Fantastic Day

Today was the first day of school at our house. A little bumpy at first, things soon smoothed out and everyone fell back into the groove. We have some new subjects and new books and I have a few new ideas. This year will be interesting. And maybe a little more hectic than usual-- I have to keep records for all five girls! Thank God for spreadsheets! :oD

The garden is beautiful! Everything is so big and full. It's amazing!

Pictures of a few things:
Beans


Cantaloupe


Peas


Pumpkin


Strawberry

Revisiting 2009 Goals...

In January I made very basic goals for 2009.....

The year is half over so it's time to revisit them. :oS */chews lower lip/*

My plans for 2009--

1. finish blocking off a corner of my bedroom for a writing nook-- Did it! (but I find myself with little time to use it right now)
2. start a new novel, *not* rushed by November-- Doing it!
3. get back on the treadmill-- Not doing it! (see remaining post)
4. refill my creative well with some classic literature-- Tried it, didn't do so well. My brain isn't wired to understand the classics, at least not at the pace I had planned. I'm still trying though. :o)

Okay, the treadmill failure-- I've been walking on that thing between 2 and 6 days a week, 30 to 90 minutes since 2004. I have lost and gained the same ten pounds repeatedly and suffered almost constant knee pain. Analyzing my past experience, I decided to fold up the treadmill and put it from my mind. Instead I'm using Leslie Sansone's Walk At Home Videos two to three times a week. So far, two weeks in, no knee pain.

Since the high-fructose corn syrup/mercury issue, Dh and I have really been looking at the food we eat. Did you know high-fructose corn syrup is in almost everything?? Bread, ketchup, soda (duh), stuffing, most cereal, bbq sauce, canned beans, macaroni salad, spaghetti sauce, yogurt, coffee creamer and about a million other things! Who needs high-fructose corn syrup in their kidney beans?! WTF?!

Some changes we've made, not just concerning high-fructose corn syrup:
**I've started making all of our bread in the bread machine with whole wheat flour, wheat germ, and flax seed.
**When shopping, I look very closely at the label and find an alternative with the most natural ingredients. If I can't pronounce the ingredients or find them in my own kitchen, I don't buy the product. Even my pet's food. If I can't find a good substitute, I find a recipe. The internet is such a wonderful resource! You can find a recipe for *everything*!
**We planted a garden and are already harvesting lettuce for our sandwiches.
**I make our hand soap, laundry detergent, shampoo and toothpaste.
**I buy milk as close to the cow as I can, meaning from a local dairy on the weeks I can afford it and whole milk when I can't.
**I buy free range chicken.
**I use real butter, local honey instead of sugar, real mayonnaise, real half and half as creamer, real cheese rather than a 'cheese food' on sandwiches.
**I buy fresh before frozen, frozen before canned, canned being a last resort.

We started making these changes just over two months ago, being in full use for two weeks now. Buying groceries now does NOT COST ANY MORE than it did before I got into the habit of checking labels. The packages are smaller, my shopping trips are weekly instead of monthly but the cost really hasn't changed. Yes, it costs more per ounce, per pound or per unit but doesn't cost more on a week to week basis. The health of my family is worth it. :o)

Changes still to come:
Buy a reverse osmosis system for our drinking/cooking water.
A water softener.
Find a source for free range beef
Accustom my taste buds to sour dough breads. Right now I just gag but fermented breads are better for you than yeast breads.

Pictures of the garden.

The construction.


Less than a month later and there's green things.... ACTUALLY GROWING!!! WOOHOO!!!!!!

(a little wilty in the 90+ degree temperature but still beautiful)

And a volunteer. (blackberries)


I didn't expect very much from my first-year garden. My mom was/is the gardening guru, not me. I'm too lazy and my thumbs are like the opposite of green. It's going fantastic though. Not a lot of maintenance because we laid down a barrier before putting down the dirt, keeps nearly all the weeds out and God's been doing the watering with all the rain we've had. :o)

We are *very* limited by the landlord-that-is-an-ass as to how much "grass" */cough weeds cough/* we can kill to have a garden. The above spot is about 4 x 16 right where most people on the street have their flower gardens or shrubs. Next year I want to have another section by the steps, about 2 or 3 x 8 or 10. Can't wait.

Seventeen Years Ago.....

Seventeen years ago today dh and I made an official commitment to each other for better or worse, in sickness and health, for richer or poorer. Happy Anniversary, Honey! I look forward to many, many, many more years by your side. */hugs/*

What a Busy Month!!

May was hectic and busy and fun. Mom came to visit for a week, dh got the new truck, we installed our air conditioners, we exceeded our yearly hours for homeschool, we planted a garden, we started a new chore system to name a few of May's goings on. Whew! I want to go into detail about a few of those later but I thought I'd leave a few pics of my goofy girls. :o)

The Oldest all grown up and moved out


Daughters #2 and #3


Daughters #4, #5, and #6.