Elias and I spent the morning planting perennials in our flower bed and picking peas and tomatoes. I should say Elias was picking tomatoes and eating peas right off the vine. No picking involved, just grab and bite. He loves tomatoes, which is a good thing considering we have 30 tomato plants that are overflowing with tomatoey goodness. I love gardens.

The big change for me this week (it's been awhile hasn't it?) is to save the water from my shower and water my plants with it. I cannot get in the shower until it has warmed up. I know it's not very environmental of me, but I don't like getting blasted with cold water first thing in the morning. To offset that wastefulness I will save the water for better uses.

Folk you!

We spent the weekend at the Calgary Folk Fest. Thursday night, Friday night, Saturday all day and night and Sunday all day and night. Phew, that's a lot of folkies. To be honest, the music wasn't as good as past years, but I love the people. Everyone is just so darn nice, it's refreshing. Living in a city of over a million people can get a little exhausting, and generally people aren't that friendly. They are in too much of a hurry to be courteous. So being surrounded by 30,000 of the nicest people you ever did meet was just lovely. Elias had a great time entertaining the people around us. At one point we were navigating the chariot through a throng of people and he was yelling "beep beep!" Where he comes up with this stuff I don't know, but it sure is funny.

About the music. The highlights for me were the Be Good Tanya's, even though we were navigating the crowds trying to get the main stage during one of my favorite songs and their set was too short, it was fabulous. 

Ani DiFranco was amazing. I remembered why I have loved her for so many years. She is a little fireball and she can rock! Her music has changed so much and I love each new album she puts out. She sang a few new songs and I was amazed at how calm and happy they were. Not angry at all, in fact one of them was called "I'm not angry anymore" and she's not. She's bubbling contentment. Having babies does that to you.

While we were out having a folkin' good time, something evil was lurking in the vegetable crsiper in my fridge. A forgotten cucumber was slowly rotting and spreading its evil mold spores throughout the drawer, ruining everything in its path. I just emptied it out and I didn't even compost it! Horrors! I threw it in the trash, where it will never break down. I couldn't stomach the thought of chopping all of that moldy produce into small chunks. Oh the guilt!

Speaking of stomachs, mine is undergoing some changes these days. This is why I never blog, feel sick at the thought of moldy broccoli, and want to eat sausages all day. What's up with that? My belly is going to grow to about the size of a beach ball, until about March, and then at the end I get a baby! Talk about saving the best for last.

It's the middle of July and already I am dreading winter. I think it's because we haven't had a very warm summer so far, sure there have been many days where it's been HOT but a lot of them have been rainy. Today feels like september. Elias and I went for a walk this morning and after about one minute he started "uppa momma, uppa momma" so I cuddled him up and he said it was "told" which is Elias-speak for cold. Just like "tootie" actually means "cookie." He has his own language.

I have been spending some time in my garden lately, mostly weeding. If I wasn't out there every 2 days I'm certain the weeds would take over. Everytime I go outside I have to pull at least a few weeds. It's an obsession.

Next year I want to build a green house. I'd like to see the weeds just try and get in there!

As for my weekly changes, there hasn't been many lately. Actually I have regressed! I started buying crackers again and I have even bought tooties, I mean cookies! Horrors! Since the year is more than half over, I thought I would compile a short list of changes I like, and those that I don't.

Some things that I don't miss:

1. Tissue. Cotton hankies are so much nicer

2. Soft toilet paper. I don't notice the difference now, but Mike, well lets just he say he's a little more sensitive.

3. Disposable feminine hygeine products. I love my cotton pads. Weird.

4. Disposable baby bum wipes. The flannel ones do a much better job and are quick and easy to make.

5. Paper towels. Did I mention that I stopped buying them? It just happened and well, I didn't even notice. Cotton napkins are much nicer anyway, and so fancy when you have friends over!

6. Bottled water. All I have to say is Ewwww. What a waste of money.

7. Superstore meats. Yuck.

8. I would like to write Starbucks here, but I must admit every month or so I get a hankering for an iced coffee. Did I mention I live in suburbia?

9. Gross candy bars. Now that I've given them up, a regular chocolate bar is not so appetizing anymore. Give me organic fair trade chocolate, dark please...

Things that I do miss:

1. Salon shampoo. Oh how my hair longs for good ol' salon shampoo. I have tried everything"natural" and my hair is a tangly mess. I got desperate and spent $50 on Oh-so-natural-aveda and my scalp turned bright red. I had to return it. $50!!! I must have been temporarily insane. Some people say that they don't use shampoo at all. I might try that, when hell freezes over.

2. The bliss of being ignorant. I can't claim that I have ever been ignorant. I was born an environmentalist, but sometimes I wish that I could be.

that's all for now. I promise to post more now that I don't feel like something the cat dragged in.

I haven't posted much lately because I guess I just don't have that much to say. Life just keeps moving along and here I am and it's already thursday. Where does the time go?

My subject today is toys. They have an uncanny ability to reproduce at an alarming rate. How did my house start to look like a daycare? Everyday there is more and most of them are of the plastic variety which I despise. Plastic toys break, and then they end up in a landfill where they sit for a thousand years. Or worse, they end up in the ocean. Whenever a new toy comes into my house I imagine its life span and I inevitably start feeling guilty.

I bought Elias a plastic toy on tuesday. We were in a toy store buying a book for his cousins 2nd birthday, and he discovered a fire truck that has screws in it and a little screwdriver so you can take it all apart. This is what he likes to do. Unscrew things. It is a well made plastic toy, but it is still plastic. I have pledged to myself, no more plastic toys. His 2nd birthday is fast approaching and I must put a stop to this plastic madness.

I have been trying to think of ways that we can play that doesn't require plastic toys. I got a fantastic idea from my sister in law the other day, Play dough! Play dough has provided hours of fun this week, for the cost of some food coloring and cream of tartar. 

Here is the recipe:

1 c. flour

1/4 c. salt

2 tbsp. cream of tartar

1 c. water

2 tsp. food colouring (or beet root powder, turmeric whatever else will work.)

1 tbsp. oil.

Mix flour, salt, and cream of tartar in a medium sized saucepan. In a separate bowl mix water, oil, and food coloring. Mix wet into dry and stir over medium heat for 3-5 minutes until it forms a ball in the centre of the pan. Take it out and knead it on a lightly floured counter for a minute. Tada!

I tried the uncooked variety, and the cooked stuff has a much better consistency.

My next plan is painting. Elias loves to paint suns on the bathroom mirror with his dad's shaving brush and some water. I'm on the look out for non-toxic paints.

the magic of ebills

I can't believe that it's taken me this long, but I am finally making the switch to e billing. Regular bills that come in the mail use so much paper! DUH.

Another change that I've been making is not only turning off but unplugging energy sucking appliances when I am not using them. Like my computer, TV, stereo, and cell phone charger. One more thing, I turn off my phone at night to conserve the battery power so I'm not charging it every three days. Now if I could just remember to turn it off during yoga...

grrrrrr

I just came home from an incredibly unsuccessful bra shopping trip. I have been waiting weeks to be able to shop for a bra when Elias wasn't with me, and the opportunity arose today so I jumped at it. 

I picked 10 different styles, in many colours and sizes to ensure that something would fit. It soon became apparent that I was in the wrong store. First of all, why are 90% of bras padded? I saw a commercial the other day for a new bra, and its main selling feature was that on top of the already padded bra they added another special padded nipple part for "modesty". Since when did nipples become immodest? Why are we so obsessed with ensuring that no one knows that we have nipples under our t-shirts? Do men wear special nipple protectors so we can't see them under their clothes? I didn't think so.

After trying on all 10 of them, not only was I thoroughly disgusted but I was also incredibly frustrated. Who is designing these bras? I wanted to tell the saleswoman that the reason I wasn't buying any of these ill fitting bras was mainly because I like my nipples! Why should I wear an extra layer of padding? Why do women want to look like barbie, who by the way has no nipples!!!

Another problem with these bras is that most of them have a metal wire in them, and to me that just doesn't seem right, why put metal right next to your breasts? And who wants to wear a bra that has such a small cup that your breasts spill right out the top? Not only that, but they are squished together and lifted so high that you could rest your coffee cup on them. My breasts aren't cup holders!

To me this illustrates how screwed up our ideas of reality and beauty have become. Mainstream society is on a downward spiral, I think I'll just wear my old bra until it falls off me.

stop bill C-51

It will be a scary world if bill C-51 is passed. I should have wrote about this sooner, but here is the low down in case you haven't been following it. Basically, Health Canada wants to outlaw natural health products by making it illegal to sell products that aren't licensed. Currently that is about 70% of the natural products out there. Interestingly enough, you will be able to get any number of pharmaceutical drugs because they are licensed. And why wouldn't they be? Big Pharm has lots of money and are obviously scratching the backs of government officials.

I was once told by a doctor that the only way that my body would function normally would be for me to take $300 of prescription drugs each month, drugs that were not covered by my health plan and could quite possibly cause other organs to fail. There was no discussion about alternative therapies, but there was the implication that if the drugs didn't work for me they could always cut out a part of my colon. 

I basically ran out of the hospital and never went back. When they called me I told them to stuff it, I didn't want their treatments. I was not sick, just a little off track. And so my quest for health began. I encountered some quacky natural health doctors, but I finally found Dr. D. who looked me straight in the eye and without hesitation told me I was healthy, just a little off track, and I would be better within days. I started taking homeopathic remedies and other natural health products and I was feeling better within 2 days.

2 years later, I am healthier than I have ever been. I take supplements when I need to, and I eat healthy. I am grateful that my search for health led me to Dr. D. I feel sad for people who actually believe doctors when they are told that the only options for crohns or colitis are pharmaceuticals. 

Pharmaceutical companies are more powerful than we know, and it's time to stand up for our health. Even if you don't take natural supplements, someone you love certainly does. Click here to find out more.