Cafeteria Nuggets of Wisdom

You know that feeling of stepping into a tub full of hot water?  It's the same as getting into a cold swimming pool, really--the extreme temperature change.  I always mutter, like I'm speaking in tongues.  It helps with the transition.  Ohlalalakooshalakalaka.  Something like that.  Or I'll add random actress names into my muttering, like Ohtadadahoocha-Reba McEntire-Swapadaily-Bonnie Hunt-Totolapahl-Cybill Shepherd-dddd.

I googled "Reba McEntire" just now in order to get the spelling of her name.  Weird.  Looks like it belongs in a McDonald's mission statement.  McTake over the McEntire McWorld with McFast McFood!   It's not how I would have guessed to spell her name.

So, I took a bath this evening with my Epsom salts and Japanese incense and brand new book by Martha Beck.  Have I told you lately that I love her?  She fills my heart with gladness.  Meanwhile, my dishwasher was running with nothing but a jar of vinegar in it, and my stove was running on the self-clean setting.  Still is.  It stinks.  These facts lead into my message of the day--the day before the last day of the school year--which is Things I Have Learned from being a Lunch Lady.  

1.  Being a Lunch Lady is hard work.  Lunch Ladies are not just squishy-armed women scooping up fluffy mashed potatoes.  They have muscles, chutzpah, and know-how.

2.  Students love tater tots.  I've mentioned this before.  And they would eat chicken nuggets everyday if given the option.

3.  My home, particularly my kitchen, is disgustingly dirty compared to our school kitchen.  Daily scrubbing of floors and biannual scrubbing of every inch of everything have brought me to this sad realization.  Hence the present dishwasher and oven cleaning.  If I take this realization to heart, I'll spend some time cleaning house next week.  (When I'm on break!  What?!  On Break!!!)

4.  I have become accustomed to the regular and comfortable use of the Southern contraction "ya'll" and have inevitably deepened my drawl.  Drawl, ya'll!  Howryu?  Goo-id, howryu?

5.  Summer break is good and necessary and well-deserved by teachers, students and Lunch Ladies alike.  It starts tomorrow, and it starts with a manicure.

Lunch Lady out.

Mojo Returning

I call it "Jenergy."  Because I recognized what was missing.  Because summer is drawing near.  My intention is to write a little bit everyday.  Today I submitted a story to three magazines to celebrate the return of inspiration and motivation.  Three magazines?  Three cheers!  Here's to the coming season.

Maydays

I'm starting to wonder if I'll ever write again.  I blame NaNoWriMo.  I burnt out in November and haven't been motivated since--not motivated to write blog posts, children's stories or the longer book project I started. Erglefrack.  I still attend my monthly writer's group, so at least there's that.  I am producing something, just not with my heart.  Help me, people!

What I have been motivated to do is work on the yard and plan/buy/cook fun food.  So I go with the flow of that motivation, enjoying these springtime pleasures, hoping I'll cycle back to regular writing again.

Also enjoying lately: United States of Tara.  Have you guys watched this show?  I just finished Season 2. I haven't been this interested in a show since the days of Gilmore Girls and Buffy.  Not to say it ranks up there with the Slayer (nothing does!), but it is so-o-o interesting, and Toni Collette is su-u-uch a good actress.  It's got me wondering who my own alters would be if I had Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID), which really is a fun psychological exercise.

That's the low-down, skinny scoop.  School's almost over for the year, and that makes me one happy Lunch Lady.

The Body's Own Ability!

I came across a liberating perspective about toxins in Well Being: Rejuvenating Recipes for Body and Soul, a self-care manual by Barbara Close. She says that traditional natural healers advise taking time in the spring to create detoxification rituals. Here's the liberating part:

The idea that the body needs to detoxify can be over-exaggerated, as the body naturally is very effective in cleansing itself. Many people become fixated on the concept of purging the body of parasites, yeasts, and toxins, with the idea that the body can reach a state of purity. This is a very punishing concept and one that has consumed human consciousness from early times, prompting ancient practices such as bloodletting. A far healthier notion is to support the body's own ability to detoxify via the circulatory and lymphatic system.

(Then she gives some recipes for teas and tonics that look divine and support the body's natural ability.)

Punishing concepts be damned! I'm not planning to go chug a gallon of high fructose corn syrup, but I am planning to honor my body and be grateful for its amazing ability to detoxify. I am sick and tired of thinking about all the toxins that make us sick and tired. I'm turning my attention to my strong and capable cells. And in my gratitude I will give my body supportive gifts, like lavender and lemon balm.

Speaking of lavender and lemon balm and taking time in the spring, I have been tending my yard and loving every bit of it. I did the bulk of the hard work the past few years, so now it's about maintenance and beautification. (Hmm, that speaks for more than my yard, doesn't it?) I just love this old yard, even though we rent the home and don't have lush green grass and can't walk without stepping on a pine cone or Sweet Gum ball. Already this season, kind neighbors and parents have given me parsley, persimmon, hydrangeas and a butterfly bush. (My favorite kind of gift is the kind I promptly bury in the dirt!) I've got such dreams, such beautiful visions for this spot of earth. And now I'm adding herbs to the dream, so I can create an herbal remedy chest for some of those divine teas and tonics.

Toxins and Perspective

It's Spring Break, and besides hanging with family and preparing to camp in the Smoky Mountains, I'm thinking perspective. I regularly need to look at the big picture in order to deal with the brush strokes that are everyday living, especially when I'm reading all this information about health and the mind-body connection and how food so greatly affects those things, and my level of whelm exceeds a mentally manageable amount.

Okay, so, we have this one wild and precious life, in which the days are long but the years are short, and there are so very many factors influencing us. There is history and geography and genetics and culture and politics and money and religion and planetary alignment and fear and fate and luck. There is upbringing and environment and weather and seasons and cycles. There is the personality and mood of the people around us. There is the song stuck in our heads. There is the insanely depressing amount of toxins we take in on a regular basis. SO MUCH IS OUT OF OUR CONTROL.

Okay, so, we have this one wild and precious life, in which the days are long but the years are short, and we have so very much power to influence it. And it always comes down to the moments. There is the moment my alarm beeps and I choose whether to wake up and practice yoga. There is the moment standing in the grocery store aisle or the kitchen pantry when I choose what to eat. There is the moment my kids are whining and crying and I choose whether or not to take a deep breath and consider their physical and emotional needs before I react. There is the moment I choose silence or radio, bath or TV, yard work or book, laundry or lounging, sleep or socializing. There is the moment I realize I am cranky and having a lousy day, and I can go with it or act the way I want to feel. There is song stuck in my head, and the moment I choose whether or not to sing, dance, howl. I have to acknowledge the forces beyond my control, and I have to remember that SO MUCH IS IN MY CONTROL.

The world is what it is, and I gotta be who I am--do my best and bless the rest. As for toxins, they suck. But I've got something they don't: perspective. And a liver. That's two things. Make it three: Spring Break! [Peace, man.]