Big Bottom Squash

…you make my world go round!

I love this little butternut squash:

All bottom.

I’m always surprised by the unique nature of each butternut squash. They’re all totally different with their own little personalities.

Don’t worry…I don’t actually think butternuts have personalities! Just interesting features and quirks that make them special.

Speaking of special, this chocolate avocado mousse is ridiculously good. Make it. Now.

Why is this so freaking good?

I kept mine thicker like a pudding, and I wish I had bought more avocados! I only picked up one, and I wish it had been more like one dozen. I can’t wait to make this again.

In addition to making desserts with avocado, I’m also starting to put flax seed meal on things, like this salad.

I'm so healthy.

Suzi gave me my requested coffee bean grinder for my birthday, so I’m whirring away with the flax seeds. What’s next? Chia seeds? Flax seeds are probably so last year.

Tonight is my first physics class, and I’m doing nothing but dreading it. Anything but physics! Blargh.

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Asunder

When one’s world is thrown asunder, at least one can count on Margo Timmins to articulate one’s feelings.

FO: Monkey!

A rather homely monkey.

I finished this monkey on Sunday.

While knitting the various pieces, I had high hopes for the end product. Unfortunately, I find it to look terribly homemade, rather than delightfully handmade.

I wish I had stuffed it more and sewn the mouth on better. Oh, and the legs aren’t centered. But it’s going to a newborn, so I’m trying to not be so uptight about it. While I don’t like it so much, I refuse to take it apart and redo it.

The friend who introduced Porkchop and me had a baby a couple of weeks ago. She and I were anthropology classmates, and she actually followed her dreams and became a primatologist! Her dissertation is on a monkey population in Gabon, so of course we have to send her monkey-themed items. Because she surely won’t receive enough of those from other people.

Other Things

School starts next week, and I’m taking Physics I and Abnormal Psychology. The physics book looks scary.

As of last week, I started volunteering Thursday afternoons at a physical rehabilitation center. I first contacted the center in January, so I’m excited and relieved to start accumulating volunteer hours!

All is not doom and gloom, but I surely could do with some laughter these days.

This One Thing I Know

I don’t know much these days.

But this one thing I know. Someday, I shall live by a giant expanse of water with rocky beaches and old trees.

I want to watch the waves forever.

The above is from Cave Point in Door County, which is the bit of Wisconsin that juts out into Lake Michigan. It was beautiful and serene, and I did not want to return to St. Louis.

No, seriously, I cried in Illinois before we crossed the bridge. Not just crying, sobbing. I wanted to continue along with the tent and sleeping bags and borrowed camp stove. Forget the house, the weighty belongings, the job that I can’t stand, and just drive wherever the hell the road leads.

And suddenly, I feel like my mom. Coming home from a day trip to the closest big town, we would hit a stretch of road on the flattest bit of earth you will ever find. It would be just our car, the road, the cotton fields, and the hot shimmering air, and then she would whisper, Don’t you want to just keep driving forever? Let’s just keep going. I always felt so sad when she said that because I knew she didn’t want to go back to our house and the drudgery that had become her life.

If the gas fund was limitless, and I didn’t have these stupid obligations like a mortgage and bills, I would totally keep driving.

Journeys

We’ve been away this week to Wisconsin, and it has been a great trip. Beautiful weather, beautiful lakes, and beautiful friends.