Thrift Shop Find

I love thrift shop, treasure-hunting.  I found all of this for 5$ at the MCC (Mennonite Central Committee) Thrift Shop.  Because of our busy spring, we are cleaning out our home and life NOW, at the peak of summer. We are slightly delayed, I know, but it feels fantastic nonetheless, to simplify and to cull out some of what we trip over unnecessrily.

Through a dear friend (Bree), I was exposed to the tradition of clothing swaps. We've had a few over the last two years and in August, my sister is hosting one at her place. I am so excited! I spent sometime last night going through my closet and putting in bags anything I no longer wear.

In a clothing swap, a group of people get together, bring clothes and take clothes. There is no limit, just a chance to "swap" for free.  Anything left over is donated to a local women's shelter. We sometimes incorporate household items and shoes, anything that is still good and useable, a treasure for someone who wants or needs it. I actually just found a LINK to a huge clothing swap site that inspires me to grow the tradition to become a city-wide event.

But in the meantime, it is fun to get together with friends and family for an evening and return home with a refreshed wardrobe.

Today, I am thankful for:

16-the deep heat sunshine that represents Divine love to me

17-a wonderful, restful family trip to Vancouver Island and an afternoon at Willows Beach

18-the music of Martyn Joseph.

Time to Turn in

This picture is the view from a YURT bunk during our road trip last summer.  It was a beautiful night, especially once the stars came out.

It is night and I am returning late from a business event that went fantastically well!

I was ravenous when I walked in the door and wanted nothing but chocolate. But luckily, we are out of chocolate and I decided to stay Raw instead.

I just drank down a huge glass of Green Smoothie.  It was basically two handfuls of fresh spinach, two bananas, a tangerine and a few chunks of pineapple, some ice and water.  Yum! It was actually really good and extremely filling.

We are enjoying our raw food endeavor. However, a few times during the last week, we have been overcome with a desire to smell food cooking!  It's strange that on a raw food diet, you never really smell food.  Fruits and veggies have their natural scent, but there's nothing like cooking with spices and bubbling goodness.  We do miss it.

Bry laughed at us today. We were chop, chop, chopping away at fruits and veggies (cuz that's what you do on a Raw Food Diet!) and he said " We are so crazy!  We weren't even vegetarian and now we are Raw Vegan!  You'd think we would transition a little bit and go vegetarian first. Crazy!"

It's true; we are a little crazy.

It is late tonight and I need to awake early, so I will keep this post short.  

As I sleepily end the day, I am thankful for:

13-my husband's good-looking self, so easy to look at day in and day out.

14-the curl of my Soul-baby's hair, just at the nape of his neck.

15-the beauty of a dear friend's grad school accomplishment as a bonafide (publishable) poet.

At the End of the day

My shift at the hospital was a gong show today. We were running in circles, working over one another, flailing around as one odd thing after another flew our way. It was a WEIRD shift.  

We are moving hospitals in August.  What an enormous job! There are actually businesses that move hospitals, that's what they do. And ours is about to move.  The building our current hospital is in is a condemned building.  A friend who works with a heating and cooling company says the company no longer feels safe sending repair men into the bowels of the building to fix what needs fixing.  I suppose we need a new hospital.

All this change on the horizon makes change-lovers giddy and change-resisters downright grouchy. Today, I encountered some grouchy.  The adjustment in staffing means that we sometimes (in the transition period) have an over- or an under-abundance of workers. Today was a over-abundance of workers placed in odd shift slots. We had a bunch of us, clamoring around for who does what, but we were only booked half the day with no replacements. Crazy!

Anyhow, enough about that.  It just means I am glad to be home, and glad to lay my head on my pillow for the night-

And at the end of the day, all is well. The kidlets are curled in cocoons in their bunkbed, smelling like sweet bath wash. And tomorrow is another day to breathe and shine.

sigh.

Today I am Thankful For:

10-the pure miracle of childbirth

11-the opportunity to see the tender (lovable) underbelly of a cantakerous co-worker

12-the essential oil smell in my home after positively green clean!

Body and Soul

The health of Body and Soul are incredibly intertwined.  My soul feels enlivened and refreshed when my body is well-cared for. 

A dear friend and I are doing Body-For-Life together. My husband and I did it last winter and I felt tremendous afterwards.  I had some extra Soul-baby weight to lose and was able to drop 30 pounds with the 12-week system!

And so, I begin again, with another 15 pounds that I would like to convert to lean muscle.  I am always amazed how incredible it feels to work out, to sweat and get my heart pumping from exercise.  The inertia before beginning is so hard to overcome, but when I do I feel so energized.

The system revolves around a 6 day/ week workout schedule that alternates between intensive cardio and weight training.  We are commited to 6 days a week and are having a blast!  It is so helpful to have a workout buddy.

We have just completed day 4 of going raw. I have an upcoming post about that with pictures of some of our raw meals. The main motivation is to provide some relief for my husband's intestinal issues.  We have been trying a lot of cleansing diets and dairy free/gluten free sorts of diets with no relief. So, we are hopeful that the Raw Diet will help to define the underlying issue for him.

Today I am thankful for:

7-friends I can count on for spiritual and practical support and sharing.

8-the delicious afternoon nap we all took on this rainy day

9-the chance to see my friend's new business downtown and to watch it grow for her.

Soul Friend

The Smell of Sunshine

Early this week, I awoke to sunshine at 5 am!  My heart was lifted toward the window and I took in the scene and scent of sunshine.  

The smell of sunshine is to me like the smell of a sweet, sweaty baby. My Soul-baby, just two years old, still smells like goodness itself. And when he is sweaty from playing outside, I nestle my nose in his neck and take a long lung-fill of sweetness.  

I try to remember in those moments to stop, and to remember. Because he will soon be a stinky teenager dropping nasty-smelling hockey gear on my washing machine. And I'll be washing crusty socks and cleaning pee from missed streams around the base of the toilet. Believe me, I know. I grew up with all brothers and they are stinky! 

To continue this morning, I want to give thanks for three more things:

4-the strange pitch of bird song outside my window: cheerful and mournful at once.

5-a beautiful new friend who is committing to 6 days/week of Body-For -Life workouts with me.  

6- our decision to try a Raw Food Diet for 30 days together (thanks to Matt and Sara)

Today is an exciting day for me and my 4 year old girl. We are officially beginning our journey of  homeschooling and have enrolled with Summit Learning Centre. With my personality, it is the best combination of things.  

Enrolling with Summit means we get generous funding from the government for curriculum, internet costs, a membership to science world. We can participate in the Art Smarts program twice a week, join groups for field trips, have direct access to teacher support, and work together with a resource person to create a learning plan especially for my girl. I give myself permission to choose a different approach as I continue next year, but to begin, structure is wonderful!

I love having a schedule to work from.  Baselines and goals give me direction and peace of mind. And knowing what we must do (in regards to hitting milestones), we can then do what we want to do (touring the organic goat dairy for the afternoon or visiting the Vancouver Aqarium).

This afternoon, I meet with my resource teacher to pick up books and curriculum and all sorts of goodies. It will be like Christmas!

I was given a list of books to read through a homeschool association. Quite a few books by Thomas Armstrong look good. I would like to start with:

Awakening Your Child's Genius and 7 Kinds of Smart. 

Today, I have three areas of focus: a business related visit,  spiritual direction and a meeting with my Summit resource teacher.

So much about regaining balance for me is limiting the amount of things I think I can accomplish in a day!