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Molar Madness

P1: I am working on the major paper for my current course at school, and for the first time since I started this program, I feel like I'm struggling. I don't know why. I chose the topic and it's only a 10 page paper. The title is, "Empirical Evidence of Freudian Defense Mechanisms." I think defense mechanisms are one of the most useful and compelling aspects of Freud's work and there actually is quite a bit of evidence that they exist. I just can't seem to organize my thoughts. I write a paragraph but then don't feel it belongs in the place I originally put it and then start moving it around. Of course, Adam pointed out that I should be writing up an outline before I begin, but I never do that for papers, I'm too eager to get started...

P2: Little A is cutting a bunch of teeth at once and boy, did she let us know on Monday how uncomfortable she is! Adam was off work for the day so he and I attempted to take her on a trip to the Don Mills Centre, a swanky new mall in Toronto. It was, unfortunately, a bust. She screamed and cried the whole time we were there and I had to carry her as she refused to let me put her down at all. When nursing her didn't help, I offered her some bread I had brought along as part of her lunch. She took a bite then threw the rest on the floor and...I'm not kidding you here, she stomped on it, while screeching hysterically. When we got back to the car, she fell asleep so we decided to drive around and let her rest. But wouldn't you know it? I really had to pee. So at a red light, I jumped out to run into a coffee shop and the plan was that Adam would drive around. Unfortunately, she woke up instantly when I shut the door. Moreover, I had to buy something at the coffee shop to use the bathroom, which was filthy and disgusting. I bought a chocolate chip cookie for Adam, which turned out to be lousy. Grrrr! To our surprise, Little A woke up in a great mood and played happily with us at home for 4 hours before we put her down for another nap. Hopefully she is over the worst with the teething, but I am sure there will be more difficult days to come.

This week I've had some tough mornings with Big A. After having Adam home in the morning Saturday, Sunday and Monday, she flew into a fit the past two days when she got up and he wasn't here...even though Adam warned her several times he would be gone to work. I am trying not to take it personally (I know she wouldn't care if I wasn't home when she got up), but it really pisses me off. Nothing like your child having a tantrum and rejecting you the minute she wakes up in the morning!

Big A has also pretty much given up her nap. She just flat out refuses on the weekends and has also started refusing at daycare. I'm a little concerned as there are some days she really does still need it. On Monday, her teacher had to wake her up 3 times because she passed out in the middle of activities.

F1: I thought that I had found the perfect healthy kid-friendly product a few months ago: organic, whole wheat spinach and ricotta ravioli from Whole Foods. I served them to Little A and she would not touch them. My niece of the same age, however, loved them, so I gave my sister-in-law the whole bag. Last week I was at Whole Foods and I decided to try them again. After all, Big A eats stuff like that at daycare all the time and Little A eats stuff like that with Sherma. Once again, Little A flat-out rejected them and even Big A had to be coerced into eating just 2 of them. I am embarrassed to admit that I make the girls scrambled eggs (with steamed broccoli on the side) for dinner several times a week because that is one of the only things I can get them to eat. I worry that they will be teenagers before I can make one meal that all 4 of us will eat together.

Big A and I made these the other day and they were definitely a bigger hit with the girls than the ravioli.

Chocolate peanut butter corn puffs

8-10 cups organic puffed corn
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 cup mini dark chocolate chips
4 cups mini marshmellows

Melt peanut butter and chocolate chips over medium low heat in big pot. Once smooth, turn heat to low and add marshmellows and stir until they begin melting. Turn off heat and stir in puffed corn. Remove from heat and press into 2 8x8 pans. Refrigerate 1 hour and then cut into squares.

F2: I'm always finding new ways to challenge myself in the gym and I love the simple exercise I started doing again recently that has been leaving my abs burning for 48 hours afterwards. It requires a flat bench with something you can hook your feet under, otherwise, you can do them on the floor and find anything you can to hook your feet under. They are similar to what you would do on a decline bench, but instead of starting with your back on the bench and raising your upper body (most people actually end up using their quads and hip flexors more than their abs), you start seated upright and lower yourself back towards the bench just until the point where you feel like your legs will take over, then you raise yourself back up. Try doing a few sets of 15 reps.

I got temporary relief from my trip to the osteopath last week. But my sciatic pain is back in full force today. She did warn me, however, to give it 2 weeks and that my symptoms may get better and worse before settling down. I hope she's right because I'm feeling pretty miserable today.

Just as an aside, we got our 3 year old treadmill serviced a few weeks ago and the service man was astonished to discover than in the few years we've had it, Adam and I have put 3750 miles on the machine! Well, we always knew we were fitness nuts.

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