The Day After..

Oh my gosh!  I did it up good yesterday.  I now have to let my belt out another notch!  It was all sooooooooo good though.

I stayed up on Wednesday until 11:30pm getting the kitchen set up, stuffing made, table set, and everything ready to go so all I had to do on Thursday was get the bird in the oven, turn on the stuffing (crock pot), and finish up with some last minute cooking.  

We had 8 people at my house: brother-in-law Bill, his wife Jackie, their daughter Amy and her partner Nick, Mary - Jackie's mother, and Ella, my mother-in-law, and of course me and hubster. 

The food was delicious, if I do say so myself.  Most importantly, the gravy did not have lumps!  (That's because I've finally found out that it is less headach to just go by the premade stuff than to keep apologizing for the lumpy gravy!) ~L~

My in-laws are ranchers - so by 3:00pm, everyone was gone.  My first year I cooked Thanksgiving dinner, I was just SURE that they hated me because they didn't stick around and visit.  I grew up in a family where everyone shows up at 10am and leaves at  10pm.   But, after so many years with my in-laws, it's become second nature for me to have the table cleared, dishes washed and put away, leftovers stowed away in the frigdge, and me sitting on the couch  watching football or a movie by 4pm. ~LOL~

Today, the day after, is a casual day.  Instead of going to the gym as I had planned, I pulled out my mat and did a full hour of yoga - down dog and all!  I was a little worried on how it would feel after gorging myself on food yesterday, but it was a piece of cake.  It felt good to move, breath and stretch out, and just get inside my head and let  the outside world fall away from my thoughts.  

I do plan on going in to town later though - doing some shopping (as little as possible!), and maybe catching up with some friends later on.  My mother-in-law and I are going to watch the Holiday Razzle-Dazzle parade on main street - hopefully from the comfort of indoors!  

I hope that everyone had a good Thanksgiving and is surviving the Black Friday hustle and bustle.  

She kept a good house...

I remember growing up, my mother would make a comment about a neighbor lady and say something like, "she keeps a good house."   It seems that woman's status in the community was judged by the way she kept her house, cooked, or baked.  You know, the ultimate housewife and homemaker.  I used to think it was so funny, but not so much when mom would have me doing the spring AND fall cleaning.   This wasn't  the usual dust and vacuum.  Nope.   This was the all out get on the hands and knees scrubbing of walls and floors.  And lest not we forget the turning of the mattresses, washing of bed linens, and polishing till I was blue in the face.

I try and keep up with the fall and spring cleaning, but in truth, I admit that I get at it only once a year.  That deep down, crevace, actually MOVE the furniture and vacuum, polish and shine and wash everything down.   I feel good that I do it, but chastise myself that I don't do it like "mom used to do it."  

Then in a moment of clarity,  I slap myself on the forhead and mutter loudly , "but she did not work outside the home."    Not that this is an excuse mind you, but I work a full 8-9 hours at my day job outside the home, I teach yoga 2-3 nights a week, and I exercise (to combat the genetics given to me by my parents) 2-3 nights per week. 

I do what I can.  I'm not living in a pig-pen by any means - it's clean, just a little cluttered.  I like to think that my house has the inviting, warm, lived in feel to it  I don't care if people take their shoes off when they enter the house, or sit down on a chair with their dirty clothes on.  I'm just happy that people come to visit me.  I have been know to say, "please excuse the mess" as I'm shoving old newspapers to the opposite side of the table so we can sit down, have a cup of coffee, and catch up on life's happenings.

Mom, bless her heart, lived for family.  Though I know she didn't mind the messes we all made, she was right there with a rag in her hand cleaning up spilled milk, or wiping the grease from the stove as she was frying pork-chops for a crew of 8 or 10 (depending who was home for the weekend). 

No, I'll never be known for "keeping a nice house" but that's alright.  You want a cup of coffee and stimulating conversation with lots of laughter......don't mind the mess and you're welcome any time. 

Showing Signs of Life...

 

Now that the weekend is here, I'm definitely showing signs of life!  Funny how that happens.  :-)

 

This was an unusual week in that I had two Mondays in one week....and we all know how I hate Mondays!   I enjoyed the day off on Wednesday in observation of Veteran's Day, but coming back on Thursday was a killer!    Add to that my yoga nights were on Monday and Wednesday this week instead of Tuesday and Thursday.  Let's just say that I'm a little off kilter!  (Some would say that is normal for me though!) ~L~

 

I had a great training session with Levi last night.  He once again put me through my paces and had me sweating in no time.  My heart rate went from 112 bpm to 152 bpm in one minute!  Yow!  I felt good though.   I keep reminding myself that everything that I'm doing now to keep me strong and healthy will help me in my later years.  I don't want to be one of these people that sit in a rocking chair at age 60 and watch life pass by.  I want to live and I want to have a good quality of life while I'm doing it.  

 

Look for me....I'll be the little ole' lady doing yoga at age 89!  :-)

 

Have a great day everyone!!

 

Sherry

Ahhhhhh...

....that's me rejoicing that I made it through "hump day" and Friday is looming ever closer. I don't like to wish time away, but I do so love my weekends! (Don't we all!).

It's been a whirlwind of a week so far, but I'm loving every minute of it. Monday started out with yours truly attending PPCT (Pressure Point Control Tactics) class for 8 hours. PPCT is a great class for self defense out in the world.....but inside a prison setting it is used to "take down" an uncooperative inmate with nothing but your bare hands.

Now, I want to remind you that I'm five foot nothing, I'm in fairly good shape, I'm limber, flexible, and really a good sport. I was looking around the room at my co-workers and thinking..."you want me to do what?" Talk about stepping outside the comfort zone. ~L~

Travis (instructor) was fantastic at explaining things in detail, and very patient with this particular desk jockey. At one point, while performing the clavical notch on a co-worker, he laughed and asked me if I was giving a massage! ~L~ And folks...do you KNOW how sensitive that area is right where your nose and lip meet? Yeah, well...have someone shove their knuckle in there and then try to scalp you with it! NOT my idea of fun! ~L~ (Darn thing STILL hurts!) BUT, I did take down someone MUCH taller and heavier than me with a sweet little tacticle move called a hmmm "straight arm bar take down"(I think - need to check my notes on that one). Hint: It's ALL in the wrist action).

The next class is next week and I'll be doing more take downs AND handcuffing. Sweet! Travis did caution me however, that I needed to bark out the orders to "back away" with much more force than I did. I believe his direct words were, "Sherry, you don't say 'hi' and shake their hands with these moves." My thoughts were, "I'm a yoga instructor for crissakes, this goes against that 'do no harm' philosphy I try to have. ~LOL~ Oh well...in a prison setting, if one is gonna get harmed, I'm gonna be the one DOING the harming and not be the "harmed". ~S~

I'm going to share some pictures with you that were taken at the Schulz Octoberfest (these were taken before we all got sick ~L~).

The dynamic six!

I'm in good company with the young ones!

My lovely nieces: Joan, Lori, & Shelly

Karen (niece) and Me... can you see a family resemblance?

The next generation!