Day 8 A Moment in Contemplation
Is it just me, or has life felt like a mass of random things, all floating in space separately? Like, that scene where you see astronauts floating around without gravity, their peanut butter just floating in midair. That's what life has felt like for me. I just want to ground some things you know? I have so many ideas and projects going right now, yet I don't want to do any of them. It's like I'm trying to escape the world I've created for myself, the work from home life. It's all fun and stuff, but damn am I getting bored and lonely. I don't think I'll give up Adventures Across, no, it's my baby and I've nurtured it so much these last few years. I guess I'm just craving something... more. More connection with people, more seeing people, more excitement. (Lol, a song called Being So Normal came on, totally fitting for my mood) I feel things would be a little bit different if I had a bunch of plants and animals to take care of. So I did the unthinkable. I asked a flower farm if they needed labor on their farm 👀 We'll see what they say...
I also need a steady job with steady income because Austin and I want to buy a house this year, and like, a mortgage lender isn't going to loan us money if neither of us are working. I want this house so bad, for so many reasons, as you guys know and I guess I'm willing to get a job if it'll get me that mortgage. Unless I get super lucky and can find a house that I can pay for entirely with my inheritance. Austin is starting a home improvement business which takes care of his end of the income making dilemma. I have Adventures Across but the reality of it is it hasn't made me much money in its entirety of existence. I'm at a loss right now, I'm already doing so much with Adventures Across, yet where is the other end of this? I knew when I started that this would take awhile to get going, to start making a livable income off of, I just didn't think it'd take three years to make what I make now. Does anyone have suggestions? Anyone?
I guess some things that would help with this is to stay positive and to believe in myself. I wouldn't have gotten this far if I didn't know I could do this. I know that this will work, it is just a matter of when. Now would be the perfect timing (Universe, are you listening?). It's been awhile since I've written monthly intentions. I was so keen on that years ago. And it worked, crazy good.
Thank you for reading through that... my mind functions in interesting ways.
Most of the day was spent at my new folding table desk in the basement. Austin worked on his new business and both of us grew a pair and got EIN numbers for our businesses. All these years I've had Adventures Across and I never pursued that aspect of it, becoming "official." It was crazy easy getting one, and it was free. An EIN number is an employer identification number; it's like a social security number for a business. I feel silly for waiting so long to do this. Everything always happens in divine timing though!
There is something so glorious in working in a basement. Living in a basement. It makes me feel like I'm in the 70's. Or maybe it is an east-of-the-Mississippi thing. I dunno how to explain it. There is something so special about living where I grew up. I feel much more grounded, and creative. Basements, furnished ones anyways, are so cool. Everywhere I've been out West lack basements. It's like a whole universe missing from those westernly homes. Lemme try to explain it some more...
At night, basements are all lit up, like it's day time, but you know it's dark outside. For me, night time is when I come alive. I'm very much a night owl and I feel most creative, especially with music, after 9:30 pm. Basements feel like the perfect place to create music. The basement I'm living in has wood paneling along all of the inner walls, giving it an outdoorsy look, and the outer walls are blue. Leigh has it decorated so cute down here, so I guess the 70's aspect is left out of this basement. I don't know, all my life I've had really cool basements. The house I lived in in middle school had a concrete basement, however, my dad was super good at decorating with unwanted 70's items. We had yellow shag carpet on our side of the basement and a long ass brown couch that sat against the wall. Let's not forget the tube TV's that we sat around and watched VHS on, and the handmade tables my dad crafted when he was in his 20's. In the house I lived in in high school, it was sort of similar, just a lot less aesthetic. Much more concrete, less furniture and shag carpet. I've been in other furnished basements where there's pool tables, record players, hell, full on bars and old TV's just a time capsule of a decade I never got to live through.
This aesthetic makes me want to write music. I don't know what the lyrics would be, but for real, some good ol' acoustic music with a nice piano riff in it. I can't wait until the coffee shop opens up again so I can play some music for some people. Are you still with me?
All day I crocheted that shawl I was talking about yesterday and tried out my Arteza gouache paints. I'm longing for spring, so, hydrangeas. I'll share the picture of my little bookmark tomorrow when it's finished.
Ah, the reason I wanted to write this blog post was so I could record a great squash soup recipe we made tonight! Leigh wants us to cook for her (and she needs it too, she's so busy working from home all day!), so we are doing soups and salads for awhile. Here's what we made tonight:
Vegan Curried Kabocha Squash Soup
1 kabocha squash
1 white potato
1 stalk celery
1 small onion
1 clove garlic
1 tbs coconut oil
2 inch piece of ginger
1 inch piece of turmeric
1 tsp veg boullion
1/2 tbs curry powder
4 cups water
salt/pepper
1 can chickpeas
1/4 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp coconut oil
salt/pepper
Cut the kabocha squash in half, take the seeds out and put in the over at 425 degrees until tender. Chop on