It's been awhile

Wow, it's been over a year since I last blogged. Life got busy, priorities shifted and time flew by.

A short recap of the past year would tell you that we sold our house in July, I'm still doing "no poo", I stopped brewing kombucha for a bit and just recently started back up again, we're waiting on the seller's bank approval for a short sale we put an offer on and I just recently started making homemade soda. And that brings us to today's post....

Homemade soda. In my research of fermented drinks, like kombucha, I came across different websites talking about homemade soda. Since we started school back up for the year, I've made a new commitment to make it to the gym at least 4x a week. I've got to get in shape, lose some weight and be healthier. Part of that was replacing Mountain Dew with kombucha, But reading about homemade soda got me curious about other alternatives. At best, I can get two of my kids to drink kombucha, but the other two refuse. Maybe I'd have better luck with fermented soda? I thought it was worth a try.

Here's the basic scientific basis for fermented soda. Start with a "ginger bug", which is nothing more than grated ginger, sugar and water. The ginger has natural bacteria and yeast which feeds on the sugar and starts a fermentation. After a few days of feeding the bug, it starts to bubble and is ready.

My very own ginger bug

Add some of this ginger bug to any juice, I used grape for my first try, cover with a cloth and stir twice a day for three days. During this time, the yeast starts feeding on the sugar in the juice and ferments the juice. This also lowers the sugar content. On the third day, it's ready to be bottle air-tight so that the yeast will continue producing carbon dioxide, which carbonates the soda. This brings us to last week. Wednesday was day three for my grape soda and I was uber excited to bottle it! When I checked it in the morning, it already had a thin layer of foam on the surface. This, combined with the four inches of foam that developed when I stirred it, should have been my first clue. But I was following all the instructions I had read: bottle air-tight for no more than 24 hours, then refrigerate. I poured the soda into my empty juice bottle making sure to leave enough head space and placed it in a stockpot on the kitchen floor. You know, so the pot could catch any soda that might accidentally escape. I also had a little left that wouldn't fit so I put that in a smaller, single-serving sized bottle.

Fermenting soda aka "Moses"

Layer of foam

Foam after stirring

Bottled and ready to carbonate

After an hour or so, the bottle had expanded and was quite tight. That should have been my second clue. I released some of the gas, but left it in a stock pot on the kitchen floor. It hadn't been nearly 24 hours yet, right? Well, as I'm in the bathroom that night getting ready for church and Tim is in the kitchen starting dinner, I hear what is best described as a gunshot. Followed quickly by Tim shouting something that sounds like "what in the world!?!?" Not good. Not good. at. all. I quickly run to the kitchen and find this:

Oh yes, this happened

24 hours, you say? Tell that to my kitchen which was now covered in grape soda. Or to my loving husband who was almost impaled by a flying juice bottle. According to him, the bottle flew up, hit the ceiling and then landed. Four feet from it's original spot in the stockpot. Let's just say the man was not well pleased. Did I mention this happened about 45 minutes before we should be walking out the door for church? Or that dinner hadn't been made. So we enlisted the help of our boys in the dinner making and we set about to clean. The walls. The floor. The ceiling. Sticky, dripping, grape soda. Did I mention earlier we sold our house and are living in a rental? Yes, sticky grape soda all over the rental kitchen.

Yep, that's the ceiling

And floor

But it was delish!

Grape soda, anyone?

What's Brewin'?

The brewing process

The latest thing to come across my radar is kombucha (kawm-boo-chah) which is a fermented tea. Now, before rumors start about how I've turned into a day drinking lush, let me clarify that ferment doesn't automatically mean alcoholic. While kombucha can contain trace amounts of alcohol, it's typically less than 1%. Compare that to pure vanilla extract that has at least 35% alcohol or beer that is usually 4% - 6% alcohol by volume. So if it's not alcoholic, what exactly is it? Kombucha is an effervescent fermentation of sweetened tea that is high in probiotics and healthy bacteria and is said to promote healthy gut flora as well as detoxing effects. I started drinking it for the health benefits, but am totally in love with the flavor! My first taste of kombucha was a bottle of GT's Kombucha. It was great, but at $3 - $4 for a single serving bottle, it wasn't practical to have on a daily basis. So I googled and googled and decided the best route was to start brewing my own. Fast forward to today - I have 2 brews constantly going.

It's really not that hard to brew at all. In fact, the hardest part was waiting for the SCOBY to come in the mail! The SCOBY is what ferments the tea. It's a symbiotic colony of bacteria and yeast. Yah, it sounds and looks gross, but once you get past that, it's a great drink! You feed the SCOBY freshly brewed green or black tea and sugar. The bacteria and yeast eats the sugar and multiplies - lowering the sugar content of the kombucha.

Beautiful SCOBY

My beautiful thick scoby

"No Poo" Update

Day 8 of no poo

It's been 3-1/2 months now since I decided to go "no poo". 3-1/2 months of no shampoo, no conditioner, no styling products, and no hair spray. The first question is always "you don't wash your hair?" Well, yah, I do, just not with modern shampoo. And not as often as modern hygiene standards dictate. Like most, I grew up thinking that in order to be clean and pretty, I needed to shower and wash my hair with shampoo every day, or at the very least every other day. Then, because shampoo strips your hair of natural oils, I needed conditioner by the bucketfuls to be able to comb through my hair after every shower. Then gel to tame my wild curls, hair spray to hold flyaway hairs in place and the list goes on.

So here's the deal. Baking soda. It's good enough to clean my bathrooms, why not my head? Yep, every 7-10 days, I break out a few tablespoons of baking soda, mix in some water and scrub my scalp. It's a little tricky because it doesn't suds up like shampoo, but it gets the job done. It's naturally abrasive so it will clean your hair without stripping it of the natural oils your scalp produces. Here's the part I never knew: our bodies are designed so that oil is produced on a supply and demand basis. Shampoo strips the hair of oil, making your scalp think it needs to produce more, which makes you think you need to wash your hair again! Baking soda won't do that so the scalp will balance itself out and only produce oil as needed. I rinse the baking soda out and then use diluted vinegar (or apple cider vinegar) as a conditioner. Again what I always thought was wrong. I assumed vinegar was drying and would dry my hair out. But it actually works as a conditioner and makes my hair really soft. Rinse the vinegar out and I'm good to go. Don't worry, the "Easter egg" smell disappears when it dries. I've found that I only need to no poo wash every week or week and a half. Here's another little gem: dirt and sweat wash out with just water. Who knew!? I was concerned with my hair getting stinky, especially after sweaty nights at the gym. But nope, never smells. So I pay attention to my hair and when it feels like it's a bit oily, I no poo wash. Otherwise I just rinse and kind of pretend to wash it with the water.

Ah, so the verdict is in! I will definitely not be going back to shampoo. I was a huge skeptic when I started this. Long, naturally curly hair does not seem like a good match for a no conditioner lifestyle. But, I was wrong. After a few weeks, I sort of fell into a natural balance with my hair and it became very manageable. At the beginning it can be a little iffy because your head will produce more oil until it realizes it's not getting stripped every day. I wore it up the first week or so. I was having great success with straightening my hair, brushing it was no problem, it had a great texture and felt healthier. So I went for it and tried the ultimate test. Curls. I've always been a huge gel/mousse/hair putty/whatever I could find girl when it comes to curling my hair. And here I was going to try the natural curly look with nothing. And amazingly it worked. I still don't think it's quite the same polished look as it was with gel, but it's definitely not frizzy like I dreaded it would be. It's noticeably fuller without the weight of conditioner.

So that's the basics of how I do it. There are a few other things. If you feel like your hair is too oily one day, you can use cornstarch to absorb some of it. I took an empty plastic Parmesan cheese bottle and use it as a shaker. I kind of rub it in my hands and then run them through my hair. Then brush it out so I don't look like I'm going gray. And I made my own hair spray by dissolving a bit of sugar into hot water and putting it in a spray bottle. I've found that I don't feel like I need hair spray nearly as much as I used to, but it's nice to have an all natural option for the few times I do. That's about it. I do have another spray bottle that has water and a few drops of lavender essential oil. I use that on my hair once in a while for the pretty smell. The only other thing I can think of is the boar bristle brush I just bought. It was $10 at Target, but so worth the money. It helps to distribute the natural oils from the roots to the ends and leaves my hair looking super soft and shiny.

3-1/2 months no poo

It has been a great change for me and I don't see myself going back. It's very simple. I feel more in tune with myself, I can feel my hair and know it's about time for a no poo wash. And it's cut down on my daily routine tremendously. If you're interested, google no poo and you'll find tons of links for sites that give more information. My advice for someone first starting out would be to give it at least 2 weeks. There is a transition period where your body will over produce oil until it finally realizes it needs to slow down. I don't have naturally oily hair so my transition was fairly easy. But I have read some women say there hair was a greasy mess. Don't give up! Put your hair up in a messy bun, wear a hat, whatever, but keep going and I guarantee it will get better. The other thing would be not to wash it too often. Get to know your head and the feel of how natural hair is supposed to be. I don't even keep track of when or how often I wash anymore. If I can go 2 weeks with it feeling and looking good, then why not?

I'd love to hear from anyone else who has done the no poo thing. I'm a skeptic turned believer!

Wordless Wednesday

Am I Still Here?

So I stopped blogging for awhile mostly because I had no time and had trouble thinking of what to write. I've  never been much of a writer and even though it should be easy to write about our happenings around the house, I always seem to get writer's block. But I am going to try doing better.

So let me catch up with what's been happening with us. The school year is going very well and I'm pleased with the changes we've made. The last two months have been more of a challenge for me, trying to get their work ready, not procrastinating, etc. We're almost done with SOTW Volume 2 (yes, finally) and it's been really exciting. The kids have picked up so much from the reading and activities. This week we'll be reenacting a sword fight scene from a Shakespeare play, complete with fake blood! Last week we crowned Liberty as queen and the kids carried her around the house on her litter (aka laundry basket with poles stuck through the holes) for her coronation parade.

Look at me, I'm the Queen!

Another big highlight are the new additions to our family: pet mice. We have Oreo (Leanna's), Ratatouille (Jacob's), Mr. FluffyPants (Joshua's), Mocha (mine) and Oreo I/Templeton is still running loose somewhere in the house. Never thought I'd have a pet mouse, but I'll admit, they are cute. Mocha has mostly gotten used to me and will sit in my hand for a few seconds without looking for an escape route. 

Ratatouille (the gray one) an Mr. Fluffypants

Have you heard of the "no poo" trend? Poo, as in shampoo, not poop poo, although I'd like no more poo diapers soon too. I've heard about it for awhile, but been pretty skeptical about it. Really, no shampoo or conditioner?? For my curly rat's nest hair? But when my sister said she was going no poo and going to have gorgeous hair, how could I keep shampooing and let her outdo me? Of course I couldn't so I jumped on the bandwagon. Now I'm not much of a green/health-nut/crunchy mom and I've never cared too much about the chemicals in my hair products, but I do understand the argument that shampoo is bad for you. Of course, that's not the reason I'm going no poo. I'm doing it for the amazingly beautiful hair I've been promised. The healthy stuff is just a side benefit. Today is Day #7 of no poo. Last Wednesday, Day #1, I washed with a small amount of baking soda followed by a rinse of vinegar. I did the same on Friday or Saturday, but every other day I've done nothing or just rinsed with water. By Sunday my hair was oily, but I'm keeping at it. From what I've read, the less I use the baking soda, the quicker my head will adjust and stop overproducing oil. I'll admit, my hair is easy to brush, unlike when I shampoo but don't condition. Of course, that's mainly because of greasiness. After a week, I haven't really noticed anything different, except my showers are much shorter. I'll keep going because I'm still hoping for the amazingly beautiful hair, but I'm not sold yet.

That's it for now, but I am going to try to blog more often. 

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

A Run in the Mud

This past Saturday I participated in my first ever 5K! My sister invited me to be on her team for the Pretty Muddy Mud Run. I've been wanting to do a 5K for awhile now, but haven't had the opportunity and haven't exactly been training hard.
When I first heard about Pretty Muddy, I was excited. I've looked at Tough Mudder before and the idea of doing a mud run sounded fun, but I knew I'm nowhere close to being ready for something as challenging as Tough Mudder. Pretty Muddy is a women only mud run with obstacles like foam bubbles, beach balls, ropes, walls and of course, Mud! What could be more fun? The fact that it's a full 5K, but not timed, with a costume contest! And I love the idea that it's purpose is to have fun, not worry about time or how athletic you are.
We had a team of six and we had the best time ever. I don't think I've laughed that hard in a long time! My favorite obstacle was definitely the big slide, but I'll admit, I loved getting down and dirty in the mud. The tall rope and walls to climb over were the hardest for me, not because it was too hard physically, but because I'm scared of heights. Everyone on our team completed every obstacle.
After the run, we all received t-shirts with "The comfort zone is a made up place" on the back. I love that because it really sums up the run. Getting out of that comfort zone, trying something you've never done before and having a blast with friends is the whole point. I loved the run and am so glad I was able to join in the fun. I'm already looking forward to next year!

Wordless Wednesday

Busy Times

So I finally steal away a few minutes to blog and for the life of me, I don't know what to write. I feel like I should give an update on our school year, my fitness journey, life in general, but how do I cram 6 weeks of school into just a few paragraphs? Guess I'll give it a try.





Overall, school is going really, really well this year. I attribute 95% of that to the new website planner we're using. Have I mentioned I love mywellplannedday.com? More than love really. It's revolutionized the way we school. I love being able to print out a schedule for each of the kids so that they know what is expected, but I also love that changing the schedule only takes a few mouse clicks. Making it easier to keep me and the kids accountable. We actually "had" school for 25 consecutive week days. Five entire weeks without missing a day of school. If you know me, you'll know that is an all time record.

From science to history to our new homeschool group, we've been having a lot of fun this year. I'll share a few things that we've been doing through the pictures below.


Joshua is focused



After reading about Ivan the Great and Ivan the Terrible from Russia, we painted Russian architectual eggs. The kids enjoyed painting the eggs, but watching me blow out the eggs was probably the best part. After the paint was dry, they added a small colored drawing of a Russian building. I hung them on strings and the kids want to save them to hang on our Christmas tree this year.

One of the eggs

 

Our new homeschool group has been a lot of fun.The kids just finished up Unit 1 and we'll be starting Unit 2 this week. The boys were both in the Knots class and learned how to tie various knots. They made a collectible shadowbox showcasing 8 of the knots they learned to tie. I was able to assist in this class and actually learned a few things myself! Their next unit is Spanish and once again they are both protesting it.

 

 

Joshua showing off a knot he tied



Leanna's unit was on Rocks and Minerals. She enjoyed learning about different types of rocks, how they are formed, etc. Next she will be doing a unit on Stencils and I will be assisting. I'm looking forward to learning about stenciling and the opportunity to spend time with just her.

 

He was not thrilled with picking everything off the bone



In science, we're learning all about the human body. For the lesson on bones, we dissected chicken wing bones. We were able to see the tendon connecting the muscle to the bone, cartilage, and the inside layers of the bone. It was pretty fascinating to see the spongy bone on the inside.

We also did an activity to demonstrate how important the fluid in our skull is for keeping our brain safe. We used an egg in a small plastic container to represent a brain in a skull without fluid. The kids took turns running around the house with the skull. As you can see, our brain turned to mush. Next, we filled the container with water, to simulate the fluid around our brain, placed the egg in the container and ran again. The water was enough to stop the egg from rattling around and our brain was safe! A great idea to show how God planned out each detail of our bodies.

That's it for now, just a small glimpse at the many things we have been doing. Check back for pictures of the "Digestion Theme Park" the kids will be designing later this week. Never a dull moment!





Skull with fluid makes a happy brain



 

Skull without fluid makes mush











Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

In the Name of Science

All the kids had a great time with the Edible Cell

I've never been much of a science gal, most likely because of the boring way it was taught to me. Who wants to sit and read about all these scientific details that mean absolutely nothing to me? Yah, well, I didn't. But science is one of those subjects that homeschooling has brought fun into. I absolutely love teaching my kids science and I love learning along side of them.

We spent the first two weeks - 4 days really -- love the Apologia schedule -- learning about the history of anatomy and about the cell. Friday we had our first big project. There's another homeschooling family at our church that is doing the same curriculum this year so they joined us in making an Edible Cell. What better way to help the kids remember the parts of the cell than to have them build their own by sticking candies (organelles) into jello (cytoplasm)? I will forever remember that the mitochondria is bean shaped - as in jelly bean. Jelly Belly to be exact. We had skittles for lysosomes, fruit rollups for endoplasmic reticulum - some with nerds added as ribosomes, smarties were the golgi bodies, bits of licorice were centrioles and we finished it up with a big gumball as the nucleus. Will they (or I) remember every single thing we learned about each organelle and its function? Doubtful. But will they remember more than if they had just cracked open a (boring) textbook and mindlessly read about it? Absolutely. And most importantly, it's the hands-on learning that makes it an everyday part of our lives. Because I was right along side of them stuffing my cytoplasm with lysosomes and mitochondria, I'm now knowledgeable enough to have discussions with them about it. So next time they break open a box of nerds, maybe - just maybe - they'll think to themselves "I think I'll eat some endoplasmic reticulum today." And if not, I'll be able to remind them what they're eating without running to the book or a teacher's manual.

Adding the organelles

Liberty just wanted to pick out the candies I put in hers

so proud!

Looking good!

She stuffed hers full!

After they were finished, we flipped them out onto a plate and you could see all the different organelles floating in the cytoplasm. Awesome!

Wordless Wednesday

Back to School

First morning of school

Ah, yes it's that time again! Last week was our first week of the new school year. We made some changes this year and I have been excited to see how things would go. So far, great! One huge thing is my attempt to be more organized and prepared by using My Well Planned Day.It's a web-based planning software and so far I am in love! I was able to spend some time over the summer typing up lesson plans, which are stored on the website, that I can then assign weekly. Each child gets a daily check-off list detailing what they are to do for what subject. This is especially nice since we have different schedules for different days. We've cut history back to 3 times a week and added a new science curriculum for the other 2 days. 

Making paper

Another addition we've made was joining a local homeschool group, Cornerstone Keepers. Starting this Thursday, we'll be meeting every other Thursday afternoon to participate in enrichment activities. The kids will earn pins for each activity completed throughout the year. These are life skills that will help them later on or just be fun to experience. We've also joined up with a few other homeschooling families at church and will be having park days and field trips.

Our first week went very smoothly. We finished before lunch every single day! That's saying something since we don't start until 9am. My alarm goes off at 8am and I refuse to wake up any earlier. Yes, I'm spoiled. And yes, I do wear a t-shirt and pajama pants all day. Wouldn't everybody work in their PJs if they could? That's one of the little joys of homeschooling. We're free to do what we want, answering almost to nobody. (Thank you Florida for making your education standards so low!) We can wear what we want, do our work where we want (the living room floor has been the choice so far), and learn what we want. All the kids are fascinated right now with reptiles and amphibians. Specifically toads and snakes. The garage is filled with tanks and cages full of critters my kids have collected. All in the name of science!

Both boys caught a snake which are being kept in a tank in the garage

Later this week we'll be blowing eggs for a history project. I hope to get pictures up here of our creations so check back!