Menu Plan Monday: February 23 - March 1

Vanessa has been doing Menu Plan Monday, hosted by I'm an Organizing Junkie. Ian and I try to plan our meals each week, so I thought maybe joining in would be a little extra accountability!

Monday: biscuits and gravy

Tuesday: grilled cheese and tomato soup

Wednesday: Hamburger Helper

Thursday: Rachel Ray's cowboy spaghetti

Friday: chicken and baked macaroni and cheese

Saturday: cheeseburger pasta

Sunday: leftovers/family dinner

breakfasts: bagels, cereal

lunches: leftovers, sandwiches, yogurt, apples

what's your carbon footprint?

A few weeks ago I took a carbon footprint test at www.earthlab.com. There's lot of sites like this you can find online, but I really liked this one because the quiz is a little more in depth, it shows you your results compared to your city, state, and country, gives you both your Earth Conservation Plan score and your carbon output, and you can make pledges that, when completed, lower your ECP score. Pledges can range from putting a filled plastic bottle in your toilet tank to reduce water use per flush, to bringing your lunch to work, to installing energy efficient appliances. No matter your situation, there are ways listed for you to change your lifestyle and help the environment.

The day I took the test, my ECP score was 213 and my carbon output was 4.7 tons. I was pretty proud of Ian and I, compared to the city (371/16.9 tons — slightly lower than our state average!) and compared to the United States in general (357/15.4 tons).

Since then, I've made lots of pledges. Some of them were things Ian and I were already doing (like reusable water bottles instead of buying water bottles) and some things were just minor changes I've had to make. In about 3 weeks, my score has dropped to 56 (no change in carbon footprint — everything there's about as low as we can get it until it warms up and I can walk to work again).

Some suggestions are big changes, but you can make a big difference with the just little things! Unplug your TV at night. Pack a lunch once a week. Turn off the lights. Close the fridge. Reuse. Recycle. "Consume less. Live more." Join us! I challenge you to take the quiz, make some pledges, and see how green you can get by Earth Day on April 22, 2009. And leave us comments — we'd love to hear your thoughts and experiences!

following the Oscars

I'm not normally one to keep up with the Oscar's each season. In high school, I thought it would be interesting to follow one of my favorite teacher's examples and, each year, watch all of the nominees for Best Picture before the big night. However, I have an uncanny knack for forgetting Oscar season is coming up, and then running out of time, money, and motivation.

This year is different. I subscribe to the (free!) daily New York Times e-mail update and get great awards season coverage at nytimes.com. Ian and I have seen two of the Best Picture nominees: The Curious Tale of Benjamin Button and Slumdog Millionaire. I'd highly recommend both. However, I'm worn out from politics and have no motivation to watch Milk. As much as I admire Kate Winslet, I don't want to see a movie full of "sexual intensity" as they bill the The Reader. So I'm taking a cheaper and less time-consuming approach by getting into the Short Film, Animated category. Two of the five nominees, I can't find anywhere in full version. They are, however, all recapped here at nytimes.com. The three I have seen are great!

My favorite, and not just because I love Pixar, is Presto, a short about a magician's bunny and what can go wrong when you perform hungry. When we saw it in the theater, I was laughing so hard I cried. It's an ingenious idea and the perfect length at around 5 minutes. The action builds at a perfect pace, the characters are endearing, and, as always, Pixar nails the animation. Definitely worth the $1.99 on iTunes to own this (or get the Wall-e DVD)!

image via themoviedb.org. watch on YouTube ($1.99).

I hope Presto wins, but I can't recommend enough the French short Oktapodi. The story follows two octopuses in love as they race for their lives. The animation is great, and the story is fantastic. Again, the action builds well, it's a great length, and there's a delightful twist at the end. I'd say more, but it's free and online, so I'll just let you watch it for yourself.

image via themoviedb.org. watch on the movie website.

Finally, Ian and I found, on YouTube, the Russian short Lavatory Lovestory, about a bathroom attendant attempting to discover her secret admirer. It's much longer, clocking it at right under 10 minutes. The story is cute and I love the animation style, but I felt it dragged on a bit long and would have benefited from a little cutting. However, I still enjoyed it, and you can feel cultured watching a Russian film (without the language barrier!).

image via themoviedb.org. watch on YouTube.

Have fun preparing for the Oscars!

a week in the office...

So I think I'm finally caught up with all of our fun photos, so I'm going to share a couple stories from work, to illustrate how working in a church office is never boring. I'm hoping to incorporate these into a work of fiction eventually, but here they are in their raw glory.

A couple of weeks ago, an older member of our church passed away (she had terminal cancer). The service was set for a Tuesday morning at the church. The family had her cremated, and David, the minister who would be performing the service, told us that the funeral home wasn't involved in the service.

Monday afternoon, the day before the service, Jake, Storm and I were having an impromptu conversation about music when a older man in what appeared to be painting clothes entered the office. He apologized for his appearance — he was on his way to help his kids paint. He had a fancy plastic bag, the kind you get a really expensive chocolate shops, with the funeral home's logo on it. He set the bag on Shirley's desk (she was gone for the day) and said, "Here's everything for tomorrow's service: guestbook, memorial cards, thank you cards, a photo from the family, and her cremated remains. Have a great day!" Storm, Jake, and I managed to contain our laughter as we watched him exit the office door. As soon as the building door thudded closed, we exploded laughing.

As humorous as the whole situation was, I felt it was a little disrespectful to leave her just plopped on a desk, so we temporarily moved her to Shirley's chair. Ben, Storm, and I coordinated a Twitter release of the story, which drew some curiosity.

@annakristina28 "Here's everything for tomorrow's service: guestbook, memorial and thank you cards, a picture, and her cremated remains. Have a great day!" 4:26 PM Jan 12th from web

@StormDavis my life's a bad indie movie #178 standing next 2 a funeral goodiebag. fully equiped w/ memorial cards, thankyou cards, & cremated remains. 4:26 PM Jan 12th from txt

@bworcester Wow. Creepy. A funeral home director casually dropped off a person's cremated remains at the office. She's sitting in Shirley's chair. 4:26 PM Jan 12th from Twidget

I called Ryan to ask for directions, and he suggested I leave her on David's desk, as he was probably expecting the "funeral home goodie bag." Only in a church office.

The next afternoon was also eventful. Ben had noticed a fermented scent in the contemporary worship office a week or so earlier. That afternoon, they realized what it was. Back in June, someone brought half a watermelon as a treat for the office staff. The remaining watermelon was stored in the contemporary worship mini fridge. You guessed it. They hadn't used the fridge since then. Concerned at what opening the fridge indoors would do to everyone in the office, Storm taped it shut, and he and Ben took it out near the dumpster to evaluate it's contents. I was recruited to follow after with Ben's mac, recording the activity for the worship website. What we uncovered was a VERY moldy watermelon. It didn't smell rotten though. It had been so long, they had accidentally created watermelon wine, which was now running out the bottom of the fridge. Looking back, I can see it as a very biblical thing to do... turning water(melon) into wine... Did I mention lots of corny puns float around the office all the time?

All in all, I love my job very much, and I'm going to miss everyone when we move wherever it is God takes us with Ian's future job!