Hello Again

Seems like the only time I get to write on my blogs is on Sundays when life is a little bit slower for me. It is what it is; I'm not going to stress out about it...life is too short to stress.

It's 3 days until Christmas.  Amazing how fast time is going.  I have everything ready  or as ready as it will be.  T's gifts were ordered late (had trouble finding them on the net), so they'll be arriving after Christmas.  Again, nothing to stress over .  He knows one of them, the other will be a surprise.

We normally order Oysters to be shipped in from the west coast, but that too got late; we'll have oysters for New Years.   Hmmm, a bit of procrastination on my part this year.  It was hard to get in to the Christmas spirit this year. 

What else is going on? 

• I'm on a two week hiatus from teaching yoga.  Attendance has been low with the holidays so I figured I'd take my usual two weeks off and let my body regroup and everyone else do their holiday preparations.
• The NDSU Bison are heading to Texas for a *hopefully* 3peat.  I watched the game on Friday night and was quite proud of them.  Bison Nation!
• I opened my mouth and insert foot - again.  This time at the expense of my sister Peggy. I was working out with my trainer on Thursday night.  As we were discussing next week's schedule, I learned that he is going to be alone on Christmas Eve.  He has a client on Christmas Eve and another one on Christmas Day (shame on whomever they are!), so he's staying in town and will be alone.   I was like, "oh no!  You should come to my sisters house and be with us".   (Hmmmm, sorry Peggy!).  I did speak with Peggy yesterday and she is fine with it so now waiting to hear if he'll join us.   This could be both good and bad.  He'll be watching what I'm eating and drinking.  Yikes!!  :)
• My good friend Georgia has asked me to watch after her cats Smoky and Zoey while she is home for Christmas.  This will be much a much welcomed task for me as I miss interaction with animals, specifically cats, as I miss my Boris terribly.   So today I'm going in to town with the sole purpose of playing with them.  Well, ok...and to go to the grocery store,....again. 
• Tonight's dinner menu is scalloped potatoes and ham.  
• Has 3 loads of laundry to do when I get back
• Has to work Monday and Tuesday (until noon), and Thursday.  (Love short holiday weeks)

That's it in a nut shell for now.  Gotta run to town so will maybe write more later. 

Preparations

I'm at work today and almost had an anxiety attack when I realized the date.  Holy Cow!  It's December 9th already!!

I don't do a lot to celebrate Christmas since it's just the two of us and we have no children.   I used to decorate and send out cards but I don't anymore.  The cards are too expensive with postage and I don't have a lot of spare time to address them.  I'd rather call those close to me and talk with them.  And I'd rather spend spare time visiting with the residents of the Heritage Center and helping them keep in contact with their loved ones.  I'll put up a few things around the house and maybe make it look like something other than a Charlie Brown Christmas.  

In so far as gifts, I have very few that I buy for; Tom, Blaine and my secret Santa person at work...but I have the essential wine for my sister!  Lol

I guess its not all the trappings that make Christmas. ..its what you feel in your heart.  And I feel Christmas in my heart almost every day!

Namaste

Call Me The Bag Lady

We were lucky to hold off with the snow until the 1st of December.  Mother Nature is making up for lost time though and gifting us with a winter storm. 

I have lived in ND most of my life (except for brief stints in Minnesota), but I'll never get used to this first initial slap in the face.

It takes me a while to learn how to drive on snow and ice, and to allow extra time to get from point A to point B.  It takes longer to dress (or undress) the layers of clothing I now find myself forced to wear just to go outside for even a brief minute.

Because I teach yoga, I need to be available for those classes.   So every morning, I wake up and flip the channel to find the weather forecasts, which ultimately determine how many bags I'm going to pack for the day.

Today it wasn't looking so good soooooo....this is what I packed:
1 suitcase with clothing for 2 days
1 yoga bag with clothing for 3 nights of classes (ok, one night is actually an "optional" outfit in case I wasn't 'feelin' something!)
1 gym bag with clothing for Friday night (in case I couldn't get home on Thursday night - I have gym/trainer on Friday night)
1 food bag - since it's crappy out and I only get 1/2 hr for lunch, I hate to go anywhere in the winter, so I packed a bag of food (soup, crackers, yogurt, oranges, pickles) to have on hand at the office.
1 purse.
 
Soooo by the time I packed up this morning, I felt like a bonafide bag lady!

Yoga Video

Today is December 1st and I am in a food coma.  Although I've tried to curtail the holiday eating, my body feels blechy.  I've been limiting the amount of carbohydrates I consume but the Thanksgiving mashed potatoes and stuffing were a must have for the holiday.  It was a choice I made and now I get to repair the damage. 

So this morning, I started with my protein shake and my yoga routine.  I found a December challenge for my body - which is doing push ups every day - and I did my 5 push ups already (no girlies ones either!). 

Today is unique for me as I'm doing a "first" for me.  I'm going to make a yoga video!  Yep, you heard right!    The back story is:  I teach one class a week at Anytime Fitness on Tuesday nights.  One of my class attendees is a Physical Therapist working as an intern at the Anne Carlson Center while she is completing her doctorate.  She asked me if I would be willing to do a yoga video for some of her "outpatient" kids that she works with at the ACC.  I jumped at the chance.  YES!!  I have experience working with the aging population but working with children is something that I haven't had a lot of exposure to.   So, today I meet with her at 1:00pm and we'll record me teaching yoga to a few of the children associated with the ACC.   In truth, I'm a bit nervous.  But I'm going to embrace the opportunity and breathe through my anxiety and do the best that I can.