My favorite carnivore vlogger, Kelly Hogan, just dropped this video talking with other carnivores about trying out the sugar diet. Have any of you heard of people losing weight eating only candy? Kelly has not given in to the diet but these three ladies whom she interviewed did to see it it would work for them. They are all seasoned carnivores and share their experience in the video below. I can tell based on what they say that the results would be disastrous for me just like it was for them. Thanks for “taking one for the team,” ladies, as Kelly says. I won’t even be attempting that diet.
It’s been over 20 years since I’ve been to the Magic Kingdom. I visited it in 1985 for the 30th anniversary. I was 14. My parents, my older two brothers, my two younger sisters and I got to go as part of a week-long summer vacation in CA. Then I got to go again in 2004, when I was a mom of 4 and 7 months pregnant. I’ve also been to Disney World twice, which has a Magic Kingdom, similar to Disneyland. The park and the company sure have changed. I wonder what Uncle Walt would say about all the changes? Today I’m celebrating the original Disneyland, the way it was when Walt first opened its doors on July 17, 1955.
Here are some fun videos to watch to celebrate.
It’s interesting to note that the Happiest Place on Earth was also the most unfinished place on earth on Opening Day. Despite that problem, it went on to be a worldwide tourist destination. Just goes to show that if we aren’t done with our goal on deadline day it’s ok to keep working at the goal. Things will get better if we keep working. Perhaps another lesson is to be more realistic about deadlines for a huge construction project and place them further out.
This video below shows what became the inspiration for Disneyland.
Here are some secrets of Disneyland.
This video below shows the new show at Disneyland with an animatronic Walt telling what his greatest reward was, after you see footage of his story. The animatronic part starts at 16:30. It’s not as creepy as I anticipated.
OK, because I love to list resources whenever I do birthday mentions of people, places or books, here are some other resources besides videos.
I mentioned a site in my blog here that reviews old Disney movies so you can know which ones are worth watching. Some are duds and some are golden.
Here is a blog by a homeschooling mom with different Disney-themed curricula, from an Imagineering course involving physics and math, P.E., art, and language arts.
I can’t end this post without mentioning two of my passions, board games and thrifting!
Here’s a fun game to bring out your inner Walt. It’s the Disney Animated board game. You get to work cooperatively on a Disney animation team, seeing if you can get some classic Disney movies done by the deadline.
The five movies involved are Snow White, Aladdin, 101 Dalmatians, Fantasia, and Alice in Wonderland. This game is definitely worth paying full price for. It’s currently only $20 on amazon. (Not an affiliate link.)
It uses transparent cards with full color animated figures that you put on a background with scenery. Such fun!
I enjoy playing Disney Codenames but feel like I need a Disney character encyclopedia when I play because I’m not up on all the new movies. Fortunately, I found this book below when thrifting. It’s a house rule that we can check this book when playing the game.
Image Credit: amazon.com
Finally, keep your eyes out for this game below when thrifting. (Of course, I like to bring up board games and thrifting whenever I can!) You could keep your eyes out for the games above too but you’re probably less likely to find those. Anyway, I found this game below last fall when thrifting. We played it as a big family group when the married children were in town for Thanksgiving. It got everybody laughing. It’s great for a big crowd because the box says it’s for up to 99 players. Most people know something about Disney movies so will probably play, especially if placed on a team. One of my daughters-in-law won because of her vast Disney knowledge. I wouldn’t pay full price for it but at $4 or less it’s totally worth it.
I can’t let this day pass without mentioning that on this day 24 years ago my third son was born, at home. He was born around 8:30 AM into a birthing pool. He was my second home birth and fourth child. My husband, my mom, my midwife, her two midwife assistants, my doula, and my three older children welcomed him into this world. What a happy day that was! He and his brother on either side of him were each big babies, over 9 lbs. All born at home.
I felt ready to have the baby. I had done my visiting teaching for the month (what is now called ministering). I had organized our storage room the Saturday before, getting out all the baby things. I had cleaned things and felt my nesting was done. I had gone to bed the night before with contractions about 5 minutes apart, after we watched Anne of Green Gables as a family on a Sunday night. I told my husband that this might really be labor and not just Braxton-Hicks contractions. The plan was to see how long I would sleep and if the contractions were still there when I woke up. Then I felt it would probably be the day we had all been waiting for.
My daughter found all these baby boy outfits while thrifting! She shares my love of finding great deals on cute stuff!
I woke up around 5 AM to use the bathroom, with the contractions still coming around 5 minutes apart. After walking around and then lying down again, the contractions stayed strong, so I knew this was it. I sat in a rocking chair by the bedroom window, rocking during some of the contractions. I remember my husband taking my hand, looking out the window with me at the sunrise. “The sun is rising, and you are giving birth to our new son today,” he said as he smiled at me. If anybody ever did a Hallmark movie showing a home birth, that scene would be in it. Everything felt perfect.
I had read an article about the power of vocalization during labor in the previous few months. The article said that vocalization helps to open up the cervix and helps the laboring mom feel stronger. I had also just read an article about the power of sacred hymns in everyday life. I decided to combine the two ideas. When the contractions got super intense, after rocking, I decided to start singing in a super low voice. I decided to combine that with getting my body in a low position as well. So I went into the living room and got on all fours. When the next contraction came, I lowered my body to the ground, sinking into the contraction as I moaned the hymn I was singing in a super low guttural voice. It felt good to ride the waves of contractions this way. Nobody could tell I was singing, or what I was singing. I’m sure I sounded like a cow, but I didn’t care. I labored this way through a few contractions. My method worked a little too well as the contractions got back-to-back, with no break in between. I then got into the birthing pool with a lot of help. Baby Boy Shumway #3 was born shortly after that, after about two more contractions and one or two pushes.
One of my nieces made this carrot cake. It was so good! I decided it was worth it going off my keto diet to eat it.
Just writing about it all brings back the ecstatic feeling of having just given birth naturally. It’s such an indescribably incredible feeling. Having given birth naturally five times and with medication two times, I can definitely testify that the feeling I had after the natural births was better. It’s such a sense of accomplishment, peace, relief, joy and new beginnings, all rolled into one.
I’m so glad that my baby boy is now 24 years old and the wonderful young man that he is. We later moved from that home, but it holds such a dear, precious spot in my heart. It’s only about a few miles from where I live now. I gave birth to another son in that home 3 years later. I have two sisters-in-law who each gave birth to a son in that home. Anytime I drive by it I get such happy feelings.
Now I have a daughter who is planning on a home birth with a son, next month. The photos in this post are from the party we just had for her, a “Blessingway” since she didn’t really need any material things for a baby. It was more to give her emotional support. This is the first time I will be living close by for one of her babies being born. The previous two were born out of state.
My niece took flowers that we picked out, because of their symbolic meanings, and then assembled a flower crown for my daughter.
The circle of life continues, as I will be doing the same role my mom did for me during the labor I just described by watching baby’s older siblings while my daughter labors and gives birth. I’m so excited! There’s nothing else like childbirth. The room feels like heaven when it happens. It’s an honor and privilege to give birth, and a quadruple honor to see my daughter choosing to do a home birth.
If you want to feel all the feels about the gift of giving life, check out my review of the book, The Gift of Giving Lifehere, and then go read the book. It’s so good!
It was on this day, July 15, in 1868 that Louisa May Alcott finished writing Little Women. She started in May 1868 after the publisher of her previous two books, Moods, and Hospital Sketches, asked her to write a book for girls. She resisted at first and then relented. I’m so happy that she did! I love Little Women. It’s the longest-running book for children in print. That’s because it’s a true classic, with wonderful truths in it to resonate with everyone, including boys and men. It’s not just for girls and women.
Here are some things I’ve written about LW:
–Finding God in LW, or why the book is better than the modern movies
-a review of a book about LMA and her mother, Abigail May Alcott
If you’ve never read the book, you owe it to yourself to read it! If you’ve already read it, read it again! A free audiobook version is above. Then go watch the movie. The 1994 version is the best one. A clip of it is below.
Credit for Image Above: Unshaken Saints YouTube Channel
Wow! I have thoroughly enjoyed this past week doing a deep dive into learning about the true nature of heaven. I’m so grateful for the vision of heaven that the Prophet Joseph Smith recorded as Section 76 of the Doctrine and Covenants. That was the scripture reading assignment for this week of Come Follow Christ. I’m grateful because Joseph Smith learned that the true nature of heaven is much more liberal, generous, fair, welcoming, beautiful, marvelous, glorious, and wonderful than any human before him had ever known. We are so blessed to learn this. It’s all because Christ is so much more than people knew about before Joseph came along.
I watched several videos about all this as I multitasked to enrich my scripture study. They were all so marvelous!
My favorite was this one below with Jared Halverson. He said the most romantic thing about his wife ever. Oh my!
He said that after he married his wife, he told her basically the following:
“Dear, I’m sorry. I doubted your existence. I didn’t think that people like you existed in the world. So, I have to break it to you, honey. You’re not the girl of my dreams because I never dreamed that good.”
Isn’t that just the most amazing, most romantic line a husband could ever say to his wife? Swoon!!!! I heard this as I was driving home from grocery shopping. I almost had to pull over to the side of the road and calm my beating heart. It’s just so lovely!
Then Brother Halverson went on to say, “And to think that heaven is not the heaven of our dreams because our dreams fall short. It is greater than that because Christ is greater than that.”
In other words, Joseph learned in this vision in D&C 76 that heaven is grander than any apostle, saint, prophet, philosopher or writer had described or written about before.
Watch above. It’s all so good! This vision shows that before Joseph Smith revealed these words about heaven, man’s view of heaven was too small. Perhaps our view of heaven is still too small today. Reading Section 76 will definitely expand your view!
Then I watched the commentary of Sister Lili De Hoyos Anderson about the same section 76. It’s in two parts, above and below.
Then below we have the commentary of Farrell and Rhonda Pickering. They share the chiasmuses that are in Section 76 and how it all relates to the plan of salvation. It’s so amazing how God works in so many layers of patterns. It’s all so gloriously rich and beautiful. I’ve also included screenshots from their video.
They shared that the moon is more than 25K times brighter than the stars, and the sun is 398K times brighter than the stars. That helps us gain perspective of the glories of the different divisions of heaven. Even the stars have glory.
Below are more screenshots from the video. They show that the plan of salvation relates to the stars, the ancient tabernacle of Old Testament times, and the temples of today.
I’m so grateful to know that because of what Joseph Smith revealed in this vision, as well as with the vision of the dead that Joseph F. Smith beheld in D&C 138, that heaven allows space for all people who want to be there. It’s not as restrictive and small as people taught about for centuries, based on Jonathan Edwards’ sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.” That sermon taught that only a select few will go to heaven. Neither is it as long in duration as Dante’s Inferno had led people to believe for even more centuries. At least for most of us. Only the sons of perdition will suffer hell eternally. Jared Halverson explains that those people are those who willfully choose not to accept Jesus, even after they have had the testimony burned into their hearts. He says that very few people are that evil. As I’ve heard before, it’s like staring into the sun and declaring that it’s not shining.
People who die without knowing anything about Jesus will have the chance to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ in the spirit world. As Doctrine and Covenants 138 teaches, they will have the chance to accept Jesus Christ as their personal Savior and be baptized by proxy by those on earth. That is one reason why temples exist on the earth today.
Even people who are evil will receive a lower degree of heaven after they have repented and suffered in hell for a time. They won’t be in hell forever. They will be redeemed from hell after Jesus has finished His work, through the end of His Millennial reign. See D&C 76:81-86. They will receive a glory of heaven that is likened unto the glory of the stars.
To see the vision in poetic form, check out what William W. Phelps wrote here. Lynn Johnson explains the poetic parallelisms/chiasmuses of D&C 76 here.
Here are two more videos about “The Vision,” what Section 76 was commonly called when it was first publicized. The top one shows more the historical context of The Vision, including shots of the John and Elsa Johnson home where it took place, in Hiram Ohio. I’m so grateful we have this knowledge to inspire and comfort us. Heavenly Father, with His Son Jesus Christ, truly extend to us the perfect balance of mercy and justice, as seen by this plan of heaven. We can know this is true by the power of the Holy Ghost.
P.S. I just love this vision of heaven so much that I also blogged about it four years ago. Go over here to see what I shared with completely different videos.
Here’s a fun book and movie pairing for this month of July. Even though it’s summer, I still like to homeschool with Morning Basket. It’s basically where I read aloud to my son books to share with him what is good, true, and beautiful. We read books about history, Shakespeare, math, science, art, and the gospel. (You can go here to learn more about it.) We do a shorter MB time than we do the rest of the year, and then math from Mathusee, for our homeschooling on these summer mornings.
Just this morning we finished The Journey of the One and Only Declaration of Independence after watching National Treasure. It’s a fun picture book that tells the history of the Declaration of Independence. National Treasure came out a long time ago, so you’ve probably already seen it. In case you haven’t, here’s a synopsis. Skip and go to the next paragraph if you know about it. It’s a fun adventure movie about a guy who gets a seed planted in his mind by his grandfather that the Declaration of Independence has a map on the back that leads to secret treasure. He grows up to be a history buff and gets caught in another guy’s evil plan to find the treasure. It’s a great movie that shows early American history sites in the context of an intense story involving a race. You see Washington D.C., with some of the famous things there like the Washington Monument, the Library of Congress, the Lincoln Memorial, the National Mall, and the National Archives building. Then you also get to see things in Boston, like the Old North Church, and in Philadelphia, namely Independence Hall, and the Liberty Bell.
After each of my 7 children finished the Key of Liberty class by LEMI, they got to watch the movie. It’s one of the few movies I’ve seen over and over. It’s such a fun story! It can generate a lot of questions for the curious mind, like, who are the Knights of Templar, who are the Freemasons, why did Ben Franklin write as Silence Dogood, and is there really a national treasure?
We rewatched it the other night for our Family Home Evening activity since we just celebrated Independence Day last week. (You can go here to see about that.) Usually we watch episode two of the John Adams HBO series that shows the drafting of the Declaration, but I decided with my nephew visiting us it would be more fun to watch NT and then do John Adams this Saturday or Sunday. It pairs perfectly with the book.
After watching National Treasure, it’s easy to think that the famous document has been sitting under glass for hundreds of years. When you read the above book you will learn the real history of what the picture book calls “The One and Only.” The marvelous piece of paper has only been under glass, in the National Archives building, since December 13, 1952. It was interesting to read about how many times the original Declaration of Independence changed hands before that. Since its birth in 1776, it hasn’t always been treated carefully. Most people knew to roll it up, and not fold it, but it was folded sometimes, leaving creases. It also had some glue and Scotch tape on it. Some experts fixed all those problems before its final resting place at the National Archives building. The document has been carried by horseback, wagon, carriage, boat, handcart, train, armed truck and Marine Corps tank through the centuries.
I love that the book says, “No effort was too much to keep the Declaration of Independence safe. It declares the birth of a new nation. It celebrates the value and dignity of every human being. Though it doesn’t declare that all people are created equal in ability, talent, or brains, it does declare that all people are created equal in their basic rights, including ‘life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.’ “
Ever since hearing that one of my relatives and one of my Veggie Gal girlfriends use Botox to look young, I’ve wondered about the safety. I admit they look at least ten years younger, with flawless skin, but, are they ever going to get sick? After all, the same toxin, that we are cautioned about avoiding when canning food because it causes botulism is the same one that is used in Botox. I’ve expressed the concern to my VG girlfriend and she just said she wasn’t worried.
This podcast from Hilda LaBrada Gore, above, and linked here, features a crunchy mom, Megan McCue, who got very sick from using Botox. It wasn’t just a little bit sick, it was debilitating sickness.
Here’s more about Megan and her interview, copied and pasted from YouTube:
“Megan McCue is the author of Notox and Me Tox Pretty. And today she explains how that single treatment of Botox turned her life (and health) upside down. She goes over what happened to her–how she essentially became incapacitated, unable to work or care for her children, and how her doctor dismissed her concerns, suggesting she was simply anxious. Megan goes over the history of this product, its black box warnings, its prevalent use among young people and why she is an outspoken advocate for informed consent and pharmaceutical transparency. Finally, she makes clear that the symptoms of botulism can last years, which is one of the many reasons she recommends we steer clear of it. For more information, visit Megan’s website: https://meganmccue.com Become a member of the Weston A. Price Foundation (https://www.westonaprice.org/why-join/) (and use the code pod10)”
She also has written her two books shown below to go in depth about the dangers of Botox.
Credit for Book Cover Images Above and Below: amazon.com
So is Botox to be absolutely avoided? Only you can decide for yourself. Only you can decide what risk you want to take.
I was surprised to discover in the latest book by the Trim Healthy Mama sisters, Serene Allison and Pearl Barrett, that they use a Korean form of Botox. It’s the Trim Healthy Wisdom book, shown below. I bought it when it first came out and haven’t finished it. It’s a heavy tome, about three inches thick, almost 1000 pages! Pearl and Serene are known for their books on healthy eating. They promote a diet plan that recommends eating protein at every meal, and then either carbs or fat with the protein. They separate carbs from fat for weight loss to happen. They mostly recommend using whole foods so they have come to be known for promoting healthy eating. (I don’t consider their sugar replacements as “whole foods.” My review of their diet plan and how it worked for me is here.)
So when I heard that they use a form of Botox, I thought, “Wow, they are not as naturally crunchy mom as I would have thought.”
Here is the text copied and pasted from one of their podcast episodes where they share about how they keep the wrinkles at bay.
“Listener Question– “The sisters’ faces are looking lovely and smooth for their mid-40s and 50s. Do the sisters use Botox?”
“Pearl and Serene– Do we use Botox? Not exactly. We use our own special South Korean form of ‘tox’. Yes, it’s legal. We’ll be sharing exactly what we use and how we use it in our upcoming book Trim Healthy Wisdom. But for now, we’ll explain that we do our own very diluted and conservative tox injections at home and we’re not necessarily recommending others do it. But at a certain age, we can tend to look frowny, sad, mad… and we don’t want to look that way. Those 11s between the eyebrows and overused muscles in the forehead… the furrows take over. We tried taping our foreheads for a time, because of the tension in our foreheads but that didn’t give us a good result.
“There’s been a big DIY world around skin procedures since COVID. During the pandemic, people couldn’t go and get the work that they wanted done. So, they started sharing videos from professionals online and from those who had specific successful protocols. And we asked, “Why can’t we do that?” So, we started to research and then we started to practice.
“A piece of advice… don’t ever just start jabbing your face! You’ll mess up! Be sure to follow tutorials on how to do it correctly if you’re interested. The tox we use is very pure and there are many dermatologists out there now who believe it is healthy and age-preventing for the skin. It lasts for about 4 months and is not expensive. It helps keep the frowning, drooping, and lines at a minimum.
“Several studies are showing that relaxing frown and worry lines with Botox can lower anxiety and depression. One study is linked below (here) but we’ll share more of the pros and cons and research in our book. “We also do some other procedures such as red-light therapy and cosmetic microneedling on our faces. One of the other main things that have helped our faces tone up is facial fitness exercises. We’ll be posting videos of those in the future. The other important thing we have done for our faces is use an Estriol/DHEA cream. We’ll have a lot more specifics in our upcoming book Trim Healthy Wisdom.” (from the THM podcast transcript here)
Their book has come out since they made that podcast. You can buy it here. In the book the sisters have a whole chapter of resources for skin care, including a list of Facebook groups and YouTubers that teach how to use Korean Botox.
I’m OK with a few wrinkles I guess, but like the THM sisters, I don’t want my resting face to look angry with deep 11s. So I was getting somewhat interested in using their resources, until I heard the podcast with Mindy above. At the very end of it, Mindy says that the longer you use Botox the more you are creating a time bomb that will explode with health problems as the toxin accumulates. I also wonder who funded the study the THM sisters reference, the Botox manufacturer? I have to say, I am suspicious. I probably won’t ever do Botox, even the THM way.
Instead, I’ll stick with using my castor oil, as shown by the 50+ woman above and below. She says she is a holistic aesthetician. If any of you find out she’s a closet Botoxer please let me know. I’m not sure about how crunchy natural holistic that Vaseline is, which is one of the products she mentions above. I did have a neighbor when I was a young mom who swore by daily Vaseline use. She was in her 50s and had wonderful skin. It’s certainly cheap.
I do love what Mindy says at the very end of the interview that beauty from within is more important than beauty on the outside.
I had a glorious Independence Day extended family weekend! I celebrated Independence Day all week actually. Here’s what I did plus some patriotic videos.
I had to miss the annual Patriotic Devotional that’s held in BYU’s Marriott Center every year, because of my commitment to serve a shift a my local FamilySearch center. This was two Sundays ago, on June 29th, 2025. I was so bummed because Dr. Hank Smith was the main speaker. Two of my sons went to it though and shared what he said.
Here’s a video of one from a previous year, below. Anyway, for this year, my youngest son said he saw Charles Mully sitting there on the front row in his cowboy hat. He came to Provo UT to receive a Freedom Award from America’s Freedom Festival in Provo. I blogged about Mr. Mully in the posts listed over here. His story is so incredible and inspiring! What a true hero with such a generous father heart! I’d love to meet him and his wife some day.
I love what Tad Callister has to say below about the role of religion in maintaining a free people. (More from Brother Tad here.)
On Tuesday I decorated my front room. I discovered how I can decorate with my American patriotic picture and chapter books, and not have them in the way. See over here! So fun!
Wednesday night I babysat my grandsons and read aloud to them this book below. My daughter is taking a childbirth class with her husband in preparation for the birth of Grandbaby #4. So I get to babysit every Wednesday night. (It almost seems like yesterday when my mom babysat my oldest for DH and me when we attended our Bradley childbirth class when I was pregnant with the same daughter. Almost.)
They are 4 and 6 years old so I condensed some of the words. After it was over, the oldest one said, “That was a fun book!” That just warmed my homeschooling mom/book-loving heart. I showed them pictures on my phone of Mt. Vernon, Washington’s home (mentioned in the book), from my “National Treasure” tour 6 years ago.
On Thursday I met up with my sister, Emily, and her family, visiting from Maine, at BYU. We got to tour BYU with each of our sons. This is probably our third tour of BYU together. Maybe our boys will end up being roommates at BYU in just over two years. Our first tour together was 8 years ago, over here.
Then I went to the parade for the Freedom Festival on Friday Independence Day. I helped pass out flyers educating about the dangers of having an Article V Constitutional Convention. At the parade, I saw some young men decked out in patriotic garb. I loved seeing the cape with the Ten Commandments.
As this screenshot from the video above shows, happiness, according to secular philosophers and religious authorities, comes from virtue. Following any of the major religions involves cultivating virtue. For Christians, that means following the Ten Commandments.
Here’s the video with a guy from Hillsdale College explaining the Declaration of Independence.
More shots of the parade below.
I just love it when people dress up in red, white, and blues, as shown above and below.
After the parade, my youngest and I headed up halfway up a mountain to my parents’ cabin, to have a mini-reunion and dinner with extended family, including the sister visiting from Maine. The blue skies were gorgeous! For various reasons, my husband, daughter and college son didn’t come.
It was fun to see my grandsons playing with their second cousins, grandchildren of one of my brothers. It thrilled my board-game loving heart to see them playing Kingdomino, above. Then it thrilled my crunchy mom heart to see them playing outside in the dirt with rocks and leaves. Who needs the shiny plastic toys inside, after tiring of board games?
The whole group of us with so many great-grandchildren (12 out of the 13), including two tiny babies, was loud! It’s been a while since so many of us have been there at once. My brother took a family photo of the whole group with his drone, above.
We had a grand time visiting and eating. It’s so wonderful to have times when we can hang out together. The sunset that night was so beautiful, as seen from the front balcony of the cabin.
Emily and I played the Jane Game that night. She won! I am a bit rusty on my knowledge of the Jane books. I still thoroughly enjoyed it. It’s elegant and fun.
Photo Credit:boardgamegeek.com
Some of us went home that night, then others of us spent the night at the cabin and went home the next day after packing and cleaning. I stopped off at a thrift store on the way home (of course, after all, it was on the way, and I’m looking for jeans for my husband) and found the following goodies, but alas, no jeans. I had just been telling my sister and married daughter at the cabin that I was on the lookout for Anne of the Island, which is #3 in the Anne of Green Gables series. My sister said maybe she had it. My daughter said she remembers it missing when she was a teen, reading through my set. Guess what? I found it! The same edition, with the swooping 1980s font of the title!
I also found another beautiful Christmas picture book, telling the story of luminarias used for Christmas. I was thrilled to find those, plus Bowling Alone and Religions of the World by Spencer Palmer and Roger Keller, two BYU professors. They wonderfully explain different religions of the world. You can read it here. Bowling Alone I wished I had had last winter when my college-attending daughter had a research project. That book would have totally helped. I wanted to borrow it from the library but all the copies were out. Now I have it!
Photo Credit: boardgamegeek.com
After coming home and unpacking, we met up with Emily again and my mom at my parents’ home, to play Gardening Scrabble. I had wanted to play it at the cabin but we ran out of time. My sister became enamored with it as much as I am. (I talked about it here in my post about my favorite thrifted items. Yes I found this game thrifting! Who would give it away?! Blessed me!) The photo below shows how far we got before my BYU-attending son showed up with two of his cousins to visit with us, plus the husband of one of the cousins. We sat outside on the lawn with Grandpa and Grandma to catch up on the lives of these young adults. Then sister Emily brought out sparklers when it got dark. We never did finish the game. Emily agreed we’d play it again the next night after our last extended family dinner together.
The next day my nephew and his wife had their baby blessed at their church. While preparing for the celebration dinner, my oldest who has just moved to Ireland, and his wife, called me to touch base. It was great to hear from him and his wife and find out what it’s like living there. I hope to visit them in the next few years! Then we had another big family dinner at my brother’s place since nephew’s home is small. It almost felt like the old days, when most of us all lived in Utah, and would gather at brother’s home when all the grandchildren were still in the respective nests. It’s so amazing that a new generation, of great-grandchildren, comprises the “little kids” running around, as the grandchildren are now having babies. We topped the evening off with Emily and I playing a new game of GS. This time we also had playing my married daughter and her cousin, another cousin and his wife, both sets as teams, against Emily and me, who weren’t on a team. This game is so fun! With the special seed packet powers, the game is a lot more fun than regular Scrabble. One team scored 84 points in one turn with using only one tile! All because of a special power from a seed packet card. So fun! Then it was time to go home. Sleep felt so good after such a jam-packed family, holiday weekend.
God bless America! Here’s another great patriotic story!
I finally got my Independence Day decorations up! All of these decorations that you see in these photos were either bought from thrift stores, inexpensively from a big box store, or DIYed. So I found them all easily on a budget.
Here all my tips for decorating inexpensively.
Go to Hobby Lobby. It usually has decorations for the the next holiday coming up for 40-60% off. I got the flag buntings shown below from there. The photo shows two hanging together, not extended out all the way. Last year I had them extended to each form a half circle and put them outside, under my two front windows, attached to window planter boxes. This year I just wasn’t willing to do all that work so thus I compromised by putting them up inside since that took a lot less work. I didn’t have to stand behind bushes and get prickled to get them attached.
2. Decorate with books! I’m blessed to have ledges above my windows and doors that have grooves. I think they were originally designed for displaying decorative plates. I’m not sure, but I have a vague memory of hearing about that somewhere sometime. I attempted to put a Pioneer Woman platter on one of the ledges but it wouldn’t fit. But I just discovered last night that my books do! Hooray!
When you go thrifting all year round, keep your eyes open for holiday-themed picture books and chapter books. Half of the books in these photos I have found at thrift stores. The others I got from the public library’s used books sales, or I bought full price (gasp– yes I do pay full price sometimes, for homeschooling). I’m excited to switch my books out for every season and holiday. I used to attempt to fit them all on the top of the small bookcase below but now I can spread them around the room above the windows and doorways even!
3. Get banners from Jennifer Flanders of flandersfamily.info here. You can print them at home using cardstock and then tape each piece onto a long piece of string or yarn. I just love the colors and prints she uses with the pennant squares. They just look so crisp and festive! You could also print them at a public library that has computers and printers for public use and Internet access.
4. Make red, and white blue garlands with my post here.
5. Walmart, Target, and Dollar Tree sometimes have decorations that are inexpensive, yet look nice, not cheap and junky. The firework centerpieces above were from Dollar Tree years ago.
6. Use string lights. You can find these at amazon or Hobby Lobby. I love the ones in the shapes of stars.
7. Use paint safe tape or command hooks to hang stuff. I use paint safe Scotch tape from amazon and green frog tape, which is also paint safe. I use the green tape behind stuff so you can’t see it. The Scotch tape is transparent so it’s OK if it’s showing.
8. Watch the video from Teresa Elling below for more tips! You don’t have to have a porch to use her ideas. It shows an easy way to sew a pennant banner. “Sew” pretty!
Happy Independence Day! Go here for more patriotic resources.
I’ve been so blessed in the past 6 months to find some books to add to my library for being a Momeopath (trademark of Paola Brown) . These are books about my favorite healing modality, homeopathy.
A few years ago, after I did an intro to homeopathy class with some girlfriends, I started reading a ton about homeopathy. I found the above book at my local public library. I enjoyed reading it but felt like I had just scratched the surface. It had so much for me to learn. I reluctantly returned it.
Imagine my surprise and thrill when I found a copy of it last week! At the Springville UT DI! For only $1.50. It had been mistakenly shelved in the children’s section. Probably because it looks like other Dorling Kindersley (DK) books. (So there’s a tip for you when thrifting for books, always check the children’s section. I have found some gems actually written for adults there, including more than one Susan Branch cookbook.)
This book is so gorgeous! In true DK fashion, it has full color photos and clear text. The photos and text feature the plants, minerals, and animals that homeopathy medicine comes from. The book explains homeopathy in simple terms, plus has recommendations for basic ailments, and questionnaires to help one find one’s constitutional homeopathic medicine.
It’s such a great follow-up to finding the Organon of Medicine by the founder of homeopathy himself, Samuel Hahnemann. Only $2.49 at the Orem UT Savers! I found that book last January. It’s dense thinking. I read a little bit every so often and then chew on the thoughts. You can read it for free online but I prefer having a hard copy so I’m so grateful I found this. Yay!!! Three cheers for thrifting and homeopathy! Sextuple cheers when two of my passions collide!
If you want to know more about homeopathy, you can go here and read more, including my healing stories using it. I’ve been so blessed by it. It’s amazing!
Then watch the video below to learn from a homeopathy guru, author and mom of 11, Sue Meyer, for an introduction on homeopathy.
Also, go here and get a free ebook on homeopathy for acute care, from a professional homeopath, Priscilla Medders.
Homeopathy is the best, cheapest, and most effective healing modality. It is the medicine of a crunchy mother’s dreams. Nontoxic, cheap, and so effective!
If you want even more about homeopathy, check out Paola Brown’s website here. She has a storybook about homeopathy, which you can use with her homeschooling curriculum and her moms’ book club.
Tree of Life Mothering 