Contemporary Earth Mama

and then life happens...

I realized today something was missing.  No, everything is still perfectly out of balance and in harmony, just the way we like it...I couldn't seem to put my finger on it until it occurred to me that I hadn't taken a single moment to write in the last (dare I say) week? 

Absence does not come without blessings and wonder to report.  On the home front we're just taking one week at a time, one pay check at a time, working our way into the future.  On the glorious work front, we are launching the biggest thing yet, and in the midst of this baby with a very large head that I am in the process of birthing, I feel as if I'm birthing little sets of twins wherever I go:  a new sales team, new admin support, another blog ( from the healthy mama's behind My Healthy Beginning, to be released soon!), an exciting partnership.

Did I forget to mention that birthing is slightly uncomfortable?  It's uncomfortable but not painful by any means...it pushes a mama to the edge of her capabilities, forcing her inward to trusting and knowing.  There is a quote that seems appropriate here:

"We have a secret in our culture...it's not that birth is painful.  It's that women are strong."  -Laura Stavoe Harm

So I'm here to report that I am literally a living example of this quote and trust in it every day, whether birthing an idea, growing babies or pushing myself to new levels and not letting life get in the way. 

 I'd like to know what it is that you're working on these days...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What you can do...

One of my favorite books is by Carolyn Myss and is called Anatomy of the Spirit.  I first began reading Carolyn's work over ten years ago while in private practice as a massage therapist.  Her ability to read the human body as a medical intuitive and teach what she knows and how to understand the machines in which we live is outstanding, and her workshops, brilliant

She makes a beautiful statement here about what we can do in our lives versus putting our energy into what we can have....very cool and simple thought....enjoy!

Baking as an art form

This afternoon Fannie and I made a sweet nut bread that we all love, but forget about from time to time.  What started out as being the baking of a quick bread with some assistance turned into a moment of Self Expression as you can see in the above photo...hm-hm.

I was about to resist allowing my two year old to crayon in my cookbook, but then realized the joy I'd feel every time I opened to that particular page, and quickly got over myself.  The stirring, the pouring and the dish-using lent itself quickly to a session of dish washing...Fannie on one side of the sink and me on the other.  The dish washing, because it is something of a Wet Endeavor, lent itself just as quickly to wet clothes, floor and a bath in the kitchen sink, and our sweet nut bread alongside dinner instead of for afternoon snack.

Sweet Nut Bread-Gluten Free

1.5 c brown rice flour

1/2 c sorghum flour

1/2 cup tapioca flour/starch

1/2 cup succanat (though it occurred to me today that for some reason I have never subbed honey, which I should try)

3 1/2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp guar gum

1 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

3 T walnut oil

1 1/4 c raw milk

1 egg

1 cup walnuts or pecans, finely chopped

1/4 cup craisins

Oven to 350 while greasing the pan ( we use coconut oil spray from the co-op) and mixing the batter.  What I love about GF baking is that it's almost always an easy batter sort of recipe and rarely takes more than one bowl for mixing.  Combine first the dry ingredients together and mix, then add in the wet ingredients and give it the old wooden spoon until well mixed.

Bake for 60 minutes or until golden brown.

We love ours with a cream cheese spread that we make:

8 oz cream cheese, softened

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 cup chopped craisins

1/4 chopped walnuts

honey to taste

multi-tasking

As I am learning, and ultimately have known, but don't always put into practice, Multi-Tasking is not one of our best practices...in business or in home life.  Though we as moms attempt to Do It All, I can assure you from today's minor kitchen disaster, that we shan't. 

Enter Picture One of Evidence Here:

I know, quality of photo is awful, but I'll blame it on the volcanic eruption and not on my poor photography skills.

Enter Picture Two of Evidence Here:

 

Enter Picture Three of Evidence Here:

This, my shiny new sturdy spatula from the co-op,  butchered.  

is it luck or preparation?

Yesterday I had a meeting with a kindred marketing spirit, who, after talking about the plans for 2010, commented with this quote:

“Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.” -Senece, a Roman philsopher

 

Of course this completely struck me as I've never considered myself lucky, I have considered  myself blessed.  Blessed with family, blessed with friends, and blessed with the awareness to know opportunity when I see it, and even more so, to leap into opportunity when I see it.  I couldn't agree more with the quote as it struck a chord deep within me.

 

There are times when people say things like, "You're so lucky your kids are healthy."  Let me just say something here:  it has nothing to do with luck and frankly I get a little irked when people say that.  My kids get the common cold, my kids get stuffy noses, tummy aches and fevers.  They just happen to fare pretty well through the stuff kids bring home from the park, school and playdates.  They fare well due to our preparation at home...rhythm of the day, healthy sleep patterns, not compromising on food choices ( don't get me wrong, we're not total food freaks...if you've read this blog for long then you know my love of food), we eliminate household chemicals and toxins, we use non-toxic household cleaners and detergents.  We use natural fibers in our clothing and household materials as much as possible. 

 

There are lots of things I'd like to see us do better...on my wish list is an under the sink water purifier so we don't need to drink tap water, I'd like an air purifier in our home, I'd like wool mattress covers...believe me, the list goes on.  But we work as a family toward tackling those items on our list in the order of importance and the end result is more harmony than balance.

 

So my thought is if you're feeling unlucky ( which I could in that we have been waiting for our Buy Local issue to publish for months now), take a step back and see what you can do about life in the meantime.  Don't stand around wishing something would come your way.  Dive in and make things happen.  Whether it be your marriage, your kids health, your first or second or third pregnancy, your work situation, just take that leap of faith towards what you believe is right and do it.

 

Okay, enough preaching for the day.

Giveaway Monday winner

The Giveaway Monday winner of the Skin MD lotion is:

"After a few moments on your blog, I've read so much things that I can use and even learned from it. Thanks a lot my friend."-Nicky C.

 

I've got your back

Tuesday I had an inspiring, encouraging, grounding and emotional conversation with Heidi DeCoux.  She is taking on a project for me in regards to the upcoming My Healthy Beginning Experience, and I am participating in a class of hers for which I needed additional guidance.

I was really honest with her about where I am in my life...charging forward with My Healthy Beginning, when many others would have thrown in the towel and perservering where there is nothing but passion keeping us going, developing and producing the first annual My Healthy Beginning Experience family event in Minneapolis and Seattle this summer and fall, growing and managing my team which has grown by six people in the last three weeks, mastering my time management to work effectively, actively raising two amazing kids, developing a partnership to bring the wholesome essence of My Healthy Beginning to family venues across the nation ( more to come soon, I promise!), and processing the inner turmoil of extended family struck by the powerful grip of addiction.  Did this all really take an entire paragraph?  Yikes.

So after throwing this all on the table, which is all quite manageable when done well, Heidi gave me this little talk ( had no idea how badly I needed it) about support.  She reminded me that this is my year, this is the year for My Healthy Beginning, this is our time as a family of four, and she reminded me of how hard I have worked for this and she reminded me to ask for help.  For those of you who know me, that's like the most difficult thing in the world for me to do.  So counterintuitive to the helpful person/world police that I am, but, it's difficult nonetheless.  She basically urged me to reach out and ask for the support I need in making life a little more simple and said that if I ask fifteen people for support, five will jump in immediately, no holds barred and say , "I've got your back"....the other ten say no not because they don't want to but because they don't get it.  I get that, that makes sense....then I think of where to start and literally  want to crawl in a hole.  See-don't know where to start.  Then, she pops up out of her chair (maybe she didn't, but it felt like the Tom Cruise-Katie Holmes couch jumping love proclamation thing) announcing, "You know what, I've got your back" and gives me an offer I cannot in a million years  refuse.  I emailed her tonight to tell her I could feel the hair standing on my face...yes, on my face, when she said that.

It's a simple thing, that whole I've-Got-Your-Back thing, but really great, and I'm so glad I was reminded of it.

the whappit

Ever heard of a Whappit?  I'd offer a look-see, but after five attempts at a frozen Typepad screen in uploading the photo, so I'll have to keep you in suspense.

Yesterday Sunny came in from outside, so wet from the damp snow I could nearly wring her snowclothes out.  She had a wide and bright smile and was bursting at the seams with excitement.  I could tell there was great news  to be shared.  She had found a Whappit.  Having never heard of this myself, I was eager to see this newfangled contraption that "Breaks ice apart just like that", and is "strong as ever to hold up a whole snow fort".  Yes, you're all dying to know and want one for your kids, right? 

I opened the back door, ran out onto the deck and down to the patio with my slippers now covered in snow to see this thing that had clearly brought such joy into her world, and found, on top of the sled covered with the marveled broken ice sheets, a Stick, Whappit.  Yes, this Whappit is  a sturdy 1 1/2 in diameter and about 18 inches long.  It's made up of a fine wood grain and the covering looks surprisingly like that of the treefort in the front yard.  If I could show you the picture here you'd see the knotty detail up and down the outside and you'd want one for yourself.  They likely retail at Toys R Us for $18.95 ( on sale), but we got it for free ( from the aforementioned tree fort).

So, I encourage you, when in need of Toys, to take a look around:  cardboard toilet paper rolls, wooden dowels, dried beans, large and small sticks, tree bark, soft pine boughs, a hole at the root of a tree, and a side of imagination will take your children to magical places.

snowflake prints

After being recently inspired by Brainstorm Studio ( amazing story, be sure to read her profile), I sat and stared at the windows in our home lovingly covered by large white snowflakes taped to them.  I stared at the snowflakes on these windows and though I thought them beautiful the first time I arrived home to see them everywhere, this moment particularly captured me when I realized every single of them is unique. 

Of course snowflakes are all different, I just hadn't really looked at the ones Sunny cut from paper.  I then realized I couldn't part with a single one as the potential for each design is so mighty.  This has me thinking...t shirts, napkin prints, homemade wrapping paper.  So out came the acrylic paints and into the closets we dove.  We grabbed a handful of shirts ( when one shops at consignment stores one need not feel guilty about painting on her clothing) and of course the one I chose was white.  Here's a little secret:  though I love the simple white t shirt, they don't last a second.  I think this one landed a chocolate protein shake stain within minutes, if not seconds, of being put on, and it's now covered in a Double Spade Sort of Design.

Here we are doing our work and enjoying the results!