How to Survive a National Holiday

Friday was Independence Day here in the United States. Traditionally this is not the healthiest food holiday. Hot dogs and hamburgers, chips and cupcakes are popular menu items. I think we can safely say I might now eat a hamburger on a green salad but the remainder are not on my list of consumable foods. With a large country family potluck in the plans for Friday Night Dinner I had to make some fast plans!

Breakfast was interesting. Turkey bacon for protein, roasted sweet potatoes for the veggie carb, fresh apple for the raw enzymes, and peanut butter for healthy fat. Covered all the bases but was a bit odd with the mixed tastes.

Lunch before we hit the road was fresh salad (baby kale), rotisserie chicken breast, grilled squash, and green olives. 

Then we hit the road for our close to 2 hour drive. I snapped a picture of the sock progress just before we left the driveway. 

We landed alongside a beautiful river. I sat and knit for hours. Here is a shot of the next sock. I finished the toe and started to surf left while riding. 

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My total progress on the new sock? Huge!

My afternoon snack was simple. Just an apple with a bit of goat cheese.

Dinner was classic picnic. If by classic picnic you mean chicken salad on baby kale, chickpea and roasted eggplant salad, dilled yellow and zucchini squash, cherry tomatoes and kalamata olives. 

On the drive home we were a bit snackish. We had to stop for gas. Silly car was a bit hungry too. It is hard to find snacks on the road when you are eating a clean diet. Fortunately we live in the southeast. Roasted and salted peanuts are always available. I was sure to portion out a serving size and stick with it. How much is a serving size? About 3/4 of a cup.

Saturday was a bright new day! I woke with a great idea! I have some de-cluttering to get done. There is too much stuff in the house. It has been bothering me for quite some time. I woke with the idea that I could "shop" through the stuff and "buy" only what I wanted. Everything else needed to leave the house and go to one of three locations, a local thrift shop, a friend's home, or the garbage bin. What a fabulous idea! I started the day with a good breakfast (brunch really because I was super tired and slept late). Remember I'm not a huge fan of the classic eggs for breakfast. We had grilled steak, kale green salad, sauteed squash, and the healthy fat was a nice clean dressing for the salad. I was all fueled up and ready to tackle the day.

I spent three hours shopping in my crafting area. I packed up two boxes to mail out. I collected items for a third box. Kam and I sorted through the miscellaneous kitchen stuff that has been collecting on the back porch. We eliminated 2 boxes of kitchen items and two more boxes of clothing. We dropped it all off at one of the thrift stores and headed to the grocery store. When we returned we made ourselves lunch. Turkey burgers with melted pepper Gouda on top of baby spinach with fresh guacamole and slices of jicama. It was perfect! We had fresh blueberries with walnuts and cream for desert. 

Kam fixed dinner. It made me smile! She reheated the remaining steak and made a fresh caprese salad. She was very sweet and thought I would like sliced cabbage with gluten free blue cheese dressing on it. I think it is better with Italian dressing. I ate it anyway though. When you are making this many meals for yourself you will eat what someone makes for you and be happy with it. 

While I was shopping I came up with a plan. I found this amazing amount of fiber. The white is a fleece I washed and started carding myself. The dark blue is a braid I was given but was partially felted during the dyeing process and couldn't spin as it was so I had already carded it once. The light green is alpaca I purchased at the fiber festival a few years ago. It is not long staple but very pretty. The turquoise blue is coltswold I found that same year at the fiber festival. The green and yellow braid is one I purchased from a friend who no longer has an online store. That one is not wool but faux cashmere, nylon! My idea? To card up batts out of this for spinning.

The batts are beautiful. I have over a pound of fiber to spin up. I was fascinated by it as I spun!

The resulting yarn has a nice art quality to it. This is only the first skein. It is 100 yards. I am hoping for 4-500 yards for the total basket.