Sunday, May 17, 2009

Meal planing=Complete frustration!


So I don't know about you, but thinking of what to make my family everyday, for every meal is driving me crazy! I enjoy cooking. I enjoy making my family wholesome, healthy, delicious foods. I even enjoy going to the grocery store (most of the time), but making the menu plan is anything but a pleasant experience for me. I don't know if it is because I am not creative enough, but my mind just goes completely blank and I end up spending hours and coming up with a pretty pathetic list.

What is a girl to do? I've got to do something. I dread it so much, that I finally just stopped doing it. Which my friends was not a good choice, since it has made my groc bill increase and the health value of my families food decrease...that's bad. I have to get back to the plan! How to do it without poking out my own eyes? That is the question.

One idea that T and I have been tossing around is a menu swap. Several of us could just email each other some of our favorite recipes and that would add a few more ideas for what to make. The thing is, it has to be more intentional than that. The problem lies not only in the ideas for what to make, but also in the compiling/finding of recipes and in the shopping list. (You have to write down what you want to make, find the recipe, make your shopping list, and then go shopping. No Thanks.)

I think that there needs to be a recipe swap, but also a database of some sort. A way of organizing your favorite meals with the menu for the week or month, and keeping the recipes and shopping list together. This sounds easy. In fact, I almost feel silly saying all of this, but do any of you do it? If so, please give me you secret!

Also, want to be a part of our menu swap? We should make one of those FB clubs...hmmm...I'll have to figure that out...unless you know how to do it. Then you can share with me that secret as well. :)

Ooh, what shall we name this club?

Monday, April 27, 2009

Bed head to the max

Now I know I have posted a few pics of this nature in the past (or maybe Ry has) but these are too funny not to share!

Please do not judge her, sometimes a girl's hair looks a little tussled when she first gets up...

















What my sweet baby's hair usually looks like...









And sometimes a girl really enjoys her tomato soup...again...no judging! :)

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

A garden in in our future

We FINALLY got our garden started today! I am so excited. I have been dreaming all winter long about fresh veggies picked straight from our garden. There is just something different between produce in the summer/fall and produce in the winter. I find it so much easier to eat healthy when the garden is full and the farmer's market is open. I have visions of my little family playing outside in the sunshine and stopping to help themselves to a handful of green beans or a big cucumber! (We'll to be honest I can only really see Jones doing this...Indi not as much. That girl pretty much only loves dairy products and meat! Who's child is she?? I am hoping that getting to be involved with the growing process and the ability to choose and pick her own vegetables might help her start to be a little more interested in them. We shall see!)

Friday, March 06, 2009

Amazing things to be found at Goodwill...

Yesterday I was at Goodwill when I saw it...




That's right. A copy of "Chicken Soup For The Horse Lover's Soul II".

Wha...What? You know that this means two things, right? Someone had to have purchased this book to begin with for it to even be at Goodwill. And not only that...someone had to have purchased the first edition of this book causing them to want to make another!!!

I should have bought it. Maybe it would have been a good read?

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Some things that Jones has said that past couple weeks: (for those of you that don't know, Jones is my 3 year old, he is his own person and i love him for it, but he does keep me very busy!)

J: Dad, I was going to go to Africa and shoot some gorillas with my gun, but gorillas are endangered species...did you know that dad?
R: yes i did
J: I think I will go to Africa and shoot and kill the AIDS Crisis instead. Maybe I will also adopt a little boy too!
R: that is a great idea.

Scene: Jones wants to do something and I am not letting him. We have been discussing it for a while:
J: Mom I just don't like your protest to me!
Me: What?
J: I just don't like when you protest against me!

J: Mommy I just peed out of my anus!
Me: your anus is your bottom hole Jones
J: Oh right. I just peed out my urethra
Me: Glad to hear that Jones

J: daddy what did they cut your testicles open with when you had your surgery?

Scene: TT (Tara) sent Jones and Indi some cuffs and Jones was very excited. He wore them non stop (even to bed) for almost a week.

J: Look at my fancy cuffs! I am so fancy...I am a rockstar!
Me: you are fancy?
J: yeah rockstars are fancy

Jones and I are talking together
J:mom are you joking? Are you joking my serious?
Me: What?
J: Are you joking my serious?
Me: I guess so, becasue you look very serious and I am really joking.
J: I thought you were

Jones walks up to me and randomly says
J: mommy, my face is always just being me.
Me: (unsure of what to say) Yes Jones
He continuest o look at me for an akward 10 seconds or so and then he walks off. I am still unsure what that one meant.

Wednesday, February 04, 2009

Soup


I need a few good soup recipes. Any kind really...I just want to change things up in my soup department.

Here is the criteria:

It must not contain-
noodles or other glutenous matter (unlike the picture above)
cream bases if they include dairy
dairy at all actually

It can include-
any lentil or bean your heart desires
lots and any blend of veggies
meat, but probably not pork

Please suggest away!

Friday, January 30, 2009

Vaccine part 1

So here is my first vaccination post. It is by no means all inclusive or even really touching the tip of the iceberg. I really am just beginning my own research in this very well covered epidemic that our country has found itself in the middle of (hmmm…that seems to be a reoccurring theme these days). I do also want to point out that almost none of this is my own words. (ok they are mostly all my own words, but it is all information that I have gotten from reading attending some classes, and personal dialog with people both in the medical profession and not) I will try and list as many references as possible and also supply you with a couple of links and reading suggestions at the end of this post. Please let me know what you think and ask any questions. It will help me in my next post to give it a little direction. There is so much out there, narrowing it down was HARD! Oh and I have to tell you that many of that facts that I have used in writing this I have gotten from Neil Z. Miller's book "Vaccine Safety manual for concerned families and health practitioners". An excellent book I recommend for any parent wanting to know more about this issue

A few little facts and things to explore:

Vaccine manufacturing is a multi-billion dollar corporation. One that has been outed by many health care professionals as having admitted to the fact they knew children's brains and their development were being injured by vaccinations, but that the vaccine program was more important. It is also known that the vaccine companies do much of the research done on their own vaccinations, often by doctors who are paid to convince people of the validity of the vaccine or one who have stock in the company. Not only do they use doctors tainted by money, but they also use false evidence or unethical scientific research. For example not using a "placebo' drug when testing patients. If you give an aluminum filled vaccine to one patient and then aluminum to another patient, wont the data be a little screwed? (Check out Neil Z. Millers book, PG 19)

Scare tactics are used by these companies to get loving parents to vaccinate their children without question. Most of the number they feed us ( For example they will tell us a huge number of children die every year from rotavirus, but they don't tell us those are all children in third world countries that are malnourished, not average healthy children ) are not based on scientific fact, are from previous historical times (that's right, from before sanitation and refrigeration!) or are from third world countries! If you scare parents though, they wont ask questions! Creepy.

Did you know that the number of adverse reactions to Vaccines is extremely high, but you just never really hear about them? "Every year more than 12,000 adverse reaction reports are filed with the federal government. These include emergency hospitalizations, irreversible injuries, and deaths. Still these numbers maybe grossly underreported because the FDA estimates that 90 percent of doctors do not report reactions. a confidential study conducted by Connaught Laboratories, a vaccine manufacturer, indicated that "a fifty-fold under reporting of adverse events" is likely. yet event his figure may be conservative. According to Dr. David kessler, former director of the FDA, "only about one percent of serious events [Adverse drug reactions] are reported." (Neil Miller Pg 25) Gross right? I think it is amazing that power and money can corrupt people like it does sometimes. People become the mass or just number and no longer are human beings with lives, purpose, and value. Sad. Actually it is such a well known fact (to the high up people...for fun, lets call him the man...then we can all feel like hippies.) that congress passed a "hazard" tax on childhood vaccines. When you pay your doctor for your children's shots a portion of that money goes to this tax fund and then when a child gets injured or dies they can pay to compensate that. In the last couple years the amount has been around 1 billion that has been payed out to thousands of injured and affected families. These children suffered things from seizures to SIDS. (thank you again Neil Zimmer Pg 25...seems to be a good page. Also, I would like to point out the amazing increase in SIDS at the same time as the increase in vaccines. Russel Blaylock MD, has several articles on this "freak coincidence" (much like the freak coincidence between vaccine and autism rises being so simultaneous), that would be well worth your time to read. He goes in depth into the immune system and how it is negatively triggered by repeated vaccines being given to small children)

Doctors aren't really to blame for this. I know my pediatrician whom I trust and love in all for vaccinations. They just don't have time to research everything! In fact just like with Cigarettes (You know the things that cause lung cancer, but Dr’s use to recommend smoking them to help with nerves, make pregnant mothers have smaller babies and to clear the lungs before sports.) doctors are educated to give out vaccinations without question and almost all of their education about them is given to them by the Vaccination companies who are profiting. Also, most doctors (Unless one is a specialist in something like Neurology) get barely any training on immunology or neurology, two of the things that are most attacked by vaccinations.(I will try to go into depth more on the effects and toxins that are in a person's brain after vaccinations in a later post, but it really needs a post all to itself.)

Sorry if this seems like I am rambling. I am just trying to give you a few snapshots...ready for some more?

Children in the US have a vaccination schedule that consists of nearly 80 different vaccinations by the time they are grown. Babies alone have a schedule that includes, “one vaccine at birth, 8 vaccines at two months, 8 vaccines at four months, nine vaccines at six months, and ten additional vaccines between 12 and 18 months.”Some of those are given all at the same time, like the MMR. Which at first when Jones was getting his shots at 2 months old I was grateful for, one less poke for my sweet infant, but since then I have questioned that. And rightfully so, I might add. There have been little or no studies done of the effects of giving children multiple drugs all at the same time. (I usually don't make it a habit of taking 6-8 drugs at the same time, at least not without expecting something bad to happen!)

The united states has more vaccines than any other country and one would think that would cause us to have a high infant success rate. Actually we have one of the Worst infant mortality rates of any industrialized nation. One would also think that maybe each time the amount of vaccines given to babies was raised that rate would lower, the opposite is true. Each time the us adds recommended vaccines the child mortality rate goes higher. According to the CDC (check out CDC and infant mortality rates and international rankings) by 1998 the US had dropped to 28th place in Infant Mortality rates and by 2006 our nation was down to 42nd that is right above Croatia. (health and human services U.S.)

According to studies done of numerous manufacturers 60 % of vaccines contain at least one contaminating organism, including (but not limited to) things like SIV ( due to things like growing the virus on monkey kidneys and other animal parts), Pestivirus, and SV-40(this is a nasty one that studies have shown people have passed down to their children, have caused thousands of cancers, and contaminated tons of polio vaccines!).

Something else to think about is that vaccinations not only contain strands of a virus (which may only be a single or a several, but not all strands of a virus. Polio has something like 70 (??) strands and only about 4 of them are in the polio vaccination. And that is not considering any that have been mutated by being in our bodies for years. But that is for another post!), but also contain things like preservatives, themerisol, spermicide, formaldehyde, antifreeze, and animal organ tissue and blood. (To name a few) Many vaccinations openly contain amount of aluminum that are toxic to humans. There have been many studies showing links between Alzheimer’s, MS, and other diseases and aluminum in vaccinations.(it causes deformation of the neurotubes, which are microscopic tubes in our neurons and are essential to their function. This deformity is alarmingly high in Alzheimer patients.) The way aluminum goes to your brain, is that it attaches itself onto things (just two examples) like florid or glutamate (Common in our drinking water and food) and is easily absorbed in the body (i.e. the brain). An example of how toxic this can be? Some studies have shown the people who have had all three rounds of their HEP B shot (known to contain aluminum) have a 300% higher chance of developing MS.

The HERD immunity theory is one that has been used when talking about vaccinations (Thank you Erica for bringing this one up, as I was wondering about the "greater good" when I stopped vaccinating my own children"), let me explain why many people think this is actually just that a theory and one that is not well backed up by science. The way it supposedly works is that if most people have been vaccinated then everyone in a community is essentially not at risk because of the disease practically being gone. What percentage of people need to be vaccinated? Well the companies that manufacture it use to say around 68%, now they are saying they need 90-100% vaccination rates. Also they are finding that the amount of time that a person is presumed immune to a virus is for about 5-10 years after the vaccine has been administered. So, all of those diseases that were supposedly stopped by mass vaccinations given to baby boomers...they no longer work and the most vast age group in our nation is now no longer immune and hasn't been for over 50 years. this is just one argument against this theory.

I almost forgot! No Kara you do not have to have your child vaccinated to get into school. That is another scare tactic that is used. You have legal rights as a parent to sign a wavier saying you are apposed to (for either philosophical, religious, or medical reasons) against vaccinations and they have to let your children in. I had to sign one here (for pre-school) in the northwest and you will have to sign one in Texas. The only rub is that you will have to remove your child from school if there is an outbreak (like you wouldn't already if meningococcal was rampant through your elementary school!)

Ok now I am tired and have been typing for a long time! I am going to bed. I hope this was a little informatory. I also hope that any parents out there that read this know that this is my decision for my babies and I do not assume that if I do it, you have to as well. I just think that it is healthy to have information and then make whatever choice you decide for your family.

Peace to you.

http://www.momvaccines.org/
http://www.thinktwice.com/
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2001/08/18/vaccine-myths.aspx This one is very good and basic
http://marytocco.com/
Here are just a few. Read that book I mentioned above also...it's really good. (I will post more soon.)

Friday, January 16, 2009

A little update...


I think most of you have heard that Jones has been super sick. He has been running a temp of between 102-104 for about 16 days now. (He has had many other things wrong too, but this is the most worrisome part). Good news...Yesterday and today his fever was on and off and I don't think it ever got over 103.5! I think we are on the other side of this illness. Finally. Thank you Jesus!

The interesting thing is that while they have not fully figured out what was completely wrong with him, they do know that he has Influenza (which I never really knew was worse than a flu bug) and pneumonia at the same time. I was telling someone that today and they asked me "well didn't he get vaccinated for that?" I told them no and they looked at me kind of irritated and said "oh well, that is too bad." I just smiled and said it is too bad when our children get sick.

The thing is, it is really hard being a parent and always having to make the decisions about your child's health. And while I know it is not true, I feel like it is even more hard when you are slightly educated and then have to make your own decisions not solely based on only one person's opinion (i.e. your doctor's) It is even harder when your decision is different than the cultural norm (Oh how I know that!). Sometimes it makes a girl want to just give up and take everything at face value and not search for real truth...right answers are sometimes hard to come by and usually even harder to follow through with.

I really believe that God made us with perfectly designed bodies. Ones that he created with a way of working and that way is so amazing that it blows my mind. I know that my children's immune systems are being formed right now for the rest of their lives and that from now until they are around 7 every illness is actually an odd sort of blessing. I know that fevers are meant to naturally destroy bad things like bacteria and I know that fighting off things on their own is only going to make them stronger. But it is still really hard to watch happen. Even though I know what fevers do I am still tempted to give them Tylenol to ease the discomfort. I know about children's bodies fighting things and how antibiotics usually are more harmful than helpful, but it sure does sound more appealing and like a much quicker and easier fix.

I have to make decisions based on what I know. Sometimes though it is hard when you are in the middle of something painful (watching your child be miserable) to hold out for the long term goal. When your child is sick for 15 days it is hard to look toward their adult life and says "wow you sure are going to thank me someday when you have an immune system of iron!" Tough. That's what being a parent is...wonderful and tough.

(By the way, I am not judging anyone. I have to do what I think is best for my family, just like you have to do what is best for yours. I may not vaccinate and try not to use many antibiotics, you may be ok with both. Whatever the case, can we agree not to judge?)

Oh and I didn't just let Jones lay there being sick. I did take him to the Doctor and chiropractor lots of times. I also treated him with lots of homeopathic things and gave him baths and smoothies and all that. I even tried an antibiotic ( I can only take so much peer pressure!), but said no to a second. I am not heartless!!

Monday, January 12, 2009

Collage Time

For my mom's birthday I am going to make her some sort of picture collage of my kids for her office. She has a pretty bare and boring office and so while I do not want to make a massive collage, I do have a little bit of space to do pretty much whatever I want. So...do you have any creative ideas? Any cleaver material to use? Please do share...