This weekend has been busy, and yet not.  I haven’t been searching for anything, just doing.  Being.  I’ve spent quite a bit of time reading.  I spent my monthly book budget buying books to further my knowledge in the areas of “green” home and body care.  I’ve read Return to Beauty: Old-World Recipes for Great Radiant Skin, Organic Body Care Recipes: 175 Homeade Herbal Formulas for Glowing Skin & a Vibrant Self, Green Housekeeping, Earthly Bodies & Heavenly Hair: Natural and Healthy Personal Care for Every Body,and The Naturally Clean Home.  Reviews will follow.

With every new thing I read, every new fact I learn, I’m becoming more committed and more passionate about spreading the word about the toxins in our environment, in our homes, and in our bodies.  With every friend I hear about who is or knows someone battling cancer, infertility, health issues with their young children, I have to wonder where these toxins all come in to play and think that maybe, if more people knew what was out there and what they could do to minimize the impact on their own lives, that we might as consumers be able to make better choices, and perhaps have a larger effect on the future of chemicals in industry.  I may just have found a real life passion.

Because as an adult there’s really no such thing as a “day off”, I spent this weekend between readings working on my kitchen.  Not scrubbing per se, as there was cleaning going on, but rather decluttering.  I cleaned out two short cabinets above my sink and my stove: wiping down the bottles and the shelves, chucking some stuff I will probably never use, and organizing the rest into categories (spices/herbs, sauces, cooking wines, vinegars, oils).  This emptied out a half of a shelf in each cabinet (they’re small cabinets to begin with).  With this newly discovered shelf space, I have a place to keep my extra teakettle right above the stove (I use two regularly on Mondays when I have guests over for tea, or when I need to mop the floor), and a place right above the sink to hold all my kitchen towels and my new collection of dishcloths.  It feels good to let go of all the old utensils clogging up my drawers and my utensil jar, and feels good to be able to more wisely use the space I already have.  I have a wonderful sense of weight lifted from my shoulders when I declutter.  I’m not losing stuff, I’m gaining freedom.