Patriot's Day 2012

This weather has been amazingly insane.  It's April 16.  Patriot's Day.  It's hot...in New England.  Hope you're enjoying the weather as much as we are!

Daylight Savings...



Sometimes your children will fall asleep while waiting for you to get off of Facebook...




And sometimes they'll hang out with you while you're up close and personal with bees...



And sometimes your kids will get along AND pose for pictures.



Walking in the Woods

The husband and the boys go walking behind our property all the time.  It's usually when I need time to relax or time to clean, so I haven't ventured as far as they have.  Today I saw the much talked about truck that is just sitting out there.  I also got to witness the beauty that is the wilderness I live so close to. 


Who leaves a truck in the middle of nowhere?




I was freaking out and had to walk away because there was glass everywhere they were climbing. 




I didn't capture how very cool this all looked in person very well.




Deer tracks.




Littlest Man.




Beautiful moss covered rocks were everywhere.




My middle guy.  He's just so handsome.

 It was 25 degrees out and sunny.  All bundled up and moving, it was almost like it was 30 degrees out.  It was a beautiful day.

Starting GAPS Intro for Skin Issues...

I have decided to try to heal my skin by starting the GAPS intro diet.  We tried GAPS before, but that didn't work out so well. 
I have this skin problem that I'd like solved.  I'm thinking that there's something wrong with my gut, so I'm starting there.  At least if I heal my gut and nothing is resolved then I can look elsewhere for help.
I'm not claiming to be a medical professional, this is just my own journey. 

I began this morning with some probiotics and a 1/2 cup of water.  I waited half and hour and then had a cup of chicken broth.  I had a simple soup of 1/2 a red onion and 2 green pieces from a leek sauteed in a tsp of coconut oil.  I added boiled chicken and 2 cups of broth. 

From taking the probiotics to eating the soup, it took 2 hours.  This is because I have children. I also had started cooking down some blood orange marmalade.  This is not GAPS friendly, but I will hold onto it until I can eat it...on warm buttered toast.  I'm not going to lie.  This is going to be hard.  The rest of my family is not doing GAPS, so I am cooking for them and me.  I'm hoping these posts help to keep me in check.  I'm also hoping to the first stage for a few days.  Fingers crossed.

I get a lot of my inspiration for eating healthy and doing GAPS via these sites:

Nourished Kitchen

Food Renegade

Health, Home & Happiness

Nourishing Days

Psoriasis? Eczema? Leprosy???

This has nothing to do with homeschooling or being a mom of boys.  It's about ME.  Just thought I'd add in that little disclaimer. 


swollen and red hands, week 1

 Two weeks ago I developed swollen red hands and feet.  After a week, they started peeling.  Then I noticed other patches on my knees, elbows, underarms and a strip under my breasts. 


under breasts



elbow



knee



foot

They were a bit tender.  My hands were the worst.  My feet hurt to stand too long on them.  My hands were heat sensitive.  At the end of one week, my fingertips began to peel. 




one week and 4 days



knee, one week 4 days

I visited the doctor two days into the initial symptoms.  She had no idea and had to search the CDC website.  She guessed it was Parvovirus and sent me on my merry way.  One week later, I went to see a nurse practitioner and he said he had no idea, as did the doctor that was consulting.  They ran a blood test for liver dysfunction, Parvovirus and Lyme.  All came back negative.  They wouldn't see me again to run more tests.  They suggested I call a dermatologist.  I called them and they offered me the convenient and helpful appointment on the 24th of this month.  After some words, I have an appointment tomorrow.  Here's what it looks like today:

I bite my nails instead of smoking cigarettes.  I'm one of those with an oral fixation.  My fingernails are small to begin with.  However, after this whole skin peeling, swollen hands thing started, my nails have been weird.  My pinkie nail is just about gone. 
I Googled some info and found that this could all be psoriasis.  The thing that boggles my mind is, if it is, how it just comes out of nowhere and is just here...forever. 
My fingers and hands are tight.  It's uncomfortable to clench my hands and extend them.  They have cracked and bled. 
I'm hoping I can get a diagnosis and start my way onto being well again.  This all kinda stinks. 
Thanks for listening and sorry for grossing you out with photos. 

Take a Walk

The unseasonably warm weather we've been having in Massachusetts is weird.  I'm expecting a horrific summer, or terrible snow storms in April.  Darn global warming.  The earth couldn't have warmed up that fast. 
We took advantage of the 40 something degree weather today and went for a jaunt.  Not only did we wear ourselves out, we exercised, breathed fresh air, collected pine cones for bird feeders/Christmas tree decorations, collected rocks, ran races and were just together. 
Cesar Milan, you know, the Dog Whisperer, always reminds owners to just take their dog for a walk.  That should be extended to kids.  The boys were climbing the walls, tumbling over one another before we left.  We've been home almost an hour and they're playing so quietly and cooperatively.  Oh my, I should go knock on some wood...
I am totally famous for telling my kids to go play outside, but it's not the same as a.) going with them and b.) getting them to move.  I don't know about your kids, but mine will be wrestling and throwing one another around inside the house.  As soon as I get them outside they start doing individual activities...quietly.  They'll come back in and immediately resume their wrestling matches.  Um, so that's not what I had in mind. 
I am with my boys 24/7.  And I love it.  But it's a whole different ball game when you take them out of the house and do something that doesn't involve lists or errands or other people.  We just got to be out together. 
I don't do this nearly as often as I'd like.  The husband usually takes them on hikes into the woods so I can get stuff done around the house.  I think I'll have to schedule in times like this from now on. 



There's a collection of rocks in that sweatshirt pocket.




"I think that's Land Coral, mum."




He was in the middle of singing...





I almost died...they all actually stood still, posed and smiled...



Electrica Fun...or not...

While making a lovely Buche de Noel courtesy of Nourished Kitchen, I turned to Eli to explain something about mixing the egg whites separately from the rest of the batter.  When I turned back to Odin, who was standing immediately to my left, I hear a crack, see a spark, a spoon goes flying and he jumps back saying, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry!!!" 
Apparently while I was momentarily engaged to the right, my inquisitive four-year-old took it upon himself to experiment with a metal measuring spoon and the outlet the mixer was plugged into.

The outlet is out.  The outlet the fridge is working from is now out.  My perpetual broth crock pot had to be moved.  I have a call into my husband, who is hard at work today.  Oy vey.
And yes, I have to admit that my initial reaction to the spark, spoon-throwing, cracking sound was not worthy of Mom of the Year...it involved expletives...loud, adult-content expletives.  I did, however, reassess and then turned it into an extension of their electricity kit discussions..."remember, metal is a conductor?  See how it it reacted to the electrical current?" 
Off to locate an electrician...

Customizing Family Games

I came home the other day to find this on the kitchen table.

  I love that husband o'mine.  Odin was thrilled to be operated on.

Dog Biscuits

Grandma, if you're reading this, perchance, go away.
Okay, now that that's dealt with...
The boys decided they'd love to make dog biscuits for grandma's new dog, Buddy.  Buddy is the sweetest Soft-Coated Wheaten Terrier.  And he's 6 months old. 
I found a recipe by Googling.  I can't remember which recipe it is and I've misplaced the print out of the recipe.  Yes, I'm that organized and helpful.
We all gathered around the table and got to making the biscuits.  Measuring was off...some of the little ones don't quite understand that in order to complete the measure you've got to fill the spoon or cup...
They enjoyed kneading and stirring the dough.  They wanted to taste it...2 liked it and one just about threw up. 
Ingredients:  5-6 cups whole wheat flour, 1.5 cups chicken broth, 4 garlic cloves, 2 tbs parsley, and the rest I cannot remember. 
The recipe called for rolling out the dough to a 1/4" thick, cutting and baking for 30 minutes, then flipping them all over and baking for another 15 minutes, turning off the oven and letting them sit there overnight so they get all crispy.  Um, so we rolled out the dough to a 1/4" thick.  The kids fought over who's turn it was to cut and how many they could cut before the next child could partake.  They were baked for 30 minutes and were way crispy.  So I didn't flip them over or leave them in the oven all night. 
I'm wondering if Buddy will ever get to taste these treats.  I asked my husband, "If you had a dog and someone made him treats, would you feed them to him?"  He said, "I'd say 'thank you' very politely and mean it."  Well, that didn't answer my question.  Then he said, "Maybe."  I think that's better...
We didn't have dog bone shaped cookie cutters.  The boys also thought our Christmas cookie cutters were too big.  So, we used a biscuit cutter and a knife.  Check out these masterpieces!


Using the garlic press...Oh, look, there is yeast! 
There was yeast in the biscuits.  One more ingredient uncovered....2 tsp.




Cutting biscuits is very serious business.





Shmorgasboard of biscuits...




Mmmm...crispy.

I will totally not blame grandma if these end up in the trash.  However, I'm hopeful that she'll allow the kids to give Buddy one.

Homemade Christmas Ornaments

I made this little guy on a whim.  We started out making snowmen with the large sized pom poms.  Then our snowmen needed scenes, trees and santas.  This santa was pretty easy to make.  The head is a pom pom.  The body is a pom pom wrapped in a square of red felt.  The arms and legs are rolled up pieces of felt.  The boots are triangular pieces of black felt glued to the leg to look like a boot.   The hat is a triangular piece of felt wrapped around the pom pom and glued together.  Everything is hot-glued together.  I like hot glue. 

This was our Christmas tree ornament.  It's stuffed with Poly-fil, hot-glued and beaded.  I had more insight to take pictures of the tree.  The santas went by so fast I didn't even think of documenting every step. 

Lastly, we experimented with an ornament idea from another site.  The melted snowman ornament.  Too cute of an idea.  I tried.  I don't know if I need an industrial sized hot glue gun, but I couldn't get the glue out fast enough before the existing glue started to cool and harden.  Hers are much cuter than mine.  This is what ours ended up looking like:

Not very cute.  Now I have a zillion little black hats...