I mean like, all at the same time.

So. It’s been -50 or so pretty much all week. That’s including the wind chill. Around -32 C during the days without. There’s a week like this pretty much every January. They say the most depressing day of the year is around January 22nd, so it seems fitting to throw the coldest days in that time frame too. It’s kind of like natural selection. If you’ve moved to a northern climate and can’t handle the short days and the bitter cold without whining… you’re out!

I’m proud of myself. I have not complained about the weather yet. In fact, I have learned to dress so appropriately that I haven’t even found it to be THAT cold out. I don’t work outside for a living, and I don’t hang out in the cold for fun, but my daily goings-about have been fine. Better than fine, actually, because no one else seems to have figured out a)winter tires, and b)long johns, heavy socks, long coat, and layers with an end result of no exposed skin.

Side note: frozen eyeballs feel weird!

Tonight I made chocolate waffles and fried bananas for dinner. I love breakfast. and dessert. They were delicious. I wish I’d photographed, although it wouldn’t have been much. Waffle … waffle… ummm…. grids would probably be interesting to photograph. Maybe. Anyway… did you know that it’s Pancake Week? I didn’t until after I’d made the waffles. Bummer.

So, I skipped my mediumship circle last week. It has been renamed the Dead Zone (DZ) by a friend of mine. It’s run by new people this year, and even though it’s only January, I can tell (due to my incredible psychic powers) that it’s going to be a bit of a waste of my time. On the other hand, if I don’t go regularly it’s just going to be another night of the week I stay at work until 8 pm. Dead Zone, here I come.

Oh, so.. more for me than anyone else, the waffles were:

• 3/4 c whole wheat flour
• 3/4 c milk
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 egg
• 1/8 c butter
• some vanilla, maybe
• a handful of whatever kind of sugar is around
• around 1/4 of cocoa
• some flax seeds, if you want

And, it’s probably wise to mix the dry and wet separately. It’s my boyfriend’s mom’s recipe, and that’s what she said to do. My grandmother says to do that kind of thing too. I think it’s a bunch of time wastiness. I haven’t ruined anything by ignoring the advice of the two most matronly stay-at-home type ladies I’ve ever known yet…

Oh, Hi Hillary!

I might go see an Emily Carr xzibit exhibit at the museum today. I’m having a hard time getting excited about it though. I have some friends in town from NZ and one of them has expressed an interest.
It’s not Emily Carr I’m not looking forward to… it’s the visit to the museum. There’s something about the building, the location, and the people I know to work there as curators that repels me from it.
Lesson learned: if you get a degree in archaeology, you have to move away from the city you acquired the degree in to appreciate your closest museum (caveat: small town “museums” are not really museums… I’m thinking of you Charlotte County).

1. I want to figure out how to bind my own day planner. I know how to bind it, but I haven’t spent any time thinking about what kind of order pages should be printed in. Really, I’d rather buy a Moleskine, but they seem to be sold out everywhere.
2. I want to take more pictures. That should be easy enough?
3. I want to meet more people. I think I can do that, I just need to find a place to do it.
4. I want to do more yoga.
5. I want to want less.

There are some things I’m pretty happy with myself for, but I feel like I could do more to help myself, and save the planet from the evil stupidies of other people. I just don’t know what those things are yet. I’ve tried talking to people about their carbon footprint, about how bad the food they eat is, and how wasteful they are… but it never goes over well. I want to think of a way to make people listen, change their minds about how they live, and think that it’s their own idea. That sounds patronizing, and it is…. I did refer to people’s way of living as their evil stupidities above.

For the most part, honestly, I think it’s the city I live in that gets me down about the state of the planet. But now I’m thinking of all the American cities just like the one I live in, and I’m a little more depressed than I was before.

Here are some things that I do, that make me feel like I might be making a difference:

1. Eat locally grown, organic foods as often as possible. Preferably a combination, otherwise one or the other.
2. Wear clothing made from renewable and sustainable resources: hemp, bamboo, soy, organic cotton, wool (not vegan, but wool grows back!). I love my vegan purse andwallet.
3. Recycle as much as I can, as often as I can.
4. Avoid the pharmaceutical industry.
5. High fructose corn syrup and I are a thing of the past (for the most part).
6. Something that’s good for me: carry water in a Klean Kanteen.
7. Walk to and from work everyday, or if I absolutely need to get there faster, take public transit.
8. Think before I print something on virgin paper at work.

I know I’m just blowing smoke up my own ass, but it makes me feel better, requires no effort on my part, and I have a hard time understanding why other people are too good to do the same (yes, a lot of people do a lot more).

Know what surprises me? When I open guides on how to “be green” and the first things they say are to turn lights off when you leave the room, or to not run water while you’re brushing your teeth.

PEOPLE DO THAT STUFF??? omgwtfbbq. Seriously? Huzzzooooo.

Okay. A short list of things that suck about me:

1. I drink a lot of caramel machiattos from Starbucks, and I don’t always use my stainless steel mug. That’s a frightening amount of paper cups. At least they’re recycled paper.

I’m going to lose sleep over this.