The Beginning of the Climb

The first day of my slump climb is going alright. I am still sick, so that's working against me, but I had a productive workday and it's after 5 p.m. and I'm not yet wearing my pajamas, so that seems positive.

READ

I haven't yet started reading "Be Different," but I plan to start this weekend, which is good because it's been taking me a ridiculous amount of time to get through books lately. Unfortunately, I think I'm going to have to put my reading of "Spoon Fed" on hold for the moment because I simply don't make enough time to read. (But so far I really, really like "Spoon Fed.") What I need is a long plane trip so that I can catch up on my reading...somehow travel did not make it into the slump climbing plan.

WRITE

Interesting news on the writing front. I awoke this morning to an invitation to write a story for a local arts publication! I mean, it was an invitation from a friend, not some crazy random coincidence or anything, but still, it supports my theory that you have to tell the universe when you want things...although technically I don't know that I knew I wanted to freelance again, but when I got the invitation it made me happy, so I guess I did.

EXERCISE

No change on the exercise front. But I've mentioned that I'm sick, right? Resolutions aside, exercise cannot resume until it no longer feels like a bear is sitting on my chest. (maybe it's more of a medium-sized dog, I don't know)

EAT

As we speak, I am cooking a wholesome dinner for my children and me! Baked chicken with green beans and potatoes! Even though I was very, very tempted just to go to McDonalds, I am proud to say that not a single component of this meal came out of a can or box...or even the freezer. Yay me!

I could skip the part about the only other thing I've ingested today being a caramel macchiato, but if I don't accurately portray the depths of my issues, how can we accurately measure my success in the end? So yeah, not a banner day of eating, but I'm finishing strong.

I know what you're asking yourself: Will every post this month be as thrilling as this one?

I promise not to use the Read/Write/Exercise/Eat template every day, but I think it will be a good way to keep me on track and also help me out on days when I have nothing to say.

And my closing thought for today: I want to wish all of you a happy beginning of Autism Awareness Month. Please do your part in helping to spread accurate information about this disorder. You can learn more at www.autismspeaks.org.

The Climb

I'm on a slope. A valley. I'm settled in the bottom of it, waiting for the inspiration to climb out. Nothing serious - just an end-of-winter/birthday-approaching/children-getting-older slump. (Plus I picked up a virus of some sort at the waterpark, which is just too gross to think about.)

But April is the month I get out of it. I will read, write, exercise, and eat my way out of it.

As you might recall, April happens to be Autism Awareness Month, so I'm going to read John Elder Robison's new book "Be Different." If you haven't yet read his first book, "Look Me in the Eye," please run out and get it today - it's a good story regardless of whether you're affected by autism, but it's a great story if you're trying to understand how the Aspergian/high-functioning autistic brain works.

As for writing, this seems to be the only place I do any writing that isn't related to a corporate strategy, so I'm committing to blogging every day for the month of April. This is a little bit daunting given my track record of posting once a week, but I'm sure I can come up with something to say. I can't promise it will be super interesting, but you know, it'll be therapeutic.

Exercise...I fell off the exercise train again. It was easy and I honestly haven't missed the stress of trying to fit it into my day. But, I know I need to do it and I'm still paying for it every month, so get back on that train I must. I have to make it to class twice a week for the month of April. It should really be three times a week, but I'm being realistic...twice a week.

The eating part is where I want to say I'm going to lift my mood by indulging in all the chocolate and ice cream I want, but unfortunately, that's not really how it works, right? I'm not swearing off those things, mind you, but I'm trying to eat more fruit and vegetables. Less processed crap, more fresh stuff for all of us. Hallelujah.

So that's the plan. In 30 days, I will climb the hill...which is really just a tiny mountain, and as the wise Miley Cyrus says, ain't about what's waiting on the other side...it's the climb.

Hittin' the Books

I appreciate all the notes of concern and/or encouragement re: my last post -- you guys are sweet and say all the right things. Thank you.

Onto my current indulgence: books. (and Leinenkugel's Summer Shandy, but maybe that's for another blog...) Now that my boys are almost FIVE (how did this happen?), I sometimes actually have time to read again. And not just children's books and the occasional magazine article. Sometimes I find myself reading entire chapters of books before I hear my boys fighting over whose turn it is to do whatever. It's amazing.

So I thought I'd share two book recommendations:

I just finished reading "Mamarama: A Memoir of Sex, Kids and Rock 'n' Roll" by Evelyn McDonnell. She's a riot grrl rock critic turned mama in Miami. I actually found much of the book difficult to get through partially because of her ego and partially because of mine...as in, I wish I could say I had been the music editor at the Village Voice and that I'd hung out with Throwing Muses back in the day. Still, it's a decent momoir (is that what they call those?) in the end.

The thing I hadn't expected is that she actually married a guy with two kids, thus becoming a stepmom to teenagers -- difficult teenagers, too. She doesn't spend a ton of the book on that particular subject, but I still found her perspective interesting - especially this paragraph, in which she's talking about one of her stepdaughters when she was failing out of high school:

"I wish I could have reached her when she was in that dark place. I wish I hadn't said and done things that probably deepened the chasm between us. I think there are some things a parent can't fix; all you can do is stay on the ride and hope you come through the tunnel and out the other side." Let's all breathe a little sigh of relief for that.

I am now reading Anthony Bourdain's "Kitchen Confidential." I know it's old, but I just finally got around to it after Tivoing his show forever. I LOVE it! I don't want to do anything but read it! In fact, I'm going to end this blog soon so that I can go back to reading it. It's great.

And thus concludes Reading Time with the mama/reality-TV-addict/wanna-be-chef. Who knows what I might read next?