Lost and Found

I know that when Mercury is in retrograde that, if you're inclined towards astrological reasoning, things are prone to go to hell in a hand basket. I've experienced enough wonky Mercury Retrogrades to believe that astrologists just might be on to something. So if Mercury Retrogrades are associated with mass miscommunications, delays, difficulty contacting someone, car and other technology problems, and angrier people, then there also must be an astrological explanation for a string of good coincidences. Does anybody know?

You see, lately we've been finding things. Not things that were misplaced (because that happens all the time), but things that were L.O.S.T.  As in, we'd long ago given up hope of ever seeing them again. Apparently St. Anthony is smiling upon us.

Last week, Andy happened to swing by the Shack (remember the Shack?!) and happened to see the third disc of Sex and the City Season Four sitting out. This is a disc I literally tore the cabin apart a couple months after moving into the cabin trying to find. Apparently, it never made the move. After not seeing it for three years,it was a pleasant surprise to be reunited.

Finally, I get to know what becomes of Carrie and Aidan! J/k. I already know. Speaking of which, for those who are all "Team Aidan," how exactly did you see that working out? The two don't seem compatible at all IMHO; in fact, I'm not even sure why Aidan lives in Manhattan . . . Also, Pete. What is up with Pete?

On Saturday, when I was dusting a dresser, I knocked a few DVDs behind the dresser. (Fyi, no idea how I misplaced that SATC disc originally. ;P) To reach the DVDs, I had to pull out the dresser from the wall, which is when I found four pairs of socks (including a pair I'd been bemoaning the loss of for over a year) and a small camp lantern.

Hey look, socks!

Then on Sunday, Andy's mother happened to find a rescue blanket which had escaped Andy's fire pack a few weeks back, which Andy had been maybe obsessing a teeny, tiny little bit over after he discovered it missing. 

Logic tells me that all this found stuff is merely a coincidence, but my heart wants to believe that there's some deeper cosmic connection. Have you ever gone on a string of finding things? Or losing things, for that matter? ;)

For any locals reading this, my documentary on the BWCAW airs tomorrow (Thursday) on WTIP at 7 p.m. This was a fairly major project that I spent a decent chunk of the winter working on and I'm pleased with the final result, although, like any project, there are a gazillion little things I would have done differently if I'd had unlimited time to work on it. As one video producer told me recently, "Projects are never finished, they're just finally abandoned."

Don't Be So Defeatist, Dear

No new posts in a week?! Someone must have gone back to work full time this week. . . .

All winter long, I've posted three posts a week like clockwork to this here blargh, but then on Monday I worked my first eight hour day outside of the home in nearly seven months and before I knew it, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, even Friday  had all passed me by while Of Woods and Words sat in radio silence. Don't act like you're surprised.

I constantly overestimate my abilities and/or the amount of free time during the summer and then am always shocked when things start to fall to the wayside. On Thursday morning, for the first time in a long, long time, I woke up to a stack of dirty dishes next to the kitchen sink. To say it was a displeasing (nay, disappointing) sight would be to put things mildly. All week I've struggled to find the time to work my side jobs, exercise, clean and do just about anything else outside of work other than staring blankly ahead at the Netflix du jour each night.

It's easy to focus on all the things I can't do (start a batch of bagel during a down moment in my day, spend my lunch break catching up on blog reading, or ever find time to clean the bathroom, etc. etc.) with the return to full-time, out of the house employment. And when one's workplace is 43 degrees at the start of the work day and warms all the way up to 52 degrees after eight hours, one's mind does tend to stray to the melancholy. So although I may not really be wanting to see the good in the situation, I'm trying to keep my chin up, while the words of Lady Violet ring through my mind:

But enough about me.

In other news, the lake ice finally went out on Wednesday. That's just one day before the latest ice out date for the lake in recorded history. I was kind of hoping to break the record, but I guess the open water is kind of nice too. Andy and I got the dock in last night and on Thursday evening took a rather chilly boat ride around the lake.

I've been working towards the perfect golden, crispy potatoes for a while now. No variation of roasting them in the oven gets them quite the way I want them. Mel from Mel's Kitchen Cafe finally came to my rescue on Wednesday. Check out her golden skillet potatoes. Easy peasy and so, so good. Check that one off the bucket list. ;)

It's finally warm enough to put the seedlings outdoors. Unfortunately, it's also finally warm enough for chipmunks to be up to their rascally ways. Gardening fail #1 of 2013 is me leaving the seedlings outside all day while both Andy and I were away from the house. Goodbye two Brussels sprouts, a pepper, some cabbage, and several leaves from the eggplants and kohlrabi. Live and learn. Live and learn. I try to be calm about these sorts of things because hey - it's nature, but I would have been a little more forgiving about the whole plant massacre if the chipmunk had actually eaten the leaves and plants he chomped off. It's so very demoralizing to see the chopped off leaves wilting next to the maimed plants.

About the only thing I've managed to roll over successfully from my old "working from home" schedule this week is my running. I just wrapped up week 3 of this, my most recent running attempt, and next week, I face 6 minutes running, 2 minutes walking splits. On Wednesday night, we used the car's odometer to chart how far I've been going on my runs. Including the warm up and cool down, I've been covering about 3.4 miles on each run. Not too shabby and actually, I was kind of shocked by how far it was.

I hope you've all had a wonderful week and are filling your weekend with fulfilling and restorative activities. So far today I've caught up on all my cleaning chores (including the bathroom and washing floors!), made a batch of bread and put a corned venison (more on that later if it turns out well) in the Crock pot for supper.
   

Green For Good

We've all been there: pushing your heaped cart out of Target and wondering what the heck happened. There appears to be a certain vortex effect inside Target which causes one to neglect their carefully planned out shopping list and start throwing things, willy-nilly into the cart. In those gleaming, red accented aisles, we're reminded of everything we need, (nay, everything we can not go on without!) and heck, the price is right so into the cart it goes.

Source: someecards.com via Ada on Pinterest

After my latest trip to Target, as we heaped the shopping bags in the back of the car (thankfully I actually remembered to bring in my own bags this time, because what is it about Target clerks and putting two items in each bags to guarantee you come home with at least 10 Target bags? Is it some sort of brand loyalty building practice?) I decided it was time to reevaluate some of the household "essentials" that I pick up each time. (I don't even go past the clothes and shoe sections in Target any more - I know trouble lurks for me in the clearance racks.) It seemed like there must be a better alternative to dropping a couple hundred dollars at Target a few times a year on what are mainly disposable items: shampoo, paper towels, cleaning supplies, etc. etc.

The result of my analysis is that we're slowly shifting towards a more paper-free household. As someone who heats her home with wood, I feel no guilt whatsoever about lessening my dependency on the timber industry (don't worry lumberjacks, I'll always need you) and I don't think we'll ever be a completely paper-free/eco-friendly household - there will always be a roll of paper towels, some plastic wrap, and plenty of Ziploc bags in this home.

I finally broke down and bought a set of reuseable paper towels. I'm anxiously awaiting their arrival - she's so backlogged with orders there's an eight week wait!

After cleaning out my clothes dresser last month, I save all of my old socks and now use them for dusting.  Good-bye Swiffer duster refills. 

One bad habit we have is using Kleenex for napkins during meals. We eat every meal on the couch (the dining tables is covered with seedlings - don't judge) and since there's always been a box of Kleenex on the couch end table that's what gets grabbed when fingers turn sticky after a meal of tacos or burgers. The sad result is that we were going through a lot of Kleenex and sometimes didn't have them on hand when someone actually needed them to blow their nose.

I realized we could drastically reduce Kleenex use if I replaced the box of Kleenex on the end table with a basket of cloth napkins. I had enough flannel fabric hanging out in my sewing basket from a previous project to make 10 napkins. A simple hem and we have a soft, reuseable alternative to Kleenex napkins. Winning!

Speaking of Kleenex, I've always appreciated those who use handkerchiefs, but I've never much cared for blowing my nose in an almost transparent piece of cloth. However, these bamboo hankies look quite lovely and may be phasing out paper tissues in the cabin shortly. 

I've been using Pinterest to find simple recipes for homemade cleansers. FYI, steam cleaning your microwave by nuking a bowl filled with three parts water to one part vinegar for 5 minutes is way more effective and efficient than scrubbing it out with store-bought cleaner. You're welcome.

I hate the flimsy plastic produce bags you get in grocery stores and at long last, have my own reuseable produce bags! What does this mean? I will never waste another second of my life trying to open the !@#$% plastic bags at the grocery store. (All thumbs here.) Oh glory be! 

I've found a lot of "going green" inspiration on Etsy. I love the idea of reuseable recycling bin liners. Our recycling bin always looks like hell because I can't bring myself to replace the trash bag liner every time I take out the recycling. While I'll keep a disposable trash bag in the kitchen trash can for the time being, there's no reason why every other trash can in the house can't have a reuseable liner.


While the world greens up outside, it's nice to be making some green moves inside as well. (Sorry Target.)

Why We Exercise

Obviously, women's body image has been screwed up for a good long time now. When I was a pre-teen and teen, a lot of fuss was made about anorexia and bulimia. A mere decade later, the country's in a full fledged obesity epidemic. In true Goldilocks style, we went from too thin to too large in no time flat and all because our reasoning about body image seems to revolve around three basic axioms: Being skinny is better. Exercise is awful. Cupcakes are delicious.

No wonder we spend a lot of time frustrated and, dare I say, not so very happy.

Somewhere along the lines, we started viewing exercise as a necessary evil, something that's time consuming and painful. Something with no intrinsic value beyond possibly burning up the last "bad" thing we put in our mouth. We became obsessed not by how much better exercise can make us feel, but by how many calories we've burned. 

What the heck?

Source: toneupnyc.tumblr.com via Ada on Pinterest

Even though weight loss is supposedly 90% eating and 10% exercise (I'm not sure the research is conclusive enough to prove this ratio, but I do believe our eating habits play the biggest role in our overall weight), we repeatedly turn to exercise as the sole means to weight loss, even though people can exercise their hearts out on a regular basis and not lose a pound, or may even gain a pound or two. (Oh hey, there muscle mass.) While exercise is a surefire way to tone your body and maintain your weight, you're going to have a hard time exercising out a shitty diet. When I was at my chunkiest, I was actually playing hockey 3-4 times a week. And let me tell you, no amount of killers ("Again!") could compete with my hitting up the ice cream freezer in the dorm dining room each night. (Oh hey, there freshman fifteen.) 

As I've started exercising more over the last few months,  I'm reminded of just how miraculous exercise is. Even if running is hardly my favorite exercise in the world (Apparently running one minute and walking 90 seconds is no big deal. But bumping up that ratio to two minutes running and one minute walking? Death. Death surely must be coming for me soon.) I find myself looking forward to my morning runs because I know I'll have more energy and focus the rest of the day. The endorphin boost I get from 30 minutes of exercise is fantastic enough that I'm willing to overlook the beached whale feeling I experience while running. And that's saying something.

If we want to feel happier and be a bit fitter, we need stop using exercise as a torture device. We should view exercise as a necessary challenge which serves up way more pay out then that ever tempting cupcake. We turn to sweets and alcohol because "we deserve it" after a hard day or a long stretch of "being good," but we rarely, if ever, apply that same reward concept to our exercising. Don't our bodies "deserve" exercise for being our always faithful sidekicks through this entire one wild and precious life?  Dare I suggest that exercise should be viewed as just as much of a luxury as a fatty treat, because what is exercise if not a sweaty celebration of what our bodies are capable of. 

Exercise to feel better: more energy, more concentration, more self confidence, and less stress. Exercise to be stronger. Exercise to make the answer to the question is, "Can I do it?" a resounding "Of course I can." Our body images will never improve if we insist on seeing exercise as a temporary means to punish our eating habits.
 

Slow Changes

Change is funny, isn't it?

We devote a fair amount of our lives to resisting changes and then, at other points, we long for change so badly that we can hardly see straight as we wait for its arrival. Around these parts, we're feeling a little stymied - by spring, by life - yet no amount of willing change to occur actually prompts it. So instead we wait, trying hard to remind ourselves that if you look closely enough, you can watch things changing before your very eyes.

 

 Current ice out prediction: when pigs fly.

 The sun is out today (heavens be praised) and across the bay, neighbors have their laundry out to dry.

This is one of the longest pussywillow seasons in recent years. Some of the pussywillows are just starting to pop now.

 Exactly six years ago, this section of forest was on fire. Today, happy little conifers soak up sunshine.

Seedlings will be seedlings. In typical fashion, they have completely taken over the dining room table. Is it Memorial Day weekend yet?

We're finally getting around to spring tasks, like tidying up the woodpile, turning the compost, and tending to brush pile.

The chives I planted last year (who did not like being transplanted one bit) are holding their own this spring. In a few years, they  will have completely taken over the flower bed and I'll be cursing them most foul. All I want are enough blossoms for chive blossom vinegar.

 Why hello there, blue sky.

Little rhubarb nubs. As the first crop of the season pokes up, I'm reminded that it's time to start eating up what's left of last year's harvest. The not so bad result of this "pantry cleansing" was a blueberry pie yesterday. We still have green beans, blueberries, and oh so much cabbage hanging out in our freezer. So what exactly does one do with a gallon of frozen cabbage wedges? Suggestions most welcome!!