I LOVE MY BODUM!

Oh, how I love it.  What is it?  It is my electric kettle.

And it is a beauty. Look how pretty it is.  If you know me, you’ll know that I have a few *favorite* kitchen appliances.  One is my immersion blender.  Another is my pressure cooker.  And now, there is my beloved Bodum. The Bodum is by far our most-used appliance.

Hubs (must think of a new term to refer to Hubs, as the blogosphere seems to have taken this one over.  For the record, I invented it.) and I drink a lot of tea at home, which means we heat a lot of water. For several years we have used a cheap, plastic GE brand electric kettle that I bought in 2004 for my office cubicle.  Once I quit working full-time, I brought it home, and we used it multiple times a day.  If you are a tea-drinker, you really need to go Euro and get an electric kettle.  You can have boiling water in mere seconds for a fraction of the energy usage, as compared to boiling water on the stove. And microwaving water is just dumb.

So when it became apparent that the GE kettle was on its last leaky legs, Hubs and I agreed that our hot water heating needs deserved better than cheap plastic; and I began a LENGTHY research.   From what I can tell, the Bodum Chambord 1.5L Adjustable Electric Water Kettle is the best one on the market.  It’s price reflects this.  In fact, at around $150 the price nearly deterred me from buying it.  But let me tell you I have not regretted buying it for one minute since it arrived at my home about 3 months ago. Plus, I expect it to function till about the end of time.

It has 5 adjustable heat settings (green tea, hotter green tea, white tea, oolong, black/boiling), automatic shut-off, a “keep-warm” setting, is cordless (!), beeps when it’s done heating the water, is stainless steel, looks nice sitting on the counter (the GE was an eyesore) and is BPA free!  To my knowledge, the Bodum is the only electric kettle currently on the market that is BPA-free.  For a while I vacillated between the Bodum, and the high-end Cuisinart, but after a call to the Cuisinart folks, learned that it isn’t BPA-free, although they are manufacturing a BPA-free model sometime in the next year (so they say).

Oh, and one more thing: getting the Bodum inspired us to put our coffeepot away.  We now use the Bodum Chambord French Press for coffee.  One less appliance on the counter.

Now you know why I love my Bodum.  Now you’ll be jealous and want one too.

via SuperHero Journal, via Design Mom

Fragrances also contain synthetic musks, chemicals which have been shown in laboratory studies to be linked to cancer, skin sensitization, skin irritation, and fertility problems in women. According to the Environmental Working Group, “In the US, all musk chemicals are unregulated, and safe levels of exposure have not yet been set.”

Some health researchers believe that chemicals in cosmetics are partly to blame for the high rates of hormonal imbalances, particularly in women.  In addition, allergies and chemical sensitivities are on the rise — many people suddenly find themselves allergic to products they’ve been using for years.  My advice is: if you know you have hormonal issues, or find that you’re becoming more sensitive to personal care products, replace all your cosmetic and personal care products with all-natural, non-toxic, fragrance-free versions; many of these can be made at home.

On an environmental note, most of the chemicals in fragrances are petroleum-based compounds; this means, our use of them doesn’t decrease our dependence on a petroleum-based economy, which I think most people agree is a good idea. Not to mention, all these chemicals go down the drain and get into the water supply.

For more info, check out the Environmental Working Group’s stance on artificial fragrances.

Instead of artificial fragrances, use plant-based essential oils.  I have a few that I always keep on hand for fragrancing homemade cosmetic and bath products, and for use as natural pharmaceuticals.  Here are a few I like, and what I use them for:

• Tea tree oil: natural antiseptic and anti-fungal.  Dilute and use on cuts, scrapes, pimples, even some rashes.  Important to dilute, or to test your tolerance of this.  I find that tea tree is irritating to my skin unless its well-diluted with coconut or olive oil.  Also great to put a few drops in a bath if you’re dealing with an issue such as a yeast infection.
• Eucalyptus: great for colds and sinus issues.  I put a few (maybe 5 drops) in a bath to clear sinus problems.  Or I might add a couple drops to my neti pot. Rosemary oil has a similar effect.
• Lavender: the ultimate calming, soothing scent.  I add this to coconut oil that I put around my house in baby-food jars for use as moisturizer and lip balm, as well as minor first aid such as kitchen burns.  I’ve also been using this on my belly to prevent stretch marks.  (For more on preventing stretch marks, check out my friend and fellow nutritionist Jessica Forbes’ blog post on the subject.) And, lavender is my go-to bath addition – for me, no hot bath is complete without the scent of lavender.
• Lemongrass: I keep lemongrass around simply because I love the scent of it.  I add it to my homemade laundry starch spray so that our clothes get that fresh lemony-herbal scent.
• Peppermint: this one’s great for flavoring homemade toothpastes/powders, and anything else you want to smell minty.  Sometimes I mix it with lemongrass in homemade fabric refresher.  It also has some antiseptic properties.  (Side note: I have always loved the scent of Aveda salon products.  I found that I could mimic their scent by combining rosemary, peppermint, and lavender oils in my oil diffuser (the kind you burn a tealight underneath), to fragrance my home)

There are so many essential oils to experiment with, and they all have different properties.  For more info on the properties of essential oils, check out Aura Cacia, an Iowa-based company that sells quality essential oils and products.  Try a few out in place of your artificially-fragranced products.  You can even use them as perfume–I especially like rose and jasmine for this, and sandalwood is nice for guys!

If you have other essential oils you like to use, or have experience with the toxic effects of fragrances, leave a comment!

My plan is to try this recipe for a few weeks and see how it works — I’ve also read some good reviews of it online. It’s a mix of coconut oil, baking soda, and arrowroot or corn starch (I used arrowroot); and I added a few drops of lemongrass essential oil for fragrance (I LOVE the scent of lemongrass; you could use whatever you like best). I have dubbed it CocoDeo.  I’m enthused to find yet another use for my favorite all-purpose, cooking/baking/frying, moisturizing, healing, everyday healthful coconut oil.  If you haven’t heard me soapbox about coconut oil yet, just wait.  Honestly, it was the coconut oil that sold me on trying a switch again — coconut oil has antibacterial and antiviral properties. Plus, I live in San Francisco now, where it is never hot (except occasionally when one is hauling one’s pregnant ass up a big hill), so I’m hopeful that I’ll be able to only use Dove on special occasions and keep the CocoDeo for everyday.

If you’ve tried this or other non-toxic deodorants, homemade or store-bought, and were pleased with them, leave a comment to let us know what’s worked for you.  And I’ll post an update in a couple of weeks about the CocoDeo.

*the next day, the CocoDeo got me through a very warming 1.5 hr prenatal yoga class stink free!

Things at our house have been kinda crazy.  I am now unemployed.  Not unexpected, but nevertheless.  This isn’t a bad thing per se.  Just kindof hard for me to get used to.  Last week (my first full week of unemployment) I got absolutely nothing done. And wanted to take a nap about twice a day.  Today I began the week by imposing a little more discipline on myself: Get up. Read something brain/spirit-expanding.  Drink tea (4 cups). Do schoolwork.  Run.

Maybe next week I will tackle: Get dressed before noon.

Now, I’m also hoping that a bit more head space will mean getting a bit more extracurricular writing done.  Some should go here, some in my journal, some towards new songs.  Also, I’m researching some local places I can do some volunteer work. And starting training for a half-marathon on May 10.  We will see how this goes.  I am mostly worried about my knees.

Today it was so chilly/rainy that I was inspired to make Refrigerator Soup.  You know it, the one where you rummage through the fridge to find anything soup-worthy (regardless of freshness) and stick it in the pot.  Today was serendipitous and I was secretly smug about my mad grocery-shopping skills.  Yield: 1/2 head of cabbage, 1 large sweet potato, 1 tupperware of chickpeas, half an onion, and some garlic cloves.  Add some veggie boullion, some thyme and rosemary and cayenne, get Hubs to pick up a baguette on his way home; and you have dinner worth eating.

Oh, and I got a job offer today. a good one.

This is a selfish philosophy, and it is nothing new, nothing that other people working toward life-balance haven’t already thought of.  And I acknowledge that in all things there needs to be balance.  I should not go around thinking that new possessions, or aesthetically pleasing homes will ultimately make me happy. Nor am I thinking that I should never deny myself things. My self should be disciplined to make reasonable, beneficial choices; beneficial, that is, not only for me, but for a greater Community.

I’m not referring to core happiness here.  Core happiness, for me, involves relationships, community, worship, faith, health, meaningful work.  I’m talking about peripheral happiness — the kind of happiness I can readily contrive, the kind of comfort I can manufacture. Even though these are not core happiness issues, I do think that making decisions towards enjoyment of (relatively) small things will compound in value and ultimately contribute to living a joyful, grateful life. And, it appears to me that I have been blessed beyond measure; and I would be a fool not to dance and sing in it.

I just seems like I have to find a place to land in the midst of all the tension that I perceive between a philosopy of living Ascetically and living Excessively; as though it is somewhat of a gray area, to which there is no absolute right place for everyone.  So I’m trying to live somewhere between, in the land of Sacrificially, Charitably, Humbly, Joyfully.

They turned out to be an excellent intro to gardening.  We never watered, we weeded once a week (while we were in town, that is) and we were able to replant some things once cooler weather came around.  We are still getting lettuce, swiss chard, carrots, and broccoli.

Some things we tried didn’t work out.  Like, the spinach I planted in late August never came up, but the lettuces did.  The cabbages have never made actual heads, so I’m not sure what that means — do I have a non-heading variety? The potatoes did well, but didn’t have enough room, and shaded out the garlic.  The shallots fizzled out early.  We learned what not to do for next year.  And we think we’ll even add another bed in the spring, for a total of four.

Overall, our little raised beds have been a most-fulfilling way to take part in our food supply.  A few times we looked at a meal we had prepared, and realized that we grew it all, or most of it, and the rest came from the farmer’s market!  We felt good about making this connection with the earth, and with our health, and hope the relationship can continue to grow.

I’m trying to gauge if I need to increase our weekly allowance, or if I’m actually purchasing too liberally.  Now, granted, we have had folks over for dinner several times, which costs a bit extra (for instance, a bottle of wine and some sorbet).  But I really haven’t bought that much out of the ordinary.

At this point, our October budget is completely blown.  As in, I have some change left in the envelope.  We did this on purpose, sort of, by going to the discount Amish grocery in a nearby town and stocking up on a winter’s worth of dry beans, popcorn, spices, flour, some nuts, and a couple of Amish canned goods: totaling $61.45.  If we can’t get through the rest of the month on that and what vegetables I have in the fridge and left in the garden, then we are ridiculous and spoiled.

But it doesn’t change the fact that if we were truly poor, and had nothing to fall back on after our $60/week ran out, we would be having a very hard time indeed.  So, a) I’m grateful not to be truly poor (like, we can occasionally go out for an extra-budget meal or beer or coffee), and b)I’m grateful that this is the extent of how the nation’s economic woes are reaching us (aside from the roth IRAs and my 401k that we are purposely not looking at) — so far neither our jobs nor our income have taken a hit, and gas prices are (for now) on the decline.  We’ll see how long this lasts.