Animal

Teenage Queen has decided she wants to be a vegetarian. This now means that both  my children have chosen,  of their own accord, a meat free lifestyle. It also means that my husband is the only full time carnivore in our family. I should be doing a happy dance about this, but the flip side is I have now become a short order cook. No one wants the same thing every night for dinner, so it is frustrating.
However, this too shall pass and I hope to get everyone on board with dinners, especially with school starting next week.
Regular blog readers will know that I have been an avid yogi for 25 years plus, which means I was a little bit older than the teen queen when I started praticing. I think that it has allowed me to be more focused, more disciplined. It also has allowed me to be more aware. Little Man started his practice with a bath towel on the floor when he was 4, watching the Good Night Show on Sprout. Teenage Queen isn't quite sure about the whole yoga thing yet. There is a lot of anger there still, and she isn't really able to process the rage.
Its horrible the long and winding road that brought you to our door (thank you Lennon/McCartney) but you are here now, I keep reassuring her.
In the meantime, I have my own issues that I need to process. I have things to deal with from my own past, most notably food issues unresolved, that need to be resolved sooner than later.
Practicing yoga-and in turn, wanting to eat better for myself and the environment-has led me to this point in my life where I really like good for me food. If you must know, I am a latte swilling, Coach bag wearing, NPR listening, Pomegranate Market (our local equivilent to Whole Foods, check them out here) shopping, East Bank Yoga dork. I love shopping downtown, kayaking and hiking. I belly dance, kick box and run. I want my kids to love the same things. I am a total girlie girl, and I love wearing nice clothes and make up and nail polish. I love getting my hair done.
The issue is when that side of me stops. I stop being me and once again, try to be someone else, which I truly am not good at. I will not, and truly could not, be someone else. I don't expect that of either one of my kids.
So, now its back to the food issues and setting a good example. I really am tired of not being healthy and looking good now. I am (gasp) 41 now, and if I am not healthy then everything else falls apart. I know that I need to exercise daily. I need that cardio and yoga and weights. I need to eat healthy. I also need to avoid people who don't support that in my life. A few months ago, I was down to the smallest I have been in years.
I was about 20 pounds from my goal weight in May. I needed to firm up muscles and all, but I was THERE. Then, I just stopped one day and started eating junk again. I stopped really exercising, and the weight came back.
So, now I need to work doubly hard to get back to where I was PRE OP.
I do know I can tame this animal.