In Which I Ramble On and On About My Latest Health Kick

Have you seen that commercial for multi-grain Eggo waffles? A geeky looking mom dressed in sweats power-walks into the kitchen, passing her two children who are preparing for school, and then calling out, "Kids! Time for breakfast." With an alarmed look on his face, the boy turns to his sister and says something to the effect of, "Mom is on another one of her health kicks. We need to get out of here before she tries to feed us breakfast!"

That's kind of the reaction I get from my family each time. And, yes, I am on another health kick, inspired by the lead Yahoo story I saw the other day about the family who took on the challenge of 100 Days of Real Food. I am completely aware of the fact that my "kicks" are a bit cyclical; however, I do learn something new everytime, and I do typically pick up at least one new good habit. For example, I now mill my own wheat and use that fresh, whole grain flour for bread, baked goods, and breakfast foods like waffles and pancakes. I also often substitute honey granules for refined sugar.

But I do have a long way to go. I would like to get to a point where I don't use refined sugar at all. My one big obstacle is that my source of honey granules, Bread Beckers, is now 16 hours away rather than 1, and the shipping costs are a bit hard to swallow. But I did go ahead and swallow it and placed an order for a new 5lb. container of honey granules and some flaxseed, which I grind and put in smoothies and baked goods. There are of course many, many other things I can work on like getting rid of all of the terrible foods that come in a box.

I just ordered Jordan Rubin's book What the Bible Says About Healthy Living, and as the author notes in the brief preview Amazon permitted me to read, we are indeed "fearfully and wonderfully made". Why shouldn't we focus on eating what God provided for us to eat? As much as I have tried, I have not yet located the rare to non-existent Oreo tree, so perhaps we should not be eating Oreos and the like.

So I'm going to try very hard to eliminate all of those processed foods. It's tough. I'm a veeery lazy cook, so those pre-packaged, processed foods are awfully tempting. Because going cold turkey and rashly removing all of the junk food from the pantry at one time is just setting me up for failure, I'm going to take this in stages. For the first week, I'm going to focus on snacks. When the kids ask for a snack, instead of telling them to dive into a box of Cheez-Its, I am going to provide some whole, natural options instead. Some will take some work - like making my own cheese crackers - but our health is worth it, right?

Of course, I chose the very worst weekend to decide to be healthy. I just went to the grocery store day before yesterday - along with every other resident of Connecticut - to stock up on non-perishables in the event that Irene steals our electricity. So I will start our Snack Reformation after Irene has departed and our power has been restored. At that point, we can take the yet unopened boxes of Cheez-Its and Oreos and donate them to the local food bank.

Until then, I will continue to exercise. Very surprisingly, I have been very committed to exercising daily. I work out every morning on the treadmill - working on building up my endurance so that eventually I can run a 5K. A huge goal for a non-runner like me, especially since, aside from high school sports, I have never before been consistent in any exercise program.

Thankfully, I'm not alone in exercising...we have had some great family times over the last month hiking some of the many trails that traverse the New England landscape and biking. Mark and I splurged and bought bikes so we could join the kids. In addition, we got a bike attachment that turns Mark's bike into a tandem bike thus allowing Audrey to keep up with our pace.

Is she cute or what?


Unfortunately for me, I had to cut my workout today short and will take tomorrow off as well. My ankle is killing me. For no reason. That happens a lot with fibromyalgia - pain for no reason. Which is why I'm on a new health kick. I refuse to take any of the medications that fight fibromyalgia with side effects like "thoughts of suicide". I am confident that if I learn to eat healthy and stick with it, I won't be so tired all the time, and I won't have a Pain du Jour.

So raise your healthy drink...here's to getting healthy.

Basketball, Strange White Stuff Falling from the Sky, and a Houseful of Kids

Our homeschool group usually has a park day every Friday, but with the cold winter temps we've had lately, we planned instead a day inside. The park where we play volleyball and where the Nazi Pool is located has an indoor gym that allows free play. Well, not free as in you don't have to pay but free as in the kids are free to play as they wish. I went prepared this time, having called a friend from the park's county to ask her if I could walk in with her, thus avoiding the out-of-county double charge. They didn't even ask for my license. Or to see what I was wearing under my jacket.

The kids had a great time. They started out just shooting baskets but soon had a full-fledged game of b'ball organized and underway.

And once they tired of that, they enjoyed pool, ping pong, and air hockey.

Audrey just did Audrey things, though: a purple basketball, which she scammed off of her sister, and her Littlest Pet Shop Pets kept her busy.

About halfway through our time at the gym, the snow began to fall, so our group headed outside to the parking lot. And then migrated to the playground. We moms sat in a car, looked around at the otherwise desolate park grounds, and joked about how we homeschoolers will go to the greatest lengths to avoid crowds.

And then my husband called and told me I should come home. Which is code for, "I know you're not a great driver--especially in this stuff--so please come home safe and sound. Now."

So I arrived home safe and sound, and the kids had a blast playing outside as the snow continued to fall.

I had heard on the news that we were supposed to receive from a dusting to an inch. So I wasn't worried about the birthday party which was scheduled to take place the next morning. But it kept snowing. And snowing.

So I rescheduled the party to begin at noon. This party was for my little man, Michael. At age 9, he is certainly becoming quite the little man. My Lego man, though he had a Lego birthday party last year, asked for another Lego party. And that is what he got.

Per his instructions, I made a Power Miners cake with the good guys fighting against the rock monsters in the midst of a hot stream of lava.

We played some Lego games. The first was a scavenger hunt in which the kids--divided in teams--searched the house for baggies of Lego pieces. In the end, they raced to assemble a Lego castle. There was also a word game in which the children formed as many words as possible from the two words Power Miners. The last game involved building Lego towers to see which team could reach the tallest without falling over.

We had a good time. A group of boys is a wild group, but I think everyone had fun. But I'm Lego'ed and partied out, and I'm headed to bed.

The S Word

If the word snow so much as scrolls across any teleprompter in any news station in Georgia, all of the state's residents spring into action. Grocery store shelves are emptied of their bread and milk, schools shut down, businesses close early or delay their openings, cars are securely stowed in garages, and everyone gathers around their fireplaces to wait, all the while casting furtive glances outside the window.

When the snow actually begins to fall, it is the newscasters who spring into action. All regularly scheduled programming is pre-empted by the breaking news of snow flurries. Reporters are sent to all locations from which salt trucks are dispatched so they can report as each truck rolls off the premises. A lucky few reporters take off for the location where snow has been reported. Anyone who has seen a flake is interviewed. Any child who has the day off school and is excited about the snow is interviewed. Anyone who may experience any type of inconvenience due to the snow is interviewed.

Once it has been snowing for any length of time, all reporters flock toward the area where the most snow has accumulated. They nudge the tiny piles of snow with the toes of their shoes or bend down to scoop what little may be in among the blades of grass upon which they stand. And they interview anyone who has watched the snow accumulate. And any child who is enjoying the day off school by sledding down a hill of grass with a little snow mixed in. And anyone who may be inconvenienced in any way by the slight accumulation of the white stuff.

Yes, snow is indeed a rarity in these parts. And, yes, we Georgians do overreact juuust a little bit.

Our snow began to fall around 1:00 last Thursday afternoon. The snowfall began with flurries, an event which prompted Audrey to ask, "What is that STUFF falling down from the sky?" We were in the middle of a chapter of The Bronze Bow when it began; obviously it was difficult to keep the children's attention on a hot, dry, arid day in Galilee when there was snow falling outside. I have to admit, I was anxious to get my nose out of the book as well so I could watch the snow fall.

The chapter finally ended, and the kids quickly bundled up and headed outside where the flurries were quickly changing over to full snowflakes. They danced and played in it.






And it didn't take long in the frigid temps to begin to accumulate. The fact that, by Canadian standards, the accumulation was nothing to brag about did not stop the kids from sweeping the driveway to gather enough snow for a couple of pitiful little snowballs to chuck at each other.

With temps in the teens, once it began to get dark, I did force them against their wills to come in.


I promised them that there would be more in the morning as the forecast called for 1-2 inches in our area. After 30+ years of living, you would think I would know better than to trust a forecast because the next morning, I awoke to find Michael sitting in the dining room staring forlornly out the window.

With great anticipation, he had arisen early hoping to be greeted by a veritable winter wonderland only to find little had changed from the night before. "There's not even enough to build a snowman," he told me glumly. What is a parent to say? If he says, "There's not even enough Cheerios in here to fill up my belly", why, I can just give him more Cheerios, but this? Unfortunately, although I have a direct line to the SnowMaker, this I can't control.

"Cheer up," I offered. It's still early winter. I'm sure we'll get another day or two of snow this year.

For more Winter photos, visit I Should Be Folding Laundry.

Kathleen and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

I woke up with a splitting headache and a drippy nose. I hate allergies and sinus thingys. I could tell it was going to be a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.

The baby had woken me up at 4:30 in the morning while my husband got to sleep. I had to go up to her room only to have her tell me I forgot to say "good night" to her the night before. I hadn't forgotten. But that's all she wanted to tell me at 4:30 in the morning.

I think I'll move to New Zealand.

I had lots planned for the day, but Michael said he still didn't feel well, and I wasn't sure I believed him because maybe he was just trying to get out of school. There was a bad storm with lots of wind and lots of rain. No one else offered to try to convince the puppy to go out in the storm to poop. I had to do it.

I could tell it was going to be a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.

During school, no one would pay attention to me. They only paid attention to the storm. I wanted them to pay attention to me, me, me. Why doesn't anyone notice me? I could tell it was going to be a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.

I could tell because the electricity went out at 10:00. And even though I tried to get everyone excited about living like Almanzo in Farmer Boy, no one was excited. I don't think I was excited either because my laundry stopped mid-cycle, my internet would not work, and our water pump on our well is also electric so there was no water. I bet there's lots of water in New Zealand.

All four kids had dentist appointments today, but we had to cancel Michael's because he was sick. The other three did very well, even the Princess, but I got a referral to an orthdontist for Alex. Braces cost lots of money. It was a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.

None of the kids had cavities, and the dentist told me what a good job I'm doing with their teeth. She just doesn't know that it's all luck and nothing I'm doing.

I wonder if I would be a better mommy in New Zealand.

When we got home, Audrey threw up, and there was no water to clean her up. Then the kids wanted to go for a walk to see the cool utility trucks fix the power line, but the dog was a pain, and Michael was whiny so we came home and

Audrey threw up some more. And there was nothing to do, so I tried to read a book, but it was getting too dark to see.

I am having a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day, I told everybody. And actually everyone agreed.

We couldn't make anything for dinner, so we had to order pizza, and I'm sick of pizza.

I had to cancel Field Day at co-op tomorrow because my kids are puking.

There was more vomit and no way to wash the vomit laundry.

It has been a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.

I am a grown-up and know some days are like that.

And there are probably even power outages and throwing up in New Zealand.

The Never-Ending Storm

That's what the kids have dubbed it. And they're right: although the sun is shining right now, I think there's at least one more round headed our way. It really began this morning at 6:30 when a huge clap of thunder sent the youngest boy scurrying downstairs and into our bed. After last night's storm that ripped through downtown Atlanta, I decided to check the radar online. That was when the second thunder shook the house, and a second boy ended up in our bed. The girls slept through what ended up not being much of a storm.

The real never-ending storm began after lunch. Although we were on the outskirts of the tornado that blasted through our area, we had a 5-minute burst of incredible wind that, had it lasted longer, would have dumped all of our chairs and possibly the grill into the pool. When this started, we all crowded into our windowless guest bathroom.

The second round followed the exact same path, and from the pictures you'd think it was a snow storm:

It was hail. From inside, it sounded like our whole house was a kettle of popping corn. We waited this one out in our little bathroom hideout as well.

We've had a couple of heavy thunderstorms since our last tornado warning. Although they weren't storms worthy of our Bathroom Hideout, Alex now runs into the bathroom at the first sound of thunder or drop of rain. Should be an interesting night if this continues...

Miscellaneous Notes

(These newsy notes are especially for my most faithful reader--my mother-in-law...who probably thinks we fell off the face of the earth.)

Academic Notes

We've had a great week of school. My boys are finally progressing in their reading! Last week we had a day of really bad attitudes with them when it came time for reading. I finally realized that the A Beka reading and phonics program is just too tedious for them. So last Thursday we visited my new favorite place. Maybe you've ordered curriculum from Learning Things before. Well, I found the the home of Learning Things, and it's a curriculum lover's paradise: A huge warehouse with shelves and shelves of curriculum to peruse...and a huge play area which the kids loved. My saving grace (saving as in money) was that the warehouse was freezing, so I couldn't endure the hours and hours I wanted to spend looking through everything. Anyway, I chose some Spectrum reading workbooks for the boys, and they LOVE them! They beg to read on in the continuing story, and they are becoming more and more fluent everyday.

In History, we're studying Benjamin Franklin. I've found My Father's World a little disappointing in that it is not nearly as meaty as I would have liked, so I'm supplementing a lot. I'm trying to add a little more excitement into it because the kids really haven't been very enthusiastic about each lesson. For Ben Franklin, I added some Science, plus we're working on a lapbook which I'll post about later. The kids enjoyed the science experiment about static electricity. To execute the very simple experiment, find a dark closet. Rub a balloon on your head and then touch it to the contacts at the end of a fluorescent light bulb...and see what happens.

We took today off because we had a playdate at a friend's house. The kids were mildly annoyed when I told them we would be having school tomorrow! When Mark is gone on the weekend, it throws me off psychologically, so I decided to battle it psychologically by treating tomorrow as a regular weekday. We'll just work on our lapbooks and some other fun projects to make the day pass by faster.

One fun project we've found to supplement our geography is the Great Commission Kidz Club. This club is through the CMA, the mission my in-laws work with. When you sign up, each child receives a passport and stickers to mark their travels in the passport. There are about 30 countries to study as well as online connections with missionaries in those countries. Yesterday we began our study of Israel.

Athletic Notes

I have to honestly admit that basketball is getting a little old...practices two nights a week and two hours of games on Saturday all while trying to corral the other kids at the same time! Michael has decided he doesn't like basketball. Alex is enjoying it. Both are improving on the court, although they both need to learn that you must go after the ball, not wait for it to come to you!

Because I'm a glutton for punishment, I've signed them up for soccer which begins as soon as basketball ends. I know Michael will enjoy this more as he has played before. We won't normally do two sports in a row, but this year I thought I'd do both. Next year they can pick their favorite!

Other Notes

We had a strange night Tuesday night. The high winds were howling outside our house when I went to bed. About 1:30 the electricity went out. As it got colder and colder in our house, I got a little worried about the kids, so I woke them all up, packed them into the car, and headed out to Grandma and Grandpa's house. Didn't get far, however, because I found the culprit for our power outage: a big tree and power lines were blocking our neighborhood entrance. So we headed back home and cuddled together in my room.

On a separate but related note, Jacob overheard Mark and I plotting an experiment to see how late the kids would stay up if we just allowed them free reign over bedtime instead of enforcing the rules. Since then, he has asked nightly if this is the night we're going to let him stay up. I thought perhaps our middle-of-the-night adventure would substitute for our little experiment, but you can't pull one over on Jake; he informed me that since he slept before I woke him up in the middle of the night, it doesn't count!

This Ain't No Redneck Snow

So I was wrong in my characterization of our snowstorm...both on Wednesday and today. It's actually sticking! Wednesday we ended up with about an inch of snow on the ground, but it quickly melted away in the 55 degree sunny weather on Thursday. We have about an inch today, and it's still coming down. We're expecting a chill under 20 degrees tonight and just in the 30s tomorrow, so maybe we'll have a couple of days to play.

The kids had a blast this afternoon building their first snowman...of sorts. The dog quietly snuck off with Mr. Snowman's M&M mouth, but I think Mr. Snowman stood his own even without his candy lips. After the completion of the snowman, we had a family snowball fight in which we all joined forces against Daddy.

Two substantial snowfalls in the same week...quite unprecedented here in Georgia. Someone get Al Gore on the phone...we're experiencing Global Colding (to borrow a term coined by my boys' best friend Jack)!

Redneck Snow

Redneck Snow is known to the northern half of the United States as flurries. But I don't have the heart to tell my children that most meterologists would not categorize what is now falling from the sky as "snow." I'm sure they would beg too differ; after all, you can't squash dreams that only occur maybe once a year in Georgia.

They're all out enjoying our little flurry storm to its fullest...even my littlest one who has been a little under the weather. No doubt she'll pay for it later, but the sacrifice is well-worth a few moments of utter delight. And I say "a few moments" because that is exactly how long redneck snow falls. I just overheard Alex say, "If we wait a little while maybe we can make a snowball." Um. Yeah. Sure. I hate to rain, er, snow on her parade, but I'm still seeing brown grass out there. But I love her positive attitude.

If our redneck blizzard continues for any length of time, we may just declare tomorrow a Snow Day. 'Course the rest of the city will be shut down anyway, so that probably makes the most sense.