Saying Goodbye to 2014

What a year it has been. One year ago I asked the Universe to guide me on a path where I could enjoy what I do, find financial freedom and help people. I thought I knew what that path was. I thought that path would include educating people about safe usage of essential oils and living a more natural lifestyle. That was the birth of this blog. Lulu and I talked about doing a blog together. We settled on a name and finally set it up. 

Then the unexpected. In March I was let go from my position as a legal assistant and office manager. I had worked in that small office for 2.5 years.  I saw it as an opportunity. For years I had thought about becoming a massage therapist. I know so many wonderful people who are massage therapists. I even looked into the OSTM night program. I had a plan to do the night program when Thia graduated from high school. 

After discussing the possibility with my dear hubby we decided I should go ahead and change careers. I went to OSTM and enrolled in the next session. That session didn't start until July. I had planned on doing the 1 year program and toyed with the idea of working part time if my unemployment was not extended for the training program. 

On day 1 of the program I met some wonderful women (Peg and Hannah) who convinced me to switch over to the 6 month program. I am so glad I did. 

2014 has not been an easy year, but it has put me on the path to so much happiness. On Monday, January 5, 2014 I will begin my career as a massage therapist. 

So tonight as I spend time with my family (watching Star Trek The Next Generation, The Princess Bride and whatever other movies my girls select) I am grateful for the year that brought us to this point. 

Post Christmas Wrap Up!

Not that long ago I decided I was going to attempt to post a single post everyday for one full year. 365 posts. I've already missed 2 posts. The first because I was just overwhelmed and exhausted. The 2nd was yesterday. 

Yesterday was Christmas. 
I celebrate Christmas. 
Maybe not in the same way a lot of people do, but I celebrate. 
Christmas to me is a time for family, a time for giving and a time for joy. 

This was my Christmas:

Christmas Eve the hubs, the girls and I went to his Aunt D's house.  We noshed, we gifted, we caught up with family members we hadn't seen in 6 months and others we hadn't seen in a year or more.  I really enjoy these gatherings and the opportunity to catch up. 

We returned home around 8:30 p.m.

Lulu and I still had some baking to do, and Thi-Thi still had some mochis to sew.  Lulu and I made the dough and baked the gluten free empanadas and stolen. Both turned out lovely, but I want to play with the dough to see how truly thin we can roll it. The next time we make the dough, I'll share the link to the blog we found it on, along with pictures of whatever we are baking with it. I parboiled the potatoes (ala Jamie Oliver's Christmas Baked Smashed Potatoes) and we made Gluten Free cinnamon rolls. The cinnamon rolls were my absolute favorite. We had been looking for a grain free recipe that was still soft and tasty. These hit the spot! Again we want to play with this recipe to see if we can make larger rolls (keep in mind with grain free the dough doesn't rise). 

Then of course the kitchen had to be cleaned up. I washed and dried dishes.

I always wrap presents on Christmas Eve. I have visions of wrapping things as I get them (and visions of getting things through out the year) so that on Christmas Eve I just need to pull out the gifts and put them under the tree. There is always next year. 

I finished wrapping a few minutes past midnight. I went to bed. Originally I thought if I finished my Christmas preparations by 10:00 p.m. I would do a simply Merry Christmas blog and set it to auto-post. By 10:30 I realized I would not be able to prep a post. I thought about blogging Christmas Day after breakfast, and after my girls did presents. 

Then is was 7:30 Christmas morning and time for me to get up. Fortunately, we trained our girls early to wait on Christmas morning. They were not allowed to get up and run down stairs and open presents. Our rule was that they had to wait to go down stairs until Mom and Dad had gone downstairs and had coffee AND that they had to wait to open presents until my parents arrived in the morning. They could open stockings but everything else had to wait. So my girls have always slept in on Christmas morning. 

This year I actually had to wake them up. 

I got the cinnamon roll dough out of the fridge to let it come to room temperature.  I put the empanadas and the stolen in the oven to warm up. I set the table and rearranged the furniture. 

My parents arrived at 8:30 (which is early for them, usually it is closer to 9:30), and we had breakfast before we even did stockings or presents.  After breakfast the girls opened their stockings, the hubs opened his stocking and I opened my stocking. 

Last year, Lulu took on the task of filling my stocking. The year before that she asked why my stocking was mostly empty. I told her that because I do all the stockings it is tough for me to come up with my own stocking stuffers. Instead I just put in my toothbrush, razor refills, soap and a chocolate item that we all get. Everything else in the stockings is personal to that person. 

Last year, Lulu worked the previous summer and had some money so she bought a lot of items and filled my stocking. It was touching. I thought it was the best stocking ever! Then I opened my stocking this year. While I had limited funds this year, she had only $10. She bought my favorite tea and a chocolate bar (with Chai spice) but what made this stocking the best ever was the rest of the items she made. She made me hand warmers which she stitched a peacock feather and a heart in peacock colors on. She made me a bracelet and a wire pendant. She made me an infinity scarf and I am sure I missed something, but it made me so happy I nearly cried. 

My girls received all hand made items from me and Santa and Thi-Thi stated "Best Christmas Ever"

While they received items that were from Amazon and/or store bought they items that made them happy and everyone else happy were the items that were handmade for them or by them. 

They were both super excited to be giving out hand drawn cards, candles and soaps they made along with some sewn crafts. I'll let Lulu tell you about the Studio Ghibli basket she made her sister. 

After gifts I had to clean up the kitchen from breakfast. 

Then my parents and I hung out and chatted for a while. Eventually it was time to put out the grazing platters and prepping Christmas Dinner. While I took plenty of breaks and spent time with my family I was go go going all day long. I realized before lunch that it was more important to me to spend the time with my family and be present in the moment than to simply post a blog post. 

So however you spent yesterday I hope it was a good day and that you were present to all the joy. 

Why Organic is Worthless!

I have for the past five or so years been yelling from the rooftops... OK so I just tell anyone who will listen to me... that commercial organic products are absolutely worthless. Check out this article which I found in my facebook feed from Ever Growing Farm about why commercial organic and organic for that matter are currently worthless.

Factory Farms Producing Organic Milk/Eggs

I have been encouraging people to make their first priority to know their farmer. It is not about the label that is slapped on the food, or the government regulations. The reality is that when it comes to big farm business they will slap any label on the food to make extra money, and they have the money to buy the label in the first place, and pay the minimal fines IF they get caught. 

I remember when farmers used to have to defend that they did not have the organic label because the process to become certified was more about making money for the state and less about organic foods. There was a lot of red tape and cost that small farmers could not afford. There were also regulations (proof that there had been no chemicals applied to the land in the last decade) that some small farmers just couldn't meet. Those farmers were passionate about the organic methods that they used, despite not being certified. I used to purchase from those farmers (and still do). 

Then when big businesses (like the cereal companies) started getting into the organic market I knew that the standard would be diluted (and it has been, there is a percentage of non-organic components allowed in a product labeled organic, and now some amounts of pesticides and chemical fertilizers are allowed on organic lands). 

If you know farmers, then you know that there has been a movement from the term organic to the term sustainable. This is a self-imposed standard for which there is no regulation. I believe the government regulation is the problem. It leads the average individual to the false security that someone else (the government) has their (the individual's) best interest at heart and has already investigated and protected the individual. The REALITY of government oversight is that the government creates a lot of red tape and a process for everything they oversee. Big businesses have no problem keeping up with the red tape, they can pay someone to deal with the red tape and fill out the applications.

What government is concerned with is keeping its seat in office (which means making the lobbyists and moneyed constituents happy, and if you haven't figured it out yet that means keeping big business happy). 

Instead if we removed regulation of industries like Organic and took personal responsibility to investigate our farmers and their farms WE would know our food and the conditions it comes from. 

It is my intention to interview and visit several local farms, meat and produce and share those interviews on this blog. 

For the time being I challenge all of you to find out who the parent company of Cascadian Farms is.  Then ask yourself what does that REALLY mean for Cascadian Farms' "organic" products?

What's Wrong with Supporting Local?

When this NY Times article "The Downside of Eating Too Locally" popped up in my news feed I was curious.  After all what could possibly be wrong with eating locally?  The truth is there is nothing wrong with eating locally, and people who pledge to eat within 100 miles of their home are doing a wonderful thing for their home economy and for the global environment. The fact that some people won't purchase organic lentils from the mid-west is not the true problem for those farmers in the mid-west. The problem is that more of their neighbors are not buying truly local. 

I personally don't like labels, "challenges" or pledges. I do my best to purchase local. If I have the choice when purchasing local I purchase local that has been grown ethically and using sustainable methods, this may or not be "organic". If the next option is conventional local I might purchase it. Just because it is local doesn't make it better. If there is a non-local sustainable option then that might just be what I purchase. I had thought about trying a year long challenge of eating just local (I read a blog on that premise and they had a great year eating local), but I realized quite simply I like foods that do not grow in my neck of the woods. I love bananas, avocados and pomegranates to name just a few. 

I try not to label myself, because I have learned if you do label yourself people love to point out to you when you have left the path of righteousness that naturally goes along with that label. For a long time I worked really hard to purchase organic goods, and then I expanded to trying to purchase local organic goods. I learned over time that the organic label is 1) not what it used to be (thank the big business lobbyists) and 2) for small farmers (who are ultimately who I want to support) it is cost prohibitive to get the organic stamp of approval. Many small farms have moved away from the word "organic" because it has become so abused and diluted by big business who simply want the label to be able to charge more. Many small farmers are touting their sustainable and ethical practices. 

To know what your farmer does you have to be willing to talk to them, and the few farmers who have been offended at my asking questions about their farming practices have not gotten my business. The majority of farmers (conventional and other) are happy to chat about their farming practices. This is the reason I am not a supporter of government involvement in labeling GMOs.  

First, I don't believe that we need the government to step in and legislate this for us. We as a people are quite capable of asking questions and learning where and how our food came about. Those growers that would lie to the common man about the GMO status of their food will also lie to the US Government and pay the insignificant fine if they get caught. 

Second, people seem to have forgotten what the term GMO means. Genetically Modified Organism. This includes tree grafting and cross pollination. This is how food as become what it is today, and is not a bad thing. Now the genetic manipulation of organisms at the cellular level in a lab with constituents that may or may not be toxic to my person is a whole different story. I do love heirloom foods and I do not have a problem with plant grafting. 

For me the best way to know if my food is a GMO that I am OK with or if it is potentially toxic is to know my grower/farmer. Even better to grow my own. That is on my list for 2015. With the help of Lu, we plan to finally get our gardens in this year and start growing our own. 

Pink Washing, Green Washing, Organic Washing and now Local Washing.....

It started with the Susan G. Komen foundation selling out and letting any business (even those associated with cancer causing agents) put the trademarked pink ribbon on their merchandise. Then everything was suddenly in some way "Green" made with "recycled" materials or in "sustainable" practices. However, if you scratch the surface of any of these campaigns you will find hypocrisy and lies. 

I LOVE local businesses, even better when they are local artists. I do my best to support my truly local businesses and artists whenever I have the option. With "Small Business Saturday" fast approaching and people up in arms about stores (big box chains) planning on being open on Thanksgiving I just had to say a few words. 

First, no one is forcing anyone to work on Thanksgiving. Yes, there are people who need the money and feel they have no choice but to work on Thanksgiving. Working on Thanksgiving might even take them away from their families (whom they are working to support) on a MADE UP HOLIDAY about family. Holidays are ALL about family and they do not need to be celebrated on a specific day or at a specific time. It is all about the intent. So if you are one of those people who needs to work Thanksgiving in order to support a family remember you can celebrate early or late or not at all. 

Second, there are people who are alone for the holidays and some of those people actually prefer to work on holidays. I know several people who have good relations with their families but they choose to work holidays because the pay is good. They have said to many people on more than one occasion, that if the the Holiday is truly about family then they can celebrate that any day of the year. Some who are truly alone choose to work on a holiday so as not to be alone. 

However, all that being said if you do not support stores being open on Thanksgiving because you believe that everyone should be home with their families then remember YOU have a say in the matter. You can not shop on Thanksgiving and Black Friday. You can encourage others to do the same.

This brings me to "Small Business Saturday". First this is a fallacy. Small business Saturday is sponsored by none other than American Express. American Express is not a small business and is not a local business. They are just in it for the money. Second just because a business is "locally" owned does not make is a sustainable or ethical business. There is little difference in buying cheap goods made in unthinkable conditions from a BoxMart or from a "local" store. 

The why? It is simple, there is a benefit to buying from a locally owned non-franchise store but it is small compared to the benefit from buying from a locally owned business that supports local artists and American Made goods. First, even the big box franchise stores have "owners". These individuals are often local (not always). This means that these local owners spend a portion of their profits in the local economy. They do however send a portion of their profits as part of their franchise agreement to some big company somewhere.  A truly local business allows for more of the profits to stay in the local economy. Even better than a local business selling cheaply made foreign goods (which sends money out of the local economy and encourages poor and unfair employment and manufacturing practices) is supporting a local artist or business that sells locally sourced or American made goods. 

I am a realist, there are a number of items that are NOT made locally or even in America (unfortunately count most electronics on that list). I strive to buy local, sustainable and ethical. I support my local artists and crafters and encourage my girls to do the same. 

For several years now I have purchased from KiraArts, Francesca DeCaire, SunshyneSilverware, and so many other local artists and crafters. My girls have received gifts over the years that came from big box stores (American Girl Dolls and Accessories), but the gifts they love and cherish are always those that are handmade and unique. No one else has the same gifts that my girls have. 

Having handmade unique gifts also helped to keep the spirit of Christmas and the legend of Santa Claus alive for my girls. Not that long ago my now 13 year old daughter asked me if Kira was a Christmas Elf because she made such wonderful handmade toys for boys and girls of all ages. I wouldn't think Christmas complete in my house without a handmade gift from my local artists. 

I have selected a few items this year 2 monsters from KiraArts, felted sootsprites and a totoro from Peaches Products, and a sootsprite necklace and totoro necklace from a local artist. I am looking forward to picking up my custom orders and a unique ornament for each girl at the Brainery Holiday Bazaar as well as shopping Mini May Day. Funds are limited this year (as I have been unemployed since March and in a full time school program for the last 6 months) so I won't be able to support my local artisans as much as I would like, but I will support them none the less. 

I will NOT be shopping on Black Friday or Small Business Saturday, instead I support local businesses, artists and crafters year round. 

How about you? What do you think about Small Business Saturday, Black Friday and or Thanksgiving Day Shopping?