day 28...dude, I totally get the Amish now

Amish butter.
Yes, please, Jesus.

They sell it at Harry's (Whole Foods) and when I saw it last week, I was so excited to see this beautiful log of dairy goodness. It costs $10, but come on...It's a log of butter!

                                                                 I mean look at it!

Not only is this beautiful log of butter delicious, but it is far easier to deal with one wrapper at the end of the consumption instead of lots of little wrappers that might equal the same size, but with one large waxed wrapper I can reuse it for other things. So, yeah, Amish butter. 

Jim laughed at me. But, come on. You see the awesomeness, right? 

Second, I was thinking about community. Maybe, because I was putting some butter in the butter bell and the Amish certainly live in community, like the Jews (in particular Orthodox). Both religious groups live isolated from the world for several reasons. 

It is far easier to live a life set apart if you are with people who are also trying to live a life set apart. 

It is far easier to keep your difficult Lenten journey moving in the right direction when you are with people who are supporting you. 

So, today I give thanks to those that work with me and not against me...

... like the restaurants that let me use my own cup

... like my friends that pick restaurants that don't make it hard for me to make good environmental choices

... like people who bring me tasty treats in recyclable containers and clearly mark it so that I don't have to stand there and wonder what I am going to do with the container.

Thanks for the tasty food and earthly friendly container! 

I will post about composting on my next blog!  

day ___ who knows, really...isn't He risen yet?

I really haven't written because there hasn't been much new to say.

Every day I pack my Kashi blueberry waffle bag with a clean cloth napkin, metal straw and silverware. I usually just use them instead of the ones that the restaurant provides if I eat out. Probably more hygienic anyway.

Jim made me a compost "box" out back that we use daily.
Scout loves it.
Figures.

The "sin box" continues to get more full and I have realized that plastic is the anti-christ.
And why do people keep trying to put their trash in my "sin box"--they need to get their own sin box or just throw it away. My box is no scape goat for you. That's all I am saying,

stupid "sin box"

I have really struggled with being a Pharisee as people have offered to take my trash for me and to throw it away.  Thanks for offering to take my mint wrapper. They are piling up in the bottom of my purse. But I am going to have to remove them soon and add them to my box.

And my apologies to Mt Pisgah UMC for forgetting to take my "sin" with me this morning, but really, what I need you to do is find some more environmentally friendly coffee cups and plates than those plastic monstrosities that you offer people. (diverting my sin here) I used them because it was a district clergy meeting and really it is amazing people weren't whipping out flasks at that 3 hour thing and I was going to bring it home and add it to my box, but I forgot. I don't know what to do to make that right. I need Jesus to atone for that one.

Also, I should confess that I bought crescent rolls today and string cheese. The only reason why I did it is because Hannah is having surgery tomorrow and that is part of what she asked for to have tomorrow--dinner request for tilapia and crescent rolls. String Cheese for recovery food. Since it is surgery, I decided to get her favorite things. Willingly breaking my Lenten sacrifice. But I am thinking about Jesus and the spirit of the law verses the letter of the law and I think that in this case, it would probably be acceptable.

day seven...this is not the sweatshirt that you are looking for

some reflections on day seven 

(I know it is day eight, people) 

Last week in Christian Believer (bible study) we talked about the Christian Life and how because of your self-proclaimed desire to be more like Christ and your self-proclaimed belief in him (whatever that includes) your life ought to be different.

I grew up in a Christian household. Church for the most part was part of what we did; belief certainly was. My faith is something that I have worn like a comfy sweatshirt that marks my support for the home team. I don't wear it because it marks my support for the home team, I wear it because it is my favorite, it has always been there, even if it at times it has gotten pilly, been stained or the drawstring got stuck in the hood. I have worn it in the winter and I have worn it in the summer of my life. It has kept me comfortable and at times it has made me uncomfortable. It has made me feel at home with my people and it has made me like a stranger and an enemy with others.

But that sweatshirt has very rarely made feel as out of place like this Lenten journey.

If you know me, you know that I wear my faith like a jean jacket at a black tie event. I am real, the darkness of my life is real, the light that I have experienced is real. I don't know how to live another way and frankly, I have no interest in trying to figure out to. The fact that I referred to my faith as a sweatshirt instead of a techno-color-dream-coat says something in itself.

But bringing my own silverware and cloth napkin out to restaurants, looking at the recyclabity of plastics and packaging at the store, bringing my own containers to compost leftovers, and saying, "no, I cannot have one because of the way that it is packaged"--a lot-- has made me more aware of my faith than I have been in a very long time.

I have gotten very comfortable in my sweatshirt.

But this Lent I feel very exposed.
And I am good with that.
It is a great reminder to me that I should not blend in (which is hard for me to do anyway)
It's a great reminder to me that my life is always speaking about what I believe

day six...i am putting some weird things in my purse these days

day six


I start today by sharing this video. It is a commercial, but it goes along with my Lenten journey wonderfully. So, enjoy it. It's wonderful and funny.

For breakfast, I usually have a Bay's English muffin, because OMG, if you have ever had one you know why... I like mine crispy, with butter and a little cinnamon sugar.

So delicious.

kashi bag covering my portable utensil pack

But, the plastic wrap that surrounds these delicious tasty breakfast treats is not recyclable which leads me to a dilemma since I have ONE LEFT!  I can buy them and put the wrapping in my "sin box" (or read that as I can buy them and set myself up to fail) or I can find a new breakfast treat.

I decided to eat Kashi Blueberry waffles for breakfast. Of course, as I reached in the freezer to pull them out I noticed that there were only two left which I meant that if I had chose to eat them today or before 4/20 I would have to figure out what to do with the plastic bag that holds the waffles. Luckily, I thought about this yesterday as I panicking at the Costco and bought the box of 48 waffles, so I had a plan. I will recyclable the box and then re-use the plastic bags that holds the waffles. So, the first bag I am using as a protective covering for the napkin/fork/spoon/knife/metal straw combo that I carry with me in case I eat out.

I will also reuse the bags to pack snacks for Carter's lunch in... kind of like a sandwich bag.

Lunch was at Moe's. I knew when we decided to eat there that this particular choice was going to create some addition work for me to make it as least damaging as possible. I like to get nachos which are placed in a basket lined with paper and I like to get the queso on the side because they put too much on there. So, I knew going in that I was going to have to take the paper with me and wash out the container and reuse it. Unfortunately, they gave me enough chips to feed two tables which means that I had to do something with them. Instead of saving them until tonight to compost, I brought them back to the church (folded in the paper and stuffed in my utensil bag) and took them out to feed the birds. Since I don't put the cheese on the chips the paper was pretty clean and the chips were dry. I put them out for the birds and the deer that was here yesterday.

Dinner is going to create a problem. I have to provide dinner for the candidacy mentor group that I co-lead. I don't have a way to cook myself because of time constraints and take out packaging is not good. I am thinking that Whole Foods might be a safe answer. Their containers are compostable or recyclable. I will bring my plates/utensils from home to use and then wash them tonight. Will let you know tomorrow!

is it day five?

I may just start skipping days, because there is not much to talk about today.

I went to Costco. That is dangerous regardless of your Lenten commitment. I bought 2 cases of pellagrino for me. Glass bottles. Kirkland brand Zyrtec because you get one bigger bottle with kinder wrapping and less plastic and well, it was cheaper. It falls under the medicine caveat, anyway.

I made dinner, including popovers. I mention the popovers because I made them because the packaging on rolls would have to go into the "sin box". Yesterday, I added a dum-dum pop stick. Today, I added the wrapping to the box of altoids and the top to a wine bottle. It is still pretty empty so that is good.

I added onion casements and the mushrooms that fell to the ground while cooking to the compost pile and put a container in the kitchen for the coffee grounds yesterday. Yesterday, I also got out the reusable coffee filter (that Jim does not like) and used that when I made my coffee. Today, he used it :)

Like I said...not too interesting.

day four...composting and dining out

everyone needs one of these in their purse

Welcome to day four of the no trash journey for Lent.

Today, after seeing the IMAX movie Jerusalem we went out for lunch. I brought my own silverware wrapped in a napkin. There is also a metal straw that is not pictured aside, but you can see it below.

When we got home, I set up my cold compost. I am not going to post a picture because I am fairly certain that I did it wrong. :)  A layer of sticks/small logs over a layer of leaves. There is a rectangle of bricks around the pile.

We went out for dinner tonight.

This is what I have decided about eating out: it has a sense of being a Pharisee. I am letting other people throw out the trash for me. I am not using paper napkins or plastic straws, but it is starting to feel like a technicality. Like I don't care what you do as long as I don't have to see it.

Anyway, I am going to ponder this whole eating out thing.

day three... and we are going out for dinner!

I was going to start my compost pile today, but it was cold and rainy. I have collected no more items to put in it than yesterday, so no picture to update there. But I do have pictures to share. :) You are welcome.

Today was easier because I barely left the house. I went to Starbuck's and got coffee. I brought my own cup. The over caffeinated hipster behind the counter loved that my cup was an NPR cup. Look at how productive I was and I saved $.10. Wow. Amazing, huh.
If you look closely you can see the first part of Sunday's sermon. Spoiler alert: God did it.

 The second image to share for the day is my "sin box". It contains things I used that are not recyclable or compostable. Right now there is a plastic wrap from the lasagna with a sticker on it and the foil that I put on top of the lasagna. Apparently, buying a lasagna from Whole Foods was a bad decision for my Lent sacrifice. :( There is a cost for ease.

Today, really was a little easier. I ate snacks of fresh fruit and had left over macaroni and cheese for lunch.

However, I could not go out of ice cream after dinner because it does not come in a container that I can deal with. I am thankful that wine does, though.

This is not related to my Lenten journey, but the kids'. Carter decided that giving up string cheese was too hard. This is after his first thing which was trying everything on his plate which apparently Jesus doesn't want him to do either. Both kids decided that they were going to pray more often. 

This goes completely against the Ash Wednesday passage that says pray in private (Matthew 6), but here is a picture of them praying for Scout. 

I found it sweet. 

Scout was just happy someone touched her.