Minimalism in the fridge

Life has gotten super busy with Summer and just being a mom.   I have really been trying to use my time a little bit wiser. In doing so I have not written as much on here.  I thought about why I wanted to Blog in the first place and it came down to taking the time to write things I had been learning or experiencing.  So I want to keep doing it so I can help keep track or motivate me to write down and remember what I am learning.  It also helps me process things when I have to stop and think about what I learned from this or that experience.   So pretty much its going to be totally random when I post on here for a while, just FYI.   :)

Yet again another podcast I have listened to  Don't waste the crumbs.  She has a website and I like to follow her. on instagram.   She has such good things to learn.

This was about minimalism in the kitchen.  I have never been good about cooking or anything in the kitchen except eating.  I am good at that one.    I love to eat.

She talked a lot about how to grocery shop to save money.  She said the grocery store is there to make money off of you.  I had never thought of it that way but its 100% true.  They want  you to buy all of their food and they say things on are sale when really they might not be but if someone sees a sale sign they assume its a good deal.  I have fallen for this one a lot.  You have to do your homework and find out what really is a good deal on that certain food.  Can you eat that whole bunch before it goes bad?  Be smart about sales. 

The most important plan in grocery shopping is to have a list and to STICK TO IT.  Only get things on your list.  If you see something else write it on a list again and get it next time.  At least wait a day and think over if you really need it.  That will save a lot of money right there.  Making that extra trip to the store was it really a good deal and do you NEED it?  She also said go once a week and get fresh fruits and veggies.  Then go once a month and do a big shopping where you get the other staples and stuff like that.  I know I haven't gotten to this point yet but I am striving for that.  I go once a week and get the fresh food and I usually have other stuff I am getting too because I am making a lot of new meals and we need a lot of new ingredients.  Its all a process.
I have done this on and off but recently I have really stuck to my list and its been great.  I have been making a menu plan and a grocery list each week.  Then my daughter and I go on a date and buy the groceries together.  Its so fun to have her help me.  We have been having better meals and not eating out as much because we have a plan and we have the food to make the meals.  I really struggle with this and so I feel great that the past few weeks have gone according to plan.   Also not being pregnant helps with motivation to cook a lot more.

Another thing she talks about is to not waste food.  American's on average waste 40% of the food they get.  How terrible is that?!?  I couldn't believe that.  Then I paid more attention to what I threw away or wasted.  I let food go bad in the fridge and then we end up tossing it.  If we leave food out and it goes bad.  I have really tried to be better at this.  If I know we wont get to eating this left over or something is going to go bad.  I have tried to freeze it or make something with that certain thing expiring.  Smoothies are great for this.  If its a fruit or veggie you can throw it in any smoothie then its not wasted. 

Ask the kids what they want to eat.  If we ask them and make what they like they are more likely to eat it right?  Yes.  I did this and my kids said cereal.... um no... not a good plan then they said lasagna ... that I can do.   If they feel like they have a say in what gets fixed for dinner they might be more likely to eat it. This can work with letting them help make the food.  They will be excited to eat something they made and helped create.

She had so many good ideas that I need to apply.  Another great one was when you pintrest a new meal.  Half it and only make half of it.  If it turns out good... great put it in the cookbook if not then you don't have a ton of left overs that no one wants to eat.  This is a great idea.  We have had our share of bad new meals. It could be my lack of cooking skills that made it bad or just the meal is not good.  This is a great way to not waste food.

She says "Patience and contentment is another benefit that comes from this kind of saving and eating"  I believe it.  I feel a sense of contentment when we use up our food and save money.  I feel a sense of accomplishment when i am able to plan well for food that week, maybe because I have always been terrible at it so far in my life.   I know its probably common sense but it makes it so much easier to get dinner ready when you have already planned it out.    I usually get to 3:00 and think oh man what should we have for dinner.  Not recommended.  We ended up having a lot of breakfast for dinner.  I find if I meal plan for 10-15 minutes on Sunday then the whole week is better.   I know I should have learned this like 10 years ago.  I really only plan 4 meals and then the three other nights we eat left overs or come up with something random.

How we avoided sickness this winter

I hate winter time because everyone gets sick so much.  Its not too bad to be sick when your an adult but when your a mom and have little kids its terrible.  I was determined this winter that we weren't going to get sick.  I had done my research and had ways of prevention.   It did work for the most part.   Here are some of the things we did.

First thing is I diffused on-guard or breathe every night in the kids rooms.  I also did this in our room.  My sister said she did this last winter and her daughter that gets frequent ear infections didn't get any that year.  So I thought that makes sense so we will adopt that practice in our winter home.   It was easy to remember to do.


We also did daily vitamins.  I made the gummy vitamins that they took every day.  I make a probiotic one and also a vitamin C.  They take them every morning with breakfast and when they had a runny nose start or a symptom they would double up on the vit C.  I would even have them take them at night and morning when we were getting symptoms.  They are super easy to make and well worth the money to not be sick. Plus the kids love them.

They have the gelatin in them and that is so beneficial I am learning.  I knew it would help with hair and I have been trying to get my daughters hair to grow better and be healthier so I was excited she takes these vitamins with all this gelatin in them.  Apparently its also very good for the gut.  That will be so helpful for my kids.  They are picky eaters and I have been trying to be better to have healthy foods available for them to grab and eat.  So this was an added bonus I discovered.

When we did start to have a little cough or runny nose I started dosing them up with elderberry syrup.  They would take it 3 times a day if I could remember to do it.  This helped so much.  They love how it taste too.  I tried to make my own a few years ago and it did not taste good at all.  I found some on amazon that taste great and I feel like It works great.  I bought some capsules for me because they are cheaper than the syrup but I love the syrup taste as well.   This helped shorten and get those runny noses and coughs healed quick.

I also took my youngest son and I to the chiropractor.  He tends to get ear infections so I took him and and had him adjusted to help prevent that.  Also I have been listening to a lot of good podcasts that talk about the benefits to being adjusted frequently.  I am amazed at what it can do.  It makes sense since our nerves affect everything in the body.  I wish I could afford to get everyone adjusted once a week or more but that is just too pricey.  I am going to check with my chiropractor to see if they do a frequent flier discount.  I would seriously take the whole family in once a week if it was affordable.
I didn't do this as much as I wanted this winter I think I went in three times and my son was just twice.  I also have an appointment this week to go in after my recent delivery to make sure everything is back in place after being pregnant and delivering.

I think something else that helped us not get sick this winter was that we were able to be outside more.  It was an abnormally warm winter and we were outside playing so much more than we normally are.  I know that getting out in fresh air really helps keep us healthy.  We get stuck in our houses all winter and we don't get fresh air enough.  Even though its freezing cold other times its still better to get a few minutes of fresh air.

I am so grateful that we didn't catch anything bad this winter.  We did have a few quick colds but they were rapidly gone because we had the things to fight them off and I am so glad I have learned about these things.

Looking at the differences....

Here I am..... Yes our baby did eventually come.  She was born March 9th.   She is adorable and an amazingly good baby.   We have enjoyed these few weeks of just hanging out and not having to go anywhere or do much.  But I can't just sit and stare at her all day long unfortunately.  I started back at work this week and it has been interesting to try to find a time of the day that works best.  That will be a work in progress for a while.

I just wanted to write about how different this delivery was from the past ones.  More specifically my previous hypnobabies delivery.  I practiced my hypnobabies this pregnancy as well as my previous one and it was different even in my practice.   Last time I felt like I fell asleep everytime I did them.  Maybe I was more exhausted last time...  or I just always did my practices at night so I was always tired by then....who knows.  This time I felt like I drifted off but not completely out.  I felt like I did it in the day time more when I wasn't quite so tired or exhausted yet.
This time I also had my experiences from last time to remember things or which tracks I liked most.  I used deepening the most last time, I listened to that one all the time.  This time I mixed it up more and rarely listened to deepening because I just didn't feel like I connected with that one or wanted that one.  There are probably 10-12 tracks to choose from.  I also purchased a few extra ones to help flip my baby from breech to head down, and the come out baby.  I thought they were well worth the money.  My baby did flip after a few times of listening to that track, and my baby was born a few days after listening to that come out baby track a few times. 

My last delivery I relaxed and sat down a lot.  I woke up at night when the waves started and I sat on the couch and relaxed through them.  This time I tried to sit down in mulitple positions and it just wasn't happening.  It was not comfortable for me.  My body was wanting to move.  I swayed a lot through the waves and it felt great.
Last time I remember once I got admitted to the hospital and they let me get in the tub it was amazing.  It felt so good.  I have always loved a warm relaxing bath. It really helped me progress and dilate.   This time I wanted to stay home as long as possible for multiple reasons. One being the hospital just had a normal sized tub this time and we have a rather large tub in our house so I figured I would use it.  I did and I was only in about 30 min and then I was done I wanted to be moving and it just wasn't working for some reason. 
This delivery was all about movement and I felt like I really was connected mind to body.  I tried different things and some worked and some didn't.  My doula brought a rebozo wrap and that was amazing it was kind of like the lift and tuck from last delivery.  It would tighten up around my belly to help lift and tighten during the waves.  We walked and did that for about 2 hours I think.  The waves weren't that bad.  I wasn't even being vocal about them.  I wasn't talking through them because I was relaxing and focusing on them.
Something else that was different this time is that I was listening to my tracks almost the whole time I was in actual labor.   Last time I stopped once I got to the hospital.  This made a big difference too.   Also this time Jared was also saying my que words.  We were more on the same page which helped a lot. 
 I had really wanted to feel my water break this time because with my previous 3 they had all broke my water.  I got what I wished for and it was nothing like I imagined.  I was standing there and just felt a little leak down my leg and it kept going like that but only during the during the waves.  I was exited that I got to finally experience that.
I just felt like I was able and willing to listen to my body more this time and that helped a ton.  It was a pretty fast and easy delivery for me.  I felt like it went by fast and it was awesome.  I was so proud that it went so well.  I didn't have to get the saline lock like my midwife had said I would have to do.  I stayed at home so long  that I was a 7 when I got to the hospital.  It was only about 90 min in the hospital before she was born.  It turned out better than I could have imagined.  She was born in the shower and I loved every minute of it.   I have written up a very detailed birth story so I can remember it all.  If you want to read more about it let me know.  Some people don't like reading and seeing crazy pictures but I love them.

Anyway  that is what has been going on here at our house.  We love having her here and her sibling love her so much.  Its crazy how fast you forget things about newborns and every stage I guess.

Birth Prep

I am in full birth prep over here  I am 38 weeks.  Even though I don't expect her to show up for another 2-4 weeks I still wanted to start to prep.  Although the other day I distinctly felt her drop and put a ton of pressure on my pelvis.  I have never had this feeling before so I take that as a good sign. I really waddle now because there is just so much pressure on my pelvis bones now. 

I have been redoing my hypnobirthing home study course again. Just re reading and going through my book.  I really learned a lot going through it again.  I was suprised actually.  I have been trying to find time to listen and practice them.  Its even harder with three kids.  I remember when I did it when I was pregnant with Sawyer and I thought it was hard to find time.  I usually do it right at bed time or randomly find a time in the day but that doesn't happen very often.
I love how it makes me feel though. I feel so relaxed and sometimes I drift off and kind of sleep but I know its still working and getting into my subconscious.  I feel more relaxed and calm after I listen to a track.  I really feel like its going to be key to the birth process.

I also started drinking red raspberry leaf tea.  It doesn't taste good but I add a little bit of honey and that makes it bearable.  I just do one cup a day and that should help prepare my uterus to function optimally.   I figure it can't hurt, plus I have a huge bag I ordered and so I better use it up.  I also plan to continue drinking it after to help strengthen my uterus back up after delivery, since I have so much of it.

With Max and Sawyers pregnancies I took a supplement called 5W that is just a 5 week prep.  Its a herbal pill.  This time I just started with Dr. Christophers birth prep herbs.  I think they help for sure and once again it can't really do any harm so why not.  Anything that can help prepare my body so it can do its thing more efficiently is ok with me.

I have been sitting or bouncing on my birthing ball and it feels great.  I feel like she has been in a great position for a long time.  Super low and head almost all the way down.   This just is a great place to sit when I read or have work meetings I need to listen to.  The kids will steal my ball and play with it they love it too.

I have been listening to this podcast called fear free birth and it has so many good positive birth stories.  It gives me ideas on how to approach my birth and new ways to not be afraid of the pain.  I really feel like I will have a good handle on it.  I do not want her to break my water this time.  I have always had them break my water and that is when it got really intense with Sawyer.  So I want it to happen naturally this time.   I also have a lot of good ideas for positions and  things to do during the pressure waves.  I am excited to try them and see what feels good.

I really plan on staying home as long as possible since the hospital is only 8 min away.   We have a big tub in one of our bathrooms. So I will soak in there for a while.  I know that was my favorite part with Sawyer.  I hardly felt any pressure waves with him in the tub.  It also helped me dilate quicker.  It was just so relaxing.  I loved it.  I feel more comfortable in my own home too.

With my job I have been trying to work extra hours to make up for some of the time I will be off.  They are so good to work with me and I have maternity leave set up but I don't want to be off too long because I start to forget things.  Where I work from home, I am just going to take a few full weeks off then I can start working a few hours again.  I am so blessed and grateful for this job and love every part of it.

Needless to say I have been busy trying to keep up with everything and I like it.  It makes time go by faster when I stay busy.  I have tried to plan a lot of things to keep me busy and going places so it will go by even faster.  Then after she is here we can slow way down and rest and recover.  I am thrilled and ecstatic looking forward to her birth and how it will play out.

My no spend experience....

Well here is the update on the December 2017  No spend month.
 I started off great.  I had all of Christmas bought and ready because I was prepared for this.  I did have a few things left to get but they were small things.  I had been planning out meals that I could use our food storage and freezer stuff.  I really wanted to clean out the pantry stuff and it went well for a good 15 days.  That is impressive for me.
I did use a lot of food in our freezer and pantry.  We have had some really good meals out of what we have come up with.  I have started to use more of our wheat as well.  I add wheat flour into everything I make now since I have an endless supply of it.  A lot of things are surprisingly tasty with it.   It makes me feel great to know I am using up stuff I already have.
  I love seeing my freezer getting a little less cluttered.  I really need to defrost it this spring/summer. So this is a great project to have for the next few months.
Going 15 days of not spending anything was a great accomplishment for me.  I am a big impulse buyer so this was a great start.  I don't remember what exactly happened. I think I went to sams club with my husband and we bought some stuff that we didn't really need and didn't qualify as groceries so that is what started it.

I still count it as a success, just not a full success. I didn't make the goal but I did do pretty well for me.  It was an improvement for sure.

So here is what I took from that.....

I have made a chart for this whole year 2018 where you just mark the day off if you didn't spend anything.  If you did spend you leave it blank. I like being able to see it and its a fun challenge to see how many days in a row I can mark it off with a green pen.  I don't count groceries or bills, normal budgeted stuff in it.  This is just extra stuff that I don't really need.  I feel like I am a pretty hard judge on myself so I can be strict. 

I do find that I save up the stuff I want to get until a day that I know I spent on something else I will just say I already don't get to mark it today so I will just buy this too today.  I need to be better at that.  I guess that is good in one way.  I have time to really think about if I really need it and sometimes I take it off my list of things to buy.  I think about why do I want this?  is it just to satisfy my buying want? or is it really a need?   It has helped.

We are really trying to save back up after all of the house remodeling and upgrading.  We need to build our savings back up.  Especially since we have more projects we want to do in the back yard as well.  That is a great thing to motivate me to think about my purchases more.  Do I want this or the basketball court, horse corral in the back yard? 
I also told Max about saving money so we can build a basketball court out back and he likes to remind me to save money when we are at the grocery store. Its cute and he make me accountable.
I am excited about this Less spending year, is what I am calling it.  Since I am making a conscious effort to not spend as much and mark as many green days as I can.  I love using up our freezer and pantry food that is one of my favorite perks about this.  I find it fun to come up with random meals we can use the older food with.

Finally caught up on scrap booking

For years I have been behind on scrapbooking.  It has been a permanent goal on my list for a long time.  I finally was able to catch up on all of them.  Phew!!!.   It feels so good.

I do a few different ones.  One Riley Family ones that will be ours it will stay here at our house.  Then each of the kids have their own.  I put more of their own pictures in them, along with the family trips and stuff.  It works out nice.  Then when they grow up and move out they can take their own and have them to share with their families.  I love looking back at my scrapbooks from when I was little and its fun to compare the kids to how I looked when I was little.

I really like blurb.com, I know I have blogged about this site before but they have upgraded their programs and I love it.  They make it very simple to create a book with a ton of pictures for a reasonable price.

I can usually get a few years in each book.  I try to get between 200-270 pages before the book gets too big.  So that is usually a few years, especially in the kids books.  Not so many in the family book because it has every picture of all the kids.

I can fit so many pictures on each page in these books though so Its awesome.
I am so glad to be caught up on that life long goal.  Now I just go in once a month or so and do a few pages in their books and stay caught up.  Its much easier once you reach this point. I really am going to try to stay caught up.

The kids keep asking when I am going to get another one printed so they can look at the pictures.
I am glad they love looking at them as much as I do.

Kids incentives and rewards

We have been trying all sorts of ways to motivate and reward our kids.  Some work and some dont but this new way I read about has been working like a charm for quite a few months.  I think we started last spring.  So almost a year.  We do tickets.  I went to the dollar store and found some carnival tickets and we use these.  I use just a mason pint jar for their jars.  They decorated their own and it makes it fun.

So they each have their own jar and they earn tickets by doing things like anything nice that I didn't ask them to do.  Picking up extra stuff around the house.  I will also tell them if they do this or do that they can have a set amount of tickets.  Like if they stay in their beds at night and I don't have to tell them to be quiet and go to bed, they get so many. It was worked like a charm.  

I keep a bunch in a bowl that they can earn and put into their jars.  We reuse them.  If they turn in their tickets for something then I put them back in the bowl.  Except if they get some taken away because they were bad sometimes I will rip them up and I think it helps them realize they lost  their tickets.  

I have two different kinds of tickets they are used the same but its just fun to have different kinds.

So some of the things they can turn their tickets in for is $,  or time to watch a movie, if they get 20 then they can choose to go somewhere fun like this jump place we go with all sorts of bounce houses.  They can turn them in for money and go to the dollar store and pick somethings.  

Just this past week I noticed they had a lot in there and they hadn't been turning them in and I suggested that they could turn them in for money.  So they counted them up and they each got $4 each the older kids at least.  It was fun for them to get actual money.  They had a fun time.  Lexi wanted to go to the store and get $1 coloring book.  Max wanted to go get a .25 cent pop.  Sawyer just wanted to put coins in his pocket.  Which he usually looses.  

Its fun to see them get money and what they want to do with it.  They are just starting to ask questions and learn about money and how you get things by buying them.  How everything we bring home we bought.  We earn money by working.... Its hard work.  I think its good for them. 

They actually are pretty motivated by the tickets.  We can bribe them pretty good with them which is nice at times.  I have really loved how simple and yet it works great for our kids.