Simply Complicated.

It is October 6th as I write this post (and October 10th as I finish it!).  Part of why I've been remiss about blogging is that I was at a loss about what to say.  But apparently, right now I'm chock full of ideas, so I thought I'd share.

It's almost midterm.  I am starting to enter the realm of losing my grip on my sanity.  It's that point where, despite my best effots and intentions at the beginning of the semester, I'm working later, more weekends, and ditching exercise in favor of more work.  Or more sleep.  Or 10 minutes on the couch. To put it in perspective though, I'm losing my grip a lot later than I did last year.  I think I startted last fall with NO grip.  So taking 8 weeks to lose my zen isn't too bad.

But, I don't want to lose my zen.  And that's when decided that I was going to take on a project of sorts for the rest of the semester.  You can join me too, if you want.  I'm going to simplify my life.  This is a big undertaking for me.  I'm not simple.  I like tech toys, I love email, I love facebook, I love condiments, I love STUFF.  But I'm going to try.  Now, I have had periods where I do a massive closet clean.  I've given every pair of shoes to Goodwill that I haven't worn in a while before.  I've gotten rid of this and that, particularly with clothes.  Guess what?  Almost every time, it's come back to bite me.  My MIL loves this kind of stuff.  She's forever cleaning her FB friends list, advising people to get rid of things, and advocating cleaning out closets.  So while her advice regarding decluttering normally would fall right in line, I just can't do it.  I gave away a pair of knee-high boots that I hadn't worn in forever.  Some time later, I bought a cute knee length dress to wear to a Christmas party that everyone agreed would look great with boots.  I realized the night of the party that I didn't actually own knee boots any more.  Oops.  I discovered this week that I wanted to give my maternity sweaters to my SIL.  Except that in a fit of closet cleaning, I gave them to Goodwill, sure that no one would ever need them, especially me.  So, I'm not sure that getting rid of stuff entirely will happen, but we'll see.  After all, you never know when you might need a maternity sweater or a great pair of boots.

So, if I'm going to tackle this, let's start with #1 on the list - eat simple.  This week has been the WORST nutritionally speaking, since grad school, my written comps, and Kevin's and my afternoon of scientific doughnuts.  I hosted a dinner for our seminar speaker last night.  Monday night I got home around midnight.  I had to work Tuesday and Wednesday, so every second I wasn't at work, I was cooking like a demon and cleaning my house (the dinner was great, BTW).  Yesterday, I literally forgot to eat breakfast (I NEVER forget to eat!!), then because I needed my lunch hour to finish cleaning, I ate a cheese stick and a packet of Emerald Breakfast to Go, or as I told a friend "pea gravel."  I guess that's simple, but I'm pretty sure that's not what the author of that post had in mind.  Oh yeah, dinner the night before was simple too - Ian refused to eat what I fixed him and we wound up sampling cookie dough, some cream cheese frosting, and a homemade roll.  Again, simple, but not good.

So, my take on simple is that I'm going to try to serve fewer courses during meals.  A lot of side dishes have enough protein without adding another protein (like mac and cheese if you make it with cottage cheese instead of butter) or veggies can have lentils or beans added for protein without having a whole separate dish.  Like I said, this is my take.  A lot of people would view simple eating as eating without a lot of condiments and sauces, but honestly, I view food as a substrate for condiments.  I LOVE spices.  So, I'm simplifying my meals to have fewer components, but those components won't necessarily be simpler in flavor - see what I mean by simply complicated?

My hope is that every few days or at least once a week, I'll give you an update on what I'm up to with this project.  I'm sure some things on the list will be easier than others.  I have made progress on one thing already - I'm going to bike simple.  I took off my clipless pedals and took my mom's advice.  She told me that I wasn't coordinated enough for them.  She's probably right - moms simply are most of the time.

The Great Outdoors, by the Queen of the Indoors

The semester is well underway, and blogging has become harder. Mostly because I am completely brain dead by the time I sit down to try and write something.  Oh well, it happens.   We have done some fun things lately, camping probably being the most fun.

I had never been camping prior to last April.  My family wasn't really into the great outdoors.  My parents tried to burn some trash one time and burnt down a 6 acre pasture and part of the neighbors yards, so I also have an aversion to purposely starting fires.  Besides, in Florida, there are two main weather conditions - hot and muggy, and slightly less hot but still muggy.  And there are bugs - tons of them.  So growing up, I wasn't too sorry that we didn't camp.  We had some really great family vacations involving hotels, and that was just fine with me, but in kansas, the weather is much more suited to getting outside. There is, by and large, much less humidity, and there are an amazing number of state parks, with a surprising amount of water for a land-locked state.  Our first trip was to Fredonia. W didn't bring enough firewood or enough charcoal, we didn't bring enough blankets to sleep in 50 degree weather comfortably, and it was so windy that I thought the tent would blow over, but I loved it. Ian loved it too, proclaiming, "My sleep good in a tent!" the next morning. We cooked hotdogs for dinner that night, and even though it was really chilly the next morning, we made eggs and bacon over the fire for breakfast. It was peaceful out there, and so relaxing to sit in front of the fire, staring at the moonlit lake that night while Ian slept in the tent.

A couple of weekends ago, we went to Tuttle Creek. It's actually an enormous lake in Manhattan (Kansas, not New York). This time we had sleeping bags, tons of charcoal, and plenty of firewood. We also brought Ian's fishing pole, his bike, and his football.  Thank God we only have one kid - if we had two someone would've had to ride on top of the car. It was a great day and great evening. We are getting better at fire building and outdoor cooking. And again, the relaxed feeling from sitting around the fire lasted all week. I can't wait to go again.

My brother and sister bought me a sleeping bag for my birthday. My birthday is in May, and I thought that we'd go camping to celebrate it, but it was 30 degrees that weekend. So I just got to use it on this trip.  Being a camping newbie, I picked out the bag partly based on color. I mean, priorities people - it is a pretty bag!  It was a mummy bag, and I thought that since I froze the last time, this would be perfect. And it would have been, except I panic if my head is surrounded, don't  like my arms trapped, and sleep on my side. So you know, I figured out quickly that I am not a mummy bag person, even if is a pretty one.  I'm going to let Ian use it - I am not 4ft tall nor do I weight 100lbs, which are the approximate size suggestions for it.  I'm going to get the same type of bag, only rectangular though - it kept me very warm and comfy.  So, the queen of the indoors loves camping - who knew?  I still don't like bugs, ticks, spiders, snakes, and being too hot, but a game of football with my guys (Ian always wins) beside a lake with a fire afterwards is pretty amazing.