The 2012 All-Consuming Agenda

I've been meaning to post my 2012 Operation Consumption Liberation schedule for a few days, in addition to a post about how I'm doing during my second-annual January without added sugar. And now here we are, January 31.  How does this happen?  

Time, why do I lose track of you so?

Anyway, I promise a post about my sugar-free month later, as well as my weekly post for my other Operation this year (Fear Liberation--OFL, yo!).  But for now, without further ado, here are the habits, things, and tendencies that I'll be trying to consume less or none of--or trying to let consume less of me--for the remaining eleven months of 2012:

• FEBRUARY: Snacking
• MARCH: Frivolous Spending
• APRIL: Gluten 
• MAY: Gasoline
• JUNE: Mindless Time Suck Activities (Facebook, web browsing, TV, etc.)
• JULY: Caffeine
• AUGUST: Needless Beauty Products
• SEPTEMBER: Dairy and Meat
• OCTOBER: Smartphone and texting
• NOVEMBER: Alcohol
• DECEMBER: Anxiety

As you can see, there are a few challenges from 2011 that I'm revisiting (Alcohol, Gasoline, and Caffeine--plus this month's Sugar challenge), and there are also a few old challenges that I've merged with another to make it a little more interesting and challenging: Superfluous Web-Browsing and TV/Netflix/Hulu are lumped together in "Mindless Time Suck Activities" in June; I'll be going without meat AND dairy for a Vegan September; and I've combined my two months dedicated to curbing my Frivolous Spending into one.  

And I'm taking up a few new challenges this year (Snacking, Gluten, Needless Beauty Products, Smartphone & texting, and Anxiety). The last is a little different, in that I will be working with my own behavior to try to prevent anxiety from becoming all-consuming in a very anxiety-provoking time (the holidays).  Also, I am not sure if my October challenge is possible.  This is 2012, not 2007.  A lot has changed...  But I'm willing to aim high, for now anyway.

 So there you have it.  And now I need to go cook some substantial meals, so that, come February 1 tomorrow, I might be less inclined to snack late at night due to eating a popcorn dinner (or a chocolate cake, given the cessation of my sugar fast...)


Cakey! The Cake from Outer Space: "Birthday" from Dyna Moe on Vimeo.

New Year! Challenges and Changes Galore!

Hello, 2012!  I am so pleased to meet you.  Don't get me wrong, 2011 was amicable enough, but man, that year could be a real pain in the neck - literally and figuratively.  It was definitely time to move on, to reset, to start anew. 

Before I jump into what we've got going on here in 2012, I suppose a brief Operation Consumption Liberation wrap-up would be good.  First, my gifts wrapped in old calendar pages were a huge success with my family, which is good because I have more where those came from.  And my darling mother jumped on board and wrapped all of my gifts in old newspaper.  The paper and packaging challenge is definitely one that I intend to keep practicing every single day, though I might cut myself a tiny bit more slack in the toilet paper department!

I've been reflecting on the twelve monthly challenges I took on last year.  Which one wins the titles of easiest and hardest challenges, which one had the most and least lasting impact, et cetera. Here are the results:

Holiday cheer

I thought this was a fitting holiday e-card for my December of reducing paper waste.

A few other pictures of my reduced waste holidays:

The Paper Challenge

This month is all about gift wrapping.

I can’t believe it is already December 4. The last month of my Operation Consumption Liberation challenge!  While I *may* be gearing up for OCL 2 in January, for the time being, let’s break down my December challenge: I want to reduce my consumption of paper products and other packaging (we’re talking bubble wrap and Styrofoam peanuts, people.)  I chose December for this particular challenge namely because the holiday season’s abundance of gift-wrap.  But reducing my paper waste goes far beyond skipping the fancy gift-wrap paper.  Here are a few things I am currently and will be doing this month:

To meat or not to meat?

Operation Consumption Liberation’s month of not consuming meat has ended.  Before I move on to December’s challenge, I wanted to dive into some of the ethical, environmental, and health-related questions that pop up when assessing meat consumption in the USA.  Before I started this month, I asked my currently, and formerly, vegetarian Facebook friends why they went meatless.  I only got three responses (FYI: all three are no longer vegetarians), but I wanted to share a little of what they said.

From my friend B.: “I started because I loved/love animals and couldn't justify killing them just so I could eat. Then I lived in a veggie house, so that made it even easier. I started eating meat again when I realized (as sad as it sounds) that I didn't care enough to keep not eating meat (which is a sad commentary, I think, on the ubiquity of meat in our society).”

But I love you! (Credit: Jim Champion from Southampton, UK [CC-BY-SA-2.0], via Wikimedia Commons)

The reason B. became a vegetarian is the reason many people become vegetarians.  Whether you ever went to Bible School or not, chances are you still are familiar with the Ten Commandments and the commandment “Thou shalt not kill.” Yes, this refers to killing other human beings, not animals. There’s the argument that the animal world is full of predators that kill prey—“if animals kill for food, why should we hold ourselves to a higher standard?”  Still, many people struggle with the idea that the steak on their plate used to be a cow, and that this cow was bred, raised (often on unsuitable grain and supplements in the confined space of a feedlot), and killed explicitly so that humans could eat it. From a moral standpoint, eating animals presents a lot of grey area and conflicted emotions.  I do not know if I could personally slaughter a cow, chicken, or fish.  And I do occasionally wonder if I should only eat the animals I hypothetically could execute myself.  By this rule, bugs would likely make up the bulk of the meat in my diet.

Dia de los Inocentes

We're in the midst of the Día de los Muertos holiday. The Day of the Dead holiday, as Wikipedia puts it: "focuses on gatherings of family and friends to pray for and remember friends and family members who have died. ... People go to cemeteries to be with the souls of the departed and build private altars containing the favorite foods and beverages as well as photos and memorabilia of the departed. The intent is to encourage visits by the souls, so that the souls will hear the prayers and the comments of the living directed to them." In most regions of Mexico, November 1 (today) honors children and infants, calling that day mainly as Día de los Inocentes ("Day of the Innocents"), while November 2, referred to as Día de los Muertos or Día de los Difuntos honors deceased adults.

So I was wondering, what about deceased animals?  Maybe the ancient indigenous cultures that first practiced the Day of the Dead traditions did not believe that animals had souls.  Besides, people don't typically pray about and discuss dead animals that much. (Except pets.  We all have stories about our dead pets.  Prayers for their souls though... that's another story.)  Or maybe they thought that the souls of dead animals might be wrathful because of how humans treated and used them.  

Or maybe there is there some Dia de los Vacas y Bueys I don't know about?

Sweatin' to the Tube

Last night, while explaining Operation Consumption Liberation and October's challenge to a new friend, I had a momentary freak-out: "ACK!  I did an exercise DVD the other day.  Is that cheating?" Technically, in the sense that my eyes were somewhat trained on the boob tube for ~25 minutes, yes, I did break my rule.  But I didn't enjoy it.  I mean, I sweated and suffered! 

Sadly, I was not Sweatin' to the Oldies (2) the other day.

After a minute or two of consideration, I decided that exercise DVDs are a totally legitimate exemption to my month without DVDs, TV, Hulu, and Netflix. This is a distinction of healthiness. While there are some people for whom aerobic activity is not advisable without the supervision of a doctor, exercise is a crucial component for healthy living. Working out along with a small-screen Denise Austin or Richard Simmons or Jillian Michaels might not be as effective as running a 5k or working with a trainer at the gym, but it IS good for the ticker.  There are clear and undeniable benefits to one's overall quality of life.

It is much more difficult to identify such health benefits in the act of watching TV programs and DVDs for sheer entertainment.  Yes, television programs and movies can engage the brain and educate (see NOVA, Sesame Street, Charlie Rose, or Jeopardy), stimulate some of the senses (see the impressive visual effects on Game of Thrones, costumes on Mad Men, or consider Ken Burns' "Jazz"), and provoke cathartic releases. (It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia is good for hysterical laughter to the point of tears, for example.  Or watching any movie on an airplane will incite me to cry.)  And sometimes, after a super busy or emotionally taxing day, it feels good to many of us to sit down and simply tune out for a little while to whatever mindless drivel is on the tube.  

Mad (Wo)Men: Why don't people in the real world dress like this?

The problem is how often we sit down in front of the TV to tune out for a little while and then don't get up for two, three, or four hours because we've been sucked into an America's Next Top Model marathon on VH1.  Or we stay up way too late watching whichever Netflix-streaming show we're currently obsessed with because we HAVE TO KNOW what happens in the next episode, and the next, and the one after that.  

I justify such sprees by multitasking: I file paperwork, I knit, I fold laundry.  But am I efficient at those tasks?  Not usually.  In fact, the one thing I seem to do faster and more in front of the TV is eat.   So let's review: I'm spending hours sitting around lethargically, dragging out household tasks, eating empty calories, and I'm still going to bed much too late.  There is nothing healthy about this slate of co-morbid habits.  They are human, but they are not healthy.  This is exactly why I decided to do a month of no TV etc.

You dare to turn off the Elimination Panel?

There are many other ways we can choose to entertain, stimulate or refresh ourselves at the end of the day.  We can call up or go out with an old friend and catch up.  We can go to a concert or gallery,  take a bath, or take a walk.  Shoot, if I'd been smarter in designing my October, I would have vowed to replace TV viewing with making out--so much more entertaining and stimulating than TV! (Though not exactly relaxing...I hope!)  Any of these connect us more with the three-dimensional world and do more to promote good health.  That said, following along with an exercise DVD is as 3D of a TV-watching experience as one is ever going to find. 

I will say, nine days into October, that I'm not having a hard time not watching TV et al. at home ever night.   However, thus far, I'm not seeing a remarkable improvement in my productivity or healthy habits, probably because I'm filling the void left by TV and DVDs and streaming with surfing the web and checking Facebook repeatedly.  Oops.  Maybe I should have merged my Superfluous Web Browsing and No TV/Netflix/etc. months like I contemplated earlier this year.  What happened to more evening walks?  So that's my goal for the next week: less browse, more walk.  

What co-morbid bad habits plague you?  How does watching the small screen enrich your life and how does it deplete your life?  I'd love to hear about your experiences!

Until next time...

Loco for Locavore!

A few years ago, I read Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver with Steven L. Hopp (her husband) and Camille Kingsolver (her older daughter). For anyone who is not familiar with the book, Kingsolver describes on the book’s website: ”Animal, Vegetable, Miracle (Harper Collins, 2007) is the story of a year in which our family deliberately fed ourselves on products grown close to home, and what we learned from the experience.” I was inspired by the book. Earlier that year, I’d read Michael Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma, and I was already going a little bit nuts about the whole Locavore thing. I’d had a Community-Sponsored Agriculture (CSA) share for several summers in a row, and that particular summer (2007), a friend and I were growing a fairly decent sized garden of our own on her property.

A beautiful, exhausting labor of love

After I read Kingsolver and co.’s book, my locavore fanaticism hit a new high. I poured over every freaking label in the grocery store searching for the most local box of cereal/can of beans/carton of milk possible. When I’d come home with one over-priced sack of groceries. My partner at the time would stare at me in amazement and horror when I’d arrive home over an hour later with just one bag of groceries, particularly after he saw the receipt. His expression seemed to be asking, “How is it possible you spent all that time in the grocery store and bought almost nothing to eat for so much money?” I’d ignore his bewildered gaze and calmly unload my local cheeses and apples and hazelnuts.

Organic Broccoli--$4 a pound.  Yikes!

Slave to the Web

My month of reducing my superfluous web browsing is over.  Looking over my list of what I said I would not do online, it is clear that I part-succeeded and part-tanked this challenge. Here’s a brief report card of how I did with each item:

     1. I'll be abstaining from all items listed under "Super Superfluous." 

This was a mixed bag. In terms of social media websites (Facebook, Twitter, etc.), I abstained almost 100%.  I accidentally logged into FB the very first day.  That’s it.  If this were the whole of my “Super Superfluous” category, I’d get an A.  But it isn’t. While I managed not to peruse online stores for things I don’t need, and avoided YouTube and strangers’ blogs, I totally looked up every cast member of Game of Thrones on IMDB.  AND I spent over an hour late at night reading stupid gossip on EOnline!  Grade: C 

"Moon of my life, my sun and stars" Credit: HBO

      2.  I will spend no more than 15 minutes daily looking at friends' blogs and the news 

          online.

Aside from gossip “news” on EOnline! (so not news), I did keep myself in check here. Grade: A

The July Power and Water Report

It’s the last day of JULY and my month devoted to reducing my water and power consumption!!!  Tomorrow, I’ll put up the post that defines my August challenge to reduce my “superfluous web browsing” (in addition to taking a Facebook hiatus).  But before moving to the fresh and new, here’s my end-of-July wrap up.  First, I want to report what I did to reduce my water and power consumption in the rooms that my home tour did not visit.  Then we’ll look at my month-end bathroom water stats to find out how mellow my water yellowed. (I know, eww…)

Out of the Frying Pan

My month of reduced electricity and water consumption and our tour around my apartment continues today with a look at energy consumption in the kitchen.

Our setting...

Oh, the kitchen. There are so many damn electrical gadgets in the kitchen! Here's the low down on the gadgets and appliances I use more or less daily that consume power (listed in order of how often I use them):

Let It Mellow.

As I said in my last post, we'll be examining my water and power consumption habits, and efforts to reduce that consumption, room by room this month, starting with:

THE BATHROOM

First, a few fun facts* about water consumption in the bathroom:

• A running faucet uses 3 gallons of water per minute.
  
• Flushing the toilet accounts for 26.7% of daily residential indoor water use.**
  
• The average bath uses about 50 gallons of water.
  
• The average shower uses 3 gallons per minute, or ~25-45 gallons for a shower. (That means the average shower runs between 8 and 15 minutes.)
  

*Source: King County Water Saving Tips

**Source: American Water Works Association Research Foundation, "Residential End Uses of Water"

To find out what my water consumption in the bathroom was before this month, I did some data collection last month. I put two index cards on the wall of my bathroom and hung a sharpened pencil from the towel bar. On one card, I did a running tally of how often I flushed the toilet. I did not require visitors to my home to tally their flushes, nor did I keep a tally of how many times I flushed when at work, at the gym, at friends' homes, or during my five-day vacation. This tally specifically looked at my flushing habits in the privacy of my own home. Let's dive in, shall we

Money, money, money.

Breaking news: I managed NOT to spend money in this candy shop.

My apologies for being an inconsistent blog writer.  It happens.  But holy cow, May is almost over already and I really had meant to write more this month. Recap: May has been Operation Consumption Liberation's official month of Reduced Frivolous Spending, the unessential goods and service month, and I laid out in this length post here what constitutes frivolous spending in my book, and committed to spending no more than $132 on frivolous things this month.  And as the month winds down, I can report that I've done pretty well with this whole budget thing (though not as well as I thought I had ten minutes ago--math is not my strong suit).

My frivolous spending since I checked in with $32 spent on May 6:

• $3.25--hot cocoa @ SeaTac Dilletante
• $2.87--coffee and donut @ EWR's Dunkin' Donuts 
• $40--dinner in Astoria, NY w/ JC and WR
• $2.50--coffee @ Chappaqua Station
• $7.70--pizza @ EWR
• $2--bagel @ Eltana
• $2--coffee @ Bean City
• $9--movie @ NW Film Forum w/GM
• $3--cupcake @ Cupcake Royale
• $9--3 tomato plants @ U-District Farmers Market (though is this really frivolous...
• $1.99--pint of Honey Cinnamon frozen custard
• $2--half of an elephant ear at Folklife w/CW.

*May 7-May 30 Total Frivolous Spending: $85.31

*May 1-May 30 Total Frivolous Spending: $117.31

*Remaining Frivolous Spending Budget for May 31: $14.69

Expense worthy: $2 Eltana wood-fired bagel

 

While the no-spending thing has been challenging at times, I have not suffered too much this month. Which is good, because as someone who is under-employed at present, I really NEED to have a tight budget. Which is tricky because right now, it feels like every single valuable thing I own is falling apart.

Example A: the car mechanic tells me that my car needs an est. $2774 worth of repairs and you know that auto mechanic estimations are always low, because they're sure to find two more parts that must be replaced in the process. Considering that I bought said-car two years ago for $4300...  It seems like I'm better off spending that money to get a newer car.   Wait, what money?  Do I need a car that bad?  I could live without it, but it would compromise some things, like my volunteering and where I seek employment.  Plus, I like the freedom of having my own car.  It IS a luxury though.

Car, why do you make me suffer so?

Example B: I noticed this week that the laptop which I'm typing this on now is splitting along the seam of the screen.  If I close it, it gaps open a quarter of an inch at one corner.  Note that I purchased said laptop in early 2006.  I've added RAM, updated this and that, replaced batteries, but let's face it, this thing is kind of a dinosaur.  It weighs 17 pounds.  I've been debating a replacement for a full year.  It needs to happen soon.  Frivolous spending?  Well, no, I'm a writer, I can even write it off on my taxes, I suppose.  But I do have a second laptop though it has less RAM, less stuff on it, and I bought it used--it's probably older than this one.  It does weigh less though...  I should probably dump both of them for a new, super-light, super-fast machine. 

Money-worries face.

Example C: Half of my regularly-worn long sleeved shirts have rips or holes in the arms.  Some have been mended once or twice already. As of yesterday, both of my wear-everyday-fall-thru-spring boots' zippers are broken.  My socks are holey.  I need new clothes.

And so on. 

Given these expected expenses and my under-employment, this month's practice has certainly made me think more about money and its role in my life.  I hate that making money and spending money preoccupy so much of my thoughts and energy, be it taking crap writing jobs for crap pay so I can pay for home Internet service (sadly, a must-have) or using that Internet service to search for less crappy jobs with less crappy pay.

I am taking steps to remedy my situation, but I am also trying to be patient and to take actions that honor my aspirations and values.  Yes, there are days when I think to myself, "you just need to buckle down and take any  job with benefits that will have you."  And then there are days when I think about how unhappy I used to be, and what I changed to make my life more peaceful and happier.  On those days, I know that, while taking the first full-time job with benefits I can find may settle my money worries for the time being, it likely will be at the cost of the balanced and content life I've worked so hard to have.

As this month comes to a close, I think I'm going to continue to set myself a frivolous spending budget.  I like these questions from And Then She Saved to help me determine whether or not something is frivolous or, as she puts it, "expense worthy."  I'll be applying these questions soon in my car, clothes, and computer decisions!

No expense NY fun: walk the Brooklyn Promenade on a sunny afternoon.

 

Oh yeah, recap of my efforts to add more outdoor outings this month! Though the weather has not been terribly cooperative, I've managed to squeeze some nice outings in: a park outing in NY with my sister-in-law MR, my 7-month-old twin niecews, and their dog; a Greenlake walk with CI and daughter S; strutting the Brooklyn Promenade and visiting the Astoria Sculpture Park with JC; playing corn-hole BBQ at MO & QH's; and a few runs, walks, and a 36+ mile bike ride out to Redhook with CW. If you want to go for a pedal or a walk with me, summer is just around the corner!

I'll be posting again tomorrow as NO CAFFEINE MONTH kicks off....

Stop buying frivolous stuff, doofus.

Today, on top of a 6-mile bike ride and a 4-mile hike, I drove my car recreational for the first time since March!  Because it is May! 

May marks my second Reduce Frivolous Spending month, the unessential goods and services edition. (See The Eating and Drinking Out edition here.) Now, I’ve been very tempted this week to rearrange my Operation Consumption Liberation (OCL) Challenge schedule to make May my month of spending less time on the internet, due to the unhappy fact that my ISP/phone company lost the order for my new modem and I’ve been going without the internet at home since Tuesday night.

The other reason I’ve thought about swapping months around is that I intended to do more investigation into my finances and spending habits to find out how much I waste on unessential goods and services, etc.  I sort of feel like this type of challenge calls for more research than I’ve done.  However, I haven’t exactly been monitoring how much time daily I waste on Facebook and tooling around on the internet either.  So… I’m sticking with the plan and I've done a hack research job of my spending habits over the last month.  Unessential goods and services, here we go!

Due to the economic situation in the last few years, an awful lot of people have undertaken a “Spending Fast” and blogged about it.  One of the most notable examples would be Anna Newell Jones and her “And Then She Saved” blog.  Check out her spending fast and her spending diet guidelines.  Inspiring to say the least. 

Now I am not going on a total spending fast.  I’m undertaking something more like the spending diet, but I don’t like using the word diet for anything.  What I’m going to be doing is limiting my unnecessary expenses.  I am not going to put my Netflix on hold, skip yoga, or make my friends suffer another month of Absolutely No Drinks or Eats out.   But I am going to be working with a limited amount of money for nonessential expenses this month. Thus, once that money is gone, for the rest of the month, I’ll be spending my free time at home reading, playing Mah-Jongg solitaire online, and watching stuff on Netflix.  Maybe I’ll reorganize my kitchen cupboard finally.

So, the key question is: how do I define unessential goods and services?   

First, I need to define what expenses ARE essential:

-Shelter (gotta pay rent)

-Internet and phone services are essential.  Plus, I’m locked into contracts for both.

-Health insurance, auto insurance, medicine, toothpaste, and doctor visits (no one should have to go without any of these!)

-Soap for laundry, dishes, and the body

-Food and drinking water is essential (dessert, however, is not). 

-Gas for my car to go volunteer 

 Now here are some examples of nonessential things I’ve spent money on this month:

-$55 Groupon for haircut and color at my salon (Great bargain, sure, but…)

-$49.50 registration for a 10k race next week 

-$16.99 gym membership (haven’t been there in almost two months, but the cost to join was ridiculous, so I keep paying it)

-$10.94 Netflix

-$39 debit charges at restaurants

-$120 cash purchases (Although I do pay for some smaller grocery purchases with cash, most of my cash generally goes to nonessential bar tabs, restaurant tabs, movie theater tickets, and small miscellaneous trinkets and sweets)

-$68.50 of miscellaneous non-medical Bartell Drug purchases (yes, some of those purchases were for other necessities—toilet paper, laundry detergent, and toothpaste—but all those lotions, bath salts, almonds, nail polish, chocolate, As Seen On TV gadgets…  Fact: I get a little bonkers in the drugstore)

But I really need some more hand cream!

And so on...  I’ve done my best to calculate my unessential expenses last month, and it came to about $420.  That is more than half my monthly rent.  Out of control!

So do I seek to half this amount in May?  $210 is still a lot of money to be wasting on that kind of stuff every month, so let’s knock off another $50. That gives me a nonessential spending budget of $160, which is cushy, but considers expenses from my upcoming travel. From that $160, I’m subtracting my anticipated bills for Netflix and the gym (~$28, auto-paid).  That’s $132 to spend on nonessential goods and services as I choose for the month.

FYI: I will not be buying a $300 gong this month.

To help me track my $132 nonessential budget, I have a $50 American Express prepaid card for most card purchases and I am withdrawing $70 cash from my checking account.  And yesterday, I pulled out $2 from the lingering “April” cash in my wallet for May--for clean record keeping, I put the remaining April cash in my loose change jar this morning.

Two exceptions:

-If someone wants to buy me dinner or take me to, I’m not trying to curb his or her spending so that is allowed.  However, I’m not terribly comfortable freeloading, and I will not be soliciting you to purchase meals, movie tickets, or new clothes for me.

-I can spend gift cards and previously purchased Groupons as I am wont to do.  But any new prepaid/gift card or Groupon purchases will be deducted from my nonessential budget.

That's it.  I will do my best to spend my $132 wisely!  I may be taking a few hints from this here site... And of course, I will be reporting regularly here at OCL on my nonessential expenditures and my budget balance!  If you have any budget suggestions, or want to join me, I welcome both.

Oh YEAH: To counterbalance the cruel feeling of depriving myself, especially when I’m denying myself lots of nice, trivial, feel-good purchases, I would like to add more outdoor social activities to my life this month.  Free or low-cost activities, that is: park play dates, bike adventures, hikes, backyard BBQs….  This part of my month is off to a great start (65 degrees and sunny in Seattle-woo woo!). Even if the weather does not cooperate, I’m not totally adverse to rainy day adventures either. So who wants to play?

Low Gas Wrap

Cherry blossom avenue: so, so pretty!

I’m a little amazed at how rapidly April flew by.  For Low Gas Consumption Month, I’d meant to write a commentary about Earth Day and the environment, but time got away from me, and here we are on, the first of May. 

Ahh, spring, you sure took your sweet time arriving this year!

I drove up to Shoreline to volunteer three times this month.  Other than that, I didn't get in my car--driving approximately 40 miles for the whole month.  When I was driving to Shoreline last Saturday morning, I felt like I was dreaming because it felt so foreign to me after a two-week break.  Then I realized I better snap out of it, because driving in that kind of mental state is dangerous! 

If only I-5 were always so unoccupied.

I confess, I do enjoy driving.  But I also enjoy walking and biking (especially when it isn’t raining!), and I find the practice of riding the bus to be beneficial.  (The loss of control over when you leave and when you arrive offers good practice in patience and adaptation for much more serious loss-of-control situations.  And, for a writer, there is always someone of intrigue on the bus.) 

Anyway, now that my low gasoline consumption is winding down, I intend to continue using alternate forms of transportation more than I did before.  The price in gas hasn’t exactly dropped; CO2 emissions still aren’t good for the environment; and the weather is still continuing to improve (fingers crossed).  I’m setting a loose goal for myself here and now: I am going to try to consume no more than one tank of gas a month.  Of course, things do come up (multiple airport runs, vacations), and I won’t punish myself for that.  But I would like to incline my mind to consider other options before driving.

Goal: more biking around Greenlake this summer.

Not that you need any more pushing than the price at the pump, but I really want to encourage you all to try driving less.  We all have excuses of why we need to drive.  It does take some mental and logistical rearranging to bike or carpool or bus, and there are times in life when that kind of thought is in much shorter demand than cash for gas.  For those of you with young children, I know it is often impractical to impossible to ditch the car.  But there are also the undeniable benefits of biking and walking with kids: it doesn’t just promote physical activity, but the world outside our homes offers an endless learning lab. 

Walk learning opportunity #23: is it a feral cat or not?

For those of you in Seattle, Friday, May 20 is the official 2011 Bike to Work Day.  If you’ve got yourself a pair of wheels, give a bike commute a try on this one day.

Anyway, Operation Consumption Liberation now moves onto my second month of curbing my frivolous spending, the Goods and Services edition.

It's a good time to be less reliant on my car.

 

The State at the Pump: U-District.

I mean, really, did I time my Low Gas Consumption month perfectly, or what? 

Gas prices aside, I should also note that the weather in Seattle has improved since the first week of April.  Not a wild improvement, but I did hear the weatherman say that La Nina is WEAKENING, and to expect a "weather-neutral summer."  I can get behind that. 

Because the sky was more sunny than cloudy today, I decided to make the most of my leisure Sunday morning and walk to the yoga studio where I've been doing an immersion all weekend.  Which is located on Capitol Hill.  Five miles from my place.  Apparently, I don't need to drive to the mountains to get in a nice little hike.

And it was a really nice walk. As I walked, I recalled a college assignment from a Renaissance and Reformation history class I took at the University of Idaho.  We had to walk from Moscow, ID to Troy, ID--an 11-mile distance--and then write a three-page paper about our experience.  I think the assignment was part of a unit on The Return of Martin Guerre; the professor wanted us to have a sense of how peasants traveled in the 16th century, or something. Honestly, it was a somewhat useless assignment, but I remember it was a really lovely day when I did the walk.  I remember being a little scared of getting hit by a car when walking along Highway 8 (I think there is actually a bike trail now), but all and all, it was a nice way to pass the morning.  But not something you do everyday.

I'm not going to write a three-page paper about my walk today, because I think that I'd say about the same thing: nice way to pass my morning, but not something I can do everyday.  So, instead of writing three-pages, here's a little photo essay of my walk today! 

Spring has sprung: local color on my street

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lake Union view from the University Bridge

Le Fournil Bakery on Eastlake. Those are giant cubes of butter.  Butter!

The I-5/WA-520 Junction--never so quiet as on a Sunday AM!

Bruce Lee's last resting place, Lakeview Cemetery

Louisa Boren Lookout. Thar be Lake Washington and Bellevue, mateys!

The tower at Volunteer Park.  Would have been a great day to climb it!

Eager brunchers waiting outside Coastal Kitchen

Space Needle and the Sound!

View of downtown, and a sky full of bus wires--Pine & 15th Ave E

And that's all, folks!  Hope your weekend was as lovely as mine!

Blame it on the alcohol.

Welcome to Operation Consumption Liberation March MADNESS.  The cr-a-a-a-zy Monthly Mission?  To consume no alcohol!  The guidelines?  Here they are:

1. Don't drink any alcohol this month, and
2. Don't drink any alcohol this month.

Yup, it is that simple. But for all you contrary people in the cyber-verse:
 
     3. Yes, I can have red wine vinaigrette and use wine in food recipes, and if I'm inclined to gargle
         Listerine, so be it.  And cold syrup. But not as a beverage.  Kapeesh?  

So that's it.  I have to tell you, the amount of apprehension I'm getting from friends and family members about this month's challenge is amusing me.  One family member suggested maybe we wait to get together until next month when hearing I wouldn't be chugging the alcohol (in jest, to be fair).  Most friends have reacted with a mixture of shock and awe.  And I'm hear to tell you: this is not a big deal.  For me.  But I'm starting to be a little concerned about all of you...

Like about everyone I know, there is alcoholism in my family history.  Not a ton, but there have been family members who spent time in rehab and family members who made the decision to switch to O'Doul's at some point in their lives.  And I confess, I love me a glass of red wine, or a vodka tonic, or a nice pale ale or crisp chardonnay in the summer time.  If I had to put a number on my average weekly alcohol consumption over the past few months, I'd guess around four. That number is up from my typical average last year of two--what can I say, I've been spending too much time with other red wine drinkers and hosting too many dinners.

Sunday dinner alone with my book and wine.

As much I like the wine, I went alcohol-less from Friday to Friday last week.  And then I drank 2 glasses every night for the last four nights.  (I was bulking up for March.)  But during that alcohol-less week, I hardly noticed its absence, and I certainly didn't miss it one bit.  In fact, I've been feeling a little crummy and sluggish the last few days, and perpetually dehydrated.  What's that?  You say alcohol dehydrates a person?  Seems like I could use a little detox, and a little hydration right about  now.

So for the month of March, I would like to set a parallel goal to drink more water every day.  Because dehydration causes migraines, and kidney stones.  And because it's nice to drink water.  If you want to join me, either in giving up the hooch, or picking up some agua, please do!  It will be easy, and your liver will thank you.

The "Consume Less Sugar" Round-Up

Over the course of the past month, I’ve had quite a few questions about how this No Added Sugar Products month has been treating me, how it is going, etc.  Now that I’m at the end of the line, I’d like reflect on my total experience and answer some of them here. 

So how did a month without sugar treat me?  How did it go?  It went pretty well.  It wasn’t always easy, but it wasn’t that hard either.  And it treated me pretty dang good.  I feel good, though on some days, I felt like I tried to make up for the absence of sugar with more fat in my diet than really was optimum.  It is true; meat, nuts, and cheese have been my go-to defense this month.  I can’t even tell you how many bags/jars of almonds I’ve inhaled. Still, it is entirely possible that my diet before this month was lacking in the protein department: craving sugar or carbohydrates often is a sign of such a protein deficiency.

My lovely Almonds, I wouldn't have made it without you.

Also, while my goal in giving up sugar was NOT weight loss, I will say that I’ve shed the 3-4 pounds I put on over the holiday season.  That may be a result of my sugar fast.  It also may be simply because I’m not eating and drinking like a pig now that the holiday season is well behind us, and because my exercise routine is a little more stable.

A lot of people have asked me if I missed sugar.  The short answer?  Hell yeah, I did.  It got easier to say no to sweets; it got easier to navigate around hidden sugars in the supermarket aisles and in restaurants.  But I did and do miss the luxury of splitting some awesome 2500-calorie dessert after a nice dinner out.  And when I walk by Whole Foods, and the vents from the bakery unleash the aroma of fresh baked chocolate chip cookies onto the sidewalk—yeah, I die a small death somewhere deep inside.  

Sometimes I just want to shout it from the hilltops. Artwork by Benek Kuleczka.

Some friends also assume I’m going to go nuts with the sugar come Tuesday, to make up for lost time.  Of course, it is tempting to run out and spend my Groupon for a dozen Cupcake Royale cupcakes and have a cupcake-gorging session, as one friend suggested we do this week.  That isn’t going to happen.   Still, I’m excited to be able to relax and enjoy certain foods and drinks that typically have sugar added in, like dried tropical fruit and tonic water and wheat bread.

However, here’s the thing that I’ve reminded myself daily all month long: these sweet luxuries are not going anywhere.  Sometime in the future, there will be another nice dinner out where there will be other gorgeous-looking-sounding-smelling-tasting desserts on the menu to share. And if I pass on dessert three times out of four, the discomfort of not quenching my desire for sweet doesn’t last very long—maybe 20 minutes at most. I have never laid in bed thinking, “If only I’d ordered that torte.”  I have however laid in bed thinking, “I shouldn’t have eaten that torte,” because I feel like my gut is going to bust and because I’m hyper from the sugar.  When I do indulge in dessert that one time out of four, I’ll appreciate that sweet delicacy all the more.

...so can I go lie down?

It is nice to have discovered some new treats this month that don’t use any added sugar and don't taste like poo.  I made these yummy cookies* Friday night without any sugar, honey, agave, maple syrup, or Splenda.  There is more than enough sweetness from the naturally occurring fructose in the bananas.  Sure, they were more like nuggets of banana bread than cookies, but it was just as satisfying as baking chocolate chip cookies—the sweet baking smells, removing the cookies one by one from the baking sheet to cool on the rack, eating one or two or five while they were still warm, eating one or three for breakfast the next morning.  But they’re actually kind of healthy.  CRAZY!  Try ‘em out.

 

Five minutes ago, I still had two cookies left to eat.

*     *     *

So…that’s it.  My month of No Added Sugar wraps up tomorrow.  I plan to stay mindful about hidden sugars, be modest in treat consumptions, and to use natural “healthier” sugars over the old white granulated crack in my home cooking/baking endeavors.  I should have ample opportunity to put this last “better sugar” habit into practice during the coming month.  February is the first of two months in Operation Consumption Liberation which are devoted to consuming less goods and services to curb my frivolous spending. Over the next month, in “Frivolous Spending: the Eating/Drinking Out edition,” I will (you guessed it!) abstain from going out to eat and for drinks.  If you can believe it, I think this challenge will be even harder than going without sugar. 

*Chewy Banana-Oat Cookies Recipe by Nancy Burrows, found in Get the Sugar Out by Ann Louise Gittleman.