Mama_Rana
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Posts posted by Mama_Rana
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I have a very addictive personality. So, I was completely off sugar, then ate a little frozen yogurt, and went completely off the wagon. I gave the kids until this weekend to eat their Easter candy, and then we are all going off sugar again. Hopefully for good this time. I used to smoke, and tried to quit many times. If I even had one puff of a cigarette, I was back to smoking a pack and a half a day by the next day. If I want to quit sugar, I need to do it cold turkey and suffer through several days of withdrawal. I drink green smoothies, which really, really help curb the cravings.
For me, not eating sugar means not adding sugar to foods. It means not eating anything with processed sugars in them. I eat plenty of fruit, and I can also eat raw honey. Those things don't make me crave sugar. If I have a cup of tea with raw honey in it, it doesn't make me want to eat the whole jar of honey. If I eat a chocolate chip cookie, I want to eat the whole batch of cookies, then a bowl of ice cream, and then some candy on top of that. The more I eat sugar, the more I need to eat to satisfy the craving. Fruit and honey don't do that to me, but they might for other people.
When I'm off sugar, (and now that I'm gluten-free), it does make eating out somewhat difficult. There are not enough restaurants that offer enough healthy choices in my opinion. I've found it's better to prepare ahead of time and bring meals with me.
Thanks everyone, I appreciate hearing your experiences. It's... It's hard. Emotionally and physically.
Scrappy, I'm curious about your green smoothies and what's in them, and how that helps you. I've been avoiding smoothies because I usually "sweeten" them with banana, and that is so high in sugar.
I know some resources recommend using l-glutamine to control carb cravings, but the couple times I've used it, it seems to make my tummy hurt :/
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The thread on triglycerides and others are prompting this.
I'm trying to cut carbs both because I've gained 20+ pounds in the last 1.5 years [after losing over 60], and because I just don't FEEL healthy, and I'm doing ok with grains and starchy veggies, but I still want that nightly sweet treat after the boys are in bed. A little [coconut milk] ice cream, a piece of chocolate or a gourmet caramel, not A LOT, but I know it adds up, and since I'm not losing any weight, I assume it's still way too much [i haven't been tracking my exact consumption].
I don't want to use artificially sweetened foods for many reasons [i use a couple drops of stevia in my morning coffee, but I've been trying to reduce that, eventually to nothing I hope].
I use very little dairy anymore--a splash of heavy cream in my coffee, occasionally a sprinkle of shredded cheese on eggs or mexican or italian foods, occasionally yogurt. I've all but given up breads and such. When the boys have potatoes, I take extra veggies. And usually I'm fine with those things.
But I don't really WANT to give up dessert, but as I'm reading Good Calories, Bad Calories and learning what that sugar is doing in my blood stream... I question whether there's any safe level of sugar intake. :(
But I don't know how to kick the habit. :(
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I found a little boy at Walmart. He did not speak English and was crying. They finally found his mother and she seemed completely unrattled. I was furious as she looked so nonchalant about the whole situation.
Glad you found your little boy quickly!
Elise in NC
I was playing with my kids at the play area at the mall, and this little girl told me she couldn't find her mommy. I don't think English was her first language and she appeared to be blind in one eye. I helped her look around the little play area, and then waited with her for a few minutes planning in my head what I should do. Mom finally showed up very nonchalantly. She was extremely pregnant and had apparently walked down to the food court [not TOO far away, but not in sight] to get a bottle of water. Maybe she told the girl where she was going and she forgot, maybe there was another adult there for the little girl but the girl forgot, I dunno. It was just weird.
When DS was almost 2, I left DH asleep and went to take a shower. DS was also asleep. While still in the shower DH came in the bathroom with DS. A woman had just rung the door bell because she had found him in the street! He undid a latch and two locks to get out of the house!We never knew he was missing, but the panic of what could have happened.....plus waoting for DHS to show up at our door - no one ever came....but we thought for sure someone would be followong up on that one.
Yup. We were staying in a vacation rental house, and needed to be out by 11:00 so the cleaning crew could come and get it ready for the next renters so we were frantically running around gathering everything, when this lady rings the doorbell with our toddler. He had apparently chased a ball out into the street. :( I can't describe the swirling hurricane of emotions I felt.
Ironically the same lady came back a few minutes later. Turned out in all the excitement she didn't realize what house she was at: she was the cleaning lady! [she was early, but we just worked around each other, but it was a little awkward]
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That was cute. When my sil & bil announced they handed my in-laws a pile of pictures and said,"here are some new pictures of the kids." it was their older kids' schoole pics, but the one on the bottom was an ultra-sound of the new baby.
That's similar to what I did, except I co-opted my BIL's birthday and in front of my whole family presented him as his gift a photo album with pics of my son and his son, and then the last pic was the US. I'm sure he was looking through the pics thinking, WTF is she thinking? LOL
For the first I gave my parents a "Grandparents" photo box with a pic of the US on the lid.
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Here's one: http://cavemanstrong.com/food/grocery-list-paleo-style/
Another: http://jmefferd.hubpages.com/hub/Paleo
Third: [urlhttp://www.paleo-solutions.com/paleo-grocery-list/[/url]
I tried doing a google search restricted to this site, but didn't see the thread you were thinking of. I hope these help. I like the food pyramid in the one!
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Yup what WeeBeaks said.
Our CSA sets up like a farmer's market. Sometimes we get tons, other times it's one of some items, like one stalk of brussel sprouts--doesn't feed very many.
OTOH, it is a "value added" CSA, so I can also get eggs, meat, bread, and specialty items like honey and jams and such through them.
Love it!
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Not always, according to dd10. But I've been having her work on her multiplication tables on there. I require her to break her previous record - even if it is by one point. She was resisting this with all her might but as she started to see her improvement she started to be encouraged. Then her competitive instinct kicked in and she wanted to beat "so-and-so". So while she hasn't enjoyed it, I sure have!
Interesting, I'll have to look into that aspect!
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I downloaded two free flashcard apps for my iGadgets--Flashcards+ and Flashcardlet. I like Flashcards+ because it's 100% free with no ads, but I find the navigation of the cards to be extremely touchy and I think dS will be frustrated. Flashcardlet has a free version with ads, but it's much more natural to use and isn't as touchy. Both allow the user to import flashcard sets from Quizlet.com, and one can create custom sets there.
In response to that article that was being discussed last fall and was resurrected recently about spaced review and such, I've been creating sets to go along with our studies this year. And I'm learning I can do so many cool things there!
I just easily created and printed out 4 quick quizzes. I was able to pick how many questions I wanted on it, the types of questions, and a few other variables, then hit print.
OR I could have DS do the quiz on-line and it will score it.
There are also other games and things that the learners can play on-line as well.
PM me for my username if you want to see the sets I've made. It's currently linked to my real name and FB a little too closely, and I haven't figured out how to fix that. So that would be my caveat: if you're squeamish about those kind of things, don't sign in with FB and pick a better user name than I did [wasn't thinking about "sharing" so just used my real name]. I can see how to disconnect from FB, but can't see how to change my user name. :/ [ETA: I've changed the user name. It was complicated. I had to create a new account, copy over all the sets one by one, and then delete the old one. The new user name is MamaRana]
So far I've made:
Middle Ages [sOTW/HO]
BFSU vol.1
Great artists and musicians [still a small set]
Life of Fred Elementary [just Apples so far]
Grammar Island
spelling rules [i borrowed some AAS cards that someone else had made, and made my own to go along with Phonics Pathways]
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[i'm posting before reading anyone else's response, just so I get out my unadulterated opinion]
When my older cat was sick, we worked closely with the vet to understand what was happening to her. I felt like I needed to know what was wrong, and whether there was any chance to help her before making that ultimate decision. She had stones in her bladder making it painful to urinate, causing her to urinate all over the house [including in our bed once], and just making her feel yucky and not want to eat or do much.
We ran many tests to determine the type of stones to see if they were treatable, weighed the pros and cons of treating them at her age [would she survive the surgery to remove them?], and then when they turned out not to be a treatable kind, weighed the option of letting nature take its course and putting an end to her suffering.
Ultimately, we did put her down because she had no quality of life left and there was nothing we could do for her. The appetite stimulants didn't help, I was having to shove all kinds of medicines down her throat to help her pain. She was confined to the bathroom because she couldn't really control her bladder; she ended up sleeping IN her litter box, either because she didn't have the energy to get out or because she knew she needed to be there to pee.
I sometimes wonder whether I would do it all again. We spent a good deal more than I ever thought I would just trying to understand her illness. I felt like I couldn't make the decision to end her life until I knew for sure that we couldn't bring her back. Some people would have euthanized a lot sooner to both end her suffering sooner and to avoid the expenses we incurred.
Ultimately, it comes down to that question of quality of life. Can your kitten enjoy her life at all, or is she consumed by suffering? If her suffering isn't too bad, are you comfortable with the expense to keep her alive through her illness?
Either way, I want to also say that losing a pet is hard, and the grief can be surprisingly overwhelming. Let yourself and your children grieve in the way they need to. My son wanted to see her body. We debated having her cremated, but then ultimately brought her frozen body home to bury. He wanted us to open her "coffin" [a cardboard box] so he could see her one last time, and even petted her ear. He helped his daddy bury her. We keep her memory alive much a we might a human loved one.
It's all normal and ok, however you need to grieve.
:grouphug::grouphug::grouphug:
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I've read them. Really enjoyed them. Not as much as HP, maybe, but very good in their own right. A few holes in the 6th book that were noticeable [a character in 2 places at once, for example], but the didn't mess up the general story.
My son had no interest in reading them though. But he also has no interest in HP or Percy Jackson, so I dunno....
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I've got some wilted mustard greens. And a party to go to tomorrow. Any way to combine these? Does anyone know of an easy dip that would call for well-cooked greens? Or a soup I could put into the crockpot to have ready for when we return home from the party?
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Welcome them in, but apologize for the mess the house is. I'm a bit embarrassed, but invariably they tell me it's cleaner than their house.
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You know I am making quizzes/worksheets for both volume 1 and 2, rigght? They really help pinpoint weaknesses and focus the learning (IMHO)
You are? *bats eyelashes*
I agree that BFSU is somewhat of a pain to use, but after a month or so I got used to it. Now I looooooove BFSU! I can't say enough great things about it.After each lesson, I write out copywork for my kids to do which summariizes the main principles of the lessons. They copy the pricniples and draw a picture illustrating each concept. Then they file it in their binders under the appropriate tab (one for each thread). This has helped a lot for retention. It is also good for review and to add to our memory work.
This is a great idea. I /like/ BFSU, but I don't feel I go very deeply sometimes. I don't care for most of the "writing" suggestions since I have a weak writer, but some copy work would be a great way to practice and also provide some "written work" for his science portfolio. ;) :/
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DH does wear his wedding ring, though right now he's wearing it on his right hand due to a problem with his left. :/ I'm not thrilled esp. since I keep asking him to GO TO THE DOCTOR.
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Full disclosure: I've never used KISS, but I did look at it, and like the premise, but decided my little guy would respond better to the format of MCT.
I think if he's already being successful with KISS, Grammar Island might be a bit dull and repetitive. And Practice Island is already what you're doing with KISS [i'm not sure how quickly KISS presents the content, so I could be wrong]. Sentence Island goes more deeply into the structure of a sentence, and might be valuable. The Building Language book is really neat [imho], and could be covered fairly quickly; perhaps you could even borrow it from another homeschooler? I'm looking forward to the poetry book, but can't really speak to it right now.
IOW, you might want to look at doing only part of the island level if any of it and going to Town. Now, I imagine an MCT rep might disagree, but it would be interesting to hear what they said.
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So, all that to say, I don't understand the parents' reaction at all! You saved their baby. If it was my child, you'd have my eternal gratitude (and probably some embarrassing moments of being gratefully kissed and/or hugged effusively.) :D
My son, who was 6 at the time, almost drowned in my friend's pool. I was pretty much frozen in fear, and she jumped in and saved him. I WAS grateful, but I was also pretty much still frozen while my mind played over and over again what could have been. I did mutter thanks, but I had a very hard time verbalizing anything coherent. I did later thank her both publicly and privately a little more coherently, which I was able to do since she was a friend.
I don't know if this is why these people responded the way they did. But everyone processes these things differently.
I'm glad the OP and and Bob were there at the right time to help this little boy. :grouphug:
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Guitar and Chinese.
I have the guitar and the books for the former [i got the guitar free, but paid to have it restrung and get a new bridge], and I have the Rosetta Stone software for the latter. I've started both, but never seem to find the time to practice either. :/
I can't really do either while the boys are awake/around, but I'm not a morning person, and I worry about waking them to do it [at least the guitar] at night. Excuses excuses. :/
We are hopefully traveling to Taiwan next spring, so it would be great if I got on the ball and worked on the Chinese before then. And I keep wishing I knew how to play guitar so I could pick out the songs I want to teach my son as part of our music program.
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Sticks close, I dunno, but my fave is the one with Winona Rider as Jo. I just really like the actors in it.
But perhaps my opinion isn't the best: after re-reading the book a couple years ago I realized I don't really like the book. :/
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If it needs to be liquid, pureed soups, milkshakes/smoothies, yogurt, applesauce, mashed potatoes made really moist with lots of milk and butter, pureed cauliflower or broccoli if she likes them, pureed ratatouille....
Good luck!
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I was just at the dentist, and apparently the cleaning loosened some piece of popcorn hull.
I can't REMEMBER the last time I ate popcorn. It might have been in there for months! :(:001_huh:
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I just spent a really long time organizing my books. We have a lot. There are still a few stragglers that I need to whip into line. I have two of those Ikea shelves that are 5X5 cubbies. So 50 cubbies altogether, about 1 foot square each. The bottom row is mostly toys for the kids, but the rest are books. I mostly have fiction separated from non-fiction [exceptions below], and adult fiction separated from picture books. The non-fiction is roughly arranged by Dewey Decimal system. I used a combination of looking at the publishing info page where you can sometimes find the DD#, looking on my library website, or just using my best judgement based on a list I found of the DDS by 10s. Sometimes I disagreed with Dewey, and filed the books where I wanted. In a few instances I wanted to keep certain books together even though they have different DD#, for example books about plants and books about gardening. So those 2 cubbies are near each other.
History books are grouped by time period: ancient-middle ages, renaissance-modern, with US history books separate, and another smaller section of general history books and maps/geography books. The exception to the fiction being separate rule is that if it is a historical fiction, or even just one that is realistic enough to a certain time period, I filed that with its appropriate history period.
Mostly as I went through I tried to think of how I would use this book. Is it a reference for me? For fun? Does it fit a unit study or time period?
I have not finished labeling the book spines yet, but I hope to. For fiction, I'm just going to label with the first letter of the authors' last names just so they at least end up back in the correct cubby. I want to put at least the right "century" number on the non-fiction books if not the 10s designation I've given them.
It was quite a project. It's not quite done yet, but I've lost steam for now. :/ Hope to get back to it soon. I stocked up on label-maker tape!
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Does YNAB have an app yet? That's one thing that draws me to Mvelopes. I opened an account with Mvelopes, but haven't done anything with it. I like that it has the ability to connect with banks and such and download all the relevant info. OTOH, it scares me that it would have all that data stored somewhere on-line. But it also has the app that would allow me to check things on the go which is nice.
I used YNAB before, and I like the principal, but got bogged down in the details, and stopped. Is toilet paper a grocery expense or household? Are summer camps education or entertainment? What about when I have a huge receipt from Target that has clothing, groceries, house cleaning, some movies/books, and diapers? [which happens a lot]. Do I really have to split it all up, or can I just make a category for "Target"?
Sorry, OP, don't mean to hijack, but I've been wondering about this stuff too.
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I must have tried 20, and kiddo has settled on Trader Joe's fennel. Milder than Tom's fennel.
Tom's recently reconfigured their fennel; it's not as strong [to me at least]. Bums ME out cuz I liked the flavor before. My mouth always felt pleasantly like I'd just eaten some licorice candy. *sigh* They also put it in a more plastic-y tube rather than the old metal tubes. They were sold not too long ago, weren't they? :glare:
You could always make it a project to learn to make his own toothpaste. Then his future spouse will just think he's handy and self-sufficient. ;)
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I saw this on Pinterest, and thought you might get a kick out of it today: http://stay-at-home-mayhem.blogspot.ca/2012/03/7-things-never-to-say-to-stressed-out.html
:grouphug:
S/O HOW do you give up sugar?
in General Education Discussion Board
Posted
My body doesn't process sugar alcohols very well; they make me very gassy in an extremely unpleasant way. I have used splenda, but I'm concerned about it's artificialness and how our bodies treat that.
And with that in mind, I'm not sure what to think about Stevia. It's from a natural source, but it's highly processed to be used for baking and such.
I'm torn, and so have just been erring on the side of caution by avoiding them as much as possible.
When you say you try to keep a lot on hand of things you CAN have, what is on that list?
Thanks!