Progress

It's been a while since I posted last and progress has been made in several areas. Paul and I decided to get organized together. I have not yet tackled the craft room, but we are getting our paperwork in order and controlling our mail. It sounds lame, but when you have stacks of papers all over the house and can't find a bill you know needs to be paid, you realize your 'system' isn't working. Paul HATES dealing with paper, so that piece of organization is mine to deal with.

Last night I went through the 'important papers' box we moved over from the old house 3 years ago. The contents of this box used to live in a file cabinet, we cleaned it out a little when we packed the box to move, but once in the new house, the box lived next to the filing cabinet - how pathetic is that? Now that I've gone through it, the situation was ridiculous, I put 75% of the paper in that box through the shredder. Right now our pool table has stacks of paper on it, but that will soon be rectified. As I make my way through the boxes and bins that have accumulated in the office for the last 3 years, I'll be doing more sorting, then finally moving everything worth keeping upstairs.

Yes, we are creating a 'mail and bill center' upstairs. It seemed silly to me that we were bringing our mail into the kitchen, making piles of it, carrying the piles downstairs, then dealing with the piles again, only to bring it back upstairs to mail or toss. We have a perfectly good desk in the bedroom that has space for hanging files, cubbies for sorting mail, and it was full of crap we were hiding from guests. So the desk was cleared out, and will be used as a desk - who knew? The desk closes so we can hide the paperwork until paperwork day - one day each week when we deal with the things that have accumulated. The important mail from one week is just a tiny amount of paper to deal with, when compared to the piles we have been sorting through.

I've found an amazing feeling of relief while starting to put our life in order. We've always been able to get our hands on things that were due, we have been disorganized, but functional, but having a plan, watching it work, and dumping literally pounds of junk out of our lives is kind of amazing. I tossed some old High School trophies and a ceramic figurine that I had been carting around for years. I looked at this little, chipped figure and didn't feel sentimental about it for the first time. I have no idea where she came from, who gave her to me, or who might like it in the future. She had been broken and glued back together so there was no monetary value, and why would my step-daughter or niece care about something when I couldn't give them any historical perspective on it? So, into the trash she went. I'm sure in a few days I'll forget about her completely. I know I never thought about her when I couldn't see her, and she hadn't been displayed in my living space in almost 20 years. Apparently somewhere in the back of my mind, all the cabinets and boxes and cubbies full of random stuff are nagging at me. Cleaning them out, donating useful things and tossing the junk is liberating.

That's one desk cleaned out, one box gone and several dozen more to go. I'll let you know what happens when I get to the craft room. That will have to happen soon because I scheduled a craft day with friends in March.

Inspiration

I'm in some need of inspiration. I see beautiful things all the time, but lately they have not inspired me to do anything. I appreciate their beauty, but can't be bothered to create my own. The good news is, I don't need a huge dose of inspiration to complete projects that have been started - follow the pattern and "get 'er done"! This does not bode well for the creation of cards needed for a stamping class February 20.

Sometimes inspiration can be forced - believe me, I know. If I sit down at the table with the stamps I need to use and try enough things, I'll hit on a winner, then that success usually spins off into another good idea or two. Please keep your fingers crossed for me. If you have any suggestions on how to get past my crafting apathy, please let me know.

I wish you all inspiration when you need it!

Organization

Organization has always been my nemeses. I would love to be organized, I love baskets and bins and drawers and labels and all the organizational gadgets (see the post on gadgets), but I never make it 100% of the way to organized. I can get to tidy, I can get to clean, but organized it always just out of my reach. It's weird too, because I'm a project manager in real life. I'm organizing resources and budgets and tasks, but my desk is a cluttered mess. My projects are fine, my team members don't seem to think I'm way out there or anything. If you are reading this and on one of my project teams, you shouldn't feel obligated to post a comment.

Part of my problem may just be the amount of stuff I have. I have a lot. Let's just talk about yarn. Because I so rarely talk about yarn here. Do I sort by fiber content, by color, by weight, by intended project? If I sort by just one of these it would be OK but I'd have to remember that I have other colors, or weights or content that matches the yarn in my hands. I get bogged down in the details of the sorting and the sub categories. Maybe that's my analytical brain working itself into a frenzy. And really, yarn is not my big problem, I actually keep that sorted by weight so if I need sock yarn I can see my whole color and fiber selection. Easy peasy! Imagine what I'm going through trying to wrap my brain around rubber stamps. Is it a text set, or a Christmas set? Do I keep a cross referenced list somewhere? Do I break up a multi-seasonal set to keep Christmas in one category and snowflakes in another? Do I keep my glitter glue with the glitter or the glue? It just gets worse from there.

This is the year I organize! This is the year my craft room tables are cleared off and things are given a proper home. This is the year I use my craft room and love it. I just have to figure out how...

Yarn, Yarn EVERYWHERE!

With a weekend of sloth behind me I've got a cluttered living room to deal with. I started de-Christmas-ing the house. This means the tree is gone and most of the decorations are packed. I still have a serious pile of penguins, snowmen and Santa figurines to deal with. I also have piles of yarn on the sofa. Yarn I wound, yarn I worked with, completed squares and pieces of sweater. It all needs to be put away and pulled out in manageable pieces.

In the past, I've only allowed myself two projects at a time. One easy, or 'hand candy' and one more difficult. Before I started knitting two was usually sufficient. This led to lots of finished projects and no mystery bags laying around my house. Now that I'm knitting, I've got several projects in the works and most in different stages of completion. I'm going to list them here in the hopes that admitting I have a problem will be the first step in recovery.

1. KAL (knit along) sweater - I was talked into a knit along by some co-workers, then they all bailed. I now have the back of a sweater and part of a front worked and sitting on needles. Started in October
2. Zoe's sweater - this was just started in December. The adorable little munchin will be even more adorable in the Paddington sweater I'm knitting for her birthday. This has a deadline. I'm making some good progress on this.
3. An asymmetrical sweater for myself - crochet - started in November. I was frustrated trying to figure out the sleeves so the sweater got a time out. I hope it's learned it's lesson. I'll be picking this one up soon, I'm just a few hours from completing it.
4. Afghan Squares - the status on this one changes from started to complete pretty quickly, but I have a lot to make. I've joined a group that has committed to making one square a month. I think this will be the best way to use up some stash and MACG donation yarn and have committed to making three of each square in order to complete 3 afghans this year. One for MACG and two for donation to a charity auction. My commitment may change in March - stay tuned.

Now that I've written it down, it's not so daunting - I really just have added two projects to go with my new knitting skill. Of course this does not include the incredibly long list of projects I want to do. I have patterns I want to work, patterns rattling around in my head clamoring to get out, and I'm sure there are patterns I haven't even seen yet but will need to acquire.

Kitchen Gadgets

I hope my last post wasn't too frightening. When DH read it even he was surprised and he's been getting peeks inside my brain for 14 years now.

Last night I went to a pampered chef party and bought more stuff. Some stuff I needed, some stuff I didn't but I am enamored with gadgets. Any gadget really, kitchen gadgets, electronic gadgets, crafty gadgets ... but today I'll focus on the kitchen.

When Paul and I (Paul is DH - he said I could use his name) decided to eat raw we accumulated gadgets pretty quickly.

1. Masticating Juicer - we got this when we did the juice fast. Love the juice, the cleanup is messy. We haven't used it since moving to raw food.
2. Food processor - I know lots of folks have one of these already, I didn't. We use it several times a week now for raw food prep.
3. High speed blender - we had a standard blender that didn't do much and only made a mess of smoothies. When we moved up to the high speed blender we were amazed. Our smoothies are smooth, and we use it to make sauces for raw food meals, and it's used to make nut milks. We have a Vita-Mix and use it every day - sometimes multiple times.
4. Dehydrator - We got along without this for a while but we have successfully used it to make some nice raw tortillas, cookies and crackers.
5. Spiral Slicer - this was a low cost item. It's great for making 'noodles' out of veggies. We don't use it very often. I don't know that I would consider it a 'must have'.
6. Mandolin - I got ours for $9 at some evil box store. I will eventually upgrade to a more professional version. We use it frequently but it just doesn't slice as thin as I'd like sometimes. It does slice thinner than the food processor plate so I did need to duplicate this particular item.
7. Cheese cloth and a large, fine mesh strainer - this is needed to strain your nut milks. There are also 'nut milk bags' on the market but cheesecloth is cheap and the milks I've made have not been too gritty.

I realize I have been singing the praises of raw eating but want to let you know that it's not a 'diet'. I use the term diet to mean the food we eat not a weight loss program. In order to loose weight while eating raw food, I still count calories. A calorie is a calorie - you can't escape them. If anything, I've noticed that our diet is full of them, nuts and avocados are calorie dense. The saving grace is that the food is very satisfying so we eat a lower quantity of the high calorie items while filling up on the things like greens, veggies and fruit. For us bread is a treat and with very little dairy in our diet we've cut back on cheese and butter as well.

A Peek Inside My Brain

This post won't be for the weak of heart. My brain is a jumbled and chaotic place. Here's what I'm thinking about right now:

1. What will I blog about today? Maybe just a brain dump
2. When will Christmas card exchange start up again? How many cards will we be making? Can I get away with duplicating some of last year's designs?
3. What will I teach for Jazzy's classes in March? I need to do an inventory of my stamps and come up with ideas
4. Inventory my stamps - holy crap that's a lot of work, my craft room is a mess, I really need to get on that
5. Ugh cleaning my craft room would be a HUGE undertaking, but soooo nice. How can I talk myself into that?
6. I wonder if one of those Christmas card layouts would make a nice afghan layout - crochet panels of different sizes ...
7. Afghans - I hope crochet guild members make some squares for the charity blankets.
8. I need to make more blankets for MIL's fund raiser this year - the block a month thing is good but I need to be done before November
9. Is three afghans too much to take on?
10. How many more squares do I need to make this month?
11. I hope my color combinations are OK
12. I hate sewing squares together.
13. I want to make the 'tree of life' afghan
    
14. I hope I can finish Zoe's sweater on time - I'm only done with one front panel and the back
15. Why am I knitting so slow?
    
16. I'd really like to have time to make a matching hat for that jacket
17. Can I felt in my front loader?
18. Do I have red wool yarn?
19. When can I get that hat pattern done for OTBP?
20. I need to finish that sweater I started for myself - just the sleeves left - suck it up and do it.
21. I hope washing the sweater loosens up the yarn it's a little stiff right now I hope I'll wear it
22. ....

You get the idea ... I have so much crafty stuff rattling around my brain it's amazing I can manage to earn a paycheck. I manage to squash my crafty narrative down when I have work things to do, but if things at work are slow my crafty side starts screaming!!

Now - outside my brain, in the real world, fun things are happening.

Off the Beaten Path Yarnery (www.knitmeone.com) had a great write up in the local paper yesterday. AND Karen, who is fabulous, plugged the Madison Area Crochet Guild. She has been a huge help in developing the crochet guild this year, our partnership with OTBP has really been a blessing.

The Madison Area Crochet Guild is off to a great start this year. If you want information about our group, let me know. http://sites.google.com/site/madcrochetguild/

Today I talk crafting

As much as I enjoy raw food and sharing information it is a distant contender for my time. I am a crafter. It started with glue and buttons at my gramma's house as a little kid and continues to this day. I always loved art class. I'm not an artist - I can't draw well, I'm not a sculptor or a painter, but getting dirty and making something pretty, if not beautiful, has always made me happy. In high school I started sewing to help out the theatre group. Then I started experimenting to make my own clothes (we won't discuss those failures). In college I taught myself to knit and made the worlds ugliest blanket, but kept my sanity. When I was out on my own I started sewing again to enhance my wardrobe. My first job was at a fabric store so that fed my addiction. I did a lot of sewing over the years, including alterations for a bridal shop to earn money for a down payment on our first house. But I was easily frustrated as well, I tried beading but that made me swear a lot as well. Finally I settled into stamping, I went to a party because my boss invited me. I bought some stamps because I felt guilty, then the addiction took hold I went nuts. I moved to a new job and found a whole crew of stampers to chat and stamp with. We fed each other's addictions and had card exchanges and stamp parties, and basically went nuts together.

DH loves my stamping - no more buying cards, it was relatively quiet and I stopped swearing. I have enough stamping supplies to keep me in ink and paper for the rest of my natural life, and well beyond that I'm sure. However, stamping is not terribly travel friendly. I needed something to keep my hands busy on a plane trip to Europe. I went for the old standby, the long forgotten crochet. I visited my grandmother for some lessons before I left. She taught me when I was a kid so I would stay out of her work, I could make a chain and that's about all. At 29 she taught me how to read a pattern and make the basic stitches. I then set off for Europe and crocheted my way across 'the pond'.

Little did anyone know how crochet would take over my life. I am obsessed. I think about it all the time. I try to figure out how to make new shapes, how to improve patterns I'm using, how to get more crochet done. I crochet every single day. I still stamp. I go on beading jags. I have even learned the proper way to knit and am making a couple of sweaters. None of these things can compare to the comfort I feel when I crochet. I've dabbled in crochet design and get the most satisfaction from those projects. However, there are so many wonderful patterns out there my to-do list is longer than I can manage.

The crazy crafting chatter will only continue ...

What to talk about today? I guess I'll continue on the subject of raw food because we are 'back on the wagon' and enjoying fresh food again.

I am not one to give you amazing claims regarding raw food. I've read books and stories about people who have cured disease and never take conventional medicines anymore, but I love science and Tylenol was created for a reason. All DH and I know for sure is we feel better when we eat raw food.

Eating raw is a commitment - you save the time of cooking your food, but the food prep is time consuming. It's easier to grab a burger or slap a sandwich together, I used a lot of prepared foods when I cooked. I've found that organization is key. Fresh foods go bad sooner so I shop every week now instead of 2x a month. I work full time and have a few after work commitments so to keep myself and the kitchen organized here's my routine.

1. Create a menu - 5 dishes will last us 7 days and give us lunches to take to work. (there are two of us in the house). This menu takes into account days I won't be at home for dinner or days I know I'll be home late. DH is great in the kitchen but I leave the easier meals for him to prepare - he hates reading recipes.
2. Make a grocery list.
3. Schedule food prep. If a dish requires several hours of dehydration, or soaking or sprouting, I look at when I've scheduled that meal to be prepared, then work the timeline backwards and do as much prep as I can in advance. I'll do a lot of dehydrating and food processor work on Sunday then it's ready and in the fridge when I need it on the day I have to fix that dish. That being said, you have to remember that some foods need to be handled just before eating. Some veggies, like tomatoes and zucchini, loose water and texture after they are chopped up.
4. Shop - In warm weather, I hit farmers markets first, then the grocery store to pick up what I couldn't find. In the winter, I am stuck with the grocery store - I plan on becoming a member of the Willy Street Co-Op very soon. The organics and produce there look fabulous.

Then I let the week play out - schedules change, some dishes don't get made, we see how it goes. We are still perfecting our shopping/eating habits. Sometimes we eat everything in the fridge and I'm desperate for food on Friday, sometimes we have to toss veggies that have gone bad.

I'm probably making this sound horribly complicated, but the level of work is up to you. When we started I bought a couple of meals, nothing that required dehydrating, and lots of salad stuff. We got bored pretty quickly. It became clear to me that I would have to make the time to do this and ask for help when I needed it. I'm very lucky, DH is willing to help whenever I ask. I also have to schedule my exercise time, DH and I take turns in our small exercise room. I'll start food prep while he works out, then I'll head down and when I come back up we'll finish prep together.

Green smoothies are another topic. I'll hit on that one soon. We have at least one a day, that prep is done the night before so I can grab it and go to work.

Eating Raw - How we got started

Raw food: No it doesn't mean I eat a lot of sushi, it means DH and I eat predominately vegan food which has not been heated above 115 degrees. This leaves living enzymes intact and available for our bodies to process. This of course is a very simplistic, unscientific explanation of our diet.

Today I'll give you a short history of how we ended up here.

In September 2008 DH had surgery for some sinus problems. The Doctor found what he described as "profound" infection. After the surgery DH was feeling better, but the core infection was lingering. He spent several months on antibiotics and it still didn't solve the problem. That was when he started researching alternative solutions.

The first thing he tried was a fast. He did a water only fast for 7 days in early 2009. This was something I was able to support him in, but unable to do with him. I just couldn't commit to that drastic change. He did well on the fast, and felt better for several weeks afterward. However, once back on our Standard American Diet (SAD) for a few weeks, his problems returned. For those who are concerned, he did the appropriate preparation for the fast, and the necessary 'easing into' solid food again.

He admitted he didn't think he could water fast regularly to keep the sinus issues at bay so together we tried a juice fast. In May, we went 7 days drinking nothing but water and fruit or vegetable juice. It was difficult, but do-able. I really missed chewing my food, but I was never hungry. Again, DH felt better after the fast, but when we were back on burgers and bread for a while, the problems returned. We tried to eat raw based on a tiny bit of Internet research but eating salads all the time was unsatisfying.

In August of 2009, I was wandering a book store looking for "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" after watching "Julie and Julia". Lucky for me, I did not find that book, but I did find "Raw Food, Real World" by Matthew Kenney and Sarma Melngailis. I bought it on impulse and it really opened our eyes. We did more research and I started talking about this 'diet' to my friends. I was lucky to have a wonderful friend, KB, who was also just starting to research raw food and the benefits to her health. Together we shared recipes, book titles and the best places to shop. Both of us also had the help of our husbands. DH was very enthusiastic and we embraced this way of food preparation.

We bought all the gadgets, a few more books, and hit the farmers markets each week in search of fresh foods. I'll talk about gadgets later. We felt better almost immediately. We both noticed a difference in our sleeping habits, we both ate less and still felt full, and we had hardly any food cravings. We are not vegan - I feel that I should clarify that right now. We still go out with friends, have family over and cook holiday meals. We cook and eat meat when we choose to do so. DH and I enjoy raw food, and try to keep 60% or more of our diet there, but given our lifestyle it's not realistic for us to be 'high raw'. And let's face it - bacon is good, I don't want to live in a world where I don't get to eat bacon once in a while.

During our 5 month journey, we've had lots of time 'off the wagon'. We get busy and don't get to the store for fresh food, or we cook for the holidays and have leftover turkey and pie, or we eat out with friends and family for birthday celebrations. We have learned that we feel better when we keep the majority of our food raw. However we still feel the benefits even if we have a few meals that include meat or bread or pasta. For us, it's a balancing act and we are pleased with our results. There are some out there who are 100% raw and will be unhappy with my claims of health at 60% but this is my life, my body and my path to walk however I see fit.

DH has seen significant improvement in his sinus problems and food allergies. I am feeling better in general and losing weight. I have also found several other people who are eating raw and drinking green smoothies. I was amazed that in my relatively small circle of friends and colleagues, I was able to find 3 other people who are on the same path and we all started around the same time.

I guess that's all, and it's not a short history, but a history nonetheless.

My first blog

I have been following the blogs of others for many years now and never thought to blog myself. A friend suggested I blog about my recent switch to raw food so others can read about the journey. I didn't see a need to make the entire blog about raw food because the majority of my time is spent either crafting, or thinking about crafting.

So, here we go, a new adventure for a new year. I hope you find this journey interesting.