Thinking out loud.

As it were. To do:

PTA stuff:
- check PTA box for any more volunteer forms and make copies if there are any.
- divvy up the copies of volunteer forms to the various committee/event chairs.
- write up agenda for next Tuesday's PTA board meeting.
- write up weekly email for yahoo group & PTA news for weekly newsletter.

Other:
- Publix in the am before yoga, hopefully
- get clothes & stuff ready for consignment sale (there's a ton - must start that this weekend)
- mop kitchen floor
- make Michael's birthday cake
- wrap Michael's presents
- pick up balloons
- make turkey bbq
- vacuum upstairs & clean upstairs bathrooms
- go through bins for stuff to list
- call Kathy & schedule haircut for week after next
- get pedicure week after next also

Tomorrow morning is a hot 90. So looking forward to it! I tried toe stand again this afternoon in the living room...balanced for at least ten seconds on the right. Couldn't do it on the left without being warmed up due to pain on the inside of my ankle. Can't wait to try it tomorrow!

The noise, noise, noise, noise!

You know, you'd think that with both boys in school from 8-2:30 roughly that I would not reach noise overload so quickly...but I do. Mostly with Will. He chatters non-stop when we get home after pickup and playground time. "Mommy, I'm thirsty. I want a snack. Mommy, can I watch something? Can you read to me? Mommy, I want another snack. I need to make a stinky! I'm dooonnnnneeee! Mommy, {pointing to Lego catalog} I want this, and this, and THIS. {insert loud crashing noises} Expecto patronum {loud crashing noises and thuds}!! Mommy, is daddy on his way home? Can I watch something? I want to play with my brother!" and so on. Right now I have on my headphones with the music cranked and I can still hear him from upstairs. I am also drinking a glass of red wine...much deserved. I have a meatloaf in the oven and cauliflower simmering for mashed cauli and cheese. I think I'm also going to cut up some cukes for a salad.

My practice this morning....I went to a hot 75 with R. Grumpy R. whose classes I have not enjoyed so much lately. She wanted to do a silent 75, but then she came back in and said that Debbie said no. Fine with me! I don't think I'm ready for a silent class.

So, my balance was terrible today. Terrible!! I don't know if it was a morning thing or what....maybe because it was a 75 minute class and I wasn't as warmed up, but I could not even balance well in tree. Hours later at home, I tried tree again...no problem....got down easily into toe stand on my right leg and held it for the longest ever, about ten seconds. I can't do it on my left leg without being warmed up, because I have a wierd pain on the inside of my left ankle. Maybe I will get up my nerve and do toe stand Friday in Elena's class...though it would be humiliating to fall backwards on my butt.

We got the nicest email from Michael's teacher last night. It said:

Hi! I just wanted to let you know what a great job Michael is doing!
He's really had an amazing couple of weeks and seems to be adjusting
pretty well to second grade. I love that he's such a thinker. He works
so hard and is incredibly kind to everyone. I can already tell we're
going to have a fabulous year.

I take his goodness for granted too much....he really is a special boy with a sweet nature and heart of gold. I need to appreciate him more.

It's like a sauna outside.

It's as hot as hot yoga, but not as much fun.

I made it back to a hot 90 last night, though it was kind of last minute so I was starving, plus I forgot that I got up and walked yesterday morning. So it wasn't my best practice - my muscles felt a little tired. Even though I was excited to work on my balance in poses, my balance wasn't so great - I did go down in toe stand, but by the time I got down, it was time to come back up. I got in the back of the room so I could get in toe stand without feeling like I was on display, but being closer to the mirror is better for my focus. I was also trying to focus on my breath more, since I find I tend to hold my breath in strenuous poses. Maybe I need to tackle one element at a time.

My neck and shoulder are seriously out of whack, and I have a pain in my mid-back. I'm going to a hot 75 in the morning, then going to get an adjustment.

I have been eating a few more junky carbs than usual lately, especially in the afternoons after school - goldfish, caramel rice cakes, yogurt pretzels. I don't even really WANT that stuff, but my mouth does. I need to knock it off.

Tonight for dinner - curried chicken over rice (no rice for me). The plumbers are nearly done replacing our sink fixture, which was the cause of our very low water pressure. Yahoo!

My poor neglected ebay business.

I only have a few auctions up and not many in the chute. I am holding some of my more fallish stuff for September, so I don't have much to put up right now. Me, Kim and Beth are going to the GW tomorrow to shop, so I might pick up a few things, but not as much as I would if I were going alone and focused on inventory.

Actually, I am consumed with Bikram yoga these days. I looked forward to my practice all day and when I got there I was actually fired up with adrenaline. I have still not quite learned how to pace myself through a class....if I start going all out I sometimes burn out and have to sit out a pose from dizziness. Yet today I paced myself too much and got to the end wishing I had worked harder.

I have been practicing the up-on-toes part of Utkatasana at home and today (after my class) I discovered something - if I pull my stomach in very hard, as hard as I can, my balance improves immensely. I tried it with Padangustasana today, on my right, and I held my balance for the longest ever. Not so much on my left, though, as usual.

I wanted to try padangustasana today in class, but it was full of newbies and only one other person did it. I did not want to be stared at, so I just held the tree.

I ordered some super cute Birks - Gizeh - with a funky jerry garcia print. I was v. disappointed that my sparkly Skechers thongs were too small, and I am sending them back.

Off to watch a reptile show with the boys. It reminds me of my childhood - watching "Wonderful World of Disney" on Sunday nights, in my pajamas.

No Yoga today.

Went to Beth's last night with the Lyles, Gartskas and Hentzes for a dinner party. I drank some, not too much, but ate a ton of carbs. We also got to bed quite late. So I piddled around this morning and went for a forty minute walk, not too strenuous. When I got back, I sat down to stretch in the Fixed Firm pose - ohhh, is that ever hard on my knees. I have to be really warmed up in class to be able to get my butt all the way to the floor. I could not do it today.

I have tried toe stand a few times since my last class - twice I have been able to balance for a few seconds, but mostly I feel like I am going to topple over onto my face.

I have also been practicing getting all the way on my toes and staying there in Utkatasana. That one I can practice quite easily at home....no warmup required. Slowly my balance is improving.

Will I get bored with Bikram when I master all the poses? Of course, I suppose "master" is a relative term, and you never really master a pose...there is always something new to learn even in a pose done hundreds of times.

Yoga tonight.

Not only did I get back into camel again tonight, but I got fully into fixed firm for the first time ever! WAHOO! That's another I've struggled with because it is such a strain on my knees. I was close before, but wasn't sure I could go all the way. After my success with camel the other day, I went for it today in fixed firm.

I could have done another whole set of each, I felt so energized. I felt like I went all the way in my poses. Things I want to work on: balance in awkward pose; going all the way down in awkward pose (knees together); and being able to hold warrior pose through both sets, both arms and legs - that pose is a killer!

Bikram yoga today.

I got fully into the camel pose today. woohoo!!!! I was grinning like a fool. It felt awesome.

I cut the ties to preschool.

I was feeling guilty about abandoning my post as chair of the library committee, but after I looked in the handbook and saw that the May 2007 tuition ($235) which I paid last May is nonrefundable, I didn't feel guilty anymore.

I left Joanne a message on the answering machine. Guess that was kind of chickenshit of me. Oh well.

College Heights seems to be going well. His teacher seems quite friendly and kind, though there is definitely more structure to their day there than at preschool.

But oh, I am so happy I do not have to suffer through the twice-yearly picnic or the Happy Hearts dinner anymore. Hurrah!

I have been going to Hot Yoga at least three times a week. I love it. I have lost two more pounds and most of my clothes are, if not too big, quite roomy.

What I ate today:

Before walk - a peach, coffee w/half & half

Breakfast (about 11:30, after walk) - three fried eggs, 1 piece cheese, 2 links turkey sausage, 1 low carb tortilla, iced coffee w/half & half.

Snack - handful of nuts. I was also making meatballs for Beth, and I ate some of those (maybe ten?)

Dinner - none, really. I ate a few peanut butter covered pretzels, then half a cucumber with buffalo blue cheese dressing and three squares of sugar free chocolate.

I am a little bit hungry now, but I am not going to eat. I think I lost my appetite working with and smelling all those meatballs all afternoon. I am going to be hungry in the morning.

For the love of god.

I hear thunder. Someone is getting pounded with rain. Why can't it be us for once? We have not had a good, ground soaking rain since the 4th of July. We need it so bad. It is so brutally hot. But still people are out and about, at 5:00 in the afternoon, doing things like jogging, re-roofing houses, and standing out in front of the Jiffy Lube holding signs that say "NO WAIT!"

What I have eaten today:

Breakfast - low carb tortilla with two pieces cheese & turkey, coffee w/half & half (eaten in the car on the way to zoo camp).

Snack - peach.

Lunch - leftover cauliflower & cheese soup (about a cup), a couple big spoonfuls of peanut butter and a spoonful of low sugar jelly.

Snack - handful of nuts, a swallow of cold coffee (my ass was seriously dragging).

Tonight we are going to the Matador for dinner, and though I am probaby going to eat too many chips, I am not going to have a margarita. I feel too wrung out. I'm probably just really dehydrated, but a margarita is not what I need.