Sometimes, after a long hike, you just have to sit and watch the leaves fall off of the trees,
look at each other,
smile,
ask for a snack,
share,
and laugh.
Groceries
When I grocery shop, I do not look at the price unless it is excessive. I instead try to decipher through labeling (yes, click on this link and you might learn something new about how they try to trick us) what I should buy for my family to eat. My husband was the leader in our movement toward organic a couple of years ago. Now I too look for USDA Certified Organic, which is the best we can do next to going to a farmer's market, growing our own, or hunting and gathering. I also look to see from where the product was shipped. I'm interested in the food that has the most nutrients, fewest contaminants, and was grown closest to home.
It is not stressful to shop this way, but it is expensive. However, I do think it is less expensive than buying packaged and processed food, because that you tend to eat more of because of the low fiber and nutrients and also waste because it doesn't taste that great. We usually spend over $200 every week or two. This week we already had a lot of vegetables, some fruit, cheese and free-range chicken eggs on hand, so the bill was only $100. Not much packaging to recycle. Mostly fruits and veggies. And a pack of markers, for our son's preschool class. It would be a bit more if I had to buy soap or toilet paper, but our diaper bill is really nothing, just the cost of electricity for the washer, maybe $5/month. There ya go, boys, compare that to what you eat and spend on your families 30 years from now.
The Sunny Side of a Rainy Day
I feel like the stars have been aligning lately. Nothing big, just small. Here is just a snippet of them.
I was cleaning the house and my baby handed me my address book, which had been lost, and whose contents was the completion to a letter I wrote to my dying uncle several weeks ago.
I forgot to tell a hike leader I wasn't coming along until the day of the hike and when I went to my email to find the leader's phone number I read they had just canceled the hike due to heavy rain.
I found the cord to transfer photos from my camera to the computer, which had also been lost, for a long time just in time to work on some photo projects.
It rained, but I completed several projects including a photo book for a friend, some prints for my mom, as well as uploading photos to print for our own books. My house is clean. The laundry is put away.
My baby cried all week because of a fever and new teeth, but because of his reduced energy he discovered the greatness of both books and television.
I was dreading driving to the far side town twice a day two times a day to attend both my son's preschool classes and my photography classes, but the preschool teacher told me there is another class we can enter that has fewer students, older students, is held later in the day when the sun will be out in winter, and is on other days of the week. Also, I know through play dates and swim lessons a few of the families in this other class and they are mature and kind company.
And, look, the sun has come out for a bit.
