Life on the Road

This is a cool event coming up this weekend.  It’s being orgaized by my great friend and dedicated La Leche Legue leader, Kristin Jayd.

Tickets available at the gate $6 per person, kids 12 and under are free.
For more info call 305-247-5727 or visit www.myspace.com/greatgreenfamilyfestival or www.REHSonline.com

Bring a blanket on Saturday to lay on the lawn and enjoy live music by Groove Kitchen, Psychadelic Mist, Usual Suspects.
On Sunday, sew your own cloth grocery bag from Morsbags: Sociable Guerilla Bagging.

Special Presentations include Green Trends Fashion Show
Soul Full Eating by Maureen Whitehouse Reducing Household toxins by Migule Cisneros Abreu

Buy local, independent, & handmade, from over 40 vendors including:  Arnica Spa to go Bee Heaven Environmental Productions First Choice Pet Food Going Bananas Green and Beyond Green Energy Products Green Veranda Hortitech Kypie Tzexoba Mama Kanga Mandala Art Mansura Stoneware and Raku Mindy & Lola Naturally Naked Nature’s Love Nature’s Natives Richard Lyons Nursery Romney Farms Suriya Thai Spa Tea N Sanity The Potluck Craft Collective featuring Bella Ella Boo Ehbip Arts Cheri’s Naturals Kristin Jayd Motherpath Ropa Vieja Vintage And MORE!!

Eat yummy food from the Crepe Maker Juice Blends Jamaican Organics Thai Donuts & More

Feed your Brain with Biscayne National Park DERM Earth Save Miami Everglades National Park Family Chiropractic Florida Energy Forum Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary La Leche League Patches Soil & Water Conservation Division Sunrise School of Miami the GREEN Party the Mustard Seed Initiative TREEmendous Miami Tropical Everglades Visitor Center and others!

If you live in South Florida, you’ve probably been looking forward to it for a while now - and if not, you don’t know what you’re missing:

Knaus Berry Farm is OPEN!

Wolf is reprising his roll as the Knaus Berry Dough Boy, and still maintaining his Bakery Blog - so you can find out what’s being baked fresh every day.

I love LEGO.  My family has always loved LEGO.

My grandmother (a VERY tidy person, and very proper in many ways) was horrified when she came to visit for the holidays one year.  I was about 12, and my sister was about 6.  Mom and Dad had taken out all the Dining Room furniture, and covered most of the floor (wall-to-wall carpeted) with sheets of plywood.

Then, there were the LEGOs…

To keep us from arguing about parts, I suppose, they got my sister sets from the City theme, while I had Space sets. 

And boy, did we have sets.

The Dining Room stayed in that condition for quite some time, and I suspect we had every set made for those two themes at that time - plus any number of generic brick sets.

But you know, even those “specialized” sets had primarily “regular” bricks.  The only thing that made them a “set” was the particular assortment, and the instructions for assembling them into a Hotel, or a Spaceport, or whatever.

I’ve been buying LEGOs for Nick for over a decade now, and we’ve got lots of the “Duplo” big bricks now, too.  And frankly, I’m a little troubled by what’s out there on the shelves.

A set today is composed primarily of specialized pieces that ARE something - the hull of the ship,  the fender of a car, etc.  You don’t have to construct the whole model out of little cubes, you just have to snap the components together.

Doesn’t that totally eliminate everything we love about LEGO?

Where’s the creativity?  Where’s the thinking outside the box?  Heck, where’s the ability to dump them all into a big pile on the floor and just build a gigantic block tower with your kid sister that’s as tall as she is?

This is just one more thing that’s widely regarded as “progress” that I don’t find beneficial.  If I want to buy them a toy boat or a toy car, I’ll just buy one.  If I buy them LEGOs, I want them to be able to engage in stimulating, creative play.

Luckily, you can still order various “basic brick assortment” sets online (I’m sure some specialty stores still carry them, too - just not around here). 

It’s here!

Remember when I told you I was editing my friend Eldon Thompson’s new novel for him (here)?  Well, guess what time it is…

And the trilogy is complete!

I encourage you to check them out if you enjoy fantasy fiction.  Eldon’s a terrific writer, and I’m looking forward to finding out what he’s going to do next.

One thing I’ve been persuing in my quest to be thrifty is changing our laundry soap.

The first thing I tried was a make-your-own-detergent kit from Soaps Gone Buy, to make this recipe:

Powdered Laundry Detergent

1 cup grated Fels Naptha Soap

1/2 cup washing soda

1/2 cup 20 mule team borax

Mix and store in airtight container or bag. For light loads, use 2 tablespoon. For heavy loads, use 3 tablespoons.

Obviously the pre-grated soap and all is more expensive than buying everything totally from scratch, but it seemed like the best compromise for trying it out - and it’s still cheaper than the brand name stuff.

I liked it, especially at first…  But I had the feeling it was just not doing all it could be. 

Did I mention that the water here is disgusting?  It’s very hard, and it’s also nasty well-water with all kinds of yuck in it…

Miss J was still in diapers during the early parts of this quest, and we were having trouble with an amonia smell whenever she wet, as well as varying degrees of diaper rash that looked almost burn-like. 

The consensus of opinion was that this could all be attributed to detergent residue.  Too much detergent, or a “bad” one (for the siutation, at least), so it wasn’t getting rinsed out completely - in spite of a complete extra wash/rinse cycle to re-re-RE-rinse the diapers.

Home-made detergent, as I’d made, is one of the common “good” choices.  Rats.

So I tried ordering some Charlie’s Soap online.  Again, I liked it; again, especially at first.  Over time it seemed to still build up.  And by “over time” here I’m talking about two to four washings, not months or years…

Then I tried Purex, another popular cloth diapering choice.  Same result.

By now I was very frustrated.  I guess that’s not bad, since probably nothing but that level of frustration would have gotten me to shell out for Allen’s Naturally (although it is still supposedly a good value, since you use so little).  And…

It works!

Jewel is out of diapers, so R.T. may just have different chemistry.  But we’ve been using this for over a month now, and I’m still happy.

I also just found another option, though.  Someone from a cloth diapering online community discussed diaper laundry wuth a friend who is a chemist.  She (the chemist) looked at what was out there, then created this recipe:

1 55 oz. box Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda
1/2 cup Mule Team Borax
2 Cups Oxygen Cleaner-She recommends Sun ($5 @ Dollar General)
1/2 cup Simple Green
1/2 cup Calgon Water Softening Powder

Empty all into a bucket and mix together with your hands. Use 1 heaping scoop (1/8 cup) for diapers, 2 scoops for regular laundry. After we’ve used this for a while some have had to increase to 2 scoops for diapers, 3-4 for regular laundry….you will probably have to experiment a bit to see what works best with your water.

I chuckled when in her comments she said “this should work comparably to Allen’s.”  Made me wonder if I shouldn’t just stick with Allen’s…  But someone sent be a baggie full to try, so what the heck. 

I just finished reading a book about tandem nursing (Adventures in Tandem Nursing: Breastfeeding During Pregnancy and Beyond), and although I would highly recommend it, after four months it didn’t really have a lot to say on the subject that was news to me.

I was fascinated to learn, however, that a mama kangaroo makes different milk in each teat!  She makes baby milk on one side for the tiny joey finishing his development in her pouch, and “toddler” milk on the other side for baby’s older sibling who will still stick his head in and nurse.  What a great trick!  Doesn’t God think up cool stuff?

And kangaroos have it down pat for carrying the kids around, of course.  We even name a parenting philosophy/practice after them: Kangaroo Care.

If you’d like to see some lovely photos of mamas in other cultures “wearing” their babies, check out this babywearing slideshow.

Sorry, but that’s all for today.  We’re all sick, so I’m even more behind than usual… 

Hard to believe, isn’t it?  And I’m still just trying to catch up!

I went to the ER Thursday, April 24th when I woke up with chlls and fever (over 102) and an inflamed and swolen breast.  Yowch!  (This on top of the ongoing kidney/UTI situation).

I ended up being admitted to the hosptial, and stayed until Monday evening (who knew they would discharge someone after 7pm!). 

The whole thing was a nightmare of conflicting opinions, fighting for the right to nurse my baby, and uncommunicative doctors.  I think “An Open Letter to Homestead Hospital” will be appearing here soon…  It was really so frustrating that I’ve sort of tried not to think about about it.  But on the other hand, it’s just not going away.

I called my PCP for a follow-up appointment, and was told that I couldn’t get an appointment for months, but that I could come in as a walk-in.  She suggested coming on a Wed or Thurs, and coming early in the morning.  Great.

So I went in that Thursday, and was standing outside at 8:45 am (they open at 9).  That made me #4 in the walk-in line.  Which meant I got to see the doctor…  at 1 pm!  (Not, of course, that they told us that right away so we could go do something in the meantime.)

I got a referral to a Urologist, but just got the run-around from them regarding a referral for a lactation consultant, as well as getting the insurance to cover my medications. 

When I got hold of the Urologist they gave me, it turned out that they were pediatric only.  So I called the PCP back and got another name (after a big hassle).  When I got hold of that office, they said that they no longer take my insurance.  I called th PCP back (grrr!), and they said they would call the insurance for a current provider list and call me back.  Excuse me if I don’t hold my breath.

Frustrated (happens a lot lately, doesn’t it?), I called my insurance company.  They said that I could self-refer to a Urologist, and didn’t need a referral at all! 

So I started calling down the list of Urologists from the insurance company’s website, which they said was the most current list.  Pediatric only.  Doesn’t take that insurance any more.  We can see you at the end of June (that’s 2 months away at the time!).  Doesn’t take that insurance.  We can see you next year(!).  Phone disconnected.  And on and on…

After calling a dozen doctors (I kid you not), I found someone who could see me in two weeks, who was an hour’s drive from my house.  Not ideal, but sounded pretty good after I’d been worn down by all the others!

The insurance has a transportation benefit, so I figured I’d let them pay the gas to drive all the way up there.  Well, it turns out that they will drive the patient and one “escort” person.  If I bring the baby (which I obviously have to, for a trip that will easily be three hours), I then have to bring Nick or Wolf to hold R.T. while I’m with the doctor.  But they won’t allow 2 people to come… 

So we ended up driving after all.

At least we all really liked Dr. J.  He’s built like a football player, shaved bald head, and wore motorcycle boots under his scrubs!  And he was very nice and seemed very competent.

It seems that although the kidney stones aren’t causing any of ther own kinds of problems, they probably are responsible for the recurring UTIs.  As foreign bodies, they make a place where things can hide and grow in there…  Eeew!

So we scheduled an outpatient surgery for Lithotripsy - the ultrasound breaking up of kidney stones.  They can only do so much at a time (since it’s also hard on your surrounding healthy tissue), so he said we might need as many as three sessions to get the three stones taken care of.

We also scheduled another in-office procedure for further diagnosis, as well as treatment, of the recurring UTIs and the constant, but perhaps at this point self-perpetuating, symptoms.

Whew!

Obviously, there’s pelnty more to tell…  

During the Knaus Berry Farm season, I’m making dough for cinnamon rolls, cookies, brownies and bread all day long. Then I smell the fresh baked goodness fill the air as they are baking … Yes, I break down and eat some almost every day. Especially when we try a new item.

We spent several weeks working on a new recipe for oatmeal raisin cookies.

We would make some and I would bring them home for the whole family to critique.  We reworked the recipe twice, so we had three different varieties of the cookie, and, of course, I had to bring some home every time.

As we were tasting the product everyone would comment on the cookies having this taste or that taste. It came to our attention that we don’t usually sit and make comments and comparisons about everything else we eat. That’s when we decided we should compare and critique other foods.

I decided to start with chocolate chip cookies.

We went to the grocery store and picked three name brand cookies (Famous Amos, Keebler, and Nabisco) and the store generic. I reminded everyone what flavor we were trying to pick out: a little vanilla, chocolate chips, and lots of sugar.

The family was pretty well in agreement, so I’m just going to share my ratings on a scale of 1 to 5:

Store generic - (0)  Cookie was floury and not very sweet, not many chips and not really good chocolate flavor. Oh, yea, and the cookie was a little over done.  Jewel wouldn’t eat these after a taste.

Famous Amos - (.5)  Not a very sweet cookie, the chips were better, but not enough.  Jewel wouldn’t eat these either.

Keebler - (1)  A little better cookie and good chips.  Jewel ate these, although she clearly preferred…

Nabisco (”Chips Ahoy”) - (4.5)  You could smell the difference when you opened the bag. Very good cookie and chocolatey chocolate chips.  Jewel really enjoyed these.

I really didn’t expect that big of a difference in the name brand products.

…And I have to add that the Knaus Berry Farm cookies have them all beat hands down - even if I do say so myself! 

God bless you all …

Wolf

Last night we FINALLY had Jewel’s birthday party - I caved and did Chuck E.Cheese, since the weather is either too hot to bear and/or thunderstorms all the time. 

I hate that place - so noisy, so overpriced, bleah!  And the kids all go running off to play, so Jewel didn’t really spend time with them - although SHE was perfectly happy with it, as she also went running off to play (with Papa in tow).

We did a “Super Hero” theme (to include the boys), since Jewel is such a Wonder Woman fan.

The stars of the show were Jewel (in her “everyday” version of her WW costume), and the Wonder Woman cake we made for her:

I saw this cake pan on Kristin’s Etsy site, Ropa Vieja, and knew we had to have it.  Later, in looking for decorating details from Wilton, I discovered that it originally came with a plastic face!  Off I went to eBay, and hunted one down with the face and original instruction booklet. 

Anyone want to buy an extra Wonder Woman cake pan?

So I got the pan, accumulated all the decorating equipment we needed, and laid all the plans.  But in the end, between R.T. and not feeling well, it was Wolf who stepped up and made her lovely.  What a guy!

This morning Jewel’s enjoying playing with her Play Doh birthday gifts … who knew a 3 year-old could spend 5 hours doing something?!

I just watched the neatest video on YouTube, and I had to share it.

 No, it’s not the latest music video….  Or stupid pet tricks…  Or …  

 Actually, it was made by a governmental agency in India, with help from UNICEF and the WHO.  I’m a lot of fun at a party, eh? 

It’s really, really amazing how God made us!

My philosophizing about why so few people would imagine that’s possible will have to wait for another day…