Still alive.

Wow, look at all the dust in here. The last two weeks of school were crazy busy - I always tell myself I'm going to set aside all my chores and responsibilities so that I can do all the things I love as much as possible the last few weeks of school - yoga, thrift shopping, pedicures, lunches with my friends - but I never do.

No yoga since last Thursday, when I took a 6am Vinyasa class. Friday was the last day of school, then Saturday we went to NC to go camping with Lee's sister, her husband, and two friends of theirs. I came down with a bad cold while I was there, and while I feel much better, I have major sinus blockage on the right side which is trying to turn into a sinus infection. I feel pressure in my cheek, my forehead, the roof of my mouth, even behind my ear. We have a neti pot, but I'd never used it before, so Lee helped me, only the first time he put too much salt in the water and it burned. Then I tried again with no salt, and only managed to get a dribble of water to come out of the blocked side. It feels a little better, so I'll try again in the morning. At any rate, I can't see doing any yoga until this is gone - it's very uncomfortable just to even lean over.

The week has not been bad, though today we didn't get out of the house enough and the boys were a bit nuts. Next week is a good bit of camp back-and-forth.

I've instituted "independent reading time" every afternoon and for the past three days the boys have sat down and done it, no complaints. I read, too. Right now I'm reading "Under the Banner of Heaven" by Jon Krakauer, which is, to put it mildly, blowing my mind. Speaking of my mind being blown, Will's kindy teacher pulled me aside a few days before school ended to say that he'd taken a final reading level test and he is reading between a 2.8 (high second grade) and 3.4 (mid third grade). This is my child who still says "maked" for made. But he has read two Magic Tree House books in three days, and when I quizzed him on things that had happened in the books, he answered correctly, so yes, he is reading and understanding.

His writing and drawing, while improving with OT, is still like a three year old's, and sometimes I can't understand his speech, but he's blowing me away with what he knows!

I just bought tickets for myself and seven girlfriends to go see "Sex & the City" on Saturday night at a place called "Movie Tavern", where you can get drinks & food during the movie. I'm so looking forward to a girly night out!

Now he is six

The birthday activity of choice: bowling (at which I suck. My god, I threw a lot of gutter balls!).



The birthday meal at Taco Mac, which was totally gross. I will never eat there again:



It was his choice, but I'd rather have eaten at Wendy's. Except you can't get a beer at Wendy's.

The Pokemon cake (two layers of semisweet chocolate cake with a layer of semisweet chocolate filling, and sweetened whipped cream icing):



The brothers.

Kitchen transformation, and handstand.

Our new granite counters, new range, and new microwave/hood were installed on Friday.

The kitchen before, counters cleared for the template to be made:



The kitchen after - a few finishing touches are still to be done, but this is essentially it:


I LOVE the counters and can't believe how much they've changed the kitchen. The counters seem much bigger than they used to, though they are exactly the same size as before. We think it is because the granite reflects light, giving the impression of a bigger space.

We're all having to get used to setting our dishes down more gently on the counter now, though; I'm just waiting for one of the boys to break a plate on it.

My range is really awesome too! I broke it in by cooking the boys chicken nuggets and mac & cheese out of the box for dinner. ;-)

Friday night we just stood in the kitchen with a glass of wine, gazing at the counters and new appliances. Lee turned to me and said "you know, it looks so much better that now I'm embarrassed for the way it used to look!"

I didn't practice much last week, just a hot flow on Sunday and Wednesday morning, then had to hang around at home all day Thursday & Friday for the contractor & his crew. Saturday morning I went to John's for full primary expecting to get my butt whipped, but I had a great class and felt very strong.

At last Sunday's workshop with Anne Nowell, she had us practice handstand against the wall while focusing on really using our core. I have always had a mental block about handstand; even though I know the wall is there, I never felt comfortable kicking up and never could seem to get my hips over my head and my feet against the wall. I also felt like my arms were not strong enough to support me in handstand. Well, I did it with a little bit of help at the workshop, so on Saturday when John had us partner to practice handstand in the middle of the room, I did it on the first try. I didn't stay up for very long because I felt a little freaked, but I was happy to have actually done it.

He also had us do partner-assisted dropbacks, which are a lot of fun once I can get over the fear of being dropped. I have to go halfway a few times before I feel comfortable trusting the person assisting me.

Anyway, class rocked, and yesterday I was sore in places I am not usually sore - all up and down my sides and in wierd places in my arms.

Ever since John & I talked a few months ago about my backbending troubles and my need to develop more arm strength, I have been doing about sixty tricep dips a day. If it's a day I practice, I do less or don't do them at all, but if I do a hot class or no practice at all, I do three sets of twenty of these. After about six weeks of this, I can definitely see and feel a difference, in my practices. I have strenghtened not only my triceps, but the muscles at the front of my shoulder as well.

This morning my contractor was coming back to finish up a few things in the kitchen, so I only had time for a short practice. I did some very creaky sun sals and some stretching, then decided to try handstand against the wall again. After a few failed attempts, I tried again and engaged the hell out of my core....and it worked. I kicked up against the wall easily and stayed there for five breaths. I felt awesomely strong. I could feel the muscles on the outside of my shoulders working as I balanced. Just to make sure it wasn't a fluke, I did it four more times, staying there as long as I could each time.

Why it takes me so long to overcome these fears, I don't know. I always feel so great when I do something I was sure I would never do. I know handstand isn't officially part of primary series, which was how I would rationalize not learning how to do it, but it feels great to have conquered it.

Tap tap tap...is this thing on?

Yeah, it's empty and echoing in here....

The silent auction is, at last, over. The followup is not, alas. The couple that was handling the software end of it has dropped the ball and the rest of us have had to take over. They did a terrible job of keeping up with payments the night of the auction, so we are having to try to reconstruct everything based on what is in the cashboxes. This time last year, even without software for checkout, I was already done with all that and had collected all payments & distributed all leftover items. So that remains to be done, but hopefully will be finished within a week.

Turnout wasn't as good this year as in previous years, but the auction made more money. Go figure. In spite of the turnout, everyone who I have spoken to says that it was the most fun spring party yet. We had great teacher turnout from both schools, and I have to say, those ladies (and guys) definitely know how to have a good time. Dancing with Will's kindergarten teacher to "Brick House" (which she is, for sure) is something I will not soon forget.

In other news, Will has started seeing an OT for "handwriting without tears" at a studio right around the corner from us. I can 't believe how lucky I am to have found this place! After listening to Will say that he hated art, he hated Mondays because it was art day, he was the worst in the class at art and writing, I googled "handwriting classes atlanta" and the first place that popped up was this place, a five minute walk from the house! What's more, he's the only one taking this class right now, though they accept up to four kids for one session, so he is getting one-on-one time with the OT. He has some large motor and small motor issues, some cross-body coordination issues, but they are mild and she thinks that lack of confidence is also part of the problem. He absolutely loves going, because they spend the first half-hour doing strengthening things that he really enjoys. When they get their summer camps scheduled, I'm hopeful he'll be able to do some of those as well, so that he'll be feeling good about his writing when school starts in the fall.

Will's starting that class has also prompted me to allow Michael to begin staying home by himself for short periods of time. He's just in the way at the OT, and he tends to distract Will, so last week I dropped him at home, then took Will to his session. Michael made himself a snack, unpacked his backpack, and did his homework. That was such a success that later in the week I took Michael home after school and took Will with me to Lowe's. I tell you, this is going to make my summer so much easier, being able to leave Michael at home. Now I don't have to haul them both with me when I run errands. We had talked about doing this last summer, but he wasn't ready to be left alone; now, at almost ten years old, he is. We laid down some rules - no going outside, no cooking, only answer the phone when certain numbers pop up on the caller ID, take the phone to your room so that if I call, you don't freak me out by not answering. He is definitely up for the independence and responsibility. Neither he nor Will are ready for Will to stay with him, but maybe in another year.

In other news, we are also having some work done on our kitchen, which I am very excited about though we're probably going to be broke the rest of the summer once we've paid our contractor. He's a guy who lives in the 'hood, and Lee saw his wife at school and mentioned that I was interested in a new kitchen counter. I was, though hadn't planned on doing it this soon, but we got the ball rolling and I should be all set within a week. He's already taken the template for the counters, and we've chosen a granite very similar to this.

In addition, he is removing our old, grubby gas cooktop, crappy slide-in oven, and grungy old microwave/hood, and sitting in my dining room is a new stainless steel gas range with convection oven, and a stainless steel microwave that looks as though it will do everything except wash and put away the dishes for me!

As well, I am getting a new stainless undermount sink, and have bought a new faucet fixture which will be installed with the countertop.

We've already paid for the countertop and sink, and our contractor is aiming to have everything installed by next Friday. He'll remove our old counter and sink (hopefullly leaving our tile backsplash intact), install the range & microwave, then install the counter and sink the next day.

The Top Ramen noodles we'll be eating all summer sure will taste good cooked in my fancy new kitchen. ;-)

In order for the kitchen to really look good I need new cabinet doors and drawer fronts, and the floors need to be refinished, but that's going to have to wait a year (or two).

I am really excited about baking in my new oven, but I'm not sure what the deal is with a convection oven vs. a traditional oven. As best I can tell, the baking temp only has to be reduced fifty degrees, but I'm not clear on whether the oven will adapt that for me (as a friend says hers does) or whether I have to adjust the time stated in the recipe.

So in the social/domestic whirlwind, my practice has taken a back seat. I've done a few practices, a few hot flow classes and a Bikram class, and about half an hour of the primary series yesterday at home. I have not done full primary in two weeks! Tomorrow is a workshop at John's studio called "Jumping Into Your Core: Using Vinyasa for Internal Strength" led by a woman named Anne Nowell. I debated signing up for this workshop, since I have not been practicing regularly, and frankly have not been motivated to. I went ahead and signed up today, in hopes that it will be fun and motivating and will get me going again.

School ends in three weeks, and oddly enough, I am not panicking at the thought of summer like I normally do, despite the fact that I was grinding my teeth at the sight of long-sleeved hoodies in the summer version of the J. Jill catalog I read during lunch. You might need your long sleeved hoodies here in the ATL if your building is kept at meat-locker temps, but believe me, long sleeves only lead to heatstroke outdoors. I won't rehash my feelings about summer - I did that last year. I've signed the kids up for a few camps, and we have a week at the beach scheduled, but otherwise, we're going to be mostly hanging at home. The fact that they're a year older will, hopefully, make it a bit easier. I've started letting Michael do some cooking lately, and I plan to continue cooking lessons for him all summer. I've also told them that we're going to have an enforced independent reading hour every afternoon this summer that we're home, all three of us.

So that's what's been going on chez Mama Yogini. There are many things going on between now and the end of school, including Will's sixth birthday, so updates will probably continue to be sporadic.