Happy Birthday Randy and Happy Dry Cleaning!

Happy Birthday to my husband Randy today!

One way I help to keep Randy safe is by dry cleaning his shirts – you see if I had to keep washing and ironing them as I used to, I’d off him! Just kidding – but I do have his shirts dry cleaned, and I am aware of the chemicals that dry cleaners use being unsafe – or at least questionable.

When I bring his shirts home from the cleaners, I do the simple trick of hanging them somewhere to air out. Not in the closet – I read once that it is not the way to do it -- it traps the chemicals. I separate the hangers and hang them each a couple of inches apart in our infrequently used bathroom. Or, if there are a lot of them, I hang them in the garage so they really get aired out. I let them hang there until I think to hang them in the closet – at least a couple of days, usually.

I know that this airs them out and helps get some of the chemicals out that are lingering, helping to keep him safe!

More on dry cleaning chemicals can be found here:
http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/home/organizing/dry-cleaning-demystified-sep06
http://www.buildinggreentv.com/keywords/cleaning/1617

Wine a little!

It's a cold, winter Saturday evening – we're making pizza (with broccoli-infused sauce, raw milk cheese, and gluten free crust). For tonight's splurge, I'm anxious to have a glass of wine. Yum! Tonight it's a cabernet sauvignon, because I want the extra antioxidants if I am going to consume the calories. That is how I balance all of my foods – I try to minimize the bad stuff and calories, of course, and maximize the health benefits, even in something like wine! It all adds up!

From Family Circle, page 72, Health News, April 18, 2007

"New research shows that some red wines have more antioxidants than others. `Those made using traditional techniques have the most' says study author Roger Corder, PhD, of London's William Harvey Research Institute. They're fermented longer, so more of the disease-fighting compounds in the grapes' seeds and skins (tannins) end up in the bottle. Madiran wines, made from Tannat grapes found in Southwest France, tend to be the healthiest. If you can't find those, try one of these under-$15 bottles, suggests Leslie Sbrocco, author of The Simple & Savvy Wine Guide (William Morrow): Estancia Cabernet Sauvignon, California; and Don Rodolfo Tannat, Argentina.

Bon appétit!

Let's get this party started!

I feel inundated by everyone else’s resolutions already in this new year. Every commercial on TV seems to be for a weight loss product or weight loss program. The gym I attend has been twice as busy lately. While diet and weight loss are good goals, of course (I’ve been on that program for seven months now), it just seems like it’s the best way to fail. It’s easier to adopt healthy habits slowly every day than to try to (unrealistically) try to do it all now, at one time, because the calendar changed.

So, that is where my blog comes in. I’ll help you learn how to make your home and your body healthy. The products we use every day actually make us sick and most people don’t know it. Many , many products on the market today are dangerous and are not natural – not intended to be ingested or absorbed into our bodies. Autism rates are up, asthma and cancer rates are up, obesity and fatigue are becoming the acceptable norms in our society. Aspartame is poison and so many people drink and eat it, and so much more. Welcome to my soapbox – that is what a blog is about, right? Kidding – I’ll definitely give my opinions, but I’ll try to back it up with fact. All of these trends can be reversed – and it all starts with you in your home!

I’ve been teaching people how to get dangerous products out of their home with some regularity for about twelve years now. I use and promote a product line that can help you and your family be healthier and feel better. You’ll learn more about it as we go – so let’s get to it!

Happy New Year to one and all!

Happy New Year to one and all!

It's time for new year's resolutions -- it seems that everyone is making them. I am not doing that this year -- I decided to make resolutions all of the time and enact them year round instead of pressuring myself at this time of year. It seems like I had a higher failure rate when I tried to make several changes in January rather than implement new things all of the time.

Starting this blog has been a goal of mine for a while now -- I've been wanting to share the vast amounts information that I have on having a healthy home and body -- and this seems like a good place to do it.

Stay tuned for much more -- loads of articles on how you can be more healthy inside and out -- your body, your home, your environment, the world in general. I'll post lots of advice, opinions, and facts.

Enjoy -- hope you learn much, have fun, and have a healthy home!