Out of the Grocery Store & Finding a Local Credit Union
For three weeks now we’ve been receiving produce from Spud!. Nate still refuses to do a CSA because he wants to control what exactly he gets, and I even had to strong-arm him (sort of) into doing Spud by saying that we can choose what we receive. His argument is that he likes to handle the produce and pick out the best. To his credit, he’s done very well with our healthier diet. Growing up, for him, included a LOT of fast food and sodas. In fact, he’s much more likely to eat a salad and veggies than I am (my dad didn’t like salad, so my mom rarely made it and all veggies were boiled to death). We wer

My love of books turns into an opportunity
I Love Books.  That might be a bit of an understatement really.  I’m constantly seeking to surround myself with books.  It is virtually impossible for me to walk out of a book store without at least one book.  The same is true of Nate, actually.  I max out my library card at 100 books often (although I’d say that at least half of them are kids books, since Seth can’t have his own card yet).  My father was a Lit. Major in College, and our family room also had floor to ceiling shelves packed with books.  We got at least one book for birthdays and Christmas.  So, it’s only natural that I love books.  I have a huge collection of book lists, and alo

Self-Care Checklist
I have to be very intentional about self-care, because I wasn’t trained to take care of myself (as I suspect many of you weren’t either).  It was “The Woman’s Comfort Book” by Jennifer Louden that gave me a checklist to work from, which I wrote out and posted on the bulletin board in our kitchen as a reminder to look after myself.  I recently took it down because I wasn’t really looking at it any more, but I think about it once and a while. Like right now.  Because I was up past midnight last night, and thus unable to get up this morning to work out, and then whilst sitting and knitting this afternoon I practically feel asleep, so

Time, time, time…
I’ve been thinking, somewhat obsessively about time management and organization (so yes, if you have looked for these books in the Washington County library system and found them all out, I would be the one who has them all). I like things to be neat and tidy and organized. I also hate to be the one to do the tidying although I think it’s the result of the fact that I get inspired easily, and a mess builds up. Other people might use the word “distracted” where I used “inspired” but I don’t see the new ideas popping into my brain as a negative thing, rather something that needs a system of channeling that doesn’t interrup

When you really, really, really want something
You’ll find a way to get it or make it happen. This could be taken as a hindsight sort of thing, but knowing this in advance can also really be motivational. For me, it goes both ways. When I returned from visiting my parents I finally decided that enough was enough, and I was going to lose weight and start eating right once and for all. I had really let myself go while I was there, so much so that I actually lost 7 lbs within 2 days of being back and having done no exercise or eaten my vegetables. We simply do not have sweets in the house. Actually, Nate had bought some truffles for me, which I actually didn’t eat until several days late