Playing with A Hammer and Nails I grew up playing with tools. I realize that isn't exactly a common past-time for young children. It was great for me, though. There were a lot of construction projects everywhere I turned at my home in Louisiana. To this day, I love watching the construction process, probably
License Plate BBD We use to have an old Chevy Suburban. It's license plate started with the letters BBD. One day, in our driveway, we were looking at it and trying to give words to the letters. We settled on "Big Bad Dad". My dad liked that idea, but
Love is A Garage Clicker I've never been one for grand romantic gestures. I tried to do the traditional romance that they show in movies, but that really isn't my jam. I don't like to go on big vacations, because that's too exhausting. I don't
Observer I think I'm at the point in my life where I observe people from a distance more than I get caught in their drama. I remember 19 years ago, and I was first in college. I had the charming notion of taking my books to the coffee shop
The Need After my youngest child turned 4, there was a lull in the intensity of parenting. It lasted about three years. I don't know....maybe I'm talking out of my butt here... because as I thought back, it really didn't ever seem like a break.
Calcaneus The calcaneus is the bone in our heal. I was introduced to it in my 200 hour yoga teacher training class. My mentor said that, as a general rule of thumb, when correcting asana stances, you start with fixing the feet and that would likely address the other issues in
Reducing Inflammation "Inflammation" seems to be a common word that's used to explain pain in the body. I think "arthritis" used to be the go-to word that doctors used when they couldn't figure out what was happening with a person. I've been
Energy and Vitality Vitality is a lively quality that gives people the ability to flourish. Energy is the quality that gives people the ability to do work. I never stopped to think about the difference between energy and vitality until I started doing IV vitamin drips. I've always recognized energy as
Protecting my Energy I am very protective of my energy around other people. I don't always know how to protect it from them, though. That's one of the reasons I practice yoga. It makes me aware of energetic shifts. It was very difficult for me to raise children and
Nostrils Apparently, the right nostril constricts when your nervous system needs to calm down. I always wondered why my right nostril would close off at night when I was trying to fall asleep. I either had to sleep on my left side, use Vick's Sinex Severe every day, and
Sleeping If you don't deal with your demons while you are awake, you'll have to deal with them when you are asleep. That's what I think, anyway. I've had this conversation with different people over the years. They say that medications which are
Aidan's Adventures I'm proud of all the adventures my son did this summer. He's becoming a capable young man. This summer he harvested and ate his first hog that he shot, he went to the Civil Air Patrol Encampment, he fished, flew in a C-130, and raised chickens.
Food Stamps The first time that I experienced using food stamps was when we moved to New Mexico, in 2021. During that year, each student at our children's schools were given $400.00 in food stamps. I was just reading a book where a character was making fun of another
That's Anxiety That's anxiety. That's anxiety. That's anxiety. Yep; that's anxiety, too. I have severe anxiety, and it is a constantly changing thing. As soon as I think I've figured out what anxiety is, and manage my responses to that trigger, it
Vindictiveness I talk about being a better and healthier version of myself often. However, the kind and calm-of-heart person that I mostly am today was born from a lot of vindictiveness and hardheadedness. It's a daily struggle for me to let go of a grudge and to let go
Detoxing I am just convinced that detoxing (healthily) is the way to go for helping reach goal weights. I've tried all sorts of eating for becoming a healthier person over the past 11 years. I've been the most delighted with the delicious foods that are detoxifying. Detoxing
Derrier Smiles During one of my yoga trainings, my teacher made a reference to butt cheeks looking as though they were smiling. I grew up with a lot of weird sayings (like calling someone "buzzard breath") but that was a new one for me. I had seen my derrier plenty
Digestive Tract I was thinking about weight loss and the things that I have done which helped me to shed toxic fat off my body. It's a bit overwhelming to just say to myself, "I'm going to lose weight." Targeted focus has been helping me over
Made It! It has been a whirlwind year for me. I made it to the end of my first year of teaching. It's difficult to explain what a teacher does, but it would be erroneous to assume that teachers just teach their content area. I'm glad that I
Baby Chickens My children have been all-about getting chickens for a long time. I've liked the idea of having farm-fresh eggs, but couldn't stand the idea of having more animals. My husband loved the idea of having chickens in our back yard because it would inspire him to
Pulling My Tongue Back I've been taking Alafair to a myofunctional therapist to help her breath and sleep better. Boy, have I learned a lot about the tongue and structure of the mouth! Through my yoga training, I knew the tongue was a very important muscle, and I thought I was activating
Homage to the Aging and Brave Thank you to those of you who are aging, brave, funny, and healthy. Thank you to those of you who have learned to be a wellspring of joy. I grew up with fear of living. I looked around and saw sick people everyone. I felt the bitterness within them. I
Autism The more I learn about autism, the more I think that everyone is on the spectrum. It's got its challenges--that's for sure. With awareness, though, many of these symptoms can be worked with and used to help enhance the unique qualities of people. As I learn
May I Touch? "May I touch?" is a question the my yoga mentor taught me to ask my students every single time I felt like I needed to physically manipulate their bodies to better access a pose. She drilled that into me. This is a great question to ask when being
I Never Thought I Would Have A Yoga Room I never thought I would have an entire yoga room in my house. Yet, here I am with a neat little yoga room. It had humble origins--just a chair, wood pallets, and a yoga mat. A few elastic exercise bands hung from random places. Over the past two years, it
