Mixing things up

My friend Dawn is one of the most creative (and giving) people I know. Sure, she is a little manic about changing the look of her blog all the time, but hey, she is a graphic designing wiz, so you have to cut her some slack :) Well, her shop is now a free shop wherein she makes the cutest blog designs and then gives them to the world for free. So, I have had this same blog design since I started and while I love it, I feel the need for some creative mixing things up, so I am going to start using Dawn's designs on this blog and rotating them. I am in the process of setting up a number of other blogs which I will use Dawn's designs for as well (or um, maybe beg her for some specific designs). Once they are up and ready I will post links.

P-Daddy is home from Hawaii and I have a pork roast in the oven (with a mustard rub and lots of garlic cloves in it), Chardonnay chilling in the fridge, Meritage breathing out on the counter (in case we can't decide between red or white), and garlic green beand waiting to be made.

Today is a good day.

Just for the specs: I am first going to try out "calming down" layout that Dawn posted today. Please check out her designs at Almost Ready Blogs.

Hawaii....and stuff

P-Daddy has been in Hawaii for about a week now. Things are going better than expected here (which is to say we have all survived intact) but we are looking forward to him coming home on Sunday. Apparently, I will be going back there in 5 years to renew our vows (at the Turtle Bay resort on the North Shore), so yippeee, something to look forward to. The kids have all been feeling crappy and S has missed 3 days of school. I am forcing him to go today so that he can pick up his missed homework (yes, in Kindergarten).

The drybed creek at the park we go to for Homeschool Day was flooded this week and was up to about the kids knees. They all had a great time wading in the water, building a rock bridge with the older kids, and playing with their friends...that is until C tripped and fell into the water. Then, I had to strip them all down and head home. Thank goodness I didn't get pulled over, because three scantily clad children and a perfectly warm and cozy baby may have been tricky to explain. No pictures from the park as the camera is on vacation in paradise.

We have been looking after Otto Doggy while RR, AC, SRC, and LRC are also in Hawaii. We go over three times a day and spend an hour or so with him. Pretty much all he wants to do is cuddle on the couch (which is nice) and the kids are having fun. Granted, I am obsessively vacuuming their house everyday because they have a Dyson and I miss my Dyson so it is like vacuum therapy.

Time to go see if S still has a fever or if I can force him to go to school.

Shout out to Penn State!!! Hi Ellen!!

Is this weird?

Is it weird that I haven't been blogging because I have been planning other blogs? Is that kind of like cheating on my blog? I will detail those more later. I am sneaking a few seconds on the Internet without someone demading I feed them or get off the computer so they can play PBSKids.com (damn you P-Daddy for showing them how to play educational computer games). Okay, honestly I am just suffering from some pretty severe exhaustion. Miss L has decided that she can not possibly go more than 45 mins between nursings so my night goes something like this:

7pm - insert breast in baby's mouth. Leave it there until 9pm when I try to lay her down.
9:15pm - stick boob back in.
9:30pm - lay her back down and desperately hope she sleeps
10:15pm - feel her crawl back onto me and demand just a little nightcap.
repeat until 4:45am when alarm goes off, I give up, go downstairs and start my day.

We have also been having some pretty serious discussions about pulling S out of school, and have come to the conclusion that X will be homeschooled because there is no way, with his personality, that he would last in a class setting. Now he wants a uniform with a purple shirt and blue or khaki pants.

Mostly, I have been doing research and planning for a low-carb diet for X and me. After reading Dr. Bernstein's Diabetes Solution (on the recommendation of my friend, April) I have to finally suck it up and treat my combo of hypoglycemia and insulin resistance. Also, I can fuck with my body as much as I want, but I have no right to screw X up. So, I will treat his hypoglycemia until he is out on his own, and makes his own decisions. My endocrinologist wanted me to do the 1st phase of South Beach to reset my pancreas, but I think I will do my own combo of Dr. B, South Beach, and things from Nourishing Traditions and Body Ecology.

Busy, busy, busy

We have been crazy busy trying to adjust to this school thing, partying with all of our friends (many, many of whom have recently had or will soon have B-Day parties), and trying to establish a working schedule for those of us left at home.

L is desperately trying to crawl and gets really frustrated when she can't, so she has been super attached recently.

I signed up to market wines for a winery in Napa. I have my own business called Time Out Wine and do in-home wine tastings for people...at least I will once I get everything started. I will have a blog for that too.

Honestly, I have just been really uninspired to write anything. It rained several days last week and everything seems fresh and new, so I will try to write again.

P-Daddy B-Day

Today is P-Daddy's B-day. He took the day off work so we could go and do something fun, but then we all remembered that S goes to school now and it would be unfair to do something as a family without him. So we are at home watching movies. S and I will go to pick up the needed items to make him the Apple Pie he requested in lieu of cake after school.

Here is a cute little video of L dancing with P-Daddy. The sound is messed up so you may want to mute your volume.

Yum - Fermented Foods

I LOVE fermented foods (yoghurt, buttermilk, kefir, kombucha, kimchi, sauerkraut, etc.) and have seriously been considering refining our diets (especially mine, Spencer's and Xavier's) based on the Body Ecology Diet.

Cultures for Health is having a great giveaway right now for free starters. I am psyched about entering. Go to Kelly the Kitchen Kop for details.

I already make our own yoghurt, cottage cheese, bread and most baked goods, so I am not worried about all the fermenting required by the diet. More later when I finally decide what I am doing.

My love of clogs

So, as a child of the '70s I have an abiding love of clogs. In fact, when I became a very strict vegetarian, my leather clogs were the one thing I refused to throw/give away. They were finally done in by R-dog when he was a puppy, yet I continued to hold on to them for sentimental reasons. I also love high heels, but cannot wear them safely - I am hypermobile which means my joints pop in and out of place really easily, so walking in heels generally means 1)take a step, 2)have ankle pop out , 3)shift weight to pop ankle back in, 4)step with other foot and repeat. I eaither have to wear high heel boot with thick heels or if I am lucky something with a strap.

I was reading Angry Chicken this morning and she had a post about a dress and clogs. I followed the link to Swedish Hasbeens and I AM IN LOVE. I want one of everything in every colour...so not going to happen as they price out at about $170USD each. Oh, to dream the impossible dream. I particularly love these:


Now all I need is stylish clothes and my old smokin' hot body back to go with the shoes. Actually I like these ones too,and I think they would be super cute with this dress from A Green Banana at Etsy, but I don't yet have enough body confidence back to wear something like this.


Well, this is the kind of post you get when I've had 2hrs of sleep because L nursed from 8:30pm to 2:30am, slept for about 2hrs, nursed until 7:30am, took an hour nap and has had to be nursed or held since then....yes, I'm blogging one handed. No, she won't take a pacifier nor a bottle.