Thought for today

Had to go out and do some last minute wedding shopping.  I realized this morning that I don't have any hairspray (and my mother in-law needed mousse), because I rarely do more than pull my hair up in a ponytail.  I never shop for beauty products at the store, since I shop online with a company that makes
toxin-free products.
I must confess that I am a label reader.
So here we are in the hair product aisle and I'm reading the labels of all the hairspray and mousse bottles.  Here is what's in the hairspray (Rave 4) I was asked to purchase)  I'm shocked and appalled.  Seriously, I'm going to be putting this stuff in my hair, spraying it in my house.  Who in their right mind would think of such a thing?!?
Sadly, because the wedding is tomorrow and I have No other choice, I will have to spray my head with the store bought hairspray.  I hope I won't have to use too much or be too disgusted by the thought of what I'm doing.

~Your Earthy Mom

Wednesday Wisdom

You can only become truly accomplished at something you love.  Don't make money your goal.  Instead pursue the things you love doing and then do them so well that people can't take their eyes off of you.
~ Maya Angelou

Gardening an Family affair





Dumping the dirt

Our family decided at Ostara to grow a garden in our backyard this year.  I haven't had a garden since I was a young teen.  This has been a great experience for us as a family.  We started with finding the right spot and arranging boards into a rectangle shape.  Even Poppy came out to help with the project.  They boys love digging up the dirt inside the garden area, to get it ready for our plants!  We have an over abundance of tomato plants started.  Also ready for planting the cucumbers and zucchinis.  In a few week the peppers my sister asked me to plant and the green beans should be ready to move outside too.  I'm hoping the kids will stay interested in gardeing and continue to help out and have fun. 

They certainly have lots of plans.

• Monkey wants to build a fence to keep the deer out.  (Not happening this time, maybe next year)
• Potato has informed me that "We have to pull the weeds from our garden mommy."
• Ladybug and Duckling are looking forward to helping pick the veggies.



Ready to go!



  

Hope you enjoy the pictures of our labor.  And we hope to enjoy the fruits (rather veggies) or our labor later.

~Your Earthy Mom

Tiny tomatos

Raising a Vegetarian

As if raising children in the world today isn't hard enough, my oldest has recently decided she wants to be a vegetarian.  I am supportive of her choice.  And I'm very proud of her for making a life choice and sticking to it.  (It seems that I'm doing a better job at parenting than I thought.)  Of course her choice is now raising my "Mommy worry flags".  I'm concerned that she won't have a healthy balanced diet.  The rest of our family are not vegetarians, so cooking has become somewhat of a challenge.  My daughter is not the most adventurous eater when it comes to vegetables.  Thankfully she is very good about trying new foods.  My job as her mom is to make sure she is eating healthy and getting the right nutrients.  Let me tell you how thankful I am for the Internet right now.  Google is my new best friend! 

Lunch is actually the hardest meal of the day.  Ladybug sits at the nut-free table, so she can eat with her friend, who is allergic to peanuts.  So we can the Scratch PB&J sandwiches.  Let the experimenting begin.  Here are some of my daughter's favorite lunches.

• Soy-based faux meats - She loves the "turkey" and "pepperoni".  We make sandwiches or grinders/subs
• Tomato soup - Her absolute favorite is when we add some rice, broccoli, and corn to the soup
• Mini bagels and cream cheese -  mini bagels make the meal a little bit fun
• Leftovers - These often make the list.  I've gotten pretty good at making vegetarian substitutes for meals.  Good enough that she wants to have dinner for lunch.
• Breakfast for Lunch - packing some cereal is a nice treat.

My sister came to my rescue this past week with some veggie substitutions ideas for dinners.  The big one: I haven't been able to make a good veggie gravy.  (HUGE gravy fans in my house)  On the advice from my sister (a vegetarian in High School and College) I picked up some vegetable bouillon.  I boiled it up and added about a teaspoon of flour, to thicken it.  What do you know I made a "Great tasting gravy!"  Ladybug was trying to lick the bowl.

Here are a few websites with vegetarian/vegan ideas and recipes.
Veg Kitchen
Better Health USA
PETA

Enjoy trying out some yummy veggie meals!

~Your Earthy Mom

Beltane Handfasting...

with non-pagan guests.

As some of you may know, I was recently handfasted to an amazing man.  The challenge being that we're Pagan, we wanted the ceremony and reception to capture the essence of Beltane, and most of our guests aren't Pagan.  This was made easier because most of our friends and family know (to some extent) that we're Pagan.  The day was beautiful and everything went perfectly.

We wrote our own ceremony.  One of our debates was whether or not to have our officiant say "Goddess and God".  It was important to us that our guests enjoyed the day as much as we did.  In the end we decided, what harm could come from those words.  And it was very important to have the ceremony reflect us, our beliefs, and incorporate our children.  A very special part was our family sand ceremony.

Now we will celebrate the creation of a family. The couple will first pour their sands into the vase, showing that their marriage is the foundation of this family. Their sands mix together and symbolize their bond of love and respect that can never be separated. Now as each child add their sands, we are reminded that though we are all different people, it is our individuality which adds a unique color to the tapestry of a family. Like the sands poured before it, so these sands will also mix and be unable to be separated.

We poured our dark green and blue sands.  Then each of our four children added their sand.  Bug light green, Monkey red, Duckling purple, and Potato yellow.  This was a tangible way to show how even though we are all separate and different people, together we make an inseparable family.



Belanos Table



Maypole on Var Table



 For our reception, we gave each table a God or Goddess name.  I had read somewhere (while I was working on the seating plan), that numbered tables could hurt feelings.  That was a good enough reason for us to add different Deities to the decor.  The center piece on each table was a small Maypole.  The May Poles was definitely part of the plan from day one.  What better way to celebrate a Handfasting on Beltane than with a May Pole.  I suppose if we had the time and space, it would have been lots of fun to have everyone dance around a bigger Maypole.  We did keep one to use on our home Alter. 

To make your own Maypole - Altar Maypole Centerpiece

I wanted to have a bonfire, but that wasn't possible at the location for our ceremony and reception.

All of my concerns about completely coming out to all my friends, family, and his family I didn't have anything to worry about.  Everyone enjoyed a day of celebrating, singing, and dancing.  I couldn't have asked for a better day.

My advice to any of you partially or fully in the broom closet, make the day about you and your love, don't worry too much what others may think, and enjoy your day together.

~Your Earthy Mom



To Read what my sister thought of our Handfasting.

Thanks to Victoria Chapman, Melissa Meadows, and Shana Boss-Hill for the pictures.



My bouquet





H2O Think before you Drink

Drinking water is "in", everyone is doing it.  But is anyone really thinking about the possible dangers and amount of waste created from drinking bottled water?

I've just recently jumped on water "bandwagon" because honestly I'd rather drink a coke.  I've been trying to drink more water and less soda to help with losing some weight.    At home I always drink from a glass, but when I'm running around town or hiking through the woods, I bring my bottle of water.  Naturally I started looking into the facts about bottled water.

Store-bought bottled water is a rip off. Tap water is often subject to more stringent regulation and testing than bottled water. It costs a fraction of the cost from the tap. It is cleaner, cheaper, and thus healthier. (Natural Resources Defense Council)

So the above statement seems almost obvious.  It's water. Why in the world would anyone actually want to pay for water, when you can get it out of your faucet at home for free.  The kids hate when I say that because they like everyone else are captivated by the water commercials.  So here's what we're not told about drinking bottled water.

• 90% of the cost of bottled water is due to the bottle itself.
• 80% of plastic bottles are not recycled.
• Plastic bottles are among the most prevalent source of pollution found on our beaches.
• 38 million plastic bottles go to the dump per year in America from bottled water (not including soda)
• U.S. landfills are overflowing with 2 million tons of discarded water bottles alone. Source: idswater.org
• Bottles used to package water take over 1,000 years to bio-degrade and if incinerated, they produce toxic fumes. It is estimated that over 80% of all single-use water bottles used in the U.S. simply become "litter." Source: ValleyWater.org
• 24 million gallons of oil are needed to produce a billion plastic bottles.
• Plastic bottles pose a health risk. Studies have shown that chemicals called phthalates, which are known to disrupt testosterone and hormones, can leach into bottled water over time.
• Studies have indicated that food and drinks stored in such containers—including those ubiquitous clear Nalgene water bottles hanging from just about every hiker’s backpack—can contain trace amount of Bisphenol A (BPA), a synthetic chemical that interferes with the body’s natural hormonal messaging system.
• The same studies found that repeated re-use of such bottles—which get dinged up through normal wear and tear and while being washed—increases the chance that chemicals will leak out of the tiny cracks and crevices that develop over time.

We can save the earth simply by recycling water bottles.  You can even take it one step father by purchasing a re-usable water bottle.  Stainless steel or glass would be the best options.  Check out Nubius Organics to find echo-friendly water bottles and other products.  I just purchased a stainless steel water bottle several weeks ago and I love it!

Check out these sites for more info: The Water Project  Gaiam Life

~Your Earthy Mom

Late to Spring!

Spring time is actually here!  My family just celebrated Ostara last weekend.  We have been so busy with planning our wedding that the actual date came and went.  So being flexible with these kinds of things, we planned our celebration any way.



Tomato Seeds



Cucumber and Zucchini seeds



This year we did a split two day celebration.  Saturday morning was spent eating candies and starting plants for our garden.  We are planning to make our first garden this year.  So far we have cucumbers, zucchini, and tomatoes.  The kids loved getting in the dirt and planting the seeds!



Beginnings of a garden





Cutting Blackberries for dye



Sunday we made natural egg dyes for the first time.  This project was very time consuming, kind of messy, at times frustrating, and most of all Lots of FUN!  Grownups started with doing the cutting.  Our oldest wanted to help, so we figured why not.  We showed her how to use the knife safely and let her go for it. 



Pouring the Dye





After we cooked up each dye all of the kids helped with straining and pouring into bowls and cups.



Smelling the Dye



Onion Dye

Commence the egg dyeing extravaganza!



Beet Dye



Blackberry dye





Blueberry Dye



Spinach Dye







Onion Dye

Since this was our first time making the dyes, it was kind of an experiment.  Here's what we did.

• Fresh Blackberries - light purple - finely chop and boil in 1-2 cups of water then strain.
• Fresh Blueberries - dark/light blue - finely chop and boil in 1-2 cups of water then strain.  (one of our favorites)
• Fresh Spinach - very light green -  finely chop and boil in 1 cup of water then strain.  (we didn't like how this color came out)
• Onion - golden yellow/orange - Take the skins off two onions.  finely chop them and boil in 1 cup of water then strain.  (one of our favorites)
• Beets - light pink - We used canned beets and finely chopped.  We boiled the beets and the juice from the can.  (Next year we plan to use fresh beets if we can find them)

All in all we had a great weekend and are looking forward to watching our plants grow.  In a few weeks we should be able to move the plants outside to the garden.  Keep your eyes out for posts on how our garden is doing.

~Your Earthy Mom



Resolutions

I know it's not New Years (Traditional or Pagan), but I wanted to get my resolutions written down and out to the world.

1. Exercise

   Ok so I've hit the "comfortable" place in my relationship with my fiance.  I first noticed it, when I saw pictures my family posted of me on Face Book.  This is not ok, with my wedding coming in April.  I don't want to look "comfortable" in my wedding photos.

   Since my fall and shoulder injury in November 2009, I've been significantly less active.  I also have a Major sweet tooth and lower metabolism.  Time to Get Up and Get Active again.  Oh yeah and find some healthier sweets, like fruit.  My mom gave me the new Wii Fit game for Christmas this past December.  I've used it several times and had alot of fun.  Now I need to become more consistent.  My boys started taking Karate classes, last week, at the Community Center in our town.  They have an exercise room which I plan to put to use while the boys do Karate.  And when this "lovely" New England winter weather is done, I'll be getting back on the trails to go hiking and letterboxing again!

2. Organize
    Lately I feel like my brain is Swiss cheese, full of holes.  Being a working parent or stay at home parent comes with a Big To Do list.  With the kids, working, planning a wedding, and the general day-to-day stuff, I definitely need to be more organized.

   When I worked full-time outside the home I used to have a "Control Journal", thanks to my FLYing lesson's with the FLY Lady.  So it's time to start a new one to keep myself on the right track.  I haven't been FLYing for a long time, so I restarted with the "BabySteps".  I've let all routines go out the window since I've been home on a more full-time basis.  FLY Lady is great at teaching you how to create routines and get control over your life again.


3. Focus on Work

   I have let my Home business (and life) fall by the way side over this past year. 

In March of 2010 my father was admitted to the hospital for a brain bleed.  Over the course of the six months doctors found that his brain was bleeding due to minute holes in his spine that was leaking fluid.  The leaking fluid also caused low brain pressure.  The doctors patched the holes and eventually my dad came home.  Shortly afterwards he was diagnosed with Intestinal cancer and a heart condition was found while prepping for cancer surgery.  Post surgery he had complications from the abdominal surgery.  He is home now and we're all keeping our fingers crossed that he continues to heal and stay well.

    I put my life on hold to deal with this situation, be there for my dad and to help and comfort my mom and sister.  Now it's time to focus back in on my awesome WAHU team!  So not only am I a mom of four, which is a full time job in it self, I also work two other jobs.  And one of them has been feeling very neglected.  It's time for No More Excuses!  Organizing my time better should help me get WAHU back on track.

4. Quality Family Time

   Most importantly, I want to spend more Quality time with my family.  I'm ashamed to admit it, but too often I'm "too busy" to spend time with my children.

    My little Potato is always asking me to play a game with him, he Loves board games.  I hate that recently nine times out of ten I tell him "no" because I'm doing    (fill in household chore/job)   .  My girls got these awesome nail painting/design kits for Yule.  I want to sit down with them and have some girl time, yet I haven't.  My Monkey boy keeps wanting to show me how to play his new Wii game.

  We have just recently started a family dinner and movie night.  Usually on Sunday or Tuesday, when my step-daughter is here.  Dinner is buffet style and we eat in the living room (a treat since I don't allow food out of the kitchen) while watching a family movie.  I would like to also spend time with each of the kids individually.  I've been making use of the car travel time to activities, by turning off the radio and talking, listening, and laughing with the kids.  With a busy life I know it's not the amount of time I'm spending with them, but the quality of the time we are spending together.

~Your Earthy Mom