We have been busy worker bees building our house. It is a mutual help program that requires us to work at least 35 hours a week. There are 9 families and we all work on all the houses. It has been a long ride that is winding down (not fast enough though!). We are ready to be done, move in, and get on with our new life. It has been fascinating learning about all that goes into a house. I have helped (along with 3 others) to insulate 7 houses thus far with 2 left to go. The four of us consider ourselves pros at this point. We have turned a noun into a verb. Ever heard of mastic? We have been known to masticate, we have masticated, and we are masticatinators. We have laughed (to keep from crying), we have cried, we have bled, we have cussed in frustration. Kevin has found a new joy of working with wood. He built our porch and installed all of our trim.

I have begun a new journey of whole food/raw diet. A few months ago I ran across http://www.greensmoothiegirl.com/. I began with drinking a quart of green smoothie a day. Being curious about science and the why, I picked up Green for Life.  I then went on to read another of Victoria’s books.  This sent me on another tangent, eating raw.  I went on to research eating raw.  About a month or so, I purchased a nice blender (the best before the big dog blenders).  I started getting into it and started convincing my hubby (who thinks it isn’t dinner unless something has been killed). THEN my hubby killed it!  It was only about a month old!  Welp, I did some research and decided to invest in a Vitamix (for our needs, the Vitamix fit us better than the Blendtec).  Now, we have just gone to Costco and filled our carts with fruits and veggies.  I am back on this path of whole food.

i am in love with Etsy as i am sure half this world is. It is such a great place to find unique items. i have found a clock which would be perfect inspiration for any room makeover.  It is made by Infinity Arts which to my delight is right here in Portland, Oregon (that is one reason i love this place, so artsy fartsy).  They have been making these fabulous clocks since 2000, and this year have decided to “go green”.  If you need a fun clock or a conversation piece, they  would be a fantastic choice!  Infinity Arts also offers custom requests.