2015 Goals

I can't believe I haven't posted my goal list for this year!  Been very busy in so many areas of our families lives this just slipped away from me.

I choose less goals this year and I also choose a phrase to go with my year.  Last year my word was Flow and I think I did a pretty good job at getting a better flow to my life.  This year I want that flow to continue and help bring everything "together"

Here they are:


2015 WORD
- "Coming Together"

PLACES TO GO AND SEE
- Go to sony wonder lab in NYC

HOME AND FINANCE
- Continue to save for move to NC
- Front door and trim
- Fix sidewalk
- Curb appeal for the house

LOVING MYSELF
- Lose 50 lbs by year end
- Hula hoop 3x a week 15 mins on own
- Clean up more of our eating
- Mediate at least 2-3 days a week
- Workout at PF at least 3x a week

PERSONAL AND ARTISTIC EXPRESSION
- Learn photoshop
- Blog once a week
- Crochet for etsy shop
- Get more items into etsy BeachBumminGirls shop
- Learn jewelry making

I joined a gym!

If you know me, you know I hate working out in front of people.  I like more one on one so I can be coached and have someone to talk to.  I hate being in my own head.

When I got the flier in the mail that a Planet Fitness was opening up near me, I kept it.  I kept looking at it trying to decide what I wanted to do.  Do I join, do I get the regular membership or do I get the black card or do I just not join.  I would tell some family and friends how nervous I was to join, was scared what it would be like, if I could do the workouts and I didn't want to waste the money if I hated it and just didn't go.

I even stopped by the pre-registration trailer and talked to the manager about the equipment, the type of gym it is and what it has to offer.  I didn't sign up that day.  I thought about it more.  I joined a gym once back in 2003/2004 and the equipment just didn't fit this 4'11" person.  I had to use pillows they had to push me forward on some of the machines or lift me up on other, this was cumbersome to me.  I didn't want this again.

About a week later I decided to just bite the bullet and just join.  I went to the pre-registration trailer again and as I was walking in the manager was walking out and he remembered me, points earned there.  I signed up.  Then I had to wait about 2 weeks till it opened.  So I kept worrying did I make the right decision, am I going to hate this decision.  My neighbor also joined which really helped!

It's been about a month since Planet Fitness has opened and needless to say I LOVE IT!  The people are all very nice, members are nice, and the gym is nice, new and clean.  And the one thing I worried about with the machines not fitting me was just that a worry.  They adjust so easy and no pillows!

This was definitely a GREAT decision

Grades

There are many reasons schools use a grading system.  Some reasons are to give students feedback about their progress and achievement, for administrative purposes, to give guidance to students about future coursework, to provide instructional planning for teachers, and last but not least to motivate students.  

When I was in school I was not a great student and grades never really motivated me much.  With my own homeschool I took a stance of  anti grade and anti testing for a long time.  I preferred to teach mastery of the subject then give them a grade.   Last fall I decided to test C to see where she was level wise in math and reading/comprehension.  She took the test and really enjoyed seeing where she was and what she needed to do to advance to the next level.  

Over the year we worked on her math skills and her reading/comprehension skills.  In July she did the year end test to see how she advanced over the year.  She loved seeing how much she grew in each level and also where she still needed to work harder in.  This was a turning point for me.  

Over the summer we discussed different ways we can show this progress throughout the year.  I reluctantly said I could grade your work.  This makes more work on my end and I have to stay on top of the grading so they can see progress each week.  

We just completed our first week of lessons and I have kept up on the grading which is a huge plus for me.  The girls do really enjoy seeing those A's and B's and if they get a C say they will try harder. 

I use an online program for our lesson plans called Homeschool Minder love this program.  This is how I will be tracking their grades and creating transcripts for them.  I will have to get a better system to add assignments.  Instead of say read chapters 4-8 and do the quiz.  I will have to input two different lessons one for the reading and one for the quiz.  This is all a new learning curve for me.  I can see a lot of good this will do.  

For our family grades will be used as a tool for motivation.  

Why we homeschool?

This is a good question.  We get asked this from time to time and most of the time my response is WE LOVE IT, it works for our family.  I'll sometimes say where we used to live the school district wasn't the greatest and I had several friends already homeschooling.  I did my research, shared it with hubby and we decided to try it.  And 13 years later here we are still love it and growing and rolling with it.  Changing what needs to change and keeping what needs to be kept.

We homeschool for the flexibility, the fun of learning, we can be eclectic in our style of learning.  It's really hard to pinpoint just one reason.  I love watching my kids learn and when I don't think they are getting it they surprise me with something and I do that  - hmmm I guess they do get it - WOOHOO moments.  Chalk one up for mom.  : )

We don't homeschool for religious reason at all.  This was never our intent.  This is the other question we are asked often.  Many people still believe people who homeschool, homeschool for religious reasons.  Back in the early years that was the biggest reason.  Nowadays one could homeschool for many reasons - not happy with the school system, kids are being bullied, wanting to give their kids a much rounder education and many many more reasons.  Our goal is to raise free-thinking, loving, compassionate, and happy children that take these things with them as they grow into adults and become free-thinking, loving, compassionate and happy adults.

Our typical day is lessons in the morning and many are computer based, then we try to have activities in the afternoon out of the house.  Friends hanging out, field trips, beach days, art classes, acting, hula hooping.  We keep pretty busy.  They also take online courses and we belong to a local co-op that meets once a week.  We also love our down days just sitting around the house doing whatever.

The learning opportunities are endless, are amazing and the family time is priceless.  That is why we homeschool.

2013 Goals in Review

2013 was a crazy year with lots of ups and downs that kept us on our toes.  I tried to stay focused on my goals during all this.  It was a pretty fun year with lots of memories made.


2013 goal list

PLACES TO GO AND SEE
- 1. American girl store
- 2. Tougas Family Farm to see pumpkin tree - FALL TIME http://www.tougasfarm.com/
- 3. Gertrude Chandler Warner Museum in Putnam, Connecticut. sometime after May
- 4. Beardsley Zoological Gardens, flower gardens
- 5. Osborne Homestead Museum. 500 Hawthorne Avenue. 203-734-2513. - flower gardens
x 6. Pick 3 towns to explore in CT
- 7. Indian museum http://www.iaismuseum.org/
- 8. Statue of liberty
- 9.. Pardee Rose Garden. East Rock Park, 180 Park Road. 203-946-8142. www.cityofnewhaven.com/Parks
x 10. Dinosaur state park
- 11. A play in NYC
- 12. Go to a hockey game
x 13. be at a beach at sunset
- 14. Boat ride on the CT river
x 15. spend more time outside
x 16. find a new park to go hiking at
- 17. block island
x 18. go to haunted sites and learn the history
- 19. stand at the today show
x 20. go bowling
x 21. more time at the beach on nice days
- 22. Kite flying
- 23. Thimble islands
- 24. Go to a roller derby
- 25. Pez
- 26. Go to sonywondertechlab.com NYC
- 27. Http://www.yelp.com/biz/pasquale-pizza-milford
- 28. Http://elizabethparkct.org/
HOME
- 1. Paint my living room
- 2. Learn more about rocks and minerals
- 3. Paint my kitchen
x 4. organizing my crafting supplies
x 5. create a new home for our lighthouse collection
x 6. backsplash in kitchen. - decided against it
x 7. rearrange living room
LOVING MYSELF
x 1. start jogging on my treadmill STARTED DOING TONING AND HULA HOOP
x 2. do more dance games with kinect
x 3. Tone up my body and make it strong
- 4. learn line dancing
x 5. learn about making my own essential blends, bath stuff etc.
x 6. get better at wall pushups
x 7. learn some new hula hoop tricks
x 8. get better at sit ups
- 9. Learn about chakras
PERSONAL AND ARTISTIC EXPRESSION
x 1. try a new recipe 2x a month if not more.
- 2. Start a gratitude journal
x 3. find comfy nice shoes to wear
- 4. use the great courses cooking video to learn to cook better
- 5. Put all videos from camera into a movie
- 6. learn to play my didgeradoo
x 7. Learning power point
- 8. make a christmas card list address book
- 9. Get passports
x 10. read 39 books in 2013 (13x3)
x 11. create in my art journal
x 12. create in my goddess journal
- 13. learn jewelry making
- 14 Learn to crochet valences with this flower http://onceuponapinkmoon.blogspot.com/2012/07/put-hook-down.html#
x 15. Infinity scarf
x 16. learn to press flowers
x 17. Learn some new crochet patterns
- 18. Write more poetry and haiku's
x 19. knit some scarves to sell on etsy
- 20. learn needle felting
x 21. Pay down bills
x 22. learn to crochet
- 23. Great courses meditation
- 24. Great courses healthy eating
- 25. Great courses photography
HIGHLIGHT OF THINGS THAT JUST HAPPENED
x Trip to NC/GA
x Learned to crochet water bottle holder, fingerless gloves and barefoot sandles
x Maritime Aquarium
x Rock and mineral show
x Mystic seaport
x Dinosaur park
x Ren fest in MD
x Walked in seymour parade

My weight loss journey

I think a picture can sum up how i feel the most.  I love the 5:2 way of eating and love that i'm starting to love how exercise makes my body feel and look.  

Update on the 5:2 way of eating

A quick update on my 5:2 way of eating.  I love it!  I'm down 15 pounds.  Some fast days are harder than others but all in all it's pretty easy.  I have more energy which is a big plus and overall I seem much happier.

On my fast days I'm averaging about 600-700 calories which is not to bad.  I'm sure if I could get it under 500 I'd be losing faster but this is fine for me.  I also eat less on feast days and I'm learning the difference from being hungry and bored eating which = a healthier relationship with my food.

Things I'm noticing:  my arms are closer to my body, going up the stairs is getting easier, my back is hurting less (could also be the stretching i'm doing), I had this big fat poof on my neck and even though it's still there it's getting smaller and softer and less defined (hubby's words) and last time I measured I had lost 1.75 inches.  I will measure again at the end of this month.

Next post I will post a comparison photo.

Vacation

I'm not the most organized at blogging, but I have all good intentions to do so.  I wanted to do a blog about our vacation that was in September we are now in November.  

We went down south for my nieces wedding.  We made a pitstop in MD to see family and friends.  I had one niece there and shortly before heading out for vacation another niece moved down.  We went to NC and GA and the girls and I are so ready to move south!  They are thinking college down there.  

Some pictures of the trip.  

 We got to go to the MD renfest, haven't been in years

 and we got to see the dualing fools!  I laugh so hard my face hurts.  

 Admiring I believe the south river in MD

 Wilmington NC THE BEACH!!!

 They enjoyed the waves and had such a blast

 The bride and her brother (my niece and nephew)

 Got to have breakfast with two of my nieces, my nephew in law and my great nephew

 GA

 Had dinner at the pirate house before going on our ghost trolley tour

 Saw some old friends who took us out on their boat.  

 We had such a wonderful trip and can't wait to go back south again!  My best guess 2015!  I hope!

5:2 diet or the Fast Diet

I'm really really overweight/very obese and I have been trying to lose weight for a long time.  I've tried many different things like Weight Watchers, Atkins, a low carb/high protein, eating less processed and more from the earth many many things.  I would exercise 5x a week, I've counted calories - nothing would really work.  Actually when I was counting calories I actually gained more weight.  I do have hashimotos thyroid which has led me to being hypothyroid just add that to the struggle of losing weight.

So a few weeks ago I saw my doctor and she's like Micki you really need to get this weight off.  (she is a really sweet caring doctor).  She then told me she herself tried this diet called The Fast Diet or also known as the 5:2 diet (fast 2 days and eat normal the other 5 days).  She said look into it and give it a try.  She said she tried it and it was doable and she lost what she wanted to lose.

I came home started googling and looking into the diet.  The one thing I was worried about the most was the blood sugar crashes I get when I don't eat regularly.  I went and looked for some support groups on facebook and found a couple and joined.  I asked some questions like the blood sugar question and everyone said it wasn't that bad and to just try it.  I also talked with a friend of mine about it and she also said she would try it with me and my husband said he'd do it too!!!

I sat down and logged into Sparkpeople and started planning out my food for the fast days.  Plugged in my recipes to the recipe calculator which let me know how much calories were in a serving of food.  I made sure I had my calories balanced and made sure my meals were filled with fiber and protein.  I was all set for my first fast day.


Tuesday came and I drank a lot of water and tea and kept busy till I could eat around 11/noontime.  That first bite of my western omelet was amazing.  I could taste all the flavors in it and it was so satisfying.  That first meal of the fast was to change how I looked at food.  I promptly emailed my friend who is doing the WOE (way of eating) with me and she also experienced food tasting better.  The afternoon passed, I stayed busy drank lots of water and tea and about 3pm i started to feel a little shaky and light headed.  My friend reminded me to eat a pickle so I did and it really helped. Something about pickles that help with hunger, probably something in the pickling is my best guess.  I also had a couple stalks of celery a little later and with those two things I made it to dinner.  Dinner was also very tasty!  All of my meals have tasted better since starting 5:2 WOE.

I know there is a lot of science behind the idea of this diet/WOE and some of it has to do with we never let our bodies feed off our reserves because we are constantly eating.  Since we are constantly eating our bodies just keep packing the food away around our middles for later use.  I'm not a scientist, my mind does not think like one so my explanation was in the best terms I could do.

Some things I have learned from just the two weeks doing this WOE are:
1.  Food tastes better
2.  I don't need as much food as I think I do
3.  It's OK to be hungry it's burning the fat
4.  I have MORE energy!!!  Something I thought I would never have again cause of my low thyroid.
5.  It's not as hard as you think to do this.
6.  It can help correct blood sugars.  From talking with others on the support group that were diabetic this WOE helped reverse it.

Fast forward to today I am 8.2 lbs lighter!!!!!

Do I think I could do the fasts weekly for the rest of my life?  Yes I do!

Do take a look into this, give it a try you might be surprised at what starts happening outside and inside your body and mind.  I've never been for extreme anything I don't feel this is extreme at all and I don't feel deprived.  In my doctor's words "It's doable".

Coming together - the school year

So the other day I was stressing over how I will get the girls lessons going this coming fall.  Since we all haven't been feeling 100% this past week.  Since my stress blog, I took some time to do some research.  I googled and looked on pinterest (my addiction) for ideas.  I don't quite have a system in place for this fall and the girls weren't all to fond of last years system.  I'm patiently waiting the program my husband is creating me and as he puts it I've asked for the world.  I need the program to be versatile as we are not just one style of homeschooling.  We are pretty eclectic.  We do book work, computer lessons, we will also be in a co-op 1 day a week this year.  We will  also go on field trips and having life lessons and fun.  I need a program to document all of this and do more.  Nothing on the market is just perfect I've tried a few.  Having hubby create it if it's just not perfect he can redesign it for me or add what I need (got to love having a programmer in teh family).  With that said I need a temporary system till he's done.

I think we will go back to using the calendar system till my program is complete and just hand writing all the lessons in and keeping track of what life lessons we encounter.  This system worked but was very time consuming.  I prefer to type than hand write.

I spent a few hours yesterday really learning how to use Discovery Education http://www.discoveryeducation.com/ .  We have used this program for the past 6 years at least and I was not using this website to its full potential.  I deleted my complicated system and started working on how the website is meant to work and I'm still learning all the features and they have added a lot since we first started using Discovery Education.  If you are interested in signing up for Discovery Education, Homeschoolers buyers co-op is having an amazing sale on it.  If enough people sign up we can get it as low as $99.00.  I usually pay $199 a year for this.  https://www.homeschoolbuyersco-op.org/discovery-education-streaming-plus/?c=1 and it's currently at $187.

The next thing I spent time on was Khan academy https://www.khanacademy.org/.  This site is free and is amazing.  They have so much to offer but I was so lost using it.  I finally found how I can see what my kids have done and if they completed it, struggled with it or excelled at it.  This will be helpful.  I now feel confident that Khan academy will help them get the math concepts they have been struggling with.

We will also be using spellingcity this year.  I've tried in the past to use it but never took the time to really grasp what they have to offer.  I'd get frustrated and try something else which also failed.  This time I took more time (maybe the thyroid brain isn't as foggy either lately) and I have it figured out and we will use it again.  The girls have enjoyed it in the past, I was the one struggling with it.

We may also do one or two live classes on currclick.com or this year we might just take a break.  We'll see what they want to do.

Those are a few things I have managed to get figured out for the fall.  I still need to create a reading list, learn how to use The Happy Scientist website, work on history and their writing lessons, as well as their interest led learning and I'm sure other things as the year goes on.  But this is a good start and stuff the girls really want to do.

4-H Fair 2013

Have you heard of 4-H?  I know a lot of people who have never heard of it.  Here is a definition:   A youth organization sponsored by the Department of Agriculture and offering instruction in agriculture and home economics.  The 4 H's mean Head, Heart, Health and Hands.  4-H has so much to offer kids from agriculture to sewing, to woodworking, to photography.. I think you get the idea.  Just about everything you can think of.  There is also public speaking and community service.  The friendships you create are amazing!  

Does that sound like fun?  It is!  I was in 4-H when I was younger for about 2 or 3 years.  I have some fond memories of the projects I worked on and the ribbons I won.  I wanted to give that to my girls.  We've been in 4-H now for the past 6 years and we all enjoy it.  

This past weekend was our counties fair.  Our county pairs up with another county and we put on a pretty nice fair.  

Both my girls were managers in the home arts barn, something they really enjoy.  I have watched both of them grow and mature into wonderful young girls and I have to say 4-H is part of that.  Kev and I help out in any way we can.  

The girls work all year long on projects and then put them in the fair to be judged.  The 4-H judges based on the danish system.  The judges do not judge one person’s work by comparing it to another’s, you are judged against yourself. The evaluation is made against a standard. A judge looks to see whether certain requirements are met.  

One project A wanted to do was a desk redo.  We looked around and finally found a desk that cost only $10 at our local Saver's store.  It was a nice sturdy desk.  She learned how to sand, spray paint, sand the spray paint down and spray again till it was smooth.  She also learned how decoupage scrapbook paper onto the desk to give it some pop.  That got her an outstanding exhibitor ribbon.  

Then she got an court of honor of a picture she took.  Between these two that got her into premier.  So then she got to go around and talk to the judges about her projects. 

In the end she got 4th place.  She really wanted 9th place cause she liked the color ribbon.  That's my girl in it for the fun of it not being competitive.

My oldest had a good year too, she didn't make court of honor this year but she is ok with that. She enjoyed making all her projects and learning some new skills in art and jewerly making.   At the fair she had fun teaching kids how to hula hoop and supporting her 'lil sis.  

See what your local 4-H has to offer your kids and family.  

The fall schedule ????

As i sit here at the computer trying to figure out the fall schedule, I sit and wonder how other families manage getting it all done.  Between the doctor appointments (I have some health issues) and kids doctor appointments, outside the home classes and activities, lessons to be done at home, special projects, and time to spend with friends.  There is really never enough time in the day, week or month.

I want the kids to have those meaningful friendships and I know they have several, but it gets really hard as the kids get older and interests go in different directions and time is even more limited.  I know at this age I was on the phone all the time, but seems not all their friends like to chat on the phone or have facetime or skype.  Some of our friends kids don't like classes or the classes we are taking are to far for some of our friends to join in.  Time gets limited and mom gets stressed trying to do it all.

Maybe in other states you have everything very close to you, but in CT not everything is close by.  We don't even know the homeschoolers in our own town.  I know there are a few but our families philosophies would not mesh up with the ones I have heard that live in the town I live in and it seems that even if you have a different political or religious view they don't have time for you.  It's really kinda of sad, people who should be accepting of others really are not. So we choose to drive and even that is getting harder for me to do.

Well most people would say why don't you just send your kids to school.  That really is not an option.  The education the girls are getting is so much more than they would ever get in school.  If you asked them if they ever wanted to go to school you would get a firm NOOOOOO!!  So don't even bother going there.

In the past I have tried to schedule home days.  That never really worked.  I try to take my kids to friends houses and I head back home to do things.  That also bugs me cause I would like to see my friends too.  I have asked in the past for them to join us in classes or other activities, but that hasn't really worked out.  So, now I'm sitting here figuring out what is important this year and what days we will be doing what.  How will I have time to exercise (I have a lot of weight I HAVE to lose for my health) and I always seem to get put on the backburner, how will I have time teach and have enough time to run to doctor appointments and also get the kids time to spend with their friends.

In a perfect world we'd all live close, all do classes and activities together.  Till then I have to figure out something that will work and make everyone happy including me.

Off to the land of google...

just testing

<a href="http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/9815723/?claim=cc6ndthfgfm">Follow my blog with Bloglovin</a>

Just testing to see if this works for blog lovin

Hula Hooping

Over the last year and half I have been learning to hula hoop.  I could hula hoop as a kid, but back then we never really tried tricks or anything.  We just stuck the hoop on and hooped around our waists.  When you hoop you can't help but smile big!

My teacher first had to teach me rhythm I had none, I still struggle with this.  Once I got  somewhat of a rhythm down I was able to at least hoop around my waist for more than 2 seconds.  lol.  I'm far from being like my teacher Jen, but omg I'm so much better than I was 1 1/2 years ago.  I can now move a little in my hoop, I'm starting to learn to hoop with my arms inside the hoop, I can do some of the basic things.  I love it!  Being inside that hoop you feel so free.

The other day I tried a smaller size hoop about the same weight as mine and shocked myself that I was able to hoop pretty well inside of it!  I'm getting stronger!!!

I have watched my shyest come out of her shell learning to hoop.  She loves to show people what she is working on and what she knows.  Both my girls hoop and started because I decided to try something different for fitness.  I know if I hooped more I'd be losing more weight, I have lost inches and I have toned up my sides.

So if you think you can't hoop, first of all yes you can.  You need the right size and weighted hoop, you can't just use the hoops from the stores they are to light and to small for us slower moving adults.  So next time you are at a festival or fair and see a hoop vendor ask to try to hoop.  Who cares what others think do it! DO IT YOU WILL LOVE IT!  And i bet you have a smile on your face.

This is a picture of me the first time I tried to hoop in public.  This was about 6 mos before I tried hoop lessons.  See I could do it with "smooth criminal"  that's the name of that hoop, she has a hoop that's large in size to show that anyone can hoop.  TRY IT!

Snowmageddon 2013

Well we are snowed in, who'd of thunk in the 21st century we'd be snowed in like this with all the equipment we have these days.  Well when the snow comes down in 4-5" an hour that's how.  We have about 3ft of snow acrossed our street.  It's going to take a bulldozer to get through it.  There are lots of reports of snowplows getting stuck.
Milford CT got like 38" and oxford which is a town over got 36.2.  I'm somewhere in there.
Here are some videos and pictures of the snow.

 yes he's shoveling snow from the window to break up the drift.

Stopping Time

In September we took a little staycation.  We went to the beach, soaked up the rays.  The  beach to me is a place all worries disappear, time stops,  the beauty of the skyline, the smell of the salt water, and the touch of the sand is it's own meditation.  I leave there feeling a sense of total relaxation.  I did not make it to the beach enough this summer, must change that for 2013.

I'm glad we were able to have such a great weather day for our last hurrah of the summer.

Ending one chapter starting another

Ending one chapter.  The girls have been doing martial arts for the last 5 1/2 years.  They are now red belts, 2 belts away from being black belts.  Over the past month or so they have started asking to do new things, those things were at the same time we do martial arts lessons. They decided they would like to stop the martial arts lessons for acting and hula hoop lessons.  I made them sit on their decision and think about it.  They love martial arts and they love their teachers, their teachers are all amazing. Their hearts weren't in it for the black belt, and that's ok.  It was very hard to say goodbye.  A picture from when they got their red belts.  

Starting the new chapter.  Amber has wanted to start acting lessons for a few years now, but we just couldn't fit in the schedule.  Chloe is getting really awesome with the hula hoop.  Amber gets to start acting lessons in two weeks.  Chloe is getting tips at my hula hoop lessons and will be starting class as soon as the next one starts up.  They both want to do painting and drawing classes.    

MTHFR

Yea Yea i know what that looks like and sometimes that is how I feel about this gene mutation.  I was diagnosed with this in 2007, two years after my blood clot.  This should of been tested with the labs when I had my blood clot, but wasn't.  I got frustrated with my current doctor and switched doctors and that's when I heard about it when I was tested positive.  So what is MTHFR you ask.. well.  This is the best explanation I have found for it.

"MTHFR is a a key regulatory enzyme in the metabolism of folate.  It also refers to a specific gene that plays a major role in the body's methylation process.  Both the enzyme and the gene have the same name, MTHFR.  The gene's role is very complex, and recent discoveries by the Human Genome Project have been focused around the MTHFR gene polymorphisms (or variants).  These polymorphisms are often referred to as 'mutations' or 'defects' because of the problems they cause in the body.  Most often when you hear someone talk about MTHFR, they are actually referring to one of the two common MTHFR gene mutations that causes this MTHFR enzyme to become imperfect and therefore much less effective."  http://www.methyl-life.com/what-is-mthfr.html

This is the best explanation I have found for the symptoms of each mutation, also found on methyl-life.com's website.

 Mutation 677 – Heart disease, heart attack, Stroke, Blood clots, Peripheral neuropathy, Anemia, Miscarriages, Congenital birth defects, and more


Mutation 1298 – Depression, Fibromyalgia, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Migraines, IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome), Memory loss with Alzheimer's and Dementia, even other psychiatric problems can be tied to this defect (OCD, Bipolar, Schizophrenia), and more

I have one copy of each mutation.  This explains a lot of my body pain,  anxiety, the blood clot, anemia, sleep issues etc.  Both of my girls have the same and my husband has 1 copy of 677.  There is also a connection with MTHFR and hashimotos thyroid.

My nurse practitioner changed my iron supplement to an iron supplement that actually has the mythl folate in it which I didn't know.  I started taking it and within 2 weeks my sleep was getting better.  (It's still not 100% perfect but it's so much better than it was).  At some point I decided to look at the ingredients and noticed it had the mythl folate in it.  That's when I realized how much of an affect it had on me.  My iron is still low normal but is starting to get better.  I did end up taking to much cause i was taking what was in my iron and extra supplement.  I do know 800 mcg is not enough, but i think 1800 mcg is to much.  I'm now trying to find the right dose for me that makes me feel great.

When I was first diagnosed I was just told to take b12, b6 and folate.  I was never told which form was best.  Maybe they didn't know in '07 but I think they did from reading I have done.  I have now started with the mythl form of folate and b12 and I must say there is a major difference in how i feel.  I hurt a little less, sleeping a little better, and I feel like my mind is clearer.  I just love feeling more ALIVE!!!.

MTHFR can also cause toxins to build up in your body and cause a slew of other issues.  This is something not to mess with.

If you have family members who have been tested positive for this gene, you should be tested.  If you have any of the symptoms or family members with the symptoms you should be tested for this gene.  Also you may still test normal and still have mythlation issues.  There could be still a lot more gene mutations they have not found yet.

I still have a lot more to learn and understand about this mutation, but i'm glad to finally get answers.  It's been a long road to get here.  I am also glad that something as simple as a supplement helps.

The start of the school year

I must say the school year is going pretty well with my new system.  I'm staying organized, the kids are staying organized.  They are not fighting me with their work like they usually are doing (even at the start of the year).  Hopefully I have found a system that works for our family.

Each week I figure out how the lessons will go with what is going on that week with appts and outside activities.  I let the kids know and they write them down in the school planner.  A needs more help than C does, so we do a lot of reading of lessons together.  Again this seems to be working well.  There are a few subjects we all do together.

The new system is also helping  me with adding in videos to help with learning and remembering the lessons.  I also loved videos more than just reading the subject, the really helped me remember and the girls feel the same way.

Kevin is also teaching A chemistry and reading for enjoyment with her more.

C is a pretty strong reader now and wants to work on writing, vocabulary and spelling.

The girls are getting up around 8 am, getting some chores done and eating and then off they start.  This also seems to be working well too.  Frees up the afternoons a lot more.

The only thing I need to work on more is getting exercise in for myself with the new system and me helping amber a lot more.  When i would typically do it, just is not syncing up well with lessons.  So I have to figure this out a little more.  I will figure it out and will get back to rocking the exercise.

We are using a lot of currclick non religious ebooks and their live classes.  Things are going good.  Let's see how we are doing next week :)

A new family member

A friend of ours offered my girls a bunny and with a lot of thinking we finally said yes.  This past Saturday we went and picked him up.  The girls are going to learn about bunny care and how to show him at the 4H fair.  They are also talking about maybe even mating him but we are not there yet.

sasha is really good with sugar, she wants to play and lick him to death.  And doesn't understand why he has to be in the cage.

sugar's new home.