Frugal February

It's almost February, and I'm challenging myself to a month of frugality!

Here are the rules of engagement:

No eating out.
No drinking out, including coffee.
No shopping for non-necessities.

Here are the pre-set exceptions:
My bridesmaid's dress for my lovely sister's wedding (kind of a necessity, actually)
Anything amazing and affordable that I find at bargainhuntingpdx (if I go)
Buying material for a gift that I desperately want to make but know I don't have the material for

How to curb shopping jitters/anxiety:
Pot-lucks with friends
Big delicious dinners with lots of left-overs for when I'm feeling lazy
Using Christmas time gift certificate for Powells books
Sewing, crafting, and gifting with materials I already have
Preparing French press/mocha pot the night before so that I make coffee every morning
Having granola bars/bagels/fruit at hand so that I don't buy breakfast

If anyone wants to join in Frugal February, let me know! What's your savings goal and how are you going to reach it? My goal is really just to observe the difference that doing the above things makes. I will update along the way.

Friday Fantastic

This book is one that I would probably turn my crooked nose up at. Look at that title! I can't even say it! The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society! What? But my mom recommended it and offered to mail it my way, and I trust my mom's taste in books, and here's why: she loved The Glass Castle and hated Eat, Love, Pray. Two excellent examples of my mom's taste.

So, I read this book, and the best adjective I can think of for it is "darling." Yes, I'll say it again, this book is absolutely darling. The characters are enchantingly real, which is what makes this book so charming. Told through a series of letters written back and forth amongst friends and strangers, this book is set immediately after WWII in London, primarily in Guernsey, and is about building community through a shared need to support one another in a difficult time and a shared love of literature and eventually, a shared love of neighbor. Not overly saccharine nor dark and often funny, I'd recommend this read to anyone who needs a darling, darling story to carry them into another place and time.

"blograstination"

(Thanks, Emily, for the title to this post!)

I am blograstinating right now, in the midst of finals week, with 100 some junior essays and freshmen lit. papers to have graded and entered by Monday, and reminded of my trek to the Andes via stifled bus and long hike at lung-clenching altitudes with my girl Avery. We chanted mantras to ourselves to get us through the physical discomfort of both that long day and some of the difficult, yet exhilarating hikes on the days that followed. Our mantras went something like this: vistas! saunas! brownies! Not really mantras at all, they were little wish lists: items or aspects of the trip that we were really looking forward to relaxing into and enjoying.

Here are some of the little things that I'm putting on my mantra-list right now:

happy hour
Last Thursday art opening
yoga class
a run
starting seeds
sewing more gifts for lovely people
playing with the camera I got for my birthday
a Valentines' making tea party at Danielle's
christening the snowshoes I got for my birthday
sitting around and reading

On a professional note, put on the list being done with grading and planning some exciting new lessons and units. I'm thinking of doing a black studies unit called--working title--"From Blues to Hip-Hop: Black Resistance through Art, Literature, and Music." If anyone has any suggestions that would be 11th grade appropriate, please let me know! Here's the short list so far:

A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansbury
Poetry and essays from the Harlem Renaissance, including, of course, Langston Hughes
Billie Holiday
Miles Davis
"President" by Wyclef
"Buffalo Soldier" by Marley
"The Revolution will not be Televised" by Nikki Giovanni
Richard Wright
Rita Dove
Maya Angelou

What's stressing you out right now, and what's your mantra? How are you getting through?

raindrop tea

A variation on my favorite sleepy time tea: the recipe has the combined benefits of being a stronger sedative for us humans while (after giving kitty a nibble) causing laughs as Elijah runs around the house, scratching and sliding and chasing and rolling.

Perfect after grading and drinking coffee until 6 p.m. to use to mellow out and sleep well.

Elijah's Tea

2 T. chamomile
1 pinch of lavender
1/2 t. catnip
1/2 t. rosehips

I drank this last night, fell asleep in a cocoon of blankets, and didn't budge until my alarm sounded this morning (and then reset my alarm for an hour later because I didn't have students until 10:30 today!).

friday fantastic

Hulu this: Portlandia, with Carrie Brownstein and Fred Armisen, airs tonight on IFC, but many have already scoped it out on Hulu, including me, last night, with a living room full of friends. Some of the favored scenes:

When a special male guest uses the bathroom at a feminist bookstore and catches hell for it from the two sandal wearing, kombucha drinking proprietors. The bookstore was a spoof of In Other Words, a mere hop and skip from my house. While I've sadly still not made it to the bookstore, I did attend a raging fundraiser that my next door neighbors threw for the place when I lived over in the Alberta Arts District. Yes, the girls wore sandals and long skirts (like in the skit); they also knew how to throw a killer party, had great senses of humor, and their shelves were full of wonderful wonderful books. (The store has community yoga classes that I should really go check out.)

When a couple asks a million questions about a chicken before ordering lunch at a Portland and then decides to drive out to the farm to scope the place in person (when the chicken's file with a picture is not acceptable proof of the chicken's peaceful and happy life before the hatchet) before committing to ordering.

When a local group plays hide-and-seek at the PCC library, also near my house. This was funny in that Brian has spent countless hours studying in that library. That and the team's name was the "Sherlock Holmies."

The major question we had to ask after watching: Is this as funny to non-Portlanders as it is to us?