Upcoming New!

Just thought I'd share that I have two upcoming blog cooperative giveaways that I have just secured sponsors for!  I'm so excited!  The two companies are found below!

Child Training Bible is sending me a set for review and one for giveaway!  They are my sponsor for the Avoiding April Showers giveaway.  I will be adding a Bible to their set as well so that should be a great giveaway!

The other great company that I am going to be working with is Jenulence.  Make sure to read their about us page.  They are a small family run business making natural quality products.  Keep watching to find out exactly what they are offering for the giveaway(we haven't ironned it all out yet) and which giveaway they're sponsoring!

I am so excited to be working with these two sponsors and hope you are too! Pin It Now!

Whew

I just finished sending off part #1 for a guest series I'm doing on a fellow blog.  Don't worry, I'll share with you once it's live.  Hopefully on Monday it will be up and going.

I've had a fun day at home playing with the kids.  Two of the kids got down and dirty in a mud puddle today.  They had a ton of fun and it was good for them.  All are quietly sleeping now so I'm trying to get a few things done.  Right now I'm trying to decide if I want to watch a movie or make some posts on here.  Oh decisions decisions.

I do know that before I do either of those choices I am going to list a giveaway.  I will let it run for a week.  This giveaway is in appreciation of all my facebook fans who have helped me to reach over 150 fans within 10 days of starting my page!  I am so excited for this!  Thanks everyone!

My little Princess Fionna right before I carried her in for her bath.  Her hair took 2 shampooings and she doesn't even have much hair!

Ornery child Colin who was the mastermind behind the mud.  He kept "cleaning" all the toys with the mud water. 

I love these ornery children and am so glad to call them mine!  I hope someday they remember that Mommy wasn't afraid to let them have fun and get dirty!  It is so good for them to let them be creative and have fun.

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Totally unrelated ramblings!

Does anyone else have a huge list of recipes they want to try and find it hard to squirrel away the time to try them?  I have a huge list of recipes that I want to try!  I am going to make it a point to try one new recipe a week that I have found online through some of the recipe link ups I participate in.  Now to decide which one I want to do first! 

On to a different ramble. . . . My entire morning was spent making phone calls.  I had to talk to several people with our Dr's office trying to find out why the two kids who are supposed to see specialists still don't have those appointments(they were supposed to call me with the appointments last week), trying to find out when we can pick up Zyera's new glasses, and with the bank.  The bank took the longest.  That's  not a good thing. . . not ever in my knowledge.  It was definitely not good today.  I was reviewing my online bank statement and saw that this month there was an unknown charge that neither my husband or I made, not just one though, 5 of them.  So I call the bank.  We figure out that this is some scam company taking money out of our account, but no idea how they have gotten our bank information.  So we're preparing to close out that account and start a new one once we get all our checks cleared.  Very frustrating.  Has this ever happened to anyone else?

Good news though!  The weather is going to be super gorgeous for the next week and I think I may see another trip to the zoo in my kids future.  We have a wonderful zoo about two hours from us that we like to go to.  It's the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha, NE.  Very awesome zoo.  I can't compare it to other zoos though as it is the only one I've ever been to.  I remember lots of fun trips there when I was a child and have made it a goal for our little homeschool to go once a month if the weather allows.  So far we went once in December, January and now this will be February if we make it!  Can't wait!  I love watching my kids as they discover new things about the animals.

That being said, my kids spent most of the afternoon outside playing in the sunshine.  I think it helped as Fionna actually went to bed before 9 tonight which she does not often do. 
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True Beauty Comes From Within

"For beautiful eyes,
look for the good in others;
For beautiful lips,
... speak only words of kindness;
and for poise,
walk with the knowledge that
YOU ARE NEVER ALONE."
-Audrey Hepburn-

This quote reminded me of a saying I heard a lot growing up "True beauty comes from within."  "It doesn't matter what's on the outside, it's the inside that counts."

Have you heard those sayings before?  If you want others to think you are beautiful you need to show them that you are beautiful by your actions, not by having the perfect made up face.  You can be flawlessly beautiful on the outside, but if you are eaten up with hate within people are not going to think of you when they think of beauty.  They are going to think of the nice person who stopped to help them when everyone else teased, the boy who helped them when they were pushed down.

I'm not sure why, but when a friend posted this on her facebook wall today I knew I had to share it.  I hope somebody gets something out of this quote.  I truly believe that if we improve ourselves within our outward presence will reflect this.  If you are beautiful within it will radiate from you. Pin It Now!

Bubbles and Bedtime

Today was Tuesday(is still Tuesday too).  Tuesdays are the day I mop my basement floor so that means that Tuesdays are the day that we have a messy activity in the basement playroom during the winter.  Today we blew bubbles.  The kids all had a blast and loved it!  I loved watching them blow their bubbles and try to catch the big ones on their wands.  Watching the babies pop the bubbles was also pretty precious.

This afternoon we went for a trip to the chiropractors to have Fionna's ears adjusted.  Next, we picked up some parts at the electrical store so that Grandpa Slocum can do some of Daddy's jobs this weekend.  (In case you're wondering my husband is an electrician who works full time for someone and also has his own business on the side.)  And lastly we stopped at Hy-Vee to get some groceries.  We normally go to Hy-Vee for groceries when I have all the kids because they have these great carts that have vehicles on the front and are two seaters on top so I  can fit 4 kids in the cart!  Yeap wish all stores had those.  Today I was especially pleased with our shopping trip, not because of how well the kids behaved, but because several of the employees stopped to tell me how much they love it when I bring all the kids into the store.  This means a lot to me because normally I'm bombarded by people coming up to me and asking such things as "Are they all yours?"  "Please tell me you're just babysitting!" and you get the picture.

Other great things that I've found out this week!
1.  I'm getting some cool baking products in the mail soon to review!
2.  I found out today that I won a giveaway for a coupon binder full of coupons!
3.  I won on the Kinnikinnik toss your toaster giveaway and can't wait to get my prize package to try and of course do a review on just for fun!
4.  I will be participating in the Avoiding April Showers Giveaway Hop and can't wait for that to roll around! Pin It Now!

Great article

I wrote a post before about Body Image and how society and the media has changed what we view as the "ideal" woman's body.  I read a good article today on Madame Deals site.  It was written by a nurse who herself suffered from an eating disorder of sorts as a child.  She talks of little girls age 8 even who are already having troubles with eating and saying they are fat!  This means my daughters could be doing this already as my oldest just turned 7.  I cannot even imagine going through this with my daughters.  I hope that I am able to instill in them that they are perfect the way they are because that is the way that God made them and God does not make mistakes. 

I borrowed this picture from the article  as I really liked it and thought it went very well with the topic.  I hope everyone can help us start to make society rethink what the media is teaching our little girls.  Pin It Now!

Quote of the Day

"Happiness is celebrating the little things."

This is a quote I ran across and really liked.  To give credit where credit is due it was inside a Dove chocolate wrapper.  Yeap, there I told on myself.  I had a small chocolate snack today.  Insert blush here.

I find this so true though.  Happiness is in the little things.  Happiness is in a babies giggle or a child's smile.  Happiness is enjoying a glass of iced tea or soaking in a nice bath.

Happiness does not find us, we find happiness.  We choose whether we are going to be happy or not.  it is a conscience choice we make in our daily lives. 

I chose to be happy today.  I have several reasons that I could be worried or stressed out over, but I chose to give those things to God today and to focus instead on the good.  I'm focusing on how my baby girl keeps lifting everyone's shirts up and blowing raspberries on their tummies.  I'm focusing on the fact that Zyera looks adorable with her pigtails(so glad one of the little ones has hair).  I guess this goes along with all my posts on counting your blessings and being thankful to God for what we have.

Picture I took the other day when it was all foggy and pretty out.

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UNFI

this is not my picture, I am using this picture from the UNFI website

The other coop I participate in and buy the rest of my groceries(mainly flour and some yogurts) from is United Natural Foods, or UNFI.  This is another coop or buying club where you place your order online and then go to a location to pick it up.  You will have to contact them to find a drop point in your area and sign up with that drop point to order.  I love my drop in St. Joseph and love the wonderful families I have met by doing this.  If you are in the northwest MO area and would like to become a part of my drop point let me know and I'll get you the information you need.

This was the original coop I started out in.  I used to buy everything through them, but have found certain things are cheaper with Azure so I switched to buying them there.  But I just couldn't give up on UNFI.  I still buy some of the sale produce through them and we buy our Brown Cow yogurts through them as they are cheaper than any of the others I've found for my husband to take in his lunch.  The major thing I still buy from UNFI are my organic gluten free flours.  I can get flour in bulk from reputables brands that I have used and love and not have to worry if it is contaminated!

To learn more about how you can start buying through UNFI go Here.

Here's a quick look at their products and services.

And last but not least their about us page!
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Azure

So I've mentioned in posts before how I get groceries from a place called Azure Standard.  I love these guys!  You can get quality produce and great food in bulk for a better price than in the stores and the best part is the stuff you get from Azure is organic!  So I am going to start showing you what I'm getting from them.  They are based out of Oregon and deliver throughout the states.  They are not on the East coast yet, but do go into Tennessee and all over.   You would have to check to see what the closest drop to you is.  Recently they opened a drop in St. Joseph, MO which is only around 45 minutes from us which is great!  I order my groceries online and go pick them up.  It only takes a few minutes to get my groceries off the truck and into my van and then I'm done.  No hassles.  Love this!

I encourage everyone to sign up and start getting your groceries from these guys.  You can do your grocery shopping once a month and almost everything you need can be ordered through them.  Things that I do not buy from them would include toilet paper and other paper products, milk, and a few other odds and ends.  I also still check my local stores for good deals on products, but since I only buy organics its very rare that I find a better deal in the stores.

A main thing that I cannot buy from Azure is flour.  They cannot guarantee to me that their flours are gluten free and I don't want to take a chance on them so I buy them through my other coop which I will talk about in another post!

So, in conclusion, I think everyone should check out Azure for their groceries.  It's great products at a fraction of the store cost and if you learn to start budgetting and planning meals on a monthly basis you can save a lot of money!  If you are in the northwest MO area and are wanting to join let me know and I can get you in contact with our drop manager. She's a great gal and also a photographer!  If you'd like to visit with her or get in contact with her, you can find her business facebook page here.

You can request a catalog by going Here.

Information about getting started as a customer can be found Here.

Learn about Azure and how they got started Here.
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The Heirloom Gardener Review

Book Title:  The Heirloom Gardener

Authors:  Jere and Emilee Gettle
Website: Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Company
Don't forget to visit them on facebook as well.

This review took me longer than I had hoped it would as the weather has been so beautiful that we've been outside every spare moment!  But the nice weather also made me want to get my garden planned out and get my hands in the soil.

Now onto the book.  The book starts out with some background history on Jere Gettle and how he came to love seeds and planting.  He shares his early life and his move from Minnesota to Missouri(I'm partial to this part as I'm a Missouri native).  He also shares how he became involved in the seed saving movement to preserve our heirlooms and how he started his seed company.

I love the "life story" inside the book! Wow is all I can say to all the travels.  I've always wanted to travel the world, but reading about his travels and how he got off the beaten path to find these great seeds is almost as good as getting to go there yourself.  Not only does Jere Gettle tell us how to garden, he also shares the best ways to garden, to care for you soil year round, and how to save your own seeds!  Wow!  Here is someone who can't be in this for the money.  He's telling you how to save your seeds so you don't have to buy from him again! 

The last half of the book is an A-Z growing guide of all kinds of fruits and vegetables.  This resource is astounding.  It answers all your questions of when to plant, where to plant, what not to plant next to what, what bugs and pests to watch out for and how to prevent them organically.  This is definitely a resource I will be consulting this year as I finish the planning and preparation for making my garden a reality this year.

Baseline review:  I love this book.  I highly recommend this book!  If you like gardening and want information this book is for you.  Not only does Jere Gettle share how he became involved with seeds and started his own company but he imparts onto you, the reader, his knowledge of seeds and planting.  He shares how to save your own seeds, where to plant what, how to care for them, and other wonderful ideas.  The vivid photographs and variety of plants is astounding.  The colors just leap right off the page at you.

I have always liked Baker Creek Seeds and have ordered from them for a while now, but this book has given me many ideas and ways to change how I garden to make everything better.  Oh, and don't worry if you don't live on a big farm, this book also has ideas for the city gardener!

This book gets 5 stars from me!

If you want to learn more about Baker Creek Seeds visit their website or facebook page.  They have been more than helpful to me in the past with any questions I have had.  You can also check out my blog post about the seeds I ordered for my garden this year by going here.

This review is my opinion of the book The Heirloom Life Gardener.   My opinion has not been influenced by the Gettles or Baker Creek Seeds or anyone else.  It is just that, my opinion.  I have not received any compensation for this review other than the book in question.  To view my full disclosure go Here.
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God's Blessings

Today I spent a lot of time in reflection over the last 7 years since it was my daughters birthday and she turned seven.  So much has happened in those years.  It got me to thinking, how much of all that has happened have I stopped to thank God for?  How many times have I really said "Thank you God"?  Oh yes of course we pray before meals and at bedtime,etc, but we're to pray without ceasing.  I do a lot of praying, but today I was really thinking about how many thankful prayers have I sent to God over the years.  I'm sure whatever the number it's only a small fraction of what it should be.  So I'm going to list a few thankfuls here.

God has blessed me abundantly.  Today here are a few of the blessings I saw and thanked God for.  I am going to consciously try to remember to thank God throughout my days for all the blessings He pours forth on us.  What about you?  What blessings has God given you lately?  Even when everything seems dark around us, there is a blessing waiting to be found.

My ornery curious baby girl who knows no fear.

The sweet smiles and squeals of joy of babies swinging.

Children at play.

A girl so full of life that God has given me the privilige of mothering. Pin It Now!

Truly Grateful

A friend of mine posted this picture on facebook today and it made me think.  What if we were always truly grateful for what God has given us?  We're not always grateful.  I'm not always grateful. 

Today I am home with sick children.  I have 5 kids with upper respiratory infections, three of which can harldy talk they're that hoarse and one little baby who's cutting teeth. . . four teeth at once to be exact.  I'm a bit non-grateful today.  So I decided to think about all the things to be grateful for.  I have quite the list.

To name a few things I'm grateful for: 
      -the fact that I have 8 kids and that I'm able to care for them all and even though they're sick they
            still know that mommy is here and they still expect mommy to make them all better with
            hugs and kisses
      -the fact that we have a house and that our house is warm(VERY warm--oops I forgot and put
            two pieces of locust on the fire)
      -the fact that my husband has a full time job and that he is willing to go the extra mile to make
            sure we have money for the bills and food on  our table
      -I am very grateful for my animals and  the fact that soon I will have fresh goats milk to give my
            children to drink
      -but most importantly I am grateful that God is always there for me, even when I'm ungrateful
            and in a sourpuss mood

Once I got started on things I'm grateful for I had a really long list.  I only posted a few on here.  What things are you grateful for?  Are you grateful for waking up every morning?  Are you grateful for the food and shelter that most take for granted?  Are you grateful for the little things?  Sometimes we forget just how lucky we are and how truly wonderful our lives are.  We need to stop comparing ourselves to others and be grateful for what we have and what a "GREAT" God we have!!!

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Reviews

I am going to be doing some personal reviews soon.  These reviews will be of my own opinion and I am not being compensated for them, and in the most part the manufacturers/companies do not know that I am doing reviews as they have not asked that of me.  I will always specify if I am being compensated or receiving any product for free.

That being said, be on the look out for a review on the Scentsy warmer and scent of the month every month.  I am a Scentsy consultant, but I do NOT receive the products for free.  I do however normally receive the scent of the month due to my subscriptions which I pay for.  So, I will review how I feel they smell and whether I highly recommend them or not.  January will be coming this week and then I will do February(yeap I've already got it!). 

As I have mentioned before I am a member of a few buying clubs or coops.  These are UNFI(United) and Azure Standard.  I also am able to buy from Frontier through my UNFI coop.  I will be doing reviews on these as well as letting you know what I purchase from them.  Once again they are not compensating me.  I spend my own money to buy the products I like and go pick them up.  I just want to share with you my journeys in feeding my family healthy, organic whole foods. Pin It Now!

Verse of the Day

“If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.” James 1:5 KJV

This was my verse of the day today.  Just read it. . . . . now reread it. . . now process and think about it. 

To me this verse says, if you don't know what to do, if you have questions, if things aren't going the way you planned, ask God.  That's it, just ask God.  If we don't know which way to turn, if we don't know where our path in life is taking us or what our next move should be, we should ask God.

God doesn't care if our question is "stupid"--disclosure I believe there are no stupid questions--sometimes we need to answer our own questions, but they're not stupid.  God doesn't care if we've made 100 wrong decisions and tried everything else before asking Him, He's waiting for us to ask Him.  God knows when we need His help, all we have to do is ask.

Maybe others would focus on the "lack wisdom" part of this verse, but that doesn't speak to me as much as the part where we should ask God.  In everything we should ask God.  We should be constantly praying and seeking God's will and God's advice.  How many times do we look to our friends to see what they think we should do about something?  How many times do we try to see what our selfish self wants over what God would have us do?

Now lets move on to the second half of the verse.  God gives to us His answers and His help at no cost to us.  We don't have to sit through a lecture of how "I've told you a hundred times. . . " or "didn't I tell you. . . " or listen to the "I was right. . . " speech.  No, God isn't like that.  God says come and let Me help you.  I want to give to you, if you will only let Me.  I want to take all your problems and GIVE to you. 

God only wants to give to us.  He only wants to help us.  He only wants to be there for us when we need Him. 

I needed this verse.  Things are topsy turvy in my life these days and I needed to be reminded to take it to God.  To hand my life and my problems over to God.  To ask God for help and then sit and listen while He pours forth liberally on me not rebuking me for not coming sooner.  This is why He is our loving God.  I for one am glad of this.

What about you?  What does this verse say to you?  How can this verse help you in your life? Pin It Now!

My Day

Today was a fun day for us around here, well fun for the most part.  Kids got up early as per normal(they seem to think they must be up by 6am).  We had breakfast and started in on our school.  For those who don't know I homeschool my tribe of monkeys(oops I mean my wonderful children)!  So there I am working on teaching and I start hearing my youngest boys Woody doll talking.  I know Colin isn't playing with it as he's sitting her by me working on tracing shapes.  I glance in the corner and this is what I see!

Yeap that would be my baby.  She took everybody's coats off their hooks, made a nice bed and laid down to play with brother's Woody.  She loves that pull string doll!

After school we had lunch and I started to get ready to take my oldest boy to the doctor for an ear ache.  I hear a noise in the bathroom and go to check it out.  Seems my youngest son decided he needed to clean the bathroom floor, toilet, and counters with Windex.  He also thought baby sister might need some as hair gel. . . . So as I'm cleaning up this mess I look up to see my little brother in the bathroom doorway.  This may not strike you as odd, but I have a huge German Shepherd guard dog who normally barks like he's going to tear you limb from limb when you so much as pull into our drive.  Not a peep out of him. . . . .

So for the next two hours my gets become super hyper and bouncy playing with their uncle.  Take Patrick to the Dr to find he has swimmers ear in one ear.  Really?  Who gets swimmers ear in the middle of winter?  This is the kid who washes his hair in such a way that no water ever goes into his ears.  So now ear drops for that one.

Leftovers for supper.  We had the leftover Kielbasa Casserole with leftover Crockpot Baked Apples.  The apples are just as good cold as they are warm. 

During supper Daddy reads to the kids.  We are working our way through The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis currently.  Tonight we are in the book of The Magician's Nephew and are reading about how the lion Aslan creates Narnia through song.  Our oldest Bridgett explained to us without being asked how Aslan is like God because of the creation.  She did a great job of comparing and contrasting the two but was a bit upset that C.S. Lewis took liberties and had the lion sing instead of speak.  It was very cute to hear her but also awe inspiring.  As it is said "out of the mouths of babes" and that "we should be like children".  Children understand more than we give them credit for.

And now the last funny for the day.  As we are supervising and trying to get all 8 of the little monsters into bed(I call them this lovingly of course), my husband comes around the corner for a good laugh.  Being the mommy that I am I grab the camera and go around the corner to see what is going on.  I find my youngest son wearing his sisters tights over the top of his jeans.  I did take a few pictures but they don't seem to want to load so will share those later.  He really was quite proud of himself, lol.  Very cute and I know why Daddy had to go hide to laugh.

My kids are my joy.  I love every minute of them.  Sometimes they frustrate me.  That's normal and a part of them growing up.  They show me daily what love is and how to give without holding back.  Pin It Now!

Parental Rights

I read an article today that left me speechless. . . for a few minutes.  Then I was filled with outrage because that woman could have been me.  The article in reference is this one from health impact news.  It talks about how a woman went to see a new pediatrician for her 2-1/2 year old son.  The pediatrician basically after finding out she didn't vaccinate tried to convince her she should, she refused.  He then tried to get her to sign a waver stating she knew that by not vaccinating she was making it possible for her child to get this horrible disease. . . you get the idea.  Appointment ends, woman goes on vacation for the weekend and comes home to notes on her door from the State Patrol.  Long story short the pediatrician had called the Troopers on her stating she had acted suspicious and refused to show her identification.  The Dr had also turned her into the  Children and Youth Services. 

WOW!  Really.  Ok for one it is not illegal to not vaccinate your children.  You have the right to refuse for them to be vaccinated.  You always have.  It's just easier for everyone if you do.  Schools ask for immunization records and will try to tell you that your child has to have so many vaccinations to come to school.  But you can tell them that you don't believe in vaccinating and they still have to let your child go to school there.  There are actually certain religions that don't believe in vaccinations.

I personally, do not vaccinate my children.  I have had all necessary vaccines throughout my life and some that I didn't really think were necessary but had them anyway to work where I wanted.  The point is this is just horrible that this woman had to go through that.  How mortified I would be if a trooper came to my door and said that I had been turned in for something related to not vaccinating my kids. .. . and angry.   I am very lucky in that our pediatrician knows that I don't want to vaccinate.  He knows that I'm an RN, BSN and he trusts my judgement when it comes to MY children.  They are after all the children of my husband and myself, not the children of the state or the government. 

But that is just my two cents worth.  I'm not saying everyone should stop vaccinating their children.  I am saying that it is a personal choice.  You should think long and hard about this choice for you and your children.   It is and should always remain your choice. Pin It Now!

It's Here!

Sorry for the excitement, but my mail just came and I am so excited!  I told you that I had been asked to do a review of the book The Heirloom Life Gardener by Jere and Emilee Gettle, well it arrived in my mail today!  I am so going to be reading on this all weekend now.  In fact, I have to take my oldest son to a Dr appointment today to have his ears checked out(he says they're hurting him) which means I can take it with me and get a head start! 

This almost has me as excited as someone telling me they were going to let me have a day out by myself!  And to put that into perspective I seriously cannot remember the last time I got to go anywhere or do anything by myself.  I am serious here.  Even grocery shopping is done with one or all of my monkeys!  That is how extremely excited I am about this book and doing this review!! Pin It Now!

Dermatitis Herpetiformis

Dermatitis Herpetiformis. . . . Do you know what this is?  I didn't until just before Thanksgiving when I went back to my Dr. . . again. . . for the millionth time(ok so maybe not that many but you get the idea) to try to find something that would relieve my eczema.  I've had really bad eczema since I was young, but it's gotten worse in the past few years.  I attributed it to moving and this house having different allergens than our other house.  But it turns out that the allergen wasn't in the house it was in me.

After talking to my Dr about my recent diet change and how it was making me feel better, have more energy, etc, he decided to take another look at my "eczema".  It was then that he said that maybe what we were looking at wasn't eczema but another kind of rash.  A rash that only occurs in people with Celiac.  This rash is called dermatitis herpetiformis. 

Dermatitis herpetiformis often occurs on the elbows, knees, buttocks, thighs, lower back, and back of the head.  It is always bilateral(on both sides of the body).  Mine has come out in different places over the years, but most recently I'm battling it on my elbows, hips, and thighs.  My son Colin seems to have a patch of it on his bottom.  This in itself is very uncommon as young children don't normally develop this rash.  This is a very itchy, uncomfortable rash.  Nothing really works for the itch though I have read that some Dr's have prescribed Dapsone to provide some relief.

I'm going to provide some links at the end of this post so if you want to look up dermatitis herpetiformis and learn more about it you can.  These are some of the ones that I used to learn about this condition.  There are pictures of it on these websites as well.  I did not feel like taking pictures of mine as they are itchy and painful and just look disgusting.

The diagnosis:  Celiac Disease.
The good news:  the rash will go away by following a gluten free diet
The bad news:  It can take from 6 months to a year for the rash to fully go away :(

Resource sites:
What is Dermatitis Herpetiformis?
PubMed Health article-Dermatitis Herpetiformis, Duhring's Disease
wikipedia on Dermatitis Herpetiformis
Medscape Article-very informative!
about.com-the gluten rash



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Excited!

I am beyond excited as I'm going to be doing a review soon.  I entered this giveaway that I blogged about.  Unfortunately, I did not win. . . . BUT I was contacted by Baker Creek and asked if I would like to receive their book and do a review on it!  Of course I accepted and can't wait to get my book so I can read it and then let you guys all know how GREAT it is.  Keep watching as this week end I will be adding my seed order to the blog to let you know what my garden will be containing.  I always order all my seeds from Baker Creek Seeds and absolutely love them!

Someday I hope to go visit their farm for myself!  They are located 45 miles ease of Springfield, MO. 

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SOPA/PIPA

Have you heard about the new bills that the government is wanting to pass to control/censor our internet experiences?  I hadn't until today(don't judge I don't have TV and don't listen to the radio, lol).  I saw some people talking about it on facebook and decided to look into it.  This definitely does not sound like something we want our government to do.

I found a fellow blogger who summed it up very well and you can read that post here.  This will affect all of us and our freedom of speech. 

A lot of sites will go "dark" from midnight tonight until noon tomorrow.  I don't know how to do that with this blog as I'm not technically minded, but I won't be posting during that time as my own little protest.  You can also contact your local representatives to voice your opinion by going to this site.

Going to this site will show you a way to make your website go black for the day.  It also shows  a list of some of the known participants.

Here is an small blurb by google as well as a petition.

There are also going to be protestors on the ground meeting and protesting to the congressmen and women.  Hopefully we can make an impact and this bill will NOT get passed. Pin It Now!