I’ve been away for too long, my friends.  My family and I have just had too much chaos in the past few months and I finally had to put the brakes on this out-of-control train, do a little audit of what was and wasn’t working in our little universe, and figure out what to do about it.  Of course, with all that’s gone on over the past few months, that’s taken a considerable amount of time!  In any event, my sincere apologies for staying away for so long.  It’s good to be back.  :)

So, about the title of this post:  An Extreme Life Makeover. Sounds sort of drastic and official, doesn’t it? Well, that’s how it feels, a little bit.

Many things have happened in the past few months that have prompted us to have to get a little drastic and official.  Thankfully the end result is that I - and we - feel like we’re finally finding our feet again, feeling more confident, happy, excited.  And it feels really, really good.

I’ll start off by getting you up to speed on what’s been going on lately…

As you might recall from my last few posts (from August and July, to my utter mortification), my wonderful husband was downsized out of his job back at the end of June.  I’m not going to lie: It was at times enormously stressful to have the primary bread winner NOT, well, “winning bread.” Nonetheless, I think he - and we - have handled it with as much calm and optimism as we possibly could in the circumstances with two children to support, a mortgage payment and all the other usual bills to pay.

There have been several things working in our favor, not the least of which is that my husband is a one-of-a-kind, wonderful, calm “glass is half-full” kind of guy. There’s also the fact that my husband has a fantastic network of personal and professional contacts.  We were stunned by how many people contacted Dan after his job loss, whether just to voice their support or to provide him with contacts or job leads.  If any of those people are reading what I’m writing here, please accept our heartfelt THANKS, because you kept us both hopeful and positive.

I think my husband’s strong work ethic and workhorse personality were also factors in our surviving the past few months.  The man refused to treat any of his time unemployed as “vacation” or “down time,” and he spent every day making phone calls, sending out resumes, finishing antiques “projects” he’d acquired over the years so he could sell them on Craiglist, helping friends complete home improvement projects that they lacked the ability or knowledge (or tools!) to do themselves.  He kept his mind and his body engaged the whole time, and I admire that about him.

So where am I going with this?  Well, let’s just say that Dan’s job search is over.  And we’re pleased as punch!

Don’t get me wrong: I loved having all of that one-on-one time with my husband and am grateful that fate threw us that curve ball when it did.  Dan had been stressed out and anxious leading up to the downsizing; once it was over and the dust had settled, he was back to being himself, the guy I know and love: calm, happy-go-lucky, driven, optimistic.  With his perspective back, it was nice having him around more, and the new routines we developed bouncing around the house together all day every day have been sorely missed now that he’s back to work again.  But Dan was ready and excited to begin his new professional journey, and so far, so good!

There are two other things that came up recently that have also forced us to examine our lives a bit more closely, especially when paired with Dan’s job situation.   Continue Reading »

I might as well start off clearing my conscience in my first post here, so prepare for a true confession.

 It’s not just the man in uniform mentioned in the title who turns me on. I also like to dally with a vertically challenged guy who goes by the name of Lucky. And there’s the animal attraction I have for another one named Tony. Yes, despite my husband’s best efforts to corral this filly, I’ve returned to my youthful indiscretions with children’s breakfast cereals. Let’s just say that one of the worst writing assignments I could imagine would be Adam Platt of the New York Magazine’s recent review of 100 “healthy” cereals plucked from the shelves of Whole Foods.

What I love are the ones that researchers at Yale’s Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity found were less healthy than brands meant for adults. Oh, I’ve made the effort to grow up and eat better cereal, but even my Mini-Wheats are of the frosted variety. So, once my daughter got old enough to realize there was more to cereal than Cheerios and began pleading for Fruity Pebbles, I have to admit I was an easy target.

These sweet grains marketed primarily to our kids have been the topic of much debate for many years - such so that one of the top Google results on the subject is an article from 1991 called “Children’s cereal: beneficial breakfast or sweet snack?” While I would never say they were the best food for me or my daughter, I do think they’ve gotten a bad rap while some supposedly adult cereals get a free pass.

On a recent shopping trip where I was trying to buy “the right thing” for me, I selected Kellogg’s Smart Start cereal where the label promised a strong heart, whole-grain oats, antioxidants and low sodium. But, when I placed the box in my pantry next to my daughter’s choice of Fruit Loops Smoothie, I notice that my “healthy” cereal has a full six grams more sugar per serving than the kid’s cereal! Sure it wins on fiber, but hey, there’s more to health than our colons - my waistline for example. The Fruit Loops even had a full gram less fat!

From about as far back as I can remember, my two older brothers and I pretty much ate cereal for breakfast every weekday before school. And, every Saturday in front of the TV (back when cartoons didn’t run 24/7 on 10 different channels). Only on Sundays did Mom break out the pancakes, muffins or biscuits.  And, guess what. None of us suffered any means of malnutrition. None of us displayed childhood obesity. We didn’t get diabetes. And, we’ve all grown up to be fairly intelligent adults.

Plus, there’s good news on the horizon. Remember that comparison I did earlier where the only thing the grown-up cereal really beat the kid cereal on was fiber content? Well, General Mills, the nation’s second largest cereal manufacturer, has announced that they will convert all of their breakfast cereals into whole grain products. It’s a move that online doctor Dr. Greene says is projected to single-handedly increase American’s whole grain consumption by 1.5 billion servings per year.

So, now there could be even less to beat ourselves up over as mothers; and, more reason for me to give in to my urges for a quickie of Coco Puffs every now and then before heading off to bed with my husband. After all, there are enough challenges and sacrifices we make as mothers, can’t we have this little treat without feeling guilty about it?