I do not regret the adventures we have had in Snohomish County. I came from a small town, a small family – very “crunchy” and frugal – and wanted to experience a different life. Now that I have, I’m done. I want a small town again. I want to work a little, but I don’t want it to define me. I want to work so that I can play, so that Rick and I can spend as much time together as possible.
     Faced with possibly more serious health problems led us to realized that we are what matters. Being together is the priority, not having stuff. So this year we will strive to get back to our roots.
     On the agenda is paying off those bills. Once paid off, it will free a large amount of money. (You may think that we have a large amount now, we don’t. Rick was laid off remember. But it will relieve pressure.) We may even be able to save a little.
     Also this year will be more of a purging year. We have realized, moving into a smaller place, where we could take only what we needed, we do not want or need most of our stuff. Our needs are a lot less than we thought. They are clothing, food of course, a computer for each, my books and art supplies and a couple more electronics for Rick, and camping stuff. I’m not ever sure what all that other stuff is.
     So we will be downsizing a lot this year. I want to be able to pick up and go anywhere in the world, not worrying about storing things back “home”. I’ve felt tied down and muddled with all our clutter. That will change.

     Yes, I mentioned that I want to be able to leave for anywhere. That does not mean that we are going to do that this year. I want to live in Skagit Valley for a little while. The plan seems to be to get a little bitty house in the valley and be there for a couple of years. But after that, we both would like to live somewhere else. San Francisco is appealing to both of us. Spain and Italy or Greece appeals to me. I do not want to settle there and raise babies – at the moment – but I want to experience living there, perhaps for a year or so. Life is meant to be lived, experienced not let to go by without affecting your existence.
     So along with paying and purging there are a couple other things. First is to try to find something that will allow us to leave and go anywhere. Does that mean my blog? I have no idea. It is for fun now, but if it allowed me to travel that would be awesome! It could also mean that I turn my love of crocheting into something more productive. I am a lot better and not worried about failing. I want to learn to knit as well so I can make fun cute things when we decide to have kids and so I can make something else a person may wish to buy.
     A huge desire is to be self-suffient. Due impart to a problem with authority and the arrogance that I can do it better, I don’t want to work for someone. I may have to but that is not my goal for my whole life. Though massage is great, it will not allow me to travel, as I want. You have to stick to one place to build a clientele. It is also very discouraging to tell someone that their insurance will not cover massage even though they need it.
     So what will allow us to be self-sufficient? I have no idea, but am willing to try different things.

     Another consideration is something I didn’t think would happen for many years. I was bitten hard by the “baby bug”. I don’t want to go out and have one now, but I am 99% sure that I want kids and that I want to birth them myself. Crazy. Just because I am not in a hurry, does not mean that I am going to leave all the research I consider essential to the 9 months of growing a babe. This desire has further supported my desire to get back to my roots and pay off bills and be self-sufficient. To me it is very important to live the way I want to raise children for a little while before having those children. That means living as natural and mainstream free as we can. Let’s become more crunchy.
     Listing off these goals does not mean that I am doing a 180. We have already turned in the direction that we wanted. We already live crunchy, eating naturally, unprocessed foods, recycling or upcycling, donating what we don’t need or want. But we have a long way to go. Besides if it was easy or fast, it would be boring.

     I used to be among the many “resolutioners”. In my old journals, you will find pages written around January 1. At the end of the year, I cap my progress. Nothing ever got done. So now, instead of waiting for January to start something new, I start it when I think about it, or after I have done enough research to see if it is a good idea for me. Let me recap what happened last year, what changes have stuck.
• In the spring we changed our diet to exclude processed, unnatural things. We have “cheated” a few times, but I can probably count the times on one or both of my hands. Much better than every meal being unhealthy for us and the environment.
• Last summer, I bought and started using cloth grocery bags. I don’t always remember to bring them, but I remember them more than I forget them.
• I buy organic when I can, which due to Rick being laid off is less often.
• The meats I buy are hormone and antibiotic free. The other stuff just tastes gross now.
• As I run out of beauty products I replace them with safer, more eco-friendly options. I have been doing this since late summer/ early fall.
• Started recycling and researching what is actually recyclable.
• Read more books than the year before.
• Paid off most of the medical bills. Only one old one remains and one “new” one.
• Switched Milo and Xiann’s food to more natural options.

     What are my goals for 2009? Once again, I will make changes as I can. They are goals, not absolutes so if it takes them three months to be started or finished it’s okay.

• Pay off final medical bills and two credit cards. (this will take several months)
• Do not use credit unless there is an emergency.
• Read more books than last year and different kinds of books.
• Use the library.
• Buy more organic foods.
• Continue to make most meals from scratch with natural and organic ingredients.
• De-clutter (so far, I’m off to a good start, having rid my closet of four bags of clothing already!)
• Research a new career option that would provide more stability for us, and not require Rick to work (health reasons may prevent him).
• Get our passports!

     Goals versus resolutions. What do you do? Do you make lists of things at the beginning of the year or throughout the year? I think it is better to have goals, because there may be something that you end up changing without thinking about it a lot. It may just be something that you didn’t know you wanted to do. Add it to your mental or literal “goals achieved” list. It is a positive boost to give your brain. Hopefully, in the end you will feel accomplished, not bogged down with unfinished resolutions.
     One final idea is if you have goals in mind, have fun with them. Add a mini-vacation to your list. Or a shopping spree to your local vintage shop. There is no reason to be uptight about goals, some of them should be fun.

We have made this choice to try a little harder to be better people, better stewards of our planet in the more recent months. We changed our diet to better suit Rick’s health problems, the result being that we eat more “green”. So why not take it full circle and surround ourselves with biodegradable things that won’t be harmful to us, our pets or the planet? Also, I want to protect our future health. My mom is allergic to everything under the sun. I am the only one of our family whom does not suffer from typical allergies other than a possible gluten allergy and a definite milk/lactose intolerance. I think that if we don’t stress our bodies out by requiring it to try to digest preservatives or things that really can’t be found anywhere in nature. Nor make our lungs breathe a wide variety of toxins found in most house hold cleaners than perhaps we can avoid developing allergies and live longer healthier lives.

So what have I done so far? I got rid of Soft Scrub. I now use baking soda to scrub the tub and sinks and counters. I have found that it cleans more thoroughly than the other alternatives. It doesn’t hurt my hands, only exfoliates them a bit. I don’t have to worry about not breathing in the fumes like I worried with Scrubbing Bubbles. I have found it also seems to absorb grease. I broil a lot of our proteins and the fat gets all over the inside of the oven. It grosses me out and starts to smell a little if you don’t clean it out. I used it to start scrubbing the oven out one night. I was not able to finish so left a coating on the bottom of the oven. A couple of days later, when I had time again, I went back over it with a damp paper towel and it came up with the grease!

I also got rid of the off brand imitation of Pine Sol. I used to use that all over the house, the bathroom and kitchen, where my food would end up. I now use a mixture of white vinegar, water and essential oils. I don’t mix it precisely, I’ve seen a ton of different recipes for these cleaners and it seems that one does not need it to be equal parts water and vinegar. I do 1/3 vinegar, 2/3 water and several drops of essential oils. I use several kinds of essential oils. This is one area I know a little about. Tea tree oil is a great one. Lavender is also very good. They are also smell better than some of the other oils. I included oregano and orange. It depends on what I have available at the time. I try to always have tea tree though, it is the “super-cleaning” oil.

I changed my dish soap from Palmolive to Seventh Generation soap, which is completely biodegradable. They have a pretty cool line of house hold cleaners including dishwasher detergent, and laundry soap. The dish soap has a couple of different options for scents that actually smell like the real thing. You can almost always tell that something is synthetic and not “real” if it doesn’t smell like it’s natural counter part. Lavender for example, is a very common scent, but rarely do they use real lavender. Seventh Generation does. I hate dishes and it makes for a more pleasant experience for me. It also is gentler on my hands.

I’m going to try some more things. I’ve read that Borax, castile soap and corn meal can be used for several things and I will keep updating my efforts here. Green cleaning to all!