Why try Gluten Free?

Earlier I wrote a post about doing a gluten free trial and some of my thoughts as well as a few things I have read about gluten from various sources that all had a very similar message.  Cut the wheat to improve your health.  It will allow your body to do what it was built to do which is to heal itself when things go wrong with it.  I told you I would discuss with you the reasons for our gluten free trial later this week, so here it is.

We actually have many contributing factors that I think reflect much of what is going on in the rest of America as well.  Brain fog, inability to loose weight, joint pain, hypothyroidism, prediabetic, IBS, low energy levels, bladder issues, ADD, headaches, acid reflux, depression, I could go on and on.

I have been trying to lose weight for years, but I haven't successfully been able to do so since 13 years ago before my daughter was born.  Did I suddenly forget how to exercise and eat healthy?  Well, if you listen to the medical community that is the obvious fact.  I have been told to quit eating so many cookies, to be more active, eat healthier foods, and on and on.  I don't know about you, but I hate being lectured about things I already know.  It's even worse when you are trying to do these things but no one believes you and judges you to be a fat, lazy slob.  They have looked at my food journals and basically said I was lying and I must have forgotten to write down a bunch of food.  Seriously.  Then the medical community wonders why WE have so little faith in THEM?

My son has been a 3 sport athlete for 4 years.  At first the weight just fell off.  Being so active and lifting weights brought about a bit transformation in him.  But he totally stalled out when it came to weight loss for wrestling season this year.  None of our prior weight loss ideas has helped him a bit this year either.  What happened?

I could go on and on giving the back stories behind all of the symptoms listed above, but I think you get the point here.  I have been thinking and thinking about this and it just doesn't add up.  Is it the chemicals and preservatives in processed foods?  Overuse of prescription medications?  What gives?

Several years ago I began by cutting out the ready to eat processed foods that we used to buy from the store.  I began canning, dehydrating, and freezing foods that I grew myself or bought on sale and in season from farmers and grocery stores alike.  It does make more work for me, but it has helped some with things like ADD, but it hasn't completely solved all of our issues.  I continued to search for answers to our health dilemmas.

While studying natural remedies to replace some of the prescription and OTC medications we have been taking I kept coming up with the same information.  Our bodies have natural abilities to heal themselves.  Not that we will ever be able to stop everything completely, but it is a nice goal to wish for.  I began to wonder though, what was stopping my body from reaching it's full potential to heal itself?  The search continued.  I began seeing a chiropractor which has helped to increase my energy levels and clear the brain fog, but I still haven't been able to achieve much in the way of weight loss.

Now comes in the gluten free option.  I read the book Wheat Belly which I saw both on Dr. Oz and a few of my friends were trying it and seeing great results.  That book dealt with EVERYTHING on our list, plus others that weren't even on there.  Wow.  I think it's worth a try.  I mean, after examining our regular diet I noticed that we ate ALL of the no-no foods on a regular basis.  ESPECIALLY wheat.  Really.  Wow.  I never imagined that could cause so many issues, but it really does make sense.  When you overload so much on one particular category of foods, I suppose that is what you get.  I just can't help but wonder why wheat is in everything we eat.  I guess I'll be making MORE of our own stuff.

So, what did we like to eat before going gluten free?  Well, some of our favorite meals include burgers, chicken dumpling soup with a loaf of bread, grilled cheese and tomato soup, spaghetti, pizza, brats, breaded chicken baked in the oven, battered fish, ...  Notice what they all have in common?  Yup.  Wheat in every item there.  Guess who's in for a total meal make over?  Yup.  That's my next post.  So far we have tried a few items that I want to share with you.  I did manage to lose a couple of pounds so far so things are moving in the right direction for me.  Once I can get the rest of the family to jump on the bandwagon it won't be so hard to resist the temptations they keep presenting.

Thank you for stopping by to chat with me. Please leave me a message, I'd love to hear your thoughts! Cindy

I Give UP!!!!

Have you ever felt like you could just collapse on the floor in a huge blubbering pile? Like nothing in the world will ever go your way again? As if you need to take out a white flag and wave it for everyone to see and call a truce? The endless barrage of hardships and difficulties are just too much to bear!

I don't know what has been going on the last 5 years so that nothing will ever go our way, but I am at my wits' end. It just seems like it's one thing after another. As soon as we start to see the clouds breaking up, more clouds roll right in to take their place. It's just one never ending storm after another. I feel empty and hopeless. I am truly at a loss and no one will help us. I feel like I am in a bottomless pit of quicksand from which there is no escape. I have a feeling that the depression is trying to move back in and take back over my life, but I don't want it to.

I am usually a pretty optimistic person. I know it is always darkest before the dawn, really I do. I have made many batches of lemonade out of my pile of lemons, and some earrings, lemon bars, lemon sherbet, lemon bread, lemon meringue pie, lemon drops, lemon chicken, lemon poppy seed muffins, and lovely scented soaps too. But I am running out of things to make with these lemons and I would really like to get something else instead. Did you know that we have had 10 qualifying hardships within the last 5 years? I am sure I could find even more than that too if I tried. Sad. Pathetic. Unnatural.

Why does no one see my pain? Why will no one reach out a helping hand? Why does everyone think my business is none of their business? Even when I ask for help, no one will help. They won't see my need, it's like they put blinders on, plug their ears and sing a merry tune until I have talked so much I can't talk anymore. They change what I tell them to ease their guilt and so that they are able to do their worst to me. I am sick of it.

Bad service, rising expenses, job transfers, job losses, botched rentals, home sale staging, deaths, depression, short sale, foreclosure, credit clampdowns, home repairs, credit counseling, stress, illness, refinancing, medical debt, loan modifications, I could go on and on. All the while I always try to do the right thing and take care of my debts at the expense of our family and our life. It's sickening really. Why won't it stop? Why do these things keep happening to me? I need to put an end to this vicious cycle.

Everyone has a plan, and everyone tells me what to do when they can't help me. When I tell them I've tried that already, they simply tell me that I must have done it wrong or that I need to do X as well. They tell me someone else will help and pretend to act incredulous and disgusted when I tell them that didn't work either.

Can't anyone just listen, support a person, and help them out? Why does everyone feel the need to require documentation of everything even though I have never told any lies about my situation? Why can't we prepare for something bad that is going to happen when we know in advance it will happen simply because it has yet to happen?

Yeah, I know I have a lot of questions. Why can't anyone answer any of them? Doesn't anyone else have these kinds of questions too? Hasn't this kind of thing been happening all over the world? Why is no one willing to help a person simply to be helpful, not just because a law says they have to?

Apparently no business, no government program, and no job performance bonus is going to get us out of this mess. Only God can and only God will. How do I give this all up for him to deal with when all I do is worry about tomorrow? How do I give it all up into God's hands? I want to give up.

Thank you for stopping by to chat with me. Please leave me a message, I'd love to hear your thoughts! Cindy

Stepping Slowly Toward Self Sufficiency

When we moved here almost four years ago I had no hopes or aspirations of trying to produce anything of my own except beautiful plants and flowers to landscape my yard with. It sure is funny how time can change our attitudes.

I am used to being a city girl, I've lived in town my whole life. I never dreamed or imagined how so many things that we use are made, they just came to our house from the grocery store shelf. Well, obviously we all know that's not true. It seemed like such hard work and really we should leave cheesemaking to the experts, right?

As I've lived in the country new insights have come to me through many avenues including nature, new friendships, and checking out books from the local library. Our health has continued on a gradual decline and I have begun to search for alternatives that do not include taking pills for the rest of our lives.

It occurred to me as I was reading one of the many diet books from my own personal library that many people are declining in health, and it's not just the unhealthy people either. What's the cause? I am no scientist, nor have I done any experiments to confirm my theory, but the more I think about it the more I feel that chemicals in our every day products are part of the blame.

What better way to begin thinking about self sufficiency? It's not a program that a bunch of hippies are attempting to implement going back to the 1800's, but it's a way to provide some things for ourselves and to know what's in the products that we consume.

When we moved here we found that we had an abundance of wild blackberries, blueberries, and strawberries growing in the fringes of the woods surrounding our house. It was a nice bonus since my children tend to prefer sweeter fruits to the healthier vegetables. We have since added plenty more plants to help provide us with inexpensive, chemical free food. (To see a list please check out my side bar.) Last year I decided to take it a step further and planted a veggie garden. After much research, I combined a bunch of different organically based garden styles into one with which I had tremendous success. It was so successful that I added two more beds which I just finished filling with dirt this spring. Unfortunately it doesn't appear that this dirt was as rich as the last batch that I used, but I will continue to enrich it and hope for more future successes.

My nine year old daughter has begun to "bud" as well. This perplexes me since no one in our family was early to develop that I can recall. I was talking with a bunch of mothers on one of my many recent field trips about this fact. We came to the conclusion that it's probably due to the growth hormones given to animals whose meat and milk we consume. These same animals are also fed lots of antibiotics which we feel is contributing to the antibiotic resistance that we hear so much about these days. These conversations got me wanting to raise my own meat and milk products as well. I know that this can't happen anytime soon since we can not have livestock in our development, but once we move I think I may just have to look into the possibilities.

While I will never produce my own beer (I hate the stuff and don't feel that it's worth the effort), I can see myself doing many other things on our little homestead. What's even better about this approach to living is the fact that we can all do little things that fit into the lives we want to lead and we don't have to wait for any government's slow wheels to bring a change about.

Thank you for stopping by to chat with me. Please leave me a message, I'd love to hear your thoughts!Cindy

An End to the Diet Wars?

I have shared a little of our family's diet struggles with you before, but things have been going downhill fast. I put the whole family on the same eating patterns so Son wouldn't feel left out and we could support each other with our healthy eating habits. Despite several trips to the dietitian, Son was back to his old over-eating tricks. I had even portioned out all of the snacks into sandwich baggies to keep us from eating too many servings at one time. (I'm just too darn cheap to spend all of that extra money on the packaging materials for those ones that come individually prepackaged.) He just wasn't getting the fact that he should only have so much of a certain type of food per day. How do you keep track of all that you've eaten anyway? I guess I probably do that kind of thing too. I mean, it's easy to look at a food pyramid and decide what you SHOULD eat. Do you actually eat that way?

I was tired of acting like a police officer and reminding him to slow down all of the time. I decided that there must be a better way of getting the family to self regulate what we are eating. We have done food journals in the past, and while they are effective they are also time consuming. There had to be something else I could do that didn't require as much work and could be done quickly.

While cleaning up my craft room the other day, my eyes landed on the left over magnet pieces I had used for blocking unused vents to reduce our heating bills. They would be perfect to use with that rusty old baking sheet that Cheesehead had insisted I throw out. Quickly, I grabbed my permanent markers so the words wouldn't smear and got to work. To make it easier to find each food group, I color coded them. I wrote the portion sizes from the food pyramid he had been given by his dietitian under the name of the food group so he'd know how many of the magnets to move after he'd eaten.

I divided the sheet into two columns. One was titled "What can I eat?" and the other "What have I eaten?". Then all he had to do was move a few magnets from one column to the other.

I even had enough scraps left to make one for my daughter too so she wouldn't feel left out. They have been using it for five days now and they haven't gotten bored with it yet OR forgotten to use it after eating. Is this idea going to keep working? I sure hope so, I haven't had to remind them of anything they can or should eat since we started using this thing. YAY!

Thank you for stopping by to chat with me. Please leave me a message, I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Cindy

December Dash

Normally I'd do a bloom day post today, but with the deluge of snow and cold we've gotten lately, I decided to stay inside. A LOT. Most of the month. The bunnies have munched away at all of the once perfectly intact seed heads of my blazing stars that I had thought about showcasing. They looked so pretty laden with snow as I walked past them the other day. I wonder what they will eat next...

As of Thanksgiving we had only a skiff of snow and our lakes were still not frozen over. Once December hit all heck broke loose though. So here I am, half way through the month of December. Where has this month gone?


This is the snowfall from just one storm. We got it last week and schools were closed on Wednesday because of it. Crazy, isn't it? I know many place may get these amounts of snow too, but it melts throughout your winter when your temps rise. Ours won't be warming up enough to melt anything until almost springtime though, so it will keep piling up. Just in case it doesn't look like much to you, I decided to go grab a tape measure for you just to show you the depth of it.

Yeah, that would be why Cheesehead stayed at a hotel a few days ago.

Yesterday we got another 4 inches of snow. Pretty much a couple of days after it was warm enough to go out and blow the snow out of the driveway. I'm taking my time with finishing that project up though since the temperatures have dipped back below zero. It was 15 degrees below zero today, so I just did enough work in the driveway that I didn't feel like I didn't do anything today.

What is a gardener to do when they are cooped up inside? I've been keeping myself as busy as ever. Is that a big surprise?

I have attended two concerts/programs this month.


My son started to play in the middle school band this year. I remember when I was in band it was always so hard to pick out the outfit I was going to wear. You needed something nice looking, yet comfortable enough to play your instrument. His director has removed that distraction, so all he had to worry about was practicing his part.

I didn't take a picture of my daughter's program with this camera since I had to record it for the rest of the family who couldn't make it today, but she was glowing. She even brought a brush to school today just in case her hat messed her hair. I don't think I worried about such things when I was in third grade.

Can you believe that Christmas is only 10 days away? I still have to buy a few presents, wrap them all, and bake some Christmas cookies. At least the tree is up and I just got the cards in the mail today. No Christmas letter was written this year though since I couldn't seem to find the time to write one in a timely manner.



I had the kids help me decorate the tree this year, as usual, but forgot to hang all of the fragile ornaments myself. Usually, I put them at the top of the tree out of the cats' reach. I didn't do that this year though. The crazy beasts have only managed to mangle 5 ornaments so far. The rest have migrated higher up the tree. Thankfully most of the damage is repairable.

Speaking of decorating trees, does anyone else like to do theme trees? Usually I try to stick with a color scheme and change things up a bit each year. Most people seem to have more Christmas decorations than they know what to do with them anyway. I buy a bunch of stuff when it hits the extreme clearance racks after Christmas just for this purpose. In the past I have done a white and silver tree, green and gold, red and white, and everything home made on our tree in the past. I even try to match the lights to the theme if possible. Not so this year.

I accidentally grabbed the big tree and brought it in from the garage to warm up this year. I didn't discover my mistake until we were ready to put the tree up, so I wasn't about to go out and look for the other one. This tree is entirely too big for my theme minded tree plan, so we just mixed it all up. I can't believe the kids couldn't seem to tell the difference from last years' tree and this one.

I don't dare put any presents under the tree yet. The cats seem to think we put the tree up for them to run around, sleep under, climb, and play under. Do your pets do that? That is also why we do artificial trees instead of real ones, I'd have more pine needles on the floor of my house than I've got in my compost bin the way those maniacs play. In the past they have even given away some surprises to the kids by ripping holes in wrapping paper! I guess I have a good reason for procrastinating, I'll just blame my cats...

Thank you for stopping by to chat with me. Please leave me a message, I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Cindy

Mulching Does Wonders

We got a bunch of yummy wild blackberries last year, but they were rather small. They made an extremely tasty jam too! This year I decided to mulch a few of them and see what happened.

Look at the difference...

This was one of the two bushes I mulched. It was absolutely bursting with robust, juicy berries.

This was not mulched. Many of the berries dried out. Those that didn't were small and not nearly as satisfying to eat on a hot summer day.

I think I'll be mulching more plants next year. Hopefully I'll get some paths cut and have a nice berry area in my yard.

Now, to make some more blackberry jam. It's SO easy! Also WAY less expensive than buying jars of jam at the store. My recipe is a freezer jam so it doesn't need to be pressure canned OR cooked. My kids like to help me pick the berries, we have even taken their grandma and their dad picking with us. They could probably make the recipe too if I could trust them not to eat all of the berries on me...

Pick your berries. You'll need about 3 cups of crushed berries for this recipe. I like to be lazy and crush my berries in the blender. It does a bit more than just crush them but it turns out great.

Once the berries are crushed, add sure gel of your choice and sugar. I used Sweet and Low to help with my son's prediabetic condition. The recipe calls for 5 cups of sugar I think, but I used the equivalent of about 3 cups. My jam is plenty sweet. I think you should make it as sweet as you prefer. You can taste it before it gels, it'll just be syrupy and may drip on your shirt. (Don't even ASK how I know!)

Mix together throughly. Pour jam into jars leaving about 1/4 inch space at the top. Let set up for up to 24 hours at room temperature until thickened. Store in refrigerator for up to three weeks or freeze. (Make sure jars you use are freezer safe.) Enjoy!

That will keep us in jam for a while...

Thank you for stopping by to chat with me. Please leave me a message, I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Cindy

The First Day of School

The birds were twittering as we stepped out of our front door into a day that felt much more like the end of October than the beginning of September. The still dew wet grass shone like brilliant crystals as the sunlight streamed through the tiny droplets of water. I couldn't believe that school was starting already and Labor Day hasn't even come and gone yet. It just seems so strange.

Our breaths puffed out of our mouths as we talked about the events of the coming day. We passed the tarp covered tomato plants as we walked down our sidewalk towards the driveway. The plants seemed like giants next to my daughter as she walked down the sidewalk next to me.

The crunch of the gravel under our feet as we walked down the driveway was like a favorite song of mine. We had many good talks as we sauntered to the bus stop together. I couldn't help but wish my son had allowed me these stolen moments with him too. He asked me to stop accompanying him to the bus stop when he was in second grade.

The constant chatter continued until we reached the end of the road and stood on the corner. We took the ceremonial first day of school pictures. I made sure to move the camera all around as I took a few more shots than usual. I need at least one of them to turn out. I am annoyed that I can't even look through a tiny window to see if my subject is centered in the frame.

We heard the bus coming before we saw it. We hadn't really even been looking for it. We had been talking about the new school year and the coming day. She wondered out loud where her new line would be when they line up on the playground. She asked me who was in her class so she knew who to look for in the line. I reminded her of two of the names we read on the list last night at the open house. Her eyes shone as she thought about being in class with two of her good friends again. We exchanged a quick kiss and hug before the bus pulled into view.

As I saw the familiar yellow bus number 224 rumbling down the road towards our stop, I couldn't help but feel the anticipation and excitement of the start of a new school year radiating from my daughter. Larry has been Peanut's bus driver since she was in kindergarten so he knew the sight of us well. He smiled as he pulled up and drew the bus to a stop. It seemed somewhat strange to have the bus company's name on the side changed.

But even the rumbling down the road had seemed like it was just a matter of routine, so it might even be the same bus with a new paint job. It was almost as if summer never happened.

Larry waved my little peanut across the street. Her energy seemed boundless as she practically leaped over the road to the welcoming door of school bus. Her ponytails waved in the chilly morning air. Gentle puffs of white vapor rolled out of her mouth as she breathed.

The next thing I knew the bus was pulling away from the bus stop. I waved goodbye to my youngest child. How fast they grow up. She's already in third grade? It seems like just yesterday I was sending her off for her first day of kindergarten. I suppose that means it's time I replace her backpack. Has she really had it that long?

As I look ahead to the start or the new school year, I can't help but wonder where summer went. Did we even ever have a summer?

Thank you for stopping by to chat with me. Please leave me a message, I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Cindy

A Healthier Blueberry Muffin

My son has been dying for some blueberry muffins. Wanting to feed him what he wants but still trying to help him with his diet and health issues I changed the usual recipe to lower the glycemic index. I thought they were good. If you don't like the wheat flavor (son didn't like it) maybe exchange it for oats in place of the wheat flour. I think I will try that next time.

Here's the recipe

1 cup milk (I added a little extra because wheat flour soaks up moisture)
1/4 cup oil (I used 1/2 cup applesauce instead)
1/2 tsp lemon extract
1 egg
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour (I sifted it to add some air so they wouldn't be so dense)
1/3 cup splenda (to get some browning effect that normal sugar helps with, I added a few drops of liquid stevia extract to the batter)
3 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
a sprinkling each of ground flax seed and wheat germ
1 cup fresh blueberries

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Grease bottoms of 12 cup muffin tin.
Divide batter among cups.
Bake about 25 minutes until golden brown.
Remove from pan immediately.


Thank you for stopping by to chat with me. Please leave me a message, I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Cindy

What in the World?

This so-called summer is flying by so fast it feels like I just blinked in May and it's already August now. The temps are still feeling about the same, though not quite as cool at night. Where has the time gone?

I have been keeping busy as usual, I'll share more details and some pictures sometime soon but just thought I'd give you an idea of what I've been up to so far this summer besides spending too much time on facebook. I spent a couple of minutes compiling a "short" list detailing my activities.

1. Installed edging and crushed red granite in front of the shed.
2. Cheesehead made me some shutters for the shed which I painted green.
3. Painted and stained swing set, new trellises, and siding for Peanut's playhouse.
4. Helped Peanut construct her own garden space under her slide.
5. Planted a new garden in front of shed and added river rock and edging.
6. Expanded side yard and moved a bunch of rock and brush around.
7. Helped Cheesehead build a deck.
8. Stained ramp we built for shed last summer.
9. Cleaned and organized craft room.
10. Took son on several different doctor appointments. We think he's diabetic.
11. Researching how to make foods like our own tomato sauce with less sugar.
12. Suffering with tooth pain. Have appointment with dentist tomorrow.
13. Son started PW Football tonight. Next 3 weeks we'll be running 5 days a week!
14. Now working on the new garden back by the new deck in backyard.
15. Caring for plants. Tomatoes are growing like crazy but all still very green.
16. Glad I mulched some blackberry bushes earlier since so many are drying up now.
17. Painted crown moldings to be installed in living room area.
18. Made upholstered headboard for our bedroom.
19. Searching high and low for decent sandals with an enclosed back not high heeled.
20. Helping MIL with various home projects.

Man, seeing all that I've been working on made me even more tired than I already was. What in the world was I thinking? I need to go to bed!

Thank you for stopping by to chat with me. Please leave me a message, I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Cindy

If Only...

June 4, 2006 It was a tough day. The day my mom found my dad had passed away. It was so unlike him to miss church she decided to go over for a visit. They had been divorced since before my daughter was born in 2001, but they weren't bitter enemies or anything. I think they got along better after the divorce than before it. I know that dad regretted getting divorced every day. I know he wished he haded actually gotten the papers this time, he told me that many times. So many fights included the threats from both of them about divorce. If only he hadn't gotten those papers they'd still be together.

I know mom has her regrets too. I have heard her say it, if we hadn't gotten divorced I would have been there...
He wasn't living alone though, his brother, my uncle was living with him at the time. Unfortunately he was away and wasn't there to find him either. Why did he choose to be away? If only he would have been there, he could have called 911 and saved him.

Dad had just had surgery in February or March that year. He had a valve replaced in his heart. He was really weird after the surgery, seemed so out of it. He had needed the surgery though, but I wish I would have seen how much care he really needed. I think if he had health insurance in place after the surgery they would have placed him in a program until he was further recovered but they assumed I had the capacity to care for my dad along with the help of my mom and uncle. Little did they know... If only I had asked them to try to place him in that program.

He stayed with me for a after the surgery but I was under so much stress I couldn't stand it. Mom was living there with us and it was totally strange to have a divorced couple living together under your roof. Which one do you kick out? I was watching mom's friend's boyfriend's grand kids too. I never could say no to helping others you know... Mom couldn't care for him in my house while my family and I took vacation to get away from it all, it would just be too strange. The church set it up to bring him meals and check on him while I was gone. He seemed to be doing so well when I got back he decided to stay in his own house. If only I hadn't been under so much stress and he was still living with me.


Dad liked to spend time with his grand kids. He was trying to help my son learn to ride his bike. He took them to sporting events (like this Twins game), swimming, fishing,... if only he were here to still do that with his grand kids. He wasn't here long enough!


This was what his grave site looked like last summer after I visited him. He's been gone three years already? Where did the time go? If only I had the money to buy him a proper headstone...

Next week I'll be researching his side of the family tree some more. If only I had taken the time to attend some of those family reunions, I'd know his relatives a little better!

I better stop thinking about my regrets and start living in the moment! We are going to MIL's house this weekend to help her with some home repairs done and hopefully get some quality visiting time in with her and grandpa. Life's too short for regrets. I think I need to tattoo that on my forehead!

Thank you for stopping by to chat with me. Please leave me a message, I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Cindy

Farm Town... Now with Flowers!

Does anyone else use Facebook? I found this great little application on it about a month ago called Farm Town. One of my cousins from the Chicago area introduced me to it once we became friends. I have been SO addicted to this new little game lately, it's just crazy. You'd think I'd have better things to do with my time, but it's just neat interacting with my friends and planting stuff. My kids even like to use it, though Peanut is too young to have an account all her own.

What does it do? Well, it started out where the animals are just decorative (though sometime soon we'll be able to milk the cows and collect chicken eggs, etc), you plant crops that can be ready in 4 hours to 4 days, if you don't harvest them in a timely manner they will go to waste, you can give your friends free gifts of trees or animals (flowers now too), and you can tend your neighbor's farms by watering their stuff, pulling weeds, or raking leaves. I have just recently discovered that you get more money for your crops if you hire others to harvest them (again, thanks to my fore mentioned cousin) and have been goofing off in the chat room (aka marketplace) whenever I'm not remodeling the farm since that discovery.

We discuss all of the possibilities (like the fact that we should be able to go to the beauty shop so we don't all look like clones) there and I try to get my character to do the hokey pokey and stuff just to see if any one's paying attention. Most of the time they don't. Either that, or they ignore me because I'm SO dang crazy???

When I got up this morning I had no idea that there were some changes that had been made to the game. Since I started playing flowers would be available in two weeks. They FINALLY were this morning, I got 6 of them as gifts today. (Thanks everyone!) Son was SO excited when he noticed all of the changes he just couldn't help but shout out all of the new animals and accessories that he saw while I was painting the last two walls of the kitchen.

I've been saving up for a greenhouse on the game, so I had a stash of money to splurge on a bunch of new toys. It'll be a while until I'm a high enough level to buy the greenhouse anyway, I have 3 levels to go still. I bought a grill, water pump, gated fences, and a doghouse so far and was planning on adding some rivers and bridges once I got everything satisfactorily rearranged.

I was on it remodeling my farm for the 6th time until I got booted off. Seems to happen more often than I like but I guess not so bad that I wouldn't want to go back. Now I can't even log back on. Hope the glitch doesn't last too long, I have flowers that need to be watered and pumpkins to harvest. They were 98% ready. Plus, my farm is in total disarray and I don't like it that way.

Does anyone else play Farm Town or use Facebook? I think I like Facebook better than Myspace.

Thank you for stopping by to chat with me. Please leave me a message, I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Cindy

The Best Mother's Day Gifts Don't Cost A Thing

Mother's Day is such a wonderful day for me. I enjoy it tremendously. In fact, I'd have to say that it's my favorite non-Christian holiday. Not because of the expensive gifts some people give, the dinners at fancy dinner establishments, $5 greeting cards covered with glitter, or the gourmet chocolate candies. (Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't turn my nose up at those things.) I enjoy it for the simple pleasures in life.

It is the one day of the year when I know I will not get a headache from my children's incessant arguing that normally seems to last 24/7. There is peace and quite in my house. They both played on the same side in our 2 on 1 tennis match today and I didn't hear one complaint about how the other child missed the ball!

There is only one day a year that the children will jump up and do whatever I ask them to do the first time. No "bad" hearing, ignoring, or outright disobeying occurs on Mother's Day. I speak and they obey, no questions asked. They were even ready for church and outside waiting for me at the appointed time without one single reminder! That NEVER happens any other day of the year.

They do things they wouldn't normally do like prepare meals and make my bed without me even requesting it of them. Thank you Peanut, I enjoyed my peanut butter toast for breakfast. Son plans on making dinner tonight. They both decided to fold the laundry and clean up after meals too. I've got the best kids in the world!

Let's not forget the thoughtful gifts and cards they make. It's not the expense of the gift that really matters, it's the simple thought of them making something with their own precious hands just for my pleasure and delight.

Days like these are heavenly, aren't they?

Thank you for stopping by to chat with me. Please leave me a message, I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Cindy

Building My Accidental Lasagna Garden's Soil

Upon the well-educated advise of my wonderful blogging pals, I have foraged ahead with my lasagna garden. I started to fill my new veggie bed with inexpensive, good soil and other free amendments found laying around my yard. Not only is this a cheap way to build up dirt for my garden, but it will help to suppress weeds and gives me some organic fertilizer too.

I didn't want my new garden to be any wider than 4 feet wide so the soil wouldn't get compacted when I work in the garden. I can work from the edges and reach the middle without a problem. I was told to make my garden small, a 4x4 area and work my way up from there.

Those of you who know me know that I can never do anything small. It's only 3 times larger than the advised size at 4x12. If all goes well, I will expand next year, adding 2 more raised beds. If you're wondering why I am doing raised beds I have a lot of tree roots in my yard. Along with the fact that my "soil" is pretty much pure sand so amendments need to be added no matter what.

The carrots and potatoes will be kicked out of the garden this year, I hear they do well in sandy soil anyway. I want to save space for the plants that need better soil.

Would you like to see my work?

I raked the area I wanted to place my garden in order to eliminate grasses and other weeds from the garden. This isn't necessary with the lasagna-style garden, but the weeds were easily pulled out of the sand with two swipes of a rake.

In order to suppress weeds, keep in moisture, and attract earthworms to my veggie garden, I added a bottom layer of cardboard. Newspaper is another alternative that can be used. Either of them should be wet ted down before proceeding. I used small buckets to catch the snow that was melting off my roof since it is still cold outside and didn't want to turn the exterior spigots on just yet. Hopefully someday I will be able to get rain barrels.

After wetting the cardboard, I added a layer of pine needles, leaves, and grass clippings. They had begun to decompose in my new compost pile. It smelled wonderfully rich when I was pulling the materials out to put into my garden. I also grabbed several loads of leaves from the woods. Such a sweet, earthy smell, it was like heaven on earth!

After putting in a nice layer of mixed browns and greens, I started to use my reserves of topsoil topped with sphagnum. I didn't have much of either leftover, but it was enough for a thin layer. I also emptied any containers I wasn't planning on using this summer to add to my topsoil layer.

As I was emptying my 2 bags of sphagnum that were both half full, I found a mouse nest in one of them. There were 4 babies in it along with their mom. Cheesehead wanted me to kill them but I refused. MIL thought I was crazy, but I took the bag off into the woods and released the family quite a way from the house. What an ordeal!

Working in small sections, I added a thin layer of sandy soil from my yard onto the soil that I had placed in the bed. It took quite a bit of time to dig up this soil from my yard, especially when I couldn't get to my wheelbarrow to make the job easier. I only did one corner with this sand since I was using our spreader to carry the dug up dirt. It worked okay for a small amount, but I really wouldn't suggest using it for a big job like this. How could the shed be so messy after such a short period of time? I had to take some time off to uncover my garden tools by cleaning out the shed.

After all of that hard work I got my new plants so this project was put on hold for a few days.

On top of the layer of sand I added another fine layer of pine needles, grass clippings, and leaves. Then it rained for several days.

Today I finally got a break from many days of rain, so we got back to work on the garden. After I got back from my second day of full day subbing in a row, I saw a wonderful present was waiting for me in the truck. (YAY!). I needed the garden cart for the surprise Cheesehead brought home for me, so we had to empty out the rocks. Wasn't Peanut helpful? I think she's getting too big for this job anymore.

What was my surprise? A pallet of broken bags of miscellaneous soils, manures, and composts. Hurray! Now I don't have to dig up more dirt. At times like these it's nice that he works at the garden area of his store! He told me it only cost him $12.50. Not bad for so much good soil and stuff, right?

The whole family pitched in this afternoon. Son was more than happy to putter around on Cheesehead's tractor while hauling the dirt. It took much less work than the wheelbarrow would have.

Peanut helped me even out the piles of poured broken bag contents in the garden. Isn't it wonderful? Whew, is my back sore! Tomorrow night it's supposed to rain off and on for a few more days. I'm hoping to get some of the direct sown seeds into the ground tomorrow morning.

Thank you for stopping by to chat with me. Please leave me a message, I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Cindy

Getting My Hands Dirty

Looking at all of the snow still out in my yard is making me miserable. There was some bare ground showing through just a couple of weeks ago, but a cold snap and a fresh snowfall took care of that. Nothing but snow and ice outside as far as the eye can see.



I looked outside wistfully dreaming of the blueberry patch that I long to plant up here in the wooded area near the road. The snow is just as deep in that spot today as it was on the day I took the picture. I need a gardening fix that looking at the snow just won't give me.

Attempting to console myself, I went to the yet to be finished craft/garden area to place soil in the pots I bought a few years ago. I know it will be a while before I should start seeds inside if I know what's good for me, but I need to feel and smell some nice fresh dirt. Just scooping a little dirt won't hurt anybody, will it?

This little tray reminded my of the fiasco that occured a few years ago. I amused myself with remembering the last time I tried to start plants as I scooped the soil into each little cell.

I was a fairly young mom with a toddler that was barely 2 who had an older brother that was 5. I don't know what I was thinking trying to start seeds for the first time with two children who were so young. I suppose it was the mom in me who wanted her children to grow up with the joy of eating fresh vegetables right out of the garden. We didn't have the money to buy many 6 packs of seedlings from the nursery, but I just KNEW I could raise my own seedings just as well as anyone else. I was determined to save loads of money and get some seedlings out of the deal too.

We had this great raised bed in the back yard that was in full sun. It was the perfect spot for my soon to be vegetable garden. I just HAD to get going so I'd have lots of plants to put in my garden. It had been pretty weedy the summer before, but I was going to make it my pet project this year. (You'll have to take my word for it since I can't access my older pictures right now. It was BAD!!!! I don't know what in the world I was thinking.)

I'm sure that may have worked out okay if I hadn't been suffering from depression and the stress of just leaving a job that I enjoyed, but I guess I wasn't really thinking very clearly.

I had this wonderful table top greenhouse that Cheesehead bought me, some top soil, and some seed starting cells and I was ready to plant. I'm sure I set it up WAY too early and did NO research at all before plunging head first into my seed starting adventure. I just got busy. In retrospect I suppose I just didn't feel like I had the time to be reading when I should just get out there and start doing. Little kids don't like to listen to educational books about how to start seeds. All I had time to read was books written for kids to kids at that period in my life. I stressed about everything and had to have my children in my sight at all times too. I probably dove the poor things absolutely crazy with my constant hovering and worrying about them.



I even got a great grow light to go inside of my tiny little green house. Apparently I wasn't thinking clearly as it hung so low inside the greenhouse that It was actually touching the plattic tray. That's how the poor tray got deformed, the light actually melted it. Ooops!

Since I was so inexperienced I also over watered the poor seedlings to death. I wanted it to be nice and moist in the green house. It didn't occur to me that I didn't need to water the flats every day since all of my outdoor hanging baskets needed water every day. I went on watering and waiting for my seeds to sprout.

I didn't think to check the soil or anything either prior to watering. Life was too busy to check for little details like if they NEEDED to be watered or not, I was worried that son might do something to Peanut while I wasn't looking. The poor things were so wet that once I noticed how wet it was inside, the towel under the greenhouse was soaked with water and there was a layer of white mold on every soil surface in the green house. There went that experiment.

That will not happen to me again. This time I am reading every book on vegetable gardening that the library has to offer as well as doing some internet research. Okay, so maybe it's overkill but my vegetable garden WILL succeed! I will be observant and do things right this time. I think I will have to measure my green house and see if I can fit some low profile flourescent lights inside to give my plants the light they need until it's time for them to be put outside.

After the trays were all filled with their lovely dirt and the air packed out of them, I headed upstairs to see if I could find the seeds I had bought when they were on sale at Menards. I can't plant them yet up here, but I'll have everything ready when the time comes.



Guess who I found sunning herself on the kitchen table. Speedy! Here I had told you that Sweetie was the naughty one. She's also sunning herself, but in an appropriate location. Silly cat, get off the table.

I think I'll paint some popsicle sticks for plant labeling this weekend with Peanut. More on that "crazy" project in another post. (Another lesson learned from the last experiment.)

Thank you for stopping by to chat with me. Please leave me a message, I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Cindy

Harvest Moon Tree of Tranquility

Peanut got the newest Harvest Moon video game for her birthday last month from her uncle. As with most Harvest Moon games, there are similarities and differences between the games that came before it. It is taking us some time to get to know the ins and outs of this game since there aren't many people out there sharing their experiences with it yet. We're figuring things out by trial and error so far.

I like the fact that it teaches the children that there are different qualities of metal ores. Other games had varying degrees of vegetables and fruits you could grow by using fertilizers, tools, or planting in different soils. This is the first one I am aware of that does the same for rocks that you mine.

I dislike that so far there is no way to hybridize veggies or make seeds like we did on A Wonderful Life though. You seem to need a maker for everything on these games. So far no one seems to have a seed maker for sale anywhere.

I appreciate the fact that you can buy either a horse or an ostrich to ride on this game. (Not that I'd ride an ostrich in real life or anything, I'd probably break the poor thing's back!) I hate to take up space in my barn with animals that don't produce useful products which is the reason I starved my poor goat to death on A Wonderful Life. (Boy did that upset Peanut!) As nice as horses are, I like the idea of adding new animals into the mix. Ostriches lay eggs that you can either sell or hatch. It would be nice if the game gave you the option of butchering your animals, but I suppose some people think that this might be too much information for children to handle or something.

One of the features that really annoyed me on the other games was the fact that as soon as the season changed all of the crops instantaneously died. We thought that was really stupid since temperatures rarely ever change so rapidly that something would die so quickly. Just because the game says that plants can only be grown in the fall doesn't mean you can't plant the seeds in the end of summer, right? It was just crazy! Sometimes a plant would be only a day or two from maturation and it would die because the season changed. Like two days would really make that much of a difference. I was glad that my children were smart enough to realize that wouldn't happen in real life since they often grumbled about the game programmers. That doesn't happen on this game though.

The kids appreciate the fact that the makers were thoughtful enough to give the poor farmer warmer clothes as the seasons get colder. He have laughed about the poor farmer girl on Magical Melody running around in shorts and a short sleeved shirt in the winter. Tree of Tranquility gave us a jacket for fall. We haven't made it to winter yet, but Peanut is hoping to get a hat and mitten when the time comes. I guess time will tell if she gets them.

It appears that the carpenter thinks you need to build a house on every plot of land you buy on this game too. No one ever HAS to build something just because they own some land. I sure hope that's not the case!

This game won't allow you to plant plants where ever you want either. I find that strange that the creators of these games seems to think trees can only be planted in a "tillable" field. That's one thing I liked better about Magical Melody than this game. The graphics weren't as good, but we could break any soil anywhere we wanted to on that game. We can make our gardens wherever we please, am I right?

Another thing that bugs me about these games is having to water your crops every day. If you have better soil you should be able to go longer before having to water the crops again, right? I'm sure my children are also smart enough to realize the fact that plants don't have to be watered every day unless they're in a hanging basket in the heat of summer, but I'm not sure that message will be gotten though to all of the children who try these games.

This game also allows you to work part time at the businesses in town unlike the other games. Sometimes places need seasonal help and that's a good thing. It also shows them getting instructed by others in the job duties. Some kids seems to have the opinion that no one can tell them what to do. I think it's nice to show them that we can't possibly know every thing there is to know about every job and that even grownups need help figuring some things out.

As far as I've seen other games didn't have cemeteries or churches. I like the fact that this one has both. Even if people don't attend church it doesn't mean there are any towns without either of these things.

Do you or your children play these kind of games? What have you discovered that you like or don't like about these games? If there were features that you could combine together on the games, what would they be?

Thank you for stopping by to chat with me. Please leave me a message, I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Cindy

Potty Training Tips

My friend Syl is working on potty training her two girls. Since I am somewhat of a potty training guru from my five years of toddler room work, I thought I'd do a post about it in order to help her gather some techniques. Please share your experiences and tips with her too.

I've trained a wide variety of children, both girls and boys ranging in age from 18 months to 3 years. Over the five years of daycare I did I'd say I potty trained at least 40 children (probably more). The children I taught were all fairly well potty trained before they moved up to the preschool room (usually about 33 months old at the time). Not all of them asked to go potty when they needed to go. I call it potty trained when children can stay dry with an occasional reminder to try to go potty. While that's not necessarily required in most day care settings, it sure helps make it much easier for the teachers to deal with the larger teacher/child ratio.

How did I do it?

1. The MOST important thing is for ALL care providers to be on the same page. There is nothing worse for a new potty trainer than inconsistency. Discuss with your partner/child's care provider that you are potty training and the techniques you are employing. If you are not all ready to commit it is fairly likely that there will be potty training issues. They may be some otherwise, but if everyone expects the same thing it will be much less stressful for the child. Communication is key. If things change, keep each other aware.

2. Model the desired behavior. It was easier to help show my own children figure out how to go potty because I could take them and have them sit on a potty chair while I went potty. Not really something that you'd really want to do with someone else's kids.... If you don't have that luxury, then there are some other tips you can use.

3. Take them to the bathroom when they wake up. They need to be awake to go potty when they get older. If you catch them right after they get up from either a nap or sleeping, it makes a wonderful first success.

4. Give them something they really like to motivate them to WANT to go potty. It can be hard to get them in the habit of peeing in their diaper. I have found bribery works well for this. We often used candy- a smartie, skittle, or m and m for example though raisins would work great too. Another "treat" they may appreciate is one on one time with an adult reading or game playing are a few favorites. I gave one for #1 and two for #2 though you can do what works for you. I placed these "treats" in a clear plastic container and reserved them for potty training only. It needs to be a special thing for them.

Once the child is successful at going potty, I praised them profusely and give them their "treat".

At first it didn't matter if their diaper was wet or dry to get a treat, but as they became more and more successful, I explained to them they needed to keep their diaper dry to get a treat.

After they are dry most of the time, discontinue the treats and give them special underwear instead. I explained that big girls (or boys) wore big girl (boy) underwear. I also really talked them up to be proud of their accomplishment. Potty training is a huge deal and it should be treated that way.

5. Some children discover they HATE the feeling of being wet. For those children, underwear are the best way to get them potty trained. If you don't like those messes make sure to use plastic diaper covers to help contain the mess. I just loved the cloth training pants with the vinyl lining built right into them because the offending material had a tougher time escaping from that than underwear.

6. Watch a movie or read books about potty training. These are age appropriate and geared towards young children. There are many fascinating resources out there. Check your local library. Your child's pediatrician may also have some wonderful recommendations.

7. Have them pick out the underwear they want to wear. This is a great way to excite your young one to stay dry.

8. Establish a pattern. If you watch them they can do some weird things that tell you they're getting ready to do something. Hiding and making funny faces are two ways to check their pattern. Once you know they're ready at certain times to do their duty, it makes things easier to get them to the bathroom at the proper times. Some people go to the bathroom shortly after eating a meal or snack. The pattern is different for different people so it's not always completely predictable.

Remind a new trainer to use the potty AND before going outside. It seems that especially cool weather brings out the need for release to potty trainer's bladders.

9. Talk to them about how they feel. You may think it is hard to talk to a young child about this stuff, but they really DO understand. Why do they hide? Once you help them to figure out these things are normal signs that their body uses to tell them to go potty you'll find it's easier than you thought to potty train.

10. Don't push them if they aren't ready. It doesn't help to belittle them or shame them into going potty, this will only serve to create bigger issues. They will go when they are ready. Expose them early and often so they can figure out when the time is right for them. You will know when they're ready by the frequency of their successes.

Thank you for stopping by. Please leave me a message. I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Cindy

Why Did We Move to Rhinelander?

I loved living near my family and long time friends. It never occurred to me to want to move from the area that I call my hometown. Sure, we moved three miles away from there, but that's nothing nowadays and I felt content for quite a while. We finally had our dream home, lush gardens, great schools for our kids, a wonderful and extremely supportive church home, lots of friends and family living near us, a nice job. What more could we want?

Sure, the usual things weighed on me, but everyone has problems. Finances, kids teasing my son, and I wasn't feeling well and was often too tired to do much of anything. The doctors said that happens as you age and didn't feel that there was really anything wrong with me. There wasn't really anything that I could do about any of those problems though. We were generally pretty happy, so why rock the boat?

Shortly before my father died this small voice inside of me grew louder and more insistent. I guess it had been there before but I never listened to it. I thought it was greed driving me to ask my husband to look for a promotion. We always lived beyond our means so getting a promotion wouldn't make things any easier anyway, right?

One day, I started listening to it. I prayed that God would show us the direction that we should take. I talked to my husband about it. We gave it a lot of prayerful consideration. Son would be moving to a new school this year, his good friends would be sent to the school across town and the kids that lived in our neighborhood and teased him so much that he never wanted to play outside would be going to his school. Peanut would be starting kindergarten. Dad was making plans to move to Ohio to live near my sister who was studying to be a nurse.

We called several different real tors over to look at our house. We didn't want to make the move if all of the elements didn't fit. They all commented that our house was immaculate, it wouldn't be a problem to sell, and we could get $230,000 for it. That was more than enough to pay off the mortgage we owed and pay a good down payment on a new home. It was the perfect time to move.

We both agreed. Cheeshead decided to start actively looking for a good place to move our family. As the openings showed up, I researched the areas, the schools, and costs of living for each of the openings. Cheesehead put in for the towns we were interested in. I prayed that God would give us a great new town to call home.

One day a job in Rhinelander showed up. I had heard of it since it's not far from where my husband's dad grew up. Some of FIL's family still lives within 45 minutes of our house. We really were never very close to any of them since they don't venture far from home. I barely even knew many of them, but it would be a great opportunity to get to know them better.

He got an interview at the store in Rhinelander. It isn't any further from his parent's house than we already lived, so they volunteered to watch the kids while we checked the area out.

The town was a relaxed pace, not much traffic, and the people we met were extremely friendly which was a plus coming from the bustling suburbs of the Twin Cities. There were a few stores and restaurants, but not so many that I'd be tempted to go shopping as an almost daily hobby and overindulge in eating out which had become bad habit for us. We drove by the YMCA and saw many nice little schools neatly tucked into neighborhoods. That was nice compared to the sprawling schools in the area we came from. Lovely historic homes lined the streets. It seemed like there was a church on just about every corner of town that we drove by. It really was a perfect fit for us, God had helped us to find the perfect town to raise our family in.

The night before the interview, we stopped in to see the store. We wandered the aisles checking things out. We checked the distance from the hotel to the store so he wouldn't be late the next day. As we wandered the aisles he saw the store manager and introduced himself. We chatted for a while with him before heading off.

There was one other person who interviewed for the job after my husband's interview. He felt pretty confident about it, but we had to wait for the results. The other candidate hadn't interviewed yet. We shouldn't count our chickens before they're hatched.

I just wrote this story on my "new" blog and decided to share it here with you too. So far, so good. We love it in our new home even more than we did our old home.

Thank you for stopping by. Please leave me a message. I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Cindy

Sleepover

Peanut had her first sleepover last night. She's never had one before even though she's almost 8 because she wasn't quite old enough to have a sleepover when we lived in MN and it's taken her some time to make good friends at our "new" home. No pictures though since I don't have friend's parent's permission to publish pictures to the internet.

We stopped at the library and they picked up some movies to watch before we headed home after school last night. They made a band, played a few video games, attempted to knit (but with crochet needles), and played dress-up.

I don't know about you, but isn't the whole point of a sleepover to stay up late into the night whispering and playing? Peanut and her friend decided to go to bed early last night and rise early this morning to play instead. Normally it wouldn't be a huge problem, but it was horrifically early. They got up at five o'clock! That in itself wouldn't be SO bad, but they are NOT quiet at all and neither of them will listen to the warnings of shush or no more sleepovers.

Poor Cheesehead worked late last night. He needs his rest because he's doing it again today. I had plans to sleep in, but it got changed because of their boisterous behavior.

I got up about 6 times to ask them to be quiet before my clock even read 6 (which is set faster than the other clocks in the house because I like the appearance of getting up when it's almost 6 during the week). I gave up on sleeping after that in hopes of at least allowing Cheesehead his much needed rest. He hasn't come out of the room yet, but somehow I don't know that my attempts have been worth the effort. I might as well be speaking to the wall they're listening so well.

No more sleepovers for these two, they apparently don't know how to listen! Neither of them knows how to sit and watch a movie quietly. Boy am I tired.

Thank you for stopping by. Please leave me a message. I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Cindy

I've Gone and Done it!

I keep complaining to everyone who will listen that I don't know how to knit or crochet. I decided to get off my lazy but and do something about it instead of my constant belly-aching.

I wasn't sure which of the two was easier or really what the difference between the two crafts is, but I broke down and bought a book I found at a craft store the other day. (At least I found something when I was out and about looking for that lye!)There were books for both there, but I'm just taking it one step at a time.



Here is my first attempt at crocheting. This is lesson number one, the chain stitch. I look at it and it seems to look kind of like a braid. Is it just me? Maybe a larger size needle will give me a more satisfying result. Peanut saw some of the pictures in the book and is patiently awaiting the completion of a scarf for her. I saw a fabulous looking pattern for a poncho in there that I want to attempt to make for myself someday. Son didn't sound very excitied about having me make something for him.



I also managed to capture a shot of one of our neurotic cat's drinking habits. Would you rather drink snow that's been stepped on and fallen off of boots or clean, fresh water from a bowl? Apparently Speedy likes carpet fiber in her drink. At least it's nice and cold????

I'm still waiting to get her other crazy habits on camera, but either the shots are out of focus, I can't get to the camera in time or I am completely off target with my blind shot taking that's required to use my current camera. Hopefully I'll be able to afford a new camera soon so I won't have to put up with all of the headaches I keep going through.

Thank you for stopping by. Please leave me a message. I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Cindy

Wii Fit

My mom gave us some Christmas money and we decided as a family that we should all pool our gift money together to get a family gift which was the Wii fit.

We have been trying for quite some time to get our hands on a Wii fit but they never seem to be in stock anywhere. We had even started looking way before Christmas. It's just crazy how popular all of this stuff is!

Cheesehead has a wonderful friend from work whose husband works at a retailer that sells electronics, she offered to have her husband keep an eye out for one for us. He saw that they got the Wii fit that we have been looking for and picked it up for us.



The first time I tried it I ended up being a giant snowball. I had Son demonstate the snowball for you. It's hard to see in this picture, but we laughed so hard.



There are over 40 activities to choose from when you unlock everything you can do. So far son has already reached his goal of losing 3 pounds. I suppose I should check how I'm doing towards reaching my goal.

I have found this to be very motivating for him especially, he just has to be number one at everything. I think it was a wise investment for our couch potato family. I'll keep you posted. Thanks Mom!

Thank you for stopping by. Please leave me a message. I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Cindy