Summer Giveaway!

Go enter my giveaway on meeUp! It's for a meeUp Baby Carrier in Tangerine Dot with Fuchsia border/lining. The giveaway runs till the end of May, so let all your friends know!

Whoopin' it up!

I sent out these invitations to 8 of Alec's friends for a night time scavenger hunt that we hosted last night. Before the friends and their families came, our families came for dinner. Not sure what we were thinking by cramming two parties into one night...whew! That was a lot of work!!

Alec specifically requested a "cake-mix cake with mountains of lumpy, tie-dyed icing, and a number eight in Twinkies" on it! I"m a hater of all pre-packaged foods and it made me cringe, but as you can see, I gave him what he wanted. We bought a back-up cake just in case...
The Twinkie Cake, as we dubbed it, turned out to be a hit with kids and adults alike.

What started out as 8 kids and their siblings turned into what seemed like about 20 kids once it got dark. I have no pictures of the fun in the dark because I was too busy running around like a lunatic trying to keep track of everyone and everything that I could not see. Once the scavenger hunt started, the backyard looked like it was full of UFOs. We gave all the kids headlamps or glow sticks and there was no light at all except for the dwindling fire that we were keeping for s'mores later.

Apparently everyone had a good time, I was too busy to notice! I always feel like a truck hit me after my kids birthday parties; I never feel like I got to enjoy them or visit with anyone except for the brave souls who ask me if they can help with anything. Maybe someday I'll afford to hire someone to run the party so I can attend as a guest and enjoy it!

Oh, and a big thank you to Brittany for using my camera for me!!!!!! At least I can see what it looked like afterward...

Dairy-Free Pt. One

I'm not going to attempt to actually "write" an article about why commercially available dairy products are not a food our family chooses to eat. I'm simply going to lay out some key points of interest and provide links to my sources. My intention in doing this is to peak your interest, and encourage you to find your own information that will be valuable to you.

(If at any time you feel uncomfortable while reading this, OR inclined to leave a nasty comment, please remember that the red X in the upper corner of your screen will immediately remove said discomfort. *grin*)

Ready? Here we go...

~Commercial dairy products affect the way the immune system functions~

::From an article by Robert Cohen, published on the Not Milk! homepage:

"The average American drinks milk and eats cheese containing new strains of bacteria, immune to the 52 different antibiotics which are also present in milk."

You know how scientists are saying that if you over use antibiotics, your body will become immune to them and they will be less or completely ineffective? Well, the above quote means that milk drinkers are consuming not only new strains of bacteria, but also a dizzying array of antibiotics, more than any human should ever put in their body.

:: From an article by Dr. Akilah El, Ph.D., N.D., found here: http://www.celestialhealing.net/milkpage.htm

"The Biggest problem with cow’s milk is that the protein in the cow’s milk damages the human immune system. Amino acids, the units that make up proteins, are building blocks for all living cells. When amino acids in our food are properly broken down by the digestive system into protein, it does no harm to the immune system. Protein from milk, however, is absorbed into the blood fully undigested, provoking an immune response. Repeated exposure to these proteins disrupts normal immune functions and may eventually lead to diseases."

::Dairy products are often a large contributing factor in how healthy our kids are. In his globally renown book titled, "Baby and Child Care", Dr. Benjamin Spock writes, "I no longer recommend dairy products. the essential fats that are needed for brain development are found in vegetable oils. Milk is very low in these essential fats and high in the saturated fats that encourage artery blockage and weight problems as children grow.". More on this can be found here: http://www.milksucks.com/sickkids.asp

:: In relation to the function of the immune system, is the inflammatory response to toxins or allergens introduced to the human body. Here is an excerpt from an article written by Eric Eamedes, found here:http://www.thehumandiet.com/veracitas/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=6&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0

"For desert she made apple pie and Hagen Daas® ice cream – my favorite dessert. I ate it with glee – the first dairy product I had eaten in 6 weeks. And within a few hours I experienced the return, with a vengeance, of the du Toit cramps. Now I realized that I had been weeks without them. I was sold – it all came together for me. My allergies were gone, my face cleared up, my throat was neither painful nor itchy, my stomach pains were gone and I had lost 30 pounds – all in 6 weeks."

This gentleman had grown up, as many Americans do, with milk as an unquestioned part of life. After all, he asks, where would we get all our calcium? After being scheduled for surgery to remove his tonsils, he had a friend advise him to try going dairy-free for 6 weeks. After experiencing the complete turn-around of his health issues, he canceled his surgery.
(As a side note, I would highly recommend anyone who is curious about dairy issues to read this entire article!)

Next time:
~Commercial Dairy Products are the largest cause of allergic response, both in children and adults~

Just sitting down to see what comes out, and thought I'd throw a couple pictures in for good measure. That's my kiddos on Easter morning, and how lovely to have a sunny day for a change! The past several Easters around here have been wet and miserable.

I made Ava's dress out of some meeUp fabric that I had sitting around, after I was inspired by a shop on Etsy. I whipped this up on Saturday night (I finished it at 2 am!) and the compliments rolled in all day on Sunday! *wink* Not to toot my own horn or anything...I actually really like the dress, but am a little tired of that fabric. I've been using it for meeUp for quite a while and I think after I'm sold out of it I'll discontinue it and find a different pinky, girly print.

Today was what I call a "coffee day"; cold and damp outside, wearing my Uggs and a sweater inside and drinking a pot of decaf to take the edge off of the chill. Coffee doesn't make me feel that great, but it sure hits the spot in moderation.

And, speaking of moderation, I gave up sweets for Lent (which I've done for several years) AND I've been watching my grain intake AND I've been getting up at 6:30 every morning and excercising instead of putting it off till later in the afternoon. SO...I've lost a couple pounds...SO I might not look like a beached whale in spandex this summer if I keep it up!!! I'd like to continue with the no sweets thing, but there are some birthdays coming up, which makes it hard.

Marvin just got back from his yearly trip on "tax night" to the post office that's open late on the other side of town. I can't believe he does this to himself every year! He is always so tired and miserable the next day. In his defense, though, this year a miracle occured and he was working on taxes in January and was about 2/3 of the way finished. When he went back to open up the file last weekend to finish, it was completely deleted! ARRRRGH! He had to start over...poor guy!

I'm running a giveaway this week over at Peanut Butter and Pickles for an adorable little girls hat, come and check it out and see if you can win!

I'll put up the second part of my "no cheese post" before the end of the week...I mostly wrote all that stuff to remind me why we don't eat dairy, it's easy for me to figure out something once and say I don't do it, but I often forget the reasons why. So read along if you wish!

Ok, I don't normally do this sort of rambling, non-specific post. I kinda feel like I'm on the phone with a friend at the end of the day or something! So, friends, do ya like this kind of chatty post??

Say Cheese!

When I was in high school, our English teacher had us write a speech about a controversial subject and deliver it to our class. Mine was titled, "Don't drink your milk". My classmates stared at me during the speech like I was speaking French, and no one said a word afterward during the Q&A session.

I knew what I was getting into when I chose that subject. Here in America, drinking milk is as much an unquestioned part of daily life as the sunshine and the trees. People are becoming gradually more aware and responsible for their own health, but 15 years ago when I made that speech, it was the equivalent of me saying that a tree was really a man-made flagpole and the leaves were fabric flags. It sounded ludicrous!

At our house, we are largely dairy free. Among the five of us, we have various degrees of problems with dairy ranging from full-on allergy to just a little intestinal discomfort. That alone is good cause for our avoidance of dairy, but there are a plethora of other reasons why dairy foods, as they are commercially available, should never be consumed.

Before I begin displaying a fraction of the "anti-dairy" research to be found, let me temper my statements with this: We love ice cream, and cheese on our pizza. We eat ice cream all summer long and have home made pizza several times per month. But that's ALL. We don't drink milk as a beverage, we don't cover our nightly dinners with shredded cheddar, and we skip the cheese when dining out.

Everyone has (or should have) something in life that they're passionate about. When you choose nutrition as your passion, you must also adopt the "everything in moderation" slogan. You must realize that food is inherently associated with culture and woven into the fabric that is the human life. No one has died or become less moral from consuming the occasional nutritionally void or even harmful food stuff.

The choice our family makes to be nutritionally conscious and selective about what we put in our bodies does not, by any means, make us superior to anyone on a cultural level, but it does give us an edge in preventative health care. By imprinting our children's bodies as they're developing with whole, unprocessed, easily digestible foods, we are laying the groundwork for healthy adults with healthy habits.

It is simply a choice we make for our family. Nothing more.

Over the next week or so, I'll be posting various segments of research on why dairy foods, as they are commercially available, should never be consumed as a key part of our diets. While I welcome comments on this, I do not wish to debate or argue the subject. I will provide links to all my sources so that if anyone has questions, they can find the answers.

~If you want to get a jump start on the reading, check out Brittany's post on the same subject~

10 on 10

Joining in the fun over at Brittany's for "10 on10"
Take a look...

Consequences of a late night

Waiting to be read

It's still too cold to put these away

In the office

Potty-training incentive

On my front porch

Too cold to wear the tutu by itself