Million Dollar Housewife

I was walking along Whyte Avenue the other day and noticed the most gorgeous floor in a boutique called Ten Thousand Villages. I couldn’t help but walk in to contemplate it.

The store owner told me that they get endless compliments about it and that everyone wants to know what the flooring is.

My friend had also told me about this type of floor a little while back.

She had visited her sister in Toronto who had installed this flooring throughout her home and my friend was outraged at the thought of it until she walked in and was just stunned by the results. It had a real natural and warm feel about it that suited the style of their old victorian home to a tea.

Who could ever think that vinyl could give you such results.

Her story really peeked my curiosity and and this is why I was delighted to see it first hand for myself on Whyte Avenue.

I was sold when I saw it.

There are so many positive attribute to this flooring.

What caught my attention the most is the natural look and feel of this product. It is soft to your feet and it almost has the feel of leather. It also comes in a wide selection of choices from light to dark as well as different wood grain styles.

I love that it is quiet, durable and affordable.

I have just never liked the look and feel of laminate and I can’t justify spending so much money on hardwood floors.

I would love to do some renovations to our home and I think this would make a great option.

I just always love to come up with beautiful and practical solutions that are affordable and lasting.

And this just fits these criteria! – Karndean flooring

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I uncovered the best features and treasures of my mother’s home with small key renovations, a good cleaning job and some major decluttering.
I home staged her condominium by purchasing a few lamps to give the space much light and I showcased some of her finest accessories and best pieces of furniture to present her home under the best light possible.

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I did this drawing

In the spirit of letting go

Of how others perceive me

In order

To give myself wholeheartedly

To what means

The world to me

With dignity!

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My husband and I have created this absolutely delicious spaghetti dish the body ecology style.

It is a perfect food combining dish made with kelp noodles.

I just started to experiment with kelp noodles and I was a little disappointed at first. The look of them was a little deceiving because they didn’t taste so great and the texture is kind of crunchy.

When I looked them up online, they looked so much like noodles that I could not help but order some to see what kind of exciting spaghetti dish we could create with it.

When I received them, I tried eating them in a variety of ways and this is by far the best dish we have created.

These noodles must be rinsed and can be eaten raw.

But we have found that when we boil them and them fry them in some coconut oil with other vegetables, they really soak in the flavor and it works so well. It also seems to make them softer.

It is always so exiting to create a dish that is similar to what we are accustomed to eat but yet really healthy and delicious. That is always what I strive to do with our food. I love to experiment and come up with creative and delicious solutions.

So here is in short how we make this dish:

• A package of kelp noodles (some asian stores carry it and if not, you can always order them online)
• 1 red pepper, sliced thin
• 1 yellow onion, sliced thin
• 1 carrot, julienne cut
• 2 cloves of garlic, crushed
• A large handful of dried shitake mushrooms (you can find those in most oriental grocery stores) soaked and sliced thin with stems removed.
• 1 lb. of ground beef
• 1-2 Tbsp. of apple cider vinegar
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Coconut oil
• Spice of your choice such as italian, basil, oregano…to your taste

Place shitake mushrooms in a pan and cover with boiling water. Place a small lid or a plate on top of the mushrooms to keep them submerged under the water. Let them soak for 20 minutes. Drain and strain the liquid. You can keep the stock for making soups. Remove and discard the stems and slice the mushrooms nice and thin.

Bring enough water to boil to cover your noodles. Rinse your noodles properly and place in boiling water. Boil them for a couple of minutes.

In a frying pan, on medium heat, cook onions in some coconut oil for a couple of minutes, then add ground beef,  garlic and some spices. Cook until meat is ready. Then add mushrooms, carrots, peppers and noodles. Mix well, add salt and pepper to taste, cover with a lid and cook at low temperature until the vegetables are ready and the noodles have soaked in some of flavors.

And serve!

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I told a friend of mine several weeks ago that I just don’t believe in supplements and here I am; I just started to follow a whole supplement protocol :)

I guess that is the way it goes in life, nothing is so black or white.

I am a fan of “The body ecology diet” and I spend a fair bit of time on the body ecology diet facebook fan page where I learn valuable information from people who work closely with Donna Gates.

Heather Fougnier is one of Donna’s assistant who answers many of our questions on facebook providing us all with valuable insights.

And Heather speaks highly of “The diet Cure”.

I finally decided to take out this book from the library and carefully read through it.

In short, Julia Ross, author of this book, provides a whole basic supplement plan combined with amino acids to rebalance your body chemistry. Julia mentions that even with the best of intentions, you can still be stock in a vicious circle with food cravings and mood swings due to chemical imbalance. This short term regimen aims at rebalancing your body chemistry to help you follow and remain on a more balance diet.

Since I resonated with what Julia and Heather speaks about, I decided to give it a try.

Supplements are so expensive and I wanted to make sure that if I spent the money on these supplements, I would follow the protocol properly in order to reap all of the benefits.

But I found that these supplements took so much space on our kitchen table. It didn’t make the space look very appealing and it certainly was not very efficient either.

It is so easy and tempting to quickly give up on a routine if it gets just a little too complicated.

Having to open all the different bottles to follow the proper regimen just was not appealing to me and never has been when it comes to taking supplements.

So I resorted to find a solution to this problem.

I wanted to put all of our supplement bottles out of sight and yet still  have all of our supplements right at hand so we could easily take everything that we need to take on a daily basis.

And I came up with this awesome solution.

There are similar pill containers that you can find in drug stores but they are much smaller. They are divided per meal and even for the whole week but I just knew those containers would not work well for us.

So I thought of a similar idea but just much bigger like the one in my picture. They sell these organizers for $1.25 each at the dollar store (Dollarama).

I created one tray with all the different supplements that we need to take on an empty stomach and another tray for all of the supplements that we need to take with meals and it works like a charm. I just refill them as needed.

I love solutions like this that declutter and simplify things with a nice personal touch.

I am also grateful for my label maker which allowed me to create clear and beautiful labels that really add to the charm of this system.

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It is so easy and tempting to soothe our thoughts and feelings with short term gratification and yet it is by focusing on the long term that we can built something of real value that is truly rewarding.

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I just listened to a conference call last night with Baeth Davis and Fabienne Fredrickson and here is in simple quotes what I have learned from all the valuable information these two bright and wealthy woman shared with us.

Fabienne Fredrickson is a client attraction mentor and Beath davis is a hand analyst who specializes in telling you what your life purpose is.

I have gathered these quotes from listening to them speak. Reading them over seems to help me change my mind set without trying so hard :)

Read them over and see what it does for you!

• What do you want, what are you here to do?
• Be of service.
• Work less and make more money.
• It is easier to make more money than less.
• The more work on yourself you do, the more money you can make.
• Examine your fears, your believe systems, your excuses.
• Ask and it will be given to you.
• Everything that you want and require, whatever you need is already here.
• What you ask for will not be given to you in the form of a cheque but in the form of an opportunity.
• Take action on the opportunity.
• Write down all the opportunities in your life.
• Money is simply a measuring stick of how much value you are giving to the world.
• Your purpose= your brownies (Fabienne uses brownies as an example to explain that the brownies  are like those special treats that we have been cooking inside, that we have been keeping for ourselves and have not been sharing  with the world). We need to share our brownies, our unique talents with the world.
• You are here to be of service to a lot of people.
• Marketing is a divine tool.
• Our divine duty is to get out there in a really big way.
• You are here to change the world in your own way.
• Things don’t fill your heart, giving more fills your heart.
• Money is all around us.
• When you finally align with your purpose, the flood gates open.
• If there is a struggle on the outside, there is a struggle on the inside.
• You have been programed to have fears and these believes are completely invalid.
• Get your ego out of the way.
• If you don’t take action, you don’t get results.
• Our thought creates our feelings, our feelings dictates our actions and our actions dictates the results that we get.
• When you are committed, you do what it takes.
• People are afraid to invest in themselves because they lack confidence and are afraid of risks.
• There is unlimited supplies.
• Bring joy to people.
• It is like you are slapping the universe in the face when you are not using your own abilities.
• You are like a lion looking in the mirror and seeing a kitten, see the lion and believe you can get your message out there.
• Invest in yourself.
• Upgrade your self image.
• Release control.
• Have courage and faith.
• Remove self imposed obstacles.
• Free yourself from what others think of you.
• You are deserving of greatness.
• Do  not wake up in the morning to be mediocre, live a life that matters, THAT IS the richness of life.

*These are quotes from a conference call with Baeth Davis and Fabienne Fredrickson.

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Apple cider vinegar makes a great addition to the Body Ecology lifestyle.

You can make yourself an apple juice the Body Ecology way. It is so refreshing and can even help soothe sugar cravings.

It is just like drinking apple juice yet it provides your body all the health benefits that apple cider vinegar has to offers.

Just to name a few, apple cider vinegar can:

• Help restore your PH balance. A poor diet arms the PH balance of our blood. Our blood is suppose to be slightly alkaline and apple cider vinegar helps restore this balance.
• Aid digestion. It stimulates stomach acid for the digestion of fats and protein.
• Stop sugar cravings.
• Promote the growth of healthy microflora. It is a prebiotic wich feeds the probiotic.

Recipe

• 1 1/2 cup of water
• 2 tsp. of apple cider vinegar (unfiltered, unpasteurized and organic)
• Stevia to taste

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THE 7 BODY ECOLOGY DIET PRINCIPALS

1. Expansion/ contraction

Some foods are contracting, others are expansive and some are right in the middle, perfectly balanced. The goal on this diet is to eat foods that balance and complement one another.

On this diet:

The fats, oils, spices, herbs, teas and kefir are all expansive.

The animal protein, eggs and sea salt are contracting.

The vegetables, almonds and grains are the most balanced.

2. Acid/ alkaline

When we are too acidic, our body is toxic. The diet aims at restoring the PH balance in our bodies for bodily functions and for proper beneficial bacteria to flourish. Certain foods are considered acidic, some are neutral and others are alkaline. You will want to eat 80% alkaline and 20% acidic in order to create the perfect PH balance.

On this diet:

The animal foods, the oils, buckwheat and stevia are acidic foods.

Butter and ghee are neutral.

The land vegetables, sea vegetables, millet, quinoa, amaranth, herbs, sea salts, seeds, fruits, cultured foods and almonds are alkaline forming foods.

3. Principal of uniqueness

It is important to learn to listen to your body to find out what works best for you.

4. Principal of cleansing

It is one of the most important principal on the diet. It is very important to cleanse as part of the healing process. Donna recommends enemas or colonic for colon cleansing. Colon cleansing should be done before cleansing your liver. The foods and principals on this diet naturally supports cleansing.

5. Proper food combining

Eat grains and starchy vegetables with non starchy vegetables and fats/oil.

Eat proteins with non starchy vegetables.

Do not combine grains or starchy vegetables with protein.

Eat animal proteins with fats in limited amounts.

Nuts and seeds can be combined with other nuts and seeds, acid fruits and fats.

6. 80/20% rule

Eat until you are 80% full.

Eat 20% meat or carbohydrates with 80% vegetables.

7. Principal of step by step

Start with one principal or one tool and work your way up from there.

• Food should be organic as much as possible.
  
• The starchy vegetables on the diet are red potatoes, corn and winter squash.
• Eat cultured vegetables with every meal ( about 1/2 cup portion size per meal).
• Drink fermented young coconut kefir 5 times a day, in the morning and evening before bedtime and with every meal (about 1/2 cup portion size).
  
• Nuts, seeds and grains must be soaked for at least 8 hours before cooking or eating.
• All fats and oils should be unprocessed, cold pressed and organic.
• Don’t eat for at least 3 hours before bedtime.
• Wait at least 4 to 5 hours after a protein meal to have a grain or starchy meal.
• Wait a minimum of 2 to 3 hours after a grain meal to eat protein.
• Proteins are best eaten between 11:00am and 2:00pm.
• No flour is allowed on the diet except the ones made from the BED grains but these should only be eaten occasionally.
• All cruciferous vegetables should be cooked or fermented but should not be eaten raw.
• Juicing is not allowed on the diet. It is concidered too sweet but it is recommended to drink smoothies made from the whole vegetable including the fiber.
• A little slice of avocado as well as a little piece of green apple in a green smoothie is allowed.

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I discovered Dalton Ghetti’s artwork this week and I was absolutely blown away.

His sculptures are amazing!

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