Belatedly ... Back-to-School

When I was a kid, we never took first-day-of-school pictures! I don't know why.I'm sure my mother had plenty of other things on her plate.  It probably never crossed her mind to do it! So, anyway, I didn't think to take first-day-of-school pictures either. I didn't even know such a thing existed! But since Pinterest and Facebook and the Blogging world, at large, have come into my life, I have realized that there are a whole heck of a lot of people who take these pictures. At first, I thought "Its too late! Silas is already in the 3rd grade!" Then I thought "I'm not a scrapbooker! What will I do with all those pictures?? They'll get misplaced, forgotten, and out of sequence." But I love traditions! I really, really do! I stretch my brain to think of new ways to create memorable traditions for my kids, especially during the holidays. Things that define this family, and that maybe they will want to bring into their families when they get married. Ideally they will be God-Treasuring traditions. Things that have meaning, not just things to do because we do them every year. But some traditions just for fun are good, too. So, the more I think about it the more value I see in it. I mean especially since, as homeschoolers, we don't do "school pictures" like they do in traditional schools. What a great record of their growth year by year!

So anyway I started seeing some really cute ways of doing it on Pinterest and I decided to do it this year. And then right before school started this post came out from one of my favorite bloggers gracefullmama.com about some ways to make transitioning from summer to school more fun and less stress. I didn't do many of them and we started school 3 days later than planned b/c my wonderful hubby decided to finish that closet for me last minute :D But what I did do was follow this link to find these adorable  printables. I saved every one of them on my computer because I'm planning on doing this every year. And I printed them out on cardstock for durability.

 

I took it one step further, too. You know all those cute "interviews" people pin to do with your child at a certain age? Well I looked at every one I could find and picked out the questions I liked best, tweaked some, and added a few of my own and printed that on the back. Then i sat down with each of my kids individually the day before school started, asked them the questions, and wrote down exactly what they said. They said some of the cutest stuff!!! I'm keeping a 2" binder so every year I can put their interview/grade sign across from their pictures in sheet protectors so they won't get lost ... or destroyed.

And then maybe I'll put them into matching frames to hang on the wall until the end of the year when they can stand in the same place, holding their picture from the beginning of the year like this:

click picture to take you to the original site

The end of year pic would then take its place in the frame until the next first-day-of-school photo shoot. As they are replaced on the wall they take their place in the binder with the Sign and Interview for that year. So cute!


I have to be honest, though, this post comes late because I didn't get FIRST-day-of-school pictures. Not even SECOND or THIRD-day-of-school pictures! These pictures were taken today. Saturday. A full three WEEKS after school started. Oh well. They were taken and that's what matters! I'm only sorry I didn't start when Silas was 3!

Well, what about you? What are your back to school traditions? What are you planning on starting for the future?

Say What?? Natural Cleaning

My hubby has been working really hard lately. There's something major about to happen at work, which is neither here nor there, except that normally, since the promotion, he doesn't do a whole lot of "hands on" getting dirty stuff, but this weekend he was in the trenches. He got DIRTY! When he came home Saturday night he didn't even come in and say hi. He went straight to the Laundry room, stripped his clothes off, hung them over the sink, and took a shower. I didn't even go in that room all day Sunday. On Monday I went in and, I kid you not, I almost fell over from the smell in there! It was bad.
When I told him about it he said "So what you're telling me is that it wasn't B.O. it was beyond B.O., it was B.B.O.!" Funny. You are a funny man. :) (in case you didn't catch it -- Seinfeld ... there's this one episode about the valet ... and "what am I hard of smelling?")
Anyway, I'm sure you can guess that the first thing I did, after opening the window, was throw them in the washer! They came beautifully clean, but this is what I was left with:

Yeah, that's the grease like from train wheels ... and it's thick too. I was afraid to put another load of laundry in, but what to do? I had some affresh tablets so I ran that cycle. It didn't even touch it. So I had hubby look at it when he came home last night. He tried scraping it off with his fingernail. Not much happened.

I thought maybe I could try my softscrub, but I was afraid of what the suds would do to the machine, you know? He said maybe the wipes he keeps in his truck that all the guys clean their hands with would work. It's some auto mechanic thing. So I said "good idea!! just leave me some in the morning." He forgot.

I had to get some laundry done, there was a big pile!

Then it hit me. It was an epiphany from the Lord.  That's all it could be!

Like dissolves like. The most basic principal in chemistry -- a class that I never took! I just read it somewhere when I was researching the Oil Cleansing Method. Wait. I never posted about that? ...

Anyway, I have this pledge orange oil for dusting and polishing furniture. It's in a spray bottle, so I just sprayed some on there and let it sit for a few minutes. Then I went and got some paper towels -- had to be disposable (I didn't want to end up in the same predicament when I washed the rags) and started wiping away. Do you know it came right off??? No elbow grease required --  and it's a good thing too! You know I'm not quite 4'11" right? It's tough just reaching in to get the laundry out ... Here's the after picture:

There are still a few light gray "stains" on the bottom where the plastic is permenantly discolored, but can you believe it? After I got the oil and grease up with the paper towels I sprayed it down with distilled white vinegar and wiped that up too.  Good as new!

How's that for natural cleaning? Awesome!

Back to Blogging

Sad isn't it? I made a resolution in January to blog every 2 weeks at the very least. Then we moved, and ... what happened?? My last post was in May! I got discouraged, actually. I started thinking about all the other blogs out there in blog land that are prettier than mine, and who simply do it better. I'm gonna be honest with you, I can't blog every 2 weeks--at least not right now. I tried. It didn't work.
I started thinking about how many other blogs there are that are doing the same thing my blog is trying to do. I guess mine isn't really needed.
Then I started thinking about my mission statement. Remember that? And I was wondering if blogging actually fits in with my mission statement. Initially I had categorized it under things that I enjoy and keep me refreshed, but I wasn't enjoying the panicked feeling I was having, or feeling like I should apologise when I didn't get a post up in time.
I started thinking how embarrassing this blog is.  It's really been nothing but trial and error from beginning to present.  Stuff started and not finished ... like GAPS that we had to give up on for now ... or the running that I couldn't keep up with ... etc. And I seriously considered just deleting the whole thing.
But then I had a sweet friend tell me that she missed my blog posts. She actually misses my blog! I cried.
And then I started thinking that maybe I do have something valuable to share. And maybe I'll never get a hundred million followers who love my blog and pin stuff up on pinterest. And maybe I don't have to post on a schedule, at least not yet. But maybe none of that matters! And so, I'm back, yet again. To post when I have time and will enjoy it. About our lives, and what I'm learning, and homeschool and anything else that finds its way to these pages. :)

A GAPS for Everyone

I was introduced to GAPS by my sister, who's husband and young son were having fairly severe digestive health issues. And GAPS is for diegestive health, but it's for so much more! I personally believe that every person could benefit from GAPS. Everything stems from the gut. That's the premise behind Gut And Psychology/Physiology Syndrome. If you're gut is not healthy it cannot digest the foods you put into it properly and your body will not function optimally. Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride believes that we can heal our guts and allow our bodies to function in ways they never have before, but it takes dedication, preparation, and a commitment, because it can be pretty expensive.
Due to the fact that my husband and I are on completely different pages, I have decided to put GAPS on hold for a while. But we are continuing with several of the principals and doing the best we can, because in the 3 months that we've been following this diet I have discovered some interesting and unexpected things.
I knew Wyatt was having issues with dairy, but I guess it took stepping back from it to realize how severe the symptoms were. At my husband's insistance, I allowed the boys to have the sweet potatoes and biscuits I had made for him. I wasn't thinking about the fact that there was a bit of butter on the potatoes. Before the meal was over, Wyatt was complaining of stomach pain and then he had diahrrea for 3 days. While we were on vacation Wyatt had french fries twice. I'm not sure yet whether it was the potatoes themselves, or the rancid oil they were fried in, but he had excessive, painful gas and bloating, so that he couldn't sleep afterwards. No wonder he'd been waking several times a night for well over a year!
I've also discovered that Liam loses complete control and absolutely cannot focus when he eats wheat. I've had some minor concerns about him in the past, and noticed that he had calmed down while we were on GAPS. His schooling had also started to go much better. His attitude was better and he focused on the lesson. We've made more progress in these last couple months than I had in an entire year previous! He tends toward hyperactivity by nature and is still a free spirit, but the change has been remarkable.  I wasn't sure what caused the difference until I allowed him to have crackers one day last week. OH. MY. WORD! The next day he was off the wall. He was quite literally bouncing off the walls! he wasjumping on, and otherwise abusing his brothers. He wasn't angry, in fact he was being silly, but he couldn't stop when I told him to. Even when I disciplined him he couldn't seem to control it.  Our school lesson was full of tears and took over 2 hours to complete. He just hasn't acted that way in months. It used to be a common, every day occurance.
Silas and Shamus I haven't noticed much difference in except that Shamus is not complaining of a stomach ache every night at bedtime anymore.  He did last week, though, but I didn't make a connection to anything in particular.
I have noticed a sharp decline in my severe headaches, but once again, I didn't make a distinct connection to any particular food.
So many people are so used to their symptoms that they don't even notice them, or see them as abnormal, but GAPS can identify them, and heal us so that we can go on to live normal lives. GAPS really is for everyone, or almost everyone :D

Just Let It Go.

I have been married to the same man for almost 10 years.  I have always done his laundry. Wash, fold, put in drawers, hang in closet whatever. I'm pretty particular about things. He jokingly gives me a hard time because I can't stand it if the covers are wrinkled and I'll get out of bed in the middle of the night to fix them if necessary. Glasses and mugs need to be in neat rows in the cupboards etc. So it stands to reason that I'd be pretty particular about how I arrange clothes in the closet and dresser drawers, right? I can't help it that it makes me want to scream when I see two shirts with their plackets facing each other hanging in the closet! It just does, ok? So I always hang all shirts facing to the left. I also arrange them by type, fabric and color in that order. I have a little more difficult time on my side because I have so many different kinds of shirt, but Nathan has oxfords, polos -- long and short sleeved, and then special breathable golf polos. His side of the closet looks like a rainbow. Literally.
I have spent the last 9 years in various levels of irritation and disbelief when I walk into the closet, or open dresser drawers to put things away because something is always out of place. And really. How much effort does it take to reach just a bit further to the right to hang that shirt up with the long sleeved polos than in the middle of the short sleeved ones? And so I would sigh and maybe grumble and hang it where it belongs. But one day, in the not too distant past, my darling hubby was desperately searching for a particular shirt. Finally he called to me in frustration "do you know where my _____ shirt is?" "It should be hanging right there in your closet" I call back.  Still he can't find it. So I walk in and immediately pick it out "It's right here with the rest of your blue polo shirts" I say. He gives me a vacant look. "You mean to tell me, that in all these years you have never once noticed that your shirts are organized and arranged by color?" "They are?" he says staring at the shirts in disbelief. "They are" I say.
And there it is.  He's not doing it to spite me, or to be lazy. He doesn't realize he's making more work for me. It just never occured to him to even notice! He still doesn't notice.  I could harp on him and nag him until I'm blue in the face.  It's not going to change anything. He is who he is.  And so, I just let it go. :) Sometimes I still get irritated, but mostly I just chuckle and move the shirt.
What about you? What have you had to let go in order to avoid hard feelings or constant irritation?

Why I STOPPED Boiling Eggs

photo credit

Boiled Eggs. They have so many, many uses! And we have been eating a LOT of them in the last month or so, since we started GAPS. They are a super easy and nourishing breakfast for my crew, especially if I make them the night before. My kids love deviled eggs. They're great as egg salad, and when we're not eating GAPS I like to put them in potato salad, macaroni salad and more.
My success with boiled eggs, however, has been inconsistent at best.  I don't know if anyone else has this problem or not but if I follow the typical "bring to a boil, turn off heat, cover and let sit for 10 minutes" The yolks typically turn out an unappetizing greenish color on the outside. If I take them off the heat and cover for 10 minutes the whites are usually less firm and I'm picky about how things feel in my mouth. If it's slimy at all -- BLEH! Not happening! Sometimes they're hard to peel, sometimes it's easy, but more often than not lately they've been really hard to peel. For our road trip last week, I put 5 dozen eggs in a stock pot, covered with water and boiled. I do not, I repeat N.O.T. recommend doing that! what a pain. None were easy to peel. and the ones at the top we really soft, while the bottom were fairly firm. BLEH.
So then we stay at a Holiday Inn Express and their hard-boiled eggs are perfect. And obviously easy to peel. How do they do that??? Well, I finally concluded that they use an egg boiler. I'm pretty sure I've seen those before. But they're probably not cheap. And do I really want another appliance cluttering up my countertop? I don't think so! So what's a girl to do?
I think I finally found the answer.
Last the other day I stumbled upon it on pinterest. Don't boil your eggs; BAKE them!
So I tried it out. Two days in a row and it's a-mazing.
Here's how you do it: Place eggs directly on rack in center of oven. Like so:

Turn the oven on 350 and set your timer for 30 minutes .Have a pair of tongs and a bowl of cold water waiting.
Take them immediately from the oven and drop them in the bowl of cold water.
When they're cool enough to handle you can peel them.
Can I just tell you  they slide right out of the shell! and the yolks are a beautiful yellow color! and the Whites are so nice and firm! The perfect boiled egg! With no boiling involved

You can make as many as your oven will hold! It's fantastic :D This is definitely the method I will be using for coloring Easter Eggs this week!
As info, some of the eggs do get brown spots on the shell, which I can only assume is liquid from the eggs coming through the shell, but I tested and if you dry them with a (paper) towel as you take them out of the water it comes right off. If any sticks you can use a Scotch Brite Green pad to buff any residual spots off and they will be beautiful for Easter coloring.

Real Food on a Road Trip

We recently started the GAPS diet.  GAPS is pretty restrictive. You can't eat just anything. Most of what you eat needs to be home cooked or raw.  Ideally it would all be organic, grass-fed, free range ... we can't make that happen right now, so we're doing the best we can. We avoid as many chemical additives as we can, no sugar or artificial sweeteners are allowed, except honey; no grains or starches either. You'd be surprised where you find sugars and grain additives!
But here's the deal: we're driving to the Grand Canyon from Alabama. 24 hour drive. 2 1/2 days driving. Yeah. I thought about just throwing in the towel and starting over when we get home, but the reason I started was the discomfort my two year old was experiencing and I wasn't going to go back on the progress he's made, so ... I just had to come up with a way to make the road trip and the diet work together! Not gonna lie, I took cues from a couple other blogs www.passionatehomemaking.org and another one I cannot for the life of me remember right now. I spent 2 days cooking up some chicken and cutting up veggies. Here's most of what I put in the cooler on ice.

In the 4 gallon sized bags: 5 dozen hard boiled eggs, 16 pounds of roasted chicken drumsticks, 10 pounds of marinated, baked, chicken breast tenderloins.
In the 7 quart sized bags: 8 cucumbers cut into "sticks", 6 sweet bell peppers (yellow, red and orange) sliced, bunches of carrots, I couldn't even tell you how many, peeled and sliced into discs,and some cuties.
Then there's Bubbie's dill pickles, sauerkraut (which I actually tasted and ended up leaving home, homemade yogurt and bananas.
I also packed a jar of ghee, for cooking at the campsite,raw honey and a half gallon of raw milk I had left in the fridge. We stopped at Sam's Club and picked up a bunch of Pink Lady apples, more bananas, some strawberries, and a box of Larabars. 
To be honest, I'm not sure we're going to make it.  We've already gone through half the carrots, about a third or so of the cukes, half of the peppers, all of the tenderloins, and slightly less than half of the drumsticks! The milk is gone, and so are most of the Larabars. And we're only 2 days into the week long trip.  We haven't touched the eggs yet, because the hotel we stayed at last night had hard boiled eggs at the breakfast and we can always stop and get more fruit and veggies, but the meat might be a problem. I'll have to think about how I can cook some up at the campsite to bring with on the way home.
What are some ways you deal with eating real food on the road?