Where I've Been

I didn't actually set out to ignore this poor little blog. And I didn't mean to give up on Homemade365's homemade challenge. But life, well, it has had different plans for me. :)

Most of y'all know about K and her eczema issues. This has been a struggle for our family for over 5 years now. But we are finally getting close to a solution! Allergy testing revealed that out of the 96 possible food allergens they tested for, K was allergic to all 96 of them!!! Now, we're pretty sure that it must be a few big hitters that are making her system so over-reactive. For the last almost 2 months, we have been tinkering with her diet, trying to find the right combinations of foods that will keep her healthy and still allow her system to heal. Currently, K is completely without gluten, dairy, soy, egg, pork, nuts, beef, avocados, carrots, and I'm sure a few other things I can't remember off the top of my head (please don't worry if it sounds extreme... we're working with our doctors and nutritionists etc... she's in good hands). And little by little we are seeing improvements. I can't even begin to describe how amazing this is for us! It has not been an easy change for me to deal with, but helping K get better makes the whole struggle worthwhile.

But the progress is slower than we'd like (isn't it always?). Wheat is K's biggest allergen, and I have a suspicion than there is lots of accidental exposure occuring.... a few crumbs in the jelly jar, crumbs in the toaster, accidental wheat exposure at restaurants, that sort of thing. So as of tomorrow, everyone in the Owl Nest will be gluten free. No more wheat for this family. I'm looking forward to seeing if this helps.

Dealing with diet changes turned my world on its head. Right when I finally felt like things were hitting their stride, I had to change the way I approached everything about feeding my family. This was hard, and lead to more than one late night crying session. Change, even for a good reason, is still very, very hard. But I am finally getting back to a place where things feel normal, though my normal is completely different from what it was before. And that's good, I think. That means I'm growing. But the growing pains stink!


In the meantime, besides dealing with food, I've been working on a few of my New Year's resolutions (which I never did find time to blog about). I tried hard to make these attainable, and to have my list look more like a set of goals for 2010 and less like a set of "reinvent my whole life this instant" directives.

But, in an effort to re-motivate myself, and because I'm honest like that, here are my resolutions for 2010, along with a mini-update about how I'm doing so far.

1. Give up soda: ah, the saga continues. I lasted almost three weeks. Then it was a sip here, a sip there, and then WHAM back to making trips through the drive through for mega-sized 44 oz sodas. I have realized that this may have to be an all-or-nothing thing for me. SIGH. I'm currently working through this and have weaned myself to half a bottle of Coke a day. That's progress at least.

2. Run at least 2 5k's before the year is up: must start walking first! :) I miss my running days (also know as my pre-momma days... J is seven (and a HALF)... it's been a long time). I took a tour of the gym today. I think that's what I'll be up to this summer!

3. Read through my 2010 booklist: so far I have read a few of the books I set out to read. Making unsurprisingly good progress. I'll post my booklist later. This post is long enough already. I'll even try to remember to link to it.

4. Learn to knit: well, I have about 6 inches of a poorly knitted scarf to prove that I am trying. It's going to be a long road though :)

5. Write more: we've probably all noticed that blogging more isn't really happening. But writing is. I am working on a novel, reading books on writing (very typical of me... if there is a book on a topic, I will read it), and feeling creative and happy about it.

I am sure there were a few other resolutions, but I lost the list I wrote them on. I'll bet, though, that Get Organized and Stop Losing Things were both on the list :)


So, that is where I've been. Now that life has reached a manageable point again, you can look forward to more blogging. I'm sure I'll have some new gluten-free, casein-free (GFCF) recipes to share, some updates on the writing process, complaints about how sore and tired I am from working out, maybe some 5K results, and fun updates on the Little Owls. We'll be schooling through the summer, so look for updates on that, too. Thanks to those who've hung around!!!

Have a great weekend!
OWL MOMMA

Super Quick Update

Wow... time is flying by! Where has January gone? I still haven't posted about my New Years Resolutions... hee hee! I'm having trouble even keeping up with reading blogs I like, let alone posting on my own. I am still playing along with Jennifer's Homemade 365 challenge. I will try to get to those updates soon. Lots of interesting kitchen science going on :) School has been rolling along too. Maybe I'll get to that post, too. In the meantime, I thought y'all might be tired of staring at the same thing, so here is something new to look at :)

Changes Are A-Comin'

Confession time --- I can't handle the pressure of trying to manage more than one blog. First of all, it's just more work and more time that I don't have :) Secondly, my real life doesn't fall into neat categories like that... it feels very artificial to me to segregate out homeschooling from other parts of my life because it isn't really like that... homeschooling is just part and parcel of everything else that goes on around here.

So what does this mean for you, the reader? It means that I am giving up (my short lived) blogging at Little House in the Big World... I'm going to import the few post I had there to this blog. And from here forward, all of my random thoughts, as well as my homeschool updates, will be posted here! If your not interested in foodie stuff, or my deep philosophical wonderings, feel free to disregard those posts and just keep an eye out for pictures of those adorable little owls of mine. And conversely, if you stumbled over here for foodie stuff, just remember that the kids help me cook! I'm also changing my blog name (the url will stay the same... I don't want to confuse anyone that much, lol) and I'll be changing the layout.

So stay tuned for a fresh new face around here.

What can I say, I think I got bit by the New Year New Beginnings bug!

More Fun Adventures in Blogging

I am still trying to keep the focus of this blog just on homeschooling and the kids. So if you happen to be interested in the other things I'm up to (deep thoughts on parenting, foodie stuff, natural living, and other fun randomness) you can come visit me at Little House in the Big World... make sure to leave comments and let me know you've stopped by!

temporarily on hold

We're moving at the end of the month, and as of now, we don't have a place to move in to! :( So I will be otherwise occupied for the next few weeks... finding a house, packing, moving, etc. all on top of our normal stuff. I'll try to post something (I have some great pics from my new camera that I keep meaning to post) but I can't promise anything.

How awesome is this?!?!?!

Check out the new layout! Isn't this the most awesome thing you've ever seen?!? Dawn, at Dawn's Design Shop, is amazing! Go check her out! I'm off now to tinker with the sidebars... way more fun than writing content right now :)

Technical Difficulties...

Work is being done to fix the cute owl layout... please bear with me! :) I am also working to figure out how to remove the orange square that you see currently!

Stay Tuned

ETA: Orange square is removed and previous background has restored. Not sure when I'll get the owl layout back, but at least this is cute enough!

So Much To Say

I have some many things running around in my head, just waiting for me to blog about them. But not this morning. We're off to a 9 am backflip seminar (for J, not me, don't worry).

Maybe later. :)

Super Shout Out

My friend Dawn is the super coolest person ever... she made this awesome blog layout just for me. YAY! I promise I will make some super cool thing on my blog to honor her... but not tonight. W is sleeping in my arms. He is sounding awfully croupy and is very unhappy.

I also promise I will update my sad little blog soon. Really. We have had so much going on lately. Just hang in there... I'll have updates soon (because I know so many of you are on the proverbial edge of your seats waiting to hear what else I have to say, lol).

In the meantime, just keep checking back to admire the super awesome owl theme.

Because I'm like that

I hear rumors that there are ways to add trackers and stuff like that to give you stats on how many people are reading your blog. I cannot easily figure it out, so it has fallen into the category of "work" and I must therefore avoid it. :) So if you would be so kind, try to have sympathy for my need for feedback (I'm working on this in therapy, but it's slow, LOL) and leave comments!

Thank you
Sincerely,
the management

Time Stamps

I am having trouble with the time stamps. Everything seems to be set to Pacific Time. I promise I was not up at 5:30 this morning blogging about lesson plans. Anyone know how to fix this?

Coming Attractions

To combat my writer's block, I'll list a few things I am planning to blog about...
Weekly recap: our first week back to schooling
Curriculum and Lesson Plans
Simplicity and Contentment
Deep Thoughts on Attachment
CSA

Now, if I EVER get a good night's sleep, maybe I'll have the energy to take the thoughts out of my head and into the wide (blogger) world. W seems to think that 3 am is the perfect time to be silly and awake. Owl Momma would like to politely disagree.

I'm off to make a cup of tea and hope today goes better.

Writer's Block

The novelty of blogging hasn't quite worn off yet. I frequently find myself thinking throughout the day "wow, I could blog about that." And yet, when I FINALLY have a few minutes to sit down at the computer (or to sit down at all, lol) I have NO IDEA what to write about.

Why This Blog

I always envy those other mommas who can raise healthy and happy kids, and find time to blog about it, too (with pictures, even). I have (what I hope is) typical non-blogger envy of all the bloggers I know. So, I am creating my own little blog. Maybe one day I'll even tell folks about it. My hope is to have a place to share some of my general thoughts on general things, and to capture some of the moments we share during our homeshcooling days. For posterity and all that. But really, I just want to be able to say I have a blog :)

I know there are all sorts of rules of etiquette and codes of conduct and what-not for blogdom... I know none of these, nor do I care to learn. This is my little piece of the blog world, so I suppose it is only fair for me to create my own rules for it. (To quote the little owls, "It's mine, so I make the rules of it!") So if things don't seem exactly like you'd expect, that's probably what you should expect. I imagine things will be rough around the edges untilI figure out this whole blogger thing... if you somehow managed to find this blog, and even came back for updates, bear with me if things seem to be a work in progress. They are.