School is starting everywhereI

My classes started again on Monday. I was NOT ready for the summer break to end. That means I have to get my mind back into think mode again!

I registered the kids for their new schools here in Meridian. Conner is a freshman this year. Among the normal english and some weird history they do here he is taking Geometry, French, Debate and a few other courses. He is most excited to be able to take Psychology and Sociology his junior and senior years. He decided against football this year so that he will have time to do driver's ed after he finishes up his Eagle Scout project (all but done! just have to submit some final papers!) He also is planning on rugby later on in the year.

Kaitlyn is still homeschooling. Noah is the middle school. His registration took the longest as we had to have a sit down with the school nurse and go over his bee sting allergy. We had to make an emergency plan in case he gets stung. The school will have one of his epi-pen's in the office so that they can administer it to him if needed. That takes a load off my mind as I don't have to worry about Noah doing it himself.

The 3 little girls are at the same elementary school and it looks great! Bella is so excited about going to school all day now. It isn't very far from our house either so they can walk.

Between the new house, unpacking, the yarn business and life-I have been extremely busy! We had our first council meeting for Jobies last night and will have our first meeting next Wednesday. We found out that Hannah gets to put her papers in in October and she is just thrilled.

I haven't had much time for knitting lately. Too much with the move and settling in. Our new house has a lot of fruit trees and we will have a huge garden area next year. I am so excited.

A few pictures till next time.

Dream Shopping day...

having fun and looking at some beautiful stuff....my dream shopping list that I'd love to buy for myself

This gorgeous quilt: Would love to use it for just meditation-I am learning to do this for relaxation and it helps me go to sleep!

This great wallet: I know she does customs. I'd be tempted to get in some of my favorite fabrics-although this one is pretty cool too!

a custom order with this lady for this AMAZING fiber. I would probably pass out if I were lucky enough to get it!

a mama messenger bag from this lady with either the tree of mushrooms applique-and lots of patchwork! (seen HERE )

too many buttons to count from TessaAnn

this awesome laptop bag from this store

this amazing ring


so what are you drooling over on Etsy right now?

meal plan (before) monday!

OK, so this is going to be a heavy meat week for us. It is just too hot to cook on or in the stove, so we are sticking to the grill and crockpot this week!

Breakfast: assorted muffins/yogurts/cereals/oatmeal
lunch: sandwiches, bean burritos etc

Dinner:
Turkey/apple burgers on the foreman with salad
Grilled chicken with baked potatoes (in the crockpot!) and assorted fresh fruits
rushville burgers (all bbq beans and cabbage! yummy)
beans/rice
grilled chicken and veggie salad
no hurry vegetable curry.

whew. 3 nights of meat? not sure how I am going to like that one!

asperger's sucks

most of the time I am pretty good at keeping a smile on my face. I can deal with the tantrums. The lack of understanding and the constant re-explaining of things so that his brain can process it.
I can deal with his anger and his inability to calm down. I can deal with the fighting and the strife and just the everyday "stuff"
Because that is just a part of dealing with my son who just happens to have aspergers.

But today, I am floundering. Only a few hours into the morning I am in tears and wishing for the night so that I can go to bed and not have to deal with it.

I am wishing for that one small piece of extra patience that I am needing and not finding.

I love him. And yet today, it is just too much.

Asperger's sucks.

Meal plan monday

oh look! I made it today to post our plan for the week! Quite the ordeal it seems lately! LOL

breakfast:
assorted cereal, muffins, yogurts, fruits.
also doing cream of wheat berries with cranberries and cardamom in the crockpot via FRESH FROM THE VEGETARIAN SLOW COOKER

lunch:
nothing new this week. we are winging it and using leftovers and fresh produce. kids favorite way to eat!

dinner:

vegetable dumplings via vegan family favorites
chicken tacos in the crockpot
israeli couscous salad from fat free vegan
overnight crockpot black beans with homemade bread
massur dal with jasmine rice

assorted fruits/veggies/salads to accompany.

we had a really busy weekend! Took the kids to the renaissance faire in Meridian and had fun.






and then we went to the Lavender Festival and had a blast. We picked lavender, sampled lavender "nemon-name" (lemonade via harrison) and got to sit and just enjoy the beautiful farm while we sat in the shade.

Noah was a huge help and really did good in cutting the lavender. I was very impressed with his willingness to help.

Breastfeeding in public is NOT bad

Welcome to the July 2010 Carnival of Nursing in Public

This post was written for inclusion in the Carnival of Nursing in Public hosted by Dionna and Paige at NursingFreedom.org. All week, July 5-9, we will be featuring articles and posts about nursing in public ("NIP"). See the bottom of this post for more information.

***

I will never forget the humiliated feeling I had the day I was asked to cover up while breastfeeding my son in Wal-Mart. He was my 7^th child, but only the 2^nd child that I was able to successfully breastfeed. I thought I was a very strong woman and would never encounter anything like it. And then, it happened.

Harrison was a few weeks old and had a pretty rough start. He was born with silent GERD and spent the days crying a lot. He was in a car accident when he was just 10 days old that totaled our vehicle. Our moments throughout the days went back and forth between me holding him constantly on my chest while I tried to sleep sitting up, or wearing him in a sling. Either way, he was upright and being held all the time. He also had difficulty breathing, so I never covered his face while nursing as to not restrict his air flow.

I had to go the store for Christmas shopping, so I loaded all 7 kids up in the van and off we went to Wal-Mart. As happens with young babies (he was 1 month old at the time), he needed to eat while we were there. I looked for somewhere to sit and could not find an empty bench, so I went to the changing area in the middle of the store. I proceeded to sit quietly with the other kids and nurse him. The ladies that worked back there just smiled at us, and I like to think nodded approvingly. Within a few minutes a man walked by and made a comment of total disgust and I was approached not even 2 minutes later by a store manager. She said to me “'ma'am, if you are going to do that, I am going to ask you to please cover up with a blanket or something" I froze. I was in shock. I felt sick to my stomach and started to shake. I responded “sorry, no I won't-but thank you” The other 2 employees and the shoppers (there was a lady from my church right there) all made comments like "you are fine honey" etc. to me and I continued on: "I have a legal right to sit here and feed him!" The manager then said "I realize that, but some man walked by and was uncomfortable" to which I replied "well that isn't MY FAULT!"

The manager left and the other ladies (the Wal-Mart employees) offered me support for what I was doing. I then got really upset and started to cry. I asked for the employees name and said I wanted to make a complaint. They immediately got me a manager who basically offered me platitudes and said she would address it. I told her that I had planned on doing a lot of shopping that day but I was now going to leave and not spend my money there. I even called the corporate offices and was basically shot down.

As I was leaving the older woman employee came over again and told me how proud she was of me for feeding him like that. When she saw my tears, she gave me a hug. I will never forget that lady.

To this day, my eyes still well with tears when I remember the situation and how I felt. I was totally covered. I am very modest. What was so offensive? Why was it ok for their employees to have shirts so low their breasts are hanging out, but I could not breastfeed my son while totally covered without enduring harassment?

I am proud of myself for standing up and saying NO to being asked to cover up. But I am also equally sad for how that experience made me feel about breastfeeding that day-like it was shameful or dirty. Breastfeeding is a beautiful gift that we give to our children. That should never be taken away from us.

Welcome to the Carnival of Nursing in Public

Please join us all week, July 5-9, as we celebrate and support breastfeeding mothers. And visit NursingFreedom.org any time to connect with other breastfeeding supporters, learn more about your legal right to nurse in public, and read (and contribute!) articles about breastfeeding and N.I.P.

Do you support breastfeeding in public? Grab this badge for your blog or website to show your support and encourage others to educate themselves about the benefits of breastfeeding and the rights of breastfeeding mothers and children.

<center><a href="http://www.nursingfreedom.org/p/carnival-of-nursing-in-public.html" title="Carnival of Nursing in Public"><img src="http://www.babydustdiaries.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/inip1.png" alt="Art by Erika Hastings at http://mudspice.wordpress.com/" border="0" /></a></center>

This post is just one of many being featured as part of the Carnival of Nursing in Public. Please visit our other writers each day of the Carnival. Click on the links below to see each day’s posts - new articles will be posted on the following days:
July 5 - Making Breastfeeding the Norm: Creating a Culture of Breastfeeding in a Hyper-Sexualized World
July 6 – Supporting Breastfeeding Mothers: the New, the Experienced, and the Mothers of More Than One Nursing Child
July 7 – Creating a Supportive Network: Your Stories and Celebrations of N.I.P.
July 8 – Breastfeeding: International and Religious Perspectives
July 9 – Your Legal Right to Nurse in Public, and How to Respond to Anyone Who Questions It

Making a difference

There are times in our lives when we have the chance to help make a difference in someone else's life. Whether it be a kind word, an offer of baby sitting, a ride to the store or even a batch of cookies dropped off anonymously on the door--there are so many ways in our every day life to touch someone else.

I have had many opportunities to help other's before. I've been the recipient too. This week I got to help be the giver and it felt so good.

A good friend whose daughter has a debilitating illness needed some cheer brought into her day-and we stepped up and made it happen.

This young girl goes through so much everyday-in ways that we cannot even comprehend and in situations that we take for granted everyday. There is so much work and worry and pain that accompany her everyday actions. To just eat or get out of bed-or even give a hug. The little things that we do without even a conscious thought.

It reminded me of how much I have to be grateful for with my own children and family. And that while we may struggle-there are those that are struggling even more.

So I may have helped to brighten someone's day and made a change in their life, but really, I had even more change in my own.

If you have a chance-do something nice for someone else. Big or small, it will be greatly appreciated-and you never know how much change your will bring to them-and yourself.

Meal plan

ok, so apparently this has been missed by a few, so I will do my best to keep Meal Plan Monday going on the blog.

Breakfast:

• Oatmeal with peaches
• Cereal
• maple muffins with bananas
• toast yogurt
• scrambled eggs and veggies

Lunch:

• bean burritos
• PB&J/carrots and dip
• beans/rice soft tacos...sauteed veggies and cheese quesadilla
• baked mac and cheese
• bologna sandwich, pretzels, fruit

Dinner:

• Brown Rice veggie tacos
• spaghetti and french bread
• beans and rice with vegan cornbread
• vegetable fried rice
• chicken thighs with homemade bread and salad

assorted fruits/vegetable side dishes with the above

total cost at the store this week was $99
I expect my budget to increase as all 7 kids are home now from school. However, with almost no meat I expect it to stay reasonable. I also do not use any processed foods which helps with the healthiness of the meals and keeps the cost down too. I am expecting to explore a bunch of my newer vegan/vegetarian cookbooks this summer-I cannot wait!

More on Henry Granju

Everyday I have thought of Katie and her loss. I look at his picture and the tears well up in my eyes. I am a mother. I have a 14 year old son-the same age as Henry when his battle with addiction began. I cannot imagine going through this and doing it with the grace that Katie has done. Her pain is severe-and yet she wants to educate people on drug addiction so that maybe it will help one family to NOT have to go through the loss of their child.

She has asked repeatedly for a thorough investigation into the circumstances surrounding her sons attack that led to his death. I get the feeling that she is being stonewalled by the police-and the media storm surrounding her public blogging about the problems are very critical.

Her son was attacked. Brutally beat with a tire iron to such an extent that he had a severe traumatic brain injury and never spoke more than 2 words again during the 30+ days he was in the hospital.
The people surrounding him did NOT call 911. They continued to help ingest drugs while he lay and began to aspirate on his own vomit.
Reports say:

Partial UT Medical Center records provided by the family state Henry's injuries included, "Trauma. Right skull base fracture."

We're pretty confident that he did take some drugs later that night. But he definitely suffered some blunt force brain trauma as well as compressions to his chest based on someone was stomping on his chest over and over again,says Henry's uncle, Robert Allison

The neurologist who treated him felt very confident that a large portion of the brain injury that ultimately led to his death was caused by the beating

yet the Knox County Sheriff's office says "The preliminary investigation shows no evidence that his (Henry's) death was the result of a homicide or from the injuries he may have received from an assault. An autopsy was conducted on Tuesday and the results are pending."

How can they be so indifferent? How can those conclusions be made? Yes, the drugs certainly played a part in his death-but how could his beating not? I really hope that the Knox County Sheriff's office does some more digging and does not allow a bias to get in the way because Henry was a drug user.

Justice for everyone. Justice for Henry.

Henry Granju

Henry Granju, son of popular AP blogger Katie Granju, died yesterday from results of a serious attack and drug use that happened April 26th, 2010.

It seems unreal that a person so young could die so brutally.

According to the Sheriff’s Office incident report, as well as a family member’s account, Granju was beaten with a tire iron and robbed by three assailants during an attempted drug buy in the parking lot of the Bi-lo market, 2230 W. Governor John Sevier Highway on April 26.

The attack left the victim bleeding from his ears, with a broken jaw, broken ribs and brain injury, said Robert Allison, Henry Granju’s uncle.

Allison claims that Granju’s injuries were only complicated by a dose of methadone he was given later the same night by acquaintances, who failed to call E-911 on his behalf until the next morning.

My heart breaks for Katie. In the days following her sons attack, she went public on her blog about his drug usage and injuries-and was verbally attacked for doing so! I cannot even begin to understand what is wrong with people that they would HURT another person so badly-especially when that person is already fearing for their child's life and hoping and praying that he makes it through to the next day. It is disgusting. It was unnecessary. If you don't agree with what she did, that is fine and certainly your prerogative-you have the right to NOT READ IT. It is really that simple.

Behind these blogs, behind these words-sitting at these computers are REAL PEOPLE. Real people who feel the emotion. A real person who just lost her son.

People can sit on their high horse and pass judgment and think it will never happen to them because they are a better parent or whatever stupid reason they try to convince themselves with-but you know-it CAN happen to anyone. No matter what we teach our children or how we raise them, there comes a point where they can all make their own choices. Yes, he made that first choice to use drugs-but Henry struggled with a serious disease that he was sadly never able to overcome-addiction. And an addict is still worthy of our love, compassion and help.

I pray that Henry is at peace now. I pray for his family and especially his mother, Katie-a month away from bringing a new child into this world, and now having to deal with having her oldest son so cruelly taken away from her.

Katie, I am so very very sorry for the loss of your beautiful son. You are in my thoughts.

Are you ready for a revolution?

A Food Revolution?

We know the numbers. We don't need to talk obesity and diabetes. The sad fact is American's are unhealthy. And our kids are unhealthy.

Have you seen the state of the school lunches that are served to your children? High calorie, high carb, high fat..and very little good.

At our elementary school alone, a typical breakfast is sugar cereal and toast. Every single lunch has a big dinner roll-to make sure they make up the 800 calories required to put per lunch served (numbers could have changed-they no longer post it on the website!!!)

People blame video games, tv and inactivity to our kids weight gain-but I offer that while that is valid, the way our kids are eating is even worse! Fried greasy foods, juices and dairy milk - why? Why can't our kids drink water with their meals? Why fried chicken? Why not baked? Do kids really need all this fat they are being served? Why aren't they getting good servings of fruits and vegetables? and no..apple cobbler is not a fruit serving!

Well, Jamie Oliver wants to change this! He has started a food revolution to encourage change and to save our health through eating good foods. People scoff and ignore it-but why aren't we fighting to feed our kids better?



Sign the petition! Be a voice. Let's get good foods put back into the school and crap taken out!

Do you ever have so many

ideas just running through your head? Things you want to learn and craft and just DO...and yet, you know there just are not enough hours in the day to do all of that good stuff?

I find myself running into this more and more as the year goes on.

So many lovely things to knit...so much beautiful fiber to spin...so many yarns to dye

School is almost out for the summer for me and I can't wait. I need a break! More time to do stuff--like spin, knit, dye LOL

The store is really busy. We have co-ops, pre-sales and some yarn/fiber of the month slots going on ...I think we are booked solid the rest of this year-not even counting our monthly stockings! That is good for us :) I love to dye yarn. Love to play with color.

I have started our homemade Christmas list. Each year I try to do a mixture of handmade/WAHM made items intermixed with store bought stuff for the kids. This year I am enlisting Shawn's help on some as we will be doing some woodworking. Doll house for the girls, an art table for Lexi etc.

I am going to make Harrison a waldorf doll - isn't she beautiful? This lady does wonderful work. I might do a boy but with the same color hair, or even one with blue hair!
I have thought of doing the girls waldorf dolls too, but they aren't as into playing house with those kind of dolls anymore.

I am also going to knit him his own special blanket.

the list is just beginning! But with 7 kids, you have to start early if you want to make things or you will never get it done in time.

We have a slower week this week-which I am thankful for. School assignments are due on Friday and I have to take the kids to ISAT's but overall-not too bad.

As a closing, just wanted to share a picture of my beautiful girl Lexi:

So much beauty all around

While spring is not my favorite season, I do love the changes that comes with it. One day could be bright and sunny and hot-the next dark, stormy and thundering! Those are my favorite days. Where the house is dark and the air is cold...and I can curl up in a ball on the couch under my favorite blanket and either knit or read and drink hot chocolate. We've had a few of those days lately, and I think they are just as beautiful as the bright sunny day!

Last weekend, Kaitlyn and the Jobie's served dinner for the Mekanix unit at the Mason lodge in Meridian. It was a bbq dinner and it was good! These girls just amaze me. They are all from different areas. They were all raised differently, are different ages and of different faiths-yet they sit and talk and get along and truly enjoy each other. I love seeing that commraderie between them. You don't see it very often-and I can say my girls have never experienced that anywhere else...even within our own church youth group.
They did the service with a smile. They laughed and joked and had such a glow about them. Even afterwards with all the dishes and clean up-they were smiling and joking and having fun.





After the BBQ was cleaned up - we headed to winco with Tiffany to pick up a cheesecake for one of the girls birthday: Tiffany, the current honored queen, showed how to strut her stuff with the cheesecake tiara perched upon her head




We then had a sleepover at her church (Happy Birthday Emma!!)





and the girls did the Closing Cross for the congregation the next morning.



Kaitlyn's initiation is coming up the first of May and we are pretty excited!



In other news, Noah and Hannah had their name drawn for the charter school for next year. Now we just have to hope that Lexi gets in quickly.

We are busy busy around here. But that is good-we have a lot of fun together!
Conner's ultrasound came back clear for the hernia and gallstones. We have to go see another doctor to see if they can find out what is wrong with him. He is still having pain..but nothing as severe as the night that he was forced to run and then collapsed in pain at home-so that is good!

Hope your earth day is a great one! We have lots of wind right now and dark skies and I am loving it! I hope we get a few sprinkles of rain too!

Refreshed and renewed

I sat here the other day pondering the changes in my life, and I realized something important.

I am a lot happier now.

Its been a long year of changes-I have worked hard at bringing more peace into my life and getting rid of things that disturb that.

I recently made a huge decision concerning school and where I am going with my career path. It feels so good to finally know what I am doing-and to know how right it feels.

Shawn and I have been working, even more so lately, at changing things in our home to make it more welcoming to us all. A place where we actually enjoy being on a day to day basis.
I cannot tell you how many bags of "stuff" we have gotten rid of in the last month alone. It is amazing how much accumulates with this many people.

I've also expunged from my life people - both online and in real life- that bring me down. It is hard to stay positive and enjoy a peaceful day when you have a nasty presence weighing you down.

Last summer, I met with a good friend who passed on her philosophy in life-I am forever grateful to her for it and I will not name her, but I hope that she knows who she is and how much her guidance has meant to me. Before we talked I used to think that what everyone thought of me was important. I thought that I had to try to make everyone happy all the time-and found that I often felt myself feeling things that just were not me. One night while I cried on her shoulder, she gave me a big hug and just shared her experience and what had helped her-and in that moment I knew that I had to be that same type of person-and by doing so, be true to myself. She really helped me - and I grew a lot from her words. My genuine happiness level has grown a lot, and I have her to thank for that.

I am still working on purging stuff--physically and otherwise! LOL But I cannot tell you how good it feels to finally just be ME. And to be HAPPY with who I am.

I feel refreshed. I feel like a new person. And I am definitely ok with that!

meal plan (before) monday!

Breakfast:
going simple this week..just a bunch of days with oatmeal, yogurt/toast etc.

Lunch:
Tofu mini quiche
baked potatoes with veggie chili and salad
aloo samosas with tumeric brown basmatti
"cheese" fondue with veggies, fruits, bread
"chicken" and mashed potatoes
overnight blackbeans in the slowcooker with honey cornbread

Dinner:
Vegetable fried rice-I swear we could eat this every week!
Honey baked lentils with salad
veggie stew
no hurry vegetable curry
crockpot tacos
bbq pulled pork-dh's meat night.

I am looking forward to food this week!

On the.....

On the needles:




On the wheel:


and on the hair:

HA! fooled you! those pictures will come AFTER the fact!

Happy Friday!

Out with the old, in with the new

New wheel-a Kromski Minstrel.



New hair-purple-thank you Shawn!



New yarn colors:






and a new outlook on life *wub*

thinking of you all this beautiful sunny day--looking forward to a new month tomorrow!

Growing golfballs and other life funnies

so, I have been gone for a while. I need to catch up.

3 weeks ago I started having pain. bad pain. thought it was a "woman's issue" and just kind of took the attitude of "grin and bare it"

5 days later, I was calling my doctor to see if I should get checked. My family doctor couldn't see me so I called my OB. He got me in Friday morning. I was able to see my doctor who did a quick scan and saw multiple stones and told me to get to a surgeon. I made it home that day and made a few calls and nobody could see me until the middle of Feb. In the meantime, my pain increased and I called my doctor back, in tears, and was told go to the ER.

Upon arriving at the ER (4pm, Friday evening) they did some more blood work and
an U/S and gave me some good pain medication in my IV. Unfortunately, this pain
relief only lasted an hour and they had to give me more.

The ER doctor was not sure he could get a surgeon in that night as it was Friday night, after hours-and they still thought this was elective. He was wonderful though and called around and was able to get someone to come see me. After examining me and the blood results and u/s-they took me straight back to surgery. I had infection,multiple large stones and a gallbladder that was
shutting down.

I was actually admitted and stayed over 24 hours instead of the normal outpatient procedure. They had to make my incision larger to get the gallbladder out as it was so full of huge stones. They saved one for me--This is not even the largest one by far!



the largest stone was the size of a golf ball! and there were 15 stones inside!


Anyway, I got home and dh left 2 days later for a business trip so I was left to recover with 7 kids and that was hard! I am not a person that whines about leaving left home with my kids and no hubby, because they are MY kids! LOL, but this was definitely a challenge! Mostly because the pain pills made me sleep a lot-but I had 2 of the big kids home to help me out so we made it through!

So that is what I have been doing-growing stones the size that could house all of WHO-ville. Who would have thought? LOL

School has (once again) started with a bang!

and that bang would be? Contemplation of changing my majors and career path!

After a lot of consideration of what I "want to be when I grow up" I am thinking of changing to pre-law

This is for a variety of reasons:
1) The one job I want most (FBI)is really just not open to me
2) I want a career that deals with criminal apprehension, but I am not police officer material *wink*
3) dh says I can out argue anyone I know...*snort*

So, I am considering it. There are many more reasons, both for and against-but as of this moment, I am thinking about it and I have time to make my decision.

and now-I have a sweet little boy snuggled up to my arm..asleep and snoring-and I can no longer type so I will be back for more updates.

drive by meal plan

just a quick post for my meal plan:

breakfast:
oatmeal
raisin bran muffins
oatmeal
cereal


lunch:
bean dip with tortilla chips
homemade baked mac and cheese (cheese on hand already)
vegetable fried rice
corn chowder
kids choose-ramen *blech*

dinner:
no hurry vegetable curry
split pea and barley soup with rolls
black bean soup with cuban bread
baked ziti, salad and bread
leftovers (if any) or honey baked lentils

snack:
apple bread
peanut butter bread
applesauce cake
maple cupcakes
popcorn


number of times meat this week: 0
total cost groceries: $60 for 9 people.