When One Has a Cushy Life but Can't Appreciate it Enough...

And by one, I mean this one. Me.

In spite of the cleaner kitchen I haven't cooked much because Ben's taste change a lot while I was away; it's more what mine used to be before my cooking aligned with his old taste. He now likes raw-er, plant-based, and simpler flavored food, which should be great news because it's easier/quicker. But I had such a hard time feeding him raw-er and simpler veggies early in our marriage I'm having a hard time reverting 24 years. Still, it's a good time of the year to do this.

I've been trying to improve my mostly-bread baking, too, and at the same time trying to reduce our flour intake. So there's a bit of alternative flours in the house, we eat fewer pasta meals, and I've "liked" several vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free pages on Facebook to learn about alternatives, like using egg plant slices instead of lasagna sheets. What I don't understand is why most of the recipes on the gluten-free pages are of sugar-laden sweets. I understand you need a few of these if you have gluten-free kids, but for Ben and me, the whole point of engaging in these styles of cooking is to live a healthier, fresher life, and so we pick up a fruit or two for snacks.

At the bottom of the page of one vegan blog were rows of thumbnails of things we should give up, and among them was wool clothing. What the... Seriously, do some people think sheering wool is cruel to sheep, or shall we kill them all off because we don't need them if we don't eat nor wear them? I mean the sheep, not the vegans. At this point...

Mind you, Ben will never give up his bacon, and I, my smoked salmon, so it's not like we can point our fingers any anyone... 

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For various, (weather, allergy, work,) reasons, i.e. excuses, I haven't gardened in 22 days which is contributing to my lack of appreciation for the season and my location. Enough said.

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I'm trying to revive my interest in photography, but when one is lacking in appreciation for one's life, is guilt-ridden for not making one's house beautiful, (not in anyone else's eyes but in one's own,) one ceases to see beauty in one's surrounds. One must try harder. Without feeling one needs a new camera.

I signed up for a Steve Sonheim Photo Silly class this morning. I went back to Carla's site for the first time since before I went home in Feb yesterday to discover there are lot of new classes that I would love to take, but a photo course felt most beneficial now. And not a lot of cleaning up afterwards.

After I paid with Paypal, this screen popped up. It's been that kind of a morning.