A lazy, rainy Sunday

Well, autumn is certainly upon us. It's grey and rainy and chilly and there is Giants' football on the tv. A nearly perfect fall Sunday. I've been pulling out warm clothes, thick sweaters and flannel jammies; putting away summer clothes, flimsy tops and peasant skirts. It's baking season, crock pot season, mulled wine and apple crisp season. My favourite season of all.

I have just a few days to catch up. It has been a slow week. The only thing I acquired was a new curling iron, and I just made a straight trade ~ the one that died was tossed and the new one was put to work.

I do have 5 things to show you, things that have been waiting patiently, collecting dust, taking up shelf space. A pair of book ends, a bread machine that burns the bread every time, a broken food processor, a wooden paper towel holder and an iron spice rack.


These I donated to the library. They'll look cute in the Children's Room.


I regret losing these two. But I'll get a new food processor someday soon, and I'm thinking about learning to make bread without a machine. I do all my other own baking and cooking. It's past time to start making my own bread, too. Besides, I understand the kneading and punching is great for stress management. :)


I am slowly working towards no longer using paper products in the kitchen. I am moving to only having cloth napkins (not quite there yet), and using kitchen towels and rags rather than paper towels. It's my little bit to save the environment (and it's cheaper, too). So I no longer need this.


The worst place to store spices in in the open light and air. So, this is going. I love it, and it goes with my wine rack and kitchen shelves, but I'd rather have good spices than a pretty spice rack. :)

So, that's it for this week. We're soon moving into October. Happy fall everyone!

Actually, let's toss out winter!

Short entry today. I have a headache and it's making me cranky.

I've been gong through my clothes, a little at a time. I have almost made it through all of my cold weather clothing, and I have several bags ready for counting and donating.

For yesterday, today and tomorrow, I am tossing three turtlenecks.
I've had them for years, worn them lots, but not in the past few seasons.


That's it! Bye for now. :)

Spring is springing

March is coming to a gentle close tonight, and April will be coming in with sun and showers and hopefully warmer weather. It has been a busy month. I have been working hard in the apartment, bagging up stuff to give to the Rescue Mission and the women's shelter, organizing the "guest" room, pulling spring things out and packing away the winter frocks. I have also been working outside (Bailey loves that part *grin*), raking and weeding and clearing out the pots in preparation for the flowers (and maybe even some veggies this year).

March was designated as the month of beginning more exercise, and that has been going pretty well. The calorie counting and healthy eating has become a way of life after just 2 months. I gained 18 pounds when I quit smoking (7 months ago ~ hooray for me!!), and as of this morning, I have lost 9 of those pounds. WooHoo!!! I'm truly appreciating the flavours of really good food. Seafood and lean meat, fresh veggies, chicken, salads and soups made flavourful with the right seasonings. Low calorie doesn't have to be low taste, I have discovered. And eating breakfast really does help. And when I exercise, I have enough spare calories for ice cream. That's always a plus!

The past three months I have set a goal for myself that has been practical and sensible and "good for me" in a very obvious way. In January I started this blog and began the project of getting rid of the excess stuff in my life. In February I began counting calories and being aware of my eating patterns and habits. In March I began consciously moving my body more.

For April, I have decided my goal is exploration. I want to get out and find places that are nearby that I have never been. I want to take pictures of nature that I drive by without even really noticing. So, from now on, I am going to try and plan (or not plan) and just go somewhere at least once a week. After work, on the weekend, before work if I'm in late, on my off days. I want to do fun and different (and cheap) things. I may have some different pics to post here from it; we'll see. It's time to be good to me not just in body, but in spirit and soul. It may not always work out to once a week, but I'm going to do my best.

Now a bit of a side note ~ For those of you who have been following all along, thanks for your support, your comments and your overall presence. This has become much more than I anticipated when I first thought up the plan and began the blog. It really means a lot to me to know that there are other people interested in my little life. You all inspire me to be better; I hope in some small way, I can do the same for you!

For those of you who have just stumbled onto me recently, I hope you enjoy the ride; it's been fun so far. :)

p.s. ~ the pictures in today's post are flower shots I took while in Ireland in 2003. Hope you like them. They make me feel like spring is really here.

Shopping Spree (part 1)

I can't believe it's Tuesday already! I know I have some real catching up to do, but first I have a confession to make. I did something this weekend that I haven't done since this project began at the start of the year. I gave myself permission to shop. I went to Target and a few other stores (I even went to Amazon.com) and allowed myself to buy stuff. And you know what? It was really hard. *grin* I found myself making excuses to myself about why not to buy something. Forever it has been the other way, and now I have broken the habit of justifying purchases.

Now, don't get me wrong; I did shop a bit. Let's see, I got:

A new DVD to add to my musical collection. One of my favourites, too!


A CD at a concert (a night at the pub, actually, with live music) on Saturday night. Great night, great music, fantastic food and drink ( a bit too much of both of those...), and wondrous company! Poor Ould Goat rocks!


Two journals (one to take to Ireland in May, the other just because)


A water bottle for home and travel (to go with the new Brita filter pitcher, of course *grin*)


A neat travel mug for tea. It has a place to put the tea bag or loose tea, then you pop it down into the hot water and pop it back up when your tea is steeped. I just couldn't resist!


A new travel hair dryer and a new hair brush.




And finally, five (yes, that's right, five) new pretty t-shirts.



So, that's 13 things. Plus Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. A grand total of 17 items and I'll be caught up. Stay tuned for part two to see the discards.....

Cookbooks, yes again

Boring entry tonight. I'm tired and cranky and not in the mood.

I went through another shelf of cookbooks this morning. (Even my time between getting ready and leaving for work has become productive.)

I need to catch up from yesterday and I'll be busy this weekend, so I decided to select a few cookbooks to donate. I ended up selecting 5, one for each day Wednesday through Sunday.

Great American Favorite Brand Name Cookbook
Recipe Encyclopedia
New York Times Cookbook
Creative Cooking
BH&G Annual Recipes 1998

That's it. Bye. :)

Busting the Carbs

As I mentioned in a previous post, I am beginning to really focus on nutrition and diet. That's diet, as in what I eat and how much of it ~ not diet as in deprivation and starvation and no chocolate. I have a great app on my iPod to count calories and nutrition. And so far it seems to be working. I'm beginning to be more conscious of portion size and it's making me very aware of quality versus quantity.

So, for Tuesday, I'm donationg 3 books to the library, all on carb counting and protein dieting. (I'm getting rid of all 3 in one day because I also got my digital TV converters yesterday, so I have to discard an extra 2 things.)

And here they are:



That's it for Tuesday. I'll be back later for today's entry.

Making changes

This is my year for making changes. Positive changes. Helpful changes. Hopefully, lifelong changes.

January was the month for getting started with the organizing of my stuff. I've done well so far, and I'm in the routine of getting rid of stuff every day. I've also gotten out of the splurge and just because shopping habit. It's always right on the top of my mind that if I get something, I have to get rid of something.

Now we are beginning a new month, and I'm adding a new change. I'm going to begin focusing on nutrition and healthy eating. I added a new app to my iPod Touch ~ Lose It. (Thanks, Peter!) It's a great application! It lets you program in all of your personal data, where you are and where you want to be. Then you set a goal and it sets up a daily calorie quota. You can add in all that you eat, as well as the exercise you do, and it keeps track for you. You can use the foods they have in the database, or add your own custom ones, including recipes. It keeps track of calories, nutrients (fiber, fat, protein, etc.)It's fun, it's easy, and it's going to keep me on track.

I don't plan to keep a seperate blog for this new "resolution" I am starting, but I may give updates now and again. I am loving my new iPod!!

Thanks for listening. I'll be back to posting about Living Simply later tonight....