We all work too much. Most of us eat poorly and most of us screw up our relationships with everyone. But we all get our coffee or tea, we all get to work on time and work late to make our checks bigger. Many of us look fabulous while waiting for our caffeine carrier of choice. We all try to pay our bills, most of which are not necessary for survival. Most of us get fat now. Most of us will have a disease caused or complicated by our weight. But we all still put in 40 hours a week. Sometimes meals are skipped but rarely medications for the ache in our slumped shoulders or the depression that hides our smiles. Why? Americans have horrible reputations now, not just because of our leaders but because we are self-righteous, impatient, drinking coffee out of a disposable cup, honking our horns because the bitch in front of us didn’t take that tiny second chance to turn left on a busy street. Why? Take time to choose the “for here” options at the coffee shop. Remember that turning left means you have to cross two or more lanes of opposing traffic and that we never get enough sleep so that woman in front of you might need a bigger opening because her reaction time is much slower than yours because she was up all night with a sick kid. We are all so self-centered and paranoid, thinking the whole world is out to make us late.
Why not opt out of over-time not required? Go home early; pick up your kids early from daycare and go to a park. Kiss your lover longer than normal. Turn off your television and listen to the sounds out the window. Most of the things we think we need are bogus. Everyone needs food and water, a place to sleep, a way to get those things and maybe a hobby, time to sleep and time to eat, time to raise your own kids, instead of handing them off to someone else. All the other stuff is extra, enslaving things that bring no satisfactions beyond nasty competition no one admits between themselves and neighbors, friends or family to have “more”.
Just a quickie
A quick update
Please forgive the lessening of posts in the last few weeks. We are going through a lot. My husband lost his job in November and his chronic disease is progressing to the point of preventing him from getting another job. It’s hard not to fall into a sad pathetic pity party. I have been reading a lot of books that are non-fiction, informational, about holistic health. Once I finish them, I’ll write reviews.
I have also decided to go back to school. It may not be this year, but I have accepted that with a struggling economy being a massage therapist is not consistent enough for us. I need something that will provide stability that we need so that we can deal with Rick’s illness. Inconsistency causes stress that makes Rick worse. Nursing seems to be the direction for me. Since I am not pleased with western medicine, I will choose a more holistic approach, hopefully utilizing aromatherapy, massage and anything else I learn along the way.
I have also decided to give up my business. I no longer have the energy or desire to continue with something that takes so much time away from Rick. As of March 1, I will hand over the business side of my job to the chiropractor with whom I work. Also, I will continue to work in that office until late spring, early summer and then we are moving again, to a smaller town up north, either Skagit Valley somewhere or near Bellingham. Snohomish county is too big for us.
On the plus side I will continue with The Modern Hippy. I am trying to recruit a couple of friends to write guest posts. So perhaps this site will continue to grow with new information and different takes on green living. Stay tuned!
Rituals
In the last couple of weeks, since moving to north Everett, I have felt lost. Not horrible, just misplaced and out of control. It seems that control can sometimes be an illusion. You may decide what to wear in a day, what products to use in your home and on your person. You may even have control over what you do for a living and how often you do it. However, in the end, at least right now, it is the large companies and government whom run the “important” things, such as the stock market and taxes. In the end after bad choices made by strangers, you may loose control of your life by loosing your job and health insurance.
Being a control freak, I had trouble with accepting that many things are/were out of my control. I cannot control my clients or their jobs and bosses to keep them returning to me each week. However, I can control how I react and pro-act for more things to come. School seems to be in the near future for me. Though massage is a great profession, it is viewed as a luxury by most people, even though it should not be. The whole business is struggling. This is not my fault. It really sucks. I’m not going to wallow though, but jump into a new experience with gusto.
What will be my newest excursion in the professional world? Even I am not completely sure about that. That’s okay, I have a few months and a vague goal in mind..
Aside from setting goals, I have been withdrawing from things that make my mind feel cluttered. Clutter itself is going to be cleared. Unneeded things will be donated or given away. While reminiscing about simpler days, spent as a nanny up north, I thought about how I managed stress, how I went to bed each night and cleared my mind. I had rituals, though sometimes silly, they served the purpose to clear my mind and settle my soul and help me enjoy life more. One that I developed for early mornings in the summer was coffee on the second story patio, watching the sun rise above the hills. Breathing the aroma of coffee and birch and pine trees helped me start the day right. In the evening, during the summer, I would sit outside – sometimes without a book, sometimes with one – and sit on my first level patio and listen. I love to listen to the natural world. Though sometimes it is noisy, it is usually very calming and even spiritual. The family cat would come down and wind circles around my legs, purring a simple song for herself.
What rituals can I have here, in the heart of the suburbs, blocks away from downtown Everett? So far, Rick and I took a quick walk to the end of the block and around the corner. It was great. As long as we are not too drawn up in little things around the apartment, we will be doing that. For now it is too cold to sit outside on the steps and drink tea or coffee.
I have turned off the TV more in the last few days. It’s boring, always the same old thing that fills my head with senseless noise. I started going to bed a little earlier, reading for a few minutes and then turning off the light and laying still. I focus on enjoying the stillness and the nearness of my dog and husband whom at the time is usually still on the computer. Today, I lit a candle and it has been burning for a few hours. Candles help with rituals. I have hung up two shelves in the bedroom and I think I will put candles there. I listened to music while doing housework, instead of listening to the TV. I actually finished folding the laundry today. That was big victory for me.
Though to some people rituals may seem boring, a sign of someone getting older (I’m only 24 by the way), I think they should be appreciated for what they can bring – calm and peace to the mind, body and spirit.
Just thinking about all these ideas is making my heart settle. I could go down to the waterside and walk along whatever is down there. I do love the water. Have I mentioned that I love walking and want to do more of it? If I can only find my mp3 player, I can listen to music while I walk.
I think an important thing to do is to have some rituals that include those you love – Rick for me – and some for yourself only. It is okay to be selfish sometimes.
More goals and desires
I have already shared some of our goals for 2009. One of them was paying off bills, which seems to be a common one for many adults – I am not sure if I would consider myself an adult yet, but I am of that age. Rick and I have spent hours talking about what we want in life. Several of our conversations – during which I re-realize that I am lucky to have someone so likeminded as myself – have led us to thoughts about this silly race to have things.
America, it seems is very much about what you have and do, not who you are. I found it frustrating as a teen because I never seemed to reach the ideal. I feel it now, having tried on our own to have what we thought we wanted. In the end, after a few years of leaving our roots behind, we have found that it is not worth the sacrifice one must make to work too much in order to have those fabulous shoes or the latest HD channels to watch on our HD TV.
We were not completely superficial. We dif try to be good people. But in looking for what would make us happy – I think we let the superficial world in too much – we found that it is each other, not a great TV that makes life full.
I felt a little lost over the last couple of years. I slaved over books to finish school, then slaved over bodies at two jobs, self-employment and working for a company, waiting to feel fulfilled. It never happened. I feel like I have been pretending since graduating, afraid that my business would not succeed; I pretended to be what I thought someone else would like. I did not think that most people, especially in the area of my business, would like or tolerate who I am.
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.
Coconut Milk Ice Cream – “Coconut Bliss”… literally.
I have an ice cream about which to rave! Luna and Larry’s Coconut Bliss. As of now I have tried only their Bare Coconut. It’s made out of coconut milk and agave juice. Being that I am lactose intolerant I am very excited. I have tried soy ice cream and rice ice cream. I’m not fond of either. I may go back to try the Rice Dream Ice Cream, because my taste has changed in the last few years. I might like it now. I’m not hopeful. I avoid soy because of some of the literature I have read about it. Avoiding it is just easier than worrying if estrogen-like chemical in it is going to mess with my already sensitive system.
At first I didn’t know what to think about it. I’m not a huge coconut fan. Honestly, I only eat it fresh or in a cookie on occasion. But after the first initial flavor/texture “shock”, I went back for more. It is very creamy. I like the slivers of real coconut in it. The coconut flavor is not overwhelming. And I don’t have that horrible craving for more. I love sweet things, but I hate how the mainstream sweets make me feel crazy. I want more, and more and feel addicted to it. This doesn’t happen with Coconut Bliss. I have a little bit and I’m done. It’s awesome!
They have an awesome little site. They list different flavors, explain about coconut milk and agave juice. They have a where to buy section and the other typical ones every site does, about us, contact us. Check it out and good eating!
Related Posts:
Organic Banana Split
The Dark Chocolate Flavor
Green cleaning – Greening your cleaning products.
I’ve tried to find more “green” ways to clean up around the apartment. Actually, I’m trying to make our whole lives more environmentally friendly. It’s slow going because I don’t feel like I can just go out and blow a bunch of money all at once and replace everything. We don’t have that kind of money. But just about every time I go somewhere I pick up one more thing. And I’m always on the look out for new things for cleaning etc.
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!
Carbon Footprint Calculator – How green are you?
For the last few months, more in the last few weeks, I have been working on updating our household to make it more “green”. It’s pretty cool, touches on my creative side and makes me feel like I’m being a useful person.
This morning I was online looking for “green living” sites and I found an awesome little tool, a carbon footprint calculator. It asked a few questions about your home, living habits and travel habits and gives you a number. The site looks like it might be a good resource. I shall inspect it further.
Here is the website. I challenge you to calculate your footprint and then see what else you can do to better your score!
http://www.lowimpactliving.com/pages/impact-calculator/impact-calculator
Animal cruelty? You decide.
Yes. This is a subject that just boils my blood. First, let me identify the problem. Putting pets in the bed of a truck, whether leashed or unleashed. It is unsafe. Have you seen what happens when they fall or jump out? Well I have. It’s horrible. It’s cruelty. You hopefully wouldn’t put your child in the back of your truck and drive 70+ miles an hour on the free way, buckled or unbuckled. You would get arrested if you did.
Sometimes I think that people really don’t think about anything. Not seriously. Or they are so self involved or completely diluted and think that the dog is their property and they can do whatever they want. I am completely ashamed of those people. They make me sick. I wish I could steal those dogs away and keep them safe and feed them good food. People are disgusting.
