Life in the Slow Lane

Christmas Shopping Fun

2010-12-13T20:21:00.001-06:00

Okay, so I started posting some of these on my Facebook and realized there were just too many not to go ahead and make a full fledged blog post for them. So here are some of the fun, unique, and unusual items that you could wrap up and put under someone's tree this season - if you dare! (and if you really must have them, each picture links to where you can purchase one)

You won't forget the most basic instruction for your babysitter when it is printed right on the notepad!

Nothing says I love you like a voo-doo doll knife holder.

Everyone needs one of these on their Christmas tree.

For that person who has everything... everything but this!

Let's not leave the kids out.

For his man cave - bacon scented air freshener.

...and wait, it gets better - they are unisex!

Finally a toilet that you don't yell at the dog for drinking out of.

For that special redneck gal of yours, squirrel feet earrings.

Here's a great one for that friend of yours that just can't hold their liquor!

A remote control snack and drink float, because there is no such thing as too lazy!

Giving diamonds is highly over rated. Who really wants one of those when you can have a sterling silver Cheerio on a necklace? (if you want to call that a necklace - believe it or not you'll pay $50 bucks for this high quality gift!)

Move over Chia pet - the Flower head vase is here!

And who doesn't need one of these? This is a "Location Earth Dog Tag" guaranteed to get you returned to earth after an alien abduction or your money back - and that's no joke!

Have you seen any crazy gift ideas this year while you've been doing your shopping? Go ahead and send me the link - I'd love to see them!

From No Poo to Deoderant - The Wonders of Baking Soda

2010-12-12T21:27:00.000-06:00

A little over a year ago, September of 2009 to be exact, I first began my challenge to go without shampoo and use only baking soda and water to clean my hair. (followed by an apple cider vinegar rinse) That experiment I deemed a success and today I am still shampoo free. But that was not to be my only experiment with baking soda. I had read of using baking soda in place of deoderants. Now, if you look it up, (i.e. google) you will find all sorts of formulas and recipes for ways to create your own baking soda based deoderant. But for me, I went for simple. Straight baking soda.

What I do is keep a 3 oz squeeze bottle (the type you would think of putting hand cream in) filled with baking soda. I just squeeze out a little in my hand and pat it under my arm. Quick and easy. I started doing this last winter, and found it to work great. But I didn't want to post anything about it at that time because, heck, it was winter after all. Not exactly the sweatiest time of year. I wanted to go through a summer and see how it held out.

I can tell you that we had a lovely hot summer here in Maryland. Plus I was still doing Insanity workouts. So there was sweat happening. However, the baking soda worked like a champ. No odor problems at all. I even tried using my mom's deoderant one day just to see if I would prefer the old 'tried and true' to the 'new and up and coming.' When I did sweat, I did not smell like sweat with the deoderant. But I did smell like deoderant and I found it quite repulsive. I much prefer no odor!

Now, I have read that some people find straight baking soda to be slightly irritating. So an alternative is to mix 1 part baking soda with 6 parts corn starch. Corn starch is supposed to have a bit of an anti-perspirant effect, so it makes for a good combo. Me... I'm sticking with simple: straight baking soda. Plus then I can use the same container for my "shampoo" and "deoderant." Makes for easy traveling or overnights.

Wonder what I will be trying next. Hmmmmmmm.....

Life Isn't So Slow Anymore....

2010-11-22T13:37:00.001-06:00

... otherwise known as "Why I Haven't Posted in Four Months."

My girls and I moved in with their Grandma and Pop pop at the end of June. So we went from our isolated country life in Iowa, to Bowie, Maryland - a suburb of Washington DC. Bowie is where I grew up, so there was some sense of familiarity to it all. However, it was a bit shocking to hit the capital beltway again after three years of back road, country driving. I believe I saw more cars on the first trip down 270 and around the beltway than I had in the entire three years in Iowa!

Here is a quick recap of our summer:

The girls have been enjoying getting to know Alison and Melissa, their new best friends. This is actually really cool for me because of the history involved. My mom's best friend was Barbara and I grew up with Barbara's family being like second family to me. She had a daughter Denise, and we have been friends since she was 7 and I was 10. Alison and Melissa are her daughters. It is really fun to see them all play together - like carrying on a legacy of sorts. :) Here are a couple pictures from when I took them all to the Montgomery County fair.

From left to right is Alison, Melissa, Trinity and Angelina.

(to see all the pictures from our fair day, click here)

Since meeting Alison, Trinity decided to grow out her bangs. She also has developed a crush on Justin Bieber. (geesh!) We didn't even know who Justin Bieber was when we lived in Iowa! But then again, the girls have also learned how to swim this summer as we spent most days in our neighbors pool. They went from not knowing how to swim to doing somersaults under water and cannonballs into the pool!

We also spent an afternoon at the Maryland Renaissance Festival. I firmly believe that Maryland has one of the best Ren Fest's ever, and they have only gotten better in the years I have been gone.

Me and the girls at the beginning of our visit.

The girls showing their colored tongues from eating their treats.

The girls after a long afternoon at the fair! Luckily, I had an awesome Scottish bagpipe band to listen to while they rested. :)

(for all the pics click here)

A lot more excitement has been going on including the Warrior Dash, Bradley Reborn, and a new business venture with Denise, but each of those need their own post. Which I promise, is coming soon!

Dance Videos

2010-06-06T07:39:00.003-05:00

Okay, grandparents, here are the girls dancing. :) The girls are on the front row, on the left. Don't forget to go pause the music player before trying to watch the videos. If we had a better video camera, you could see the look on Angelina's face when the audience applauded. You see her head pops up, and she was just beaming. They weren't used to getting applause when they finished dancing!

The girls are on the back row, far right in this one.

David was taping this one as I promised the girls I would stay backstage and be there on the sides while they danced. I should have told him to just tape the whole song, but he tried just taping the girls. Anyway, the 2 year olds went out first, and for some reason, Trinity went out on stage during their part. We got her to come off stage to us, but by the time she got around backstage, her group was already on stage. Thus, there goes Trinity, coming in late and having to run all the way across the stage! This time they are on the back row, far right again.

There was another bit they were in where everyone was on stage, but it is too hard to pick them out on the video, so I'm not uploading that one.

Dance Pictures

2010-06-05T22:26:00.000-05:00

Thanks mom for treating the girls to dance lessons this year! Here are pics from the recital. Having trouble uploading the video, but that will be coming soon. :)

They were so excited that they got to wear makeup today.

Lined up to go on stage.

They are in the front row, first two on the left. David took these pictures while I ran out to find light and figure out how to delete videos to make space on the FULL camera. (should have checked that before they got on stage! duh!) I taped the end of this dance and the others are also on video.

Ready for their next number. I was not a fan of the pink headbands.

No headbands - much nicer. Now if only I could get them to smile!

Trinity was not in a smiling mood and when bribed with ice cream gave me this goof ball look.

Angelina took a turn taking pictures. I'm actually in the frame - miracle!

For Women Only

2010-06-04T05:00:00.006-05:00

If you have been reading my blog for awhile, you know a few things about me. For instance, I am not afraid to do things a little differently than most people. Examples: dumpster dive for food, using family wipes instead of toilet paper, using baking soda instead of shampoo, and using baking soda instead of deodorant. (did I mention that on my blog?? I don't think I did...) So you might think you wouldn't be surprised by anything I post after all that. But here's the latest experiment:

I'm burning my bras.

Ok, just kidding! I'm not burning them, just not wearing them anymore... well, that's not entirely true either. I am definitely not wearing them at home anymore and depending on my mood/weather/outfit may not wear them out either.

Now here's why. It's something I have been thinking about for awhile as I have come across information on the topic. I had read some information on Dr. Mercola's site about how underwire bras in particular are like wearing antenna to attract electromagnetic fields. This can increase your risk of breast cancer. You can eliminate this issue by pulling out your wire underwires and put in plastic ones. Kind of a pain, but if it is going to protect your health, then surely worth the little bit of effort.

The other issue is the lymph system. Wearing constricting clothing, which a bra typically is, restricts your lymph system from draining properly. Again, this can contribute to breast cancer. Your lymph system needs to drain off the toxins that are in your system. Part of this can be eliminated by wearing the proper size bra. Want to know if you are in the correct size? Step into the Bra Fitting Room and get into the right size - it will make a huge difference in your comfort! Most women will have swelling in their breasts during their period, so make sure you do your measuring at another time of the month to get your accurate size.

So I have this information kind of rattling around in my brain and then Renegade Health show does this video. I love this couple, btw. They have awesome information on health and nutrition on their show. (and a FREE downloadable book on eating raw - excellent!)

So how great is the risk of cancer from wearing your bra? Well, according to the book Dressed To Kill: The Link between Breast Cancer and Bras, here is how it goes:

Women who wear bras 24 hours a day have a 3 out of 4 chance of developing breast cancer.
Women who wear bras more than 12 hours a day, but not to bed, have a 1 out of 7 risk.
Women who wear bras less than 12 hours a day, have a 1 out of 52 risk.
Women who wear bras rarely or never, have a 1 out of 168 risk.

That's a big difference from 3 out of 4 chance to only 1 in 168 chance.

So I know what you are thinking. Won't I sag more? Won't it be uncomfortable? Won't people stare if I go out braless?

Sag
According to everything I have read, how much you sag has everything to do with your genetics and nothing to do with your bra. I have read comments where people say something like, "Yeah, but my grandmother never wore a bra and she sagged terribly. No way I'm doing that!" But the reality is "to sag or not to sag" will happen with or without wearing a bra. That grandmother would have sagged just as much even if she wore a bra everyday. Other people can never wear a bra and have less sag than those wearing one 24 hours a day. In fact the very act of not wearing a bra may improve your sag. The ligaments that hold up your breasts will get exercised, which they don't get in a bra, and will be more effective at their job. Part of the problem is the unrealistic image that the media put out as to what a normal breast should look like. Perky just isn't normal for a grown woman, and especially after having children.

Uncomfortable
Uncomfortable? I guess that is a personal one. I went from being a B cup pre-kids, to a D cup after kids. I know when I was smaller, I could go without a bra - no problem. But, I wasn't at all sure that it would be comfortable in my larger size. But guess what. I've been running around the house without one and have never felt so good! I don't think we realize just how uncomfortable bras are - even when properly sized. We are trained to wear them - literally, we have training bras for when we are girls! And I think we just accept the pressure on our shoulders and the snugness around the torso as normal.

Staring
As for people staring, you can be discreet and braless. It probably won't even be a concern in cold weather when you are layered up and wearing bulkier sweaters. In the summer, you can wear a camisole under your shirt or even layer tank tops. Nothing is going to stop the natural movement when you are braless, but that same movement is going to help the lymph system clean out toxins and strengthen your ligaments. A fair trade in my opinion. But if it really bothers you, there are also sports bras and exercise tops that will give you more support similar to a bra. You just have to look at the design and be sure to pick something that isn't binding. If it has tight elastic bands around your torso, you might as well be wearing a bra.

So give it a try. Go ahead. Just stop wearing bras at home and see how you feel after a few days. :)

Raw Exercise

2010-06-03T11:13:00.000-05:00

Okay, so just yesterday I posted my update on how I was going to see if eating all raw made any difference in my workouts this time through month one of Insanity. I didn't expect to have anything to report so soon, but man, did I have a great workout this morning! It was Cardio recovery, which means you get a break from the high intensity cardio, but you trade it for intense muscle work and stretching. I was blown away at how much easier this workout was for me today than it was before.

I took a screen shot of this exercise, because I didn't think I could describe it and make any sense. These are similar to your basic leg lifts where your leg is straight out behind you in your start position. From there you lift your leg and lower back to start. Shaun T's version you get on your hands and knees first, then you lift your knees off the ground, then you put your leg back and start doing lifts. 16 on each side. Followed by....

...this exercise. Same starting position, hands and knees, knees off the floor, leg back, but this time you bring your knee to your shoulder to work your obliques. 16 each leg of these.

I have not been able to do these at all. I had to keep my knees on the ground before. Today, I did them with my knees off the floor - unbelievable! I did crash and burn early on the last leg of the oblique work, but I did all but 5 before I dropped. Excellent results!

This encourages me to keep up the raw. I can't wait to see how I'm doing in a couple weeks!

Insanity Update

2010-06-02T13:00:00.000-05:00

I completed month one and started month two. Here are some lessons I have learned along the way:

It is hard to do push-ups with two little girls laying their heads on the floor under your face and saying "hi mommy!"
This is a basic lesson - trying to stick to any exercise regimen with little kids can be difficult. Sometimes they want to do it with mommy, so then they completely get in the way. Other times they are off entertaining themselves. (i.e. destroying something valuable or messing up the house) You have to make up your mind that taking care of your health is more important than any challenge that comes up and just do it.

Kids can also be great motivators.
Insanity has the fit test so you can see your improvement along the way. There is also the scale and taking measurements - all things that you can use to monitor how successful your health plan is at accomplishing your goals. But for me, nothing is as motivating as hearing my daughter say, "Mom, your butt is getting smaller!"

Headbands and towels are not optional.
This is especially true if you are doing Insanity. I have NEVER sweat as much during a workout in my life as I do with Insanity. And it is only getting worse as the morning temperatures are getting warmer. Trying to keep pushing it with Shaun T. while you have sweat running into your eyes is not a pretty picture. Neither is trying to do moving push-ups through pools of sweat on a wood floor. (that picture on the Insanity dvd is NOT an exaggeration!)

After completing month one, and attempting month two, I have made the decision to start over at the beginning of month one. I believe this is a good decision as the point of doing Insanity was to get healthy. For me, that's going to take a little longer since I was living a pretty sedentary lifestyle going into this. But I am not in any way discouraged. At least now I know the complete insaneness (is that a word?) that comes with the month 2 workouts, so I know what I am working up to.

I also made the decision to go all raw during the next 60 days. There is a reason for this madness. Back when I was working with Optimal Health Systems, I decided to go on a 100% raw food diet. My boss had just the year before set the Guinness World record for the most push-ups in one minute. The background on that happening was that he was the team nutritionist for the Phoenix Suns. He was telling the coaches about a better training method for their players. They weren't convinced enough to try it but challenged him to train using his method for one month and then attempt to break the world record for the most push-ups in a minute. (during half-time at one of the games, no less!) If he could do that, then they would use his training methods. With Guinness record officials on site and tapes rolling, he landed himself as a new world record holder. Sorry, I can't remember now how many he did - 118?? 123?? Not sure. Somewhere in that ballpark.

But there was actually more to this story than his training method. He also went 100% raw food for that month he was training to set the record. He had noticed that when he was on an all raw diet, his strength improved. Every night before bed he would do sit-ups and push-ups. During the raw food diet, he could do them effortlessly, and even increased how many he was doing. He shared this tip with me one day because I was questioning whether there was really any benefit to going all raw or if you could just eat healthy and supplement with enzymes. (He also told me about the more complex issue of levorotatory cells and dextrorotatory cells - counter clockwise spinning cells and clockwise spinning cells - and how your bodies cells spin one direction as does live food, but cooked food cells spin the opposite direction, etc.) I was thinking about him sharing that tidbit of info with me and thought that it would be interesting to experiment for myself.

Since I am starting over on the 60 day Insanity program, it makes it easy for me to track 60 days of raw simultaneously. I am looking forward to seeing if I can feel a difference and sharing it with you here on the blog. Plus I will have the accountability of reporting my findings, so that will help me stay on track. :)

Now, to catch up on some pics of the girls. Since I had received my first deposit from a couple for my Bradley class, I splurged and let the girls each pick out a dress from Costco. They had a hard time choosing, but eventually decided on this one. They HAD to have the same one. Love those girls! :)

Trinity was trying to be pouty because I was going to be helping in Angelina's Sunday school room that morning.

David started being silly to get Trinity to smile. She's trying hard to stay pouty.

I think they picked out a nice dress - very cute. :) Trinity actually has quite the eye for fashion. She decided a few weeks ago that I didn't need to dress her or Angelina anymore - that she was going to do it herself. I have been constantly impressed with her ability to match up really nice looking outfits from all our second hand clothes. I think I'm going to have her start picking out my outfits!

Preventing Cancer

2010-05-27T19:39:00.000-05:00

Thanks to my friend Anthony who sent me the link, (thank you, Anthony!) I finally have the answer I have been waiting/searching for. ('for which I have been waiting/searching' for the grammatical freaks out there) Anthony linked me up to the Diet and Cancer Report. Why is this what I have been waiting for? Since reading The China Study by Campbell last fall, I have been trying to find someway to verify his conclusions. If you aren't familiar with his study, his basic finding is a direct link between animal protein and cancer. His recommendation is to limit animal protein in your diet to 10% or less of your total dietary intake. I haven't found any credible source that would disprove his findings, but haven't found anything that would support it either. Until now...

In comes the report from this organization. The two main organizations behind this report are the World Cancer Research Fund and the American Institute for Cancer Research. But the WCRF has many organizations in countries around the world under its umbrella. The point being, that this is a credible source.

What they have put out is a report entitled "Food, Nutrition, Physical Activity, and the Prevention of Cancer: A Global Perspective." This report is the culmination of a five year study involving over 100 scientists from 30 countries. The content was "driven by an independent panel of 21 world renowned scientists." This is critical to know because if you have ever dealt with research, you can almost always find some research out there that will support the conclusion you want. This group was able to do what most of us can not do on our own - look at ALL the research available, compare the studies, sort out the conclusions, and determine final recommendations based on the whole body of science. On their website you can download the report and read it in full or download the summary.

Here are the eight general recommendations for preventing cancer:

1. Body Fatness

Be as lean as possible within the normal range of body weight.

-keep adult body mass index (BMI) between 21-23

2. Physical Activity

Be physically active as part of everyday life.

-start with 30 minutes moderate activity daily, working up to 60 minutes or more moderate or 30 minutes vigorous activity

3. Foods and Drinks That Promote Weight Gain

Limit consumption of energy-dense foods. Avoid sugary drinks.

- This one has quite a few clarifications: energy-dense foods are defined as having more than 225-275calories per 100g with a recommendation to get your food density down to about 125kcal per 100g; relatively unprocessed nuts and seeds, while energy-dense, are not considered to be of concern in promoting weight gain and provide valuable nutrients.

- sugary drinks also includes fruit juices which should be limited

- consume 'fast foods' sparingly, if at all

4. Plant Foods

Eat mostly foods of plant origin.

- eat at least five servings of non-starchy vegetables and fruits daily (remember anything with seeds is a fruit - tomato, cucumber, peppers, etc.); eat relatively unprocessed grains or legumes with every meal; limit refined starchy foods

"It is likely that there is further protective
benefit from consuming more than five portions/
servings of non-starchy vegetables and fruits."

5. Animal Foods

Limit intake of red meat and avoid processed meat.

- consume less than 18 oz/week of beef, pork, lamb, or goat and very little of it processed; processing is defined as meat preserved by smoking, curing or salting, or addition of chemical preservatives

Interestingly enough they emphasize that they are not recommending diets with no meat, or no foods of animal origin.

6. Alcoholic Drinks

Limit alcoholic drinks.

- if alcohol is consumed, limit consumption to no more than 2 drinks per day for men and 1 drink per day for women

They do say the following: "The evidence on cancer justifies a recommendation not to

drink alcoholic drinks. Other evidence shows that modest
amounts of alcoholic drinks are likely to reduce risk of coronary

heart disease." So, even though they are supposed to be reporting on how to reduce your risk of cancer, they don't come right out and say no alcohol even though by their own admission, the evidence justifies it. I'm shaking my head over that one.

In other words, if you prefer, you can keep drinking and know that you are likely to reduce your risk of coronary heart disease with that glass of wine or beer, but you are trading that risk for the opportunity to get cancer of the mouth, pharynx and larynx, oesophagus, or breast, or for men, colorectal cancer - all of which the evidence is convincing. (oh, and let's not forget it's a probable cause of liver and colorectal cancer in women)

7. Preservation, Processing, Preparation

Limit consumption of salt. Avoid moldy grains or legumes.

- average consumption of salt from all sources to be less than 5 grams (2 g sodium) a day

8. Dietary Supplements

Aim to meet nutritional needs through diet alone.

- dietary supplements are not recommended for cancer prevention

So, that sums up the recommendations. Now they didn't come right out and say that there is a direct link between cancer and consumption of animal protein. But if you follow their recommendations, you will be eating a mostly plant based diet, a flexitarian diet, just like I adopted after reading Campbell's work. This is enough confirmation for me, to continue to limit the amount of animal protein in my diet and for my family.

Now, before I end this post, I want to also point out the two special recommendations that they made - and remember this is in relation to preventing cancer.

1. Breastfeeding

Women to breastfeed; children to be breastfed.

-aim to breastfeed exclusively for six months and with complementary feeding thereafter

(hmmm... they didn't say "babies" to be breastfed, they said "children"...)

2. Cancer Survivors

Follow the recommendations for cancer prevention.

-all cancer survivors to receive nutritional care from an appropriately trained professional

I don't know about you, but a lot of the recommendations were things I would have related to people dieting - you know, eat right, exercise, ya-da, ya-da, ya-da. I was not aware that so many of these lifestyle choices directly affected our risk for getting cancer. Very enlightening report, indeed.

I hope that what you can take away from this is not discouragement - focusing on changes you may need to make that could be difficult, (no more Mike's Hard Lemonade?!?) but rather encouragement - we don't have to live in fear of getting a cancer diagnosis. We can take proactive steps to prevent cancer.

Can I recommend a green smoothie for your first step?! ;)

How Now Brown Cow

2010-05-20T09:56:00.004-05:00

Well, we are seriously shopping for a new member to our family here on our little country acre. We are going to get a milk cow. Seems like a crazy idea for a family that doesn't even go through a gallon of milk a week. But part of that is because I don't like giving pasteurized milk from factory farms to my children to drink, and here in Iowa it is illegal to sell raw milk. I personally feel they are healthier without it. But if I could give them fresh milk from our own pastured cow - now that's another story entirely. I still think they are better off drinking water, and they now ask for it instead of juice all the time - hooray! (in fact they usually say it like this: "Mom, can I have some healthy water?") But having some fresh milk, home-made butter and cheese, I'm totally up for that. :)

So I started researching milk cows. The more I read up on them, the more I fell in love with the idea of a mini breed. Mini breeds are ideal for someone in our situation where we just have one acre. They eat and drink a lot less than their larger counterparts and are easier on the pasture. Maintenance of fences and structure is easier too as they are not as destructive as full size cattle. Some people don't even use a lot of fencing. With a mini-cow you can put them on a lead tied to a tire and let them graze in your yard. When you are ready to move them to another section you just roll the tire to another area. Our lawn tractor may get a lot less use once we get a cow!

Dexters are the breed we are leaning towards. I have absolutely fallen in love with a little Jersey, but her price tag is prohibitive - $1000! I think I could probably talk them down some on the price, but we also are set to go look at a Dexter that is only $400. Hard to justify the adorable, picture perfect Jersey when you can pick up a Dexter for that price. Plus, the Dexter has been running with a mini bull and most likely already with calf. That means that by July we could have a calf and all the fresh milk we can handle. That pretty much seals the deal with the Dexter.

A Momma Dexter and calf

But aside from the great price, Dexters have quite a few qualities that make them a great choice for us:

Temperament - they are known for being docile and friendly, making them easy to handle and train. They are really great for kids to work with.

Hardy - Dexters thrive in all climates, which is good since we can have hot, humid summers followed by sub-zero winters. They also are easy calvers with little need for human intervention.

Thrifty - they are a good dual purpose cow, being good milkers and good beef. They also are considered very efficient at turning feed into milk and beef. They put out 1-2 gallons of milk a day that is 4% butterfat. (comparable to Jersey's) They dress out at 55-60% and have a high quality, nicely marbled meat.

If you want more information on Dexters, there is a great article on Mother Earth News.
And here is a great little informational video about mini cows.

(scroll down and pause player at bottom of page to view video)

Westfield Farm Revisited

2010-05-18T23:37:00.004-05:00

Today was the day. Finally. After waiting a year!
The annual end of school year field trip with HUGS, one of our homeschooling groups. The girls had such a great time last year, that this was a much anticipated day. I could have asked them to eat breakfast while standing on their heads and they would have done it so we could go.
Without any further ado, here are the pics from today.

Kittens were the highlight of today.

These next pics are inside the barn where they have a hayloft jump into piles of shredded paper. Apparently, this kicks up a lot of small particles into the air, which are completely undetectable until you take a picture with a flash. Then it looks like it is snowing - crazy!

Time to get a pony ride before we head off for lunch.

Waiting for everyone to pile on the hayride.

I actually remembered to ask someone to get a pic of me with the girls - a rarity as I'm always the one snapping pics!

Smores for dessert.

Getting ready to head back...

Playing on haystack mountain.

That was a big drop for her, but she didn't bat an eyelash. Just slid right off, then ran around and did it again!

Does Food Matter?

2010-05-14T09:02:00.008-05:00

(scroll down and pause player to view video)

I was hooked after watching this trailer and did my usual search for the title at the library. Not there. Then I checked with Blockbuster and they had it. Luckily, I looked around the site a little longer because I found that on the Food Matters website under the movie section, you can order and watch this documentary right on your computer for the same price as driving to Blockbuster and renting it. Score! Not only that, but there are some movies that are free to watch - titles such as "The World According to Monsanto" and "Homegrown." Check it out! Link to online movies

So I ordered the online movie and really enjoyed watching this documentary. I feel it is well done with good nutritional information and a good look into the problem with our current health care system as it relates to nutrition. Anyone wanting to understand a little more about why to eat more raw foods in your diet should get their questions answered in this movie. They go into a wide arrange of connected issues: nutrient loss in our produce, vitamin supplementation, pharmaceuticals, our health care system, and government regulation.

Here is some information that you are probably not aware of:
LEADING CAUSES OF DEATH
#1. Heart Disease 631,636
#2. Cancer 559,888
#3. Modern Medicine 225,000

Now you aren't going to see number three on the chart with the center for disease control, but that number represents the number of deaths each year from unnecessary surgery and other hospital errors, infections obtained at the hospital, and medications. (and that is only medication that is prescribed by a doctor and taken as directed) It comes in number three - isn't that really a staggering reality? It comes in above stroke, chronic lower respiratory disease, accidents, and diabetes. That number should cause concern.

On a more positive note, David Wolfe gave some great information about raw cacao beans and their nutritive quality. Raw cacao are the highest natural source of magnesium, chromium, zinc, and copper. It is likely the highest natural source of iron and manganese, has all the cofactors necessary for a healthy metabolism, is high in vitamin C and has the highest antioxidant content of known foods. Ever heard commercials touting the high antioxidants in blueberries? Here is how they stack up:

ORAC values per 100g
Raw Cacao 26,000
Acai Berry 18,500
Prunes 5,770
Raisins 2,830
Blueberries 2,400
Blackberries 2,036
Strawberries 1,540
Spinach, raw 1,260
Broccoli florets 890
Red grapes 739

And can I say, I just love David Wolfe in this show?! He talks about things no one wants to talk about in polite society, but he is right on. :) For those of you who aren't familiar with David Wolfe, he is a leader in the raw food movement and wrote one of the classics, The Sunfood Diet. Just listening to him and all the speakers in this documentary really inspires me to keep eating lots of raw food. I have slacked off in the last couple of weeks and have been eating more cooked food. (the cold weather didn't help!) And just so you know, in this film he highlights eating at least 51% raw food, not all raw, so there is no excuse not to try.

What this movie really has done for me is bring me full circle to the initial thought - you are what you eat. Americans have gotten away from eating based on what your body needs to function and be healthy, and moved to eating what tastes good. Unfortunately, with MSG, high-fructose corn syrup, caffeine, and lots of salt, we have learned to create desire for foods that are extremely nutritionally deficient. We are a society that is fat and happy, but slowly starving our bodies to death and we see this playing out in the increase of disease and death due to our lifestyle choices.

And since you will learn that you need to be supplementing your healthy diet with vitamins, I want to recommend a source of really good ones - Optimal Health Systems. I used to work for this company and I know that their products are of the highest quality. You can get a great wholefood vitamin from them. Here is the ingredient list:

Whole Food Vitamin Blend Includes:
Carrot, Green Peppers, Oranges, Alfalfa, Nutritional Yeast, Acerola Cherry, Broccoli,
Wild Yam, Rice Bran, Spinach, Wheat Germ, Cranberry, Garlic, Papaya, Soybeans,
Molasses, and Beet Fiber.

Antioxidant Blend Includes:
Grape Seed Extract, Grape Skin Extract, and Pine Bark Extract
Opti-Blend (tm) Delivery System Includes:
Amylase, Protease I, Protease II, Lipase, Invertase, Maltase, Cellulase, Lactase, Hemiseb,
Zinc Amino Acid Chelete, Copper Amino Acid Chelete, Manganese Amino Acid Chelete, and Molasses.

Take time to read the research/education information on their site. It is a great resource.

Now, watch the movie and go eat something raw! ;)

My Morning in Pictures

2010-05-13T09:38:00.000-05:00

Grow, Baby, Grow!

2010-05-12T17:22:00.000-05:00

It's kombucha time at our house again.

So here is a little bit about kombucha if you haven't heard of or seen the stuff before. This is an empty bottle of GT's Organic Raw Kombucha in original flavor. (i.e. unflavored) You can actually use the store bought to start your own culture, but if you can get an already grown scoby, I recommend that for beginners.

Scoby? What's that?
Glad you asked. I originally learned that it stood for symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast, but have also seen it as symbiotic colony of bacteria and yeast. You will also find the scoby called a pancake, mushroom, or baby. The scoby feeds off the sugar in the tea and it slowly ferments the tea, giving off probiotics, organic acids, enzymes, and vitamins. It is a conglomeration of good stuff for you - especially for intestinal health. After the tea is ready, if you bottle it, it will get fizzy and is a great substitute for fizzy pop which has NOTHING good in it for you. (just a little passionate about that - as an ex-Mt. Dew addict!)

You can look it up on the internet and find people claiming that it has done all sorts of miraculous things for their health. The thing that jazzes me the most, besides being a great source of probiotics, is one of the organic acids it produces - glucuronic acid. In a day when we are getting all sorts of toxins in our system, whether it be pesticides in foods we eat or BPA residue from plastic containers and commercially canned foods, this is one powerhouse little acid you don't want to be without. It's main claim to fame is it's ability to grab those toxins in the liver and take them out of your body. This stuff will keep you clean!

Now I have heard that you should start in small doses, like 2 oz. a day, and let your system get used to it. But I didn't read that until I had been downing 16 oz. a day for quite awhile. I didn't have any problems with it, but don't say I didn't warn you!

Now here is the great part. Instead of paying roughly $4 a bottle for this stuff, you can make it at home. We started brewing kombucha back before we moved to Iowa. We drank so much we purchase a giant 5 gallon glass container with a spigot at the bottom from Costco. The box it came in pictured lemonade, but I knew it was the perfect kombucha brewer. :)

To make kombucha you heat 3 quarts of water (purified - you don't want to use chlorinated water) til it is hot but not quite boiling. Then you steep 5-7 teabags in the water for 15 minutes.

I use generic black tea. Green tea is also supposed to be really good. There are a couple other varieties of tea you can use, but these two are the basics. After you remove the teabags, dissolve 1 cup of sugar in the water. Now put the lid on the pan and let it come to room temperature. I like to do this before going to bed and let it sit on the stove all night. In the morning you are ready to proceed and don't have to worry about it still being too hot.

You preferably want to use a glass container that will hold 1 gallon. (unless you are kombucha junkies like we are and then you can trade up to the 5 gallon jar!) Again, there are other types of containers that can be used, but glass is the best, and you can easily see how your scoby baby is doing. Make sure that both your hands and the container are clean. Pour the tea in the fermenting container and add your scoby and 2 cups of starter. (previous kombucha tea) Now cover the container with a paper towel, coffee filter, or clean towel. Secure it with a rubber band and find it a spot out of direct sunlight where it can sit undisturbed.

Here is our little baby that I just started today. We haven't had kombucha since we had a batch grow mold on it, which means you have to throw it out and start over. Unfortunately, I didn't have the recommended back up scoby and starter hanging out in the fridge for just such emergencies. So we have been without because I couldn't find anyone local who would give me a starter. (like I was able to find in AZ)

But I bought the previously pictured bottle of plain organic kombucha and have let it sit in the fridge for awhile. It already started growing a little baby inside the bottle. I made up a mini batch of tea (2 cups, 2 teabags, and 2 Tbs. sugar) and combined the room temperature bottle of kombucha with the tea. I will post pictures of the process as it grows. Once this scoby has grown, I will have enough starter to make a full batch of kombucha. We like it flavored with an ounce or two of grape juice (that includes the kiddos!) and have saved a bunch of bottles so we can make our own delicious fizzy kombucha drinks.

Now I'm getting impatient. Grow, baby, grow!!

Curbside Shopping

2010-05-01T22:59:00.004-05:00

Today was one of those serendipitous days that you just couldn't have foreseen. I've been working on cleaning, organizing, and decorating the girls' rooms upstairs. I have my heart set on finding an old beat up chandelier, making it beautiful again, and hanging it in their bedroom. The weather was supposed to be nice so I thought we should go yard sale shopping. I told the girls they could each have $1 to spend and they were pretty excited to get shopping this morning. I did a quick check on craigslist to see if there were any hot spots we should hit. Looked like Norwalk would be the city we would check out - another nice little town (although much bigger than our town!) south of Des Moines. If it really bombed we could just head north into Des Moines.

There is nothing worse than heading out with anticipation of that great find, and coming home empty handed. But no fear of bombing today. What I didn't realize (only because I hadn't checked my list from Des Moines ReUseIt group) was that April 30-May 1 are the spring clean-up dates for Norwalk. That means you can pretty much put anything out on the curb, and they will come haul it away, saving you a trip to the dump. It also means a lot of great curbside shopping. Plus, to take advantage of the clean up, a ton of households were having yard sales, and by late afternoon, what hadn't sold was now sitting in the pile on the curb.

Here are some of our free finds today. We will start with the biggie... a lovely new grill just in time for Mother's day....hmmmm....okay, a month early for Father's Day! (I don't grill!) The grill we have we paid $10 for at a yard sale three years ago when we moved here. It was pretty old and ugly, and we had to replace some parts, but it has gotten the job done. This one is definitely an improvement and even has a rotisserie attachment. I'm pretty excited about that!

Chairs! We got these two chairs, plus 3 basic white plastic outdoor chairs. I won't spend money on outdoor chairs so I was so glad to pick up some for free. They will come in handy for when we have our small group over later this month for a b.b.q. and bonfire. (grill will come in handy too!)

Oh, and the stroller - free!

See the t.v. on the right? That would be the one David wants for our bedroom but has been upstairs in the girls room. See the t.v. on the left? That would be one we picked off the curb and the table to put it on was also picked up from another curb. Perfect size for the girls and has a built in vcr that actually works. We actually picked up two small t.v./vcr combo's. David is going to carry the other one, which is smaller, with him for work so he has a t.v. to show customers when it isn't the satellite that is the issue, but their television set. There were so many television sets on the curb it was pathetic. David was drooling. He actually picked up a really nice set, which I had no idea what we were going to do with, but he had to leave it in order to fit the grill in the back of the van. (shwew! saved by limited space!)

A lovely curbside find - a Princess kitchen. I told the girls we could get this one if their mostly broken, dirty, bulkier kitchen set goes out on our curb. They agreed. I'm liking this trend of smaller.

Yes, that is one of too many free animals that found their way home with us today, but so is the little chair she is sitting on. Loving the chair!

I spotted a bit of pink fluff sticking out of a bag so decided to check it out. That curiosity netted me three dress up outfits - a princess, a queen, and a ballerina.

I also picked up some other miscellaneous items. But, alas, no chandelier. I am not fretting. Yard sale season has only begun!

The Bradley Method

2010-04-20T10:51:00.002-05:00

I am home again after leaving last Wednesday to head to Orlando, Florida for a training workshop to become a Bradley Method birth instructor. This method of natural childbirth was named after Dr. Bradley who was responsible for getting husbands allowed back in the labor/delivery room with their wives. For women, he gave them a chance to be free of the influence of drugs which makes the delivery process harder and more likely to need medical intervention. Women learned how to relax and work with their bodies so that they and their babies could be alert at the birth and start bonding and breast feeding immediately.

I still have to finish up my academic requirements, but should be sending in my completed course work by the end of the week. I am excited to start teaching, especially because I think many men take a back seat to the mom once she becomes pregnant. Mom gets all the attention. But with Dr. Bradley's approach, the husband gets trained as the coach. The husband becomes a vital partner in the process. Personally, I don't know how I would have gotten through my first birth without David's help. He provided counter pressure for my back labor and helped me relax muscles I hadn't realized I had tensed up. But with his help coaching me, I was able to labor rather than be in pain. It was absolutely hard work, but not painful. Through the thorough education on the birth process given in Bradley classes, David never had to worry or wonder what was going on. He could recognize the emotional signposts of each stage and be prepared for what lay ahead.

I remember this very short conversation with David. I was in transition and I said, "This is really hard," and he told me what a great job I was doing.

We watched many, many birth videos over the weekend and it was very frustrating to realize that the majority of women don't realize that their birth will be much less painful if they choose to have a natural childbirth. (preparing for it, of course! You would take swimming lessons before you jumped into a swimming pool, so you should equally prepare to give birth!) On my plane home yesterday, I was talking with the passenger next to me. He and his wife are expecting their second baby next month. His wife had an epidural with the first and had to have her pancreas removed due to complications from the epidural. He said that afterwards, they researched it and it turns out that it is not that unusual, but "they don't tell you that before you have it." So I asked him what they were going to do with this birth. He said she was planning on having the epidural again.

HUH?!?

Jamie Oliver may be having a "Food Revolution" but we need to have a "Natural Childbirth Revolution." What most women know about giving birth is what you see on t.v. or in the movies and that is mostly women screaming in pain and wanting their drugs NOW! Those of us who have had unmedicated natural births need to get the word out that there is an alternative to drugs and elective cesareans. If you see a pregnant mom, be sure to share your story with her. If they don't know, they can't choose. And last time I checked, a lot of people in this country are very concerned with women having a choice when it comes to their reproductive health. That choice should be between natural birth and medicated, not just which cocktail of medications will they be taking during labor.

To School or Not to School

2010-04-10T04:00:00.002-05:00

(scroll down to bottom of page and pause player to view video)

Don't Go There Shaun T!

2010-04-08T09:18:00.001-05:00

Okay, I just did day 5 on the Insanity program. I keep going back and forth on my motivation on this program. I was reading on the message boards for Insanity that month one is just a warm up for month two. The workouts get longer and harder. Say what?! So I really procrastinated doing the routine this morning. I have been getting up and just getting right to it. Today I didn't start until almost 8:30... dragging my heels as I was worried about the intensity that a workout titled "Pure Cardio" might entail.

But when I got into the warm up (that is really a loose term when applied to Insanity!) I could already see that it was easier for me than on day 2. I could push harder and last longer on each exercise. So I was feeling pretty good about that and it gave me the motivation to keep going.

But then... during the stretches Shaun T starts talking about how nervous he is about today's workout. Can I just say that having Shaun T saying that he is nervous does not instill courage in us struggling beginners?! lol...

But not to fear. Yes, the workout kicked my posterior, but I was also encouraged again by my ability to keep going and it felt better than day two. I also did noticeable better with the push up jacks. A push up jack is where your feet go apart when you lower your chest, as if you were doing a jumping jack with your feet I didn't have to do my "girl version" of push-ups with my knees on the ground. I did full on push up jacks. Now THAT is motivating! I am truly amazed at the results I am already seeing in just five days. Oh, and most of the intense soreness has moved out as well. I guess I really can do this!

One more day and then a day off.
Bring it on!

2 Days of Insanity

2010-04-06T04:00:00.003-05:00

The Insanity workout dvd's arrived here on Saturday.
Sunday I did day one which is the fit test. This gives you a baseline for yourself so you can keep track of how you are improving. Today was Cardio Plyometrics.

Oh. My. Gosh.

The warm-up on this workout is a better workout than any other cardio routine I have ever done - live or dvd! I downed 24oz of water and had to refill my bottle during the workout. By the time he went straight from the suicide drills into the next set without a water break, I knew I was going to get in the best shape of my life by the time the 60 days are up. Either that, or I'll be dead!

Here's hoping I can move tomorrow!

You Know You're a Redneck if...

2010-04-05T04:00:00.001-05:00

...you take your kids on an Easter egg hunt in the Bass Pro Shop.

Yup. I did it.

The kids had a blast. We got there a little late, so a lot of the eggs had been found already. But some nice guys back in the hunting section had a stash and kept hiding a few more out for my girls to find. Yeah, it does a mother's heart proud to watch her girls searching scrupulously among the ammo and camo tents for easter eggs. :)

They even had free pictures with the Easter Bunny.

And crafts.

Definitely not your traditional Easter day, but it worked for us!

Happy Resurrection Day!

2010-04-04T04:00:00.001-05:00

(scroll down and pause player to view video)

Insanity

2010-04-03T04:00:00.074-05:00

I'm one of those crazy people that really likes to push myself and be challenged.

For instance, I remember back in the days when I was hitting the gym twice a day. Before work I would run on the track. After work I would do weight training, working a different muscle group each day. My normal routine in the morning was to run for 1/2 hour. But if I was late, I did a 12 minute routine called Guerilla Cardio. This workout called for a 4 minute warm up jog, 4 minutes of interval sprinting, and a 4 minute cool down jog. The interval sprinting is 20 seconds of full on sprinting followed by 10 seconds of rest. Eight sets and you have done your 4 minutes. It may not sound like a big deal, but according to Muscle Media:

Before you get too bright-eyed and bushy-tailed at the prospect of doing “only” four minutes of cardio a day, I need to warn you—this ain’t as easy as it seems. In fact, Dr. Tabata notes that even the Japanese speed skaters—who, remember, are Olympic caliber athletes—had to “lay down on the floor after the training.”

The first time I did it, it literally brought tears to my eyes! That was back in the day when I took my vacation at what was then called Red Mountain Adventure Spa in St. George, Utah.

Mornings started with a vigorous hike into the mountains.

A little mountain climbing for leisure activity.

(yup, that is me up there)

So you see that I am not one to shy away from a physical challenge. It's probably why natural childbirth appealed to me too. Anyway, this winter I bought a mini-trampoline so I could start getting some exercise while it was too cold to get outside. It was a nice little warm up for me. But then I saw this:

(scroll down and pause player at bottom of page to view the video)

Now that's what I'm talking about! Guerrilla Cardio taken to a whole new level. The dvd's have been ordered. Game on!

Think Outside the Bun

2010-04-02T05:00:00.001-05:00

Another quick and easy meal. A high raw sandwich. These are romaine leaves layered with guacamole, raw cheese, mustard, grape tomatoes, shredded carrots, and raw sunflower seeds. Delicious! These are really filling and easy to customize with your own favorite raw toppings.

Happy Healthy Breakfast Recipe

2010-04-01T08:49:00.000-05:00

Let me start by saying that I am very picky about my raw food recipes. They must be easy to make and delicious or I am just not going to bother. (except for Juliano's raw carrot cake recipe, which is time consuming but soooo worth it!)

I finally have a raw breakfast cereal that fits my standards. I love it!

So do the girls...

She took the whole mixing bowl and finished it off!

I call this easy breakfast Blueberry Cereal. This is an adaptation of Marvelous Muesli from The Complete Book of Raw Food. Here is how I make it. Bear in mind, I don't typically measure anything - I eyeball it!

In mixing bowl, dice 1 apple and 1 banana. Mix in about 1/4 - 1/3 cup fresh or frozen blueberries. (the frozen turn the cereal a nice purple color as they defrost, which the girls enjoy) Add 1 or 2 handfuls of raisins. In food processor or high power blender chop 1 handful almonds and 1 handful walnuts. The almonds come out in small chunks and the walnuts come out finely chopped which makes a nice blend for the cereal. Stir well.

This makes enough for me and the girls for breakfast. For the whole family to enjoy for breakfast, I just add another 1/2 apple and banana and go a little heavier on the other ingredients. You could easily substitute other nuts or berries. Yummy and filling!

Born Again

2010-03-28T08:01:00.002-05:00

I was listening to the radio and this Third Day song came on. I love Third Day, and I love this song. It takes me back to my early thirties, those first giddy, heady years in love with the Lord. I remember clearly the first verse I ever highlighted in my Bible:

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" - 2 Corinthians 5:17

You can see by the joy on the faces of all these people being baptized, that as the song suggests, they feel like they are living for the very first time!

(scroll to bottom of page and pause the player to view the video)

Dean Ornish

2010-03-27T19:57:00.002-05:00

A lot of people are not familiar with Dean Ornish and his work, but he is a doctor who is having fantastic results reversing cardiovascular disease through a regimen of eating and exercise. He wrote a book called "Eat More, Weigh Less" which essentially advocates a low fat vegetarian diet.

This video will give you some startling facts. If you haven't figured out yet that the way we eat, a relatively new diet and lifestyle, is not health promoting, then hopefully this will help you see the light.

(turn off player at bottom of page before starting video)

A Blog Award; otherwise known as "Me, Really??"

2010-03-26T00:11:00.000-05:00

I am truly surprised and humbled to have been given a blog award. (You mean, someone actually reads this?! lol!) And the really funny thing is it came from Michelle over at Girl Gone Granola, a fellow "Chick with chicks" that I would readily have bestowed this award on myself. She definitely meets the qualifications for the Stiletto which are as follows:

I want to salute the women who balance life, family & relationships with style & class! Those women who share their experiences with us…who encourage us, inspire us, teach us, make us laugh and basically keep us going! You know who they are! While you read this blog, your family is looking at you wondering what the heck you are laughing about so hard…or why the tissue is necessary for internet browsing. It’s the one that the kids are excited about cuz a new post means a new craft project or family outing. The one that inspires you to be a better mom, friend, person in general. The one that reminds you that we are all “in this life together” and you’re not the only one going through the hard stuff. The one that you secretly wish your blog was like…

Part of receiving this award, is passing it along to deserving women bloggers. The "rules" say 5-10 others should be awarded, but I'm not much on rules of this sort. To me it's like those emails that you get and tell you that you have to forward this to 10 people in the next 15 minutes or you will wake up tomorrow looking like Shrek. I pretty much ignore those too. (and so far, I haven't turned into Shrek) Time to pass on this award to some other women out there who are inspiring me on a regular basis. I am passing along 3, count them 3, Stiletto awards.

First I have to bestow the Stiletto on Michawn at Michawn's Meanderings. Michawn and I first met in a Bradley Method birth class when I was pregnant with my first and she was pregnant with her second child. Since then, she and her family have gone on the mission field in Brazil. Michawn blogs about their life as missionaries, raising their four children, and shares great insights. And what would I ever do without my diva cup after she blogged about it and clued me in?! ;) Take the Stiletto and wear it proudly, friend!

Second I bestow the Stiletto on Katie for her blog The Journey. (and reading it will take you on one!) Katie is 20 years old and blogs about her life in Uganda as an adoptive mom to 14 girls and taking care of hundreds more. If you haven't read Katie's blog, then this is a good post to start with to get an overview of how she got where she is today. Getting a blog award is certainly the last concern on her mind, but given the criteria, there is no woman who deserves it more. God bless you, Katie, and all your girls!

Last but not least on my list is Courtney at Women Living Well. This blog is full of great biblically based encouragement for Christian women. I love her honesty and heart for God and I constantly am finding just what I need in her archives or latest post. I used to go to a bible study back in Arizona that was based on Titus 2:3-5, where the more experienced Christian ladies came alongside those of us still trying to figure it all out. To me, reading Courtney's blog is just like that - having a sister in Christ come along side with wisdom. Keep inspiring us, Courtney!

There you have it - three great blogs to check out - and 3 ministries to pray for. (I know the correct grammar would be "3 ministries for which to pray" so that I'm not ending a sentence in a preposition, but boy, doesn't that sound stuffy??) Read them, pray for them, and be blessed by them.

Reading Labels

2010-03-19T21:39:00.000-05:00

It is very important to read the labels on the food you buy. (I use the term "food" loosely here, and you will see why shortly) I don't want to take it for granted that everyone who stops by this blog knows how important it is to know what you are taking into your body. The whole point of eating is supposed to be to give your body the nutrients it needs to function and stay healthy. But we have transformed it into something else - a smorgasbord of sugar, salt, and chemicals to tantalize our tastebuds, and get us hooked like an addict to the very stuff that will ultimately harm us.

Just tonight I pulled out the coffee creamer that my husband keeps in the fridge. I was curious. Here's the ingredient list:

water
corn syrup
partially hydrogenated soybean & cottonseed oil
sodium caseinate
mono and diglycerides
sodium stearum
lactylate
dipotassium phosphate

Gag! I need to get some good raw milk and let hubby use the real cream for his coffee - that would actually be healthy for him. (other than I don't think coffee is good for you, but that's another topic)

Here is another comparison. I started buying a natural brand of peanut butter. You have to read the labels though. The last time I went looking for the natural peanut butter, several of the name brand peanut butters had a natural variety on the shelf, but the ingredient list was still long. Here's the comparison:

Natural peanut butter:
peanuts
salt

Jif Creamy peanut butter:
roasted peanuts
sugar
molasses
fully hydrogenated vegetable oils (rapeseed and soybean)
mono- and diglycerides
salt

So really, what would you rather eat? What would you want to feed your kids?

The labels are there - start reading them and know what you are really eating.

Global Food Market 101

2010-03-18T05:00:00.002-05:00

How to feed the world ? from Denis van Waerebeke on Vimeo.

In Memory of Rosie

2010-03-17T04:00:00.012-05:00

Back in my single days, I was living in Phoenix Arizona, working as VP of Finance of a nutrition company, and driving Rosie, my beautiful red convertible camaro Z28...

there she is... hiding behind those chickies dressed up for a night on the town.

What a great ride! I got to know several police officers during my ownership of Rosie, ha!

I have to tell you about one in particular. One morning I was driving to the gym before work. I had to be at work at seven which meant I had to be up at the crack of REM to get in a half hour run, a shower and still make it to work on time. Translation: nobody out on the roads yet.

Being Phoenix, the weather was warm even before the sun comes up, so the top was down and I was likely rocking out to Third Day or Zoey Girl. (Zoey Girl was great driving music and what I was listening to when I did the 1/4 mile drag strip at the Firebird Raceway in 13.8 seconds at 102 mph, my best time ever as I was banned from the track after that run... something about some silly rules requiring a roll bar on convertibles running the track in less than 14 seconds... but I digress)

I was sitting at a red light, which was really one of my favorite things with Rosie, because a red light means that I get to GO when it turns green. :) And I did. I always took off like a horse released from the gate at the race track...but I did carefully monitor my speed and hit the cruise control when I reached the speed limit, which was 40mph on this particular road. It was enough to make the car payments, insurance payments, and registration payments without adding speeding tickets to the mix.

Anyway, I had taken off and I noticed that there were headlights approaching rapidly from behind me. Turns out it was a cop, but I wasn't worried because I hadn't squealed my tires or gone over the speed limit, so I just ignored him. The cop had come up right behind me, then pulled into the right lane and came alongside Rosie. The police intercom clicks on and I am sitting there in that split second before he speaks wondering just what is going on, then the officer says, "Wanna race?" I was stunned. He shoots me a big smile and peals out.

And, no, I didn't race him!

Another great memory was Christmas of 2002. I was hanging with a great group of friends that we called "my people" as in,

"I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the LORD. They will be my people, and I will be their God, for they will return to me with all their heart." - Jeremiah 24:7

My people were going to be celebrating Christmas over at Steve's house, a popular hangout spot for us. I had arrived early in the day to help with the cooking, so I was there when Keith called with his unfortunate discovery. He had a flat tire. I volunteered to go pick him and his brother up and headed out in Rosie to do so. When I got there, Keith asked for a present from me - he said it would make his Christmas to drive Rosie back to Steve's house. No problem! I climbed in the back seat and let the men take the front seats. I will never forget that ride back! It was a beautiful sunny day, not a cloud in the sky, 70 degrees, top down, and I swear Keith drove 70 mph between stoplights! But I didn't care... I wouldn't be the one getting a ticket, so I just got to enjoy the ride. :)

Rosie eventually got traded in for the family sedan, and then the family sedan was traded in for the family minivan. But I will never trade in the memories of good times with Rosie.

You Gotta Kick the Sugar Habit!

2010-03-14T05:00:00.000-05:00

Americans eat way too much sugar. Besides the sugar we knowingly eat, it is in virtually all our processed foods these days. Go to your pantry and start reading labels. You will be surprised just how many of your food items include either sugar, fructose, corn syrup, or high fructose corn syrup. I know I flipped out when I actually looked at the ingredients on a jar of peanut butter. Here I thought it was a healthy thing to feed my kids! But it is loaded up with HFCS and so is the jelly that accompanies it in a traditional PB&J. Ugh!

Dr. Mercola once again has a great article about the dangers of fructose which I encourage you to read. But here are some highlights for you:

So a very important point is that if you take two animals and you feed one fructose and feed the other one the exact same number of calories but give it as dextrose or glucose, its only the fructose-fed animal that will develop obesity, insulin resistance, fatty liver, and high triglycerides, signs of inflammation, vascular disease, and high blood pressure.

Today, about 25 percent of all Americans consume over ½ pound of added sugars a day, according to Dr. Johnson's research. That kind of consumption equates to more than 180 pounds of sugar per year! And it just so happens this statistic dovetails nicely with the statistics showing that one in four Americans is either pre-diabetic or has type 2 diabetes.

Reducing sugar in your diet can be tough for some people. After all, sugar is just as addictive as cocaine!

I encourage you to read the article to learn about the safe level of fructose to ingest and healthy sweetener alternatives.

Peace, Love, Chicks

2010-03-13T09:25:00.000-06:00

With a Peep Peep Here and a Peep Peep There...

2010-03-12T09:36:00.000-06:00

With the arrival of warmer weather, a.k.a. spring, it was time to get chicks. I found a farm via craigslist that had Buff Orpingtons available as either day old or 2 wk old chicks. I wanted Buff Orpingtons because they are a good dual purpose bird, which means they are good at laying eggs and they produce good meat birds. Add to that the fact that they are a friendly breed and good brooders and they are my first choice for a chicken flock. Our last flock was a combo of the Buff Orpingtons and Silver laced Wyandottes. We were not fond of Randy the Wyandotte rooster other than as jambalaya. I am hoping the Orpington roosters are more friendly, especially knowing us from tiny chick to adult.

Anyway, we drove to Gladbrook Iowa yesterday, about 1 1/2 hours north, and picked up our order of 25 two week old chicks. We actually got 26 as he threw in an extra one with our order. The girls LOVE these little critters and had to hold one the whole way home in the car, fighting off sleep to keep cuddling their new treasures.

Here are the chicks in their brooder. I couldn't find my small waterer out in the barn, but an ice cube tray is working out very well.

It has worked out well that I had tore off the drywall and left up the studs. It gives me a place to hook on our heat lamps for the brooder.

The chicks trying to sleep.

The girls got up at 3am last night and came down to see the chicks. I got up and explained that it was the middle of the night and they had to go back to bed. They obediently went back to bed. (fortunately!) Then this morning, Trinity was the first one up. The first words out of her mouth to me were, "Now can I hold a chick?"

Angelina got up a little later and asked, "Mom, is it morning now?" I told her yes. "Can I hold a baby chick now?" Again, I told her yes. "I need to get a towel so it doesn't poop on me." Ah, yes. They learn quickly. :)

What Does it Mean to be a Christian?

2010-03-10T08:00:00.000-06:00

I got this in an email this morning and I loved these. Can I get an Amen?!

When I say that 'I am a Christian,' I am not shouting that 'I am clean living.'
I'm whispering, 'I was lost, but now I'm found and f-o-r-g-i-v-e-n!'

When I say 'I am a Christian,' I don't speak of this with pride.
I'm confessing that I stumble and need Christ to be my guide.

When I say 'I am a Christian,' I'm not trying to be strong.
I'm professing that I'm weak and need His strength to carry on.

When I say 'I am a Christian,' I'm not bragging of success.
I'm admitting I have failed and need God to clean up my mess.

When I say 'I am a Christian,' I'm not claiming to be perfect.
My flaws are farrrrrr to visible, but God believes I am worth it.

When I say 'I am a Christian,' I still feel the sting of pain.
I have my share of heartaches, so I call upon His name.

When I say 'I am a Christian,' I'm not "holier than thou,"
I'm just a simple sinner who has received God's good grace, somehow!

What does it mean to you when you say 'I am a Christian'?

Knowledge is Power

2010-03-09T05:00:00.001-06:00

Great resources given for educating yourself!

Changing the Way We Eat

2010-03-08T05:00:00.001-06:00

Well, it has been about 4 months since I went on a rampage about what we were eating as a family. It hasn't been easy and we still have a long way to go. But here are a couple key points I have learned through this process.

Being The Teacher has worked out better than being The Enforcer.

At first I just changed what I would make and everyone could eat it or go hungry. I had some hungry kids sometimes. It became a struggle at every meal to not let them eat what was now deemed unhealthy. Eventually I gave up. I cooked them meat. I gave them dairy. I just didn't have it in me to do the battle. But I did start really teaching them why mom was eating so differently. The word "healthy" became an everyday occurrence to describe a food choice. What has happened is that over time my kids are now picking up on the difference. Now they will ask me about different foods and if they are healthy or not. (since daddy still brings home "unhealthy" food choices) They still choose to eat unhealthy foods sometimes, but they are gravitating more and more to the healthy food. Nothing rocks my world like my daughter saying, "I don't want that - it's not healthy." :)

There can be a happy middle ground.

I saw on GreenSmoothieGirl a suggestion for getting kids to eat better. Make them eat a big plate full of salad first and then they can have whatever they want. Great suggestion! They are more likely to eat it knowing then they are free to choose their dinner. BUT, they are filled up with good raw veggies first, so less likely to eat too much of anything else... a big plus when that choice isn't healthy.

Now, if only dear hubby were as easily taught as the kids! Sad but true, most of us adults are so ingrained in our way of eating that it will take a health crisis so get us to change. Kids are our future though, and we just have to start taking accountability for what we are feeding them.

Here is a great video of Chef Ann Cooper, who is known as the Renegade Lunch Lady. She has a website where you can learn more and get involved in making meals better for kids at home and at school.

It's Time to Wake Up

2010-03-07T13:03:00.006-06:00

Did you ever see that movie with Julia Roberts, "Erin Brocovich?" There was that scene where she was talking to the mom about how the water was making them sick and the electric company knows all about it. At first she just didn't want to believe it. But then she has the wake up moment, and turns and looks at her kids splashing in the pool in the back yard. She immediately starts calling to them to get out of the pool.

Well, that is a great analogy to what is happening in our country right now. Last fall began my wake up call when I first read The China Study. It was the start down the path to learning just how bad our food system really has become in America. I am now faced with trying to pull my kids and husband out of the pool, so to speak, and help them understand why.

I am becoming more and more convinced that we need to change the way we view food in this country. The evidence is overwhelming and I am constantly posting things on Facebook about our food. Now I am going to start posting it here too. We, as a nation, need to have a wake up moment.

(scroll down and turn off the music player to view the video)

More Raw Cooking

2010-03-06T09:00:00.002-06:00

Is that an oxymoron? Or can cooking justifiably be applied to the creation of a meal or snack out of food regardless of whether heat is applied? Just something I was wondering...

Anyway, in my quest to stay motivated to eat healthy, I have signed up for a slew of health emails to be delivered to my inbox. This keeps me inundated with information to keep me on track. I currently am receiving emails from the following:

Renegade Health
Dr. Mercola
World's Healthiest Foods
Natural News
Raw Family
Former Fat Guy
Raw Mom
Dr. Fuhrman (author of Eat to Live)
Beautiful on Raw
Hallelujah Acres (this one has been a link to a daily online video during the 60 day challenge, which is almost over!)

I love having the information waiting for me everyday in my email. If anyone has other recommendations, I would love to know about them!

Sometimes if life is too busy, they just get deleted or put in a save folder to read later if it looks interesting or has a good recipe. One of these that I saved was from The World's Healthiest Foods. He sent out a recipe for 15-Minute Dark Chocolate Truffles. Here is the recipe:
Prep and Cook Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:

1/2 cup pitted prunes
1/4 cup pitted dates
3 TBS almond butter
1 TBS maple syrup
3 TBS unsweetened cocoa
1/2 cup finely grated unsweetened coconut

Directions:

In a food processor, drop the prunes and dates through the feed hole one by one. Scrape the processor bowl and run until the prunes and dates are smooth.
Add remaining ingredients except for the coconut. Run until smooth and scrape the processor bowl with a spatula as needed.
Roll the mixture into 12 one-inch balls and roll in coconut to coat. Refrigerate for at least 1/2 hour.

Makes 12 pieces

Well, sounded yummy to me and I had just bought prunes so I had all the necessary ingredients. We were on!

We just put the whole thing in the Blendtec and it whipped it up in no time at all. The girls loved helping to coat the balls in coconut. Our batch ended up making 24 little truffles. Our whole family liked them except for Angelina. That really surprised me because she is our little prune eater.

Funny side note: I found that out on a road trip back to Maryland a couple years ago. I had brought a big bag of mixed dried fruit for snacking on. Angelina was just a little one then, but boy, did she love them prunes! Unfortunately, too many prunes for a kid still in diapers is NOT a good combination. I could smell a diaper change was in order and pulled over at the next rest stop. Boy, did I have NO idea what was in store for me. It was a diaper explosion! I had to strip her completely bare and used up the rest of my wet wipes in the diaper bag getting her clean. Just an FYI for other moms out there. ;) It is funny looking back on it now, but was decidedly NOT funny then!

So back to the truffles. I did like the truffles, but I am not so sure that the long list of ingredients garnered that special of a taste or texture to go to that effort. They tasted very much like any of the chocolate treats I have whipped up before. Raw almond butter is very expensive to get unless you have a Trader Joe's nearby. (which I don't, boo-hoo!) So if I could make something equally good without it, that would be my preference. I probably won't make this particular recipe again. I usually just mix dates, walnuts, and raw chocolate to make a "raw brownie" and they taste almost identical to the recipe. I don't usually roll them in coconut, but that would definitely be an option. I also have done the same thing with raisins, walnuts, and raw chocolate for a "chocolate covered raisin" flavor.

Actually, I think this recipe ended up tasting very much like the raw bar recipe I posted on here.

On to the second raw recipe attempt.

I have read a lot of rave reviews on Kale chips, even seeing them referred to as Raw crack. Apparently, these are the addictive, can't stop eating them or even wait for them to finish dehydrating, raw version of potato chips. Now that Kale is showing up in the stores at reasonable prices, I was ready to give it a go.
I cleaned my kale and massaged in the oil and spices.

It sure looks yummy. There is a recipe for cheesy kale chips made with nutritional yeast, but I was too impatient to wait for my nutritional yeast order to arrive, so I plunged ahead without it. These kale pieces went on a pan and into the convection oven at 100 degrees.

My verdict was...

Do have an incredible potato chip like crunch? Yes!

Are they addictive? Not so much.

I did not like the flavor one bit. No one in the house liked them and a whole bunch of kale was wasted. A real shame. I am hesitant to try this one again, but I may try just a small batch of a cheesy kale recipe and see if that improves the flavor, because the crunch was indeed lovely.

So there you have it... 2 new raw recipes tried, and 2 recipes that won't be made again. I will continue searching to add to our repertoire of quick, easy, and delicious raw food.

Cookbook for Kids

2010-02-20T13:48:00.000-06:00

I think it was on Rawmoms that I saw one of the moms has created a cookbook for kids. I thought that was a great idea. But what I find with most cookbooks is that you only do a handful of recipes out of them and the rest just don't suit your family or tastes. So rather than invest in a cookbook I figure I will create one with the kids. We will only put in recipes that the kids love and that are easy enough for them to make. (or at least do most of it themselves!) I make the recipe with the kids, taking pictures of the various steps so that the cookbook will have pictures as well as written instructions on how to make each recipe.

Here is the first recipe that will be going in our kid cookbook. The idea behind this one comes from the chocolate syrup recipe from "Raw: The Uncookbook" by Juliano. He combines maple syrup, EVOO, and carob. I used to spread raw almond butter on pieces of banana, then drizzle with the chocolate sauce. Here is our new creation - nutty chocolate sauce.

Ingredients: Raw almond butter, Raw Chocolate Powder, 100% Pure Maple Syrup

Measure 1 cup of maple syrup into jar.

Stir in 1 Tbs raw chocolate

and 2 Tbs of raw almond butter.

Drizzle over banana slices and try to keep your kids fingers out of this yummy food!

I have also done this starting with the raw almond butter and adding raw chocolate and maple syrup until it makes a creamy fudge dip. Goes great with bananas, strawberries, and apple slices.

Lost My Bragging Rights

2010-02-08T08:42:00.000-06:00

Since David and I were married, everytime a vehicle had an accident or was damaged, it was because of dear hubby. I won't go into the long list (but it is looooong!) so as not to completely bash my poor husband. But it has almost been a point of bragging rights for me that I had never damaged our cars.

Until yesterday.

We were coming home from church and decided to cut through Norwalk so we could dumpster dive at the Fareway. Dumpster diving was a good decision as we got TONS of great produce - tons of cucumber, oranges, grapes and apples, potatoes, brocolli, green onions, and several shrink wrapped packages of peppers and onions already cut up and just begging to be made into fajitas.

Anyway, we decided to cut through the back roads to come home. The paved roads weren't bad at all. Then we turned on the dirt road to head to our little piece of countryside. It was so beautiful - snow packed roads, snow falling, driving through the woods - it always makes me think of that song:

"Over the river and thru the wood,
To grandfather's house we go;
The horse knows the way
To carry the sleigh,
Thru the white and drifted snow, oh!"

The road ends at a T where you can go right to the Banner shooting range, or left, over a little bridge, and the road continues. I put on the brakes extra early since everyone knows that driving in snow isn't a problem - it's stopping in snow that is a problem. Well, the brakes immediately went into their anti-lock vibrations, which I HATE! David insists that it would be worse without them, but you might as well just be sliding because you still can't stop the car with anti-lock brakes. I tried pumping them, but there was just no traction.

We lucked out that there has been so much snow that has not melted and more snow on top of that because instead of running off the road and into the creek, we plowed into, and half on top of, a big snowbank. I did take out the sign that told how much weight the bridge supported.

We also were lucky that the Banner shooting range was right there. A car came down and picked up David and brought him down to find someone with a 4 wheel drive. Then the 4 wheel drive came down and brought me and the girls to the main building so we could be warm while they located a tow strap and got the van pulled off the embankment. The guys at the shooting range were so nice. They gave all sorts of goodies to the girls while we waited - a camouflage drink holder, a Dept. of Natural Resources water bottle, and a duck call. What more could you ask for?!

Anyway, apparently we were the third vehicle that morning to plow into the embankment at the end of the road. When we drove out we could see where the other cars had ended up. That made me feel a little better about crashing the van. Also the fact that the car is okay. There is a only a little place on the bottom side of the bumper that got bent as the van was yanked off the embankment.

I had David drive the rest of the way home after that little adventure onto the snowbank. To further make me feel better, when we came to the first turn we could make to go home, David wasn't able to get the car slowed down in time to make the turn. So we went straight, veeeerrrry sloooooowly to the next turn and made that one. But if David had been faced with the end of a road like I had been, we would have been in the ditch again!

Hunting and Gathering

2010-02-02T21:58:00.000-06:00

Next week I have an appointment to meet with a WIC nutrition counselor so I can get our next round of checks. I am working on finding articles and research online that I can take to support my position on how I eat and what I choose to feed my kids. Now, I know life would be much simpler if I just sat there and regurgitated what I know they want to hear. But I suck at lying. So I am looking at this as a low level activist moment. Instead of the "nutritionist" educating me on how to feed my family, I will be educating the nutritionist.

Today I started making some copies of articles from Dr. Mercola's website about milk. That is obviously a big issue since the government standard is LOTS of milk for growing kids. So I copied information about how bad pasteurization is on milk and why raw milk is the one that does a body good. (currently illegal to buy in my state, though they are working on passing legislation to change that- hooray!)

I also am researching the links between big pharma, big agribusiness and federal positions that are supposed to be protecting us from those businesses. I want to have a list of all the people that have transitioned from one to the other, thus showing how the reality is our best interests are not being served by the federal oversight.

The next information that I wanted was relating to the information from The China Study showing the irrefutable link between casein and cancer. This got me thinking....I wonder what the Mercola website has to say about that. I have been finding lots of great information there lately so thought I would check it out, hoping that it would validate the science.

I was shocked when the search did indeed turn up an article with the title:

"Why the China Study is Flawed."

Rats!

But, then I read the article, and the flaw is not one that I think will make a big difference for most people. Dr. Mercola's issue with the study is that it does not differentiate between raw and cooked animal proteins. His position is that we need some animal products in our diet and that the harmful effects come only after cooking them. (that would be pasteurization of dairy) He actually eats raw ostrich several times a week. Anyone up for that?! (bleh! says I, but then I have had steak tartar, so I guess not much different)

I also find it interesting that lately in the raw food world, a couple of the big names have come out and spread the word that they are not 100% raw anymore. Paul Nison came out that he occasionally has raw goats milk and even the green smoothie inventor herself, Victorio Boutenko, has added cooked food to her diet.

Back when I was 100% raw, I would eat raw cheese. I would grate it on my salads, use it in raw sandwiches, and eat it with apple slices. For most in the raw world, that is taboo. Vegan is the only way. But I was incredibly healthy even with my cheese.

So what does all this have to do with each other?? I guess to me it is just validating the importance of a mostly raw and mostly vegan diet. This would fit with both Dr. Campbell and Dr. Mercola's position on animal protein.

Back to the hunting and gathering. I want to have a nice stack of information to present come next Monday. :)

So Much Going On!

2010-01-15T20:45:00.000-06:00

I hardly know where to start to catch up. Hmmm..

1. I got a job. Hooray! I will be doing some basic bookkeeping and payroll for a small company on the other side of Des Moines. It is just 5 hours a week and I will be working on Monday while David is home to watch the kids. Perfect!

2. The girls and I went "shopping" at Helping Hands the other day (a free thrift store) and they had cases of bananas available. I think I must have taken about 10 bunches of bananas! I am going to freeze most of them and they will be great in green smoothies with fresh fruit this summer - yum! I also picked up a nice pair of shoes for wearing to work and some more tops that will be nice too. Didn't see any pants there though - that's a bit of a bummer since I only have one pair of dress slacks. I didn't ask about dress code, but it is just two ladies that run the place and one of them was wearing jeans. I won't even be having any customer contact so I probably can get away with nice jeans too. I will wear my slacks the first week and get that clarified.

Anyway, I am pretty excited about having a day where I get to take a break from being mommy, make a little extra money for us, and get to rub some brain cells together. :)

3. I don't think I remembered to post the good news that we managed to get our house refinanced. It was crazy! We actually have a Freddie Mac loan so we qualified to do a stated income (which means no verification) refinance with only $400 up front. But, somehow, only my name is on the mortgage. So I had to be employed in order to qualify. Yikes! This was back in November we were trying to pull this together. Anyway, I discovered that I could be self-employed if I had a business license that I could fax them to verify the business. Well, I still have the license I was given to run my consignment business from back in 2008, so we were able to get refinanced based on that. Guess that made my one-shot wonder sale worth it! We will be saving $175/month on our mortgage payment.

4. Thursday morning was my weigh in for week one of the Hallelujah Acres 60 day challenge. I have lost 4 pounds already. Feeling pretty good about that! I now weigh as much as I did when we left Arizona. 10 pounds down, 30 to go - sheesh! But I am not worried about it. I am focused on getting healthy and weight loss is a natural by-product.

As well as loving my green smoothies (and so are the girls) I am completely used to the idea of having a big salad at lunch and dinner. That was the part that I was most worried about incorporating. We think nothing of eating meat at 2 out of 3 meals (or 3 out of 3 meals!) but having salad twice is like, what?? I already ate a salad today! I think what helps is that I don't feel compelled to keep it completely raw since the goal is 85% raw, so I can create variations to keep it interesting. Example: I put some black beans and spanish rice on my salad and make a salsa vinaigrette - a mexican salad. :) But I am also just finding that my tastes are starting to make the switch over to enjoying the fresh, raw food better than the cooked food.

I really love the daily inspiration they email each day and also becoming a fan on Facebook was great. More great tips are posted there. I literally have signed up for so many raw and health emails that I am constantly getting something in my mailbox to keep me focused and on track!

Well, I will end with an inspirational video. This lady is a raw foodist and a great example of what live foods can do for you. :)

Odds 'n Ends

2010-01-11T22:22:00.002-06:00

Tea time

Trinity set up a "tea" in the living room. It was cute to see her selection of food for this little get together:
bananas
salad
raw trail mix
grape tomatoes (which Angelina obliterated and begged for more - she is a tomato freak!)
cheerios

Not a bad spread. Good healthy choices. (like there's much else to pick from these days in our house!) Then daddy shows up after making a dumpster diving run with 3 bags of sweet and salty chex mix and they were happily munching on garbage food again.

Rite of Passage

So Trinity took advantage of me being on the phone with a long lost girlfriend to get into trouble. She cut her hair. Very sad, although probably much needed. Her long hair was just getting beyond my ability and her patience to keep tangle free.

Now the girls are all tucked into bed and so are their babies, at the top of the stair.

It's off to bed for me too. No more up til crazy hours on the internet for me!

Oh, yeah. I dropped 3 pounds since starting the Hallelujah Acres 60 day challenge last Thursday. Two of those were pounds I found over the holidays. But the other one pound was very significant for me. It dropped me down into a weight range I haven't seen since Arizona. Hooray! I have to say, I am totally loving the green smoothies. My cravings for sweets and garbage food are gone and I am having no problems with avoiding foods that aren't good for me. I only had one green smoothie today though. I need to make a larger quantity tomorrow morning so I will have more for later in the day. The girls drank up all my smoothie this morning, but I'm not complaining! How else do you get raw collard greens in a 3 and 5 year old?!

Unschooling is Going On

2010-01-09T20:30:00.000-06:00

I have to admit, that there are days when I worry about unschooling. My type A, determined, organized half starts fretting and wondering if I was wise to allow my laid back, adventurous, spontaneous side to win in the battle of deciding how to homeschool our children. There is still part of me that wants to not only keep up with the Jones' but also have my kids outperforming their counterparts.

When I was researching various curriculum's initially, one that really stood out to me was the Charlotte Mason method. I loved a lot of aspects of her teaching method - copy work, nature journal, lots of outdoor time, learning from great literature. One thing I remember reading was her distinction to NOT school until the age of six, but allow children to be children up to that point. They will be learning, but not to sit down and do lessons with them before that age.

This is what I am attempting to do. I have to fight off the urge to "do school" with the girls and allow them to enjoy their childhood free from mom pressuring them to be outstanding at an early age - ha! Don't we all just want our kids to be the smartest, cutest, most inventive, creative kid that ever was? It is really hard to sit back and just let them be.

But to my amazement (and delight) the unschooling thing is actually working itself out. Trinity has taken up copy work all on her own volition. It started with a little diary that she bought for herself last summer at a yard sale with money she had made at a lemonade stand. She loved to draw pictures in that diary and was so proud of it. One day she came to show me her latest drawing, only to my surprise, the page was covered in letters. At the top of each page the name of the month was printed, and she was copying the letters. Soon she progressed to asking me to write something and then she would practice it herself. Lately, it has been a small pocket sized New Testament from which she has been copying.

Mommy is breathing a big ol' sigh of relief!
My kid really is going to learn to read and write and do math. It will happen!

Raw Oatmeal

2010-01-07T20:47:00.002-06:00

Today was day one of the 60 day challenge at Hallelujah Acres. So I started my day with raw oatmeal. (for me this is a challenge to be on a high raw diet more than following the specific guidelines of HA) I thought I would share this recipe because it is easy and delicious - two qualities that I love in a raw food dish. :)

I start with steel cut oats. Before going to bed, I put 1/2 cup of the oats in my liquid measuring cup, put 8 dates in, then add water to more than cover it all. With this amount, a single serving, I filled to 1 1/2 cup line and there was still plenty of water left in the morning. Drain the excess water. If you want warm oatmeal, just run hot water over the oats while in the strainer. If you don't want to have to drain it, then just cover with water. You shouldn't have much if any excess by morning with that amount.

Put the oats and dates into a food processor. Add a few sprinkles of cinnamon and a dash of nutmeg. Process...

Remove from the processor and stir in a handful of raisins and chopped raw pecans. Eat it up. Yummmmm!

To celebrate the beginning of my new era of health (always the optimist, I am) here is a video of the author of The China Study giving a talk in which he basically summarizes the book and info. "Main Finding - The richer the diet is in the kind and amount of nutrients provided by plant-based foods, the lower is the risk for chronic degenerative diseases."

The Best Valentine You Could Ever Give

2010-01-06T09:49:00.000-06:00

I heard the coolest idea today on the radio. I was listening to Klove and they are starting The Love Dare today. If you aren't familiar with The Love Dare it was the central feature in the movie Fireproof. The idea is that over the course of 40 days, you read one page a day. Each day you are given one "tool" to implement in your marriage, to strengthen it. The book is essentially daring you to truly show love to your spouse in a biblical way.

As of today it is 40 days until Valentine's day. Each day they will be posting the next step in The Love Dare on their blog. If you get on board today, you too can give your spouse the best Valentine gift ever - 40 days of unconditional love right up to the big day.

I'm in! How about you??

Klove Blog

Hmmmm... really want this dvd.....

2010-01-01T15:06:00.000-06:00

(note: scroll down and turn off player before viewing videos)

Home Made Raw Bars

2009-12-31T21:00:00.003-06:00

I always loved Larabars and we used to buy them by the case at Costco where the cost broke down to only $1.25 each. (a bargain compared to other retailers at $2 a bar)

If you have ever read the ingredient list on one of them, it is fairly simple. Here is the ingredient list for their Chocolate Coconut bar:
Dates
Almonds
Walnuts
Unsweetened Coconut
Unsweetened Cocoa Powder

I thought, heck, I have all those ingredients. I should try and make my own. So I did.

They came out really good - totally yummy. Hubby said they are better than Larabar. Score!

Here is the recipe:
1 1/2 cups dates
1/4 cup almonds
1/4 cup walnuts
very full 1/4 cup of unsweetened coconut flakes (I will be doubling the coconut in the next batch - not 'coconutty' enough for my taste)
4 Tbs. Navitas Naturals Raw Chocolate Powder

Put all ingredients in food processor. Put a sheet of plastic wrap over the container before putting the lid back on. This will keep the powder from shooting out the seams when you process it. Process until the mixture starts to clump together on its own. Take a muffin tin and first put in a square of plastic wrap. Then press approximately 2 heaping tablespoons of the mix into the tin and press down flat. Fold the remaining plastic wrap over the top of the bar. This made 6 bars or treats, as I called them, since I opted not to do a bar shape. Fill all the muffin wells and then put in the refrigerator to set. Once they have set up, you can remove them from the tin and they are all wrapped up and ready to go! I am keeping them in the fridge to keep them fresh.

Happy New Year!

Christmas in Pictures

2009-12-30T21:22:00.000-06:00

Ready....

Going through the stocking

Angelina was meticulous about throwing away each piece of paper.

Time for sledding

Daddy goes solo

Mmmmm.....snow

Cold Toes

2009-12-30T08:29:00.002-06:00

I think the green smoothies have been giving me more get up and go. Yesterday, after freezing my toes off in the kitchen, I decided it was high time for the wall between the living area and the kitchen to come down. All we have is one little doorway to let any warm air come in from the corn stove and you can feel the difference when you walk through - from warm and toasty to cold. This is only exacerbated by the arctic air coming our way this week.

So I got out the hammer and chisel and went to work.

I thought we had plaster walls, but to my great delight, it is only sheetrock after all.

The kids were very into cleaning up. In fact, if I started to clean up, they would freak out and tell me that they were doing it. Okay... who am I to get in the way of kids wanting to clean?!

Trinity took a turn at pounding down the wall.

(Girl Gone Granola - recognize the pants on Trinity?! They fit her perfectly and sooo cute! Thanks again!)

Heeeeeeeere's Amy!

All work and no play makes Amy a dull girl! ;)

We have an opening!

Not only is it warmer in the kitchen now, but I love being able to see through that area. I think our house will feel larger with the wall opened up. The next decision will be if we want to continue the trend and remove the wall that makes the hallway down to the bathroom and bedroom. I am leaning towards doing it as I see how nice it is to have the kitchen open. It would be nice not to have a frigid toilet to sit on in the winter too.

May have to wait to do that project though. We just can only do so much at a time since I don't have any way to dispose of the rubble except in our trash can!

Well, more wall needs to come down today... best be at it!

Snippets of my Day

2009-12-28T23:09:00.001-06:00

1st Green Smoothies

We bought a large bag of spinach, collard greens, and mustard greens today and I made green smoothies. The girls love fruit smoothies and green juice, so getting them to drink a green smoothie was a no brainer. They loved it and came back for more. :)

Since I don't have a fancy blender, I was a little worried about it not blending well enough. But it did just fine. I guess that is what the "liquify" button is for. *duh* Here is what I used today:

2 big handfuls spinach
1 large handful collard greens
1 large handful mustard greens
juice from 5 apples
1 frozen banana
9 or 10 frozen strawberries
frozen blueberries (didn't measure, just poured in on top)
1 stevia packet
1 Tbs ground flax seed

First I put in half the greens with apple juice, blended, added the rest of greens and blended.
At this point I had an almost full blender.
I added the banana, a few strawberries and a bit of blueberries and blended again.
Then I poured half out into a cup so I would have more blending room. I added more berries and blended. This had a nice purple color to it and is what I filled up the girls glasses with.
Then I poured the rest of the green juice back in, remembered the stevia and flax seed, and blended once more.

This is what David and I drank. (and the girls when they wanted more - I think they just liked having green moustaches!) It was actually even more delicious than a regular fruit smoothie, in my opinion. Something so incredibly fresh tasting about it and even a hint of spicy flavor - must be one of those greens. Really a delicious combination. Essentially, this was my lunch because I just ended up being too busy to eat and I didn't feel hungry and felt good. I'm looking forward to making these a regular part of our diet!

Winter Gardening

I got a second seed catalog in the mail and decided to turn it into a craft for the girls. I taped together sheets of brown construction paper and gave them to the girls to be their garden plots. (except for Trinity had to have one brown sheet and one black sheet - you can't fool that girl - she's seen Iowa dirt! lol!) Then they each got a catalog to cut out pictures of veggies, fruits, and flowers to plant in their gardens. They had the best time and have beautiful gardens. :)

Corn

We were almost out of corn, so our neighbor graciously made another run to the elevator with his pickup. This time we got a smidge over a ton of corn. We had to be creative to come up with enough containers to hold all the corn! David started out in the back of the pickup filling up containers, but we quickly figured out I couldn't muscle the bags out that he was filling. (supposed to be 50# each, but he filled them waaaay higher and since they are open at the top, you can't just heave them over your shoulder) So I took over filling bags and containers and he hauled bags into the basement and checked in on the kids regularly.

Near the end of the bagging, I gave my back a break and stood up for a stretch. I was wishing I had my camera. The sun was almost down and the sunset was a beautiful contrast to the snow covered world. There is something so peaceful about a world blanketed with white. I just enjoyed the crisp breeze and appreciated how good it felt to be working hard to provide us with the means to heat our home. There is something that just feels right in my soul when I am working up a sweat actually doing something vs. exercising for the sake of exercising. It didn't matter that it was less than 20 degrees out. It was soul work.

Wanna Winna Wild Bar?

2009-12-28T12:00:00.001-06:00

These sound like they would be really good for you. According to Chocolate-Covered Katie, they are also really tasty.

And, you can try to win some by going here. Bonus! I know I'm hoping I win a case of these. What a great treat that would be!

Getting Geared Up For the New Year

2009-12-27T19:53:00.094-06:00

Okay, so over the holiday weekend I talked with my brother and sister-in-law. I knew from talking with my mom that they were eating vegetarian and raw foods so thought I would find out what was going on for myself. I had a great time talking with them both and especially found inspiration from my SIL in how well she has managed to stick to a high raw diet. Kudo's Sharon! I know how hard it is to feed a family that may or may not be completely on the same page with you in what they want to eat.

At least my girls are young enough that I still control what they eat. It is just a matter of weaning them off of the unhealthy stuff. I am trying to educate them so that they will understand why mommy is making different choices for our meals. I may be creating little monsters out of them as last week when I was in Walmart, they were loudly chanting, in unison, "Fruit Loops are not healthy, Fruit Loops are not healthy, Fruit Loops are not healthy!"

Anyway, back to my inspirational siblings. One of the books that my SIL had brought home from the library that got my brother fired up was a book by George Malkmus. He is the guy responsible for the Hallelujah diet which I had heard of back when I was a raw foodist. So I decided to check the site out again, as I am in that search mode - looking for whatever will inspire me and educate me so that I will stick to eating healthy. (and stay away from the lifetime supply of krispy kremes in the basement!)

As luck would have it, they are starting a 60 day challenge on January 7th to do their diet program. I looked over the basics and it is extremely similar to the Fit For Life, Not Fat For Life principles that I wrote about back in 2007. You can read all about the hallelujah diet here but here are the basics:

85% raw, uncooked, unprocessed food

15% cooked

Breakfast - Barley Max

Mid morning - fresh vegetable juice or piece of fruit

Lunch - another serving of Barley Max, followed by a vegetable salad

Mid afternoon - fresh vegetable juice or raw veggies

Dinner - first a serving of Barley Max, then a LARGE salad, followed by cooked vegan whole foods if desired

Evening - fruit or fruit juice

This reminds me so much of FFL principles - eating at least 50% raw food, nothing but fruit til noon, making a big salad the first part of a meal so you won't eat so much cooked food - all great tips to reduce cooked food from your diet. I signed up to participate in the 60 day challenge even though I know I will not do it exactly as written. For one, I am not buying Barley Max. Barley Max is no doubt a great product, as it is a blend of raw organic alfalfa and barley which are highly nutritional. But I will make my own green smoothies and fill them with a variety of greens that are also highly nutritional and not widely eaten. At the very least I can be inspired and have the accountability and support through their program. I'm gettin' excited!

I may even get David to eat better. I showed him this video from Green Smoothie Girl's website.

(note: scroll down and pause the music player at the bottom of the page before playing video)

He said he would drink a green smoothie every day if he could have meat.

He hasn't quite gotten it yet. But if I can keep this up, hopefully he will get on board as he sees the changes it is making for me. Plus, I was re-reading some of my entries back in 2007 and he totally feels better when he is eating raw. It is just the need to make it easier for him to eat raw foods and he will do it. Green smoothies is a good place to start. :)

Anyone else game for a 60 day challenge?

Reality Check

2009-12-26T19:40:00.000-06:00

You know, when you read other people's blogs you get this mental image of what their life is like. Typically, almost an idyllic image filled with good times, happy children... perfection wrapped up in a bow. Let me shatter that image right now. My life is mostly chaos, punctuated by moments that transcend into spheres of normalcy, and those are the moments that get blogged.

Here is a reality check of what my day to day life is really like.

Hubby went off to work today and it was me and the kids, as usual, snowbound in the house. After lunch, I fell asleep on the couch. I should have known better than to get horizontal - I have been in a constant state of sleep deprivation since having kids, so sleep overtook me. Anyone with kids knows you don't fall asleep on duty.

I woke up to Angelina standing in front of me, whining. Probably for juice, but I was just waking up so I'm not sure. But what I noticed was this chunky wet mess all down her shirt and pants. "Oh, my gosh - she's thrown up all over herself," I'm thinking. Nope. The kids set me straight on that one right away.

"She didn't throw up," says Trinity. "We were making an experiment."

A mother's worst nightmare. Those are not words you want to hear. Well I'm off and running... into the kitchen to get a rag and clean up Angelina. That's where I notice that all of the bananas that were hanging on their stand on the counter are now gone. My heart sinks. An entire bunch of bananas - gone.

I would like to say that I handled the situation calmly and firmly and that I would make SuperNanny proud.

But I would be lying.

I wigged out. It wasn't pretty. By the time I found their experiment (upstairs in the playroom - they needed their play kitchen, don't you know) I was practically in hysterics. It ended up with me collapsed on the kitchen floor crying. Not my proudest moment as a mom, but this is my reality. And sometimes I just can't deal with it.

So here is the final ingredient list on their cooking experiment:

6 bananas, mashed (that I just bought with our WIC check)
a quarter a bottle of Extra Virgin Olive Oil (for some reason, they actually spared me some evoo, but they did leave a paint brush in the bottle that I can't get out)
almost an entire bottle of pancake syrup
1 package tapioca
1 package vanilla pudding
1 8 oz bottle yellow mustard

Right up until the mustard, you could almost salvage the mush to use in a bread or muffin recipe. But the yellow mustard killed that.

These are the days that make me feel like a failure as a mother.
Ever been there?

Here's hoping your day after Christmas was better than mine!

It's Christmas!

2009-12-25T05:30:00.001-06:00

Is Santa Real?

2009-12-24T05:00:00.172-06:00

This has been a very different Christmas season for us. It started with our last paycheck before Christmas being significantly short to our budget thanks to a couple of sick days which didn't get paid and Thanksgiving, which also didn't get paid. I don't think we have ever been more broke, financially.

I have been wanting to "live slower" - a lifestyle of consumerism rejection. Trying to find ways other than spending money to meet your needs. Dumpster diving, no shampoo, family wipes are all a part of this shift in life choices. It seems fortune (or misfortune) is helping to force this paradigm shift in our lives.

Then Christmas rolls around and I have young children - still in that small window of time where Santa is real and Christmas morning is magical - and I start to experience a small symphony of emotions. It starts with sadness - that my kids will realize Santa isn't real this year. Then a smattering of self-pity - that I can't give them all the things I would like to. Then it moves on to nostalgia - thinking back on years past, the excitement of their little voices calling out, "Mommy! Daddy! Get up! Get up! Santa's been here!" And finally, I settle into determination - accepting our circumstances and ready to make the most of what we have and continue in the pursuit of a non-consumer Merry Christmas.

After all, we are truly blessed. We have all the food we could want, a warm home to protect against the cold, and a job - something many in our country are without this Christmas. And I'm selfishly thinking about my own lack of "things" to give my kids?? It shouldn't be about the things at all. It's supposed to be about the birth of Jesus. The birth of my Saviour, my King, my Lord. The keeper of my every breath. The One who loves me with an unconditional love. A love so big that He would be born for the very task of dying for me.

That puts it back in perspective.

So off I go on the Saturday before Christmas to the free-store in Indianola. It is a thrift store where everything is free. We already have a wooden doll house to give the girls, which was given to us by Grandma Mary when we moved from Arizona, to give them whenever we saw fit. This Christmas they are both old enough. But I am hoping to sneak a few stocking stuffer type toys into my bag while the girls are otherwise occupied rummaging through the toy bins to round out the Christmas morning experience.

God is smiling on me as I find some great little stocking stuffers that will also be great companion pieces to the dollhouse. Plus I get a battery powered guitar for Trinity and a set of nice, wooden bongo drums for Angelina, and a princess teapot so they can have a proper tea. My heart is warmed at the thought of their delight come Christmas morning. So much so, that it doesn't pain me in the least to tell them we don't have the money to buy all the gimmicky Christmas stuff on display when we go in to Walmart to cash in a couple of our WIC checks.

But God isn't done yet. (But God.... such a familiar phrase for Bible readers!)
David calls that afternoon to let me know he is done with his last job and coming home. He says, "you won't believe what this customer gave me for the girls." Hard to guess. He comes home with all sorts of things that customers give him while he is there to set up their Dish Network - bags of garden produce, bottles of ketchup, candles, health drinks, apples, jeans, wine, home made jerky... all of these and more I can't even think of right now have all been gifted.

He tells me and I'm speechless. Are you kidding me?!? When David gets home I sneak out to the garage to take a look. We were given one of these:

It looks to be almost new.... certainly in great condition. I just look up and say, "God, are you laughing at me?! O, ye of little faith and all that?"

Then my friend Cheryl stops by that evening with a couple of presents for the girls.

Then we get a package from my Aunt Cookie full of gifts - one being an electronic keyboard complete with a large supply of extra batteries. God is really getting a good laugh now since I was wondering how I was going to get batteries for the guitar for Trinity. "Don't worry," He says, "they are on the way along with a keyboard to round out your musical Christmas!"

I started out worrying about having enough for the girls come Christmas day.
I ended up worrying about the girls getting too much come Christmas day!

And this is such a perfect example of how God works. Did he fix everything in my life? No. We still have a broken water pipe, a broken garage door, and broken teeth. But did he take care of the things that were weighing most heavily on my heart? Yes.

It's His way of reminding me, gently and lovingly, that indeed He is in control of all our circumstances and is with me through them all.

So when Trinity asks me if Santa is real, I know exactly what to tell her. The conversation goes like this:

Trinity: Mom, is Santa real?

Me: Santa is real like Dora is real, and like Elmo is real and like Sponge Bob is real.

Trinity: The song says that Santa only brings presents to kids who aren't naughty. And I've been naughty.

Me: Would you like to know a secret about Santa? It isn't Santa that provides the gifts. It's Jesus. And when Jesus was born, He came to bring us mercy. Mercy is when we don't get what we deserve. So even though you were naughty, Jesus forgives you, and will still bring you gifts. Just remember, when you find gifts under the tree on Christmas morning, they all came from Jesus.

And that is the truth!

My Cuties

2009-12-21T20:51:00.000-06:00

Time for some gratuitous pics of the grandkids. :)

The girls dressed up for "Christmas" Sunday. Daddy did their hair for them before we went to church. They looked lovely.... for about 15 minutes! Ha!

Now if I could just understand why this picture looks like this, while the one snapped right after it is crystal clear... such a bummer 'cause Angelina is looking like quite the cupie doll in this shot. (though I could live without the pucker up from Trinity!)

We Got an Early Christmas Present from God

2009-12-20T22:13:00.002-06:00

David is really getting into this diving for food now. He hit up one store on the way home from work yesterday and had an excellent score for right before the holidays:

2 really nice cauliflowers (now I can go ahead and toss the not so nice ones we picked up earlier this week)
3 perfect heads of lettuce (iceberg is not my fav, but I have been adding it to the slaw mix we picked up and it makes a great salad base)
1 package broccoli (still completely sealed)

4 cucumbers (2 will be for juicing as they are a little past firm)

2 sealed containers of salsa

5 boxes of gourmet cookies (sell by date, that day - 3 boxes Oatmeal/Cranberry, 2 boxes Peanut Butter/Peanuts/Chocolate Chunks - omg! too delish!)

Then today we hit a few dumpsters on the way home from church. We went back by Krispy Kreme where we picked up a lifetime supply (ha!) and then we saw Bruegger's Bagels just down the road so checked out their trash. We got 4 packages of "Last night's Bagels" - yummy! Another grocery store stop netted us a stash of sweet potatoes, 3 dozen eggs, 2 bottles of Ocean Spray cranberry juice, 4 boxes of Breakfast cookies, 2 bananas, 2 containers of sour cream dip, and more apples and tomatoes.

All I can say is we have got to stop hitting the dumpsters because we have SOOOOO MUCH FOOD!

BUT, let's not forget the piece de' resistance - the early Christmas present. We decided to stop and check the dumpter by the little grocer in our home town. I hopped out of the car, climbed up on a pile of snow so I could look in, lifted the lid and peered over the side. Then I stood there for several moments, stunned. I was looking at a vacuum cleaner. This was truly a gift from God because it was laying on top - hadn't had food dumped all over it - and works perfectly. Ours died some time ago and we just have not been able to replace it. I finally just rolled up our area rug in the living room since we couldn't vacuum it and have been just sweeping with a broom. (like the good ol' days :) What a blessing to fill our need with an unexpected find in the trash!

God is Good!

A Happy Discovery

2009-12-19T07:00:00.003-06:00

Since we had found all those mangoes from last weeks dumpster diving adventure, I decided we should make a smoothie. I peeled and chopped up all the mangoes - 2 went into the blender, and the rest into the freezer for future smoothies.

We also put about a banana and a half in the blender. (frozen from long ago when Aldi's had a big table of very ripe bananas on sale for like 10cents a pound) Here Trinity is juicing some apples and a couple carrots for our liquid. The girls love to help make smoothies.

The mango smoothies were delicious! Got me wanting more fresh stuff. So the next day we made carrot/apple juice with 1/2 lemon squeezed in. We juiced the carrots first and as I watched the gorgeous carrot pulp coming out into our discard bowl, I had an idea. I had just tried out a muffin recipe earlier this week using up some old bananas in the fridge to make banana nut muffins. I thought, heck...why not use the carrot pulp and make carrot muffins?

So that is what I did. I added the carrot pulp (from 7 carrots) raisins, cinnamon, nutmeg, and chopped walnuts to the basic muffin recipe from The Vegetarian Family Cookbook.

Hubby says these are the best muffins I ever made. Wow! Guess I'll be making them again!

I also decided to use up some of the Rice Krispies that we have since the kids are not big fans of it as a cereal to eat. This is a vegan Krispies treat. Here is the recipe:

1 cup pancake syrup (recipes generally call for corn syrup, but this was in my pantry from the food bank and is mostly corn syrup - worked just fine)

1 cup sugar

1 cup peanut butter

3/4 cup Navitas Naturals Raw Chocolate Powder

8 cups Rice Krispies type cereal

Heat the first 3 ingredients together in a large pot until combined. Stir in chocolate powder. Remove from heat and stir in cereal until thoroughly coated. Spread in 9x13 pan and put in refrigerator to cool and set the treats.

Then, enjoy these delicious, chocolatey, peanut buttery, not good for you but oh, so delicious treats!

Follow up note: Having had my awakening about the serious issue with our food supply here in America, I can not leave this recipe without adding my two cents. First, I wouldn't ever make these again for my kids. There isn't any way to make this healthy. Yes, you could use real maple syrup, raw nut butter and organic cane sugar to make it healthier. But you still are using Rice Krispies cereal and there is nothing healthy about those. Better to just make some raw chocolate treats (click on raw chocolate in the topic cloud) and get your kids off the high sugar/processed foods.

The Agony of the Wait!

2009-12-18T07:00:00.001-06:00

I can't wait to see this! How fascinating to see four different cultures through the lens of the first year in the life of babies. My girls love watching this trailer over and over and over....

The Princess and the Frog

2009-12-17T07:00:00.004-06:00

No, this isn't a review, as we don't go see movies in the theater unless it's during the special free movies that happen around here occasionally. Rather this is a trip down memory lane as one of my friends from highschool landed the role of Louis in the upcoming Princess and the Frog.

His name is Michael-Leon Wooley, but we all affectionately called him Wooley Bear. Why? Because he is a big, sweet guy - like a big teddy bear. :)

Anyone who knows me, knows that I have a horrible memory. Recalling hilarious highschool stories just isn't my forte' because I simply don't remember much. But I do actually remember one infamous night that involved Wooley Bear.

Here's that lovable lug!

It was the summer after I graduated from highschool. I was 18 and (I'm sorry to say) had just discovered alcohol. At that time, eighteen was the legal drinking age in Washington D.C. and I lived in the suburbs. So getting something to drink was just a quick trip across state lines.

So one fine night, myself, Wooley Bear and my friend Cindy got ahold of some liquor and headed over to Foxhill Park to drink. I seem to recall a 6-pack of Mt. Dew (my fav!) so Cindy and I were probably making some disgusting version of a wine cooler with the soda as a base. (gag!) But when you are eighteen and unsophisticated, it just doesn't matter, eh? Wooley Bear, older and a bit more sophisticated, was drinking something harder for sure - not our pansy little Mt. Dew coolers.

Anyway, we had set ourselves down on a bench next to one of the baseball fields and were drinking and talking and laughing. We noticed a cop pull into the parking lot of the park. Now we hadn't been foolish enough to park there because the park is closed at dark. We parked at the highschool next to the park and walked over. But, someone else had parked in the lot and the cop put it's big floodlights on it. Apparently, whoever had parked there had moseyed off to some other area of the park and the cop decided to try and find them. To our horror, the cop car started driving around the perimeter of the far baseball field and then started our direction.

"Run!!"

We couldn't carry all our sodas and drinks so we shoved them under the park bench and headed for the nearby woods. Now you have to remember, it's night, and there are no lights. I started running through the woods, in the direction of the school. I seem to remember losing my shoe at one point and then suddenly, a massive sticker bush was blocking my escape.

I didn't have much time to figure out a way out of this predicament as Wooley Bear was right behind me. He started pushing me forward yelling, "Go! Go! Go! Go!" You have to remember, he is a big guy! He literally just used me as a human shield to tear through the sticker bush.

I finally managed to peep out, "stickers!"

I don't actually remember extricating myself, or what happened with the cop car. (I don't think it ended up coming all the way down to the end where we were) What I do remember was standing under the lightpost in the school parking lot and looking down at myself. I was covered with little bloody scratches all over my arms and legs. I looked like a victim of a bad piranha movie.

I also remember going home to get cleaned up and Cindy running in to tell mom, "She's really okay, it just looks bad!"

So there is my fond memory of Wooley Bear. Okay, fellow thespians from Bowie Highschool, what is your favorite memory of Wooley Bear?

Right On!

2009-12-16T14:45:00.000-06:00

You Mean I'm Supposed to Clean Too?!

2009-12-16T08:00:00.001-06:00

This is my motivation post. I need to get motivated to staying on top of my house cleaning. I've been pretty focused lately on health and food and kids and budget... and my house is showing it. So here is a post I wrote up a couple years ago for another blog, when I was more on top of all things domestic:

I thought I would post my cleaning schedule for those of you who can't get enough of schedules. This schedule is designed to keep your house clean - NOT spotless. Go see Martha Stewart if you need a spotless house....better yet, go see a shrink. You need to get your priorities in order. Spotless homes and small children are not congruent. If you fail to get everything done everyday, then at the very least your home will be tidy. This far surpasses the total chaos pit of despair mess that reigns without some sort of schedule in my home.

Being an accountant by trade, I am an excel freak. So my schedule is posted as a spreadsheet on my refrigerator. Feel free to write it up in whatever way works for you. You could use index cards for each day/category, make a list then laminate it, write it on a white board where you can check it off as you go...the possibilities are limited only by your imagination. (now that the girls are older and like to help, I have each day printed on a sheet of paper inside a clear plastic jacket - the kids like to mark off the chores as they get done... when they actually do get done!)

Here is my schedule:

DAILY: Straighten all rooms
Do dishes and put away
Make beds
Plan meals
Do a load of laundry
Wipe bathroom sinks
Wipe down shower after use
Clean stove/oven as needed
Pay bills
Water plants/garden
Feed/water pets

WEEKLY -
MONDAY: Empty wastebaskets/take trash out
Clean toaster, microwave, coffeemaker (i.e. regularly used small appliances)
Wipe cabinets/appliances
Sweep/mop downstairs

TUESDAY: Clean kitchen sink
Clean bathroom mirrors
Clean toilets
Clean ceiling fans
Choose a monthly task

WEDNESDAY: Empty wastebaskets
Sweep kitchen floor
Spot-clean walls/floors
Change bed sheets
Choose a monthly task

THURSDAY: Clean kitchen sink
Clean bathroom mirrors
Clean showers Spot-clean floors

FRIDAY: Empty wastebaskets
Dusting
Sweep/mop upstairs

SATURDAY: Clean kitchen sink
Choose 1-2 monthly, bi-monthly, bi-annual, or yearly tasks

MONTHLY: 2x - dust out of reach areas/polish
Check dryer vents
Vacuum in/on/under furniture
Clean refrigerator inside/top/under
Wash kitchen curtains
Turn mattresses
Wash garbage cans
Wash windows inside

EVERY OTHER MONTH: Dust blinds
Wax floors
Clean kitchen drawers/cupboards
Wash curtains
Wash whole stove
Wash windows outside
Baking soda in drains to clear sinks
Clean throw rugs

BI-ANNUALLY: Carpets cleaned
Rotate seasonal clothes
Clean closets/drawers
Check smoke detectors/replace batteries (do at daylight saving time each year is an easy way to remember)

YEARLY: AC/heating system maintenance
Wash walls
Wash blinds

I know, I know....it seems overwhelming. But the reality is, you are doing most of this anyway. You just didn't realize how much you were juggling every day/week. Or you did, and it made you want to fake your own death and disappear to a tropical island somewhere. Utilizing this schedule will help it be more manageable. Really, if you are following this schedule on a regular basis, most of the daily and weekly stuff just isn't so bad. It's when you fall behind that the tasks can become laborious. For instance, if you haven't so much as looked at the blades on your ceiling fans since the day they were installed or you moved in, then it is very likely going to be a highly time consuming chore the first time you clean them. But after that, each week will be a pretty quick and painless assignment to dust the blades off.

Also, you can shift items around as needed for your home. Our garbage is picked up on Tuesday morning. I was scheduling to empty the wastebaskets 3x a week, so I did MWF to accommodate getting them emptied the day it needed to go out. Our last home was only one level. I just split the house into two sections and swept/mopped half the house on Wednesday and the other half on Friday. Also, I assigned everything from Mon.-Sat. I like having Sunday off from any chores. You can set up your schedule for every day of the week if you like or maybe you would rather do more during the week and have off Saturday and Sunday. Just be realistic about what you can get done in a day without totally neglecting your kids.

Oh, yeah. Here's the really important part....your husband should be helping you get this all done.

Stop laughing - I'm serious.

Keeping a household clean after you get married have kids is a huge task. Having this chart helps you to make that point abundantly clear with your significant other. Sit down with him sometime after the kids are in bed and before you become completely comatose, and go over the list of tasks, assigning them between the two of you. If your husband still needs more convincing that you need his help, then I suggest the two of you read Babyproofing Your Marriage. This book makes it clear that if a man wants you to meet his marital needs (nudge, nudge, wink, wink, say no more) then he needs to step up to the plate in a big way with the housework. Really, once you have kids, housework is the new box of chocolates/bouquet of roses. I remember telling a girlfriend of mine after the first baby, "Hubby did the dishes, cleaned the kitchen and swept the floors last night. It was the best foreplay I've had in a long time!"

Enough said. Divvy up the housework and give yourself grace on those days it just doesn't all get done. Your house will live to see another day. (and you will too!)

MacGyver Moment

2009-12-15T21:42:00.000-06:00

Have you ever done something that just made you feel so proud? It might seem like a little thing for some people to accomplish, but for you, you have just achieved a greatness beyond words. I ask because I just got to experience that feeling - that stand on the edge of the cliff, like King Kong on Skull island after fighting off some crazy unimaginable creatures, and beat on your chest and roar at the sky in triumph.

Okay, enough of the buildup.

My disc drive stopped working this year.
Then my computer went kaput.
Then we paid a guy from church to resurrect the computer from the dead. (hallelujah!)
But the disc drive still wouldn't work.
So we coughed up the money and bought a new one. (disc drive)
And it still didn't work.
Many, months have passed and I decided that it.was.time.

So I unplugged my computer and disconnected the plethora of wires and cables; I broke out the mini screwdriver and took off the outer casing of the computer; I changed out the wires that connect the disc drive (I had used the old ones and just changed the drive before); I closed it all up, reconnected it all, and turned it on.

Still not working.

Then the MacGyver moment - you remember him - that t.v. show where he would get in all sorts of crazy circumstances and find his way out with a paperclip, a wad of gum, and a bent bottle cap laying on the ground. In other words, he would be resourceful with what he had and MAKE IT WORK!

Yeah, those are words I can get into!

So my MacGyver moment was turning to my favorite resource - the internet. I started typing in my initial question "computer will not recognize my disc drive." Not liking what I found there. Next I tried typing in the name of my new drive. That netted me enough information to be able to figure out that my computer was actually recognizing the drive, but I had an error message.

So I googled up the error code and lo and behold, instructions on some site, very detailed and elaborate on what exactly to type, click, delete, etc. to make it work.

And it did!

Let the roaring commence!

January Resolution??

2009-12-15T07:54:00.003-06:00

It really is never too early to start planning for good health. And here is a great way to do that. Gena over at Choosing Raw is partnering up with some other fantastic ladies to offer a really great program to help you clean up your eating habits and start eating in a way that will promote fantastic health. Kind of like Weight Watchers but geared for vegan/vegetarian/raw food eating.

What could be better?!

Signing up early nets you a discount, so head on over and read all about it. What a great gift to give yourself - a healthier you!

Merry Christmas Greetings!

2009-12-14T15:21:00.002-06:00

Please scroll down and turn off the music player at the bottom of the blog before viewing thevideo.

The New View

2009-12-13T20:21:00.001-06:00

After our first experience with dumpster diving yesterday, we feel like our lives are changed forever. First of all, it was keeping David from sleeping last night. He was blown away by how much good food was in the trash and wondering why can't the food get distributed to the needy. It is a hard reality to face. To realize that the dark, underbelly of this creature that we call abundance is an incredible amount of waste - it's a painful pill to swallow.

Obviously, we aren't going to be able to correct the system. But, we can do our small little part - like forming our Dumpster Diving group. A small band of us working together can help take some of the waste and let it do what it was created to do - feed and nourish a human being. I am looking forward to our first meeting this Friday night. And after some more diving on our way across town to go to church, we have some awesome stuff to share with them! See this little beauty? This is an organic Simply Coffee iced coffee which retails for $1.99.

See this... this is a box which had 44 of these in 3 flavors (latte, mocha, and vanilla) which we found in a dumpster this morning. They had a sell by date of 12/11, so they went in the trash on 12/12 and we rescued them on 12/13. I'm not a coffee gal, but hubby had two of these today and attests that they are delicious!

We also got ourselves some more food:

4 poundcakes (which will make a nice snack to go with the iced coffees for our first dumpster diving meeting on Friday)

1 bag of Nestle white chocolate holiday swirl chips (Christmas cookies are in our future!)

4 tomatoes

2 cucumbers

1 onion

a dozen bagels (yeah, you must hit up a bagel shop dumpster early in the morning and get yesterdays bagels! You will be astounded at how many bags of bagels are in there!)

7 yogurts (sell by date 12/12)

5 bags of slaw mix (sell by date 12/12)

1 small poinsettia

1 large container cottage cheese. This one was messy on the outside, but completely sealed and sell by 12/27 date so we took it. My theory is something was spilled/broken near it/on it and the cottage cheese got tossed rather than cleaned. We are lucky that it is so cold so that we can take the dairy items. During the summer, those would just be too risky.

Now, if you are paying attention you will notice that one pound cake is not in it's box, and instead there are doughnuts in the box. Funny story on that one!

As we made our way across town to church, we came across a Krispy Kreme. Hubby says, "Oh, man! I want some doughnuts!" He turns in and heads to the back parking lot by the dumpster. I totally was laughing 'cause out he comes with one doughnut in his mouth and his hands full - one for all of us. He passed them out to me and the girls and said, "Man! You wouldn't believe how many bags of doughnuts are in there!" So I say, "Well, then, go get some more!"

Okay, now I have to tell you, I was imagining those nice little white bags like you fill yourself at the grocery store, that maybe hold a dozen doughnuts. Nope. Think GIANT, HUMONGO, EXTRA LARGE, clear trash bag - that is what hubby comes out with. Probably 100 doughnuts. I kid you not. 100, delicious, soft, melt in your mouth Krispy Kremes. I just tried not to think about the fact that there is really nothing healthy in any stretch of the imagination about eating a Krispy Kreme. Maybe, good for mental health?? :)

We ended up having another doughnut each after church and then wanted to drop them (and the large garbage sack full of bagels we had picked up) at the Hope Cafe. But we had never been there and the directions we were given was that it was at 6th and University. Close, but it's actually a block and a half north of University, so we didn't find it. We ended up just saving a dozen bagels and 4 doughnuts and the rest were redeposited in another dumpster.

A great day of eating and no money exchanged hands - gotta love it!