A Wild Acre

She's actually posting??

2010-09-10T15:39:00.002-05:00

Yes, I know, it's been forever. But really if I had internet access at home, I would dutifully blog more often, really and the drag of it is, I can't add pictures at my local library. :( So you can't see how cute the kids are unless you are my facebook friend, then you could peek at a few my mother-in-law put up (some I took, some she). They show up on my wall but anyway....someday again we may get back online, but for now it's low priority. That said, I will try to post a little more often, but it's doubtful that it actually happens.

A little about what's up...we live in a neat little town with groovy creeks. Cold clear water that's a blast to swim in, well, except when we went last cuz September isn't as warm as August. Yikes. We are so thankful. Creeks rock and we love living so close to an awesome one. We went to visit the Pearls recently, I know you'd love to see pictures...you'll have to take that up with the library people. It was a blast and we are only about 50 miles away, met some neat families and plan to go pretty regularly. Fun!

Yes, there's more than that but I'll have to give you the rest later. I'll leave you with this quote from Zev when I asked for a smooch.

"I can't mooch you."

What happened to my blog?

2010-07-27T15:27:00.003-05:00

It's been forever and a month I know, but for those of you who don't.....WE'RE HOME!!! Well kinda, we've moved back to Tennessee. I'd love to give you the long of it and maybe soon I will but for now, I'll say we're so thankful God has brought us closer to family.

Speaking of family, ours is growing, again. Yep, those of you who haven't heard are not allowed to call, text, email, facebook, etc me with your complaints of not having heard yet, got that? Good. We thought we'd be all clever and keep it a secret for awhile and surprise people, but apparently not every one in our family is a good secret keeper(hint...the bearded one), so news has leaked out that we are to be parents!!! Oh, wait, we already are parents, but I guess we'll be parents to another sweet soul! Did she just say she's gonna have her eighth child? Yipes!!!

But How?

2010-05-05T17:41:00.002-05:00

Think back with me about Quinn not doing said chore, remember now? sitting on his posterior with said task not fully completed? Right, so, since I told you my rants didn't work because condemnation is so very counterproductive, what do I do? I mean really, you see an unfinished task, rush over and pour on the praise. Not so much. He'd see through that anyway. You see, the thing with my boy, and the thing with a lot of kids is their lack of doing something thoroughly or whatever is not always disobedience or rebellion, it's just,

um....well, it's like this...

You spilled coffee on your shirt, crud. So you head to the closet to grab a different one, on the way there, the toddler walks up and says, “Mom, I poobey.” Poobey changed and conquered, you head for the bedroom once more, then your 10 year old comes in, “Mom, can you help with this math problem.” Sure, area...perimeter, blah blah. Then a call from the bathroom, “Mooooooooooom, CAN YOU WIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIPE ME?”-- “On my way.” You aren't even headed to the closet anymore, you stop by the kitchen to wipe crumbs off the counter to not give the critters a reason to visit. Then comes your daughter, “Mommy, your shirt is all dirty, how many times do I have to tell you to not use your shirt as a napkin? Why haven't you changed yet? What were you doing? Good grief, it's like talking to a wall. Now, go change your shirt.”

See what I mean? We all get distracted. Right? Right. Now, don't get me wrong, there's the need for explanation of thoroughness and it's importance, not being negligent, whatever. But you can encourage a child whose weak in a certain area or you can crush him and push him away. Quinn will readily admit that he is weak in the area of attentiveness or alertness, being aware of his surroundings and responding correctly. He just recently had an incident where he “cowboyed” a situation as I like to call it and later wished he'd showed more wisdom. His dad and I had to talk with him about it and we didn't berate him...we did survey the situation, talked it through and gave him direction on what to do to remedy it as well as encouraging him not to do it that way in the future. He responded great and showed real character.

There will always be time for correction, correcting wrong doings and attitudes, but when we condemn, inevitably our kids will pull away from us. Who wants to hear how cruddy they are all the time? Neither do your kids.

Needs to be Said

2010-04-23T11:11:00.001-05:00

A man is never so arrogant and small as when he acts the dictator and presumes upon his wife's spiritual duty to be his helpmeet.
~Michael Pearl

For some strange reason, that I have not yet figured out, there is this philosophy or belief that threads itself through Christian and non-Christian families alike, but it's the Christian families who believe it that perplex me the most. The belief is this, that men have some God-given divine right to “rule” over their wives. It has so permeated our Christian culture that those who don't concede to such nonsense are labeled rebellious and disobedient. God is grieved. Still we maintain our “rightness” and ignore what he says.

See, contrary to popular belief, God never gave a man authority over his wife. I know what you're thinking, “But isn't the wife repeatedly told to submit.” (Ephesians 5:22, Colossians 3:18) Yes, but that's just it...the wife is told to submit, but the husband is never told to cause her to obey. So when a husband comes down on his wife with pressure that she is “wrong”, “rebellious”, “disobedient” or and other accusation concerning her submission to him or lack thereof, he is in sin, plain and simple. When men do this, they take upon themselves the role of the Holy Spirit, assuming that the pressure they put upon the women they claim to love is somehow for her good. But as I alluded to in my last post, condemnation kills. Where love and praise bring life to the lifeless, condemnation kills the once willing vessel. See, wives were created to nurture, love and serve, it's in us, we want to do it. But when we are belittled and ruled like mere dogs to have orders barked at us, we shrivel and eventually die. Some women can look past this, to their blessed Savior and submit to unworthy tyrants and great is their reward, but some of us, not so much.

What these men don't realize is that God has asked of their wives more than they will ever be worthy of. No man, save Jesus, deserves another's submission. If men could grab hold of this truth and be truly thankful for the woman God has given them, marriages would be transformed. Respect, obedience, and honor are not something you can demand, you earn them.

I want to submit to my husband, I recognize his natural need to be honored and reverenced. I long to do this for him. But when this same man, whom I love, steps on me, I say, “Ouch.” In Ephesians 5:28-29, God tells men to love their wives as their own bodies, cherishing them. Women need to be cherished. We wither without it.

God has put on my heart lately this great void among believers. See, women have been bombarded with the truth and reality of their role and duty before God to serve, honor and submit to their husbands. Husbands, however, who should be benevolent leaders, cleansing and sanctifying their wives are standing on the sidelines barking and railing at their wives to follow. Did you catch that “standing on the sidelines” part? That means they're not really leading at all. Just pseudo leaders wanting/demanding undeserved honor and obedience. God needs men. Real men he can use to further his kingdom. But God can't use these men. Their prayers are hindered (1 Peter 3:7)...their pride has caused God to turn his face (1 Peter 5:5). God is grieved. Men have been led astray, following Satan's design for leadership and ignoring God's living, breathing example in Jesus. (Ephesians 5:25) It needed to be said.

Death and Life

2010-04-01T17:09:00.002-05:00

“He's a boy, it's normal. Get over it.” said I to myself a few months back when I was bothered by the fact that Quinn, my 11 year old, wouldn't be affectionate with me. Eli, no problem, goo and kisses abound with that kid. Gabe, he's always down for some good night cuddlin'. And I shouldn't have to tell you that Cherish and the little boys are all over me for hugs and kisses. Not Quinn....he acted like it pained his left toe just to give me a hug. So I tortured him with it when he was being rude to his siblings. (Moohahaha) Still, I'm bugged. Add to this that he absolutely adores and honors his dad yet gives me the “Oh, it's just you.” treatment....I'm starting to get a bit crushed. So I prayed, cried, prayed, cried out, and prayed to God for an answer.

The answer came in phases.... Phase 1..... I told Quinn how I felt....how he was making me feel and he promptly kissed and hugged me every night before bed. Wow, well if I'd known it were gonna be that easy....sheez, silly complicated woman.

Phase 2....I began praising him more and more. You see, Quinn's like his dad, got his head in the clouds a good bit of the time, which can be a bit frustrating to a grounded girl like me. But I've learned to appreciate this unique quality having been married to Mr. Clouds for well over a decade now. :) A practical example, I can tell Quinn two things to do, and he'll do ½ of one of them. Like, “Hey Quinn, go change out the laundry and then take out the trash.” He'll promptly say, “Yes, ma'am.” Go do what he's told. BUT, I'll find him sitting on his duff with the trash un-emptied and no new load of laundry going. What the? This is when I would previously get red. I chew him up about attentiveness, thoroughness and blah blah blah. What's that? Condemnation? Criticism? Right. Who likes that? Anyone? Anyone? Right. That's right, we all hate it, cuz as soon as someone tells us how worthless we are or what a bad job we're doing at _____ we just want to jump right up and do better, right? Wrong. Dead wrong. So I quit that nasty habit and searched for reasons to praise and there were soooo many! Ahhhh!!! I was literally breathing new life into this kid. Praise Jesus!!

Phase 3....We have been focusing on gentlemanly conduct around here. We're teaching the boys to protect and cherish the females in their life. The result is phenomenal! They are jumping to open and hold doors for me. Quinn wouldn't even let me carry a little bag of cans the other day when we were collecting some from the side of the road. I feel like a queen and they feel like “the man” as I shower them with praises and kisses. Now I randomly get a squeeze and a kiss from Quinn complete with a satisfied love grunt. How glorious is that?!?!?!?!?

As the icing on the cake, several days ago was my birthday (March 22 to be exact, it's okay, you can mark your calendar for next year). The kids made me feel immensely special as they often do, but particularly touching to me were these notes written by one 11 year old whose left toe no longer hurts.
“Many kids have moms, many kids have good moms, BUT WE HAVE THE BEST MOM!!!”

“I am glad to have a mom...one who makes my meals one that never yells at me and now she's 33. Happy Birthday I <3>and my favorite...

“When you were born, your parents never knew you would be the best mom ever!!!! Happy Birthday! From Quinn”

Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof. (Prov 18:21)

A little taste

2010-02-11T14:35:00.003-06:00
A whole bleamin' 2 1/2 months since I last posted. That is pure craziness. Indeed. The news? I'm sewing. Yep. Sewing. I fie-nuh-lee started making the long intended blanket for each kiddo. I started with Zev, did Thatch's and am now on Cherish's. I'm having a blast. I have a whole list of other creative projects I want to do but can't until I have my own place. So....I'll stick with the blankets until they're done. I would post a picture of them but my camera is no longer functional. Did I mention I wanted a new one? Oh yeah, well, someday.

Where'd ja go?

2009-11-25T17:25:00.002-06:00
I'm sure some of you are wondering where in the world I've been. I wonder myself...sheez, it's been over a month since I blogged. Recent news....we're moving. Or not....that's just the thing we don't really know yet. Admittedly that's a bit frustrating, the not knowing that is. But we're learning to wait on God, and it seems that he has us in this season in our lives for just that...learning to wait on Him. So if you know us, pray for us please, cuz half the time we're confused and feel like we're aimlessly wandering. But as my husband recently reminded me, we need to be content just knowing we're where God wants us. And when He decides to move us on, we'll know. God bless you all and hopefully I'll see you sooner next time.

Isms

2009-10-13T13:42:00.003-05:00

I love toddlers, well, my toddlers that is. The high-pitched, scream-til-my-lungs-burst, stomp on my feet toddlers I can do without. (Am I suggesting my toddlers don't do this? You betcha! Though Zev has been known to be high pitched on occasion. But he's in training.) When we have a little one (which we have had several) reach about 18 months to 2 years, John always says, “What are we gonna do when we don't have one of these anymore?” We love those cute, mispronouncin' bundles of toddley goodness. Can't get enough of 'em. And basically could just eat 'em. Zev is our current toddler of supreme cUtifery.
But let me rewind.

A few days ago, I was organizing (something I can't get enough of by the way....luva da organizin') my school planning notebook when I came across a paper entitled Cherish-isms. Coined that phrase myself, how ya like me now? Uh huh. Said paper was dated 11-29-06, three years ago...she was 2 at that time. (See where I'm goin' here??) I am so glad I documented these and I wish I'd done it for all my kiddos. I did a tape recording of Gabe...another great idea.....but I'm not sure where that is now. We move too much. These? It? “What is she talking about?”, you ask. The isms, silly, pay attention. “But what are isms?”, you ask again. Well, they are the adorable mispronunciations of, you guessed it, toddlers. My toddlers. Right. So, back to Cherish. Strolling down memory lane with my Cherish-isms paper, I laughed to read drAder aka refrigerator or how about trOyer for stroller or my favorite was cahqueez.....crackers. LOVE IT!! See why I say they're edible? Gravy. Anyway, as of this very evening, Zev had a word explosion (see more on this here with some Thatch-isms to boot), yep I'm diggin' the cuteness.

Now let me replay this evenings events for ya. I pull Zev up into my lap and say, “Let's talk, Buggie. You ready, Say Mommy.”

“Mommy”

“Say Daddy.” “Dadeee”

“Say Quinn” “Pimp.”

“Quinn?” “Pin”

“Say Gabe” “Bade”

“Say Eli” “Lie”

“Say Cherish” “Sherz”

“Say Thatch” “Tat”

“Say Zev” “Wev”

“Good, say Harmony” “Hahnee”

So then I pick up my glass of water because I, being his mother, know his word for water and/or drink, so I said, “What's this?”

“Hahnee.”

Not sure why Harmony and water are the same, but they are.

We went on and on with yes sir, yes ma'am, thank you, Banjo, Sadie, Jesus and tons of other words until he asked me for a bite.

“Uh bite?”

“You wanna bite?” “Bite.”

“Do you want bread?” “Bed.”

He takes and enjoys his homemade bread and says, “Bite?” he offered me some to which I declined.

“No thank you. Is it good?”

“Mmmm.”

“Can you say good?”

“Mmmm.”

This kid is so hausin' cute.

He decorates

2009-10-03T20:57:00.003-05:00

Zev's obsession with markers. Enough said.

Word Play

2009-09-30T13:24:00.002-05:00
Correction....so I guess the word dasterdly is not a "made up" ala Gabe style word. I found it used in a title chapter of an audio book we have (G.A. Henty...great stuff for you homeschoolers). But I'm pretty sure jadical is not real....

No Weigh!

2009-09-21T18:36:00.000-05:00
Last we spoke of pounds, or the excess thereof, I was mixing things up by trying all raw. Things have changed again...if you know anything about me, you know I'm a girl who likes variety, some may call it getting bored easily, either way. To date I have lost 25 lbs. That's since the end of May. BUT the 25^th pound was lost somewhere around early August. Where are we now? Late September, oh yeah. Sheez. What's that tell ya? Two things.....1) I am great, say that with me Great! at maintaining my weight. Not that it's really any greatness on my part since that's the way all our bodies were created, to maintain. Maybe I just like to feel great at something. 2) I have made no effort to lose more weight in the last almost 2 months now. Good griggidy grief. That's sad. I justified my lack of effort by saying I didn't want the slishing of calories to effect the milkies.....hasn't, yet still I justify.

By the by....just want to throw in here that if you know anything about me at all, you know I make up words like mad fire. Not sure why, it just happens. I've passed that gene on as well, as Gabe spoke of the dasterdly dish he was trying to wash I said to John, “Dasterdly? Where does he come up with this?”

“You.” saith my man.

“I don't say dasterdly.”

Then he gives me a lowered eyebrow, over the rim of the glasses look....”You make up words.”

Oh, yeah, forgot.

Where was I? Oh, yes, weight. So I decided last week that I'm on the bandwagon again. No more maintenance for me. That's for when all my clothes fit without the extra squish. I do have to say, however, that I have throughout this stagnation been steadily losing inches or ¼ inches each week. So that's encouraging, but this extra squish is buggin' me. So I'm gonna hit it hard for the next few weeks and see what happens. Oh, and before you ask, I'm shooting to lose 15 more lbs.

Hitting it hard? How? I'm thinking the 11 day diet again. I will do two rotations of it and take a break for a week and then do it again until the 15^th pound is gone. Give or take a few of course. :) Then maybe we'll do an all raw week. Not sure yet, but I do know that I want to start fasting once a week. But that's for another post...

Deodorant...again

2009-09-15T10:31:00.003-05:00
The recipe below makes alot, I put it in a small spray bottle and put the rest in a glass jar in a dark place. Shake well before use. :)

Who's Got the Funk, Ya-OUW

2009-09-08T13:33:00.003-05:00
Since my natural cleaner recipe went over so well, and since I'm no longer doing skincare (for now anyway) I thought I'd share my newest deodorant recipe. It absolutely rocks, I mean defunks!! If you want to read more about how I came about this deo and why it's so hoppin' great, read here.

Times-a-wastin' so here it is:

3 oz witch hazel (this is 3oz by weight)
1 oz vodka or grain alcohol (again by weight)
1 tsp lime essential oil
1 tsp lemongrass essential oil
½ tsp tea tree essential oil
½ tsp rosemary essential oil
1 tsp grapefruit seed extract

**Warning....if you have an aversion or sensitivity to essential oils, don't use this deodorant, it's pretty concentrated.

Concentrated....yes. Effective....yes, yes. Long lasting...yes, yes, yes. In fact, I made this a couple of months ago and John and I are just now down to the last of it. I LOVE IT!!!

It has an excellent citrus smell and has a nice cooling feel when applied. I love it...have I said that yet?

Thatch Attack

2009-09-02T16:05:00.005-05:00
In lieu of current economic and political unrest, I thought we could all use a smile. But be warned:

This post is rated PG as some of it's contents may not be appropriate for young eyes. To those who dare, however, read on.
I had a friend recently tell me that if I decided to go back to six kids, she's got dibbs on Thatch. Now mind you all my kids are great in my eyes....Zev's edible and I can't seem to stop kissing Harmony. Cherish is my right hand woman...choppin', slicin' and dicin' with the best of 'em. And my three older men, well, they're just that, young men in making. I love watching them all grow and mature....but my sap is getting away with me and I'm diverting from my story. Where was I? Ah, yes, Thatch. Beloved by all who know him. He's unique..funny...chubby...cute. With his growly, low, yet high pitched voice, he keeps us laughing continually. Just last night I was sharing with John some of the newest Thatchisms. Here's how it went....

Thatch informs me that he needs to go potty. Well actually he says he needs to poo poo, because he reserves the word potty for urinating. So I take him and since we were at the house of a friend, I stayed in there for the much dreaded wipe. (Though I have done this act a bazillion times, I never cease to loathe it. ~sigh~) I politely turn away to face the mirror to offer him what little privacy I could when from him emerges a series of sputtering sounds as his bowels move.

He says, “Mom, did you hear that motorcycle noise?”

Suppressing my laughter hear renders me speechless, again, “Did you hear that motorcycle noise?”

“Yes, honey, I did.”

“I make that motorcycle noise when I go (he had to pause here for the effort involved in the task at hand), when I go pooo-poooooo. (again more effort)”

So as John and I are cracking up over yet another story from this hilarious three year old, I say, “Oh the quotes of Thatch.” To which John shares another Thatchism. “Saaaadie! Don't eat my p-n-s!” What? Your kids don't pee outside? C'mon.

Meet Thatch.

Meet Sadie.

Color me Clean

2009-08-25T15:55:00.002-05:00

A few posts back I mentioned my handmade cleaner...great for everything (yes, even wood, but I would recommend a spot test, just in case). I've even found that when I clean a mirror, I don't have to use paper towels to make it streak-free. That's right, just a plain ole cloth....how green is that? Because of the generous gal I am, I'm gonna share it with ya (sorry it took me so long Ash). Send your thank yous to my 'I wanna better camera' fund. Checks and money orders accepted.
But before I do, I'd like to give you a little background on my natural cleaner, um, experience. I know you can't wait. It all starts with mirrors and glass. If you have kids you know that three feet up on any surface is, well, nasty. But on glass, it's yank. Yank, I say. But I wanted to not use chemicals anymore in my home. I'd tried vinegar, baking soda and everything in between and various mixtures thereof, but nothing worked on everything, especially not glass. I could never get something that would clean a mirror or window without making it look like someone spit on it and wiped it with their palm. So imagine my excitement when I used this cleaner and I could actually see myself in the mirror. Whewee. As a side note here, I still use a bit of baking soda in addition to the cleaner on my tub and toilet. Abrasive scrubbing action, right on.
Anyway, the cleaner.
1-1 1/2 cups water
2 1/2- 3 cups vodka (or grain alcohol)
1-1 1/2 tsp essential oil blend (see below)
　
~I give these approximates because you may want to be skimpier with the alcohol as it's more expensive than um, water. But I usually use the 1:3 ratio. As for the eos, 1 tsp is sufficient but if you just like more smell, than add another half.~
The disinfecting, deodorizing, grease-bustin', bacteria-killin', great smelling, rockin' essential oil blend I use is:
3 tsp lavender
4 tsp lemon
2 tsp eucalyptus
3 tsp rosewood
I mix these in a brown glass bottle, labeled ever-so-cleverly as...Cleaner Mix, and add 1 tsp to my cleaner bottle with each making.
Enjoy this very effective, natural cleaner.
Note: Rumors have circulated around my house about the possible selling of this ingenious remedy, if that should happen I will destroy all traces of this post, so get it while you can. :)

Bitin' the bit

2009-08-20T12:23:00.001-05:00
I know you're all bitin' the bit...waiting for the next post. Where is she? You ask. Well, a post is comin' but for now how'd ya like the new look?

Zev

2009-08-01T14:05:00.002-05:00
A little frustrated...

....now I'm okay.

Aperture Smaperture

2009-07-25T16:34:00.000-05:00

It's biting me. This photography bug. It started awhile back, but I ignored it. But it keeps biting.
Bitten too hard one day, I called Ginger....my gloriously groovy photography friend (you hankin' rock, by the way!). She enlightened me with talk of aperture, iso, shutter speed, image files, and all other manner of camera garble that was as clear as mud to me. So she sent me a couple of really great and informative photography books (told you she was groovy...love that gal) and I'm reading. Yes, reading and learning.
It's always fun to learn something new, but the learning does something to me...it makes me want to use my knowledge, funny how that works. So I'm practicing with my Sony camera and realizing it stinks. Yep, stinks. I guess cameras are a bit like computers...technology is constantly improving and before you know it, your once Wow! camera is...uh...blah. The more I learn, the more it disappoints me. Urgh. I knew this going into this quest for knowledge...that my camera was lacking.
So, I'm ready for a new one. Problem is, quality cameras aren't cheap and so I'm praying that if this is something God wants me to pursue, he'll provide the $$$.
Now you may be asking, 'God wants you to pursue? What do you mean?' Right. Good. I'm glad you asked.
See, for a long time...years....I've had this creative drive if you will to, um, create something, anything. It began with curtains. I learned I could sew a thing or two, and made some rockin' curtains for my house several years back. (This sewing bug is biting me as well once again and I want to have another go at clothes making, but my machine gave up the ghost several months ago and has yet to be replaced. But I digress.) So next was painting, yes, aside from pretty walls, I wanted fun stuff in the kids' room. So I painted murals on the walls. Proud of it's beauty and mine own hands having done it, I called a friend to brag, ehem, talk about what I'd done. I said, "You know it seems to me that, the closer we get to God, the more we want to create." God's creative. Look around. All the variety of creatures, color and beauty. I love it. It's in me. I'm his. Thus I create.
Next was soap. A friend sent me some handmade soap. She told me how she'd started this thing and several of our other friends had jumped on the bandwagon to make soap. I refused. Nonconformist that I am, I didn't want to be another cog in the soap wheel. But as my last bar was becoming a transparent sliver, I knew I couldn't go back. Lever 2000 just wouldn't do for me anymore. So I caved and made soap. Well as with any new craft, it was fun and addictive, so I made more and more. Being overrun with soap, I sent it abroad to friends and family. This gave birth to a business.....which brings me to my next point.
I've used many of these creative tendencies of mine to make money. Our dream is for our family to work together. So we did not only soap, but a whole line of skincare. Most recently I've made cleaner and thought of just marketing that. It's natural, works great and I use it exclusively for ALL of my cleaning, even mirrors, glass and wood. So that's an option under my hat, because I want to help our family stay together, see I want a full time dad....and all day, by our side, working with us, full time dad. It's the God given desire of our hearts. So maybe the cleaner. And maybe the photography. Or maybe the?
Still biting.

Camera play with Cherish

2009-07-17T16:10:00.004-05:00

I'm trying to learn to use a camera...the right way. I've got a lot to learn, but I'm already getting better. A good camera would really help. $$$ Cha-ching.

Cher was sitting at my computer desk trying to talk to me and I just starting shooting her (camera for taking her picture) and she is photogenic queen. Too cute.

A revelation

2009-07-17T15:46:00.001-05:00

I like things clean. Don't particularly like to clean, but the end result makes the drudgery worth it. I live with six males, however, and this throws a curve in my desire for clean. But being the organized, training mama that I am, I make charts....chore, kitchen cleanup, zones (the house broken up into zones that each kid is responsible to keep clean on said day),etc. We have 4 such charts. So from the time Quinn could walk, I've had them cleaning. The chores go down to Thatch. But I noticed something a few weeks ago that bugged me.
Newsflash....boys don't like to clean. I know this. You know this. It's fact. But chores are chores and they have to be done and I'm sure as holly not cleaning up after everyone. No way. Over time, I've tried to come up with creative ideas to motivate the cleaning to be done to my standards. Hold up, let's rewind...you have to understand, I have great kids and they dutifully do what the chart says without complaint. Nar a time...yep, no complaining. But I know (and you know) boys don't like to clean. So I hate nagging but I hear myself doing it when they've done that minimal amount just to make it sorta look clean but it's not really clean. (I see you smiling.) Back to my creative ideas, we've done games to make it fun and keep me from nagging. It's fun and it works...temporarily. But I was after their hearts. I wanted them to look at cleaning a different way.
When I was a young girl, my mom worked, a lot. She had one clean day and it was Saturdays....if she didn't work. Well, I can remember loathing the cleaning, but what was loathsome was torture when I had to do it alone. I can remember once my step-dad correcting me about dusting the wrong way, he said, If you're not gonna do it right, don't do it at all. I thought, 'Right on, I won't do it all.' Sounded good to me. I mean, after all, we're all made of the same lazy flesh, right? But therein lies the problem, our spirit wars against our flesh and where my flesh wanted to do nary a bit of cleaning (who does? I mean, be honest.) my spirit felt guilty for doing nothing to help my mom while she worked. So when I realized this, my heart changed and I genuinely wanted to clean just to bless my mom. See, when it was expected of me, I hated it, but when I felt like I was doing some thing to help and bless my mom and make her proud, it was worth it. So here we are, years later.....
A few weeks ago, before breakfast I noticed that Quinn's zone was a mess...no problem, being a kid with his head in the clouds half the time, I allow for a little of this. A little. So when I called him back to clean it better for the third time, I saw his attitude waiver. Then it all changed. I felt myself nagging, again...yuck. But next, by God's sweet grace, wisdom flowed, like a river. I told them they no longer have to clean. WHAT???!!!??? Cleaning is optional at your choosing, I say. They were taken aback. I mean, really, aback. Way back. But the result has been unexpectedly GLORIOUS. God is so good to me. Now, they want (What the? Are you kiddin'?) to clean to bless me and as a result, I'm genuinely thankful. AND, (here's the kicker) when it's not done to my standards, I do it better, myself. Wow, what a novel idea! That was what the Lord put on my heart as I nagged Quinn for the eight thousand nine hundred and twenty-first time about not cleaning good enough. He (the Lord) said, If you want it done better, do it yourself. Ouch. I thought I was supposed to teach them to be thorough, sure but not at the expense of bad attitudes and lost hearts.
It's all around great, the place gets cleaned and we are serving each other the way Jesus intended, no one's nagging (ahhhhh). Hey Quinn, pass the cleaner cloth.

Eli & limes

2009-07-17T15:40:00.001-05:00

It's dinner time.
"Eli."
"EEEEli."
"E? Elijah! Can you hear me?" [He was obviously engrossed in some activity because my kids would never hear me and not come...no, never. :)]
"Ma'am?"
"Could you make some limeade for me?"
"Sure."
Limeade in progress, good. As is customary with my 7 year old chef, lime and/or lemon halves are stacked in neat order. As I'm stirring the sauce for our spaghetti squash, Eli comes over to discuss limes.
"Mom, if we were a big family, I'd juice like 12 or 24 limes and I could make a castle out of them."
"If?" I say, thinking perhaps he doesn't realize we are a big family.
"Yeah."
"Honey, look around, we are a big family."
"Well, I know, but I mean, a real big family...you know, like a BIG family."
Wonder how many kids Eli will have?
　
　

All Raw

2009-07-17T15:31:00.004-05:00

I haven't talked about weight loss in awhile because, well, I haven't lost any in awhile. Urgh. Yep, stand still. Dead. Still. 15 lbs was all she wrote. At least I thought. Well, I mentioned last post that I sorta cheated on my all fruit day. Just sorta. So on my last rotation, I decided to be good, and sure enough I lost 2 lbs that time. But, call me greedy, I wanted to lose more than that. But as John sweetly reminds me, Have you measured? Are you still losing inches? Guess that's what I get for always saying, 'it's measurements that really matter.' Anyway, as it turns out, I was still losing inches throughout this no poundage lost process. Yay...but I have to admit, the scales were irritating me. Measuring was very encouraging, however, cuz since beginning this mad quest for weight loss, I've steadily lost 5 1/4 inches from my waist and 2 1/2 inches from my hips (I'm not a very hip-y girl, my squish mostly lies in the mid region....aka spare tire.). Of course I've lost in other places but these two areas are my main concern. So throughout stagnation valley of 15 lbs, I was still losing inches, so yay.

But I wanted more....more, I say. So John and I conversed over this. (I'm sure he cherishes the moments when we discuss my weight loss plans, but anyway...)

Me: It seems this fruit day is pivotal. I lost more after doing it right and I'm thinking there's something metabolic going on here. [Smart, aren't I?]

J: Maybe you should try going all raw for, say, a week and see if that speeds things up. [Early in our marriage, John and I ate all raw for quite a while, and he still says that's the best he's ever felt. We both lost weight. But I like to be real...I mean I like food and cooked food is, well, it's yum, that's why I'm chubby. There, I said it.]

Me: You're so smart. Okay, I'll do it 6 days and then have an off day Saturday, because I HAVE to have an off day or mentally, I'll go whizzy.

J: ~grin~

Me: Yep, and we'll juice again. You've been wanting me to juice. Sorry I don't do that more often.

-----Hugs and kisses all around.------

Disclaimer: Not all of our conversations are this grand and riveting, nor do they all end with hugs and kisses, but I DO love that man like mad fire.

So, I did it...we're on the all raw week and I am down 4 lbs. I measure/ weigh on Saturdays, but I couldn't help hopping on the scales yesterday after doing raw a few days. So my plan is to cycle in normal days next week. Here's the way it's gonna go.

All raw til Saturday, upon which day I shall slap together some culinary treat to satisfy the masses. :)
Sunday-all raw
Monday-normal (Normal=small meals, minimal bread if any, no sweets. Lots o' fruit and veggies and possibly my cottage cheese potion...more on that later)
Tuesday-all raw
Wednesday-normal
Thursday-Friday-all raw
Saturday-OFF....this means, no rules. Bring on the chocolate and so forth.

After that, I dunno. We may do an all normal week or go back to the 11 day deal, that's sorta up to the scales. And tape measure, of course.
Me eating some salad...all raw.

Weight, weight don't tell me

2009-07-08T14:15:00.001-05:00
Here's the deal with this diet I'm doing, on day 2, you eat fruit only for three meals and a sandwich for the fourth (you eat 4 meals a day, did I say that?), well that is TOUGH. I get hungry..way... so on the second rotation of it, I cheated, ate my sandwich at 10 am and ended up eating salad or something later that day. So I lost half the weight that time that I did the time before....hmmm? So on the third rotation, I, yep, cheated on that day again, now we're not talking pig out, eat what I want cheats, just food, more food. Then I decided that day was probably metabolically pivotal for success (not sure if those are real words but stay with me). I was right, yesterday I did not cheat on fruit day and I'm seeing the difference already. I'll report with my stats at the end of this rotation. Think skinny.

Father's Day

2009-06-24T15:09:00.004-05:00

My kids adore their dad, and rightfully so, he is an amazing man and I'm so blessed to have him. We love you!

Foaling around

2009-06-24T14:58:00.004-05:00

I love to watch animals with their young. Maybe it's because I have so many young of my own...I dunno, but it's so neat to watch them. Mary Beth's horse, Doll, recently had her baby, too cute and as I'm trying to take their picture, Zev was doing his usual tug-on-my-skirt deal. He stands between my legs looking up saying, "Uhh, maah, maah." He's too cute to resist.

Sisters

2009-06-24T14:52:00.002-05:00

Cherish is an awesome big sister, and though I longed for another girl sooner than this, I'm so glad Harmony has Cherish to "mother" her. They are too cute together, and I love to hear Cherish talk to her little sister. She's a little mama with her and it rocks. I hear a lot of, "You're so pretty, Don't fuss, you're okay, do you want milkies?" Etc, but with the boys it's more like, "Maaahhhhm, Harmony needs you."

Beard seed

2009-06-24T14:38:00.004-05:00

I like beards. I think God made hair to grow on men's faces (well, most men) so they should let nature take it's course...right? Since John's been out of the Navy, he's had a beard. There have been a few cases of shaveage and we all protest. We like the beard. Recently, he's kept it trimmed down because he's working outdoors so much, it gets hot, but I really prefer it a little thicker. He's had it really long before (can't find the picture of it...bummer) but anyway...since our first baby he's rubbed his beard and/or whiskers on little feet to tickle or what have you. In more recent bearded years, he's given "beard seed". This is when he rubs a young one's face and gives them beard seed so they'll grow a beard when older. Cherish was a little nervous that getting beard seed might work on her too. John recently planted some seed on Thatch. We decided to give him an early beard. Does this mean I should stop shaving my legs??? (The picture with Harmony shows him with a fuller beard.)

Always greener....

2009-06-19T15:56:00.002-05:00
In the midst of denying myself many faved yummies...aka dieting, I always look ahead to a day when I can "cheat"....this time the famed cheat excitement would be with mocha cake. Oh yes, mocha cake. I found the recipe a while back and sweet goodness, it's good. Way. So this morning (first "off" day) I made it and had some mid morning. Rewind. We had pancakes for breakfast....a meal I really love (homemade oat pancakes, mind you, an Akiki fave) and get this, I couldn't even eat two pancakes. Bummer. I can usually pack down 3-4 comfortably, but as happens to me with this diet, my stomach shrinks and I can't hold as much. Good thing, but.... c'mon. So the mocha cake...I could barely stomach a teeny piece of it. Everything, EVERYTHING fills me up so fast (yes even my morning java). I like it, I guess....but part of me is like "Ahhh, come ON, that was not even enough to fill a bird's stomach." Think skinny Chas.

Adjustment

2009-06-19T15:54:00.001-05:00
Okay it's 15 lbs....and that's since my first rotation of the diet started May 26th. WOOOOHIPPPTY!!!!!! I've always heard it's not good to lose weight fast, but I DO NOT care as long as it stays off and I don't lose muscle. Yip skippy, progress is motivating.

Still chuggin'

2009-06-16T18:19:00.004-05:00
I've lost 4 more pounds since last we talked. Yep, so that's a total of 12 now. I'm thinking of taking next week off. Not a stuff my face with chocolate week off, but more of a be normal week off. It's like this, I made bread yesterday, and as the undeniably yumolicious smell wafted through the house, I thought, "Today, diets stink, yep stink." The boys didn't help either, "One little bite won't hurt your diet, mom." That's okay, I'm strong, results are motivating. But I thought a week off might be a good idea, confuse my body even more. :) We'll see, I know I'll go into panic mode if the scales move the wrong way. I'll keep ya posted.

Eye see you

2009-06-16T18:08:00.002-05:00

As Zev tackled me the other day for some good mama cuddlin', he whapped my glasses off my face, bending them slightly, reminding me why I detest them. Rewind...I've worn glasses since I was 9...got contacts around age 12 or 13 and never looked back...ahh, that is until I married Mr. Anti-Contacts. Yep, he hates em. So he convinced me a few years back to abandon the contacts and wear glasses only and we'd save for me to get laser eye surgery. Well, you can't have eye surgery when nursing, pregnant or the like. All of which I have been since said conversion. So....I'm waiting. I'm rough on them, that's why contacts suit me, but I like the ease of them vs. contacts. Well I took a with and without pic of myself so let me know what you think. Since eye surgery is years away (I plan to nurse Harmies a loooong time and chaCHing...it's expensive!!)....

The Pits

2009-06-10T16:59:00.003-05:00
Stinky pits to be exact. I, of course, make my own deodorant and just before we closed up shop on the skincare, I had added a lemongrass solid deodorant to the line, which was my all time fav in the effectiveness department. But, John, my yummy, yet somewhat smelly (sorry babe....)husband had requested a spray deodorant for awhile (sorry again) cuz he liked to carry one with him in the car and the solid version would melt plus he just thought spray would be better in the warmer months (inhale...whew, didn't that just make you wanna gasp for air?)...well he's RIGHT, oh my goodness, it works so way better and I never smell him. I hope he doesn't kick my tail for being so candid, but c'mon, he's a hardworkin' man and well hard work makes ya sweat and sweat, well, doesn't smell like peaches, kay? So anyway, now he smells good and I'm lovin' it, shoulda made it sooner, eh?

Worth the weight

2009-06-10T16:46:00.005-05:00

So I mentioned I'm dieting and congrats to all the rest of you who are losing with me. :) I'm on my second rotation of the diet...Speaking of....this is what I do....it's 11 days on and 3 days off. I found it online dietaccess.com to be precise. It's a diet generator (I think it cost's $20 or something) anyway, you select foods and it generates a menu for you. You can do it yourself, but I prefer the ease of the menu done for me. Basically it's a rotation of all protein, all carb, and protein+carb meals. With me so far? For example, today I ate three all protein meals and one protein+carb meal. Tomorrow has two protein+carb and yesterday had 3 all carb. It's not as complicated as it sounds and the general rule is to eat 4 meals and NEVER EVER EVER eat more at one sitting than you need. NEVER. As a result of sticking to this rule, my tummy is shrinking and I literally can't hold as much. I love it!! I hope it keeps working for me, I think the key is to confuse your body. Keep it guessing and you'll lose. So my Harmie was worth the weight, but now, it's GOT TO GO. And remember, nothing tastes as good as skinny feels!

Big and little

2009-06-10T16:26:00.006-05:00

Behold, the Akikicrew...

okay, well that's most of us.

Blogging

2009-06-06T15:34:00.002-05:00
Just a quick note to all of you who read my blog. COMMENT!!! We bloggers like comments from our readers. If you don't know how, send me an email at wildwoodacresbiz@gmail.com and I'll tell ya. Thanks for readin'!

Dieting

2009-06-06T15:23:00.002-05:00
I decided discipline is good. I've been dieting. Yep, I know it's an ugly word. BUT, it seems that baby weight doesn't melt off when one is over thirty as it did when one was in her twenties. Sigh... Such a bummer. I love the discipline this diet gives me and best of all IT WORKS. Woohippty and goodness knows this gal wouldn't be doin' it if it didn't work. Yep, I've lost 8 lbs. I think...well the scales say 10 but I'm going with 8 since I think they are faulty, however, 10 sounds better, eh? The number one rule of weight loss is to NOT eat more at one sitting than one needs. Got that? That means leave the table with a little room left. You know....you eat what you need and STOP, stop when there's room for more, but you don't really need more. That's what I mean by the discipline. Anyway the diet I'm doing is a rotation of calories, a sort of cycling if you will and man does it work, burns the fat and I love it. I do it for 11 days, have three days off and go again. I'm now on my second off day on the first rotation. Yep you heard me first rotation and I lost 8lbs!! Sweet molasses is that results or what????? It's all about confusing your body, cuz our bodies are always trying to maintain equilibrium so we have to confuse it a bit if we want to lose (I sound so smart, don't I??) Can't wait to see how next rotation turns out...I'll keep ya posted. Here's to being slimmer and feelin' good!

I know, I know

2009-05-27T17:13:00.001-05:00
I know what you're all thinking, where are the older kids?? I'll take pics of them later..I'm on it. Til then, enjoy the "little ones"!!

The "little ones"

2009-05-27T16:15:00.001-05:00

So cute

2009-05-27T16:07:00.005-05:00

Since I've lived here I've had, um, difficulties getting here as often as I'd like to check email and blog...closed, busy mom, nursing baby needs me...etc so here's some pics. :)

A little about birth....

2009-04-24T13:26:00.006-05:00
Birth anxiety. If you've ever had more than one child, you know what I'm talking about. I got it for the first time before Thatch was born, my fifth. It's the "is there any way I can get out of this pain" feeling. So here I was again about to do this for the seventh time and yep...I was feeling it. It comes and goes...scared, not scared. Anyway, though I don't deserve it, God is so good to me. My birth with Harmony was my best yet. They've all been reasonably short, but hers took the cake. I woke up at 5:30 am on March 26th, went to the bathroom and laid back down. Three hard ones in a row...ouch. Got up, 6:00 am, hmm, those must have been about 10 minutes apart. Another, whoa, that was a big one...they're coming faster now. 6:11am, woke up John, "Honey, we're having a baby today, can you make me some tea?" Groggy yes. 6:47am...Harmony joins us. Did you catch that??!!! Sweet gravy, fast, eh?? Praise God, he is so good. And here she is.

More often??

2009-04-24T13:16:00.002-05:00
I wish I could blog more often, but with seven kids (holy mac I just said that, didn't I?) it's not that easy to get away, in fact, I'm thinking, Harmony's probably ready for milkies now. Oh yeah, for those who don't know...Harmony Blessing Akiki was born March 26th....I'll try to put pictures of her up the next time I get on here. (which could be awhile...sorry) She's a sweet little thing and I can't wait to share her story with you....so here goes. Right after Cherish was born, the Lord gave me the name Harmony which was right before I started making soap and my hubby came home one day saying we should do a business and call it Harmony Soap (this happened right after I started making soap)...I was like, NO WAY, that's supposed to be our next daughter's name. But we did it anyway for awhile, then changed it. Anyway, next baby...boy, next baby...boy. No girls, what about that name? During Zev's pregnancy the Lord gave me Blessing for her middle name, but still she wasn't here. So the seventh pregnancy (holy mac, did I just say seven???) and I wasn't getting my hopes up for a girl. A friend called saying she dreamed I was having a girl...maybe, maybe not. We'll see. But on the morning of March 26th, we found out. After a gloriously short birth, we had our girl, our Harmony, and she's some kinda cute!!!

So much to say

2009-03-02T14:10:00.002-06:00
Today, I'm having a "miss the internet" day. It is tough to keep up with everything in the short time I have at the library. Oh well. Life goes on and maybe someday.... I guess the biggest news is that we now won't be doing the skincare business anymore. We feel the Lord has closed that door for now. We are now praying for a new door of opportunity to open for us (I'm hoping landscaping again, but we'll see). John and the boys have been forging knives and perfecting their craft (not perfect yet, but they've made some nice knives). Sorry that I can't put any pics of that up....such a drag. Anyway, as of now it'd be a luxury we couldn't afford. We are really trying to be money smart and watch our pennies. Pray for us as we seek the Lord's guidance. More later.........

Getting Settled

2009-02-03T16:23:00.003-06:00
We've closed on our place in Texas so won't be going back there for awhile. I'll miss that huge state, but a new adventure is always fun. As of yet, we still have no internet, which means I can't add pics to my blog :(, can't do facebook....(not a huge loss except for all those old church friends who are adding me as a friend and I can't reply), can only email and blog once in awhile when it's convenient to get away. So I miss the ease of communication especially since I'm not a phone savvy gal. But no significant withdrawal though. However, if we are to continue doing our skincare business, it'll be a bit difficult with no internet...we'll see. I guess the biggest miss will be pics. I want to share the kids snowman with you...the cute chubbiness of Zev...yes, he's chubbin' up, and the new baby when he/she arrives. Better run for now...more news next time.

We're here!

2009-01-12T14:14:00.002-06:00
Yep, here we are, in OK! I'm thrilled that it's not nearly as cold as I thought it would be. (YET!) We still have some things to move from Texas and have to close on the house still but we're beginning to unpack and all that jazz. I do not have internet though, so my blogging, emailing, etc will be limited to library trips, which could be once a week or less...bummer. I'm not too sad about it, but it sure is handy to keep up with everyone. So all that said, here we are, and there ya go.

On a roll

2009-01-02T16:02:00.004-06:00

Two in one day? Why not? This one is about kids....though today Zev has been somewhat of a clingly crank-o-pants...of which I am way not digging, he rocks. I love the I-need-my-mama-cuz-she's-perfect-and-the-only-one-who-calms-me dependency, sometimes. Other times, it drives me mad. Like today, when he followed me around, moaning and fake crying when I wouldn't hold him. No please. Then we eat lunch and he's being a fussy bum about his food (yes yes, we conquered and won). Am I complaining? No, just saying that despite all this crabbedness, he's addictive. So hairy addictive. I love to kiss, cuddle, kiss, smell and attack him. Can't wait to see his little sibling. Speaking of that new little one, my friend Tonya tells me your body's acidity level often determines the sex of the baby. (Male spermies like a more acidic environment) To which I replied, "I guess that means I'm having another boy." Cuz I'm pretty sure I lean toward acidity, though I try to keep this in check with lots of millet and lemon water....on the other hand, we eat millet like mad hatters, and we were before we conceived.....REALLY WANNA GIRL...there I said it. Take a peak at this cuteness.....

Waiting....

2009-01-02T15:57:00.002-06:00
So I wanted to post this a couple of days ago, how we're waiting...waiting to move, waiting to hear if loans are approved, waiting for a baby...waiting. Not my favorite thing to do, but hey. Well, now I have a whole new twist on waiting and man is God teaching us a lesson. Goes like this....we are selling our place, right? Okay, right away our neighbor offers to buy. We wait...but not really. We get impatient, counter offer and have an informal deal going, now we have another couple wanting to buy (offering much more). That's tough, but God is good. So now we have a few things on our plate that we could've avoided if we'd been patient. With me? Patience is good. Not patient= not good. So we're learning. Can't wait for that baby to come...

Okey Dokey

2008-11-24T20:18:00.002-06:00
So it appears we'll be Okey's for awhile. When we left NC we knew the Lord was telling us to sell and move from Tx (though I will way miss the weather) but we didn't know exactly where we'd be going. We were assuming it was NC, since that's where we want to go...well kinda, we want to be closer to our great friends, but John's not hip on the congestedness of that popular place. But anyway, God will lead and lead he is. We are moving in the direction God wants us and it's so fun to be right in the center of his will....ahhh. Feeling God move and direct like this, John's decided we're not making ANY plans EVER until the Lord gives the green light. It's way easier/better to wait on him.
Pretty neat the way God worked to whole thing out,Butch and Marybeth, whom we didn't know well upon going there a few weeks ago (this was where-Oklahoma, that is- we went for John to help with the house...see previous post) offered to let us live in their old house once they complete their new house. Wow! We knew it was from the Lord almost right away. So on to our new adventure (as soon as our place sells!).....

Funniest thing

2008-11-21T10:12:00.003-06:00
About the soap business.....men are funny. So we come home from North Carolina and John tells me he's "ready to be done with soap" That's fine with me cuz if he doesn't want to do it then I don't either. (Can you say burnout??....doing it all alone gets hard) So he said since we knew we were moving that he wanted me to put all products at 50% off on the site. So I wrote going out of business on the homepage along with the discount. This stirred quite a reaction in our faithful customers but hey, what can you do? A couple of days later John tells me, "I don't think we're done with skincare. Why'd you put going out of business on there? I didn't tell you to that." To which I reply, "'I'm ready to be done with soap.' sounds like going out of business to me." So he said we weren't done but when we restart it will be when he's ready (when he'll be a more active participant in the whole thing...GREAT!) So I assumed this would be a few months from now once we resettle somewhere. Well yesterday he says to me, "Why is the store not open?" -- "I haven't opened it yet...we really need to pray about what to do with the website, I don't want to keep paying for it if we are not going to do this [though I REALLY don't want to redo all that someday]." He said, "I just told you....open the store." I squealed. Not a ooo-I'm-so-happy squeal, but a you-are-confusing-the-crump-out-of-me squeal. He laughs. I think he is enjoying this. Anyway, alot will change at Wildwood Acres, but it seems we're not out of business. :) If you are a faithful customer or are just interested in our crazy lives, keep checking out our website for all the new changes. (As we are in the process of moving, these changes will be slow, but they will come.)

She returns...

2008-11-18T15:07:00.002-06:00
Man I hate how long it takes me to get back to blogging, but I'm a wee stretched I guess. But by the time I blog I have 8 million things to say and don't feel like typing for a year. Sheez. Anywho....I don't really know where to start except that God is smackin' us left and right with answered prayers, it's so cool....LOVE IT!! We've already had an offer on our place. John was praying for a buyer who would be as relaxed as he is about things (reason being we have a mud building and other Akiki eccentrics that not your average home owner would be diggin', but hey, we thought we were staying here forever) and that is exactly what this buyer would be. We still aren't sure if that's what we'll do, but it's so nice to know it's there. :) I'm gonna cut this short at that, but I have alot more to say, where we're going, what about soap?, but....kiddos call.

Here I am

2008-10-23T11:21:00.005-05:00
Though I never intended to let two full months pass without nary a blog entry, I've done it and that's that. But here I am to share the latest.....not sure if I can sum up two and a half months of the Akiki Chronicles in one post but I'll at least get started. The most resent news is God is absolutely amazing and I love him so. Okay, so I should start a little before that. In early September, we were heartily praying about what in the world we should do next, do for income, do about our debt (desperately wanting to get out of debt especially after listening to Financial Freedom with Jim Sammons....SOOO hairy good, and I highly, HIGHLY recommend it...more on that later...), do about Texas (stay here or move), la la, we had so many huge decisions to make that we were beginning to despair. Then God sent us to NC for a few weeks to pray for our dear friend Steve Hingle and be with our friends there. While there, the Lord showed us, somewhat what to do, which was to sell our place here in Texas and move. So, we came home with that intent. But here we are a couple of weeks later with no income and asking God, what in the meantime? Here's where we differ from the mainstream (hold up, stop the clock, the Akiki's are by no means mainstream in any sense of the word, so when I say Here we differ, that doesn't make a hankin' lot of sense, but bare with me), one would logically say, Uh, hello, man get job...problem solved. After all isn't that what we should do? Well, something in us said no, though it makes no logical hairy sense and we couldn't understand it. But what about your business you say? John was ready to stop soap (but not really...that's a whole different post...) and didn't feel he should landscape anymore so what do we do until our place sells? Two days ago, Tuesday, we were praying and John decided to fast and pray about this caution we feel about taking a job right now. It's so weird I tell ya and he's getting ALOT of pressure from the outside to get a "job". Now we know that he very well could and that'd not necessarily be wrong, but it wouldn't be God's best for us right now and that's what we want (John's words). So, despite all this conflicting thoughts he's had on the subject, we were going with what God told us. Okay, yesterday, he decided to fast and pray for 48 hours, and the kids and I prayed for the Lord to clearly show dad something before we started school, and as we were praying that, John got a call from a friend, well actually we don't know them very well, it's the sister of a friend and the Lord had laid us on their hearts so they extended an invitation for us to come there and they would pay John to help them build their house!! Voila, income!!! God be glorified. It was as if he said, "I'm here, don't ever doubt my love for you." We were so amazed at God's timing and all that. So I'll leave you with that so you can revel in God's goodness and I'll share more later.

Color

2008-08-01T14:26:00.003-05:00
I've yet to meet any other people who are as into color as John and I. I mean...we really like colorful things. It's funny. Due to a potty accident from the toddler (thanks for the incentive Thatch) we tore out the carpet in our bathroom and painted. Now, mind you we don't live in our dream mud house yet, but we do like beauty, so we're trying to make the best with what we got. Good plan, eh? So we painted. John's idea of the color "lime" was the outer skin of the fruit where I was thinking more the inner light color. And we were gonna do the floor blue, I was thinking dark navy, he opted for bright, but it turned out great and we liked it. And because I can't just paint and leave it at that, I had to add a little pinache, flair, whatever you call it. So the plan was a squiggly from ceiling to floor to opposite wall to ceiling, so I mixed the two colors (outer skin lime and bright blue) and white and the result??? GROOVY! The wall squiggly turned out blue and the floor squiggly turned out green. So cool.

More zippin'

2008-07-17T14:14:00.004-05:00
In my last post, some of the pics weren't that good, but I'll try to get better ones. Here's a short video of Gabe zip lining. :)
~I really should do You Tube...this video is a little whizzey..sorry.~

Zip-it!!

2008-07-17T13:57:00.005-05:00

We decided life can't be all work and no play. After all it is the play that makes the work more tolerable, even enjoyable. So we decided to put more energy into planning "fun"...what do I mean plan fun? Well, we want a natural swimming pool...we have to put more effort into making that happen...we want to help the kids build a clubhouse...again, focus. We can't spend our lives working like mad cats and never having fun. No please. So to start our new "fun" tradition. We ziiiiiiiiiip!!! (Note: Don't let this deceive you into thinking that prior to this we were no fun....laughing, happy kids attest to our grooviness.) So back to the zipping, John decided that zip line madness needed to come to our home. His dad put one up for him when he was a boy and he wanted his kids to have one too. Well, not only the big kids, but the toddler is LOVING this new idea. John took Thatch and Cherish halfway down the line, set up the ladder and had them go from there. Weeee. But once the ladder moved to it's orginal *high* starting point, he decided he need to go from there too. So, yes, our 2 year old, does whole 90ft line. Sweet mama, he's brave, eh? So this is how it goes, I climb the ladder, John hands him up, I lift him over my head, John runs in case he drops and he squeals with delight. Actually, by nature, Thatch doesn't squeal, he grunts, and swings his arms in this macho-monkey-man type pose as if to say, "Um hmm, beat that." And for all of you who gasp at the danger of it, just know we had him do it multiple times from the lower part before we let him tackle the high side, and John runs with him, and I say in a repetitive quicklike manner, "Thank you Jesus he won't fall, thank you Jesus he won't fall, thank you..." So it's all good.

Oh, and yes, Cherish does it too, but she hasn't scaled the heights her younger brother has yet. Feminine wisdom?

I think, I can

2008-07-02T12:17:00.005-05:00
We've tried gardening before with minimal success. This year was better, but our goals soar even higher. We want sustainable living. Self-sufficiency. Mmmm, breath it in. Ahhh. So I'm canning like a crazy woman. So far, we've done green tomato relish, squash relish, potatoes (not sure how these will jive but we were given several free potatoes so...), rotel, and BLUEBERRIES!! Yum! Still to come is more rotel and/or tomato something, jams(oh, I forgot we did strawberry freezer jam...yumomanificient!)...which will include wild grapes that grow on our property...I did blackberry but we didn't get much and have already eaten it all :(, and PEACHES!! Yum! Today was a big day well, I'm not done yet, just taking a breather. It's fun and I'm learning. We hope to have even more next year...did I say that already? John's planted some trees and we are getting more in the fall (fruit and nut). It's so fun.

Back to my canning....I've decided the time is drawing nigh when I should write my own cookbook...my husband has said I should for years, my boys tell me at least biweekly that I should, and after making relish I've decided, they're right. Who writes these recipes?? In the words of our wise 6 year old, "They must be sugar pigs." I halfed the sugar in the recipes I had for relish...half I tell you and less than half in some cases because we don't like things overly sweet. Well, they were too sweet by Akiki standards and we were all bummed. So I revamped the recipes and will NOT conform. I'm bummed because of all the work I put into it and it would be so yum if not for the extra sweetness. It is beyond our comprehension how people can palate foods that sweet. I was wise to the sweet ploy by the time I made rotel and it is just right...finally. So here's to better success with my own recipe!

The kids oinkin' the rest of the blueberries.

Pretty berries!

So far....

Our garden...to be bigger next year.

Zevulun Kade

2008-06-23T09:10:00.003-05:00
Bath time...hey, what's that?

Family photos

2008-06-07T11:27:00.004-05:00

I thought I had a good camera but I'm seeing my friends pics and thinking, those look better...oh well, contentment is bliss. We did some photos and here they are...I'll blog more later, gotta get off this machine. :)

Cob-o-licious

2008-05-29T22:20:00.002-05:00
Schwew. Man, I've wanted to blog for a while, but who knew you'd find so many old friends on Facebook. As secretary to my man, I've been assigned the task of scheduling our days so that we are more efficient in our endeavors, so that's something I'm working on. Of course we can't be too punch clockish or it won't jive. But anyway, I should be doing that instead of this, but....today we cobbed....it's looking neat, John's adding rocks and bottles (for groovy light) and I'm way excited, because, you guessed it folks, when this puppy's done, we move on to the HOUSE. Hot diggidy spank! I am so excited. Of course we'll have to do careful planning, praying and more planning before we start, but yipppeeeeeeeeee. In our last cobbing effort I was assigned the task of de-labeling some of the bottles....and I stabbed myself with John's pocket machete (he calls it a knife but it's the size of Montana) and right in the joint too, man that hurt. Big waaaa. So this time I actually got muddy and cobbed, love it but don't get to do it as often as the rest of the crew, may have to nurse, cook, clean, soap, you know. I'm busy. So....it was fun. So here's a pic of my hunky man sitting on our progress....

The fruit....

2008-05-19T20:10:00.004-05:00
Big fan of grapefruits as I am...that is not the fruit I speak of. Reflecting on my previous post we see that John told me to hold off on new products, well.....a couple of days ago I came home with a fire under my rump to clean up our property. My husband is the grooviest guy I know but not one for the organizing. And I..um...am. So...that can be a wee frustrating if you haven't read Created to Be His Helpmeet and know how to roll wid it. So I'm tryin' to roll, really I am, but this day...well, I gathered the kids and said, "We're purging." So we began cleaning like mad hatters and it was glorious. Oh wait, let me rewind, first he came home as I was standing by our burn barrel (we do alot of burning and keep it confined to a big 5 gallon drum..the burn barrel) I was fighting back tears...no it wasn't the smoke in my eyes I was just so tired of trashy funky clutteredness. URGH. So he said, "I gotta go...don't look so overwhelmed." Oh, mama, YOU'RE TELLIN' ME NOT TO LOOK OVERWHELMED!!! THIS PLACE IS TRASHED!! So I shed a few tears and got to work. The boys and I were busy when he got back...lateeda, clean clean clean...anyway, later that night I said, "Hey thanks for puttin' the brakes on me, it forced me to get outside, I love bein' out there." He said, "Yeah, I like having you out there, you're the one with all the motivation to get things done. I need you." WHAT? Stop the clock did he just say he needed me? Sweet molasses...gooey. Love it. (the fruit) Then today, he said, "What am I doin' this week?" I laughed...he said, "No really I need you to be my help meet and tell me what I'm doing?" That meant he wanted me to organize/prioritize what he needs to get done. HELLO...women are you reading this? The point is I could have missed all those sweet complimentary phrases if I'd let his clutteryness get me crabby. (The tears I shed were simply...gotta let 'em fall, help me Lord.) You see I didn't clean alone, no he did alot (and my boys rock!!)but he needs my energy to drive him so to speak. I just love this whole help meet thing God's got goin' in us girlies.

Slowuh Downuh

2008-05-15T08:44:00.009-05:00
I've wanted to post for an eon now, but too busy. So I'm squeezin this one in before school while the kids finish up breakfast. I'm so thankful for kids that can cook....Mon-Fri one of the older three boys makes breakfast. They do a simple grain cereal. Saturdays and Sundays are our "fancy schmancy" breakfasts where mom whacks up some muffins, biscuits, pancakes or waffles. I was crankin' out one of the deliciousO meals every other day and it was just too much, sucking up too much of our school time. Soooooo I made it a boy task and they love it. :) Dogged good kids I have.

So as my profile describes I like to move at lightning speed. Get it done...now. That's how I feel about it. So I have a page long list of new products to add to our business, and I was working on two new ones yesterday. Then I asked John a question and he answered my formulating question by....putting the brakes on me. What? That 's not what I asked. Urgh. But as I listened to him tell me why...I realize he's right. He wants me to take a few weeks and not work on anything new . He loves all my ideas and thinks they will sell great but I've got to slowuh downuh. Gotta be a mom & wife who has a life, right? But as I'm thanking him for putting on the brakes, my mind is reeling with what, when, how I'm gonna do my new stuff. (A couple of things I have started he said I could finish.) Isn't that funny? It's like this, I'm gonna make an eye cream, I want one for me, and I've been asked as well. But he says wait. I'm making a baby vapor rub, teething support, & diaper spray...want that for my little perfix, but J says wait. Ahhhhhhh.........I recall him saying, "Are you gonna accept this or argue with me?" --"Accept it." Now I know what you're thinking, I must have been arguing for him to have said that, but I was just, um, well okay....technically it was arguing, but...stop, the important thing is I smilingly submitted inside and out, I just tried not to at first, but he's right.
He said I could finish my acne tonic and my new hair experiments and I think he may let me work on candles too, BUT that's only because all that stuff was started already. We'll see....and I guess I don't need to be in such a hurry. :)

Blib blab blob

2008-05-08T21:57:00.003-05:00
It's been awhile so I'll probably gab about several things...thus the reason for my broad range title. So we're back from Canton, yep....back. It was really, um, bad this time....I would be very discouraged if it hadn't been for the tornado that seemingly turned everyone off to the idea of shopping. Yep, tornado in Canton. So we decided to take a break from it until fall....two reasons...being outside on the "grounds" would be way more, well, way better. And seeing as how we live in hot-tamale-ville it would be a bad idea to take natural skincare products and sell them outside for 4 days in a row in the blairy hot summer. So we thought we should wait until it cools off. Also, fall+Canton=BUSY...so that's that. But our efforts were not in vain, we met some great people, lots of interest in our company and wholesale ordering....so we're praying that all pans out. We still feel Canton is gonna work for us....I had a feeling we should go outside, but agreed that inside would logically be where everyone would go to "cool off" and grab a bite at the food court. Problem is Canton's Trade Days has been going on forever, yep forever, and this building is new....3 years new, and your average hard core Cantoner has never even heard of it. So that equals less shopping traffic which is a real drag for those of us trying to earn a living at this. So we shall wait and do it in the fall...didn't I say that already.
But God is faithful and we came home yet again to more online orders. Our business is really growing and starting to pick up the pace. YIPPPEEEE.

Ka-BOOM!

2008-04-27T21:34:00.005-05:00
...word explosion....that's what we call it around here when a toddler all of a sudden says everything. All of our kids have done it, sure they say 'Mama' or 'Daddee' and a few other random words, but then all of a sudden in the span of a couple of days, they say everything...all at once. Happens every time. Well we're there now with Thatch and it's way fun. Here's yesterdays schpeal:

Thatch, can you say daddy?
Daddee.
Can you say mommy?
Momma.
Can you say Quinn?
Din.
Can you say Gabe?
Dayb.
Can you say Eli?
Lie.
Can you say Cherish?
Tersh.
Can you say Thatch?
Tash.
Can you say Zev?
Vev.
Can you say Banjo?
Dog.

-----No that is not a typo, he really said dog. I laughed so hard...I thought I was gonna blow snot. He is so hankin' funny. So I asked again...

Can you say Banjo?
Dog.....O.
BANjo?
Dog.
Can you say Bill?
ill
Can you say Maine?
May
Can you say Topaz?
Passsz
Can you say chickens?
kinz
Can you say Banjo?
Dog.

Is he workin' us over?

ps Banjo is our dog.

T-Hatch-a-mania

2008-04-23T11:34:00.005-05:00
I jumped off my soapbox to give you a little kid antics. You may remember my previous post about this toddler of ours (T-Hatch, Tatcha, Tatch, Leeda, Leedalee...) not talking much, well, we knew it was there all the time and we told our kids, "He can talk, he just chooses not to." or "You guys already talk so much, he figures he'll let you do it." or "He's like dad." Whatever the case, he was 2 in February and talks the least of any of them at this age. Well, this morning he was scavenging the pulpy bits off of a grapefruit wedge John and I were sharing last night(Hello, I'm the one with water retention issues, can you not be eatin' all the grapefruits??). So in his scavenge-madness, I said, "Tatch, you eatin' a grapefruit?"
"Aahnge."
"No, they're grapefruits."
"Gaayfoots."
"GOOD!! Can you say orange?"
"Aahnge."
"Can you say apple?"
"Aa-el."
Can you say oatmeal?
Hesitation, blank stare, mouthed words...no sound, then "aaameee"
"Good, can you say Thatch?"
"Tash."
"Can you say Cherish?"
"Tersh"
"Can you say grapefruit?"
"Gaaaayfoot."
--Enter Gabe...."Gabe, come listen to Thatch, he's talkin' away. Thatch, say grapefruit." He gets this I-am-not-a-circus-animal-and-I-will-no-longer-perform-for-you look on his face, grins and runs away. Bummer. "Gabe, he was sayin' all kinds of stuff, I'm tellin' ya."

So that was Thatch, and a few minutes later I hear Cherish say, "Oh! Bill(our male goat) is chasing Maine (our doe) and that's why she's screamin'." Hmmm, could she be a girl with many brothers or what? Wonder why Bill was chasin' Maine.?.

A little Thatchedness...

...and a little Zev action...

Beefed

2008-04-22T22:48:00.004-05:00
A little venting...a little soapbox...whatever you wanna call it, I have something to say. Watch out. Hmmm, my husband might interject here--when does she not have something to say?--So girls talk alot, yeah so, well, anyway...I have a little beef to brood about. Can anyone tell me when we as a people started trusting man more than God to meet our health needs? Uh oh, what's she sayin'? I'm sayin' this...do you know that the prescription medications our society so puts their faith in to "heal" them are just chemical mimics of a God given herb (see Psalm 104:4 & Ezekiel 42:12)? And as my husband so wisely put it, "Yep, you can't patent an herb." In other words (for those of you who can't decipher that dry Syrian humor...), these meds we put our faith in were made in an attempt to make money....and they do just that. Huge pharmaceutical companies pay your doctor to....stop the clock, I readily admit scientific advancements have given us great gains in the medical field and we to some degree are better for it. Yaddie yaddie...BUT when we depend on the makings of man and forsake God's design (see Psalm 104:14 & Ezekiel 42:12) we are asking for trouble. And I believe we as a nation are seeing that in the overall health of the population. I am in no way denouncing doctors or their medical help, but I want to know (and think all believers should also) everything I can about herbs to better serve my family. In what little herbal experience I have in using several different ones over the last year making various skin concoctions, I have found them to be HIGHLY effective. It's so cool I made a "Cure All Tincture" a few weeks ago using some immune boosting herbs and cayenne(WHHHATCHOUT!) and when John was trying to get sick, it licked it. Licked it good. Yep. So cool. And all I can say about that is, what do we expect? How can man one up God? Exactly.

God & Toof Bits

2008-04-19T15:39:00.004-05:00
Okay the lowdown is this....several months ago while doin' some research for a new product (can't remember which one) I came across Dr. Gerard F. Judd's research concerning our teeth. He was researching why American's get so many cavities compared to other countries yet we go to the dentist all the time. Soooo, what I found surprised me. He says the best thing to brush our teeth with is soap! Why? Because the glycerin that's in all toothpastes (even the natural ones) coats our teeth with a film that Dr. Judd says takes 27 rinses to rinse off, whereas soap takes 2. Wow. And he says reenamelization is the key to strong teeth and our teeth can only do that when they're clean AND they aren't clean if they're coated with glycerin. Cool, huh? So I tried it, brushing with soap...and WHOA MAN, it was so way different. But when you really think about it, isn't this probably how people used to brush their teeth before everything got all civilized and chemical laden and "better" ?? So anyway, from this was born Toof Bits, our all natural soap for teeth. They have, to our surprise, really taken off. We sell quite a bit of it. And John in his wisdom, did some google ads for it and (and this brings me to the reason for this blog) today I got a call from a lady who did a search, found da Bits and wanted to put us on her ezine (internet magazine). I said, "SSShyeah." No really I was way more professional...but it's a deal where we send her samples which she distributes in a "Go Natural" sample box she's promoting in exchange for getting a permanent link with her ezine and exposure to whomever tries the Bits. I was silently thanking God for this yet another open door to our skincare business. I sometimes get a little wowed thinking, "Wow, I made this, and people like it." Sweet. (So for those of you who read this, if you know of other places where we can link please let me know.)

A Little Gooey

2008-04-15T22:49:00.005-05:00
I like gooey. Gooey as Chasity's unabridged dictionary defines it is...adj. Melty moments, love and sweetness. I always used to define those sweet husband/wife love moments as melty or gooey. So I like gooey. Now my kids know that term and I'll try to grab up my oldest and squeeze him and he'll pull away until I say, "Aww c'mon, be gooey with me." To which he'll grin and say "Muuuuzzer." Don't know how I attracted that word as my name, could be akin to it's owner saying things like 'hankin'? This all started when I described my feelings toward my husband as 'melt all over each other lovin' goodness' So I really dig my man, can you tell? And, I really dig my kids which brings me to my reason for posting. This one's for my mom, I love you mom!!! One cannot fully imagine the depth of love a mother has until she is one herself, I hold my 5 month old Zevulun (Zev, Bebalun, Bugas, Budgis, Tevvy, Tev, Bebalin Kade, Ungu---see I'm not the only one around here that makes up words) and am completely and utterly gooey, every time. Can't help it, the goo just flows, what can I say? I'm addicted. He's a complete little miracle, a whole new person and I could just smooch him all day. I once read that being a mother was like having your heart walking outside of your body (ya with me here?), well, I can relate, I love my six blessings so much that 1/6th of me walks around in each of them, pulling at my soul and causing me to cry out for wisdom daily. One look in a pair of eyes and I'm hopelessly lost in the goo.

Our friend Tom gettin' a little gooey with Zev.

No hairy way

2008-04-14T17:41:00.003-05:00
Yes it's my hair again. Most people don't post about weird stuff like their hair, you say, well, it's my blog and today we're talkin' hair, so grab your popcorn and read along. So...funny how we take for granted the little things in life, like not having split ends. So when I noticed them, I thought, 'Oh, my good gravy what am I going to do about this???' Yes a bit of paranoia struck, because I make an awesome shampoo bar, I mean I loaded that thing with every good hair ingredient I could find, except eggs and beer, but I'm thinking of making a sister bar with these ingredients. Hold your socks! Anyway, my hair made me scairt. So I decided to get a trim and talk with my hair lady. Turns out, I was being way to rough on my hair in combing it wet and was causing it to break and split...kinda sense does that make? urgh. So I went home made my new hair conditioning oil..(not sure what I'm gonna call it yet...any ideas?) and applied just a dab to my fingers and ran them through my hair, washed it, combed more gently and sweet molasses if it didn't look great!!!!! I was giddy. So here's my hair tips....don't overcomb when your hair is wet, start at the bottom, working in sections and holding it midway...and don't tug, for goodness sakes, what are you thinkin'? Secondly, let your final rinse be the coolest water you can stand, this lays down the hair cuticle giving you comb-easy-shiny hair. Cool, hmm? So I'm loving my hair adventures and my hair creations....happy combing.

We are a-cobbin'

2008-04-12T22:22:00.004-05:00
Ahhh...finally we are cobbing again. Man I've missed it. Co...what? I know I know, most people think we're weirdos wanting a house of mud and such but hey...we're...um...different. So anyway, we have grand plans and grand dreams, but it begins with an outhouse, no ordinary outhouse, a cobesque outhouse. We have style. I will post the finished privvy when it's done, but for now, here's the kids muddin' up. (Special thanks to John and Will Lindsey for their supportive role in the cobmania!)

Never stop

2008-04-09T18:08:00.005-05:00
Well Canton was good, and what's even better is that we got several online orders recently. Thank you Jesus!!! John's got some landscaping work lined up this month and we are going to book some additional festivals. We're doing it!! This is what I wanted and it is way fun. So now that I'm home I decided I want to make myself a purse before I jump back on the formulating wagon. I'm ready to formulate my new stuff brewing in my head, but first...my purse. I'm a one-strap-across-the-body kinda purse girl, and I used to carry those type always, but they are small and now that I have *many* kids, I like to be able to carry a diaper, few wipes, pair of skivs if I need to, oh, and I'm an organizer, compulsive-throw-things kind of organizer. So I wanted this bag with pockets here and there, and the messenger style, I guess, what is messenger style anyway? So I got all crafty and did it. Now mind you it's my first attempt and if you looked close you'd see and error or three. BUT overall, it turned out okay. Especially my applique...oh, and check out the flower stem...it goes just over the corner of the pocket right? Why you think it does that, eh? Yep, I messed up that corner and was covering it up...it was originally just going to be the flower, no s tem...clever, eh?

Quinn workin' the crowd

2008-04-07T18:06:00.006-05:00
I have to say that if I were a Canton shopper and passed by a booth like ours I would be drawn in by all it's colorful grooviness and neatness of product. Funkatabulous! That's my style...obviously, we designed it. But alas, not everyone is like me...some people need a little encouragement...coercing if you will....enter Quinn...lovingly dubbed as Q (when he lets me). I suggested he ask people if they'd like to try a handmade lotion or body butter and he was all for it. But it's rather intimidating to strike up chat with someone you don't know. So he was nervous. I told him he'd get paid a small commission on sales he brings in and that he could do it when he was ready...no pressure. It didn't take long to hear the cha-CHING in his thoughts and he was out there bringin' 'em in.
It was great...he brought in almost all of our sells. It really is a family business and our kids were a valuable asset. Gabe and Eli tried their hand at it, but didn't get much time in. More next month.
So here's Quinn at work....

...and our booth....we learned alot, like we need bigger signs!

Canton Madness

2008-04-07T17:48:00.002-05:00
Well we came...we sold...we conquered...sort of. Things were slow and our sells were not as high as we wanted. BUT, this was our first time, and as Quinn reminded me, "Mom this is just the first time. You said you talked to a lady that didn't sell anything her first month, and we're doing WAY better than that." --"You're right, babe, we're doing fine." And really we were, he was a star salesman and we got to meet some real nice people. We will give it until Dec and if it seems not worth the expense we'll stop. Our goal is for our business to mostly come from the web, so we can really be home. We don't mind doing shows, in fact, Canton was pretty fun, but we want mostly to do festivals and the net....and you know it really doesn't matter, if Canton's what it takes to keep us going, then Canton here we come, I guess I just say that because renting the both costa some moolah and that's a drag, but it's exposure and John had the brilliant idea of giving away 15% off coupons...encouraging online sales. What a thinker he is, eh? So that will hopefully bring in more for us this month.

Tails

2008-03-22T14:25:00.004-05:00
Gabe found a rabbit. An answer to his prayer after losing a turtle that he found. So we're all kinda likin' the little guy and man he cracks me up when he tries to hop out of his cage....so funny. He chows lettuce and carrots which as we all know is great roughage and well, he, you know, makes a mess. So Gabe cleans out his "home" often...which is for now a rubbermaid, that he can scale the side of and jump out....here's a 3 minute video of last nights entertainment with Tails....

Soooo hankin' busy

2008-03-22T14:16:00.003-05:00
I love my life, and can I just say....this is exactly what I prayed for, my husband to quit his well paying job so we could work together and live together as a family. Live simply, eat simply, build simply. I love it. Creativity....I remember praying for this once upon a time and now I just love to marvel at how creative some people are. It seems the more one seeks Jesus, the more the creative juice flows...neat, huh? Serving the Creator makes one innately more creative. Just my theory. So here we are....John made these way swank counters for our new trade show adventure. And I painted our logo on them. Way cute. Diggin it. So that was this morning after I had a yum breakfast cooked for me by my family (it's my birthday today!). Our work....

Pickedy pic pics

2008-03-21T11:39:00.005-05:00
"Gabe, uh, you cut my head off." -- "Gabe, I told you to stand here, now the sun's all wrong."-- "Gabe, that's great....we'll use that one!" He was a good sport and I didn't expect expert photography from a 7 year old, and he probably wished he hadn't happened by at that time, but oh well, you're the man. It's beautiful in Texas this time of year, and I was trying to get some more pics of us on the website. We still have a few models to include....dad..Gabe, and hopefully some more family shots....it's just hard to get us all together sometimes. Photo day....

This was supposed to be a hair pic, but he didn't get my hair, but hey, I'm wearing my new Fresh Touch shade of LiP-iX! :) Hey Thatch.

It really is a family affair....

2008-03-21T11:31:00.003-05:00
Picture it...seven of us at our not so big table making products for our business. Yes seven of us. That includes all of us except Zev, the baby. WHOA! It started with me making tooth powder, and a bunch of "Can I help??"s and before you know it, we're all there, working together. It was grand. And yes, we all washed our hands. So Quinn and Eli and dad made the tooth powder, while Cherish, Gabe, & mom made the face scrub. Sorry Thatch. He was there, with his spoon ready to help put the scrub in the jar, but....um...no. So it was good, and they're learning. They so want to "bring a stick to the fire" and really that's the whole reason we're doing this. John recently ordered some more cutting tools so the older ones will be able to cut labels. That will ROCK! They already do the shrink wrapping very well. In fact, Cherish put the shrink bands on all my new LiP-iX! She's amazing! She said as I labeled and she did shrink bands, "I'll slow down mom so you can keep up." Thanks, Cher...!

Thatch-a-patch

2008-03-18T23:30:00.004-05:00
Cute, chubby, not-to-talkative....what more could you want in a two year old? So I was getting my little T-man dressed after a bath a couple of days ago...hold on, let me rewind....living in a houseful of men, I find that they...um...can't find a hairy thing!!! Being as I'm John's beloved helpmeet, I smile and enjoy the praise he bestows me when I find something he needs or is looking for. However, when my boys ask me, "Mom, where's the _____?" I say, "Look with your eyes not your mouth." And when this doesn't work, I'll lovingly say, "Up your nose." So, "Mom, where's my drill." -- "Up your nose." "Muuuuuuzzzer."(endearing term my little sweet petites have for me.) Back to Thatch...is that a great name or what? When he grows up, we'll tell him our dream of a cob home and fascination with thatched roofing inspired his name. Anyway, bath...getting dressed, and as he lay there in all his splendor, I had a goo moment and tickled and loved on him, smacking his belly, saying, "I love-ah, love, love you, T-hatch. Can you say 'Mama'? "ma-ma"--- "Mama"---"ma-ma"---"Can you say 'Daddy'? Where's daddy?" To which he inserts his index finger in his left nostril and says, "Noz" ---Dagged funny kid he is.

Headless chickens

2008-03-14T20:35:00.003-05:00
We have roughly 10 days to do about 2 months worth of things to get ready for some big events coming up. Hold up, I'm getting ahead of myself. Have to tell you the coolness of God....so we prayed for a place to sell our wares...skincare stuff where people would buy it, use it, love it....God provided, Canton....don't know why we didn't think of this before but now we're doing it. Well it's a wee on the $$ side to rent a booth since its THE biggest flea-market-type-trade-show thingie in the world....WHOA...BUT after going there we were confident we could do well. (Thank you Lord for the repeated reminders as to the validity of this thought)....Anyway, no hankin' way could we do it without an RV because I need to nurse my Zev man and so on...oh and it's a 3 day event once a month, did I mention that? So three days without milkies and Zev might get kinda hungry. So we needed an RV...but the kicker is that we didn't want to spend much money. Good luck. I resolved to pray. GOD IS AMAZING!! He provided us with a new, hear me, NEW RV for....hold on to your socks, $1700...what in the??? Yep, is that cool or what? I was so hairy jazzed....it was a getting-married-don't-want-to-pay-300-bucks-a-month-RV-park rent-wanna-get-rid-of-this-trailer deal. WHAMMO! So then John goes to get this trailer and drives home without one of those stabilizer thingies, and it scairt him...bad. "Lots of prayin' and many bathroom stops." he said. So we wanna take it to Ky to the wedding we're going to but John said no way without the thing. But they are like $600 and we just didn't want to shell out any more just yet. So I prayed. And again...God!!! Bonnie Lloyd, groovy gal that she is, is gonna let us use theirs!! Woooheee, three cheers for Bonnie. So that's the short of it and man am I lovin my kids see God answer prayers so faithfully...how fun. So we're doing alot to get ready for Canton, a wedding and a thousand other things...ahhh...keep your head on.

Vines

2008-03-07T23:42:00.004-06:00
I think it's gonna be one of those multi post hours...but whatayado? I gotta say it all while I've got the time. Not that this is really a good time, since I should be sleeping, but I got a catnap today and argh...rambling....so anyway, I am so so so very thankful to God for so many things and I wanna say a bit here about why. Step back with me to May '07, I'm about yay pregnant and decide to do a few flower beds, some herbs...it'll be great. Employ my children, dig, dig, dig, we're planting. But soon we all come down with the itchies....I must have missed that 4H lesson on identification of the beloved Poision Ivy vine since I managed to get covered in it....sweet mama, I never ever ever want to do that again ever. I did everything I could think of and then some, salt showers (ouch) and so many other didn't work for me remedies. So jump to the present and we have Eli, our beloved 6 year old, itching on his forehead, hands, eyelids, nose and neck. Guess he was huggin' the ivy. I told him to 'salve up' and it's gone....This is the second case this season and it's happened this way both times...1st day itchies...salve up....2nd day inflammation gone still slight itchies...salve up...3rd day scabs no itchies PRAISE GOD FOR HERBS!!!!!! Last season, we had two cases of next day disappearance. I cannot even tell you how exciting this is....thank you Lord for your blessings.

Color....

2008-03-07T23:30:00.004-06:00
I love it. But not tonight. Have you ever worked with iron oxides....don't. See it's like this, my tinted moisturizer was not to my liking....so I'm formulating. Oh man...that can get old. I was asked to make a tinted moisturizer...great idea, I thought, I'd like one too. And I thought, easy schmeasy, just add some color to a lotion...not that easy. You need something to give it cohesion, to make the color come off on your face...well, voila, beeswax! The hmpf 'bee' people do it, why can't I? Uggh, too oily. Less beeswax, no color, still oily...ugh. Next...clay, aha, too dry. Ugh, what's a moisturizer if it's dry. So what's a girl to do? Yep, pray. Now, I pray about every thing and then some. What's the joy in life if you can't talk to your Creator, so I do...often, about every....yep, even tinted moisturizer. So tonight, did it, again...formulated, too thick, too gel-ley, too thin, too dry....AHHHH!!! Dry me crazy, but I think I got it. I won't jump up and do a happy-finally-got-it dance until I've worn it a few days and am happpy with it. But as of tonight the results are good. Good color come off-ed-ness (how else would you say that?), good feel, a little shea butta makes it so softy...ahhh. So I think we're good. Fin a hair a LY.....oh, wait, I said I wouldn't say it's good yet. Okay, give it a week....I'll let you know.

Burgers

2008-03-04T20:16:00.000-06:00

So here's my recipe...well sort of.....it's more of a process or procedure, but you get the desired effect...yummy meatless burgers. No, I'm not anti-meat, I just like the lower cost of the beans.
Spicy Lentil Black Bean Burgers
Okay I cook up both (this would be way better with pictures, but I didn't want to leave you waiting for my life to slow down...so here's to future posts with cute pics)
Fill my food processor with yay amount of beans and yay amount of lentils...about half and half and maybe a dab more black beans, okay then another spoon of lentils. ...you get the point.
So then we add, chopped onion
4-5 cloves of garlic...now hey, we like garlic
3 jalapenos....CAUTION...these are hot, mmmkay? Might want to use less if feeding kiddos
3 tsp chili powder....yep I think that's how much I use
salt....shake shake shake
about 1 tsp black pepper
3 beaten eggs
bread crumbs (I usually add cornmeal and flour here, cuz I never have breadcrumbs) not sure how much...
okay it'll be pretty wet so I cook them on a hot griddle like pancakes. You can make them the perfect size for your burger buns. They are way yum...sorry for the lack of real recipe but I trust you experienced cooks will do well. :) Enjoy your chow.

Hair Schmair

2008-03-04T20:11:00.000-06:00
I hope I'm not the only blogger that posts more than once in the same day/hour. It's of a different subject so I thought I'd give it it's own post. I realized what caused my phase 3 drab hair....I'm experimenting with a natural hair gel and I added way too much jojoba oil to the first batch and voila, drab, greasy hair. AHHHH, my shampoo bar rocks!!! So, I'll keep you posted...oh, did I mention before that it never did any of that weird stuff to my daughters hair, hers has grown like wildfire and looks soooooooo cute. Thank you Jesus for creativity. Feels so good.

Young, old, pimples to behold

2008-03-04T20:03:00.001-06:00
Well it's a relief to know I'm not that old yet. So I've been using my Repairing Night Oil on my face and as Cory warned me it would, my face broke out. Bummer. *Rewind*But I have to tell you how jazzed I am about my Gentle Face Scrub.....I put rice bran powder and adzuki bean powder in it, both known for gentle exfoliation and blemish control and a few weeks ago I used it on a little grove of blackheads I had at the corner of my mouth....amazingly this gentle scrub deep cleansed those pores and my face was smooth and soft there. Oh my hank! I had no idea it would work that good......I mean seriously there were NO blackheads. I kept checking the mirror thinking, 'they'll be back' but apparantly, I've got a small miracle on my hands here. :) EEEEHEEE! So fast forward.....it seems my skin is not quite mature enough for the Repairing Night Oil....wheww....so I had a nice speckling of bumps last night, so you guessed it....I whipped out the scrub, oh my sweet molasses if it didn't do it again. I plan to add some info to the site about how great a' job this is doing on my pimplies. So now, I'm formulating a cream and such for younger skin. Glad I still fit in that category. More research....

Pig fat

2008-02-27T22:23:00.000-06:00
Did you really think I'd put lard in my food??? Sheez. Gullible. Only in smoothies.

Of hair and soap

2008-02-27T22:01:00.001-06:00
Shampoo bars...my not-so-recent discovery of beautiful hair. Okay so the long of it is, I have a handmade skincare business remember that whole self-employed frugal thing (gimme an F) and I had been asked for quite awhile about making a shampoo. I did a hankin' ton of research and made an awesome bar. But here's the deal, my hair went through three phases, one was this each-strand-feels-like-wire phase, not so nice and hard to comb. Phase 2 (a little less that a week later) was full, lucious beautiful full bouncy full hair. My dreams come true. *Here I divert from my current story to recap the past. Stay tuned.* My hair has always been limp and drab. Yeah. So much to my alternative energy minded hunk of a husband's chagrin, I dried my hair every time I washed it just to give it life. I tired of this too, not enough time in my life to be dryin' my hair (remember six kids...) plus I just wanted the ease of wash, comb and go...ahhh, call it hair envy, call it practicality, call it submission (husband not diggin' the hair dryer), call it whatever...I WANT GOOD HAIR! So I finally found this shampoo I thought would meet the need. I won't name names but the company rhymes with ShArbonne. So that shampoo was full of great oils and herbs for the hair, but also had the foaming agents, sodium lauryl bad guys, and other cruddy chemicals that eventually crudded up my hair too. Stinks man.**back to the story, I realized that this wire phase was because of my shampoo bar, gentle cleanser as it is stripping the cruddy shampoo off my hair, and what I got left was phase 2, clean, healthy full hair...full, I say. So, phase 3 had me confused....it was probably 1 1/2 weeks after phase 2 and it was almost drab again. What in the???? I was so bummed, but thought, no biggie, it's a very conditioning bar, I'll just make a lighter one (which I am currently formulating and still plan to do), BUT lo and behold, my hair is full again! Gimme an F, gimme a U......so I'm not quite sure what to make of it yet, but stay tuned as I'm sure this hair saga is not over.

Blog a dig dog

2008-02-27T21:48:00.001-06:00
So here I am....blogging. After much consideration and no hankin' way do I have time for that, I made the plunge...how? Spicy bean and lentil burgers. Yup...it's all in the burgers. I was thinking I should give this recipe to Cory and thought, wow, yet another way a blog would be useful. I have so many things to say and have always wanted to keep a steady journal (never have...steadily) so I'm giving this a go. I am so busy so I don't promise everyday posts, but some consistency should avail...I hope.
What was I saying, oh yeah, the burgers...I am a mom of six, and we are self employed...sooo, that makes one think frugally...gimme an F...gimme an R....anyway, frugal's good, and I so love to find a tasty, cheap, healthy recipe that feeds alot of people. I emphasize the tasty, cheap and healthy here. Anyway....as we say at my house, I whacked up some burgers tonight that fit the bill. The bill of tasty, cheap and yep...healthy, if you don't count that 1/4 cup lard I added...AND there is plenty left over, so that means we have lunch tomorrow already..love that. Okay, maybe I'll do one of those cooly tutorial thingies with my little bean patties and pics and it'll be cool. So look for this tantalizing stretcher dish type recipe to come soon....