The Beauty of Womanhood

"Yet the vision [of womanhood] our culture offers is a sad consolation that exchanges the glory of feminine strength for a treadmill race to nowhere.  It squanders the kind of influence that is found primary in the soil of the home...And what does it offer in return? Women who strive against themselves, at war with the seeming redundancy of two X chromosomes, in a competition we were never made for, and in our hearts, don't really want to win. For when a women sets herself up alongside a man - as made for the same things and without distinction - the result is not uniformity, but rather, a reverse order. Indeed, in order for her to become like a man, he becomes less and less like one. And that's someone that most women, even the most ardent feminists, recoil at in their heart."

Excerpt taken from here.

Us For Them

"May our judgment be love." May You keep changing my heart to be more like Yours.

Running Adventures

I went for another run yesterday (who am I?!). I made sure to be more prepared compared to my first time around when I didn't even put on a hat and ended up coming home with a huge headache. I've been running in the evenings after putting my kids to sleep so by the time I get out it's actually quite chilly out. Yesterday I layered on another turtleneck and put on a toque...and was headache free when I came home (it's all about the little victories over here).

I went a little farther and my time was a bit better (although still slow by most people's standards, but whatever) so I'm quite happy about that. Overall, I'm feeling pretty good about things and I'm actually looking forward to my next run!

Run Sharon Run

I took my running shoes out for a run this weekend! Ok fine, it was more like a walk/jog combo if anything and according to my phone my time was terrible so maybe my jogging was actually more of a glorified walk, lol. Oh well, it's only up from here right?

Sneaker up!

I bought a pair of runners yesterday and I'm excited to put them to good use (and I hope this isn't just the novelty of the new shoes talking!). I'm not a runner by any means, but hey you've got to start somewhere. Unfortunately (or maybe conveniently) it snowed last night (what the heck, April?) so I'm going to wait for the stuff to melt and temperatures to warm up a bit before I take my shoes out for their inaugural run. (Ok, realistically I know it will be more walking than running and possibly more stopping to catch my breath than walking post trying-to-run; I'm more than a little out of shape, but that's ok...this is why I bought the shoes!)

Anyway, get your sneaks on. Let's do this!

Book Nook: The Martian

The Martian
Andy Weir

I watched the movie based on this book earlier this year and really liked it so I thought I'd give the book a try. Glad I did - turns out the book was even better (they usually are, no?)!

The Martian centres around the protagonist, Mark Watney, an astronaut who gets left behind on Mars after what can only be a described as the most unfortunate freak accident with the most unfortunate repercussions.  Watney proves to be clever and resourceful (and did I mention he was smart?) and the book basically describes how he (spoiler alert!) survives on his own until he is rescued.

This book was well-paced, action-packed, and so funny (Watney is such a smart ass, I loved it). Aside from the parts where it got a bit too technical and science-y for me (I initially tried to follow along, but eventually started just skimming over those sections trusting that whatever they were saying made sense to somebody), it was an overall entertaining and enjoyable read. 5/5.

Book Nook: When Breath Becomes Air

When Breath Becomes Air
Paul Kalanithi

I'm generally more of a fiction reader, but every so often a non-fiction book comes along and takes my breath away. Like this one.

I first heard about this book through a blog I follow and after reading her post (she was Kalanithi's sister-in-law) I immediately put a hold on a copy at the library. (Thankfully I got in before 'the masses' and was third in line - there's now a 70+ person wait!) It was worth the wait.

This memoir was written by an MD in his thirties who, during the final stages of his neurosurgery residency, was diagnosed with metastatic lung cancer; he eventually died in March 2015 at the age of 37. It deals with really tough topics and he takes you through his thoughts about living and dying among other things, but everything is done so gracefully it's almost poetic at times. It's a well-written book which I thoroughly enjoyed reading from start to finish (the last paragraph and parts of the epilogue - written by his wife - literally made me weep). I whole heartedly recommend this book and I'm grateful that Kalanithi was able to write as much as he did. 5/5 for sure.

DIY Kitchen Play Board

I've been wanting to get K a kitchen play set for a while, but with space constraints in our cozy house compounded with prices I saw (over $100 for one? no thanks) I decided to look for alternatives. There are some great ideas floating around on the internet, but ultimately I just improvised and came up with something else: I found an old unused cork board and, coupled with some craft paint, breathed new life and purpose into our would-otherwise-be trash!

Here is what I did: I started with an regular old cork board, cleaned it up, gave it a fresh coat of yellow and white paint, used a crayon to sketch out my "kitchen" (two stove burners, knobs, a sink, and faucet), then did some more painting, and voila!

The board can easily be used on any surface since it's just a cork board so it sturdy and flat, and storing it is easy because of its narrow profile. Even better still, this project cost me nothing because everything I used I already had on hand (I could really get used to this whole repurposing thing!). 

However, the best part of this project was seeing K's reaction to it when she got home yesterday: she stopped in her tracks, pointed at it, and said, "Mommy, see?" At first she didn't realize what it was, but after showing her the ropes she was off washing and cooking up a vegetable storm in no time! Love that kid.

Anyway, I know it's super basic and doesn't have any of the bells and whistles that these $100+ kitchen stations have, but it's perfect for us and that's what counts. :)

Piano fingers no more

We stayed at my father-in-law's place last night thanks to our diva tankless water heater (ughh don't even get me started) and this morning I took the opportunity play some tunes for my littlest one on his piano since we don't have one at our house. Fortunately I can still play, but unfortunately I can't play very well anymore and I now suck. Thankfully O was a good sport about it and sat beside the piano in a rocker looking at me with an amused expression on her face for a good twenty minutes. Mission completed.

a full heart

I end most days with a sore back and a fried brain, but I'm thankful because I know my back is sore from holding my kids, and my brain is fried from trying to decode 2yo talk and 4 month old cries, so despite going to bed most nights feeling like I could sleep forever and still wake up not feeling refreshed, my heart is full. So very full. :)