Run Mr. GV, Run

Mr. GV did a 5K a few weeks ago.  He did a half-marathon last year and plans on doing it again this year, but this was a run in our town, with proceeds going to the Healthcare Foundation at the hospital.  

Here he is towards the end of the race. 

And crossing the finish line!

He won 1st place in his age group. Woo hoo!  

He is not one to show off, but I think one picture with his medal is OK.  I'm proud of him and think he should be proud too.

Food Stuffs

Even though I haven't posted many meals lately, I have been cooking.  In addition to the usual pasta, rice, oatmeal, and beans I make for my husband to take to work, there has been:

Lentil meatball (made with gluten-free flour) for Mr. GV to add to his pasta

Roasted veggies

Well, this is a meal out for me:  Vegan burger and fries from Red Robin.

Chopped greens for Mr. GV's citrus greens.

An orzo mushroom dish for me, using up two kinds of orzo I had in the pantry.

Organic mushroom stems going into the freezer to save for stock.

Vegetable sushi from a local remodeled grocery story.  Yum!

Mushroom barley soup.

A meal at Wild Cow:  For Mr. GV, a buffalo grinder salad.

For us to share, chickpea salad, seasonal mixed veggies with garlic aioli, and the soup of the day.

Dessert, which came after the main meal, even though my computer insisted on putting it before.  (ha)  I had a chocolate-peanut butter cupcake and Mr. GV had raw lime cheesecake.

For me, my usual tempeh reuben with a side of chickpea salad.

What I have been eating for the past several days:  Vegetable soup made up of veggies that needed to be eaten .  So good on the sore throat I just got rid of a few days back!

Results of Air-Drying Laundry

I mentioned in a previous post that I had finally started back air drying my clothes instead of using the dryer.  I don't believe at the time I had any concrete numbers as to how much money it was saving us.  I'm like everybody else, I want to save money whenever I can, but the main reason I air dry is for environmental purposes.  

Well, we have gone through one complete electric cycle and received the bill, and our electric went down $15!  Our heat runs on gas, but has electric blowers, so any decrease in using the heat would be mostly reflected in our gas bill, with perhaps a bit of a decrease in our electric.  But we had cold weather during the last billing cycle so the heat pretty much ran its usual amount.   I'm fairly sure the decrease in our bill was due to not using the dryer, except for sheets and dog covers.  

Other benefits to not drying clothes:

-As I mentioned before, more humidity in our house during the winter, which means less static electricity and the ensuing shocks, and less dry skin.  I do what I can to keep moisture in the house during these cold months:  clothes air drying, letting steam from the shower "be" instead of using the exhaust fan to get rid of it as I do in the summer, and little things like taking the lid off the kettle to let the steam escape and opening the dishwasher during the drying cycle and letting that steam out.  

-Your clothes last longer.  What gets trapped in the lint filter of your dryer, after all, are fibers from your clothes.  (And dog/cat fur if you have any pets.)  

-You don't heat your house in the warmer months.

-Less noise pollution.  No matter how quiet your dryer is, it's still going to make some noise.  

-Smaller chance of creating a fire hazard with your dryer.  

Clothes drying on our guest shower rod.

Stuff, stuff, stuff!

In late December I got rid of some more stuff!  I suppose there is always going to be more stuff that needs to go out, even if there is not all that much coming in.  Well, until at some point I finally reach a more minimalist point in my life, right?  

Shirts, a dress, and a skirt

T-shirts

 The things that were the hardest in the picture below were the two dolls.  I am not a collector of dolls and wasn't even particularly fond of these two.  BUT.....my father gave them to me.  He just randomly picked them up in a box of things at an auction.  It was the thought of giving away things that my daddy, who passed away almost 3 years ago, gave me.  But I let them go, and have felt good about it since then.  (Tip:  If you are given something you really don't want but plan to get rid of someday, and the giver is still in good health, get rid of the item now!  It is much more difficult to get rid of something when it has that extra emotional attachment to it.  This is experience speaking.)

 

This is why we don't need to keep things that make us hurt.  You can't see the picture on the front right, because the light is reflecting in it,  but it is a sweet picture and verse about the loss of a father.  My mother-in-law sent it as a funeral gift when my dad passed, and it was for me to take home.  I displayed it on my piano for the past (almost) 3 years, and every time I looked at it, I remembered losing him.  I relived the last moments of his life, and the next few days, watching my mother and sisters grieve.  And I just can't do that over and over and live in the past.  And so I passed along the picture and beautiful frame, and hope that it will find a home with someone who doesn't have to hurt every time they pass by it.

Randomness....

Mostly kitchen stuff here, with a vase and space bags thrown in for good measure.

Purses, bags, wallet, and a nice alarm clock that annoyed whoever slept in the spare room.

These were hard to get rid of too for some reason.  My mom bought them for me because they were spaniels like my sweet Buffy who is no longer with us.

Candle and old doilies that were my grandmother's.

A bunch of glass bowls that I was never going to use. 

These were not given to Goodwill, but to a fellow employee at my husband's job.  He mentioned he had a bunch of shirts he had been given when he gave blood, and she said she would like to have them.    It's not easy for my husband to get rid of clothing, so I really appreciated the fact that he gave away these pieces.