The Sandcastle

Dave is out of town. Our daughter, Alexa, is here keeping me company and well fed.

She and I have spent a week exploring what healthful foods we are willing to cook and eat. We’ve been researching recipes that are grain- and dairy-free. We each made a list of ones we’d like to try then we went through each other’s list and marked ones we’d like to try from that. Those recipes that made both lists got entered into a text document and printed out. We then divided those into manageable sized batches and Alexa went shopping for ingredients. Here’s some of those ingredients:

Then she cooked and packaged that batch, washed the dishes, and started again.

Mid stream we had both prepped ingredients and finished products sitting side by side:

And we sampled things and marked which ones we liked and what changes she made as she cooked.

About halfway through the process my freezer looked like this:

We weren’t done yet but already packages would try to jump out at us when we opened the freezer door. So we did this:

I now have seven shoeboxes of individual servings of lots of different food.

And Alexa is stuck with this:

All those dirty dishes don’t appear to be upsetting her much (aside from a passing comment about hiring a kid to wash them) because she’s planning to come back to spend two days a month repeating this process. Just so she can know I am eating well.

Aren’t daughters wonderful?

TTYL,

Linda

 

About a week ago we gave the required two month notice of our intent to move out of our current apartment.

Apparently, we lost the exclusive right to our apartment when we did that.

Because we are now getting notices of when management will be using our apartment.

They sent Dave a text saying they are going to show the apartment Wednesday at 3:00. Dave said I should let them know if that is not a good time. It’s an excellent time because our daughter is here visiting but we plan to be out Wednesday afternoon. So, I started cleaning the place up for showing like we did when we sold our house.

Then they sent a text saying that has been changed to Thursday at 1:00. That’s a terrible time because our daughter will be doing a huge cook-up during that time. But, when I called the office to tell them that they basically said, “Too bad. We are coming then anyway.” Obviously the schedule of the new renter is more important than that of us who’ve lived here five years and are still paying for the right to live here.

Now, we got another notice. Maintenance will be coming Thursday between 10 and 2 to inspect the apartment to see what they might have to do to get it ready for the next renter. Nevermind, that they have a note not to enter our apartment before noon since I’m not always up earlier than that. I wonder what they will do if they come at 10 am and find me still in bed?

I’m still not sure how our apartment stopped being ours.

But, I think we’ll stop cleaning for showings. And we have several onions we need to dice on Thursday–I wonder how that will fit into their schedules. And I think I’ll tell the new renter that our A/C leaks out all its freon every winter and management has been telling us for two years now that they will replace our unit so she should probably get that in writing before she signs the lease.

After all, I don’t know why we should play nicer than they are. And, yes, I do remember them telling us we couldn’t enter this apartment to check out the wifi signal when the previous tenant still lived here.

In the meantime I’m thinking about getting one of the locks they sell for use on hotel rooms to keep housekeeping from entering while you are in the shower. After all, there ought to be a limit to their right to invade.

TTYL,

Linda

Today we paid the deposit required to move to Trillium Woods, a Continuing Care Retirement Community.

A CCRC is a place where you move in as independent living then stay in the same facility right through hospice care. No, we are not dying. Not in the foreseeable future, anyway.

But, Trillium woods has nearly every facility to meet physical, mental, and social activities all under one roof. That’s something I greatly appreciate living here in Minnesota where winter lasts seven months of the year.

There are two restaurants. There’s a pool, whirlpool, and exercise equipment. There are classrooms where crafts are taught. There is an auditorium where they show movies and have programs including TedX talks. There are game gatherings. And a book club. And church services and Bible study. And a meditation room. And a health care center that includes memory care. And, and, and…

I am hoping to get healthier in every way once I am not restricted to our current apartment for months on end.

But our lease on this apartment is not up until the end of October so we are not actually moving until October 25th.

In the meantime, our new apartment looks like this:

That’s our camping table & chairs sitting in the new living room where we can sit and contemplate the move while enjoying the view of the wildlife refuge out our windows.

As my friend Freddie says, “LIFE IS GOOD!”

TTYL,

Linda

Thrive Market sounds like such a good idea. It’s an on-line store that carries only products (food, skin care, etc.) they have determined to be good for your health. In addition, each time you buy something they provide products to families who otherwise could not afford to own such healthful items. All this for a simple $79.99 annual fee. In addition to the products themselves, of course.

I was offered a 30 day free trial membership so, when I saw a couple products I thought I might like, I subscribed. I didn’t like one product at all and the other was not worth its price to me. So on day 28, I unsubscribed.

Then I got a response thanking me for trying them and asking why I unsubscribed. So, I said it did not seem to be value for my time and money to me.

Then I got a response to that. They didn’t think I had given them enough of a trial so they were extending my trial period for another 30 days. I said, “No thanks. Please unsubscribe me as I requested.”

Then I got an offer for a year’s membership for the reduced price of $29.99.

Again I said, “No thanks. Please unsubscribe me as I requested.”

The only response I got was one or two emails per day encouraging me to buy this or that product.

Then came the kicker. “We tried to charge your annual membership today but your credit card was rejected. Please, update your card info.”

Never was I so happy to have had a credit card cancelled.

Today I got that message about the invalid card along with another ad. I wonder how long the ads will continue before they finally realize I’m NOT buying anything? Including paying the annual fee?

TTYL,

Linda

Colin Wright, the guy who lived out of a backpack for several years while letting his blog readers choose his next destination, is settling down for awhile. As such he needs to furnish living space.

Kind of like we did when we moved out of the motorhome. We did it by first making a list of furniture we needed: desk, chair, kitchen table & chairs, living room chairs, end tables, entertainment center to hold a large screen TV, beds & dressers. Then we went to IKEA to see what they had in those categories.

I’ve always been drawn to Scandinavian style furnishings so it was easy for us to find every thing we need at IKEA. Then we had them deliver it all to our new apartment. Easiest move we ever made. Except for the “some assembly required” part, of course.

Now Colin is writing about his concept of the Minimal Viable Home at http://exilelifestyle.com/minimum-viable-home/.

And the settee that has been moving around among Dave’s family members since it belonged to his Grandma is coming back to live with us again. I have missed having a couch in our living room. It will be good to have a place to cuddle up for a nap once again.

After all, minimalism is figuring out what YOU want to have in YOUR life.

TTYL,

Linda