Entries from December 2008
December 22, 2008 · 1 Comment
What a great start to Chloe’s winter vacation! We all had a great time at our Festivus celebration and today all three of us have been in spirited moods. We rocked in the kitchen to Umbrella ella ella ella eh eh and a couple of other songs from Rihanna. Then the kids went and played for awhile and I danced and sang into a wooden spoon listening to The White Stripes, Weezer, Def Leppard, The Doors, Breaking Benjamin and one song by Third Eye Blind, “Semi-charmed Life,” which is still one of my favorite songs of all-time.
I wasn’t creating some gourmet vegan meal, but just cooking up my vegetables for the week: broccoli, brussell sprouts, onions, napa cabbage, tofu, carrots, red & green peppers, and cauliflower. Ainsley cut up the tofu with a butter knife and I allowed Chloe to chop the carrots but only until her fingers got about four inches from the end she was cutting. I still don’t know if that was a good idea, but she was pretty careful.
It’s not a fair picture that I haven’t been blogging about anything negative, like when I’m in a foul mood. It’s more fun to write about good moods, of course. My last bad mood was Saturday evening, when Jennifer came downstairs with an attitude looking for clean sheets. It’s difficult for me to ignore her foul moods, but I’ve decided to work on that, immediately. I can’t take it personal and can’t expect her to be all cheery all the time. I have to get past that and I think I can fairly quickly, because I’m already conscious of the problem.
The kids, of course, have their moods. Chloe was temporarily frustrated that Ainsley had the larger cutting board this morning. She kind of tossed the little, green, apple-shaped board down and I just stopped and said, nevermind, and acted like she wasn’t going to cut up carrots. She immediately stopped. What does that situation call for? Should I let her toss stuff down, be frustrated and ignore it? I don’t want to teach her to stifle her emotions, but at the same time, she needs to know that she doesn’t always get what she wants, get to go first, get the bigger half of the cookie, etc. Parenting is hard.
Categories: My Life · My daughters · happiness
Tagged: cooking, happiness, parenting, Vegan, weezer, white stripes
Last night we celebrated the 2nd annual “Festivus” for the rest of us. Being a Seinfeld-themed party, we served fusilli pasta, po
ppy seed salad dressing, hummus for double-dipping, a marble rye, and a big salad. We played a spirited game of Seinfeld Scene-it with Jennifer and I eventually beating two other teams.
After the game, we did the white elephant gift exchange. I ended up with the ugliest sweater in the history of the world. Jennifer received dryer lint, Chloe ended up with a toy scorpion that Ainsley had wrapped up and Ainsley got a Charades for children board game.
Finally, just like on the show we had “airing of greivances” where we went around the room and people were allowed to complain about the other people present. My neice, Sydney, complained that she didn’t get enough hugs from Ainsley. For the second year in a row, I complained about Jennifer’s penchant for staying naked for the following two to three hours after a shower. Chloe said that she fixed an omelet naked last week, though I wasn’t present for that scene and Jennifer denied it.
Categories: My Life · My daughters · happiness
Tagged: christmas, festivus, fusilli Jerry, scene-it, Seinfeld, white elephant
December 12, 2008 · 1 Comment
Are you a complainer? If so, do you want to stop?
One of the books I’m reading is “Happy For No Reason” by Marci Shimoff. In the first part of the book, she refers to “A Complaint Free World,” a non-profit organization promoting happiness by getting people to stop their annoying complaining. Hee Hee.
They have shipped almost six million purple bracelets inscribed with “Complaint Free World” from the basement of a church where the idea originated. The goal is to make it 21 consecutive days without complaining. When you catch yourself complaining, you switch the bracelet to the other wrist and start over.
I visited the website and that led me to an old Oprah segment where she talks to the minister who started it all. That led to a Fox News piece about it, which led to…on and on. I was so inspired that I ordered one for myself. But I’m starting right now, without a purple bracelet. Maybe I’ll have Chloe make me a purple bracelet.
This quote from Maya Angelou, which I read in two separate places today: Marci’s book and the purple bracelet website, has become one of my favorites.
If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude; don’t complain.
My wife likes to complain and I like to complain about her complaining. It seems that I don’t complain much until she starts in.
As I was typing, she came in my “office” and told me something and while she talked she was chewing on her finger nail. I said “You’re chewing on your fingernails. That’s gross.” In my mind, I switched my bracelet from my left hand to my right.
Categories: Progress
Tagged: complaint free world, happy for no reason, marci shimoff, Oprah
I think all that turkey I ate on Thanksgiving killed my motivation to write. Just kidding. It was funny, I was watching Ainsley, pretty much a vegetarian since birth, as my mother-in-law pulled the turkey from the oven. They were poking and prodding it to make sure it was done. Ainsley’s face was slack-jawed. She looked at me with this “What the heck?!” look and I gave her the “Yeah, I know” look and nod. Twice we did this and then she said something about the legs on the poor bird. My neice tried to persuade her to eat a piece and Ains threw a fit until it was removed from her plate. Chloe too…of course she was free to eat whatever she felt like, but she didn’t eat turkey.
Holosync Update
Strangely, this week I have been unable to say alert during the whole hour of listening to the “Dive” and “Immersion” soundtracks. That’s completely normal though in the first few months. In fact, one factor in determining your readiness to move on to the next level is being able to stay awake for the entire hour. This usually happens at around 4 months. I’m between month 1 and 2.
One thing I notice improving is my awareness. In the past, if one or both of the girls would do something ultra-obnoxious, I would become annoyed. Now, as I become annoyed, I almost automatically SEE myself becoming annoyed. Sort of like my internal voice is pointing out that I’m becoming annoyed.
“Watch it Mike, you’re getting annoyed. Is it really worth the stress? Don’t forget, they’re just kids. They’re supposed to be obnoxious.”
I’ve been reading so much about mindfullness that I would be remiss to lavish all the praise on Holosync, but I have no doubt that this program is worth getting up at 5:30 for 7 days a week. (Actually, I did skip one day–the day after Thanksgiving, refered to around here as “Buy Nothing Day”)
Categories: Animals · Meditation · My Life · My daughters · happiness
Tagged: Bill Harris, centerpointe, Holosync, turkey, Vegan
