Random

Wow! It's been a very long week. I'm happy tomorrow is Friday!! This is what we've been up to:

* Monday Spencer got hit in the face with a hockey stick during PE. I had to go pick him up and take him to the doctor. We had x-rays done Tuesday just to make sure nothing was fractured. He's supposed to be fine and should heal with no problems. He's looking better now- but it was pretty bad there for a few days. (We had to see the orthodontist to see if the teeth were moved out of place at all, and it brought back painful memories with Brig. Thank goodness we didn't have to do that again.)

* My dizziness has been through-the-roof bad lately. I'm doing my very best to stay busy and not focus on it. Interesting thing though- my friend who lives across the street, Natalie, has the developed the EXACT same symptoms I've had for 2 1/2 years. Is it something in the water, soil, air??? Is that even possible?

* Lincoln is getting along without the binky. Life has definitely become more challenging for us though. He no longer naps, and that has been painful!

* Preston has completed his Eagle project and is getting ready to submit his report. I'll be happy for him when it's finally finished.

* Last night I made bread- it turned out different than normal, but that shouldn't surprise me. Every time I make bread, because it's 100% wheat, the moisture in the gluten changes every time- producing slightly differently textured bread. I wish white bread was good for you. It's so much easier!! Also, last night I watched Lost. Could I be more confused, or hurt??? I still love Ben. No matter what. I think.

* Tonight I'm going to a class on powdered milk- and how to make cheese and yogurt from it. Not that I plan to do that often or anything, it's for emergency knowledge only. :)

* Oh, and I ordered myself the tortilla maker that I've been watching on ebay for over three weeks. I'm so excited and just hope that it actually is new, like it's supposed to be. It's the coolest thing ever- I can't wait for it to arrive.

* I've had like...no sleep for the past three nights. I'm dragging- bad. Somebody please give me the will-power to make myself go to bed early. Why is this such a challenge for us?


Anyway- that's about it here. Or at least all my mind is coming up with as I type as fast as I can so I can go put laundry in and see what new messes the boys have made before I leave to pick up kids from school. Spence has detention today- which means I get to go back down to the school again shortly after I get home. Love it!

More Valentines

*disclaimer* I only make cards and stuff because I enjoy it. I don't feel pressured at all. I love old things and any chance I get to create something- I take. If I was a quilter, which I wish I was, all of my quilts would look old. When I look at other blogs and see what people are making- I get inspired- not overwhelmed or guilty. Clayton took store-bought dinosaur valentines to his classmates, and Quincey took superheroes. No guilt and no pressure. I only say this because I don't want you to feel bad (Abby). :) I like doing this kind of thing. I take neighbor and friend gifts out several times during the year- but most of my neighbors and friends don't. (we don't have an exchange thing going on.) I do it because I like it.

These were my favorites. I put them on these:

Then we wrapped them up and delivered them to friends like this:

This is the Valentine I made for Will. These next pictures show how you open it. You can put a letter inside it so you don't have to write on the card. (or as Clayton pointed out, you could put money in it!)


Anyway- I have a 'backup' idea for Easter to give out, but if anyone sees anything really cute- send it my way. Quincey is sick- not bad- but enough to miss school. He had a rough night, which means Will and I had a rough night as well. So today will be a 'home' day, just like yesterday was. (I really need to get out of my house.)

Linky's Binky

Presents!

Love the cake!

Goodbye Binky!

I know most of you were there and saw what we did Sunday night. I thought I'd update a little and let you know how it's been going. Monday morning he went to the trash can in the kitchen and wanted to know why he couldn't see his binky. (remember, he had thrown one away in there earlier in the day on his own.) I explained that it had been taken out to the big trash can with the garbage. That is the ONLY thing he has said about his binky. However, he has cried more and been crankier than he ever is, by far!! He'll howl and cry and ask me, "What can I do?" Like he's bored and doesn't know what to do with himself. I'm certain he feels 'lost' without his bink. It's very sad.

Funny thing is- Will was the one always saying how badly we needed to get rid of it- but he'd be the first one to cave and give it back. Will's had a hard time watching him hurt without it. I'm having to be the strong one...which sucks.

Broke My Rule

So- I've always hated clicking on blogs and being startled by unexpected music. I swore I would NEVER add one to mine- so nobody would have to suffer through my music. :) But tonight I ran across an email Misty had sent me encouraging me to try it- so I am. I picked some random songs that I love love...with the exception of the Coldplay song. I like it, but mostly because Spencer sings it REALLY well. And he sings it a LOT.

I have a very diverse collection of music. I love Bing Crosby, Chris Ledoux, and Jack Johnson. I don't listen to country very much...my taste has changed a bit...but I still like certain artists. Lately I've been listening to the Wicked soundtrack. I didn't put any of those on my playlist- I figured I'd spare everyone- but who doesn't love Popular? I'm so excited to see it!!

Keeping Busy

I've been trying to stay busy with Will gone. Not hard to do. I wanted to do something cute for the boys to hand out to their 'female' friends at school rather than a lame valentine. So I made these and they actually handed them out. I'm still working on the cards I'm making to give out to my friends (ladies I visit teach and such) and I have to make all new candy bars because the boys used all of them! I was a little ticked. They were pretty time consuming. Anyhow- Will gets home tomorrow. I am soooo glad this week is almost over. :)

Laundry room is complete!!!....for now. As expected, we ended up doing NOTHING Friday night. It had been a long day and we were in bed before 10:00, seriously. Which is really strange for us. So the laundry room happened on Saturday. Will worked all day and evening and it looks --- clean! :) I'll post pics later.

I have discovered a little bistro and boutique in Highland called My Dear Lizzie. It's the cutest, girliest place I've ever been. If I had any daughters I'd take them there every chance I had- but since I don't- I'm taking my mom and sisters every chance I get. Truly- it's beyond charming. You can go see for yourself or wait for me to take you. :)

I took a trip down to the market that sells the raw milk earlier today. I went with a friend and she showed me all kinds of cool stores down there that I've heard of but never been to. Anyway- I bought a gallon and am going to see what the boys think. (although I'm guessing they won't even notice because they had no clue I had switched from 1% to whole. But I noticed- big time.) To answer the question Abby asked- Drinking whole milk rather than low fat is supposed to be beneficial because the milk fat actually contains nutrients you want- the good kind of fat. Also, to create low fat milk, they strip the fat out of it completely, then they add the fat back in through a powder form to 'bulk up' the milk- which many critics say is unhealthy (the powdered, processed fat) as well as many of the vitamins and nutrients milk has are ruined and depleted throughout the process. So basically- like all foods- they suggest you try to keep it as close to it's original form as possible.

That's the one conclusion that I've come to after reading everything I have: that if nothing else, my goal will be to try and eat as much as I can in the state God created it. But, that is a DANG tricky thing to do in our time, isn't it? Literally, almost EVERYthing we eat is processed. And for that matter, the fruits and vegetables we eat that aren't 'processed' are contaminated beyond measure and, just recently, they approved the use of irradiation for spinach and all lettuce! It makes me crazy!!! Just leave the darn food alone and let us eat it the way it is! Now I'll step off my soap box....that's why we switched to whole milk. You can google it and find some stuff on it.

Anyhow- I'm off to pick the boys up from school. Will's probably somewhere above Florida right now. I already miss that man.

Moo

Lately I've been wondering if I have a little ADD myself. It seems we've started so many projects, and instead of finishing them, we start a new project. The laundry room is still unfinished, which has been a big pain because I need the use of the laundry room daily- as you can imagine. Yesterday I was folding some laundry, and instead of just putting the clothes away, I decided to start cleaning and organizing my drawers. Which led to a total organization project with our closet. When Will came home from work- he decided to help out and organize all of his stuff. Finally, 12 hours after I started the project of organizing and de-junking our room, we finished. We seriously have about 7 large black trash bags of clothes, shoes, and stuff to go to D.I. (Maybe we should de-junk more often!) Our small room looks so much nicer (and bigger) and it is great to have that all done- but our laundry room is still unfinished. Our plan is to complete it tonight so Will can tackle the garage tomorrow. Ha Ha. We'll see how tonight goes.

On the same note- I'm slowly reading Omnivore's Dilemma (because I can't speed through this kind of material and I have little time to read lately) even though I never finished Secret Life of Bees. I got halfway through it when I received Omnivore and with so little time to read, Bees has taken back burner. But I hate reading that way. I need to finish a book before I start another. Am I the only one who does this? (or just the only one who worries about it?)

One last thought- as we're all trying to eat better and be more careful of our intake- I finally made the switch I've been hesitant to make for some time: we are now WHOLE milk drinkers. Crazy, I know. I've done a lot of reading about it, and even though it goes against everything I've been taught to think all my life- we've given up 1% and hopefully won't go back. Now if we all get super fat...you'll know why. :) (seriously though, it reportedly doesn't change your weight at all.) Now our next step is to go RAW. Which will take me up to Abby's neck of the woods, because that's where the closest raw milk dairy is. I've just begun my research into the benefits of drinking raw milk. Why do I care so much about this kind of stuff???