Beautiful day...

Yesterday's rain (which continued into last night) turned into a beautiful, breezy & cool day today....the air feels very fresh and highly oxygenated.

My sore throat turned into a cold....fortunately it's not too bad; I'm not really congested but the inside of my nose feels hot and irritated. The rest of me feels great. I skipped yoga this AM because I knew the heat would not feel good on my nose. I went outside this morning and worked in the yard instead....swept the front steps & walk....planted a few lefover pansies...pulled weeds under the deck...swept the back deck....trimmed & deadheaded....picked up stray toys from the garage, driveway & back yard and put them in the storage bin...and dug up a bunch of my seriously overcrowded miniature hyacinth bulbs and replanted them in a spot further up the driveway.

Lee took Will out on the trail-a-bike this afternoon:





YOu can tell Lee got out Will's clothes for him - he's wearing major highwater pants and white socks with his Keens. ;-)

Michael is at a second grade Halloween party over in Avondale until 3:00. I have to go get him in a bit. At 5:00 is the neighborhood Halloween parade & party. At 8:00 Brandyn is coming to babysit so we can go over to Jim & Cindy's. The guys are going to watch the game & the girls are going to gossip & eat. I am making a warm goat cheese and pumpking dip to take, along with some crusty French bread.

I did about a half hour of yoga at home after I dropped Michael off - I cranked up the heat downstairs, then ran around doing a few chores in order to get the blood flowing....I did one set of all the standing poses except for standing separate leg stretching...I skipped all the floor poses except for cobra, camel, tortoise and the floor janushirasana....whatever it's called.

I made Michael the yummiest quesadilla for his lunch today - I liked it so much I had one when after my yoga: you take a whole wheat tortilla (I used a low-carb one) and spread a wedge of Laughing Cow swiss cheese over it...then thinly slice an apple over the cheese (peel it first if desired)...then over that put a slice of white American cheese...fold it in half and plop it onto a skillet. Cook until slightly browned on each side and cheese and warm and melty. YUM.

I guess maybe I shouldn't have gone to Bikram today....

I had a scratchy throat yesterday and still had it this morning when I got up - but it wasn't terrible. And the rest of me felt fine. So I went...I tried to take it a little easier than usual. The class was fine. But now my scratchy throat has moved up to behind my nose and it's turning into a cold, darnit. I was going to go in the morning also but I don't think I'll be able to.

It has rained all day long. It's not very cold, but damp and cool in the house. I wish someone were cooking me a comforting, yet sophisticated meal tonight.

Random, stream-of-consciousness stuff here...

...I started getting a scratchy throat yesterday...Will has had the sniffles...and today it was a little bit worse. I minced two garlic cloves and over an hour or so, took them, chased w/a Dr. Brown's Diet Cream Soda (I have to have something carbonated to get raw garlic down) and it seems to be helping a tiny bit so far...I hope with a good night's sleep I'll make it to yoga in the morning. I haven't been since Monday....Tuesday was the SACS Accreditation meeting...Wednesday was Reading Workshop w/Michael's class...yesterday there wasn't a hot class at DHY and I planned to go to BYD tomorrow.

I have been going a bit crazy with shopping lately....I've been trying to find some clothes that fit and look decent. Let's face it, I look pretty lean these days. So I've hit Old Navy twice this week...I bought a new pair of jeans, two tiny fit long sleeve tees, one black, one white; three skinny ribbed turtleneck sweaters (gray, black, dark red) and a teal blue chunky cardigan. I also bought some retro/new/old Levi's at Parisian. After buying those two tiny fit long sleeve tees and some "ultra low rise" jeans, I now know why so many of those close fitting tops are so darn LONG....it's so they'll stay tucked into the ultra low jeans! Who knew...this time last year I was in a size 12/14...now I'm in a 8 with an ultra low rise. I also bought a pair of "super skinny" gray corduroy jeans at ON, in a 10 since they were the "super skinny" cut, and I've had to hike them up all day long because they are too big....

Then I have also bought some groovy dark green suede NAOTs...and this morning I ordered some light blue suede keens. And I also bought a pair of gray cargo pants at the GAP yesterday and some brown Royal Robbins cargo pants at REI last week plus a Prana yoga top on sale.

Luckily I've had some money in my Paypal account to pay for some of this, and coupons to use at Old Navy...but I'm hoping that all this shopping doesn't come back to bite me in the butt!

Man!! It's so cold today.

It's absolutely beautiful - blue sky, very crisp, clean air, but it's windy and very cold, for October in Atlanta. It's probably in the very low 50's with the wind making it in the 40's.

Since Robin was picking up from CH today, I walked to Oakhurst instead of driving. We stayed on the playground for a while, then walked home via Adair St. so we could go by & look at the house with all the Halloween decorations. Then we scuffed through leaves the rest of the way home.

I went to James' class this morning - his class is fine, he's perfectly nice, but he talks too much. I feel kind of mentally tired by the end of class. I've never had a desire to attend a silent class before, but I do now. I felt pretty sluggish and tired today and it was super hot in the room.

I went to Eric's class yesterday at BYD - he's okay, but another one that does not use sanskrit names. Anna is definitely my favorite at that studio.

After yoga today I came home and made a loaf of pumpkin cream cheese bread from a Cooking Light magazine. It's just okay - my regular loaf of pumpkin bread is about a hundred times better though.

Since there is supposed to be frost tonight, I just harvested a bunch of basil and I'm going to make a big batch of pesto. Lee & Susan are meeting an expert witness after trial today, then attending a meeting at the GDOT. He won't be home for dinner or bedtime tonight.

Yesterday while he worked at home I took Will off to run errands - we went to Target, Lowe's, Barnes & Noble, Petsmart & then Bike South. Lee said he wanted a Trail-a-Bike for his birthday, so, even though his birthday is ten days away, we went ahead & bought it. He hooked it up last night & he & Will took it for a spin. It's awesome! He's very excited to be able to take off on bike rides with the boys, since it looks like it will be a while before Will is able to ride well on a two-wheeler.

This weekend we watched Nanny McPhee - twice. I loved it. "The person YOU need is Nanny McPhee."

I know I shouldn't complain....

(and you know whenever someone starts out a sentence that way you're about to hear some complaining)

....and it's a good problem to have....
...but it is really annoying to have almost no clothes that fit or look good because they are too big.

All my long sleeve tees are now pretty loose around the middle and make me look frumpy. Most of my jeans are too big in the seat and too loose in the thighs.

Honestly...if I could find some jeans that would be low cut but not so low cut that they would show my wrinkly belly button too much, and would hold their shape without looking like a diaper on my butt after a few hours, and be the perfect lenght for my chacos AND my danskos AND my keens AND my docs mary janes...I would pay a small fortune. Really.

I bought these J. Jill cropped jeans a couple weeks ago that I'm wearing right now...I love J. Jill normally...but these are a size 8, a little to big and maybe a little bit too matronly.

I know that yoga has changed my body....I'm definitely leaner, much slimmer through the middle and for the first time in years I have a butt....but also my perception of myself has changed...I don't feel like I need to hide myself in baggy clothes anymore. I had sort of an epiphany yesterday....I was bending over doing something and looked down and saw that bending over created a "roll" on my stomach...and for the first time ever I didn't feel compelled to suck it in because I felt, hey, I am where I am right now and I'm doing my best for my body, and I'm happy with my body for maybe the first time ever in my life. Well, with the exception of the area immediately around my belly button, which has improved with yoga but will never bounce back to the way it was pre-babies.

Yesterday there was a new teacher at DHY...some guy who is Bikram certified but teaches hot yoga and is between studios right now....he was okay, but very hands-on and VERY talky. Some of the dialogue he blew through so quickly that I was cracking up. Before each sit up in the series his dialogue sounded like this, as he got faster and faster: "Toes and heels together, flex your feet squeeze your seatkeepyourheelsonthefloorarmsoveryourheadcrossyourthumbsarmsandhead togetherquicklysitupgrabyourbigtoesdoubleexhaleforeheadtotheknees!!" And with each sit up it got faster and faster. Despite that he ran ten minutes over.

Well, we're off to the fall carnival at Will's school in a bit, when the boys get back from haircuts. It's a beautiful day.

A peanut sat on a railroad track...

not one word did he utter. Around the bend came number ten, toot toot peanut butter!

Ahhh, juvenile ditties. Don't you love it when they get stuck in an endless loop in your head?

I am drinking a limoncello martini - I finally figured out what it needed to cut the major alcohol taste. A simple sugar syrup. That did the trick. One of these babies and I'm buzzed, big time.

I finally got the PTA's tshirt order in today. I spent a long time on it last night, looking at the preorders and trying to decide on a good number of extras to order. I probably spent way too much time debating and worrying about it. I hope the rest of the PTA board doesn't think I'm a complete ninny.

Went back to Bikram Decatur today, after totally rushing around this morning, getting caught by a train, and just barely getting Will to pre-k before having to sign the tardy log. Then I went to the grocery store, rushed home, put everything away, ate a boiled egg and rushed to yoga. Despite the rushing I felt much better today than Tuesday! The room still is not very hot. I had kind of a breakthrough in ustrasana today though....I went over waaay farther than ever before. Maybe it was because the owner of the studio was on a mat right behind me and I was really paying attention to my form....or maybe it's because I have been focusing on pushing my hips forward and relaxing my lower back muscles in that pose. Whatever...I had the palms of my hand resting flat on my ankles, instead of my fingertips on my heels.

I was also able to do the third part of utkatasana without pain in my right knee today, but it will be a million years before I am able to rise up from that pose without leaning my upper body forward. I keep waiting for one of the Bikram nazis to call me on it....

Also in janushirasana with paschimottonasa, I can get my elbows to the floor in the last part of the pose. It helps that that pose is near the end and I'm nice and limber at that point.

I'm so addicted to Bikram. It's yoga crack.

I spoke briefly to Robin D. today and asked her about Elena not being on the schedule at Dec. Hot Yoga anymore....I guess there was some drama about her leaving soon, and Debbie told her to go on. I also notice they have taken the hot 90 off the schedule on Monday mornings! ACK! I almost always go to that class.

Elena is supposedly opening a studio of her own in Candler Park soon....Robin says she is going to be doing a Bikram-inspired warm yoga. OHH, how I wish she would offer some ashtanga classes. I am dying to branch out from Bikram, but all the ashtanga studios are too far away for me, really. If I didn't have kids and other commitments, it would be okay.....but to have to drive over to the westside for yoga, I just can't justify it. I feel guilty enough as it is....but today, as I wiped pee from around the base of the boys' toilet for the millionth time, I thought that JUST MAYBE I've earned my hour and a half of yoga five times a week.

UGH.

I ate a big breakfast this morning at about 8am....two scrambled eggs, cheese, a few turkey pepperoni, a low carb tortilla, an avocado, and salsa.....and by 9:30 it was all still sitting in my stomach like a rock. I debated whether to wait for the hot 60 at DHY, but I decided that I really wanted a 90 min. class, since I didn't go yesterday and won't go tomorrow, so I went on up to BYD (where I bought a 10 class card).

I felt a little rough through most of the class and struggled with some of the poses, but it was not as bad as I thought and I felt a little better when it was over. Anna said there was something wrong with the thermostats and they were only able to heat the room to about 100 degrees, but I sweated plenty.

When I got home, I drank a Diet Coke and burped about a dozen times, and now I feel much better.

It's been raining all day - we'll be coming straight home after school. I'm going to go try to get some chores done, so I can be with Will with no other pressing things to do.

I'm disgusted with myself

because of all the junky carbs I've been eating lately.

Yesterday was the PTA bake sale....well, let's just not go there.

I ate a bunch of junky Chex snack mix at Will H's party...and it was the sweet kind of snack mix, chocolate and caramel. Plus two leftover pumpkin squares at home, plus a bite of Will's birthday cake.

I did go to a hot 90 this morning, though.

I have really got to quit eating that stuff. My pants are still too big, so I guess I'm not doing too badly, but it just makes me want more. Fortunately, I don't have cravings for crappy commercial candy, so I'm not anticipating a lot of trouble at Halloween. It's just the homemade baked goods that are my big downfall.

I had a breakthrough of sorts, today, in poorna salabhasana - I got my legs a lot higher than ever before. I really braced my arms, inhaled and exhaled big, then hiked them up. It's my least favorite pose - now I'll be ready to see if I can do that again next time.

I was stretching in half-moon last night and this morning I woke up with a pulled muscle in my left hip. It didn't bother me in class, and isn't too bad overall, but it is definitely there. That'll teach me to stretch when I'm not warm.

I was talking to Robin D. this afternoon about Iyengar - she says I should try it. It sounds pretty challenging. They do inversions! EEK! I'm very intimidated by the idea of inversions!

Four days in a row of Bikram.

Monday & Wednesday at DHY; Tuesday & today at BYD. I won't get to another class until probably Tuesday. Tomorrow is a teacher workday so I'll have the boys all day; Saturday is the Oakhurst Festival & bake sale; Sunday afternoon is Will Hentz's party and Lee is getting ready for trial. Monday I have a haircut scheduled for noon; I was thinking I'd go to Elena's class but that would be pushing it to get to Kathy's by noon. So the best I can probably hope for is to walk tomorrow and Sunday mornings.

Toe stand is getting better; backbends are going further; however I am feeling some strain in my right knee in supta vajrasana and whenever I squat down. It's not terrible, just uncomfortable.

I know I shouldn't complain but I am tired of all my pants being too big. Too big is almost as bad as too small. They don't look good and I am constantly hiking them up.

Back to the Bikram studio today.

Last night we went to a dinner party at the Thompsons. Lots of fun - I ate and drank pretty much whatever I wanted. We didn't get home until midnight and I didn't go to bed until after 1:00. I must not have drunk all that much; I was tipsy but not hung over this morning. Mostly I was tired because Will woke me up at 8 - then he went back to sleep.

While Lee was out with the boys at the "birds of prey" show, lunch and the grocery store, I puttered around here - ran the cleaning cycle on the oven, did laundry, vacuumed downstairs, tidied the boys rooms. Then....I took a nap. I NEVER nap. But I laid down to read some of my yoga book and I got sleep and, well, I closed my eyes and dozed for about an hour. It was sooo nice. I covered up with the fuzzy blanket since it was chilly and I felt so cozy.

I felt a little better when I got up, so I decided to go to yoga - up to then I wasn't sure I was feeling energetic enough. The 4:00 class at Bikram was pretty crowded. I stood way in the back, though the teacher told me after toe stand, "that was a front row tree pose!"

I am going farther back in half moon pose and in camel than ever....I feel popping and release in my chest and it feels great.

Note to self:

Lee had the boys get on the scale tonight right before they got in the shower. Will weighs 58 pounds. Michael, almost 4 years older than Will and a big kid himself, weighs 62 pounds. WOW.

Another thing I like about the Bikram studio.

The great view.

One wall of the yoga room looks out onto the small parking lot, but at the edge is a really nice little patch of forest behind which is the railroad overpass. Today I got on that side of the room and I could see the trees the whole time. They look really nice, just beginning to change colors.

Another thing I like is that the room is generally a little hotter than at DHY. I tried a new teacher today, who I liked a little better than the last one. This one used the sanskrit names for the poses and said "namaste" at the end, though she too was a "lock your knee" nazi.

Tonight we are going to a dinner party at the Thompsons. It was supposed to be at Cindy's, but she is laid low with all-day sickness, so we moved it. It's now a grownups-only potluck. I have a groovy new pair of Dr. Marten mary janes to wear, plus I got my cropped jeans from J. Jill. I had returned the size 10 pair and gotten an 8. It's funny - I still feel like, and see myself as, a size 12 or 14. I pulled the crops out of the bag and thought "Oh, I hope these fit" and of course they did - they're even a tiny bit big, though a six would probably be not quite big enough. Yet in the mirror I still look as big as I did nine months ago.

There's a happy hour at Christie Tyler's this afternoon - wish I could go. This is the second one at her house I've missed. It's a beautiful afternoon, breezy and turning a tiny bit cooler. Tonight ought to be gorgeous.

I tried out the Bikram Decatur studio today.

Since I can't get in Tuesday or Thursday classes at DHY. It's a little further away, but not bad.

What I liked: the cool piped in music before class started. The water fountain in the room. In general, the class...definitely felt like I got a good workout.

What I didn't: the pace of the class was MUCH faster with not much emphasis on alignment. We finished a few minutes early, which is unheard of at DHY. The teacher was cheerful but more drill-sargent-ish. She did not use the sanskrit names for poses, which I like to hear. She didn't even say "namaste" at the end. And of course, there were no lavender towels afterward. Call me crazy, but I really like the more mellow, zen-like vibe at DHY.

In short, I will go there to get in a few classes when my schedule doesn't permit me to go to DHY.

A quote I love:

"My disinclination toward laxer lifestyles kept me on the straight path, but I never shunned anyone, for I have come to see the light of the soul in all."

B.K.S. Iyengar "Light on Life"

Let's see.....

It's been a few days since I've blogged. What has been going on?

Ummmm....I ordered two very cool pairs of shoes yesterday. ;-) One is a pair of two tone brown suede Mary Jane Dr. Martens....another is a pair of dark olive suede t-strap Merrell Mary Janes. Can't wait to get them! I'm ready to be done w/sandals.

Yoga - I went on Friday morning after not having done Bikram since the previous Thursday night, though I did do Vinyasa on Tuesday am. I felt sort of awkward and slightly out of shape on Friday, though I went back yesterday (Sat.) and felt back to normal. I am going again tomorrow morning. I think I am also going to pay for a ten day unlimited at the Bikram Decatur studio on Tuesday....if their classes are good, I can buy a class card there and get in some Tuesday/Thursday classes. I hated not going for a week last week. DHY's schedule is just not quite in synch with mine. I'm also looking forward to trying some different teachers. I adore Elena, but her dialogue is mostly the same every time and sometimes I need something new to challenge me.

Maureen called me the other day - I haven't talked to her in ages. She said that a mom who lives over in the Adair Oaks apts. had a stillbirth the other night - she was attended by a mw from North Carolina. She wanted to know if I knew her. I didn't, but after Maureen described me I realized I knew who she was from MDC. I went back and found some of her posts and she was due with her second baby in late Sept. I had a run-in with this mama once on the boards and I was not the only one - she said things like "school is prison and teachers are child abusers" and "I can't believe you put your baby in daycare, you make me want to puke". Very judgmental and seeing everything as black or white. However, I would not wish a stillbirth on my worst enemy. I haven't seen anything about it on MDC. That poor mama.

Today Lee & Michael went on a long bikeride and I took Will out with me - we went and got gas, went to Wendy's drive through & picked up lunch, then went to McKoy park. They were having some kind of "Free Tibet" flea market and lunch thing. There was also a baseball game going on. It was nice, sitting under the trees and listening to the music, and watching baseball with the Buddhist monks. Afterward we went to the car wash place in Candler Park and vacuumed out my car. Will was NOT happy, but he was slightly mollified when I found a Hot Wheels car under the passenger seat and gave it to him.