Nothing says comfort food like macaroni and cheese! But this version of old-fashioned macaroni and cheese is creamy but lighter because it’s made with milk. The ultimate comfort food!
Here’s my recipe for old-fashioned macaroni and cheese.
Old-Fashioned Macaroni and Cheese
Ingredients:
3 tbsp Butter
1/4 cup Flour
1 Bay leaf
3 cups Milk
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
Dash each of sea salt, cayenne pepper, and nutmeg
2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese (either old or white old)
2 cups elbow pasta
1 tbsp butter
1 cup bread crumbs
Method:
In a large saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Blend in flour and add bay leaf. Cook stirring for 30 seconds. Pour in 1 cup of the milk, whisking until mixture comes to a boil and becomes thick.
Pour in rest of milk in a slow stream, whisking constantly, until comes to a full boil. Reduce heat to low.
Stir in cheese until melted. Remove bay leaf and add mustard, salt and a pinch of cayenne and nutmeg (optional). Keep on low, stirring often.
Meanwhile, cook macaroni in a large pot of boiling water until cooked. Drain. Stir into cheese sauce until well-coated. Spoon into a buttered 2L deep casserole dish.
Melt butter and toss with bread crumbs and sprinkle over top of macaroni.
Bake in preheated oven at 350 F for 20 minutes or until top is slightly brown.
Enjoy!
by Shezadi Khushal
Factoid: 21 million people watched the hockey game on Sunday night. It has been coined ‘the most watched sports program in Canadian History!’
Every day at Robson Square, there is a show called Mascots on Ice. Here, spectators can watch an incredible ice skating shows by the official Mascots – Quatchi, Miga & Sumi. Muk Muk was not there, as he is not the official mascot. The show was fantastic – it had fairies and dancing jellyfish, and of course kids screaming with excitement.
We also visited the Richmond Olympic Oval. This area has particular significance to us. In 2008, it was announced that there was a once in a lifetime opportunity to have our names engraved in a wooden beam used to construct the roof of this monumental building. The Richmond Oval is used for long track speed skating, and is also where some of the Olympic Events are being held.
Today, two years later, we had a chance to visit the site. Our names are permanently etched in the roof!
As we do every night, we watched the Fireworks display from our bedroom. Sameer and I both agree that they are getting more fantastic each night. But, tonight’s Fireworks were particularly magical – the best so far. At the end of their show tonight, they had this unbelievably beautiful fairy dust or as I call it ‘gold sand in the sky’. I was mesmerized!
We always seem to be in the right place at the exact moment. Even a minute here or there could have changed the outcome. We are truly fortunate to be touched by history everywhere we go!
Factoid: In the streets of Vancouver people are so happy that they actually break out in ‘Oh Canada’ randomly in streets.
Shezadi Khushal is a former corporate events planner. Some of her projects included: Conducting Leadership Conferences, Hosting Celebrity Seminars, Orientation Conferences and assisting with Wedding Planning. Contact: Shelly@Khushal.ca
written by Cathy B.
When my husband told me he was going on a business trip to Vegas, I said, “when are we going?” He looked at me with a sarcastic grin and asked if I was comfortable about traveling with our 8-month old baby… in a desert? I looked at him and said, “yeah, it’ll be fun!” I knew it was a gamble (no pun intended), but in the same breath, I knew this was a once and a lifetime opportunity to go away! After all, I was on maternity leave and I knew there was no chance in hell we’d go away for a really long time.
After he agreed and made arrangements for us to tag along, I started to trip out over our trip! My hands got clammy. My heart started racing. All these bells and whistles went off in my head. Unfortunately, it wasn’t slot machines I was dreaming about. I had a ca-billion thoughts rush through my head, but I couldn’t tell my husband how worried I was or it would start our vacation off on the wrong foot. So, I sucked up my fears and came up with a plan on how to deal with each and every worry. I’m proud to say that I hit the jackpot with my golden “what-if” list and we had a fabulous time.
1. Is Las Vegas really a place to bring a baby? I mean… really?
After calling a few hotels before I left and going on www.tripadvisor.com to see other families’ advice, surprisingly, Vegas was a great place to travel with a baby. Who would have thought? Most hotels offer cribs or playpens for free or a small cost. There were elevators everywhere. The curbs at intersections were dipped down so they were stroller and wheelchair-friendly. Kids were allowed to walk through casinos, so we didn’t encounter any restrictions. The lights, action and fresh air had our baby so intrigued and stimulated, she was tuckered out by the end of the day. There were a lot of free shows in the hotels that were geared towards families. Tourists were everywhere, so it wasn’t intimidating to walk the streets at night. It was wonderful.
2. What if it’s too hot for the baby and she gets dehydrated?
I did a little research on the web before we left. I researched how far it was to walk from hotel to hotel. Generally, it took about 10 minutes to walk to the neighbouring hotel from outside, but some hotels had interconnecting pathways from inside. I tried to stay indoors as much as possible and brought blankets and sweaters since I anticipated the air conditioning would be blaring in every hotel (and I was right). When we went outside, I removed the blankets and extra layers of clothes and had her in her light shorts and T-shirt. I covered her stroller with a UV Sunveil and kept a bottle of jarred baby juice and ready-to-feed formula on hand in case we were outside for longer than 20 minutes. Of course, I lubed her up with lots of baby sunblock and put on a sunhat before we ventured off!
3. What if my baby’s ears pop on the plane and she starts wailing?
My pediatrician recommended that I stick a pacifier in her mouth when the plane lands and takes off. Next time, I’ll bring a soother strap because it almost fell on the floor a few times. Yuck! If your baby isn’t fond of the pacifier, like mine, I found the sucking and swallowing action from breastfeeding or formula helped too.
I also had a bag of tricks at hand. Pack her favourite books, toys, teddy bears, rattles – anything that will distract her for a few hours. Introduce one at time so she doesn’t get bored of everything at the same time. Once that seat belt sign turns off, if she’s still fussing, walk up and down the aisle. The different faces are bound to entertain her.
4. What if I run out of pureed food, formula, diapers, and wipes?
Always bring triple the amount of what you think your baby will eat and drink per day. Same goes for diapers and wipes. Before I left, I wrote the day and meal (example: Lunch Tuesday) on each jar and bottle so I knew exactly what she was eating on each day. On the extra jars, I labelled “extra”, so I knew I wasn’t dipping into another day’s meal plan.
When I went out for the day, I packed the food jars and formula in a Ziploc bag, along with a few plastic spoons and bibs. I always had another empty Ziploc bag that said “dirty” so i didn’t get them mixed up with the clean ones.
NOTE: Before you leave for your trip, grab a handful of plastic disposable bibs at your local McDonald’s or IKEA eating areas and bring them with you. This way, you don’t have to worry about rinsing your bibs at night. I brought cloth bibs and left them in the Ziploc bag for a few days and the food blobs had blue, fuzzy mould on them when I took them out. It was pretty nasty.
Be extra careful when packing the jars and formula in your luggage before you take off. Since they can break or dent easily, make sure they are packed with lots of softness and clothes around them. Or, to be safe, carry them by hand. Pack them individually in Ziploc bags, just in case they do pop. The last thing you need is butternut squash all over your clothes. I split them – half in my luggage and half in a carry-on bag – so I wasn’t scrambling for food in case we lost our luggage.
5. What if I can’t heat her food and formula fast enough?
Although this isn’t necessary but it definitely helped me, packing a really good thermos, a deep Tupperware and a plug-in tea kettle was helpful. Before I left the hotel, I’d boil water in the kettle and put it in the thermos. I tucked the thermos and empty Tupperware in the bottom of the stroller so I could easily heat her milk and food when I was out. Restaurants and food courts are everywhere, so it wasn’t really hard to find hot water, but when my baby was crying and fussy – saving those few extra minutes helped keep us both in high spirits. I just poured the hot water in the Tupperware, added the bottle and jarred food – and I was set.
NOTE: I don’t recommend the baby drinks the boiled Vegas water. I used bottled water OR ready-to-feed formula for her to drink.
6. What if there’s no private place to breastfeed?
There are bathrooms in every hotel lobby and casino. Trust me, there are many private places to breastfeed. If not, I packed an oversized smock, and kept it in her stroller in case.
7. What if the casinos are too smokey and loud for the baby?
Although casinos were smokey and loud, we were grateful that kids were allowed to walk through them because it gave us access to the shops, restaurants and air conditioning. Casinos are not an ideal place to hang out with a baby for a long time, but we walked fast and I even used the UV sunveil in extreme cloudy areas just to get to where we had to go. Unfortunately, we just had to grin and bare this one.
8. What if I get lost travelling on my own while my husband is working?
I went on the web before I left and studied and printed a map to get familiar with the hotel locations. When I got to each hotel, I have to say, it was a bit complicated with all the twists and turns inside, but I stayed aware of where I was going. Whenever I lost my way, there was staff everywhere in the hotel – so I asked them to point me back to the strip. Once I was on the strip, it was exactly that – a straight strip!
9. What if there are drunkards and winos all over the strip?
There were a few homeless people and drunkards since alcohol was allowed while walking outdoors. When my husband was working at night, I stayed in my hotel and explored our lobby’s restaurants and shops. During the day, I did venture off on my own and as long as I stayed on the main strip and in the hotels, I felt safe. Tourists and hotel staff were everywhere!
When my husband wasn’t working, we’d walk and walk and walk. We made sure we were back in our hotel by 9pm so the baby could get a good-night sleep and we wouldn’t have to worry about encountering any problems. There were always people around. In fact, the streets had more people on them at night then during the day, but we didn’t want to take chances and it worked for us.
So, there you have my golden list! If you’re going away somewhere and you’re nervous about it… write down what you’re worried about and then write possible solutions for it. The more prepared you are, the less likely you are to hit a hurdle. Of course, you can’t anticipate everything, but just fasten your seatbelt and enjoy the ride! If anything good comes out of a hurdle, it’ll make a really funny story when you get back.
Bon voyage!
We all know that the most important thing you can do for heart health as well as weight loss is regular cardiovascular exercise. With so many to choose from, which exercises are the most effective?
Here are the top 10 cardio exercises which burn the most calories in 30 minutes.
Top 10 Cardio Exercises to Burn the Most Calories
1. Running
Running is an excellent cardio workout because all you need is a pair of good running shoes. You can burn serious calories especially if you add hills and sprint running. A 145 lb. person can easily burn 300 calories in 30 minutes. But you do have to watch your joints for injuries.
2. Bicycling
Get your heart pumping with a stationary or outdoor bike. Depending on resistance and speed, you can burn 250 to 500 calories in 30 minutes.
3. Martial Arts
Have fun working out and gain strength and speed with martial arts like karate and Tae Kwon Do. Burn almost 400 calories in 20 minutes.
4. Circuit Weight Training
Interval training combines short, high intensity bursts of speed (from ten seconds to three minutes) with slow, recovery phases, that are repeated during one workout.
5. Climbing Machine
Climbing combines both lower and upper body exercise into one natural vertical climbing motion; It’s like having two cardio machines for the price of one!
6. Aerobic Dance
Dance or step Aerobics is a tough workout and a popular choice among women. Targeting your legs, hips and glutes, areas of choice for women particularly, you can burn approximately 350 calories in 30 minutes. Take a step class at your gym, or buy a DVD to do at home.
7. Boxing
Build speed and endurance while burning calories. Burn 330 calories in 30 minutes.
8. In-Line Skating
In-line skating works your whole body, particularly your legs, hips and glutes which is fab for women.
9. Cross-Country Skiing
Embrace the winter and go cross-country skiing, another full-body exercise that you can enjoy outdoors. Not so fond of the cold? Use an indoor machine that simulates the motion.
10. Jumping Rope
A tough workout to say the least but it does burn calories.
Other exercises that are good for you:
Swimming. Doing the breast stroke for 30 minutes and you can burn about 400 calories. The best part is that it’s a full body exercise and low-impact so its easy on your joints.
Racquetball/Handball. The side to side sprinting makes racquetball or handball an excellent cardio workout. A 145-lb person burns over 400 calories in 30 minutes.
Rock Climbing. Are you up for a challenge? Not afraid of heights? Try rock climbing and you can burn a whopping 380 calories in 30 minutes, and you’re also building arm and leg strength.
Elliptical Trainer. The elliptical is a great way to build endurance while protecting your joints. Use both arms and it’s like a cross-country ski machine. Easy on the joints, a 145-lb person can shed about 300 calories in 30 minutes.
Rowing. Rowing can really get your heart pumping as give your arms a tough workout. A 145 lb. person can burn about 300 calories in 30 minutes.
Walking. Brisk walking is a less strenuous form of cardio exercise but you can burn up to 180 calories in 30 minutes. Sprinting, adding hills or an incline can increase amount of calories burned.
|
Calories Burned during Popular Activities (150 pound person) |
||||
| Activity | 15 min. | 30 min. | 45 min. | 60 min. |
| Running 8-minute miles | 223 | 446 | 670 | 893 |
| Bicycling at 18 mph | 213 | 425 | 638 | 850 |
| Karate, tae kwon do | 192 | 384 | 576 | 768 |
| Circuit weight training | 189 | 378 | 576 | 756 |
| VersaClimber, 100 ft./min. | 188 | 375 | 563 | 750 |
| Aerobic dance | 171 | 342 | 513 | 684 |
| Boxing | 165 | 330 | 495 | 660 |
| In-line skating | 150 | 300 | 450 | 600 |
| Cross-country skiing | 146 | 291 | 437 | 583 |
| Jumping rope, 60–80 skips/min. | 143 | 286 | 429 | 572 |
by Christy Laverty
Romance. Who doesn’t want a little more romance in their life? But with work, schedules, shuttling kids all over town, making lunches, helping with homework, doing housework, who has the time to feel inspired? Well, I think that’s why romance novels are so popular, especially with women. Books are an escape from life, and romance books offer an escape from our lives but also offer a little inspiration too.
Author Jo Beverley has penned more than thirty historical romances and shorter works in her career. She is considered to be one of the most prolific romance writers. Born and raised in England, Beverly moved to Canada in the mid-seventies with her husband. She later moved back to England and now lives in Yorkshire. In the mid-eighties her professional writing career really took off. In 1985 she got serious about writing, completing a regency romance. She says it was promptly rejected by a number of publishers, but she didn’t give up. She got even more serious about learning the craft. In 1988, she sold the book and it was published as Lord Wraybourne’s Betrothed. It was the first of many romance novels. Her works are regarded as well researched, filled with historical details and characters and communities stretching the boundaries of the historical romantic fiction genre. They have been translated into several languages and Beverley has been given several awards.
After many years of being out of print, Lord Wraybourne’s Betrothed has been reprinted, to the delig
ht of Jo Beverly and her fans. I got a chance to read the book and really enjoyed it. There is love, intrigue, sexual tension and it marries my love of books and history.
I recently got a chance to talk about the book and writing romances in general with Jo Beverly.
AMW: What inspired you to start writing romance novels?
JB: It seems to have been an instinct or a calling. I always loved that sort of book, and at about 16 I wrote a historical romance in a school exercise book. As an author I find the complex business of courtship and relationships – the human mating dance and the complexities it brings — very interesting.
AMW: Why do you think that women are so attracted to romance as a genre?
JB: The romance novel supports a need to believe that strong, supportive unions between men and women are possible, which is why the happy ending, and even the happy future, is so important. A tragic ending or even a bittersweet one doesn’t work for a romance, though such a book might be a very satisfactory read in another context.
AMW: How do you feel to see your first book back in print?
JB: It’s lovely to see any book back in print, especially when it’s been hard to find for so long. It’s interesting when it’s the first, however, because it has to be less skillful than something I’m writing now, twenty years later. In this case the style is quite different to that of my new books, which are Georgian historical romance. The next one of those, The Secret Duke, will be out in April.
AMW: Jane in Lord Wraybourne’s Betrothed seemed to me to be a very weak woman at first glance but the more I read, the more I realized Jane is actually very strong. Talk about the woman of the book, they are strong and powerful.
JB: When I began this book I was burned out on regency romances in which the hero and heroine met in extraordinary circumstances, and where she is far from a normal young woman of the time, so I wanted to do the opposite, as shown in the first sentence.
I’m always interested in the concept of the strong woman because often its taken to mean assertive, perhaps physically confrontational, and all too often, man-like. If heroines are presented as being better for being like men, what does that say about the majority of women who are not that way?
As I see it, most women have always been strong, working hard, often carrying the world on their backs and ensuring the survival of their families. But they’ve done it from within traditional roles because they didn’t have much choice. That doesn’t demean them. There have always been extraordinary women, and they deserve recognition, but not at the expense of the more ordinary, but strong, women around them. Also, for veracity, it’s important to show the likely reaction of their society to their nature and actions. Because we in the 21st century what we might applaud them doesn’t mean that people of the 12th, 15th, 18th century would.
AMW: And what about the men of Lord Wraybourne’s Betrothed? Especially Lord Wraybourne? What was the inspiration?
JB: I can’t say there was any particular inspiration. As with all my heroes, he has characteristics I admire, plus the story dictated certain things. For Jane’s parents to approve the marriage, he had to be hard-working, responsible, and steady. He has his racier side, but he’s sensible enough to be discreet about it, as opposed to his friend Lord Randal, who is known to be wild.
Wraybourne is strong, however, active, and also has a sense of humour, which is very important to me.
AMW: What is your favourite part of writing?
JB: Interesting question! Beginnings are always fun, discovering these people and their immediate world for the first time. But allowing for the ups and downs and occasional frustrations, I enjoy all of it. I don’t pre-plot my books, so I’m always discovering new things.
The Stanforth Secrets, the next book in this series is out now. It goes back a few years and involves Lord Randal Ashby’s cousin, Chloe, who’s the widow of Lord Stanforth. She wants to escape from Stanforth Hall in Lancashire before the new Lord Stanforth turns up, because she and he fell inconveniently in love, threatening her marriage vows, but murder and mayhem trap her there. The Stanforth Secrets is set in my native area of Morecambe Bay, and deliberately includes a variety of strong female characters as my mother had died the year before in Morecambe, and she was a strong woman.
Readers can find out more about this and all Jo Beverley’s books on her web page www.jobev.com. She also has two solo blogs, but only posts to them when she has something interesting to share. In Minepast, she shares interesting tid-bits of history she discovers as she researches her novels. In Jo Talk, she posts anything that interests her. She is also part of the Word Wenches blog, a group of historical authors who blog about history, writing, and anything vaguely related. And the UK Historical Romance blog.
Christy Laverty is a mother and an editor for a Toronto all news radio station. She also does freelance writing for several parenting magazines. Visit Christy’s blog where she updates the trials, tribulations, and fun of being mom of two beautiful girls.
This recipe is wonderful on a cold, wintery day.
Ingredients:
¼ cup all-purpose flour – use arrowroot powder to make it a gluten free beef stew!
1 tsp salt
½ tsp pepper
2 tbsp olive oil
1 ½ lbs stewing beef, cut into small cubes
2 medium onions, chopped
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp dried marjoram
1 bay leaf
1 cup beef stock – for gluten-free, use beef stock without added wheat
3 tbsp tomato paste
3 cups additional beef stock
5 carrots
2 stalks celery
5 potatoes
Instructions:
Combine flour, salt and pepper on plate. In batches, add beef to flour mixture and toss to coat. Transfer to another plate. Reserve remaining flour mixture.
In a pot, heat the oil over medium-high heat; cook beef in batches, adding more oil as needed, until beef is browned. Transfer to a plate.
Reduce heat to medium-low. Add onions, garlic, thyme, marjoram, bay leaf and remaining flour to the pot; cook, stirring for 5 minutes or until softened. Add 1 cup beef stock and tomato paste; stir while cooking and scrape up brown bits. Return the browned beef and its juices to the pot. Pour in the rest of the beef stock.
Bring to a boil, stirring until slightly thickened. Reduce the heat, and cover and simmer over medium-low heat for an hour. Stir occasionally.
In the meantime, chop carrots, celery and potato into one-inch chunks. Add to pot, cover and simmer for another hour. Remove bay leaf. Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper to taste.
By Becky Sherrick Harks
Never shy, I swam up to the semi-circle of pregnant ladies in my prenatal water aerobics class noting that while they were all a good deal older than me, they all looked reasonably friendly, and introduced myself. “Hi,” I said cheerfully. “My name is Becky, and I’m 6 months pregnant with my first son, Ben!” I don’t know if they spied my lack of wedding ring or were put off by my age, but not a single one responded to me. I might as well have spoken in tongues or have burped the alphabet.
While my situation wasn’t perhaps ideal, I wasn’t sorry and I wasn’t about to apologize to anyone for it. But just as soon as I joined the semicircle, I quickly found myself wedged out of it, treading water just outside of the group. It was the playground all over again. Looking back on it, I told myself that I must have imagined it.
Three years later, my new husband and I walked into a roomful of parents at back-to-school night for Ben’s new preschool and took our seats, smiling happily. We’d not had a lot of other chances to interact with large groups of other parents before this, and while we were nervous, we were both very excited. Oddly, as we sat there among them, we noticed that we were receiving a number of unfriendly stares.
Trying to shrug it off, we listened to the director of the Montessori school lecture us, before we broke off into our volunteer groups to discuss what we were going to do for class projects. My husband and I split up and I headed over to my group.
Happily, I introduced myself and tried to make small talk with the other members of the group. Slowly, I realized that as I stood there nodding and smiling with a big stupid grin on my face, no one was actually talking to me, and I was being edged out of the group.
The circle closed with me clearly on the outside and I stood there for a second, still nodding like a fool. I tried to edge my way back into the group to no avail, but eventually, I gave up. Thankfully, I wasn’t in a swimming suit this time but I wondered why no one wanted to be my friend.
Confounding matters was my son, who was autistic, which made playdates with the few friends that we had tricky. The snide comments about the things he’d eat, or the meltdowns he’d have or the way he’d behave broke my heart. Yes, he was in therapy and no, he wasn’t like their children, and while I tried to pretend it didn’t matter, it was hard and it was lonely for a long time.
So really, it’s no surprise that when I drop my son off at school, I’m always waiting for the crowd of pitchfork-wielding parents to emerge from the playground to yell “get back in the car, Infidel! You don’t belong here.” Much as I’ve shed the insecurities of feeling like I’m a stranger in a strange land, I have a terrible time feeling like I’m an imposter of a parent when I’m around other parents. 
Three children later, I realize that it’s clearly time to get my act together. I cannot allow the past events dictate the way that I live my life as a mother because I’m not an insecure person and I’m not an insecure mother.
I’m putting on my battle armor and getting myself out there so that I can meet other parents in the flesh. Time for me to join The Mommy Club. I’ve done an amazing job doing it through my blog, so I know that I’m not that defective, but I’m just not quite sure where to meet other parents without looking like a freak. I can’t exactly size up a potential New Best Friend by staring at her for the whole hour at story hour without scaring her off and perhaps landing me a fancy restraining order. Couldn’t really blame her there.
I wonder if it’s this hard for other parents to make friends. I don’t have leprosy or gaping pustules dripping from my face, and while I certainly do have faults, they’re not the sort that one would notice off the bat. But it’s time for me to face my fears and deal with them.
I’m sure I’ll be excluded from plenty more parental circles and that’s okay because I’ve learned to make sure that anyone who ever wants to join my group of friends is included. No matter what. But, I’ll make anyone with leprosy wear a mask.
Becky Sherrick Harks left behind life as a nurse to stay home to be raised by her three children, Benjamin, Alexander, and Amelia. Her days are spent reinventing herself as a writer, a March of Dimes Mom and blogging on her personal blog Mommy Wants Vodka. Life is never quiet and never dull, and Sherrick Harks would have it no other way.
By Christy Laverty
It’s 8:20 am on a Tuesday. AHHHHHHH! I slept in again. The kids are still sleeping and we have to be at school in 25 minutes. The race is on; wake the kids up, get them dressed while they protest, get breakfast, pack the backpack, find shoes, put on shoes, rush to the car, eat breakfast in the car, drive to school, look for a parking spot, run into the school. Ah, just made it as O Canada is being sung. Not bad for 25 minutes! I am already stressed out and it’s not even 9:00 o’clock in the morning. Does this sound familiar?
I am always on the hunt for ways to make life a little easier and less stressful. There are a lot of ways to help manage stress, one of the most interesting and fun ways is through laughter. It seems simple, almost too simple, but the health benefits of laughter are undeniable.
Research has shown benefits range from strengthening the immune system to reducing food cravings, even to increasing a person’s threshold for pain. More importantly it can also have stress relieving benefits. Laughter reduces the level of stress hormones. On the flip side, it increases the level of health enhancing hormones like endorphins and neurotransmitters. Laughter also provides a physical and emotional release. And of course, a good hearty belly laugh gives you an internal workout; it exercises the diaphragm, contracts the abs and even works out the shoulders, leaving muscles more relaxed.
Wendy Woods of Watershed Training Solutions is a laughter yoga instructor and runs the club at Yonge Street and St. Clair Avenue in Toronto. She says the benefits of laughter and laughter yoga help in everyday life, especially for Moms. “It’s another tool that allows us to approach life a little lighter.”
The best part of laughter is that even if you fake it you get a pay off. Studies show the positive effects of smiling occur whether it is fake or real. Faked laughter provides the benefits of a real laugh.
Woods believes we know intuitively the benefits of laughter. “We can hardly wait to get together with friends who make us laugh. We know intuitively that laughter is a great thing but it’s taking it from a subconscious level, a reactive level, and bringing it to something proactive, so now it becomes a skill that we use”, says Woods.
And that’s where laughter yoga comes into play. It teaches you how to use laughter as a tool. “You are not doing downward dog and laughing”, adds Woods. “The yoga part is in the breathing. The breathing and stretching and the fact that laughter naturally brings us to getting some yogic benefits.”
A laughter yoga session with Woods lasts about 1½ hours and includes some meditation. It includes a series of activities that force you to laugh. You won’t be laughing at jokes or at a funny movie. Wood says it is based on the concept of laughing for no reason, you start out faking the laughter and because it’s in a group and laughter is so contagious, real laughter kicks in. Woods says the group starts out with laughter yoga introductions where everyone says their name and then laughs and then says something about themselves and then laughs. Everyone in the group joins in on the laughter.
Woods believes laughter is a key to happiness, health and a lighter, less stressful life. It’s about finding that childlike playfulness. Woods says parents should look to their children for inspiration, in more ways than one. Children laugh on average 400 times a day, compare that to an adults average 15 laughs a day. “We get very removed from that childlike playfulness that innocence”, says Woods. “When we are in that mode and we are laughing and in pure joy we are in the present. We’re not focused on any other stressors in our life, any worries.”
For more on laughter yoga or to find a class, check out Wendy Woods’ website at www.watershedtraining.ca. You can find tips, information, and locations of laughter yoga classes and sessions across Toronto.
And remember, laugh when ever you can. It can help you live a healthier and happier life.
Christy Laverty is a Mother of two wild and crazy girls and wife to a talented artist. Playing Mom and wife keep her busy by day, and in the evenings Christy is a editor for a Toronto all news radio station. Christy has spent about a decade in the news business, both in television and radio. She also does freelance writing for several parenting magazines. Check out Christy on her blog where she updates the trials, tribulations, and fun of being Mother of two beautiful girls. www.frecklesthemom.blogspot.com
By Kathy Buckworth
My name is Kathy, and I am a list freak. In fact, if you read my column regularly, you’ll know that I’m Queen of the Bullet Point. It’s how I often write, it’s how I usually talk, and frighteningly enough, it’s the way I think. Here’s why. In bullet form. Oh be quiet.
- I like to do things in a logical sequence. Doing what’s due first, and working my way through. If I know one child will freak out more by getting his ice cream second and not first, he gets it first. Yes it’s playing favourites. We all have them. Even your mother did.
- If we are having people over, I clean the house in the order of the rooms they are going to most likely be in. Follow me here. The front hall, the hallway leading to the kitchen (everyone hits the kitchen first – some never leave), through to the dining room, the living room, around the corner and into the bathroom. Normally there are kids in my family room so sensible people avoid that – and because there are kids there, I can’t really be expected to keep that room clean anyway, can I? And I don’t go anywhere near the upstairs bathroom as that is my kids’ primary receptacle. Besides, if someone needs to go to the bathroom that badly that they race upstairs, they’re not going to notice the mess, now are they?
- Like most Moms, my days range from the ridiculously busy and overscheduled to the mind-numbingly boring and monotonous. Having a “list” in my head allows me to trick myself into thinking I’m getting things done and moving down a path of accomplishment. This, versus feeling like I’m a hamster on a wheel or Mom in a mini-van secured to the house with a stretchy cord that allows it only to circle back and forth between the schools, the hockey arenas and the inconveniently located playdates.
- I have four kids. I do things in order to make sure no one gets missed. For example, when I’m serving dinner, I always put out their plates of food in order, from youngest to oldest. That way, the younger ones’ meals start cooling faster than the older and the younger ones like my cooking and the older ones don’t so I can get compliments first and complaints second. My oldest daughter has begged me to serve her first but I just can’t do it. She’s going to complain about that vein in the chicken again.
- With 18 years of parenting experience under my belt, I’ve discovered that things that seem like a big deal really aren’t when you work through the logical consequences, step by step. For example, some Moms might get upset if their child wears the same t-shirt for four days in a row. After all, here’s what might happen that’s bad…okay, no I can’t think of anything. Really. Here’s what good thing could happen – less laundry for you. Step 1: Wear the shirt until dogs start licking it for snacks, Step 2: Put it in the laundry with the one other shirt you wore this week. Perfect.
Frankly most of my days are spent working through lists to get me to the end of the day, where I can start compiling the next one for tomorrow. Now excuse me while I check off “Write column” and add “Buy chicken.”