Playing Grocery Store

Not your typical grocery store.  We had a Pet store corner, where you could buy an African Grey Parrot, or a butterfly, a squirrel or

 Snakes

 Everything came with a Price Tag

There was Frozen Fruit, supplements like Ginseng and MSM,

fresh fruit, baking supplies and bandanas & paintings.

 "Shopper " Laars exchanging money to buy a car.

 "Cashier" Gaelyn, always greets you with a smile & giggle.

Mitchell digging deep into his pockets to pay for his shopping spree.

This is a much better way to practise math than using a textbook!

Money on Fast Foods

"Americans now spend more money on fast food than on higher education, personal computers, computer software, or new cars."

~ Eric Schlosser, author of Fast Food Nation

Charter of Health Freedom

As a Canadian, do you have any idea that your Freedom to choose concerning your own individual Health is greatly jeopardized?  Do you know that producers of supplements and alternative health products are being denied product numbers so that they can't sell to you and I any more?

Earlier this week I went to the local healthfood store to ask about Colostrum.  (You can check out this if you are curious).  Anyways, its not on the shelves and I wanted to know why, while in pill form it is still on the shelves at a store up island (I know, because I asked Rauchelle to check for me).  I discovered that once Naked Naturals supply is gone, they won't be able to carry it either.

Why?

Because in this lay-persons words, our government thinks that I am not smart enough to read literature, research for myself, and decide for myself what products I think would be healthful for me to ingest or even use topically.  Like, I'm not wise enough to decide whether taking cinnamon in capsules would or would not help me with blood sugars.  Or that MSM lotion would be beneficial to lather on my scar tissue. Or if I might find that butcher's broom helps with my varicose veins.

Instead, they are limiting all of this Freedom to Choose so that I have the freedom to choose their pharmaceuticals or nothing.  Or grow my own, I suppose.  But then they would likely come and confiscate even that because it would appear that I am undermining Canada's Healthcare by not purchasing their chemicals to ingest.

In scenario, if I were to discover that I had some type of cancer, I would be able to chose allopathy protocol of surgery/radiation/chemotherapy; Invasive and Chemical.  Or I could choose to do nothing.
Or I could pay tens-of-thousands of dollars to go internationally and be treated by some alternative health practitioner (with a greater success-rate than North American rates concerning cancer, I might add).  But I can't go to a local business and purchase natural products (herbs & supplements, etc) that have a long history of being successfully used to help ones body heal itself.  Because it hasn't been tested in their labs and because it can't be patented,  it won't be available to us.

Why?

Because they will lose too much money.

Let's face it, people.  The whole talk about Health Care isn't about Health.  It's about Sick Care and the money they make off of the citizens being sick and staying chronically sick.  If we stay healthy, or get better ...........where is the money in that?

PLEASE!!!!  go to Charter of Health Freedom and find out how you can add your name to the petition, or sign at a healthfood store that has a petition already underway.  We need 3 million signatures by March.  There's a long ways to go, but it can be done.

Collaborative Consumption

100 Thing Challenge, an interview

Man vs Debt did an interview with the creator of the 100 Thing Challenge which I found encouraging, and hope to pass that encouragement on to you too. A great way to start the New Year.

Check it out!

(DPP) My Cute Red Shoes

Ever since I purchased these shoes, I've loved them.  And I've gotten plenty of compliments on them.

The funniest was when I was strapped on a gurney in the hall of an over-crowded hospital in Mesa, AZ after an ambulance ride.  The ambulance attendents noticed my cute shoes while we waited to get into an emergency room, and they were shocked at how little I paid for them since their wives both purchased expensive, expensive shoes and purses, one of which was like a $500 purse so she could carry her little dog.  And the other wife had had a pair of shoes that had been hundreds of dollars that got chewed by their (bigger) dog and so the wife went out and bought another pair of the expensive shoes.  They went on and on about their expensive wives, and I jokingly said that maybe they were married to the same woman.

Anyways, I've enjoyed my cute red shoes, and while sitting on the ferry today I decided to take a pic of them.  Because I like them.

Miss Minimalist’s Gift Avoidance Guide

 Christmas is just around the corner, and I know that alot of you are busy with thoughts about Giving and Receiving.  We personally haven't been doing the Gift Exchange practice for about 10 years, I think.  My how time flies ;)  But it was an adjustment to make, and put some uncomfortable strains on some relationships around Christmas time particularly.  We were accused of ruining Christmas for Grandma, not allowing her the joy of giving gifts to her Grandchildren (which wasn't true, but .....Whatever), and taking the fun out of Christmas, and being Scrooges, and Extremists, etc.

But, looking back over those years, we are glad we put a stop to the insanity around the consumerism of Christmas (and Birthdays) as far as it pertains to our household.  And that's all we can do.  As it pertains to me and my house!

I subscribe to Miss Minimalist and really like her Gift Avoidance Guide, on how to help others adjust to not giving you a bunch of needless stuff to clutter up your space.

Enjoy the Guide.

Miss Minimalist's Gift Avoidance Guide

Hallelujah! Food Court Flash Mob

The Rabbit Came to Live at Our House

Peter that is.

As in Peter Rabbit.

We have had some Peter Rabbit books grace our home in the past here and there, but now, we actually own The Complete Tales of Beatrix Potter.  And I am happy!!  It was something I almost ordered this year (and the last few years) with the childrens curriculum, along with The Complete Tales of Winnie-the-Pooh but I put it off yet again.

And then today Everette and I stole away for a Coffee Break (unusual these days) and lo and behold, but he received some phone calls which gave me permission to sneak out to the adjoining New & Used Bookstore to spend my time wisely, and what do I find but the winner of childhood books in perfect condition at a fraction of the new price and voila, Peter came home with me.  And his stories have been read throughout the afternoon and evening in their entirety. 

When its called The Complete Tales, it really IS!  I didnt realize how much was edited out of the familiar versions I had read.  And now I really get an education in Beatrix Potters writings.  And so do my children.

And they are loving Beatrix's stories, right along with Mom.

Sale over at Upaya Naturals

I love Upaya Naturals for healthy and some raw foods.  And if you haven't checked them out, now is a good time to.  Just click on the banner on the right side of this blog and my affiliate link will take you to their site.

Yes that's right EVERYTHING in the store will be 10% off!
Their Customer Appreciation Special is ONLY available on orders placed from now until Sunday October 24th 11:59pm EST. While quantities last.*

To receive 10% off:
YOU MUST ENTER IN THE COUPON CODE.*
Coupon Code: UPAYA10
(all capital letters,no spaces- enter this coupon code into the appropriate section of your order to receive 10% off . Coupons cannot be applied after order has been placed- no exceptions)
Ready, Set Go!!

Non GMO Shopping Guide

Months back we rented 'Food, Inc', a highly recommended documentary on how much of our food stuffs are being handled, and the control that the Big Guys are trying to impose on the farmers raising our foods.  It's not Business as Usual.  And after talking to one of my cousins who is an Organic Farmer in Saskatchewan, he verified that what is talked about in Food, Inc is most definitely happening.  There is much pressure, blackmail, etc happening to our farmers to produce foods in ways that are neither natural nor healthy for us, our animals nor the environment.

Anyways, whether we like it or not, there are already genetically modified foods in our supermarkets and likely in our cupboards.  What are GMO foods?  GMO stands for Genetically Modified Organisms.  They are made by forcing genes from one species of life (ie animals, bacteria, etc) into the DNA of a food crop or another animal in order to introduce a new trait to the host.  In other words, its mixing genes between different life forms.  So you could be getting pig genes within the DNA of your carrots.

And the reasons you want to avoid GMO foods is because "The American Academy of Environmental Medicine reported that 'Several animal studies indicate serious health risks associated with GM food' including infertility, immune problems, accelerated aging, faulty insulin regulation, and changes in major organs and the gastrointestinal system."

If you aren't yet sure how to shop and avoid these foods, here's a link for a guide to help you become informed and make wise choices with your dollars spent.

Non-GMO Shopping Guide.

The #1 foods to avoid are soy, corn, canola and cottonseed, followed by Hawaiian papaya, and some zucchini and yellow squash.   But be aware that even if the animals themselves are not GMO's, the food that they are fed might be.

100 Thing Challenge

In my research on the Minimalist Lifestyle I wrote about the other week, I came across the mention several times about the 100 Thing Challenge created by Dave Bruno.  I've been reading his posts, and the plethora of comments he gets and enjoying the read.  I get so excited in anticipation of how Minimalist we will live in our new place, since its harder to see what stuff we actually have when its still in boxes and we are sharing 'stuff' with our friends while we stay here.

One of Bruno's posts that I really liked is 3 Consumer Justifications That End in Crap.  These are excuses or justifications that I personally use all the time.  Actually just this morning I was contemplating "It would be wasteful to get rid of it."  After all, I didn't spend any money on it (rain boots and snow boots for Gaelyn) as my friend gave them to us, and she just might need them this autumn/winter.  We have space to keep them both, and we can always get rid of one or both of them in the future if they turn out to be virtually useless to us.  Blah blah blah.

The 100 Things Challenge isn't about an ideal number of anything.  People can determine themselves how they count up their things.  There is total Individualism in how you count.  For example, Bruno counts all his (300) books as One Library.  As avid readers and un-schoolers we have already thinned from about 2500 books down to less than 500.  (Because they are in boxes at present, I don't actually know the number.  I guessed high because I probably can't be trusted to approximate accurately, otherwise I'm tempted to say we only have 200, but I think that might be dreaming.)

Some people would count their 20 pairs of footwear as One, but others would count it as 20 (and probably would thin that down!)  Socks are likely to be counted as One item, as would all your socks.  But that's all dependent on how you would set up your own system.

I think that there is a danger of seeing 100 Things as a possible 'holier than though' thing to hold over other people who chose to live with more.  And one could pat themself on the back if they purchased/acquired something new (but not needed) and discarded something else but kept their total under 100.  The idea behind the 100 Things Challenge is bigger than the tally of things one owns.

We clutter our lives with unnecessary stuff (often produced un-ethically) and spend our money and time and energy in maintaining it, and missing out on the bigger things in life that we dream of.....like time to stroll the beach in the evening with our lover or children, or slowly sipping our favorite drink with a friend, or reading the book you've been wanting to read, or....whatever it is that you don't have time for now!!

We aren't going to find our happiness in collecting stuff, nor in keeping our personal stuff to a total of 100 Things.  Whether we have 1,000 or 10 things, our happiness will come from within our hearts and minds, the thoughts we entertain about the world and who we are in that world.

I am not a total of the things that I possess.

I am the Love that interacts with the world.

Supermarket Secrets

This is a fascinating (although British) look at the operations behind Supermarkets, including the treatment of animals, the 'perfect' produce, the gases our salads are packed with, etc.

Eye-opening is an understatement.

You can find this video series and others over at NaturalNews.TV

Picture from tolazytodoit.com

Found our Missing Camera

We misplaced the camera for about a week.  But it turned out it had been placed in a kitchen cupboard to get it up and out of the way.  Alexander finally 'found it' for us, and so now I can post some of our older pics from last week!

Everette, Laars and I spent 2 days in Victoria area, looking for rentals and checking the place out.

Gotta check out the Farm Market when they advertise its the best in Victoria.  We always like to check out the markets.

Catching Raindrops

Watching the drops falling with his personal binoculars

Checked out Chinatown at lunchtime.

Followed the 'train tracks'

A Unique Market.

Must come back and see with more leisure time.

Natural Fibers

Lazy Sunday

Mom was returning to her condo today so we did some clean-up and uncluttering to make her transition back-home-now-with-9-extra-people-in-her-space hopefully less traumatic!  She said she had a great month away, and sounds like they had a great time at a family get-together in Drumheller this past week.

White Rock has their Farmer's Market on Sundays basically just outside my mom's condo building, so Everette and I frequent there when it opens at 9am.  The breads look incredibly tempting, and I sampled a chocolate cake that is made without butter or oil but uses beets (yes, the veggie beets!!) and my!! was it ever moist and yummy, very chocolatey but not real sweet.  Mmmmm!   (Natasha, you should learn to make one!!)  There's lots of people selling stone fruits and Chilliwack corn but very little of it is organic.  We purchase our organic produce from an Abbotsford vendor and get huge lettuces for $1.50!!  I'm impressed.

And today we found The Cranberry Lady and sampled 2 of her cranberry dressings on slices of apple.....and bought both of them.  Had the cranberry-orange on todays salad and it was yum, too!

Of course, I took the children swimming as is the daily practice while here at Gramma's.  Anders has been swimming now without a life-jacket for a week.  He's a busy boy doing somersaults under water, and spinning 'like a space ship', and trying to swim without holding his nose, and talking under water and asking, "Mommy, did you hear me?"

Laars is completely confident now with his life-jacket where 3 weeks ago he didn't even want to venture in the water, and if he did he certainly didn't want to let go of his Protector.  Now he lays on his back being a Starfish, and tries his awkward attempt (in bulky life-jacket) at a front stroke, and wants to collect 'n spit out that chlorinated water at his siblings.  Great fun!!

Laars is always wanting to 'Be a Baby' after a bath or a swim so this Mama wraps him up in a towel and snuggles for awhile.

I hope he doesn't grow out of this too soon!!

They Wouldn't Leave the Wagon

from Little House on the Prairie

Pa & Ma are heading to Independence, out of Indian Territory, by choice before the soldiers come to remove them.  On their travels they come upon a covered wagon without horses, but the owners are sitting on the wagon tongue.

They were a man and a woman.  They sat looking down at their feet, and they moved only their heads to look when Pet and Patty stopped in front of them.


"What's wrong? Where are your horses?" Pa asked.

"I don't know," the man said.  "I tied them to the wagon last night, and this morning they were gone.  Somebody cut the ropes and took them away in the night."

"What about your dog?" said Pa.

"Haven't got a dog," the man said......    

"Well, your horses are gone," Pa told the man.  "You'll never see them again.  Hanging's too good for horse-thieves."
"Yes," the man said.


Pa looked at Ma, and Ma barely nodded.  Then Pa said, "Come ride with us to Independence." 
"No," said the man.  "All we've got is in this wagon.  We won't leave it."
"Why, man!  What will you do?"  Pa exclaimed.  "There may be nobody along here for days, weeks.  You can't stay here."
"I don't know," the man said.

"We'll stay with our wagon," the woman said.  She was looking down at her hands clasped in her lap, and Laura couldn't see her face; she could see only the side of the sunbonnet.
"Better come," Pa told them.  "You can come back for your wagon."
"No," the woman said.


They wouldn't leave the wagon; everything they owned in the world was in it.  So at last Pa drove on, leaving them sitting on the wagon tongue, all alone on the prairie.


Pa notifies the soldiers at Independence to send help out for the couple.

 ****************************
I chuckled when I saw the store name Nood: New Objects of Desire
Sad commentary on our society.  Wanting more and more.  And yet usually less and less happy.

Give me the simplified life, Thank You.

Granville Island

This afternoon we drove out to UBC to pick up Layne after her

morning of teaching ESL and we headed to Granville Island.  We found an organic grocer there at the Public Market and stocked up on Pink Lady's, nectarines, strawberries, cherry tomatoes and pears and sat outside by the marina in the sunshine and devoured our nutritious lunch. (Later followed by not-nutritious apple-fritters and a humungous raspberry bran muffin).

 We wandered thru the stores a bit, especially over at the Kid's Market where the Toy Store is, and listened to the Bucksters outside of Bridges and the Bakery.  I didn't see the magician but much of the family did, and from the crowd that gathered it was a sensational show.

We found another park for the children to play at for a couple hours in the city as we enjoyed some short snoozes and chatter before driving Layne back to her temporary abode and an evening for her of getting paid to watch a movie with the ESL students! 

Old Country Market

This morning, after going to the Errington Farmer's Market, we stopped in at the

at Coombs which is famous for the Goat on the Roof

You can see two goats up on the roof above this outdoor patio.

Inside the market is a restaurant and tonnes and tonnes of food stuffs like

The baked goods have always been impressive, like the Greek Flatbread

Triple Twist Rye Bread

This market is also a great place to find gift ideas and home decor

Everette's biggest dilemma was how to pick a good hot sauce without trying them out.  There was such a huge selection, and so many of them looked and sounded good.

Even the House Brand

And the place wouldn't seem quite the same without this fella