1. i really really really really want to run. i think my legs don't but my inner soul is craving it.
2. i should NOT eat sweets before i go to bed. it leads to VERY weird dreams.
3. my man and i were talking last night about a hypothetical situation... what if your daughter came home w/ a guy that you really really did not approve of... and he insulted you to your face. and by insult, i don't mean, he doesn't like what you're wearing; by insult, i mean... he basically tells you he wants to get serious with your daughter. how would you handle it so that you don't alienate your daughter but still speak truth into the matter? ok, the mama bear in me says by this point i would have learned how to use a gun and i would use this opportunity to show him what i know (yes, in my mind i would be able to take down a squirrel at 500 yards). ok, the rational side of me says, take our daughter aside, speak calmly to her and then take the boy outside and shoot the squirrel... :)
i think we live in a culture where people think it's ok and actually expect gratitude from the parents when the boy goes to the parents to tell them what their intentions are, no matter how foul those intentions might be. when did this become ok?
4. on the opposite side of this, i'm rereading anne of green gables for our book club this month. i get transformed into the world of anne every time i read it... sigh.
5. our jewel started ballet this week and it's very cool to see how much she's enjoying it. we'll see how she feels about it at the end of the summer session.
Sunday, July 31, 2011
Saturday, July 16, 2011
why i've been sparse this summer
is that grammatically correct? can a person be sparse? whatever... i think you know what i mean.
this summer has been CRAZY! and i don't mean in a running from one vacation trip to another kind of way. i mean, in a work work work kind of way.
besides, being preggo, homeschooling our jewel, i've also been quite busy getting our classical conversations community off the ground. CC is new to NJ. i knew about it from VA and so when i heard they were trying to start one here, i jumped on it. so i now wear the official title of director... which means that i spend a ton of time on the phone, answering emails, trying to find a location for our community, finding tutors, recruiting families, holding informational meetings, going to conferences, etc... a labor of love indeed. between this labor and the labor that's coming in september i am LABORED out, people!!
can i get a vacation at the end of the summer? oh wait, i'll have a new born that's keeping me up 1/2 the night....
so, if you wanted to know what i'm up to -- that's it.
this summer has been CRAZY! and i don't mean in a running from one vacation trip to another kind of way. i mean, in a work work work kind of way.
besides, being preggo, homeschooling our jewel, i've also been quite busy getting our classical conversations community off the ground. CC is new to NJ. i knew about it from VA and so when i heard they were trying to start one here, i jumped on it. so i now wear the official title of director... which means that i spend a ton of time on the phone, answering emails, trying to find a location for our community, finding tutors, recruiting families, holding informational meetings, going to conferences, etc... a labor of love indeed. between this labor and the labor that's coming in september i am LABORED out, people!!
can i get a vacation at the end of the summer? oh wait, i'll have a new born that's keeping me up 1/2 the night....
so, if you wanted to know what i'm up to -- that's it.
update and The ultimate smoothie and food soapbox
Yesterday's doctor appointment indicated that our precious is still on the small side. the paranoid, pessimistic side had me jumping to all sorts of conclusions. but then i starting thinking w/ my brain, rather than my hormones.
we live in a culture where somehow big means good. have you seen the slurpee sizes these days? or the super sized meals at the fast food joints? look at our animals. i was at a farm several weeks ago w/ some friends and i commented that the cows looked really thin. my friend just looked at me and said - well of course they look like that - they're grass fed cows! they're SUPPOSED to look like that. so when did we start thinking that beefing them up with all that hormone induced corn was a good thing???
so while our precious might be small, i was thinking about what i ate this time around, versus what i ate 7 years ago with our jewel. i've learned a lot in those 7 years and our food lifestyle is quite different now. most of our meets and dairy come from farms. our intake our supplements and vitamins are far superior now then they were then. even the grains that we eat now are of a superior quality.
take for instance our morning kefir smoothie:
1-2C of kefir (homemade. raw. fermented milk).
1 TBL organic flaxseed
3 TBL coconut (fresh; NOT bagged)
fruit
raw egg yolks (i usually do about 1 per person, but i really should up it to 2 per person). i ONLY use farm eggs. i would NOT use store bought eggs (even if those eggs were organic)... but that's just me.
drops of Cell Food (minerals) for each person
this is very different from what i did 7 years ago where i think i might not have even made smoothies then.
so here are some of the things that i'm doing differently this time around:
1. farm foods. can NOT stress this enough.
2. get high quality supplements - not all cod liver oil is the same. we get our cod liver oil from Blue Ice. we get ours from the farm but AMAZON also has it. please note our jewel has been taking cod liver oil since she was one. and even she had a hard time adjusting to this brand. i switched to this one because it is far superior (fermented oil is much better for you) to the one we were using before. fermented oil is much much fishier. we get the peppermint flavor and just being honest, it's not enough to disguise the fish. Also, for the longest time, we just did the cod liver oil. but i've learned that if you couple this with the X Factor (which is really just vitamin K2), the health benefits rise dramatically. so my man and i also take vitamin K2. our jewel gets it from the farm butter i buy.
3. which leads me to good quality butter. i grew up without butter in our diet. and honestly, i still do not care for the taste of butter. i know, i know... even my man finds that utterly surprising that someone could NOT like the taste of butter. but i get myself to try and eat it and incorporate it into our foods whenever possible. OK - but this is NOT just any old butter. this is RAW FARM BUTTER. good quality farm butter has something that Weston Price referred to as the X Factor (aka Vitamin K2). i make this fudge recipe that incorporates this butter and i have our jewel eat this fudge as a chaser after she takes her cod liver oil.
4. i'm still eating sugar but it's significantly less than what i used to do: i've substituted coconut sugar and raw honey a lot more into our foods. but don't get me wrong, if you send me a batch of neiman marcus chocolate chip cookies, i will gratefully eat them :) ha ha ha
5. i incorporate a lot more homemade fermented foods: kombucha, kefir, yogurt, sauerkraut, etc.
6. the other major change is the quality of chicken stock. i use the free range, grass fed chickens i get from the farm and make good quality chicken stock the Nourishing Traditions way.
note, these changes came gradually. it's so hard to go cold turkey for me so i just did what our family could handle. little by little. over the last 7 years. i'm still learning. i know i still have lots more to change but we do what we can and i'm grateful for what i've learned so far. i think we're on our way and ultimately, we do our due diligence, trusting that God's sovereign over it all.
we live in a culture where somehow big means good. have you seen the slurpee sizes these days? or the super sized meals at the fast food joints? look at our animals. i was at a farm several weeks ago w/ some friends and i commented that the cows looked really thin. my friend just looked at me and said - well of course they look like that - they're grass fed cows! they're SUPPOSED to look like that. so when did we start thinking that beefing them up with all that hormone induced corn was a good thing???
so while our precious might be small, i was thinking about what i ate this time around, versus what i ate 7 years ago with our jewel. i've learned a lot in those 7 years and our food lifestyle is quite different now. most of our meets and dairy come from farms. our intake our supplements and vitamins are far superior now then they were then. even the grains that we eat now are of a superior quality.
take for instance our morning kefir smoothie:
1-2C of kefir (homemade. raw. fermented milk).
1 TBL organic flaxseed
3 TBL coconut (fresh; NOT bagged)
fruit
raw egg yolks (i usually do about 1 per person, but i really should up it to 2 per person). i ONLY use farm eggs. i would NOT use store bought eggs (even if those eggs were organic)... but that's just me.
drops of Cell Food (minerals) for each person
this is very different from what i did 7 years ago where i think i might not have even made smoothies then.
so here are some of the things that i'm doing differently this time around:
1. farm foods. can NOT stress this enough.
2. get high quality supplements - not all cod liver oil is the same. we get our cod liver oil from Blue Ice. we get ours from the farm but AMAZON also has it. please note our jewel has been taking cod liver oil since she was one. and even she had a hard time adjusting to this brand. i switched to this one because it is far superior (fermented oil is much better for you) to the one we were using before. fermented oil is much much fishier. we get the peppermint flavor and just being honest, it's not enough to disguise the fish. Also, for the longest time, we just did the cod liver oil. but i've learned that if you couple this with the X Factor (which is really just vitamin K2), the health benefits rise dramatically. so my man and i also take vitamin K2. our jewel gets it from the farm butter i buy.
3. which leads me to good quality butter. i grew up without butter in our diet. and honestly, i still do not care for the taste of butter. i know, i know... even my man finds that utterly surprising that someone could NOT like the taste of butter. but i get myself to try and eat it and incorporate it into our foods whenever possible. OK - but this is NOT just any old butter. this is RAW FARM BUTTER. good quality farm butter has something that Weston Price referred to as the X Factor (aka Vitamin K2). i make this fudge recipe that incorporates this butter and i have our jewel eat this fudge as a chaser after she takes her cod liver oil.
4. i'm still eating sugar but it's significantly less than what i used to do: i've substituted coconut sugar and raw honey a lot more into our foods. but don't get me wrong, if you send me a batch of neiman marcus chocolate chip cookies, i will gratefully eat them :) ha ha ha
5. i incorporate a lot more homemade fermented foods: kombucha, kefir, yogurt, sauerkraut, etc.
6. the other major change is the quality of chicken stock. i use the free range, grass fed chickens i get from the farm and make good quality chicken stock the Nourishing Traditions way.
note, these changes came gradually. it's so hard to go cold turkey for me so i just did what our family could handle. little by little. over the last 7 years. i'm still learning. i know i still have lots more to change but we do what we can and i'm grateful for what i've learned so far. i think we're on our way and ultimately, we do our due diligence, trusting that God's sovereign over it all.
Thursday, July 7, 2011
homeschool day 1
we officially started the first day of homeschool today. (actually we started a few weeks ago but it was to finish up curriculum from last year) ... so today was day one of the "new grade". overall it went well but it took a LOT longer than i had scheduled for. we ended up going about 5 hours instead of the 3 i had anticipated. i need to check the clock for each of the subjects to see what the hang up is.
i changed the schedule from before so here's what it looks like now:
Bible - we're reading through the book of John in the KJV. honestly, not the version i would have picked but our jewel got a little mini NT from church that she LOVES and it happens to be the KJV... so alas. she's doing really well w/ the reading, it's the comprehension that's "concerning" me; and by that i mean MY comprehension of this version rather than hers....
Math - we switched to Math-U-See from Saxon and since it's only the first day, i don't have any comments on it yet but i do hope she takes to it better than Saxon.
Grammar - we decided to go w/ Shurley English and while there is discussion on when to start the student on grammar, we decided to begin this year (many people will recommend waiting until 3rd grade).
Literature - we're doing a little bit of everything here. i got the McGuffey Readers (primers from the 1800's - get the original, not the updated version that basically tried to make things more PC and not as Christian). I also got some books from the library that we're going through. I really like Jean Fritz's history books. i guess this is going to be my attempt at history this summer... it's not formal but at least she's getting something.
Geography - we started Legends and Leagues today and our jewel enjoyed it immensely. i had to "cut her off" because we had to move on to our next subject. any time you have to convince your child that it has to wait until tomorrow to continue is a good sign the book is good :) we'll do geography 3 days a week.
Penmanship - i use the McGuffery reader and just pick out a line that she writes in her composition book. i'll be alternating this w/ dictation from the reader.
Storytime - we finished a Rebecca Caudill book today called: Schoolhouse in the Woods. this is volume 2 of the Fairchild Family Story series. It's similar to the Little House on the Prairie series in terms. she likes it but i will take a break from it b/c 1) we've been on the prairie gendre for a LONG while since we were going through the little house on the prairie before this and 2) the library doesn't have the rest of the series. can i just say that is really frustrating for the library to only have part of a series??!
i realize this is rather english heavy but i decided to hold off on science, history, spelling, and latin until the fall. we'll be joining a classical conversations community starting in september and the subjects will fit rather nicely w/ the CC schedule.... except for spelling. i'll probably drop penmanship in the fall and start spelling.
the other thing that will shift in the fall is that we'll probably move to school 4 weekdays and have "school w/ daddy" on saturday mornings. it will give me a break (AKA my long runs) and i figured it would allow my man to feel like a part of the homeschooling experience w/o feeling like he had to do any serious prep work... so saturdays mornings will be: art and logic. we really like the mona brooks' book: drawing with children. i highly recommend it. we did some of it last summer and her art class this past year applied the principles in the book as well. for logic, i picked out Critical Thinking Activities. she did the book for grades 1-3 last year and she enjoyed doing the activities - so i just got the next one. they also like playing chess so that will round out logic.
i changed the schedule from before so here's what it looks like now:
Bible - we're reading through the book of John in the KJV. honestly, not the version i would have picked but our jewel got a little mini NT from church that she LOVES and it happens to be the KJV... so alas. she's doing really well w/ the reading, it's the comprehension that's "concerning" me; and by that i mean MY comprehension of this version rather than hers....
Math - we switched to Math-U-See from Saxon and since it's only the first day, i don't have any comments on it yet but i do hope she takes to it better than Saxon.
Grammar - we decided to go w/ Shurley English and while there is discussion on when to start the student on grammar, we decided to begin this year (many people will recommend waiting until 3rd grade).
Literature - we're doing a little bit of everything here. i got the McGuffey Readers (primers from the 1800's - get the original, not the updated version that basically tried to make things more PC and not as Christian). I also got some books from the library that we're going through. I really like Jean Fritz's history books. i guess this is going to be my attempt at history this summer... it's not formal but at least she's getting something.
Geography - we started Legends and Leagues today and our jewel enjoyed it immensely. i had to "cut her off" because we had to move on to our next subject. any time you have to convince your child that it has to wait until tomorrow to continue is a good sign the book is good :) we'll do geography 3 days a week.
Penmanship - i use the McGuffery reader and just pick out a line that she writes in her composition book. i'll be alternating this w/ dictation from the reader.
Storytime - we finished a Rebecca Caudill book today called: Schoolhouse in the Woods. this is volume 2 of the Fairchild Family Story series. It's similar to the Little House on the Prairie series in terms. she likes it but i will take a break from it b/c 1) we've been on the prairie gendre for a LONG while since we were going through the little house on the prairie before this and 2) the library doesn't have the rest of the series. can i just say that is really frustrating for the library to only have part of a series??!
i realize this is rather english heavy but i decided to hold off on science, history, spelling, and latin until the fall. we'll be joining a classical conversations community starting in september and the subjects will fit rather nicely w/ the CC schedule.... except for spelling. i'll probably drop penmanship in the fall and start spelling.
the other thing that will shift in the fall is that we'll probably move to school 4 weekdays and have "school w/ daddy" on saturday mornings. it will give me a break (AKA my long runs) and i figured it would allow my man to feel like a part of the homeschooling experience w/o feeling like he had to do any serious prep work... so saturdays mornings will be: art and logic. we really like the mona brooks' book: drawing with children. i highly recommend it. we did some of it last summer and her art class this past year applied the principles in the book as well. for logic, i picked out Critical Thinking Activities. she did the book for grades 1-3 last year and she enjoyed doing the activities - so i just got the next one. they also like playing chess so that will round out logic.
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
4th of july
honestly, i wasn't going to write anything but i feel like i should... so here goes...
we drove down to see family friday evening and spent most of the weekend w/ family - mostly eating (it's what we do best). was nice and honestly, by the end of the weekend, i was so tired! i didn't want to drive back up but somehow i managed to stay awake. i'm not kidding, that's seriously the last time i'm going to do that drive before the baby comes!!
we drove down to see family friday evening and spent most of the weekend w/ family - mostly eating (it's what we do best). was nice and honestly, by the end of the weekend, i was so tired! i didn't want to drive back up but somehow i managed to stay awake. i'm not kidding, that's seriously the last time i'm going to do that drive before the baby comes!!
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
cold breakfast cereal
i've been wanting to make this and i feel like i should ear mark it on my blog or else i'll forget...
it's from one of the food blogs i follow and i know it'll be healthy. just need to get myself to make it though.
i would like to go on and on about the dangers of eating store bought cereal; even organic cereal... but i know how i can be on that soapbox, so instead, i'll just say that if you have time to make your own, please do. it'll go perfectly w/ your farm milk :)
here's the recipe from healthyhomeeconomist's website:
4 cups almond flour (homemade is the tastiest and most nutritious)
1 cup store bought or homemade coconut flour
3 cups plain yogurt or kefir
3/4 cup coconut oil
1 cup honey
1 tsp sea salt
2 tsp baking soda (optional if you are on SCD diet)
2 tsp organic vanilla extract
1.5 TBL organic, ground cinnamon (add more if desired)
Instructions
Soak almond flour and coconut flour in yogurt or kefir in a covered glass bowl for 24 hours. Mix in remaining ingredients into the batter. Pour batter into (2) 9 x13 pans coated with coconut oil. Bake for 30 minutes at 350F or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Do not overbake. Let cool and then crumble onto baking sheets and dehydrate at 200 degrees for about 24 hours. Take out dried cereal off the top every few hours so as not to overdry and make the cereal too hard. Store in airtight container in the frig.
it's from one of the food blogs i follow and i know it'll be healthy. just need to get myself to make it though.
i would like to go on and on about the dangers of eating store bought cereal; even organic cereal... but i know how i can be on that soapbox, so instead, i'll just say that if you have time to make your own, please do. it'll go perfectly w/ your farm milk :)
here's the recipe from healthyhomeeconomist's website:
Cinnamon Crunch Breakfast Cereal (Grain Free)
Ingredients4 cups almond flour (homemade is the tastiest and most nutritious)
1 cup store bought or homemade coconut flour
3 cups plain yogurt or kefir
3/4 cup coconut oil
1 cup honey
1 tsp sea salt
2 tsp baking soda (optional if you are on SCD diet)
2 tsp organic vanilla extract
1.5 TBL organic, ground cinnamon (add more if desired)
Instructions
Soak almond flour and coconut flour in yogurt or kefir in a covered glass bowl for 24 hours. Mix in remaining ingredients into the batter. Pour batter into (2) 9 x13 pans coated with coconut oil. Bake for 30 minutes at 350F or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Do not overbake. Let cool and then crumble onto baking sheets and dehydrate at 200 degrees for about 24 hours. Take out dried cereal off the top every few hours so as not to overdry and make the cereal too hard. Store in airtight container in the frig.
coconut granola recipe
i tweaked a recipe that i found on mel's kitchen cafe.
here's my healthified version of it:
*Makes about 7 cups of granola
3 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
1 cup slivered almonds
1 cup crispy almonds
3/4 cup shredded coconut
1/3C raw honey
1/8C coconut oil
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup mixture of cransins and raisins
Preheat oven to 250 degrees. In a large bowl, combine the oats, nuts, coconut and brown sugar. In a separate bowl or liquid measuring cup, combine maple syrup, oil and salt. Combine both mixtures by slowly pouring the liquid over the oatmeal mixture and stirring well. Divide in half and pour onto two 11X17-inch rimmed baking sheets, spreading out into an even layer on each sheet. Cook for 1 hour and 15 minutes, until golden. Remove from the oven and transfer into a large bowl, slightly breaking up the clumps. Add the raisins and gently mix until even distributed.
here's my healthified version of it:
*Makes about 7 cups of granola
3 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
1 cup slivered almonds
1 cup crispy almonds
3/4 cup shredded coconut
1/3C raw honey
1/8C coconut oil
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup mixture of cransins and raisins
Preheat oven to 250 degrees. In a large bowl, combine the oats, nuts, coconut and brown sugar. In a separate bowl or liquid measuring cup, combine maple syrup, oil and salt. Combine both mixtures by slowly pouring the liquid over the oatmeal mixture and stirring well. Divide in half and pour onto two 11X17-inch rimmed baking sheets, spreading out into an even layer on each sheet. Cook for 1 hour and 15 minutes, until golden. Remove from the oven and transfer into a large bowl, slightly breaking up the clumps. Add the raisins and gently mix until even distributed.
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