Ah, spring, when my thoughts turn to Lent and dirt. (And food, but I think about that all the time.)
A few years back, I decided to give up meat for Lent. The LDS Church doesn't observe it, but quite a few Mormons with whom I'm acquainted do. I decided to do it again this year, though I wasn't sure what to do. Give up something again? Or start doing something good that I haven't been doing before? Finally, I decided on one of each.
I've been working out sporadically for the last three months, and the local Curves is having a month-long workout/weight loss challenge, so I figured going there three times a week plus taking three walks a week would work. (Walking is a lot less boring since Christmas and Mom's present of an iPod Shuffle.) So there's the taking on something I've been rather wishy-washy about.
As for the giving up thingy, I've decided to stop swearing. This resolution only lasted eleven hours, as the last episode of a radio sitcom I like ended with a wicked cliffhanger: "$&@#!!!" I failed at abstaining, so I modified it to say that I'll set aside a dollar for every time a bad word passes my lips, and when Lent is over, I'll donate all that money to an organization I loathe. Something really reprehensible, though I haven't decided what. (It has to be something I think is awful, or I might rationalize continued transgressions by saying I'm giving to a good cause.)
I found a blog several days ago that looks promising -- or at least, the old entries look promising, since the blogger has recently decided to stop blogging and hand the website over to one of his sponsors. (Can't fault him for getting tired of it, as it's been two years since I've made an entry here. Blimey, my life has changed!) Mike at Urban Organic Gardener started his garden in plastic buckets on a fire escape in New York City, then continued the practice when he moved to Los Angeles. He shares his experiments, failures, successes, concerns, and methods in his blog entries, and he's given me a few ideas that I'm looking forward to trying out. I scored a shipping pallet last week and plan to make an herb garden out of it asap (maybe as soon as this weekend). The original entry for that project is here. I need to clean some rubbish and weeds out of the patio first, so the pallet may have to wait until next week. I'm eager to start, though; I'm getting tired of buying chives, mushrooms, and salad greens from the store only to have them go bad before I've et them all. I only cook for myself, and there's only so many mushroom and chive omelets I can eat in a week!
I did bake bread for the first time ever last week. I came across a challah recipe at LiveJournal and decided to have a go. There were some misadventures with the yeast, and my six-strand braid was lumpy, so the resulting loaf looked like a critter from the Amazon rainforest. (Or a brain instead of a braid.) But kneading was an enjoyable -- almost meditative -- process. I rather enjoyed it. The bread tasted good, too; I've had sandwiches all this week, and I shall make French toast with the stale leftover pieces this weekend before I bake a new loaf. After that, I plan to experiment with other recipes so I'm not eating white bread all the time.
Enough blogging for now. Laters!
I've been working out sporadically for the last three months, and the local Curves is having a month-long workout/weight loss challenge, so I figured going there three times a week plus taking three walks a week would work. (Walking is a lot less boring since Christmas and Mom's present of an iPod Shuffle.) So there's the taking on something I've been rather wishy-washy about.
As for the giving up thingy, I've decided to stop swearing. This resolution only lasted eleven hours, as the last episode of a radio sitcom I like ended with a wicked cliffhanger: "$&@#!!!" I failed at abstaining, so I modified it to say that I'll set aside a dollar for every time a bad word passes my lips, and when Lent is over, I'll donate all that money to an organization I loathe. Something really reprehensible, though I haven't decided what. (It has to be something I think is awful, or I might rationalize continued transgressions by saying I'm giving to a good cause.)
I found a blog several days ago that looks promising -- or at least, the old entries look promising, since the blogger has recently decided to stop blogging and hand the website over to one of his sponsors. (Can't fault him for getting tired of it, as it's been two years since I've made an entry here. Blimey, my life has changed!) Mike at Urban Organic Gardener started his garden in plastic buckets on a fire escape in New York City, then continued the practice when he moved to Los Angeles. He shares his experiments, failures, successes, concerns, and methods in his blog entries, and he's given me a few ideas that I'm looking forward to trying out. I scored a shipping pallet last week and plan to make an herb garden out of it asap (maybe as soon as this weekend). The original entry for that project is here. I need to clean some rubbish and weeds out of the patio first, so the pallet may have to wait until next week. I'm eager to start, though; I'm getting tired of buying chives, mushrooms, and salad greens from the store only to have them go bad before I've et them all. I only cook for myself, and there's only so many mushroom and chive omelets I can eat in a week!
I did bake bread for the first time ever last week. I came across a challah recipe at LiveJournal and decided to have a go. There were some misadventures with the yeast, and my six-strand braid was lumpy, so the resulting loaf looked like a critter from the Amazon rainforest. (Or a brain instead of a braid.) But kneading was an enjoyable -- almost meditative -- process. I rather enjoyed it. The bread tasted good, too; I've had sandwiches all this week, and I shall make French toast with the stale leftover pieces this weekend before I bake a new loaf. After that, I plan to experiment with other recipes so I'm not eating white bread all the time.
Enough blogging for now. Laters!
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