Pulling a functional family out of my hat.

The meaning of my blog Healthy Happy Mom 40, is because I am working hard to fully be connected to myself. I will be 40 years old in two years and I want a hot bod, financial, physical and personal freedom, a happy family, healthy children, and a passionate relationship. I am working towards achieving these things. I want to feel like I look in pictures, vibrant, alive, together. I have realized that spending all day with my daughters is helping me to achieve this inner utopia. Since they are watching me and I am watching them 24/7 we are each other's sounding boards for what is and isn't working in our family. We are honoring what we think works and we've coined the phrase "do over's" when we discover something that doesn't work, like yelling, screaming, impolite speaking, rudeness etc. Basically we try to repeat the things that make us feel good and discard the things that leave ill feelings behind. This is much easier said than done, but it does give me a starting point for achieving my bliss filled existence, and a moral compass for them to follow in the direction of a functional family. Functional Family, is the key phrase, we needed! Our goal is to stay and remain a functional family. This isn't a magic trick it's just good old fashioned love and respect. With this in mind, I will find the motivation to workout at least three times this week, hot body here I come!

Little Ladies Big Momma

I spoke with my grandmother this morning, and finally told her that we decided to homeschool. Shock and horror! She was mortified, beside herself, "those girls need to be in school", she screamed! So I had to break it down for her. I am very fortunate to be able to stay home and educate the girls. She thinks I have them locked in a dungeon and I am teaching them how to weave their own clothes. I had to politely explain that my number one goal in life is to be happy and have peace of mind. I do everything with a sense of joy Wake up people, welcome to the new earth, where entrepreneurs can carve out a dream existence of their own design.

The girls changed the school uniform to high fashion choices. We also decided that they could pick our their dream career and start now. Sutchat wants to be a popular mean girl, and Sassy decided to be a fashion designer. We went out on the town, pretending that they were already successful business women. We snapped shots that fit, their career choices and they each learned how to behave properly in a meeting. If I focus on maintaining an authentic connection with them and my own life, we seem to grow. A good online friend forwarded a new homeschool resource to me for Black families. Excellent! I am slagging behind on language development, I really need to invest a few thousand in more Rosetta Stone kits.

I have realized that when you do the right thing for you and the right thing for your family the reward is great. I have also come to understand that not all choices are right for all people. As a matriarch and a woman, I have to be unafraid to make choices that are right for the type of life and legacy I want to have and leave for our children. Here's to individuality.

A Connection to Family, Environment, and Earth

When I told my close friends that I was homeschooling, they remarked that they need their off time during the day, that it was their "me" time. I work to find pockets during the day for alone time, but the time I spend with my daughters IS "me" time. The better title would be "we" time. I look at it like this. I could be stuck in an office somewhere separated from them for the whole day, as so many hard working mom's are. I am so grateful for this experience. Now we can leisurely approach our day together. I can now find more time for little projects around the house that are excellent teaching tools for school. One of those projects is turning the Oakland backyard into an Oasis for playing and having fun. This week we used horticulture to study science. There are so many living things in a backyard. We worked on creating habitats for all of the creatures that like to eat from our garden, and we studied the food chain. Together the girls and I solved a problem we had been having for a year with our garden. Cat Poop!

We learned that cats do not eat and go to the bathroom in the same place. So we took some leftover salmon skin (from the delicious dinner we cooked with fresh herbs from the garden) and strategically placed it around the outskirts of the garden to maintain friendly contact wit the cats, but only to eat from our garden, not poop in it. Tremendous results. Homeschooling has given us a connection to one another, our environment, and the earth. We are truly fortunate to have this time together.

The Digital Age

Following the California State Standards is a must. This will insure that the girls continue to get report cards as well as take the standardized tests. If I am to keep them moving up in grade levels I realize I will have to work within the system. The exciting part for us is to see if they can score higher on these tests under our tutelage.

Home School, A leap of faith

We started out on our own time, in a relaxed and calm way. It was decided we would stay home, no field trips, no errands. This meant that I would skip Pilates with Keyetta, a sacrifice. The real first class of the day was Home Economics, Sasen found a Cheesy Scrambled Egg Recipe in Chop Chop Magazine. Mr. Wise "taught" the class and assisted. They completed the meal with toasted tortilla's. Sasen set up the school like a professional.

First Day of HomeSchool

Today I stopped waiting to exhale about one more thing. I am breathing HOMESCHOOL. I've made a very specific set of rules for myself. The first, 1. I will take this one day at a time. I refuse to feel overwhelmed. I've decided to let Ramses remain in school because he is receiving a proper education, and he has had and continues to have the benefit of supplemental education at home. Second Rule, 2. Follow the rules, I did my research I found out that there is a pretty awesome, inter-district support system, that will ensure that the girls get report cards and take the state tests! My soul sister Celina reminded me to make sure they socialize with their peers. So I exchanged numbers with teachers and parents so we can meet up with their old classmates on field trips, holiday and special events! This gave me an important tool to implement my third rule 3.Remember that this was their choice respect the time and remember it may be temporary. I have to make this rule so that I don't get demanding, grandiose, or a false sense of martyrdom. This is really important so that I don't break my fourth rule, 4. Do not pass on my bad habits in school. This is going to be my biggest challenge because it requires much more discipline in my behavior than I have energy to change right now. My fifth rule 5. Do not attempt to do this alone, I have asked ten people whom I love and trust to assist with different subjects.

Rule six 6. Rock the curriculum we will work to meet the state standards in Math, Science, English Language Development, Geography, World History and Social Science, Physical Education, Visual and Performing Arts, World Languages (we've chosen Arabic, Japanese, Spanish, and French. My friend Marcia assured me reaching the state standards was possible once you don't have to concentrate on 30 children. I am resurrecting Health and Home Economics and will teach them how to care for their hair, skin, body, cook and sew. I created these additional classes. Financial Education, the class will cover understanding how money works, the rules of true wealth, real estate investing for capital gains and passive income (receiving checks in the mail) and creating streams of income, with low overhead that fit into your life. Spirituality, incorporating faith, with works, and internal wisdom, to develop strength and personal power. Agriculture this class will cover how to grow flowers, food, and create insect(bug) habitats that ensure a rich harvest. Environmentalism, this class will cover respecting the planet from your room, to your property, and every where you stand while contributing to it's clean up. Animal Husbandry, this class will cover understanding the food chain, caring for animals, respecting wildlife, gaming, hunting, fishing, slaughtering, curing, storage, and cooking. I'm off!

Carnival San Francisco 2010

May 30, 2010 I found a way out of my rut. Carnivale San Francisco. I was invited to dance the three and half miles (I thought it was 14 miles) through my mission district neighborhood. Hoping to jump start my motivation to lose my stomach, I agreed to it. I wore the bikini costume because I love bikini's but my stomach wasn't behaving. Although I did seem to fit in with the islander's view on nice bodies, big and healthy and my daughters were complimentary, but they may still be too young to understand how it was for mommy before I had babies.

I don't think it's unhealthy or unreasonable to want the flat stomach. Some people are literally like "give up" or my favorite "you look fine" but I know where I want to go with my body, and a flatter stomach is where I want to be. Check out my "meaty middle" and then look at your own and decide where you want to go. I must admit I did feel very healthy and sexy the entire time. Only the french fry shaped girls were giving me the eye, but they were to shy to do anything else. HA!

I'm going to keep eating my prunes, ridding my body of waste, and remember the rules for a flat stomach, no soda, beer, fried foods, nothing white (bread, rice, crackers etc), crunches, and strength building in every work out. I think I can... I think I can... I think i can...

Lost In Time

Me and my workout are stuck in a rut, and afraid to get out. I am a gutless wimp with no back bone. The older I get the harder it becomes to maintain my dreamy state of existence. I am starting to give in to fear of making a wrong decision, and not making any at all. I know from past experience that I must stop this immediately. How on earth do I stop? I guess I must start with the basics. Time to make a new video. I am an exhibitionist and I know it. The hermetic life has served me well but sharing information is how we grow as a culture I cannot fear it. I am inspired by love and must give it, receive it, nurture it, cherish and chastise it. I am sure that it is the driving force behind all that I can do. So this is my pledge, starting to day i will not be afraid to give and show love to the fullest of my ability, despite how it twists, and changes me. Let me show you what love feels like tonight")))