Christmas is officially over in the Shepherd house. We took the tree down last weekend and I packed up my nativity scene yesterday. I'm always a little sad to take the decorations down; they just make the house look so festive and inviting.
It seems winter has arrived for good. It is cold, dark, and rainy right now. We're drinking hot cider and tea a lot these days. I have found that I am not too miserable outside until it gets into the 30s and then I'd really just rather stay inside.
My running is still improving slowly. I'm now running 15-20 minutes at a time. I'm almost at the end of the Couch to 5K program - 2 more weeks to go if I don't repeat anything. I'm running indoors all the time now due to the cold, and while I am proud of how far I have come, I still do not enjoy it. Yesterday in particular made me grumpy because I was extra tired and achy the rest of the day. I can deal with achy muscles but this feels like my bones actually hurt. And my productivity for the rest of the day is zapped. At this point, I want to finish my goal of running a 5K but then I think I'm going to stop. I keep waiting for that feeling to change and for me to magically start to enjoy running like people say I will, but so far it's not happening.
So my 2012 new year's resolution was to live intentionally, and I already have a chance to start applying it. In our household, James pays the bills and I manage the budget, and 2011 was an expensive year for us. Finally, 5 months after moving halfway across the country, the expenses related to that have mostly settled down, so we no longer have a good excuse to spend so much money. So I reevaluated our budget and we jointly came up with some areas where we need to cut back so that we can start saving money again. It feels GOOD! Even though it meant that we couldn't go out to lunch with our friends after church on Sunday and it means that I can't go out and immediately buy the new couch pillows that I would like. But the promise of having a nice little sum of money to put into our savings account at the end of the month is worth it!
Also, as you may have noticed, my focus on fair trade and human justice has taken a back burner since we moved. My passion for it has not waned, just my actions. However, I recently bought several books on the subject and I want to get back into it. I still haven't found a way to physically help in this area through volunteer work, but purchasing fair trade items is a start. I found that our grocery store carries Newman's Own and Green Mountain fair trade coffee and it is good! And it's not even more expensive than the Starbucks that we usually buy, so that will be my coffee of choice from now on. It's a very small thing, but coffee is one of the worst industries in terms of exploitation and oppression, so having a clean conscience in that area is great!
The book I am reading currently is called Everyday Justice by Julie Clawson and so far I highly recommend it. If you are looking for a place to start getting educated about justice issues, this is a good one. The author uses lots of scripture, practically addresses the biggest problem areas (coffee, chocolate, clothing, etc.), gives lots of extra resources for more in-depth digging, and best of all, approaches this sometimes difficult and overwhelming subject with lots of grace and understanding.
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