Chinook Massage Therapy

In our age of technology, we have ample ways to say in contact with loved ones. Many people have creative work solutions. We have endless sources of entertainment. I think my boys talk to their friends more now than they did in school.  It's not easy getting them all into one picture. The birds fight over territory and the dog is sure that they are either a snack or a squeaky toy. I live in a small house with 3 males, 1 dog and 2 parrots. I'm not suffering for companionship (well, maybe a little girl time!) Spring is coming with the long list of house and yard jobs to be done. I'm not suffering for things to do. I have an entire craft room full of supplies and tools. I'm not suffering for hobbies. What I did find was I was suffering for intellectual stimulation. Passive wasn't enough, I could read all I want and watch all the documentaries that I want. I didn't realize how much brain power my job used. I thought that after ten years, I really di...

We have been busy with yard work and building projects here. To be honest, my muscles are feeling the effect, and I miss my massage therapist! It's time to take my own advice, bring out the wheat bag and have a hot bath. I would like to use some epsom salts, but they got commandeered for high school science experiments (along with my alum, washing soda, citric acid, baking soda and cabbage, yes, I said cabbage)! I did already take my own advice and spent an hour in the hammock today with an audio book! On it's way to being a potting cupboard A little bit of make do and mend I didn't have a long roller sponge And my small roller was missing  pieces, so I put two small sponges on the large roller A lot of people think of soups, stews and other crock pot goodies as winter fare. They are extremely useful when you want to spend all day working in the yard. After digging, pruning and hauling, do you really want to come in and make supper? Nothing tastes so go...

Food From Scratch - Spices A lot of people think that making the types of prepackaged mixes we get at the grocery store is difficult, or has exotic ingredients that makes it complicated. Most people have never thought twice about making taco seasoning from scratch. Why bother, it’ so easy to open a pre-measured packet and dump it in. People cook from scratch for all sorts of reasons; allergies, curiosity, cost, avoiding certain ingredients, necessity, or because they are foodies. I found chalkboard labels and a chalk pen at the dollar store. I label the lids too because my jars are in a pull out drawer and all you see is the tops. At one point or another, those were all reasons for us.  I’m allergic to cilantro and coriander, which are ingredients in a lot of ethnic food. I just like knowing how things are made, I have taken cheese making classes, soap making classes, kombucha making classes…  Whenever you buy that packet of taco mix, you are payi...

Life has not been business as usual for over a month now. In many ways, the time has flown by. There has been such a steep learning curve to working from home, keeping the family in routine and trying to get as many regular tasks done as possible. The list has been long, so the days go by fast. I know not everyone is in the same situation. Front line workers are under a huge strain. Some people are really struggling with cabin fever, live alone, or don't have a yard to spend time in. Keeping positive can be very difficult.  The problems and struggles we faced before did not go away because there is a pandemic. A lot of them became amplified as people are unable to access supports, or "elective" surgeries were cancelled. They don't feel elective to the people in pain. Crisis situations bring out the best in humanity and the worst. I hope history shows that we chose the former.  We are all experiencing dichotomies of emotion. We can be happy if we are safe in our ow...