Smooth as BUTTA!

This girl took her crunch to a whole new level today.

We started buying our milk from a local farm, Bear Creek Acres in Embarrass, a couple Sundays ago.  The milk is great, and is from happy, pasture fed cows.  But what to do with the cream that rises to the top of this very rich milk?

When I picked up the milk a couple days ago, the owner Mary Ann asked me if I had made butter yet.  See, I've been looking at churns online, thinking that was the only way to make butter.

Nope!

You can make it in a blender, and it takes about ten minutes.  Seriously.  So today, I made real butter from real cream from real cows that live real close by.

Crunchy!

Well, more creamy, but still "crunchy".  Here's the tutorial that helped me.

The picture above shows my trial run.  Made a cute little butter ball.  The second run filled that coffee cup all the way to the top.

Sugar Battle, Week One

Week One of the Battle Against Sugar is done.  The first three days were the hardest.  After that, I started feeling less like an addict craving her junk, and more like I had a bad habit to break.  By the end of the week, I felt great, and had little, to no, cravings for sugar to speak of.

And then ... it was my birthday.  And with birthday, comes cake.  Yes, I allowed myself birthday cake.  I kept telling myself it was a one-day treat, and I would not have follow up sweets the next day.

But the next day was our anniversary.  We went out to eat and I had a big piece of chocolate cake after the dinner.  Surprisingly, I am not craving sugar this morning.  I thought after two days in a row of eating the Sweet Stuff that I would be back to square one.  But I think I may have kicked the addiction part to the curb, for the time being.

Now, for the low down on observations this past week.  I noticed the first three days how irritable I was, and how much I NEEDED a sugar fix.  That perceived need took up a lot of mental energy to beat down, but with lots of prayer and willpower I did it.  Yay me!

After that, I began to notice that I had more energy and seemed more rested, despite not having slept well due to cranky and sick toddlers.  Strangely enough, I noticed that I didn't sweat as much, and it wasn't nearly as stinky.  Yeah, you're welcome for that little bit of knowledge.  Carry it with you always.  My own scientific explanation is that my body's pH was changing, and I was less acidic overall.  At the end of the sixth day, I noticed that I hadn't been having headaches or migraines.

The day after my birthday cake indulgence, which was yesterday, I woke up with a headache.  It didn't last long, but it was there.  And this morning when I woke, the day after a big ole hunk of chocolate cake was consumed, I awoke with another headache, this one much worse.

So today it's back to cleaner eating, with no added sugar and trying to stay away from the "white" stuff.  It's hard giving up the sweets that I love, but I know it's better for me and the tadpole I'm growing, and for my overall health.

I know that after 30+ years of eating a sugar-filled diet, if I can quit, you can too.  So take heart ... it ain't easy, but it can be done.

Thirteen Years

Today we celebrate our 13th anniversary.  It seems like yesterday that we stood with our family and friends in a little courthouse in San Angelo, Texas and exchanged our vows.  MANY people told each of us that we wouldn't make it.  Well, dagnabbit, they're wrong!  We are stronger now than ever.

In honor of the occasion, I thought I would write thirteen things I've learned over the past years of being married.  In no particular order of importance.  Here we go.

1.  Love the man you married.  Not the one you thought you married, or the one you thought you could change him into.  He's the way he is, the way God created him, and that's it.  And it's great.

2.  Marriage is work.  Plain and simple.  You work it, every day, so that it pays in dividends.

3.  Couples will never agree on everything, all the time.  But that doesn't mean you fight about it.  You just agree to disagree.  And move on.  As a friend said the other day, "Round down range."

4.  He will continue to leave the dirty peanut butter knife on the counter by the sink unless you mention how annoying it is.  Then, he gets it.  Husbands aren't psychic.

5.  I sometimes wish husbands WERE psychic.  It would save a lot of hinting around, and then realizing that I just have to say it and get it over with.

6.  Don't have kids to build a marriage or make it better.  You bring them into a marriage, fold them into the family.  And if the core, the marriage, isn't strong, the family falls apart.

7.  A family will fall apart if it's not focused on God at its center.

8.  Love the little quirks ... how he "chews rocks" every night in his sleep, how he needs to run a few miles every day or else, how he kisses you good night.

9.  Tell him how much you appreciate what a great husband and father he is.

10.  A husband in an apron at the kitchen sink is a very sexy thing to behold.

11.  A husband that washes and dries the laundry so I don't have to go down to the basement is an incredibly sexy thing to behold.

12.  He will sometimes be in a bad mood, and that's okay.  He's human.  We all are.

13.  The husband that truly puts God first will love his wife with all his heart, all his soul and all his mind, and never take his vows lightly.

There are a myriad more numbers, more lessons that I've learned over the years.  I pray that I will always have something to write, a lesson to learn.

Happy Anniversary, my love.

Addicted

I hear that acknowledging a problem is the beginning.  So here goes: I am completely addicted to sugar.  I used to laugh about it, but I am finding out how very serious a sugar addiction can be.

Parents and relatives used to tell me (some still do) that I had Coca Cola in my baby bottles.  It was nothing for me to eat sugar three times a day, for each meal, and for snack time too.  In my later teens and early twenties, I loved going to Shipley's Donuts, loading up with three chocolate glazed and chasing them with a bottle of chocolate milk.

And so on and so forth, until today.  I still feel the need to eat sugar, all the time, every day.  Cookies, soft drinks, you name it. 

However, I've been doing a lot of research into the foods we eat and the foods that I prepare for my family.  Many of the things that we have been taught are okay or even best for us, like vegetable and canola oil, are actually very harmful.  "Enriched" flour is anything but enriched in a good way.  Even the mainstream dairy that we buy in the stores is chock full of bad.

Sugar, however, is one of the major bad guys.  Not only does it add to the waist line and throw our insulin levels way out of whack, but it also feeds certain cancers and inflames our blood vessels catastrophically.

I wanted to share some of the research that I've done with you.  Here are some links to sites with good information.  Some of it you won't believe.  Some you won't WANT to believe.  We can't keep digesting what the government, USDA and FDA tell us are healthy.  Heck, the food pyramid established half a century ago was created by a panel of government officials and no doctors present or consulted.


What Really Causes Heart Disease

Benefits of Eating Grass-Fed Beef and Dairy Products

Too Much Sugar Increases Heart Risks

Dr. Mercola Explains the 76 Dangers of Sugar

Why You Should Never Eat Vegetable Oils or Margarine Again

"Enriched" Flour Does Not Enrich Your Life

The 15 Grossest Things You Are Eating

These are just some of the articles that I've read lately.  I know I risk sounding like a fanatic, but it seems like we should be looking into what goes into our bodies and not just trusting big industry on what they put in or take out of our food.

This mama is taking a stand to overcome my sugar addiction and to not let my family follow my previous example. 

But so far, it's one of the hardest things I've ever had to tackle.

Proud to be Crunchy

It has come to my attention that I fall in the "crunchy mama" category of motherhood.  My first instinct was offense at the term, but I really didn't know what it meant.

"Crunchy" refers to granola.  So a down-to-earth, back-to-basics kind of mom who loves taking care of her kids in the most natural way is crunchy.  Crunchy as granola.

Which I make, by the way, and it's awesome.

And I make my own bread, plant a garden, use cloth diapers, compost, watch very little television, go barefoot and countless other things.  This makes me a crunchy mama.

There is a whole crunchy movement out there that I am a part of and didn't even know it.  And I think that's great!  I'm not the crunchiest out there, but I'm trying harder every day to get that way.

Since our goal is to one day own a small farm, I foresee lots of crunchy in the future.  I'd love to have chickens, but the city ordinances don't allow them here.  I'd love to buy all grass-fed beef and dairy products, and I'm deep in the research in finding out how I can economically obtain them until we can raise our own.  For once I'd love to breastfeed a child, and I'll do my best to nurse Jed once he arrives.

I wear more skirts in the warm weather, but they aren't really practical in the winters up here.  I already teach the kids at home, instead of letting them walk across the street to the public school.  I do use shampoo and soap, but the shampoo is organic and all-natural and I plan to start making my own soaps very soon.  I've learned how to make my own cream soups instead of opening a can, and I want to learn how to render my own lard from locally farmed and butchered pigs.

So, yeah, crunchy.  Heck yeah.  Are you a crunchy mama?  If so, stand proud.  You're in good company.  Now go wash some cloth dipes.

Riley's First Solo

Riley sang her first solo in church today, "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing".  She was a little shy, and wanted to sit by the piano her first time out.  So, while the video is not great, since she's all the way up front and you can't really see her, you can turn up the volume and listen.

The last refrains are lyrics that she wrote herself.  She made us so proud!

A Little Snow Time

This winter season has been lacking on the snow front.  At least until the last couple of weeks.  We've now got a couple feet of snow in the yard.  Jesse and the kids went out to play in it while I cooked supper last night.  Didn't get Savvy in the pics because she was the last out the door, after seeing everyone out having fun.  Well, Jesse was shoveling, so that's not fun for him.

A Couple of Brooke Tales

"Once upon a time, in a far, far, FAR, far away land, there was a king named Daddy and a king named Isaac.  And they were walking in the woods.  And that one day, Kind Daddy heard ... a ZOMBIE!  And that one day, King Isaac heard ... a CAT!  They were scared, until they saw the tall, tall girl flower that growled.  But then, King Isaac and King Daddy turned into lions, and then they eated the zombie and the cat.  And they lived happily ever after.  The end."

"Once upon a time, in a far, far, FAR away land, there was Mom, and Brooke walking, walking along for a nice, nice rose.  BUT ... (this is gonna be a really scary monster) ... a pink, and a green and a blue monster was gonna drop them into the MUD.  Into a deep, deep place with mud in it.  And then, a prince scared the monster away.  And the girls were not in the mud anymore.  And they were happy.  The end."

Jen and Jed, 24 Weeks

Marching On

First day of March, and I'm happy to see it.  The last part of February was a bit much for us here.  Everyone in the house got sick with a stomach virus, and it was a nasty one.  Took ten days to clear it all out, but it's finally gone.

Just a quick update: 

At the end of this month, we'll be heading south for a little warmer weather, to visit my family in Texas and Louisiana.  We are SO excited! 

Savvy just finished her first season of pony league basketball, and she finally scored in her last game.  Now we get to listen to her talk about next season for almost a whole year.  Yippee!

School is waning down, and this mama is very happy about the summer to come.  Not only will it be the end of our first year homeschooling, but little Jed will be here in mid-June.  Everyone is anxious to meet the newest little guy.  As of today, I'm 24 weeks along.  I was jokingly accused of smuggling a basketball under my shirt last night at the game, so you can tell I'm sticking out there a bit.  Hopefully, I'll get some tummy pics up soon.

In the meantime, life goes on.  We have lots of projects to do, the biggest of which is to gut half of the basement and make a bedroom for the grown-ups, preferably before Jed arrives.  We need the space, not just for the baby but for the family that we are hoping get to come visit around his grand entrance time.

So have a super day, and stay warm.