We're Raising a Family of 5 (almost 6) on a Teacher Salary?

Have you ever wondered how teachers can have so many kids at home when it is so well known that they don't get paid enough, or even what they're actually worth?

I would even argue the point that teacher's families get more "income" while in school through grants, loans and a part time job than they do once starting their actual career.  So how do we families of public school teachers make it all work?

The History & Why:

When I was younger my Dad always talked about the career of teaching as if it were one of the best because it was stable.  In public school it is funded by the state, meaning that there will never be a mass firing due to inadequate funds from an economy flop.  This sounded cool to me so I always kept an open mind about it.  My list of experiences and jobs I wanted to pursue was long and sometimes felt endless though.  I wanted to learn and experience so much and placing all my eggs into simply teaching was never really in the cards for me I guess.

I met my husband while we were still both going to college and we were not one of those couples to wait till events finished in order to start new turns in life.  So, we got married.  We also believe that "God will provide a way" as many others believe about having children.  I think my children are up to the Lord's timing, not my own.  I do have preferences, but would rather focus on what the Lord would give me, and when, then my own plans.  His plans seem to pan out better for me than my own ever did.  So, you guessed it, we had our first baby.  Yes, while we were both still in college.

I was unable to continue my education or my job nearing the end of the pregnancy and after the baby was born.  That was ok though.  It was a big transition and felt like a huge job to take care of a new life instead of focusing on those other things.  This left my husband to both work and go to the University full time.  Together we had grown dreams of creating art through video and photography.  Opening a digital media center and then expanding into other business opportunities, like running a reception center and art gallery.  They were big dreams and we had started the first classes to get a degree toward that purpose.  After I couldn't go with him anymore, he decided he needed to switch from where we had been going to school, back to the University we met at, and go into some type of stable degree like teaching.  We decided the most stable and most enjoyable degree for him would be the generalist art teaching degree because that degree allowed for him to teach any type of art.  It could be drawing, painting, printmaking, video, photo, ceramics... all the fun stuff.  Specializing felt like it would be limiting his potential for getting that future teaching job, so we veered away from that, although he did get a bunch of extra certifications in his favorite topics, like video editing.

Ok, so we had our first baby in college... well, by the time he switched programs he had 5 years of additional schooling he would need to do.  About a semester of that his old credits counted towards, but this decision basically started him over.  We also had him do summers and squeeze in the max limit of class credits to finish in around 4 years instead.  I've had a baby every 2 years so far.  Our second baby was born during one of his busiest semesters.  He'd wake up early to work at an elementary, go straight to class, do homework at the campus, and make it home most nights by 2am.  Thank heaven this wasn't every night, and thank heaven his work was flexible with his school schedule.  Our third baby arrived just a couple months after he graduated.  He was called with his job acceptance to teach video, photo, and drawing at a high school in a very nice east side neighborhood while we were in the hospital with our 2 day old little one.  He is in his second year of teaching now and we are expecting another little spirit at the beginning of next school year.  Wow that is coming up fast now.

The Finances:

Ok, so that is the history behind why and how we got here.  Now for the nitty gritty finances.  We have 3 kids ages 5 and under.  We love entrepreneurial projects so we like to do those, but we did much more of those while my husband was still attending college courses.  Time is a hard commodity to come by for a good teacher, and when he does have time our kids love and need him so much that those other things are hard to get to.  Our personal video business used to do about $10,000 a year, and then what we needed to live beyond that in school we budgeted per semester for and used grants, scholarships, and student loans to pull off.  We felt tight, but in control.  When I was pregnant I was able to get the government assistance program called medicaid to help pay for anything that went wrong (I barely used it though, because 2 of my 3 were home births).  Food assistance was also offered to us.  We felt very blessed, but wanted to be self sufficient as soon as possible.  We couldn't wait for my hubby to graduate and get into his career so that we could have enough extra income that we wouldn't need to ask for help anymore.

Actually dealing with finances once we didn't have semester by semester loans coming in, and instead had a monthly income, has been tough.  It is far easier to budget 4 or 6 months out at a time and just stick to that than it is to budget per month.  We thought our income would feel like much more, so we bought a house at the very tip top of our qualifying range within a mile or so of where my hubby was working.  Its a cute little house (small for having a fourth one on the way, but it'll work somehow).

Now, I know teachers in each area make different amounts of money and then that changes according to how many extra pet projects they do for the school, as well as extra certifications, and extra years of teaching experience within a district.  My husband does a lot of random projects, and took on an extra class period, so he is barely above base pay right now.  I tried to calculate what his take home pay was after all the deductions that they make for both taxes and for medical.  Take home pay is just over $28k a year.  No wonder I feel more poor now than I did while we were in school.  No one is helping us with food or co pay expenses anymore, we have almost double the housing costs (a little more than $1350 in mortgage a month with a little less than $250 in utilities), we have bigger stomachs to feed as the kids grow, and there is no more income now than there was with all those loans coming in.  We are on a repayment plan that allows us to not pay anything toward our student loans unless we want to, thankfully.  With this as our primary income and only maybe $400 coming in from our side projects a year now, its interesting to try to find a happy financial medium for raising kids.

What we're doing to survive:

We try to buy everything we can in cash, this includes small and big things alike, from books to cars.

We try to cut medical expenses by prevention.  Eating healthy, taking vitamins, using natural solutions and remedies to help with anything that comes up.  For example, it is much less expensive to use a drop of Lavender essential oil on a cut than it is to use something like Neosporin.  Though I have used both. Essential oils and natural solutions have taken care of most of the problems with health, first aid or hygiene my family has faced and has been much less expensive and usually is more quickly effective than the co-pays and doctor prescribed remedies I also tried many times.  This has saved our family hundreds, if not thousands of dollars (not to mention the saved time).  When we have a little bit more income, like we did in school, I like to go to a chiropractor that specializes in pregnancy and children once a month for each member of the family.  This keeps the nerves properly aligned so there is better behavior along with better health and immune function.  It also helps the kids recover faster when they do get sick or when they fall.  We have to live without this chiropractic perk for a bit but will continue it once we get a small raise or find time to do more entrepreneurial work (hard to come by lately).

We have never purchased a new car with car payments.  We usually purchase cheap used cars that seem like they would be reliable.  Some have been more reliable than others, but it has been cheaper to fix up a $2,300 van and spend $2,500 to fix it up that year, than it ever would have been to purchase a new van and make payments for both principle and interest.  We plan to purchase new one day, but only when we have the cash.  We will never have a car payment.

There have been moments where we have to use credit cards, but we try to pay these off within the month that we use them so that no interest is able to accrue on our purchase.  We try to avoid ever having a balance or even spending on our credit lines when possible though.

As of now our only debt is the student loans and our mortgage.  The mortgage is close to what we'd pay in rent for the same size home, so I think of it more as investing in a rental to ourselves.  A forced savings account for the equity is how my husband puts it.  Even if we built no equity, we've been able to stay here without a landlord looking over our shoulder, and paying the same price for our size in this area.  So the mortgage was worth its title of debt for me.

The student loans however, I do regret.  We needed them to get through school, but they are hanging over our heads now and we do not make enough income to even touch them.  So they are just there accruing interest until we get a raise in a couple years or we come up with some other inventive income stream.  They also have made it so we qualify for a much smaller home than we would have without them.  Even though we could earn a substantial equity by selling our house now, because of the student loans we don't qualify for the type of home we feel would best suit our kids.  Without those loans we would be able to qualify easily, and ironically our payments would go down drastically even though we'd be moving up.  Too bad the decision to take these loans gets in the way.  It does help us with getting more inventive every day to make life comfortable for adding a fourth to the home we are in now.

I laugh when people want to sell us things on a payment plan (big or little).  Really, we can't afford the extra payment for anything.  If we could, it would just come out of our food money, and I would rather eat.

For food it is easiest to stay in budget when we use a meal plan and buy our vegetables and fruit in bulk.  Meats are best bought on sale.  We love the bulk case lot sales and the year round case discounts we can get.  Buying bulk looks more expensive up front, but is cheaper in the end.  Produce can be cheaper at local farmer's markets as well as through co-ops too.

For the kids clothes it is rare that we buy them new clothes.  Instead we accept hand me downs from friends and family, gifts of clothing in every size, and if we need something that no one gave us (which happens occassionally), we make a trip to a local thrift store and find it for only a couple of dollars.  Even my oldest is in gifts and hand me downs regularly.

When the kids have outgrown their clothes I do not get rid of them.  Instead I have a system of bins, labeled by size.  When the next kid gets to that size I have clothes for them.  So we are always cycling through clothes.  Some clothes get more worn than others and aren't useable anymore, but luckily we can either replace those cheap at the thrift store or someone jumps in to give us more hand me downs.

One of our key values as a family is to be close in proximity to everything we need to be doing.  This helps us in many ways.  One way is it saves us when the car is broken or we want to not waste gas money.  My husband rides the mile bike ride to work in these times and most days that works out great.  There is a grocery store just down the hill from our home, about a block away, that we have used our bikes to shop at as well.  The kids ride in a bike trailer and we put the food in the back of the trailer to bring it home.  Another reason I value this centralized life is laughed at by many, but it is important to me.  I love knowing that if there were some major calamity, like an earthquake (which we are supposed to get here), then it would not be far for us to reunite as a family.

We started to do public school for our oldest, but due to a very long story of experiences and a very difficult transition of decisions in prayer we have turned to homeschooling.  This year we were enrolled in an online public school since I didn't really know where to start as I had never considered this for our family.  For our homeschool lessons I created a couple fun things along with finding materials that can be used and re-used for each child as they grow into needing the material.  I don't do the programs that I have to buy each year, but save money by buying entire programs that will last me multiple years at a time.  I regretted a few purchases, but was able to return those easily.  My lessons have to be next to no pre-planning (I just don't have time) and they have to be very interesting to keep my kids attention.  Most of it is literature based, as my daughter learns best that way, but my son learns best with kinesthetic learning styles, so for him we read it and then have to have an activity to reinforce what we learned.  Life has become much easier with teaching them at home.  I learn right along with them from their curriculum and it is just fun and easy to do school as time to learn & play together.  Without the right program in place both public and home schooling is challenging, but when you find what your family needs, no matter where that is, things just start to flow better.  It costs a couple hundred dollars a year for me to homeschool with my own choices of curriculum, but that is not per child, that is per family because the curriculum is reused for future kids.  There are lots of fees associated with public school, so I figure its not too big of a price difference, just a lifestyle difference.

Conclusion:

We have made a lot of mistakes and have a long way to go, but I still believe that when you have kids in the Lords timing he somehow makes the finances work, even if it feels really challenging to do so.  I am excited for the day that we feel like we have some financial wiggle room, but right now it just works out somehow, and that's ok.  If you have kids and are worried about finances like I was, you probably only found what I did.  People sharing stories like this, but they only had one or 2 kids, not 3 or 4.  It is possible.  It can be an emotional roller coaster if certain unexpected expenses pop up or when people respond to you in hurtful ways for having more kids with "that income."  In the end kids can get by with very little, and so can we.  The most costly portions of living are food, housing, and then whatever lifestyle choices your family deems necessary.  If you are satisfied with a very conservative lifestyle than this may be an easy feat for your family.  Every family is a little different, but somehow it all works out for the better.

How to get rid of bad breath naturally!

This is an awful problem when it becomes a chronic issue.  Embarrassing as it may be I and my husband have both experienced this condition at different times.  There are several things that cause bad breath but when it is chronic you know that there is something going on that is not quite right in your body.

Some reasons for bad breath:
-The food we eat temporarily stinks it up.
-We need to make sure all the nooks and crannies in our mouth are cleaned and free from rotting food, rotting teeth, or high bad bacteria ratios.
-We could have a dry mouth from being dehydrated.
-We could have Tonsil Stones.
-We could have a number of different gut conditions or problems that are pretty bad.

How can we help the bad breath?
-Eat more green veggies and parsley to counteract smell of garlic and onions we eat (and helps with other smells and gut health as well).  Taking a chlorophyll supplement can also be helpful.
-Make sure to get extra doses of vitamin C as that can help diminish bad and strengthen good bacteria in our mouths.
-Supplement your vitamin intake with probiotics as well as supplementing your food intake with probiotic rich foods like water kefir (or other kefir's), sauerkraut, any other fermented foods.  These are expensive to buy but cheep and easy to make if you feel confident in the kitchen.
-Keep self hydrated by drinking lots of water.  Kangen water is especially hydrating as it is a highly alkaline water.
-Chew food for at least twenty chews for each bite before swallowing.  This increases saliva while getting the digestive tract working more effectively as well.
-An option to increase saliva is to chew a xylitol gum as well.
-Try "oil pulling" out.  This was what the medicine men in native american tribes used to use for their clients tooth aches and other mouth conditions.  It helps saliva production but also helps to pull some of the toxins and bad bacteria built up in the mouth out.  If you are not using products that prevent remineralization than it also helps the teeth to remineralize as well.  It works well with fractionated coconut oil.  You can optionally add a drop of essential oil (like clove, cinnamon, lemon, on guard blend, or thieves blend) to the small amount you will be swishing around in your mouth.  You do this for about 10 min. but you can start at 5 and work your way up if you need.
-Eliminate common allergens from diet for 3 months.  This includes gluten grains like wheat, also corn and soy of any form.  If you are using my meal plans they pretty much do this for you without needing to think too much about how to replace them.
-Eat foods that strengthen the gut and increase your bodies nutrition.  Basically eat whole foods and super foods!  This will benefit more than just your bad breath which is a good perk too.
-Take nutritional supplements that strengthen the gut and provide greater nutrition to strengthen the body.

This video I found is a very complete video guide for helping us heal from bad breath.  Enjoy!

DIY Natural Remedy: Slivers & Splinters

Slivers have always felt like a DIY kind of problem.  As a kid I remember hating them and crying as my mom would pull them out with tweezers.  As a teen I remember hearing people talk about how they just need to be encouraged to come out on their own with different types of packs or by pushing on and manipulating the skin.  At that age usually the only slivers I got were pretty close to the surface without me even needing tweezers to pull them out.  Just a day ago I was moving our wooden side table and out of the blue this little table bit me!  I know that sounds funny, but that's how it felt.  I had a very large gash right through the inside of my knuckle.  Yes, it was bleeding, and in the middle of it was the largest sliver I have ever had going the deepest I've ever seen.  I couldn't fully straighten my finger.  I also couldn't fully bend it.  I was fatally wounded... Oh you better believe I yelped like a wounded puppy, this hurt!

Sliver Damage to My Middle Finger... Ouch!

I started off wishing I had a potato because potato packs are very useful in situations like this with drawing stuff out.  No potatoes in the house so I did the next best thing.  I soaked it in epsom salt water with a drop of Lavender essential oil.  It really reduced the pain and the swelling.  I cut open some extra skin to try to get the sliver.  No such luck, it wasn't even close to the surface.  That night I packed a cotton ball with epsom salt water on my finger.  It helped the pain through the night but didn't get that sliver any closer to coming out.  In the morning I cut a little more trying to get the sliver still with no success.  Asking my mom for help, she recommended packing it with a slice of lemon to draw it and any toxins that could cause infection out.  It stung a little but only for a few seconds.  This reduced the swelling even more and helped increase my fingers ability to straighten.  I still could not bend my finger very well and whenever I took a break from soaking or packs the pain was unbearable.  Not to mention the redness around the wound was growing.  Finally, as I was talking to my dear friend that I work to teach about essential oils with, I asked her if she thought my next step was to go to the doctor.  She said a bunch of things I knew for milder slivers and then said I should google slivers and DoTerra because there were oils that would help my body push out the sliver.  I swear that I almost always go to my essential oils first because they tend to work better then any of the other remedies I can find, be they herbal or medicinal, but this time I hadn't even thought of that for some reason.

The DIY remedy that worked:

So after that phone call I didn't want to turn my computer on, so I just went into my bathroom opened my medicine cabinet where I keep a lot of my essential oils, and looked at them.  I have learned that knowing a few properties of oils helps, but in the end if we feel drawn to a certain scent of essential oil, we usually need it for either our physical or our emotional health, since they help both.  I have seen many times that when even other oils were not quite what I needed to heal, Helichrysm essential oil has that extra boost of power to kick start my body.  I saw it in the cupboard, was immediately drawn to use it, and dropped 1 drop right onto my wound, undiluted.  Within a couple minutes I decided to try to pull out some sliver.  A little shard had surfaced so I tweezered it out.  Then I cut a new opening for a deeper part of sliver I could see emerging and I squeezed the skin together.  It was like my body was all of the sudden pushing it out because enough was coming that I could now grab it with the tweezers too.  The sliver was the biggest my hubby had ever seen in someone like that.  I could immediately bend my finger again.  We put a drop of Melaleuca essential oil on it to disinfect after the fact.  Its the morning after and my finger feels fantastic!  Thank you Helichrysm... You saved me when I had a bad burn, a cut that didn't want to heal, and now with this sliver.  You are a great friend to have in my first aid kit!

Drug Interactions With Essential Oils - Cautions & Safety

This post is for those out there with an auto-immune disease, lupus, or any other serious chronic condition.  Its also for those of you who just have an intense desire to learn everything you can about healthcare.

I was thinking about the fact that there are so many people out there that have to make that choice between modern medicine pharmaceuticals and those that choose to only use natural solutions for the same problems.  Sometimes when people talk about this topic it sounds like those are the only two choices, but in reality they are not.  There are so many varying levels to be on in the middle of these two.  For example my sister in law thinks naturally taking care of health through any type of herbal or alternative healthcare option is quackery and should be avoided at all costs.  I thought I would never have anything in common in our first aid and medicine cabinet kits.  I was wrong.  She totally pulled out a bottle of Arnica Gel on our camping trip for someones cramping legs!  It made me very excited to say the least.

There are also those who, like me, mostly use natural solutions for our family's issues, but if something persists for over a normal amount of time or is beyond our knowledge base we seek medical attention or a doctors opinion.  For a long time I would take my kids into the doctor just to find out what it was they were sick with, and then I'd research how to naturally combat that instead of doing the prescription recommended.

There are extremists, though they are few and far between.  I am sure some of my friends from high school think I am an extremist because back then I remember saying to them "I'd rather die than go to the hospital, no matter how sick or hurt I get."  I have been to the hospital since, and no I am not that extreme in real life now that I am older.  I do still get jitters about the idea and want to do everything I can to help myself at home first if the situation arose, but emergencies require emergency care and emergency physicians.

The main kind of person that made me want to write this today are those that want to use natural solutions but are afraid to.  These people are on heavy medications and at certain points could actually have a flare and get deathly ill if they were to just stop taking their pharmaceutical pills.  I know a lot of women with Lupus or other auto-immune disorders, and this is a very common trait with them.  Many people are aware that essential oils are quicker and more effective than most herbs and pharmaceuticals in helping our bodies to feel better from all kinds of conditions by giving it the nutrition and molecular support it needs.  Because essential oils have a molecular structure that provides a specific function, many people worry about reactions to their heavy medications.  Therefore they worry that they are stuck with only one option, pharmaceuticals, because adding anything natural could interfere or react.

I want to put your mind at ease.  I feel that knowledge is power.  I do think its important to consult with your doctor, especially when on any medications, however it is comforting to know what is safe myself too.  In the end we are all responsible for our own healthcare.  Everyone and everything else is just tools, be they good or bad.

Out of all my research I found this list of essential oils that can interfere or react with drugs and how.  I just want to note here that most of these findings are related to internal use potentially reacting with internal drugs, however the external use of essential oils seems to have no impact on the effectiveness or ineffectivess/danger of the drug.  So I will post the list of drug contraindications here, but would note that for the best care and relief of flares or symptoms to take a very high quality food based supplement regimen like Lifelong Vitality along with a good diet without gluten to reduce inflammation (which causes flares), and then use essential oils on the outside of the body in targeted areas or the feet to relieve specific concerns.  This can be done while using your medications, but can improve immunity and quality of life enough to reduce the level of need for the medications over time.  It is important to talk to your doctor when changing anything about your health, even for the better, especially when there are medications involved.

The List of Contraindications for Pharmaceuticals and Essential Oils:

While most essential oils are safe with normal diluted topical use, there are a few exceptions.

Drug Injection Sites:  Caution should be exercised using any topical aromatherapy preparations around drug injection sites or areas of the body where transdermal medications are in use (i.e., estrogen or nicotine patches, etc.).

Smokers:  Interactions may be problematic with simple inhalation of essential oils(aka EO's) for someone who smokes because inhalation of EO's high in menthol, such as peppermint, will cause increased lung permeability of nicotine. Menthol also slows the ability to clear nicotine from the body. If you are a smoker, allow several hours to elapse between cigarette use and inhalation of EO's high in menthol.

Pre-Surgery Cautions:  Many oils commonly used for respiratory issues, such as rosemary, eucalyptus, ravintsara and bay laurel are high in 1,8 cineole. Cineole can interfere with metabolism of anesthesia, and should be avoided (both topically and via inhalation) for at least a week prior to any surgeries to prevent complications. High cineole oils are also contraindicated for those on barbituates, as they induce rapid metabolism of these drugs.  Post Surgery these oils however may be beneficial in the healing time needed.

Anti-Coagulant Drugs:  Essential oils which are high in eugenol or methyl salicylate should not be used by those on anticoagulant drugs. 

Other than the examples cited above, most known drug interactions in aromatherapy occur with oral, vaginal or rectal use of essential oils. Although these applications are common in parts of Europe, aromatherapy is seldom administered this way in the United States.  This is because the British aromatherapy theology and the French aromatherapy theology for use medicinally is very different.  The British theology is very hands off, just smell (as I interpret it).  The French have gone beyond and done much more extensive research in medical situations with essential oils used internally as well.  In fact it is common to have a prescription for essential oil use from a doctor in France.  

Many aromatherapy schools in the U.S. have adopted the British theology, instilling fear of internal use into its student base.  There is no need for this fear of reasonable internal use for tested and verified pure essential oils that are known to be safe and help alleviate symptoms.  Knowing which oils are safe internally, that they are as pure as is physically possible, that they are from plants in the right soil as to give the greatest nutritional power and constituents is essential.  Being sure that the oils used are of high enough quality for internal use is very important.  Be sure they have not been chemically altered, have fillers, or adulterated in the gathering and distilling process (as this can make the oil toxic or work improperly).  There is only one company I have found that sources from the greatest soils for each plant and does all the very necessary testing for each batch to verify purity and potency for the ability to get the expected results every time.  I am proud to use their lemon, lime and grapefruit in my water, just a couple drops per glass.  It tastes great, helps my energy naturally, reduces acid reflux, and helps my metabolism for better weight loss results.  If you have taken a pharmaceutical drug, just stick to topically putting a couple drops where you need with some fractionated coconut oil, or the feet are a great place to rub them on.  The feet have the biggest pores along with nerve endings from all over your body so it is the number one go to spot for topical application with most people.

Reference for Drug Interactions:
Harris, Rhiannon. Drug-Essential Oil Interactions: Risks and Reassurances. Presentation to Alliance of International Aromatherapists, (17 Dec. 2008). Denver, CO.

The Oil Healed My Cut!

I have to tell you all what happened to me today.  So I was fixing lunch for my kids when the lid of a can after I opened it sliced the top of my knuckle on my hand!  I took this picture after I had washed it off, it was bleeding really bad (gushing) and I was getting quite nauseated by all the blood.  I wondered why it was taking so long to clot and remembered how well the Lavender with Lemon essential oil worked when I used it for Tye's nose bleed (stopped it in under a minute).  I decided to try the doTerra Lavender Essential Oil on my cut directly, just a drop or two.  It was amazing!  Clotted in 15 seconds or less without any more issues!  I am so grateful that I decided to try to use these oils for as many things as possible.  I used oils before that were not Certified Pure, and always had to use them in conjunction with other natural remedies.  These Pure Oils are pure enough that they work without needing anything else with them.  They are amazing and have actually made day to day life and its little emergencies so much easier.  I can't imagine the extent of their importance if we were to have a big emergency - like a natural disaster where doctors weren't readily available!

Seal It to Save It - No Freezer Burn!

I hate freezer burn!  This made me want a better way and I think I found the best way.  Its great!  We put together a vacuum sealer with the jar sealing attachment and I just take out the air before I freeze.  I use this for dry pantry items and refrigerated foods as well, to make them store for 3x as long (or longer).

Review of New Sedona Dehydrator Purchase

This video is our family opening the dehydrator.  We were so excited when we saw the FedEx guy pull up with it.  Kirk ran out to meet him at the truck with the kids and surprised him when he came out of the back with the box.  He said "We have been waiting for you!"  It reminds me of the Mr. Postman song by the Carpenters.  The FedEx man laughed and gave Kirk this monstrous package.  I really had no idea that it was this big.  Its about 2 inches wider than my toaster oven and double the height.  Its bigger than our microwave too and I was expecting smaller because of the videos I've seen.  Because of the size the trays are actually about the size of a typical cookie sheet I use for baking.  That makes it really nice because we can make more with it.  I am now gonna have to pack up my toaster oven though, cause I don't have room for both in my kitchen like I thought I would.  Oh well, this is cooler anyway, right?  :)

Here is the video of me going over the individual parts of the dehydrator and how they work.  I thought it would be useful for anyone thinking about getting the sedona, excalibur or any other food dehydrator on the market for that matter.  Enjoy!

Paper or Plastic? Both! When I get baby food in bulk with my groceries :)

About once a month we buy the baby food for that month in bulk so that I'm not always running back and forth to the grocery store and then I can take advantage of sales as well.  Its a nice system that saves me a headache and produced my personally developed bagging system and storage system for the baby food jars.  When we go to WinCo I bag anyway, cause that's their system, but at other grocery stores I usually get flak for even wanting to put the food in bags.  It was exciting this past trip to Dan's Market because the bagger was so excited to learn my system and wanted me to share it with the world.  Most importantly she wanted me to share it with other mothers who could use it.  You may love it or you may hate it, either way its been very useful and I will keep doing it for as long as I am buying baby food.

I do want to note that most of what I feed my 10 month old baby is actually breastmilk still, and then it is mostly fresh veggies.  She really likes heavily steamed carrots, broccoli, and cauliflower.  I also give her juiced veggies and fruit like beets, celery, carrots, and apple.  She can have nutritional yeast as well, which she loves; and then she likes raw pears and avocado.  Since starting to buy baby food I've found a lot more allergies with bum rashes and upset tummies, and.... lots of tears.  She can't handle banana, grains of any kind, or any of the typical bad food that kids love that I wouldn't give her at this age anyway.  If she has much of those things she not only gets a rash, it turns such a deep red its almost purple and sometimes starts to bleed.  I have a special cream I get from target and buybuybaby.  It's from a company called "Shea Moisture" is made from shea butter and has frankincense and myrrh essential oils in it that works better than any other cream I've ever found, though its hard for anything to help when its due to a negative reaction to food that's in the body still.

The baby foods are super exciting for my 4 and 2 year olds to eat as well.  I like to get a lot of applesauce because it makes a really fun snack for the older kids if I need something to tide them over while I'm preparing lunch, or while we're out running errands.  The jars are awesome to keep and re-use.  There are hundreds of fun things you can do with them, so subscribe to my blog or youtube.com uploads to be able to see a bunch of those as I get them done.

Campout Dinner In Backyard - No Electricity or Gas

Our electricity went out a bit ago and it inspired our Dad of 3 from DadOf3LivingARTly.blogspot.com to practice what preppers typically call "Bugging In".  It was very fun.  To cook we only used found things for starting the fire.  No grill, sun oven, or any other appliance, and it was bricks and wood that was left in the garage from who we purchased our home from.  The food is some from our pantry and some from the freezer and from the fridge, so a good mix of what you'd probably use both in normal conditions and in a power outage or other disaster situation.  It is nice to become more self sufficient and build more experience and skills every chance we get.