Earth Momma

Ok, not really. I haven't turned into a nature-aholic, but I've certainly changed things up around here.

For starters:
I was getting quite irritated at the pantry/fridge/freezer/spice cabinet situation. They were all crammed full of---well---stuff. Really though, I had no clue how we were ever going to eat all of it, and I had to question on a daily basis if even 1/2 of what I had was still in date.
Good thing I decided to clean them out.

My gosh, I was nauseated at how much stuff was--and I kid you not here--at least 2 years out of date. HOLY COW! The spice cabinet was basically all trashed, and the pantry is quite bare now. As for the fridge...that was a beast in itself. I pulled old food out of there that had longer hair than me. Yikes!

After purging and rearranging, I decided to go shopping (totally logical, right?). I made lists this time---one for Natural Grocers where I get the majority of stuff, and then one for Wal-Mart. Let me tell you (and you probably already knew this, but bear with me), having shopping lists helped me trim about $60-80 off the bills. Why you ask? Well, because I knew exactly what I needed and there wasn't a reason to just go pull random things off of shelves thinking I was out of this or that.
I was amazed.
Anyway, I've discovered that Natural Grocers has lots of sales, so I can feed my family more natural items without overspending. If you do the calculations and research it, you can actually eat organic foods for the same price or less, depending on where you buy. I seriously believe eating organic foods is better for the body. I don't take it to extremes though, let me assure you. My kids still occasionally have juice boxes and gummy bears. :0)

We as a family agreed that we wanted to not only work out in the gym, but eat better as well. I have been so tired of being TIRED all the time. My skin was looking yucky, I had bad intestinal issues....you get the picture. Since cutting out diet sodas (except when we dine out), eating nuts/fruits/oatmeal/etc., and drinking a ton of water, I have definitely seen big changes.

I no longer accept plastic bags at the stores---we take our own reusable ones. We've started recycling and paying much more attention to what we throw out. John is even seriously considering building a chicken house so we can gather our own eggs and have a place to put our table scraps (according to friends who own chickens, they'll eat anything).

I've also started slowly replacing all of our body soaps, shampoos, lotions, deodorants, and such with natural products. I recently ordered goat milk soap---it's super!---and have been using all natural face wash and shampoo for a while now. Huge difference! I may smell like tea tree oil, licorice, and peppermint, but that's fine. They're all aphrodisiacs, right? Just ask John, for I'm sure he'd tell you the truth. Haha!

I'm not trying to become a hippie or anything like that. There are certain things in life that I'm sure I'll never change or compromise, but at least I've started somewhere. John calls me "Earth Momma" just to get a charge out of me. In fact, I'm sure he's deeply concerned that I'll soon burn my bras and make my own clothes.
Not gonna happen. Promise.

Now trying to make my own organic whole wheat bread? Definitely a possibility.