The yearly ritual really wasn't bad at all - except for the bite that it took out of the pocket book. School clothes shopping happened at Magic Mart, JCPenneys, Gabriel Bros., Elder-Beerman, American Eagle and Champs. The only thing left to do is purchase paper and pencils and all of that good stuff.
When I was a student I used to get so excited about the first day of school. Both kids are going to new schools and it really makes me nervous for them. I'm sure my daughter will do fine because she makes friends easily. My boy will do great too. This is his last year of high school and he knows some of the kids there because he attended K- 5 with them. I'm sure everything will work out well. I'm just an anxious mommy.
I'm trying to figure out what all I can do to speed my computer up. It's a Dell and only a year and a half old. I think I'm going to upload all of the pictures that are stored on my computer to either flickr or photobucket. I'm not sure which one is easier to use, but it will definitely take some time because I take a major amount of pictures and they are stored on my system.
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
school clothes shopping
It's that dreaded time again...trying to get a 9 year old and a 16 year old to try on school clothes. Why do I detest this chore more than anything in the world? It is not my idea of a fun day at the mall when I have to chase these kids all over the mall stores or wherever, trying to corral them long enough to make a clothing choice and try it on. My son is old enough to make his own, appropriate, choices, but my daughter is another story. She would dress like Madonna if I would let her. I do mean Madonna on stage, by the way. At least we already have her tennis shoes. We found a cool pair of Reeboks - Dr. McSpeedy. She doesn't really were tennis shoes that much, but she has to have them for gym class.
We are spending the night with my aunt and uncle who live about and hour and 15 minutes away from here. He has Alzheimers and does better on some days than others. When I saw him last month he was having a really good day. He kept asking me "Why don't you stay all night" so we're spending the night with them tonight. This is the man that taught me to drive and I used to spend time at their house every summer. Sometimes I would stay almost all summer. They used to be foster parents, so their home was always teeming with kids and it was the best times of my life.
We are spending the night with my aunt and uncle who live about and hour and 15 minutes away from here. He has Alzheimers and does better on some days than others. When I saw him last month he was having a really good day. He kept asking me "Why don't you stay all night" so we're spending the night with them tonight. This is the man that taught me to drive and I used to spend time at their house every summer. Sometimes I would stay almost all summer. They used to be foster parents, so their home was always teeming with kids and it was the best times of my life.
Sunday, August 10, 2008
de javu
It's kind of ironic the way life brings you back to places you've been before but swore you would never be again. Don't misunderstand me, there is certainly nothing wrong with my place in life right now. I feel safer now than I have in a long time, probably since I last left here. There is something comforting about being nestled between the mountains, down in the valley. I can look up and see the hills towering around me on all sides like a fortress and I feel peace.
Life's unexpected circumstances have made things necessary for me to move back to my mom's house with my two children. Although she doesn't like the events that transpired to cause this arrangement, my mother is tickled to death to have her babies back in the nest. Will we survive this? I'm sure we will with a little patience and a lot of prayer.
The kids will have to be enrolled in school next week and I will have to venture out and look for a J-O-B. Yuck! I had a good job that I loved and was really excited about getting started back to school. Tomorrow would actually be the day that I had to report back to work as a ninth grade teacher after having the summer off. Oh, well. I know the Lord had other plans and those plans will include a way for me to support my children. I'm too blessed to be stressed. Thank you, Jesus!
Life's unexpected circumstances have made things necessary for me to move back to my mom's house with my two children. Although she doesn't like the events that transpired to cause this arrangement, my mother is tickled to death to have her babies back in the nest. Will we survive this? I'm sure we will with a little patience and a lot of prayer.
The kids will have to be enrolled in school next week and I will have to venture out and look for a J-O-B. Yuck! I had a good job that I loved and was really excited about getting started back to school. Tomorrow would actually be the day that I had to report back to work as a ninth grade teacher after having the summer off. Oh, well. I know the Lord had other plans and those plans will include a way for me to support my children. I'm too blessed to be stressed. Thank you, Jesus!
Saturday, February 16, 2008
Garlic and Ginger Cough Syrup
I have a wonderful report for the family members who used their herbal remedies for this yucko thing that's going around. My daughter is 100% better but, unfortunately, my son chose not to use the herbal tinctures and goot and he has taken much longer to come around. He did use an herbal cough syrup today that I made from garlic and ginger along with some other cupboard items. The instructional video that I made it from is on www.youtube.com here:
This family has a website teaching herbal remedies and it is really a good site. That is where I got the idea to use the echinacea tincture directly in the throat. This husband and wife team are very knowledgable about using herbs to cook with as well as for medicinal purposes. I look forward to making some of the other remedies that they have on their site.
My mother-in-law was visiting earlier and when she began to cough I tried to get her to use some of the cough syrup that I had made. She asked to smell it and decided that it smelled too much like garlic for her to use it. She said that she didn't want to go to church tomorrow smelling like garlic. I don't guess I care since I'm eating it raw now. My daughter and I have both been eating at least one raw clove a day for the last three days. It burns a little but we use a chaser...lol. Oh, well, I feel that it is worth it for the health benefits.
This family has a website teaching herbal remedies and it is really a good site. That is where I got the idea to use the echinacea tincture directly in the throat. This husband and wife team are very knowledgable about using herbs to cook with as well as for medicinal purposes. I look forward to making some of the other remedies that they have on their site.
My mother-in-law was visiting earlier and when she began to cough I tried to get her to use some of the cough syrup that I had made. She asked to smell it and decided that it smelled too much like garlic for her to use it. She said that she didn't want to go to church tomorrow smelling like garlic. I don't guess I care since I'm eating it raw now. My daughter and I have both been eating at least one raw clove a day for the last three days. It burns a little but we use a chaser...lol. Oh, well, I feel that it is worth it for the health benefits.
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
The GOOT Stuff
I don't know if you've heard of GOOT, but it really is da bomb! My 8 year old gets sick really easily and I've been trying to find some home remedies to help her recover quickly or even just build up her immune system. I've been reading about garlic and how it is supposed to be an antibacterial, antifungal and anti-everything else. The greatest benefits are derived when it is eaten as soon as the clove is crushed or broken, before it is heated up through cooking.
I found some other blogs and sites that talked about making a paste with the garlic and a few other ingredients so when my daughter started complaining Sunday during church about her throat hurting really bad I came home and started scrounging around trying to find the ingredients. I didn't have any olive oil or coconut oil at that time so I just minced about three cloves of garlic up and poured some cooking oil over it. After sitting for about an hour I put the oil on the soles of my daughter's feet, put socks on her and put her to bed.
She said that her throat was just a little scratchy the next morning so I went ahead and sent her to school. She wasn't running a temp or anything, but by the time she came to me in my classroom that afternoon she was burning up. I went to the health food store and got coconut oil and echinacea tincture. When we went home I made the GOOT. Here is the recipe:
3 TBSP coconut oil (heated enough to melt it)
3 TBSP extra virgin olive oil
3 TBSP minced garlic (about 3 to 4 good sized cloves)
Put all of this together in a small blender or coffee grinder and blend for 2 minutes. Strain through a strainer to remove any of the bigger pieces of garlic that didn't get blended in. Put this mixture in the fridge and in about an hour it will be solid like a salve. Keep it covered and you can use it for two weeks before having to make another batch.
I put this on her feet Monday night and again Tuesday morning before I went to work. I came home from work early on Tuesday to take care of her. She said that her throat hurt really badly. I had been giving the echinacea tincture in a small glass of water, but at this point I began to put it straight from the dropper on the back of her throat. She really didn't like this at all and fussed about it, but did it anyway. We had to go pick brother up from school so on the way home I stopped back by the health store and picked up a bottle of Astragalus tincture. It has some other good things in it, too: licorice, reishi mushroom and a few other ingredients. I started adding this to the echinacea cocktail last night. At this point I'm taking the cocktail, as well, because I'm starting to feel a little crummy. She was complaining with her throat very badly Tuesday night before bed. She didn't want to miss school the next day because she doesn't like having to make up work and feeling like she is behind. I went ahead and called in sick so that I could stay home and care for her and get some rest myself, as well.
We were in bed last night by 8:30, both smelling like garlic because we had the GOOT slathered on our feet. I also put it up my nose because I felt like my sinuses were burning. Boy howdy! Did they ever burn after putting salve up in there. It only lasted for a few minutes, though and I could immediately tell that it was helping. Fast forward to this morning. I wake up feeling much better. Carly's throat is still a little sore, but not feeling blistery like it had the night before. I had to get up and take Dylan to school. I didn't want him to go because he was coughing, but he doesn't like to miss either, so I went ahead and took him.
When Carly woke up I put the GOOT on her throat and chest and covered it with an old rag so that it wouldn't mess up her pajamas. It will oil stain anything that it touches. Then I put the echinacea tincture directly in the back of her throat, waited a little bit and made her drink the echinacea/astragalus cocktail again. About an hour later I fixed her some chicken noodle soup. After drinking the soup she came out like a different kid. Her throat wasn't hurting her anymore and she felt like she had a lot more energy. Her voice still sounds a little scratchy so I will continue to do the GOOT and echinacea mixture for the next few days.
Unfortunately when I picked Dylan up from school he wasn't feeling well at all. He came home and fever was 101.2 so I mixed up some goody for him to drink. He drank it down and got a little something to eat. Then he went and laid down for an hour or so. When he got back up he said that he felt much better. I did give him Motrin to bring his fever down. When Carly came home Monday with the fever I gave her Children's chewable Motrin too. She only had the fever that one day, but I did give the Motrin to her the next day for throat pain.
Okay, I told this big long drawn-out story to illustrate the point that there are things that we can do at home to treat our illnesses. I hate taking her to the doctor and getting an antibiotic every time that she is sick. I'm sure if he would have looked at her red throat and swollen tonsils he would have prescribed an antibiotic. Incidentally, her pediatrician was out of town while all of this was going on. I'm sure that I could have found someone else to take her too, but I responded to God's nudging. There are many passages in God's Word that speak of using herbs for healing. I'm just learning about herbs, but I pray that God will give me more knowledge so that I can do things and add things to our diet on a daily basis that will be more of a preventive measure.
Okay, I'm going to bed now craving Olive Garden because it sure does smell like an Italian restaurant in here after playing in garlic and oil. I'll give more of an update later to report how everyone is faring with herbal medicine. G'nite.
I found some other blogs and sites that talked about making a paste with the garlic and a few other ingredients so when my daughter started complaining Sunday during church about her throat hurting really bad I came home and started scrounging around trying to find the ingredients. I didn't have any olive oil or coconut oil at that time so I just minced about three cloves of garlic up and poured some cooking oil over it. After sitting for about an hour I put the oil on the soles of my daughter's feet, put socks on her and put her to bed.
She said that her throat was just a little scratchy the next morning so I went ahead and sent her to school. She wasn't running a temp or anything, but by the time she came to me in my classroom that afternoon she was burning up. I went to the health food store and got coconut oil and echinacea tincture. When we went home I made the GOOT. Here is the recipe:
3 TBSP coconut oil (heated enough to melt it)
3 TBSP extra virgin olive oil
3 TBSP minced garlic (about 3 to 4 good sized cloves)
Put all of this together in a small blender or coffee grinder and blend for 2 minutes. Strain through a strainer to remove any of the bigger pieces of garlic that didn't get blended in. Put this mixture in the fridge and in about an hour it will be solid like a salve. Keep it covered and you can use it for two weeks before having to make another batch.
I put this on her feet Monday night and again Tuesday morning before I went to work. I came home from work early on Tuesday to take care of her. She said that her throat hurt really badly. I had been giving the echinacea tincture in a small glass of water, but at this point I began to put it straight from the dropper on the back of her throat. She really didn't like this at all and fussed about it, but did it anyway. We had to go pick brother up from school so on the way home I stopped back by the health store and picked up a bottle of Astragalus tincture. It has some other good things in it, too: licorice, reishi mushroom and a few other ingredients. I started adding this to the echinacea cocktail last night. At this point I'm taking the cocktail, as well, because I'm starting to feel a little crummy. She was complaining with her throat very badly Tuesday night before bed. She didn't want to miss school the next day because she doesn't like having to make up work and feeling like she is behind. I went ahead and called in sick so that I could stay home and care for her and get some rest myself, as well.
We were in bed last night by 8:30, both smelling like garlic because we had the GOOT slathered on our feet. I also put it up my nose because I felt like my sinuses were burning. Boy howdy! Did they ever burn after putting salve up in there. It only lasted for a few minutes, though and I could immediately tell that it was helping. Fast forward to this morning. I wake up feeling much better. Carly's throat is still a little sore, but not feeling blistery like it had the night before. I had to get up and take Dylan to school. I didn't want him to go because he was coughing, but he doesn't like to miss either, so I went ahead and took him.
When Carly woke up I put the GOOT on her throat and chest and covered it with an old rag so that it wouldn't mess up her pajamas. It will oil stain anything that it touches. Then I put the echinacea tincture directly in the back of her throat, waited a little bit and made her drink the echinacea/astragalus cocktail again. About an hour later I fixed her some chicken noodle soup. After drinking the soup she came out like a different kid. Her throat wasn't hurting her anymore and she felt like she had a lot more energy. Her voice still sounds a little scratchy so I will continue to do the GOOT and echinacea mixture for the next few days.
Unfortunately when I picked Dylan up from school he wasn't feeling well at all. He came home and fever was 101.2 so I mixed up some goody for him to drink. He drank it down and got a little something to eat. Then he went and laid down for an hour or so. When he got back up he said that he felt much better. I did give him Motrin to bring his fever down. When Carly came home Monday with the fever I gave her Children's chewable Motrin too. She only had the fever that one day, but I did give the Motrin to her the next day for throat pain.
Okay, I told this big long drawn-out story to illustrate the point that there are things that we can do at home to treat our illnesses. I hate taking her to the doctor and getting an antibiotic every time that she is sick. I'm sure if he would have looked at her red throat and swollen tonsils he would have prescribed an antibiotic. Incidentally, her pediatrician was out of town while all of this was going on. I'm sure that I could have found someone else to take her too, but I responded to God's nudging. There are many passages in God's Word that speak of using herbs for healing. I'm just learning about herbs, but I pray that God will give me more knowledge so that I can do things and add things to our diet on a daily basis that will be more of a preventive measure.
Okay, I'm going to bed now craving Olive Garden because it sure does smell like an Italian restaurant in here after playing in garlic and oil. I'll give more of an update later to report how everyone is faring with herbal medicine. G'nite.
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