Wednesday, October 03, 2007

My Time Out

My yoga time out yesterday really helped me get my head clearer. I had already begun clearing out my computer room/office to make it my personal yoga space as well. Moving the coffee table out of the way so I can spread my mat out in the living room has gotten a little tedious for me. Has anyone else ever noticed how their dog can be sleeping peacefully on the other end of the house but as soon as you get into downward dog or triangle they need love and attention immediately???

Having a dedicated space also makes it easier when I'm doing yoga with Kyle. Having a door to shut out the distractions of the world really helps him focus. Of course at the moment, there's no door on the room in question. There had been one but when the boys' bedroom door fell apart a few weeks ago, I moved my door onto their hinges.

If you're wondering how a bedroom door can break, you obviously don't have two sons. Sons can deconstruct ANYTHING!! The door literally fell apart (the support pieces from the inside fell out the bottom leaving two flimsy pieces of wood that periodically jammed shut) from little boys hanging on the doorknob and riding it as the door opened and closed. The demise of the door was further helped along by a little temper fit or two slamming it shut.

So getting a new door is now on my to do list. For anyone who was inspired to try doing yoga with their kids after my posts about Yoga for the Special Child but has become frustrated with the process, let me suggest mini yoga sessions. Kyle has been resistant to doing yoga since school started, really resistant. You can't do yoga with a screaming child, it defeats the purpose of it.

Instead, I've begun doing 10 minutes of yoga with him before school each day. I believe Sonia Sumar says in her book Yoga for the Special Child that a little yoga everyday is better than a lot of yoga once in a while. Sticking to 10 minutes means 1 quick round of chanting, and basically 1 movement for each directiont he body can go in (forward, backward, sideways and twisting) and the fastest relaxation you ever imagined. As he becomes less resistant, I'll begin increasing the time we spend.

Tonight is my knitting class and I've got 23 rows to finish! If only I'd remembered to grab my knitting bag when I took my son to swimming lessons yesterday. Actually its not that big of a deal at all. I discovered that taking a sweater apart is actually a lot more time consuming than you'd think. I haven't unraveled the whole sweater yet, only enough to make this project.

To finish the purse you need to blanket stitch the edge. Here's a more visual explanation of blanket stitching.

If felting really results in such a durable product, I might use the rest of the sweater to make a larger tote bag.

I made a huge batch of vegetable soup yesterday to use up the veggies in the fridge. I've frozen it all in anticipation of the cold winter ahead. Yesterday, I went through my cookbooks in search of a turnip recipe that tickled my fancy. In the past, I've roasted them with beets which is very nice but I was looking for something different. There was a turnip puff recipe that intrigued me. Since most of the recipes I found called for mashed turnips, I think I'll probably peel, cook and mash all the ones I have, especially since they're taking up two drawers in my fridge.

2 comments:

Ruthie said...

Katie ~

How cool to have your own yoga space. Luckily we have no coffee table and a lot of room downstairs and a dog who is reluctant to go anywhere but the bedroom. :-) I have noticed that purring cats jumping into your lap can ruin your meditation, though.

A felting suggestion: I've never felted, but I did see a pattern in a book at the yarn shop called Last Minute Knitted Gifts or something that made a felted yoga mat bag. You might try to check it out. It rocked. :-)

Katie said...

I just put Last Minute Knitted Gifts on hold at the library. I can't wait for it to come in.

BTW, purring cats jumping into your lap can ruin your knitting too!