Thursday, August 21, 2008

domestic success

My car is halfway (and neatly) packed! My room is a wreck, but I'm working on it. I'm leaving in 36 hours! And I'm not stressed at all! yes!

Also, for the first time in my (recently acquired) domestic career, something I baked turned out well the first time around. Not burnt, undercooked, missing a key ingredient, or anything of the sort! Blueberry-coconut macadamia muffins. My new favorite thing. AND I made homemade granola for the second time, and I didn't burn it. Usually it takes me at least two or three times to get it right.

For the most part this summer, I have eaten well and cooked or baked something almost everyday (or at least a few times a week). And I've enjoyed it! I even like grocery shopping, especially by myself or with my sister. Given, it was with my parents' money, but hey, I saved them the time all summer. Unfortunately, my consistently healthy eating habits and cooking endeavors kind of trailed off over the past two weeks...so this was my last push to finish strong.

Sigh. I am building my domestic endurance. This summer I made steady progress, but at this rate, I will probably not be fit to be a wife for at least 4 more years. Or so. Not that that is necessarily my focus in all this...it's just really satisfying to know you can do something, or to see the product of steady attempts to form a new habit or lifestyle.

Sunday, August 17, 2008

Ohmygoodness I leave for Hillsdale in six days to begin my senior year. This weird melancholy feeling is beginning to settle in. I'm sure it'll settle right out as soon as I hit the road, but still...this always comes. I'm usually pretty sensitive to my emotions, and I think a year or two ago I would have freaked out a little and wondered why I feel this way. But with all the ups and downs of the past two years, I've learned a little bit about adaptability and the fluidness of life...I kind of just roll with the emotions to an extent and accept them. There's a steadiness to that approach, which I appreciate and I think it's becoming a bit more second nature. Although, my journal may beg to differ, seeing as I try to confine my moments of emotional wreckage to those pages.

In other news, my pair of Diego Di Lucca shoes is a godsend. You may wonder at this proclamation, seeing as I typically do not idolize articles of clothing. Is it because this designer boasts that he creates "art to wear on your feet"? Hah. Oh yes, they are beautiful, but who the hell cares if I'm wearing "art on my feet"(except maybe Josh)? Actually, the reason is that they are the most comfortable shoes I own, next to the Tevas Andrea gave me. I wore these shoes (I will call them "Mary" because according to the website, that is their name) all day* and my feet don't hurt at all. In fact, my feet were aching this morning from my measly 4 hour shift at work yesterday, for which I was forced to wear my impractical black heels (I'll call them "Satan" because I think that's who made them). And wouldn't you know, I believe Mary healed my feet, because as I sit here preparing to go to bed after a 13 hour day, my feet feel great. Truly remarkable.

*All day includes church, lunch out with the fam, a 5 hour shift at work, and dinner from 7:30 to 11pm.

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

good day

Cupboard Maker Books is truly a friend to college students. Well, only if you are an English major and not in need of an actual textbook. While most of the books this place sells are timeless, the minority that you wish could be of use to you are pretty much outdated as far as volumes and editions go. Sure it looks like a ugly old concrete warehouse (it is)...BUT, most of the books are $3-10 and they have sales! Why have I not done the majority of my book shopping here for the past three years?? I could have saved hundreds of dollars. Not even exaggerating a little. Oh well. I bought:
Huckleberry Finn
Walden and Other Writings
The Portrait of a Lady
Perelandra

...all required texts for classes for $9 because there was a sale on classics. And then I decided to buy For Whom the Bell Tolls (Hemingway) and The Power and the Glory (Greene) for fun bringing my total up to $16. It was wonderful. I think there are a couple more books I can get there so I'm going back tomorrow.

And THEN I went to Borders with a 40% off one book coupon and bought The Landmark Thucydides for the Victor Davis Hanson class for $16 as well (
originally 35 or something at the bookstore). Such a great day. I love books.

I was flipping through For Whom the Bell Tolls, and I noticed in the front he quotes John Donne from Meditation XVII, the "no man is an island" excerpt. I don't care who is quoting John Donne, or where I read it, I always get excited. I am sure it was an act of Providence when Dr.
Whalen assigned to me "The Sun Rising" for a paper topic. I loved writing about that poem. But anyway, I didn't know that Hemingway borrowed the title from him.

"No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friends or of thine own were: any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee."

Read the rest
here. I read it and swoon. The context gives even more life to this popular excerpt. Here a couple more amazing lines:

"And when she (the church) buries a man, that action concerns me: all mankind is of one author, and is one volume; when one man dies, one chapter is not torn out of the book, but translated into a better language; and every chapter must be so translated; God employs several translators; some pieces are translated by age, some by sickness, some by war, some by justice; but God's hand is in every translation, and his hand shall bind up all our scattered leaves again for that library where every book shall lie open to one another."

"Tribulation is treasure in the nature of it, but it is not current money in the use of it, except we get nearer and nearer our home, heaven, by it. Another man may be sick too, and sick to death, and this affliction may lie in his bowels, as gold in a mine, and be of no use to him; but this bell, that tells me of his affliction, digs out and applies that gold to me: if by this consideration of
another's danger I take mine own into contemplation, and so secure myself, by making my recourse to my God, who is our only security."

Saturday, August 2, 2008

resolved:

Will stay away from Nutella, no longer attempting to justify the indulgence by downing half a box of reduced-fat wheat thins. Avoid especially when watching Bridget Jones' Diary or any witty romantic comedy in general.