November is Coat Season

Little Suri Cruise never has a coat on.  Hello!  Its freezing outside and Katie and Tom have coats on, and here's Suri in a short sleeved silk dress or whatever - in November, in New York.  I've never been to New York, but unlike a certain vice presidential candidate, I like to think I'm fairly geographically savvy so, New York is NORTH of Colorado, where we wear coats in November . . . and October . . . and December, too.  I totally know what the deal is . . . Suri refuses to put on her coat and Tom and Katie would rather not argue.  But this amounts to teaching our children that they don't have to wear a coat outside when we know, as parents, that its too cold to not wear a coat. 

Here's the section of my blog where I toot my horn:

Francesca and Cecilia do the same thing - they'll say, "I don't want to wear a coat."  And I simply say, "Well then, you can't go outside.  Its wintertime and in the wintertime, we wear coats."  Their winter parkas hang on the coat hooks by the front door.  Francesca's purple parka and Cecilia's blue parka.  They put on their coats.  Toot!  Toot!  As for hats, I had them both trained early.  As infants, they ALWAYS had a hat on.  Summer hats, winter hats, fall and springtime hats, hats for all occasions, we wear hats.  So before the girls go out, they go to the hat box and put on a hat.  Cecilia is IN LOVE with her green sun hat, so for now, the green sun hat has disappeared.  Now she chooses a warm hat and puts it on her head.  Toot!  Toot!  Then they choose boots.  When the weather first began to get cold, they would choose the wrong shoes - sandals - so the sandals have disappeared.  Now they always choose the right boots.  Toot!  Toot!  I think that because we've always done this, they don't like being cold.  They're never cold, so when they ARE cold, they know it and they know that they're not dressed appropriately.  (No such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing choices.)

So while I'm tooting my horn about the girls making good clothing choices, I'd also like to take a minute to give thanks for all my lovely friends and family.  Its been an interesting fall and I feel like my family has crossed into some new, beautiful territory, spiritually.  I feel like Andrew is my soul mate again and that life is wonderful.  I am so thankful for him doing the hard work to get our relationship back on track.  Being married is definitely the most challenging and rewarding adventure I've ever had.  And thanks to my mom and dad, for setting such a shining example of what the rewards are for sticking it out through the tough times.  We are so fortunate to have, not only roofs over our heads, but really nice ones!  I wanted to slap myself today, because I said (again,) when explaining that I don't work anymore, "I just stay home with the girls.  We rent our (big expensive) house out and we live in my parents' rental house in Palisade.  We downsized.  We're poor, but we make it work."  We're not poor.  I hope I never say that again.  Its embarrassing!  We are so rich!  We have everything!  Globally, we live in the top 10% of the socioeconomic pyramid, so . . . although we don't drive a new car, we live in a less than 1500 square foot house, and we won't be shopping on Black Friday, we are far, far, far from poor!  I'm also thankful that my sister and Damon made it over to spend some time with us.  Its always interesting, when they're around.  And I'm thankful for my friends, because friends make life even sweeter!  And for my family who all live far away.  I cherish the days when we all lived close and spent the holidays together . . . I hope that we can do that again some day.  It was such a blast.

One last toot of the horn . . . I'm hungry!!!  I tried to out-eat Andrew and gave myself a stomach ache and then lost the eating competition.  We both weighed-in before eating (Doug and Hayley style) and then weighed out post-eating.  I don't know why I thought I could out-eat him.  What was I thinking?  But now that my stomachache is gone . . . I have room for that chocolate cake.  Toot!  Toot!  I got up early and went for a run.  I'm really proud of myself for finally being a morning runner.  I made a rule with myself that if I don't run in the morning, then I won't run at all and that did it!  And I'm not one of these ultra disciplined people that can just pop awake at 4:30 am for a quick run my whole life.  I have to drag myself up an hour before I'm awake enough to run, and just now, at 34 years old.  So, anyway . . . I run in the mornings, Toot!  Toot!

And now, some teachings from the Buddha . . . which is what helps me get through this visit with my sister and Damon:

Love yourself and be awake -

Today, tomorrow, always.

First establish yourself in the way.

Then teach others,

And so defeat sorrow.

To straighten the crooked

You must first do the harder thing -

Straighten yourself.

You are your only master.

Who else?

Subdue yourself,

And discover your master.

(Adapted from Dhammapada, translated by Thomas Byrom.)

I think that is my new mantra . . . "Straighten yourself."  And when I feel anger flaring, "Subdue yourself."