Stepping Back in Time with the Milkman

Over the last few years as a family we've headed down the organic, minimally processed and "buy local" road.

Due to a whole host of reasons, I feel that as a society we've lost our strong community values. One of those reasons is that much of what we buy wasn't made or produced locally. Not only do we often not get our own local produce in grocery stores, we get much of our produce and products from out of state or out of country.

And I don't know about you, but I'm beginning to really consider what we are putting into our bodies. Do you read labels? Why does a "whole grain" cereal have more than 10+ ingredients? Or better yet, why doesn't it have only the whole grain oats? And maybe some REAL sugar (none of that corn syrup crap).

For quite a while now (I think it began when I was pregnant about 5 years ago) I started shopping only the outside aisles of the market. Occasionally heading inward to the pasta aisle and canned tomato and beans aisle. But 85% of my shopping was done in the produce section, dairy, egg and protein sections. I stopped buying all things processed. And when I do buy processed items, such as cereal, I get the organic, 2-3 ingredient items.

I have to say doing this method of shopping has really helped us ensure that we're eating whole and healthy foods. AND we're eliminating much of the chemicals now used to processed food.

Last week we took it one step further. Yep, I now have the milkman deliver weekly.

Did you even know that we have a local dairy that delivers from Salem to Vancouver? They'll deliver weekly all types of dairy products from whole delicious and probiotic-rich yogurt, to a large variety of cheeses, to all types of milk, of course. They also have organic eggs and beef products on their order list.

AND all the milk and cream products are in the old-fashioned lovely glass bottles. You use and return the bottles each week. NO plastic to contaminate your milk. And no recycling necessary.

Even better is that the dairy is organic, all non-homogenized (but pasteurized), and made from grass-fed free-roaming cattle. The dairy touts that the humane treatment of their livestock is at the core of it's company philosophy. AND they don't use any antibiotics or hormones, and no chemical fertilizers on their land.

Check out the dairy if you're in the Portland/Salem/Vancouver area: Noris Dairy

Did you know that they way we process milk and dairy, not necessarily the dairy itself, may be contributing to hardening arteries and absorption of potentially-harmful/allergy-prone enzymes including casein. This is a widely-debated topic, but I tend to think less processing is always better. Check out some Pros and Cons yourself at ProCon.org.

So while I think "healthy" and "non-toxic" are important when deciding our food choices, these are not the only reasons I LOVE our new dairy delivery.

1. It tastes AMAZING. I've never been a huge milk drinker. Other than when I was pregnant...I couldn't get enough of it. But this milk is creamy and has a lovely sweet taste.

2. It's convenient. I leave a cooler on my stoop. Each Monday morning I leave an order form, a check, any bottles we're returning and a cool pack in the cooler. My milk man delivers our fresher than fresh products sometime during the day, usually in the mid-afternoon, and when we get home from whatever we're doing that day we check the milk box. I know that we'll always have the fresh and healthy dairy products we love to eat.

3. It's environmentally-friendly. No plastic or carton milk jugs to recycle or GASP, throw away. The milk is in glass bottles that you return to the dairy each week (or when you've used up the product in them). And the yogurt and other products are in recyclable containers.

4. It's local. Like I said before, let's try to bring back neighborhood grocers and farms. Keeping it in the community means you'll always have fresh produce and dairy. And fresh means no additives and preservatives are necessary.

We do upick all spring-fall at local farms because it doesn't get better tasting and healthier than fresh local off the vine produce. And now we're adding our local dairy to the upick list.

OH, and if you're on my block (or in my family) and you don't think you'll meet the $18 weekly minimum for delivery, I'm happy to have your order added each week to my order. Then you can just stop by my stoop each Monday afternoon for your weekly fresh dairy delivery.

Join me in shaking up your glass bottle and pour yourself a nice frothy glass of local, healthy creamy, tasty milk.

The Big C

Cancer. It sucks.

I've known old, young, middle-aged and now the 4-legged, all who succumbed to cancer. It affects all the living. And it sucks.

My poor kitty of 13 has a HUGE tumor. And it seems to have grown over night. Or at least it caused him to stop eating and drinking over night.

Leo has driven me nuts over the years. He's that cat that would meow or pull at the covers at night to get some lovin. While I was sleeping. Deep sleeping. But he was always persistent with the claws pulling at the sheets, or my face and lips, until he got what he wanted.

He's been known to shake picture frames or mirrors off the wall at 3 am until you give him attention.

Yes, he was relentless. Until recently.

Now he just slowly walks. Every step looks like a challenge. He barely licks his "treat" food of wet ground chicken or tuna. It looks awful to me, but I'm assured it's a treat to the feline persuasion.

His meows are quite mellowed compared to his usual annoying loud tone.

My gut has told me for weeks now that something was drastically wrong. But due to my fiscal challenges, and denial, I didn't bring him to our vet until yesterday.

Down 3-4 lbs from his normal hefty 13, he was looking quite trim. And being that he didn't grace our presence downstairs for what I think was at least 36 hours, I felt it was time to see what our great vet had to say.

Of course the estimate for "tests" was around $700. But we talked them down to at least half that. It seemed our vet already knew the outcome after her palpitations of his abdomen. She just wanted to make sure that yes, we were dealing with the Big C and it wasn't just kidney issues. A common "old" age issue for kitties.

Nope, it was the Big C. And Big it is indeed. I saw the X-ray. It's about the size of an apricot or so. On his left side, where his left kidney should have appeared in the X-ray.

We have four four-legged creatures in our family. And numerous fish (too many to keep track of, really.) I often affectionately refer to our "zoo".

But our four-legged friends were our first children. Before we ever thought we'd have a daughter. They were our kids for almost 10 years of married life.

Leo was our second. He is the runt turned champion.

A co-worker of mine had a stray momma cat show up on her property and give birth to a litter. She asked if we wanted a companion for Pepper (our lonely one year old kitty) and we said SURE. Of course.

We went to her home to pick out our second.

And when we saw the five or six kittens running around the living room, and witnessed the littlest one tripping over his own paws, we were sold. He was too dang cute not to bring home.

Then Pepper tried to kill him. Yep. She was not having a companion in her home.

But after a few weeks of living in our apartment, in separate rooms of course, they became fast friends.

And when we saw him leap for that first time, so fierce, so regal, he was our Leo.

I know he's "just a cat". But he's our cat. He's our menace. Our little lion. And he'll forever be one of our first kids.

Today Chayse said to me after I was telling her to leave Leo alone because he's sick, "Mommy, is Leo going to die?" My girl is a smart little four year old.

I said, "yes, Leo's going to die. He's very sick. Too sick to get better."

Chayse said, "Where will Leo go when he dies?"

"To kitty heaven," I say, of course. What else am I to say?

"But I'll miss him mommy. Can we visit him?" she says with a trembling lip and tears begging to stream down her face. Ugh. Four year olds. Love her, but really. How do I answer that?

"No, sweetie. We can't visit him. But we can visit him in our dreams."

He's not gone yet. I am no longer getting annoyed by his demands for attention. I am trying to treat him with all that yummy wet food. And I'm cherishing the times he just sits on my lap or lays on my legs.

I guess that's why life ends in death. To remind us that all the annoying things are really things to be cherished.

Passion and Productivity

Two words that I love and wish I took full advantage of daily: Passion and Productivity.

Today was a good day. I met with a client. I did my mommy duties. I had some good quality time fine-tuning some web pages. I made a lovely dinner. I enjoyed my family. I watched one of my t.v. show obsessions. Drank some wine. And read some of my favorite blogging friends.

A good day.

A productive day.

But was it a passionate day? I'm not sure. I do think it was more passionate than a lot of other days. I do love when I have really great moments with one of the loves of my life. She made me laugh hard today. Gut-wrenching hard. One of the best feelings ever.

I really enjoyed making a lot of progress on a web site that has been on hold for months now. I made a lot of improvements. I was able to weave in some creative moments into the site. And I'm so relieved my client is ready to move forward and publish it soon. Nothing is more dispassionate to me than being stagnant.

Passion can be so evasive even when we're enjoying what we're doing each and every day. And I honestly can say I don't enjoy every day. But I'm glad I have them. I'm glad I have a new canvas every day.

What am I passionate about? These days I think I'm passionate about being creative and doing something meaningful. Hence my jumping on the "I gotta reform health care for those living with T1DM" bandwagon. Definitely a passion these days. Don't get me started...

Hmm, other passions. I know I have them.

I don't know if you know, but I have been known to paint. Yes, paint on canvas. Oil painting. The last time I painted was over 5 years ago.

I got passionate about painting when I was quite distraught about not being able to conceive. It was a cathartic and relaxing past-time when I was trying to grapple with life's hardships.

I don't think it was a conscious decision to put the easel hidden away in the garage when I was pregnant, but it happened. It's hiding in the garage. Every day when I pull the car out to go on the day's errands, I see it. It almost calls to me. In fact, I think it is calling.

I'm not a "trained" or "educated" artist. But I love it. Whether anyone likes what I paint or not. I force any guests in my home to witness it, as it is placed strategically throughout my house next to many GREAT artists. I envy the oil as it blends and swirls and forms textures and shapes. The sheen of it on canvas feels rewarding.

OK, I think I'm establishing something that draws out passion in me.

Words bring out my inner-bookworm and librarian. I don't read or write as much as many. In fact I must be drawn to bookish people because many of my friends read, write, and read, read, read. Now I don't strive to write a novel or prize winning book of art, but every time I pick up a children's book I think to myself, it's time. It's time to write a book that everyone can enjoy. Literally. I know I've said this time and again. In fact, I've even remarked about it in this blog months ago. But I'm hoping in 2010 I make it happen. For the passion of it all.

So while I was quite productive today, I'm not convinced I was passionate about my production.

Maybe tomorrow I'll dust off the easel. I have Chayse's easel in the living room. Maybe I need to put mine near it. We can paint together. She with her lovely finger paints or Tempura. Me with my oils.

Or maybe I'll finally put all my childish thoughts down on paper. I literally run through stories and ideas in my head when I'm waiting at the red light on the way to Target. They're in there. Time to get the out I guess.

Passion. I guess it's not something that just happens.