Curly Girl

I am a CURLY GIRL!  There I admitted it!  I have curly hair and finally at 37 years old, I really like my curls. After having my twins, and having 3 kids (my oldest is 10 1/2 months older than my twins), I decided to grow out my super short hair (boy short) which I had for probably over 5 years.  I would tell people that I kept my hair short because I hated how curly and frizzy, and crazy my hair was when it was long.  I decided that I had no time to get my hair cut every 3-4 weeks, not to mention the money I would spend only to have my hair never look the way I hoped that it would.  I had attempted to grow my hair out for my wedding 3 years ago, and that never happened.  I have super short hair in my wedding photos, which is fine, but i wish I had been able to embrace my curls back then.  Just recently, I was at Cambridge Naturals, a local natural food store and saw the book "curly girl, The Handbook".  I flipped through it and it was love at first read.  I have been reading how shampooing your hair is bad for hair, but here were "curly girls" saying that not shampooing actually helped your curls.  I was hooked!  I had been limiting how much I was shampooing my hair prior, but now I am going the no shampoo route.  I believe that I have Botticelli curls, which definitely means no shampoo for this head.  It also means that I will mostly be using water and once a week, I will cleanse my hair with conditioner.  I have been really enjoying my curls this time around, and now i think I will even more.  I plan to find a recipe for conditioner and hair gel that I can make myself and only use those products on my hair!  I know that hair gel can be made from flax seeds and that should be really good for my hair vs the junk that gets put into commercially based products.  Now I just need a good moisturizing conditioner recipe!  My husband who currently has super short hair, usually has curly hair when it is longer.  Even though he has curly hair, he has joined in on the no shampooing and maybe is even considering goring his hair longer again!  My 3 kids all have curl to their hair, my daughter being the curliest.  I plan to do the hole no shampoo thing if I can.  Unfortunately, they are still only 2 1/2 and 19 months, so they get food and things in their hair that may actually need to be cleaned out, but for the most part shampoo is no longer in our house. 

So if you are a curly girl, embrace it! Don't wait as long as I did to love what you have and do what's right for what you have!  Curls are beautiful, and like I've always been told, there are a ton of people that would die to have your hair!

Amy

Food Update

My new goal of wanting to cook more at home, cook more healthy foods, and use less processed ingredients is starting to actually happen.  I still need to get more organized, but I am doing better on that front also.  We have been eating stonyfield yogurt most morning for a few weeks now.  I have actually made granola to out in it, but we have run out so we are currently using store bought.  I will be making more granola soon though so we will again be having homemade foods.  I am also trying to get a handle on time so that I can attempt to make my own crock pot yogurt.  My friend Chantal, another twin mom who feels very similar about food as I do if not more so, makes her own yogurt this way so now it's my turn.

We have had a ton of eggplant from our garden as well as tomatoes.  On facebook, I asked for suggestions for using the eggplant and got some really good suggestions.  I am attempting a ratatouille recipe (from smitten kitchen)  with oureggplant, and our neighbors summer squash and zuchinni.  Unfortunately, most of the red pepper it calls for is from the grocery store, but a little is from our garden.  I also plan to make an eggplant hummus recipe from http://www.premeditatedleftovers.com.  I also plan to make my own pita bread once I find a good recipe, so if anyone has one, please post it!  We also got a ton on swiss chard from our neighbor that I want to use soon, before it goes bad and I got a recipe from http://www.breastfeedingmomsunite.com/.  I can't wait to try it.

I found the foodrenegade.com site and am really liking it.  Now I have one more blog to follow as well as all the blogs that I find from that site.  I really am comitted to change the way I view food and my health, it's just going to take some time and some patience on my part.  Nothing happens overnight or at least nothing that is good for you so I just need to be patient and perservere though the difficult and trying times!

Amy

Real Food

I am so tired of the different informtion that is out there regarding what is healthy food.  I am so tired of food being touted as healthy when it's health benefits pretty much solely depend on who is doing the reporting.  I know that I have to be my own advocate and researcher, but come on,  shouldn't there be something in place that helps the consumer like you and me figure out the truth?  I guess Michael Pollen's suggestion of not eating any food that our great grandmother's wouldn't recognize is the best means of figuring out what foods we should and should not be eating.  When I think about my great grandparents, at least on my mother's side, I think about getting food from the farms that their families worked on.  I think about animal proteins that came right from their farms.  I think about clothing and household items that were made by the families themselves.  My great grandparents didn't buy their food from big chain stores, they didn't eat out at chain restaurants.  They made what they could for food and clothing and other items that they could make themselves.  We live in an age where convenience is more the norm than health and well-being.  I am also to blame for this norm.  As much as I say that I want to be healthier and lead a more natural and handmade life, I also tend to fall for the ease and convenience of take out and prepared foods, clothing, household items.  I also can at times spend way too much money on things that are not necessary for my everyday life.  I am trying to be more vigilant about what I buy vs what I make.  Having three small kids makes it difficult but not impossible.  As always, I try to remain focused an my true goals in life and when I lose that focus I try my hardest to get it back and keep it.  So, while I can find myself not always being true to what I believe, I am always trying to get back there.  I really want to raise my kids not to view convenience as the way to live.  Even though a handmade and natural lifestyle is difficult and not always easy or able to obtain, it is a fabulous goal to have!

Amy

Wishcasting Wednesday: How do you wish to spend some time?

Jamie Rider at jamieridlerstudios.ca asks "How do you wish to spend some time?"

This is a fabulous question for me.  When I first saw the question, I thought sleeping!  Now that I think more about it, I think I wish to spend time doing the things that I love to do, but never have enough time to do.  With 3 kids under 3, there are so many other things that I need to do, I never or rarely ever get to do the things I love to do.  I would love to have time to spend in my garden and enjoy the flowers that I have.  I would love to spend time learning how to decorate cakes.  I would love to spend time scrapbooking the pictures of my children and even my wedding.  I would love to take a creative class in something new.  I would love to get a massage.  And, yes, I would love to spend some time sleeping with out worrying about the kids waking up.

How do you wish to spend your time?

Amy

Goals

I am trying to re-focus my goals.  Now that I have made some positive changes in my lifestyle, I figure, I need to re-evaluate what other changes need to come next.  I have been doing ok with exercising.  I've had a little slow down due to chaos and weather, but will be back up and at it when things (weather) is better.  I am eating a little better, but can always do more.  I have been shinig my sink and picking up the kids toys every night.  I have been better at getting to bed at a reasonable hour.  I think my next step is to focus on my eating more.  I have been having less breads than previously, but still need to do much better.  I have stopped drinking coffee almost exclusively.  I am now only drinking tea, except for the rare occasion when I need the caffeine (which means I didn't listen to myself and get sleep).  I have decided to cut out all soda except for soda water.  No artificial colors for me.  I am also only going to eat sugar in small amounts and only in it's most natural state.  I am not doing anymore HFCS and no agave nectar.  My goal is honey, maple syrup, raw sugar, stevia, and other natural sugars like dates and fruit.  I am going to eat even less meat than I am now.  I haven't been as good as I'd like to be, but I can always look at where I am at and how I can do better. I think I have been doing better at eating at home, but that is always a struggle, especially with me working.  I need to plan better.  I need to incoorporate more beans, fruits, and veggies into my diet.  I think it has really helped that I am pretty much only having yogurt and granola for breakfast.  I feel better and am not eating a ton of carbs early in the day.  Also, I am waiting for my food testing to come back to see if I have any allergies.  It will be really interesting to see what it says and where I go from there.

So, to refocus, I am decreasing the amount of carbs I eat (especially early in theday), I am only using minimal amounts of natural sweeteners, decreasing the amount of animal protein and increasing non-animal protein, and eating more fruits and veggies.  I really need to do more research on healthy eating.  There is jsut so much info out there, that I need to figure out what is going to work best for me and my family.  If anyone wants to comment on good reads for healthy eating and recipes, I am all ears.

The last goal that I want to focus on is ensuring that I get to be creative more often than I am right now.  Granted, cooking is a creative outlet, but I want to do more.  I want/need to knit, sew, paper craft, cake decorate, make jewelry, and any other creative form that I love.

These are my newest goals and I am starting to work on them as I write!

Amy

Weekend Update

I had lots of things planned for the weekend, and I actually got somethings completed.  This was not the weekend for the twins group outing. so that was one less ting on the list.  What I did get completed was the granola, some garden work, the mei tai, and even got to bed on the earlier side and got some rest, since the kids all slept really well.  Oh, and I make cookies with the kids (of course I did most of it with a little help from the kids).  I still need to make graham crackers, yogurt, more granola, more planting (not any time soon with the rain we are having) and I know that there is more that I need to do!

These are the pictures of my mei tai.  I tried on all the kids quickly this morning.  I was actually able to do it by myself, and Eva Rose as the first was my worst.  The two boys cooperated much more and I am really excited to use it!  I think the kids will really like it.

Work in progress

Miss Eva Rose in the Mei Tai

Mr Michael in the Mei Tai (better positioned)

Mr Thomas in the  Mei Tai

Finished project

Finally finished!  I feel pretty good about all that I got done this weekend.  I still have plenty of things that I need to work on.  I need to plan what projects I can work on while I am at work if there is down time.  I have a bunch of cooking baking things that I want/need to make and given that it is going to rain for a couple of days (much needed) I think I may get some things done.

Amy

Projects For The Weekend

Last night, I started trying my plan to get organized.  I followed flylady.net advice and shined my sink. Great, I can do that every night and yes it did look really nice.  I will work on day 2 of my flylady plan.  I will also make some granola tonight, maybe even attempt some homemade yogurt since we seem to go through it so quickly with 5 of us eating it (I'm eating the low fat though so not as much of mine get eaten as quickly), I will at least cut out the material and if possible sew a pocket diaper for Thomas (we are trying out new diapers to see what is going to work best for the kiddos given their sensitive skin), I think I will also make oatmeal for breakfast in the slow cooker (yummmmm).  Between tomorrow and Sunday, I need to plant the irises that my mom gave me, transplant the lillies that I already have, and overall get the front gardens looking better.  I also want to make graham crackers (no HFCS or partially hydrogenated fats in these), a peach and blueberry cobbler, sew more diapers, and make my mei tei wrap before my little ones get too big!  There is also the possibility of going on an outing with my twins group and I don't know how that will fit in to the weekend of if it does at all.  Maybe we won't even go.  If I can get even a few of these thing completed, I will be thrilled!

Even though I want to get things accomplished (and the things I listed don't include the housework I need to do) I need to make sure that I get to bed at a normal hour (I think 11 o'clock is appropriate).  I will just have to prioritize what needs to get done and what can be postponed!

Amy