New couch and other musings

While looking at the calendar it occurred to me that it has been a long time since I have posted anything. The winter has been good to us with snow to play in and ice to skate on. The big news is that, after many years, we finally decided to replace our more than 30-year-old couch. That old couch held many memories and has been in my family since I was less than 5 years old, but the padding was literally pulverized and the upholstery was so old we couldn’t sew it together anymore, so we had to let it go.  We bought a lovely chocolate colored replacement (not easily stained) and we are enjoying it.

                                         Our new couch

Life remains just on the edge of “too busy”, but I think we are getting better at noticing when we fall off the edge and are correcting the problem before too much exhaustion or grumpiness sets in.  I am proud of this progress, and it is important when one is working a mentally challenging full-time job, sharing the organizing and cooking and unending cleaning involved in raising two kids, and still doing collaborative data analysis and writing in the evenings. All of these aspects of my life are important to me, and balancing it all has become an exercise in mindfulness.

As I work, especially at night, I ask myself “How are you feeling?” “Are you resorting to unhealthy habits to keep yourself awake (e.g. snacking, coffee), or are you cruising along with enough fuel in the energy tank?” I try my best to stop when there is not enough fuel in the tank.

Another trick I use is to pause frequently and take note of all the times when I am literally happily humming along in whatever I am doing, be it editing and writing at work, running around with the kids, or analyzing or writing something at home. It helps me to remember that most of the time I am very happy in my life.

The kids continue to grow. The “little one” officially moved into a big boy bed (no more baby) and he has retained the ability to use his puppy dog eyes to get me to do whatever he wants. The “big one” asks and answers questions, thinks things through aloud, and even attempts humor. Often his attempts at a joke are more amusing than the punch line, but I love that he is trying. He is also getting very good at recognizing sarcasm. I don’t want anyone to think that I shower my kids with sarcasm, but it is one of my main methods of humor. Therefore, it makes me proud when he says “Mommy that was sarcasm, right?” and I can answer, “You got it!”

Life rolls along, we grow a litter older every day, and a little wiser too I hope.