I have now joined the world of slow cooking!!  I love it!  Who knew it would be so easy?  I am trying a chicken dish.  Chicken breast, broccoli slaw, cream of mushroom and a bunch of other stuff.  I will let you know how it turns out!  My pot roast last night was great.  Baby potatoes, carrots, mushrooms califlower.  My kids loved it.  Any easy recipes out there let me know!!!

Antoinette

It seems like so many people are wanting to lose weight, but resign themselves to being overweight.  Usually I hear them say things like, “I’ve tried everything.”  I think what they are really saying is that they’ve tried a ton of diets.  I guess that’s why I like the show “The Biggest Loser”.  They show real people eating well and exercising.  Hmmm… surprising that they lose weight!

Also, it was great seeing Bob the trainer say to throw out items in your house that contain fructose corn syrup!  It’s great to have someone giving healthy advice without any agenda other than to help people be healthy.

School work is just about done (dd was sick so she’s behind) and the weekend is upon us!  We are ready to wind down and go see the movie “Fireproof” tomorrow with some friends I think.  One thing I like to do when we go to the movies is to make my own popcorn and put it in baggies.  I use an air popper and coat it lightly with a mixture of coconut oil and Earth’s Balance butter.  It’s really good and not as bad for you as movie popcorn! Give it a shot!

Update on Costly Federal Early Education Spending Bill

“Congress has recessed and left Washington, D.C.  H.R. 2343, the Education Begins at Home Act, never came up for a vote on the House floor.  Thank you for your calls.  They were successful and helped to educate members of Congress and their staff about the concerns with this bill.”

Sounds like this is going no where… glad that this has been left by the side, for now at least!

I don’t know about you other moms out there, but when I see a bill that will cost a lot of money and will possibly interfere with the decisions I make about my family, I get very concerned!  There’s a bill out there called H.R. 2343 that really looks scary!  Here’s a description below:

“H.R. 2343 seeks to expand the Head Start Early Home Visitation program to supposedly “educate” parents of children from infants to 5-year-olds on parenting strategies. If passed, this bill would literally open the door for government employees to enter private homes to impose unelected officials’ educational agendas, which may prove offensive and contrary to many families’ moral and religious beliefs. Although at this point enrollment in the home visitation program is voluntary, government programs almost always grow beyond their original scope when bills are amended.

This intrusive and unnecessary legislation comes at a whopping starting cost of more than $190 million—a burden that will be incurred by already struggling American taxpayers!”

Hmmm… aren’t officials concerned about the bailout of  Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and AIG and voting on that today?  Does the government REALLY need to spend OUR money like this when they are already having to spend so much to bail out these companies?  They act like there’s an endless supply.  Okay moms, if this bugs you like it bugs me, call your representatives today and tell them to vote against H.R. 2343.

I often wonder exactly what nutrients are in different foods. I wonder when I grab a “handful” of almonds, what am I getting- how many calories, how much good fat, what vitamins?…How much should I give my kids?  WELL, I found a great website where they have tested all the foods!

One area of nutrition that I was really interested in finding out about is the different types of wheat (hard red, white, spelt, etc.). I grind my own wheat to make fresh bread, cookies, cakes, (really not that hard, you just put it in a mill and it turns it into flour) and I knew that we were getting a lot of vitamins and fiber, but I didn’t know exactly what! When you buy bread at the store, all this good nutrition is taken out of regular wheat and then it is “enriched” with some of the vitamins so that it can have a shelf life and then they tell you it’s just as good!  Now that I am making my own bread each week, when we eat a sandwhich or toast for breakfast, I don’t worry about eating a nutrient depleted bread and I feel good about giving it to my family.  Oh, and all that fiber really works well! 

(Additional info. about fresh milled wheat can be found at breadbeckers.com)

SO, if you too are curious about what’s in food, go to this site and bookmark it! http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/search/

Call in and talk to us Fridays at noon the radio program Better Food Choices: 1-914-803-4091

Listen to past radio programs at

I have really enjoyed watching the summer Olympics!  From the gymnastics, swimming, volleyball, soccer (since I love to play soccer) to the running – it all has been so exciting to watch!  I really admire all the years of work they put in for their short moments of glory.  It makes me look at myself and question my dedication to things that are important to me.  Am I working with goals in mind?  I’d have to admit, not always.

I think NBC has been great in showing it on so many channels – there’s much to see.  I have to admit though, that these late nights are killing me!  I guess the fact that we’d have to be a day behind for them to show them on prime time made them decide to just show them live?  I know that they aren’t all live though.  Hmmm…  It sure does make it difficult to get up the next day though!  Well, gotta run – men’s gymnastics is on!

One of my latest goals has been to make menus that I can use over and over.  For example, I’d like to make maybe, say,  4 weeks of menus that I can rotate week after week.  That way, I don’t have to even THINK about the thing I enjoy least –cooking!  So, you can imagine my excitement when I found the following menu planner!  It’s all organized – just the way I like it!  She has all kinds of organizational helps on her site – especially if you’re a homeschooler.  Check it out!  http://donnayoung.org/household/fullsize/ffiles08/kifiles/menu.pdf

Jodi

Homeschool mom of 3

Anyone who has kids have encountered rashes and hives.   Lately my dd has had strange rashes and “streaks” on different parts of her body.  She’s had them off and on for the last couple weeks and feels much less itchy after taking a shower.  I know that different foods and products can cause allergic rashes so I started thinking about what we’ve done differently.  The only thing that I can think of that I’ve changed is fabric softener.  In an attempt to save money, I’ve switched from Gain or Downey to the cheaper brand Suavitel.  So, I thought I should look at the ingredients.  It says: cationic fabric softener, perfume, colorants.  Hmmmm…Very vague.  Makes me wonder exactly what that is and why she’s reacting like this? Help?

Jodi

Homeschooling mom of 3