Life on the Road

Not just in general!  I’m talking about the wonderful Homestead Blessings DVD series.

The good people at Frankling Springs Media sent along the set of the DVDs for us to watch and review – and they were a blessing, indeed.  We watched them snuggled up in bed as a family, and everyone enjoyed them as entertainment as well as education.

The hosts are The West Ladies - Vicki, and her daughters Jasmine, Hannah, and CeCe.

Each DVD is a little less than an hour, jam-packed with information on a particular homesteading task.

One of the best things about these DVDs is that they make the topic very accessible to the novice.  If you think breadmaking, making soap, or do-it-yourself candles is an overwhelming task, these are for you!

With simplicity and warmth, the ladies walk you through the materials you need, setting up, and getting started.  In most cases I don’t think I would actually undertake the project without looking up some details online or in a book…  But their comprehensive overview makes me confident that I can do it.

Although they describe the specialized equipment some people use for the crafts, they also discuss (and typically use themselves) simple, re-purposed, or home-made tools.

Here are the three titles in the series:

Homestead Blessings: The Art of Bread Making is perhaps the one disc that is truly everything you need to know to get started.  All the steps are dscussed and explained, and there’s even a .pdf file of the recipes incuded! 

They go over basic bread, then move on to some fun meal and snack ideas, hamburger buns, corn bread and even cinnamon rolls!

Homestead Blessings: The Art of Candle Making was quite an eye opener.  The ladies walk you through the process of dipping candles to make tapers, making “glow lamps,” making adorable gift ideas, adding scents and natural decorations, re-using (recycling) candles, and more.

Candle making is probably not something that would have been on my list of homesteading skills to master right off the bat.  But after watching this I might be tempted to give it a try, for some softer light and homey honey-scent in the evenings.

Homestead Blessings: The Art of Soap Making.  Make my own soap?  You’ve got to be kidding!  Isn’t that an incredibly long process, with toxic chemicals involved?

Well…  Yes.  But you can do it!  And the West Ladies will hold your hand.

Everything from the basics of making your own soap from scratch on up.  Milled soap, adorable molded soap gifts, recycled soap balls, adding scent and color, and much more…

As sensitive as my kids’ skin is, it would really be nice to have soap that I knew was safe and pure.  How empowering!

One fun thing about the DVDs is that the ladies take turns hosting sections.  One will show how to make basic bread, then someone else takes over to make pizza sticks, and so on.  It’s neat to watch them working together as a family, and yet feel like you’re getting to know them each as individuals.

I can envision our life down the road where these skills will fit in even more perfectly…  In a self-sufficient little community called Contentment.

If you want to buy one, I’d suggest Amazon.com – linked by title, above – $19.99 each and eligible for Free Super Saver Shipping.  If you want the whole set (and why not?), head over to get a deal straight from Franklin Springs ($39.95 for all three).

I have posted several times on the issues surrounding babies and church-going (the latest is here).  Recently, a comment was added, reading,

I hear your stated needs, but I just wanted to say that a cry room doesn’t seem to me to be any better than having a recording of the service played at home. There is no opportunity for you to sing, haul out your Bible and read, greet, and share in communion when you’re behind glass or in another room. I just can’t see how this is teaching kids anything…

Forgive me for being so forward, but I say let the nursery and children’s church workers teach your kids in those “age appropriate ways”. Your baby doesn’t want to be in church. He wants to play on a floor somewhere. Let him. And let the other people worship uninterrupted.

Church is supposed to be a family, too, and that family deserves the chance to be together, focused, for just one hour a week, don’t they? That’s hard to do with babies crying and children making even innocent disruptions. Satan will use any distraction he can to get people away from hearing the word, even perfectly innocent ones.

I just wanted to put out a counter argument here. It’s a hard, gutwrenching issue for some people, and my heart goes out to you.

Since this seems like a reasonable person’s thoughts, but also seems to be entirely missing my point, I thought I would take this opportunity to explain some of my ideas further.

Let me break it down and address some of the points individually.

… a cry room doesn’t seem to me to be any better than having a recording of the service played at home. There is no opportunity for you to sing, haul out your Bible and read, greet, and share in communion when you’re behind glass or in another room. I just can’t see how this is teaching kids anything…

There are several important distinctions between a cry room and a CD played at home (or walking the halls, as we currently do, for that matter):

• First of all, you would presumably go into the service, sing, read, participate – and help children learn to do so.  Only if a small child was unable to stay would a strategic retreat to the cry room be called for.  You could also return if the issue was resolved, the child fell asleep, etc.
• With the sevice piped in, and possibly with video feed or a view through glass, we can absolutely sing and worship!  (And teach the kids to do so).
• We get to greet and visit with other church members before and after service.  After all, you shouldn’t be doing that during service, anyway!
• Communion would be given to those in the cry room who felt they were able to be ready – just as the elements are taken to the Pastor and the pianist.
• The children are learning more than you imagine – Simply getting up Sunday morning and getting dressed up and out the door.  The fact that Mama and Papa love and respect God enough to go through whatever it takes to worship Him in His house on the Sabbath.  Sitting quietly through service (see my first point).  Hearing the music, singing the songs (see above), praying corporately.

Okay, I’m sure I could list some more, but let’s move on…

I say let the nursery and children’s church workers teach your kids in those “age appropriate ways”.

I adore and admire the people who serve in the nursery and teach Children’s Church.  And once my kids are comfortable staying in either one, I welcome them doing so.

Jewel, at 4, goes into Sunday School at 9 am and we pick her up after service at noon.  They transition them straight from Sunday School classes to Children’s Church, and everything is wonderful.

But I was charged by God, personally, with training up my children (I say “I” here because I am writing this alone, but this is a conviction shared, prayed over, and championed 100% by my husband).  I do not send them to Day Care or Preschool during the week, for the very reason that I do not choose to abdicate my God-given responsibility for shaping their values and character, as well as educating them.

We do not find evidence in the Bible that nursing babies should be forcibly kept away from their mothers.  Even in the Old Testament where we see a very young child taken to the Temple for a life of service there, he stayed with his mother until weaning (probably age three or four).  A little research into psychology’s Attachment Theory, and the whole Attachment Parenting movement, shows that even secular science recognizes this bond.

Your baby doesn’t want to be in church. He wants to play on a floor somewhere. Let him. And let the other people worship uninterrupted.

Church is supposed to be a family, too, and that family deserves the chance to be together, focused, for just one hour a week, don’t they? That’s hard to do with babies crying and children making even innocent disruptions. Satan will use any distraction he can to get people away from hearing the word, even perfectly innocent ones.

Exactly.  That’s why I need a cry room! 

I absolutely want to keep the baby from disrupting the service.

But should my husband and other children not go to Sunday School because there is no place for me to go with the baby?  Should all four of us miss out on church altogether?  Don’t we deserve the support of our brothers and sisters so that we can worship and study together, too?

Worship should also be far more than one hour a week.  My old pastor always used to say, “It takes tree to thrive” – three church services a week, in addition to your daily quiet time in the word, your family devotional time, your service time, and your prayer “without ceasing.”  Maybe if you’re doing more, you don’t feel as “deprived” if for a few seconds there is a distraction?

I would also ask you to run that sentiment through a WWJD filter. 

Would you not welcome into your church the mentally disabled man who sings at the top of his lungs, off-key?  Or the homeless man, who smells offensive to you?

On second thought, this WWJD Filter opens up a whole avenue of discussion which I would like to table for a folow-up post.

Stay Tuned!

A recent report found that between 2003 and 2007 the ratio of boys to girls being homeschooled went from right around 50-50 to 42-58. 

The folks over at Why Homeschool have created two polls for people to indicate how many boys and girls they are homeschooling.  If you homeschool, please take a moment to fill it out:

http://whyhomeschool.blogspot.com/2009/05/survey-how-many-boys-and-girls-do-you.html

I would appreciate any insight you have into why parents might be more likely to homeschool girls, so please leave any thoughts you have.

Many people have been commenting and emailing me about the ongoing Tire Kingdom saga, so I wanted to give you all the GOOD NEWS.

As the deadline approached for accepting their alternate rebate program or not, Wolf and I talked about the decision.

I never felt this was something I wanted to sue them over. 

It was annoying.  It was time-consuming.  But (especially as a Christian), I don’t think the legal system is the aswer to every little issue. 

So we decided to send in the form and collect our $500 rebate (hopefully!), but without letting go of the idea that they should play nice.

That’s the other advantage of my plan:  Since it’s not about a lawsuit, the release I signed didn’t hinder me.  Nowhere on there did it say I had to stop complaining, or stop talking about the issue in public forums.  Ha.

Along with the release form, I sent a letter explaining that exact thing to them.  I told them they had lost our business, and the business of everyone I could possibly arrange to tell about the situation.

Copies of the letter were also sent to the president of Tire Kingdom (address obtained by calling their 800-number), the Manager of our local Tire Kingdom, and to the Marketing representative I had spoken to on the phone (via email).

Imagine my surprise when we got a phone call a few days later from a gentleman who identified himself as the Vice President of Marketing.  (You’ll have to excuse some potential vagueness here – I was nursing R.T., so Wolf actually took the call).

He said that he had a copy of my latest letter.  This was the first he’d heard of the problem, he said (mine in particular, presumably, since obviously he knows about THE SITUATION), and he was calling because he didn’t want to see Tire Kingdom lose a customer.  Wow, really?

He and Wolf talked for a while, back and forth.  Finally he asked what it would take to make us happy.

Luckily, we had discussed this at some length, and Wolf had a ready answer for him:  Two more tires.  We had purchased two during the promotion, and needed the other pair.  This would cost them far less than the $500 gas rebate, but would be far more valuable to us.  Seemed like a good starting place, at least.

Of course, our friend the Vice President quickly insisted that he couldn’t do that.  If he did it for us, he’d have to do it for “everyone,” and he would bankrupt Tire Kingdom.  (Doubtful, but okay…)

Instead, he offered to have us enroll in the $500 gas rebate program, plus he would give us the pair of tires at cost (including free installation and everything).  Now “at cost” turns out to be not quite as good a deal as you might expect, since the stores (apparently!) only make $30 or so a tire (and that much only on such higher-end ones)…  But read on.

He asked for the store location we would like to visit, saying he would call them to arrange it.  That was, naturally, the same local store who had done the original job – and to whom I had sent a copy of my complaint letter.

Later, we called the store to make sure things were in place. 

The manager spoke to Wolf personally, and was very, very accomodating.  He made an appointment for us, and promised that a bay would be open and waiting when we arrived.  Wolf mentioned that we needed an oil change, and he offered to throw that in, as well.

The work went smoothly and quickly.  And as we left, the manager said that if we ask for him when we come back in, he’ll take care of our next oil change free, as well.

So? 

I am happy.  Wolf is happy.  My truck is happy.

And all without a class-action lawsuit. 

Infamous, maybe?

What should one say when one is featured at Awkward Family Photos?

Nick and I are big fans of proper English. We laughed out loud reading Eats, Shoots and Leaves.

In fact, we even got Jewel started early:

Anyhow, at the back of the book, Ms. Truss provides a sticker kit for vigelante punctuation correction – big red apostrophes and all.

We didn’t feel that was really acceptable behavior – although it was certainly appealing. After some deliberation, we decided to simply share the entertaining usage we stumbled across with you.

Although punctuation is a favorite, we’ll pick up some grammer and other oddities along the way, as well.

Re-inventing the acronym from the Artemis Fowl series, we’re calling ourselves the “‘Learn English Properly!’ Recon Squad” … or, LEPrecon. (Or simply Punctuation Police).

To get things rolling, here’s a sign we saw yesterday at our local Boston Market restaurant:

Apparently, YOU ARE the #1 choice…

[The correct usage is "Your", which is possessive]

I was delighted to receive a review copy of the new book 10-10-10 by Suzy Welch. It’s an intriguing concept, and I was curious how it would integrate with my beliefs – but I’m getting ahead of myself.

Suzy Welch is a journalist, author, speaker, and mother. She and hubby Jack Welch co-authored the #1 Bestseller Winning (and its sequel, Winning: The Answers: Confronting 74 of the Toughest Questions in Business Today).

The basic premise is that 10-10-10 is a framework for making decisions that are truly well-thought-out and conscious. Here’s how it works:

After stating you dilema as a question (”Should I cancel the trip to my Great-Aunt’s funeral to stay home with my sick child?”), you think about (or write down, or talk through) what the ramifications of either choice will be – in 10 minutes, in 10 months, in 10 years.

There’s nothing magical about the times – just an easy “hook” to remember the idea. Depending on the idea you’re pondering, you might look at 1 day, 6 months, and 20 years… Or whatever.

The idea is to consider the immediate result (family disappointed vs. kid disappointed); the result in a mid-range time, when things have settled down (mom will remember my support, kid will have had fun with dad and long since forgotten the incident); and in the long term (relationship with mom going strong; kid not only doesn’t remember, but also could understand loyalty to the family members in their time of need).

So by using 10-10-10 on my imaginary dilema, it seems clear that the better choice is to go ahead and go on the trip.

Suzy’s style is very casual and friendly (without being so “informal” as to be sloppy and annoying). She has anecdotes about people who’ve told her their 10-10-10 stories, as well as her personal experiences (told with admirable candor).

As I began to read the book, I had a growing sense of unease about the conflict of such a system with my faith. After all, I want to follow God’s leading in my life, and specifically not “rely on my own understanding.”

Luckily, Suzy included a section entitled, “Living by the Word” in the chapter, “Authentic At Last: The Valus Equation of 10-10-10.” Suzy proclaims her own Christianity, and tells us,

You can consider 10-10-10 another approach [to keeping yourself connected to God's Word], in that it’s a powerful means to make sure you are living in accordance with your values

For some decisions, I truly believe that we ought to do nothing more than pray and listen for the still small voice.

But I don’t always hear the booming directive from the heavens telling me whether or not I should invest the $20 in a cookbook the family might enjoy.

For all those times, 10-10-10 is a great answer. It allows us to make sure we are truly considering our obedience to Colossians 3:17 and doing everything to the glory of God.

Suzy even shares the story of a pastor who teaches 10-10-10 in his church, as a method of gaining perspective to cope better with anger. He cites Scriptural authority from Proverbs (wisdom), as well as the teaching of Ignatius of Loyola (one of the founders of the Jesuit Order).

Stressing and worrying is one of the biggest challenges in my life and Christian walk. I’m looking forward to applying 10-10-10 to help me keep things in perspective.

For more info, check out:

Suzy’s website
Follow Suzy on Twitter
Suzy’s YouTube video channel

In my recent Product Review catch-up post, I talked about the family’s Klean Kanteens, and our challenges with the Sport Tops.

I sent that feedback to Klean Kanteen, as well, and was delighted by their response.

Due to the (known) issues with the Sport Top, the company has come out with Sport Top 2.0!  Here’s the company’s explanation of the challenges and improvements.  My review is below…

The new sports cap 2.0 was released on 04/15/09.  It combines the function of our loop and sports cap. 

We expect that by having the sturdy loop as part of the cap, it will remedy some of the nozzle issues that you have experienced.  Here’s why:

The little plastic cover of the sports cap, is a sanitary cover.   It is not intended to bear the weight of a full kanteen, it is just to keep the nozzle klean and safe to drink from.  We realize that many people carry their kanteens this way, so we had to make the spout sturdy enough so if held by the cover, it would be secure enough to support the weight. (this is why the drinking nozzle and sanitary cap can be difficult to pull up and down, but tend to loosen over time). 

Though the sports cap 1.0 is not intended to be carried this way, many people do.  The weight of the full kanteen and holding it by the sanitary cover puts stress on the pull nozzle.  I suspect that the drinking nozzles of your son’s sports caps had been weakened.  When dropped, cap first on the ground, the nozzle came off.

We hope that by having the solid loop function, it will help to keep the nozzle safe from dropping and from being weakened over time by carrying the kanteen by the sanitary cover.

One reality that we could not avoid, is that the new sports cap 2.0 still has an air vent and here’s why…

The sports caps were originally designed and used with plastic drinking bottles, and with those, we have the ability to squeeze and change the pressure coming in and out.  

Because you cannot squeeze stainless steel, air has a more difficult time getting inside and making the water flow out.  We had to alter the design to include an air vent in the cap to allow the pressure to escape.  This air vent does have a silicone plug and valve, it helps to keep the water in, but it is not 100% leak proof because of the pull-top and air vent.  

When closed properly most sports caps do not leak, but there is naturally some variation in the silicone plugs for the air vent, or if your plug gets damaged or deformed, your cap can leak from the air vent.

The silicone white piece in the top of the cap is the air vent, if you take it out it will leak.  Some people who use the bottle specifically for sports and working out will actually take out the silicone stopper and find that they don’t mind the drip as a trade off for the increased flow.

One more great function of the new sports cap 2.0, is the increased water flow.  The vent is now larger, and allows more air to pass, releasing the vacuum and improving the water flow!

I hope that this explanation helps you to understand some of the use and design issues that we have encountered.  We are doing our best to use customer concerns and suggestions to guide us in improving the Klean Kanteen.

We would be happy to send you a few of our new and improved sports caps 2.0 to try out in hopes that they will suit you and your family better.  Thank you for the service that you provide on your blog and for sharing it with me.

Here’s to Healthy Drinking..

So, we’ve tried the new Sport Cap 2.0.  And?

Mixed.

The new valve is wonderful!  Increased water flow, as she mentioned, and also a quieter air exchange. 

Leakage was a problem, but not from the air vent.  And in that area…  *sigh*

I’m not sure, exactly, having no real quantifiable measure, but I think these new tops actually have a worse leakage problem.

Let me say right off that I do understand that different users will have different experiences.  I’m sure if the bottle sat on my desk in an office, or was clipped on my bike, some of this would not be an issue.  BUT…

Our Kanteens get stuffed in the diaper bag, dragged around in the car, and rolled across the floor.

The “kleanliness” cap the goes over the spout it HARD to get on and off – even after uising it for a while.  So:

1. It’s very easy to close it, hear and feel it click into place…  and find out later that your bottle is leaking because of #2.
2. The cap can get pulled up just a bit – say, by a baby, or by rolling around on the floor.  Because it fits so tight, this also pulls up the spout.  Now the Kanteen is no longer closed, and the next time it rolls aross the floor (or the baby upends it in my lap!) water leaks out.

I don’t know why in the world they made that little cap fit so tightly on the spout/closure seal.  It would have been far better if it snapped that snugly onto the base of the cap below the spout, but was big enough not to mess with the spout when opened.

Although the loop is sturdy and great, and the increased water flow is great, I think that under our usage conditions these tops actually leak more than the 1.0, making them a dubious sort of “progress.”

Sorry, Klean Kanteen, but we’re eagerly awaiting 3.0.

High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) has been getting a lot of press lately.

It’s getting more and more negative attention in health-conscious circles, and more and more “fighting back” from the usual suspects (manufacturers that make it, use it, etc.).  Yes, the Corn Refiners Association is running two television spots, and has a whole website up about the benign and wonderful HFCS.

From my (admittedly brief) survey, some of the causes for concern that are frequently raised are:

• Extra high levels of fructose, which are bad for diabetics, and may even contribute to causing diabetes.
• Made from corn with is typically geneticaly modified.
• Two of the enzymes used to create it (yeah, it’s a big chemical process), are genetically modified.
• Increasing concern about corn farming in general – economically, environmentally, etc.
• It is simply so processed (see above), when many of us are trying to eat more naturally
• Perhaps least-scientific but most-cited: It’s a weird, toxic thing that makes kids act crazy!
• At least one study found that there was Mercury in nearly half of the HFCS samples tested! (cited in the Washington Post).

For some in-depth reading on some of these, check out The Double Danger of High Fructose Corn Syrup, and The Murky World of High-Fructose Corn Syrup at the Weston A. Price Foundation website.

We have had a few instances lately when it was crystal clear that HFCS was the culprit in some troublesome issues.  We’re going to keep a food log and track more cloesly what other relationships there may be, even though we’re working hard to eliminate it from our diet.

• Wolf gets his ulcer-like stomach pains after drinking YooHoo, which is very high in HFCS. 
• Jewel gets stomachaches on a semi-regular basis right after eating… and we are noticing a connection to the amount of HFCS consumed.
• Jewel becomes a totally zoned-out zombie if she eats a high HFCS “treat” after dinner or at any other vulnerable time.

As one article pointed out, it’s hard to even gauge how much we’re getting, since it’s SO prevalent:

• Ketchup, for goodness’ sake! 
• Cheerios are fine, it’s mostly those highly-sugared cereals that we don’t eat anyway that have it.  but my Frosted Mini-Wheats do, too!
• Obviously cookies and candy bars mostly use it…  but so do “health food” protein bars and granola bars.

We are striving to eat more foods in as close to their natural state as possible, cook more, etc., so that should go a long way…