Raw Food, Christmas Crafts and a Shoe Repair

As I'm sure you all gathered, I completely threw in the hat this year with Christmas decorating, Christmas tradition making and all such nonsense. Sure, I was a little bit Scrooge McDuck, but with Jared gone the entire month of December (okay, not the whole month, but the vast majority of it) and with us living in "the room" survival was the goal, and avoidance of the worst mother of the year award.  The kids were generally kept happy and fed, and we all survived until Jared got back.  Instead of thinking about all the Christmas celebrating that we didn't do, I decided to focus my efforts on eating.  Sounds reasonable, right?

Early in December I went to two days of an introduction to Raw Food.  It was interesting and inspiring.  I am of the firm belief that God put us on this earth to learn to make good decisions.  The greatest gift he has given us is our bodies.  Therefore, one of the most important decisions we need to make is how to take care of our bodies.  He has helped us along the way with the Word of Wisdom and instruction from the prophets about things like tattoos, piercings and such. But, I think he also expects us to search out knowledge and find ways to keep our bodies healthy and strong.  I know we all die eventually, but I'd like to spend my life healthy, vibrant and aware, not waste away riddled with disease and discomfort!  So, while I am young and healthy I am trying to set habits for me and my family that will ensure that we are best prepared to combat all the polluted, toxic things in the world.

Janice Skoreyko taught the class I went to over the weekend.  She was incredible! She was quite honestly one of the happiest, most genuine women I have met.  I couldn't get enough of her. She made us the most delicious foods, and completely inspired me to be more healthy.  Now I just need a few hundred dollars to equip my kitchen with a good food processor, a dehydrator and a better juicer, and I will be ready to go! I guess I could sell my oven???  I am not interested in eating raw 100%, but with Jared's family history of diabetes, I am always looking for ways to eliminate the possibility of my children developing it, and I think incorporating raw into our diet would definitely do that, while helping us be more healthy in general. Now that Christmas is over (I'm not THAT raw) we are going to do a 30-Day Raw Food Challenge. Hopefully it will go better than my 30-Days of Giving challenge (which, BTW, I did far better at than I reported, in case you were wondering.)  For 30 days we are going to try to eat as much raw as we possibly can, which means we nothing cooked, nothing pasteurized, nothing heated over 115 degrees.  It also means we will eat tons of delicious smoothies, soups, pastas (made from zucchini) and lots of deserts. Actually, I think the deserts are going to be my favourite - nothing like a chocolate ball of goodness that you don't have to feel one bit guilty about!  Anyway, I think it's going to be harder than I imagine, but I am excited to do it! We started tonight with a big raw family dinner to celebrate Jared's birthday, which was last Wednesday. Don't worry, I'll let you know how it goes.


In other news, despite my avoidance of Christmas festivities, Eli was totally thrilled with the whole Christmas season.  Since I decided not to do any major crafting, he submitted himself to finishing every last random craft my mom has in her cupboard.  Years of gathered Christmas crafts, bought in January for dirt cheap,  came out to deck the halls of "the room."  Maybe he is deprived, but I'm pretty sure he'll survive. He was quite upset when we took them all down earlier this week, but a quick trip to the Michael's sale section ensures that he will find the same joys of the season next year.

Lastly, with a brilliant suggestion from Jared, we have saved a purchase this month by spending $1!  Eli has been wearing the same shoes for over a year.

They are the greatest runners in existence, only because they are velcro and he can put them on and take them off all by himself.  Prior to this wonderful pair of shoes I didn't mind tying his laces, because frankly he was too young to put on any shoes by himself, be them velcro or flip flops or knee-high Doc Martins (a lasting desire of mine from junior high). But, now that he has been able to dress his feet all by himself for an entire year, going back to tying shoe laces is just one thing this momma is not prepared to do! Yet, in my ignorance of the freedom I so much enjoy today, I purchased, at bargain prices, several pairs of shoes in increasing sizes before we moved back to Canada.  So, as the velcro shoes get tighter and tighter, I've got laceable shoes that actually fit Eli that neither him nor I enjoy putting on - never mind that they have the longest laces of any child's shoes EVER! 

Thus necessitates Jared's brilliant plan: throw out the laces!  Who needs them anyway?  Instead of the pesky threads I went out and bought some matching elastic, Jared threaded it through the shoes, and voila, Eli can again do it all himself.  Sure, he will be the only kid in kindergarten who hasn't been taught to tie his laces, but I'm okay with that (I'll probably homeschool him anyway, so who cares!).

This project was so easy I am considering replacing everyone in the family's laces with elastic.  In fact, I don't think I'll ever tie another shoelace again. Down with shoelaces!