our family for many years.  And for continuing opportunities to prove to my superiors that I am ready for the managerial position  I have been lobbying for.

1/1/2019

Happy New Year Everyone!  We had fun last night with the kids.  It was low key, movie and chatting, snacking and watching the ball drop.  It is still so exciting to them to stay up till midnight that little else is required for a full night of fun! 

Today I spent the day cleaning and cooking, readying our house, our lives and my mental mindset for the new year and the return to normal schedules.  Well, semi normal.  I go back to work tomorrow but dance and scouts do  not resume till next week.  Still, the lazing around time is done.  I have enjoyed it. 

I am not good at lazing.  It always takes me till almost the end of vacation to actually sleep in, but I did manage that for two days!  Today was beautifully warm for our part of the country in January so I took advantage and removed all the exterior decorations.  We dismantled the tree and put those things away as well. The attic is organized with the return of the holiday decorations to their corner.

I made red lentils for good luck and had that for supper. I actually love to cook black eyed peas for good luck but nary a black eyed pea could be found in my north east supermarkets!  So my next go to is always red lentils.

My wife and I spent time brain storming the logistics of a couple of house things we need to do in 2019.  The biggest of these is sanding and urethaning two high traffic floors.  I learned how to sand and urethane this summer on our upstairs halls.  These floors really need love.  The hard part is actually the emptying of the rooms, and creating the plastic barriers to minimize the dust going everywhere.  Our dining room has a lot of furniture--a table and chairs for 12, two antique china cabinets and a side board.  Our work room has a goodly amount to relocate as well.  This can't happen till the spring but it actually was super helpful to work out a time line--how long to empty the large china cabinets for instance and where all that glassware will be temporarily relocated.  I am equal parts dreading and looking forward to this project.  I know how amazing it will look when it is done, it is just living through the doing.

Though that is true for many things in life, isn't it?

Somehow 2018 has swept nearly to a close.  In many respects it has been a hard year for our family.  We have had a number of expensive dental issues to face, several super expensive house repairs to face, car repairs up the wazoo,expensively ill pets,   and so many other things that if I write them all it looks whiny so I won't.  There have been good times too, but I think I have felt more stressed at times this year than at any other year I can recall.

However, there is still much to be grateful for.  We have each other.  We have a roof over our heads and food on our table. We have jobs--and mine has blossomed with potentiality right at the end of this year which has caused me great excitement and joy.  We have a faith community that embraces our entire family, with all their quirks and uniqueness. we have friends and are deeply rooted in the community we live in.  I have been able to attend yoga semi regularly on Saturday mornings and love it.  I got to go to Zumba very regularly in the summer and adore that.  I have children who are exciting and motivated to try new things--jobs, auditions and friendships.  Being brave enough to step out and risk failure is the greatest  part of living, because without that risk life grows very, very stale.

I know that New Years resolutions are a hot button thing for many of my friends.  I know too that the same is true of self improvement efforts such as exercise.  I have many friends who feel that speaking of such things negates self acceptance or makes those who are not able at this time to make physical changes, feel badly.  So I whisper quietly that one of my goals this year is to incorporate more physical activity into my life.  Not because I hate my body.  I don't.  I genuinely enjoy exercise.  I am weird that way!  It makes me feel good. It reduces my stress.  But incorporating it when the kids have dance and scouts and youth group and all the other things that happen with a growing family is challenging.  To that end I am trying to work out at home, with the idea being I can do a 30 minute work out in between the taxi runs. So dear friends I am not doing this to be a "beautiful person" nor am I doing it because I hate my body.  I am doing it because it makes my spirit happy and that helps me be a better person in my interactions with others.  May we all find something that helps our spirits soar in the year to come and give back to the world we live in in meaningful ways.

Instant Love

Well, Instant Pot that is!  We got an instant pot about 6 months ago.  I am officially in love with it.  For me as a vegetarian I can cook whole grains and beans quickly and easily.  I can saute, slow cook and pressure cook all in the same pot.  Have I ever moaned about how much I hate doing dishes?  The IP means literally one pot to clean up.  My favorite veg things to make are hard boiled eggs, chili, vegetable soup, broccoli soup, refrieds, and black bean soup, risotto, cooked barley in tomato sauce and I am sure I am forgetting a host of others.  This has been a life saver since this year KC and Elisabeth are in different dance groups and much of my time is spent running between home and the studio.

However, the IP has also been helpful for cooking for my wife.  She works a different schedule from our family eating schedule and this has led to really unhealthy eating choices for her. (read fast food on a regular basis or skipping supper and enjoying a really big bowl of ice cream)  I get that when you get home around 7:30 or 8 no one wants to cook.  I suggested that I leave her a plate of whatever supper I had prepared for the family but she steadfastly declined. 

I eventually realized that this was because she no longer ate a vegetarian diet.  While I think that the veg diet would be healthier, that is not my choice.  The dilemma is that after 30 years of not eating meat, I really get grossed out by meat.  I am not being mean, it just literally grosses me out. BUT in the Instant Pot I don't really have to handle it.  I don't even have to look at it for long.  I know, some folks are probably doing that eye roll that happens when omnivores have to put up with vegetarians.  But it seriously is important to me. 

I suggested to her that we get some freezer storage bowls, similar to those used for TV dinners and I would make her some meals to freeze.  Then she pops it in the microwave when she gets home and all is good.  I have found a number of meals that she likes--honey garlic chicken is a favorite, as well as something called mississippi pot roast (which I used chuck roast for)  I did a beef stew that went over well and a hamburger stroganoff. For someone who will not taste test any of the meat dishes I make I consider that I have been uber successful!

I have also taught KC how to cook his penne for pasta in the IP  We have a gas stove and I prefer that the kids don't use the stove top when I am not around. The IP lets him cook his pasta and his taco meat in what seems more safety to me.

Kirsty has long expressed a desire to travel cross country in a tin can on wheels  camper when we retire.  I have not ever really loved that idea, though I do dearly want to see the country. I am jut not a camper kind of gal.  But with a small tent for me to sleep in, a camper for her, and an instant pot to cook with, it could work!

Decorating for January!

in some aspects of my life I crave minimalism, I am all about decorating for holidays.  And I need decorations in January especially because that is when winter gets real up here.  Though we are slowly getting back our daylight, there are lots of cold hard days and nights ahead.  So today, I put away the Santas and the reindeer and brought out my snow man collection.  

They are super cute and live on top of my cabinets in the kitchen all through January.  My collection has grown so much over the years that they also decorate the dining room as well.

They are whimsical and help my spirit to welcome the snow and inclement weather.  My wife says you have the same amount of snow no matter your mind set, so I have endeavored to have a more positive outlook.  It is hard for me as being cold is physically uncomfortable, but hey, snowmen are adorable! Latly I hung up my lucite stars. They catch the light of the chandelier beautifully and remind me to look up in the cold dark nights and find those bright pinpricks of light.