healthier, yummier, more stores, crafting, more supplies, more expensive, more useful

i'm just going to write about whatever the heck pops into my head for like 15 minutes, b/c i only have 15 minutes to spare, and since i haven't written anything at all lately, it would probably be good just to purge whatever for 15 min.

the first thing that has popped into my head is about food, both the cost of it and the frequency of trips to the grocery store.  i think that it's pretty clear that the best way to eat the foods that are both good for me and super tasty is to go not only to a single store fairly frequently, but to go to a variety of stores, and all of them frequently.  b/c i can't get organic meats at vons.  but i can get really reasonably priced organic eggs and milk.  and vons is close and open 24 hrs.  so it's super easy to make sure i get that stuff.  but if i want seafood, i probably want to go to trader joe's.  they have really reasonably priced seafood.  but if i want certain specialty food items, like ghee, grass-fed beef, "pasture" chicken breasts, etc., then i am going to have to go to whole foods.  and i'm very happy with the mixed nuts at target, though once i scope out the options at whole foods, then maybe i'll switch to whole foods for my nuts.  but the point here is that this is four different stores.  i think vons will do just fine for produce, too, i didn't really mention that.  i mean, all i'd really eat would be bananas, avocados, red bell peppers and tomatoes, maybe occasionally an apple.  i don't feel the need to buy these items organic, and produce is just cheaper at vons.  and, again, easier to acquire.  like, for instance, tonight i could go get them after we go celebrate R-'s bday.

so this, i guess, is the challenge... and i think it's pretty clear to me that i *will* have to make frequent and varied trips to the store if i want to have more quality meats in my diet, and more frequent avocados and bananas.  omg, ate a banana yesterday, and YUM!!!  i forgot how much i loves me some bananas.  i had already thought of the solution for avocados of pulling the meat out of them into little containers and keeping it in the fridge, then i can scoop out a dollop of avocado whenever i want, without having to use a whole avocado or anything, and i can get several at once instead of having to buy one every few days.  not going to be able to swing the same thing with bananas, but i guess it works out alright that i really like my bananas even when they are far beyond what most people would consider ripe.  but i think bananas will have to be a twice-weekly purchase, or something like that.

the next thing that i've been thinking a lot about is sewing, crafting, building, all of that stuff.  how there used to be a time when i'd just randomly hunt through the stuff i had on hand, which was usually a pretty minimal amount of stuff, that was pretty randomly aggregated, and make something.  but nowadays, despite trying to accumulate a much more useful collection of supplies, it seems like every single project calls for a very specific tool or set of tools, very specific group of materials, all in very specific sizes and quantities.  it's starting to make me question my accumulation of supplies.  but then i think how if i didn't have anything on hand, it would be so much worse.  just wanting to do a simple project of any kind would require me to buy a bunch of stuff that i probably would have had around if i was frequently making/crafting stuff in that vein.  so i don't know how to find the appropriate middle ground, at all.

one thing i'm doing, that i think is important, is i'm changing my mental/emotional relationship to the process of making things, teaching myself not to resent the state of affairs if i'm like, hey, i want to learn how to sew the perfect t-shirt, and i find that i can't do that with the various old t-shirts i've kept around so i'll have some knits on hand, then i just say, okay, that's just how it works, and i get my butt up and go buy the (seemingly very excessive amount of) knit i need to make said t-shirt.  this is what it means to be making crafts for real as an adult, and not just by serendipity, like, oh, i ended up with an extra [xyz], what can i make out of this?  because that kind of making may have been fun and instructive, but did it ever really turn out anything truly useful?  maybe by chance, sometimes it did.  i can think of a few examples.  but the terms of things are just different.  and i'm adjusting to that.  and trying not to balk at the cost of tools and materials, b/c that's just the state of affairs.  but i have to keep reminding myself.  and so i think i've just done.  ;)

all of this sorta ties in together, though it may not seem like it.  because in the end, there's not only a greater monetary cost to the new way of doing things, there's a greater "administrative" cost, in outlining & planning, acquiring, prepping, and so forth.  this applies to both better quality foods and better quality crafting.  it is, kind of, learning to be a grown-up!  awww, look at me, trying to be all grown up... but complaining about it! :D  k, my time is up.  i'm actually 8 minutes over!  whoops...