Thankful (May Garden)

We had a hen hatch a little chick on Tuesday. She/he is adorable. We have separated mama hen and chick into their own little chicken tractor to give them a fighting chance and mom is so protective she wouldn't let me even snap a picture of the new chick!

I hope this chick survives. Remember last spring?

We have had so much rain recently that I am a little embarrassed to say the weeds in the garden have gotten way out of hand. I have my work cut out for me this weekend. Yikes! But here are a few things so far. There is also cucumbers, corn, stevia, and tomatoes that I did not photograph.

Broccoli...

....squash....

...beets....

...spinach...

... and strawberries! A little harvest tonight, but there a plenty more that will soon be ripe.

I am so thankful for our little garden. It's a lot of work, but it is well worth it.

Happy Thursday to you!

Thankful...

I am just going to entitle these posts 'Thankful' since I cannot seem to get them done on Tuesday.

Right. Moving on.

I'm thankful that in the wee hours of the morning on Mother's Day Micah drove out to a bee farm and picked up our hive and our equipment. I took this picture and....

....you can see how close I was willing to get to them. :)  I am excited about having these guys, but I am not so sure about getting up close and personal with them....yet. We have to add more to the hive this weekend so I might have to assist Micah at some point. Maybe.

I'm thankful that the closest Walmart (a 35 minute drive) now carries a few more organic things and fair trade coffee!!!! I am doing my happy dance.

I'm thankful that I discovered a little Amish country store by Walmart. They have whole wheat pastry flour and turbinado, yay! Oh the endless baking possibilities.

I'm thankful that there are 16 days left of school. I cannot wait to spend the summer with my three little babies.

And then I cannot wait for these suckers to get a little bigger. We are out of chicken in our freezer....

I'm thankful for Irises. Have I mentioned that before? I love them so much I had them tattooed on the back of my neck when I was 18. Again, not the greatest idea, but hey I was young. It's much better having Irises in the garden though. :)

Happy Wednesday to you!

~ Sarah ~

Saturday Eats

I have been seeing numerous other healthy living blogs post pictures of what they are eating throughout the day. It might seem strange but I kind of enjoy it. I am interested in what others are eating, what meals they are making for their families and I am always on the hunt for new recipes.

So today, I thought I would show you what we ate.

We started out our morning with our favorite organic cereal. We discovered Cascadian Farm and have been hooked ever since.

Then shortly after breakfast, I packed  a picnic lunch for us to enjoy at the park. My son had an away soccer game today so I knew we'd be gone for most of the day and the kids would be hungry so I was sure to pack a few extra snacks as well. I read recently that you should have a fruit or vegetable from every color of the rainbow everyday, so I tried to accomplish this feat.

We took water in a few stainless steel containers, tuna fish sandwhiches, apples (red), mandarin oranges (orange), pears (yellow), carrots (orange), almonds, whole wheat brownies, and Triscuits packed in reusable snack bags.

When we arrived home, the kids snacked on local red strawberries (thanks Alice!) while I made dinner. I had planned on making deer burgers but Micah was working on our lawn mower and I didn't want to bother him  so we had what we were going to have tomorrow night: eggs, pancakes, bacon, and apple slices (green).

 

 

The eggs were ours. Check out this fun spotted egg! The bacon was from a neighbor's hogs, and I made whole wheat pancakes. I made extra since they freeze well and I can easily pull out a few for the kids to eat for breakfast. I added some organic cocoa chips too to a few of the pancakes. And they were delish!

After dinner we did a little yard work, and then we came in hungry so I made some super food smoothies. They had kale (green) from our garden, blueberries(purple and blue) that the kids and I picked locally, flax seed, local honey, and milk. I'll be honest, they were a little gritty due to the kale, but I chugged it down since I knew it was such a good, healthy treat. The kids also snacked on homemade granola bars. We somehow managed to cover every color of the rainbow as well.

It's pouring rain now so I think I'll finish off the evening with a nice hot cup of peppermint tea. It's been a good day. I hope you enjoyed your Saturday too.

~ Sarah ~

Dear Mike Jeffries, You're An Ass

Okay, have you seen the story about the CEO of Abercrombie and Fitch and why he hates 'fat chicks.' I must say, I was completely shocked at the audacity of his words. You also must read this open letter to him from an amazing woman. I, at one point when I was younger and didn't concern myself with the price of clothing, use to shop at A&F. You can rest assured though that this company will NEVER have my business again. And I hope many other parents feel the same way as I do.

Everyone at some point in their life has been the subject of bullying. It's inevitable. Kids are mean and they say hurtful things. I was on both the receiving end of bullying and the giving end of bullying. And you know what? I felt worse about myself when I was being mean to others. I remember the hurtful things I said and did like it was yesterday. I did it I guess because I wanted to be 'cool' and fit in. I did it because I was insecure and wanted to put others down to feel better about my own issues. And when my peers said mean and hurtful things to me, I let it get to me. I let it control me and affect every decision I made.

And at some point, I realized that I could care less what other people thought. I guess I was around 18, and I woke one day and decided I wasn't going to live my life worried about what everyone else thought of me. I was going to be me and not care what other people thought.

And it was the most freeing day I have ever have. Sure I have my bad hair days now and then, sure I have my days when I complain to my husband that I'd like to lose a few pounds. But most of the time, I am happy with my myself, I eat healthy, I walk on occasion. I like me the way I am right now, 5'9, a size 10, and with plenty of stretch marks from laboring three kids. I don't care that I don't look like a model. I don't care that Mike Jeffries doesn't want people my size shopping in his store.

And you shouldn't either.

Mike Jeffries is just another bully. He's just another me when I was a teenager. He's insecure and he's picking on others to make himself feel better. He clearly has no compassion. In truth, I feel bad for him. If you truly are at peace with yourself, you don't feel the need to degrade others. I'm not angry with him. His words don't sting. I was shocked, but I'm not taking it personally. And I hope you don't either. It's people like him that make it so difficult for women. It's hard enough being a girl these days as it is, we don't need all this pressure from society and the media to be this perfect size and weight. We should focus on being healthy, whatever size that may mean.

The thing that does bother me is that THIS is the world my children are growing up in, particularly my daughter. This world where we feel the need judge people based on their race or size or age or bank account. This world where we care so much about how we look on the outside, that we forget the most important thing is how we are on the inside.

I often have conversations with my kids on the way home from school. We'll talk about the kids in their class, and I always encourage them to be nice to everyone. I encourage them to be considerate and compassionate. I encourage them include people at recess that might be sitting out. I DO NOT want to raise a bully.

So Mike Jeffries, I wish you the best, I really do. I hope you find peace. I hope you can look back on your life without regret. I hope you one day realize how childish your words are, but I also hope you realize that us 'fat chicks' are better than this and we don't need your silly clothing line anyway. You can keep it. I hope other mothers unite and boycott this store for its faulty thinking and perversion of beauty.

I want you to know Mr. Jeffries that I consider myself a good Christain woman and this might be contradictory, but I think you're an ass.

The End.

Thankful Wednesday

I am thankful for my children's teachers! It's Teacher Appreciation Week so don't forget to thank a teacher because believe you me, they do more than we could ever imagine for our children. We have been so blessed by the teachers who have been involved in our children's lives. Because of them my kids LOVE school, love to learn, and altogether love to read.

What do they say.... if you can read, thank a teacher. If you can read in English, thank a Marine.

I'm thankful for smoking hot Marine. :)

I'm thankful my irises are in bloom.

I'm thankful for the salmon that gave their life so we could enjoy an AMAZING dinner last night.

And I'm thankful that my huth-band found a little lost puppy last night on his way home.

She was so stinking cute! We were able to find her owner and she came and picked her up, but on my, I've got puppies on the brain now....

I hope you had a great Wednesday too.

~ Sarah ~