28 Random Things About Me

In honor of my 28th birthday, I thought I would give you a list of 28 random things about me.  I've seen others bloggers do something similar, and I always enjoy getting to know the person behind the blog a little better.  I have written these in no particular order; I just wrote whatever I happened to think of at the moment.

My hubby and I

1. I am the youngest of 4 children, and the only girl in my family.

2. My favorite pastime is playing the piano; I started learning when I was 4 years old.

3. I once had a dog named named Buster whose favorite food was corn on the cob.  (I told you these were random!)

4. I consider chocolate to be its own food group.

5. I am left-handed.

6. I am very, very, very un-artistic and uncoordinated.  Successful crafts definitely have to posted to my blog because they are such a huge accomplishment.

7. My least favorite chore is cleaning the kitchen.

8. I can't stand the feel of cotton balls (think fingernails on chalkboard.)

9. My favorite food is chocolate.

10. I think coffee is disgusting.

11. During the warmer months, I usually wear a comfy top with a skirt and flip flops.

12. During the winter I wear my PJ's all day and don't go anywhere unless I have to.

13. I like jewelry, but I only wear it a couple times a year.  I'm just that forgetful.

14. Have I mentioned yet that I love chocolate?

15. I'm typically a tough-it-out kind of girl when I have a headache.  Medicine is a very last resort.

16.  I choose practicality over beauty nearly every time.

17. I have owned (and worn regularly) several articles of clothing for over 15 years.  I do not wear 15-year-old clothing in public; I only wear things in public that are 10 years old or newer!  🙂

18. I do not like to cook.

19. A lot of people think I'm snobby when they first meet me.  They don't realize that I'm really just shy and don't know what to say when I don't know someone.

20. Once I get to know you, you'll probably wish I would quit talking so much!

21. I have three kids – ages 1, 3, and 5.

22. I'm in my first year of homeschooling my 5-year-old, and it's harder than I thought it would be.

23.  I grew up near Atlanta, GA.

24. I currently live in North Carolina.

25. My husband and I both grew up in Christian homes.  (What a blessing!)

26. Besides the piano, I have also learned to play clarinet and a tiny bit of violin, but they have both been in the closet since I graduated from college.

27. Blogging is my very favorite hobby, and hearing from my readers brings a huge smile to my face!

28.  If you ever want to make my day, just bring me some chocolate.

I hope you enjoyed getting to know a little bit more about me, and I hope you all have a great weekend with your families!

15 Minute Tasks for the Week

This week we'll work on disinfecting the living room.

Monday

Take down and wash curtains and other linens.

Tuesday

Clean the ceiling fan and knock down any cobwebs from the ceiling.

*Helpful tips for cleaning ceiling fans*

1. Use an old pillowcase to clean the fan blades.  Just slip it over the blade, grip it tightly, and slide it back off of the blade.  The dust will be contained inside the pillowcase instead of floating around in the air.
2. Clean the rest of the fan with a swiffer duster or a damp rag.
3. Keep a spray bottle of water handy, and spray the air around the fan as you dust.  The mist will help the dust particles fall to the floor instead of floating around in your face and making you sneeze.  (I tried this for the first time this week, and was amazed that I had no problems with sneezing, itchy eyes, sore throat, etc. like I almost always do when I’m around dust.)

Wednesday

Mist walls with a non-toxic disinfectant.  Scrub any smudges, crayon drawings, etc. off with a rag.

Thursday 

Move furniture out from the wall.  Dust the baseboards and spray with disinfectant.  Vacuum the entire floor, including underneath of the furniture.  If you have a wood floor, sweep and spray the entire floor with disinfectant.

Friday

Spray all furniture with a non-toxic disinfectant and wipe down with a rag.

Saturday

Remove any items that do not belong there.  Place them in the correct places in the house, throw away trash, and get rid of things you no longer use.

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Spring Children’s Craft: Coffee Filter Butterflies

The following is a post from our contributor, Andrea.

My little girl loves doing crafts.  Anything that involves glitter, paint, glue, or coloring is right up her alley.  Since it has been cold, and my husband takes the car to work each day, we have been “stuck” indoors with cabin fever!  I've been trying to spice up our daily routine by sprinkling some crafts and new activities into the week.  Recently we made a very simple craft: coffee filter butterflies.  (I have an 18 month old and a 3 year old, and both were able to do this craft.  I only helped with the gluing).

Supplies:

• Coffee filters
• Food coloring
• Small bowls or Dixie cups
• Paintbrushes
• Clothespins (one for each butterfly)
• Pipe Cleaners
• Moving eyes (optional)
• Magnets (optional)

If you have older children you can use Elmer's glue or craft glue.  My kids are young and impatient, so I used a hot glue gun to put their butterflies together.  If you are pressed for time, you can use a hair dryer to speed up the drying process after the filters are “painted.”  We split our craft into two segments – one before lunch, and one after nap time.

Directions:

1.  Prepare the area.  I have a plastic table cloth I place on the table when we are crafting, and my kids wore paint smocks since we were using food coloring.  I also had a box of baby wipes and a roll of paper towel handy…which my son put to good use.

2.  Mix colors.  In each small bowl or cup add 1 Tablespoon of water.  Then add several drops of food coloring.  The more food coloring, the more vibrant the color will be on your coffee filter.

3.  Paint.  I placed a paper towel under each coffee filter to help absorb the excess water.  I flattened the coffee filter and then let my kids use the paint brushes to drop the colored water onto the filters.  Then we hung the filters up to dry.  {I used clothespins to clip them to a hanger over the bathtub}.  Let the filters dry completely.  We painted before lunch, and completed the butterflies after nap time.  You can speed up the process with a hair dryer if needed.

4.  Assemble the butterfly.  Scrunch the filter up in the center so that it will clip inside a clothespin.  The clothespin is the body of the butterfly.  You can have older children paint the clothespin if you want, but my kids were too little for that.  I added some hot glue to keep the filter inside the clothespin, because I knew my son would try to take it apart.  We cut each pipe cleaner in half, and then folded the piece into a “v” to form the antennae   We glued it onto the clothespin, along with some moving eyes.  My daughter insisted that the butterfly needed a mouth, so we added that detail with a Sharpie marker.  Add a magnet strip to the back of your butterfly if you want them to hang on the fridge.

That's it!  It's a simple craft, but my kids had fun creating a mess with the colored water, and then getting a butterfly out of it.  They also like playing with magnets on the fridge while I am working in the kitchen.

15 Minute Tasks for The Week

I'm finally back with another week of 15 minute tasks!  We'll start with Tuesday, though, since I'm a day late getting this up!

This week we'll be working in the pantry.  Mine is more like a catch-all room, so I've got a lot of work to do in there!

Tuesday

Grab a trash bag and set the timer for 15 minutes.  Go through every shelf, throwing away food that is expired, that you know you're never going to eat, or that you know you shouldn't eat!  If you're trying to take baby steps toward healthier living, don't hinder yourself by keeping food that is bad for you in your house!  If you're not sure, read the labels, google certain ingredients, and learn what things are!  I have kicked a lot of food out of my house this way.  It didn't seem so bad on the surface, but when I checked into what I was really eating, I just couldn't bring myself to eat it anymore.

Wednesday

Today you need to take a rag and a bottle of cleaner into the pantry.  (You can use my DIY non-toxic cleaner if you like.)  Set the timer for 15 minutes and start clearing off shelves and wiping them down with your cleaner and rag.  You can put the stuff back on the shelves any old way because we'll be organizing everything later.

Thursday

Head into the pantry with small baskets, jars, or bins.  Group like items together and place smaller items into baskets.  Use jars if you'd like for opened pasta, rice, beans, etc.

Friday

Finish up organizing the items on the shelves.  If you keep other items stored in your pantry, organize them in the most efficient way you can.

Saturday

Vacuum the floor, scrub the walls, doorframe, and lightswitch, and you're done!

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Health Update

I know I've been quite scarce around here lately, and I feel like I owe you all an explanation as to why I've been so quiet.

Mainly, I've just hit a very low spot as far as my health goes.  I sleep in very late in the mornings and spend the rest of the day trying to take care of the basics of feeding myself and the kids and straightening up the house so that it's not a complete disaster when my husband gets home.

During the kids' naptime I generally end up needing some more sleep myself.

I'll be all right, though.  The doctor I am seeing is everything I have been looking for, and we are slowly working through everything.  My body was so nutritionally depleted due to hormone disruption and poor digestion.  All the healthy food I was eating was not doing me much good because I just wasn't absorbing the nutrients.  I truly believe she's got me on the right track to getting all that resolved; it's just going to take some time.  And so often with things like this, you get worse before you get better.  It's just the body's natural response to clearing itself of all the built up toxins.  I've definitely spent the past couple weeks pretty near the bottom, so I'm hoping that the only way I have to go from here is up!

I'm not exactly thoroughly excited about a lot of the dietary restrictions.  She made me take an ALCAT test for those who are familiar with that, and there are a whole slew of things I can't eat for at least 6 months.  Meals have been a challenge so far, but once these things are removed from my system, she is confident that I will feel a million times better.  I know it will be worth it, but honestly I have felt like giving up.  I used to like food, and now so many of the things I enjoy have been taken away!  So many of the things on my “approved” list are things I dislike.  But, it's not good to eat the same few things all the time either, so I have to force myself to include as much variety as I can even if things aren't my favorite.  I tolerate eating now rather than enjoying it.

I'm not saying all this to complain or try to make anyone feel sorry for me.  I'm choosing to do this for my own sake and the sake of my family.  I'm just being honest and telling you that it's not always easy.  One day I hope I will be able to blog from “the other side” and tell you how worth it it was.  Until then, I've got to stick with this thing!

Please tell me:

Are you in the same boat with me – trying to get a handle on your health?  We're in this together!

Are you “on the other side” – please offer encouragement for those of us who have a long way to go!

Are you somewhere in the midst of your journey?  Let us know how it's going!

Are you thinking about getting into the boat, but aren't sure whether you're ready to commit?  Let us know; maybe we can help!

Herbal spring tonic from a little flower you know very well!

The following is a guest post from contributor Lauren.

Do any of you recognize this cute little flower?

{photo credit}

I bet you do! It loves to grow wild and it grows EVERYWHERE during the springtime! Many people consider it to be an invasive little plant and try to kill it with everything under the sun ending with a “cide”. That's a NO NO! This little spring flower is one of a honeybee's first available nectar after a long winter of nothing and is also an excellent little flower to provide vitamins and minerals for a spring tonic for us!

Isn't that neat?

Something that we consider to be a nuisance or invasive has actually been given to us by God for health and nutrition and has been given to the bees to help them reestablish after a long winter. We need our bees to be healthy so that they will pollinate our crops, fruit trees, and make us yummy honey to enjoy year round. We also need the spring greens to detoxify our bodies and get those sluggish immune systems going again after a long winter of being inside battling the winter woes! Here's some detailed information on how to make sure you recognize this plant correctly and also on how to use it for your health!

Disclaimer: All of the following information about the identification and use of this plant is accurate to the best of my knowledge. With that being said, only attempt to harvest and eat wild plants that you can identify with 100% accuracy. Buy a field guide or 2 on foraging for wild plants to learn to identify them at all stages. Cross-reference information and photos of plants with different sources. Know if there are any similar looking plants that might be poisonous. Before consuming a wild plant for the first time, eat only a small portion in case you are allergic.

General Characteristics

Purple dead nettle is a short lived annual in the mint family (Lamiaceae ). Usually growing no larger than 1ft in height, it has squared stems (characteristic of mint family) and soft fuzzy leaves with a opposite leaf arrangement. Leaves also have a bit of purple in them. Flowers are pink/purple and very small.

Edible Uses

The leaves, stem, and flowers are all edible. Purple dead nettle is very nutritious being high in iron, vitamins, and fiber. It can be eaten raw as a salad green or cooked. Try boiling in water for 20-30 minutes, drain, and season to taste. Collect when in flower for fresh eating or for storage by drying.

Medicinal Uses

The entire plant is an astringent, styptic, diaphoretic, diuretic, and purgative. A decoction can be made to help with hemorrhaging and the freshly bruised leaves can be applied to external cuts. Make a tea to use as a laxative or tonic by adding 2 tablespoons of fresh or dried herb to 1 cup hot water and steep for 10 minutes. Strain and drink in 1/2 cup doses.

I have this little flower growing ALL over my yard this year and I am definitely going to harvest, dehydrate at a low temp until dry, and store this valuable little plant for medicinal purposes! So get out there and SPRING into learning about what is growing in your yard that has been put there by God to help you stay healthy and fit for His service! James 1:17 says “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning”. Make sure to take time and enjoy the good gifts that God gives us each and every day of the year! Happy Spring!