Icy "Stuff"

I just had to do a quick post about the interesting weather we had yesterday! We went from a high of 85 degrees around 4pm or so down to the 40's by around 9pm and around 30 degrees for the low last night! Amazing!

Here are a few photos of the sleet/ice that came down last night! We had rain and sleet off and on all night..a nice change after no rain whatsoever the past few months!

Haircuts!

My kids were waaaaay over due for haircuts but they finally had them done today!

We have a good friend who comes to our home to do them for the kids. She is a professional and does and awesome job!

I only got the first and last ones taken as the other two went really quick and I was getting lunch for the 4 extra kids who were over that day! :)

This is my youngest...he really doesn't like haircuts, but he has gotten much better over the years! He did move when she was using the clippers...resulting in a shorter cut than planned for!

My oldest getting her hair cut. Note how long it is in this photo compared to the one below after it was cut and it was being flat ironed.

The result of 4 haircuts..we could have made our own wig!

Special Sale! Organized Mom's Super Set by Cindy Rushton!

Would you love to spend an afternoon--or a week--with another homeschool mom and plan out the details of your school year?

You CAN! Check out Cindy Rushton's New Organized Mom Super Set!

Great ebooks
Audio Mp3's
Planning Pages

Plus! When you purchase your set you get MORE help with record-keeping, organization, and setting up your home to learn--you also get access to Cindy's Organization 911 Seminar Set and her newest seminar set, Let's Get Organized for the New School Year.
Yep! Both! Complimentary!

This set is on SALE this week only!! September 1st-7th for half off!! This is a deal you won't want to pass up! Please check it out!!


Get your set here:

Organized Mom's Super Set--click here!!


I love all the sets she offers and you are getting an awesome deal with this sale!! It is this week only....so don't pass it up!!

Ballet Milestones 2008

Both my girls completed their Cecchetti Levels this year and took their Level exams in June.

They both passed and my oldest will continue with her private instruction through the coming year. Ballet is very hard work and especially so when you start so "late in life" as my girls have...especially my oldest. She has improved dramatically each year and is enjoying the challenge for the most part! :)

Of course, they have an AWESOME Ballet teacher who has been working her butt off all year not only to teach the girls but to also work on her Cecchetti Teacher certification for the higher levels--meaning she is also a student at the same time as being a teacher! She is truly amazing and we all love her!

We are all VERY proud of both girls and what they have accomplished in order to pass these exams.

Girls, you are beautiful and are really developing your focus, self control and determination through your ballet work! We love you and are proud of you!

Extra review just before the exam.

"Brooke" and her friend just before the exam, but after practicing--they were already really hot!

All smiles after the exam was over! Yea!

"Annie" and her friend (who did both Level 1 and 2 exams within 2 days!) after the exam.

Make Your Own Spirulina Capsules!

A number of months back, I started on the road to learning more about how to use herbs, and how to make them into tinctures, rubs, etc. At that time, I had also purchased several items that need to be encapsulated to be used easily and all the supplies to do it.

Of course, I spent a lot of time make various tinctures and rubs, but didn't get around to trying out my supplies to encapsulate the spirulina and bentonite clay that I had bought.

So, yesterday, in the midst of having 3 extra kids in my house, I decided to try it out. It was actually a very easy process and I will finish filling up my 1000 capsules on a day when I don't have so much going on! Below are some pictures of the process of filling up the Spirulina capsules. I will do the Bentonite clay later also.

You can order these items and so much more at the Bulk Herb Store. The water filter they sell is also wonderful!

I will let you know if taking the Spirulina makes a difference. It is supposed to be very good for you. You can even use it to replace food as it is a complete food.

Here is a link to some information I just found today--it even has a break down of nutrient content if you click on the various links towards the bottom of the page. It is for a different spirulina product than what I have, but should be very similar! What is Spirulina?

I will continue to share what I learn as I go along!

My capsule making "set up".

Filling the capsules.

Capping the capsules.

The finished capsules.


Labeled and stored in a bag for now.

Body Clutter Resources!

I have been reacquainting myself with some great recipes and ideas for
losing weight.

You may or may not have heard of The Fly Lady, she has a great system
for cleaning/organizing your life/home. But she also developed a
weight loss type program for herself and has shared it with everyone! Her friend came up with menus to go along with the plan too! They have a book out that you can buy also.

You can read more about it at:

http://www.flylady.net/ Just scroll down a bit to the "Body
Clutter" Section. There are links to her new resources as well as a
link to the Body Clutter Menu Mailers (which I highly recommend--the
recipes are delicious!) and has added some new free downloads to do a "contract" for losing your Body Clutter and one for tracking your daily
"stats"--many things we don't normally think about tracking that do
affect our weight loss! It is called the Body Clutter Investigator. I
am going to start using this to help me track what I am/am not doing
each day!

Here is the link to the Body Clutter Menu Mailer:
http://www.savingdinner.com/menu_mailer/body_clutter_menu_mailer.html

Here is a link to more info about Body Clutter by Fly Lady!
http://www.flylady.net/pages/body_clutter_main.asp

Here is the link to all her menu mailers:
http://www.savingdinner.com/menu_mailer/subscribe_to_menu_mailer.html


Plus, if you look around, you will see that she has a variety of other
menus items like freezer cooking, etc. plus lots of tips!

I hope you enjoy checking out these resources! They are great!

Update on life....

I didn't realize it had been so long since I posted! How time flies when you are busy!

As a follow up to my post about Healthy Eating/Weight Loss tips, I can say that it does help--just doing some of the tips. I lost several pounds and started feeling better as I made a point to follow what my friend suggested.

Unfortunately, this past week has been crazy and I have been staying up way too late! It won't change tonight as we have Bible Study and are always up late!

We have been busy trying to finish up various topics with school and enjoy some summer time fun with friends. It has been a busy but good couple of weeks.

In the midst of the fun and work, my grandmother because ill with pneumonia for the second time in 2 months. It caused her body to begin shutting down this time and she passed away on Wednesday evening. I will be doing a separate post about her shortly.

So, we are all still here, plugging along and trying to enjoy each other as we do so!

Have a blessed weekend!

Healthy Eating/ Weight Loss Tips

I am continuing my journey towards losing my extra "fluff" after a bit of a break the past few months. I will be posting "my story" that I recently shared with some fellow homeschool moms in the near future.

Tonight, I just wanted to post the tips a fellow homeschooling mom shared with me. They will help you lose weight and get your metabolism going even before you start to watch what you eat or exercise! Some of these I knew about (and have seen them work) and some I didn't.

Here they are:

1. Eat within 30 minutes of waking up (I also drink a glass of water with a little lemon juice in it first thing in the morning.)

2. Eat small meals throughout the day when you are hungry (many people who struggle with excess weight have lost their ability to tell when they are actually hungry, this is one of the first things to work on!)

3. Drink half your body weight in ounces of water daily. Divide your current weight in half, and drink that many ounces of water a day. You can work up to this amount over several days if needed. It will help to cleanse your body, keep you correctly hydrated (we often mistake thirst for hunger) and help you be more alert!

4. Go to bed by 10:30pm and get up at the same time each morning regardless of when you go to bed! Once again, work up to this better schedule! It will keep you from wanting to eat late night snacks and my friend explained that certain stress hormones are also secreted when you stay up late, making your body stressed the whole next day!

5. Sleep in complete darkness. Your body will actually get more rest that way and it will function correctly!

If you try some of these, let me know how it works for you! I have been working on all of them to some degree or another this week and my weight has dropped by 2 pounds! We will see if it continues. I will be working on eating healthier as I go along also. Right now, I am writing down everything I eat to get an accurate picture of how what I am eating, doing and trying out the above tips, is affecting my weight!

I will share more as I can of my progress!

New Endeavors--Studying and Using Herbs

I have recently started a new quest to learn all about herbs, how to use them and how to make them into my own products to use with my family and friends.

I started my journey by visiting: The Bulk Herb Store I purchased a couple of books from them as well as well as a number of herb combination packs and the awesome water filter system they have on their site. Their prices are great and the products are also great! There is a wealth of information in the various articles on the site as well.

The books I purchased, Herbal Antibiotics and Practical Herbalism, are wonderful resources! I am trying read through and learn as much as I possibly can (of course, it is in between all my other "normal" responsibilities).

I also found a great source for containers and other supplies useful in the making of herbal concoctions: Mountain Rose Herbs They offer a large selection of organic products as well as supplies for making soap, cosmetics, herbal preparations, etc. They also have some articles and recipes you can try out.

I came across this site recently, LearningHerbs.com They offer a lot of helpful information on their site. They also have a free ecourse "Supermarket Herbalism" which shows you how to use common items you can find at your grocery store to help your family. They have a starter kit you can buy that comes with instructions to get you started with making your own products---I haven't purchased it, but it looks like a great set.

My assortment of nicely packaged herbal concoctions!

So far I have made several batches of "Miracle Rub" in various forms--a salve/rub, an oil rub and a rubbing alcohol based rub. They all actually work very well!



I have also made a batch each of the Women's and Men's "Jungle Juice". It is basically a combination of herbs to support health in men or women. They are made in a glycerin base.

I have made several other tinctures. They are "Immune Booster" and "Restful Sleep". The Immune Booster is to use when you start to have symptoms of a cold, flu, etc or even just allergies. The Restful Sleep tincture is to help with falling and staying asleep and it can also be used in a smaller dose to help children or adults calm down.



I have just finished making a batch of "The Vinegar of Four Thieves". It is to be used as a natural insect repellent on people and animals. We will see how it works this summer!



It is fun to experiment with how to use herbs. It is amazing how many "weeds" that we try to kill in our yards, are actually beneficial plants! I plan to spend part of the summer teaching my kids more about the herbs, how to use them and how to make herbal preparations to help our family and our friends.

God truly has provided all we would need to keep ourselves healthy and to help our bodies heal in the plants and trees that He created!

Update on life....

Well, it has been awhile since I have written on any of my blogs. I can tell you that it isn't because I haven't thought about it. It is just because I haven't made the time to do it!

Currently we are working through many activities related to school, music lessons, basketball season, ballet classes, support group duties, etc., etc. It is a busy semester but we are enjoying the activities and the kids are doing very well!

My oldest son is participating in his first season of "organized" sports. He is enjoying it and is learning more each day. His team has done fairly well so far this season (even though they don't really track "standings" for the teams). His skills are improving with each practice and game. Thankfully, he is very attentive and obedient towards his coach, unlike some of his team mates! He is seeing first hand what happens when others don't pay attention to the coach (the whole team running for 10 minutes straight!).

The girls continue to enjoy their ballet classes and the younger one has moved up to the "big girls" class for the time being. Eventually, there will be a class just for her "in-between" age group. She has done well with the change as several other girls her age have also joined in.

My youngest son, almost 7, has started his "music training". The other three have been taking lessons since last April. He started last month working on rhythm lessons which will eventually lead to him learning to play drums (probably other instruments also). He is doing very well with what he is learning and is so happy to have some time to have his own lesson! He wants to learn guitar also (like his big sister) but we will wait until he is older to work on that.

The other kids are also all doing very well with their lessons, especially the oldest two. Their teacher has been giving each of them more challenging and varied work to keep them busy and interested in what they are learning. They will have a Spring recital in April.

My oldest daughter is gearing up for the Spring Ball our homeschool group hosts each year. She already has her dress. We found the dress for an unbelievable price about 2 weeks ago. I am in charge of making all the "tickets" that we will be selling starting this Friday for the Ball. I did them last year also. I enjoy being creative in this way. I will have 100 of the tickets ready by Friday. I will post a picture of one later once I get them all together. I found this great shiny, silvery paper to print the info on. I just have to let it dry completely for cutting them apart and completing the assembly. Hopefully the kids will like them. The theme this year is "Evening in Paris". We pay for a "caller" to come and lead everyone in group and line dancing. It is a great family event as at least one parent has to attend with their child. The parents and kids all have a wonderful time dancing in a safe environment.

I have recently started reading several homeschool related books and two new books I received for my birthday. I will post more about what I am learning in a separate post.

I have been amazed recently how awesome God really is! He works in such wonderful ways. In ways we never expect and may sometimes miss if we aren't careful. I am trying to be more aware of how He is working in each of our lives and looking for those moments to share with my children what God is doing. I want them to learn to recognize that God is there with us all the time and that is a wonderful, not a fearful, thing!

I better get to bed as we have a busy day tomorrow! Have a blessed day!

Help with Healthy Eating/Lifestyle

I wanted to share about a book I received. I had put it aside a couple of months ago, but came across it again a few weeks ago as I started my new eating/exercise plan.

It is a book by Joyce Meyers, called Look Great Feel Great -- 12 Keys to Enjoying a Healthy Life Now.

It is focused on helping you to understand who you are in Christ, helping you to gain a God-given self image, and giving you little steps to move towards having a healthy attitude as well as a healthy body.

I would highly recommend this book for anyone who has struggled at times with not liking themselves, their body or the way they look (whether you at overweight or underweight).

The keys discussed include:

Let God Do the Heavy Lifting
Learning to Love Your Body
Mastering Metabolism
Exercise
Balanced Eating
Water Your Life
Mindful Eating
Curb Your Spiritual Hunger
De-Stress
Right Vision
Make It Easy
Take Responsibility

*Practice What You Preach: Modeling Self-Respect for the Next Generation

I am about half way through the book and it has been helpful so far. I will share more of what I am learning as I go through it.

This was just one of the things God put in my path as I was starting out on this new adventure. I will be sharing some of the other words of wisdom and encouragement the Lord has put before me the past few weeks later today.

God truly is our Father and knows exactly what we need when we need it.

New Way of Eating....

It has been almost a month since I began my journey towards losing the many pounds I have accumulated over the past 12 years! I never had a problem with my weight until I started having kids. After the first two, my body chemistry really seemed to change. Though the gain has been slow over all the years, it has really added up now!

I am happy to say that I have lost 6 1/2 pounds over the past three weeks. Although I took a break for a couple of days because of husband's birthday, I am back on my new eating and exercise plan!

I realized after this weekend how much of a difference it makes to my sleep patterns, among other things, when I eat "bad" versus when I eat more healthy. I had two nights of horrible sleep both days that I didn't watch what I ate. I slept much better last night after eating better yesterday. Hopefully tonight will be even better!

I have a long way to go, but I know that if I keep at it so that the weight slowly but surely continues to drop, I will reach my ultimate goal! I long for the day that I no longer looked "puffed up".

I grew up very active and all through middle and high school never thought of myself as "skinny". It wasn't until I got married and had my first child (and especially now), that I looked back at my pictures and realized how thin I really was--so different from the picture I had in my head of myself all those years!

The Lord has really shown me that in order to succeed, I can't just depend on my own will and self control. I know that I need His help every minute to keep focused on the benefits of "denying myself" now so that I will be around to serve Him and my family for many years!

In the past weeks as I have started this adventure, He has put in my path several books and devotions that were just what I needed to help me get going and stay focused. Just like anything in life, it is much easier to give up and be "comfortable" than to push forward, leaning on the Lord to get you to your goal. Knowing that what I am working towards is in accordance to God's will also gives me more focus than I have had in the past.

The Lord is faithful and I know that I can do all things through Him who gives me strength!

The more I focus on my relationship with Him, the easier all the "stuff" around me becomes--whether it is getting school done each day, doing daily chores, or sticking to the eating plan I want to follow.

The Lord is mighty and greatly to be praised!

The Grocery Game

Hi, all! I did my first "official" grocery game shopping trip on Tuesday evening.

It went fairly well. I ended up saving about $57.00 buying mainly things I always buy. Since I am just getting started with this "game", I only have a certain selection of coupons built up so far. I am sure it will get better as we go along and I can stock up on the things on sale instead of just what we need right now! This was a big shopping trip for us with many things I had to buy now that I didn't have coupons for yet.

You can learn more about about the grocery game at: www.thegrocerygame.com

If you decide to try it out, please use me as a referral: wencla2004@earthlink.net

I will post updates about this "experiment" as I make shopping trips! It has helped me to be more aware of what is on sale and what is available.