Apparently there’s nothing like shopping to put me in a good mood. Even though I’m broke. Even though I don’t like shopping. I think the key here was that a)I wasn’t shopping for clothes, and hence didn’t have to undress under fluorescent lights, and b)I was actually shopping for birthday presents and kitchen implements, and you know that is a whole other thing. I also went to the library and turned in (most of) the books I got the last time. For some reason I am interested in non-fiction right now. Maybe non-fiction isn’t the word…it’s not like I’m reading WWII biographies or anything. It’s more like I got a bunch of cookbooks and a Sewing For Dummies book, that’s all. I want to learn how to sew. I haven’t yet, for various reasons. One day, when you’re feeling sad, I will make you feel even sadder by telling you the story of trying to make a polarfleece fuzzy sweater with Carl, and how I sewed one of the sleeves on inside out by mistake, and and how all my seams were crooked, and how the fleece that happened to be on sale at the crazy fleece store is this horrd raspberry fuschia thing that ordinarily I would never wear, and so on. So, let’s all hope nothing of that sort will be happening once I read this book, okay? By the way, why didn’t I figure out one can borrow cookbooks at the library? I can now indulge my food porn desires much more cheaply…I’m even making some of the recipes, thanks very much.
And you know what else I’m making? No, not sweet, sweet love. And heaven knows, not money, either. No, I’m making protein smoothies every day, and how embarassed am I that I am starting to crave them and pretty much talk about nothing else all day? They are very yummy. My Cool Naturopathic Doctor recommended I start making (and eating, duh) them so I could get more fruit and more protein. Here’s how I make them:
- Little thing of vanilla yogurt
Frozen strawberries, cranberries, and blueberries
Some orange juice if it gets too thick
This gross green non-GMO soy powder with all sorts of fiber
Hit puree and there you go, you only need three or so more servings of fruit or vegetables a day, plus you get something nice and chilly to drink now that temperatures are soaring into the high sixties here in Seattle. If you happen to go by a fruit stand you can freeze your own berries. If you have my blender, don’t stick your rubber spatula in there to try to mix it up while the motor is still running; you will slice it all up and have to go buy another one, and you can’t really afford a new spatula, especially since you just bought a new vegetable peeler, what was it, Monday? So be careful.
Anyway. I went to City People’s Mercantile, which is a store that not only sells heavy hardware but also lovely handcream from Pre de Provence and other assorted tschotckes. I got some birthday presents for My Friend Emily and My Cousin Michael, both of whom are celebrating their birthdays tomorrow. I got a spatula. I got a blue Mexican glass to replace one I broke…I mean, these are my smoothie-drinking glasses, come on! I got birthday cards. I had lunch at Great Harvest, where I was grievously overcharged for half a sandwich, and read The Stranger. I read this article. It was a new perspective on the war and on patriotism, and it was certainly illuminating in terms of the insularity of liberal politics. I mean, I am liberal. But lately I’ve been thinking that liberals talk a good game but do much…oh, wait, just like Republicans!..and my pragmatic little social worker heart just doesn’t like that. So this was pretty interesting.
So, anyway, it’s been a gorgeous day and I have highly enjoyed tooling around being a good consumer and listening to a Nineties’ Weekend on the radio. Yeah. Nineties’s weekend. I was stunned (“Hey, wasn’t that just three years ago?”), and then I was even more stunned when I realized that for me, it was like listening to new music. I mean, I loved the soundtrack for Romeo + Juliet. And Singles. I was all over the late-nineties swing thing, and I thought that Harvey Danger song was soooo good. The Sweater Song is still one of my all time favorite break up songs ever. This explains why I don’t hardly listen to the radio anymore, because in my head I am still in Southern California (ooh, ska!) in 1998. I now see why oldies’ stations are popular. I also now see that soon I will be in that demographic, if indeed I am not already.
I’m going to make dinner and go on a walk around Green Lake, and then, as promised, I’ll be watching a BBC historical drama. The one I got is a two-part thing about World War II in England and it has Kenneth Branagh and Emma Thompson before they were divorced. The Fortunes of War, it’s called, maybe? I figured I’d start out slow and build up to the fifteen-part Queen Elizabeth series.
So, here I am, put into a good mood by driving around, buying stuff, and getting a movie. And a smoothie, don’t forget the smoothie! It’s nice when that’s all it takes, you know?