Adulting HodgePodge

1. What's an adult problem nobody prepared you for?

no one prepared me for the struggles of a screaming toddler/preschooler having "night terrors"  at 2 AM;  no one prepared me for the death of my parents; no one prepared me for the feeling of my heart walking around outside my body after my babies became toddlers, then preschoolers, then elementary aged, then junior high and teenagers, then college...and now they're young adults and I still feel like my heart is walking around outside my body. Other than that? how to fix a broken sump pump. 

me and my oldest, Courtney aka the princess at age 4

Claire aka the ballerina at age 3 

2. How tuned in are you to all the recent food related health news? Have you gotten rid of your scratched cookware? Did you pay attention to food additives before they made the news? What's one healthy eating/cooking/food shopping habit you need to adopt? 

I rarely watch the news other than the first 20 minutes of The Today Show. but I do pay attention to food recalls which thankfully haven't affected my family except once (we had to throw away some lettuce). I've never really allowed my daughters (when they were growing up) to have foods with red dye, etc.  We have always eaten whole foods/real foods and the occasional homebaked "junk food." (brownies, cookies, etc)   Poptarts were for camping trips only. I've owned stainless steel pots and pans or Caraway cookware/bake ware for quite a few years now.  I think I used teflon when I was first out of grad school but I threw all that away when I got married and could afford better cookware. 

One thing I need to do is cut down on sugary snacks again.  I go through spurts. The good news is: soft serve ice cream (my fave) is less in sugar and fat from cows milk than hard ice cream! AND there are now oat milk options!! 

3. What's getting worse and worse as you get older? How about better and better? 

some of my spine issues have gotten worse as I've made it into my 60s. but that's because my younger self was super active with treadmills, hiking up/down steep mountains on granite/rock scrambling up/down mountains, running on pavement or trails; lifting heavy kayaks; lifting preK children (students for over 30 years!) and my own children. Those things wear on the spine/discs and can aggravate arthritis. 

But...things that are getting better? My faith and trust in God has deepened as I've walked this spiritual journey. being centered in nature has become easier and easier. And spending time with close friends is better and better as we realize how fleeting life is. 

4. Are you more of an indoor person or an outdoor person? Elaborate. 

I'm super outdoorsy. I always have been.  I feel closest to God (my spiritual temperament is naturalist) in the deep woods or on a mountain summit, particularly if htat mountain is higher than 3000 '. it's simply glorious. I literally have to be outdoors every single day even in the bitter cold temps of winter. (I just bundle up). Sometimes it's just a quick walk around the block.  Other times it's a long kayak paddle on a quiet mountain lake, or a game of badminton in the backyard, or sitting in my ADK chair wiht book. We eat outdoors almost every day from May-October unless super hot and humid (over 90) I'm constantly barefoot outside as well. I'm at a lake at least once a week in the summer if not twice. (now that I'm retired). 

August 2020 as I am about to ascend 
up to the summit of Cascade Mt
elevation 4098 ' 
Adk High Peaks
notice the rock tape around my left knee! 

5. If you had an expert personal assistant today, what would you have them do? 

Give me the same type of deep tissue massage my Pt and Chiropractor do except she/he would do this every.single.morning;  bring me French pressed coffee in bed after my massage; deep clean my bathrooms and wash the baseboards more than once a year. 

Well that was interesting! to join in, head over to this blog!

ENJOY the day!  I'm off to the NYCBallet opening night tonight at SPAC with my ballerina daughter to see my fave story ballet, Coppelia!