Incapacitation via the Hindu Squat and Other Such Things

Just the other day, in an effort to supplement my current weekly exercise routines, I went onto youtube and started viewing instructional workout videos. I stumbled across one for the Hindu squat. My interest was piqued. It seemed like a good idea, that is until the next day when I found myself nearly incapacitated. 

Once upon a time, long long ago, I was a fairly physically active person (well, "active" in the broadest sense). I didn't necessarily seek out this physical activity (seriously, I'm like the least athletically minded person on the planet). Rather, it was just organic to my lifestyle at the time. I'd describe it all as purely situational. I worked in the city, and my days started off with a long brisk walk to the office after a lift in on the bus. My lunch hours included nice leisurely strolls, often time spent window shopping, and then later at the close of the day, another nice walk back to the bus station. Sure, it was low impact, but it was consistent, and I felt great. Once my children were born, I did the regular running around involved with toddlers, and while by then, I was officially a full-time stay-at-home parent, I got enough of a workout to keep me at least somewhat fit. It was right around this time that I became interested in Pilates, and started following the Fit for Life diet, so I was a practicing vegan, too. In the meantime, I sought to make some extra cash by taking on occasional freelance work--nothing steady at all. It wasn't until I found a more steady gig, working as a researcher, that things began to change. I found that the only times I'd get out and about, were when I was getting the kids to their extra-curricular activities. Most of my time was spent on homeschooling and working. Even my hobbies, when I could get to them, offered no outlet for physical activity. My life went from just barely active, to primarily sedentary. The Pilates was placed on the back-burner, and I grew tired of cooking two separate meals for every days' lunches and dinners. I didn't expect of course, for my entire family to follow my diet, hence the extra time spent in meal preparation. And yes, I got lazy.

Falling out of shape took no time at all. In a matter of weeks, I started to feel sluggish. Walking up a flight of stairs was enough to get me out of breath. As my work schedule became more demanding and I was spending even more time seated in front of my computer screen, the pounds started piling up. I found myself getting into cooking ruts, making tons of pasta and rice dishes which were quick and easy, and of course, that didn't help at all.

In the meantime, I was intent on keeping on top of the kids' levels of activity. It's funny how I was so hyper-focused on their keeping physically fit and active, while dismissing my need for the same. The girls had been involved in dance classes for several years, but I had yet to find something for my son, who is very physically active anyway. He's the sort of child that has to move to think. He needs frequent breaks from his schoolwork to stand, walk around, jump, and run. Yet despite his high levels of physical activity, he wasn't particularly interested in sports. He was however, very interested in pursuing martial arts, especially kung fu or jeet kune do, thanks to his love of Bruce Lee films, brought along in large part by my husband's love of the same. I set out to find a kung fu school which proved much more difficult than I thought. There are karate and tae kwon do schools seemingly everywhere, but kung fu lessons were much more difficult to find. Thankfully, before too long, I was able to find a place not terribly far from home that offered a free introductory lesson for my son. We all tagged along and the sifu insisted that we all take part as well. Yes, even me. This was definitely not my intention in going, but I figured, I may as well give it a shot. Not fifteen minutes later, I found myself quite unable to move. Every muscle in my body ached. Even just lifting my arms to adjust my glasses, was painful. It's funny to me now, but right then, it all became a major epiphany for me. I quickly talked things over with my husband, and we all decided to enroll. It is one of the best decisions I've made for myself and my family in a long while.

The past few months have made such an amazing difference in my life. Not only have they tested my will in so many ways, but I am sharing this new journey with my family, and what great motivators they have proven to be. Just a few short months ago, I could barely make it through fifteen minutes of training, and here I am, able to do that and more. Granted, the Hindu squat experiment has shown that I have a long way to go, but I'm less disheartened by that realization now, considering how far I feel I've come already. I will from time to time, update this blog with my progress in this area, and as I discover new aptitudes and challenges along the way. Until then, in the words of Bruce Lee: "There are no limits. There are plateaus, but you must not stay there, you must go beyond them." I hope to do just that.

Letting go of that OCD (or trying to)

Recently when I was proofreading a friend's paper for a graduate class she's been taking, I noticed that her spacing between sentences wasn't uniform.  I had to fight against an intrinsic desire to update all of the spacing to two spaces as was common when I first learned to type on an antiquated machine called a typewriter (remember those?), but of course that is no longer considered the proper form.  No longer is it correct to follow a colon with two spaces either.  Oh, the horror!  And just now, I was reminded of this new (yes, it's still new to me) and now firmly established form as I look over my last post and see that my left margin isn't all lovely and flushed against the side because I still subscribe to old school spacing!  I'm not necessarily of the "you-can't-teach-an-old-dog-new-tricks" variety, but why mess with something so basic and as ingrained as proper sentence spacing?  I mean, really.  I understand that the computer has made all of it irrelevant, as it adjusts for proper letter spacing all on its own (shudder), but yikes.

If it wasn't for that dang left margin looking so well, NOT uniform, I'd probably stick to my guns and just type as I always have.  To have to catch myself after every single sentence is just torture, akin to Chinese water torture I'd fathom.  How such an insignificant (to most) little detail could grate on me so much, I'll never understand.

And I thought it was bad enough when Pluto was demoted.  Sure, I understand that it is neither terrestrial or jovian, but again, really?  Well, I just wanted to say, Pluto, I've got your back.  And all this because you're a dwarf and a bit of a tag-along.  In my world, "My Very Educated Mother" still serves us "Nine Pickles." (Note: for those not familiar with the planet order mnemonic, it's My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nine Pickles--or Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto). Kids today are being served Nachos. Nachos! Can you stand it?

Tagentially related, I think I preferred living in a world where brontosauruses (brontosauri?) existed, and were still known as brontosauruses.  "Apatosaurus" just doesn't have the same ring to it.  And from the looks of it, the triceratops might be on its way out, too.  Oh, the inhumanity!

Busy-ness

Well, October has been kind of busy, and I've been in a haze precipitated by a near constant dosage of allergy medication.  'Twas my pulmonologist's idea...something about nipping symptoms in the bud or some such thing.  The result however, has been that I've been in this zombie-like state for weeks--zombie-like yes, but with no appetite for brains.  I've managed to avoid allergy induced asthmatic flare-ups, but egads, this is intolerable.  I feel as if I have to broadcast that I'm really not this slow...at least not regularly...as far as I'm aware anyway.

School has gone well, particularly considering all of the above.  Dd1 seems to be taking greater charge of her education.  I've always felt like I've had to be her cheerleader in all things.  Well, that's not entirely true either.  She does do some things without any prompting, but keeping on top of her assignments has always been a challenge.  Then of course, sometimes I doubt whether or not the reason for this is that perhaps I'm expecting too much of her.  If anyone is out there, reading my blog, please feel free to opine on this topic.  I originally set out to expect her to write about two one-page "response" papers per week, in addition to the assignments required in her writing program.  I often provide her with an essay question to answer, but she is welcome to write on any relevant topic she may choose.  There is a bit of writing involved across our curriculum, but nothing too over-the-top--i.e. the occasional outline of a passage in one of her books (Chemistry, Rhetoric, etc.).  I haven't quite gotten comfortable with her just reading through her history book on her own.  Maybe it's just my hang-up, but I don't believe that she really absorbs the information in one reading.  So, I've taken to reading ahead of her, keeping my own notes which she's welcome to reference, and we just chat about the section's material.  Is this too much hand-holding?  I'm genuinely curious.  Every now and again, I pop on over at the WTM boards and check to see what other children her age (14) are doing, and it seems that several are way more autonomous at that age.  I realize that no two children are the same, and that ultimately, I should follow my conscience and do what is best for my particular child, but I'm always worried about making her too dependent in the process.

Dd2 is proving to be challenging in another way.  She is such a driven child...but only for things that she loves to do.  She's an amazing artist.  Really and truly.  And I'm not just saying this because she's my child.  She has an amazing eye for subtle detail, and she is such a visual learner.  Rather than pry her away from her sketchbooks, I'm trying to incorporate art across her curriculum.  Her eyes just brighten up when she knows she can turn whatever she's learning into a drawing of some sort.  And oddly enough, this excitement even plays a part in her math lessons.  We use Singapore Math, and there are many opportunities for drawing models with that program.  Yes, she even gets excited over something as simple as model drawing.  Granted, she takes some artistic liberties with regard to these diagrams, but I'm not complaining.  Oh, and we did decide to take part in a special homeschool series of art classes at one of our local museums.  The first session was on contour drawing, and she was just so excited.  This was our first time taking part in something art related outside of home, and so far, so good.

As for my ds, well, he is about as well-rounded as they come.  He seems to be equally interested in everything, and shows an aptitude for everything we've covered as well, with the exception of the physical act of writing.  Even small amounts of handwriting frustrate him, and he's permanently attached to his eraser.  I've never seen a child so intent on erasing, even when erasures aren't even necessary.  I'm guessing this could be a tendency toward perfectionism, and frankly, that scares me a bit.  Sounds a bit like me actually, hence my worry.  Why couldn't he have inherited something else from me?  Well, he does have his Mama's hair.  ;)  While I don't want him to be careless, I certainly don't want him to be so hung up on being perfect either.

And that seems to cover things as they currently stand.  Oh, I did go ahead and assign some long term assignments for the kids...stuff I think they would enjoy.  In an effort to capitalize on their love of art (all three of them enjoy art, it's just that my middle dd LIVES it), I've asked the kids to come up with their own manga.  They are open to developing their characters and storylines fully into a short graphic novel, but really, there are no real requirements.  This is just something I think they'd enjoy.  Last year, I had them make short claymation stop-motion films, and they were hilarious.  If I can figure out how to post a few of their videos here, I will.  Given their interest level, I may just have them design their own board games based on their manga characters and storyline.  I bought those game kits from Bare Books a while ago, and I actually had forgotten I had done so.  I stumbled across them the other day and got excited all over again.  'Tis the one positive aspect of being a bit absent-minded.  Everything old, seems new, as you're always looking at things with new eyes.  Uh-huh...this is a glass half full kind of day.

Happy homeschooling!

The Trilogy Curse Strikes Again

Okay, to be fair, most of the third (bad to awful) installments I was thinking about when I chose the title of this blog post were films. What films you ask? Well, Return of the Jedi is one. Lucas lost me with the Ewoks, and the horrible dialogue, and don't even get me started on the prequels. Then there are Superman III, Spider-man III, The Godfather III, and Shrek the Third (actually, I didn't like any of the Shrek films, except for maybe the fourth installment which redeemed itself a bit for me). I'm sure there are more that I'm missing.

When it comes to books, I've had better experiences with trilogies. The first trilogy I remember having read was John Christopher's dystopian sci-fi Tripod Trilogy. I loved that series, all the way through, and have been meaning to go back and re-read them. I also remember enjoying John Jakes' North and South trilogy, which was a grossly inappropriate read for me at the time. I was only about eleven or twelve, and really shouldn't have been exposed to such adult themes, but my Mom, who didn't speak English, didn't realize she had to censor my reading. I read the first two books in the Bourne Trilogy in high school and loved them, too. The third book was released shortly afterwards, and was just okay, and not nearly as good as the first two. Again, I'm sure there are several others, but now that I think of it, several of the series I've read consist of more than three books.

Like many people, granted, mostly teens, I had been eagerly anticipating the release of Suzanne Collins' third installment in the Hunger Games trilogy (Mockingjay). As can be inferred from what I have written, I greatly enjoyed the first two books in the trilogy. The second book received some negative press as to many, and to be frank, even to me, it seemed that the second book was nothing more than a rehashing of the first. Ultimately, this didn't matter to me, as I had enjoyed the first one so much. And I grew even more excited about the series when I heard that it was being adapted for the screen. I felt that it had everything necessary to translate well into a summer blockbuster--tons of action, an interesting story, a strong heroine, a love triangle, and a battle against good and evil. Well, that's what I used to think anyway.

I received a copy of the book later than I had anticipated, and then didn't find the time to read it until last weekend, and what can I say? I was sorely disappointed. The people you had grown to care about, were all out of character in this book. It felt to me that Collins sought to vilify one particular character for the sole purpose of having things tie up nicely at the end. The dialogue was stilted, and the heroine found herself unconscious a lot of the time. Huge developments in the story were told to you, rather than experienced in the narrative. Major characters' deaths were glossed over. The relationships between characters in this book weren't as developed as they were in the previous books, and at the end, characters were simply dismissed without fanfare.

All in all, it was a dreary read. Sure, the book deals with war, and it's a given that war is not a pleasant thing. But most of the pivotal action, i.e. the actual defeating of the enemy, happens behind-the-scenes. Shouldn't this be the most exciting bit? And to make matters worse, the over-all feeling left behind after reading it, is sheer and utter hopelessness.

I'm not one to demand happy endings. I don't expect there to always be a silver lining, but I do like when stories make sense. Some may think that the ending was realistic, but for pity's sake, the world depicted in the novels is one where unrealistic things are possible, as evidenced by the technology used by the opposing forces. Sigh. It just fell flat for me, and I can't for the life of me understand how it is receiving favorable reviews at all.

Autopilot

I'd be lying if I said that things were going smoothly. Sure, the autopilot thing is true, but most of the time it feels as if we're flying by the seat of our pants. And we've been at this for years! But high school has really made me extra anxious. I know I'm capable of teaching it, and I made sure to purchase what I felt were the best materials, offering tons of teacher helps, but I'm still anxious. And when I'm anxious, I tend to over-compensate. So there have been several projects, and even tests. I'm not a "tester" per se, but I figured that it wouldn't hurt to start, particularly considering the fact that my daughter has exhibited a sincere interest in enrolling at our local high school for her sophomore year. I guess we'll cross that bridge soon enough.

Fifth and Sixth grade are going along swimmingly actually. I'm glad I decided to combine my younger two this year. My son, a full year and a half younger than my sixth grade daughter, has been ready for a bit of a challenge anyway. He keeps up very well, only he hasn't yet mastered written speed. While he comprehends everything, and composes well, his physical writing is still painfully slow. And slower yet when he makes an effort to write neatly. Any assignments that require writing are still challenging for him. He is learning to type now, so that may help matters, but it's still important to me that he gets past this little bump in the road.

And in other news, it's 86 days until Christmas. EIGHTY-SIX! As is common for me every year, I always plan to get done with my shopping early. Every year, I broadcast this plan, making a futile attempt to establish some sort of accountability. And yet, I recently read that telling others your plans is the absolute worst thing you can do, as it sets you up for failure. Oh well, I still think I work best under pressure, so consider this my disclosure.

I fully intend to be done with Christmas shopping by the first week of December.

There, I've said it. And I really wavered for a moment there, as I had initially planned to write that I'd be done by Thanksgiving weekend. Now, while getting done early has been tough for me in the past, I think the greatest challenge I have this year is to really stick to my budget. But this is always a challenge. And it's not because I can't realistically stay within budget. My problem is that I love to give gifts, and I have to keep myself from over-purchasing. Lest I be mistaken for the type of person to go grossly overboard, rest assured that I am not. Our budget is very modest, and what I consider as going overboard would seem laughable to most people.

The urgency of staying within budget is due to our recent transition back into being a one-income family. Overall, this transition hasn't gone badly. Of course, I planned in advance, so we are still able to share a lot of the financial responsibility. Eventually however, my husband will be doing it all on his own, and that does concern me a bit. But I'm still hopeful that I will think of something to do to make money. The only thing that worries me is how to continue going at the pace I'm going now with our schooling, once I'm gainfully employed again. Sure, I managed for about three years, but we certainly weren't as busy then as we are now. This year we're out of the house for activities and volunteering at an average of about four days per week. This doesn't include once a month classes/activities, or weekly errands. When I see everything written out like this, I can't help but feel panicked.

Want some whine with that?

I'm sick.  And whiney.  Yes, despite the heaps of vitamin C, increased exercise, making an effort to observe an earlier bedtime, experimenting with acupressure points to unblock my nose, and generally trying to keep positive about all of the above, I succumbed to a cold.  Now, if I were like my husband, I'd contract the cold, and a day or two later, I'd be as good as new.  But of course, I'm not like that at all.  Colds linger with me...for several days, and even weeks.  These often (but not always) turn into bouts of bronchitis, and when that happens, my asthma flares, and well, we're sometimes looking at a few months' worth of frustration.

The kids have been sick, too, which has meant that our schooling has been spotty.  Not a big deal of course, as I always add lots of wiggle room to our schedule anyway, to account for days like these.  

Okay, I just thought I'd update as I've been MIA for a few days.  I've just had some Theraflu (yick), and I'm going to try to get some sleep.  

Stuff, or How I Lack Blog Post Title Creativity

Last night I went to my first ever Catechist meeting to usher in the new school year.  This will be my fourth year teaching CCD, but it's the first time we've all gotten together for a meeting.  The primary motive was to go over our new parish curriculum (Benziger).  I'm teaching the 2nd grade this year, so I received two smallish books for sacramental preparation (Eucharist and Reconciliation manuals).  I guess the program is okay--seems easy enough to implement in a classroom situation, and is fairly well laid out, but it's still not my preference.  I'm more of a "back-to-basics" kind of catechist, and I appreciate resources like the Baltimore Catechism, so these parish programs drive me up a wall.  I keep feeling that there's a lot of beating around the bush involved, rather than just getting to the point.  If you beat around the bush enough, the children are bound to get confused.  All that said, I am pleased that our new parish program seems a bit less cluttered than what we used previously (Sadlier), and some of the language does seem clearer.  I'm sure I'll have more to add, both positive and negative, once I've gotten the chance to teach from it for a while.

Also, on a positive note, our new DRE is just wonderful.  She is so efficient and organized.  I admit, I was just a tad bit envious of her organizational skills.  She seems to have thought of everything.  We all received complete packets with masters of activity sheets, as well as schedules, special prayers to share with the children, and tips--lots of tips.  If only I could bottle up a bit of her organizational know-how and enthusiasm, I'd be a happy camper.  Actually, I could use more than a bit of these this year!