Sick

Today I have been laid up with the stomach flu.  I haven't been this sick in years.  I've managed a whole ten minutes out of bed the entire day.  This morning I ached all over and couldn't sleep, couldn't keep anything down.  It was horrible.  This whole experience has reminded me that I never want to be pregnant again.  This should be gone in twenty-four hours, not six weeks from now. 

Also, I'm feeling very blessed that it hit on a Sunday when Nathan was home.  He's such a great guy.  He cooked the kids waffles for breakfast and hamburgers for lunch.  He washed the dishes and broke the sabbath buying me pop so I could keep something down.  I simply could not have cared for my family today, and he stepped in and did it all.  Dylan baked muffins this afternoon, which turned out awesome.  So, while I'm lying here in bed feeling terrible, I've been thinking how blessed I am to have such a great family.

Bloggin', Dietin' & Walkin'

I've neglected the blog again.  Mind you, not as long as others on my blog list, but that is another matter.  Today, I made cold-processed soap for the very first time.  It was so exciting.  I would have done it sooner, but I was scared.  Silly, I know, but it was the lye.  I was afraid of the lye.  Then I finally found it dirt cheap at my local hardware store, and I bought it.  No more excuses.  (It is drain cleaner, by the way.)  Before I could actually make soap with the lye, Nathan sees it and says, "Hey, drain cleaner.  Let's try it on our sink!"  Our sink is stinky and we don't know why.  So, I MADE him correctly follow the instructions, instead of the typical male, just-pour-a-bunch-down-and-see-what-happens.  Guess what?  No more stinky sink.  Good stuff for drains.  Good stuff for soap.

I have to wait until tomorrow to cut the soap, but so far it looks like it is going to turn out.  Then, it has to cure for two weeks before it can be used.  (Sort of like a jar of pickles, only soapy and inedible.)  After that I will be able to tell you if my homemade soap is awesome or just okay.

Today is day seven of Phase 1 on South Beach.  I lost six pounds then gained a pound the last two days.  How does that happen?  I am eating next to nothing compared to before, and I still gain.  Hopefully, before this week is up, I will be on the losing side again.  Nathan joined in for support.  It does make it so much easier when we do this together.

As for walking, well my number is not climbing as fast as I would have hoped.  In fact, Tif-do and Mama Echo are leaving me in the dust!  It has been windy and rainy and actually snowed over spring break.  I fully admit I'm a fair weather walker.  Plus, we are putting in a new irrigation system, so in the evenings when Nathan and I usually walk, we've been shovelling dirt, which is one heck of a workout, but doesn't put miles in my handcart.  I will begin again and do better.  Maybe spring will come back and stay for real.... Maybe.

Hooked

Okay, I know this is old news to the rest of you, but today I made my first visit to Cash & Carry.  Wow!  I am hooked.  I'm not sure that everything at Cash & Carry is a better deal than Costco, but I bought cheese, lunch meat, and veggies galore.  It's Saturday, and I was so happy to find almost the same products that I could have found at Costco at comparable prices without the out-of-control Costco crowds.  Plus, I love their bulk ice cream, which I didn't buy today because I am still on Phase 1 of the South Beach Diet, and that is the no-carbs-at-all-phase.  I know from a young women's activity that the hot fudge in the #10 can at Cash & Carry is absolutely divine.  I brought home some of the left-overs.  My husband, I serious chocolate critic, loved that hot fudge. 

Today I splurged on sugar free Italian soda ingredients, which I can have on my diet.  I am currently sipping my second sugar-free soda as I type.  The whole reason I went to Cash & Carry in the first place is because Costco stopped selling unsweetened cocoa, and my mother-in-law happened to pick up some of the Hershey brand at C&C.  Nathan informed me that the Hershey brand was much better.  I found it, and I also found a screaming deal on marshmallows for making future fondant cakes.  I think I was most intruiged by all the restaurant stuff.  I'm a sucker for decorative platters, cool glassware and such.  I managed to get out of there without buying any, but there's always next time.... 

Easter on a Budget

Well, I did it!  I've been wanting to for years, but this year I finally sat my kids down and said, "I need to talk to you about Easter and the Easter bunny.  There is no Easter bunny.  Easter is about Christ, not bunnies and baskets and candy."  I went on to explain that when I was growing up, it was my family's tradition that we always got new church clothes for Easter, but that new church clothes and a basket loaded with candy and toys and other goodies was just too much money.  I also told them that I would fill one basket with Easter candy for our entire family to enjoy. 

Can I just say that this conversation went over without a hitch?  Well, one hitch.  Ethan asked, "What about Santa?"  I discussed that with him later when the girls couldn't hear.  Other than that, favorable responses all around.  Mazie asked if we could still have an Easter egg hunt, and I said, "Sure."  Later in the car she told me, "I always knew the Easter bunny was just a guy in a costume."  I did inform her that no guy in a costume came into our house and filled her basket.  It was just me and dad. 

So, having shattered all childhood fantasies, I went shopping!  I've been disappointed with Easter dresses the past few years.  I used to be able to find something that I liked at Target or Costco.  I'm too cheap to shop the department stores.  Even sale prices are generally out of my league.  The past few years, though, I haven't even seen anything that I liked at my favorite stores, and everything they carry is sleeveless, which just bugs me to no end.  We had SNOW on Easter in Montana some years.  Even if it's sunny here, it's usually windy and chilly.  Anyway, on to my shopping.....

Last year I had a handed down dress from Mazie for Josie, and sweet Grandma MJ sewed a matching one for Mazie in her new bigger size.  This year I was thinking I would find some cute fabric and sew some easy T-shirt dresses.  So, I went to Walmart for the $3 T-shirts (which is one of very few reasons you'll ever find me in Walmart), and of course, they never carry the same colors in Toddler sizes as they do in Girls sizes.  It is so frustrating.  They are the same brand!  So, as I was debating whether or not Josie could wear a girls XS, I saw these sets.

...for a mere $7 a piece, plus another $7 each for shoes.  That's only fourteen bucks per girl!  I decided that was better than sewing.  However, the skirts are WAY TOO SHORT, so my mom and I headed over to Joann's for this....

(Please disregard the stained ironing board.)

It was $3.49 a yard, buy my mom had a 40% off coupon.  So, for about eight dollars, I turned those two cute sets into these....

And, usually the boys feel left out.  I mean, new church clothes usually means a new tie, right?  But, they both just got new ties recently, and now they are getting quite the collection.  If Dylan was old enough to pass the sacrament, I wouldn't have bought these patterned shirts, but as it was, I decided they were too cute to pass up, and my primary boys would look downright handsome in them.  Did I mention that the shirts were on sale at Target for only... you guessed it $7 each!  I also got them new tan pants for spring, since their winter pants were black.  Here is the whole beautiful crew. 

Dang, they look good!

And, with the money I saved, I think I'll order some craft supplies off Etsy.  A happy Easter all around!

Walk with Me

I am in the Young Women's organization again.  I know that a few of you are, too.  I have been very excited about working on Personal Progress again, and now the medallion is WAY cooler than that silly girl in the flowing dress I earned back in high school.  So, I've been pondering projects in the Choice & Accountability value.  I decided that the thing I most need to make a choice about and then be accountable for is my health-- my eating habits, my weight and exercise.  However, I know that if I just set a goal to exercise everyday, I will probably fail.  Also, I wanted something that had a spiritual meaning, too.  So, I decided to walk from Winter Quarters to Salt Lake City, figuratively speaking.  It is 940 miles.  My usual walking course is 4.2 miles, so it will take me roughly seven months if I walk everyday, longer if I get lazy and shorter if I start walking a little farther each day. 

I added a new gadget at the side of the blog to track my progress.  I'm hoping by the time I walk 940 miles, I will see some improvement in my body, too, but maybe not.  Either way, it is going to make me healthier and I think it will give me a deeper appreciation for those women who walked all that way in one short summer. 

Anyone up for walking with me?

Checking in

This home schooling gig is kicking my booty.  I realized that I haven't blogged for two weeks, and yet there were several things I wanted to blog about.  The first is my foray into the world of fondant cakes.  My friend Sarah gave me a oh-so-simple recipe for marshmallow fondant, and the cub scouts were having their annual cake sale to raise money for day camp.  Since I was obligated to bring two cakes (one for each scout), we all decided this would be a great time to try out fondant decorating.  I made a grand mess....

...but I had happy boys in the end.  We looked online for cake designs.  Dylan wanted a lego cake, modeled after a much larger and more elaborate wedding cake that we had seen on Cake Wrecks.  For Ethan's I decided we needed a lucky green cake.  (The cake sale was way back on the 9th of March.  Yeah, I've been out of touch for awhile.)

This is a close-up of Dylan's cake.  He did the lettering himself.  We used rice crispy treats to shape the top notches and the pot of gold below.  I know it's not perfect.  It doesn't look near as good as the ones Joanna does for her girls' birthdays, but I'm hoping by the time we get to birthdays, I will have the technique down.

And, here is our pot of gold cake.  I learned that the fondant lightens as you work it into a dough, so neither of my colors were vivid enough.  Plus, the black was from a different kind of food coloring, and I can really tell the difference between the good stuff and the cheap stuff.  I think I will be buying the good stuff soon.

I also decided that I need to buy myself some new cake pans.  I used spring form pans for the pot of gold cake, but the lego cake we just put in a 9 x 13 and cut it.  It wasn't quite even. 

The best thing about this was that the process was easy enough for the kids to be involved.  They helped cut out the designs and stick them to the cakes.  Mazie helped Sarah form all the little balls and stick them on.  I am so looking forward to to making a girly cake and maybe a Father's day cake.  That is, if we ever finish kindergarten, second grade and fourth grade. :)

Okay, I'll tell you...

If you scroll all the way down the blog, "forever" appears right in the middle at the top of the screen.  You have to get below the words to see it.  It's printed in very light gray on the white background.  Now can you find it?