"Crow" - Yoga Pose

While blow-drying my hair a few minutes ago I raised my left arm and saw a series of light green and purple bruises on the inside fleshy part of the arm.  I raised my other arm and saw the exact same thing.  It looked like someone had grabbed me and pressed their fingers into my arms.  What was going on?

Then I remembered--crow.  Crow is a pose in yoga where you place both palms flat on the floor, place your knees inside your armpits, then lean forward and raise your feet, balancing your entire body on both palms.  I'm not quite able to keep my knees in my armpits just yet so they dig into the backs of my arms, hence the bruises.  BUT, I held the pose for about 7 seconds today with my feet high off the ground so I am most excited.  Crow rocks!

Our instructor promised we'd try headstands next week.  Aaaiieee.  I tried to do one against a wall this morning and now have to figure out how to repair major plaster damage from where my feet slammed into the wall.  The noise sent the cats running...it was not a pretty sight.

Someday I'm sure all this yoga training will kick in and I'll be as graceful as the wind.  Until then, I'm carrying drywall paste around with me to repair the damages.

Land Tycoons

We just bought more land.  A big chunk (well, big for our neighborhood - maybe an acre?) of land behind and just to the left of our house went up for sale this week.  Blair has had his eye on it for awhile now.  My eye, however, was not.

Blair wanted to buy the land to protect our property. I saw no need for such a move as we already bought a section of land behind our house to protect the itsy-bitsy plot of land we started out with.  As it stands, we NEVER go into our backyard except to mow.  The mosquitoes are knee deep and you take your life in your hands walking through there after dusk.  I won't do it without an emergency blood transfusion bag in my purse.

So it seemed silly to me to purchase more land that we could not use.  Blair saw it differently.  Our conversation went something like this:

Him: "I want to buy that land behind our house."

Me: "No."

Him: "It's cheap."

Me: "No."

Him: "It would protect our land."

Me: "No."

Him: "What if someone buys it and puts a junky car lot out there?"

Me: "There's already a junky car lot just up the street and that doesn't bother us.  Props to him for expanding."

Him: "What if apartment housing goes up?"

Me: "There's already apartment housing next to this piece you want to buy.  Seems to me you're just moving us closer."

Him: "But--"

Me: "No."

Him: "Ah--"

Me: "No."

Long Pause

Him: "How about because I want it and it would make me feel great to have it?"

Oooh, he's tricky!  He never asks for anything and now I see why.  He's been saving up for this moment.  He indulges me and indulges me and it's all been a plot so he can have this mosquitoe-infested land of his dreams. But he looks so cute.

"Okay," I say.

"Great." He smiles.  He really is cute.

I'll just buy a lot of bug spray.

The Decorating Diaries

When we last left our heroine she was surrounded by paint samples and fabric swatches, fighting to retain her sanity.  Sadly, the battle was not to be won.

Enter the decorator.  Having proved time and again they are incapable of bringing together matching prints on their own, our favorite couple has  sought the services of a professional (decorator, not therapist...not yet anyway). The decorator took them shopping, showed them pretty things and promised it could all be theirs.

One teeny-tiny problem.  Said decorator came in with a budget DOUBLE of what our duo had allocated.  Being the calm, nurturing soul that she is, our heroine (that's me) pitched what may best be described as "a hissy fit." Decorator woman backtracked and cut her cost in half, but much of the pretty stuff was taken away. Settee?  Gone.  Black table with beautiful inlaid gold-leaf trim?  Buh-bye.  Pretty red leather boxes that would look oh-so-cute perched precariously atop a walnut armoire?  No boxes, no armoire. 

Hope remains.  It appears our duo is on the verge of picking out--and committing to--fabric selections for bedding and curtains as well as paint.  Could this be the turning point in the bedroom gone horrible awry?  Will our couple finally find the warm, romantic, yet not overly frou-frou or decadent looking environmental solace they've been seeking?  Stay tuned...

How Cool Is This Blog Looking?

Not that I take much credit.  My super-cool friend and Lessons In Stalking website designer Melody Watsonhas been busy behind the scenes on my behalf. She has the patience of a saint.  Our e-mail conversations consist of me saying something along the lines of "I want a blue background," then turning around when Melody provides said blue background and saying, "This isn't right.  Do you have anything in yellow?"  She also doesn't complain when I send her 50 consecutive e-mails with the subject heading "One More Thing."

I've added some pics to my picture gallery so don't forget to take a peek.