Becoming Normal

When I first started this blog the entire idea of non-toxic living or even the beginning steps to such a journey seemed radical to me. 

It's insane what just a few months can do to your perspective.

Though my husband and I are still on the lookout for more steps we can take to become more toxin free, our life and choices don't seem so different anymore.

All of the soap in our house is soap, not detergent (though we do have a bottle of dish detergent that gets switched back and forth from soap to detergent depending on who went grocery shopping last).

There is only shampoo/conditioner in our guest shower. (I do have a hair soap that I call shampoo, if that counts, sorry)

We use Norwex products to clean our house, so very minimal cleaning solutions or sprays. Mostly just water or vinegar. Occasionally my husband breaks out the lysol wipes when there's been a bad sickness in the house - he feels like it gets rid of the germs faster.  I don't know if I agree, but hey, if he's cleaning up puke, I won't argue!

We have three more house plants that clean the air (I'll do a post on plants soon!)

We've been buying organic milk whenever it is available at our local grocery store(s). This one was a bigger decision when we made it - it was almost triple the price than regular milk in a few different places that we looked.  When we found it in our local store in the natural food aisle it was less than double! It tastes much better, and I really do like it better.

Reading labels of cosmetics or even food products comes naturally, as does what to look for.  It is not as stressful anymore making decisions and then coming home and looking up the product to realize it wasn't all that grand in the first place.

Green and pink washing are lost on us now. We actually look past the packaging to the ingredients list, and sometimes even company practices.

Our drinking water is uber filtered. - Nothing gets through our filter except water.


The list could go on.  Like I was saying, at the beginning of this, all of the above seemed crazy, stressful, and even a little bit extreme. As we continue on, some of our next choices WILL have to be more radical, like getting rid of plastics from our home or building vertical gardens (which would have to wait until we move).

I've enjoyed this learning process.  Where are you in the journey?

xo,
Bliss

Far Too Long

You know what's annoying?  Accidentally hitting backspace when your touchpad is not clicked in the text box - especially when you are JUST about to post the very loooong post you had just written. 

Here's the briefer version.

I like Scotch nail polish.  The company rocks. They don't pink-wash, but actually get behind cancer research in the month of October. This year, they did that with a trio of pink nail polish.  Check them out. They are awesome.  The products is tricky to find, though, and have a hard time paying shipping on something so tiny like that. I happened to find some on an anniversary walk with my husband.

Anyway, next part.

I've been craving time with my husband. Quality uninterrupted in-your-face talking time. It's hard to come by these days.  Last night we had an impromptu date night and watched a good movie we had never seen. Usually, I am knitting or doing something with my hands.  Last night, I held his hand. We had quality time sans kids. It was glorious. Now, I want more. We've been looking in to ways to do this. 

How does this relate to toxin free living? Well, it is a roundabout way, but bear with me  I've been listening to a few good sermons on marriage lately and what we can do to encourage longevity and joy.  It's been about things like fighting well, being quiet AND listening, asking how hurt and asking for forgiveness, and thinking things that are pure, noble, true, etc about your spouse, and ,making time for the other.  The example was given that we are all on a continuum (that word looks strange, no?) of one extreme being bitter and the other better.  When we are not actively working towards better, we are slipping towards bitter.

Bitterness, I think, is toxic to our daily life. I know it is for me.

Some things I've been thinking through that help us along the continuum towards better:

- pray for my husband
- write letters to him in the journal I bought for for that purpose
- spend time WITH him, not next to him
- don't let myself get distracted by things that are less important
-PLAN for quality time


What do you think? Any things you can think of?

xo,
Bliss