What We've Been Up To...In Pictures

I'm tired of starting off my posts with apologies for sucking so bad at keeping up with this here blog, complete with lofty promises that I'll get better at updating and such. It's just that writing frequently doesn't appear to be something I can do for any extended period of time. For starters, I kind of get tired of hearing myself talk...or in this case, having my often under-developed thoughts read by others. Not a whole helluva lot happens "up there" at times, and nothing makes it all the more obvious then a perusal over my past posts. They never turn out the way I intend them, and then when I finally fall into a groove, life interferes.

So dear reader (yes, singular), I offer a pictorial update of some of the stuff we've been up to. Honesty above all things. And it won't be pretty...

Per usual, I threw myself "whole hog" into another food/diet routine. That of the Green Drink.

That lasted all of a few weeks. Somehow, my Ninja blender didn't work as well as the ones they show on t.v. One glass certainly felt like a meal, what with all of the chewing I had to do. Anyway, the Ninja blender carafe thingy bit the dust, and there ended my Green Drink experiment.

Then I figured, "Well, why not eat vegan?" I had done it before and even managed to lose 36 lb. So I got a whole mess of books out of the library, including this one.

Um, aside from thumbing through it like one would a coffee table book, I used not a single recipe. In my defense, I did manage to eat vegan anyway, but they were my old tired stand-by recipes, like rice and beans and such.

Then we went to a drive-through safari where the animals got super close.

Then Hurricane Sandy came and took with her our power. Boy was it cold. I spent my days like this...

Only I wasn't really smiling all of the time. It was rapidly approaching a state of delirium by day three.

And then came Halloween. We were all going to go as the Five Deadly Venoms. These guys...

But that involved work that was procrastinated upon. And my papier mache skills are lacking. I still haven't quite figured out how to make the masks right. We made something, but they're probably still wet. How long does it take to dry those things? Anyway, next time, if there is a next time, I'll be more prepared.

Turns out that it wasn't a big deal anyhow as Halloween was canceled due to Sandy. Okay, just the trick-or-treating was canceled, but that's like the same thing in my mind.

At least we got to carve pumpkins.

Of course, it didn't occur to me take pictures of them when they were still fresh.

And then came Christmas. My son, who hasn't believed in Santa in years, still puts out a Santa dish with cookies for, um, "Mrs. Claus." That would be me. Notice the pills on there. Those are my vitamins. Gotta love this kid for helping to keep his Momma healthy. And as for the cookies...

These are the gluten free chocolate chip ones from Trader Joe's. Yep, I didn't make any cookies from scratch for Christmas this year. Of course, the flu hit the kids hard on Christmas, so that's my excuse.

One of my favorite Christmas gifts: A felted owl from my daughter number two! The child is a natural with a felting needle.

And then came our decidedly NOT vegan Christmas day meal of Swedish Meatballs. My son has them with quinoa noodles, and the rest of the clan requested potatoes. I froze 218 meatballs. Excessive, yes, but they got eaten over the course of a week. And they left behind a whole lot of extra baggage on me.

It seemed like the kids were sick for-freaking-ever with the flu. Just when I thought they were getting better, one would spike another fever. It was horrible. And they were miserable. When they finally started feeling a bit better, I was just so relieved that I didn't decline when they made repeated requests for me to craft with them. I'm not particularly crafty, and I have to be in the mood to do it. I guess you can say that I'm a reluctant crafter. What often happens is that they ask and ask, I finally succumb, and then just when I'm enjoying myself, they move onto other things, leaving me on my own. That's exactly what happened when they asked me to try needle felting with them. Halfway through this project, they were clamoring for me to play Scrabble.

But I stood my ground, and finished it first.

It's supposed to be the piggy bunny from the You're Beautiful Korean drama.

And then I got my butt kicked at Scrabble by a twelve year old. My son will not play a word unless it garners him at least 20 points. I play for fun, and don't spend more than a minute or two deliberating my next move. But alas, he needed to take his time to rack up those points. About five hours later, the game was over.

Then we had a nice visit with my 25 year-old nephew. He was forewarned that the kids were just getting over the flu, but he was brave and came anyway...delaying one day to give them some extra time to recuperate. We had a nice visit, even though I was starting to feel under the weather by then, too. I am so lucky to have him in my life. He, his sister, and brothers are just fully awesome. How did I get so lucky?

And check out the totally awesome shirt he gave me. I'm actually wearing it right now.

Yes, I'm a browncoat.

We got the girls some knitting and crochet books for Christmas. And seeing as they are both Asiaphiles, I settled on some amigurumi books. These are knitted, but often crocheted, Japanese stuffed dolls. I was more than a little excited about these myself, and I started to make one, too.

He kind of looks like a turtle, or a baby brontosaurus. But he's meant to be a giraffe when he's done. And yes, he's still not done. I've run into a snag with his legs. I keep making legs, and haven't quite gotten them right. Some were crocheted tightly and are smaller than the ones I've crocheted loosely. Gauge isn't just important for sweaters. It's just as important for amigurumi legs as well.

And then there was a wonderful development. The youngest of my children learned to cook something. The girls have been cooking for a while now, but my son hadn't yet attempted anything at all, that is until he requested a cake out of the blue. You can not just spring a cake request at me. I'm not a particularly skilled baker or anything like that, nor do I love cooking. I cook because I have to. It's a very practical skill, and my meals are tasty, but functional and unostentatious. After several requests that failed to drag me away from what I was doing...can't remember what it was, but I probably had my nose in a book, he took matters into his own hands and made this:

A gluten free coffee cake! Yes, he used a box mix, but it was tasty. And it wasn't burnt to a crisp. In fact, it was delicious, and I kind of felt like a heel afterwards, as it was like he was the little red hen and I was the lazy dog.

"Mom, would you help me make a cake?"

"Not, I!" said the dog...er, um, the lazy Mom.

Then fast forward...

"Who would like to help me eat the cake?"

"I will!" said the lazy, opportunist dog...er, Mom.

Moving on... Occasionally, over the past few months, there was actually some schoolwork getting done.

And some slacking off, too.

And then on February 11, as the whole world knows, Pope Benedict XVI announced that he was stepping down.

This gave me some BIG feelings. Some people were shocked at my reaction. Yes, I cried, so sue me. I was asked, "But aren't you happy for him?" Um, yes...but... Just because someone you love and admire  is going off to pursue something else, however positive it is for said person, doesn't mean that you won't miss them, you know?

Then Dr. Scott Hahn forwarded something on Facebook that he had read about how Pope Benedict XVI made two trips to Pope St. Celestine V's tomb and reliquary during his papacy, and that Pope St. Celestine V was the last pope to step down 600 or so years ago. And of course, that piqued my interest. A friend on Facebook mentioned recently having read a book about the former pope and the circumstances surrounding his resignation, and offered to loan me the book. Fast forward a few days later, and guess what I find delivered on my front steps?

My son's godmother had seen my Facebook post and knew of my interest in the topic, so she went ahead and gifted me with a copy of The Pope Who Quit, by Jon M. Sweeney. How neat is that? I have some nice friends, and my son's godmother, S, is the epitome of nice...and awesome.

The book is fascinating. Oh, the intrigue, and oh, the mess that was the middle ages! And we think we have problems!

And last but not least, there was Chinese New Year. We made the trek out to Chinatown again, braved the crowds, but mostly the frigid weather. Thankfully, we dressed in layers. I cannot do without my heat tech tights from Uniqlo. Those were a lifesaver that day. We went with some old friends this time, and had a blast. Had some tasty Chinese food, and finally bought some Kung Fu shoes for my husband and the kids. All in all, it was a good day.

And that is all, and that's the end.

So Who's Been Spying On Us?

Recently a friend mentioned that television show, "The Middle." At first, I thought she was talking about "Malcolm in the Middle," which I've never seen, but have heard of before. Anyway, what she said about the show piqued my interest, so I caught a few episodes here and there online, and oh my goodness, it was way too familiar. I found myself laughing hysterically more than a few times, and more often than not, it's because I've experienced the same or similar situations in my own life. For those of you out there who have watched the show, you'll realize that there's nothing to be proud of here. Appliances breaking down, sink and tub backing up (ON EACH OTHER)...um, yeah, bathing and washing dishes have to be done with care. Our fridge often refuses to stay shut, so I have to get creative with ways to keep the door from opening. Thankfully, as a homeschooling family, we're never short on items (namely wheeled containers full of supplies) to stick in front of the door. We seldom use our kitchen table for its intended purpose, and it's not because we don't want to, we just can't all fit around it. The last time we tried to have everyone eat at the table, my husband sat on his guitar amp, wedged into a corner between the sink and the air conditioner, and whenever someone had to get up, we all had to get up to move the table, and allow the person out, via chair-stepping no less. Classy.

So yes, there was a lot with which to identify.

Hahaha, and now I just had a flashback to when I was a kid. We'd freak out whenever someone would walk into the bathroom when one of us was showering. And no, we weren't allowed to lock the door. We had one bathroom, none of this 1-1/2 bath business, so we had to remain accommodating, even while showering. Anyway, it always followed that the person showering, would beg the person visiting the john, to please not flush for fear of being scalded to death. It's even a sniglet--thermalophobia! That's actually the only "The Middle"ish type of situation I remember from childhood. Things sort of went downhill since then!

Anyway, as sobering as it was for me to see just how tragically comic such living arrangements and family situations can be, it kind of cheered me up a bit. If anything, I tell myself that living this way builds character. And as for me, either I'll achieve nirvana via the perpetual trying of my patience until I've lost all my worldliness (the little that's left of it), or I'll have an aneurysm at 40.

If this school year has a theme, it’s color coding...

Ever since my kids started homeschooling, or rather, ever since I started schooling more than one child, I have taken to color coding. E was always pink, S was purple, and F was blue. Up until yesterday, the color coding was mainly done in my record keeping. Each kid’s schedules were highlighted in their individual colors. For a while, I did all of my record keeping in just one planner. That was messy, albeit colorful. I briefly tried out a record-keeping software program which didn’t have a color coding option. I’m old school anyway, and preferred writing everything out by hand. So one planner, turned into three, but at least I could color code in them. And yes, that’s an awful lot of writing, and I’m sure that that may seem tedious to many. For me, it’s soothing.

This year, after many many MANY episodes of “this-is-mine-no-this-is-mine,” I decided to color code just about everything—schedules and all school supplies. What couldn’t be purchased in color is initialed. What couldn’t be initialed stays with me. I’m like the keeper of the keys. I’ve debated making my personal stash of supplies available to the kids in a lending library sort of way. Okay, I haven’t really planned on this, but writing it all out makes me wish I’d actually follow through with this idea. After years of homeschooling in a cramped apartment where everything seems to go missing, I’ll hold fast to any idea that gives me a semblance of order.

As usual, each year comes with a whole bunch of new expectations, attempted improvements, and a dose of anticipation. This time it will come with an added bit of color.

3-2-1 Oh Scrap...

Holy moly, am I touchy this week! That, and highly irritable.

To the kids:

No, high pitched screaming, even in jest, does not constitute singing.

For some reason, as delusional as it makes me sound, I thought that the choruses of, "Mom he/she keeps bothering me!" would have died down by now. Instead, it's reached a crescendo. What's up with that? For Pete's sake, you're 16, 13, and 12.

And um, how is it even possible that it's more difficult keeping the apartment tidy now, than when you guys were toddlers?

Something's gotta give.

It's like the stars have aligned to make this week unbearably exasperating. And the summer, as in "summer break" is nearly over, too. And that really stinks.

Maybe we've had way too much unscheduled time this summer, and I think that the exhaustion and dis-ease I've been feeling in the past several weeks has made me less diligent at keeping everyone accountable for things. Actually, I'm sure that these are definitely factors. I'd toss them out for extra obligatory outdoor time (read: Mommy alone time), but wonder if that would be construed as a reward. Yes, yes it would. I'm tempted to channel Mr. Bennet.

"...you are never to stir out of doors till you can prove that you have spent ten minutes of every day in a rational manner."

Sigh.

But that would only work with two of them. My middle child has decided that she "doesn't like the sun." I'd have to come up with something else for her. Dishes. Dishes would be perfect.

So yeah, our summer break is soon coming to an end, and frankly, I'm not really looking forward to it. Despite all of the minor annoyances above, I have really enjoyed the summer...as in the heat, the sun exposure, the Summer Olympics(!), everything. Ever since I haven't had any asthma symptoms to speak of, I have been able to not only tolerate, but greatly enjoy, the hot, even muggy weather. That's a first for me. And frankly, I'm already dreading the fall and winter. I think I'll have to get one of those light therapy lamps to tide me over till next summer.

I promise to come back soon to write about our homeschool plans for this coming year with my rising 11th, 8th, and 7th grade students. Should be a crazy busy year.

Back, Just Briefly

No, I haven't abandoned this blog. I've just had some weird health stuff going on, and I think that stress may have contributed to it in one way or another. I just thought I had the flu. My neck and jaw were tight (still are a bit, in fact). I had Intense fatigue, like I've never experienced before. I felt as if I had deadweights on my shoulders. At first I could sleep for 16 hours straight, but then later I had insomnia, with this oppressive heaviness all of the time. While in bed, I felt as if I was being pressed into the mattress, and then came the migraines, dizziness, and vertigo, not to mention the nausea. Just awful. These phantom pains started to turn up...I felt as if parts of my body were sunburned, but they weren't. I held out for two weeks before I succumbed and made an appointment with a doctor. I hesitated, as I haven't exactly had the best of luck finding doctors that listen. Anyway, one doctor's visit turned into five. (And they're still calling me to make follow-up appointments--FAT CHANCE!). I saw a few different practitioners in the office, and everyone had their own guesses as to what was going on with me. My first blood test showed that I was deficient in vitamin d, and that I had "high" cholesterol. A urine sample showed that I apparently had a very high number of white blood cells, so I was first told it was a UTI, which I thought was weird, because I didn't have any symptoms. I was prescribed Cipro, which I wasn't very enthusiastic about, but I was feeling so crappy, that I just agreed to take it. Before starting the antibiotic, I went through another round of follow-up tests. It took a week to get the results back, and it was determined that my hormones were okay, kidney and liver function was okay, and that there hadn't been a UTI after all, so I had taken 6 days of Cipro (500mg, 2x/day) for no reason. I was barely tolerating the antibiotic and it killed my stomach, and led to a whole host of other problems.

All this time, the doctors in this practice were just guessing at what was wrong with me. One thought Lyme Disease, another Fibromyalgia, Chronic Fatigue, or some Auto-immune disease, and yet another thought depression. But these were all guesses. The last doctor I saw sent in a physician assistant with a clipboard questionnaire for depression. Um, I've had depression (well-controlled, by the way!) and this wasn't it. But I'll tell you, the moment this was suggested as a possible cause, I did begin to feel depressed. I felt as if I was being disregarded. And the questionnaire itself was ridiculous. The options for number one were as follows (I had to pick one): (a) I am never depressed. (b) I am depressed most of the time. (c) I am always depressed. (d) My depression is so severe I have lost interest in things I used to enjoy. Seriously? I argued that the questionnaire was flawed, and that the most accurate answer for me would be "I am depressed once in a LONG while." Who isn't? I asked the doctors whether or not all of this could be related to the vitamin D deficiency, and they seemed unsure that such a thing would cause all of the above. And that's when the office phlebotomist shared with me that he had gone through something similar years earlier, and that taking 50,000 IU of D3 each week for a few months, really helped. Once his levels were within normal range, he felt better. He asked how much I had been taking, so I told him I was taking between 2,000 IU and 5,000 IU/day. He told me, off the record, that I'd have to take almost twice that daily to see a difference, so I started to do just that. A quick Google search convinced me that a vitamin D deficiency could in fact cause a whole host of weird symptoms, so I figured there was no harm in trying, and there was no danger of toxicity at those dosages.

The first night, I slept all the night through. The second night, wasn't so great, so it's not like the supplementation is a magic bullet--I have to make sure to get more direct sun exposure as well. This has meant my wearing shorts and short sleeve shirts for the first time since high school, with no sunblock or screens. It'll take some time, but I'm confident that this deficiency was at the core of what was wrong with me. It's funny, too, as I do a lot of supplementation, a la Dr. Linus Pauling, but vitamin D3 wasn't even on my radar. Wishing to accelerate healing, I started researching other stuff to do alongside the D3 supplementation. I found this one discussion about how the Budwig diet's signature recipe (i.e., blending cottage cheese and flax seed oil, with a hand blender, and then topping it with freshly ground flax seeds) has helped more than just people with serious illnesses, like cancer. At least a few people were using it to combat fatigue, so I thought, what the heck, I'll try it. It can't hurt. All I can say is WOW. I wasn't expecting it to work, but it seems to be working very well for me. And it's tasty, too...I blend 4 Tbsp of organic cottage cheese with live cultures, with 2 Tbsp of cold-pressed organic flax seed oil. I add a tsp of raw organic honey, blueberries, and raspberries, then top it with the ground flax seeds. I'm having this 2x/day, and once I'm 100% with my energy levels, I'll go to just 1x/day. It's really neat...this recipe (part of an entire protocol) was something that Dr. Johanna Budwig figured out during her research. Blending the cheese (a sulfur protein) and the oil together, makes it water soluble, and therefore more easily absorbed by the body. I've used flax oil as an anti-inflammatory for years to treat my allergies, but never had this effect using it alone. Omega 3's are good for combatting fatigue as well. There are loads of testimonials from people with all sorts of ailments using this, and seeing the benefit. Many people have even reported that their tumors have shrunk or disappeared altogether. Crazy.

Anyway, I just wanted to drop by with an update, and to share in case any of you are feeling especially run-down. It's worth it to get your D levels checked. I was told that normal ranges are between 30 - 100. I was 20. It's weird though, because I've heard of people who have even lower levels than that, and they didn't seem to have as great a level of fatigue as I did, but perhaps it's all relative. As mentioned above, I had been stressed as well, so that couldn't have helped.

If you are fatigued and you try the supplementation or the Flax seed oil and cottage cheese, let me know if it makes a difference for you!

So We Went to See The Avengers…

…and I didn’t like it.

No, I’m not a film snob. My proof? I enjoyed Nacho Libre and have watched it at least a dozen times. Really.

I was disappointed with The Avengers despite already being predisposed to liking it. For starters, I tend to enjoy just about anything Joss Whedon touches, my favorite being his Firefly series and then his subsequent Serenity film. And lest it be assumed, I’m also not averse to superhero flicks. I didn’t watch all of the individual films leading up to it, but I did watch a few. Iron Man (the first one) and Captain America were awesome. Thor I skipped, because frankly, Norse mythological figures don’t seem to translate well on film. Okay, the truth is that I haven’t seen many film depictions of Thor and Loki, and to be fair, the films depicting them that I have watched have had them visiting modern day America, and that automatically introduces the cheese factor (The Son of the Mask is one such atrocity). Frankly, I think these gods fare better in Asgaard and should stay there. And yes, I know, I know…these characters were a Marvel interpretation of these figures, but still. I guess this is where I admit that I have never been a comics fangirl. I did enjoy reading a few of the Archie comics as a kid, but that’s the extent of it. Oh, and I didn’t see a single trailer for The Avengers, nor did I read a single review, for fear that it would sabotage my film-going experience. I wanted to go in as fresh as possible, and without ridiculously high expectations.

So what didn’t I like about it?

Honestly, I felt it dragged. Most of the film involved just gathering all of the Avengers together.

I still don’t like Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury. Didn’t like him much as Mace Windu either come to think of it.

Wait, were there aliens in this movie? I was all excited about the aliens, but then there weren’t any aliens, i.e., until the very end. I realize that there wasn’t time to go into the backstory here on the Chitauri (this particular race of aliens), but that didn’t really matter to me. In the film, they kind of reminded me of the army of clone troopers in Attack of the Clones, providing a legion of paper targets for our superheroes to crush. For the record, I really disliked the Star Wars prequels.

The problem with getting this many characters together in one film is that you don’t have much time for character development. Ultimately, I felt that there wasn’t enough heart, and this bothered me most of all.

Loki. ‘Nuff said. Too much camp. I enjoy camp. Sometimes. But I like my baddies to be bad, and menacing. Three-dimensional baddies are best. Loki was just plain silly.

Thor. Every time he was on the screen, I kept thinking “Fabio” and his “I can’t believe it’s not butter,” line. Yeah, that was kind of a bummer.

Dialogue that often felt like a formulaic series of “Insert sarcastic quips here.”  Tony Stark had the best lines, obviously, but I was expecting them, and they fell short. Thankfully, the rest of the audience in the showing I attended wasn’t as jaded as I was and laughed heartily and often. Good for them. Really.

The Tesseract. What? Another cube? Is this Transformers or something? I kid, I kid! Actually, I’m aware that this is like the Cosmic Cube and that this is the sort of powerful object that played a part in the comics. And oddly enough, it didn’t bother me at all in Captain America. Go figure. I guess the connection I felt with the story in that instance, kept me from dwelling on it too much. I guess this may be a silly critique, seeing as I knew it would somehow factor into this film, but again, the story at large didn’t capture my interest this time around, and I was just plain uninterested in the darn thing.

The plot. I didn’t care for or understand Loki’s motivation, and the conflict resolution just wasn’t believable. I mean, it’s fantasy, yes, but even in the world of the movie, I was left unconvinced.

The superheroes. On their own, they’re great. I couldn’t help but feel that they lost so much of their, um, uniqueness (?), working as a team.

The Hulk in particular. I was really looking forward to him. And I liked him. I really did. BUT, he didn’t grow larger the angrier he got. And then all of sudden, later in the movie, it seemed like he could control his anger perfectly well, when just earlier in the film he lost it big time on Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow.

There’s more that I didn’t like, but I’ll spare you. Perhaps if I was an avid Avengers comics reader I may have applauded along with the rest of the people at my screening. I am not beyond thinking that perhaps I’m missing something big here. Perhaps I do have to have more of a familiarity with the comics to enjoy this film. Really, the amount of hype and love being strewn about the net with regard to this movie is unreal. But hey, I’m happy for them. There’s nothing worse than alienating diehard fans. Joss Whedon appears to have given the mega-fans exactly what they wanted. I’m obviously in the minority here.

All that said, there were a few bright spots for me. Granted, very few. And here they are:

Mark Ruffalo. I enjoyed him as Bruce Banner. He was infinitely better than Bana and Norton. Infinitely. He was subdued, and funny. Actually, I thought that of all of the superheroes, he was the most likeable.

Jeremy Renner. Okay, I may just like him, period. And I can’t say that I hated him as Hawkeye. In fact, it was quite the opposite. I sort of like the lonely brooder skilled type of superhero. It’s funny though, because after the film, my kids mentioned him as the guy that shot arrows. There wasn’t much time spent on him as superhero Hawkeye, but rather, evil minion Hawkeye. Really, he was kind of the forgotten hero here. Not much screen time, and no story building for him. BUT, I don’t mean to go off on a negative tangent again. I’m just lamenting the fact that there wasn’t more of him. The bits that were in there, I enjoyed though.

Oh, and I liked seeing the Black Widow kicking butt. I love it when women can hold their own.

"Shaolin Family" Experiment Update, Take One

Sheesh! I've been MIA, and I'm sorry. Lots of stuff going on in my head and in my life. Nothing major, but definitely time consuming. Even my precious Korean dramas have taken a back seat. And if that doesn't tell you something, nothing will.

This whole "Shaolin family" experiment (in reference to a previous post in which I shared my lofty goals on how we were to address the needs of our bodies, minds, and spirits) has been tough, yet unbelievably rewarding. Finding time for everything is challenging, and we haven't stuck to it as closely as I would have liked. More often than not, it's the physical/body stuff that gets tossed to the wayside. We really need to work on that. That said, our prayer life is AWESOME. We went from a few prayers said at bedtime and before meals, to (recently) starting Morning and Evening prayer (Lauds and Vespers) using the Shorter Christian Prayer book, followed by a Morning Offering, Trinity Prayer, and Guardian Angel prayer. At noon we say the Angelus, at 3:00 p.m. the Divine Mercy Chaplet, and then we recite the rosary in the evening (as well as Vespers as mentioned before). That sounds like a lot, but it's really been such a great change for us. It has introduced a steady rhythm to our days, one that we had been lacking. And in addition to that, it has also given us all a sense of calm. The peaceful reflection, particularly in the morning, just feels right. We feel more capable of managing whatever the day brings with it. It's kind of hard to put it into words, but my soon-to-be 16 year old said, "Mom, this feels great," and I agree with her.

In addition to the above, my plans for personal spiritual enrichment have also included making adoration once per month, and finding time for more spiritual reading. We made it to adoration on the first Friday of the month, and I hope that this remains consistent. The spiritual reading however, hasn't actually happened yet (aside from the Divine Office that is). Again, I think it's more of a time management issue.

As mentioned above, my plans for how to address the physical/body bits of this whole undertaking are sorely lacking. I've determined that perhaps I was being too ambitious. Understatement alert! Rather than fit it ALL in, i.e., conditioning, tai chi, forms, weight training, etc., I'd do best to just choose one or two on which to focus each day. Being up early for Lauds really helps with the morning alertness factor, and makes me more likely to just "do it already." I also figured that I could give us some days "off" on kung fu class days. Okay, so technically, those really aren't off days at all since we'll be in class later anyway.

As for the mind bit of this lofty plan, things are moving along nicely. Another positive that has come out of this is that I'm realizing just how much time it takes us to do things. Some of those realizations have been positive, others haven't been exactly positive, but rather, enlightening. For instance, I've found that my son is lagging considerably behind his sisters when it comes to written work. He composes well, it's just the physical act of writing that is arduous for him. I can't decide if it's a perfectionist trait, or if he just finds it genuinely difficult. I always knew that this was an issue, but I didn't realize just how much of an issue, or how time consuming a problem it was until now. It doesn't appear to be dysgraphia either. He doesn't reverse his letters, and he's generally neat, with all of his letters being of consistent size. He's also a decent speller, with a broad vocabulary. I find that when he's composing something and writing it as he goes along, he is faster than when asked to recopy what he's written, as in the case of writing a final draft. We'll be taking him in to get his vision checked as well, in case it's a tracking problem, or just that he may need vision correction, and in the meantime, I'm checking online for ideas on how to address this issue (i.e., what I can do here, or where I should go for help with this). What's weird is that he doesn't seem to have a fine motor skill problem either. He's a tinkerer, and he puts models together with small pieces, and he's able to make the tiniest paper airplanes known to man. Seriously! He also handles his utensils properly, even chopsticks. Frankly, I'm confused by all of this. This week, we'll probably be focusing on handwriting, and I just may make it into a game or something as a motivator.

There's more to share, but I'll save it for another post and another day. ;-)