Healthy Eating is Taking Shape

Hey Everyone!

Today, being my day off of work, went out and ran errands. My errands included, but were not limited to: Bob’s Red Mill, Fred Meyer, New Seasons and Safeway. 

For breakfasts this next week, I bought what I needed, but didn’t have for DIY home made cranberry almond clif bars, using almond butter instead of honey or peanut butter, and I added some puffed rice cereal to it as well. I was surprised at how easy it was to make, and how good it turned out. 

For dinners this next week, I made spaghetti, using organic tomatoes and tomato sauce as well as a pound and a half of antibiotic free, hormone free, ethically raised, free range, yada yada yada, chicken. Yes it was a dollar more a pound than the stuff at the large chain grocery store, but it is also about as close I can get to doing it all myself – which living in the city doesn’t afford me. I noticed that this chicken that I bought not only tastes better, but is a better texture than the large chain grocery store ground chicken. If I had the means to raise my own chickens and do it all myself, I totally would. 

I also picked up some gluten free & dairy free bread to try, with my lunches. Yes, I had picked up a single orange, I had had plans for it, which I ended up not doing, yet anyway. 

I am really working to get back to being on the gluten free band wagon 95% or more of the time. I always feel better when I am. 

I realize that being as hardcore eating as natural as possible is totally sustainable while I live in the city. I am preparing myself for the eventual fact that if I am able to make it happen where I am able to live in a small town in the middle of nowhere, it is going to be a lot harder to keep it sustainable. I am definitely going to have to find a way to stick to being gluten free and dairy free, that’s not an option. I just realize it is going to be more difficult than living here in Portland, where living the gluten free, dairy free lifestyle is so common. 

Sticking with a 100% dairy free and avoiding gluten as much as possible, isn’t easy. Though anything that is worth doing, is never easy. I can’t imagine my life now if I weren’t dealing with these food intolerances and sensitivities. Yes I am pretty much OCD about kitchen cleanliness and washing my hands pretty much every time I touch something in the kitchen. I am this way, because I know what it is like to have food make me sick, and it taking my body a week or more to get back to normal after each run in. It’s not pleasant. 

I wouldn’t trade having food intolerances for being normal any thing now. Part of my love of homemaking has grown out of having developed food intolerances as an adult and sharing what I have learned with others. 

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Living a more “Crunchy” lifestyle

Hey Everyone!

For having been raised some place like Portland, Oregon, I was raised very mainstream in terms of food, beauty products, medicine and cleaning house. 

It wasn’t I go older, beginning when I was in college, that my concepts of food, and what is in the food I eat, where it comes from, what is in the cleaning products I use to clean where I am living in, or what is in the personal hygiene products I use. 

I had worked as a substitute for a very short time at a very Portland preschool, where it was a lot more naturally based, and where the curriculum was tailored more to what the students interests were. This was shortly before I developed food intolerances. 

Over the years I have semi tried to to cope with my food intolerances while trying to get away from Portland and its alternate style, which is the exact opposite of what I needed to be doing. In the past year or so that I have really been diving into what is really in my food, personal hygiene and cleaning products for the sake of my health. I am tired of all the synthetic chemicals and toxins that are in our food, personal hygiene and cleaning supplies. 

I have decided to fully embrace why having food intolerances and sensitivities means, as well as doing what is best for my health is all areas of my life. That means going over to the dark side and being more crunchy than mainstream. Whether I stay in the city or move to a smaller town, I will find a ways to embrace the natural life. 

The Art of Homemaking is being Lost

Hey Everyone! 

Where do I begin on this? I am going to just dive in, and hope it makes sense. 

While we, as a society and culture have come a long way in gender equality, there is still a ways to go in closing the pay gap and all that goes along with equal opportunities for women. I am not against equal opportunities for women where we can hold our own with men. 

That being said, the Art of Homemaking has been lost in the process. Growing up, even on the subconscious level, I was taught I could do anything I wanted to, except be a homemaker, that I needed a career and making something of myself besides ever being a stay at home wife and mother, even if that it what I wanted to do. While I want to be able to have my own source of income, and contribute financially or take care of myself financially. 

I grew up learning how to cook from scratch, doing some canning, and preserving of food, as well as knitting from the time I was 10. As a teen, I found it odd that my friends and cohort were off playing video games or other things when I was learning how to cook, because I wanted to. Not all that long ago (2 or 3 generations before me), grew up learning how to cook, keep house and so much more. 

My main point, that I am trying to make is while not all women are supposed to be stay at home wives, mothers or be able to cook a traditional Sunday meal or holiday dinner from scratch on their own (we all aren’t Donna Reed, Julia Child, or Paula Dean), or be the stay at home types, that’s okay. But don’t demonize it for those women who want that kind of lifestyle, and telling young women and girls that they can do anything they want except being a stay at home wife and mother, or really learning any kind of domestic arts is doing them just as much a disservice as telling them they can’t do anything else they set their mind to. 

As I have gotten older, I have come to realize the disinterest I have in being a part of the rat race that is Corporate America. Yes I currently have a job, and I spend 40 hours a week doing work for a large corporation, because I need an income in order to pay the bills I have. 

What have I learned in the almost 11 years that I have been out of high school? I have learned that I love history, especially women’s history and history of the American West. Put the two of them together (especially they way of life women had on the frontier, and living off the land) back in the 19th and early 20th centuries. While I know a lot has changed and improved since then (like having indoor plumbing, electricity, and internet), but some things haven’t, like the need for food, heat, and shelter haven’t. 

I am the kind of girl who prefer making things with my own hands, being outdoors and going on adventures. I also enjoys cooking from scratch and having a home of my own to make homey and welcoming. 

Off Grid living and Homesteading have begun to make a resurgence. While I am not one who wants to go the whole 9 yards, I am one who wants to find a balance between living 100% on grid, buying all my food from the mainstream big box grocery store, and not thinking about where my food comes from and what all the processed food is doing to my body. 

Having spent most of my life living in the Pacific Northwest these issues have been around my whole life. Now that I am an adult and have food intolerances and sensitivities, and really just want to know where my food comes from and how it was raised, as well as wanting to use more renewable resources, living a semi off grid life with enough land to grow a garden. I also want to continue being close enough to be able to purchase locally what I can’t grow or it wouldn’t be feasible or cost effective to grow myself, in order to make jams and can others for later. 

Trying to figure out how to turn my passion for homemaking and living a more natural life, while still earning an income to support myself is what I am still trying to figure out. 

Scentsy Bring Back My Bar Haul

Hey Everyone! 

During the Month of January, Scentsy was doing their Bring Back My Bar event, which they have been doing at least once in a calendar year since I have been purchasing Scentsy. 

This time they made testers available for consultants to purchase, so I had purchased a set of the testers. It was a lot of fun going through them and smelling them, as I had never smelled any of these scents before. 

Of the 25 scents they brought back, there were only 3 that I really liked, so I had bought 12 bars of Coffee Tree, 15 bars of Inner Peace and 6 bars of Ocean. 

Coffee Tree smells like coffee, kind of like walking into a coffee shop. Ocean is a clean scent that isn’t super strong. Ocean actually reminds me of a mix of sunscreen (that’s not coppertone), and being at the Oregon Coast. Inner Peace smells kinda like coconut lemongrass with some baby powder mixed in. 

I had also ordered 3 warmers this time. The first being the starlings warmer. It is very stark, bleak and wintery, which is part of why I like it. It kind of reminds me of the morning sunrise nightlight, and they would complement each other very well. The starlings warmer has frosted glass, which lets a lot of light through. 

The second one I had ordered is the amber fluted shade warmer. To me it looks antique, and I love the bronze base and bronze ring at the top, I bought it because it will go well with one of the bathroom themes I have in mind when I get my own place. 

The final warmer that came in this order is the river birch warmer. This warmer is an element warmer, which had supprised me, I was expecting it to have a removable dish, but it is all good. I ordered this warmer because I love being outdoors, and love the whole concept of bringing the outdoors in, and have outdoorsy notes throughout my living space. I will also not that this warmer will be discontinued at the end of February, so if you want one, while you can still get one, you can get it here. 

After this upcoming spring and summer catalog, I have enough Scentsy warmers (which is crazy…), with two exceptions: if they bring back Lumina, which looks like a Cinderella Pumpkin, and a full size beach theme warmer that looks like it could be part of the decor in a beach house. I absolutely love the beach, it is my favorite getaway.