Top Five New Things to Try

Quince Jam (or Jelly) was one of my culinary discoveries during the Eating The Alphabet Challenge that captivated the mommy blogging world (or, you know, Kerri).

This is no small discovery and I am going to tell you why.

If this is Friday, it means that I have a day off to take the baby to play group and the afternoon to arrange a play date for my son. You might say, my family is a four-headed creature of routine. We don’t take it to extremes. We aren’t Gina Ford devotees, or anything like that.

While I’ve never ensured that the baby has her nap in a darkened room from 12 to 2pm each afternoon, our lives fit a pattern. And, while I do find babyhood and mothering endlessly fascinating, I have done it all before. I find I need to try new things just to keep my senses alive, my intellect engaged and my spirit fighting. At the same time, I feel a huge urge to keep myself and my children safe. There will be no rock climbing without a safety-line in my life.

Nope, interesting new experiences have to be almost entirely risk free and require absolutely no time committment. So, here are a few ideas I’ve had to get some newness flowing into my tired routine.

5. Now that I’ve had quince jam, it’s really time to open the can of green jackfruit. Trying fruits and vegetables that are new to your palate is a healthy way to improve your entire family’s nutrition. (Just don’t do too much too soon.)

4. I think it’s time for me to try a new look. Motherhood gave me a style identity crisis. The challenge, though, is to try something new without buying anything new. It might mean a return to my teenage thrift store adventures or trading an outfit with a friend of similar size. One thing is certain, I am getting too old to wear black all the time and it’s time for me to add a little colour to my fashion palette…perhaps even something not navy or gray.

3. I’ve been telling myself to try NIA for years now. To tell the truth, my last “new” fitness experiment was Bikram Yoga in 2001. Since then, every fitness trend from boxing to spinning to knitting has passed me by. Surely I can spare 60 minutes in a fitness club with a crêche to break out of a rut?

2. Take a nightschool class. I teach language classes at night. When we had just one child and I was home during the day, it was an important time for my husband to bond with the baby. Now that we have two children, my leaving the house to teach in the evening (in addition to during the day) is a source of stress for both my husband and I, but I don’t think I would feel that way if I was going to the local high school to learn something new of my own volition. In fact, whenever the course calendar comes out in our local newspaper, I feel drawn to almost every topic. Life is so short and there is so much I know nothing about.

1. Get to know a senior citizen. They’ve been around, those old people. They’ve got some interesting stories to tell.