A Cold, A Confession and Crispy Potatoes

You may recall my 2011 Challenge: A Year Without Buying Clothes. How am I doing? Well I was doing great — until yesterday. Aack! Yesterday I succumbed to the all the “markdown hype.” A fuschia sweater, white cotton turtleneck and earrings, all for $32 made a dent in my wallet. Mind you, I was walking for exercise around MOA (Mall of America), so at least that was good.

My DH offered to buy all three items for me, so I could claim them as a gift. But that’s not the point. For me, right now, I think the point is understanding that this is a process. Changing life-long habits never happens all at once. We take one step, falter, try again. Eventually persistence creates a new habit.

It was similar to bringing my own shopping bags to stores. At first I forgot to put them in my car. Then I forgot to take them into the store. Finally, I remember to bring them and to use them. But this entire process took at least a year.

So rather than beat myself up — I will be gentle with myself, take a deep breath and begin anew. However, I will donate 3 items of clothing and figure out a way to go walking without shopping for clothes at the same time.

Today I am home with the beginnings of a cold – most likely the cold my DH has had all week. But I am being taken care of. He is making fabulous – crispy on the outside, creamy on the inside – potatoes with garlic cloves and cinnamon sticks. The house is filled with the smell of roasted garlic and pungent cinnamon. I will post a link for the recipe. You can see what they actually look like right now and perhaps you can almost smell them?

Although cold outside, it is brilliantly sunny and all that sunlight is pouring in. Ravel is playing on the radio. . . crispy potatoes await. Life is good.