five

Mrs. Pivec asked and answered some very interesting questions from the chapter called "Learning from the World Community" in Living More with Less. i really appreciate how honest she is...ready to say which practices are challenging in her life.

1. Do you find that you own unnecessary kitchen gadgets? well, now this is (one of) my pet peeves! i hate to buy any gadgets that only do one thing. i have exceptions of course...we have a coffee grinder, a pizza cutter, potato masher! i'm sure there are others. but for the most part i want a new tool to do more than one thing. when we moved to the jungle, i took my good chef's knife and a good hand can opener. those were both good choices. the one electric appliance i would pine for--besides a fridge to keep the Parbo cold--was my hand blender. i got it for our wedding, and use it for making smoothies and hummus and soup. so handy!
2. Could you imagine planning ahead and cooking just once a day? again, in the jungle this was just how things were. and for the most part that's how we eat still. for lunch we have left overs or sandwich type stuff. and the only meal i really plan or cook is dinner. i am looking toward some better planning and cooking for a couple of weeks and freezing each dish. i really like the cookbook called Frozen Assets. still haven't tried it. except for when i was pregnant. i had almost 20 meals cooked and waiting for us in our freezer. and it was such a blessing.
3. Does your town have or are you able to use public transportation? yes! we love TriMet! Mabel knows how to wave the bus down and hold our fare ticket. she's a bus pro. it's her favorite place to nurse i think. she loves all the action, crazy people and big windows to look out of. but then she also loves to snuggle in my lap and shut out all the distractions. she even falls asleep.
4. Do you often choose to walk or ride your bike instead of driving? no bike riding for this girl! though i think M might push us to ride bikes.; she sure like to look at them. but we do walk lots. St Johns is supremely walkable. the grocery store and post office are a block away. the library is four blocks away. parks and cafes and even a book store all within a few handsome blocks. and the river! such beauty and even a taste of the wild. our local ducks even had babies! it's just amazing that we have all of this at our doorstep.