My Top 3 Robin McKinley Books

Today I'm going to write about one of my long-time favorite writers, Robin McKinley. Robin (I call my favorite writers by their first names--makes us feel like friends) published her first book in 1978 and has been publishing ever since in various fantasy genres.  My favorites are her fairy tale re-tellings.  Almost all of her books have female protagonists and are very 'Girl Power' centric.  Buy them for your teenage daughters. Read them yourself.

Beauty
I read this for the first time in the 7th grade.  My best friend and I passed the book back and forth until it fell apart, and had fantasies of beautiful dresses and magic castles.  This was Robin's first book.  It is remarkably simple, but every page enjoyable.  To be honest I've read it so many times I could probably recite passages of it to you.

Reading this book you know exactly where Disney got Belle's character for their version of Beauty & the Beast.  Beauty is a plain girl with 'an unfortunate nickname' who reads books, loves giant horses, and is a tom boy. She doesn't fit in with her pretty, feminine sisters.  Her character is strong, brave, and honorable ('Honor' is in fact her given name).

I like this version of Beauty and the Beast over all others because it doesn't over-embellish the tale, and it lets some of the more muddled bits remain muddled.  Simplistic, but all the more beautiful for it. I'm always finding bits of this story slipping accidentally into my own writing simply because it's become such a big part of my identity.

Spindle's End
Another retelling, this time Sleeping Beauty.  According to my purchase history on Amazon I bought this in 2003.  I've probably read it six or eight times by now.

In this story the princess saves the day, has short hair, and falls in love with a blacksmith twice her age. It's in this great other-world where magic is an everyday occurrence and fish are thought not to exist.  Part of the charm of this book is the luscious world-building.  You just wanna step into it and explore.

It has talking animals, and fairies, and a house that is alive.  (That's my favorite part.) I wouldn't call it the most epic of stories, or the deepest, but its so much fun it doesn't really matter.

Deerskin
I think this is probably Robin's most controversial book, and that's part of the appeal. It deals with the  healing process after an incestuous rape.  It's based on a fairy tale called "Catskin" or "Tattercoat" and is about a princess whose mother dies. Her father vows to marry his daughter instead. The princess runs away and disguises herself as a servant in another kingdom, where she falls in love with and marries a prince.

This is an emotionally harrowing book, and is told with the same rich detail as Robin's other works.  Deerskin has to rebuild her psyche after her terrible ordeal, and she finds a group of healing friends and even, eventually, love.  This prince in this story is awesome because he's so very not your average fairy tale prince.

It's a tough read because of the subject matter, but it's also a very fulfilling story too, and well-told.  It has the same rich world as Spindle's End, and down to earth, like-able characters (except the evil father of course).

Weight Loss Journey #2:

After five weeks of carefully counting calories I am officially FIVE pounds lighter.  It's been a long time since I've lost any weight--high school was the last time I dieted successfully.  I'm losing at a healthy one pound a week so far.

There have been a lot of adjustments in my eating--little adjustments really.  I now measure out my food to the exact serving.  I have a scale I use for making soap and it has been converted into a daily kitchen tool.  I write down everything I eat, no matter how small.  One of my favorite foods--peanuts--is out the door completely.  There are too many calories for a small amount of food, and despite the protein in them, I was still feeling hungry.  I've switched to a healthier source, Bell Plantation PB2 Powdered Peanut Butter. It's not quite the same flavor as peanut butter, but it's pretty good, and you can use it super easy in cooking and smoothies/shakes.

The other problem I had was chocolate.  I didn't know I was a binge eater until I started writing down calories, but I binge chocolate big time.  I know depriving yourself will make you fail, so I still let myself have a bit of chocolate every day.  I've had a few 'relapse' days, but the next day I go right back to healthy eating.

So far the biggest problem I've been having is getting enough protein.  I'm a pasta/veggies/cheese kind of girl. Meat is so not my thing, but I've been forcing myself to eat it.  At work I was eating a veggie sandwich and ending up starving at the end of the night.  Now I add a few slices of cold-cut meat to it and the hunger isn't there any more.  I still don't like doing it, and I try to eat ethically sourced protein whenever I can, but it's really not in the budget, as I am also so very poor.

I havent seen any difference in my body yet, but i hope I will in time.  I'd like to be down two pants sizes at least by the end of this--from a 14 to at least a 10.  Size 8 would be amazing, but I haven't been a size 8 since middle school, so I really don't see that happening.

There's a full-body picture of me from middle school graduation.  I'm wearing a knee-length tan dress and my legs are absolutely gazelle-like.  I was already a size 8 at that point. (I'd grown out of my mother's size 4 clothing in the 6th grade.)  I wish that little girl had known how beautiful she looked, because she didn't have a clue.  All she knew was that boys made fun of her chest and it made her so very uncomfortable.

I guess I never really agonized over my body.  I just put on XL t-shirts and pretended it wasn't there.  (I was a size medium by the way.)  Everyone thought I was huge because that was the impression I have them.  Later, when I started learning how to dress people asked me if I'd lost weight.  I would answer with, "No, I'm just wearing clothes that fit."

There are so many things I wish I had done differently.  One of them was dressing to show off my body instead of hiding it.  I know now that it was a good one. A great one even.  I wish someone had told me that.

Five pounds gone. 26 to go.

Not So Dirty Hippie: Deodorant

About two years ago I decided to cut as many chemicals as possible from my lifestyle.  I didn't do it all at once, but little by little I've been whittling away at my bath and body and cleaning chemicals, and eliminating the worst of the food I eat.  I don't ever plan to be 100% natural and some organic things are completely out of my price range, but every little bit helps, as far as I'm concerned.  I've decided to start doing a series of posts on the things I do to improve my green living.

I'm calling the series "Not So Dirty Hippie" because I definitely identify as a hippie and try my best to live the lifestyle in the confines of the suburbs (my fiance's fault, not mine--I wanna live on a farm), but I'm certainly showering daily.  (My brother, on the other hand, is a dirty hippie.  His concepts of personal hygiene are...special.)  It will cover bath and body, green housekeeping, basic herbalism, and anything else I can come up with that might be pertinent to the subject of green living.

This week I finally gave in and tried home made deodorant. I don't know why I kept putting it off as it's easily the most simple thing to make out of all of my experimentation (except my laundry alternatives).

First of all, there's no good natural anti-antiperspirant. You're just gonna have to get over it and sweat. Sweating is good for you anyway--there's a reason we do it. It helps cool down your system and regulate body temperature.  But you don't have to stink while you do it. Yay!

Store-bought deodorant is made up of dozens of chemicals including the Big Bads aluminum and parabens. Aluminum has been linked to Alzheimer's and cancer.  Parabens are an antimicrobial ingredient in most deodorants that studies show disrupts hormone production and can produce excess estrogen. Since you spend all day with it on your skin, you're absorbing it into your body.

There are dozens of expensive all natural deodorant sticks, but I found a recipe for deodorant that works really well (I've been real-world testing it) and you probably have all of the ingredients you need in your kitchen right now.  It costs literally pennies to make.

The main ingredients for deodorant, the bare minimum, are baking soda and corn starch.  Equal amounts, mixed up and applied by powder puff is an acceptable deodorant.  To make it properly stick to your pits just adding a few tablespoons of coconut oil will create a proper bar of deodorant that will last a few weeks. I've been wearing it for a while now with good results, even on hectic days where I sweat quite a bit.

Here's the recipe for you to play with:

1/4 c. baking soda

1/4 c. cornstarch

5 T    coconut oil

optional: a few drops of essential oils to make it smell pretty

We're using coconut oil because it is a solid at under 76 degrees Fahrenheit. This will probably have to be kept in the fridge during the summer.  I might play around with butters or waxes to try to come up with a firmer bar, but for now coconut oil it is.

Melt your oil either in a bowl over a pan of hot water or in the microwave, checking every 30 seconds or so to avoid over-heating and catching it on fire.  Once it's liquid add your essential oils if you're using them (I like lavender, which also has some antimicrobial effects) and then your dry ingredients.  Mixed up it should be the consistency of warmed icing.  (It'll look like it too.)  Pour into muffin/cupcake papers and put them in the fridge to help solidify them faster. This recipe should make about two muffins worth, and it's a perfect size for applying under your arms.  You can also pour it into an old plastic deodorant container and re-use it.  Some stores like brambleberry.com or bulkapothecary.com carry empty containers, but they're a little pricey and over-all unnecessary. 

I should warn you that some people find the baking soda irritating, but give it a couple days before giving up entirely, or try using a little less baking soda and a little more corn starch.