A New Outlook

I really have been insanely productive lately (see previous post). Well, at home anyways. I'm hoping it translates over to work this week. :)

I started working out a couple times a week three weeks ago, and then that progressed this past week to starting this workout program, where I work out 6 days a week, alternating cardio and weights, plus I eat fantastically well - all lean protein, eggs (mostly whites), whole grains, and more veggies than you can shake a stick out. Seriously, I eat TONS of vegetables. And like it!

On top of that, I also read this book, and it has unleashed a monster. It's like all the creativity I have NOT been making time for has welled to the surface. Last week we went to the art store and got clay and tissue paper for collage making. I draw again. I play music (we gave Aden a keyboard for his birthday). I've picked back up the long-forgotten embroidery project in my drawer. I've been looking into felt online - I want to sew Linny a doll. I want to get a machine and learn to sew, in general. And, of course, I blog. Katy and I want to start a blog just to catalog all our creativity.

The end result of all this - the exercise, the eating right, the tap into my creativity, the "me time" of being up before my family - has been amazing. This has been one of the happiest weeks I can recall in a long time. I play more with my kids - I have remembered how to play! - and being home with them on weekends doesn't seem like a chore now that it's full of play and arts and crafts and music.  I feel better, I look better.  I get to create again.  I feel more in tune with my body, and have a heightened awareness of it in general. I LIKE working out. I feel healthier, more alive. I'm more relaxed. I'm more productive in general. I cook - all the time - good food! I'm better at cleaning (seriously - all this cooking means learning how to clean faster). 

I feel more fulfilled, like I'm really on a path towards living life to it's fullest. 

Really, it's a fantastic feeling.  I hope I can keep it up.  This quote sums it up nicely:

What did you do as a child that made the hours pass like minutes?  Herein lies the key to your earthly pursuits.  - Carl Jung

Productivity

I cleaned the crap out of my house yesterday, not to mention gave Linny a bath and fed her three times, AND gave Aden the best day ever as we hid from the hot sun outside.  He played his keyboard (bday present), played with clay, and played with his new Hot Wheels (thank you Grandpa Chuck!).  He even had home-made chicken nuggets for dinner (with the ingenious addition of melted cheesy sticks on top of some), which Aden declared were "better than Disneyland!" 

THEN I surprised him by fulfilling an earlier request of making his room like a movie theater. Dressed up in a vest a hat, I welcomed him to "Paquette Cinemas" at the "concessions" stand I set up (a box on top of a laundry hamper) by the door of his room, After he chose his selection from the DVDs presented, he "bought" buttered popcorn, two Milk Duds, and "water-flavored soda" with hugs, all of which were delivered up to his "suite" (aka: loft bed), complete with wet wipes to clean his hands.  He got to stay up late and watch "Emperor's New Groove" in his bed and have room service.  He couldn't stop smiling.

However, I got the biggest compliment of all today, overheard as I dozed in the back bedroom (Sundays are my "go back to bed" days): 

"Daddy, build the fort like Mommy's.  Mommy's forts always stay up!"  (yesssss!!!!)

Life is good.

I Want A Ukelele...

I promise, promise, promise that I will write about my own life again soon. I'm just too lazy to take the time to upload all the zillions of pictures on my digital camera: Aden riding his bike (no training wheels- wahoo!), lazy Sundays, fun time with clay, and of course... Disneyland! All to come.

But in the meantime, check out this chick playing ukelele on is amazing. I highly recommend linking to her other youtube videos.  They are surprisingly witty - she's like if Juno came to life and were a talented ukelele-ist.

(And yes, I realize that the time I spent looking up random youtube videos could have been more constructively spent uploading photos.  Don't judge.)

May the Shortcake bring you peace...

I am so glad I saw the video below. I was about ready to drop-kick someone. It has not been a good day. Kinko's is ruining my universe right now.

But then... then... I was 6 years old, watching Strawberry Shortcake:



Ahhhh....peace. For some reason the VHS tracking makes it even better - it's the nostaligia of the 80s, I guess.

PS. they are updating Strawberry Shortcake again! Sacrilige! Oh well, they already ruined her for our generation. I'm hitting eBay for some real Peculiar Purple Pie Man goodness:


PPS. Bonus! More 80s goodness... see the shining light!



Back to the grind...

Speaking of dreams...

This woman is living mine. And this, to a certain extent. Not exactly, but both of them come pretty darn close. Parenthood has awakened the creative, hippy, earth mama lurking inside. My dream used to be a fast-paced life doing radio promotions in the city. My dream now consists of:

Working from home. A big backyard - trees to climb, fruit to pick, dirt to dig. A treehouse for Pumpkin. Home gardens full of vegetables, herbs, beautiful flowers, and worms. Graphic design - art mixed with a viable career. Art, art, art! And crafts - oh the crafts! a room for crafts! - time to knit, learning to sew & quilt, painting once again, watercolors and chalk and crayons with the kids. Stuff from this book. Time to be creative again. Time to myself: Mommy work out time in the morning (I just started - sooo fun!). Time to just be. Yoga. Walks. Picnics in the park, day trips to museums. Kids that will walk semi-quietly through museums without saying "This is booooooooooooring!" (I'm looking at you, Pumpkin). Farmers Markets weekly! Freshly baked bread weekly. Movies, but no TV (or a little TV - Project Runway for inspiration). Music - oh the music! a room for music! - iPods, radio, instruments galore - a piano, clarinet, flute, guitars, violins, the works. Books - a music room/library! - vintage, children's, novels, leather bound... the wealth of the world on pages at our fingertips. Learning forever. Church as a family, every week. Friends filling our home with laughter and love. Love. So much love and creativity and peace.

Sigh. That sounds really really good. But for now, I go back to desk. (However, I am going to the Farmer's Market this late afternoon - any takers?)

The new dream

I just got off the phone with my wonderful marvelous husband (oh, how I do love him), and we had an interesting conversation. So many thoughts are rolling around in my head, that I had to get them down...

The hubby's current employment has ceased to make him happy, and he is looking around for a new gig. He's looking at a more corporate environment rather than a restaurant this time around, for various reasons. One is money - restaurants are notoriously low on the salary scale. The other is us, his family. The Disneyland trip - pics coming soon, promise! - made him really realize how much his schedule makes him miss out on family time. Corporate dining offers a M-F, 6a-3ish kind of schedule.

Much like Magnum, I shouldn't even be talking about this, he only just applied. However, I didn't realize how serious he was about it until today - he already talked to the nanny about switching her schedule and to his mom about filling in the day care gaps (Houston, we are a go). This is a huge deal, because I usually take care of 98% of that kind of planning (Cleaning and cooking, Chris has me trumped. But I am the planner in this relationship). For him to do that kind of legwork means he is serious serious.

The implications are major. More family time, more money, less stress. But also, a bit of guilt for me. It feels a bit like growing up and leaving the childhood dream behind. This is not to say he'll never cook in a restaurant again or open his own restaurant (and even if he didn't, I really don't care, as long as he is happy with his work), but we both are acutely aware that money once gained is hard to walk away from. He's been so supportive of my dreams - the ones that involve school and graphic design and more creativity and working from home one day - that I shudder to be the cause of him taking a step away from his.

Sure, it will be nice to pay off the bills, but if this is the path we take, I hope we both have the courage to re-visit the dream one day soon... if that's what he wants. However, as I write this, I realize maybe the dream has changed.* He told me yesterday that "he wants his work to be a means to provide for his family, and not the other way around." So maybe the dream now is summer evenings playing baseball with Pumpkin, more playtime with the Lumpkin, dinners at home, weekend family trips, etc. Perhaps that will make him happier than the "glamour" of working at a high-profile restaurant. And granted, it will definitely be a bonus for all of us.

Hearing all this talk about providing for his family and how much we mean to him, etc., etc. makes me fall in love with him all over again. It's just so... manly (heehehee). Really though, of course I know we mean that much to him, but it's very heartwarming to learn that we - me - are the dream, ya know? It also makes me feel much, MUCH too adult.

Disclaimer: I do not profess to know what is in my husband's head, these are only my own thoughts. (Honey, don't kill me for blogging about you and... get used to it). :)