Zen!!!

Oh, how I have missed you...

Thankfully, you have returned.

Franklin Street Yoga was a big step. Not a big boost of self-confidence going to a college yoga studio with a bunch of 19-year-olds who have never carried two people in their bellies, delivered them, nursed them, and are now slaves to them. So when the swarm of Tar Heel blue came out of the 5:45 PM class to make way for the 7:30 PM class, I was a little intimidated. Which is the antithesis of yoga. It was like high school all over again, and have I mentioned that college girls these days do NOT dress or carry themselves how we did 5 (cough 10, cough cough, OK! 12) years ago? Do they not know that Girls Gone Wild is going out of style and flannel is back in style? So the onslaught of babes and a few select basketball players trying to stretch their hamstrings did not exactly look like my beloved 5:45 AM yoga at the Ballantyne YMCA.

But, somehow, a good teacher and some breathing can transcend all of that

The 7:30 class had a lot more variety in it than did the early evening class. With the professor couple chatting it up, a pregnant lady, and a middle aged man, I fit in just fine. There was music!! Good new music, and a very mellow, relaxing teacher who taught with just the right blend of challenge and familiarity. And all of the things that yoga brings to my life came flooding back. Contentment. Presence. Acceptance. Those things have been missing, and I was happy to find them again.

And, while this is also anti-zen and anti-attachment, and a little bit of ego, I did a lovely Bakasana, to tripod headstand and back again if I do say so myself.

(not me, unfortunately)

Quite Alarming

Every day for the past 3 or 4 days, our alarm system beeps at me around 1 o'clock. I push a bunch of buttons and it stops. I think to myself, "Damn. We have cable, internet, TV, gas, electric, and the last thing on my list is to get the alarm organized. Out of the old owner's names, and into ours."

Well.

Today, in the continued marathon of house service calls, I took Torre to the vet, we got a box spring delivered, and I scheduled someone to repair a window. The daily beeping started, so I pushed a bunch of buttons on the security system to make it stop beeping. This time, it started counting down at me. I couldn't make it stop. So... I ignored it. I ate lunch and thought I should call them after I was done. In the meantime, Torre (a.k.a. Dog-On-Crack-With-A-New-Fence-And-A-Yard-Full-Of-Squirrels-And-Acorns-And-One-Stray-Neighborhood-Cat-To-Stalk) was jonesing to go outside to get her freedom fix. So, I opened the door to let her out, and the sirens started. BLARING. LOUDER AND LOUDER.

I pushed buttons on the keypad, and it said, "enter code". Smooth move, setting an alarm I don't have the code for.

Fortunately, there was a number on the keypad.

Fact: When you call an alarm company while the alarm is going off, it is impossible to hear anything.

Fact: The alarm company is not very friendly if you do not know the correct name or phone number of the account holder linked to the house where you are setting off the alarm.

Fact: They will keep you on hold while they track down the people who used to live here, and who, apparently have NOT turned off the alarm service. In the meantime, the alarm siren still blares.

Fact: In the amount of time it takes them to do this, had I been an intruder, I could have done enough damage and boosted enough stuff to land me in Sing Sing for about 25-life.

When the security people finally decided that I was not posing an imminent threat, and did not need to be arrested, they walked me through disabling the alarm. It involves 2 steps and a screwdriver.

Fact: This security system does not make me feel particularly safe if I could disable it while it was squealing, with only phone directions and household tools.

Suffice it to say that everything is under control. We are not under the previous owner's security, and have gotten our own security under control.

The irony? Both Asher and Jacob napped through the entire event. Should that worry me?

Jacob: Tough & Cool

Jacob vs. Cement.

The mini-dance.

Roses and Pigs and Such

1) We finally are getting our H1N1 vaccines tomorrow.

2) It is November. Our front yard roses are blooming. Is this weird?

3) Harris Teeter has turkeys on sale for 59 cents a pound. Let the gluttony begin.

Seasonal

The wonderful thing about Chapel Hill so far, is that it seems to have more seasons than Charlotte. There it was summer/winter/summer/winter. Here, we are having autumn right now and it is beautiful.

For example, our block:

Also, our gingko tree:

In addition, I had the sweetest moment with Asher last week. We were walking Torre, and I usually bark at him to be quiet because it is nearly impossible to walk, much less talk while doing so. And usually, he is prattling on about his imaginary friend Mike, why the moon is still out, or if we are going to see the shaggy dog or not. But the other day he just said in a Christmas morning kind of voice, "Mommy, a leaf!!!!!!" I looked up and saw one lone red leaf fluttering to the ground. We watched it for a while. It came from the top of a giant tree, and was the only one falling. The sky was crystal clear, there was a light breeze, and the air smelled crisp. Jacob reached up and pointed, and everything was calm and still for almost 2 whole minutes. We were all mesmerized. It's funny, because there are a MILLION trees around, and we have spent many, many hours raking and leaf blowing, but he became fixated on this one. He then continued to talk about leaves and colors, and at one point I started to try to explain photosynthesis to him because that is where the whys took me. And everything returned to our regular huffing and puffing dog walk.

A few days later, I took a picture of the tree...

...empty now, but every time we pass it, Asher says, "Mommy, remember when that pretty red leaf was falling?" And I do. And I am glad.

Y'Know The Eye-Nose-Cheek-Tooth-Ear Spot

The one that throbs with pain and pressure like there is a little devil spawn in there trying to get out. The place where you can't press, or reach, or blow, but you almost wish you could stick a pin into it and drain it? Y'know the spot where snarfy noises come from as you are trying to cough/hack/gag/yak up whatever is growing in there?

It sucks.

I went to to the doc last week with what she told me was an allergy cough. I have never had allergies, but we moved into a house where there used to be cats, and it is in the woods, so it sounded legit to me. The cough hasn't stopped and now everything is sitting behind my face. All the juicy gross gunk that won't come out of anywhere is just sitting there pulsating. Have you ever seen Osmosis Jones? The movie? Probably not. But it's about a white blood cell with the voice of Chris Rock. Anyhow, there is a scene, (which I couldn't find in 20 minutes of searching, so you'll have to take my word for it) where they are inside a zit. And the microbial level of inside a zit is a nightclub. A throbbing, pulsating, beating, dance club. That is what is happening inside my sinuses. It feels like a million little cells are bouncing to some Jay-Z in there.

Thank God for doctor friends, Z-Packs, and even though it sucks being sick, I am glad I am not contagious or swiney.

Stroke of Marketing Genius

Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs: The Game

For all ages, and as many players as possible.

Materials

Small matchbox cars

Pretend food, most likely from a play kitchen

Directions

One player drives a car across the floor. The player says, "What's it raining for breakfast?" Another player then drops a piece of play food onto the toy car. The person then names the food that has fallen.

Variations

Food can fall on any number of toy objects, such as Thomas Trains, Little People, Transformers, etc...

Vary the meal, "What's it raining for lunch?" "What's it raining for dinner?"

Make multiple food items fall at one time.

Guaranteed to make children laugh for hours and hours and hours.

Now, who out there can make my idea a multi million dollar reality?