Going….Hippy?

Well, that’s what my hubby would call it. I have took it upon myself to cut additives, preservatives (artificial ones), and high fructose corn syrup out of my diet. It is much tougher than it sounds. Seriously. Especially when you don’t always have a lot of time to cook food. Or your hands are all messed up from carpal tunnel and they either hurt too much or you are dropping things because of it. I went to Wal-Mart with my sister and she had to wait while I read label after label. I wanted sub buns, or something like it, so I could try to recreate Donatos’ Big Don subs. I looked through the deli bread. All three demons were present in everything. So I went to the bread aisle. Still the same thing. The only thing that matched my criteria, was Sunbeam’s Natural 10 bread. That is only simple sandwich bread though. So I was out of luck with the sub buns. Then I went to get the lunchmeat. The only ham and salami that didn’t have all that stuff in it, was Hormel’s lunchmeat. It says on the box that it has not preservatives. On to the provolone. Sargento, was the only choice. Then the dressing. Donatos uses a white looking house Italian. I went all through all the dressings in the aisle, and ended up getting the Organicville Balsamic and Olive Oil dressing. It tastes good, but it’s kind of funny that I had to pay more for organic, because all other brands put all those bad extras in their product. You would think it would be cheaper for them not too and much more common. But moving on. Other products I found there are: Wal-Mart’s generic, and Mike sells Kettle Cooked Chips. V8 Fusion, Dannon All Natural Yogurt, Jennie O Turkey Burgers. Lipton Pure Leaf Ice Tea (not on website), Nutella, Frenches Yellow Mustard, and Tyson Chicken Nuggets and Tenders.

I can’t seem to find a list of foods that are like this. I have been kicking around creating one. But one thing is for sure. I will be going back to Target to get food for now on. They have more natural and organic options. Not that I’m hung up on organics, but they tend to not have any bad stuff in them.

I admit I’m trying to slip into a more earth conscious state of being. I’m trying to use a clothes line. I’ve switches to reusable BPA free water bottles. Using my Britta filter, so I will buy less water bottles. When I get the house cleaned back up, I would like to start recycling again. I try to buy local. It’s a work in progress, and I think I’ll find it hard to drag my husband along. He’ll probably just call me a hippy and then go back to what he was doing. I’m not forcing him to follow my change in diet. He would rebel if I did. I admit, there will be things that suck. Eating out, at least fast food wise, is not an option for me anymore. It sucks, but I’m hoping it will be healthier for me. One thing I can’t give up is Coca Cola. I’m addicted to it. I’ve compromised with myself and I only drink one cup a day and I will buy Mexican Coca Cola whenever I can, since it is made with real sugar instead of High Fructose Corn Syrup. The rest of the time I drink tea, water, or juice. I’m going to try to live through work without Monsters. Time will tell if that works or not. Maybe if I get healthier, my energy will go up.

Some things I might just have to make myself, to save money. Bread, jelly, applesauce. Though my grandma makes the best applesauce. I might just ask her to make a ton for me. I already asked her to save some apple butter for me the next time she makes it. I need a bread machine though. I doubt I will be lucky enough to find one at a garage sale, so like a new clothes line, I’m going to sell off some stuff and save up my money for one. Too bad I can’t earn one with Coke Points.

But that will be it for now. I will try to keep updating on my progress and listing foods as I find them. Laters! Savvy?

-Aislin

The Attention Demon

Have you met him? We all have been in his grasp before. Of course he is figurative. It’s along the lines of the Green Eyed Monster of jealousy. We have all wanted attention at some point and at varying degrees. But some are grabbed by it more than others. Some want attention, period. Both dogs and humans. It doesn’t matter if it’s negative or positive. To this demon, attention is power. If they get that attention they win. I will not point out any individuals or groups, to avoid giving them power, but I bet you will have ideas who they are.

They can be both good or evil. Pleasant and abrasive. You could be happy to give them that attention, or angered at the thought of them. The focus of that attention doesn’t even have to be there to have their effect. It can weasel into your head and roost there like a song. You don’t want to think of it sometimes, but it’s still there. That is part of their power. Some know they have that ability, that power. They will do anything to get that hold, to win. I wish we could take that power away from them. Decide as a whole to ignore them. If they have done something to get attention, maybe their name should not be mentioned, so they don’t get any direct attention. Unfortunately, our desire for knowledge conflicts that.

Don’t you just wish sometimes that if you ignore them, choose to forget them and in turn they cease to exist. Like Freddie Kruger on Nightmare on Elm St., or Mab on the Merlin mini series. But unfortunately that doesn’t happen, so we can just act like we are ignoring them. The fun part of that, is that it ticks them off. One would hope that they would eventually give up because of that. But of course it doesn’t always work like that. It’s a nice thought though.

 

Laters! Savvy?

-Aislin

Apocalypse 2012!

OooooOOOOOoOoh! LOL

But anyway. My husband and I have been watching all these documentaries about survivalists and people preparing for the apocalypse. And of course we listen to Coast to Coast. We both like Art Bell more than George Noory, but that is neither here nor there. So we hear about it a lot too. All these people scared of the end of the world or a big events that will destroy civilization. I.E. a “The Stand” or “Walking Dead “ scenario. They believe that they have to build shelter that will survive a nuclear explosion and sustain them for years.

I don’t believe in all of that but like my dad said, we should prepare for large storms. Back when the tornados tore through our area, we where left without power for a week. The phones where down. The only phone service we had was cell, which I had to charge in my car. We had to be creative. Mom and dad cooked on the grill, which thankfully it was warm enough for. We had enough candles to use for light at night, thanks to my mom. But even with that, all work on anything stopped when the sun went down, because even with the candles there was not enough light.  We only had hot water because the water heater was gas. We were taking care of reptiles from the pet store, so we had to heat rocks over candles to keep them warm and had to take them out in the sun during the day. The long and short of it is that, that was just how resourceful we had to be with just the power out. It could have been worse. If that would happen now, Brett and I would be screwed. Plus, Brett would go insane without his video games. LOL We have candles, but a limited amount, and not enough open space to use them. We don’t have a grill, and most of our food, we make by microwave, so we are screwed there.

It just comes down to, we all need to be more prepared. Not just that, because of prices and recalls and food scares, we need to start growing our own food, and being more independent on things. We all need to be better stewards to the land. We can’t leave it all up to the farmers. Back in the world war 2 days people had vegetable gardens in their back yard. They canned what they didn’t eat right away. They kept food costs down and food was there when they needed it. Usually when natural disasters hit, they effect things a whole lot longer than a day or two. People panic and hit the store buying stupid stuff. And with doing that, leave nothing behind for those who need it. Example, the recent earthquakes and tsunamis in Japan. I was felt throughout all of Japan for weeks. The areas that were barely effected by it, lost gas service for days. Because no one keeps more than a day or two worth of food at home, they all made a run on the stores. They cleaned them out, hoarding everything they could, so there wasn’t enough to go around. There were no food shipments coming in, or it was being diverted to disaster areas. It’s not even over there. The majority is back to normal, but the places hit the worst, people still are without homes and have limited resources coming in. All over this is happing every year. So many are unprepared.

I know I’m not the one that should be preaching this. My house is a mess and the only attention I’ve paid to my gardens since I moved into this house is with a weed whacker and loppers. What room do I have to talk if I can’t even keep my house clean and my yard maintained. I understand this. It’s nice to say I want a storm shelter, garden, wind turbine, and vegetable garden. It’s well another thing to actually get up off my ass and do it, let alone keep it going. I’m just saying we all need to try to do these things. I need to make the effort. I would like nothing more to spend my days surfing the net and taking care of the house. Trolling the garage sales on the weekends looking for stuff I can sell on eBay or use at home. I know that the only effort I have made was to buy a reel mower, which I ended up giving to my parents. But the truth is that things are the way they are now. I’m trying to keep myself strait, while making the monies and taking care of my husband. I tend to be so tired, that the house gets put on the back burner. Then I look around at the mess that has built up and feel over whelmed. Excuses, excuses.

I know what my family would say about that. Not nice things at all. Believe me, I have been hearing them all my life. It’s different when there isn’t someone cracking a whip behind you. It’s different on your own. But people have been doing this for years, and I should be no different. My sister is going to help me get my house cleaned up this weekend. Hopefully it’s the jumpstart I need. Time will tell. What about you? Are you able to be more self sufficient?