Boredom is a Blessing ?!

I have a million and one sewing projects to do, the problem is that my craftroom is downsairs and I can't watch the kids. I get bored so last night I went on line and taught myself how to crochet. My first project was the tickle turtle diaper cover wrap, I am almost finished and I will post pics and a link when I am done

I Won!!!

This great new site I found called Vanillajoy was having a giveaway and I won this really neat system that keeps the air out of the breast milk you pump so that it stays really fresh. Thank you Kelsey from Vanillajoy, check out her button(I think that's what it is called) on the side of my blog. I will put up some pics when I get it.

Naturopathic Medicine

I have had a thyroid problem since the end of my pregnancy with my daughter, which became a permanent problem after my last baby. The doctors I saw all said we'll just replace the hormone and you will be fine, they failed to mention that the hormone would eventually kill my thyroid. I knew there had to be something better than taking a pill everyday for the rest of my life. I found out that there is a natural hormone replacement instead of synthetic that won't kill my thyroid but doctors don't like to use it because it requires more work on their part because it takes longer to regulate.

I Tuesday my baby J and I went to the naturopathic physician, the real problem, my pancreas and hypothalamus are on the fritz, there is nothing really wrong with my thyroid, which I tried to tell my oh so smart doctors. I also have a virus that is used in the manufacturing of the tetanus vaccine that is causing the arthritis in my hands. I also found out that the tetanus vaccine is terrible because of the way it is manufactured. It can cause allergies, asthma, ADD, increased SIDS risk, and autism to name a few. I am not against vaccines, I just think that they could be a lot safer. By the time a child is in first grade that will have received 23 shots and have 70 different vaccines running through their little systems. Their small bodies simply can't take it. All vaccines are the same, there is no adult version and kids version.

J also has the virus from the tetanus shot, he got it from one of the other kids, because it is transmitted like common virus, which might be why his allergies are so bad.

I encourage you to take charge of your health, do your homework, don't just take your doctors word for it. Treat the cause of the problem, not just the symptoms. There is almost always something different or better out there, you just have to be willing to do a little extra work to have great health.

Diapering Idea

I really like using flannel for my fitted diapers, mostly because I can get nice flannels at JoAnns. Unless you order diaper velcro from an online diaper store, it is really, really expensive. At the JoAnns here, it is six dollars a yard, yikes. So what do you use to keep them closed? Snappies don't really hold in the flannel that well. My solution, I sewed fleece patches on because it is snappi-able, really easy to sew, doesn't fray, and doesn't end up a big stuck together velcro mess in the washing machine. This makes a really nice diaper, in the summer I don't use a cover at home, I just change them as soon as they are wet so their little buns don't get to hot. Hope this little tip will help.

Oh the Squeals!!!

I was in the house washing my hands after checking on the chicks when screams and squeal came from outside. My first thought, who can't keep their hands to themselves? What I found was my oldest trying to catch the snake he had found. They looked at it for a while, mom did a little science unit for the learning experience and them we let him go. The pic is a little blury because he was always moving.

Pictures

I posted some pics today for the first time. I used the picture function on our digital video camera and they are kind of fuzzy. I will get my other camera back from my mom and add the rest of pics that I wanted to. She borrowed it when she and my dad went out to Stockholm, South Dakota for the 125th celebration. My sister also went, she has more details and pics on her blog http://whowaa.blogspot.com. Just thought I would share, these are pink peonys from my moms garden.

Happy Father's Day

I hope all of you had a HFD, ours was very busy. It kind of started last night when the boys and hubby went to the dirt track races with my husbands dad and brother(and his kids). The track is an hour away so they didn't get home until about 11 pm.

Yesterday, we were also suppose to receive our baby chicks in the mail, but they didn't come. Low and behold, 12:30 am, the post office an hour away calls to tell us that our chicks are here. Our options, go get them now, 12:30am, go get them before 6:30 am, or wait until Monday morning and they will be sent to they local post office. Errr....
My wonderful husband was up at five this morning and went and picked up the peeping little box, they are so stinking cute! The one with the naked neck is called a turken, he/she wasn't picked on.
We had a very rainy picnic this afternoon, we were under the shelter at the park, the kids played on the playground and got soaking wet, but they had fun. We also had great food, which is always a blast when you love to eat like I do.

I also sewed my little J a hat this afternoon, it resembles a train engineers hat or a old time baseball cap. I had an engineers hat to look at, but it had enclosed seams, so it was only kind of helpful. It was only after I was done that I saw a tutorial of a similar hat on mushroomvillagers.wordpress.com, but I put mine together a different way and I also used some elastic in the back of mine.

So many ideas...

I have almost finished every started project in my craft room, most of it was cloth diapering supplies the have been cut out for nine plus months. I also made a skirt and ponytail scarf for G. I want to try and make a hat for her too, like a old school baseball cap. A little girl at my sons baseball game had one and it looked so darn cute. I also sketched out a purse, we'll see of my creation can go from paper to fabric. I took some pics of the skirt and scarf, the fabric is black with multicolored polkadots. It is kind of long but she said she wanted to keep it that way when I asked her if she wanted it shorter.

Mudpuddle Fun

My daughter stripped and is now running through the mudpuddle in the driveway. This morning I found her standing on the counter in the kitchen, she is such a monkey. If she doesn't give me gray hair, nothing will.

Wanna Smile?

If you want a smile or even a laugh, go watch a bunch of five year olds play t-ball. If there is any break in the action their attention is gone, they build sandcastle, watch the dragonflies, spin in circles, ect, ect... Sometimes I wish I remembered what is was like to not have a care in the world.

Yum, Pancakes

This is my favorite recipe for pancakes and my kids love them too! The recipe is from a package of Bob's Red Mill Scottish Oatmeal. I ran out of Scottish oatmeal and used organic quick cook oats, which also worked great.

1 1/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour
3/4 cup oats
2 tsp aluminum free baking powder
1 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
about 1 1/2 cup butter milk, if you don't have buttermilk, regular milk will work fine or add a tbsp of lemon juice to your milk, let sit for a moment to slightly sour it, that's what I do
2 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup of oil

for waffles simply add one more egg and a tbsp oil

mix flour, oatmeal, baking powder, salt, and soda. stir in buttermilk, eggs, and oil till smooth. if mix is to thick, stir in a little more buttermilk.

I have made some changes to the original recipe so that it works the best for me, to find the original recipe go to http://www.bobsredmill.com/

Update: These are waffles that we made using this recipe, only I uses sweetpotatoes instead of oil and added a teaspoon of cinnamon.

The ER, Twice in 16 Hours

These are the moments that you wish your kids would just sit still, but then they wouldn't be kids, right? G, my daughter, went running into the bathroom last night and slipped on the floor, hitting the bathtub with her chin, splitting it wide open. She did the kid thing, it really hurt for the first thirty seconds and then she was fine, never mind the fact that she was bleeding all over. I brought her in and they used dermabond to put it back together. Everyone slept relatively well and as we all were getting ready for church, she hit it again, this time on the baby's highchair, splitting it open again, back we go to the ER. They really didn't do anything the second time, they said she split the dermabond, but didn't pull the wound open any farther, so... here's to hoping that she doesn't hit it again.

A Very Productive Day

Today was so nice and the kids cooperated and we got tons of things done. The air vent was added to the chicken coop, nesting boxes hung on the wall, card board circle is in place, it is all ready for the arrival of our baby chicks. Lots of lawn mowing was done and a tractor bucket full of wood chips was spread in front of the coop. We also added a flower box to the window, it is oh so cute. I also finally finished the garden in front, it turned our rather nice, our tomatoes already have flower buds. The downside, the kids were in the house part of the day by themself, so the house is trashed. Oh well, another day, another mess. I have some flowers to plant, woodships to spread, and a little more grass to mow and the yard will look great. Wouldn' t it be great if it would stay that way all by itself?

Better Butter

This is one of my favorite recipes, your own, homemade margarine. It comes from Laurel's Kitchen, A Handbook for Vegetarian Cookery and Nutrition. Better -Butter has the same reduced amount of saturated fat as margarine without the processing or additives and great butter flavor.

This is a great way to make that great organic better last longer, and it is spreadable right out of the fridge. This is not the exact recipe, but the one that I use on a regular basis.

1 cup canola oil or Smart Balance Oil
1 cup butter
2 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons dried skim milk
1/4 teaspoon lecithin (found at most wholefood stores and co-ops)
1/2 teaspoon salt

Dissolve salt in water and blend the rest of the ingredients together, pour into containers and store in the fridge.

Strong Willed Children

While three of my children have been asleep for at least a hour, one still remains at large. He has a torrent of excuse, but what it all comes down to is he doesn't want to go to bed, plain and simple. Some may say, "Give him a good swat and he go to bed"! What do I say to those people, you have never lived with a strong willed child before. Trust me, it doesn't work.

Normally we practice bedroom time, as long as they stay in their own rooms and are quiet, they can stay up as late as they want. After the first week of staying up really late gets old, they are in bed at the time that they should be in bed, but not always. Here goes another round of good old fashioned mind over matter!!

Inspiration

My sister, Lexie, is my first inspiration for this blog, second is all of you who have great blogs that I have visited in the last few weeks while on my quest for all things crafty. Third is my daughter G, I started sewing diapers for her, bought my sewing machine for the diapers, she is the real reason I took that leap and learned to sew.

My sister is the greatest, she is one of the most thoughtful people I know and encourages my love of all things crafty. I don't have near the time I would like to to devote to my craftyness, but right now my babies come first. I believe that God created our bodies in a divine design, eating organic and naturopathic medicine is the way to go for our family. I hope to have lots of fun with this blog and hope that you have fun too!