✨Formaldehyde and Formaldehyde-Releasing Preservatives (FRPs)

✨Found in; nail polish, nail blue, eyelash glue, baby shampoo, body soap, body wash, color cosmetics, hair gel.

✨Other names; Formaldehyde, quaternium-15, DMDM hydantoin, imidazolidinyl urea, diazolidinyl urea, polyoxymethylene urea, sodium hydroxymethylglycinate, 2-bromo-2-nitropropane-1,3-diol (bromopol) and glyoxal.

✨ Has been linked to cancer, and skin irritation by absorption, ingesting, or inhaling products with this in it. 

Sometimes things happen and you don’t understand in the moment the reasoning, the why behind it, but then you look back and realize it all fell into place the way it was supposed to. Some of the things that have transpired over the last few months have been beyond stressful, scary, chaotic, and honestly here we are again feeling those same emotions, but trusting the process and remembering that everything happens for a reason.

A few months ago, when I was 8 months pregnant we decided to take a leap of faith and move out of Washington. When we embarked on this journey we had a few places we wanted to avoid moving to and ones that were top on our list which included Arizona, Florida, Texas, and Idaho. We really thought Tyler Texas was going to be our home, but we ended up heading to Southern California to Rancho Santa Margarita for a job for my husband. We listed our home for sale on June 3rd and our daughters due date was on June 5th, our first open house showing weekend was June 5th and June 6th. Of course if you read my previous blog Magnolia decided to make her entrance on June 5th! We accepted an offer on our home on June 13th (the 3 year mark of losing my Mom who was my best friend). After accepting the offer, we headed out. Luckily we accepted a relocation package with my husbands company so we didn’t have to pack or move we just loaded up our bus and headed South with a 2 week old and 16 month old, 2 cats, and a dog.

Living in Southern California has honestly been magical, the weather is amazing, being so close to the beach has been perfect, but the politics with everything going on are way worse that Washington. I will say Orange County works much different than the rest, but with the recent recall election I am sure that will change. We began realizing that this isn’t a good fit for our family, living in fear of what is going to happen to California. So we started planning on buying a vacation home in a state that better fits our values. Our top pick was Arizona since it is only a 5 hour drive and we can easily get there via car or our bus. So the vacation house hunting began! When we started looking for vacation homes, my husband received a message out of the blue with a former co-working about an opportunity in Phoenix…what are the odds. So the interview processes began….and things started getting more serious that a full more permanent move would take place. So our mindset started to shift and we started looking for a home more suitable of being a forever home. As things progressed we got in touch with a realtor who set the parameters for our dream forever home. That Sunday after we spoke with her my husband found the one..it checked all of the boxes to a tee, all of the things we had talked about prior to even building our North Bend home, this home had it all. We texted our realtor to see if we could schedule a viewing, loaded up the car, the kids and the dog in under an hour and hit the road. We didn’t want to miss out on this. As we pulled up to the hotel there was a hummingbird right in front of our car as we parked in the dark…I knew this was it.

We had a viewing at 9am the next morning. As we walked in we both looked at each other and knew immediately this was home. We told our realtor and she drafted up the offer letter. She also added in a bidding clause just in case so we would have the last say should there be another offer and my goodness I am so thankful she did that! We were one of 2 offers and with that clause we outbid the other buyer by $1,000….! As we left the house a hummingbird flew right in front of our car and I knew right then and there it was a done deal.

After our offer was accepted the realtor told our realtor that the seller felt a spiritual feeling that we were the right people for the house (her husband recently passed away) between that and the hummingbird I feel like everyone is watching out for all of us and guiding us threw this thing called life.

So as I sit here typing this we are a week out from closing on October 13th, not sure how this will all work out, but I know everything happens for a reason and those we love that are not in the physical world with us now are still with us.

Sometimes you have to take a leap of faith and jump in to the land of unknown and embrace the ride, because life is so short.

x0_meagen lea

Have you watched the documentary on social media called Social Dilemma? If you haven’t I HIGHLY recommend it! Prior to watching it I wondered why I couldn’t put down my phone and would literally loose hours just scrolling through social media watching others live their “perfect” lives. Don’t get me wrong I love the idea of social media to stay in contact with those who do not live close to you, the specific groups, etc., but the addictiveness to it is mind blowing! Anyway, this brings me to I guess what some would call a new years resolution? Of being present and in the moment. I set a timer on my phone that allows me to scroll through social media for a total of 30 minutes a day and often times a bulk of that is used to create and post content on my myoddinary Instagram, but it helps me keep my time in check. I also, removed the Facebook app from my phone completely I figure out of sight out of  mind right? So on my quest to be present in the moment and try and remove a majority of social media from my life I also made the commitment to read more, I noticed since the introduction of social media I tend to use my time scrolling and watching other people live their lives instead of bettering my own which sounds ridiculous writing it out, but it’s the truth unfortunately. 

A big eye opener for me was after having my son, no one posts or tells you about the nitty gritty of pregnancy, birth, postpartum all of the things that are REAL. They mask it, and it made me wonder what was wrong with me, why was it so hard to loose the baby weight, why was it so hard to keep my supply up, why did I just want to cry every moment after having him after creating and bringing this amazing miracle into the world. Well, it is because no one talks about real life on social media, the filters and computer or phone is masking reality. 

So here I am more than halfway through January and staying strong! Being present, using my time to grow and learn and better myself. Not just for myself, but for my family, for my kids, remember they are always watching! After reading on a more regular basis I have started noticing my son picking up books more and looking at them and talking. 

So I guess my moral of this quick little rant ties back to a post from last week; You were born to be real, not perfect. Be you and embrace it, you are unique and that is what is so great!

x0_meagen lea