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.

Most boring update.

Been so busy and tired lately that on the days that I don't plan to attend a class, I don't even think about practice. Home practice is going to be out of the question until this silent auction is over.

We had an auction committee meeting the other night. We've got a decent number of donations and the auction is a month away, but still some of the people at the meeting are throwing out ideas for sponsorships, raffles and donations. Really, I don't care which other school got a BMW dealership to donate the use of a BMW convertible for a week, and I further don't care what other school made 75K on their auction with a donation from Jane Fonda for a lunch with her. We're two k-3 schools with a combined student total of less than 500, and at least a third of them are free or reduced lunch and therefore unlikely to bid on any of these items, if they attend at all. So let's not waste time coming up with these fabulous ideas, especially since the suggesters have no intention of soliciting these donations.

The main thing hanging over my head is the timing of the forms for tickets and volunteers, and the printing of the auction catalog. The catalog is my responsibility, but our only copy of Word is on Lee's laptop which usually goes to work with him, and will be going with him to Virginia for three days next week. We'll be at the beach a week from today for spring break week, and when we return there are only two full weeks until the event.

Needless to say, I'm feeling a bit stressed, trying to keep up with everything. Lee keeps reminding me to chill, to take deep breaths. What is he, a yogi or something?

In a change from my usual insomnia, I've been sleeping like the dead this week. I think it might be the zyrtec I started taking for my seasonal allergies. It does not make me feel sleepy during the day, but I sure do sleep hard at night. Today I had to add some claritin to my zyrtec, because I was going to the soccer field which is surrounded by trees. The claritin gave me an out-of-body experience and extremely cold extremeties. Wierd.

Yesterday I went to full primary, well, it wasn't full primary because John spent the first fifteen minutes chatting with someone. We made it through bhuja, then went directly to closing.

There was a wierd energy in the room. There's one woman who, when we get to navasana, won't do it but instead starts doing crunches. John didn't say anything last week, but yesterday he ragged her pretty hard about it but she still kept on with her crunches.

I felt very low energy yesterday, bendy enough, but each vinyasa between sides was an act of sheer will.

Last night we went to a happy hour at my friend Beth's house. It was warm enough so that we were all outside on the deck. We stayed until about 9:15, then brought the boys home and threw them in the shower. I laid down with Will and fell asleep before he did, listening to Jim Dale reading "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix". If it were possible for me to have Jim Dale's children, I would, I tell you.

This morning I spent two hours in line at the recreation department, waiting to register the boys for camp. I'm not sure it was worth it; I was registering each for one week of half-day camp. I didn't know it would take that long, so I didn't bring a book, and was reduced to eavesdropping on the conversations around me. One woman showed me her spreadsheet of camps for her kids - she had columns for date, place, friends attending, hours, and items needed (ie, swimsuit, lunch, soccer cleats).

This afternoon we had a home renovations guy who lives in the neighborhood come by and talk to us about a new kitchen countertop. We have a grubby, worn, white contractor-grade laminate countertop that came with the house. About six years ago we had a tile backsplash installed and why I didn't go ahead then & get a countertop then, I don't know. Anyway, I'm so ready for a new one. When all is said & done, we'll have a new countertop (possibly granite), a new slide-in range (we have a grubby gas cooktop and a barely functioning built-in electric oven beneath it), and a new undermounted sink with new fixture. The countertop is going to run us $2000 or so; a row of tile in the backsplash is going to have to be removed with the counter and will be replaced with a new row of trim, in some color to tie together the existing tile and the new countertop. The oven is going to run us at least a thousand, and the sink & fixture, several hundred. Not entirely sure how we're going to pay for all this, but it's much needed, and the guy really needs the work. He has two kids in school with my kids, and he's a really nice guy who comes recommended.

Tomorrow is going to be spent working on the silent auction, sending Michael off to a birthday party around the corner, and then hot flow at 4:30.

Yep, still busy.

I'll spare everyone the recitation of everything that's going on. Most of it is school & kid related stuff. Last Friday night we had bad storms & a tornado nearby, then more torrential rains early Saturday morning which resulted in the cancellation of the first soccer game of the season.

I've been managing to get in practices when I can, either some of primary plus some stretching here at home, primary series on Friday morning with John, or hot flow classes at the hot yoga studio. For the past four or five Wednesdays I've been going to a 6am class. It's a good class because even though it is an hour long, the people that come are regulars, so he can move the class along.

James, the teacher, mixes up the postures with each class, and today we did the prasaritas. I'm feeling a bit of strain in my right collarbone, probably due to overstretching in prasarita C.

James also came and stood on my feet and pushed my knees closer together during urdhva dhanurasana so I couldn't try to go deeper by letting my feet splay out a little bit. Yeah, that made it harder!

Early last week I had a very short-lived cold, for less than 24 hours I felt crummy, but good lord, the congestions aftermath. It's been a week now and I am still blowing my nose frequently, and, not to be gross, but sometimes it's hard to stop. I paused during a vinyasa class on Monday to blow my nose and I had to leave the room! Last Friday John bound me in supta kurmasana and I was dying for a kleenex - I was like, do I unbind and blow my nose or hang out for five breaths?? I've been trying to invert more, trying to work on upper body strength, and I've just been having to open my mouth and breathe through it when I invert.

In about half an hour I have to go get Michael out of school and take him to the dentist for two extractions. Poor guy, he has no idea what's coming. I had many extractions as a child and they were horrible. I hope the procedure has improved with the years. I'm taking my mp3 player for him to listen to, if he likes.

Got some encouraging news from Will's kindy teacher - she told me there was a group of kids in the class who are *over* reading workshop and are ready to read independently, so she had them tested to see where they were. Will tested the highest in the group and is ready for accelerated reader books. His reading has taken off unbelievably in the last month. I always assumed, because he was slower to develop than Michael, just last year had an evaluation for speech delays, and still struggles with small motor skills, that he would be just average in ability. However, in addition to taking off with reading, he's also learned to tell time much more quickly than Michael did. As bright as Michael is, he was still tentative with time-telling at the end of first grade.

Lee took Michael to a chess club meeting last night. A group of about fifty kids, from kindergarteners to teenagers, meets every other Tuesday at a nearby church. Most of the other kids in the club play on school teams and in tournaments, so Lee said that Michael was at a big disadvantage. Despite getting checkmated right away in one game against a kindergartener, Michael really enjoyed himself and wants to go back. One of the chess instructors gives private lessons, so were thinking about springing for a few of them this summer.

Back to backbending.

So last Friday I went to John's morning class which turned out to be almost all of primary. It was one other woman and myself, so we got lots of adjustments and personal attention. I continue to be strength-challenged.

After the closing chant we were sitting on our mats chatting and I confessed to John that I was really struggling with backbending and he said "I noticed". He said, correctly, that lack of strength appeared to be my problem, since I have very open shoulders. He recommended that I work on holding my backbends as long as possible in order to build strength. He also said "I bet you probably have trouble holding headstand, too" (he leaves us to do closing on our own, so he doesn't see my headstand). Correct also - I usually start wobbling after fifteen breaths and have to come down. I also told him about my psoas issues, which seem to be slowly resolving.

I have been working on backbending since that conversation. They are much improved over a month ago, though I still feel like I am crunching in my lower back. Yesterday I did most of primary at home, and after each backbend, lowered onto my forearms in an attempt to clasp my hands behind my head. Before my psoas issues, I was able to do this. On my last attempt yesterday, I was able to touch my fingers together, but I got a cramp in my lower back and had to come down.

I figured out the self-timer on my camera, so I took a picture of today's backbend:



Since I didn't kill myself during my practice, I felt like I had good strength, but though I was pushing into my chest, I still felt crunching my low back. It felt like much more of an arch than it appears.

I also took a picture of myself in headstand, and I continue to have my legs angled more toward the front, due to my fear of falling. It feels like I am more up-and-down than I look. I moved my mat to the wall so that I could work on that without worrying about falling. I need to get used to the feeling of my legs being directly over my hips.

Now, onto another subject: I got a wonderful recipe for caramel walnut banana upside down cake from Yogamum. I made it last weekend, and, oh my GOSH. It is one of the best things I have ever eaten, seriously, especially when it was still warm. It's a rich banana bread recipe on top of caramel and nuts, like what you get on sticky buns.



I served it with plain, softly whipped cream.

I never do things like eat leftover cake for breakfast, because if I eat any sweets or even carbs in the morning, I pay for it the rest of the day with blood sugar crashes, but I had a piece of this the next morning with my coffee. It was worth it.

Last night I invented a soup that was so good, my boys fought over the leftovers for snack this afternoon. I found a recipe for a cheese soup on epicurious, and turned it into a corn, black bean & chicken chowder. First I fried a couple of pieces of bacon, then in the grease (and with a little olive oil added) I sauteed a few finely chopped carrots, an onion, two stalks of celery, and three cloves of garlic (next time I will also add a red bell pepper). When the veggies were soft, I added about a tablespoon of chili powder and a teaspoon of cumin, stirred it around until it was fragrant, then added about three tablespoons of whole wheat flour (turned out I could have used less - the cheese makes this soup quite thick). Then I added about two-thirds of a carton of chicken broth, and let this simmer for a bit.

Then I added some half & half and milk - not sure how much - probably a cup and a half of each, heated this gently, then added two cups of grated sharp cheddar cheese. I think the sharp cheddar is a must - it gave it a great flavor. Any other robustly flavored cheese would be good, too. I stirred in the cheese until it melted, then added about a cup of corn, a can of drained black soy beans (regular black beans would be fine, too, but I used soy because they are very high in fiber) and two poached, shredded chicken breasts. I let all this simmer very gently until it was heated through. I added a generous splash of chicken broth to thin it out a bit at the end.

If I'd had some, I'd have sprinkled it with chopped cilantro. I crumbled up the bacon and sprinkled it on top of the servings, and served it with tortilla chips.

It was totally yummy - definitely a keeper. It had flavor from the chili powder, but not so much that the boys complained. Actually I could probably up the amount next time. The black beans, corn and chicken gave it a nice texture.

Well, I owe Will thirty minutes of computer time for two days of great behavior at school, so I'm off....

The busy season

Spring is always a busy time of year - social events, school events, soccer season, summer vacation and summer camp planning. I've been going from one thing to the other, and I had insomnia almost every night, so I've been operating in a bit of a fog. Let's see if I can recap:

Last week was the Kids' Consignment sale. The date kind of crept up on me so I spent three or four days madly pricing things to sell. Last Monday afternoon Michael had his first orthodontist appointment. After an exam and a set of x-rays, she determined that the first thing to do was pull four baby teeth. The two on top are preventing adult teeth from coming in; one on the bottom has an adult tooth behind it, and the other on the bottom is the mate to the baby tooth. Those appoiments are scheduled for consecutive Wednesdays later on this month.

Last Tuesday was an open house at the 4/5 Academy that Michael will attend next year. After that, my friend Gloria and I took Michael and her daughter (who will also attend that school next year) out to dinner at Ted's Montana Grill. They were highly entertaining and fun to be with. After dinner I had to drop my Kids' Sale items off.

Last Wednesday morning I went to a Hot Flow class at 6am. I expected it to be a bust because I am usually super stiff and creaky first thing in the morning, but it was a great class and I was glad that I went. I got my hair cut that morning, then went and bought tickets for myself and a friend to see Jose Gonzales last Sunday.

Thursday morning I worked the Kids' Sale from 9 to 12:30. Friday morning I went to another Hot Flow class. Saturday I did full primary at John's studio. Our mid-series activity was partner dropbacks. I was partnered with a petite girl who I did not trust not to drop me, so though she assured me that she wouldn't drop me, and that my hands were almost on the floor, I couldn't do it. That afternoon I had to go back to the Kids' Sale and pickup my leftovers. I was happy to see that all of the Thomas the Tank Engine stuff sold, along with almost everything else. I also tried to pick up Will's soccer schedule, but the coach had taken off with all of them.

Sunday I went up into our library and did half of primary. My fingers brush the ceiling fan when I raise my hands over my head in surya namaskars, but I had a decent practice and got through the marichyasanas before I was interrupted. Sunday night was the Jose Gonzalez concert at the Variety Playhouse - Gwen and I think we were the oldest people there.

Monday was a PTA Board meeting. We are trying to recruit some people from the board, but it is hard. The same people keep volunteering. Tuesday I went to a vinyasa class that was just okay - not much flow and lots of focus on alignment. Not my favorite type of class.

Wednesday morning I went back to the 6am Hot Flow, another good class. I had to prepare for a Silent Auction committee meeting last night - our auction is in seven weeks, and we've been conducting a lot of business via email, but we all needed to sit down together and make up a list of things to do. After the meeting, which was at my friend Cindi's house, she and I killed a bottle of wine and discussed what a thankless job being a PTA Board member is (she's on the board at her child's school, which is our partner in this auction). I didn't get home until after midnight. Ironically, I did not suffer from insomnia last night, probably because I did not sleep long enough to wake up and then be unable to go back to sleep.

Today I spent hours working on an agenda and to-do list for the auction, and organizing a teacher breakfast to be hosted by Michael's class in a few weeks. A little while ago. I got an email from Michael's teacher. Some of the kids who generally breeze through their classroom work get to do extra projects, so Michael and another boy researched and prepared a Power Point presentation on the Revolutionary War. The PPT listed various facts, and they spoke extemporaneously about them. His teacher said they did a fantastic job. I'm so proud!

Tomorrow morning is "Community Circle" at school, led by the kindergarteners, then a class at John's studio. I think it is only half primary, though.

Saturday we are invited to two parties, one a surprise party our neighbor is throwing for his girlfriend in the afternoon, and the other an evening cocktail party down the street. We are getting a sitter for the cocktail party and then walking to a neighborhood pub afterward for dinner.

I am also trying to plan a week at the beach in July with two other families, and an initial search for rentals shows that we need to get moving and book something.

Next week is the PTA's Spaghetti Dinner, a mid-week field trip to see "Seussical the Musical" for Will's class, then a teacher workday on Friday, Will's first soccer game, and a dinner party next Saturday.

We're also expecting the return of freezing weather this weekend, after two days of warm, open-up-all-the-windows weather. So many trees are in bloom here, that are probably gonna get zapped by frost.

Geez, I sound really brain dead. This must be the most unimaginative blog post ever.

Oh, I almost forgot. I got some new shoes this week, just in time to pull the wool socks back out:

Bizarrely funny.

I have never cared much about the comic "Garfield", but this is quite funny.

Garfield Minus Garfield: who would have guessed that when you remove Garfield from the Garfield comic strips, the result is an even better comic about schizophrenia, bipolor disorder, and the empty desperation of modern life?

Got my butt kicked.

That's what happens if you wait almost three weeks inbetween full primaries. Yow! I had yet another night of insomnia on Friday night (and, okay, two glasses of wine and a beer) so I felt quite tired. My back felt fine, and I felt bendy, but seriously lacking in stamina. Sometimes John just does primary series and sometimes he adds a bunch of extra stuff, like handstands inbetween each of the eight navasanas, and then a bunch of extra backbends and partner dropbacks. Today I am supersore in my hamstrings and the front of my shoulders.

Yesterday's class was also packed and it was my day to be annoyed by other yogis. There was one guy there who I'd never seen before, who did these jumpbacks that were almost like donkey kicks: his feet went way up into the air on the jump and a full two seconds after everyone else jumped back, his feet would hit the floor with a loud BANG!

Then there's a woman who I occasionally see who is a bit....odd. She comes into the studio with a gym bag full of stuff which she unpacks in the middle of the floor....clothes, water bottle, coffee cup, hair scrunchies, shirts, toothbrush & toothpaste...then she piles a bunch of it around her mat. She usually wears an assortment of jangly costume jewelry, too. Anyway, yesterday, she and all her stuff, and her cell phone, were next to me, and she did some major groaning and sighing. I can see it during the first sun salutations...but come on, by the prasaritas I was ready for her to knock off all the "ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh"ing and "mmmmmmmmmmmmmm"ing.

Normally I can tune out the distractions, but we were packed in there so tightly yesterday that I couldn't, and once I notice something annoying, it's hard to do anything except become progressively more irritated by it!

In a couple hours I am going to a hot flow class, with a teacher who is also a butt kicker. I just ate a wrap with hummus and tabbouleh. He's going to love my garlicky breath!