Five Simple Things (August 20)

Hello.

We took a bit of a drive to the beach this past week, but it wasn't to surf. We did a photoshoot with a new fire pit mat I received from a company named Daxlena. Post on this will follow soon later today, but I loved the fire pit mat so much, I bought one to give away. This week is my birthday and to celebrate my forty-fourth, what better way than to give away a give to someone else? So, stay tuned for that post later on the blog and on Instagram. We also did a bit of cleaning up around our yard this week. Put several items curbside for others to take. Which, living in a city, free items don't seem to last long. I am just glad to offer them up to someone else that can use them. Skylar and I made fingerprint powder in the Rain Valley Red Snails Classroom this week. It was a lot of fun testing out different fingerprints on different surfaces. The powder was rather time-consuming to make, but totally worth it. It kind of fits in with our podcast, too, so we had a lot of fun with it. You can make the fingerprint powder here. I've posted step-by-step instructions. It's super easy, and really worth the time to learn about fingerprints and ridge details that are unique to each person. Here are five things this week.

1.  This Place.

Such a magical place.

2. This Supplement. 

Been looking for more natural ways to help with my anxiety and PTSD triggers and I have found a great addition to my other supplements. Omega-3 seems to help with that. I like the taste of these because they have a bit of lemon to it, and there's no after taste. I got this particular brand here.

3. This Sunset.

Jeff sent me this from his work parking lot this week. The sunrise here is so behind everyone else, but our sunsets are some of the best you'll ever see.

4. This Hack.

Skylar came up with this super simple/no brainer hack this week. We bought a camping toilet to take on our road trips and our surf trips, and pulling the paper out of the middle has been extremely convenient. What a clever kid, he is!

5. This Shoot.

These pictures were part of our photo shoot with the Daxlena fire pit mat. I'm holding a giveaway, so be sure to enter it here, or here, to win one of these. 

Did you catch the Summer Triangle this week (16), or Jupiter at its brightest (19):

Positive affirmations this week: 

When someone says something to you that upsets you, or brings up emotions within you, stop. Stop and realize that your emotions are your ego and showing that their words upset you gives them control. If you are easily offended you are easily manipulated and the person trying to trigger you knows this. Train your mind to respond with a calm, and collected manner. It takes practice, but it can be done. I no longer see people's insults, criticism, judgement, or rude comments as an insult towards me. I collect my thoughts and respond accordingly to their faults. People project a lot of their own failures onto others. The one thing that has helped me get better as this is feeling sorry for the person saying these harmful comments. When you see it in a way that triggers your empathy more than self worth, it does get easier to handle other's negative opinions they push upon us. Trick your brain into choosing happiness over negativity.

Have a nice weekend.

Lemon Squares

I hate cooking. Anyone that knows me well will tell you that. Cooking, baking, or even standing in the kitchen making a sandwich, I hate it all. Which, seems odd to say, as most people that are in my bloodline seem to enjoy it a lot. I've never been one to find any joy in it. I've heard people say that it gives them joy, or melts their heart to watch people eat what they've cooked. Nope, not me. If you like it, cool, if not, I'm not surprised. Ha! But, there are random times where I will go into the kitchen and make something completely unexpected. Skylar tells me all the time that he likes that part of me the best. When I cook, or bake something that no one expects. He tells me that's his favorite kind of cooking and describes me as-"The unexpected cook." 

The unexpected baking I did this week was lemon squares. I took advantage of our local food co-op's citrus sale in January and stocked up on organic Meyer lemons. I ended up juicing all of them and freezing the juice to use at a later time. Well, this week was the "later time." 

These lemon squares are five ingredients and are delicious and easy to make. 

Here's what you'll need:

For the crust:

• 1 cup softened organic butter
• 2 cups organic sugar
• 2 ¼ cups all-purpose organic flour
• 4 organic eggs
• Juice of two organic Meyer lemons
• Organic powdered sugar for sprinkling (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F, or 176 degrees C.

Mix butter, 2 cups of the flour, and ½ cup of the sugar in a bowl. Press the dough into the bottom of an ungreased glass 9x13-inch* baking dish. Bake for 15-20 minutes until lightly golden. Do not over bake. Set out to cool completely.

(*roughly)

For the lemon filling:

Mix in a stand mixer with the whisk attachment, or by hand, 1½ cups of sugar, ¼ cup flour, all of the eggs (one at a time), and add the lemon juice slowly. 

Pour over the top of the cooled crust.

Bake at 350 degrees F (176 degrees C) for 20 minutes, or until the top is firm and set. 

Allow to cool completely before dusting with powdered sugar. This step is optional, but it does make for a tastier lemon square and it just looks pretty. Place them on a plate and serve. We like to eat them when they are still a slight bit warm, but they are also delicious when they are chilled.

Garden of Yellow

With last year's garden being covered in a lot of ash from the wildfires, and losing everything, we decided to keep it simple this year. We planted some pumpkin seeds and zinnia seeds, but to our shock a lot of the sunflower seeds from last year came up this year. Sunflowers are not perennials, so it was a nice surprise and kind of a wonderful things given what happened last year. It was almost like the garden was telling us, "I'm still strong and can make it through the worst." Kind of like all of us. Last year was hard, so very hard, but we are still strong and can truly make it through the worst. Our garden is now beaming with bright yellows and after a long, trying day, bright yellow is a nice color to see. 

Exploring Gleneden Beach State Park (Oregon)

Gleneden Beach State Park is one of the hidden gems of Lincoln City, Oregon. You can find out more about it here. 

Five Simple Things (August 13)

Hello.

The smoke this week from the Middle Fork Complex Fire in Oakridge, Oregon, has been causing a bit of a smoke screen here in the parts of the Valley where we are. It started by lightning and the smoke has been heavy at times this week. We do get a bit of breeze to blow it away some, but overall I'm just thinking summers here are now just going to have some wildfire smoke during the season. I just hope no fires get close to us like they did last year. Along with the dry heat here we've been running our water sprinkler nonstop, it seems. Not just this week, but several weeks now. We are seeing less "crunchy" grass in the front of the house, especially. We have also been watering the sunflowers and pumpkin plants during the watering time in the evenings. We only planted sunflowers and pumpkins this year, because last year we last every single plant we had in the garden due to the wildfire smoke and ash. We also lost our crabapple tree in the process, too. So, this year we kept it simple just in case. Our air conditioner has been going nonstop, too, and I hate that we've had to depend on it so much this week. We are thinking of investing in some more eco-friendly air conditioner options for next year and we've been looking at this one, and this one. I like how minimal they look and seem to "blend in" with your décor and walls. Right now, we have this one. But, it worked overtime this year and having something less awkward, that could do the job for less work, would be great. Here are five things this week.

1. This Lunch.

Being part of the IKEA Family we always get a discount and lunch for our birthday. We needed a few things, so it seemed like a great time to go and enjoy lunch, pick up what we needed, and enjoy the day. We love eating lunch at IKEA and the view is always great!

2. This Appreciation.

I opened up on an Instagram post of Komuso Design and they ended up sharing it openly with their followers. My Shift necklace I received as a Mother's Day gift and I've been using it regularly since that day. I am beyond flattered that my story got shared with their followers and I hope it helps someone else, too. 

3. This Doggie.

Hardy is such a wonderful dog. The older he gets the more he makes us laugh. We moved the duck house this week to another part of the yard and the ducks aren't quite adapted to the change yet, but Hardy helps gather them up and put them in at night. He is getting good at corralling them when we need help. Min Pins are great dogs to teach responsibilities too and they actually thrive better at having tasks. Smart dogs and they know when and where to help when needed.

4. This Wool.

I ordered these wool dryer balls from Exactly Zero. I received a stick of their laundry stick in a past Kiwi Eco Box and loved it. Although we have white dryer balls already, I loved these gray ones. If you haven't tried anything from Exactly Zero, give them a go. The St. Louis, Missouri-based company was started by Michael and Charlotte Fritzius because of a cancer scare with Michael in 2012. Since that time they have been creating products that don't have health consequences after long-term use. Although their wool dryer balls are sold out, they have a lot of great, eco-friendly items that are just as awesome. 

5. This Devil.

Dirt devils here in Oregon are one of my most favorite things to see. I've seen so many of them since moving here. This one was one of the bigger, longer-lasting ones that we've seen in awhile.

 Did you catch the moon near Venus this week (10), or Perseids Meteor Shower (12)?

Positive affirmations this week:

No matter what you do for a living, a hobby, your opinions on topics, how you wear your hair, or live your life, you're going to have people that hate something, or all aspects of that. It can drag you down if you let it. For years I've had these feelings drag me down and destroy the small amounts of confidence that I have. But, the best thing I did for myself was know that, no matter how many people there may be that want to reflect hate onto you for your life, there are so many more that will support and tell you positive things. Focus on these positives over the negatives and hate. These are going to be your most loyal supporters and are the ones you can lean on when things get hard. Most of the time people that show hate towards you, or negatives, are projections of their own insecurities and fear of doing what you're doing. Thinking of these negatives and hate in a way that isn't about you, but about them helps navigate through them. Don't let these people ever take the wind out of your sails and listen to those loyal supporters that just want to see you succeed. 

Have a great weekend and happy Friday the 13th.