Yawn

Pesky thing… Yawning… The kids recently asked me, “why do I yawn after I see someone else yawn?” And you know what, I have not a clue why. I decided to do a bit of research. Do you know how hard it is to not yawn while researching yawning?

I found an article that mentioned yawning was a way to expel large amounts of carbon dioxide. Another article talked about it being a way to cool off the brain. Both of articles talked about no one having any idea what yawning was really for either. Sheesh…

I also noticed in an article (linked here) that yawning could be an emotional/subconscious response. In a nut shell the article was saying that yawning is a form of empathy. I guess it's been found in studies that autistic children do not "catch" a yawn like other people do because they do not have empathy.

Do you happen to know why we yawn? Why is it so contagious?

Yawnnnnn… It’s time for me to answer the call of my yawn and get some sleep.

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This is Letter Y for my #atozchallenge
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X is a Wonderful Thing!

I was trying to figure out what word started with X that I could write about today. I couldn’t. I have been thinking on it for awhile too. My little list of possibilities has been what has gotten me through the #AtoZChallenge! Well… X had me stumped. Until I noticed a trend on my list. Every time I got a post written up I would cross it off with nothing other than a X. Eureka!

A X is a wonderful thing! I can count how many projects I’ve completed with each X I see throughout the day. X makes me feel a bit more organized and accomplished.

(I wish my list was THIS short everyday! No real list was hurt in the production of this post. I made up pseudo lists especially for today.)

At times I end up making my stress relieving X with whatever I may have on hand. I cannot tell you how many times a crayon has bailed me out.

So enjoy the letter X! Embrace it even! Bring it into your home and change the way you feel everyday. I think I may be getting a little slap-happy with this A to Z Blog Post Challenge.

What would you write about with the letter X as your inspiration?

I think I was more excited about working on the photos for this post than the actual post. It was fun to dust off my camera. Even for something as simple as a list with a X on it.

 
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Vemma Equals Vitamins

I am a fan of Vemma. It is a liquid vitamin. Before I go any further though a few disclaimers:

I am not a doctor. You should speak with your doctor about any medically related questions you may have that include adding a vitamin to your diet. Be careful of food allergies, even in vitamin supplements.

I do not sell this product nor am I getting any kick back for talking about this product. I do have an advertisement for this product on my page but this is not part of that advertisement package. I was already using the product before I took on that advertisement.

There… Done with that mess. Now, about this liquid gold! I don’t know all the technical jibber-jabber to make it sound awesome. I am just a mom who started using it and found out who well it worked!

Vemma is a supplement in liquid format. The adult version of this taste a bit like pineapple, coconut yummy. The children's version (pictured here) is very much like orange juice. The fantastic little Verve in the photo is an energy drink combo of Vemma that will keep you going all. day. long.

I am a firm believer in variety in your diet is key too good health. Adding a supplement can help but it shouldn’t be something you rely on for good health. With Vemma being a liquid the body has an easier time absorbing all the goodies. That is a plus in my book!

Do you remember reading about some issues one of my kiddo's has been experiencing? Cyclic vomiting syndrome, IBD, colitis and now some weird thing I can't even pronounce let alone spell. Well, I am pretty sure that Vemma is helping my kid be more normal. Somehow it soothes the guts and it has definitely boosted them out of anemia. It is such a joy to see this kid up and running! Keep up with siblings! And keeping their head out of a bucket.


I love that I can read and understand what is IN Vemma too. Especially the section listing no artificial flavors, colors, gluten free and NO GMO! Woowho! Triple score! The kids have been very healthy this winter. I hope that they can continue that route. Even if one of them seems to have a body that wants to fight itself off. Vemma helps but I knew that it wouldn’t make everything perfect. I am thrilled with what I believe it has done for the kids though. You can learn more about the products by clicking the little rotating ad in my sidebar of clicking right here.

Do you use an vitamins at your house? Have anything to recommend?

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Tomatoes

Tomatoes… I have quite a few of them growing inside right now. The weather outside is too goofy for me to move them out! I am anxious to get them outside though. Very excited to have all the rain fall happening this year that is breaking our drought! I am a bit worried that maybe too much rain is falling and maybe everything will be too wet and too little sun for the plants to even grow. I think it will all work out in the end though. I am hoping that it will. I have even picked up a few new products to try with my tomatoes too!

Alas.. this day has gotten away from me and I had no energy to take pictures of the products that night. So I got the post up and added the photos below the next day.

I am going to be trying out a torch (this one is a mini one) for weed killing and I picked up some organic fertilizer to give my garden a boost. This fall I want to plant a cover crop instead. I did not know about it before though.

This post is linked up to Tuesday Garden Party!

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S is for Spreadsheet

Spreadsheets. Love ‘em, hate ‘em but always use ‘em. I have my homeschool lesson planner in a spreadsheet, I tally up coupons using a spreadsheet and right now I am working on an awesome menu planner in a spreadsheet. There are times that I love creating monstrosity formulas just to see them do something. I know that a huge formula isn’t the answer to getting everything done though. They are just fun! The only way I have learned algebra and higher math are with spreadsheets.

I love ‘em! Do you?
What is your favorite spreadsheet project that you have ever created?

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Tame Your Passwords!

I have more Internet accounts than you can shake a stick at. Are you familiar with this? I blog, tweet, facebook, email (times 5), I coupon, MyPoints, Swagbucks and more. How in the world does one person keep track of all of these passwords PLUS I keep track of some of my kids passwords and some of my clients. EEP! Password overload!

I used to keep a journal book that I could just write on the next page. There was no order. Did you get that? 500 million passwords, site addresses and user names in no specific order. I  hated it when my brain would not recall the password I needed. Usually added another 10 min to any project I was working on. ARGH! Just thinking about it makes me want to stop what I am doing and work on something else. (That's usually what I did too!)
 
I do not like keeping passwords on my computer, phone, browsers, etc. I've seen how people can be hacked. It's NOT pretty. Your underwear drawer is safer than your computer. Well.. at least mine is safer. No, I don't keep my computer passwords there, it was just a statement.
At any rate! I picked up this little beauty of a book called "The Personal Internet Address & Password Log Book" and I am a happy camper! You can get it from Amazon! Mailed to you! Can you remember your Amazon password?

(bangs head on desk)

All my sites, user names (most in code because I can remember a code... wait... can't I?!) and passwords in alphabetical order and I keep it handy for when I need it. I try not to take it out of the house with me. After you take off the front cover of the journal it's a very unassuming little book though. My kids still can't figure out what they are looking at... "You need me to bring you what? I don't see any red book (insert exact location). Where do I look again?" Nevermind... I'll just get it myself... First I tell the kid who is hunting to stay put though and then I walk in to pick it up from right in front of them.
See... no one would ever find it! I have proof. Leave it in plain sight.
Sigh!

This post contains an affiliate link that may give me a small commission. Woowho! Love those!

This is also linked up to the Welcome Home Wednesdays Linkup from Raising Arrows, Works for Me Wednseday from We Are That Family and it’s my Letter P for my #AtoZChallenge in the A to Z Blog Challenge.


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Overwhelmed… I am… I was…

O is for Overwhelmed. I felt it today! I tried to fight it and sort of lost and than regained my lost ground by prioritizing. That is my biggest weapon against feeling overwhelmed. Reprioritize. My other weapon is to grab the phone and call up my buddy! (@SuzyQOle! Help!) Beyond that I was a bit lost. My kids could see that I was struggling though and recommended I check out a few sessions at a homeschool conference I was attending. (They really did it in a nice way! I was touched that they were trying to help!) One of the sessions I attended was by Michelle from the Above Rubies ministry team. I didn’t know much about Above Rubies or Michelle but her topic was 10 Exits off of Overwhelmed Highway. One exit would be good for me, but 10? I’m on board.

When I entered the class I took my usual seat in the back. The classroom filled up quickly. The session didn’t start out all that awe-striking. I did not get a bunch of Ah HA moments throughout either. I was kind of let down. I did (almost unknowingly) take notes and brought those home. Maybe because the whole thing was my last session and I was just in shock mode over all that I learned? I don’t know. At any rate, I didn’t think it all made that much of a difference.

This week and half since than I have realized that I did learn more in that session than originally thought! Little statements and phrases Michelle said have stuck with me and I have applied them. Today, not so well. But here are a few that REALLY stuck with me and have helped in some instances:

- Who told you to do all of that?
I am already big at re-prioritizing my schedule often when I get flustered but this statement has really caused me to rethink whatever I start to get upset about in a big way. Who told me that I had to get the kitchen cleaned, dishes done, living room swept, dining room mopped, all of the bathrooms cleaned and full day of homeschooling in at the same time? Yah… me… and why would I think I could manage all that? Silly me… What REALLY needs done? Do that…

- Work on ONE thing that is bothering you
And get it done… just having this one thing will make your day seem better. My mom has always told me, “just go clean your kitchen sink. Right now. You will feel better with a clean kitchen sink.” Sounds silly doesn’t it? But it works! Just cleaning my kitchen sink sometimes makes the rest of what I need to get done fall into place.

- Stop, Drop and Roll
I loved this analogy!
Stop what you are doing
Drop the useless attitude
Roll onto the next project!

She even recommended that I should change the focus of my day to someone, anyone and do something nice for them. So instead of getting worked up about so many little things I should plan something nice for someone else. Of course that does help put me in a better mood! It sure is hard to do sometimes…
- If there is too much going on, focus on one thing.
 
This ties into the focusing on someone else a bit too. Really focusing on just getting dinner done instead of the million other little things might be all I can get done in a day sometimes. I should focus on that because it brings the family together though. It does help!

So what do you do when you get freaked out, overwhelmed? I still have a long way to go with this. Today was a good example to me of what not to do. The past few hours have soothed me back into reality and I have a list ready for the whole week to get me through the craziness. I know a list! So stagnant and rigid. I need this right now though. That way I don’t try and focus on something that will get me no where and I end up frazzled again. Here’s hoping it works!

(Totally funny! The song “Don’t Worry Be Happy” is playing as I finish up this post too. Ha! Perfect timing!)

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This is Letter O for my #atozchallenge
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What Should I Write Now?

No words? Nothing? I am having another letter with an issue here. Just like my forget it post I am tempted to say, “I got nothing.” Instead I turned to my kids and asked them. I told them about my blog posts that I am working on and how it works with letters of the alphabet. They thought the whole idea was very interesting and told me to write an entire post about… are you ready? Here is what I am supposed to write about:

Naps

That’s right! From my children who have hated to take a nap since the age of 2 I am not hearing that they want ME to focus more on naps. I have begged for a nap time before. I may just turn back to them tomorrow and tell them to write a paper for me about WHY NOT NAP? Yah… what do you think of that? I think the world would be a better place if everyone was to take a nap. Maybe even a few times each day. One nap a day for everyone and another nap during the day for just kids so the adults have a chance to finish something. Like their #atozchallenge posts on time.

I think I may take a nap tomorrow. To try and help my sanity.

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Overcoming Mommy Madness

Have you ever heard of it? I am inflicted with it. I have recently found a small amount of relief for it but have also found that it’s still really easy to give into the disease. Mommy madness (to me) is defined as a mom (me) who gets mad either easily or often. When I PMS I am consumed by mommy madness. It is embarrassing and frustrating to me and my entire family. It is not pretty.

I try to make light of my “Mommy Madness” but trust me, it is nothing to make light of. If you have never experienced it before, yeehaw! I am so excited for you and I encourage you to keep it up! If you have experienced the madness of yelling, crying, apologizing and repeating more than you care to admit… well… can I just offer you a hug? A completely non-judgmental hug. We all have our baggage to deal with and I understand that. Let’s support each other and find ways to help each other around that baggage!

I knew I needed to work on things but a major warning bell for me was when my kids were helping me pick out my sessions for the amazing homeschool conference I was able to attend. Several of the sessions they picked while looking over the list had to do with being overwhelmed. What really impressed me though was how lovingly my own children presented it to me. I was brought to tears because they wanted to help me and realizing that they couldn’t/didn’t fully understand how to help me they prompted me to seek help with someone else. Blew my mind. Broke my heart.

How did I start? Before the this conference I had already started by openly discussing my feelings with my kids. I was careful on some details of my feelings because it may have involved their father, grandparents, etc and they didn’t need the gory details. A simple, “Mommy is frustrated with someone else but that gives me no right to take it out on you.” Was all they needed to relate. I soon began to hear my kids say these words! They were recognizing that they were angry but it was at a situation and not the person in front of them. Baby steps….

1. I want MY TIME, to do MY THING, to BE ME. Now, don’t get me wrong “me time” has it’s place but not in the selfish manner I was hunting it down. Constantly hunting for my time made me resent my children. If I resent them, than of course their “interruptions” will make me mad. I seem to struggle with this concept a lot or at least once a year. I need to remember this from my Standing Up Straight post.

(Click the image for full size. Adjust printer settings to landscape for printing on one page.)

2. I need to accept who I am and where I am going. Sounds simple enough but I’ve been fighting my purpose a lot lately. I have chosen a purpose of homeschooling my kids and I need to respect that, not fight it. Homeschooling has been moved up in my priority list. I have always had it pretty high on my list but now it’s even more so. Attending this conference made me see how I’ve let other things take over and how school was creeping into the back seat. I even let myself slide into the idea that I could “send my kids to school” and be okay with that. Wow… I heard the statistic that kids in schools spend 14,000 hours away from there families between kindergarten to high school. I don’t want to miss that much time with my kids. Personally, I didn’t like spending that much time behind a desk as a kid either. Don’t some of us get enough time behind a desk as adults?

3. Sleep! Oh my… I need more sleep! I no longer let myself take my laptop upstairs (except on weekends). I can have my phone and/or tablet but no more laptop. This makes me go to bed earlier and I get more sleep. More sleep equals a much more peaceful momma! This works for me.

4. Family devotions! This is another priority I have let slip away and I am picking it up again and running with it. The kids are enjoying devotions and I am learning a lot about them and myself. Silly to me that I did not do this every day before. Very silly.

5. Turning around being overwhelmed to productive. I attended a session at the GHC conference that was recommended by my kids. They only chose it for the title and at first I thought it would just be basic information that I already knew but it really made a difference! I will write more about it later though with my letter O post in the #atozchallenge. I see the clock and my phone alarm has gone off, I need to get to bed.

I  hope something in this post may have helped you along the way or at least encouraged you in some way!

I don’t have to a mad mommy.

None of us do really.

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Library - Best Online Tip!

L is for Library! I love that my kids are so into reading now. It took some of them awhile but now I cannot get them to stop reading. The hard part for them is waiting. Waiting to get to the library again for the next book in their series. Well, I'm trying to be the good mom and I try to get their next books put on hold for them so they will be ready when they are done. I love that our library lets us put books on hold and will get them all ready for checkout at any library we choose. Makes me feel more like a super hero mom!

The hardest part about the whole process is figuring out WHAT the next book is in a series. Our library system is awesome but they do not list books in series or post books in order of their series on their website. (insert silent scream) I have one kid reading at least five different series! I can't even keep up with my own passwords, let alone my kids series of books.

Well, I found a gem! I contacted the library and gave them my whole sob story of how I couldn't figure out the next book in this series and needed help. (I need a lot of help! This is just an area that someone could actually help me.) It sounded more like a therapy letter. My letter got forwarded around a bit but someone finally had an answer. I think I should be more embarrassed because of how many people read my letter but it just goes to show that maybe I'm not the only one with this problem.

The gem is ANOTHER library's online catalog that actually figured out how to post a series of books: Take a look at Juvenile Series and Sequels Database.

(insert flashes of light and singing angels)

This library catalog allows you to search by series! You can either look over an expansive list of books or type in the series that you are hunting through. I love that it even gives you a picture of the books too! (Visual person here...)

They have it figured out! If this is your library, can you go and hug the web-master for me? Just tell them the crazy lady on the internet I told you to. I think they will understand. You might want to make sure of any security cameras in the vicinity and locate all your exits first.

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Killing Weeds

I have been spending a lot of my “spare time” searching for ways to rid my garden of pesky weeds. Ha! Like I have spare time? At any rate… weeds… I want to kill them! (insert crazy-maniac-evil laugh here)

My husband has helped as much as he can with the weeds that infest my garden each year. The crazy thing is that the weeds aren’t IN the garden really. Horrible, terrible weeds that prick and poke grow AROUND the garden! ARGH! Mulching all around the garden has not helped as much as I had hoped that it would either. Soooo… I am on the hunt. How to better kill the weeds that attack me each year around the garden. Any ideas?

I have tried vinegar but I think I need a more acidic solution. Bleach did not seem to work well last year either. (Did I mention I lean towards the organic side of things? Don’t mention round-up… YUK!) I am going to try spreading borax around the house to prevent creepy crawlers from coming in more than I want but I am not sure it would help much with weeds. I am considering a little burn torch like the Red Dragon here, but fire makes me a bit nervous. Especially around flammable plants, mulch and raised beds. EEP! The idea of watching those nasty weeds wither from a touch of flame is strangely exhilarating though! 

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Notice: There is an affiliate link in this post. I may get something if someone purchases this torch using this link. Most likely not but you have been warned. Heehehe!

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J is for Juggling

I am juggling too much right now. I may just burn myself out before the end of the month, but I am trying really hard not to drop anything that I have started. Have you ever heard of a flexible juggler before? Well… I am not incredibly flexible (in body or mind at times) and I am struggling a bit on how to make this all work. Flexible juggling… Never really thought of it that way before either but it makes sense.

All mom’s are flexible jugglers. We juggle our kids schedule compared to ours and our spouse. We meal plan while cleaning or fixing a boo-boo. We research an illness while making said meal we planned just a few minutes before. All of this is to be done with ease? Nope! I know that I cannot even do all of this on my own. Just like I am relying on God’s math for our income I am not working on relying on God’s juggling skills. Folks, I am just not this good. Several times today I just wanted to loose it. I had to reprioritize and bite my tongue a few times.

I just pray that I can keep this up! I will HAVE to find a few moments to my own in the next few days to just unwind and relax or I know that I won’t be able to continue my current juggling act. After all, isn’t juggling just that? An act? Most of them are. Although I have to say I can be quite entertaining to everyone with my crazy antics.

Whoops! I need to get going! Looks like the pizza dough is ready and I only have 45 min to finish baking pizza, getting us all dressed (mostly done but I laid a little down for a nap that is notorious for removing articles of clothing), hiding anything from the dogs that they may destroy and get us to our next destination! Ack… At least I have the bit of shopping that I want to do written down and planned out. Off to juggle some pizza dough in the air! (Ha! That would not end well…. dinner for the dogs maybe…)

PS- I am not reading over this again. Sorry for any grammatical and spelling errors. :)

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Homeschool Conference Wrap-up

I attended a homeschool conference last weekend and it was AMAZING! Not like I thought it would be amazing though, MORE amazing than I thought it would be! I learned so much about my kids and myself and what was available for us to learn together. I am still in awe of everything I learned, saw, witnessed and heard! I bought some CD’s to listen to some of the sessions I attended to again and I picked up some other CD’s to use when I start some new curriculum.

What would I do different when planning for a conference like this?
Ummm… now that I know what the parking garages look like, I will avoid the creepy ones! ACK! No way to enter the garage and we were in the basement with all the pipes and rusted doors leading who knows where. Perfect location for some sort of horror show! “Noooo! Don’t open that door you dumb person!!! The bad guy is right there!” Ergh… (The door to the right lead to another not as well marked door that lead to some stairs. Fortunately I was arriving and did not have a lot of books to haul up the stairs.)

I would plan like I did but I would RELAX too. At the end of my planning at home, in a state of being utterly overwhelmed, I said a simple of prayer of “oh my, Lord help me! I can’t do this alone!” WOW! I needed to start there. Even with all the planning I did, I did NOT stick to it all. I changed my mind on which sessions to attend in the middle of walking to one sometimes.

Oh I would so pack a notebook. What was I thinking?! I did not pack a single piece of blank paper for this conference! I saw that Miller Paper was in the exhibit hall, took notes on a corner of my planning sheets for my first sessions and bought a tiny little notebook as soon as the exhibit hall opened. Duh moment! Take a notebook… and paper clips. They come in handy! OH highlighters and page tabber thingies (technical term) are must-have-on-hand items too.

I want my whole family to go next year!!! Everyone can get a little bit of something out of this event and I want them to all come. I can’t wait!!! I may start planning for that now!

READ THE MAP! I was so crazy to not take a physical map of Cincinnati with me. GPS is great, but what if it’s not. DUH! I should have had a map in the car. Would have been very beneficial to me a few times. And if I had read the exhibit hall/session map I would have not walked in a complete circle to find a room too. That was a huge waste of energy! If I didn’t write this here, no one would have known though. HAHA!
 

What would I keep the same?
Planning which booth I really wanted to find in the 1/2 mile long conference hall was one of the BEST things I had done in my preparing for the conference. I did NOT realize how LARGE the exhibit hall would be so going over the list before I got there was a HUGE time saver. I than took the time to transfer my list to the program guide I was given at registration so all my top exhibit booths to visit were highlighted. PLUS! After getting lost several times I realized that writing in the names of certain booths at the entrances would be very beneficial.

I am so glad that I looked over ALL the books, manipulatives, art supplies, etc that we have in stock right now. (The stack to the right is our NEW stack of fun things!) I also went a step further with it and took pictures of it all and put it into Evernote Notebooks. I was saved from many an impulsive purchase because I could look through the pictures and see that I already had 10 of something. I didn’t need to buy it again. Hehehe…

Also I installed my library’s app on my phone. It is SO AWESOME! I could scan ISBN numbers with it and it would pull up the book if it was in our library. Woowho! Another money saver right there! I didn’t buy (too many) things that I could borrow from the library. (Yes, there were a few things I did purchase just because I knew I would love to just keep them in our house.)

Walking around on my own (even if I had my family in tow) is probably my route to go too. I loved the freedom to go where I wanted and get things done on my time schedule at this event. This will be a bit more challenging with my family there but maybe not. Think about it… do they really want to plod around after me as I cruise through all the booths? Probably not… I mostly want them to get what they can from the sessions! After my first round of the hall having someone to discuss which curriculum might be best would be awesome though.

All in all this was a FANTASTIC convention! I have never attended one before like it and I am not sure why I never did until now. I want more!!! I am more excited about our next year than I ever have been before (I am usually excited… but this is different) and I didn’t have to WAIT until next year to start some things now. I like that this all came together before I wrapped up this school year.

Read more about how this homeschool conference helped

 me Overcome Mommy Madness a bit too.

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This post is linked up to the Hip Homeschool Hop, The Homeschool Village and
part of the A to Z Blog Challenge ( #atozchallenge )

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Forget It....

I have been trying really hard to come up with a post for the A to Z Challenge that uses the letter F. At home I was doing really well at getting posts rounded up, scheduled and ready to go. I had intended to do something on Feedly Tips. Alas, planning for the homeschool conference (I am in attendance of right now) took precedence. So while I was here I thought I would try to do something cute about FOOTAGE and take pictures of my feet during various activities of a conference. Sketchy internet, headaches, lack of sleep... nope. That is not working either.

Forget it... I have WAY too much for be working on. All you get is this tiny little paragraph.

This homeschool conference is AWESOME!

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This is Letter F for my #atozchallenge
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Everything About Me

This is EVERYTHING about me. Or at least it's everything you may need to know about me? Okay so I can't tell you everything in one post because it would just take to long. How about the highlights of everything? You would probably be happier NOT knowing everything about me anyway. Need to have some mystery about me still... right?


I am joining up with the Ultimate Blog Hop to introduce Everything about ME and have a bit of a party on the side! I love a good party and 5 Minutes for Mom’s annual Ultimate Blog Party never lets me down in the fun department. As a matter of fact, if you are reading this post during the week of April 5-12, YOU still have time to join the fun too! There will be twitter parties, prizes and more!

Now for those visiting me for the first time a bit of everything about me... I feel so vain with posts like this! And that thought leads me to wanting to watch How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days. Hmmm...

My name is Mom to most of who I know. That tells you right there that I don’t know many people. Heehee! I guess I should say the name I hear most is ‘Mom’. Usually it is more like, “Mooaaahhhm! I can’t find this… I’m hungry… <insert name here> is LOOKING at me… <insert another name here> isn’t doing <insert task here>” Ae you familiar with any of that? Yah… so my name is Mom.Very few people call me Dee. I love my family and wouldn’t have it any other way!

I started this blog back when we were building our home. It was basically a place where I could journal about the madness that is building and moving. Now my blog is an addiction. That's right... I am addicted to blogging. Are you addicted to blogging? It is SO relaxing to me. Blogging with a deadline stresses me out... but that is why my blog has no deadlines. Usually... Sometimes a bit of recreational stress can be good for a person. Right? (Just nod and smile here... humor me...)

Let's see... more about me. I am a bit crazy about gardening. I started my plants late (by my standards) inside this year but they are doing AWESOME! I already have some true leaves on my baby tomatoes and there are gobs of them growing. I hate the thinning part of the growing season. What if I pick the wrong little plant to chop off? Ugh! I agonize over which plant to cut down.

I am still a homeschooling mom. I am actually AT a homeschool conference right now! I have been planning like crazy for this trip and am still a bit overwhelmed. Incredibly excited to be going to a conference would be an understatement. This conference is enormous too! I may need a GPS for the exhibit hall. So much great information and I will get to SEE bits and pieces of the curriculum I am picking out for next year. Feels weird to be thinking of "next year" already. I just got adjusted to working with THIS year. Next year should be further away than it is...

Half baked hobbies used to be my specialty but now I try to make time to get something done. I love sewing! I never used to. A sewing bug must have bit me at some point in time and now I am hooked. Sometimes I am resizing costumes for a little production one of my kids is a part of or resizing a tshirt! I also sell some cute little things in my Etsy Shop. My favorite thing to work on would be my upcycled aprons I make. Love them! I've made a few of those now. Have some more to make yet too!

So... There is more about me but this little bit of EVERYTHING about me but this is just a sneak peek. I don't want to scare everyone off too quickly with everything, ya know?

If you are part of the Ultimate Blog Hop be sure to leave me a quick comment below!

I'd be happy to hop on by and learn a bit of
EVERYTHING about you too!

Take care and thanks for stopping by!
Dee

Find all my April Blogging from A to Z Challenge Posts Here

This is Letter E for my #atozchallenge
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Low Down on Dirt

I saw this nifty little experiment to check our gardens dirt and I knew we would have to try it out! I needed to know what was going on in my garden with the dirt anyway. Turning this all into a homeschool project for the kids was just an added bonus.

Basically you scoop up dirt, add water and than either add baking soda or vinegar for the test. Woowho! Easy enough right? (Click on the image to the right here for more information about how you can perform this test.)

The kids had to figure out how to tell the difference between their soil samples, make sure they picked up samples from the same location and use the same amount of water/baking soda/vinegar on each sample. Eh… piece of cake!

It was fun to try this out and I’m glad we did. Apparently all my garden dirt is acidic. Now to amend that before my little seeding lovelies get kicked outside this year.


We did NOT do full mason jars for our experiment but we did adjust down amounts used for our tiny little samples (as best we could). We also used bottled water so that anything in our water wasn’t as prominent in the testing. We should run the test twice just to make sure it is true but from what I’ve read about acidic dirt in the garden, it seems spot on.

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This is Letter D for my #atozchallenge
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Cow Milk in the Raw

It's great stuff isn't it? Some of you may be cringing right now due to allergies. So sorry! I love COW’s milk and I love that we now get it RAW from a local, small, clean dairy farm. Fattening cream and all! Bring it on! The whole myth that raw cow milk is bad for you is a bunch of... ahem...

Doesn’t it look SO YUMMO?!

Our second child is diagnosed with (IBD) colitis and I knew that something needed to change at home. After all, you are what you eat right? (Notice: I am not a doctor nor nutritionist. I am only announcing what has worked for our family. You should talk with your doctor and make a decision that is best for your family when it comes to anything you eat.)

Since I have changed our diet I have lost 20+ pounds and my "always will be ill because there is no cure" child is thriving! (Raw) Cow milk is only a small piece of our diet change. I have also been having us avoid basically all processed food, food containing high fructose corn syrup, soybean/canola/cottonseed oils or any other possible GMO food, carrageenan and so much more.

If you ever decide to try raw cow milk, just be sure to visit the farm you choose to get your cow milk from and make sure things are operated in a clean and precise manner. AND start with it slowly. Mix it with milk you are used to until you are ready for it. We can't switch back now. Tastes weird from the stores. We tolerate it when we run out of our raw milk, but it's just not the same. Be sure to SHAKE your cow’s milk well before drinking to mix the cream and milk together again. Hehe… Yum!

I am linking this NOT even close to being Wordless Wednesday post to:
5 Minutes for Mom
Dagmar's Momsense

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This is Letter C for my #atozchallenge
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Baby Bunny Nests

Every year... well... for the last 2 years I have been having baby bunnies sprout from my garden faster than anything else. They overrun my strawberry patch and reek havoc on the entire garden. I am not the type of person to take a shotgun or poison to them either. I just suffer through. Mainly because I just can't stand to kill something. UGH! Plus I would have a complete riot on my hands in the house with some of my kids if I did.

They are already trying to make nests in the garden!!! I just pulled one out the other day. It was about a foot deep! ARGH! Fortunately there was no babies in the nest yet. Just a lot of grass….

Last years the little fuzz balls were put under protection but then they all got killed by the dogs. Seriously! Why do I try and be nice and let them live. I need to see if I have any pictures because one of those years I "protected" the baby bunnies from the DOGS! They have decimated my strawberry bed but yet I protected them. (Help me!)

This year I had a plan! No... no bunnies will be harmed in my plan but I hope it works. We have already been out in the  garden to prep it for planting. I moved things and around and I was going to place bird netting over my strawberry patch. Sadly, I found out that I had no strawberry plants to protect! Sigh… I intend to make a trip to the garden everyday until baby bunny season is over and remove their rotten nests!

I want my garden back! I don't want to find fuzzy tails or little ears in my yard either. Yah... on that note...

How do you prevent furry critters from partying in your garden?
I need any tips I can get... or maybe a bit more grit.

This post is linked up to Tuesday Garden Party!

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This is Letter B for my #atozchallenge
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Amazing

I am going to start out my A to Z Blog Hop with a bang and probably scare off half the people who intend to visit me here. I just have to share something AMAZING! I should have done something about April Fools day, but I am no good at that kind of stuff.

I am a homeschool mom (which can be considered amazing in itself!) and I try my hardest to pick out quality curriculum that fits the needs of each of my kids. Every year I start pouring over catalogs, websites and lists to see what we have, what we need and what we may NOT need for the next year (sometimes the direction I want to go is not the direction we need to go). I love to try and get to conferences for homeschool to get more information and get recharged, but that is not always possible.

This year the most AMAZING thing has happened! Not only am I going to a conference but I am going to HUGE conference and I will be on my own!! Well... with a friend but without kids in tow to drag around to each booth. (Poor things! They tolerate so much but they are not thrilled about the planning part of homeschooling. They like to oogle over all there new stuff from the comfort of their home.) And all of this AFTER all the agony of our furnace even! (Which I wish had just been an early April Fools joke!)

This is totally a God thing to have so many details fall into place in such a short period of time!

Granted this amazing opportunity has left me with my brain spinning. I am currently wading through the list of sessions available that I can attend and choosing the ones that most interest me and meet our needs. So many choices!!! I have also been going over all the books, experiments, manipulative-s, etc we have in our home right now so that I don't make any impulse buys and get something we already have. This in itself is a huge task! I have four different grades to cover so there are mountains of books to work through. I think this is how people feel heading out to blog conferences? I know it must be how they feel to sponsored to an event. It's just family but I am still sponsored. Hehe....

This amazing weekend all started with a simple tweet from a twitter buddy. All she said was that she was going, was anyone else and would they like to have dinner. I made a pity party response which started an avalanche of ideas and suddenly I am going!

God has so blessed me!

Find all my April Blogging from A to Z Challenge Posts Here

This is Letter A for my #atozchallenge
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Blogging from A to Z April Challenge

I JUST signed up to be a part of this blog hop! I am very nervous about this one because coming up with a topic for EVERY DAY of the month (not Sundays though... we at least get one day off) is daunting! I think I can do this and I'd really like to just to say that I did it. Once. Maybe it will be another addiction in blogging that I will have to complete each year from here on out. Who knows!

What makes you decide to join in on Blog Hops? 

Sometimes I think Meme's and Blog Hops can be a bit over done but I almost can't resist them because it's like a journal prompt. Journal prompts make my life easier sometimes. Not that I don't have an abundance of topics that I could be blogging about. I usually have too much to blog about but before I can get it jotted down I forget what it was.

At any rate, you should try the A to Z blogging challenge too. Just because... Let me know if you are! I'd love to stop by!

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