I know that once upon a time, now long, long ago I promised you all that I would read a book entitled, "The Maker's Diet." I have not forgotten that promise. I am indeed reading that book. The problem is, it is so full of stuff. Complicated stuff. Stuff I haven't thought about before & frankly, some stuff that is a little over my head technically. I've gotten slightly overwhelmed a time or two & taken some time away from reading to mull things over & discuss them with Mike. It is definitely a good book, a good resource & someday - hopefully soon - I'll tell you all about it.
Until then, my nightstand has been hijacked again, this time by the book, "The Daughter's Walk" by Jane Kirkpatrick. I'm not sure how I found this book at the library. It seems to me that I read about it on The Pioneer Woman's website under the homeschooling tab some time in the far distant past. I try to keep a list on my phone of books that are recommended to me & this one was on the list, our library had it & so I checked it out. Then I spilled an entire glass of water on it & kind of wrinkled the pages up something awful *sigh*
Anyway, this is a fascinating story. It is based on a true story about a mother & her oldest daughter taking a walk all the way from the west coast to New York City. They were supposed to wear 'reform dresses' which were scandalously shorter than the accepted fashion - they were just above ankle length *gasp* The purpose of the walk was to prove that women had the same strength, stamina, courage & common sense that men had & that they should be recognized as full citizens. It was the very beginning of the sufferage movement. They were also supposed to promote the dresses as the newest mode of fashion with the shorter length making it easier to walk & ride bicycles. The mother insists on participating in the walk even though her husband doesn't want her to; the daughter participates in the walk completely against her will because her mother makes her. The sponsors had pledged to pay them $10,000 if they completed the walk by the deadline & the family needed the money to save their farm from foreclosure. They embark on their journery & experience every kind of excitement & difficulty imaginable.
The book follows the daughter, Clara all through the walk until basically the end of her life. The walk caused so much strife in the family that Clara & her mother were forbidden to speak of it & there was a long estrangement. Because of this discord, many of the details of the remarkable walk & the rest of Clara's life are very vague. I'm sure the auther completed many hours of research & still had to 'fill the holes' as best as she could. The end result is still a compelling read. I truly love to read a story of someone else's life. The Lord sends His children down a myriad of paths; they are all interesting. If you get a chance, I think you would enjoy reading this story.
In Other News...
Largely because of all this reading I've been doing regarding diet & nutrition, I started scoping out some different places to see if I could purchase grass fed beef. I'd read that it was a much more natural way to grow cattle, that it was healthier for us to consume & that it even tasted better. Much to my delight, a family in our church that runs a CSA has grass fed beef for sale right now! They don't always have it but this summer they do. I went out to the Farmer's Market & got us some. Then I picked up some organic crushed tomatoes & the zucchini that my sister's garden grew & I fixed us some Zucchini Hash, a family favorite! It is just the beef, tomatoes, & zucchini cooked up together in a big skillet with some oregano, basil, garlic, onion - whatever you like! I top it with cheese & YUM! And you know what? I'm not really a beef person, but grass fed beef DOES taste better.
And for those of you wondering how my procrasting little self was doing with my International Craft Swap project, here's the low down. We just started it on Tuesday. When I asked for input on what I should make, everyone voted for the same thing - the chalkboard candleholder. Mike & I had a Lowe's gift card (that I actually purchased with Discover card cash back bonus!) that we used to buy the drill bits. Mike ended up getting a set rather than just the one we needed because the whole set of 10 was only $10 more. He got new tools to play with so he is happy *grin* So far we have cut the board to size, drilled the candle holder holes, sanded, primed, & applied one coat of chalkboard paint. I'm hoping to apply another coat of paint tomorrow & have that bad boy ready to be shipped out on Monday!
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| Making progress! |
What's on your weekend agenda?
3 comments:
that zucchini hash looks amazing, and I just so happen to have the ingredients on hand. Thanks for the dinner idea. YUM.
:-)
Sound like a fascinating book. I enjoy those kinds of stories too.
You should read "The Spirits Catch Me and I Fall Down. Its a book about a little Hmong girl with Epilepsy and her journey through the American Medical system with interpreters, no interpreters. Its a lot of cultural stuff. Very interesting.
That book sounds so good! I'm always on the look out for new books!
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