My New Thang

If you have read my previous posts about wanting to find a passion/hobby/activity - whathaveyou - you may be interested to know I have finally found my thang. I started working with leather. What started out as a mission to repurpose old belts into bracelets became a whole new gig. I now tool the leather myself and have been moving full speed ahead. I am constantly learning and improving and always, always looking for feedback!

It started with a gift from my neighbors Christmas 2013 - the Tandy Toolkit. I was completely new to the idea and decided to dive in head first. Very quickly I started accumulating new vintage tools from my father-in-law, visiting my local Tandy Store for new dyes and necessities and I made myself an Etsy Shop - Laidlaw & Smith Leather. Some of my leather cuffs can be found at The Brass Monkey Clothing store in Twin Falls, ID too! I am so grateful for the love from my hometown!

I have found such a great community on Instagram for leather workers and have found a lot of inspiration there too. It's very nice to find crafters who are supportive of each other and encourage and offer advice and tips. 

This Autumn I will be participating in the Phoenix Flea, November 29th and have a lot of work to do and a lot of products to create! I hope you will come down and visit me if you are in the area! If you are interested in anything I create, please drop me a note and I will do my best to accommodate your request. To stay updated on my current projects follow me on Instagram @laidlawandsmith or on my Flickr Account here.

Dining with a toddler

Today the fam and I hit a new hip restaurant for lunch. I’ve gone there a few times solo and have really enjoyed their vegetarian options. Although they don’t boast an organic menu, they do have healthier options for dining out, “pure clean food,” which is why I thought it would be a good choice for our family. 

The kids menu was only okay, heavy on the cheese – but there was a side of apples instead of French fries, so I ordered my Bear a grilled cheese and I had the mushroom flatbread (which I have had in the past and still love). Pat had the Chicken BLT. When our lunch was delivered to our table I was sorely disappointed in Bear’s kid meal. It was "grilled" white bread, doused in oil, and what appeared to be Kraft Singles (more oil) between each bleached slice. 

This is a common occurrence in eating out at restaurants for us. The “grown up” food is great! High quality ingredients! Then the kid’s food is subpar and cheap. I feel like I should know better by now. My little guy is certainly capable of eating anything we eat; I just look to the kid’s menu out of obedience, or looking for smaller portions so we aren’t wasteful. I have no one to blame but myself because I decide what goes in his body.

I really do love these little restaurants popping up. Locally owned shops that have character and the drive to succeed in a shitty economy, but man am I disappointed that their quality of food stops at 5 years old. I looked at the menu again to look for Mom & Bear approved items. Perhaps these will pop into your head when you are cringing at the “Chicken Nugget” choices on your favorite restaurant menu:

• Hummus Plate
• Sweet Potato Fries
• Vegetable Wild Rice
• Seasonal Fruit
• Side of avocado

You may have to mix and match some items to get a meal for your kiddo, but you won’t have nightmares about what toxic ingredients you have allowed your child to ingest.

The Root of Us

It's been a while. In this while, I have been on a wandering path. There are so many things to talk to- to explore, but the most important at this point is food. It is the root of our well being.

In several heartfelt emails to one of my longtime friends, I have shared that, in food I find spirituality. I have thought about starting a new blog based around this. On my passion for healthy, organic, non-gmo foods. I thought if I could start a new blog, in a new space, I would be able to effect more people. Educate more people. Help more people. But then I realized: I don't blog to educate, I blog to explore and learn. The people that I need to help are my family - the people I feed. If people pass through this space and pick up a little bit of passion about what they are putting in their bodies, then I think great. If no one reads this, or is effected by it, that is great too. I am doing my due diligence as a mother, wife, and friend to provide what I believe to be a healthy life to my kin. 

If you follow me on Instagram you have probably seen this coming. I have been on a local organic kick and I think everyone should join me! I don't want to be political or overly passionate, but I think it is important and something our generation should not take lightly.

Becoming a mother, and feeding my infant (now toddler) son is what brought a lot of this to light in me. Yes, years ago I read Skinny Bitch and - while I thought it was eye opening - I didn't stick with it.  When I started to think about what I was putting in my son's body, I knew it was my responsibility to give him the best. I also needed to be an example. So I blended and mashed and blended and mashed. He finally can chew stuff without his gag reflex kicking in and we get to try all sorts of fun foods. He often eats what we eat, and 90% of the time it is organic. 

I know he will experience Halloween candy, and Dairy Queen Blizzards, and Gatorade at sporting events, and I might even be the one who introduces him to these things. But the important this is  I am starting the foundation of a healthy life in a healthy home. I don't want to hyper-parent him into gorging and binging on sweets when he is at a friend's house, but I do want him to know what is and isn't good for him. I want him to be able to make good decisions for himself when I am not around. Educating him, and the rest of my family is my goal and duty.  

 

There is much to discuss on this topic - and I will for certain. But in the meanwhile, I encourage anyone who reads this to start thinking about what you are eating. If it turns out that processed, Genetically Modified Organisms are good for us, then I will happily eat crow and jump on the McDonalds bandwagon.