HOT.

I won’t whine too much about the heat, but I feel it needs mentioning. I think it’s less the heat than it is the humidity. Hard. to. move. Although it hasn’t stopped me from doing anything. A couple of days ago, in 90 degree heat in the sun I decided I would do a little jump roping. I think I lost 5 pounds right then. Then I did an hour of yoga and lifted weights. I was proud. So many times I have things I want to do but some reason not to do it. That day, it was insanely hot and humid, and I thought “I should work out, but it’s so gross out…” and then I decided to ignore that and do it anyway. It felt great. My point system is working out well too. It really does provide a great deal of motivation. I have yet to cash them in for a prize, although I think I’ll do that soon. Maybe I deserve a new plant or something. Anyway, at the risk of sounding like a dork, I think that yoga is truly it’s own reward. I absolutely love it. LOVE IT. Toward the end of that hour I was rolling my back down to the floor and my back cracked in several places. It felt amazing. Just by doing really simple movements I think I helped to realign my spine. How cool is that? Plus it leaves you sore but not in that stiff kind of way- I’m sure because it’s stretching half the time anyway. Do some yoga.

June 3rd:
She has a cute little sun hat.

June 4th:
My winter squash bed that Jeff and I made the other day. L to R: Butternut, nasturtium, acorn, nasturtium, delicata. Did you know that nasturtium helps keep away the squash beetle?

June 5th:
My little sister graduated. We’re all grown up now!

June 6th:
We decided that we needed to start using cloth wipes for Vera. I mean, we’re just washing all the diapers anyway, so what difference does it make to wash wipes too? Then we got to thinking… why do we use disposable wipes for ourselves? I mean, really, why? Imagine how many trees we would save just by eliminating toilet paper… I know that most people think “eeewww, gross” when we talk about it, but the more I think about it the less strange I think it is. I think we’ll hook up one of these, and use it for both diapers and ourselves when necessary, and then use the wipes and toss them in with the rest of the diapers. I really hope that more people start to do this. I see no need for toilet paper anymore- as long as you have access to washer and dryer. We will of course keep around a roll of tp so that our guests don’t feel uncomfortable… So here they are, our homemade cloth wipes. They have a soft flannel side that’s yellow with little stars on it, and a sage green terrycloth side. They work really well. I haven’t had to use more than one wipe with Vera at a time, compared with the three or four disposables I’d have to use sometimes.

I wonder what my life will look like in a couple years. I don’t mind these changes, if anything they make life more interesting. I guess I just mean that I am starting to realize the magnitude of our crunchiness, and while it delights me to know that I take an active and spiritual approach to my life, it also separates me in some ways from others. Like this cloth wipe thing. I have gotten strange looks for this, but it just makes so much sense to me that I wish those people would hop on board. I feel like we really live in a fantasy world, and that to not strive for sustainability is foolish and destructive. So who cares if cloth wipes seem gross and different. I dunno. The other day a like-minded friend told me that she was proud of everything I’ve done to live this way. It was surprisingly encouraging. Although it doesn’t stop me, I sometimes worry that I am viewed as strange or naive or overly idealistic. To hear that she respects and admires our way of life was a gift to me.

June 7th:
We have volunteer tomato plants from last year! I was so dang pregnant last year that I was lazy cleaning out the beds, so I just tossed some of the old rotting tomatoes into here thinking they’d be good compost. Well they sprouted, through all this cold and craziness! I don’t think we have enough room to grow them in any of the beds, but I think I’ll pot a couple and see what we get.

June 8th:

Bonus: A Mama/Vera session!

People have been saying that she looks a lot like me. What do you think?
 

 

The second one I had to include because of her delicious chub. The last one turned out really strange, must’ve caught the light in a weird way, but I’m sad it didn’t turn out because I can see us both smiling at each other. I kind of like it though.

I want to just say that I am impressed with Hillary Clinton, for what it’s worth. I am an Obama supporter, and I was disappointed by Hillary throughout their race, but I respect her and think that she was up against some incredible odds. To clarify- I read in the news that at one of her rallies someone had a sign that said “Iron my shirt.” I read this and thought it was stupid and mean, but then they said that if at one of Obama’s rallies someone had a sign saying “Shine my shoes” that people would have been outraged. And that’s true. I would’ve been outraged rather than mildly annoyed. I won’t waste a lot of time talking about this, because honestly I’m sick to death of the whole thing, but I really think that Hillary deserves some credit for being a strong and determined woman in light of some serious setbacks. Sexism is truly alive and well. That story really solidifies it for me, and I admire her for being herself and subjecting herself to this kind of public scrutiny. That all being said, I am really excited to vote for Obama in this coming election. What an amazing time to be alive! I really really hope…

Quote of the day:
“If I’m gonna go down I’m gonna do it with style. You won’t hear me surrender, you won’t hear me confess cause you’ve left me with nothing but I have worked with less.” -Ani DiFranco

Gracie
Gracie

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