Im making Ratatouille tonite!!!!!

So abit disappointed today. :( I tried to make a certain almond yogurt and cheese from this recipe... totally didn't work. Booo... so I am trying a different one today, maybe this one will.. :)

Last week when I did my once a week shop I spent $200, $45 on meat, $65 on veggies and fruit, and $80 on extras (like WW flour, and honey). So this week I was quite excited that I was going to be going to Organic World for my meat and the local produce market for veggies and fruit. I spent $30 on meat and $50 on fruit and veggies!!!! I was SO pleased with myself!! Then I went to Bibles For Missions and bought a dehydrator, a food steamer, a thermos, an ice cream maker and some VHS's all for $30! :) So I got home, started right away making dehydrated apples and chocolate ice cream (with almond milk). Apples are delish, but ice cream not so much.. :( Its a really old machine and the recipes all call for evaporated milk or gelato. ERmmm.. No. So I just put Almond milk, unsweetened chocolate, sugar and vanilla. Going to try another recipe today... maybe use up the last of the cows milk. :)

I am having lots of fun trying making things from scratch though. The only difference is a little bit more time and effort. I DO need to start making a HUGE batch of some stuff, so I can just reheat. I haven't made bread since Sun, So doing pretty good there. :) When we eat we eat mostly veggies and then some meat. Last night we made ribs with sweet potato shredded and then made into patties... MMMMmmmmm!! Soooo good!! I gotta say, our plates look a little funny... :) Its really working quite well for us, and we really enjoy it!!

Typical meal plan:

Breakfast:

porridge with cocoa powder and vanilla in it. Mmmm

Snack:

cucumbers/apples/beans

Lunch:

Soup (homemade from scratch)
leftover dinner
sweet potato fries
green bean salad with chicken and sauce

Dinner:

any kind of meat
sweet potatoe
cauliflower
potatoes

ect...

I'm making ratatouille tonite!!!! :)

Tapped, the bottled water battle. Human concerns part1

So the problem with saying, 'Ok, ok ok, I was wrong, this is really bad___' . Is that all of a sudden you must now challenge all of your former ideas, thoughts and beliefs. Like, Hmmmmm.. I remember someone once saying this to me, I wonder if its true??
So I have been using my trusted NetFlicks to watch documentary after documentary. A few of them have been unbelieveable!!

The education of Shelby Knox (about sexual education in the school systems)
www.netflicks.ca/wimovie/the-education-of-shelby-knox

Frontline: The Vaccine War (obviously about vaccines)
www.netflicks.ca/wimovie/frontline-the-vaccine-war

Maxed Out (about credit card debt and the big companies)
www.netflicks.ca/wimovie/maxed-out

Tapped (about bottled water)
www.netflicks.ca/wimovie/tapped

I am still watching more, So I am going to do a few blogs on these issues. :) I will add more as I go

Tapped:

So I have spent maybe 10min total before my conversion thinking about plastic containers. I had to spend SOME time, cause my kids did drink out of bottles. So I switched to BPA free bottles and moved on.

I saw this movie and thought - Why not? Little did I know that this little movie would change the way I looked at several things. Forever.

It looked at about 6 different reasons why bottled water is lunacy. The sneaky way that information is given to us, like we are stupid. Stealing the water from hick towns and selling our own water to us, for a 1900% profit margin. LOL! Plus the litter is insane!

Anyways... just dont drink bottled water. buy a nice bottle and fill it up yourself at your tap. :)

Day 6 and counting...

So I went shopping, got all this stuff, have been making bread everyday and not eating anything processed. And so far its been pretty easy. I still enjoy it and want to continue. LOL. But a few things I have noticed so far:

1. Im not as tired.

2. Im more energetic.

3. Im more ... ehm... regular.

4. I never realized how 'easy' we had it. lol

5. Im not as bloated.

6. My evening carb cravings have gone into double overtime!!

7. My kids LOVE this food way better than the old stuff. :)


My brain is kinda in a battle with itself. Its trying to push itself over a great big GRanola hill!! Im trying to get over the Granola Mom syndrome I was so afraid of. But its hard, I keep getting flashbacks of my friends's mom's FREAKING out over a bag of chips, or milk, or chocolate! And remembering how CRAZY I thought she was. Plus im remembering how uncaring I was about this VERY subject just a few years ago. Im Reformed!! I promise!! Its like this huge light switch Im trying to throw but with only little men in my brain... 'This is the best thing for your kids', 'BUT I DONT WANT TO BE CRAZY!!!!' ' Oh come on, you ALREADY ARE!' 'I DONT WANT TO BE CRAZY CRAZY like her!!' 'No body will notice' ' But its supposted to be sooo hard, and your sooo busy already!' ' We can do it' ..... ect ect ect.... over and over again. Plus its quite hard for me to accept compliments, so everybody and their dog is telling me how awesome I am, and I dont know what to say???

Im just doing what I assume every mom would do. If they were in my shoes. (Or I hope they would do)

and it begins...

Hey!

So I went out grocery shopping today. :) No processed food! I just bought veggies, fruit, meat and bits and pieces for baking bread, and ALMONDS!

Got home and went to0 work.

Almond milk:

Take 1 C Almonds (blanched - drop them in boiling water for 30 seconds, pop the skin off)

and 4 cups water, put in a blender. Blend for 3-4 minutes. Until smooth. Strain through cheese cloth or like me stockings. :) I put the 'Almond paste' in a dish, added salt and its like Almond butter (like margarine and butter, not peanut butter). DONE!

I am going to start making cheese tomorrow and yogurt. :)

I have been asked by our local M.O.M.S group to talk about these things that Im doing and why. This is very exciting for me and its fast becoming one of my passions. :)

Its one of those things that I find myself thinking about when Im driving and trying to sleep. :) Which is funny because those time slots have been only filled with BeautiControl thinking for the past 2 years, so now its like this big debate, which love do I think of for the next hour?? Which is REALLY funny cause I NEVER thought I would be one of those irritating mothers who is a 'granola'.... which I guess I am now. :( Ok ok... get over it.. lol!

I keep going back to the fundamental fact that this is best for my kids. Someone asked me the other day if we were going to refuse to eat processed food, like at other peoples houses, and that's not what I am trying to do. Its not ALL about saving money and its not ALL about processed food being 'bad'. Its a part of each and the whole idea of it being a lifestyle. :) So a part of all 3! Plus I kinda like a challenge. :)... ok ok, I really like a challenge!!

So Im not speaking at MOMS until April, but Ive already figured out kinda what Im going to talk about. Ive asked Julie Olson to talk abit about Norwex, I think Im going to ask Karen Warner to talk a little about our overuse of Complex Carbs, I would LOVE to ask Janelle Hildebrant to talk about her Greenhouses and how much they are and such, but then how much time will I have??? lol.. Im going to do an outline about the biggest facts in this lifestyle that I love and the reasons we chose it. Im also going to talk a little bit about some enviromental concerns I have and such and such. You all will def get a bigger picture a little later on.

On other news, Joe has decided to get 40 chickens.... ummm.. what??? 20 layers for eggs and 20 broilers for meat. My dad is kinda helping with the master minding in the background a bit, I was speaking to him last night about this matter and brought up the fact that we were thinking of getting people to 'speak' for a certain number of chicken for a low cost. They would bring 'Ruffage' over once a week to feed them and then pay us a cost for keeping them for them. Then after 3 or so months we would kill them all. :( I said, 'Dad, how do you suppose we go about killing 20(or he said you are actually supposte to do them in 50 -100 at a time) or 100 chickens??? Without taking them to the butcher (because that expensive)??' He suggested we have a slaughter party... groan. We have a few kinks to work out, but Im sure with my Dad being part of the 'big plan' we will have 50 chickens to slaughter in the next few months... joy. The thought makes my stomache turn. Me and my children will be away for that weekend, I will tell you. Gesh. But he seems to think that the people responsible for thier chicken send an individual to the 'party'.... Anyway.. we have some kinks to work out, as I said.

Well, til next time.

New Years - So much more to plan for!!!

So everybody constantly tells me I do too much. With 3 little ones (1, 2, and 3) I guess I should just concentrate on cleaning and potty training??

But thats not me. :) I am trying to become a better housewife, but I want so much more from this experience I call MOM.

I had an interesting conversation with a client the other day while doing product drop offs. She was asking me how Deacon was doing and we got to talking about something that is becomign more and more of a passion of mine.

These are my thoughts:

In the 50s and 60s, times were simple. Men worked, wives stayed home and made babies. A womens job was almost consumed with food. Weeding a garden, making meals ahead of time, whatever. And if you go farther back, they milked their own cows, made their own cheese, milk, bread, everything. And it took time.

So in the 70s (Or I call it the CHEMICAL era) they went big time into processing food, instant food, prepackaged sugar crap, and women slowly ventured big time into the workforce. So they had no time to home make like before.

We have continued in that Chemical era to become what resembles todays grocery store.


This is funny because I truly didnt care about these things a year ago. But that was when I was introduced to Norwex. Norwex is a company that sells these all natural cleaning things. Like silver cloths, no chemical detergent, silver toothbrushes, just use water mop, ect. I bought one of everything. Before that I said that I would use Green things if they worked better or the same as the regular things. Norwex blew me out of the water. Everything works!! So I started using these things in my daily life and noticed some thigns started to change. my hubbys backne went away, my ashma got better, ect. I also came to the realization that things that smell, are chemicals. thats all.

We are the generation of Febreeze, Swiffer, Bounce and Mr. Clean Magic Eraser. These things are horrid for you!!! The amount of harmful chemicals is astounding! Did you know they actually have a warning on Bounce that tells you it ' must not come in contact with CLOTHES'?!?!?! How crazy is that?

So I have taken out all the chemicals in my house. Its amazing how STRONG Tide smells. It takes awhile to realize that we are now wired to think that that smell equals clean.

So that was that.

I was talking to this client and she told me how easy making Almond milk was. I was like, no. I cant do this. Then I thought about it and now I cant see how I cant do it.

We are not going to buy any processed food for 6 months. Then in June we are going to stop going to the grocery store all together!! We are going to live off our land. We live on 2 acres, so we have the space. I work part time on my BeautiControl buisness, so I have time.

We are going to buy 3 apple trees, make a green house, build a garden, buy 12 layer chickens, 12 broiler chickens,ect. We already have 7 goats. 2 male and 5 female. In the spring hopefully the females have babies. Then I can milk them. :) I have looked into making Almond milk, Almond cheese, Almond butter, almond yogurt.... its SO easy! When we get some goat milk, I will look into making some of that into cheese, butter, ect. We will raise chickens for Eggs and chickens for meat. We are going to start our garden in the greenhouse, then transfer into our quite big garden. We are looking into getting dwarf apple trees, so that they produce appples sooner. I have already started making a loaf of bread a day. That may or may not cease in June, havent decided yet.

I really have no clue what Im doing. But all I know is any effort will be in the right direction.

If you have any tips, tricks, or would like to join me in my journey, please email me at spaahh@live.com

The last little while.

So, how to start?

Since I'm pregnant, I have to go back to work. Well, I have to if I want to get a year of free money. I like money, so back to work I go! I originally was supposed to go back April 1st. But because of Deacon's recent hospital stay we decided to postpone it for 3 months until he gained a bunch of weight. With this recent news, we have decided that I will go back to work June 1st. In the last month Deacon has gained 3 lbs so we are very happy with his progress and are okay with me going back. I'm apprehensive about going back. I'm excited about something different. But I'm very nervous about leaving my boys (of course!). I was very happy knowing that my good friend Kori (who has looked after my kids for quite awhile), was willing to take them still. Then she told me that she wouldn't be able to. Her hubby is going to camp and the extra stress is not okay. So here I was without someone who I trusted to look after my kids. It was very upsetting and stressful. I don't blame her or anything it was just a bad situation. I can't have just anyone look after them. Riley is not a problem, a little aggressive but not a problem. Deacon can actually be termed handicapped, so just the price alone would have killed us. Plus I couldn't just leave THEM with anybody. I would think about their well being constantly at work. Is she changing Deacon enough? Is she feeding them proper food? Is she disciplining them the way I want her too? ARG!!! So then I asked my little sister who works at White Spot if she would be willing to look after them for 4 1/2 months. And she said YES!! Yaa!! I completely trust her and she will totally listen to what I want. Now I feel a little better about going back. :)

So I call Bartle and Gibson where I "work" and explain whats going on to them. They say sure come back we would love to have you! It was kinda known that they would have to lay me off sometime this year. They originally hired me while I was pregnant with Riley. Knowing that I would be on Maternity Leave soon. Then I came back when Riley was 8 months old while I was pregnant with Deacon. Again I worked for around 4 1/2 months and then went on Mat Leave again. I know silly. But I worked there just as overflow. They needed someone for Quotations, I went there for a few months. Then I went into Inside Sales for a few months. Wherever they needed me I went. So I had a conversation with my boss just before I was supposed to come back originally where he asked if we were planning on having more kids. He asked me that right after I asked him if they would have to lay me off later this year. It answers itself. lol. So when I called them last week, my boss told me that they couldn't guarantee to have me working there for the full 4 1/2 months. POW! Crap! That's not good. So we will see what happens... (play suspenseful music here)

Onto more happy news, My good friend Amanda had a little (meaning BIG) baby boy yesterday! He weighs 9lbs 6ozs!!! Congrats!!

I also found out that M, A, J, K and ME are ALL due in November! That's not including my cousin Nicole who is due in Oct! WOW!!! baby s are everywhere!

Im Expecting a very special package!!!

Well I found out that I'm pregnant.

That statement alone is enough to scare the shit out of me. Its not that I don't WANT another child. Im sooo excited for another one! But, right now when we are discussing Deacon and how hard it is going to be, its upsetting to hear that I'm having a child that could possibly have HD as well. I'm moving forward only because I've been through it, know what to expect, and I'm okay with it. Another hard thing to deal with is everybody else telling me I should'nt have another one right now. How is that your choice? Joe and I are the ones at home with them. We're the ones nurturing them and teaching them. Its just really annoying that a perfect stranger or even someone that knows me really well would say that to me. ARG!

On another note, we are going up to Oliver this Easter weekend! We're going up for my BIL Alex's competition. Plus I really need a haircut! Joe's cousin that lives in Kelowna is an amazing hairdresser. I wish she had never done my hair because now I compare everybody to her. LOL! Its like having a crush on a really hot guy!

Anyway, please visit my blog about Deacon, I need as many people as possible to comment and visit so that it will turn up in Google searches. Thanks!!!


www.myhirschsprungsbaby.blogspot.com