Cultural Revolutionary

I can hardly believe that it’s the end of June. But it is. Once again, someone pressed the fast forward button on my life without asking my permission first.

So, this post is full of personal updates… Nothing really exciting or Earth shattering.

The days seem to pass so quickly. I have been working OUTSIDE the home again (for the first time in several years) and I am really enjoying it. I am also still working from home via the Internet. So, that puts me here three days a week and away four days a week. My hours are somewhat flexible though so it’s all good.

As usual, there is a ton of stuff to be done here at home too. I have a personal challenge going to not waste any food, and to keep our food budget VERY low from here on out. The only possible way to succeed at such a challenge is to cook and eat at home. Processed foods are pretty much out completely (much better health wise). The interesting part though is that I have really been LOVING cooking so much. My cooking skills were repressed for several years so I used to think that not only did I not like to cook but also that I was unable to cook. It’s amazing what other people can make a person wrongly believe about their abilities or lack thereof. Anyway, now I remember that I am actually a damn good cook when I want to be. And I am having fun with it as the posts below can attest to.

I am still behind on my “fun” reading. In fact, I have been on the same book for over a month now. That’s really unusual for me. But, to be honest, I am so tired by the time I actually make it to bed (where I typically read) that I am lucky to get even a page or two read.

The Compact group has been having some interesting conversations lately and there has been a lot of vocal new-ish members that have reinvigorated things a bit for those of us that have been there forever. A few of the new folks have been particularly inspirational to me and have reminded me why I love the group so much. That’s been a good thing because I was starting to get really frustrated with some of the more challenging parts of having an unpaid job of co-moderating 9000+ people. It’s my way of giving back something though and I needed to be reminded of that as well as being reminded that what all of those 9000 people are doing does make a difference. Even though we all go about it slightly differently, our collective impact is pretty darned big.

Remus the rat will be getting a new friend this week. As you might guess, his name will be Romulus. Morgan has sufficiently convinced me with scientific evidence that rats are quite social creatures and that Remus is likely quite lonely. He’s an interesting, friendly (aka- he hasn’t bitten me like every hamster or gerbil I ever met) and seemingly smart little beast and therefore I wouldn’t want him to be depressed. So, as soon as we can get to the pet store, we’ll be adding another tenant to the rodent condo. Morgan received a gift card good for use at any of the stores at Coastal Grande from my brother for her birthday. One of those stores is PetSmart. So, in a roundabout way, she is making the purchase.

Tony has moved up to the older class at his preschool. Actually, this is THE OLDEST class at this school. He won’t be 5 until December but he fits in well with the kids in the class and he has his beloved Miss Jessie back as his teacher. Jessie was his first teacher at this school and he naturally gravitated to her for some reason. After he was with her for only a month, she was transferred to the older class. While he liked the other teachers too, he really loves Miss Jessie. So, it’s great that he’s back with her. He continues to amaze everyone with how typical he is. His OCD is still pretty obvious is you spend a lot of time with him. But, the things he is obsessed with these days are much more age appropriate. I will take super heros over office supplies any day.

Morgan enjoyed the heck out of tennis camp last week and met some new friends. She also attended a social function for her new school where she met some people. Her tennis skills are coming along quite nicely. In fact, she’s quite “good” these days. The city of Conway has excellent tennis facilities literally five minutes from our house. They are beautiful courts downtown and right on the river. I think she’ll really excel there. She’ll be having private lessons once a week in addition to playing on the school’s tennis team. Couple that with her violin lessons and other activities and she’ll be a very busy, and hopefully happy, girl.

Enough boring family updates for now… But heck, no one is forcing anyone to read this!

Count Rugen: Could this be a trap?
Humperdinck: I always think everything could be a trap…which is why I’m still alive.

Yeah…. we love “The Princess Bride”.

And, everything IS a trap. Paranoia keeps us alive. I believe this. Fully.

I made shrimp and grits for supper. It was really easy and super yummy. Yeah… I am on a food kick lately. I had forgotten what a good cook I actually am.

I got my much lusted after KitchenAid mixer for my birthday. My parents bought me the Professional HD Series mixer and it’s absolutely fabulous. This sucker truly is heavy duty and will certainly last at least my lifetime and probably a couple more. Had I purchased it, I would have bought used. But, it was a gift. And, honestly, since it’s an appliance that will be much used and loved for many years to come, I have no issue with that fact that it’s brand spanking new.

Today I made zucchini bread with some of the fresh nuclear zucchini from our garden. Thankfully they aren’t really radioactive. But they are freaking huge. I planted an heirloom variety seed that was supposed to be “giant” and they certainly didn’t exaggerate. Apparently our soil is good for zuchs too.

Tomorrow I am making beer bread (supposedly super easy for a novice breadmaker like me) and probably a nice blueberry pie or cobbler with our fresh berries from Uncle Clyde’s vines.

Did I mention that I LOVE this mixer?

Meet Remus the Rat. Yes, it’s what she wanted. And, I have learned that rats are actually highly intelligent creatures. Unlike their rodent cousins like hamsters and gerbils, they are actually quite clean. You can even teach them tricks.

He’s almost a foot long (including his tail) and he’s quite the social little critter.

But, alas, he is still a rat. Bad luck for him, I suppose. She loves him though and that’s all that matters… Well, that and the fact that I am thankful she wanted a rat and not a snake.

I love blogs. Really. I do. And, sometimes I enjoy reading them more than other times. Sometimes I post here, on my own blog, a lot more often than other times.

Here’s the reason behind all of that… I have been blogging “here” for two years. Before that, I blogged at a variety of other places (Blogger, Blogspot, Livejournal, etc.) for a couple of years off and on until this site was set-up. That gives me about four years of writing blogs. These days, I find myself noticing that a lot of folks in Blog-ville are writing about things I wrote about two years ago. And, I find that my posts are seemingly not as interesting to the outside world. In fact, many of my posts have become downright personal diatribes that no one else in the world would want to read. That’s totally OK with me too. For the record, I don’t feel that I need to be particularly original or earth shattering with all of my posts.

There is a certain amount of burnout that comes from being the most active moderator for The Compact (9000+/- members) as well as a local Freecycle™ listowner (3000+/- members). In addition to the Yahoo lists, there are the few web forums I still moderate. Granted, I love these lists… all of them. And I take my “job” seriously and have a huge dedication to all of the lists and forums. It’s a form of community service and activism for me. But, sometimes I don’t blog about things because after they have been hashed out and rehashed on the lists for literally years, I don’t have anything at all prophetic to add. I can share how things work out and don’t work out in my life but that’s about it sometimes. There’s simply just not too much new to say these days!

I suppose that just as our lives evolve and change, our blogging does as well.

As most people who have been reading my blog for awhile know, once upon a time, long ago, in a land far away (well around 100 miles away), I had a brief stint working in politics. For the background story, read my blog posts from just about a year ago.