We all want our homes to smell good right? Rewind 6-7 years ago the only thing I knew to make my home smell better was the huge selection of scented candles and plug ins. There is a saying "when you know better you do better" That rings so true for me. When I first started this journey to a safer toxic free home, I read a lot, did my research and got educated. The biggest takeaway through all the information I gathered, was to avoid the word "fragrance/perfume". The fact that this wording is a loophole for companies to hide ingredients under that they don't want to disclose, under the reasoning they could compromise their trade mark smell, this is terrifying to me, what else are they hiding under there?
So from that day forward I carefully read all labels and decided not to use products that contained fragrance or perfume. This instantly knocks so many products from your shelves, tables, beauty counters, bathrooms, it's quite eye opening. So candles and plug ins were definitely off the list! But now what? I want my house to smell good, I want to satisfy my sense of smell, there has to be options. Luckily I had a friend that introduced me to what a diffuser was and the grades of essential oils out there, I had no idea they aren't all the same and I would have to make some decisions on quality and sourcing.
I very quickly discovered how much better this diffuser was vs a candle. No fire hazard, no nasty fake smells, no wax to deal with, no having to read ingredient lists to weed out the good from the bad. Pure therapeutic essential oils are straight forward and have amazing benefits. I started out just wanting my house to smell good and I ended up learning that I could use them in the diffuser for things like sleep, stress, mood improvement, concentration, creativeness, anxiousness. A diffuser can be so much more that just a nice smell. I am so grateful for this journey with essential oils, it really has allowed me to take my health into my own hands and create a home that is full of simple products that only complement our bodies not make them work harder.
There aren't many people who enter my home who don't instantly say oh what is that smell it smells so good! How great is that!
Pretty intense statement hey? But seriously that is exactly what it has done for me and so many people around me. It almost feels like yesterday that I was that mom of 2 wanting desperately to rid my home of all the toxic products I had bought into for so many years.
I was always looking for the most delicious scent, the newest product on the shelf, seeing commercials and adding things to the grocery list. Until the day came I was getting headaches fr0m all the chemicals I was using while I cleaned, experiencing a pretty serious topical reaction on my youngest skin after I put her clothes accidentally in with my husbands laundry. I remember the day so clear, I had used a new scented laundry sheet for my husbands work laundry, it was the newest wave laundry technology lol, all in one, laundry soap, fabric softer and dryer sheet.. It was a topical reaction waiting to happen, my daughter woke up from a nap and I went to change her and saw the massive welts all over her lower legs, I was terrified and had no clue what had happened until later in the day when I went down the list of possibilities.
This was the day I decided to rid my house of everything nasty and go to the extremes of vinegar and baking soda for cleaning and went on a search for the most natural laundry soap I could find. This went ok for a few months but it was terribly boring and I did crave some sort of scent, I just didn't know how to achieve it naturally. Then a friend said why don't your try Thieves, I had no previous knowledge of this magical word but it didn't take long to figure out it truly was the answer to all my problems.
A super concentrated plant based cleaner that I could dilute in a spray bottle and use on everything, YES PLEASE! I always joke with folks that Thieves is the answer to all their problems, they just may not know it yet lol. I really clean everything with it, counters, floors, glass, bathrooms, windows, walls, inside and out of cars/trucks, chicken coops, added it to my pressure washer for my deck, gosh I'm sure there is more! Knowing you are using one less toxic product for your home is a huge piece of mind, now days there are many toxic things we can't avoid so creating a home that is free from as many harsh toxic chemicals as possible is a huge goal of mine for the health of my family and myself. I also love it stream lines the junk I have under my sinks. Literally one bottle of cleaner and the rest of the space is up for grabs! Ha! it really was a shock but I quickly filled up that space with stuff.
Thieves Cleaner for the WIN.
Pretty intense title I know! But it has also been a focus for me and so many of my mom friends over the last MANY MANY years. As you start to come out of the blur of early motherhood days you start to really think about it, ok, now how do I want my life to look now that I have kids. You may decide you want it to look completely different now that you are raising a family, you may use this new motherhood journey as a stepping stone into something you never had time for, so many things can trigger that urge to reinvent yourself or figure out what are you here to do, and how you want it to look moving forward.
I talk about how important hobbies are in a moms life, I do that for many reasons, we need creative escapes from life challenges, we need things we enjoy and feel passionate about, but hobbies also allow us to dabble in different fun areas we enjoy and open our eyes to areas that might be something more, like a business, or a side job. I'm a firm believer in that only having one income is extremely risky, 2 incomes is well, I little better but still not ideal, and 3 or more incomes is where you start to thrive and head towards financial security, it's so easy for life to pull the rug right from under you at any time, and as moms we need to be looking ahead and setting our families up for success no matter what challenges come our way.
I remember the days when all I could think of is when is that next feeding, will I catch a nap today. It's hard but it does get better and then new big kid challenges arise, there will always be challenges but as we get in the groove, we can start to look past those and start to focus on us more. Even though my kids were a little older I still struggled with the ME time. I was taking care of kids from sunrise to sunset 7 days a week, I found it impossible to find ME time. That's when I decided to get up before the kids and take that time to really figure out what I wanted in life. Could the hobbies I loved make me money, were there things I wanted to do in my day that would contribute to my overall vision of what I wanted in life, heck at times I needed to just figure out what I wanted life to look like. There were many time in my life I was just sailing along no plan, vision or goal, I had no idea what I wanted life to look like, I was stuck in 24/7 Mom life, blinders on; get up, feed kids, play, run errands, do routine, get everyone to bed, clean, sleep, do it all again tomorrow.
We need excitement about getting up and doing life, we need excitement about projects you are going to tackle that will bring you joy, we need activities to call our own, you have to add some creativity in your life, your brain and soul will love you for that! We as moms need soooo much and I think we are very often depriving ourselves of that. Something as simple as picking up a craft can do so much for your mental state and your happiness, it can fulfill you more than you know, try it!
I get that this all seems impossible when you have to take care of everyone and everything, that is my life as well. That is why flipping your life around and getting up before everyone and taking care of yourself can be such a golden opportunity for all the things I just talked about. After you get that routine developed you will feel excited about getting up early and starting your day. Trust me! This time you can use for your wildest dreams, you can truly start to find yourself if that's what you need to do. If you are ready to switch up what's not working, for some serious YOU time and finding yourself, head over to my facebook group Happy & Thriving Moms or if you're ready to jump in with 2 feet, head over to my website where I have created a 21 day course to walk you through getting up before the kids and rocking your life
It's ok to feel stuck, what sets you apart is taking steps to get out of that stuck spot and start thriving. Moms are amazing and I want you to also feel amazing in your life, it all starts with how you are taking care of yourself, you can fill everyone else's cup if you don't fill yours first.
Cheers
Ebony
I'm a lover of nature, animals, gardening, growing, food, all things simple and sustainable. I'm sure this started from how I was raised, my mom had the biggest gardens, she grew so much, preserved, I remember meat chickens. Oh the strawberry garden, I remember going out in the early summer mornings and picking a few quarts of fresh strawberries for your morning cereal. Fantastic memories to have as a kid.
It was natural for me to become a gardener, I had watched my mom do it my whole life, not only with a vegetable garden but also with her flowers, she still to this day has the most beautiful gardens, that bloom all summer. All through my adult life I have enjoyed both vegetable and flower gardening, I often joke it's my therapy, it truly is my happy spot. In the last few years, especially how the world has looked I have taken it more serious each year, and put more thought into how we provide and source our food. Last year was certainly my biggest year not only growing vegetables but also growing my first batch of meat chickens, we officially had 21 we put in the freezer, nothing short of amazing in my eyes.
So can I really say this is homesteading, maybe, it's defiantly not traditional homesteading, so that's why I'm leaning towards modern homesteading, I do love all the modern amenities we have these days. So I have talked myself into needing to have a farm animal with 4 legs for me to officially be able to call this place a homestead, Ha! I'll be honest it wasn't hard for me to talk myself into this conclusion.
We are going with sheep. They mow my grass, they can be easy going, they have wool, I love crafting!, they are the cutest, they have great manure I can add to my gardens and they don't eat everything. Its a win win. Lots to still get done before we welcome sheep but the plan is there and everyone is very excited.
I have some big goals this year with our property soon to be officially called our modern homestead lol I want to triple our meat bird production, increase of laying hen flock so we are achieve 2 cartons of eggs a day, that leaves plenty of room to sell eggs each week, bring sheep to the property and expand on the vegetable gardens. I also want to start keeping track of costs and really lay it out that I can find some profit making activities with in it to help cover some animal food costs. To say I'm excited is an understatement.
All these things are going to bring me such joy, education, gratification and bring us closer to sustainability.
Stay tuned for how this spring, summer and fall play out!
Cheers
Hobbies are something I encourage all women to have, especially moms! We are pulled in so many directions in a day, we need to have something we can reach for that is ours and truly gets us excited, inspired and gives us pure happiness. I have so many hobbies but they do rotate with the seasons. Some hobbies just don't work in the winter as some don't work in the summer, so having a list of things you love to do, create, partake in gives you year round fun and in my opinion, therapy.
Hobbies can run very deep in what they do for you, so choosing one that ticks a lot of boxes is important.
Here you thought it was just about doing something fun on a Sunday afternoon durning nap time, HA! The right hobbies go way further than that. Here are some things to think about when you start to look for a hobby.
1. Are you ok with going off your property or are you looking for something you can do at home?
2. Are you looking to include physical movement and in this hobby?
3. Do you prefer a group hobby or a solo one?
4. Are you willing to take a class or are you a trial and error kind of person?
5. Are you willing to invest some money into this hobby?
6. Does it have to be a night time thing or can you free yourself up durning the day to do it?
7. Will you need a babysitter?
8. Animals or no animals?
9. Are you able to do it even with the kids around?
10. Is it a hobby that is limited to the weather?
11. What would be my excitement level if I mastered this hobby?
Just a few things to think about when you start looking for something that grabs your attention in the hobby department. I'm someone that has a pretty secure list of must haves when it comes to hobbies, I want to be able to do it at home, no babysitter and it needs to have some degree of physical activity, I love a good outside workout that makes me sweat and also gets things done and I like to do things by myself on my own schedule.
So what do I mean by a hobby can go so deep for you, well, it has been my experience that a hobby is more than just creativity, it is more than just making something fun, or setting time aside to do something for yourself. If you find the right hobby you will experience a passion inside that you may have not felt before. You will dive into it and forget the days worries, be able to separate yourself from your struggles, sadness or even anger for the time you are doing that hobby. Hobbies can help you think through tough problems in life, give you time for reflection, help you work through anxious moments, even help you move through being stuck in life. They can give you confidence from excelling at them, they can help calm your mind, it truly can be an escape to let your brain recharge. I'm sure I could keep going with all the things my hobbies supply for me. You may have herd me say before gardening is my therapy, and I say that with all seriousness. It is the activity I can do not only when I'm happy, but also when I'm sad, frustrated, hopeless, fearful, stuck or even angry and I come out of it in a totally new spot than when I started.
If you don't have a hobby I encourage you to find one. I also encourage you to find one that not only sparks your interest emotionally or creativily but one that also combines fresh air or some sort of physical movement. I have found these types of hobbies to be the most powerful type, the ones you will get the most out of and be able to pull from the most, when you are in a spot you aren't happy with. I believe the power of mental gratification combined with the outside fresh air is a winning combo to help us with our struggles.
If you haven't already, pop on over to my Facebook Group Happy & Thriving Moms and see what hobby hits all the boxes for me, especially the physical activity box when you get dumped on by a weekend winter storm.
Cheers
Ebony
