What keeps me awake at night.

Until 2.30AM to be exact. Here are some of the thoughts and ideas I had before getting out of bed to scribble madly into my notebook:

Central America
South America
running shoes, brand names
Hartnackshule in Berlin, 10 weeks
low GI research, building muscle mass
visas to enter South America
packing lists, moving
organizing my mail from last year, lots of it
green tea's amazing antioxidant qualities
Hal Higdon and his marathon books
nail polish, need to remove it
the Spanish language, how to more effectively learn it

Why is it that I can go through my day in such a mellow manner, but when my head hits my pillow and my lamp is switched off, my brain begins milling at warp-speed? I get really creative and motivated when it is time to turn in, but when I wake up, I'm a little sluggish and unwilling to really take full advantage of my morning hours. Pretty soon, I'm not going to be able to blame it on jet lag! :)

A new domestic godess?

I've watched my mom do her annual canning my whole life. I helped out when I lived at home, but never tried to learn how to do any of it myself. This process takes my mom weeks to complete--tomatoes, pickles, beans, fruits, applesauce, sauerkraut, and so on. Two days ago, I noticed that the grapes hadn't been harvested, so I picked the ripe fruit and imagined all the possible things we could make with them (my vote was wine, but there weren't enough). Mom said jelly, so jelly it is. She guided me through the process of making jelly--boiling the fruit down, stirring in the suregel and sugar, then sealing into jars. I know how to make jelly now!

Also, we picked three large containers of apples off my grandpa's tree on Saturday. While Mom worked on canning tomatoes last night, I made applesauce for the first time! It was pretty simple, but very time consuming! I cut and cleaned almost a whole 5-gallon bucket of apples and turned it into 6 jars of fresh, juicy applesauce! Here it is:

Impressive, huh? My finished product of canning products will hopefully grow a little today as I attempt another batch of applesauce unsupervised. Here is my mom's collection of canned goods for the year:

I know, I know...she beats me in quantity by a long shot!

New Stuff

These past couple of weeks have been both relaxing and a complete whirlwind! I've had long lists of things to do each day, but have allowed myself to take things as they come. I am realizing that I like not working--is it possible to get paid to not work? If so, I want in! In all reality, I would probably enjoy this for another month, but after that, I would be looking for projects to get involved with and places to spend money. For now, I'm enjoying this transition time.

I have been in the market for a car, as you know, and I am happy to say that yesterday I found one! I looked at many cars with different makes, models, colors, sizes and prices, but nothing really felt right until I stopped by a local dealer yesterday. He showed me three cars that were about in the same price range, and here is the one I decided on:



It has relatively low miles and was priced under the low end of my price range! What color would you call it? I am not sure--it isn't gold, but it isn't brown. Tan is not exactly the right description either.

I am really relieved to have a car finally--it puts me one step closer to leaving for California. Just another week or two--I am waiting on a few last things to fall into place, but I hope to get out of here before the snow starts to fall!

One more update: I think I have a place to live all lined up in Anaheim already! I am planning to move into the spare bedroom of a spunky 94-year-old lady. She and I have talked on the phone a couple of times and she is holding the spot open for me--we'll start with a temporary lease, but as long as I'm on my best behavior, maybe she will keep me! :) (The rent is REALLY low and it would be a fantastic way for me to save a little money.)