Photo Project Day 9: HELPER

We've just given the dogs bed priveleges during the day.  At night the dogs sleep in kennels out in the garage and the cat goes out too, but for the most part the animals are out and inside throughout the day.  Initially we didn't let Anna get up on the bed, but in the last few weeks we've become okay with the dogs hopping up there if we're doing something in the room...and Anna has fallen in love.  I spent part of today talking to my best friend and then my granny on the phone.  Since I haven't been feeling too great I laid down on the bed during the conversations and Anna relished the moments curled up next to me.  She's also decided she's the ultimate laundry helper....whether it's with hanging some of the clothes out on the line in the garage or watching me fold the clean laundry.... although last week I did find one of her toys tucked into the husband's shirts when I was putting them away. ;-)

Photo Project Day 8: REVIEWS

Over the course of the last few weeks I have read and watched quite a few interesting items.  The husband and I aren't big TV viewers (except for sports and the occassional Netflixed show), and it's always interesting when we're around other people who watch a lot of TV.  We hear a lot about random, brain-numbing shows, and then it's always entertaining to watch their eyes glaze over as we talk about the latest documentary we've viewed. ;-)  And speaking of documentaries, we just watched The Cove this weekend.  If you haven't seen it, it's definitely worth watching.  It's about the hidden dolphin industry in Japan.

However beyond documentaries, I've also been reading quite a bit again and several have been really interesting books.  Although I must say I was quite disappointed in both the book and the film on No Impact Man.  After following his blog over the course of the year, I felt the book was not easy-to-read and unorganized.  The way the chapters were put together did not create for an easy flow of his story, and I felt the same way about the film.  In fact, my husband did not know much of the background of No Impact Man and he felt that much was assumed to be known about it.....meaning that we both walked away from the film before it ended. 

But back to the other books:

If you are at all interested in the recent health care debates, I highly suggest Reid's The Healing of America.  After going through the public health program, I feel that this book would be an excellent addition to many of the courses and I learned a lot about health care systems throughout the world.  Reid takes a global comparative glance of health care systems including their insurance mechanisms, as he searches for a solution to a personal health care issue.  His initial discussion gives an overview of the four primary health care systems that exist in the world (which all are used in the USA), and he searches out examples of each throughout the world.  Regardless of one's take on the current debates, it's an educational read.

Currently, I am in the process of reading Half the Sky: Turning Opression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide by Kristof and WuDunn.  Another incredibly interesting read centered on the various ways that women are oppressed and struggle throughout the world including: lack of education & rights, rape as a tool of war, lack of health care access, poverty, enslaved prostitution, etc.  At the end of each chapter, there is a discussion of someone or program that is attempting to help that particular situation however.  The book is to empower others to create change.  While my reactions have been mixed, I've definitely increased my knowledge on these issues more than I ever could have imagined. 

I also recently read Pollan's In Defense of Food.  Between this book & the documentary Food, Inc the United States "should" learn to change the way it eats.  I walked away after reading this newest book of Pollan's less weary of eating whole fats, less concerned about individual nutrients and instead reminded more of the benefits of eating whole meals, and more into reading the ingredient labels of the processed foods we do eat.  Definitely a read that everyone should tap into.

And within the last few months, I finally conquered The Confessions of An Economic Hitman.  While this book will leave you annoyed with the author by the end, the information and his confession discussed in it (primarily in the first half) leave you with a new understanding for the mess of the world, thanks to our nation's business and government interests....

Two books that leave you feeling amazed at the capacity of individuals: The Beautiful Things that Heaven Bears and Strength in What Remains.  And as mentioned in a previous post, the documentaries The Garden (the struggle over an inner city garden in a food desert of central Los Angeles) and Dear Zachary (murder, emotion, legal systems, family) were incredible.

I always keep a running list of books that I want to read.  I usually add to it by titles mentioned in books that I'm currently reading, mentions from friends, or reviews from magazines.  And since I don't seem to be getting called to sub, I'm relishing these final weeks by reading, cooking, relaxing, and hanging out with the dogs. ;-)

What are you reading?  Any good suggestions

Photo Project Day 7: VIEWS

Dreamy Daytime

Double-View Evening

Photo Project Day 6: Edible

EDIBLE

Two things that now get used most frequently in our kitchen: the bread maker and the slow cooker.  This last week alone we made a loaf of white/wheat bread and wheat pizza doughs in the bread maker.  The slow cooker concocted butternut squash soup, Italian soup, French lentil soup, and BBQ pork roast--all in the last week too.  We've fallen in love....

Photo Project Day 5: WELCOME

WELCOME

This is from the front entry as you look at our living room.  I always feel that it's so important to have a home that's organized, picked up, and welcoming for when those expected or unexpected guests do arrive.  Since my husband enjoys a change of pace in his environment, this is about the 6th furniture lay-out we've had in this room already!  But I have to admit....I'm a big fan of this currently....

Gifts and Such

When I first started out on the simplicity journey, I spent two Christmas mornings in tears due to the fact that my family had provided gifts for me under our Christmas tree.  It seemed unfair and un-necessary that people bought me items at a pre-determined time of year (and generally stuff that I didn't need nor usually want) rather than provide items for people that truly could use them.  I've always felt more comfortable with the idea of providing items for people when they need them or when the time is right, rather than purchasing gifts for birthdays and other holidays.  And this is something I still struggle with when it comes to buying for my siblings children.  I've come to recognize and appreciate that my family just wants to provide and they've done a pretty good job of gifting things that are actually warranted w/in the last year or two.  (Although its been interesting watching my husband attempt to accept this too, as he's not a huge fan of celebrating his birthday or accepting gifts for other reasons....and my family is HUGE into the celebration of life...)

However this attitude toward gift giving is one thing that I really appreciate about my husband.  When it comes to "holidays" or celebrations neither one of us feels inclined to have to purchase something for the other person.  In fact, I'm pretty sure we've never bought anything for the other person for a pre-determined holiday.  Last year for his birthday, it just happened that he was given a four day weekend finally and my work/school schedule was flexible enough that I could fly out for a visit (the first time we'd seen each other in 2 months).  The month after my birthday, my favorite band happened to reunite and we attended their local concert, but he would have bought us tickets to that regardless.  We didn't buy each other anything for Christmas, but we did happen to pick out Roxi around that time..again something that happened due to timing rather than the season (our housing company started requiring pet deposits at the 1st of the year and we wanted a companion for Anna w/ both of us working).

Throughout the rest of the year we never really feel the need to make purchases following the Hallmark calendar either, which has been an interesting comparison to many of the other couples that surround us.  Several of our friends feel the need to buy big gifts for each holiday, whereas my husband and I prefer to listen to what the other wants and needs and attempt to purchase what is plausible based on funding & timing considerations.  I can think of a couple of different items that he surprised me with before I moved down here: the webcam that arrived on my doorstep and allowed us to see each other for the rest of the 4 months that we were apart, the new cellphone he got me when we became eligible and mine was so damaged that I seriously held it together to make calls, the potted Easter lilies that arrived and thrived for many months.  Yesterday I finally drank the peppermint flavored hot chocolate (my favorite!) that he'd discovered at the grocery store in December, we finally got him a new cell phone now that he was eligible and after he's been using an old one of my SIL's that functions but had issues, and we've both been enjoying the recent crock pot and breadmaker that we picked up for each other (thanks to the gift card from my sister and free gift cards from Sears!).  Small things, big things---but things we think of and are tailored to the other person.

However, I will say that thanks to our friends, my husband did recently get one gift that he's been desiring since we moved into our own place.  Most men want a grill, but sometimes they're rather specific about the grill that they want.  It just so happened that the wife down the road purchased a grill for her husband for Valentine's Day....it happened to be gas when her husband prefers charcoal.  My husband and I were in the store where she found it and mine began to remark on what a good price for the product that the grills actually were.  Since it was a good deal, since we could finally afford it, since the husband has been waiting for months, and since it would be helping out our friends down the road...we purchased the charcoal (same price) and swapped it with them for the gas she had already bought.  While my husband probably would have preferred charcoal himself, we decided on gas since it'd be much easier for me to use if he's gone for any long periods of time.  And if this summer is anything like last...these grills will get used at least 50% of the evenings during any given week.

I rather prefer our life this way.  Taking care of the other's desire by considering numerous factors rather than by the flip of the calendar pages.  While in the long run, we probably still are spending a chunk of change on each other, its nice to know we're spending moments together and purchasing (for the most part) useful items toward our life together.  I'm definitely glad I found a companion who has a similar stance on at least this issue---life's too short and debt gets too high to fret over what we "have" to get each other next!!