Skip to main content

Elven Idea Factory # 1 - the 2009 plan

The Elves have joined us at the Idea Factory the month of December, and I'm seriously excited to share their ideas with you!

There are a few holiday points that they want me to make before we proceed with this month's first of four installments; they say these two points are very important things to remember this holiday season and beyond!

1. WATCH joyous things like ELF or your favorite holiday movie that makes you think of laughter, singing, giving, and acting like a 10 year old. The elves want to make clear that the more joyous you are in your daily routine, the more light your being in both luminosity and weight, and the easier you can uplift all those around you!

2. DON'T WATCH negative things like the news, crime shows about murder, and depressing talk shows about crumbling relationships or other nerve-striking topics. The less you conflict and inflict your joy with pain, the easier it is to maintain. (Sorry, the elves like to rhyme, it's been very hard keeping this even remotely serious for you.) :)

On to IDEA #1 - our 2009 plan
This holiday we decided to help rebuild our personal economy and carbon footprint by not mailing as many gifts, and making all our gifts green and intentional (but still appreciable)! This means we'll be making many of our gifts, reducing our gift load by not exchanging gifts with the sisters out of town and thus reducing the carbon footprint of shipping these gifts, and thinking of creative new ways to give. Some great ideas for personalized items that don't cost much but mean much more include:
  • a knitted or crocheted scarf or hat
  • a photo session or photo album from the year [best for family members]
  • a personalized music cd
  • homemade bath products
  • homemade food products
  • books or other "white elephant" items [best at a theme party]
  • a massage by you or cleaning session for their house [best for girlfriend or boyfriend]
  • a drawing or painting, poem or photo in a frame [best for mom, think of 5th grade]
  • a babysitting session [best for new mothers] or other traded service
  • a family heirloom or other item [best for younger relatives whom you trust]
  • your used electronic devices, furniture, computers [best for the new college student]

The elves say that making gifts brings the spirit of Christmas to a new high because they are the most thoughtful and fitting and provoke the most smiles from the recipients. We'll break down this list in the next three installments; look for new DIY bath products (and old ones), holiday recipes, crafts, and more!

Happy holidays to everyone celebrating a holiday this December and beyond!
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Gluten Free for Psoriasis

Recently I've been putting my researching brain cells to work on studying the Gluten Free way of life. Since the age of 14 I have had psoriasis, and recently it's been showing signs of progression to psoriatic arthritis, a progression that occurs in about 20-40% of the cases (studies are still incomplete, although the reverse is 80% of PA patients have had psoriasis, so the two are definitely linked). I've been tested for allergies in the 1980s (none), and I'm a pretty natural consumer as well, so I don't use body products with harmful ingredients like parabens or sulfates. Herbal and homeopathic remedies and dead sea salts have all helped reduce my inflammations, but have never eliminated the disorder completely. I was vegetarian for 7 years in the 1990s, and that never cleared up my psoriasis either. Because of its progression I've started researching the diet and how it relates to the disorder, and stumbled upon several articles and studies that now link...
18 comments
Read more

DIY Bath Salts

A few weeks back I added two posts for making your own face products. Along that same home-factory-idea line is the typical bath salt. I laugh when I see them in the store for $15, when it's often only $1 of Epsom or Sea Salt and a few drops of essential oil, plus $10 of preservatives you DON'T want on your body! I making salt baths more regularly after a car accident several years ago that left my back in a pretty poor state of health. I was taking a pain-bath about 3-4x a week and it helped immensely. Now I take them for all sorts of reasons: relaxation, menstral cramps, headaches, chest colds, aching muscles, and psoriasis flare-ups. The salt is the base to this so let's start there! SALT First, all salts are sea salts either mined as rock or evaporated from the saline solution. Sea salt is sodium chloride, and is used in cooking and cosmetics. "Dead Sea Salt" is proven to have the highest content of body-healing minerals it it, from the Dead Sea. Table s...
Post a Comment
Read more

Gluten-free Sourdough bread adventure

Throughout my decade of being gluten free, I had never heard this before, but recently at a friends house, I heard a rumor that the gluten in bread breaks down in the process of fermentation with sourdough. The study that this rumor has seemingly sprouted from was done on just 15 subjects in Italy. I won't get into how the wheat in the US is far different from the wheat in Europe, but suffice it to say, it's not the same. At first, this rumor was exciting. Could I actually have bread again? I was sure willing to try! So I took a chunk of my friends long-aged sourdough starter, fed it for a few days (that's the fun part!), and made some sourdough bread! Much to my dismay, the answer is no, I can not, but it sure was an exciting thought! I've been GF long enough to know the immediate physical sensations when I'm going to have a reaction, and I don't press my luck. I had a small piece of this DELICIOUS bread and gave it away, knowing full well tha...
Post a Comment
Read more