Riches

I heard a radio advertisement for a "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" seminar this evening. The seminar will apparently help you "Create an individual strategy to become secure, comfortable, and rich"... I was reminded of the refreshing truth of the gospel as described in Jason Upton's song, Poverty:
"There's a power in poverty that breaks principalities
And brings the authority's down to their knees
There's a brewing frustration and ageless temptation
To fight for control by some manipulation

But the God of the kingdoms and the God of the Nations
The God of creation sends his revelation
Thru the homeless and penniless Jesus the son
The poor will inherit the Kingdom to come

Where will we turn when our world falls apart
And all of the treasures we've stored in our barns
Can't buy the Kingdom of God?
Who will we praise when we've praised all our lives
men who build Kingdoms and men who build fame
What will we fear when all that remains
Is God on His throne, with a child in his arms,
and love in his eyes
And the sound of his heart cries"

Caution: this medication may cause strong side-effects!

Funny but true: my mom woke up in the night a few nights ago and the windows were rattling. She said it sounded like a huge train was going right past the house (there are no railways near my parent's home). So she got up and went to see what my Dad thought of it. He was in his usual position: fast asleep on the sofa with the television still on! She woke him up and told him what had happened - he, of course, had noticed nothing. He told her that it was all in her head - that she had dreamed it and that probably because she was on antibiotics they were making her have weird dreams! Mum thought that made made sense, so she trundled off to bed. When they got up in the morning they saw the news that the previous night Britain had had its worst earthquake in ten years - measuring a 4.8 on the Richter scale, with an epicenter less than 50 miles from my parent's house! Some antibiotics!!

Worst Mom in the World?

I had one of those horrible "I'm a sucky mom" moments today with Caleb. A similar thing happened when Asher was about five months old. I had taken him into Regina for a mommy and me group and I had been somewhat frustrated with him because he was quite fussy all the way through and just wouldn't settle. When I decided to change his diaper before heading home I discovered the source of his frustration - he was in the same diaper he had been wearing the day before and it was totally poopy. I suddenly realized that the night before he had fallen asleep in my arms and I had just put him down in his clothes. The following morning I had to take Mr Joyful to work and so had transfered Asher right from the crib into his car seat.

Anyway, today was similar. Caleb woke up from his nap and was pretty grumpy and has been fussy all afternoon. Finally at 5:00pm when I was sitting the kids down for supper it dawned on me that I hadn't fed Caleb lunch today! He had a big snack at 11am and then we went for a walk. He fell asleep in the stroller and I just transfered him to the crib when we got home. By the time he woke up from his nap I had forgotten that he hadn't had lunch. No wonder the poor boy was whiny! Needless to say, he practically inhaled his supper!

Green gift-giving frustrations

So the wonderful team at FGBI (now Eston College) just got word of their accreditation last week and I wanted to send them a big ol' bunch of flowers to congratulate them. However, knowing that most delivery-flowers are picked by slave children in south America (only a slight exaggeration), I wanted a more socially and environmentally conscious option. So I scoured the internet looking for Canadian eco-florists with either fare-trade or organic flowers and alas, there were none able to deliver to dear old SK. There are a couple of companies in Ontario who will deliver locally and there are several US websites what will deliver within the continental United States, but nothing (that I could find) servicing Saskatchewan. Boo hoo... so sad. But not really. I was sort of stuck on flowers because it is an easy generic gift, but it is such a horrible waste of fuel to send flowers half way around the world in the middle of winter. So I thought that a nice box of fair-trade chocolates would be a suitable (and perhaps superior) substitute. So I started searching and came up with a similar problem - lots of cute little chocolate makers in Ontario or Victoria etc. but none that would deliver. In the end I lost patience and went for a less glamorous but none-the-less trustworthy option. I ordered several fair-trade specialty chocolate bars from Ten Thousand Villages and had them shipped with a little note of congratulations. It is shocking how far behind Canada (and even the US too) is in terms of social justice. But things are changing rapidly and it is encouraging to see the emergence of more green and fair-trade businesses.

Strong Start

We went to the "Strong Start" program for the first time today. I was nervous to go and didn't know what to expect but it was actually OK. I was stressed out trying to get there on time but we were actually the second group to arrive and some people came super late. I think maybe it is becasue it is drop-in. To me, drop-in means that you do not have to register. But I think to others it means that you can just drop in any time. Either way, it is nice to know that there is that flexibility built-in so if we are running behind we don't have to stress out and even if we are delayed we can still go. I think it may actually be better to go a little bit late because it was a long time for the kids - Caleb especially and Asher didn't want to leave until everyone else was going so if we came later we could leave at the end and it still not be too long for them.

It is a cool program though - there is free indoor play at the start, then a snack and then outside play. Then story time and a craft and more indoor play to finish. Asher was getting a bit hyper by the time the craft was done but he had so much fun. I was so proud of him - he was very confident but kind too. There was one boy in particular who would not share the cars and there was one that Asher especially wanted. Every now and again Asher would ask for the car and the boy said no and Asher just went about his business. Finally when the boy left right at the very end, Asher got to play for five minutes. He was so very patient.

Hemp Seeds

Another rant about hyped-up green things! I ordered a hemp skirt from a Vancouver company last week and when it arrived, there were two sample packs of hemp seeds included. The enclosed promotional literature was almost comical in its extensive claims! According to the write-up, if you eat four to five heaped tablespoons of hemp seeds with a bowl of fruit and yogurt in the morning, you will not be hungry at lunch, and may even only be slightly hungry at three or four in the afternoon. Well, I tried this - I had a bowl of oatmeal (another option they recommend) and a banana and one of the sample packs (just under 5tbsp). I have to say it was better than no breakfast and I certainly wasn't starving at 10am, like I am most days when I just eat toast for breakfast, so that was good, but I was ready for lunch at noon. So it seems that the claims are a little exaggerated, although perhaps they are aiming them at older people who are less active. Both the days I tried them I walked for over an hour each morning, o perhaps I burned up my hemp fullness! They are super expensive though, so I don't think we'll be buying enough for 5 tbsp per day per person, but we may get them as a protein booster and the added bonus is that Asher likes the taste of them and they are easy to mix in foods.

Soap-nuts

I had read about soap-nuts some time ago in a couple of different places. At the time they were only available through the US. I went to the website and emailed them to ask if soap-nuts were technically a tree nut - if so, we wouldn't be able to use them due to Cooper's peanut allergy. I didn't receive a response, so I had just assumed that they must be a nut and therefore inappropriate for us. Well, just a couple of weeks ago I came across a Canadian website. In the FAQs they explained that soap-nuts were actually a fruit, like a lychee, and therefore posed no threat to allergy sufferers. I was delighted to hear this and promptly ordered a pack and some extra bags because I couldn't tell from the website if they were included in the pack or not. There was one bag included, so I didn't need the extras after all. I have to say that I am not too impressed with them. I usually do my laundry in cold water, so that is how I tried them first. I followed the directions for a cold water wash and soaked the nuts in hot water before adding them (and the water) to the wash. It wasn't horrible - the clothes didn't smell at all, but they weren't exactly super-clean either. I would imagine that they would have been just as clean after washing with just water. I next tried the soap-nuts in warm water with the same result. I tried them with the warm water a few times and each time had the same result, regardless of how many soap-nut shells I put in. I then made a decoction with the used shells and some fresh ones and I have used this to wash dishes. It works fine, but again, I am not too sure how different it is from plain hot water and elbow grease! The dishes weren't greasy at all though, so it obviously helped cut the grease. I also tried it as a shampoo and it didn't really do anything - my hair was pretty gross after. So all around, I am quite disappointed. I think to be effective as a laundry detergent, you wold have to use a LOT of soap-nuts and that would be pretty expensive. For the time being I am going to stick with my soap flakes and borax.

No 'poo Update Feb 08

Well, it has been five months since I stopped using shampoo and I have to say, it hasn't really been that bad. About two weeks ago I hennaed my hair for the first time and the couple of days after that were by far my best no 'poo days yet. My hair was just fabulous - lustrous and soft and finally free of grease and flakes.

Recently I have been relying on Bentonite Clay or castile soap and acv. I still feel like I am cheating with the castile soap, so I am trying to use it as little as possible but it is great at clearing up flakes and grease, even if it does leave my hair fairly dry. I have been rubbing a tiny bit of coconut oil onto the ends of my hair to lube it up a bit. The bottom line is that I desperately need a hair-cut to chop off all the dry, frazzled hair on the ends that was coloured (it is worse since henna). I think my hair is feeling clean enough that I can face a hair-dresser... so maybe in the next few weeks...