Thoughts on journal writing

When we went to Sequim WA for our anniversary  we stayed at a really charming place called "The Loft".  They advertise the place as an "up scale romantic get away".  It was a great place and everything was perfect.  I loved the heated bathroom floor and it had an outdoor heater over the deck so you can stay outside and watch the stars at night without getting cold.  I think Mike's favorite was the hot tub.  It was nice to soak in after the long day hike at Olympic National Park

A view from the deck 

My favorite thing was actually a guest book.  I found it on the table and decide to see what other people said about the place.  Pretty soon I was totally sucked into the stories of people I had never met and never will.  A man wrote about his trip here to celebrate his 70th birthday.  A woman wrote about her trip with her boyfriend and before the end of their trip he proposed.  Another woman wrote that they were here for their mini honeymoon. A lot of people wrote about their adventures in the area.  It was like reading someone's journal. These people were from all over the country and all had a different story to tell.  I felt connected to these people because they shared their stories in the guest book.  I love reading stories from real people.  I love their struggles, happiness, and experiences.

I was never a good journal writer.  I tried to keep a journal few times in my life, but I never could keep at it.  I don't think I am a bad writer.  After all when I was in high school and even after that I wrote  love letters for my friends. (I don't remember if I charged them for it or not).  So why, when it comes to journal writing, I have nothing to write? I think it started when I was in elementary school.  During the summer break we were required to keep a journal as part of our homework.  I remember writing a months worth of journal in a few days before school started.  of course I didn't remember what I did all summer long so I ended up making up a whole bunch of things.  It wasn't fun and I associated writing a journal with homework and chores.

The biggest reason that I don't write is that I safeguard my thoughts and emotions.  Since that is what makes a journal interesting and I am not ready to share that with anyone who might read them, it makes it hard to write.  I mean I can write meaningless things like what we had for dinner, about the weather, and such things, but is that what I really need to leave behind?  

I need to look at journaling from a different angle. It doesn't have to start with "Dear diary" on the top of a note book page.  I just need to discover what kind of writing works for me.  Wish me a luck since I haven't found one yet.

Wait a minute... writing a blog is a form of journal right?

Living on $20 per week part II

I know it is about two weeks late but I thought I will report on the last two weeks of living with less.
The last week was especially hard.  We ran out of chocolate chips, butter, and we were getting very tired of eating out of our pantry. 

We all survived and here is how.

First, I took our change jar to the bank and got $29 which was a big help.

Second, our daughter took us out to dinner one night and it was so nice to eat out after a month of not going out.

Third, it is football season.  We get together to watch the game as an extended family and everyone brings something to share.  We took deviled eggs and home made pickles.  We get fresh eggs from our chickens and I made a whole bunch of pickles just a while ago.  It cost us nothing and we had chicken wings made by our sister-in-law (she makes the best chicken wings). 

Fourth, we had family Sunday dinner and again it was pot luck and we took a fruit salad made with things that we already had. 

This is one of the dishes I made.  It is pretty cheap and our family likes it.  It is a Korean dish call bibimpob.  The basic idea is that you have rice as your base and some sort of protein, vegetables of your choice, an egg, and hot pepper paste.  I usually use spinach or swiss chard as greens, but here I have kale instead because kale was cheaper.

A few interesting experiences I had.

First, at the beginning of the third week I went to the store to pick up something and I had two weeks allowance of $40 with me.  I thought I was being careful but when I got to the check out line it was more than $40 and I had to tell the cashier to put some items back.  For some reason I forgot to take my wallet with me.  If I had my wallet I would probably have pulled out my debit card and paid the whole bill to avoid the embarrassment.  I was very grateful that this was by choice not out of necessity.

Second, I have a weekly lunch date with my husband, and I like to make something that is more/different than a ham sandwich. I found out that I actually put more thought into our picnic lunch since take out wasn't an option.  I took juice or milk in a mason jar instead of buying a soda.  I had to get up early to make cookies and actually had to look up a recipe a few times.  Ranch potatoes and leftover chicken was really good.

Third, my perception of money has changed during the month.  I found myself counting pennies, comparing prices and trying to find cheaper substitutes.  I need to practice more frugal living everyday and I found out by living on $109 last month I can do this.

I spent the last of our money buying three doughnuts.  Sometimes you just need to have a doughnut. When I went to pay for them the cashier asked me if I wanted to donate $1 for the children's miracle network.  I told him I wished I could but I am counting my pennies.  He told me he feels my pain and he understands. Maybe he does understand me or any other people who had to count pennies.  But I am not sure if I do.

Our 25th Anniversary Trip to WA

We took a four day trip to Washington for our 25th anniversary.  Even though we do not have small children at home to look after, because of Mike's teaching schedule four days is all we can manage to get away.  

The weather was perfect and the drive was beautiful.  We visited the Bellevue botanical garden.  It is part of the city park system and was free to the public.  The garden was divided into different themes: rock garden, Japaneses garden, perennial garden, waterwise garden, just to name a few.  I loved the dahlia display.  My mother had dahlias in her flower bed when I was a little kid.  

We visited the Olympic game farm in Sequim.  It is 84 acres of drive through zoo where you can feed and have a very close look at these friendly animals. Mike had great fun feeding them and because I didn't want to risk my fingers getting licked by them I took the pictures.

This Yak was so eager to take the bread out of Mike's hand he practically slobbered all over the side of our car.

We had to guard our bread from this greedy llama.

There were a lot of peacocks and peahens with their babies at the farm.

This is a waving bear.  He waved at us as we drove next to him and at first I didn't realize what he was doing, but he was kind enough to wave two more times so there was no mistake what he was doing.  Only after the visit to the farm I found out he is quite famous.  you can find a video of him waving on YOUTUBE.

This elk was on guard duty.  He was waiting for us right by the gate.

The white deer at the bottom of this picture chased us while we were driving and as soon as he figured out that Mike was not handing out bread anymore he switched over to my side begging for bread.


We went to the Dungeness national wildlife refuge.  It was a short walk from the parking lot along a beautiful forest trail.  The spit itself is about 5 miles long and there is a light house at the end.  We didn't make it all the way to the light house because walking on the sand and pebbles was putting too much strain on my sore ankle. 

Someone had a fun making this.

There was driftwood of all sizes everywhere. 

The view of the spit from the top of the trail.


We loved Olympic National Park.  We decided that we have to come back and spend more time enjoying this beautiful park.  It has all the things that I love: the ocean, waterfalls, forests, hiking trails...

For this trip we hiked in the Hoh rain forest.  It was beautiful with maple trees changing colors mixed with evergreens, ferns and mosses on the ground. We hiked a couple of short trails.  The one thing I noticed was that there was no dry place to sit and eat our lunch.
  

This curtain of mosses was soft to touch.

Look at this cute mushroom! I would love to have some of these in my fairy garden.

I learned that this is called a nursery log.  You can see the seedlings growing on the log.

It was a such a great trip.  I love spending time with Mike.