We're doing a square foot garden as I've said before. I was concerned about the sustainability of the method and while listening to the Survival Podcast, was pleased to run across one that covers this very topic. A very informative post that also covers HR875.
mer. We have a lot of blackouts already during the summer but we've never had so many during the winter. We'll see. I keep thinking about how easily my grandmother would get out the kerosene lamps when we were visiting in Nigeria. She'd light them and life would continue on as usual. Nobody batted an eye when the electricity went out. I'm trying to make sure blackouts don't interfere with our living and we might even do voluntary blackouts from time to time just to get used to it. I heard a while back that for some children with autism, turning out all the electrical lights at night really helps them. I always found that interesting. Anyway, I think I might complete my original preparedness project via Amazon.com what with their free shipping and one-stop shopping and all. I do not really want to be hopping from shop to shop trying to find eveything with two kids in tow.
Today I did Women's Health Ultimate Fat Burn and it was excellent. I felt like I really burned calories. The routine was never boring and I got to do work on every part of my body. It was long enough without being too long and I feel like my heart rate was elevated for a good clip of time. The cueing was perhaps the *best* cuing I have ever seen on any DVD to date. No fumbling. No false steps. Amy Dixon was right on point, always remembering that I was seeing a mirror image of what she was doing. Ms. Dixon was also not patronizing, not annoying and just encouraging enough that when I wanted to stop a rep, I just kept going. I really sweated with this workout and I enjoyed it a lot. I'm definitely adding this to the list of workout DVDs I'm going to purchase (One-on-One Training with Jackie is also on that list and I'm on the lookout for one more really good yoga DVD). I'm really having fun trying out all these DVDs and even when I've built a good home workout DVD collection, I'll still be trying different ones. It's so nice to switch it up every once in a while.
rmer's markets, I should try my hand at making enough jam to last through the winter. If I bought enough berries every time I go to the farmer's market (I'm going to try to go weekly) to make 2 pints of jam, that would definitely last us through the winter. I'd love to grow strawberries myself but I don't want to be overwhelmed. Definitely, though, once we get the hang of the gardening, I will be growing flowers (both for beauty and medicinal purposes like roses for rosewater and calendula for calendula infused olive oil which I used to make for my children's diaper cream), herbs (both for cooking and medicine) and some kinds of berries.
ride has laid out the philosophy behind frugality in plain and direct terms that I have never really intensely thought about. So while I was just browsing, I realized that even if I have triple the amount of money I have now, I would still enjoy being frugal. I've always thought to myself, "I don't need to be rich . . . I'm not trying to be rich" not in a defeatist way as if I don't deserve to be rich or have a poor person's mentality. But, as India Arie mentions in her song "There's Hope" the more money you have, the more complicated things get. And honestly, I love simplicity and a simple life. What I want is to have enough to be able to take care of myself and my family well and a little extra. From the book . . . Being frugal is not being miserly. It's appreciating the time it took to make something, using money wisely and diligently, finding beauty and satisfaction in the simplest things like a freshly made bed, newly set table, or just vacuumed rug or a field of dandelions on a bright sunny day 
I really like falafel but attempts to make the dish at home have been frustrating to say the least. I don't have a deep fryer and frying in a pan is a royal pain--not to mention the mess it makes. It's so annoying that I rarely make falafel. So I was intrigued when my sistren spoke about baked falafel balls from The Whole Foods Market Cookbook. I borrowed the book from the library and the first recipe is the baked falafel balls (this is the exact recipe in the book). I followed the recipe word for word [except I didn't have cilantro (not too fond of the taste) and used dried parsley]. The balls came out really well and I think we'll be having lots more falafel around here. I have some tweaks for next time, though. First off, I would punch up the spices and add a tad bit more salt than I did. They were kind of dry too so I would sweat the onions and garlic in a bit more olive oil (about 3 tablespoons instead of 1). We always eat falafel with ketchup so I didn't attempt any tahini/yogurt sauce (there's a vegan recipe from Tofu Cookery that I sometimes make but we're cool with ketchup). To eat them, we put them in mini whole wheat pita bread from Trader Joe's, put ketchup on and then stuff the pita with mixed greens. Really delicious. They were gone in minutest. These falafel would actually make really good burgers. Those falafel in the picture are not my falafel although mine looked pretty similar. The photo is by Sharon123 on recipezaar.com . . . I really need to make a little more effort to take pictures. LoL.
. Not bad. It wasn't as frenetic as the other one I tried but I didn't feel like my heart rate got high enough for long enough. I felt it was more of a strenghtening type workout than cardio. Even though some of the participants were sweating profusely, I was sweating as much as when I vacuum with Z2 on my back in the carrier, i.e. not much. So I would say this workout is pretty much for the beginner. Also, I wish Mr. Blanks would realize that I am seeing a mirror image of him doing what he's doing, in other words, he needs to do the opposite of what he's telling me to do. And that counting? It really is annoying. But it's a solid workout . . . a nice little change in the routine.
I believe that the soul is immortal and essentially energy--never created and never destroyed or else only able to be created or destroyed by the Almighty Jah. Different cultures and different traditions offer up ideas about the soul particularly about when the soul enters the body. Is it at conception? Or is it at birth? I tend to think that while a baby is in the womb, the soul is free to go in and out of the body. Once birth happens though, it becomes married to the soul inseparably until death. Being newly married, babies have a strong memory for what it was like to be spirit and so for a long while, children have one foot in the physical world and the other in the spirit world. Growing up necessitates that most of us plant both feet firmly in the physical world or at least moreso.
Photo Courtesy of The Kemetic Yoga Association; "Wonderwash")
Why Use the Wonder Wash?
Even before I entertained the idea of getting a garden going (today we are going to pick up supplies, by the way), I've always thought of growing tomatoes especially after seeing my sister in law growing them easily in pots. I use a lot of tomatoes in my kitchen and I could easily spend $20 on organic tomatoes alone (just a couple of pounds at that). When we were part of a food coop, some weeks we'd get so much tomatoes I wouldn't know what to do with them. It was tomatoes this and tomatoes that. In fact, it was those tomatoes that made the whole coop worthwhile (actually the tomatoes and the fabulous eggs). Those tomatoes we got were some of the most delicious tasting tomatoes ever. They made store bought tomatoes (even the organic ones) taste like cardboard. I had always thought I didn't like raw tomatoes but those coop tomatoes? I could eat them like an apple. I wish I had thought about preserving and such back then. We could have enjoyed those tomatoes for so much longer. But now that preserving is where my mind is, I'm even more eager to get some tomatoes growing. I want to make tomato sauces and tomato pastes and I'm hoping to have enough tomato products to preserve for our use right through next winter. The Bell Blue Book of Canning definitely describes how to do it but you can also find great resources online for canning tomatoes.
Since I've been learning about the chakras (currently learning about the throat chakra), I was intrigued by this DVD which focuses on the "heart center" or heart chakra. Overall, I feel this is an excellent offering by Shiva Rea who has a very peaceful and detailed way of instructing. The poses/moves she uses were at times challenging for me so I did the best I could. It is definitely not a DVD for pure beginners. My only qualm with the DVD is the way it was shot. I get that they wanted it to be artsy and the background to be calming (it was a very beautiful background indeed) but it was kind of dark and shadowy and I had a difficult time seeing what Rea was actually doing. That's my only real complaint.
