a great practice

on yoga today there is a great stress relief practice. it's just over an hour, but focuses on lots of breathing. it's great! you have to try it! there's a link on my blog under good health. you will feel less stress and very relaxed and ready to take on your day. namaste.

lucky me!

aftie invited me to school today to hear her read to the class. it was so fun and she did a great job reading about the titanic! here she is reading to her little sister before bed tonite. great job aft!

body+soul challenge week 4

this week we are focusing on how to manage stress. one suggestion is to begin each morning with 4 minutes of meditation, breathing in and out slowly. i know that one works wonders!

tomorrow we are supposed to make a joy list. here are the directions. you should try it too!

Make a joy list. Anything goes, from losing yourself in a great novel to laughing with friends. Whenever you feel the pressure mounting, pull it out for an instant reminder of the things in life that bring you pleasure. "We are what we think about," says life coach and best-selling author Gail Blanke. "Add up the good, and embrace it."

Me and my american girl doll! by Afton

This is me and Alycia. Alycia is my american girl doll and I love her very much. I got her for christmas and her dog. Christmas of 2008. Alycia's dog's name is Coconut. My friend, Ashlan, has an American Girl Doll named Nikky. We play with them together whenever we have a playdate, mostly. My American Girl doll came with a phone, a purse and earrings like mine, because she's a doll that looks like me. When we get our sewing machine back, hopefully soon, I'm going to try to make some clothes for her, because she only has one outfit and I've been trying to force my parents to get me an outfit or something for her but they never will. Only for special occasions. It feels like I never want Alycia to leave my side and Coconut is very very soft. I would like a horse for her that has a white stripe down its face and its mane and tail is dark black and its hair is dark dark brown.

fancy ella

how cute is this girl and her new haircut? she feels pretty grown up. i think short hair really fits her personality.

something great on youtube...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DcHQ8LOdmYM

a favorite

one of my favorite things is a late saturday night at target by myself. this usually happens because i need to run and get something for sunday.

so, tonite i ran to get poster board and ended up browsing through the entire store. it was so much fun and then while driving home i found a live u2 recording on some radio station. i turned it up loud and rocked out with bono. i love that dude!

nutrition tip of the day

this is from the body+soul website (see whole living tab under good health). i thought it was a great reminder to double check your portion sizes. i think we're so used to big portion sizes at restaurants and even at home.

one tip they mention, which i do for mealtime, is to forgo the family style serving and fill your family's plates at the stove. i find that it's much easier to reach for more when it's right in front of you, rather than getting up and walking to the stove for another helping. try it and see what you think.

If you don't have easy access to a food scale, it's helpful to use everyday objects to visualize healthy portions. Lisa Young, Ph.D., R.D., author of "The Portion Teller Plan," offers the following visual cues.
1/2 cup pasta or rice = half a baseball

1 teaspoon oil = water-bottle cap

3 ounces meat, fish, or poultry = deck of cards

1 ounce bread = CD case

1 ounce hard cheese = 4 dice

1/4 cup nuts = golf ball

1 potato (white or sweet) = computer mouse

2 tablespoons salad dressing = shot glass

First Published: January/February 2008

what's that???

as i was sweeping the floor after the dinner craziness tonite, ella walked by and saw a chocolate chip on the floor and said, "oh mom, that was mine". and then i asked why she had been eating chocolate chips. she then said, "oh, that's not mine". then she pointed to a bit of chocolate (or so i thought) next to the chair and said "oh, that's mine". i asked what it was. she said "my poopie".
oh, really?
so i asked why her poopie was on the floor in the kitchen. she pointed to her thigh and said "it was on there, so i threw it."
oh.

i have never been so disgusted and so humored at the same time. just know, that the situation has been taken care of and thoroughly sanitized!

also, i thought only boys did things like that.

7 interesting facts

my sister megan, has challenged me to a tag. so, here are seven interesting facts you may not know about me. (i will venture to guess that these are probably not that interesting!)

1. i love, love, love organization and cleanliness. but my house is rarely organized and only basically clean.
2. i love to write. letters, notes, lists, blog entries, comments, and maybe someday a book. i just need a good topic.
3. i would like to become a certified yoga instructor. or an architect. or a food network superstar. or an interior designer. or design clothing. or open an organic market with a delicious lunch counter. or own a business of some sort, but it must include a smoothie bar. hee, hee.
4. i think love is the most important thing you can teach your children. by example.
5. i do not enjoy eggplant, goat cheese, meat of any variety, bananas in smoothies, or potluck dinners for a large crowd involving people i don't know.
6. i do not particularly enjoy socializing at work functions.
7. i always hope there is a good fight when we go to a hockey game.

body + soul 5 week challenge

my friend eliza and i are doing the body+soul magazine 5 week challenge. we are finishing up our first week and i'll tell you...i like it! i would encourage anyone to try it. the first week is a very common sense, non-radical detox. this includes not only refraining from sugar, etc but also from as much tv, internet, newspaper, etc as possible. it also includes time for journal writing each day. there are questions to consider listed each day, if you feel like you need a little prompt in your writing. it also encourages 30 minutes of exercise each day. tomorrow we start easing into a regular food routine.

i really think it's a great way to step back and look at your eating, exercise, relaxation and stress habits. i've gained a bit a weight this past year and am ready to take that step back to re-evaluate my eating habits. i like that the detox includes eating! it's not something crazy like...drink only cayenne pepper juice. each day you include lots of whole grains, vegetables and legumes, beans, etc and drink lots of water.

this will be a permanent bookmark for me. i'm sure i'll refer to it often, and perhaps even take the challenge again sometime when i need a reminder of how to eat properly.

www.wholeliving.com

high school musical 3

i FINALLY took aftie to see this movie. it's still playing at the dollar theater. she has been dying and waiting and being so patient, but today turned out to be the perfect day for such an outing.

ry was in toronto to watch the ub (university at buffalo) bulls get slaughtered by uconn. but we don't care, because it was a bowl game. this has to be a first in the history of ub. anyway, the girls and i took the opportunity to go see hsm3, FINALLY.

it was about how i thought it would be. afton was mesmerized. ella was mesmerized. but when troy and gabriella FINALLY kissed, ella said, YUCK, KISSING! aftie thought it was yuck, too. so, we are good with that response. later ella whispered in my ear, with a very cute smile on her face, that she liked gabriella. "she's pretty".

i also just heard the following conversation from the playroom...
ella: humming/singing
aftie (frustrated voice): "ella, i can't hear!" (the movie)
ella (kindly): "here, i'll turn it up while i'm singing"
ella: "there. now you can hear"
ella: humming/singing a little tiny bit louder

funny girls.

beautiful monsters

sometimes you just need a break from being so lovely and well mannered.

decoratin'

the other day aftie and elle went crazy making butterflies out of coffee filters (it's a science experiment) and they look tie-dyed. anyway-aftie thought it would be super cute to hang them all over her walls in her room, so we did.

aft showed eliza the beauty in her room and then told eliza, "you can look at my mom and dad's room, but they haven't done much with it."

you know me, plain jane. no butterflies, no fairy wallies, no nothin.