Restor-A-Finish

Last night, after I had sunk into a semi-comatose state after a 10 mile bike ride, MacGyver frantically searched the house for the source of the strange smell--  like spilled acetone.

I had used the remaining 5 minutes of discretionary time in my 15 minute cleaning session to take some Restor-A-Finish to his childhood dining room table.  Sure, in a perfect world, I might have coordinated with Ma-Gyver to first locate the rogue table leaf.  There might have been some sanding preamble.  There might have been some wax pen prefill.  I might have used a darker color that more consistently matched the current finish.  I might have applied it as per the directions with 00 steel wool or a rag instead of just pouring it on and rubbing it in/off.  I *might* have remembered to snap a "before" and "after" picture instead of coping a representative one from centsationalgirl.com...  But in the grand scheme of things, I think it was a pretty good 5 minute upgrade, if fragrant.  Rework aside, all we need now is chairs.  

Book Review: Sink Reflections

Found this gem in Mom's bookshelf and ended up checking it out of the library.  Not sure if I go in for the religious bits-- "God breezes" and whatnot, also there's far too many cleverly turned acronyms (Sidetracked Household Executives, Finally Loving Yourself, Can't Have Anyone Over Syndrome, etc.)  but there are some good tips in the mix.

1. Clean your sink.  yes  things are Under Control when the sink is not a gross 3rd rail no one wants to go near.
2. 27 fling boogie.  It is very hard for me to find 27 flingable things at this juncture because I feel like I've pretty brutally audited my material possessions...  She's right that you can't really organize clutter, you've got to eliminate it.  After much gnashing of teeth, I found 27 things between my closet and my sock drawer that I could part with and not be concerned.  The evolution of this into remove one thing for every thing that you buy/add to your environment is also pretty intriguing.  I'm pretty sure there is nothing I'm willing to eliminate to make space for this "gift" to MacGyver of a squatty potty, for example.
3. 15 minute cleaning sessions.  These fly by... no pun intended.  I'm not entirely convinced that these work as a stand alone house cleaning routine-- washing the outside of a window would probably take a full 15 minutes to stage-- but definitely more than sufficient to undo the disorder wrought by general activities of daily living.  

Untagging

I thought today's post would be a riveting tale about how I heroically scaled a treacherous ladder to liberate a stray plastic bag from the clutches of the rose tree over the chicken coop.  Or perhaps delve into the nuances of using dehydrated milk to combat powdery mildew on pumpkin and cucumber leaves...

Apparently Spookmaster Casper had other plans?   We discovered his handiwork as we were heading out for bike commute of the week #2.  Protip for those living in dodgier neighborhoods-- keep a can of paint that matches your exterior color and a value pack of el cheapo paint brushes on hand for touch ups.  Also, overgrown "green" walls are very tough to tag, so cultivate a perimeter of privacy hedges.  

Plant Starts

Sunday was an R&R day because of house party adventures Saturday and because I might have broken 30 day Mormon challenge with bottomless mimosas at brunch.

I'm baking off a couple styles of beets, onions, soybeans, dill, basil, and the like in seed trays.  The last couple times, they've gotten pretty waterlogged and turned into mosquito pits, so I'm trying to keep the trays damp, but not sitting in standing water.  Also trying moving the more water-loving varieties into the center which has a deeper indent and the dryer sprouts towards the periphery.  Planted some peas in an overflow planter under the Thai peppers and carrots (which are going nuts).  Excited to see spinach sprouting in the waterfall pots because I was eating quite a bit of it from Whole Foods (good way to move coconut shaving imitation bacon).

MaGyver accomplished more in the garden on the Saturday of MacGyver's birthday than I have gotten done in quite some time.  She cleared pathways and cut back a lot of crab grass.  She also diagnosed the lemon tree with over watering, which makes sense what with the grey water out-take aimed at its roots (now rotated to a new spot).  She also wiped the aphids off the rhubarb with Dr. Bronner soap, so hopefully the ants that were nursing the infestation don't get them restarted too soon.

30 Day Challenge Updates

Today completes the Mormon challenge!

• Weight: 117.6 (down 4.4 lbs)
• Body Fat Percentage: 31.2 (up 0.4)
• Authentic Happiness Inventory:  3.13 (42-55th percentile vs 20th-30th percentile)   

1.  caffeine

The worst part of this was the desire to self-medicate to stay up late helping MacGyver prep for his 30th birthday party home-work.  Have not found a consistent breakfast substitute.  I hit sugar and ginseng pretty hard as compensatory chemicals.
Verdict:   tea is fine.  Quota on coffee consumption so as not to get too habituated-- i.e. one social drink per week.

2.  alcohol

I like the weight loss more than any of the decompression properties.  It was a little lame not to be able to taste new and fancy stuff.  I think portion size is my main problem.
Verdict:  Whenever possible, flight or sampler-sized portions.

3.  expletives

Heavenly Father heard a good deal of swearing in the car driving myself places, so stressful!
Verdict:  Cultivate alternative transportation options

4.  tithing

Good way to find peace with guilt about not helping everyone who asks.  Surprisingly feasible financially.
Verdict:  Would rather be debt free first and would prefer to contribute time rather than money to charity where there is a possibility of picking up friends and skills in the process.

5.  health

I completed a sprint triathlon and took 2nd in my division in a company 10K.
Verdict:  find more adventures to train for

6.  2 meal fast

The worst part was unfixable bad breath.  General irritability and sluggishness.  
Verdict: worthwhile to skip a couple meals to stay in touch with hunger and self-management at your worst.  Water is OK.

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Extreme Financial Transparency Challenge

I didn't publicize this one too much, but I have also been keeping track of what I spend and what others spend on me for almost 30 days (except mortgage payements).  It's not exactly a budget because that feels too restrictive.
Verdict:  this is worthwhile.  Keep doing it.

Lessons learned so far (besides Google spreadsheets being extremely under-powered at the minute)

• Cars are expensive!  11% of spend to drive around in high-anxiety, swearing up a storm.
• Utilities add up!  9% of spend even after I throttled our internet bandwidth.  Now I'm thinking about scaling back on phone plans or at least consolidating them.
• Being a "regular" at a restaurant is not worth it.  3% of spend went into a bakery where I get the same comfort food every time and a subsidized campus cafe that messes up my order more often than not.  Meanwhile, a high price tag date at a foodie restaurant we'd been meaning to try cost about as much as all those smaller stops but was totally worth the experience.  Now I'm enrolling in rideshare benefit and on the hunt for diy breakfast and lunch options.

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On Deck

• Blog a day:  A friend mentioned my angst about house progress might be something to work on next.  He suggested a house project a day, but anyone working on house projects and full time jobs knows this is far too ambitious.  Instead, I will be posting about something (hopefully home improvement related) daily for 30 days.  Allowed to schedule future posts.

• Bike to work:  Contemplating what I have learned about the expense and anxiety of car ownership, but not quite ready to completely quit.  Also not sure if swearing off cars is feasible with imminent Thanksgiving travel.  Instead, I will set out to bike at least one direction to work a day (approx 10 miles).  Stacking an out and back is allowed.  

Saints Challenge Day 7

1.  Caffeine

Unable to find any internet resources recommending going cold turkey.  MacGyver continues to ply me with Postum, a Mormon favorite.  Last weekend was shot on excessive napping, non-caffeinated headache meds, and warmed ginseng water which tasted objectionable enough that I think it is still in LDS bounds.  During the work week, I got a crash course in smoothie making to fill the breakfast caloric void and continue to quaff ginseng.  So far so, good.  Getting up at 5:30am reliably with nowhere to go.  Wanting to pass out around 21:00.  I should probably wean myself off ginseng at some point... and the hot chocolate is questionable, Belle.

2.  No Alcohol

With yawn onsets at dusk, this one was also pretty self-regulating.  OK, there were a couple meals this week where I might have caught a piqued eyebrow and accusation of preggers until I explained what I was actually doing.  Out of "solidarity," I think MacG has doubled his consumption for me.  Also, the chickens are out of food, so MacG better get brewing soon.  

3.  Expletives

For my purposes, g-d is not a swear word, even if taken in vain.  I'm only swearing off the 7 you can't say on TV.  This one has been hardest to adhere to because there is no deliberation or internal struggle to say or not to say.  I slipped up at least once on the first 3 days.  Performance over the week has improved tremendously as a function of avoiding perilous yard work and driving activities.

4.  Tithing

Payday.  MacG had suggested I "tithe" into mortgage payoff; I tithe far more than 10% of my income into this "charity" already.  We have some pretty ambitious mortgage payoff goals, but I also have a goal to make 101 Kiva loans, and I still have a ways to go.  So my tithe went to establishing internet at a Pakistani refugee camp in Lebanon, a Cameroonian phone booth, a Zambian wire transferring service,  chicks in Vietnam, a Filipino internet cafe, a Peruvian freezer, a Paraguayan toilet, a Kenyan apiary, a San Diego hippie pre-school, and a Mexican cow poop digester (cook your steak with cow farts ftw).  Thoughts so far:  10% of my bi-weekly income really isn't *that* much (ok, so there are like 26 installments per year). I usually am in excess of 10% before I even begin to think about clicking checkout on Amazon.  It seems like in small amounts, it can help a lot of people.


5.  Health

This one has less concrete success criteria.  The caffeine and booze embargo nets out to be a slight nutritional upgrade, even if I have had some ice cream splurges this week.  Did manage to set up a membership and do a quick 40 minute lap swim on Monday, do a bike-run-swim triple brick on Tuesday, a chiropractic adjustment on Weds, and a short joy ride on Thursday before my tire got flat at the foot of The Hill we had set out to conquer.  Sunday is sprint triathlon moment of truth.

6.  24 Hour Fast!

So there is a bonus challenge of not eating or drinking for 24 hours that slipped Elder's mind.  I suspect that this traditionally occurs tomorrow, but since I'm not quite ready to attempt a triathlon without any water, this will need to be rescheduled.