When you’ve had enough, move on.

Well, I’ve had enough of paying for blogging, especially when I can blog for free and have a pretty site here on blogger.

http://katesgranola.blogspot.ca/

Please make changes to your notification system so you will continue to get updates from Kates Granola by following me here on blogger. I will be cancelling my Aweber account, which sends an email notification to you when I post from KatesGranola.com. Those days of paying are over, and days of free blogging start today.

I’ve got a few good posts coming up, starting with my granola reno in the early stages. You’ll be aghast at the monstrosity that Brad and I are living in, which some of you will:

a. Totally understand what we’re doing.

or

b. Wonder what kind of crazy we’re on!

It’s a slow process, but it is moving forward nonetheless. We’re very happy and excited to be in our new home, and I can’t wait to start sharing it with you.

xoxo,
.Kates.

To answer my many friends who are asking, “Why are you deleting your facebook?”

Here is the simple answer: I’ve had enough.

I’ve slowly found less and less of a need for Facebook, and today I read yet another article in which our so-called “privacy” rights have been violated for police use and the “criminal” was falsely accused. Plus, I’ve toyed with the idea of deleting my Facebook for some time now and I finally said, “That’s it, I’m done!”

For starters, Facebook has become less about sharing useful information and more about showcasing how angry and bi-polar people are. And that comment is not to offend those who are bi-polar, but to say… people are way too open about what happens in their life without filtering what they say on Facebook. Frankly, it’s depressing, it’s prejudice, it’s racist, and infuriating.

I know I can go through and unsubscibe or unfriend this particular person, but seriously I don’t have time to filter my friends. 

On top of having to filter my friends, I have to filter all the game invites, I have to stay up to date on all the new privacy policies so that I ensure my profile stays private AND I have to adjust to each new website update… although free, is a pain in my arse!

But the real answer as to why I want my Facebook of the face of the earth is my privacy and time. There is no such thing as privacy when you have your information uploaded to a worldwide website for your friends to creep through and potential friends to search for you. Yes, I could change my name (like I did,) not give out my real information (like my phone number, which no one should do anyway,) and keep a limited profile to keep in touch with friends.

But what is the point of keeping Facebook when I rather spend my time doing something productive or enjoying? What is the point of having Facebook to keep in touch with friends when all I’m doing is reading their posts and looking at photos and not really conversing with them? I rather spend time with friends in person, on the phone, or writing an old fashion letter instead of wasting time for hours creeping?

Which, let’s admit it, we’ve all found ourselves searching on Facebook far, far longer than we’ve wanted to admit.

The article which prompted this decision was in the Toronto Sun, Faulty Police Work Led To False Charges. A Toronto woman’s Facebook profile photo was used in a police line-up to find who assaulted another woman at a bar. A bar that the woman, Lizz Aston, was not at on the date she was accused of being there. The police e-mailed her and asked her to phone them about an investigation.

This isn’t a single isolated incident either, Facebook is used frequently by the police (sometime for good,) and it isn’t always successful… like in the case of Lizz Aston. There was another Canadian arrested for a photo he put up of himself holding a gun, which he had a license for. There was a boy expelled from school for using the word ‘fuck’ on his Twitter account, posted while he was out of school, and it wasn’t directed at the school.

Another reason I want off of Facebook, which I’ve thought long and hard about, is whether I will allow my teenage son or daughter have a Facebook account. There have been multiple suicides because of teenage bullying on Facebook and child/teen abductions due to over-sharing and detailed info on the whereabouts of their location.This isn’t solely because of a child/teen having a profile, it also happens through their parents profile having photos and info about where and when they’ll be in particular places.

Checking into coffee shops, malls, amusement parts, etc. It makes tracking someone that much easier. Again, I like my privacy, but where is this line drawn in the sand? How far can the government, police, school systems, ‘bad guys’ and bullies reach into our private lives? 

Lastly, call me a conspiracy theorist, but I don’t believe these sites were made solely for us to use, for free, just to share information with one another. [Insert: sunshine and rainbows song and dance.] What is the easiest way for the government to keep tabs on all of us? Come up with a way to get us all to voluntarily put it out there for them to read like a book at the public library. They instantly have access to an ample amount of information on all of us. (Not to mention they tailer Facebook and Google to people/subjects we frequently search. Not really a fan of that!)

There is a reason Facebook doesn’t charge for use, and don’t think it’s because Mark Zuckerberg is a ‘nice’ guy!

If Facebook was a country it’d be the 3rd largest with over 400,000,000 people. So, imagine the amount of money Zuckerberg would have if he charged just $1 a month per user. He’d be the richest man alive. 

I’m signing off of Facebook for the last time. If you’d like to keep in touch, please send me an e-mail: Kates@KatesGranola.com

xoxo,
.Kates.

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Before I get into the nitty-gritty, go ahead and read the article that motivated me to write this post.

My first reaction, which I’m guess is the same as yours was disgust. And then two thoughts came to mind:

1. What kind of children are we raising in N. America that would do such things to their peers? (Let’s not kid ourselves into thinking this just happens in Dartmouth.)

&

2. I’m suddenly not surprised at all by the way the top 1%, government and big business treats the citizens of our country, and others. (Especially since Dartmouth produces quite a few of the top 1% who work at Wall Street and top finance and business corporations) Not having any type of moral code or ethical thought to how their actions can affect those below them.

I then went through… anger. embarrassment. denial. sadness. & motivation.

Motivation to speak up for others out there going through hazing, which is an unnecessary form of abuse (both physically and mentally) and dangerous. What Andrew Lohse, and many other Dartmouth frat boys, went through is terrifyingly sad. Even worse is the way Dartmouth is handling the situation, basically telling all students who would like to speak up that they won’t be heard and they will be alienated and shunned.

I went to Dartmouth’s girls hockey camp growing up, and I am extremely embarrassed my parents sent them money for me to go. I’m embarrassed an Ivy League school would allow this type of abuse to go on at their school and either defend it as a sacred ritual (where alumni and business professionals have fond memories of and come back to watch the hazing in their old fraternity) or turn a blind eye.

It’s absolutely astonishing, and to make matters worse… instead of coming down on the fraternities, making harsher rules and punishments for hazing or eliminating fraternities from campus for such crude and inhumane behavior… they’re making Andrew Lohse (the whistle-blower) out to be the bad guy.

I get that Andrew was part of the process, he pledged to a fraternity, he partook in the horrific activities and he even was suspended from Dartmouth for a year for possession of cocaine… but he also recognized what he was doing was wrong, what the fraternities were doing is wrong and he was courageous enough to say something about it.

How can we ostracize him? How can we say he’s just a punk kid who’s angry, especially when other frat brothers are admitting what he’s spoken about is true?

It’s outrageous! Absolutely and utterly outrageous!

I’m not new to hazing and what Andrew told the Rolling Stone magazine about doesn’t surprise me.

I went to college at Rochester Institute of Technology, and I had zero intentions of joining a sorority. I had heard rumours about what the sorority sisters put the pledges through, putting them up on a table naked and pointing out all of their flaws. Making them drink themselves drunk and try to get a frat boy to sign their breasts, all while wearing granny panties over their clothes, clown make-up, and a shirt with the flaws from the naked critique written all over it.

It isn’t as horrible as what Andrew spoke about, but doesn’t it sound like an excellent way to make “friends for life” and paying them to do it?

Hell no!

I played for the women’s ice hockey team and hazing came with the territory. But you see, I’m firmly against hazing. I don’t believe it creates a team bond, I don’t believe it makes a group of boys, girls or a team better friends and I sure as hell don’t believe it is good for anyone physically or mentally.

If you haven’t guessed by now, I skipped my “rookie” party. I received a phone call from another rookie, who said, “If you don’t show up, you won’t be viewed as part of the team next year.”

I didn’t care. I don’t believe in humiliation-team creation. I didn’t care that I wasn’t there for the veterans on the team to pick on, make me drink too much or humiliate me so they’ll like me better.

This didn’t win me over with my team, but it did help others who didn’t agree with the hazing speak up. I even heard from other athletes at my school. They told me what they had to do at their “rookie” party:

Some were forced down in the basement of a house and couldn’t come upstairs until the small handful of them finished several 24 packs of beer. After they finished those, they had two 40-ounce beers duck taped to their hands (called Edward 40 hands) and had to finish the them before they could have the bottles taken off their hands. That’s just the beginning!

After getting completely drunk they had to strip naked and stand over a bucket, they then had to turn to their left and hold the penis of the guy behind them. They called this the elephant parade. They had to walk when the music played and stop when it ended and dip their balls in whatever was in the bucket underneath them. My friend was too drunk to remember what was in the bucket.

The worst part was when one of the rookies tried walking up the steep, crooked stairs when one of the vets used his foot to kick the rookie back down the stairs. When he fell, one of the stairs cut him from the top of his shoulder-blade down to his pelvis bone. I’m unsure if he went to the hospital or not, but I can still picture the wretched scab down his back that looked incredibly infected days later.

Andrew Lohse shouldn’t be repudiated for speaking up against the masses. I understand pledges want to be in a fraternity or sorority, but they do not want to go through hazing. Some of these young men and women have to go to counselling, they have to go to rehab centres and some have worse experiences of alcohol poisoning, date-rape or death.

I’ve heard some people say, “He’s ruining the fun for everyone else.” Hazing is wrong. Hazing is inhumane. Hazing is an old tradition that has been taken 100+ steps too far and it needs to be stopped. 

No one deserves to go through hazing… it does NOT create a healthy friendship. Last time I checked, long-lasting friendships are built out of trust and I would trust no one who would make me eat a vomlet (vomit and egg omlet,) sit in urine, feces, semen and vomit, nor would I trust someone who would puke on me willingly.

What are your thoughts on Dartmouth and their incredibly disgusting Greek fraternity rituals? Do you believe in hazing? Have you been hazed and what were the experiences you went through? Did you haze others after you went through hazing, and how did you feel? Share your thoughts and experiences, let me know whether you believe hazing is good for young adults to go through.

What I haven’t mentioned yet is my sister was a contender to be recruited to Dartmouth’s ladies hockey team… looking back I’m happy she injured her knee her last year at Dartmouth hockey camp, which ruined her chances of playing at the “prestigious” Ivy League school. I couldn’t imagine what she possibly would have went through, especially reading Andrew’s article about how many women at Dartmouth are raped and abused. Divine intervention is an amazing thing. Love you Kiks!

xoxo,
.Kates.

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Salt, pepper, and MSG at the dinner table?

I know I just wrote a post about BVO (Brominated Vegetable Oil, aka flame retardant) in our soda pops, but a trip to BulkBarn and I thought my eyes were deceiving me… they were not!

I made an impromptu visit to BulkBarn today to pick up some all-purpose gluten-free flour, and walked through the spice isle because I love the smell. Yes, I love the smell of delicious rosemary, cumin, basil, and many other wonderfully, delicious spices.

But MSG in my spice isle? As if putting it in our food in the first place isn’t bad enough, they had to go and sell it as a measurable quantity that can be stored in a spice jar?

A little MSG added to your meal?

I get it, MSG is in a lot of foods we consume in N. America, but selling it as a bulk item for someone to mix in with their homemade meal? Wow, talk about under-educating and stooping to an all time low for the food industry. Are we going to start selling brominated vegetable oil, high fructose corn syrup, and other toxic chemicals to the general public to add to their favourite dishes?

If you don’t remember all of the health concerns of consuming MSG, please take a look at my Human Guinea Pigs post that included the side effects of MSG.

What are your thoughts on BulkBarn selling MSG? Would you be surprised to find high fructose corn syrup or brominated vegetable oil (flame retardant in soda) there as well? Do you believe these ingredients should be allowed in our food, especially when other countries ban them?

Thoughts?

xoxo,
.Kates.

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As if high fructose corn syrup, MSG, and other toxic ingredients weren’t enough, soda companies have been adding flame retardant… yes, you read correctly, FLAME RETARDANT to our sodas! (It’s bad enough that our pillows are soaked in it and we breathe it in each night.)

Now, I’ve been on a bit of a break. I’ve been busy, as per usual, and unfortunately my blog posts have suffered. But when my Momma told me this morning that there is flame retardant in pop, I had to do a bit of research for myself and share my findings.

Of course, she was right, I mean why wouldn’t a soda company put flame retardant in our soda. It’s perfectly healthy to drink something that would otherwise be considered a poison. (Banned in Japan and all of Europe.) What does good old Coca-Cola have to say about this?

BVO, brominated vegetable oil,  a well-known flame retardant helps “Prevent the citrus flavoring oils from floating to the surface in beverages.”

“This isn’t anything new, Coca-Cola has actually been doing this for decades. BVO was pulled from the “Generally Recognized as Safe List” for flavor additives in 1970, but midway through the decade it reemerged when the Flavor Extract Manufacturers’ Association petitioned to get BVO back into fruit-flavored sodas. It’s been there ever since.” -Whitney Jefferson of JEZEBEL

Part of me is ecstatic that I’ve been able to stop drinking soda and only have an occasional sugary treat, but the other part of me worries how much is too much in regard to a “safe” amount of BVO? Here are a few side effects,

“A few patients have needed medical attention for skin lesions, memory loss and nerve disorders, all symptoms of overexposure to bromine. Other studies suggest that BVO could be building up in human tissues, just like other brominated compounds such as flame retardants. In mouse studies, big doses caused reproductive and behavioral problems.” -Whitney Jefferson of JEZEBEL

I hope that guy was hosed down after getting all of that flame retardant on his skin! ;o)

Just another ingredient added to our food, which is banned in other countries, and yet we’re left pondering why we have so many health issues in N. America? Look at what is put in our foods, our products, and injected into our bodies via vaccines… and the answer may surprise you. We’re doing it to ourselves.

How many of you are soda / pop drinkers, and how many of you eliminate foods or drinks once you’ve heard the toxic ingredients in it?

xoxo,
.Kates.

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There are many, many things advertised to Mommas-to-be that are unnecessary, pricey, and let me be blunt… useless!

As a nanny I have had tons of experience using, or not using, many products at different families homes. Some of them completely wasteful and others were lifesavers. Some of them grew with the children, while others children outgrew in several minutes. Some families had so many toys, the child couldn’t play with all of them even if they played with one toy per day throughout the course of a year! Not to mention, I’ve worked with families that had all the latest baby products, furniture, clothes, toys, educational CDs/toys/games, etc… that I craved for the family who had a house that looked like a normal house with a few scattered toys their kids brought out of their rooms.

So I’d like to compose a Kates List of Unnecessaries for Babies, which I’m sure most of you can agree with.

1. Toys

I said it, babies don’t need hundreds of toys! Having a small amount of toys is perfectly acceptable, but you’ll recognize very quickly what a baby considers the best toy in the world usually isn’t the toy you bought at a store. Their favourite toy is you. Talk with them, play with them, and make goofy faces. They love it and there is more entertainment and stimulation with you than with any toy, educationally worthy or not. Read to them, sing to them, and when they get older, then you can find them the wonderful granola toys to play with.

When they’re little, enjoy them!

2. Fluffy Blankets

The most given gift is the baby blanket, and most of the time baby can’t use them because they’re not safe to sleep with. Instead of giving warm, fluffy blankets we love as adults, grab up some swaddling blankets by Aden & Anais. They’re beautiful, light-weight, and babies love them!

3. Shoes

Yes, baby shoes are the most adorable thing on the planet next to the baby, but they’re the most ridiculous thing on the planet. Any hard sole shoe is bad for the baby’s feet development, but they’re also useless! Stick to socks and if you must, soft sole shoes so no harm is done to those beautiful feet!

Made by Handmade Baby Love on Etsy

*So glad my Momma crochets!

4. Changing Table

When I worked with my granola-loving family in Ontario, they didn’t have a changing table and I loved it! They had a changing pad with a cover and anywhere I saw fit was the changing area. It was wonderful. So much money is wasted on a piece of furniture that will not be used past your child’s 2nd or 3rd birthday, when you can use the top of a dresser, the floor, the couch, the bed, etc. Changing babies isn’t restricted to a specific table, save your money and skip this purchase!

5. Fancy “Disposable” Diapers

I am a huge cloth diaper fan, and although my Mom informed me I was allergic to the cloth diapers back in the early 80′s… I’m going to attempt to cloth diaper my children with Glow Bug Cloth Diapers! These diapers are amazing, same quality (if not better than) as Bum Genius and a fraction of the cost! Plus they have absolutely fabulous prints to select from. I have been anti-Pampers for a while now, especially after learning what awful stuff is in non-organic/non-cloth diapers. I don’t want toxic chemicals on my baby’s bum, and neither should you. If I cannot cloth diaper, as my mom was unable to, I will be going granola in my diaper choice with Seventh Generation or something similar. They don’t have yucky, toxic chemicals!

6. Age-Specific Strollers

I hate strollers! HATE HATE HATE and my Mom told me I’m not allowed to hate, but I hate strollers. Especially age specific ones that are deemed useless when they hit a certain age. I also hate the ones that grow with the baby because they’re such a pain in the neck to open up and put back together. I HATE STROLLERS!

[Deep Breath]

I prefer wraps and carriers. I like having babies close to me. I like the sound of them breathing, cooing, laughing, and snoozing on my chest or back. Once a baby hits a certain age, then you can get those easy to fold and unfold strollers that used to be uber popular when I was a kid:

The Most Awesome Stroller Around!

7. Diaper Pail and Wipe Warmer

These two things are absolutely useless! I’ve had more fights with a diaper genie than I had in my entire career playing hockey. I loathe those things almost as much as I loathe wipe warmers. Really? We’re pampering our child with a wipe warmer, whose parents, grandparents, great grandparents, great-great grandparents, and great-great-great-great-great-great grandparents survived without one just fine!

First, one should always be in the habit of dumping all poo into the toilet. If you read the instructions on the diaper packages, they tell you to do so because poo is not supposed to end up at our garbage facilities! Dump the poo and walk the diaper to the outside trash can. No one wants a stinky house!

Second, your child can sustain several seconds of cold wipes so that you can remove the poo from their bum. I’m sure they’re grateful to have the poo gone, so much that they’ve already forgotten the cold from the wipe. If you’re THAT concerned, warm it up in your hands first… if you have time!

–

To end my list, I’d like to mention that people commonly mistake how much it costs to have a baby. Without all the flashy items, useless products, and designer clothes… having a child is relatively inexpensive. Momma boobies supply the milk, you can bed-share to avoid the cost of a crib, hand-me-downs are terrific from older siblings and cousins, cloth diapering saves you hundreds of dollars, among many more money-saving techniques that I will post about in the coming months.

What about other granola Mommas out there… what did you absolutely need and what could you have lived without?

xoxo,
.Kates.

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This granola tip should come as no surprise because it is basically how microwavable popcorn is made, except the granola way is much, much cheaper!

There isn’t really much to be said about this post, as it is pretty self-explanatory. Popcorn sans the cost…

Pop me in a paper bag!

Take 1/2 a cup of popcorn kernels, or 1/4 cup if you’re making it for just yourself, and put it in the microwave for 2-3 minutes. Add butter and salt (or cinnamon, seasoning salt, sea salt, pepper, whatever you put on your popcorn) and enjoy!

I actually prefer the old school style and popping my popcorn right on the stove with a pan designed to create “theatre” popcorn because then I can avoid having to buy recycled paper bags.

The Theatre Popcorn Popper!

How do you take your popcorn? I recently watched one of my favourite little guys and his older sister made sliced apples with cinnamon on top and I thought, “Popcorn would be good with a little cinnamon.” So, what do you do to your popcorn?

xoxo,
.Kates.

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Let the masses calm… I am not yet pregnant!

But my Momma mentioned to me she was already thinking of ways to throw a granola baby shower for me and said future baby, and I thought I’d share some granola shower ideas since I do plan on getting pregnant sometime in the next 1-2 years!

The ideas I’d like to cover in a granola baby shower are invitations, decorations and supplies, favours, registry and food… cause I love me some food!

First up: Invitations!

The easiest and simplest way to stay granola with invitations is to do an online invitation. My Momma has done them for years with our Annual August Party, and they seem to work out just fine. Excellent turn-out each year!

Another fun way to stay granola is to find a company that specializes in plantable invitations like Botanical Paperworks, who happen to be a Canadian company to boot! They have a variety of plantable paper products for baby showers from invitations, announcements, favours, and thank yous. I think their designs are adorable and the idea behind the biodegradable, plantable invitation is genius!

Botanical Paperworks Plantable Invitations

If you’re super ambitious and eager to make your own invitations and don’t have access to an awesome, antique printing machine… you could try making your own plantable invitations by following the tutorial at Gracious Rain.

Decorations, Decorations, Decorations!

When it comes to decorations at a shower, party, event, etc… I tend to be on the reserved side. I don’t like anything too fancy and in the granola world, less is more!

Since I don’t want (okay, refuse) to find out what the gender of my baby is until after they’re born, I am able to avoid the dreaded blue or pink baby shower colour theme. Thank goodness!! The last thing I would want from a baby shower is 100 Pepto Bismol pink girl outfits or 100 wretched baby blue boy outfits. They make me want to vomit! Those colours are over-emphasized and over-scrutinized. (I’ll be writing about that in another post!)

Instead, I want a neutral colour baby shower… though I’d like to avoid having to have a particular colour at all costs! I want a granola shower. I’d like beautiful, locally grown sunflowers. I want wooden clothes pins, mason jars, twine, newspaper place-mats, awesomely sustainable and disposable plates, reusable napkins, and homemade cooking!

Here are a few photos of fun ideas for a granola baby shower:

Natural Compostable Palm Leaf Plates

Fun drink idea!

Love the banner!

Party Favour!

I know some people get super worked up over what favours they’re going home with, but I’m one of those people who wish there weren’t any. It’s generally something most of us don’t need and it’ll end up collecting dust somewhere in the house before eventually being thrown away. Sorry… had to be said!

Like the invitations, I’ve found a very granola way to send people off from a baby shower with:

Growing favours

You could plant any plant you’d like, but giving someone a small potted herb would be fabulous as most people can keep it on their window sill in the kitchen and take off pieces while cooking. Pop in a popsicle stick with “Baby” and the last name of the Momma & Daddy to be and you’re set!

Registry and Food, Food, Food!

I lumped these two together because I believe the Momma-to-be (and Daddy) should be contacted about the food, while I also believe the wishes of the Momma and Daddy should be respected in regard to the registry.

What do I mean about the registry?

I am a granola freak… to the point of being highly selective about what I want and do not want in my home for me, Brad, and my future babies! If I am asking for wooden toys, cloth diapers, organic cotton clothes… so be it, please do not undermine my wishes by going to Toys-R-Us and buying plastic, lead-filled toys. I will return them.

Snobby, maybe a little. Right, very much so. 

I’m not willing to make sacrifices for my children in regard to their safety, even if it means hunting down eco-friendly, natural, and chemical-free toys, clothes, and necessaries. I will, however, hunt down eco-baby stores in cities nearby my family and friends and create a registry there with a range of products in price so that everyone can find a gift for the baby well within their price range. I believe that is the responsibility of the Momma and Daddy to be, if they so choose to ask for eco-friendly products, they should have to do the leg work to find easily accessible stores for others to go to. (Or online at Granola Babies because they’re amazing!)

On to the Food!

This one is simple for me… homemade vegetarian goodness! Again, be sure to speak with the Momma to see what she’d like to have served because she may or may not have a craving or hate on for a particular food. We don’t need a nauseous Momma at the party!

What about you granola Mommas’ out there, what did you do or would you have wanted at your granola baby shower? How hard/easy has it been trying to get family members on board with eco-friendly gifts?

xoxo,
.Kates.

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This months L.U.K.A. Designs feature is the WWII Era Canvas and Raincoat Carryall with RCAF print.

Royal Canadian Air Force

This is one of my favourite bags to date because of the print I added to make it a bit more personalized, while putting a bit of history into the item. Some may say enough history was already put into the bag with materials over 65 years old, such as the raincoat and military bag canvas, but I wanted to make this bag Canadian. I found it in Canada and I wanted it to be tied to its roots.

Instead of flipping the raincoat inside out, like I did on the Raincoat Carryall, I kept the rubber exterior facing outward to give a solid contrast to the military bag canvas material except the bottom. I flipped the raincoat inside out so I had a good piece to print on. It has a different look and feel to it, compared to other bags of similar nature.

Back of bag

The handle is made out of an old lantern wick, the very same wick I spoke about in my previous L.U.K.A. Designs post where the gentleman manning the flea market booth said, “Do you know what that is, dear?”

Of course, I had no idea what it was but I knew exactly what I wanted to use it for… this bag!

It is a perfect contrast and combination with the raincoat and military bag canvas to make this bag complete. Inside is an antique muslin I picked up from another flea market with a couple of pockets and key holder awaiting a lovely buyer to fill it with books, farmers market goods, diapers and wipes, or just ordinary purse belongings.

Interior

The raincoat, canvas bag, and wick were salvaged in Nova Scotia.

Measurements: 17″ x 13″ x 4″

If you’re interested in buying this particular bag, please visit L.U.K.A. Designs on Etsy. The bag is $129.95 USD.

xoxo,
.Kates.

Good Old Canada

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Well, make this 101!

I just noticed I’ve published 100 posts on Kates Granola and I’d like to celebrate by sharing an experience I had yesterday afternoon.

.Peace.

I went for a walk to get some fresh air, as I had been inside on a couch or bed most of the weekend with a terrible sinus infection. I saw it was quite sunny out and I wanted to take the opportunity to get some vitamin D, something us Canadian folk don’t get enough of. What I didn’t know was how cold it was outside.

I proceeded to layer up with long john’s, wool socks, snowboard pants, hoodie, down jacket, mittens and sunglasses. (It was very sunny!)

I started to stroll down the street towards the woods where the Trans Canada Trail is because I rather take a walk amongst the trees than the sidewalk. I walked a fair distance down the path, pulling up my face warmer when the wind blew and decided I wanted to sit down… but where?

I walked back to the stairs that lead down to the path from the new subdivision area, not yet completed, and just breathed. I closed my eyes and felt the warmth of the sun on my skin, I listened to the rustle of the few remaining leaves when the wind blew, listened to the soothing sound of the birds chirping and then I opened my eyes once I heard the woodpecker.

It’s amazing what we can see and hear when we slow down and close our eyes, when we step away from our keyboards, televisions, cell phones and just get back to what makes our lives possible… nature!

I’m not sure how long I sat there. Long enough that I ate some snow (the non-yellow kind) and melted the snow beneath my bum. I watched the woodpecker search for bugs and continued to enjoy the music of the leaves. I was at peace.

We could all use more walks like those. Walks that remind us all to slow down and enjoy life. Walks that remind us we don’t need Facebook, television, cell phones or tablets to entertain us.

In closing, I’d like to announce that I am going to be conducting a little social experiment. I am going to be taking a break from Facebook and Twitter. I am only going to be on the computer to write my blogs, check my e-mail once daily and of course, edit films created with my amazing bosses at Honey & Dear!

Instead of making a crazy list of things I cannot do, like share my posts on Facebook because I know that’s how many of you get updates to my posts, but instead I want to talk about what I am going to do:

• Write more hand-written letters
• Send more post cards
• Make more phone calls, like the good old days before texting
• Have more tea dates
• Go for more walks
• Take up paddle boarding (this summer)
• Get my granola reno’ing on

Winter Wonderland 2012

I’m unsure if it was the peacefulness I found on my walk or my growing dislike towards Facebook, but I think we’ve (society at large) lost the ability to connect with another human being on a personal level. We spy on one another on Facebook for hours and yet we don’t have time to sit down and have real face time? I will no longer be part of it and I will not continue the habit so my future children too, create that habit.

I’m dumping Facebook for a better site… my front yard and the wonderful people in my life.

Won’t you join me?

xoxo,
.Kates.

ps. Don’t worry, I’ll still write on Kates Granola… I just won’t obsess over the latest celebrity drama, the latest trend on Twitter or the crazy rants of the many friends I have on Facebook with whom I seldomly speak with.  I want more of a personal connection with my followers and that connection is here, when you visit me to read twice a week. Many thanks and love!

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