Get your head out of the washer | Make your own
$35 for 365 loads of laundry. Make it yourself.
Everything is so expensive!
Everything is so pricey! Around here, we are looking for ways to save money. Here is an easy way to save a boatload of money on laundry powder. Environmentally this is the best choice: no heavy bottles (mostly water), plastic, nasty chemicals, or perfumes. Plus, you don’t have to drive to the store!
Four ingredients.
Approximately $100 in product and you get THREE years of laundry powder! Yes, that is correct, for .10 cents a load or $35 a year (365 loads) safe and effective laundry powder.
Miller Harris does not test on animals, so for this family, it’s the best option. I ordered on Amazon for $25 a pop. Pure-Castille soap on Amazon for $14 for two (you will need 6 bars for three years). Baking Soda $10 Costco.
Think of how many more yoga events you can attend with all these savings.
Ingredients
4 cups washing soda
4 cups baking soda
4 cups borax
2 grated bars of Castile Soap
In a large bowl mix all the ingredients and place in an air-tight container.
“Remember: All the little choices you make add up. And if we all do a little bit, it will collectively make a big impact.” ~ Jessica Alba, Actress
Birth Mom
I think of them often, more so than you would imagine and more so around the children's birthdays. I wonder if when I am thinking of them, are they thinking of me? Three adoptions, two Birth Moms, hence the "them."
Today my (our) daughter turns nine. Heavy on my heart these last two days is her Birth Mother. As I write this, I cry for her broken heart. I cry for my heart that aches for her loss. I wipe away tears of gratitude for her bringing this child into the world. Eight years ago she was laboring her second child.
I picture the arrival at the hospital in my mind. I think about how it was for her. Did she have the support of loved ones around her? What was her birth like? Were they good to her? In my mind's eye I can see the first time she held her baby girl. Is she thinking of these things now?
Deep love and gratitude for her and her bravery. I honor her pain and I offer my gratefulness.
Thank you dear Birth Mother. I keep loving thoughts of you safe in my heart.
Oat Milk
With an over abundance of oats from my last coop drop, I adventured into making my first batch of organic oat milk this afternoon while simultaneously showering, doing laundry and cleaning the kitchen.
You can do this!
You're going to need:
oats
dates (or maple syrup)
sea salt
cinnamon
nut bag (don't call me that) or sive
blender
bowl
Recipe:
2 cups organic oats
6 cups water (or 7)
1 date (soften with hot water)
sprinkle of fresh ground salt
sprinkle of cinnamon
soak oats twenty minutes, place in blender with other ingredients
blend slowly and then briefly at higher speed
pour mixture into bag or sive over a large bowl.
you may need to drain a few times if you use a sive.
Enjoy!
It's creamy! I thought it would make a seriously good chocolate banana smoothie
I freeze bananas when they get too ripe.
Added a small scoop of organic cocao and ice!
It's a YES!
This is 50
Taken a week before my 50th Birthday with my daughter Maggie who is 18. #yoga
Some people ask me, "How do you do it?" I have no idea, I don't even have a matching outfit...
I have 201,867 car miles and my laundry is in heaping piles, but somehow I still find time to stalk all your Facebook profiles
Some of my friends go to happy hour, but I consider it a good day if I get to take a shower
Although my vacations are few, I live every day like the sky is a bright brilliant blue
Let's face it, when my dear mother turned 50 truth be told, she did not have a nine-year-old
I make my kids eat organic so when I find Maggie's hidden Twinkies, I try not to panic
I embrace my gray hair & still get stares.
I don't do Botox, I do Biologic+ juice cleanse detox
I gained a few pounds but left behind much weight, I found it best to keep LOVE around.
I breathe deep in yoga so when I get angry it doesn't turn into another Battle of Saratoga
I used to go to a Priest, now I do Baptiste
I give my kids the greatest gift sending them to Waldorf School but I still can't get them to do one small chore. Hey kids, these are the rules! (Okay a lot of the times they do)
I am paying tuition because I'm on a mission:
To be a great mother, raise kids who are of service to others, be a welcomed addition.
I step on Legos, Playmobile & Calico Critters, somehow there is no one to clean the cat litter?
I would be remiss without mentioning my sweet son's birth mother.
We share the same birthday. This woman delivered a son like no other.
He is a lover, a creator and a seriously great brother. Happy Birthday, Birth Mother!
Essential oils are my addiction. There is not doubt they raise my vibration.
And when Rose is sick I don't bring her to the doctor, I heal her with essential oils, which if you know Rose, this is definitely a shocker
I know the magic of Thieves which now my whole family believes
My life is an animal adventure! I feel honored and blessed to be turning half a century
I am nobody's wife. What I am is powerful, unstoppable and I LOVE MY LIFE. xo
Oh Happy Adoption Day
Today we celebrate Adoption Day for my resliliant baby girl. She arrived four years ago in a green chariot (mini van) with two fairy godmothers (social workers). She was small, wicked cute, and didn't talk a lot. Of course she didn't, the child had no idea what was happening in her world. There were two white plastic bags with shoes and toys that blinked and made noise. And a rubber maid bin with clothes and stuffed animals and most importantly, a kid. Not in the bin, she was in a car seat.
I remember so much of the first day my daughter arrived and the actual Adoption Day, a year and two days later. I was excited and scared out of my gourd all at the same time. Imagine what it was like for her.
I had cleaned for days and enrolled help to make this place shine like the top of the Chrysler Building. Everything was in place, her room was perfect. There were no weeds in the gardens. No dust bunnies under the dressers. We were ready for a four year old, you know because there weren't any weeds! I remember in the last moments of seeing that green chariot pull into the driveway, and saying to myself, "you're completely wrecked"...in the cleaned all day looking wrecked mode. Oh shit, I'm probably not the perfect Iooking Mom. I should have left the dust bunnies and spent a little more time looking decent for this little precious being coming to a strange new home for the very first time. What matters? A perfect looking Mom or a perfect house? Neither. There is no perfect and kids don't care about the clean room (although I know she loved her new bedroom). I will always wonder if she noticed my crappy t-shirt, no bra, and messed up hair...anyway, moving on.
Children don't need a certain looking Mom. They don't need a really wealthy Mom. They don't need a stay-at-home, tall or short Mom. They don't need any particular ethnicity, or a log cabin, or a mansion, a Ferrari, or Range Rover...okay the Range Rover would be good.
What kids need is a Mom who accepts them with open arms. Heart wide open and willing. They need a Mom who has their kid's back. The super hero Mom who will go to the ends of the Earth to find them and bring them home. A Mom who will give, hold on for this one, and "receive" love, unconditionally. You knew that "unconditionally" word was coming. That's what is needed, just the love that resides in all of us.
One of the first nights while putting her to bed, we laid face to face with our prayer hands under our cheeks. Just about 6 or so inches away from one another. I began to tell her she was safe now, and that I would never leave her, I would protect her and that I would never ever let anything happen to her. This grateful soul smiled and whispered, "Thank you Annie" in the most sincere voice a four year old can muster.
Adoption Day came a year (and two days) after she arrived. It was BIG! Definitely one of the top 10 BEST DAYS of my LIFE, that's for sure. I mean who get's to adopt their 4th child, this time as a single parent! It was like, "It's you and me kid. 4EVA." It's liberating. I was and still am so proud of us. My kids and I. They too, made room in their hearts for this little walking, talking smoocha coocha baby love and unconditionally give and receive love.
We went to a Court House far away! We invited close friends who were very supportive and helped me tremendously during that first year. The fairy God Mother's came to this legal ceremony day called Adoption Day too. The judge was wonderful. It was hard to breathe when he finally said, it's official! There were no dry eyes to be found. What a journey. What a moment in time. She picked me above all the other Mamas, no bra and all. She must have known my heart had been praying for her arrival. (I always wanted a fourth child and received the signs, that's an entirely new blog)
We dried our tears, took photos, and we went to the coop and had some snacks and shared some stories with our friends and family....everyone went on their way and the kids and I returned home, briefly.
Together we packed up our Range Rover/Honda mini van and headed to the one place that every heart can find peace after an eventful and heart pounding day, the beach (the big wave beach).
My four children. My oldest came through this body and the other three via another woman's body. Souls find each other, the ones that are meant to be together.
Adoption Day 2012
Just us and the deep blue sea to sit and ponder the past, the present & what is to come.