C is for Crunchy, That's Good Enough For Me

  So, once again, I'm on a crunchy kick. When the forecast for your area is nonstop rain for the entire week, and you have two small children, what do you do? You improvise. 3-4 days in the mornings, it's the gym. It's a good (and healthy!) break for me, plus the kids get to play at the gym daycare with the other children for an hour. I win, they win, America wins. Another day, it's the indoor kiddie pool. Tomorrow, it's the amazing-seriously-Infantry Museum, which is a mere 3 miles from our home with a $5 suggested donation. The kids and I are both fascinated by it, and we can easily spend an hour and a half there. Yesterday, though, desperation set in. I was unprepared for the onslaught of dreary weather, and by 8am the natives were already restless. As I sat on our couch, mentally planning our week, it occurred to me that our Sam's Club membership was about to expire. Here's the thing...as convenient as it may be shopping in bulk, I'm not really a big fan of Sam's Club. They don't have the greatest variety, they stock a bunch of things I never buy (frozen corn dogs, sugary cereal, ramen noodles, stuff like that). I've been hearing a lot of great things about Costco from my friends who are fortunate enough to have one nearby, and to my delight I discovered that there are not one but TWO Costcos in Colorado Springs. Unfortunately...we won't be moving to Colorado until February at the earliest. However, after doing a bit of searching, I found a Costco 70 miles away, in Montgomery, AL. I considered for a brief moment the ramifications of packing two little ones in the car for a long drive on a rainy day, then immediately thought, "eh, what the heck." I gave Tony and Alessandra their breakfast, made sure Tony had a potty break, packed extra diapers and a spare outfit for each of them in my diaper bag, fed the dog and let him out, and we were off. I'm pleased to report that Tony had zero accidents, and Alessandra only screamed for part of the drive.

  We arrived at Costco, I filled out the membership form and paid the $55 fee, and we began our shopping adventure. Let me tell you...I was impressed. Tons of organic products, brands that I love, good looking meat and produce (which I did not buy, as I forgot to bring my cooler), and fairly reasonable prices. $40 later, we had the hand soap our household so desperately needed, Nutella which Will so desperately wanted, a ginormous bottle of vinegar, and this. Feast your eyes upon this glorious purchase.

Am I the only one who squeals in delight upon reading "100% organic extra virgin?"

  I have become a massive coconut oil convert/promoter over the past year. Seriously, you can use coconut oil for anything. Cooking, hair conditioner, shaving cream, lotion, diaper rash ointment (add 1 drop of lavender essential oil for particularly nasty rashes; as an added benefit, coconut oil won't destroy your cloth diapers), and a million other uses. I've been going through the 14-oz bottles faster than the speed of light, so I was thrilled to discover that Costco keeps this bad boy in stock. A few weeks ago, I made this mummy tummy belly concoction with a combination of extra virgin olive oil, organic extra virgin coconut oil, vitamin E oil, beeswax, rosewater, and geranium, grapefruit, lavender and frankincense Young Living essential oils. I've been applying it to my belly and hips every day, and I'm already noticing a difference after just one week of applications. (Check out my Young Living Pinterest board for more coconut oil recipes). So I figured, "why stop there?" If there's one thing I've been hearing overandoverandover again for the last year...it's oil pulling. To be honest, I was getting a little sick of hearing about it.

Here is a good blog post describing oil pulling, for those of you who haven't heard of it. I kind of had the "eh, what's the harm in trying?" mentality when it came to OP, because I'm certainly not opposed to whiter teeth and good oral hygiene. I started last week, upon the urging of a friend, and I have to say...so far I'm impressed. I feel good, my teeth look shiny and whiter (which is a huge benefit if you're an avid coffee drinker like myself), and I've also noticed the absence of migraines, which were plaguing me over the past month. Coincidence? Perhaps, but as I said, ain't no harm in a little coconut oil.

  The kids? They did great yesterday, in part because they were promised a "fancy lunch and playtime" at Chik-Fil-A if they behaved at Costco.

Enjoying his chocolate "shake 'n milk"

Happy (and exhausted) little camper