Beautiful North Carolina

Hello! 
What a beautiful snow-covered day here in Utah.  The mountains are majestic and white, the trees are sparkly, and the garden looks like a fluffy marshmallow.  There are sled tracks down the back of my yard, where the children slid this morning. 

I suppose I should be making my Christmas card, but first, I want to document my great trip.

Wednesday, I left to visit Stephen (he'd been working in NC, and I planned to meet up with him).  Around midnight, my plane landed.  Around 2 AM, I made it to our hotel that was only 10 minutes from the airport.  Details about the visit to the rental-car place will be conveniently left off the blog.  Let's just say it was a bit crazy.

I woke without a voice on Thursday, and quite the sore throat.  Darn.  Not the way I wanted to start a trip. I tried to cheer myself up with some shopping, but nothing was really hitting home for me.  I hit all my east coast favorites (I'd packed light!), but bought nothing (this means I didn't feel well...I love to try new things!).

My awesome husband bought me some all-in-one cold/flu medicine (because I didn't think of it...derr), we went to dinner, and then squeezed in two wonderful, wonderful, wonderful visits with friends we missed dearly. They weren't as long as I would have liked, nor did I get to see all of the people I wanted to, but when you set a tight schedule, you take what you can get. 

Here's the (kind of) sad part.  I was supposed to have Friday free to do whatever I wanted.  A free woman!  Instead, I slept until noon (by this time, the cold I thought I was beating had begun to beat me--mercilessly).  We went to Blue Sky Oil & Vinegar--wow!!  Heaven on earth, if you're a foodie.  I hadn't even eaten--decided to do vinegar and oil samples on an empty stomach.  I've never had better balsamic.  After taming our desire to buy the place out, we went to Southern Season (ANOTHER wonderful food place.  My, my...looks like we know what my trip centered around).  Stephen found 6 new ginger beers to try, so we brought them home.  He'll post on those later, when he's tasted them all. Then, we went to dinner (heh, yeah...), and I was done.  We tried to walk around the shops on Fayetteville Rd. but my cold was winning.  So, by 8 PM, I was back in bed--watching the Food Network, no less. I said kind of because, really, when you're a busy mom, sometimes having a reason to sit in bed, drinking a milkshake and watching Food Network sounds kind of nice.

Around 10 I was uber hungry, so I sent my saint of a husband out for shakes from CookOut.  Because we don't have one here in Utah.  Blueberry-Cheesecake-Fudge.  Whew!  yum.  I slept more, and Friday came.  A hike at Crabtree park was perfect.  The weather, amazing.  I didn't feel great, but knew I had 6 hours on the plane ahead of me, so I decided a hike was in order.  We finished our hike with 2 hours to spare, so we went to the History museum in Raleigh for an hour, giving ourselves plenty of travel time to the airport. 

Then, we came home, I partook of NyQuil, and slept more.  Picked up my kids from grandmas...slept more!  Hopefully I can shake this thing soon.  It's mostly nasal, but the pressure is killing my head at times.  But home...home is good.  Sick or not, being with my munchkins has definitely been wonderful.

Thriving

Many of you know from past posts that we moved out to the country because I wanted to have a beautiful garden, and a place where Stephen could work from home in peace.

We love our yard.  We have a large garden (9 4x4 square foot gardens!), an orchard (pears, grapes, apricots, apples, cherries, plums, blueberries, gooseberries, blackberries, strawberries, and peaches) and many herbs.  We're working on getting chickens (such cute hen-houses out there!), and have delved into seed saving.  I'm pretty in love.

There's still the issue of time sometimes, or what to do when the chickens aren't laying, or forgetting to take some of our deep frozen meat out of the freezer.  Or what if there is an emergency and I lose all the frozen food? I don't really like preservative laden canned foods, and though I enjoy canning, I still don't like adding a cup of sugar or salt to a recipe. I'm still working on the perfect solution, but I'm pretty sure a large part of that solution is going to be Thrive Foods.  They are completely additive free.  Want strawberries?  Freeze-dried strawberries.  That's it.  Want green beans?  Ingredients?  Freeze-dried green beans.  Viola!

Due to the simplicity of it all, I decided to sign up as a rep.  Whenever I let people taste the foods, it pretty much sells itself.  It has a shelf-life of 25 years (unopened) if it lasts that long around your kids!  The shelf life is still a full year once opened, so even if you need a scoop of tomato powder (awesome stuff!!--ask me and I'll tell you more!), that can isn't going to go bad that week, or that month.  You have a YEAR.  It's great for food storage, emergency supply, or just having on hand for that day that you have run out of food (or even just produce!) and don't want to make a special trip to the store.  The variety is HUGE! Broccoli, beans, carrots, asparagus, zucchini, potatoes, corn, peas, and more, more, more.  Then there are the fruits.  I almost think I should do a post per veggie and fruit!  Maybe I will.

Anyhow, if you want more information, or samples, let me know.  I'd love to set you up with a great supply of healthy foods.  Also, I do in-home parties (if you are far away, I'll send you a party in a box!), where I make dinner, you sit back and relax (invite lots of friends) and then, when people see how easy it is to store and prepare the produce, they buy some, and you get free food for your food storage.  You can't beat that--FREE food.

Paygeisms

Jillian stopped for pedestrian. Payge asks "why did you stop?"

"There is a person in the road" replies Jillian.

"So."

"So I do not want to hit them."

"Why not?"

Then today, in the grocery store, she sees an octogenarian and says loudly "she looks like she is getting close to dying." Granted, my grandmother recently passed away and she is still coming to terms on what is appropriate discourse in which settings.

Exceeded Limits

Well, folks, it's going to be awhile before there are more photos on this blog.  Looks like I exceeded my 1G (free) limit for photos.  We are in the process of printing up the oldest posts into scrapbooks, and when they are done, I will delete some of my older photos so that I can keep blogging. 

In the process, I've learned a few things:
1) I loved--no, LOVED living in Indiana.
2) The farmer's market and library played a huge role in our lives.  And we loved to walk there on the beautiful tree-lined paths. 

3) I set many wonderful goals, and learned many wonderful things.  I know that I can do the same while living here, but there's just something that is a whole lotta wonderful about being in a place where you FEEL at home.

4)I liked having a small house that I didn't have to worry about.  Even though I don't have a whole lot more stuff in this house (in fact, many cupboards and closets are empty), it seems the kids can spread a mess over a very large area.  Even if I tell them that area is off limits to toys, there still seems to be this effect called "toy creep."

I wonder how else I've exceeded my limits--more basic sounds better and better.  Maybe a new year's resolution is in order. 

Your Worth

I came across this today.  I want to remember it.  It spoke so loudly to me.  I often think of how different all of us are, and how we are all given something the Lord wants us to accomplish.  There really is so much to be done (and yet here I sit at my computer...record keeping counts for something, right?).  So much to further the love and kindness needed on this earth.  I don't do a very good job being loving and kind as often as I want to.  Sometimes, the cleanliness (or lack thereof) of the floor gets me so worked up that I'm mean.  MEAN, over toys, paper, glitter, crayons.  Sigh.  Will I learn?  I pray.  I ask for help.  I try to turn my whole self over to Him.  But I fail miserably.  Daily.  I have great moments. I really do. Moments when the whole family connects, and I FEEL it.  I feel our connection and our family power.  It's there.  And it's awesome.  But then, I forget to keep it there (again), and it leaves. 

Chugging along.  But this is helpful.  Uplifting even:

Halloween

 

 

 

Stephen pulled off the "Mathmagician" quite well.  Though one trick-or-treater asked him if he was a chalkboard.

We were all dressed as characters from The Phantom Tollbooth , but Zac decided to become the undead...as it seemed more fitting for trick-or-treating with his zombie friend.  Good thing I always have a large theatrical make-up kit available!

,

SparX

Toddlers eating candy to get healthier teeth?  Is it possible?  

I was chosen by Mom's Meet to try SparX with my children, to see if they thought it tasted good despite its xylitol and calcium content. 

Xylitol is a plant-based , dentist-recommended sweetener that has been proven to improve dental health and strengthen tooth enamel.  And SparX candies uses it as their sweetener, so you're getting a treat that's good for your teeth.  Another upside to xylitol is that it doesn't mess with your blood sugar, so it doesn't give kids a sugar high, mess with diabetics, or play games with the body of an adult who is trying to cut back on sugar.  

You can find out more about xylitol products at http://www.xlear.com/, or go to their facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/xylitol.experts

As for the taste?  My kids loved it.  They truly enjoyed having a few "candies" after a meal, and I didn't feel horrible giving it to them.  After I explained the calcium and xylitol content, they started calling them "tooth vitamins", though I still made them wait til after meals.  A package of SparX lasts a long time, because you don't need much at a time to satisfy the sweet-tooth.  I have personally found that if something tastes sweet, but doesn't make my blood sugar spike, I don't need as much of it as I do when I eat something like...say, candy corn.  The plus?  They are only $1.49 for a tube.  They worked wonderfully for weaning the kids off Halloween candy after the holiday, and I plan on having them on hand for treats in the future.  

Disclaimer: I received this product for free from the sponsor of the Moms Meet program, May Media Group LLC, who received it directly from the manufacturer.  As a Moms Meet blogger, I agreed to use this product and post my opinion on my blog.  My opinions do not necessarily reflect the opinions of May Media Group LLC or the manufacturer of the product.