Green Beans

I just ate the yummiest green beans. My digestive system seems all "off" lately, and I've been feeling kinda icky. I attribute it to eating too much fried stuff and carbs. Since moving, all I want is bread, pasta, pizza, and fried sea food--not a very healthy diet. So for the next couple of days, I am only eating fruits, veggies, yogurt, and soy milk. Using EVOO and spices is fine, you know, to season and dress things. But I feel like I just need to eat really natural, cleansing kinds of stuff for a while to get back on track.

So earlier, I just quickly boiled some frozen green beans, just until they were tender, not soft and gushy. I should add that I particularly like green beans prepared just about any way. I felt like Rachel Ray or something though when I tossed them in a little sesame oil, rice vineggar, soy sauce, a tiny bit of onion and garlic powders, and a tiny dash of hot sauce. It was just like yummy, healthy, Asian green beans. Seriously, I've been watching way too much Rachel Ray. But it was divinely good!

House Pics--Interior

These shots aren't very good and don't really do justice to the interior, but here you go anyway. What they don't reflect at all are the cathedral-style ceilings in the living area. The kitchen / dining / living rooms are really one open, kind of great room.

This is the living room. What you can see here is the great window, which has a lovely view. You can also see (just a little) my new furniture.









This is a shot of the kitchen, which is still rather a mess. It's not a huge kitchen, although much bigger than what I had at my last apartment. But it's a great lay out in that the space is all totally usable. The window looks out to a gorgeous back yard.












This is the dining area, which is separated from the kitchen just by a bar. It has a great sliding glass door, as you can see, that opens onto the deck and provides this great view of the back yard. The sliding glass door is nice, as it allows Guinnie and Polly to bask in the sun.












Finally, this pic shows the view from the glass door in the dining area.

House pics--Exterior

Some of these aren't the greatest, as things are still rather disorganized around the place. But this will give you a sense of what it's like and of the projects I've been working on. I think the layout of the pics on this page may end up being kinda wacky--I have trouble with getting them just right!

Here's the front yard and the front side of the house. I just installed the solar lights along the walk way.















This is a shot of the back yard, which is quite spacious. What you can't see here is that there's a great little brook running just behind the trees. I can hear it gurgguling along when I sit in my HOT TUB!








Here's the back yard from another angle. You should note my two tier deck with a large HOT TUB! It's beautiful in the evenings to sit on the deck and listen to the birds and the brook--no city noises really. I've been working on water-sealing the deck the past couple of days

Steven Winwood, Yoga, and Emotional Eating

Here's a confession: once in a while, I enjoy Steve Winwood. There's something about Steven Winwood and George Michael that takes me back to about 8th grade. And I get nostalgic for a world that seemed simpler. However, I'm pretty sure that I'm a better person now. At the very least, I'm more comfortable with myself now, and that counts for a lot.

In addition to writing more, I need to get back on the Yoga wagon. Let me rephrase (in keeping with my work in 10 Days to Self-Esteem. You can say what you like about the concept of "self-esteem," but the book was really helpful): It would be beneficial for me to get back on the Yoga wagon. I want to feel more centered, you know? More in the moment, less of my mind in the elsewhere and "elsewhen." So I'm just articulating this in hopes that if I say it publicly I'll be more likely to follow though. Also, I say it in hopes that I'll have some sort of accountability in the sense that one or two of you will care enough to say, "Hey, D. how's your Yoga practice going?"

The other thing at the moment is emotional eating. I realize that people who have mega-metabolisms and who are not prone to emotional eating just don't get the whole thing. But I do have a tendency to eat for emotional reasons. Lately, I think it's a nesting instinct, since moving. This nesting instinct is not in itself bad. However, eating food I don't need could be destructive. I guess what I mean is that I just want to be more aware of why I'm eating when I am. And really, there are times when other activities would be more healthy than eating, activities like writing, drinking a cup of tea, relaxing, that sort of thing.

All random, I suppose.

Update on the Sock Project

I just realized that since I got busy with end of the semester and moving, not only did I let my writing go, but I also let the Sock Project slide. And it's really too bad, because I think it's one of the best ideas I've had in a long time, certainly better than the time I decided that when my roller-ball pen quit writing I should suck on the end to get the ink flowing.

Well, here's an update. A couple of weeks ago, we had graduation, and naturally we had to wear gowns and the whole regalia thing. Well, I feel pretty silly in all that, and in the past, I'd just pretended I was a student at Hogwarts as a coping mechanism. However, this time, I decided I'd wear pink, stripy knee-highs peeking out under my gown, just to add interest and to set me apart from the rest of the group. A week or so before graduation, I announced this intention to some colleagues, and T. also wore bright red socks for graduation. The effect, however, was somewhat lessened for T., as they were hid beneath his pants and shoes. But I thought I was pretty kick-ass to wear pink socks for graduation. Now I wish I'd taken pictures!

I was quite proud and thought I was certainly the most interesting faculty member that day. That is, I thought I was the most interesting until the next day when I heard that C.P. vomited (yep, hurled, blew chunks, barfed, yawned in technicolor) during the ceremony. That's way more interesting than my socks. Well, easy come, easy go, I guess.

I haven't been writing lately, I know. And there's something inside me that makes me feel like I need to be writing. So I'm renewing my committment to blogging. I figure if I say it publically, then I'm more likely to follow through.

I need to be writing and here, blogging is just the least of it, a warm up, really. I'm afraid I'll loose my sense of self if I let go of writing. I know that this sounds neurotic to those of you who aren't writers, but those of you who know what writing can mean will understand.

Well, more tomorrow, the first day of the rest of my life.

I'll write every day, starting now.

Update

Although I'm still unpacking, I'm all moved! My parents have been here all week, and between moving and visiting with them, I simply haven't had time to post anything. The move went fairly well, thanks mostly to friends and my parents. I'll post more soon. I'll e-mail you my new address soon.

Velouria

Drennan (singing): My Velouria, my Velouria / Even I'll adore you / My Velouria

*sigh* some days life is so perfectly beautiful

I'm just so tired, almost all the time. It's like any little thing tires me out, and the worst part is that it's really difficult to get much of anything done. Here I am with all this grading and packing to do, but all I really can do is sleep. Just taking the dogs out seems to require all the energy I can find, and then I feel like I need to rest for a while. And I'm pretty sure I'm not just lazy, but it's all really frustrating. And I saw the doctor again today; he wants to run more tests of one sort and another. I'm frustrated with not feeling well and frustrated with having to spend time getting all these medical things done. I don't know what to do anymore.

I know that I haven't been posting much lately. I feel absolutely overwhelmed with moving and end of the semester stuff. Really, I feel like if one more thing comes up that I have to do, I could explode (or implode, which is really much more interesting and probably less messy.) Earlier today, I was out doing errands of one sort and other. I went to the bank to make sure that I had the correct amount of money in my checking and savings accounts so that I'm all ready for the big home purchase later this week, and afterwards I planned to go to the grocery store. As I left the bank, I started to feel panicky, and I wasn't sure that I'd be able to make it to the store. I really thought I'd have a panic attack in the grocery store parking lot. But the good thing is that I was able to take a deep breath and talk myself through it all. I'm getting better and better at that. So although it was highly unpleasant, I was able to do it. I have to tell myself things like, "Ok, all I have to do is park the car. That's all I have to do," and once the car's parked, I say, "Ok, now all I have to do is lock the car and walk into the store." I know it sounds crazy, but breaking it into tiny pieces is the only way I can manage when I get panicky.

After the store I came home and made myself a calzone, which was really good, and had a beer, which was even better. FYI, my new favourite is this local organic micro-brew called Wolaver's, and I LOVE their brown ale. It's so tasty! And, really, don't we all need a fav beer? I know that some would say that 2:00 is rather early to start drinking, but I say, "It's 5:00 somewhere!"

Interesting Links:

Ok, TS sent me the following, and I think it's super-cool in that not-quite-goth kind of way:

www.michaelpaulus.com/gallery/character-Skeletons

It's totally worth checking out, in case you ever wondered what, say, Pig Pen looks like below the surface.

Here's another good one from JS:

www.houseoffame.blogspot.com

It's a blog purportedly by Geoffrey Chaucer. And really, what could be more fun than that?

Finally, no one wants to miss out on uber-geek Wil Wheaton of Stand by Me and ST Next Generation fame:

www.wilwheaton.net

If you are really in love with Wil, you can subscribe to his podcasts, apparently. That's going a bit further than I really want to go.

Maybe it's nerdy that I like all this stuff, and I'm fine with that.