Recently, I showed just how clumsy I can be (in case anyone who has ever met me would forget!) by spilling some honey and beeswax hot wax down the front of my leg. Now, don't gasp, this incident could have been really really nasty. Because I jumped back, I was only splattered with the stuff, leaving a few small, quarter sized second degree burns on my left shin and foot. Blisters have formed and I am keeping vigilant watch over them, to ensure safe healing :) In the meantime, however, they are ugly and painful reminders of what lengths I have attempted to endure in order to procure a "naturally" beautiful state. Really, the blister on my foot looks like a boil or an oversized wart. And it is so large that I will not be enjoying nice long run in this beautiful, milder weather we are having... I do not want to endanger it by creating any infection... tis my own punishment!
Because of this incident, I have first of all decided that I do not need to wax my eyebrows. They grow where they grow for a reason, and I am going to embrace this! While applying aloe to the wounds, I was asked if the ordeal was worth the burns, to which I promptly replied, "hell no!" This got me to thinking about my personal beauty image and to what lengths I should go toward achieving such a self-image. Seriously, scalding my body with hot products is definitely NOT worth it... I am gorgeous with or without a few additional hairs!
I have also done some thinking regarding my sustainability values in home remedies and first aid practices. Living with a low impact is important to me, and the decisions we all make have quite an impact on our Earth's valuable resources. Using as little as possible is of the essence to such a value. While I did select an all natural hot wax, the resources used to create the plastic container, the wooden removal sticks, the cloth used to lift both hair and wax off skin, and the cardboard container for the entire product are still contributing to an excess of unnecessary materials that do in fact have a carbon footprint. It is so easy to think that simply buying a natural alternative to a chemical product is doing something great for the environment... but that thinking only takes us so far. I have learned this hot lesson the difficult (and painful!) way.
Additionally, the use of Band-Aids is also a wasteful practice. While I have always used them as a quick fix to "boo-boos" and the like, I had never considered their "carbon footprint." Upon tearing Band-Aid after Band-Aid off of my skin, I realized that it is merely gauze with attached tape. Why not cut out the overly excessive middle man and purchase gauze and tape myself? Why do I need to continue to use individually packaged prefab bandages which are usually too small, or fit awkwardly, when I can create a personally tailored bandage with much less impact? Any future blunders I wreak on myself will be cared for in a more sustainable fashion.
Humans were never intended to have pencil straight or flawless eyebrows. We were never intended to have smooth, hairless armpits, and our legs were never meant to burn when entering the warm salty oceans due to a freshly shaved treatment. We are creatures of the Earth. We are hairy creatures of the Earth, and denying ourselves the true beauty that we exude is to deny the natural beauty in each of us. Beauty is pain? I don't think so. Attempting to cover up the natural me is even more painful.
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Lately, I have been reconnecting my relationships with each of my grandmothers. Upon the realization that they were been taken for granted, I began scheduling regular visits with Therese and Hilda. I have learned to deeply appreciate the important roles in they have taken on throughout my development. From my childhood, as adult caretakers and protectors, and in my adulthood, as guides and temporary family psychologists, with whom I may ramble on and sound ideas and thoughts off of and with.
November 2009, I began making weekly trips to visit Grandma Ellsworth, my mother's mother. She lives alone in the big ol' house I have loved since I was born. In fact, it is one of the only homes in our family that I have had the pleasure of enjoying for the entire duration of my existence. It's still the same as it was when I was little, and almost smells the same, too. Except that it is missing the scent of Grandpa's True cigarettes. A fragrance I do not miss.
Grandma Ellsworth taught me how to cross-stitch when I was Girl Scout age, and has now taught me the basics of knitting, which I have picked up enthusiastically. There is such an immense joy and calm in knitting. A satisfaction that things are being done, and hands are not idle, and talents are being utilized. The progress is visually present! And you can see how far you have come!
I know that my short visits with Grandma Ellsworth will bring me joy in my mind for the rest of my time. Time spent has brought many stories of family members I would never have heard of in my collection of family heritage. Sentimental happiness swells within me, knowing the similarities and differences I can find in myself, through these stories, and even browsing the photo albums she has shared with me. And even though she wouldn't let me clean her bathrooms because I know she cannot, and she has passive aggressively asked me to, but won't let me (see, now I know where I get my passive aggression from; something I am aggressively working on, btw) the little things I am allowed to help her out with, like pulling around the garbage can, and the time I know my grandma is not spending alone, makes the sun shine a little brighter!
March 2010, weekly phone calls to Grandma Walker in Lexington help me to feel my connection with my patriarchal side. An unfamiliar side. Being the only two biological females on this side of the family, we have to stick together! Due to a strange, sometimes estranged, relationship with my dad, I always felt weird around this side. But not anymore! Not since I have grown to really like myself. I mean really like myself. Not sure if it's the yoga, the running, or the happy relationship I am in. I just find it easier to be happy these days.
This happiness should be spread around amongst those I love. Why not? I love them, and I want them to be happy. Recent studies have shown that happiness is contagious, the same that negativity can be. If this is true, then why should I not work harder to be happy in my daily life? If this is true, then I will help those who are in my network to become exponentially happier.
Visiting my Grandma Walker is not just a simple twenty minute car ride like Grandma Ellsworth's is. It is an hour and a half drive to Lexington. I am an environmentalist. I hate driving. But of course, I will do it for her. After all, I have missed her at the last two Holiday gatherings in December. I had not seen my own grandmother in TWO years! Waaay too long.
I found that it was most certainly all worth the drive, sitting in smoke as my Uncle Tony sits by, and worth missing the dinner at my favorite pub with my favorite man, to enjoy a cheap, gross dinner with my grandmother. It was not the food or the place that mattered one bit, but the company I kept. We spent a wonderful evening catching up, sharing stories, and discussing the ever mutable topic of life. Now I have a weekly phone buddy that will always cheer me up, cheer me on. It is possible that I just might brighten her days from time to time... and that makes all the difference in any world.
November 2009, I began making weekly trips to visit Grandma Ellsworth, my mother's mother. She lives alone in the big ol' house I have loved since I was born. In fact, it is one of the only homes in our family that I have had the pleasure of enjoying for the entire duration of my existence. It's still the same as it was when I was little, and almost smells the same, too. Except that it is missing the scent of Grandpa's True cigarettes. A fragrance I do not miss.
Grandma Ellsworth taught me how to cross-stitch when I was Girl Scout age, and has now taught me the basics of knitting, which I have picked up enthusiastically. There is such an immense joy and calm in knitting. A satisfaction that things are being done, and hands are not idle, and talents are being utilized. The progress is visually present! And you can see how far you have come!
I know that my short visits with Grandma Ellsworth will bring me joy in my mind for the rest of my time. Time spent has brought many stories of family members I would never have heard of in my collection of family heritage. Sentimental happiness swells within me, knowing the similarities and differences I can find in myself, through these stories, and even browsing the photo albums she has shared with me. And even though she wouldn't let me clean her bathrooms because I know she cannot, and she has passive aggressively asked me to, but won't let me (see, now I know where I get my passive aggression from; something I am aggressively working on, btw) the little things I am allowed to help her out with, like pulling around the garbage can, and the time I know my grandma is not spending alone, makes the sun shine a little brighter!
March 2010, weekly phone calls to Grandma Walker in Lexington help me to feel my connection with my patriarchal side. An unfamiliar side. Being the only two biological females on this side of the family, we have to stick together! Due to a strange, sometimes estranged, relationship with my dad, I always felt weird around this side. But not anymore! Not since I have grown to really like myself. I mean really like myself. Not sure if it's the yoga, the running, or the happy relationship I am in. I just find it easier to be happy these days.
This happiness should be spread around amongst those I love. Why not? I love them, and I want them to be happy. Recent studies have shown that happiness is contagious, the same that negativity can be. If this is true, then why should I not work harder to be happy in my daily life? If this is true, then I will help those who are in my network to become exponentially happier.
Visiting my Grandma Walker is not just a simple twenty minute car ride like Grandma Ellsworth's is. It is an hour and a half drive to Lexington. I am an environmentalist. I hate driving. But of course, I will do it for her. After all, I have missed her at the last two Holiday gatherings in December. I had not seen my own grandmother in TWO years! Waaay too long.
I found that it was most certainly all worth the drive, sitting in smoke as my Uncle Tony sits by, and worth missing the dinner at my favorite pub with my favorite man, to enjoy a cheap, gross dinner with my grandmother. It was not the food or the place that mattered one bit, but the company I kept. We spent a wonderful evening catching up, sharing stories, and discussing the ever mutable topic of life. Now I have a weekly phone buddy that will always cheer me up, cheer me on. It is possible that I just might brighten her days from time to time... and that makes all the difference in any world.
Friday, April 16, 2010
Are you a Bee, or an Architect?
Who would you guess quoted the following?:
"A spider conducts operations that resemble those of a weaver, and a bee puts to shame many an architect in the construction of her cells. But what distinguishes the worst architect from the best of bees is this, that the architect raises his structure in imagination before he erects it in reality. ”
The lady shouting "This is socialism at its finest... this is communism!" really got me thinking... does she know what socialism is? IS this socialism? Do I know what socialism is?
So I did some research and found this quote from Karl Marx. I find it relevant and motivating for my own career path in some ways.
The thing that I find ironic about this entire debate, is that anyone who sends their children to public school, has ever used the 911 emergency system, visited a local public park, or been relieved when a pothole is filled has supported "socialist" institutions/organizations
A bit off subject, and a bit on, earlier today, my neighbor was mowing his lawn that had been mowed just two days ago!!!! There was NOTHING to mow! And not only were the fumes blowing into my previously zen opened windows, but the friggin loud mower was very distracting to my yoga practice. And on top of that, when he was finished, I could smell that he had rewarded himself with a cigarette! So he was destroying grass (which does need to be mowed sometimes, but come on), wasting gas on an already short lawn, and then dispelling even more fumes into the air and his lungs... what the hell is wrong with people?! How have we become so far removed from enjoying a healthy, quality life? Why are Gene and I the freaks of the town? I cannot wait to move to the country someday... I shall miss the closeness of people and places and fun things all the time... but I shall revel in the beauty and the peace.
I know, in my heart of hearts, that these people are scared. They are scared that "Obama is going to run this country into the ground," and that government is going to become so large, that everyone's rights and sense of normalcies will be torn apart. This, however, is NOT a political blog. This is my place to discuss ways we can innovate and create and sustain a healthy, happy lifestyle in ways that are not harmful to future generations, or our current environment. I look forward to this being a place of peace, prosperity, and discussions... and above all else, ideas on how to live sustainably.
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