Throwback Thursday: Life and Singing

9 years ago we were…So much younger!

Guest Post: Notes on an Ongoing Behavioural Cryptofamilial Study from B. D. Davis

Notes on an Ongoing Behavioural Cryptofamilial Study

B.D. Davis

 

Foreword

Current and future researchers know that our subjects are sentient, intelligent, and, crucially, literate. Findings must, nevertheless, be published. This creates an inherent conflict. My fellow researchers have reported their research findings (see above) with a strong overtone, even scaffolding, of humor. This is understandable as humor is often an effective barrier to the potential backlash from parties concerned. They are assuming, or perhaps just hoping, that the shotgun wielding nuns or Planeteers (as occasionally referred to) and their known associates will be misdirected from the coded ideas embedded within their works. This may be successful. Not being a risk taker, this is not how I will proceed.

Reported Findings

Guest Post: Ideologies and Struggles from Marcus Epps

Ideologies and Struggles

Pedagogy of Males in a Female-Dominated Household

By the Tall Dark Handsome One

Foreword

Me: “Look, Esther, Kevin set rules and guidelines for himself. I have no intentions of doing that.”

Esther: “You really should though.”

So, here are a few things that my wife instructed me to do when writing my section of the post:

1. No morbid sarcasm (emphasis hers)
2. Piggyback (or “froggyhop,” as she said in a moment of mental weakness) off of past posts for inspiration
3. Try not to just make fun of me the whole time

Isn’t there some saying that goes like, “Listen to your wife, or sleep on the couch for life”? Maybe I just made that up; in that case: ©2015.

Guest Post: Ramblings and Musings from Kevin Aagaard

Ramblings and Musings

Stream of consciousness from a grown up child

 KEVIN J AAGAARD

 neversuchdevotedsistersblog.wordpress.com is not an easy place to find. neversuchdevotedsisters.wordpress.com is easier, but someone already claimed that name. AND POSTED ONE THING EVER.

Anyway, I mentioned this Christmas break that I would be willing to take part in a guest post since it can be so hard to come up with things to talk about often enough to stick to a rigid schedule.

Really though, it seems like kind of a chore to consistently write blog posts, mostly because writing is boring and feels like homework. Worst of all is having to apply a filter to everything I say, so it can’t just be stream of consciousness. When I got right down to it, I realized I had to lay out some rules for myself.

RULES

1. Don’t be mean
2. Be fashionably literate.
3. That’s it.

On 37, briefly

Here I am, having recently completed my 37th year. From the perspective of the college students I direct and my younger cohort members, I can see that 37 sounds old, especially in its proximity to 40. Sometimes, like after two plus hours of contra dancing yesterday, I feel older. There is sadness sometimes that I don’t have some the things that many of the friends my age have–partner, children, steady job. Only sometimes, though. Much of the time, I feel great. My thirties is when I figured out (with the help of physical therapists) how to have a healthy, capable body. I am so glad for that. I have work that I enjoy and I’m working toward a degree that seems right. Most days I feel steadier–more accepting of me, with better knowledge of how to take care of myself and be real and present with whoever I’m with–than I did at 30 or even 35. I have great family and friends–with and without kids, partnered or not, working different kinds of jobs, and all thoughtful, intelligent, hard working, creative, supportive, funny, tolerant of my quirks. It’s a good life. I’m not sure what the future holds, especially after I finish school, but my 37th year was excellent and I’m trusting my 38th and beyond can be also.

Rach, thanks for coming for the annual Ethiopian birthday feast. It is so much nicer now that I don’t do all of the cooking. Remember the days of cooking all day for lots of people? Huzzah for Ethiopian restaurants and for the friends and family members who were able to make the drive to eat with me. Wish you could have all been there. I didn’t think to take any pictures of the festivities, but I did get some quality pictures of Miriam and I making faces together during the evening. I’ll mix them in as we go along.

Mind over matter

Like the millions of other Americans starting a new year with fitness resolutions, I’ve been thinking a lot about eating healthy and exercising regularly. At 23 I’m already finding it harder to stay fit than at 21!

Eating healthy

Marcus and I at a dance event two years ago. Look at how slender and lively we were! 🙂

In an effort to actually follow through on resolutions to eat healthier and lose weight, Marcus and I are starting our third bout of the whole30. (Bout makes it sound like a disease… And although the temptation to eat forbidden foods during the month does plague us, we find it quite the opposite of disease!) It’s a 30-day program where you focus on eating whole foods: veggies, fruits, meat, seafood, eggs, nuts, seeds, and unrefined oils. You cut out dairy, grains, refined sugar, refined oils, processed foods, and alcohol. I’ve felt great the last two times we did it. I no longer got a slump in the afternoon where I felt tired and drained. My body felt fueled and streamlined. Today is day 2, so wish us luck!

Our blog isn’t only about babies, it just seems like it sometimes…

Sisters,

Our blog is a bit baby crazy it seems, not that I mind too much. It will be sweet to look back at our posts about new babies and pregnancy in 5 or 10 years and see how much has changed. Friends and sisters who want to hear about other aspects of my life, be patient. Hopefully next week we’ll get some new perspectives, including a special guest post from two devoted husbands that isn’t baby related :-). Now, onto MORE BABY TALK!

I’m at week 26 and things are getting real! The baby moves a lot more, especially when my bladder is full. Lately, I’ll feel the need to go and it is urgent, because baby will start moving around and kicking up a storm. We went to see the Hobbit and baby boy seemed to really like it, he kicked so much Kevin could feel it too. We’re the weirdos in the movie theater now. Imagine, a thrilling fight scene on screen, and a pregnant lady with her husband’s hand on her belly, beaming. It seems extra special when Kevin can feel it too.

As I sit here nursing

Dear sisters,

You probably all know this already, but wow, do I love maternity leave. It is so wonderful to have so much free time. Of course there are demands on my time but still, I have the freedom to order my days how I want, which is such a gift after years of working full time. Over the past few years I have changed jobs so much that I didn’t really get time off, and when I took it, I never took more than a week at a time. I guess I had time off between jobs but that was all consumed by the stress of moving. Now? I have 12 glorious weeks, with no move or new job or major trip planned, just a lovely newborn to care for! 8 weeks are gone already though, so I only have 4 left. I wanted to share a little of how this time has been going, and my thoughts on keeping my life feeling good and balanced once I return to full time work.

It has been great being on leave over the holidays. I did not have to squeeze in holiday shopping and baking after work or on weekends. I made lots of yummy treats this year and actually handed out goodie bags to friends, something I haven’t done in ages. I’d like to keep that Christmas tradition going. Feeding people is one of my love languages, I think. I made peppermint bark, rich rolled sugar cookies, gingerbread cookies, gingerbread and coconut macaroons this year. This was all thanks to my sweet baby who takes long naps, bless her!

This year’s gingerbread cookies. I confess to being a control freak and frosting them all myself.