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Thursday, January 30, 2014

~ More Beautiful Snowdrifts and Thursday's List ~

When I woke up yesterday, it was 9* outside. Sounds pretty chilly, but it was actually warmer than the day before!  This morning it's 16* ~ woo hoo!  We didn't do a whole lot yesterday. Really didn't get as much school done as I would have liked either.  Emma was able to get a lot accomplished in school.  I've asked her to stay down on the main floor to help her stay focused better.  It seemed to work yesterday.  She completed her 1st quarter exam study guide for science, 50 minutes of grammar and 50 minutes of math.  Much more than a typical day for her. Sam started his math, but didn't get it finished.  Sarah completed her phonics and spelling. Jonathon completed his math.  His time is improving a little on the subtraction speed drill.  I really need to buckle down in school today and not be so easily distracted!

I headed outside yesterday to start the van so I could go to the bank, as soon as I turned towards the van I saw a very large and beautiful snowdrift that was going to keep me home.  It prompted me to take pictures of some of the other beautiful snowdrifts!








Beautiful!!

Thursday's Thankful To-Do List
*breakfast
*lunch
*exercise
*school with lovelies
*laundry
*clean out dog crate
*clean out guinea crate
*crock pot supper


Time to start another day!  

Sunday, January 26, 2014

~ Holy Snowdrifts, Batman! ~

We have been having an amazing winter!  Not necessarily a good amazing winter, but an amazingly crazy winter!  Snow, ice and extremely cold temperatures.  Definitely not the type of weather that you could go play in.  There is so much snow outside that it would be wonderful to go out and play in it!  A child could build caves, tunnels, snowmen... they could even sled down the drifts ~ if only it wasn't so cold outside.  It's currently only 8* outside!  Brrr....

Check out these snow drifts!



See what I mean?

Monday, December 30, 2013

~ New Year's Resolutions ~

I don't usually make New Year's Resolutions... just not my thing.  I try on a regular basis to always be working on bettering myself.  I always try to make the new day better than the last, to right the wrongs and to try not to make the same mistakes.  I work very hard to make everything great for my family, to build lasting memories. When it's all said and done, that's all they'll have left.  Unfortunately, I'm not always successful, but I do try.

There are people out there who have issues with this type of thinking. Sad, but very true.  Some think that you're trying to be "all that", that you think you are "perfect" and better than others; some think that you are trying to make them feel bad or that you're telling them that they are failing at what they are doing because it's different than what you are doing, or how you are doing it.

First of all, none of the above are the case :)  This life is short (period)  Why would I NOT work hard to make the best out of it? Why would I NOT try and make things better than the day before? Why would I NOT try and make things wonderful and memorable for my family? Today could be my last day to try...

I'm a people pleaser (not sure that's a word ;) ).  Always have been.  It's actually a bad thing. Many times people's opinions of my actions can cause me heartache for days, sometimes longer, even if said actions had nothing to do with them.  Unfortunately, people feel the need to pass on their insecurities, guilty feelings, and opinions in hurtful words. I tend to let my hurt feelings and heartache at their comments build up inside of me until it eventually boils over. At this point it boils over in the form of "I need to defend and protect myself", angry, resentful and unkind words. This doesn't make me feel better... it only makes me feel worse.  Not healthy, not healthy at all!

This year, as part of my "Journey to Whole Health", I am going to work on not letting others opinions of me and my actions bother me and ensuring that I don't do the same to others ~ my "personal growth"!  A sort of New Year's Resolution, if you will.  As a people pleaser this will be tricky ;)

I need to remind myself that as long as I'm ~
1) Honoring God with my actions by obeying the 2 Great Commandments
2) Honoring my husband and children
That all. is. good!

People don't have to like or agree with me :)

Yes, #1 says HONORING GOD.  That is above all the most important.

It doesn't matter if so and so doesn't agree with my long term breastfeeding; attachment parenting; dietary preferences; what I do or don't feed our children; what I do or don't allow our children to do; how or why I do something; my religious beliefs... the list could go on and on.

Here's to a beautiful "Journey to Whole Health"




Monday, December 23, 2013

~ A New Beginning ~

Many people don't realize that I am basically in a mode of discomfort/pain quite frequently.  If I sit or lay for any extended amount of time, I stiffen right up.  It's first obvious in my hips, I basically can't walk when I stand up.  My hips are extremely tight.  It takes a few limps (and sometimes a near fall) before I am able to walk halfway normal.  Once those hips loosen a little, then my feet and ankles let me know that they too are not enjoying my attempts at walking.  After a bit of moving around, most of my joints have loosened up to the point of being able to get around without too many difficulties.  Getting out of bed in the morning causes the same difficulties for me ~ every morning...  It's actually quite embarrassing to attempt to stand in front of people after an extended period of time of sitting/laying!

Unless I have wrist splints on at night, I don't sleep well.  I have HORRIBLE carpal tunnel in both wrists.  My hands don't just go tingly numb... they turn into solid, numb, painful boulders.  From my elbows down, I can't feel them.  From my elbows up... a very painful throb.  Thankfully, if I wear my wrist splints my nights are better.  Most nights with the splints on, I have no issues.  Sometimes, my hands are  little tingly even with the splints on, but not very often.

A short while back I completed a Whole30 Challenge.  It was tough!   It was unbelievably tough ~ for about the first week or so.  Once my cravings stopped, things went quite a bit smoother for me.  I did veer off of it on Thanksgiving (we had a gluten free/dairy free Thanksgiving) ~ something I regretted!  I went back on the challenge after Thanksgiving!

What happened to me on my Whole30 Challenge was a beautiful thing!  Actually, many beautiful things happened :)

 ~ First of all, my hip, ankle and foot stiffness basically disappeared.  Honestly, it was gone!!  For some reason, it didn't actually dawn on me that it was gone until after I splurged on Thanksgiving.  A day or two after Thanksgiving I was a stiff as could be!  At that point, I actually told Mike that I was never going to eat grains again.  I was miserable.

~ Second, my carpal tunnel improved to the point that I didn't need to wear my wrist splints and was able to sleep through the night.  A beautiful thing :)

~ Third, I've always had an itchy, flaky scalp.  I would scratch and scratch until I caused scabs to form.  I also had the same thing on my right eyebrow.  It was quite disturbing, and something the children all teased me about ;)  A week or so into the Whole30, I noticed that the itchiness was decreasing.  By the end... the itchiness, scabs, flaky, dry skin WAS GONE!  Not only from my head, but also my eyebrow.

~ Fourth, the melasma on my face decreased dramatically.  I did some research and more often than not found statements like this " We conclude that there is a true association between thyroid autoimmunity and melasma" ~ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3923030

After the completion of my Whole30 Challenge, I unfortunately went back to eating grains and sugar.  These were basically the only 2 things I had to let go of due to our family already being GF/DF already because of several allergies.  Unfortunately this was a really dumb move on my part!  I am basically miserable!  I can't hardly walk, my melasma is ridiculous, my carpal tunnel is out.of.control, and the itchy, flaky scalp I mentioned above... is back with a vengeance. It feels as though these symptoms are actually worse than they were prior to my Whole30 Challenge.

I have come to the conclusion that grains and sugar are my enemies.  I know that Christmas is just around the corner, and with Christmas comes goodies!!  The goodies will be available for my family, but I won't be indulging!  I'm over it ~ I am going back to living pain free!

This time around, I won't be doing the Whole30... I'll be moving into Whole365 for life, living the Whole9.  The stiffness, pain and discomfort I get from eating grains and sugar is just not worth it for me.

Here's to a new beginning!

Tuesday, November 26, 2013

~ Friday ~

Lots of fun today!

Morestarfall
Jumpstart
PBS.org
Sproutonline.com
Minecraft
Roblox

I found a wonderful and FREE preschool program that I signed up for ~ Chalk Preschool! Maddy loved it!  She was dancing and singing along... so sweet. Levi and Cohen even joined in :)

Nintendo

Books we read:
Mia Dances Back To School - Robin Farley
Dinner With Olivia - Emily Sollinger
How To Convince Your Parents You Can... Care For A Pet Guinea Pig - Stephanie Bearce
My Big Animal Book - Roger Priddy

Played with guinea pigs
Created with Sculpey





Thursday, November 21, 2013

~ Wednesday ~

My body is healing!!  Woke up this morning with a slight headache (day 3 of this headache), but no stiffness in my ankles!  It seems like whenever I return to eating grains I am miserable with stiffness in my ankles and hips.  I think I'll stay away from the grains for good.  It's nice waking up and being able to walk without limping!

Breakfast this morning was 2 cups of coffee with homemade coconut cinnamon creamer, two fried eggs, small amount of sauteed kale and some delicious homemade "cereal".  It was actually very good, and just what I was craving on Day 5 of my Whole 30 Challenge!  Here is what I did ~

Handful of slivered almonds and sunflower seeds, toasted
1/2 small apple chopped into small cubes
full fat coconut milk w/ cinnamon (Mine was chilled in the fridge. It's also what I use for my morning coffee)

Mix together and ENJOY!!  Yum! :)


Our children have had a good day ~
Minecraft
Playing house
Morestarfall.com
Read about St. Felix of Valois
Read/discussed lesson 2 in The New Saint Joseph First Communion Catechism
Took Unit 1 test on My Catholic Faith Delivered ~ aced it!!
Completed Chapter 5 of Jesus Our Life (on My Catholic Faith Delivered)
Read "Forgive Us Our Trespasses" from the book Today I Made My First Reconciliation.  This is an absolutely AMAZING book.  I highly recommend it!  It is broken up into sections that are the perfect size to read and discuss.  It is great for either a Charlotte Mason or Classical education approach. The story line is great and is holding our children's attention.  They actually stop what they are doing to see what's going to happen next.  They are truly learning about reconciliation.
The boys attended their last Sacramental Prep class with daddy.  The next step is their first reconciliation!
4H meeting
Created habitat pictures :)