obsession * cleaning products

I've never been much of a cleaner.  In the past I have tidied, wiped down and occasionally scrubbed when necessary.  The only thing I avoided more than cleaning was listening to people talk about cleaning.  

For a while i thought everything was just fine, that i had discovered the minimal amount of effort I needed to exert to keep my living quarters from becoming what could be described as grimy, and then I moved in with a boy and everything i thought i knew went down the toilet.  Or rather, every place but the toilet.  

A quick question to boys: what part of 'pee goes into the toilet' don't you understand?

Anyway my living arrangement has forced me to call in reinforcements.  I tried several different products, but i should have known that since a bald man had made the messes that bained my existence it would take another bald man to help clean them up.

My first discovery was the Mr. Clean Magic Reach.  

The magical thing about Magic Reach is that it made it possible for me to clean behind the toilet.  I didn't even know there was a behind the toilet!

Before I knew it i was telling everyone with a husband about the Magic reach and how it changed my life.  While I was spreading the good news I was introduced to the best news of all:

        

Oh, Mr. Clean Magic Eraser I bow down to your glory and pray for those who have not yet discovered and embraced your majesty!  But I vow never to impose my position about you on any one who doesn't have to clean up after a member of the fouler sex.

matter over mind

I recently decided to become more mindful of what i eat.  This wasn't meant to be a practice in eating healthy, but rather eating what i enjoy and really enjoying what i eat.  I generally get a taste for certain foods so i wasn't concerned about eating a balanced diet because i tend to crave things like spinach and salmon and if a cheese burger calls o me every once in a while so be it.

At first things were going great, when i was hungry i sought out the foods i was hungry for and when i ate i focused on savoring every mouthful.  Three weeks later i was completely satisfied with far less food and five pounds lighter.  I seemed to have figured it all out and then something completely unexpected happened... I lost my interest in food.

I didn't stop getting hungry, there just weren't any foods i wanted to eat.  For about a week i was able to avoid this problem by getting most of my calories form beer, but sooner or later i knew i had to get back on solid foods.

So i went to the store with no inspiration and simply looked at foods that i was used to getting excited about.  I came home with a couple of dense artichokes, a baby egg plant, wild mushrooms and chicken thighs.  I began to cook and the food looked good, but i wasn't ecstatic about the prospect of eating it like i normally am.  When i did sit down to eat i continued in my practice of enjoying every mouthful and when i was full i was perfectly happy with what i had eaten.

It was very easy to change my eating habits because of how into food i can be.  It was annoying and a little unsettling, but i still had to eat (weather i particularly liked what i was eating or not).  From my point of view, given the circumstances i was under, i could either choose to go hungry or stick to my practice.  And practice i did.  

I don't know if I will ever have the same passion for food i did just a month ago, and that fact isn't as scary as it might have been in the past.  This little experiment in eating has brought me to a deeper understanding of how to live; that all I need to do, all I can do, is show up and be present and honer the place i am at this moment.