On My Mind Tonight

I'm currently reading a fascinating book about George Washington and, just a few chapters in, I'm already in awe. More than that, I'm struck by how many of his thoughts about the British government at the time can so perfectly be applied to our own time now. The following are three quotes which are weighing on my mind tonight:

Written to a friend shortly after the Boston Tea Party and the subsequent 'Intolerable Acts' imposed by Great Britain:

". . . God only knows what is to become of us . . . while those from whom we have a right to seek protection are endeavoring by every piece of art and despotism to fix the shackles of slavery upon us."

To a correspondent, who had suggested that humble requests to the throne would work better than Washington's plan for the colonies to avoid ordering/importing any British goods on which a tax was imposed, he wrote the following:

"As . . . I observe that government is pursuing a regular plan at the expense of law and justice to overthrow our constitutional rights and liberties, how can I expect any redress from a measure which has been ineffectually tried already? . . . Shall we, after this, whine and cry for relief when we have already tried it in vain? Or shall we supinely sit and see one province after another fall a prey to despotism? . . .
I am convinced, as much as I am of my existence, that there is no relief but in their distress; and I think, at least I hope, that there is public virtue enough left among us to deny ourselves everything but the bare necessaries of life to accomplish this end. This we have a right to do, and no power upon earth can compel us to do otherwise till they have first reduced us to the most abject state of slavery that ever was designed for mankind."

And lastly:

"An innate spirit of freedom first told me that the measures which administration have for some time been and now are most violently pursuing are rebugnant to every principle of natural justice."

I wonder if these ideas resound as much with you as they have within me.

Shower Caps and Bunk Beds

**UPDATE**
The oil worked like a charm!! I washed every ones hair yesterday morning and apparently most of the bugs just washed out (what could be easier than that?) and the rest (just 2 or 3 ber head) combed out. Best of all, they were dead. All but one who was hiding out in a tiny un-oiled spot in the middle of Josie's head.

By the way, if you ever have this problem, do not waste money on other combs. Just go online to buy the NitFree Terminator. It is, by far, the best comb for the job. It actually does get all the nits, which other combs do not. We tried several different brands, including Rid, with no success.

A side benefit to the oil: Smooth, soft and shiny hair. Our heads have never sported silkier locks than they do right now, though I don't think I'll be doing this again any time soon.

For your reference, here's what to do to get rid of lice:
1)Obtain a NitFree Terminator comb. It is worth the price and the two day wait to get it from Amazon.com.

2) Before bed, put olive oil in hair until it oozes out when you squeeze the hair. Make sure to get every hair, from scalp to tip, especially around ears and the nape of the neck. Put on a shower cap to protect bedding and go to sleep.

2)Shower. Wash hair very well to get oil out (it takes 2 or 3 washings at least). Use conditioner, and rinse. (This makes the fine combing go much better).

3)Brush your hair to get all the tangles out, then run the nit comb through your hair from scalp to tip and rinse comb out after each pass. You'll want to look close at the comb each time too, to feel the satisfaction of spotting those few dead little bugs that remain. You'll also see, if you look carefully, any nits that were in your hair.

4)Continue to comb your hair with the nit comb every day for 7 to 10 days. This will insure that if any nits were left behind, for some reason, you'll get them soon after they hatch and before they can lay more eggs.

5)Comb through hair one more time about 7 days after your last combing from step 4, just to make sure there has been no re-infestation. If there has been, you'll have caught it before it gets bad and can just comb daily to get rid of them.

There. That's about it for this gross lesson. Hope you never have to use the information.

I was itchy for weeks before I realized what was happening. I figured it out completely by accident, too. Sarah walked by me, after playing hard in the leaf pile for about an hour, and I saw a bug crawling through a poof of her hair, so I reached out and grabbed it out before she could notice it. Then I took a look at it. It wasn't a little flying outdoor bug from the leaves like I thought. This bug was different.

I looked it up online and discovered that this bug doesn't enjoy flying, or jumping or even really doing much walking, for that matter. This bug was only happy in hair, human hair, to be specific. And it was the reason we were so itchy lately. It was a louse!

After freaking out for a few minutes and trying to get over the gross factor involved in this situation, I went out a bought lice shampoo, because that's what you do, right? We came home, washed everyone with special shampoo that really stings if you get it in your eyes, and then I started brushing and combing all that hair with those tiny little lice combs. Ugh.

I was under the impression that the shampoo would kill the lice. The reason I was under that impression was because the package said it would. Except it didn't. I was pulling live lice from every head. So what was the point of that shampoo? I have no idea, other than the fact that it cost us a LOT of money per bottle.

So I was able to comb the live lice out and I was very confident that the combing got to every one of them. However, there were eggs on our hair. Lots of them. I spent days picking nits out of our hair and I knew that I wouldn't be able to get them all out. Sure enough, we've got more lice this week. So I did a little more research and learned a new trick. These bugs breath through holes in their sides, tiny, tiny holes. And they have to be at least 7 days old to lay more eggs, so we have a small window here to kill them before they can cause more damage.

So tonight, my children went to bed with their hair soaked in olive oil (which will plug the breathing holes of the little crawlies on their heads and kill them overnight) and some lovely shower caps to keep it all contained.



Don't they just look adorable? Aside from the bugs in their hair? I'll be sporting a pink cap tonight, too. And Daddy, if he elects to join the fun just to be safe, will get to pick white or blue. Then, in the morning, we'll all shower, leave some conditioner in our hair and comb everything out with a super lice comb, which I'm confident will allow us to get all the lice and any left over nits, too. Cross your fingers for me, please. This is such a gross issue and I'm looking forward to it being over!

Notice the boxes in the background of this picture? Those are the new bunk-beds for the kids. I'll tell you that fun roller coaster ride next time. The kids are so excited with their surprise and we'll be having fun putting these up tomorrow.

I really hope this oil thing works.

In The Spirit

It seems that the moment I finished making ghost costumes for the kids to use on Halloween, my mind made the leap to the next holidays coming just around the corner. Never mind that Halloween was still two weeks away, and never mind that I usually don't want to think about Christmas until Thanksgiving is over. This year, I've caught the spirit early and I'm sharing it with my children.

We had a lovely planning meeting this morning over breakfast (a delicious blueberry coffee cake that I was testing out for Christmas morning) during which we made some excellent decisions about what the children would like to give for Christmas. They came up with several amazing ideas that I would never have thought of. And it was very gratifying to hear them list the people they love with whom they'd like to share the holiday joy. Their gifts and recipients are completely their idea with no embellishment from Mommy (except for telling them the name of the gift they described). Even better, their ideas are largely items they can make, with only a little help from Mommy.

I credit my strict no-advertisements rule for the beautiful and sweet ideas the children can come up with. We watch very little television and what we do watch is mostly on DVD or pre-recorded so I can skip the ads. Their ideas aren't tainted by commercialism, and I'm proud of them for it.

Now, my question for you: What are your traditions leading up to Thanksgiving and/or Christmas? We have a few things we do every year, but my lack of planning keeps things hectic and traditions to a minimum. This year, I'd love to add some special things to the weeks leading up to these two special days. I'd love to hear what you do!

A New Blog to Enjoy

Such lovely ideas and inspirations for frugal holiday celebrations that put the focus on family rather than commercialism and lots of great ideas for everyday too. That's what you'll find in the upbeat and beautiful posts by Molly.

Go check her out soon. She's doing a lovely '30 Days to Thanksgiving' thing right now. Even though I'm not hosting that particular celebration, I still like to create a beautiful climate for my family through the days leading up to the big day and I have found her encouragement to be quite uplifting and inspiring.

Enjoy!

Sweet Surprise

It's cool today. Windy, too. The cooler temperatures have brought a few things back to our daily life that had been in hiding for many months. Among the highlights for the kids are their jackets (they just adore those hoods) and the fact that we can leave the back door open all they want (no more reminders to close the door to keep the air conditioning in).

They were truly delighted, however, when they saw me bring out one more of their 'friends' from cold weather: The chocolate pot!

Yes. We have a tea pot, glazed a rich, deep brown, that we have designated as our chocolate pot. When they see me carry that out, they know they are about to enjoy some sweet, warm, chocolaty goodness. The only sad part of it is when we pour the last drop!

A Treasure to Share

I just happened upon this delightful book which, I'm happy to say, is free for all of you to download! It's an old book created for children about 12 years old, filled with little rhymes to remember cooking rules, wonderful recipes from long ago, and a very sweet, motherly tone. I fell in love with this book the moment I read the following poem:

The Witch's Test

Put eggs in cold water to test them for food.
If they float they are bad, if they sink they are good.
And some people say that an egg is all right
If you hold it up close to a flame that is bright
And look through it endwise and still see a light.

There are many of these types of poems sprinkled throughout the book and each recipe not only tells the child what ingredients to have on hand, but also what hardware they'll need to gather! Recipes include gentle reminders, such as to make sure you don't let any eggshells get into your scrambled eggs.

I do hope you click on the title (it links right to it) then click the download button, towards the right side at the top of the page the link brings you to. I'm printing a copy, and I hope to enjoy this book with my children in the years to come.

Enjoy!

I'm A Homeschooler

It's official, though not necessarily permanent. I am homeschooling my children! My dear husband even told a friend of his that I was homeschooling, "for now," he qualified it. Still, it's a big step for him and a big step for me, too!

We're using a version of workboxes that takes up far less space that the original design. I have a crate with large envelopes into which I put our activities for the following day. We've been through just one week of 'school' but I can see how well this idea will carry us through the year. And, because all the materials are laid out and ready for us in the morning, we get far more done in a morning than we ever did during my experiments early in the summer.

One day, last week, we had done 10 of our 12 envelopes before lunch. We enjoyed our meal together and then went outside to play in the sunshine. About a half an hour later, Katie came to me and said "Can we go inside now to finish our envelopes? Please?" As soon as they heard her request, her sisters quickly came over to add their voices to the cause!

They love the routine of it all and they were sad when Saturday came and I said "No school today." I might go ahead and put together a couple of envelopes for weekends, just to keep them happy. Nothing required, of course, but they certainly do love to 'do school'. They even told a friend that they get to go to school "right in our own house!"

I'm sure I'll have more to write about this in a week or two. I'll be sure to keep you updated on our successes and failures. And thank you in advance for forgiving the rambling nature of this post. My excitement doesn't seem to allow me to be terribly coherent!

Convoluted

Isn't this a really amazing looking tree?

It lives happily just outside a house we're thinking of buying. It's a weeping cherry and it's one of the coolest trees I've ever met.

You gotta try this!

If you've never seen this toy, you are missing out on some very serious family fun. We were given these sets by a local family that had out grown it and we have had such a great time with it!

There are sturdy bars and flexible bars, connectors and bases. They all snap together magnetically, so it's very easy for the kids to do. Then there are fabric pieces that clip on to the bars to make walls.




What could be more cool than building your own kid-sized castle right in your living room?




Sarah certainly had a great time crawling through the maze we made for her.





The sets included some carnival pieces and Katie and Josie enjoyed being part of the zoo.




Even their Daddy couldn't keep his hands off this fun, creative toy! He built them a helicopter when it was time to pull down the castle.

I highly recommend this toy to keep aside for rainy days. It's a great way to have some at-home family fun.