A series of unrelated thoughts (7QTF)

1.  I keep seeing advertisements (and blog posts) about these meal/ingredient delivery services.   Things like Blue Apron, Home Chef, Plated, Hello Fresh. Apparently, they deliver fresh ingredients and a recipe with easy instructions, and you have to cook it and prepare it. They seem to run about $9-$10/person.  I'm totally befuddled by this. I mean....$9-$12/person is extremely pricey for a home-cooked meal.  And as far as I can tell, all they give you is a box of ingredients and a recipe with "easy" instructions.  You still have to prepare everything, chop up vegetables, cook stuff and wash dishes and the price is about what you would pay at an inexpensive restaurant..All it really saves is grocery shopping for specific ingredients and some meal planning/recipe finding, but one would still need to do grocery shopping for other food anyway. So, I'm not really seeing the convenience or value or worth here.  I'm sure it's a nice novelty thing, but I just don't get it.  If I was going to pay that much, I would just pay a bit more and go out to eat where someone else does all the work. 

2. Homeschooling. After so many years of homeschooling, I've started to realize that our homeschooling needs/philosophies change quite a bit as children grow.  In the early years, I'm all unschooly, just play.  In early elementary, we focus on reading and math, but I'm also a big fan of field trips and getting outside and going to the library and nature study and all that fun stuff.   In middle school I start to get a lot more rigorous and we focus on academics a lot more. I keep seeing all those blog posts about how things like nature and field trips are just as important as academics.  And, I think that's true in the early grades, but not so much in the later ones. I think homeschooling needs and practices generally change A LOT as children grow..  It was not something I understood when my kids were younger.  I couldn't understand why those with older children didn't do as many parties and field trips and fun stuff.  Now, I totally get it. 

3. Car seats.  I've been thinking a lot about what carseat I want to get for the new baby.  With 3/4 of the last kids, we actually skipped the whole infant bucket seat and went straight to a convertible.  With John, we did have an infant seat, but it is was one of the bigger ones (that goes up to 35 pounds) so it was way too heavy and inconvenient to really lug around, especially as he got bigger.  It did make for a cute picture though.

  

One of the few times he actually slept in it, out of the car.

We ended up mostly leaving it in the car. This was 8 years ago, so I'm guessing things have improved in that time.  When we had, Elsa, we went straight to a convertible.  However, when I was babysitting in the fall, I used an infant seat and actually liked the convenience of it.  So I'm torn.  I'll let you know what I decide, cause I'm sure you're all dying to know.  This baby will be born in July/Aug, so we won't be dealing with cold weather for the first 3 months at least (which is one of the main advantages I have read of the infant seat....that it's much easier when they are tiny and it's cold). 

4. Speaking of John...I never did a birthday post, but he turned 8 on February 26th.  Happy Birthday John....to my favorite, super-smart, chess-playing boy..  Here is  picture of him in his future work outfit.  A tie and shorts......the fashion of every successful man. 

5.  I hate how political Facebook gets during election times.  Can't people just stop talking about the T word and go back to posting pictures of their lunches and kids?  Please. 

6. I still haven't seen the big Downtown Abbey finale.  Is it good?  I have a love-hate relationship with Downton Abbey.  I love it, but it puts me to sleep if I try to watch at night.  And night is the only time I can watch.   But, I love it.   But, it's an hour and 35 minutes, so that will take me like 3 nights to watch. 

7. See Kelly for more Quick Takes. 

Happy Birthday Heidi, Baby, Lent, Valentine's and High School

1.  Today is Heidi's 14th birthday.  Happy birthday to my wonderful, smart, beautiful daughter.  People say they dread the teenage years, but so far, teenager-hood is way more delightful and easy than toddler-hood.   Now, she actually is turning into a reasonable person who you can converse with in a logical, interesting manner.  And she never throws stuff or spits food out or insists on getting the pink cup or cries because her banana broke. Teenagers are way easier than toddlers. 

2.  Last night she had a bunch of her friends over for a birthday party. Birthday parties for teens are way easier than for little kids.   Just throw some snacks and soda at them, and they're good. They entertain themselves (and it can be pretty entertaining at times).  Nothing at all like having a birthday party for a bunch of 5-year olds. 

Happy Birthday Heidi.

It's the homeboy pose.

3.  Keeping on the Heidi theme, it's looking like, after 8 years of homeschooling, she will be attending high school next year.  A public high school at that.  Actually, it's a very small, magnet school that attracts more "serious/academic" students where you can earn a ton of college credit during high school.  She applied and was accepted into it (they look at grades/test scores and meet with the student) so I think we're going to try it.  If it doesn't work out, we can always go back to homeschooling. Maybe I'll write a future blog post on why are looking at high school after so many years of homeschooling. 

4. How about a baby bump picture.

 I'm almost 15 weeks, so that seems like a good time. I've been feeling what I think is movement for about 2 weeks now, so I think everything is going well, but we'll see.  I feel like I have more of a bump at this stage than I did with the other ones.  That either means that I'm fatter (definitely) or it's a boy (maybe) or my memory is terrible (definitely). 

5. So everyone is talking about what they are doing for Lent.  My sole goal is to pray more and yell less.  Many times my life feels pretty Lenten as it is, so being overworked and underpaid, I'm keeping things simple. 

6. From what I've been seeing on Facebook, the Northeast is getting pounded with snow.  Meanwhile, we've had hardly anything.  Makes me glad I don't live in the Northeast anymore. 

7.  I'm out of ideas for takes, so I'm just going to consider this a wrap and link-up. 

Hope everyone has a Happy Valentine's Day and a holy Lent. 

This is the card I'm going to give my Valentine. 

This was created by the Archdiocese of Detroit

 I figure anyone who can stay married to me, must be a candidate for canonization.

Favorite Posts of 2015

One of my "goals" for the New Year is to blog just a tad more regularly.  I'd call it a resolution but my only resolution is not to make New Years's resolutions.  So I'm calling it a goal instead.

Enter the super easy-peasy, most popular/favorite posts of 2015 post.  Linking up with Like Mother, Like Daughter for this one and 7 Quick Takes Friday. 

So, here are my 7 favorite posts of 2015 in no particular order.

1. Benefits of Larger Child Spacing

2. Please Have Mercy on the Chronically Late. 

3. Breastfeeding Babies, Toddlers.......Preschoolers?

4. My Experience with NFP, Why I Don't Write about Controversial Topics and 7 Random Words.  

5. Stop Telling Me the Cleaning and Scrubbing can Wait Until Tomorrow.

 6. So I think God Spoke to Me

7.  New House Tour

(Sorry no picture.  You have to click to see the video). 

Sick Kitty and Thoughts on the Pope and the Death Penalty

1.  Our poor kitty is sick. 

Doesn't he look pitiful?  And he likes to sleep in a box of Christmas beads. 

 It all started on Saturday night...he started making this awful caterwauling sound.  Awful.  Sunday, he wasn't eating or drinking and kept trying to use the litter box, but nothing came out.  Sunday, night I figured it all out.   Apparently it is super common for male cats to get completely blocked and unable to pee...at all.  This is extremely painful as you can imagine. So, Monday morning, we took him to the vet and sure enough he was completely blocked. His bladder was the size of a baseball.  Poor guy. 

2. At one time in my life, I wanted to a vet.  Now...I still love animals, but we're at the point in our lives where we really can't spend a lot of money on vet bills for a pet....beloved as that pet may be.   So, it was hard choosing whether to have him treated or put to sleep. I couldn't just let him to continue to suffer.

3.  Turns out that treating him wasn't as expensive as I was thinking, so we had him treated. Our vet is pretty down to earth and understands that not everyone wants to spend thousands of dollars on their pet.  So, we had him treated.  They catheterized him and he stayed at the vet one night. 

4. Now he's home, but still not doing well. Slowly he may be improving, but it's very slowly.  I have the vet in my frequent calls now.  Thankfully, they don't charge for phone calls!  He still isn't really eating...although he is drinking and peeing (all over himself), so we have him shut up in the basement (don't worry the basement is actually finished and nice) and we stopped the medication the vet gave him (that was probably making him pee on himself).  He's definitely lost weight though and is pretty traumatized by everything.   Poor guy.   I'm hoping he starts to pick up soon.  I miss my naughty kitty that jumps up on the table and gets into everything.

5.  On a totally unrelated note...did you see my post about the Probiotic giveaway?  There are still a few days left to enter.   I'm going to randomly pick a winner and announce next week.

6. The Pope is in America and my Facebook feed is blowing up with posts about him.  It seems about half my friends are thrilled with what he says and the other half are critical. Personally, I like what he says and I like that he is so social-justice orientated.  I'm not a fan of the death penalty and I am a big fan of subsidiarity and helping those in poverty.  I know a lot of people think he should be doing more to end abortion, but I do feel that helping the poor and abolishing the death penalty (in America, where it is not needed, we have the means to keep dangerous people imprisoned for life) is a step in the direction of abolishing abortion.  You can't garner respect for the unborn, unless you garner respect for all the born people...even those our society deems less desirable...those in poverty or prison.  The people that society tends to want to throw away as worthless. It seems as though a lot of people only value those who are innocent or productive. Yes, many people make very wrong or poor choices, but I think the saying "There but for the Grace of God, go I" is important to keep in mind.  Yes, it's important to fight abortion, but it is also important to fight for the rights and respect of ALL people. So..go Pope Francis!

7.  And that is probably the most controversial I will be in this blog for the next year or so.  So enjoy it now!

(Linking it up again!)

Adventures in Babysitting and Other Things Going On

1, Does anyone remember that 1980's movie...Adventures in Babysitting?  Well...I started a babysitting/childcare gig. I watch this little 4-month old cutie, 4 days a week, all day.  It's nothing like the movie. 

Don't worry...her mom said I could post pictures of her.

 She's basically a dream baby and has been known to actually FALL ASLEEP ON HER OWN.  Multiple times actually.  Like, if she's acting tired, I can put her in the playpen, and she'll start sucking her thumb and just fall asleep.  Just like that?!!? 

I really like babies.....I'm definitely a baby person (not so much a toddler person).  So, it's been fun having a baby around. 

2.  Ben and I often ask each other, what one has to do to get a baby that easy.   We figured the answer is probably to have different parents.  Parents that can pass on the laid-back gene to their kids. (I do not have the laid-back gene) and most of my kids don't either.

3. Especially not this one....who turns 3 in just a week!   

We probably shouldn't have named her Elsa, because she came out thinking she was a Princess/Queen/World Dictator.

4. Actually, while Elsa's personality is very much to be very demanding and high needs, I do think parental practices can play a role.  My friend, Martha, wrote a really interesting piece about her change in parenting philosophy with her 2nd child.  While, I wouldn't say that I ever really made a point of following a PHILOSOPHY (I'm not a follower...never have been), I did generally tend to hold my babies a lot, nurse them every time they peeped or showed any signs or cues of wanting to nurse (like sucking on fingers) and generally they were just held a lot.  So, perhaps..just maybe, just maybe...that made them slightly more high-needs. Maybe.   Not Elsa though...she was born demanding.  

5. In other news.  Life is hard.  Really, really hard.  My husband is struggling with his new law practice.  It's harder than we thought it would be.   Most of the people who have contacted him have either been crazy, too poor to pay or a scam artist.  So..that's difficult.   He's also still applying for jobs, so we'll just hoping and praying that either his business will pick up or he'll find something.  Because right now, it's a huge struggle.   It's been like this for awhile, and it's hard to keep up hope or know the right thing to do.  Life is hard.  Everyone's life is hard, but sometimes it's harder than other times. This is one of the harder times.

6. Homeschooling is going well though.  Some days, (if my husband doesn't have much going on business-wise) he takes over the teaching so I can devote more time to my other work-at home gig along with watching the baby.  The kids say I'm a much nicer teacher than he is...he gives them more work.  

7. I cut my own hair. I always do.  I figure that my hair is wavy/curly enough that it hides a lot of haircut flaws. So...I do it myself.  I was starting to notice more than a few gray hairs....so I decided it was time to go shorter.  Some people can pull off the long gray hair look...but not me.  I think that works best on people who had lighter hair to begin with.  You can't really see the gray in this picture....but it's there.   I'm too lazy, all-natural, paranoid about chemicals to dye my hair, so I guess I'll just try to gray gracefully.

Calling this my quick takes and being done with it!

My experience with NFP, why I don't write about controversial topics and 7 random words

It's NFP awareness week.  I feel like I should write about it, but I really have nothing to say, that I haven't said before.

Unlike a lot of other bloggers you might read, I don't struggle with my fertility.  I don't struggle with NFP.  I don't struggle with the church's teaching on contraception. I also don't chart.  Yet, I know when I'm fertile.   And, I seem to have a very small window of fertility (like 2 days) which I have no problems identifying without charting or ever taking my temperature.  I do probably have subfertility, although with perfect timing, we've always managed to conceive in the past after a few months of trying.  Although who knows what will happen in the future?  I'm 37....so since I was never that fertile to begin with, I doubt it's going to improve with age.  

Anyway, I can't relate to all these Catholics talking about surprise pregnancies and babies too close together and hyperfertility.  And, honestly, I also can't relate to those really struggling with infertility.  I've never seen a fertility doctor, I've never had any treatments. Perfect timing and a bit of patience and trying is all it really has taken for me in the past.  I fully realize that could change, and I can't take anything for granted, but for now, I don't worry about it, because I have lots of other stuff to worry about.  

It didn't always used to be that way.  It used to bother me that I would probably never have the prototypical Catholic family with stair-stepped children.  However, I've finally reached the point where...well if we have another baby..great.  If not..that's fine too.  I've got plenty of other things to keep me busy.  As I've gotten older, I've come to know my own limitations.  And, I know that I'm probably not well equipped to handle a super large family or closely spaced children...and that's okay.   God probably knows what he's doing when he doesn't give me baby after baby.  

And that's okay...we're not all the same.   This is my experience and my experience alone.
And it's okay if my experience is quite different from the experiences of others.  And it does seem to be quite different.  Although maybe it's not.  Maybe it's just that that those of us in the middle aren't talking about it or writing about it so much???

Everyone has different struggles.  I've just learned to be thankful for the things I DON'T struggle with.  Because there are PLENTY of things I do.

Which leads me to my next point....why I don't write about controversial topics.  Usually.

There are a lot of controversial topics out there, I have opinions on.  

There are lots of non-controverisal things I have opinions on.

There are a lot of thoughts swirling around this brown (with a bit of gray) haired head.

Most people think I'm all PC and accepting, but I'm actually a fairly opinionated person.  I don't judge people...but I do have opinions about *things and ideas and philosophies.*

I actually have lots of opinions about lots of things.  NFP, gay marriage, parenting philosophies, that Maine diner incident. patterned leggings, diet coke, ice cream stands (yes, I have an opinion about ice cream stands), modesty, breastfeeding in public,  tapioca pudding, crying it out, the word "sucker", beachbody, and paper towels.   

But, I keep all those opinions to myself.

Why? Because I want people to like me.  Because I don't want to offend anyone.  Because I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings.  And because I don't have time to deal with controversy or respond to comments.  It takes a lot of mental energy to write about things in a non-offensive loving manner.  It takes even more energy to deal with disagreement.  Energy I just don't have right now.   Because life...struggles....time limits and my need for sleep. 

So, I keep all my opinionated thoughts to myself.   Unless you really want to know what I think about ice cream stands and paper towels.   I'll gladly answer in the comments if so. 

Until then, I'll try to keep all these swirling thoughts inside my head and just share with you 7 random words, because I want to link up for 7 quick takes Friday.  So, here are 7 random words that I am totally cheating and calling takes as thrown out by anonymous children in this household,

1, melancholy

2. wonderiffic (yes..I know..that's not a word)

3. phobia

4  tragedy

5. irritating

6. antepenultimate  (don't feel bad, I didn't know what it meant either)

7. gelato

Now you know what is on their minds.

What's on your mind? 

And this concludes the most random blog post ever...where I start off talking about NFP and end up with 7 random words.

Home Decoration for Dummies, 7 Rules with Bad Photos

This is one of the posts I promised you.  Way back when. 

Finally making good on it.

Home decoration,  I'm a dummy.    I have no clue what to do. 

So...what I did, was I found (or maybe I just made them up...not telling) a few simple rules to follow.  

Lo and behold, I ended up with a beautifully decorated home!

If you follow these rules...you TOO can end up with a home as nice as mine.

1.

A home should showcase its owner's achievements.  

Best to do this in a totally random way, in a room with bad lighting.

2.

A home should match the personalities of the people who live in it.

Our home says disorganized, chaotic and we don't care.

 3.

A home should display beautiful artwork.

Someday, this could be worth a lot of money,

4.

A home should take advantage of  natural light, to showcase artwork to its best advantage.

Like so.

5.

A home should display its owner's interests.

Nothing says the One Catholic Mama house like a beautiful wood/glass coffee tabled covered with a pink chess set.

And we can't ignore the cat, who just makes himself right at home, anywhere.

6.

When you walk into a room, the owner's touch should be immediately present,

You can probably guess to whom this room belongs.

7.

  

An antique piece lends a classic air to any room.

Like that beautiful praying girl picture my mom painted back in 1966,  1966 definitely makes it an antique...right? That's a whole 11 years older than me.  Ancient history. 

So..what do you think?

Like it?  If not..totally okay.  You won't hurt our feelings.  Our feelings are unhurtable when it comes to these things.  We know we can't decorate, and we don't care.   

But since I did manage to find  make up 7 rules, I'm going to link up with Kelly for my 7 Quick Takes and call it a night. 

Hey, you want to hear me ramble on about hospitals and medications?

1.  My oldest and I just got back from spending a night in jail...ooops,did I say that out loud? I meant the hospital.  She had to spend a night in the hospital.  It just felt like jail...except after being in the hospital you can get a huge bill.  Thankfully, her visit should be all paid for, but I really, really feel for people who have high deductibles and co-insurance.  Not that I've ever been in jail, but being in a hospital is sorta what I imagined jail to be like....you can't leave until someone says you can and they just poke you and prod you and give you medicine  Although they probably don't do all the poking and prodding in jail.  Anyway, she is fine.  She got sick with a severe headache/fever/sore neck and we worried about meningitis so the poor thing had to have 3 unsuccessful spinal taps, but it turns out to be just a virus (with maybe a migraine on top) and she is much better now.

2. IF (NOT an announcement) we have another baby, I still probably won't do another homebirth.  But my latest experience in the hospital made me remember why I chose homebirth in the first place.  I hate hospitals.  I just hate the "out of control, we will do whatever we want to you, once you walk in here, we own you and you can't leave until we say you can" feeling. 

3.  I'm in the camp of "don't give kids anything for a fever, let the body fight infection naturally" so I had some issues with the hospital giving her about a million different medications.  When I mentioned to the nurse that they were giving her A LOT of medications and "are you sure those are all compatible". she was all "We give a lot of medications here."  Yes, I noticed.   It was frustrating  because I felt like I didn't take her to the hospital to be given a million medications.  I took her to be diagnosed and make sure she wasn't seriously sick and then to get medicine IF she had a diagnosis that needed medical treatment . Not that I'm against all medication, but I'm against being given a ton of them before they even know what is wrong. 

4. I also had a funny conversation with the nurse about narcotics.  Thankfully, they didn't try to give her any, but the nurse was all 'We aren't going to give her narcotics unless she is severe, severe pain because those tend to make people nauseous and vomit."  I was all  "OK...um..that sounds worse than pain to me.".

5. When I told my mom that I was staying at the hospital with the oldest and that Ben was staying home with everyone else, she was all  "Hey, maybe this separation will make Elsa wean"  It didn't.  I was only gone for a little over 24 hours, and she certainly did not forget how to nurse in those 24 hours.   

6.  I started a new job/independent contractor gig that I can do at home.  It's a lot of work and I'm going to have to figure out how to balance that with homeschooling and the house and the kids, etc, etc, etc.  I can't do it all, but I guess I can try.  Or, I'll try to figure out some sort of balance/schedule of some sorts.  I guess that would be the sane thing to do. 

7.Since buying a house just over a month ago, we've had to deal with a slightly flooding basement and a big aluminum siding falling off the front of the house.  Oh...the joys of home ownership.

So, enough of my rambling rants, and go see Kelly for more quick takes.  

Fortunately, Unfortunately (with Cuteness Overload)

Let's play a game...shall we?  I tell you all the fortunate and unfortunate things that have happened to me recently.  And then in the comments you can tell me all about the fortunate and unfortunate things that I have happened to YOU recently.  Because I really do want to hear about YOUR life. 

Let's start. 

Fortunately...After we moved a few weeks ago our old lawn mower worked and I was able to mow the side and front lawns without incident.

Unfortunately...Our back yard is completely fenced in so only accessible by carrying the lawnmower up 4 steps from the sidewalk that lead to the gate.  Or, you could carry it from the garage up two steps, across the deck and down two more steps.  That means, that mower has to go up/down steps to take it out of the garage and mow the back yard. 

Not a great picture...but you have to go up steps coming out of the garage and down more steps into the lawn.  Or if you go through the gate, it's about 4 steps up from the sidewalk. 

Bad design if you ask me..but no one asked me before they built it. Go figure??  So, when I tried to move it up the steps,I must have broke something, because it started blowing out blue smoke.

Fortunately...Being the crazy old-fashioned person that I am, I decided it would be fun to try an old-fashioned push reel mower. So, I put out a call on Facebook and a friend had one that she graciously sold to us for $15.  So, now I can mow the back yard without worrying about carrying a gas mower up/down the steps and over the deck and ruining another one.  Because I have a tendency to ruin things. And the push mower works reasonably well on the back yard.

Unfortunately..the push mower doesn't work well on the front or side yards.  Maybe they are too sloped or too bumpy, but it was way too hard.  So, the other day I was outside struggling to mow with the push mower, and alternating that with my blue smoke blowing gas mower.  It was a stuggle...and no one wants a blue-smoke blowing, polluting mower in the neighborhood.

Fortunately...our neighbor was outside mowing his lawn at the same time and he must have taken pity on poor struggling me, with my push mower and blue smoking mower, because he offered me a spare lawn mower he had in the basement.  So, I graciously accepted his generous offer and gave him a loaf of gluten-free, dairy-free banana bread I had just baked as a thank you.  So, now we have a blue-smoke blowing gas mower, a good working gas mower and a push mower.  And I'm definitely going to only use the push mower on the back yard because it's a lot lighter to lift up/down steps and it's basically unbreakable but the new gas mower will be great for the front and side yards.

(Now I'll talk about something un-related to the lawn)

Unfortunately..last week I developed two lumps on the side of my leg.  Thanks to google, I self-diagnosed them as superficial blood clots.   Thanks to 4 pregnancies, I have fairly bad varicose veins, and apparently people with bad varicose veins are prone to superficial blood clots.

Fortunately..I was able to get in to see my doctor (who I hadn't seen before, but we just changed insurance so I had to pick someone) and I was right.  And there are no deep clots (they sent me for an ultrasound).  Only deep clots are dangerous...superficial ones are apparently no big deal.

Unfortunately..I also have this other lump on the back of my leg and I spent several days convinced it was some awful cancer and I only had a few months left.  I am anxiety girl after all.

Source

Fortunately...The doctor said it was just a cyst and not to worry about it. (and please, no one post stories about people who had "cysts" that really turned out to be cancer.  My nerves can't take it..so I'm just going to trust the doctor and not worry about it.) Because I really do not need any more worry in my life. 

Unfortunately..I hate going to doctors, so while I was seeing the doctor, I decided to face my fears and bite the bullet and get a referral to make an appointment for a general skin check with a dermatologist to check some moles.  I'm sure they are fine, but better safe than sorry...and it might ease my anxiety.  At least until I find the next thing to be anxious about.  So, I'm doing that next week. 

Fortunately...we do have health insurance. 

(now onto a different topic)

Unfortunately...Elsa is driving me crazy because she's a toddler and toddlers drive me crazy.

Fortunately.. she's cute. And she sings...which is beyond cute. 

Here she is singing her favorite song..which she made up.

It's called "I changed my mind."  (Something she does a lot).

And here's another song she's singing about her Clifford umbrella.  It's called 

"Woof, woof, woof, woof....it red dog." 

All her songs are pretty much just one-liners.

Unfortunately..despite the fact that when we moved, she got her own bed in her own room, she has yet to sleep in it for an entire night. Someday.

And since I have 7 that are Fortunate and 7 that are Unfortunate, I'm going to call this my 7 Quick Takes and link up with Kelly. 

Now...your turn.  Anything fortunate or unfortunate happen to you lately?? 

7 Posts I'm Going to Write....That's A Promise

We've had a busy few weeks... closed on a house, went to Nashville for the National Elementary Chess Championships and then moved to a new house.

So I haven't had much time for blogging. 

Never fear though...I haven't forgotten about my loyal readers.  I know that all 10 of you are waiting with bated breath for my next post. 

Well, I don't have a real post, so I'll just leave you with a teaser...a promise of posts to come....what you can look forward to in the future. 

So here are 10 future posts you can look for soon (or sorta soon, or before next year.)

1. New House Tour

2. Stop Telling Me the Sweeping and Scrubbing Can Wait Until Tomorrow.

3. Our Time at the National Elementary Chess Championships

4. The House of Mirrors, Body Image and Weight Loss.

5.  What Saves Me the Most Money on Food

6.  The Evolution of our Homeschooling

7.  Home Decoration for Dummies (That's Me!)

Linking up with Kelly for 7QTF

7 Quick Takes Friday....What's Going On

1.

 We close on our new house on Monday.  MONDAY!!  That's so soon.  It's very exciting.  We aren't moving in until the following Monday however.  That's because the current owners want 5 days to move out.

2.

And because right (right!) before we move, we are going to Nashville for 3 days so that John and Greta can play in the National Elementary Chess Championships.  I think we're crazy, but it's CHESS...and John is super good at chess, so...you know, you do what you do.  Hopefully he'll bring back a trophy.  Maybe Greta too...although her competition is going to be a lot tougher. Although there is still some tough competition in the 1st grade at National Chess tournaments.

3.

Ben started moving into his office last week.  He still doesn't have any furniture for it.  We've been scouring thrift stores and Craigslist and will try our hand at auctions and estate sales to find used desks, chairs, etc.   Wish us luck, because it's incredibly hard to find good furniture at affordable prices.

4.

Speaking of Craigslist, why doesn't anyone return my emails when I ask about an item??  It's super annoying.  Would it be so hard to send a quick email with "This item has been taken."  I mean, really??

5.

So we've switched all our prayers now.  Instead of constantly praying for Ben to find a job, we're constantly praying for his law firm to succeed.   So, that's different.   Even with the scariness of starting his own business, it's somewhat comforting to be settled down and to be buying a house.  I don't mind short-distance moves, but I'm so done, done, done with long-distance moves. 

It's nice to finally feel settled, even though we are still poor.

Today is the feast of St. Joseph the Worker. So it's a good day to be thinking about this

6.

I hate antibiotics.  I mean, I love them and I hate them.  So, as you might remember, Heidi was on antibiotics for 2 months due to a bone infection.  Well, that was cured, her back pain is gone and she's fine now.  So that's good.  However, those  2 months of heavy-duty antibiotics seemed to have triggered new allergies, so know we have the fun of figuring those out.  Dairy definitely seems to be a culprit.  Which is hard, hard, hard.  Last night I tried making mashed potatoes with coconut milk.  It was.....okay.  Not bad,....but not like buttery, fluffy mashed potatoes either. 

And this is why I try really, really, really hard to avoid antibiotics.  Sometimes they are needed (and she did need them), but they definitely have their risks and downfalls.   So, we try to avoid them unless absolutely necessary, and I mean absolutely necessary after trying all my herbs, and essential oils first  And usually the herbs and essential oils do the trick. 

7.

Just in case you are interested in some homeschooling talk, I think I figured out what we are going to do next year.  I'm planning on keeping John (will be 2nd grade) and Greta (will be 5th grade) using (not enrolled) Mother of Divine Grace and enrolling Heidi (will be 8th grade) in Seton.  I've never done Seton before, but I really feel like I need transcripts and grading and someone else to do all the work, for the older grades.   And yes, I know Mother of Divine Grace offers all that, but for a variety of reasons...including cost and schedule flexibility, I think Seton will work better.

And that's all....go see Kelly for more quick takes!

I'm taking a stand!

My husband claimed that my last few posts have been all wishy-washy and you didn't take a stand on anything,

So now I am...taking a stand that is.  I'm choosing sides, drawing lines, picking an alliance. 

Here are 7 things, I'm definitely taking a stand on!  If you don't like it, too bad.   

1.  Chocolate is a necessary food group.

Plus it's healthy....full of antioxidants. 

2. Tapioca pudding is disgusting.

It's just so grainy and icky and blah.  Why anyone would decide to make a pudding out of TAPIOCA is beyond me.  If you're going to make pudding, I would suggest chocolate.  Or at least vanilla or butterscotch or lemon.  But NOT tapioca.  Tapioca should only be used as part of a wheat flour substitute in gluten-free baking.  Or maybe people eat it other ways?  But they definitely should NOT make pudding out of it.  I'll never foget the first time I tried tapioca pudding.  I was horrified at the texture of it. I still shudder at the memory. 

3. This is the ugliest article of clothing ever made. 

If you like it though, you can buy it on ebay. 

4.   It should not snow in April.  It just shouldn't. 

 I think it was snowing here very briefly a few days ago.  No, no, no.  That is all sorts of wrong.  Rain is okay..but not snow. 

5. Toddlers who don't take naps should go to sleep early. 

Raise your hand if you're guilty of skipping naps and staying up too late. 

6. Real Ponies are Much Prettier Than My Little Ponies.

No contest. And I hate it when cartoon stuff has unnaturally big eyes.  It just looks weird.   

7. Nutrition and Diet Matter.

Different people have different eating philosophies......vegan, vegetarian, paleo, primal, clean eating, etc. etc, etc.  I don't have a stand on which one is best, because I don't know . Although I know what is best "for me", I can't say what is best for you.  But I can say that what you eat, matters.  It matters a lot.  It affects both physical and mental health.  And I can also say that you should eat healthy, nutrient-dense foods and (mostly) stay away from processed, junk foods. 

And that what you eat absolutely does make a difference, so it's worth the effort to try to eat well, as best you can. 

(Linking up with Kelly for 7 Quick Takes).