Collecting

The topic this week is about collections.  What do you collect and why is that a reflection of you?

I am sort of compulsive about collections.  Once I decide I like something I have to have it all, in all the colors.  I realized this about myself when my kids were little.  We would get a new book or toy and they would list all the others in the collection on the package.  It was some strange force that would drive me to have to collect them all.  Once I would collect them, I would organize everything so all the collections were together.

Of course the downside to this strange obsession, is that you end up with more stuff than you need.  As most people know, I hate stuff.  There is this internal conflict to have everything and yet have nothing all at the same time.  I know, seven million pounds of crazy over here.

Right now, I am collecting yarn.  I have this need to have all the yarn in all the brands in all the colors.  I realize that I will never ever be able to use all the yarn in all the brands in all the colors.  It isn't practical, it is expensive and it is a little obsessive.

So, as I was contemplating how to manage this new collection, the newest collection came to me.  There is a forum on ravely for cold sheeping.  Cold sheeping is not buying anymore yarn.  As part of this, you get to collect chips, like in AA.  My newest collection is going to be cold sheep chips.  At least until I collect the whole set.

I has actually been harder than I expected, but I am now looking for weight loss chips.  Perhaps that would motivate me to get back on that program. 

Want to see what the other Ladies collect? Check them out at: Froggie, Momarock, and Merrylandgirl

Measure of a year

The topic for this week is what is:  In "Seasons of Love" from the musical "Rent," they ask "How do you measure a year?" Throughout the song, they list the ways in which one might do so. ("In daylights, in sunsets, in midnights, in cups of coffee...") Talk about how YOU measure a year.

There are many "years" in my life, there is the new school year, the Jewish new year, the secular new year, the fiscal year, the anniversary of many different events.  There are many different points where things begin and end that can be used to mark time.

The objective is generally to make the next year better than the last.  We want this school year to be measured more by success than by phone calls to/from the principal.  It is great when prizes come home to fill my fridge.

 We hope that the new fiscal year brings another year of job security.  Perhaps a raise and a promotion?  But, we hope for another year of employment.

 

One of the key messages during the high holidays, is to try and improve and make the world a better place.  Everyday is a chance to make different choices and try and do things better.  To improve the world.  I don't really think about the marking of time in terms of beginnings and ending (well except when ending means saying buh-bye to the ah principal), I think about each day as the opportunity to make better choices and do things better.

 

Want to see what the other Ladies measure? Check them out at: Froggie, Momarock, and Merrylandgirl

Yoga?!

Remember when I said I would post on time last week... yeah, it didn't happen.  I mean, there are 3 activities on Thursday evenings, reading with the first grade, taking the car to the mechanic, going to the gym, etc. etc. etc.  But in reality it is because I didn't do my new thing until today.

The topic is do something you have never done and write about it.  I don't usually read the other posts until after I write my own, because I don't want to be influenced by them.  I did this week, and I feel like such a sheep.  (OK, being a sheep isn't a horrible thing in my world, but still.)

I went to hot yoga.  (See another fitness post... I am just like everyone else.)

I made my friend Donna go with me.  She had to promise a million times over that she would be there with me, that she would hold my hand.  I was super nervous.

The instructor walked in.  OMG she is super cute, but she wasn't all scary toned and she didn't look like some sort of walking pretzel.  Trust me she has control over her body that takes your breathe away, but she looks normal on the outside. 

I sucked all the air out of the room, summoned my courage and marched up to her and said, "I'm new.  I will most likely spend most of the class falling over."  She laughed and said, "do what you can, no one cares.  I will correct you if you do something wrong is that ok?"  I told her she might just want to move her mat right over next to mine, cuz that was where she would be hanging out.  She told me not to worry.

We started.  It started with a mediation and then we went through a series of poses, many of which I had already seen in other classes.  I didn't fall on my face, and I could actually do at some level most of the poses that were presented.  I was pretty impressed.

I got the stretching for my legs that I was looking for, my hammies have been super tight lately and it felt good to stretch all that out.  But something happened that I hadn't counted on, all that stretching activated my limbic system and made me have to pee like crazy.  It is something that can happen after a good massage, I never thought yoga would have the same impact.  It was an interesting side effect.

I really enjoyed the class.  I liked how peaceful it was, I like how I felt afterwards.  I know I am going to keep going.  My friend Donna was glad to have a convert.  We will still go to class together, but now cuz we are buds and not because she is my security blanket!

Want to see what the other Ladies did? Check them out at: Froggie, Momarock, and Merrylandgirl

Fuck 'em if they can't take a joke

First off, I'd like to dedicate my on time post to Merrylandgirl.  I recently learned I caused her much stress over the year by being tardy.  Oops... but, I will talk more about this in a minute.

Our topic is to talk about the lessons you learned over 2012 and how you will apply them to 2013.

I learned some big lessons and some not so big lessons.  One of them was that carbs are evil and that I am addicted.  As I am trying to avoid medications and get myself on a more healthy path, I have learned that shaking my addiction to carbs is a lot harder than I would have thought.  I am learning to like more veggies.  Although I recently learned that some of my favorite veggies are really fruit, but I digress.  There are days when I can not make it without my carb pick me up.  I find that no matter how hard I try and avoid them, I just can't.  I get a little crazy.  It really is like a drug addict trying to avoid getting high.

I had an interesting conversation with a friend about my particular addiction to wheat thins.  Until I started eliminating carbs, I really couldn't care less about them, now they are like sugar coated crack.  She surmised that I must really want the corn syrup.  Interesting, because as part of this project, I have inadvertently eliminated corn syrup.  No carbs = no processed food = no corn syrup.  I am now really careful to avoid corn syrup.  Now that I am off it, I find that even the smallest amount sends me on a wheat thin binge.

I can talk more about food, and how changing what I put in my body has changed my life significantly, but I also want to talk about the lesson learned in a bottle of tequila.  The lesson itself wasn't new, it was something I had been trying to embrace all year, but it crystallized at my Uncle's house this holiday season.  See my basic philosophy is fuck 'em if they can take a joke.  It is all about doing the best you can and not worrying about what others think.  (I try and post on time, but my life gets the way of my best intentions.  I do the best I can, and if other's don't like it?  Well, that is sort of not my problem.  While I am sorry that I caused undue stress, and will take that in consideration for the future, I can only do what I can do.)

But, back to my Uncle.  I stood in his house after being spoken to like the hired help and decided, you know what, I am a grown ass adult, I don't have to do this anymore.  I do not have to subject myself to his abuse.  I don't have to subject my children to abuse from his grandchildren.  I don't have to listen to the grandchildren speak ill of my family.  I don't have to do this anymore.  I am perfectly comfortable saying this to his face.  You and some members of your family have treated me like I am gum on the bottom of your shoe, so guess what we are going to pack up our toys and go home.  All I can do is what I can do, and what I can do isn't good enough for this crew, so fuck 'em. 

I will spend time with the ones that I like and not bother with the rest.  There are some good ones in that group, don't want to throw the baby out with the bath water!  The stress that was a big part of the holiday season evaporated.  It was like the heavens opened and angels sang.

I will spend my time and energy in places where it is appreciated and respected.  I will try and post on time, but I am pretty sure I will fail at this a lot.  I will continue to try and not eat carbs, but if you see me hell bent on a box of wheat thins, you might want to move out of the way.  I am sure I will learn more things, but you know what, Fuck 'em if they can't take a joke!

What did the other ladies learn?  Check them out at: Froggie, Momarock, and Merrylandgirl

 

**Motto credit goes to my very fist boss out of Grad school.  It was her family's motto, and we stole it.  It was too freakin' awesome to not take.  But, I like to give credit where credit it due.