New Years' Resolutions

Well, given that I'm not in complete control of my environment at the moment (ahhh, travel--done cheaply--puts you at everyone else's schedule's whim), I haven't really started my resolutions yet BUT, the nice thing about being here has been that I have had a lot of time to think about my goals, and a lot of time to WISH I were working on them. I figure if I start to yearn for the goal, I'm more likely to work on it when I get the chance. SO, here goes:

#1: I set up my deck of chore cards (See book: Side-tracked Home Executives) last year. I did well for a few months, and everything fell apart when Payge was born. I still kept things tidy, but I was really on a roll before. SO, my first goal is to be more diligent in following my own plans.

#2: Feeding my family (and myself) more whole foods. I know that it is not always possible to be completely locavore , but at least getting rid of foods whose ingredients I cannot pronounce should be a good start. I will still eat foreign foods whose ingredients I merely cannot pronounce due to culture differences, but, I would like to stick to as local as possible. I do this mainly because I feel so disconnected from my food sometimes, and I think it'll improve the health of our whole family if we work for and appreciate the effort that goes into the food we eat. So, once again, I believe we'll be working on the farm co-op! I'm excited.

#3: More action, less research. I've been reading a lot lately. Sometimes I think I read and read and read, to the point of inaction. The first time this was pointed out to me was when my sweet, sweet husband said, "You read Runner's World, but you don't run, why?" That's when I realized that I thought I didn't have the time, but really, the time I was spending reading about running I could have been running. So, I started. Now, I'm off to start acting on some of the things I keep reading about!

Breakfast Misunderstanding

Kids. The breakfast option this morning: Shredded Wheat. Chayce's translation: trick-or-treat-meat. Don't ask, I don't know how that came to be. I suppose she just misheard me. ;)

Food for Medical Cost Thought

First, I must write down what I've been talking to my Aunt about. She works as quality control for IHC hospitals, and has to implement government guidelines & such. We discussed her opinion on the cost of healthcare, and she stated that in all honesty, the stuff the insurance companies do to the hospitals comes in a far second to the costly requirements the government puts upon the hospitals. In fact, she says that the guidelines that Medicaid & Medicare put on hospitals to stay accredited is what usually drives up the cost of running the hospital, but that's not something advertised in the Media.

For example, it used to be there only had to be 30 checkpoints (ONLY) along the way, each of which require a person to be working there (adding more salaries needing to be paid, which drives up the cost of healthcare), but now, with the new laws taking effect, the government programs want to more than DOUBLE the number of checkpoints, which according to her (she's quality control, remember?) doesn't really increase the level of safety at the hospital, it just makes it harder for the hospital to get paid (each checkpoint must be satisfied for the hospital to stay accedited, or else the government programs don't have to pay out, but the hospital still has to provide the service). Basically, it's running hospitals out of business, unless they charge exhorbant amounts--and we want the government to fix the problem of rising healthcare? Hmmm. Maybe Universal Healthcare isn't such a good idea?

Another point: my aunt stated that most times, when an insurace company won't cover something, it's because Medicaid or Medicare made the exclusion first, and insurance companies just follow suit. USUALLY, she says that they jump through more government hoops than insurance company hoops.

Just food for thought.

And the winner is....

OK, so, using RANDOM.ORG as a number generator, our winner was comment #3:
Dominoe said...

The huckleberry soap sounds good enough to eat!

December 24, 2008 6:47 AM

YAY!!


Dom, send me your address via email, and I'll send that box. Congrats!

One Year Older & Wiser, Too!!

We've been blogging for a whole year now!! Exciting isn't it? Happy anniversary to us.
To celebrate, we want to give a gift to our readers. I pondered for awhile what that gift might be, but I decided that I'm going to give away FOUR jars of Geneva Springs' Dairy Maid Skin Cream.
Why? Well, mainly because I love the stuff, but also because I could not decide what variety to give away if I were to give away only one. So, I narrowed it down to four, because each variety has a different use, while the others they sell just smell good.
1 2 oz. jar of Unscented--because even those with allergies should be able to enjoy soft skin. There is NO added fragrance in this jar, while other "unscented" products can get away with putting a scent in that balances the yucky smell of their ingredients, Lucy at Geneva Springs just sticks to pure ingredients. I use this one on my kids--even the baby.
1 2 oz jar of Lavender--to relax you. It is the real oil, not just a fragrance.
1 2 oz jar of Peppy Mint--a blend of spearmint & peppermint. Did you know that it's recently been proven that putting mint oil on your temples during a headache can cure it? With the high concentration of mint in this blend, it works wonders for headaches. Also, great on feet and legs after a looooong day. I've even used it to calm my charlie horses.
1 2 oz jar of l'Orange Crush--This one has orange essential oil blended with a fragrance. It's so energizing and upbeat...it's my favorite. Definitely a pick-me-up after doing the dishes. Orange oil is also good for circulation.

So, what is this stuff? It's a cream that Lucy has been making for her family for the past 25 years, as they own a dairy and the wet-dry-wet-dry atmosphere is not good for skin. It causes cracking and bleeding, and this concoction has kept family hands crack free for years now. She's only been selling it for 5 years, and recently started adding the essential oils and other fragrances. And that's only because she happens to have five daughters now, who all wanted to smell just as good as they looked.

Oh, yes, the giveaway. To win this long-lasting four pack (because a little really does go a long way!), go to Geneva Springs' website, and tell me what your favorite product is. There's more than cream there now. She's got glycerin soaps, beeswax soaps, bath salts, and lip balms. She also does custom orders, so if you need your product to have no dye in it, she will do it (she uses cosmetic grade dyes though, so if you can wear make-up, it shouldn't bother your skin), or if you want a special essential oil mix, email her, and it can be done!

Learning a Little About Reproduction

I suppose that living on a farm, you can't avoid the basic life lessons. This lesson was AWESOME, though. Our AI (artificial insemination)vet came today, and flushed (took all the fertilized embryos from a favorite cow, which we'd fertilized with a favorite bull) a cow. We got ten good embryos. Exciting. The more exciting part was that Zach and I got to use the microscope to find the tiny embryos. It was fun to show him a cup of clear liquid (or what seems clear) and show him the embryos in it. Then, the vet put the embryos in tiny little straws (imagine a long version of a coffee stirring stick), and Zach and Grandpa T. and the vet went outside and picked some cows to impregnate. Zach was a little shocked when the vet's hand disappeared into the cow...quite a way, actually--that's why the gloves go up to the armpit! But, the learning experience was a good one. The vet then explained to Zach that even he was as small as those tiny embryos as one time. In fact, we learned that all mammals start out the same size, except horses and elephants--they're bigger.

One thing that sort of touches me is how valuable this tiny, invisible embryo of only a few days is. Yet, we allow abortion in humans up to 21 weeks. Crazy. To work in this field and see the vitality of the tiny cells, and to think that human cells are less valued by some. Honestly, it sickens me. To know that there are people that will PAY $3000 (yes, three-thousand) for an embryo that goes into a cow--and that in the same country it's OK to end a human life. Arrgh! Fortunately, the people who are working in this area (farming) are also the ones valuing human life. Perhaps we need to send everyone back to the farm for awhile.

SAVE HANDMADE!!!

Overview from Cool Mom Picks:
We're all for strengthening the safety standards of mass-produced toys, clothes, and accessories made in China, and banning toxins like phthalates and lead. But this year, congress passed the ill-conceived Consumer Products Safety Improvement Act, a law which goes into effect in two months and will absolutely decimate the small toy manufacturers, independent artisans, and crafters who have already earned the public trust. The very same ones that we often feature here and in our yearly special edition gift guides.
With this act going into effect February 10 2009 so many people we love will be affected: Moms who sew beautiful handmade waldorf dolls out of home, artists who have spent decades hand-carving trucks and cars out of natural woods, that guy at the craft show who sold you the cute handmade puzzle--even larger US companies who employ local workers and have not once had any sort of safety issue will no longer be able to sell their goods. Not without investing tens of thousands of dollars into third-party testing and labeling, just to prove that toys that never had a single toxic chemical in them still don't have a single toxic chemical in them.
More...


I don't know about you, but I love to support local crafters! Especially ones that make beautiful children's toys & handmade clothing for my three little ones. Handmade just has so much more beauty, so much care, the detail, the love...oh, I could go on!

The law is good in theory, it bans all toys made with any lead or phthalates , but the third party testing required of all products would make it impossible for our local craftsmen/women (or Etsy sellers!) to stay afloat due to the large fees. There has to be a way to put this law on hold until an agreement can be made, to save handmade.