I Made It To Another Book!

(Notice I said "To" another book and not "Through" another book.)

How goes the Read Through the Centuries Project you ask? GREAT! I read The Scarlet Letter!

Oh hey....did that not impress you? Are you sitting there saying..."Wait...didn't you read that back in 2010?" and then did you think "and waaaait...didn't you say you were going to do some follow up on it once you finished?"

Yes and yes.

I read it awhile ago- what can I say, I'm slow. As for follow up....here it is:

I read it! It was good! You should read it! Don't let your Tenth Grade Self tell you it was stupid and boring! Your tenth grade self doesn't know what he/she is talking about! 

There's my follow-up. That is probably going to be what 'follow-up' will look like for this project. If I give myself too many responsibilities like Writing More Than Three Sentences- I'm going to quit. I just know it. We don't want that. So we are going to institute a "Did You Like It? Check Yes Or No" policy on the rest of the books in the project. I will write more if I'm moved to do so, if not, then not.

Plus, the point is just to read a variety of books, not to get all academic and whatevs. Not that there is anything wrong with that of course.

So ON to the next book!  Which is...(drum roll)...Go Tell It On The Mountain by James Baldwin. I picked that up in the library today. I was a history major in college (which probably explains this project) with a concentration in African American Studies (who knew right?!) so this book practically jumped off the shelf and said READ ME.

And who am I to turn down some poor lonely book when it just wants to be read and loved? No sir, I will not reject a book that throws itself at me in that way. 

Ok, so that might be an exaggeration. The book just informed me that it "in no way threw itself at me like some cheap paperback romance and that if I don't tell the real story its going to march it's cute little binding back to the shelf from whence it came".

Well ok, Book. I'll tell the "real" story. I was the one seduced by the shiny cover and the interesting sounding write up on the back. There. Happy now? Geez...books these days.

Although, I seem to remember that it MIGHT have shimmied itself a little in my direction. I refuse to take all the responsibility.

Anyway, I will start reading it as soon as I finish rereading The Memory Keeper, which I'm almost finished. I read that one before I had a kid, so its proving interesting to read again afterward. Its a good one. I recommend it. (And its recent for all you Don't Like Old Books people).

Now, thanks to this post, all I'm going to be thinking about for the rest of the day is why book is pronounce book and not b-ew-k. Cause that's how its spelled. English- who wrote the rules for this language?!

Wordless Wednesday: My Favorite Guy

Cross post: Yoga for Kaylee- Baby Picture

This is an earlier picture of Kaylee. I can't tell how old she is in this picture- it's so hard for me to judge age when it comes to...well anyone...but she's much younger than she is now.

Look how happy and smiley she is. As it says in the description on her page, "she looked so joyful in an earlier picture, but now she looks like she just wants to get home". I think that's an apt description. In her earlier picture she does look joyful. Full of life.

In her current picture she just looks...weary. Like she wants to get home- just like her description says.

I know that there is a family out there missing a little girl- because she's living in an orphanage waiting for them. The costs of international adoption are so high that any family, even those we would consider 'very comfortable', would have a hard time coming up with the amount in the *relatively* short time frame required for adoption.

That is the purpose of Reece's Rainbow and the purpose of my project- to raise money to make the financial burden easier for a family that wants to bring Kaylee home. To her home.

She has a birthday coming up in a few months. She will be five years old and as it says on her page: "Judging by her age, she is probably facing imminent transfer away from the baby house to the institution".

This little girl already looks so sad and weary. I can't imagining how disheartening it would be for her to be taken from the only place she's known and the people that now care for her in the baby house to an institution.

If you have a few extra dollars- please send them Kaylee's way. No amount is too small- as even $1.00 is $1.00 that wasn't there before. Five people giving $1.00 is $5.00. One hundred people giving $1.00 is $100. Dollars add up.

I know the economy is horrible and so many people have so little, I truly understand! but if you can spare anything to support my project and help Kaylee, that 'anything' will help her more than we know.

Listening to Your Body: Going for the Long Run Instead of the Now

For the last week and a half, my yoga practice looked, on paper, very boring. During the past week and a half, I did Rodney Yee's AM Yoga. Everyday. For a week and a half. And it was just what my body was asking me for. I just had to listen to it.

AM Yoga is what I call a 'Relax-y Stretchy' practice. Not too physically taxing, probably doesn't burn a lot of calories, but very beneficial nonetheless.

One day about two weeks ago, I was feeling really drained. The thought of doing any kind of yoga was not really what I wanted to think about. Was I burning out? Would I be able to continue this project? I wanted to sit on the couch. Rest. Sleep. Anything but Downward Dog or Push-up Pose.

So I did what I usually do when I'm feeling that way. I did AM Yoga. Most of AM Yoga takes place while lying down. It's so non-taxing that I can keep a heavy hoodie on the whole time. And thick socks. There's only one downward facing dog and you only stand up once. Perfect. Thank you, Rodney Yee!

The next day, I felt the same way- so AM Yoga made a reappearance. Same with the day after that. Once I regained more energy, I was ready for something new, but then I pulled something in my shoulder (not yoga related) and couldn't lift my arm over my head without pain- so AM Yoga it was again. At that point, with more energy, I wanted to do something more athletic- I had calories to burn after all!

"You're going to get out of shape!", my brain told me. "All you eat is- as we speak- GOING TO YOUR THIGHS!"

I quietly listened to my brain...and then told it "to not be silly...doing too much right now would be detrimental" and again slipped AM Yoga into my DVD player. I really did want to do something a little more challenging, mostly because I felt like I needed to be burning calories (that is a hard mindset to re-set as a female, I think). BUT...I also needed to heal my shoulder. Pushing myself could mess it up more, and could put a major damper on the rest of my Year of Yoga. So despite my "I need to burn calories NOW" mentality, I went with the "I need to heal for the long run" reality. So I kept playing that AM Yoga DVD day after day until my shoulder felt better. Then I did it one more day for good measure.

I'm glad I did. Today I was able to do the more athletic (and aptly named) Yoga for Athletes by Baron Baptist. That's one of my faves and I've had it forever. Tried and true. Tomorrow I'll probably do Yoga for Stamina with Rodney Yee. Also tried and true.

My week and a half of "easy" yoga had not caused me lose strength or flexibility. It healed my shoulder fully and I was downward dogging it up on the mat today- just as strong and actually MORE flexible than before (thanks Relax-y Stretchy yoga!).

The moral to this experience: Listen to your body. It's usually smarter than you. :)

Donations!

I am so excited to report that Kaylee's adoption fund is a little bit bigger today!!! Thank you to anyone who has donated based on this project, and thank you to all of those who are keeping Kaylee and this project in your thoughts and prayers! Its working!

Since the donations go through Reece's Rainbow, I don't find out who donates and that is ok- but if you'd like to let me know privately of your support, or if you'd like your name to appear on the right of the Yoga for Kaylee blog as a sponsor (first name only is ok), please email me! I'd love to get a list of sponsors going! If you'd like to be anonymous...that's ok too, though. :)

Thanks again for all the support! It means a lot to me, but it means even more to sweet Kaylee.

Yoga for Kaylee

As you might have read in previous posts, in November 2010 I gave myself a goal to do yoga six days a week every week for the month of November and that this was an attempt to breathe life back into the 'once in awhile' yoga practice that I had not-so-much-going. Then when I completed the month of November, I realized how much I really enjoyed the daily yoga practice and was starting to see some benefits, so I decided to do one more month. Then I decided to do a whole year.

Since then, I completed one and a half more months of yoga and discovered Reece's Rainbow. I spent every night for a week pouring over the faces of the beautiful children who need families, wishing there was more that I could do. One little girl's face kept coming back to me, and I wished there was something else I could do for her. After much more scouring of the website, I found out that I could be a 'Warrior' for her- by making a commitment to advocate and try to raise awareness and funds for her adoption grant. That is something I can do.
Not long after, while I was doing one of my daily yoga practices, I realized- why don't I do my Year of Yoga for Kaylee! People raise money for marathons and triathlons and all kinds of things- why not for yoga?

So I have now decided to not only do a Year of Yoga for my own health and well being, but to help raise awareness and funds for a little girl who needs a family.

I am keeping a separate blog for that project which is connected to a different email address (it also has my real name attached, so...now you know) :). Eco-ing Myself is kind of my personal thing, and I don't really want ALL my family and friends knowing about it. Maybe that sounds weird, but if I know some of my family (who I DO want to know about the Yoga for Kaylee project) are reading it, then I also know that I will subconsciously edit myself and that is something I don't want. I will still be posting about some yoga things here- I will probably cross post from there to here- but on this blog I will also be talking about food, my Read Through the Centuries Project (only two chapters left on The Scarlet Letter!), and other random thoughts and musings that I have. So please continue to read this blog if you are already doing so!  Most everything going on at my other blog will be going on here, but not everything going on here will be going on over there if that makes sense.

Also, please read along with my Yoga for Kaylee journey! I know the economy sucks and lots of us don't have a lot of extra, but if you'd like to sponsor me per month or just to make a one time donation- every little bit helps! The money goes directly into a fund to help Kaylee's future family cover the high costs of international adoption and is tax deductible. Many families want to adopt, but the financial aspect is daunting. Reece's Rainbow helps families realize their calling to adopt a special needs child by providing ways to offset these costs.

If you are not able to donate financially at this time- positive thoughts and prayers are very valuable! Your prayers for Kaylee, Kaylee's future family, and for a successful yoga fundraising campaign are much appreciated!

Thanks for continuing to read Eco-ing Myself. I truly enjoy writing this blog, and I truly appreciate all those who read it.

Namaste!

Update: Reading Through the Centuries Project

I am still working on Black Beauty and will post at least once more on that one before I’m through with it. I use it as a springboard for my Victorian Era horsemanship studies, so it’s not just a pick up and read through kind of book since I make notes as I go.

I read a couple of modern books over the Christmas holiday, I read Broken by Lisa Jones, which is a really interesting book about the author’s friendship with a Arapaho healer and horse trainer in Wyoming. I recommend it. I am also still working through Women Who Run with the Wolves, which I read when I am in the mood for self reflection and working on my psyche.

I started another book for the Read Through the Centuries Project, which is The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. I read this one before, but it was in the tenth grade and I must say that I’m probably getting way more out of it now than I did when I was 15. I don’t remember much about what I thought of it back then- it isn’t one of the ones that I remember hating vehemently (Dangling Man is one of those) so I probably thought it was ok; but the fact that I don’t remember too much about it means that I didn’t get as much out of it as I should have.

The reason I picked it is because I found it in my boxes of books in the basement and it meant that I couldn’t have to a) leave the house and b) spend any money. Although, it doesn’t seem like I spent much on it when I did buy it- the version I have is the Dover Thrift Edition, which according to the back cost $1.00. We’re big spenders over here at casa Hope.

I’m currently on chapter ten of The Scarlet Letter and I’m really enjoying it. It is a really good book. I mean, I realize that it’s a ‘Classic’ and there must be a reason that high school students across the country are forced to read it; but I tell ya, that Nathaniel Hawthorne really knew how to weave a tale.

The symbolism and the commentary on the human soul…Deep, man. Deep.

What I will probably do with the books in the RTCP, is a brief background post (key word being brief) and then a post or two of my favorite quotes or passages. I’m not a book critic, and summaries are boring (and I’d rather people, you know, read the book), so I feel like giving some background and then some good quotes struck me as a fair enough plan. Then I won’t get overwhelmed and feel like I’m doing book reports. It’s not that serious- I’m really just trying to get myself to read interesting stuff I might not pick up otherwise.

So, there you have it. I will continue reading, and if you don’t have a book currently in progress, might I recommend The Scarlet Letter?