The Confident Mom Affiliate link

Reposting this for those who are getting my posts via email . . . I discovered after I wrote the post that The Confident Mom does have an affiliate program, so I signed up and edited the post to include the affiliate link and expand the info. about TCM a bit more.

My affiliate link is http://www.theconfidentmom.com?ap_id=purplekangaroo 

This gives me a percentage of any purchase you make through that link.

I'm using The Confident Mom Weekly Household Planner, a system my mom discovered and started using, that I decided to try too . . . it incorporates elements from Sidetracked Home Executives, Flylady and similar systems in a way that seems to be a really good fit for me. The lady who wrote it has chronic health issues (lupus) and it is designed in a way that seems so much less overwhelming and easier to do than other ways of organizing household tasks I've tried.

The tasks are divided up in a really incremental, manageable way, and I can just tell the kids to pick a job off the page posted on the refrigerator when it comes time to assign chores. It's pretty flexible, and at this point I'm just doing what I can and not worrying too much if it doesn't quite all get done.

No pressure at all, but if you do decide to check out the program and purchase it as a result of my post, I'd appreciate the affiliate points. :)

Scheduled Day

Day one (again) of trying to have a more planned-out schedule for the entire day, both for myself and the kids. So far it seems to be going pretty well, actually.

We just finished spending 30 minutes on chores, and now the kids are exercising (walking the dog and going up to the end of the driveway to meet our neighbor at the school bus stop and get the mail) while I take a bit of a rest break. I've been sick for the last several weeks with a respiratory and sinus infection that's been sapping my energy and putting me into a flare-up, but after 26 days it finally seems to be in the process of getting better, hopefully.

We had a hot breakfast (side pork, home-grown fried eggs, and bananas) and the kids are mostly done with school (7yo still has some to do later during her scheduled free time, because she wasn't diligent during school time, but AJ and M&M got done early enough to have an hour of extra free time).

Dinner is well underway--soup is put together and simmering on the stove, and I'll probably make biscuits or muffins to go with it. The main part of the soup is legumes--quinoa and a variety of split legumes--red lentils, matpe beans and pigeon peas. I added homemade broth (from simmering the bones from a chicken and a rabbit we raised and butchered and had for dinner earlier in the week); some fresh carrots, tomatoes, onions, garlic, sweet potato and a tomato; celery, chickweed, dandelions and deadnettle from our garden and fields; and some Himalayan pink salt and black pepper. So far it's looking and smelling very flavorful. I have some additive-free country-style breakfast sausage that I may cook up and add for flavor, perhaps--or maybe I'll just add a pat of butter and garnish with sour cream. If I don't add the meat, I may try blending up the soup with an immersion blender before adding some frozen sweet white corn just before serving (yes, we can have fresh corn now!). We'll have a green salad alongside, with some more wild greens added to the store-bought salad mix to add interest and nutritional density.

Now it's time for the next thing on our list--working on caring for the animals, cleaning out cages, etc. We'll have about an hour of family fun time together after dinner.

I'm using The Confident Mom Weekly Household Planner, a system my mom discovered and started using, that I decided to try too . . . it incorporates elements from Sidetracked Home Executives, Flylady and similar systems in a way that seems to be a really good fit for me. The lady who wrote it has chronic health issues (lupus) and it is designed in a way that seems so much less overwhelming and easier to do than other ways of organizing household tasks I've tried.

The tasks are divided up in a really incremental, manageable way, and I can just tell the kids to pick a job off the page posted on the refrigerator when it comes time to assign chores. It's pretty flexible, and at this point I'm just doing what I can and not worrying too much if it doesn't quite all get done.

* Full disclosure: After writing this post, I decided to look at see if TCM happened to have an affiliate program. They do, so I set up an account and edited the post to include my affiliate link. The link above will give me a kickback of any sales initiated through that link.

The Pleasure of Poultry

I've come to the blog several times to write a post, but so much has changed since I was blogging regularly that it seems overwhelming trying to catch my readers up to "life now" as opposed to "life then." I finally decided just to jump in and start writing about the "now," even if it leaves some gaps.

We now have small acreage (more than 5 acres, less than 10) in the country, which is an absolute dream come true for me. I've always been a farm girl at heart, and I feel so much more at home out here in the country, surrounded by fields and animals, and good-hearted farm people. Our nearest neighbor is a quarter of a mile away, but the neighbors here are a comfortable little community that finds the balance between having each others backs and "live and let live" in a way that suburban neighborhood politics can't reach.

I've always wanted poultry. Last summer we chicken-sat for a friend, which gave us a chance to try out having chickens. These weren't just any chickens--they were a small flock of Barred Plymouth Rocks that have been bred for generations by a hobbyist breeder who was working on getting show-quality characteristics and homestead production characteristics in the same flock. These birds are from lines carefully selected for good health, temperament, size, production, hardiness and longevity, foraging ability, and general gorgeous ideal chicken-ness. :)

We ended up purchasing a rooster and 4 hens from that flock, and also with the breeder's permission last fall we hatched out a couple of batches of BPR eggs.

Just for variety, we also ended up with a couple of Easter Eggers/"Americaunas" and a handful of bantam chickens. I had fallen in love with the midget white turkeys at my friend's house also, and I bought four turkey poults which turned out to be a tom and three hens. Midget white turkeys are a rare breed that are at adulthood only slightly larger than a chicken, and they are very friendly and full of personality. And, I obtained a few coturnix quail that were sort of thrown in with the turkeys. :)

I'm enjoying the poultry *so* much, and am finding them to be a fairly easy-maintenance type of livestock to own. Not only are the eggs beautiful and delicious, but the birds themselves are so enjoyable to have around.

I'd heard that turkeys were supposed to be stupid, but I think my midget white turkeys are actually smarter than the chickens. And they are *so* curious! It's hilarious to see them all running to go look at whatever is happening. They are also highly expressive. I love all the noises they make. They gobble, but they also purr, trill, and make a "put, put" noise when they are interested in something. And they hiss just like a cat when they are frightened or angry.

The young roosters from the batch of chicks we hatched out in September are posturing and challenging each other, but no serious fights so far. They puff up their neck feathers at each other, jump in the air once or twice, and then each go their own way. It is getting to be time to eat some, though, I think. I'm looking forward to seeing how some of the extra roosters will taste.

The younger chickens seem to be getting along fine with Elmer and his ladies (the older established flock). They mostly ignore each other, and I haven't seen any showdowns between them. They all enjoy free-ranging and then put themselves to bed at night (although I have a few night birds that want to stay out and play in the dark just outside the door, that I usually have to shoo inside before I close things up). 

One of my favorite things about the chickens is how solicitous the roosters are of the hens--calling them over for the best bits of food, and making sure they take cover if a hawk or other predator comes around. They also have a variety of vocalizations, and I'm learning to understand chicken language too. There are different calls for, "Hmm, what's this?" "Come on, girls, I found something yummy for you!" "Danger! Take cover!" "I'm laying an egg." and so forth. They particularly like to pick through the rabbitry and the manure pile, eating any dropped food, worms or insects they can find. The poultry are especially useful as fly control. 

Eventually I'd also like to add a handful of muscovy ducks, both because of their meat and eggs, and also because of their reputation for eating massive quantities of mosquitos, flies and even mice.

I'm sick with one of those winter viruses, so stayed home from church today. But even sitting here feeling miserable, watching my birds puttering around outside the window makes me smile.

Maid to Order

AJ just went around the house, handing out the following questionnaire to all household members:

                                                                                               Name: ______________________

   Questionnaire

1.      What should a maid do? (check one or more)

(a)   Clean up after kids

(b)   Break up fights

(c)    Wash the dishes

(d)   Other

2.      If you checked “other” in the last question, fill in what you were thinking of.

________________________________________________________________

3.      Would you pay a maid:

(a)   Fifty cents

(b)   One dollar

(c)    Five dollars

(d)   Other (please write here) _________________________

4.      Do you want the maid to clean your room?

(a)   Yes

(b)   No

5.      Do you want me to cook…

(a)   Breakfast

(b)   Lunch

(c)    Dinner

(d)   Snacks

(e)   None

6.      Who do you think would be the best maid?

(a)   AJ

(b)   M&M

(c)    Ebee

(d)   Other____________________

7.      Should the maid be allowed to eat, drink, and otherwise associate with the rest of the family?

(a)   Yes

(b)   No

(c)    Sometimes

Please return this questionnaire to:

AJ 

Room 2

Upstairs

Kangaroo Housing Associates

I read the survey, and said to AJ, "Very interesting. What's this all about?"

"Well," she said, "Ebee and I both want to be the maid. So instead of arguing about who gets to do it, I thought this might be a good way to solve the problem."

Apparently, my daughters are arguing over who gets to do the most housework. I can live with that. :)

BTW, I made no changes in spelling, formatting, grammar, etc.--this was all her own work. I changed only the names to make it blog-friendly.

Not a Baby Any More

Ebee is doing an assignment for school where she has to chart what she looked like as a baby and what she looks like now, sorting out what's the same and what's different. So I showed her some of my old blog posts with pictures of her as a baby.

Ebee loved looking at old photos of herself and reading some of the anecdotes about herself and her sisters. She particularly got a kick out of the post about M&M letting Ebee suck on her toes.

I can't believe it's been 7 and a half years. Wow. She's definitely not a baby any more . . . she's reading and writing fluently, loves school, takes care of her pets almost on her own, helps with household chores and is quite a good little problem solver.

She has also grown out of all her food issues, allergies and health concerns. She's a happy, healthy kid. I'm so grateful.

Long Time No Blog

Wow, it's been about a year and a half since my last post. So much and yet so little has changed since then.

We sold our house and moved from the suburbs to acreage in the country, not too far from our extended family. We absolutely love it here. Our neighbors are all farmers and we are surrounded by cattle, horses, pigs and poultry.

We've added chickens, coturnix quail and midget white turkeys to our menagerie, as well as three mouse-hunting cats (one old black cat that had been a stray and stayed with the house when we moved in, and two sweet blue kittens). We still have rabbits, which we raise and show, and our sweet dog, who loves living on a farm and makes it her responsibility to make sure all the other animals are safe.

Not a week passes that one of us doesn't say aloud how much we love living here. It's so wonderful.

I've become a 4-H leader and am loving helping kids learn about rabbits. We have a really great group of kids.

DH is still working at the same job; computer programmer and general computer guru.

We're still attending the same church, and are involved in various small groups and ministries.

This year and last year, the kids have been in a hybrid program where they attend school half of the week and do their assignments at home the other half. It's been a fabulous fit for our family. DH takes the girls to school the mornings they have school, which allows me to sleep in, and usually I pick them up in the afternoon. The extra rest really makes a difference for me, and I'm able to be more functional.

My health issues are still there, and still fluctuate, but are a constant challenge. I'm still far better than I was a few years ago, though, and am still able to do quite a lot as long as I pace myself and plan for the inevitable resting up and recuperating time before and after any activity.

My sister saw a geneticist who specializes in connective tissue disorders, and was diagnosed with a hereditary connective tissue disorder. Probably some version of Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome or something very similar, though the tests to verify which version don't yet exist (it's not one of the few very serious types that tests have been developed for).

A hereditary issue makes so much sense, considering that both of my siblings and several of our extended family members all suffer from the same kinds of health issues. We're not quite sure whether that diagnosis is instead of or in addition to the FMS/CFIDS stuff, and are still learning about this and what it means.

Largely it makes me a little more careful and aware about overextending myself. While the chance of something like a rupture of a major organ is very small (we don't have the vascular version which carries a life expectancy in the mid-30s due to the high chance of heart or lung rupture), with this type of issue the connective tissue in skin, muscle and joints can suffer permanent damage or wear out preliminarily. From what I understand, any sort of overextension or straining could hasten or worsen issues that could cause more serious long-term disability. Limiting myself in that way is difficult for me with my personality, and I don't always succeed, but I'm trying. :)

My main concern, of course, is for our children and whether they will suffer from it or not. One of our kids is definitely hypermobile, which is one of the big indicators of the disease, but at this point all of the kids are healthy, happy and doing fabulously.

In addition to school, 4-H, AWANA and church activities, the kids are each taking lessons--M&M and Ebee are doing gymnastics (M&M, in particular, is an amazing athlete), and AJ did a couple of sessions of Christian Youth Theater and is now taking dance classes.

Overall, life is good and we feel very blessed.

Where Purple_Kangaroo is From

I am from the teakettle simmering on the back of the stove, from homemade Butterfinger ice cream, and tea parties with Holly Hobbie and Raggedy Ann.

I am from the brown two-story house my father built, wrapped in a broad porch and shadowed by the hill, with frogs croaking at night and Ramblin' Creek bubbling and laughing below.

I am from blackberry vines, wild roses, evergreen trees; tall grass, gerilliums, and koi eating duckweed in the pond.

I am from potlucks at the park and softspoken people who are small spitfires; from Jennie Squires and a Moravian prince who eloped with the milkmaid, and the seven Swift brothers who came on a ship when the land was new.

I am from strongwilled and stubborn, deeply loving and fiercely protective.

From "Don't let that stop you!" and "Your sisters are your best friends;" from Dad taking us fishing and chanting "They're Coming to Take me Away, HaHa" and mom showing us how to do the Charleston and saying, "Look, girls! Isn't the mountain pretty?"

I am from non-denominational evangelical faith in Jesus Christ as our Savior; a relationship not a religion; asking questions and searching the Scriptures, solid on the basics but knowing that there are some things we can't know and it's OK to disagree.

I'm from lumberjacks in the Pacific Northwestern USA; from immigrants and pioneers; from England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, The Netherlands and Czechoslovakia, but adopted Latin America; oven pancake and lemon meringue pie; poppyseed kolache and roast beef empanadas; pan-fried grasshoppers and oven-fried chicken.

From the little green man under the stairs, Uncle Ned's Fox and Coyote stories, Grandpa smiling and saying "Yes, Yes" in Spanish while revolutionaries waved weapons and threatened to kill him, the beaver trap we almost stepped in, and the time Sis ate dirt cookies that I made.

I am from yellowed photo albums, pictures lined up on the shelf in the old farmhouse, the scrapbook of letters from loved ones, the hand-knitted hats and mittens tucked away in the closet, the opal earrings in the treasure box, and the framed picture of the bridge over Multnomah Falls where my grandparents got engaged.

I am from roots run deep in generations of grit, spunk, perseverance in hardship, and love.

----

I got this from MysteryMommy, who got it from Magpie and Crunchy Granola.

This exercise is based on a poem by George Ella Lyon called "Where I'm From."

The template is here if you'd like to join in. Schmutzie is compiling a list of links to different bloggers' versions of the meme.

Dietary/Health Update

In my last post, I invited requests for topics to cover as I (hopefully) start blogging regularly again. Liz requested an update on our family's food issues. I'm going to broaden it a bit to make it more of a general health update. :)

Warning: This may be a long, boring post.

#####################

In a nutshell, we're all doing pretty well.

Ebee is doing great, and seems to have completely grown out of all her food intolerance issues. She still isn't having reactions to corn or soy derivatives, and it's so nice not to have to worry about that any more. Her dietary fructose intolerance has also improved. She can even eat moderate amounts of apple and pear now without getting diarrhea and a tummyache.

She's really growing up, and is reading fluently now. I love watching kids get to the stage where they devour pretty much any book they can get their hands on. She's even reading chapter books now, and is very excited about that. She'll be 6 next month--can you believe it?!

M&M just turned 9, and is such an active, happy kid. She and Ebee are both in gymnastics and loving it, but M&M is really gifted at it. They're taking a break at the moment as all three kids are taking swimming lessons this summer instead of their regular activities.

M&M still avoids eating large amounts of milk, but doesn't seem to have much of a problem with lactose intolerance these days.

She does still have days where she hurts all over and is very tired, especially for several days after a greater-than-usual exertion, which concerns me a bit given the family history, but the pediatrician isn't worried about it. She has very flexible joints (can bend her elbows partially backwards and has mad skillz with her finger joints, etc.) and is more prone to sprains and things like that than the other kids, but she hasn't subluxated (popped out of joint) either elbow again recently, after having it happen about 3 times when she was younger. I think the flexibility really helps her in gymnastics. :)

AJ at 10 is still her quirky, unique, wonderful self. She really loves to sing and has been in a children's choir for the past 3 years, and has gotten to sing solos at their recitals. The teacher said that she feels AJ is ready to move on/up to more focused training and has probably outgrown this particular choir, so we're looking into doing either private voice lessons and/or letting her join a drama team or children's theater.

She's doing much better with her anxiety/OCD-type issues, but still struggles with reading social signals and sometimes knowing how to determine appropriate interactions for a given situation or level of relationship.

We're working with her to help her learn things like choosing to put a hot pack on her head for the heat and pressure she craves rather than trying to push her head under a person or dog when she's overwhelmed or overstimulated. She's working on learning how to learn to read facial expressions and body language better, understanding and respecting others' personal space, and that sort of thing. Lots of coaching and practice, mostly.

She is still seeing a therapist occasionally (although much less frequently now) who helps us with ideas for things like that, and helps her brainstorm things to do to calm herself when she's upset and work through issues she's worried about so she isn't as likely to dissolve into full-scale meltdowns or long-term panic. She has really improved dramatically, and is enjoying life a lot these days.

AJ still sleeps poorly, is having recurrent intestinal issues (diarrhea, stomachaches, gagging sensations and occasional vomiting), and has been sleeping sitting up in bed lately due to how much her reflux is bothering her. The pediatrician said she probably has IBS, but since he didn't really do anything to rule out other causes, I'm wondering if we should pursue that further or not. With her, it's really hard to know how much is actually a physical issue and how much might be related to her tendency to overstress and worry about things.

We've tried a few different reflux medications that the pediatrician prescribed, and he's ready to prescribe something different if the current one doesn't help more than the others have. We've tried taking her off gluten for a few weeks to see if that helps, but it hasn't really seemed to make a difference. She is still lactose-intolerant and avoids most dairy products, but will occasionally make exceptions for small amounts of foods she feels are worth the discomfort. :)

At the advice of the research scientist from the study I was in (on the effects of excitotoxins on fibromyalgia and IBS symptoms) and with the approval of the pediatrician, we are trialing all 3 kids on going off excitotoxins for a few weeks, to see if it makes any difference particularly in AJ's IBS symptoms and M&M's aches and pains.

Since there is such a strong history of people in our family having trouble with excitotoxins and getting intestinal and/or fibromyalgia-type symptoms from them, it seemed wise to try to figure out whether the kids are sensitive to them or not. So we're making sure they don't eat any excitotoxins for at least 4 weeks, and then we'll try giving them something with MSG in it (ick!) 3 days in a row while closely monitoring the effects on them. I was able to get copies of the symptom-charting forms that were used in the study to use in evaluating data for the kids. This should give us a pretty good idea whether they have an adequate blood-brain barrier to tolerate normal amounts of excitotoxins, or if they have inherited the family difficulty in processing them.

Other than that, the last few years we've just basically tried to eat a well-rounded, healthy diet at home with as many whole fresh unprocessed foods as possible, avoid excessive amounts of things like lactose for those we know don't digest it well, and not stress out about what the kids eat otherwise. :)

DH eats whatever he wants, but he is trying to work on eating/drinking a bit healthier and getting more exercise.

For myself, I'm still avoiding excitotoxins. It really makes a big difference in my symptoms and functionality, and whenever I've cheated it has made me so sick that I've decided cheating isn't worth it for me.

I recently had a couple of months of feeling a lot worse, and finally figured out that it seemed to be correlated with eating xylitol. I'm feeling much better after having cut that out.

With having our college student helper move out and life getting considerably busier this year, I haven't been able to pace myself as well or rest as much. A somewhat constant level of "overdoing it" built up over the course of the year to the point where I was struggling quite a lot physically again.

Now that the pace has slowed for the summer (and I figured out the xylitol thing), I am starting to feel better. I'm happy about that. :) We're brainstorming ways to help me pace myself better on a continual basis, including maybe hiring more help with household tasks and changing what we're doing for schooling the kids.

We are still trying to get our house decluttered and organized, get non-essentials packed and put into storage, and get some minor repairs and sprucing-up done so that we can hopefully put our house on the market soon. Our hope is to move to a place slightly farther out in the country with some acreage, a barn, and hopefully a second residence or apartment in case a parent or sibling needs a place to live, since our parents are getting older, DH's mom has early stage alzheimer's, and both of my siblings have disabling health issues.

We've also been researching schooling options, and have finally decided what we're going to do about school next year. But this is already long enough, so I'll leave that for another post.