So I got to try a dog food that I always wished that I could afford to buy for my dog...Eukanuba.

I was excited because this dog food was advertised to help with tartar build up and help the dog have a healthier shinier coat.

I chose a dog food that was a weight control as well.  I thought what a plus.  Help my slightly (cough) overweight dog with her tartar buildup, get a shiny coat and lose a few pounds.

What else was cool was in the Bzz Kit came a flashlight, well it wasn't just any flashlight, it was a black light you are supposed to check to see how bad the buildup of tartar is in your dogs mouth.  I had my husband help me and low and behold....it wasn't that bad.  There was only a couple of spots on her canine teeth.

So she has been on this new dog food for about a month and I checked her teeth again.  The spots were still there.  Now granted she is 8 and didn't have much to begin with because she chews on sticks all the time.  But I thought that since she didn't have much to begin with that the dog food would take care of it.  I didn't really notice anything with her coat, the only thing it did help her with was her smelly gas.

This dog food normally is pretty expensive and I think people justify spending that much because Eukanuba really has a great reputation for being the top of the market where dog food is concerned.  For us, since the advertised benefits weren't really benefits to us, I won't be buying this dog food for our precious Daisy.  There are other great dog foods on the market that offer similar benefits for less money.

Thanks Bzz Agent and Eukanuba for the chance to review this dog food.

                   



I got to try a really great cereal, Post Alpha Bits Super Why.  Super Why is a show that is on television that helps children learn.  My youngest LOVES this show  and was super excited that I got to try some Super Why cereal.

The box was literally gone in 2 days.  My kids loved it.  With my youngest being in kindergarten and learning to recognize the letters of the alphabet this cereal was really awesome to get him started in the morning (well at least for 2 days anyway until the cool new box of cereal was gone).  He was so excited to see letters in his bowl of cereal that he had seen at school and even tried to spell words on his spoon.  One time even bringing me his spoon while I was in the shower getting ready, how fun for me!  (that sentence ended with a sarcastic note if you didn't catch it the first time).

Overall I think this cereal is a great start to any child's day and made me, as a super busy mom, feel a little better about what I'm feeding my kids before school.

Thanks Post for allowing me to try such a great product!

Have you ever had a day where you wish you could rewind the morning? Well that was us this morning.

Every morning it's a mad house at our place. Wake up, make coffee, wake the kids up, start laundry, take a shower, get dressed, pick the kids' clothes out, feed the horses, feed the chickens, feed the goats...don't forget to feed the kids.
Don't forget my assignments don't let the kids leave without jackets, don't miss the bus and try not to be late for school myself.

This morning was one of those!
My oldest son woke sick and went back to bed. We woke up late so our other two kids woke up late and very cranky. They fought the entire time over breakfast while I tried to pick out their clothes and check their packets that needed to go back to school. My youngest threw a whiney fit about EVERYTHING this morning. Everything caused him to whine "I can't find my backpack" "I can't find my shoes" "I'm going to be late" "I'm going to miss the bus"
Which by the way he almost did and ran down the driveway just as our middle son was stepping on the bus.

All of this was going on, by husband is yelling at the kids to stop fighting and whining. Clean baskets of clothes are being gone through ( and when I say gone through, just imagine clothes being flung everywhere because they can't find theirs and they are freaking out because the bus is close).

Our house is chaotic in the morning. And when all 3 boys finally make it to the bus with smiles on their faces,
We shut the door.....
Turn around......
And sigh.....for tomorrow it starts all over again.

This is was my house looks like (don't judge me....I will clean it when I get home).

Thinking back at the possibilities that could have been, sometimes is almost too much to bear.

The most painful what if of my life is my brother, Travis. He died, in Iraq, just 9 days before he was coming home on leave. He was 23 years old with such a great future ahead of him. He was a good man. He seemed to be a magnet for children, they loved him. He was fun to be around and always had something good to say. When he wanted to be serious, you had better listen. He just seemed to command a presence and respect that I miss so much.

Growing up it was tough. We were shuffled around alot. Living with our grandma off and on, living with our dad a few times, always a different house a different stepdad. The one thing that was always there was Travis. We did almost everything together. Went through the same heartaches, the same feelings of always being the "new" kid in the countless schools we went to. We never grew up with childhood friends. We never had long term friends, because we went to a different school every year. Travis was my long term friend.

It was always just us. No matter what else was going on in our lives, it was just us. We kind of created this bubble around the both of us, and we never got close to relatives. Never really connected to people around us.

Why? What's the point?
We'd be moving on soon anyway.

We finally had some stability into our lives when I turned 16 and Travis 13, when we moved to Montana to live with our dad permanently. We were able to make friends, which was hard but something we needed so badly.
For me it was hard to break into those friendships that had been formed by kids who didn't move around, those that were formed by kids who grew up together. But it was easier for Travis, his magnetic fun personality drew the good kind of people to him. Those types of people that would be friends for life.

During the 2 years that I lived with my dad, Travis and I seemed to have our own lives for once. There weren't times were we only had each other, weren't times were I felt I needed to protect him.

I went off to college and he to high school. After high school he tried to go to college but money ran out and family couldn't help. Time once again of uncertainty for him. All of his belongings piled into his prized possession, his jeep.

So he came to live with me and my son for a short time. It was nice having him with me, to play with his nephew and to make memories, because that's all we have now...memories.

He joined the Montana Guard while living with me. And before he went to boot camp, he decided to go be with the most important person in his life, his girlfriend, one that he had since high school.

Well after boot camp he was deployed to Iraq and didn't make it home.

It's been 7 years since his death and I just can't seem to get over it. Every few months something happens where it just brings back all the memories and feelings. Travis' girlfriend at the time just got married this past September and it was horrible for me. I just kept thinking about what could have been of he had never died.

What kind of wedding would they have had, would they have kids, what kind of job would he have, where would they be living. It's all just too much to bear sometimes.

Thinking about the person you have shared so much with, gone through so much with. The only person in the world who knows what you have been through and can sympathize. Thinking about what could have been is torturous, but I can't help it.

Travis' girlfriend recently shared a few letters that he had written her from Iraq. I read them yesterday and pretty much couldn't function afterward. I was shaking and crying reading his most personal and final thoughts to her. It puts me into a funk or depression it's tough to get over.

I don't know how to move on without him. Sure my life has moved on but in side I've felt guilty. Guilty for being normal when he isn't here. I miss him so much and I can't get over it. Not sure how to.

Well that's my rant for the day, I will try and be grateful for the time I did have with him and look to the positive in the relationships I have built since.

I love Christmas, like seriously love it. I think my favorite part is buying things for people. I love thinking about the person and what they would like, picking out a perfect gift I know would really bless them. I love being a blessing.

I started shopping this in September. So the day after thanksgiving we went and got our tree and I was able to wrap all the presents I had already bought.

I love everything about Christmas, the food, the drinks, the wrapping and the snow. I know I probably sound like a crazy person, but I can't help it. It's my season.

There is one thing I have come to realize is that I cannot put lights on a tree. It's too stressful for me, it's never perfect so I get stressed out. So, I leave that part to my husband and kids, after all it's not just about me. Haha

Here's a picture of our tree this year with the gifts I have bought so far.

I have been making my own laudry soap for my family for a couple of years now.  We have 3 boys and a farm, so I have sooo much laundry to do, ALL THE TIME!!!!

Let's face it, laundry soap is expensive and I needed a way to save money in all aspects of my life.  I have tried quite a few different recipes and found this one that I love the best.
You can make powder laundry soap too with these same ingredients but I found that it doesn't last as long in my house hold (you only use about 2 tbsp., and for our dirty kids it never seemed like enough so I would use more).

Here's the ingredients and the cost (from Wal-Mart)

20 mule team Borax $3.38

 

Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda - $3.38

 

Fels Naptha - $0.97

 

5 gallon bucket

 

I don't remember what I paid for this, you only have to buy 1, one time - $4.00 (approx)

 

Ok so here's the steps....

 

 

1. On the stove in a pot (I just use a normal pot, it doesn't bother me, after all it's soap not chemicals) grate the bar of Fels-Naptha until its all finely grated.  Add 4 cups of HOT tap water and cook on the stove until the grated bar is melted and uniform with the water.

 

2.  While the pot is cooking, measure out 1/2 cup of the Borax and 1 cup of the Super Washing soda and set aside.

 

3.  Once the mixture on the stove is all melted and uniform.  Fill your bucket half way with HOT water.  Add the pre-measured Borax and Washing soda, then add the melted bar of soap (stove pot).  Mix well.  Content will bubble, don't worry that's normal.

 

 

 

Mixture on the stove almost melted!

 

 

Pouring the mixture into the half filled bucket of hot water and powder mixture!

 

4.  Once you have added all of the mixtures and bucket is well stirred, fill the bucket the rest of the way with HOT water.

 

5. Place lid on your bucket and set aside somewhere in your kitchen or laundry room out of the way.

 

 

6.  It will take a few hours to overnight to cool.  Once cool, you can take the lid off and stir mixture. The contet will look like "gel" and watery at the same time.  Just mix it through breaking up the big chunks of gel. 

 

7.  Now some recpies tell you to take an old laundry container that has been cleaned out and fill it half way with water and fill the rest with the laundry solution you just made.  So the laundry soap you made actally makes 10 gallons of soap.  I do not dilute it down further, I just use it as is.  I like that it is more concentrated for reasons I stated earlier with my dirty family :)

 

8.  If you choose to dilute it further or keep it as is, you can add your favorite fragrance.  Sometimes I like the regular smell of it, and other times I add just a little bit of essential/fragrance oil to the mixture.  This time I added honeysuckle (trying to keep a somewhat masculine but clean scent for my boys, lol).

 

 

 

9.  Once you are all done, it only takes about 1/2 cup per load of laundry, or just however much you think you need.

 

 

So I hope everyone has enjoyed my contribution to the mom's trying to save money out there.

 

Here is the price breakdown per the prices I paid (since everywhere is different)

 

Per batch:  1/2 cup borax           - $ 0.17

                   1 cup washing soda - $ 0.49

                   1 bar Fels Naptha    - $ 0.97

                  Total          - $1.63 for 5 or 10 gallons of laundry soap(Depending on how you dilute)

 

Pretty good deal if you ask me!!!!









I have been stressing out so bad over a speech I needed to give at school. I've had like 3 weeks to prepare, and I didn't procrastinate totally, but I really didn't put it together until yesterday...I had to give the speech today.

I'm such a perfectionist I was freaking out that I was going to look like an idiot, because of the last minute organization.
Well, drum roll please....
I did GREAT!
Everyone gets critiqued after their speech and my classmates said there was nothing they could say bad or they wouldn't change anything. One classmate said I should become a teacher because I seemed so natural in front of the class. That's not what I plan on doing with my degree, but it made me feel good. Maybe I should relax a bit. Haha, fat chance of that.

So in feeling pretty good, sitting in my Tahoe waiting for my physical therapy appointment time.
Today was a good day! Thank you
Lord!

Here's a picture of my view right now.

This morning when I left my house to drop my husband off at work and to go to school, I was surprised at the fog in Missoula. It was so foggy I could hardly see the street lights. It was crazy, not to mention a bit icy.

After class I came home, after running an errand. It was still so foggy people could barely drive....like they can in the first place but that a separate issue. The fog and ice caused many issues today, accidents and backups.

Anyway, making my way home, (we live up on a big hill), it was absolutely gorgeous. Since we live at about 4000 feet, probably 800-1000 feet above Missoula, we are above the Missoula valley. Most times we have a different climate than Missoula, and that was the case today. When I came to the top of our hill, the air was clear, I could see blue sky.
Such a world apart, really helped my attitude, made me happy. Living this far up we also get way more snow and it lasts longer. We have gotten about 2 inches over the last 24 hours, and it has stayed.
Hope you enjoy the picture of the day from on top of the world.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I've been doing quite a bit soul searching, trying to figure out why I believe what I believe and even simpler...what DO I believe. I've been attending the same church for almost 10 years now and at one time it was my life. I worked at the church as the secretary, children's director and the pastoral assistant. I quit my paid position just about a year ago and I feel as though I've been questioning everything since.

I sometimes think that I was too involved. I sacrificed time with my family, my children and my husband just because we had so much going on at the church. My husband and I put off going away for the weekends because it was required I be at the Sunday and wednesday services. I seriously only missed 4 (sometime it would be like 6, if the kids were sick or whatnot) services in a year.
I would avoid doing anything on Saturdays because I didn't want to be tired for church (because we had to be there by 8), or I needed to study a lesson or get something prepared for the next day.
There was a time when we considered not letting our oldest boy play football because it would take him away from church on Wednesday's.

I have recently stopped teaching at our church because my husband and I needed to separate ourselves and have questions. Where we stand? What is God saying to us as a family? Are we where we are supposed to be? What changes do we need to make? Is there something else for us?

Now that I've had some time to reflect, I get sad for the person I was, the person I was becoming. I was so far from the mom I wanted to be and even the Christian I wanted to be.

Do I think it brought separation from God to miss a few services to let our son play football?
Um.....NO!!!!!
But that is what I was made to believe and I struggled with that. Thinking we were bad parents because we wanted our children to do things, or we ourselves wanted to do certain things that maybe were on the weekend or during the mid week service.

Where is the balance? I don't think only focusing on what your kids want to do or their extra curricular activities is balance. But neither do I think only doing church activities or being so busy because the church always has something coming up or going on is balance. Just because it's what the pastors have chosen to do with their children and their lives doesn't make it right for us. That's where I was, taking cues from their life and the decisions they made or suggested for my life.

The things that I am learning about myself, are my OWN values and personality. Gods direction for MY life is slowly coming into focus and I'm starting not to care who has a problem with it. I am an adult and can make my own decisions.

I have different likes than some people, and no one likes to be judged for who they are. It doesn't feel good. And I'm ashamed that I used to sit in the judgment seat. Judging people for their different ways of living and choices. I feel terrible, I never intended to be like that, but it's what I was....a judge. Because I thought I what I was doing was right.

So far it's still been a process, to unlearn some behavior, but there has been so much freedom in just relaxing a bit. The big things in life are still important, but what I've learned I the last year, there are A LOT less big, important things to freak out and judge about.

I'm not wrong, I'm just different.

I know I wrote a blog about chickens yesterday, but I seriously love chicken.

I didn't know how fascinating they were until I got some of my own. I grew up with chickens and always loved getting the eggs...reaching under the hen who was still in the nesting box and the egg would be really warm. Loved that part.

What I didn't like was cracking a fertilized egg open and there being blood from the forming chicken that was killed during its growing process....that I don't like.
But for my farm I am so excited about getting eggs (I check like four times a day), that we don't let the eggs sit and have the chance to grow. They go right in the fridge which kills the growing egg and then they get cleaned either for when I sell them or before I feed them to my family.

So today I went out this morning and all of my chickens had gotten out of their pen, and when I call hem they all come running, really they are so funny.

So when I got them to come in and I threw some scratch out for them, I started video taping them.

One hen was stressing out, even pacing because she needed to lay an egg and couldn't figure out how to get back into the hen house to jump in he nesting boxes. I laughed because women who have ever been prego know the affects of "baby brain".

So here's the pics and videos of my morning chicken experience.

 

 

 

 

Don't mind my crackly voice, it was early, haha

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Two eggs today so far!

 

 

This is the sound they make when you take their eggs, it's what I was describing in yesterday's post.

 

 

 

 

 

My chickens running when I call them....Love them!!!!!

 

I seriously spent about 5 hours on 1 homework assignment today.  It was a project for my psychology of managment and supervision class.  I had to create a powerpoint and a presentation to go along with it. 

Can you say time consuming.  Anyway, on a good note.  I got to watch one of my favorite chickens lay an egg.  She was so cute, I went to open up the nesting box hatch and there she was lookin up at me like "can I have some privacy please".  It was so funny, I love her.  Then after I took her egg she started yelling at me.  My son heard her from the other side of the fence and asked why she was sounding like she was. 

Crazy chickens, I love them.

When I was growing up I always hated daylight savings, I always wondered why we even had it.
That was until I had kids...

I appreciate it now, after living in Montana and having children. It wasn't anything like I liked how I could make them go to bed early because the clock changed, it has to do with the busses.

It is now mid october and we live in the mountains where there aren't any street lights. It is very very dark in the morning. All three of my children go to school now and ride the bus, our bus stop is at the end of our driveway. Yesterday the school bus drove right passed our house and down the roads to the next stop, which is only about a quarter of a block away. The bad part is my children had to run to catch the bus that missed them, because it was dark.

What if something happened? They could have missed it again and not made it in time for the bus doors closing and gotten caught in the bus tires. I know it's morbid and unlikely but still, things happen.

Because of what happened yesterday I am looking forward to daylight savings time this year, it will be ALOT lighter in the morning, the school bus will be able to see my children and they won't get run over by the bus, lol.

Here is another review from bzzagent.com.

This time I was privileged to try Smart Food's new popcorn and popped chips.

My family and I tried the brown sugar and cinnamon popcorn....we LOVE IT!
I'm telling you, this stuff is amazing. The entire bag was gone in no time. We have always put brown sugar and cinnamon on toast, so we were excited to try this popcorn. It wasn't too sweet with brown sugar and it had just the right amount of cinnamon. We give this one two thumbs up.

The other SmartFood products we tried was the Italian Herb popped chips and the Garlic Tomato Basil. As a family we have mixed reviews about these two. The Garlic Tomato basil was a little overpowering for us and my children didn't like it. I personally did like it, but I wouldn't always choose this one.
The Italian herb was great, loved the flavor and loved the portion size.

I love being a bzzagent!

I am apart of a company that sends me free products to try and write reviews about them. This particular campaign was for the new Glade Expressions products. Here's my review....

They're awesome. So I got the first diffuser for free and I wasn't too sure about the fragrance I chose because it wasn't something I would normally like,. I chose pineapple and mangosteen. I actually really like it and suggest people try it. I have since bought another diffuser for my bedroom on the same scent because I loved it so much.

I give this product two thumbs up.

*the company is called bzzagent

I love Montana fall mornings. It's just cold enough to wear sweats, but nice to to open to the door (after you've been running around all morning making lunches, trying to get the kids dressed for school and out the door) and let the crisp fresh fall air into the house.

We live on top of mountain at about 4000 feet elevation, so the mornings up here are amazing. Watching the sun rise over the distant mountain, you wonder how anyone could not fall in love with such a beautiful place. Gods creation is magnificent.
I feel do much better this morning than yesterday, nothing beats Gods grace.

Hope everyone has a great morning and a wonderful day where people go out of their way to bless you.

Sometimes you wished you had never gotten out of bed. For me, today was one of those days. Seems like I will never live my past down. Seems like I forever will be the person think I am/was. It sucks that I have let people who don't really know me and their opinion of me get to me and under my skin. It seemed like the world was against me today and I almost broke. Well I did let a few tears fall but tomorrow is another day and His grace comes with the morning. Praise God and his faithfulness.

Once I got my head straight and got some homework done, this seemed to ease up a bit. I feel a little more accomplished, feels like I have direction. Boy am I looking forward to the morning, a new dawn a new day... Isn't that how the song goes?

So here I am ending the day with grocery shopping and watching my oldest boy play football.
Thank you Lord for my children, for they keep me young and drive me crazy but I wouldn't trade them for anything. Thank You for all the blessings in my life, even when I don't seem to be thankful. I am.

I always have a great time with my bestie. She really has such a great heart. Tonight she came over and we created a poster and postcards for a benefit that she is putting on. One of her coworkers husband was diagnosed with stage 4 prostate cancer, without having any symptoms. He only found out about the cancer because he had to have a physical for his insurance. Even now after months of treatment he doesn't have symptoms, incredible. So my best friend being the awesome person she is, is putting on a silent auction and brunch benefit for the couple. He in fact lost his job because the company he worked for had to file bankruptcy. Tragic.

Anyway, we had such a great time creating a beautiful work of art if you ask me. She helped me make dinner for our families. I just love her.

So I finally got my computer up and running and my blog background up, which I have been trying to do for a couple of months. 

But I am so excited to finally be doing this, I've got so much to talk about.  My farm is coming along, my chicken are finally laying eggs, yum!

I will be posting pictures of my beautiful chickens.  I love chicken, by the way. Love love love them.  I could watch them for hours, especially when they run, funniest thing God ever created. 

I'll be back with more posts, pictures and updates.

I got to visit with my dad today for the first time in well over a year. He came up to our little farm and I got to show him all of our animals. It was so nice, it's been a long time since it was just easy to be around him and just...talk.

It's been a good day;)

So I'm
Not sure if this is working on my iPad so I downloaded the iPhone app. We will see.