Eating Fresh On A Two-Week Grocery Plan

When folks hear that I do our grocery shopping every six to eight weeks, they are often flabbergasted.  Without exception, their first gasping question is always, "How do you have fresh produce?", as if it were the Holy Grail of feeding a family. Granted, fresh produce is very healthy for us. Even conventionally grown, non-organic, pesticide-laden produce has produced good results in scientific studies. It is what was used in all the studies showing that eating enough fresh fruits and vegetables can help reduce risks of cancer and other disease. (Remember Five-A-Day?)

While I concede that the ideal situation would be to live in the garden of Eden, or as a distant second, to have our own backyard gardens with seasonal produce ripe for the harvesting four seasons of the year, ideals are rarely reality. Having our own garden supply all our produce needs for the year is our goal, but we are not there yet, and something must be done in the mean time.

Although I am about to share my plan for how to eat fresh produce without living at the grocery store, I would like to state for the record that having fresh produce all year 'round is not an inalienable right. It is simply a blessing that we have in this country - a blessing for which I am grateful.

On to the plan. Every six to eight weeks, depending on how much is going on in life, or how much company we have had, we do our stock-up grocery shopping trip. This is where I refill the pantry and freezer with any frozen fruits and vegetables and shelf-stable items like canned goods. Once a month our health food co-op delivers our meats, grains, beans and baking supplies. That just leaves the fresh produce to pick up every two weeks, which for us, looks like Mr. Visionary making a stop on his way home from work.

We shop this way because it keeps us out of the stores more (so no impulse buying), it saves trips to town (so saving time, gas and stress) and it forces frugality (we make do with what we have on hand). It is not brilliant, it is just a fruit of planning ahead.

During the first week, we focus on the fresh produce that goes bad the fastest. This is the time to eat lettuce and bananas. During the second week, we focus on the fresh things that keep a bit longer like apples and carrots.  We rotate the produce we eat seasonally, to take advantage of what is in abundant supply and cheaper during each season. That means we rarely eat fresh tomatoes and watermelon in January (they taste yucky then anyway), but instead focus on the citrus fruits, leafy greens and root vegetables that are in season. We only have pomegranates in October and November, but enjoy them fully and often while they are in season and actually affordable. Two great books that discuss eating this way are Simply In Season and Animal, Vegetable, Miracle .

Week One Produce:

Lettuces, berries, avocados, pomegranate, bananas, peaches, tomatoes, pineapple, spinach, pears, kiwi, etc.

Week Two Produce:

Carrots, celery, potatoes, cabbage, green peppers, apples, oranges, sweet potatoes, beets, turnips, refrigerated bananas (put them in the fridge during week one- they will turn black on the outside, but still be white and fresh on the inside), leafy greens like collards and kale, and romaine lettuce usually keeps well in the second week, too.

Week two can also be supplemented with frozen fruits, since they are not blanched, and are still raw. We use frozen fruit in smoothies and mixed in our yogurt. The children also like frozen banana slices with peanut butter on top as an afternoon snack.

Both weeks we supplement with lots of lacto-fermented vegetables, which are not 'fresh', but they are raw. Each week can also be supplemented with fresh sprouts grown on your kitchen counter. Alfalfa sprouts, while popular, are not good for you, so we like to make mung bean sprouts (the kind used in oriental food a lot). My kids love these lightly sauteed in butter with a sprinkle of soy sauce. They are crunchy, yummy...and fresh.

So, that is how we do it. My goal as a Mommy Chef is to serve something fresh or raw three times a day, and this is the best way I have come up with to pull it off so far. If you have other tips, I'd love to hear them!

Free Health Books

I came across these books online several months ago, but unfortunately didn't print them, then the link where I found them went bad. They are available as free downloads, and this time, I really will print them. I'm sharing the link in case you could use them, too. We never can tell when they may be necessary.

Where There Is No Doctor
Where Women Have No Doctor
A Book for Midwives
Where There Is No Dentist

Yummy Homemade Toothpaste!

If you are like me and use flouride-free toothpaste without SLS and other yucky ingredients, you are likely paying a lot for toothpaste. Any of the brands we have found that meet the criteria we are looking for cost about $5.00 per tube, for a not-so-family-sized tube. (If you don't understand why someone would want toothpaste without flouride, then you may want to do some homework on your own. When I found out that Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Austria, France and The Netherlands have banned fluoride, I figured it was something worth looking into. Here are a few articles to get you started: Weston A. Price  Foundation articles and Dr. Mercola's site .)

Because I have been focused obsessed with "bringing back home" (making/creating/growing our own or even eliminating our "need") all the items that I reasonably can, and our family has been making concerted efforts to end our own consumerism, I was intrigued to find instructions for making your own toothpaste on the MOMYS digest.  The fact that it is potentially cheaper is also a bonus, although I haven't yet crunched the numbers.

Here's the recipe I used~

Mix together:

~2 Tablespoons of Coconut Oil (I buy this from Mountain Rose Herbs - $121 for a 5-gallon bucket.)

~3 Tablespoons of Baking Soda

~5 drops Peppermint Essential oil

~5 drops Spearmint Essential Oil

~a pinch of Stevia powder

I have used baking soda to brush my teeth before (and felt a bit like a martyr because the taste was less-than-desirable), but this was incredible! I am so thrilled at how well it turned out! The coconut oil gives it a creamy consistency, and holds the Baking Soda together, while the Stevia and essential oils gives it a yummy flavor. (I chose to use part Spearmint instead of all Peppermint because the Spearmint doesn't have that "hot" mouth feel that Peppermint does. This is important to little people!) Note: I feel safe allowing these essential oils to be used in a situation where they could possibly be ingested because 1) the amounts are so small, and 2) both Spearmint and Peppermint essential oils are on the FDA's GRAS (generally recognized as safe) list.

It doesn't have that foamy effect that commercial toothpaste has, but I actually appreciate that - it doesn't get the bathroom sink so dirty, and it doesn't gag this pregnant woman like the foamy kind does. I was amazed at how well it turned out, but the best part was how quick it was to mix together. It literally took less than five minutes including the time it took to gather the oils from another room. Our stores change brands of toothpaste so quickly, that I couldn't have picked out toothpaste in the store as quickly as that because of reading labels. We mixed it in a tiny wide mouth half-pint canning jar, and just dip dry toothbrushes in it. Don't get grossed out... remember coconut oil is anti-viral, anti-bacterial and anti-fungal, so it will even keep the toothbrushes more sanitary.
This business of bringing stuff back home is so much fun!

Homemade Prenatal Vitamins

I stopped taking prenatal vitamins a few pregnancies ago because I don't really feel comfortable with singled-out vitamins (out of their naturally occurring form, i.e. "food"). I looked around for a natural supplement as well, reading lots of ingredient lists and testimonials, but I either didn't like the company well enough to buy from them, or they included ingredients I felt would be harmful, so I struck out on that front as well.

As I was researching and making my personal list of what *I* would put in a prenatal supplement, if *I* were a manufacturer, it hit me that I had access to each of the ingredients. I could just purchase the bulk ingredients and make my own capsules. Eureka! So that is exactly what I did. Now, the disclaimer is that these may not be *your* list of what to put in a prenatal supplement, or any particular expert's list, but they covered my bases.

Here is what was on my list:

Alfalfa ~ Loaded with vitamins A, D, E and K, eight digestive enzymes, and numerous trace minerals. It is particularly helpful in late pregnancy because the vitamin K it supplies promotes proper blood clotting, thereby reducing the risk of postpartum hemorrhage.

Bee Pollen ~ contains more than 96 different nutrients, including every single nutrient that is needed to sustain human life. It is made up of 40% protein, nearly all of it usable by the body without any further breakdown or metabolism. Nourishing Traditions calls it a "super food".

Beet Root Powder ~ Beet root is a good source of minerals, particularly easy-to-assimilate iron. Beet root is also helpful in the digestion of fats, gallbladder infections, digestive problems, anemia, and for toning and rebuilding the liver. Contains beta-carotene, calcium, magnesium, vitamin B1 (thiamine), vitamin B5 (pantothenic acid), phosphorus, potassium, selenium, tryptophan, vitamin C, zinc and soluble and insoluble fiber and spleen function improvement.

Bull Kelp (Nereocystis Leutkeana) ~ excellent source of vitamins A, B's (especially B12), C, D, E and K as well as essential fatty acids. High in iron and chlorophyl as well as a wealth of other minerals like potassium, sodium, calcium, iodine, magnesium, sulfur, nitrogen, zinc, boron, copper, manganese, chromium, selenium, bromine, vanadium, and nickel.

Milk Thistle Seed ~ Milk thistle extract may protect the cells of the liver by blocking the entrance of harmful toxins and helping remove these toxins from the liver cells. Shonda Parker says this is the best supportive supplement for the liver in her opinion.

Norwegian Kelp (Ascophyllum Nodosum) ~ excellent source of vitamins A, B's (especially B12), C, D, E and K as well as essential fatty acids. High in iron and chlorophyl as well as a wealth of other minerals like potassium, sodium, calcium, iodine, magnesium, sulfur, nitrogen, zinc, boron, copper, manganese, chromium, selenium, bromine, vanadium, and nickel. Kelp as a source of iodine assists in making thyroid hormones, which are necessary for maintaining normal metabolism in all cells of the body. The U.S. population in general has shown a trend of significantly decreasing iodine intake, and I take it because we do not use iodized salt.

Oatstraw ~ Calcium and magnesium rich, has silica, fiber, and trace nutrients. Also contains phosphorus and vitamins A, B1, B2 and E. Oats and oat straw help strengthen the nervous system and are considered nerve tonics. Rich in minerals, oats and oat straw also help build strong bones and teeth and strengthen capillaries and veins, and provides some support to those troubled by varicose veins and hemorrhoids.

Red Raspberry Leaf ~ tones the uterus and helps prevent miscarriage and postpartum hemorrhage from a relaxed or atonic uterus; rich in calcium, magnesium, iron, phosphorus, potassium and vitamins B, C and E. This is the most frequently used herb for pregnancy, and has a long track record of benefit to the female organs.

Spirulina ~ Contains rich vegetable protein (60~ 63 %, 3~4 times higher than fish or beef ), multi Vitamins (Vitamin B 12 is 3~4 times higher than animal liver and is the best vegetable source of B12) and is rich in folic acid. It contains a wide range of minerals (including Iron, Potassium, Magnesium Sodium, Phosphorus, Calcium etc.), a high volume of Beta- carotene which protects cells (5 time more than carrots, 40 time more than spinach), high volumes of gamma-Linolein acid (which can reduce cholesterol and prevent heart disease).


After acquiring my ingredients, I powdered them all well in my blender. (Most of them I was able to buy already in powder form.) After they were all sufficiently powdered (small enough to fit easily into a capsule without hanging out over the edges), I mixed them well in a large bowl in the amounts I had planned. Measuring by weight, I added equal parts of everything listed above, with the exception of only a quarter part of the Bull Kelp. Next I began to make them into capsules.

(Are you as tickled as I am to realize that this is something we can make at home?)

Here is a basic photo tutorial of how to make the capsules from the company from which I bought the capsule maker and the ingredients. It really is very easy, and most of my Bigs (the older children) can do it alone, without any supervision. Even the younger children can "help Mom make vitamins for the baby" - they have so much fun! I keep the already-made capsules in a bottle with a (supposedly) child-proof cap, and the rest of the herbal mixture in a tightly sealed glass jar in the freezer. I only make enough capsules for about two weeks at a time, so I can keep the rest of the ingredients as fresh as possible.

I am really impressed with how much better I feel since beginning this supplement! My midwife is also thrilled with them, and has asked me to make them in bulk and sell them to her other patients. I don't really foresee that happening anytime soon, but it encouraged me that I was on the right track, anyway. OK, another disclaimer: surely you know that I am no doctor, other than a Dr. Mom. So, do your own homework, check with your own practitioner, etc, etc, bla bla, bla before you go taking advice from some stranger (namely Me) on the internet.

I also made my own herbal tincture as an iron supplement to help with my anemia, and these are the ingredients I added to it:

Dandelion Roots & Leaves ~ Both have tons of vitamins A and C, iron, calcium, potassium, folic acid, and many trace elements. The root is a specific remedy for the liver (remember, pregnancy is very hard on the liver). The leaf is a mild diuretic, which can reduce water retention during pregnancy - but...without depleting potassium stores like most diuretics.

Nettles ~ Vitamins A, C, D and K (which will increase blood's clotting ability and increases available hemoglobin, both of which decrease the likelihood of postpartum hemorrhage), calcium, cobalt, potassium, phosphorous, protein, folic acid, zinc, copper, vitamin B complex- especially B1 and B2 and carotenoids, biochelated iron and sulphur are particularly abundant, also aids the kidneys, and eases leg cramps. The leaves and stalks also provide smaller amounts of manganese, selenium, silicon and vitamin B3 (niacin).

Yellowdock Root ~ high in iron and aids in iron assimilation. This is the herb to use if anemia is unresponsive to other measures.

I hope you have fun researching and making your own supplements! It was exciting to me to have one more thing brought back home. We are becoming a little less of consumers with each choice like this that we make, and it feels really good.

Have a happy pregnancy!

I’ve Gotta Tell *Someone*

My seven year old son is particularly adept at dragging a day's lesson of Explode-The-Code out for several hours. If I could find any verses referencing it (which, to his chagrin, there are none), I might be able to call it a spiritual gift. However, I am convinced that it is a gift to be able to randomly jump from topic to topic (forty-seven to be exact) at will while managing to make four pages of workbook phonics take two hours. He tells about his recent escapades and travels, inquires about what angels eat, and have I ever been on an African safari, shows how far his loose tooth can wiggle, queries regarding the ingredients in tar, the height of the Empire State building, how does Mrs. S get her Hot Jam hot, and what is for lunch, seemingly all in the same breath. The ease with which he seems to drag his mother along into his forty-seven random subjects causing her to temporarily forget the phonics as well is, well... nothing short of dumbfounding to me.

So, in the spirit of my seven year old's random musings, I share with you the recent happenings at our place.

Since we survived the flu, and Spring had not yet come, I decided to buckle down and try to get some projects wrapped up so I'd be free to play outside when the weather gets nice. Some of these were begun before the morning sickness began, only to be quickly shoved to the back burner during said morning sickness, then finally dragged back out and completed. In any case, what follows is not to be construed as, "Look what we did this week!" by any stretch of the imagination. It truly is a compilation of several months... and it truly is random. But I wanted to share because I'm excited, and... I have no one else to tell.



First, to update the progress on some of my sidebar goals, here is what we came up with for cloth napkins. I wanted to not have to worry about matching napkins with tablecloths and all other fancy-schmancy details that don't quite fit the casual nature of meals with seven children, so I looked for a ton of something all the same color. I had heard that lots of MOMYS use cute dishtowels for cloth napkins, so that got me to thinking outside of the box and allowed me to ditch my original plan of making napkins with my serger. (Whew!) The girls and I found off-white (who knew they came in that color?), unbleached cotton shop towels at Sam's Club, and thought they would be perfectly cute and quaint for napkins. They are not perfectly square or uniformly size (and neither are we) , but they are close enough, and the price was right. We paid about $12 for 100 towels. We love them!



Next, we had always made our own baby wipes from paper towels, but I wanted to switch over to non-disposable ones. We had heard Moms talk of using the shop towels for baby wipes, so we considered those, but I didn't like the rough texture of them for delicate bottoms, so we settled on cheap wash cloths. We picked white because I wanted to wash them in hot water with the diaper loads and be able to see if they were really getting clean or not. They have been wonderful! Not at all too thick to wipe with (which I had wondered about), and they are very quick to throw together. They also don't dull my good butcher knife like cutting the paper towel rolls for the disposable ones did. We mix about a quart of water with two tablespoons of liquid soap, mix it together, and pour on top of as many washcloths as we can squeeze into our container. (We grate a bar of TN Farmgirl's soap, and pour two cups of boiling water over it, let it dissolve, and voila! Liquid soap that lives in a squeeze bottle in the bathroom closet, ready for making wipes!)

We also switched back to cloth diapers successfully. My first three were in cloth, but when I had four in diapers at once, I was given a large quantity of disposables and I switched to disposables and never looked back. Well, until now that is. I started making homemade cloth diapers with these instructions, but haven't been totally happy with them. They are thick and absorbent, very soft (made from old T-shirts), but the weave is so thick that pins refuse to go through them without a fight. If you decide to make them, I recommend adding the Snappi-able fabric, and using Snappi straps instead of pins. I would have continued to make more anyway (and buy some Snappi straps), except that someone (Thanks Anita!) just passed on to me a large bag of nice cloth diapers, and now I am freed from one more sewing project! (Yay!)

I also made (and totally fell in love with) wool soakers - diaper covers made from felted wool sweaters. WOW and double wow! I had NO idea the things would work so well. I will not bother with pictures and details, because Holly has already covered that well, but I will tell you that I am amazed that they work so well and are so sweet and cozy. I will never go back to any other cover after trying these! I made some wool longies (long pants-type diaper covers) and regular no-legs types. The wool longies are not the least bit scratchy (if you choose well when picking out which sweaters to use) and are so, so yummy-cute sticking out from under a little girls' dress in winter. They are also quick and easy to make! This is a great thing, as I priced pre-made ones online for upwards of $50 per pair! So there are three things now marked off my Switching-Over-To-Cloth list. Cool.



These jars contain some of our herb projects. The green one on the right is Healing Salve that we learned how to make from TN Farmgirl's Medicinal Herb Course. It is green because we used extra virgin olive oil for it. We use it for boo-boos instead of antibiotic ointment (it has several herbs known for their antibacterial/antifungal qualities), and for diaper cream in place of any kind of Vitamin D ointment. It is so much fun to slowly, one-by-one replace all those petroleum-based products with something HOME MADE! Although I usually hate the way this word is overused, I have found it to be empowering... I can really do this? Yes, I really can! Things like this remind me so much of the ideas in Mary Pride's The Way Home book... another few pieces of life brought back home. It is a good feeling.

The jar on the left contains homemade lotion/cream. We mixed yummy things like coconut oil and sweet almond oil with cocoa butter, herbs great for skin care like calendula, and essential oils like lavender and lime for that invigorating aromatherapy factor. It turned out great! We found the instructions from KeriMae at A Happy Home, and it really was as simple as she made it sound. My big girls really could have made this themselves - it was that simple. If you can make mayonnaise, you can make this... it is the same process (only without the eggs).



These yummy looking morsels are not truffles, no matter how hard I tried to convince my children. But they are close. Ever wonder how to get herbs into little children? Me too. Carla Lynne encouraged me to make what she calls "Herb Balls" to help get herbs into small children easily. She told me to powder the herbs I wanted included, then mix them with honey. Then, grind nuts, dried fruit, etc, and mix it all together. Make small balls, and roll them in carob powder, and refrigerate. She did not give me an exact recipe, so I can't give you one, but, I recommend the taste test plan. I tasted the mixture as I went along to know how much of which ingredients I wanted to add. The key to getting these yummy, I found, was to really powder the herbs well, so the texture doesn't stand out. They turned out great, and the flavor improves with a few days in the fridge. Now my little children beg for "those chocolate balls" and I have no trouble getting the herbs into those little bodies.



These little babies are the beginning of our making our own herbal cough drops. We got the recipe from TN Farmgirl's blog. I am not going to link to the exact post, because I want you to have fun digging through the archives and learning about all kinds of other herbal things on your way to this recipe. I will tell you this, though. They only have two ingredients, and making them was close to as fun as a taffy pull, if you have ever done that. They taste yucky. Horehound is a bitter herb, and it only is effective when bitter, BUT, my kids actually ate them OK. They said they weren't that bad. I did not try them, as horehound is contraindicated during lactation and pregnancy!



First we made the drops, then we rolled them in corn starch to keep them from sticking together. Next we wrapped them in freezer paper squares and put them in jars. They really work well for loosening chest congestion!



So that's the happenings around here. I hope you have survived enjoyed the journey through our random musings!

P.S. My Inbox is swamped, but I hope to catch up this week, so if you're waiting to hear from me, I'm hurrying! Thanks for being patient with me!

Leftover Oatmeal Transformed

After going through the trouble of making yogurt to save a jar of whey, buying from a co-op 50 pound bags of organic oat groats, rolling it into oatmeal, soaking the grain overnight in the whey mixture, cooking it and adding organic butter and coconut oil... I can not bear to throw the stuff away. It goes against every frugal, there-are-children-starving-in-this-world and...don't-you-know-how-hard-Dad-worked-to-pay-for-it bone in my body to just toss it.

So the experiments began. I would add the oatmeal to my bread dough, but never could get it to stay light. I journeyed through adding it to homemade pancake batter, homemade biscuit dough and cookie dough. Some of those experiments were fair, but we were still searching for *just* the right use for this pale, cold and slimy bit of what could potentially be yummy-healthy goodness.



Enter Peanut Butter Bars. An old La Leche League cookbook recipe I made in ages past called for rolled oats, soaked in boiling water for a bit before adding to the recipe. I looked at the leftover oatmeal and thought,"This has been in boiling water quite a bit...let's try it." So, without further adieu, we share with you our new, tried-and-true, we'd-almost-make-extra-oatmeal-just-to-have-for-this...recipe.

Peanut Butter Bars with Leftover Oatmeal

2 cups leftover oatmeal, cold and slimy is fine

1/2 cup butter, softened (coconut oil is also yum)

1 cup sweetener...sugar, sucanat, etc....(or honey- if you half the amount, and it doesn't get the batter too moist)

1 egg

1 cup whole grain flour...wheat, spelt, etc....(Yes, these work with rice flour if you need!)(maybe a bit of extra flour if you used honey to sweeten)

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/3 cup peanut butter (we like this better doubled)

1 tsp. vanilla

Cream butter, sweetener and eggs in a bowl. (The boys like to squoosh this with their well-washed hands.) Add oats and other ingredients; mix well. Spread into greased 9x13" baking pan. Bake at 350' for 10-15 minutes. Cool on wire rack; cut into bars. Yield 18(small) servings.

We have also served this hot, scooped into bowls with cold milk either on top or in a glass beside. It is so yummy for breakfast. The texture seems to be a bit different each time we make it, my guess is because of the varying amount of butter and sugar we add to the original oatmeal pot. It makes great snack bars, or with a few chocolate chips mixed into the batter, a very rich dessert bar for crowds. (We have found that tripling this makes two very full jelly-roll pans full.)

Enjoy!

For more frugal ideas, head over to Crystal's place for her Frugal Friday post!

Room Cleaning For Littles

Here's a question following up from the comments of this post:

I've been enjoying the dialogue on your blog about training children with managing their rooms. Once again, I'm amazed at the things I'm just now learning (b/c I was never taught), but now thankfully, I'm finding those "Titus 2" women out there like you and others who are teaching other mommies like me.

Well, my question, is what age do you do this at? Do you never have stuff in their room until they can manage it by themselves? I have a 7 yo (girl) and 3 yo (boy) who share a room right now. Just trying to figure how to implement this. And do you box everything up and put away (except a couple items)?

I know your time is very limited, but I'd appreciate a little more insight.

My thinking is you can do it at whatever age they begin having a room to keep orderly. I would be perfectly comfortable expecting a 7 and 3 (yes, even a boy...grin) to keep their room in order. Mine always seem to like having 'jobs' that are just a wee bit above what they are easily able to do ~ they seem to feel 'bigger' about doing 'bigger kid' jobs.

That said, know this... this method of taking everything out of their rooms is not about punishment. It is training. Any potential weeping and wailing from them can be dealt with by a shrewd Momma marketing the thing well.

"Kids, I have a great idea! You know how messy your room always is, and how you always have to keep picking everything up all day? Well, I have an idea that will make your room waaaayyy bigger, and give you tons of space to play, AND be really easy to clean up... so you have more time for playing."

Then, we would literally box up all but ____ and take it out of their room. (You'll need to decide for yourself how much is the right amount to box.) If you really want this to be a positive experience, then think cold turkey... the more stuff you box up, the easier it will be for them. I know it sounds drastic... I do. Trust me when I tell you that it will help them so much! We have for a season taken the boys down to just beds and their clothes were moved into the laundry room to live...we just put their dresser in there. Once they were used to just getting up and making their beds and putting their clothes in hampers, we reintroduced an item at a time per child. We allowed them to choose the reintroduced items, to motivate them to prioritize  what they have and why. We have for a season also taken our big girls down to beds and one under-the-bed sized box of whatever they chose (they are older, and weren't having quite as much trouble).

Each time we did it, my kids were relieved. They were no longer spending all their free time sitting in a wrecked room looking around wondering where to start. Their attitudes about how much stuff was necessary in their lives was altered so that even when they worked back up to getting their stuff back, much of it they didn't even want. I have found that it was mostly the idea of it that they liked (i.e. "Hey...that's my stuff!"), and they weren't particularly attached to the stuff itself.

So, to answer your question, yes... My children can't ever have stuff in their room that they cannot manage. Life is too short for me to watch them spend unnecessary time and energy taking care of "stuff'. It is easier for them, because they watch Mom and Dad do this all the time with physical stuff and other areas like time and responsibilities. We cut what we cannot manage well. We ditch stuff, we cut out activities and we excuse ourselves from anything that is too demanding of us.

On another note, what they *do* have, has to be easy for them to care for. One comfortor or quilt  (something chunky, so wrinkles won't show) and a bottom sheet is all I would expect them to be able to manage on their own just yet. All their clothes need to be easy to put away ~ down low where they can reach. Toys should also be as easy to clean up as they are to pull out. I had to learn that Littles can't do bookshelves ~ they need buckets for books, low hooks for clothes, etc. Toy boxes are evil inventions (grin). They were made to frustrate little children, I think. The only way to get to your favorite toy (which is always on the BOTTOM) is to dump out everything on the top. It makes keeping their room clean burdensome.

For a few days before you do this, I would study your children to see what their absolute favorite toys are, then plan to keep out those (if you keep out any at first). Then, after the boxing up party, plan a tea party to celebrate. Also, to head off discontent in the beginning, I always plan a few extra special activities to do with the children. When doing the activity, be sure to drop the, "Wow, I'm so glad we took care of all that extra stuff for you or we wouldn't have had time to do this. Isn't this fun?" line several times. Their reception is dependent on the spin you add.

One more thing... depending on the space you have, you may have to be creative about where to put the boxed stuff while it is waiting to be reintroduced (or purged). We always use the attic, but you may need to think garage or even trunk of the car... but it is best that it be out of sight. Ask me how I know.

Regarding Raiment

Six months they will be on the road. Living in a bus and sleeping in a new place nearly every night would seem to be discomfiting to these kids, yet they were the happiest, most well-adjusted children I have ever met. Ugandan orphans who travel the world singing and raising the money that supports them, they are on tour for six months at a time, with no more belongings than what they can carry on their backs. The Watoto kids that stayed with us last Fall taught me much about traveling light.

The contents of their backpacks consisted of three outfits, three underwear, three pair of socks, one pair of pajamas, a toothbrush, a comb, and a bandanna. That's it. For six months. My first reaction was that of disbelief. How could they possibly live that way? What if their clothes got dirty? What if they lost a button? Didn't they ever have grape juice incidents?

But as I watched their lifestyle, I was enamored. People. Ministry. Laughter. Singing. This is the stuff of such a simplified life. They washed and dried their clothes every night. They had a stain stick and a sewing kit. Simple. No backed-up laundry, no "What-do-I-wear-today?", no unmatched socks, no stress. I wasn't sure at the time what Father was going to do in me with this revelation, but I think I am discovering it now.

Having many months to ponder this and experience the contradiction in our lifestyles, the lessons in it finally took root in the form of embarking on revamping our family's clothing plan. I have already had much success in the area of the children's clothes. We keep five play outfits, two "good" outfits for public wear, and two church outfits. Doing laundry every day (a necessity in this size family) makes it easier to have fewer clothes. It also means that our favorites (which is all we ever end up wearing anyways) are always clean.

Since the main determining factor for clothing choices is lifestyle, we started by assessing what it is we need to accomplish in life. Starting with activities in which we are already involved skips a major step. Who is to say but that the things we are already doing may not need to be changed or eliminated? So we begin at the beginning: what activities does our Father want us to be doing?

What do we need to do in a day? A week? Anything that we need specific clothing for once a month or less, makes me question whether we need either to do it at all or at least need special clothing for it. (Which would explain why my bridesmaid dress from my brother's wedding is on eBay.)

Based on my lifestyle, I need only a few types of clothes. I work at home doing housework and teaching the children, I sometimes do really yucky work like farm chores or painting, I exercise, I go to church, and I occasionally go into town for business or social activities. All of those work themselves into three categories of clothing needs: Everyday, A-Little-Nicer-Than-Everyday, and Downright Grungy. Those three categories could not possibly require as many clothes as I currently own.

I have rewritten this post several times, explaining what types and amounts of clothing I have, only to determine that you do not need to know. I know that my initial reaction to reading information like that would be to compare myself, and judge myself poorly or favorably according to whether I am entering into pride or condemnation. I don't want you to do that. My desire instead, is to get you thinking...the same as the Ugandan children did for me.

How much time have I wasted standing in the closet, trying on outfit after outfit, attempting to decide what to wear (and how much have I frustrated Mr. Visionary in the process)? I know folks like to joke about how many clothes and shoes women have, but is it really funny? In light of eternal matters, can I continue to justify the amount of time and money that has heretofore been spent on clothes in my life? How much money have I spent on clothes that were a dumb choice in the first place? Worse yet, how many clothes did I buy because the ones we had just 'were not in style' any more? How many choices were made for no other reason than vanity? Fear of Man? Pride? How much time have I wasted finding a favorite shirt in the midst of ten perfectly fine ones?

Carla has taught me to not just notice the answers to questions like this, but to grieve, and allow that grief to do a deep and heart-changing work. My noticing how shameful my answers are is a beginning, but the next step, my repentance, is the true means of grace that the Holy Spirit will use to change me.

Do not hear what I am not saying. I am not saying it isn't important to care about our appearance, what I am saying is that we need to be honest about our motivation. I need to be honest about my motivation. I realize how easy it is to get caught up in the world's mentality about clothing and appearance. It screams that our worth is tied to our appearance. Yet, just because a lie is loud or unrelenting doesn't make it true. Getting free from that lie is a key to simplifying our wardrobes...and there is something about that kind of freedom that just invigorates a person.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on how you have been able to simplify clothing, or how you are feeling led in this area. Iron sharpens iron, and heading into a season of being world travelers and living out of suitcases...I can use all the help I can get.

Mr. Visionary took the picture and held the baby! He's multi-talented. :)

More On Traveling Light

I can't help but notice, as Cheri did in the comments yesterday, that Father is developing a recurring theme in His people, and wanted to share a post by my friend Carla Lynne. Her family is further along this purging and refining journey that Father is helping our family along, and I count it a blessing to follow along the trail she is treading. Carla Lynne and her family have embarked on a journey of which many of us have dreamed, especially on the hard days.

You will be blessed by her family's mission, even if you could never imagine yourself called in a similar manner. She will be chronicling their journey (which has already begun) to their Promised Land on her blog. Visit her here: Carla Lynne's Lightening The Load (Part One), and be blessed. But grab a tissue, and be prepared...I was weeping by the end.

A Time To Cast Away

So what do you keep? How much do you get rid of completely, and how much do you put away for later? I've been pondering this question frantically obsessively a lot lately, as we have been walking through this extensive decluttering effort in our home. Folks have also been asking for advice regarding their own journeys into decluttering. I have pondered many angles with which to approach this question, only to arrive at one answer definitively.

Deciding your possession end-point is a private matter between you and God. My answers for how much to keep will likely be different from yours. Likewise, my reasons for casting away may be different from yours. My intention here is to share some of my reasoning in hopes that it may help you in your own journey.

After finally understanding on a heart level that there is a one-to-one relationship between the possession of things and the consumption of time, I determined to get serious. My complaining about a lack of time did not fit with the family rule about not complaining about anything you are not doing something about. Therefore, I had to put up or shut up. Too frustrated to shut up, I was forced to eradicate stuff until I did not feel the need to complain anymore.

The first thing I did was to make a list of everything I needed. (A quick, easy method of life reorganization could have been to consider anything that did not make the original list to be automatically out.) After making this list of "needs" (that was remarkably long), I began crossing out items as I was convicted of the non-necessity of each. This list of necessary items will be different for different folks.

In case going through every item we owned with this list in hand was not quite enough motivation, we have taught ourselves to ask a question that has been even more beneficial. 'Is the convenience or pleasure this item brings WORTH what it takes to maintain, clean, house and shuffle this item around until I use it?'

A negative example would be the three-tiered plate stand that I use about twice a year for special girl-birthdays. Truth is, the thing is a hassle to schlep around and to have taking up so much space in my pantry all year just for those four hours a year that it is used. Yes, it is pretty, yes, it is the perfect thing for serving the petits-fours and chocolate-dipped strawberries. But it isn't worth all of the rest. I am finding that most things are not.

A positive example is the jogging stroller. With the extra large tires. That does not fold up. It is big and bulky, yet I have decided to keep it because it gets used almost daily. Walking the quarter mile driveway with a fifty pound three-year-old makes it worth it's space in gold to me. It has enough value to me to justify it's continued presence.

Another question that has proved helpful is, "how many of these can I use at one time?" or more importantly, "how many of these do I use at one time?". I have six laundry baskets that are often being used for some good reason all at the same time. However, when I realized that my five whisks and five cutting boards in various sizes had never been used all at once, most of them were slated for dismissal. I saved only the heavy-duty spoon, and two boards, one for meat and one for vegetables and bread. While making last night's dinner, I had to wash the vegetable cutting board six separate times in the process, but I only had to store it once.

A helpful activity may be to sit down sometime when you are feeling refreshed, and as objectively and unemotionally as possible, think and pray through what the callings are in your life during this season. The 'things' of our lives are simply tools to further God's work in our lives, and to help us do whatever it is He desires for us. Those things, when not prayerfully added or removed can be a disastrous hindrance to our ability to walk in obedience. Since they can also be tools He uses to help us minister to others, we need discernment from the Holy Spirit, and a heart of obedient trust to know which items are which.

Based on lifestyle differences (city/country, large family/small family, work & school at home/work & school away), and seasons of life ( ages of children, tight finances, moving often) we will each be led in different areas to keep or discard the chattel of our lives. The first key is to seek Father's face and desire to know His heart for you and your family, trusting that He will lead you. The second key is to obey what He leads you to do. It is one thing to be convicted about the level of extraneous baggage our family is carrying with us through life, and working to change it. It is quite another to know we have too much and to ignore the promptings to change it.

Here's to traveling light for His glory!

Journey Through A Summer Storm

Standing at the far end, I survey the lay of the land, noticing the steep cliffs on either side, assessing the dangers, and developing my strategy for passing through this area unscathed. I quickly suck in my stomach, perch on my tippy-toes and begin the journey, slowly sliding sideways, as the gorge is too narrow to pass through head-on. Breathing heavily, I attempt to steady my emotions which are swinging wildly between fear of an avalanche, and the elation of having made it this far. It was a tortuous but necessary journey.

I made it through to the end of the hallway.

The boxes, bags, stacks and stashes on either side are the fruit of our efforts to scale down our possessions. The hallway is crammed full from our morning's engaging in warfare against the guest room. This being the Anything-I-Don't-Want-To-Deal-With-Now-Gets-Put-There room makes it more challenging than any other save the kitchen, otherwise known as the Boy-I-Sure-Love-A-Good-Gadget room, which was attacked yesterday.

Although this process is fraught with emotional turmoil, I can honestly say that I am not sad to see anything go. That is not the emotional upheaval I am experiencing. Owning this stuff costs time, effort and money. I am grieved to finally see just how wasteful our lifestyle has been. How much of Mr. Visionary's back-breaking effort has been wasted making the money to buy all these trifling things? Even the "free" stuff donated by well-meaning friends and family costs plenty. How much of my precious Mommy time has been spent shuffling this stuff from place to place, organizing and reorganizing, picking up and putting away, and how much cuddling and book reading could have been done in the time that was spent? How many hours have I wasted making and implementing chore charts to help us take dominion over all this in order to keep it from taking dominion over us? I can't do exponential math accurately in my head, but I cringe at the estimates at which I am arriving so far.

Like a summer afternoon storm, it started with a smattering of fat drops in the dust, "Maybe we need to get rid of a few things." Moving into a decided drizzle, "Wow, I had no idea we had so much", and onto a substantial shower, "I am ashamed at how much stuff we have", I began repenting. In the drenching downpour I find myself in now, I can hear my own voice echoing in my ears..."There's just not enough time in the day"..."I have too much to do"...

Or maybe I just have too much.

I have been daydreaming throughout this process about how different life could have been had we never owned all these possessions. I am also dreaming about how life will be different without them now. I am asking Father to help me learn this lesson well ~ to know the truth contained in it well enough to not forget, and to experience this conviction deeply enough to produce fruit in keeping with repentance. Concerned that I might be taking this too hard, Mr. Visionary spoke encouragingly to me, "It's OK, Sweetheart, don't be so hard on yourself. We know now, and we're not going back there."

I answered with my best attempt at quoting Mr. Bennett from Pride and Prejudice: "You may well warn me against such an evil. Human nature is so prone to fall into it! No...let me once in my life feel how much I have been to blame. I am not afraid of being overpowered by the impression. It will pass away soon enough."

Even as the words were coming out, I prayed, "Father, let it not be so! I desire to be changed by this deluge ~ and by your grace I will be."

No Regrets

It must have happened when I was playing with Babydoll in the Red Clover field. I don't know if Babydoll or the puppies were the instrument that caused it to come out, but either is equally likely. It is thought-provoking how they have survived this long, through this many grabbing babies, many moves, and lots of living, anyway. But, to everything there is a time under heaven, and this was apparently the time.

I am a very plain kind of girl ~ I wear three pair of shoes, like solid colored clothes, and, had Mr. Visionary not intervened with an opinion of his own, would have happily lived life with a wardrobe consisting of simply black, white and khaki. Many years ago, nine to be exact, when Mr. Visionary surprised me with a gift of very special earrings, I was a little taken aback. They were beautiful, to be sure ~ oval emerald studs with a diamond at one end, and small ~ showing that he really knew how I loved dainty earrings. I was afraid to wear them because they were lavish and costly, and at first I didn't notice how dejected Mr. Visionary seemed as I left them in their luxurious little box. I was too proud of my thriftiness to be seen wearing such an extravagant delight, and besides, what if they got lost?

Yet they have been lost many times over the years ~ partly because my babies have seemed drawn to them, and grab at them often. Although it may disgust the Ezzos, my method of redirecting little hands was not always successful. So when I realized this time that they were gone again, my retracing my steps helped me determine where they were lost. The field of red clover wherein I was playing with Babydoll and some puppies at a friend's house was the most likely place. I'll not bother to go back and attempt to find the missing one, but not just because I think it would be futile.

There is a weightier reason.

Although not astute enough to pick up on it quickly, by my Father's grace, I did notice Mr. Visionary's downcast face over my not wearing the earrings. When I realized how it appeared that I was rejecting him and his gift, I determined to change. Within the month, I started wearing the earrings every day. If they got lost, then so be it. My darling's feelings were more important than some stupid earrings. For nine years straight I wore this pair of earrings, and no other, every day, resolved to enjoy them while they lasted. I praised Mr. Visionary to friends and strangers who commented upon them, and I thanked him hundreds of times over the years. In short, the reason I will not pine over their loss is that I enjoyed them while I had them.

I have no regrets.

In the last few years, it has been my ever increasing desire to live a life that I can look back on with no regrets. I want to be an old woman who rejoices in the fullness of her years and blessings, surrounded by family and friends. I am definitely not perfect in this regard. Those that know me are fully aware of my shortcomings in this area. But my desire, my heart's deepest wish, is to live today with the end in sight.

And if all it ever takes to learn this is a lost earring, broken china and crystal, a messy house, or dirty carpet, then it will be one of the least costly of any of the lessons I have learned am learning.

"See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, Redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is" Ephesians 5:15-17.

Resolving: Stuffage

During the last 48 hours or so, as Mr. Visionary and I have had our opportunity to partake of the gastroinstestinal virus that has been passed through the family, I have had much time to stare at the ceiling (or the bathroom flooring) and consider. As I laid there mulling over how advantageous it is to have a bathroom floor in the same shade as one’s hair, I also spent time thinking through those issues on which the Lord has recently had His finger in our life.  

 On my personal To-Do List, pegged for the near future, is to clean out the attic. My goal is to rid our lives of 80% of the stuff accumulated there, but as of yet, I do not know what form this will take. Will it be that 80% of the furniture,  clothes, and ‘stuff’ is gone equally from each category, or will it be more general, in that just 80% of the bulk is gone from the attic in general? As I pondered, I realized that I truly have no idea what is in many of the boxes. So I pondered some more, trying hard to remember.

 What I remembered was numbing. Several moves ago, we were to spend nine months renting the home of some friends while the Dad went to a ministry school. Knowing that we were moving again in nine months, we used one of the bedrooms to store our ‘extra stuff’. Never in the nine months did we break into the stash, nor did we feel a need. Our next move was into a tiny-for-us house, without room for our ‘extra stuff’. The same stored boxes went to my in-laws’ three-car garage to sit while moth and rust (and mice) did their work until our next move.

 The miniscule percentage of those items that I kept remind me of my attic now. How much do we really need to live? Really. Need. Not to necessarily live as the world does, in our culture, at this time…but to simply live? And how much of the ‘extra stuff’ keeps us so busy working to buy, use and maintain it that we have little time for God or the work He has given us?  How sick and tired of the stuff is sick and tired enough?

 I will be working through this some more, as I am sensing that this is only the beginning ~ the first few wobbly steps on a journey to a new kind of freedom...

 “…And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” John 8:32.

 

 

 

Redeeming Lunch

Nesting seems to be covering many aspects of the daily workings of our home these days. I've been painting, cleaning, ditching stuff, and reworking systems to be more automated. Reinventing the wheel on a daily basis is not as efficient for me as reading a previously thought-out list of ideas. Read that: I don't think well on my feet. I've been working on grocery lists, chore lists, stuff-to-pack-in-the-diaper-bag lists, and any other list that will help me (and the kiddos) keep ourselves in order even when life is crazy.

The ladies at the old Choosing Home (edit: this site is no longer in existence) have inspired me to work on a What-To-Have-For-Lunch list. Whenever possible, we have leftovers from dinner the night before, or Live It Up Lunch, but in the absence of leftovers, I am sharing some of the ideas from our list.



First, some of the ideas for the days when there are "some" leftovers, but not enough to just have that alone.

~Soup: Ok, kind of a no-brainer, and not all that interesting in August, but it really works for January. We mix different veggies and meats together, and usually fill in the rest with milk. A tip I learned from Joy of Cooking, is to not mix too many types of leftovers together. Pick a theme and go with that: Mexican (corn, tomatoes, beans), Italian (pasta, tomatoes, spinach, white beans), oriental (rice, brocolli, peanut butter). We serve soup with bread, leftover muffins, or pancakes.

~Open-faced sandwiches: leftover casserole, soup, Sloppy Joes, meat and gravy, etc on top of toast.

~Omelet: a few veggies and some chopped meat make fun omelets. When we have tons of time, we make individual "real" omelets. When we are short on time, we mix all the ingredients together into scrambled eggs.

~Salad: Dad prefers Plain Jane type salads, so when he's not here, we can be a little zany with our salads. Into a base of lettuce or spinach, we toss in leftover meat, cheese, boiled eggs, weird veggies that you wouldn't find on a salad bar (corn, green beans), nuts, bread cubes , etc.

When we are starting from scratch without leftovers, here are some of our usual (and unusual) ideas:

~Cheese fondue: Shredded cheese, some milk, maybe a smidge of your favorite herb, melted together. For dippers, use bread (fresh or stale), raw veggies cut up, fresh fruit cut up (apples in cheddar fondue is awesome), crackers, etc.

~Yogurt bar: we always have plain yogurt around , so we serve bowls of yogurt, so folks can doctor it up themselves. We add pineapple, apples, orange slices, berries, jam, shredded carrots, a bit of ginger, etc. for a sweet version. Some folks eat it straight from the bowl, others wrap it in a tortilla, or serve it on leftover pancakes.

~Tuna/chicken/roast beef salad: we stretch the meat by adding shredded carrots or shredded apples to the mix. (Shredded apples is especially good with tuna.) We eat this plain, or with crackers, on celery , scooped up with carrot sticks, in a tortilla, or the "normal" way: on bread.

~Eggs: Boiled eggs with veggies on the side, egg salad (plain, on bread, in scooped out tomatoes, etc.), fried or scrambled. Quiche is also pretty quick to throw together. Leftovers mixed in the batter, or just some salsa and cheese are yum. We just use a ratio of 1/4 cup milk for every egg, then bake it at 375' until set in the middle.

~Baked potato bar: This only works if I think of it early enough in the day, since they take an hour to bake. We top potatoes with leftover or canned chili, always cheese, veggies, yogurt or sour cream, green onions, etc. The kids love making their own crazy toppings.

~"Heidi Lunch": This is one of my kids favorites-literally a slab of cheese, and a thick slice of homemade bread. Butter the bread, and serve with lacto-fermented pickles. Add an apple, and lunch is done.

~"Beanie Weenies": This is one of my emergency lunches for a brain-dead-with-no-leftovers day. Saute chopped hotdogs with some onion, green pepper, and add canned beans. Add to taste: ketchup, mustard, mollasses, garlic.
~Mongolian Grill: The kids get ready their own stir-fry ingredients, then I saute each one individually. It is really quicker than it sounds-remember stir-fry is a quick-cooking method. We serve it over rice. When we are pressed for time, we mix everyone's ingredients (that they picked out and got ready) together and saute all at once.


~Bean Burritos: Another emergency food I keep on hand is canned refried beans. The kids can add whatever they want to these: cheese, veggies, salsa, etc. They also sometimes like them cold.


We prefer to eat whatever we're in the mood for, but since that doesn't always work (i.e. life is crazy, someone is melting down, there is a newborn in the house), I have adopted Kim's plan from Large Family Logistics (scroll down sidebar for "Lunch Plans"). We have a menu set up for those less-than-perfect days, then, when things are going smoothly, we can eat a little more intuitively.



Also, when things are going smoothly, or more importantly when they are not, and we need something refreshing to change the direction of the day, we throw something easy into a basket and head out to the yard. This doesn't have to be involved-just think Heidi lunch: toss in a loaf of bread, a block of cheese, some apples, and a jug of water. When the weather is yucky, I'll let the kids eat under the kitchen table, pretending they're camping for a change of pace.







Two birds, one stone: another quick note about our lunches is that we do Science during lunch. No, no, no... not because we pull out the green hairy stuff from the fridge during lunch. We listen to science audio tapes during lunch. Currently we are enjoying the Jonathan Park creation science radio shows. They are a little hokey for the mommy's taste, but the scientific stuff is awesome! The fringe benefit is that lunch has to be eaten by the time the tape is done (thirty minutes), so we don't hang out too long and blow naptime.

Priorities, you know.

Nesting Analogies

All my mental wranglings aside, I cannot seem to come up with an apt analogy for my current

obsession distraction. The official, generally accepted term for my condition fits on some levels, but is not an exact match. In this most recent flare up recurrence, I have also stumbled upon the hard evidence that not only is this catching, but contrasted with stomach flu, this is an agreeable infection to have spread through the family.

Nesting is a very real phenomenon in our home these days. My painting and cleaning, washing and sorting, organizing and arranging can be favorably compared to a mother bird feathering her nest. Making the place clean and comfortable for my newest fledgling might be recognized even by Mrs. Robin as  natural and proper preparations for the impending arrival. When engaged in this part of my "nesting" experience, I feel matronly and responsible. This is the way of mothering.

In my minuscule limited experience with nesting birds, I have witnessed  mothering of the latter sort.  What I have never known, however, is the flip side of what I am experiencing: a mother bird tearing apart every inch of her nest, chucking and flinging with abandon. The larger the Goodwill pile , and the more full trash bags, the more fuel is dumped on my proverbial fire. While I should possibly be resting and storing up energy for labor,  this discarding and casting aside serves to kindle a maniacal gleam in my eye and energize me to waddle faster.

I am unresolved as to which is the finest part of this season.  As much as I love the process of decluttering, I absolutely adore the results. I have been known to just go sit and gaze into a closet in the afterglow  of nesting. It is a glorious feeling!

Now that my children are exhibiting symptoms of nesting, I am overjoyed.  Witnessing the willing, unsolicited Goodwill bags leaving their bedrooms is the stuff of motherhood nirvana. Having the children be my moral support when wavering on some item is priceless. "Mom, we don't really need to keep that, do we? Be strong, Mom."

So it has no resemblance to mother birds. There is more to life than analogies. This season may not last forever, so I will ride this wave as long as it lasts.

Surely we cannot go wrong with living with less stuff.


Surely this will make life with the new baby easier.


Surely I need to get the Goodwill bags out of the house before any of us change our minds...

Switching Over

(Note To Self: Do not add items to blog sidebar unless you are open to the accountability of folks asking about it, i.e. you really have to do the things you write about.) 

Several ladies have asked recently about what I am using for cleaning products. It is good timing, too, as after much trial and error, I have recently found several "recipes" that I really like. So in the spirit of telling possibly more than you ever wanted to know about the workings of our household, I'll share them. Disclaimer: if you leave this post feeling disheartened about the necessity to clean, I take no responsibility. However, if you leave this post feeling refreshed, encouraged, and with an itch to clean, please share so it will rub off on me.

First, to answer that nagging question in the back of your mind: "Why would anyone want to make their own cleaning products?", a short justification tutorial.

Most household cleaning products are made with toxic chemicals.  The safety labeling only covers acute toxicity, meaning if or how much of a certain chemical will induce sudden death. But chronic toxicity is more about real-world human exposure to those same chemicals, and it is more difficult and expensive to study, hence there is no safety labeling for it. Long-term low level usage (chronic) of items like cleaning products can be toxic in a different manner, causing a build up of toxic chemicals in our bodies (think cigarette smoke). Without having to purchase a book, here is a great article to explain some more about toxic household products. The main book that we have used is Clean & Green.

So, in the name of avoiding potentially (and some actually) harmful chemicals through skin contact and inhalation of fumes ( a real No-No for our kids who have asthma), we make our own. There are plenty of commercial products available that are non-toxic, earth friendly, etc., but they end up being too expensive for the quantities we use, and our being sixty miles from the closest "health food" type store disqualifies their use. (And you thought it was because I had too much free time.)

Here's what we have switched over so far:

Laundry: We use these instead of detergent, and add Baking Soda and Super Washing Soda to every load. For white loads we also add Borax for the disinfectant properties. (Lots of  little boys on a farm, remember?) The Super Washing Soda is great for greasy stuff, and the Baking Soda makes everything smell fresh. We ditched fabric softener completely because it turns out to be one of the most toxic of household products. Instead, we add a little water and a few drops of lavender essential oil to our Downy ball, and it makes the laundry smell heavenly, (but not too perfumy for Mr. Visionary). I have been informed that real men do not smell like flowers. Got it.

To replace Ajax with bleach: We mix equal parts of Baking Soda and Borax for a scrubbing powder, and put it in a cheese shaker jar from the dollar store. We use it for toilets, trash cans, etc.-anything we also want disinfected. The Borax is an awesome natural disinfectant! Anything that doesn't necessarily need to be disinfected, or for pots and glass-topped stoves, we use Bon Ami Cleaning Powder.

All-Purpose Cleaner: for walls, counters... anything, really.

1 teaspoon borax

1/2 teaspoon washing soda

2  Tablespoons lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon vegetable oil based liquid soap (we actually use Ecover's dish soap for this)

2 cups hot tap water

Mix it all together in a spray bottle.

Disinfectant Cleaner: for bathrooms, refrigerators... anything you need disinfected.

2 teaspoons Australian Tea Tree Oil (the pure essential oil)

2 teaspoons vegetable oil based liquid soap (or the dish soap here, too)

2 cups hot tap water

optional: 1-2 teaspoons lavender (or other) essential oil to make it smell lovely. (Tea Tree oil has a strong medicinal scent that I like to disguise.)

Mix it all together in a spray bottle. The Boys' bathroom never smelled so nice!

Glass Cleaner: for windows, mirrors, chrome...anything you want streak-free and shiny.

1/2 cup vinegar

2 cups water

1/4 teaspoon vegetable oil based liquid soap (if your windows are greasy)

This is my favorite idea: My best friend's kids cannot stand the smell of vinegar, so I did some homework to find a way around the smell. This really works great! We save up lemon or orange peels, put them in a jar, and cover with vinegar. After a few days, the vinegar no longer smells like anything but citrus. It is so cool! (See the jar in the picture?)

I hope this helps some folks! We have been learning a lot lately (can you say homeschool science?), and would be happy to answer any questions if we are able.

Loaves, Fishes and New Pants

It is a fact. Life is not predictable.  The weather doesn't always do what I would like, nor does the IRS. Diapers flood on the way out the door, and children don't always grow at the rate I expect. Growth spurts happen typically when I least expect them. The first evidence of their arrival is an increase (sometimes exponential) of a child's appetite. 

Likewise folks sometimes come over without warning. And they are usually hungry. In the South, where I have been raised, it is downright rude not to feed folks when they show up. It matters not that they have been discourteous in arriving hungry without an invitation. A good Southern woman feeds everyone in her path.

Adding these factors into the equation, it becomes necessary for a homemaker to have a backup plan. I can get over the house not being "just so" after a few minutes of visiting, but I can't make food appear out of thin air. Those times when there isn't enough prepared food to meet the apparent need,  creativity is earnestly needed. In our home this creativity is actually a learned skill. We call it Loaves And Fishes-making the available food feed the present mouths (or appetites). 

While understanding the difference between mincing and dicing, frying and sauteing, boiling and braising are all important, they are skills not used nearly as often as Loaves And Fishes. In our home, Loaves And Fishes is viewed as the single most important kitchen skill to learn before leaving home.

We know not what a day may bring. Where we will live, what types of food may be available, and our budget are all variables that we cannot presume. But an understanding of how to make food stretch can always be useful.

There have been times when I have dumped the contents of a casserole back into a bowl and added more vegetables and sauce. Still not enough casserole? Serve it over rice. For a pasta meal, more pasta can be quickly prepared. Bread is a great filler of bellies-especially homemade. More lettuce can be tossed in to a salad, along with other miscellaneous refrigerator items. A few lonely boiled eggs? Throw them in. Stale bread? Make croutons and throw them in.  Everyone knows that soup is great for using up small bits of leftovers, but what about quiche? Quiche is a great user-of-leftovers. We toss in bits of meat, small amounts of vegetables, some cheese, and pour on top a mixture of one egg for every quarter cup of milk. It doesn't even need crust-just throw it in the oven and bake at 375' until set in the middle.

Truly, the method is not as important as the mindset. Feeding hungry folks is very rewarding. Just remember that good company makes the food taste great. So, the next time you have an unexpected blessing of company, think Loaves And Fishes.

The next time your twelve servings don't make it past your eight year-old son, think Loaves And Fishes...

...and be ready to buy him some new pants.

Live It Up Meals

The more folks you have in your family, the more variables there are. Three toddlers increase the odds of being late to church more than one toddler. Three boys sharing a room create a higher likelihood of finding crusty dried critters under the bed than one lone boy. Life is like this.

In some ways the variables make life easier. Finding a good bargain on jeans, you readily buy, knowing that, "It will fit someone". There are other challenges, however, that come with the variables, no matter what size your family is. Appetites, growth spurts, and meal planning can at times be more art than science.

Children go through growth spurts in an unorganized fashion, on again, off again, in an altogether unpredictable manner, their hunger drive paralleling their growth. Since I never quite know if they will be ravenous or disinterested for a particular meal, nor which child (or children) will be sprouting up this day, I always go with the more is better plan. Hence the leftovers.

Throwing leftovers out just goes against my tightwad, cheapskate nature better judgment. It is not just about the wasted food, but the wasted

W-O-R-K for me, so over the years I have developed a mad scientist approach knack for making leftovers interesting. At least most of the time.

We call leftover meals "Live It Up Meals". Since leftover concoctions masterpieces are never the same twice, you only get to enjoy it or, conversely, only have to force feed yourself once. Just this morning we had oatmeal apple fritters and "western omelet" for breakfast. The oatmeal apple fritters were originally leftover oatmeal and fruit salad. The omelet was originally leftover fried potatoes, corn, a smidge of green pepper and onion, and the last of a jar of salsa.

If you love it, live it up...it will never taste like this again.

If you hate it, live it up...it will never taste like this again.