Gonna Be a Busy Day

Lots to do today. I'm taking the NCHS Shelter Manager, Sherry, to Woods Humane Society to meet her counterpart there and get a tour of that facility. After 8 years of working at NCHS, Sherry has never been to Woods. This is part of my plot to start the revolution. I want to plant Big Ideas in the minds of people who can Change Things. WHAAAAAA?????

Later I'll work with volunteer Priscilla to continue improving the NCHS shop, McPaw's Marketplace. I love Priscilla. She takes no prisoners. She's a lawyer. She's consistent and steady. I need that in my life.

Then, we interview our last candidate for Shelter Services Coordinator. That person will also be a leader of the revolution, so we'd better get it right.

Then a nice, quiet session of yoga -- chai ball, to be precise -- at the Paso Robles Kennedy Club. I'll need it by then.

I have new plants from yesterday's Central Coast Cacti and Succulent Society meeting. Euphorbia decaryi v. decaryi. It's endangered in its native habitat in southern Madagascar, but won't be here at the hacienda. I like it. I also obtained 2 succulents that will probably join some others in a dish garden. One is spiky and therefore, maybe, deer resistant? The deer eat stuff on the south patio, but not stuff on the north patio. I've got to do a little research to find out what the spiky one is. The other is a semperviven.

I did a little clothes shopping after the CCCSS meeting yesterday. Then came home and cleaned out some old stuff from my closet. I can tell I'm still pissed. I tend to clean out my closet when I'm pissed. Clothes I don't like any more is one thing I can actually get rid of.

For My One Reader

Thanks, Georg. If you're reading, I'm writing.

Today? Stuff I'm sick of.

I'm sick of hearing about New Orleans. It's been 5 years people. Quit whining and start pulling yourselves up by the bootstraps. You weren't the only ones hit by Katrina. Since then plenty of other neighborhoods and communities have been hit by fires, floods, storms, tornados, whackos and idiots. Every hear of Haiti? San Bruno? Santa Barbara? Boulder? Nut cases killing their families and co-workers? Rape? Multilation? Genocide? I could do on. So I will. Homelessness is widespread. Children all over this country live in poverty. Plenty of people have lost their homes and their jobs and live in deplorable conditions. New Orleans has become the poster child for the me-me-me entitlement generation. If you vote for Reagan, don't expect FDR to come to your rescue, people.

I'm sick of hearing about 9/11. A bunch of nut cases commit mass murder. Let me explain something. Bunches of nut cases commit mass murder all over the world every day. So what did we of the USA do in response? Went to other countries and loosed our nut cases on other populations for the purpose of committing mass murder. In the name of what, I've never been able to figure out. To destroy weapons of mass destruction? There were none. To wipe out the Taliban? Can't be done any more than we can wipe out mortality. And we cry and fly our flags and feel sorry for ourselves and hate a little more on every anniversary, on every 9/11. That'll help a lot.

Shit happens, people. Deal with it. Move on. A hundred years from now, no one will alive who remembers any of this. What are you doing TODAY to make the world a better place?

End of an Era

Tomato Soup - pg. 261

Tomato soup. I made tomato soup from scratch. It was very good.

Otherwise, this is the last entry ever in my blog. Husband is bitching that I don't -- what -- I don't know. Spend enough time with him? How do you spend time with someone who's married to his damned computer and his work. I guess I'm supposed to be available to drop everything and jump when he says jump. So, I have to clear time in my life that I have otherwise filled with my own life because he's not available to me. But I have to be available to him, all the time.

No, it makes no sense. When does life ever make sense. It doesn't.

Next to no one ever reads this anyway, so who cares.

Ba-bye!

83 down; 222 to go

Awash in a Sea of Summer Veggies

Fusilli with Tomato Sauce, Eggplant, and Ricotta Salata - pg. 266

Who needs a garden when you have friends who have gardens? Not us! Tom brought a big bag of tomatoes the other day, along with Japanese eggplant, yellow pear tomatoes, peppers, and cucumbers. (No zucchini, thank heaven.) It's okay. I have miles to go in TAOSF. For example, tonight's dinner.

A fairly simple dish by Alice standards. Sliced and fried thin eggplants slices. I called the results "eggplant chips." The simple tomato sauce I still had in the frig from the last batch I made with the food mill. Chiffonade of handful of basil leaves. I couldn't find any ricotta salata, so I used grated pecorino instead, which Alice allows. Fusilli from Trader Joe's.

I did add thinly sliced high-quality salami to the table. Lord, I'm a carnivore! There's a limit to this "all-veggies, all the time" thing.

Last night we went out to movie-and-dinner. Saw The American. George Clooney. I like it for the character study, for Clooney's excellent acting, and for the cinematography. But, was turned off by the hooker-with-a-heart-of-gold bullshit and the totally predictable story line. However, watching George Clooney is NOT the worst way to spend a couple hours....

82 down + 223 to go

Showdown With the Dreaded Raw Tomato

Raw Tomato Sauce - pg. 265

I love tomatoes. When they are cooked. I love tomato sauce in all its many forms. I love ketchup. I love stewed tomatoes. You name it. Cook a tomato and I love it. Raw tomatoes? Well, that's another story altogether. My mother loved raw tomatoes. My husband loves raw tomatoes. Everyone I know pops raw cherry tomatoes into their mouths like candy. Me? I hate raw tomatoes. I can get them down. Occasionally. But not often and not because I like them. I'll make a face every time. I can't help it.

Do not put raw tomato slices on my burger, my sandwich or my salad. Spare me the cherry tomatoes on the crudite platter. There isn't enough salad dressing and vegetable dip on the planet to drown them. I don't like the taste of raw tomatoes. I don't like the texture of raw tomatoes. In other words, I do not like raw tomatoes.

I have struggled for years, decades even, to learn to like raw tomatoes. Nearly every summer, when we're awash in a sea of garden-ripe gifted tomatoes, I choke a few down in hopes that some divine intervention will occur in my taste buds. No such luck. Ever. Me? I take all those red orbs and turn them into cooked tomato sauce. Look, I even have to steel myself to peel and seed them. It's almost stomach turning. That's how much I hate raw tomatoes.

So there it is on page 265 of TAOSF. My nemesis. My ultimate culinary challenge. Because the things I'm cooking I'm going to have to eat. Page 265, on the left side of the page. Raw Tomato Sauce. WTF??? Why would anyone ever consider dumping chopped up raw tomatoes on top of perfectly good freshly cooked pasta? This makes no sense to me whatsoever. Two pounds of raw tomatoes. Skinned, seeded and whacked up into bits. Add torn (not chopped) basil leaves and plenty of olive oil, salt, pepper, and a shot of Pepper Plant sauce. Cover tightly (why??? will it produce air pollution???) and leave it alone for at least an hour. Boil the best pasta in the pantry. Put the oh-lord-help-me RAW tomato sauce over the pasta, hide it all underneath a huge mound of freshly grated Parmesan and, saints preserve me, eat it. Chase back with plenty of toasted crostini dripping with olive oil.

I made it. I ate it. Raw tomato sauce. It wasn't bad. Not my favorite dish. But, I'd make it again and eat it again. Obviously I agree with Alice that this is a dish for that time of year when tomatoes are at their very best. These were from a friend's garden, so I knew they would be as good as tomatoes ever get. Whatever that is. Randy liked it. There is easily enough sauce for another meal. Oh sigh. Well, whatever. It's done. Another major hurdle cleared.

Reminds me of one of my favorite sayings. Swallow a whole frog first thing in the morning and nothing worse can possibly happen to you for the rest of the day. I have eaten my TAOSF frog.

81 recipes down; 224 to go

Caponata!

Caponata - pg. 304

Alice continues to change my mind about various veggies. I made caponata (you could call it eggplant and tomato stew) to take along to dinner at friends last night. Really good stuff! Friends sent us home with a lot of tomatoes. Yeah! I just made some tomato sauce and now I can make more since I used a lot of the last batch in the caponata. However... I now also have zucchini and yellow summer squash coming out my ears. Ooooph. Can Alice change my attitude toward zucchini? Good luck Alice!

80 recipes completed - a mere 225 recipes yet to make

Ratatouille The Alice Waters Way

Ratatouille - pg. 322

While out with our friends Tom and Marie recently, we planned (or rather Tom planned, since he's that kind of guy) a neighborhood bbq for this afternoon. There are 3 of us couples in the neighborhood who are friends and foodies all. Tom has quite a vegetable garden. I told him that if he'd provide the veggies, I'd make a batch of ratatouille. Alice Waters' The Art of Simple Food ratatouille, of course.

Today was the day. I walked over to Tom and Marie's house this morning to get veggies directly from Tom's garden: eggplant, summer squash, and tomatoes. I supplied the sweet peppers, onions, and basil from Trader Joe's.

I've made relatively traditional ratatouille in the past, although it's been a very long time. Alice's approach is different in that she cuts everything into 1/2" dice, cooks the veggies more or less separately, adds a good bit of basil, and then mixes everything together. Since I was making a double batch to feed 9 people with plenty of leftovers, I appreciated this approach. I cut up stuff for an hour, if not more. Then cooked everything (except the tomatoes) separately in a deep 12" skillet, adding the basil bouquet, garlic, salt and crushed chili to the onion and pepper mix. When everything was cooked (except the tomatoes), I mixed it all together and just let the whole thing simmer while I took a shower and got dressed. By then, the tomatoes were well heated through, but not really cooked. Seasoning was adjusted by adding salt, pepper, and our favorite Pepper Plant Sauce (a local product).

I turned the whole thing into a covered cast iron casserole so it stayed warm all the way until dinner time. While I am not a big fan of these summer vegetables, I must admit that this ratatouille was fabulous. I ate a lot of it. There was plenty for everyone who wanted some to take it home with tons left for us. I know from past experience that ratatouille only improves with age so I'm looking forward to leftovers for several days to come. I was delighted with how the different vegetables all retained their own textures and flavors, even having been cut into such small pieces. Ratatouille can easily turn to mush, especially the eggplant. I used Tom's Japanese eggplant which probably helped. And the tomatoes were ripe but still firm.

Now. What the heck do I do with all the excess crook neck yellow squash, tomatoes, hot peppers and Japanese eggplant I still have? Tom sent me home with too much bounty from the garden. Sigh. What a horrible problem to have. (ROFLOL)

79 down - a mere 226 to go

A Triple Play!

Grilled Steak - pg. 153

Cucumber Yogurt Sauce - pg. 232

Grilled Eggplant - pg. 304

A night for experimentation. I've never gotten into grilling outdoors. I think it's a pain. But in the summer, every other recipe you encounter is for grilled something or other. Well, sometime in the not too distant past we got one of those ribbed grill pans to try out for stove-top grilling. It's just a cheap one, but good enough for experiments.

I gave it a whirl tonight, grilling 2 very nice flatiron skirt steaks and some eggplant. The results were pretty good. I may go ahead and invest in a better grill pan now, one of those nice cast iron Lodge numbers, I think. The el-cheapo pan doesn't stand up all that well to the heat required for proper grilling.

With the last dregs of some yogurt and the end of a cucumber I made some cucumber yogurt sauce for the eggplant, but it worked just as well on the steak. With a little garlic pounded in my smaller mortar-and-pestle, and a hefty pinch of cayenne. Even without the required fresh mint, it was pretty yummy.

Otherwise, I recently saw Tilda Swinton in "I Am Love." Visually beautiful if otherwise a bit strange. But what the heck, it was Tilda Swinton. I think she's amazing.

bottom line?

78 down and 227 to go

Corn on the Cob

Corn on the Cob - pg. 301

I know. I know. It's been way too long. Facebook. Blame it all on Facebook. I suppose that's a story for another time. Or, just check out my page there and be done with it.

Believe it or not, Alice has a "recipe", directions really, for Corn on the Cob. Good grief. Even I know how to cook corn on the cob. Even I have done this multiple times in the past. Anyway, we got a couple ears at Saturday farmers market. Randy made pesto and pasta tonight. I "made" corn on the cob.

75 down; 230 to go

I Roasted a Chicken

Roast Chicken - pg. 110

Seriously. I roasted a chicken. I'm not sure I've ever done that before. Seasoned with salt, pepper, rosemary sprigs and garlic cloves. Ya live, ya learn.

Oh yes, it is very good!

74 down; 231 to go

Marinate Those Greens!

Marinated Chard - pg. 216

(This is our front door from the foyer looking out onto the front porch, which has nothing to do with anything, but it cute eye candy. That's a Steve Handelman lantern on the wall.)

We spent the weekend in the Bay Area. Dinner at Ajanta with Scott and Wayne after delivering Scott's quilt to him. Impressionists at the Legion of Honor (and lunch). Ikea, Ethnic Arts (to pick up our 3rd David Marsh end table), Pendragon (one of my favorite bookstores anywhere), and the Oakland Pasta Shop from which we brought home all manner of good stuff, including roasted eggplant salad and bar-be-qued chicken for dinner that night (which was Monday). Grilled liver and onions at Saul's, too, from which I brought home kosher dills (I begged for them; I'm shameless).

So, we've been eating leftovers from that meal and other stuff, and "day old" fresh pasta from the Pasta Shop. And pickles. But last night I nuked fresh eggplant parmesan from Trader Joe's which was wonderful! And made some marinated kale to go with. Alice recommends marinated chard as an appetizer/snack, but says you can prepare any greens that way. I had some kale in the frig, so kale it was. Once again, the results, served warmish, were better than I'd anticipated.

This morning I took Stuart in for his second kitten shots. All his previous foster moms and caretakers were happy to see him and his big feet. This afternoon I joined a health club, which I really need to do. Tonight? Who knows. Oh yes, last night our new book club met for just the second time to discuss Larry Watson's Montanan 1948. Pretty decent group, all things considered.

73 down and a mere 232 to go

New Ingredient; New Appliance

Tomatillo Salsa - pg. 232

Randy and I have just given up on our Cuisinart combination blender and food processor. It's a lousy appliance and is going to the thrift shop, instruction booklet and all. We decided that what we really need is a pretty basic blender, one that actually works well and isn't too much of a pain to clean. Internet research revealed that an awful lot of buyers are loving their Kitchen Aide hand-held blenders, so last night we found one at the local Target and brought it home. (I don't want or need a food processor; I enjoy whacking stuff up with a big, sharp knife.)

A new appliance needs a new ingredient, don't you think? How about tomatillos? I've had tomatillo salsa at Mexican restaurants, but haven't ever cooked with them myself. Alice describes a basic tomatillo salsa: tomatillos, jalapenos, cilantro, garlic and a little salt. Alice recommends a variation that adds a mashed avocado, so I threw one of those in, too. All blended with the new appliance. What a great job it did! Wow! I didn't have to turn the setting up any higher than "1" (it goes from 1 to 9) to blend perfectly in just a few seconds. And I actually had good control over what was going on.

It splashed a little bit, but the minor resulting mess was much, much less than the mess I usually make cleaning the damned blender. The new appliance was extremely easy and fast to clean. The thing I've always hated about traditional blenders is cleaning them. Taking all the pieces apart, washing them, drying them, putting them all back together again. Aargh. Takes twenty times longer than the actual blending. Well, those days are OVER. I'm in love with the hand-held.

So we had tomatillo salsa over Trader Joe's enchiladas (which were disappointing), and on flour tortillas (which were good). Looking forward to tomatillo salsa over chicken, fish, oven-roasted veggies, on corn chips. Maybe it's even time for more quesadillas and nachos. All easy-to-fix stuff that's my idea of good early summer food.

Otherwise? Sewing like a maniac to finish Scott's quilt for his sister. And I've just survived 2.5 days of having a builder here working on the eternal list of "little things" that need adjusting and fixing and touching-up. These guys are wonderful, but I find their presence in my house, when it goes on for days at a time, to be seriously disruptive. Pisses me off. On the other hand, our viga ceilings are looking really spiff now after their year of shrinking since installation. And you wonder why I need chocolate....

72 down; 233 to go

Salad for Dinner

Rocket Salad with Parmesan - pg. 237

Alice loves rocket. In these parts we call it arugula, so I'm not sure how she comes to call it rocket, living as she does only 4 hours drive from here. At farmers market Randy and I nearly always buy the "spicy mix" of lettuce for salads since we love stuff like arugula and spicy mustard greens.

Last week Randy had a bug to make arugula "pesto" which was really good. So, we bought a lot of just plain arugula, enough for his "pesto" and for me to make this salad. Just arugula with a basic vinaigrette, topped with shaved curls of parmesan and toasted walnuts. Okay, I just basically heated the walnuts in my omelette pan on the cook top. What I didn't know before this was the thing about using a vegetable peeler to cut curls of parmesan. Boy, was that slick! Way easier than grating hard cheese.

Saw two movies this weekend: Ironman 2 and Toy Story 3. The first didn't have the sass of the original, but the Toy Story franchise has just gotten better with every installment. As a dedicated Barbie lover and collector, I especially enjoyed the Barbie and Ken subplot in Toy Story 3. Yes, I saw it in 3D. Love 3D. And, I finished John Pipkin's "Woodsburner," part of my library adult summer reading program. "Woodsburner" is historical fiction, based on a fire accidentally set by Thoreau the summer before he went to Walden Pond. The fire nearly destroyed the town of Concord.

71 down; 234 to go

Getting Sauced

Bagna Cauda - pg. 230

This is pretty cool stuff, although served warm. Butter, olive oil, thinly sliced garlic, lemon zest, a pinch of salt, and (wait for it...) 10 anchovy fillets carefully stripped from 5 salt-packed anchovies. Alice must really like playing with her food. Although, pain as it is to fillet those salt-packed anchovies, I read somewhere today that they are bigger and something elser (I can't remember what) than the canned ones. (Is bigger really better?)

Bagna cauda is Piedmontese for warm bath. The warm bath is the olive oil/butter that all the other stuff is in. You use it as a dip, in the traditional manner, but we used it as a sauce over wild Alaskan sockeye salmon fillets and oven roasted veggies (potatoes, carrots, red onions, and green beans all cut into pieces about the same size and tossed with a bit of olive oil and salt).

This fish and veggies thing is my current favorite dinner. Put everything on parchment lined baking sheets and stick the whole thing in the oven. The veggies for 15 minutes, then add the fish for another 10-15 minutes, all at 400 degrees. Season and sauce as you wish. Clean up is a breeze. Well, it would be anyway since Randy cleans up when I cook....

Otherwise, I'm enjoying our new kitten, Stuart, who was a gift to my husband for his 60th birthday last week. I want Stuart to be a traveling cat, so we did some errands today and voted in our special election. Currently reading "Woodsburner" by John Pipkin as part of my summer adult library reading program. And spending too much time of Facebook.

70 down; 235 to go

Peach Salsa

Peach Salsa - pg. 231

I know, I know. You can buy the stuff at Trader Joe's. But, I made some. There will be variations in the future. We ate a whole bowl of the stuff tonight on quesadillas. It will be better when I can get better peaches. I still have lots of red onion, jalapenos and cilantro to make tons more. And there is something to be said for fresh, fresh, fresh salsa.

69 down; 236 to go

Getting Back Into the Groove

I'm finally getting back into the groove after bugs and travel. The library now is totally organized, which is a good thing. It's such a pleasant room -- I really enjoy hanging out there. The books are optimally arranged. All the art that needs to be placed and hung is in the little closet so I can take things out and place them, one by one. Our cross and sun collection is hung in the dining area on the big arched wall so that there is plenty of room for the collection to grow. I've order museum putty for pots and baskets and such. I must be a nester, maybe a bird, in some part of me. I feel SO much happier and more productive when my environment is in order.

I really enjoyed our time in Concord last week. I got a whole new view of US history. E.g., what part of "well-ordered militia" don't the gun nuts understand? And, if early Concordians are typical examples, citizens have never trusted their governments and have always hated taxes no matter who was running the show! Of course, they've always wanted what taxes pay for, they've just not wanted to pay for it. They resented having to actually pay for the Revolutionary War almost as much as they resented that tax on tea.... And, I have a renewed interesting in the literature that grew out of Concord, especially since I realized that one of my favorite "shot heard 'round the world" figures, Rev. William Emerson, was the grandfather of Ralph Waldo Emerson. Connections. It's all about connections.

This morning I'm just catching up with assorted paper pushing and bill paying. Not my favorite thing to do, but part of straightening up my nest nonetheless.

Oh yes. Last night for dinner I made a pasta dish with leftover Simple Tomato Sauce and Trader Joe's spinach-chive linguine. A few bacon pieces scattered on top with chopped parsley and parmesan. Oven-roasted cauliflower, which I absolutely love. A Romaine salad dressed with the leftover honey-mustard sauce from last night's dinner. Nothing new, but nearly all stuff I've learned from TAOSF.

What I've Just Read

Montana 1948 by Larry Watson. A short novel about a family caught in a moral dilemma. Which is more important, family loyalty or doing the right thing? The first would be easy. The second is hard and life-changing for everyone involved. Well written. Spare. Reminded me of Annie Proulx whose work I love. A good book. Not a great book, but a good book. I read this for my new book club.

The Minutemen and Their World by Robert A. Gross. Winner of the Bancroft Prize in 1977 (google it). Read at Mount Holyoke right before a visit to Concord. Using the research methods of social history, Gross writes an engaging and illuminating story of the lives of ordinary Concordians before, during and immediately after the "shot heard 'round the world" at the North Bridge (the first Patriot shots in the Revolutionary War). Gave me a whole new perspective on a lot of contemporary social and political issues. My favorite Concordian was Rev. William Emerson who is the grandfather of Ralph Waldo Emerson, which leads us into the great literary history of Concord: Emerson, Thoreau, Hawthorne and the Alcotts. I loved this book. No soap opera is as good as real life.

Woman of Valor: Margaret Sanger and the Birth Control Movement in America by Ellen Chesler. An exhaustive and exhausting bio read on the 50th anniversary of The Pill. Not always an easy read unless you really want tons of detail, but certainly illuminates the life and personality of Sanger. I now very much admire Margaret for her tireless and politically savey fight for the most basic of human rights, the right to control one's own reproductive life. We all owe her a lot.

My Mother Was Wrong About Cauliflower

Roasted Sliced Cauliflower - pg. 299

Oh hell, let's be honest. My mother was wrong about a lot of things; cauliflower was just one of them. She wasn't much of a cook. Then again, she wasn't much of a mother, either. But, I digress. Last night I oven-roasted sliced cauliflower, served with a sprinkling of bread crumbs and chopped parsley. Oh my! Delicious! As long as the oven was on, I roasted the last few asparagus spears still lurking in the frig. And some sweet Italian chicken sausages from Trader Joe's which were mighty tasty with a little mustard smeared on them. Randy made a Romaine salad.

Otherwise, as long as nothing is totally screwed up in my life right now (how unusual is THAT!?), I'm just moving forward with my ever-so-long list of stuff that needs to be done. I like working on that list. Makes me actually believe that I'm accomplishing something. Still, having been around the sun a few times, I'm always waiting for the other shoe to drop. When life is good, I never forget that "this, too, shall pass." Cheery thought, no?

68 recipes completed; 237 to go

Tomato Sauce with Bacon and Onion

Tomato Sauce with Bacon and Onion - pg. 265

I made a batch of Simple Tomato Sauce from fresh tomatoes from farmers market. This is great stuff to have in the frig since it can be the base for all sorts of very quick dinners. Tonight I made a TAOS recipe (sort of) with the sauce and some fancy pancetta from the fancy deli/market in Berkeley. The recipe actually just calls for using fresh tomatoes, but I figured the Simple Sauce would do just as well. While the pancetta was certainly good, rather more ordinary bacon would have been okay, too. I used green garlic in the sauce which made a milder flavor. And, I oven roasted a batch of asparagus for something green on the plate.

Yesterday I volunteered at the Central Coast Cactus and Succulent Society's annual show and sale. Wow! I've found my flora niche, so to speak. I can see that my collection will start mostly with agaves. I love agaves and they will do well here in pots.

Oh yes, I saw a very strange movie yesterday. The Good, the Bad and the Weird. A Korean western set in Manchuria in the 30s with decided Tarantino influences.

Best of all? It's true. The bugs are dead. We've got our house back. Yeah!!

67 down and 238 to go

Alrighty Then...

Gary Coleman and Dennis Hopper are gone. So are the wood-boring beetles in the library woodwork. None of this happened quickly or easily. The house is pretty much clean, reorganized and back to normal. Yeah!! As you might imagine, I'm feeling a whole lot better emotionally now. Got a pedicure and a haircut this morning. Yeah!! Went, with Randy, to the Central Coast Cactus and Succulent Society's annual show and sale this afternoon after a nice Thai lunch. Yeah!!

In the spirit of Alice's very latest cookbook (theme is techniques to learn by heart), I made a no-recipe dinner. Trader Joe's lemon pepper noodles. Bacon. Garlic. Parsley. Olive oil. Parmesan cheese. Tasty and pretty quick.

Do I have anything remarkable to say? Hell no. Only that I love, love, love having my house clean and organized. It means that I can go on to do more productive things with my time. It's the same way I feel about making the bed first thing in the morning. All is right with the world and I can get on to bigger and far more interesting things. Like cook, garden, play with our cats, read, bead, sew. You get the picture.