Only What You Need to Survive..

The last week of the buy nothing challenge and I have spent...

A lot of the money went to school things. New school t-shirt; lanyard (to help kids keep up with their flash drives); safety patrol badge; choir shirt; and percussion ensemble shirt. I also bought some stuff in preparation for our Disney trip. Wet-ones; Anti-bacterial hand lotion; 88 cent ponchos; mints; snacks; coloring books and band-aids. I bought my friend's god-daughter a "good luck at boarding school" itunes gift card (because you need tunes to study). Also, I normally cook Sunday dinner for the family. My mom insisted on cooking for us this week. Sunday afternoon I found out that meant that she called me to pick up barbecue from the really awesome restaurant I live right behind. In her defense she did cook us a can of beans and a bag of salad to go with it.

So now that the challenge is over what have I learned? Something that I already new was that I eat out too much. I did a better job than normal of not eating out. When you consider that I grew up eating out every meal almost every day of the week, the fact that I have managed to keep that down to about once a week I consider a victory. I also really looked at every purchase I made a lot closer. Its easy to go into Target asking, "Do I really need the extremely cute notebook when I have 5 unused sitting at home?" But its harder to do that at the grocery store. I think I'm there to get stuff I need. Everything there is a need on some level. Like the wine. Not that I buy wine when I'm not going to take it to a party or dinner, but I never thought of it as not a necessity. I know you don't need it. There are a lot of items we don't need, but we have just gotten so used to them as part of our landscape we don't even notice them anymore. How many "can't live with out" items are we cluttering our landscape with? What really counts as a "must have?"

Untiltied

Flashes of brillance aren't unique

have them, too.

Bless them.

Transform your flashes

into something permanent.

poem and photo by Katy, 2009

Cupcakes

I feel like it has been ages since I posted anything half way intelligent. I wish I had something intelligent to say now. I don't.

I was flipping through recipes this weekend looking for something to make. I found one for chocolate muse. I read through the ingredients. Found I already had everything listed. I read through the recipe and got to a part that said "poor chocolate mixture into medium sized bowl set inside larger bowl of ice. Fold until thickened."

Bowl of ice. Those three words ended any ideas of muse I might have been entertaining. I don't keep ice in my apartment. I'm not from Europe, I'm not anti ice. I just don't have an ice maker and I don't really ever have an occasion to need ice. So I just don't. The thought of buying a bag of it for the sole purpose of making muse just didn't appeal to me.

I made cupcakes instead. I didn't have any buttermilk, but I could improvise that. (One cup of milk with one tablespoon of white vinegar set out for 10 minutes.) Also for some reason that I don't quite remember, I have had a thing of chocolate icing sitting in my pantry almost since the day we moved in. This was a good excuse to use it. I wish I could say that the cupcakes from scratch tasted better than the ones from the box. They weren't as light or moist. I think part of that was that I let Alex do the whisking and I think she over whisked. I also wonder how much difference real buttermilk would make in this situation. I'm not writing off the concept of cupcakes from scratch quite as fast as I did mac and cheese. (Kraft mystery powder is better than any homemade I have ever tasted.) I especially like the fact that when the dry ingredients don't come from a box you can cut the end result in half. Meaning I could make 12 cupcakes for our gathering of 8 instead of 24. But the buttermilk situation is still there. If anyone knows a place in Houston that sells dry buttermilk I would love to know where to go.

Back to School and Buying Things....

I have been sloshing through law firm hell. I guess that is why I didn't feel one bit guilty when I took the day off on Friday to take the A to meet her teacher and buy new school clothes.

We meet her teacher, poor thing. She seems really sweet. But she is new. I guess at her former school she dealt with parents who were reasonable. Parents who would have excepted the fact that the school has been under construction all summer as an excuse for why there was nothing on the walls and the room was full of boxes. When we walked in the the tension was already palatable. Mothers were looking around in horror and whispering urgently in the corner. I just pretended like I had no idea what was going on and chatted up the teacher, who by this time looked like a deer in the head lights. She clearly realized she was about to be run over. I wish I could say I stuck it out with her, but after offering some encouraging words and insuring her that, at least one parent didn't think the state of her room meant she is unfit to teach my child, we quickly dashed off.

I guess it was the stress of the morning on top of the stress of the whole week, but I didn't think twice before heading to Target for back to school shopping. We got Alex a "First day of school" outfit that she insisted on picking out. She is not exactly fashionably inclined. I'm not either, but my clothes do match. I wear basic things like denim. Alex, god bless her, walks to her to the bet of her own drummer. After a lot of negotiation she ended up with an outfit that looks suspiciously like everything else she owns. 10 pairs of socks and one pair of pink Converse latter and we were done. Oh, yeah and Alex needed new earrings. She hasn't changed them since she got them pierced in June so I figured she was due. All totaled, back to school cost me $63.80. Not bad.

Other slips on my buy nothing challenge. I bought lunch from a neighborhood restaurant on Saturday as a reward for cleaning all day.

Buy Nothing Week 2

This is going to be short. I didn't buy anything this week.

School starts soon though. That means an updated wardrobe and footwear. I'll let you know how the trip to the thrift store goes.

Edit: Crunchy included wine in her non-essential list of purchases so I guess I will have to include the bottle of wine I bought this weekend. It was from local winery, Dry Comal Creek which is located in the Texas Hill country. It was also on sale.... $13.

28 Days ... and humming

I really did not intend for my blog to morph into a Disney count down, but I have had the course of this song stuck in my head all week.



It is the theme song from one of Epcot's original attractions: Listen to the Land. You may remember it as "the boat ride through the greenhouse." There is something really peaceful about riding a boat down an air conditioned river after spending a day in the Florida sun. Maybe that's why I love it? Maybe its just the sight of all the odd things growing there.

The song isn't played on the ride anymore. The ride isn't even called Listen to the Land anymore. They took out the cheesy theme song and made the psychedelic opening into a rain forest scene instead. Now we are Living with the Land, not listening to it.

Here are the lyrics of you want to sing along:

Just make believe, you're a tiny little seed,
a tiny little seed that's reaching up to meet your need.
With the right amount of faith, and the right amount of earth,
you'll grow to see the sunshine on your day of birth.

Let's listen to the land we all love,
nature's plan will shine above,
listen to the land, listen to the land.
Let's listen to the land we all love,
nature's plan will shine above,
listen to the land, listen to the land.

When springtime comes, how can you tell?
The air is always filled with orange blossom smell.
Come summertime, the warmest sun shines,
and world is full of flowers and good melon rinds.

Let's listen to the land we all love,
nature's plan will shine above,
listen to the land, listen to the land.
Let's listen to the land we all love,
nature's plan will shine above,
listen to the land, listen to the land.

When autumn falls, it's a harvest show,
with north winds blowing all the seeds that it must sow.
Come winter time, the rain must fall,'
till once again the new year and the springtime call.

Let's listen to the land we all love,
nature's plan will shine above,
listen to the land, listen to the land.
Let's listen to the land we all love,
nature's plan will shine above,
listen to the land, listen to the land.

The seasons come, and the seasons go,
nature knows everything that it must know.
The earth and man, can be good friends,
let's listen so our harvest time will never end.

Let's listen to the land we all love,
nature's plan will shine above,
listen to the land, listen to the land.
Let's listen to the land we all love,
nature's plan will shine above,
listen to the land, listen to the land.

Stupid girls and their stupid vampires....

I finally caved and read Twilight. (No, I haven't seen the movie!) Honestly I must live under a rock because I had never heard of this bestselling novel until the movie came out. It looked to be something that a lot of teenage girls would be into. But two weeks ago, something weird started happening. One of my nephews friends (who doesn't normally read for fun) told me it was one of the best books EVER!!! I shrugged that off, but was intrigued when one of the "soon to be 6th grader" boys in my Sunday school class told me it was his favorite book. (The kid has three older sisters though.) Then my oncologist told me that "If you like Harry Potter, you will love Twilight." Was it true? Had my oncologist read Twilight? "It was really good" he assured me.

I was baffled by all of this. So I decided it was finally time for me to read it. Because of the "buy nothing challenge" and the over 100 people waiting list at the library, I had to track down a copy from a friend. Which, given the amount of worthless Sci-fi novels several of my friends read, (sorry guys) was a lot harder than I originally imagined it would be. (Apparently you can read a whole series about an intergalactic time traveling vampire(ish) girl, but Twilight is too over the top?)

Back story aside, I just finished reading it and I can officially say that I don't get what the fuss is all about it. It wasn't bad, it just... ended before it got good. I get it, Edward is dangerous and Bella shouldn't hang out with him. I didn't need the first 2/3 of the book to beat that point into my skull. I have no doubt that it made a good movie. So much should have been dropped from this story. The problem is... since the book ended just as the story seemed to finally be going somewhere, I have been sucked into reading the second.

But to Levenback... no... Twilight is not Harry Potter. Potter was a mixture of timeless, epic themes presented in a new and enlightening way. Twilight is a glorified romance novel.

Things Potter Tought Me.

I must have written a million draft posts in the last two days, and deleted them all. Nothing seems coherent. So I am going to re-review a book. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. After the first reading I loved to book, but hated the Epilogue. It was too predictable. Too... nice. (For full details see my review here.)

Recently I saw an interview that Rowling did where she explained why she wrote the epilogue at all. She explained her motives of sharing the fate of her characters with the world and then added, "He survives and goes on to live a normal life." She talked about how a person who can go through the horrors that Harry did and return home and be normal is nothing short of amazing. Living a normal life after a person has been through something extraordinary and painful is the hardest thing in the world to accomplish.

The last year of Harry's life we get to see wasn't easy. He was preparing to fight a dark wizard, but more than that he was learning who to trust. He learned that there is no such thing as pure good vs. pure evil. Everyone is a mix. Even Voldomorte, who was too far gone to ever be good again, could have been good had he made different choices. Had his early childhood been a little bit different.

Perhaps that is why the epilogue didn't ring true. Because life never ends tied up in a nice little bow. Life is messy. Its madness. Nothing is ever simple. Nothing ever turns out the way it should. I think I'm starting to slowly see what Rowling means though. Some times, despite great odds, things do turn out better than you had any reason to hope that they would. Some times good things do happen to good people. And I would agree... that accepting that as truth, and not ideal fantasy, is the hardest thing in the world to do.

Buy Nothing Update

Its time for my first buy nothing update. I have done quite well.

Purchases so far this month (beside basic living needs)

Donuts as payment for kid watching services = $3
Dinner from McDs the night I had to work late = $7.48
Disposable razors (that's a whole other post) = $8.19

That's it! Three things. I didn't include meals where I ate out, but didn't pay, which is probably cheating. So I will just confess right now that I had lunch on Saturday and Monday with friends. So while I didn't buy anything on these two occasions, purchases were made on my behalf. I know that's walking on the edge of the rules, but it was for the Greater Good! Promise.

What I would be buying right this second if not for this challenge... COMIC CON EXCLUSIVE FIGURES: WONDER TWINS AND GLEEK! These are possibly the coolest toys made since the Goonies figures! They come in talking boxes, when their fist are united they say, "Wonder Twin Powers Activate!" and other such iconic phrases. Nothing exemplifies the wonderful cheesiness of the Super Friends better than the Wonder Twins duo and Gleek, is thrown in as a bonus. I was thinking of calling this one a "pre-challenge" buy since my friend who went to Comic Con was suppose to pick some up (but didn't stand in line long enough). Alas, my only hope is eBay now. I can only imagine how crap it is going to be to try to get the trio once the month is out, but I'm going to try to hang in there. I am going to try to rest temptation.

(Geek Out.. Zan even comes with a Pal of Water! Classic!)

36 days and counting...

Magic Kingdom, Walt Disney World

Photo by Katy, 2007 (?)

Have you ever tried to take a picture of the "partners" statue in the middle of the day? Its impossible. Tourist are always there mucking up the shot.

Remembering

Nagasaki, Japan
August 10, 1954

Photo by Yosuke Yamahata

"... it's sixty years later

near the hypo-center of the a-bomb

i'm in the middle of hiroshima

watching a twisted old eucalyptus tree wave

one of the very few lives that survived and lives on

remembering the day it was suddenly

thousands of degrees in the shade... "

~ from Reprive by Ani Difranco

The story behind the photo:

Photographer Yosuke Yamahata travelled into the city of Nagasaki the day after it was levelled in an instant by an atomic bomb. (He had just travelled through Hiroshima a few days earlier, immediately before that city was also destroyed.) Most of the images he shot while documenting the devastation chronicle an unspeakable “hell on earth,” to use his term, but one image stands in contrast to the horrors of war: a lone tree, half destroyed while the other half remained intact. For many viewers, it has become a symbol of resilience and hope.


Yamahata writes:

“Human memory has a tendency to slip, and critical judgment to fade, with the years and with changes in lifestyle and circumstance. But the camera, just as it seized the grim realities of that time, brings the stark facts … before our eyes without the need for the slightest embellishment.”

Here you can learn more about Yamahata’s Nagasaki series

Felix Felicis

What if we all lived like we were under the influence of Felix Felicis all the time? Liquid luck. What if we just said, "I'm going to Hagrids... It feels like the place to be tonight." What if we knew we were going into battle and would not get jixed?

I have made life changing decistions without really thinking through the consequences with varring resluts. I'm not a person who looks back on my life and says I have no regrets. Still, I'm tempted to just chuck it all and head out to Hagrids. Becuase right now, it just seems like the place to be.

Thank You

Journal, created by Katy, August 2009

Thanks

by W.S. Merwin

Listen

with the night falling we are saying thank you

we are stopping on bridges to bow for the railings

we are running out of the glass rooms

with our mouths full of food to look at the sky

and say thank you

we are standing by the water looking out

in different directions.

back from series of hospitals back from a mugging

after funerals we are saying thank you

after the news of the dead

whether or not we knew them we are saying thank you

looking up from tables we are saying thank you

in a culture up to its chin in shame

living in the stench it has chosen we are saying thank you

in doorways and in back of cars and in elevators

remembering wars and the police at the back door

and the beatings on stairs we are saying thank you

in banks that use us we are saying thank you

with the crooks in office with the rich and fashionable

unchanged we go on saying thank you thank you

with the animals dying around us

our lost feelings we are saying thank you

with forests falling faster than the minutes

of our lives we are saying thank you

with the words going out like cells of a brain

with the cities growing over us like the earth

we are saying thank you faster and faster

with nobody listening we are saying thank you

we are saying thank you and waving

dark though it is

Yesterday I had the honor to attend an art as prayer gathering. It is an organic group of people that has gathered together over the years. This time we were lead by Joe. We were task (should we chose to accept it) with creating gratitude journals. I decorated the cover of mine. (as seen above). There isn't anything in it yet. But I am about to make my first entry.

As we shared our creations someone commented about the poem above, that was read aloud at the gathering. "Why are these people saying 'thank you'? In such a world, what is there to say 'thank you for'?" I thought then, and couldn't articulated it, but I thought, because sometimes, "thank you" is all there is. Because sometimes things are so dark that if you don't say "thank you" you will loose your grip. Your safety line will break and no one will be able to pull you back to the boat. You say "thank you" as you fall through the watery depths, as your lungs begin to fill with water, because if you don't, you know that no amount of CPR will ever bring you back.

Yesterday I checked a book out of the library. I just finished reading it. Elizabeth McCracken’s heartbreaking but thoughtful memoir ‘An Exact Replica Of A Figment Of My Imagination’. By the end of that book, it seems impossible that anyone would ever question why sometimes saying "thank you" is the only way to take your next breath.