• Christmas is coming

    Every year since I began creating things for my online shop, I tell myself that I REALLY need to get started early so that I can have a special “giftables” stocking.

    And then every year fall comes, and goes, much too quickly, and I miss my opportunity.

    And then I kick myself, hard, very very hard.

    Since I’m in Canada, I don’t like to stock giftables, for the sake of being used as Christmas gifts, after October. I like customers to have their giftables in hand LONG before Christmas! I’ve learned over the years, because just about every single year SOMETHING for SOMEONE on my Christmas list does not show up on time, that it’s best to do your online Christmas shopping VERY early!

    So this is why I have this kind of ‘unspoken’ rule about getting the Christmas types of giftables into the shop before November!

    Let me tell you, was I EVER glad I finally did it this year!

    It was SO much fun creating so many different kinds of items over the past few weeks!

    Even the girls were inspired to work extra hard, and get extra creative!


    Shaylah’s Duckling.


    Julia’s Facial Gift Sets.


    Elsa’s Cotton Ball Sets.

    I always enjoy making baby items!

    And items for the entire family, like our comfort tissues!

    I always hope that items such as these will help those who are maybe a little ‘uneasy’ about cloth pads, to at least make one small step into the world of reusable cloth!

    Wash cloths are another great item EVERYONE needs!

    And who doesn’t like super soft, and super luxurious?!

    It’s also a great way to introduce EVERYONE to cloth, not only the women & girls!

    Kitchen cloths are also something EVERYONE needs kitchen cloths.

    And then, there’s simple luxury, the kind of luxury that just says “ahhhh…” at the end of a long day.

    Yes, having a great big giftables stocking was a LOT of fun!

    We ‘might’ be able to add a few more giftables this week, but we’ll have to wait and see.

    My husband is coming for a 5 day visit in just TWO days (but who’s counting right?), and there’s SO much to do before he gets here, top of the list, get things ready for our taxes. How romantic right?

    I’ve also got a date night planned though, thanks to all of YOU, my wonderful customers who helped me the FLASH SALE last night a huge success!

    So stay tuned this week! I’d love to say I’ll burn the midnight oil to get giftables done, but unfortunately I seem to be feeling the affects of being 40 lately. No, I’m not OLD, but I am old-ER and I just can’t seem to keep up with myself anymore. All these early morning shifts my older two kids have may be contributing to that. Ha! Thank goodness they will BOTH soon have their licence! I’ll be jumping up and down for joy and sleeping in for a month!

    Not really on the sleeping in for a month part, but it’s fun to dream…

  • More about entering new territory.

    I posted the other day about cutting out coffee & making changes, here: http://homesteademporium.wordpress.com/2011/10/16/entering-new-territory/

    The plan was to cut out coffee because I was SURE I could not handle drinking coffee without sugar. I use TWO full teaspoons of sugar per cup, so I drink it REALLY sweet. I didn’t want the headaches. I honestly don’t feel coffee is unhealthy, but my ‘additions’ to the coffee were making it unhealthy, so I figured I’d have to cut it right out.

    To my surprise, I can stomach one cup of coffee without sugar. I’m drinking it kind of like ‘medicine’. lol Taking it to ward off headaches, but not totally enjoying it quite yet. I will most likely keep that 1 cup of coffee in my mornings, but keep out the sugar.

    A lot of you have offered info on other substitutes etc. so I thought I would share a little more about these changes in my life right now.

    I’ve actually put myself on a very strict ‘program’. It’s a program that’s just over a month long. It’s nothing real drastic, but it’s all about changing my way of eating. I won’t do anything that’s going to cost a lot, or make me buy all sorts of weird foods, or spend a ton of money I wouldn’t normally spend. We just can’t afford anything like that. I had todo something that would work within the family and allow me to still cook for them etc..

    Basically, to put it real simply, I’m eating to live, rather than, living to eat.

    To be honest, I don’t have a “real” struggle with food. I’m not an emotional eater or one to binge, but I do have a weight problem. One I’ve had since the twins were born almost 12 years ago. I’m sick of it, and it’s time for a change.

    I was always very slim, and trim, and also very active. When I had our first two children, and even through most of my pregnancy with my third. I worked out of the home (my husband and I tag teamed for years, he’d come home, I’d go). My jobs were always very active. When we first met, and after Alesia was born, I worked in a nursing home as a Care Aid (was called Nurses Aid at that time), and also as the Activity Co-ordinator. This job always kept me go, go, go-ing. I started back again when Alesia was only 6 weeks old. I worked weekends, and dh would simply bring her to work to nurse since we just lived a block away. Then I also did lots of walking, uphill, both ways, no joke lol. I got back to my pre-pregnancy size in no time.

    We moved when Alesia was almost a year old and in our new area, either I had to look for a job further from home, or go back to waitressing close by. I had waitressed off and on since I was just 15 years old. The hourly rate would not be as good, but I knew with the tips, I’d actually end up making more. I worked as a waitress right through my pregnancy with Joshua and because of all the running around, I was actually just 105 pounds after loosing my pregnancy weight from that 2nd pregnancy. During this time I also began a home day care. I would waitress a couple evenings a week, and on weekends, and do home day care during the day. I watched 5 children, plus my own two, and took them on walks, pulling a wagon behind me, every single day. There was LOTS of exercise in my life!

    With each of the first two pregnancies I had gained 40 pounds, and lost it all. After Joshua I lost even more. That’s when I was at my lowest ‘after children’ weight. I was ‘too’ skinny then, yet even then, I didn’t see myself as skinny! Our minds are crazy, really!

    When I became pregnant with Elsa, our third, I continued to work for a while as a waitress and also continued child care in my home. I gained a bit more weight during that pregnancy, I believe it was actually closer to 60 pounds. After she was born, I stopped doing child care in the home and began to concentrate more on my family since we had begun homeschooling the older two. Not long after, I became pregnant again. Unbeknownst to us, until I was 5.5 months pregnant, we were having TWINS.

    Needless to say, I gained quite a bit of weight over those few years. Between not having lost all my pregnancy weight from the third pregnancy (which was actually my 5th pregnancy, as I had two miscarriages between Joshua and Elsa’s births), and then no longer working many hours a week, my lifestyle changed pretty drastically. We also moved to Vancouver Island during this time.

    When I realized I was carrying twins, I went into a little bit of ‘panic’ mode. Having been through two miscarriages and experiencing a little bit of spotting during this pregnancy, made me very cautious. I kept hearing stories of twins being born prematurely, etc. etc. and I just didn’t want to take ANY risks so my life became very low key. I pretty much stopped all exercise except for walking to the beach, but by the time I got REALLY big, even those walks stopped.

    The twins were born at 38.5 weeks, a c-section. This meant for 6 weeks I could basically do NOTHING but care for my children who were now 8 years, 6 years, 22 months and the 2 newborns. I felt that was more then enough anyways and hoped our ‘busy’ life would help whittle away the pounds over time. I also figured nursing two babies for 2.5 years would burn all that excess fat!

    After a few attempts at wearing one baby, and pushing a toddler and second baby in the double stroller with two children walking alongside, I pretty much gave up on the idea of walks. Living in such a hilly area was just NOT helping.

    I’ve never been one to exercise for the sake of exercise. I like to DO something that accomplishes something, well, other then just exercise. I’m the type of person that is almost always doing two things (or more) at once. If I’m watching tv, I’m knitting, or writing, or answering emails etc. at the same time. If I’m cooking, I’m cleaning the kitchen at the same time.

    When I go for a walk, or exercise at home, all I can do is that one thing at that time. If I have somewhere to walk TO, that’s different. I not only accomplish exercise, I also get somewhere. To “just” exercise, doesn’t seem like enough is getting done.

    All that to say. I’m now overweight. I’m not even going to bother to share exact numbers, it’s not important. Suffice it to say, if I could loose between 35-50 pounds, I would be a much healthier person. So that’s my goal. To loose between 35-50 pounds. A very ‘broad’ range, but this is more about getting healthy then loosing a set amount of pounds. My goal had started out to loose 45-60 pounds, and I’ve lost about 13 pounds so far. I’m proud of that! Today, I stepped on the scale and for the first time I saw a number I had not seen in YEARS. My twins are almost 12 years old! This weight has hung around LONG enough!

    After I had Elsa, I had gotten down to 130, and I actually felt very healthy, and even felt very fit. Even though I had been only 105 after Joshua, I hadn’t felt as healthy at 105, even with the 25 pound difference! So I’m not going for numbers, I’m going for ‘fit-ness’. It’s about how fit I can get, how healthy!

    So what’s that mean right now? Well, I’ve put myself on a very strict ‘program’. I can only eat certain foods for a period of time, about 40 days. No sugar, no starch, and no excess/needless fat.

    I can have coffee, and tea, I just can’t have it in a unhealthy way. Turning a 0 calorie cup of coffee into a 300 calorie cup of coffee due to the amount of sugar I take in it, is not a healthy cup of coffee. My tea, I can drink it close to black, just a teeny bit of honey to take the ‘edge’ off the bitterness is enough to keep me feeling like my tea is a special treat.

    My main goal at this time is to change how I look at food. I’m eating only healthy foods (what I consider healthy may not be what everyone else considers healthy, I’m eating what “I” consider to be healthy) which I feel my body needs to stay alive at peak performance.

    I’ve planned out aprox. 40 days and then I’ll go from there. I have to make it these 40 days before I even think about what’s beyond that. I’m following a set program, but I’m not going to share more info on that right now. If this works, THEN I’ll share more later.1 day at a time with the goal of reaching 40 days.

    Speaking of 40, that’s part of the reason I’m doing this now. I’m 40. I kind of feel like it’s now or never? I know that’s not really true but it is a nice goal to have right now.

    To get fit while forty!

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