Sunday, October 19, 2008

simple life ponderances

For the last few days, I've been gazing longingly at my "to-read" bookshelf ... well, at TWO of the to-read bookshelves ... lol.

Here are some of the books I'm dying to open (I currently am reading three books, but can't seem to find one of them....).

Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin
Reading Lolita in Tehran by Agar Nafise
Salem Falls by Jodi Picoult
Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver
The Poisonwood Bible by same author
Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
Mortal Flower by Han Suyin
Atonement by Ian McEwan
Abundance a novel of Marie Antoinette by Sena Jeter Naslund
Prozac Nation by Elizabeth Wurtzel
The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco
The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory

.......... there are TONS more in my collection but these are most of the titles I've been staring at, wishing I could somehow read them all at once.


I have a question for the vegetarians out there: I notice that I shed more hair now than I ever did. It's by no means falling out of my head, but I am constantly shedding what looks like dead, thin hair. very annoying. Would a B Complex vitamin help this? I've started taking 25mg zinc/day ... and already take a comprehensive multivitamin daily which as far as B vitamins go has only Niacin 10%, B6 and B12 100%each. I don't want to shed! I only wash with baking soda and apple cider vinegar, and those not every day. I do wear by hair up a lot ...??? and bobby pin back my growing-out bangs quite frequently. help ... i just want healthy hair! i do notice that my skin seems to be a little yucky, too ... prone to crazy bruising (but this is not alarming, i've bruised easily all my life) and just kind of having this weird uneven look to it. Would B Complex also benefit this? Just wondering ............... ok thanks.

on the positive side, i seem to be in excellent health otherwise and have been giving myself the gift of more sleep during the week. I've also been attacking little moles with daily applications of apple cider vinegar. this stuff is amazing! I really really REALLY want to switch over to being a morning person; like everything else in my life, I'm going to have to just plunge into it. But I love the idea of getting out and walking while the world still has that ethereal quality to it. I love the idea of actually enjoying a hearty breakfast rather than waking up 10 minutes before I need to rush out the door. Maybe get some reading or knitting done. As I get older and my "social calendar" (haha) is virtually (and thankfully) nonexistent (i'm talking about the party days being over), I look forward to enjoying mornings more. But still ... it's so so hard to get up. I will try valiantly, however.

Thanks for frugal trenches and my other British friend with the pink blog (sorry don't know your name and i call you bridget jones but it's affectionate as i loved those movies) ... for their resposibility and absolute dedication toward paying down their debt. i've reached the last straw with mine, and it took crazy bank overdraft fees to do it. It's also, of course, part of all the simplifying I want to do generally, anyway ... being debt free and being extremely frugal in order to clear away what's truly unecessary and see the enjoyment in pure life ... I am tempted to bring a small notebook with me everywhere I go and write down every piddling penny i spend but i know that will just annoy me. So instead ... I'm just going to have to be very strict with myself. Continually reading all of your blogs helps me with that so much. Please keep writing about your own struggles to achieve a "normal" debt-free lifestyle. It's great therapy!

I guess that's all I have to write for now. On a funny note, my oatmeal tasted an awful lot like garlic this morning. guess the stink wasn't fully washed from the pan. oh, well. i ate it all anyway. tonight i'm going to make up a batch of vegetarian chili, cooking with textured vegetable protein for the first time. I hope I don't overcook it. I think i'll add it near the end of simmering. I'm also hoping to get a good walk in today. Weather is still beautiful here, but turning chillier. Slept in woolies last night -- sweater and socks. I'm so far on strike against my heat, and plan on calling the landlord over soon to inspect the chimney for fires-burning. i hope it passes the test!

OH!! the farm day was great. it was fun to watch the kids go wild at the craft table, doing stamping with shapes cut from root vegetables ... and lots of messy paint. afterward, beer and bean salad and greens and veggie salad were had. I am hoping to join their CSA and get a box of vegetables each week. and, of course, to keep volunteering and learn more about farming for when i can do it.

in the meantime, i have perfect windowsills for growing herbs ... so i'll put that on my priorities list, too. i'd like to do rosemary, even though it's a tough one. probably also some mint. not sure what else yet. any suggestions? remember i live in a very small apartment. but it gets lots of light, and like i said, has great windowsills.

any advice on the hair/skin/herbs/debt would really be greatly appreciated. in the meantime, i'll keep learning from you all .. and the library!

peace, love, happy sunday.

~~karen

6 comments:

  1. I don't know if it's the B complex, but my hair sheds a lot. I thought it was actually just because it's so long... when I kept it shorter it didn't shed very much at all, but maybe it's vitamin deficiency. I mostly just take a vegetarian multi-vitamin, but I forget to take it all the time.

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  2. Hi Karen,

    Just wanted to say HI! I came to your blog from Rural Writings - though I see we have many fav. blogs in common. I look forward to exploring your blog some more.

    Libby

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  3. Basil is a nice windowsill herb. It roots quite easily from cuttings too, so if you can get a piece of someone's (or a really fresh bunch from the store), try rooting it in a glass of water and then transferring it to dirt. Chives and garlic chives are nice cut and come again herbs to grow too.
    ~Sadge

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  4. hi, love!

    i hope you're not too worried.. i'd attribute a lot of the skin / hair issues to the change of season, unless it continues to pose a problem for you for awhile.
    i had a lot of similar problems with my skin, i think i was overproducing oil to keep up with the drying effects of the sun (and i'm sure the sunscreen was clogging my pores, too) and now that it's not being dried out by the sun, it's been breaking out. but it's shifting back to normal, luckily. ..and the hair.. i know jenn was worried about her hair loss last fall, and i'm pretty sure this has happened to me too.. check this out: http://www.keratin.com/aa/aa015.shtml

    B-complex is a good all-purpose vitamin, it had a definite effect on boosting energy and reducing stress. stress burns out your B-12 which we don't easily get from our diet anyhow.. except if you eat dairy, nutritional yeast, mushrooms, or sea vegetables often. (i don't!) so i take it when i start to get gloomy or tired mid-day at work... with a snack!

    i hope you're enjoying the cosier fall-like weather. "fair season" afterall! i miss sharing *our* season together!!

    i think you'd get a lot out of shifting into a morning person. it's a gentle and relaxing way to start the day.. i really need to have "a morning" to do what i will or i feel really hurried & crappy all day. that's the only time i ever do pilates, too. (after work? yeah right!) i only lament it sometimes when i'm having the (rare) late night and im not awake enough to enjoy it. i'm pretty much zonked after 10, but you already know this.. maybe we can do some morning activities when you come visit. it really is a nice time for a walk or making elaborate breakfast. i'm baking a squash in the oven as we speak (and karl sleeps).. heh.

    well love, you are missed! i was touched you thought of us at Food Not Bombs when you were cooking your chilli! i hope it came out great!! maybe you'd like to help us cook some other fun items on sundays when you visit!? <3 you!

    ~~ sarah

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  5. Thanks for the shout out Karen! I think your positive attitude is inspiring! Where is the picture at the top of your blog taken from? it's stunning!

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  6. sadge -- thanks for the chives idea ... how do i start that? i am clueless window gardener ...

    sarah -- article on seasonal hair shedding makes sense. i'll try and monitor that. for now i'm just not changing anything, how much healthier can i get? lol.

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