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Artsy Fartsy Stuff

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art, life, painting

So, I mentioned I’d been doing more painting and telling myself it was okay to like my paintings even if they aren’t connected to a fine art program at a high end university.

I put a few online. Feel free to check them out. 

Time Out

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art, creating, creative, dojo, gen x, karate, life, millennial, painting, photography, work, writing

I’ve been outlining and reading up on better ways to write and plot and trying to absorb as much as I can about voice and sales copy and… I got burnt out. Granted, at the same time I was trying to relearn 5 very long forms for the 2nd degree black belt test (that I’m likely to fail “ass-some-ly” if I can’t keep these damn things in my head) and working afterschool care and spring break camp at the dojo — which turned into a few 13 hour days of kids and kicking and punching and running around. 

Camp Cooking

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camp, camping, cooking, easy food, easy meals, everglades, nature, parks, recipe, vegan

This one’s pretty much a reminder that with a few simple ingredients, you can make awesome campside, vegan meals. The recipe isn’t that much different from a couple from a few years ago. (This one and this one.)

We pulled into camp mid-afternoon at Burn’s Lake out in the Everglades. It’s in Ochopee, best known for it’s smallest post office, near Everglades City (best known for the Swamp Ape). Burn’s Lake was about the only campground in Florida not booked up that weekend and I suppose part of the reason is the lack of running water. (No matter, we brought gallons and even filled up the SunShower so we could rinse all the bugspray and sunblock off. ) Pretty sure the lack of recreation also keeps it pretty mellow. Not really ideal for boating or hiking. Good for chilling, though.

That one political post

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choices, parties, party system, politics, voting

I think by now most of us have seen the post about the third graders yelling at a classmate that when Trump is elected, he’ll be deported.

This weekend, while out running errands, I witnessed the behavior of several senior citizens that was no better. Hateful, angry, racist behavior from people grandparent age.

Here’s the thing, Millennials, Gen Y, Gen X, those Boomers not overtaken by soundbites full of rage and fear:

Lemon Cupcakes with Pistachio Frosting

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almond, cake, cupcakes, frosting, icing, lemon, pistachios, vanilla, vegan, yellow

I made these last night and they were delicious.

I’ll have pictures eventually, maybe, if we don’t eat them all before I get around to it. At any rate, I’ve failed the “picture perfect frosting” thing. Visually, they aren’t Pinterest worthy. That’s okay, consider them your secret weapon.

Cupcakes: I modified this recipe, which was already vegan.) Makes about 14-19 cupcakes.

Chocolate Cake with Orange-Chocolate Icing

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birthday, cake, chocolate, orange, recipe, vegan, veganized

My birthday’s coming up so I’m mostly putting this here as a reminder for myself.

Chocolate Cake Recipe (with substitutions below):

Taco Pizza with Cornbread Crust

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cast iron, cornbread, pizza, recipe, skillet, taco, tex mex, vegan

Last time I tried skillet cornbread I forgot to add the sugar so it came out overly-salty. Thus, I needed an excuse to try again, but didn’t want to make chili again.

I also kind of wanted tacos and sort of wanted pizza, but mostly wanted a chocolate cupcake, so we ended up having Taco pizza.

Healthy Backs

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bad back, core, exercise, scoliosis, stretching, yoga

Disclaimer: I am not a doctor. I don’t play one on TV. I’ve never flunked out med school. Take all this with a grain of salt, unless you have high blood pressure and then maybe a grain of sand. Don’t eat sand There’s fish pee in it. Probably dog pee, too. And toddler. Don’t eat sand. 

Way back in the day, I did gymnastics. I really liked the uneven bars, but I was terrible at tumbling because my back didn’t bend backward. I was also terrible at the balance beam because A) I was already too tall and B) this was before Baby Yoga and any suggestion on how to improve balance aside from “don’t fall over.” At almost-40, I could probably pull off a simplistic beam routine better than I did at 10, but now I kick things instead. Because I couldn’t do a backbend for begging or cash, and because the instructor got tired of moving the uneven bars just for me (all the other kids in class were normal sized instead of a runner up for the Jolly Green Giant), I got tossed from gymnastics. I can still cartwheel better than most of the six-year olds I know, so what did she know.

Anyway, turns out (turned out back when I was in my early twenties and someone finally figured it out), the reason I couldn’t do backbends was because my spine had its own ideas about where it should and shouldn’t bend.

Awesome, right? 

DIY and the Cult of Doing

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advice, american dream, art, buying, creativity, doing, guides, making, selling, writing

If I’ve learned anything in the past year, it’s that people will pay for anything that makes them feel more productive, powerful, capable, or valuable. They will also eat up any content that is critical of a product or celebrity or gives them advice they think they need. This is why people will stand in line and spend $6 on a cup of Starbucks, but will steal your $2.99 romance ebook, stream a movie over a torrent site full of viruses, and Spotify their favorite artists. The coffee makes them feel like they are going to accomplish something because it’s COFFEE (well, mostly milk and sugar, but still, it claims to be coffee).

We value productivity so much in the US that I could likely sell a hundred copies of a 30-page guide to inbox-zero faster than half that many copies of a 300-page novel, even if they were priced the same.