I LOVE these shoes!

In a refreshing turn of events, Timberland, world famous maker of rugged footwear, from sandals to steel toed boots, has announced its Earthkeepers 2.0 line of shoes: a line that’s striving to close the green loop by creating shoes with high levels of recycled content as well as an easily dismantled design thats meant to be broken down and recycled into new shoes when the time comes. This type of frank design is refreshing, as now more than ever, companies are scrambling to create marketing campaigns that tout their new, “green” products designed to save the world without requiring consumers to do anything but, well, keep consuming their products. Finish reading here

Finish reading the great blog post that my friend wrote here:

Here is a simple gratitude meditation. Try it before or after asana practice, or any time you have a few minutes.

Sit comfortably. Close your eyes and, for a few moments, focus on the gentle movement of your
breath. Then begin pausing briefly after each inhalation and exhalation.

As you inhale, visualize receiving the elements of your life –experiences, people who have touched you, things you are capable of– with gratitude. Pause after each reflection and take a moment to integrate and appreciate feeling fulfilled by these gifts.

As you exhale, imagine sharing that sense of fulfillment with others. Pause again and imagine others– your family, your community, the world at large– receiving your offering with a similar sense of gratitude.

Continue this cycle– inhale/pause, exhale/pause–for several minutes, and then shift your focus back to the subtle movement of your breath before gently opening your eyes.

I just wanted to take a moment and say that I am so sad about the passing of Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett:(

My prayers go out to both of their families.

With moving to Washington getting closer and really down sizing in a BIG way. I have been looking over all my furniture and figuring out what to do with everything. I was going to have a garage sell and just sell my extra stuff. However with moving to 160 acres that has several small cabins I have decided to just keep everything and refurnish a lot of it and use it as out door furniture instead of buying new.

Restoring old wood indoor pieces and converting it to outdoor furniture is one practical way of disposing and at the same time gaining value from your investments. It’s economical, eco-friendly. It also gives you the chance to keep sentimental pieces. However, this process is not an easy task. It entails lot of cleaning, rebuilding, and repainting. You must also have the necessary tools in doing the job like wire brushes, stopping knife, synthetic-bristle brush, gooseneck scraper and many more. Different kinds of materials and furniture require different kinds of restoration so you must also study them.

Some people leave the task of restoration to experts but a guidebook on how-to can actually help you a lot to make things possible. First, you must choose a well-ventilated area for the restoration. It must also be scheduled on a fair weather. This will give you the convenience of much organized place to work on and letting the furniture dry within half a day up to 24 hours. You must also wear necessary protection like hand gloves.

Identifying wood can be difficult task. Some wood looks identical and even experienced craftsman can make mistakes. There are 70,000 varieties of known species of tree but generally, lumber trade classifies them into two: softwood and hardwood. For a more thorough guide on identifying woods you can refer to the book “Restoration Recipes: Techniques for Repairing” by James Bain Smith. If you had inquired the type of wood when it was purchased, you won’t need to bother on this.

Stripping solutions are harsh chemical solutions so make sure there are no kids in the work area. There are two types of stripping solutions: the liquid-no-wash stripper and the water-wash stripper. If stripping causes the wood uneven color, you can try bleaching it. After the old color has been washed out, you can start the painting process. There are different kinds of paint and each offers different results. Enamel paint gives satin, flat and glossy finishes. Oil-based paint gives wear-resistant finish.

Another important thing to consider before you start the restoration process is to identify its finish. For a thorough identification, you can test a small part, preferably on a hidden area of the furniture. Large hardware stores sell furniture finishing but few carry more than the basics. Sherwin-Williams chain of store has wider varieties of lacquers and other finishes. If you can’t still find what you needed, you can rely on mail-order suppliers.

There are number of benefits outdoor furniture can get from finishing. It protects from dirt and grimes, it stabilizes the wood and also regains fine color, texture and sheen. All woods have a natural texture depending on the size and distribution of pores. You can preserve its texture by applying a thin finish.

This type of finish has actually gained plenty of approval for many years and it is commonly called the “natural good look.” If large pores largely appear on your outdoor furniture, you can partially fill it with paste wood filler.

I certainly some of tips helped you all and gives you some ideas on just reusing your old furniture instead of buying new.

One of my best friends was married to an Indian fellow and really misses his Mothers Indian cooking. She is coming to dinner tonight and I am going to try this recipe. I am also going to make some Naan bread to go along with this dish.

Ingredients

1 Tbsp corn, grapeseed, or olive oil
1 medium onion, sliced
1/3 cup golden raisins (optional)
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons yellow curry powder, or to taste
4 skinless, boneless, chicken breast halves (1 to 1 1/2 pounds)*
1 cup sour cream
Minced fresh cilantro or parsley for garnish

Method

*Some chicken breasts are bigger than others. We had two huge breast halves that added up to 1 1/2 pounds. To make them more serving sized, we sliced each half in half, horizontally, to make 4 breast pieces.

1 Put the oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. When hot, add the onions (and optional raisins), sprinkle with some salt and pepper, and cook, stirring occasionally, until translucent, about 5 minutes. Turn the heat down to medium, sprinkle with half of the curry powder, and continue to cook a minute or two.

2 Meanwhile, season the chicken with salt and pepper to taste and sprinkle it with the remaining curry powder. Move the onion to one side of the skillet and add the chicken in one layer. Cook for about 2 minutes on each side. Transfer to a plate.

3 Add the sour cream and stir constantly over medium-low heat until the mixture is nice and thick. Return the chicken to the skillet and cook for a couple more minutes, or until cooked through, turning once.

Garnish with cilantro or parsley and serve with rice.

Serves 4.

I made this for dinner last night and it was AMAZING!!

I came across this great video on the basics of drying out herbs and thought it might be a great help for some of you. I just love growing my own herbs:)

One of my favorite hobbies is cooking and nothing tastes better than FRESH home grown herbs.

Herb gardening is becoming more and more popular every day, and for a good reason.  Herbs have practical value, serve a purpose, and with herb gardening you can actually use your plants.  When most people think of herb gardening they automatically think of cooking, but herbs are also grown for their pleasant aroma and their beauty.

One important part of herb gardening is drying the herbs for use during the winter months, especially if you plan on cooking with them.  First the tops of leafy herbs have to be cut, washed, and hung up for the water to evaporate.  Then, tie stems together and hang up in a paper bag to dry.  After two to three weeks they must be removed; crumble the leaves, dry them out in the oven, and store in a glass jar.

One of the most common herbs gown in herb gardening is basil.  “Dark Opal” and regular green basil are beautiful additions to any garden and often used as decoration.  Dark Opal has light pink flowers and dark red leaves.  Basil isn’t just used for its looks; it is used for extra flavor in tomato juices and pastes.

Chives are very petite looking and resemble a blade of grass.  They are much stronger than they look, however, and will grow well through a drought and a drought.  Their toughness and sturdiness makes Chives a perfect plant for herb gardening, especially if the gardener doesn’t want plants that require a lot of hassle.  Chives are good used in salads, egg dishes, and many different sauces.

Mint is also very simple to grow and is good to use in mint jelly, mint juleps, lemonade, and any other kind of fruity drink.  Mint is also good in herb gardening for its unique minty smell.  Two herbs that appear in nearly everyone’s herb garden are thyme and sage.  Both of these herb gardening favorites are used for flavoring soups, chicken, turkey, pork, and other sausages.  Sage is also grown sometimes for its beautiful blue spiked flowers.

Lavender is probably the best smelling herb in all of herb gardening and is often used in candles, as a perfume scent, and to improve the smell in linen chests.  The light purple flowers smell absolutely lovely.

Other types of herbs often grown in herb gardening include borage (used in salads), chervil (used in egg dishes), sweet marjoram (flavors lamb, fish, salad, and soup), sesame (flavors crackers, cookies, and bread), and dill (flavors meats and used in pickles).  Herb gardening allows gardeners to use herbs from their own garden for cooking, looks, and smell.  Herb gardening will produce much fresher herbs with more flavor than store-bought herbs, and are a lot cheaper.