One of my FB peeps just posted this. I am so happy to see that some of our fine, local advertising has made it to YouTube. We're doing what we can to make the world a better place around here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnOyMSEWNTs

So, I spent much of yesterday reflecting on many of the "green" changes I've been wanting to make about the way we live. I've come up with a short list of things I intend to do this year:

1) Not collect another plastic grocery bag. I have several reusable shopping bags, but don't always remember to take them into the store, especially for shopping other than grocery shopping. Several months ago, I put some in the car so that I wouldn't have that "uh-oh" moment, but I still frequently manage to forget they are there and leave them in the trunk. I have a huge satchel of plastic bags waiting by the front door. Next time I'm at the store, I'm depositing them once and for all. I've been recycling plastic grocery bags for what seems like eons, but there's really no need to collect any more.

2) Create a backyard compost bin. At our townhouse, we had no place to compost. When we moved into this house, I was excited about being able to start a compost pile. Indecision about how and where to build it have kept me from doing so. A few months ago, I started countertop composting. I've decided that on our small, city lot, a self-contained compost tumbler is the way to go. It can live behind our potting shed and won't attract unwanted critters. I plan to start clearing that area and creating an appropriate surface next week.

3) Use more pure ingredients. For the past several years, I've been buying more organic products, not just organic foods. Some time ago, I switched to organic facial care and makeup. My skin thanks me. Recently, when purchasing new bed linens, I opted for organic cotton. While I've found it difficult to give up my favorite shampoo and conditioner, I've been making a greater effort to use eco-friendly cleaning products. Little by little, I'm replacing what we have on hand with healthier alternatives. I'm making progress, slowly but surely.

4) Recycle a greater variety of items. Currently, we recycle everything the city accepts--glass, aluminum, cardboard, chipboard, #1 and #2 plastics and newspaper. We reduced our newspaper waste by canceling our subscription several years ago, and I reuse what we manage to accumulate as paper for Bird's cage. It recently came to my attention that Whole Foods recycles #5 plastics, so I plan to check into that. I save many other types of containers, but they are piling up without specific uses in mind. Which brings me to probably the biggest item on the list...

5) Generate less garbage. If we didn't purchase so many packaged items to begin with, we wouldn't have so much packaging to dispose of or recycle. Reducing our amount of trash to one tall kitchen bag (or less) a week will be a good place to begin. I plan to start consolidating refuse from around our house on Sunday nights in an attempt to monitor this. Purchasing more bulk foods and veggies should help out, too--not to mention be good for our waistlines. And I need to stop using paper bathroom cups. I have them on hand for guests, but when they're sitting out, I tend to use them, too (for about a week at a time, until they fall apart). No more of that.

I'm sure I will think of many more things to add to this list as I step up my "green conscience". This is a good place to start.

Happy birthday, tldz!

Close examination of my refrigerator shelves a little earlier this evening revealed that I have 9 different varieties of mustard on hand. They all serve their purpose; they're for eating on different kinds of food. I had no idea I was such a mustard snob. This is awesome! So late in life and I have discovered yet another intriguing facet to my persona. ;-)

Just to be sure, I checked out the pantry. I found three unopened jars/bottle in there. One of them is a kind that's not even in the fridge...

I haven't had time to mess with LJ in ages (or spend much time poking around the internet), so this has probably made its rounds for sure. However, it was pretty neat. Here's some super-cool street art.

It reminds me of the awesome graffiti the Doctor and I went hunting the last time we were in Charleston. It envelops the entire backside of an abandoned strip mall, an inconspicuous roadside relic on the way to Folly Beach. A two-second detour off a major thoroughfare, yet most people don't even realize it's there. My parents live five minutes away, and I read about it in The New York Times, for goodness' sake. I'll have to post pictures next time I think about it.

Though I enjoy various talk radio programs, I can't stand listening to talk radio while I'm trying to fall asleep. Music is great, but my brain will absolutely not tune out spoken language no matter how tired I am. It stays way too busy analyzing what I hear. (This would be a great way to torture me, if anybody is out there making notes.) Since drmellow likes to listen to talk radio at night, I frequently find myself across the hall or downstairs on the sofa after an hour or two, if I want to catch any Zs.

I usually request BBC World Service if I'm going to have to lie awake and listen to something. Recently, I discovered that I can sort of half-way pay attention if the newsreader has a Scottish accent. I'm still focused on EVERY. SINGLE. WORD... but it's not *quite* as annoying. I guess I'm partially lulled by the sing-song musicality of it.

So, tonight's goal is to try and fall asleep before the news goes off and the station returns to musical programming. Oh, no... Are the British people back? Drat. I need more Fiona MacDonald.

( what I ate... )

Wow. Day of desserts. Breakfast at The Mount, out to lunch with friends afterward, Cabaret in the afternoon, and leftover communion bread for supper. Church is apparently not a very carb-friendly place! ;)

Aside from the celery, the cheesecake looks like the healthiest thing I had. But look at that glass of water in there. Go me!

( what I ate... )

Again, no water. Guess it's time to start toting around that H2O bottle.

Ate both meals at diners today, so this should be interesting. On top of cleaning out the fridge this week, I've had an overly-typical (for me) Southern diet!

( what I ate... )

-No water. Need to work on that.
-Next time I'm at The Lighthouse, I'm getting the pineapple pie.
-I'm noticing a trend here: My caloric intake seems to hover in the 1300-1350 range. I just calculated my maintenance intake and it's 2116. That's a 766 calorie per day deficit. Interesting.

Somehow, I managed to overwrite this entry. As I recall, the total calorie count was 1333. I'll have ot see if I can recreate what I ate.

The Lenten season is associated with discipline. I've decided to keep a food journal for Lent. I tried this last spring and after one day, I wound up in the hospital with pancreatitis. Should be fun.

I didn't decide to do this until last night, so yesterday's diet was completely haphazard. That's OK, since I'm really doing this for observational purposes, anyway. Here's what I ate (I'll add up the calories later):

Brunch
1.5 c. mashed potatoes/gravy (180cal)
1 buttermilk biscuit (180)
8 blackberries (31)

Supper
Beef tips & rice (1 c. rice, 3 oz. beef) (320)
I c. green beans (36)
Small whole wheat roll (70)
4 oz. blackberry cobbler (240)

Snack
Handful of Nilla Wafers (280)

Drinks
2 glasses iced tea (0)
2 cups coffee (0)

Total calories: 1337

I think I need to drink more. My kidneys would probably thank me.

Celebrities are so weird.

Hello, LJ-land. I've been AWOL for awhile--teaching, traveling, working on websites, singing, celebrating Confederate history (in costume!), cooking, catching up on movies and TV, using up restaurant gift certificates (yum), and following up on undelivered Christmas orders. It's been taking up most of my time.

Perhaps I'll have a chance to write about some (or even one) of these things soon, but for now--just 'hey'. I'm enjoying reading about what you guys have been up to, even if it will take me eons to get current.

And yesimthegirl, thank you so much for the awesomely yummy Christmas package! We did not even manage to send cards this year. I've been laughing at pictures you've put online chronicling our college years. We all look so silly! And so young...

I've been doing website work all day, and my concentration is waning. It doesn't help that drmellow is in the next room crooning dramatically alongside Ewan MacGregor, while watching Moulin Rouge. I keep peering around the corner in wonder and amusement. :-)

Whew! This has been a crazy week. We have been to five Christmas parties/dinners/shindigs since last Saturday (all of which were lovely) and we're getting ready to embark on 10 days of family gatherings and multi-state travels.

Wisely, we did not host a holiday party this year with all that we've had going on. What this means is that my own seasonal decorating has suffered; it seems to manifest itself less and less each year, but hosting some sort of gathering is usually incentive for me to get it all done! So, despite my proclamation that I was going to attack that project with gusto post-Thanksgiving, well... let's just say I'm not quite there yet. My Christmas tree is still sitting--unadorned, save for the lights--on some newspaper in the corner of the living room. The stockings are hung (from one mantel, anyway), the window candles are lit (only downstairs, so far) and the wreaths wreath is hanging outside the front door. I'm still searching for some more monofilament.

Don't ask about the Christmas cards.

A few of my favorite decorations have managed to find counter- or tabletop space from which to preside over the chaos: the kitchen Christmas tree looks cute as ever on the island, decorated with miniature glass fruits and veggies; some of the nutcrackers have taken up residence on the stairs; and I caught drmellow spinning the Weihnachtspyramide last night, chanting, "Run, Mary, run! Joseph's gonna get you!"

There's still more I'd like to do, but if it doesn't get done, that's also OK. We've spent evenings with friends, time with neighbors, played carols at church and community functions, and have even finished shopping for our families. But had we not done any of that, the holidays would still be worth looking forward to. I am always humbled by the sense of peace that descends upon the world at Christmastime, reminding me of the peace embodied in that tiny child on the very first Christmas Eve.

Just as I enjoy the plethora of pumpkin-flavored foods that appear around Thanksgiving, I eagerly await eggnog season come December. Homemade, of course, is superior, but I have been known to enjoy copious amounts of the off-the-shelf variety, as well. You can imagine my dismay, then, when I polished off a bottle of Labrot & Graham a couple of evenings ago and still had half a carton of eggnog left. Drat.

Last night, I was digging about in the liquor closet looking for some suitable substitute when I discovered a nearly full flask of SoCo and an entirely unopened bottle of L&G. Hallelujah! A Christmas miracle.

This morning, after returning home from the auto dealership, I found myself surveying the kitchen landscape for fitting breakfast foods. I settled on the apple galette left over from Sunday's Praise Band party and immediately began mixing an eggnog to accompany it. As I was grating nutmeg into the glass, I realized it was only 10 am. Habit had mandated that I fill the glass half full with bourbon; it was too late! There was no way I was going to waste that eggnog (or that whiskey). Apparently, I was going to be drinking before noon.

For the record, eggnog makes a fantastic meal. Comparable to yogurt, I'd say. And this has qualified as my best morning so far this week.

I cannot find solid brass, pineapple-motif towel bars online. You would think there would be wide demand for such an item in colonial America. Oh, wait. This is 2008.

And, I just discovered that Virginia Metalcrafters has gone out of business. Hmph.

I just want a place to hang my dish-drying cloth!