I work in a wonderful albeit tiny restaurant in my remote mountain town. I work part-time, five days/week. Three of those days I’m a secondary worker and someone else is lead worker. But on Saturday and Sunday, I’m the lead worker and another person takes the secondary job.

Today, Sunday, I was working with a young woman, about age 23… let’s call her Chelsea (NOT her real name). On weekends I have to chop all the vegetables and cook the sausage, and whatever else needs to be done along that line. This keeps me very busy and the other person is supposed to come in and put the ice in the salad bar, prepare the salad bar, fill the soda machine with ice, and do whatever else needs to be done to get the restaurant ready to open.

Well today Chelsea came in an hour early. Then she did everything she possibly could, including things that didn’t need to be done that early in the day, except she wouldn’t touch the dishes or the ice and salad bar. I waited for well over an hour before finally telling her that I needed her to do the ice and salad bar because I was too busy to do them.

Okay, she did that, then said, “That’s it - I’m finished.” As if there was nothing else to do. She went and folded boxes, filled sauce cups, and other things that didn’t need to be done. Finally I said, “You know, if you don’t have anything else to do, you could do those dishes.”

She did something else, then finally relented and did a few dishes, enough to barely cover the bottom of the dish drain. There were more dishes left over in the sink than were in the dish drain when she quit to go start fixing food for the day. I was still chopping vegetables at this time. So I finally got fed up and asked her if she had a problem with doing the dishes. In return she told me how “busy” she had been all morning since she got there.

I informed her that she shouldn’t always leave the dishes for the other person. She didn’t take this well and reacted in anger, professing her total innocence, but I informed her I’ve seen her avoid these jobs on many other occasions, and let her know I don’t appreciate it.

Yikes.

Well, here’s what I do. I always try to do the dishes for other people. Why? Because I know they’ll appreciate it. But when I see someone shirking responsibility and letting less-loved jobs go undone so others will have to do them, I get upset. I don’t like being dumped on any more than anyone else.

And who did 90% of the dishes for the rest of the day? - Me.

So here’s why I’m mentioning it here in my home and hearth journal. I’d just like to say - if you work with someone and there are certain tasks that nobody really likes to do, why not do those things? It will make your co-workers have warm, happy feelings toward you, plus will increase your sense of happiness as you help out others by making their loads lighter.

All the best to you,

Linda

Transitions, part three

Those of you who have given birth probably remember that the final part of labor is called the transition. I remember it well. I learned the Lamaze method for my first labor, did a refresher course for the second and third, and winged it for the last two. I did pretty good at controlling my response to pain during all five labors, except during that last part - called the ‘transition’. That was when things got rough. That was the only time I couldn’t stop myself from screaming due to overwhelming pain.

Transitions can be like that. If it is a difficult transition, something bad is happening that we’re reacting to by changing. For example a person might need to declutter their home, but if motivation is lacking, the house may stay messy for years. Then one day a child protective services caseworker might show up a the door and threaten to remove all the children. Now that’s something worth screaming about. Suddenly the parents go into hyperdrive and clean up their mess. They toss all the bric-a-brac and open the windows to let fresh air in. Life is better, but it took some terrible impetus to force change.

Transitions are often that way. We are getting so much stress from the way things are, we feel forced to change the conditions under which we live.

That’s what happened to me this time. My pants were getting tighter. Heaven forbid! I don’t mind buying new clothes, but not in a larger size! Besides, I want my health. I need it.

I put myself in health recovery mode, shut down my metabolism with the Lemonade Diet, and forced myself to reset my system. It had to be done.

Now I’m grateful to get a vegan sandwich… after ten days with nothing but lemonade and tea. To indulge in an apple rather than a slice of cheese seems luxurious, and altogether more clean than sticking more mucus into my body, especially after I went to so much trouble to get rid of it.

Transitions can be painful, but they are also bountiful. Just like in childbirth, where the worst pain gives forth the much-desired and longed for child, my food transition, ten days of fasting, has given forth a healthier and much more satisfying and healthy diet.

Transitions, part two

I was talking to a friend recently. She told me about her son who was complaining about the past and not resolving his present problems. Everything was blamed on things that had taken place more than twenty years ago. We tossed ideas back and forth for a while, then realized he can’t move forward with his life because he’s too busy looking backwards.

Rather than thinking about the future and how he’d like to enhance it, he was caught in the turmoil of a past he barely remembered. He fussed about his step-father, a man who he hadn’t seen since the age of six. Said step-father was held responsible for a drinking problem.

I wonder how many of you are looking forward instead of backwards. Hopefully, everyone is thinking about the wonderful future you’d love to have. And planning it.

By planning the future, I don’t mean just thinking about how much you would like to be rich, or have a shiny new car. I hope you’re writing down ideas on how you will achieve your goals. I hope you’re visualizing your future in vivid colors, getting ready to enjoy the amazing realities you can bring into focus by starting today to make things happen, one tiny baby step at a time.

If you’re a fence sitter in the future planning business, think about it. Will you spend your time complaining about the people and situations of your past, or will you look forward to a bright, happy, useful future? The choice is yours.

Part Three: The Pain of Labor

I’ve been continuing my experiment that started with Peanut Butter Granola Rounds. A while back I told you I was eating Clif Bars for breakfast every morning. Well, I’ve recovered from that addiction, and now am putting together my own early-morning grainy treats. Here’s the newest recipe:

Granola Breakfast Bars

2 cups granola
Put into the blender a little at a time; it will become powdery.

Add:
5 tablespoons real maple syrup
3 tablespoons tahini (sesame butter)
2 tablespoons natural peanut butter (I use Adams)

Blend until this is the consistency of cookie dough.

Prepare a plate covered with rice flour and cinnamon, blended. Place the dough on the plate and flatten it to about 1 inch thickness. Cut circles with the lid of a mason jar, and wrap them in plastic wrap. Refrigerate until you need them. I made six of these tonight and will eat one each morning for energy before work.

Since I work at a restaurant that serves awesome deli sandwiches, I get to bring home empty pickle jars that are very helpful as far as keeping my staples goes. Each is filled with a different vegetarian delight food like hummus mix, lentils, brown rice, and falafel mix. I truly enjoy looking at the jars full of goodies. They are so colorful - and the textures are all different.

I think falafel mix is particularly good, health-wise. It is made from chick peas. I’ve had some that was too spicy, but what I buy up in Medford, Oregon is excellent quality and enjoyable. If I were hiking in the wilderness with a little stove, this is one food I’d take with me for nutrition and to provide lightweight staples. You can mix falafel mix with cooked, crushed beans to produce a thick textured burger patty. Fry that up, and eat in a hamburger bun with all the condiments, lettuce, onion, and tomato.

Recently my significant other, the magnificent Bob, decided to make beans and rice the new staple of his diet. First let me say I’m very proud of this man. He was a meat eater all his life until gout stopped him from eating 90% of the foods he loved, including red meat. Now he’s recovering thanks to some medication, but rather than going back to the bad diet, he’s adjusted to being mostly vegetarian, though he still eats fish. I don’t, so we usually don’t share meals. He cooks what he wants and I cook what I want. I’ve gone on a vegan diet. Anyhow, as I was about to say, Bob wants to eat rice and beans. So I’ve been cooking them, keeping them on hand in the fridge. I’ve been using pinto beans. The rice and beans fill several jars in my pantry. I find that when I’m cooking them constantly, I go through the beans pretty fast - so I need more than one of the gallon jars full of them.

I have granola in one jar. I’ve been using that to make the sweet treat I mentioned in my last post. More on that in another post. I’ve morphed the recipe into breakfast bars! Recipe to be announced SOON. I keep the rice flour in another gallon jar, and cinnamon I bought in bulk in another smaller jar. Cinnamon and rice flour provide the outer coating for these treats.

Anyhow, if you need jars, ask at your local restaurant or deli. If they use pickles, they probably have more jars than they want. The one gallon mayonnaise jars are plastic, but they’re handy too… I use them for pasta and beans.

Suggestion: Stock up on as many dry staples as you can.