Sprouting

  I heard about sprouting years ago. I remember thinking back then that it seemed like too much work, too tedious. Well I have internet again, and that means information!!! So, I read up on some basic sprouting techniques and got myself started. I right away crafted a sprouting bag made from scraps at my home. I did not have to spend any money on this part at all. Here are the links I used to help me along the way. I made my own adjustments as I went. I wanted a double drawstring bag and neither of those links had information on that, so I had to improvise.

My lovely sewing machine is well equipped. It has all the basic stitches, and a whole bunch of fancy stitches that it will automatically do for me at the push of a button. One of these fancy stitches it is capable of is the dreaded button hole stitch. I of course do not still have the instruction manual for my machine, as it has been through at least 7 moves. So again I went to the glowing box of information to figure this out. I found several instruction manuals on how to use the button stitch. I was still unsuccessful in this operation. I eventually opted for applying a Jenni job to this illusive button hole stitch. It all worked out in the end and I have a wonderful sprouting bag!

see sprout people for detailed instructions and helpful hints

So far I have made two different recipes out of sprouted garbonzos that i typically make out of canned garbonzos. I have made garbonzo bean chocolate cake and hummus( because hummus is yummus).  My base recipe for hummus comes from PBS Kids and I love it. I tweak it here and there of course to our own taste. I think the sprouted version of each recipe taste very similar to my regular version, but nuttier.

My chocolate garbonzo bean cake recipe comes from a friend. This cake is of course delicious as is, but here is the cream cheese frosting recipe I use.

1 1/2 C choc. chips (melted)
2C garbonzo beans
4 eggs
1 cup sugar (you can also sub in honey)

blend beans, eggs, and sugar. add to chocolate chops and mix. pour into greased pan. bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. cake is done when a knife in the middle comes out clean.


Go sprout something, and tell us how it worked out for you!

"Believies"

Crisis: A time when a difficult or important decision must be made.

  I am in the throes of a faith crisis. It has been a long time coming. I just keep putting it off. Do I 

have it in me to speak honestly and vulnerably about this issue? I fear the backlash. I know that 

religion is one of those topics you just are not supposed to talk about. I wonder if the fear I feel is 

because of the religion i studied. Fuck fear.

I was not raised in any particular religion. For that I am grateful. We went to church for weddings, 

funerals, and baptisms. I talked to god as a child. That consisted mostly of asking god to keep 

my family, my pets, and the earth safe from harm.  In college I got "saved" Let the fundy Christian 

life commence. I married a Christian man. My honeymoon was spent at an Oral Roberts s

seminar,complete with Benny Hinn and the worlds largest praying hands statue. I studied my 

bible. I went to a Christian church. Several of them actually. Throughout my churchgoing years I 

attended a baptist church, assembly of god church, catholic church, church of god, several non-

denominational churches, and some churches that did not have names yet. I have even been to 

temple on several occasions. I was a youth pastor for awhile.I was on the worship team. I met 

monthly with an interfaith women's group. I took my turn in the nursery. I scrubbed stains out of 

the carpet in the meeting room. I layed hands on people, and spoke in tongues. I was there for 

Sunday morning service and Sunday afternoon service. I went on Wednesday for the midweek 

service, Friday for youth group, and Saturday for worship team practice. 

I no longer go to church and have not attended for several years. What drove me from church?  

The shortest answer is going to church is what drove me from church. The list is really long in my 

mind. I will try to make it concise for your reading pleasure.

  Now for the long answer. I am a what you see is what you get kind of person. That is not really 

encouraged in most churches, especially if one is in a leadership position. HIDE IT! Hide 

whatever thing you are guilty of, because if the higher ups get wind of it you will be removed from 

your position of helping people and replaced. I am sure some of you are cringing at the phrase 

helping people, there where some people we actually did help. We did feed the hungry on 

occasion.  It is interesting to me the "sins" that get overlooked. I had a parent come to me crying 

after I got my tongue pierced. She was terribly distraught over the ordeal.She was very worried 

about my soul and about me being a co-pastor with my husband leading her children.  This is the

same woman with a gossip problem the size of Texas. The bible has nothing negative to say 

about piercings. The bible is very clear regarding the position of being a judgmental gossip 

monger.  I was spoken to several times regarding my piercing. She was never spoken to 

regarding her gossip problem, or her generally shitty attitude.

  I studied the bible a lot.I am no expert. I do not know everything there is to know about it by any 

means. Nor do I have every bit of it memorized. However, the more I study the bible, the more I 

agree with it and the more I disagree with it. I think I had previously took a lot of things out of 

context, or maybe ignored the context altogether due to being indoctrinated by the church. Why 

can't the church look at the book they call sacred as it is? 

I have a good friend who is a christian. I have a good friend who is a pagan. I am dating a 

Buddhist. I do not know if I have a religious affiliation right now. I know what I want. Idon't know if 

there is a religion that fits that. I think Christ was a nice man. I think Buddha was probably really 

cool. I like some of the Jewish traditions.  I love how pagans mark the year. I do not know if I 

need a religion, but I am not an atheist. I have seen things that make me think there is a god,

 or gods, or godess, or goddesses.  So, I have made the decision that I am done holding on to 

my cute little believies and I will wait for knowledge to present itself.

I contemplated just writing this in my own personal journal. However, I am curious about your 

experiences. What is the path that got you where you are today, religiously/spiritually 

speaking. Surely there is someone out there like me who is undecided. 

The Octopus

 I am in my 4th day of being nicotine free after being a nicotine/tobacco user for over half my life. My partner and I quit our habits together. We talked a bit last night (through tears, anger, and laughter) about how the experience has been for us so far. I found myself wondering if there is any part of my life that the invisible tentacles of nicotine have left untouched. It's almost funny how the brain plays wicked trickery on us to get nicotine back on line again. It feels like there is this invisible octopus with its tentacles pushing my mind into nicotine thoughts. Fellow quitters know about those thoughts.

 The Octopus Tentacled Brain: "Hey"

Me:  "Hey. How are you today Brain?"

The Octopus Tentacled Brain: "I was just thinking about that time when you were hanging out with your best friends in the whole world. All your children were playing together. The weather was beautiful. The food was delicious. The wine was great. That was such a beautiful moment in your life."

Me: *reminiscing* "Wow, yes, that was a real great time. Everything was perfect for a moment."

The Octopus Tentacled Brain:  "You do remember that you were a smoker then, and that the only reason any of it was fun, rewarding, enriching, or delightful in any way is because you had nicotine? Right, you do remember that don't you?!?!?!? HEY! I'M TALKING TO YOU!!!"

Me: *scratching head*  "Hmm, maybe you are right nicotine infected Brain. Maybe I can only be happy with nicotine, and the universe wants me to be happy, right?"

The Octopus Tentacled Brain: "FEED ME NICOTINE!!!"

I have 70 pieces of nicotine gum free to a good home!

Then you find this in the freezer and in random stashes throughout the house. The cigarettes, chewing tobacco, and snus went directly to the trash after this photo was taken. I was literally drooling as I threw them away. I did however keep the gum. If any of you out there are quitting and this gum would help you let me know. I will send it to you. FREE to a good home.

I spent some time looking into how long it takes nicotine to get out of the bloodstream of a user. It seems most say 48 hours. That was pretty accurate for me. I woke up in the middle of the night (hour 51 to be exact) sweating out toxins. I went through 3 (gallon) pitchers a green tea and water yesterday. I took a hot ginger bath to aid in further detoxification. I really liked the ginger bath, not just for the detox process but for the appealing scent. The aroma of the ginger provided a bit of a cover scent for the strange detox smell lingering on me all day. I looked up some good foods to aid in the detox process. I found this list to be helpful.
About halfway through the day I had such a euphoric feeling. It was so amazing that I actually started to get a little worried. It was way more than "high on life" due to being excited about quitting smoking. I'm sure it was some awful toxin making its way out of my body. I remember thinking " I'm going to just enjoy this ride, because I have no intention of ever having to do this again. This is once in a lifetime"  My detox high lasted about 4 hours. It sure was a nice little surprise.

So, today I am thinking about all the people out there who want to quit. I will send good juju their way. (and nicotine gum by request). I am going to find out how long the detoxification process takes when evicting nicotine from the body. I have some green tea brewing as I have had several nic fits whilst typing this. The tea really does help. I wonder what new thoughts will replace those of The Octopus Tentacled Brain.

The Color Wheel

  I have been floating through the last several years on auto pilot. More details on that in a later blog. I am at long last in a place where I can start living my life purposefully. With color.  I desire richness and beauty. I desire rituals and traditions to mark the passage of time and events. I will no longer watch my life pass by my eyes as a spectator. Which brings me to my resolutions for this year 2012.
     2012 Bring the Color In
1. Take more photos of everything.
2.Make some grown up friends that are nourishing and within my traveling means.
3.Sit daily. By sit I mean meditate, however I do not really like using the word meditate. I think meditate is an overused, over popularized word that nearly everyone has a preconceived notion about. Therefore, I say sit.
4.Work towards getting my BSN.
5. Eat fruit and veggies with every meal. I would also like to start a more organized meal plan.
6. Make most gifts handmade gifts.
7. Honor the Day of the Dead. I have wanted to do this for several years. A post I read in a friend's blog Death Sits Next to Us at Supper was everything that I needed to convince myself to start celebrating. In addition to celebrating a "new" holy day, I want to add more tradition to the holy days we already celebrate.
8. Plant more herbs.
9. Not mention "he who shall not be named" this entire year.Everything that can be said about it has been said.  It is time to move on to more productive, peaceful, lovely thoughts and conversations. I will not speak of "he who shall not be named" until the day that someone in similar circumstances will find the information useful.
10. For this new year I gave myself the gift of being done with nicotine. I will keep you posted on how that goes.

I am looking forward to the gifts this new year has to offer. I am looking forward to hearing back from you all. I am looking forward to learning how to be a pro-blogger!

How do you add color to your life?