There is also some amazing free online support for losing weight my favorite site is You On A Diet this site is amazing register and you can have daily healthy eating tips sent to your e-mail addy also there are lifestyle questionnaires that you can fill out to determine your real age. There are also customizable meal plans that give you the shopping list for what you will need for a weeks worth of food. Also the forum is there if you can’t get out to a support meeting for losing weight.

Yoga has been a huge help to me over the last year, I feel that I have gained back a lot of strength from doing yoga not to mention some peace of mind. I started by using the video, ‘Yoga For Dumbies’ presented by Sarah Ivanhoe you can take it out from your public library an good online source for yoga poses and information is the ‘Yoga Journal.’ The best thing next to eating healthy that you can do for your health is to walk. There is so much evidence to support walking as one of the safest and most effective way to get exercise.

The phrase “Walking is man’s best medicine,” allegedly spoken by Hippocrates two millennia ago, is even more timely today. This fact is particularly true in industrialized societies where new technologies have not only changed the way we work but, even more profoundly, have also affected our life styles by reducing the physical effort of most of our daily activities . Source

Walking is great it’s free you only have to do 30 minutes a day so really there is no excuse not to do it I know when I get into the routine of walking I lose weight and feel so much stronger. I like walking to because it can be social if you are in the mood for that. Or you can do it by yourself. The same is true for yoga. It’s nice to know there are cheap and free supports out there for those of us that are trying to lose weight and live a healthier lifestyle.

Family fun night went off with out a hitch. We all had a very good time. Evamae and Henry got dressed up and did a little performance to the poem, “Singa Songa.” That was very easy for them to do, I read out the poem they preformed the actions to it. Then they put on an improvisational puppet show with Justin. They had spent time early that day making puppets out of brown paper lunch bags, pom poms, crayons and yarn. We tipped over a table so the kids could sit behind it to preform the puppet show. Our living room is sunken so we used the dining room as a stage and put some string up and hung some sheets across it to make our stage curtains. We were able to make do with stuff we had to pull off a decent stage.

The kids also did a dance to the song, Magic Bus by the Who, which worked out well because they could pretend to be driving a bus and honking the horn. At the end Les, I and Justin did a skit for the them. It’s one I adapted from a camp fire skit.  I gave Henry and Evamae spray bottles with settings set to mist. I told this story. “This is how you make a fire, you have to start with the smallest log. (Justin lies down in the middle of the floor). Then you add a bigger log (I lie down over top of Justin). Then you put on the biggest log (Les was lying on top of me and Justin). The Justin screams out “fire!!!” Then Les and I do as well, then the kids are allowed to squirt us with their spray bottles. They were laughing their heads off as they sprayed us all and so did we!

We dragged out our mattresses into the living room lit our fire place and we watched the movie Underdog and ate pop corn. It was a fun night at home for all of us. Les even wants to make it a monthly event. I can’t wait to do it again. It’s a fun way to bond with the family.

I’m going to make a cracker/cheese fruit plate, we’ll have popcorn and rice crispy squares to snack on too. That should be enough I have to undo the button on my pants just writing about it. I know my daughter will love to sing and dance for us too. They are so sweet at this age, really they have the most fun when they get to just play with us. I think that makes them happier then all the cheap plastic toys, we’ve felt compelled to buy in the past.

I think my husband and I should do a skit to, now lets see if I can motivate him to join in? I’m sure he will but it’s not something he’d think of that’s for sure. Fun fun fun at the Sveinson’s House this weekend.

The Crystal deodorants are composed of mineral salts which form a topical layer on the skin, creating an environment impossible for bacteria to thrive. They eliminate the odor-causing bacteria and therefore prevent body odor.

How is that different from mainstream deodorants? Most deodorants mask body odor with a perfumed scent, contain alcohol to shrink pores, or aluminum chlorohydrate/aluminum zirconium. These compounds enter the pores and physically block or clog them to reduce the flow of perspiration. In essence, they inhibit the body’s natural expulsion of toxins. (source)

I was talking to a friend the other day who said that her crystal deodorant was working fine fine at first but started to absorb the smell of her under arms. Yuk! but I had noticed that too personally and had found a remedy for it.

The first thing you have to remember when applying the deodorant is make sure your arm pits have just been cleaned. I know a lot of Mom’s might not have time to shower in the morning but for the rocks to remain odorless they have to go on clean underarms.

When you buy your deodorant, buy a little vile of aromatherapy oil. Choose an aromatherapy oil that can be applied neat onto the skin. Lavender oil and tea tree are the most common. I use the lavender myself. The nice thing about lavender and tea tree is they can be used around the house for other things. Like in your bath water. Or put into a atomizer and spritzed into the air to make it smell cleaner.

What I do is take of the lid of the crystal and saturate the top of the crystal and let it dry over night. I wouldn’t use any more then 8 drops max. You probably don’t need to let it dry that long I imagine the salt sucks it right up. But I just do it that way.

I’ve not had a smelly crystal ever since I’ve done that. Six months after the first application of the oil I did the same thing again. Not because the crystal was smelly but because I just want a bit of a stronger smell. I love the smell of lavender.

For $6.99 and how ever much 8 drops of oil cost me–The bottle of Lavender cost me $12. I have deodorant that I’ve been using for over a year. It ends up costing about .58 a day. Not bad at all, and I use so little of the aromatherapy oil it last about six months.

*Aromatherapy oil is very concentrated it’s important you look up the oil and make sure it can be applied neat to the skin. Some of the oils can burn if you if you apply them neat. A little goes a very long way.

I think the main problem is that our water is just to hard for this solution. I’m sure people who live where the water is softer good definitely use this. I’m a little disappointed this would of been a very cheap alternative.

Well, the dishes did come out clean but they did have a bit of a white film on them. I just used a clean dishtowel and wiped away the film. I’m not sure if this means I should use more baking soda, because my water is a little hard, or maybe I used too much powder altogether. Next time I won’t fill the pre-wash slot. At least I know it’s not toxic.

Our dishwasher is only a few months old, and I was using an environmentally friendly dishwashing detergent before I tried the baking soda and borax. I had noticed that the dishwasher door had a bit of a discolouring. I’m thinking it might have come from the fact that we eat a lot of pasta and tomato sauce. Maybe some of the oils from the sauces have discoloured it? I have no idea, but it was a little brighter after using the homemade solution I mixed up today.

I would rate this attempt at switching over to an economical cleaner about 6/10—because my dishes in the end were very clean and wiping of the film was a bit time-consuming. But well worth it considering how cheaply I can buy the ingredients for this homemade dishwashing detergent. I’ll keep playing around with the amounts and post on this blog when I find out what works perfectly for me.

I love that Erma was so inspiring and there is wisdom in her words. Amazing how when we are faced with our mortality our focus sharpens and we instinctively knows what really matters to us–without hours of in-depth thought.

In the summer of 2003 we were living in Paul Lake, Kamloops, BC. That morning I got a call from a friend. She informed me there was a fire so I turn on the radio and learnt about a fire that started at the railway and was making it’s way up Strawberry Hill in our direction. Within minutes from that call my husband phones from work he had just found out from a co-worker that there was a fire heading up towards our area. The road closest to our home had been blocked off, so every one had to come into the area from that back road which took considerably longer.

Les said he was coming home and that I should just get a ride into town if I can. With two kids, two dogs and one cat I was a little stressed. I told Justin what was happening and to grab a backpack with some of his clothes. I put Henry into his baby backpack, filled the bottom of it with diapers and bottles. Put our cat Albert into his kennel. By then the evacuation alert had become an evacuation order.

There were repeated official evacuation order announcements, the calm droll of the announcer seem to make me panic more. I wanted to have all things that were important to us ready for Les. I grab all the family pictures and brought them to the end of the driveway so they’d be ready to put into the Suburban. I was able to get a ride in with a friend of mine Jane (God bless her).

It was so terrifying because Jane and I knew the fire was moving fast. Across from where we lived there is a hill on top of that hill you could see all this dark smoke and an orange glow seeping through it–a very errie effect. Jane just had a Volkswagen rabbit that had a bunch of her stuff in it. Justin and Henry who was just 11 months at the time plus are two huge border collies and cat in his carrier squished into her car.

Henry was in his backpack carrier between my legs in the front seat, not safe at all but neither is burning to death– We just did what we had to do. As we were leaving the area lots of people where coming into the area to help friends with their live stalk and horses. We saw Les he just pulled around and followed us out of the area. We ended up at the arena in Kamloops that’s where all the evacuees went. We could of gone to Vernon but Les had to keep working so we thought it best just stay together.

I don’t know how many people were evacuated but it was thousands. Barrier was totally evacuated as well as Paul Lake, Pinatin Lake and Pritchard was evacuated for a few days too I believe. That night we were put up in a hotel when we woke up in the morning all we could smell was smoke. I kept phoning home to see if the answering machine would picked up– when it did I at least knew our house was still not burnt to the ground. It was just awful not knowing.

It really seemed like the whole world was on fire anyone with asthma or breathing problems had to stay inside. We had to take are animals to the SPCA they had so many people that were in town started foster these pets from the evacuees because we could not keep them with us in the hotels.

We worried about them too because the SPCA was across the river from where the fire started. With the winds we did not know what was going to happen.

On the seventh day we got to go home the fire had missed our area thankfully but it was a frightening experience and we where so lucky. A lot of people in Barrier lost their homes.

When chatting with our father in law after he was like did you get your computer and television out of the house? For us the most important things we wanted to take were the family photos. Not furniture, computer games, computers, we just wanted the memories.

We where able after the third day able to get special permission to go back into the area to get some of our stuff we knew then we had been spared but things where still not safe enough for us to return.

Crisis’s like this does help to put thing into perspective. Hopefully most of the time we don’t have to get this kind of a jolt. I remember Les and I felt very lucky to have our home when so many people that summer had lost everything. The one thing everyone kept saying though as at least their family got out safe and that was the most important thing. All that crap we waste our money on doesn’t count for much in the end. So why do we spend so much time worrying about it? Two days after we were back at the house I found out I was pregnant with Evamae what a special gift.

I had a hairdresser tell me once that you should only wash your hair a few times a week. Cutting back to every other day seems doable but more then that? I don’t think so. I’ll be spending some time online tonight trying to find some good recipes for home made shampoo/conditioners. The pioneer site looks like it has some good information on it about hair care.

Obsessing about my conditioner running out is one thing—but what is going to be gone first is the dish washing detergent. I did find a recipe here. “Part borax and part washing soda, add vinegar in the rinse compartment if you have hard water.” Sounds easy enough, but we do have hard water so I was thinking we couldn’t make do with a homemade dish washing detergent, but I guess I should give it a try.

I don’t know why but I feel so out of sorts. I guess part of it is a change in routine. Shopping, searching, wandering around the store thinking should I try this product or that is something I actually enjoy. I zone out when I shop—it’s almost meditative for me until I pull out my debit card and pay for it. Then it hurts. I’m probably not the only one that finds shopping this way. I think that’s why I named the blog StopShopping because I do realise it’s an addiction on some level. Maybe addiction is not quite the right word for it but it seems to provide me with a type of stimulus that seems to be unnatural.

This New Year’s resolution should be good for us but also a challenge. We’ve never done anything quite like this before. Using vinegar and water when you’ve run out of Windex is one thing but to completely abandon the brands that you’ve grown up with is–well something else.

It’s amusing to think that I could go through some type of brand with drawl (is that possible?).

There will be a few commercial made items that we will continue to buy laundry detergent and dish-washing detergent and tooth paste. The rest of it will be very simple. I know how to make soap so I’m thinking of finding a recipe and making us a bunch of soap, but we really don’t even need to do that. Baking soda and in the bath water is great keeps your skin nice and soft or just adding some aromatherapy oil can be nice too.

For the kids in the past I’ve put some oatmeal in old stockings and let them wash with that. It can last for a few days and is very gentle on their skin. One thing I’m worried about though is my hair once my shampoo & conditioner runs out I’m a little scared my hair can become very tangled and hard to brush out.

I guess for the kitchen floors I’ll just use vinegar and water. Over the next will I think I will be doing my fare share of google searches on homemade cleaners. Apparently hydrogen peroxide makes an excellent sanitizer my husband says they’ve started to use it exclusively at work.

Les/Henry/Evamae