Part Day Off

I feel like I really was not able to accomplish much today. I went for my run, which was really slow because one, my shin really hurt me and two, I had to stop and collect leaves for my science lesson tomorrow. But, I couldn't go exploring my bike trail after the run because I had to come back and teach for Kaylene. I taught about puppets and had the kids make their own puppets out of paper bags. It went really well because the kids loved Maggie the Mutt (the third of three puppets that I brought and used in Taiwan- goal accomplished) and they loved making their own puppets. The problem was that there wasn't enough time. The kids liked Maggie a little too much and I couldn't get them to stop wanting to talk to her and pet her long enough to teach a quick lesson before moving onto the craft.

Because I had already showered and was clean, I didn't do my normal Wednesday cleaning. I was already planning on boycotting cleaning up anybody else's mess, but I had wanted to at least sweep my room out. Nope, no such happenings. Today was a big reading day. I don't mean reading my scriptures like I've been doing the other days that I had lots of time to kill. For the past couple days I've been reading about ways to be more healthy so that I can try to lose some of this extra weight that Taiwan has put on me (not that Taiwan is the only reason I'm a little wider then I'd like). But it's a little depressing. I've learned that my running every morning is doing almost nothing (and may actually be a hindrance) to help me get slim and that if I really want to trim down I have to buy organic foods like grass-fed beef and eggs from free range chickens. Okay, well that's discouraging because I wouldn't know where to find those types of food in Taiwan (even if they're available) and it means that when I go back to America, my grocery bill is going to be a lot bigger if I have to buy at whole, natural food stores. Not only do I need to change my eating, but my workouts as well. I've been reading how weight training is the best thing that I could be doing to lose weight. Again, that's discouraging because I don't have access to a gym here. I think that I've seen one, but I don't know how to get a membership. So, there are some things I can do without weights, but mostly I really need a gym. I'll do the best that I can while I'm here though. But that's why I haven't done much of anything today, I was busy reading the health articles.

I was going to make re fried beans and salsa for lunch today, but reading articles online made me sleepy and so I took a nap. I think I was asleep for about an hour and by the time I woke up it was almost 1pm and I wasn't willing to wait 3 hours for lunch. So I grabbed something quick for lunch and decided to make the beans and salsa for dinner. I went to the grocery store to pick up tomatoes, lemons, and lettuce. I was so excited that I found the store had real lettuce. Last time I had gone I saw that they had ice burg lettuce and that's what I was planning on getting, but today I went and they had Romain lettuce. I was thrilled. I also saw that they had spinach leaves. I wonder if this whole time I could have been eating tasty salads or if it really did just appear in the store today. I had looked up a recipe for re fried beans and was all excited to be making them and to see if I could really do it. I got out a measuring cup to measure out some of the beans (I obviously didn't need the whole bag, it's just me eating). I dumped out all the beans so that I could wash them. Something distracted me and when I came back, I forgot to measure out a smaller portion and put all the beans into the pot. By time I realized what I had done, it was too late, the beans had already started to boil. Because I made too many beans, the beans kept on soaking up the water and I had to keep putting more water in. They turned out okay, but they could have used some seasoning (I didn't have salt, so the only thing to give it flavor were some sauteed green onions). The salsa on the other hand was fantastic. Mmmm... I really wanted some chips to go with the salsa, but I didn't have any (Taiwan doesn't have any). So, in my head, beans and salsa wrapped in a lettuce leaf was going to taste so amazing. Not quite. The beans weren't bad, the salsa was excellent, the lettuce was lettuce, but the combination of them did not turn out as good as I had planned that it would in my head. It's regrettable that dinner didn't taste that good because I think I'm going to have to repeat it a few more nights. I have so many beans and without chips or tortillas, I don't really know what else to have them with. (If you have suggestions and read this asap, I would LOVE to know how to use them- throwing them away is not an option, so don't say it.)

After dinner I kept busy for a while just cleaning up all the dishes I had used for dinner. Then it was back to reading about health and fitness, a cross word puzzle, and just waiting for Dar-sen to come for his tutoring. Right now I think I'll do another puzzle (yes, I know, I'm kind of sad and pathetic) and then go to bed.