Author: Lindsey (Page 32 of 88)

Happy Spring!

March 20, 2012 / Lindsey / 1 Comment

Happy Spring Equinox to each and every one of you out there!

The beautiful spring came; and when Nature resumes her loveliness, the human soul is apt to revive also.

—Harriet Ann Jacobs

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Gratitude Sunday * March 18, 2012

March 18, 2012 / Lindsey / 3 Comments

~ I’m once again joining Taryn over at Wooly Moss Roots in her Gratitude Sunday tradition. ~

Gratitude Sunday is a time to slow down and remember those thankful moments that graced our week. One reason I love keeping a daily gratitude journal is because it helps keep things in perspective for me. Each Sunday, I open my journal and share some of those moments with you here. If you’d like to join in, just leave a comment!

Gratitude is powerful energy. I love hearing others’ gratitudes!

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– Wonderful warm weather all this week.

– A hot shower and cozy pajamas after a hard and satisfying day’s work in the garden.

– Being outside a lot this week. That really fed my spirit.

– Tabbouleh! I’ve been eating tons of it. Seems like each week I have a new obsession with some type of food that I can’t get enough of! Luckily it’s always something light and nourishing that my stomach and body both really like. 🙂

– Toasted homemade sourdough bread, pasture butter, and homemade concord grape jam — seasoned with hunger. That is heaven!

– Remembering, again and again, to make adjustments so that I’m enjoying my life from day to day. Remembering to “take my pleasure seriously” as Charles & Ray Eames said (thanks to Aja for that quote!). Otherwise my too-sensitive psyche gets overwhelmed and I find life becoming too much — and if I don’t wanna be here, that’s no fun.

– Solar cookin’ again! Made oil-free “french fries” and quinoa this week.

– Seeing Venus and Jupiter travelling together through the sky.

– Giving my honey, F., a body rub; we had both had a really difficult day and it felt just as good to give a body rub as it hopefully felt to receive it.

– My immune system successfully fighting off a cold that I was sure I was coming down with. That was awesome!

– Hanging out one-on-one with my dad.

– Harvesting the first tender chives of the season.

– F. getting tomatoes and parsley to feed my tabbouleh fetish.

– The wonderful, wonderful loved ones around me!

– My tomato seedlings growing heartily in our kitchen window, right next to me as I sit at my computer…

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What gratitudes have graced your week?

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Free Shipping @ Tropical Traditions! (Thru Monday, March 19th)

March 17, 2012 / Lindsey / 0 Comments

Yay!

It’s Free Shipping time again at one of my very favorite companies, Tropical Traditions! I love free shipping days. They save about $10-15 off your order, so it’s a good time to stock up, or try them out if you haven’t before. I really love this company’s products, and use them daily. Now through Midnight EDT on Monday March 19th, they’re offering free ground-only shipping when you enter coupon code 12153 at checkout.

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If you’re a new customer and have never bought from them before, you can also get this Virgin Coconut Oil book, with information & recipes, for free (any time, not just today) by entering my User ID, which is 6032410. When you’re going through the checkout process and you’ve added your shipping address and phone number, you will see the question “How did you hear of us?” Just choose “Referred by a friend” and then a new “User ID” field will appear below that where you can enter my User ID. (See screen shot below.)

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Tropical Traditions has lots of products I love; here are my favorites:

Moisturizing lotion – I use this every day on my face and hands. It’s the most luxurious stuff, and very gentle since it has only a few wholesome ingredients. Definitely my all-time favorite lotion.

Moisturizing cream – Much thicker than the lotion, this is another favorite. Also great for use on face and hands.

Virgin organic coconut oil – Great for cooking, eating, and also for skin! Has a much better taste than other unrefined coconut oils I’ve tried. I just love this stuff.

Organic raw honey – This is the best-tasting honey I’ve ever had. I like to buy and taste lots of different honeys, and this one always wins, hands down. When I first tried it, my eyes got big and my mouth dropped open; it just has the most amazing taste! Quintessential, flowery honey taste. This stuff is a staple in our house!

Coconut cream concentrate – I love this stuff. LOVE it. The “format” is a little strange, because when you receive it, it will have settled out into a hardened layer of coconut oil and a layer of dried/finely ground coconut meat. You’ll wonder what to do with it at first; what I do is put the jar into a pan of simmering water and let it sit there until the contents have softened and liquefied, and then I can easily stir it up. Then, I put it in the fridge until it’s hardened again. Once hardened, you can then store it in the fridge or at room temperature (it won’t separate again unless it gets really hot in your house). I usually just eat this stuff plain, it’s so good; I break it into chunks with a knife, and eat it as a snack. Sometimes I’ll eat it dipped in the raw honey, which is a very decadent and extremely delicious snack!!!

Organic Maple Syrup — Delicious, and it’s the Grade B type, which I prefer since it has a richer flavor and more nutrients than Grade A.

Laundry Detergent – This detergent is all we use, now that I’ve discovered it. It works really well, gets the stains out, and lasts a long time, making this a very economical purchase.

Oxygen Bleach – Like OxyClean. If you need a tough stain-fighter/deodorizer for laundry and everywhere else around the house.

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Now, I’ve also tried their organic bar soap, and though it was really nice soap, Hubby and I have never seen a bar of soap get used up so fast! It was weird. It just seemed like it was gone in record time. So I wouldn’t get it again. (Though my mom has the liquid soap and really loves it.) I haven’t tried every single product that they sell…but the ones I listed above, I make sure to never run out of!

Also, I bought the Atchara once out of curiosity, and it was extremely strong (even for this vinegar lover!), and a little weird. Not quite a favorite.

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Garden Progress

March 14, 2012 / Lindsey / 3 Comments

Wow, it’s been warm here! I’ve been working hard over at my garden, and this sunny, 70-degree weather day after day is fantastic! In Colorado, March brings absolutely anything, weather wise — 3 feet of snow or 75 degrees, though more commonly it’s somewhere in between. But what a luxury to have this warmth to make the outdoor work much more enjoyable!

Yesterday I got almost everything planted; the four main raised beds are seeded and the walls-o-water are up so that they can warm the soil for my tomato seedlings which are growing nicely in my kitchen window at home. I still need to amend the soil in the pots and on the south side raised bed, and get those planted.

So far I’ve planted:

parsley

cilantro

dill

arugula

cabbage, red and green

onions

scallions

beets

turnips

bok choy

lettuce

spinach

radishes

broad beans

leeks

…and still to be planted are cauliflower, romanesco cauliflower, carrots, kale, chard, garbanzo beans, and celery. Might throw in some peas, too.

And I accidentally discovered another side effect of my antibiotics — photosensitivity — which I’d read about and disregarded. Well. Don’t disregard it! It means that you burn more easily when out in the sun, but what they don’t tell you is that it’s not your garden variety sunburn (pun obviously intended), but instead it feels like you’ve rubbed Bengay, or that Icy-Hot cream, all over your body — and you can’t wash it off! Bwaa-haha! It’s the weirdest most unpleasant chemical-burn sensation; like your skin is freezing and burning at the same time. They call it a phototoxic reaction; sounds creepy, and it is. This sunburn actually makes me cold and shivery! It’s very weird!

I do see a sunscreen purchase in my near future; too bad, since I probably could use the vitamin D from all that nice sun time. Ah well!

So anyway, elsewhere in my folks’ yard, there are glorious crocus blooming and the yellow-blossoming cornelian cherry bush is in bloom now! Spring has sprung!! And if we get some moisture pretty soon, things will green up in a flash. I can’t wait! I love winter — I love all the seasons — but I’m always ready for each one as it approaches. So I’m ready for winter to be over now, and for spring to arrive!

Does it feel like spring where you are?

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Gratitude Sunday * March 11, 2012

March 11, 2012 / Lindsey / 2 Comments

~ I’m once again joining Taryn over at Wooly Moss Roots in her Gratitude Sunday tradition. ~

Gratitude is powerful energy. I love hearing others’ gratitudes!

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– Feeling good and accomplishing so much in the garden this week! Feeling much more caught up and on track with everything that needs to be done out there.

– Having the time to work in the garden. How wonderful to be able to go over on weekdays and work in the garden instead of being tied up at a job.

– The $1 produce grab bags that our local health food store puts out. Sometimes the produce is still almost perfect!

– Making applesauce with delicious $1-bag apples.

– Free produce scraps for our compost heap!

– Beautiful weather for working outside this week.

– All of my loved ones!!!

– Taking control of a day where I felt melancholy and in a funk, and turning it around into a wonderful day. I love it when I can manage to do that.

– Remembering to have patience by repeating to myself, “That’s okay, I can wait” — and feeling a calm come over me when I say those words. While waiting for a slow car to make up its mind, “That’s okay, I can wait.” When I’ve just missed the bus and have to wait for the next one, “That’s okay, I can wait.” And while waiting for my body to heal more and more, I’m trying my best to say “That’s okay, I can wait.” (That one’s harder!)

– Roasted vegetables without any oil; both my body and taste buds like them better this way. I love roasted vegetables so much!

– Napping outside in the sun yesterday. Bliss. With the sun warming and relaxing my body like that, I felt like I was soaking in a hot spring!

– Going to a “sound bath” of crystal bowls, gongs, and didgeridoos with my mom; that was fantastic! What a cool experience.