Smorgasbord

Just a little this and that recap of the year and what's on the horizon.

We have obviously been busy the past few weeks with the holidays.  We had a few family gatherings.  And we have been doing almost nothing outside of that because it has rained and rained and rained some more in the South.

We have been fortunate enough not to catch the flu and crud and pneumonia that has been floating around our extended family.  I attribute that to diligent hand washing and lots and lots of Young Living products.  We use the Thieves cleaner to clean every surface (including light switches and door knobs), we slather on diluted Thieves, RC, Oregano often, we use Thieves hand sanitizer when out, and we diffuse the oils regularly.  So regularly, in fact, I broke my diffuser.  BOO!  I am on the hunt for another one.  I am choosing not to repurchase the Young Living one because it is more expensive than I can afford.  Plus, I would like to have 2 diffusers, one for our room and one for the living area.  I will post what I find and a review later.  My husband and I have also been taking Super B and Sulfurzyme to help with energy, joint support, and immunity support.  I have noticed a huge difference on the days I miss them.

I found an internal medicine doctor that is committed to helping me feel better.  Her attitude was "Autoimmune disease or not, you don't feel well and we need to fix that."  I don't know that I will ever get a definitive, neatly wrapped diagnosis but having someone help me get back to "normal" is a blessing.  She did lots of blood work and found some unusual things.  More tests are on the horizon but her main goal is to get me through the winter without being incredibly ill.  So far, so good!

Homeschooling has been so very bumpy the last few weeks.  Lots of interruptions.  We did not take a formal Christmas break because we had so many randomly timed events.  I did find a new curriculum though.  Discovery K12 is a free, online curriculum that is easy to follow. The kids log in and that day's assignments are right there.  Scores, reading logs, some worksheets are online.  It even records attendance.  The kids click "Completed" at the end of each assignment and move on down the page.  Since everything is in one place, they can work more independently than with even Easy Peasy Homeschool (we had to click to different pages for Math, Science, History).

Alabama History is a required subject here and we have been studying the early settlers and native Americans of the state.  We are planning a trip to Fort Toulouse soon.  The hubs and I love living history.  The kids waver on their love of it.  haha

We are still working on our budget and sticking to it.  We are planning and organizing better which helps.  I am shopping once every pay period.  I still have to get a few things now and then but I prefer shopping in one huge trip.  I am planning our meals before shopping, making a list, and adapting based on what's available at the store.  This week, I was able to get a HUGE ham for $14ish and that will make several meals, including a crockpot of ham n beans.  Such a traditional Southern thing BUT I discovered I only had dried black beans in the pantry.  Oh well...adapt, right?