Finally a project to cross off the list.....

I have been wanting to do this craft project for a while and finally got all the pieces to do it.  I had originally bought the canvas frames to do something different in my babies room but it didn't work out.  So they worked perfectly with this project. 

I got the cardboard letters from Joanns, the E was the hardest to get. I had gone into joanns 3 times and they never had an E.   Who knew it was such a popular letter.  That is what held up this project so long.  I also had to find pages in the books that I loved.  It was harder than I thought to find pages that didn't have any words on it and that were big enough to fill the space on the canvas.  I also made a lot of trips to the DI to accumulate the ones I wanted.  

I wanted it to be bright and bold.  So I went with the primary colors and green.  Since its a basic color as well.  I just noticed that I have a green smoothie there on the table with me while I paint haha.  

This is just a super cute picture I found of my kids reading together at a book store we went into.  They love reading and I am so glad that they do.  I would love to have more time to read.  I have a list and stack of books that will one day get read.  

This is the final result.  I changed the second picture to Clifford because I loved Clifford as a kid and now Lexi has really gotten into them and loves them as well.  So I figured that one deserved to be on the wall.    I really like how they turned out.  They are kinda tricky to keep straight and every time the door gets slammed or the wall gets bumped we have to straighten them up.  

I am really pleased with the final project.  

300 green smoothies

I started drinking green smoothies everyday 300 days ago!!!  Can you believe it?  I remember I started the day we sold our old house.  I had gotten the blendtec on the costco deal.   I had done green smoothies before with my other blender but it just didn't compare to the blendtec.   It blends it up so fine that you would never know the stuff I can sneak in here.    

I just have taken random pictures of the different types of smoothies.  What I love about these green smoothies is that you can throw whatever you want in and it usually taste pretty good.   I have had a few that were so gross I had to just dump.  Like one I made recently had beet tops in it and it was spicey.   I couldn't drink it because it was too "hot"   

Carrots are a staple in my smoothies.  

Sometimes if its this green the kids don't want to drink it.  So I add some blueberries and it changes the color.  

Another staple is my kefir,  that is what I use as my base liquid a lot.  I have started using rejuvelac made from sprouted wheat.  Its another type of probiotic and its great as well.  

This bright pink one is the best.  It seriously taste like a treat or icecream but has so many good nutrients in it.  Here is the post that has the recipe and goes into a little more detail about this one.  

I have loved making these and going for 300 days.  I feel healthier even though my weight may not reflect that.  I still am working on my sweet tooth.   I feel like I have more energy than I used to.  Plus I know that I am getting better nutrients than I used to.  Its fun to see what new smoothie we can come up with each day.  My 1 year old loves these smoothies, as soon as he sees me pour it into my mason jar he is begging for me to share it with him. 

Today we all fought over the smoothie, it made 1.5 quarts and it was gone quick.  I love that the kids like it.   

How tumeric helped my sprained ankle.

I was just living the busy life of Mom and we were walking my daughter down to her Kindergarten meet your teacher appointment.  Its literally three houses down and half way there I roll my ankle.  I was holding Lexis hand and she quickly got up and was like "Mom what are you doing on the ground?"  I was saying the same thing but then my ankle told me.  I had sprained it good. I proceeded to limp to her school and go through the tour.   It was an excruciating 20 min.  I texted my sister that was watching my two other kids and said you might have to come pick us up.   Then I thought No I can walk home its only three houses.   When we got home my ankle was already starting to swell pretty good.   I began to ice it and elevate it.   

The next day was even worse and it was really swollen and in pain.  I borrowed some crutches from my sister in law because I couldn't put any pressure on it.  

I needed to heal this and fast because you can't take care of three kids very well on crutches.  So I read up on some things to help with a sprained ankle and I read that Tumeric mixed with lime juice will help with the inflammation.  I had bought tumeric for a recipe I hadn't made yet.   I thought well it can't hurt at this point, it was pretty painful.  So I mixed it up and it was pasty, I put it on the most swollen parts and then wrapped it in suran wrap, then I put an ace bandage over it.  I left it like that for probably 8 hours I want to say.  I washed it off before bed and my foot was yellow now, really yellow  It looked like skin does when they put iodine on.  

I guess that was good because it made it harder to see the bruising.  The next day I felt like it had decreased a lot in swelling and it felt a lot better. I still didn't dare walk on it because I had tried a little bit the second day and it got a lot worse.  I figured I would let it rest for another day.  

I think the tumeric really helped the swelling.  I was amazed and started to do a little bit more research on it.  It is quite the helpful herb.  It helps with inflammation like I tried out.   You can also put it in smoothies or sprinkle it on your salad or anything.  

It can be used to help depression, stomach ulcers, irritable bowl syndrome, gum disease, prostate cancer, ringworm.... the list goes on and on.   I am amazed at how much simple herbs can do to help us.  I love learning new things and then trying them out and seeing a direct result.  I really have enjoyed learning so much lately about natural things that the earth has for us that can help in our health.  

If it doesn't spark joy .....toss it!

Marie Kondo wrote a book about tidying and how to clean out.

I remember my sister talking about this and how she cleaned out and used this " if it doesn't spark joy... Toss it"   I love getting rid of stuff and organizing things.  I love to see the progress of messy to clean.  My closet has been needing a cleaning out for a while.  I almost couldn't fit more hangers in and I knew there were some clothes in there I hadn't worn in a few years.
So finally I just did it. I took the plunge, I went through and thought do I like this does it spark joy when I wear it?   No  toss it.  Yes keep it.  I tossed about half of my skirts and quite a few shirts.  I love having sisters for this reason, we can pass clothes around.  I have had somethings come back after a few years and realized hey this used to be mine.  Its fun.  The things my sisters don't want we sell to a consignment shop and get some money back.  We also donate to the local thrift shops.

I have a whole bag of clothes that I need to sell and one for the DI ( local thrift store)  I also went though the kids clothes as well.  When they grow out of clothes I go through them all and think did she really wear this one a lot?  is it worth storing for years?  I usually slim down quite a bit and sell her clothes.  My boys are different because they are close in age and my baby will be wearing my older boys clothes in 2 years and boys get so dirty.  Its worth it to save almost all of their clothes.

I also love to go through closets and see things and think I haven't used that in years I need to just get rid of it.  I love how tidy closets look and I know some things you only use every few years, and those things I will keep but most of us hold on to things longer than we need to, thinking one day I will use this.
My kids know that I really will get rid of toys and sell them.  When we moved I had boxed up a bunch of toys months before we moved and after 6 months of being here in our new place. I  sold some of those toys and they just about died.  I said you guys haven't played with these in a year.  Plus we have way too many toys anyways.  I love to randomly go through the toy room and toy box and take small things out that are junk or missing pieces and get rid of them.  Make room for the new toys they get from birthdays and holidays, or just to have less of a mess to clean up. :)
 My sister is a genius, when she has a birthday party or something she gives things that can be used up and thrown away.  Consumable.  That is a moms best friend.  I love that idea.  My daughter loves to color so for her birthday I got her a huge coloring book and she spends hours coloring and we sit and talk.  We put it on the fridge for a week or so and then we replace it with another one and we recycle the old one.  I love it. We both enjoy doing it and then it leaves, it doesn't take up space forever.

I have enjoyed taking this advice in our spring cleaning this year.  I think I will adapt it to be a normal everyday thing.  If it doesn't spark joy toss it.  

My square foot garden

I grew up helping in the garden like it or not.   I loved the part where we could eat as many raspberries as we wanted.  I just didn't like the weeding every morning of summer vacation.  Although learning how to work and seeing the result of it was well worth it now that I am an adult.  When we got married we had a small garden spot and so I planted a garden every year.   I learned a lot trying out out new things.   Corn is hard in  a small spot, and pumpkins were not worth it in our small spot.  

At our new place we have so much room to garden, its just all rocks though.  I did till up a spot for some blackberry starts I got from my sister in law last fall.  It was so rocky and hard.  So I decided that I better try out the garden boxes.  I read up on them and did my best but I already have things I would change next time.  I got just normal non treated wood because the treated wood will leak chemicals into your soil and produce.  There are other options though.  Then I put weed barrier down to stop the weeds.  I made a mix of vermiculite, peat moss and compost, following Mels mix.   It was pricey but hopefully it will be worth it.  Each year you just have to add some compost to the boxes, and the rest should last for a long long time.  

I made three 4x8 foot boxes and one smaller 4x4 and filled that one with strawberries I got from a lady that lives by us.  I filled one box with blackberries I ordered with my brother from a gardening website.  I love blackberries in my green smoothies.  It doesn't take many to turn it purple instead of green.  I'll be interested to see the difference between the ones in the box and the ones just in the rocky ground.  

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This is the spot where I put them.  We had to put a quick fence up around my garden spot because our dog kept digging in them.  I need to find a way to keep the weeds down around the boxes.  I am going to use the grass clippings for now that seems to help  

I am excited to grow my own food and then freeze the ones we don't eat fresh for green smoothies.  That is another thing I love about the smoothies is that you can put anything in them and  it still taste good as long as you have the right combination.  So we aren't wasting food.  

I need to go to the nursery and get my seeds and starts.  We have a local nursery that I like to buy our seeds and starts from.   They are our friends so I love to shop from them.   I plan on planting a roma tomato, cherry tomato, a few pepper plants, ONE zucchini and that will supply plenty.   Cucumber my son loves to eat these.  Yellow squash, beets, chard in multiple varieties, spinach.   These greens will be great for lasting through the winter for smoothies.  Then I"ll pick something else random.  I like to pick something new every year and try out a new veggie.  It makes it fun.  

I also need to get some raspberry starts from my sister, but I"ll probably do that in the fall they seem to transfer better in the fall.  

I love gardening and learning new things.  We have 3 apricot trees but I have heard they are small ones so we will see what they produce this year.  We also have 4 apples that we got quite a lot last year.  We had the trees pruned since it had probably been 10+ years since they had been done.  So hopefully they will be better quality this year.  I also need to go spray them so we don't have as many bugs as last year.  We planted a peach tree last summer because we didn't have any here and I love peaches.  We have a pear, I got maybe 6 off last fall so hopefully with some care and love that tree will give a little bit more.  

I am excited and I know we will be super busy this summer keeping up with it all.  I look forward to it and teaching my kids the same things that my parents taught me.  

Yes, we finally got a dog!!!

Lexi has really really been into animals for a long time.  At our old house she would always ask if we could get a dog or cat.  We always told her we just don't have room.  We are not inside animal people, and we had a small back yard with two yappy dogs on both sides.  We didn't want to add to the yappiness.   So when we moved she didn't say anything for a few months and we didn't either.  Then a lady offered us a free kitten.  So we took it.  Patch was its name Lexi just adored it.  She would sit out there and play with it and pet it.  In the fall it disappeared one day.  We don't know what happened to it.   I am hoping it found a warm home and not a spot on the highway.   Lexi is convinced a lion ate it.  haha.  

So this spring we looked into getting a dog, or a puppy.  We found a few on our local classifieds and went looking. The first one we looked at was a mix of a husky and lab.  She was big and crazy.  So after taking her on a walk.... or her taking us on a walk we decided that  was not the dog for us and our kids.   We found another one that was an Australian Shepard that was 5 months old and she seemed so calm for a puppy.  She was cute and so we came home with a puppy and Lexi was in heaven.  We didn't have anything ready for a dog.  So we borrowed a kennel from family and she slept in our garage the first night.  The kids loved it.  

Someone told me that getting dog is like adding another child to the family and boy were they right.  It was not easy but to see Lexi play and love this dog makes it worth it.  I just have to remember that when I get frustrated.  She will go out in the rain and play with her.  

Its hard work to train a dog and it takes a lot of time.  We are working on it but its much more than we expected.  1.5 months later we are ready for a dog. haha We got her kennel put up and got a fence put up so she can't run away.   It took her a month to realize she could run away.  Now we are set.  

I began to read and watch a lot of training videos on you tube on how to train a dog.  This is something new to me.  I have trained a horse but never a dog.  Its quite different, but similar at the same time.  

I got these dog treats to help train her and I realized that they are pretty big for her since she is a smaller breed and still puppyish.  

So I cut the pieces up into smaller pieces to be able to award her when she does something good.  It works great. She loves these treats.  They will last quite a long time too.  The kids love to give her treats and make her sit.   Her hardest thing is jumping.  She has terrified our sons, yes both because she will jump up on them and even though she is small she is still big enough to knock them over.  Lexi could care less and comes in covered in mud from her paws.

    This has been hard to train her. I am working on it and she knows that she can't get a treat if she jumps.  It will just take more time and being consistent.   She is a pretty good dog though.  Once she gets all of her excitement out she will just follow us around.   When we are out working in the yard or field she chases butterflies around.  When we have a fire out back she will come curl up on your feet.  I like that part.  

I really like the idea of having a dog and a good one.  I just need to work hard and make her a good one.  She is getting better at coming when called.   I just have to be patient and remember it all takes time.   Its all worth it when I see Lexi playing with her and laughing so hard.  

Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without!!!

I have always reused ziplock bags and I thought that was the norm.... until I got married and Jared was like why are you washing those bags?   After I said that there is no point in throwing away a perfectly good bag.  We can reuse it.   I had never though twice about it because growing up that is just what we did.   I looked at the price of the ziploc bags at the store and was surprised that it was so little.  I thought they would have been expensive because we always saved them.  This was the principle of saving things that are still good and reusing them.  No point in throwing away a perfect bag.

Now if there was meat or something really gross in it then its not worth washing.  One day Jared saved a taco shell bag and it just made me laugh.  That really would work but its kinda thin.

One trick when you are washing the bags you have to make sure they stay open so they can dry out.  If they don't have a way to stay propped open they will never dry and just go moldy.  I usually put them over a spatula or a pan handle.
Some of my bags have been used so much that the white label part is completely rubbed off.    Funny that that would make me happy or proud.  I know silly.


My dad used to always say Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.  As a kid I didn't always like that but now that I'm the mom and have to buy things, I LOVE IT.   I love the principle of making things last a long time.
I remember as a kid I would love to see how long I could get my pencil to last.  We used the old school pencils that you sharpened.
 I also had a chore list.  My dad would give us outside chores every week and we had a week to complete them.   We had to write them down so we would remember.  I had taken a 8 x 11.5 normal computer paper and I used it for over 100 weeks.  That is two years I kept this same paper on the fridge, and that is not because he didn't give me enough chores to do.  Trust me I had plenty.  I had just written really small and made sure to use every little space on that paper.  I wish I had taken a picture of it.  It was pretty soft and used by the end.
Its the principle of using things until the end and making use of them.  Not wasting.  This was also taught to me well when we were kids.  We had pigs and so nothing was ever wasted.  If food happened to go bad at our house, which I"m sure it rarely did with 7 of us kids eating.  We could feed the pig.

As a mom now of three small kids I have really learned the value of waste not want not.  My lunch used to consist of their left overs and after three kids ate I had a full lunch.  I have sense stopped doing this, its a terrible habit.   You dish it you eat it.  They eat it all or they save it and eat it later.  

What is Rejuvelac?

What in the world is rejuvelac?   

It is a fermented liquid made from sprouted grains.  When fermentation happens it becomes a good bacteria or a probiotic.  It helps you to be able to digest your food.  This is incredibly cheap to make because it takes water and any grains.  I use wheat because I have a whole 55 gallon barrel of it.  

I have been making milk kefir for quite some time so I wanted to try something different that didn't require me buying milk.    

I took my wheat and rinsed it off because who knows what is on the outside of the grains.  Its better to just wash and be safe.  

Then I filled the jar almost all the way with water.  I put 1 cup of wheat grains in.   I let it soak overnight so they absorb a lot of water.  ( that is my milk kefir next to it)

The next morning I drained the jar and rinsed them again.  I then let them sit for about 2 days, everyday I rotated and shook them up to air them out a little bit.   They began to sprout those little tails.  After about a day and a half or 2 days depending on how fast they sprout, I added water.  I filled it all the way up to the top.   Then I let it sit for two more days.  You can tell its fermenting because you will start to get bubbles.  If you gently swish the bottle back and forth bubbles will go up like they would with a carbonated drink.  

After the two days I drain the liquid that is now rejuvelac into another jar and refrigerate it.   I then dispose of my grains.  Some people say you can do a second batch with these same sprouted grains but it gets tricky.  There is a higher chance of it going bad so I don't risk it since I am still pretty new to this. You can put the grains out in your compost pile.   

This is a great way to still get that probiotic effect but not have the dairy of the milk kefir.  Plus this is really free because its just water and wheat grains.