I had tried Tom’s of Maine’s stick deodorant and was pretty certain that they were useless for me. I wondered why I thought this might be different than the stick, but for the price which is the same price as 1.9 oz. of  Arm and Hammer roll-on deodorant for 3 oz. of  Tom’s product, if it worked it was a great buy.  

I put it to the test and believe me, I have been sweating like a work horse, and so far it is working wonderfully!  In fact, it was so wonderful and so cheap that I went back and bought 4 more bottles of it. I have not found anyone on-line that compares to the price I paid but even at 4.09 it would be worth every penny. 

On the website, Skin Deep: A cosmetic data base  of products and what they do to our health and environment, it came out a 2 on a scale of 1-10.  That beats Arm and Hammer’s products by at least 3 points except for one deodorant stick which rated a 3.  I can go for that.

I tried Burt’s Bees Sage Deodorant once, but found that it had allergens that I couldn’t handle. I still feel that if it would work for anyone, it would be a great product but it is a bit more expensive. It’s hard to be natural and frugal in this day and age. It can be done though, with a bit of practice. 

I would love to put any other natural deodorants that people have found work for them and also are inexpensive in my list so if you have any, please let me know. 

Until then, I hope that you keep smelling sweet!

I am going to learn to reuse or do without. I will also work on finding frugal ways to buy my clothing when needed. I still would like to stick with organic materials when possible or at least buy second hand. We shall see what the next few months bring!

We began last week preparing for the day they told him. It came Saturday as a registered letter. No thank you for working with us, no we’re sorry. Simply put, he had been dismissed because he had not met one of their goals for the year. It wasn’t like he was far off from the goal, he was just short of completing it by a just a little.  They told him he was short in 3 areas but when he reviewed everything there was only one he missed his goal on. Restructuring is the reason. Getting rid of a group of people that one person didn’t want to be there, of course he was able to sway the group into it. Now, even the supervisor over my husband is going to lose her job because you actually have to have people to supervise, when it’s just you and one other the policy is there is no supervisor. I don’t think she realized this. 

Well, after the earth quit falling away from my feet and I could breathe, I began doing some searching. I take quite a few medications due to my Fibromyalgia and other health issues. Six different meds to be exact. When I realized our insurance was going to walk away, I panicked. I have been without money before and also health. I could live without the extravagances of life, but I could not live without my health. First things first, I had to find ways to get my medications. Oh, they are all pretty cheap except two…the one, if bought in the USA, would cost me 168 dollars a month, the second would be around 200. Along with the other medicines that are generic, that’s a lot of money. I have a wonderful doctor that has been helping me clear my body of toxins, get the sleep I need and taking care of the pain which was almost constant before I met him.  I don’t want to give this doctor up!

The doctor helped me tremendously and now, the earth is beginning to turn at a more or less normal pace. I still have moments of complete panic but I am reminded that there is no need to be panicked or afraid.  God has a plan, even if I don’t.

I often think of a quote by Doc Holiday to Wayatt Earp in the movie “Tombstone”.  He said, ” There is no normal life, Wyatt, there’s just life.” He’s right. Money doesn’t mean a thing if you don’t have happiness and health. Life doesn’t mean a thing unless you’re content where you are at this very moment. Boy, sometimes that’s a tough thing to do…

Contentment…

My grandmother and grandfather never had much, but they always had enough. They never had fancy cars, and I can even remember when I was small, going to the outhouse because they had no indoor bathroom. I don’t think that really mattered to them. They were happy. That’s what I want to be, happy. 

When I think of my husband the years he worked for the group that fired him, I see a lot of frustration and fatigue on his part. I see the times he couldn’t enjoy the family because he was so tired from driving and working in the city. Always changing due to changes in the departments he was in, he never felt settled and always like someone was out to get him. He wasn’t happy…neither was I. I have missed him for most of our married life.

He’s been home for a week now, and yes, we fought once this past week too. It didn’t stop us from loving one another and I think it actually brought us closer together. He seems so content. He seems to be relaxed even though we worry about what to do next. I am glad he lost his job because he seems to be happier. That in turn makes me happy… even in the chaos.

Will I have money? I don’t know, I really am glad for what God my Creator  has decided to give us though.  One thing I do know, happiness doesn’t come wrapped in money. No, you have to find it on your own…be content, know that it’s all ok. As long as we have our health, we will be fine. When this life passes, we will be rich beyond belief, but of course, it won’t be money that makes us rich then either. We have already found what brings true happiness…love. It doesn’t matter how much or little we have, happiness will be ours in the end.

The Second thing I noticed is that I am not having muscular clumsiness like I used to. It was getting to the point that each month the a few days right before my period I would have clumsiness where everything I did I couldn’t do right. I was worried I was getting multiple sclerosis or something of that degree. I certainly would have classified it as PMDD. This month, the second month free from chemicals and I have NO CLUMSINESS!! What a great thing!

As for cramping, I have just a feeling of slight cramp but not the intense almost sick cramps I had before. 

I have literally no urinary discomfort as well, as long as I avoid diet sodas. They are the kicker for me. I wonder if it is a preservative because it doesn’t matter if it’s Nutrasweet or Splenda they use for sweetener. 

I have been drinking lots of ginger tea and also chai/ginger tea. I think this is also helping as it is decaffeinated and causes no irritation. 

This month I am using my new Purple Lady Cup and I think it will be even a smoother ride than last month.

So as far as I can tell, the use of cloth pads and a menstrual cup is a total bonus for us with Fibromyalgia and chemical sensitivities. I at this point am convinced that the chemicals were causing health issues for me and I will absolutely never turn back!

My friend’s team lost their match, but that didn’t matter. You should have seen them all standing in the middle of the rink lifting their arms for more cheers from the crowd. On girl stood there so long with the most joyous smile on her face, lifting her arms and jumping up and down, the whole while the American crowd was yelling, “USA, USA!” that the coach finally had to yell at her to get out of the center of the arena so they could take pictures, which of course, she hammed up in as well! It was adorable!

I was especially surprised and delighted that yesterday, a team of snowshoers who had never seen snow before but had learned to snowshoe on desert sand actually won the Gold Medal for their event! The team was from Libya and if you could have seen the joy on everyone’s faces for their efforts at these games you would have been in the same place I was, a complete mushball! 

My 21 year old son went yesterday wearing his brown duck coat and a pair of lace-up ropers and a cowboy hat. As he walked by the South African team, one of the participants said, “A real AMERICAN cowboy!” and jumped up to shake his hand…sure, he can ride a horse, maybe even rope a bit too. A cowboy he is not!  Ah, but the whole thing was joyous to watch. Their excitement at seeing an American that actually wore a cowboy hat! My son is naturally full of laughter and joy so this really drew the people to him yesterday. He as well as we made some wonderful new friends and felt like the honesty of the world lies within families like these, their hearts are pure and good. Both the players and the families showed us how wonderful life can be and that the simplicities of it are truly the joys.

My son and his wife are expecting a baby now, she wants to stay home and care for her family. They have bought a home from the landlord, actually it’s the landlord’s home. He is 84 and they have written in the contract of the house that he stays as long as he can and they will care for him until they are unable to do so at home. To top this off, they both have gotten their license to administer medications (they did this yesterday morning) and have made the choice to bring a handicapped client into their home to care for and that way my daughter-in-law can stay home and raise a family. This is the way she grew up. Her mother did the exact same thing. my daughter-in-law knows all about it because she’s lived it and has never quit having the giving heart. She works at a nursing home now and people there all treasure her help. 

Yes, I truly can see goodness working and I am so blessed and honored to have these people in my life. 

I am honored to have the chance to be so near the Special Olympics World Winter Games so that I have the chance to see love in action as well.

Plans for Solar Cookers

The website above has lots of info about solar cooking and the results of my experiments this summer I will post here. 

Also,  Backwoods Home  has a lot of information on solar cookers and loads of other information as well. 

Happy Cooking!

(Yay! I figured out how to name my links!)

 We are looking into ways to make our home more self-sufficient and I believe the time to change is now. Hopefully we will have more economical ways we can convert our home to renewable resources than we have had in the past. Hopefully, we will be able to go to the market for only things like fresh vegatables and milk. 

On another note, I have been reading that people are starting to go to cloth instead of toilet paper. I seriously would do this! I kind of have to do things in small incriments for my family. If  I do something wacky too quick they seem to think that I have lost all sense of reality when I really do understand the whole need to become self-sufficient. It costs us between 15 and 20 dollars a month just in toilet paper for this household. I hope to change that to 5 dollars someday.  At least for me it makes sense to think about it. 

I found this great blog on one woman’s excursions into this realm of decision making.   Eco-quandry

In the meantime, I will continue to ponder my options and while I do I will wonder if the sale of flannel has went up tremendously in the past year or two.

I came across this website, www.myrecycledbags.com  which has a myriad of things created from plastic bags. I particularly like this one 
#mce_temp_url#  (I am assuming that I am not very good at adding links or perhaps unable to do it with the right name, but the link works!) This pattern is crocheted and is very practical and can be used for many trips to the market.  

If anyone has good recycle ideas I would be happy to know about them and I will post them here with your permission.

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