Fortune Pockets

I love saving fortunes from fortune cookies.  When I get them, I put them in my pocket in hopes that later on, I will include them in scrap books (which I never do - but I always intend to tho - that should count for something).  Instead, I just end up leaving them in my pockets, so when I wear the article of clothing that I wore when saving the fortune, I find them in the pockets.  And when I read them, I think - yay - I got a good fortune.  Even after a wash, it doesn't ruin the fortunes paper, it gets a bit soft, but its still in good shape, and I can still read the fortunes. 
So really, I take fortune cookies and turn them in to fortune pockets.  I can tell how often I wear a certain pants or shirt by the amount of fortunes I have in its pockets.  You guys should try it the next time you eat Chinese food.  Its good clean fun.

Time is Money!

When I asked my hubby, a recovered gamer who used to carry his own Xbox controller wherever he went, why he stopped playing video games, he tells me, that he realized he was being robbed of his time.  Even after 10 hours of Halo, or Metal Gear (or whatever was out at the time) nothing in his life was being accomplished.  Plus, for every new game, it would cost him approximately 2 hours of phone answering/circuit checking/boss loathing at work.  So with that in mind, he pushed the game system to the back of the entertainment unit and let it gather dust.  Seeing time this way, it's become easier to recognize the real value of our time.

There are only 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year.  A 40 hour work week takes up about 25% of that.  We pay for conveniences to get some of that time back, but it seems to never be enough of the other important stuff:  sleeping, eating, playing, relaxing and growing with yourself, your friends and your family.


A friend shared a story with me about an elderly woman who took 1 week to make 2 sacks to sell at her market to support her family.  Wanting to make a difference, a couple of American students decided to give her a sewing machine to improve her living condition.  A month or so later, the eager philanthropists wanted to see the impact of their generosity, and were surprised to find that the woman was still making and selling 2 sacks per week.  Confused the students asked if she used the machine at all.  The woman, explains that now that she has the sewing machine, she can make the 2 sacks faster and can spend more of her time doing the things that mattered to her the most.  The woman in the story did not wait for accumulated wealth to improve her life, instead, she prioritized her values and improved her quality of life immediately.


Last night, I saw In Time, a sci-fi, futuristic Bonnie and Clyde where time was the currency.  People exchanging minutes of their lives for a sandwich, two hours for a bus ride, a month for toll bridge, etc.  With that in mind, not only do things such as video games consume your day, but perhaps it also knocks off a few years off your life.

Fresh Faced Canvas

Last weekend, I was in Union to face paint at the Festival on the Green event.  When I say face paint, I mean SIX hours straight of not just squabbling siblings, or "don't touch that"s and "get that out of your mouth"s, but also seis horas of funny snippets of conversations, improved brush strokes and fresh faced canvas.


I recall being impressed with parents' creativity to convince their kid(s) that the taffy and cupcake display of bath products at the Lily and Eve booth right next to the line, was not for eating.  If ever they want to indulge their kids with a candy bath, however, then they should have picked up a pack or two.  I'm not sure how long the line was, but I got an idea from comments about waiting for an hour to get their turn.  But I wasn't worried, and continued to give each kid my focused attention.  I can also still visualize those priceless expressions from those kids when they saw their finished face. 

The entire day was such a blur, I liken it to running marathons.  Complete with bodiless arms handing over snacks and drinks as well as holding your pee for longer than you should. 

I cannot recall the last time I allowed myself the luxury of painting for that many hours.  Releasing the tension due to the lack of an artistic outlet, multiplied by the eagerness in children.  It's no wonder I was still energized at the after "party" dinner at Van Gogh's Ear, despite having only four hours of sleep the night before.  I'm sure it was the reason I felt a smile creep on my face as I went to bed that evening.  Possibly also the reason I was able to focus an entire day on writing papers and studying for exams the following day.  But, definitely the reason I put myself out there to provide face painting as a service  Wish me luck!

Help Wanted: Soda Drinker

Museo Pambata display

When diy projects are successful, we show off and take photos in all sorts of angles with varied backgrounds.  However, when a bowl made of magazine scraps result in what looks like a giant wad of chewed up gum, we toss the whole thing and forget it even happen.  And that's why you don't see any photos of that thing in this post.  Instead, here are photos of my new hanging "pot" made out of a soda bottle.  I got this idea visiting the Museo Pambata, (at right) a children's interactive museum in Manila, PI.  Since we don't drink soda, it took a while to acquire the one bottle.  I still have a few smaller plants outside enduring the temperature changes waiting for someone to come by and finish another bottle of soda.  In the meantime, the one strawberry plant is saved.


Materials:

• empty and rinsed soda bottle
• marker
• box cutter
• string
• drill

Procedure:

1. drill a hole through the center of the bottom of the bottle large enough to thread the string through
2. drill another hole through the bottle cap.   
3. thread the string through the holes.  cut the string to 2 pieces, and knot off each end to keep string from getting through the holes.
4. draw 2 large squares and cut out using the box cutter
5. fill the rounded end with soil and insert plant.
6. hang bottle up-side-down with bottle cap pointing down..

 I cut the string I'm holding and knotted it off to keep the string from falling through the holes.

bottom string allows the water to filter on to the next bottle (coming soon) or a planter.

Future Shock Absorbers

I went to Barnes and Noble the other day.  Walking in, I noticed a slew of Zombie books... an entire display of zombie books.  I'm not the one to shirk at zombie themed media, but has anyone else noticed an emergence of apocalyptic themes?  NOT post apocalyptic as they did with the Mad Max movies in the 80s, but in the process of....a present day realization that the ish hit the fan.  Even the Planet of the Apes took it back to present day to explain how primates took over the future with Rise of the Planet Apes released this year.

In a way Hollywood has given us an outlet to our current economic environmental problems.  Can't make your mortgage payment today?  Not to worry, bankers won't hound you anymore because they've been replaced by zombies.  The price of gas went up another couple of dollars due to limited oil resources?  Who cares! We are going to somehow figure out how to jump through a wormhole to live in another planet like in Fox's new show Nova Terra about a fugitive crossing planetary borders only to be hired as a sheriff - not much promise for this future society..

Of course zombies aren't walking around taking over our cities, but cannibalism has been a constant trend in wallstreet where executives are eating up people's livelihood.   And with our brainless, insatiable consumer habits, who's to say we aren't zombies ourselves already.

Scientific discoveries have also fueled our hope that things will be solved and the human race will prevail.  With the discovery of so many planets in the Goldilocks zone (not too hot and not too cold) eventually they'll find a planet we can designate as our new home.   Along with the discovery of a sub-atomic particle faster than the speed of light, it won't be long until we're booking our vacation to Risa (the pleasure planet in Star Trek).

I would say if art imitates life, this is one of those cases.  Except these stories resolve in a way that's comforting to allow us to continue on our destructive and wasteful ways.

Plastic In a New Light

I know this video has been buzzing around the net for the past month or so, but I thought it was worth reposting.  This is the future folks!  With depleting resources, combined with a disposable mentality, it won't be long until we're all rummaging through landfills and recycling centers to furnish our homes.  Frankly, I wish it would happen sooner rather than later - when there's nothing left to mine/cut-down/use up, etc!  I often wonder why we don't have more of those earth ships, which are homes made from recycled materials, around.  Instead, I see more and more new developments built from raw materials like wood and steel and such (another phenomenon I don't understand with so many forclosed homes).
While I appreciate the "green" movement, market media has us thinking we need to purchase our way in to it.  Not so folks.  Just look at these remarkable people who have taken something like a plastic bottle and made it useful...like a light bulb.  

The Pillow Pot

We've all done it:  lined up at checkout to realize we left our reusable shopping bags in the car/house.  It's really not that bad since I use the bags to line our bathroom trash, but I've done it so often that I have enough bags to line 50 trash cans for the next two years.. and yet the bags keep piling up.  I tried other uses for these dreaded plastic bags.  I use them as a lunch bag, gym bag, laundry bag, but it inevitably ends up in the trash (and we all know how I feel about that)...until today.  

With Fall right around the corner (2 days to be exact), it's time to move my plants indoors.  I have two particular plants in large clay pots.  They were once little house warming gifts that, over the years, have graduated to larger and larger containers.  The problem with house plants as big as these, is that once they're down on our hardwood floors, they don't move until it's time to take them out again - around late Spring.  Even then, they leave nicks and scratches on the floors, and ring marks for when the water filters down to the bottom of the pot.  Enter the Pillow Pot (made this name up).  It's a plastic bag filled with other plastic bags that allows me to move these clay pots around my living room without scratching the floors. 


Materials:
a bunch of plastic bags
1 fancy, thicker plastic bag
packing tape - preferably the clear ones

Procedures:
1.  fill thicker plastic bag with the smaller ones... the fluffier the better
2.  fold the bag to a size just slightly larger than the bottom of your pot.
3.  seal with tape, and tape in corners (or if you want to keep the square shape - do it up!)
4.  place pot on top
5.  PRESTO:  Pillow Pot

Hooray!!!  I am no longer that crazy woman who walks out the supermarket carrying 10 items to avoid using the plastic bags. 
 

Note:  ziplock bag is optional.  I happen to have one that wasn't quite ready to be thrown out...but didn't want to reuse for food either.

My rubber and aloe plant. These two gave me hope that I can be a gardener. 

Worth my Pepper.

When cooking, I opt,as much as I can afford, for fresh, organic ingredients with as little additivies as possible.  So when I read that most pre-crushed peppers have saw dust in them among other things, I started using the whole peppercorns.   Only problem is they need to be crushed.  

For the past year, I have been talking myself out of buying a salt/pepper mill.   Perhaps if they didn’t sell these whole peppers in flimsy grinders I wouldn’t have held off so long.  Because the semi-crushed seeds would slip through the grinders and in to my cooking, I'd end up taking an unexpected chomp on a peppercorn.  I warned dinner guests of these sneaky whole peppercorns all because I couldn’t get myself to shell out $15 for a good one, $30 for a salt and pepper set.  Well, fast forward to a recent visit to my mother-in-law.  I somehow mentioned to her about this dilemma and she says, "Oh is that all?” and takes out from her cabinet, a wooden pawn shaped salt/pepper grinder set.  The same kind I've been picking up and putting down at the supermarket.  ALAS!!!!  All that ridiculousness of frugality finally “paid” off!!!! 

A Hairy Situation

I love, love, looooooove Summer.  I enjoy the long days, and sticky evenings, lazy beach days, flip-flops, I even secretly enjoy sweating in a hot car while sitting in traffic (I think I'm alone on this one).  But there is a catch!  Each year, as I shift my winter clothes to the back of our closet, for the tanktops and sleeveless dresses, I am reminded that it is now time to get in to the heinous ritual of shaving my armpits.  I abhor shaving.  It's expensive, wasteful, and most of all, uncomfortable.

Women (and men) go through extreme lengths to rid of our body hair...contributing to an estimated $1.8 Billion market.  $1.8 Billion of depilatories, laser treatments, wax strips, (and worst of all) disposable razors with it's hollow plastic handles, flimsy blades, pivoting heads, and lubricating strips piling up in our landfills and oceans;  all promising to effectively and efficiently remove hair... but alas - our primitive (ape-like) genes won't quit and hair keeps growing back.  Good news for the shaving industry, otherwise they'll have nothing to sell.

A few years ago, I refused to shave my armpits as sort of a personal protest but mostly because it was irritated.  After about three weeks, I got so many disgusted glances and snide remarks, I caved in and shaved the hair off.  ,But, I was riddled with guilt each time I tossed a razor in the trash.

Since we are socially obliged to be hairless, here is a video on how to make sugar wax.  My friend used to wax mine and my sister's legs and armpits with this same recipe.  And the hair took longer to grow back, looking slightly thinner than the last time.  All you need are ingredients probably already in your cupboard (sugar, lemon juice, and water)... and a few strips off your unwanted/worn out jeans (they make the perfect wax strips).  One thing the video doesn't mention is to keep temp at 250 degrees Fahrenheit.  If it goes over, the mixture will harden in to candy.

I store my homemade wax in the fridge in an empty peanut butter jar.  Whenever I have to use it, I place the jar in hot water until the wax becomes that honey consistency again.  The sugar wax has been an underarm saver since I never developed the callous from constantly running a blade through my skin.  Usually on the 2nd to 4th day of shaving, I find myself inadvertently scratching my armpits in pubic:  I could feel the lady sitting next to me on the bus inching away from me.  My ancestors cannot be denied.  I am the hairless ape, scratching her stubbly armpits.  

Time Management

I should have probably eased up on planning my kid’s birthday party last month when I realized 44 people confirmed attendance - YIKES!    What can I say, I love birthdays... not just mine, but anybody's because it’s a great opportunity to catch up with the people that matter to us.  Once upon a time, it was effortless to be with these people, that you can do it just about everyday. Now that I'm living at least an hour away from friends and family it’s been especially difficult to catch up.  Not only are we spreading away from each other geographically, but work schedules took precedence over many things, leaving only the weekends to maintain these relationships.  Reminds me of the time I volunteered for the Special Olympics.  I was assigned to escort participants to the starting line.  At one point, I was escorting about six 4-6 year olds to the starting line for a 100 meter dash.  When setting out to cross the field to the starting point, we were all holding hands, but as we walked on, about four of the kids on both ends let go and wandered away from the group.  I was frozen, how could I gather those kids without losing the ones that stayed with me?  The longer it took me to act, the farther away they were getting.  Which leaves me to wonder, how can I hold on to important relationships while preserving my livelihood?

I maintained, as much as I can, the attitude that although three years of work was a significant amount of time, it was still temporary.   But I am also susceptible to allowing my job to cross over personal boundaries:  occupying more time out of my days, corrupting my emotional and mental well-being, and even degrading my physical wellness by spending at least 40 hours a week sitting in front of a computer.  Leaving little of myself to other matters of my life.  I understand that the bills have to be paid, but overworking has become such common practice that my self worth was gauged on gross income/assets, blanketed by so many distractions of wants disguised as needs, losing sight of what’s really important in life.  John Trudell, Native American activist, speaks of the "Spirit Eater," as an authoritarian systems that siphon off human energy to fuel a materialistic, technological reality. We are delusional to think that working more and gaining monetary assets will wash over our problems and improve our quality of life.  When in fact, it is the very thing that contributes to the misery. 

As I got closer to the termination date, reality set in and I had no choice but to ease up on my dependency to the job.  Rewiring my approach to spending really helped to differentiate my needs and my wants.  For instance, when I think I ”need” something, I go to my basement or attic and realize I already have it.  Or I get distracted by an item I forgot I had and for some reason, it satisfies the so-called need.  Either way, it kept me from shelling out some cash, and best of all I've just (very, very slowly) unpacked some of our boxes from our move.  Other times, I wait it out, until by chance, I come upon the item for FREE!!! I recently acquired a metal file cabinet from someone’s sidewalk who put it out for garbage pickup (gotta love the sidewalk boutique).  I’ve been talking myself out of this $300 purchase for almost a year, and finally, the waiting paid off.  All of a sudden, my lifeline to the 9-5 (or more) is not so desperate.  I’m realizing I don’t need that much cash flow to run our household.  I would say, one of our biggest expense is travel.  Not only for work, but also to visit friends/family.  We’ve refrained from so much frivolous/impulse spending (I can’t tell you the last time I bought a new outfit) that we were able to book a trip to visit friends and family in the Philippines for when I’m out of work.  An expense that definitely contribute to our quality of life instead of take away.  

Life’s demands tend to steer us away from each other so if we don’t have much time for anything else, at least we can come together to celebrate life’s milestones (i.e. birthdays).  Bring on your 44 guests!!

4-Drawer Metal File Cabinet = $10 (for black spray paint), Sidewalk Boutique

Globe = $0, Sidewalk Boutique; Fancy cloth under the globe = $0, basement find

Mama Said

As children we think everything is vastly available. Our world is HUGE! Growing up, my mom made sure to remind us otherwise. “Since you do not know how to make water, then you should not waste it,” was a common phrase heard around the house. This statement applied to all sorts of resources. From water, to food, to paper, school supplies, electricity, etc. When I started taking chemistry classes, I learned you can make water by combining two Hydrogen atoms with one Oxygen atom. So when I smartly replied that I do know how to make water, she then asks me if I knew how to make a Hydrogen atom, or an Oxygen one – stuck again. Basically, she broke it down to the fact that we cannot make anything without starting with some kind of natural resource. Even if you find a way to create something out of thin air, you still have to rely on the “thin air” to create it…and do you know how to make “thin air?” So, I’ve been conservative and mindful (almost to a fault) with my resources ever since. Well, give and take some wild and rebellious phases growing up when that kinda stuff didn’t matter….but now it does – again.


Present day: I go in to the bathroom at work. While washing my hands, another lady goes over the next sink and turns on the water FULL BLAST!.... keeps it on while she soaps, rinses, and pumps out approx 12 inches in length of paper towel from the dispenser, crumples the huge paper towel in her hands as a way to dry them (she didn’t even dry the back of her hands) before turning the faucet off.  Then she uses the automatic handicap door opener so she didn't have to touch the handles. My mom would have a conniption if she saw you… and I guess so am I.


I think about the measures this woman is taking to keep her hands clean, but take no consideration to her environment (I know – total nerdy statement – but it’s true). Yes, I get it, proper hand washing encourages good health, but this woman works in a cubicle – what kind of germs does she have in there???? Maybe she’s afraid to get sick, but let's think about the potential health risk of those living near a landfill  (let’s not even get in to the vast real estate a landfill occupies. Land that could have been used for something more than storing garbage); or surely she must be aware that America’s water supply is dwindling down to obsoletion within our generation’s life time. As of a 2010 news article, 36 US States face water shortages in the next three years (well, 2 years now that it’s 2011). I'm sure she’s not aware of all of this, nor does it vaguely cross her mind but I SOOOOO wanted to tell her. But how can I without crossing some undefined boundary between strangers in a bathroom? Maybe I could have taken that risk of offending her, after all, her ignorance is "offending" our environment and future generations, but I punked out and watched her walk out the bathroom.  (sigh) If only she had a mom like mine she wouldn't have been so wasteful.


Perhaps conserving resources was a way for my mom to keep us from running up the bills, or from having to replace any item she’s already bought for us, but it sure left an impression. The other day, I heard my 6 year old niece say to her sister, "Can you make water? then you shouldn't waste it." I'd say it is one of the best nuggets of knowledge ever to pass down the generations. Thanks Ma!

Stone Walk

I am perfectly aware how seemingly ridiculous it is to handpick stones for your landscaping, but that is what I am doing. I have an 8’X2’ space that divides the grilling area from the garden, so I don’t need that much. Garden centers or Landscaping stores sell river rocks in bulk at a handsome cost and for the quantity of rocks I want, I doubt they’ll deliver. I can see why it would cost so much. The process of bringing these rocks in bulk to the stores requires resources: You have to hire people to operate heavy machinery (that use up all sorts of oil byproduct to make it run and releasing pollutants in to the earth) to mine these rocks, and then truck it to some processing center or to the garden center directly which probably drives up the cost as we are nearing the $4/gallon mark on gas prices (and again, more pollution). Just so we can have something pretty to look at in our yard. Ok, so I don’t really know how those rocks get to these stores, but I bet the folks who work at the garden center aren’t bringing them in themselves, and I’m pretty sure I’m right about using the diggers and dump trucks to ship said landscaping commodity. But in all honesty, my main deterrent was the dollar cost. I just don’t have the kind of money to spend on rocks. So, I decided to do it the long and cheap way by heading down a nearby river with son and bucket in tow.


It takes 5minutes to walk toward the river, cross a couple of train tracks, through a short bridge over a man made canal and in to a paved trail. The canal empties into the river creating a refreshing, semi-natural water fall near the entrance of the trail, where you can find the prettiest stones and pebbles. Along the path are side trails towards the river bank. At first glance, it’s all mud and sand and some sharp rocks, but once you find the first stone the others start to appear and before you know it, your bucket is filled. I don’t know what it is, but there is something so satisfying in finding rocks. I guess it would be similar to looking for shells at the beach. Sometimes I get carried away, and realize I’ve selected more rocks that I can manage, so I dump some out and head home. This time, it takes me 20-30 minutes to get home now that I am approx half a mile away from the entrance, and I am now carrying a bucket full of stones.  Did I mention that the way home is all uphill (and at some parts have a steep incline)? While this part is probably not as fun or relaxing, I find it rewarding: I somehow squeezed in a workout. On my last trip, I had a scene from the movie Spaceballs where the characters were carrying suitcases full of rocks across the desert, flashed in my head. I felt a little silly lugging around these stones back home, but I’ve already committed to this project.


I’ve made two trips so far and this is what I have to show for:

As you can see I have a few more trips to make. I honestly didn’t account for the weight these stones amount to, and the challenge of walking back home with it, but this time I’m going to bring my son’s radio flyer wagon instead of his Lightning McQueen Easter bucket (which cracked from the weight of all the stones); and I’m going to pick up the rocks at the farthest point of my walk first, instead of point of entry – the waterfalls. Maybe if I had gone by myself, I would have topped off my bucket at the waterfalls and headed home. But I failed to realize that my son had his own agenda of walking through the woods a little further than the entry point. I ended up walking another half mile with a bucket full of stones before heading back home. Lessons Learned!


So, what does the long and cheap way add up to? A lovely stroll around the woods with my son, about 300 calories burned, money still in my pocket and no harm to the environment…oh yeah, and some landscaping rocks. WINNER!






Just passed the waterfall at the entrance

 

One of the river banks



Heading back home

Mommy moment I had to share

The other day, my son was telling my husband and me who he wanted to invite to his upcoming birthday party.  After naming the usual suspects, he adds, "you can invite your friend too, Dad."  Not sure who he was talking about, my husband asks him to describe which friend he meant.  He says, "he has a head like a letter O, eyes, nose, and a mouth, and a body, and he has blood in his body and bones...you know, your friend!"  How  absolutely refreshing it is to describe someone without first resorting to their gender and race.

When I grow up...

Recently I had a sit-down with my boss.  She tells me she's not sure about my contract status since budget has been scrutinized in the past year, so we have to just wait and hope that they'll renew/hire me before my contract is up in June....in the meantime, I have to show this guy all that I do because he will be moving over to our team.  Hmmm.... what do you think she's tryna tell me?

After a week or two of getting over what felt a lot like rejection, I decided to move on to something else.  I dove in to the world of job searching:  updating and customizing resumes, composing cover letters, sending them all off to the abyss of job leads, job search sites, then making follow up calls, etc. when it finally dawned on me that I don't want to go back to another 9-5 gig without first deciding what I really want to do.  A job was always this thing I had to have without giving it some real thought.  Well, I thought about the salary carefully, but as far as career path, not so much.  Well, here I am in my 30s and I think it's time I give it some time and serious thinking.

I'm not really sure what's in store.  A few years ago, I took a yoga certification course.  It was a real accomplishment for me because it was a solid decision.  In fact, I started making those connections of some random event from the past that made me think, "this is meant to be!"  It felt right.  Shortly afterwards, I found myself in the unemployment line.  All of a sudden, the uncertainty of a yoga career path fell by the wayside as I scrambled for another job to maintain the bills.  I dabbled in teaching yoga on lunch breaks for a while, but an overwhelming work load and demands of motherhood kept the schedule inconsistent.  I complained a lot about not having enough time to do what I want to do.  And now that I potentially (there's a teeny weeny chance I stay at the job) have that time, I am scared!!!  I am well aware of my propensity to procrastinate and make excuses...no more I say to myself, but reality has it's way of hiding behind ideals.  And I gotta keep a sharp eye out for that as I once again embark on the yoga path.

I have a wonder-woman friend (Nicole that's you).  She gardens (more like landscape), renovate bathrooms, constructs (not bake) yummy cakes, crochets/knits purses/blankets/dresses, you name it, she's done it with a professional finish.  I am so impressed (and mildly intimidated), and she humbly says it's due to the available time she's had since she's been unemployed.  I don't know about that, I've seen some people do nothing with their free time (including me). So, if the yoga thing doesn't work out, my fall back plan is to be like her when I grow up (wouldn't hurt to get a few inches on my height either).  

Shamed

Sunday I received an email invite to a Spring Potluck and Seed Exchange event hosted by Raices Cultural Center in New Bruns for Tuesday. I'm currently germinating 3 types of veggies and I'm determined to expand my garden this year. What better way to acquire more seeds and connect with a community of gardeners than to attend this event. Monday night, I made a beet salad (recipe below) for the potluck. Come Tuesday morning however, I realized that we (hubby, kid, and I commute in 50miles from home using 1 car) would be getting home really late if I decided to attend since it started at 7pm. Plus, I would be coming to this event after running 4miles. So I nixed the thought, and started on my day.
On our way home, we stopped by Home Depot to pick up this thing to fix the base of our toilet. Upon entering, the marketing geniuses bombarded the entrance with gardening merchandise. Of course with a gardening mindset, I decided to "look around" and check out some magazines for ideas on how to map my garden. Well, I looked around and every section in Home Depot, there are seeds. So I decided to "look around" some more to get an idea of the types of veggies I should grow. Well, a half an hour of "looking around," I started pulling seed packets off their shelves... and after another half an hour of putting it back, and taking another packet, putting it back and talking myself out of it again, I purchased beets, string beans and carrot seed packets for $1 each. Okay, so I skipped a community event of gardeners who probably saved their seeds from last year's harvest. Seeds with a personal touch, to a Home Depot seed packet from who knows where??? Oh the SHAME!!! I wouldn't even feel this bad if I at least waited a day or two. But no, I was marked for target, and I totally went for it.


Beet Salad:


6-8 beets
1 can sweet peas
2-3 large celery chopped
1 small red onion (minced)
3 TBS mayo (or use olive oil for vegan substitute)
1 TBS dijon mustard
garlic powder
salt
pepper


peel and boil beets. Once beets are cooled, chop in to cubes. Rinse red onions in cold water. drain can sweet peas. Combine ingredients in a bowl. Add mayo/olive oil and dijon mustard. Add garlic powder, salt and pepper to taste.

Note: Add canned asparagus and canned mushrooms for a hearty meal

Why Not Glass Jars?

Yesterday, I went over to a coworker's cube to chat.  Upon seeing my coffee "cup," she tells me, "you know, I've started saving my glass jars too."  This is the first positive remark I've heard since I started taking my reused glass jars to work.  I get the strangest look walking in to meetings.  Some guy usually smirks, "What is thaaaaat?" pointing at my coffee in a reused spaghetti jar.  If the jar is filled with water, I get, "is that moonshine?"  I'm not sure how to respond, but I silently judge them with their dented plastic/disposable water bottles with the label slightly peeling and the coffee stained styrofoam cups.  My coworker continues, "Since I've seen you carry that jar around, I realized I've been wasting my money buying cups.  My household can't keep drinking glasses, we seem to always break them.  These jars are so sturdy, I'm more worried it'll chip the tile floor."  YESS!!!  That was my problem when first deciding to keep glass jars.  Not to sound like an infomercial, but not only is it hard to break, you can also use them to save your leftovers if you keep the lid.  Wait, there's more!  Dinner guests will immediately be taken back to their childhood when you hand them a drink in a glass jar.


I realized I'm not the only one to rediscover the benefits when I noticed a peanut butter jar in my sister's cupboards. I've even started sending people home with water or coffee in glass jars.  Sort of a way to campaign the trend (and to get rid of ours).   And now, my other sister tells me she and her roommate fight over the one glass jar in her house.  Look, I know some of you are already saving your chinese takeout containers, and others are proudly reusing  their canvas bags for grocery shopping.  I'm just suggesting another alternative.


Cheers!

Gardening Conquistador (Part 2)

My poor snowman I so carefully and painfullly (for 2 days after) scultped is now reduced to a stump.  Which means spring is right around the corner, which also means, time to get gardening.  Now, most gardening sites/magazines will tell you, you should be germinating your seeds at this time to ensure it's survival once you commit them to the ground. I always intend on doing this, but sometimes work schedules get in the way, or that darn procratination bug rears it's ugly head that by the time I actually get to it, it's full blown spring or even beginning Summer.  This time however, I'm really going to do it.  I will get my garden started before spring.  But before I get on about which vegetables I'll be planting this year, and showing you adorable baby photos of light green stems curling out of its seed in a wet paper towel, I wanted to catch you up on my life as a gardener so far.
The first year I had a garden (2009), all I did was commit a patch of land and turned the soil and pulled some cable wire roots (see previous blog).  That's it!  I didn't do anything - too busy to remember to stop by Home Depot to pick up seeds, too tired at the end of the day to garden, but mostly, too confused on what to do next.  I recall thinking to myself as I was digging out the lovely patch of green, "I'm really going to do this?  Every painsaking task will be done by ME?  EEEeeps!"  For some reason, I  thought planting involved more than putting seeds in the ground.  All my research talked of soil testing, arranging, planning, rows and columns.  The only thing that grew in my patch of dirt I indignanlty called a garden were the dandylions and other weeds taking advantage of the real estate I carved out. Until one (June) weekend, my parents came by with a small tomato plant and eggplant (uhh) plant and stuck it in my designated patch of dirt.  For a while, it didn't do much: no flowers, no buds, no obvious growth, nothing.  And so I left it alone, sure that it would eventually wither away and die before bearing any fruit.  At some point during the summer, my husband and I went out on vacation for a week. and when we returned, our designated garden area blew up in to a mini-amazon forest.  Motivated by the site, I got in there the following weekend and diligently weeded our garden.  Fortunately, my parents happen to visit again that weekend and stopped me from killing the plants.   Apparently, the tomato had taken to the soil and multiplied.  I probably pulled out about 5-8 large healthy tomato plants - oops!  Still, by the end of the summer and early fall, we enjoyed some hearty tomatoes and eggplants.  And it yielded so much that I had to give some away.


Last year, I was late again on getting a garden going.  Fortunately, a friend was staying with us for the summer and asked if he could plant some vegetables for an experiment.  This mad scientist friend decided to mix up a bunch of different seeds and sprinkle over the garden patch - in hopes to get some sort of hybrid vegetable (scratching head).  He watered it daily and  doted on it - much to my delight (better him than me) and doubt ("nothing's gonna grow" I said to myself).  A few weeks later, waddayaknow???? some seedlings came up.  Though we didn't see any tomato-squash, or cucum-peppers, a variety of plants did grow.  Throughout the summer, the weaker plants gave way to the more resilient types  namely:  squash, tomatoes, and cucumbers all tangled up in a lovely heap I proudly called a garden.  At some point, I had bought one of those pre-grown Basil with roots at our local grocery store and bravely stuck them in, and it GREW much to my surprise. It wasn't pretty, but at least we were able to harvest throughout the summer and the early parts of Fall.  AND more importantly - I learned it is as easy as literally throwing seeds in to the ground.


So ok, I've never been the originator of the garden, but at least I've maintained them.  Despite  my haphazard approach to gardening, it's become an important part of my yearly/seasonal  (dare I say) hobby.  Not only is it cheaper ($3/seed pack will yield a season's worth of food - can't beat that - unless you save your seeds from last season's harvest), I've also noticed the vegetables I conveniently pick right out of my backyard are heavier, juicier and flavorful than the store bought variety.  Afterall, "Despite the gardener's best intentions, Nature will improvise" -Michael P. Garafalo.




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Gardening Conquistador Series

Confession time (already):  I am a procrastinator and a half.  My husband and I moved in to our house in 2008 and we still have unpacked boxes in the basement.  Or how about I started this blog almost two years ago and I am just now posting entries.  I did, however, draft an entry in 2009 (4/21 to be exact) but never finished.  It's interesting to see how scary the idea of gardening and composting was since I now maintain both, although not at a Martha Stewart level as I fantasized. Read on:


I used to think I was cursed with a black thumb. Every plant I've ever had always died. As a matter of fact, the more I doted on them, the faster they would die. Some well-intentioned friends and family would give me easy to care plants - guaranteed to cure my black thumb - to no avail.  However, something strange happened when I moved in to my home... house warming plants started to flourish, which inspired me to take on growing a vegetable/herb garden.

I didn't really know what kind of work I'm in for. I already had visions of a Martha Stewart-esque garden with neatly organized/sectioned plants of all variety, with minimal effort. However, I realized there's all sorts of stuff you gotta do before reaping the benefits of homegrown veggies. Most of my research tells me that it's "easy," but easy to me, means going out to my yard and throw seeds in to the yard in a "Jack and the Beanstalk" manner.

Anyway, the first thing we did is prep my garden, which requires removing existing plants already residing in my chosen site. Last weekend, my husband and I loosened the soil, and found a tangle of roots  and bulbs. Apparently, the previous home owner was a fierce gardener, complete with a compost pile (which sounds exotic to me at the moment). When we dug out a seemingly weak plant, we'd find a complex and well developed root system that ran across our lawn - like pulling underground cable wires.

Initiatives and Objectives

Kryke!  Writing is difficult.  I used to have a knack for it, but nowadays, majority of my writing consists of emails to co-workers maximum of 4 sentences – anything more the email recipient(s) will not read it,   Initiatives and objective driven process documentation, advisories, flow through projects, compliance reporting, training presentations, etc.  God forbid I express some kind personality.  I often fret if closing off my letters with “sincerely” would be too personal.     After a long period of no creative outlet, I feel I’m slowly losing myself as my main creative focus is in how to NOT show my personality.  I hope this blog will help me get off the factory conveyor belt leading to the jaws of Moloch.  So here I am, fingers at the ready key position, all set to express and share with you my passions and inspire you to live outside the target market crosshairs.. in a witty fashion…and this is the best I came up with so far:  Me am girl.  Me thinks have ideas to help. 

Yeah, it should only get better from here.  Stay tuned…