But I’m Not a Housewife!
Domestic Bliss, EventuallyArchive for Health and Exercise
Millet For Breakfast
Hey y’all. I’ve got the sniffles, but the end of the semester is almost here! Two more days of teaching and then I get ready to see my family in California. Apparently there was just an earthquake there last night. Yikes! At least it wasn’t worse than that.
I’m starting a new habit of eating millet for breakfast. It’s a great whole grain and so fast and simple. We cook a large batch on Sunday (it’s so easy, just boil like rice) and keep it in a tupperware in the fridge. For breakfast, I just microwave a bowl full and add a little bit of honey, milk, walnuts, and raisins.
For those of you who are gluten free (though I’m not sure I believe that’s necessary) there it is a gluten free whole grain!!!
Blog Confession Number Four: I Kind of Like Goop
Image via New York Times, Feb. 22, Fashion & Style
A couple of weeks ago my husband passed me an article from the New York Times (Martha, Oprah … Gwyneth?) as we relaxed together that evening. He likes to show me articles that he thinks I’ll be interested in to turn me on to the Sunday New York Time. I do share his joy over the the Sunday paper, it’s just that, these days, I’ve usually got stacks and stacks of books which I’m trying to get through for my blog….These things take time.
Anyway, I have ambiguous feelings about Gwyneth Paltrow, which have recently swung towards the positive end since I finally rented Sylvia from the library. Her performance was so good, I couldn’t help but have warm feelings toward her, despite her many differences from me (I just like to relate to people).
And yet, I shy away from people who are born privileged with the slender physique that money can buy. People who have homes in the Hamptons and London and talk about the Kabbala, fasting and detoxification, and such New Agey stuff as “the Inner Aspect.”
Here’s how the Times introduced her new website:
The enterprise attracting the most media sniping right now? Goop.com, a lifestyle Web site and e-mail introduced in September that hits subscribers’ in-boxes on Thursdays with tips like “police your thoughts” and “eliminate white foods.” The site’s name is derived from Ms. Paltrow’s initials, and its slogan, “Nourish the Inner Aspect,” positions it deeply in the New Age realm.
As the current model for Tod’s, the Italian luxury brand, she looks at home lounging around like Grace Kelly — outdoorsy and to the manner born. It seems that despite several lowbrow films, an aura of pleasant and tasteful hauteur remains. So why is she suddenly on TV giving dieting and fitness tips, backing a gym, writing a cookbook and an online newsletter full of shopping advice, kabbalistic musings and discussion of the Master Cleanse?
See? You would think I would hate that! My husband had fun reading aloud snippets from the NYT criticism and from her website itself and we chuckled over it together, but when he was at work, late the next day, I found myself sneaking onto her site (and then telling him about it later for a laugh.)
And although she’s been criticized for her recommended reading list (which was compared to a high school reading list) and for her banana nut muffin recipe – “Does the world really need another banana muffin recipe?” asks Beth Wareham, in the NYT article. (Actually, I haven’t yet noticed said muffin recipe. There was a recipe for buckwheat and banana pancakes, which I found interesting because they lacked milk and eggs – and because the buckwheat crépes I’ve had at our favorite Crépere are really good!) And even though her travel sections firmly espouse a certain class level of which I’m not a part, as when recommends places to eat and stay in Paris and talks about being taken there by her father for a weekend getaway when she was a kid. And even though her holiday shopping guide include things like women’s watches for over $1,000 – well despite all that, I still kind of like it!
I like it’s simplicity (and yes, it has been compared to Real Simple magazine). The layout and photographs are calming. Her food sections are really my favorite and give me the hope that someday I’ll enjoy cooking for my family – which is the premise of a new cookbook she is working on. Most of all, her menu for a one week detox (something I don’t actually believe in) provides a healthier alternative to the fasting that is so popular and actually looks good! I’m not a dieter, but I’m always longing to find something which will inspire me to break out of my bad habits and make me feel clean and fresh and energized so that I can begin to live a healthier lifestyle from now and into the future.
So check it out and tell me what you think of it.
This is Why I’ve Always Been a Wallflower
I swear to God, this little girl dances better than I do!
On the other hand, with the number of people putting on leotards and dancing to Beyonce in their living rooms, maybe I wouldn’t look so foolish if I got up and danced once in awhile.
It seems that anybody who is anybody, is dressing in a leotard giving it a whirl.
Even Justin Timberlake has parodied this video on SNL. Not having TV seems to have put me 10 steps behind the rest of America.
This three year old knew the words to the song before I did:
If You’re Looking for a Good At-Home Workout: Bottoms Up!
It’s that time of year again, the time when I’m actually motivated to do something about the state of my spreading bottom. Years ago I found a particular exercise book at my mother’s house, by Joyce Vedral, that was so funny and yet informative, that I had to steal it. I was nearing age twenty-five and had finally decided it was time to get off my behind. Before I go on, take a look at the book cover:
LOL! At first I couldn’t take it seriously, because, I’m sorry Joyce, but who wants to look like that? (Well, in later books, she did update her hair.) But as I started reading it I really believed that she knew what she was doing and that she cared about people. She has a policy that she will write back to every person who contacts her with questions or success stories. What sold it for me was the before and after pictures she had put in the book; she really did look ten times better at 40 than at 25. And the best part – it is a work-out that you can do in your own home.
The truth is, despite the fact that my husband and I have a great gym membership through his work, I hate, hate, hate to go to the gym. Right now I’m lucky enough (for the first time in my life) to have found a girlfriend to walk several miles with me several times a week and that has been a great start, but when it’s time to up the anty, I’ll probably drag this book off the shelf again.
But I'm Not a Housewife! 