Pedantic-y Stuff

We had a flash flood warning and major thundershowers yesterday. It was windy enough that I worried a bit about the patio awning (it was fine), but in the end we only got a little bit of rain. The forecast for today calls for thundershowers again this afternoon and for more rain, but we'll see.

I did not sleep well last night or the night before. I really want to be napping right now. I've tried about three times to take a nap, but it's not working. 

What have I been doing? I'm reading another Bill Bryson right now, his non-fiction travelogue about Australia called In A Sunburned Country. I'm enjoying it. I like Australia and Australians. They seem a good people, barring the extreme racism that they exhibit towards Aboriginal Australians, I mean. I would love to return to Australia sometime, just to see it again--and to hop over to New Zealand and see that, too.

Maybe someday, when the pandemic is over and we can move about the world freely again. Sigh.

Anyway, the Bryson is funny.

I've also been journaling. I started doing morning pages (from The Artist's Way) again recently--maybe about a month ago? It's interesting how they work--and that they do work.And they actually do work. It takes about forty minutes every morning, but it's good practice.

I also started what I'm calling the 365 Quilt on my birthday. Every evening, I take a pre-cut 5x5 inch square of fabric (Kona cotton in the color "Snow" a.k.a. off white) and journal something about the day. I've taken to adding illustrations as well--on the day we did our virtual shopping, I drew Itoya's iconic big red paperclip, for example, and I've drawn Buzz, a bouquet of flowers, a line of drying laundry, the pair of green framed glasses. Just something that symbolizes the day. I'm using Pentel indelible fabric pens, Pitt brush pens that Dave gave me for my birthday, Uchida fabric markers that I've had for about 8 years, but which are still juicy, and Crayola crayons which work to tint the fabric. (Before I started, I did a test square with all of these products and I've washed it four or five times now and they're all holding up well.)

The original 365 quilt pattern uses various sizes of squares, but I went with the 5x5 precuts because who has time or inclination to cut 365 various sizes of squares from yardage? Not me. Also, instead of laying the squares out in long rows (as in the original quilt pattern) I've decided to organize the blocks in a way that makes sense to me, by laying each month out as though it were a calendar page. That way, I can complete and quilt a large block each month and then join the large blocks together as I go, instead of creating a quilt top that then has to be quilted at the end. 

That's the plan (and the thinking behind the plan) anyway.

What else has been going on? 

Oh, we're still eating a vegan diet, but we're leaning a bit heavily on the prepared foods at the moment while we get our vegan mojo up and running. Dave has decided that we should try just about all the vegan cheese he can get his hands on. We got a whole foods order yesterday that contained vegan parmesan-and feta-style "cheese." He's also trying different dairy-free coffee creamers, so our fridge is overrun at the moment with macadamia milk, almond milk creamer, oat-based creamer, and one other. I tried the oat-based creamer and it was okay, but I prefer the soymilk that I use in my coffee anyway (even when we're not trying to eat a vegan diet).

We're spending a lot on groceries, but we're also not eating out, like, at all. We're cooking the majority of our meals, except for the Sunday morning breakfast burritos that Dave and my brother pick up on their way home from doing the grocery pickup. (This week Dave and I got bean and red chile burritos with no cheese.) Today for lunch, I made "cowboy caviar" (black-eyed peas, corn, jalapeno, red pepper, green and red onion, cilantro, radishes, and tomato with a lime-garlic dressing) to have with chips. Last night we had vegan "cheeseburgers" which were frozen vegan "burgers" with vegan "cheese" on a whole wheat bun. We added lots of toppings (lettuce, tomato, onion, pickle relish, green chile, mushrooms on mine, mayo, and ketchup), so they were satisfying. Tonight we'll have spaghetti squash with marinara and a vegan parmesan-type cheese. Maybe I'll make some garlic toast (using vegan spread instead of butter) out of the leftover burger buns.

Because Dave is a vegetarian, I don't eat a lot of meat or fish anyway and I don't drink milk (plus, I usually eat soy yogurt), so the biggest thing I've given up is cheese. I hate to say it, but I feel a lot better when I don't eat cheese. Heartbreaking, but true. 

Anyway, I got off on a little tangent there, no?

Alright. I think it's time to try napping again. Ugh. I hope it works this time.