Mackenzie Carose

As The Page Turns: September Edition

By Mackenzie 14 Comments

I read some interesting books this past month, a bit of an eclectic mix if you will 🙂

How Not To Die by Michael Greger

Absolutely fascinating book regarding health and literally and figuratively, how not to die from disease. While the author acknowledges some genetic component regarding certain diseases, many can be combatted by healthy eating and a healthy lifestyle. No kale is not going to prevent you from getting ovarian cancer, but a healthy lifestyle is so fundamentally important to being the healthiest person you can be while you are here. What I really found interesting was the parts of the book that talked about how doctors monetarily benefit from the pharmaceutical industry. No not all of them because I don’t like to generalize, but that information coupled with the fact that many doctors do not treat the person as a whole and only prescribe pills to treat symptoms, I found that information relevant and newsworthy.

The Weight of Lies by Emily Carpenter 

Such a good contemporary mystery and super weird as well. What happens when your mother writes a best-selling horror novel based on “real live events” and a few decades later, you decide to go the place where said events happened and try to uncover the truth? You get THIS BOOK. I received the recommendation for this book from an Instagram book blogger and let me tell you, it did not disappoint.

Slow by Brooke McAlary

Loved, loved, loved this book. If you are looking to find more meaning in life and live a simpler lifestyle, than this book is for you 🙂

1920 by Eric Burns

This book had all the makings to be an excellent book, but spectacularly fell short. Note to authors, whether you are renowned or just starting out: don’t have a book where you say you are going to write about the year 1920, and then write about all these other years instead, with only 1920 being a backdrop of sorts. Also? Editing mistakes are a big pet peeve with me, but historical editing mistakes? Really? In a history book? You can’t be a historical author and get dates wrong. Also, some of his takeaways on events are just flat-out inaccurate: it is not what happened nor did that transpire. Do not read this book. K thanks, bye.

Squeezed by Alissa Quart

I wanted to like this book more than I actually did. I feel that certain issues were touched on that maybe should have had a more in-depth reporting. Also, there were parts of the book that were boring statistic-wise and it was hard for me to pay attention. I though the book would really go deep but it just felt surface-y.

Well that’s it for me. Any good books that you can recommend? 😀

This Is More Than I Can Carry

By Mackenzie 3 Comments

I can’t remember my first memory of environmentalism or being cognizant that the earth is finite, a beautiful sphere in need of tender loving care from us irascible humans. I do however remember recycling cans at our local grocery store when I was in the eighth grade. A boy in my grade saw me there in front of the machines and said hi to me like it was nothing. But then he proceeded on the school bus the next morning, to try and make fun of me for putting aluminum cans in a machine and getting 5 cents back a can. Apparently that was contemptable.

I held my own and told him in no uncertain terms to F@&$ off and that I was recycling and helping the planet which is more than I can say for his mere existence. Don’t worry, this wasn’t a harsh retort and this wasn’t the first time we tussled. This kid was annoying and got on everyone’s nerves.

As the years went on, the environment and its encompassing problems stayed in my periphery but molded in my mind significantly my senior year in high school when I purposely took a global science class. Suddenly I was aware of the plight of sea otters, and trash in our oceans, and the melting ice caps. It was so informative and I felt this need to do something about it, so when I went to college, I majored in Environmental Studies.

But then the air went out of my balloon because you see friends, I am not a science person. I have found that people are either in the English/History camp or the Math/Sciences camp. Sometimes there is overlap and those people are my heroes. Seriously. But my brain, as much as I care about over-fishing in our oceans, is strictly an Oxford Dictionary girl. I need my English and History books that take me to faraway places and times and I am not talking about the dinosaur era.

So I changed my major, but never stopped caring about Mother Earth. I knew how to reuse foil and other tidbits thanks to my depression-era grandmother. I wear out clothes until there are holes in them. I try to be energy efficient.

I try to do the best I can but the news and the state of the world leaves me sad and frustrated. The Amazon is burning. Lead is still made in toys even though we have laws against that sort of thing from happening. Birds and fish are still eating plastic at overwhelming rates and dying, their tummies full of non-digestible plastic $^!{. The person occupying the White House has gutted the EPA and all other environmental agencies designed to protect our part of the world and us humans that are occupying these 50 states. Lead is still in communities’ drinking water.

It is so disheartening and at times, it is more than I can carry, because I am an empath and I FEEL ALL THE THINGS ALL OF THE TIME.

But we as stewards of our beautiful planet can’t get discouraged even though we want to. We can’t lose heart even though it feels like ours is breaking. We can’t give up even though there is no finish line in sight.

We have to continue to do the work. Support causes that support the functioning of our planet. Reuse. Reduce. Think about what we are leaving for future generations. We can’t walk away. We can’t bury our head in the sand.

The earth needs us.

Simplify: A Check-In

By Mackenzie 3 Comments

In January, a wee seven months ago, I set an intention for 2019. My word for this year was going to be SIMPLIFY and I was going to do my darndest to make that happen. I needed to make some changes in my life overall and this one word would and could encompass the changes I needed to make.

How am I doing so far? Pretty good actually 🙂

I wanted to work on my health and act accordingly concerning the foods I put in my body and I also wanted to incorporate some sort of exercise regimen. A get-back-to-basics if you will. If I am being honest, it took until late spring to get the exercise thing going, but I have been working out consistently at least five days a week for a few months now and I am really happy that I have stuck with it. I feel better and not so much like a sloth with legs.

In the food department, I am trying to incorporate more fruits and vegetables into my repertoire and eating less processed food.  Simple but better. 

In terms of simplifying my home, I did quite a bit of that when we moved apartments in the spring. My husband and I got rid of a lot of stuff (donated, recycled, etc…) but I know that there is more that we could do.

With life comes running errands. And more errands. And wait for it, more errands. We have tried to not do too much in that department where it consumes us and takes up all our time. Some days we win at that, some days we don’t. I truly appreciate online ordering for diapers, etc. and am attempting to get better at writing out lists so we know what we have to purchase and not go back out because we inevitably forgot something. A work in progress to be sure, but I hope to get this part of my life simplified even more. Life is too short to always be in your car, even if it is to Trader Joe’s 😉

We are simplifying our bill payments and we almost have them all automated. Yessssss…..

Simplifying your life is always an ongoing process. I have said no to events, I have chosen what is important over what someone might think, because I have found out that people are going to think what they want and you have no control over that. I don’t always succeed in that way of thinking, but it is one I have to consistently remember. I need quiet and simplicity and I have learned that people don’t always understand that, and that is okay.

Did you set an intention and/or goal for this year? How are you doing with it?