I don't know about you, but the sunny (yet very cold) weather we had lately really gets me in the mood to change things in this household of ours (Spring fever anyone?). Some just affect me, for others the family has to pull together. It's been over 5 years now, that we moved from Germany to Canada and a lot has happened since. For most parts we've been really blessed and our life here is coming together as hoped in one way or the other. We applied for our Canadian Citizenship this month and if all goes well hopefully get it in about 2 years!
Normally I should be able to pinpoint where all this wish for change is coming from, but I can't say it was just one thing. For a person not believing in New Years resolutions I'm sure putting a lot on my plate this month ;).
Food: I got the proverbial kick in the butt watching a couple of documentaries about food on Netflix recently. (Food Inc., Hungry for Change, Farmageddon) Being a family of 5 living on a much lower income then what we are used to a couple of years back, I tend to buy our food staples in big box stores by watching for sales on basics, meat, dairy and all the other goodies one tends to think we should buy for ourselves and the rest of the clan. After watching those (mostly US related) films I had the urging need to watch closer what I put in my shopping cart, like I used to at one point earlier in our family life. Aside from these unpronounceable ingredients that are made by an industry that cares more about my buck then my health, there were some scenes that really grossed me out. I.e. cattle that gets only corn as feed, stands knee deep in their own manure (risk of causing E.coli among other sicknesses) on so called pastures that reach father then the eye can see - not something I want on my plate! Trying to live the "waste not, want not" attitude more as well, what's in the house will get used, but new purchases will be monitored closer. Did you know an American family throws an average of $600 worth of food in the garbage a year (don't see us there, but we could be doing better)? I can buy local grass feed beef and chicken in my area year around and really should do so! As long as there is no law to label GMO ingredients I rather get my food locally as much as I can. Yes, it will most likely cost more, money that has to be cut elsewhere (not throwing food out, bake and cook even more from scratch as I already do, try new to us recipes with food that is in season would be steps in that direction). The long term health costs resulting from my current choice of cooking could be more then we bargain for if I don't get us to change. "You are what you eat" - well, I know for sure I don't want to be garbage! I found a couple of blogs that a related to a lifestyle that I hope to adapt, that actually give me the hope that it can be done on a budget (Real Food-Real Frugal, Frugally Sustainable and The Backyard Farm Connection are some of them) . The dream of living sustainable, maybe even on a small homestead, is nothing new to Mr. H. and me....Homesteading can be done in urban areas too, not just in the middle of nowhere, which would be far from practical regarding work for us now. And in "old" age I don't want to make a day trip just to see a doctor either.
General: decluttering (household, computer, life), renovating and rearranging is my usual "Spring thing"- that I already started gives me hope. I've been having this "brain fog" and lack of motivation for too long now! I hope with living healthier that this will be gone for good, wish me luck.
Fitness: as Mr. H. so rightfully predicted our treadmill downstairs gets barely used. So exercise is another topic that must move further up in my (our) list of priorities. If I drop some weight along with getting rid of all these bad habits it will be appreciated, but I don't count on it.
To avoid the whole process from being too overwhelming I will take it one step at a time, this is the only life in the only body I've been given. After nearly 45 years it's time to appreciate it to the fullest!
My regret is that I haven't started this journey sooner, so that my beautiful daughter could do it alongside the rest of us. The challenge is to stick with the plan and make the guys enjoy it too! Mr. H. was all for it so far let's see how it holds up in reality.
Let me know if you have any great tips for me please, my learning curve has just started!
Have an awesome rest of the week!
Hugs,
