Chronic conditions?

I'm going out on a limb here and I hope I don't get branded with a "TMI" label.

After I started using natural soap from Oil and Spice, my chronic acne seemed to get a little better. I especially love Mary's tea tree and eucalyptus soap (although apparently I need to put that word on a spelling list because after four tries I still can't get it right). I follow that up with some tea tree oil diluted in water on a cotton ball. When my face does break out, this clears it up within a day. I grew up massively OD-ing on Clearasil, and quit using it when I got married because I didn't want to bleach all my newly acquired bed linens. Now I wouldn't use it for other reasons, but I digress.

I inherited poor skin from my mother (she would say) and since she still struggles with acne (she would say) I presumed it would be a life-long problem for me. And then :::::::::drumroll:::::::::: after 20+ years it has almost disappeared. And for $25 you can click here for one mom's secret to white teeth a clear face. Not really...this is a public service announcement.

A friend told me she used baking soda to wash her hair, and vinegar as a conditioner. We don't spend that much on hair products as it is (those days ended when the kids started coming) but I was looking to move away from the chemicals in bath products. I don't use her exact method; I put a tablespoon of baking soda in a cup, a tablespoon of vinegar in another cup, and then fill them each with warm water from the shower when I get in. I pour the baking soda mixture over my hair first and scrub and rinse, and then I pour on the vinegar and let it sit there for a minute or two before rinsing. My mother-in-law remembers having her hair rinsed with vinegar as a child so it's a time-tested conditioner. I use white vinegar, and I guess because I've switched over to using vinegar more for cleaning, the smell doesn't bother me. I don't smell it at all once I'm out of the shower.

The first perk I noticed: I never get nasty soap scum film in my shower. I do still have to clean the tub, but it's a breeze. Then I realized that my face and back were rarely breaking out (unfortunately, this combo can't get rid of hormones). I went out of town for a weekend and just used shampoo/conditioner, and within a day my face started breaking out again, and it took several days to clear up.

My husband has been using dandruff shampoos for years with little success (he would say) and now that he uses this baking soda/vinegar combo his scalp doesn't itch and the dandruff is gone. So these "chronic conditions" were actually caused by our bath products, which in turn caused us to have to go out and buy more harmful products with which to treat them. I'm not a conspiracy theorist, but I do wonder why I've never read anything about the side-effects of shampoo. Shampoo seems harmless, right? I'm not here to go into anything too deep about SLS or anything, just wanted to pass on these tips to anyone else who may be struggling with what they thought were life-time annoyances.

Have you run across any other bath/beauty products that are causing problems? Any other natural solutions you could pass along?

rash vows and snowy day projects

A few weeks ago I started a self-imposed "no computer until exercise is completed" daily regimen, and so I haven't been online much. That's not entirely true: I have been exercising quite regularly, but by after I've added the extra 30 minutes to my day I have a tough time fitting in much else. Despite the fact that I don't like to think about my smidgen of free-time going to such an unpleasant activity, it really has made me feel good to be working out again.

Monday I rearranged the kids' room, including moving their 500 lb solid wood bunk beds (just a guess on the weight) all by myself and the exercise plan is on hold until I can move my neck again. Their room looks SO much better, though, so it was totally worth it. :) (This is an inherited weaknesses.)

The kids played outside for several hours yesterday since it was in the 40's...pure bliss for mother and children. Here are a few of our recent inside activities, which I guess we will return to for the rest of this snowy week.

The two-way mirror bird feeder occupies lots of little moments throughout the day:

A cardboard box barn in process:

A sling, remnants from an upholstery project, a pair of wacky pants, and curtains become a patchwork pillow. Here's the tutorial I used when I taught this in the sewing class.

Hope to be back sooner rather than later. :)

Athletic event

I want to suggest a new Olympic sport: going to the post office in sub-freezing temperatures with three preschoolers in tow. All kinds of unusual activities are considered official Olympic sports, surely they will consider mine. This was something I should have trained for when I was single (and what mother wouldn't have loved me for life if I had whisked her packages and children away for 30 minutes or an hour, depending on the post office!?!). Side note: If you want to read the most hilarious blog post of the day on the Olympics (sounds a lot like "the most beautiful girl in the room" song) check this out. She needs to seriously consider writing a book!

Back to the P.O. When we lived on Lookout Mountain we had the best post office. I walked there each week with my firstborn and they weighed him for me until he grew too long for the scale. They knew everyone by name, and told me never to try to balance all my kids and packages, but to honk the horn instead and they would come out and help me. (I was never brave enough to actually try it, but it was nice to know I could.)


Our current situation is not so accommodating. I may visit the post office one town over, just to avoid the very long lines and the workers who seem to enjoy watching me try to assemble a priority mail box with one hand (with a wiggling 25 lb. baby in the other).

So, if you get a package from me in the near future, know that it was sent with all my love (and energy) and if you live on Lookout Mountain, take some candy or cookies to Steve and his coworkers on my behalf.

The birds and the bees

Got you interested, didn't I? I really don't have any bees to talk about, only birds. And that's not until the end of the post.

We've been busy putting ourselves back together after a trip to Chattanooga last weekend. Our Friday thru Monday trip was filled with visiting old friends and overall it was a really relaxed time away. We went to bed on Monday with our bags mostly unpacked and some laundry started, wondering why it didn't seem exhausting this time around. Maybe our kids getting a little older really does help!

In other adventures we are focusing on a different letter of the alphabet each week. The kids fill a tray with items starting with that letter all week, and we do little activities (some of them are a stretch to call them "school" but all of life is learning, right?) centered around the letter. It's surprised me to see how the visual reminder helps them remember the sounds so well and sticks with them even weeks later. Speaking of school, I spent some time this past weekend talking with older (i.e., more experienced) moms about all things education. I used to laugh at the parents of preschoolers who would get so worked up about schooling choices, when I thought they just needed to RELAX. Well, I am all about relaxing in the early years, but I just want to know that the relaxing is part of the big picture and the plan, and not a default. WH and I plan to spend the next few months trying to figure out our philosophy and priorities for the education of our kids with the hope that it will provide some direction for the next season of our child rearing. It's exciting to have children who are old enough to know more about something (anything!) than I do. I didn't think it would happen with my four year-old, but just last week he held up a toy truck and said, This is for harvesting wheat. Really? I had no idea.

Have you ever purchased printable pdf files from Etsy? They are FABULOUS- I spent $4 on this and it is our family calendar (on a clipboard). I printed it out again so I could jot down our preschool activities and book lists and keep it all in a notebook. It makes me happy every time I walk by the little birds.

And last but not least, my father-in-law found this in his basement and revived it for my children: (visualize... there are no birds interested this afternoon and it's not much to look at without the birds present) A bird feeder with a two-way mirror so the birds can't see the kids. How perfect is that? They are learning all about birds and we're off to the library to get some bird books so I can answer their hundred questions a day about what kind of bird is eating now. I only know a few kinds of birds, and the kids are familiar with birds that typically don't frequent bird feeders (peacocks, penguins, flamingos...although WH did offer to put some fish in the feeder to see if we could attract some penguins).

Hope you have a great weekend!

crop of the day

Our everyday talk is filled with farm dreams, so it was no surprise when my 2 year-old daughter asked if we could grow tortilla chips when we have land.

In other news, today seemed like a good day to post a recommendation for this dvd. I can't say that it is the most captivating (or well made) documentary I've ever seen, but it was a huge help in understanding the issues at hand. I will leave you with a few related pictures.

Okay, this last one has nothing to do with farming or global warming. It's just for laughs. Too long of a story to explain this late at night.

Keep/Drop

Since January 2nd I have contemplated a post about goals and my own resolutions for this year. I kept mulling it around in my mind, mostly waiting for the 30 spare minutes to appear so I could type it all out. Before I could wax eloquent on why I wasn't making any New Year's Resolutions, I read this post from the blog Small Notebook for a Simple Home. She described much of what I wanted to say, only better.

I think her "keep/drop" system really boils it all down. I am tempted to give you my own list of things I plan to keep and drop this year but she gives plenty of examples, and I think the whole idea behind her post is that we don't need to make our goals based on some other person's ideas of success. What I need to focus on this year may be exactly opposite from how you should spend your time.

A sense of peace and quietness, which I pray is felt among my children and husband, has been the greatest blessing from the dropped expectations and activities. Somehow our days are just as busy and I still don't find myself with a lot of quiet free time (but I have made reading more of a priority!), yet I know the busyness is purposeful. It is accomplishing some of my goals- and my husband's goals- for our family. Ultimately, it is creating more happiness. And you know what they say about Mama being happy...