Raindrops on roses ....

.....these are a few of my favorite things, continues! Day 1 is here and Day 2 is here if you missed them.

We all know how much I love to clean ( a reminder, here )....

about this much.....

I have a feeling it isn't JUST at my house.

But, I digress. That cleaning chart that I made up and referenced above, it has been working out relaly well, I'm still sticking to it (which let me tell you is much longer than any other chart I have tried before) and the house is staying more clean which makes everyone happier.

A few years ago after quite a bit of sickness in our families (lots of cancer :( ) my husband and I decided to do things more naturally at home. That has happened in a lot of different ways. One of them is cleaning products.

My favorite, natural cleaner is what we are spotlighting today. I use it on ev.er.y.thing. Mirrors, windows, bathrooms, floors, kitchen, you name it, I use it there! It is natural, so I am comfortable with our whole family being around it *Hannah loves to help clean, so I'm good with her using it* and BONUS: It smells like CHRISTMAS! I mean, if you have to clean, at least it can smell good right? And it doesn't smell good from a bunch of fake, gross stuff.

So, here it is. Thieves Cleaner (concentrate). My 14 oz Cleaner bottle lasts me approximately 3-4 months. I usually use 2 capfuls per bottle which is a little stronger dilution because, that is what I have found works on a majority of my surfaces.

That means 1 bottle of cleaner makes up 7 of those spray bottles!

I use this cleaner every day in our house, I use it to wipe down our kitchen (even the stuck on stuff on our stove), in our stove, our appliances, the table, I mop with it, to clean our sink etc.

I also use it in our Bathrooms to wipe everything down and I even use it on the Mirrors with my Norwex cloth for streak-free cleaning. Not gonna lie, I was hesitant to try it on the mirrors, because I like them to look bright and hate for there to be any residue left over, but there isn't!

So this favorite product of mine makes cleaning a little bit easier and a whole lot healthier in our house. Feel free to ask me any questions you have about it!

12 Foods to Buy Organic/ 15 Foods Not to

The Daily Green put an article up called "The New Dirty Dozen: 12 foods to eat Organic"

They also put up "The Clean 15: Foods you don't have to buy Organic"

As it stands now we don't buy much Organic, but I may have to look into some of them that are on the Dirty Dozen with as many pesticides as they test for!

Have a great day and God Bless!

Food Inc. Yikes!

Well can I tell you what I did last night?

Hubby was at the Diamondbacks game with a friend so after I put Lucy girl down for bed I popped a bag of popcorn, grabbed a beer and sat down to watch Food Inc. on my laptop via PBS (thank you very much PBS).


I had wanted to see this for quite some time but just hadn't gotten around to it, the Library didn't have it and I just never got around to renting it. I'm glad that I've seen it now.

I'd say as a whole we are fairly conscience about the food decisions we make, but I have to say I will likely be more so after seeing this movie.

Here are some of my thoughts...you don't have to agree, but I'm going to put them out there.

***Since it is so hard to find good research confirming or denying the claims of the movie that come from impartial sources; know that much of this is coming from Food Inc.***

High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS)- We decided close to a year ago to try to not buy HFCS containing products. THIS IS SO HARD! HFCS is in SO many things. Also, companies try to get around people avoiding their product by only having Corn Syrup rather that HFCS. We also try to stay away from these.
Next time you are in your normal grocery store (not health food store) try to find a brand of Raisin Bran that does not have HFCS or Corn Syrup, I've found it impossible.

This is not to say that I don't have it every once in a while (soda, etc) but as a whole the decisions we make do not include HFCS.

Sign a petition to get Congress to tax foods/beverages that contain HFCS to make ones that do not contain it more affordable HERE.

Soy- We also try to avoid Soy as much as possible, but again it is in SO many things you can buy at the grocery store. There have been numerous studies over the years saying that Soy may not be as good for us as we first believed. Again due to the fact that there are varying opinions, I urge you to check it out for yourself.

In the movie it talked about one particular company (which I will not name purely because thought I'm just a minuscule blogger, I don't want them after me) who has patented a particular type of soybean (that is Genetically Modified) and that is now close to 90% of soy on the market. WHOA!

Who knew you could patent food. Surely I didn't.

Meat/Poultry/Fish-I have to tell you I'm a meat eater. I like meat, I don't believe I could give it up. I like it, a lot. But, I have to tell you I was pretty disgusted to learn that there are hardly any farms that allow their cattle, poultry, hogs etc to eat anything but corn.

The conditions that chickens, cattle and hogs are subjected to is frankly, gross.

One company in the movie has made an ammonia based food additive to be added to hamburger to help stop the spread of things like E. Coli. Ammonia?

Food Inc. said if you allowed a cow to eat grass instead of corn for 5 days they would shed 80% of the E. Coli in their bodies....no ammonia needed there.

Also, Farm raised Tilapia/Salmon is now being fed corn! *Scratches head, a fish eating corn, hmmm*

In the film it talked about how corn is subsidized by the government, it costs less for meat companies to purchase corn than it does for farmer's to grow it due to the subsidization. Perhaps I'm a bit old school but I can't fathom why we are subsidizing this? *Bites tongue*

I will say after seeing this movie there will be certain companies I will not be supporting, Sprouts will be getting much more of my business when it comes to meat/poultry/fish.



My heart broke and I broke down in tears when the movie told the story of the 2.5 year old boy who died of a certain strain of E. Coli after eating an infected hamburger. He died 12 days later. His mother is now an advocate of regulating plants and sanctioning them/shutting them down if they continually fail safety standard testing. Support Kevin's Law HERE.

I could go on and on, but, I won't. Go back up to the top of the page and click on Food Inc. and watch it for yourself.

Here are some things you can do!
1. Buy Local /support Famer's Markets
2. Buy what is in season (Clicky)
3. Choose foods without HFCS/Soy
4. Buy Grass fed Beef/ Cage free Eggs
5. Pay more attention to what you put in your bodies, God only gave us one and he told us it is our Temple, take care of it.

Have a great day and God Bless!