"I'm too lazy to come up with a title and actually forgot one initially...."

Hello, lovebugs.

How's life? Marvelous, I hope.

So...remember a few weeks back when I posted that huge long post where I talked about a buuunch of stuffs, including my ventures to Town Talk and a quick brush-over on fair trade vs. ethical trade? Well, if not, you can refresh your memory here. My amazing big brother who is much more well-versed in these topics than I am gave a little more insight into Celestial Seasonings as a company. Here's what he had to say (very good to know):

As for celestial seasonings, it really depends on how deep you're willing to go. celestial seasonings is owned by the hain celestial group, which is a publicly traded company with majority ownership going to heinz, and other large shareholders being exxon-mobile, phillip morris, monsanto, citigroup, walmart, and lockheed martin. all of these companies are unethical. that means that every product you buy from hain celestial puts money into the pockets of big tobacco, the war industry, the (arguably) most insidious agricultural company in the world, one of the largest oil companies (environmental destuction much? talk about the opposite of stewardship...), a company responsible for the collapse of of the u.s. small business domain and the transference of work and vast sums of money out of our local economies and directly to china, and a financial institution that received enormous bailout monies (to the tune of the u.s. government covering 90% of it's losses on it's $335 billion portfolio), who's largest single shareholder is the prince of saudi arabia, and who awarded approx. 1200 employees bonuses ranging from $1 million to $10 million *EACH* after it received bailout money. on the surface celestial seasonings may seem like an ethical choice, but you don't have to dig too deeply to see some of the problems with supporting this company. but like i said, it really depends on how deep you want to go with it.

So, for those of you who were wondering, there you have it - a run-down of who Celestial Seasonings is...kinda depressing, but good to know.

Let's see, what else is there to say...

OH! The J-Man did an outstanding job opening night of Anybody Out There? The kid was pulled into the show last minute and had a week to learn an entire role...he's awesome...just sayin'. The entire show was a hit, but my did that thief steal the show?! (It's funny cause he played a thief...hahaha...ok, I'll stop now) All the kiddos did a great job. I love that they all know me now and always come see how I liked the show or if they see me before the show starts come say how excited they are that I'm there to watch it and hope I enjoy the show - they -- are -- awesome! I also get lots of hugs from them, which is always a plus :]

{I'm not ridiculously proud of my little brother or anything...}

And, tomorrow, Fariz has a trumpet competition that the public is allowed to watch! Who's excited?!?! =] I'm pumped to see (er...hear??) how he does - he tells me that he has a solo in the first piece and a duet and TWO solos in the second one!! Yeah...he's kind of a big deal.

I am officially done getting all of my TB tests out of the way for the U, I sent my final transcript in, have all of my letters, now it's just a matter of filling out some final paper work and finding a place where I, BigBoy, Jakers, Little Bubba & Tevye, and Squishy (if he's still around...) can crash...that won't break the little bank of this future grad student, haha. I'm optimistic, for sure. I've found quite a few places that allow cats and doggies (the kicker on the dogs is the weight limit...Jake is not under 25lbs, hmmm...)....and the roaches and beetles....well, we just won't tell them about those dudes - they really don't need to know ;)

Nothing new on the car search front...contemplated looking at a **little** Toyota Echo, anyone familiar with them?? The estimated gas mileage is AWESOME!! We'll see, I'm taking this as slowly as possible. While poor old Cornelius is in no condition to brave the frozen tundra with me he is still running, so a "new" car is not imperative at this moment in time.

Welps...I'm hungry, so I'm outty. Lata!

Shalom,
~MW

P.S. - here's Josh's latest Man Talk post.

Wata, wata...and chickens!!

Soooo sorry for the crazy long time between posts...myyyy bad. I needed a little break...and I was busy in CS all last week ;)

So, what are we going to talk about today?? Water...and some chickies.

Water
So...have you ever stopped and thought about how many plastic water bottles you we throw away yearly, monthly, weekly...daily?? Take a look at this article posted on MSNBC March of 2005 (you can imagine how much the numbers have changed in the last 5 years). The numbers are astounding... Sure, we use recycled plastic water bottles to make lots of stuff, but the article makes a good point when it says that, "...most bottled water is consumed away from home, usually at a park, in an office or even while driving — areas where there's usually no recycling." So true...think about it. Where are you when you usually guzzle down that "crystal clear" water? Where there isn't a recycling bin...there is an astounding number of homes that aren't equipped with recycling bins either... Problem? I'd say yes. So...what are we to do about this? Buy sturdy, long-lasting water bottles! I know, I know there is always the scare of purchasing a long-lasting plastic water bottles because of the fear of BPAs (this is also popping up in aluminum bottles)...do your research before you buy it, kids - most bottles now-a-days will tell you right on the package if they are BPA free; if you don't believe them do some digging around on the interwebs...take like 15min and check stuff out before you buy it. BUT, if you want something totally risk-free, then I'd say you are making excellent use of your time in reading through this blog post right now!! Check this out:

Pangea Water Bottles and Klean Kanteens are both eco-friendly companies that make 18/8 food-grade stainless-steel, reusable, recyclable, sturdy water bottles!

Pangea's mission is to take profits from their water bottle sales and drill water wells in developing countries so that the people in those communities can have clean water essentially at their fingertips! They won't have to walk miles to just get some sort of water (usually dirty) allowing them to go to school, work, and so much more. Not to mention that these wells go deep so the water is clean, which means less chances of illness, which means fewer premature deaths!! What an awesome idea, yah? AND, for you Texans, it was founded right down/across/up the way in Waco by a Baylor grad - cool.
Klean Kanteen has been around for quite a while now. They started in 2004 in Chico, CA (Plug for my Chico readers!). Their story is pretty cool in that it was a group of Chicoans (what doooo you call yourselves??) putting together resources from a local hardware store to make their own eco-friendly reusable water bottles. Neat!! Their little business has absolutely exploded into a ginormous global name - while still maintaining fair labor standards that are important to the heart of their business. Props, kids, props.
Sooooo...if you're in the market for a non-earth killing water bottle (which we all should be...hello stewardship of the earth...) check these two companies ooooout! Both have great heart and ideas. Take care of our world and it's peeps, yo!


Chickens!
Now, for the chickies! So, not sure if any of you keep up with the Organic Consumers Association (you should), but they posted this video today and I had to share it:

So yeah...think about it. Think about those chickies you are gobbling up and where they come from - remember my post referencing Josh's Food, Inc. post?? This is the same concept.


Hokay! G'night!

Shalom!
~MW

P.S. - check this out!! Crazy that buying raw milk via milk clubs could become illegal...

Oh, haylo!

Happy Friday, all! I trust you are having/have had a blessed day in our Savior. I know I certainly have...it's the little things, fo sho.

Anywho, how are you? What's new and exciting in your life? What can I be going to the Lord in prayer about for you? How are you??

I have a confession to make...wait for it...wait for it... Ok, here it is:

I am incredibly out of shape...INCREDIBLY.

That said, I have something to, errr...brag {?} about... I STARTED WORKING OUT THIS WEEK!! Whoop! So, I knew I was terribly out of shape before I started working out, but when you do a very rigorous modest workout circa 9am and are already feeling that tell-tale achy soreness by oh...4pm that afternoon, that's when you know - you're pathetically out of shape - there's just no other way to describe it. But, even though I am still in ridiculous pain today...I still did my workout! I'm not gonna lie...I almost decided against the multi-stop push-ups today, though...We hatesss them precioussss! But, I am proud to say that I pushed through them! {Haha...pun!} I'm contemplating adding in running next week...we'll see how that goes :D

Yesterday, after our weekly breakfast date with Chamilton, Catia and I hit-up Town Talk to peruse their latest loot! Them was dangerous waters, they were...! But, we were very proud of our discounted purchases...and our exercised restraint when it came to saying "no" to some of our desired booty. I came away with some delicious bries and some hummus and some **fresh** rosemary {Oh, it's heavenly}, and teas. All for just over $6!! I was impressed.

A little mini-rant corresponding to the rant in my previous post: If you can't make/grow it yourself, buy fair trade! All but one of the teas Catia and I came away with were fair trade products - the other was an ethical trade product. So, there is a difference between fair trade and ethical trade. Ethical trade doesn't, apparently have any real regulated standards - they are generally left up to the producer, from what I understand. Whereas fair trade has heavy standards instituted across the board for any company that wants to carry the fair trade label. Ethical trade is still better than nothing, in my opinion, but I guess that's left up to the individual consumer. Anyways, the fair trade teas we ran away with are Saphara teas - soooo good. And, the ethical trade tea we got is actually Celestial Seasonings. Now, CS put a little blurb under their ethical trade "stamp" that says this:

We've been working to establish Sustainable harvests and fair wages for more than 30 years. By buying this product, you're supporting ethical trading practices that benefit the people and areas that produce our ingredients. THANK YOU!

Sounds pretty legit...and, after skimming their website, it seems the be a pretty well grounded statement. Anyone know any specifics about Celestial Seasonings? Other than the fact that they have a number of just plain awesome teas, haha.

Health Au Naturel! As many of you know I've been testing out numerous natural hygiene product recipes. I felt it was probably time to give you all a little update on how that has been going.

• Hair care: I started this out following SimpleMom's hair care regimen, but I just couldn't do it. The transition period was just too much for me. By day 9 or so my hair was in an absolutely horrid state - I couldn't comb through it and it felt like straw...but weird insanely greasy straw. It was just gross. So, I caved and washed my hair. I'm at a loss in the realm of all natural, at home hair care. In all honesty, I'm afraid to try another regimen...though I've contemplated giving SimpleMom's another whirl the beginning of May...we shall see
• Face care: Here I also used SimpleMom's regimen for the Oil Cleansing Method. Now, this I like. It's WAY cheaper than throwing countless dollars away each month to harsh chemicals in pretty bottles on supermarket shelves. While I still experience breakouts {like this week...ugh!}, and so must admit that I keep a supply of acne spot treatment {I haven't tried putting tea-tree oil in my cleanser yet, though...} on-hand, I am overall quite pleased with this one. My face feels awesome after I cleanse it each night and I only need a little splash of water in the mornings to "wash the night away." As far as using coconut oil as a moisturizer, I think I'm going to try getting my hands on some raw shea butter or coco butter instead...while I like the idea of natural antibiotics/antiseptic qualities (which shea and coco butter are supposed to have too) in the coconut oil it seems to be a little drying...how an oil can be drying, I don't know, but that's my take on it.
• Deodorant: This one just breaks my heart, y'all. SimpleMom's homemade deodorant recipe, which I have seen all over other blogs on the interwebs, is awesome. I mean, I absolutely loooved it. Yeah...loved it.
  Everything was going wonderfully - I didn't smell...at...all...and I felt like I hardly sweat at all...even though I really was. But, then...I started to break out in this horrible, horrible rash. I mean, it was bad - I'm still getting over it. I finally, after trying to just use Tom's natural deodorant while I figured out what to do about my little problem, decided I need to give my underarms a bit of a breather from any kind of anything under there, cause I was still either experiencing crazy burning or breaking out in one way or another. So, I've been deodorant-less for about 3 days now. Gross, I know, but honestly, I haven't been too wet, and unless I really get my nose up under there I don't smell. Ha, the J-Man discovered I haven't used deodorant for a few days and got uber grossed out - it was priceless. But, since it has been lovely weather and I really haven't been sweating all that much I know that once summer really hits I'll probably need a little something extra under there to help out.
  Here are my thoughts: either my skin doesn't like the baking soda (which I'm not entirely convinced is the main culprit, since I even tried decreasing the baking soda significantly) or my skin doesn't like the corn starch. I've heard that some corn starch has talc in it and that the presence of talc may have been the issue, but I made sure I was using a brand without talc in it...and like I said, even after significantly, significantly decreasing the baking soda (I mean, it was almost non-existent in a few batches), I was still breaking out. Oi, it was so painful.
  So, what is my next order of action with this issue? I'm dropping the corn starch all together and switching to arrowroot powder instead. I realize that if I really wanted to figure this out scientifically I would try just using corn starch, then just using baking soda, then just using coconut oil {oh yeah, I'm 99.99% certain that the coconut oil isn't the problem as I haven't broken out anywhere else on my body that I have used it, and I'm not allergic to coconut...}, etc., etc. until I find out which ingredient starts the reaction over again, but I'm not that patient right now, haha. So, to the arrowroot powder it is!! I'll let you know how it goes. Other than saying upfront that arrowroot powder is pricey! I paid almost $6 for about a quarter pound of the stuff...and then freaking Tobi ate like half of it...ooooo, I almost kabobbed that doggie when I saw my precious powder strewn around the living room carpet and his white little face to add to it all! Oh, that was a fun morning, haha.

Well, I suppose that's all for now, folks. It's time to call it a night - I'm judging an elementary school science fair tomorrow, so I need to get some shut-eye so I can be on top of my game with the kiddies at 8am tomorrow...barf.

Oh...I GOT MY OFFICIAL OFFICIAL ADMITTANCE LETTER FROM U OF M TODAY!!!! It's all official...I got my salary/employment papers yesterday, my departmental acceptance letter the day before that, and my totally 100% official university acceptance today...WOW.

G'night & Shalom!
~MW

P.S. - Happy Fightin' Texas Aggie Ring Day to all you Aggies! So proud of your incredible accomplishment!
P.P.S. - Do you like the new sidebar?? I decided to break it up and organize it all...it was fun, I won't lie =D
P.P.P.S. - Josh threw up his first Man Talk post tonight! Check it, men and boys on your journey to becoming men!

Friday! Friday! Tonight I'll party with my friends!

...Ok...so by friends I mean the wee ones, but it's all good - we're friends too :)

So, since Christmas the wee ones and I have been trying to complete all 5 seasons of LOST to prepare for the start of season 6 - all of our questions will finally be answered! {We hope...}

On that note I need to thank whoever sets the dates for when my favorite TV shows start back up, because starting LOST, the final season, on my bday is the BEST birthday present EvEr!!! So, thanks guys/gals! You're the best.

Anyways, when the boyos get home from school today we will begin the final push. We missed a week of watching while I was down in CS, so we are slightly behind...just slightly. But, we are almost half-way through season 3 and should get beyond that point tonight. We plan to watch LOST all weekend long, in and around our other activities. Like my shopping extravaganza with 'Chuck' and hopefully 'Rose', as well. BUT! We will finish the previous seasons by Feb 2 - we have no other option but to succeed in this...or else...well, we will just be failures...and a poor excuse for LOST fans. This would bring the utmost shame to our heads and family name...the utmost.

Ok, enough dramatics for today! On to other things.

Isn't it amazing how no matter what you are doing in any given season of your life Fridays are still that light at the end of the tunnel? I was thinking about this last night (of course, while watching LOST with the wee ones), and had to chuckle to myself: I don't do any kind of strenuous activity right now, I don't have a job that I hate (or even one that I enjoy - Fridays are still like gold then), I'm not in classes, I'm just tottering along doing whatever, whenever and yet, I still look forward to Friday with as much hope and excitement as if I were working or in school...maybe it's because I know I will get to spend more than a few rushed hours in the evenings with my little brothers... I don't really know, I just like Fridays, and think I always will, until they finally make the work week 4 days long, that is ;)

Yesterday I worked on ISD apps for subbing for 5 HOURS. 5 hours!! No joke!! {Maybe that's why I'm so excited about today...?} I don't want to look at another online application interface for like...oh, I don't know...ever! Ugh, but, they are complete, so that's a plus. I'm holding off on my AISD app, because they charge you for finger printing and some of the other districts don't. So, if I can get away with not paying for my finger printing, I will! And then I'll apply for AISD. Frugality prevails! Haha.

I also ran by James Avery yesterday to see if there was anything I could/wanted to exchange a charm for...I got a lovely ichthys charm for graduation, but it's a little bulky for my tastes and so wanted one that was little more dainty or something, but didn't really find anything that really jumped out at me. I contemplated getting a 2nd A&M charm, one that I could wear on a necklace chain (I already have one sautered on my charm bracelet)...I dunno if that's over-kill though. I was thinking it would be nice to have just the charm that I could wear whenever since I don't wear my charm bracelet all them time...but I can't decide. There was a lovely ichthys there that was kind of "swirly", meaning it had curly-ques and everything in it's design, but I just couldn't decide. Thoughts?? Suggestions??

Ok, ladies, here's a confession/question for you all: WHAT DEODORANT DO YOU USE?! For the last few months I have been sweating profusely (sorry boys...gross, I know, but whatever, such is life)...and I cannot seem to find one that keeps me at least somewhat dry...I just want a little dryness. Is that so much to ask?? Ugh, I don't even have to be doing anything and it feels like Niagara Falls under there - so not cool. My mom swears by Mitchum Clear Gel, and I've been using that to no avail...I've tried the "prescription strength" stuff, and haven't really had any luck there either. I'm a freak, I know. But, I know there have to be other people out there with the same question, so I'm going to buck-up and ask it for all of us. I am woman! {That last bit was for you Rach}

Anyways, today I plan on finishing Out of the Silent Planet. I finally finished The Road and I have to say I think I enjoyed it. I wasn't too fond of the ending, I felt it was a little lacking, but I think that was the point...did leave Cormick with room to make it into a series of some sort if he wants to, though; since he does seem to write in series/trilogies, etc. Anywho, I'm pretty behind on Harry Potter, and I still can't find the box that Redeeming Love ended up in...hmph, I am frustrated. I think once I finish Out of the Silent Planet I will hit up The Life of Pi. It's sitting in my parents' garage, so I may as well take advantage of a free book with no deadlines for return, right?? Right.

Well, all, I'm off to read my day away and maybe run some errands with my faja. Happy Friday!!

Shalom,
~MW