I love how spring breathes new life into my soul. The birds singing, flowers popping up, trees sending forth buds and then leaves.
When it starts to get warm I start dreaming about our garden. Those of you who know me can laugh heartily. I have the blackest thumb on the planet. I am successful in growing babies and that's about it. I've even killed cacti before!
That folks, is the wonder of spring, and the promise of hope that comes in seeds. Somehow, in spite of season after season of near or utter failure, I still long to plant seeds and dream of abundant crops which my children will be thrilled to eat because we grew them.
This year I managed to get Phil on board and we have dedicated more than old flowerbeds next to the house for potential food. We've got a chicken wire fence up to keep the hungry rabbits out. We started digging to expand the area and realized at the pace I could help with a baby that it wasn't going to get done in time. Thank heavens for friends who are willing to lend their rotor tiller!
The first batch of seedlings that we were growing, I managed to kill. Left them on top of the dryer while running it all day. Yup, like I said, black thumb! The second batch of seedlings are struggling, but we're hopeful they'll make it. The third installment of seeds has been planted and we look daily for the first signs of life.
Will our spinach, broccoli, numerous varieties of peppers and tomatoes make it from indoor seedlings to thriving plants? Time will tell. Will the squash seeds I saved from the grandparents gift of food last summer grow and keep on giving? Will I get any green beans before the grasshoppers this year? I don't know, but that's what I love about gardening, it's so full of hope and life!
Friday, May 17, 2013
Friday, May 3, 2013
Where I'm at
I've been meaning to get on here for some time and write, I just haven't made it a priority until today. Sad, because I've loved to write for as long as I can remember. Perhaps with the changes that have been instituted in the past few weeks I will have more time.
As I watch my children grow at an alarmingly fast rate (Abi's almost done with third grade, how is that even possible?!), I have a stronger desire to spend more of it with them. I was spoiled after Miles was born and had meals brought to us for a few weeks, and then I had a whole month of food in the freezer. I discovered that cooking was no longer a joy, it was a time sucking burden. It was taking me away from conversations with Abi, 'watch me mommy!' moments with Lizzi and Wesley, and creating a whole lot of stress when Miles inevitably became hungry in the middle of food prep.
The day that I had to leave Miles crying in hunger because I was at the cannot stop part of cooking was the push that I needed. Once a month cooking it was going to be. I was going to find a way to make it work so I wouldn't have to choose between a ruined meal and hungry babe. The three days it took me to cook everything for breakfasts and suppers was difficult and my body ached at the end of the day. The rewards have been well worth it, pop the meal in the crockpot at the beginning of the day and voila! Dinner's ready when Phil gets home. This has allowed me to be spontaneous with the kids, we've had outings to the park that wouldn't have otherwise happened. Done crafts and activities together. Feed Miles when he wants to eat and not when my schedule allows. I am finding less stress at the end of the day which leaves me more pleasant and more willing to engage with the family after dinner. Yes, I am sold on once a month cooking and plan on continuing it for the foreseeable future!
Just this week we packed up all the toys. The kids are allowed only one set out at a time. Currently as I type it's the baby dolls and accessories. I know it's only been a few days but already I've seen changes. An obvious one is not tripping over toys and the kids have but a few items to pick up at the end of the day. No more issues with picking up because it's not overwhelming. They've had to play together, which has been good for them to imagine and cooperate. It didn't go so well yesterday and we had an all out push and shove pull the hair match between them. Which afforded the opportunity to apologize and make restitution. I was really curious to see how my random child care kids would react. As far as I could tell they didn't even notice! We got out the big box of legos for the after school kiddo and they had a blast for two hours all building together. Thinning out the toys has led me to start cleaning out the rest of the house. I want to spend my time with my family, not managing our possessions.
A little update on my health. Since adding animal protein back into my diet I have found renewed energy, maybe not enough to add any exercise back into my life, but enough so that I am able to make it through the days without napping. A huge turnabout in my world as I've needed naps for years. My tests at the Doctors came back great, which was surprising to both of us. However, the doctor did find a nodule on my thyroid which I've since had ultra-sounded and biopsied. I was a nervous wreck for a month afraid to hear that it might be cancer. Official diagnosis is follicular neoplasm. It's a fancy word for a benign tumor. The type of cells found have the possibility of becoming malignant, so for now I'll stay under the doctors watchful eye. Eventually I'll need surgery to remove it as it's already larger than a ping pong ball and will continue to grow, albeit at a slow rate.
Kitchen experiments. I convinced Phil to buy me ten pounds of shea butter. I know, I know, you're probably wondering (as was he) what could I possibly need ten pounds of shea butter for? Chapstick was a blast to make with the kids. Since everything melts at such low temperatures I didn't even need to worry about them burning themselves. The only negative was trying to convince Wesley to not eat his. Sure wish I could say I was successful on that endeavor! Yesterday I made lavender, citrus, tea tree oil scented deodorant. It passed the first test today being in a stuffy room with 40ish women! Unrelated to the shea butter, but still under the experiment realm is tooth soap. About a year ago I was reading about making your own toothpaste. The idea nagged at me for quite some time until I broke down and tried to make my own. I looked at various recipes and settled on a baking soda based one. It was super disgusting, no amount of stevia and peppermint could make me not gag until I puked in the sink. It did however make a nice foot scrub so all was not lost! I had read a conspiracy theory that toothpastes like sensodyne actually created more sensitivity. I wondered about the truth of that. When I got pregnant and couldn't brush but with water most of the time because of nausea and my tooth sensitivity declined I wondered even more. For almost two months now I've been brushing with tooth soap and have been almost completely pain free! I like the other wonderful side effects too--no more dry mouth immediately after brushing, and no weird film coating my teeth. I'll be honest, I'm not a huge fan of the taste, it's a bit odd since it's oil based. However, I can make it for much cheaper in my kitchen and I can eat crunchy and cold foods again without pain, so I'll take it.
As I watch my children grow at an alarmingly fast rate (Abi's almost done with third grade, how is that even possible?!), I have a stronger desire to spend more of it with them. I was spoiled after Miles was born and had meals brought to us for a few weeks, and then I had a whole month of food in the freezer. I discovered that cooking was no longer a joy, it was a time sucking burden. It was taking me away from conversations with Abi, 'watch me mommy!' moments with Lizzi and Wesley, and creating a whole lot of stress when Miles inevitably became hungry in the middle of food prep.
The day that I had to leave Miles crying in hunger because I was at the cannot stop part of cooking was the push that I needed. Once a month cooking it was going to be. I was going to find a way to make it work so I wouldn't have to choose between a ruined meal and hungry babe. The three days it took me to cook everything for breakfasts and suppers was difficult and my body ached at the end of the day. The rewards have been well worth it, pop the meal in the crockpot at the beginning of the day and voila! Dinner's ready when Phil gets home. This has allowed me to be spontaneous with the kids, we've had outings to the park that wouldn't have otherwise happened. Done crafts and activities together. Feed Miles when he wants to eat and not when my schedule allows. I am finding less stress at the end of the day which leaves me more pleasant and more willing to engage with the family after dinner. Yes, I am sold on once a month cooking and plan on continuing it for the foreseeable future!
Just this week we packed up all the toys. The kids are allowed only one set out at a time. Currently as I type it's the baby dolls and accessories. I know it's only been a few days but already I've seen changes. An obvious one is not tripping over toys and the kids have but a few items to pick up at the end of the day. No more issues with picking up because it's not overwhelming. They've had to play together, which has been good for them to imagine and cooperate. It didn't go so well yesterday and we had an all out push and shove pull the hair match between them. Which afforded the opportunity to apologize and make restitution. I was really curious to see how my random child care kids would react. As far as I could tell they didn't even notice! We got out the big box of legos for the after school kiddo and they had a blast for two hours all building together. Thinning out the toys has led me to start cleaning out the rest of the house. I want to spend my time with my family, not managing our possessions.
A little update on my health. Since adding animal protein back into my diet I have found renewed energy, maybe not enough to add any exercise back into my life, but enough so that I am able to make it through the days without napping. A huge turnabout in my world as I've needed naps for years. My tests at the Doctors came back great, which was surprising to both of us. However, the doctor did find a nodule on my thyroid which I've since had ultra-sounded and biopsied. I was a nervous wreck for a month afraid to hear that it might be cancer. Official diagnosis is follicular neoplasm. It's a fancy word for a benign tumor. The type of cells found have the possibility of becoming malignant, so for now I'll stay under the doctors watchful eye. Eventually I'll need surgery to remove it as it's already larger than a ping pong ball and will continue to grow, albeit at a slow rate.
Kitchen experiments. I convinced Phil to buy me ten pounds of shea butter. I know, I know, you're probably wondering (as was he) what could I possibly need ten pounds of shea butter for? Chapstick was a blast to make with the kids. Since everything melts at such low temperatures I didn't even need to worry about them burning themselves. The only negative was trying to convince Wesley to not eat his. Sure wish I could say I was successful on that endeavor! Yesterday I made lavender, citrus, tea tree oil scented deodorant. It passed the first test today being in a stuffy room with 40ish women! Unrelated to the shea butter, but still under the experiment realm is tooth soap. About a year ago I was reading about making your own toothpaste. The idea nagged at me for quite some time until I broke down and tried to make my own. I looked at various recipes and settled on a baking soda based one. It was super disgusting, no amount of stevia and peppermint could make me not gag until I puked in the sink. It did however make a nice foot scrub so all was not lost! I had read a conspiracy theory that toothpastes like sensodyne actually created more sensitivity. I wondered about the truth of that. When I got pregnant and couldn't brush but with water most of the time because of nausea and my tooth sensitivity declined I wondered even more. For almost two months now I've been brushing with tooth soap and have been almost completely pain free! I like the other wonderful side effects too--no more dry mouth immediately after brushing, and no weird film coating my teeth. I'll be honest, I'm not a huge fan of the taste, it's a bit odd since it's oil based. However, I can make it for much cheaper in my kitchen and I can eat crunchy and cold foods again without pain, so I'll take it.
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