Conflicting Information

I get a few magazines each month. One is Self. If you aren't familiar with Self, it's a health and fitness magazine for women. I enjoy the little tear out page of exercises. I carry a plastic sleeve in my workout bag and keep several of these pages in it so I can have a wide variety of exercises to try.

This month's copy was very striking to me because of the positioning of an ad next to a regular feature, and how the two carried widely conflicting information. The ad was for Vagisil and it offered some tips on tuning out the world and relaxing. One was to cut back on caffeine. Not bad advice. Too much caffeine can make anyone jittery and agitated. Turn the page in the magazine and you get an article on how to stop headaches and what do they advise; have something with caffeine. Huh??? Were the editors paying attention to the position of these two items? It made me wonder what the average person is supposed to do about all the conflicting information we receive each week in the media about our health.

Look at calcium. We know calcium is important for strong bones. We know Caucasian and Asian women, particularly with small bones, should make sure they have enough calcium in their diets to prevent osteoporosis. But how to take it is very fuzzy. Some say a supplement in the form of a pill is fine. Some say it's best to take it as it occurs naturally like in dairy products. Some say take it with vitamin D to aid absorption. I found an article on the NIH website (http://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/calcium.asp) that contains a ton of information about calcium and boy has the information we've received from the media been over simplified! For example, calcium is present in many non-dairy foods, but did you know that the body doesn't absorb that calcium as well because there are other substances in some of those foods that prevent absorption? Did you also know that the amount of protein and fiber in a food can affect the absorption and excretion of calcium? Of course, the point that calcium is important for bone health is the main thing we should all understand, but as with a lot of health and wellness related news, there is a lot more to what we are told. We should all be sure to get complete information about these topics and not take everything at face value.

It's looking to be a pretty quiet day here in sunny Columbia. We have one birthday party and a trip to the store to stock up on fruits and vegetables. Possibly a trip to the gym will be included. I'm happy it's getting cooler out because fall and winter meals ideas are easier to come up with. So until we meet again, my friends, have a lovely day.

Panicked No More

I am back to my regular schedule at my part time bakery job. I am very fortunate to have this bakery in my universe.

The day I found out my job was being eliminated, I went into the bakery and got some soup for lunch. I had become acquainted with the owners through my PTA duties. When I was asked if I needed anything else before I left, I sarcastically said, "Yeah. A job." I was immediately offered a job at the bakery. After discussing this idea with my husband, we decided I should do it. Working part time would be a great thing for our family. It would get me out of the house, give me more time with the boys, more time for stuff around the house, more time for the gym. It was a win-win situation.

If I had no idea how lucky I would be. I have made some of the best friends of my life at the bakery. I go to work in a place where I am treated with love and respect. I am helping a business that gives a ton back to the community, thrive in my community. Leaving the bakery for summer was difficult. I was nervous about spending so much time with the kids and little time with adults. I was concerned about the loss of income, meager though it was. It paid a good number of bills in our house and helped keep my piggy boys fed.

And we made it. I am panicked no more. I see my friends. I am home for my kids at the end of the school day, which is important for me. I have my tiny income back. Life is good.

One word of advice to anyone who may come into our little bakery. Kindly say please and thank you to us. We may be lowly bakery wenches, not because we are incapable of doing anything grander, but because this is what we choose to do. Please be respectful of our choice.

Gentle readers, have you missed me? As you are no doubt aware, yesterday was the first day of school in Howard County, Maryland. Both my angels are in school so we are adjusting to a completely new routine in our home. So far all is well. Here are a few highlights.

Our 5 year old wasn't impressed with Kindergarten. We thought he would be over the top with excitement to finally get to attend school with his brother. He had serious jitters Sunday night and thought he was going to throw up. Monday morning, he barely ate any breakfast and we had to bribe him with a video game to get him to wear the shirt I wanted him to wear. He had the following to say about his first day.

• "That stupid false alarm [fire drill] scared the crud out of me."
• "Circle Time is boring."
• "Quiet time was the best. At least I got to color a picture."

Our ten year old was much better in 5th grade. He likes his teacher, his class. he's on the safety patrol so he thinks he's the big cheese. A vast improvement over the beginning of 4th grade when he was terrified of his teacher. All in all, we did pretty well. Both kids got up and went to school again today.

My friends were so amazing to me. I went to coffee with two friends in the morning and walked around Old Ellicott City looking at antiques. I was home for maybe 30 minutes, wandering the house, feeling down when the phone rang. It was another friend asking me to have lunch. I was gone from 12:45 until 3:00. I was so busy I didn't have any time to worry about anything. I have the greatest friends in the world.

Have a great evening.

One Day; Two Opinions

Monday is the first day of school for our kids. One will be in 5th grade and the other will be in Kindergarten. As is to be expected, our youngest is elated at the prospect of attending school. We went to the Open House today and he met his teacher, navigated his way through all the areas of the classroom, played with other kids, got hugged by some little girl and generally had a rocking good time.

I do not look forward to Monday. My baby is starting his departure from my nest. This is not really okay with me. I like having a little kid around who comes up and kisses my hand for no apparent reason. Now that he's the BMOC on the Kindergarten campus, I am left with a fluffy little dog who occasionally eats his own poo. Monday, I'll cry at my friend's house with at least one other woman who is sending her baby to Kindergarten and a bunch of other women who have done this all before. I'm sure I am not alone in my opinion of the first day of school, but somehow I feel like no one gets me right now.

Motherhood is brutal sometimes.

Escape

Not much excitement in the blogosphere today. The boys have a dentist appointment this morning which they both appear to be dreading with every fiber of their beings. It's drizzling again this morning, but there is some hope for sun this afternoon. If the temperature breaks 80, we will go to the pool. Only 3 days left until the pool closes, and I want to get as much time in there as possible.

This rain has given us lots of time for movies and books. I did pick up "Emma," but found myself uninterested in Austen right now. I was able to find an interesting looking book at the library called "The Piano Tuner," by Daniel Mason. It's about a British piano tuner in the late 19th century who is commissioned by the Army to go to Burma to tune a piano belonging to an Army officer. It's an excellent read, so far. I've enjoyed the descriptions of the tuner's journey to Burma and look forward to reading more of his adventure in the jungle, and how his experience changes him and encourages his growth as a man.

I have few regrets about my life. I went to an excellent college. I have a beautiful home and the most loving family a woman could desire. I do wish that, as an adolescent, I had been less scared of failure. I gave up on things that got too hard, particularly when I was no longer going to be at the top of the game. This fear deprived me of trying new things. For example, I never studied abroad. How great it would have been to immerse myself in another culture, to learn a different language, establish life long friendships with people in other parts of the world. Instead, I stayed planted in the Midwest, doing nothing more exotic than eating at a Vietnamese restaurant adjacent to our campus.

Books like "The Piano Tuner" help me overcome these regrets. And there are always the children through whom I can live vicariously. My hope for my boys is that they will be more adventurous then their father and I were in our youth. Our oldest is quite a good cellist. I hope he has an opportunity to study with some cello master in Europe come day. Our youngest is very brave and outgoing. He has a remarkable interest in anatomy and the way our bodies work. He enjoys trying medical instruments when he visits the doctor, and we're lucky to have doctors who let him do this. I hope he ends up in a medical field and takes the opportunity to use his skills to help people around the world.

I can still travel abroad. Of course, it's not the same traveling as a 40 year old with 2 kids as it would have been as a 20 year old with no responsibility. The most important thing I can do is cling to my spirit of adventure and not settle into a mundane life.