Green Smooth Challenge - Part 2

I've had a few questions that I wanted to address as well as mention a couple of things I didn't in my previous post.

Chew Your Liquids and Drink Your Solids

You might be thinking "What? Yes, she has indeed lost it!", but alas, I have more info to share. When you chew your food really well and mix it with saliva, it starts to breakdown the cell walls of all that raw yumminess and therefore your body can absorb the nutrition and digest it easier. So, make sure you kind of "chew" your smoothie before swallowing it down. I'm not talking using your green smoothie as mouthwash, just a little "chew" then swallow. Don't forget to chew all of your other food really well.

Onto Green Smoothies and Off of Stimulants

I've already talked about the exuberant amount of money that Starbucks has gotten from me in the past, so I don't need to go into that again. Instead, when Big P changed his schedule, we started making coffee at home - "to save money". Ha! We threw our health out the window and soon we were both extremely addicted. I would have 2 large mugs every morning - which was around four 6 oz. cups of coffee! Did you know that you can get addicted with as little as one 6 oz. cup of coffee each morning or two to three 12 oz. cokes (a coke being any carbonated beverage!)?

I decided to ditch the coffee and get onto green smoothies and the last three days have been difficult, which just went to show me how addicted coffee could really be. The first day was okay, the second I spent most of the day "foggy brained", and the third (today) I ended up with a migraine. Big P found some Excedrin Migraine in the cabinet, which I happily took instead of using one of my $75 shots, only to find out that Excedrin Migraine has some caffeine in it. Gee! Big P decided to ditch coffee with me and he has had headaches the last 3 days. We think the end is in sight, though!

This should be an encouragement for you to try the principle of replacement and get onto green smoothies and off stimulants. I'm not sure what the exact numbers are for coffee, but after a coke your immune system is compromised for a complete 30 minutes. In our family, it takes a good week for everyone to get over something once it gets started, so I'm putting my foot down and saying that I will not purchase soft drinks any longer. They were never really a thing for me. I have told my children that if we are at something special, they can make their own decision on those things, but they may end up sick. I'll still nurture them and take care of them, because I'm a mama and that's what I do. :)

Doesn't It Taste Horrible?

To this I will say a big, hearty "NO!!". You can easily make going to green smoothies a easy transition for everyone by adding more fruit than greens. Mixed berries will make a purple smoothie instead of a green one. With a banana, you will have a creamy texture, which we are finding very yummy. You'll want to eventually get to 50/50 on both greens and fruit, but don't push it. Stick with very neutral flavors of greens. Spinach is a great choice and you can get a 2.5 lb. bag of it at Costco for $4.29. That's a whole lot of spinach! You can freeze it, too. It won't make a good salad, but it will be perfect for smoothies. Costco has a large bag of mixed berries, too. It has a very yummy fruit flavor. You'll be shocked at how good it is! And don't forget the power of a opaque cup with a lid!

When Does the Challenge Start?

TODAY! October 1st! Robyn of Green Smoothie Girl recommends a quart of green smoothie per day for adults. She serves her children 1 pint each in the afternoon when they get home from school, before they have another healthy snack. Right now I'm drinking 1 quart and Big P asked me to bump him up from 1 pint to 1 quart, today! Woohoo! I'm going to start my big kids out at 1 cup each and the littles one at 1/2 a cup and slowly increase to 1 pint for the bigs and 1 cup for the littles before breakfast. "Gotta drink your green smoothie before you have some of the yummy ______ (whole wheat pancakes, banana nut muffins, apple oatmeal, etc.) mama made for breakfast!" :)

Water, Water, Water

Drink it! Plain and simple! Half your body weight in ounces, each day. Don't gulp it, sip it. Your body can handle 1 cup every hour and if you don't drink it all at once, your body will use it and you won't be sending most of it into the septic tank. It's pertinent to helping your body flush those toxins.

Doctor Recommends Green Smoothies

I heard from a friend today that she has meningitis, which started as West Nile Virus. Because it is viral, there isn't a whole lot that her doctor can do for her right now. He suggested prayer, rest, and nothing but green smoothies. She needs nutrient dense foods right to flush her system and clean her blood. What does that tell you?!

I can't wait to hear from those of you who are doing this! Come on! You can do it! It only takes 21 days to make a habit and a green smoothie is something you can take anywhere.

As a bonus, I will tell you that quart sized jars don't fit well into car cup holders and you might end up with green smoothie running down your console and your husband and oldest son outside helping you clean it all up - so that you can go to Costco and buy more spinach for your green smoothies. A lidded container that fits in your cup holder is best for green smoothies!

Step #1: Green Smoothie Challenge

I'm sorry it's been so long since I've posted anything. As usual, I'm in an organizing mood and "trying to survive" mode at the same time! I've been extremely exhausted lately. I wish I could attribute it to being pregnant, but I truly don't think that is the case. Lately I've been very convicted about eating habits and have a true desire to shape up my body to be a wonderful dwelling place for the Holy Spirit. In the process, I must teach my children about eating the way that God desires us to. He created all kinds of wonderful fruits and veggies, nuts and seeds for us to eat and yet how many of these do we actually get into our diet?

It doesn't have to be complicated, but I think I have made it much more complicated because I've tried to take our "normal" diet and make it healthy and I just don't think that's the way to go about it. Doing things that way has you purchasing all kinds of processed foods with an "organic" label or paying double the price because this is the "healthy" brand. Soon enough, your pantry may be filled to overflowing with organic/healthy processed foods that are doing no more for you than their conventional counterparts.

Several years ago I was turned onto green smoothies by Serene, Pearl and Vange. That was probably 2005. I tried to make them and even kept it up for a while, but I was eventually turned off because they weren't a regular part of my diet and I was the only one drinking them. It's just not as much fun when no one else is on board. Can I hear an "Amen!"?

As I read through the book of Daniel and contemplated my exhaustion, I knew there had to be a better way. God could not really desire for me to live in a lethargic state with all my littles running around. With the desire for more children but lacking energy to keep up, I started going back to the Bible on the matter, and thus, back to the basics. Even before I purposely went to the Bible on the subject, God was using my quiet time with Him to spark in my heart a desire for eating right.

Searching for a raw granola recipe for a friend, I came upon a site that really caught my eye - www.greensmoothiegirl.com. I'm not hyperlinking yet - so don't go anywhere! Robyn has such GREAT information, that is very sound so far, and very much in line with the Biblical principles I have been searching out. She makes climbing the mountain to a whole foods with 60-80% raw diet, possible. She has "flattened the learning curve" for those that want to massively improve their diets.

Warning: I believe that Robyn may be Mormon. I'm not sure of that, though. She mentions God several times in the portion that I have read, but she also has several references to evolution. Now, I'm stable enough in my beliefs that I can look beyond that to see the truth in what is written, as all truth is God's truth. Evolution is not from God and it is NOT the truth - so I ignore those references. It's a case of "chew the meat and spit out the bones" and in this circumstance there is plenty meat (Truth) with a few bones (Lies). I'm VERY leery of reading anything that is not Biblical and therefore, keep my secular reading down to a VERY MINIMUM.

My plan is to document my journey through the next year as I rejuvenate our family's diet always going back to the Bible and what God says on the matter, while using the 12 steps to Whole Foods plan to get us on track. I'm evening plotting the plan out on the calendar.

Because Robyn offers the 12 Steps to Whole Foods ebook on her website, I'm going to try not repeat information here, but I would like to share a bit about what I learn from all the resources I'm reading right now. I'm also reading: Serene Allison's Rejuvenate Your Life!, Renee Ellison's booklet Turbo-Charged Nutrition for Peak Performance Kids, and Stormie Omartian's Greater Health God's Way.

So onto more good stuff...

We all know that we need more greens in our diet and yet how much salad can one actually eat in a day. The serving sizes that the government recommends are really hilarious when it comes to veggies; as a 2" piece of cucumber is considered a "serving".

Anyone can make a green smoothie. I have a bosch blender currently and it is working fine for making my green smoothies. I have to work it a little for frozen fruit, but it's still going. The plan is for us to save and purchase a Blend-Tec HP3A. We used to own a Vita-Mix, but sold it so that I could get a grain mill. The Blend-Tec will do both grains and literally almost anything else you would want to blend and it's the same price as the Vita-Mix.

You want to drink about a quart of green smoothie a day. So, I'm issuing this challenge to you and would love to know who is going to take me up on it. Get your children in on the action. You simply must read what Robyn has to say about getting your children on board - they should not have a choice! You are the parent!!! Renee Ellison says the same exact thing.

1cup of water
lots of spinach or chard - you want to stick with the neutral flavored greens at first
blend the heck out of it for 90 seconds
put in a banana - to make it creamy
add in your fruit

Robyn makes it easy on her youtube video:



So who's in? 30 days! 1 quart a day! 15 servings of raw fruits and greens! Leave me a comment!

picture from: http://www.rawfamily.com

Scripture Memory System & Freebie

A good friend sent this to me over a year ago, I'm sure. We used a different system last year (spiral bound index cards). While that system was great for what we needed at the time, I think this is going to be so much better. We memorize Scripture together as a family, and pretty much all memorize the same Scipture verses. A friend also mentioned that she is going to alter this system a bit and color code the cards for each family member so that they just have one box. I love this idea!

Basically you have a box where you will keep index cards with Scripture written on them. A card is studied daily until you can say it together. Then it is moved behind one of the various tabs where it is studied on an: Odd day, Even day, Day of the Week, then ultimately once per month. Sonya of Simply Charlotte Mason put it together and describes it best.

We memorized James 1 last year, and started on James 2. I want my children to keep these verses fresh in their mind. Time is limited, so I decided to type them out on the index cards instead. I formatted the file for 3x5 cards and have included it here for those that want it. You can then add more verses that you want to memorize.

Scrapbooking the Simple Way

A friend of mine from high school (found via facebook) saw that I was an avid scrapbooker. She emailed me to ask how to get started. She had many questions and just wanted to get started inexpensively and easily. She was clearly overwhelmed with all the choices there are now. I was scared to answer her at first. It's been so very long since I taught scrapbooking classes. So much of what I do now is just second nature and I wasn't sure I could formulate it into words. As I started typing, it just came flowing out and I gave her hints and tips that have taken me years to learn. I'm a digital scrapbooker now, but occassionally I pull out the paper scrapbooks and enjoy scrapbooking with P10. As I was typing, my mind was flooded with the memories of my beginning scrapbooking days, scrapbooking friends, and scrapbooking get togethers. What fun we had!

At the end, I thought "hey, this is pretty good!" and thought it might be helpful to some of the people that follow my blog, but aren't current scrapbookers.

So, here it is, in it's very raw form:

Jenny,

Sorry this is so late in coming....

Okay, the jist of it is, if you want to keep this an affordable hobby, you have to simplify. Ditch the idea of using ribbon - unless you want to tie it in your hair! LOL

Before I was a digital scrapbooker, I didn't use 3-D products at all. They bulk up your albums and that is not a good thing. They are pricey, and they cause you to spend way too much time putting a page together.

First, I want to recommend the book Photo Freedom. You can find it on Amazon and sometimes Barnes & Noble. This will really help you to see your pictures and not be overwhelmed with thinking you have to get them all into scrapbooks. Not gonna happen, so don't sweat it! You have more important things to do - like take care of your family and scrapbook! LOL

You want good albums - this is your most important investment. I would recommend Creative Memories albums and pages. Everything else can be purchased elsewhere although CM does have good products. They also USED to promote the idea of simplicity, but I think they have really gotten away from that.

This is my favorite adhesive:
http://www.funkyplaygrounddesigns.com/store/product.php?productid=940&cat=35&page=1

But in truth, anything that is acid free from Walmart works fine. Also the liquid mono-adhesive is really great! http://www.funkyplaygrounddesigns.com/store/product.php?productid=989&cat=35&page=1

You can find these things at Hobby Lobby.

Paper and stickers - stick to acid free and you'll be happier if you get something that looks good to you and you don't just buy something because it matches your theme. So, if you are scrapbooking a circus page and you find circus stickers, but you don't LOVE them, don't use them - don't buy them! Instead, find some bright geometric shapes or something, because you are more likely to use them and like that page later than if you just used the tacky stickers because they had a clown on them! Make sense?

Copying is the NAME OF THE GAME in scrapbooking. There is no reason you have to pull out all the stops and try to be creative here. Your son will love looking at his scrapbook if you actually put it together and he won't care how "plain" it is, or what you used on it. Don't sweat it. Grab a copy of a scrapbooking magazine at Hobby Lobby or B&N. Find a layout you like. If it is of a little girl's first birthday, but you have pictures of your son's first camping trip, you look at the general layout of the page - where she placed the pictures, where she placed the paper and stickers and you use what you have and place it similar to where she did.

When you get better at "scraplifting" you can flip that page on it's side and use it as a guide that way - giving you a completely different look.

And if you have a local scrapbook store or creative memories consultant, there is nothing more fun than gathering together with some friends and putting some pages together. They are there to help you if you get stuck - which you won't if you read above and take my advice - and it's just fun to show off your creations and have everyone oooh and ahhh.

I have put together about 20 scrapbooks over the last 9 1/2 years and I can truly say that your child will find so much joy in seeing those pictures.

Now, I'm just going to touch a little bit on journaling... DO IT! That's where you write about the picture. Here are a few simple prompts to get your mind to going when you look at the pictures. Who? When? Where? Why? When you get more comfortable writing you can say how you were feeling that day or "It was such a bittersweet day to see him graduate from Kindergarten. I was excited he was growing into a big boy, but I was sad it was happening so quickly." You also don't need to write about every single picture. If you are putting a page together of some time ya'll spent at the playground, it will be OBVIOUS that he is sliding or he is swinging, etc. On this type of thing I would focus on writing something like: DeSoto Creative Playground September 2009 The truth of the matter is that I needed a break from the house, so we packed up a lunch and headed to the playground. It was a nice break for both of us. He played while I sat down on the bench to read xyz.

It doesn't need to be hard! Really! Just get started and you will see. Don't let perfectionism creep in either. You don't need to make prize winning pages or write novels. These books are for you and your family. If you make it too hard, you won't do it and that would be sad. :(

I hope this helps you get started. Let me know if you have any more questions and thanks for giving me the opportunity to share about something I really love!

Your old (and getting older!) friend,
Christine

photo: http://www.vclib.org/img2/GR_scrapbook.jpg

Book: Breastfeeding and Fertility

My mama would say that I've been a "readin' fool" lately. I just finished Breastfeeding and Fertility by Jenny Silliman last night.

I haven't met Jenny, but I know we would become fast friends if I did. Well, I may just hush and listen to her talk. She reminds me of a young Nancy Campbell. In fact, she quotes Nancy several times in the book.

Jenny's sweet spirit and calming encouragement really resonate in the pages of this book. Along with that, the ending of all 20 chapters has a resounding theme - breastfeeding delays fertility.

In posting this, I fear (okay, probably not the best word, but work with me) that some may think that I nurse my babies to delay fertility. In truth, this is not the case at all. When we decided to leave our family size to the Lord, we did just that and fully believe that God opens and closes the womb. Understanding that, also means understanding that God has designed a woman's body to nurse her babies for, what the world would call, an extended period of time. In the Bible, we see over and over wonderful references to the nursing mother and from further research, we find that babies were generally weaned between 3-5 years. Personally we don't go this long and I have never tandem nursed my babies. Usually about 2/3 of the way through a pregnancy, I will completely wean the youngest one and even this is a very slow process.

Here is how long I have nursed my children: C13 (never nursed :( ), P10 (11 months), B5 (20 months), L3 (22 months), A1 (15 months and going strong!). My cycle has returned at varying stages, but it was very dependent on how I nursed, and still no cycle with A yet.

My last two babies haven't had bottles. My last 3 haven't had pacifiers. My last 4 have all slept with us or close to us. Even with my oldest, before Big P and I got married, C13 would end up in bed with me along with a bottle (that I laboriously had to get up and make in the middle of the night). With my 4th, L3, I ended up starting my cycle at 7 months because I wasn't eating enough to sustain a good milk supply. I had a miscarriage not long after that.

With A1, things have been very different. He would not eat the solid foods I was trying to give him at 8 months, 9 months, 10 months, 11, and yes, even 12 months. At his first birthday he was treated with pudding instead of cake or anything of the like - because he would just gag.

In the midst of my frustration, I cried out to the Lord for Him to show me what to do. He gave me a peace in the midst of my self-created storm. I then went to the bookshelf and picked out Breastfeeding and Fertility. This was merely for breastfeeding encouragement, not the fertility side. Because I was in the middle of several projects, I just read the back cover and was immediately relieved of my frustrations.

The very things I was resenting and rejecting where the very things that God made my body to do, total mothering!

I was freed. No longer would I be concerned with what others thought about my nursing exclusively at his age (12+ months). He is on some solids - up to 2nd baby foods and 3rds on some things, at this point.

Jenny covers everything in this book and at the end has a list of 20 books she recommends on breastfeeding and mothering. Some of the chapters go into forgiveness (asking for forgiveness for not completely mothering at times, forgiving your own mother if she didn't nurse you, etc.), weaning, sleeping and more. Another reason I really I felt like I could relate to Jenny is because she has struggled with being overweight as well. She talks about nutrition, losing weight while nursing, and a small portion on what she has coined as W.E.A.L.T.H.S. (water, exercise, air, light, thoughts, healthy eating, and sleep - that's another post). She even covers, to a small extent, getting things done around the house when you are total mothering - including wearing an ERGO. I love my ERGO, but honestly I haven't worn it much to carry baby around so that I can get things done. Yesterday I strapped A1 on my back and went to town. He was so happy. Oh, and he is walking some for those that think it's absurd that I would carry a baby of his age on my back!

For quite some time I've considered myself a mother who loved all things natural. But accepting what is and completely embracing what God created you to do - those are different things and now I understand that thanks, in part, to this book!

art print from: http://store.encore-editions.com/Artists/Mary_Cassatt.html

Workbox Freebies

I needed a little break this morning while the 4 oldest were in the pool, so I decided to do a little "mock" digi scrapping that benefited our schooling - since that's the mode I'm in right now.

We will be using workboxes with our oldest 4, including C13, but his will be a means to an end, which I will post about later. Although I feel that the workbox system is WONDERFUL for all homeschoolers, our world runs on paper and digital (planners and such). I think that children should be trained, albeit slowly, into running on the system that the rest of the world runs on (disclaimer: I'm only speaking of the area of workboxes and planners.).

So, after that little rabbit trail, let me return to what I came here for. I made the boy scout workbox numbers for C13 and then just kept going. With her permission, I used Simply Susan's Let's Go Camping kit on all of it, except the red numbers, which come from To Everything A Season. (another rabbit trail here: all of Susan's products are $1 - yes, you read that correctly! ONE DOLLAR!!)

Here we have workbox numbers for a boy scout (hiker boy), a girl scout (hiker girl), camper girl (which has a girl with marshmallows and marshmallows instead of a hatchet), and camper boy (boy with marshmallows and marshmallows instead of a hatchet). Sorry, they are out of order! :( Images are linked to a 4shared folder that will contain all the workbox items I build - christinesworkboxstuff.4shared.com .

Recent Homeschooling Reads

I finished a couple of books recently and I thought since I had "reviewed" them on Shelfari, I would share about them here. I must preface the below "review" with the fact that I'm not a book reviewer. I'm also trying to get more selective in what I read, because it takes me a while to get through a book. Not because I'm a slow reader, but because I'm a slow reader! LOL Really, I love to ponder on what I read. I'm not much of a fiction reader, so often times I'm reading stuff with a lot of meat to it. I like to read, pray, implement, read, pray, implement.

For The Children's Sake by Susan Schaeffer Macaulay

This was a really incredible book that took me some time to get through. Mrs. Macaulay gave me plenty of meat to chew on and in many aspects I felt true conviction. I love how she summed up Miss Charlotte Mason's teaching so well and in a way where I wasn't really left wanting more. I would love to read Charlotte's books in their entirety, but for someone just getting started in this method of education, of life, this book would give plenty to think on until they were ready to digest more. My copy will be put in my daughter's hope chest, because I think this teaching is really that crucial.

I also must say that I'm now eager to read the rest of Mrs. Macaulay's books as well as Edith Schaeffer's (Susan Schaeffer Macaulay's mother) including The Gentle Art of Homemaking.

Sue Patrick's Workbox System User's Guide

I really loved this book. She gives so many great ideas for review activities and helping your child work through difficult areas of schoolwork. On a logistics note, I felt like I was left hanging a bit on the actual implementation of the system. She goes over it in various parts of the book, but I thought she should have done a "review" or gone into a bit more detail. Also, she is very adamant that you must use all of the details of her system exactly as she has designed them. We are going to use magazine boxes on shelves - they are cheap and easier to store. Many other ladies have come up with great systems that I think will work well. Overall I think this is going to be an incredible way to organize our school day.

We are implementing this system using cardboard magazine holders from IKEA. Also, there are some aspects of this system that I won't be using, that seem, at least to me, a bit too classroom oriented. I'm just choosing to spit out the bones.

Photo from: http://www.artsjournal.com/bookdaddy/Home_Photo_books.jpg