McKinnis Family

I am that mom...

2010-07-27T13:35:00.001-07:00

I have been seeing a lot of these, so I simply MUST join the fun. I have seen this post at the following blogs: http://sumbthucker.tumblr.com/post/850235773/im-that-mom http://unschoolinglife.blogspot.com/2010/07/im-that-mom.html http://zombieprincess.blogspot.com/2010/07/im-that-mom.html http://justabaldman.blogspot.com/2010/07/impromptu-blog-carnival-i-am-that-dad.html

I am that mom, who sometimes looses her cool, but knows how to ask for forgiveness. I am that mom who turns the car around when her son misses seeing some thing from the back seat. I am that mom who will kiss a booboo a hundred times if it helps it go away. I am that mom who's shirt is also her sons napkin and tissue. I am that mom who hovers a little to close sometimes because I love my child more then anyone could ever know. I am also that mom who allows her child to be free and roam further away then my heart can possible stand because I know it makes him a stronger person. I am that mom who has helped build a strong child only to secretly worry if he might some day be to strong. I am that mom who worries what other moms think but who sticks to her guns because I know in my heart my child is what matters the most. I am that mom who still sleeps with her child because that is the only bed he knows and wants. I am that mom who has a sharp ear out ready to pounce on anyone being hurtful to a child. I am that mom who wants to pick up that other moms child who is crying. I am that mom who has the right to change her mind at any given time. I am that mom who HATES to hear anyone tell my child what to say or do. I am that mom who was given the BEST gift of all...MY SON!!!

Half breath= Half dead!

2010-06-14T14:40:00.000-07:00

How much thought have you ever given to your breathing? I think about my breathing every once in a while, mostly at night when I am trying to clear my mind so that I can fall asleep. But what I haven't given any thought to until just moments ago is what about all the other times I am breathing, and how my "half breaths" might be killing me! Ok if this doesn't make sense please keep reading, I am going to try and make it make sense.

I don't know how many times I have heard someone talk about how many days people can live without food, and then how many days a person can live with out water. Doctors will tell you the average person can live 4 to 6 weeks without food. Obviously there are numerous factors that can influence this number. Without water the average person can live somewhere between 3-6 days, this will fluctuate according to the temperature. So what about air? I never hear people talk about this. We have all probably tried holding our breath to see how long we could last, maybe in a pool or at a party (ha!) I have read that anywhere after 3-5 minutes without air your brain will start dying. THREE TO FIVE MINUTES! That is all. Our body's MUST have oxygen, it is ESSENTIAL to life. So what happens if you spend your life only breathing half way???

It was brought to my attention recently that I needed to "work" on my breathing. I was left a little mystified. Not sure what to do or think about this comment.I started by really trying to think how I normally breathe. I guess the fact is that I give little thought to the quality of my breaths, I take in oxygen and air but I never think mush about the quality of that air. The more I research life, energy, and of course breathing, the more convinced I am that learning to REALLY breathe will ensure me a longer, healthier and happier life.

So how do you do it? Here is one neat little trick I learned so I thought I would share it here. This is called Prana: the breath of life.

Sit in Lotus pose, close your eyes, breathe in and out slowly for as long as feels comfortable, breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth, focus on breathing in and out for the same amount of time, count your breath if this helps, hold the palms of your hands over your navel, feel the movements as you breathe in and out, try doing this everyday, if you can: start with 10 minutes and gradually increase to one hour over the course of one year. I found this pose in a book called The Chakra Bible http://www.amazon.com/Chakra-Bible-Definitive-Guide-Energy/dp/1402752245/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1276553305&sr=8-1 Here is a quick video on youtube that also shows Prana breathing http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7WFq17NxWA

As a parting note I will leave you with the original question at hand: What if we only half breathe all our lives???

Updates

2010-03-27T07:09:00.000-07:00

Well, life is very busy these days, and my blog has been collecting dust. At this moment I am snuggled up in bed with Thomas at an RV park in Mira Mar (San Diego) California. Here there is cable and internet...more then we have at home, LOL! I think its a bit weird to be on vacation and hook up to all these things...but I wont go there at the moment. Instead I will take advantage and tell you what we have been up to lately.

Let me start with latest development. As part of my thirty year crisis I went to the hair salon for the first time in over two years. I think the universe punished me for my vanity (ha!) and I received the worst hair cut of my life! I went in with hair to the middle of my back and came out with hair shorter then my military husbands! I will say no more on this subject or I might throw up! Pat should have been more agreeable on me getting dreadlocks...

We are snug in our new home. Thomas has a great big tree, that he climbs daily. He is a climber! I cant write about it and do it justice. This is one of those things you have to witness to truly understand.

Our clothes dryer wont work in this house (its electric, the house requires gas) so I have been hang drying EVERYTHING. This is life not a fun experiment that I can deviate from. It was to cool out to get anything dry out side, although that is changing now. So I have been hang drying everything around the house. "If you brush your teeth, move the socks, please!" Turns out dryers are not a necessity.

Life with out cable and internet, is proving to be good and interesting. There were and possibly still are moments of with drawl. For all of us. Pat and I get to use computers at work and school so that helps with the little things. Not enough time to use them for blogging or much else, but we do have a slight access to them.

Pat pulled out Thomas portable DVD player a few nights ago and when I am not around will occasionally (I think twice) lets Thomas watch videos. I am very opposed to this. Even a little tv time makes him act different.

School is turning out to be such a JOY for me! I love what I am learning and where I am going. I just finished my first 6 weeks. I am really excited about the next 6 weeks, as it is all hands on. I am going from three classes to one. The same class for six weeks, which is all cooking all hands on. We each get our own kitchen station and after Chef demonstrates something we go on and do it our selves. I will miss Chef Gilbert from my last six weeks, the most. I was able to make it a couple hours early almost every day and he allowed me to work with him and learn bits and pieces. He has certainly inspired me. I have been reading a book called The Perfectionist. It was written about life from his era and takes place in France (wish is where he is from) so I am becoming oddly consumed with all things French these days. LOL!

Well, my wee little RV shower is calling my name! I am wondering if the hot water will be in fact hot....

American Made products

2010-02-23T11:54:00.000-08:00

We have been talking in depth lately on the effects of buying AMERICAN made products. Just getting people to open their eyes to were stuff is made is huge! Seriously, I BEG you to start reading labels. Turning items over and checking to see where they are made before you buy them. PLEASE!!! Almost everything is labeled and once you do this a few times you will become an expert on finding these labels quickly. On shoes, look under the tongue. Shirts, look on the tag, if its not there there is usually a small tag on the inside seam. Check there! Toys are usually stamped on the bottom (printed right into the plastic,) so if you don't have the packaging you can still check. You will soon become outraged at where your "stuff" is coming from. Or RATHER were your hard earned money is going!

You may run into obstacles. But I assure you, you can over come these. Example: (oh, I have many of these!!!) Clothes pins. I went into five different stores and not a single clothes pin was made in the good old USA. I will add I didn't run around wasting gas looking for the clothespins, but when I was in a new store would check on these. So I went home a picked up a copy of last years Lehman's catalog and sure enough...Clothespins made in the USA. Eureka, I found it! The same can be said about dish towels, and shoes. If you don't have a Lehman's catalogue I recommend you get one. What a great store. They list on every item they sell weather it was made in America or if it was imported.

Shoes are tuff, but there are a couple brands you can buy in stores near you if you don't want to get online and order some of the neater, spunkier styles from smaller companies. New Balance sneakers, are generally made and packaged in the US. Sass, is another old school American brand. But http://www.americansworking.com/shoes.html looks like it will be my next shoe company...I like the Keno sandal. There all sorts of options from work boots to sneakers, to sandals and babies- adults. Here is a great website to use when you are in a pinch for an AMERICAN made product... http://www.americansworking.com/index.html

The other day Pat came peaking around the corner with a big smile on his face. He told me he got me a present. Then he pulls this giant box from around the corner. " A new vacuum!" Now I was ecstatic for a split second. You see my poor, pathetic old junky plastic (toy looking) vacuum. Was well beyond its last leg in life. If you need to open a window to clear the smoke and smells from a room during and after its vacuuming session, then in my opinion you are in sad need of a new one! Which was my situation exactly. So here is this box with an image of yet another plastic toy looking vacuum. Most women (and men) would have been elated to see a Dyson, in their home. I mean after all, haven't we all seen the commercials? It is the best vacuum in the universe according to that smart looking man on the boob tube. Sheesh!

I don't think Pat got it, when he saw my eye brows curl in and my expression turned to a look of annoyance. But really, did he just not get it? Did he just not get me? How much preaching must one do, God bless his pretty little soul (LOL.)After a long conversation he finally stared getting it, and me! So we marched back to the store and returned it and got me my BELOVED Oreck. It looks like a vacuum my grandma would have owned. For crying out loud it looks like a VACUUM not a toy (I am breathing in a sigh of relief and great pleasure.) Pat is more proud now of that vacuum then I think even I am (if that is possible!)

One last note we spent a nice afternoon walking around the out-let mall the other day. This was really a day of learning for my sweetie. I am not sure which rock he has been living under but apparently he was under the illusion that clothes and shoes were still being made in AMERICA. Well they are, but not in the way he imagined. Store after store he would poke his head in and flip over the tags on shirts, pants, belts, and shoes only to see that NONE of these clothes were made here. But rather Taiwan, China, India, Malaysia, Bangladesh and so on and so on. It was slowly starting to register with him. Just because the stores name is as AMERICAN as apple pie, like Timberland or Nike does NOT mean it was made here.

We finished our little adventure by stopping into a shop called AMERICAN Apparel http://www.americanapparel.net/ were we purchased (out of necessity-not want)one pant, one shirt, several socks, and a pair of undies all made in down town LA just for Thomas. There are no obnoxious characters or designs on these clothes. Just simply made by a company who verifies that their workers are tax paying citizens... in AMERICA! Thomas is so proud of his AMERICAN made clothes, and let me tell you how cute he looks!

If we all make a small change in the way we shop we CAN make a BIG difference! I will start posting my favorite AMERICAN made items on here.

Really Really Free Market

2010-01-29T18:42:00.000-08:00

I am really really thrilled to tell you about the really really free market(from here on I will simply call it RRFM!) RRFM started out of San Fransisco. Now they are popping up in cities all over the world. RRFM's are exactly what the name says: free markets. Groups of people gather together and set up these markets. Sometimes they are in parks, sometimes they are in parking lots and I even know of one city that holds theirs under a high way over pass. People put out what ever they want to give away and other people come and take it. No money, no bartering, no trading...just FREE! At some markets people come and entertain with free music, sometimes people come and donate their services (any one want a free massage?)No matter what it is all free with no strings attached.

This is such a great way to help curb consumerism. Keeping perfectly good items out of land fills and passing on used items for free rather then at a price. A lot of people donate their old things to thrift stores. But then people have to go out and pay to have even this un wanted stuff. I personally don't have a problem with these organizations. Although I have heard people voice their disstane for some of these organizations based on where and how the money from these donations are spent and who it benefits or lack there of. I just think coming together for the common good and not having to have a penny in your pocket is the most beautiful thing!

I live in a city of over two million people and was pretty bummed to find out there isn't a RRFM already happening here. Since I love a challenge I have started setting the stage for Las Vegas' first RRFM. I have already found many others who are eager to jump in and get their hands dirty in making this happen. RRFM's are created by groups and not individuals so I am so happy to have a team to work with. I will post some links below. My mom is going to start one in her town. She is in her sixties and lives in a town with only 18,000 people. So no matter how big or small your city is and no matter what your age or background is you can start a RRFM in your town. So why not start a RRFM in your town? Whats stopping you, come on and lets spread the love together...the FREE love!

http://www.reallyreallyfree.org/ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YP5lQoO6U8 http://www.facebook.com/pages/Las-Vegas-NV/Really-Really-Free-Market-Las-Vegas/278619351484?v=app_2373072738&ref=ts#/pages/Las-Vegas-NV/Really-Really-Free-Market-Las-Vegas/278619351484?v=wall&ref=ts

Downshifting Life

2010-01-25T19:48:00.000-08:00

Where do I begin???? Well life is certainly a journey and thankfully so! Going from the standard conventional American to a sort of Nouveau Bohemian has been a long slow process. What I thought was healthy, right and environmentally sound six years ago compared to two years ago compared to today are all entirely different. Which automatically leads me to wonder how I will feel and think three years from now, and even twenty years from now.

So where does that leave me? Well we gave up our cell phones a while back, and haven't regretted it for a second. We stopped letting Thomas watch TV, and that has been great. But we are still distracted by it. And cant you tell how distracted I am by the Internet? I am and so is Pat! We would rather surf the Internet or watch TV then engage in one another. If one of us is playing with Thomas the other is devising a way to sneak off and grab a few moments online.

Television and Internet are our two biggest distractions from life. But there are others as well. Or even just every day tasks that could unite us but don't because "we" have created ways to quicken and ultimately remove ourselves from the actual task. Just like food, but I shouldn't even get started on that topic! You know the whole idea about how far removed we are from our food sources and how eating chicken is just like eating air for the simple fact that we give no thought to where it came from, how it lived and was treated and so on and so on... But this isn't so much about that topic so I will stop now. For your sake (your welcome, lol.)

We will be moving into our new house in the next week. With this move comes a great opportunity to try and implement some more new ways of life. I just think the move will help make this all happen a lot smoother, especially for our little guy. So here is what downshifting life is going to be looking like for us. This list includes some things we already do but need to do better, and of course brand new things as well (in no particular order.)Also the list puts me between a rock and a hard place in some instances because while I would love to live with zero consumption (aside from food) some of the items require- consumption! I am sure I can find ways to work this. And part of it is not to drive myself or my family crazy in the process but just start doing more, simply because that is the stage we are at! Tell me what you think... (Oh and if your wondering how we will communicate with out the Internet, I have a plan for that as well. Pat and I each get a day once a week or when ever we feel like a break and can go ALONE to the library and steal some Internet time.)

Onto the list, and (x) means we do it but can do more. (?) means I wonder if we can do it! And well you get the point- now onto the show! Enjoy...

No cable
No Internet
No cell phones (x)
No blow dryers (x)
No dishwasher (?)
Hang dry clothes (?)
No alarm clocks (x)
No video games (x)
One car (?)
No processed foods (?)
Composting (x) (with worms!)
Recycling (x)
Reading books (To Thomas yes, me some and Pat none)
Eat Local (some-hardly enough though)
Grind own flour
Make bread weekly
Make sour dough starter and stick with it
Edible gardening (ugg, try as I might nothing ever seems to grow or work out)
Sew
USA made only (x) (but we need to be firm this year)
Donate, donate, donate (x)
Organic clothing
Organic wool mattresses (but how can I do this if we aren't suppose to consume?)
Meditate
Make a quilt
Write more
House plants to remove toxins
Make yogurt
Less junk mail
Find alternatives to prepackaged items
Homemade shampoo (x) (need something better then the baking soda method)
Homemade laundry soap (x) (did this and need to get back into it)
Veggie bags (instead of plastic) (X) (I only have two)
Reusable grocery bags (x)
Kerosene lamps (we go without lights during the day, could we at night?)
Buy second hand items (x)
Sugar (I am always looking for alternatives but: is it really possible...is it even right!?!)

I have been formulating my lists and ideas about this for quit some time. Yesterday I saw this DVD for sale called No Impact Man. I went home a rented it from Blockbuster. Its a documentary about a man and his family who go a year trying to make no impact on the earth. While not making an impact wasn't my initial reason for doing this it certainly plays its part, and ultimately comes together in the big circle of things. Here is a link to his blog http: http://noimpactman.typepad.com/ You will find his book and DVD information there as well all other new No Impact Man thoughts, tips and ideas.

Some of this came to me from the ideals of the Slow Food Movement. Which is basically the idea that we need to slow down and create meals from scratch with love and integrity for our families and our communities. Then it dawned on me why should this idea only be about food. Why not be the basis of how our families are ran and our lives our lived-all encompassing!

Here is one more link, this time to a short video (20 Min's.) Its called The Story Of Stuff: http://www.storyofstuff.com/ If you ever scratch your head and wonder why we are such a buy, buy, buy society and wonder all the where, when, why and hows about the stuff we buy this is a great video to watch.

I never want to come across judgemental-as I certainly have no reason to be. So I figure we all need to just DO what we can and be satisfied, happy and always in a constant move forward, to be better, to be at the next stage... Whats the next stage for you?

Where am I...

2009-12-25T20:04:00.000-08:00

In case any one is reading this I wanted to let you know that I have not abandoned this blog, but have been putting my food writing skills to the test lately with my old blog. Feel free to check it out and let me know what you think. Looks like I might be headed off to culinary school early Feb. Keep your fingers crossed for me! Now go check out my other blog... http://scritchityscratch.blogspot.com/

2009-12-10T14:11:00.000-08:00

I don't have any photo editing software, So I found some for free online. I played with it on a couple pictures. The top pictures are the originals and the second ones have been touched up. Not huge differences but it was fun to play around with them.........................................................

2009-12-10T14:10:00.000-08:00

2009-12-10T10:30:00.000-08:00

2009-12-10T10:28:00.000-08:00

Once upon a Marigold

2009-12-03T19:52:00.000-08:00

I recently joined an online community of swappers http://www.swap-bot.com at swap-bot. This is such a neat site and I am getting so much inspiration to get creative just by joining swaps. Dare I tell you that -I- (YES, yours truly) is finally starting to have some original ideas...It seems like eons have gone by since I have just sat down and produced something that I am proud of, simply because it came from me! The first swap I joined is called A Rainbow In The Mail. We get partnered up (mine are from Texas and Thailand) and then we swap through the REAL mail. For this swap we have to create packages filled with goodies that remind us of the colors in the rainbow, red, yellow, orange, green, blue, purple and so on... I thought I would share my little project for the color ORANGE. I originally was going to put a package of carrot seeds into each box but then when I started digging through my seeds I found this envelope of Marigold seeds and dried Marigold leaves that I harvested this summer. I wanted to show case them, so I created these clear pouches with a vintage card in each one, then sewed them together with dark orange thread. I think you can get an idea of how they turned out... I personally love them! I hope to share the full Rainbow with you as soon as I am done. Oh, and of course show you what kind of Rainbows show up in my mail box also!

Celebrating fall and Martinmas

2009-11-09T12:59:00.000-08:00

Fall has seemed at arms reach for quit some time. Living in the desert gives seasons a whole new definition. As in we have 2.5 seasons: Hell seems cold- HOT, Cold (for a couple weeks) and then everything in between, which seems to be mostly WIND!

Yesterday Thomas, Winston (our dog) and I spent the late afternoon at a park. It was absolutely perfect outside for Thomas to ride his Skuut (wooden bike) around. As we were wondering around the park the flame intense colors of the trees really popped out. Brilliant reds, fiery oranges and citrus shades of yellow. Thats when I nodded my head and agreed with myself that Fall was FINALLY in Vegas!

A few weeks back when my friends around the states were headed to the apple orchards I was feeling slighted. Walking down the rows of apple trees when it is still in the 90's just didn't give me that fuzzy fall feeling deep down in my soul.

Martinmas is coming up in just a few days. It may prove to be my favorite of the obscure holidays. Something about making lanterns and watching my little guys face glow from the little flame as we walk around our neighborhood that makes me feel extra warm.

So if you are new to Martinmas here is a little description from the book All Year Round. The traditional way of celebrating Martinmas is with lantern walks or processions accompanied by singing. St. Martin recognized the divine spark in the poor man of Ameins, and gave it the protection of his own cloak. When we make a paper lantern, we, too, may feel that we are giving protection to our own little 'flame' that was beginning to shine at Michaelmas, so that we may carry it safely through the dark world. It may only be a small and fragile light-but every light brings relief to the darkness.

I would love to hear some songs that people sing while doing their lantern walks. I am not sure what kind of singing we will be doing...if any! But you never know!!! Never the less Fall is finally here.

Cast iron woes

2009-11-06T20:20:00.000-08:00

I just wanted to take a quick second and tell you all about my new cast iron skillet and dutch oven. We were at the BX (base exchange) and couldnt resist getting these for our new camping adventures. When we got home last night Pat and I were both eager to give them a try. Pat asked me to fry him an egg, but I wasnt sure an egg was the best thing to try out first on our new cast iron. Instead I noticed a bowl full of mixed organic apples that needed to be used soon. So I opted on making some homemade applesauce. We had some discusion on how to clean the cast iron and weather or not we needed to season them before cooking. Some how all this info went in one ear, translated to something completely obscure and with a quick rinse under some slightly less then hot water I started the apple sauce in the dutch oven.

The applesauce finished cooking in no time and smelled wonderful, warm and inviting. The thought of eating this made me feel all cozy inside. So with that I filled up two bowls with the piping hot applesauce. Pat was working up stairs on the computer so I brought him up a bowl and then went back down to indulge in my very own. I ate about half the bowl and decided that was more then enough for me. It wasnt nearly as wonderful as my moms or my aunts homemade applesauce. I figured it was because I used a mixed varity of apples and sweetened it with honey rather the sugar.

A little while later as I was (excuse me here) leaving the restroom I noticed in the mirror a dark shadow coming from within my mouth. I got closer, squinting through all the smudgy handprints my darling son had left on the mirror saw the horror left behind, from my not so fabulous first attempt at using cast iron. BLACK! My teeth were black and grey!!! I couldnt stop snarling my lips up in the mirror. Then I remembered Pat upstairs. I ran up, swung open the door and asked Pat if he noticed anything odd about my teeth. As I smiled his expression went from curious to horrified in two seconds flat! With out words I examined his teeth, I shook my head "yes," his too were black.

After much scrubbing our teeth came clean. For the next twenty four hours or more I noticed we kept secretly looking at each others teeth and then giving reasurring smiles to one another. Our teeth are now free of all stains but I cant help but wonder what our insides must have looked like after this little event.

Since then we have done PLENTY of research (thanks to the internet) and have sucsessfully cleaned and seasoned both cast iron pans. This morning I made pancakes and they were uterly fantastic. Hip, hip, horay, for cast iron sucess (after much error!)

Why are all my pictures so bright?

2009-11-03T15:27:00.000-08:00

Lately you may (or may not) have noticed my pictures are extremely bright. You may be asking your self, "I thought Michelle was taking photography lessons?" Well to answer your inner thoughts, I am taking lessons! My photos may appear to be getting worse not better but that is simply because I am implementing some things I am learning and do not have the proper computer soft ware to work on my images after taking them. I hope to be getting the soft ware soon, but for now its just to expensive.

So what is it I am doing to my images? Well when I take pictures now I am purposely over exposing them, just enough. I have recently learned about the grey scale and the histogram on my camera. Understanding shades of grey has allowed me to better understand how pictures are formed. Then when I learned what a histogram on my camera is and how it works I was able to start taking better pictures. Well pictures that will appear better after I work on them in the digital dark room (once I get my hands on this program!)

Humm, how do I even begin to explain the histogram? http://www.livingroom.org.au/photolog/tips/histogram_tips.php Ok just click on that link, it will take you to the webs ten best histogram sites. But what I was taught that you may or may not get from these sites is this, and listen up close because this will change your life in photography from here on out. The histogram has several columns,all the columns equal one hundred percent of your picture. But the histogram is not visually divided equally. The very last column on your histogram equals 50...yes FIFTY percent of your pictures lighting data! The first several columns combined equal the other fifty percent.

So when you take a picture (now get your camera set up, so that you see your histogram with every picture you take!) you must make sure that some of the data is read on that very last column on your histogram. Other wise you have lost 50...yes FIFTY percent of your data.

By over exposing your pictures just enough you will push your histogram to the right and now you have 100 percent of your pictures data to work with in the digital dark room.

It took me 3...yes three hours to learn this (complete with pictures, drawings and hand on work.) All under the guidance of a professional. Not because I am slow (well that may be part of it, lol) but because as he put it, this is the most important bit of information that a photographer can learn. So if I have royally confused you in the ten minutes it has taken me to type this, please don't give up. Just do some more research and learn how to use your histogram and learn to push it to the right.

As soon as I get my computer soft ware I will post before and after pictures to show the effects of all this.

1st Winnebago trip

2009-11-03T11:52:00.000-08:00

Our first vacation in the new (new to us) Winnebago. We went to Valley of Fire, which is only about 50 miles or so from Las Vegas. The first day was a bit stressful because Thomas wanted to touch and flip every switch in the RV. Let me just say there are LOADS of switches for little fingers to get in trouble over. By the second day things began to fall in place and go a little more smoothly for us all. We took one afternoon and drove to Lake Mead. Hiking was a blast, and Winston (our dog) seems to have a little Billy Goat in him! He hiked like a champ. Thomas is a future mountain climber as you can see in one of the pictures below. Well my little camper is needing some immediate attention so I must cut this blog post short for now...
PS. All these photos are bright (over exposed) on purpose. I just couldnt wait to post them, before working on them...but that will be the topic of another post down the road. Enjoy!

Mama dog...

2009-10-28T20:46:00.000-07:00

http://findmamadogahome.blogspot.com/2009/10/mama-dog.html

Here is what we have been up to lately....

Photography sessions

2009-10-13T18:14:00.000-07:00

I have been taking private photography sessions for several months now. Mark Metternich is the man who is teaching me. http://www.towardsthelightphotography.com/ Mark is an extremely talented landscape photographer. He has done every type of photography in his life and it is a thrill getting to learn one on one with him.

I wanted to document a few of the things he has been teaching me. This of course is going to be just a simple over view, there is just no way I could tell everything here.

To start: The canon 40D which is the camera I own, is a great camera but I really need to upgrade my camera if I want to do more professional work. Here is why: The canon 40D was designed to get people into the pro camera category who couldn't or other wise wouldn't invest in one of the higher priced cameras. To do this they scaled down the sensor. So my camera is not a full sensor camera. What does this mean? Ugg, lets see if I can explain with out drawing a picture (since I don't know how to draw a picture on the computer.)Inside my camera is a sensor, this is where the image is captured. Well sensors are extremely expensive to make and thats why pro cameras are so expensive. Picture a square that is one inch by one inch (not the actual dimension)and lets say this is the full screen sensor. Well in my camera they cropped that one inch square down and now its maybe half the size. So no matter how great my picture is it will never be able to be blown up to make great big beautiful prints. My size sensor is only good for maybe an eight by ten at best with out effecting the quality. They call this the 1.6 crop factor. This also effects my lenses. SO if I have a lens that is 50MM lens it is in fact not really functioning as a 50 mm lens but rather smaller. Ugg, I barely understand all this, so its weird trying to explain it on here. But hopefully you sort of get what I am saying...need pro camera, in order to print off pro pictures.

Ah, here is a link to a site the better describes this: http://digital-photography-school.com/crop-factor-explained

Here is the other thing I learned first hand after printing off a picture we worked for hours on. My 40D which is a rather expensive camera has 12 mega pixels. Well 12 sounded good at first. But once you start learning to use photo shop and learn how to work in the digital dark room, you start to see that 12 mp is not high enough.

I took this adorable picture of Thomas and when we started working with it in photo shop, we decided to crop the picture. We zoomed in on Thomas and lost a bit of the back ground. I had no idea that as you zoom in you start losing mega pixels. So now my picture went from 12 MP's to 2 MP's. It still looked great on the computer as we worked on the white balance and saturation, but once it was printed off and blown up to a 16x20 you can see all the little squares that make up the mega pixels. Looks not so hot now. This is really what made me decide I need a professional camera. The camera that I want is the Canon 5D Mark II this is a full frame camera and has 21 MP. The cost is higher but if I want to get to the point were I am able to sell my images they are going to need to be able to be blown up and not show mega pixels. Most brides, teens who are having senior portraits made and family's who are having pictures made are going to want bigger pictures printed out.

I also purchased a new lens called a prime lens. This lens is not telescopic it is a fixed lens. This lens allows you to go very low on the F stop, which in turn blurs out the background. That is how F stops work. Low numbers mean the back ground is blurry, and the image you are focused on is the only thing sharp. High numbers on the F stop mean that everything will be in focus, the whole picture will appear clear. So if you want to photograph landscapes then you would want to shoot with the highest F stop on your camera, you will also need a tri pod for this because it will take your camera several minutes to take one shot. If how ever you are taken a portrait then you would want to choose the lowest F stop,the camera will shoot the picture VERY fast and the face will be sharp and the back ground blurry. F stops in between the high and low numbers can be played with in order to reach some middle ground. But if you aren't shooting in a high number or low number just keep your cameras F stop feature set to manual and it will give you the middle ground, with out any work from you. Make sense, or did I just really confuse you?

Also a fun trick with F stops would be to set it to the highest number, put your camera on a tripod and set it near a busy street at night. This is how they make pictures where all you see are streams of light, rather then cars. Pretty cool!

The other BIG thing if you are thinking of going professional is that you MUST start shooting your pictures in RAW. I had never even heard of RAW before I started my private sessions. But RAW is your negative in the digital camera. Think back to old school 35 mm cameras. When you get your pictures developed they take the images from your negatives. If you have ever been in a dark room then you know there is a ton of work you can do to an image off the negative. You can work on the white balance, the saturation and so on. In other words, you have total control to make sure the image turns out just the way you saw it in the real world. Well if you aren't shooting digitally in RAW then you are stuck with your cameras interpretation of what all that should look like. Sure you can toy around with it in Photo Shop but you will never be able to fully work the picture the way you should be able to.

There are two aspects to Photo Shop, one is just plain old photo shop and the other is what is called the digital dark room. This is what separates the good photographers from the professional photographers. So it is imperative that you change the settings on your camera from JPEG mode to RAW or at least RAW/JPEG. I have mine set to RAW/JPEG since I like to email my pictures and currently don't own Photo Shop. But like Mark explained to me, once you shoot a picture if it isn't shot in RAW you can never switch it back. So its good for me to have it set to both.

I have learned so much that I could go on and on but I will stop for now, before my little brain pops! PS. If you are reading this and know more then me (which is probably a lot of you) feel free to correct me if I have mis spoken.

Summery: Shoot in RAW, learn Photo Shop / Digital Dark Room and look for a used (if you cant afford new) full frame sensor like the Canon 5D Mark II

Photography (a look back)

2009-10-13T16:52:00.000-07:00

A few months ago I finally got serious in my quest to better understand my camera and photography in general. Turns out there is so much to learn. I have loved taking pictures my whole life. When I think back to my childhood I can picture (no pun intended)what was probably my first camera. It was a black camera with a chunky orange buton. There was nothing more exciting then getting pictures back from the developer (aka: the grocery store.)

Then came high school and I was so excited to take photography as a class. When I close my eyes I can still smell the solutions we used to develop our film, what a sour smell indeed! Sadly I didn't do so well in that class. The teacher was a jolly old soul and never cared one way or the other how foolish we acted in the dark room, he was certainly a laid back old guy. I loved the hands on nature of photography but when we had to buckle down and get into the book learning I am sure I was the first in class to drop my head to the table for a little after noon nap.

A few years later I bought my first digital camera. I paid a couple hundred bucks for this monstrous creation, and was so baffled by it that I soon sold it to some young guy with a little extra cash in his pocket. I guess at that time I didn't get the whole "digital" thing. I wanted to get my pictures developed and hold them in my hands. I don't even think I had a computer at that time, so I wouldn't have had a place to store them.

After selling that digital camera I went straight to the store and bought my first single lens reflex camera. It was a canon rebel and was not digital. I had more fun with that camera. I traveled all over Europe snapping pictures of unsuspecting people and a few boring old land marks along the way. As a side note: maybe I should think of becoming a paparizi...lol! Being able to manually focus my lens and be able to zoom in and out was such a liberating feeling, after using a basic (10 dollar) 35 mm camera my whole life. I held onto that camera for about eight years. I actually just sold her at a garage sale not that long ago. During the time of owning her I also have owned a handful of pocket size digital cameras.

A few months ago Pat got sick of hearing me complain about the inabilities of our little digital cameras and told me he would like to buy me a nice camera, and that he would research it for me. "Ahh, NO" I very politely said. I knew I wanted a canon. I knew I wanted something like my rebel but even better. After a bit of a search we decided on the Canon D40, Pat got on line and ordered me my digital SLR camera.

I have had such a blast documenting every little thing with this camera. If its in or near my house I have a picture of it. Pat is always laughing at me. Blah blah blah, long story. I started this post with the intention of telling what all I have been learning in my private photography sessions. I guess I needed to spew out the history before I delve into all this other info.

UPDATE: Clay cooker

2009-10-13T10:43:00.000-07:00

I received an email back from Michel at BIA Cordon Bleu and she has been emailing around the world on my behalf. She was able to hunt down the company in Portugal who manufactured the clay cooker. The company in Portugal told her that their glazes are lead free and that as a rule Portuguese glazes that are used on cook ware all always lead free. Yippie! Happy clay cooking ahead!!!

Christmas gifts 2009

2009-10-10T12:56:00.000-07:00

I really feel on top of things this year for Christmas. It is early Oct and Thomas' Christmas gifts have just arrived. I ordered these adorable and awesome handcrafted toys from: http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=6228019 The quality of work is outstanding and the prices are unbelievable. Pat and I are still scratching our heads at how affordable these were. You can also check out videos on you tube of this work here: http://www.youtube.com/user/mikebtoys I really hope we can keep these a secret for the next two and half months. Mike B also sells airplanes, huge train sets and battle ships. He was so kind to throw in two free sets of mini construction vehicles. Look at how cute they are. Thomas is going to have such a great time playing with these. I love that they are hand made here in the US and are made from untreated wood. I hope you consider having a hand made Christmas this year!

Clay cooker

2009-10-08T13:36:00.000-07:00

Thomas and I were out and about yesterday so I decided to walk through a thrift store and see if there were any new treasures that needed my attention. I always find pretty good books for Thomas and usually he finds a couple for himself (typically nothing I would have picked). I always concede seeing how the books are only a few cents each, and since he is always really good about letting mommy look around, I figure why not.

Well, I came out yesterday with a pile of books and one item that at the time I was pretty stoked about. It is a (drum roll please) ... clay cooker. Looks like it has never been used and is sort of uniquely pretty. I have never actually cooked out of a clay cooker before and didn't/don't know much about the process.

After we got home I started google-ing (aah, my favorite invention of all times!) clay cookers. There are quit a few sites out there that explained how to use these cookers and how to take care of them. Apparently this form of cooking is a very old method. Not surprised by that, seeing how non-stick is nasty little creation from my life time (or there about.) Basically these cookers are used for cooking one pot meals. They are the right size to put a full chicken or small hen in and several veggies. Oh, and one thing I discovered that I was really excited about is the fact that you can cook bread in these cookers, just imagine how pretty that would look!

The one thing I kept reading was that if you owned a clay cooker that has been glazed on the inside bottom to watch out. So of course I quickly got up, removed the lid from my cooker and to my dismay, there was a shiny glossy bottom glaring up at me. Bummer! The sites had pointed out that the glaze may in fact leach lead (if the glaze has lead in it) into our food.

You know me I am not a friend of heavy metals or any other toxic thing out there. But who is really? So sadly I placed my cooker on the shelf till I could find out more about this specific brand. I am of course keeping my fingers crossed that I can find proof some where that this one is indeed safe. Although I am a bit jaded at this point and may just return it to the thrift store and get my four dollars back. I could of course apply that four dollars to the purchase of a brand new clay cooker that is indeed glaze (thus: lead) free. They are relatively inexpensive brand new. Now that I have done all this research on clay cookers I must say I am dying to try it out. No pun intended!!!

So here is where I stand in closing: On the top of my clay cooker it reads, Cordon Bleu Clay Cooker. On the bottom there is a faded blue stamp that says BIA Cordon Bleu Clay Cooker, Portugal. So I have contacted some very friendly ladies at BIA and they are going to try and help me solve this mystery. They are pretty sure this is a very vintage piece, since none of them had ever seen or heard of such a piece. Hopefully after reviewing a few pictures of the cooker some one there will be able to give me a little direction. But I have this gut feeling that if I even have to question it I should probably just let it go.

Never fear gals, I am addicted to cooking gadgets and finds so I will update again on how it is cooking with a clay cooker, one way or another...

Mercury filling removal...

2009-10-01T12:10:00.000-07:00

There is a very interesting video on youtube that any one with silver (ie MERCURY) fillings in their mouth must watch. This video is called Smoking Tooth and you will understand why it is named so after you watch this film. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ylnQ-T7oiA

Pat and I have been talking about getting our mercury taken out for a long time now. Mercury in teeth is associated with Alzheimer's disease, Multiple Sclerosis, and a whole range of "auto-immune" illnesses. In fact my dentists wife said her migraine headaches stopped once she had her fillings removed. Now come to think about it I haven't had the slightest headache since having mine removed.

I had talked to my LAST (and by this I mean, no more, no longer, never again!) dentist about her removing our mercury fillings. When I asked her what precautions she took in their removal she was very (well for lack of a better word) RUDE. Stating that she has done this every day for the past ten years. And gave no further details. Well after hearing that response I was ok with just leaving my fillings right where they were for the time being. I had heard one too many times if they aren't taken out properly its safer to leave them in. (P.S. there was WAY more to her no longer being my dentist then the mercury issue, but all that would be another story!)

As the stars aligned for us I found a website called the Holistic Dental Association http://www.holisticdental.org/membersearch All you do is enter your zip code and dentists in your area who are a part of the HDA will appear. There were only three in our gigantic city. Then again our city may be large but it isn't exactly known for being a healthy city. Ha! So after looking over their websites I decided on one and Patrick and I set up our appointments.

I suppose I should add that I spent forty five minutes on the phone with the wife of the dentist when I was scheduling our appointments. It was beyond fantastic to finally be speaking to someone who shared my concerns. She and I were on the same wave length with so many health points. I was thrilled for once in my life to be going to the dentist.

Patrick had his appointment first and only had one mercury filling in his mouth. He came home and assured me that everything would be great...I get so nervous about dental appointments. Then a couple days later it was my turn. From the second I got there to the second I left everything was explained to me and everything was in my hands. Usually when I go to the dentist I feel like I am being strapped into a chair and have zero control. This experience was completely the opposite.

The equipment they used and the extra precautions they took at every turn were over the top and absolutely wonderful. One of their dental assistance told me in private that if this dentist ever retired or for some reason fired him that he would stop working in the dental field all together, because he felt like there was no one else out there practicing at this level. Wow, that's enough to ease your mind!

I could type on and on about what all they did, but just to keep it short here are a few things he did specifically during my mercury removal: Fancy air filtration system right next to my chair, eye goggles, special apron to protect my body, oxygen mask to insure I was breathing clean air, a special guard in my mouth to prevent me from ingesting any mercury, the dentist and assistant also wore special gear and wore special gloves (non-latex) to prevent themselves from absorbing mercury.

After it was all said and done I bought us some special supplements, pills and powders to help detox our bodies of all heavy metals. When I got home and mixed up the first shake and popped open the pill bottles the smell was over whelming. I almost got sick. Things that smell bad are impossible for me to take, I would have gaged and been sick. So lucky Pat gets to detox alone, I wish I could have done it as well but I will just have to find another way to do that.

Well I hope I have inspired you to look into mercury removal and remember don't do it unless you are sure they are practicing safe methods. I realize I didn't post a ton of facts here. I figure there are plenty of well documented sites, and books where you can get that info, this was just the story of my mercury removal.

EMF gone mad???

2009-09-25T21:52:00.001-07:00

How do you know when you have offically lost it??? I am sitting here with a giant wad of tin foil under a base ball cap. I am thinking the emfs are giving me a monster headache so rather then turning off this stupid computer I wrap my head in foil???... It just dawned on me what a quack I may in fact be...I had to take a picture and show you. ps. my headache is lessening but now I have a funny metal taste in my mouth...no I havent been drinking and no I havent been chewing on foil....LOL! (not that drinking would cause the taste just this odd behavior.) Oh and I found a neat website for my fellow nuts: http://www.lessemf.com/personal.html check out the canopy for your bed....

Who needs to know?

2009-09-25T15:09:00.000-07:00

Here is another creative catalyst from: http://www.danetterelic.com/drawingboard/

This Week's Creative Catalyst: Who Needs to Know?
This week is a creative writing prompt, but should you feel inspired to take this idea and bloom it out into some other form, I say follow that inspiration!
What do the following people or things need to know about you?

your dentist
your bed
your custom shoe maker
your garden
your new neighbour
your pet
your therapist or coach
the person next to you on a bus or plane
your bartender

Ahh my DENTIST what should you know about me??? Well I only just today (the day of my visit) started flossing on a regular basis, and I am most definitely worried about what you see in my nose as you gaze down at me. BUT I am also worried about what might be in your nose and fall into my wide open mouth!

BED you are my best friend, I day dream of you all day.

Well if I was so fortunate to have a CUSTOM SHOE MAKER you would need to know that I wear the same two shoes (my left shoe and right shoe) all year long. So please use your toughest, strongest materials to make my sandals. You might consider charging me a pretty penny because you will only be seeing my feet every few years. Ahh how I love my sandals!

Dear GARDEN, I just wanted to apologize to you! I didn't mean for your growth to be stunted and your roots to go dry. I loved you more then you can imagine in the early days. If the wind, the heat and the bugs didn't bother you so much (and lack of fertilizer) I just know you could have been so much more then a shriveled up stick in the ground. I morn you every visit to the market when I am forced to pay exorbitant amounts of money for my veggies! Maybe next year we can try our friendship out again...what do you say?

NEW NEIGHBOR please don't eat the cookies I brought you. My three year old helped me make them and I am not sure he washed his hands (or feet,)opps!

Dear sweet PETS I am sorry you may never gain the love and respect that my one true love of a pet once received. You will never be the best pet on the planet for in my mind my sweet Mimi girl holds that spot! I love you Mimi and miss you so much. RIP Mimi!!!

Oh dear THERAPIST, please stop asking me how I feel and just offer me a drink already!

Hello guy sitting next to me on the plane! I just thought I would warn you that airport food and lack of movement may induce a rumble followed by slight...well that's all, you have been warned!

BARTENDER, make it a triple and note that I haven't had a drink in almost four years...I might get a little rowdy!

PS. I do love my pets and I have no plans of drinking any time soon...this was just for fun!

I ♥ faces: Completely Candid

2009-09-22T13:32:00.000-07:00

I was looking at my friend Lisa's blog: http://www.whatfeedsmysoul.com/2009/09/photo-wishes.html and she was taking part in yet another cool web contest. This contest is taking place over at http://www.iheartfaces.blogspot.com/

I love taking pictures and am especially fond of taking candid pictures. So I thought I would go ahead and try this out as well. I am sort of bummed because I have several awesome pictures I took overseas of people, people not quite like you see here. I have an amazing picture of a gypsy women and her baby and beautiful picture of a group of very old men hashing it out on the streets of Italy, but alas I am a computer failure and have no idea how to scan them into my computer (these were taken pre-digital.)

Here is a picture I took just a few weeks ago, and has quickly become one of my favorite pictures. We were on vacation in Dana Point, California. Thomas found this great tree and decided to explore all of its potential. I just love the look of pure joy and satisfaction on his sweet little face! I think if you click on the picture (and any picture on my blog) that it will blow it up so you can see it better, enjoy!

Mercury Fillings

2009-09-22T12:14:00.000-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ylnQ-T7oiA

If you have any fillings in your teeth you MUST watch this video!!! I have two, which I already have scheduled to be removed. Pat also is scheduled to have his one removed. The tooth they show in this video is over 25 years old, so don't assume just because you have had your fillings in your mouth for a long time that they are not effecting you! Please click on this link and watch this short clip so you can be aware of what is happening inside your body. You must be aware of how your filling are removed. Just going into a regular dentist could be dangerous to your health.

We have been planing on getting our mercury fillings removed for a while now but after talking briefly to a "regular" dentist I decided to wait and find a better option. When I asked this dentist about her experience she was overly smug about the whole thing, saying that she has been doing it daily for years. Which was not the response I was looking for. Perhaps if she had mentioned what precautions she took to insure mine and her own safety I would have been a little more open to using her.

Here is a link to the Holistic Dental Association http://www.holisticdental.org/membersearch

You simply type in your city and state and a list of Holistic Dentists will pop up. There were three listed in our city and I went with a wonderful man who's wife I spent nearly an hour talking with on the phone. She was passionate to say the least, and that my friends is what you should be looking for!

Wow, I just realized I might have gotten a bit ahead of myself with this post. Some of you reading this might not have any idea why you would want to get rid of your pretty silver fillings. Let me just add a list of issues that can arise from having these in your mouth. I will put my list at the end. I also just want to say that the wife of the dentist I will be seeing told me how after her mercury fillings were removed she stopped having migraines which had plagued her for most of her life. OK here is the list, I am copying this from a friend off face book (thanks, April!)

Alzheimer’s disease, Asthma, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD,) Learning Disabilities, Cancer, Multiple Sclerosis (MS,) Parkinson’s disease, Lou Gehrig’s disease, Chronic Fatigue syndrome... the list goes on!!!

This Week's Creative Catalyst: Imagination

2009-09-18T15:43:00.000-07:00

Danette @ http://www.danetterelic.com/drawingboard/2009/09/launching-you-fascinate-me-express-yourself-.html has invited her readers to share in weekly Self-Expression Springboards. She says: "Every Thursday I will provide a creative catalyst, a springboard to get you inspired. My catalysts will invite your imagination, creativity and curiosity to find new ways of expressing yourself - and maybe discovering new things about yourself you didn't even know you knew!"

"This Week's Creative Catalyst: Imagination
Imagine you at your most powerful. You rock. You are a freaking champion, and everyone knows it. We are filling a stadium to the brim, voices cheering and hearts splashing in anticipation of you making your entrance. We all know what song is going to blast through the speakers as you walk into the ring. It suits this moment perfectly. It makes you feel so good, to step into the light with this song playing...
What is the song? Oh I'm dying to know! What is it about this song? How does it make you feel? Who are you being when you walk out to this song?"

Lately I have been pulled in by this song called Gitchi Manidoo off the Sacred Spirit CD. We just took a little day trip to St. George UT, I added pictures we took along the way to go with the music. Enjoy!

Old hands, new hobby

2009-09-12T13:18:00.000-07:00

Starting new traditions

2009-09-08T11:02:00.000-07:00

I love the idea of having family traditions, things that Thomas will recall from his childhood and hopefully pass on to his own family someday. I was talking with my mom about traditions she recalled from her childhood. She said every Sunday her mom would make coffee cake for breakfast followed by a mid after noon family dinner. So using the exact same recipe my grandmother used I made coffee cake for my family Sunday morning.

I have always hated that our beautiful china sits in the pantry zipped away in cases all year round. Why even bother owning something so nice if you only get to see it (maybe) once a year. So now every Sunday I will carefully bring down our china and iron our nice table cloth and napkins. This will be a great way to welcome a new week.

This meal turned out super delicious. I tried something new: coca cola! I added a can of cola to the crock pot roast and it was the moistest roast I have ever turned out.

Thomas loves carrots and potatoes from the crock pot. He also loved drinking from the tall glasses. This meal and new tradition was a big hit!

For dessert I made Amish bread pudding. If I only ever pass on one recipe, this should be the one! I have never had such heavenly sweetness in my whole life...bless the Amish!!!

Here is the link if you would like to try it: http://www.momswhothink.com/easy-recipes/bread-pudding-recipe.html I used half and half for the pudding and the sauce. I omitted the raisins. Enjoy and happy traditions to you and your family!!!

Paella

2009-09-08T10:27:00.000-07:00

This was my first attempt at making Paella. Look at the steam coming off the food...

Unfortunately I could not find Spanish rice anywhere in this big city! Since I was to impatient to buy some mail order, I used arborio rice instead. It was a bit mushy for my taste.

I served it with warm sourdough bread...my favorite!

The clams and mussels did not survive thawing out...not sure what I did wrong there...

But chicken, chorizo, and shrimp were enough meat for us.

Over all it was a TON of work and I don't even want to add up the cost of all my ingredients. To top it all off it was really lacking in flavor. Pat said he really liked it, I only liked the way it looked. Since I have a wonderful Spanish paella pan I am sure I will attempt this again, but just not in the near future...

A gift for myself

2009-09-06T20:07:00.000-07:00

When it comes to spending money on myself, it rarely happens. Don't get me wrong I spend money. Some how every week I am able to find too many ways to spend our budget. Usually it has something to do with food, Thomas or the house. You may be looking at my picture and scratching your head. Yes, technically a broom is for the house, but not this broom. This broom is all mine! I have been contemplating buying a new one for quite some time now. I wanted to buy one that was American made and a corn cob broom as well.

When I saw this one for under seven (yes, I said seven) dollars at Cost Co I almost walked right passed it. Surely nothing under that giant roof was American made, except for a large portion of the people walking around. But then my love of the broom took over and I picked it up... Only to see it was made right here in the good ole USA! Thomas of course pretended to be a witch riding on the broom all the way through the store and out to our car.

Now all that is left is a bitter sweet good bye to my old worn out broom. Who, I cant seem to find now... ahh the mysteries of a good old broom!

What I posted on my NEW Waldorf groups site.

2009-09-03T18:15:00.000-07:00

I just joined what looks to be a great online site for Waldorf families...and those of us wanting to know more. This was my first post chalked full of questions, hope I didn't come across like a complete moron!

I am pretty new to the Waldorf world. I have known (to some degree) about Waldorf for a year or two but have just really started delving into it. I have a son who has just turned three years old. When my son turned about a year maybe a year and a half all the mamas that I knew from an AP play group who's boys were the same age were starting to potty train. So I ran out and bought a little potty and followed suit. Then my sister in law who has slightly older kids gave me some advice that had been given to her. Which was to wait until my son turned three before truly trying to potty train him. We felt 100 percent like that was the right thing to do and our son peacefully trained himself to use the real toilette well before any of my friends kids who had been pushed and pushed by frustrated parents to train early.

Ok whats my point...well several months ago all the mamas I know started yammering on and on about schooling and what methods they were trying to implement in their homes. Gasp! My son was still two and I was already so far behind with his education! I started reading Montessori books and buying little things here and there to try out on him. But frankly it didn't feel natural. I loved that they used nice wooden things to teach children with and it seemed pretty gentle but...my son was only two!

So I kept thinking about a couple great mamas I know (mostly via on line) and knew of their interests in Waldorf. I knew they liked natural and wooden "stuff'' as well so thats when I slowly started wanting to learn more. I could never really tell someone the difference between the two...Montessori and Waldorf. So thats were my journey began, trying to figure out what separates the two. Now I am pretty sure the difference is that they are total opposites.

I am currently reading my first Waldorf book which is "you are your child's first teacher." Which I am simply loving. Plus I check out Waldorf blogs when I have a chance. I am thrilled to see the author of my favorite belongs to this very group! I feel like I am surrounded by super stars!

Part of me feels very behind but no longer about schooling, thank goodness. So here are my questions...

How do I get rid of the television??? My husband agreed to cancel it but when the time came some how he returned to me with the fact that he UPGRADED our service! So now instead of 100 yucky channels we have 250!

I would love to start celebrating the different festivals and holidays that are part of the Waldorf community (in some form.) But I don't know where to start with that either, in an age appropriate way...any ideas?

Big mess up on our part is that our son has tons of cars and trucks and other not so desirable toys, how do I peacefully make the transition for him. Or am I just too late. We also have musical instruments, which now I am reading on here is not good for him.

Uggg... how does one un-mess the mess that they have made???

New activities

2009-08-24T06:59:00.000-07:00

Thomas just turned three and suddenly I felt this heavy urge to put him in some organized classes. I had/have no desire to place him in the "mommy and me" type classes. You know the kind were mommy is 100 percent involved and your little one gets to stay safely by your side. Not that I am against the safely by your side aspect but I just really feel that Thomas is ready to learn that there are other people in this world that he needs to learn from.

With so much energy to expel I really focused on finding classes that involved constant movement. Thomas LOVED his first day at gymnastics!!! This is a real class taught by a professional gymnast. All the parents watch from out side the room behind a glass window. Yeah! Thomas tumbled, jumped, twisted, climbed and so much more. If you ask him what his favorite part was be prepared to sit and listen for a while.

He talks about climbing up the rope, swinging on it and jumping from it into a pile of foam blocks. Then he will go on and on about the trampoline. So much fun!!!

The following day started swim lessons. Don't even get me started on this one! I hated it...for him! In his class it was just him and one little girl. This little girl was the same age and had already been in eight other swim sessions. She was swimming with her face under the water and everything. His swim teacher (if you can call her that) was a young...very young (high school age) girl.

I think she had no idea that this was Thomas' first time in a pool with out a life vest. She placed the kids on a movable platform in the middle of the pool. A deep pool by the way. And then she proceeded to have the kids jump into her arms. Only when they would jump she would back away from them. Can you see the fear in my eyes yet? When she finally scooped Thomas up (I was on my feet and about to jump in, by the way) I could see the shock all over his sweet little face. Dirty trick if you ask me!

Soon Thomas got the idea and decided he had had enough of her tricks and managed to get out of the pool when they were working near the ledge. He put his hands on his hips and shook his head "no." It took me quite a while to convince him to get back in the water and I was fearing that this was not going to be pretty. The teacher was able to teach him to float on his back a couple times but then the session was over.

She ended their time by saying a special "good bye" to each child... First up was the little girl. The teacher opened her arms and the girl jumped in and with that the teacher swung her into the air and flew her around a couple times. Thomas was absolutely horrified with the way this was playing out! Next up was Thomas and when she opened up her arms for him to jump into them Thomas screamed in total fear! He HATES to be swung like that! Some how she got him down and gently cradled him in her arms as she swirled around.

Thomas and I have no desire to return to this class. But Pat thinks he needs to go back, that he needs to learn to swim and that he needs to go back to things that are hard and scary. Luckily I only paid for two classes. I am making Pat take him to the next class so he can see what I am talking about. Maybe the calm presence of his father will help the next swim class go better.

I also thought a dance class would be fun for Thomas. But that was disastrous as well. Needless to say after just a few minutes we were out the door and Thomas was asking where his soccer and football teams were. How he got that into his mind I am not sure, but I guess I am off to find him a soccer or foot ball team to join...

Mimi in art: part 2

2009-08-05T17:15:00.000-07:00

She agreed!!! I got an email back saying she would love to do this painting for me!!! Now I just need to gather all my favorite pictures of Mimi girl and send them off to her. In case you cant tell, I am very (VERY) excited about this. I will update more as it comes...

Mimi in art: part 1

2009-07-26T13:57:00.000-07:00

I am very excited!!! I just emailed a fantastic artist about possibly painting a portrait of my darling Mimi girl. I hope she accepts and can bring my darling girl back through the world of art. I miss Mimi terribly all this time later and just really hope we can do this to honer her sweet memory. I will keep updating as I find out more...

Why not freecycle?

2009-07-26T08:07:00.000-07:00

I love being thrifty! I think it is in my blood, my mom and dad love garage sale-ing and my mom is queen of the thrift store. My extended family is just as nutty about thrifty-ness so it is no wonder that the frugal bug bit me! Recently I have started using freecycle. If you haven't heard of freecycle it works like this. You go to www.freecycle.org and then you enter your zip code. The website will let you know how many freecycle groups are in your area and you pick the nearest one to your zip code. I believe that all freecycle groups work off of yahoo groups, so don't be surprised when you get directed to join a yahoo group.

The rules are simple: Offer first, then accept offers or post wanted offers. But definitely you start by giving something away before taking something else. I started by offering up some unwanted gardening supplies. A lady quickly responded to my add and we meet at the library where she picked up her new FREE treasures. Then I went on and accepted a few free goodies for our family. I picked up a big bag of little girls clothes that I gave to a friend of mine. Then I posted a wanted add for homeschooling items. These pictures are of the items another lady gave me. A large map of the world. In the first picture you can see Thomas put some green glass on Greenland. I was trying to explain to him that mommy found that glass on a beach in France, but he thought it should have came from Greenland...it is green after all! I have since hung it on a wall. Even Winston wants to learn about the world...ha!

She threw in a complete set of letters that I hung in the playroom at eye level for the little guy.

Looks cute and maybe he will start to recognize more letters.

Below is a picture of a very awesome calender she also freecycled to me. Everything has velcro so we can easily switch the dates and seasons and special holidays. It came with everything, I was surprised that none of the numbers or other small pieces were not missing. It is super nice! Currently it is hanging on Thomas' artist easel. I might buy some more velcro and hang the whole thing some where else down the road. But Thomas isn't really using his easel for art at the moment so its no big deal.

The point of this is to tell you how much fun being frugal is and how easy it is to find things you want without paying for them. Maybe a freegan lifestyle awaits us...

PS. It feels great to give as well!

Freezing spinach

2009-07-18T09:08:00.000-07:00

We really love our green smoothies around here. They give us so much energy and they taste great. My only dilemma is that we never seem to make it threw the three pound container of organic spinach I buy from Costco. Its such a great deal at only four dollars, I cant resist buying it. Sadly I always end up throwing some away.

So I had the idea of liquefying my spinach and freezing it. Why not? This way we can throw a cube or two into our smoothies and I don't have to worry about it going bad or taking up so much space in the fridge.

It took full blenders and a little water to use all the spinach. Its amazing how little liquid you can get from so many bulky spinach leaves.

After blending I just poured the liquid into the ice cube trays. Once they are frozen I will transfer them to an airtight container.

My problem was were would I put the ice cube trays? Yesterday I went to Costco, can you tell that I splurged?

Aww, a spot on top of some bread. Yeah, no more wasted spinach!!! Why didn't I think of this sooner?

Step stool madness

2009-07-13T20:54:00.001-07:00

I have been on a step stool finding mission for many, many months now. My requirement list was not super long. I wanted to find stools that were made of quality wood, sturdy, tall enough for Thomas to reach what ever he needed, and if at all possible be made in the USA.

I have looked high and low but every stool I come across tends to be missing something on my list.

Two days ago I spent the morning at a new friends house. When I walked into her kitchen I saw the cutest step stools I have ever seen. Her two stools were just like the ones I have posted here only one was shaped like a butterfly and the other like a flower. I gasped and quickly found out where she had found these gems!

Have you ever heard or a store called Home Goods? Turns out there is a Home Goods store just a few miles from our home. As soon as I left my friends house I went straight there to grab up a few stools for Thomas.

Turns out they didn't have any flower or butterfly stools left, but they had several different cars and boats carved onto circular stools. Yeah, perfect for my little boy! I would have settled for flowers and butterflies but this was even better for us. I still cant get over the price, at thirteen dollars each for a solid wood hand carved stool. The only thing I compromised on was where these stools were made. Sorry USA you lost out on this one. These were hand carved in Thailand.

Thomas is now the proud new owner in four unique step stools. Two in the kitchen and one in a down stairs bathroom and another in an upstairs bathroom. I hope this helps him along the way with gaining Independence and feeling a little taller!

Used threads

2009-07-12T10:36:00.000-07:00

In the past thrift stores have sort of grossed me out. I always feel dirty when I walk out of one. But lately I have found a new thrill in thrift shopping. It is sort of like a treasure hunt. If you take your time and see what is hiding in these stores you might just stumble upon something you could really use, and at these prices it is hard to beat. The entire out fit Thomas is wearing in these pictures, to include the Columbia hat and working kids binoculars came from the thrift store. All for under ten dollars. There are no stains or rips nothing missing just nice clothes that some child (probably) hardly ever wore. Thomas looks like he is ready to go on safari!

Wetlands park

2009-07-09T09:32:00.000-07:00

Thomas and I went to the wetlands park a couple days ago. This first picture is of him after he fell into the water!

We found this great place, and we had it all to ourselves. We walked through this forest of watery reeds then crossed a bridge. Suddenly we were surrounded in water and shaded by giant trees. We lied down on a bench and watched the trees dance in the wind.

Thomas grabbed a stick and was excited about the possibility of catching a shark or an alligator.

For Thomas and I, it doesn't matter if its a hundred and ten in the dessert heat, we love to get out and explore nature!

I made Thomas some binoculars out of toilet paper rolls and painted them black. He was on the look out for new and exciting animals.

Busy morning

2009-07-09T09:02:00.001-07:00

This morning came way too early, but the nice thing was that Thomas wanted to build his train set near the kitchen which allowed me to work and play at the same time. Yesterday I soaked and started the sprouting process for a bunch of buckwheat. I was hoping to awaken to see little tails growing on my buckwheat, but alas there are none yet. It took me a while to find a place to hang my bag of buckwheat, I was thrilled when I saw the microwave handle was the perfect height. After they sprout I will dehydrate these and they will be used in homemade raw granola.

Yesterday I soaked to sets of raw almonds. One set I soaked in just water, those are the ones on the bottom tray. The other set was soaked in 1/2 water 1/2 Bragg's Amino. Then this morning I rinsed the almonds and placed them in the dehydrator. The set that had soaked in the Bragg's solution got coated in Brewers yeast and Himalayan pink salt. They are suppose to be a cheesy treat when they finish dehydrating. The plain almonds will get chopped and put into the raw granola.

I made the mistake of placing a ripe peach and a ripe nectarine on top of a bunch of overly ripe bananas. This morning when I went to enjoy a summer treat I realized that the bananas had speeded up the ripening process of my sweet treat! I didn't want to waste my fruit so I decided to make a special treat. I chopped the the peach, nectarine, a whole vanilla bean and a couple hand fulls of Brazil nuts into a basic muffin recipe. I cant wait for them to cool so I can see how they turned out. I have never seen this combination in muffins before so I will see if there is a reason for this!

Here is Thomas' train set up. He finally had enough engineering and decided he needed to watch a little Dora. I am a sucker for his sweet little "pleaseeeee, mommy" so its on as I type this. Now off to my muffins...Yumm!

Our indoor swing

2009-07-08T17:18:00.000-07:00

Here is a view of how the swing is screwed into the ceiling. We only used two screws in each anchor, and screwed them into beams.

"Wheeeeeeeeeee"

This has turned out to be one of Thomas' favorite toys. We bought it at an Ikea store in San Diego several months ago. When we first moved here I met a mom who has two sons. One is Thomas' age and the other was older. She home schools her boys and incorporates many styles into her teaching. Based on the way her home was laid out and the types of toys and educational supplies I am guessing a large part is Montessori.

I quickly feel in love with the way she had arranged their home. The main living room attached to the kitchen and informal dinning area had no televisions and no furniture other then a small breakfast table. The whole space was for the kids. I LOVED it!!! In the center of the room they had this swing and a set of hoops to hang from. She told me she got them at Ikea. The next time we were near an Ikea I had to pick us up some. You can see in this picture Thomas has got some pretty mean balance skills that I he has learned from this and his balance bike as well. There is a pic of the bike on previous post.

Here is a pic of the hoops (not sure what you call them) that we will hang when he is a bit older, maybe next month...lol! Also in the pic are the papers from the swing so you can see the name. These were so cheap, but are very sturdy and seem to be high quality. We paid (somewhere around) twelve dollars for the swing and the same for the hoops. You have to buy the mounting brackets separately and they are only a dollar or two. Cheap, quality, fun!!!

More toddler views...

2009-07-07T14:03:00.001-07:00

I found this plain little coat rack at Savers for a buck.

With the inspiration all my homeschooling mamas are giving me, I knew I needed a special place for Thomas to hang his stuff. As well that it needed to be at his level.

This is one of Thomas' s spaces in the living room. I found that great basket at Savers also. It was under two dollars. When I saw it I knew it would be perfect for all of Thomas' little cars. It is shallow, sturdy and wide. I also added a pretty painting we had just sitting in a closet and hung it for Thomas to enjoy. Its a painting of a small boat and a house near the water. On the other wall I staggered a couple family pictures. The pictures include all (except the two new babies) of Pats immediate family (very large.) Thomas is so sweet, he goes over and gives everyone kisses and will play his guitar and sing to them. I would never have guessed that would be his response. Priceless!!!

Along the lines of keeping things accessible for the little guy I have moved Thomas' favorite and most requested foods to a shelf low enough for his reach. Not that shelf height would stop him, he is a climber! I place left overs in small containers and he can just grab one and go, he yells at me when I heat his food, so why not.

I have posted a similar picture before but here it is again. The new thing about this is that I have moved his crackers from the locked pantry into his shelves so he can just grab what he wants.

Stoneware pottery

2009-07-06T12:54:00.000-07:00

Two days ago Thomas and I went thrift store shopping. I have a long list of things that if I ever come across at the thrift store (and for a reasonable price) I will buy. There only seems to be one descent thrift store around here and it is a Savers store. They have an enormous collection of children's books for only .69 cents each. I always seem to score big when I am looking for new books. I actually found Shel Silverstein's The Missing Piece there! They also have so much more. This time I was ready to find some great things to add around the house for Thomas. After reading some more online about Montessori I wanted to find some pictures, mirrors and esp. some child size mugs and breakables. I found the mirror and several mugs that were the perfect size for Thomas' little hands.

I stumbled upon this pretty green, earthy looking clay tea pot with lid. So I decided I would get that for him along with any little mugs I could find that would match closely enough in color and texture. Which is how I discovered the thing I am going to start collecting... Stoneware pottery!

Stoneware pottery looks beautiful. Its very natural and organic feeling. The three mugs I found are all different patterns and sizes but go together beautifully, more beautifully then a perfectly matched set. I wouldn't want any two alike! I am going to keep my eye out any time I am at the thrift store for new pieces to go with this collection. I will be looking for plates and bowls as well. But I am guessing those will be harder to find. Who doesn't like a treasure hunt?

I don't plan on keeping these mugs for myself. In fact one has most definitely been claimed by Thomas, although they are all for him. Its the tiniest one, that I am guessing was intended to be an espresso mug. He is so proud of him self drinking from it like a grown up, yet knowing it fits him most perfectly!

So now out with the old and in with...well...the old!

My next project

2009-07-05T10:42:00.000-07:00

I spent a few minutes on ebay this morning looking for good deals and inspiration. I was searching for Montessori education supplies. I stumbled upon something (not sure what it is called) and decided I could make it myself and probably improve it.

What this person was selling was a set of felt sheets and several trinkets. Each sheet of felt was a different color, there were six sheets total. There were five trinkets to go with each sheet of felt. Thirty trinkets total. Each set of trinkets were the same color as the felt.

Example: Five blue trinkets plus one blue sheet of felt.

They had the sheets of felt all rolled together and tied with a string. All thirty trinkets were mixed together. So my assumption is that you lay the felt sheets out and let your toddler/preschooler place the matching trinkets on their matching felt.

The set on ebay was not super high quality. The felt looked nice but the trinkets were cheap plastic toys and things. I am going to collect things that are more natural and maybe even put a nature theme to this. No plastic here! Maybe I will get a sheet of brown felt and gather sticks, pine cones, bark, nut shells and other similar items. My other colors might be green, orange, red and any other color I think can be found in nature. That should be funner and lead to further discussion then cheap plastic trinkets.

I will post a picture as soon as we get this going...

Toddler design

2009-07-04T21:10:00.000-07:00

You might wonder what it is like living with a toddler, but have you ever considered what a toddler would say it is like living with a couple adults? I am really starting to focus on Thomas' perspective and what it must feel like to be three feet tall,have limited speech and have virtually no control over his own life.

I love how people come into your life and plant seeds of inspiration. I have had the joy over Thomas' little life of meeting some great mommies who have introduced me to different types of education and child rearing philosophies. When Thomas was little the focus was on attachment parenting and although that is still how we parent I am thrilled to move onto the next phase and bring in a Waldorf and Montessori approach to teaching and parenting our little guy.

I wanted to share photos of the areas in our home that are dedicated to Thomas.
This is a picture of a nook next to Thomas' play room that I have dedicated as his nature zone. There is a basket full of pine cones we collected on a nature walk, a stick Thomas found and LOVED and a bird house. We will add to this as time goes on.

Here you can see his Art easel/hat rack, book shelf and table with chairs.

Here is a few inside his closet. I transformed an old shoe holder and sweater holder into a place to keep toys. This is where most of his plastic and older toys live.

On the other side of the closet is his dress up zone. I have hung his costumes on nice wooden hangers and placed gloves, goggles and other small accessories into a small basket. On the wall next to the closet is a small mirror. I hope to get a full size mirror for him down the road.

Here is a clip board with paper and pen I hung near the door, in case Thomas has sudden inspiration on his way in or out. Maybe he will leave me a sweet message. Recently he drew me a circle and told me its name is Patrick (daddy's name)

Here is another shot of his book shelf, I have all his wooden puzzles and thinking toys on the bottom two shelves. The books and CD player are slightly higher. He can easily access all the items.

Here is our comfy reading rocker...need I say more.

Thomas is no longer interested in building trains on the table, he prefers to do that on the floor in the living room. So I flipped the train table top over to the plain white side and he uses it as part of his kitchen. He has a carton of wooden eggs, an old glass milk jug, some bamboo spoons, glass salt and pepper Shaker and some other odds and ends. Next to the table is his new- to him (bought off craigslist) kitchen. Hours of fun!

In the living room we have given him an area on the end table to keep his books. I hope to add a bean bag chair in this area soon.

Here is his wooden balance bike, we let him cruise through the house on it. A favorite toy of Thomas.

My pictures are not in order, so here is a close up of his nature zone.

As you can see I hung a mirror at Thomas' eye level. How special he must feel now that things are down on his level! I just caught him making silly faces in it tonight.

Here he is sporting a new short hair cut for summer, dressed like a skunk playing in his kitchen.

Skunk boy pretending to cracking an egg into his creation.

These are faux stained glass that we (more me then we, really) made to make our windows a little prettier.

More prettiness....

I found a neat clay tea pot and several clay and glass mugs at the thrift store. We want to encourage Thomas to use breakable everyday items, rather then stifle his growth. This will hopefully teach him, patients, tenderness and appreciation for the items we own.

Yesterday he wanted to drink and eat from bowls on the floor like a doggie and today he wanted to drink like a little gentle man. How sweet, and ever changing!

Thomas will be three in exactly one month! What a sweetie pie! I have to add my new favorite website as a link on here, I hope if you have time that you will check it out... http://mommylife.net/archives/montessori/ A special thanks to Tiffany for telling me about this site and encouragement to learn more about Montessori, and to Lisa for your constant Waldorf inspirations. Also to Angela who is always inspiring me with your craftyness

Bare foot in the dirt.

2009-06-30T17:39:00.000-07:00

Pat and I are constantly amazed at how much Thomas loves to be barefoot.

Today I took him to an animal sanctuary mid way through he decided to kick of his sandals and just go bare foot. It didn't matter what kind of terrain we were on, rocky, bumpy, sandy, smooth, dirty, wet, it all just felt good on his little tootsies!

Two days ago we went up to the mountains near our home to do a little family hiking. Thomas took his sandals off there as well. He always tells us with great passion that the ground feels great on his bare feet. In this picture I had kicked my sandals off as well. Who says a child cant be a great leader!

This hike was pretty long and the path was very rocky. Every hiker that passed us couldn't help but comment.

Why not? There was a time in history when there was no such thing as shoes. I love the thought of him getting down and dirty with mother nature!

Here he is showing off his sweet little cheesy smile..."Thomas say, cheesy"
"Cheesyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy"

Whats for dinner?

2009-06-28T11:41:00.000-07:00

Last night I was tried and didn't feel like slaving in the kitchen. I had just bought a box (yes, I said box...don't judge me) of tamales (yes, there is meat in tamales...stop judging me!!!) Which I had decided would be a super quick fix but I knew I wanted to serve it with some thing home made and healthy. This got me thinking about some rice and black beans we had been served at a Mexican cafe not to long ago. So I checked the pantry and I happened to have a can of black beans and plenty of brown rice (all organic of course, gotta make up for those tamales.) So I went to work...but not too much!

Let me just say for the record one thing about rice. ORGANIC!!! Always, always buy organic rice. Rice should be on your top five list of things to always buy organic. I will dedicate a separate post to organic vs. conventional rice some day down the road. But for now lets get back to dinner. I wasn't sure how I was going to go about making this side dish so I figured I had at least better get the rice cooking. I used one cup of organic brown rice and two cups of water. I placed this all in a medium sized sauce pan and brought it to a boil. Once it was boiling I turned the heat to low, put a lid on it and let it simmer for thirty minutes. When my timer went off I checked on this rice and to my surprise it was done cooking. This was a shock to me since normally I have to cook brown rice forever.

Then I popped open my can of black beans, strained the liquid off them and tossed them into the pan of rice. I stirred the two ingredients together, I am sure this would have been ok as is but I knew I wanted something special for my family. So off to the pantry I went, twisting my lips and scratching my head...what could I add? Tomato sauce, stewed tomatoes, corn, nope these wouldn't work for what my taste buds were dreaming up. Then I saw my inspiration...

A jar of salsa! Sure, why not. I love and crave salsa daily and normally make my own fresh. But the last time I went to Costco I saw this mega size jar of organic salsa and decided it is way cheaper to buy that then to keep making it fresh. Sure fresh is great and I would never want to stray someone away from making it this way. You have complete control and knowledge of whats going into your salsa. How perfect is that? But I read the ingredient list long and hard and decided to go for the big jar. So I pulled the jar out of the pantry along with my mini food processor. I poured about a cup of salsa into my processor and blended it until it was all one liquid consistency. I added that along with a dash or two of hot sauce, Himalayan pink salt and little pepper.

This turned out awesome, fast, and so easy! Thomas (almost three years old) loved it. Anything that gets his stamp of approval is a keeper in this house hold. I will make it again and next time it will take center stage. If I add slices of bell pepper and potentially any of the following it will make a great burrito. Shrimp, cheese, sour cream, avocado, corn...the list could go on. I hope you try this recipe and add your own swing to it. I am sure its been done before but I just wanted to share what I felt like was an original recipe from me. ENJOY.

Rock Lobster!

2009-06-20T20:36:00.000-07:00

Here is a super cute art project I found on http://belladia.typepad.com/crafty_crow/ the actual project comes from http://just4funwithsandy.blogspot.com/2009/05/hand-and-foot-lobster.html either link will get you to the project. Thomas loves painting his hands and today was extra special because he got to paint his foot as well! How cute is this?!?!

Home sweet home!

2009-06-19T14:44:00.000-07:00

Thomas and I are back from our exhausting trip to Oklahoma. We spent seven days with my family and probably 3 days too long. Its so hard being away from your own nest, and trying to live quietly with others. Especially others who are not use to the noise of an almost three year old. We took this trip with the main intention of visiting my grandmother who is in the later stages of Alzheimer's. My parents have been telling me we need to get back there before she was completely lost to her disease. My grandma recognized me and would call us be our names. She repeats herself quit a bit. She also has lost all interest in eating it seems. Alzheimer's is a nasty disease that not only makes you lose your mind but in the end your body as well. Some how your brain forgets how your body is suppose to function, eating, using the bathroom and so on.

My mom and dad have just moved back to Oklahoma after two decades. They bought a quaint A-frame house on twelve acres over looking a lake. It was so much fun for Thomas exploring nature and being free from city life and all its constraints. My dad gave him a ride on his bull dozer, he played around on a dump truck and a backhoe front loader. He captained a landlocked boat and spent hours traipsing threw the wooded land around my parents home. More firsts for Thomas include learning to fish, holding a turtle, frog and trying to capture a real tarantula!

Thomas spent several days surrounded by all of his extended family. My fathers entire family lives in the same town. Cousins, aunts, uncles, grand parents, great grand parents, you name it and they live there. My sweet cousin held a BBQ at her home in the country. They have a pool and Thomas loved every second swimming in it. Their pool has a slide and a diving board. Thomas noticed the slide right a way and went down it and down it and down it. This boy has NO fear!

My mother spent countless hours with my guy playing with or in anything his little heart desired. The day before we left Thomas called his dad and told him he didn't want to leave Nannies house. It was bitter sweet. For me, the trip was a little too long. I thrive in my own space and wilt when I am away. I hate worrying about how much noise we are making and weather or not we are bothering people so it was definitely time to come home.

Top 10 favorite recipes from: allrecipes.com

2009-06-07T21:41:00.000-07:00

http://www.allrecipes.com/ is definitely a favorite site of mine. I visit it weekly and have found so many fabulous recipes on there. If you haven't been to this site before this is how it works. You can review recipes that other people have summited, once you have tried the recipe you can go back at rate it and leave review. Each recipe shows how many stars it has received from 1-5 stars. Also it shows you how many people have rated the recipe. I always look for recipes that have the most reviews and at least 4-5 stars. You can also use the sites search engine and find recipes that include or exclude specific ingredients.

If you are super savvy you can summit your own recipes to be included on the site. I have summited two recipes so far, one has been waiting to be added for over a year and the other for just a few months. They must get tons of new recipes, which all have to be checked to make sure they aren't copied from other sources. I am still scratching my head on how long of a wait it will be till my recipes will be added.

Oh, so back to the point of this post...here are my top ten favorite allrecipe recipes (in no particular order), enjoy!

1. Linguine pasta with shrimp: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Linguine-Pasta-with-Shrimp-and-Tomatoes/Detail.aspx for this recipe I used 2 cans of diced tomatoes, skipped the wine and used margarine instead of butter.

2. Jamie's minestrone: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Jamies-Minestrone/Detail.aspx I used closer to 5 cloves of garlic instead of 3. Rather then 2 onions I used 1/2 of one and pureed it in my mini food processor, so I wouldn't bite into a piece of onion (makes my skin crawl.) Left out the celery. I made homemade vegetable broth instead of chicken broth. Left out the wine and spinach. I also used dried herbs instead of fresh. Some of my omissions were simply because I didn't have the ingredients on hand. It turned out great regardless!!!

3. Best ever muffins: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Best-Ever-Muffins/Detail.aspx This is great to keep on hand and play around with. I have had lots of fun coming up with different concoctions. Lemon /poppy seed, apple /carrot, banana /nut, and chocolate chip just to name a few. You can also easily play around with different types of flours and sweeteners. Since I am on an egg strike I use my chia egg replacement recipe here. The recipe is this: 1 tbs chia seeds + 3 tbs water soaked for ten minutes = 1 egg.

4. Homemade black bean veggie burgers: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Homemade-Black-Bean-Veggie-Burgers/Detail.aspx Another recipe using onions, so once again I puree the onion, pepper, and garlic in my mini food processor (nasty chunks!) Since I am on an egg strike I use my chia egg replacement recipe here. The recipe is this: 1 tbs chia seeds + 3 tbs water soaked for ten minutes = 1 egg.

5. Basil shrimp: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Basil-Shrimp/Detail.aspx I use margarine instead of butter and regular mustard instead of brown.

6. French crepes: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/French-Crepes/Detail.aspx No changes (can you believe it?)

7. Barbeque halibut steaks: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Barbeque-Halibut-Steaks/Detail.aspx Another one I actually leave alone!

8. Fish tacos: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Fish-Tacos/Detail.aspx I only use this for the sauce recipe. I use grilled or broiled halibut top it with the sauce from this recipe and sprinkle with sliced cabbage and carrots, soft flour or corn tortillas. Yum! Be careful not to get the jalapeño juice in your eyes, over and over again, rubbing only make it worse!

9. Friendship soup mix in a jar: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Friendship-Soup-Mix-in-a-Jar/Detail.aspx I don't change anything in this recipe because I make it and give it as gifts.

10. Pastry for double pie crust: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Pastry-for-Double-Pie-Crust/Detail.aspx This is super simple and easy to make! I use margarine instead of shortening. I am still on a search to find the best apple pie filling for this crust. I think the winner so far is from last falls Southern Living magazine, I hope I saved that recipe! If I find it I will post it later.

Hooray for awesome friends!!!

2009-06-07T13:24:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to send a very special "Thank you" to Angela for helping me with all my blogging problems!!! If I could crawl around in your mind for even just a few minutes my life on here would surely become much easier and way more exciting. I am going to keep trying (key word...trying) to learn this for myself so you don't have to start charging me. But hey, there is a business idea for you! You could charge idiots like myself and make a fortune! Thanks again!

Blogging pains...

2009-06-06T21:46:00.000-07:00

I am starting to remember why most of my blogs have went to the way side in the past. Maybe I am just a complete idiot but nothing I want to work here works for me. I have been trying to change this awful background and nothing seems to work. Its like a disease I just cant shake! I have tried adding all sorts of cute little things on the side but again nothing wants to work for me. I am sure you don't need a degree in blogging to figure this out, but I seriously think you need more then what I've got!

2009-06-06T15:00:00.001-07:00

Xylitol update...

2009-06-06T10:40:00.000-07:00

This morning I baked muffins using xylitol instead of sugar. This was my first time using this sweetener. The muffins browned a lot faster then normal. I almost didn't pull them out in time. I was eager to try them and hoping they tasted great. I only ate one muffin and the verdict is in. I do NOT recommend xylitol. The back of my mouth and down in my throat is still mildly burning. There is not a big after taste but if I smack my tongue to the roof of my mouth I can taste it. The biggest effect is the burning sensation.

One other point I should share is this... I originally learned about xylitol from the GreenSmoothieGirl, I thought she said it was a best choice for sweetening foods. After I baked this morning I returned to her site and saw that I had inverted her best and worst sweetener. She actually said xylitol was not a good sweetener because it is overly processed. I did find so much positive info on line about xylitol that I really hoped it would work out well. But that dang burning sensation is not sitting well with me. Here is a link to her video on youtube about sweeteners: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DU0yKpsIFs0

I plan on trying to return this to Whole Foods because it was not cheap. At seventeen dollars for a small two pound container it was not worth it. Keep your fingers crossed for me that they take it back. Whole Foods has taken back an opened bottle of children's vitamins once, so I am guessing they will do they same for this.

I loved the idea of using a sweetener in my baking that wouldn't effect our insulin levels. But I am sure there are healthier options out there. I think I will stick to experimenting with fruit, honey and occasionally Agave as a replacement to refined white sugar. There isn't anything I enjoy more then playing around in the kitchen so I am not going to let this knock me off my horse!

Newest McKinnis...

2009-06-05T14:55:00.001-07:00

Meet Bowlie! Thomas named him and we love it. Bowlie is a sweet little purr machine adored by all (yes, even Winston.) "Welcome to the family, little guy!"

Therapeutic (long read) for me...

2009-06-05T13:42:00.000-07:00

Last year we lost our beloved cat of many, many years to a brain tumor. I was so devastated when my sweet Mimi girl got sick and in less then three days was gone. I had Mimi before I was married and she was that one last tie to my singleton days. Mimi was an amazing cat. She would follow us on walks and it didn't matter how long the walks lasted or where they took us. We really looked like the circus when we were out as a family. Me pushing Thomas in his pram and Pat walking Winston (our dog) on his leash and Mimi trotting right along next to us. It must have been a funny site to see because people would literally pull over their cars to watch us.

We discovered Mimi was sick after she returned from a multi-day hiatus. I remember thinking she had been gone too long, that time. Pat had reassured me that she was fine and she would come home soon. Living in Colorado at the time I was worried about her with the mnt. lions and bears that frequented our little neighborhood. Sure enough Pat was right and I opened the garage door one day to find Mimi. She didn't look to good though. I opened the garage door up further and when the light hit her she started convulsing. Not knowing what to do I ran to her and tried to hold her still. Not the smartest move on my part, since her paws were jerking wildly. I got several scratches but didn't think anything of it since I was so worried about my sweet cat.

Once her convulsion ended I loaded her into her carrier, and Thomas and I rushed her to the vet. I approached the counter and placed Mimi's carrier on the ground. The secretary was busy chatting with another women and my patients got the best of me. In my head I was screaming "come on all ready!!!" Thats when I burst into tears and finally got the attention of the women behind the desk. She asked me if I was ok, but I couldn't even talk. So she whisked us away and rushed the Vet into our room. They let Mimi out and watched her behavior. She was a little confused and seemed off balance. During her convulsion she had lost control of her bladder. So she looked and smelled like a real mess. The vet assured me that some cats in their older age become epileptic. So she gave us some little pills and instructed me to give them to her three times a day. To be on the safe side she ran blood tests to make sure she hadn't gotten into and chemicals. They also checked her for broken bones or any other physical trauma in case someone had ran over her or kicked her. Every thing came back normal so we left the vet thinking she would just live the rest of her days taking meds to control the seizures.

The pills helped for about twelve hours and then the seizures started up again. I took her back to the vet they told us we could take her to the emergency clinic and have a brain scan. That procedure would cost a few thousand dollars. So we went home to think about it. The next morning she started moaning and walking around very distressed. I grabbed her and put her into her carrier and started off to the vets once more. On the way to the vet she was hissing and moaning and crying the and flailing about inside her carrier. I was horrified. She sounded like a monster and I was afraid she might knock the door lose. I could just picture her shredding us to pieces in the car, with the way she was acting. I manged to get us there safely and got us all inside. The vet rushed her back and the whole office was quite, no one was talking, everyone was listening to my sweet Mimi screaming. The vet came out and told me another employee asked if she might have rabies. Oh I forgot to mention that she was foaming or bubbling at the mouth.

Well she was allowed to live her dream life outside with all the birds, rabbits and other wild life so it was fees-able that she had gotten rabies. The vet asked if any of us had scratches on our bodies and that if we did we would want to go to the hospital and be seen for rabies. All this while listening to my girl in the background. In fact we all had minor scratches and all of us had been comforting Mimi since she had gotten sick. I phoned Patrick at work and updated him on the situation. Within minutes he was there. But during those last minutes the vet asked me if I wanted to put Mimi to sleep or see if she would come out of it.

In hindsight I feel so bad that she suffered so much in those last days and especially in those last minutes. Knowing what I know now I wish I could have had her put down gently to ease the pain. But I did not. I selfishly held on to her thinking that she would work through this and be ok. I thought Mimi would be in our lives for a very long time. She passed away at almost the exact time my husband arrived. No one was with her and she was in such pain. Pat got there and grabbed us up and rushed us to the E.R. We made allowed the vet to make the arraignments to transport Mimi's head to the CDC to be screened for rabies.

The E.R. was a nightmare. All three of us were given rabies vaccinations. Thomas had little scratches on his fingers and received multiple shots around each scratch. I had scratches on my feet, toes, and fingers. All of which had to receive shots around them. Pat had no scratches but also was given the vaccine in legs and buttocks (the same for Thomas and me.)

We rushed home still not knowing if Mimi had rabies and scrubbed the house from floor to ceiling in case her saliva had touched anything. The next day we received a phone call from Colorado's CDC telling us that Mimi's brain tissue tested negative for rabies. We were relieved but still sick to our stomaches from all that had happened in under 48 hours.

It has taken me a full year to come to a point were I am ready to love another cat. I know this may sound silly to some people but I loved my cat like a family member. I have been plagued with extremely vivid dreams of Mimi over the past year. I think those have come from the way her life ended and how her body was "handled" in order to be tested for rabies. When I say vivid I mean VIVID and frightening. A full year has now passed and I am really ready for the very first time to start loving another cat. I will always have my awesome memories of Mimi girl but now we can add memories of a new family member...

This was meant to be a post to introduce the newest member of our family but turned into me spilling my thoughts about how we lost our darling Mimi. The original title was: Newest McKinnis. But I have changed it to: Therapeutic, since that seems more apropos. Sorry for the long depressing post...if you made it all the way through. Check out: Newest McKinnis to see and read more about our new little kitty!

Xylitol

2009-06-04T13:22:00.000-07:00

I know it sounds like a nasty chemical but its definitely not! Xylitol is as straight from nature as you can get. In fact our bodies natural produce xylitol. Which means your body can easily digest and utilize xylitol. Now if you have read this far and have no idea what it is I am talking about then let me tell you.

Xylitol is a natural sweetener. It can be used 1 for 1 in baking. In other words if your recipe calls for 1/2 a cup of sugar you can use 1/2 cup of xylitol in its place. It is considered low-glycemic and contains 40 percent fewer calories then sugar.

Oh, did I mention it is GREAT for our teeth? Most sugar is associated with tooth decay but xylitol actually helps prevent decay and can help restore damaged teeth. Now I could go on and on about how it works but I am just learning for myself and I don't want to put down a bunch of inaccurate information. So basically what I know is that xylitol some how creates more saliva in our mouths as well it inhibits the growth of bacteria in our mouths and on our teeth.

I have also read several articles that say Xylitol helps prevent acute middle ear infections in young children, when consumed regularly. Note that if the infection has already begun then it will not help to start using xylitol for that immediate ear infection. But no time like the present to start using this amazing sweetener in your daily life.

So the bottom line is this. If you are trying to take white sugar out of your diet for any reason, then Xylitol is a great replacement. If you or a loved one is diabetic Xylitol is 100% safe, and can bring sweets back into your or their lives. Its great for our teeth, so chewing gum made of xyltiol is tasty way to help prevent tooth decay. If your sweet little one has a history of ear infections then xylitol should be incorporated into their diets, to help slow the occurrence of infections.

I am so excited to have discovered the health benefits of xylitol, I hope I have inspired you to make the switch from regular white sugar to xylitol! If you don't believe me check it out for your self. And if you do believe me go ahead and research it more so you will be armed with all the info to pass it on to others in your life!

One last note (I promise,) do NOT give xylitol to animals. I am not sure why anyone would feed their furr babies sugar or any other sweetener but in case you normal do, do Not with xylitol. Its not safe for animals. But do be aware that it is absolutely, fantastically safe for humans!!!

First post...

2009-06-03T19:03:00.000-07:00

So, this is my first official post to this new blog. I have attempted blogging in the past but have always ended up ditching my blogs because I had narrowed my topics down too much. So this time my blog is dedicated to my family! How can I get bored when seeking inspiration from the best place ever? I will be blogging about our lives and all the obsessive thoughts we have on growing old in a healthy and happy way. My newest obsession is with buying American made products. So I will be blogging a lot about the great products I find that are made right here in our great country! An older and constantly evolving obsession is with health. Weather it be eating the healthiest way possible or surrounding ourselves with the healthiest environment possible. So weather your family, friends or just a person wandering by, I hope you enjoy the content of this blog!!! Welcome to my family!