“You can’t dye hair blonde, you bleach it.” (15 year old)

Isn’t it amazing the things you know at fifteen? Instagram – check, fad diets – check, manipulating the system – check; natural consequences – not so much.

This overhear reminded me of so many years ago when I was fifteen and still naïve about what really mattered in life. Long, blonde hair seemed incredibly important; as did (don’t laugh at the Brady Bunch context) a face without freckles. And I discovered great news; One household kitchen item could cure both apparently. Sitting in the sun with lemon juice on your face and hair was supposed to do the trick.

Ri-i-ight. Who in their right mind would ever think something like that was a good idea? Apparently me, and I ended up with a sunburnt, dried out, face and brittle, straw-like, hair.

Now I have come to love my freckles (although who knew that they would start to expand from those cute little dots they were back in high school to continent sized landmarks) and am amazed and grateful that my natural, strawberry-blonde hair hides the grey.

Still, while I have learned to accept myself in a way I never dreamed of in high-school, lately it seems like every dinner conversation at our house includes a dialogue with my husband over our need to lose some weight. And by lately here, I actually mean like for the last two years. So, we finally decided to re-visit Jenny Craig and become serious about it.

Funny, though, that the response I get most often upon telling friends that I am on the program is – “But you look fine. I don’t think you need to lose any weight.”

And, perhaps that is true… maybe I do look okay. But I’d like to pause here and re-visit some recent blog / social media posts.

1. Food has been featured in many (and if you haven’t found my Molto Mayhem blog with recipes from the novel
I am working on you may not realize this.)

2. I have been whinging a lot about the training I am doing for learning to kick a field goal (again, refer to my Field Goal blog)

3. The symptoms of menopause have been discussed in great length here over a period of time.

So, while I may not look like I need to drop some weight, the truth is, my body is telling me I do… and but
quick!

As well, though this is something else a fifteen year old might know but never say out loud, fortunately my daughter is only 9 and she had no qualms about it. She understood right away when my husband and I told her we were on a strict diet. “So then you’ll be able to wear that pink dress again?”

Yes.... it is all about fitting into my clothes comfortably and walking the hills around our house without wheezing.

She also went on to say, “Okay. So then if you and Dad are on a diet, does that mean I get to have the extra desserts every night?”

Big sigh….. “Sadly yes! Yes it does.”

Have you been on a diet you liked (or hated), or had a dress you really wanted to wear again from years earlier? I'd love to hear how you handled it and what people said if you told them. (I'd also love to know what crazy stuff you did at 15 if that is easier to talk about:>) Leave me a comment and share the journey.

Cheers,
Deanne

“Wow, that’s a lot of Nike Stores.” Said while looking at a map of the Nike World HQ
Campus.

Today I had my first training session with Alex Molden, a previous college and NFL player who is helping me get physically ready to kick a field goal. You can find more about my project on my UNTANGLING THE KNOT – field goal vlog.


The topic of this overhear is about seeing the world the way children see it. My overhear was said by my daughter whose frame of reference for Nike is strictly consumer oriented. I am sure, if she saw the campus for Costco or Hasbro she would have the same reaction.

It amazes me that the brain is all about connections… and that this is what learning does for us. She understands that people work, but hasn’t yet made the connection that a World Headquarter is made up of people creating
the business. Especially for her, work refers to something that her dad does mostly from home or I do, well, mostly at Starbucks.

Check out the website, Brain Connection, which has a plethora of information on how the brain works, and is much better qualified to explain it than me. One article they posted recently follows the day in the life of a child, exploring how mentally complex living is. Reading this I was struck by how much we take for granted in performing even simple tasks. And, while we spend a great deal of time conditioning our body, once we are out of school we stop focusing on conditioning our brain.

So, here are a couple of brain teasers (courtesy of Brain Connection) to work those brain muscles. Once you have completed them be sure to stretch and relax your brain with meditation… or a nice long nap.

Platyhop
The flower turns white and makes sound. Click on the flowers in the same order they light up to tell Platy where to hop. If you do it right, all the flowers will turn green while Platy hops.

Rapid Naming
How fast can you name an object, a color, a letter, or a number? Get your hand on the mouse, and get ready to start naming!

Word Wanderer
Travel the road less taken by spelling your path to mystical castles and treasures in the sky. Become Jack the word slayer.

Dress the Doggie
Help Soupy get dressed! Soupy the Dog tells you what color to paint his clothes. If you color them correctly, you can select more clothes

Good Luck!

“Can someone please help me?”

In the distance a call rang out, someone had not attacked the zipline and were paying the price by hanging in the middle, waiting for a guide to come pull them to the platform. Ha! Silly person. All you had to do was make sure to give a good push and anyone could make it to the other side.

Less than two minutes later I sat, 10 feet away from the platform, waiting for my own guide to come help me. As they say, pride goweth before a fall, but fortunately it was only my ego that was damaged. The treetop course was more challenging than I had assumed, and over the next two hours I would have plenty more opportunities to look silly, struggle to reach my goal, and find new depths of humility. I would also laugh more than I had in a long time, help my friends and allow myself to be helped, watch our kids tackle amazing heights and be surrounded by the beauty that is Tahoe.

The very best overhear of all, after we had finished our time and were getting ready to leave, was when the littlest kid in our group turned to her mom and said, “What are we doing tomorrow? Can we come back and do it again.”

I am pretty sure we all felt the same way.

“They carry a big pipe.”

I admit I am still trying to figure out exactly how a pipe would help climbers pee when they were up on the side of a mountain. The individuals were talking about the risks of belaying, and the story of being below flying, um, garbage came up.

Every sport has its risks. Baseball has hurt elbows. Soccer has hurt knees. Swimming, well, okay, I’m not sure you hurt anything by swimming. But football has hurt everything. Apparently climbing has falling or being hit by falling stuff.
(*picture courtesy of National Geaograhic)

I don’t see myself ever doing mountaineering (a fancy word for saying you are climbing a rock outside). However, I do see myself possibly belaying my daughter as she mountaineers. So, I suppose I should get to know the equipment she will need. Personally, I would want a really big, soft, squishy, mat underneath her. Sadly though I don’t think I would be able to haul it around Yosemite and get it to the base of El Capitan.

Certainly there are more dangerous sports she could have chosen. Take for example, doing gymnastics on the back of a moving horse. Oh yes, that’s right, she does do that. It’s called vaulting and is actually a competitive sport. With her first competition coming up in May, I will get a chance to practice my mat chasing skills. Again, it is pretty
unlikely the judges will want me running behind the horse dragging a big red mat.

I’m not sure how we got here in terms of her activities. Two years ago we were doing gymnastics (okay, a bit dangerous with the high beam and all) and swimming. Still, as I watch my otherwise anxiety prone daughter scale a 40 foot climbing wall, or pull herself up onto the back of an enormous, moving equine I am struck by the sense of empowerment and freedom she must feel.

And although I hope it is years away, I can still imagine her real sense of freedom when her only toilet is the huge pipe hanging below her. 

“I like to keep my washboard abs covered…. I don’t want to be that guy.”

Don’t hide them on our behalf, I say; although, Starbucks might frown upon a bare barista. (points for alliteration.) 
 
‘Tis the season to begin showing off those beach bodies, should you have them, and laying claim to the hard work of many gray days. For my part most of my body will still be as covered up as possible. Not only am I as pale as a beluga whale… I also feel like my body matches one right now. 
 
Around me, though, everyone seems to be motivated to get into shape. I even caught my dog doing sit-ups the other day… or maybe she was getting ready to puke, it is difficult to tell with her. I however feel I am doing well if I take the parking spot on the far side from Starbucks. That extra .0002 mile might make a difference.

If life is about balance, than mine is sadly out of whack right now. Email seems to have taken over the majority of my day. Even with a fantastic board, being President of my writing organization has been a bit more work than I bargained for. I’m not complaining… I have enjoyed getting to know the members and the organization as a whole better. Also, as I mentioned I get to work with an excellent group of people who are doing amazing things (check  out our writing contest on our revised website: http://rosecityromancewriters.com/contest-home/ for a great example of this).

When I am not emailing about writer stuff, my communication seems to revolve around end of the year school activities; playdates, parties, and getting things in order for the summer vacation period.  Yesterday at least I got to run around at the park while helping with the school’s field day…something that may have cut a few calories anyway.

I appear to have a limited supply of motivation… and right now it is targeted in these two basic areas, career and parenting. The problem is, from past experience I know that I become miserable when the rest of my life is not
in balance. The physical, mental, social and spiritual sides of me all need to be in some sort of alignment for me to be happy.  

But even if I start now I know I won’t have washboard abs by summer. So I’ll stay in my full-on one piece while I swim my laps in the pool this summer. And I’m good with that as long as I can enjoy the view of everyone else’s hard work while I make up for my lazy spring.