Lend a hand. Or money.

I'm alive, but I've been enjoying summertime and have tried to stay away from the computer. I'll be back soon with an update on my life! 

I've talked a little about this before, but some days are so full of greatness that I can't help but to feel guilty. I have so many good things going on in my life, great friends, and a great family, and while I know I deserve it, simply because I think almost everyone deserves it, I just feel so sad for everyone who doesn't have the same things that I have. And by things, I don't mean a TV, a car, etc, but just the feeling I have of happiness, contentness and safety.

A couple weeks ago a friend posted a link on her Facebook from Flagstaff Shelter Services about how they needed food donations to feed the homeless. FSS isn't able to provide overnight services during the summer like they do during winter, but they will be providing breakfast from 7am-1pm every day. That adds up to a lot of food and money!

I've always been one to donate to a good cause, even if it was a dollar or two, but I know I can do more than that. And I am! I've adjusted the budget around so that we can have $20 a month to give away to something we want to help with. At first, I thought there was no way we would have money. I'm a college student who works short hours during the semester, and it's not like Vince is rolling in the big bucks. But after realizing that if I'm privileged enough to spend more than an hour of my time researching what kind of freaking tupperware I want (glass? plastic? bpa free? round? square?) and buying an $8 tube of lipstain at Target, I realized I have more than enough money a month. Well, not more than enough, but at least $20.

60 yoghurts, 2 giant watermelons I cut up, jelly (homemade and store-bought) and peanut butter for $25

One thing that really stuck with me was a post that the manager of FSS posted on her Facebook wall. She was giving a ride to one of the patrons of the shelter and he said that he typically doesn't like to eat a lot because he has no where to go to the bathroom, since most businesses do not let homeless people use them. Read that last sentence again. And then again. And then one more time, for good measure. This man, who only has access to a small amount of food, sometimes prefers not to eat because he has no where to use a restroom. How heartbreaking is that? It's something I never would have thought of until I read that. A lot of people claim that the homeless have done it to themselves, and that if they really wanted to do something about it, they could. Do you honestly think that someone would choose this life? A life where they opt not to eat because they had no where to take a shit?

My town has a lot of people who are homeless, especial during the summer, and I'll be the first to admit that it can be hard to deal with. I live on a street know as 'Hobo Highway' because it's the street between shelters that a lot of homeless people walk on when they go from the night shelter to the one they hangout at during the day. A lot of the times they taunt my dog if she's in the yard as they walk by, make crude comments to me, are already wasted, and aren't really a joy to be around. It's important to remind myself that not all of them are like that, and that this isn't a life of their choosing. Yes, to a certain extent it is, but really, think of yourself in that position. Imagine how hard it would be to get out of that situation on your own. You would need all the help you could get. And I of course remind myself of the saying about how everyone has a different story that has led them to their current place in life. (Um, I can't remember the quote, or where I've read it, or anything. If you know, pass it my way.)

So I'm committing to do more and I challenge you to do the same. It doesn't have to be for a homeless shelter, but can be bringing toys to the children's hospital or something. If you are in Flagstaff and want to help, Flagstaff Shelter Services can use things like bread, peanut butter, jelly, hard boiled eggs (or regular eggs that someone else will boil), clothes, yoghurt, fresh fruit, granola bars, etc. They have a fridge but no stove/oven, so they are pretty limited with what they can do!

It's about time...

Last year I posted about some goals I wanted to achieve, so I'm going to do a little review to see if I completed my goals, along with a list of new goals. It seems crazy that I wrote these goals just last year, I barely remember them! Here's a brief overview of last years:

• My number one goal for the year is to open an Etsy shop.
• Achieved But then I decided it wasn't a good time to have my shop open and promptly shut it down...
• Get my craft room set up.
• Achieved We ended up moving out of that house though so I'm back to no craft room. It was perfectly set up though!
• Be a better mamma to Roxanne.
• Not Achieved I was better with her in 2011 than 2010, but I still feel like I didn't give 100%.
• Make more time for family and go on dates with my little brother Will!
• Achieved I definitely made more time with my family. We get together pretty frequently for dinner and to hangout.
• Don't eat dinner in front of the TV.
• Not Achieved Vince and I definitely eat in front of the TV still even though we don't have cable! Damn that Netflix.
• Sew something at least once a week.
• Not Achieved Even though I didn't sew something every week, I did make a LOT of things this year that I was excited about.
• Write more often.
• Not Achieved I feel like I wrote more in 2011 than 2010, but I didn't write 5 days a week like I intended.

So, three out of seven. Not bad? Aww, who am I kidding, that's kind of crappy. At least I achieved some of the goals!

I've come up with some new goals, but not because of the new year. It's because of a new life! A lot of changes have come about with me quitting my job, which leaves me with a lot of opportunities to do what I've wanted to do for a long time. So with that, here are some new ideas that are all the same theme:

Take a picture of all the food I waste. I've watched a lot of documentaries about how much we waste, more recently Dive (which I highly recommend...it's instantly on Netflix!) and it's made me pay even more attention to my food waste. I may not be able to end world hunger, but I can be in control of what I consume and what I throw away. I'll probably do a little collage of the pictures once every few weeks so that I embarrass myself with how much I throw out (which will hopefully prevent me from wasting stuff in the first place), but also to remind each of you that you should be paying attention to how much food you throw away.

Eat more whole and healthy foods. Sometimes it's so insanely hard to buy organic, especially in a town like Flagstaff. We have ONE health food store and it's expensive. It's a lot easier for me to buy a bag of tater tots for $3 and have that last a few meals than it is to pay $3 for a single organic bell pepper that isn't very filling! I know that buying organic is healthier for me, though, and I feel so much better when I eat it. Also, the flavor of organic versus non-organic? Waaaaay different. I make a potato soup that calls for celery and when I put it in, I usually can't taste it. (Which I like because I don't like the taste of celery unless it's with peanut butter.) Last week when I made it with organic celery, it was more like I was eating celery soup, it was SUCH a strong flavor. Now that I know this, I can add a lot less celery to my soup!

Join/visit the local CSA. Ok. So I'm embarrassed to admit this, but I live 2 blocks from the CSA here in town, if that even, AND I'VE NEVER BEEN THERE. I've always wanted to go and talk to the lady that runs it, but for some reason I am so so so intimidated. Why do I feel like that? Maybe I'm not cool enough to be in there because I like things like tater tots? Whatever reason I may have (that I'm not even aware of) I need to get over it and go there. Not everything is organic, but it's local, which I kind of care about more about than being organic. And this is from their website: 'Each week, FCSA participants receive a set share of seasonally available vegetables harvested the day of delivery'. Say whaaaat?!

All the food I got from Bountiful Baskets for $15. The organic basket is only $25!

Sign up with Bountiful Baskets again. I posted about this before and how much I loved it. The pick-up day was perfect for me, and then they switched it to a time that was impossible for me to get out of work, and VInce's schedule didn't work with it either. I was SOOOO sad about it, I seriously loved it! I am now able to pick it up on the assigned day, so I'm happy. It only happens once every two weeks, not every week like I thought, so this will be a good thing to pair up with the CSA. They offer organic baskets for only $10 more, which is still ridiculously cheaper than going to the aforementioned health food store.

Eat less meat. In addition to organic, I'm only eating the 'free-range, grass-fed, etc' meats, which means more expensive. Vince has agreed that we don't need to eat meat with every meal, so I think this will be an easy thing to cut back on. 

Spinach, tomato + red onion quesos I made for dinner last night and lunch today! Recipe to come...
So in case you couldn't tell, food is a huge thing in my life, considering ALL of my goals revolve around it. At the same time, everything I want to achieve aside from food is based around that. If I want my workouts to go better? I better eat well. If I want to focus in class? I better eat well. If I want to start waking up super early? I better eat well. Food is such an important thing and Americans kind of suck at realizing it's importance!


As a side note, I think I'm going to write an 'organic disclaimer' soon. For some reason, I hate reading recipes on people's blogs that tell you to use 'organic milk' or 'organic yellow squash'. I feel like they are trying to make themselves sound better than everyone else, but I'm sure with most people, that's not really the case! I don't want to make myself sound better or act like it's a bad thing to not use organic foods. If you don't want to or you simply can't afford it, that's fine! I think eating any fresh food is WAY healthier than eating something canned or processed!


Also, I don't plan on only eating healthy or organic foods. If I go out or to a friends house, I will not concern myself with whether it's organic or not. I don't want this to prevent me from doing things I normally do that I would miss out on. This is about making my life better, not hindering it! In fact, as I wrote this post, I even treated myself to a Dr Pepper.


So...there you have it! Some VERY ambitious food goals. I've stuck to the whole 'organic + healthy' eating since I decided I wanted to do it (maybe the 2nd or 3rd of January?) and I hope I can continue to stick to it!