Food and Mood

Cross posted in Foodiscovery

I've known for awhile that I'm lactose intolerant but continued to eat dairy anyway. A few days ago I finally decided to forbid myself completely from eating dairy because I knew it was wreaking havoc with my digestive system.

An added benefit of going dairy-free is that, after just a few days, I noticed that I was in a better mood today than I have been lately. I'd originally attributed my feeling down to things like the shortening days and rainy weather, but the improvement in my mood was unmistakable. Just to be sure, I googled "dairy mood" and found this article from About.com.

Rena's closet

I finally cleared out the stuff on the floor of Rena's closet and vacuumed it! :) I also finally pulled out her bed and vacuumed the area between her bed and the walls.

Green Hour

Cross posted in Environmental Tip of the Week

Wow, this is too good to pass up! Folks, let's get our kids to appreciate nature. A Green Hour is "time for unstructured play and interaction with the natural world." Rena's preschool teachers have been doing a great job encouraging her to walk around outside so that now I don't have to cart her by stroller the whole way where most people would take a car and totally miss out on experiencing nature. During the fall, Rena loves to stroll along on the sidewalk and pick up the colorful leaves from the trees. It's unstructured because she just spontaneously goes after particular leaves. I haven't been taking her out daily since the weather has been cold, but I should. I found this website while doing research about "nature deficit disorder" for an upcoming article in Eco-Logica Magazine.

Got my bike trailer! :)

$50 and I got to know some cool people into "green" (he's in "green building finance, I think he said, and she expressed interest in my "green" jobs). And I got a ride home so I wouldn't have to deal with those Seattle hills a second time. How cool is that?!

Bike trailer...

...tomorrow! :)

Black Friday

I'm grateful that I didn't go shopping today! :)

Thanksgiving! :)

I love that there's a holiday dedicated to yayfulness! :)

Miracle #2

I thought I would have to use the busted stroller the entire way to school today but another kind man "just happened" to have an extra stroller on him....Goodbye broken stroller, hello new old stroller that works like a dream! :) I feel like God has really been smiling on us lately! :)

A wheel broke off of the stroller on the way home from Whole Foods today with a huge load of groceries. I'm incredibly grateful that we were just a block away from home. Thank you also to the nice man named Ben who saw that I was struggling and helped me take the stroller, Rena, and groceries the final block home.

First photo from preschool! :)

Goodnight....

...Hitting the sack before 9 pm. Score! :)

Teamwork! :)

I love working with Rena to "bless" (clean) the kitchen! :) I've been teaching her to sort items into garbage, recycling, and stuff to put away invarious places, and she's usually vary good with following directions! :)

TGIF

Shabbat Shalom! :)

Organic lip balm

Awesome.

Awesome Preschool Day! :)

While Rena attends preschool, I sit in a nearby coffee shop with hubby's laptop and use the free wifi there. A Facebook ad caught my eye today. It turned out to be a website that let's you self-publish a book and then sell it in their online bookstore! :) It's called Blurb.

Also, though I normally feel lonely having to eat lunch alone on Wednesdays, today my friend Elisheva was on Facebook when I was about to eat lunch, and we chatted while I ate so I wasn't lonely today at lunchtime! :) It was really special because she lives in Israel, which is I think a ten-hour time difference from Seattle.

Then, when I went to pick Rena up, she'd had such a good day that she didn't want to leave! She tried to get back into the classroom but cried when I wouldn't let her and told her it was time to go home.

Haha!

I was so excited yesterday about getting a blender that I completely forgot to mention that our washing machine was fixed yesterday. :)

We're all sick....

Yes, that's a good thing because I finally got to get a blender due to hubby requesting a green smoothie and pureed soup (and it's a long story why we didn't have a blender before).

ZZZZ.....

Rena conked out on our bed early this evening, and I think she's out for the whole night.

Treasure! :)

I found my measuring spoons that had randomly fallen somewhere I hadn't looked in months, until today. Yay! :)

Shabbat Shalom! :)

I'm so glad I got an early start today! I should have everything for Shabbat ready on time despite the suddenly early sunset (due to the time change).

Library Day! :)

Thursdays are Library Day for Rena and me. It was really awesome today:

1. Our friend Rachel and her baby daughter came for Storytime today! :) I chatted with her afterward.

2. I heard one mommy tell a cute story about how her daughter had a vivid dream in which her mommy got her a pet bunny. It took hours for the mommy to convince her daughter that there was no pet bunny.

3. Rena's new "boyfriend": A four-year-old boy named Ike, whom we met later in the Children's section, took a liking to Rena, trying to teach her to say words and even giving her a hug! :)

4. On the way home I got the mail and accidentally left my mailbox key in the mailbox. Kind neighbors took it out and knocked on our door to return it before I even realized it was missing! We were busy at the time so we didn't answer the knock. They came around later, after I'd realized my keys were missing; but this time I ran to answer it and got my keys back! :) I'm so grateful to live in a good, safe neighborhood where such a thing happens and you don't have to worry about someone stealing the key to break into our apartment.

Preschool

I'm so grateful for MMSC (Menachem Mendel Seattle Cheder) where Rena goes to preschool on Wednesdays! :) The early childhood center is Montessori-style. She has been making so much progress after just three sessions, according to her teachers. (Actually they stated that explicitly last week, after just two sessions!) Rena was sick yesterday and the day before but she was already well enough to go to school today (big yays for healthy food), and the teachers said she had no signs of sickness.

Sweatpants

Today was a sweatpants day. I lounged around in my (actually hubby's) sweatpants and a robe while getting work done for my internship (and Facebooking), hanging out with Rena and hubby, and cooking  some food for tomorrow. (I didn't cook today; we had leftovers and stuff that didn't have to be cooked. I didn't have to brave the cold outside at all. Sweatpants are awesome. And eco-friendly since you can turn the thermostat down. :)

Close Call!

Wow! I was trying to unplug the laptop that I use (it's really hubby's but it's our only current working laptop so he lets me use it while he uses the desktop) from the wall but for some reason the cord was kind of stuck. It just wouldn't come out. I accidentally grabbed it by the metal prongs as it was struggling to come out, and my fingers got shocked! Freaked me out a bit but thank God, no damage occurred either to my body or the computer, or anything else.

A Good Kind of Tired

Yay, I spent hours cleaning the kitchen today! I'm not done yet but I look forward to having a clean kitchen in which to cook. :) I played CDs and danced to the music while cleaning. I'm also very grateful for Rena's help with scrubbing! :)

Biking is part of the culture here....

....At the synagogue this Shabbat morning, I was chatting with other parents in the playroom about biking, and one of them said he has an extra bike trailer if I wanted it. I've been thinking for a long time about finding a way to transport Rena by bike. What more sign do I néed than this?! :)

Pre-Shabbat Post

I retraced my steps partially back to Whole Foods and found Rena's lost mitten lying on the ground, good as new.

Yay, early bedtime! :)

I will NOT get distracted by Facebook or any other website tonight. I'm about to have a nice, relaxing, cleansing shower and then hit the sack for the night. I want to get up early to get ready for Shabbat. :) I'm writing this beforehand so I can be finished with looking at screens before I start getting myself all relaxed. Yes, it's about 7 pm here in Seattle but, what with my nightly "slumber party" with hubby, it might be 9 already by the time I actually fall asleep.

Finally restarting (way) after the Jewish holidays

I just have to tell you about something bold and daring that I did today: I gave myself a haircut! :) I'd never cut anyone's hair before but I was fed up with my long hair that was all tangled up in a giant knot. I feel like a changed person, just because I was brave enough to do this, and my head feels so much lighter now! :) May this be symbolic of a metaphorical lightness in my head, i.e. not worrying or stressing about stuff anymore- Only yayfulness! :)

How does it look? Not bad, considering. Hubby likes it but says it looks like a man's haircut. I told him I'll let it grow out a little and then get it done professionally. Sorry, no pictures....

In other news, the holidays were tonsa funsa! I won't go into too much detail but the food -- both primary and secondary -- was awesome! :) We got invited for lunches by some of our new friends in the community.

Also, Rena has started preschool. She goes on Wednesdays only, for now, and after only two days in preschool, the teachers are impressed with her progress! More details another day.