Okay I'm doing it!

Let it be known that I am going to attempt to give up toilet paper.

(Actually I already have, I've been off the stuff for about 3 days)

Whenever I think about this I think about my teacher who would say to us. "I think it's crazy that gst is supposed to only be on products that aren't considered a necessity to life. EVERYONE needs toothpaste and toilet paper."

I used to snicker, I haven't used toothpaste in over a year.

Jokes on him. I need neither.

Bwahahaha

I've been busy

I recently got a job at a cafeteria that is so incredibly understaffed that during my first 2 weeks of work I have managed to get over 10 hours of over time.

It's been crazy, and to top it off, some of the people who do work there.... don't even work, so it's really more short-staffed than it needs to be. Fun stuff.

The fridge is on at my mothers house...

And it's sooooo bizarre for me.

I just find it so strange to look in there and see so much food and nothing that I want to eat. Like... Nothing.

Oh and I ate a piece of fruit from out of there yesterday and it was so cold on my teeth. Yucky.

I'm done work

I finished work for the summer, and it kinda feels like winning the lottery! WOOHOO!!!

I've been working with the heli-skiing company I worked with(and quit) like 3 years ago. It's been fun, but I now know for sure that it is not the thing for me, and that I want to be where the love of my life is(that's Rene in case you're wondering)

So, now what?

All I know is that I want to learn more about chocolate. I love it, it's what I really want to do with my life. So we will see how that goes, hopefully I can just find a job with one of the other chocolate shops in Edmonton for now, but I would LOVE LOVE LOOOOVVVEEE to go and work in say... Belgium. :) but who wouldn't?

As for other updates:

The fridge is still off

So are the lights

I have been using regular toilet paper lately(With not being home and.... you know... that whole being lazy thing)

The car is re-insured(Booooo)

My sourdough starter is.... tired, but kinda alive

The computer is usually off

I've been dabbling in making my own hair gel(Successfully I might add, just working on making it last more than 3 days before rotting)

I've been sugaring my legs instead of using a razor(Yeah, the razor is still there, but I'm working on that)

Still no shampoo or toothpaste

AND I've been doing oil pulling... most days(I've been living out of a suitcase for a while so some days my oil is still packed)


... that's all I can think of right now.


What have you been up to?

I've got a new job

The only thing I don't like about it, is that I'm out of town for it.

It's actually an 8 hour drive away from home :(

Which means I won't get to see Rene as much. Which makes me sad.

But! On the positive side, if I do this, and I get a job with them for the winter, it means that Rene will be able to go to school next year(Not the one coming up but the one after that) Which is good. :)

So, things are good. :)


Update on the fridgeless-ness.

I like it. Rene doesn't seem to have any problems with it either. Our milk does go bad faster. But we just drink it faster. Milk is really the only thing we have that needs to be refrigerated... We buy meat the day we need it, and cheese lasts a while. butter we keep on the counter anyways, and eggs have been doing fine just being flipped everyday. :)

My family thinks we are crazy. Personally I'm very proud of us. :)

This is what it looked like when I did it.

Since this picture I have started to use the empty fridge part as storage. and our freezer portion is much much much emptier. All we have in there right now is some jam, milk, a little bit of cheese and the ice that keeps it all cool. :)


I LOVE not drinking ice cold water. Mmmm. So much better.

If all your friends were jumping off a bridge...

Would you?


Probably not because that would just be stupid. But if all my friends were turning off their fridges, would I feel inspiered and try to follow suit? Probably... yes.

I have been reading about alot of people who have turned off their fridges, and I feel incredibly excited when I hear that, I may even dream about it a little bit, but just a little bit. :)

Rene was initially very very against it, saying that I was trying to change his life. Which I thought was a little bit over dramatic, I HATE cold water anyways, we only keep our beverages cold because of him, and he doesn't even drink that much water anyways. I think I might have found a solution though, we are going to try to turn off the fridge, and use the frezer portion of our fridge as a cooler, for now. I've said that if it isn't working, we can turn it back on.


Who know's maybe this will fail miserably, maybe it will free us just a little bit more.

I'm hoping to turn the beast off this weekend, if I do, I will let you all know of the progress on monday. :)

Have a good weekend.

3 weeks sans computer, and lovin it

I would apologize for not posting for the past few weeks, but I'm not going to, 1 because no one wants to hear it, and 2 because I'm not sorry.

The reason I haven't posted on here in almost 3 weeks is that we turned our computer off after I made my last post and simply haven't found a need to turn it on yet.

It acutally started out as a dare to Rene, He had the day off work and I simply said "I bet you can't leave the computer turned off all day, you'll go crazy." so he left it off, and I said the same thing the next day. And we just haven't turned it back on yet. We don't need to. My phone connects to the internet and so does the wii(I'm on the wii right now).

I think we're both happy with it, I haven't really felt the need to turn it on.(Rene just reminded me that skype is on the computer, which is what he calls his mum on)

With all the extra time I've had from not being on the computer at all, I've been reading alot, and the library is my best friend(I have 6 books out right now, and I think I've started a book a day habbit) One of the books I read was "Your money or your life" which Frugal+Urban suggested on her blog(The link is over on the right, great blog, go take a peak) GREAT GREAT GREAT book, Love it. Going to be following it. I actutally went a scoured the secondhand book stores in the area for it, and found it for 10 dollars(Which is something the authors would be proud of I think. And I'm making Rene read it. It's something I feel like I can stand behind.

If you are at all interested it's something worth taking a look at, and maybe a quick read through.

Also, Audrey, if you read this, I did sign up for ravelry, you should email me and I will tell you my account name. :)

Till next time my friends

Seriously. Stop with the sugar alcohols

Please.

Stop eating sorbitol, xylitol and any other "tol"s you have in your home.

I know that they aren't as bad for you as white sugar is.

But they aren't good for you.

I have a HUGE beef with the "Tol"s of the world. You may think you are doing your body good using them. You're not. Your body doesn't recognize them as sugars and doesn't get any satisfaction from eating them, WHICH MEANS you will still want more sugar. So while you aren't ingesting sugar, you're also not making your body happy, and you will just want more sugar right after you've consumed your "tol".




Please.


Just stop.

>:(

I'm done.

I've got the knitting bug again

I've been knitting a lot lately, like every chance I get.

I just finished a pair of socks that I got a little bit anxious with and made them a tad too small. :) Fun part is, I knit them at the same time. I read about a way of knitting 2 socks at once that looked really hard, so I had to try. :) It's called!!!! Double knitting. It wasn't super hard, but it wasn't easy either, it's very unforgiving if you make a mistake. :) It was super cool though.

Well that's what I've been up to.

Do you knit or crochet?

My hikers :)

I love my hiking boots. :)

I was walking to the store in them the other day while it was raining and the poor things were like a sieve, I haven't waterproofed them in about 3 years. I got some water proofing and cured that lickety-split.

I've had my hikers since I was 14, almost 10 years now.

They are still in great shape.

They have lived though lots, a summer of mowing grass at a golf course, which gave me a very weird tan line on my ankles :)

I used to wear them to the ski hill everyday, just untied.

They used to go though shoe laces like they were going out of style, but when I was younger my aunt gave me a pair of leather shoe laces, and I haven't had to change them since. They did break once, but I was able to tie them back together.

They still look fairly new for the most part, they do not look 10 years old.

They are still comfortable, very.

They are awesome.

I'm so happy that my mum insisted I get some nice leather hikers instead of some crappy cheap fabric ones which were "cooler" I've probably saved around $1000 NOT buying hikers over the years, plus... well I haven't been buying hikers and we all know how green no buying stuff is. :)



Do you own anything that you've had for years and still love?

I did not get the job.

So I talked to rick on monday, and right off the bat he said to me "I just have to tell you, and I'm really sad about this, one of the pastry chefs from the winter called my earlier today and took the job I was offering you."

So basically the decision was made for me. I had been of the mindset that I was going to take the job and not see Rene all summer, and I think we were both getting used to the idea, but then it was gone. I can't say I'm terribly upset about it. I'm relieved actually.

Because I'm next up on the list if rick ever needs someone, so basically next time a pastry chef is needed, he will be calling me. :) Which is nice, but then I'll be in the same situation, I'll be taking a job that will allow me to have no home life what-so-ever.

Which is sad, but it will be helping my career by leaps and bounds... which is good right? Money over happiness, my mother would be proud.

(Sorry about all this I really need to vent)

I've come to realize, my mother and I have very very different wold views. I'm of the happiness is everything vein of life whereas my mother is of the money rules all vein of life.

For example, yesterday my mother called and we haven't talked in a while because she was just in Hawaii with my dad for 3 weeks(How hard for them :P)so she asked about my new job, I told her that I love it and that my hours have just changed, before I was working 6 hours a day for 4 days a week, now I'll be working 8 hours a day for 3 days a week, which both Rene and I are fine with, I'm happy, I love my job, I'm where I want to be in life, and at home. After hearing this my mum promptly asked where I was going to be applying for my second job, so I said "I'm not getting one..." To which she said "Oh, are you sick lately?"(Which means "The only reason you could possibly have for not working AT LEAST 40 hours a week is that you are terminally ill") So I said that no I wasn't. So she said "Well, I don't see how that can work... you'll never survive."


We just "Survived" and entire winter on Rene's part time job. Granted we had to borrow money from my parents a few times, but for the most part we did it ourselves. Why is it so hard for my mum to see that I'm happy where I am. I never ever want to talk to her about money or jobs, it just upsets me and she makes me feel like a bag of dirt. I love my mum and we really get along great, a used to go to the bar with her all the time when we worked together. She's fun, we just can't talk about work. Ever.

At least that's my only beef with my mum, I'm lucky. :)

Just needed to vent.

Why with the hard decisions...

How on earth did this happen?

Yesterday when I logged onto my email, I found a lovely little note from the head of food and beverage for CMH. They want me to work for them. Full time. For the summer and hopefully for the winter.

I have never really heard of this happening, first I have never heard of someone being asked to work there, and second I have never heard of someone being asked to work full time right off the bat.

It's a HUGE opportunity. And I really don't want to pass it up.

BUT I don't know if I'll be happier there or here.

What is up with Q?

I'm glad you asked. :)

-I'm working now, at a chocolate shop, which is exactly where I wanted to be right now, so I'm very very pleased with that. My boss is crazy, but it's okay, I'm pretty sure I won't even have to see her in like a week.

-I HAVEN'T USED SHAMPOO IN OVER A YEAR! Awesome. My hair feels AMAZING. And I used some henna dye a few weeks ago, it's all washed out now, but it did a GREAT job. I loved it.

-I quit taking birth control. I'm now using the billings ovulation method. I'm not FULLLLLLY using it yet because of my system being all messed up from taking the pill before, but it's starting to come around. :) I feel more in control of my emotions now which is nice.

-The only "personal hygiene" product I use is moisturizer, and only because I already owned them, once I'm out I'm going to be making my own.

-I'm still continuing to be awesome.

I'm so hardcore I should just dress in mud!

THAT IS RIGHT! I'm super hardcore. And when I say that I should let you know, I mean I'm a hardcore cyclist now. :)

I started biking to school at the beginning of march(You know, when there wasn't snow on the ground in Edmonton) which was SO SO SO amazing. I would bike to school at 5:30 am and then go and sit in the sauna for like 30 minutes, have a shower then do some homework and go to class. You can't even imagine how great you feel after all that. I LOVED IT. But now that school is over I don't have a sauna to sit in every morning, so I've been biking to work which takes me... maybe 10 or 15 minutes depending on where I have to stop for lights and stuff like that.

I must say, biking is SO much better than taking the bus. I always end up with a nasty headache whenever I take the bus to the mall and back home, but when I bike I just feel... well not great, but a lot better. :)

I just wish that driving on the road wasn't so darned scary. People from Edmonton DO NOT like to share the road.

Okay Okay

So I'm basically done school now, I'm just doing some work experience, then we have a graduation ceremony next friday, then it's over.

So me. Right now I'm making some tea biscuits for breakfast and I'm just going to relax for the day, because I have no more homework ever. :)

I should be posting more often.(I no longer have an excuse not to)

Neti-pot sucess!

I have owned a neti pot for 2 years now. I have been using a neti pot for 2 years(Off and on)

But apparently, I have been using it WRONG for those 2 years.

I found a post on a blog that I lost the link to last week, and OH MY GOODNESS! Neti pots actually work!

I got some of the biggest boogers out of my nose the other morning, I could breath!
It was possibly the best morning I've had it a long time.


I'm still sick by the way, I think it's a sinus infection, but it's dying off slowly.

It was about a year ago...

That I was really really sick. So sick that the doctors wanted me to stay at the hospital and get numerous saline IVs because I was dehydrated. But well enough that when my dad demanded he was taking me home, they said okay, but made him promise to bring me back for a billion more blood tests.

So that means that it was almost a year ago that I discouvered the wonderful Nourishing traditions, and became somewhat obsessed.

So in a way, I'm so very happy I was so sick a year ago, because if I hadn't been I wouldn't have stayed home from work and looked at a million blogs speaking praises to the book.

The reason I'm thinking about this is because, I'm sick right now(I have a terrible immune system). I should be sleeping, and I am tired, but I just don't want to be asleep right now. So I'm biding my time by writing a post on my phone. :) Then I will go to bed.

Anyways, thank you to all the wonderful people who's blogs have so inspired me over the past year to be a better, healthier person. Really, thank you.

Now I can go to bed.

Easy, fast, good, dumplings...

Not like the Chinese or Japanese dumplings you might be thinking of, I'm talking about European soup style dumplings. They are so SO easy to make. Super cheap, I'd be willing to say that you have EVERYTHING you need to make them in your home right now.


You can make them in a matter of minutes. Here's what you do.

Put some stock in a wide pot on the stove, leave it to simmer(I'm impatient and crank my stove to high, then adjust it to a simmer once it's boiled)

Then, get a bowl, mix 1 cup of flour(Sprouted would be best), 2 teaspoons Baking power, and 1/2 a teaspoon of salt.

Break an egg into a 1 cup measuring cup and fill the rest of the way with milk, mix into the flour mixture, if it's so dry you can't even mix it add a little more milk, if it's too wet add more flour, you want this to be as stiff as possible for the best dumplings.

Now all you have to do is throw little spoonfuls of the dough into the simmering water, making sure not to crowd the pot, put the lid on and simmer for about 10 minutes.

You are done, easy stuff right?

These taste best when eaten right after they are made.

The best part about this recipe is that it is SO diverse, you can add whatever you want to the dumplings for flavor(Think cheese, or green onions) if you add your extras before you add the liquids it will incorporate easier.

You could use gravy instead of stock for a heartier meal.

And the stock doesn't have to be plain, throw some meat and veggies in there, now you've got a real soup, and it didn't take that long did it?

As a side note, the ones in the picture I made by putting the dough in a ziploc bag and squeezing out the dough, snipping off little gobs at a time. When you make them by spooning them out they look so much more rustic!


Shared at:

Real food Wednesday @ Cheeseslave(Jan 6)