F YEAH 31. #It'sMyBirthdayAndThisIsAllAboutME!

I have been swimming laps 3 days a week, plus jumping in the pool for a deep water aerobics class every Saturday morning. I have been running or walking the dog on the off days when I feel like pushing myself. (But I don't beat myself up if I don't!) Ice cream started making me feel like poo, and that's been a huge blessing. My sugar intake has been cut in half. I've been focusing on eating more protein and fresh veggies. I feel friggin' fantastic. And it's not just because I've been moving my body and eating well.

I've been going to bed on time and waking up early. I've been brushing my teeth after lunch! My mouth does this little happy dance every day. Last year, I committed to getting my hair cut at the barber, instead of hobjobbing it myself. I purge my wardrobe regularly, only keeping clothes that fit nicely, aren't grungy, and reflect how I see myself, as opposed to just wearing any old thing. I look at fashion blogs so that I can get ideas about how to dress to flatter my body and what to wear to make me feel like I'm part of society!

Of course, I can't forget to mention that I've been going to therapy regularly for two years now.

I am beyond proud to say that I really like to see my reflection in the mirror. To see the results of dedicating the time to take care of my "temple" is a direct physical manifestation of the love that has and is blossoming for myself, something that I've never really thought to be too important.


Taking better care of myself has helped me take better care of the loved ones around me, not to mention the house and yard and school and everything else. It's all connected, I've got more energy, better time management, and a better attitude.

Self-care for the win! Here's to another trip around the sun :) Bring it!

My Blog Updates Aren't the Only Thing Overdue!

Can you imagine that this face could give us so much guff?

Wait. Yeah. I can. My mom says that it's payback. I'd like to argue that point with her but I'm afraid that by doing so I will be proving myself wrong.

So, back to my reason for this post, which honestly is total procrastination.

I need to write up W's IHIP. I needed to do that about 3 weeks ago actually. So now I have a little bit of time and I decided to post instead. Priorities, right? *groan*

To be fair, I've been putting off the IHIP because I didn't want to write it for no good reason. You see, we threatened to put her in public school. She was being so obstinate and contrary that it was harming the relationship between her and I to keep persuading (ok and berating) her to do work.

But guess what!?!

We gave her 2 weeks to work on her attitude and she has! She's been fantastic! I am so impressed at the hard work that she is putting in. It is not easy for W to dive into things that challenge her, but the threat of public school is apparently enough motivation. W says she doesn't want to sit inside a room all day and lose a good deal of her playtime. I don't blame her.

And because each person brings their own part to the relationship, J and I also gave ourselves 2 weeks to work on our own attitudes. We recognized that we were not doing ourselves any favors with our passive and somewhat ill-prepared approach to the task. Personally, I had such grand ideas about what school should look that I easily overwhelmed myself. So we resolved to make school a priority, to prepare more ahead of time while also not holding ourselves to too high standards, and to be firm about what tasks needed to be done and when. (That last one really just means that we promised good things at the end of certain homeschool tasks... you know, incentives.)

It's such a relief that we busted through this wall, as none of us really need another radical change in our lives for a while. I'm looking forward to settling down and wallowing in routine and normalcy (whatever that means...)

So, I guess to continue keeping up my end of the deal I should go start writing.

It's Time.

Wow. Two years. I'm sorry.

My loyal followers notwithstanding, I'm incredibly apologetic towards myself. This blog was really important to me and I lost it. I lost this blog in the process of losing myself.

The good news is that I've started finding myself again and now I've found this again, too.

I don't know how to quite explain the absence, especially since I was in the middle of putting down roots, quite literally, as of my last posting. And obviously, the answer is both too involved and too intimate to be shared in this setting.

tl;dr (all the cool kids are doing tl;dr these days)
we fell in love. we moved. MISTAKES WERE MADE. we moved. we regrouped. we weighed our options. we moved again.

That's right, that was 3 moves since June 2013. I won't lie and say that I'm not exhausted.

But now, we're back at homebase, which is comforting. We took the time to paint and fix up a lot of the things that needed fixing to make use feel more at home. Maybe I'll do a walk through with you. I'm proud of what we've done. Of course, we've got a lot more work to do.

The most overwhelming perhaps is the yard. The gardens here have been having a field day without Mama around to make them mind.

But that sort of heavywork is quite cathartic really. 

We are cleaning up the mess we so desperately tried to escape from.

It feels like a very "in your 30's" thing to do, and I can't describe the relief that comes along with feeling like I've finally pointed my compass towards adulthood.

For that, and for all of the other lessons in between, I am very grateful.