Cookies To Try…
Carol | December 31, 2011
the definitive chocolate chip cookie and the chocolate surprise cookie
http://www.thatmom.com/2011/12/21/the-definitive-chocolate-chip-cookie-and-the-chocolate-surprise-cookie/
Carol | December 31, 2011
the definitive chocolate chip cookie and the chocolate surprise cookie
http://www.thatmom.com/2011/12/21/the-definitive-chocolate-chip-cookie-and-the-chocolate-surprise-cookie/
Carol | December 18, 2011
I don’t know if it’s having five kids or the fact that I’m almost 42, but it sure is fun to just open a bag of Oreos and set them on the floor and watch a huge smile come across a little girl’s face and her sweet little hand reach in for cookies. I really don’t mind the crumbs or that she keeps going back for more. All BEFORE supper. The transition into becoming a grandmother (later on) should go smoothly. If the joy that C1 gives to me had a dollar value, I would be a millionaire.
This weekend: Kung Foo Panda 2, decorating a gingerbread house with extra candy to eat, a trip to the Candy Store with Daddy, a little shopping, some major house purging with many hands making “lighter” work, Starwars marathon (being recorded), gift wrapping, mild fighting over Advent Lego, saying “Just look at her! How did we get her?!” about C1 fifty times per day, watching C10 knitting American Girl doll scarves for her friends, etc.
Carol | December 2, 2011
This is in the oven and Grammie S. and Nana are on their way here. Christmas music is playing and lights are on. A new game will be tried called “What’s Yours Like?”… Wishing M&C et al. and R&J were here, too.
http://www.pillsbury.com/recipes/grands-monkey-bread/7a1e41b1-4708-4028-8ce6-fcb5baebbc19/
Carol | November 17, 2011
“I want to wuv it, but I don’t wike it.” (quoting my oldest when he was a toddler.)
I wanted to bake something special for Grammie’s 77th birthday. My mother decided to host a little party because usually all Grammie’s family visit her on her birthday and she has to prepare food and has even baked her own cake in the past. I came across a picture of a cute little pie on Pinterest, and C10 and I found the perfect large muffin tins at the grocery store yesterday. Perfect because they were non-stick AND $1.99 a piece.
I wanted to enjoy making the little pies. And I did in a way. But when I had them finished, ready for baking, I felt such disappointment.
Now that they are out of the oven, I feel some relief that they aren’t completely ruined, but I still worry about whether or not they will taste okay.
Cooking and baking make me feel bad. I hate cooking and baking. WHY? The people who love those things seem to have such passion for them. Why don’t I?
A few minutes ago, I was talking about the little pies, and I uttered the words, “I didn’t have enough…” and before I could finish my train of thought, my ten-year-old daughter piped up to fill in the blank, “Energy?? … Time?? … Patience?? …” How does she know me so well? Without knowing, she pointed out three of my problems with cooking and baking. I certainly don’t have the energy. Nor the time. And because of those things, I get impatient and hurry and then am unhappy with the results.
Baking is not like digital photobooking. I can take photos, remove red eye, crop them, arrange them on pages with beautiful backgrounds and frames and fonts, and fuss until they are (almost) perfect. I can stop and start anytime, and there is no mess. Those things don’t apply to baking. And I hate that. I want things to be perfect after working so hard, but with baking, they never are for me. And not only do things rarely turn out how I want, but baked goods are typically on the banned list of most health diets – even if I use so-called healthy ingredients. What’s the fun in making something for your family that is supposed to be bad for them?
Now, we are getting to the root of my problem with cooking and baking. “Eating right” involves first knowing what is “right”. And no two sources agree.
Like many people, I used to treat nutrition and “so-called” healthy eating as a religion. Year after year, I dedicated myself to trying many health diets for months at a time, hoping the next one would be my key to optimal health. Everybody said so. If I just followed the plan, then it would work. If I didn’t get healthy, then I was doing something wrong. Well, I wasn’t doing anything wrong. I was following the plans carefully – religiously. With each diet, (even the word “diet” was banned – it was “lifestyle change”), I spent months of strict eating, usually dragging my family along with me, and I always felt worse – never better. I do admit that with the occasional diet, I did lose a few pounds here and there.
A different set of rules and a different menu of foods came with every diet/health plan. There were always new lists of foods that I was allowed to eat and equally long lists of foods to ban. I collected garbage bags full of food with “something unhealthy on the label”, and I filled grocery store carts with previously unheard of vegetables that soon landed in the garbage as well. There were rules about the number of meals, which meal should be larger, and the time of the last meal of the day. Many programs had different ways to combine foods. Advice ranged from drinking large amounts of water first thing in the morning, to starting the day with water and lemon, to adding acidophilus 40 minutes before the first meal and digestive enzymes 20 minutes before. Then I was supposed to have protein. Or fruit. But never together. Nothing else could be eaten when you have fruit or it will ferment. Some of the diets banned most fruits with the rare exception, and some allowed only certain kinds of fruit, because some fruit was too sweet or too moldy or had too many toxins, etc.
Everybody said vegetables were good, but some diets said to have them juiced or blended, and some said raw, and some said to eat only certain vegetables. And some experts said vegetables simply aren’t nutritious enough these days, so supplements are essential. Heaven forbid having high-glycemic carrots or potatoes. On the other hand, some said baked potatoes were important – with the skins – as long as you didn’t have them with meat. And quite a few of the diets said to avoid all carbs like grains, rice, and high-glycemic vegetables. And some plans said that if you do eat those things, NEVER, ever eat them with meat. But don’t eat meat, eat fish. And eggs. Just the whites. No, just the raw yolks in organic grape juice. No, don’t eat eggs. Don’t even think about eating something that contains ingredients that can’t be pronounced. I was always told to be very afraid of additives, chemicals, hormones, food coloring, and sweeteners, etc. I tried vegan and vegetarian and gluten-free. I tried organic eating, and of course, I avoided the center aisles of the grocery store. I had dozens of health cookbooks with step-by-step programs. I tried everything from Atkins to Sugar Busters to Cooking with Stevia to Dr. Mercola. I listened to my personal healthcare providers and nutritionists. I listened to the supplement advisers. I constantly felt discouraged because I did not get the same results as the experts coming up with the food/health plans and their loyal followers.
All that brain washing and all those confusing and contradictory rules made me question every single thing I ever bought or cooked or ate for the past eighteen years.
When I look at this little pie I made for the party, I see white flour. You should NEVER eat white flour. No flour is best. I see margarine. Margarine is made from unhealthy, toxic fats. Avoid! I see cooked, previously frozen blueberries. You should eat berries fresh and uncooked! And not in combination with any other food. I see sugar mixed with the berries. Sugar is a definite no-no. An alternative is fructose because it is low-glycemic, but stevia is better. Actually, no sweetener is best. *sigh* It’s a crazy game.
Just over a year ago, while trying to recover from a debilitating pregnancy, I became completely fed up with the legalism and lack of results from all that healthy eating. I had been learning about freedom for quite some time. (It’s the theme around here if you haven’t noticed.) I began to think that the problem of healthy food was keeping me in bondage.
After my last baby’s birth, I set myself free of those rules and tried to let go of my burden of healthy eating. I ate whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted, and in whatever combination I wanted. During the past year, we ate out 2-3 times per week which included at least one trip to McDonald’s where I even ordered the FRIES. I had a Coke at least once or twice a week (after having previously banned soft drinks from my diet for at least fifteen years). With the help of breastfeeding and clearing conflicts, I lost 50 pounds. I still have 20 pounds to lose, but my healthcare provider told me that when you take my age, number of births, my inactivity and my health conditions into consideration, it will take me a little longer than the average. Previously, I lost most of my baby weight in 9-12 months. (Being overweight is typically caused by abandonment/rejection/refugee conflicts).
All those diets were never about losing weight. The goal was always to get my health back and to do what was best nutritionally for my kids. Finally (and thankfully), my path has changed, and I am gradually getting healthier by means of energy medicine, German New Medicine and NAET, along with the help of a few supplements suited to my particular needs. Although I still believe better personalized nutrition (definition debatable) may help in the healing of a person, I believe the actual sicknesses are caused by conflicts – emotional conflicts that result in specific and predictable physical health problems. Even eating foods most people consider healthy may be detrimental if those foods are actually allergy triggers in each unique person. I believe exercise is also beneficial to health recovery, so I hope to get over my exercise equals torture phobia. I have taken the first exhausting and painful step once again.
I intend to gradually make our food a little more nutritious, and our portions a little more controlled, with basically an “in-moderation” approach, but right now, I just want to come from a place of faith. I no longer fear junk food nor the so-called dangerous stuff added by scientists.
I believe over-doing the controlling of my kids’ eating will have the same effect on them as all my self-imposed rules had on me.
I do feel FREE, although I still occasionally have some false guilt. How do I know it is false? Because it is usually based on some ridiculous extra-biblical rules made up by people trying to sell books. Albeit, those people may have their own personal success stories (at least at the time of publishing), but they are not written in stone, and they were not tailored personally for me.
My intention is not to discourage you in your efforts toward “healthy” eating. I commend you for doing the best you can do for yourself and your family. If that means veganism or moderation or cake-for-breakfast/McDonald’s-for-lunch, then that is fine with me. After a long and difficult struggle, I am finally realizing that, “The kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.”
This is a very interesting chapter from the New Testament. I’m not sure if I should click “publish” after reading verse 22 about keeping it between me and God.
Romans 14
1Him that is weak in the faith receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations.
2For one believeth that he may eat all things: another, who is weak, eateth herbs.
3Let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not; and let not him which eateth not judge him that eateth: for God hath received him.
4Who art thou that judgest another man’s servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be holden up: for God is able to make him stand.
5One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.
6He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord; and he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth not regard it. He that eateth, eateth to the Lord, for he giveth God thanks; and he that eateth not, to the Lord he eateth not, and giveth God thanks.
7For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself.
8For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord’s.
9For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living.
10But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.
11For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.
12So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.
13Let us not therefore judge one another any more: but judge this rather, that no man put a stumblingblock or an occasion to fall in his brother’s way.
14I know, and am persuaded by the Lord Jesus, that there is nothing unclean of itself: but to him that esteemeth any thing to be unclean, to him it is unclean.
15But if thy brother be grieved with thy meat, now walkest thou not charitably. Destroy not him with thy meat, for whom Christ died.
16Let not then your good be evil spoken of:
17For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.
18For he that in these things serveth Christ is acceptable to God, and approved of men.
19Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify another.
20For meat destroy not the work of God. All things indeed are pure; but it is evil for that man who eateth with offence.
21It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor any thing whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak.
22Hast thou faith? have it to thyself before God. Happy is he that condemneth not himself in that thing which he alloweth.
23And he that doubteth is damned if he eat, because he eateth not of faith: for whatsoever is not of faith is sin.
Carol | November 10, 2011
My ten-year-old daughter just did something I have never done in 41 years. She made homemade icing! Well, I did try one time to make boiled icing, but my mother had to rescue me after two failed pots. C10 made a cookies and cream cake with Oreos. We are waiting for it to cool. I would have taken pictures, but the kitchen is too messy from the supper dishes not done. Contrary to the stereotype, I am NOT one of those homeschooling mothers who teaches her daughter to cook (tonight was rare), nor am I the cook-from-scratch type, and I certainly can’t take step-by-step pictures to record the experience.
Carol | September 23, 2011
Yes I do peel grapes and cut them in pieces for my one-year-old, (as I did with previous babies.)
Carol | March 5, 2011
My Experience with the American Idol!
http://discipleman.wordpress.com/2011/02/14/my-experience-with-american-idol/
Carol | May 11, 2010
I used to post more of my own material for my website, but for the past long while, it seems I only link to other articles with the occasional personal comment here and there. I am sorry that I haven’t had the strength nor the inspiration for creative writing during the past six months. I haven’t been able to blog the story of this pregnancy either because it’s been just too emotional and difficult.
I apologize for either not responding at all or only half-heartedly to the encouraging comments and emails I have received during the past several months. I used to reply every time, but lately it has been exhausting, and sometimes I just don’t know what to say. I do appreciate when you take the time to write to me, and I will try to do better in replying. Thank you!
I am doing better healthwise. I still get extremely fatigued, but unlike the first 20 weeks of this pregnancy, I have been improving instead of getting worse. That was so scary. I can finally cope and even do things which makes me very encouraged and hopeful. I am also beginning to stop worrying about miscarrying.
I went to my first (and only so far) prenatal appointment and heard the baby’s heartbeat. I get Braxton Hicks contractions. I feel the baby kicking some. The hiccups seem to indicate that baby’s head is down. If that is the case, I pray it stays that way.
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Me – Almost 25 weeks pregnant
(I can’t get Derek to stop taking worm’s eye view pictures.)
I stuck to the vegan diet for about six weeks, but since I kept getting more sick, I made some changes. I still make vegetable smoothies, almond/grape milk, take all my supplements, and continue to make better choices and avoid most unhealthy foods. I have continued to make Sunday night fruit smoothies for the family, and I bought quite a few containers to make homemade smoothie popsicles, both of which the children love.
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Vegetable smoothie that turns into a bubbling crude
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Vegetable smoothie and fruit salad
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Fruit smoothie ingredients
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Homemade smoothie popsicles in the freezer
I haven’t scrapbooked for 3 1/2 years, so I felt bad that I was so far behind with a little baby on the way. Just because this baby is the fifth child shouldn’t mean he or she doesn’t get pictures in an album. Inspired by the very talented Kelle of Enjoying the Small Things, I have discovered the wonderful world of photobooking. Kelle does digital scrapbooking and then has her beautiful pages collected in photobooks. I would love to do digital scrapbooking, yet I can’t figure out how to get started at all. Photobooking has been wonderfully easy with delightful results (not magnificent like Kelle’s, but satisfactory to me right now). I finally feel productive after many months of getting nothing done. That has been very hard on my head since my mind wants me to go, go, go. Just during the past few weeks, I completed three albums (January – June 2009, July – December 2009, January – June 2008), and I almost have July – December 2008 finished. Hopefully all of 2007 will fit in one album. I will then have only January – June 2010 to finish before the baby! Lovely. I look forward to taking family pictures this fall.
We thought we had our baby names, but it seems there are too many people with the same names. I would welcome any baby names suggestions (in the comments below). I can’t find a good baby names website, so I would appreciate any tips in that area as well.
It has been a sad week in our community with the tragic death of a fourteen-year-old girl who lived up the road from us. She died in a car accident. Her mother is one of the sweetest, friendliest people I know. She is the kind of person who would get voted Miss Congeniality in the real world. What a devastating loss to their little family. Unbearable. http://nethymnal.org/htm/b/e/bestill.htm
The children are continuing to do their school work. Usually they have most subjects finished by mid-May, but this year, most subjects will likely go until the end of June. The 3 R’s will continue throughout the summer because of the baby and Derek’s job situation. The older boys have been dipping into their next year’s book stash. They just can’t help it – especially those Glenn Beck recommendations. They also received a new box of books with Canadian content yesterday. http://www.freedompress.ca/
Jean Chretien: A Legacy of Scandal ~ Paul Tuns
As I See It ~ Michael Coren
Standing on Guard for Thee ~ Michael Wagner
Loyal to the Core: Stephen Harper, Me and the NCC ~ Gerry Nicholls
The Great Canadian Comedy: From Laughter To Tears ~ Joe Campbell
Stop the Presses! ~ Joseph Farah
I bought another Willow Tree ornament because of the new baby. This will be our family in August.
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I would love to hear from you. Certain blogging decisions I have made over the past couple years has resulted in less reader feedback, so it is encouraging to hear from those of you who still visit my website.
Now, back to politics as usual…
Carol | March 13, 2010
With my hands cupping my womb, I could feel the baby moving around last night! The date would be just past 16 weeks pregnancy/14 weeks after conception. So far, I can only feel movement with my hands. I can’t feel it in my body yet. When I wake up each morning, a big bump sticks up when I lie on my back, but during the rest of the day, it sort of hides. (To clarify, my stomach doesn’t hide - just the womb. LOL)
I have my maternity clothes ready to go. I ordered some new things online. I hope they won’t make me look too hideous this time around. Fortunately, this was the first time I could buy tall maternity pants. What a relief! I still wear my regular shirts, and I can comfortably button at least three pairs of my non-maternity pants, but that won’t last much longer. I recently got out my box of stored maternity clothes and made a ‘keep’ pile and a ‘give-away’ pile. It is funny how the pants style has changed so much in just six years – not only the legs, but the back pockets of jeans. I had a great laugh at myself when I tried on some of my old maternity mom-jeans. If you think regular mom-jeans are bad, you should have seen these! The scariest thing is that they are in the ‘keep’ pile until I have the energy to go shopping for a couple more pairs in a nearby city. To my knowledge, there are ZERO places to buy maternity clothes locally. Sad, really. What do pregnant women do?
We stopped at a furniture store last night to look at their rocker/recliners. The one I used for my last baby was a very old chair that came from my grandparents. Years ago, we dragged the matching one to the end of the road on Big Garbage Day after one of the kids threw up on it. Both chairs were worn out anyway. I didn’t find a new one that I liked, but we only went to one place. There is lots of time. Then again, it’s hard to believe that in only a few short weeks, I will be half-way through this pregnancy. Yikes!
I have a new extra-tall bed rail ready for our king-size bed, and I bought new foam wedges for nursing in bed. These are two of my most needed baby items. My wish list also includes new slings, a wrap-around nursing pillow, a dresser for baby clothes, etc.
My eight-year-old daughter is knitting a blanket for the new baby. At first, she chose pink yarn, but she was encouraged to get white in case it’s not a girl! I’ll take a boy and/or a girl, but she would LOVE to have a sister. After all, when we thought she was getting a girl kitten, it turned out to be a boy when we took her to get spayed. LOL
This has been by far my most difficult pregnancy – both physically and emotionally.
Emotionally: Pregnancy following miscarriage is extremely stressful. I never expected it to be so hard. I also have worries of my husband’s job insecurity and the threat of moving hanging over my head.
Physically: I am thankful that the 24-hour morning sickness began to slowly ease at 11 weeks, and the last couple weeks have been much better. It was a rough first trimester. In the fall, I was feeling quite well most of the time, but within just a couple weeks of the pregnancy, the Chronic Fatigue Syndrome that I have battled since I was sixteen years old kicked in big time. I didn’t expect to have such debilitating fatigue with this pregnancy. I am particularly grateful for two things in this regard:
#1 I had the house renovations and house cleaning completely ready just days before I became pregnant. That makes me feel sooooooo much better, because even though I can’t keep up, and I am getting behind with the housekeeping, it is not as overwhelming as it would have been. I pray for strength to be able to cope if we have to move, and also for the basic nesting that I need to do.
#2 As always, I am very thankful for our homeschooling method. It has been so flexible over the many years of ups and downs with my health. The three oldest children are capable of doing their schoolwork with minimum or even no help from me if necessary. I do not fret over my five-year-old because I know there is lots of time, and as long as he continues to learn a little phonics and math facts here and there, he will do just as well as his brothers and sister. There were many times I was physically unable to put much into homeschooling over the years, yet the children are doing great.
I haven’t been very chatty on my blog lately because I am just too tired. I have mostly been posting links and quotes with the occasional commentary.
One interesting change in my lifestyle has occurred after an appointment with another naturopath. I have searched for health answers since I was a teenager. I have tried many, many things – sometimes with good results, but most of the time, nothing helped. During the past few months, I have been desperate to find answers. I don’t know if this time will make the difference, but I am giving it my full effort, even if it kills me. So, with the goal of achieving better health, I have gone vegan! In the past, I was familiar with the vegetable juicing and vegetable smoothies and nut milk and all, but I have never completely eliminated meat/fish/eggs/dairy at the same time before (still using butter). I am also doing no-sugar again. It has been eighteen days, and I have seen no improvement, and unfortunately some negative effects. I will stick with it religiously for a while yet, and I hope to keep at least some of the new habits for the rest of my life. The children have been doing great as well. They are not eating vegan or even vegetarian, but their diets have improved greatly with a salad almost every day and no junk – yet. Over the years, we have gone through many times of eating healthy and eating poorly. I have always found it very discouraging when a strict healthy diet did nothing for my health. Hopefully, this time will be different.
I haven’t been doing too much during the past few months except trying to cope. One helpful thing has been our amazing winter! I have never seen a winter with such little snow and such great weather. We are having another sunny day, and the forecast is amazing! I haven’t had the strength to enjoy being outside, but in many ways, the weather has been very encouraging.
Hmmm… what else would you like to know?
Carol | December 28, 2009
Derek makes fun of me for something that is frequently in the sitcom, “The Middle”, and also in the movie, “The Blind Side.” It goes along the lines, “Children, thank your mother for going to town to bring home supper for you.” Well, I tell YOU, I am thankful I don’t have to cook all the time and can bring home pizza or a bag of burgers. It’s a luxury for which I am truly grateful. Home cooked meals are sometimes a complete waste of time and energy. So there.
Carol | September 22, 2009
Nanny state snatches kids for being too fat
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=110476
“A couple soon expecting their seventh child has had their fifth and sixth taken by social workers after warnings that the family needed to slim down their overweight kids or risk losing custody…”
“At the time, the mother said, ‘They keep making an issue about the kids’ weight. I don’t even own a deep-fat fryer. All my food is home-cooked, and the kids are not fed junk food. Children can carry a bit of puppy fat, but they tend to lose it as they get older. Ours are not being given that chance.’”
Hmmm… having your children taken away is not exactly the best way to lose weight when you eat emotionally.
Carol | June 10, 2009
“You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered innocent men, who were not opposing you. Be patient, then, brothers, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop and how patient he is for the autumn and spring rains. You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord’s coming is near. Don’t grumble against each other, brothers, or you will be judged. The Judge is standing at the door! Brothers, as an example of patience in the face of suffering, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. As you know, we consider blessed those who have persevered. You have heard of Job’s perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.” James 5:5-11
Carol | January 6, 2009
This made me get tears for these women and all the women in the world wounded by abortion, birth control, rape, being used, etc. Many women are not allowed to be the mothers they were created to be. There is such pain out there, sometimes covered up with food, shopping, Facebook, TV, and I guess fake dolls, etc.
Adult Women Play House With Fake Babies
http://www.wjla.com/news/stories/0109/582097_video.html?ref=newsstory
I must say, the dolls sure are beautiful.
http://www.reborn-baby.com/Adopted-baby-gallery-two.html
Carol | December 22, 2008
B10, C7, and L4 rolled, cut out, decorated, and ate Christmas sugar cookies the other day.
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Carol | September 30, 2008
6 Food Mistakes Parents Make
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/15/health/healthspecial2/15eat.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&pagewanted=all