Potpourri

For approximately the first 30 years of my life, I watched Jeopardy several times a week.  It's been off our radar since we moved to Colorado two years ago and our TV schedule changed completely with Mountain Time.  And now, if we end up having time (and patience) to try watching TV with the kids after dinner and before bed it ends up being Create on PBS with Lidia's Italy or America's Test Kitchen.  Either way, that was a really, really long roundabout way of saying that because of my long time viewing of Jeopardy, I always think of the word "potpourri" when there's a miscellany of things.  I have a miscellany of things to write about today, or, at least, no burning main topic, so "potpourri" seemed like an apt title.  Aaaand, there's a paragraph of rambling for you! Welcome to my brain today. Ha!

Last night, I was very thankful for a much-needed night off from class.  This summer has been going well with class three nights a week, and things are running smoothly with Daniel and I trading off cars and the kids.  I'm very much enjoying the ability to have the chance to be out of the house without worrying about the kids and to use my brain in class.  BUT, with Daniel's long days and busy weeks, my school added into the mix gives us very little time together as a family.  Yesterday, when I got in the car and headed off, it was with the standard "just stay!" and "*sigh* I would if I could, but I have to give my speech." When I got to a stoplight about 15 minutes away, something told me to get my phone out of my purse and check it.  Six missed calls from Daniel! I thought for about 10 seconds until he picked up that one of the kids had gotten seriously hurt or something.  Instead Daniel was calling to tell me that an email had just come through that my professor was sick and class was cancelled for the evening!  Needless to say, I happily turned around, we made a yummy dinner (much better than the Subway sandwich I had planned on having), and gave the kids a super bubbly bath.  A "normal" night with all 5 of us at home was good for everyone. 

I have two more weeks of my gym class and then my speech class goes two more weeks after that, so I have a total of 8 classes left to finish my associates degree.  I am, frankly, quite proud of myself and happy to have this accomplishment so close to being finished.  I know it's "just" a two year degree, but it's one more step (almost) completed to building the career and the future that I hope to have. 

Speaking of that, I saw a post on facebook the other day that pretty much sums up my beliefs on food.  It's from Sean Flanagan, a health coach that has a healthy, moderated approach to wellness, which is very much what my philosophy boils down to.  He said, " No individual food 'MAKES you fat'  just like no individual purchase makes you go broke. It's all a matter of how you budget your calories with your choices."  As some of you may remember, when I started losing weight while waiting for Levi, and I started learning about calories and food choices and all of that stuff, I started to realize that I had previously (and unintentionally) subscribed to the cultural idea that there was somehow some moral implication in choosing certain foods at certain times.  Sean's use of the budget metaphor is EXACTLY what I started to see, and what I have previously used to describe to others how I was able to start seeing food.  When you use the knowledge of food and it's caloric value to simply help you understand it as math - or as a budget - you can remove the moral implications of "good food" or "bad food", and, hence, "good girl/guy" or "bad girl/guy" - and simply see food as fuel, some more "costly" than others.  If you want a piece of cake or some potato chips, for example, you can eat that food, knowing that it "costs" more calories than, say, blueberries or a hard boiled egg.  And you can choose how you want to balance your budget, as well - you can "save" calories up for that "food purchase" or you can "earn" yourself some extra "calorie dollars" by getting some exercise.  Just as learning how to budget money is an extremely empowering thing, learning to budget your calories can be an eye-opening, empowering experience that truly changes how you view yourself.  Add in moderate exercise, some good sleep, and other healthy life choices (money, relationships, and things like career), and you have a picture of the emphases of wellness that I hope to help others with in my career.  I'm really getting anxious to start working on my course work and, frankly, to start working, but I'm trying not to get ahead of myself and just enjoy the time I have now with my little ones at home, learning about them and myself, and essentially having myself and my family as my first clients.  (I AM, however, happy to talk to any friends privately who might want to ask questions about what I'm learning or the little I may know already.  If I don't know answers at this point, I'm always up for learning together!)

I should wrap things up now, but before I do, I just wanted to thank you all, again, for your prayers and good thoughts for my Gram.  She is doing very well at rehab and may even be able to go home next week.  My aunt reports that she is looking more and more like herself every day, for which I am so very thankful.