Day 4 - The Garage Project Begins

In college, one of my friends had a To Do list on her door on a wipe board. Number 1 on the To Do list was always ‘Slay Dragon’. It was a silly homage to the first Shrek movie where Princess Fiona says to Shrek, “You didn’t slay the dragon?” and Shrek replies, “It’s on my To Do list!”

I now kind of understand putting it at number 1 a bit more. Every day you work on yourself, you’re slaying some kind of dragon, or jabberwocky, or mythic beast. And so Day 4 began anew, to slay the dragon…and then some.

Adversity Strikes!

It actually came to my attention last night. One of the dogs, our puppy, had knocked over the fence and ripped up the two raspberry bushes. The NEWLY PLANTED Raspberry bushes. Normally I would’ve been irate. However, this time I think I dealt with it well. Nicotine, Caffeine, Alcohol, and Sugar withdrawal considered. I fixed the fence the best I could before bed and rationalized 2 things:

She’s a puppy and will do puppy things
The Blueberry bushes made it so not all is lost

And with that, the scene below became a bit less frustrating and just another step in my 30 days of clean living.

I can say not everything has gone swimmingly. I’ve been short or grumpy with everyone. No where near as bad as I am when I’m simply trying to ‘quit smoking’. But still it’s something I need to be mindful of and remember not to take out my personal frustrations on others. It’s my shit. They shouldn’t have to deal with it.

Getting Back to What’s Natural

Jocelyn and I talk about this all the time. What is the natural state of things. Why would we choose a synthetic or man-made alternative when we can have the natural thing? The same goes for food, cleaning products, and even our own personalities. The whole time I was rubbing elbows with the suit and tie crowd, I felt fake and as a result, I felt unnatural. It probably limited me greatly in that environment. I’m certain it limits most people. That’s not a natural environment. It just isn’t.

The Garage Dragon

It isn’t slayed just yet, but it’s in process. Today I began breaking down, organizing, and cleaning the garage. The garage is something Jocelyn and I inherited from her dad when he passed in 2021. It’s been kind of a sacred cow that I feared slaughtering. Both for myself and especially for Jocelyn. There is a lot of her dad, Joe, in this garage. A lot he built (in his own off-the-cuff kind of style) and a lot of his things that he had collected over the years.

Ultimately, I want to pay homage to him by turning the garage into a true workshop. One that operates as home base for the many projects Jocelyn and I will get involved in for many years. And one that includes his stuff.

Gratuitous Food Pics

Today was a great food day. I’m beginning to not miss flour and sugar. It’s pretty incredible. In fact, we went to a smoothie place today and their green smoothie had ‘naturally sweetened’ under it. Which prompted us to ask, how are all the other smoothies sweetened? The answer…sugar!!! They’re full of fruit, wtf?!? Anyway, I made sure to get the green detox one without the sugar. It was perfectly fine sweetened by pineapple and banana.

Breakfast was fantastic. Homemade chia seed pudding made with homemade cashew-coconut milk and berry compote.

And I didn’t get to dinner until late but it was worth the wait. Veggie Mexican bowls with Mexican rice, refried pinto beans, baked tofu, sauteed corn and broccoli, lettuce, guacamole and salsa. My stomach must be shrinking because one bowl was all I needed. In the past I would’ve housed at least 1 and a half or even two full ones.

DAY 5 AWAITS! I can’t wait to find out what it has in store.

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