I have decided to try going natural.
I am already a pretty natural kind of lady (gal?).
But I'd like to be more so.
Good health and self-care are most beautiful.
I do wear makeup, but not so anyone would notice.
Just a little brown eyeshadow, mascara, and natural lip color (more of a gloss).
I think I'd like to try to do without.
I'm not really sure what "real" color my hair is now--I've been using henna on it since I was 15 years old!
It's been a lot of shades, from aubergine to auburn to bright red to dark brown to a medium brown now.
I used to enjoy mixing the powdered henna colors and waiting for the surprise result.
Henna is a plant-based color that also naturally conditions the hair.
However, it is becoming quite expensive, and it's a lengthy and messy process
(think slathering green mud on your head and leaving it on for several hours!).
I'm getting tired of the quarterly upkeep.
My hair is growing in silver around the temples now...
One of my coworkers has the most beautiful silver hair, looking very stylish.
My mother also has lovely cascading silver hair.
I'm ready to try. I cut off about three inches last night.
Following the recommendations of Mrs. MM (and many others!),
getting a good night's sleep of 8 hours, daily exercise, and healthy food with many fresh fruits and veggies, are among the best (and certainly most frugal) beauty practices.
Showing posts with label self-care. Show all posts
Showing posts with label self-care. Show all posts
Sunday, February 24, 2013
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
go around gently
Sometimes the procrastination issue gets the best of me.
I have been thinking about it a lot, and how to wiggle around it.
Facing it head-on feels like throwing myself at a giant boulder, trying to shoulder it out of the way.
Something is blocking my path, and the reasons for it are complex. Brute force is ineffective and just leaves me feeling bruised.
When this happens, I am blocking my own path. I am both the blocker and the blocked.
It's better if I can just get myself out of the way. To continue with this image, I have to find a nice little forest trail that gently wanders its way around the big boulder, so that I don't really notice I'm past it until I look backwards in surprise and relief.
That's what I'm working on now. Breaking down the tasks that are triggering my aversion into tiny, little, chunks. Then finding small rewards for after each step, that make me feel good and feel good about myself. A small walk. A chapter of a novel. A home skin treatment. A few minutes to write something here.
It also helps to reset patterns by working in a different spot. I moved from being entrenched on the living room couch (though Mowsie Cat kept me company) to the quiet Attic Addition, which reminds me of a Swedish cabin with its clean, bright emptiness.
What are your tricks for overcoming procrastination? Or is it an issue you struggle with?
I have been thinking about it a lot, and how to wiggle around it.
Facing it head-on feels like throwing myself at a giant boulder, trying to shoulder it out of the way.
Something is blocking my path, and the reasons for it are complex. Brute force is ineffective and just leaves me feeling bruised.
When this happens, I am blocking my own path. I am both the blocker and the blocked.
It's better if I can just get myself out of the way. To continue with this image, I have to find a nice little forest trail that gently wanders its way around the big boulder, so that I don't really notice I'm past it until I look backwards in surprise and relief.
That's what I'm working on now. Breaking down the tasks that are triggering my aversion into tiny, little, chunks. Then finding small rewards for after each step, that make me feel good and feel good about myself. A small walk. A chapter of a novel. A home skin treatment. A few minutes to write something here.
It also helps to reset patterns by working in a different spot. I moved from being entrenched on the living room couch (though Mowsie Cat kept me company) to the quiet Attic Addition, which reminds me of a Swedish cabin with its clean, bright emptiness.
What are your tricks for overcoming procrastination? Or is it an issue you struggle with?
Wednesday, February 6, 2013
a wednesday walk
Today is Wednesday, the midway mark for my work week.
Minou phoned me mid-morning to remind me of our Wednesday lunch meeting.
We used to try to do this weekly, but fell off our schedule during the visit of his maman.
It was such a nice surprise. Immersed in what I was doing, I had forgotten about our tradition.
Instead of eating lunch together, we decided that today we would go for a walk.
And it was perfect. He brought our big brown dog and met me at work, and we went off to walk the bike trails next to the river. It was so much fun to walk hand-in-hand watching the joggers, bikers, families, and ramblers in the park, along with the river through bare trees on the bank.
A weak but very welcome sun came out. We soaked it up.
A beautiful hour together.
And...nothing purchased. No money spent.
What's your favorite simple pleasure?
Minou phoned me mid-morning to remind me of our Wednesday lunch meeting.
We used to try to do this weekly, but fell off our schedule during the visit of his maman.
It was such a nice surprise. Immersed in what I was doing, I had forgotten about our tradition.
Instead of eating lunch together, we decided that today we would go for a walk.
And it was perfect. He brought our big brown dog and met me at work, and we went off to walk the bike trails next to the river. It was so much fun to walk hand-in-hand watching the joggers, bikers, families, and ramblers in the park, along with the river through bare trees on the bank.
A weak but very welcome sun came out. We soaked it up.
A beautiful hour together.
And...nothing purchased. No money spent.
What's your favorite simple pleasure?
Saturday, January 12, 2013
simple saturday
There is little I love more these days than a day at home.
I wasn't always such a homebody.
My sister-in-law noticed, not long after Minou and I met, that we seemed most lighthearted when we were "out and about". I also remember those days as a home-centered mama of two little ones when every day had to have at least one outing, and more were better.
A few hours alone at a coffee shop with a book and a journal back then--bliss.
Time has passed. Life has changed. I am very happy with my work now, but I'm away from home for many hours a day (nine and a half, counting the bike commute). I love my sweet & simple home. I miss it and those in it.
Even if the p'tit minous are occupied with homework or reading or other diversions, even if Minou is tied up with the taxes, I feel their presence and I am happy to all be home together. At this moment, I'm sitting on the couch with the sun shining in the big double doors. There are two sleeping cats next to me, and a sleeping dog at my feet. I wore out Sawyer (and myself, in a good-tired way) with our long hilly jog this morning.
I made a Thai vegetable curry with tofu, carrots, zucchini, and potatoes over rice for lunch. Spicy and good.
I'm looking forward to an afternoon coffee to go with the pastries we will select (with an X-mas gift card) at a bakery in honor of Minou's upcoming birthday. We decided together to choose then & bring them home, rather than eating out. Crean puffs are sounding pretty delicious.
I have a little homework for later, but I'm holding out hope for an early evening movie and snuggle on the couch. I have also been mulling over a post on how the Sitting is going. Still hard, but good. Tuesday will be the two-week mark. I think I have missed two days. I've also switched to mornings, first thing.
How is your Saturday going? What are you doing today?
I wasn't always such a homebody.
My sister-in-law noticed, not long after Minou and I met, that we seemed most lighthearted when we were "out and about". I also remember those days as a home-centered mama of two little ones when every day had to have at least one outing, and more were better.
A few hours alone at a coffee shop with a book and a journal back then--bliss.
Time has passed. Life has changed. I am very happy with my work now, but I'm away from home for many hours a day (nine and a half, counting the bike commute). I love my sweet & simple home. I miss it and those in it.
Even if the p'tit minous are occupied with homework or reading or other diversions, even if Minou is tied up with the taxes, I feel their presence and I am happy to all be home together. At this moment, I'm sitting on the couch with the sun shining in the big double doors. There are two sleeping cats next to me, and a sleeping dog at my feet. I wore out Sawyer (and myself, in a good-tired way) with our long hilly jog this morning.
I made a Thai vegetable curry with tofu, carrots, zucchini, and potatoes over rice for lunch. Spicy and good.
I'm looking forward to an afternoon coffee to go with the pastries we will select (with an X-mas gift card) at a bakery in honor of Minou's upcoming birthday. We decided together to choose then & bring them home, rather than eating out. Crean puffs are sounding pretty delicious.
I have a little homework for later, but I'm holding out hope for an early evening movie and snuggle on the couch. I have also been mulling over a post on how the Sitting is going. Still hard, but good. Tuesday will be the two-week mark. I think I have missed two days. I've also switched to mornings, first thing.
How is your Saturday going? What are you doing today?
Wednesday, December 5, 2012
be kind
Sometimes, there are those days when I have to take a deep breath and remember these words: be kind.
To myself, my loved ones, those around me.
There are days when it would be so easy to let myself get worked up in irritation, anger or self-righteousness.
And it is so much better to stop and remember that everyone is doing the best they can.
To give the benefit of a doubt.
To remember that looking back, I will be so glad to say "Oops--oh well, we're learning!" instead of scolding when a teen forgot his new weekly job. Or "Thank you for coming to get me!" instead of "I left work thirty minutes early and spent them waiting for you in the rain" when my husband made a special trip downtown to pick me up. Or "If I seem irritable it's because I didn't sleep enough and my eyes are tired--it is nothing to do with you, and I love you" to cut off the insecurities at the pass, those we all have.
At work: instead of feeling micromanaged and resenting it, to say "We have the same goals and you are trying to teach me from your experience. This way feels more comfortable to me because of xyz. I'd like to try it like this and check back in with you".
And with myself: I laughed and mopped it up instead of getting mad when I flooded the bathroom in my rush to get a morning shower and out the door (darn untucked shower curtain). I sighed, and said I'll do better tomorrow, when I had a second calzone at dinner. I forwent plans for washing the ceilings and sat on the couch with my boy and a big cat because I was tired. And I won't be disappointed in myself. I'll get to it tomorrow. And I did something kind with my sweet boy, who wants to use the money he saved up himself buying bees and geese for families far away, through Heifer International.
To myself, my loved ones, those around me.
There are days when it would be so easy to let myself get worked up in irritation, anger or self-righteousness.
And it is so much better to stop and remember that everyone is doing the best they can.
To give the benefit of a doubt.
To remember that looking back, I will be so glad to say "Oops--oh well, we're learning!" instead of scolding when a teen forgot his new weekly job. Or "Thank you for coming to get me!" instead of "I left work thirty minutes early and spent them waiting for you in the rain" when my husband made a special trip downtown to pick me up. Or "If I seem irritable it's because I didn't sleep enough and my eyes are tired--it is nothing to do with you, and I love you" to cut off the insecurities at the pass, those we all have.
At work: instead of feeling micromanaged and resenting it, to say "We have the same goals and you are trying to teach me from your experience. This way feels more comfortable to me because of xyz. I'd like to try it like this and check back in with you".
And with myself: I laughed and mopped it up instead of getting mad when I flooded the bathroom in my rush to get a morning shower and out the door (darn untucked shower curtain). I sighed, and said I'll do better tomorrow, when I had a second calzone at dinner. I forwent plans for washing the ceilings and sat on the couch with my boy and a big cat because I was tired. And I won't be disappointed in myself. I'll get to it tomorrow. And I did something kind with my sweet boy, who wants to use the money he saved up himself buying bees and geese for families far away, through Heifer International.
Friday, November 30, 2012
happy at home
It is so nice to have some time to be home.
This last week I have been struggling with a cold that just won't go away.
In an effort to heal and boost my health, I have been trying to sleep lot and lots
(propped up on pillows to breathe), have been swilling green tea by the gallon (& little coffee),
and drinking green smoothies for breakfast every day.
Fresh pressed apple juice, frozen blueberries, bananas and peaches, and big handfuls of chard or kale.
Delicious. So nutritious. I love to start the day with something green.
Now: the start to the weekend. A Friday evening grocery trip with Minou to replenish the bare cupboards, and a plan for cozy cooking tomorrow: leek and potato soup, pumpkin chocolate chip muffins, homemade pizza, and blueberry pie. I love to bake, and like to bake several things together when the oven is hot.
Keeping these p'tit minous fed is a constant job. P'tit minou deux has been requesting a second supper every evening, usually at lights-out time. Unless I'm on my own way to bed, I don't argue; we go back downstairs and it gives me a chance to get a vitamin and another fruit and veggie into him as well as another serving of dinner or a pbj. We have worried a bit over this one and his light appetite over the years, so I enjoy watching him eat. He is 13 now. I'm expecting to look up and find him as tall as me any day now.
This weekend I will also be making a trip to the home-improvement superstore with Minou when he goes to buy supplies for the attic. Drywall is next. We'll be sleeping there soon. I'm planning to buy painter's tape and get our downstairs ready to paint before my mother-in-law arrives for a visit in three weeks. We have had had warm, bright colors in our living space for several years now. It was my choice, an antidote to the winter gray here. The living room has a long red wall (dark brick red) and bright sunflower yellow walls. I'm tired of it now. I want a look that is more serene, peaceful. Our ceilings will stay white, and the floor downstairs is an off-white tile. For the walls, I have been going back and forth between a true white, off-white, and a pale tan/taupe.
What do you think? What would look more serene?
This last week I have been struggling with a cold that just won't go away.
In an effort to heal and boost my health, I have been trying to sleep lot and lots
(propped up on pillows to breathe), have been swilling green tea by the gallon (& little coffee),
and drinking green smoothies for breakfast every day.
Fresh pressed apple juice, frozen blueberries, bananas and peaches, and big handfuls of chard or kale.
Delicious. So nutritious. I love to start the day with something green.
Now: the start to the weekend. A Friday evening grocery trip with Minou to replenish the bare cupboards, and a plan for cozy cooking tomorrow: leek and potato soup, pumpkin chocolate chip muffins, homemade pizza, and blueberry pie. I love to bake, and like to bake several things together when the oven is hot.
Keeping these p'tit minous fed is a constant job. P'tit minou deux has been requesting a second supper every evening, usually at lights-out time. Unless I'm on my own way to bed, I don't argue; we go back downstairs and it gives me a chance to get a vitamin and another fruit and veggie into him as well as another serving of dinner or a pbj. We have worried a bit over this one and his light appetite over the years, so I enjoy watching him eat. He is 13 now. I'm expecting to look up and find him as tall as me any day now.
This weekend I will also be making a trip to the home-improvement superstore with Minou when he goes to buy supplies for the attic. Drywall is next. We'll be sleeping there soon. I'm planning to buy painter's tape and get our downstairs ready to paint before my mother-in-law arrives for a visit in three weeks. We have had had warm, bright colors in our living space for several years now. It was my choice, an antidote to the winter gray here. The living room has a long red wall (dark brick red) and bright sunflower yellow walls. I'm tired of it now. I want a look that is more serene, peaceful. Our ceilings will stay white, and the floor downstairs is an off-white tile. For the walls, I have been going back and forth between a true white, off-white, and a pale tan/taupe.
What do you think? What would look more serene?
Sunday, November 4, 2012
simple sunday
A lovely, cuddly, extra hour of sleep.
An early morning phone call to France via Google for a birthday.
(at 2 cents per minute, it's fine to talk for an hour--and we did)
A day-old baguette warmed in the oven for breakfast. Delicious with jam and Inka.
Helped Minou with framing upstairs. Another window framed in for the Attic Addition.
A long, sunny, weekend run with the big brown dog.
Up the trails at the edge of town, where the forest begins and the leaves are gorgeous.
Ran into two old friends on the trail.
Home for lunch of leftover pizza, carrots, and homemade red lentil soup.
A green tea day, instead of a coffee day. Easier when the sun is shining.
Start of a great new library book: Happier at Home by Gretchen Rubin.
Paid the mortgage and added a little extra.
Now: a quick shower, and off for more tea with some friends.
Back to get a head start on this week's homework, read a couple of chapters of Huck Finn with p'tit minou deux, and watch Tangled. (I also have Oscar et la Dame Rose and My Beautiful Laundrette, again from the library).
A simple Sunday.
What is your Sunday like?
An early morning phone call to France via Google for a birthday.
(at 2 cents per minute, it's fine to talk for an hour--and we did)
A day-old baguette warmed in the oven for breakfast. Delicious with jam and Inka.
Helped Minou with framing upstairs. Another window framed in for the Attic Addition.
A long, sunny, weekend run with the big brown dog.
Up the trails at the edge of town, where the forest begins and the leaves are gorgeous.
Ran into two old friends on the trail.
Home for lunch of leftover pizza, carrots, and homemade red lentil soup.
A green tea day, instead of a coffee day. Easier when the sun is shining.
Start of a great new library book: Happier at Home by Gretchen Rubin.
Paid the mortgage and added a little extra.
Now: a quick shower, and off for more tea with some friends.
Back to get a head start on this week's homework, read a couple of chapters of Huck Finn with p'tit minou deux, and watch Tangled. (I also have Oscar et la Dame Rose and My Beautiful Laundrette, again from the library).
A simple Sunday.
What is your Sunday like?
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
cake
I need some help here. But let me back up:
I have been working on fitness and (I think) doing a great job at being active.
For me, this is a pleasure and not a duty. It's necessary. It keeps me happy.
(Or at least even-keel). I find perspective. I release stress. I daydream.
I walk, I jog, I ride my bike to work. I do push-ups in the morning. Hurray! I love it.
I'm also happy to say that I always eat 5 fruits and veggies a day now. And sometimes 7.
Again, not hard to do. I like fruits and veggies. I live 4 blocks from a little neighborhood natural food store and a mile from a great supermarket. I have generous friends and neighbors who share their garden bounty this time of year. Our lot is full of and surrounded by fruit trees. Easy peasy.
Where I'm not doing so well health-wise....
is when it comes to eating cake. Or chocolate. Or ice cream. Or cheese.
I seem to be "on" or "off" when it comes to self-control, with very little reasoned room in the middle. Either I'm actively choosing not to consume those items (which, with a high cholesterol issue at my relatively tender (ahem) age I know I shouldn't), or I'm indulging without restraint. It isn't a healthy pattern, but I'm not sure how to break it.
Oddly, when we were in France this summer and surrounded by all kinds of delicious food, I felt much less tempted. I could enjoy bites of something, or taking a picture of it. I also felt more aesthetically fulfilled--the visual pleasure of being in a lovely place. And I had less stress. I was on vacation. It seems like the family dinner hour, when we reunite after the long day, is usually when the teenage p'tit minous choose to engage in some regularly scheduled sibling conflict. Which makes me automatically want to start finishing the ice cream.
(somewhat ironically, just as I was writing this, Minou came back from the store and put a chocolate button in my mouth.)
So, suggestions please!
How can apply the principles of minimalism--just enough and no more--to healthy eating and treats in moderation?
I have been working on fitness and (I think) doing a great job at being active.
For me, this is a pleasure and not a duty. It's necessary. It keeps me happy.
(Or at least even-keel). I find perspective. I release stress. I daydream.
I walk, I jog, I ride my bike to work. I do push-ups in the morning. Hurray! I love it.
I'm also happy to say that I always eat 5 fruits and veggies a day now. And sometimes 7.
Again, not hard to do. I like fruits and veggies. I live 4 blocks from a little neighborhood natural food store and a mile from a great supermarket. I have generous friends and neighbors who share their garden bounty this time of year. Our lot is full of and surrounded by fruit trees. Easy peasy.
Where I'm not doing so well health-wise....
is when it comes to eating cake. Or chocolate. Or ice cream. Or cheese.
I seem to be "on" or "off" when it comes to self-control, with very little reasoned room in the middle. Either I'm actively choosing not to consume those items (which, with a high cholesterol issue at my relatively tender (ahem) age I know I shouldn't), or I'm indulging without restraint. It isn't a healthy pattern, but I'm not sure how to break it.
Oddly, when we were in France this summer and surrounded by all kinds of delicious food, I felt much less tempted. I could enjoy bites of something, or taking a picture of it. I also felt more aesthetically fulfilled--the visual pleasure of being in a lovely place. And I had less stress. I was on vacation. It seems like the family dinner hour, when we reunite after the long day, is usually when the teenage p'tit minous choose to engage in some regularly scheduled sibling conflict. Which makes me automatically want to start finishing the ice cream.
(somewhat ironically, just as I was writing this, Minou came back from the store and put a chocolate button in my mouth.)
So, suggestions please!
How can apply the principles of minimalism--just enough and no more--to healthy eating and treats in moderation?
Sunday, July 22, 2012
perusing the pantry
How is it possible to lose weight while on vacation in France? Despite a daily four-o-clock "gouter" with coffee and dark chocolate, and frequent ice cream stops while visiting beautiful medieval villages, and a nightly "apero" with snacks and drinks before the meal?
I'm not sure by what magic it occurs, but it does, and I'm not complaining. Actually, I think I do understand the phenomenon. What happens is a sort of re-setting of habits, being away from familiar triggers, and influenced by a whole different set of customs around mealtimes and eating. Delicious foods and drinks, but consumed in a slower and more ritualized manner, in smaller quantities, with more people and more conversation.
Whether this happens because of being in France, or being on vacation, or being with Minou's family, I'm not sure...but it is so different from our regular family weeknight during the school year, with a starving adult (me) returning late from work, and starving kids (them) after ballet and basketball at the Y, and hurry-hurry-hurry let's eat dinner because there is homework to do and showers to take and story reading to occur. You parents may know this routine.
I want to keep some of this intentionality to meals. Since I returned home alone, it's a little easier to eat when and how suits me best right now than if I also had to take the needs and desires of three other lovely folks (who I can't wait to see this upcoming FRIDAY) into consideration. I also thought that this might be a solo opportunity to get creative with the contents of the pantry and keep the grocery bill as low as possible this month.
My original plan was to see if I could make that grocery bill nonexistent, but two things interfered with that: an overwhelming craving for milk and fresh fruit and the need to have 10 debit purchases to continue getting a higher interest rate on our checking account. So with frequent stops at the grocery store to pick up one item at a time, my spending has been pretty minimal and my diet pretty healthy since I came home. It's amazing how much food some of us have squirrelled away in our freezers, can cupboards, and pantries! And how easy it is to overlook it and just go buy some more! And how much more slowly one adult trying to eat consciously reduces it than two consciously eating adults and two rapidly growing teenage boys!
I am lucky in that although we didn't really get a garden in this year, many friends did and I have been gifted with amazing bounty of fresh zucchini, lettuce, bok choi and kale. The now-eight Ladies are laying a storm of eggs (farewell to poor Petunia and Blackbeard), and the eight mature blueberry bushes are covered with blue deliciousness.
With those needs taken care of, I have been enjoying breakfasts of cereal (of questionable date, but fine), flax seeds, walnuts and raisins, dinners of frozen salmon patties, frozen freezer veggies, and steamed fresh garden vegetables with soy-sesame-ginger dressing, and lunches mostly composed of interesting canned items I probably wouldn't usually look twice at. Example: a salad made of canned green beans, canned beets, canned corn, and canned salmon (it might not sound good, but actually was). Another day: soup made of canned diced tomatoes with basil combined with canned black beans. And I discovered that (I know, its shocking to say) instant coffee isn't really bad when mixed with a spoonful of brown sugar. Spending in the last 11 days: $22.00, but that included using the debit card to start stocking up for when the boys return.
I haven't had to resort to some of the meals I imagined for myself, of endless toast (I still have a loaf of bread I bought in the train station at Rennes in the fridge, hmmm...) with jam (we somehow have six large jars of marionberry jam), fried eggs, and blueberries...it doesn't sound too bad! I will however draw the line at those unidentifiable freezer items....
What are you eating these days? Have you ever had an empty-the pantry challenge?
I'm not sure by what magic it occurs, but it does, and I'm not complaining. Actually, I think I do understand the phenomenon. What happens is a sort of re-setting of habits, being away from familiar triggers, and influenced by a whole different set of customs around mealtimes and eating. Delicious foods and drinks, but consumed in a slower and more ritualized manner, in smaller quantities, with more people and more conversation.
Whether this happens because of being in France, or being on vacation, or being with Minou's family, I'm not sure...but it is so different from our regular family weeknight during the school year, with a starving adult (me) returning late from work, and starving kids (them) after ballet and basketball at the Y, and hurry-hurry-hurry let's eat dinner because there is homework to do and showers to take and story reading to occur. You parents may know this routine.
I want to keep some of this intentionality to meals. Since I returned home alone, it's a little easier to eat when and how suits me best right now than if I also had to take the needs and desires of three other lovely folks (who I can't wait to see this upcoming FRIDAY) into consideration. I also thought that this might be a solo opportunity to get creative with the contents of the pantry and keep the grocery bill as low as possible this month.
My original plan was to see if I could make that grocery bill nonexistent, but two things interfered with that: an overwhelming craving for milk and fresh fruit and the need to have 10 debit purchases to continue getting a higher interest rate on our checking account. So with frequent stops at the grocery store to pick up one item at a time, my spending has been pretty minimal and my diet pretty healthy since I came home. It's amazing how much food some of us have squirrelled away in our freezers, can cupboards, and pantries! And how easy it is to overlook it and just go buy some more! And how much more slowly one adult trying to eat consciously reduces it than two consciously eating adults and two rapidly growing teenage boys!
I am lucky in that although we didn't really get a garden in this year, many friends did and I have been gifted with amazing bounty of fresh zucchini, lettuce, bok choi and kale. The now-eight Ladies are laying a storm of eggs (farewell to poor Petunia and Blackbeard), and the eight mature blueberry bushes are covered with blue deliciousness.
With those needs taken care of, I have been enjoying breakfasts of cereal (of questionable date, but fine), flax seeds, walnuts and raisins, dinners of frozen salmon patties, frozen freezer veggies, and steamed fresh garden vegetables with soy-sesame-ginger dressing, and lunches mostly composed of interesting canned items I probably wouldn't usually look twice at. Example: a salad made of canned green beans, canned beets, canned corn, and canned salmon (it might not sound good, but actually was). Another day: soup made of canned diced tomatoes with basil combined with canned black beans. And I discovered that (I know, its shocking to say) instant coffee isn't really bad when mixed with a spoonful of brown sugar. Spending in the last 11 days: $22.00, but that included using the debit card to start stocking up for when the boys return.
I haven't had to resort to some of the meals I imagined for myself, of endless toast (I still have a loaf of bread I bought in the train station at Rennes in the fridge, hmmm...) with jam (we somehow have six large jars of marionberry jam), fried eggs, and blueberries...it doesn't sound too bad! I will however draw the line at those unidentifiable freezer items....
What are you eating these days? Have you ever had an empty-the pantry challenge?
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
renewed
I have read that being an introvert or an extrovert has nothing to do with how much you like to be with people or enjoy socializing--that by definition, in simplest form, it is about how you renew your energy.
Do you refill your well alone, or with other people?
I am an introvert.
This last weekend on my own, much as I missed Minou and my boys, was a delight. Moving at my own speed, following my own routines, taking time to sit, reflect, and journal...the quiet house, the lovely spring weather...I was able to break though some mental barriers that had been holding me back from making progress on a project, and I think it had a lot to do with the time to myself.
The circumstances helped too. Minou and the boys were off having an adventure, a happy event, and we were in contact. I connected with sweet friends and neighbors, and my mom, who stopped by.
I worked (on academic projects), cleaned, jogged, cared for the animals, and sat. Sat! I went to bed past midnight, unusual, Saturday night and set a late alarm Sunday, but forgot about the needs of the critters...woke up to let the cats and dogs out (after noisy reminders) around 6 a.m. and once I went outside to let the chickens out, the misty spring morning was so mesmerizing that I forgot about going back to bed.
An oasis of energy renewal. Thankful today.
Do you refill your well alone, or with other people?
I am an introvert.
This last weekend on my own, much as I missed Minou and my boys, was a delight. Moving at my own speed, following my own routines, taking time to sit, reflect, and journal...the quiet house, the lovely spring weather...I was able to break though some mental barriers that had been holding me back from making progress on a project, and I think it had a lot to do with the time to myself.
The circumstances helped too. Minou and the boys were off having an adventure, a happy event, and we were in contact. I connected with sweet friends and neighbors, and my mom, who stopped by.
I worked (on academic projects), cleaned, jogged, cared for the animals, and sat. Sat! I went to bed past midnight, unusual, Saturday night and set a late alarm Sunday, but forgot about the needs of the critters...woke up to let the cats and dogs out (after noisy reminders) around 6 a.m. and once I went outside to let the chickens out, the misty spring morning was so mesmerizing that I forgot about going back to bed.
An oasis of energy renewal. Thankful today.
Monday, October 10, 2011
Spa
I had an odd dream a few nights ago...
We had transformed our little house into a cottage-industry spa. Facials in the bathroom, massage in the living room, and eyebrow-waxing at the kitchen table. Customers were lining up in the garden.
??
This may have had something to do with the Korean day spa I visited while in SF, but I took it as a sign that we needed a little more pampering. (Though I have never had anything waxed, myself). I forgot to get a picture, but last night there were three green-faced folks sitting on the couch watching the West Wing (G2 declined to participate). The combination of weekly French green clay facial masks and Greek olive oil soap has really improved my skin. A new glow....
When life is too busy, the little moments of self-care feel so good.
What are some little things you do to care for yourself?
We had transformed our little house into a cottage-industry spa. Facials in the bathroom, massage in the living room, and eyebrow-waxing at the kitchen table. Customers were lining up in the garden.
??
This may have had something to do with the Korean day spa I visited while in SF, but I took it as a sign that we needed a little more pampering. (Though I have never had anything waxed, myself). I forgot to get a picture, but last night there were three green-faced folks sitting on the couch watching the West Wing (G2 declined to participate). The combination of weekly French green clay facial masks and Greek olive oil soap has really improved my skin. A new glow....
When life is too busy, the little moments of self-care feel so good.
What are some little things you do to care for yourself?
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