My Cup Runneth Over

“Cat Heaven is a beautiful place, but you can’t get there if you’ve had euthanasia!”  -Angela

Ah, Office, how I have missed you.  Mmmm, delicious PB&J…

Burn, Baby Burn – Yoga Inferno!

My new yoga mat arrived today.* After nearly a month, I’m tired of my towel bunching up under my feet as I shuffle and sweat, so I indulged in a pretty cotton woven rug (so many pretty things are Made in India) that will lie flat and absorb my copious dermal secretions. I get to try it out tomorrow. Meanwhile, the kids have demonstrated their approval by wallowing all over it and chasing each other in circles. Yes, these are human kids, not puppies. Go figure.

This Bikram practice is unlike any exercise I’ve ever done in my life in one very significant way: I actually like it! Oh sure, this isn’t the first time I’ve ever gotten all gung-ho about a fitness program. However, past enthusiasm has been forced from a desperate desire to get svelte (I was svelte once when I was about 7, I think. Oh, and once when I was 15 as I began the road to metabolic wreckage by eating 800 kcal/day. But I digress). I never liked working out — it was just a means to a fantasy end, and any little excuse I could come up with to skip a session was seized with alacrity.

I did find that the few (ISHTA) Yoga Zone tapes I tried 10 years ago left me feeling really blissed out, but I wasn’t consistent with them. So when my friend Beth mentioned 100 Minutes at 100 Degrees, after I was done sputtering about how unhealthy that must be, I became gradually obsessed with finding out whether or not I could make it all the way through a session without being treated for heat exhaustion. I just had to know if I could hack it.

Turns out, I can. I’ve been going every Tuesday and Thursday for 4 weeks now. Far from looking for excuses to punk out, I’ve determinedly waved goodbye to my husband and children even when they were under the weather and could have benefited from Mommy’s TLC. For the last 2 weeks, I’ve started feeling antsy on the weekends, like it’s time to go sweat some more (have I mentioned how much I hate hot weather?), so this past Sunday I asked Pokermon if he could spare me for the evening while I nipped on down to the studio for an extra session.

Unless you’ve been me (or had to live with me) for the last 30 years, it’s difficult to appreciate how bizarre that is.

I’m thinking next August I might treat myself to a 2nd mat for my 1st anniversary. There were so many pretty ones to choose from, and the one that arrived today might be a little worn by then.

Hee. And lest you think that yoga automatically fosters inner serenity and a gracious mindset, allow me to bare my pettiness to the web at large. I’m the fattest person in class, no contest. There’s a mirrored wall right there in front of us, so it’s there for all to see. The first time I went, I was a little self-conscious and glum about it. The next class, as I sat on the floor gazing at my reflected rotundity, Beth said something that made me grin, and as I caught sight of the smile atop the amplitude, I decided I looked like one of those Happy Buddhas that hang out in Chinese restaurants. Who doesn’t get all cheerful looking at one of those things? So I decided then and there that I am the class Buddha, and I can own that with equanimity.

Anyway. Alan Finger and Theresa Tapp have taught me a lot about correct alignment and form, so I’ve paid attention when the instructor reminds us that having the postures lined up correctly and engaging the relevant muscles is more important than how far you can bend/extend. And thank goodness, or I’d have precious little to do, being rather weak and inflexible at this point. Hey, lots of room for improvement, right? Well, there was a new girl next to me last Thursday. She’s about 10 years younger than I am, 100 lbs lighter than I am, and limber as a snake. However, she has much to learn about proper form, and she wasn’t processing the instructor’s many verbal corrections to her. So he came over and laid a hand on my back as he talked to her, pointing out the rounding here and the arching there and the hip alignment as he attempted to unravel the random knot she’d tied herself into and make it resemble the actual pose. Then he thanked me as we moved on to the next asana.

Yes. The stiff fat chick was held up as an example of correct yogic form to the slender flexible chick.

I freakin’ love this class. >:)

*Speaking of things arriving, where the hell is my Adagio order? I’m out of Irish Breakfast, people!

A New Flava’

Ok. So. In 2006, I blogged quite a bit, mostly about knitting, and I had cultivated this online persona and had a certain groove going where I tried to be articulate or at least entertaining for my moderate readership.

In 2007, I’ve hardly blogged at all. The persona I cultivated hasn’t matched my reality as much lately, and I felt like the stuff I was doing or thinking wouldn’t be of interest to the few people that I knew read my blog. Well, since my posts kind of dropped off the face of the planet, so understandably has my readership, which frees me to be the Me I am this year. You know, now that the year is almost over. So I think I’m going to start posting again, mostly for myself, to get my thoughts down and reap the benefit of added structure to my days. I always get more done if I write my ideas down. It’s something concrete to refer to, ya know?

So, there will probably be a lot of stuff about housework (bleh) and homeschooling (yay) and yoga (hot) and occasionally some religious musings (hmm).

And soap and yarn. Because I still love them so. They’re just not the main focus of my life right now. But since they obligingly hold still for photographs:

Forgive the craptacular lighting, but I’m really excited about this hat. I’ve never done 2-color work before, and I think I’m kicking butt at it. No room for modesty on one’s own blog. Once it’s done, I’ll have Yakko model it in some better light.

And look, we made soap for the first time in almost a year!

This is a batch of Lavender-Rosemary made specially for my friend G, who requested it in July of 2006. Whoops. As soon as I finish trimming it, I’ll cart it over to her house. The green bar in the foreground is scented with a fragrance oil called “Grass Stain.” Since fresh-cut grass is one of G’s favorite smells, I thought she’d get a kick out of it. I quite like the way it turned out.

Man Alive, He’s Five!

Happy Birthday to You
Happy Birthday to You
Happy Birthday Dear Yakko
Happy Birthday to You!

The truest words I ever heard spoken about parenthood were, “the days are long, but the years are short.”

Wow. He who was once my little Boob Pirate is now gleefully stumbling around in shiny new rollerblades while watching Errol Flynn.

I know a lot of moms out there think they have awesome kids, but mine are totally amazing. How did I get so lucky?

Whine

I have a mild cold. Nothing scary or miserable, just enough to make me fuzzy.

Things I Wanted to Do Today:

• Sit on my ass.
• Sip tea with honey.
• Knit.

Things I Did Not Want to Do Today:

• Clean up That Which Escaped a Diaper.
• A detailed practical and theoretical analysis of today’s “Curious George.”
• 5 loads of laundry.

Guess which I actually did?

To be fair, I did manage to sneak in some knitting. Yakko has complained bitterly any time I picked up the needles lately, so I laid them aside for several weeks (95F temps made it pretty painless). But he’s into pirates right now, and I showed him this hat. All of a sudden, he’s my biggest yarn champion. It’s my first Fair Isle attempt. I will triumph!

And yes, he’ll get the matching mittens too.

In less whiny news, I am loving the Yoga Inferno. Love it!