TheLionRampant.net

I’ve found that since cutting out caffeine, I’ve been taking more baths as a treat. (And because my back often hurts at the end of the day after carrying children all day long). And I’ve often brought in a book with me. It’s been nice to read for fun.

Here are my recent reads:
Recently Finished:
84, Charing Cross Road
The Enneagram: A Christian Perspective (Rohr)

Reading:
Small Wonder by Barbara Kingsolver (essays)
In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan

Reading aloud with DH:
44 Scotland Street by Alexander McCall Smith

Reading for my PhD (the novels anyway):
Defoe’s Moll Flanders
Charlotte Temple by Susanna Rowson (first American bestseller)

What are you reading lately?

Apparently both Bryce and I have a caffeine addiction. Or had one at any rate. And for all of you sitting smugly over your half-caf skinny latte, let me tell you, that we only had 1-2 cups a day. Of brewed coffee. Not fancy schmancy super-duper highly caffeinated espresso drinks. The first day, I missed my coffee but tried to feel extra thankful for my hot water (in lieu of a warm caffeinated start to my day) and in my shower. The second through fourth days were pretty awful honestly. I was in a fog. We went to bed at 8 PM and then felt exhausted when we woke up (with infant interruptions of course) 11 hours later. Apparently, besides providing you with your morning jolt, coffee also supplies various hormones to the body . I guess a daily cup of joe over time means that coffee provides you with those hormones and your body stops producing them.

Most people just get a “caffeine headache” when they go off caffeine. My guess is that Bryce and I have been functioning on caffeine for a long time. We’ve been perpetually tired and used a morning cup to get us going in the morning instead of consistent exercise and lots of water. The last few days were so bad I thought that I couldn’t really give up my morning cup, it was too painful. The worst of it was that since caffeine revs up your immune system both of our immune systems were hit full force when we quit cold turkey. I was congested immediately, which didn’t help the head fog feeling and Bryce has since contracted strep throat!

Sunday we are taking as traditional Lenten feast days and so had a cup of decaf in the morning. Bryce also had a cup of white tea to aid his detox (which should’ve been a slower weaning than a cold turkey dropping of caffeine). And because he has strep, he’s having juice since that’s about all he can swallow. He’ll get back to just water soon.

But get this: I feel amazing now. I’m tired but not lethargic. Even when I wake up tired within 2 hours I’m fully awake. I have more energy to be with my kids and my head is more clear than the ‘coffee clarity’ I’ve been used to. Granted, there have also been some residual benefits — I think it’s also helping me not crave other bad foods (my sugar intake has really decreased too) and I find myself really enjoying and craving more water and lots of healthier foods, like spinach.

I’m also discovering how much I turn to beverages for comfort: coffee in the morning, tea in the afternoon, a glass of wine or a cocktail after a long, hard day. It’s helpful to purge myself of this, if only to see what I turn to for meaning instead of Christ.

Bryce and I are going to do 40 Days of Water to benefit Blood:Water Mission over Lent. We’ll just be drinking water — no morning coffee, no beer or wine, no juice or milk. Just water. At the end of the 40 days you donate what you would’ve spent on drinks to Blood:Water Mission. It’s a practice in sympathetic imagining — stepping into the shoes of the world’s poor who do not have a choice about what beverage to consume and who often have to make tremendous effort just to get water.

Anyone in with us?

Dear blog readers:

If it were not for your blog reader or RSS feeds, you would likely not even bother to look at our blog anymore. As it stands, I hope you’ll see this one and know that I’d like to post more. With the advent of Facebook and Twitter, it seems I can keep tabs on friends without reading blogs and anything intelligent I might want to share I can do so in the space of 140 characters. I think blogging, though, has its own appeal and I shall try to update the blog more often than once a quarter!

Here’s a short update (more thought-provoking stuff and pictures later): We’ve moved into our first home in November 2009 and love it, love it, love it. It’s a beautiful, comfortable spot with an endless list of fun projects to work on. We also have become legit Utahns as we traded in our Scion xB for a snow-worthy Subaru Outback. Now it’s harder to find our car, but it’s nice to feel safe driving after a snow (and coincidentally after Ashley had a fender bender skidding out during a snow fall). We also, have very sadly, given our beloved dog to another family. We weren’t able to give him enough attention and walks and Ezra liked wrestling a bit too much (and pulling his ears) with him. We are convinced it was a good decision for us at this time and the family he’s now with is great — 5 kids who love on him all the time, without any wee ones who want to crawl all over him. We love you and miss you Francis! We are looking forward to visiting him in a month or so (he now lives about 30 minutes from us).

In other news, we are getting into the swing of the spring semester. Bryce is working hard with RUF, we’re having students over regularly which is fun for me and the kids, and I’m getting 2 mornings a week to work on my PhD. Ezra is in a music class where he enjoys dancing around and banging on drums and we have a lovely Mom’s group at church. Porter is at 10 months (!) starting to walk and is a delight for us with his ever-cheerful demeanor.

“Cheese!”

Halfway through the month and I’m not too sick of the dress. Have now washed the dress twice.

Sorry for the lack of Dress Project posts.

Here is today’s:

One of the first days I’ve actually not worn pants or tights underneath (though, this may have to change once I go outside again). My red boots are sure getting a lot of use! I’m finding that I’m being much more adventuresome in my clothing combos than normally — ‘normal’ often consists of picking whatever’s on the top of my drawer. I hadn’t ever gone out with a dress over pants before. Now I really don’t care too much what people think or say about my clothing choices, so that’s a nice change.

The kitchen

Downstairs Bath

Master Bedroom (incl. dining room with plaster that needs some fixing). We plan to knock out the wall between the
dining room and bedroom to make a master suite.

Basement bedrooms

AND SOMETHING THAT’S FINISHED!! Bryce sanded, stained and dyed our Living Room floors. Aren’t they gorgeous?

If you want to see them bigger, check out the Flickr photoset.

Wearing pants, tights or leggings under the dress makes me forget that I am even wearing a dress…almost.