Dancin' Fool

The boy loves to dance. He bops his head to the radio, any songs on TV, and even commercials. For anyone who sees him only when he's shy and sedate, here's proof that the kid can move.

In this next one he's starting to get tired, and he makes sure you know not to play with the buttons on the TV and that there's a big light attached to our ceiling. Just so you know.

Belly Dance Video

It was too big to upload to the blog, so you can find it on YouTube here.

He Speaks!

Other favorite words are "baby," "uh-oh," "no no," and "bah-pu," which means light or clock or "hey, there's something over there!" Oh, and he said "keys" the other day.

"Yeah" is his favorite response to questions, though he will say no when he means no. A couple weeks ago the nursery leaders told James that Atty was the only one who would answer any of their questions, always with an enthusiastic "yeah!" Do you like coming to church? Yeah! Do you like nursery? Yeah!

I just love this boy.

My Belly's Debut

Here it is in all its flabby glory, right between the two tall, skinny chicks.

Spring Fest, as this event was called, was a whole lot of fun. It was great to see all the other performers and costumes and funky accessories. I may have the most flab in my class, but I was certainly not the flabbiest dancer there. And one dancer looked like she was about to give birth. I was so proud of her for being there in all her pregnant glory. Because at some point, you just have to get over what you look like, or what you think you look like, right? Just get out and have fun and do what you want to do. That's why I started belly dancing, and that's why I'm going to continue.

A blurry photo of one of my favorite moves. Atty was trying to eat the camera, so we're lucky to have a photo at all.

I'm not saying I wasn't at all self-conscious, or that I wouldn't have liked to have been several inches smaller in several places. But it didn't keep me off the stage, and it didn't keep me from having fun and shimmying my booty off.

If any of you Salt Lakers want to join me for the next performance, come take classes from my fantastic teachers at Hathor Dance. (Don't let their dramatic photos put you off--they're all totally friendly and good to work with.)

5 Things that Make Me Smile Today

1. Striped socks. Love love love them.

2. Folding clothes to REO Speedwagon and Fleetwood Mac.

3. Watching Atty dance to REO Speedwagon and Fleetwood Mac.

4. Having dinner ready before 3 p.m. so I can go to the temple later. (Baked ziti with sausage and spinach. Made enough for two meals so I can freeze one. Even better.)

5. Comfortably wearing a sweater that was too snug last time I tried it on.

What are you happy about today?

The secret to good hummus

Cumin. I don't know why it took me this long to figure it out. It's not in a lot of recipes, so I'd make hummus and it just didn't taste quite right. I'd add more garlic, more lemon, more tahini, more salt, and it still tasted, as James put it, like canned garbanzo beans. Edible, but not great.

Then, when I was following the Ornish super-low-fat-reverse-heart-disease diet, I followed his recipe for hummus, which had no tahini and no oil but had a healthy amount of cumin. And even James liked it, which is saying a lot. Ok, so I added a touch of tahini--just enough to add that smoky slightly bitter tinge that makes hummus so wonderful. And now I add cumin to hummus even when the recipe doesn't call for it, and it makes all the difference.

And today I used my fresh hummus in a very tasty dish: Mediterranean pita "pizza" (a slightly modified version of a recipe from my friend Heidi Herway). Toasted pita, hummus, chopped tomatoes tossed with s&p and dried basil, and feta. Then put under the broiler until the tomatoes warm up a little and the cheese melts. YUM!! Holy cow, this was just what I wanted today. Warm and creamy and tomato-y and very satisfying.

In Atty news, he's figured out how to pull a chair over to the counter to get things previously out of reach. Which brings on that motherly mix of feelings--pride and thrill at his accomplishments, and dread that now nothing will be out of reach.

Lunch!

Lunch today was so tasty I just had to share. I guess you could call it a Southwest chicken salad, but I just threw it together: baby spinach, black beans, chicken breast, red peppers, avocado, and a dressing of sour cream and salsa. YUM!! I enjoyed every bite.

And it was just 450 calories! Even with full-fat sour cream!

I've started a new diet. Yes, I know, diets don't work long-term, but I'm going for a short-term fix here. See, I'll be baring my tummy in a belly dancing festival in 4 1/2 weeks, and my tummy isn't ready to be bared. So I'm hoping to lose about 10 lbs before then.

Which means I'm working out more and eating more carefully. I'm following the Prevention "Flat Belly Diet," which can be summed up as four 400-calorie meals a day, each of which must contain a "MUFA", or monounsaturated fatty acid rich food (nuts, avocado, olives, olive or canola oil, dark chocolate).

Limiting my calories to 1600 per day is doable but more challenging than I expected. Getting to eat foods I love (nuts, avocado, olives, and dark chocolate) makes it much easier than it would be otherwise.

So far the pounds aren't melting off as quickly as I'd like them to, but I am moving incrementally in the direction I want to go. Wish me luck!