Ideal Bite

So here I am in again, in bed, feeling crummy.  I am so ready for the major cold snap to be over. And who ever heard of a back to back cold?  Could it be a sinus infection?  Urg. I could have been at the barn.  I could be eating fabulous food in my friends hot tub.  But no.  Here i am. Feeling sorry for myself.

So to help that, I think I will just make a hot toddie instead of hot chocolate, as I heard once that they help cure a cold. I doubt it, but at least I will get some good sleep tonight.

In case you've never had one:

• Juice of one lemon (juice it by hand and hope for lemon chunks)
• Two tablespoons of honey (locally produced if possible)
• A double shot of good whisky (a malt if possible)
  
  Pour in boiling water, mix with a spoon.. voila... bed time.

Off to make a hot toddie, but of course..  jb

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A paper bag. (Or a single packing peanut.) Maybe 2 of the most un-eco things on the planet, but honestly? Have you ever seen a cat who wasn't in love with crawling into paper bags? Cut a hole in one end and stick your finger through, and you have a friend for life.

-Heather... off to tousle with Snackalicious...

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So, I bought a Prius.

For whatever reason, this makes me feel like a middle-aged mom. While I love the fact that I only have to put gas in it about every 5 weeks, I haven't gotten attached to it enough to name it yet. Trixie (my biodiesel Benz) - she got her name in the first week I had her. Mr. NoName Prius, on the other hand, has been around for nearly 3 months now, and I still have no idea what to call him/her.

Thoughts?

Still - I get a full tax CREDIT - not even a write off - so I can't complain.

-Heather... off to stare at my Prius and pray for naming inspiration...

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My friend, Kris, is a fashion maven.  Fortunately (for me), we have really similar body types (I covet her flat belly, and she sort of wants my thighs, but in general, we're pretty close).

This works very much in my favor (not so much in Kris's) since I benefit from her fashion sense in several ways:

1. I get her hand-me downs.
2. I let her "dress" me before big events.  I get to spend all my time playing with my makeup (which I'd rather do), while she runs into her clown-car-feeling closet and just keeps coming out with more and better variations on the theme "little black dress with cleavage"
3. She's now helping me shop

All in all, I think that -  if Kris is involved - I'm all for throwing a Biter swap party.

I'm sure SOMEONE wants my old college sweatshirts and those black leather pants from London...

-Heather... off to give thanks for good

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It feels like about two months ago it started snowing and icing and being dark and yuck, and it hasn't let up yet.  I started complaining to someone here and they were like, "what did you not understand about moving to Montana? Have you looked at a map?"   And true, we are pretty far north, in the Canadian Rocky range.

But for some reason when I was more in the countryside of Montana, the winters weren't as rough. Now I realize that is because of all the valleys and mountains, there are different climate systems just 50 minutes apart.  I was in the more moderate one, it turns out.

This snow and negative 20s crap combined with having no garage, and I definitely raised my hand to test out today's tip reco's.  Once again I had to kowtow to vinegar... cheap and eco-friendly and has a zillion uses.  It was my fave for keeping ice from forming.  (Note:  it doesn't not keep

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I love seaweed. I love it in sushi rolls. I love it fried, Chinese style. I love to crumble it on rice. I love it as a sesame-dressed salad. I love walking on the beach and finding those bubbles in the seaweed that washes up and jumping on them to make them pop.

All in all, as a kid from Montana who didn't spend a whole host of time near an ocean until I was an adult, I gotta say, I got a crazy affinity for eating the stuff.

-Heather... off to dream of the day when SF has lunch-time sushi delivery in Potrero...

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A few months back, I had a hideous cold. HORRIFIC, really. Full blown head explosion.

So I had an appointment with my acupuncturist that first snotty day, and she performed "cupping" on me. If you don't know what it is, I won't go into detail. Suffice to say, it involves suction and fire and at the end, you are bruised and look like you've been beaten within an inch of your life.

Apparently, the cupping was meant to suck out all the evil and speed up my cold so that it would move through more quickly. And apparently, it worked, since the cold was COMPLETELY gone in 2 days.

However, I don't think I can give credit to the cupping for the fact that I managed to make it through a date that night.

Nope, I hate to admit it, but I have to give that credit to a certain unnamed evil cold medication.

Yes, I know, I know, it's bad. I shoulda stayed home and drank

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Are you the type that has to load your own dishwasher because no one else will understand how to place your glasses so close to one another and not get chipped, or because you are slightly embarrassed that your silverware needs to point UP so that the crude sliding down doesn't get lodged on the part where we put our mouths?

I can say "ye" to the first, not the second. 

I can also say that unless someone has been sick and eating off my plates, I always air dry.  I mean really, do we all not have enough plates and things to get us by for a half day while it dries?  Plus, I love the idea of saving money just for having patience.  (Patience really is a virtue, just not one of mine, which is why I am glad this is like a reward system for practicing patience.)

The dishwasher vs. handwashing debate brings out many more (only slightly) interesting discussions, but last

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Still, sometimes I feel like my attempts at living a balanced, green life are doing about as much good as tilting at windmills. Mostly, I feel that way when taking out my recycling. Even though there is 4 times as much recycling as garbage, I can't help but wonder how the hell I could use so much STUFF?

Ah well, windmill by windmill, I guess...

-Heather... off to crack an organic bottle of beer that I will have to recycle tomorrow...

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On New Year's Eve I had my MT BFF over (this Montana Best Friend Forever to all you POA - that is Peeps Opposed to Acronyms).  We had this litte ceremony - releasing our intentions for the New Year to the universe by writing them down, reading them, and then placing them in these little red envelopes before dropping them in my fireplace.  Well of course ambiance is very important for such rituals, and I had about 30 candles lit around the living room and joined dining room.  One of my candles got excited and spoofed on my brand new rug.  So I think I am going to switch to dripless beeswax. Which are actually better for the environment IMHO than soy, if not GMO-free soy.  The end.

Off to Google how to get candle wax off of carpets .. Jen

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