Nuthin' up My Sleeve...

Magically, we turned ourselves into other kinds of creatures during the second yoga class last night. There was an upward facing dog, a cobra, a sphinx, and a corpse. The stretching was tougher to do than last week's, but I didn't feel my breathing as labored this time. Maybe the gym wasn't as warm. The corpse pose was appropriate, because we lay in that state for a little while towards the end of the class, concentrating on breathing and awareness of our muscles and vertebrae. So relaxing. At one point, Helen told us, "You are relaxed but very aware." I was thinking, "Man, I'm this close to drifting off to sleep." Slept pretty well last night and feel pretty good this morning too!

Forty-Five

Yup, today I sit firmly on the fence between 40 and 50. In 1964 when I was born, it was also a Friday, and my mom tells me it was a sunny day, as it is here on Lawn Guyland today.

I'm in a pretty good place in my life right now. All three of my children are at different stages of development, are different in their approach to school work and social dynamics, and are carving out different roles in the household. Apart from the occasional bumps in the road, it's rewarding to watch them grow and to help them along. I'm very happy and fulfilled in my work, being surrounded with smart, capable, and genuine people for the most part. We're doing all right financially, which is truly lucky. I'm in fine health and still fit into the same clothes day after day. Other than taking two days off for minor surgery last year, the last time I used any sick time was eight years ago after the birth of Son #3.

Some people think that email and Facebook and Twitter and other such Internet communication channels depersonalize relationships, but I have received such lovely greetings and messages today...and so many that it would be impossible to do over the telephone. Many people are too busy (or don't plan in advance) to be able to put a card in the mail, but I know how they feel because they typed out a short note on the computer. I've heard from old neighborhood friends who've moved across the country, relatives, college dorm mates, high school classmates, old work comrades, and even my son's clarinet teacher from last year who is now a freshman at Fredonia.

Hubby had a great birthday card waiting for me this morning and I got all sorts of hugs and kisses from the kids before school. My friend K brought a big bouquet of bright flowers. My morning hot chocolate buddy gave me a birthday cake candle and a collection of vanilla scented toiletries. J brought a box of fancy chocolates. T brought a big pot of purple mums and a hilarious card. We had a departmental birthday sing-along with chocolate cake (yes I traded my normal mid morning snack for a slab of that today) and our group cartoonist drew a great image of me rocking out to KC and the Sunshine Band in my office. R whisked me out for a lunch time stroll, and when I returned to my office C had left me a gorgeous butterfly wind chime. I really have been the object of special attention and indulgence today.

I truly feel blessed, not only because I have such wonderful people helping me celebrate today, but because they are in my life every day. Thank you. You know who you are. And I know when all of your birthdays are!

Mom Said WHAT?!?

Sad but true, Mom had foot in mouth syndrome at the dinner table last night (doesn't sound very appetizing, does it?).

I made a chicken, sausage, and corn pot pie with the rest of my homemade gravy from the Rosh Hashanah meal (yummy). One of the kids' favorite veggie side dishes, too: fresh green beans tossed with chopped toasted almonds.

Son #2 was chit chatting while eating, and of course wasn't exactly keeping his face over the plate while taking in mouthfuls of green beans, so almonds were dropping here and there. Venting my annoyance, I bluntly informed him that he had nuts in his lap. (Great choice of words, huh? Of course I didn't think about this 'til it was too late.)

First the kids all went hysterical, then I cracked up too. No one complained that the food was too cold, but it was at least five minutes before anyone was able to pick up a fork again.

Not Quite the Seventh Inning Stretch

I did it! Last night I attended my first yoga class. Let me say that it was a lot more invigorating than what I normally do before "Take Me Out to the Ball Game."

There were around 30 of us, about half of whom were completely new like me. We were lucky to get a 20 year veteran yoga instructor. She introduced herself as Helen and told us we'd be doing a lot of breathing and stretching, and ordered us not to compare ourselves with how high or low anyone else was stretching. Everyone at his own pace. I was relieved to hear that.

Normally I don't concentrate on doing deep breathing, except when I'm trying to relax my body on nights when the brain is still twirling at bedtime. We were constantly reminded to fill our lungs and expand our bellies when inhaling, and to squeeze the abdominal muscles when exhaling. It feels good! And it makes a difference to do that when in various poses. I got in touch with muscles and nerve endings that normally lie dormant. Very enlightening.

I did all right for a newbie, I think, although I had a couple of rough spots. The first time I sat on my legs and stretched my toes out, I got painful cramps in my feet. I stubbornly kept going back into the pose and the cramps eventually subsided. A couple of times when holding a squat pose, my chest muscles began to cramp and burn. Not sure why, but maybe that's also due to using previously inactive muscle. I do have to work on getting lower to the floor when I do squats; the trick is to keep the feet flat on the mat.

I am now acquainted with The Tortoise, The Mountain, The Warrior, The Tree, and The Downward Facing Dog. I found it amazing that, when we stretched out as far as we could go and held the position, when we drew in our next breath the instructor asked us to stretch a little farther...lo and behold, this was possible! I felt fantastically loose and limber at the end of the session. It was a pleasant sensation to be all pulled out like taffy when it was time to go to sleep, too.

I don't know whether the relaxation had anything to do with it, but the cell phone rang just when the class was ending...homework crisis because an essay had to be printed, the printer was jammed, Dad had taken it apart but didn't remove the paper...blah blah blah...I didn't feel overly freaked. When I walked in the door, I went downstairs and gently flipped the printer upside down and backwards. The two sheets of paper that were firmly wrapped around the roller and wedged in the teeth came right out. I then calmly asked the dad to put the machine back together at the next commercial break of NCIS. Printing was all wrapped up within seconds of beddy bye time.

This morning my lower back and shoulders were still feeling stretched out, and the back ached somewhat. But not the same kind of ache that I get after a day of house painting or any other overuse. I can just sense that all the vertebrae are there, but it doesn't seriously hurt. Can't quite describe it. I'm looking forward to next class!

Easter Seals Photo

Here's a pic (snarfed from the Easter Seals web site) of our four family volunteers from the day of the Easter Seals walk. Those blue t-shirts were special, for volunteers...as I kept reminding Son #3 who wanted to take it off because it was too big on him. I explained that they didn't get many kids his age who were ready to do such an awesome job volunteering!

How Does Your Garden Grow?

This afternoon we planted a bag of crocus bulbs that I'd bought a couple of weeks ago at one of the warehouse clubs. An impulse purchase which was not too expensive and definitely not unhealthy...

There were 121 bulbs. Son #3 counted. One more than advertised! Gotta celebrate these little victories. We had a lovely assembly line going. I cut out the beginning of the trench with the post hole digger (the border of the front garden) and Son #2 followed with the spade to get the right depth. Son #3 dug out the excess dirt. I popped the bulbs in the ground every so often, behind them as they were working. Number One Son joined us after a little while and began to cover the bulbs with dirt, weeding as he worked. After the last bulbs went into the ground, I took the youngest with me to get a couple of bags of soil to cover everything well. While we were gone, the other two finished putting back the dirt, cleaned up the tools and weeds, and did the first watering. We'll put the soil down later. In a little while we're going to visit friends who are on LI this weekend (they live in Massachusetts) along with their whole family, also our friends.

I told the dad that the kids earned a trip to get ices after dinner, if he feels like buying.

Short on Shortening

After we had dinner last night, I had a "D'oh!" moment.

I prepared a bunch of traditional foods for the Jewish New Year. Several of these recipes started out as Xerox copies of my mother-in-law's index cards (since my traditional Italian family recipes wouldn't really cut it). I've modified some of them over the years, reducing the fat content or changing to healthier ingredients. My husband goes so far as to say that traditional Jewish cooking has killed more Jews than Hitler did.

Anyway, I've stuck faithfully to the matzo ball recipe (including the 1/2 cup of seltzer which creates the fluffy texture). I must've been really tired on Thursday night when I made the batter for this year's "balls" because I realized last night that I'd forgotten to melt the 1/2 cup of shortening and add it to the batter before I refrigerated it. Well, it was after 10PM, after the kids had gone to bed, and that's late for me to be thinking straight...

But when I thought about it, I hadn't tasted a difference so I asked hubby. He said he thought they tasted the same too. Normally the recipe calls for refrigerating the batter at least one hour before scooping it out into balls. This batch had been refrigerated for almost 20 hours. Hmm, I think I'll do the same every year if possible, so I can avoid including 1/2 cup of solid fat. Yeah baby!

I'll bet that many of the best changes to recipes have been accidental.