A Commandment, a Blessing and a Giveaway!

Way back when I was a new mom and my toddler boy spoke to me in a smarty pants kinda way, I thought that I could not speak up for myself - that my husband, or another adult around me had to point out to my sweet boy that he wasn't allowed to speak to his mother that way.  I know.  I KNOW!  How clueless was I?????? 

I have figured out a good many things over the last 13 years, and one of them is that *I* am responsible, along with my husband, for teaching my children to honor and respect me, my husband, and the other adults in their lives.  It is SO hard.  I can't tell you how many times each day my kids look at me as if I have lobsters coming out of my ears whenever I point out their issues to them.  There are times when I just don't want to keep on.  In some ways, it would be much easier to just ignore some things, until I remember what scripture says.  Particularly the 5th Commandment.  Exodus 20:12: "Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the LORD your God is giving you." 

The "first commandment with a promise (Eph. 6:2)."  I want my children to be blessed, so I continue. 

I have mentioned my LOVE of Vision Forum products before.  I am so excited to be able to offer a Vision Forum Giveaway!  If you are interested in winning a FREE copy of The Promise: The Beauty and the Power of the 5th Commandment, please leave a comment and I will enter you into a drawing for this DVD.  You must live in the 50 states or Canada, or you can be a member of the Armed Forces that's out there somewhere.  ;-)  Deadline to enter this giveaway will be Monday, June 9th at 12 a.m. central time.  Here is a short blurb about the DVD:

Is it “well with you”? If not, it may be because there are unresolved issues relating to honor in your life. “Honor your father and mother” is the first command with a promise. When you practice honor, “it will be well with you.” But what does this mean?

In this foundational message, Doug breaks down the issue of honor and addresses challenging issues such as: How do wise parents instill honor in their children? How should children respond to perverse authority in parents? In what ways are adult sons and daughters to honor their living parents? How does our culture promote dishonor? How can adult children restore honor to relationships that have long been tinged by dishonor? What are the consequences of dishonor? This talk has been shared with tens of thousands and has been a life-changing message for many.

 

If you're like me, and never win these giveaways that everyone has on their blogs, (no, I'm NOT bitter) please consider buying this DVD, along with some others that are in a collection titled "Reclaiming the Culture."  Right now they are on sale - 50% off!  I bought a package sorta like this for my husband for Father's Day last year and he has been listening to the CDs and looking through the books all through this last year.  What a blessing.  I have every intention of getting the "Reclaiming the Culture" DVD collection for him this year.  I honestly can't think of a better way to build up our husbands than through the products that Vision Forum offers.

Exercise Challenge

Is it okay for the host of the Exercise Challenge to post late?  ;-)  Our Memorial Day weekend was PACKED!

We were so busy, that I was going to write about how I didn't get any exercise in, but then I started thinking about all the weeding I did in our flower bed.  I was definitely sore the next day.  And what a workout I got in the pool!  One of the kid's favorite pasttimes is making a whirlpool and we all run and run and run in circles trying to get it going.  And what fun to turn around and get it going in the other direction!  And then we took Second Daughter for her first bike ride in the bike trailer.  FUN!  What a great workout that was, pulling her and Third Son. 

That's the kind of working out that I like to get done. 

Sign-in if you haven't given up on me this week! 

 

 

Ironing Board

I have a fascination for ironing.  There's something so soul-satisfying in ironing.  I even iron t-shirts.  Is that insane?  Everyone's clothes get ironed.  From our 5 month old's things all the way up to Daddy.  I can't bring myself to not do it and since the birth of our 5th, you would think I would chill a little and give up my ironing fixation, but I just can't do it.  Maybe after a 6th???????  ;-)  So in honor of my love affair with the ironing board.....comedian Brian Regan.

Stepping Heavenward

From Stepping Heavenward by E. Prentiss:

"I may as well finish this as it is begun," I said to myself.  Arid stitches flew from my needle like sparks of fire.  Little Ernest came and begged for a story, but I put him off.  Then Una wanted to sit in my lap, but I told her I was too busy.  In the course of an hour the influence of the fresh air and Ernest's talk had nearly lost their power over me; my thread kept breaking, the children leaned on and tired me, the baby woke up and cried, and I got all out of patience."

"...I have had to go back sewing as furiously as ever.  And with the sewing the old pain in the side has come back, and the sharp, quick speech that I hate, and that Earnest hates, and that everybody hates.  I groan, being burdened, and am almost weary of my life.  And my prayers are all mixed up with worldy thoughts and cares.  I am appalled at all the things that have got to be done before winter, and am tempted to cut short my devotions in order to have more time to accomplish what I must accomplish."

"When {the kid's} noise became intolerable, I proposed to read to them; of course they made ten times as much clamor of pleasure and of course they leaned on me, ground their elbows into my lap, and tired me all out.  As I sat with this precious little group about me, Ernest opened the door, looked in, gravely and without a word, and instantly disappeared.  I felt uneasy and asked him, this evening, why he looked so.  Was I indulging the children too much, or what was it?  He took me into his arms and said: 'My precious wife, why will you torment yourself with such fancies?  My very heart was yearning over you at that moment...and I was asking myself why God had given me such a wife, and my children such a mother.' "

"Home again, and full of the thousand cares that follow the summer and precede the winter.  But let mothers and wives fret as they will, they enjoy these labors of love, and would feel lost without them.  For what amount of leisure, ease and comfort would I exchange husband and children and this busy home?"

 

Homesteading Carnival

I have never entered one of my blog entries into a Carnival.  I barely have time to blog these days, let alone do the extra steps it takes to enter a Carnival.  Although I do love visiting the Carnivals.  I've found some pretty neat ladies through them. 

Anyway.....SOMEONE.....well, I feel it's safe to say Jacque entered my post about breast milk  into the Homesteaders Carnival!  I think it is great fun to be in the Homesteaders Carnival considering we live in a suburb of Dallas and can see houses for miles around.  But First and Only Husband and I are homesteaders in our hearts - we are looking forward to getting outta here one of these days.  Not only outta HERE - the suburbs - but also outta here - the heat.  We hope to move north.  It's going to be 98 here today and we're feeling too old for all this heat.  ;-)

Please stop by and visit all the wonderful homesteading mamas  hosted by Jennifer at QuiverfullFamily, and if you would like to submit an article for the next Carnival, click on the rooster!

 

Exercise Challenge

Another week of exercise, another week of no results for me.  I'm not sure what else I can do, short of starving myself, but then that's no good.  I'm a nursing mama, so I guess I'll just have to stay the course and hope for a good outcome.  I have increased my protein intake.  I started noticing that I was probably eating way too many carbs.  Carb-type food is usually the easiest thing to grab when the need for a snack arises.  Not to mention my favorite!  In the last few days, I've tried to make sure there are boiled eggs, celery for peanut butter & etc. around to eat, rather than sugar-filled granola bars or cereal (luv to have a bowl of cereal for a snack).

Kristy sent a link for Hungry Girl.  It's a fun site with some good info.  Check it out if you get a minute!  Kristy also has a diet blog.  I haven't had the chance to spend as much time looking at the TON of info she has there, but hope to slowly, but surely!  This woman is SERIOUS.  ;-)  She's definitely succeeding in reaching her weight loss goals and that is very inspiring.  Thank you, Kristy!  Go HERE to see her diet blog.

Sign-in with Mr. Linky so we can all come visit and give you a rah-rah-rah and leave a comment so I'll know you were here.  :-)

 

Shopping CVS

OH
MY
GOODNESS.

I feel like a cat who brings all the animals she kills to the doorstep to show off when I talk about shopping CVS.  It was all I could do to stay within the speed limit on my way home from CVS today because I was so excited!  I brought home and laid out all my stuff on the kitchen cabinet and had everyone take a guess about how much I spent on my second CVS transaction.  Here's why:

Things started off okay.  CVS has a deal where you buy $20 of Nexxus products, you get $10 ECBs back.  I use these products, especially the gel, for my unruly hair.  Their gel is the only thing that I've found that keeps my hair from totally frizzing out.  Anyway....I appreciate this deal because these products are not on the cheap side.  So here's what I got:

Nexxus Gel: 2 @ 9.99 each 
Nexxus Shampoo: 4.19
subtotal of 24.17
I used a $3/$15 CVS coupon
9.68 in ECBs
My final total was 12.44  Not a huge CVS shopping moment.  The big moment came when my receipt printed out!  Rather than receiving $10 ECBs, I received TWENTY ECBs!!!!!  The CVS guy and I were flabbergasted!  He recovered more quickly than I did and while he was ringing up my second transaction that I had planned on using my 10 ECBs on, he said, "Is there something else you need?"  Oh yeah!  So I ran back and got some wipes.  Then he said I needed something else that cost around $2.  I grabbed some salsa.  Here's the details:

Right Guard Extreme: 2 @ 3.00 each earn 2 ECBs)
Q-tips: 2.99
2 Oral-B toothbrushes: 2 @ 1.99 each (earn 2 ECBs)
Colgate toothbrush: 3.99 (earn 3.99 ECBs)
Playskool Wipes: 5.79
Salsa: 2.99
subtotal: 25.74
I used .30 coupon for the Q-Tips
1.50 in coupons for the Oral-B toothbrushes
$3/$15 CVS coupon
and then of course my $20 in ECBs!!! 
FOR A GRAND TOTAL OF

94 CENTS!!!!  And I earned $7.99 in ECBs.  :-)  That was such fun.  If I had been more on my toes, I would have grabbed more stuff that would have earned me more ECBs, but I'll survive.  It's just way too kewl to have paid only .94 for all that stuff. 

And ya know....a lot of people would say, "so lucky!  What a fluke!"  I don't believe that for a minute.  I totally believe that God had his hand on my CVS transactions today.  First of all, because I always pray before I go in that I will be successful.  This is a serious business for me.  I am really trying hard to lower our family's expenses.  So I always pray. 

Secondly, Proverbs 16:33 says, "The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the LORD."  He meant for me to have that extra 10 ECBs.  He is so good to us all.

Uses for Breastmilk

Second Daughter has had a runny, goopy eye for the last week.  It wasn't red, just goopy, so I was keeping an eye on it until Thursday night when it started getting red.  I was able to get her into the doctor on Friday morning.  No infection, but just to be on the safe side, our doctor told me to put some drops of breast milk in her eye.  I had never heard of this before, but I'm doing it and am anxiously awaiting the final outcome.  I got curious and decided to go online and look for the alternative uses that breastmilk has.  Here's what I found - very interesting stuff!
UPDATE 5/18: It's working!  Her eye is so much better after only 24 hours.  :-)

Did you think that Breastmilk is only for feeding baby?  As breastmilk is “clean” and has anti-bacterial & healing properties, have you considered other great uses for it?

Here are some that you can try!  [Note:  Suitable for babies & children, and even adults!]

Eye infections / Conjuctivitis ("Pink Eye"):  Squirt into the eye.  Do this as frequently as possible until healed.  If the baby/child doesn’t allow you to squirt breastmilk into his eye, then do it while they are sleeping.  Squirt around the crease of closed eyes, then gently lift the lids to allow the breastmilk to seep into the eye.

Sore/cracked nipples:  Rub into nipples after feedings and air dry.

Scratches/Scrapes/Cuts:  Squirt & clean wound first with the breastmilk; then apply some more on wound and air dry.  This is really great when on outings where no ready water supply is available.  If the cut is on the lips or mouth area, healing will be especially easy for a breastfeeding baby or child.  Just the simple act of nursing the child not only calms the child from the pain of the injury, but the breastmilk that must pass the wound during nursing will close the cut rather quickly.

Mosquito bites / Ant bites: Squirt on bite and rub in.  Helps to stop the itching.

Ear infections: Squirt or pour into sore ear

Acne / Eczema / Diaper rash:  Wash skin with water, then apply breastmilk all over.  Air Dry.

Facial Cleanser:  Apply breastmilk on face & wipe clean.  Great even for removing eye-makeup!

Sore throats/Mouth Sores:  A baby/child that is still breastfeeding can benefit by directly nursing.  If not, drinking a cup of expressed breastmilk will help.  It certainly helped when my then 19-month-old son had mouth sores from a bout of Hand, Foot & Mouth disease.  His mouth was too sore to nurse directly from the breast, but drinking expressed breastmilk from a cup helped heal the sores in a day.

Stuffy noses: Squirt into nose and suction or squeeze out as you would with saline.

Eye puffiness and redness: Express breastmilk and pour over eyes. Does as good of job, if not better, than tea bags!

Breast cancer: Recent studies suggests that just the simple and natural act of breastfeeding can benefit mom as well by providing protection against breast cancer.

Tooth decay: Scientist have tried to grow bacteria in breastmilk and have been unsuccessful!

Cold sores/Fever blisters: Express a small amount of breastmilk onto clean finger and apply immediately to cold sore. Ends pain and helps speed the healing process.

Chicken pox: Use as you would Calamine Lotion or some other ointment.

Leg ulcers: Someone has claimed of hearing about a breastfeeding mother putting breastmilk on an elderly relative's unhealing leg ulcers, it cleared them up too. I don't know how long it took.

Chapped lips/skin: Express a small amount onto fingers and wipe over lips or skin. Do not rub it in...leave a little wet. (This feels great on my chapped lips and it normally only takes a day or two to clear!)

Exercise Challenge

Well, I'm still here and still exercising.  I've been trying to exercise every day just to try to get my body jumpstarted into losing weight, but my Husband's Dallas Stars have made it into the second round of playoff fun, so the t.v. has not been as accessible.  I know I could have just gone outside for a walk or bike ride, but my allergies have made me a little blah, so I ended up working on my knitting instead.  ;-)  Unfortunately, I don't think the Stars are going to make it past this round.  Detroit is really, really outplaying them.  Waaaaah. 

I am so thankful for all of you who are sticking with me and the challenge!  Even though we've never met IRL, you encourage me!  I know you're out there, working hard to become fit.  I've passed up more cookies and ice cream than I wanted to because of you.  :-)

Sign-in with Mr. Linky so we can all come visit you and leave a comment so I'll know you were here!  To learn more about this Exercise Challenge go here.

 

CVS Shopping

One of the things I was concerned about with shopping CVS was that, as much as possible, we buy organic/natural products.  Stuff like toothpaste, soap and stuff.  I worried that there would not be enough products that we use that would earn us enough Extra Care Bucks for it to be a benefit.  But that fear has been laid to rest because there are plenty of products that we use that have earned Extra Care Bucks. 

An added bonus is that I have been able to buy products that we normally use for almost free even though they don't earn Extra Care Bucks.  We are just about out of toothpaste.  We use Tom's of Maine toothpaste.  It's a natural toothpaste - better ingredients than Colgate.  We also needed diapers.  I normally would buy the Target brand diapers because they are cheap, but today I was able to buy Huggies for nearly nothing.  Here's the breakdown of what I did today:

Huggies Jumbo Pack - on sale for 8.99
Tums QuickPaK - 4.69
CVS Kid's Plaque Detecting Mouthwash (my kids need all the encouragement they can get in doing a good job on their teeth!  ;-) - 3.99
Subtotal: $17.67

I used:
a $3/$15 CVS coupon
a $1.00 Huggies coupon
$9.69 in Extra Care Bucks
which brought my final total down to $4.64.  I earned $5.69 in Extra Care Bucks for my next purchase.  Woohoo!
Here's the next thing I did:

Huggies Jumbo Pack - 8.99
Tums QuickPak - 4.69
Tom's of Maine toothpaste - 5.29
Subtotal: $18.97

I used:
$3/$15 CVS coupon
$1.00 Huggies Coupon
$10.00 Extra Care Bucks
which brought my final total down to 5.63.  I earned $4.69 towards my next purchase!

In all, I paid $10.27 for $36.64 worth of stuff!  Our budget can handle that!  ;-)

Forgot!  There is also a program called The Caregivers Marketplace. (www.caregiversmarketplace.com)  You can sign-up to receive money back on things like DIAPERS, flushable wipes....I will send in my receipts to the Marketplace to receive $1 for each package of Huggies that I bought, so that will bring my final out of pocket expense for today down to $8.27.

To read how to get started with your own CVS shopping, go here: http://www.moneysavingmom.com/2007/09/cvs-101.html

Gingerbread Men

We LUV the Bluedorns of Trivium Pursuit.  Harvey and Laurie's book, Teaching the Trivium made a HUGE impact on us as homeschooling newbies.  They helped us put a finger on what it was we wanted to do as homeschooling parents. 

Is it a surprise that their children also exert big influence in our house?  Especially Johannah Bluedorn Stafford.  We love her beautifully illustrated books which are works of art.  My daughter especially loves them and when I bought her a copy of one of Johannah's watercolor paintings, she was in heaven.  This is the one I got her for her birthday last year, which she actually received a few months late because I forgot about it sitting in my closet!  ;-)  It's titled The Barn Dance.

First Daughter loves this painting.  She has assigned each member of our family to a person in the picture.  We have also downloaded a FREE file of Johannah's painting titled Planning Garden.  There's just something about her paintings that make you want to roll up your sleeves, get off the couch, and DO all the interesting things in her paintings.

Johannah is such a great example for our daughters.  First Daughter and I have followed her engagement and wedding, and enjoyed watching Johannah in watercolor action on the Trivium Pursuit blog.  A lot of people say that ANYONE can draw, but I just don't see that.  There is a true talent involved in what Johannah does.

Johannah is auctioning an original watercolor painting on eBay!  It is titled Gingerbread Men.  Here's a peek at what it looks like.  :-)  Bidding on this ends on Sunday, so definitely check it out!

Money Exchange

If any of you have ever used PayPal for a transaction, you know that there is usually a fee attached to receive money.  There is a new alternative for PayPal called Money Exchange.  Right now they are offering everyone who signs up by May 15th 25 bucks!  Not a bad way to get the word around, eh?  ;-)  Another really fun aspect of this is that you can earn $10 for every person that you refer who signs up.  So here's my plea.  Will you sign up through meeeeeeeeee?  LOL!  Click on the button to find out more.

 

Shopping CVS

I've visited so many blogs and read about the glories of CVS shopping.  Sounded great, but I figured it was probably more work than it was worth.  But lately I've really been working hard to tighten down even more with our budget, so I rolled my eyes, shrugged my shoulders and decided to give this CVS thing a shot. 

I am sold.  It is so totally kewl.  I am getting stuff that we use for FREE or really close to free.  Here's what I bought today:

Tums QuickPack: $4.69
Colgate 360 Toothbrush: $3.99
Aquaphor: $8.99
I used a $3/$15 CVS coupon a $1 coupon for the toothbrush and $11 in Extra Care Bucks that I earned from CVS from previous purchases, bringing my final total to $3.41!  It could have been even lower, but I goofed in printing a coupon from the web for the Tums.  Big bummer!  Not only did I get these three things for 3.41, but I earned Extra Care Bucks in return.  The Tums gave me 4.69 back, and the toothbrush, 3.99 for a total of $8.68 towards my next purchase.  So technically, CVS paid me to take home these three items.

I usually do my CVS shopping on Sundays, and did this week, but my son needed the Aquaphor for some excema he has on his hand.  He was totally out, so I needed to get it today, but after shopping CVS for the last month or so, I've realized that I never have to pay full-price for this type of stuff again.  So I visited MoneySavingMom (www.moneysavingmom.com) and IHeartCVS (www.iheartcvs.com) to see if I could find a way to earn some Extra Care Bucks so I could spend some ECBs and get the lotion free, or almost free.  Cha-ching!  ;-)  It worked!

If you are curious about how all this Extra Care Buck-ing works, MoneySavingMom has a great tutorial on getting started.  Go read and do it!  Don't wait like I did!  :-)  Go here: http://www.moneysavingmom.com/2007/09/cvs-101.html

Yarn! Glorious Yarn!

The hardest thing about my Husband's Grandmother's death was all the stuff that was left behind.  It seemed so wrong to be divvying it all up and seeing it go to the four corners in a heartbeat.  The whole thing seems so odd to me.  Death comes so quickly.  Grandma was walking into the Senior Citizen Center for lunch with a friend.  Her friend dropped her off at the door and while she was walking in, she had a heart attack and died before she hit the ground.  BAM!  Just like that.  The doctor said she probably never even knew she was gone - well, until she got to the Pearly Gates!  :-)  I tell ya, I don't know how people can live without the Hope that Christ has given.  He is so good, and our family is able to rejoice, thinking of her meeting Jesus face to face and visiting with other family members who are there.  My Husband's grandparents have become like my own grandparents since mine were all dead before I was born.  I wonder if she ran into my grandparents and said, "hey....I knew this girl.....she married my grandson....."  Silly.  ;-)

Anywho.....the picture above is Grandma's yarn.  She knitted 10-12 afgans each year and gave them away to fundraisers, or to my Husband's aunt, who is a realtor.  She gave an afghan to each of her customers that bought a house through her.  She knitted them for her family.  We have two or three of them.  As you can see from the amount of yarn, she had big plans for a lot of afghans!  :-)  And so now the yarn is mine, and the only thing I knit is dishrags!  Our family and extended family will never be without a homemade dishrag from now on. 

Exercise Challenge

It's been a weird week.  We got a call on Wednesday morning.  My Husband's grandmother died.  Very hard.  She was loved very much by her family.  What a sweet, SWEET woman.  We packed and packed and packed like crazy people on Thursday, drove to Missouri Friday, the funeral was Saturday, and here we are back at home in TX today. 

In the world of exercise, we have to congratulate Desi!  She has lost 1/2 inch around her waist!  How kewl is that?????  :-)

Kristy, from The Diet Blog has discovered this nifty site called StartYourDiet.com.  It has a Free Membership plan where you can track your weight, plan target goal dates, a special goal planning tool, track your daily water intake, a weight tracking chart and a free diet profile. 

Sally from Diamonds in the Rough has reported in some benefits from her exercising!  Notably a more comfy monthly for her.  Now that's something we can all relate to!  Sally, I have to say - Alicia will back me up on this - I am the Unofficial Cod Liver Oil Goodwill Ambassador - Cod Liver Oil also helps with that!  I know......yuck!  But if you just put a tsp. in a shot of oj, it's painless.  :-)  I can't sing the praises of this stuff enough.  Go here to read a bit more if you're interested.

I was so excited to put on a shirt that had been a little too snug in the arms before, but found myself with a little more wiggle room!  It was one of those days when everything I owned was dirty but that one shirt.  I did not want to wear it because I'm a bizzeee gal and the thought of fighting with a shirt with tight sleeves all day did not appeal to me.  You can imagine how thrilled I was to be able to move about freely!  I still haven't lost any weight, but it's good to know that something is happening!

Sign-in with Mr. Linky and leave a comment!  :-)  If you're wondering what I'm rambling on and on about, go here to read and get more details.