Bye bye, love

We looked after our friend's cat this past week. Within an hour we were in love. A grey bundle of mischief and soft cuddles. Following us to the toilet, chasing ghosts around the house, jumping up on the bed or table or wherever she wanted (no, we are not strict disciplinarians). Cuddling up at night, waking us up with factory-sized purrs.
Tonight she went home and we are sad.

Back to the books

Last night I cooked another mediocre curry. This one came about just like most of the others.

The day before I thought it would make sense to put on some chick peas. After all, chick peas go with almost everything. I put on a big pot while running around the house doing other chores. Brought them to boil; turned them off; let them sit. By the end of the day: magic! They'd sucked up the water and looked done. Since they looked done, I didn't bother to test to see if they were really cooked through.

The next night: long day of work, tired out, appointment after work, meeting in the evening. Naturally, cooking something nutritious to eat fit right in. I grabbed whatever greens were in the fridge; added curry and tumeric; and simmered the whole mess. Then threw in the chick peas 15 minutes before I had to leave. They were not cooked through. The curry powder became gelatinous - from what, I don't know, as I clearly haven't figured out the magic of a good curry. The flavour was too cumin-y, not rich enough. The spinach was a bit stringy.

Overall: I'm officially going to find an amazing recipe for chana masala and cook it, following the recipe as closely as possible. I'm ready for home-cooked meals that are actually worth eating. And no more wasted chick peas!

Happy exhaustion

I can't believe how much we've got done around here this weekend. 3 day weekends are miracles!

The garden is cleared out. Vegetables are harvested. Plants are cut down and composted. Shelves are painted. Storm windows are being put up. We have a mantel for the fireplace. Winter clothes are out, summers are put away, and we've consolidated into one closet. Curtains and curtain rods have been purchased and are being put in place. it is, in essence, a transformation

My week starts with a meeting tonight. In the 2 hours until that time, I plan to rest. And eat. And unwind as much as possible.

The 3 Rs

Writing, Renos and Rgardening

I'm sure there's a great word to describe landscaping, gardening, etc. that begins with an R ... regardless, these are my 3 big activities of late. I'm writing a paper/ preparing a presentation for a conference this week at the university. Only 1 full day left to work on it. Indeed a test for procrastination!

The work on the house continues - today was cleaning out the pantry and fooding it, general cleaning and reorganizing. Tomorrow Mick's going to work on the bathroom tiling - I may help - and we've got our priority list down to keep getting this house more and more livable. But just the cleaning etc. we did today makes it feel so much better.

And my personal favourite, the yard. A friend's mom was cleaning out her garden and gave me some lovely flowering perennials - yay!!! Those are nicely populating our new front bed. Another friend got back from an intensive planting session where, over the course of a month, she got acres of food started for this year. She's offered to help with ideas and planting! I did a second seeding for our greens - lettuce, spinach, arugula (one of my personal faves). Then, I went plant-crazy on Saturday and brought home a couple boxes of landscaping plants, herbs and vegetables - plant sales are irresistible to me. And then a friend had a friend with some tomato plants to give away, so we picked those up last night. Still have some extra if anyone is interested.

I've been steadily putting the vegetables in - since we don't have a new veggie bed, I'm mixing them with the front flowering bed. I weeded out one set of paving stones and put down some more pearlwort - we are hoping it rapidly takes over. I've placed the other plants where we want to plant them - maybe next weekend we'll get another load of rocks (to make raised beds) and dirt. I'm going to transplant the mint somewhere cooler and add cilantro (which has not been super successful yet). And we have a good idea now for one bed on a side of the house. It's along the tenant's walking path, so it would be nice to make it presentable.

So much to do! Top priority tomorrow, though, is the presentation. It will be DONE and AWESOME by the end of the day.

Colour

First, I really would love a new digital camera. Because then this entry would make more sense.

M & I very carefully chose our colours for the house. We chose quite a few, but we wanted colour!
Then stuff went on the walls and we weren't so sure.
The lovely muted purple I chose for the office is kind of ... pale Barney/ kid's toy bright.
The gorgeous bluey-green we picked for the sunroom roof & feature walls (so cheezy I know - but there are a couple of the old exterior walls in that room and they're got the wonderful siding on them) is actually ... green. Bright old-school green.
This colour thing is hard!! And while "paint is cheap", sure, it is not THAT cheap. Anyhow ... we'll see what we decide to do.

Freestyle: embracing the fantasy

As I continue dreaming about having a week-long "Freestyle" TV marathon, I came across a hilarious article in the Washington Post about a woman whose apartment was chosen for Freestyle:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/21/AR2006062100519.html
So apparently it's not fully free, and not always as stylish as the home-dwellers would like. So shattering! :)
But still, strangely, it doesn't change my love of the show. The fantasy of living in the lovely homes and apartments they have - beautiful wood floors, big windows and lovely floorboards and moldings; of owning great furniture and basics they can use to decorate with what you have; and the pleasure of a beautifully coordinated room where I feel at peace.

Still a fan!

Freestyle

It was the last morning of our honeymoon, and I could not resist my last chance to watch HGTV. We switched it on 10 minutes into my favourite show ever: Freestyle. Designers work with 3 different clients to redesign a room in their home, using only items they have in the home. These designers magically reorganize and pull together existing items to make rooms that flow. It's the kind of creative decorating and nesting that would be so much fun to do on your own space ... or anyone else's.

Saving Money

I hadn't heard this idea before from the blog "Biblical Womanhood"
http://biblicalwomanhoodblog.blogspot.com/2008/10/frugal-friday-online-coupon-codes.html

Basically - before buying online, do a search for "coupon codes" and the name of the website or store that you're planning to buy from. And if you find some - yay for you!

I'm gonna try it. I'll let you know.

High thread count

I am discovering the marvels of high thread count sheets.

I have a twin bed, and in our linen closet we have countless twin sheet sets. I've previously picked my favourites for their pattern. No more! I discovered a set with a random yellowish pattern, but a very very silky texture. Their thread count makes getting into bed even better than before. Who knows, high thread count sheets might enable me to get to bed earlier every night, thus increasing my productivity and hours available to do stuff!

Or, I might just enjoy the luxurious silky texture every night.

Out with the old ... in with the new?

Yesterday one of my awesome friends came over and helped me purge my closet. This is a regular ritual for me - I sometimes accumulate clothes quite quickly and sometimes don't let go of them quite as quickly. So I tried on everything hanging in my closet and we got rid of VERY LARGE bag of clothes. Many of them didn't fit quite right. Others didn't have flattering colors. Some just weren't really me.

What a huge relief to have space in my closet now. I can access all my clothes, and they're all hanging nicely on their own hangers. Matching white ones, except for the sloped ones and the skirt/pants hangers.

I find that when I get rid of things I don't really love, it frees me to enjoy more the things I keep and love. A new clarity of vision? Fewer distractions? Undiluted pleasure in my possessions? Maybe the mind can only hold so many clothes in its memory at once. In any case: I feel a renewed enthusiasm for my wardrobe after getting rid of so much.

There are still some piles of things we didn't go through - a big shelf of sweaters and pants; my shoes; jewelry; and a dresser of shirts, undergarments and pajamas. Yes, I have a lot of clothes. I hope to purge them in the near future as well.

Clearing out space means I'm open to receive more. But I want to say, quite firmly, that I don't really want more. I really like and love a lot of my clothes, and feel that I definitely have enough. I have more than enough for the various occasions in my life. I would far rather just continue to enjoy what I own than to buy more, which will only clutter up what I have now.

I love grandma

Today I went to visit my grandma and drop some things off at her place. We sat around and talked for quite a while about a wonderful combination of the good old days, frugality, and crafts. She was telling me more stories about how hard everyone used to work - she worked from when she was 15, 7 am to 7 pm, 7 days a week, with 2 weeks off a year. Crazy! Growing up, they literally walked 3 miles each way to school. 6 miles a day. When she was about 8, her mom taught her and her older sister how to knit. They used to use nails as knitting needles (her dad cut the ends off) and practiced knitting long strips until they knew how to make other things. She started off making scarves, but eventually moved on to knitting sweaters and other things from patterns.

Growing up, there were 12 kids in the family. They slept 3 to a bed, on straw mattresses. They re-used everything. Sugar came in big cloth sacks that her mom bleached and sewed into sheets. Old clothes were made into quilts, or pulled to pieces to make rag rugs. One of her relatives used to buy big old skirts at the Salvation Army and make them into aprons. She crocheted lace that she put around the bottom and the pockets. She sold these aprons for 50 cents a piece. Nothing got wasted.

It's interesting to think about what we can learn from how people lived, just in the last century. Though I love a good mattress, I'm still inspired by the low-waste lifestyles that were the norm so recently.

Cleaning Up

I've been continuing my attempts to eliminate personal care products that are toxic, carcinogenic or hormonal disruptors. In other words, to eliminate ingredients that shouldn't be in those products in the first place. While I believe in focusing on the positive (what do you want to do, not what do you not want to do), unfortunately, with these products it is definitely a case of making sure your products do NOT contain particular ingredients.

For moisturizers, I'm concerned about:
polyethylene glycol: this increases the thickness of products, but reduces moisture in the skin. Its precursor is ethylene glycol, a component antifreeze (!)
Propylene glycol: a major skin irritant, and used in some antifreeze solutions
Parabens: toxic, carcinogenic and disruptors of the reproductive system
Phenoxyethanol: risks of cancer and reproductive problems
Benzyl Salicylate: allergy risks

For face & body cleansers, I'm avoiding
Sodium Lauryl/Laureth Sulfate: toxic, a potential carcinogen, a skin irritant. This sudsing agent is used in almost every type of toothpaste.
Phthalates: incredibly scary things, with strong links to cancer and reproductive disruptions.

In general, I'm avoiding fragrances and colour, which are also highly toxic. I've been checking out ingredients on this website:
http://www.cosmeticdatabase.com/
which is incredibly user-friendly.

So, I've given up my Cetaphil, and after trying a product by Desert Essence which worked well but was slightly drying, I'm trying Burt's Bees Soap Bark & Chamomile Deep Cleansing Cream. I like it: cleansing but not drying, and leaves my face tingly. It also is not perfect. It has sodium borate, which has some risks, and a few other iffy ingredients. However, after searching around this is the best I can find for right now. Much more work remains to be done, I can see. I hope the consumer demand shifts to get these products out there and popular and purified to an even further degree, so that we will not be poisoned when we take care of our bodies.

When even dragons can't breathe

I've been going through everything I own, getting rid of whatever I can: whatever I don't use, don't like, won't need. I'm dreaming of freedom and flexibility and living lightly. But there are still some things I love.

I sorted all things decorative recently, and came across a piece of glass sculpture I was given in Mississippi. Made by a local glass artist, Rob (what was that last name?), it's a little dragon struggling to get a flame out. Layer upon layer of magical colours, it's a beautiful piece of magic. I look forward to hanging it somewhere soon.

Metal success

With the help of my sister's membership card (mine was at home), I successfully purchased a metal (um ... steel?? boy, I'm bad with details) water bottle at Mountain Equipment Co-op. I love it! The water tastes GREAT. I didn't realize the aftertaste I was getting from the plastic bottle, even though it was hard plastic.
Apparently, there are lots of places to get metal bottles now. House of Knives in my town sells them; there's also Kleen Kanteen, which has very stylish products.

The Water Bottle

I took my Nalgene water bottle on a recent trip to Toronto (fabulous Baha'i Studies conference, people!). Though I had to empty it before I could get through airport security, the flight attendants very kindly filled it on every leg of the flight, without hesitation. I recall trying to get them to do that with a plastic mug maybe 7 years ago, and they were very confused. So it seems awareness is growing.

By the way, I'm hoping to switch to a metal water bottle to avoid plastic leachates ... but this one will do for now.

More About Soap

I find I can't drink from glasses out of the dishwasher -- something about the soap residue just doesn't feel right. So, I took the next logical step and put together a container of home-made dishwasher soap (I suppose the truly logical step would be to wash all dishes by hand ... we'll come to that). I did one load and it worked well, but then the dishwasher broke. So now it's hand-washing for all.

But it did work!

Soap Revisited

We used the laundry soap on the weekend, and it was great! Just one tablespoon per load and everything was beautifully clean and smelling of lemon (sunlight!). We hung the big things outside to dry on the deck rails, so they smelled even better. Laundry rocks.

Making Soap

Yesterday, my mom and I started making laundry soap.

Why?

So many reasons!

Regular laundry soap, in addition to its environmental impacts, has chemicals which can be TOXIC to humans. As in, if you eat laundry soap you might die. Maybe.
Here's something from the EPA about the environmental impacts of laundry detergent:
http://www.epa.gov/dfe/pubs/laundry/techfact/keychar.htm

Reading that is enough to make me want an alternative!

we're making a dry detergent from 3 ingredients: pure soap (sunlight bars -- which apparently don't have all the toxicity of detergents -- maybe I could research this more); borax; and washing soda. We grated 2 bars of the soap yesterday; today we'll mix in the borax and washing soda.

Simple. Safe. Not unhealthy.
Best of all: you need only a TABLESPOON per load. That is correct. I'll let you know what happens when we use it.

Advice from my Dad: energy efficient housing

For several years, I've been craving a home of my own that I can paint, redesign, and set up however I want. But lately, my thoughts have turned to the environmental impact of homes, and how they can be designed to be as energy efficient as possible. Since my dad is a carpenter and has built many homes from scratch, I finally asked him his ideas on it. Here are his suggestions for energy efficient housing, if you're building from the ground up.

1. Under the cement foundation, put a layer of styrofoam insulation. Do it! Keeps the basement floor warmer.

2. For the inside walls, put a layer of insulation. People used to use 2x4s, but you can do 2x6 or even 2x8 for more heat retention. Or, you can put a layer of something, I have no idea what it is, in front of and/or behind the insulation. It's like a chipboard ... this will reduce heat loss.

It will cost a bit more; and you will have to fit the windows differently; but will save energy.

Don't pack in the insulation; defeats the purpose. It needs to be fluffy!

3. Insulate the attic!

4. Energy-saving windows.

The good thing is, more insulation will keep your house cooler in summer as well as warmer in winter.

I would add:

5. Have a smaller home. Less to heat, less to cool.

6. Insulate the hot water heater. My dad wasn't sure if this would help, but seemed into the idea by the time we finished talking. Maybe I can get him to work on it soon ...

For more energy efficiency ideas, check out this website:
http://michaelbluejay.com/electricity/cooling.html

It finally answered my question about the best way to use AC. Love finally knowing!

However, I don't think I'll be building a home from scratch any time soon. I'm going to be looking into other ways we can reduce energy use in our existing house. Glad I have parents who go along with my crazy ideas!