This week's adventures

Last Cross Country Meet for Anastaya
Anastaya had her last cross country meet this week, at River Meadows Park in Arlington.  My plan was that as soon as the littlests got off the bus from school and made a quick bathroom break, we'd be on the road.  I knew time would be tight because it's about a 20 minute drive to the park and her race was supposed to start about 30 minutes after the bus is supposed to arrive.  I was gathering umbrellas for the rainy day when the bus arrived.  Within 10 seconds, Miriam had her shoes off and was on the couch ready to watch a movie.  She was not pleased to be leaving for the meet.   She spent most of the drive throwing a fit about her lost opportunity to watch a movie.  I told Elizabeth to get a photo for the blog.  Miriam wasn't having any of that!  She hid her face and would not allow a photo.  Elizabeth kept trying and eventually Miriam started giggling.  It got her out of her funk.

It felt like it took forever to get out there.  I missed every light and ended up behind a school bus that was letting kids out every 100 yards.  As we drove, I wondered if we'd end up missing the race and I'd have put up with the crying and crazy hustle for nothing.  I've been sick so I don't have much energy.  Add a grumpy Miriam and the rainy day and heading to a cross country meet was not what I'd have chosen to be doing. 

We made it in time!  I'd brought two umbrellas, thinking with four people we could easily share.  In retrospect, we needed four umbrellas to cut down on the fighting.  That way, we could have poked our umbrellas into even more innocent bystanders.  Anastaya did well for her last race.  Her goal for the 1.75 mile run was 14:40 and she finished in 14:18.  (No state records here but instead a young lady who continues to improve and feel good about her efforts.) 

Elizabeth spent the better part of an hour making this sign to hold up for Anastaya as she ran by.  She thought we should count it as an hour of art education for home school, which would go towards her required 5 hours of schooling each day.  I said, "Nice try!"

Natural Foods Trade Show Seattle

at the show after our make overs

Friday, Sheri, Janice, and I attended the Natural Foods trade show in Seattle.  Poor Sheri had a hard time on the way there.  She'd drank a quart of green smoothie on the way to my house and by the time we approached Seattle, she really needed to use a restroom. I mean she REALLY needed to go!  Getting off the freeway wasn't a very good option since we were in the metropolitan Seattle area.  Finding a gas station is next to impossible in the city and we didn't know where we'd find a bathroom available for public use.  Janice suggested my mostly empty green container with the encouraging words that it was a wide mouth jar.  I teased her with a mom famous phrase, "Why didn't you go before we left home?"  She replied with the kid classic response, "I didn't have to go then!"  She got to the point that I think she would have been happy to pull over and just pretend she was in the middle of the woods!  Once we pulled off, we stopped at a stop light where she jumped out and ran into the convention center (where the natural foods trade show was being held).  There was a doorman at the door and as she ran up she desperately cried, "Where is the bathroom?!"  He told her where and as she hurried to it as fast as physically possible at that point, he hollered after her, "The code to get in is 1836!"   Meanwhile, Janice and I waiting in the car realized that we hadn't let her off at the convention center!  While circling the block, trying to decide where to park, we discovered we'd left her at the Union building.  Once we met up with Sheri again, we headed down the road a block to the convention center!  I'm not sure what the Union building is.  Thankfully she didn't look like a homeless person so I don't think the door man minded letting her in.

Why were we at the trade show?  There are a number of natural foods I use on a regular basis and my thinking is, if other people in the co-op would also be interested in them, we can buy them at wholesale and all save money.  I was nervous about going since I don't have a "real" store.  But, once I got the hang of it and realized that the company salesmen I was speaking with weren't looking for huge orders but would be happy to deliver products to us with a  $100 minimum order and provide free shipping, I realized that I did have something to offer that they were interested in. 

Sheri and I tried everything we were offered and I can tell you that there are some scary healthy items out there!  The only "scary" thing Janice tried was the Ormus Greens I talked her into.  I don't know if she'll trust me again.  Sheri and my first sample was a Kava drink.  It tasted terrible and you can tell it's "working" when your mouth goes numb in a few minutes.  Thankfully things improved from there!  Green drinks are really popular right now and we tasted a lot of them.  Most of the vendors tried to disguise the terrible taste of their green drinks by mixing it in apple juice.  I'm happy to say that Sunwarrior Ormus Greens continues to be my favorite.  (Janice thinks there's something wrong with my taste buds!)

I saw a lot of products I've never seen on the shelves on my local stores.  Some of my favorites are:

Stingers, a spicy honey spread made in Bellingham, WA

Muter Chocolates,  tasty chocolate spreads made in Richland, WA

Tillen Farms, pickled veggies from Sunnyside, WA

Partners, a Kent, WA company that makes tasty crackers and cookies

Chez Gourment, the best commercial veggie burger I've ever tasted, especially the Spicy Anasazi Bean, made in Oregon.

Although I really liked the products above, I don't know that they will work for the co-op.  I need things that don't take a lot of storage space on my end.  Do absolutely delicious chocolates go with a produce co-op?  I hope that we'll be able to provide Sunwarrior and Navitas products through the co-op.  I already use a lot of their products.  I have order sheets for both of them.  In fact, I took advantage of a 20% of show special to order some Sunwarrior Warrior Blend Protein Powder.  If it doesn't sell at the co-op, Jacob and I have our year's supply!

Janice, Sheri and I should be the healthiest people on the planet once we spend the next month ingesting the various miracle supplements we received as samples at the show!  Once I figure out my favorite, I'd like to add them to the co-op too.  I'm leaning towards Mega Food.  They are a woman owned company that uses plant based products to create their vitamins.  I'm especially excited by their Blood Builder vitamin which has great reviews on amazon.com for conquering anemia, a problem I've dealt with my entire life.

I had a blast at the health food show.  We even got some pampering, including hand massages and make overs.  We ran out of time for the free back massages or the buffet offered at the end of the trade show.  I'm already looking forward to next year and hope that the items I try with the co-op will be a hit so we can add more.  We were there the entire five hours it was open and didn't get a chance to really investigate every aisle.  I had worried that I'd slow Janice and Sheri down but it ended up that they spent a lot more time at each booth than I did.  I hear the trade show in Aneheim is amazing, the best in the nation.  Maybe I should go for my 40th birthday present!  Admission is free but the getting and staying there unfortunately aren't.  Since I don't make any money on the co-op, I can't really take it as a business expense.  Hmmm.....  I know I wouldn't take Dode with me.  He'd think nothing was edible and would complain about all the "snake oil" that people were trying to sell him on.  But, unlike Sheri and Janice, I'd get to keep his samples!

seeing which homeopathic remedies our bodies "need" by pressing down our arm.

I'm not sure I'm totally sold on the idea but he sure pegged our "problem" areas.

getting our skin analyzed

I'm happy to report that out of 100 women my age, 87 of them have more wrinkles than me.  And the wrinkles the computer picked up were actually old acne scars.  Thanks mom for the ageless skin!

makeover and hand massage, courtesy of

Gabriel cosmetics

It felt great to get pampered

our favorite exhibitors

Queen Bee Gardens

Sharon, Aunt Bessie, Lynn

my loot

not shown are all the samples I consumed during the show

Janice's take

We don't have all the same samples because we split up part way through the show.

We never had lunch and I wasn't hungry.  (Dode says if he'd been there he would have lost his appetite too!)  Of course, walking by the buffet on the way out at dinner time did make my stomach growl a bit.  Unfortunately, Janice and Sheri needed to get home to other obligations.