keeping it real

having a joyful day today and overlooking the mess.  the kids are making paper ornaments and ella requested i turn on some christmas music.  the heat is running, the coffee is good, my jammies are warm and i think this might be similar to what heaven may be like.

i went to the store last night for a few things and got several different kinds of cereal.  at breakfast this morning, we all got to eat our favorite cereal and i felt blessed. normally i buy ONE kind of cereal and we all eat it even though it's not what we would have picked at the store.  it may seem bizarre to some but i truly felt blessed to be having so many kinds of cereal this morning. is this what getting older teaches us?  makes the big picture more clear? i don't know.

josh kept the kids last night while i went to wal-mart.  i was there for 2 hours and i enjoyed every moment of it.  any of you who have ever shopped with me know that i like to look at nearly everything in the store.  pick it up, touch it, smell it, read the ingredients-then sit it back on the shelf and move onto the next item!  i did that exactly last night.  got to think while i was shopping, read labels, look at the kitchen stuff, the christmas stuff, the book section....seriously enjoyed myself!  i was sure to thank him when i got home.  thank you for that time alone, honey.  it was amazingly refreshing!

i am newly intrigued by natural cleaning and beauty products!  by intrigued i might say obsessed-but it's a healthy obsession because it's all natural stuff;)  seriously though, i have had my eyes opened as i have been reading about how most products are made, what they do to our body and what they then do to our Earth.  I know, it may seem a little lame.  This must be what happens to a woman when she moves away from her job, hobbies, family and friends, never leaves the house and focuses on her family and home entirely.  I think this is God's initial plan for woman and the more I am home the more I realize new and healthful ways to care for my family.

My recent discoveries (and I admit that while this may be common knowledge for most of you, I was ignorant to the topic before)  almost all of our products come from petroleum which is bad for us and bad for the environment.  When it comes to house cleaning, products have toxic and harmful (like deadly) chemicals in them that are linked to many cancers.  I started several months ago cleaning with vinegar and baking soda because it was cheaper and now come to find it is reported to be the best way to clean and even disinfect!  Amazing!

All you need to clean is:

white vinegar made from grain
baking soda
peroxide
bon-ami
and cotton rags!

Some natural beauty ideas:
-you can cleanse your face with whole milk!  seriously!  hence Cleopatra's milk bath!
-uncooked egg whites serve as a pore minimizer when rubbed on the face. just rinse with warm water.
-olive oil can repair dry, cracked hands.
the list is truly endless

and if using all these natural foods seems weird to you, you can invest in 100% natural beauty products like that of the famous Burt's Bee's.  Dr. Bronner's Magical Soaps is another good company!  Tom's of Maine is another company devoted to all natural product's and you can get it at wal-mart!  They sell deodorant and toothpaste at wal-mart and more on their website.  I currently use clinique face care and make-up and as I run out of items I am eager to replace with something natural!  And, so far, Burt's Bee's is considerably cheaper than clinique!

Have I lost my mind?  Maybe.  Or maybe I have found it.  I've heard it said that God has a plan, we just need to find it.  Whatever is going on, I feel excited and like I have just discovered a new species of something:)  The kids are equally interested and curious.  Ella was in the bath today and she said, "we really need to get some natural body wash!"  Wow, that was cool:)

it's fun to learn new ways and even more rewarding to know that it is completely safe and healthy for my home and my family!  i read that when the air inside our homes is tested it is more toxic than the air outside.  you can help clean the air in your home by adding house plants!  i am working on my house plant collection and as i desire to have more, Josh came home with two new plants that his secretary gave to him for me last week!  I was SO EXCITED!  I am hoping to add a couple of plants to each room!  Have I fallen off the "normal" cliff?  What is normal?

The exciting thing is that I feel like a farmer...some of my house plants have grown so abundantly that I can re-pot and have a new plant!  Loving this cycle;)

If only I could get those chickens in my back yard, I would feel complete:)

Ok, I must go-need to sew some Christmas dresses for the girls and make home-made noodles for dinner.  Ok, I am not that extreme....YET!

Have a natural, non-toxic, kookoo lady kind of day!