Complicated. Need to Simplify.

I'm talking about life in general. There have been plenty of times when Bill and I both feel like we were born to the wrong generation - like maybe we should have been born a couple of generations ago. We have discussed simplifying our life at times and we've been taking some steps to do that.

Most women of my age range read the Little House on the Prarie books when they were younger. I loved them, I have a set now that I re-read at times. (It will eventually go to my future grandchildren). But when I was a kid, I kind of wanted to BE Laura. Or at least live the life she led. It still appeals to me to basically live off of the land and not have to depend on anyone else. I have my mother's Cherokee lessons to thank for that, although we didn't know at the time that it was Cherokee. It's also part of the Texan mind-set. I'm not complaining, I think it was a good lesson she taught me. I'm not afraid of hard work, and niether is Bill. And Otter has been taught to be a strong woman as well. She might occasionaly gripe when asked to do something, but that's mostly normal kid stuff. When she needs to, she works just as hard as we do. And we can (and do) work pretty hard.

Toadles, I'm probably talking your language. But I think we are on the same page.

Did you ever stop to think about how many different chemicals you come in contact with during any given day? Go read a label sometimes, you'll be surprised. Food as well as non-food items. Chemicals can make life easier, some of them I don't want to do without. But there are a lot that we don't need. There are some cleaners that I am not going to compromise on, but I am going to look into more natural cleaners. (Kim, you reading this? You've been talking about that for months now! I'm finally listening.) I have been reading food labels for years now, due to certain food allergies that I have to contend with. And since my illness last year, I have had to read the labels to check the fat content and I'm also reducing the salt intake. I haven't added salt to anything or cooked with it for years, but there is a LOT of salt in most processed foods. Salt is at least a natural chemical, just not one that we need all that much of.

We've been slowly taking steps to eat less chemically enhanced foods, but that one is not as easy as it sounds without a garden. Which we might have next year. But there are things that can be done, it takes some organization (my calling in life!) and a little time, not to mention attention to detail. I learned to cook from scratch, from the time I was little. I still use a lot of mom's recipes and techniques. And Otter has been taught like I was, she frequently spends a lot of her Saturday Sabbath rest day baking or reading a cookbook to find something to try.

We are not tree-hugging environmental wackos by any stretch of the imagination. I do work for an oil company, after all. But we are taking steps to reduce the amount of "stuff" we use, and we recycle as much as we can. Newspapers, plastics with 1 or 2 codes, most glass, tin cans, aluminum cans and cardboard are all things that we can recycle locally.

This is a work-in-progress. I'll post periodic updates or comments as I think of them.