road2healthy

Ideal Bite - TV Recycling - Hop(p)ing to replace your analog TV with a new hi-def one?

noreply@blogger.com (road2healthy) — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 17:31:00 -0700

Ideal Bite - TV Recycling - Hop(p)ing to replace your analog TV with a new hi-def one?

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What have you been up to, Lisa?

noreply@blogger.com (road2healthy) — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 16:17:00 -0700

Well.. The holidays have passed.. and Spring Cleaning will begin VERY shortly! My family is still on the road 2 healthy! We have just about replaced everything in this house.. we have a few nasty things left to go but I am being frugal about this and using up what we have. We are becoming more green everyday! Let's see.. I haven't cooked meat in over a month now.. and am still weaning out the processed food we have had stocked. I have also learned how to meal budget and provide my family with a much healthier diet, on less money, than they were before! Sparkpeople has became my source of relaxation and with that, counting calories and working out..so we are also shedding some extra pounds in this house! My Sewing and crocheting have been put on hold right now, I think I got burnt out a lil.. but they will make their way back soon. I have been shampoo free for 3 weeks now and am LOVING it! Caden is growing so fast it is hard to keep up with him! The older two boys will be as tall as me soon! So.. now that you know everything I have to catch you up on, I guess I better update this more often!!

Have a blessed and beautiful Holiday Season!

noreply@blogger.com (road2healthy) — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 22:53:00 -0700

Have a Happy Yule and a Merry Christmas!!!

Our homemade decorated tree... we start out with no ornaments and keep making them until Christmas!

More Christmas making fun!

noreply@blogger.com (road2healthy) — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 14:12:00 -0700

I tried to play around and make hand held type sport fun things for the boys!

Ty's basketball hoop and ball!

Tomas' soccer ball set!

Make your own bath crayons!

noreply@blogger.com (road2healthy) — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 13:37:00 -0700

Take 1 cup shredded Ivory soap
Boil 1/4c water. Add shredded soap a Tablespoon at a time. Mix until melted
and pasty.
Add food coloring.
Press mix into tins, ice cube trays, or cookie cutters.
Now, I have read there are different ways to do this... you can microwave it for 10-15 minutes. But since I was using tin, I cooked them on the lowest heat my over would go for about 30 minutes. I have now learned you can also pop these in the freezer for 30 minutes.
Let them dry for a day or so in the molds.. pop out of the molds and continue drying for about a week. Enjoy your bath crayons!

Christmas Gifts!

noreply@blogger.com (road2healthy) — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 21:14:00 -0700

This year, we decided to do 100% homemade gifts (all but Santa's) I am learning about patterns and having so much fun.. mostly I like to change patterns or make my own but here are a few of the presents I have done. When I started, I started making blankets for everyone. I got bored fast and had to move on!
These are in order of what I have done.. learning as I go... These blankets I made before the longies, though.
(Caden's..just learning the SC! covers his crib)

Tommy's (covers his twin bed)

We have a tradition in our house, every Christmas eve we let the boys unwrap one presents.. always PJ's. This year, I decided to MAKE our jammies. Here are Caden's wool longies... I still need to make a shirt and slippers to match.

I made these fish from Susie's pattern. They are color counting fish. I decided to play a lil using different textured yarns, different sized hooks.. I still need to make a bag for them.

One of Ty's hats (still need to make him one using his school colors with a basketball on top!)

Hat and scarf for Tommy.. he wants MANY hats so this is only a start!

Nieces hats, scarfs, and purses: ( I am planning on putting those heart crayons we made in the purses!)

Caden, modeling his cousin's hat!

Nephews hats and scarfs: (I need to make some lil drawstring bags for the boy's star crayons)
Chicago Bears colors (scarf and two hats)

Chicago Bulls colors (scarf and basketball hat)

Crocheting fun!

noreply@blogger.com (road2healthy) — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 20:18:00 -0700

Ok, so I got soo tired of making nothing but blankets and dishcloths, I posted in Diaper Swappers.. HELP for a pattern.. I had never done a pattern and only had been crocheting 2 months but I gave it a try! I posted my very first ones in my Halloween bog, so here are my second and third ones! They are the dragonfly pattern from ladybugz.ca but I did change them a lil here and there.

And my third pair! I became addicted real fast! He has been wearing these for awhile now, so they may have a lil pillies on them and need to be re-washed and blocked, but here they are!

Halloween costumes!

noreply@blogger.com (road2healthy) — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 13:41:00 -0700

I am soo behind! Sorry this is late, but had to show them off!
I wanted to go as frugal as possible. I spent about $10 TOTAL for both of the boys' costumes! (this includes make-up!)
I bought black and orange fleece and red and black material on clearance at walmart. I took an old maternity shirt (shhh..lol) and cut it down to fit Tomas. I took a silky nightgown we got at the thrift store, (another shhh) and cut it to look like a vest. I used glue for that as I didn't have red thread. So, for Tomas I made fleece pants, a cape, a shirt with an attached vest, and a bow tie for him!
For Caden, I crocheted longies (my first!) using the dragonfly pattern from ladybugz.ca I made my first hat, and made a stem for it! Duane made him a poncho out of some of the fleece we got on clearance! Of course we had to make trick-or-treat bags to match! We both had so much fun making them! Of course I forgot to take pictures before we went to the zoo's Halloween night, by then.. what was the point.. sigh. So, I decided that pics of them in their outfits was as good as it is going to get!

Tomas:

Caden in his costume and close-ups of his hat and longies:

And of course, can't forget my Tyler! He went Goth this year so he let me do his make-up!

My first sewing in 20 years!

noreply@blogger.com (road2healthy) — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 13:18:00 -0700

Mom taught me how to sew, when I was about 6... she taught me using her Grandma's old machine. I took sewing in 4-H but HATED it!!! I stopped sewing at about age 12...
When I decided to cloth diaper, it brought mom and I closer. We made wipes together, she made me some soakers and shorties out of her old sweaters that my lil sis had shrunk. We turned onesies into t-shirts.. My mom was a professional seamstress back in the day, but hadn't in years! It was so awesome to see that spark in her eyes! After she passed, I inherited her sewing maching, her serger, and her crafting stuff. I decided it was time to learn how to sew again!
Mom's sewing machine had some major problems and Dh decided to buy me a new one!
My first project I upcycled! I took an old fleece sweatshirt of Ty's, and made pants, shirt and a hat for Caden! I am still working on slippers and mittens.. just limited time here!
I need to take pics and when I do, I will post them!

My first crochet project

noreply@blogger.com (road2healthy) — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 13:03:00 -0700

I had some shorties that had an elastic band, Caden LOVED strings, so I asked mom how I could do draw strings so she told me to go and get her yarn and a hook, and the next thing I knew, she was was teaching me how to crochet! She talked me through it, and some of her stitches were totally missed named.. must have been the drugs talking, but this was the last craft she taught me.. she passed a week and a half later.. I just had to share with you all.. my first wash cloth! Two layered, just like ma taught me!

Anyone want some Slime?

noreply@blogger.com (road2healthy) — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 14:49:00 -0700

I got tired of hearing "I am soo bored mama!" SO.. the boys made slime!
Took 1 cup corn starch, 1 cup water and food coloring.. we used the neon colors
mixed them in a plastic bag.. then added more cornstarch to thicken it a lil.. just had to share!

Recycle your crayons!!

noreply@blogger.com (road2healthy) — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 14:38:00 -0700

I was looking for something to go inside the purses and bags I crocheted for my nieces and nephews.. why not crayons!
Well, we didn't quite recycle.. but we found some cute lil tins at the dollar store, and found a huge bag of crayons at the thrift store. So, total cost for us to make these, was $2.80.. and we still can make a TON more(pic didn't even show half of them!)
We peeled the labels off the crayons, broke them into lil pieces, put them in the tins.. melted them in the oven on 250 degrees F.. let them cool and look what we made!!

Canning

noreply@blogger.com (road2healthy) — Wed, 5 Nov 2008 09:16:00 -0700

Growing up, it was always a summer "have to" in my house. Mom would can and freeze everything she had and more so that our family could make it through the winter. I can remember making trips to Utah and to the Bitter root valley just to get things to put up. We always ate what she had canned that day, and pancakes for dinner.. lol.. no matter what it was! I can remember cucumbers in the washer most of the summer.. lol.. and the time we had to take her to the hospital as she had cut the top of her thumb off with the corn slicer!
As an adult, I had only canned with mom a couple of times. Funny how things just don't seem as important as they should at the time. Mom use to make the best zucchini relish, salsa, fruit syrups and chili sauce. We decided to grow a garden together this last summer. Gardening always put my mom at ease and put a spark back into her eyes! Sure she had helped me put in a couple over the years when she would come to visit, but she hadn't had one in years! We got our graft paper out and went to town! I so wish she would have been here to help me can like we had planned but I decided to do my best to remember what mom had taught me and try my hand at it alone this year. I was able to get a lot out of just a small amount. Of course mom turned Tyler into a peach lover early in life so I also went looking for peach recipes! Ty helped me with them and he was so proud! I am so thankful mom taught me so that I could pass this on to my kids. Here are our family favorite recipes!

Peach Butter:

http://www.pickyourown.org//peachbutter.htm

http://www.recipezaar.com/Banana-Butter-Canning-Recipe-69038

My banana butter, in the crock pot: (notice the different pretty dark pink color!)

My banana butter cooked on the stove.. so light pink and pretty!:

The banana butter was so easy, cheap, and yummy!! The first batch we did, I let it cook most of the day in the crock pot.. this made it such a pretty pink color. I had also followed the recipe with the sugar. Ty and I decided it was so yummy, that we had to make some for dinner so we hurried up and made some using the on the stove method as in the recipe. I cut down the sugar to only 2 cups and wow.. it was sweet enough!! I didn't worry about running them through the hot water bath as the jars didn't even last that long! Tommy was loving those banana butter and peanut butter sandwiches! And Ty just loved it over ice cream!
We made some of our yummies in 4 oz jars..they are going to become Christmas presents with a loaf of bread from a the last recipe mom gave me. I am planning on making some cute lil toppers for my jars and will post a picture when I am all finished! So note to all you 'non-canners' out there.. SUPER EASY!! Don't be afraid!!!

Sposies Stink!

noreply@blogger.com (road2healthy) — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 17:56:00 -0600

Caden moved up a size.. and fast! Caden grew like a weed! Needless to say.. we have to take away from our stash almost daily. Of course we have added some since our stash pics! Here is his Infant sized Bamboo and Hemp prefold/flat stash

My Mom

noreply@blogger.com (road2healthy) — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 17:54:00 -0600

Kathryn “Kathy” Ann Atkins 1951 - August 20, 2008
Posted: Wednesday, Aug 27th, 2008

Kathryn “Kathy” Ann Atkins, 57, lost her battle with colon cancer on Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2008, at her home in Yoder, Wyo. Cremation arrangements were handled by the Colyer Funeral Home. A celebration of Kathy’s life for family and friends will be held Saturday, Sept. 6, 2008, at the Yoder Community Center between the hours of 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. with a carry-in potluck dinner, a tradition exercised by Kathy for many special occasions.

In lieu of flowers, please direct memorial contributions to the Yoder Ambulance Service at P.O. Box 22, Yoder, WY 82244; or to the Prairie Haven Hospice at Two West 42nd Street, Suite 2300, Scottsbluff, NE 69361.

Kathy, daughter of the late Lester C. Atkins and Mary Lou (Mosley) Atkins of Torrington, was born in Scottsbluff, Neb., in 1951. In 1961 the family moved to Torrington, where Kathy attended school. Following her graduation from Torrington High School in 1969, Kathy attended the University of Wyoming at Laramie for two years. She returned to Torrington, where she went to work at First National Bank with her father.

Kathy married C. “Brent” Smith in Lusk, Wyo. The couple had a child, Lisa, in 1976. In 1977 the family moved to Montana, where Kathy worked on the ranch. In 1989, they moved to Jerome, Idaho, and Kathy worked in a fabric store and in later years as a florist. Kathy returned to Torrington in 1993 following her divorce.

She married Robert “Bob” Oaks in 1994. The couple lived in Yoder, raising their daughter, Jessica. They owned and operated the Yoder Bar, which Kathy continued to run following their divorce.

Kathy loved to garden and was a fantastic seamstress. She spent her time researching genealogy and crocheting projects for her grandchildren. She was initiated into Chapter M, P.E.O. and was an active member of the Goshen County Women’s Pool League as well as mixed league. She had completed the 2007-2008 season while undergoing chemotherapy.

Over the years, Kathy became a great friend to many who remember her with a shoulder to cry on, a thought of wisdom, a helping hand or an encouraging word. She was loved by many and enjoyed by everyone whose life she touched. She was a great mother, a beautiful daughter, a wonderful sister, a fantastic “Nana,” a true friend, and she will be deeply missed by all.

She is survived by her mother, Mary Lou Atkins of Torrington; her sister, Janice Atkins-Neva (Les Neva) of Eagle, Idaho; her oldest daughter, Lisa Smith and her fiancé Duane Lee; her youngest daughter, Jessica (Bob) Gladson; and grandchildren, Tyler and Tomas Carney and Caden Lee, all of Yoder, Jackson Oaks, Emily Morrison, Wyatt, Hunter and KayDee Gladson, all of Yoder, and Dalton and Tyson Gladson of Torrington.

She was preceded in death by her father, Lester C. Atkins.

Newborn and Small Cloth Diapers!

noreply@blogger.com (road2healthy) — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 17:51:00 -0600

Since I am trying to figure how to add things to my blog, I thought I would play just a lil.. I just had to add these to remind me how fast time flies.. it seems like forever ago Caden was this small.. although it has only been a couple months.. wow babies sure do grow fast!

Our blessed bundle of joy!

noreply@blogger.com (road2healthy) — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 17:34:00 -0600

Here is the day of Caden William's birth.
May 19th, 2008.. Monday morning at 5am on the dot, I was waken up by some real strong pressure waves. I had been waking up at this time for the last few
weeks, even though the alarm is always set for 7:00am so I didn't think too much of it. I tried to close my eyes and go back to sleep but they were too
strong. I decided to quietly jump in my huge tub and soak to try to get on top of them. I did some deep visualization and meditation for an hour. I didn't
take a watch with me but counted 12 during that hour with them only lasting about 30 seconds each. I decided to get out, head to the computer and use
an on line timer. For some odd reason, none of them would work for me! I grabbed Dh's PDA and started timing my pressure waves, I was so thankful he
downloaded it and I knew how to use it. I was replying to a few emails and reading on my cloth diaper site when I happened to come across someone
asking about hypnobabies home study course. I read a lil success story (sorry I can't remember the name of the mama that wrote it) and remember
breaking down into tears! It was so emotional and just gave me so much hope! I remember replying and thanking her. This was at about 6:30am.
I just had this weird "today is the day" feeling so I called my mom and told her I think we will have a baby today.. I thought she was getting tired of my
false alarms as she told me to call her back at 8:00am. LOL. I got my hunny up a few minutes before the alarm went off just to talk to him. Got my boys
up and told them that I think their brother would be born today. I went and jumped in the shower to try to relax a lil more as I was so nervous and overly
excited, or more like just to kill time. Pressure waves were getting stronger and were about 3-5 minutes apart but were lasting 1-2 minutes.
I found myself stopping what I was doing at the time and just closing my eyes and telling my body to open, open, open. That was when I guess I knew we
had better head to the hospital. Dh took the boys to school as usual while I got dressed. It was then when I noticed a lil bloody show. I called my sister
at 7:30am and told her that I wasn't waiting until 8am to call mom and asked if she would make sure the boys were taken care of after school. Dh got
back and was taking his time.. I think too many false alarms for him to take me seriously as well. I asked if he was was ready and he said, well.. no,
I have an appointment at 10am. I told him I think we had better head in. I told him we were having this baby today, I can remember saying that there
was no way I could go weeks of these type of pressure waves so something HAD to happen today! I had no clue how far along I was or if these pressure
waves were even doing anything so I was in the mind set of we are having this baby, even if she has to induce me today! I can laugh at all this now.
Pressure waves were coming closer and I think Dh finally saw they were way different than all the other times. I called my Dr. to see if I should go to
her office to see if I was even doing anything or head to labor and delivery. Her nurse told me to head to the hospital. I remember thinking.. yeah,
just to be sent home again.. lol.. I am not too sure what happened next but I know it was a lil after 8am before we finally got everything loaded in
the car and got on the road. I listened to my hypnobabies "Easy First Stage" cd during the car ride. I don't remember much as I spent the whole ride
with my switch in the off position. We arrived at the hospital about 8:30am, we walked down to labor and delivery to be told that we needed to go to
admit first.. by this time, my pressure waves were pretty strong and I can remember thinking to myself there is no way I am walking all the way back
there.. I think I gave her a 'are you kidding me'? look! Daddy reminded them that we had already done our pre-admit and luckily one of the nurses
saved us and took us into the birthing room.
The rest happened so fast it is kind of a blur to me so daddy will have to fill in where I can't remember. I am sure I told them that I was GBS+
although I don't think they thought I was as far dilated as I was.. of course how could they, I had no clue if this was even real! The first nurse,
Dana, hooked me up to the monitors and then tried to check me. She said, alright then. I asked how far I was and she said all she could feel were
membranes. Then she called Terri in to check. She said the same thing and that they weren't going to try any more because they weren't ready to
have the baby. I was in DUH mode and asked what that meant. I was thinking I was MAYBE 3-4cm! They said they couldn't feel my cervix and
they weren't sure if my membranes were in front of it or if I was fully dilated..they made it sound like they thought my membranes were just infront
and that we had plenty of time. I think that is why they didn't get me hooked up to the IV.. they just sat there talking and watching the monitors.
I reminded them again about being GBS+. About that time they actually heard me! Dana was trying to hook me up to the IV when my Dr got there.
She checked me and this is where I let my fear take hold of me. I heard her tell the other nurses to call surgery and have them on stand by. About that
time, Daddy walked in and heard that, I was focusing and don't remember were he went. I guess there was a TON of water below the baby's head.
Enough that the cord could slip down and come first. They sat me up so that gravity would do it's thing and we crossed our fingers that his head
would beat the cord first. I fought through the urge to push for what felt like forever..thinking back, I think I had the urge when I first got there and
all it did was grow stronger. I think if I would have just relaxed and pushed, my fear wouldn't have taken over me as much as it did. I started asking,
no begging for something to take the edge off, although I didn't need anything for pain, I was having trouble relaxing. I was scared to see which would
come first.. the cord or my baby's head. About that time, my water broke. I guess my body was pushing and I didn't even know as I was hugging my
birthing ball and trying to stay focused. They rushed me to lay down to see what happened and I can remember my Dr saying there is a bunch of hair!
Dh actually looked which he said he didn't want to. My focus was on him at this time although he had no clue I was even listening! I remember the
nurses were so loud, not that we even had time to get our birthing plan out, let alone have them read over it. I guess I asked them to "PLEASE be quite"!
As much as I was trying to not push my body started anyway. Daddy kept giving me progress reports during my pushing. After three pushes, at 9:38am
we were both looking at our baby Caden! Both Daddy and I just looked at each other and talked about how tiny he looked! He looked soo purple!
The Dr. had to explain it to us that when my water broke, his head was slammed hard down the canal causing his face to be bruised. My Dr. let the cord
stop pulsing and Daddy cut the cord. I was so happy she stuck with my birthing plan even after giving me a hard time about having a 20 page plan as I was
in such a daze I wouldn't have remembered anything at that moment! We spent time all bonding and just staring at what we thought was our tiny lil joy.
When he was finally weighed and measured, he was perfect! 7 pound 11.8 ounce 19 inches long.. 10 fingers and 10 toes. Black wavy hair just like Daddy's!
The worst part about everything was I wouldn't let Dh leave my side.. therefore, the camera was still in the car! That and I didn't get time to make brownies!
Thank you for reading, Lisa