Stream of Life
by Rabindranath Tagore

The same stream of life that runs through my veins night and day
runs through the world and dances in rhythmic measures.


It is the same life that shoots in joy through the dust of the earth
in numberless blades of grass
and breaks into tumultuous waves of leaves and flowers.


It is the same life that is rocked in the ocean-cradle of birth
and of death, in ebb and in flow.


I feel my limbs are made glorious by the touch of this world of life.
And my pride is from the life-throb of ages dancing in my blood this moment.

T-19 days until the BIG DETOX!

So, haven't done a great job documenting how I've been feeling this month, but to sum it up in a nutshell; I've been sleeping way too much...so tired all the time, sleep until almost 8 every morning, take a nap at noon and in bed and asleep by 10 at the latest. That's way more sleep than one person needs and it's cutting into 'me' time and 'Andis' time and 'every other thing that's important in the world' time. Also, feel bloated, gassy, and stuffed on a regular basis even though I don't usually overeat and I've had the most terrible acidic indigestion ever! TMI? Hmmmm. Could it be parasites? Meat maybe? We'll find out. The last few times I've eaten chicken I've experienced not such a pleasant sensation. I've had an after-taste in my mouth that tastes like rotting, dead, carcass. Ick. Not sure where that has come from either. I've always been a meat eater so this is new for me.

Anyway, today marked a little more than 2 wks. before our big detox so I started making preparations beginning with a LONG list of questions for the employees at MVD (Martha's Vineyard Detox). Hopefully they'll get back to me soon so I can start collection the thousands of new things we'll need. Not literally thousands, but it really isn't a short list. Lots of recipes; teas, soups, drinks, flushes, cleanses, detox baths, etc. My mind is already spinning! I also pulled out the good ol' juicer last night and decided to have some fun! First of all, thank you Rhonda for such a lovely gift. I haven't used it once since the wedding, but I'm excited to make it an everday part of our lives. I have a Waring Pro Juice Extractor from Wal-Mart so nothing too fancy, but it certainly did the job and it was super easy to operate as well as clean which is a big plus for me! I juiced a pound of carrots, 3 beets and 1 bunch of celery which made a really sweet, really red drink that I loved, Andis tolerated. All I could taste were the carrots and apparently he could only taste the beets. Weird. It was pretty sweet and acidic and left a scratch in our throats, but nothing a little hot tea didn't take care of. My usual schedule is dinner at 6pm, snack at 8pm and I'm usually starting to feel hungry again by bed. On Tuesday I had an 8 oz. glass around 8 pm on Tuesday and didn't feel hungry at all for the rest of the night! Maybe this whole 'nutrients' stuff is true after all! ;) I've decided to spend the next two weeks experimenting with different parts of the detox plan; not to overtax my body and get a head start, but mainly in order to toughen myself up mentally. Keep in mind I will be doing this for 21 days and Andis will be done after day 7 so I'll be cooking for him amidst my hunger! EeekGad! Anyway, I decided to juice for dinner last night instead of eat with Andis. I sipped on the rest of my beet/carrot/celery blend WHILE I was cooking which was a great idea because instead of snacking or 'tasting' like I usually do, I just sipped on juice! Novel! So, I made Andis pork chops and rice and I didn't crave or feel hungry the entire time! I finished my juice as he was eating and I didn't feel hungry until around 11:30pm last night and if I had been ASLEEP like I usually am, it would've been fine, BUT because my husband was in a rare chipper mood, I had a snack! :( However, I felt strong and great and had loads of energy. In fact, both nights that I had juice I stayed up until midnight...I'm usually in bed, asleep by 10pm. So, the first few days of prep were a success. More to come......

Toxins R Us.

Okay, we've almost mastered the recycling thing. I'm still constantly learning tips and tricks on how to reuse, what can be recycled, etc. but we've added another element to our 'Goble Greening Journey' which is analyzing exactly what we put into and onto our bodies. Several months ago, we started to eat healthier because we were interested in losing weight, having more energy, etc. You know, the usual goals when it comes to eating better. So, I started shopping more consciously when it came to calories, but nothing else really. For example, buying a lot of Fat Free, Whole Grain, High Fiber, etc. but not really paying attention to 'the rest of the story'. I always assumed that the convoluted unrecognizable list of chemicals in all products that I buy; whether groceries or household goods, existed because they were necessary to the success of the product. I never considered that chemicals were 'optional' and moreso, the harm that they have been doing to my body and the environment. A 2005 study published by the EWG, an environmental watchdog group composed of professionals from many disciplines, tested the umbilical cord blood of ten newborns for the presence of toxins and sicovered 287 different chemicals circulating in their blood supply. These ranged from pesticides to consumer product ingredients to wastes from burning coal, gas, and garbage. Of them, 180 have been proven to cause cancer, 217 poison the brain and nervous system and 208 cause birth defects or abnormal development in animals. So, after some great reading material and exhaustive internet searches, not too much consideration because the facts are so staggering, Andis and I have committed to cleansing our home and our bodies of as many toxins as possible. Our plan:

Cleansing our Home will take some time for two reasons; 1) EVERYTHING has toxins! Our daily hygiene regimen has enough toxins alone to take a significant toll on our bodies, not to mention air fresheners, candles, cleaning products, what we eat, detergent, perfume, dyes in our clothes, etc. and 2) Such a transformation will be EXPENSIVE! You don't often realize the money it takes to support everything that goes on in a household because often you just buy one or two things at a time as needed. Imagine, getting rid of all cleaning supplies, hygiene supplies, condiments, salad dressings, air fresheners, candles, toilet paper, etc. in one fell swoop and not only replacing it all, but replacing it with organic, non toxic items! So, basically, we will replace things as they come up. Some items wll be faster and more easily replaced ie. toilet paper but other things will take some time and even though it's not the most ideal situation, it makes sense for our wallet and our sanity. Plus, I feel that changes made over time are more apt to stick and I can take the extra time to research what products are best and most economical. (Don't worry; I'll share!)

Cleansing our Bodies is more of a priority and will be quite a big change for us. Even though we have spent the last few months eating more consciously, we haven't paid much attention to the chemicals present in the foods we were ingesting. So, we've spent the last month cleaning out our fridge slowly but surely and I made my first trip to Whole Foods yesterday to restock our kitchen with organic, non toxic foods. Again, there are some things that we will still use until they run out because we simply can't afford to replace every dressing, marinade, spice and staple with organic just yet, but we will get there eventually. So, May marks our first month of eating non toxic, organic foods save a few things here and there like salad dressing and instant oatmeal. That's step #1. Step #2 is a body cleanse. We've done some research and have chosen the Martha's Vineyard Detox plan. Andis will be on the 7 day plan and I'm going for the full monty; 21 days of detox beginning June 1st. I'll be keeping a journal over the next two months; this month documenting what I'm eating, how I'm feeling etc. and next month through the cleanse and I'll be sure to share some with you as we go.

So, from now on, little by little, as we purchase groceries and household items, our rule of thumb will be this: If we don't recognize the ingredient we don't buy it.

Batch #1!

So, we finally harvested 301 Main's very first batch of recycling this week! Those trash cans lasted us almost a month! Super great! It was such a satisfying feeling, taking 3 HUGE bags of recycling to the plant! Albeit, I had to separate the #1 and #2 plastics, AND we hadn't paid attention to everything that we tried to recycle...as if we could pull the wool over the recycling guys eyes (yeah, right!), it was still extremely rewarding! So, our system is going well and though we haven't made much progress in extending the life of our trash for more than 1.5 wks, we are still trying our best.