As of today I am down to my last, squishy banana. We won’t get anymore until we eat the rest of the oranges and our surplus of apples. The last pear went down the hatch today…sort of.
I used the last pear in a delicious salad I made two nights ago. It had mixed greens and organic spinach topped with dried cherries, asiago cheese, red onion, and the last pear. It was tossed in nearly-the-last of our red apple balsamic vinegar. I made a big salad and it didn’t all get eaten. I do not mind leftover salad. I called it wilted salad and tell myself never mind that it is soggy. Two days later, I bit off more of a challenge than I literally wanted to chew. Topping it with grilled chicken didn’t disguise the sludge. I ate the chicken and the other good stuff—interestingly, the pear was perky—the rest had to go. Eww.
Apples always seem like a good idea when I buy them, but somehow they just sit there instead of being eaten. What I know from experience is that the longer I stay off sugar and the longer I stay off processed food, the more tasty the apples become. It is a type of food magic.
The trick is to eat them up soon while they are still fresh and then I can get more bananas: bonus! I think that the last one is going to make it into a smoothy. Soon. Or else the freezer.
Here are a few other MJR tidbits:
- I still have to schedule some of my to do’s like:
- One family dinner night.
- Date night out.
- Editing and unsubscribing from email flyers.
- Use of coupons so we do not let them lapse. We lost money on some we purchased, again this year, because we didn’t use them. One business closed and the other we missed the expiration date. We snoozed and lost. MUST look at ones we have and schedule their use so that does not happen a third year in a row. I guess I didn’t learn.
- Not only am I attempting to use up shampoo and lotions here, we brought back mostly used bottles from Tony’s mom. They would sit there for another half a year, so they came home with us. More to use up—great!
- Put items on the February shopping list, like an essential oil I want, but it isn’t an essential in the way I have defined for MJR. Also, the diffuser will be ordered in February too. What’s the oil without the diffuser, right?
- We will likely run out of balsamic vinegar and olive oil. This isn’t good. I’ll have to use bottled dressing, which I have plenty of, but several are not open. I’ll use what I have instead of opening new. Most of the bottled dressing is for company’s benefit. Olive oil—not sure. I have a lot of coconut oil and I might experiment with making a dressing with it and apple cider vinegar. I’ll let you know if I do.
- I doubt I’ll run out of coffee this year and I know I won’t run out of filters. I still have a stack of the basket kind and they work fine instead of the cone. Cheaper too! Someone gave me a monster stack and I think I am still using them.
- Returns—a couple of the items I purchased for my husband for Christmas didn’t work out. I feigned helplessness because of MJR (stop the shopping madness) and he willingly took them back. Phew. Honestly he doesn’t mind shopping and I appreciate that characteristic in him. Thanks sweetheart.
- Probably on day one I picked up a magazine in the bathroom, then quickly remembered that I agreed to do none of that type of reading. I put a book in the potty that I want to read and now that dilemma is solved. Not to get too personal here, but I have found you can power through books a few pages at a time in the loo.
- Found a box of garlic and spinach dip, but we would most likely have to buy either sour cream or mayo in order to prepare it, so I don’t plan on shopping to make that. The problem is that it has been in the pantry—thanks to school fundraisers—for too long already. Sometimes buying something additional to use up something else, isn’t worth it, at least during MJR. Maybe I could throw it into a veggie soup?
- We are out of regular onions which I consider a staple, but we have several red ones. They will get used before purchasing new. I remember one year when I substituted red cabbage for regular in a soup recipe and I made fusha soup. Looked scary. Tasted good.
- Out of black olives. HOW did that happen!? We love them in salads. The salads have already been getting more boring because we don’t have the variety of toppings.
I was given the unexpected gift of about four extra hours today, one of which I napped! Plus, I get an extra free hour in the am. I can’t estimate how much time I’ve saved by not shopping this first week. I’ve saved gas, travel time, money, and time managing and putting purchases away. I haven’t looked at a sale flyer and I immediately threw the art material catalogue away the moment it arrived—just to resist temptation. All these little things add up to more time to devote to what I desire to give my time, treasure, and talents to.
That is most of the update. There are a couple special items of interest for another post. I’ve been enjoying my rest and I like the challenge of refocusing. Writing has been a joy and I crave more time to do it. I went to my first writer’s group tonight and we had to relocate from the coffee house—they were closing early—to the library. Rescued! That saved me feeling cheap for not purchasing anything and I was able to be true to MJR!
I’ve gotten some exciting feedback from a few of you participating. I love seeing other people find the refreshment that MJR can provide. Hearing others’ stories brings me joy and I hope that my journey, in some way, inspires you.
Uncovered 
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