This 'N That

Want to know why I suddenly came back on the blog scene? It's because S needed some dates for something he was working on and we had no idea where we were going to be able to locate the proper paperwork to find those dates.

Then it hit me. My blog! I bet I blogged about the thing he was looking for. Sure enough, after some hunting Sunday morning, I found the dates he needed. And I REALLY enjoyed reading back through my old posts. It was old--Little Bit was 3 in those old posts and she just turned 10 this weekend.

And I was sad I haven't documented the last year (or so) very well. It's been near impossible to do so, but nevermore. It's just too important!

S had a doctor's appointment yesterday and I needed to go with him. We are still trying to get his diabetes under control. It was a good appointment. We learned a lot and the doctor said he really feels he can get S's labs looking perfect in about 9 months. So we have a renewed determination about his diet and a new pill that I really hope works. And a plan for the next month. Then we'll go back to the doctor.

But Mom and Dad had an appointment with my Dad's cancer doctor yesterday too, so I dropped the big girls off at Mrs. Carrie's house. (I paid her with a Sonic drink.  I'm generous like that.) When they got there, all the kids were sitting around the dining room table and there were chairs for Sweetheart and Little Bit. It was quiet, the plumbers were working in the kitchen (so you act really good when there are strangers in the house) and S said, "This is going to be good for them."

And it was. They got everything done that I sent in under 2 hours AND made caramel apples. At one point Carrie asked them if they missed Bee and did they want her to play a video from her phone of Bee saying, "Mommy, Mommy, Mommy, Mommy, Mommy, Mommy......" They said, no. They were good. I think they were shocked at how if feels to homeschool without the distraction of a 1 year old.

Oh look. I found a peaceful moment of school. 

Whew. She's quite a distraction. Many times I just close the book I'm trying to read. I can't possibly read over her and I stop every other sentence to say something to someone and AACCCKKK!!!! Sometimes it is chaos over here.

Baby Bee, Little Bit, and Sweetheart before Little Bit's birthday party. It was a bird theme.. 

Since we had Little Bit's birthday party this weekend, you would think the house would still be relatively clean, but you would be wrong. All that effort should last a few days but it didn't. Last school year Little Bit's chore was cleaning and picking up the homeschool room. Sweetheart's was the laundry and laundry room. This year they are both in the kitchen. Little Bit cleans the dining room table off (putting away all items on it and wiping it) and also helps keep the toys under control in the rest of the house. Sweetheart unloads the dishwasher, clears off the kitchen cabinets and sweeps the dining room and kitchen. I go sit down after supper. I'm supposed to get back up and load the dishwasher but sometimes that doesn't happen. Like last night. Anyway I was thinking about how my sisters and I always had to clean the kitchen after supper while my parents went and sat down in the living room. So unfair!!! Now, as a parent, I realize how many, many years I've been doing all that and I'm so thankful they are big enough and I can sit down!

**cue "Circle of Life" song**

Anyway, we had our first cold snap come through yesterday so it's 38 degrees today and I'm thankful we don't have to go anywhere. Planning to educate these young'uns and hopefully get the house back to decent should someone knock on the door.

That's kind of the plan every, day by the way.

In Which Brenda Has Insomnia and is NOT Pregnant

Man, the last few nights have been just like when I was pregnant. I go right to sleep and then about 3 or 4am...BAM. Wide awake.

Wide awake and solving all the problems of the world. And worrying.

You name it, I covered it last night. I worried about money, a person who is living in sin that I need to write a letter to about that (wrote the letter in my head--check), Little Bit's sore gums, health, my terminally ill cousin, lack of progress in school...etc.

It's a really tiring way to wake up.

This morning I went with S to a follow up appointment at his new doctor's office. She's very nice and young but she prescribed two things that I will be researching. Not at all sure I want him on those drugs. So that's my next project.

S holding Baby Bee last fall on our camping trip.

Sweetheart asked over the weekend if the Bible said anything about modesty. That question surprised me as I've always talked about modesty with them. Guess its been years since we actually read any Bible verses about it. And now that she's as old as she is, I decided to show her how to study something she is curious about. After our first study time she said it was fun and she really enjoyed it. THAT is an answer to prayer!

Sweetheart playing in the "snow" at Daddy's work Christmas party.

Last Monday, right in the middle of history, Little Bit's tics reared their ugly head. Not just any tics, but the dreaded screaming tic.

Me: So Abraham moved from Ur to Canaan...
LB: Ur. Ur. Urururururur. SCREAM
Me: (thinking) please be kidding

All we can think is that she got overly tired from our fun weekend with the Holiday family. Whatever it was set her off from Monday until Wednesday afternoon. It was a very tiring 3 days. She was exhausted, school didn't get completely done, there were tears. One happy note is that the screaming didn't seem to bother Baby Bee at all. Sometimes she just looked at Little Bit and screamed back. That made us all laugh. And Bee managed to sleep through them too.

We upped her supplement she takes and I think we may have overdone it and given her too much and made her stomach upset. ANYWAY....all that to say...that's why I haven't been blogging.

Tourette Syndrome is more time consuming than regular life.

Little Bit at our church's children's Christmas party. Can you tell I need to upload some more recent pictures???

We broke out our copy of Front of the Class and watched it together. That prompted me to read the book again. What struck me this time I read it was Brad Cohen's description of learning with Tourette's present. It really made me think about why Little Bit is where she is in school.

Baby Bee in the owl hat Auntie Carrie got her.

And in more horrible news: Bee is crawling. Oh I'm kidding. It's wonderful news. She looks so cute scooting across the floor. Boy did big sisters start scrambling around picking stuff up when on Sunday she suddenly took off! Now she not only crawls, but pulls up at the coffee table and gets into everything. Nothing is safe anymore. Gee I wonder why I'm not more productive?


Oh wait. I AM productive.

Just in my head at 4am.

The Hobby I Didn't Ask For

Wanna know what I do in my spare time?

I talk to insurance companies, doctor's offices, and pharmacies on the phone. It's a load of fun.

You remember, I'm sure, that I was in the hospital twice last year? (Once to have Baby Bee, and 2 weeks later again.) Well. We owe a LOT of people money. Doctors, anesthesiologists, labs, etc. And of course many of them have, how shall we say, issues with the billing process.

So I call.

And now S has been put on insulin. That's a good thing! But since he works full time, it's up to me to make appointments, call in re-fills, ask questions, schedule things, etc.

So I call.

No, Important Lab Company, we do not, in fact, owe you $400 for blood work for my husband. We have insurance. Oh, it was denied? Interesting.

Hello? Insurance Company? Why were we denied? Oh, you never received a claim? Interesting.

Then we proceed to have a conference call between me, Important Lab Company, and Insurance Company. They have the wrong billing code. They didn't know that this one big insurance company bought the other insurance company. OK-we'll try again.

Repeat process the next month. Call also to get them to stop collections.

Oh its fun.

You should get a hobby like mine!

So I Have a Secret

I've been making smoothies for breakfast for 2 weeks now. The girls and I have been drinking one every morning. I'm doing this for our health. So what's the big secret?

Well, they think they are drinking fruit smoothies, but they are really drinking green smoothies. Yeah, yeah..."knowledge is power". How about "what you don't know won't hurt you"? Or "ignorance is bliss"?

The first 2 mornings after I bought my Ninja...(**Warning: My sister and a good friend have both sliced themselves on the blades to this bad boy. Not my Ninja--theirs. These things are SHARP. Use caution.)
Anyway...the first 2 smoothies I made were straight up fruit smoothies. And I made them pretty sweet. After that, the novelty of the new blender wore off and the girls wandered off and I started stuffing spinach in there too. I started with one good fistful and now I'm using 1/2 a small bag every morning.

I LOVE that Sweetheart is getting all those greens in her diet. She wouldn't eat that much spinach in a YEAR left to her own devices. I love that breakfast is easy. I'm excited they still like them. Little Bit asks for them every morning. Sweetheart sometimes needs encouragement to finish hers, but she does. She's even said she likes them!

One day soon they'll discover my little secret. And that's OK. Because at that point I can just say, "You've been drinking green smoothies for X amount of weeks and you liked them." Anyway I thought I'd share what I've been doing.

I basically used this video to get started. The big difference is, I use blueberries to turn our smoothie a wonderful shade of pink. My smoothies aren't that green even before the blueberries. I'm working up the amount of greens I add though little by little.

Our basic daily recipe is some no sugar added mixed frozen fruit, water, spinach, and frozen blueberries. Oh...and flax seed and sometimes I throw Little Bit's magnesium supplement in there too. Oh and a little Truvia. I understand you are supposed to change things up a bit and use different greens, etc. But this is really working for us and is way more health food getting inside of us than usual. So for now I'm sticking with it.

I can't say that I've noticed huge benefits yet. Some people report symptoms of other diseases gone, great hair and skin, etc. My nails are really strong just like when I was pregnant. I guess that's something. But we're going to keep going and see what happens.

Oh one more thing! I'm kind of starting Sweetheart on this diet. Yes, my 90 pound almost 13 year old on a diet. :) It's not for weight loss. That girl loves nothing but carbs and sweets and avoids any vegetable she can. She's on the fast track to diabetes with her Dad's family history, so I decided something needed to change. The smoothies are my own idea--they aren't part of this diet. The first step in the diet is to eat protein every morning with breakfast. So I make her a piece of peanut butter toast, or a slice of sausage to go with her smoothie. I'm also going to try throwing oatmeal in the blender. Whatever I can do to improve her diet.

That's my little secret. And my little plan to get our family healthier. There is so much to improve on it can be overwhelming, but at least I've started, right?

Conspiracy Theory

I'm really starting to think...

...that all this acid reflux stuff is a scam.

Oh, I believe acid reflux is real. It's just that it seems to be quite tied up with the pharmaceutical industry. Ahem.

And I might have been surprised to see on the list of "natural herbs that treat acid reflux" TWO THINGS that I have been told to avoid by the medical industry.

Hmm. Interesting. That's all I'm saying.

I already believe that diabetes is a big 'ol scam. They could cure everyone tomorrow but that isn't going to happen because it's all tied up in money.

Do you know how badly I wish naturopaths were covered by insurance so we could afford to go?

Tomorrow I visit our new doctor. I already saw her for Baby Bee's newborn appointment where I announced we would be following Dr. Sears' alternate immunization schedule and she said,

"Good!"

And then went on to say that she thought that was a good schedule but she might even be more conservative in a few areas. I nearly fainted. I found a family doctor who is on board with that? Wow!

So I can't wait to see how she can help us with the acid reflux and the diabetes. (S sees her later this week.) We're hoping it's more about diet and real solutions than medicine. If I read her website correctly, I believe it will be.

I've sure been praying about our health. We want to be healthy enough to raise our girls all the way up. And to work in God's Kingdom. I don't want good health to become an idol, but I think we need to do what we can to stay healthy.

Don't get me wrong, we're thankful for the doctors who patched me up in the hospital. It's just that I got put on the set course of treatment without anyone asking me a single question about my history, symptoms, lifestyle, etc. I'm anxious to see a doctor who treats our whole family and looks at the whole picture of our health.

Sorry if I sound a bit cynical...it's just that I've been researching.

Dangerous, I know.

One Month

And boy what a month it has been!

She is not one month old in this picture, but I still like it.

Our Health
My baby girl is one month old today. Today I go to the doctor's office for a follow-up from my hospital stay. Uh...the second hospital stay. The doctor who fixed my bleeding ulcer. Then next week, I go for my follow-up appointment for my first hospital stay. The doctor who delivered Baby Bee.

Got all that?

Oh, throw in a doctor's appointment with my primary care doctor too. Just for fun.

Being 41 is awesome so far!

I have still been having little dizzy spells and a feeling of weakness every now and then. It was really concerning me until a friend pointed out that was probably from the anemia. You know, losing that much blood can make you anemic. Even if they pump four units of blood into you at the hospital.

So I've been researching iron-rich foods and downing a lot of them. It really helps. I'll be talking to my doctor about diet. And then S is going to see the same doctor soon because his blood sugar is in no way under control. So he'll be talking about diet too. Praying we can get him squared away because now that I'm doing better, I'm increasingly concerned for his health. I know we can get ourselves under control--we just need some guidance.

But enough about our health....what else is going on around here?

Our Family
Well, it's been completely, totally, and 100% awesome having S home so much. (You know, now that he's just working one job.) The house stays in order better, we've all seen more of him, our family does things together. It's really cool. Of course, cutting out that second income means eating at home a LOT more. Which really goes along with our diet (see above) anyway. So I guess that's a good thing.

Our Homeschool
I originally told the girls they could have a month off after baby was born and then we would start "summer school." What that means is, Sweetheart has to finish up the last few weeks of Sonlight. She has to do math lessons at least 3 times a week--more if she annoys me. And Little Bit has to read to me every day and work on math. BOY does Little Bit need to work on math. The child can memorize whole movies--why can she not grasp the addition and subtraction facts? Seriously, her memory is freaky good. She misplaced her DS one time a few months ago and came and told me, "Mom, the last time I was playing my DS was at (a restaurant) when we ate there on a Saturday. Remember? We had just been to (a store) and then we stopped to eat?"

Uh. No, actually, I didn't remember that because IT WAS OVER A MONTH AGO! Very good memory, that one. You can pull an outfit out of her closet and she can tell you where she was the last time she wore it. If we lose anything in the house--she's the one we call. She remembers where she saw every little thing.

Which tells me she is very visual. So I have been making lots of math manipulatives to help out with the  math. Also, I've been pinning lots of activities on Pinterest. Unfortunately, I'm not quite ready to go on the math activities today, but Sweetheart will be getting started on her stuff so that's good.

Getting Back to Normal
I guess we are as back to normal as things are going to get. I feel pretty good as long as I eat my Cream of Wheat every day and rest some every afternoon. Baby Bee is getting on a really good schedule. She's a very easy baby. The Lord's mercy! With all the upheaval we've had lately, He knew we needed an easy baby!
Anyway, hopefully things will be getting back to normal around this blog too. I've missed "talking" with you all! Of course, my arms are busy and full more lately and it's harder to find time to blog...but I'm hoping to be more regular and also have more interesting things to talk about than my iron levels.

You're welcome.

Oh no! It's coming true!!

Today I am Praying

*for my husband's health. For an end to the diabetes. For us to deal with it better in the meantime. For his energy levels. For him to feel better.

*for his job situation. He has been blessed with a great job, but he also works another job after hours. Just ONE job sure would be nice--more time with family, more time to study God's Word, etc. What can we do to make that happen? What can we wait for God to do?

*lastly, for me. Six more weeks. I'm not going to lie, I'm dragging. Everyday things are exhausting. Still, I'm thankful for good health (mine and baby's). Getting a little nervous about the end though.

*what are you praying about today?

I'm a Hater

Woke up this morning thinking about the very heavy responsibility I have to take care of my family's health. S has not felt really good this week and his blood sugar has been really high. (which is why he hasn't felt good!) Then this morning I got to thinking about the girls too. Everyone has something that needs to be dealt with!

click to read their diagnoses!

These are just the things that came to mind this morning as I lay in bed. S and his diabetes (which I HATE), Little Bit's TS (although under control right now), and her scalp problems are back, and Sweetheart with her complete love of all things sugar and starch and her avoidance of any form of vegetable. (thankfully, her asthma is gone!) Sigh.

As a homemaker, I feel such a HUGE responsibility in all this. I KNOW 90% of these problems could be helped or cleared up completely by proper diet. But OH "proper diet" is SO hard!!

I really just want to go to the store and mindlessly buy Hamburger Helper and Cheetos like I used to in the early 90s, OK? Grocery shopping was easy then.

Menu planning, label reading, grocery shopping, (affording the healthy stuff), cooking....it is all so much work and I feel very overwhelmed when I think about it all. And then there's me being pregnant and the new baby will be here soon and I need to make wise choices then because of...well, new baby and breastfeeding.

This isn't going away, is all I'm saying. So I suppose I need to really, really get with it.

The thing is, no one in our family has IMMEDIATE MEDICAL RESPONSES to bad choices. If someone were to say, have an allergic reaction or go into a seizure because of a food choice, then obviously we would be very careful and diligent. But that isn't it. In our case, a person can choose to eat a really bad-for-you meal and you really won't notice any difference in their life right away. BUT I KNOW it's having a bad affect on their long-term health. I know the future path if these problems are allowed to continue.

I won't get into any of my specific plans right now. They are still swirling around in my head. I need to do more research. I need to pray, too. All I do know is I need a plan of action and I need to start taking this responsibility very seriously.

Because I absolutely HATE all these health problems. But I LOVE my family.

On This Rainy Morning

Every single day this week I have said it, "Today is the day we will FINISH the errands!"

So I guess you know I have 4 places to go today. Humph. (AFTER the rain stops.)

Dry cleaner so husband has clothes to wear to church Christmas morning.
Target for what nots that have nothing to do with Christmas--just daily life.
Hobby Lobby because I want to make one more thing for my parents. They deserve it.
And Walgreen's to pick up pills.

Speaking of pills--husband's diabetes is out of control. His doctor upped his pills yesterday and we'll see if that helps but it isn't a satisfying solution. We want him OFF the pills! But more than anything, we want that blood sugar under control. He hardly ate anything yesterday and this morning his blood sugar was over 200. That is ridiculous. Medicated even! So the research has begun to figure out how to improve and heal. The changes have already started too. Changes will happen in the girls' diets after Christmas as well. They share his genes, after all. Why tempt fate?

But all the presents (with the exception of that Hobby Lobby run) are bought and made. Wrapping will commence today. And the mama will feel better.

Gingerbread houses at our homeschool Christmas party...

She got a little bit of icing on her hands. 

We always exchange books. 

New book to read!!

We have been very busy this week and I know a lot of people like to avoid the busy during Christmas. It hasn't all been Christmas-related however. We have a friend in the hospital so we've been by to visit him a few evenings this week. We kept their baby so his wife could be at the hospital with him one morning. The girls loved having a little one to look after. She has 3 big sisters so she's used to be included in everything. My girls were painting these for gifts, so I gave her a toilet paper tube to paint.

Didn't get a picture of Sweetheart, but she worked hard too. :)

Merry Christmas everyone!! Hope you enjoy your family and the love of our Savior this weekend!

Oh, and one more thing:

Maybe I Spoke Too Soon

S has been sick for a few days. Like...all he does is sleep sick. With diabetes, this is a whole different ball game. His blood sugar has been in the 180-195 range because his body is fighting off the germs. Needless to say, we went to the doctor today to get medicine for the sickness. That's something he would rarely have ever done before diabetes. He really feels rotten.

I didn't feel very good tonight either. I don't really think I'm getting sick although the doctor told me I had "no chance" of not getting it. Thanks Dr. Hopeful! I just have a headache. Thankful for big girls who can help make supper and get their own baths!

So that post on movies will have to wait until I can think more clearly and without pain.

I'm off to bed--the last one to hit the hay tonight!

One Last Fix

So....with the week we've had with Tourette Syndrome, and the unfruitful doctor visit, I took a trip to the bookstore.

I came home with this:

I read about it on Heather's site, OMSH. As soon as I saw it, I gulped and scrolled down quickly. Look away! I do not want to read that book!

But I bought it last night because:

1. S has diabetes.
2. Little Bit has TS.
3. Mommy is too squishy.
and suprisingly,
4. Miss Skinny-Minnie Sweetheart is probably the most hard-core sugar addict in this house.

We all need to get off the white stuff, is what I'm saying.

I'm only 15 pages into it and I just asked S to pick up a Twix for me at the store. I can tell I better eat it before I read any further.

Yes, I really did. It's sitting here beside me right now. Right by my new book. I love myself.

I was telling my friend about the book today and her high-tech self whipped out her Kindle and looked it up and found a book about getting children off of sugar by the same author. She's seriously looking at it for her son.

Anyway, I'll keep you posted. Just as soon as I wipe the chocolate off my face, I'm going to start reading.

Alone in the Morning

S left for work already and the girls spent the night at my parent's house. Today we are going to spend the day with Grandma and Grandpa. I know my dad is wanting to do fun stuff (like sleepovers) before he goes to see his cancer doctors on Friday. We won't have results until Tuesday, but we are all hoping he won't have to do big and bad treatment. Not fun anytime, but certainly not at 76 years old.

So I was faced with the decision of going back to bed or getting lots done. I chose to stay up, but I'm not sure how much I'll really get done. There are 400 pets to take care of and the girls usually do that, so it's going to eat into my productivity time! Still, I hope to get the living room cleaned up so I can come home to a clean house today.

S got a good report from the eye doctor yesterday afternoon. His vision still gets messed up when his blood sugar is too high, but his vision is actually still 20/20. And for free the lady at Target's vision center (not the doctor, just the pick out your frames lady) spent many minutes suggesting he try Nopal Cactus Juice for his diabetes. Like her father did. Or maybe it was her grandfather. I forget.  We had gone to Target alone last night to pick out his frames for his reading glasses. The way they do things at Target is the doctor dilates your eyes and then sends you to pick out your frames and "come back in 15 minutes." So, since he couldn't, you know SEE VERY WELL with his dilated pupils, S wanted me to come help him pick out the frames. The cactus juice advice was just a bonus.

Good grief---am I 40 or what? I've written you a post about how I need to clean house, going to get glasses with my husband, cancer, and diabetes.

I am sorry.

Come back tomorrow when we'll discuss Oil of Olay, plucking grey hairs, and adding fiber to our diets!

Sheesh.

Did You Dream Last Night?

I did! And so I know I got to stage 4--REM--sleep. I read an article last night about caffeine and it was very interesting. A lot of symptoms that S and I have been attributing to his diabetes may actually be from all the coffee he's been drinking. And the article said caffeine can keep you from ever getting to stage 4 sleep and therefore you don't feel rested so what do you do? Reach for more coffee/coke etc. Vicious cycle.

I would have told you I was off of caffeine but then you have to think really hard about those chocolate kisses I've been popping in my mouth, and the iced tea from restaurants and various other little ways we get our caffeine. I read, but don't wish to research this any further, that even "decaffeinated" drinks have almost the same amount of caffeine as regular drinks. I don't want to hear that.

So I think I'll have to stick with water. But then you read about the water and.....

Oh it's overwhelming trying to be healthy!!!

Today I read that cutting your salt intake will drastically help reduce the threat of heart disease and strokes. **Raising hand** Hello! We're the family who needs to do that. There is heart disease on my side of the family and strokes all over S's side of the family.

I can cut canned vegetables just fine. But I cook with canned goods, you know? I mean, we can eat frozen or fresh green beans with no problem. But what about Ro-Tel (my college roommate always said "Roy-Tel") and all the cream of soups? Actually, Kelly posted recipes for cream of soups the other day. I'm going to be in the kitchen a lot. Sigh.

S is helpful. He has a coworker whose family lives in Nigeria or somewhere and his coworker said it takes at least 3 hours to make a meal there. I keep getting reminded of that by Mr. Helpful. I read last week, boy I wish I could remember where, about how the prep time for meals has shortened and shortened over the years. The average clean up time is now 4 minutes. FOUR MINUTES. That cannot mean healthy eating. That has to mean it takes you 4 minutes to stuff all the styrofoam containers in the trash, right?

We're light years away from where we were a year ago on our eating. But we still have a long way to go.

So, how have you been eating healthy lately? Did you dream last night?

You Get Disjointed Thoughts Today

My babies with Santa last week.

My mind is a scrambled mess. I'm sure you understand. If you are female, you probably have 417 things going on in your brain at this point in the week. I've made lists...still I have more to think about.

Are we too busy? Well, not really. I just have a lot to DO.

I think Christmas is a bit more enjoyable when you are little. That's all I'm saying.

First of all, we are eating at my sister-in-law's house on Christmas eve. She lives right near us so it's not a big deal. She asked me to bring macaroni and cheese. I asked her what else we were having and as the current menu stands, S will be eating........ham.

His other sister and her husband are diabetic too, by the way. They just aren't worried about it at all. So I'm making a diabetic dessert and bringing a veggie tray too. My husband will have something to eat besides ham!

We do brunch at my mom and dad's house on Christmas morning every year. I'm bringing little smokies in diabetic barbeque sauce. Yum! I bossed my two big sisters and told them what they would be bringing. Someone has to take charge or my dad will do it all himself!

Besides all the food related thinking, there is copious amounts of laundry to be dealt with today. I plan to put on Christmas music while I do it and thereby make it very festive.

Even though it will be nearly 80 degrees here today and I am wearing flip flops. FESTIVE do you hear me????

Tonight we will go look at Christmas lights. There is a house here in our town that puts up like 150,000 lights and has all kinds of collections to look at and a huge model train village set up and all sorts of things. We are going to go walk through that tonight. While sweating. Christmas in Texas!

I turned a man's dress shirt into a lab coat yesterday. I think it sort of looks like a lab coat anyway. Sweetheart wants science stuff for Christmas so the lab coat is part of her present. That was hard working off of no pattern!

Today I will be sewing little drawstring bags (with a tutorial this time!) for the Nintendo DSes (DS's? deeesses?) that the girls are getting. If I were in charge of the world, they would have owned a DS...never. But husband thinks its a good thing (with limits of course) to keep up with technology and they are going to be thrilled! I can't wait for them to open them. The bags are to carry them in and keep them protected.

I also need to make sister a gift. It requires mod podge. And the girls will be making bath salts for their grandma and aunts.

We are very crafty here. And humid. Did I mention that? And the bath salt recipe says to make it on a not humid day? I think the a/c will have to come on for a while!

Is your head spinning? Did you really need to add my to-do list and ramblings to your own?

Glad I could help!

His Loss is My Loss

I have lost 5 more pounds recently without even trying! I think this diabetes diet thing is really working for me. I think this because I have NOT been exercising.

Anyway, this means I have lost 17 pounds total since January! Imagine what I could do if I exercised!

And just so I don't get too big of a head about it, I have to remember that maybe, just maybe I only now weigh less than my dad. And S is really near my weight too. Sigh.

But still! 17 pounds!!!

And I'm Drinking Water While I Type

S and I stayed up until midnight last night watching Super Size Me on Hulu. I know we are about 7 years late to the party but I was just as grossed out as I had heard I would be about this film.

Of course, we kind of knew the premise of the documentary as well as some of the results since it came out so long ago. Still, it was unbelievable. In case you've been under a rock like me, the film maker ate nothing but McDonald's for 30 days. He gained 24 pounds and pretty well pickled his liver.

We don't eat McDonald's a lot, but that's not to say we never eat fast food. I've been wary of Mc Donald's for quite some time now although....at some point in my life I think I liked it. Once you see the pictures of Happy Meals that have sat untouched for years and HAVEN'T CHANGED AT ALL...you really can't enjoy eating there. WHAT is that bread made of that it won't mold? Ug.

The most interesting thing to me was how he sort of became addicted to it. He would be feeling all down and as soon as he started eating he would feel better. Hmm. It made me think of our recent diet changes with my husband's diabetes. Getting off sugar cold turkey is what S did. I don't know if I could have done it. I don't strictly follow his diet, although mine has improved greatly since he was diagnosed.

They showed how what used to be a normal sized drink (fast food joints used to have only one size of drink) is now the children's size. Everything has gone bigger from there. Some drinks they showed were roughly the size of a 2 liter--depending on how much ice you put in. I used to drink a Route 44 from Sonic all. the. time. I am so grossed out. Can you imagine the sugar in my body? Goodness sake.

It encouraged me to make even further changes to our diet. I'm not going to pull the girls off of all sweets in one sweep. They have already been reduced greatly and I don't think they ate as much as the "average" child in America to begin with. But whatever sweets they have will be homemade from scratch. I'm determined to make a lot more food from scratch.

I've gotta go refill my water now. I'm drinking it out of a McDonald's cup. Don't you just love irony?

**Note: If you haven't seen the movie, it's not for watching with your kids. There are a few cuss words--not excessive--and some talk about the filmmaker and his girlfriend's private life, ahem. I would recommend it for the facts it gives you and the encouragement! But it's not a family movie night option. Just wanted to let you know. You can watch it free on Hulu.**

Fabulous Friday

After 9 glorious hours of bark-free sleep, everything looks more fabulous!

The girls and I filled one large city trash bag full of give away stuff yesterday AND my dad volunteered to come get it and haul it up to the church garage sale for me! One whole tall bag of stuff collected and gone in one day. This is a family record.

I'm not sure you can tell any difference.

Therefore I must keep decluttering.

Husband and I are attending an adult dinner party this weekend. I am bringing a side dish, but all my go-to side dishes are not diabetic friendly. Hmmm. Anyone have an easy side dish idea for me?

I'm in the mood to start putting away summer dresses and clothes but who am I kidding? We still have 2 good months of wearing them around here. That whole "no white after Labor day" cannot seriously apply when it is still in the 90s, can it? "Fall" in Texas is a strange season. Soon it will be "chilly" (60s-70s) in the mornings but hot in the afternoons so it's hard to know what to wear. It just doesn't seem right putting sandals on the girls' feet to wear to church in September and October. However, by the time church lets out the sandals are perfect. Maybe I'll wait until October and then put away all the really obviously summery things. Short sleeves stay out year round.

I'm torn this morning between getting school done and working on chores. Both need to happen. Perhaps we'll employ an A-B pattern today of school chore school chore. The good news is...only one more week of school until we get a week off on our new Sabbath schedule! I am really looking forward to it. A whole week to just work on the house or sew or plan for school or all of the above.

That will be even more fabulous than today!

Have a great weekend everyone.

Nunya

Do you know nunya? My college roommate used to say that one.

"Who are you talking about?"

"Nunya."
"Who is Nunya?"

"Nunya business."

Remind me one day to share all the little sayings I learned from her family. They were great.

So I haven't been blogging much this week because all that's been going on is 1.the start of school and really, how much can you read about that before deciding you need to go scrub your baseboards? and 2. financial stuff. Which, even though I love you all, is decidedly NOT the blogging world's business. It's nunya, you know? Just can't blog about money.

But I can blog about being frugal. And husband and I have decided as we climb and dig our way out of our hole that we are in right now, that frugal is how we always want to be. It would have been really great if we had decided that 17 years ago, but at least we are here now. Just one of our many revisions the Lord has made on us. August is a really hard month with the start of school, summer electric bills, and Sweetheart's birthday. My plans for her birthday are not going to happen and that hurts my heart a little. But here's what I know: God loves that child more than even I do and He delights in her. I trust Him that her birthday will be special no matter what.

As for school--this week has been great. Little Bit is a bonafied 1st grader. She's hanging with us through all the subjects and working hard. Reading is SO much easier for her than it was even in May. Next week we add more subjects. I've really enjoyed it so far. Five more weeks to go until our break! I think I'm going to like this "sabbath schedule."

We're studying Zoology 1 this year which covers flying creatures on the 5th day of creation. We are blessed to have some friends from our homeschool group doing the same book this year. Her girls are each a year or so younger than mine and they all get along well. She also has a little turkey boy who tags along. I think he's 2. One of the first activities calls for us to go on a scavenger nature hunt. So, I'm making these for us to use. I think I'll put the kids' initials on them so they can each have their own bag.

Other than that, we are so lacking in the grocery area that I actually will be going to the store in the morning and taking S his lunch afterwards. Diabetes + finances = making lunch every day and I'm simply not prepared tonight. I've managed to feed him every day and his doctor said his numbers look great but it's still hard and I'm so out of ideas and tired of trying new things. I just wanna make spaghetti, OK? It's a meal that requires no thought. And a lot of recipe blogs I had on my google reader just need to be deleted because they are no good to me now.

They have become nunya.

One easy decision this week? I will be continuing to shop at HEB (a Texas grocery store chain) instead of my closest Wal-Mart. Giovanna secured that one in my mind FOR SURE.