an update on life. I’ve been up approximately ten minutes and am already on my second cup of coffee. I tried to sit down on miles play mat to sing some waldorf-style songs about snow and nature but ruth started screaming like I was trying to murder her (hey, my voice isn’t THAT bad) so we all dispersed. now ruth is on the ground near miles flipping through one of greg’s field and stream magazines, joel is playing cars quietly to himself on the couch and miles is sitting on the floor grabbing at anything within arms reach. lesson? even though I’ve been doing this a while, I’m constantly two steps behind in trying to read the kids moods, anticipate what they need/want and trying to find a balance between giving them my attention and going about life as normal (life? I have a life?). sometimes, my 100% attention is incredibly offensive to them and I do better if I am nearby, within eyesight, but doing something (like typing a blog post) that doesn’t involve them at all.
we’ve been talking about signing ruth up for solo gymnastics. yes, we’ve done a LOT of talking about this over the years and especially lately. she seems to be right on the cusp of finally wanting to branch out and join a group of peers to do something group-oriented. will gymnastics pan out? I really don’t know. I can say that we bought a new leotard that she picked out and seems happy with. I can also say that last weekend, we went to the gym and WATCHED the class that she would potentially join in just to scope out the kids/coach/class feel. and it was a pretty positive experience.
why am I so desperate for ruth to join a group of some sort (I honestly don’t care one bit if it’s gymnastics or what it is)? put short, I just NEED her to branch out a bit. needless to say, I’m pretty bogged down with taking care of miles, joel, the pets and the house, and I simply CAN’T play all day the way that she wants me to. I think it would really loosen up some of the tension around the homestead.
speaking of spending forever and a day cooking, the ancestral diet has been GREAT for my waistline. that is to say, it’s not because I’m consuming more protein and less carbs and almost no refined sugar. nope, it’s because half the time I’m AFRAID of eating the food I’m making and the other half the time, I’ve got intestinal cleansing going on due to the influx of foreign bacteria into my gut. it’s a cleansing process, I guess. (that’s polite-speak for diarrhea. just kidding. that almost never happens). for instance, the time I made red snapper for dinner and was so paralyzed by fear of swallowing a fish bone I could scarcely eat a single bite. there went tens of dollars worth of fish. don’t worry. greg ate it all and seems no worse for the wear and I’m sure he reaped all of the wonderful nutritional benefits therein. then there’s the chicken livers in the spaghetti sauce, which doesn’t bother the kids at all because they don’t know any better, but which turns my stomach just to think about, despite the fact that liver is incredibly high in all kinds of micronutrients. these are just a couple of examples of how the ancestral eating is helping to keep me slim and trim.
well, my coffee cup is empty and needs refilling. miles is shredding a magazine now and looks like he’s about to start trying to eat it. ruth and joel are getting restless, beginning to feud, and chomping at the bit for oatmeal, so I should probably go. enjoy your day and this rare (for this year) winter snow. it really is beautiful.