More from "Simple Abundance" the book I am reading.

Is it Recession or Depression?

It is a recession when your neighbor losses this job, and it’s a depression when you lose your own.  It is
Very easy to surrender to an emotional depression when a financial one occurs. Its easy to be pessimistic about tomorrow when today seems so bleak.  You have  to learn to be optimistic. Be reassured, Optimism, can be learned.  Start today with a little experiment. Smile at everyone you meet.  Today expect something good will happen to you no matter what occurred yesterday.   Realize the past no longer holds you captive.  A simple abundant world awaits.

It is easy to be independent when you have money.  But to be independent when you haven’t got a thing  -  that’s the  test.  The simpler we make our lives the more abundant they become. 

The eyes of my eyes have been opened.  If you give your very best, the very best will come back to you. 
Start giving thanks for everything.  Daises in a jar on the windowsill, the first sip of tea in the morning, reading the newspaper over breakfast with my husband, hearing the words “I love you sweet pea” before I fall asleep each night”.  Each offer authentic moments of pleasure and contentment, but only when you notice and appreciate each little gifts every day can offer.

Stop what you are doing and ask your self, are you basic needs met?  Do you have a home? Food on the table? Do you have your health? Can you talk, walk, see the beauty that surrounds you, listen to music that stirs the soul or makes you want to dance?  Do you have family and friends that you love and love you back?

Then pause for a moment and give thanks.  Accept that  financial security doesn’t exist, money never brought contentment.  But inner contentment and serenity are achievable. 

Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough and more.  It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into  friend. -  Melody Beattie

Go out and select the prettiest, most inviting journal you can find.  Today you will start a Daily Gratitude journal.  Each night before you go to bed write at least 5 things that you can be grateful about that day.  Sometimes your list will include amazing things, most days simple joys.  Other days -  rough ones - you might think you don’t have much to be grateful for write down the things you do have, your health, husband, wife, child, your home, friends and a comfortable bed. 

The recurring knowledge of what is working in out lives can help us not only survive but surmount difficulties.  As you focus on the abundance rather than the lack in your life, you will be designing a wonderful new blueprint for the future.  Gratitude is the hearts memory.

My first black friday

Black Friday is a good idea until you actually attempt it.  For those in the UK Black Friday is the day after Thanks Giving. Most of the big department stores have 50% sales on selected items and you can get them super cheap. Electrical items are a big favorite on Black Friday.  The catch is that the items are limited, so as you can imagine its mayhem. The stores all start their sales at different times. Some at midnight others at 4am, 5am and so on. People camp outside stores for hours on end to get the items they want.

I had a few in mind that would come in really handy for our upcoming trip, and that we needed but  had been putting off  purchasing due to the big question that looms over every purchase, DO I REALLY NEED THIS OR DO I WANT IT!

The items I was looking for were

1. A printer
2. A car stereo
3. Ipod dock 
4. Digital camera
5. GPS

I managed to find all but the car stereo at Walmart. The stores release ads that have all their deals on it, so you can plan you shopping trip. The good  thing is  is that Walmart started its sales at 10pm and the latest one was midnight. Not too late a night as I had work in the am.

When I arrived at Walmart I found out that all the sale items were in the middle of the isles and covered in black tarp, they would not be uncovered till the sale time. 10pm and midnight. The electrical was midnight. My friends and I found the locations of the items we needed and circled like vultures.


I wont go into too much detail about the rampaging and ripping of pallets open before they were due to be opened, the surging crowds and screams of women fighting over items. Lets just say this was my first and last Black Friday.

I also wont tell you too much detail about how I managed to get all my goods before everyone else find a corner to sit in and watch the madness ensue.

What I will tell you is that I have taken all my purchases back!  Nothing worked!  The cameras focus was broken, the ipod dock didn't fit my ipod, I would have to order from apple for a attachment that fit my ipod! grrrrrr and the printer came without a major component that I would have to purchase for another $20.I was very angry at HP for that and almost phoned head office just to rant.  We kept the GPS and I found a portable Ipod speaker for $7 that is totally cute works, I use it in the car so now I have music.

LESSON here is Walmart only give away cheap toot on Black Friday. You get what you pay for and its just not worth the lack of sleep and possibility of getting stampeded.

I must have forgot to ask DO I REALLY NEED THIS STUFF OR WANT IT?

It would have saved me allot of hassle.


DONT BUY THESE THEY ARE RUBBISH!

The printer came without the USB cable to connect to computer it costs $20 more

 This camera was broken and felt really cheap

Apple products do not fit this you have to order a attachment from apple

 

These are amazing and work great mine has a cute owl design

Another day another Juice

This morning juice was a success.Will be one I use again and again

Sweet N Tart Citrus

3 cups Cranberries
2  x 2” pieces Ginger
3 Oranges
2 small Ruby Red Grapefruit
2 Limes

Calories: 500
Protein: 7 g
Fiber: 9 g




It was very yummy and is definitely a morning juice.  I Felt full of energy and  it got me through till noon easily.

If anyone has any recipes that they can suggest please post thanks

Say hello to my little friend

About a month ago Aaron sat me down and asked me to watch a Documentary called Fat, sick and nearly dead. He said he wanted us to use the principles in the documentary to establish  healthy eating habits and gain over all better health.  I was thrilled he had made the decision but a little cautious about the contents of the Documentary.  What would we be attempting next.. Freeze dried astronaut food?  Eating according to color?  The list is endless when on the topic of newest eating fads.

Fortunately the documentary was far more grounded. The basic principles were ones we all know, lots of greens, eat the color of the rainbow when it comes to veg. Meat and dairy limited.   Processed foods and sugar non existent. 

That was something we had been working on for a while but making SLOW progress. The documentary follows a Australian business man who is 309lbs  sick, slow, sluggish and tired of feeling that way.  He decided to juice his way across America. His idea is, if his body can heal a cut on the outside that ff he gives it enough of the good stuff it needs he should be able to heal on the inside too.  He does 2 months of just juicing, no solid foods at all.  His juices consist of 80% veg and 20% fruit.  The end result his illness goes away, he comes off his meds. He loses 60lbs, has far more energy and breaks his old habits and relationships with food.  ( see the documentary on netflix)

Back to us. We wanted to do the fast for 60 days, but we have a 2 week road trip coming and felt that we would be setting ourselves up to fail if we tried to only juice while on the road. We decided that we would substitute 2 meals a day with juicing for now. Then when we come back we would do the fast for 60 days. 

Our Breville arrived  yesterday. So I went and brought ingredients for dinner tonight, breakfast and lunch tomorrow. We would have dinner at Aarons parents. Mum always cooks a healthy dinner. 

Tonights dinner was a green juice. 

Ingredients:
1 green apple
1-2 cups of spinach
3-4 leaves of swiss chard
½ a cucumber
2 sticks of celery
¼ fennel bulb
1 bunch of basil


It was horrible.. To much fennel. It was dark green in color and both Aaron and I had to chug it while holding our nose. It would have been bearable without the fennel. 

The juicer creates such a mess. No one on the forum has mentioned the mess from the machine. It wasn’t as bad as cleaning up after dinner but the pulp got everywhere in the machine.  It was a veggie massacre. However I feel good, my head feels clear but I am craving steak and fries big time.  I only made half the juice as at the moment I am playing around with amounts and cost of produce.  I am glad I didn’t make that much. I gagged after the last mouthful and nearly threw up.   So lesson is make a small amount first and if it works repeat.  I  am looking forward to my journey of juicing but will have to fight the cravings for solid food.

The woman you were meant to be

At the heart of the melancholy we feel is that we miss the women we were meant to be. 
But the good news is that even if you have ignored her overtures for years (“wear
red…cut your hair…study art in Paris… travel more…learn the tango)  your authentic
Self has not abandoned you.  Instead she has been waiting patiently for you to recognize
Her and reconnect.
Listen to the whispers of your heart.  At long last the journey you long for has begun.


It is difficult to experience moment of happiness if we are not aware of what it is that we genuinely love. 
We must learn to savor small, authentic moments that bring us contentment. Experiment with a new
Recipe. Take the time to slowly arrange a bouquet of flowers to appreciate the colors, fragrance and
beauty. Sip a cup of tea on the front stoop in the sunshine.  Simple pleasures can be enjoyed that are often
over looked.  We have to be willing to discover and then appreciate the authentic moments of happiness
available to all of us every day.

Grasp the awareness of what it is that makes us truly happy.  Consider your personal preferences and
learn  how to recognize, then embrace, moments of happiness that are uniquely our own.

Lets stop thinking that things outside our control will make us happy, the luxury car, a bigger kitchen.
Make peace with the knowledge that you cant have everything you want. Why? Because its more
Important for us to get everything we need.  Like infants we feel contentment when our essential needs are
met. Be courageous, ask yourself: what is it I truly need in order to make me happy?  Its only after we
acknowledge  our inner needs that we then have the energy to create those needs into our lives.

My New Car

Yesterday  I was scouring Craigslist ( like Gumtree) and I found a great deal on a 1991 Ford Explorer.  She looked clean, was mechanically sound and we had exactly the amount they were asking in our savings account. I forwarded the info to Aaron he called the man. Then with his permission I went ot our bank emptied our account and within the hour we were on our way to Lodi.  I prayed and prayed, please if this car is good for let us get it. We have been in desperate need of a car for some time.  With my friends updateing their cars to nice new ones I have been struggling with this for a while now.   But keeping ever focused and wanting to keep our lives simple this looked like the answer.

Sure she is 20yrs old, but has had one owner, is very clean and maintained. She is 4x4, tons of space. A little on the basic side but she has power steering, heating and quiet. To me this is luxury. 

I drove her home, the stress falling away as now I have a car for the ministry, errands, work and our road trip. yey!

Simple Abundance

I an currently reading a book of essays written by women about how my daily life can be an expression of my authentic self.  The principles we already know about simplifying and being content but learning to be creative again with the life i am living now.

So I thought i would include inspiration from it now and again.

Life is not a dress rehearsal

Do we save the pretty china for when company come, or rarely dress up when you are home alone, if we are not playing to an audience does it really matter. Are we like a actress just going through the motions in order to conserve her creative energies till opening night.  We hold back!


It does take more effort to set a inviting table, but it enhances our enjoyment of eating.  We all feel better when we fix our hair or do our make up, but more important we act different.  Every actress knows the magic power of props, and costumes to create special moods onstage and off.

None of us can expect to preform every minute of our lives, but a lot of us might tap into that amazing feeling, excitement, moments of pure joy of real life more frequently if we cast ourselves as the leading lady in our own lives.

Road Kill

Aaron and I stared death in face in the early hours of Monday morning.  We were coming back from the movies rather late. 1.30am, we do not usually stay out this late but it was the only showing for the movie we wanted to see.  We were approaching our exit driving along 50, which is the motorway for any Londoners reading this. 

We were humming along in our Yellow beast, now adequately named.  When out of no where 2 deer jumped the divide of the freeway/motorway and ran right at our car. Aaron slowed down as much as he could but they sped up and ran right in front of us.  The night air was littered with deer innards, poop and blood. They yellow beast had torn the first deer in two and thrown it about 20 feet in front of us.  The other deer a small doe had survived.  We didn't know the other deer had survived until we came back to scene of the massacre a few minutes later to retrieve the front grill of out car.  The emblem was lost to the carnage and is either inside the deer or in the brush somewhere.

We returned to the scene to find another car pulled up along side the freeway guarding the surviving doe.  She was in the middle of the freeway all legs broken and one snapped in half. We tried to warn on coming traffic of the danger until CHP arrived.  We were then in a very sever tone told to get off the freeway. We left in a hurry.

We are fine, a little shaken after the accident. The car has a few dents and the front grill is a little worse for ware but if it wasn't for the tank things might have been a lot worse.