Questions.

[gottawonder]

7. What are your religious beliefs? Have they changed, or have they always stayed the same?

It's funny, because my beliefs almost follow the standard path of development of the human brain and maturity that you might learn in Psychology 101. As a child I wasn't told what to believe, and I'm not sure I gave much thought to God until I went to school, and at that time we still gave a blessing before we ate lunch. I think my beliefs were skeptical, but like anyone I prayed a bit. I have gone through stages of really hating the idea of religion, because it has often been about the selfishness of people in power, and manipulating people. Yet, I also understand that church can be a source of comfort for the lonely or vulnerable. Religion is nothing more than the amplification of our inner selves. Do we wield it as a weapon, or a loving touch? These days, all I believe in is love.

8. When was your last food craving, and what did you crave? Probably potato chips, and chocolate, and I kind of crave them a bit every day because the chocolate used to be part of my daily ritual. I used to eat a couple of pieces when I got up, and some in the evening. I haven't eaten any chocolate for a while now, but I've found something called cacao nibs (basically just cocoa, I think, in little bits) that taste good with trail mix. Chips are just about my favorite junk food, but I have one or two when my sweetie has a bag, and that's about it.

9. Who was your first crush and what made them special? A boy I had a crush on from Kindergarten all through to grade 12, with varying levels of intensity. He had curly red hair, and was a real sweetie and what was awful is that there's no way to hide having a crush on someone in a school that small. He knew, and so did everyone else. I don't know that I ever knew that much about him as a person, because I never saw him outside of school, and of course he avoided me like the plague. He was pretty smart, nice, a very "clean cut" person, played hockey and liked metal bands. Very typical for a small town boy in Canada.

10. Name your most cherished childhood memory. I don't know if I have a single most cherished memory. I have lots of good memories of big family Christmases, making bale forts, tree forts, and snow forts. Barn cats and ponies, dogs, riding around in the back of the truck, walking around on our farm, eating berries from the little pincushion cactuses that grew in one pasture, first crocuses in spring, full moons, riding my horses with the dog trainers that came every year from Georgia, playing hide and go seek, finding kittens in the barn (the moms hide them), big fires to sit around together, the week we were all storm stayed because of a big ice storm that knocked out the power and blocked the roads, lots of cherished memories.

11. Turn to an entry in your journal or diary from a year or more ago. What has changed and what has stayed the same since then?

I'm still riding River at the barn, still married to my sweetie, lots is the same.

What's changed is that we have brought a house in to replace our trailer (which is gone now), and we're close to finishing the basement so we can put the house on the basement. It has consumed our lives since May, with moving our things to a sea can, tearing the trailer down and taking the materials away, doing all the permits, bringing in the house and hooking it up to power and water and sewer so we can live in it on blocks, digging the basement and hauling away the extra dirt, piling up the dirt we'll need, living in a torn up yard full of old concrete and dirt and gravel and equipment. Trying to live with people coming and going all the time, trying to feed people, just a lot of work, inconvenience, and so on. Yes, it's exciting too, but enormously disruptive.

I've also lost about 35 pounds, and a lot of my clothes fit very differently. Some things are too big now, and I'm wearing jeans that were way too tight a year ago. I really changed how I eat. A lot less mindless snacking, pretty much no sugar and very low in simple carbs. No soda, no cake, limited whole wheat bread, quinoa instead of rice, small portions of low sugar cereal. I now eat a lot of veggies, eggs for breakfast with toast, lots of quinoa and beans and lentils, salads of course, dairy in moderation, some fruit, tofu, that kind of thing. It sounds limiting, and I guess it is, but I'm not hungry much, you seem to stop craving sugar after a while, and the best part is that my blood sugar levels are really good. I used to have a lot of issues with low blood sugar which made me eat all the time whether I was hungry or not, and I haven't had issues with that since I changed my eating.

I'm hoping that I can maintain the weight loss, because I'm a good weight now. I'm not even skinny, just more average looking. I really was overweight, and it bothered me a lot, and I was outfatting all of my clothes and starting to need plus sized clothes, which are hard to find unless you go to actual plus sized clothing stores. Now that I weigh less, I find it easier to do physical activity, I'm less tired, have less general aches and pains, and I think the way I walk is even better now because I'm not compensating for thigh girth.

We have new members to our animal family since last year, as well as some departed.

We made improvements to the fence in the horse pasture this spring. We have a new fridge, and a new ride on lawn mower as of this summer.

The future of pottery is uncertain. Our pottery studio is housed in a building which was condemned this summer, and we have not been able to find a suitable location for the craft centre (which includes fabric weavers and a wood working group). The issue is enough space, a safe location, and affordability. I haven't been able to do any pottery since May because of being busy with the house stuff.

We may end up finding a way to do pottery at home. The issue is that kilns aren't cheap, and we'd have to find a safe place to run one. It might be possible, but hopefully the studio will find a place to operate.