more Etsy from the artisans at Fresh!
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Monday, November 15, 2010
Contest Winner!!
Just a quick note to announce the contest winner! The winner of this little contest was required to "like" the Joyful Earth facebook page and then comment on the blog to win a "Dick and Jane" Bento Mini snack bag.
*drumroll*
And the winner is..... Heather!!
To claim your prize, send me an email with your address Heather!
*drumroll*
And the winner is..... Heather!!
To claim your prize, send me an email with your address Heather!
Saturday, November 13, 2010
Get some Joy for the Holidays!!
If you haven't already heard, I'm currently taking orders for my very first Co-op! Co-op's are a wonderful mutually beneficial way to shop from WAHMs. As a customer you benefit from getting what you want, when you want it (ie no stalking or waiting for customs), you also benefit from a discounted price! US customers may also find they are able to save a bit of money on shipping because the most expensive portion (from me to the US) of the shipping is split amoung all the co-op participants.
For the WAHM, we have the benefit of a large group order allowing us to batch tasks and purchase bulk supplies. We also benefit from saving time on listing and individually shipping each item. Co-ops also offer exposure and opportunity to introduce your products to customers who might not have discovered you otherwise.
This particular co-op is offered on the HC forums. If you are already a part of that community, you will know how wonderful it is. If you are not, you may want to join up and check it out! The HC board is as close to a drama free public board as you can get! There is a wonderful feeling of community and support there!
Go check it out! My completion date for this co-op will be the first week of December, just in time for holiday gift giving!
I've just added some new fabrics to my co-op gallery on Flickr. There are a few fabrics I was reluctant to share, and am very tempted to horde.
If you are more in the mood to shop instock, I have a few bits and pieces scattered around the web. Click the photo to shop.
For the WAHM, we have the benefit of a large group order allowing us to batch tasks and purchase bulk supplies. We also benefit from saving time on listing and individually shipping each item. Co-ops also offer exposure and opportunity to introduce your products to customers who might not have discovered you otherwise.
This particular co-op is offered on the HC forums. If you are already a part of that community, you will know how wonderful it is. If you are not, you may want to join up and check it out! The HC board is as close to a drama free public board as you can get! There is a wonderful feeling of community and support there!
Go check it out! My completion date for this co-op will be the first week of December, just in time for holiday gift giving!
I've just added some new fabrics to my co-op gallery on Flickr. There are a few fabrics I was reluctant to share, and am very tempted to horde.
If you are more in the mood to shop instock, I have a few bits and pieces scattered around the web. Click the photo to shop.
Bowl covers at Etsy!
Unpaper at Fresh
Tea Wallet at the Joyful Earth Hyena Cart
Monday, November 1, 2010
Woosh!!
That was the sound of me dusting the cobwebs off the old Joyful Earth Blog. Yep! Back at 'er! After a rather unplanned and unexpected break from biz, I'm back!!
As of November 1, Joyful Earth has reopened its virtual doors! I'm excited to be back behind the machine again working on some of my favorite Joyful Earth items just in time for the Holiday season.
The product line up for the upcoming winter season will be our snapping snack bags, our adjustable bowl covers, the ever popular tea on the go! sets, and the odd coffee cozy & produce bag set thrown in here and there.
Some new ideas sitting in the back of my mind are based around allowing you to create fun & imaginative lunches for your children while creating little to no waste! I'm a big fan of the Laptop Lunch bento system for packing my kids lunches! I've even designed a product especially for that system - the "bento mini" reusable snack bags. I've got a few other ideas up my sleeve such as Bento box sleeves & napkins to help you put together lunches your children (and their teachers!) will want to eat!! Stay tuned to the blog for more bento fun!
As of November 1, Joyful Earth has reopened its virtual doors! I'm excited to be back behind the machine again working on some of my favorite Joyful Earth items just in time for the Holiday season.
The product line up for the upcoming winter season will be our snapping snack bags, our adjustable bowl covers, the ever popular tea on the go! sets, and the odd coffee cozy & produce bag set thrown in here and there.
Some new ideas sitting in the back of my mind are based around allowing you to create fun & imaginative lunches for your children while creating little to no waste! I'm a big fan of the Laptop Lunch bento system for packing my kids lunches! I've even designed a product especially for that system - the "bento mini" reusable snack bags. I've got a few other ideas up my sleeve such as Bento box sleeves & napkins to help you put together lunches your children (and their teachers!) will want to eat!! Stay tuned to the blog for more bento fun!
In the meantime, I've got a lone little Bento Mini snack bag sitting here in a Dick & Jane print... and I'd love to give it away!
To win, head over to my Facebook page and "like" me! If you already count yourself among the Joyful Earth "likers", then suggest my page to your friends! Post in the comments once you've done this & I'll do a random.org draw early next week for the winner!
Bonus points (you'll get an extra entry in the draw) for posting a photo of a creative lunch you've made for your children that involved little to no waste, even more bonus points if that lunch includes a Joyful Earth product!! Post your photos on my facebook page!
winner will receive one bag that looks an awful lot like these!
In stocking news.... I've got a few things up at Etsy, a tea wallet at Hyena Cart with more to come soon, and will be stocking at Fresh on the 9th at the 9's.
If you enjoyed my previous posts about Primal living, I've created a new blog for those musings! Come check it out!
Monday, April 12, 2010
Low Level Cardio - and the stay at home parent.
My apologies for being woefully absent from the blog lately. The 30 day Primal Challenge ended two weeks ago - and I haven't had time to sit down with some uninterrupted time to write a blog post since then. The good news is that I'm still going strong in my pursuit of a Primal lifestyle, and so are the many others who followed me on the 30 day challenge. Thank you to those who joined me and I've enjoyed the encouragement and support we've been able to provide and will continue to provide for one another.
After 30 days of Primal eating, I've begun to focus on the other 9 Primal Blueprint Laws, trying to incorporate them into my day to day life. Law #3 is "Move frequently at a slow pace". Mark Sisson's book The Primal Blueprint describes the benefits of this blueprint law which is the subject of today's blog post:
The optimal zone for low level cardio activity is between 55 - 75% of one's maximum heart rate. To roughly estimate your max heart rate, use the following equation:
After reading the numerous benefits of low level cardio, I immediately thought to myself, "How on earth am I ever going to find time to go hiking?" and "I can't possibly get to the gym on a regular basis to complete the suggested 3 - 5 hours of low level cardio suggested by the Primal Blueprint" (p. 170). Trying to fit in the requisite three hours of LLC felt like a daunting task.
And then I began thinking about my days, and realized just how much low level cardio I already do. I have three children, we walk to and from school daily. Thats already 100 minutes logged in per week. Thanks to running late most days, I can reach a heart rate of up to 60% on these walks!
And then I thought about housework. I thought it might be fun to complete a few tasks and measure my heart rate while working. Here are a few of the results:
Vacuuming 60% (add to this Primal Blueprint Law #4 - lift heavy things, my vacuum is a beast!)
Making beds & tidying up 60%
Cleaning the bathroom 55%
Mopping the kitchen 60%
Washing walls 60%
Doing laundry 55%
Sweeping 55%
washing windows 50%
Add some speed to this and you can easily stay within the suggested heart rate zone of 55-75% of your maximum. Doing 1/2 hour of housework on weekdays can log 2.5 hours of low level cardio.
In addition to the LLC provided by housework, it also speaks to many of the primal movements that dictated how our genes evolved - Squat, crawl, walk, jump, carry, throw, push, pull (p. 163). I've left out run, climb, and hang but I imagine a creative housekeeper could find a way to throw those movements into their work too!
Increase the benefit of housework by focusing on your squats and doing them with proper form. Carry heavy loads of laundry up and down your stairs, don't use that laundry shoot! Get down on your hands and knees to scrub your floor, use lots of extension and stretch when you wash your walls. If you focus on the movements of each job you do, you will see just how beneficial this work is for your body! Add to this a clean house when you are done, you can not beat it!
So, between regular housework and walking the kids to school I've already logged just over 4 hours of LLC without even trying! Add to this: walking in the evening, a hike with the kids and my partner on the weekend, and working in the garden and I've easily gotten over five hours of low level cardio activity each week.
If you need any more reason to start logging low level cardio, check out this TED lecture on longevity throughout the world. You'll spot several Primal Blueprint Laws here!
I'm hoping to discuss more of the Primal Blueprint Laws and how they relate to a day in the life of a stay at home parent. Stay tuned this week for some exciting news from Joyful Earth!!
After 30 days of Primal eating, I've begun to focus on the other 9 Primal Blueprint Laws, trying to incorporate them into my day to day life. Law #3 is "Move frequently at a slow pace". Mark Sisson's book The Primal Blueprint describes the benefits of this blueprint law which is the subject of today's blog post:
- Improved Fat Metabolism
- Improved Cardiovascular Function
- Improved Musculoskeletal System
- Stronger Immune System
- Increased Energy (p. 171)
The optimal zone for low level cardio activity is between 55 - 75% of one's maximum heart rate. To roughly estimate your max heart rate, use the following equation:
- 220 - age = est. max heart rate for men
- 226 - age = est. max heart rate for women (p. 172)
After reading the numerous benefits of low level cardio, I immediately thought to myself, "How on earth am I ever going to find time to go hiking?" and "I can't possibly get to the gym on a regular basis to complete the suggested 3 - 5 hours of low level cardio suggested by the Primal Blueprint" (p. 170). Trying to fit in the requisite three hours of LLC felt like a daunting task.
And then I began thinking about my days, and realized just how much low level cardio I already do. I have three children, we walk to and from school daily. Thats already 100 minutes logged in per week. Thanks to running late most days, I can reach a heart rate of up to 60% on these walks!
And then I thought about housework. I thought it might be fun to complete a few tasks and measure my heart rate while working. Here are a few of the results:
Vacuuming 60% (add to this Primal Blueprint Law #4 - lift heavy things, my vacuum is a beast!)
Making beds & tidying up 60%
Cleaning the bathroom 55%
Mopping the kitchen 60%
Washing walls 60%
Doing laundry 55%
Sweeping 55%
washing windows 50%
Add some speed to this and you can easily stay within the suggested heart rate zone of 55-75% of your maximum. Doing 1/2 hour of housework on weekdays can log 2.5 hours of low level cardio.
In addition to the LLC provided by housework, it also speaks to many of the primal movements that dictated how our genes evolved - Squat, crawl, walk, jump, carry, throw, push, pull (p. 163). I've left out run, climb, and hang but I imagine a creative housekeeper could find a way to throw those movements into their work too!
Increase the benefit of housework by focusing on your squats and doing them with proper form. Carry heavy loads of laundry up and down your stairs, don't use that laundry shoot! Get down on your hands and knees to scrub your floor, use lots of extension and stretch when you wash your walls. If you focus on the movements of each job you do, you will see just how beneficial this work is for your body! Add to this a clean house when you are done, you can not beat it!
So, between regular housework and walking the kids to school I've already logged just over 4 hours of LLC without even trying! Add to this: walking in the evening, a hike with the kids and my partner on the weekend, and working in the garden and I've easily gotten over five hours of low level cardio activity each week.
If you need any more reason to start logging low level cardio, check out this TED lecture on longevity throughout the world. You'll spot several Primal Blueprint Laws here!
I'm hoping to discuss more of the Primal Blueprint Laws and how they relate to a day in the life of a stay at home parent. Stay tuned this week for some exciting news from Joyful Earth!!
Saturday, March 20, 2010
snack bag redux
I've been sewing snack bags this weekend. Happy to report they've had a slight makeover and have been turned inside out! Funny thing is, they still look like they are inside out to me. I thought it would be more fun to have the print on the outside.
The inner is a nylon lining, not water proof but water resistant - enough to keep your food fresh and to ensure ease of cleaning! As always, Joyful Earth snack bags are closed with a snap closure. I prefer snaps for many reasons: they are easy to clean and keep clean, they are durable and long lasting, and the double fold keeps your food nice and fresh.
I've also added a smaller size for smaller snacks like pretzels, nuts or cookies. The larger size still has two size settings but the smaller size only has one setting.
You'll find some snack bags this week when I guest stock at the Alchemy congo on Hyena Cart. There will also be a few up for grabs at Lily Pad Landing on Thursday night.
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