The Business of Life

Pippi before attending a birthday party for a friend last evening. She's wearing an Indian outfit I purchased for her in Little India, Penang, Malaysia.

Trying to exercise moderation. It's work for me. I used to be an excess/crash and burn type. But studying Buddhism has helped. This is why, as much as people might make fun of my "Spoil QueenMJ days" they are a necessity. Even the ridiculous title helps me focus on what I need to do. I get an idea, and get excited about it and a little mania sets in and I throw myself into accomplishing the goal. But thanks to my learned wisdom, I now feel and recognize the physical and mental effects of this pattern and tell myself to slow down and take a "Spoil QMJ" day, hour or even just a minute sometimes. And honestly, I'm much better at calming myself down on busy days than boosting myself up if my days are too dull.

Mist this week.

I'm starting two business. One a side business (party) and the other an e-Publishing business. I'll explain more about this once I get the paper work complete. Getting the side business off the ground after coming down from my 12 dance classes week, I started to feel my mind go into overdrive. So, I immediately found a spot on the sofa to breath for a moment. My daughter Mist sat with me and my dogs (the Nanders and the Pablee-poo--just had to type out their nicknames as I love calling them that!). It felt good just to have all four of us sprawled together and I said so. Well, little ears heard this and soon I had Tabs and Pip all squished with us on the small sofa (love seat size)  :)

 I am learning it is the little breaks one can immediately take that can rest the mind. I still had one more class to teach-- let me say that it was very hard to get myself there last night. I was so burnt out. But once I arrived and then the Mom's and their little Zumba dancers arrived (it was Mom & Me Zumba) I had to suck it up and put on a show. After class, I felt refreshed. Somehow, no matter how exhausted I am, after an hour of dancing I feel revived again for a t least a few hours after word.

Tabs this week.

The down side of teaching in the evening is supper. We have grabbed take out here and there all month and I feel horrible about this! I am putting a moratorium on eating out for February. No matter how rushed we are, we must make meals at home. Our nutrition is at stake. This is really hard since we don't eat modern wheat. I need to stock up on spelt bread and freeze it for occasions when we might only have the time for sandwiches. I could, I guess, make some spelt bagets and freeze them. Also, I'm hitting the slow cooker pretty hard next month. Making supper in the morning is easier when I am fresh. There is nothing worse than coming home after an exhausting day and having to make supper. I make 4 suppers a week and Peter three. Peter is not a chef. But last week he made chili from scratch so I am hopeful.

My girls too are very busy this week. Tabs is going winter camping with her class, Mist just finished provincial exams and Pip has been a party girl (attending friends' parties and preparing for her own coming up in Feb). 

Vibrating to the Frequency of Love

I'm almost afraid to post this with the above title. I just know it will attract the odd pervert. But it is one of my all time favorite quotes, "I vibrate to the frequency of love" by Quan Yin. It means that all life in the universe is connected and when we embrace the power of our unconditional love for ourselves and others, our energy (and cells) vibrate to the same frequency (love). It's quantum physics and Buddhism.

Just finished my last elementary school ZumbAtomics class. It is time--my knee for the first time hurt today.  Next week my 12 classes a week drops to 6. Six is plenty. I will now have the time to focus on what's next for me. Teaching dancing I do for me. It is for my own 100% enjoyment. One doesn't make enough money to do it for any other reason. This is why I will limit my classes to no more than about 5 a week--any more and it cuts into my time to actually make a decent income! Also, on days when I teach 5 classes, by class 4 or 5 it is evening and I am stressed and tired from the day at school. Teaching kids dance is exhausting, especially one particular class of grade fours.  Once they enter the gym, they are like chimps finally let loose in a forest.

My last classes of the day are adult Zumba and sometimes my mind wonders while I dance and I mess up here and there. I usually pretend it was all planned but I know my mind is exhausted from teaching so many kids dance all day.

However, I am so very blessed to have such a strong and healthy body that allows me to dance to my heart's content. I don't take my body for granted. I spoil it with good nutrition and lots of rest.

I am vibrating to the frequency of love ;) Life is an adventure to me and I never know what wonder awaits me. The things I cannot change, the things I have no control over, I just let happen in their own time even when it effects my life big time--what else can one do?

I leave with you a few pics of happy people: my daughter Tabs and friends at her birthday party and one of me with a few of the gals as we prepared to leave for our movie out We Bought a Zoo-we all enjoyed it.

Cool Cut-Up T-Shirt

I wanted to try making some cool work-out t-shirts( cool in more way than one). I thought all the cutouts would be refreshing when I teach Zumba. I used an old cheap typical Hawaiian tourist t-shirts I purchased when I was in Hawaii (because I never wear it). I slashed up the front, back, sides and sleeves. It was my first time so I was experimenting with a little weaving too. It was actually fun. I know how to transform all those over sized ugly t-shirts one gets for free at sporting events, into fitted cool t-shirts. I also thought that this would be a great party idea for the girls' birthdays--each guests could create an unique t-shirt to take home (ages ten and up).

This is my last week of 5 and 4 day classes, yay! It is too much. I've never had such a life style as the one I am currently living. In order to preserve my legs for all of that dancing M-F, I do no other sports on the weekends. I am so not used to taking it physically easy on the weekends. E-gads, just look what kinds of things I get up to! i.e. please see above t-shirt craft. This life style is definitely an interesting change. Usually I plan my days around a big sports activity like skating, skiing, hiking etc. Now my days are free to find new interests or reconnect with old ones.

Gotta go unload a-lot-a-lotta groceries :)

Mama's Banana Cakes

The summer before last, I spent some time on the Perhentian Islands in the South China Sea. Every morning, Peter and I would walk to an outdoor restaurant on the beach called Mama's (run by an ancient Malay woman) and I would order banana cake for breakfast. The following recipe is my  healthy take on banana cake (muffin style). Scroll below the recipe for a few pics from my stay on the Perhentian Islands--the most beautiful and relaxing place on earth that I have encountered so far (aside from being stung by a jelly fish!) ...

Mama's Banana Cakes

1 1/4 cup whole grain spelt flour

1/2 cup large flake oats

1/2 cup ground flax

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1/3 cup brown sugar

1 egg

3 large mashed ripe bananas

1/2 cup milk

1 tsp lemon juice

3/4 cup chocolate chips

Combine dry ingredients. In separate bowl, beat oil, sugar and add egg. Mix in bananas, milk and lemon juice. Add wet to dry with chocolate chips and stir until just mixed. Pour into muffin tin and bake for 15 minutes at 375 oF.

Mom, Auntie, Cousin and Me Zumba

Me (age 6) holding my new baby sister Miranda (circa early 1970s)

Tonight is a special Zumba night. My sister Miranda and her girls are joining my class for the Mom and Me Zumba I teach at the rec centre. My daughters Mist and Tabs will be there too. Pip is at a play date at a friends house.
 I taught my first Zumba nooner today at UBC. I like teaching adults at the Uni--may decide to be a prof after all...I had about ten UBC staff members and a student attend. Zumba is always a shock to one's system the first time. No one is prepared for all of the hip circles and booty shakes. But once you've mastered them, they are addictive. My legs are feeling the effect of 5 and 4 class days now. Yep, they are a wee bit tired and sore as I type this. But I am off to teach in 1/2 h.
I made supper and it is simmering on the stove until I return from class. I made Moroccan chicken with rice. It should be delicious. I love Moroccan food. It has butternut squash, raisins and brown basmati rice in the recipe. I used fresh garlic and ginger and turmeric I purchased on a tour of a spice plantation in Malaysia the summer before last.
Tomorrow is Tabs' birthday party: pool party/pizza party/movie out/sleepover party. Have been invited to a friend's party as well that night--hope I can fit in both as I love a party!

The Dance Must Go On

Me today, in between classes (slim pickings in my photo archive today). My dog boys are some of my best Zumba enthusiasts ;0 I am wearing sweats borrowed from my dear daughter. It is great, now that Mistaya has grown to 5'10" she and I can borrow each other's clothing. I wore the fedora to dance today and the kids loved it. I told them to bring their hats next week as one particular song requires us to toss our hat off in a very suave manner at the end of it. Out of 3 classes I can honestly report there are only 2 dancing duds. By this I mean 2 students who refuse to dance at all and have an expressionless, cranky face the entire class. I only ever hear them complain, not just about dance but about any and everything out of their mouths! If I were their full time teacher or parent I would say it is time for an little intervention. If they stay this cranky and negative they are in for one nasty life.

It is so very cold in BC today. Unusually cold but it is supposed to be mild and raining by the weekend so I shall not complain. But my boys refuse to go outside to pee. They stand at the door and shake until I let them in.

It is a blizzard out there so I shall drive slowly to the University this afternoon. I love my Rav4. It handles icy mountain roads so well. Definitely treating my class to a Hawaiian song today--everyone living here needs a little tropical break.

I'm one of those people who often embarrasses herself. I don't look like the class clown, but I inadvertently do something embarrassing and become one--Latin dance class last night.

Wow, it is really is a major blizzard today up here on the mountain top--don't know if even my Rav4 wants to try the mountain one more time. I think I'll cancel taking Tabs to choir as the weather really is horrible and dangerously cold. Wish me luck, heading out to the Uni soon...

A Cup of Tea

Me, in Portland Oregon, trying to warm up with a mug of tea. Man, is Portland a chilly place to be in the winter!

Winter has arrived in BC. We have snow and we have cold. I think the low last evening was about -12 oC. I drove my little poopsies to school at Tabs' request as the bus drops them off 1/2 h early and she didn't want to have to freeze outside for 1/2h. Yes, I spoil them. They are not prairie girls. When I was little and lived on the prairies for a portion of my childhood, I would walk to school in -40 oC. On some days it was even colder with the wind chill. I remember one morning it was -65 oC with the windchill! Yes, it made me one tough girl but also a woman who now hates cold weather and is looking to relocate to a tropical locale.

My 5 classes finished yesterday at 7:30 p.m. Let me say that to get myself pumped for the final class, I down a bottle of Diet Coke. It seems to work. It isn't until I am home, attempting to eat supper that I realize how tired my legs and feet are. I like teaching at UBC the best. Adult students are a breeze. Yes, I do adore my little students too (I cannot help but smile when I watch them intently dance the conga and shout "Chihuahua!" to our Chihuahua song). 2 men in my UBC class last night--a record! And, most importantly I have an assistant! She brings me the athletic binder before class and opens the ballroom for me. Yay! That cuts down on so much extra work: having to walk to and fro the Athletics building and deal with an de-programed key that won't open the ballroom each evening and a ballroom filled with tables and chairs to move. I'm going to add my Hawaiian hoola song to my repertoire this month--I did a little demo to one of Izzy's (Israel "IZ" Kaʻanoʻi Kamakawiwoʻole) songs (I couldn't help myself, we were doing our cool down stretches to White Sandy Beaches and I had to squeeze in a little hoola) and the class really wanted me to keep going with it :D

Pervert alert. A male, early 30s, in a hoodie, baseball cap and toque kept peering in my ZumbAtomic class windows all class. He started peaking in early--as Tabs and I were setting up. He kept coming back and trying all the windows to watch us. I though he might be an over-protective parent or something. After class I asked the students if anyone knew him. No one did and one girl said he'd asked her all these questions about what we were doing in the room just before she came to the class. I reported him to front desk and they were very concerned. The guy in charge of the building (I work with him on the sound system issues a lot) made sure that if he ever comes back to stop class and report to him immediately. It was then that Tabs told me a man (who looked like he was mentally challenged) had been standing at the door of the girl's washroom peering in. Good grief! One has to keep on their toes on a Monday night.

Off to make myself a cup of tea and await the piano tuner (our piano probably has not been tuned in its 50 year life time).