Stuck on Day 11

Such a metaphor for my life. I simply cannot commit to doing something every single day of my life. Hell, I even try to take days off from parenting, which is not as easy as it sounds. I really, really want to do it but then I just get soooo tired. Driving home from class last night (because yes, hell grad school is back)I had decided to scrap this whole thing and just keep plugging away over at Broken Bananas. But I like having separate blogs. It's sort of an extension of my multiple personalities (not officially diagnosed). I have high hopes for this little space. If only so I can look back a year from now and see all the things I've accomplished and feel overly superior. So I guess you get a little reprieve while I decide what to do. Just don't piss me off in the meantime.

Day 11

I am really into making homemade bread lately. Just ask my ungrateful daughter. I am trying out recipes until I find "The 1". I have made a loaf only using whole wheat flour and I liked it but I'm afraid I'm in the minority. Then I tried a half whole wheat/half white flour. It went down better but didn't last more than two days because we ate it all. And by we I mean mainly me. This week I tried a whole wheat/white flour combo with the addition of oatmeal. It is very tasty. Don't know if it will be "The 1" but I like it. And it made two loaves. I will provide the recipe so you can torture your children.

Oatmeal Whole Wheat Bread

Day 10

Isn't it great to start cleaning the house at square 1 every week?

No, it is not great. Not great at all.

Day 9

Today we did our part to support local eateries. It's such hard work but someone has to do it. I will selflessly indulge in local barbecue and ice cream for the good of the community. And the service is so much better.

If you live in the A-Z area and you have not tried these places, go there immediately. Like drop what you're doing and just run there.

Joe's Real BBQ

Udder Delights

Joe's will make you love being a carnivore and they even have red cream soda.
Udder Delights has the best ice cream I've had in a long, long time. And bonus, free cow erasers.

Day 8

Walking 10 miles is not great. But it does give you more respect for pioneers and nomads.

Day 7

My friend Sara and I are on a whirlwind tour of local spray pads. Oh yeah, we take our kids along too. This is by far the best we've found. Simple, shaded, right next to a self-serve frozen yogurt place. The kids could do this for the remaining five months of summer.

Day 6

Finally found something that kicks my kids' messy butts.

Thanks Oxi Clean for all of your marvelous marvels.

Day 5

"Eaters must understand, how we eat determines how the world is used."

-Barbara Kingsolver
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle

I am aware this quote does not relate directly to my awesomeness but rather to the person I aspire to be.

Day 4

I made a kick ass melon salsa from locally grown foods with a recipe from the book Animal Vegetable Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver. I highly recommend both.

Day 3

Something I learned today:

Do not use peppermint soap to wash your "lady parts." Unless of course you like that sort of thing.

Day 2

My legs are far too hairy for shorts (though you can't really tell in this picture but it's the only one I took that didn't make my calves look the size of a beef shank). But I wore them anyway. Constant movement is the key to fooling the eye.

Day 1

Today I wore a bathing suit bottom because I was all out of clean underwear.

By Way of Explanation

My mother and I went to see Julie & Julia today. The movie was excellent and inspired a craving for French food and blog readership. Julie Powell started a blog, during the golden days of blogging, and ended up with a book and movie. She didn't even have Site Meter to verify her growing readership. But she ended up with thousands of followers who read her every word and yes, sent her gifts. Gifts. I can't imagine. Now it seems every good blog idea has been used up. Writing about going insane. Taken. Writing about how your kids lead to the insanity. Taken. Fashion, fitness, home organization and design. Done, done and done. I have racked my brain for a good hook. Something that will draw people in and keep them coming back. Something I could do for 365 days. People seem to love things involving "A Year of..." Or maybe that's just me. And that's when it hit me. Blogs are narcissistic shrines people build to worship at their own feet. Accusing a blogger of being self-absorbed is just repetitious. You have to possess at least a small fraction of healthy self esteem to write about yourself every day and to expect anyone to want to read it (more than once anyway). So I have decided to devote a whole year to myself. 365 days of why I am awesome. And I suppose I should care if people want to read about me (and I really do) but no matter what happens, at the end of the 365 days I will still be me. And I will always be awesome.

Freaking Out About Food

As if I needed something else to freak out about. I have been reading food books all summer. And now I have just enough information to be dangerous. I am reading these:




I am a little concerned with our national food supply and our American way of doing things faster and cheaper. There are so many statistics in both books that just make me want to crawl under the bed and live on dust bunnies. How did we get to the point that the majority of our calories come from three crops (corn, soy and wheat) that have been genetically modified to be resistant to the chemicals supplied by the very same supplier of the seeds? And what's the alternative? Luckily both books are pretty detailed in offering solutions. Obviously organic produce is an option. But you have to make sure it's not coming from too far away. And then there's growing your own. Which works much better in a climate not considered "hell." And we use a lot of water to sustain our desert crops. Then there's the farmers market. I have been frequenting a local market on Friday mornings and the produce offerings are abundant. I even bought farm fresh eggs last time and I am well stocked in local honey. Sometimes they even have grass fed beef for sale. I placed an order for grass fed beef from a farm in southern Arizona because I wanted to see if we could taste a difference and I wanted to support local ranching. I know some people think suburbanites have way too much money and time on their hands and are always looking for eco chic ways to save the planet. But seriously, grass fed beef beats store bought's butt. It just had so much more flavor and texture. I am a convert. Ultimately though, the trick is deciding to eat in season and giving up things from far, far away. I had to tell my littlest she couldn't have apples this week because New Zealand was far away across the ocean. She didn't really understand but her attention turned to peaches so everything worked out. And it's kind of cool to eat things just because you need to use them up. This morning I had cereal but no bananas. Do we even grow bananas in the United States? So I looked in the fridge and I had a delicious local peach in need of being eaten. Why didn't I think of that sooner? I know it may take a little more time and money trying to eat sustainably but if I can make up for a little human arrogance by spending an extra hour a week and a few dollars more, I'm all in.