Yeah, that title is a little scary. At least, I think it is... But apparently the cosmetic industry disagrees. For some time now I have been researching the ingredients in our hygiene products (things like shampoo/conditioner, deodorant, lotions, make up, etc.). I have found A LOT of really scary things. The cosmetic industry is so huge and "powerful" that the FDA has had little to no regulations on the products put on our stores' shelves. Because of this most cosmetic companies use the cheapest stuff they can find... Synthetic chemicals and synthetic fragrances... A lot of which are carcinogens. Take for example baby powder. Unless you are using a 100% corn starch baby powder than your powder's #1 ingredient is talc. Talc doesn't sound too bad, does it? Well, talc that is unregulated by the FDA carries traces of asbestos! Talc is a carcinogen that has been linked to both lung cancer and ovarian cancer, so when you are covering your baby girl's bottom with it during diaper changes it goes straight to her female organs and can cause her to develop ovarian cancer when she is older. Yikes, right?
There is a really long list of toxic chemicals used regularly in our shampoos, soaps, lotions, toothpaste (yes, I said toothpaste), etc. etc...
Our family has made the decision to quit living in ignorance and start reading labels. I read the labels on EVERYTHING I buy now. Most of the time I carry a list of toxic chemicals w/ me to the store so I can double check.
Our skin is the largest organ in/on our bodies and over 60% of what we put on our skin gets absorbed into our system and goes to our internal organs. A lot of synthetic chemicals cannot be broken down by our livers either. I think it is worth the extra time to read labels.
I have started making our laundry detergent & cleaners, and will be making our shampoo and conditioner soon too. It may sound like a real pain in the you-know-what but it is actually fun to get to create things the way I want them and add whatever essential oils to them I want. There are a lot of great recipes online for these things. One really fabulous website to visit is www.safecosmetics.org which is very informative when it comes to how the cosmetic industry works and what we can do to change it.
And this is all about what we put ON our bodies... Just wait till I blog about what goes IN to our bodies! That is for a different day though :).
Friday, July 30, 2010
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Bread Update
Okay, so my bread actually turned out pretty good. Here are some promised pictures of the great creation!
A tired me enjoying the fruits of my labor :)
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Bread Alone?
There is a verse in the bible that says "man cannot live by bread alone...". All I can say about that is THANK THE GOOD LORD. Have any of you ever tried to make bread?! It sucks. I decided recently that as part of our "revolution" I was going to quit buying bread from the store and start making our own. For any of you that really know me you understand how seriously funny that is. Anyway, I have a neighbor/friend who's husband is a baker so he loaned me a few books about baking bread and showed some easy (at least he said they were) recipes to start with. Well, the first loaf I made could have broken our freakin' window if any of us had thrown it at one. Today I decided to try a different recipe. This is what I want to know... Has anyone ever successfully oiled plastic wrap?! These "chefs" are crazy! You should have seen me wrestling with the stupid plastic wrap in the kitchen trying to get it to submit to the dog-gone olive oil rub down. I can tell you this, this is the last recipe I try out of these retarded artisan bread cookbooks! From now on I am looking on the internet for a simple "bread for kitchen dummies" recipe. Who the heck has time work on one stupid loaf of bread ALL day long?! Stupid.
Hopefully my work will not have been in vain and the bread turns out great. If so, I will be posting pictures later tonight. :)
Hopefully my work will not have been in vain and the bread turns out great. If so, I will be posting pictures later tonight. :)
Monday, July 26, 2010
Keep It Simple
Dishes and laundry. Dishes and laundry. Dishes and laundry. WILL IT EVER END?!?
This is usually how I feel.
But things are changing here at Hanewinkel House, remember?
Part of our family revolution is finding ways to simplify life so it is more free.
It seems like laundry is never ending. I can do 3 or 4 loads a day, everyday, and still have mountains of clothes and towels and the like waiting for me. I just want to pull my hair out sometimes! Well, that is one thing that needs to change... Needs to be simplified. Soooo, yesterday the kids and I decided to go through all of their clothes and give away a bunch to charity. We filled up a couple of large trash bags to give away, condensed the boys clothes into one dresser (and the closet), and freed up a dresser to use for art supplies! The kids are super stoked to be doing something to help others and it was a really great opportunity to teach them about needs vs. wants. Now I figure laundry won't be quite so burdensome anymore b/c there isn't as much for the kids to dirty up! We also have a fun new project to work on together b/c of this... We are going to paint the empty dresser, put new handles on it, and move it into the kitchen/dining area. We plan to fill the drawers with crayons, markers, paints, paper, etc. so all of the art supplies are totally accessible to everyone. We are really excited about this!
My absolutely fabulous husband came up with a super idea too, which we implemented last night. We gave everyone (including ourselves) one plate, one bowl, one cup, and one set of silverware. All of the "leftovers" we stacked and put away on the top shelves of the cabinets. From now on everyone is responsible for his or her own dishes... After meals we fill up the sink with soapy water and each of us takes a turn washing our own dishes. This way we will hardly ever use the dish washer (dishwasher detergent is super toxic and terrible for the environment) and their will no longer be dirty dishes piled in our sinks. The kids are totally loving this and feel so independent getting to be in charge of their own things!
These are just a couple of ways we are shaking things up here... Life is good and keeps getting better! :)
This is usually how I feel.
But things are changing here at Hanewinkel House, remember?
Part of our family revolution is finding ways to simplify life so it is more free.
It seems like laundry is never ending. I can do 3 or 4 loads a day, everyday, and still have mountains of clothes and towels and the like waiting for me. I just want to pull my hair out sometimes! Well, that is one thing that needs to change... Needs to be simplified. Soooo, yesterday the kids and I decided to go through all of their clothes and give away a bunch to charity. We filled up a couple of large trash bags to give away, condensed the boys clothes into one dresser (and the closet), and freed up a dresser to use for art supplies! The kids are super stoked to be doing something to help others and it was a really great opportunity to teach them about needs vs. wants. Now I figure laundry won't be quite so burdensome anymore b/c there isn't as much for the kids to dirty up! We also have a fun new project to work on together b/c of this... We are going to paint the empty dresser, put new handles on it, and move it into the kitchen/dining area. We plan to fill the drawers with crayons, markers, paints, paper, etc. so all of the art supplies are totally accessible to everyone. We are really excited about this!
My absolutely fabulous husband came up with a super idea too, which we implemented last night. We gave everyone (including ourselves) one plate, one bowl, one cup, and one set of silverware. All of the "leftovers" we stacked and put away on the top shelves of the cabinets. From now on everyone is responsible for his or her own dishes... After meals we fill up the sink with soapy water and each of us takes a turn washing our own dishes. This way we will hardly ever use the dish washer (dishwasher detergent is super toxic and terrible for the environment) and their will no longer be dirty dishes piled in our sinks. The kids are totally loving this and feel so independent getting to be in charge of their own things!
These are just a couple of ways we are shaking things up here... Life is good and keeps getting better! :)
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Field Trip
Yesterday our family took a field trip to Mastadon State Park for a "Pretend To Be An Archeologist" activity they organized for kids. It was so great! Some of the best people we know came with us... The Dodd family and the Struckhoffs (well, minus the girls who were at a baby shower and were missed). Between all of us we had 11 kids digging around for "dinosaur" bones which equals tons of fun. After the digging adventure we all played on the playground for a while, then headed to the creek for some food and swimming. There was a perfect swimming hole there and the little people got to swim with fish, pretend to be mer-people, and hunt for crawdads. We had so much fun!
Clark, Joel, and Cole digging for cool dino finds.
Mr. Andy swinging with Delaney. I think he needs a push.
Morgan, Joel, Jude, and Drew enjoying a dip.
Rory sporting some bright orange water wings. They are all the rage this summer. :)
Holly with Gauwin (I'm not sure I spelled that right, sorry Holly), Ryan and Clark, and Shawn...
Friday, July 23, 2010
It's A Family Thing
Life seems to go by so fast that we all tend to miss a ton of the small stuff that really make living fun. Let me rephrase that... We usually LET life go by so fast. One of the biggest changes we are making as a family is to revel in all of the messiness and chaos that is life. I have always been prone to freaking out over spills or crumbs on the floor or the kids getting muddy outside. I seemed to have a "don't do this and stay out of this" list about a mile long for my children! While I was busy keeping the kids in order (ha ha right) I was actually missing out on so many opportunities to really live and enjoy every part of it. I was frustrated 60% of the time and tired the other 40%.
Guess what?! Kids enjoy getting messy outside, it makes them happy. If I let them do the things that make them feel happy and free (within reason, lol) than I in return begin to feel happy and free. Guess what else?! Kids are going to spill things and get crap all over the floors. But I spill things too sometimes, and how would I feel if there was someone standing over me huffing and puffing b/c they had to clean it up? I have wasted too much time being an uptight hellicopter parent and have finally decided to say to hell with it all! Literally.
Guess what?! Kids enjoy getting messy outside, it makes them happy. If I let them do the things that make them feel happy and free (within reason, lol) than I in return begin to feel happy and free. Guess what else?! Kids are going to spill things and get crap all over the floors. But I spill things too sometimes, and how would I feel if there was someone standing over me huffing and puffing b/c they had to clean it up? I have wasted too much time being an uptight hellicopter parent and have finally decided to say to hell with it all! Literally.
We are embrasing this life as a family and we are going to start enjoying the fingerprints on the windows, they won't be there for very long. Every spill and mess is a representation that young life is abundant in our home. Every crazy idea the kids get to do something that they think will be super fun (like, for instance, peeing into empty juice bottles so they can see what their urine really looks like, hahaha they really did this!)... Let them do it! The laundry and dishes and all the other messes aren't going anywhere, so why should we miss out on so much fun with our kids for that?
This is part of our change... To love and laugh with our kids more than ever.
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Ch-ch-ch-changes!!!
Okay, so... Our lives have felt like a broken record for a while now... "Wake up, get food, clean, pray for bedtime to come fast, wake up, get food, clean, pray for bedtime to come fast..." and on and on. There has been very little contentment and peace, let alone actually really enjoying the kids! My mind seemed to be especially stuck in that survival mode rut that sucks the life out of everything. We desperately needed change. We prayed for change. I started looking for ways I could make even small changes around the house. It all started there.
I happened upon a blog about a traveling family (it's on my blog roll, check it out!) that just completely opened my eyes to how simple and fun and free life can really be. Reading those blog entries was like getting that first glass of cold, clean water after wandering aimlessly through the desert for days, not that I really know what that's like but you get the drift. Lol.
We have begun a revolution in Hanewinkel house! From how we are training our brains to think, to what we eat and clean with, to how we "flow" as a family... Everything is changing! This blog of ours is going to be our way of letting other people into our home to witness all of God's goodness as He helps us to really begin enjoying this season of our life. We will be posting more about each change we make and how it effects our family, and we will be doing this regularly. We invite you all to buckle up and enjoy the ride!
I happened upon a blog about a traveling family (it's on my blog roll, check it out!) that just completely opened my eyes to how simple and fun and free life can really be. Reading those blog entries was like getting that first glass of cold, clean water after wandering aimlessly through the desert for days, not that I really know what that's like but you get the drift. Lol.
We have begun a revolution in Hanewinkel house! From how we are training our brains to think, to what we eat and clean with, to how we "flow" as a family... Everything is changing! This blog of ours is going to be our way of letting other people into our home to witness all of God's goodness as He helps us to really begin enjoying this season of our life. We will be posting more about each change we make and how it effects our family, and we will be doing this regularly. We invite you all to buckle up and enjoy the ride!
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Standing Outside With My Mouth Open Wide...
We had a FABULOUS rain the other day... Quite perfect for playing in puddles. As a matter of fact, that is exactly what we did! The kids and I ran around like crazy people and got soaked and had so much fun. Ryan came home and joined us for a little while too!
The ground has been so dry lately that the word "parched" is a serious understatement... We wish it would rain some more!!!!
The ground has been so dry lately that the word "parched" is a serious understatement... We wish it would rain some more!!!!
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