When you know you're in trouble....

You know you're in trouble when your 9 year-old daughter comes down and asks, "What is our incoming mail server and our outgoing mail server?"

Thursday Thoughts

I have been musing on a lot of topics this morning, as I try to get my brain to actually engage in today. Apparently, writing down my to do lists was just a hypothetical exercise to my head. I hope you will indulge me as I put these random thoughts out on the web....

First of all, my inbox has a bunch of emails that I can't delete because I am waiting on action, but I can't take any action right now. It is driving me absolutely crazy! I have three about an ebay purchase, several about chickens and turkeys (stay tuned for that one), and who knows what else. Does it bug you to have an inbox with stuff just sitting in it??

We had the best burgers on the planet this week, using our local beef. We have enjoyed having local, sustainably raised beef so much that we went and bought a pig this week. We will be enjoying the world's best ham, bacon and pork this fall and winter. I am on a quest for chickens, but I have to wait for my hubby's OK to purchase those. I did sign up for our locally raised Thanksgiving turkey, though. I think I have turned into a native here.

The TV is on with a vengeance at my house. Ugh. I can totally feel a difference in the spirit of our home when it is on, even though we only watch appropriate stuff. I am thankful to have it in the evenings when I am so tired, but other times I miss the TV free environment we had. I have not set up many TV rules yet, since it's been like being in the desert and just finding a drink for the kids. Not that they missed it, but they are filling up again. Once homeschool starts, I know they won't be watching nearly as much.

Oh, homeschool. Here we go again. I've purchased just about everything I need, now I just have to put it together. And finish all those sewing projects I wanted to have done before we start up again. And find a way to convince my husband to paint our white walls--at eleven years in our house, they have passed the point of touch-up paint.

I am already feeling the pressure that summer is almost over. Yikes. What do you still want to get done this summer?

Beware of Artificial Sweeteners

Last year, as I began my big weight loss push, I added Crystal Light to my diet. I don't particularly enjoy drinking straight water, but I will drink flavored drinks. I really don't enjoy sodas, but love juices...case in point, my favorite soda is Hawaiian Punch.

Obviously, you can drink a ton of calories very easily, so hence the Crystal Light option. I do drink a lot of milk, but had to cut it down to once a day for Weight Watchers points purposes.

Well, I've had a major depressive crash this year, and felt another smaller crash building earlier this month. When I think back to both, the only correlation I could see (that I hadn't already ruled out with my doctor) was I was drinking more CL than usual.

I am growing more and more concerned about the quality of the foods in my diet, and turning to local, organic foods. So tonight, I started researching aspartame just for fun.

There was a study done about 16 years ago of aspartame and individuals with depression. Those with depression who were given the aspartame had such extreme reactions that the study was shut down. There is a very scary link between seizures, depression and mental disorders and the effects of aspartame. It blocks the absorption of serotonin, which those with chemical imbalances already struggle with.

I am swearing off the stuff right now. I am going to cut all artificial sweeteners, actually, because there are accounts of Splenda causing problems with depression.

I encourage you to think about it, too.

While you're at it...check out this blog post on store eggs vs. farm eggs. I now buy eggs from my mechanic, of all people. He sells farm eggs at the shop. :)

Photo Class

I have been taking a free photography class at the library the past few weeks. I am slowly learning how to get off automatic and use the aperture/shutter/iso/etc. controls for better pictures. Not that my photos are in danger of being on the cover of a magazine (or anywhere inside!) but I can publish them here. :) (The joys of having a blog.)

Humble Pie

I always tell my kids how weird our family is. We homeschool, we drink powdered milk, we bought our own local cow for beef this year (and just signed up for a pig), and most of all, we don't have TV.

We do own one, and for the last few years, our kids have watched DVD's and played the occasional video game. Until a couple of months ago, we did have rabbit ears upstairs for sick days or presidential debates, but that was it.

We've been amazed at how our lives are without TV. Of course, when we get near one at friends/family's homes, it's almost a magnet, but we've always walked away grateful we don't have it in our home. I even mentioned it in my Relief Society lesson last month.

Well.....

iTunes started selling TV shows and my girls saved their allowances to buy a bunch. (They still are fans of some of the Disney shows.) My husband started working swing shift and there are nights I am about to go out of my mind because I am so tired. I want nothing more than to sit down and relax watching TV for a few. We tried getting TV shows on DVD from the library, but we grew tired of that quickly--and I don't want to watch 20 of the same show! Suddenly, we didn't feel so TV free after all.

I decided I wanted it back. We looked into options...that was overwhelming! So many services charge fee after fee after fee and want a 2-year commitment with huge cancellation fees. We finally decided on our local cable company (which was the last company I would have considered) because we can get it back without having to sell our souls away in the process.

It comes back into our lives today. We are planning on setting up very strict limits on channels and time and content, but we will see. I still am somewhat mixed about bringing it back--we love our lives without it. I think the key will be the element of control.

I emailed a couple of friends who have TV but have not let it rule their lives to get their ideas for control....this was what they said:

"This summer seems to be a free for all. They are still to get their jobs (including goals/learning activities) done before TV. During school we are really strict. You get 1 show a day (or 30 minutes of a movie) - take it or leave it -- after homework and piano practicing are done. On the weekend it's the same except when we put on a movie together or if they wake up early they can watch it until we are get going on Saturday morning. I have tried other more elaborate ways to regulate the TV - especially when they were younger -- but this worked really great last year."

"We control TV by putting a password on the TiVo for all channels except PBS. Every channel except PBS comes up blank. So...the kids can only access the PBS shows and if we ever watch anything else, it's something we've recorded on the TiVO so we can forward every single commercial ever!!!! We also only have 1 TV and it's in my room, with a lock on the door. I hate to say it but if I don't lock the door while I'm gone, and there are things the kids need to do (like put away food, take a shower and go to bed), they don't do them. Even with PBS the only option for TV. So, that's my deal. Be ready with chores done, kitchen clean, jammies on, etc. or I lock the door when Mom and Dad leave. I really hate it. But I don't have a better solution at the moment for me to impress upon them that responsibilities come first. Other than that, the kids like to get DVDs from the library and often they don't get to watch them before they're returned since we only get a week and very little TV time."

I'd love to hear what you do to limit TV in your homes. I'll keep you posted on what works for us (although I am expecting a bit of a free-for-all when it first comes back.) :)

Oh What Do You Do in the Summertime?

It's summer, and I have realized it is the season for doing all the jobs I don't have time for while homeschooling. I decided that this week (and the coming week) will be for deep cleaning the house. It is taking much longer than I realized. I have decluttered one final time (ha!) and then started the spring, I mean summer, cleaning. I took all the books of the shelves, dusted them and the shelves and put them back up. When I tried to wipe down the shelf fronts, I realized that it was something only a fresh coat of paint would solve. So everything came back down and I pulled out the paint. As I started painting the shelves, I noticed the baseboards needed it, too. As I was doing the baseboards, I realized the interior doors needed it. I swear I was living the homemaker's version of If You Give a Mouse a Cookie.

After painting the interior doors in and around the family room, I realized just how dirty the door from the garage into the house was looking. I ran down to Ace to grab some spray paint and blue tape (and some caulk for those problem spots I noticed elsewhere) and got busy at home. After my first few sprays onto the door, I got a phone call informing me that my husband was on his way home a day early from the scout hike. I like to painting projects while he is away because he hates them so much and puts them off endlessly. But here I was, with the house in crazy project mode and the clock ticking.

Somehow, thanks to the angels I call my kids, we got the house back together and I was actually cooking dinner by the time he got home. (Beats the sandwiches and Lucky Charms from the night before.) Of course, he told me tonight he didn't care what the house looked like. Knowing what state it was in, I am not so sure.