Advice from the Mother of Boys

When you see the sales at Target for sweat pants, warm-ups and etc for $5.00, buy multiples in current and future sizes.  The rate in which your boys will destroy their pants, once they discover the joys of football, baseball, soccer, dodge ball, kickball, etc, is truly mind-blowing.  The same goes for gym shoes, although those are more difficult to purchase in advance.  Trust me, I've tried.

Yoga: it's not for the weak.

I have taken yoga on and off for fifteen years, but I was never very into it.  I was always pretty decent at doing poses because I am very flexible and reasonably strong, but I never left class feeling like I had a tough workout.  I wasn't consistent in practicing yoga until last fall.  Because of my hip issues and running, I decided to try a yoga class at the Y.  Lucky for me, there was a Monday morning power yoga class being offered, which was a perfect recovery from a long run over the weekend.  I started going a few times a month and found that this class made me work hard.  The teacher did a great job of demonstrating poses and giving lots of options to advance your poses.  Before long I was doing things like Bird of Paradise (although I am still working on raising my leg that high).  What this picture fails to show you is that her hands are clasped behind her hip.  Impressive.



Bird of Paradise Pose

 All the while, I felt like I was really loosening up my joints and getting great stretches after these long runs.  Next I mastered Scales pose (or Swing pose - although I have to do it on blocks because I don't quite have the ab strength of this fine young man. =) Give me time.).


Scales/Swing Pose



But today was something truly remarkable.  I have tried Crow pose for a months, but could never manage to balance.  A few weeks ago I did it for about three seconds.  Today I held Crow for more than twenty seconds three different times. 


Crow Pose


I cannot tell you how excited I am to see the progress that I am making in yoga.  Unlike my previous perception, now I can see how yoga really can be a tough workout. I leave the class sweaty and fatigued, and today, a little bit proud.

My amazing pizza

We all know that Andy is the chef in the family.  The fact that I am a decent cook pales in comparison to the culinary skills wielded by my other half.  However today I made the most amazing (and healthy) pizza for lunch.  At lunchtime I am usually one to heat up leftovers or a can of soup because I just want to eat quickly and go, but today I actually looked around a decided to be a bit creative.
I found a flat bread that we had not used for curry last night and topped that with some pesto (a new constant in our fridge).  Then I stole some cherry tomatoes from Isabel and cut them into small pieces.  I guess regular tomatoes could have worked, but the cherry ones are a little sweeter and I like them.  Next I found some fresh mozarella that we had and almost shaved it (as best you can with such a soft cheese) randomly on the flatbread.  I toasted the whole thing in our toaster oven and topped it all with a generous postion of arugula.  The sweet of the tomato and the basil/garlic of the pesto and the peppery arugula... it was heavenly.
I should have taken a picture to post..  It was that good!