What I'm reading now?

I love a good book!! I have a kindle full of books at my fingertips. I honestly think it's the best invention ever! Okay, maybe not, but seriously I love it! If you have amazon prime you get TONS of free books. I think there are about 10-20 different free books a day! I still buy some though! ;)

So here are the books that I am reading now:

The 80-10-10 diet. This is a GREAT book for anyone who is looking to eat healthy. Although I never plan to be full 80-10-10, this is still a really great read. It has tons of details of how our bodies work, digest foods, absorb nutrients, and how we use those nutrients. VERY GOOD! It also is not one of those "eat this or die" type books. There are so many like that! This does not push you to follow the diet 100%, yet gently guides you on how to slowly incorporate healthier foods into your diet. Love that!

 

 

 

Next up is "Women Living Well". WOW!!! Just WOW!! I am having an extremely hard time putting this book down!!! This is a Christian based book, but I think anyone can really take away a lot from this book! This book is about how to find joy in homemaking. It hits on topics that we as homemakers come across almost daily and how to really find joy in it. It is like she is looking thru my windows at my house! LOL! She has a very casual friendly tone that I love. It's like sitting down with a good friend that UNDERSTANDS you and is there to motivate you along the way. LOVE THIS BOOK!



 

So there you go! That's what I'm reading! What are you reading now? What are some really good books that you can share with us? Please let me know in comments. I always love a good book! :)

COOKING!

So, as you may know by my Healthy Eating Series that I am trying to avoid processed foods. Furthermore I am now exploring a flexterian style diet. Flexterian? Is there such a thing? Yep, I didn't just make it up! It's a "mostly vegetarian" that sometimes eats meat. Okay, now this is something I can work with! I tend to have issues when cutting out entire groups of foods. I do however hope to become a vegetarian some day, but for now I seriously need to take baby steps! Like I've said before, when learning a new habit it's best for me to take it slow. I get overwhelmed to easily if I don't. Mainly because I put so much pressure on myself to get it "just right". Well, this flexterian thing is made just for me!!!!

Why a diet change?

Well, if you don't already know I have asthma. Can you imagine coming down with asthma at age 33? I knew for the past few years that I have had trouble breathing and finally got tested. Did you know processed foods and GMO foods can cause asthma? What has my diet over the past, I don't know, 33 years consist of? Processed foods! Now I have to admit my mother was great at cooking from scratch, so my diet was much better then than it is now! So back to the drawing board! It's time to get healthy!!!!

Also, my husband who is also 33 has high cholesterol. I don't want him to have to go on prescription meds for so many reasons. So we need to get that down. We did it before with exercise and diet, but we've slipped up with our busy life. Time to get back on board and stay there!

Tip for those with high cholesterol: Use a product called Benecol Smart Chews to lower your number fairly quickly. This stuff is AMAZING and it is worth every penny! Just know that with any supplement you will need to incorporate diet and exercise. We lowered his cholesterol before using this, 30 minutes cardio a day, and cutting out red meat (you can have chicken and turkey in small amounts). We used it for 2-3 months and stopped using it. We then were able to stabilize it with diet and exercise alone. The doctor was VERY impressed! No RX required! Also I do not recommend using sterols. Stick with a supplement that uses stanols. Sterols have been known to weaken blood vessels over time.

So, to help me along my journey I am renting TONS of cookbooks from the library this week. I will come back and let you know how they went and maybe even post some videos for you to! So stay tuned! This is going to be exciting!

Slime Putty Warning!

I just want to write this up real quick about slime putty. We see all those super fun things to make with our children on Pinterest. I see LOTS of slime putty type experiments to do with your toddler. My son loves slime! I found a pumpkin slime and made it for my son. In a nut shell it was 3 cups water, 2 cups white glue, and 3/4 tsp borax. Throw in a little food coloring and pumpkin spice to make it extra special!

Okay. I made this stuff and guess what? My 3 year old ate some of it. I'm still dealing with that right now. It happened around 8pm last night. It is now 11am as I right this (DH is looking after him right now). As soon as we noticed what happened we called the ER that directed us to poison control. Pretty much they said he "should be okay with maybe some vomiting and diarrhea." Well, as any mother now a days would do, I got online still worried sick. Look up borax poisoning and you will see how well I slept last night! Kidney failure and organ failure?! OMG! And I put this stuff in silly putty and then proceeded to make it smell like FOOD with pumpkin spice! There is no other greater Mommy guilt than this folks! I kept telling myself it was only a teaspoon at most, but then you read on and it says less than 1 teaspoon can kill a child or small pet.

Are you reading this!? Borax is lethal to small children and it is put in recipes for crafts that involve toddlers! Well, I let my son stay up until midnight so I could watch him closely. The worry of your child just grabs hold of every single cell in your body when something like this happens. It is gut wrenching! He woke up fine this morning and I finally felt so much better. Then he proceeded to drink some water and began vomiting. Just when I thought this nightmare was over he is now vomiting! Then you remember all the things you read on Dr. Google about borax poisoning and then the gut wrenching feeling comes back 10 fold now because he has actual symptoms. Is his kidneys shutting down? Did the man on the phone with poison control know what he was talking about? What if somehow our situation is different? Worse? Did we leave out any details? Should we bring him to the ER just in case?

People, this is the WORST feeling a mother can ever have! I can tell you this now. I just wanted a fun project to do with my son and this is what happened. If you have borax in your home and you have a small child, THROW IT OUT! Do not craft with it and do not use it! I have asthma as well and borax is a huge lung irritant. So if you have lung problems and don't have small children, still throw it out. It is not worth the risk. My nightmare will now continue on until I know for sure 100% that my son will be okay. :(

*If your child has eaten this stuff before, please let me know about it.


****UPDATE****

My little guy got VERY sick, but thankfully he is fine now! I have tossed the borax in the garbage and will never buy the stuff again.

Pond & Bug Preschool Theme Pack

The Pond & Bug Theme Pack is up and ready!! Check it out now!

This pack is FREE for our visitors and our followers! :) 

Free Book today!

Check out this free book! :)

Welcome to my new shop!!!

Check it out here!

GRAND OPENING SALE! Use code "BLOG50" and 50% off your entire order!!! No minimums!!

As most of you all know by now, I homeschool my toddler. I have since he was able to sit up. He LOVES his lessons! The idea is to keep things bright, colorful, and fun! I opened my new shop on Etsy called Homegrown Love 101. I added a couple of new items this week!

Preschool Apple Theme Pack

Preschool Pack #1

GRAND OPENING SALE!

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Use code "BLOG50" at check out!

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Wacky Sacks

This is a very cool idea I found on Somewhat Simple. These are play dough filled balloons! What a great way to inspire imagination! This is a very easy and fun project you can do in just a few minutes time. Here is what you need:

*Balloons
*Pom Poms
*Sharpie Marker
*Hot Glue Gun

For this project simply fill the balloon with play dough and decorate! It's that easy! Tons of fun for the little ones and great "stress balls" for adults!!

Other ideas:

Draw different faces on the balloons to help teach emotions! :)

*Check out some more cool craft ideas from Somewhat Simple HERE.