Some perspective...

I wrote this blog post last week while my internet was down... but I felt inspired, so I thought I'd share it. :)

Laughter is ringing throughout my yard and my home right now. A symphony of children playing together, a cool breeze, a cloudy summer afternoon... a moment in time where everything just seems right. Somehow, my mind flows with memories of those sorts of moments from my lifetime- a sort of “perfect moments” file. Interestingly, none of them were planned, none deftly executed by friends or family... just moments, happening, like water falling. It hit me then. THESE are the moments life is really all about. We try so hard to make things “perfect”, to create moments like these, but we are such flawed simple creatures, we are unable to manage the task. Our Lord Father God creates these moments for us, fleeting and small, to remind us that he is with us, guiding us. I don't remember birthday parties and vacations like this... I remember my mother's laughter when she was happy, the way the pastureland smelled in the summertime on my grandparents' farm, moments of beauty in raising my own children all along the way. I remember the smell of a newborn baby, the twinkle in my husband's eye when he said “I do”... THESE are the moments that matter. THESE are the things that make life amazing. I think that we as Americans move too quickly in our lives these days to savor these moments, to hear life's whispers in our direction. Perhaps if we all slowed down and took the time to experience life instead of flying through it, there wouldn't be a need for this blog. We wouldn't have to fight toxic chemicals, because nature's time tested methods would be enough. We wouldn't have to ship tomatoes from halfway across the planet, because we would have taken the time to watch our own ripen on the vine. We would listen to the seasons of the year, and the seasons of life. There would be no need for cosmetics because beauty would be seen in every stage of life. Most people would agree that spring flowers, summer's lush foliage, autumn's many colored leaves, and the glistening crystals of winter ice are all beautiful in their own way. Why then must we fight the seasons of our lives? I believe that bright, wise, eyes twinkling between crow's feet that years of smiles and laughter have grooved into a face are beautiful. Silver, sparkling hair is beautiful. A hip a little rounder than society says it should be for the purpose of being a comfortable place for a baby to rest.... BEAUTIFUL. Maybe I need to reevaluate the need for powders, sparkles, and creams. Maybe, just maybe, God made us ALL beautiful in our own way. And maybe, if we stopped to look for this beauty in the world, the “Green” movement wouldn't be necessary. So today, take just a moment to slow down, look, and listen. Be inside of the rhythms of life. Feel God's love for his creation, and just be for a minute. Feel better? I know I do. :) Wednesday July 18^th 7:44 pm

Perfectly Pristine Potties, Pots, and Pans

I am SOOOO excited about sharing this... not just because I found the MOST ahhhhmazing cleaning method evah, but also because it's completely safe and non-toxic. First of all, I gotta give props to the original site where I found this recipe. The site is the Live Renewed blog at www.liverenewed.com.  It was originally listed as a recipe for a deep thorough toilet cleaner. After having ooohed and ahhhed at how clean our toilets were, and as the recipe was simple and nontoxic, I tried it on the kitchen sink. Then the baking pans that had impossible to remove crud.... then the range hood.... wooo hoo! (Yeah, I guess I got a little too excited.) So, long story short, this is the best natural cleaner recipe to get anything off of anything! Not exactly the recipe above, but what it has evolved into at my house. :)

Add baking soda, make a paste with water, and scrub. Then add (as in a toilet) or spray on (as in a surface of some kind) about half as much white vinegar (make sure it's the kind distilled from grain, not petroleum...Heinz is a good brand)  mixed with a few drops of tea tree oil. Let fizz, and scrub some more. Rinse, and BLING!

It's little things like this that excite me. Some people refuse to change their cleaning methods and harsh chemical products because they are afraid they won't work as well. This works BETTER! Take that, chemical companies! You need to go get these things and try it. It's a little life changing.... if you're a big dork like me. :) However, I'm a big dork with a REALLY clean potty. So there. :)

Greening the Eats

I admit it. I'm a documentary junkie. I thrive on information. I'm a nerd like that. So when I watch documentaries like Food, Inc. and the like, it's really shocking stuff. Would you eat that cheeseburger if you knew that cow was fed what to us would be a diet as beneficial as Twinkies and Doritos all its life, standing all the while knee deep in its feces? Um, ew. More than that, studies keep coming out on how unsustainable mainstream meat production really is. And then, there's always pink slime. Some ammonia with my burger? Sure, thanks. Consequently, I've been examining the way we eat as a family. The problem is, we're not loaded! :) Sure, I'd love to buy all organic food, grass fed beef, free range chicken, etc... but then, I like paying my power, water, phone.... you get the idea. So I have been working on ways to FRUGALLY make our diet more healthy and more sustainable. Today, I was in the mood for a burger. Boy, did I want a burger. This presented two problems. 1) My, er, Reubenesque figure does not need to eat a burger... EVER. 2) Grass fed beef is CRAZY expensive. So, I thought.... veggie burger? I perused the internet for a while looking for recipes and finally cobbled together a black bean and barley burger which I seasoned with cumin and thyme, and made sweet potato oven "fries" to go with. As my burgers were falling apart in the skillet, and my "fries" sticking to the pan in the oven, a la super glue, I thought....epic fail! I suck at this! Bad words! Grumpy face! But there it was, and so I swallowed my pride... and served it to my kids. I expected the worst. Kane, my eldest, devoured the burger and the "fries" with much gusto, and Seamus, the younger, while not impressed with the burger (he doesn't like black beans much in the first place) chowed the "fries" down too. They loved it. I couldn't believe it. It can be... not...perfect? That's ok? So my first attempt wasn't great. It was healthy, cheap, and sustainable. My kids liked it, and admittedly, so did I. So there. A little victory for today.

Maiden Voyage

Ok, so let me introduce myself... I'm a mom, a wife, and a nerd. I homeschool, and I am growing crunchier by the second. Yeah, I still wear deodorant and shave my legs. No worries. :) I will say that after much research, and watching many documentaries, I have been truly appalled at the "stuff" we expose ourselves to. It's really scary! All the things I grew up thinking were "healthy" and "clean"... whoa Momma! Everything from the baby shampoo I used on my kids, to my toothpaste, my laundry detergent... even my humble abode is permeated with chemicals that cause cancer, endocrine disruption, and a slew of other horrible things. My eyeshadow could give me breast cancer.... really?? But what's a girl to do? So I started looking... reading... watching all I could. We are now on a journey to a more non-toxic life, and I'd like to share it with you. I'm starting here, simply and humbly. We'll see where it goes from here. :)