One

You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you mad.
~ Aldous Huxley

Simple celebrations

I'm currently celebrating a full tummy of falafel, a full yard-waste bin, and maybe the prospect of a nap before work tonight.  This song helps put me in a good mood as well....




Such is the way of the world
You can never know
Just where to put all your faith
And how will it grow?
Gonna rise up 
Burning black holes in dark memories
Gonna rise up
Turning mistakes into gold...

Such is the passage of time
Too fast to fold
Suddenly swallowed by signs
Lo and behold
Gonna rise up
Find my direction magnetically
Gonna rise up
Throw down my ace in the hole.
~ Eddie Vedder

Graveyard and trapezing

This has been a long week.  I forgot how hard it was to completely change one's body clock to the graveyard shift.  Especially for 10 and 12 hour shifts.  That, and its even harder to change your DOG's body clock to a graveyard shift.  I would go to bed at 8 or 10am, and within an hour or two, Atticus would wake me up every hour or so.  Five or six hours later, I would give up on sleeping.  It was ugly.  I started doing Pilates exercises at work just to stay awake.

The first day of my weekend I slept and slept til I couldn't sleep any more, hit the gym (only 45 minutes because I got there too late and they were closing!), then went home and cuddled with Atticus and some hummus and pretzels.  I think I fell back asleep only 8 hours after waking up.

The second day of my weekend, I did this...

Trapezing!

After the initial scariness of the first swing was over, I considered this the worst part each time - getting off the giant ladder onto the tiny platform.

Can't believe these are so blurry!  Mariah and I, who I convinced #1 - to buy the trapezing coupon on Groupon, and then #2, convinced her to buy two more classes for us to do in the future.  She's such a good sport.

Two of the three handlers.  Hard to make them out.  Stinking blurry photos.  

If you want to see video, Mariah put them all on my Facebook page.  I'm super sad I was the only one (of 5 who qualified) that didn't get caught, but my second attempt was really close!

So yes, super fun!  I couldn't believe how cool it really was.  My ribs are bruised today from the safety belt that you had to wear (no, I'm not complaining I had to wear it), and my back is sore, but otherwise I'm good.

Bought a vacuum this morning as well, all from the comforts of my living room chair.

One day left in my weekend, before another grueling week of graveyard.

Jump, and you will find out how to unfold your wings as you fall.
~ Ray Bradbury

This is what happens when I have hours to kill between gym classes...

So, I'm going to bore you to death with details of my shopping expeditions today.  Mainly  because I"m trying to kill time....I need to take a shower because I smell like sweat and grossness, but in my haste to do a quick clean-up when coming home I ran the dishwasher.  Whoops....now I gotta wait for it to run its course so I don't get stuck with a freezing cold shower.

Anyways, I had a couple hours to kill between taking some gym classes today - partially poor planning, partially the fact that if I go home, I can't leave again because Atticus gets mad.  Yes, my dog runs my life.  I know it.

So, Central Market is the local place to buy everything imaginable.  It's a lot of local products, and they cater to every kind of diet out there.  I've been there countless times, I've wandered the aisles in a daze, and each time I go I find new and cool things.  And very expensive things.  Very very expensive things.

Like this chai.  I'm excited to try it.  It's going to be a work treat.

I have searched the entire ethnic section of Central Market several times over, each time unable to locate tahini.  I even googled "where to find tahini at the grocery store", and each time they said the ethnic section.  I finally asked.  It was with the peanut butter.  Yeah, no wonder I never found it, I never actually go to that section.

I bought these for work.  Long story.  Jonathan, hopefully these fit my healthy requirement!

The veganstoner, who has one of my favorite recipe sites, mentions this in a lot of his recipes.  I never knew what it was, and was never interested enough to research it.  Tonight while I was looking over the 30 different kinds of flour, I found it!  Now I'll have to go back and find some recipes that take TVP.  

After Central Market, I had more time to kill, so I headed over to goodwill.  There, among all the plates and cups and saucers, was an entire HUGE set of midnight sun.  After looking them over, I discovered a couple things....#1 - the pricers at goodwill set aside two sets of regular bowls and didn't include them with the other sets.  #2 - the rest of the stonewear was divided into 2 large sets - 24 & 28 pieces.  The 24 piece set was labeled $24.99 for the set.  The 28 piece set had no price.  I had every single piece in both sets, except for set #2, the unpriced one...it had 2 sets of bowls that I didn't have.  I would swear I looked over each piece in that set and couldn't find a price.  So, I asked an employee, who brought over the manager.  I explained I just wanted these two sets of bowls (not the ones that were over in another section), and while I would pay for the whole set, I just really wanted the bowls.  She ended up looking for a price tag as well, and couldn't find one.  So, she sold me the bowl sets for $3.99 each set.....

Wide brimmed very shallow soup bowls (i'm assuming)

I should have taken a pic of these next to something else.  These are big serving size bowls.

looking these up on pfaltzgraff.com, I think the top bowls are "rim soup bowls", and retail for about $9.99 a bowl.  The second set I *THINK* are pasta bowls,which retail for about $11.99 a bowl.

Ironically, when I got home and was loading the bowls into the dishwasher, I found the price tag on the very bottom bowl.  $24.99 for the set.  I don't feel bad.  Not one bit.  I don't need any more large plates, small plates, mugs, regular bowls, etc etc, but I think I want to go back in a few weeks to see if they're still there.

I also got these brand new shiny shoes.  Mom - remember at top drawer I got those blue slip-on shoes and I was telling you about the brand "BC Shoes".  These are also BC shoes!!!

 In other news...

The shirts I made for the 3 year old.  The color is off due to the flash, but I think they're pretty fun.

Received in the mail today.  I'M OFFICIAL!!!

Hoping tomorrow to cook a bunch, including making vegan cream cheese!

Do your little bit of good where you are.  It's those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world.
~ Desmond Tutu

Lost

I've been a bit overwhelmed this week with work, as I have been given a big project to do along with 12 hour days, and now a 14 hour day that includes both dayshift and graveyard, and I'm feeling a bit lost among it all.

I'm also feeling ugh due to the overwhelming amount of times I've eaten out this week, my lack of gym time, and topsy-turvy schedule and loss of routine.  I actually went to the gym last night, hoping to get an hour of eliptical time, and ended up having to quit after 30 minutes because I was so lightheaded.  Eating solved that, but still....that has never happened to me before.

My 'accomplishment a day' has been put on a slight hold, mainly because the days still only have 24 hours and I need a few more.  What I've gotten accomplished has occurred in my 30 minutes of coffee-time each morning, and only what I can get done from a computer (hello online shopping!)

On my to-do list for tonight before I head off for my first graveyard shift:  make two superhero tshirts for a 3 year old boy (at least I bought the shirts, I just have to do the painting!).  Also, email info to someone that I've just been putting off.  I also want to submit an inspirational meme to Strong Lola for a contest she's having, but that might not happen.  Oh, and cook something healthy for dinner.  Or at least scavenge in the kitchen for something healthy to take for dinner.

And, GO!!!!

An unrelated picture of Atticus showing off my new refrigerator art.

Trust your instincts.  Intuition doesn't lie.
~ Oprah Winfrey

Its a veggie kind of day

After eating about 4 types of meat last night, along with multiple other delicious but fattening snacks, I felt today would be better if it was vegetable oriented.

Roasted red cabbage.  (Yes, there was bacon in there, but just for seasoning)

Cauliflower bread sticks (with some edamame bean dip in the back).

Spinach chips.  I actually made these a couple days ago, but if I had time today I'd make them again.  I tend to eat them too fast though.  I used the idea of this recipe, but just used oil, salt, pepper, and nutritional yeast.

Quinoa & White Bean fritters.  My most favorite thing today.  Dipped in some honey mustard dressing.  mmmm....

Hoping to make some butternut squash "steaks" and breakfast cookies before heading to the gym.  Or I might just take a nap.  Last day of my 4 day weekend, and I'm enjoying every second.

I don't hate people, I just feel better when they aren't around.
~ Charles Bukowski

Amazing

I find it amazing sometimes....

....I was feeling overwhelmed and upset about a problem at work.  I go to work and it all seems to have figured itself out (for now)....

...Just one conversation with a friend who understands me is enough to rectify a week's worth of frustration....

....the horror and anxiety of going outside of my comfort zone always seems to work out well....

...I am well and truly blessed.

A random photo from the gym this morning.  I did a kettlebell exercise routine today during one of my classes.  Fun!!!

She said she usually cried at least once each day not because she was sad, but because the world was so beautiful and life was so short.
~ Brian Andreas