Easiest Post Ever.

You know those list people? The ones who write lists about what they're going to do and then share them. Well I'm sitting at my computer and I don't have my notebook handy, so today's the day that I become a list person.

I put the kids in bed, sit down for a minute and suddenly it's 9:30 and I'm totally pooped. There were so many things I was suppose to do today. And now that I have no more energy to do any of them I can remember all of them.  And here's the list:

Finish putting the green house together
Start your seeds before you're so late for the party that there's not even any more cake.
Make invitations for Ada's Birthday Gala with Ada
Fold laundry (obvious)
Post Picture on Ada's Birthday Gala Event Page
Fix the small but growing pile of clothes that have rips or need new buttons etc.
Wash my walls so that I can paint over the kidly's drawings.
Take the ginormous load of stuff in the back of my car to the DI
Clean my house so it's spic and span and I don't have to worry about it so much come Saturday
Deliver Birthday Gala Invitations with Ada
Move the shelves over into the closet and organize the shoes
Make souvenirs for Ada's Birthday Gala
Look up recipe for super awesome Barefoot Contessa's pastries for Ada's Birthday Gala
Clean the car
Take pictures of the car
Make a KSL and Craigslist Ad for the car
Look for a new dresser on KSL
Get ahold of Ron and ask him some refinancing questions.
Continue Secret Special Something for someone who may or may not read this...and may or may not be my husband. 

Yeah, I could go on, but I won't because just thinking about it is making me more tired. And being , well, ME there's no way I'm going to get that much done. Who am I kidding I have two small children who are obsessed with doing everything with me and destroying everything else at the same time. But now you have somewhat more proof that I am not a Super Hero Woman and do not llive a glamorous Hollywood Lifestyle. But I'm me and I'm, well, Happy.

Sprouting: The Most Fantacstically Exciting and Terribly Boring Post Ever.

 
No big story today. I just did something that I've been wanting to do for a while. I grew my own sprouts. I bet you a bunch of money that you could grow sprouts with what you have in your kitchen right now, without buying a single thing. (ok, so I'm not really as reckless as that. But really, I bet you could.) The biggest problem for me was keeping clean counter space all week long amidst canning beans...


I can't say that I use sprouts all the time, or even a lot. I can't even say I remember the last time I bought sprouts. Neither can I say I thought the cost of buying them was justifiable even when I did, I'm sure I got them on a super duper sale day at Market Square. It's even less justifiable when I consider what I know now. Now that I know how easy it is to grow sprouts, I'm going to be eating them more and I'll never buy them again.

Actually though, they probably were worth the cost. I'm smart. I looked on wikipedia, and googled it (links provided below). And if you just want to pay for good quality food, that's alright, pay away. I had heard before, but know better now that they are really good for you. They are a cancer fighting, anti oxidant rich, power-packed, super-food. If you think about it, it makes a lot of sense. Sprouting seeds simply takes the nutrient rich heart of the seed (the endosperm) and transfers it into something edible and delicious, all the while adding to the endosperm's super power by making a baby plant that is eaten whole. If you want more information on their health benefits (cause I'm really not a health fanatic missionary) look here.

My favorite way to use sprouts has always been in a sandwich. I'm a sandwich person. Though off my head I can think of other ways:  wraps, spring rolls, salads, stir fries.  But I'm excited to find new ways, scrumptious ways, to adopt into my kitchen. This is a more extensive list of ways you can use them.

You can sprout pretty much any seed. However some seeds are deemed inedible or unsafe for human consumption. Tomatoes, peppers, oats (at least raw). But most edible plants with edible raw leaves or seeds have edible sprouts. One of the biggest problems with Sprouts though is actually in the ease of their growth. If they aren't well taken care of or exposed to contaminants, they harbor lots of bugs that are dangerous to eat (not actual insects, but bacteria). If you've ever been paranoid about buying spinach or tomatoes with the constant Salmonella breakouts in the last few years you should know that Sprouts have been just as big of a problem. All the more reason to grow them yourself.

Which brings me to the very reason I decided to try sprouting them myself. I recently found a most excellent resource. His name is Mike Leiberman and he is one smart guy. You may have seen him or read about him in an number of places. He has all sorts of creative ways to simplify the art of growing your own food and to do it in amazingly small spaces. He makes me feel like my 1/4 acre is a farm. And I like that because it's what I imagine it to be anyway. Here is his post on growing sprouts. I followed it in a very basic sort of way.

The gist is you take some beans or seeds or grains (I used lentils) and soak them in water overnight in a jar with some nylon or cheesecloth tied on the top (tied with string, a rubber band, a bottle ring etc.) then in the morning dump the water out. Rinse with clean water and drain. Then let it all sit there on your counter top for a few days. Rinse them in the same way a couple times a day until they sprout. Then you eat them. That's it.

The only thing you have to do to make sure they are safe is not leave them around raw meat, cover them like instructed, and rinse them twice a day. I actually didn't cover mine. They did awesome, but probably wouldn't have if it were summertime.

And there you have it. An extraordinary leap for one kitchen makes a terrifyingly long post for someone who, well, doesn't want to grow sprouts...Lol.

Ladies Night

That moment when you've just had a totally epiphany of an experience and you just know that you need to sit down and write about it because it's all going to leave you soon and you need to capture it before it does. This is that moment. But even as I sit ready to write, a lot of the theories and ah ha! moments that I want to remember have already left; others I won't be able to sort through in the fog.

Tonight I know that I am part of a group of extraordinary women. I don't know what links us. Is it genetics? Is it a deviant gene that says that we are strong willed and independant? Or is in a gradual cultural shift that we are all a part of because we were born in a certain decade, in the same region. I don't know. We have some common genetics to be sure, some of us. But mostly, it's just great the way we feed off of each others honest energy and the desire to connect. Because we do. Some of us more strongly than others. And some of us because we have more...practice. Either way, I just Love them. And tonight I feel like I'm extremely lucky to have them and be a part of them. In a way, it's sad that we had to wait till we're all grown adult women to come to know each other. But then maybe if we had known each other before we wouldn't be getting to know each other now.

Anyway, that's nothing of what I thought I needed to say. There was something else about how I feel energized that there are other honest women and I actually know them. Something about how I feel validated in my thoughts and conclusions and even in my rambling in a focused conversation.So even though these are just a bunch of words and I havn't really said anything. It's good enough for tonight. 

A very Good Song

Music Monday Meme? Why Not? If you came here for a super good song then you've come to the right place. But I can't claim the rights of appreciation for this song. Actually my friend Joel posted it on my facebook page yesterday when I expressed the need to get a really GOOD song in my head. I needed it in a really BAD way. I had never heard of the song until yesterday. But now it will be engraved upon the walls of my mind for a very long time. Not necessarily because of the song . . .

There you have it. A Good Song, In a very BAD way.....
Laugh Folks. Joel, also happened to be one of my High School English Teachers...
I won't be offended if you didn't take the time to listen to the WHOLE SONG, like I did before I got the joke.

This is apparently, a *blog hop*. I've never participated before. Or at least I don't know how if I have. Lol. 

Go here to see what other people ARE actually listening to. 

Mustalgic Musings

If you don't like the tunes, you may turn off the player at the right

We all have things that we deem too sacred to share. Things that are such an intimate a part of our core, or at least what we believe to be our core, that we would feel naked if it were to be flaunted in front of our eyes. Is it that we don't believe that anyone else would 'get it'. Is it that we believe these things set us apart, they make us feel different, special?

Maybe I'm imagining it. Maybe I'm over analyzing my adolescence. Have we all grown out of it? Don't try to tell me that it wasn't real when we were 15, cause I won't believe you.

I'm feeling particularly mustalgic tonight and last night. And so, I've decided to share what I can find on You tube of my 'too sacred things'. In my case, they are mostly music. Of course, I could always spout off to you the melodramatic stanzas scratched on napkins and concert tickets, but that would be not only crossing comfortable boundaries, but ridiculous.  


Though I don't discard  the neurotic possibilities of my 14 year old self, I also know that many of them come from a part of my life when I was particularly alone. That is not to say I was lonely or throw a melodramatic hint of disgruntleness into the calculation, It was actually one of the happiest times in my life. I figured out alot about myself and these tunes were part of an awakening, my very first identity crisis.

Of course, while I'm going on and on and on about these balads, these hearts strings pulled directly from my aching pulsing self, I can't not mention that none of these bands came to me of my own talant to identify ingenius chords and rifts. My family played a part that can not be adequately described. Melanie placed by some miracle The Wild Colonials and The Red House Painters in my path. David got me and the rest of my family hooked on The Connels, Andrew exacerbated my need for a weekly dose of Crowded House. I'll never forget the day my closeted new age Mother brought home a single of The Sundays version of Wild Horses. And of course, Mark sealed my emotional response to Here comes the Sun, by leaving me to my rainy day walking self while he planted trees in Mississippi(For the record, this is the very least of musical memories Mark left me with).

Last week at a conference, someone was talking about trends in a business that I consider important. He made reference to the Romans and how they accomplished a lot of amazing things, and yet their civilization gives us more ruins to study than direct links to valuable wisdom or knowledge. Then he asked what will separate us from them? It is that we will share what we've learned with the next generation. Okay, I know, didn't I just say something totally profound? (As she walks away, her back dripping with sarcasm) But I think it's true that it does little good to sit around thinking we are the only special ones. This music doesn't really say anything about me. It does however speak volumes about the culture and people it came out of, people that I identify with and bring parts of me outside of my small sphere.And I must say that though music can be tool of self expression and meditation, it is most thoroughly appreciated in large masses, where thousands of people are enjoying the energy all at the same time. So at the risk of ending my short blog habit, that's how I'm going to imagine you all, reading this all the way down to the end of grueling sentimental post, all swaying together with the rhythm and hum of gigantic amplifyers, feeling the energy of these songs flowing out into the blogwaves, and maybe even doing a little gig in your kitchen like I am in mine.

And if you have read this far, I'll let you in on the most sacred secret loves of my life, which is not found on You Tube. If you like The Wild Colonials track 'Heaven and Hell' you must listen to the full album 'Fruits of Life'.

And what about you, what do you deem 'too sacred to share'?