Work Out Podcast

I think I'm finally emerging again. Now that the household is healthy, I can start blogging again.

I found this great podcast for people like me who A) are goal oriented and B) in need of a good fitness regime. It's called podrunner and is a six week course to prepare you for a 5K using interval training. The music is beat-heavy, thumping club music, which I find to be good work out music, but be warned if you aren't a club music fan. If you are interested, the poscast is available on iTunes. I like having the intervals and not having to look at my watch to see if it's time to switch, and I like having a very specific goal - at the end of six weeks, I should be able to run a 5K. (Not that I'm planning on running a 5K race, mind you.)

So far, since February I have lost five pounds. Woohoo!

Headaches/Break the Pickle

Ugh! I have had horrible headaches lately. (Like the alliteration?) Right now I feel like my face should explode off my face.

My DD's favorite things right now - a handshake her daddy learned from a movie trailer:

Give me a pound.
Lock it down.
Break the pickle.
Tickle tickle.

High of Life

As cheesy as it sounds, I feel high on life these days. My seniors projects are wrapping up, and while some insist that the project is too much and shouldn't be continued, others confess that now that it's over, they feel it was the most valuable assignment they have had because it has taught them necessary life skills. For each student, the lesson is different. For one student, it's learning to scale back on commitments. For another, it's learning the reward of not procrastinating. For another, it's learning that others live difficult lives beyond imagine. For a different student, the lesson is yet to come - the lesson that she can actually give an eight minute speech and survive it. Their pride in their projects is contagious.

What I love so much about the senior project is that it gives students something concrete of which to be proud. They have had support and are finding they will make it through. Rather than dodging work, they realize they have to put in effort and that they can actually succeed. That is real therapy, if you ask me. They don't need me to listen to their problems, to be their mothers, to feed them lunch. They need me to provide them with an opportunity to be successful, and successful they are. They deserve to feel some pride right now. Way to go class of 2008!

My favorite projects from this year:

• One student raised money for an organization that provides clean water to the people of Ethiopia.
• Another shadowed an OB nurse and passed out twice and threw up twice her first day. I gave her the option of choosing a different project the next day, and she would have none of it.
• Another student is working on his hot air balloon license.
• Another student learned about Thai cuisine. He went out on a limb and called our local Thai restaurant, The Basil, and the chef there agreed to be his mentor. They met every Sunday and cooked a full meal. Then the student would practice the meal throughout the week.
• One boy worked with the local public defender's office and got to sit in on an interrogation.
• Another boy learned to play the violin. Although learning to play a musical instrument is a pretty typical senior project, this student busted ass, scuze my language, and really learned how to play.

I love my students.

The Crazy Chicken Cometh

I'm not a brand namer, generally. I don't have a lot of loyalties to companies, but I do love El Pollo Loco and am thrilled that it's coming to Carson soon. They have a "Help Wanted Sign" up.

This is a challenge for me, since I've been trying to avoid fast food because of all the waste it produces. Not only is El Pollo coming to my town, but it's literally just blocks away.

I will have to practice restraint.

I restructured my monthly plans. They are posted below. March was a bust, thanks to research papers. I'm hoping to get back on track during April. I'm starting a little late. No worries, though.
New Monthly Challenge
I have revised my monthly plans:
Jan: low-impact consumption- check
Feb: veggies at two meals a day - check
Mar: I skipped this month due to research papers
Apr: A blog a day
May: a walk a day
June: A workout a day and a scrapbook page a day
July: Low impact consumption in honor of the Hungry Ghost Festival
Aug: a half hour reading a day, a workout a day
Sep: low-impact consumption
Oct: A workout a day
Nov: A thank you card a day
Dec: A meditation a day

Back to School

The end of vacation has arrived, and we had to go back to work today. I love my classes, love my job. Spending time with my children last week, however, was wonderful.

I can't believe how much I slept last week! I took two-hour long naps almost every day. I was burnt out, for sure.

DS has been talking away. Since the doctor's appointment where the doctor indicated concern that DS has "lost" language and that it may be an early sign of autism, we've been really focusing on his language development. In one week, he started saying and understanding an enormous amount. My favorite thing he does right now is when you ask for a kiss, he comes over to you and offers his cheek. He also like to mimick counting in his books and will tap his books with his fingers and go own, du, gra, the, foe. He isn't counting, of course, but it's still cute.

I've also been noticing his eye contact. He makes very good eye contact, which is a good sign that he isn't developing/doesn't have autism.

Off to Dharma Zephyr Meditation group.

Grasping

Today I did the homework assignment I gave the sangha last week - to choose a time when you are wanting something and to not give in to the grasping, rather to contemplate the feeling of wanting.

We were in Marshall's. DD needed some socks. (Good god! Where do they go?) I grabbed a pair of workout pants and top. A few minutes later, I took them out of the cart and returned them, but when I pulled them out of the cart, I noticed they matched so nicely! I felt a growing urge to throw them back into the cart, but fought against it.

It seems silly, I know. But I learned something. I learned that the feeling of desire to acquire something disappears rather quickly. Before I left the store, I had forgotten about the clothes. At home, I didn't sit and brood over how much I wanted those clothes. It was a good reminder to sit through the process of renunciation, especially with the process of acquisition. I will go so far as to say that most of us, me included, give in to these impulse urges to purchase, when if we try to sit them out, we find they are fleeting moments of desire.

Now, Starbucks' hot chocolates. That's another type of desire that doesn't disintegrate. It lingers until I give in. I'll revisit this thought later - need to consider ways to tackle that desiring process.