ACTUAL BLOG

For those of you who found yourself here... please head over to my REAL blog.

Thanks,

Jacqueline

Decluttering has become a PRIORITY!

I can not stand living like a packrat any longer! The truth of the matter is our actual living areas look lovely. That is because everything is hidden in closets, under the stairs, shoved in the shed, or crammed in some other spot. It is time to stop this.

This all happened when 4 years ago we had 1 week to move from the house we were renting to this house that we bought. It was raining, we had to have friends help us pack, and I had no idea where to put anything. So we just shoved things in boxes and then piled them in closets.

There are boxes full of things that I have not seen for over 4 years.

Pathetic. SO, I am going to do this in incremental steps. 10 minutes a day with full days devoted to this. I am going to be ruthless. I will always get more stuff, so why hold onto this stuff.

My goal is to be done before December 1… just in time to decorate for the holidays.

See more progress on: declutter my house

For 21 Days I got up earlier!

I don’t know if this makes me a morning person, but I do know that I have accomplished this little goal. I feel ok. The crazy thing is I have been working until 1:00 in the morning and don’t feel too dazed. It is almost like I have tapped into some secret energy thing. Granted the coffee helps!

I am just SO proud of myself for trying to do this and I hope that it has now become a habit.

See more progress on: get up earlier

Watch, Copy and Taste!

Copy and Taste

What a great idea for a blog! If you have a recipe that they like they will post it on the site. It comes with video and if you are a cooking show lover you will love this. It is kind of funny because they don't talk much and the shots are odd, but that is what makes it so fantastic! Not to mention the food looks great! Have to try the White Bean Salad, a great summer recipe.

I know I am always looking for new recipes to brighten up my cooking arsenal and it is great that they are the guinea pigs on something new rather then my poor little family.

Not Watching TV

Well, if you work every night until 1:00am, like I have been doing, then watching TV isn’t an option. Not that I recommend working long hours like that either. I just have some very crazy deadlines!!! It is a good thing though. Work brings money brings less anxiety makes happy Jackie!

See more progress on: Stop watching TV

7:11

I have really come along way with the goal of getting up earlier. In fact, I think I have this down. I have done a few things to help: I have mostly given up watching TV, I have been keeping really busy in the evening, I have been just getting up when I wake up rather then allowing myself to fall back to sleep, and I have had real things that I wanted to do or get done in the morning. Granted, I am not YET a morning person, but I have achieved the goal to “get up earlier”. The best thing about this is that I have more energy. I guess the quantum physics people are right that energy begets energy!

See more progress on: get up earlier

Playing with new toys and reading about blogging

I, thanks to the grace of family and friends, have a new toy. My very old Mac G3 suffered it's first near fatal hard drive crash while in the midst of a huge project. Due to that heart attack I have been given the gift (via being pre-paid) of a new MacBook Pro with all new design software. I thrilled. We are talking, going from driving a jalopy to speeding down the freeway in a BMW.

AND I have been reading about blogging, yes I know that seems kind of lame, but I am so interested in the whole phenomenon. The "experts" all say you need themes, and privately hosted blogs, and more, but I am thinking that free (blogger/wordpress.com) is great. I do think though you will begin to see changes on the blog. We'll see.

Sprouting Sprouts!

I just started doing this. I am using a mason jar that I had, some screen that the woman at the hardware gave me because it was such a small peice, and a mixture of salad sprouts from the health food store.

It is SO easy. I soak them in water overnight. Then every day for five days I rinse and shake the water out twice a day. They sit on my kitchen counter and look wonderful.

So, now I am designing a sprouting kit for kids to sell/give as gifts this winter. It will have the jar, screen, sprouts & directions all packaged together. Kids LOVE to grow things and how fun to GROW FOOD. I am SO EXCITED about this project. Email me if you would want one. jacqueline at moxieworks dot net.

See more progress on: Cultivate Sprouts

Our first Bell Pepper

We picked our first bell pepper today. They are just beautiful. Really beautiful. I am SO proud of our little garden plot.

See more progress on: Plant a small garden

8:14

Yesterday I saw a great entry by someone on 43things about getting up… and why the don’t. We commented a little back and forth and I realized that he was right. I thought I didn’t get up because I didn’t want to DO something, but really I didn’t get up because I didn’t want to FEEL something. I sleep to avoid FEELING. So, today, I just got up when I woke up. I didn’t avoid anything and I felt good.

See more progress on: get up earlier

I am happy

I don’t think this is a goal… it is a state of being and really I am happy. My life may not look ideal to those looking from the outside, but I find tremendous joy from the things that I do.

Things like: lunch with friends, cooking, reading, feeding my chickens, playing with my dog… essentially simple things, but they bring me incredible joy. So, I think I can cross this off my list and state that YES, I AM HAPPY.

See more progress on: be happy

58

I did it! I reached my goal. I am number 58 on WWW.Guru.com. Now I have to CHANGE my goal of wanting to be in the Top 50 to wanting to be in the TOP 40! I KNOW I can do this. Remember last year I started in the 1600’s! I am SO moving up!!!

Do I think that 43Things helped. YES. It kept it focused and on my mind. It is so easy to have random goals, but to have focused goals creates a path to completion.

See more progress on: be in the top 50 Graphic Designers on Guru.com

idigmygarden,com

I just found this website online about heirloom gardening and I am hooked. I think this is the year I get serious about gardening… well, really next year, but this is the year I start planning and figuring out things.

I do have 3 tomato plants, four green peppers, 4 cucumbers, 12 pumpkins, 6 watermellons, 10 radish, and a bed of zinnias… that is more then I have ever planted. We have harvested 7 cherry tomatoes and they were sweet, but I have learned that with a family my size I need at least 20 tomato plants!

I am getting Miragreen peas, sugarsnap peas, purple pod peas, sweet basil, lemon basil, lime basil, blessed thistle, marshmallow, and soapwort sent by a lovely woman in Georgia… I can’t wait to put them out!

Mmmmm small farm gardening is really wonderful. I can’t wait until I have seeds to share.

See more progress on: Plant a small garden

Grey Water Pumpkins

We have PUMPKINS… well we have big pumpkin leaves. I planted 12 pumpkins down the hill where the water from our laundry pipes out. So, they will be watered effortlessly… and they are growing fast and furiously. Granted, I won’t be EATING these pumpkins, but I will hopefully have great pumpkins for carving at halloween. How exciting!

See more progress on: Plant a small garden

Organic Potatoes Just Picked Yesterday... How Sweet IT IS!

Amazing potatoes made into beautiful 4th of July potato salad! My Sparkly Girl and I visited the Farmers Market on Tuesday and purchased just harvested organic white potatos from two lovely ladies. I don’t know their names, but I did notice that they have a certified organic farm certificate. We also bought an amazing heirloom pepper… not sure what I am going to do with this yet.

We have yet to spend an amazing amount of money at the market, but I am trying my best to support local farmers. I just finished reading Plenty, which I would recommend to anyone interested in the local foods movement and am now reading Barbara Kingsolvers new book about local food… seems to be a theme in my library picking!

GO TO YOUR LOCAL FARMERS MARKET!

See more progress on: shop at the farmers market more

Organic French Green Beans... Ooo La La

Oh… the wonderful little old lady told me all about them. She had me taste the difference from the Blue Lake to the French… it was like night and day. Then she told me all about the heirloom garlic that I bought and how it was indigenous to the Washington State Indian tribe.

Then my favorite French gardener had me taste Japanese turnip. It was the first time I had ever tasted a turnip… he said I was a turnip virgin.

A delightful morning.

See more progress on: shop at the farmers market more

Yeah for Netflix!

We reinstated our Netflix account and we had three movies waiting for us in the mail yesterday! That was a HUGE incentive not to watch the crap on TV. We watched New Rules with Bill Maher… which is a huge hit in our house. Making fun of the president is always good for a laugh. Then we watched Jesus Camp. If you haven’t seen this documentary I highly recommend it. It is about the evangelical movement and how they are recruiting kids to the cause. It was frightening. Just frightening.

See more progress on: Stop watching TV

The Glass Castle or How Not Normal Is Your Family

For the June Book Club the book was The Glass Castle by J. Walls. It is an extraordinary book that there are countless reviews on throughout the web. I often hesitate to read the books chosen for the Book Club because they tend to be heartbreakers. Difficult works with rotten endings. This book was one I was quite hesitant to read, but Jean Jean the Library Queen said it was sad, but would be fine. Ha! I cried for the last hour of reading until I closed the book on the final chapter.

That is not what is so puzzling to me... while on the phone with My Sparkly Girl who is at camp she said that she got her package that I had sent. Great, I said. She said the mail lady gave her a funny look when she handed it over and stated that it was sent in a cereal box. Yes, my daughter said. She could see that it was a cereal box because I didn't cover the box. I just made labels for it, taped it up, and sent it. My Sparkly Girl thought it was a perfectly fine way to send the package, but the mail lady seemed dubious.

So, that got us to thinking about normal. What is normal? Obviously sending a package in a cereal box is not normal in Conway, Arkansas, but why is that normal to us. Have I ruined my daughter with my odd habits and customs just like the mother from Glass Castle. God, I hope not.

Interestingly

I wonder if becoming a vegetarian is really my goal. I have definate ideas about food and food culture. Part of me thinks that it is a bit classist to even consider becoming a vegitarian. If I were extremely poor, not just the american poor that I am, I would eat what I had regardless of what it was… and I assume be thankful.

It is with our multitude of choices in a land filled with abundance that we can even think about being vegitarian.

So, I wonder if this goal fits me… I think more that I would like to eat food that is more local. That is appealing. It would be a mostly vegitarian diet because all of the meat products in my area are shipped to larger markets out of the area.

I think I am going to think about this for a few more days and perhaps change my goal.

See more progress on: Become a vegetarian

The Little Things

It was the little things that I started to be more concious of. I would call on a friends anniversary of their mothers death, I would bring baby things over to a friend who had little ones, I would bring food to a sick friend, I would make a point to call someone out of the blue.

I am not the perfect friend, but I am deffinately a better friend because I realized how much I are about being one. I encourage us all to develop better relationships with the people we share our lives with.

See more progress on: Be a better friend

A story about SARK

I really loved SARK and when I moved to San Francisco I wanted to meet her. I was kind of a devoted fan… not in a crazy way, but I adored her honesty, writing, and life. So, I went to a book reading and after it was over I gave her a letter telling her how much she meant to me. Now I realize that she, like most celebrities, do not want these tokens of our affection and I feel a little foolish. I still like her writing, but I am kind of over her as an idol.

Learn more about SARK

Lifelong UU

I would love to talk to anyone about being a UU, what it means to me, what they might find… really whatever. It is one of my greatest joys that I was raised UU. Ask away!

See more progress on: Explore Unitarian Universalism