WASPY House Guests

If you look close, you could see the second hive int he corner, and a few wasps crawling about on the big one

LITERALLY!!!  One of my friends told me she recently stepped on a wasp and got stung, and I have been noticing them flying around everywhere, and right in our bushes.  Today some friends came to visit and pointed out two hives right at our doorstep.  I really do not have many fears in this lifetime, one of them is driving between those humongous semi trucks, and my husband was a trucker for 10 years.  Most bugs I love to get with my swatter, but bees I just like to stay out of their way.  On one hand I have a love connection with their honey making, I love honey, and my maiden last name, Medovoy, means made of honey, but that's as close as I want to get.

My neighbor who was lived her 20 years said she always sees them come back, and we should just swat it down, um, no thanks, I will see who will do that for me, it really freaks me out.  Wow and I am realizing this is strike three of the odd things that have happened in our home, CRAZY.

Anyway, besides that we had a nice Shabbat, always tons of energy and some unpleasantries at home, but such is life as a parent with Thank God strong willed, independent, and non stop toddlers.

It has been soooooooo hot in Los Angeles, and super humid, I am not a sweaty person, or should I say in my life I was not.  Since I got married and had kids my body chemistry has changed, I used to be cold, now with this heat, the sweat is pouring, YUCK.  My kids run hot too, even my little babies curls are sweaty.  We were all so excited of our cool summer, here it is, August and September, super hot, and I am sure those desert Santa Ana winds will come for a visit too.

Are we ever satisfied?
Where is our Hollywood Perfect Weather?
Just a bit of Kvetching is good for your health :)
Shavua Tov,
Enjoy your long weekend,
Coach Yulia

Perspective

After reading my blog yesterday about how it was just a crazy day of tantrums, heat, and chaos, my mom reminisced about our toddlerhood:

Reading your blog brought deja vu from my life in Moscow. I write about that in my memoir. "There were no kindergartens or schools in walking distance, there was never school buses system in Russia. When my kids were old enough to attend kindergarten, I had to wait with them for an over-crowded bus in a terrible weather, struggled getting in and out of the bus, walked with them through the piles of dirt or snow to the kindergarten building. After that, I took a bus and subway to reach my place of work. Picking kids up after work was a nightmare all over again. Peter worked long hours, he left earlier than I and returned home after 9 PM. Thank God, he was grocery shopping, it was easier for him because he had his company car..." I want to add to that how I had get you out of bed in darkness, to dress both of you in winter clothes, (my brother) would fight with me and get too hot before going into the frosty weather, then he would scream in the bus because people were standing up glued to each other in overcrowded bus and he was at the level of stinky rear ends. To unglue ourselves and get out of the bus was an ordeal all over again... 

God Bless America, where people have dignity and parents have cars. That is why Americans can not love abroad, they can only travel and come home, sweet home... Love, Mom.

 

WE HAVE NO PROBLEMS.

Enjoy What You Got,

Feel Blessed For All The Good,

Take A Breath,

Have A Great Weekend,

Shabbat Shalom,

Coach Yulia

Getting Ready for Shabbat...love my gloves to wash dishes and clean

My Brilliant Idea - NOT!

I life in a fantasy world, a dream world, where I imagine things are happy and everyone gets along.  I am in this instance referring to family dynamics, and I suppose the more people that are in a family, the more opinions, needs, and loud voices there are.

So my first not so brilliant idea that everyone knew would go bust was our RV trip this summer.  We based our hypothesis on our previous trip the year before which was a great success.  We forgot to factor in new possibilities and it was very challenging to say the least.  We cut it two weeks short, and luckily the kids only remember how fun it was, we however do not want to think about an RV for a very long time.  When we did it the first time, the baby was four months, he just ate and slept, the kids were younger and both took two naps, the time on the road was shorter, and it was one destination, we definitely were too ambitious this year, and quite delusional.  The baby started walking and wanted to walk up to my husband while driving, the kids need open spaces to run, the movies, food, projects, and everything else under the sun was not enough while they felt stuck in a box, pushing each others buttons, yelling at the top of their lungs, OY! DISASTER.

Yesterday I didn't have any classes until the evening, one car was in the shop, my husband had a busy day, so I was in charge of the kids.  Thank God to friends helping out I was able to have some peace of mind.  My daughter got out of her class early, and a wonderful friend was able to bring her home to me, I was going to walk and get her with the baby, but he was still asleep when I had to start walking, plus it was getting hot, Thank God for friends coming to the rescue.  Then I was all ready to walk to get my oldest son who was finishing school half day yesterday at 12:30pm, and I had a BRILLIANT IDEA.  Why not put my daughter on her bicycle, push the stroller, while taking my sons bicycle too, so he can ride it home.  There was a time when the kids rode their bicycles to the park, and then all over town, but recently my daughter just wasn't into it, I convinced her to do it promising ice cream.  Half a block down, heat blaring, my son's bicycle in one hand, pushing stroller with the other, she starts having tantrums, it is already after 12pm, and I know I am going to be late.  I have a little breakdown, one man stops in the street, but doesn't understand how important it is not to leave my son all alone after school is finished.  I see someone pop out of their apartment and consider asking them to leave the bicycles there while I race with the stroller and my daughter four blocks down to the school.  Then I don't see anyone in the middle of my daughter crying, and me fuming, Thank God my baby was just chilling.

Blue Eyes, Blond Hair, Sweet Smile - She is a tough cookie, Fierce, Strong, loves to say NOW!

So I call the school and luckily one of our good friends was able to take my son home with them to play, and I would pick him up there later.  So it ended up with me carrying the bicycles and my daughter pushing our huge jogging stroller which she just barely reached, but luckily its easy to push.  I don't know if I am conveying the horror of the situation, but I was really thinking it was one of the worst days I have ever had in my life - HOW DRAMATIC :)

Thank God we all eventually made it home, and I am just going to have to stop dreaming about perfect scenarios, and get a reality check, and our car comes out of the shop today, so all will be good with the world.

Feeling Blessed For School All Day,
Feeling Blessed For Transportation,
Feeling Blessed For Napping Baby,
Feeling Blessed For Time to Write this Blog,
Feeling Blessed to go teach a class right after I finish writing,
Thank You For Listening,
Thank You For All of Your Wonderful Comments,
Your comments make me smile,
Your Energy Keeps Me Recharged,
Allow Yourself To Get It Out,
Do Not Hold It In,
Find Someone to Talk To,
Luckily I have YOU,
Coach Yulia

Silly Thrills

I am married six years, so seven years ago I was living with my roommate in a nice two bedroom apartment, we were about to have a dinner party, and we got infested with flies.  It was so weird, it has never happened to me before, usually its one here and there, she was a total cleanaholic, I had no idea where they all came from.  I had to search all over town for a fly swatter, couldn't find it, not in the 99 cent store, not in Target, not anywhere, it was nuts.  So I settled for a bug spray, if you can imagine me standing on chairs spritzing each fly and then picking it up to put it in the garbage, hoping I would get all of them before the guests arrived.

I don't know when or where I got this awesome fly swatter you see in the picture, but wow do I have power with it, BUGS HAVE NO CHANCE! It totally gives me a thrill that with my quick eye, coordination, and swift strength, they are no match for me :)  My neighbor is deathly scared of bugs and hanging outside her door was a really horrible looking spider, all fat and green, I climbed up on a chair, it did give me goose bumps, but I did step up and save the day - lol.

What else gives me silly thrills?  Riding the roller coaster with my oldest had me screaming with joy, sinking into a tub full of balls with my baby had me flashing back to childhood fun.  Jumping, I absolutely LOVE jumping, and so do ALL kids, it just has us all feeling so good, like superheroes I suppose.  So starting today, I am getting on my Rebounder, it is not a trampoline for tricks, it is a workout and health apparatus, and I am getting my cardio, strength, and lymphatic cleansing on.  Want to hear more about it?  coachyulia@gmail.com, or 323.377.0707 - now that the kids are in school, I actually have time to recommit to my personal goals.  These are not excuses, yes you can always make time, but for me my rest, energy, and health are the priority always.  Consistency is the key to success - 80% Nutrition, 20% Exercise, plus sleep, water, and HAPPINESS.

NO FLY ZONE,
NO STRESS ZONE,
Find your Silly Thrills that get you in your happy place,
Swat those troubles away, or at least figure out how to deal with them or live with them,
I am just typing away,
Not sure what I want to say,
Enjoying my free time today,
while my baby lay,
napping before he gets up to play,
HAVE A FABULOUS DAY!
Coach Yulia

I Love When Doors Close

Throughout my life I have tried so many things, and some of them didn't work out, and it was OK with me.  Before I started working on cruise ships there was an opportunity to do a study abroad work program in Ukraine in the winter.  I was born in Moscow, and I love to travel, I know Russian, I had to get reference letters from my bosses, who at the time were bar owners of the most awesome bar ever that I cocktailed and bartended at.   They didn't choose me, I was definitely sad for a minute, ego I suppose, but man am I glad I was pointed in another direction.

This keeps happening to me and the new doors that open are just mind boggling.  That has happened to me twice today.  Because of two doors closing, I have gotten two new amazing openings that are exactly what I have been looking for at this point in my life.

I am in awe of how it all works, of being present, of dreaming, of knowing when the right thing is right, and to let go when a door is closed.

I feel vibrations all over, tingles, possibilities, a new stage of my life has begun.  I am finished birthing children and will begin birthing my talents and gifts that I can share with the world.

Thank You For Appreciating Me,
Coach Yulia

My daughter was telling me this morning how much she loves her breakfast kids shake, Thanks Herbalife for making it easy some mornings, although that was her second meal already, I made her buckwheat, Russian style, with cottage cheese

 

Sierra Nevada Resort

Check this out my friends, www.thesierranevadaresort.com/, my brother in law is the director of rooms in this joint and its fabulous.‎  Mammoth is known for its winters, but I really do not do winters, I may consider it for the kids, but it would have to be perfect circumstances.  So last year we went right before school started, and this year we decided to continue the tradition, and I am so glad we did.  Last year he worked for a boutique hotel, it was nice, intimate and I forced everyone to go to Yosemite, 7 hours later, because we took a special bus that dropped us off, we were over it.  It is gorgeous, don't get me wrong, but with three little kids, and not prepared with hiking gear and a picnic, we had to be really creative to keep ourselves sane and the kids entertained.

This year I decided to just enjoy my brother in law, the hotel, and our surrounding areas, and it was perfect.  Right on site they have a miniature golf course which I had a ball playing with my almost five year old, Eli Tzvi.  Earlier that day we took a trip in the trolley bus, that's us below, the windows are open and its absolutely gorgeous, Thank God I didn't drop my camera phone taking this shot.

 

Then my husband barbecued up a storm, made his signature salads, and my brother in law was in food heaven, invited some of his friends, and the best part, right outside our hotel room was a playground - Woo Hoo!

 

Glad to be home, made it just in time to take my son to his 3pm Karate lesson, and now have to run a few errands, meet with some clients and friends.  I am so excited to sleep in my bed tonight, and I am so excited to be here.  One of my Doula clients is delivering soon, I am happy I got to get away, tomorrow the kids start school, and all will be good with the world again (you parents out there know exactly what I mean.)

 

Coach Yulia

ew shared post

TheTheMy

We Have No Control

I was so excited that my baby was eating an Oreo the right way, he untwisted it and started licking

We ran away for the day to my brother in law, excited to hang and enjoy the gorgeous day.  There are so many What If's, so many reasons why we worry, feel we cannot do stuff, especially things that are just for fun.  Ultimately we plan and God laughs, there is no reason to worry about anything, it lives rent free in our brain.

We are a few hours away, going to hang at the pool all day, while the kids enjoy and play, decided we deserved a mini vay cay :) There are a million things going on, budget is tight, not easy with kids, but we did it anyway.

I think in everything in life in order for something to be worth it, the pros need to outweigh the cons.  I love road trips, and now I appreciate the kids being strapped in, instead of roaming free on an RV.  Funny what perspective does, they did OK, a few outbursts, a few whines, but overall a good first run to a bigger trip we are planning later on.

There are many reasons why my head and my gut keep reminding me of reasons to worry, so I  talk back to myself and say whatever will happen will happen, and I will take a breath and react in the best way I can.  I really feel like a referee sometimes, and a part of me wants the kids to be independent and free, I never want them to lose their free spirit. 

My oldest is realizing when we are talking tough but joking, and he starts cracking up, I love humor, I love laughter, I love happiness, these are the pros.

Look for the Pros,
Enjoy Your Sunday,
Coach Yulia