Photo from Black Cat Pages

During my college years I developed the firm idea that I was not artistically inclined, and I shouldn’t even waste my time trying to do art.

When I began to home educate my children, I started understanding the power of my example in their eyes. Little by little my mindset changed, and I moved out of my comfort zone to do activities with my children. Sometimes I even take a class before they do, so I can teach them or at least inspire them.

So when my friend put together a watercolor paint class for a group of my daughter’s friends, I jumped on board. This was the first picture I painted, with a little help from the teacher. I had to look at her examples a lot as I did mine.

Next we traced a simple picture with carbon paper.

Then you paint a grey wash, leaving some parts white. After that dries you paint a darker coat on certain parts of the picture.

When that dries, you add more details. Each layer only takes a few minutes to dry.

Here’s Raquel’s. She wasn’t very pleased with her work, but I thought she did a fine job.

Then we made color wheels, which helped us learn to mix the colors correctly.

Here’s my finished wheel.

Then we tried a few more exercises and ended with a couple harder projects. We drew a scene of fruit.

Then painted it. I didn’t quite finish this one. I probably should have done a cream background wash first.

Here is our teacher, Jennifer Lineweaver’s painting. I love it!

Then we drew candy and painted it. This is Raquel’s painting.

She got frustrated a few times and probably would have quite the class if I wasn’t doing it with her.

Here’s mine and it’s pretty much finished. It could probably use a bit more background color.

I’m a perfectionist when it comes to art projects so I’m inclined not to do them, but when I do finally try I usually enjoy myself. And I create something beautiful in the process.

I like being able to say, “I can do that.” It’s empowering.

I’m so grateful for the way that home educating my children has changed my own perspective on learning. It’s made my life much richer and educating my kids more fun.

]]> http://www.drmomessentials.net/watercolor/feed/ 3 http://www.drmomessentials.net/haircuts/ http://www.drmomessentials.net/haircuts/#comments Mon, 24 May 2010 17:29:16 +0000 Jenni http://www.drmomessentials.net/?p=2407 It's not hard to cut boys' hair and you will save big $$$ in the long run.]]> When Mike & I got engaged in ‘93 neither of us had much money. One day he mentioned he needed a haircut. He had thick hair that grew fast. The thought hit me that if I could learn to cut his hair myself, we could save a sizable amount of money over the years we planned to be together.

Our engagement picture

Luckily, Mike was willing and not too picky about how his hair looked. My plan was to watch closely how the stylist cut his hair. Then I would wait about a week after his haircut and just give him a light trim, copying the stylist. I would invest in a set of hair clippers (about $20-30), shave the sides and back of his head and cut the top with scissors.

I was successful. Mike’s hair probably wasn’t  perfectly even the first few times, but he loved me too much to notice (or at least say anything). I’ve cut his hair faithfully, every 2-3 weeks from then until now.

It’s been 17 years since that time. If I cut his hair every 3 weeks, that’s 17 cuts a year. Times that by 17 years and you get 289 haircuts. Times that by $7 bucks a pop and you get $2023 saved. And that’s a conservative estimate! Then if you add my 13yo, 7yo, 5yo, & 2yo sons . . . well, you get the point.

So of course when I had my first son, I just followed the same pattern. I trim my babies around the ears and neck with scissors, but there comes a day when it’s just not enough (for my taste anyway…or sometimes you need closer access to a scaly scalp).

Then I get out the clippers. I don’t bother cutting the top with scissors. I buzz the whole thing.

I sometimes give them a little toy to hold, which helps them sit still. I also let them hold the clippers in the beginning so they’re not afraid.

It’s like working on a revolving door for the first year or two, but they get used to the routine. Now we pick a day every couple weeks, when all the boys are home to do the whole job at once.

I usually use the 5/8 inch attachment on Mike’s sides and the boys whole heads during the winter. Once in a while my son wants it shorter on the sides and longer on the top.

Then I use the 5/8 or 1/4 inch on the top and the 1/4 inch or blending attachment around the sides and back. But when spring and summer hit,

I just give them a short buzz and use the blending attachment for their whole head.

The attachments are easy to snap on and off.

When I’m done shaving their entire head, I remove the attachment and trim their sideburns,

around their ears and the back of their necks.

It’s good to periodically get the hair out of the clippers while cutting, and oil them in between uses.

I can especially tell on Mike’s hair if I haven’t done this maintenance. His hair is so thick, the clippers won’t work if they haven’t been oiled.

My clippers have lasted me about five years per set. The sets come with the clippers, a variety of length attachments, scissors and oil. My current brand is Conair. Some even come with a cape. I bought a kid’s cape at the local beauty supply store.

Okay. Now when it comes to the girls, as they get older, I admit, I leave them to the professionals.

I get them professional cuts once in a while, they go a long time between visits and I just trim their bangs as needed.

So there you have it! Buy yourself some clippers, get out your broom and save yourself a heap of time and money.

Give it a try. You can do it!

Scaly scalp or cradle cap remedy: Spray or rub olive oil on problem area. Let sit for 15-30 minutes. Shampoo and rub area briskly with a rough washcloth. You may need to use your fingernail to GENTLY scrape off excess dead skin. All beautiful again!

This place was started by a retiring couple who enjoyed giving away home-made toys. When they realized their simple toys could make a powerful difference in the lives of children around the world, they forged ahead. You can read their sweet story HERE. It’s so good!

In this wonderful place, over 850,000 toys have been made and sent to children in need all around the world. It’s positively inspiring!

I am directing a group of girls this year called Young Stateswomen Society, of which my daughter, Raquel is a part. We were able to see exactly how the toys are made. I’m going to share this fascinating and wonderful process with you.

The Happy Factory receives donated carts of wood scraps each from a local cabinet company. It’s stuff they would throw away anyway.

Volunteers find pieces two by two that are about the same size.

These are glued and pressed together to double thickness. Then these stencils are traced onto them.

Like so.

Then a volunteer cuts these pieces out with a table saw and drills the holes.

Then they are sanded, smoothing all the rough edges.

Most the volunteers are retired men. They come in all hours of the day and night. Some are there until 4 AM cutting or sanding.

One guy says he can’t sleep anyway, so he may as well be doing something useful.

The sanded toys are stamped with the Happy Factory name.

Volunteers tap on the wheels at this table. These wheels, along with other maintenance, utility and machinery costs average out to 40 cents per toy.

Here they are, unfinished.

Then the little cars and trucks are brushed with oil. Don’t they look nice!

We all got to have a turn.

I love seeing my children learn new ways to serve others who are less fortunate then themselves.

The Happy Factory makes “diggers” for children with special needs.

The child sits on the seat and maneuvers the handles to transfer wiffle balls from one container to another.

We heard some inspiring stories of children whose lives have absolutely changed because of these toys.

The toys have gone to orphanages in Vietnam and Nicaragua, to children’s hospitals in Salt Lake City and Ghana, to Operation Smile in Bolivia and China, to a Head Start program on the Navajo Nation in Arizona, and countless other places.

They’ve even got a map to keep track of all the places their toys travel.

Some famous people had been to the Happy Factory. Like Amy Grant,

and John Huntsman.

You are going to be amazed at this professional video I made all by myself on my iMovie program. I stayed up until 1 in the morning, but it’s worth it. Pretty good for my first try if I do say so myself.

I loved the plaques the had on the walls.

And this one.

And everyone got to pick a toy to take home with them.

There are ways to serve in every community. If we all looked around us and dedicated some time, we could make a real difference in the world. The Happy Factory founders have been called,”Ordinary People Doing Extra-Ordinary Things.”

The only thing that sets them apart in greatness is they chose to act on their generous inclinations and continued to allow their vision to be enlarged.

We can do that too if we let Christ-like love flow through our hearts and let the Lord guide our paths.

The Happy Factory is a non-profit organization which now has 40 branches around the world that accept contributions and volunteer service. You can find them online at www.happyfactory.org

This picture shows a full color layout of my 11 year old daughter, Raquel, published on the front page of our local paper, the Cedar City Daily News just after the last production.

Raquel on the front page of the local paper. She was famous for a week!

Cedar City Junior Ballet does at least one large production every year. This time it was Cinderella.

Raquel performed "en pointe."*

I didn’t watch Raquel practice much before the show.

The spring fairy with her butterflies.*

It was thrilling as a mom to see her dance on point shoes and feel that all the hours of rehearsal had been worth it! I’ve never had to push her much because she was motivated by these super-fun productions. She naturally wanted to develop her skills so she could get better parts.

Stephanie Richards danced exquisitely as Cinderella.*

Anyone who wants to participate, can be part of this community ballet group, no matter what age, no matter what skill level.

Raquel (lower left) with old and new friends.

The lady who directs our group is Christine Mills, and the non-profit organization she started is called the Cedar City Junior Ballet. Her sister, Lise Mills, helps put on their annual production, but usually works in personnel at the Shakespearean Festival and the SUU Department of Dance.

Chris is on left, Lise on right. They were hilarious!*

Chris teaches lessons throughout the year on classic ballet technique. She charges $10-15 per lesson. Sometimes she only barely covers the studio rent. We need to find some local businesses who will donate regularly to the cause.

The "mean sisters" stole the show!*

Each fall, usually in September, Chris holds auditions for the next production, which takes place the following February.

The fairy godmother and the fairies of the seasons.*

The first year we participated, my kids knew no ballet. They were in a production of Sleeping Beauty and then A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Nathan was 7 and Raquel was 5. Chris is always short on boys, and luckily Nathan was willing to participate twice. They had a great time!

Nathan & Raquel with our neighbor, Tom after the show.

Chris charges all girl participants a $300 show fee, but now she gives us 15 tickets to sell at $10 each to pay half the fee. The fee covers FANTASTIC costumes, made by her, Lise and volunteers, along with the theater rental, which currently runs $2,000-3,000.

We’ve always been able to sell plenty of tickets to our neighbors and friends.

Last year’s production was Copellia, a story about a doll that comes to life. Isaac, then 6, begged me to let him participate, so I let him even though his Saturday rehearsals were at different times then Raquel’s.

Isaac absolutely loved being part of a big production, as he had often seen Nathan and Raquel do.

Isaac's the short village boy in the middle.

Raquel played a village girl and a Scottish doll in the tinker’s workshop.

We love community ballet because we’re not paying any extra for someone’s personal profit, but we’re still getting top notch education and performing experience. The feeling of community is wonderful, too.

I’ve been extremely impressed and happy with the quality of these productions. We’re already gearing up for our next daughter, Lily to participate. She was very excited about the show and is ready to jump right in.

Lily wanted a picture with Cinderella.

Last month Raquel talked me into taking a few tap classes with her. I did and enjoyed myself immensely. I’ve found that the hands-down best way to inspire my kids to do the things I want them to, is to do it with them.

Who knows? Maybe I’ll try my hand at a little ballet sometime and join in the next production.

Thanks for all you do Chris & Lise!!!

*Photo credits to Parker Grimes Photography

As we drove up the canyon, I became very glad we had gotten off our duffs and made it a priority to bond with our kids. The scenery was spectacular!

There were huge icicles off the side of the road. I was snapping shots as best I could as Mike zoomed by. And I couldn’t do it with the window open or I would have frozen everybody.

These took my breath away,

along with the towering views.

Up the canyon we arrived at our sledding destination. Here Raquel is holding a sled that I DON’T recommend using if you’re an adult. It has no cushion and jolts you every time you hit a bump. I made the mistake of going down on one with my kids, and my tailbone was sore for a week (thank goodness for muscle relief oil)!

The little kids (especially Lily) were so adorable all bundled up and snowy.

Here Nathan has a sled I used to go down the hill head-first, yes it’s true. After Nathan used some heavy persuasion to get me to try it, I loved it! The body of this sled is lifted sightly off the ground so I didn’t feel every bump, it didn’t go too fast, and the front is movable so I could steer.

This is my latest sled purchase, the Zipfy. It’s exhilirating! It’s got cushioning, goes fast when you keep your legs up, but is easy to control with feet to slow down or change direction. What a winner!

I had my video camera in my pocket, so I decided to run it as I was going down the hill, just for fun. I took one jump that put me so high in the air, I’m amazed I stayed on!

After enjoying some hot cocoa I had brought with us, we headed back down the mountain seeing some interesting sights as we did. Our little ones squealed with excitement when they saw this big snow plow passing by,

and these wild turkeys.

I made Mike pull over so I could get a clear shot of this baby.

One of my favorite things about living in Cedar City is seeing the red rock peeking out from underneath snow in the winter.

I can’t help but praise the Creator for beauty such as this and days like today.

We love the Christmas season and the opportunity to receive and share photos and letters with loving friends and remember our Savior. This year, we turned the letter writing over to, ME! Raquel.

Baby Joel is bouncy and very fun to be around! He is running like a pro and is starting to say some words such as Mom, Dad, and “A phone.” He is a happy wanderer (like previous models) and loves food and the dogs.

Liliana is our little girly-girl, loving to have tea parties and play with her dolls. I personally don’t love her ALL the time, having her in my room and all.

Seth is our locomotive. He had fun this fall doing Joyschool with Lily and some other friends. He and Isaac get along really well. He is great at unloading our dishwasher.

Isaac is loving the charter school here! He is great at making friends and making people laugh. After all, Isaac means laughter! He loves to do everything Nathan does.

I, Raquel, love making things, especially treats. I am trying to be an organized girl. I really like rock-climbing and ballet, newspaper club at school, and violin. I also love to write books!

Nathan loves playing the guitar. He is still into designing and engineering. He played baseball this year, and flew a plane!!! He and I are taking both piano and voice lessons.

We have had a friend, Natalia living with us since May. She’s a real help. All of the kids love her!!!

My Mom, Jenni, has been working and working on her new blog about doctoring, cooking and schooling at home, and is having fun with it. She’s also taking voice lessons and singing a lot.

My Dad, Mike, has been teaching at George Wythe College and working in the ER. He is in his fifth year helping with the Boy Scouts (maybe he still hasn’t learned everything he’s supposed to).

Highlights of our Year

Nathan: Working as a program seller at the Shakespearian Festival, hiking around Machu Picchu

Me:  Being a Scottish doll in Coppelia. Program selling. Whale watching, Boston Science museum, Louisa May Alcott house

Isaac: Visiting the Native People at the Plymouth Plantation on our Boston trip, going to the charter school

Seth: Playing Dominoes at Grandma’s house, Joyschool

Lily: Going to Joyschool this fall, playing with her kitchen set, cutting her own hair

Joel: Joining the big kids in nursery at church

Dad: Taking Nathan to a Springsteen concert, taking a great group to Bolivia, the Minuteman museum

Mom: Finishing her Master Herbalist degree (finally!), launching her Dr Mom Essentials blog

We love hearing from you all and seeing your beautiful lives and families. Thank you for keeping in touch and sharing your friendship with us. We hope the Lord’s richest blessings will be with you and yours throughout the coming year.

Love, Mike, Jenni, Raquel, Nathan, Isaac, Lily, Seth & Joel

After moving to Cedar City and discovering George Wythe College, Mike took a class in political economy. He started reading  classics on economics such as Economic Harmonies written in the 1850’s by French economist Fredrick Bastiat and Wealth of Nations written in 1776 by Scottish philosopher Adam Smith.

His paradigm was totally altered, and he began thinking the difference between wealth and prosperity: wealth is accumulated and concentrates, whereas prosperity is used and spreads. I pondered this too, as he shared all his thoughts with me.

Mike was stewing at last year’s bailouts of wall street CEOs and big business at the tax payers’ expense. He even wrote a post about it. We had many discussions about different models of business. We came to the understanding that when profit is the only goal of a company- usually any means, fair or foul will be used to accomplish that end. Business is almost always end driven.

There are definitely exceptions to this rule. Google is an example of a company that has been means driven. Their first goal was to satisfy their users. Their customer was truly their priority. When this is the case, products and services won’t be corrupted by greed for profits.

Mike says that a great business model has a 3 fold mission.

1. Provide for customer
2. Make a profit
3. Care for employees

Of course, there are many other great things businesses can do and do do, but when profit becomes the priority, customers and employee concerns will be sacrificed.

Anyway, Mike’s been depositing money in an IRA for the past 5 years. He has slowly become disenchanted with the idea of his personal money supporting business that sacrifices ethics and morals to generate a greater profit. He finally started looking for other options (besides Wall Street) for investing his money.

We have had a few investment opportunities come our way in which we really wanted to participate. One opportunity involved helping our dear friends launch a new business. Unfortunately, the IRS slaps strict and hefty penalties on those who prematurely withdraw their money from the established system.

Though the IRS makes it somewhat complicated, Mike found some possibilities with a self-directed IRA. It scared us at first, but we got tired of feeling limited by government and banking establishments, we went ahead and took the leap.

With the help of an investment company, Guidant Financial (there are numerous companies that do this kind of thing), Mike set up the additional IRA account and transferred half of his retirement savings.

He’s purchasing some precious metals and planning some real estate investing. He’s excited about this new found freedom.

There are still enough rules and hoops to jump through with the new IRA that we may not continue putting our retirement savings into tax-deferred vehicles. We are planning to pay off our debt and build an investment account of our own that we can do with whatever we want. We’ll pay more in taxes up front, but have more freedom in the long run.

Businesses that are smaller and local and affect our own communities are much better places to invest. Those that have a morality and a social purpose are better long-term investments. They promote the well-being of the community and the prosperity of the whole, instead of the concentrated wealth of the few.

We never realized how controlling our retirement banking system was until we tried to buck it. It’s frustrating that the only way to save in a tax-deferred status is to send the money to Wall Street and large corporations. But the more of us that refuse to submit to the status quo or put up with the amorality of unaccountable leaders and businesses, the greater the possibility is that things will change.

Sometimes it takes a leap of faith.

Here’s a hilarious piece by one of my favorite musicians, Tom Chapin, that echos our sentiments after the bailouts (this has scenes from “Night of the Living Dead” so if zombies gross you out, please don’t watch).

It’s only by letting inefficient organizations fail that better ones will be created in their stead.

The Boyce Family on the Old North Bridge in Concord

They were so awesome to us! As they drove us all over the place that day, they informed us, that for a couple hours of the afternoon their children were going to prepare the dinner for all of us. Of course, I was immediately intrigued.

Lisa told me that a couple years previous, her husband had expressed the desire to have company for dinner on Sunday nights. With him traveling often, she responded that if it were going to happen, the kids would need to do the dinner, and he would need to clean up. Like me, Lisa also has 6 kids, and knew she couldn’t run the whole show herself 7 days a week with no break. So they started this tradition of their kids all making the dinner each Sunday.

Their oldest, Zach does the roast . . . every week. He has his own special recipe. After he put in the roast that day, he worked at cracking some acorns the kids had gathered.

They had heard that the acorns could be ground into flour and baked and eaten. They wanted to try it.

Raquel helped peel and mash the acorns . . .

along with Calvin & Jake,

and Nathan too.

Calvin measured the roll ingredients,

and Jake read the recipe and announced the quantities needed.

After our outing to the Old North Bridge and Minuteman museum, the dough was done.

Raquel jumped in on the roll making action.

Rex peeled potatoes to be boiled & mashed. Lisa pulled out spinach and fixings for a delicious salad. I peeled apples with the younger kids to make apple crisp for dessert.

Dinner was lovely.

Unfortunately, we couldn’t use the acorn flour in our dinner. After a brief search on the internet we learned that the acorns must be crushed and dried for at least 2 weeks to get rid of toxic tannins. The kids were disappointed, the adults were relieved.

I asked our kids before we got home if they would be willing to follow and contribute to a dinner-making tradition like this one. This is called the “up front contract.”  It’s best to ask your kids at the moment of inspiration about doing something new, ahead of time. When the inspiration is gone and they’re thinking about other things, it’s less likely to happen.

My kids said yes, but then 2 weeks later they left with Mike to Bolivia for 2 weeks (yes, October was our travel month). Meanwhile, I hope to be consistent with this training over the next 6 months.

So this Sunday I’m starting a new tradition. I’ll get out a roast and crock pot, white wheat flour and bread maker, potatoes, and spinach with salad fixings.

We’ll see if Nathan remembers the secret roast recipe.

He does public, town meetings with a large number of people over the phone. He asks what our concerns are, and tries to respond to them. He sends out surveys by email and asks for feedback.

And boy do I give him feedback. He’s concerned about people having access to “quality” healthcare. Well, who determines what is quality? The American Medical Association? The pharmaceutical industry? Doctors? Most of these folks are financially vested in keeping the current system mostly the way it is.

The problem with this scenario, is that there’s an abundance of drug-based treatments that are killing people at an alarming rate. And the competition (natural healthcare)  is being restricted and censored in the name of public safety.

I realize there’s quacks in every profession, but it’s going to be a long time before natural health practitioners kill as many people as do our conventional drugs. Yet, these natural practitioners have to watch every word that comes out of their mouths or they could be jailed.

Is this freedom of speech? Is the American public really so gullible that we can’t decide for ourselves what’s true and what’s not? Why does the government have to monitor all speech from this industry? It makes me mad, if you can’t tell.

Anyway, so here’s the letter I wrote back to Jim Matheson. Just thought I’d share. The more we all know about it, the less easily our freedoms can be taken away in the future.

“It is ridiculous that the FDA recently issued a warning to a great doctor and natural health advocate, Andrew Weil, MD for stating a natural health product could help ‘ward off colds.’

Our government is supposed to be protecting our health interests, not suppressing information that may benefit us, and robbing us of our ‘freedom to know.’

The pharmaceutical industry maintains a strangling monopoly on our healthcare system, and yet their drug products kill more people each year than 20 times 9/11.

The natural healthcare industry has a multitude of safe, effective treatments that could dramatically ease our healthcare burden if given the chance.

Please help restore our freedom of choice in this matter by defending freedom of speech for natural healthcare practitioners and their products.

Thank you!”

If you get the opportunity or feel so inclined, maybe you could mention this to your representatives. It’s definitely a point to ponder.

I haven’t promoted my blog much, because I was waiting to take this step.

I’ve got more posts and content I’m excited about adding, it’s just a matter of finding time to do it all.

Mike is taking our older kids, Nathan & Raquel, to Bolivia for a couple weeks, so I’m hoping to have some dedicated time come this weekend.

Please leave me some comments, and let me know how you like my thoughts.

Thanks for visiting!

Jenni