Google Analytics

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Just a Couple Years Off!

You Belong in 1955





You're fun loving, romantic, and more than a little innocent. See you at the drive in!

Sunday, February 24, 2008

Ch-ch-ch-changes!

I'm really happy with myself for basically being able to stick with my plans for the new year...for the most part, and as a result of that as well as because I've been feeling crummy for months now and have had a couple of nasty sinus infections in the past two months (that have had me on antibiotics 3 times already this year!)...

About a week and a half ago, I dropped dairy completely from my diet.

Not a stunner for some folks, I'm sure, but for me, it was a drastic change.

Partly, I think, it has been hard because my family roots, while firmly IN the vegetarian camp, have been in the Lacto-Ovo camp.

We drank milk. And.ATE.CHEESE. LOTS of cheese.

Of course, we were mostly a one-cheese family - white cheddar (extra sharp, please) from the only state in the union who really knows cheese (sorry Wisconsin, and NY) - VERMONT!

(ok..in a pinch, we ate New York's cheddar)
lolol

I have discovered that I'm a lot happier, and feel much better without dairy.

But I do miss my cheese.

OH. Btw. Please don't offer the suggestion of soy? I can't do that. Soy is as bad in my system as dairy apparently was.
(sigh)

Now. I'm not going back to vegetarianism completely at this point. I still like my turkey and my salmon (especially those).

But it's now been almost 2 weeks without dairy and it's safe to say - I'm such a nice person to be around now.
*wink*
OH. And I discovered on Friday that I can eat Mexican without cheese and it's STILL wonderful! (ok...a little hotter without the balancing properties of the cheese, but I like hot!)
(tippy-tappy-toes dance!)

Sunday, February 17, 2008

Cool Clear Water...

Long time no post...but if you're looking for philosophy today, it's probably not this one...

The other day I made one of my (far too infrequent, as I let this stuff pile up) trips to the recycling center that isn't far from my house. As I was tossing stuff into the correct railroad cars, carefully making sure what went where, I realized how many of the gallon-sized plastic water bottles I was pitching in. (sigh)

When I moved in to this new place about a year ago, I tried to install my Pur filter on the faucet. I tried valiantly. A friend tried, a plumber even tried (griping all the way, of course, since Pur filters are mostly plastic and plumbers do NOT like plastic!). I finally gave up, and decided that I would go back to bottled water (I absolutely cannot stand the taste of tap water anywhere in this community! And I drink a lot of water...)

But during Christmas shopping I'd noticed one of these:

I didn't pick it up then, I waited.

Last week, I was in the store again, picking up necessities, and suddenly LOOKED at my list...There amongst the toothpaste and coffee filters, was "Pur Pitcher."

"Well, don't you think you'd better?" I asked myself. After all, I'd pitched all those plastic bottles into the train car...shaking my head and being disgusted that I couldn't use the faucet-mount style anymore...

Hmmm...I don't know how much more economical it will be - it says to change the filter every 2 months. That's about the cost of the bottled water for one person like me.

But I surely hope it will help the landfill.

Saturday, February 02, 2008

Feast of St. Brigid - 3rd Annual Blog Poetry Reading Day

Both Becky and Melanie brought the 3rd Annual Blog Poetry Reading to my attention this year, and I wanted to participate, but this time in this blog space, rather than Knitnana. I've been reading Plain Living: A Quaker Path To Simplicity by Catherine Whitmire and this poem appears in the chapter on Community. On further exploration I discovered quite a bit about the author (a contemporary of Jane Addams) that I was unaware of, as well as the full quote. It's always been one of my favorites:

Let us be patient with one another,
And even patient with ourselves.
We have a long, long way to go.
So let us hasten along the road,
The road of human tenderness and generosity.
Groping, we may find one another's hands in the dark.

.....Emily Greene Balch, 1955

I think it's an appropriate meditation for today, as well.