Flea Market Finds

I knew today was going to be a good day when I rolled out of bed this morning, EARLY, at the time I had wanted to awaken, 5:30 am.

This gave me time to roll out of bed, shower, take my medications, get dressed, make my coffee, pack the coolor and snacks for the day, and make my morning smoothies, without which, I would surely crumple over into a pile of wasteful mush.
I need my protein. I must have my food.
A long time family friend, Dennis, came by at 6:30 to help finish loading up the truck (Hi Dennis, thanks for the help).
Alexis had woken up and was dressed and ready to move for our big yard sale.
I was all loaded up like a flea market/yard sale pro.
You would have thought I did these things all the time the way I was charging around.
Dennis and I trekked a two car caravan over to St.Luke’s with Xander and Jon quickly following behind.When we rolled up and spotted our nice, shady, place for the day, I knew I would be in heaven.
Everything was taken care of. The work was worth it. My day would e a success. It wouldn’t be a waste of my time and energy.
I knew this since as I was sitting down and beginning to lay out and organize all my things for sale, I turned my head to the left and my eyes landed on a food dehydrator.
A food dehydrator! It was new, in a box, for $20. My goal for raising money was to make at least the $45 to run and buy a food dehydrator from Wal-mart the very next day.

Yes, simple people like simple things. This was what would make me happy. I have big plans for that dehydrator and my diet.
I want to get back to the simplicity of things. I want to get back to my roots, literally. I’m going to grow food and dry them and have my very own herbs and dehydrated fruits since it costs WAY too much to keep buying these premade TRAIL mixes that I knew I could make myself if only I had that $50 bucks for a food dehydrator.
But that dehydrator came to me. Just like Oprah said it would from “The Secret.”
I sent out the vibe to the universe that this was how I wanted to facilitate my healing. I wanted to hunt and gather all the great, random foods that surround my home: tea berries, dandelions, chives, basil, sage, blueberries, blackberries, and so on, and so forth and dehydrate them to turn the into teas or elixirs or trail mixes to promote healing within my system.
Then, if it promotes healing in my system, it could promote healing in others.
This whole idea really goes with the whole “recessionista” craze too.
But I’m not being fashionable here, I’m doing what I have to do. I hope I make it look cool.
I’ve never been a big spender.
I want to look expensive, but not be expensive.
I don’t want to part with my money. Since I’m relatively healthy, taking a couple month break, I’m gong to do some farming.
Oh yes, cute petite me, little Hill, is definitely in for bringing back some old farming techniques.
I got a good start on raising some funds yesterday for my summer goals: gardening so I can eat well and affordably.
It is theorized that local foods are not only good for the environment (we’ve all heard of the new uber-trend “localvores” who try to eat within a certain radius to minimize their carbon footprint), but that they possess specific medicinal properties that correlate to diseases found within the area of cultization.
This is part of why I think foods can heal.
You are boosting your bodies immune system naturally through ingesting in a controlled manner all the bacteria and fungi that all ready exists within your environment.
I’ve been talkingabout this since junior high. Actually, I have been eating local for most my life.
When I was diagnosed I did go through a bitter “I-hate-hippie-nutritionist-phase” where if the subject of treating myself nutritionally was brought up in anyway I thought was the least bit snobby (and people can become quite uppity about their beliefs in their eating habits), I would quickly stomp on their hopes and dreams for health through food by informing them I was raised on a farm and my food came from less than two miles from my house, and I never really touched a piece of meat from the supermarket until I was eighteen.
My family canned their vegetables or I ate them straight out of their garden. I picked my food, wondering around and eating berries by handfuls. I did go through a vegetarian “phase,” but it didn’t suit my body, especially my protein needs, which are astronomical.
And I still got cancer. So there, food snob, your healthy lifestyle is not going to save you.
I have gotten less bitter and cynical. I know these people were only trying to help, but it was/is a sensitive subject for me, since I have always eaten so healthy, specifically with the idea that I could prevent cancer in the future.
I’ve been a lifelong cancerphobe!
Anyway, some of the money we made from the sale of our “junk” (but it was good stuff in good condition only) went to buying plants for the garden.
We got a deal on those too! They were $2,25 for six, much cheaper than the farmstands or homedepot. I was in heaven, and the little lady selling her homegrown vegetables had cauliflower, Alexis’s one and only request for the garden.Cauliflower, why? I don’t know, but it’s good and healthy and she wants it. We bought it with proceeds from our sales.
We also have lettuce greens, which I need to find a way to protect from animal or they will be eating my salad, especially the deer, who do like to hang out in our yard.
We bought red peppers and green peppers but no hot peppers since I can’t handle that, even though chiles do possess fabulous anti-inflammatory properties.
There is a theory that inflammation is like adding fuel to a fire in cancer. I try to eat an anti-inflammatory diet due to this theory and take Berberis Hommaccord, a homeopathic anti-inflammatory, just in case any of you were wondering.
Even though I was there to sell, and I did sell, sell, sell thank goodness, I couldn’t resist checking out the goods.
My favorite find for the day was two matching ceiling lights, for the price of $2.50 each.
I’m excited and in love with them.We bought a modular home from a bad builder that works with a cheap company (this is why my dad is in the business know, to keep people from getting defrauded. We signed our contract, handed over a BIG CHECK, and then realized the builder had MULTIPLE law suits against him. He is still in business. I recommend calling us for building 5eaglesdesign.com or Preferred Building Systems and they can recommend a builder. He was worthless).
Anyway, we have the cheap brass lights to go with it, but now I have cheap, nice lights that match the décor.I have had a lot of luck in the past with lights at flea markets. My dining room chandelier was purchased for $5 from a friend (Hey Audi.).
The three table lamps I purchased for $10 are all from Simon Pearce.
A very stylish couple also has them in their home, but they didn’t get them yardsaling.
Now, I have more to add to the lighting extravaganza. All in all, to light half my house, I have paid $20.
This proves slow and steady wins the race. This is why I yard sale instead of rushing about on shopping sprees. One woman’s trash is another woman’s treasure. I’m also lucky I have an eye for design, but three years of laying in bed watching HGTV over and over again for hours would give you that.
I like to say I have a degree in interior design from HGTV. I have certainly spent enough man hours for some sort of educational certification.
I love the creativity and the thought involved with these practices of reusing.
With the garden, I love the simplicity in the traditions of farming, but also the comfort in knowing that I have food to eat, store, canned, by me, that I saw cultivated from a seedling.
It’s empowering to know exactly where everything comes from that I put into my body.
This helps give me a sense of control. I have felt so helpless in terms of assisting with healing in my disease for TOO long. Helplessness is insidious. It will sneak up and try to drag you down while you’re healing.
I hope every patient reading this will search for ways to empower themselves in the healing process in a manner that is suitable to their health and energy levels.
My empowering activities change based on my level of health and functioning.
I write and take pictures from my bed if I’m living within the confines of a room. I watch design shows and draw sketches of beautiful places and put the room together through pictures on the internet.
Things like gardening and canning have been elusive for years, the past three to be exact, due to my constant treatment.
I’d forgotten how much I enjoyed it and why.
Being diagnosed so young, I didn’t have a chance to grow and thrive in the hobbies I wanted to explore. I was definitely cut at the knees.
Taking this summer off from treatment I think is one of the best decisions I can make for myself.
I’m getting my groove back. Remembering my joie de vivre, and refining talents I had long forgotten existed in me.
Thanks everybody, and I mean everybody, in my life who has assisted in getting me to a place where I can function and have a quality of life despite my disease process.
I am officially living with my disease, and I have hope, with all my theories I love to explore, and can now, that my cure is out there. I just have to find it.