email troubles

I wanted to make note that if anyone has emailed me recently (in the last 2 months), and didn't get a response, I just found out that there were some issues with my email. I had to crank up my spam filter because of some VERY nasty stuff in it, and it turns out that some other emails found their way to the spam filter. Some of them I was unable to open. Try emailing me again if you need to. I AM SOOOOOO SORRY.

Frugal Health Food

My family's fitness adventures continue....

Walking and stretching and walking and stretching....we are able to do a mile (a brisk walk around town) in about 10-15 minutes consistently, which is awesome.

I was recently emailed this question:

It seems like healthy food costs more. We are on a very tight budget right now and can't afford to spend more at the grocers. Others have written that it will save money at the doctors, but truth be told we haven't been to the doctors in 5 years either. Do you have any frugal healthy eating tips?

I relate because I've been there and done that. Saving money at the doctors is a mute point when you can't afford the co-pay at the doctors, and therefore don't go unless you are dying. It's been a long time since I've seen a doctor.My kids, praise God, are also very healthy and so we haven't had the need to see the doctor at all in a few years, though we go to the chiropractor occasionally, and we see the dentist.

Healthy food is more expensive if you are already forgoing the pre-packaged junk food aisles and are cooking and eating from scratch to save money. Let's face it--carbs are cheap eats. It's cheaper to buy a bag of potatoes and some boxes of pasta because they can be stretched further, especially if you have a big family. A bag of apples may stretch a whole week for a married couple, but if you have five kids, that is an afternoon's worth of snacks. To buy bananas for the week, we need about 10 lbs of them, and pray that they last that long. I actually buy 7 bags containing 3 heads of romaine each (When there is none left in the garden), and sometimes they last until the next shopping day. Today I was going to have salad, only to find that there was enough lettuce for two bites left. I guess I can rest in the knowledge that my kids prefer salad and fruit to candybars. :-)

However, there are some healthy things that you can buy that are not so expensive.

One of the staples in our diet has always been the cheapest cut of ground beef--it stretches far and is versatile. Well, it is also high in fat and cholesterol too! I was reading online that ground turkey is better for you all around, so I decided to price some out. To my delighted surprise, ground turkey is about 20 cents cheaper than the ground beef (or the same price), and it has a nice taste too.

Real butter, while costing more than margarine, is better for you as it is more natural, though you shouldn't eat too much. Buying that keeps us from using too much of it. If you are buying "generic veggie spread" at 50 cents a pound, you will likely buy more, and use more than buying butter at 1.66 a pound, right?

Buying bags of romaine hearts is also a pretty good value on a healthy salad. Iceberg lettuce, while very low in calories, is also very low in nutrients. Romain has a lot of good things in it as a dark leafy green, and the hearts have a mild flavor. This week, three of those were just $2.38 (regular price), and sometimes they drop down to $1.99 or lower. I find they also keep well.

With other vegetables, I try to see what is on sale or seasonal, as those are usually the best prices. Some weeks we buy a few bags of apples. This may sound silly but we use removable labels, put the kids' names on them, and divide them up evenly so that one child is not eating all of the apples (or other produce). Whatever is on sale--bags of apples, boxes of clementine tangerines, bags of oranges and grapefruit, bananas, pears, plums, and so forth--we buy 2 different sorts of fruit each week for snacks and breakfast.

Cold cereal is very expensive, but some sorts of cereal (Such as no-brand bran flakes) can be relatively inexpensive--$1.50 a box where I shop. I mostly make my own granola, and we often enjoy hot oatmeal in the mornings. Oatmeal fills you up and is good for you. I make it plain and add a slight sprinkling of either cinnamon sugar (emphasis on slight!!!), or maple syrup at the table. Adding sweetner at the table means using less, as the flavor is stronger when it is on the surface.

the other big thing I've found is portion control. When you buy a box of granola bars, sometimes 1 granola bar is the whole portion, not the two or three that are in the individual package (though this varies by package!). When you dish out spaghetti sauce, usually a scant ladle full is a whole portion--not 2 or 3. I find portion control harder when you are cooking for what feels like an army--it's hard to guage when you make a huge amount of food at once. However, if you start measuring at the table you will soon be able to eyeball it better. It really is eye opening.

Family Fitness Thursdays 9/27/2007

So, how we doing on the fitness thing?

We've been up early most days doing some moving and then walking. It's been harder this week as we all have sinus problems with the changing weather--seems to happen each season change!

It's funny how when you're getting up earlier and earlier suddenly 9 am seems like the middle of the day instead of "First thing in the morning" LOL. This is especially helpful to us since we have co-op every other week bright and early at 9 am, and I no longer fear sleeping in on that day and missing the first session.

I found that moving in the morning, before doing anything else, wakes me up out of that fog.

Exercise is one of those things that the majority of us really don't wake up wanting to do (I think anyway) but it is something that most of us get into once we start moving. I never wake up saying...."I want to stretch and lift weights!" but by the time I am midway through my workout I feel better and enjoy it.

By the way, to join Family Fitness Thursdays on your blog, just click on the link below, and fill in the information on the next page.

Strength for the Day

I think it is safe to say that most of us moms are tired much of the time...especially when we have really young children. For me that season is fading fast (the youngest human here is 8 and so only kittens keep me up if anything does), but yet I receive some emails often from moms who have younger children who want to know how I do it all. Here's a few thoughts, including some insights from yesterday's Sunday school class.

Firstly, if you have five children under 6, you need to know that when I also had five children under six I basically was lucky to have dinner on the table sometime before bedtime. There are times and seasons to life, and while all of your young ones are still just old enough to make messes but not quite old enough to be effective helpers on a consistent basis, other things have to be put on hold that are not quite as important (hobbies, projects, group involvements, outside commitments, egroups, etc.). I think it is useful to have something that you do that helps you to be refreshed and come back to your primary job as mommy with your batteries recharged, but it is a balance you have to acheive between your hobby refreshing you, to your hobby stretching you thin or becoming an escape from real life responsibilities.

Secondly, eating better...I'm not talking a perfect diet either. If you tend to be a perfectionist about eating and when you fail to stick to your raw foodism or your low carb or whatever strict diet, you go off on a junk food binge because you feel like you "failed", then you are causing more harm than good. From talking with other moms, I've noticed this is common to one degree or another. Eat good food, but allow yourself grace. Take baby steps to healthier eating so that the changes last longer. Drink lots of water, and get your body moving a little bit every day, and you will find you feel better. And...by moving a little bit every day, that means what it says...if you don't exercise now, do maybe five minutes of simple stretching. You can find some info in a pdf file on this site: www.presidentschallenge.com in their downloads section...don't just go from couch potato to trying to run 5 miles or working out for an hour in the gym. You WILL be tired!

Thirdly, but perhaps most importantly for a Christian, spend time being refreshed in the Lord. This includes gathering with other believers in your local church, and also private devotional time. I think the tendency I used to have was to look at my devotional times as something else to check off of my list of things to do. But, instead of being a duty, we should view our times with the Lord as a time when God encourages us and reassures us of His love. That was something we learned in Sunday School yesterday. Our teacher is going through the Psalms and was teaching out of Psalm 27. In this psalm, David is warring against his enemies, and reaffirming his trust and hope in the Lord to deliver him. The observation was also made in class that we don't go to the "fortress" to hie but to gain strength to face our enemies (and the Christian's enemies are the devil, the world, and our own flesh). That fortress is our Lord.

The Proverbs 31 woman is pretty amazing and a challenge to all of us ladies, I think, but years ago as I was doing a study (and making a list of everything I thought this passage was telling me I had to do!), i realized that it doesn't say "this is what her DAY looks like.." it was speaking of her whole life...she wasn't just home from the hospital with a new baby, several toddlers, and no help. She managed a household full of servants, ran a cottage industry, wisely managed the household resources, and so forth. If anything, her children come across, in the end of the passage, as being older and looking back at their mother's life, and calling her blessed...the whole point of the passage was that a virtuous wife was indeed RARE...but this is what the pattern of her life looks like, something for us to shoot for as we go through life. It was not to discourage as about not being able to find the time today to plant vineyards, sew sashes and manage our households, or hear our 2 year olds rise up and call us blessed.

Piano Lessons

I wish I had piano lessons when I was a kid.

I've always been passionate about music, and have always longed to be able to play. I started piano lessons a few weeks ago...and making progress. This has been an interesting year for me as I have been not only doing piano, but also gotten involved with the Handbell Choir at church...woo hoo.

This morning, we again awoke early, did about 25 minutes of Pilates and then walked a mile with the kids around our neighborhood in the early dawn. I got some more good news too...I went to the chiropractor for the first time in many months, and I weighed in on their scale. Last time I was their (in May), I weighed in about 40 lbs more than I do right now!!! I was so discouraged by the weight gain that I really haven't stepped on a scale in a while. I guess maybe all of that salad, fruit, and walking has paid off. We have eaten salad 4 out of 7 nights this summer, and I have taken a walk most days, too. Woo Hoo.

The President's Active Lifestyle Award

I'm making progress losing weight. I'm down 23 lbs, just from working out more. Recently, I found a great resource I wanted to share with all of you mommas, because it can not only help YOU and give YOU a goal to work towards, but also give your children a goal to work towards as well. It's called the The President's Active Lifestyle Award. Anyone remember doing the President's physical fitness award in elementary school gym class? Or, in my case, getting laughed at while failing miserably at getting the PPFA? Well, that is still around too (and open to homeschoolers!!!) but this one is much more practical as it helps to build the habit of an active lifestyle into our young ones.Our homeschooling co-op is working towards the PPFA and the PALA for our gym class.

After reading about it, I went to the website to find out if moms could also try for the active lifestyle award, since I am helping my kids get in the activity for their logs. I found out that we can register online (as can families!) and keep track of our activity from their website.

Today is day one for me registering, and my 30 minutes of activity (kids have to do 60 minutes) was going through a light callisthetic, stretching, and weight training routine with my kids using 1.5 lb hand weights. It's based on my weight loss pilates DVD that I bought at Walmart, but the DVD has proven difficult for a few reasons, not the least of which is the immodest clothing and cleavage which my son doesn't need to ponder. We also found the choreography harder for the kids, so I am doing the same exercises, plus some work with free weights, and of course situps and push ups to practice for the PPFA.

On another topic that is somewhat related, my husband and my kids were talking about how he is always tired, and he said to them that they should try to get up at 4:30 am every day...they'd be tired too. Well they said, "Sure, wake us up" (Thanks, honey and kids, I really didn't want to get up at 4:30...).Anyway, for the last few days we've been up at that dreadful hour, which has given the added blessing of giving us time to work out. Starting tomorrow, we're going to go marching around town at 6:00am for a walk. The PALA requires kids do either 60 minutes of working out or 11,000 steps for girls and 13,000 steps for boys (that's roughly 3-4 miles) 5 days out of 7 for 13 continuous weeks. Once around our neighborhood is exactly 1 mile, so if we go two times, plus do our callesthetics, we should be good....and I'll go beyond what is required of me as I only have to do 30 minutes of working out...but with my, um, large size, it won't kill me to do a hour with the kids.

So, who else is in? What other families are going to go for the PALA? Who's done it already?

Basil

Kay Wrote,

I am so glad I didnt plant Oregano now. I planted basil which has done
great, but now after reading Penny's comment, I am wondering about next
year because it did go to seed. My dill has done great this year also!

Kay,

I think it depends on where you live, about the basil. My basil grows well, but here in Michigan it is an annual, and I have to replant it every year. Thankfully it hasn't taken over. :-) Although I don't think I would mind if it did! I have more use for basil than I do for oregano!

By the way, congratulations on the baby! Woo hoo.

Oregano is a pest...after all of that oregano we dug up, and even after turning the ground under, guess what is poking up through the ground?? I think I would try to burn it all if I wasn't concerned about my apple and cherry trees.

Starting a Garden

Narelle recently wrote,

Hello, Kimberly (that's my middle name!) I am a newbie to your
site...but I recently purchased a few of your ebooks and thoroughly
enjoyed them! I too am trying to establish a good garden for my family,
and had a blast this summer, and learned a lot too! I too am wanting a
garden that is productive, while attractive! I wanted to ask if you
minded me asking you a couple of questions as to gardening as your
garden is pretty much what I have been aiming for? I'll tack them on
here, and if you don't have time, I understand as I am a busy momma
too, with 4 kids 7 and under. OK...How many raspberry/blackberry plants
would you need for a family of 6 to provide enough fresh and plenty for
canning/freezing/jam/pie fillings etc. Do you recommend thornless or
thorny (I'd like the kids to be able to pick them without too much
pain, but don't want to sacrifice flavour either!) (tha't my main
question, is how much do I need....tomatoes, pickles) I too would like
currants, have planted a red lake, but it's not doing so
great...husband loves blackcurrant juice. I too have been looking into
espaliers...it was like reading a book I had written myself! LOL Hope
you are doing well, and I truly hope this isn't a bother for you! You
have been a blessing to me already...Thank you! Narelle

The thing about raspberries and blackberries is that they do spread over time, and can be easily propogated (made to spread) so when buying them, if you bought a couple of packages of raspberry canes (maybe 20?) you could quickly turn that into an awful lot of raspberries, once they get established. The nice thing about that too, is that it would give you the chance to get used to having your rapsberries, and seeing how much of them you would use.

I think the Thornless Red Laethams have the best flavor of all of the raspberries we have, and the Purple Royalty Raspberry comes in a close second (those have thorns). The Laetham's don't spread as fast, but the fruit is enormous, and there are rarely any thorns. The Royalty also produces a nice, big fruit with lots of flavor.

As for how much of other things you need, it depends on a lot of things, such as where you live, and what sort of growing season you have, and how you plan to use what you are growing. I also add one more thing to that list: how much does it cost in the store vs. how hard is it to grow/harvest/preserve? When our weather doesn't cooperate too well up here in Michigan, I need way more plants of peppers and tomatos than when we have nicer, milder weather (at which time we usually have an over-abundance of tomatos and peppers). Usually, though, this is what we plant and how we use it:

• 50 Roma Tomato plants (canned Tomato sauce and Salsa--I do about 100 jars of sauce and 250 of salsa on average)


• 25 Red Pepper Plants--these will produce both green and red peppers but require a long growing season to get "really red" (roasted red pepper sauce, salsa, relish, stir fries)


• 100 sets of onions--SETS NOT SEEDS! (used in Salsa, pickles, and other canning recipes requiring lots of onions).


• 50 cloves of garlic (used mostly in canning recipes but also as roasted garlic spread on toast, and also used fresh)


• about 10-20 pickle plants (used for relish, bread and butter pickles, and also fresh in the salad when peeled--I do about 200 jars)


• 5 Hot Pepper Plants of various types--these are quite prolific (used in salsa, and also dried for use in Chili and other mexican dishes later). If you have very young children you may want to be extra cautious about these as they can burn skin badly if broken open. Only adults can and should handle them, with gloves on. You need to be careful about having them in the dehydrator too...it can be really strong. I find it easier to dry them somewhere out of the way like the basement.


• I started with 10 strawberry plants, but now I have about 100 by just clipping and replanting the "runners" from the original plants. Now that I have lots of plants, I either give away or sell the young plants. Sometimes I use them to replace plants that don't look like they are doing too well. The first year with strawberries, they make very small berries, but as they get older, the berries get bigger and more plenteous. Everbearing Varieties don't spread as much but have 2 main harvests per year. Junebearing spread faster and only have a harvest in June.


• My 2 grapevines make about 3 bushels of grapes.


• My 1 apple tree has been making about 2 peck to 1 bushel of apples within 6 years of planting (our's is 9 years old).


• 2 packages of Basil Seeds (I freeze basil chopped fine in ice cube trays.)

I think we have given up on corn. It takes up a lot of room and really depletes the soil. Besides that, it can be purchased cheaply from a local organic farm stand.

I often plant other things too which we just enjoy fresh, such as radishes, watermelon, cucumbers (not the pickle variety), squash, pumpkins, various herbs (some of which are perennial and have been in the garden for a long time now), and snow peas. What I listed for you here is what we use for preserving mostly.

About your currants, some currant plants tend to disease, which is why for years currants and gooseberries were outlawed in some states (this ban was lifted, as I understand it, by varieties that are less prone to the diseases that killed pine trees which these plants carried). You may want to go to the library and find Rodale's "Weed, Disease, and Pest I.D. Guide" which is a very handy reference (in fact, I think it is a good one to purchase as you will refer to it again and again). This way, you can check to see if there are any problems with the currant plant itself. My currants grow crazy, but mine are the red variety. The other idea is to ask someone at the nursery you bought them from. Usually mail order is not as good as you want something that has already been living in your local area, especially if it is an "investment" like a fruit tree or bush. A nursery is also a good source of gardening advice relating to big purchases such as bushes, trees, and vines. Still, if you bought it from a catalogue or website, you may want to ask them for some advice too.

What a blessing!

One of the most frequently asked questions I get is this: "Do you ever get discouraged regarding finances/living on one income/financial struggles/hardships/hard times?"

The short answer: yes.

I think it is human nature...we are all control freaks to one degree or another LOL. When things are out of our control and going badly it feels like you are racing down a road with no breaks and no steering wheel.

I was having one of those times again recently. About 6 months ago, someone hacked my shopping cart (they didn't steal information, but instead used my shopping cart as a proxy server), and then when I was fixing the problem I had the classic "one thing after another" go wrong...including deleting my database by accident. Unfortuately, MySQL doesn't warn you before you drop a table from your database...it just does it and there is no undo button....and in all of that, my orders dropped to zero, and I felt like I had to take care of some needs that I knew were stressing my dh out.

Well....thankfully the Lord provided for that through a series of web design jobs and I was able to meet those needs after tithes. A few weeks later though as I was in my prayer closet, I felt convicted about the fact that I started this business as a means to give a faith promise offering to missions, and God had faithfully provided the amount that I had promised Him towards missions (and often beyond that amount)...but now I was using what I earned toward other things...not that they were bad, but I had become behind by two months in what I had promised the Lord all because I was feeling really panicky about money and spending what I had promised God in private towards missions on other things. Ever notice that? When you get really worried about money, most of us don't cut out things that matter to us in the here and now, day to day--we cut out things we give to others, and to the Lord.

Anyway...long story short...I felt very convicted about that, and I have prayed and asked the Lord to help me be more faithful, and also asked Him to renew my faith, and to supernaturally provide my faith promise. Today, after praying, I heard the ding that indicates I received an email, and lo, an order for the amount of my delinquent faith promise plus enough for the ATM fee (LOL God thinks of everything).

I shared this with my 14 year old dd who rejoiced with me, and then said, "Mom, I am trusting God for my faith promise too, but I haven't had any income because I get paid only when you sell a Bread by Hand Ebook (because she illustrated it), and you haven't had any sales..." so we prayed, and when I came back in tonight to check email, she had nearly enough to give her faith promise.

It's exciting to watch God move and to be a conduit of His blessings...receiving so we can give.

And that is what we often forget when we are worried about provision...we forget how unbelievable awesome it is to watch God use means other than a steady income to provide. If I had "a real job" (whatever that is ;)), I would have a regular income, and know that next week I will get paid x-amount of dollars...but when I am first and foremost a keeper at home, with a small amount of income on the side through an online business, I don't have the same "security"....but it is more exciting watching God move and also watching Him teach me during those dry times.

And the winner is....OREGANO!

In the strange survival of the fittest smackdown in my herb garden, it would seem that Oregano beats all other herbs hands down, and that is not good news for my oregano plants ;).

5 years ago, when I first planted a large herb garden in the front of my house, the idea was to create an oasis, with a lovely cobblestone path that gently wove under a wisteria-draped archway, and through splashes of color and scents of my favorite herbs, and past a young apple tree, and a young cherry tree. Alas, that is not what happened.

That path weaves under a wisteria-draped archway (which had to be rebuilt with 4x4s because the wisteria crushed the other archway), past mounds of overgrown oregano, which has sometimes masked even the stone pathway itself, and which completely surrounds both trees, and even grows under the archway, and as you approach it.

I discussed this with my favorite plant person at my favorite nursery and her sage advice was, "Why did you plant so much oregano?" That's the thing. I didn't. I planted two wee little plants, looking oh so innocent. ;) I actually took the precautions with my mint by placing that in a spot where it would not likely sprall everywhere (as mint is prone to do), and instead, the Oregano so took over that it has overgrown the area where the mint was too. The mint looks straggly and barely alive amidst all of that oregano. Then there's the lemon balm, which also started to take over...though the oregano and lemon balm appear to have been evenly matched, and thus the lemon balm remained in it's own corner of the garden, and looks ok when I remember to trim it.

Today, after we were done with school, the kids and I went out and pulled 5 large wheelbarrows full of oregano out of the herb garden AGAIN. (I say again because we started this job in the spring, but what we pulled out grew back...and we were sure we got all of the roots). The garden could look so nice if everything would just stay in it's designated spot. LOL

Under all of that oregano, as I was reaching in and pulling out with leather gloves on, I suddenly felt something sharp and found my long lost dog rosebush (oh, there you are! LOL I was wondering where my 10 year anniversary gift went!!), and it seemed quite happy when I pulled the oregano off of it, if rose bushes can be happy. Within a matter of an hour, it already looked more perky.

While cleaning the garden we also found some of the stepping stones from the first pathway that got swallowed up by oregano (before I switched to a cobble stone concrete mold LOL).

Next on the list is to weed better in the back garden, near the grape vine. I don't know how weeds grow so fast in that particular area, but with grapes nearly ripe we need to have it cleared for walking and picking. I wish I could post smells on my blog (would that not be cool???) because there is NOTHING quite like the smell of your garden when your grapes are ripening. It takes me back to being on the Danube river in a vineyard, helping pick grapes one November too many years ago...They look so pretty on the grape vine too. I'm going to post a picture soon (when, ah, the weeds are gone! LOL)

So, moral of the story: Oregano should also be potted to keep from spreading, and don't ever let it go to seed!

Was it worth the $25?

It was one of those days yesterday.

My inlaws wanted to have my daughter Isobel over for a few days, seeing as how they have had each of the other kids over during different parts of the summer. I decided to drive her down to the detroit area myself because I had some shopping to do, at J.C. Penny. See, Martin gets giftcard things from his gas card for spending so much each week on gas going to and from work, and this week it was a JC Penny gift card. No JC Penny's near us, so we had to go to the big city....to make a long story short. So he gave me a little receipt, and sent me on my way.

I dropped all of the kids off for some quality time with their grandparents and went to the mall, to cash in my money at JC Pennys. Maybe I am just out of touch from living in the country so long but I felt like I was transported to another planet or maybe another dimension when I walked through the mall doors. I felt like country mouse visiting his city cousin. I might as well have been wearing a denim overalls with the red bandana around my neck and a piece of wheat grass sticking out from between my teeth with a straw hat on...I had dressed up a bit because I knew I'd be shopping with the "beautiful people" (LOL) but I still felt like a hick in what I was wearing.

First stop was the ladies department as I was hoping to find a nice church dress, especially since I am just now learning to play piano at the age of 37 (and hve been put on the piano rotation by the music teacher at church!! that's anotehr story!!!), and I will be needing some nicer outfits. Well, let's just say you can't find a cammy at JC Pennys' for under $25, let alone a nice dress. *sigh*. I went to the clearance rack only to discover the shirts I was looking at were actually dresses....really short dresses....when I asked the sales lady if there were any dresses on sale. She also pointed me to a nice dress that was 75% off (so it was *only* $72.00! Whata deal!), and I decided maybe our family needed some bath towels instead.

Down to the housewares department I discovered that for $14.99 (on sale) you can get a bath towel. A bath towel, not a lot of bath towels. *sigh*....ok, that's not going to work.

Shoes....well here's a pair of $15 flip flops (no...I don't think so)

It really is sticker shock to try to find clothing in someplace other than Goodwill or Salvation Army!!

I finally found a little rack in the plus size deparment that had blouses on sale for just $6.95 each, and I bought three of them. They are not especially dressy but will be nice for Wednesday evening church and for teaching in our homeschooling co-op this fall.

I get up to the register and hand the lady the slip my dh gave me only to find out that he was supposed to have cashed it in for a real gift card at the gas station. The gal who was working the checkout was thankfully sweet enough to put my things behind the counter while I took care of that, and also told me where to find the nearest Speedway gas station.

I went to that station only to be told they were out of JC Penny's cards, and they directed me to the next station, where they were also out of cards, where they directed me to the next station...and so on and so forth until 5 stations and a half a tank of gas later I found a gift card, and needed directions back to the mall. All this time during the driving, I was reminded of why I am thankful I don't live in the city: traffic, road rage, inconsiderate drivers, ill timed lights, and did I mention traffic??

Sweaty, a little irritated, and very tired, I walked back into the mall, to the counter, grabbed my stuff, paid for it, and moved on.

While at the mall I had to go to my favorite store there(The Franklin Covey Store) because the puppy chewed up my little bookmark thing in my planner (which snaps in on the day that you are on), and so I decided to pick one up there, since they have nice ones. I walked passed one of those kiosks only to be given the hard sell by some sales girl trying to get me to buy a nail polishing kit for some $50 (are you kidding me??), and telling me how beautiful my hands are (seriously doubting that--I had spent the last week in the garden, and canning, girlfriend), and so on and basically not letting me leave, until I became uncharacteristically rude with her. I really hate that. Why do people not respect you until you let loose the floodgates of your frustrations at them?? Why can't "No Thank You" be good enough to these people??

I walked across the mall, appalled at what I was seeing in some places...what on earth is going on with today's fashions? Yes, maybe I'm behind the times, but I live in a little town and don't get out to the big bad city much (remember, though I was raised in suburbia, for all intents and purposes, I am still country mouse LOL). I went to the coffee kiosk and bought a cappachino from someone who had more jewelry on her/him (I'm not really sure what gender this particular person was, which is scary eh?) to sink a battleship. I'm not sure how he/she walks or even stands with all of that metal. AND...is there a reason why there is someone has a cuss word tatooed on their forehead?? Is there a reason why someone would HIRE someone for customer service with a tatoo ofa cussword on their forehead??

As I sat down with my cup of coffee, a gaggle of teen girls, about my daughter's age walked up and decided to impress everyone (or so they thought) with their knowledge of vulgar language, tight clothes, short skirts, and excessive makeup. I immediately sent up a prayer thanking God for a daughter like Ruth and I've prayed for these girls on several occasions now....and yet, they didn't seem to be the only group of 14 year olds (approximately) who were running around the mall in what I would consider to be either a poor-taste halloween costume, bed clothes, or underware, using language that most street walkers of 100 years ago would have been ashamed to use.

Then I realized I was starting to sound like someone's grandma with my running internal monologue. Am I that old?? Or is the world just going totally NUTS??? Maybe it's a little of both.

all I can say is...after spending nearly a half a tank of gas, 4 hours, and much energy wasted fighting off rabid kiosk-salespeople, I'm not sure if all off that was worth the $25...lol

Too bad they don't give away bonus gift cards to the salvation army store. that would be awesome!

Where has the summer gone?

Here it is, already the end of August...how did that happen?

In case anyone is wondering, I didn't fall off the face of the earth, I've only been crazy busy with life as a Joyful Momma :-) It's been one of those good kinds of busy.

Firstly, I've canned up 7 bushels of tomatoes into well over 100 quarts of salsa (though I am not sure of the exact total...I'm still lining up my jars on the basement shelves)...and 40 quarts of pickle relish (believe it or not, i fear that may not be enough the way my guys eat relish around here). I've frozen what seems like a million (but probably isn't) basil, cilantro, and fresh tarragon ice cubes for later usage in recipes calling for the use of fresh herbs. This way, you get about 2-3 T of fresh chopped herbs in a handy package. :-) (note: don't create water ice cubes with trays after using them for this purpose as they sometimes retain the flavor)

Then I've still be sanding cabinet doors for my kitchen (with the help of children), and painting cabinets....I'm not sure how it is that we still aren't done...it seems like we've done this all summer LOL...but it's been a good time.

where on earth did all of those weeds come from in the garden?????

I fixed my shopping cart, and then realized I deleted my database (doh!)...Thankfully I did have a backup, but unfortuately, I can't figure out how to use the backup to insert this jumble of information into the MySQL database...I guess that is going to be my new lesson learned---MySQL Rescue and Repair. LOL What this means is that anyone who is a returning customer may have to re-create an account.

Of course, summer has also invovled a lot of watermelon eating, bon fires, s'mores, trips to the lake to swim with the turtles, playing with my MiniDV camera, working at VBS, going for walks, having a house full of neighbor kids, and looking at the stars....but it will be nice to get back to our school routine too.

Great Music!

I just found the most wonderful Web radio station, Abiding Radio.com What a blessing.

This radio station has some gorgeous traditional-style music on it, including the music of the Steve Petit team, Outreach Quartet, and others. Check it out!

Happy Born Again Birthday to Me :-)

God is so good.

It's been 17 years of serving Him as of today. Seventeen years ago today, I wandered around lost in Prague, Czechoslovakia in the heat of the blazing August sun (lost both literally and figuratively), until I ran into someone who told me of a Savior who loved me and who died for me. I had long been convinced of my need for a Savior but was convinced through wrong information that I had gone beyond the point that God could forgive me. How very wrong that notion is! There is no one so wicked that God would not save him or her if they would only call upon the name of Jesus.

As much as it disgusts me sometimes (in my human frailty and fleshly sense of "justice), even Adolf Hitler, were he to call upon Jesus while still alive, would be in heaven today.

Even Osama Bin Laden is not beyond salvation's reach--that's how powerful Jesus' blood is.

Even Napolean. Or Mussalini. Or any of the wicked persons of past or present. Jesus can and will forgive anyone.

He even forgave and received me, when I called upon the name of Jesus.And, He'll do the same for you.

If you need the savior, call upon His name today! For more information about the free gift He has for you, click here.

Beauty only a Geek could love...

I'm up right now, at 12:24 am...when I should be in bed...we have VBS all week (bright and early) but I had insomnia. I have no idea why. When I got home from VBS today I couldn't wait to lay down and sleep but I didn't because I was too busy with other things...I actually went to bed early tonight only to be wide awake at 11:00. *sigh*

However, it was well worth the lost sleep....you'll see what I mean in a moment.

I just redid my website. Ok, so it was in the works for a while, but I uploaded it after finishing the parts that were finishable, and then I validated it with the w3c.org people (the ones that sort of "rule" the web). Anyway, it's one of those things only a geek could love--a website that validates XHTML1.o strict within 3 tries LOL

For those who have no clue what the sleep=deprived blogger is rambling on about...validation basically says whether or not your site meets their high standards for the document type you chose. Mine validated on the first try for CSS (impressive when you consider that though I design websites I just learned CSS a few months ago, and I did this all by hand), and on the third try for XHTML (also written out by hand.). The whole point of doing that is to make sure your markup was written out as best as it could be written....and to get that cute little logo on your site that identifies you as someone who stays up late at night making sure that markup which no one is going to see (unless they hit rightmouse click/view page source on the page) is actually valid. ;)


Wanna see if your site is valid? Go to www.w3c.org and scroll down til you see "validators" on the left side. Click "markup validator" and then type in your web address. If it is not "valid" it will give you a list of things you need to fix. if you don't understand something, you can click "HTML Tidy" to see how they would clean it up. it's more fun to figure it out yourself though...keeps the mind fresh :-D

Maybe I need to go to bed huh?

The next time I can't sleep in the middle of the night, I'm going to fix the bookstore's template!~!

Careless Blasphemy

Have you ever noticed how often those around you (maybe even you!) use the phrase "Oh my G--!" or even the sanitized "Oh my Gosh!"?? I'm not sure why I was thinking of this again recently, but today while I was at the bank and then the grocers, I noticed how many people I walked passed, or interacted with (in however remote a way) used that phrase. I wasn't in the store more than 20 minutes and I think I heard it about 100 times, in addition to some other uses of God's name (none of which were in the "reverencing God" context).

I think that most of our culture seems to commit what I would call "Careless blasphemy" on a daily basis (maybe even hourly! or maybe "minute by minute")...I say careless because few people even seem to be phased at all by it or notice it or are bothered by it...if you watch TV or see a movie, chances are that will be rampant throughout.

When I was a new Christian, I didn't even realize this...I think alot of people don't. From birth this sort of thing was so common in our family, that it was just a normal part of speech that I didn't even notice I said...until an older, seasoned saint took me aside and spoke to me about it. I admit to being a little put out over it because I couldn't grasp that I was saying it that much, after all...but sure enough, I started to notice it more and more, and actively work to break that habit!

How do you handle the Lord's name? Carefully, reverently, or carelessly?

Pain....and Life

I hate it when my body refuses to do what it needs to do without lots of pain.

I have fibromyalgia, and if you believe one of the doctors I seen, I also have SLE Lupus (I say it like that because my GP says I'd be "a lot worse off" if I did have it...and some tests say I do and some tests say I don't...whatever...the only thing doctors seem to agree upon collectively is charging a whole lot of money for their opinions). Most of the time....95% of the time in fact...I do GREAT. Woo hoo and praise God. But sometimes I am in serious pain and can't move well...but I still praise God though sometimes it takes me longer ;)

Sometimes I just cry out to God...He hasn't taken the pain away but He usually helps me deal with it. I know I feel better when I exercise gently but when I am flared there doesn't seem to be gentle enough. I know I feel worse if I see the doctor and hear all of his quitter talk "just take these muscle relaxers, these antidpressants, and I won't beleive you if you tell me you feel worse"...(ok, maybe not that bad but soemtimes it seems like that...all of the docs I've seen have this attitude). When did something like prozac become a cure all?? Most of the drugs they've put me on over the years only seem to cause me to gain weight or feel worse, and the ones that make me feel good usually turn me into a zombie which is also pointless. I also try to eat healthy, as much as I am able, and can afford.

Lately I've been crying out again and trying to figure out if I needed to quit some things that I Felt God had directed me to be invovled in..this is especially frustrating for me as my love language is "acts of service" and I hate it when I can't serve...and I also find that if I am laying around waiting to be served by those who love me I get easily discouraged with life...I feel like I am where God wants me but sometimes I wonder and second guess, especially when the pain goes about a 5 on the pain scale. (that's the one where the little dude looks like this: :| ) Most people I know in real life think either don't know I am sick (maybe they all think I'm lazy LOL)...or they think maybe I need to listen to the doctor and take happy pills (and turn into a 500 pound completely useless sofa spud as a result). Sometimes I wonder if they are right.

But then we had a guest speaker at church last week that was a real encourager to me. His name is Bro. John Bishop and he was a pastor when he developed meningitis and lost everything...his wife had to reteach him everything, how to talk, how to read, how to walk, who she was, what it meant to be married (she has acts of service as her love language I bet :-)). He is amazing to listen to, so I strongly recommend you go to his website...www.godissogood.net

Anyway, he said something that I really felt like...THANK GOD someone else who is crazy like me....especially given the fact that this guy is probably in way more pain than I am in, and has all sorts of other "health issues"...he said that he takes things that help him to function but he doesn't just take meds to feel good because he's here to serve (that is probably a very bad paraphrase but that is what I have in my notebook)...and that if things are going to take the pain away but make it so that he can't function, he deals with the pain.

He said so many other really great things Wednesday night...he was preaching on Ps. 37:8, "taste and see that the Lord is good..." it was awesome.

I need that reminder, especially today when I finally went to the chiropractor (now that we have health insurance) only to find that the co-pay for going to the chiropractor is only $3 less than the cost of going without insurance. WHAT ON EARTH??? (I have a few unkind thoughts and words for health insurance companies!). The irony was that if we didnt' pay for health insurance we'd be able to afford to go. LOL

Ebay Alert!!

I just wanted to let you all know that I have a LOT of stuff on Ebay right now as I get ready to get some homeschool curricula for the coming school year....

There are lots of great items!!! Woo hoo.

Click Here to View my Ebay Items

Homemade Drink Syrup

Last post I mentioned making homemade drink syrups that are similar to Kool Aide and that are made with fruits from the garden. My kids love this and it is very easy to make....there is an insane amount of sugar in there (maybe not quite as much as Kool Aide) but it is made with all natural stuff besides the sugar, so there's that...

to use the syrup you put a small amount (about 1T) in the bottom of a glass per 8 oz. You need to work out the exact amount you prefer...we like it a little more watery.

Supplies:

empty glass bottles (most of ours are from those times when the grandparents bring us cases of creame soda from Canada, but I've also bought bottles at garage sales, and taken used wine bottles from my mom's house)

Corks to fit the bottles (you can get these online--measure your bottle opening to calculate what size you need)

A small funnel and ladle

A kettle

Paraffin wax (you can buy a box of this at the grocers where you get canning supplies....I melt mine down using a small sauce pan with water and a small wide jar, and then I just save the melted down wax in that jar for future use. Be careful--wax does burn, and not only that, it can catch on fire if you don't double boil it).

What you do is this:

Pick fruits. If it is something like apples, you need to cut them in quarters but for berries you can just throw them into the kettle after washing them and picking out the leaves. Cover with just enough water to be 1 inch over the top, and let them simmmer until all of the fruit is soft.

To make herbal syrups, pick the herbs and wash, then make a strong infusion of them by placing them in enough water to cover them, and bringing it up to a gentle simmer. you don't want to harshly boil herbs or it gives off a strong bitter flavor!

Next, strain out the berries/herbs/fruit, and measure the amount of liquid. You may want to strain it a few times using a sieve or cheesecloth.

For every 2 cups of juice you need 1 2/3 cups of sugar (this is going to be a SYRUP not something you drink straight up).

Bring the liquid/sugar mixture up to a boil. Once it reaches a boil, set a timer for 15 minutes. Remove from heat when 15 minutes are up.

Pour hot into hot bottles (I usually run the bottles through a dishwasher or leave in a sink of hot water), cork immediately, and after they have cooled enough to easily handle, dip the ends of the bottles into the melted paraffin wax to seal them.

Use one bottle at a time...keep the currently opened bottle in the refridgerator to prevent it from fermenting.

Experiment with different flavors...some of our favorites are:

1. chocolate mint (this is actually a variety of mint you can buy that tastes slightly chocolatey)

2. gooseberry

3. concord grape

4. Mulled Apple (boil apples with some mulling spices)

5. Birne Melissa (boil quarterd pears, then infuse the liquid with lemon balm)

Enjoy!!!

My Summer Update

Summer....how on earth does it get so busy???

What I've done on my summer vacation so far:

Spent way too many hours on my XHMTL Video Curriculum in the hopes of releasing it around December 07, and at the very least having it ready for the 08/09 school year for your children. I know they will love it. I'm hand animating many of the portions (using flash) and trying to think of creative ways to explain some of the more confusing XHTML concepts.

Spent equally large amounts of time working in the garden, only to have a jungle yet again. The good news: the fruits and vegetables are growing every bit as fast as the weeds, but the bad news is htat the weeds are growing insanely fast this year...I seem to have gotten rid of the "lambs' quarters" from several years of weeding diligently, but now there is some crazy vine that I have, and according to The Weed, Disease, and Pest ID guide by Rodale, this one will grow even if a small portion of it hits the ground (which seems pretty obvious if you look at my garden LOL). Last night we had corn on the cob from the garden. WOWIE. There is nothing like it.

I've spent time getting ready for next year's homeschooling co=op. I'm teaching a class on Cartooning and one on playing chess. Lest you think they are two totally different topics....well they are, but playing chess was a prerequiste back in my pre-christian days to create the whole "intellectual artist persona" while hanging out in chic coffee houses. thankfully I've gotten really good at both. :-) Now let's see if I can teach some kids the finer points of both....

I've created my lesson plans for the kids for next school year. They like to have a detailed chart of what needs to be done when...especially my oldest. Normally I say "we do one short lesson per day" but they said it would be helpful for me to write it all out, as I did in my first year homeschooling them back when Ruth was in kindergarten (she's going into 9th grade--yikes!!!)...so I did in Microsoft Publisher. Thankfully now that I have the template all set up I should be able to get this all together easier next year. :P

I had a garage sale for a friend...

I made 17 bottles of drink syrup (sort of like a homemade koolaide but with stuff out of the garden so it is slightly more healthy and definately cheaper!). More in a future post about that. This year we made gooseberry and chocolate mint. We ate all of the raspberries. :-) I plan to make some "birne-melissa" (German for Pear with Lemon Balm) syrup after trying some a few years ago in Austria. That soon became my own personal favorite!!

Canning salsa....that will be ongoing for the next little while.

I joined the Handbell Choir at our church. I love it. Most of my musical talent (word used loosely) comes from playing clarinet and saxophone but with my ongoing chronic bronchitis problems I find it too strenuous to play anything involving my lungs. ;) I'm also taking piano lessons. LOL You can teach old dogs new tricks.

Creating a website for someone from church....www.silverdollarkennel.com

Updating my own website...which will be done soon.

And of course going to the beach occasionaly,and playing at the park, and grocery shopping, and so on and so forth.

What are you doing in the summer vacation?

Listen to Grace Talk Soup

I almost feel famous :-)

I had the unique pleasure of being a guest on Jo Jo Taberes' Podcast, Grace Talk Soup today. You can download it either from her website or through I-tunes.

It is always a pleasure to share my testimony and to talk about what God has done in my life, so this was a blessing to be sure. :-). I was rather nervous--writing and illustration are much easier methods of communication for me at times, and so I was praying for the wisdom and grace to say what the Lord would have me say, and though I think I sound nervous, I'm happy with how it turned out.

It's sort of funny...today we were having a garage sale...lol...long story. A friend was moving out of state and because her house was down a dirt road in the middle of no where, she didn't do to well with her garage sale, so I said I'd try to have one for her...I was going to do it next weekend, but then I found out there was going to be a community wide garage sale going on in our neighborhood, so I figured this would be a good time to do it (someone else doing the advertizing). I no sooner had my sign at the street, than I had five people all buying things, which is of course really awesome :-)). While I did the interview with Jo Jo, I left my oldest in charge, and told her that if there is any question of what something costs, just say a quarter and let them have it...but whatever you do, don't let there be any obnoxious background noise (keep in mind, my one book is called Quiet Times in LOUD households...for a reason too!). Anyway, I also bought a box of Fudgesicles with which to bribe not only my own children but also the neighbor's kids as well. I told them that everyone gets a popicle only if everyone is quiet...to encourage them to help each other be good ;). By the time the interview was over, I had 9 faces in the window with a sign that read, "WE WERE QUIET :-))" ...of course I had to deliver on my promise :-))

Blessings,
Kimberly

Awesome site!

I just watched this online video that I think every Christian must see...

I love Ray Comfort, and the logic he uses when he talks to others about about the things of God and how he gets people thinking. What a blessing!

Mr. Comfort discusses blasphemy and other topics in Hollywood films in the video here:



Let me know what you think!

16 years ago today....

Sixteen years ago today, I got baptized at Baptisten Gemeinde Salzburg (Lehen).

God is so very good, isn't He?

I am overwhelmed with the way He has led and guided my life up to this point, and this despite some of the huge, godless mistakes I made before I accepted Christ and called on Him to be my Lord and Savior! WOW.

This week for my Reformer's memory work, I am working on learning Romans 2: 4. It has really cut me to heart too...let me tell ya!

"Or despist thou the riches of His goodness, and forebearance and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?"

How many times do we do that? I know I am guilty of being irritated when I see God giving someone I deem "unworthy" one more chance....sometimes I think, come on, God, do something!!! and I realize He is doing something--showing that person the riches of His goodness, forebearance, and longsuffering, knowing that the Goodness of God will possibly lead that person to repent....

How many times did I NOT deserve those same riches of His goodness, and yet He dished them out anyway?? He's so good to me!

Helping a Family in Need

I know that some of you may still be enjoying your Independence Day holiday,
but I just wanted to take a moment this morning to let you know
about a very special event that we would like to invite you to be a part of.

You may already know the Estes family, who operate www.handsandhearts.com.
We're taking part in an online benefit to bless this fellow homeschooling family,
who have seen far more than their share of trials and difficulties this past year. You can read more about it here on their blog .

In fact, dozens of the Estes family's friends & associates have contributed a truly
HUGE package of wonderful homeschool and family resources as a
"thank you gift" to folks who can help us in this worthy effort, including me!

Here's the site that explains all about this online benefit and how it works:
http://www.chirotoons.com/benefit

You truly won't believe all the resources that have been donated for this.
It is really an amazing outpouring of love and support.
Please take a look... YOU can be a real blessing to a family in need...
and in return, YOUR FAMILY will receive can also receive a blessing from
the wonderful selection of resources that you'll find there.

This benefit will only last for eight days, so take a look now...
and then please tell a homeschooling friend or two about it!
http://www.chirotoons.com/benefit

Thanks so much,

Kimberly Eddy

Strawberry Season

It's strawberry season here in Mid Michigan. I have got so many amazing strawberries in my garden right now. MMMMMMMMMMMMm. The girls just went out and picked me a whole bucket full.

We are getting ready to start selling strawberry plants since we are getting overrun with them. Woo hoo. My dd is going to head up this particular job.

Homeschool Copyright

This is a video created for Homeschool Copyright Awareness Month (June):

Happy Gardening Season Sale

I know it's been a while since I've sent out a newsletter. I've been busy
with home and family, as well as with putting in my garden for the year.
With all of the emails I received about starting a garden that will
supplement our groceries, I wrote an ebook, Momma's Guide to Growing Your
Groceries, a few years ago, with illustrations and instructions for growing
your own fruits, herbs, and vegetables at home. This ebook is on sale this
week only for just $6.00 (Regular $7.95). It's not too late to put in your
garden for the year, or to get started for next year's garden.

One of the joys of having my own garden is having fresh herbs, fruits and
vegetables available to me. My children are often outside eating pea pods
right off the vines, and enjoying grape or cherry tomatoes, fresh from the
garden. All of the fresh berries we get are a blessing too. All of this
bounty allows me to make some of my favorite summertime treats, such as:

Fresh Berry Popsicles

Put whatever fresh berries you have available through a strainer (to remove
seeds), and mix with a little bit of water, and some honey to taste (if
needed for tarter berries and fruits). You can also add vanilla yogurt.
Freeze in popsicle molds, and serve! You can find inexpensive popsicle molds
at many dollar stores.

We like to play around with different variations on this theme, including
our new favorite, Melissa-Pear Pops:

Cook several pears, chopped, in a small pan of water, until they are soft,
and pass them through a strainer. Make a strong tea of Melissa (Lemon Balm)
in this pear water and strain out the leaves. Let it cool and freeze in
popsicle molds. This is a tasty and refreshing treat!

Finally, Pesto is a special treat too.

Finely chop about 3 c. of basil leaves in a food processor. Add about 1/2
cup of nuts (traditionally this is pine nuts, but we use almonds or
walnuts), 1 onion, 1/4c. of lemon juice, 1/4 c. of olive oil, a Tablespoon
of garlic, and process until smooth. You can use pesto as pizza sauce, or
you can toss it with rotini noodles for a pasta salad that is packed with
flavor!

Enjoy the blessings of the Lord this summer with your family!

Creative Composting

For Mother's Day this year, My mom in law gave me a book she found at a garage sale or something to that effect, called "Tips for the Lazy Gardener" by one Linda Tilgner. Thus far the book has been pretty good, and an easy read--it's more or less a collection of tips and tricks for those who want to work smarter and not just harder.

In the process of reading this handy little book, I laughed at the fact that most of the stuff in this book I already practice at least in part (does this mean I'm a lazy gardener? LOL)...I guess that (1.) great minds think alike and (2.)mother's tend to come up with ideas that get the job done easiest with the best or accepatable results.

I did especially enjoy the information she had on composting. As i posted earlier, I have a problem coming up with enough compost in just my wee little spinning composter (which seemed bigger when I bought it!!!). I can't add more compostable materials to it while it is "cooking" and it seems to me whenever I have built framed compost pile, the compost seeps into the ground below the composter itself....at least the best compost, and then the grass and other weeds grow taller and faster than anywhere esle in the yard...sigh...and then I break my weed whacker when I go around the composter and it gets tangled in the chicken wire, but it is just too noxious to bend over and hand trim near that area, even with aerobic composting going on.

Well...enter Linda Tilgner's idea...or one that she quoted actually from a gardening friend. Use some old tomato cages or (in my case) some old wire fencing, and build some cylinders, and plant them in different parts of the garden, and use those as recepticals for compostable materials. As they decompose, the compost forms on the bottom IN THE GARDEN BED (HURRAY), fertilizing as it goes. When it rains, you get some compost tea in the garden. your compost collectors are right there where you need them too. And when my spinning composter compost is done, I can just pitchfork some more compsot into the spinner from one of the recepticals I have around. For the record I put two of them in the garden...they are about 3 ft in diameter and about 4 ft high, and contain grass clippings, pulled weeds, spent plants, and kitchen scraps. I have vining plants growing over them so as to cover it up a little bit. In the winter, I plan to spread as much of the decomosed matter around the tops of the beds as possible.

Tonight's Frost

In case anyone is wondering why there is a frost warning tonight, let me help you. It's because I planted some overgrown seedlings in my garden! LOL I always tell people that Michigan's last frost date is two days after I put anything in my garden.

Thankfully I've only planted things that can tolerate a mild frost, so as long as it doesn't get too bad, we should be good.This should make the lettuce taste better. Lettuce likes the cold.

How do we protect plants from frost?

The simplest way, if you save your milk jugs, is to cut the bottoms off of your milk jug containers and wash them out well. Stick a stake in the ground near your plant, and put the milk jug over the top of the seedling, mounding the dirt up around the edge of the jug, as seen in this illustration (illustration by me for my book, Growing your Groceries, which is a must read!):



Alternately, if you don't have milk jugs but do have tomato cages and clear plastic, you can use that. Here's my illustration of that:



Happy Gardening!

Just the Regurgitated Pseudo-Facts

I was very busy this week and didn't get on here....too busy living life to blog about it. LOL....

but I was playing around with a few thoughts for Defending the Faith Sunday that I never got around to posting, and then learned on Tuesday of the death of the Rev. Jerry Falwell (and the ensuing nasty bashing that pretty much everyone took part in). It was rather ironic that my DTFS topic that I was mulling around had a lot to do with what was so obviously displayed this week on the occasion of the death of Mr. Falwell.

As a pre-Christian in the mid eighties, I had some false assumptions about Christians, Christianity, conservatism, and so forth. Most of my assumptions I didn't come up with on my own. They were just some regurgitated pseudo-facts I had heard along the way that any self-respecting liberal is supposed to repeat until they believe them to be true.


One of those "facts" was that the conservatives are trying to ban free speech and turn us all into mindless drones who can't think for ourselves, and they are trying to suck the fun out of life. At the top of the list of villans in this story stood Jerry Falwell.

I never actually personally heard the guy speak. I only heard from others who heard from others that he was a hate monger bent on the destruction of our free society, and needed to be shouted down until he was ultimately stopped from his evil world domination and subjection plot.

Years later, as a Christian, I still didn't always agree with Jerry Falwell, but I understood where he was coming from and saw his heart--one that was pained deeply by the direction our society is heading and who seemed to care too much about others.

I almost laugh when I hear about how Christians don't think for themselves. It is probably true of some, of course, but it is despite the Biblical commands toward wisdom and understanding and being of a sound mind, not because the Bible advocates any sort of assimilation into a collective conciousness of group-think. If anything, I've noticed how foolish some people sound when they start spouting those sorts of lines about Christians and yet come across as the puppet with someone else pulling the strings.

Talking to a variety of people throughout my daily life, it gives me an eerie feeling to remember the sins of my past when I meet up with some bonehead who, like I once did, throws a temper tantrum and uses foul language as their only defense against the truth of God's word, and who can feel threatened even by a middle aged mom who is speaking quietly about the love of God. Even this past week, as I read some comments about Rev. Falwell's death, and people proving their immaturity by stating that they would be celebrating his death by engaging in acts that they know he would find offensive, all I could think about is "Forgive them, Father, for they know not what they do". No truer statement has been said--they really haven't thought at all about what they are doing and saying--they are just regurgitating the same tired lines they've learned from others.

dieting woes

weight gain and loss is a frustrating thing, especially when physically there are other health issues at work that are working against weight loss.

For me, I have some issues with my pituitary gland resulting from a bad reaction to a drug I took for my fibromyalgia...and from some other meds I've been given every now and then both for fibromyalgia and for the chronic bronchitis that I suffer from. I am to the point now to where I don't take anything unless I research it thoroughly on the internet, and find out all side effects. The drug I took several years ago that caused my initial 100 lb weight gain also caused my friend Toni to gain 80 lbs and her sister gained 75...and lets just say that the weight doesn't come off too easily after you take this drug even if you stop taking it. When I went to the doctor a year ago for severe fibro flareups, I was given another drug that turns out to be related, chemically, to this first drug...I'm now worried I may be back to square one. I have resigned myself to dealing with whatever pain I am in so long as I don't take any more fat-making drugs. The doctors continue to insist these drugs don't affect metabolism (baloney), though even the drugs' website says that is a possible side effect.

I've always been the sort of person who could lose that extra 10 or 20 lbs just by stopping to eat ice cream...lol...those were the days. I miss ice cream.

Now, if I eat more than 1500 calories a day and don't work out like a fiend, I am gaining weight again. I hate that.

I had pretty much given up in frustration at the end of last summer when a few weeks with a sprained ankle (and no 3 mile walks) left me 20 lbs heavier, even with eating salads.

I went to a doctor about weight loss, only to be sent to a workshop at the hospital that told us such ground breaking revelation like, "If you want to lose weight, make sure you don't eat out at fast food restaurants more than 1x a week". GEE, I wish! If only!! I don't recall the last time I ate at a fast food restaurant...but on the rare occasion that I have to eat on the road, it usually is subway or I get a salad at one of the burger places.

When I gave up last year, I finally stopped obsessing about food. I think I posted before that I have a tendency to starve myself and get so hyper controlling about food that I don't eat. Before I got saved, I was bulimic most of the time so as to control my figure....and since becoming "obese" I have to remind myself that weight isn't everything. I know I eat well. I know my cholesterol and sugars are good for now....blood pressure is ok...

I knew I'd gain weight...but my dh, trying to help me chill out some, threw out my scale.

Well, we bought a scale this past week...and I have been very disappointed in what I found there.

I gained ALL of my weight back. ALL of it.

Of course, since I do work out, you don't really notice it as much on me. I do look heavy, but I always win at those "guess my weight" things...as those carnival guys can never get my weight correct....they usually undershoot my weight by at least 50 lbs. Most of my friends guess my weight at 80-90 lbs less than what it really is...that is the blessing of being tall and well proportioned I guess.

So...I am back to trying to lose weight, without being obsessive hopefully.

My Glory for His Glory

The Bible teaches, in 1 Corinthians 11, that long hair is a glory to a woman. Let's just say that I have a whole lotta glory...a little too much sometimes. A few days ago I broke the handle off of my hairbrush while trying to get the tangles out of my hair before going to bed...and yes, I brush it every day. My hair is just that thick. It's a blessing and a curse some days.

My hair also grows really fast...an average of 5 inches per year. Long, thick,curly to the point of wild, and bright red. I have a lot of hair.

However, there are those in this world who don't have any hair...little girls who have different diseases that cause them to lose all or part of their hair, and that is really hard for them. That's why for the last 8 years, every two years I've donated a large hunk of my overly grown mane to Locks of Love, which makes wigs for such children. They make the wigs for boys to but for cultural reasons, preference is given to girls as it is harder for them to walk around bald, than it is for a boy to have ultra short or bald head. These wigs look very real and the child can even shower with them on. Go to their website to find out more.

the first time I donated to Locks of Love, I had hair nearly to my knees. Yeppers, long, thick, curly red mane that was so long I could sit on it. Woo hoo. I was very proud of my hair, but with Fibromyalgia it was hard to maintain it so long, as my neck was on constant pain from the weight of my hair. Brushing it was a tortureous process that left me in tears every time I did it. After a while, every time I turned on the radio, I was hearing about Locks of Love. I was very resistant to it as I loved my long hair...and the Bible did say my long hair was a glory.

One Sunday, I was sitting in church, towards the back, when the preacher was talking about sacrificial giving. he said this, "It is not about money, but about selflessly giving whatever it is that you are selfishly holding on tightly to, that someone else could better use." I got up, walked out of the service, went to the secretaries office, grabbed a pair of scissors, and cut off a nearly 30" braid, which I mailed in the next day.

I donated it again two years later, this time only 10", and agian, two years later, another 10" through a local salon that was having a hair drive for Locks of Love. This past weekend, as my daughter and I were in Walmart looking at digital cameras, I noticed the salon was not too busy, so I went in and had them cut my braid off and straighten me up again..so I'll be mailing off another 11" to the good folks at Locks of Love. Woo hoo.

Defending the Faith SONday--May 6th, 2007

Really, every day is defending the faith day, isn't it? :-)

Jo Jo Tabares, of Art of Eloquence as well as her blog and weekly podcast, "Grace Talk Soup", has come up with this great idea for Christian bloggers each Sunday. this is in response to the too-absurd-to-be-believed celebration of "Evolution Sunday" in some churches. I've decided to take her up on this challenge, and I will endeavor to blog something on this theme in my blog each Sunday. I usually try not to go on the computer at all on the Lord's Day, so actually it will probalby be posted on Mondays or Saturdays. :-)

When I became a Christian in 1990, I considered myself to be rather progressive in that I believed in God and the Bible inspite of what I thought was scientific evidence to the contrary. The fact is that God made Himself so very real to me in such a miraculous and tangible way, I couldn't deny His existence any longer, but at the same time, I had to wrestle with how to make this experience fit into my pre-conceived ideas and prejudices against the Bible (Which I had never read). I look back at that now and consider it rather absurd, but the Lord led me one step at a time....from rabidly opposed to Christianity to joyfully and faithfully attending a fundamentalist church. The fact is that there is so little evidence to support evolution (which, by the way, contradicts the basic laws of physics), that it would be a leap of faith for anyone fully informed of all of the shortcomings of this flawed theory to actually believe in it. Those who are die hards in it keep searching for their holy grail, "the Missing Link"....which is still missing and always will be.

As a thinking person, the more I have studied this out...not only evolution, but all aspects of biblical history and Christianity, there is no other conclusion to come to but the truth and validity of the faith.

Teaching your children

Continuing on with the thoughts about the value of moms and the blessings of motherhood...I was going to write something else but then I was reminded of moms as teachers when I was grocery shopping today. Tomorrow we have a birthday at our house, so I needed to get to the store on Friday instead of Saturday...plus my dh was home today, so he stayed with everyone and oversaw the schoolwork and I ran off to Meijers. While there, a mom was shopping with her son, and he was asking her every question under the sun and she was answering him and explaining things to him, and telling him why she bought this brand instead of that brand of juice as well as explaining why he couldn't have the cereal he wanted (she showed him the label and that it had too much sugar in it), and so I sort of enjoyed shopping in the same sort of pattern they were shopping in....because four year olds have a million questions about how the world works, and as moms we have the very amazing privilege of introducing them to the work they live in and how it works. Moms are a child's first teacher, laying a foundation for all later education...some do this well, others...well...don't.

I'm not talking about homeschooling either, exclusively anyway. I homeschool and believe in it, but even without homeschooling in the equation, Moms still are a child's first teacher.

Think about it...before the age of 4, think about all of the things a child learns how to do. Most of this is pre-programmed learning--eventually children learn how to walk, talk, go potty, feed themselves, and so forth unless some serious handicaps are present or neglect has gone on. It's quite a transformation from baby to toddler to preschooler!

Then there is other learning that goes on in that time frame too...or rather, learning that may go on when a child is given the right stimuli--learning colors, counting, tying a shoe (i'm so glad I don't have to do that again...even teaching phonics is easier than the shoe tying thing), how to ride a bike, maybe even learning the alphabet and some children even do some simple reading by 4. Children learn some manners, they learn yes and no, they learn to listen. Children can learn all sorts of things at that age. They can learn to do some simple table setting (plastic plates, flatware, and napkins), and learn how to be a helper. By the time a child is four they know that the same toys that get dumped out of the toy box can be put back in the toy box (some do better with this than others ;)).

When mine were quite little, there was a very funny thing that happened to me...well, funny and sad at the same time. A Christian lady we knew, who went to a different church from us, met me in the store one day, and said, "Oh my! Five Children! How on earth can you afford all of that daycare?" Well, we do a novel thing where I forgo paying for daycare by staying home...lol...but later on, I ran into her again, this time my children weren't with me, and she asked me in all seriousness why I would "do that" to my children (stay home with them--mind you they were all 4 and under, and I was pregnant with number five), because how were they supposed to learn their colors, numbers, and so forth? She really, seriously, couldn't imagine that they could learn this without a daycare, which I thought was really strange, but sort of funny. It is a scary thought that we may be coming to a day when people think that daycare is necessary for children's development.

I'm not talking setting up a preschool environment in your home...so much is taught in the everyday life of a family! "Look at those pretty yellow daffodils! Do you see the red tulips? I like the blue hyacynths too!" (My kids didn't just know colors, but flowers too!) I talk too much (LOL) but I use that to my advantage, especially when they were little...by talking to them about everything I was doing at the time, from baking bread, to gardening, and shopping, and cleaning. Reaching to our children (Even if they are not sitting perfectly still) is also very helpful. We still have fond memories of books we read together as a family.

We also teach by sitting down and playing games with them. Games are so fun for teaching these things...like Candyland, and chutes and ladders, and as they get older, games like Jr. Scrabble, Jr. Boggle, and Jr. Monopoly are so helpful too (as are the adult versions when they progress beyond that level)...or vocabulary building games like Catch Phrase (a family favorite--you have to be able to read quick, think quick, and you learn some new words along the way)...or logic games like Sudoku (we usually compete to see who can do it fastest or we work on a puzzle together).

As they get older, they get to learn more complicated things...like cooking for themselves. A few years ago, a friend of mine was saying that she buys frozen pancakes because she hates having to make pancakes for her son, who is 16, and this way he can heat them up when he and his friends want a late night snack. My son was standing next to me and piped up before I could stop him, and said, "If he's 16, Why can't he make pancakes?"...because my son, since he was 8, has made breakfast every morning without being asked to. He likes to cook. Bobby Flay is one of his heroes! Teaching a child to be careful in the kitchen, and how to actually cook is a skill they will need well into adulthood--everyone needs to eat. French toast on an electric griddle is not hard at all. Someday, he is going to make a fine husband for some very lucky girl.

Right now, as I type this, I have a child who is decorating a cake for the birthday girl tomorrow. She wanted to make the cake and decorate it without me helping, and so I have allowed her free reign in the kitchen. Another one is making a present for the birthday girl.

Being There

Well, as promised, I'm continuing that thought about the blessings of motherhood and the value as moms.

You know, as moms, we have a lot of pull in our children's lives. We are the first people in their lives that help them to really feel worth by spending time with them, and taking an interest in them, and encouraging them with our words and actions. It is so important that children feel loved, wanted, and appreciated!! Sometimes I wonder how children of people who have the attitude of "I don't want anything to hurt my career/I want to feel fulfilled" feel inside when they hear their moms saying things like that.

I understand when some women do need to work out of the home, and I think that when your child knows that there is a need and that you would much rather be rolling on the floor playing with him than working, that makes all the difference in the world.

I've read some other blogs about this topic (re: that article by Ms. Hirschman), and I noticed both in blogs and in comments that the argument was made that having the mom home was not always the best thing, and giving some really awful example....and sure, that happens, but that doesn't mean the problem is with staying home with your children, but with that individual choosing to be miserable at home, or choosing to be physically present but emotionally checked out.

It's not enough to just be there in the home day in and day out...but actually being there emotionally too. Sometimes we can be so focused on other things that our children don't get a whole lot of our attention even when they are the only other human being in our house with us all day long--it's easy to do some days when life is happening all around--but it shouldn't be the habit of our lives. Letting a child feel important to you means stopping what you are doing, turning around, and looking them in the eye, and really listening to what they are saying. Maybe playing a game with them or playing with their toys with them...giving them your undivided attention. IF you are home all day long but spending that time on the computer, or on the phone, or watching the soaps, you might as well put your child in daycare and get a job.

The neat thing about really engaging your children is that you get to relive some of your own childhood. It is just too fun to draw with chalks all over the driveway on a lazy summer day, or make a snowman on a snowy day, or to share a pussy-willow catkin with your little one. Have you sat down and built a tower with blocks or colored a picture in a while? Ok, mine are getting older so they are not so into some of those things...now when we build a tower it is a competition to see how tall we can get it without it falling...and now my little artists get into mommy's watercolors and H2Oils and Prismacolor pencils...but it is just as important (maybe moreso) to show attention to our older children.

My teen daughter, Ruth, tends to need me right after church on Wednesday, when she sits and shares her heart about what God is showing her and what happened in youth group, and so forth, and I treasure that time. I've found that many times she comes in and sits next to me and doesn't say a thing on some days, and I have learned that it is a cue to just hang out and talk--and I am just praising God I have a 14 year old that still wants to talk to her mom...but I really believe that part of the reason is that the foundation was laid when she was a baby and toddler, and I shared my passions with her and listening intently as she shared her heart even at 2...was it silly nonsense to me at the time? Yeah, most of it wasn't totally coherent, and when it was, it was a lot of life changing stuff like, "My baby doll says that the dog ate her toy" and sometimes even more nonsensical things... but, I tried (though sometimes failed) to make sure that she knew I was interested in hearing what she had to say.It's not easy when you have little ones to have them chattering your ear off all day long. I do remember saying "OK! Can we all be quiet for just five minutes, please?!?" (Ruth interjects---"More than a few times, but we probably deserved it"). But on a whole, there was at least one long moment in our day when we spent time together, without anything else distracting me from them.

It's a blessing to me to have that great relationship right now with all of my children. They are each different in their own way, but at the same time they all needed to know I valued them, and their thoughts, and their presence in my life.

We have the power to help our children to feel loved and valued as part of a team--our family. It takes time, and means sometimes putting down something to give them our undivided attention each day.

my weight loss

You will note the ticker above, near the top of the page, under the verse. This is something I saw on someone else's blog, and decided to get too.

Last summer I had lost 58 pounds total, but over the winter I put some of it on again...I partly blame late night snacks with my hubby as he came home from working some crazy shift...why is it that calories seem to count as double at 2am?? Thankfully he's not working that any more, and so I am not frying up bacon and eggs in the middle of the night nor scooping out Cappuccino Fudge Blitz ice cream with hot fudge topping for us as we discuss the day LOL...I've already lost a few pounds. I have to actually go and get a better scale so as to more accurately weigh in as I only guessed based on my last weigh in at the chiropractor. I think I lost about 10 pounds over the weekend in the garden as everything is very loose again...so I'm probably going to update the ticker on Thursday after shopping when I get a scale.

What am I doing to lose weight?? I'm eating a sensible, lower calorie and lower fat, healthful diet (as opposed to "dieting" which only works when you need to lose a quick ten pounds to squeeze into a dress on a special occasion it seems)...and I am walking a lot as well as working in the garden, and doing some pilates a few times a week.

I've learned a lot about weight loss over the last several years. I've gotten a new respect for anyone who battles severe overweight.

I've never been fat before...relatively speaking. I've needed to lose a few pounds before...20 at the most...and I grew up in a family where everyone was dieting or watching weight or watching my weight ;)....and if anything I had a bad image of my body at a young age to where I would do whatever it took to lose weight (including bulimic things....and diet pills..and so on). After I got saved, the Lord really did a healing work in my heart about all of that body image stuff, and I praise Him for it. It's not good to be obsessing about every bite that goes in your mouth any more than it is good to be scarfing down ice cream at 2 am.

Anyway...when I put on all of this weight 6-7 years ago, it was totally freaky...but God has also taught me a lot through it. In some ways it has been something where I've had to deal with all of those emotions regarding body image again...such as overcoming the temptation NOT to fall back on those very unhealthy methods for losing weight...which would probably not work for losing 100 pounds the same way they work for losing 10 or 20 anyway! Still, it's been a battle in my own mind some days concerning accepting where I'm at, and taking things slow and steady and in a very healthful way, especially since I'm losing this for my health not to win a beauty pageant, amen?

So...I decided if i was doing this rather publicly it would be good for accountability.

New Layout Woo Hoo

Look at the new layout! Woo hoo.

I am working some more on that huge HTML/CSS curriculum that I am writing and recording, and for part of it I demonstrated modifying a CSS template for a blog. Because I had been wanting to do this for a while with my own blog, I decided to kill two birds with one stone and demo the technique using my own blog, so here it is.

I am really excited about the progress I am making on this curriculum. I wish it was done already, of course, and I had planned on it being done...oh...about now. (LOL). It's a bummer that it isn't done yet, but I also don't want it just slapped together either. This is quality stuff.

The coming soon buttons at the top are buttons that are not yet working for sections that are also being added later. One button is a link for information regarding teaching art and design which will be coming soon (the text is written, but the design part is part of the curriculum, and so I am waiting to record the work I am doing on that...if that makes sense.

The second one is some ecards I am designing that are just for moms and families. Don't you hate it when you can't find an ecard that says just want you want to say...? Our family is designing and writing ecards...the first one is done. It is a congratulations on your new little arrow card, with a neat animation I did of an archer with a quiver full of arrows. Most of this one won't be done for a while as I am demo'ing this in yet another curriculum I am doing on animation and illustration for ecards, and also because my children are still working on a few ecards that are not yet done. The children are also doing some of the music in the background using our electric piano. Stay tuned.

The Value of a Mother

Sometimes I decide not to comment here in my blog on a lot of what is going on in society at large because as moms we tend to get really emotional about things, and the last thing we need is one more thing to make our blood boil, and stress us out, right? I try to stay out of politics and so forth, and other things that I really feel helpless to change. I've learned to comment on and change those things that are in my power to change and to comment on those things where commentary may make a difference (instead of just adding to the noise of modern society).

However, this past week, I read an article that both made my blood boil and made me think about what I could do about this situation. The article is by someone who I can only assume is extra-terrestrial (said half joking), because her ideas are totally out there. She believes that all that can be done should be done to make sure that women get in and stay in the workforce because, she believes, it is better for society. It's not, "Women should be able to choose to work" but "Women should not have the choice to stay home". Yeah, like I said, Totally out there.

I can get pretty grrrrrrrrr about stuff like this so I tend to avoid talking about it altogether so as to avoid making everyone else's blood boil too.

But, increasingly, I feel that even though most people aren't going to say so in so many words like this very snarky out of touch woman does, there is a general movement in society that communicates to women that what they do at home is not very valuable on a whole, and it is this that I want to address over the next week or so in honor of Mother's Day. Sure, society said it's good for a woman to be there for her children when they are babies and toddlers, but still, society at large has an underlying view that work is where it is at.

Now, I've done the working in a cubicle for 50 hours a week thing. The cubicle (or even the corner office, as rare as that is) is NOT where it is at, girlfriends. Anyone of you who has to work to pay the bills probably knows that and feels that way. If I had to guess based on my own circle of friends, I'd say 9 out of 10 women don't find work the thrill that careerists make it out to be. Most people, in fact, have jobs, not careers. The whole rest of your life would have to be pretty messed up for you to wake up in the morning looking forward to punching a clock and spending 8-10 hours at the office.

Yet, read Ms. Hirschman's words from this article:

"Should we care if women leave the work force? Yes, because participation in public life allows women to use their talents and to powerfully affect society....That the most educated have opted out the most should raise questions about how our society allocates scarce educational resources. The next generation of girls will have a greatly reduced pool of role models. "

WOW.

Because, you know, as many of you probably guessed, I don't ever use my talents or powerfully affect society from my little ole home in the country. (said tongue in cheek). And, of course, you can't be a role model unless you have a wallet full of pay-stubs, right?

The value of a woman is not tied to earning power or hours logged in at some job, or even in how much she gives up to stay home with her children. A woman can choose to be a woman of great influence or of no influence wherever she is. That goes for women who are working for pay and those who are working hard at home. It's a choice we make. When I wake up in the morning, I have to choose to change my world for the better one day and one moment at a time, in those areas I have control over. This includes caring for my husband and children, keeping a welcoming home, and writing as the Lord leads. I have the power to influence society just by raising five future adults to also be influential. Talk about the law of exponential returns!

When my dh and I got married, I made more than him, and we didn't think much of that fact until I was pregnant with our first child. I was miserable at home at first. I was really wrestling on that potter's wheel, because I felt this was the right thing, but I felt totally inept at this job. I could juggle 60 different printing orders a night, but not keeping house, changing diapers, and caring for a newborn. It wasn't in my training. However, one day a friend said to me, You can choose to embrace where ever God has you at any moment or you can fight against it--your choice. Be yielded and joyful or be hard-hearted and miserable.

Well, I didn't like her advice.

But, months, and years, later I realized she was right...life isn't always the exact way we want it or how we plan it...and we have to roll with the punches, and along the way God shows us some really awesome and totally unexpected blessings.

I'm going to blog the whole rest of the week about the Value of a Mother and the blessings we receive in motherhood, so stay tuned for more.