Office!

I got my office set up! I got our little computer desk cleared off and facing out the back window. I have a nice view of the sloping backyard and if I raise the blinds to just the right height it even blocks out the neighbors and all I see is the fence and our nice little yard, and they can't see in much either. Less distraction, more nature. Staring out the window while I work makes a big difference in my mood.

Eating like a hypoglycemic now for about a week, and so far, so good! Some challenges are that I feel like I am eating CONSTANTLY -- every two hours is a lot of food prep/eating/washing up. Make-ahead stuff will help, so the next time I go shopping I am going to make a big pot of lentil soup. Boiling about 8 eggs at a time also make a quick protein snack pretty easy. I haven't had any coffee since Thursday, and that is helping my energy and mood as well. Although it is HARD to resist first thing in the morning!!! I am drinking a lot of tea, so I am not off of caffeine, but somehow the caffeine in tea seems gentler.

I have been studying the Quakers and their spirituality lately, and it is very interesting. I am enjoying what I am learning. It kind of makes me want to run away to the country and start wearing bonnets ;D But of course that does not even slightly sum up what the Quakers are about.

Continuing to work on simplifying things around the house so that it isn't so much work to run it. I am thinking about putting away most of our dishes, glasses, etc. so that there is only about 4 of everything. That way we still have it if we have company, but I am doing fewer dishes. Also gathering things to give to the thrift store. I have a bunch of books and some clothes, and I may add some things from the kitchen as well. The motivation for all of this is that I realized that I spend quite a bit of time looking for things that have been put away in strange places (by me -- not casting blame here) and trying to find places to put things that I have. It never fails to amaze me just how much stuff comes into our house. It's really a constant fight. Stuff stuff stuff. It's insane.

I am also trying something new with grocery shopping -- going to the store once every four days and NOT in between. This might sound like a lot, but I end up at the store at least twice a week anyway, so it really wouldn't be any worse than that. Right now I make one really well-planned trip, and then one crazy odds-and-ends-and-junk-food trip that ends up pushing the budget over. So if I stick with once every 4 days, and stick with my budget as well, I think we will have less food going bad (which is such a ridiculous problem!) and maybe a better flow in terms of stuff and money. Four days seems like a good amount of time because if you run out of cereal or something with 2 days to go, it isn't as if you will starve if you have to improvise breakfast for two days. I can put off almost anything for 4 days. If this system works, I'll definitely be blogging about it. Household economy is a really interesting subject to me.

That about all the news around here. C had a short illness that seems mostly over, after only about 36 hours, which is a blessing. Now, I have to go teach, since blogging is my last procrastination attempt before actually getting down to business.