Wow, it's been too long...

I cannot believe I've waited this long to blog. I wish I could say that I've many whirlwind adventures and pressing engagements to justify my absence. Sadly, all I have to show for my blogging dearth is a lot of time wasted time. Sigh. Oh well, onward and upward!

Things are going well here in Michigan. Work is picking up as the weather gets nicer and the school year is winding down. I can tell that spring is in full bloom because there is a large assortment of baby water fowl taking over my apartment complex. For about a week there were at least 50 fluffy, yellow goslings wandering around. They've since started transitioning into full-grown geesedom so they are a mixture of yellow and sooty grey but they are still pretty adorable. I wish this crappy weather would let up so I could take some more walks outside and see them a little more before they get much bigger.

Life in general is pretty good. I don't know if I told you guys or not but my step-sister Kim got married last weekend. She and Hicham had their civil ceremony on Friday in Charles City and then they had their Islamic wedding at the mosque in Waterloo on Saturday. I think that they have a lot of work cut out for them to have a successful marriage, especially considering there tendency to have earth shattering fights over trivial things, but I think if they really focus on their love and really get to know one another they will be very happy. In other family news my sister Karla has decided to move in with her boyfriend Justin and they got a new puppy! His name is Copper and he is part hound part question mark. He was a rescue so they don't know exactly what the hound is mixed with. He's adorable and makes me want to get a doggy of my own. Sadly, that's just not in the cards right now. Now, don't share this with anybody else but I'm just going to say that this is the next marriage in the making...Karla and Justin that is, not Karla and Copper. She's always wanted a fall wedding and I wouldn't be surprised at all if she's walking down the aisle in the fall of 2011. Again, this is just a suspicion but I'm pretty perceptive ;)

Unlike LeAnn who has been reading some great new books I have been rereading some of my favorites from the past. Along with rereading some classics (and lets face it, guilty pleasures) I have also been watching some TV. Now, I know that we don't generally do a lot of TV recommendations/reviews on our blogs but I recently, upon recommendation, watched a 6-episode series that I think you might find intriguing. I don't know if you're familiar at all with Jamie Oliver but he's a fairly well-known English chef who has been trying revolutionize the way people eat. Therefore, the fact that his is called Food Revolution is not terribly surprising. Anyway, this 6-part series centered around his work here in the states.

The premise is thus: The CDC released it's annual report and named Huntington, WV as the unhealthiest/fattest city in the US. Jamie, in an attempt to inspire the US as a whole, decided that if he could have a positive impact in the worst of the worst areas he could potentially change the way the American public, in general approached food, cooking and eating. His big push was to get the school district to serve healthy, fresh foods and get rid of all processed foods served to children. He also spent time working one-on-one with families and set up a kitchen where he offered free cooking lessons to the community at large. In the process Jamie met people who were supportive, indifferent and openly hostile. I know that if you go to IMDB.com you can still watch the 6 episodes of this show if you're interested.

After watching this show I had many different ideas in regard to what Jamie was doing. I for one think his overall plan was really great. I do think that there can and should be improvement in the food prepared and served to our kids in school. Thinking back I remember eating a lot of food that was tasty at the time but I can only imagine was highly processed and probably pretty terrible for us. I also like the awareness that this program raised about our eating habits in general. It's no wonder that young children have some of the weight issues that they do. Also with decrease in exercise the way that some of these kids eat is appalling. During one lunch period Jamie went around a looked at the cold lunch meals that the kids brought from home and some of them were just scary. Another point that I found startling was that most of the young kids didn't know what whole fruits and veggies looked like. Jamie would hold up a vegetable and ask what it was, most of the time the class wouldn't have the answer. He'd hold up a potato and they would call it and onion or tomato. He'd hold up green beans and they'd say potato.

Anyway, it was an interesting series to watch. It was entertaining and insightful and did make me think a lot. I started to look at my own daily diet and realized that even when I cook at home there are a lot of elements that are highly processed. The kicker is that a lot of these elements could easily be switched out for fresh without much physical or financial strain on me. If you get a chance and are bored in the near future check it out. It will get the gears rolling the old head, that's for sure.

OK, I should probably stop here. Have a great day ladies!