Pamelas Baking mix.

As I sit here enjoying my Gluten Free Egg Free Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookie I am grateful for Pamela's baking mix. They have two versions one for Pancakes and one for Breads. Both are fairly interchangeable with flour in any recipe. While these are not cheap and I can make this mix on my own. It is nice to have a quick option when needed. We enjoy Waffles on a regular basis along with many other baked goods. People tell me all the time they don't know how I go without the foods that I do but part of that is because of products like this. Last week I make Thin mints using this instead of flour and they turned out great.

Domestic Goddess!

Chandler

Dylan

Elliot

Today I am feeling a little sentimental. I was able to attend a Field Trip with my kids school. As I sat there in a room with 700 enthusiastic children it came to me. I am so glad I am a stay at home mom. I know I may not always show it but I am glad I get to go on Field Trips, Camping trips, art exhibits etc. I am glad I am the one to take care of my children when they stay home sick. I am grateful that a work schedule was not a concern when my child was in the hospital. I am glad I get to do things on my schedule and not have to fit things in around each other. (I am in no way implying that myself or any other stay at homes moms are not busy beyond belief) I have no idea how I could be a mother and work. For those of you who do I admire you. Especially the ones who do it because they have to. I know how hard that is. I have always had a job of some sort but I have also always been able to stay home with my kids. I am grateful for all the family's I have babysat for that let me combine there children s lives in with my own. I am thankful for the night shift jobs that let me work when my babies were sleeping. I am thankful for Creative Memories that has allowed me to work as much or as little as I could handle. While my children have no idea how rare it is that they do have a stay at home mom or Domestic Goddess I am grateful that they get to have me. I hope one day people will stop saying "you don't have a job?" "All you do is stay home?" Yes all I do is stay at home and try to raise my children the best way I know how.  If you can find a more important job than that I would love to see it! The Angel pictures were all taken their first Christmas. Some people think these are strange pictures especially for boys but they have always been my favorite!

Chocolate!

So you  may or may not know (seriously if you have ever met me you know but since this is open to the public online you may just be reading this and have no idea who I am) but I love Chocolate! Love is not the correct term maybe in some romantic language they have a word that accurately describes the relationship I have with chocolate. I am grateful for companies like Trader Joes who have fair trade practices and put real ingredients into their products. Last year I read a book that changed my life. That is no exaggeration I am sure I will post more about the book soon. But my biggest fear in reading the book and changing my eating lifestyle as a result was that I was going to be told or discover that I can't eat chocolate. I had nightmares about this. I don't even really like desert unless chocolate is involved. Much to my relief Dr. Hyman who wrote the amazing book Ultramatabolism points out how real dark chocolate is actually good for you in appropriate quantities. To make things even better after finding out what foods I needed to eliminate chocolate was not one of them. I am Grateful today to be able to eat real chocolate. I was not a huge fan of dark chocolate before but after removing so much of the yucky food from my diet I quickly began to love dark chocolate. The bar pictured above is one of my favorites. It is also gluten free which is a plus.

Scrapbooks!

If you know anything about me at all you know my true passion in life is to scrapbook. This has come about for many reasons. I have always had a love of photographs and I enjoy the creative side of putting all the memories and the story's they tell all into one place. Nothing gives me more joy than to find my children looking and scrapbooks all on there own. I am grateful for this blessing in my life. I am the first to admit I may be a bit obsessed but I figure at least it is a good obsession. I know my children will always be able to look back at these albums and know how much I love them and have cherished the times that created these pages of love. FYI I lost count at 42 albums. I also make albums for other people. It is a special thing for someone to trust you enough to work on there precious photos. Yes I do get paid for this but I find I learn an incredible amount about people after working on there albums.  I am grateful for a husband and family that supports me in this effort. I see many woman who would love to create these gifts for their family's but don't because they don't have the support at home. If you ever want to come scrapbook with me by door is always open. It may not be clean inside but there will always be table space to scrapbook. If you want to start I would be thrilled to help you in any way traditional, digital, simple, elaborate. There is no wrong way to scrapbook!

Washer and Dryer!

 

Today I am Grateful for having a Washer and Dryer. With 5 kids in the house having a washer has saved me so much time. Up until last year we had to go to the laundry mat. I would have to sort the laundry the night before, get up early and spend 4-6 hours trekking back and forth from the laundry room, spending the entire evening or next morning sorting and putting the laundry away. It was such a huge chunk of time that could have been spent doing so much more. Now with these amazing machines everyone in my house has a laundry day and they do there own laundry and put it away. Laundry is my second nemesis after dishes and not having to always be worried about it and have to schedule my day around it gives me so much freedom.  To  make it even better a friend gave us a set last month that is much newer and nicer looking than the once we had previously purchased from craigslist for a whopping $80.

Dishwasher!

Today I am grateful for a Dishwasher. With the exception of 9 months, last year was the first time we have had a dishwasher in 14 years of marriage. I have loved and appreciated it so much. Living with 8 people not having to hand wash everything has been a huge blessing. To make it even better the kids load and unload it making my personal nemesis of doing dishes much less daunting.

I am Grateful for Hippie Schools!

 Today I am grateful for Hippie Schools! Since living in Santa Barbara our children have had the opportunity to attend two different "Hippie Schools". I call them this because they think outside the box and teach to the whole child not just train them to pass state testing. These schools have been such a benefit to my children allowing them to learn and grow with creativity and to think for themselves. This week I was able to attend two art shows. One for the middle school art class and one for the 4th & 5th grade play with your food art day. These are great events and I am so thrilled my children have been able to have these experiences.

Friends!

Chili's Alexis, Camile, Chantele, Gail, Brandy.

Today I am Grateful for my friends and the opportunity's for Girls Night Out! I am one that needs to get out without my kids on a regular basis. Until this year I had craft night and many nights with my friends. This last year my Husbands schedule has been crazy and craft night stopped happening because of people moving and schedules. Last night I got to go out with some amazing woman. If you ever want to join us anyone is welcome. I love the Conversations, Getting to know people better, and the always present Chocolate. I always feel like my stress load is lighter after the much needed girl time. I am hoping I can start craft/girls night once a week now that my Hubby is no longer working at nights.  Thank you to all the amazing woman in my life that have shared a girls night with me at one time or another. Living in a family of boys I desperately need a break from the testosterone.

I am SOOOO gratful for Basil!

This is my magic oil of the day!

So today I was going to post something totally different but after last night is is clear that I am completely and totally grateful for the essential oil Basil. So to give you way to much personal medical information, I suffer from ovarian cysts. They come almost every month. They make my abdomen swell and look 8 months pregnant. Not to mention the terrible pain that makes it impossible to do anything. Bending, lifting, moving even sitting hurts. The doctors have 2 solutions One is to take hormonal birth control. I have tried 5 versions of this and have had horrible reactions. (the reason my cysts are so bad is because I have to many hormones so adding more really isn't good for my body) Two to give me pain killers, we are talking strong ones. Guess what I have bad reactions to these as well. Oh yeah there is a third option surgery. But that would mean surgery almost once a month. Not really an option. Last year I expanded my love of essential oils and have been using them for many medical problems that taking medicine is not an option for me. About 6 months ago I had one of the worst cysts I had ever had and out of desperation I go to my oil book "Modern Essentials". This book tells you what oils to use to treat all that ails you. I looked up Ovarian cysts. It tells me to rub Basil on my abdomen. Within about 30 second the excruciating pain I was in was suddenly relieved. It does not take the cyst away but it takes the pain away. I was able to sleep for about 4 hours and then woke up with some more pain and reapplied the oil and was once again relieved. Today I am grateful for the option to be relieved of this pain when needed. Last night I had another large cyst and instead of being in pain and having to go bed I was able to rub Basil on and enjoy the evening with my husband.

This is my box of my magic oils that I love so much!

Hanging Upside Down!

Inversion Table!

Today I am grateful for being able to hang upside down. Ok I know what you are thinking and there is absolutely nothing kinky about this post. A year or so ago I got a pinched nerve in my neck and could not separate my ear and my shoulder. It lasted about 5 days and was a completely miserable experience. I have been in multiple car accidents in my life. Two of those happened 6 months apart and the first one alone left me with 8 slipped discs in my back. I am telling you this to explain that back and neck pain is not a new thing to me. Anyway I have the wonderful friend Gennefer who is fantastic at massages. She and all her compassion came and worked on me for free to help me be able to function again. She realized that I needed to hang upside down on an inversion table. This would help my neck release. I could not find one I could use for free or anyone in the area I knew that had one. I almost drove to San Diego to use my sister in laws. On a long shot I drove to Kmart. They had 3 types all were around $150.00 this price was completly out of my range but I was so desperate I thought I would be willing to give up food for a few weeks if my neck could stop hurting. I went ahead and bought it. At the check out stand it rang up to $50.00 I almost started crying right there. I could not believe it. I brought it home. Set it up and hung upside down. When I was upside down I had no pain. when I got up I had some pain but not as bad as before. After 3 days of this my neck was back to normal. I periodically have this return but as long as I keep my routine of yoga a couple of times a week and hang upside down a few times a week I can keep the bad pain away. If you ever want to come hang upside down you are welcome to try it.

Grateful for the beach in January!

Here is what I am grateful for today. Going to the beach in January! In the 8 years of living in Goleta we spend more of the month of January at the beach than any other month. The weather is amazing and much needed among the cold and flu season. These pages are from this Monday when most had the day off to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr Day! I will miss these opportunity's when we no longer live in paradise. (We do not know where we are going to live next year) After 2 straight weeks of children and or myself being sick the sunshine and fresh air was perfect! Don't even try to complain to me about the weather where you live. We all pay for what we get. Believe me we are paying some mighty high prices to live here.

Gratitude!

I have been thinking about this for a few weeks. I want to do a gratitude Blog. I am not the most eloquent and I feel like I often sound silly, so doing a blog has been hard for me. I read all these well written, funny, inspirational blogs that my friends do and I just feel inadequate. That being said I have wanted to do a gratitude scrapbook for a long time. I think if I do a gratitude blog and turn it into a scrapbook when I am done that will be the simplest way for me to go right now. I am going to be posting things that I am grateful for. I am sure my husband and kids will get posts dedicated to them but that is an automatic and I am trying to think outside the box for this one. It has been a difficult couple of years for us financially and emotionally and I know that when I remind myself to be grateful for the things in my life physically and spiritually that I deal with the daily stresses much better. Here goes my goal is to do 5-7 posts a week (there will be obvious exceptions during vacations and mental breakdowns). Here is my first gratitude post.

The Fabulous dehydrator!

Some of the dried fruit that I made!

 Thanks to a very generous gift card from a dear friend at Christmas I was able to order a long awaited dehydrator. I have loved it so much. I have made Fruit roll ups for the kids, Dried fruit for me. Spinach powder for a friend. This is just the beginning of a long and happy relationship with my dehydrator. My kids are looking forward to Jerky. The reason I am choosing this for my first post is I have been spending a lot of money of dried fruit to keep in my mixed nuts that I really heavily on since my food options are so limited. I am very excited to have the ability to make healthy snacks for my children and myself that have no added preservatives and that I know won't cause any adverse reactions. If you have any dehydrator suggestions or recipes I would love to have them.