This is a painting done by my mother! She is a self-taught artist. She can work in pencil, charcoal, ink, pastels, oil paint, and acrylic paints. I love this painting. She lets me hang it in my home and she gave another beautiful work to my sister. The one my sister has, is of a red fox in the snow. I wish I could show you all her work, she has them all over her home. I grew up around this kind of beautiful art and wanted to be an artist just like my mom. Unfortunately, I can't paint a landscape to save my own hide. So I most just work in portraiture (when I can concentrate enough and have enough time to myself to do it -- which ain't often these days).

WR

P.S, I reserve the right to edit the snot out of this post tomorrow (since it is very late now and I am typing in a hurry) and still call it a Friday's Favorites. :-p

I started this post a while back but couldn't post it 'cause I couldn't get the photos off the camera, and then after downloading them, I forgot about them for a while. So here's the conclusion to A Bird in the [S]and.

I said that I'd try to get pix of the baby Killdeer when they hatched. Well I was at my parents house when it happened, but Bull tried to get a few photos for me.

WR

WR

Mom was released from the hospital and she had her first post-hospital doctors appointment yesterday. The doctor she went to see was her "blood doctor" and he said that the thinks she had a stroke, even though the they didn't find any blockages with a CAT scan (an MRI would have been better but she can't have one). We know that she was treated as though she had a stroke when she went to the emergency room, so that was a good thing. The sooner you are treated for stroke the better your chance of full recovery.

We may never know if she actually had a stroke or not, but we do know that her health has been getting steadily worse for about a decade. So something needs to change. She has too many serious health issues that the doctors have never been able to do anything about or even diagnose with any certainty.

Anyway, she is doing a little better, but not good, and still needs your prayers.

Thanks,
WR

The kids and I saw this the other day.....

...and we were all laughing pretty hard. Then I said, "It's true! We do! Don't we?" and nudged SweetPea for some backup. She stopped laughing, looked at me, and with all seriousness...........

..........You ready for this?..........

..........She said...........

"I'd rather poop butterflies and rainbows."

WR

She's in the hospital.

These are her symptoms:

• Muscle tremors (She shakes like a Parkinson patient -can't keep her head still; can't touch her finger to her nose and then to the dr's finger)
• Weak and dizzy
• Nausea
• Her blood pressure is fluctuating between normal and low (she usually has high bp)
• A sensation of falling when she closes her eyes

They've done a CAT scan and there were no blockages. They doctors here are saying they don't know what's wrong or what direction to go in.

WR

This morning I felt worse than yesterday. I have had terrible inflammation of the digestive system for the last few days and finally broke down and took a dose of over the counter antihistamine. I can't say that I noticed any change other than increased drowsiness.

So I made myself eat some soup made of beef broth, shredded cabbage & carrots, with olive oil drizzled over top. Then, when I felt a little stronger I started on a home remedy for the die-off.

I took some plantain seeds that I had harvested from my yard and "sifted" them somewhat, so that I had more seeds than husks. Then, because I don't have a coffee grinder, I set up a kind of mortar and pestle with my egg-separator and the end of a wooden, child-sized, rolling pin.

SweetPea and I took turns crushing the seeds 'til I thought most of them were probably cracked. Then I took a spoonful and washed them down with a big glass of water. I've been drinking a good amount of water since then and I think this has been the most effective thing I've tried. I feel much better. So good in fact, I think I'll cook supper.

I will post more about Plantain (what, how, why, etc.) in another post.

Oh and I think the blue nails, Tuesday night, was from low blood pressure. Herxheimer reaction can cause a drop in blood pressure and I already have low blood pressure so mine dropped really low. So taking the cayenne was the right thing to do. Although, if I had known it was low blood pressure at the time, I would have infused olive oil with rosemary and rubbed in on my chest because that works to bring blood pressure back up pretty quickly.

WR

I'm still somewhat sick. I have spells of being very tired and I'm generally weaker than normal. I'm also only eating about one good meal a day and have frequent abdominal "discomfort" and some bouts of sweating. Not so many trips to the bathroom but that's probably because I'm not eating as much and so that kind of thing doesn't seem to hit me 'til the evenings. But I am able to go out and get some things done during the day and not have everyone ask me if I feel ok (I think acting normal when you are sick is a female trait). I haven't stopped the candida cleanse but I'm not taking as many anti-fungals as before. Started adding back in a Candida Clear twice a day and will be rotating it out for something else about every other day or so. I am now certain this is a Herxheimer reaction.

WR

Ok, here's what's been going on with me for the last two days.

I had been having some severe itching in some spots where I'm prone to have yeast rashes along with the other aches and pains I described in my candida cleanse posts. Then Tuesday I realized something was happening.

I developed a headache with painful "stuffy" ears and my eyes hurt so bad I just wanted to keep them closed. Then came the body aches. I hurt all over. I was certain I was coming down with the flu. I started sweating while doing nothing more than sitting on the couch. But, even though I lost my appetite, I never got nauseous or threw-up like I always do with the flu.

I actually felt a little better for a while in the afternoon after getting outside for a bit and was able to eat a small meal (the only one of the day).

That evening, I was going to the bathroom a LOT, and I began to get chills and could not get warm. I was extremely dizzy/lightheaded (I was drinking to stay hydrated so I'm pretty sure that wasn't the problem) and told my older children what to do if I should pass out (because I felt as though I might, at any moment). My hands, feet, and nose felt like blocks of ice, and I was extremely weak.

After the kids were in bed and I started getting ready to turn in, it was getting ridiculous how cold my hands were and so I was moving them more to try and warm them. That's when I noticed that my nails were turning blue. At first I wondered if I had a blood clot but then reasoned that it probably wouldn't affect both my hands and there would probably be other symptoms like swelling. Also I had started spotting (women will know what I'm talking about without my giving TMI) so then I thought maybe my blood was "too thin". In any case, I decided to take some cayenne. I knew it would help me warm up and has the added benefit of regulating blood pressure and bleeding problems.

I was still feeling like I could pass out at any time but I was too weak to stay up long enough to see if the cayenne was going to work so I went to bed.

Several times early in the night and would wake-up enough to be aware that I was warming up but that the feeling of vertigo and being near unconsciousness was still there and I felt the worst I had all day. I thought about calling my sister but didn't know what she could do other than take me to the hospital and I didn't want the kids to wake up to something like that and so I told myself that if it got any worse, then I'd call. Eventually I slept well, and woke up feeling a little better.

So yesterday, I had a milder version of the same... sweating, headaches, body aches, diarrhea, weakness, loss of appetite (though I was able to eat more than the day before), ears hurt, eyes hurt, but with the addition of abdominal cramping and minus the spotting, dizziness, and chills. I've lost 7 lbs in two days.

Today I feel better than yesterday, but I'm still not 100%.

During this time I stopped taking the Candida Clear and other supplements except for grapefruit seed extract. I figured if had the flu then the GSE might help. And last night I took some saccharomyces boulardii. But I suspect it may be a Herxheimer reaction (immune system reaction to severe die-off), because none of the kids are sick, even though right up 'til Tuesday, I was sticking my finger into Pickle's mouth a couple times a day to apply a homemade teething ointment.

Well, I need to go rest now so I will be up to taking Rooster to football practice later today. I just wanted to post this here because it's easier than trying to update my OLFs individually. Hope y'all understand and forgive the "impersonal" reply.

WR

Probiotics are a must, while on a Candida cleanse. You have to replace the Candida that you're killing off, with something that will compete against what remains and keep it at bay. Otherwise it will just keep growing back. I bought some probiotic supplements but I also make my own in the form of.... KEFIR!

Kefir is an odd word (but then, kefir is an odd beverage so it's only fitting). It doesn't follow English phonic rules. Of course, it's not an English word, so why should it?

When we try to apply our phonic rules to the word kefir we come up with kē'-fûr or KEE-fur. LOL! That sounds so funny to me! I'm a Southern gal, so I know what it's like to be laughed at for how you talk.... but, KEE-fur coming out of the mouths of otherwise very dignified folks, never fails to make me smirk. I sounds like a nickname I would have come up with in jr. high if I'd had any friends named Keith. "Hey! Keith... Keif-FEE... KEE-fur, meh man!"

But I've heard the correct pronunciation from a Russian acquaintance (also from recordings online) and apparently, it's pronounced with a short e and a short i sound, kě-fĭr' or keh-FEAR, with the emphasis on the second syllable. It sounds sort of mysterious and foreign, but pleasant. Not at all like an annoying nickname. LOL!

Well, enough of that...
Now, on to the kefir grains!

Beware: what you are about to see are kefir grains in their naked state... au naturel... nothin' on but a milk coat. Don't be afraid, they are harmless (and it is only a picture). In fact these ugly little fellows might become your best budd's. Some folks become very attached to their grains. I used to call mine Freddy, Fred, and Ed, but then they kept multiplying, so now I just call them The Bumpy Boys.

And these are they, er, them, er.... Here they are!

Or at least some of them. I recently decided to split up the gang and start making two batches at once. And so I photographed the process so I could do this little show and tell.

Now, on to the making of the kefir!
This is really simple, folks. Here's the equipment.

Kefir grains (in the Newman's Own jar), a clean spoon to get them out (oh, and a clean bowl, if you want to wash them --or take a picture of them), a clean jar for the new batch to percolate in, and milk (I use real milk and highly recommend it -- just look at the cream line on that milk! Yumm.).

After you've got all that together, fish out the grains with the clean spoon... [Now some folks are really upset at me right now 'cause I'm telling you that you can use a metal spoon. It's supposedly a no-no to let metal touch the grains. But I think that's been blown way out of proportion. Sure, it would be pretty dumb to store your kefir or kefir grains in a copper pot or some such thing --you'll kill 'em. But I don't think that a two second ride on a stainless steel spoon is going to leave a lasting impression on their health. Ok, now on with the show!]

...and either wash them off with filtered water (no chlorine! chlorine is used to kill microorganisms --Duh!) or just plop them in the clean jar. Some folks wash them every time. I washed them this time, but I usually don't. I read a study that said they are healthier and produce more probiotics if you don't wash them so often.

But let's say you washed them. Then, pour the milk in the jar up to where it starts to curve, and add the grains.

Put the lid on the jar, but don't tighten it too tight. You want air to be able to escape. And put the jar in a warm, but not hot, place. Shake the jar a few times in the next twenty-four hours (remember to tighten the lid first and loosen it after).

I usually leave the jar out for twelve hours, and then put it in the fridge for twelve, before using the kefir. But these two batches had to be left out longer because I was using fewer grains per batch.

The finished product should be slightly thick, kinda like a yogurt smoothie. And it will have a sharp taste, kinda like a mix between plain yogurt and buttermilk.

Now on to drinking the Kefir!
Here's a batch that's thru ripening. I had just poured some for Pickle and there he is drinking it.

Here's a picture to show you the characteristic pattern that forms when kefir washes down the sides of the jar.

Now on to more info!
Here's a website with more information about kefir than you ever wanted to know. Dom's Kefir In-Site

Here's to your health!
WR

As you can see, the blog is going thru an overall --I mean an overhaul.
Stay tuned.

WR

This is what I got when I went shopping. Bull gave me a budget so I didn't get as many pants and shirts as I would have. Oh, I could have left off of the hooded towel I got as a gift for someone, but I just couldn't leave it behind since it matched the robe I'd already bought for the same baby, and because I didn't see any outfits I could get for Pickle for the same price or less.



Anyway, I got a three-piece set of PJs: one top, one long bottoms, and the cutest little boxer briefs. I also got an outfit for fall that has a hoody, a long-sleeved t-shirt, and blue jeans. And three of the board books we wanted (I decided to save them for Christmas).



Here's the towel I bought this time, and the robe I got last month (these are for a baby who's not born yet).



Everything was below retail. The PJs are Carter brand, and retail for $24 but I got them for $7, and the fall outfit was $15 and I got it for $8. I forget how much the robe was (it and the towel are also Carter) but I think I spent $6 or $7 for it and the towel was $17 but I spent $7.



I know there are better bargain hunters than me out there, but for somebody who doesn't like to go shopping I think I did pretty good.

WR

Today, I'm going out to get Pickle some PJ's and a few shirts and pants. I also found somewhere to get some of our favorite board books for him at about half price, so Ill be picking up some of those. I haven't decided yet, whether to put the books away 'til Christmas or let him have them now.

WR

This Friday's Favorite is a set of antique bowls Granny Trudy gave to me when she gave me the blue pitcher.

One is a deep, rich brown and the other is a beautiful soft green. There were supposed to be three bowls in the set but Granny could only find two, the smallest one was missing. I believe the small bowl was probably an earthy yellow. She said the other one was around the house somewhere and when she found it, she would let me have it too. As far as I know, she never found it. She started getting forgetful and I never asked her about it.

But I love the two I have. And when I had a place to display them I kept them out all the time but now I try to find a place for them at Christmas.

Oh, and the chair in the pictures used to sit on my grandparents front porch.