Let There Be Light

My babies (plants) have a new light source, and the shelf for the window is in the works. I can’t wait to get the shelf put together—then I can get preparations underway for this years transplants. We’ve been meandering through the first of the seed catalogues to arrive and have our tongues hanging out over some of the plants we want to try to grow. Stevia is one. I heard that it’s finally making it onto the mainstream market—someone saw a commercial advertising stevia as a replacement for sugar. Yeah! It’s such a fantastic alternative to other sweeteners, and so much healthier. If you want some detailed info on stevia, you can go to http://www.stevia.com/. There's some great articles; one in particular on the hazards of sugar was quite eye-opening.

Tristen and I worked on his pinewood derby car for scouts today. He’s making a Lego car (out of wood not Legos). I can’t wait to see the finished product. He’s got such a creative mind.
We also juiced half a crate of oranges today. Whew! That can be time consuming. But it’s wonderful to spend time together, talking about different items of interest. He also had some wonderful ideas of what to do with all the orange pulp from juicing. Orange-flax crackers are in the dehydrator as I type this.

Tristen ate:
oatmeal with honey and cloves
raw apple pie
coconut water
flax crackers
more apple pie
orange juice
sesame seed milk with carob

Rowan ate:
banana-sesame seed milk with spirulina
sweet potatoes
tomatoes
flax crackers
sesame seed milk
orange juice

Hugs to all,
Tristen and Sharilyn

A Day of Plenty

I’m still beside myself about the oranges. I’m feeling like we have so much to be grateful for. Today we made orange strawberry juice—my absolute favorite! I use the fresh frozen strawberries that we got at the local farmers’ market this year and it’s like adding ice, only yummier. MMMMMmmmmmmmMMMMmmMMMM!!!

Rowan’s been such a great helper today. She helped with the dishes by drying (only unbreakables of course). Then she helped make some more bread for daddy—the first loaf I made a few days ago came out good, though a little heavy. Next, she held the dustpan while I swept the floor. After that, she brought over all the oranges from the fridge so I could juice them. Following a strawberry-orange juice break and Happy Dance, it was time for a much needed nap. Guess I tuckered the tike out! I managed to get in a load of laundry, a couple phone calls, and some seed collecting (yes from outside) while the wild child was down. And after a quick run to town, Rowan helped with putting groceries away and getting hor d’orves ready for the evening. Later, we did manage to pick up all the toys in the playroom (and living room, and kitchen) and put them away. Whew! Couldn’t have done all that without you Ro! ~~kisses~~

So 2008 is at an end. What a year! I miss Michigan and The Fellowship For Today. Every year they have a burning bowl ceremony in which you write down two or three things in your life that you wanted to have more of or focus on, like more smiles, or seeing friends more—self improvement type stuff. But with the law of energy, if you move something in, something else has to move out to make room. For the burning bowl ceremony, we would write a quality that we were ready to let go of—uptightness, depression, what have you—on a small piece of flash paper, and would each go up to a lit candle at the front, say our goodbyes to this quality, and light it. It would then flare for a second and be gone. (Flash paper is a very thin paper that leaves no ash and burns verrrrry quickly, hence the name. Magicians use it sometimes.) After that, we would meditate a moment, and then continue on with the evenings activities. It was always a night of reflection and inspiration for the upcoming year.

I love the idea of this, similar to setting goals or resolutions, but on a deeper and more personal level. ~~giggling~~ And of course anything that has to do with fire . . . pyros. (That’s to you, Mike.) ;o}

My evening ended up being quiet and uneventful—both Ro and daddy went to bed early, dad at 6:30 or so. Tired puppy! So I watched a movie by myself cuddled up in my new blankie, sipped fresh OJ and did a crossword/sudoku. Later I worked on garden stuff and this post, which I’m currently writing at . . . 4:58AM. Just one of those sleepless nights I guess. Maybe it was the carrot juice I had earlier. That stuff always gives me a ton of energy. Perhaps I’ll get a nap in before Rowan gets up.


Today Ro-Ro ate:
coconut-banana smoothie-1 whole baby coco & 3 nanas—and she didn’t leave any for mama :( LOL
strawberry orange juice
raisins
carrot cake
orange carrot juice
munchies—mostly fruit, some more bits of cake and raisins, couple crackers
Bath and Bedtime :o)

Boy, what an orangey day!!
Happy New Year to everyone—May your coming year be greener than the last!

Orange Love,
Sharilyn & Rowan

Free Organic Fresh From Florida Oranges!

Today we received a better than imagined gift. Rich works at a cold shipping factory. Ever wonder where all those semis that you pass on the highway are going? This is one of their destinations. Anyhow, one of the drivers just came up from Florida with two huge crates of organic oranges and left them for the taking. No one else wanted anything to do with them *cuz they’re not super pretty like the over sprayed, fertilized, irradiated oranges you see in the stores* so he brought home both crates. I had to weigh them. Together, they’re 90 pounds! And as we also have over half the crate left from Nanna’s, we are in orange heaven!! I tried to put a pic here, but it got corrupted in the transfer on the floppy. (Yes, a 3 1/2" floppy. Dino ages I know, but I haven't gotten a usb stick yet.)

Now I have to add in here the power of intention and manifestation, and how once again it works every time. Here’s the story:

So last year, Rich was working in Chicago and commuting home once a week. Throughout the winter months, Nanna receives huge boxes—30 to 40 lbs. each—of organic oranges and grapefruit from her 90+ year old ex-father-in-law. She usually gives most away, as she’s just one person and can’t eat them all. Knowing how much we went through oranges at that time (at least a crate a week) she would lovingly send them home with Rich. What a gift!!

Now that Rich is working closer to home, he doesn’t see Nanna regularly anymore. You get the drift. After we returned home last week, I was deeply wishing, as money is super tight right now, that we could somehow still pick up the oranges Grandpa’s sure to send, but couldn’t see a cost-effective way, either through posting or driving, so I figured, “Bummer,” and left it at that.

~~~smiling~~~ Thank you spirit. . . . Now where to put them all . . . . . .LOL . . in our tummies of course!!

Manifestations to all,
Sharilyn