Creature of Mad Enthusiasms

So, my doctor put me on a hypertension diet. Actually, she put me on "let's manage this with lifestyle changes" so now I'm also trying to exercise much more regularly (I'm woefully behind on both virtual races and Zombies, Run! missions), meditate and eat better.

Thing is, after lowering salt and adding more fresh fruit and greens, I've basically been sitting around going "Ummmm." And looking at my scary cookbook collection and going "Errrrr."

So I decided to join Blue Apron and have them throw food at me. This is in addition to being part of the Rancho Gordo bean club and halfsies in the farm share M has. As most of the Blue Apron recipes are far too high sodium for me to follow completely, expect a Blue Apron Hack tag to start showing up here.

I'm still going "um" a lot, but less so when my choices are being mostly made for me. When anything can be done, it's too much to focus on. When there's a specific set of food, then it's an interesting challenge to see what I can do.

In all the "figure out what to cook," and "figure out what to do with my career" (suffice it to say that I need to retrain ASAP), I wanted a nice, no stress surprise too.

So I signed up for a year of the Fandom of the Month Club. It's a small consortium of independent artists with gloriously nerdy names (Half Blood Prints; Geeky Cauldron) which provides a magnet, a drawstring baggie, and some jewelry/wearables for a random fandom per month. (They pick, not you)

Because they pick and not you, I was a little worried that I'd get something uninteresting and while statistically that is inevitable, my very first box was my very first fandom - Narnia! The bag had Reepicheep on it (my favorite character), and inside it was a lion magnet, lion earrings, a bracelet with details of each of the book covers (in Narnian chronological order) and a stunning bronze locket of the wardrobe door. When you open it, there's a tiny portrait of a lamppost in a snowy wood.

I couldn't be more delighted, especially as everything except the Reepicheep bag is subtle enough that I could wear it to work if I chose (and I do choose to wear the bracelet; you have to be very close to recognize what it is). It's perhaps 44 years too late for maximum over-the-moon squee, but overall an excellent omen for my relationship with the little cardboard box printed with an owl.

The teaser for next month's box is a black and white brocade headband with a bright yellow smiley face scrawled on it. I can't wait.