residency?... citizenship??...
i applied for permanent resident status this week. i've been poking around, and i only need 3 years under my belt (barring some unforeseen obstacle) to citizenship, and after grad school's up i'll be nearly there. this is good news, as i can skip paying a canadian to marry me.

banana "ice cream"
i made a little discovery after i was given an armload of old bananas. if you freeze them and then whip them up in the cuisinart, the similarity to soft-serve ice cream is almost spot-on. i found better results peeling and cutting them up before freezing. i've also begun toying with additions (cocoa, peanut butter, coconut...), all of which have been hugely successful. i feel almost fiendish having an ice cream experience with a whipped banana.

the boss
did you know springsteen wrote a song about me? sometimes if i'm feeling particularly amorous, i'll sing it to myself.

I wanna build me a house, on higher ground
I wanna find me a world, where love's the only sound
High above this road, filled with shadow and doubt
I want to shoulder my load, and figure it all out
With Leah

I walk this road, with a hammer and a fiery lantern
With this hand I've built, and with this I've burned
I wanna live in the same house, beneath the same roof
Sleep in the same bed, search for the same proof
As Leah

I got somethin' in my heart, I been waitin' to give
I got a life I wanna start, one I been waitin' to live
No more waitin', tonight I feel the light I say the prayer
I open the door, I climb the stairs...

self-reliance
here are some of the happy things i've been making this week:

peanut butter cups
this basically involves melting chocolate chips, coating paper muffin cups with the melted chocolate, putting them in the freezer for an hour, and filling them with peanut butter (and a sweetener, if you wish) and a top layer of melted chocolate. don't be deceived by the simplicity. they're tremendous.


body scrub
i love homemade body scrubs made from granulated sugar (the one thing it is good for...) and oil, then essential oil if you're feeling spoiled. it's as good if not better than those expensive store-bought ones.
also, you can use old coffee grounds by themselves or added into soap/body wash/scrub. it's great for your skin. seriously.


iced tea
i don't think any of you really needs directions on how to boil and then cool water, but having a cold jug of iced tea in the fridge during the summer is crucial.


tempeh
i ordered a tempeh culture from "gem cultures" and it arrived this week. tempeh's yummy, but fairly expensive in the store and packaged in... yup, plastic... so i decided to make my own. turns out it's easy and fun! go figure.

toothpaste
no fluoride, no packaging...

there are a number of recipes online depending on your dental needs. all of them are cheap and easy. (ahh, my favorite.)


my scar
all things considered, it's healing quite nicely- and it's a pleasant reminder that a wild, destructive thing is no longer wreaking havoc in my body.

we (my scar and i) have actually become great pals. we think it's a hoot when children and grown men cringe or cry or cover their eyes at the sight of my belly. we laugh and laugh.

no pants
my top priority when i come home is taking off the clothes that got sweaty on my bike ride home. i usually don't get around to putting pants back on. i really enjoy not wearing any around my house. fortunately phoebe and misha walk around in their underwear too, so no one feels uncomfortable.

pregnant kiwis

i've been reading a lot of books this week, most given to me by joe and matt to keep me busy during my seemingly endless "rest" period. one was "the reluctant mr. darwin", an interesting biography of darwin's life and discoveries. there was mention of the crazy size of kiwi eggs (kiwis are flightless new zealand birds) and musings on why their eggs would be so large in comparison to body size. i googled it, and sure enough it's insane- check out the body:egg ratio!

banned bottled water

!!! oh god, this is so terrific.

"A rural town in Australia has voted overwhelmingly to ban the sale of bottled water over concerns about its environmental impact."

you can read it here.

lactation

i can't remember what instigated it, but i was looking at this information about male lactation. although most men lactaters induce lactation through hormones, apparently it's possible to stimulate it with some quality baby-suckling time. or imitating that with another person or a breast pump.

who knew?

and... who's game?

i know this is short and delinquent...and i don't have an adequate excuse, as i've been sitting around with plenty of time to mash together a post. for some reason though, even the thought of typing makes my brain feel like it's going into anaphylactic shock.

smooth criminal
like probably everyone on the planet, i ended up watching michael jackson videos this week. somehow i'd made it through my meager existence without watching any of them. horrifying, i know. i was exceptionally impressed by smooth criminal. the dancing is so great. apparently michael jackson patented the extreme-lean dance move that first appeared in this video. they're able to do it by wearing shoes that grip the floor.