My new kitchen appliance is awesome

I recently got an Excalibur dehydrator, its been waiting on my amazon wish list for a long time waiting for a good deal.  That day finally came and in perfect time for the beginning of harvest season.  I have been borrowing my moms just like it for months.  So I"m sure she will be glad to get hers back.

The first thing I used it for was apricot fruit leather.  I just used wax paper because that is what I had on hand and as soon as I took it out I remembered why it didn't work.  It just sticks to the paper and you can't get it off.  So I ended up ordering some teflon sheets that fit the trays perfect and you just wash them off with a wet rag and use again.  I love them.  The leather comes right off.

So first I washed my peaches off and then took the pit out and left skins on.  Blend them up until smooth.  

Then I pealed the mangos and squished the rest in.  I have the hardest time cutting mangos, but this way its awesome I get a lot more off when I can just squeeze it until all I have left is the weird pit.  Blend again until smooth or leave small chunks.  I then added spinach haha tricky mom.   

Then I dump out maybe 2-3 cups onto the teflon paper and spread it around with a spoon.  I then shake it around a little to even it out.  

I had extra tray space so I cut up some cantelope slices and dried those as well.  It's delicious.  

  I cut them in strips after and roll them up.  I put them in zip lock bags and then the kids can enjoy.  I put a few bags in the freezer because I have made quite a bit.  They say they will last 6 months in the freezer so well see.  I"m sure they won't last that long because we will eat them before that.

I did a few different mixtures of leather.  First I did apricot and mango since I got a bunch of mangos in my local fruit basket this week.   It was delicious.  I also did straight apricot and straight mango.
My next batch was peach with skins on, mango with a little spinach snuck in.  The kids will never know and they will be getting some great veggies too.

I really enjoy my new toy already.  I have so many plans with it.  I love that it can be used for so many different things.  I still need to flavor my almonds that I sprouted and froze.  I need to find a good recipe for it before I take the jump.

How did the Amber teething necklace work for us?

I started using an amber teething necklace with my 3rd child when he was maybe 5 months old.  He was drooling a lot so I decided to try one and see if it helped.  I tried a raw and a polished amber so I didn't see too big of a difference.  I'm sure raw is better because it always is.  He did drool a lot less.  I don't honestly know if it helped reduce his pain.  Its hard to judge when its not me feeling the pain and I feel like he was a pretty good teether.  I had taken it off lately for his bath and forgot to put it back on.  He got all four molars at the same time and yes he was clingy but he was still happy without the necklace.
I think that it helps his drooling and possibly the pain but I always worried about it getting caught on something and him choking.  I didn't let him sleep with it on his neck for a long time.  I would put it on his ankle and cover it with a sock.  I am a worry wart parent I guess.

I would always get questions about it as well because my boy was wearing a necklace.  It brought up some great conversations, and weird looks.

I had bought the magnetic kind but then he would just pull it off himself and it eventually broke.
So I don't know exactly what to rate it at for me.  I think I have been blessed with an easy teether this time.  I will try it again on my next baby and see how it goes for them, then I can make a different judgement.

Keep your insurance claims

I recently got a bill from my midwife for delivering my son 18 months ago.  I just opened it up and thought they were sending me a reminder that I needed to come in for my annual check up.  I don't generally go to those unless I see the need or I"m pregnant and I am perfectly healthy right now and not pregnant.    I opened it up expecting to see that and I see a bill that we still owe her for delivering my baby 18 months ago.   How did we miss that?

  It says that it was only 30 days late..... I was so confused.  We met my deductible last year for sure because I had quite a few medical procedures done for my skin cancer and other things.

So I call up the office and they billing lady says ahhh yes I have been expecting your call.  We found this very odd, and we were confused too.  She continued to explain it to me and how it was one of those cases that got lost in the mix.  They had to bill it differently because I had switched providers in the middle of the pregnancy due to my previous dr retiring mid pregnancy.  She asked me if I got an explanation of benefits and I said yes.  She was glad I keep them because I could go back and look and see that it did process through the insurance and it was put towards our deductible so we were good and avoided a lot of headache of calling the insurance by just saving those papers.  I am glad my parents taught me that.  I save them for a few years and then shred them.  

Turns out that we do really owe her but it was already put towards our deductible last year.  That is why we didn't end up paying too much for all of the other medical bills we had.  I am so glad for a health savings plan that we have.  We are a pretty healthy family and don't go to the dr often so we have loved using the health savings.

Journal of thanks

“O remember, remember,” Book of Mormon prophets often implored. My point is to urge you to find ways to recognize and remember God’s kindness.

Elder Eyring

I remember when Elder Eyring gave this talk in General Conference in 2007. I was on my mission and I got a notebook and started doing the journal of thanks.    As a missionary I especially needed this daily reminder of Gods kindness to me as a missionary.   Some days were very hard and didn't feel like we had any success but as I took a minute to think about my day I always had something that God had sent to remind me of how blessed I was.  

I took a quote from his talk and glued it in the front of the journal to remind me what the real purpose was of writing. 

There were some days that I took a page and a half to express my thanks 

 Then some days I just wrote a few lines but that was sufficient to remind me of those feelings.  Its amazing reading back on those memories, I remember very clearly how that day went and how I felt writing those words down.

He talks about how no matter late he would always take a few minutes to write something.  I am no where near that good.  Sometimes I will do two days at a time.  I will write down a small word to remind me of the experience that day.   Then there are the times I forget about it for months and then I see the journal again and I realize its been 6 months since I wrote.  I try to keep it on my night stand all the time so I will see it.  Then I put my book I'm reading on top and it gets lost.  

Elder Eyring also talks about how he made copies and gave them to all of his kids and they read them and relate them to their lives and it helps them see the hand of the Lord in their lives as well.  

I really love doing this and need to remember to keep this journal on top of my scriptures and reading books.  I love reading back through and I know that I need that daily reminder of Gods love for me.  

The best present my Grandparents gave us

The older I am getting the more I am realizing how smart my grandparents and parents are.   My grandparents gave each of their grand children some money when they first bought their own home.  They wanted to help us get started and to buy something for the house with it.    We bought a house right as we got married, so we got the money as we were newlyweds.  I remember thinking I know exactly what I want to get... a sewing machine.  I knew my mom used hers a lot to fix things and she sewed a lot.  I did some research and I picked out the one I could afford.

Over the years I have used it so much and I really don't know how I would get by without a machine now.  I use it to fix things,  create fun things for my kids or to alter things to fit my kids.   

When I was pregnant with my first I spent the months before she was born making a quiet book.  I had looked up all sorts of fun ideas on pintrest and seeing other peoples books.  I had an idea of what I wanted.  I did not realize how time consuming it was to sew and design all of the pages the way I wanted.    I am so glad I made this before I had kids, I would never have time to do that now.  

Just this past little bit I altered a dress I bought for my daughter that was way too big in the shoulders and just sewed up the shoulders and now its great.  It also had come unsewed in the back so I quickly fixed that up.  It was so nice to be able to just pull out my sewing machine and carefully fix it.  

My sons shoes had come unstitched where the velcro fastened.  I just sewed it right back on instead of having to get new shoes.  

 

I also was able to make some suck pads for my kinderpack.  Ok I have made too many I love being able to switch them out and have new patterns.   I even tried to start a sewing business at one point and then after a few weeks realized I really didn't have time to attempt to make it work.  I did at least break even with the supplies I had bought.  I get some crazy ideas sometimes and then I don't realize it until later.  

I love finding time to play with my machine and use it.  I have many more projects in the works that I just need a few hundred hours to finish up.  I am grateful for the ability to sew and that my mom and sisters taught me how to be brave and try to fix or make things.  

I can't thank you enough Grandma and Grandpa for this sewing machine, it has been well worth the money spent.  It has earned its keep. 

More of my kitchen projects

If you remember these are the "grandma decorations" in my kitchen.  I took the left over fabric from these hoops and I sewed them onto gray kitchen towels.
I really needed new towels in my kitchen as we were still using Jareds grandparents from our previous house.  They had worked and been great for 7 years but it was time for some new ones.    They were getting thread bear and not absorbing much anymore with just little threads.

I picked out the brighter ones that would stand out more on the gray towels.  The navy ones just mostly looked bad.




I cut them to fit the strip  that you can see on the towel that is less plush.  I don't know how to describe it. haha.   You will see in the other pictures.

  I used my awesome cutting board that is an essential to my sewing craft projects.  It makes it so easy to cut straight and even.  

 

I then ironed the fabric and pinned it on the spot I wanted it and sewed away.  They turned out pretty good.  Much better than my previous kitchen towel dying project.  I am excited to put them on my stove and use them to clean up the kitchen with.   I still find it funny what I get excited about being a mom.  It makes me chuckle.  That is my life and its awesome.  

Daily things to make you happy

I have noticed a difference in my days when I do a few key things.  They make my day so much better and go smoother.

#1 thing is that I spend quality time playing or being involved with my kids.  Whether its reading book with them, chasing them around or being totally silly.  Just spending time with them and letting them know that I do care about them and want to play with them.  This is the #1 thing that makes my day immediately better.

#2  I like to say positive things to my kids.  Comment on how nice they are being or how helpful.  Anything and then they are happier as well and we all know happy kids makes a happy mom.  My husband is really good at saying he loves us, and I have noticed that the kids will randomly say I just love you mom, or dad.  I love it.

#3 Take the time to Pray, this is a good time to reflect and think a little deeper about what you are going to be doing that day and how you can do it all.  This always brings me peace.

#4 Drink my Green smoothie, not only does it make me feel good physically but mentally as well.  I know that I am giving my body the nutrients that it needs to be ready to conquer the day.  If you don't do green smoothies then you should.  Its super easy, and fun.

#5  Do service for someone outside of your immediate family.  Make a phone call, take some treats to someone,  say hi,  anything that you think will brighten someone elses day.  This will immediately boost your happiness and someone elses.

#6 Tell yourself you are amazing and actually believe it.   This is so important and will help you have more confidence.  I love positive thinking.  I am not always on top of this one, and I know I need to work on it.  I really believe that there is power in thinking positive, especially about yourself.

My solution to my postpartum hair loss

If you have had a baby then you know what the hair loss is like.  NOT FUN!!!  After my second I felt like I lost half of my hair because I had gallbladder issues as well.  I was not eating very much because anything I ate would give me an attack.  So I wasn't very healthy and my hair just fell out in chunks.
I started to get gray hair when I was on my mission in Chile and it has just gotten worse since then.  I have currently decided to just not worry about it.  I don't want to dye it because then you start this game of trying to play keep up with the gray roots because I have darker brown hair.  I don't want to have to dye it all the time, not my style.   So I guess I have decided that I will be that mom that has a head full of gray hair before she is even 40.  Oh well, I am ok with that.

I started taking the ultimate minerals from Green smoothie girl about 8 months ago.  I wasn't very consistent about drinking it twice a day for a few months.  Once I was consistent I noticed a difference.  I seem to sleep better which has always been a struggle for me.   I noticed the other day that my hair was getting thicker, my elastic went round less times than it used to.   I contribute this to the ultimate minerals. I wrote a post about the Ultimate Minerals about 4 months ago that kind of explains them a little bit more.

My kids love my dark water is what they call it.  It turns the water dark so they think its fun and they are getting great minerals for their bodies.  I have had these bald spots right by my temples and I have noticed that they are starting to fill in a little bit.  I also have had some baby hair start to grow right in front.  I attribute this all to drinking these ultimate minerals.  Its amazing that when we give our body the nutrients it needs it can repair or fix what is wrong.  It can make our body function like it should.

So if your looking for something to help you out with postpartum and even regular hair loss here is something you should give a try.  It's so worth it.