August 27, 2010: doTerra Stories - Kate and the Hay Fever Episode

My cute little neighbor has hay fever, and will often have sudden attacks during various times of the year. Yesterday at school she had two attacks - her eyes started watering and became very red, itchy and inflamed. They gave her two doses of benedryl throughout the day, but it didn't really help her. She was over playing after school and had another attack and her mom said, "I don't know what to do. I can't give her more medication!"

I got out my Modern Essentials book and looked up allergies and hay fever. It recommended putting a drop of peppermint oil on the back of her neck, and lavender on her sinuses. She is 7 years old, but pretty little so I used it sparingly. I put the peppermint on the back of her neck and rubbed it in, and then just put a tiny bit of lavender oil on the bridge of her nose. Then I got some wet paper towels and just wiped her eyes a little bit. About five minutes later she said the itching was gone and that her eyes felt better. By the time she left my house an hour or so later, her eyes were almost back to normal. Her mom told me that they kept improving!

I was so excited to be able to help her in such a simple way that didn't involve giving her more medication. I made a mental note to always have the "Basic Trio" on hand - Lavender, Lemon and Peppermint. doTerra makes a basic introductory kit of these three that retails for 28.50 plus shipping. If you would like more information, leave a comment and I will get in touch with you.

August 23, 2010: First Day of First Grade

Today was the very first day of First Grade for Josh. Which means that he goes to school all day long for the first time in his life. I cried on and off yesterday. Today - no biggie. He was confident, he's ready. He even let me just drop him off so that I didn't get all emotional. Plus I had to go to the grocery store to get more stuff for his lunches this week. I had fun packing his lunch. I am sure that will get old.

Cheesy smile

Cool as a cucumber

It was nearly impossible getting them to stop wiggling, look at me, and smile

Darn, they are cute kids

Josh said to Clara, "See you tonight, Sweetie!" He kept talking to her in a baby voice all morning, reassuring her that he would be gone all day, but that he would eventually come home. She kept looking at him like he was out of his mind. As Ama Georgia put it, "He's a little boy...and she's a teenager."

I'm excited to hear how his first day went, and excited to see what he learns this year. I'm not excited for homework, but maybe I'll just put that on Dave's To Do list.

August 20, 2010: Friday Night Lights

Friday Night was the opening home game of our new high school in Herriman. I have been excited because the mascot is the same as my high school mascot - the Mustang - and the colors are essentially the same - Crimson/Navy Blue. We thought we were smart to get there at 6:45 so we could "get good seats". This was the line.

This was the line five minutes after we arrived.

This was when we finally rounded the corner 10 minutes later. We got inside the stadium at 7:28pm. The game had started at 7:00pm. We had to sit in the Visitors Section because it was so packed.

That just gave me a good opportunity to take pictures of the home side.

And watch the sunset.

Herriman lost the opener, but they did a great job considering they are a team that has never played together. It was fun to see so many friends and neighbors. Having grown up in a huge city, I love the small town feel here. We are planning a tailgate in the parking lot at the next home game so that this time we can sit on the right side!

August 19, 2010: Back to School Night

The best thing I can say about Back to School night is that Josh is THRILLED to have his very own desk that he doesn't have to share. A few of his friends from last year are in his class, but he didn't seem to care about that because HE has his very own desk.

First Grade is going to ROCK.

August 21, 2010: In the Meantime

Today while I was canning this:
And baking this (Zucchini pile courtesy of Cousin Rachel):
And whipping up this for dinner:
Dave did this:
One more side and I can start painting again!

August 18, 2010: My New Cleaning Schedule

Is that how boring life has become? I need to post a cleaning schedule on my blog? Oh well.

Now that the casa is organized, I obviously want to keep it clean. For me that requires focus and targeted effort. For Dave that requires a list. I made the decision that I wanted the main floor to be cleanest closest to the weekend. I also made the decision that we will not be doing house cleaning on Saturdays. That leaves five days. Break it down:

Monday Basement - Guest Bedroom and Josh's Bedroom: Vacuum, dust, wash linens if necessary. (Josh's room will obviously always take longer than the guest bedroom unless someone has been staying with us which is why I paired them together) Wash Josh's clothes.

Tuesday Basement - Big room and Bathroom: Vacuum, mop, Dust, Wipe down everything, wash towels, wash Dave and Heidi's Dark Clothes

Wednesday Main Floor - Clara's Bedroom and Hall Bath: Vacuum, mop, Wipe down molding once a month, Wipe down bathroom, wash towels, wash Clara's clothes

Thursday Main Floor - Master Bedroom and Bathroom and Office: Vacuum, Dust, Wipe down everything, mop, Wash Dave and Heidi's whites

Friday Main Floor - Family Room, Living Room and Kitchen: Vacuum, Dust, Wipe down Counters, Mop, Wipe down Fridge and other appliances once a month

So there you go - the most visible part of the house is saved for last. Each of these days will take me max about half an hour. If I can figure out how to get up 15 minutes earlier, I might even be able to get it done before I take the kids to school and how cool would THAT be? I am also allowing myself to get started on whatever laundry I need to do the night before so that one load is already done at least.

Let's see how long I can stick with it. Dave's responsibility is to unload the dishwasher, mop the floors, and FINISH THE MOLDING. That is all.

August 16, 2010: Birote Salado Guadalajara

Dave served his mission in Guadalajara back in the mid to late 90s. He was really skinny before his mission. Then he discovered these babies. These are Birote, otherwise known as of yesterday to me as "Beer Bread". They are very specific to Guadalajara, apparently, and one of his colleagues at work told him the real name because he had been trying to make bolillos. It's in Spanish, and then even converted it is in grams and milliliters, so it took the poor guy a long time to make them.

I call it beer bread because the recipe calls for beer. This was entertaining even in itself, since he doesn't drink beer, and has never bought beer before Saturday night. I asked my trusty neighbor what he should get and he gave me a fancy name (that I ignored because it sounded expensive). Then he said, "You could get Coors Light and be fine." Ahhh, that was familiar. Except Dave came home with Busch something or other. And then discovered that it was non-alcoholic.

Leave it to Dave.

So then he had to go back and ended up buying Budweiser. So we now have a six pack of non-alcoholic beer and a five pack of Bud. Good for slugs and snails...or birote.

These suckers take a long time to make. You have to mix all of the ingredients and THEN let it sit for 18 hours to have enough acidity. He had to count the hours so that it would coincide with coming home from Church. By the time dinner was done and the bread was done it was 9:00 pm. Almost 24 hours later and we had 5 mini-footballs of bread to show for it. Kind of like gardening when you get squash bugs.

Anyway, he forced me, literally sat me down and forced me to try the bread. And I'm on a diet (which I am always on) and it was 9:00 pm and he was asking me to eat BREAD? Is he completely insane?

I got out the butter.

And let me tell you, the calories I am going to have to burn today to make up for it makes it completely worth it. If this bread didn't take so dadgum long to make, I would have him make it for me every week and I would give up my waistline (what waistline?) for it. Instead I think it will just be one of those special occasion breads. Something to look forward to.