Water

You've seen Daniel Vitalis talking about it. You've seen Kevin Gianni (Renegade Health Show), Anthony Anderson (Raw Model), Philip McCluskey (Loving Raw), & Dhrumil Purohit (We Like It Raw) doing it. It's about time I do it!

What you ask? Collect my own spring water!

I used this resource to locate a spring near me and I have found a few options. I am lucky to live less than an hour away from all of them. If you live in So Cal here are the links for Big Bear Lake
Palm Springs, & Bay Tree Spring- Idyllwild (This one is closest to me and I just found out as of July 10th it is closed! To support the reopening of this spring.) check out theses sites: http://www.friendsofbaytreespring.org/ & www.myspace.com/savingbaytreespring

However, remembering to put my intention of love into the water is probably the most important. Love is the most powerful tool we have in healing water, relationships, our bodies, and the planet.



I did the rice experiement with my kids as a science project back in 2007 and it was a powerful tool to set the intention of love into my home. It truly changed the vibes of my home.

I had the jars sitting on front of my kitchen sink to constantly remind the kids and me to impress our intention. One was labeled "I love you" another "I hate you" and another was left blank.

We saw changes immediately. The water in the jar labeled "I love you" became pristine clear water and the grain (I didn't have white rice so I used cooked quinoa and it worked just the same) stayed vibrant and floated to the top as if it was uplifted by love. Even after several months it looked as though it was just prepared.

The water in the jar that was labeled "I hate you" became murky and grey. The grains began to cluster together and rot. It looked like a tumor. It really looked disgusting. It was hard for us to keep saying, "I hate you" to the jar daily because we knew this was affecting our cells as well.

The water in the jar that was unlabeled we were instructed to ignore. It turned yellow, but the grains did not rot.

I highly recommend you try this out. I promise it will change you!

Love your water, your life, yourself, the people in your life.

Hiking Devil's Slide

Took a nice break from the heat and went hiking to Devil's Slide. We didn't complete the full hike considering we started just before noon and after an hour into the hike we came across boy scouts who started the hike at 6:30 am. They suggested it would be too strenuous and hot especially if we didn't have about a gallon of water each on hand (which we didn't). Plus we needed to be back down the trail by 4pm. So we continued a while longer, then called it a day.

The background rock is the end of the hike.

Kickin' it before we get hiking.

Christie, Alex, Mehgan, Alex

Mehgan taking a little water break


I hope to be able to do this hike again and go all the way to the top. Mehgan kept commenting on how peaceful she felt being in nature. She said to me, "Mom, why do I feel so calm here?" Nature is so healing. Kids are so perceptive!

Late July 09 Garden Update

Look what happened in just 3 weeks in my garden!

July 7th

July 28th

I can't believe how fast things are taking off! Look what importing 5 yards of organic compost, rock dust, seaweed, and other organic goodies can do!

Days have been hot & dry (high 90's or low 100's). I had been hand watering like crazy! I have come home to find very wilted plants. I almost feel like I can't be gone from home very long. I am lucky enough to have a friend who is going to install drip irrigation to these beds. I'll be taking notes :)

A watermelon flower

A newly polinated watermelon

Isn't this just the cutest thing ever? Now I sound like a new mom bragging about her babies....sorry. Can't help it. ;)

As a novice gardener I realized I have underestimated these plants. I just found out that one watermelon can take up 100 sq ft! OH NO! I planted about 14 of them. It's gonna be a scary jungle here soon.

Raspberries are growing. I never knew when raspberries were in season. I am guessing sometime in late summer.

Butternut Squash (volunteer)
OMG, I just LOVE butternut squash! It is one of my favorites. I love it as a soup, roasted, steamed, sauteed, you name it. I need to learn more raw recipes for this amazing food! If you know any post them in my comments box below.

Look what Alex discovered! I had a green preying mantis in my garden a couple months ago, but seeing this guy just threw me for a loop. I didn't know there were different colors! However, he was hidden behind some rocks and he blended right in!

I think these guys (grasshoppers) are bad for a garden. Not sure. Anyone know? He was kickin' it on my cherry tomato volunteers.

I have also been enjoying the abundance of bees! I would guess there are over 50 bees or so out in the morning. It feels so good, especially after Mehgan and I watched a program recently on the problem with bees. No bees = no food! Mehgan really wants to raise bees, but I am concerned since my property is rather small. I wouldn't want neighbors to be trying to kill them. I dunno. Anyone know about this? My lot is just about 8000 sq ft.

Patty Pan on the Vine

I harvested this one. I think this was about the right size before harvesting for best flavor, etc. Again, not sure. Tasted fantastic though.

Yellow Squash (volunteer)

I ate this straight from the garden just minutes after picking. It was so sweet! I can get used to this! ;)

Zucchini
My first one of the season. It's got a weird shape to it!

A new cantaloupe

Cantaloupe (volunteer) amongst cherry tomato volunteers
Almost ready! Again, I have like 14 of these plants. I am not a big fan of cantaloupe, but Mehgan is. She can easily eat 2 a day!

Lemon Cucumber
I recently trained this up at trellis after it had become a big mess. It sort of shocked the plant I think, but it is doing better. Here is a young cucumber.

I think this is when it is harvesting time. I was told that if it was creamy colored and no longer green then it was ready to go. These are so good. I went to a raw food potluck where there were raw pickled cucumbers with lemon juice, dill, and salt that marinated over a period of several days. Who knew you could enjoy raw pickles? I am always amazed.

Here is a little clip of my compost! I have always had troubles doing it right. I never had crumbly dark soil. Either it would get stinky and too wet at the bottom and attract flies or it would be too dry and never break down. I think in this video it is a bit dry, however it is the best it has ever been. I bet I'll just keep getting better from here!

Playing Around w/ B Series Partner Yoga

Real Living

Sustainable Relationships
Loving my life unconditionally
Loving the people in my life unconditionally
Loving myself unconditionally

Sustainable Health
Living clean & lean on raw foods
Rocking an able & athletic body

Sustainable Service
Getting turned on- being passionate
Making love all day long- doing what you love with intention & focus
Sharing my voice

Sustainable Income
Generating multiple streams of passive income through providing genuine value
Casting a vote on the world I want through how I spend my money

Sustainable Home Life
Living in paradise: clean fresh air, plenty of rain, warm year round weather
Growing my own food however simple or exotic
Caring for the Earth as I do my body

Sustainable Growth
Learning, exploring, dreaming, doing, defying limitations, laughing, loving, celebration, and gratitude, having fun

July 09 Garden Update

I have a long way to go before I have a fully running edible landscape. However, I am thankful for what I have so far. I am not an expert at gardening, but I am learning as I go. A great book that is helping me is called Desert Gardening since I live off the coast and closer towards Palm Springs. It seems that July & August just scorches my entire garden and Jan gets frost. So, it seems in Southern California I have a few short seasons to work with although I can grow year round. I have so much to learn.

I need to be diligent with watering since missing one day can wipe out all my hard work (which has happened a few times). I did get straw to mulch and that seems to be helping. However, it blows all over the place (as seen in the video). I still have more beds to mulch now that the plants are larger.


Here is a list of what I have so far:

Trees
fig (Black Mission), plum (Santa Rosa)

Bushes
2 blueberry varieties (O'neil & Misty)

Vine
grape (red flame) and kiwi (about dead by the sun)

Berries
blackberry, raspberry, boysenberry, strawberries (again near scorched)

Herbs
oregano, basil, chamomile, aloe

All raised beds have wire to keep underground gophers from getting into the goods. My dog, Hailee has been keeping all the birds from landing and mice, possums and gophers from having a party in my yard. The compost seems to draw in the critters. Which is why it is in a trash can with holes so I can put potting soil over the clippings and put a lid on it.

Annuals
corn- sweet, white, & bi color
Anaheim chili's
tomato (a few varieties)
watermelon
cantaloupe
pumpkin
spaghetti squash
zucchini
patty pan
cucumber- 2 varieties
tomatillo

Volunteers
cantaloupe
yellow summer squash
butternut squash
cherry tomatoes
pumpkin (I think)
beets

To do
finish nylon netting for vertical growing
front yard flowerbed along the wall needs to be re planted (most everything there is a volunteer and I didn't have the heart to rip them out.)
install an irrigation system
finish the side area of the front yard next to the small raised beds. BTW, I double dug under all those and amended soil about 1 foot down. I don't have wire to block gophers though. I hope it isn't a problem in the future, but from what everyone tells me it will be an issue.

After it cools a bit
I hope to plant trees in September like citrus and stone fruit. As well as putting all the plants that are still on pots in the ground. I need to be careful since the soil I have is clay and very tough to work with. I know it will be a while before I have awesome soil.

Home Schooling

I receive many questions from mothers who want to home school their children but don't know where to start. I would recommend moms to find other mothers in their community that are homeschooling. I would consider myself to still be somewhat of a novice even though I have completed 3 years of homeschooling with my kids.

Selection
I belong to a charter school. The kids receive their funds from public schooling and we have vendors that we are able to select programs, books and so forth from.

Accountability
We meet with an Educational Specialist every month. This is when I turn in work samples, lesson plans, attendance and grades. I also consult with her to find more resources and options that could better suit our needs.

Testing
My children are still required to complete the same testing as public school children do. In California it is STAR testing. The children meet every spring at a public location and the tests are set up the same as traditional school. In addition, my children are accessed at the beginning and end of the school year with an online test called Scantron just to see their starting point and their growth at the end of the year.

Special Services
My son has always needed the assistance of speech therapy. So he is receiving that through the school as a free service. I am also enrolling in LARP (Language Arts and Reading Program) for parents to learn more effective ways of working with their children's learning styles.

1st Year Curriculum ( 3rd and 5th grade)
Our first year of homeschooling, the kids attended half day enrichment classes two days a week just for social interaction and to be a bridge between public school and home school. I had no clue how to home school so I did a box kit curriculum with Varsity books. Basically it was set up as a normal teacher teaching public school. I downloaded the class lessons and conducted class just like a normal school setting. It was quite a challenge considering I was teaching two different grades. I was separating my son and daughters curriculum and doubling up on the work load. Honestly, the first year was really tough and we struggled to maintain a system that was generic and didn't meet our lifestyle.

2nd & 3rd year Curriculum (4th & 6th grade)
I kept the language arts and math curriculum separate, but combined all the other subjects like science, history, life skills, art and PE. My children selected their own special interest. This system was much simpler and we found ourselves enjoying the learning process together whereas before we struggled to do everything "by the book". Along the way, I found it much easier to start writing our own lesson plans based on our lifestyle. Here is what we did last year:

Language Arts
READ a book that they enjoyed (I would pull books from the required reading of public schools for their grade level, but found the kids took more interest in the books they selected themselves)
WRITE a page a day especially in their journals (encouraging gratitude, creating) or stories
Spelling & vocabulary- Latin based- Red Hot Root Words
Grammar- Daily Grams

History
Story of the World series

Science
Life Science (7th grade)
Kits- Solar Science, Edible Landscaping, Square Foot Gardening, Human Body

Math
Teaching Textbooks

PE
Gymnastics

Life Skills
computer skills, typing (roller typing program), blogging
personal & family responsibilities
raw food recipes

Special Interest
guitar lessons, horseback riding lessons
art- painting, drawing

Now I am approaching our 4th year of home school and I feel like it is time for another change. My kids are a bit older and are expressing career directions. I observe what they do during their independent time and I am looking to nurture their interests and habits. It seems that we are less and less concerned with standardized testing and learning skills that are not applicable to them at this time. I am not too sure how this is going to be received by our wonderful ES, but I am sure she will show us how to incorporate it all into the typical subjects.

I feel as a mother it is important to honor their direction and support them. I need to remember that learning is supposed to be fun. It is pointless to waste their time if the brain is not activated. I watch to see their natural inclinations and curiosity. I do not act like I know all the answers, since I know I don't, but rather just express a love for learning all through life.

Priorities
Knowing & supporting their end result
Nurture their nature & passion
Have fun & keep their minds curious
Prepare them to be self reliant

My kids are entering 6th and 8th grade next month. Here is what I have set up so far.

Language Arts
Reading- whatever they enjoy (Alex enjoys reading the Harry Potter series, Eragon series, Twilight series)
Write- in their gratitude & create journals & writing projects pertaining to other subjects
Spelling/Vocab- Latin
Grammar- Daily Grams book

History
Story of the World
However, public school focuses on US history for my kids grades. However, I much prefer a chronological global view.

Math
Money generation and management
Teaching Textbooks (typical class)

Science
Sustainable Living: health & environment
Earth Science (typical class)

Life skills
computer skills, typing, blogging, social media
Entrepreneurship
Self Reliance

PE
wrestling
horse vaulting (gymnastics on a horse)

Special Interest
Alex expresses a desire to excel in sports (currently in wrestling) and music(taking guitar) , computers. I would love to find a course he could take to learn about programming and just overall computer knowledge.

Mehgan expresses an artistic desire to be in the fashion world of modeling, creating her own clothing and jewelry line, singing and performing arts. She loves interacting with animals. She is working on selling her jewelry online from her blog and Etsys. I need to enroll her into a performing arts program.

Finding What Works
Everyone has their own approach. I am not even sure that I am doing things right. All I know is that most of the stuff I learned in school is information that I do not apply in my life. I want to make sure that what they are learning and doing they are enjoying. I want them to retain and apply their knowledge versus memorizing and regurgitating.

To Date or Not To Date...That IS the Question

Over the weekend I spent alot of time with family. I have two sisters Amanda who is 5 years older than me and April who is 12 years younger than me. We had our girly chats and got to talking about dating.

Watching my older sister (who is also a single mom) get calls from her "potential" guy had me thinking about my romantic life. Or perhaps the lack thereof. I don't know what is up with me. Most of the time I don't even think about it. Now, I know I put out a couple of videos about dating as a single mother, but I just haven't felt driven to date since the last 2 videos.

Is there something wrong with me? Am I too comfortable? Am I too independent? Am I just in a rut? Why isn't romance really on my brain? Have I waited too long and lost the memories of what it feels like to be in love? Am I going to be single forever? Do I have a vision of a romantic partner?

My sister was asking me why I didn't date. I replied that I felt good focusing on my kids and raising them. I also expressed that I really wanted to create and generate multiple streams of passive income and have a wonderful financial system in place. Besides that, I do have some insecurities with my body. I know it is ridiculous, but it is something that I allow to keep me from saying yes to a date.

So, now I am at a point. Should I just keep doing my thing and work on my business and kids and leave dating out until I am more established? I really don't crave romance, or at least as much as I see others going for it. I feel like it is there whenever I want it, but do I feel worthy of it? Do I feel complete as I am? Or maybe I just haven't met the right guy? I dunno, but I definitely see a lack of romantic drive. Of course, every now and then it sounds good, but those thoughts are not predominant.

My sister seems to think that at this rate I'll be single forever. I don't like the sound of that. I am not sure if that is just social conditioning that makes me think there is something wrong with staying single or if it is a true deep down yearning for companionship.

I don't feel lonely. In fact I feel quite satisfied, but watching others go nuts over romance has me wondering if I am out of the loop. I am not yearning for connection. I feel like I enjoy lots of intimate and satisfying relationships.

What is my deal? Will the craving arise after my kids are grown, I rock my bikini body and I have a very secure financial life? Am I afraid and finding excuses to hide behind? Or have I just come to feel secure in who I am and the relationships that I have already that I feel complete? Or have I not fully accepted myself and until I do that no one will walk into my world?

Hmmm...... so I am at the point....to date or not to date? Why do I bounce between the both of them? Maybe nothing will happen until I make up my mind.

Just sharing some random thoughts. Share yours if you feel inclined. :)

Being Hit by a Drunk Driver was One of the Best Things that Ever Happened to Me

It was January 2005, I just closed escrow on my first home. I was happy to get the keys and move in. I had taken the day off work to start the moving process. However, a client called me very early that morning needing my assistance. I normally took the kids to school, but I made arragements to have my long term boyfriend take them so I could go see this client and then get started on moving in.

However, on my way I was involved in a hit and run by a drunk driver that could have ended my life. I was sitting at a red light waiting for it to turn green when I was hit full force. I don't remember being hit. I was knocked unconscious, but I remember coming out of it being surrounded by a group of people, not knowing where I was or what had happened. Luckily, people saw the accident happen and chased the person who hit me and fled the scene.

The back end of my little 4 door Honda Civic had been smashed all the way to where the back seat was almost touching the back of the drivers seat. I had my massage table in the trunk of my car at the time. The impact propelled the table through the back seat and over my head to the front windshield.

I was laid up in bed for 3 months to heal from head trauma, vertigo, neck and back injuries in addition to some left sided injuries to my shoulder, elbow and knees. The vertigo (severe dizziness and nausea)was so severe that I felt like I got off a really fast merry-go-round. I couldn't see straight, everything was moving, at the slightest movement I felt like I would throw up. If you have ever been drunk and closed your eyes and felt the whole world spinning, that's how I felt 24/7. I couldn't hold up my head. I couldn't think clearly. I couldn't take pain pills because my body rejected them. I spent time in the ER dealing with a bad reaction to Vicodin. I was throwing up non stop and heaving into exhaustion. I felt like I had no quality of life. I couldn't even function: physically or mentally.

During the healing phases, I would get flash images of the accident reoccuring in my head. I was brought to tears when I realized I would normally take my kids to school that morning. Thoughts went through my mind of my children no longer being in my life. I was shaken! My kids are such a huge part of my life, but at that time I was working, my kids were in public school. I taught evening fitness classes and time with my kids was somewhat limited.

Thoughts went through my mind, "Was this a life that mattered?", "If I died today, did I give my kids the skills they needed in life?", "Did I make a positive impact on my kids?" I thought about that being my last day to live and questioned the way I had been living. Did I live a life that I could die a happy person feeling totally confident that I had done all I could do in my life? Did I spend my time in ways that mattered most? Did my kids know how much I loved them? Did I savor them or take them for granted?

I wanted to hug them, cuddle them, kiss them, tell them how much I loved them. I wanted to laugh with them, to grow with them, to watch them experience life. I wanted to support them and share this gift of life we had. Even if it was only one more day.

This was the beginning of a major life shift for me. I felt gratitude for the accident, because it made me reevaluate my life. I started shifting my life immediately. I did not return to work full time. I only saw clients when my kids were in school and in the fall of 2005, I enrolled my kids in a charter school. I began a homeschooling program. I really didn't know how to homeschool or anything about it at all. However, I repeatedly had the intuition and inspiration to do it,so I trusted that guidance.

Other changes evolved as well. I ended a 5 year relationship that seemed to no longer be syngergistic. I discovered raw foods. I decided to take my career into my own hands and become self employed. Freedom in all life aspects became very important.

I was given another chance to live. And ya know, we don't have to wait until something like this happens to start a new life. Every morning the sun rises we are given another lease on life. What are you going to do with it?