Five Simple Things (September 17)

Hello. 

Here are five things this week...

1. This Moment.

Trying to hold onto summer as long as we can. We sat in the car and enjoyed some watermelon in the sunshine before we headed out on the ocean and surfed for the rest of the day.

2. This Birthday.

We celebrated Jeff's birthday this week on the sixteenth. He unfortunately had to work on his birthday, so Skylar and I surprised him at his job with a cupcake.

3. This Bench.

Picked up a bench at IKEA for the area near our front door. It's perfect and just what I wanted to complete this area. This bench I purchased is the SKOGSTA and it is solid wood and perfect for filling in a small space. It measures: (Length: 47 1/4)-(Width: 13 3/8)-(Height: 17 3/4)

4. These Snails.

Skylar's snails are growing and thriving. He also have a wooly bear caterpillar in the habitat, as well.

5. This Reminder.

9/11 had a profound impact on, not only the United States, but the world. While reviewing history facts in our homeschool classroom this week, I came across former President Obama's speech after the death of Osama Bin Laden. Although, the United States was seeking a bit of relief after that news, it didn't ease anyone's mind, or pain from that day. 9/11 will always be a day that I remember as the day I cried so hard for people I didn't know. I still hurt for them even 20 years later. 

Did you catch Mercury at its highest point this week (13), or the Saturn, Moon, and Jupiter conjunction (17)?

Positive affirmations this week:

If you're still working from home, like a lot of people during this past year, you may not be keeping your body in alignment properly. With Skylar and me working on our podcast every once in awhile I feel the stress in my shoulders, neck, and even lower back if I don't sit right, keep my hands in the right alignment, and even my legs properly positioned on the floor. Here are some tips to help keep your body in check even if you're headed back to the office.

1. Keep your computer at least 18-inches from your eyes. And, make sure it's properly aligned with your eyesight. Sit up straight, roll your shoulders back, and where your eyes meet in front of your gaze, that's where your computer should be. Use a riser, or even books to bring that screen up to where it should be.

2. Make sure to look outside of a window once every 30 minutes. Positioning a computer near a window, or even placing a mirror in front of your desk that reflects a window view can help with your eyesight over time. Glancing periodically will save your sight from strain throughout the day. 

3. Your chair is important. We spend 80% of our time in a chair working a clerical, or office-type job. Your chair height should allow your hips to be a bit higher than your knees when sitting up straight. Try not to cross your legs either. Leg crossing can lead to a lot of issues that will affect you as you get older. If anything else, place your feet on a riser under your desk, if you feel the strain in your legs over time of sitting. Use a lumbar support in your lower back, and also a chair with arms can help keep your arms up to where your hands and wrist meet the keyboard properly. 

4. A standing desk, or height desk is also a good investment to make if you feel you're sitting too long and for long periods of time. Also, getting up periodically can help get blood flowing, as well. Doing walks on your lunch break, squats, lunges, side-to-side stretches, calve raises on stairs, and yoga is also a great way to get stretches in and improves brain function and flexibility over time, too.

5. Add some plants to your desk, a small fish tank, paintings, family pictures, or even pictures of plants. A small, live tree in the corner of your office space can help relieve anxiety of the work day, as well as bring in fresh oxygen to your small corner, or room. If you can the more the better.!

Have a nice weekend!

Peanut Butter Cookies

This past weekend we decided not to hit the waves, but clean out a lot of forgotten spaces in our house. One space being the pantry. We are good at rotating foods in our pantry, but every once in awhile we find out we have more of one item than we think. This weekend it was peanut butter. Six jars later we realize that we are pretty set on having enough for awhile. I tried to think of ways to use it and there is so many possibilities. After sorting through all of the options, we agreed on making peanut butter cookies and played around with some of the chocolate candies we picked up at the local food co-op here. We love these chocolate candies and they are similar to M&M's, but are made with Fair Trade chocolate and dyed with better ingredients. Since changing our eating habits to better quality, it's amazing how many things that once tasted "good" now taste off. One of the main products I've noticed the change in taste is chocolate and peanut butter. I used to love Hershey's, especially Hershey Kisses, but now, nope. I can't eat them without feeling like I'm eating chocolate-flavored wax. These chocolate rainbow drops can be purchased online here, if you wanted to use them like we did in this recipe. Here's how we made our peanut butter cookies.

Ingredients:

1 cup organic peanut butter, 1 cup organic sugar

1 large organic egg, ½ cup organic flour

Chocolate candies

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix the peanut butter, sugar, egg in a mixer and add flour on low speed until well combined. Don't over mix, just enough to combine everything and make a wet/oily dough base.

Roll into balls, or create your own pattern of cookie. Pressing a fork into the tops of the cookies creates the lines on the top of the cookies shown here. Add the chocolate candies anywhere on the cookies that you chose. Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until the tops of the cookies start to brown a bit. 

These cookies are great when they are still slightly warm.

Five Simple Things (September 10)

Hello.

Over the past weekend, Labor Day weekend we made our first batch of homemade salsa. There are a few things we would change in future batches, but overall it was a great time. We are thinking of making Labor Day salsa making a yearly tradition. I've been looking into simple ways of canning certain foods we enjoy, just so we can have them on hand when we need them. We also hit the beach again this week. Finally able to enjoy all of us having boards to surf on, with Jeff using a bodyboard. His shoulder has been hurting him lately, so the bodyboard was perfect for him on this trip. The amount of people on the beaches here during Labor Day weekend was the most I've seen in a long time on the Oregon coast. We kept our distance from everyone, though, because most people were not wearing masks, or social distancing. The swells were pretty high, almost 10-14 feet at times and hitting every three-four seconds, so it was quite a workout for us all. We were all pretty sore the next day, but it was totally worth it. Overall it was a good Labor Day weekend and a nice week overall. Here are five things this week.

1. These Lights.

Up on top of the highest mountain in our area and this was the view of the city at midnight. Seems a lot bigger than it is.

2. This Salsa.

Our Labor Day salsa was a solid plan this year and will will definitely be continuing it in the future.

3. This Surf.

And, it was perfect!

4. This Package.

Won a Twitter contest this week and received all of this great Forager products from the company. We loved everything, especially the queso cheese and the probiotic drinks. All of the coupons shown there are for free products, too. It was definitely a score!

5. This MightyFix.

Always love everything from Might Nest. You can sign up here to get on the next mailing list for your own Mightyfix.

Did you catch the Andromeda Galaxy visible in the sky this week (4), the Moon above Mercury (7), or the Moon above Venus (10)?

  

Positive affirmations this week: 

Ways to feel good about yourself, and live your best life-give it 21 days:

1. Eat clean.

2. Exercise daily.

3. Positive thoughts.

4. Get inspired.

5. Create a routine.

6. In bed early.

7. Wake up early.

8. Drink more water.

9. Create a to-do list.

10. Love yourself more.

Have a nice weekend.

Five Simple Things (September 3)

Hello.

Last week was my birthday and it was such a great birthday. I turned 44 and had such a wonderful day; well, week actually. I always joke when August hits and say it's my birthday month. Which, I love birthdays, so it's fitting. We went surfing two days in a row and my goal was to get up 44 times and stay up for at least 44 seconds. The ocean was my friend both times and helped me celebrate and reach my personal goal. Skylar and I also have been working on a small hall closet this week to set it up for our podcasting. We are literally recording episodes either on a bed in a bedroom, or at a desk in a bedroom. We would love to have something a lot bigger and more setup for just our podcast, but we are working with what we have at the moment. When we finally get moved we are going to dedicate a room to just our podcasting and recording. It will be a great setup for us and we are anxious to do that. But, for now, we are working on the hall closet and I'll share pictures on my blog once it's done. We are also looking forward to the Labor Day weekend. 

1. This Surf.

Birthday surf trip for the books. I probably had more fun surfing this past weekend than I ever had since we started. Great time with great people and great surf! 

2. This Chocolate.

This chocolate mint is one of my favorites now. Since we changed our eating habits to more whole foods and organic, I have been missing my York Peppermint Patties. This Seattle Chocolate Brisk Mountain Mint is a very close match to the minty chocolate taste. But, to really get the York Peppermint Patty vibe that I truly crave, these are what I go for. They are available at Whole Foods, but you can also order them on the Seely's website, or on Amazon. You honestly haven't had a good peppermint patty until you've had one of those. 

3. These Items.

 

The Kiwi Eco Box this month is amazing. I can't wait to try the shampoo bars and the bamboo hairbrush. Also, the Mighty Fix this month was much-needed. The cleaning brushes are always a plus in our house. The bottom two items were an addon to my MightyFix. The lunchbox was a needed item and the reusable garbage bags complete our cans. We use one can for recycle and the other for trash and with the reusable trash bags we don't have to purchase trash bags anymore. It's something we've been working hard on cutting out of our everyday usage. Once these get dirty, you throw them in the wash and let them air dry and you're good to go. 

4. These Sponges.

Since the pandemic hit we've been using these BD sponges to clean our hands with. Sometimes we've even used them to clean our bodies when we feel we've been exposed to anyone infected with Coronavirus. We found these online here and have placed a few orders with them. The same company carries masks, alcohol wipes, cleaning liquids and wipes, and gloves, as well. They are the BD sponges with the 3% PCMX soap. The same sponges used by medical doctors before surgery. They have come in quite handy during these uncertain times, but we still wear a mask and distance ourselves from others, too.

5. This Day.

 

My birthday was August 28 and as always Twitter was on top of it with the balloons. It's one of the highlights of using Twitter and I do enjoy it every year. I also got my birthday tradition of chocolate cupcakes with buttercream frosting from our local food co-op. I love these cupcakes so much that we literally have to only buy them for special occasions. They are delicious! I also got a great birthday card from IKEA. Although, I get it every year, this year was more special to me. I've been wanting and waiting to go to IKEA to get a few things I've been wanting. When my birthday card came from them, I immediately took advantage of it. 

Because everyone deserves something special on their birthday, we've included treats just for you! Your birthday offers are valid from
August 1st - 31st, 2021.

$10 off your purchase

Scan this coupon and your IKEA 

Family card to get $10 off of 

your in-store purchase.

Free Frozen Yogurt

Scan this coupon and your IKEA 

Family card to enjoy a free frozen 

yogurt from the IKEA Bistro.

Did you catch the bright Aldebaran star near the moon this week (29)?

Positive affirmations this week:

Improving your balance helps with your life in more ways than one. Before we started surfing my balance was off and I honestly didn't trust myself. Since we've been surfing every chance we get, my balance has improved so much and in turn that confidence has improved my mental health a lot. If you don't, or can't surf there are other ways to help improve your balance. Here's an exercise you can do and actually improve upon as you do it.---

Stand with your legs shoulder-length apart and sideways beside a wall about as far as arm's length from the wall. Bending the leg closest to the wall at the knee bring your other leg in and raise your foot up to where your on your toes, but don't put pressure on that foot. All of your weight should be supported by the bend leg closest to the wall. With your other leg lifted and no weight on the leg, hold this position as long as you can. Once you feel like it's been a comfortable amount of time, switch to the other foot and do it again. Try to improve on your time each day and not only will your balance improve, but also your confidence and self esteem. Start small and work your way up. This exercise also improves the muscles in your legs, especially your calves. 

Have a nice weekend.

End of August 2021 (1 Second Every Day)