Writing About String Cheese When Your Heart Is Breaking

That was the title of an article I read while in a doctor's waiting room over a year ago. The author explained that she was blogging about trivial things (in this case, string cheese), while in "real life" there were several things happening that were overwhelming. I have often felt that way- blogging about little things while so much was happening "behind the scenes". But I *needed* to blog about the "string cheese" to remind myself that I did have things to be grateful for.

But right now, I just can't bring myself to keep it up. A dust sample test analyzed at John's Hopkins Lab came back showing we have a high mold count in our house. The Indoor Air Quality Specialist who we have worked with is not sure where the mold is coming from. He recommended vacuuming all walls and ceilings before taking the test again. And we have removed all upholstered furniture from the living areas since those pieces are impossible to clean once they have become contaminated.

Hannah was tested for mold allergies this past month and the bumps on her arm grew so large that they couldn't fit in the measurement device the doctor's office uses. She is terribly allergic to mold and yet can't get away from it at home, apparently. No matter how much cleaning I do, no matter what remediation efforts we have done, the problem is still there. Now Jacob is having asthma attacks for the first time. I put his rug in plastic and mopped all the surfaces in his room and he isn't coughing in there anymore, but is still having trouble climbing the stairs. All of us are having health issues that are not responding to treatments.

Some people advise to leave your home behind and all your stuff and never look back. We left one home before due to mold, but brought all of our contaminated things with us to infect our new home. If we get rid of most of our things, will that be enough? Do we live out in a tent in the front yard?

Mold is not just an allergy. It affects the immune system. Some people lack the ability to detoxify mold when they are exposed to it, which is why some are unaffected by living with it and others can die. It also depends on the types of mold present (some are more deadly than others) and the individual genetic make-up of the people living in the home.

The body gets rid of mold through the same pathways as it detoxifies chemicals. Which is why people who have been injured by mold can develop an inability to be around chemicals including fabric softeners, perfumes, scented soaps and shampoos. We built this house in a special way due to the fact that I can no longer handle chemicals after the huge mold exposure in our Littleton home. We tried to keep this home safe- but apparently it hasn't been enough.

At this point we don't believe that there is mold coming from the house itself (we have looked and looked). We will remove all mattresses from upstairs and replace them with air mattresses. We'll remove all curtains. Then wash all bedding again. And the walls and ceilings and floors. Treat everything with steam vapor. Then re-test. If the test comes back as still a problem, then we move.

I'm tired. I'm frustrated. I can't make an environment that is safe for my family, despite my best efforts. I don't know where my enemy is. I have looked for him and although the evidence is there of his presence, I can't find him.

I need to back away from the blog for awhile. I thought of deleting it, but I might want to return to it someday. In the meantime, I will keep cleaning and trying.

Happy New Year

Thank you to everyone who has visited Priceless Moments this past year!

We here on the windswept plains appreciate you!

It's Been Cold Lately

But we enjoyed our white Christmas.

Christmas Tour Of Homes

Welcome!

The weather here has been *cold*. This week is supposed to be warmer- I hope so!



In our entry way is our Christmas card holder. My favorite part of Christmas is hearing from friends and getting caught up through letters and pictures.



Our Christmas tree is in the family room. This year we decorated with silver and gold ornaments. In every year past, our trees have always had red and white ornaments, so we are all enjoying this new look.


Our "Precious Moments" ornaments don't match the color theme, but they are mandatory on the tree no matter what.

My daughter dressed up Ken and Barbie and they are under the tree, reminding us of the reason for the season.

The mantle is decorated with family photos (parents, grandparents).

We like lighting the candles every night throughout December.

Upstairs in the hallway is the children's tree. They made the paper decorations from Christmas cards from past years.

My youngest has a pink tree in her room.

My son has a Charlie Brown tree- because he loves "Peanuts". I think Luke Skywalker likes Snoopy, too, because he is doing some kind of jig there on the shelf.

Grandma gave the kids these great snowmen- they change color from red to blue while the glitter inside rotates around. They look like Christmas Disco Balls.

Since I'm not using my red decorations in the family room, the rest of the house got those.

Including the downstairs bathroom.

Thanks for stopping by! I look forward to seeing how you have decorated your homes and hopefully I'll get a few ideas for decorating next year!

Merry Christmas!

Getting Ready for Christmas

A pink glow comes from Hope's room.

Since we lost almost all of our Christmas things, at least for the next few years, we have been carefully selecting some new items for the Christmas season.

Last year I told myself that Hope should have a pink tree for her room after seeing one pictured on another blog. I found this little specimen at Target this week. It is vintage (tacky?) cute.

Abby was horrified that I bought it. She mocked my selection as we made our way through the store... I warned her that the headlines tomorrow would read "Teen found beaten with a pink tinsel tree in Target parking lot".

Well, at least Hope likes the tree!

Interview with Brenda

Brenda is married to Brian's older brother Marty and has been my sister-in-law for eighteen years :). We have a few important things in common. First, we were both born in Michigan and our birthdays are just one day apart (different years, though). Brenda has taught me about shopping these past few years- in the past I would rarely try anything on in the store and so I wouldn't always find the best fit or color. Brenda, however, loves to try things on and she showed me how important it is- and how you can end up with things you never realized would fit you well. Now when I take the girls shopping for clothes (just a few times a year) we end up trying on LOTS of things and buying the few that look and fit really well. So, thanks Brenda for teaching me this vital aspect of mothering teenage girls!

Brenda was born in Pontiac, Michigan on March 5. She was born prematurely and had a collapsed lung. She had to stay in an incubator for a month before she could go home with her parents. Brenda is the oldest of five children- four sisters and one brother.

Brenda's parents met at Bob Jones University and her father was a schoolteacher, teaching High School history and current events. Her mother was a homemaker and cared for the family.

Brenda became a Christian in the third grade during Sunday School. Then she went forward again the next Sunday, this time for her younger sister. Her teacher had to explain that her sister would need to make her OWN decision for Christ...

Brenda's favorite Bible verse is John 3 :16-17.

Favorite traditions growing up included visiting her grandparent's house on Christmas Eve. They had an old-fashioned artificial tree with bubble lights. She loved to watch her grandpa decorate the tree and put the icicle ornaments on one-by-one. The next day, her grandparents would come over to their house for Christmas dinner and for opening presents.

After her father retired from teaching, he joined the Air Force and was stationed in Illinois for a few years. Then he was transferred to Texas. During the time her father was in the Air Force, Brenda took care of the house in Michigan and lived there with roommates. Brenda worked at a pre-school after her years at Bible College.

When her parents returned to Michigan, Brenda had just gone through a painful breakup of a relationship. Brenda's father suggested that she might do well with a fresh start and encouraged her to move to Santa Rosa, California, where her sister and brother in law were living. Brenda had visited them earlier in the year and had liked the area, so she took her father's advice.

Brenda quickly found a job at a pre-school and a good living situation with girls from her sister and brother-in-law's church. Within a month of moving to California, Brenda attended a singles conference and was introduced to Marty by one of the roommates. Marty took a few weeks to ask Brenda out, but he finally got up the courage and they had their first date- watching the University of Michigan vs Ohio State football game on TV. (Brenda doesn't remember who won, sorry!). They enjoyed talking about all the things their families had in common, such as flying (both fathers were pilots and Marty's brothers flew, too).

Brenda mentioned a funny aside when she told me about their date! Her sister knew Brian's oldest brother, Harlan and Brian, but didn't know about Marty. When this gentleman called to ask Brenda out and left a message (Brenda was not at home for the phone call), her sister assumed it was BRIAN that was calling since Harlan was married. When Brenda returned, her sister told her that someone had asked her for a date, but she had to warn her that the boy was quite a bit younger than her!! (almost ten years). Imagine her relief when the "boy" turned out not to be Brian, but rather his older brother Marty :).

And the rest, as they say, is history.

Brenda said that her favorite aspect of marriage is the companionship. She enjoys the closeness and compatibility, and the fact that her husband still loves her even when she has had a bad day and is cranky.

Brenda has worked in pre-schools for twenty years and enjoys the teachability of this young age. She loves that they are interested in the little things (like bugs, rocks) and loves it when they greet her excitedly when she walks into the room.

Marty and Brenda love to travel and have particularly enjoyed Hawaii and Niagara Falls. They are also anticipating a special anniversary trip this fall to Boston, a city Brenda has always wanted to visit.

Brenda's hobbies include making porcelain dolls and playing piano, a relatively new skill she is picking up.

Thank you Brenda, for sharing a bit of your life with me! I look forward to learning more shopping skills from you in the years to come!

Coming Soon to a Mailbox Near You!

Hannah has been making our Christmas cards in her spare time.

Each one is unique.

Who knew that the cardmaking kit Abby received last Christmas would have turned into so many craft projects for Hannah this year?

We've been busy with schoolwork, trying to keep Jacob fed, and with life in general.

I have a new interview to put up, hopefully by tomorrow.

In the meantime, I leave you with Jacob's observation from last night: "I think my shirt shrunk in the wash. It feels a lot tighter."

No Jacob, your clothes are not shrinking. I sure hope his friend Eric has some more clothes to pass down *soon*.

An old post, since it's that time of year again...

A Favorite Book

When Hannah was little and we were thinking about homeschooling kindergarten, several catalogs recommended this book for reading around Thanksgiving. So, trusting those recommendations, I bought "Stories of the Pilgrims" by Margaret B. Pumphrey and read it to Hannah (and Abby) that November. They loved it and I was amazed at what I didn't know about the Pilgrims! By the end of the book, I felt I had a much fuller understanding of what the Pilgrims went through not only in through their time in England, Holland and in the New World, but also in those early days after the first Thanksgiving. I had no idea that the winter after the first Thanksgiving they didn't have enough food (since more settlers from England came to join the colony). I marveled at the courage of these people in facing all that they did! After reading this book for the first time, I knew that homeschooling was for me. It showed me what "living books" could bring to an education and how much I had missed in my schooling by being given only textbooks to read. This was the book that "lit the fire" for me and I look forward to re-reading it to my children every year (even though Hannah claims she has memorized every word by now).

Even though this is a children's book, I learned so much from it. It was fun last year to do additional research into what exactly the Pilgrims didn't like about the English church. I hope to purchase a book or two on original writings of the Pilgrims to deepen our understanding, especially now that my little kindergartner from way back when is now in high school!


Other books we have enjoyed reading in the weeks before Thanksgiving:


This book is a great read aloud for the younger years or as a reader for around 2nd through 4th grade (depending upon reading ability).


I would place this book for third/fourth grade through sixth grade. Beautiful pictures, written from the point of view of the Pilgrims.


This is a fun book that should answer any questions one might have- such as "What would you eat and drink on the Mayflower?" "What could the Pilgrims take with them?" "Were the people on the ship friends?" "How did the Pilgrims spend their first Christmas?" and so on.


Nice book to read after books on the Pilgrims to show what early Colonial life was like for the children.


Another book to read about early Colonial life with lots of photos of re-enactors from Williamsburg.

We've been making Christmas ornaments out of cards received in years past. I thought we might make ten or so, but the kiddos have made more than twenty so far. We don't have many cards left now, so we'll turn our attention to ribbon ornaments next.

Reading

A neat history of cooking in America complete with various recipes and pictures.

I know several people with Lyme disease and this book was an interesting read. Since I talked to one lady with Lyme last year, we have changed our salt to Himalyan salt and have done tick checks at night during the summer.

The current "buzz" in Chronic Fatigue/Multiple Chemical Sensitivity circles is that this condition could be the result of a brain injury (from a virus, toxic exposure, etc) and that by re-wiring the brain to work around that injury, people might feel better/tolerate more chemical exposures. In this book, it is talking about retraining the brain in instances of stroke, disability, etc.

Halloween on the Windswept Plains

Brian was the only one who dressed up.

He was "Paint Man". He got ready for this role by spraying "Kilz" primer (25 gallons of it) on the basement ceiling all day long.

We mentioned that he could go out right then and nobody would think him strange.

He thought better of it, however, and proceeded upstairs to try and soak the paint off in a nice hot bath.

Cute Boys

My Fingertips Are So Sore!

The really hot glue gun worked for the pinecone wreath! Of course it looks a little off center in the picture, but that's ok. My fingers are sore from handling so many poke-y pine cones and I went through almost *80* gluesticks for this project. Each cone took at least one gluestick! Seriously, they don't make hot glue guns like they did when I did such crafts before.

The wreath was supposed to go on Percy The Shed, but I don't have any confidence that this wreath will hold up to wind, rain and snow. So it's hanging outside the kitchen door where is scares us when we walk by, thinking it's a burglar outside. This wreath COULD be used as a weapon- it is so heavy and sharp!

“How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving, and tolerant with the weak and the strong. Because someday in your life you will have been all of these.” – George Washington Carver

HT: thatmom.com

History Lesson Gone Wrong

Question from Hope's book "Mystery of History": What are the names of Adam and Eve's children?

Hope's answer: Slim

We have work to do.

And today, Winter Days, apparently

What happened to Fall?

Baby, it's cold outside.

Fall Days