stitch london

I saw this cute knitting book Stitch London: 20 Kooky Ways to Knit the City and More at Barnes & Noble today... I actually did not buy it (I know you're finding that very hard to believe but I've cut way back on my spending!). I just got a kick out of the projects... don't you love the Queen's corgis?! There are more projects in there than the Little Londoners and it actually comes with enough yarn to do the pigeon. Because everyone needs a little knitted pigeon (There aren't enough in the real world, you know.)  It seems I get the knitting bug whenever the weather starts to cool down. Time to pull out those needles!

cranking out the ideas...

I decided to show you what I've been working on since it looks like they may not be used. There was a designer hired before me by the other business partner and it looks like he's set on that person (even though she isn't any good). So... it was really good to be designing again and I think there may be a good chance that I can help with some other things in the company. I realized that I've been designing for over 20 years now which is hard to believe. It's been here and there, some full-time, some freelance, but jobs always seem to come along when I least expect it! This was the first time I designed a logo for beauty product packaging and I can add that on to the long list of things I've done: book covers, cds, advertising, medical books, children's workbooks and tape cover, newsletters, newspapers, p.o.p. kits, company holiday cards and invitations, business cards, brochures, and business logos. I think that's it, but I always forget something! Maybe I should actually update my portfolio.

Under Your Skin

by Jessica Durrant on etsy

I promised I would tell you about the skin care line I found which has been so amazing that I can't keep it to myself! How lucky am I that Beth Shisler, the founder of Under Your Skin, lives right next door to me?!

When I first heard that she had developed her own skin care, I thought "just one more skin care line" in the long, long list of available options. But I was wrong!  It just so happened that our blogging friend Willow had just told me that she had been trying Castor Oil and Olive Oil together to make a natural cleanser, and it made her skin so soft. I have oily skin that can break out if someone just looks at me, so that was the last thing I was going to try but I was intrigued by the ingredients. Then I was talking to Beth about her line and the first ingredient in her Oil Cleanser is Castor Oil! I had to research this and found out that the oil cleansing method has been around for quite some time-- like dissolves like-- so when you clean your skin with oil, it preserves the pH balance yet dissolves the oil and dirt which are then cleansed away with a warm washcloth. Makeup is removed also, so there's no need for a second product! You can actually feel little granules of dirt or comodones coming off as you massage it into your skin. And it leaves the skin softer than you can imagine. The best result is that your skin stops producing too much oil if you have oily skin and starts to feel like normal skin.  Castor oil has been used for the past century as a healing oil for a variety of things because of it's anti-inflammatory properties.

The second miracle ingredient is in her Manuka Honey Mask (which she gives away free with every order of skin care because it's that good!). Manuka Honey comes from the Manuka tree (similar to the  Tea Tree and tea tree oil) which is only found in New Zealand and the bees carry the pollen from this tree back to their hive. This produces a very special honey full of natural antibiotics and anti-inflammatory healing properties that help gently exfoliate the skin so that all the good things can actually reach your pores instead of sitting on top of your skin (and doing nothing.) You cannot ingest the Mask (due to other ingredients in it) but when Manuka honey is taken orally as medicine, it can cure h. pylori naturally (instead of strong antibiotics like I had to take!) and MRSA. That, to me, is amazing!

The rest of her line is equally impressive-- from the Brite Eyes eye cream which does not irritate at all but soothes, moisturizes and helps to diminish dark circles (I've never been able to use eye cream before because of the silicone and other irritating ingredients), to the Ponce de Leon Gel which gives my skin the firmness of young skin, to the Skin Maid Scar Reducer that has lightened and healed not only spots on my face but I put it on places where I got bug bite scars and those are disappearing too! The Lipid Defenders are like heaven for anyone who has normal to dry skin, in that it feeds the skin and helps it maintain the moisture and glow. (If you have oily skin, jojoba oil can clog your pores.) The moisturizers like Silky Smooth Moisturizer is just enough to keep my skin's fresh feeling but is not greasy at all.

One of the smartest things Beth did is to offer Sample Sizes of her products so that you can try them and really see the results. They last about two weeks (some more). If you have oily skin like me, at first your skin will feel oilier as it adjusts it's oil production, but immediately it will feel so soft and the irritation will go away. Even when my skin felt oilier, two different people at the store told me I had great skin! I've never heard that from strangers before. After just two weeks, I feel like my skin is normal, not oily, even in hot summer temperatures. Beth has had people tell her that they don't have to wear foundation anymore because their skin is just that pretty now. I love the texture of my skin now... it does remind me of when I was a lot younger girl.

Beth Shisler

Beth, an RN, developed the skin care line for herself (she dealt with the same issues as all of us) because she was tired of products that didn't work and didn't want to pay the expensive prices of the lipid defenders that are at the cosmetic counters. She spent 3 years researching and testing and has come up with a line that I feel addresses all my concerns. She even gave me special things for Nathaniel to try. She is available for questions and she cares about her customer's results. Her own skin is all the testimony she needs-- she looks a decade younger than she is and her friends all wanted the same thing which is how she started to sell it. Now, she has partnered with a manufacturer so that she can increase the production numbers and is changing the name, hoping to move it to Sephora and QVC in the near future. I would love to see it become a successful line because it delivers what it says and Beth is intent on keeping the ingredients the same without compromise so that the integrity of the product remains intact.

" My skincare philosophy is based on a very unique natural cleansing method, followed up with potent nourishing actives. All products are loaded with natural anti-inflammatories, anti-oxidants, amino acids, proteins and peptides. Some of my raw ingredients include: sea kelp bioferment, oat beta glucan, silk powder, pearl powder, plant extracts, rare essential oils and many more. I only use ingredients that are meant to achieve a result. There are no fillers, no paraban preservatives and no fragrances. All products are targeted to go where they can make the most difference - Under Your Skin"

I do hope you consider trying it, especially if you haven't been satisfied with your skin care or you want something more natural and healthy for your skin. Even men use it! I'll keep you up to date on the line and I wanted you to know so you have the chance to be one of the original customers too! Happy Skin!

First Day of School

6:00 am seemed earlier than normal this morning when the alarm went off! We had a very crazy day on Sunday-- we woke up to having no electricity from Hurricane Irene's winds and didn't even know when it went off. Craig was able to find a business open which must have had a generator and got some ice. We dumped the balls from the ball bin in the garage and brought it in to fill it up with ice and things from our refrigerator. With two bins full of ice, we were actually able to save most of our food which I think is a miracle. Thank goodness for a gas stovetop and a grill-- we actually ate well, grilling and cooking things that might not stay fresh.  It was oddly quiet all day long and luckily the weather was cooler from the storm. We just played board games and read books, and I had some battery left on my phone so I could check the updates from our electric company and inform them that we didn't have power. 35,000+ customers in Lancaster alone reported having no power. PPL said that 250,000 of their customers were without power and they were bringing in crews from as far away as Kentucky and Arkansas to help. Luckily by 6:30 pm last evening the lights came on and we jumped up and down, thankful that the kids could get ready for their first day of school this morning. It will be a school year start to remember!

Caroline was nervous this morning to go into the High School when I dropped her off. Mostly because of her mouth. (Notice she is not smiling big.) Nathaniel already planned out meeting a friend before school and he's big man on campus this year so I didn't see any nerves in him. He was just excited. I made them a big breakfast this morning, and Elle and I drove them up to the school complex. Then I decided to take Elle for a walk. BIG mistake. We only got a little ways down the path and all of a sudden I felt a shooting pain up and down my leg-- something stung me! So now I'm sitting here typing in pain with my leg propped up and baking soda smeared over the huge swelled sting site. I don't know if the stinger is still in or not. I have a million things to do today so this is really upsetting me. Darn bug.

I hope your Monday is going well (and better than mine!). This week is supposed to be sunny and cooler... fall seems just around the corner!

Catching up

by UUPP on etsy

Wow, these last two weeks have been a whirlwind of activity! The kids go back to school on Monday and I think we're ready for the routine. The folders and pens and school shoes are bought, backpacks loaded up and waiting, haircuts given, and outfits picked out for picture day which occurs for both of them next week already. (I got my hair cut a lot shorter and am loving it too!!)

Caroline finally got her bottom braces on and a palatal expander on the top, which is a bit like a torture device meant to widen her upper palette. I turn the crank twice a day, which has been just a joyous occasion for both of us-- not really! We both cried because she was in so much pain at first. But it's getting better. She gets it off in three months and the wire put on. Until then, eating, talking and looking normal are out of the question. She starts High School this year and hates that this is all going on during her transition into it. I still think she is as cute as ever but you can't tell that to a teenage girl!

Nathaniel has literally grown several inches over the summer! I think he only has one or two inches to go before he's as tall as me! (That's tall!) I think he'll reach 6' easily by High School. My baby is not looking so much like one anymore... I think it's time to find a razor too! Yikes!

I have some really great news-- we had our newer neighbors over a couple weeks ago and I started talking to her about her skin care line she developed. I think I've tried everything so I wasn't expecting to be surprised by anything new. Well, I was totally wrong! I am going to do a whole post on this but for right now, I just wanted to share that I'm going to help her with her logo design and possibly a little more! I think she is wonderful and what she's made has totally changed my skin... it's like I'm young again with the complexion of a child. I'm not kidding. Though I did find out jojoba oil is not good for me so I can't use the lipid defender. I was so excited to share this with all of you so I will probably just write about it asap. 

The last thing I wanted to tell you is that I've been reading Eat Fat, Lose Fat by Sally Fallon Morrell and Dr. Mary Enig of Nourishing Traditions and also The Weston A. Price Foundation.  I'm only a third of the way through the book, but it takes the reader through the history of fats and why we think low fat is better. I could write another book trying to share all the facts but suffice it to say that if you've fallen for the idea that you will be healthy and lose weight by consuming a low fat diet and using vegetable oils, then you are hurting yourself. Even canola oil which I always used to bake my granola has a story-- it actually puts you at risk for cancer instead of what the doctors and media are saying (even Dr. Oz!!!). How could this be true? Basically what we hear is always affected in some way by the producers of food items, which is why the FDA told you trans fats were safe for so many years. Finally we now know and agree that they aren't. The same goes for canola and vegetable oil... polyunsaturated fats and though canola is monounsaturated, the way it is produced makes it go rancid and unstable at high temperatures (when cooking with it) which is why it is a risk factor for disease. I've been saying butter is healthy and raw milk and grass fed meat... we need vitamin A and D to survive. We need cholesterol. Do you know that in studies, people with lower cholesterol rates had a higher rate of mortality and heart disease than people with higher cholesterol numbers? That there has not been a link with high cholesterol and heart disease? That cholesterol actually protects the heart? I highly suggest reading this book. SO many people have changed their health for the better, their family's health and the proof is the centuries of data that the whole book is based on.  And don't get me started on soy-- it's terrible for you! 

I always believed that people were not meant to be overweight. That people should have energy and feel satisfied after a meal. That we should be able to get most of the nutrients we need from our food and not by swallowing a dozen supplements, especially not synthetic vitamins. When the book French Women Don't Get Fat came out, everyone was curious as to why the French could eat real cream and and things like duck and liver... high fat ingredients, yet still maintain a very healthy, attractive weight. It is quite simple-- they don't believe lies that American doctors spew and have stuck to their traditional diet. (Though younger generations unfortunately might not enjoy the same good health as they embrace our crappy Western junk food.)  Saturated fats keep us healthy-- your brain, your skin, your hair, your heart, your bones, your muscles... everything needs it to be optimally healthy and you don't overeat if you're getting what you need. Why is there such an increase in heart disease, cancer, obesity, autism, orthodontia, depression, allergies and other diseases over this past century? If we look at the change in diet from healthy meats raised on small farms in pastures, whole milk consumption (raw), organic vegetables and fruits, cooking at home, no packaged convenience foods, just foods that our great grandparents enjoyed... to what the average person eats today which is made with the cheapest food ingredients available, vegetable fats, trans fats, sugar substitutes, gmo vegetables, pesticide-full produce, refined wheat flour and fructose and corn and soy in everything then it becomes quite obvious why we are a malnourished, sick population with no immunity system whatsoever. I don't know about you but I want to feel good-- like I'm supposed to. I don't want to take medicine or tons of supplements. It takes more work but what work could be more important than this? Instead of our country spending more on health care, I wonder if they thought about how damaging the food that is available to the average person is? Of course then our pharmaceutical companies and businesses like Monsanto wouldn't be able to patent things and make money. Real food can't be patented.  One thing that makes me the saddest is that we keep sending our terrible food to other countries, especially soda pop and all the junk food we make here. Will it come down to survival of the fittest? Please do me a favor and start reading Sally Fallon's articles... you will be surprised and probably a little mad, like I was (actually I'm furious!), at all the lies we've been believing about our food for so long!!!  Do you know someone on a statin drug for cholesterol? That is reason enough to become informed about what cholesterol is, what it does and why we even have statin drugs in the first place. 

And if I haven't made this clear before, if you're still drinking pop-- why haven't you stopped? You might as well just say you want to be sick. period.

The EWG Pledge

I found this article full of great information, especially as we hear more about being "greener" in the media lately. It came from here. Are we really talking about positive change? Read and find out...

Not Taking the EWG Pledge

Posted onJuly 31, 2011by Dr Kaayla Daniel

The Environmental Working Group has asked Americans to go meatless once per week and “Take the pledge to eat less and greener meat!”   Chef Mario Batali and other celebrities have gone on board to help EWG enlist 100,000 people who will sign the pledge, commit to eating a more “veg centric” diet, and “build awareness” of how much our food choices impact the planet.

I personally am not about to take that pledge though EWG’s slogan “Reduce your impact, improve your health” sounds like a “win/win.”    EWG tells us, for example, that Americans who skip meat and cheese just one day a week — such as with a “Meatless Monday” –  can cut carbon emissions equal to taking 7.6 million cars off the road.   And it promises that reducing meat consumption will lower our risk of obesity, heart disease, stroke and cancer.

Sadly, EWG’s proposal will do very little for the environment.   Worse, it will encourage people to feel “feel good” about their growing green consciousness while distracting them from exploring and adopting genuine, sustainable solutions.  While it is certainly good that EWG recommends “greener” meat and not just “less meat” or even “no meat,” the catchy “Meatless Monday” slogan perpetuates the myth that meat is evil and that  plant-based diets are the key to personal and planetary health.

Here’s why I’m not taking the EWG pledge:

• The true threat to our environment is not animals — which have been covering the earth with manure and emissions for tens of thousands of years — but the globalization and industrialization of agriculture with its unconscionable, factory-farming practices, toxic use of pesticides, herbicides and commercial fertilizers, plundering of natural resources, draining of the water table, and bankrupting of small farmers and cottage industries.  EWG’s nod to “greener meat”  suggests they actually understand this, but the overriding message  is to stop eating meat of any type.   As for all that climate-warming gas,  animals emit far less when they eat natural, grass-based diets and not unnatural, hard-to-digest feeds manufactured from soybeans, corn and other grains.

• Plowing pastures and rangeland in order to plant crops is not sustainable and won’t do much to feed the hungry or save the environment.    Only about eleven percent of the land on planet earth can be farmed, a percentage that cannot be increased without deforestation, irrigation, chemical fertilizers, and other destructive ecological practices.  Old-fashioned organic mixed-use farms are the answer.   And animals are essential, not optional, for healthy farms.

• America’s top soil has been devastated by mono cropping, lawns and other unsustainable practices.   While mixing, rotating and composting plants is a start, land cannot be restored without the help of animals.  They are needed not only for their rich manure but for rotational grazing.   Animal waste is truly a horrific problem with factory farming but is valuable and collectible on small, mixed-use farms.  Overgrazing has certainly damaged much of America’s land, but the solution is sustainable grazing practices.   And that solution, properly handled, serves the land far better than leaving it alone for “conservation.”    As Joel Salatin has described so well in The Sheer Ecstasy of Being a Lunatic Farmer, Everything I Want to Do is Illegal and other books, diversity, interdependence and layering are the keys to honoring and restoring our land.  Salatin also argues cogently for putting our trust in local farmers and not in the official certification programs EWG recommends.   How many more exposes of pseudo organic does the Cornucopia Institute need to make before EWG comprehends that certification can — and often has been –  co-opted and corrupted.?  As Salatin explains so well, “transparency” between consumers and farmers is the answer.  That means thinking globally and acting locally by getting “up front and personal” with your food source.

• EWG blames animal foods for the diseases of modern civilization, including cancer and heart disease.  But the 20th century saw a decline in the consumption of meat, dairy and butter consumption, but a sharp increase in the consumption of sugar, corn syrup, white flour, liquid and partially hydrogenated vegetable oils, artificial flavorings, preservatives and other known health hazard of processed, packaged and fast foods.   Contrary to popular belief, science does not support the idea that saturated fat and cholesterol found in animal products contribute to obesity, diabetes, heart disease and cancer.   All health problems associated with animal products lie with factory farming and other commercial and non-sustainable farming and food processing practices.   As for plant-based diets,  vegan diets especially can lead to vitamin, mineral, fatty acid and amino acid deficiencies and imbalances, contributing to myriad health problems, including cancer and heart disease.

• EWG recommends low-fat dairy because “less fat will mean fewer cancer causing toxins in the body.”  That’s nonsense, of course, when we are talking about the health-giving fat found in the milk of cows and goats who spend their lives out in the sun on pasture.  This recommendation further fails to recognize that not all toxins are fat- soluble, many are water-soluble, and commercially grown fruits, vegetables, grains, beans and seeds are often loaded with toxins, including the dioxins that EWG erroneously states are found “entirely” in animal products.

• The idea that eating lowfat could be eco-conscious also defies common sense.   The lowfat gospel is a key reason why factory farms — including so-called organic factory farms — grow freakish hens with size DD breasts.  Big Agra’s goal with such chickens is to minimize the less-profitable dark meat and maximize the lowfat white meat preferred by “health conscious” consumers.   The lowfat message pleases Big Pfood immensely because it profits mightily when whole foods are divided into several different products — which is to say multiple profit centers.   All of these, of course, will require manufacturing, packaging and long distance hauling   As for the skim milk recommended by EWG, nature put fat in milk for a reason, and that reason was not to kill us.  When people drink skim milk, their bodies need and crave that missing cream, leading to compensatory bingeing on ice cream and other unhealthy treats high in both fat and sugar.   Lowfat thus leads to increased consumption, more packages, more products, higher profits,  ill health and environmental destruction.

• Yet another problem with EWG’s lowfat recommendation is it encourages people not to cook.  How so?   Because fat is what gives food flavor.    Cooks who choose lean cuts and prepare vegetables without butter or other tasty fats, often think they are lousy cooks.   Making lowfat foods tasty, after all, requires complicated spicings and other gourmet tricks.   This drives people to eat out often or to dine at home on lowfat packaged foods.   Out or in, the manufacturers have ramped up flavors with with MSG and other additives.

• EWG’s tips for eco-conscious consumers include reducing food waste by buying “right size portions.”    What’s wrong with that?   It buys into the idea that meat comes in little packages.   Boneless, skinless chicken breast, for example, instead of the entire chicken — white meat and dark, tough cuts and tender, organ meats like liver, and skins, bones, tendons and cartilage in old-fashioned broth.   EWG is right to point out the cost to the environment of food that goes bad and ends up in landfills, but recommends a “solution” that means more packaging, not less.  How about some emphasis on old-fashioned thrift?   Using leftovers, freezing and, most important of all, valuing and using the entire animal?

• EWG reports that buying vegetables locally helps the environment, but buying eggs, milk, fish, poultry and meat locally has only a minimal effect.  This is one of the primary reasons EWG recommends we cut back on all meat and adopt a more “veg centric” diet.   Such a bizarre finding could only be the case if the researchers evaluated the environmental impact of buying animal products from factory farms — including “Big Organic” operations — located close to home.  It furthermore fails to take into account the role animals play in restoring our soil and growing nutrient-dense vegetables and fruits.  Without animals nearby, farmers must use fossil fuel fertilizers and/or compost and manure transported from far away.   Not good for the environment!

• Finally, if  people give up or minimize meat, what will they eat instead?    EWG suggests grains, beans and tofu.   In other words, vegetarian foods that are most likely grown and transported from a distance.   Furthermore,  the mistaken goal of eating less meat  will drive many consumers to buy processed and packaged vegetarian entrees full of soy protein isolate, corn syrup, MSG and other excitotoxins, “natural” or artificial colorings and flavorings as well as other dubious and non-green ingredients.   Clearly not an option for wellness seekers or environmentalists.

What to do instead?   How about committing to one day a week  in which the menu includes nothing that comes in a package?   How about eating nothing with a label or a barcode?   How about 100 percent local, preferably from farmers who use only locally obtained feeds, fertilizers and workers?   In other words, boycott supermarkets and Join the ranks of the Non Barcode People.

********************************
Find local grass-fed free-range beef and poultry in your area here!

we love the kinetic king!

We've been watching "America's Got Talent" and thought it would be fun to try making stick bombs like the Kinetic King. He has his own website with instructions, so we tried them. Elle got a little excited about it so that's her barking in the background! Woo hoo!:



Spoiler Alert!: The Kinetic King got through on the Judge's Choice Show! And we got to see Colbie Caillat sing "Brighter Than The Sun" live! She is doing a concert tour right now but unfortunately not near us. :(

she does love horses!

Caroline is riding Teddy who is a sweet horse. Things are starting to come back to her from when she was 10 years old, but her legs are pretty sore tonight from doing exercises like the one above!  I've never been a horse girl but I definitely have a daughter who is one!

Tuesday morning in Lititz, Pennsylvania

"Some days you must learn a great deal. But you should also have days when you allow what is already in you to swell up and touch everything. If you never let that happen, then you just accumulate facts, and they begin to rattle around inside of you." ~ E.L. Konigsburg


This was the quote that was sent for Illustration Friday in reference to this week's word "Swell". I thought it was something I should remember!

health news points

::: Fluoridated Water or Fluoride Tablets? Dr. Mercola addresses why this isn't good. One thing he doesn't mention in this video but has written about is the negative effects of fluoride on your bones and how it increases the risk of fracture as you age.



::: Sally Fallon Morell (Nourishing Traditions) briefly explains what a healthy diet should consist of (I don't know her age now (guessing in the 60's) but when you see her, she just exudes a glow that shows health!):



::: Raw Milk Raid in the News Again:

Rawesome Foods in Venice, California was raided again a couple days ago. They poured out all of the raw milk and put the owners in jail. Colbert covered the raid last year (see the spoof here). The police say it's because they didn't have a permit to sell to the public but it's a private co-op so technically it's like a CSA... member owned.
     The real issue here is why the government spends so much time trying to keep people from drinking raw milk? Why is it such a big deal? The map above shows which states allow sales or where it's illegal to buy it. I guess you have to be a farmer in Montana or Iowa if you want to drink real milk.
     The Big Issue is really that the FDA thinks it is unsafe. But this isn't true. There are prebiotics (different than probiotics which are added) in raw milk that provide good flora to our intestines... something everyone needs. When milk is pasteurized, all good bacteria is killed with any bad. Did you know we all have e. coli in our bodies all the time? Most strains are not harmful and with a strong digestive system, our bodies are constantly keeping the huge amounts of bacteria that exist daily in our gut from harming us. This is why it's important to keep sugar out of your diet because sugar feeds all the bad stuff going on inside of you. Don't believe it? You can read the sworn testimony about bacteria and raw milk here.
     Raw milk is also not hydrogenized which means the fat particles have not been broken down into tiny pieces which are harder for our body to digest... which is why people like me have a really hard time drinking hydrogenized milk (which is all milk in the store). I have no problems with raw milk.
     If you're worried about the fat, don't be. The fat keeps the milk sugars in check and if you are drinking 2%, 1% or skim, then the sugar glucose level of that glass is going much higher and THAT's what is making you gain weight which leads to heart disease. The natural fat in milk helps your brain, your skin, your immune system and your energy.
     Raw milk also has natural vitamins in it... especially D which they are finding is a huge benefit in curing depression, colds and flu, and possibly cancer.... we just don't know all the benefits yet as these studies are new. Pasteurization kills the good vitamins in milk. They have to add vitamin D back in it and whenever something is added it is never as good as in the natural form.
     So... I'm going to continue to give my family raw milk to drink. We have more chance of getting bad e.coli from the produce in the grocery from other countries or that travels across the country. Raw milk, grass-fed free-range meat and poultry, wild caught fish and lots of organically grown local vegetables and fruit. It's pretty simple.... the hard part is finding the farms that sell it and keeping the FDA from closing them down. Big government money comes from the Corporations and this kind of diet is the last thing they want Americans to embrace! It's always about the profit. But we should be all about being healthy!

Is your food real?

Stoneware by nealpottery on etsy

Don't these raspberries look delicious? (I want that bowl too!!) It's because they are real and in season. We've been enjoying blueberries every day because summer is the time to eat berries and I love them! Baking them into blueberry muffins (gluten-free) and pancakes.... yum.  But what about those muffins made at the store or the mixes or that cereal that has blueberry flavors... must be sort of good, right? Wrong!  What you might not have noticed is that much of the processed food out there that has blueberries or any other supposed healthy ingredient mixed in, is in reality all oils, sugar, artificial flavoring and food color. No berries. Nothing natural. There are companies such as this that are in business to make fake food so that it fools your mouth. Unfortunately it's fooling people's health too and it's all just junk and makes them sick. Here's a great report about the fake berries. So next time you're in the grocery store, avoid the stuff already packaged up and just grab some real berries while they're in season... and ALWAYS read the label.  You're no fool!

No blueberries or pomegranate here! 

Strawberry Flavored Crunchlets (Sugar, Corn Cereal, Corn Syrup, Modified Corn Starch, Partially Hydrogenated Cottonseed and/or Soybean Oil, Citric Acid, Glycerin, Natural and Artificial Flavor, Red No. 40, Blue No. 2)

Even these could be fake berries!

sister love

Last week we were so excited to have my sister Jane and her girls in town visiting us! When we're together, it's non-stop talking and catching up. Lauren and Anna always like to do crafts with me so we pulled out some scrabble tiles and made lots of necklaces. We played The Game of Life, watched movies and the dog and cat got more play time than they ever remember! We also visited The Amish Village and learned more about the Amish who live around us...

Nathaniel, Lauren, Anna & Caroline

My beautiful sister Jane

Anna feeding the calf

Baa Baa Black Sheep... I love your wool!

Posing with Mr. Ed... Caroline is thrilled!

They couldn't imagine going to a one-room school house!

Of course, I see a classroom and I miss teaching!

Their visit wasn't long enough but they had other family in the area to see. Hopefully we can visit them at their home soon!

This week has been quiet so far-- lots of rain or hot, muggy days. I've been getting beautiful flowers out of my garden and especially from my CSA....

Right now Chloe is walking right in front of my face as I try to type this! I took some photos of her but she'd never hold still to let me...

We nicknamed her Kevin (after the white dog in "The Proposal") which makes me laugh every time... "Kevin, get off of the counter"... and she just looks at us like "you people are crazy!!!".

It's hard not to be a little worried right now about the state of our country's economy and also the state of our own economy here at home. Caroline will be starting her Freshman year in High School and we're already looking ahead to what college she might want to attend. Her interest in horses has suddenly come back in a big way (since being in Maine and she was dreaming of running stables there). She will start lessons again next week and soon enough soccer will start up again for Nathaniel and Craig. Craig gets busier with work all the time, which is actually really good. Me? Hmmn... I haven't had time to work on my illustrations at all so I guess that's on my plate for September. I started to look through the want ads for a part-time job but there's not much at all out there. I wish I could come up with things to put on etsy so I could just stay home and work. Right now it's all about running the kids around, keeping up with the housework and laundry, cooking and tending the tiny garden and yes, I'm exercising so that's one good thing! I'm looking forward to having more of a set schedule again though. Off to my CSA in a few minutes to pick up more fresh vegetables! :)