What to eat... Picture/News item of the day XXXI

For a while, I watched a lot of food documentaries available on Netflix. I figured if I was going to be watching something, might as well watch something educational, right? ;-)

The basic conclusions shown collectively were:
1) When you eat a fatty diet with lots of carbs and processed sugars, it's bad. Keep it clean and unprocessed!
2) But wait! If you kill animals, that's cruel...go vegan!
3) ...There's more! With plastics and BPA leaking into everything, our plants, oceans, and water sources are polluted and mutating us.

So unhelpful.

And then I saw this article today and had to laugh: http://www.medicaldaily.com/vegetarian-plant-based-diet-genetic-mutation-cancer-risk-380079

Now I can't tell you how valid the study was to which they're referring. Basically, everywhere you look, it's danger, danger, danger! Label everything! Down with GMOs! Down with eating animals! Down with fat! Down with non-fat! Down with...plants?

I think we all need to take a breath and chill. Just chill. Naturally we should be mindful of what we consume and whether we are good stewards of the earth. I'm not arguing against that. But I agree with certain Christian authors that have recently written about "diet America" ruining our meal times and sense of community, and that we should take a Eucharistic approach to food. Sure, let's go for real and wholesome as much as possible. But let's not lose our head over it in the process.

Berries, books, and Leverage

Out my window: Ugh, the cold front messed with me so much. Spring, come baaaack...it's ok, it should warm up over the next several days again :-) and the promise of spring showers also makes me giddy :-)

Clothing myself in: jeans, blue Maurice's top with black sweater, "pearl" earrings and bracelet

Around the apartment: I haven't felt the best the past couple of days, so despite having some extra days off of work, it's kinda, ick. Need to find my motivation again so that it's clean over Easter weekend.

The hubby: is super duper awesome.
 
In the kitchen: coming up will be some simple french dip crescents with au jus (I'm cheating and using a packet for the au jus), chicken alfredo stuffed shells, and skillet lasagna. Loving that berries are coming back in season. I wish I could do them more year-round. For simple, on the go breakfasts I'll do some toast with nutella and layer raspberries, blueberries, or strawberries. So yummy.

Crafting: maybe, if I'm motivated tomorrow/this week, I'll get some plants and whip our little porch into shape.

Learning: how to get a small group of people to agree on a meeting time so that the most people can make it...eesh.

Reading: Almost done with The Imitation of Mary (And you know what, I do like it better overall than The Imitation of Christ. Weird. I don't know, I guess there were parts of the latter that I just couldn't relate with.), FINALLY got to King Arthur pulling out the sword in The Once and Future King, also found a free app version of Jane Eyre, just got to the part where she leaves the school job to become a private tutor.

Watching: Matt's s-i-l introduced me to an episode or two of Leverage last summer. I remember thinking it was good, but never followed up with it. I have been binge-watching it recently...
  
Bringing me joy: A good conversation with my spiritual mentor...a spring break of sorts...

Thinking about: St. Joseph's leadership...Easter and summer plans...other things...

Pictures to share: Maybe when I have the porch cleaned up...

Random music pick: Song suggestion of the day XXXVI

I've been cycling through a lot of music recently to go with youth group "lesson" plans. I also am still reorganizing all of my music on iTunes, post new computer (Matt would say I'm a little nit-picky with how I arrange my music and pay attention to number of plays.). All this to say that I'm not sure I have a particular song standing out to me right now. I'm a little burnt out on the radio...country music gets raunchier, sometimes the Christian station songs just aren't doing it for me, and alternative/top 40 stations are hit and miss. So this is probably going to be just a random pick for you this time.

Valentine's Day Around Here (a little late in posting)

I have discovered, since being married, that I do have a slight soft spot in my heart for good ole' Valentine's Day that I would've never admitted to before. Add to that seeing allllllll the cute/creative ideas from Pinterest and, well, I was ready for it this year!

#1: The cute reminders...

I picked up a box of candy hearts because you just can't go wrong with those. While he was relaxing in his office, I put them around our apartment in places he wouldn't miss.

#2: The unique-ish gift...

People on Pinterest have all kinds of clever gift small gift ideas. Sadly you probably can't read what I wrote too well, but it says, "Donut Forget I Love You." Dawww. Sweet :-)

#3: The card...

Found this card at the grocery store and loved it. There are all the sappy "to my husband" cards with long poems that will probably be skimmed over, but this...this I could have fun with. I took a video, but am not really skilled at placing a phone to get a good shot when I'm not behind it, so it only got our torsos, but I gave him a flying leap hug...it was great.