Remarkable website.....and story-telling....

It seems I get the most responses from health related posts. :) This is fascinating to me. Thanks to all who sent messages via FB over the weekend. I am striking cords and rekindling friendships with so many, purely on the basis that we all have secret symptoms or concerns that we're not talking about in public. Or maybe you're not willing to bridge the gap between a minor inconvenience and a truly painful disease because you know all too well that your mainstream practitioner will prescribe yet another pill. :) For whatever reason, thanks for opening up and sharing! I will continue to do the same.
I found a remarkable website this weekend. READ THIS, please. And if you're a Hulu fan, take a look at this video. God has designed our bodies to heal themselves. Plain and simple. But there's no way our bodies can heal if we're bombarding them with toxins, lack of sleep, and a suppressed immune system. My Candida has nothing to do with my "southern hemisphere". :) Sorry for the confusion. I should have explained more but I whole-heartedly believed no one would be able to relate anyway, so why share more information? Wrong! Turns out SO MANY of you are dealing with the same things. So, welcome, new Candida friends! :) I have had health problems since the day my daughter was born. She will turn 2 in December. She was my third c-section, and I lost an insane amount of blood during recovery in the hospital. Thankfully they were able to pump me full of enough meds to make the blood transfusion unnecessary. I need to be really careful about how much personal information I share because I really have no idea who's reading this. If I knew you were all girls, I'd spill my guts. But because there is no way of knowing for sure, I would rather ere on the side of "private/conservative" than ere on the side of "your hubby doesn't need to be knowing this about me". Understood? K. :) Again, if you have more questions, please just FB me! I am an open book. Just not one I want every other man reading. :) So here's my story:
I was losing the aforementioned "insane amount of blood" during recovery, but sadly it didn't end there. After months of this new "normal", I had a myriad of blood tests, exams, and ultrasounds to check for anything serious. My OB said it was the result of having 3 c-sections in only 2 1/2 years. So what? We love having babies. Sue me. :P My blood tests were showing a significant amount of vitamin deficiencies. For some reason, I wasn't absorbing the nutrients I was eating. That was IF I was eating any nutrients at all. After baby #3 came along, I just felt like I didn't have time to care anymore. Just last week I had a bag of swedish fish and 5 pieces of pepperoni for lunch. No lie. Tack onto that the marathon of "taxing mommy body syndrone". I don't expect you to know what that is. I just made it up. :) It's my definition of being pregnant and/or nursing every. stinkin'. day. of my life. for ALMOST 4 straight years. No breaks. Not even a single day where I wasn't doing one or the other. Talk about a burnt out body. But I don't even want to hear your comments about that one. I loved every minute, and miss it terribly. :) ANYWAY, I decided to go gluten free because I have such a high family history of celiacs, and I already knew through blood results that I carried the gene. Going gluten free changed my life. I have never had more energy. Seriously. I remember being 12 years old on any given holiday and the females in my family would go hit the sale racks after our large family dinners. I have very vivid memories of being so completely wiped out that I would have rather chosen to sit on the couch next to my daddy and fall asleep to the football game. That's not normal! Unless you had a dad like mine who would slid hand-written notes under your door in the morning that said how much he loved you. Then maybe that would be normal. :) I digress... Now let's get to the present day at hand. My mom heard of a study that showed that a lot of people who are deficient in magnesium can go back to eating gluten IF they bring their magnesium levels up. Hm. Sounded like a winning plan to me, so off I tread to my holistic doctor to explain my recent findings. She agreed that it could definitely help, but after listening to my crazy symptoms she knew right away what my problem was. Candida. She said going gluten free was a fantastic first step, but now I need to take the next one. She'd like me to have a special 184-panel blood test done to check for other food sensitivities, but insurance doesn't cover that so it will need to wait a little while longer. Thankfully no meds are needed to treat my case of Candida, just a lot of will power. No flour, no sugar, no yeast, no vinegar, no fruit, no juice, no soda, no ice cold Java Chip after a mid-morning run to Target. :( Sniff sniff. This is like torture for me! I R.E.L.Y. on sugar. And GF snacks. And ice cream. And mountain dew. And starbucks. It's what I look forward to. It's my "reward" for finishing the laundry, or homeschooling, or sorting through bins of clothes, or getting out of bed. :) I said "Oh no! Does this mean I can't have Mountain Dew in the middle of the day for my daily dose of caffeine to get me through the evening!?!?!" Her response: "Yeah, you can no longer have soda, but (insert positive, excited voice here) you CAN have a cup of green tea!!" Oh jeez. Thanks a bunch. My doctor (who is a holistic practitioner) had a baby a couple months ago and put herself on the Mucho Insano diet. I decided to take a good, hard look at my doctor. Beautiful, healthy, long hair. Perfect skin. All of 95 pounds. Hm. Remind me to NEVER schedule Seth an appointment to see her.... She said she thought her "baby belly" would be there to stay after she had child #2, but it completely left after 3 months on the diet. Another plus: everything you're allowed to eat with this plan is everything that fights cancer. It completely eliminates cancer's reason to live: yeast, flour, sugar. SO....I've spent the weekend researching what to eat, what not to eat, and how to survive the withdrawl period. Not fun. I'm almost to the point of wrapping my mind around it enough to start. Almost. :)

Keeping you posted,
Me

Today...

She was desperate to use the dust-buster, but the batteries were dead. She resorted to picking up pieces of food and shoving them in the vaccuum by herself. :)

I dreamt I was in a cute vacation home. With a pool. And a nanny. Then I woke up. :)

It's 10:33am, and I'm still in my pj's.

I've been really convicted of discontentment lately. Think a tv-less, blog-less week would help to cure the problem.

I've been diagnosed with Candida. Not the gross kind where there is an excessive amount of moisture coming from the southern hemisphere, but rather the very inconvenient kind where the only cure is to cut all and every form of sugar out of one's diet for a whole month. :(

I cried last night. A lot. I am tired, missing my husband, and having a hard time picking a new paint color for our home. :)

I fed my daughter a bowl of instant oatmeal at 8:00pm in hopes that she would sleep through the night. It worked!

We have 5 computers right now.

I would choose blogs and books over TV and movies.

My 4 year old asked me if my baby was growing, because my belly was looking bigger. Hm.

Challenged myself to keep polish off my toes for a week. Still sticking to it!

Can handle boogers any day of the week, but simply cannot tolerate ear wax.

We are taking our house off of the market on September 30th. I have very mixed emotions.

I am headed to my mom's house today to rid her driveway of acorns so that I can use them here at my house to decorate with :)

I used my palm sander for the first time yesterday. No one warned me about the ramifications of being in that position, and using that mount of pressure, for that length of time. I could barely get out of bed today. I. Am. Sore.

Thankful it's Friday. Wishing I had exciting plans for the weekend, but still thankful it's Friday.

Nutrient Destroyers

I'm down another health-related road right now. I've been GF (gluten-free) for months, and many of my previous "weird" symptoms dissipated. Others still remain, though, and I was visiting my holistic doctor this morning discussing more options. I can give you more details later. I'm going to be really honest about this stuff because #1: I'm not a private person. :) And #2: for the slight possibility it will give one of you a light bulb moment to a life time of change. I am SO thankful for my doctor. She has never once sent me away with a medication. She always fires at the root of the problem, instead of masking the symptom. So today when I walked in and said "yada yada yada yada", she told me I needed a lifestyle change. My former "mainstream" practitioner would've prescribed a pill. I'm still doing my research, so I don't want to share a whole lot just yet. But I did come across this and thought it was interesting enough to share it with you. Everything we do, eat, and think has the potential to destroy nutrients in our bodies. Remember people, we are either fighting cancer, or feeding it.

Listed here are nutrient destroyers:

• Aspirin--destroys vitamin A, calcium, potassium, B complex and C.
• Caffeine--destroys vitamin B1, inositol and biotin, potassium and zinc and prevents calcium and iron assimilation.
• Chlorine in water--destroys vitamin E.
• Chocolate--contains caffeine and it is very irritating to the kidneys. High in fat, which can cause indigestion.
• Fluoride--destroys vitamin C
• Sleeping Pills--destroy folic acid and vitamin D.
• Menstruation--requires extra iron, vitamin B12, calcium and magnesium.
• Nitrates/Nitrites--Destroys vitamins A, C and E
• Stress--Physical, emotional and mental all vitamins are depleted.
• Sugar and white flour--destroys B vitamins.

This small article was found HERE

My very real situation now involves whether to down my daily, scheduled dose of Mountain Dew while my babies sleep, or grab the Red Raspberry tea bag I have in the cupboard. Maybe one more day of Mountain Dew....at least until I've finished my research. :)

Today's Purchases

How often are you supposed to replenish things? I've often wondered that. I remember visiting at other family's homes growing up and seeing the mom use pea green plastic spatulas. Pea green? Isn't that a 70's color? So she has used the same spatula for 20 years? Is that normal? I love new, fresh items. At the same time, I want enough "original" stuff around to build memories upon. I feel like I've come to a bit of a cross-roads in my decorating style. My house screams traditional. Heavy. Old. Then I walk through Ikea and fall. Head over heals. There is no possible way to empty my entire house and start over. But I still thirst for modern inspiration in my own little world that is decorated until I find out what "my" style is. :) Enough with the chit chat. My mom came over to watch the kids for a few hours so I could go out. I headed straight to Ikea for 30 minutes of shopping bliss!

I bought this 3-piece set for $4.99. The large basket holds my necklaces, the middle one holds my bracelets, and the small one holds SOME of my earrings. :)
I have quite an obsession with dishes. We were given a beautiful Mikasa set as a wedding gift from my grandparents. These will be the pieces I hand down to my daughter some day. In the mean time, a girl likes to have a change of scenery while she's chowing down on the same 5 recipes, week after week. Have I mentioned I'm not all that in love with cooking? :) ANYWAY, I've had the same glass salad plates for almost 6 years now. They are the same ones my mom uses. Come to think of it, my grandmother also owns some that look fiercely familiar. I never even had to take a second to think about it when I saw some new ones today for $.99 each! I couldn't find a picture online, so you'll have to use your imagination. They are very minimalist and sleek. Nothing like what I used to have. I LOVE them!
We spent the better part of last week in a hotel in Greenville, South Carolina. It.was.heavenly. King size bed, cable tv, and the freedom to leave my wet towels on the bathroom floor for some other woman to clean up. :) Life was so simple and enjoyable. There weren't as many choices to make. The blinds were some kind of 12-way ply or something that enabled the kids to think that it was as dark as midnight at 2 in the afternoon. Like I said. Heavenly. :) I've spent quite a bit of time trying to determine why, in fact, a hotel-stay can be so enjoyable. Lots of conclusions later, I want to share one of them with you. Newer, nicer hotels don't have throw pillows. This may not seem like much, but think about it. I currently have 2 "regular" pillows on my bed and 6, yes, 6 throw pillows. I have to make sure they get put back in the correct order, on the right side, and aligned perfectly every single day. At the hotel we had 6 "regular", white-pillowcased pillows. Oh the simplicity! And comfort! They were all so efficient. And versatile. And plush! So I was on a mission for more "regular" pillows at Ikea! I bought two today. I think they were $5 or $6 each. I chose the cheapest that they had. I wasn't really impressed with their white pillowcases, so I have high hopes of hitting Target sometime this week.
I think that was about it for my purchases. Unless of course you wanted me to include the bag of swedish fish I devoured on the way home. Thankfully I "saved" 3 for my kids to enjoy when I walked in the door. So there you have it! My highly enjoyable Ikea trip was a success! And fairly inexpensive! The hubby will be proud. :)

A Challenge to Myself

It has been awhile. :) Our summer ended, my "prep for fall by emptying and reorganizing every closet and cupboard in the whole house" began, and we started the adventure of homeschooling. Therefore, no blogging. But this week holds the promise of a few more cleansing breaths, so I've made a challenge for myself: blog. every single day. I always convince myself that whatever I'm going through, or whatever is on my mind could in no way be entertaining enough to put here. But that has never really been the purpose of my writing anyway. This is for me. For me to remember who I was, and what happened, and what it felt like. Not for you to be entertained. Or impressed. :) Because I struggle too much with that in "real life". Worrying about what you think, that is. And I long to be more honest. It's so much easier to let everyone believe that I'm loving life, or my house, or my husband, or my kids, or my hips. :) So, here's confession #1: I don't really trust God. I realized it tonight, and know that by stating that fact I've now taken the risk of getting 4 extremely long comments on how to change. So be it. Say what you want. The truth is, I feel as though I've allowed myself to believe that God, my God, is only associated with fear and tragedy. The "only-call-on-Him-when-in-terrible-distress" God. I haven't allowed myself to fall in love with the God Who loves me. I was writing in my prayer journal when the boys walked into our room tonight. My oldest asked what I was doing. I told him I was writing a letter to God. He then asked a question that just about stopped me in my tracks. "Mom, are you telling the truth?" Yikes! We've been talking a lot about the difference between telling the truth, and telling stories lately here at home. That's exactly what he wanted to know. If I was telling God the truth. How honest are we with God? I know this seems like a super-spiritual question to hear from the girl who only writes about laundry detergent and bath time, but I'm curious. After I was done praying, I opened my Bible to this:

Psalm 20
May the Lord answer you when you are in distress; may the name of the God of Jacob protect you. May He send you help from the sanctuary and grant you support from Zion. May He remember all your sacrifices and accept your burnt offerings. May He give you the desire of your heart and make all your plans succeed. We will shout for joy when you are victorious and will lift up our banners in the name of our God. May the Lord grant all your requests. Now I know that the Lord saves His anointed; He answers him from His holy heaven with the saving power of His right hand. Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we will trust in the name of the Lord our God. They are brought to their knees and fall, but we rise up and stand firm. O Lord, save the king! Answer us when we call!

When your husband travels...

I am SO not used to this....him being gone. For the first few months I just sulked. I'll be honest. I thought to myself "How can one be so incredibly thankful for this job, and so upset about it all at the same time!?" I even threatened to fill out an application for him at Lowes'. :) But truth be told, he loves his job. I love his job. I just haven't made real good friends with this thing called "traveling". As a child I had a dad who was home. A LOT. He could come home for lunch, or dinner, or to go golfing, or to surprise my mom with roses. His office was only 5 minutes away. He took a lot of trips, but most of them were just for fun. He never really had to be away that much for work. That's what I'm used to. If you had told me 10 years ago that at this point in my life I'd be married, have had 3 c-sections, living in a townhouse with practically no yard, and have a husband who has to travel for work I do believe you would've seen my chin hit the floor. Never would've guessed. :) But God has a serious sense of humor, and apparently this is what He has chosen for us at this stage of the game. So before he left for this most recent trip, I spent an hour in bed just crying. I was nervous and upset and for the first time I understood why. I associate a dad who travels with one who never comes home. My dad boarded that plane on August 8th, 2003 for a golfing trip. He never returned. I told Seth that I fully expect that sooner or later, eventually, there will be a trip in which he never returns. It's the only thing I know. Another reason why I always dreaded his trips was because I felt like life had to be put on hold. I couldn't have fun, or get a break, or exercise, or see friends, or watch a movie. I would just timidly go throughout my day, awaiting the next disaster....a water pipe bursts, I get the stomach flu, a kid breaks their leg, I get raped in my bed with a gun held to my head. :) You know, just the normal stuff a mom worries about! So here was our conclusion: #1, trust the Lord. Duh. What did you expect? Sip on mimosa's every night? Hehe... #2, find fun things to do while he's gone. I hated his trips because it meant I had to go a whole week without exercising. He always watched the kids so I could go to the gym, or go to the barn, or go for a walk. We solved this solution by purchasing a treadmill. I've gotta say, it's been wonderful! We've also been able to implement more ideas, such as....get out of the house from 5-7 every evening. These are the worse hours every day, ESPECIALLY when he's not here. So now during naptime I pack snacks and drinks and activities. They all wake up around 4, they get a drink, get dressed, and then we are gone! The mall....the library.....the park.....church.....Target....you name it, we go there. It makes those evening hours go by SO much faster. By the time we get home they are all ready for baths, a HUGE snack (since they didn't have much of a dinner), watch a movie, read a book, and then to bed they go! I'm also not left with a kitchen full of dirty dishes because I never had to actually "make dinner". It's truly a win-win. :) We also don't talk about daddy being away. They know he's working. They know he's not coming home for dinner. But we don't just sit around and say "well, today daddy is in Vermont and we won't see him for another 4 days...." :) My husband cannot give 100% of himself at work if he knows we are all at home bawling our eyes out and counting the minutes down, OR if I'm calling every 20 minutes just to check in. :) So we've made changes. So far, so good. Who knows what the future holds. He may not be traveling for the rest of his life. But what if this is what God wants him to do until he's 60? Do I want to look back and say that for 15 weeks out of every year we sat around on our heinies and watched the world pass us by until he walked in the door again? Not a chance! I still get scared...and bored......and lonely. I have little things that I do that are rediculous. Like don't do laundry in the evening because I don't want to have to walk by myself to the basement to put it in the dryer. I also keep the gun within reaching distance. :) Heaven forbid if someone ever plays a trick on me. Shoot first, ask questions later is my moto. :) ANYWAY, these things have helped me. Still learning....but doing better. :)

A quick hello!

This has been our 3rd week of school, and I've had to do a lot of tweaking! :) The school room has been completely redone, once again. Pictures coming soon! At first my biggest goal with the school room was to make it pretty. Then we started school. :) I quickly realized "pretty" was not as important as "practical". We have incorporated a new daily schedule into our lives by using THIS book. I've realized that my 3 year old is just as bright, and has an even bigger interest in doing "school" than my 4 year old. I've also had to come to grips with the fact that I'm not supposed to replicate a "real school" with our home school. I've never wanted a starting point and an ending point to our school day. Charlotte Mason said "Education is an atmosphere". I have that written on a large chalkboard in my kitchen. I have decided to use it as a little bit of a moto around here, because asking 3 children, 4 and under to stay seated, or even to stay in one room until our "school day" was done was just not fair. Our curriculum is accomplished in the school room. Music class is done in the foyer. Our 2 hours of reading (that's a whole other blog post...) is done on the couch in the family room, and their "free time" is done in their rooms. We have taken the tv to our room. Keeping the tv in the family room became the most convenient thing to let bored or cranky kids do! We didn't want to get rid of it altogether, because there are times when I "need" them to sit still for 20 minutes. :) Now the only thing in our family room is books, and it is heavenly. And we have purchased a treadmill! Oh my goodness, I can't even tell you how excited I was about this, and how much I've used it already! So many new things, for so many new reasons. Can't wait to share more, but as of right now I have 2 hours until someone is coming to look at the house and I am still wearing my daisy dukes in a very messy kitchen. :) Until later....