Reminder:

National De-lurking Week Continues

According to Wikipedia, the verb to "de-lurk" means to start contributing actively to a community having been a lurker previously.

There are also some who lurk on a forum habitually, and rarely, if ever, contribute. It is generally difficult to guess how many such lurkers are present, due to their silence.

Are you a lurker? If you are it's time to post a comment. You know who you are...what are you waiting for?

Weight Loss Goals

I have always enjoyed setting goals and reaching them. The same is true for weight loss. While it's true that I would like to see a certain number on the scale again (which is also the same number, as a teenager I swore I would die if I weighed that much), I have also set other non-scale related goals. The most important to me was to fit into all my fall clothes again and to be able to button my winter coat this year. Last year was a very cold year. I didn't feel I could just go buy another coat, so I went unbuttoned in the cold Troutdale east wind. BRRRR! That was all the motivation I needed to keep that from happening again. I am happy to say, that as of Zander's field trip yesterday, I can now button my wool coat again. I also had to get a smaller pair of jeans as my other pair kept sliding off my hips! Hooray!!! Unfortunately, I got jeans that had some stretch to them and now it seems they are a bit loose, but it is great for my ego. Now I just have to go buy a belt. I can't quite seem to slim down my mid-section, so the majority of my tops don't quite look right, but I know it won't be long now. Skinny Christmas, here I come!

Lurkers beware!

As Mayor of Ernstopia I declare this week is National De-Lurking Week. I know there are many of you out there who read my blog who never leave comments, so today it's your turn to post a comment. Don't be a blog-a-phobe...I want to hear from you all. I have been blogging for well over 3 months now and have loved every minute of it...sometimes a little too much! Thank you to those of you who keep me inspired by your encouraging comments. They really brighten my day. My dad put it well when he said 'comments help make it more like a dialogue/conversation than a monologue.'

I hope that today is the day that some of you will turn a corner and send me a note...We'll see how this goes. (I may have to enforce this Anti-Lurking holiday throughout the year!!!)

This holiday is not just for lurkers, regulars who comment, please feel free to pop in and say hello as well. I can't wait to hear from you all!

Picture of the Day 10-24

Preschool Pumpkin Patch Field Trip

Today was the day for the pumpkin patch and it rained. We got muddy and wet, but it was still fun. Zander is in the red coat, third from the left.

Girl's Weekend Scrapbooking Getaway

This past weekend, my friends Anne and Andrea and I drove to Stevenson, WA for a much needed getaway. With scrapbooking as the goal, we hauled our supplies up to Anne's family cabin and settled in. It was late when we got there, but we decided to start in on our projects anyway. We didn't want to let a single minute of uninterrupted bliss go to waste. We were scrapbooking until midnight at least and then decided to call it a night.

The next morning, I woke up and went downstairs to find Andrea had already started in on her pages. I jumped in and before long Anne joined us. Unfortunately for Anne, she started to feel ill. Her son had been throwing up the day we left and she felt she was headed down that same path. We encouraged her to lay low and she did. We popped in some chick flix and she took a nap while Andrea and I got to work. By now I was well on my way to finishing some gifts as well as a few pages for my own memory books.

At some point we decided to take a break from everything and have lunch. Part of the deal for the weekend was no food that would hinder out weight loss progress. So we all brought salad fixin's and had a big salad bar...all except Anne who was not hungry.

Through the course of the weekend we managed to stay pretty busy, stopping only to pop in a new movie. We watched "Breakfast at Tiffany's," "Wonder Woman," "First Wives Club," and "True Lies," The latter, not exactly a chick flik, but entertaining, none the less.

Dinner time rolled around and Andrea and I headed out to find a place to eat. We had decided on Skamania Lodge, but let's just stay we had a little trouble getting her truck to back up out of the driveway. Somehow it was just stuck (parked on a gravel slope) and would not get traction to save our lives. Andrea gave a valiant effort in what was a very stressful situation, especially in the dark. We both decided to call it a night and so I made a fritata for us all to share.

The next morning, Andrea was able to get her truck out after she put some sticks down for traction. What a difference a day makes. I didn't really have any more creativity in me, so I just sat around and watched movies with Anne, then we cleaned up and left. It was a great getaway. I got a lot accomplished...unfortunately, I also got the bug Anne did...to a lesser degree.

Picture of the Day 10-23

Gobble, Gobble, Gobble

Family Homework Assignment: Cut out and decorate the turkey using what ever you can come up with.
Last Friday, Natalie came home from Kindergarten with her homework as she does every Friday. However, this assignment involved the whole family. I tried to think of ways to make this turkey. At first I thought of the obvious, feathers...but then it hit me, we could use some of the things from our nature walk to decorate it. So I gathered all the leaves and pine cones and to them I added hydrangea blooms, arborvitae and birdseed, separated them all into bowls and called the kids in to the kitchen. My job was to brush the glue on and the kids added the "toppings." Dan and I added the finishing touches which required a hot glue gun. (the eye is made from the top of an acorn) I think it turned out great!

Picture of the Day 10-20

Today I am watching my nieces while my brother Aaron and his wife Tami are on a fishing trip in Canada. Here they are eating pumpkin cookies on the front porch. We lucked out and got another sunny day! Little Hayden is in the Tigger outfit and didn't really want to turn around. He is very strong willed at times (he gets that from both of us...so look out!)

Fabulous Food Friday

These cookies are a favorite this time of year. This recipe makes 6 dozen, so there will be pleanty to share with friends and family. Hope you like them as much as we do.

Pumpkin Cookies

2 cups butter
2 cups sugar
2 cups pumpkin
2 eggs
2 t vanilla
4 cups flour
2 t baking soda
2 t baking powder
2 t cinnamon
1 t salt
1 cup chocolate chips

Combine first 5 ingredients and mix until blended. Add dry ingredients and mix well. Add chocolate chips. Bake on a greased cookie sheet at 375 degrees for 10-15 minutes. (usually 12 minutes is about right). Makes 6 dozen.

Let's talk about SEX

Made you look. Actually I thought about blogging this after my dad told me he saw my pastor on Good Morning America recently. Pastor Ted and his wife have been doing a series called "Sexy Christians," on Wednesday nights. While I don't attend this service, I was excited to find out that they got to share about the series on national TV.
If you want to read the article, you can read it at: http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/AmericanFamily/story?id=2576894&page=1

Although, the photo of the two of them in the article is not flattering in the least. They are much more attractive in real life. Here is a much better one. You can also read about the series on the East Hill website which Dan designed: http://www.easthill.org/resources/sexychristians.cfm

There is even a link at the bottom of the page where you can download and watch the sermons in the comforts of your own home. I think this is a brilliant idea as they also offer Sunday's sermons too.

Pastor Ted is an amazing speaker and I have really enjoyed his sermons over the past 8 years. He always talks about things that seem so relevant in our lives. We always leave church feeling better than when we got there. I like Pastor Ted because he is real and honest and cares deeply for people. He doesn't come across as "holier than thou" and doesn't get all caught up in Christianeese. He uses examples that are entertaining, moving and convicting, yet easy for the non-believer or new Christian to relate to. Here is his bio:
http://www.easthill.org/about/bio.cfm?bio=1

The only bummer is that in a church of 7,000 (5 services on the weekends), you don't really get to know your pastor on a more personal level. That would be my only complaint. At times it has made me long for a smaller church, but it's hard to pull away from his good teachings.

My busy week so far

This week has been busy enough to keep me from blogging, so I thought I'd better catch up. Monday I took Zander to see his eye doctor in Troutdale. It used to take me 5 minutes to get there, now it takes about 25 (35 when you factor in getting three kids in and out of their car seats!). The appointment went fine. He had to get his eyes dilated, which means killing time for 20 minutes or so. I walked with the kids to Natalie's old preschool and let them play on the playground for a while. Once we got back, the doctor took a look inside his eyes and said they look good, but he still wanted to adjust his glasses prescription a bit. I wish I would have known this would be the case as we just filled a brand new prescription 2 weeks ago to replace the glasses Zander mangled beyond repair. At any rate, the doctor also took a look at the optic nerve and was able to see that there was no swelling on his brain which means that the shunt must be doing it's job. I keep praying that he won't ever have to need the shunt replaced, so this information is always a relief to me.

Since I was in the area, I went to Target to look at costumes for the kids. I ended up finding a Toy Story Woody costume for Zander and a pair of shoes for me, but nothing much for the other kids. All of the cute costumes for Hayden's age are pretty much gone and the mermaid costume Natalie wanted wasn't big enough. So we went home again.

Yesterday morning was total chaos. I had to get Natalie off to school, come back re-create an event reminder note for one of the parents in Zander's preschool (I am the memory book coordinator for his class) then get Zander to school, all within a half hour. From there I had to go to Natalie's school where I was volunteering in her class for an hour reading one-on-one to kindergarteners. It was fun and Natalie was so excited to have me helping in her class.
I drove home only to turn around and get Natalie 30 minutes later, bring her home and then go get Zander 15 minutes later. Super crazy! After dinner, Dylan and Rebekah came over to coordinate on a web site Dan is designing for their ranch. Once the kids were in bed I zoomed off to W-mart to get some food and to order some photos. That was pretty much my evening.

Today was equally busy. Natalie has lunch at school every other Wednesday, so I thought I would take advantage of her long day and run some errands. So with Hayden and Zander in tow, I drove to Portland to the children's consignment shop. I had another load of winter clothes to drop off and while I was there I picked up my check. It wasn't much this time, but the money will come in handy to off-set all the costumes...which we also shopped for. I found an Ariel costume at Party City and a Jack-Jack (from the Incredibles) costume from the Disney store (at 50% off!!!).

Originally I had wanted all of us to dress up like the Incredibles...we have the perfect set up: Dan-Mr. Incredible; me-Elasta-girl; Natalie-Violet; Zander-Dash and Hayden-Jack Jack. But when it came down to it, the costumes are for them and I decided to not let my ideas get in the way of what they wanted. I'm sure they would have been fine with the Incredibles, but they absolutely love the costumes they picked out. In fact the reason I am able to sit here and blog right now is because they are all in the play room dressed up in their costumes.

After I got home from the mall, I zoomed off again to the gym where I worked out for about an hour (eliptical and weights). I feel pretty good now, but I really worked my arms out more than usual, so I know tomorrow I will pay for it.

That pretty much brings us up to date. Busy, busy, busy. People always say "enjoy them while they are young, cause they grow up so fast." I wish I could enjoy them more. However, it seems that life just gets so hectic at times I feel like I can't just sit down and relax with them. Anyway I just realized that I have less than 2 months to plan their birthday parties. I remember the days when I would start planning everything in the summer (yes, I am a little obsessive about birthday parties, some of you know how crazy I get).

Well, I think that is all for now, I think I will go and play with the kiddos. Have a great day!

Fun things for kids in the fall

As I kid I did not like fall. All of the pretty green leaves tuned yellow and brown and then fell off the trees making a huge mess all over the street. I remember walking to school amongst the soggy brown leaves wishing we never had to have fall. The weather was always cold and rainy and dark. But as the years have passed, I have grown to love the fall, especially when we are lucky to have an Indian Summer like we did this year. I have learned to appreciate the beauty in the yellow, orange and red leaves and look forward to cozy afternoons with my tea and slippers to keep me warm.

Although fall brings lots of rain our way, I try to make it a point to get our kids out on the sunny days and show them a little about the changing world around them. We go on nature walks to look for cool leaves and pine cones, nuts and seeds and then we bring them inside and create things with them. A few years back, Natalie and I made a great seed chart with all the seeds we found in the yard. She really enjoyed seeing all the different types of seeds and learning their names. This year I took the kids on a walk and we hunted for pine cones. Not just any cones would do, they had to be big pine cones because we were going to make bird feeders out of them. I don't have too many memories of kindergarten, but I do remember making these pine cone bird feeders with peanut butter and birdseed.

As you can see Zander had a great time making his bird feeder.


I love to make eating fun. Who doesn't like to play with food, right, so during the fall I will make this vegetable skeleton and the kids think eating vegetables is great fun! It's all in the presentation. They would never agree to eat a plate full of vegetables at dinner, but if they think they are eating arms and legs, somehow this is more appealing to them! This also opens up discussion for naming different parts of the body...see, they are learning too. Great fun! (In case it is not clear, the head is a bowl filled with ranch dip with broccoli for hair)

What fall would be complete with out a trip to the pumpkin patch? In years past, when Natalie and Zander were babies we made an anual trip to Hood River for our apples and pumpkins. We usually stop off at Rasmussen farms for the pumkin funland, but our our favorite place to get apples is Kiyokawa Family Orchards in Parkdale. Look on their website for extensive descriptions of all their apples and produce. We love to buy from them because, not only are they priced low, but the people there are super friendly. They gladly give you samples of their fruit. That is how we first fell in love with Asian pears. Yum, I can't wait to go get ours this year. We were going to go yesterday, but we got caught up getting things done around the house and yard.

Since we live in B-town now and are surrounded by farms, I thought, why not go get our pumpkins locally and then make a trip to get apples later on. Here are some of my favorite pictures from the pumpkin patch at Liepold Farms. They have a lot of great things for kids including hay rides, a corn maze, a petting zoo and our kids' favorite the corn box (like a sand box, but with corn kernels.) Click on photos to enlarge.


Zander finding his way through the kiddie maze; my three ghosts squinting from the sun; Zander riding on a John Deere Trike; Natalie peeking out of the second story play house


Zander wasted no time filling up his kid-sized wheel barrow; After searching for just the right pumpkin, Natalie claimed hers too and she named it "pumpkinella." Hayden catches on quickly, looking around at all the pumpkins and saying "oooooo." Then he picked out just the right one.

My little "pumpkin" walked onto the pumpkin scale where he weighed in at a whopping 23.8 lbs. The highlight of his day was playing in the corn box.

Here is Natalie dumping a whole bucket of corn on her head. I don't think this would have gone over too well if she were playing in a "sand" box. This is much easier to clean up.




In case you were interested, I updated my Paper Capers blog to include a few fall themed projects.

Picture of the Day 10-15

Let's Dance!

Natalie decided she wanted to dress everyone up to look like a flower for her flower dance. As you can see, Zander didn't have a problem with this, but Hayden wasn't too happy about compromising his manliness.

Fabulous Food Friday

Quick Creamy Tomato Basil Soup
1 Jar maranara/pasta sauce (tomato basil)
1 cup cream
1/2 cup powdered parmesan cheese
a splash of water

Combine all the ingredients and heat in a pot until warm and cheese is melted. I got this recipe from a woman at my church (Debbie Cluness sp?) who used to appear on AM Northwest with her decorating ideas. I made this soup the other night and all the kids loved it.

Picture of the Day 10-13

Pumpkin PatchThis is a first for me...going to the pumpkin patch in shorts. The sun was so bright that it was hard to get good pictures of the kids because it was shining in their eyes the whole time. This is not the Oregon October that I am familiar with, but I love it!

The Pool is Now Closed!

Wow, now that is stunning. Not a leaf in the pool. Bet you can't guess how long it took! I will miss looking out and seeing the sparkly blue water, but the pool cover is going to save me so much time. It won't be long before that big tree you see (aka "that damn tree") sheds the rest of its tiny leaves.

This morning I put all the pool equipment away, stored the sweeper and cleaned out the pump house...Now I just have to get the leaf blower out and get rid of all those pesky leaves on the patio, but that can wait for another day.
Before and After

Isn't it Ironic?

Today I had planned to blog some encouraging words to my friends who are with me on the weightloss challenge. However, after getting on the scale this morning, I think I am the one who needs the pep-talk. I guess the two pounds I lost while sick was just a teaser for now. Anyone want to join my pitty party? Naaaaa!

Here is what I wrote last night to post this morning:

I still have a lot more weight to lose before I can fit into some of my cute tops without the rolls and bulges oozing out from all sides. Even so, it was fun getting out "the Box" from storage and imagining wearing all my girly clothes again. It is even enough to motivate me to put more broccoli in my omelet, sprouts on my salad, go on more walks and drink all that water. I can feel the transformation finally happening and I hope some of my excitement will rub off on you. (and I really hope that my weight loss doesn't stall, now that I am all jazzed up!) [IRONY!]

When I was trying to lose my pregnancy weight from Zander, I joined Weight Watchers. That did the trick, but didn't really help me keep it off. Not to mention they don't teach you about eliminating sugar. In fact, most of their pre-packaged products although low in points, are high in sugar and "chemicals." I just can't go back to that now that I know more about what foods not to eat. I also can't afford the $12 a week I paid for about a year to attend the meetings. So, I decided to lose weight on my own to save money. It hasn't been easy, but I have found a few free online resources that have proven to be very helpful. Fitday.com is great, you can keep track of food, exercise and weight. There is even an area for keeping a journal, which I don't use anymore now that I have this blog! The feature that I use the most is the weight tracking report that shows me when I lose (and gain) weight. I was finally able to pick out patterns in my weight loss. Like almost any time I lost a bit of weight, I could guarantee to gain back a couple pounds before loosing some more. Annoying, yes, but at least I could see that this was a pattern and not something that I was doing wrong.

The other day my mom emailed me this website sparkpeople.com. It has all of the above resources, plus if you get on their mailing list they will email you encouraging articles and suggestions. I just started doing this and although sometimes I get more email from them than I would like, often I am surprised about what they have to say, like this article on the importance of eating organic food. I hope you find these tools to be as helpful as I have.

Here is what motivates me:
Every choice I make gets me one of two places. It puts me closer or farther away from meeting my goals. When I think of food in these terms, it makes my choices much easier. Come on redheadedmama and sweetktea [and me too], put all your discouragements aside. Forget about the bad choices you have made. We have 75 days until Christmas and we can do this. WE WILL BE SKINNY FOR OUR FAMILY PICTURES THIS YEAR!!! Are you with me?

Let's set a date to go to the Friday all-night crop and celebrate our weight loss for the month of October. If you want to jump on our weight loss band wagon, just let me know...we won't bite.

Picture of the Day 10-11

Hayden loves to splash in the bath. After bathtime he loves to crawl or run away from me when I am trying to get him dressed.

My Weight Loss Secret Reveled

I am sitting here typing this, wearing my jeans from my skinny days and a huge smile on my face. Granted I can't leave them buttoned for long or I may pass out, but at least I can get them on...something that I couldn't even consider at the beginning of this summer. Because I am bigger around my middle, I had to buy "BIG girl jeans" that were kind of baggy everywhere else, so it feels good to have jeans that fit, even though I can't keep them buttoned. Earlier today I put on my Abercrombie and Fitch short-shorts and wore them all day. They haven't fit me for 2 years (if you factor in the 9 months of pregnancy). I knew I must have been loosing weight somewhere because my postpartum jeans, that I have been living in since I delivered last August, were so loose I didn't need to unbutton them to put them on or take them off. The scale, however was not showing me that I was loosing weight. I went for 3 1/2 weeks before I lost 2 lbs. This time was very discouraging to me, but then when I got sick, ate nothing but fruit smoothies and chicken noodle soup for 2 days, I started dropping pounds. Finally...my weight loss secret is out...get sick.

All kidding aside, here is my smoothy recipe:
I know it is part of the reason why I was only sick for 2 1/2 days.

Berry Smoothy:
Equal parts frozen strawberries, frozen peaches and frozen blueberries. Blend with plenty of juice (I use apple juice) until smooth. (Note: I don't use bananas in my smoothy because they are a high-glycemic food, and thus could sabotage any weight-loss plan.)

**When I am sick or just need an extra boost, I add to this: freeze dried cranberry (found in capsules at Wild Oats. I remove it from the capsule and add to blender), 2 scoops coral calcium, 2 tablespoons colloidal minerals and 2 scoops of green powder.

I also take echinacea, vitamin c and stinging nettle. No over the counter meds needed.

Just a note...I use any remaining smoothy to make yummy popsicles.

More about my recent obsession with Organics

Ever since my dad was diagnosed with cancer this late spring, I have really been convicted to eat more healthy food. It was a real wake up call to have someone in my family with cancer. Until it happens to you, it seems like cancer is just something other people's family have...Praise God, my dad is now cancer free!

At any rate, I have been much more careful about what I choose to feed my family. So that is why I am so excited to share with you my Organic finds from my grocery trip to Walmart yesterday. Ideally, I would shop at a health food store, but it is just not in our budget right now. Walmart offers a growing number of organic products, just look for the green tags hanging out from the shelf...and so without further ado:

Here we have hormone free milk and eggs, organic cinnamon shredded wheat, organic waffles (until I get my own waffle iron), organic whole wheat tortillas, organic yogurt, organic pasta sauce, organic bread, organic granola bars, organic fruit snacks and organic bananas. It is also worth mentioning that none of these products contain high fructose corn syrup or hydrogenated/partially hydrogenated oil normally found in other brands of similar products. So, in my book, these are great finds.


I would like to recommend to those of you with babies/small children to try these banana cookies and arrowroot animal crackers. Although they don't say organic on the box, they are made without high fructose corn syrup or hydrogenated oil...and my kids love them. The granola bars and fruit leather are healthy snacks as they are organic and not loaded with unhealthy junk.

Sandwiches anyone? I had to spend a little extra to get bread without high fructose corn syrup, but I know I saved money on my Adams peanut butter. Walmart has it for about $1-2 less than the regular grocery store. Smuckers fruit spread is a good choice as it is sweetened with fruit syrup instead of sugar or highfructose corn syrup.
For those of you who want to try an alternative to whole wheat bread, try sprouted grain bread. Fred Meyers and Wild Oats sell a brand called Ezekiel 4:9 bread, which is a spouted grain bread and contains no flour... It tastes especially good toasted and often is a good choice for those who don't tolerate carbs from regular bread (ie. people with diebetes, wheat allergies). They also make a really good cereal, similar to Grape Nuts. So far I haven't seen Ezekiel bread at Walmart, but they do have some sprouted grain bread made by Silver Hills.
If you prefer cheese on your sandwiches, you may be interested to know that Tillamook dairy products have banned the use of rBGH(recombinant bovine growth hormone) since 2005.

Picture of the Day 10-10

Today is picture day for Zander. Doesn't he look handsome!

Yep, I'm Sick

I stayed home from church this morning because my cold had gone down into my lungs. My throat is now too sore to swallow anything and it hurts to breathe deeply. I also have no voice. I usually get this every fall and every spring. So, early this morning I got out my inhaler to clear my lungs so I could breathe. Dan took the older kids to church and I actually stayed in bed and read some books on planning a potager garden. I just finished some chicken noodle soup and had a cup of hot lemon tea, now I'm off to rest again.

Good Grief!

Could I BE any more tired?
My whole week was a fairly busy one, just taking the kids back and fourth to school is often enough to wear this girl out. This week however, ended with a visit with my cousin Charie who lives in Texas...in fact, we share the same birthday. Anyway, since the whole clan was coming over to my house for dinner, I took it upon myself to clean like a mad woman. There's nothing like company to get my rear in gear, so after I picked Natalie up from school on Friday, I quickly threw together an apple crisp and while it was baking I kicked it up a notch and got some serious housework done...cleaning up all those places that tend to get overlooked until company comes. For me that meant clearing off all the clutter from the dining room table which had become a catch all for the school papers, coupons, misc mail, receipts and remnants from various parties. I also uncluttered the kitchen counters and vacuumed upstairs and downstairs. Zander helped out by putting out the fall decorations. I let him decide where they should go and he was so proud.

By this time my sister-in-law Tami arrived with my nieces Becca and Alexis who were excited to play with Natalie and Zander. My brother Aaron came over soon after and I ran up to my bedroom to quickly make the bed and strategically "hide" all the laundry that I never seem to have time to put away.

Good as new and just in time as everyone else arrived shortly after and I now had to start cooking dinner. We had Thai basil chicken, zucchini casserole, fried rice and salad. Oh, and the kids had grilled cheese sandwiches. It was a group effort and it was all yummy. After dinner, my dad and Tami helped with the dishes (thanks guys!) and then we had dessert. Poor Zander was so excited, he stood up on his chair but then he quickly fell, hitting his nose on the adjacent chair and then landed on the floor, face down. He was a mess. My tough guy was crying pretty hard so I took him to the other room to comfort him, then he started crying more because he wanted to go back and get his ice cream! Meanwhile, I am frazzled, trying to muster up enough energy to get through this and I looked at his nose and it looked a bit bruised and swollen. Oh great...did he break his nose? His school pictures are next Tuesday and this would be the worst timing. It was only bleeding slightly and his eyes weren't turning black like sometimes happens with broken noses, so I thought I would just put an ice pack on and keep the swelling down. No way, Zander did not want to do that at all. We finally agreed that he could finish his ice cream and then I would help him with the ice pack.

Finally after some more chaos, some of my family went home and my kids went to bed. AAAhhhh! At last I can actually visit with my cousin. We had fun talking until past midnight and then they headed out as well. As they were leaving we saw three deer on our front lawn.

This morning I woke up with a horrible headache that has since moved into my sinuses. I was trying to fight off being sick for as long as possible, but alas, I think I am definitely getting some kind of bug, as my throat is also sore. I have been popping echinacea, vitamin c and stinging nettle capsules all day, but my body is just exhausted. After I came to the realization that it would not be wise to go to the Home and Garden Show that I was so looking forward to, I resigned to the idea of staying home and getting some rest. FAT CHANCE. Dan decided to take the kids to a matinee so I could "kick back," but you know how that goes. With the older kids occupied and Hayden down for a nap, I decided to do some fall clean-up in the yard. I transplanted some hardy fuchsia plants and weeded an area that I hadn't tended to since spring. Trimmed off all the dead leaves and branches, weeded and watered. Meanwhile I was also fighting an uphill battle with the pool. My goal for the past week was to get the pool ready for winter, so we could put the cover on. After spending an arm and a leg on chemicals the other week, I just procrastinated and didn't add them to the pool. Now, after testing the water more chemicals were needed before it would be ready to winterize, so Dan spent the other arm and a leg and picked those up on his way home. Unfortunately, before I could add the chemicals to the pool, it had to be free of debris. Trying to clean up all the leaf debris while the near-by tree was shedding its leaves is like trying to shovel snow during a blizzard. I literally spent hours and hours today just cleaning the bottom of the pool, emptying the filters and traps of leaves 5-6 times and skimming the top of the pool with the net. GOOD GRIEF! It seemed like it would never get done. I have a new appreciation for all the work my mother-in-law went through taking care of this pool for so many years.

Finally, after dinner I was able to add the chemicals, but by this time the sun had gone down and it was dark. I super-chlorinated the pool to kill off any traces of algae and bacteria. Tomorrow I will pump that all out and add in the winterizing chemicals and cover her all up for the winter. Hooray!!! No more pool maintenance for 8 months!!!!!

By the way, Zander's nose seems to be fine. The swelling went down and the bruising is hardly visable.

Picture of the Day 9-07

Sunrise over Mt. HoodThis was taken on Thursday morning. As I was frantically trying to get the kids ready for school, I looked up and saw this beatiful sunrise...it was a nice reminder to just slow down and enjoy the beauty around me.

Fabulous Food Friday

Now that fall is here, it's time to cozy up with some warm comfort foods. One of my favorite things to make is a really great soup. Here is a recipe I tried after tasting it at Three Lions Bakery (formerly located in the lobby of Emanuel Hospital). Keep in mind that I can't stand mushrooms, however, because this is soup is so yummy I will make an exception. I modified this recipe by pureeing the mushrooms in the blender so I can't even tell they are there. No rubbery textured food for me...can't eat shrimp or clams either. So, without further ado, here is the recipe for the week:

Hungarian Mushroom Soup

4 tablespoons butter
2 cups chopped onions
1 lb sliced fresh mushroom
2 cups chicken broth
1 tablespoon paprika
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon dried dill weed
1 cup heavy cream (whipping)
1 teaspoon salt
1 dash fresh ground pepper
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1/3 cup sour cream

1. Melt butter over medium heat, using a large pot.
2. Add onions and saute for 5 minutes.
3. Add mushrooms and saute for 5 more minutes.
4. Stir in the chicken broth, paprika, soy sauce and dill weed.
5. Reduce to low, cover and simmer 15 minutes.
6. Using a slotted spoon, put mushroom/onion mixture (with about a cup of liquid) into the blender and puree until smooth.
7. Pour back into pot and add heavy cream into soup and blend well.
8. Simmer, covered, for 10 more minutes.
9. Stir in salt, pepper, lemon juice and sour cream.
10. Heat through for 4 or 5 minutes.

Note: I usually double this recipe so there will be extra. Last week when I served it to company, I trippled it. It was a hit!

Picture of the Day 9-06

Greetings from the Home Office
of Ernst Design StudiosAs you can see, working from home has its advantages, like spending "quality time" with the kids! Dan is a good sport though...and the kids love having him around.

Just another day in the life

Not much has happened the past couple days, but regardless, I feel strangely compelled to blog.

The early part of my day was spent providing shuttle services to and from school for my children. I counted 8 times that I had to buckle poor Hayden into the car.

Then after lunch I totally obsessed over the Lost premiere that we watched last night. I went online to read everyone's theories about the show, watched an interview with the writers of Lost on Podcast, and tried to figure out the hidden meanings, connections and explanations for what was happening on the show. This is by far, one of our favorite shows to watch. It is so suspenseful, but beyond that, the writing and acting is incredible. The attention to detail that is mapped out to make it all come together is impressive. Not only is the show great, but there are also websites desiged to give viewers clues to the show. For instance, the Oceanic Airlines website is created for the show, but looks just like a website for a real airline. There are hidden "easter eggs" or clues that build on one another. This Hanso website is totally bogus; looks real, but it's made for the show. Anyway, I don't know why I went off on that, but I just think it is cool how the internet is used in conjunction with the show.

After cleaning house for a few hours, I made dinner, then Dan's mom came over to watch the kids while we went to our class at East Hill. We just started their restoration series called Wounded by Shame, Healed by Grace and it is pretty intense. It deals with past issues, behavioral patterns, family dysfunction and why we do what we do, say what we say. It's very eye-opening. We are now in our third week and it is starting to get really interesting.

Well, I'm gonna go now...I have to watch tonight's episode of Survivor that we taped. I'm such a TV junkie!

Picture of the Day 9-05

Three days ago when I was doing yardwork (I transplanted about 9 rose bushes) I came across this guy. I think it is a grasshopper. I checked this morning and he is still there.

Old Mother Hubbard

Old Mother Hubbard
Went to the cupboard
To get her poor doggie a bone,
When she got there
The cupboard was bare
So the poor little doggie had none.

This little childhood poem was rattling in my head all last week. Remember when I blogged about challenging myself to cut our grocery budget to $50 a week? Well I did it!...for a whole month...and now our cupboards ARE bare. Or "were" bare. I tried to stretch out our remaing food until the very end of the month and finally went shopping on Saturday so we could have something to eat. It was a great challenge, but I was glad to fill up the refrigerator again. I figure I probably spent about $225 on groceries/household products last month, so I know I helped out our bottom line a little. I think this month I will try to keep it under $275, which is still a lot less than before.

By the way, this illustration is from the Little Golden Book "Old Mother Hubbard" that I remember from my childhood. Anyone else remember this illustration?

Picture of the Day 10-03

School Pictures Today

Here is what Natalie wore to her school pictures. I always get a little bit of anxiety with picture day, because Natalie needs a little more coaxing to get a good smile out of her. Her pictures turned out great last year...so we'll see!

Picture of the Day 10-02

Could it be Genetic?

This photo will probably only have significance to my parents. Can you believe this...I was completely amazed when I walked into Natalie's room and saw this on the floor. You see, when I was a kid and my parents were away, I used to take an outfit from their drawers and lay it out on their bed, in position just as if they were laying there. Then I would draw a face on paper for each of my parents, (using my mom's make-up, I think). I would put the faces in place and then using yarn or something similar I would craft some hair. I have no idea why I did this, so you can imagine my surprise when I find my own daughter doing the exact same thing. I know this is a weird thing for me to share, but I couldn't resist.

Organics...It's not just for health nuts anymore

Part I
If you were to ask me a few years back if I eat organic food, I would have probably responded by saying, "no, I'm fine buying regular food." After all I'm not one of "those people." You know the kind, the crunchy, granola eating, tree hugging, incense burning, flannel shirt wearing earthy type. I am not like that, you see, for I shave my underarms on a regular basis. I can run a comb through my hair and...well...I'm a republican, after all!

All stereotyping aside, I really didn't get the whole organic thing. It honestly wasn't even on my radar until I was at one of Natalie's check ups. She was no older than three when the doctor mentioned in conversation that he has seen girls as young as 5 or 6 begin to "develop" due to the amount of growth hormones that are put in our food (mainly chicken, beef and dairy products.) This really got me thinking. Wow, people are actually being effected by the chemicals injected into our food. Could this explain why our population is so overweight? Maybe.

A couple years ago, my friend and I took a class on nutrition and digestion. We learned all kinds of things, about how to balance our body's pH, how to do a colon cleanse and how to supplement our body with the right vitamins and minerals. This class opened my eyes to many new ideas, but what stuck out to me was how the food we eat is not what we think we are eating. It is not even the same food as we ate 20 years ago. The food industry, a big business, is not concerned about what we eat. They are made up of publicly traded companies who need to make a profit. How do they make a profit? By pumping our food, (cows, chickens etc) full of growth hormones so they grow bigger in a shorter amount of time. This also applies to produce as well. Our food chain is now composed of genetically altered materials, pesticides, chemical fertilizers, and who knows what else. What's worse is they are taking regular food and producing it using synthetic, altered, and highly toxic materials. Just go down the cracker/cookie isle of the grocery store and try to find something for your kids that doesn't contain hydrogenated oil. Good luck. It's even in gram crackers. What are hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated oils? According to recovery medicine (click link) they are used by the food industry for the sole purpose of prolonging shelf life...to maximize profits. They were banned in some European countries after studies that link trans fatty acid (hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated oil) consumption from processed foods to the development of diabetes, cancer and cardiovascular disease. Yet our grocery store shelves are packed with items containing these harmful things.

Try to find a loaf of bread or a box of cereal that doesn't contain high fructose corn syrup. Not too easy. High fructose corn syrup is in most of the food we eat. After reading "Natural Cures, Things They Don't Want You to Know," I learned that one reason high fructose corn syrup is in our foods is because it is highly addictive and extremely cheep to produce. Therefore if we are eating something that is highly addictive, we will want to eat more and more and guess who profits from this? The food industry. Meanwhile, we get fatter and sicker because we are eating food that is not food...it's chemicals. According to the book, not only is high fructose corn syrup addictive, but guess what...it makes you fat! Guess who benefits from this? The food industry again, because now they can sell us "diet food." What is in most "diet" food. You guessed it...CHEMICALS!

I have decided to continue this topic in another blog entry...see part II from October 1.

Organics...It's not just for health nuts anymore

Part II
I was appalled when I picked up a box of Weight Watcher's Brownies a few months back. On the front of the box, they were advertised as only one point per brownie. Wow, that sounds great. I flipped over to read the ingredients and the first one was sugar. Now what kind of weight loss program advocates eating sugar? After reading the rest of the ingredients, I could hardly recognize them much less pronounce them. Needless to say, I put the box back on the shelf.

In the last couple years a product called Splenda (aka sucralose) has made its way into the homes of many consumers who think that this is the miracle sugar substitute that will finally allow them to eat sweets without the guilt. You have been duped. I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but do your research. Check out these informative web sites: the truth about splenda, whole foods, splenda exposed. This could be the topic of a whole new blog.

Since this blog entry is long enough already, I just want to close by encouraging you to think about what you are really buying and eating. After switching to organic milk, eggs and chicken, Dan and I have really noticed a difference in the taste. Milk tastes like I remembered from my childhood. Eggs are much richer in flavor, and chicken...well, it tastes like chicken! Although organic food may be more expensive, I don't mind paying $1 more for milk if it means my family isn't ingesting hormones and chemicals. In the long run, I will be saving money in doctors visits because my family will be eating real food and not food that makes them sick or prone to disease. Organic food is becoming easier to find. Of course you will find organic food at Natures (aka Wild Oats), but Fred Meyers, Safeway, Albertson's and even Walmart are now carrying a fair amount of organic foods too.

Here is what I am committed to:
Buying food free of hormones. Reading labels and not buying food with hydrogenated oils or high fructose corn syrup. Absolutely nothing containing Splenda, Organic produce (as much as possible) and making food from scratch when I can.

I am not one of those fanatics who will lecture you, I just wanted all of you, whom I care about, to know what I know. I won't judge what you buy, but hopefully you can be a little bit more informed when reading the labels. Here's to healthy families!!!

Picture of the Day 10-1

Peanutbutter and Jellyface