27 April 2012

Another one bites the dust

One down, two (or three) to go. Books, that is. I finished reading "The Man Who Quit Money" this morning. It wasn't quite what I had expected, and although I was tempted to throw it out about halfway through, the book redeemed itself, and I have to say that I am now a follower of Daniel Suelo's blog. The whole concept of living without money altogether is rather fascinating - here I have often caught myself desiring to live with less, but to check out of the monetary system altogether! It's certainly an interesting philosophy, and I am impressed by this guy's ability to live it out (and am curious to know how many other people are actually doing this in the modern world). I can't say that I've never thought about it, actually, because often I embraced the "traditional economy" when everyone carved a living for themselves and communities seemed to help their members without reward but simply knowing that those they helped would just as freely help them if they had the opportunity or ability.

Obviously, I can't live without money right now: I have several thousand dollars in student loans to pay off. But I have to say that this book has given me some hope for the future. I don't exactly know where my life path is taking me, but this book, as a slightly more tortured follow-up to "The Irresistible Revolution", I think is going to have a pretty big impact on my thought processes in this next stage of my life.

Now I have to finish reading Stephen Lawhead's "Scarlet", and Che Guevara's "Notas del viaje", with a rendering of "To Kill a Mockingbird" looking slightly more possible at this rate. Three and a half weeks remain. I acquired a really awesome Forest Service poster - "Arid Lands // Sacred Waters" it says, with really neat artwork. It'll make a good decoration both here and at Bodie. I think I ought to pick up one of those document tubes like Bekah always had so that I don't crinkle it in transition. I bought a bottle of kelly green RIT dye (they didn't have the dark green I was hoping for) and will soon be spot-checking it in an attempt to dye my carhartts green and keep me from having to buy a new pair of pants for my work at Bodie. I'm real nervous about it, so we'll see how that goes.

I was hoping to go to Tucson this coming weekend, but it doesn't look like Caitlin is going to be available (or her roommates for that matter), so I guess I'll be sticking around town here. I suppose its better that way anyhow: the temperature and the gas prices are only going up around here. But every weekend I hang out here is another weekend that I struggle with the temptation to start packing. Oi vey.

I've been getting up earlier and going to bed earlier than ever before lately. It feels good - I get a lot done in the mornings and am not rushed in the slightest bit. Then my evenings I'm more productive because I know I don't have a lot of time before I go to bed. The goal at hand for this is to get up early and ride my bike to Tuzigoot on Sunday morning. Should be good. I'll let you know how it goes.

25 April 2012

Up and away

I've got something like 25 days remaining here. I'm starting to get real excited to be moving on. Not that I don't like my job - it's great - but it's not quite what I want, the weather is starting to get hotter than I am prepared to bear (though today was nice and the next few days are supposed to be better as well), and I am currently trying to ignore roommate issues as positively as possible - knowing that they won't just "go away" as I would wish.

I don't know if I posted it on here yet, but I am OFFICIALLY working at Bodie this summer season. I don't know how long I'll stay there (it depends on if I can get a next job lined up and when that starts), and I'm not sure what things are going to be like since there have been so many major staffing changes since my time working there, but I am excited nonetheless. Bodie is a beautiful place, and I have missed it a long time.

Today I got to go up into Montezuma Castle - something an increasingly small number of people can say they have done. The views were astounding, and I'm pretty sure that I can say I would love to live up there. Expect pictures in an upcoming post. I've spent too much time on the computer to allow myself to upload and caption them all tonight.

23 April 2012

3 yrs!

Today has been a rather productive day so far. I washed my sheets, did some tidying, sorted and brought out my recycling, printed a pattern for a hat I'm going to knit, went for a walk, rearranged my room into a formation unlike anything I've ever done before, balanced my budget... and it's only one o'clock! I've got plenty more that I hope to accomplish, but I'm taking a slight break right now to post here and make a phone call or two.

In my working today, I came across a revelation: it has been over three years since the last time I shaved my legs! As I recall, it was April of my freshman year of college when I last shaved, and little did I know that I was embarking on a journey from hairlessness and frenetic shaving to soft legs and a calmer, more confident mindset. I don't even think about shaving anymore - a shaver is no longer even something that I have in my possession (that stopped after I left it home while studying abroad). In fact, now I see women without hair on their legs and my first thought is, "how strange?"

Three years of not shaving means that I've probably saved myself at least $12 a year in razors/blades, and I've taken myself out of the production cycle of those - which end up in the landfill and nowhere else. Not since I quit have I had a single accidental razor cut on my legs, nor has my razor roughed up my knees to the point that they were dry and scaly. (Actually, my knees are nice, soft, and smooth these days!) I've probably saved countless gallons of water from being wasted, as I usually shaved in the shower, and countless minutes (probably hours) of my time as well!

I have to say that I'm loving it. I don't regret the decision to stop shaving one bit, and I feel zero pressure to ever start - it just doesn't make any sense to me to shave! Not when I can be completely comfortable in my skin the way God made it.

Special thanks to Julie Giss: without her encouragement and example, I probably would not have made it through that first, crucial year, on the path to natural, unshaven legs. Thank you!

21 April 2012

simplify.

I'm sure I've posted this link before, but for awhile, this manifesto was my roadmap for learning to live with less. In the past year or so, I have fallen away from this a bit. But as I prepare to uproot myself once again and move on to another place, it seems prudent to start to review these things once more.

As much as I dream of a simple life, the truth is that there is still plenty of clutter awaiting my return back home. And as long as it is there, even though I may not be carrying it around with me physically, it is still a heavy weight on my mind. The best I can do right now is simplify what I have with me, both tangible and intangible, and work towards that goal as much as possible here. The more comfortable I get with simplicity when I'm on the road, the easier I find it is to declutter my life when I return home, because I become uncomfortable with the state of things there and need to declutter as a way of correcting the balance. When I "run out of steam", it is because I have met myself in the middle-ground between the simplicity I was living and the cluttered state of my room back home. That is why I can never seem to get it over and done with: I tarry too much and end up reaching a feeling of comfort before I overcome the clutter monster.

Does that sound a little too zen for you? Don't forget about the desert fathers - they sought simplified lives too, and they were intense Christians.

Anyway, I've got to get ready for bed and get some reading in before I can go to sleep. There's plenty of pages to go before I can turn in all my library books, and just a few weeks more before that day comes. This weekend, the simplifying begins again.

17 April 2012

Blathering

Can I just say that I love tunics? (Well, I think I just did.) But I do, I really do! Tunics are about the best, most comfortable shirts. Ever. Period. Not to mention they're very pretty. I bought one from Goodwill in Flagstaff about a month ago or so and it's become my new favorite shirt. I'm wearing it today for the third time in the last seven days. Although I think that I haven't washed it since I bought it (and have worn it more than 3 times...), but only just now is it starting to look (and possibly smell?) like it needs to be washed. Mostly it's because the linen sleeves are starting to look wrinkled. Other than that, the shirt is mostly fine. The long sleeves are protective from the sun while I'm out and about, but the breathable linen allows me to stay cool nonetheless. The whole thing is so light and airy, and comfortable!

Anyway, now that I got that out of the way.... In just a few days I will be at the one month mark. That's right: I have a mere 33 days before my internship comes to an end here and I move on to my next great adventure. It's an exciting prospect. I need to finish reading my library books. I've got Stephen Lawhead's "Scarlet", Che Guevara's "Notas del viaje", and Mark Sundeen's "The Man Who Quit Money". Think I can do it? I'm not sure I can, but I suppose if I read a bit every day (like I really should anyway) I might be able to do it. And then there's my coworker's copy of "To Kill a Mockingbird". He said I needed to read it if I hadn't, and it's been sitting, unopened, on my bookshelf ever since. I suppose if I get through all the library books I'll take a crack at reading that, too. But it really all depends on timing.

Today is a big day for my cactus, Chloƫ. Last week I bought a new, larger pot for her. This week I got some potting soil from a coworker. Today, I'm going to transplant her into the larger pot. She's been getting plenty of new growth, so I know that she's doing very well and I'm sure she'll appreciate having more space. The new pot is a nice shade of green plastic - I would've rather gotten something terracotta, but being that I'm a traveler right now, I need something that won't break in transit. C'est la vie.

Actually, I think I'll go do that right now...

Until next time!

14 April 2012

Homemade Cereal - The Follow-up

So, after my first success in making my own milk and cereal, I decided to try and expand my repertoire. That is, I shook things up a bit in the recipe. For those who were wondering what recipe I used, it can be found here.


I have yet to actually make it exactly according to the recipe. Maybe someday. :)

Today I went to Mount Hope Foods here in Cottonwood after work and picked up just under a pound of blue corn meal, organic yellow corn meal, and sprouted brown rice flour. Yum, yum, yum! If you're referencing the recipe, I put each of these in the mix in place of the "bran flour". Yes, I could've bought bran flour, but that wouldn't have been nearly as fun! Nor as colorful! I did four batches (and did separate the dough before "rolling out" this time) - one wheat/blue corn, one wheat/yellow corn, one wheat/brown rice, and one all brown rice.



For those who are experienced in gluten-free baking, you will not be surprised to know that my brown rice flour batch pretty much crumbled. In fact, I'd be surprised if there are actually any whole pieces left in the mix. - That's right, I mixed them all up. I made a gluten-free cereal and mixed it with all the others. Oh well. But I look forward to experimenting with all the other myriad combinations I can come up with for this cereal recipe. Particularly, I want to obtain some graham flour (holler to my NPU buddies!!!) and make some graham cereal. Mmmm!!!!!

I have to say that making my own cereal is the most fun. Ever. And even though I did 4 batches this time, it only took me about an hour and a half. The real test is to see how many breakfasts this will get me through.

10 April 2012

Bungalow Breakfast

Currently listening to Glad, "You Put This Love in my Heart".

This morning I woke up slow and easy with the sun, rolled out of bed, (used the bathroom,) and went upstairs to fix myself some breakfast. The menu today? Homemade almond milk over homemade cereal with dried currants and plump, ripe raspberries.

Say what!?

That's right: I made my own cereal yesterday. It was actually really easy. Have you ever wondered how they make cereal? They actually have machines that manipulate the chemicals of the grain and spit it out in the most unnatural fashion to achieve the specific shapes for each brand. (Read more about it in the "Breakfast Cereals" section of this article.) It's terribly unhealthy. But does that mean that you can't eat cold breakfasts anymore? For awhile now, that's what I've been doing. It takes a bit of time to prepare a hot breakfast every morning. Usually I've been baking johnny cake or Amish baked oatmeal, or cooking up a pot of cream cereal and reheating it for the next few days or so. But if you know me, you know that I LOVE milk and cereal. Could I really go the rest of my life without it?

So I googled it up, and found a recipe for homemade cereal. You make up a dough, spread it all over parchment paper on a cookie sheet, and bake yourself one giant cracker. Then you turn down the oven, break the cracker into little pieces, and cook it awhile more until you get flakes! No crazy, pressurized, molecular manipulation here! Now, I didn't follow the directions very well, and ended up with pretty thick flakes and not very many of them. You're supposed to divide the dough and do two sheets and I kept it together and filled one. But they were still pretty delicious this morning. The whole thing took a little over 30 minutes to make - and it would probably still be under an hour if I did two trays like I was supposed to.

The almond milk was the easiest thing ever, too. I soaked 1/2 cup of raw almonds in 2 cups of water for the better part of the day, then came back and blended it into a paste, adding the water as I went to keep it thinned. When I had finished, I poured it into a .8 liter stainless steel bottle, adding a bit of extra water to fill it up. I just have to shake it up before I pour it out, and it turns out pretty good! Now, I think I might need to add some sort of sweetener, but I didn't know what I wanted to add, and as long as I don't try to drink it on its own (as opposed to having it over cereal or using it in baking) I don't think it's that bad. And again, the prep time was very small.

I think I may have found a new weekly activity.

05 April 2012

Sometimes you gotta get out...

 Through the fields, through the woods, across the empty stream bed with its smooth stones, upriver to a rock in the middle of the flowing river. Because when you feel like you need to just get out and relax and forget about things for awhile, a rock in the middle of a babbling river is the best thing to drown out your thoughts. Coincidentally, it also makes you have to pee.

You can stay out there until the sun starts to go down, the clouds start to shift, the Blackhawk flies past you on his way back home for the evening, the rock spider becomes a bit too comfortable with your presence for your own comfort, and you really just can't hold it anymore.

Then you can hop back to the shore from your rock, walk down the empty stream bed with its smooth stones, downriver to where the stream meets the path, discover that the land you're on is Flood Control No Tresspassing, slip back into the park through a little grove of trees and a bend in the fence, and walk back through the fields as the sun goes down, and the moon comes up on the other side.

And then watch the first four episodes of Avatar on nick.com.
It's a beautiful world, just don't forget to be a part of it.

04 April 2012

Of New Shoes and Sunday Songs

That's right: after almost 5 years, I finally bought a new pair of running shoes. Those poor old Pumas were so run-down, worn out by age more than anything else, and had deviated from my minimalist shoe trends years ago. This new pair is from the Merrell Barefoot Collection, and I'm excited to see how they work out. I'd been interested in these since they came out before I went to Botswana, having long since decided that I wanted a minimalist running shoe, and it wasn't until I saw my friend here, Shannon, slipping on a pair and heard her rave review that I finally decided it was time to get one. For the first time, I went online and bought a pair from some online website that had closeout shoes... this color, "acacia" (a pale-ish yellow with the slightest tint of green to it), is no longer being made. I saved $40, and bought these shoes for about the same price as a cheap pair from Shoe Carnival would've cost. So, now I've officially dipped my feet (somewhat literally) in the dark side of online shopping (with the exception of Amazon books, because I feel like every college student does that now, no matter what).

The second bit of news is that my wish was granted, my prayer answered, and I have this coming, Easter Sunday, off of work. Along with the two days following. Can you say weekend? I'm thinking of going to Cottonwood for the weekend, and possibly driving over the mountains to Prescott, where they opened a Trader Joe's last month. But whatever happens the rest of the weekend, I'm excited for Sunday in and of itself. Easter has long been a "big deal" holiday for me. I find it more important than Christmas, and I take it very seriously. Last year I was staying at a hostel in a Reformed Church village compound on the edge of the Kalahari Desert. This year, I'm going to wake up early for the Sunrise Service (a new and exciting event for me!), then go to the regular church service where I will sing in the choir cantata, then - and here's the best part - I've been invited to share Easter dinner with Shannon and her family! I am so honored and excited that she's invited me over, and I am really looking forward to it. Easter is a family holiday for me - always has been - and frankly I was a bit saddened that I was going to be alone on Easter. But now, praise God, I've been given a friend in this town who not only likes to get together for cinnamon rolls and random movie nights, but is also willing to invite me in to join her family for my second favorite holiday of the year!

I am so blessed.

01 April 2012

Bungalow

Here's a shot of this morning's sunrise. Not nearly as colorful as the one I saw last week when I was up here, but still very beautiful.

I've really enjoyed having this private space to retreat to the last couple weeks - after a weekend on my own, doing whatever I felt like, and not having to tiptoe around anybody, I felt very recharged and ready to face the upcoming week. Last week flew by, too, and I think being up here had something to do with that. Of course, escaping doesn't make the problems go away - it just makes them more tolerable - I'm currently having problems at work with one of my roommates and I'm trying to figure out the best way to talk it out with her so that she understands where I'm coming from and will be more respectful of me in the future so that I don't have to keep getting upset by her again and again and again and again and passive-aggressively pushing it down.

Wish me luck. As kind and "accepting" as she is, I feel that she doesn't like to think she's ever in any way wrong about anything, so I'm really hoping she'll actually listen to me.

Anyway, I'm starting week 10 of my internship, with only 6 more weeks to go before my time is up. It's looking more and more like I'll be going back to Bodie this summer, this time as a paid employee. I'm really looking forward to it. My friend Cecile, who lives in L.A., is expecting me in the time between my finishing up here and my starting up there. I still want to plan one more trip to Tucson to spend time with my study abroad friend Caitlin before I leave the state of Arizona, but other than that, I'm pretty much set for the next few months. It's nice to be able to have some sort of peace about the next several months.

Granted, I'll be applying for jobs again soon and going through all of this all over again, but hopefully I'll be able to feel more confident and will find some sort of employment for the winter season. Somewhere. Otherwise, I'll be out on the road with my Volunteer parks pass, hitting up National Parks as I make my way back home, I suppose. Or perhaps I'll just go north from California - I hear the Pacific Northwest is a pretty neat place to be. :) Of course, all this is very much in the future, so I'm not even really thinking about it yet - just spouting off the first ideas that pop into my head!

I'm leaving you with a picture of me from last weekend, when I biked up the mountain to Jerome - 40 minutes up 5.0 miles; 15 minutes down 5.0 miles. I felt great that afternoon - I miss big biking. I think I'll try to get some more in this weekend. Until next time!