Over the summer we collected food and clothing items each month to donate to the Salvation Army which distributed the items to people in our community.  Last month, the church expanded this idea and created a program called Shares for Others.  Each month, the church will be donating money to organizations and programs for people in need in our community and has given the church members an opportunity to help contribute to the fund as well.

One thing I do to to help support my own inner peace is craft.  Over the last year, I’ve learned to make beaded jewelry.  As a result, I have a stash of bracelets, earrings and necklaces laying around. It dawned on me that I could actually do something with them and help others at the same time.

I stretched way outside of my comfort zone and opened an Etsy shop!  The proceeds from the sales will be given to the Shares for Others program at my church.

I’m still working in the process of adding listings so if you are interested in helping me help others, please check back next week for more items.

Last night I finished up The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin.  In it she chornicles the year she spent trying to learn how to be a happier person. It is a very interesting idea: To learn to be happy or to try to improve on the happiness one already feels.  No lie;  this book made me think.  A LOT!

From the back cover:

Gretchen Rubin had an epiphany one rainy afternoon in the unlikeliest of places;  a city bus.  ”The days are long, but the years are short”  she realized.  Time is passing, and I’m not focusing enough on the things that really matter.”  In that moment, she decided to dedicate a year to her happiness project.  

In this lively and compelling account, Rubin chronicles her adventures during the twelve months she spent test-driving the wisdom of the ages, current scientific research, and the lessons from popular culture about how to be happier. Among other things, she found that novelty and challenge are powerful sources of happiness; that money can help buy happiness, when spent wisely; that outer order contributes to inner calm; and that the very smallest of changes can make the biggest difference.  

For more information on her project, ideas to help you everyday, and how you can start your own project, click here.

Over all it gets a 5/5 from me.  It is a book I will read again and one full of ideas which I think would be good for me to give a try.

I am sure it is not surprising to learn my  reading a book about another woman’s quest to improve her own happiness lead me to question my own. What may be a surprise is my answer.

Sadly, I’ve come to the conclusion that I am currently not very happy.  On most levels I should be.  I have a home to live in, food to eat, relatively good health, healthy children, an amazing husband whom I love deeply, family and friends who love me….. but for some reason, the joy of these things has been lost somewhere.  I feel like a horribly selfish person for looking at my life and all I have and be dissatisfied – for wanting something different – for wanting something more….

I don’t exactly know how to explain it except to say that something is missing.  The magic that allowed the littlest things in life to bring me true joy has been replaced by a darkness which I cannot push away.  I feel lost and lonely and afraid. I want to find my purpose and pursue it.  I am very clear that I am not moving through life with purpose – walking the path I am meant to walk.  It’s difficult spending most days knowing I am somewhere I don’t belong and yet trying to stay on the path because I know it is expected of me – because it is what others think is the right path for me.

What is the right path? How do I find it?  Why cannot finding my happiness be as easy as it once was – or at least as it seemed to be…Perhaps I should start a Happiness Project of my own?  Right now though, it seems too daunting.

Book 3 of 1000

Pages: 292

Pages read to date:  852

I did do one thing right, however.  I helped supervise our 12 year old son while he made his own costume:

He received so many compliments from our neighbors and fellow trick-or-treaters and was so proud!  I was glad that even though, I dropped the ball in terms of Halloween spirit, my monkey still had a fun night! I also have a hunch, this neighborhood will see a lot more homemade costumes next year

He also loves a cold class of milk.  This may or may not explain why at the age of 15 he is almost 6 feet tall

One more thing you should know about Luis?  He has a SWEET TOOTH.  The other night he was craving something sweet but couldn’t find something he wanted. I suggested berries.  He suggested my driving him to Starbucks to purchase him a strawberry frappuccino.  I laughed.

Then, I decided to throw the berries we had on hand with some milk in the blender and see what happened. What we got was something very close to a Starbuck’s Frap.  A little experimenting here and a little tinkering there and I now have what Luis would describes as the  ’perfect’ recipe

Luis’s Strawberry Frappucinno:

• 15-20 fresh strawberries – halved and frozen on a metal baking sheet (do ahead at least 1 hour prior to making)
• 5 cups cold milk (we use 1%)
• 4 tbsp evaporated cane sugar (or good old granulated white sugar if that is what you have)
• add all ingredients to blender and blend on high for 2 mins until smooth.
• adjust according to your own taste.  Heck, go crazy and even use a different fruit

Even though this still contains sugar, I’m willing to bet it is way better for your body than the one SB makes……Personally I like it without the sugar but I was trying to make something that would satisfy the boy’s sweet tooth.

While picking up dinner supplies the other night, I happened upon what looked what I imagine dinosaur eggs to look like.  A pile of them was nestled in between lemons and artichokes making me wonder – is this a fruit?  is this a vegetable?  _is_ it a dinosaur egg?  how do i eat it?  is there prep involved? Unfortunately, the produce guy was not so sure himself….. Oh well,  I was intrigued and decided this seemed like the perfect…..ummm…thing?….to start crossing off #15!

This isn’t the best picture and I completely forgot to take a picture of it whole but here is what the skin looks like.  See the scale like pattern. So cool! And here is what it looks like on the outside:

My first thought upon seeing the cherimoya was that it was some sort of catcus fruit.  My 11 year old son googled it for me and we learned it actually grows on trees.

The Verdict?  I want one of these trees to grow in my yard!  It is amazing. Delicious – sweet, fresh, bright, soft, creamy.  It tastes like mango, banana, pineapple, papaya, lemon….all rolled into one. The flesh is soft with a texture similar to a cross between banana and a mango.  If one of these ever pop up in your market – grocery or farmers’ – definitely pick one up.  You won’t be sorry you did.

1 down 499 to go!

So often, I miss leisurely reading because so much of my time is taken up reading text books. This book however was assigned reading for one of my classes – hooray! Double Hooray because I also really enjoyed it!!

Based on the title, I assumed the book was about being ‘in love’ and it is a love story but it is also about all kinds of love. Love of a father for his daughter. The love between mothers and daughters. Love between friends. Love of self. Young love. Love sickness. Love of one’s self. And selfless love.

One thing I really enjoy about reading is the ability to escape to a different time and place. This book was no exeption. Set in 17th century China, I got to travel to a place far away both in time and space.  I had lots of time to read this book but finished it in just a day or two because I was so curious to see where the story would lead me next.  I loved the book even more after being able to meet the author, Lisa See.  She was kind enough to come to our class and answer our questions.  She is lovely (inside and out) and incredibly intelligent.  I was extremely impressed to learn how much time and energy she spent researching for the book.  It explained the depth of the details in the book.

I give it a 5/5

From the back cover:

In seventeenth-century China, in an elaborate villa on the shores of Hangzhou’s West Lake, Peony lives a sheltered live.  One night, during a theatrical performance in her family’s garden, Peony catches sight of an elegant, handsome man and is immediately overcome with emotion.  So begins Peony’s unforgettable journey of love and destiny, desire and sorrow, the living world and the afterworld.  Eventually expelled from all she’s known, Peony is thrust into a realm where hungry ghosts wander the earth, written words have the power to hurt and kill, and dreams are as vivid as waking life.  Lisa See’s novel, based on actual historical events, evokes vividly another time and place – where three generations of women become enmeshed in a dramatic story,  uncover tpast secrets and trageies, and learn that love can transcend death.  Peony in Love will make you ache in heart and mind for young Peony and all the women of the world who want to be heard.

Book 2 of 1000

pages:  273

pages read in total:  560

Anywho, one things I like most about going to movies is being able to see trailers.  Most of them I immediately forget about but then every once in a while a perfect gem like this comes along and I know that  I will be sitting in the theatre again soon:

I also must mention that sweets took me to see “Your Highness” over the weekend.  I found it surprisingly entertaining but the thing I liked most about it was seeing this trailer:

Yes, I am just as much in love with Winnie the Pooh as I am with “Fast and Furious” franchise. I’m complicated like that – it’s what makes me interesting

Number 1 out of 1000 – seems so small and yet so big at the same time.  This book is amazing.  I read it in just a couple of days which is saying something given the lack of “free” time I have.

The story was dark and eerie and yet I found myself longing to pick it up again.  I love the format of the book – no chapters, with dialogue and descriptions blocked off into paragraphs.  It matched what seemed to be the never ending feeling of the journey the characters are on.  The story takes place in post apocalyptic America.  There were many moments when I lost faith in humanity – confirming my imagination of the terribleness which can come out of us in desperate times.  Yet there seemed to be a glimmer of hope.  I still cannot decide if that sense of hope came from the writing or from inside me.

In the end, I highly recommend this book and give it a 5 out of 5.

From the back cover:

Father and son walk alone through burned America.  NOthing moves in the ravaged landscape save the ash on the wind.  It is cold enough to crack stones, and when the snow falls it is gray.  The sky is dark.  Their destination is the coast, although they don’t know what, if anything, awaits them there.  they have nothing; just a pistol to defend themselves against the lawless bands that stalk the road, the clothes they are wearing, a cart of scavenged food – and each other.

The Road is the profoundly moving story of a journey.  It bodly imagines a future in which no hope remains, but in which the father and his some, “each the other’s world entire,” are sustained by love. Awesome in the totality of its vision, The Road is an unflinching meditation on the worst and the best that we are capable of:  ultimate destructiveness, desperate tenacity, and the tenderness that keeps two people alive in the face of total devastation

book 1 of 1000

pages: 287

I don’t know about your kids but my kids go through phases with their food.  They seem to fall in love with a particular food item and cannot get enough of  it.   Then all of sudden, just as quickly, they fall out of love with it.  Unfortunately, that usually seems to happen right after I have stocked up on that particular item.  Currently I have some green apples sitting on my counter so I think whipping up a batch or two of muffins is most certainly in order.  And while the kids may have tired of the apples themselves, something tells me they won’t tire of these muffins too quickly.

Quick note:  The batter for these muffins will be thick – more like cookie dough than cake batter.  This is okay. I promise. The apples will add moisture while the muffins bake.

Print this recipe

Apple Muffins

Ingredients

for muffins

• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1 cup whole wheat flour (or eliminate and just use 2 cups all purpose)
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup melted butter, slightly cooled
• 2 small apples peeled and chopped
• zest and juice from one half lemon
• 1 cup maple sugar (if you have it; otherwise, regular white sugar is fine)
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/4 tsp vanilla extract

for streusel topping

• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1/8 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tbsp flour
• 1 tbsp cold butter

Directions

• Preheat oven to 375
• Toss apples with lemon juice and zest.  Set aside.
• In medium bowl, combine dry ingredients
• In small bowl, combine eggs, butter and vanilla.  Mix into dry ingredients until moist.
• Fold in apples.
• Fill prepared muffin tin.
• Combine topping ingredients and sprinkle over top of batter
• Bake 15-20 minutes

Print this recipe

i seemed to have lost my magic wand and so i can’t fix it just like that.  i had been wanting to make changes to my site in regards to design, content and functionality and well, now i get to.

i hope you’ll be patient while i rebuild and start over from scratch.