Home Remedies by Dr. Greta (7QTF)

Greta (age 8) decided that she wants be a doctor and a writer, so she wrote a book of home remedies.  For some odd reason, the girls are fascinated by a few books of home remedies I have.  They read them...for fun...over and over again! Since she just happened to write 7 home remedy cures, I decided to link up with Jen to make 7 quick takes Friday.  I'm sure you'll enjoy reading it as much as we did!  This is pretty much exactly what she wrote...I just edited her spelling a bit..but kept everything else the same. 

Hi, my name is Doctor Greta.  Are you sick today? The meaning of a doctor is to make sick people better.  I have a few decent cures for every illness in this book.  OK. so let's get started.  We will read together information about the illnesses. Let's read the table of contents. You might have a certain disease. 

Table of Contents

Colds

Hiccups

Burns 

Headaches

Sore Legs and Broken Legs

Cuts

Tummy ache

Asthma

1.

Colds

Colds are called the cold because in winter it's cold and people don't go outside as much and inside there are more germs that give people the cold. 

Cures for colds.  Here is a list of cures for colds.  Try them all.

Soup

Peanut Butter Vitamin

Milk with Honey

Diet Coke - Now Diet Coke is only good for colds and other things you'll learn about later, but usually don't drink Diet Coke because it is bad.. 

Amelia's note:  She gets the Diet Coke idea because when the kids are sick, I give them Vitamin C powder (sodium ascorbate powder) mixed with juice, but I've been know to mix it with Diet Coke if we were out of juice. As a further aside, we no longer have Diet Coke in the house, because Ben GAVE IT UP after the bar exam.  We're so proud of Daddy for giving up Diet Poison  Coke. 

2.

Hiccups.

You can get hiccups which I don't know how you get them unless you eat soap, that will give you hiccups. 

Here is the list of cures for hiccups.

Scare yourself

Drink water upside down.

3.

Burns

You have a burn when you burn yourself. There are many ways to get a burn. I'll list them here.

Touch the hot stove

Cook

To cure burns you might have to put the burn in icy cold water right after you got it. You might need to hold an ice pack or ice cube on the burn.

4.

Headaches

When you have a headache you might have ate too much or so little. Here is list of cures for headaches.

1. sleep

2. rest

3. water

4. Diet Coke

5.

Sore Legs and Broken Legs

You have a sore leg when your leg hurts. If you have a sore leg do less exercise but still do some. 

Eat more veggies to give you energy and to stay healthy.

You also may need to drink water or eat more bread. 

If you have a broken leg you will need a wheelchair to wheel around.  Use crutches to walk and exercise your leg by shaking it gently.  With a broken leg, no walking.

6.

Cuts

Here is my list of cuts.

Scrapes

Scratches

Bug Bites 

On all cuts you must keep dirt from getting in it. To help the cut get better put on Melagel to  kill the germs already in it and put a band-aid to keep more germs from getting in.

7.

Tummy Ache

You have a tummy ache when your tummy hurts.  There are many ways to get a tummy ache.  I'll list them here.

Eating too much

Eating too little

Avoid eating too much 

Avoid eating too little

Eat more healthy foods.

Here is advice for eating the right amount. Only eat when you are hungry. Eat no food in between meals.

BONUS 

Asthma

There are probably fairy tales where you are sick and you kiss a frog and are better.  It doesn't usually work, but to cure asthma is similar  Breathe on a frog and soon the frog should die taking your asthma away. I read this in a book and it probably won't work, but if you have asthma do try it. 

{Pretty, Happy, Funny Real Text}

Linking up with Like Mother Like Daughter for Pretty, Happy, Funny Real and Clan Donaldson for Theme Thursday.

{pretty}

Yesterday, this pretty baby turned 1!! 

She always walks around with a hairbrush..she's got a thing for hairbrushes.

{happy}

Elsa was super happy to get her first taste of cake.  I vowed that sugar was not to cross her lips until her first birthday, and yesterday she turned one and got her first taste of sugar.  (In all honesty, that whole sugar is not to cross her lips was actually more like, dessert is not to cross her lips. She's had bits of sweetened yogurt off our spoon, the occasional cracker..but nothing dessert-y until her first birthday!

{funny}

Of course, we have the obligatory baby with cake all over her face first photo!  Is there anything funnier (or cuter?)

I think the cake was a big hit!

{real}

When you're married to a lawyer (especially a lawyer who is employed as a teacher), words like establishment clause, become part of your everyday lexicon.  

When I saw that today's theme was text...I was a bit unsure of what to do...so I grabbed one of Ben's law school textbooks, opened it up.....and look what page, just happened to fall open.  So...for Theme Thursday..here is the text for Theme Thursday-text.

 Seems rather appropriate for a lawyer working as a public school teacher, right?

Happy Birthday Elsa Rose,...and a birth story.

The cutest baby in the world turns ONE YEAR old today!

Always with her hairbrush in hand.

Okay...so maybe I'm just a bit biased here...but we think she's pretty cute...and it's a mother's job to think her baby is the cutest...right, right?  

Elsa is such a joy and blessing to our family.  Everyone just dotes on her and showers her with attention.  This last year has been wrought with change and transition and uncertainty and anxiety....but Elsa has brought a lot of blessing and joy to our family.  Well..except for when she's destroying things (like Daddy's laptop) or eating cat food..but we won't talk about that.  

Even at the tender age of only 12-months we can already tell she's a genius <wink, wink> and has a firecracker of a personality with a screech that can be heard across the miles if someone so much dares as to stop her from doing something fun (like playing in cat litter, playing with knives..you know..fun stuff like that).  She's just as sweet as pie though (now that we're living south of the Mason-Dixon line I feel like I can use all these quaint Southern expressions) and we all just love her to pieces and feel very blessed to have her.  

1 day old

1 month old

2 months old

3 months old

4 months old 

5 months old

6 months old

7 months old

 8 months old

9 months old

10 months old

11 months old and starting to walk

12 months old

Elsa was born at home. My first homebirth (and probably my last) even though it was an almost perfect birth...practically painless and super fast.  Someday, I will write a post on my changing views on homebirth and why I did it once, but probably will have the next one in a hospital.

Elsa was born on September 11th, 2012 at 8:58 PM..weighing 6 lb 15 oz.  She was born 13 days before her due date (which was another surprise...the other three kids were born exactly 10 days before their due date, so we were kinda expecting her to be 10 days early as well).

All my other labors were long, so we were expecting this one to be long as well. Which I was somewhat happy about, because I really didn't want her to be born on Sept 11th...because you know...it's September 11th...so we weren't really expecting her to born until the early hours of the 12th.

Here is her birth story (feel free to skip if you hate birth stories).  I wrote this when she was just a few days old....I'm sure it would read a bit differently if I wrote it now. 

The homebirth of Elsa Rose

On the evening of Monday Sept. 10th, I started to feel some cramping and noticed light pink spotting. I had never really had any spotting in pregnancy before, and I had a fear of placental abruption so I called the midwife that night and asked her about it. She reassured me that a small amount was normal before labor started and to only worry if it gets to be actual bleeding instead of just spotting. The next day I had bloody show throughout the day and contractions/cramping periodically throughout the day, but I didn't really think anything of it. Around 4 PM the contractions got a bit stronger and at 5 PM I decided to start dinner, even though I had no appetite (which is a sure sign of labor for me, I hate eating while I am in labor and can barely stomach anything). Anyway, I made chicken alfredo and swiss chard for everyone and managed to eat a little myself, even though I didn't really want to, all the time having contractions that were about 6 or 7 minutes apart and strong enough that I needed to walk through them. Around 6 PM I told Ben that I was pretty sure this was it, and I called Dawn (midwife) to give her a head's up, but said that I didn't really think I needed her. For the next 1 1/2 hours, contractions continued to be between 5-10 minutes apart, but they kept getting stronger and more painful. I felt them mostly in my back as well, I was worried about back labor. At 7:00 I decided to get into the shower and the warm water helped, although contractions started to slow down. They picked up again when I got out, and I told Ben to call the midwife and have her come over. She got here around 8:00 and by this time, contractions were still about 8-10 minutes apart, but when they came, they were VERY painful and hard to manage.   Around 8:40 or so, I had to go the bathroom during a contractions so ran in there and went. Afterwards, I started having really strong contractions right on top of each that I just had to walk through. I had maybe 5 or 6 of those when I started feeling lots of pressure and like I was ready to push. Meanwhile, no one (not Ben nor the midwife) knew that I was suddenly having strong contractions super close together and Dawn had just texted her assistant (Rebecca) and said that things were slow and she could take her time. It took a lot for me to walk out of the bathroom and call to the midwife for help (she was waiting in the living room), but I did NOT want to give birth in the bathroom by myself. So I walked out into the office, and called out for her. She comes in and right at that moment my water broke all over the carpet, so she starts throwing towels down. Ben brings me a chair to lean on as I was standing up. At that point, I could feel the head right there, and start grunting and Dawn asks if I am pushing and starts throwing chux pads down. I say yes, ask if the head is there. She said yes, and I push 2 or 3 times and she was out...born a little before 9:00 PM. Rebecca never even made it over.
Elsa had a short cord (same as John did) so Dawn cuts it right away as there was no way she could hand me the baby or anything. She was born very red/pink and crying...good apgars! I sit down on the couch under all these chux pads and she latches on right away. After a few minutes, I start feeling more contractions, hand her off to Ben and deliver the placenta (with some help from Dawn). It was such a relief to get that out! She spends the next hour or so nursing, before being weighed/measured/examined.
Giving birth at home was such a different experience than being in the hospital. I loved being mostly left to myself..no blood draws, no vaginal checks, no constant monitoring being strapped down, and no one taking the baby away after birth. Mostly I loved being free to move around and have privacy if I wanted it and give birth in whatever position I wanted to. I definitely think being at home is why this birth was so much faster and quicker and shorter than my other ones. I'm still kinda shocked at how quickly things went, since I feel like I went from contractions 8 or so minutes apart to birth in less than 20 minutes. None of us were expecting birth to go that fast, but I'm so thankful it did!

Happy Birthday Baby Girl!  We love you!

What I Wore Sunday, How to Lose 8 Pounds Instantly and Things that Go Bump in the Night

Longest post title ever!

Linking up with Fine Linen and Purple for another What I Wore Sunday.

This Sunday, we actually went to a wonderful Mass at a wonderful parish.  The only not-wonderful thing about it, is that it's 30 minutes away from home.  I felt right at home almost immediately and the parish is full of young, growing families.  It was just a wonderful, orthodox, parish -full of life and reverence.  The priest gave a really good homily, they used bells, beautiful, (mostly) traditional music.   

Elsa got a C for Mass behavior.  I had to take her in the back, but she was fairly good in the back and considering her age, she wasn't too bad.  Everyone else was very good...of course.

And here is what I wore.

In front of a tree...always in front of a tree.  I have a thing for trees.  The shirt is from an army surplus store (it's a long story).  The skirt is Shade Clothing.  The belt is older than the hills and the shoes were given to me.   I'm still not sure if I like the belt or not. 

If I look a little tired, it's because I was up several times, hearing things that go bump in the night.  You see, yesterday, we just put our bunk beds together, and the last time Heidi slept on the top bunk, she rolled off and broke her collar bone.   So, even though we put a bed rail up, I was still nervous and throughout the night, I kept hearing those things that go bump in the night and jumping up to check on her.  All was well though..and no one fell off or broke anymore bones.  So, I suppose it was just the cat, bumping around in the night. 

And, every week I wonder why in the heck I keep doing WIWS.  I'm  not particularly fashion-conscious or that into clothes.  And most of the pictures I see...I totally cringe and am all "ugh I look terrible, I'm too fat, blah, blah, blah."  Which is exactly why I feel I keep needing to do what I wore Sunday.  It sounds trite to say that weight is just a number...but it really IS.  Which is how I lost 8 pounds instantly...simply by weighing myself on a different scale.  Yes, I have two different scales that are consistently 8-10 pounds different in weight.  Guess which one I prefer!

You see..everyone talks about losing weight and exercising to get healthy.  But, I already exercise, and I'm already fairly healthy. I think I have plenty of energy, can get a lot done, can walk miles at a time, carry babies around,  bolt bunkbeds together, put together a lawn mower (okay....so that one didn't go so well...a wheel feel off), mow the grass, cook dinner, etc., etc.   So, in all honesty, if I were to lose the 20 pounds I desperately want to...I really don't think it would make me healthier.  It would make me look better...but it wouldn't necessarily make me healthier.  I've been super skinny before, and I wasn't any healthier then, than I am now.  In fact, I was considerably less healthier because I didn't eat right, and didn't even menstruate for 1 1/2 years.   I eat much healthier now than I did back then.  So, this is a lot of blah, blah, blahing..but the point is, I'm trying to learn to accept my body as it is, instead of always wishing I could lose weight (because after all weight is just a number). In order for me to lose weight, I would have to eat less, and eating less make me miserable, which makes everyone else around me miserable...which means it may not be worth it. 

Which is why I love participating in WIWS Sunday so much.  I love seeing all the different bloggers, real women, of different shapes and sizes who aren't afraid to get photographed and showcase their style, even if they don't fit society's view of the "ideal shape"

And, that is enough blah, blah, blahing for today. 

7QTF. 7 Homeschool Organizational Tips for the Chronically Disorganized

We just got started back into homeschooling today (yep...start on a Friday...that's the way to do it), after taking the last several weeks off.  We usually school all year-round...doing only 3 (sometimes only 2) days a week all year, but the last several weeks, we've done nothing

Since we just moved to a new location, it seems the perfect time for me to finally get it together.  I've decided that THIS year is the year I'm going to be organized.  No more frantically searching for books during school.  No more last minute printing jobs. No more spending 20 minutes looking for scissors or a glue stick or a pencil sharpener (at one point, I was sharpening our pencils with a knife because I couldn't find any pencil sharpeners (totally not joking here, people). No more not starting school until 10:00 AM.  This year, I'm going to keep the house clean, and everything put away and have our books from the library and science project supplies and everything else we need all at the ready. 

Except today....today I had last minute printing jobs (and the printer didn't work) and we didn't start school until 10 AM and we didn't have all the necessary items for our science project, and well.....we just may, just may be doing a bit of school tomorrow (yes on Saturday)....just a little bit...just the parts we didn't get to today.

Let's face it....I'm chronically disorganized and messy.  But, there is HOPE...even for me.

You see...I've managed to come up with a few organizational tips to work within my naturally disorganized state. 

And, since there are 7 of them, I'm linking up with Jen for 7 Quick Takes Friday.  And, since it's about homeschool organization, I'm also linking up with Micaela. 

1.

Have a general writing utensil drawer.  This includes pens, pencils, pencil sharpeners, markers, erasers and writing grips for beginning writers.  Any pencils, pens, makers, pencil sharpeners or writing grips that get picked up, go in this drawer.  

  Thrown messily in the drawer...but at least they are in there and we know where to look when we need to find them. 

2.

Have a second drawer for rulers, tape, scissors, glue, rubber stamps.

And more markers...because we have an awful lot of markers.

3.

A third drawer contains a couple different containers of crayons.  The crayons aren't organized in any way, and there is no rhyme nor reason as to why one particular crayon ends up in bag versus another...but if we need crayons we know where to look.

4.

We have other drawers.  One drawer is devoted solely to holy cards, old palms and other random religious items.  Because, we also tend to have a lot of holy cards.   Another drawer is devoted entirely to envelopes.  A third, entirely to notebooks (acquired on sale for 17 CENTS each. Wahoo!!) and index cards. 

5.

All of John's schoolbooks are kept in this drawer.  They aren't organized....just piled in there.  But when we are looking for his books, we know where to look.

6.

The girls share a special area for their books....because I ran out of drawers (and they share some books).

'

And. we have a place for school books not currently in use this year but I want to hang onto for the future.

7.

Now, one quick take about scheduling.  I use Google Calendar and set it to email me reminders about everything. I mean everything.  Everything from paying the rent, to when library books are due, to every activity, commitment, meeting, etc., etc.  And, Ben puts his stuff on Google calendar as well, so I can see all his items and he can see mine.   Google calendar is the only way I remember to do ANYTHING. 

As far scheduling our schoolwork goes..well this year we are basically following the MODG syllabus, so after we complete a lesson, it gets initialed and the next day we just go onto the next lesson.  Sometimes we do two lessons in a day, or skip completely, but this way I can keep track of where in the syllabus we are. 

And that's it.  I still have a long ways to go but I'm at least slightly more organized this year, than I was last year.  I figure by the time my last kid is done with school...I should be golden. 

HoWDI: Finding a Place to Rent Sight Unseen

I'm starting a new series...with the super lame title of  HoWDI, which, stands for How We Did It..  Get it HoWDI,... Howdy.  Just smile, and pretend to laugh, okay.

Each part in the series will talk about how we did something...and this first one will be about how we found a place to rent, sight unseen in about 24 hours time.   

So....this is How We Did It. 

First

 Make a list (either mentally or on paper) of things you absolutely want in a place to live...and then (again either mentally or on paper), rate them as negotiable or non-negotiable.

These are the things we wanted.

• Allows pets (We have a cat.  My parents have so generously kept him for us, for the past three years while we were in Fl, living on campus, but once we moved off campus, we wanted to take our precious cat with us.  Sorry Mom and Dad...I know you are crying buckets over missing William). 
• Hardwood floors.  Not totally non-negotiable, but fairly important.  Our kids tend to be a bit "rough" on carpet (rough is putting it mildly) and hardwood is so much easier to clean.  We really wanted to avoid carpet and all the cleaning and hassles that comes with having carpet and kids. 

•  Free-standing house with backyard.  This was more important to me, than to Ben.  In fact, Ben is totally happy in a condo.  In fact we had a bit of an um...disagreement over this.   I really, really, really like the privacy of having our own house and backyard.  Once kids are old enough to play outside without direct supervision, it is just golden if they CAN do so without being in a public area (like in a condo). Call me paranoid, but I'm not too likely to let my kids play outside without direct supervision in a public area, the same way I am in a private backyard.    And, it totally saves my sanity to be able to send everyone outside to play and give me a bit of peace and quiet.  As a bonus, we even found a house that already has a swingset/climbing structure.

• Safe neighborhood (more on that later).
• Within 30 minutes drive of Ben's work (the place we found is right at 30 minutes)
• Within a certain price range
• At least 3 bedrooms and 1400 square feet.
• Good place for walking around the neighborhood...quiet, safe streets to walk.  We really enjoy walking and walk A LOT, so living in a safe neighborhood with safe streets to walk on is really important to us.   

Second.

Go to www.neighborhoodscout.com and put in the city/town you are looking in.  This maps the number of arrests and crime in a given neighborhood within the last two months.  It's invaluable for finding a safe neighborhood.  Determine which neighborhoods you want to look at and which ones you want to want to stay away from.

Three

Go to zillow.com and do a search for rentals in your city/town.  You can filter the results by price range, number of bedrooms, allows pets, etc., etc.   Zillow is invaluable....BEST. TOOL. EVER for finding a place to rent (or buy).  It shows you the prices ranges of all the other houses in the neighborhood,  shows you if the house value has increased or decreased over the last few months and maps where each house is, so you can tell at a glance where it is located.   Plus, it has all the information on it you would find if you were looking to buy (age of house/condo, plot size, square feet, etc.)

Four

Once you find a few places you are interested in...put them into google maps and look at the house, look at the street, look at the surrounding houses.  You can tell if the yards are kept up, what kind of houses are in the neighborhood, how far apart the houses are, etc., etc., etc. 

Five 

Once you have a few places you are interested in....call up the Realtor and ask questions, questions and more questions.  Ask about the heating and cooling and neighborhood and utility bills and lawn maintenance, and just about everything you can think of.  Explain your situation (if you are in a time crunch, don't have time to look around, etc).  The Realtor we worked with, even offered to make a little video with his phone and email it to us! Now, THAT is service. 

Six 

To avoid surprises, think about the time the house/condo/apartment was built and then do research into styles/sizes/layouts from that area.  Most houses built around a certain time, tend to be pretty similar.   The house we chose, was built in the 50's, which means small closets, and less closet/storage space than more modern houses.  I knew this house had been built in the 50's, so this wasn't a total surprise when we got here and saw the size of the closets, etc.

And, that's basically it...thanks to the internet, you can do all sorts of reading of leases and filling out applications and everything all online! I hope that somehow, someday, somewhere, this post will help someone.

What I Wore Sunday

Linking up with Fine Linen and Purple for another WIWS.

We just, just moved..and the movers haven't arrived with all our stuff yet (should get here tomorrow), so I was working with 1/3 of my normal outfit options when I put this outfit together.  So, that's why it's kinda boring and neutral-ish.  And I'm pretty sure it's a repeat too...but I'm too lazy to actually check that out myself.

The shirt is thrifted.  The skirt is Old Navy and the shoes...you can't see..but those were given to me. 

This is our new backyard in the house we are renting.  The swing-set came with it...we added the baby swing ourselves...finding it on clearance for only $20.  Best $20 spent ever...because this picture is a lie.  I'm  never the one swinging the baby (this is just how my photographer wanted to stage the picture)....the older kids all do it and it keeps her happy and contained  and out of Trouble (with a capital T)...so that makes me happy.   Ever since she started walking, she's been a handful and a half. 

Speaking of Elsa,  she gets a C for Mass today....she did lots of eating of the Mass inserts and screeching and wanting to get down and toddle around...and had to be taken out.   She did nurse and fall asleep at the very end...which bumped her up from a C- to a C.   And, we were less than impressed with the church we tried out today...so we'll be trying a different one next week.   Unfortunately, from websites, it looks as though our best option might be a church 30 minutes away.  Le sigh....I hate driving...but I fear I shall be doing lots of it in our new locale. 

So, now that you've read my whining and seen my boring outfit.....go forth and see happier and better dressed bloggers.