yoga breathing app. yep, they have that

so i've been trolling around the internet at different yoga blogs since i've decided that i want to start my yoga teacher training next year.  some blogs are good, some crap.  a couple of the good ones are yogadork.com and spoiledyogi.blogspot.com .  (spoiledyogi has described my DREAM yoga studio)  i wasn't really looking for anything in particular, just surfing.

but then i saw it.

a pranayama app for the iPhone.  now, i don't have an iPhone,  because at&t sucks.  but i do have an android.  so i marched over to my phone and downloaded it from the android market.  i've used it a couple of times, and i have to say, it's a pretty good app!  of course hubby and princess had a good laugh at my expense, but there's nothing new in that   :)

i like to think of myself as a technophile (while hubby reminds me that somehow i've killed every computer i've ever had, i think it's my electromagnetic field or something), so i'm pretty sure that this app will stay on my phone for a very very long time.  unlike the minesweeper app.  that was just stupid.

new year, new me*

Dec 21st was yule.  and while i'm a bad pagan and didn't do any type of celebration other than moving my wheel of the year over a space, have made my new years resolutions.  so here goes:

365 days of yoga.  i've done great so far.  i've done two or three sessions each day.  and i'm really noticing a difference.  i can get my hand almost all the way on the floor in triangle pose, and if you've never tried that before...  it's tough.

no HFCS or 'corn sugar' as the corn refiners association wants you to call it.  the stuff is grossly nasty.  it gets you totally addicted.  i've been without soda for two weeks, and let me tell you, that first week i would have kicked my own mother in the shins for a diet pepsi.  so don't tell me that it's not a disgusting drug.

self sufficient garden.  and let me tell you, it's gonna be a big 'en.  i've started planing already.

get the Apocalypse room ready.  that's what hubby and i have been calling our emergency pantry that were getting set up in the basement,  OK, so i'm the only one calling it that, shoosh.

rain barrels.  i don't know why i want them, i just really really do.

see, not an unattainable list.

*and when i say new year new me, i don't really mean it the way most people do.  i'm not going to change myself completely.  cause lets face it, i'm awesome just like i am.

one year ends, a new one begins

well, 2010 is quickly coming to a close.  and what a crazy year it's been.  but rather than dwell on all the things that happened in the past, i'd rather look to the future.  what's the next year going to bring for me?  for hubs?  princess?  bubs?

while i can't answer what will happen for other people, i can at least speculate for myself.  yes, it's a little too early to start with the new years resolutions, but indulge me.

in 2011 i will.....

begin the chickenmommas podcast with my friend andi.
never drink another soda
cut out all hfcs
begin my yoga teacher certification

and that's all i'm going to focus on.  no "i'm going to loose x amount of pounds".  no "travel the world".  i figure that if those things are meant to happen, they'll happen anyway.  so i might as well focus on those 4 things.  keep it simple. 

i'm not saying that those 4 things are ALL i'm going to do.  those are just the only ones that i'm setting as a goal for now.  but remember, everything is fluid.  if were not flexible, we break.

homestead, or fortress?

urban homesteading is kind of a big deal with me. i love the idea of being totally self dufficent. i like the idea that if, say the power went out, my family and i would be able to survive, even for an extended period of time. i mean, winters can be kind of harsh in nebraska. if the snow strands us in for a day or two, even a week, i want to be able to survive with as little real disruption as possible.

so the back yard will be turned into a homestead farm. if everything goes to plan, we will have enough fresh food to last into fall, and enough canned and frozen to get us to spring. the basement storage room is being cleaned out and turned into a pantry and supply room. canned goods, batteries, tools, even camping equiptment will be stored there. and yes, guns.

beczuse as the hubs and i are figuring out (and honestly, we must not have been paying attention before now) there is a fine line between homestead and fortress. (admittedly, the first time i voiced that it was "between survivalist and redneck" but i digress). because what would happen, and this is a worst case sinerio, there is a big enough snow storm that the power is knocked out, delivery trucks cant make it, and civilization as we know it is disrupted? im going to find a deer, and make sure that my family can eat.

(notice how im specificly NOT mentioning that historicaly, what happens when people that arent prepared realize that they cant get to any food? you know, the looting, the burglaries, looting. fun stuff)

and dont even get me started on my plan for the zombie apocolipse.

things my father taught me

fathers these days get a pretty bum wrap. you always hear about deadbeat dads, baby daddys, or any other flock of useless fathers. but you never hear about dads that really rock, and my dad DOES rock. so for this blog, im going to tell you all the pretty awesome things that my father has passed on to me. (remember, for the bulk of his career, dad was a deputy sheriff, so a lot of this is in that vein)

how to curse like a sailor in two different languages. english, and french. the french didnt stick, but the english did.

never, ever start a fight. but always finish it. finishing can be anything from walking away to beating the holy hell out of the other person. depends on the situation.

it is easier to beg forgivness than ask permission. and believe me, i tested the limits of this one.

never buy a pair of shoes that you cant run down a potential purse snatcher/attacker. now you know why i wore combat boots to the prom.

always watch animals, they know more than we do. its true, watch birds about an hour before a storm. they wont fly very high.

pay attention to your surroundings. know where the exits are at all times. and the bathrooms.

laugh. laugh hard and often. find humor in every situation. even if you really have to search to find it.

if you really love someone, fight to keep that love going. never ever let your partner think you dont care.

when you fire a gun, the dangerious end isnt the one that the bullet comes out of. the danger comes from the person holding the gun.

if youre bored, youre not trying hard enough to entertain yourself.

when you need help, ask for it. it doesnt mean youre weak, it means youre strong enough to know you need help.

see, my dad is a pretty awesome guy.

gawds i hate christmas music!

well, i do. im tired of hearing it from oct. 1st to jan. 1st. i sick to death of being told to have myself a merry little xmas. the next person to play it around me wll get a holly jolly boot in the pie-hole.

i still remember when i was a child, they would play carrols on a radio station all the time starting december 23rd. not EVERY station starting thanksgiving day. when did that change and why?

ive never been big into christmas. never. not even as a kid. ask my mom. by the time i could read "stocking stuffers" on the isle at target, the illusion was shot, you know? and despite my mother's insistance (and my husbands for that matter) that having the baby would change that... nope. still hate it.

admitedly, hate is a strong word. dislike. yeah, we'll go with dislike. i dislike the crass comertialism. i dislike the very obvious hipocracy. i dislike everybody comming at me from every direction telling me how much money they need me to give them. im all for charity, but guys, not all at once, ok?

but i have been cursed people. cursed. i love a man that loves christmas. loves it. every year a weekend is set asside to put up the tree and decorate the house. "national lampoons christmas vacation" plays in the dvd player over and over for at least a day. and lately ive been hearing brian setzers christmas album playing in the house. (its the only christmas album we can agree on)

so i suck it up. i listen to the music in the stores, brave the crowds, even pay out for the commertialism. all the while only slightly planing out murder senerios in my head. because theres always an upside to any holliday...

the cooking and baking.