today: better

Even for a Monday, today was far better than yesterday! huzzah. I did squirt dish liquid in my eye (on accident, duh). That freaking stings. But I also got other stuff done: made tomato sauce to freeze, blanched yellow squash to freeze, and washed peaches that I got at the farmer's market. Tomorrow I'll slice them and freeze them. I'm also going to make a Viennese cucumber salad tomorrow, and need to figure out what to do with the green bell peppers I got. I'm trying to get most of my produce at the farmer's market, not because it's cheaper (cause it really ain't), but to support local farms and try to eat in season. I'm becoming quite a little homemaker!

World: 1, Jocelyn: 0

One of those days where nothing is working out for me... ya know those? I hate 'em. I'm not even trying anymore, I might as well go to sleep and hope tomorrow is better!

So far, so good!

Well today was my first day at the new job! It went pretty well, for a Monday. I didn't sleep well last night so a migraine was brewing all day. Towards the end of the day I was in pretty dire pain but I made it home and took some medicine, then crashed out on the bed and let my kitties comfort me. The pain is gone now but my 'nap' is throwing me out of sorts! Ahhhh.... But I'm still feeling positive about the job! I will probably be getting more involved in nature and wildlife and preservation of our natural habitats. It was really exciting to talk about these things with the Executive Director (ED). This will be a great summer for visiting the preserves and the bird sanctuaries in the area!

Cooking today

I have to do some cooking this morning, primarily making some cupcakes for my mother's birthday. But, when it's summer in Texas, IF you have to turn on the oven, you know you better make it worthwhile and cook more than just one thing! That's a good energy-saving tip for year round, actually. Try to combine your cooking so that you don't just have one casserole in the oven. Go ahead and make some muffins or a cake while you are at it, or roast some veggies for later in the week. The only thing you've got to think about is the temperature it will cook at. Most baked goods you can lower the temperature and just cook it longer, but roasted veggies don't really get all roasty unless the temp is at least 350 degrees. This is all my opinion and from my experience, of course. But it has served me well so far and I continue to experiment!

Anyway, today I am making the cupcakes, and so I took a look around my kitchen to see what else I could make. In my fridge I had 2 zucchini and 2 cucumbers, some leftover sour cream and some yogurt, and my pantry held a can of chickpeas which recalled the tahini in the back of my fridge. All those ingredients sounded pretty Greek to me (lol), and I remembered thumbing through a Mediterranean cookbook at Border's the other day and a picture of some Greek zucchini patties looked pretty darn good. I googled until I found a similar recipe and now Greek food is going to form the basis of my lunches next week. One of the cucumbers will make some tzaztziki sauce, the chickpeas and tahini for hummus, and I just need to pick up some pitas and some tabouli.

I'm hungry just thinking about it all, so I am headed to the kitchen to start!

Happy

There is a page in one of my many notebooks where I've written the word "happy" in silver ink. That's it, just the one word surrounded by a bubble. When I wrote it, I am sure that I wasn't feeling very "happy". Still, I wrote the word to serve as a beacon to guide me, and as I was sitting here just now, I realized I feel "happy".

Happy! how? Happy! why?

Well... I've had some ups and downs in the past several months: poor health, the loss of Smokey, the loss of my previous job, and taking the plunge into home-ownership (even though it was a good thing, buying a house is one of the most stressful life events that people experience). But now things are settling down: I am healthier and I feel more positive; I'm starting a new job that I think will really, truly be a rewarding, enjoyable one; and we've been in our house for a couple months now and even though the improvements are far from over, we've reached a point where the house is comfortable and I can just enjoy it. I have a lot of hobbies I've delved back into, such as gardening and cooking and yoga.

Even though I still have far to go in all these endeavors, I feel like my journey (and it is all about the journey, you know) is well under way.

I'm still alive!

I have been mostly ignoring my blog lately, but it's giving me a guilt trip so I have to try and pay more attention to it. It's been so busy lately, trying to get the house finished-enough for our party. And I'm a perfectionist so finished-enough isn't nearly perfect enough! But, our party took place on Saturday, and I just told everyone "Anything that isn't perfect, just pretend it is!" and they complied (or maybe they were just too drunk). So, it was a success! I neglected to take any pics, though....sigh...for some reason, I like to photograph nature and landscapes and things but when it comes to people/parties/family stuff, I always forget the camera. I guess, people get upset with bad pics but I've never had a complaint from a mountain or a tree or a waterfall!

Anyway, so it's the beginning of June and as of next week I will be working for the Travis Audubon Society! I will be the volunteer coordinator/office assistant but hopefully a grant is coming in that will launch me into the Volunteer Manager role. Yippee! I was dying to work for a non-profit and I'm extremely excited about this opportunity! I get to do something that feels good, and I can honestly say that my job is "for the birds"!

I've got some big goals for June and the rest of the summer, one of which is the paying-more-attention-to-my-blog goal, so keep comin' back!