Disrespect

I am concerned about the treatment of the majority of laboring women in U.S. hospitals. I am angry about the disrespect they are receiving from their doctors and care givers.
My sister in law recently gave birth to her first child. A little boy. My SIL was in labor for 12 hours. 12 hours is not that long especially for a first child yet my SIL still ended up with pitocin. I wonder if they told her of the dangers? I wonder if they told her it could increase her chances of c-section or that it would make her pain much much worse.
When my SIL got to the hospital her doctor wasn't even there. She ended up with a lady she had never met. A doctor that didn't even think to ask my brother in law if he wanted to cut the cord.
I am horrified by this. I am angry at the disrespectful way my SIL and BIL were treated! Mostly, I am saddened that they just don't seem to know or care that they were treated with such disrespect.

Good food, good beer, good wine, good times

This past weekend was a blast. My husband, myself and a group of friends went to Wenwood Farms winery for there Harvest Home Festival. It's a contest for local brewers and wine makers. You get to taste all the homemade wine and beer then you vote on your favorite in each category. The categories are: dry wine, sweet wine, semi sweet/dry wine, whole grain beer, and extract beer. They have music as well as arts and crafts vendors. All the proceeds go to supportclass Earth's classroom. The best thing is that my husband and his friend entered a beer in the whole grain category and won first place! This was their first competition so we were reallly excited. They won a medal, a hand thrown mug and a tour of the O'Fallon brewery for 8 people.
Sunday my husband and I went to Ferrigno winery and ate a picnic lunch of cheese, sausage and fruit. We enjoyed a bottle of their Primavera, a white semi-dry wine that's perfect for a warm day. It was a great weekend!

I don't believe it!

I can't believe it I missed Iron Cupcake again! I even had my cupcake made and everything! Maybe I was naive to think that a homeschooling mom with 3 kids would have the time to do this, or maybe I'm just forgetful! Oh well, I'll tell you a little about my cupcake anyways. I made an ice cream cupcake! It had 3 layers. The first layer was a lemon cake, the second layer was a basil ice cream and the top layer was raspberry preserves. It was OK, but I actually liked the ice cream alone better.

I vow to make next months entry!!

Basil!

That's the next ingredient in the Iron Cupcake challenge! I have until September 25th to submit my original recipe. I have a few ideas swimming around in my head, but nothing to definite.
I have to say I don't use a lot of basil, and I've definitely never used it as a dessert before. I'm excited though. This is why I joined Iron Cupcake, so I could challenge myself.

Baby showers and some thoughts

My husbands brother and his wife are expecting their first child this September, and today I went to a shower for them. It was the normal shower with silly games, cake and punch. It was a nice time. My SIL and BIL are good people, and I'm sure they'll make good parents.
However, just like every other shower I've attended (even some of my own) I've always been curious about some of the gifts people give. Not that they're weird, but just that they're useless. In my opinion at least. I know some of the stuff I find useless others find essential, for example disposable diaper, because I use cloth. Also what about receiving blankets? Yeah, I used a few, but not the hundreds people usually receive! And what about a microwave sterilizer? People really sterilize their kids things? I mean I understand in certain instances, but not enough to warrant a full time sterilization machine!
I always wonder if I should say something? You know casually lean over and out of the corner of my mouth whisper, "that's useless." Of course I never do, because I know a few extra things can't cause harm(debatable), and what I really want to save my energy for is things that can cause harm.
Like circumcision. I know it's a touchy subject, and I'm not here to judge. It's just not something I can get on board with. Unless of course it's for real medical reasons. Why is it that we scoff at the thought of a little girl being circumcised, but line our boys up like cattle to the slaughter? How do you bring something like this up? "What color are you painting the babies room, oh and how do you feel about genital mutilation?" It just doesn't usually come up in general conversation. Maybe it's not my business, but I would make it my business to protect a child from other forms of abuse, so why not a form of accepted and even encouraged abuse? It just breaks my heart to think of those poor babies strapped down, cut and bleeding. When I was pregnant with R I got into an argument with my husband, his friend and a friend of mine on circumcision. I was against and they were for. At one point my husbands friend says, "what does it matter we don't remember pain anyways?" If that's his way of justifying it then why don't we burn our newborns with cigarettes, or hit them with wires? If they don't remember the pain then why not? FYI my friend did eventually change her mind years later. I know there are some arguments for circ., but none of them hold water in my opinion. People always say it's a personal decision. Which is true, but wouldn't that mean it's the child's decision?

Mom of the year, I am not

So today was one of those days that I just kind of want to forget.
It started out well with a nice leisurely walk around the park, but as soon as we got home things just seemed to head south. First I wanted to take a shower, but baby K wouldn't have it. Finally E sat on the floor in the bathroom and watched him while I took a super quick shower.
Today was playgroup and after we got ourselves together with diaper bags and snacks we headed for the park. About a minute from the park I realized I had forgotten to pack our water bottle. I knew this wouldn't do because it was super hot today. So I pulled into Sonic which is on the way, and ordered us some drinks. Of course it takes way too long to get 3 measly drinks and by now baby K is crying. HYSTERICALLY! This of course means R starts getting upset, because he hates to hear people cry. I know because he tells me all the time. We finally get our drinks and as I'm pulling out I notice that I'm a little too close on the passengers side to the speaker. I'm being really cautious as not to hit the speaker, K is crying, R is complaining and then E screams, "you're going to hit that thing," at the top of her lungs! I, of course am already super stressed so I respond by yelling, "I'm not stupid!" So of course now E is crying and I just feel like a jerk.
We finally make it to the park. I apologize to the kids, and they go off to play.

Some days are like this. No days are perfect, and that's not what I strive for anyways. I just strive to be harmonious. If the days are tough than we can make up for it in the evenings.

Choco-chili cupcakes with chocolate mandarin cream cheese frosting!

I went ahead and made the cupcakes for the Iron cupcake challenge. I took a basic devils food cake recipe slightly tweaked added some ground dried red chili pepper and then topped it off with a chocolate mandarin cream cheese frosting! I accidentally left them in the oven a little too long, so they are a little dry. Oh well, the frosting makes up for it. It's a very thick frosting with a kind of "mouse like" texture. The cake itself has a nice chocolate flavor that isn't too sweet. A moment after the first bite you feel a nice warmth from the chili, but nothing crazy. I think the cake and frosting compliment one another well. I'm going to take them to playgroup tomorrow and see what everyone else thinks. I'll post the results along with photos tomorrow. For now here is the recipe:

Oven temp. 350*

Ingredients
2 1/4 cup AP flour
2 1/3 cup sugar
1 cup baking cocoa
1 tbs plus 1 tsp red chili powder
1 1/2 cups water
3/4 cup butter softened
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
2 eggs

Frosting
1 block cream cheese
3 oz semi sweet chocolate baking squares
1/2 cup powder sugar
small can mandarin oranges

For the cake:
Combine all the dry ing. and then add the liquid ing. Mix with electric mixture until well combined. Pour into lined cupcake pans. Bake for 12-15 min or until done.
Let cool.

Frosting:
Drain the mandarin oranges, but save the juice
Melt and cool the chocolate
Combine the cream cheese and powder sugar in a bowl with an electric mixer. Slowly add the mandarin juice depending on how citrusey you want it(I added most of mine) Now slowly add the chocolate until combined.

Garnish
If you really want to make these pretty you can take the little oranges and dip half of each one in melted chocolate. Once they have dried place them neatly onto each frosted cupcake!

Boo Hoo

I think I signed up for Iron Cupcake too late:( Oh well, there's always next month! On the plus side I learned how to post links, and I opened a Flickr account! Yay me!

Insomnia...and cupcakes?

I frequently have problems with insomnia(I once painted my kitchen when I couldn't sleep) and one of the ways I remedy this is to play around on the computer. One of my favorite sites to look at is Bakerella. As my mouth was watering over all the yummy treats she has cooked up I noticed this thing about an Iron Cupcake challenge. What is it? Every month they will give you an ingredient with which to make an original cupcake recipe with. Of course the ingredient is non-traditional to cupcakes. This months challenge for instance is chili.

At 5am this sounded like a good idea and after thinking of all the amazing things I would make I decided to join. Of course now in the light of day I see some potential problems.
Number 1. Time. I have 3 kids. I have a 6mo old. Need I say more.
Number 2. Experience. I'm good at baking,but I've never made up my own recipe!
Number3. I don't have a camera to take pictures of my creations!
Number4.My computer skills leave a lot to be desired. I don't even know how to post links. Hell I can barely keep up with this blog!
Number5. Did I mention time?

I know, I know quit complaining and start baking! All of these problems are easy to remedy and besides I'm doing this more to challenge myself and to have fun. Of course prizes never hurt!

How I became an unschooler

When I first began home schooling 3 years ago I had plans to do it the "right" way. I had all the supplies including the chalk board. I was going to be the teacher and darling E was going to be the student.

Now during this time I had begun to read a book about unschooling from my public library(I don't recall the title) I thought it sounded interesting, but didn't believe it could actually work.

Our first day of "school" and I have everything ready. Lesson plans, worksheets, a schedule, even snacks! Our first lesson was about bears. I don't remember exactly what the plan was, but at one point we decided to go outside. As I'm giving my well rehearsed speech on the habitat of the grizzly bear E is inspecting a small colony of "rolly-polly" bugs. "What are these she asks?" "Bugs," I reply. "What do they eat?" "I don't know," I say. "Which ones are boys and which ones are girls?" Now I'm getting frustrated! " E don't you want to learn something today?" As soon as the words left my mouth I knew the absurdity of them. Of course she wanted to learn. Everyone wants to learn. She just wanted to learn about bugs and not about bears.

Over the next couple of day I ditched the lesson plans and just let E play. I observed her, I took the time to answer her questions and I really took a deep look into how I felt about unschooling. I realized part of my resistance was due to a part of me still needing to heal from the trauma of attending public school. It was as if I was subconsciously saying, "I had to go through this, now so do you!" Then I remembered how bad school made me feel. I don't want people I love to feel that bad. I thought about how much I would have learned had I not attended school. How much better I would have felt about myself.

So we began to unschool, and I began to heal.

Why I unschool part 1

Today darling E decided she wanted to build a fairy house. So we headed outside to get some supplies. The problem with E doing these types of things is that she can be somewhat of a perfectionist. She gets it from me. Nevertheless we began our adventures in fairy house building. About 3 glue sticks, 30 sticks and 20 min later we had the basic frame of the house together. We still need to add the roof and a few fancies to make it special, but alas we ran out of glue sticks. Tomorrow we head to the store to replenish our glue supplies and it will be back to the construction sight!

This is why I love unschooling! My kids are able to just play, and through that play they learn. Just yesterday they learned about caterpillars, fish, pollution, fly fishing, mussels and clouds all while taking a quick stroll around a lake.

People always wonder why I home school. They usually think it's for some sort of generic reason like religion or to keep my kids safe/shelterd. It's neither. I am not a religious person, although I do believe in a higher power and it's definitely not because I want to shelter my kids. If I wanted to shelter them I would put them in school! I love it when people ask me "what about when they get in the real world?" My kids ARE in the real world! Setting at a desk all day starring at a chalk board is NOT the real world. Going to the store, taking walks, collecting rocks, studying bugs, coloring, making dough, baking cookies, going to the library THIS is the real world!

I remember a friend of mine once telling me that as a first grader she had an assignment to demonstrate to the class something she was good at. My friend demonstrated a sandwich recipe she created on her own. She made it exactly as she always did and the grade she received was a D. Why? I'm truly asking why? The teacher didn't say demonstrate anything you want, except a sandwich. My friend demonstrated the sandwich correctly. She had to of! It was her creation. I believe she got the D, because the teacher didn't like her project. Not because she did it incorrectly.

I remember as a high schooler having to OK all my art projects with the art teacher. I remember her telling me to add evergreens to a landscape I had drawn. The evergreens ruined the picture in my eye, but I would have received a failing grade if I hadn't obliged.

I don't want this type of stuff to happen to my kids. We should never be told that the things we create are wrong.

Just breathe

Baby K always falls asleep while I am on the computer. If I move he will wake up so I tend to just stay here for the short little cat nap he will take. As I sit here enjoying his sweetness my older children are running around upstairs screaming! So far they have fought very little, but my absence seems to wake something up inside of them. My first thought is to scream at them, but them I remember sweet baby K asleep on my lap. I also know screaming just leads to more screaming. So I say to myself just breathe. I calmly call them down stairs. I give them each a chance to speak. A solution is found, and they go upstairs happy and calm. Things are right again. Baby K can sleep a wee bit longer and all because I remembered to breathe.

Why I home school my children

Many people wonder why I home school my children. First let me say this post could be somewhat offensive to some people. I apologize, but these are my honest feelings.

I hated school as a child. I hated it so much that I used to get physically sick. I believe schools demean children. They treat them only slightly better than animals to the slaughter. When to eat, when to play, when to talk, when to use the bathroom. Even worse, what to think.

I want my children to be free to learn what they choose. Even if it seems pointless to those around them. Even if it means they learn about the same thing every day for a year. Even if it means they are "not on track" with their age group.

I want them to be able to try something, mess up, and try again! I want them to be able to try, try, and try again without fear of bad grades or harsh words. This is how we learn. By making mistakes. School takes this away.

I want my kids to be able to learn by doing. I want them to learn about animals by going to the zoo. To learn about the weather by playing outside. To learn about the depression by talking to someone that was actually there.

I want my kids to be able to eat when they are hungry and not because they are on someone else schedule.

I want my kids to be able to use the restroom when they need it and not have to hold it until the next break

I want my kids to be able to play with kids older and younger than they are. I don't want them to be segregated by age. My kids have learned so much by playing with kids outside of their age group.

I want my kids to learn because they enjoy it, not because they have to.

Mother Blessings

Mother Blessings are a way to honor a woman before the birth of her child. They do not focus on material goods like a baby shower, but rather on good energy for the mother to be.

My friend Shauna is currently pregnant with her 5th baby(it will be the 6th for her family however) and this past Sunday we honored her with a Mother Blessing. If you have never been to a Mother Blessing I truly believe you are missing out on some of the most amazing energy in the world. Shauna wore a wreath of fresh flowers on her head and we each presented her with small birth power gifts. We sang songs and ate wonderful food. We even cried a little.

Thursday we honored Shauna with another Mother Blessing. This one included a group of young girls. It was beautiful in it's own special way. It was outside at the park, and the weather was gorgeous! The energy was different, but still good. This time we each brought a bead or charm to add to a mobile for Shauna to hang in her home. It turned out amazing.

After partaking in these two Blessings I have to wonder why we do not have more ceremonies in our culture? I know we have birthdays and anniversaries, but what about real ceremonies? Not about gifts or things, but about honoring people during the changes in their lives. Birth, death, divorce, first periods, marriage, menopause etc. etc. The list is endless.

I want more ceremony in my life. I want more traditions. I want to celebrate my ever changing life.

Laundry day

I decided to do a laundry day today. It's just something I do on occasion when the laundry gets out of hand. OH boy was it out of hand! I've done 7 loads already, and I've still got quite a ways to go.

I've come to realize that laundry days are rather enjoyable in their own simple way. The kids and I usually make something yummy to eat(today we made a chocolate cake with orange icing) and we watch movies. I know it sounds boring, but it's actually quite fun. I sit and fold the clothes while we all take turns picking out movies to enjoy together.

Today we've watched a lot of Little House on the Prairie. I loved that show as a child and now I'm glad I get to enjoy it with my kids. It brought on a ton of questions and some great opportunities to learn. We discussed Native Americans, horses, oxen,wagons, settlers, and a lot more. It's funny how people seem to think you have to be in a classroom to learn or at least setting at a desk. My kids learn so much just from living. Now I'm not saying I don't worry at times, but today was one of those days that reminded me to just let go.