Monday, June 30, 2008

Blog Neglect

So much to do and say (or just ramble about) but just not enough time in the day. Yep ... that pretty much sums it up. So what's been on my mind lately? I'm in list mode lately so maybe that's the way to ramble for the evening. Excuse my lack of grammar, punctuation and thoughts that make sense.

- wish i could spin some yarn ... would be a good way to release tension in my jaw. i promise this makes sense, really ... i think spinning yarn is one of the most stress-relieving things i've ever done. and speaking of stress ....

- TMJ dysfunction treatment is going well ... chronic fatigue and general feeling of crapiness has eased quite a bit thanks to the meds, hate being on meds but i like feeling well so i'm dealing with it, who would have guessed all that ickiness was due to my handling stress by clenching/grinding my teeth??? i've also been able to cut way down on the coffee consumption. muscle relaxer at bedtime is my best friend right now and the anti-inflammatory has the wonderful side effect of easing my ankle pain along with all the pain in my face, neck and jaw. now if i could just keep with the mushy food diet. what a serious pain in the arse. apparently you can't put your jaw in a sling (who knew right?) so the time to heal is three to nine months depending on the severity and your discipline in keeping with the treatment plan. so far i've had my bite adjusted, had a new night guard made (turns out my old one was making things worse due to a bad dental treatment ... long story that makes me grind my teeth just thinking about it) and have been on the meds for about three weeks. i'm really trying with the diet too. much more difficult than i would think. everything i eat is supposed to be the consistency of cooked pasta or softer and not make me open my mouth very wide. no subs, no apples, carrots, corn on the cob, gum, chewy stuff, etc. oh yeah, and i'm supposed to reduce my stress and better manage my physical reaction to stress.

- Houston is back in speech therapy two days a week and i am back to keeping them home those same two days a week. i decided i might as well keep them home a little extra while i can. our life is going to change drastically come september 2nd. he has to be at school before 8am. we are usually getting out of bed at that time. yikes! i am and will always be a night owl. somehow i'm going to adapt. so as i was saying, therapy ... he really likes his new therapist and gets all excited about going to see her and we're looking forward to seeing where he is in another couple months before school starts.

- Brody has had a total language explosion over the past couple of weeks. absolutely amazes and amuses me. he's already putting together two and three word sentences. this just thrills me to no end. i know it's totally normal but we never got to experience the development of language like this with houston. we used to joke when brody was a baby that he would grow up and teach houston how to talk. i thought we were joking. while houston's articulation problems have improved, i'm already hearing brody say words that houston doesn't know how to.

- brett and i actually went on a date last week thanks to Papa & Miss Nancy and had the best dinner we've had in a really long time. mmmmm ... wine, fried mushrooms, crab stuffed tilapia, wine, hot fudge sundae .... oh yeah ... we ate it all! it was such a great night. oh the things you take for granted before you have kids. also made me realize that we really should do that more often. even if we just go get coffee or something. so nice to be with brett, away from the house, the kids, the business ... just be the two of us together as friends where we can talk about whatever we want to and not have to worry about diapers or dishes or clients or deadlines or bills or anything that we don't want to think or talk about and not be interrupted in the middle of it all. i almost forgot how peaceful that is.

- piano playing is not as frequent as i would like although i'm pretty darn happy about what i've managed to teach myself so far. i'm having a blast with the Laurie Berkner songbook and our Sandra Boynton book. I've decided that in my next life I want to come back as someone who writes, sings and performs silly children's music. That would totally rock.

and on that note i'll leave you with a pic i took of a salad i made for dinner last week. just because it's my blog and i can do that sort of thing. shhhhhh ... just don't tell my oral surgeon that there's something on this plate that's harder than cooked pasta consistency.




one more thing, thanks for all the emails/comments/ideas/offers about my last post. who would have thought a yogurt maker and a dehydrator would generate that much chatter!?!?! i even have a dehydrator on its way to me. it's almost like blog post= magic. post and "poof" ... free dehydrator being sent to my very own doorstep. :)

Monday, June 23, 2008

Feeling the "WANT"

So we grow our own vegetables and we will have our own eggs from naturally fed, unmedicated happy chickens in another three to four months. What's missing? Two kitchen gadgets i'm really looking forward to owning one of these days. In my ever continuing quest to make sure our diet is as natural and low sugar as possible, I've been thinking of things I can do or make to help us along. I've really wanted to try making my own yogurt. First of all, they (meaning the yogurt companies) sneak all kinds of craziness into most store bought yogurt. And besides that, there is the cringe I feel every time I throw a plastic yogurt container in the garbage. Sometimes I buy the big deal and scoop it out but the kids (well all of us actually) eat yogurt every day and it's nice when they have a healthy snack they can get by themselves.

I've been doing some research on yogurt makers and found one that I really like. Well two actually. They come with cups which you can buy extra of. Perfect single serving sizes that I can stick in the fridge and the kids can get to themselves without making a huge mess. There's the Euro Cuisine Yogurt Maker at Target. And then there's the Cuisipro Donvier Electronic Yogurt Maker that I found on Amazon. The funny thing is, I went to Stitch 'n Bitch yesterday and Becca was talking about making yogurt. And then Kelly got talking about the food dehydrator again which happens to be the other kitchen gadget I want. She lucked out and got one for $5 at a yard sale. It seems like something that would be really useful, especially with the garden. What a great alternative to canning. All the peppers and tomatoes from the garden could be dehydrated and saved to use in cooking. Mmmm ... sun-dried tomatoes, banana chips ... I could go on and on dreaming of all the yummy healthy snacks I could make for the family. :) Anyone have either of these kitchen gadgets? I'd like to hear your thoughts or ideas.

Can you tell I've made good use of my time at work this afternoon? I'm not even going to get into the spinning wheel thing yet. I'm trying to put it out of my mind which has been extremely difficult since I've managed to make it by the yarn shop a few times lately. But like I said, I'm not going to get into that right now. I think I'll go play my piano for a few minutes before I have to go pick up the kiddos. :)

Saturday, June 21, 2008

Hand Dyed Yarn Swap Round 4

Round 4 is now open. Check out the blog if you want to join us.

Friday, June 20, 2008

Send Your Name to the Moon!

Click here to send your name to the moon aboard the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter.

Monday, June 16, 2008

Meet the new additions to our family ...

Four of the cutest little baby chickens you ever did see.





Friday, June 13, 2008

Dave Ramsey says "SELL THE CAR"!!!!

So that's what i'm going to do. I'll be posting more info sometime this weekend but if you know anyone in the area interested in a really nice, fully loaded 2006 Nissan Pathfinder ... please send them my way.

And ... if you know/see anyone selling a 2003 or 2004 Pontiac Vibe, please let me know.

kthnx

Drill Here, Drill Now

Click here to sign the petition at American Solutions.

Monday, June 09, 2008

Happy 2nd Birthday Brody!

Two years ago today ... Brody was born at home weighing 12 pounds. I'm so grateful that I chose to have a home birth as there most probably would have been medical intervention otherwise. While it was hands down the most intense day of my life I would do it again in a heartbeat for the same results.

This is Brody shortly after birth.



Here's Brody with my wonderful midwives, Jess & Lynne.



Houston's face shows so much concern and wonderment. He is such a good big brother ... I couldn't have asked for any better. They are truly lucky to have each other.




We had a small family birthday party at Papa & Miss Nancy's river place yesterday. It turned out just great. We usually have really big parties at home but we decided to switch it up a little. It was a really fun day.









Today my mom and I took the boys to a u-pick blueberry farm. It was really fun and the boys were really good pickers too. I couldn't believe all the blueberries we took home for only $4. We'll definitely do that again.








After picking blueberries we took Brody for his first professional haircut. He wasn't all that happy about the situation and I ended up having to sit with him so he would let it happen. We both left covered with hair but it looks cute.


Wednesday, June 04, 2008

Knitting Update

Meredyth's Baby Blanket
I've been thinking about the baby blanket. I found some satin that I was going to use to trim it but I was a bit stressed about sewing satin to knitting. I thought about it some more and decided that it might just be fine how it is. It's the perfect size for laying over a car seat or a stroller which is probably how the blanket will be used, if at all. So ... I've got some yarn tails to weave in, some washing and blocking and it will be done. Yay!!!

Socks for Seeley
I found the perfect crazy sock yarn and cast on my socks for Seeley Booth. They are going super fast using this yarn. I thought about over-dyeing once I was done to tone it down a little but I got a lot of comments from the group on Ravelry knitting these socks telling me to leave them as they are. We'll see how I feel when I'm done. I really wanted to do a ribbing pattern on the leg to ensure a good fit but after knitting and ripping out twice I decided to stick with stockinette. The stripes looked really funky with the ribbing that I tried. This picture is a little deceiving as the light green is more of a bright lime green than it looks here.



Juliana's Mae Day Dress - Take 2
I'm a little frustrated with this right now. Apparently there is an error on the pattern. The size I am knitting says it takes 2 balls of this yarn and the next size up says it takes 3 balls. Well I'm SURE that I need at least 3 balls. I'm almost done with the second ball of yarn and I'm just over halfway down the dress. Ugh! And I was in G'ville yesterday ... the day that Hanks is closed! Hope they have a ball of this left when I make it back.

First Pick!

We had some yummy wax beans from the garden last night. Should have some squash in another day or so.



Monday, June 02, 2008