so, i read in Oprah's magazine (my secret addiction), that there is new research on interval-based workouts. apparently, if you exercise for 30 minutes, alternating very intense -- VERY intense -- segments with rest periods (think 1 minute intense, 2 minutes rest), this makes you a lot fitter than 90 minutes of endurance-type exercise.

since i have completely given up on exercising becasue i cannot figure out how to get my stroller-adverse kids to sit still for a minimally effective workout, this was great news. why? because that means we can exercise together!

it is impossible to do a conventional exercise routine of any sort with kids unless you are prepared to completely ignore them. they are a constant stream of wants and needs, and no matter how much you beg, they will not leave you alone for more than oh, a minute.

which is precisely the length of time needed for those intense intervals. when the interval is over, you can stop to recover and get a child a glass of water or clean a mess or find a toy.

moreover, the guilt of ignoring the chores in order to exercise is mitigated by the fact that you can do chores in the recovery intervals...

AND one-minute intervals are superb for revving up your kids--i cannot explain how much they loved it when i put one of their favorite CDs on and said "now we are going to play a fast-slow game! first we are going to dance s-l-o-w-l-y...now we are going to dance REALLY FAST!" and so on. and believe me, it was one heck of a workout.

so, oprah has come to my rescue and provided me with a way to exercise, do chores AND take care of my children all at the same time. she is my hero.

perhaps this chance to exercise will cure my insomnia, and i am also on to something regarding my, um, tummy issues. i think i may have found the cure. i think, and no, this is not exactly a revelation, that i cannot eat sugar. in pretty much any form. for me, this sucks. i practically live on sugar these days. fruit, crackers, sugar in my tea, cheddar bunnies, juice, blah blah blah. but i am fairly certain that those simple carbohydrates are doing some pretty complex fermenting in there, and i am so over all of that.

we'll see.

we went to see a theater performance of sleeping beauty today. ava sat with her mouth hanging open the entire time. i don't think she even moved once, other than to get on michaela's lap during the scary part. even carter was awed. it pretty much touched on all of the themes ava has been incorporating into her imaginative play--witches, sword fights, princesses, dancing, fairies, and the all-encompassing good vs evil.

the best part was at the end when the prince had to kiss sleeping beauty, but he did not know this, and was hesitating and the good witch begged the good citizens of the kingdom (aka the audience) to help him by shouting "kiss her! kiss her!" -- the whole theater was yelling "kiss her! kiss her!" and then the man behind me yelled "RUN AWAY! RUN AWAY!"