My Life in the Sunshine

My blog has moved to a slightly new link!

2010-11-01T09:48:00.000-04:00

Its the EXACT same blog, but I needed to move it to another account.

Heres the link: http://mylifeinthesunshine2.blogspot.com/

Im still going to follow all the people Im following at my new spot.

I promise to blog some more now b/c a lot of changes have been happening in my life so I promise not to bore you anymore. :)

Eating out is HIGHLY overrated so Sams, here I come!

2010-01-29T14:07:00.002-05:00

I have made a pact with myself that we will not be eating out anymore. That's really saying something coming from the Queen of Eating Out herself since I suck at menu planning and I HATE HATE HATE cooking.

What brought about this 180? Earlier this month me and my fam of 5, well 6 if you count the baby but she wasn't eating, were dining at Carrabbas and the bill came up to be $80. 80 frakin dollars. I was thinking to myself, Self, I could have made 4 meals for the price of this 1 bland tasting, them charging mucho dinero and putting nada on the plate meal. So with that my mind was made up. No more eating out. Period. Its just not worth it. I mean whatt do they think I am, stupid? Like the Queen wouldn't notice that they are cutting corners on how they prepare the food so it don't even taste the same all the while they give you a plate the size of a saucer to make it look like they are being generous with the proportions. Riiiiiiight like I'm falling for that one!

Anyway since I'm now resigned to the kitchen I decided to pay Sams a visit and waddaya know, I spent $181 on food that will last us at least 2 weeks. So even though I cannot STAND cooking, I do feel good about saving money and controlling how it tastes and how much food goes on my plate.

Caruso Rollers Revisited

2010-01-23T22:34:00.001-05:00

I went out tonight to meet some friends from my old stomping ground LHCF (more on that later).

Before I left I decided to dust off my Carusos and bump the ends of my hair. I meant to take a pic of the hair with the curlers in but I forgot. Plus I do have another blog here with the rollers in.

I like using the Carusos because it only takes about 5 minutes to put in and by the time you are done with one side, the other side is already curled up. So you can have a head of curls without heat in a matter of minutes.

Why didnt I know...

2010-01-19T21:52:00.005-05:00

that I have a big gaping hole in my midsection????

I went to my midwife for my 6 week check up and this is what she told me. She laid me down and told me to lift my head while she felt on my stomach. She told me that my abdominal muscles were separated. This is how its supposed to be.

But this is how mine looks. She let me feel and and yes, there is a 3 or 4 inch gap between my abdominal mucles. She informed me that not doing anything to fix it can render lots of problems down the road like lower back pain. Ahhh...no thanks. I gots to fix it. It can happen after a pregnancy but thats not the only cause.

Abdominal separation/diastasis recti reduces the integrity and functional strength of the abdominal wall and can aggravate lower back pain and pelvic instability. Separation in a previous pregnancy significantly increases the probability, and severity, of the condition in subsequent pregnancies. Women expecting more than one baby, petite women, those with a pronounced sway back, or with poor abdominal muscle tone are at increased risk. Genetics can also plays a big role. For some women, it simply how their bodies respond to pregnancy.

This simple self-test will help you determine if you have abdominal separation/diastasis recti

1.	Lie on your back with your knees bent, and the soles of your feet on the floor.
2.	Place one hand behind your head, and the other hand on your abdomen, with your fingertips across your midline—parallel with your waistline— at the level of your belly button.
3.	With your abdominal wall relaxed, gently press your fingertips into your abdomen.
4.	Roll your upper body off the floor into a “crunch,” making sure that your ribcage moves closer to your pelvis.
5.	Move your fingertips across your midline, feeling for the right and left sides of your rectus abdominus muscle.

Now you have got to be asking yourself how you can fix it. This link has a lot of good tips. My midwife gave me a handout of the Tuplar Technique but its too much to type out here. Its a 4 step program but its similar to the link above. The lady who came up with this technique, Julie Tuplar, did an interview here that was quite informative. If you discover your stomach is just as jacked up as mine, fix it! LOL!!!

A french braid to break the monotony

2010-01-11T23:11:00.003-05:00

I've been wearing buns for a while and true to form, I got bored real quick. I decided to add some variety by wearing a braid. I haven't worn one of these in a while so I decided to braid my hair up real quick. I'll see how long it takes before I get bored with this. Lol! :-)

Thankful

2010-01-10T23:51:00.000-05:00

Im sitting here now feeling a bit sorry for myself. Well, not exactly sorry for myself but slightly irritated. Im irritated with my skin. I have been battleing acne ever since I was 14 years old. Im now 31 and I think its high time Im done with dealing with this.

I have gone to a derm and the meds I was on worked wonders and my skin finally looked good enough for me not to want to hide away in my home and not want to meet new people, not want to go out in public, not want people to look at me when I talked to them, not to feel like I look ugly. I was estatic to have my skin look like it did when I was 13. More or less.

I got pregnant and had to get off the meds and surprise surprise the acne came back. Now that I can take my meds again for some reason its making my skin look even more horrible than it was when I was pregnant. Im now back in the same rut as before, ashamed to be seen, not wanting to meet new people, ect.

Then I got to thinking. Im sitting here complaining about bad skin, and some people dont even have skin at all. Maybe they are a burn victim or suffer from a genetic disorder of some sort. Im complaining about my skin being jacked up when there is at least one person I know who doesnt even have a face! Think of the Connecticut woman whose friends chimp ripped her face off.

My point is, no matter how bad we think we have it, there is someone who has it worse. I remember growing up my father used to say that if 5 people had to put their problems on a piece of paper and fold it and put it in a hat and if you reach in and randomly pick a problem then it would be yours, would you want to accept it? Of course I wouldnt because 9x out of 10 their problem is worse than yours.

So instead of whining and complaining and hurting myself by dwelling on what my skin is, I am going to concentrate of what my skin isnt or what it could be. Im going to be thankful for what I have instead of what I dont because it could always be worse.

Mama Cloth - What It Is & Why I Love It

2010-01-10T00:40:00.006-05:00

You may or may not have heard of Mama Cloth but just in case you havent I'll clue you in on what it is.

*drumroll please*

They are reusable menstrual pads. Ok before you get the "Oh hayl no" face let me explain why its not as bad as you think.

The same online friend who introduced me to cloth diapering also explained to me the menstrual pads and how they work. At first I had the "Oh hayl no" face but then I thought about the logic of it all. For me, since I am already washing diapers I figured it wouldnt hurt to wash pads too. I figured I would give it a shot at least once so I decided to use them for my postpartum bleeding. A lot of people get grossed out with the thought of seeing the blood and what not ( for tampon users) and lots of people get squeamish with the thought of rinsing out pads. Well, if you are a pad wearer and you get an "Oopsie!" in your underwear or clothes what do you do? You rinse it out. At least I hope you do. ;-) If you have no problem rinsing out those accidents that you have with disposables then rinsing reusables arent that far of a stretch. Some people dont even rinse theirs out rather, they simply soak them in a container until wash day. I dont do that. Its better for me to just rinse away.

Anyway Im getting a little ahead of myself here. First let me explain more about what a Mama Cloth pad is. Its made of a variety of cloths from fleece, to organic bamboo valour. No matter what cloth you get, its very soft against your girlie bits. They come in many different colors, shapes, and designs. Personally I prefer minkee, which is a softer type of fleece. The pic above are a few of the ones I have in rotation. Oftentimes the maker of the pad will use prints that will disguise any stains that you may get. Speaking of stains, there arent any on any of my pads, as you can see from the picture. What I do is after I take it off I rinse them with cold water and squeeze until the water comes out clean. I have a bottle of peroxide in my bathroom that I spray the pad down with. If theres anything left on it ( which there hardly ever is) I can literally see it melt away before my eyes. If this doesnt work, putting the wet pad in the sun to dry will magically lift the stain also.
I know you must be wondering how does one wear these things out in the public? How do you change it? Where do you put the dirty one? They have these cute little wetbags that you put your pads in. I like ones that have a side for your clean unused pads, and the other side for your dirty ones. This is the one that I use and the inside of it. You can see the two sides.

These pads fold up really cute too. You put them on by using the snaps, so when you have to take them off when you are way from home, they can be folded wrong side out for when you need to put the dirty ones in the wetbag. You can even pull out the folded pad out in front of a room full of men and they will be none the wiser! ;-)

Here are the reasons why I love Mama Cloth verses disposables or tampons.

1. They dont sweat at all!!! Its not hot down there so there is no sweaty smell that you get from disposables. These are made of cloth so they breath and you dont get that stuffy, sweaty feeling.

2. They dont move and I mean they do NOT move or shift at all. With disposables, they bunch and move causing leaks and those "Oosies!" that we all hate. Not so with these pads. They snap in place instead of being put in with tape and because of the fleece backing, it makes them stay put better than the disposables.

3. Speaking of snaps, you no longer have your hair being pulled out. OUCH!!! Everybody has had hairs being ripped out because of the tape used on disposables pads. Dont act like you dont know! LOL!

4. No leaks. I havent had a leak yet. No, not one single leak.

5. Its so much softer on my girly bits. Sometimes I forget that its even there, thats how comfortable it is.

6.This may be TMI so read no further on this number 6 if you dont want to be yucked. I HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE the oozing feeling that you get when wearing a pad. This is why I quit with pads and wore a Diva Cup for a year or two. I mean with sposies, I could feel the blood just oozing in all the cracks and crevices and it made me feel sooooooo gross! As God is my witness, I have yet to feel that oozing nasty yuck feeling while wearing a cloth pad. That alone was a slam dunk for me.

7. Its much more pleasant to look at!

8. Once you buy Mama Cloth you wont have to buy another pad again for years. They pay for themselves after a few months.

9. I am not a super conservative environmentalist, but I am sorta happy that I am reducing waste in landfills. :-)

10. There are no chemicals pressed up against your most sensitive parts, which according to what I read causes most womens menstrual cycles to shorten. The chemicals found on pads and tampons cause women to menstruate longer and heavier thereby causing you to buy more pads/tampons which translates in to more cha CHING! for the pad companies. Unfortunately for me I am doomed to forever be a long time bleeder so :-/

11. Finally, as crazy as this sounds, it actually makes the menstruating experience tolerable. If anything can make that tolerable its worth giving a chance, you know what Im saying?

Ain't this diaper cute!

2010-01-08T20:44:00.001-05:00

One nice thing about cloth diapering is the fact that you can get them in the cutest prints. Even though you have to put a cover on it, which by the way also comes in cute prints, you get to look at the nice designs on your babys butt at home while you're lounging instead of plain ole white.

My children really say the darndest things

2010-01-08T12:20:00.002-05:00

My son, who is only 9, was sitting here whistling the theme music from the Extenz commercial continually because he said he "couldnt get it out of his head."

My 3 year old asked me for some soda and I told her no. She comes back with "BOOOOOOOOOO!!!!"

I was fussing at my son and I said something like, I get mad when you...Well my 3 year old proceeds to tell me "Don't get mad, get glad!"

My son heard these people laughing really loud and he said "they must be drunk."

My 3 yr old said she had a headache because her brain was mad at her.

My 3 yr old put 1 ball under her shirt in the middle of her chest and said "Look at me! I got big breasts! I just need one more breast."

Endless chatter

2010-01-07T21:46:00.009-05:00

OMG my children run their mouths a million miles a minute. I talking about all 3 of them do it constantly. What makes it even worse is that sometimes I'll have one child in one ear, and another child in the other at the same time. Both will be competing with each other over who can talk the loudest and who I am going to acknowledge first. While this is going on child #3 is across the room throwing out a philosophical questions one after the other. What am I doing during all this? Trying not to have a serious " Calgon take me awaaaaaaaaay!!!!!!" moment.

I just sit there and look at all 3 of them and not say a word and think to myself, thank God I have these little people here to spit all this endless chatter my way! :-)

Gripe Water for colic - made my way

2010-01-07T11:32:00.064-05:00

Gripe Water? What in the world is THAT??? That was the first thing I thought when someone suggested I buy this for my colicky baby. Me and Chris spent an entire night laboring with our baby whos stomach must have felt like razor blades cutting thru it. Thats how gas feels, I know. I have had gas get stuck in my guts and let me tell you, it feels worse than razor blades cutting your middle. It breaks my heart to hear a baby screaming with gas pain because essentially theres not much you can do.

Theres the Mylicon drops you can buy but I have had 3 other children and those drops never worked one iota for any of them. Then I got hip to this Gripe Water. I Googled it to see what it was and what it was made of. Its basically herb infused water that acts to sooth and calm the stomach and intestinal tract. The ingredients vary according to the manufacturer but they generally include dill, ginger, fennel, and chamomile. Some of them have alcohol in it as well as sodium bicarbonate, sugar and water. Well, what do you know! I had some of these ingredients in my pantry so I decided to just make my own.

Of course I wasnt going to put alcohol in it and I dont have any sodium bicarbonate but I did have the ginger, fennel, chamomile, and I also threw in some catnip too. I just put the herbs in my coffee maker and percolated it into a tea. My baby is on formula ( unfortunately :-c) so when I make her bottles I put one part tea to 3 parts water and I then add the powdered milk.

I have to say that ever since I started giving her this herbal blend she has not had one instance of colic. Sure, she lets plenty of farts go, but they dont hurt her stomach at all and shes always calm and hardly ever fusses. She no longer screams at night in pain and me and her father arent up all night long in pain right along with her. Now this is how she sleeps at night and all thru the day.

Actors or just good liars?

2010-01-07T10:50:00.001-05:00

I had a random thought today about actors and their craft. It seems like if you are a pathological liar, or one who just loves to lie, you could easily become an Oscar winning actor. Im not trying to downplay what actors do, but lets just be real and look at this thing for what it is.

We pay money for people to lie to us. These people are not who they portray themselves to be on the big or small screen, unless of course if they are playing themselves. So in essence they get paid to lie. The better and more convincing lie you tell, the more jobs you get and the more money you make. Now dont get me wrong, I am an avid movie lover. I love to watch a good movie, but the bare fact is that actors get paid to lie. It makes me wonder if they lie a lot in their personal lives too. Do you just turn off the "lie(acting) switch"? When an Academy Award winning actor gets into arguments with their SO do they wonder if they are being lie too?

This is a VERY random post but this thought or idea ran thru my mind. :-P

My new daily do

2010-01-06T23:20:00.001-05:00

I actually took my time and tried to make this bun look nice. Its saturated with Generic Sebastian Potion #9. I made a YouTube video of how I do this particular bun a while back. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfjwGutIOzQ Its actually pretty easy to do.

Queeny and The Fam comes to town!

2010-01-06T14:12:00.001-05:00

I am hella late in writing about this, but my girl Queeny and her family came to SC back in the summer of 09 and they decided to pay me a visit.

They got here around 2 or so and once Queen made it inside my 3 year old sized her up. Apparently she measured up to my daughters standards so she started talking to her. I dont just mean your average convo either. She was going on and on and on. She proceeded to tell Queen about the ghost that was in me and my husbands bedroom, and how the ducks outside were going to eat her up, and many other colorful, off the wall stories. All we could do was laugh! Meanwhile, Queens 3 daughters and my older daughter and son who are all close in age, retired themselves to my office to play games on my computer.

If you dont know it, my girl Queen loves to cook and bake and me and my husband love to eat, so she throws out there that she wanted to go out to buy stuff to make a cake. Of course I couldnt let her do that. So being the gracious southern bell hostess that I am, what did I do? I sent her to the kitchen to cook dinner with food already on hand! LOL!! Hows that for southern hospitality? If I can recall, Queen cooked rice, cabbage, fried chicken wings, and mac and cheese. It was uuuummm ummm good! Just ask my husband Chris! LOL!

Anyway once she finished cooking ( Lord if my Grandma knew I let this girl come from out of town to visit and I let her cook she would kill me!!) we called the lil ones in from the computer to the kitchen to come and eat. They all sat down to the table and had a merry ole time throwing down on the food.

So after all the food was eaten Chris, Queen, and her husband Thomas, and I all sat around and just chilled. We cracked jokes and told stories and laughed and laughed and laughed! All of our children had a good time playing together too. My oldest daughter is always asking me when they are coming back to visit. Now I really dont like taking pics, but I had to get one of me and my girl.

Of course Thomas wouldnt let me take a pic of him.Why you gotta act like that??? LOL!

He did let me take one of him and Queen tho.

We had so much fun! They live in New Mexico which is a long way from here, but I cant wait for them to come back this way again. If we are ever that way, which will more than likely happen since Chris loves to eat and she loves to cook (LOL!!), we will definitely have to stop thru and visit Queen and The Fam!

Sebastian Potion #9 - My new best friend

2010-01-06T12:21:00.002-05:00

My hair has been suffering b/c of lack of care. Yeah I know. Bad me! LOL! Hair has been very low on the priority list as of late, but now Im back on the grind.

My hair has been feeling a little weak so I did an Aphogee Treatment. Since my hair is so long, I was afraid to let it hang down my back and totally dry out, because if you have ever done one of these before you know your hair gets hard as a rock and very brittle and any movement will break your hair off. I was scared that my hair would break between my getting out from under the dryer and getting into the shower so I pulled it in a wrapped around ponytail and pinned it up. It didnt dry all the way b/c I wasnt about to sit under the dryer of 3 hours so the treatment was half done and I got half the results.

Hmmm....whats a girl to do? I dug around in my stash and found some 3 year old Generic Sebastian Potion #9 from Sallys in my closet. I only used this once when I was natural and I didnt know it was a protien treatment. I got happy with it and slathered it on thick and let me tell you, my hair was solid as a rock the next day. Natural hair doesnt really need much protien like relaxed hair does b/c the bonds are not broken down.

Anyway I remembered this experience and decided to get happy and slather a whole lot on my hair and wrap it up in a bun made of twists and went to bed. This morning my hair feels MUCH better and MUCH stronger! I plan on doing the same thing today and my hair should be where I want it to be again.

My eldest and my youngest.

2010-01-03T00:41:00.000-05:00

I thought this was cute plus they look just alike! At least so far...

2010-01-03T00:15:00.002-05:00

I just love my "toe socks" as I call them. I don't know the real name for them but its what I call them. Too bad I hardly ever see them in the stores anymore. :-(

Buns, buns, and more buns

2010-01-02T17:38:00.002-05:00

Life has gotten in the way of me being diligent about my hair and I can see and feel the affects of it. I had an emergency c-section and a 6 week premature baby. Who had the time for hair? Once life calmed down somewhat I decided to do an Aphogee protein treatment. I let it get 80% hard and then rinsed it out. I didnt let it get as dry as I probably should have, but only because it was about 12am and I was very tired. Because of that it didnt turn out as I would have liked. It still feels a little weak so until I feel like doing another Aphogee I'll just be wearing buns, buns, and more buns!

Avatar

2010-01-02T12:28:00.000-05:00

All I can say is wow. Just wow. This movie was awesome!

First off, the imagery was strait eye candy. Im a sucker for forests, trees, flowers, ect and this forest was just beautiful! We saw it in 3D so it made the experience that much better. I honestly dont even have the words to adequately describe the visuals for this movie.

As far as the story line, well it really showed the mentality of those in power as it relates to the indigenous people of the planet and how they view the rights of others and how they dont respect others or the planet we live on. Bottom line. It was very obvious to me the symbolism of the movie was not very subtle as they called the natives of Pandora "savages" and "blue monkeys." The people of the planet were blue (or people of color) and we all know that the black and native people of this country have been called savages and monkeys. The same fate of Pandora mirrors what has happened to the Native Americans and Africans and all other native people on this planet and unfortunately they have been called similar names. We cannot ignore the similarities of some of the darker people on the planet with the people of Pandora. The Na'vi wore face paint during war and wore feathers in their hair or on their garments ( reminiscent of the Native Americans). The Na'vi also had very prominent features such as large lips as well as large noses and wore braids with beads and other ornaments ( reminiscent of Africans). Im sure you see where Im going with this.

This movie also has the theme of a "white saviour" which as I watched the movie reminded me of movies like Dances With Wolves where a white man comes into a native tribe and learns their ways and thereby becomes one of them. Afterwards in a battle or series of battles, he saves them and becomes the hero. This story has been repeated many times and this author summed it up nicely. I wont repeat it here but again, all this was very obvious with this movie.

All that said, it was still an awesome movie. There were lots of spiritual messages as well. The oneness of God was a major theme. It showed how man, nature and the Creator can and should live in complete harmony with each other and when we do, there is nothing that we cannot accomplish. It shows how with unity you can defeat your enemies in the face of apparent insurmountable odds with the backing of God. The movie touches on male/female relationships and how if done properly, it shows how the two can accomplish what they will, together. I could go on and on. Point is, go see it! ;)

2010

2010-01-01T22:56:00.002-05:00

I am not one who makes new years resolutions because I never seem to be able to keep them. Instead I declare intentions. I have declared only a few intentions for 2010.

I really dont like cooking. Matter of fact I HATE cooking but heres the dilemma. I LOVE eating. See, if I have to cook, it kills my appetite and I wont want to eat once its done. Weird I know, but it is what it is unfortunately. Then I have this little thing where I a not very good at menu planning. So, here is what I am intending to do. Expand my menu making skills and cook at home more. I spend too much money eating out.

I really need to cut back on my online time. Its gonna be kinda hard since I have to sit in front of the computer teaching my children, but I dont think I have to count that time. Id go insane sitting there being bored to death teaching multiplication tables and climates around the world if I couldnt be on Facebook and reading blogs So, if Im not dong schoolwork I intend to drastically cut back on my online time.

I have only read about 2 books this year. That is so not me. I usually read about 40-50 books a year so this year I intend to jump back on my book reading. I love reading so much and I miss it so I want to devote more time to reading and cramming my head with thousands of random facts and information.

*le sigh* I have a tendency to be on the negative side. Yeah, I admitted it. Yeah I said it. Now that I got that part out the way, I intend on focusing on the positive aspects of situations and not focus on the negative. I like to call what I do "calling it how I see it" but this year I intend to "see" it in a more positive light.

Above all I intend to be more grateful. God hates those who are ungrateful and I am certainly not that, but i want to express my feelings of gratitude more often than I do. He gives me so much and I could never ever repay Him for what he has done and is doing for e. The LEAST I could do is show more gratitude by expressing it to Him more, and paying it forward by helping others. This year I intend to do just that.

So with that, I say lets get started living life basking in the sunshine of a new year!

Baby Girl Aisha's Arrival - DRAMA!!!

2009-12-25T15:39:00.007-05:00

This time I planned to go all out and do things different with this birth, since its going to be my last. Little did I know that it truly was VERY different from any other birthing experience that I had before.

This pregnancy was very difficult. VERY difficult. I stayed sick practically the whole 9 months. I had one ailment after the next but anyhoo, I decided that since this was my absolute LAST child I would do things a bit differently.

I decided that I would have my baby at a birthing center in the whirlpool tub. I had always wanted to do it, but there were no facilities in my area. Since I live less than 5 miles from one, I decided to go ahead and take the plunge, especially after the tour and orientation that the midwives gave me.

When I was 33 weeks pregnant I went back to my hometown an started having contractions. I spent the night in the hospital and they stopped the contractions. A few days later I started having neck pains. I brushed it off thinking I slept wrong and had a crook in my neck. Everyday the pain got worse and worse until on a scale of 1-10 it was an 8. The pain was constant with no let up. It was actually worse than labor. Seriously. I thought that my chiropractor could work my neck out and the pain would go away, but he left early for the weekend and I had to suffer for 2 whole days, 48 hours, 2,880 minutes, 172,800 seconds of excruciating non stop pain. For 4 days my chiropractor worked on me and for the first 2 days it bought the pain down to a manageable 4 but the last 2 days it was back up to level 8 on the pain scale. What does this have to do with anything? I'll get to that.

That Thursday I had my regular check up with the midwives. Here you check your own weight and protein levels in your urine and when my levels werent normal I let them know of course. The midwife said it was one of two things. Either I had something minor like a bladder infection or my blood pressure was high. Well unfortunately it was the latter. My pressure was 170/110. This is extremely odd for me because my pressure runs low and I have NEVER had high blood pressure.

Of course I had to go strait to the hospital to be monitored. They did an ultra sound and not only was my amniotic fluid low, but my placenta was failing. I was 8 months pregnant but the baby was only the size of a 7 month old fetus. All that was code for immediate c-section.

Imagine my shock. Going from the most natural non invasive, least expensive method of childbirth to the most invasive, unnatural, most expensive method of childbirth. I am thinking Im going to my Drs visit and end up in the hospital for an emergency c-section. It made my head spin.

Aisha was born on November 6th at 12:23 pm and weighed in at 3lb 7oz and was 16 3/4 inches long. She stayed in the NICU for 3 weeks with no complications and I am VERY thankful for that.

So what did all that neck pain have to do with anything? In hindsight my midwife said that the early contractions I had that had to be stopped was a sign that my placenta was failing. My liver and other internal organs began to signal the body that the baby was a foreign object that needed to go and that made my blood pressure go sky high. High blood pressure can manifest itself thru pain and this is the reason for my severe neck pain. It as amazing that as soon as she was normal my pain went away.

Aisha: our newest addition

2009-12-25T11:24:00.007-05:00

My namesake! She came 6 weeks early but she is blessed and precious!

What to do, what to do??? Is it all its cracked up to be?

2009-12-24T22:28:00.004-05:00

I have been on a mission to grow my hair long, and now that it is, I dont know what to do with it anymore!

Its either in a high or low ponytail.

I cannot seem to self relax anymore either. Its just too difficult to manage now. Even doing my cheat rollerset, its very difficult to do. I dont know. Maybe I should cut a few inches off or layer it. I have thought about cutting some bangs too but Im not too sure about that either. So..what to do what to do????

Cloth Diapering; Its really not as bad as you think!

2009-12-24T19:30:00.007-05:00

Yeah, I know. The first thing you think of when you hear those two words is "Hell no!" or "Ewww thats gross" or even "No freakin way!!!" If you didnt think it, I shole did the first time one of my online friends mentioned it to me. I was like, there is no way Im stepping back in time to that. What for? Especially when you can just go to the store, buy a pack and throw it away.

The more my friend detailed the how to's and hit me up to the advances in cloth diapering it got my wheels to turning. I have to admit, when I found out I was pregnant again the very first thing I thought of was " DANG!!!! You mean I got to buy diapers again?!?!" Yeah, such an inspiring thought but its true. I hated buying diapers, especially when I had to take my last dime to go buy a pack of diapers.

So after MUCH research I decided to take the plunge. I found a system that would be the most economical and perhaps the easiest to use and stocked up. Of course I only bought a little at a time here and there but I managed to build a stash to last me my babys entire diapering career.

Cloth diapering is not simply just a piece of cloth folded on your babys butt and pinned up with safety pins, although you can go that route if you want. Now they have diapers that actually mimic regular diapers. The lay-under-them-and-snap-or-velcro-close just like your Pampers and Huggies.

I decided to go with prefolds, or the old fashioned kind that you fold and pin. Not with a safety pin but with a Snappi. I also got 3 dozen flats too with lots of diaper covers to go over them so that there will be no leaks. I also made a few wool covers. Im just crafty like that! LOL!!!

If the idea of folding turns me off some days, I can use these All in 2's that act like regular diapers, only they require a cover.

Washing the diapers isnt hard either. Since infant baby doo is mostly water its water soluble, you can just throw it in the machine and go. Once the baby starts eating solids, I plan to use liners that you can toss and flush down the toilet. I must admit that I do love the fact that after the initial investment, I dont have to spend another penny on diapers.

Now I know you are asking yourself, "Well what do you do when you have to leave the house?? Where do you stash the dirty diapers?" Well they have these cute wet bags that you put your dirty diapers in inside your baby bag. They dont leak or smell so that problem is solved.

So you see, its really not all that bad!

DISCLAIMER: the posted links are not ads. I just did a web search so you can get an idea of what Im talking about. :-)

Whoa!!!!!

2009-12-15T13:19:00.001-05:00

Its been 9 months since my last post?! Good Lawd!!! lol!

The Importance of a Healthy Self Image

2009-05-21T10:23:00.003-04:00

Children form opinions of themselves early in their lives, and that opinion is shaped by the most important people in that child’s life: the parents. It is incumbent that children see themselves in a positive light so that they will not go thru life thinking they are less than, not able to cultivate the best parts of themselves, and accept sub par treatment not only from others outside of themselves, but they will not indulge in behavior that is self destructive.

Most young girls learn from their parents self love and self respect, in particular from the father figure in her life. This man teaches her what is acceptable behavior from other males, he shows her how she should be treated by a man, and he shows her how valuable she is by offering her a certain type of protection only a father can give. If young women do not see the value that God has placed on them by the attitudes and lessons learned at home thru loving and strong parenting, then they will begin to accept disrespect from others all while disrespecting themselves.

A Beginning Sewer's Must-Have!!!

2009-02-07T18:10:00.007-05:00

I got this book from Barnes and Nobel a few years ago when I was still a novice at sewing.

Its GREAT!!!

The color pictures really help you to see each step that they go thru and they cover a lot in this book.

They cover topics and pics of:

your sewing machine

the serger

stitches

reading the pattern

fabrics, tools/accessories

gathers

sleeves

zippers

and a whole lot more even pillows, drapes and bed covers.

Its an awesome reference book to have.

On a sewing frenzy!!!!

2009-02-04T19:40:00.006-05:00

Man it seems like I have been on the floor cutting, and sitting at my sewing machine forever!!!

I have sewn myself a shirt, my youngest daughter a uniform, as well as my oldest daughter.

Now I'm working on an outfit for myself which includes a jacket, pants, and a tam.

*sigh*

I did the outside of the jacket and now I have to do a whole nother jacket for the lining. Thats what I hate, having to resew the entire thing for the lining.

Ah well it'll be nice once its done.

Heres a pic of the uniform I made for my youngest.

I have potty trained my youngest!!! Thank GAWD thats over!!!!

2009-01-13T21:00:00.005-05:00

This is a major milestone for me.

My youngest and LAST child is potty trained!!!

For those of you with children you know what that means and for those of you without them- imagine the joy of not having to deal with doo doo anymore. Not having to smell somebody elses funk is like heaven,even if that someone is your own child.

I have been changing dookie diapers for almost 8 years strait and God knows I have been tired of it.

Now its time for me to congratulate myself by donating the leftover diapers to charity.

"I love you so much Mom!"

2009-01-12T22:14:00.003-05:00

I was laying on the couch dozing off, when my two year old crawled up on me and hugged my neck and said to me, "I love you so much Mom!"

I was like, AAAAAAAAWWWWWW!!!!

My heart melted.

It made me feel all warm and tingly inside to hear her say that.

It makes all the hardships of parenting worthwhile when you get such sweet rewards as that!

Sweet Georgia Brown by Cheryl Robinson

2009-01-03T20:34:00.004-05:00

I read this book a week or so ago and it was......ok at best.

The synopsis of this book is about a woman who stands by her man, who wants to go into stand up comedy. They start out dirt poor and living with his parents along with their 2 boys. I dont want to give the story away if you decide to read it but the story line was just too predictable and for some reason I didnt like the main character even though she was a lovable person. I saw her as a weak woman.

I always make it a point to read 50 pages into a book and if its ok keep going, but if its boring me to tears I put it down.

The beginning was pretty good, but as it went along the story went down hill. It has over 300 pages in it but by page 150 I was already not feeling it. Since I had already invested that much in the book I made myself finish it. I would not suggest this book to anyone. I give it 2 out of 5 stars.

This is how NOT to decorate!!!

2008-12-26T15:25:00.007-05:00

Now, dont get me wrong. I'm not claiming to be some kind of decorating guru, but since when has it become vogue to decorate your yard with TRASH BAGS??? I mean, I know the economy is bad and times are ruff, but TRASH BAGS???? Is this the best we can do?

I dont celebrate Christmas but I do love to look at all the beautiful lights and see how people put together decorations around the house and yard. But this is not a pleasant sight to behold when I sit on my front porch. I HATE to see what the inside of this place looks like.

They probably use toilet bowl sticks as decorations or even plungers to add that extra UMPH to the dining room decor.

Braidout with Vaseline = GREAT HAIR!!!

2008-12-24T17:27:00.001-05:00

Chicken Pot Pie

2008-12-23T17:32:00.016-05:00

Well not exactly because instead of using chicken I used turkey necks because it was thawed out already and it had to be cooked.

Season your meat and cook it in a pot of water until done. I added onions to mine.

After this was almost done I added carrots, corn, and string beans to it and let it cook some more.I drained off the veggies and meat and made gravy by putting 3 table spoons of flour into cool water and stirring up and then pouring it into the liquid part remaining from cooking the meat and veggies.

So after the gravy was made, all I did was add it to the veggies/meat to make the filling for the pie.

Most people use store bought crusts for their pies but since I had some crusts that I made myself I used those instead. Here they are still frozen:

After they thawed out I had to roll them out and form the crusts in my pie dish.

I dont know why I shaped the bottom layer. Habit I guess.

Now fill up the pie with the filling and cover with the second pie crust.

I cut slits in the crust so it can vent. I put it in the oven and cooked for about 30 minutes at 350 degrees. The fam loved it!!!!!!

Missing My Natural Hair

2008-12-23T11:20:00.004-05:00

Today I am missing my nappy hair days.

I want to be able to pull my hair back and see all those waves so I think I will wash my hair and do a braid out. I'll pull my hair back into a ponytail and fluff it a bit to get that fro-ish look. This is a pic of my natural hair pulled back in a bun.

Maybe a braid out will mimic the good ole days!!!

Daddy's Little Girl

2008-12-22T22:30:00.007-05:00

My husband wears suits a lot and tonight when he came home my daughter decided to just put on his clothes.

It was so cute!!!

How to make an herbal tincture

2008-12-22T19:16:00.006-05:00

"What is a Tincture?
A tincture is a solution of herbs in alcohol. Apple cider vinegar may be used in some special preparations. The alcohol dissolves all of the chemical principals of the plant and acts as a preservative for future use."
http://ezinearticles.com/?What-Is-A-Tincture?&id=243706

I have been making these for over a year and let me tell you, it has replaced all commercial medicines in my house. My family rarely gets sick but when things do come up I pull out my ready made tincture and dole it out and in less than 12 hrs all complaints are usually gone.

You can get tinctures at health food stores but you usually will end up paying $15 for about 2 or 4 oz. Its much cheaper to make your own. Its very simple to make actually. Heres what to do.

I used Burdock Root, Echinachea Root, Chapparral Leaf, Dandelion Root, and Yellow Dock Root in this tincture.

Root herbs are the best to use b/c it contains the most potency. I always use 100 proof vodka. You should see the looks and comments I get when I buy this at the liquor store.

I put my mixtures in Mason jars. Put half water, and half alcohol in the jar. I used 1 1/2 cups alcohol and 1 1/2 cups of water.

Then I put 1/2 cup of each herb in the alcohol/water mixture. Make sure you watch it b/c the dried herbs will swell when it gets wet so make sure you dont run out of room in your jar before you finish adding all your herbs.

Then after everything is added, cap the jar and give it a good shake. Label your jar with the contents and date it. It takes between 4 and 6 weeks before all the properties of each herb is dissolved into the alcohol and water. Every now and then shake it to agitate the herbs in the solution. Store it in a cool, dark place and it'll keep forever!

Last year my baby who was 1 at the time was lethargic and laying around all day long. She laid on the couch and did not move. So I said hmmm... I'll mix her up some of my tincture and see what happens. As God is my witness, after 15 min my child jumped up off the chair and started running around playing and laughing. I have NEVER seen anything like it.

Oh I forgot to mention, if you want to take your tincture without the alcohol in it, all you have to do is pour a small amount of water in a pot and bring it to a boil. Once the water is boiling, pour in your tincture and let it boil for a min or two. The steam will carry the alcohol out of your tincture but will leave all the good stuff behind. I hate alcohol so I always take mine that way and if you mix it with orange juice you wont even be able to taste anything in your drink!

The Destruction Of Black Wall Street in 1921

2008-12-22T17:15:00.005-05:00

I never even knew there was any such thing as a Black Wall Street in the 1920's.

Its such a shame this type of info is kept on the hush, but at the same time this is the kind of thing white america doesnt want black people knowing too much about.

Can you blame them????

Desire feeds the will

2008-12-22T15:57:00.004-05:00

Have you ever wanted to do something or change something in your life but after many attempts it still hasnt happened for you?

This has definatly been the case for me.

The yard stick for success in any venture is the amount of desire you have for whatever it is you want. If your level of desire is low, so is your chance of success.

For example, I have a desire to rise early every single morning to get a jump start on my day. I really do want to do it, but I am having a very hard time accomplishing this goal. I have been trying to do this for yearssssssssssss and it hasnt happened yet. I want it, but how bad do I REALLY want it? If it was something that was deeply desired I would do all in my power to do it but.....I enjoy sleeping in so.......I dont get up extra early.

On the flipside, one day back in 2002 I decided I was tired of being dead flat broke. I got my 7 month pregnant self up and took my 1 year old with me to the Technical College in my town, and I sat in the admissions office until I found something I could go to school for in a short amount of time and make decent money in. Surgical Technology called my name and I signed up. Long story short, 2 years later I was a scrub tech in an outpatient surgery center. I was DETERMINED that I was gonna change my life and NOTHING was going to stop me. I had a very very high level of desire to make a change in my life and it happened. It happened, not by chance or luck but because my strong desire fed my will to help make life better for me and my family.

Stuffed Peppers

2008-12-21T16:20:00.007-05:00

This was a very tasty meal!

First cut the stem and pull the seeds out, making sure the greeen pepper is in a cup shape. Place them in a pot to steam/boil and cook until soft.

Meanwhile you should start on the rice. I made dirty rice out of turkey sausage since I dont eat pork. I cut the sausage up in small pieces and fried it in a pan. Then I added cooked par broiled brown rice. After that I added Kitchen Bouquet and frozen Seasoning Blend ( which is diced onions, celery, and green and red peppers.) Stir it all together on medium heat.

I cooked white corn with water, milk, seasoning salt, pepper, and butter.

Make your garlic toast but puting slim butter peices on top of bread slices and sprinkle garlic powder on it and toast.

Put the rice inside your cooked peppers, fix a plate, and enjoy!!!

My Made From Scratch Pizza

2008-12-21T14:56:00.008-05:00

I made this pizza from whole wheat but you can use regular bread flour if you like. I do on occasion. I also make the dough for the crust in my bread machine. Here are the ingredients for the dough for the machine to be put inside in this order:

6oz of water (80-90 degrees)

1 tbs veg oil

2 1/4 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 tsp sugar

1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp active dry yeast or 1 1/2 tsp of bread machine/fast rise yeast

(optional)Seasonings (oregano, basil, onion, garlic powder)

This recipe will make (2) 12 inch pizzas.

After the dough was made I kneaded it for a minutes and let it rise a few times. You can omit this step if you like. Here is a pic of the dough after it rose and I flattened it and cut it in half.

Roll out the dough with a rolling pin and put it on the pans.

Then add all your toppings.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 25 minutes or until crust is brown.

Enjoy!

Better-than-Applebees Chicken and Broccoli Pasta Alfredo

2008-12-21T14:35:00.004-05:00

I made this for my family and it was so good that they asked for an encore the next day!

Now thats saying something. Heres how to do it:

To make the alfredo:

4 tsp butter

4 tbs flour

1 cup chicken broth - this time I used beef cuz I didnt have chicken

1 cup half and half

1 cup Parmesan or whatever white cheese

minced garlic

Italian seasoning

salt and pepper

Melt butter in pot then add the flour and mix till smooth. Next add in the half and half and broth and stir. Then add the cheese, garlic, salt, pepper,and Italian seasoning and keep stirring until its smooth and creamy. Season to your taste. Pour over noodles of your choice. I used Fettichini.

I steamed the broccoli al dente then add it to the noodles.

Then I pan fried the chicken breasts on a griddle with olive oil and a little balsamic vinegar added to it. Cut it up into bite size pieces and add it to the noodles and broccoli.

Enjoy!

Like McDonalds? Here's their recipes!

2008-12-21T14:17:00.008-05:00

I hardly ever eat out, especially at a fast food restaurants. I dont even know the last time I ate a McDonalds, maybe 3 or 4 years ago, but I used to love the Quarter Pounder, Fish Fil A and the fries!!!!

I am not about to put all that info here so click here for the info.

Enjoy!!!

My heart breaks...

2008-12-20T22:56:00.003-05:00

My cousin works at a bank. The other day she was telling me that almost every check that she gets to be deposited/cased is an unemployment check.

Well there is this one guy who is a regular customer of hers came thru her line and he looked very sad and let down. She asked him what was the matter.

He told her that this was his very last unemployment check. He had exhausted all his extensions at the unemployment agency and had absolutely no prospects for a job. She said he had een looking non stop for months with no luck at all. He had a wife and children to support with absolutly no money coming in.

When I heard that it really affected me. For the past few weeks my husband has been telling me about massive layoffs he ha heard about, not to mention all the thousands of lay offs thats mentioned on the news.

My heart really breaks for all of these people. What are they going to do? I put myself in this mans place, and I feel a sense of hopelessness and loss. I would really be very afraid of what would become of my family.

Every day I thank God that my husband and I have sources of income in this economic crisis. I pray that people find a solution to unemployment and in the meantime we as a nation, can help President Elect Barack Obama by putting ourselves in a position to qualify for the millions of jobs he hopes to create.

More on that later.......I gotta get some zzzzzzzzzzzzzz's.

Caruso curls on the go

2008-12-20T22:19:00.004-05:00

My husband wanted us to go to his annual Christmas party. We never go because we dont celebrate Christmas but he decided he wanted to go this year to show his face.

Today is Saturday- my chill around the house day- and I had a pretty bad hair day. It was in a ponytail and it was stick strait. I didnt have a lot time to do much to it so I decided to curl the ends with my Carusos, just to give it a lil bump on the ends.

Well, the curls werent all that great, but it was better than it was before. I dont think I left them on long enough but ahhh well!

Miracle for my baby!!!

2008-12-20T00:12:00.006-05:00

Miracles dont happen everyday but one sure did happen today for me.

I have been raving about the wondrous joys of Vaseline so I decided to put it on my 2 yr olds hair.

Her hair is , well, baby hair. Its very soft and wild after an hour or two, which is to be expected.

Well earlier I sprayed her hair with water and then put some Qhemet Biologics Burdock Root Cream and The 'Line on. Its still damp in this pic.

This is how it looked after many hours of play. Normally it looks NOTHING like this.

I love it!!!!

The Vaseline experiment continues...

2008-12-19T23:53:00.006-05:00

Well I am still trying this out and the more I use it, the better it seems to get.

Today I did my daughters hair in braids and it was still very very moisturized.

This proves to me, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that the old school simple and plain methods of haircare can and do work. The proof is in the puddin.'

Vaseline on hair - from no-no to yes-yes!

2008-12-18T23:00:00.010-05:00

I sat remembering back in the day when Mama used to do my hair and what she put on it.

During our "doing hair" sessions she had only 4 things: a comb, a brush, a cup of water to dip the brush in, and Vaseline. My hair was healthy and it grew pretty long too.

Now petroleum has been made to be the boogey man of all haircare products but I decided to try this thing out to see if my hair and my daughters hair would go into reject mode.

I started with my daughter. I washed her hair and put it up in braids to dry. I put Qhemet Biologics Burdock Root Cream and then I applied Vaseline.

2 days later I took the braids down and her hair was soooooo soft!!!!! I was amazed. I re-did her hair only this time I put twists in. I put more QB Burdock Root and more Vaseline in her hair.

The next day went I went do her hair...it was like butter! Very soft and VERY moisturized?

I say its a yes-yes, not a no-no!

Ok, since it worked so good with her, I decided to try it on my own hair. I used the same products and my hair felt the same way- soft and buttery.

Guess what?

As for me and mine, we will be using Vaseline from now on!

Are you scared of the internet?

2008-12-18T11:17:00.012-05:00

The World Wide Web. The Information Highway. The Net. These are just a few of the many names that have been coined for the internet, which 15 years ago was virtually an unknown entity, but now millions of people cant do without it.

Its such a great place to get all sorts of info on endless subjects and tips on everything under the sun. Its very educational as well as extremely entertaining.

Yet...its a source of fear as well. The internet seems to be such a big scary place, but I'm wondering if its really any different from "the real world?"

Well lets think this thru, shall we?

We have the idea that if you post your image online that somehow 1 of several things could happen to you.

1. Your image will be stolen and used without your permission.

That is a very good reason to proceed with caution. No matter how well you try to cover your tracks with this one, people can find a way to get your image and post it where they will.

I dont think that people realize that wherever you go, you leave your image behind.

Did you pump gas today? Did you go inside that government building? Have you been out shopping at the mall recently? Did you go to McDonalds for that BigMac? Have you taken a leisurely stroll on the streets of downtown to enjoy the day? Did you need some fast cash and stopped at an ATM?

If you did, you were caught on camera. Someone has access to your image. They could very well alter that image and do with it what they will.

2.If you put your image online, perverts will...have fun with themselves over your pics.

Hmmmm....well, that very well could happen sure enough. But lets think about it for a minute.

Lets say you are walking into your favorite restaurant about to enjoy a delectable meal with a loved one. You are seated, your waiter takes your order and you have such a wonderful time getting stuffed and having some good laughs. All seems uneventful, right? Maybe not.

Your waiter thinks you are sexy and looking good in that outfit. He is so overcome by your charms that later on that night while he is alone he......reminisces over you, MY GOD!!!

You are totally innocent in this, going about your daily life and yet a pervert has had fun over your image. What a notion!

3. If you put your image on the internet, someone will come and get you. Your pic, coupled with a name and they got you!!!!

While I do think there are some very savvy computer geeks out there, somehow I doubt that a sicko with some computer technical skills is gonna cross the world, or even town (if he can somehow find you based on a pic out of the millions of other people out there) to get you.

I could be wrong though.

It seems to me that one should be more afraid of people in the real world grabbing you v/s an unknown, unseen, untouchable person on the internet.

Let me give another scenario.

You are just getting off work after a hard day at the office. You are beat, your feet are killing you and all you have on your mind is a long hot bath. As you are walking to your car parked in the garage someone attacks you. They have been watching your movements all week and they know your routine. Fortunately for you, you have taken many self defense classes and have successfully beaten this person to a bloody pulp.

My question is what is more likely? Some random person on the net getting you, or the random quack walking the streets everyday?

I'd place my bet on the quack that can see me, that can touch me.

Personally, I believe that safety and security should be paramount in todays society. The same holds true for the internet, but more emphasis should be placed in "real world" situations.

If you are afraid to have an "identity" on the internet that includes a pic of you or not, dont get me wrong. I think that is A-OK. Just remember the same security measures employed on the internet should be doubly applied in real life!

Popping my blogging cherry

2008-12-18T00:27:00.005-05:00

This is my very very first blog entry ever!!

I have a few things that I plan to blog about.

For one I am a hair care fanatic so of course I'll be blogging about that.

I sew on occasion so I'll post pics of my projects and pattern numbers and such.

And of course I'll talk about life and trials and tribulations that we go thru and possible solutions.