On Controlled Experiments (Starting ... Now!)

I have a tendency to try controlled experiments on myself all of the time.  Nothing major, mind you, just small little things.  You know, like drinking a cup each of red, white, green, and black tea every day.  Or, taking piles of Evening Primrose Oil, Dong Quai, and Wild Yam for an extended period, just to see if it does anything.  Or, laying on the floor with my legs straight up against a wall for ten minutes a day, to see how that works things out.  So you see, it's nothing too drastic at all.  Well, until now, that is. 

I've officially started a controlled experiment on myself (as of three days ago, to be precise), and I expect to sorely regret it at any moment.  I just finished reading this fabulous book awhile ago.  And in this book, the father used to brag that he hadn't bought one piece of new clothing for three years (since his retirement).  As much as it pains me to say it, this sounds like good common sense to me.  I am, quite literally, the only person in this family who needs nothing.  (In the clothing category, that is.)  And because of that, I've decided I'm off shopping for now.  Oh, and as a side-note, this 'off shopping' bit only applies to items placed upon my person.  Well, that isn't quite correct, because beauty products and such are always exempt.  But there you go -- no more shopping for me -- unless it happens to be face cream or a book or something.   Because, let's face it, we don't live in the third world, and shunning beauty products and books would be way too draconian and completely barbaric.

And as soon as this controlled experiment fails, because you know it will (quite miserably, I expect), I am going to move on to wheat.  Is there such a thing as getting too much wheat in one's diet?  We do seem to eat a lot of it around here, and I've been wondering if it makes sense (at all) to look for alternatives.  I don't know though.  It sounds like an altogether dicey proposition to me if I think about it too long.  Wheat is, after all, one of the most sustainable items we consume, which to me seems like it would go against nature to turn our backs on it.  (Unless, of course, you have that dreaded celiac disease like my sister-in-law.  That is a different story altogether.  And, thankfully, it is not my story.)  Hopefully this shopping experiment lasts long enough that I don't have to worry about it for awhile.

In the meantime, I will be chanting 'Be Strong!  Be Strong!' every time I go and find a new Garnet Hill catalog in the mail.  I will sing church hymns in my head every time Emilia and I wander around Bellevue Square together.  And I suspect that in this process, I will be made a better person -- albeit a rather shabbily dressed one, for now.  Until I finally crack, that is.  Because to be perfectly honest, I like to shop.  I'm quite serious, I really like to shop.  I like new clothes and I like to be a natty dresser.  And as far as I can tell, it is in my genes, which makes it even more difficult to fight.  (No, not the designer skinny one's the girls all like to wear, but the scientific sort.  You catch my drift.)

Oh, and I suppose I should go on record as saying that this new controlled experiment does not apply to any outstanding packages that are due in the mail.  Not that I'm currently expecting any or anything.