Crocheted Hair Bows

I've been doing a lot of crocheting recently and thought I would share one of my latest projects with you.  I made these cute little crocheted hair bows with a certain little someone in mind.  I think they are just too cute! 

I've using the time when our family is watching a movie or sitting in a waiting room, etc. to work on a few projects and since Rachel is at the age right now to really enjoy wearing hair bows and necklaces (pretty pretties is what she calls them) I thought these would be cute for her.  Hope ya'll have a good weekend!

One Advantage of Being Strange

If you read my last post you know that I've been hearing quite a bit lately about my strangeness, or at least about how strange our lifestyle is compared to others around us.  Well, I have to say the advantages of my "strangeness" quite often outweigh the disadvantages.  Today is one example.  About noon today, I realized that I had not made any effort to plan our evening meal.  Since several of us have been sick the last few weeks I have also not taken the time to plan weekly menus as usual.  So here I am at noon today, knowing that the afternoon/early evening  (from about 2:00 p.m. until about 6:00 p.m.) would be busy with errands.  Thanks to my "strange and complicated" lifestyle I was able to go to the freezer, pull out a pack of already cooked ground beef and cooked (already seasoned) beans.  I dumped them into the crockpot, picked up a bag of tortilla chips while running errands and my evening meal was done.  There is nothing like the smell of homemade chili when you walk in the door after running errands on a cool afternoon.  Yum!  I think I'll stick with being strange, how bout you?

Cookbook

Ok, I admit it.  I'm strange.  I've always been strange and I guess I will continue to be strange to a lot of people.  Even when I was a child I liked to do strange things like hoe in the garden, feed chickens and have pet pigs (that we later ate).  As I got older I did things like "put up" jellies/jams and garden produce.  Later we had milk goats (and yes we drank the milk), chickens (for eggs and meat), rabbits (for meat), and guineas (just because I like them :).   In recent years I have done things like start an herb garden, bulk cook for the freezer, sew, crochet, learn to knit and make soap. 

I have been blessed to live in an area where there are others who share many of these same interests.  To me these things don't seem all that strange and I have always found someone that I could learn from or share tips with.  I have never really considered myself that "strange" or "different" until recently.  Lately, I have been told quite a bit that I do things the hard way and how much more efficient I could be if I did things the "normal" way. The only thing I can figure is that with our world changing and becoming more "convenient" with ever increasing technology my strangeness just seems to show up more.  For my part, I am totally content with it :) 

Soooo, in the interest of being strange I want to tell you about another cookbook that I recently purchased.   (I think I have mentioned before that I love cookbooks).  The one that has "struck my fancy" lately is titled "Nourishing Traditions" by Sally Fallon.  I purchased it from Amazon.com and I absolutely love it.  The writer includes nutritional information and the health benefits of lacto-fermented foods.  I have to admit that she piqued my interest and I have already tried several of the recipes.   If you are tired of hearing about "politically correct" nutrition and are interested in getting back to the basics, I think you'll love it too.  Go ahead, be strange, it's not so bad!

Herbs

I don't know about anyone else, but I've been enjoying these beautiful, cool days that we have been having lately.  I love being outside anyway, but with weather like this it's almost impossible for me to stay inside and "on task."   Today I have been gathering herbs from my garden and getting them in the dehydrator.  I love the smell in my house as the herbs are drying.   My little herb garden has really done well this year and I have been able to get quite a bit dried and stored.  Today I'm working on peppermint, thyme, and sage.  

The more I learn about herbs the more fascinating they are to me.  Herbs are one of God's many awesome provisions for His creation.  We have been using herbs (on a small scale) medicinally for a few years now.   At first my children were a little skeptical, but it's becoming more and more common for them to come in and ask for one of my salves or teas.  As a matter of fact, my oldest son Heath had been battling bronchitis for about a week when his employer sent him to the doctor.  Now, Heath has always been my biggest skeptic where herbal remedies are concerned and I have never been able to really get him to drink any of the teas (although he has become a firm believer in the salves :).  After going to the doctor and being prescribed an antibiotic and a strong cough medicine Heath came home to recuperate.  After taking the meds for about three days and feeling worse and worse, he came and ASKED for a tea to make him feel better.  (For Heath, that is a really big deal).   I made him something relatively mild and not terribly yucky tasting to see if he would actually follow through with drinking it.  HE DID!  WOW!  I don't know if it actually made him feel better, but he drank it several times and did seem to rest better.   I've been told that a positive response to herbal remedies is all in my head, that they don't really work, but you know I've come to the conclusion that even if that's true, I'll take it.  As long as I feel better, it really doesn't matter if it's all in my head or not :)  And I have to agree that sometimes it's maybe just the comfort of sipping a hot cup of tea while snuggled under a warm blanket with a good book that makes the difference.  Either way, I'll take it!