O H

if you're a Buckeye, you know the response is "I O". Even with my watching 95% of the game yesterday, the Bucks pulled out a win over Michigan.

We had some folks over yesterday to watch the game on the really big screen in our basement. My husband kept trying to get me to leave the room to improve the situation. Okay, so the Bucks scored one of their touchdowns during one of my bathroom breaks but they were able to score a second with me present (even though it took a second gallop to the endzone). After the game, four of our friends gathered around one of the tables in an attempt to show me how to play euchre. They played open hands and explained their every play. It was starting to make some sense although it probably would have made more sense if I'd not drank a bottle of wine. I went off to keep Jonnie entertained for a while and two of the other guys joined them to play. I pulled up a chair later and watched while drinking a big mug of coffee and was just in awe in how quickly they could play. I definitely want to study to learn the game but my next certification exam comes first.

Speaking of the exam, my goal is to take my second exam on December 1 which means I really need to get cracking. Since it sounds like Jonnie will be the only kid at my father in law's during Thanksgiving weekend, I might end up taking my books after all. If the other children that live with him were going to come back, I was going to take as little as possible because the boy destroys everything he touches!!!

Being swamped at work has lead me to trying to learn more about a yoga-based lifestyle. This means not only learning to do some of the many different yoga poses, I've been learning about the yoga diet. There are three gunas which are:

Sattva which is purity
Rajas which is active, passion, and processing change
Tamas which are dark and inert

Foods have been categorized into this Three Gunas. Sattvic foods are the most pure foods such as fruits and vegetables, nuts, cheese, milk, and seeds. Rajastic foods consist of items such as fish, eggs, and coffee. Tamastic foods are meat, alcohol, garlic, and onions.

To truly practice the best yoga diet, you focus on eating Sattvic foods. I've found this easiest to do with the lunches I pack for work. Breakfast has been a combination of sattvic and rajistic with my eating some eggs. I will say that yesterday, I ate mostly tamastic foods with wine, lasagna, and numerous other goodies we had on our buffet during the game. I have also found that my dinners have more tamastic foods because I am cooking for my family and I also know that if I start deprive myself of foods that I enjoy that I will snap! I certainly think that trying to focus on more pure foods as a bulk of what I eat during the day is not a bad thing but knowing that I need to allow myself meat, alcohol, coffee, and chocolate in moderation to keep my personal sanity is the best thing overall for me. A yoga master would tell me that I should suck it up by throwing my wine, coffee, and meat out the window! For more information, I'll point you to the site I've been using to learn and that is www.abc-of-yoga.com.

I should wrap this up as I see my cup of ginger tea dwindle down. Aside from having a sour stomach that was bothering me, I got up early to try and do some studying so I should do that before it's time for the Sunday rush to get everyone out the door for mass.

Have a great day!

I am 1/3 certified now!

I've been feverishly studying this week for the first of three certification exams that I need to take that correspond with the classes I took earlier this year. I have been out of college for 12 years so many things have changed since then. I did not have a full-time job, a husband, or a child when I was in college and having all of these things in my life are rewarding but make studying more challenging.

I just finished the first exam and I passed! I have one exam down and 2 more to go. I'd like to take the second one in December and the third one in January so I am done. I will get my official results mailed to me in 30 days.

I could not have done this without the power of prayer, the support of my husband who kept Jonnie occupied so that I could study this week although Jon has had a terrible week this week. He and Jonnie are in Chillicothe right now so that I could take this exam!

Now it's time to return to the real world!