Merry Christmas!

I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas! We really enjoyed experiencing it all through the eyes of our toddler, she is having a blast hanging out with her cousins while they are here on break. It snowed on Christmas morning, but it didn't stick, so we had all the beauty with none of the hassle (we got snowed in the week before). We made most of our presents this year, which took up most free moments of the day, and some of them were finished on Christmas Eve. Next year, I'd like to remember to start earlier!
I cannot believe that 2008 is almost another chapter in history. We look forward to a lot of changes next year. Our youngest child is due in April, and we're planning on moving to Hawaii (Lord willing) in July. There are lots of preparations needed for both anticipated events, and I only have another month or so before my belly gets so big I'll be worthless at doing much of anything! :)
Well, I hope you all have a wonderful time celebrating the New Year this week. May God bless you richly in 2009!

Please Pray

There are a couple of matters pressing on my heart tonight that I would love help praying for.

My Mom has had a couple of car accidents in the past few years (one REALLY bad one), and seems to attract all sorts of trouble her way, like flying umbrellas at the beach. She's in chronic pain and (since the umbrella incident in October), has developed insane headaches. She recently had an MRI that startled the Dr. into referring her to a surgeon. Please pray for her full recovery, for an end to headaches and pain, and for all of this to happen without surgery.

Also, I got a call from my Dr. today who wants me to go in for another ultrasound. Without boring you with details of low fluids, watching for contractions, etc., I would just really appreciate your prayers for my small, unborn little girl Sophia.

God is good and all things are in his very able hands.

yucky buggy prevention

I've been trying to find healthy spider repellant receipes for awhile now, and finally stumbled across some great info! Today I just killed the biggest wolf spider I've ever seen--it was in my bedroom! Yuck! I'm definitely going to try this lemon concoction.

Spider deterrents
Posted by JacquelineL | Sat, Aug. 30, 2008
Essential oil of Lemon is a great natural deterrent for spiders. I make my own surface cleaner for cleaning counter-tops etc. and use a few drops of lemon oil in that to keep spiders out of the kitchen area, and I put some in my mop water and the water I use when I clean walls or ceilings.

I also make up a room spray with about two cups of distilled water, a couple drops of Seventh Generation dishwashing liquid (acts as an emulsifier to allow the lemon oil to mix with the water) and 5 to 15 drops of lemon oil depending on how lemony I want it (I occasionally mix in other essential oils as well for other properties they might have... essential oil of lavender is nice with the lemon... I never go above a total of 15 drops of oil though in one batch though). I squirt that in corners that I know spiders are attracted to and around the house.

I use a very similar spray, made the same way, as a linen spray but combine lemon and lavender with essential oil of eucalyptus because eucalyptus kills dust mites.

Also I know you didn't ask, but silverfish and mildew / mold are deterred by essential oil of clove; I combine that with a little borax, dishwashing detergent, baking soda, vinegar and essential oils of cinnamon and orange which have anti-bacterial & anti-fungal properties (and they all smell really nice together), and I use that to clean my bath because when we first moved in I saw some silverfish under the bathroom sink.

December?

Can someone please tell me where November went?

New Face

Our little one has a new favorite face to make when she's feeling contemplative. She doesn't have her top front teeth yet, so it's a fairly easy face to make. She just had the best time tonight hanging out with two little friends, Emily and Lucy. Em and Lulu are sisters, so watching the dynamics of those two absolute sweethearts with totally different personalities made me all the more excited about the future interactions of my little one with her upcoming sister. That's right, they tell us it's a girl!
Shout out: Some other friends of ours just had a little girl this month as well, a beautiful little Bella! Yey for babies!

Swim lessons

The other day, my oldest child decided to try to teach my new phone how to swim. I turned just in time to see her go "dunk dunk dunk dunk" into a glass of water she had gotten off the bedside table. She was rather pleased with the experiment. My phone has yet to recover.

Book Worm

"In the case of good books, the point is not to see how many of them you can get through, but rather how many can get through to you"
--Mortimer Adler

My daughter is sure loving The Foot Book.
:)

What's in a number?

Does anyone else out there have to think for awhile and do some mental calculations when asked how old you are? "Let's see, it's 2008, and November, and I was born in 19## in June, so that would make me...no, really? That can't be right. Did I carry the 1? Did I miss a year?" It's always a confusing time for me. Instead of asking how old, I wish people would ask me what year I was born in. That would save me a whole bunch of hassle and surprise.
:)

Made me laugh

Deja Moo:

The feeling you've heard this bull before.

-someone clever

Check it out!

I just happened by the Etsy Organic blog page and saw that they posted my interview! Check it out!

What's in a dream?

Last night I had a frustrating dream. I went into labor early and had three beautiful Asian babies, two boys and a girl. It was all kind of a blur and I was trying to get used to the idea of triplets while having a foggy new mommy mind. Before I knew it, they were three days old, and I hadn't been able to start feeding them yet!
We happened to be in Hawaii vacationing with my parents, and of course, we took the kiddos for a speed boat ride to a tourist attraction of an island. (?) There were babies in car seats all around and I couldn't find my kids! When I would find one, I'd lose them before I found the next one. Finally I managed to get two of them, and one had taken his clothes off and was covered with poo. I started trying to feed him then and there, while the girl in my other arm was wriggling... and I couldn't remember her name! This is the really frustrating part. For the rest of the dream, I could only remember the names of two of the three at one time. When I finally remembered the girls name, I couldn't recall one of the boys.
I went to my husband for help with this, and he very piously quoted some scriptures and said it would come to me. He refused to tell me the name of our baby, even though I cried and told him I was going insane! So I asked for a divorce. Then I woke up to the sound of my actual child crying, and while slightly upset with him about it, told my husband the dream. He agreed that it was terrible, told me not to say the "D" word and went back to sleep.
Does anyone feel like psychoanalyzing me here?

It's been awhile! We just got back from So. Cal this week and have been busy trying to get back into the swing of things. I hope you all had a happy and safe Halloween! My little fairy princess sure did. Thank you to Grammi for helping me make this!

Aloha!

So it's been awhile since I've posted. I have plenty of reasons for that! I'm in Hawaii right now with my little Rosebud while my husband is off on tour in Colorado. Preparing to travel alone and all the last minute details involved took up quite a bit of energy. I haven't had much of that lately because (drum roll please...) I'm pregnant! Yey!!! With my first little one I only experienced a day of car sickness and that was it. With this pregnancy I've had afternoon and evening sickness, so somewhere between noon and three I was just out for the count. I saw was because it finally stopped a few days ago! I'm still a bit sleepier than usual, but out of the first trimester. Woo-hoo! :) We don't know if it's a boy or girl yet, but I'll keep you posted.

We definitely appreciate your prayers for a healthy baby!

Food Guide

Here's a site that ranks fruits and veggies in order of most to least ammount of pesticides in them. Since organic produce is so pricey, it's super helpful to know which foods to definitely buy organic and which ones use fewer pesticides and may be okay to not buy organic. I'm taking the list out shopping today! :)

Little Italian

Oh yes, she's my daughter.

Who needs a maid?!

Mommy's Little Helper can push the load of laundry from my bathroom, through my room, down the hall, through the kitchen, down another hall and into the laundry room. The struggle is getting the clothes into the washer before she pushes the basket back to it's "home" in my bathroom. She always gets a free ride around the house in the basket for her efforts. It really makes the chore a whole lot more enjoyable for me as well, even though it takes 20x longer! :)
I remember loving sitting on the counter as a little girl and "helping" my Mommy do the dishes. I'm sure I wasn't much of a help, but it was always pleasant doing "big kid" chores back then. Now I sometimes feel like all I do is chores, and it's not quite as fun as I remember. Funny, chores haven't changed, only my perspective on them has.

It's hard to appreciate the mundane, necessary and seemingly tedious activities of life sometimes. But what if every time I had to vacuum, I spent the time being really grateful for having the arms and legs necessary for vacuuming. Every time we do dishes, we can be thankful for God's provision of food on the table.

I also find it helpful to talk on the phone while I'm cleaning, since picking up toys and scrubbing counters are mindless activities anyway. Before I know it, I'm done and I've caught up with an old friend (or more likely, found out what my Mom has been up to since the last time I called her... 45 minutes before).

Angel Kisses

Our little Rosebud made friends with a garden angel. Precious.

tutu

I recently made my daughter a tutu, which is also Hawaiian for grandma! :)

Food nuking

The following is an excerpt from a 7th Generation article on the FDA ruling to allow companies to nuke foods in order to kill harmful germs like E. Coli. The problem is that it can also kill all the beneficial nutrients, up to 100% of them, according to the article, and in the process, can also create carcinogens and brand new "unique radiolytic compounds." Does this sound like a creepy sci-fi plot, or what?!

Here's what you can do to keep irradiated foods off your table:

• Understand food irradiation labeling laws: The FDA requires the labeling of whole, unprocessed irradiated foods but not packaged foods that contain irradiated ingredients. For example, if irradiated onions are used in a can of chili, this fact probably won't be mentioned on the can's label. But if those same onions are sold raw in the produce department, their package or display must say "Treated With Irradiation" and be marked with the Radura symbol (see picture above). These regulations do not apply to restaurants, schools, hospitals and other institutions, which can serve irradiated foods without notice.

• Be aware that the FDA has proposed changing these regulations so that only those irradiated foods that are "materially changed" by the irradiation process would be labeled. The agency is also suggesting that labeling language replace all references to irradiation with the terms "cold pasteurized" or "electronically pasteurized." 7Gen will keep its readers advised of any changes to irradiation regulations.

• Buy organic. According to federal standards, organically-produced foods cannot be irradiated.

• Buy locally-produced foods at co-ops, farmers markets and other "home-grown" outlets. Given the specialized facilities needed to irradiate food, these are unlikely to be treated.

• Avoid processed foods, which can contain irradiated ingredients without stating so on their labels.

• Inspect labels and supermarket displays carefully. The labeling of irradiated foods can legally occur in very fine print.

• Buy organic and/or "natural" herbs and spices in bulk from reputable natural food suppliers. Conventional herbs and spices are often irradiated and a loophole in the law allows them to go unlabeled. Teas are also exempt from labeling.

Cloth diapers

Brittney~ yup, we use cloth diapers. We "heart" them! :)

Why we use cloth diapers:
1. Better for little tushies (our little one was getting huge rashes before we switched)
2. Cheaper
3. Better for the environment
4. A very sweet girl named Stephanie gave us a day's supply to try out, which got us off to a great start. THANK YOU STEPH!

When we're on tour or out and about we use disposables, because it's kind of hard to work out the laundry situation. Other than that, cloth diapers are super easy to use and wash, especially now that our 13 month old is using the potty!!! But don't worry, for all of you diaposable diapering parents out there, we don't judge you! :)

Side note: For over a week now, our little Rosebud has been using the potty daily. I put her on it at first just to acquaint her with it, and she got to business! I though it might be a coincidence, but every day following it's been the same. I'm really thrilled about this! :)

Fun Finds

I just stumbled across a great site for organic gardeners. I'm going to try this garlic pest recipe, I have an earwig problem in my romaine lettuce. Have a splendid day!

Garlic & Pepper Spray
Protect your garden plants from cabbage worms, caterpillars, horn worms, aphids, flea beetles and other chewing/sucking insects by routinely using a natural spray that you can make at home. The spray must be applied regularly, especially after a rainfall. Brew up a batch as follows:

6 cloves of garlic
1 Tbsp dried hot pepper
1 minced onion
tsp pure soap (not detergent)
1 gallon hot water


Blend & let sit for 1 - 2 days. Strain & use as spray. Ground cayenne or red hot pepper can also be sprinkled on the leaves of plants (apply when leaves are slightly damp) to repel chewing insects or added to the planting hole with bone meal or fertilizer to keep squirrels, chipmunks, dogs and other mammals away from your gardens. Be sure to reapply after rain.

Signing

We've been constantly signing to our little one from the beginning in hopes of her learning more than one language (we also throw Spanish and Italian in there, with the occasional Hawaiian words--we're probably confusing her...). Besides obviously understanding some of the signs and the one time she copied me when I was signing "snake," she hadn't attempted to sign anything past waving goodbye, blowing kisses, and pointing at what she wanted...until yesterday! First she signed "all done" after lunch when I asked her if she was finished. Then, while visiting our lovely neighbor who has a sweet dog, and our little Rosebud started tapping her Daddy's leg and then her leg, and saying "puh puh." We affirmed her with "that's right, puppy, good girl!"

This morning she woke up from a nap and grabbed her dolly. She held up her dolly's arm, and while scratching under the armpit, said "tickle tickle tickle tickle." It is way too fun being a Mommy.

Starts with an "A"

Boy: What's the word I'm looking for? It's like acupuncture, or architect...

Girl: It starts with an "A"?

Boy: Yeah, it has to do with your back.

Girl: Chiropractor?

Boy: Yeah, that's it!

Why God Made Moms

My friend Brooke shared this with me.

WHY GOD MADE MOMS

Answers given by 2nd grade school children to the following questions:

Why did God make mothers?
1. She's the only one who knows where the scotch tape is.
2. Mostly to clean the house
3. To help us out when we were getting born.

How did God make mothers?
1. He used dirt, just like for the rest of us.
2. Magic plus super powers and a lot of stirring.
3. God made my Mom just the same like he made me. He just used bigger parts.

What ingredients are mothers made of ?
1. God makes mothers out of clouds and angel hair and everything nice in the world and one dab of mean.
2. They had to get their start from men's bones. Then they mostly use string, I think.

Why did God give you your mother and not some other mom?
1. We're related.
2. God knew she likes me a lot more than other people's moms like me.

What kind of little girl was your mom?
1. My Mom has always been my mom and none of that other stuff.
2. I don't know because I wasn't there, but my guess would be pretty bossy.
3. They say she used to be nice.

What did mom need to know about dad before she married him?
1. His last name.
2. She had to know his background. Like is he a crook? Does he get drunk on beer?
3. Does he make at least $800 a year? Did he say NO to drugs and YES to chores?

Why did your mom marry your dad?
1. My dad makes the best spaghetti in the world. And my Mom eats a lot.
2. She got too old to do anything else with him.
3. My grandma says that Mom didn't have her thinking cap on.

Who's the boss at your house?
1. Mom doesn't want to be boss, but she has to be cause dad's such a goof ball.
2. Mom. You can tell by room inspection. She sees the stuff under the bed.
3. I guess Mom is, but only because she has a lot more to do than dad.

What's the difference between moms & dads?
1. Moms work at work and work at home and dads just go to work at work.
2. Moms know how to talk to teachers without scaring them.
3. Dads are taller & stronger, but moms have all the real power 'cause that's who you got to ask if you want to sleep over at your friend's.
4. Moms have magic, they make you feel better without medicine.

What does your mom do in her spare time?
1. Mothers don't do spare time.
2. To hear her tell it, she pays bills all day long.


What would it take to make your mom perfect?
1. On the inside she's already perfect. Outside, I think some kind of plastic surgery.
2. Diet. You know, her hair. I'd diet, maybe blue.

If you could change one thing about your mom, what would it be?
1. She has this weird thing about me keeping my room clean. I'd get rid of that.
2. I'd make my mom smarter. Then she would know it was my sister who did it and not me.

Little Blogger

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Sounds uncomfortable

Out of context:

While driving yesterday, we saw in the distance a biker riding towards us on a winding side road. Nathan comments:
"Oh, hey, there's Jordan. Except it's a she. And she's wearing a spork."
Hmmm...

Paci for you, Paci for me!

Our little Rosebud just learned how to share her pacifier with her Dolly! All morning she's been putting it to Dolly's mouth and looking up towards me so I can make the "sucking on a paci" sound. Pretty darn cute.

Catching up

The rest of the RV tour was phenominal. Memphis was a blast! We made sure to pay our respects to "The King" at Graceland. (I had no idea he was such a philanthropist!) We also went to the National Civil Rights Museum at the site where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assasinated. Getting lost on our way there, Nathan got out and asked for directions at a liquor store, where 3 African American brothers couldn't tell us where it was...and it was just blocks away! That made me sad. (Jumping ahead a bit, a gas station attendant in South Dakota hadn't seen Mt. Rushmore 2 hours away...)

After Tenessee, we headed up to Kentucky for the Zarb Brother's Street Festival, the event our whole trip was planned around. Hanging out with the beautiful Zarb family was definitely a trip highlight, and the world class music at the concert was blow-your-mind-amazing! It was an honor to be included in the lineup. Danielle, a super friend who was in our wedding, drove from Ohio with her energetic toddler and kind father to hang out with us there. We also saw our Buddies Daniel and Kerry and met their little one who is 8 days younger than our little one, and my long lost friend Amory from Hawaii came to a show as well. At Ophelia's Cup in Olney, Il, some friends drove 10ish hours to come and party on with us also. It warms my heart to know that wherever we go in this big bcountry of ours, friends aren't far away.

Another trip highlight occured in Kansas, when we met up with my Grandma who I hadn't seen in around 6 years. It was a wonderful reunion, centered around a great western themed restaurant and full of happy introductions--she had never met my husband, let alone my almost one year old.

So Mt. Rushmore was always a place I wanted to go, but never imagined actually being there--it isn't exactly "on the way". Seeing the sun set on the good 'ol boys was surreal. Just as surreal and much smellier was Old Faithful! True story, my Dad asked me if our little one had a dirty diaper and we all puzzled over the smell before we recognized it as sulfer. Yellowstone is the most amazing place I've ever been! Emrald Pool, dragon's mouth hot spring, ghostly burnt down forests with the toothpick remains of trees, over 300 elk and 400 bison, 5 bears and a handful of chipmunks and mule deer delighted us in our 3 days there. I could have spent 3 years there, photographing the different areas through the seasons. Did any of you know that Yellowstone was the world's first National Park?!

On our final stretch we stayed the night in Utah with Nathan's grandparents, getting in late and leaving early unfortunatrly, but it was great to see them.

It was a beautiful trip, the trip of a lifetime. I'm so thankful to my phenominal parents for taking 3 1/2 weeks out of their BUSY lives to hang out with their Grandbaby and us, and support Nathan and I in our music. It was an absolute blast hanging out with them, and though I can't speak for everyone, I didn't feel too cooped up in the RV at all, I was having too much fun enjoying the company. I reccommend that everyone take an RV trip at least once in their lives, and if you haven't been to Yellowstone yet, stop everything you're doing and plan it out, it's out of this world amazing!

My heart can't handle this

Yesterday was a emotional day. We drove from Texas to Arkansas. When we hit Oklahoma, my Dad mentioned the Federal Building Museum, and over the whistling of Bertha, I wasn't comprehending that he was talking about the site of the Oklahoma City Bombing. Because of this, I hadn't prepared myself for the impact the site and museum would have on my my tender heart. There's a room in the Museum that is supposed to represent a Board of Water hearing of some sort that happened across the road from the Federal Building that fateful morning. You get to listen to the recording from that morning's meeting, which kind of drones on...and without warning you hear the bomb going off, the lights flash, and pictures of the victims faces light up on the opposite wall. It was intense.
After all of that, we met up with Nathan's Brother Jordan in an Arkansas Laundromat--I hadn't seen him in two and a half years. He's on a bicycle trip across the country, which is ridiculously hard core. He got to meet his niece, use the RV shower, hang out with us at an awesome diner where the locals gathered for karaoke, and then spent the night on the RV's couch. It was all kind of surreal, all of us meeting up in a state we had never been in. It was hard to say goodbye knowing that we had a nice, plush RV to continue on our journey in, and Jordan would have to ride off on his less-than-comfy bike into the great unknown. God speed brother.

Living Large in Texas

(I wrote this blog on Monday while we were driving and couldn't post until today when we finally got hooked up to the internet.)

We’re having a grand ‘ol time on our RV tour across America. Our little Rosebud is an excellent traveler--she’s been sleeping through most of the driving, but wakes up the second her Daddy or Grandpa puts Bertha the Whale Guppy in park (we named her that for obvious reasons). Right now Bertha is hauling us down Georgia Street in Amarillo TX. Wow, we just turned the corner and the bag of dirty clothes fell off the overhead bed and hit Nathan square on the head. Anyway, this city closes down on Mondays, so we got here a day late or maybe a day early, but there have been some amusing signs to take pictures of, and every once an awhile a group of people stop and point to our RV as we drive by, so I’m having fun imagining what they’ve got to say about it all.
My Mom and I decided to put on make-up this after we ran into a lady in the RV park who looked like she had a blast with her cosmetics this morning. “When in Texas…” We chatted with said woman for a bit before Mom brought up the fact that our little one is teething and that some people don’t believe in rubbing bourbon on teething baby gums. “Who doesn’t believe in that???!” Mom finked me out, pointing back at me. “Well I’ve rubbed a bit of whisky on all my kid’s gums…and my Mom rubbed it on our gums…” Great, making friends with the locals.

RV living

We're going on day two of our three week RV tour across America. My parents, husband, baby and I are in Utah today, looking forward to seeing lots of flat salt, I hear it's a super exciting sight and that you can drive really fast on it. My hope is that we can break some sort of RV speed record while we're here...we'll see if they let me behind the wheel, I'm sure I could do it.
Why haven't I updated this in forever? Two words: Whooping Cough. Two more: No Fun. :)
Have a great day!!!

Life

Nathan and I were watching a DVD a bit ago on the foundations of our country on Christian moral principles. It started off with Chris sailing the ocean blue, and then all of a sudden, they were in the 70's and talking about abortion. There was an illustration of one of the methods of partial birth abortion...and then I lost it. I was crying and felt sick, and all I could do was look down at the beautiful baby smiling at me and waving hello with her little one-handed clap that she learned this week, and wonder why any warm-blooded human being could rationalize such an atrocity. Then I got terribly sad for the countless women who felt that was their only option, and if they aren't already broken over the weight of their choice(s), they will have to face it some dark day. Sad for the babies who haven't had a chance to smell flowers or share their gifts with us all, and who most assuredly feel pain as they are killed. Sad for the Doctors who have to live with blood on their consciences and hands. God forgive us.

Skin Deep

Here's a site you can check out to see what you're putting on your skin (bit only if you really want to know!). I looked up my cheapo shampoo and was appalled! On the bright side though, as we run out of toilitry necessities, and as the budget allows, we've been replacing items with healthy alternatives, like Burt's Bees and Tom's of Maine. (We got Tom's toothpaste at Sam's Club not too long ago at such a great deal, 3 for $9. Woo-hoo! My mouth is minty fresh with it as I type this.) Life is too short to be hyper paraniod about everything we come in contact with, but as much as possible, it's nice to limit contact with harmful chemicals. :) Have a nice day, I'm off to garden.

a WHOLE movie!

Last week Nathan and I had our first date night in forever. We went out for burritos and then saw Prince Caspian, using up our Christmas movie theatre gift cards finally (thanks Drew and Jamiey!). I absolutely loved the movie, it was entertaining and inspirational--though as often seems to be the case, the book is better.
I don't remember the last time I got to see a whole movie in the theatres! I was prepared to take our baby out and walk the lobby if she got sad or if the content was inappropriate. (Yes, we bring our daughter on dates. She's a lot of fun :) ) We were concerned with the scary creatures and battle scenes, as our little Rosebud has an innocence that we want to protect and nurture, so we timed the movie for her nap time, put her noise-canceling headphones on once the theatre got dark, and covered her with a nursing shawl--she slept peacefully through the whole thing! What a wonderful little girl! :)

there is a sun on my leg...

I haven't been on here lately because I've been absorbed with concern for my poor leg and the sun-like spider bite on it. I am going on day five, and the leg hasn't fallen off yet, which I hear is a good sign, so I'm starting to relax now. The following is an account of the events, which though tame, are not for the weak of heart. (nor is the picture I took of my leg two days ago, which I decided to not post here...I put my favorite little Spiderman up instead!)
The bug got me gardening, while holding a baby with one hand and a hose in the other. I felt a sting, but I just brushed at is with my other foot and kept going. (did you guys see my blog on the broken toe? I never pay attention to these things...) That night, Nathan pointed it out--the silver-dollar sized, red raised bite mark on my leg. The next day it got bigger, and the next the middle turned dark yellow and the outside had blood-red spindly "rays" shooting out from it. This alarmed me. My Mother-in-law had some topical antibiotic on hand, so I started using that.
Today the "sun" is all red. Is this a good sign? Is it healing? I have no idea. I should have seen a Dr. in the first, or even in the second place. Sigh.

You have a baby...in a bar...

Tonight we played a show in a cool restaurant/bar and my wonderful Mother-in-law came and held our little Rosebud while Mommy and Daddy and Kyle were on stage. Really though, she was stealing the show being so cute in her noise-canceling headphones :)
When she started getting fussy, we told the crowd I had to take our manager home.
The words of Melanie Smooter from Sweet Home Alabama came to mind. "You have a baby...in a bar."

Positive Post Tuesday- Things Worth Saving

Hmmm, post something positive on Tuesdays? I like it! I also really like my Dad, the most positive person I know and the star of today's blog.

My Dad, Dave, is a witty, intelligent, fun-loving, scuba-diving, fund-raising, photo-taking stock broker in Hawaii. He was a YMCA directer for 25 years (he became one at 19), and helps out with fundraising for countless non-profit organizations such as the March of Dimes, Rotary, the YMCA, The Salvation Army, The United Way, The USS Missouri, The Coalition for a Drug Free Hawaii, and The National Arthritis Foundation. He is a motivational speaker, on the Neighborhood Board, Friends of Hanauma Bay, SME president, and has been the Rotary club president twice (and I'm probably forgetting a lot!). As a stock broker I've seen him work just as hard for the little guy investing $25 a month as he does for the person investing 100,000 monthly. Dave is the best Dad a kid could ask for, and an absolutely amazing Grandpa! He is an all around great guy.

The thing is, he had a pretty lousy childhood. With a handful of drunken step fathers, my Dad had to fight for survival through his trailer-park upbringing--he could have had just as good of an excuse as anyone to mope around and do less than nothing with his life. Instead, he chose to pursue excellence and be the best at everything he put his mind towards accomplishing. His favorite saying is "success is a journey, not a destination."

And of course, behind every great man is a great woman. I don't know where he'd be without my Mom there to support him, so she deserves a mention here! :)

My Dad has an e-mail that he sends out every Monday called Things Worth Saving. (click the link to subscribe). The e-mails are inspirational, uplifting, humorous, and sent with aloha all the way from Hawaii.

destined to be like me

My husband and I were going to wait until our 'lil one got her first tooth to start her on food (God's way of telling us she was ready), and wanted to wait until she was two before giving her occasional sweets. Well, Little Miss. Rosebud had her first taste of solid food this week, though not one pearly white was present. Rice cereal, you ask? Nope. Pureed Veggies? Not those either. For her first taste ever of any food besides her Mommy's milk, she had... a chocolate chip cookie. A loving family member took notice of her interest in his chocolate chip cookie, and without thinking, he offered it to her. Great, now she's destined to have a whole set of sweet teeth, just like her Mommy!

RME

I just made my first sale on ETSY and the woman asked if she could pay with RME. RM-what? I looked it up online, and it's just like paypal, except that it's an actual bank, and they don't charge you a transaction fee to send and receive money! The cool thing about RME is that right now, you get $25 just for signing up! That's 25 bucks you can use on ETSY, or tons of other online stores. You can use the link on my blog to get to their site. I was really excited about it, so I'm telling ya'll.

Squeaky Clean and Mooing!

I was cleaning the house today when the thought hit me: paying someone to clean the house and paying a gym membership is like paying to workout and paying someone else to workout at the same time (plus gas!).

And by what means, you might ask, was I cleaning? I absolutely love Holy Cow! I'm hooked on their all purpose cleaner (it's pink, very pretty). Their products have organic, natural, biodegradable ingredients without toxic fumes, safe for people and the environment. I'm not a huge fan of the streaking left by their window cleaner, but I haven't tried wiping it off with newspaper (old family secret for cleaning windows, try it!), and at least it doesn't make me nauseous like Windex.

Of course, if there were no Holy Cow in the world, there would still be good 'ol fashioned vinegar! It never ceases to amaze me, vinegar cleans everything! Here are 1001 uses for vinegar, check it out! You can add a tip if you know one they haven't posted yet.

Happy cleaning :)

You reap what you sow.

My hubby and I planted a garden and a flowerbed from seeds three weeks ago. The day after we finished, the cold came back. Mind you I'm a city girl, but I've been tenderly watering, painstakingly weeding, and dutifully composting daily, hoping and praying that in just this one case, I could reap what I sowed. For two weeks I watched and waited, while some good-humored, well-meaning nay-sayers told me I didn't water it enough, or that the frost got it. Today my garden is officially full of thriving little baby sprouts! The corn, summer squash, snow peas, carrots, bell peppers, basil, spearmint, tomatoes romaine lettuce, and the row that shall remain nameless (I've forgotten what I put there...) are all happily reaching for the sun. The cucumbers remain shy, but I'm hopeful there. In the flowerbed the sunflowers, marigolds, sweet peas, the ones I forgot there too, and the wildflowers are all doing great. I'm so excited!!! Now if the pests could please just leave my garden alone, I would really appreciate it.

Toe blues

I broke my toe. It's the one next to the pinky on my left foot (ring toe?). I broke it a month ago.

There was this nagging pain coming from the general direction of my left foot, and I kept making a mental note to check it when I had a free second.

A month went by.

I just noticed it a couple days ago, this huge, pink, swollen "ring toe" the size of my thumb. My mom (x-ray tech) asked me if I pulled on it. (?) So I decided to pull on it. Excruciating pain. I limped around the house for two days. I told my husband I would need to go to the doctor. He mentioned that all they could do it tape it. Tape. Hmmm.

I taped up my "ring toe" to my middle toe, and it worked! My toes don't look too classy (recognize the nail polish Jamiey?), but they feel like a million bucks! :)

It's a baby bottle, it has to be safe, right?

My buddy Sherry brought up something about plastic baby bottles that reminded me of the choice I made not too long ago to switch to glass. At first I too wondered if it was really that big of a deal, but read on to see why we made the jump to safer bottles.

This article kicked me over the edge on the decision to switch bottles, as we had Avent ones before, and they topped the hazard list.

Here’s an excerpt from it:
Adverse Health Effects of Bisphenol A Include…
…early onset of puberty
…obesity
…diabetes
…hyperactivity
…increase in aggression
…changes in response to painful or fear-provoking stimuli
…impaired learning and memory
…reversal of normal sex differences in the brain structure
…elimination of sex differences in behavior
…decreased maternal behavior
…impaired immune function
…breast cancer
…prostate disease and cancer
…sperm defects
…impaired female reproductive development
…miscarriage

If that scary little list isn’t enough to convince a person that it’s a big deal to buy regular old plastic baby bottles anymore, then maybe this breaking news will: Walmart just announced this month that they are phasing out their hazardous plastic baby bottles by next year.

There are some great BPA and Phthalates-free plastic baby bottles out there like Born Free and Nurture Pure, but economically we thought it a better choice to just go with the evenflo glass ones (3 for about $10). Cadi does just fine with them, and they fit on the Medela pump, which is a bonus.

More info on the subject:

Here’s a recent article in Times about the issue as well. Times comes to the conclusion,” The obvious solution may seem to be, when in doubt, ban it. If there's a chance that bisphenol A hurts kids, then why run the risk?”

Dow Jones Newswires

Under the couch

I just sat my nine month old down in the living room to throw a load of cloth diapers in the laundry, and on second thought, decided to double check and make sure the room didn't have anything she could hurt herself with in the five seconds I would be gone. (I try to be thorough when it comes to child-proofing the house, but you never can be too careful.) Not noticing anything amiss when I glanced around, I decided to do the whole "from their vantage point" thing and started crawling around on my hands and knees to try to spot hazards. Not convinced that there still couldn't be anything there (I was having a paranoid moment), I got down on my tummy and wriggled around on the floor next to her, and lo and behold, there was a chess pawn, a plastic water bottle top, a coin, and a broken toy piece all within the distance that those little fingers could get to under the couch. Interesting. What's under your couch?

How I wandered by this way

Out of boredom and curiosity, I visited a toy recall site when my baby girl was just a few months old. I was perusing the various toys non-chalantly, when This Baby Einstein blue soft block with a snorkeling turtle caught my eye. That toy was sitting on my shelf in the next room. Here, in front of my face on the screen, that same toy was being recalled for lead. I felt sick, Baby Einstein had broken faith with me, and I got suddenly overwhelmingly paranoid about everything that was within Cadence's reach. It was hard to get my mind around it-- I couldn't believe that people would still put lead in things these days, not to mention baby toys.

I sat in front of the computer for the next week being schooled in the ways of keeping Cadi safe. All of this information on plastic baby bottles, household cleaners, vaccinations, toys, pesticides, baby food, disposable diapers, soaps and lotions and countless other health hazards were assaulting my sense of well-being. Then one article (wish I could remember which one) mentioned that it is easy to get overwhelmed by the immensity of it all, but just cutting back on harmful chemicals by 10% is a big step, and one to be applauded. I calmed down, went to the kitchen, and put all of our regular household cleaners out of reach. Vinegar would be my new best friend.

It turns out that though the first model number of the recalled toy matched mine, it was not made in the same area that was effected. Still, that toy sparked an awareness that I am ever so thankful for. This is pretty much the starting place for Rosebud Organics.