How much life has changed

 

 

I am grateful for this space to write, grateful it still exists after all these years.  I am in a place I never conceived of being.  I am returning to myself for I am broken and need to heal. 

Manifesting and Making Do

Eva wearing her purple organic cotton photo taken at 9 months (2010).

Julien in Eva's hand me down, he will be 9 months old in February.

Eva, today, 3-years old.

2013 New Year's Resolution

Unplug from the media
Track every dollar
Slow down

February is the month of making do,  raining in the spending, living on less.  An exercise to prioritize needs and wants.  I  call it a money fast.  Fasting  detoxifies the body, similarly the money fast helps  eliminate the unnecessary. I welcome a simpler life, with less details to attend to, and more time to enjoy the present moment. 

My day starts with brewing a cup of coffee, while warming up milk for bottles, making my lunch for work, and breakfast for a picky eating three year old.  This multi-tasking whirlwind continues until all little feet are tucked into bed at night, way too late.

My strategy is to fund only priority expenses.  I will track all expenditures and refrain from buying.  I dread becoming conscious of my shopping addicted secret self, who lurks about on the Internet buying stuff.

Moments go by.....9 month old baby girl......now is 3........9 month old baby boy....soon will be 3.

The California PE Exam

Eva 3 yrs old Self Portrait

It is with a joy and peace that I re-visit this space again.  In honor of my daughter Eva's 3rd birthday I  am exhibiting her photography.



Toys - photo by Eva.

Again I studied nightly at the neighborhood coffee house, five precious minutes from home.  The place is busy so I use earplugs, order a herb tea and a macaroon and hit the books, solving math word problems for the California Professional Engineering exam.



Eva's little brother Julien - photo by Eva.



Because I live so far north, I must travel 300 miles to sit for the exam. I left my two babes in the care of their father, and drove 5 hours east to where the air temperature was still in the 90s.



Playroom - photo by Eva.

I will receive the exam results in 3 months in the mail.  A thin envelope from the California State Board means I passed.  A thick envelope means I have failed as the board includes paperwork to retake the exam.



Doll - photo by Eva.



Herbal Salves and Parenting Lessons

I have been making salves from my herb infused oils.  The herbal oils have been sitting outside soaking up the sun, for month now.   I made four potions, each with a different herb and carrier oil. I want to investigate their individual personalities.

Autumn is here, and I will not be able to infused oil in the sun until next summer

Blurry suits me.

As this is my first year making salves, I had a few lessons to learn:

-  fill the jar completely with oil, to reduce mold growing on the inside of the jar.

- Dry the herbs 1 day prior to infusing them, in order to remove moisture.

- My beeswax was unfiltered which resulted in a grainy texture  salve scrub. I need to filter the melted beeswax prior to adding it to the oil.

Perhaps it was the full moon, but with all the little feet tucked in bed,  my thrifted double broiler steaming, I became a medieval healer, adding beeswax to oil , and knew the herbs, the oils, and the wax, all had intelligence.

 

 

 

Avocado, the best moisturizing meal ever!

 

 I left my salve samples within easy reach, they are perfectly harmless and can be ingested.

I found  Eva applying the lavender salve to her body.

She had been sick with a high fever the day before.

 

 

 

 

I was secretly honored, as I watched her play with the sweet smelling golden goo.  I relaxed as the goo started dispersing to the mantle, the wooden furniture. I will enjoy the cleaning task of wiping up the salve.  The lovely smell of lavender surrounding us.

A mama couldn't be more pleased, as I learn to trust my child and let her lead. 

I just need to get out of my own way. and keep hanging my laundry outside. A required moment, just to focus on the clothes, the sun outside, the air, the moment, a simple moment, outside, folding laundry.

Foraging Friday

 

Autumn is here.  My instinct to gather wild food is strong:

Now is time to get outside, in nature before the winter comes,
To collect the sun's rays and saturate my body with vitamin D.

To build and straighten my immunity.

Now is the time to forage, identify and collect medicinal plants.



 

 

With Julien in the stroller, my dog on a leash, I explore my neighborhood.  In the stroller I carry gardening gloves, plastic bags, and a hand shovel. 

I have brought home apples, rose hips, thistle leaves (made a lovely tea), mullein  and blackberries.  I discovered this Mullein plant in a parking lot.
  

 

 

Mullein leaves can be prepared as a tea for bronchial congestion, colds and coughs. The perfect herb to have on hand for the winter cold season. I look forward to working with this herb.

I am also infusing olive oil with the mullein flowers.  Mullein oil is recommended for earaches.

I discovered a rose bush covered with rose hips. Rose hips have a high vitamin C content.  Rose hips can be prepared as tea or a concentrated syrup. Rose hip syrup sweetens our hot tea and even our picky eater Eva will happily swallow a teaspoon daily.

Wishing you abundance on this fall Equinox.

 

 

 

 

 

Waste Stream Wednesday - What I Learned

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am stopping my household weekly waste stream analysis. A weeks waste analysis, preformed once or twice a year,  is good method  to become aware of a households waste stream. For example, I used up to three rice milk cartons a week.  I now make my own almond milk, which generates no cartons, great for my budget and super yummy, oh and I use the crushed almond meal for baked goods! 



What I  Learned

Choose products least damaging to the earth. For example I choose paper and glass over plastic.   Little decisions here and there add up in a lifetime.

Bring your own bags grocery shopping. Refuse single use plastic bags.

Letter writing  success?
Yesterday at Costco, to my delight I discovered that  my favorite wine is no longer wrapped in plastic.  I happily purchased the wine, voting with my dollar.  A few months ago, I wrote a letter to Costco and Folie a Deux, criticizing the additional plastic wrapping on the Menage a Trois bottled wine.

Eat organic vegetables, compost the scraps, and use the compost on raised beds to grow more veggies.

Filter tap water and carry a stainless steel water bottle.

Feel good about waste reduction activities,  actions are commitments to earth and its people.

My Goal

Attempt to make my own beauty products, including toothpaste and deodorant, using herbs oils and other easy to come by ingredients. The process of crafting skin products is enjoyable. Homemade is a lost art these days.

Make my own reusable cloth produce bags.  Maybe this winter when the rains come.

What I Could Not Implement

Toilet paper has received complaints in this family. The unbleached recycled one-ply, non absorbent, scratchy and down right unpleasant TP, has prompted me to purchase cheap, non-eco groovy, soft TP.

The food budget currently is more of a priority than avoiding plastic wrapping. Bulk items will be forgone if a better priced item is wrapped in plastic.  For example I am omitting grains and replacing them with nuts, Costco has cheap nuts, cheaper than bulk at the health food store.

Gratitude

I welcome

The awareness
Of the abundance
That surrounds me

Today I sold my extra gas stove, which sat unused, in a corner of my small home.

I had the strong sense to clean it, and list it on Craiglist.

It sold in two hours, to folks who were cooking on a hot plate.

The buyer exclaimed how the timing was perfect.

Love, love, love , the universe shuffling goods around, taking care of our needs.