OK, I’m joining in too! I think this is pretty cool. So, all you readers out there make your mark on Maria’s Peeps Map. If you don’t want to put your exact location, use your state capital or something like that.

Tagged by Steph

7 Things I plan to do
1. Get another tattoo someday
2. Take a trip to Italy
3. Re-learn Italian
4. Start flossing
5. Dance more
6. Go on a date with my husband sometime in the next century!
7. Stop spending so much time at my computer 🙂

7 Things I can do
1. Make an italian red sauce from scratch without a recipe
2. Stupid party tricks with my double jointed arms
3. Be very cynical and sassy
4. Tie a cherry stem into a knot with my tounge
5. Grow almost anything
6. Spell my name in heirolyphics
7. Mumble alot

7 Things I can.?do
1. Hard core exercise (lung issues)
2. Be idle
3. Get off this damn computer!
4. Read fast
5. Stop my nose from running! (allergies)
6. Get rid of those last 10 pregnancy pounds!
7. Seem to finish this dang Meme

7 Things that scare me
1. Horror movies (Hate ’em!)
2. My daughter ever being in pain of any kind
3. Violent people
4. Bad drivers/being in another car crash
5. Missing the next ALIAS episode
6. Being in debt
7. Public speaking

7 Random facts about me
1. I have skydived – once
2. I have a tattoo (and am proud to say I got it before it was in vogue!)
3. I had strawberry-blond hair as a toddler
4. I actually know how to pronouce “Caed Mile Failte”!
5. I don’t drink or do drugs (other than my homemade herbal potions)
6. I did warpaint for the movie “Last of the Mohicans”
7. I use to want to be an opera singer

7 Things I say the most

1. “We need to….”
2. “Chill out!”
3. “Don’t have a cow!”
4. To my daughter – “Hey cutie patootie”, “Hey noodle butt”, “Hey snuggle bug”, “you are a complete nut-nut!”
5. “Shut it!”
6. “You never know.”
7. “Alrighty!”

Tag 7 people
How about you just volunteer to tell me a little about yourself!!

Hey! So, we are finally getting home after a wild last few days. (Well, a wild last few weeks if you count the whole time Toby has been gone.) Toby has been in Arkansas for two weeks helping a friend tear down their house. We are hoping to use the wood from the house to build our own, once we finally find the right land. K was so happy to see her daddy that she stayed up until 11pm Thursday night when he came home! It was very sweet!

Friday was the rehersal and dinner for my step-bro’s wedding. And Saturday was the wedding. My step-family is very Irish, and as a surprise to everyone, my step-bro’s fiance hired a bag-piper to play while she walked to meet him at the altar, instead of the traditional wedding march. Very cool! Then, for the toasts, instead of having champagne, they served “Buttery Nipples” (half Bailey’s Irish Cream and half Butterscotch Schnapps)!! When my step-sis was trying to make her toast, she kept getting choaked up and downed at least 5 shots to get through. It was hysterical! K was a flower girl and did a very professional job 🙂 Here she is practicing how to put on her tights for the wedding:

And throwing the flowers (first she started picking up all the ones that her cousin threw, then she figured out the deal and emptied her basket in 4 big handfulls!

And, of course, there is always the post wedding hide and seek with daddy’s head

Then on Sunday, we drove back down to Raleigh to our friends, Mark and Alisha’s wedding. Another beautiful event! It was outside at the botanical gardens and the rain held off just long enough to have a beautiful ceremony. After, the reception was at this fantastic vegetarian place with more great food! I think I gained 10 pounds this weekend!!

Anyway, blessings to all of you newly legalized lovers! May your beds stay nice and warm this winter, and for many winter’s to come!! 🙂

This really pisses me off!!! Millions of Americans have given donations to churches and charities for Katrina victims. Now, they are asking to be paid for their services!!! Wait, isn’t that what organizations like Red Cross and churches and such are supposed to do, help those in need. Now they want reimburesement for the stuff that was donated to them in the first place??? Corupt, corupt people! It is part of our job, when we are born, to help others in need. You don’t ask for reimbursment for kindness and friendship!!

Here ya go, Gina!

Applesauce-Raisin Spice Cake with Maple Cream Frosting
CAKE
3/4 c butter
1 c Honey
2 eggs
2 c unsweetened applesauce
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 1/2 c whole wheat pastry flour
1 1/2 c unbleaced white flour
1/2 cup rolled oats
1 Tbsp. baking soda
1 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp. cardamom
1/4 tsp. ground cloves
3/4 c raisins

GLAZE
1 c maple syrup
1/2 c heavy cream
2 Tbsp. unbleached while flour

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flower two 9- or 10- inch cake pans.
For the cake, in a medium-size bowl, cream the butter with the honey until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, applesauce, and vanilla.
In another bowl, stir together the flours, oats, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom and cloves.
Beat the dry ingredients into the wet and stir in the raisins.
Pour the batter into the prepared pans, and bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Place the cakes on cooling racks for 10 minutes, and then turn them out onto the racks.
To prepare the glaze, heat the maple syrup, cream, and flour in a saucepam over low heat, whisking until it begins to simmer and thickens slightly, about 5 mintues. Cool the glaze in the fridge until the cake is cool.
Place on of the cake layers on a serving plate and spread half the glaze on top. Add the second layer and spread the remaining glaze on top. Cut and serve.

OK, I have now become one of those bloggers who needs to hide their posts from certain readers. If you are interested in reading my rantings, please email me (maria@fullcircleherbs.com) and I will send you the password. And don’t worry, if you know you have done nothing to incur my wrath, then it’s not you I’m ranting about 🙂

Some friends of mine who have a WAHM business have created a raffle to help benefit Hurricane Katrina Victims. I donated some of my stuff, too. Check it out! Little Sprouts Raffle

I am trying to pile together some things to take to the local shelter collecting items for the victims of Hurricane Katrina. Aside from canned goods, I am also putting together some herbal first aid kits (I hope they take them). I have some herbal betadine, herbal styptic and lots of soap. If you are trying to find a place to take donations just google your city’s name and ‘katrina’ and ‘donations’ and you will find something. I know that Red Cross, food banks, and many grocery stores are accepting donations. If you are feeling too poor, or don’t think just one person can make a difference, then just imagine you are a new mom sitting in a shelter with 45,ooo other people around you… you have no food for you or your child, no fresh clothes, no clean diapers, no medicine, basically none of the three necessities for life: food clothing and shelter, nothing, and it might be months before you can reliably count on any of these things to be there. Now, go donate!

Addendum: OK, so I just called the local donation place to ask about bringing my stuff and they said they don’t want it! I don’t have my soaps wrapped in any way, and I can totally understand that they may not want those right now, since they don’t know what they are getting, but with the styptics and betadine and other herbal medicines, they don’t want them because they feel people will be unfarmiliar with the items and not know what to do with them (they do have labels with directions!) and would rather me go out a buy things at the store to donate. Kind of frustrating…

Check out this email I got yesterday! I love it!!

“Just wanted to write and say how much I love your soaps. After 31 years as a dedicated Ivory user, I’m totally hooked!
Please encourage Weaver Street Market in Carrboro to expand their selection so I can try everything. I would like to share an image of a recent painting I did, called “Really Nice Soap” that, while not literal, is strongly informed by my enjoyment of your products. Thanks, pfs”

So there is this mama friend of mine that I have known for ~2 years. Our girls are the same age and have been in play groups together. Well, yesterday we were talking about having time to ourselves to get work done and just be alone and I realized that I didn’t know what she did in her spare time. Boy was I in for a shocker! Turns out she is an erotic romance novel writer!! Her pen name is Silvia Violet (a perfect name for a romance writer, I think). Be forewarned, her stuff is very spicey!! Through her site, I found Selina Fenech’s site. She is only 24 years old but has amazing art skill! Really cool artwork!

So, anyway…

We are getting settled in. It’s hard to feel too settled though, when we still own a house in Chapel Hill. We have two seperate couples that are still interested in it and have to let us know by 5 pm tomorrow if they will buy it. Otherwise it will go on the market. I hope one of them wants it. It has been a great place, but it will be nice to just be done and over with it.

We haven’t really begun our land search here in Asheville cause we have been too overwhelmed with moving. But, soon. This weekend is the South Eastern Energy Expo (or as toby likes to call it “The SEXPO!”). It’s actually a huge expo on alternative energy. So, there are classes all day Fri. Sat., and Sun… cordwood building, biodiesel, mortgage free, wind power, passive and active solar classes… all kinds of stuff. We are going to try to get to as many as possible.

The worms are doing fine. We were able to put the composter back together without a problem. And, my shitake logs look like they might have their first bloom soon! They are starting to turn white on the ends. We haven’t moved the bees over yet. We tried when we were in Chapel Hill last weekend, but it was so hot the bees got really aggitated and ended up stinging Toby 4 times! Good thing I wasn’t helping out or I may have had to go to the hospital (I got stung by a yellow jacket a few weeks ago and my whole thigh swelled up so huge that the skin was tight!) We will be heading back to Chapel Hill one more time to finish up with house stuff and hopefully bring the bees back with us then.

OK, K is up… gotta run!

So, we are still without any internet connection at our apartment. I am logging in from my mom’s house… So, I won’t be on much for the next week or so. But things are going well here. K’s sleep has been a little erratic and I am having a little trouble adjusting to being around so many people when we are use to living in the boonies. But, otherwise, we are good. In all this turmoil K has officially potty trained! Anyway, talk more later…

Well, we’ve made it back to Asheville, pretty much in one piece. The bottom fell out of the worm composter during the move and little wormies (and maggots, bleck!) were all over the floor of the truck. We were able to get the composter back together and salvage most of the stuff that was inside. Our VCR didn’t survive the move either. K is not happy! We get no TV reception here, so she is now without muppets and Sesame Street videos too. You’d think, living in basically downtown Asheville, that we would have reception. We don’t even get Cable or DSL here either! I’m dialing in right now! I haven’t had to do that for years!! Speaking of, I should probably log out, I have no idea how much this is costing me!

I don’t know what I have done to deserve such wonderful Karma, but we have 2 separate friends who may be interested in buying our house. And we haven’t even put it on the market yet!! This happened last year too with our last house, but that house was this adorable little doll house in a very desirable historic neighborhood in downtown Asheville. We just assumed with this house we would need to use a realtor. Since it is out in the country and in no particular neighborhood, we figured no one would see a “for sale by owner” sign. But, through word of mouth, two couples have come out to see the house and have expressed interest. Isn’t that wild!! It would be wonderful to be able to sell this house to a friend that we knew would take good care of it!

Sorry I have been absent! I am frantically trying to pack up! We don’t have a whole lot of stuff, but still… Shesh!
We’ve found a little apartment/house to rent for a few months while we look for land in Asheville. It is downtown, so Toby can bike to work and K and I can walk around and not have to drive so much. The guy we are renting from is even ok with us keeping our bees at the apartment! I hope the neighbors don’t mind.

I just found out that one of my childhood friends, C, has a brother in a band (We Are Scientists), and the band looks like they might be going big time. They were just signed by virgin records. This is their site. I like the music and their site is hysterical. Read some of their ‘movie reviews’. They just happening to be coming to town in 2 days for a show. So, off I go for one last hurrah in Chapel Hill before moving.

Now… I’m off to take a nap!

Well, after much pondering, we think we have finally made the decision to move back to Asheville. We weighed the pros and cons of Chapel Hill vs. Asheville and Asheville won out. In the end, having family close by is really important for us. So, now we start the process of moving. We are all heading to the mountains this weekend to look for some land, and maybe look for a place to rent while we look for land. We hope to have some land within 6 months, so we can break ground on our off-the-grid home as soon as the ground thaws. So, we have a lot of research and self-educating to do before we start building. Toby is heading to Arkansas in September to help some family tear down part of their house. What is salvagable, he will bring home to use for building materials on our house, which will be a wonderful money saver.

Anyway, I better go pack…

Today I set up a table at the local food co-op to show off the products of mine that they are now carrying. When I got there to set up at 9:30 no one knew I was coming. Apparently the manager wrote it on the big calender behind the desk but forgot to tell everyone else. It didn’t end up being a big deal at all, but initially we were all like “Oh NO! Now what??” Along with my products, I also brought handouts about who I am and how Full Circle Herbs was started along with a list of the other products that I carry. I also brought copies of an article on salve making that I wrote a few years ago. I made a batch of my Rooibos Daily Tea Blend, too. I love that tea! The only containers that they had to hold the tea in were old coffee urns. So, we sent them through the wash and I was good to go.

Initially, I felt pretty intimidating… sitting at the front entrance, staring at people when they walked it. I tried to look elsewhere, but then it seemed obvious that I was trying to avoid looking at people. Then there came the questions of “Do I sit?”, “Do I stand?”, “Do I keep busy?”, “Do I look like I am waiting to talk?” Then, after about 2 hours of sitting there, I got the idea to pour the tea into little cups to entice people to come up and take some. Nobody can resist a freebie staring you in the face! And it worked. Everyong wanted to come up and try the free tea.

I talked with lots of people. Met a woman who makes goat milk soap who wants to get together. Met another woman who I had talked with on the phone before but never met in person. I had made her a remedy for hemorrhoids that she had never paid for. Turns out she’d lost my information and didn’t know how to find me. She introduced herself by saying “HEY! It’s YOU! I owe you some money!!” That’s always nice to hear.

When it was time to close down, I only had one little cup of tea left, so I gulped it down only to be shocked by the taste! The tea that had steeped in the urn the longest tasted like coffee flavored herb tea!! It wasn’t bad tasting, but it certainly wasn’t the flavor of my tea blend! I was pretty disappointed, but being that there wasn’t a thing I could do about it, I just chalked it up to another lesson learned: always bring your own tea urn!

All in all, it went well. Now, I can concentrate on getting my labels to the printer, deciding on whether or not to make the t-shirt, deciding about getting liability insurance and UPC codes so that I can put my stuff in Earthfare, and making more stock. Beezy, Beezy, Beeezy!

OK Steph, here I am, naked-faced, oily pores, freckles, and all!
Continue reading »

As Toby and I were headed to lunch at the local health food store we saw the following bumper stickers on the truck in front of us:

and lastly:

I have a feeling we weren’t going to the same place for lunch!

Oh! And when all the trees are gone ’cause of this ignorant idiot, those feathers up his ass aren’t going to protect him from the ass whooping I’m gonna give him!!! Or maybe I will tie him up, cover him with owl food and let the spotted owls have their way with him!