Free Time and Yoga!

With the middle of September now upon us, I can finally say that I think the constant company and visitors have finally gone home and I think they will be staying there, at least until Christmas. If I'm lucky, I will get the chance to take a little trip myself to visit with my sister who lives about a 3 1/2 hour drive away (she has her own blog which you can find using the direct link to the right).  Will be a "girl's weekend" with lots of wine and no structured meals! Love that, eat when you want, drink as much as you want and sleep when you want. Every mom needs this at least once or twice a year.

In my last post, I talked about my little girl starting her early learning classes.  Well I can't believe how easy it was when I left her in the care of someone other than family.  I thought I would sit outside sobbing or worrying and instead, once I saw she was settled, I hightailed it out of there and smiled all the way to the car and to the mall!  Yay!  I have a few hours to myself now twice a week! She loved the school, the kids and teachers and was just as eager when it was time for her second class yesterday. Tomorrow she goes again and I'm smiling ear to ear! What to do!  What to do! 

Getting that taste of freedom has led to me signing up for an 8-week yoga course. I go two nights per week and I was so pleased to learn that our instructor studied in India, she is in her late 50's (I think) and knows what she's doing.  I live in a small town and she has the only yoga classes here. There is nothing worse than signing up for a class only to find out that the instructor is an anorexic teenager who received their training from a book at the library. I've already been to one class and believe me, this woman is focused on yoga and nearly every one else at that beginner's class looked as much like a train wreck as I did.  I fit right in Lol!

I had been into yoga about 5 years ago and even practiced every day during my pregnancy. Once the baby was born though, yoga went out the window! I didn't get past level two in my previous classes and now with the newborn and toddler years behind me, I'm hoping to get back on track and work my way back to being somewhat flexible again.  I can't believe how stiff and inflexible I have become in such a short time. The other wonderful thing that yoga teaches is to love and appreciate your body, exactly the lessons I need to focus on when watching what I eat.

So on that note, I'm off to the kitchen to make a healthy dinner for my family and then it's off to my yoga class which starts in 2 hours!

Early Learning Starts Tomorrow!

Well, I haven't posted in several weeks, we have had so many visitors with two more arriving tomorrow, then more company expected on the 14th or 15th.  Have I taken any time out for myself?  Of course not!  It has been a blur of restaurant meals, big home cooked meals, wine (of course I don't mind that part of having company and need the alcohol!), driving all over the place giving tours and spending time at our cottage.  If having all that company wasn't enough work, we hosted two dinners at our cottage last week, I don't get a break anywhere even when we go away by ourselves!

I'm not even going to mention my weight at this point, who could focus and create any type of healthy eating routine with exercise in all this chaos??!! I know, I can make excuses until the cows come home and end up looking just like one at this rate Lol!  Honestly, I'm really hoping that the stability that comes with having a routine without week after week of vacation and company will provide an environment I can better manage my health in. Enough on that, I'll keep you posted.

What's really on my mind is my little girl.  She starts her early learning classes tomorrow for 2 1/2 hours two days per week! This will be the first time she has been out of my sight with someone other than family since she was born. She turned 3 last April and it's now time to start loosening those apron strings. I'm trying to focus on what I can actually accomplish with her out from under my feet but I know I will be having anxiety attacks until I pick her up at that magic hour of 3:30 tomorrow afternoon. Last week they had their "meet the other students and teacher" event and of course we were away so I wasn't able to attend.  The teacher was gracious enough to meet with us yesterday and answer my ridiculous questions "Is there a nurse in the building?", "Are you trained in first aid?", "Do you closely monitor who picks up the children?", "Will there be prayers with some psycho instilling the fear of God into her?", "How do you handle bad behavior and discipline?" and the list goes on.  I was there for almost 40 minutes and I'm sure the teacher needed a drink herself after we left.

Doing something for myself??  You bet, I've actually made that hair appointment and will be getting a cut, color and foils later this month. I haven't been to the hairdresser since last January and the only thing done to my hair since then has been me hacking at my bangs with dull scissors. This appointment is long overdue! 

Getting back to the menopause, I'm happy to report that I can actually feel the fog lifting and can see a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel.  The hot flashes have reduced significantly, I'm down to about three every 24 hours with each one lasting only about 45 seconds.  I'm so hoping that my hormones are adapting and I won't need any replacement therapy, bio-identical or otherwise! I've been talking to someone who knows of a very good homeopathic practitioner in our area that I should see.  I'm rolling around the idea of making an appointment with her. In the meantime, I've had to delay my own appointment with my GP which is fine. If things keep looking up on the menopause front, I have no intention of asking for hormone replacement therapy anyway!