This makes me think more and more that our country desperately needs to get serious about alternative energy. Billions of dollars go into coal and oil industry. Why not billions of dollars to build solar cells or wind farms? Instead of being smart, politicians are sold out for the energy companies. Their loyalty has been purchased already. We sit here like fools, wondering why pregnant women can’t eat fish anymore, why more and more water supplies are contaminated and people are turning to bottled and filtered water, and why asthma rates continue to rise.

I do not believe that the Lord made this earth for us to viciously destroy in search of energy and money. We are supposed to be good stewards of resources, but instead there are people who are so hung up on wanting cheaper gas and utilities that they don’t see the danger that lies ahead. The economy is going down the tubes. I’m not optimistic that there will be a comeback any time soon. But this fool notion that we must consume everything we see and that we have to buy more and more using our shiny credit cards was bound to come back and bite us eventually.

We need to get serious. There are still people who don’t believe in global warming. I don’t know if I do, but I do believe that our desperate attempts to acquire more and more fossil fuels will destroy us. We will destroy natural environments all for what? For an energy company’s gain? When will the madness end?

In my search for more info, I found iLoveMountains.org, a website about mountaintop mining and the tragedy of Marsh Fork Elementary schools. A school should not be located right by a coal processing area. That’s absurd. But instead of fixing the problem, the government wrings its hands and whines about jurisdiction.

Walking and taking the bus relax me a lot. In the car, I turn from a nice, bubbly person to an angry, f-bomb dropping driver. It’s awful. On the bus, I do not care about the other cars on the road. I can sit and think, listen to music, and just decompress from the day. I can think and pray or I can talk to the people I see regularly (one of the volunteers at my work takes my bus pretty regularly, so we always have to chat!).

When I’m walking, sometimes I listen to music and just let my thoughts roll by. Other times I unplug the iPod and pay attention to the world around me. I remember one recent day I was attracted by smells. Summer has a lot of smells. The smell of a distant barbecue. The smell of fresh cut grass. The smell of water. The smell of mud. The smell of heat. The smell of summer plants and flowers. There are just a lot of smells when I walk. Some smells aren’t so awesome, like the smell of asphalt, the smell of exhaust, or the smell of sewers. But most smells in my neighborhood are quite pleasant.

Walking also gives me a chance to see the neighborhood. Here’s this person and their dog, another person with their dog. There’s that huge tabby cat. There’s the siamese cat that I want to hug. Here’s the cat that tries to follow me into the apartment. Here are the neighbors who play music on the porch. Here’s my fourth grade teacher, who walks the same path every morning before the big Catholic church bells ring and she goes off to service. There’s a bird hunting for a yummy worm after a rain. There’s a bird strutting on tree branches, singing a song. There are two squirrels running about. Here’s a bunny I scared out of the bushes. There is so much happening in a neighborhood. It’s like neighborhood ecology.

Walking also makes me feel safe. I live down the street from some shadier apartments and a liquor store. But seeing the people who live around, looking them in the eye, makes me feel safe. Like we’re all part of this neighborhood ecology. I’m sure the old man walking home with the grocery bag hates riffraff and rowdy kids as much as me. We’re all in this together, wanting a peaceful neighborhood. It makes me feel like part of something bigger.

Reading also lets me unplug. I read a lot. Sure, I spend time online reading blogs and writing blogs and such, but reading books is awesome. I have four checked out from the library (maybe five… don’t think I returned the risotto book yet). I find that TV just eats my time away and I get nothing from the experience. Books give me ideas and hope and images, even dreams of what I can write next.

I know that I will need to unplug from the chaos throughout this week. I’m going to take the bus even on my hectic days because I will need the built-in time to relax. Sure, I’ll still have to drive and run errands, but at least at the end of a work day I have time to sit back and realize everything will work out just fine. I’ll have time to turn that stress into prayer.

Tonight: Leftover chicken, roasted potatoes and garlic scapes. It looks promisingly delish!

And it was! I doused the chicken in a light dusting of flour and pan-fried the crust. It made the chicken look and taste different, but it was still the amazing marinated chicken from the dinner party. Then I sliced up 3 well-scrubbed Idaho potatoes and cut my garlic scapes into pieces. They were tossed on a cookie sheet with EVOO, sea salt, and pepper and roasted at about 450 for 25 minutes. Delicious. The garlic scapes came out a bit more cooked than I liked, but they were still delicious with that hint of garlic flavor, not as strong as a clove of it but still lovely. Apparently garlic scapes are delicate little beasties. I should have added them halfway through cooking time.

I also had some market fresh strawberries. Strawberries aren’t good for long. They turn from lush and tangy to mushy and moldy lightning fast, so I ate them tonight for the good of mankind. They were great. Not super crazy sweet. A little tart, and even a little earthy. They were delicious. I ate them while reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle (which is an awesome book, btw). Nice!

Tomorrow I will broil my asparagus! I think I will have it with some kind of rice, probably brown because I don’t think I want to fuss with meat. I usually gobble up my farmers’ market finds in a couple days, which is good. Limp asparagus and mushy tomatoes are sad things to have. Better to eat a less-meat produce-rich diet now, while these lovely bounties of God’s earth are in season, than in the dead of winter. These delicious finds have really turned me off of grocery store produce. Farm-fresh stuff has more complex and lovely flavor. And less danger of contamination, which has cropped up all over even those nice organic farms. This contamination is now in my delicious tomato friends, further reinforcing my decision to stick to local produce.

But it’s more than Monday. I stepped outside with a list in hand, ready to take on the day. But I went without a coat! That’s because the weather is absolutely amazing. It’s wonderful. It’s like a taste of spring.

Only it’s February in St. Louis. That means I will get many tastes of spring followed by doses of winter.

A few days back I got this little number in the mail. Isn’t it cute? It’s a bento box!

Today I spent about an hour making enough delicious food for a couple weeks worth of bento lunches, as well as my lunch for today. I stuffed my bento box to the gills with yummy things for tomorrow:

Top: Little cup of applesauce, corn (leftover), Babybel cheese, some little chocolate balls. Bottom: Orange chicken (made today, from frozen), my perfect sticky brown/wild rice (made Saturday), and mixed veggies in balsamic butter sauce (made today, from frozen).

The prep took a long time, but it means I have ongiri in the freezer, leftover veggies and chicken, and two more cups of applesauce. That’s not counting the other leftovers that will be assimilated into the bento lunch system in the next few days.

I’m also reading French Women Don’t Get Fat. I like this book so far. But I really should be doing more cleaning since it is Monday.

Oh well. Life is good!

I didn’t go to the mall. I didn’t buy new shoes. I didn’t even buy a meal until today, I’ve been eating stuff from home instead. And you know, it’s better. It really is. Not taking my debit card to work has been really good. I eat better and cheaper when I bring stuff from home.

Today someone mentioned that he was sad I wasn’t teaching. I know he sees potential and intelligence in me and it’s flattering and lovely, really. He’s a volunteer and a really great person. But I got to thinking about things. You know what? I’m glad I switched jobs.

I took about a $5000 paycut to work where I am now. That’s a lot of money. But the benefits have been great. Sure, there’s plenty of stupid politics and annoyances and stuff, but I love my job. I really do. People notice that I’m in happier spirits. I work shorter days and I don’t take work home. I have the most flexible schedule ever. I can go in late and work late or go in early and come home early. I have vacation days that I can take easily. I can work on projects that require me to be creative and to use my intellect.

I do miss some things about teaching in a formal classroom, I really do. But when it comes to the joy and comfort I have at this job that $5000 was worth every penny. I don’t feel so stressed and rushed. I can focus on things other than work, like my friends. I can hang out with people every week. I love that. I missed that so much.

Today was a crazy busy day. Lines backed up everywhere. It’s only January. I’m sure February will be crazier. I had a few encounters with crabby people but overall I got to talk to lots of great visitors, present my favorite show, and take care of business. Yesterday I got to show some friends around and I really had a blast. It was so much fun. I had to look at the museum through visitor eyes again and that is so healthy for me. It’s an amazing place.

In Affluenza there are a few chapters about how work days have lengthened and people have little leisure time. It’s so sad. We try to buy happiness by buying stuff, but then people don’t have time to use the stuff or see family or help the community. So people try to buy their way out of the misery. What a sad state of affairs. And now we’re on the verge of a recession. I think it will be a good thing if we have a recession. People need to stop getting into such terrible debt. Companies need to stop tearing down good, small, affordable houses to put up condos, lofts, and McMansions that no one can afford. We need to stand up as a society and stop being consumed by being consumers.

Maybe I need to keep on the no buy kick for a little while longer. I’m going to rebuild my savings. Bush may want me to buy more stuff, but I’m not going to. I’d rather be ready when the slump hits.

Oh, to make my no-buy difficult I’ve noticed my lips are getting chapped and flakey so I wanted to exfoliate them a bit and be heavy handed with the lip balm. I have plenty of lip balm. Anyway, rather than look at expensive products I just exfoliated my lips with a little sugar and water. Fabulous and cheap!

So I’m going to try a couple weeks of no buying. This will be really hard for me but it needs to happen. I have too much stuff. And I’m spending more than I ought to. This is foolishness.

I really feel like the Lord has been calling me to slow down, too, and not to waste time on the frivolous. Like this conviction to take the bus to work. Taking the bus not only gets me walking as I play my little bus game, it also gives me a good 15 minutes that I can reflect and pray. Man, do I need that 15 minutes. I find myself so much more relaxed when I come home after taking the bus. I really hope I can stick with this mass transit to/from work thing for awhile because I need it. It’s so healthy.

I’ve had some cool things happening in my life and have been asking for prayer. I’ve really realized today how many phenomenal, godly women are around me, praying for me. This really touches my heart (I’m getting teary right now, for goodness’ sake). Having such beautiful, intelligent, and genuinely good women looking out for me, checking on me, and praying for me is the most amazing blessing in the whole world. Thank you all so much. I’m praying for you all, too.