Simple Day Book for April 26, 2011

 A Simple Woman's Day Book for April 26, 2011

Outside my window....
it is grey and rainy...but hey, its not snowing!  I am happy!  April showers bring May flowers!  The grass is green and the lilac is budding.  The greens and peas are inches tall in the garden.

I am thinking....
that it seems like no matter how I try I make trash.  Even if it is just something tiny like the twist tie around my bunch of spinach.  This is just one more reason to strive for self-sufficiency.  If all the spinach I ate was grown in my yard it wouldn't come in a piece of metal and plastic.  Perhaps zero waste is impossible for me, but I can always strive for the ideal...inching along in progress every day.

I am thankful for...
the wonderful time I shared with family this past weekend:  singing around the piano with aunts, uncles, cousins, and my sister, delicious foods, chickens to watch, cats to cuddle, cards to play, glorious weather. 

From the learning rooms...
it is nearly final exam time and that means a lot more students in the library needing my help!   Busy time soon to be followed by the summer lull.

From the kitchen...
I just gobbled up some homemade thin crust pizza topped with roasted garlic, sun-dried tomatoes (still from the garden 2009!), and spinach.  I also thought it was the last jar of tomato sauce from 2010, but Matt found one more squirreled away in the basement.  Hooray!  One more jar of delicious, homemade tomato sauce....oh, how to use this last one....it demands something special.

I am wearing...
silky, black paisley top, tan skirt, short black socks, sneakers.

I am creating...
ojos de dios for a few gifts.  I am also top-stitching the sleeves of the cloak.

I am going...
to Minnesota soon.  It was one of those trips that I thought was a long way off and then all the sudden it is less than two weeks away.  Matt's family is gathering once again for a memorial golf tournement in honor of his Uncle Kim.  I am so glad we are able to go this year.  I don't golf, but look forward to spending time with all the family.

I am reading...
No Impact Man:: The Adventures of a Guilty Liberal Who Attempts to Save the Planet and the Discoveries He Makes About Himself and Our Way of Life in the Process by Colin Beavan.  I am almost done.  This book was/is life changing and inspiring.  Oh, it was good.

On my mind...
Pain.  Not something I like to have in mind, but....what can ya do?  My arthritis has been badly flared up since Sunday evening.  2011 has been a particularly hard year for me in regards to my arthritis, perhaps the worst since the first year of my diagnosis.  I have learned to silently manage the daily ache caused by inactivity, such as sleeping.  It is the stabbing fire of radiating pain that comes without reason or warning (as far as I can tell) and stays until it decides to leave, also without reason or warning, that I have a harder time coping with.  I know what to do to make the ache stop...move and work it out and it goes away.  The stabbing fire pain in my hip though....it doesn't seem there is anything I can do.  It makes me feel helpless (because I don't know what to do) and a little worthless (because I can't stand long enough to make dinner, etc and Matt kindly starts to wait on me which I appreciate and at the same time makes me feel a little more worthless)

I'm sorry...I try not to complain and then I just did for a whole paragraph.  I'd erase it, but...it IS on my mind.

Around the house...
the tomato seedlings are almost ready to move out to the mini-greenhouse.  They are so thick and hardy this year.  They really put last years attempt to shame.  Practice makes perfect! 

One of my favorite things...
warm grass on bare feet, especially after the long winter of being trapped in shoes.  Keleigh and I went running in the green, baby grass of the pasture this weekend.  It was delightful.

A few plans for the rest of the week...
tie-dye, top-stitch cloak sleeves, make bread, send Alli a birthday card, rest my lousy hip, plant some more things in the garden, free flute concert at the public library.

A small window into my life...

This format comes from The Simple Woman blog.