Day 4: A New Challenge

   I realize that kids are a blessing, blah, blah, blah..... I love them, they are incredible, wonderful demon seeded spawn of satan... At least when I'm trying so hard to do things right. I woke up a little before 7, actually having a full nights sleep!!!! I feel wonderful! And motivated, and energized, and ready for all of the fun exciting things that are going to happen this weekend, such as.... grocery shopping, aaaand, um, well I'm sure we can dream something up. The weather is supposed to be pretty hinky, and for all of the great things I hope to accomplish, not one of those entails my ass out in the cold. I hate the cold, I'm still not even sure how I've managed to stay in Montana as long as I have... I'm sorry, I know that a lot of you enjoy skiing and snowboarding and snowmobiling and ice skating, but I walk outside and all I can think is it's too damned cold! So most of my activity in the winter is inside, or lack there of, as has been the case in the past. As I said I woke up a couple of hours ago, and and I fixed the boys a nice breakfast, and made myself the standard egg white sandwich combo that I have enjoyed the last couple days. We all ate while the kids watched cartoons and then I got up to do my yogo/dance cardio that I have done the last four days. Um, remember yesterday I predicted some laughter from the kids... yeah, that isn't nearly as easy to endure as you would think, especially when they are participating with you, and doing faaaar better, while pointing and laughing. I realize this sounds petty, but it makes it hard to concentrate!!!! The good that comes out of this, however, is that the boy who is generally wound up for the first few hours of the day, well he's all chilled out now, and the one who would rather sit and sit and sit (that's my boy!!!) He want's to get up and do stuff! So I suppose, if it means the kids can get something good out of this too, the possitives will keep adding up.
   Now for the most exciting part of my day, we all get to go get groceries. I did go the other day, and found that Albertsons really could not care less about produce, so off to costco we go to brave the saturday crowd. After having lived in Missoula for so long, a wonderful land of hippies, and people who understand good wholesome food can be delicious and fresh, going to a grocery store here, where vegetable is a 4 letter word because it doesn't rhyme with beef, is a sad shock to the system. I got an egg plant the other day that looked nice, maybe a little mis-shapen, but no biggie, I cut it open and it was black... and that was the nice one... I'm all about seasonal produce, but since our growing season really isn't much more than 1/3rd of the year, everything I find has to come from down south, Mexico and Chile, and is grown in large scale green houses, it doesn't always have the flavor that you would get from really fresh farmers market produce. I guess the challenge here is to be creative, and find a way to make what I find work for all of us. Perhaps winter was the perfect time to do this, because it's forcing me to think outside the box. I also have an ally in an old friend (she's not old, she is actually 3 days younger than me!) and fellow blogger, who has always been a healthy eater, she really has had some great tips for utilizing the things I can get. (you know who you are, You are kick ass!!!) So I am going to take a page from her book and while shopping not buy anything white. It's time to consider my other options, and time to teach these little fellas how to eat well and move well, even if it means they laugh at me! So off I go to brave the shopping element and find things that will not just satisfy, but nourish!!! Oh did I mention that shopping with 3 boys is exercise on its own?