So last week for our date night I found this obscure documentary. It reminded me of the one we watched years ago that I reviewed here.
It’s called Virgin Tales. Here’s a trailer for it. We watched it in Kanopy, a website our local public library gives us access to as part of our library privileges.
Then I find a related video in YouTube, below, that features the same people, husband and wife Randy and Lisa Wilson, with their seven children.
It’s worth watching and discussing with your older children who are of dating age.
As I’ve dived more and more into homeopathy (HP) I’ve learned more and more amazing things! I consider Paola Brown one of my homeopathy mentors. I watched the Instagram video she did to take a tour of her new Family Homeopathy Journal. You can watch it here. She has this great tip at the end: take pictures of remedies at your local health food store or wherever you buy your HP remedies. That way you know what they have when you’re not there and you know which store to go to when you need that remedy. Thanks for the tip Paola! My copy of the Family Journal arrived over the weekend. It’s so beautiful! I can’t wait to share a review of it soon! Stay tuned for that!
So I just found out about this amazing woman Peggy Hall. She is a breath of fresh air during this interesting time. Her site is thehealthyamerican.org. It’s all about “breathing life back into liberty.”
Here’s more about her, from her website, “Peggy is the former Director of Teacher Education at the University of California, Irvine and has been an educator for 30+ years. She has a bachelor’s degree in Political Science, a Master’s Degree in International Relations, and has years of experience as a health educator and community activist.Through her inspiring educational videos, hours of legal research, and online and in-person programs to keep businesses open, to help parents get their kids out of government schools, and to help Americans protect their medical rights, Peggy empowers patriots all across the country to take action to make ‘positive waves of change’ as we fight back this growing tidal wave of tyranny.”
I only wish I had found out about her sooner! Watch her video below about getting a religious exemption badge for entry into shops, banks, and other retail places without a mask. I know some places don’t require masks anymore, but for those that do, use this. Then the other video is about HIPPA rights and privacy. Go Peggy! She’s a modern day Patrick Henry.
It was two years ago on this very day that I got to tour Washington D.C. with a group of homeschooling friends. We had arrived in Philadelphia the day before and drove that evening to get to a hotel in Maryland so we could see the D.C. sites the next two days. Oh what an amazing, wondrous trip! You can read more about the trip here, but I still have a lot to say about it. How can you pack such a splendid trip into so few words? For the rest of my life I will look back on this trip with such fondness.
I saw plenty of things I had planned on seeing on this whirlwind trip, like the Liberty Bell, some of the Smithsonian museum (no Mr. Roger’s sweater, however, sob!) and the White House. I saw some fabulous things I didn’t even know existed, like the cathedral by Valley Forge PA dedicated to George Washington (pictured at the very top, more on that later), but the most amazing experience was feeling the Holy Spirit witness to me that God helped raise up the United States to become a nation with religious liberties so that His gospel could be restored. I saw many evidences of the Founding Fathers belief in God in art, text, and architecture. I heard and read stories of God helping them, such as the miracles involved with the battle of Yorktown. More on that later. Please watch these videos below to hear Tim Ballard talk about God’s hand in history, as told in his books regarding the American Covenant.
I’m going to share some fun pictures this coming week just to celebrate this fabulous trip I took and to share some little-known things I saw and heard.
It was a group of 24 people: 6 women, 1 man, and 17 youth. For Day #1, we had a lot of transportation to tackle. I had to wake up at 3 AM to get to Tucson by 5:30 so I could leave with my friends to the airport in Phoenix to make our 9 AM flight. We then flew from Phoenix to Philadelphia. Once we got to Philly we faced a drive using rental cars to our lodging for the next two days in Silver Springs MD., a suburb of D.C.
The flight was about 5 hours. Reading time! There’s nothing like having such a lovely large chunk of time to read. So precious. My choices: Timothy Ballard’s book, The American Covenant, in print form. Then I listened to the book in Audible, A Man Called Peter, by Catherine Marshall.
So by the time I landed I felt thoroughly inspired by Christianity and its relations to this nation’s founding, as well as stories of people living and leading in D.C. Ballard’s book is so full of fascinating details about the connections between ancient Israel, Masonry, Christianity, and the Founding Fathers, especially George Washington.
Marshall’s book is the story of her husband, Peter Marshall. He was born in Scotland and had a narrow brush with death. He felt God called him to serve him as a minister. He came to America and eventually became the chaplain for the U.S. Senate. Before that he served as the pastor of the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church in Washington D.C. It was just great to listen to the story and think, wow, in just one day I’ll be walking around that same city as Peter and Catherine did, over 60 years ago.
I always love to spend late spring and early summertime reading patriotic books. Something about late May and June turns me to that. Maybe it is the echoes of the Constitutional Convention that assembled in May 1787 in Philadelphia that travels across time to me during this season and pulls me to read about the participants.
For my daughter’s birthday dinner party I made the “Sesame Chicken Fix” recipe on p. 118 of the relatively new Trim Healthy Future book, with some adaptations.
It was yummy but I decided to change it up. First, I wanted to make it orange-y chicken. Second, I’d rather eat chicken with bone in it to add the healthful glycine factor from the bone and the collagen from the skin. Third, I want to avoid having to tediously chop up chicken breasts. Fourth, I’d rather dump and cook then have to be over the stove, stirring and constantly checking to see when the chicken is done. More tediousness. Lastly, I want it slightly crispy at the end.
So I have adapted the recipe and here you go!
8-12 chicken drumsticks or thighs
1 cup water
1/2 tsp mineral salt
1/4 c soy sauce
1 T apple cider vinegar
2 T plus 1 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
1 tsp powdered ginger
10-20 drops orange essential oil
zest of two oranges
chopped green onions for topping
Put all of the above in an instant pot and cook on high pressure for 20 minutes.
While the chicken is cooking, thinly slice up a head of cabbage (have one of your kiddos do that) and saute a handful or two, per person eating it, in 1-2 T of butter on low, after you sprinkle the cabbage with salt and black pepper. (Save the rest of the cabbage for later to eat whenever you want a non-starchy substitute for rice or pasta.)
Then cut up green onions and toast some sesame seeds on low dry heat if you want some crunch to top your chicken with.
If you have people eating with you who don’t care about keto then cook up rice for them.
Let the steam release naturally if you have time, otherwise, release it manually. While it’s releasing, preheat oven to broil at 375. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and put chicken pieces on it, then place under the broiler for 5 minutes or until crispy golden brown.
While the chicken is broiling, add these ingredients to the liquid left in the instant pot, after you turn the setting to “saute,” to make the orange sauce:
1 tsp to 1 T sesame oil, to your liking
2 T Lakanto monk fruit sweetener blend
after the liquid boils, add 1 T glucomannan powder while whisking briskly to avoid clumping. Turn off the Instant Pot. Serve the sauce in a bowl to put over chicken, rice, or veggies.
Kevin Gutzman wrote the book above, and his friend Tom Woods appears in the cartoon below. Learn why it’s so important to know the Constitution, even if the constitution is politically incorrect.
I’ve blogged about Tom Woods before. I find him a reliable source for a Tree of Life Mama’s need to know politics and current events, in order to defend liberty. He and his friend, Michael Malice, have started a series of cartoons, with the Capital Research Center. Enjoy these with your friends and family! Michael and Tom once had a huge public debate over Alexander Hamilton. You can watch that here.
This is the latest book in the Trim Healthy Mama (THM) series of diet/cookbooks. If you are into the Trim Healthy Mama Diet plan (go here to see how I tweaked it to make it work for me), you will love it.
It’s written mostly by Rashida Simpson. She’s the niece of Serene and Pearl, the founders of THM. Serene and Pearl have each contributed about 12 recipes. Rashida wrote the rest.
What’s different about this book?
It has a bunch of fun new recipes for, especially appealing for children, like:
-gummy worms
-chocolate-y popcorn (Michelin Star Popcorn)
-crispy, cheesy chicken drumsticks
-peanut butter cookie dough bites
-southern “fried” chicken
-mac and cheese cups
-cherry jello
It has over 200 recipes for whatever your eating need is: breakfasts, lunches, salads, dinners including soups, oven meals and skillet meals, snacks, candies, cookies, desserts. It even has a section of dinner recipes that can be fixed in 5 minutes or less.
Another new feature that’s not in the older books is a section for recipes using an air fryer, like an air-fried apple, sweet potato cinnamon fries, golden French fries, and a crispy sandwich. Yep, golden French fries, using real potatoes! Potatoes aren’t in the other books. In this one, Serene and Pearl explain why they have accepted golden yellow potatoes as “legal” for the THM plan.
I’m pleased to see that finally, we have an official THM book recipe of blueberry crumble, apple crumble, and mashed potatoes and gravy. A faux apple crumble, using zucchini, was in the first book but I could never get it to taste right.
I give it 5 out of 5 stars! These recipes are yummy and totally doable! Rashida is a mom of three little ones ages 5 and under, so if she has time to make them, you do too!
The section for drinks that all have bird names is so fun! Don’t you just want to drink something called “Parrot Punch” or “Flying Flamingo”? In addition, there’s a whole section of new smoothie and shake recipes, like Pumpkin Shake and Kiwi Strawberry Smoothie.
Please comment below as to why you want to win the book. Winner will be announced on Monday November 15, 2021 around 8 PM MST.
If you’ve always wondered how homeopathy works, this is the club for you! If you aspire to be a Dr. Mom this is the book club for you! If you’ve made friends with essential oils and herbs, homeopathy is the next friend for you to meet and love! If you want something that gives a break for you from your regular duties, and intellectually stimulates you, with estrogen bonding, this is the Girls’ Night out for you!
Please comment below with a reason of why you would like to learn more about homeopathy. Drawing will take place Wednesday May 19 at 6 PM MDT. Winner is responsible for buying the Book Club materials, as listed here (the book Evie and the Secret of Small Things, plus the Book Club Handbook. The Family Homeopathy Journal is a nice-to-have bonus, not needed for the class but infinitely handy.)
We played this for last family game night. Looking at the instructions was daunting at first. It reminded of the line from the documentary Gamemaster, which is something like, “The most exciting moment for a gameplayer is opening the box for the first time. The most boring moment is reading the instructions.” LOL! So true! How did they know?! Fortunately I have a teen who has a gift for reading what looks complicated and explaining it in simple terms. I call her my attorney in training. I had come home after a long day being out and felt exhausted. I wasn’t sure if I was up to playing it, but I had been planning on playing it all week and wanted to push through initial inertia. It was like having planned a hike for over a week, and then in the moment, not wanting to do it. But then after playing the game, it was like achieving the summit. I felt full of delight and victory!
Here’s why I love this game:
It involves strategy, including looking ahead and constantly asking oneself, “What’s the goal and what’s my best next move?”
It teaches some basic science. The trees that are in the sunlight get you “light points” to remind/teach you that trees use light to make food and grow.
It teaches logic. You have to constantly apply rules to know how much light points you get and how much you can buy.
It’s fun! It’s really fun to rotate the “sun segment” and see how the changing of the sun’s position, and the position of the trees (whether or not they are standing next to taller trees) affects how much light they get. After you rotate the sun segment, you collect your light points after counting up how much you get, based on where your trees are. That part is super fun. Then it’s fun to figure out how to spend your light points: on a seed, or a tree from the nursery to put in your available space, and which size tree, based on what sizes of tree you already have, or harvesting a full-grown tree. The trees that grow in the middle of the forest grow in better quality soil so get you more victory points when harvested. The player with the most points wins.
It’s fun to switch out the trees and see the progress of your forest growing. The cardboard is super thick and durable.
I like that it has three rounds, just like in Wingspan, so when you play, you can see the end in sight. It’s not like other games where you sit down and you start to feel anxiety because you don’t know how long it’s going to last and where your exit is. I do like playing tabletop games but I also like to know they aren’t going to drag on for hours and hours. (Risk and Catan I’m looking at you!)
It would be so fun to pair this book up with a book on trees and photosynthesis, like the one below, for gameschooling, #abookandagameaday.
The video below explains briefly how to play it. We usually watch one of these whenever we play a game for the first time. It helps reduce the initial eye glaze and brain fog.
Want more gameschooling ideas, including a free PDF on how to build a board game collection inexpensively? Go here.
Want tons of tips on how to make a board game culture in your family? Read this book, over here, and scroll to the bottom of the page, to access a free digital copy of The Board Game Family, by Ellie Dix.
Tree of Life Mothering 