Scrappy Stockings

We have always had a mix of Christmas stockings. A couple of standard red and white fuzzy ones, some knit ones picked up at a drugstore that looked semi-handmade. I had one handmade several years ago, but unfortunately it didn't turn out the way I'd hoped.

I've become addicted to this wonderful website called Etsy.com where everything is handmade. I've met some of the nicest people from this website and the products have been fantastic. My latest purchase was a set of new Christmas stockings for the whole family. I chose this "envivronmentally friendly" seller because she uses scraps to make her products and the end result is an extremely unique item! Huge green thumbs up from me!

Spongetta (The Land of the Misfit Fabric) gets her materials from lots of different sources, such as a local seamstress who does alterations for bridal salons, discontinued upholstery samples from a furniture store, thrift stores, yard sales and rescues from the back of fabric stores. All of these materials would have been thrown out otherwise. I'm drooling over the patchwork pillows she has listed right now! :)

I received my stockings in the mail today and I am so pleased! I chose three out of her store and then had a fourth custom made for my oldest daughter who loves purple. They're a bit oversized, which is awesome for stuffing them full of goodies each year, fully lined and well-made so they should last for years to come.





Happy shopping!

Greening your house - CFL bulbs

It feels so good to make this small change in our house. We just replaced every recessed light in our entire house with CFL's (compact fluorescent lamps) today. Home Depot has a whole section dedicated to CFL's and Puget Sound Energy has $3 coupons PER BULB!!!

So if you buy a two-pack, use TWO coupons, saving $6. Woo hoo! Since we bought mostly small and large flood lights (for the recessed cans) which are sold in 2-packs, this was a fantastic savings! We also bought CFL's for our master bathroom's vanity strip of lights... Fluorescent lighting and makeup typically don't mesh well so we'll see how that goes... :)

The 4-pack for standard light bulbs (like lamps & things) had a separate 4-pack coupon that was different from the others.

Sea Salt - Iodine

A while back, I wrote a post on Sea Salt. Make sure to read that one first since this post won't go into the details of why it's so good for you.

While on vacation in the midwest, we almost bought some sea salt for hubby's grandmother... But we decided against it when we realized that was probably her main source of iodine since she very rarely eats fish or seaweed and who knows if she takes a good quality daily multi. At a MINIMUM, people should get 50 mcg of iodine per day. Recommended is 120-150mcg for proper thyroid function (improper thyroid function causes an enlarged thyroid - goitre). Worldwide it’s the #1 cause of mental retardation in children.

We don't worry about that in our household for several reasons. First, we take an extremely healthy liquid multi that contains 160mcg (106%) of iodine, cultivated from 9 different types of seaweed. We also eat fish at least once a week, either cooked or in the form of sushi with seaweed.

With everyone’s current “fear of salt”… many people are probably not getting enough iodine nowadays. I’m guessing most of America doesn’t eat as much fish or seaweed as we do. I was reading online last week... and it’s really sad… If a person is getting some iodine in their diet, but not ENOUGH, they won’t get goitre… they’ll just slowly develop hypothyroidism, causing dry skin, hair loss, fatigue and slow reflexes.

Pay attention to where your iodine comes from in your multivitamin and make sure it's not overprocessed. The less it's processed, the more "bio-available" it will be for your body to absorb. Although the overprocessed kind will still meet the recommendation for proper thyroid function. This is why I like the Liquid Health brand liquid multivitamins because the nutrients are more bio-available and it doesn't contain any sugar, starch, salt, wheat, gluten, casein, yeast, corn, milk or soy derivatives. Just vitamins, minerals and EFA's. :)

So when you make the switch to PURE sea salt (ingredients list should show ONE ingredient), be sure you're getting enough iodine from other sources. :) Those other sources are a much healthier way to get your iodine anyway!