Yes, I admit to Keeping Up

posted by Melissa Baumgart
Yesterday I watched the Kardashians.  It was mid morning and I wrapped up in a blanket, sat on the couch, and watched Kloe's wedding.  I experienced a myriad of thoughts and feelings.  They ranged from satisfied, relaxed, pathetic and embarrassed to apathetic, justified and lazy.  I had cramps, and it seems like lately (since I am unemployed and not in school) it's my monthly excuse to plop my butt on the couch and do a little "Keeping up", if you know what I mean.

I know I said in a previous, inspired post, that I would never ever watch that show about the 1% again.  And yet, there I sat, guiltily subdued by the drama and bling.

I could have been working on finding funding for school. (NOT, because every time I go talk to the person they send me to, that new person has no idea why they sent me there in the first place.  It is a hamster wheel of educational and government bureaucracy and all I want to do lately is jump off and lay in the smelly cedar chips that make up the cage called my life.)

I could have been singing karaoke, but then I would have had to plug in the machine.  And get dressed, because the TV is right in front of our big window.

I could have went to yoga with Jamie, but I would have had to have drank a lot more water in preparation.  I hadn't.

I could have cleaned the house.    

Instead, I did nothing.

Why do we feel so bad about doing nothing?  Or about going back on passionate declarations about what we will and won't do with ourselves.  Isn't it human to do these things?  Isn't it after all just one day out of our life, or a couple hours?  And then a new day dawns, perhaps like this morning with an amazing sunrise over the mountains.  See, I knew it was over the mountains, even though I couldn't see them because I live in the first floor dark dungeon apartment, not the airy and open, light filled third floor apartment.

But anyway, a new day does come around, no matter on which floor you reside.  A new list of things to accomplish gets drawn up and you just get to work.  It's 10:20am and I already have four out of the 12 things crossed off.  Not too shabby for a girl that sometimes just can't resist that temptation to Keep Up. 

To the Mountain!

Posted by Amy Baranski

Doodle by Amy Baranski

Summer's nearing it's end...or in Seattle that means heading into it's last month: September. The best month in the city, except for my birthday month and a few others. But the angle of the sunlight is almost always prettiest this time of year in our hemisphere. It is almost always painful as it pierces the corners of your eyes.

This morning, however, is not sunny.

Which means that from our point of view, which would be on the roof of our apartment building, the Mountain is not out today. That would be Mt. Rainer, or Big Mama. There's a street in Seattle named after Rainier,  it's big and sometimes dangerous, and on a very clear day the Mountain dominates the horizon as you head South.

My Aunt Julie loves Paradise--who's doesn't? It's not a non-sequitur really. Paradise is a section of Mt. Rainer national park. Aunt Julie would rave about it every time she and Uncle Dave came to visit. So, one day I finally went up there with my husband. I can't remember if we were married then, it's been some time. We went in summer, so I wore shorts. But there were still drifts of snow all about the upper parking lot near the Inn. That Inn serves ice cream and other treats.

This time around I am not going with my husband but with friends, and we are not staying near Paradise but near Sunrise Point.

Truth is I've never spent the night on the mountain. So, in many ways, this is a new thing.

The thing about hiking is that in many instances it requires camping, which requires time, money, and fuel. Melissa and I were remarking about the opportunity for next month, coming in the shape of simplicity. For Urban Homesteading one of our shared goals will be in a way simplifying life, and in return saving money. Melissa offhandedly refers to these as Austerity Measures. 

My idea of the Mountain, and in particular Mt. Rainer, is austere. How could rock be anything but unforgiving?

I have 40 minutes to get my things together. I'm completely unprepared. It's going to be one of those I packed in a paper bag moments. By the time we return the month will be close to changing cycling over again from 31 to 1 and so the blogging adventure continues. Until then.