How I Feel About Maids, Giving Birth and Chopping Wood

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This week's topic is "Three things you did not know about me"!

Okay, thing one. Even though I live in Mexico and all the cool kids are doing it, I REFUSE to hire a full-time maid. For fear of offending any of my dear friends who do have full-time help, I will abstain from writing my miriad reasons, but suffice it to say that I have five able-bodied children and we should be able to clean up after ourselves. I'm not judging anyone, really, this is just right for my particular family. Just for the record, I do have someone who comes in to help for four hours each week, and she mostly holds the twins, because they're in love with her, and tries to keep them out of her mop water.

Thing two. I love to give birth to my children without the aid of anesthesia...of any kind. Again, for fear of offending all of my dear epidural-loving friends, let it suffice to say that there are hormones that are produced during the pain of labor, such as dopamine and seratonin, that just will not be present unless you go through the pain. These hormones give an extreme natural high to both the mother and the baby, and help both to bond after childbirth. During this time after giving birth, I feel like I want to run a marathon, climb the highest mountain, or eat a huge plate of Nachos Bell Grande, and have. One of my brother's friends said, "You know, if you want to get high, I could hook you up with something a little less expensive." Funny. Nope, I love my after-birth high and I'm not giving it up any time soon. Unless, of course, it's another c-section. I do have some sense.

Thing three. I love to chop wood and am really good at it. Once I went camping with another family with my five children, the youngest of whom was 5 months old, and without my late husband, as he was serving in Korea for a year. The other couple had three older children and a very loud dog.

After our belongings were unpacked, the kids and I had the tent set up in about fifteen minutes, then went to help our friends with theirs as they were struggling something awful. Now, normally, this is not something I would ever bring up, lest you think I toot my own horn, but because of what happened next, I couldn't omit it. Unfortunately, there was very little firewood, but there was a large tree that had fallen down, about a foot and a half in diameter. I told the husband that I could chop this up for our firewood and that it would probably take me about an hour. He began laughing hysterically and said that it would take me at least five hours, and it would be dark by then. I was determined to prove him wrong. With the extra adrenaline he had just provided me, I began making "V" cuts with the hatchet to get the log into managable pieces to split, then after I had finished with that, I split the wood into perfect camp fire-worthy pieces with an ax. I did this in 35 minutes. I tried not to gloat, as I could see this guy had enough problems when I witnessed his wife commanding the kids to brush their teeth and commanding her husband to do it, too. Right now.

Yes, I like to chop wood.

Okay, there are three things you might not have known about me! What about you? Any weird idiosyncrasies we need to know about? Love to hear it! Thanks for listening!

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MSG-Free Roasted Red Pepper Hummus

MSG. It's one of my arch nemesis, and now that I'm pregnant, something to vehemently shun. During some of my pregnancies, I have suffered from "restless leg syndrome". The symptoms are exactly as the name describes...the uncontrollable urge to move ones legs, especially while trying to relax or fall asleep. This is a most disconcerting problem...to be lying in bed and to have to begin kicking your legs violently in a effort to relieve the sensation. Sometimes it would become so severe that I would have to get out of bed and exercise, then take a hot shower. I remember even bringing it up to my obstetrition and saying that I had read that taking extra iron might help. He said, well, yes, then, you should try that. So helpful.

Over the years, I have become more familiar with the causes of restless leg syndrome. It turns out that the comsumption of MSG is believed to be one of the underlying factors. Recently, I was an unwitting participant in a tiny scientific experiment and now I am exponentially more motivated to stay away from the poison.

I am a fan of hummus and it has become a staple in my diet since I've become a vegan. I love to make my own, but while I was visiting my mother in the states, I decided to buy the pre-made roasted red pepper hummus at Walmart. It was rich. It was delicious. It was addictive, and I ate the whole tub in one day. I didn't feel all too guilty, however, because it only totaled about 800 calories, had no animal products, very little sugar and virtually no fat. That night however, I realized that it probably contained much more MSG than I had bargained for. As I lay in bed between the twins, my legs began to tingle and feel the uncontrollable need to move. Because it would have been counter-productive to my sleep had I viciously kicked my legs back and forth as the twins were fast asleep on either side of me, I found myself flexing my feet and calves over and over and over again until I fell asleep.

After careful consideration, I truly believe that the prepared hummus, with it's perservatives and "natural flavors" was the culprit of my difficult night's sleep. MSG is tricky because manufacturers now know that consumers are trying to stay away from it, so they have given it different names. Here are some examples...

MSG
Gelatin
Calcium Caseinate
Monosodium glutamate
Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein (HVP)
Textured Protein
Monopotassium glutamate
Hydrolyzed Plant Protein (HPP)
Yeast Extract
Glutamate
Autolyzed Plant Protein
Yeast food or nutrient
Glutamic Acid
Sodium Caseinate
Autolyzed Yeast
Vegetable Protein
Extract Senomyx (wheat extract labeled as artificial flavor)

And believe it or not, there are TONS of other names, too! For a complete list, click HERE .

In order to avoid eating hummus with MSG ever again, I looked up an easy roasted red pepper hummus recipe, and here is what I found!

Roasted Red Pepper Hummus

Ingredients:
4 cups cooked chick peas/garbanzo beans (To cook dry beans, soak overnight, drain, and boil for several hours until tenderl)
2/3 cup tahini (sesame seed paste, found in health food stores)
1/2 cup lemon juice
4 tablespoon olive oil
4 garlic cloves, crushed
1 cup - 1 1/2 cup roasted red peppers (purchased fresh or from a can)
2 teaspoons salt

Directions:
Blend all ingredients in a blender, preferrably a Vitamix, until smooth.
Serve with pita bread or pita chips, or, in our case, tortillas, and garnish with parsley and olive oil poured into a well dug out of the center of the serving.

Now, honestly, hummus isn't something the whole fam loves. It's more of a personal treat, but I have found two members of the family who love it as much as I do. Take a look-see...






Hope you enjoy this as much as the twins and I do! Thanks for coming by!

I am pleased to list this post @ Biblical Womanhood's "Frugal Friday". Check out her blog for TONS for great money-saving tips!
I am also pleased to list this post at...
-Kelly's "Real Food Wednesday",
-Tip Junkie's "Talk to me Tuesday",
-5 Minutes for Mom's "Tackle It Tuesday",
-Tammy's Recipe's "Kitchen Tip Tuesday",
-Blessed With Grace's "Tempt My Tummy Tuesday",
-Mary's "Tightwad Tuesday",
-Jen's "Tasty Tuesday",
Gollum's...


and a newly discovered carnival...


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Homemaker Monday: Chocolate Cake for Breakfast and The Fruits of My Husband's Labor

Welcome to the 48th weekly edition of...


Thank you for joining us! If you're new to this carnival and would like to enter your post, please check HERE for the rules and regs.

YOURS: This week's "YOURS" goes to Mrs. Mordecai at Be It Ever So Humble! Her link was entitled "Chocolate Cake for Breakfast" and I HAD to see that! This recipe boasts lots of healthy ingredients such as whole wheat flour, applesauce, milk (which I would substitute with soy or almond milk), raisins and very little sugar. There is a lot of chocolate in this cake, but they say chocolate is good for you, right? :) When I tell my kids we are having chocolate cake for breakfast, they will worship the ground I walk on. That will be sweet. I am SOOOO going to do this. Thanks for linking up with us, Mrs. Mordecai! Can't WAIT to try this! For Mrs. Mordecai's entire post, click HERE. Oh, and if you'd like, Mrs. Mordecai, feel free to take the "I Was Featured" button from the left sidebar!

MINE: Today's Homemaker Monday post is a tribute to my husband. He is a man who has always worked tirelessly to provide in all ways for our family, whether it be financially, physically, mentally or spiritually. For this post, I would like to focus on a way he has provided for our temporal needs and for some of our wants as well. Before I met John, he was an avid flower gardener. If I was using his computer, I would link up some of the photos he has taken of his various gardens in California, which were absolutely spectacular. However, we'll see some examples of his flower gardening in Mexico in just a bit. Once John married me with my six kids, he realized that in addition to flower gardening, learning vegetable gardening would serve us well. This first summer living in our hacienda in Mexico, on a three acre bit of land, John has produced a bounteous garden or lettuce, tomatoes, herbs, corn, pumpkins, sunflowers, carrots, radishes, zucchini, cucumbers (click HERE for an entertaining story on those), squash, gourds, watermelons and I'm sure there is more, but I can't remember it all. And have the kids and I enjoyed the fruits of his labor! After church today, the 3-year-old, the twins and the 9-year-old enjoyed snacking along the rows of the garden. It was such a wholesome site and I wanted to share it with you. Here they are...



(Feel free to click to enlarge to see the cuteness of Twin B's face above...)



What could warm a vegan mommy's heart more?

And now, John's flower garden eye candy I promised. Am I a lucky lady or what?

(sweet alyssum)

(hibiscus)

(gladiolus, marigolds and nasturtiums)

So yeah, I'm a lucky lady. Don't hate me because my husband's garden is beautiful.

OURS: Okay, let's see what all of you in blog land have for us today! What's growing in your garden? How are preserving it? Please share ANYTHING related to homemaking, including teaching kids to work in the home, and link up here every Monday! Thanks for joining us and have a great day!

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An Important Family Announcement, Just In Case You Care

On or around March 8, 2010, we will be adding a new pile. If you're confused, click HERE.

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