The Estrogen Files

Blatently

2012-01-18T23:00:00.001-07:00

I am nothing, if not a Pro-Life mama. I will stand up and cry foul in the face of abortion every time. But I simply did not realize how insidious the abortion proponents are!

A Girl Scouting tradition is in my background. My "no time for anything" mom made time to be a leader for my troop one year. I enjoyed the projects and camps. But have you seen who the Girl Scouts have thrown in with? Planned Parenthood, the abortion giant.

Look at this snippet:

Several years ago. a quarter of the Girl Scout councils nationwide admitted to partnering with Planned Parenthood, the nation’s abortion giant. When questioned about the affiliation on NBC’s “Today Show,” Girl Scout CEO Kathy Cloninger had no compunction in confirming it.

The Girl Scouts have been “pro-choice” for years, but now they’ve been caught supporting promiscuous sex for girls. The Planned Parenthood sex guide offered at that “girls only” U.N. meeting offered this advice on Page 11: “Some people have sex when they have been drinking alcohol or using drugs. This is your choice. … If you want to have sex and think you might get drunk or high, plan ahead by bringing condoms and lube or putting them close to where you usually have sex.”

Heard enough? There’s a lot more at 100questionsforthegirlscouts.org.

Earlier this month, a young Girl Scout employee, Renise Rodriguez, made the mistake of stopping by the office to do extra work on her own time in a T-shirt bearing the words: “Pray to End Abortion.” A supervisor ordered her to turn the shirt inside out or leave the office. She left, for good.

So should we all.

Cross dressers? Boys in a girls group? "Hot S#x" brochures?

I will not EVER let my children be involved with Girl Scouts ever again. Period. Not to mention that the kids' troop only get 10% of the price of a box of seriously overpriced and overrated cookies. That $3.75 you are forking out? The kids get 37 cents.

Looking for Skinny Me

2012-01-07T11:21:00.000-07:00

Here we are, just 7 days into the new year, and I'm 5 days into my new lifestyle diet. I'm doing the hCG diet again, with which I had great success last time. The reason I stopped before my goal last time? Easy. Chicky Punk was on her way.

I'm using the Dr Simeon's protocol again, but being only 5 days into it, I'm still working on the right dose to keep me from being hungry. It's a very low calorie diet but it works wonders. I've lost between 1 and almost 3 pounds a days since I started. I am finding myself craving things I cannot have and I just keep telling myself I can have them in moderation after this first phase is done, next month.

I'm kind of following along with Tania from Larger Family Life and her Free Skinny Me.

So, it's a whiney post for me today. Let's end with a great quote:

Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going.

— Jim Ryun: Former track athlete and politician

I'm posting my progress on top of my blog. See that My Fitness Pal banner? Yup.

New Words for Study

2011-12-23T16:16:00.003-07:00

1. Cashtration (n. ) : The act of buying a house, which renders the subject financially impotent for an indefinite period of time.

2. Ignoranus : A person who's both stupid and an asshole.

3. Intaxicaton : Euphoria at getting a tax refund, which lasts until you realize it was your money to start with.

4. Reintarnation : Coming back to life as a hillbilly.

5. Bozone ( n. ) : The substance surrounding stupid people that stops bright ideas from penetrating. The bozone layer, unfortunately, shows little sign of breaking down in the near future.

6. Foreploy : Any misrepresentation about yourself for the purpose of getting laid.

7. Giraffiti : Vandalism spray-painted very, very high

8. Sarchasm : The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the person who doesn't get it.

9. Inoculatte : To take coffee intravenously when you are running late.

10. Osteo****osis : A degenerate disease. (This one got extra credit. )

11. Karmageddon : It's like, when everybody is sending off all these really bad vibes, right? And then, like, the Earth explodes and it's like, a serious bummer.

12. Decafalon (n. ) : The grueling event of getting through the day consuming only things that are good for you.

13. Glibido : All talk and no action.

14. Dopeler Effect: The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly.

15. Arachnoleptic Fit (n. ) : The frantic dance performed just after you've accidentally walked through a spider web.

16. Beelzebug (n. ) : Satan in the form of a mosquito, that gets into your bedroom at three in the morning and cannot be cast out.

17. Caterpallor ( n. ) : The color you turn after finding half a worm in the fruit you're eating.

Thanksgiving on the Homestead

2011-11-23T17:56:00.001-07:00

Tomorrow we will have a national day of thanksgiving and celebrate it with lots of food. Do people really understand the reason for this holiday? Yes, we've all heard the stories of the pilgrims and the Indians and the first feast, but now it seems that most just want turkey and goodies and football.

At our house, we have the feast but we also have a tradition of prayer and verbal thanking God for our blessings. We go around the table and each person says at least one reason that they are thankful this year. It can be a riot with the little guys, but the older ones seem to take it seriously. And as much as I hated being put on the spot with this tradition when I was younger, it is the one thing I remember and carried into my married life besides the pre-dawn turkey baking wake up call.

So tomorrow, when the feasting is beginning, take a moment and recall all that you are thankful for. Imagine that tomorrow you might wake up with only the things you thanked God for today.

Menu:

Roasted turkey: I slather mine in butter by placing it under the skin and inside the cavities. I usually throw an onion and garlic in there, too. I'm not really one for stuffing, and only one of my kids likes it, so we are Stove Top Mix people.

Mashed potatoes and gravy: I hate making gravy so I will take the drippings from the turkey and use a gravy mix. Look ma, no lumps! I prefer Yukon Gold potatoes, but I think all I have are russets.

Yam Casserole with Marshmallows: I just found this recipe and thought it looked so yummy! We are going to try it, since everyone in my family just decided that they actually like yams.

Green Bean Casserole: the good old fried onion topped kind. Yums.

For dessert we will feature homemade cherry cheesecake and double layer pumpkin pie. I'm looking forward to that last one!

Reading Rainbow by Jim Morrison

2011-11-22T19:28:00.001-07:00

I love The Doors. I love Reading Rainbow. Jimmy Fallon is okay and quite funny. Put these three together and we have official awesomeness.

I can't embed it here, but it is worth the visit. Check this out:

SpliceToday.com

Video link:
Jimmy Fallon Reading Rainbow

Advent and the Newsletter

2011-11-13T21:08:00.001-07:00

We live in a very small town (700 or so people) of mostly one religion. And it's not mine. My family and I are the token non-Mormon people in our tiny town. But that's okay, since they are such good, loving people. (I have nothing against Mormons. I grew up in SLC, attended my share of Mormon church functions, and my sister is Mormon.)

But every Christmas we get asked about the traditions our family observes as part of our non-(town)-standard religion. And invariably, we get asked to be interviewed to put one or two traditions in the local newsletter. Which is awesome, since my 15 minutes of fame aren't at all used up!

So when we got asked this year not only if I would write a small piece about traditions, but also my oldest daughter, it was bonus. I decided to write about the Advent Wreath, since Mormons don't usually know what those are, nor do they use them in their homes. I'm going to post it here, since I realized (in looking for the easy way out, looking for something I had already written about Advent Wreaths) that I had nothing, NOTHING about Advent Wreaths, what they are or how we use them.

Shame, shame.

So here it is, the draft I submitted to our amazing local newsletter. Bet I'm famous at the town Christmas party in two weeks!

In the four weeks before Christmas, known as Advent, our family gathers around our child crafted Advent Wreath to celebrate the coming of Christ. Our wreath is made up of evergreen scraps, three purple candles, one pink candle, arranged in a circle, and one white candle in the middle.

Each Sunday before dinner we light a new candle signifying that week and say a few special prayers and read a Bible verse. The first, second, and fourth week have a purple candle. The third week is a pink candle, which is for Gaudete Sunday, when we especially celebrate the joy of the anticipation of the coming of Christ. On Christmas, we light the big white candle in the middle, the Christ candle. This is one that signifies the Jesus has finally arrived in our midst. The kids take turns lighting the candles before dinner and blowing them out afterwards.

Keepsake Kreations

At church each Sunday, the church has it's own, larger version of the Advent Wreath which is lit at each Mass, but it is especially beautiful at Midnight Mass. Christian tradition says that Jesus was born at night, so Midnight Mass is rooted in the belief that Christ was born at midnight on Christmas.

Our Advent Wreath tradition is one that I hope my children will take into their future with joy at the memories we created.

And what do you know? After I spent all that time scouring my brain for just the RIGHT words, I found Keepsake Kreations with their most awesome description:

Christmas Candle reflection for each Sunday of Advent.

Advent's 1st Sunday (Purple Candle) - Prophet's Candle, symbolising Hope that Jesus is Coming

Advent's 2nd Sunday (Purple Candle)- Bethlehem's Candle, Symbolising Faith of Mary & Joseph

Advent's 3rd Sunday (Pink Candle) - Shepherd's Candle, Symbolising Joy of Jesus' Birth

Advent's 4th Sunday (Purple Candle) - Angel's Candle, Symbolising the Message of the Angels

Christmas Eve (White Candle) - Christ Candle, Symbolising the birth of Jesus Christ. - The light of the World
Candles are lit to symbolise the light of God coming into the world through the birth of Christ.

On the first, second and fourth Sundays of advent a purple candle is lit (each Sunday the candle from the previous Sunday is re-lit).

The colour purple as used during the period of lent, reminds us to prepare a welcome for Jesus during the Advent season.

On the third Sunday of advent a pink candle is lit. Pink is the colour of joy to remind us that we should be ready to welcome christ at Christmas.

On Christmas Eve the white candle is lit to celebrate the Birth of Christ - The Light of the World.

In the first week of Advent, one purple candle is lighted each evening , in the second week, two purple candles are lighted each day, in the third week, three candles purple & pink are lighted and so on until Christmas Day.

Advent is one of the few Christian festivals that can be celebrated in both the family home and parish church. During the holiday season it is traditional for an Christmas advent wreath to be placed on the dining table, every Sunday during the four weeks of advent, prayers and Scripture readings are read by family members then a new advent candle is lit. The same candles are lit each mealtime during the week.

I should have just submitted theirs.

Free Skinny Me & MPM

2011-11-07T10:07:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite bloggers is just three weeks out from having twins and already on the lose weight bandwagon! My baby is 10 months old and I'm *finally* deciding to work seriously on weight loss.

Anyway. Tania of Larger Family Life is starting on freeing her "skinny me" and I'm all in! Here's my comment to her:

I am in! I need to lose some weight from my most recent baby (she's 10 months) and of course, all the stuff from the kids before that, back to when I had my first, just 14 years ago...

Honestly, I'm embarrassed by my stats, so I'll keep them to myself. Just say that I'm 5'4" and far too big for comfort. My mini goal is just 40 lbs down. My ultimate goal is much larger.

I am still breastfeeding, but baby doesn't get all her nutrition from me. I am setting myself down to go to Curves three times a week as part of my fitness goal and ~~trying to~~ eating better.

Here is my menu plan for this week, not yet adjusted for my new fitness and nutrition goals:

BBQ Pulled Pork
Homemade Runza (this is not the recipe I use, but it's close. I just haven't added mine to my recipe blog yet.)
Enchiladas
Mac and Cheese (kids make dinner night) I will probably make them add baked chicken breasts to this for protein.
French Toast
Leftovers

Laura at Organizing Junkie hosts Menu Plan Monday every week! I have "fallen off the wagon" for a while, but a blog friend has prompted me to post my own, along with the buddy challenge from Tania.

Make it for Maggie

2011-10-10T20:24:00.002-06:00

Make it for Maggie is an awesome local fund raiser and learning fest. I wasn't able to attend last year, but you can bet I'm clearing my calendar for this year! So many many wonderful class offerings (sourdough bread, knitting/crochet circle, babywearing in a pinch, basic herbology, tea towel apron, making bath bombs, essential oils and MORE!) with all the money going to benefit one special family.

Read more about it at the site:

Pants on the Ground!

2011-09-26T22:50:00.000-06:00

I just couldn't resist

Memorial Day and Homeschooling

2011-05-26T13:28:00.001-06:00

In an effort to be more creative and fun in my homeschooling, and because this weekend is Memorial Day, I am going to share a craft that I will be having my small fries do. We will be making flags!

I think it will be a fun and easy craft involving colored tissue paper, glue, and a flag outline. I will have the kids use small scraps of red white and blue tissue paper and glue them down onto a line drawing of the American Flag. Here's the flag we will use, from PrintFree.com. It is a bit small, but that's developing fine motor skills, right? I will ask the older kids to make an American flag without the outlines.

Then I will let the kids make their own flags to look like whatever they want. Rather than printing a blank rectangle on an 8.5 x 11" paper, I'm just going to let them fill in the whole paper on their own, however they like.

I'm hoping that the kids think this is fun. My oldest is already asking if she can design her own flag, so it's a good sign. I can't wait to see what they come up with! Even the almost 3 year old can participate in this. I got the idea for this lesson/craft from Hot Chalk Lesson Plans Page.

Meanwhile, I'm trying to decide if I want to continue using the K12/IDVA curriculum next year or strike out on my own. I'd value any input.

Mostly I'm frightened of not being able to properly prepare my kids for their future by not providing them the best education and most needed info. The whole lesson planning thing makes me shrink in terror. I'm learning more about the Thomas Jefferson Education method and it is based on the classics, but there is still a decision to be made.

A Tale of (Weight) Loss

2011-04-29T11:48:00.000-06:00

So. Once upon a time there was a loverly princess who... No, wait. Wrong audience. Here is how it really goes.

I have never been a thin person. My family told me that food = love after my parents divorced but they just didn't know any different, I think. Fall down and hurt? Have a cookie. Cry over lost relationship? Oh, have some cake. Mom taking you tell you that she is divorcing dad? Here, let's hit McDonald's.

I've worked fairly hard to not teach that to my children. After several long talks with my two oldest girls and some serious "mom's past" issues, I have found that they think food = love is stupid. Thank you, Father in heaven.

So. I got married. Had a baby within 9 months and told myself that whole pregnancy that after the baby came I would lose weight and be healthier. We were unable to have another baby when we wanted and started on Clomid. Baby girl #2 was born and I still promised myself to be healthier. I look at pictures of myself at this time and just cringe.

Whew. No more babies for a while, honey. Surprise! Here comes baby girl #3 just 26 months after #2, which was 26 months after #1. Plus, I was working a temporary job at a fast food place when I discovered I was expecting #3 (while I hated their food and still do, something caused me to WANT to eat there) and that didn't help the food issues.

After #3 was born I had serious post partum depression and that REALLY skinny-ed me down. I was THIN! But unhealthy, not eating, not doing anything but needing to sleep, to be in bed, to be in the blackness alone. I missed those first three months of baby 3's life. My mother in law, God bless her, rescued me. After I began to heal, I worked harder on exercise.

I tried the Atkins diet of low carb high protein and it worked fairly well for me. I just didn't have the willpower I needed to stick to it so strictly. Hubbers is an in-line skating fanatic and doesn't have weight issues for himself or in his family, so I was kind of alone.

Then comes baby #4, a beautiful boy, three years later. After he is born and I am nursing, I didn't do squat because he was born via emergency C-Section. Heavier than ever now. I did, however, find a friend. Missy, I will forever be grateful for when you took me to Curves for the first time. She was my exercise buddy!! I stuck to the Curves routine for three years! I built a lot of muscle and really enjoyed myself. Missy didn't go as often as I did and I made new friends at the club, so it was all good.

When I found myself pregnant with baby #5, four years after #4 was born, I exercised through the entire pregnancy. That labor and delivery was so easy! Baby 5 was born and though I was nursing, I still tried to make it to Curves. When 5 was about a year old, we moved 20+ miles away from my favorite exercise outlet. I couldn't justify the cost of the club that I was no longer attending when I had three acres to run and play on, garden and landscape upon. I dropped my Curves membership.

I started on that hCG diet and it worked wonders! I lost 40+ pounds and it was great! My chest was bigger than my waist! My wardrobe needed replacing with SMALLER items. And then... Hello baby #6.

BabyJoy arrived this January and I haven't lost any weight from her pregnancy, even though it's been three months. So when I got a call from Jeannie at Curves telling me it was the annual food drive and if I brought in a bag of food then I would pay no $199 service fee, a spark was lit.

I signed up again on Wednesday. I go back for my second workout today at 3pm. The machines, the stretches, it was like I never left. My body remembered what I was meant to do. I feel some strain in the sore parts of my body - my hip where I fell down the stairs a month ago is sore - but I feel GOOD!

The only bad thing is the 30 minute drive to the facility and the 3 month old baby that must have a watcher while I go in. Thankfully I have a 14 year old and 12 year old that are my great helpers.

My initial goal is small. But I will get there and my body will be healthier and thank me for it. The Curves food drive lasts until the end of the month of April. Check it out!

Walking Through Fire

2011-04-16T17:58:00.002-06:00

A Twitter friend wrote this article and I just enjoyed reading so very much. There is so much truth inside her words that I just couldn't NOT share it with you. There is so much running away from the hard things in life, especially in marriage. One out of every 2 marriages ends in divorce. How sad is that?

True. I have never had a divorce of my own. But also true, my mother has been through two, so I have been through two. My parents divorced when I was in the fifth grade. Can you imagine what trauma that was to an on-the-cusp preteen who was already dissatisfied with her self image? Not to mention that on top of the divorce, my mom went out and started dating immediately and eventually brought home the biggest loser of all: my physically and verbally abuse to children, unfaithful to her, first step-father.

Yes. She apologizes left and right for this mistake. And she is now married to the very best man around, other than my own dad. But imagine what this taught my vulnerable self? Marriage was temporary at best and not something to stay committed to for long. And any old guy to hop in the sack with was okay: the kids and their feelings sure didn't matter.

I'm not saying stay married for the kids' sake, especially if the marriage is abusive. But God doesn't want us to divorce, be abusive or make the wrong choices. My religion tells me that no man can dissolve what He has united in marriage.

So read this article in its fullness. Please take the time to read and ponder upon it. Pray about it. Pray for those who feel that divorce is the easiest (and only) answer. May God with them and you. It starts out like this:

If ever there was a romance that started off with a bang it was ours. It was love at first sight—the kind of love affair that many have trouble believing exists until they find themselves swept up in one of their own. We fell, rolled head over heels, and saw stars. It was cliché, yes, but also extraordinary.

Continue reading Refined by Fire

Another great read by a Twitter "tweep": Hooking Up, Shacking Up & Other Marriage Busters

image courtesy MorgueFile

Homeschooling 1st Grade

2011-04-13T13:17:00.001-06:00

Have you ever taught someone to read? It's harder than you think. How do you explain what is second nature to you? Explain something that you adore and comes so easily for you to a small boy who isn't terribly excited about learning it?

I am using the K12 curriculum for our homeschooling. This is our 2nd year using this program and I have not many complaints about it. But I often find myself wishing that TheBoy went off to school to have someone else teach him these hard things. It's rather overwhelming.

We're slowly finding our way, together. I am easier on him than I probably should be, but he is picking it up. He has attended a few extra Tier 2 classes to help him with his grasp on the subject and I make him read to me every day. He's such a good boy.

It's the one thing I miss about public school: sending them away for the day and having peace and quiet. I am NEVER EVER alone. I NEVER have free time to myself. I am stealing the time to write this while I should be teaching phonics, eating lunch, nursing BabyJoy, directing housework, and waking Hubbers up from his nap.

...sigh...

It was Hubbers' choice to homeschool. I am being the supportive wife and enjoy homeschooling. Most days.

(whine)

Planting

2011-04-12T13:14:00.000-06:00

I'm about a month behind where I wanted to be in starting my garden but we finally got some planting done today.

The Boy (he turns 7 tomorrow!) helped me load the seed trays with soil and then we planted! We have so far done a variety of tomato plants and some mixed lettuce. We're taking a small break for some essential school work on phonics and reading, and will then move on to planting tomatillos and swiss chard.

And then I'm out of seed trays! I better hit the store for some more so I can plant the rest of what I had in mind: assorted radishes, onions, green onions, parsley, potatoes, gourds, squash, and more. We have plans to have a large garden this year to help us during these "trying economic times".

Now, if it would only stop raining and we could till the garden...

Excuse This House

2011-03-10T11:56:00.000-07:00

Some houses try to hide the fact
That children shelter there,
Ours boasts it quite openly,
The signs are everywhere.

For smears are on the windows,
Little smudges are on the doors
I should apologize, I guess
For toys strewn on the floor.

But I sat down with my child
And we played and laughed and read
And if the doorbell doesn’t shine,
His eyes will shine instead.

For when at times I’m forced to choose
The one job or the other,
I’d like to cook and clean and scrub,
But first I’ll be a mother.

~ Author Unknown

Have You Seen?

2011-02-20T18:33:00.000-07:00

This is our newest miracle, baby M.

She was born January 23, 2011 at 3.22 am. She weighed 9 lbs 4 oz and was 21.5 inches long. Baby M was born at home, right on our couch, with wonderful midwives in attendance.

She is 4 weeks old now and I still find myself reliving her birth each Saturday night. It was an amazing birth experience, my first at home. M is child number 6 for us, so there may be no other babies for us. We're still praying over that one.

M was kind enough to wait until the day after we got the car to fit all the people in our house all at once. The kids call it the Party Bus.

Menu Plan Monday on Sunday

2011-01-09T19:22:00.001-07:00

It's true. It's only Sunday night and I don't feel like eating dinner yet, so I'm working on making our menu for this next week. The thing is, our baby is due just about any day and I really wish she'd come NOW NOW NOW, but I gotta do what I gotta do. So I've picked a few recipes that are new for me and look good. Of course, when baby makes her appearance, all is subject to change.

On to the list!

Chicken, broccoli and rice with cheesy creamy sauce
This is one I am kind of going to make up as I go along. I have other recipes like this that I like, but the craving for chicken with cheesy broccoli goodness is high.

Pork tenderloin, white bean, kale soup

I found the recipe for this when searching for high iron recipes. I don't have tenderloin so I will use pork roast. I am also going to use great northern beans and spinach as substitutions. Hubbers couldn't find kale at the grocery store when I sent him.

Hoisin Glazed BBQ Pork Ribs

I was looking for a rice cake recipe and ran across this site and found this beautiful pork rib recipe. It looks so good!

Sweet & Sour Stir fry with Egg Drop Soup

The kids love this egg drop soup so much that even the double recipe leaves them asking for more. I love the sweet & sour chicken because I just do! I will add veggies into the recipe to stretch it a little further with the hungry hordes around here.

Pizza

Homemade, of course. I've been liking artichoke hearts, mushrooms, and onions on the adult pizza that I make. Also bell peppers... ummmmm! The kids get regular old pepperoni or plain.

leftovers

Hard to believe, but there are occasionally leftovers around here. If there aren't, then we'll do some version of breakfast: waffles, french toast or something.

Rosemary Chicken with White Wine Sauce

And doesn't this look great!? I have a lot of chicken in the freezer after a great buy at the store a few weeks ago. I will use cooking wine instead of the full monty alcohol version.

And just for kicks, I'd love to try this dessert:

Lime Melt Aways

They sound like lime butter cookies. And I do love me some real buttah... And lime is heavenly. I do need to get a better juicer, though.

More than 300 others post weekly to the Menu Plan Monday site, hosted by Org Junkie.

Make sure you stop by!

Images courtesy Morgue File

36 Weeks

2011-01-02T18:04:00.000-07:00

I am so glad that pregnancy is temporary.

Your baby is still packing on the pounds — at the rate of about an ounce a day. She now weighs almost 6 pounds (like a crenshaw melon) and is more than 18 1/2 inches long.

She's shedding most of the downy covering of hair that covered her body as well as the vernix caseosa, the waxy substance that covered and protected her skin during her nine-month amniotic bath. Your baby swallows both of these substances, along with other secretions, resulting in a blackish mixture, called meconium, will form the contents of her first bowel movement.

At the end of this week, your baby will be considered full-term. (Full-term is 37 to 42 weeks; babies born before 37 weeks are pre-term and those born after 42 are post-term.) Most likely she's in a head-down position. (And the midwife says she is!)

Image from BabyCenter

Attention America

2010-12-31T12:11:00.001-07:00

I found this on the Katie Pundit site and couldn't NOT share it. It has touched my whole family, not just me.

We The People

2010-12-29T10:57:00.000-07:00

Merry Christmas to All!

2010-12-24T22:23:00.000-07:00

Jesus is well and truly come.

Welcome, little Savior.

GIVEAWAY!

2010-12-04T16:26:00.000-07:00

I'm not blogging much right now, since I should be making dinner. It's turkey and dumplings with the recipe courtesy of my California Friend. I have got to get moving on it, but I wanted to share this giveaway from Multi-Testing Mommy.

Facial hair + women = unhappiness. Multi-Testing Mommy is having a give away for a Kymaro Roll Away Facial Threader. Now, I hope you DON'T enter so I have a better chance, but that's not too fair. Visit MTM and get in on the goodies. She has lots of great stuff on her site so make sure you look around.

If you just can't wait to win, visit her site and buy from there. Wins all around.

I Am A Mom...

2010-11-23T22:28:00.000-07:00

I am large in my skin
I make no apology

This belly grew a baby
Why should it be flat?
It curves with the memory of the womb.

These breasts fed a baby
Why should they be pert?
They swell with the memory of milk.

These hips carried a child
Why should they be slim?
They are full with the memory of life.

My bones are secret under flesh
My skin plump and white and fine

Mine is the face of Botticelli
Mine is the water of the Nile
Mine is the shape of things forbidden
Daughter of Gaia, grown beautiful and wild.

~ Lorri Barrier

Fingertip Grips Holding Pattern

2010-11-22T13:42:00.000-07:00

I'm still trying to decide if we go Midwife for homebirth or freebirth (no attendant). You can read the backstory here and here. I bought several books on emergency childbirth and am asking Hubbers to read them, since it will all be on his shoulders if we freebirth. As of now, he tells me he will be more comfortable with a professional attendant there. I'm still freaked out by the money. $3300 or more!

I've been praying for an answer to this question for several weeks now. I haven't heard an answer yet, but God has His time, and I mine. They don't often match up. A good friend just told me that He will answer and she believes that a freebirth would be just fine for us.

And it's true. 95% of labor and birth is completely free of problems. But it's the remaining 5% that scares the socks off me. I would be out of my mind if something happened to our baby that could have been prevented with professional attendance.

I read a post by A Wife Loved Like the Church today that provided me a Bible quote I really liked:

“They do not fear bad news; they confidently trust the Lord to care for them.” Psalm 112:7

“Let all that I am praise the Lord; may I never forget the good things he does for me.” Psalm 103:4

Yes, this speaks to me today, worry wart control freak and all. God is with me in all things, great and small. My heart needs to relax and all will be revealed by Him in His time. So pray for me, my patience, my listening, and my required answer.

Readin' More than the BBC

2010-11-20T22:26:00.000-07:00

Why, yes, I do read a lot. Check this out:

Have you read more than 6 of these books? The BBC believes most people will have read only 6 of the 100 books listed here.

Bold those books you've read in their entirety.
Italicize the ones you started but didn't finish or read only an excerpt.

Tag other book nerds. Tag me as well so I can see your responses! (Or not.) Feel free to add comments too.

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman (won't read this one, sorry)
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulk
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell (read this one SEVERAL times!)
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34 Emma - Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazu Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo.