• It’s All About the Wording. How We Can Change Our Parenting Strategy.

      I had a thought the other day. In our front hall is a mess of coats and shoes and at the end of this controlled chaos is a spot for the kid’s backpacks. Just behind that is a lovely wall adorned with a mirror, three lovely art prints and hooks for our favourite scarves.  So why does it make my kids cringe? Because, silly me, I have decided to put the kid’s chore charts there as well, just beside the scarves and under the art prints. In big BOLD letters it yells at them CHORE CHART. The chores they…

  • I Still Hate Mornings But Haven’t Stopped Gaining Strength.

    It is Friday and time to reflect on my past week. I wanted to share my fitness story with you, but I am busy sorting through that history and pictures, as I know a visual is always nice, and I haven’t finished going through all of it yet. I will do a history post next week; from my skinny childhood to the tanking of my metabolism, to my anorexia, to my binge eating, to being healthy, back to unhealthy, and my current life-is-a-journey-strategy. It’s been an exhausting ride. I would like you to have a peek of it though so…

  • Stop Overthinking Food.

    The title is a message to myself. I have decided that half of my issues are over-thinking food. Panicking about whether I am eating right is tying my stomach up in knots, making it impossible to digest. Could I eat more fermented foods? Sure. Could I cut out alcohol completely, instead of the 3-5 glasses a month I consume? Sure. Or could I maybe, just maybe, do it all in moderation and breathe easier? Hells yeah. When we were in a Cuban resort for a week (I know, I know, shut up about it already! Well, I can’t. It was…

  • Thoughts

    Hello All.   As promised I am going to blog more often. Yesterday my brain wouldn’t shut off with ideas and I realized my creative spirit is awakening from hibernation! Hurray. I don’t usually use Tarot Cards as more than a game, but before our Cuba trip, I was reorganizing and I dropped the cards as I moved them over. “As if I have time for this!” my mind shouted, as I played 52 (+) pick-up and glanced over at the halfway packed suitcases.  When I picked up one card it was like an electric jolt to the brain and…

  • I Went All the Way to Cuba to Gain Confidence in my Parenting.

    My little family of four just went to Cuba for a friend’s wedding. It was magical. The midnight flight there wasn’t magical, but totally worth it to end up in paradise.  My kids were tired but also enthralled by the sight of the blue water and the white sand. None of us had seen such a perfect landscape in our entire lives and I felt like a billionaire being able to show my kids this so early in their lives- endless memories being made for them. Isabella and Hunter couldn’t wait to get down to the water so they went…

  • Be A Rebel.

    Be a Rebel. Be a positive thinker. I was standing with a bunch of moms once. I didn’t really know any of them. It was one of those weird city things where you end up in a group of random people and you eavesdrop on their conversation. They didn’t know each other that well either. Chit–chat ensued and they started to bond the only way they knew how. First, they bonded over their complaint about how hard parenting is, which I don’t wholly disagree with. Then they talked about how the weather was terrible, how they don’t get enough sleep,…

  • Waking Up Before the Sun

    Awhile ago  I reported I would try to wake up before my kids for one full week and get a half hour workout done. It was really hard but… SUCCESS! Every morning was a struggle and some mornings I got out of bed much slower than others, but I found the time I gained in the evenings priceless. I only took Friday off. I took Friday off because I felt extraordinarily run-down and decided to listen to my body. The flu and a nasty cold is going around here, so I decided to let my body rest for a day…

  • February is “Eat all the Carbs” Month, Right?

    What is it about February that makes me want to eat only chocolate and bread, pasta and crackers? I crave carbs like crazy, along with sweets. I have started to log my food every day, and as soon as February hit I ate 6 snacks a day instead of 3. Why?? I didn’t even realize I was doing it until I had to sit down every night and write it all in. I think it is that storing up for the cold, dreary month ahead vibe that hibernating animals get. Thank goodness gluten free bread is expensive and not as…

  • Mental Fitness

    I recognize this tight, dry, squeezing feeling in my chest. I recognize this smell of sweat and tightened brow. I recognize this headache. It’s you, Stress. You are not welcome back. You come for the oddest reasons and you out-stay your welcome. There are many reasons for you, most of them my own fault. You see, I get stressed for no reason during February when it is gray and I get a touch of seasonal depression that no amount of busy work can squash. I also get stressed when I take on too much. Which I do- always. I even…

  • Struggles and Goals.

    This year, 2016, seems like it has had a strong start. There have been sudden deaths (both celebrities(David Bowie was hard to hear about), and the elderly in my friend’s families, which was heartbreaking), but there has also been a lot of rebirth and strength—and even a few exciting actual births (twins!). I feel as if I was in a cocoon in 2015 and this will be my butterfly year. Corny metaphor, I know. But I really do feel like I am starting to get to the point where I am not afraid to blossom. More and more every day,…