Friday Thoughts
It’s been a while, but I’m pretty excited to be popping back in with a Friday Thoughts post (they’re my favorite because of YOUR comments). I have a lot on my mind. Like, a lot, a lot.
And I’m excited to get your feedback and thoughts on all my rambly venting today. 🙂
All the other past Friday Thoughts posts here.
1) Family Vacation: I need your help! This resident homebody needs to know: what is the best family vacation you’ve ever taken? To where? And why? (I’m gathering some highly scientific data to present to Brian next week, so thanks in advance.)
2) Sunday Dinner Assignments: Last fall I realized weeknights were not working when it came to teaching my kids how to cook. Too busy. Too noisy. Too distracting. Too stressful. Too much controlling OCD (ahem, taking full ownership for that one).
So we switched the system up a bit, and I can’t believe how well it is working. I love it! The kids love it! And honestly, they have totally shocked me and Brian with their rock star cooking abilities.
I call it Sunday Dinner Assignments. Super clever and catchy, huh? Gosh, I’m a marketing wizard.
How it’s working so far: I plan out a simple menu for Sunday night and assign one of the kids for each section. This involves a super high tech system of writing the menu on a post it note with one of the kid’s names next to each section.
Usually it’s a main dish, homemade bread or rolls of some sort, a side dish or two, and dessert. And in most cases, I let them choose the specific recipe they want to make (within reason and with approval).
I don’t put myself on the rotation. The kids execute the whole meal AND they are responsible for washing the dishes for their recipe. My role is to not helicopter and just answer questions and step in if they ask for help.
Yes, it’s a bit chaotic and messy; they try and work together to plan out oven usage and stagger the prep/cooking times so there are only a couple of them in the kitchen at a time.
The best part is seeing how excited they are to tell Brian which dish they made when we sit down to dinner. Of course we have had quite a few spills (including a whole bucket of honey) and arguments about who gets to use the favorite whisk first (that one ended in tears + at least one bruise)…and there have even been a few times where something was…um…slightly inedible.
But the learning process has been invaluable. Each one of the boys has made homemade rolls (or this buttery bundt bread is a fave choice) at least twice by themselves, and let me tell you, if they do nothing else in their lives, I’m going to hang on to some mom pride over this accomplishment.
They are all used to the system now and ask me on Saturday night if I know what their assignment will be yet. I’m sure this Sunday Dinner Assignments thing will go through several variations as we stick with it, but it’s working pretty great right now.
In the interest of full disclosure, about every fourth or fifth Sunday, I have a little “moment” and decide I can’t handle anyone else being in the kitchen and declare it “Mom’s Sunday Dinner Assignment All By Herself Please Leave the Kitchen Area Immediately.”
How do you teach the kids in your life to cook? Are you able to let go of the control and give them free reign?
3) Eagle Scouts:Both Walker and Jackson earned their Eagle Scout award a couple Sundays ago (with three other young men from church). Scouting has been a fun journey for them, even if they didn’t love every single minute.
Quite honestly, toward the end, I didn’t know if our relationship would survive the paperwork process, but I’m really, really proud of them for achieving this award. And I’m really, really proud of myself for making it through, too. Haha. No, but seriously.
At the ceremony, my 15-year old chose to give his mentor pin to me, which was so touching and sweet! The scoutmaster handed him the microphone so he could say a few words about why he was doing this, and Jackson cleared his throat and very meaningfully gave this tender tribute: “well, I’m giving this mentor pin to my mom because she basically threatened me that I couldn’t get my driver’s license until my Eagle Scout was done. And also, she drove me around to a lot of places.”
And you know what? I totally gave him a huge hug and kiss on the cheek because I’LL TAKE IT. The tribute and the mentor pin. 🙂 I love these boys and am really, really proud of their hard work, including learning the art of making real, live phone calls, which apparently might be the hardest, hardest, hardest thing to ask a teenager to do.
4) Natural Deoderant:ok, you guys, I’ve tried a lot of natural deoderant out there, and I’m sorry for the inclusion of too much info here, but I’ve done so even at the cost of some serious underarm chafing and rashes (Schmidt’s, I’m looking at you). Lume, Tom’s, Schmidt’s. I still feel like I smell like a pre-pubescent middle school boy.
Help? Am I missing something? Is there a natural deoderant that actually works and doesn’t rip up my skin? Please enlighten me and the rest of humanity.
5) Being a Finisher: I’ve been working on teaching my kids the art of being a finisher. And instead of lecturing, I decided I better just model the desired behavior and actually finish a couple projects I’ve been working on for years.
I started this crochet quilt when Camryn was a toddler. Yes, that’s 5+ years ago. And I just barely finished it over the holiday break. And then I wrapped it up and put it under the Christmas tree as a present to myself. I’m embarrassed to say I actually cried tears when it was done.
It’s been a labor of love. And now I’m afraid to actually ever use it because what if it unravels? (Free pattern from Purl Soho and yarn from Knitpicks, which was enough yarn for my mom to also make one of these blankets, which she finished years before mine – she’s a rock star)
The other blanket I finally finished was this Fancy Forest quilt, pattern by Elizabeth Hartman. A couple years ago when I decided I wanted to learn to quilt (never had before), I chose this as my first quilt. Yes, you just go ahead and laugh at me, because everyone else in my real life did, too!
I admit it was a bit ambitious, but I figured if I was going to learn, I was going to learn. Anyway, you can see how well that worked out. It took me, again, about five years to finish this quilt. And there are so many mistakes I can hardly bear to look at it. (Sidenote: not sure quilting is the right hobby for someone with a brain like mine.) But I finished it! It’s legit the hardest project I’ve ever done.
And I am really, really proud of myself. I even took a long arm quilting class at a local quilt shop and long arm quilted the top of this bad boy all by myself, and I HAVE NEVER BEEN MORE SCARED AND MORE PROUD OF ANYTHING I’VE DONE IN MY WHOLE LIFE EVER. Also, I sweated an obscene amount during the long arm process. Also, this may be why we need to really delve into topic #4 up there. Also, I promise to never talk about sweat again.
Do you have any goals to finally finish something this year that you started long ago?
6) Vegan, Vegan:A good friend of mine is transitioning to a plant-based/vegan/no sugar diet to combat a stage IV cancer diagnosis. We basically talk about the food part of this journey nonstop, and my brain is going a mile a minute to figure out how to help her (and also incorporate more plant-based recipes in my own life)!
She and I have already been experimenting with different cashew-based dressings and sauces among other things. We’ve had some wins. And some losses. Haha. Do you have any great vegan/100% unprocessed recipes to share? Favorite online sources? Cookbooks?
7) Grit and Resilience: this TED talk is really fascinating. I really, really want my kids to be gritty! And let’s be honest, I want it for myself, too. To persevere through hard things and not give up. Since I’m 1,000% certain lecturing does.not.help. I’m trying to find more ways to help foster resilience in my kids. Any experts out there on growth mindset? Have I gone too far? Is this too deep for a Friday? What are your thoughts?
8) Games:You know I can only go so long without talking about what games we are loving at the minute. One of you awesome persons recommended the game Patchwork – aff. link on my holiday game gift guide. We love it! It’s a 2-person game and it is so, so fun. You don’t have to be interested in sewing or quilting or buttons or anything to love this game. It’s super strategic with a little bit of luck, and I can’t recommend it highly enough.
The other game we’ve been pulling out for a quick game sesh is Left, Center, Right (we have the basic version and also the wild version – aff. links). Super, super fast. Super, super fun. Everyone around here loves LCR!
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Ok, you guys, thanks for sticking with me through this rambling post!
Love your guts.
Don’t leave until you add your thoughts below. I need your insights, humor, wisdom and recipes in my life. 🙂
UPDATE!!!! You guys. YOU GUYS! I have spent hours (days!) reading through your comments. I’ve read every single one. I wish I had time to respond to you each personally. Instead, I literally just made a MASSIVE spreadsheet (ahem, nerd alert) with all of your vacation, deodorant, vegan and grit recommendations. And you guys, this spreadsheet is gold. I can’t wait to organize it (ahem, second nerd alert) and read through it and learn from it and PLAN A VACATION and make some plant-based meals and try out the 5,000 deodorant recommendations all while telling my kids to stay gritty. Haha. But seriously, I could kiss all of your faces for all of the comments. The insights. The personal stories and experiences. As always, you’ve made me laugh and think and think some more. And you have given so, so many good recommendations. WHAT WOULD I DO WITHOUT YOU? No really, what would I do? I’d actually have to find friends in real life and that would just be super lame. So glad you guys are my people. I loved reading every single one of these comments. I promise to update a future Friday Thoughts post (or maybe just at the bottom of this one) with my spreadsheet findings! xoxo
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great Friday thoughts! Wow – 2 scouts completing their Eagle rank at the same time. You’re a rockstar for getting through that. My son just finished his this past fall so I hear you on that paperwork challenge and the SUPER HARD part of actually talking on the phone.
I LOVE your quilt – that’s super ambitious if you were a beginner quilter. And great job taking a long arm class. I have plans to finish a pieced patriotic table runner I started years ago and also have some old fashioned scrapbooks I want to finish. They’ve been laid out on my office table for over a year and I just can’t make myself start. So this post is good motivation – be a finisher. I like that lesson.
family trip – we like all inclusive resorts – so great for the kids to go and get whatever they want and we don’t constantly have to be paying. We also love cruises. The Disney cruise is the bomb but also so expensive. We did a Norwegian cruise on the Mexican Riviera and it was great and not nearly as much money.
Thanks for all the good you’re doing!
You have to go to Kiawah Island South Carolina! Best family vacation ever!!’ The beaches are beautiful, water is warm, so many fun shells to collect, crabs to catch, ride bikes over the whole island, ride bikes to the little town to the grocery store and for dinner, fun pools., it’s AMAZING!!
Best natural Deodorant I’ve found is Lume https://lumedeodorant.com/. I don’t love the scents, but I have found that I don’t like the smells of any natural deodorant. I like Lume best because it works to get rid of the bacteria that cause the stink and that I can put it anywhere and everywhere.
Oh and I just read the you have tried Lume- well good luck. I truly don’t think that any Natural Deodorant completely does the job because they are not going to keep us from sweating.
Native deodorant works very well. They use ingredients like coconut oil, baking soda, probiotics, tapioca starch, and Shea butter. And to top it off they smell good!
I’m checking out your newest game recommendations. We’ve recently been playing a lot of Skyjo. Super fun and easy.
My favorite websites for vegan/vegetarian recipes are:
https://pinchofyum.com/
https://minimalistbaker.com/
Both sites have non vegan recipes too, but their search functions allow you to select for vegan only recipes.
I also love Cooks Illustrated Vegan for Everybody cookbook and their The Complete Vegetarian Cookbook.
Thanks for all your recipes and thoughts! You inspire me!
Your quilt is stunning. Seriously stunning.
Vegan recommendations: A Pinch of Yum (not necessarily vegan but lots of vegan/vegetarian recipes) and A Couple Cooks (plant-based focus). Family vacay: tie between Disney (cliche, but SO much fun) and Hawaii.
Hi Mel! I love your recipes! Thank you for taking the time to share them. They are dependably GREAT!
As for deodorants, I have two to recommend. Lately, I have been loving Magsol Magnesium Deodorant from Amazon and another one that I have heard great things about is JustIngredients Magnesium Deodorant Karalynne Call has an Instagram account Just.Ingredients where you can buy this deodorant.
I’m so sorry that your friend is dealing with cancer! I love most of the recipes on https://minimalistbaker.com/ Many are vegan or can be made vegan. They are simple and delicious!
You have many followers here in Clovis–probably thanks to your Aunt Marilyn!
Your quilt looks awesome! But, yeah, you’re crazy for starting with that one. I am NOT a beginning quilter and that would scare me.
We have been on many amazing vacations as a family (like amazing! Hawaii, Ireland, London/Rome/Edinburgh, Maine, DC/Philly/NY, Florida) and I think one of my all time favorite vacations is staying at the Newport Coast Marriott villas in California. We just play at the resort and the beach and buy our food at costco. Sometimes we’ll throw a little Disneyland in too. We’ve done this one probably six times and it always feels right.
I’m not gonna lie though, the DC/Philly/NY trip was perfection too. (Bring on the US history!)
I second Newport Coast Villas!! We love it and
Have been many times. Close enough to Disney without having to stay in Aneheim.
After years of itchy, sweaty, smelly pits, I finally landed on “Arm and Hammer Essentials with Natural Deodorizers.” I’m not sure if it’s considered natural, but I love it and am constantly amazed that I still smell good at the end of the day.
Family vacations can be the best or the worst—we recently enjoyed exploring the Upper Peninsula in Michigan which was perfect for our hiking and water loving crew.
For your dear friend—sending prayers first and then I’ve enjoyed many a vegan recipe from Cookie and Kate. Her lentil soup is a family favorite—for all 7 of my kiddos!
Hands down the BEST natural deodorant is from https://justingredients.us/ (made by @just.ingredients on Instagram). I have tried everything and hated them all. This deodorant works well and you won’t smell. I love it and highly recommend.
Beautiful quilt!! That’s one of the skills I tell myself I’m going to learn…..one of these days 😉
OH! SO many good things here!!!!
OK well the majority of our family trips are family reunions. I honestly don’t think we’ve taken a full fledged family trip on our own. My husband and I both have families that love to get together. And we live the furthest from both so that means our vacation time goes to seeing them. Which I don’t regret and look forward to each year.
Absolutely on board with teaching your kids to cook and you ABSOLUTELY should be mom proud of those boys baking rolls!! I have slacked off and you have motivated me to get back to teaching my kids to cook. I ask them what they want to learn to make. (my 5 kids range in age 17-6) I worry about them leaving home and not being able to feed themselves. Serious mom guilt if that happens. I also print out the recipe for them and put it in their own little cookbook for them to take when they leave. And man a live does it take patience and self restraint to stay out of the way and let them do it. That’s the hardest part for sure!!
Sorry not a natural deodorant gal so no help there. I just don’t want to stink so I go with that as my base line and use what works.
OOOOHHHH being a finisher, resilience, and grit. (sigh) why are we not all born with these qualities!!! teaching them to you kids is a heavy weight of responsibility. We have a saying on our wall “Stick to your task till it sticks to you, Beginners are many but enders are few” I also agree that being that example speaks louder than words, so great job on completing your quilts! They are gorgeous and will be treasures to many generations.
Thank you for sharing your talents with the rest of us!
If you have two Eagle Scouts, then they have grit. I think you do too just because you finished those sewing projects and let us not forget the marathon. Two of my boys have grit but I am still working on the other to always push through. He will cry but he seems to feel better when he finishes.
If you are looking for history then Jamestown and Williamsburg is a great trip or Boston. If you want beaches, Seaside, Florida is beautiful. The water and sand is unbeatable. My boys love to go to Copper Mountain to ski.
I use Almonds and Aloe roll-on natural deodorant. I have used a lot of brands and this one works without irritating my skin (plus it isn’t crazy expensive).
Love the Sunday dinner idea to get my kids cooking. Your chore wheel was life changing years ago, and I think this idea will be on that level. Love your food, games, and insight.
So many thoughts!
Love your Sunday dinner idea. My husband and I were most impressed of the picture of one son weighing out dough balls. My rolls are all different sizes because I’m the queen of eyeballing it 🙂 My husband is a weigh-er too.
Congratulations to your Eagles! That is huge and hurrah for them for finishing in their LDS troop. There is a reason there is a mom pin 🙂 My sister says it should have a real diamond on it.
Natural deodorant – huge fan of Just Ingredients! Looks like others are too. Really good stuff, no irritation, no white beads of sweat rolling down my arm during workouts.
Both your projects are so beautiful! I’m a quilter, I’ve been published, on tv etc and taught for years and while I love that Elizabeth Hartman quilt I was not brave enough to try. You are darn impressive! Also, five years is nothing. Truly. UFO’s in quilting (un-finished objects) are a thing and I have many dating to last century. You’re totally good!
We only have one child so this might be too extravagant for a big family, but a vacation at an all inclusive is so awesome! Tons of activities for everyone, no worries about finding restaurants in unfamiliar places, safe environment so kids can run off with friends made there, as restful or active as you like. Just tons of positives. We do not feel the same about a cruise though. We’ve done club-med (mexico), sandals (jamaica), dreams (mexico) and loved them all.
On Instagram, go find @just.ingredients. She has developed a natural deodorant that a lot of people LOVE. I haven’t bought it yet because I’m waiting until my chemical-laden one is almost gone. She is all about removing toxins from our diets, skincare products, and cleaning supplies, and I believe she said she knew someone who had stage 4 cancer who removed all the toxins at once and improved her food by buying organic, and removing sugar, etc., and over time the cancer went away. Don’t quote me on that and I can’t remember where I saw it, but I am pretty sure it was one of her stories. (I’m super helpful there.)
I love your Sunday dinner idea! My mom inadvertently did that with her 7 girls-inadvertent because we all loved to cook and would clamor for who got to do what. So far, my oldest boy loves to cook also. I can trust him with Jiffy muffins but you’ve given me courage to trust him further! My other two boys are 2 and 1 so they’re a little young-though I do have a picture of a 1 year old standing on a still at the kitchen counter, stirring his pacifier into a bowl of flour. It was his secret recipe for pancakes!!
As for vacations, my family grew up going to Balboa Island in Newport Beach, CA. We’ll be there this August. It’s getting very pricey though so I don’t know how long it will last. When we lived in the east, we loved Outer Banks. A couple of years ago we went to Mammoth Lake in California. It’s easy to take a day trip from there to Yosemite, but has its own attractions. (Obsidian Dome=Mordor!) Texas is probably very low on your list of places to visit in summer (most of us make a mass exodus for somewhere cooler!) but Schlitterbahn resort on South Padre Island is a lot of fun! Schlitterbahn is a chain of water parks in Texas and the resort sits right on the beach so you can go to the water park for the day or the beach-or both! Pack your weight in sunscreen
Vacations: COLORADO, Colorado, Colorado. I’ve been there numerous times as a kid growing up with my parents and 4 siblings, then my husband and I have been there at least four times in the last 7 years. Thinking of Rocky Mountain National Park, staying in Estes Park. I think I could write a guide book (not that there needs to be another ). Camping, hotels, VRBOs, restaurants, hiking, things to do… oh it’s the best.
Deodorant: Switched to Crystal deodorant last spring. Love it! I swear a lot and it definitely masks (prevents!) BO. Doesn’t necessarily reduce sweat amount (it’s not antiperspirant of course) but sometimes I think it helps with that too. https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0028FLM16?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title
Quilt: LOVE that forest quilt. So cute!!! Bravo! I’ve made one patchwork quilt and it’s a process.
Sunday suppers: I live how you incorporate your kids. Definitely gives a sense of adulthood when they get to do things on their own. My son is 1.5 but hopefully someday our kids will like to do make/bake like their momma does!! Your efforts with your kids are paying off!
I would recommend trying Norwex Natural Deodorant. It smells very nice, it has essential oils in it. It is not an antiperspirant so if you have issues with wetness than don’t bother trying it. I am an average person when it comes to sweating and it works pretty well for me. I admit that if I have an important appointment or event I will use my regular deodorant like Degree, but on a daily basis it works well. They also make a Norwex Crystal Deodorant but I have never tried it. It is not an antiperspirant either. If you haven’t already, check out Norwex products because they have an all natural approach to daily living.
The plan to have the kids make Sunday dinner looks like a great idea. Maybe I’ll give something like that a try.
And the Fancy Forest quilt looked incredible. Only you can see the flaws because you put your heart into every stitch. Yes it was ambitious of you but you nailed it!
Try Veggies Don’t Bite and The Vegan 8
Wow. Just…wow. I’m in awe of all you do and how well you do it. Can’t think of a single thing to add or opine on in regards to all your parenting and household organization. You’ve clearly got this.
I’m so sorry to read about your friend with cancer. That’s a tough road to travel. I’m recovering from lung cancer myself and I found the hospital nutritionist/dietitian an invaluable- and sadly under utilized – resource. As you’re no doubt aware, cancer and its attendant treatments can establish very specific requirements when it comes to diet. I would strongly recommend speaking to the staff before your friend makes any significant changes to her diet.
Congrats on the Eagle! Having had three sons get their Eagle, I know the work, the nagging, etc. Your friend is blessed to have someone like you to love and support her through this trial.
Our most memorable vacation was on a house boat on Lake Powell. A friend invited us for a week!
You’re doing a wonderful job of raising independent, productive children. Your example says it all!
Favorite family vacations are Aspen Grove Family Camp and Historic Nauvoo.
During the summer when our schedules are a lot lighter I have each child cook dinner one night a week. I choose the dinners (otherwise it would be mac and cheese every time).
I have used this homemade deodorant for 9 years. Like other natural deodorants it doesn’t stop you sweating but there is never any odour. My husband and 4 kids/teens use it as well. So easy with just 3 simple ingredients, it costs pennies to make and it 100% works, it’s cool proof! http://homesteadrevival.blogspot.com/2011/01/homemade-deodorant.html
Jack is hilarious! I’m using Lume and have been pretty pleased with it. Also Native from Walmart I pretty good too. Love your guts.
You are so inspiring Mel! I’ve been wanting to start something for myself and give myself a hobby and I think you’ve convinced me! I love sewing but also have wanted to learn to crochet for a long time, but the fear of failing holds me back, hard time! Thanks for that! As far as a family vacation, my parents took me and 2 of my sisters to a resort in Mexico when we were in high school and it was AH-MAZING! We ziplined through water falls into caves, snorkeled and enjoyed complimentary real mexican coke on the beach all day long! I cannot wait to go back with my own family one day! I highly recommend it!
First I just have to say you are so amazing! I am so glad your my friend! Congrats on the Eagle Scouts.
My favorite vacation so far has been just last year. We went and rode the Hiawatha bike trail in ID, then drove into Portland OR for the day.
Did some aight seeing. Then we went to Glacier National Park and spent a couple of days hiking and of course going to see a Glacier. We then drove up through Canada to Banff National Park. I highly recommend going because it was beautiful and so peaceful. We did some hiking and saw some wildlife ( animals not the kids). After all of that we drove to Edmonton so we could go and see the largest mall in North America. We went to the water park on day and we would totally go there again. We spent on day at the amusement park. I think we would only spend a half day and then go back to the water park it was that fun. We then drove to have a little visit with you, wish we could have stayed longer. On the way home so stopped at Lava Hot springs and spent the day letting the boys swim. Sorry this is so long but we had a blast!
You’re the best Melanie thanks for your example and all of your hard work! I hope to get the boys in the kitchen more with me. Love you ❤️
I have been planning the Hiawatha bike trail for this summer! Any tips? Where did you stay? Rent bikes? Best thing to see in Portland? Where was the water park in Edmonton? Any information appreciated!
Hi Andrea, we stayed in a little town called Wallace,ID. We just went on the Hiawatha trails site and reserved bikes and helmets, which I recommend you do just so you are guaranteed bikes. The prices are pretty reasonable, they also give you a bike rack if you need one. Also, you should purchase shuttle passes, they take you back to the top when you are finished with the trail. The bikes come with a flashlight. Make sure you have jackets it was cool when we went and you bike through some tunnels. We had a lot of fun, trail is easy and our five year old was able to ride the trail with no problem. If you have more questions just contact the Hiawatha trail and they can answer any additional questions, very helpful.
I apologize but it was Spokane, WA not Portland. For some reason it was Portland that popped in my head.
The water park and the amusement park are both inside the Edmonton Mall ( largest mall in North America). Most hotels in Edmonton usually offer discounted tickets to both of the parks.
We highly recommend going we had so much fun. Our boys all enjoyed it, 15,10 and 5 yrs at the time. They were not bored.
Hope this helps! And if you go enjoy and take your time to enjoy!
Our favorite overall favorite vacation was a houseboat on Lake Powell Highly recommend
Also at the top was Canadian Rockies, Houseboat vacation on Cumberland Lake in Kentucky, PNW-Oregon coast.
The natural deodorant I LOVE is No Pong! It really works! And it comes lightly scented with baking soda or no scent/no baking soda. I just ordered 3 tins 😉
Oh and the America’s Test Kitchen Vegan for everybody and Oh she Glows cookbooks are nice!
Natural deodorant: Just Ingredients brand. I absolutely love her deodorant and so do all of my kids. (Her face serum is also amazing and gets more so the more you use it.)
Vegan/Vegan: I love Carrie Vitt and Danielle Walker as resources for foods like this. And Just Ingredients has some good stuff there as well (not vegan-wise, but eating-mindfully-wise).
Sunday Dinner Assignments: Awesome idea. I’m totally going to copy you. Post-it notes included.
Thank you for sharing all the things.
Thanks for the wonderful ramble. As a crochetter, knitter, and quilter, you ROCK! Beautiful job on both projects.
Favorite vacation: two rank up there. We (unintentionally) took a “Circle the Lake” trip around Lake Michigan several years ago, camping at Silver Lake, then up across the Mackinac Bridge, around to Door County, then back down the coast to home in Chicago. Kids and parents all loved it. And the other trip was a train trip from Chicago to Seattle for a friend’s wedding. Riding along and looking out the windows at this amazing country was special, and we were all able to relax. And you don’t necessarily need a sleeper car – we did coach, as our children were too tall for the “family berth,” and we all slept fine. I brought a small pillow and fleece/wool lap blanket for everyone, rolled up like a sleeping bag, and that was all we needed. And the trip back covered territory in the daylight that had been nighttime on the way out, so we really got a tour. I recommend traveling by rail, if you have the time,
My husband has Stage IV cancer in his lung – main suggestion is to DAILY take the burden to the Father. And we are blessed to have a great medical group that provides the “extras” like a nurse navigator who sometimes picks up her sword and shield and goes into battle for us – not with the group, but with Pharma, and other services. And the doctors we have are amazing – all connected to each other. That is important! It means you don’t have to keep repeating information over and over. And have an advocate – a family member or friend, who goes with you to appointments and listens. Also – get those healthcare power of attorneys done. Having that permission opens many doors. And don’t be afraid to tell people what you are dealing with. So often, we keep illnesses close to our vest, and thus miss out on the blessings others can be to us in prayer and practical help. It’s important for us as patients and caregivers, and important for those who want to help but don’t know about the illness, or don’t know what is needed. Don’t be afraid to ask!! People are anxious to help.
Our favorite family trip is Hawaii. So many fun things to do and explore there with the family.
For a natural deodorant I use Primally Pure. I have found the unscented works the best for me. I would highly recommend it, and I don’t use many natural other products because they usually don’t work as well.
The only natural deodorant that works for me is primally pure. I tried just ingredients and it still doesn’t work. Primally pure is the only one I smell nothing. Like nothing!
My kids are a little younger then yours, but on random Sundays and Saturdays when I feel like making something WITH my kids in the kitchen (haha) I do Moms Cooking School. We just do simple things because they still need quite a bit of help, but it has been fun. And I had the proud Mom moment when my oldest who is 11 asked to make chocolate chip cookies this week and he MADE THEM ALL BY HIMSELF. I almost cried. I did have to pull a few batches out of the oven because he got distracted while they were actually baking ha!
I am in your same boat about the lecturing and raising resiliant kids. I haven’t found a good solution to that yet, but I can help with the deodarant thing! After my 5th baby, i had a horrible case of some kind of strange raging hormone related BO. (this is getting embarassing) I tried so many things. I was even wearing mens deodarant hoping it was stronger then my extra strength clinical deodarant. It wasn’t, and I smelled particularly manly when I didn’t just smell bad. I was throwing away shirts because I couldn’t get the smell out. So I was “influenced” to try kopari coconut oil deodarant. And I have been happily using it for almost 2 years now. You will still sweat because it doesn’t clog pores, but I don’t smell so I will take that as a win. It is the only kind of natural deodarant that has worked for me.
Also, your quilts and afghans are beautiful! Way to go!
Just Ingredients for Natural Deodorant…it is awesome and no rash!! I love the Sweet Citrus scent.
Can I convince you to publish a top 10 vacation list after the comments roll in?
Loved your post!!! Favorite place to vacation. Lake Powell AZ. Its in the center of so much to do, The lake is huge you can take a tour on a big boat up in the canyon, rainbow bridge etc.. or you can rent anything you can think of to enjoy the water, Kayaks canoe boats etc there is a actual beach there where if you wanted you could camp out right next to the water. The Glen Canyon Dam is there for tours, you can take white water rafting just down from there on the Colorado river, Horseshoe Bend is there,(you see that in 1000’s of pictures on the internet) You can take a hike down Antelope Canyon, another famous hike Stay in a VRBO in Page, not a hotel is WAY cheaper, you are under 3 hours from the Grand Canyon, Zion, Arches National park.. the list is almost endless. You will never forget the sights you will see. Plenty of things for a family of yours to do . I have been using Tom’s of Maine deodorant, I find no issues with it. Let me know if you choose Lake Powell I’ll give you tips for places to eat, etc. I have a friend using the Gelson Therapy to help fight her cancer and she remains cancer free since starting the process.
Just.Ingredients has the BEST natural deodorant. She has an amazing Instagram account with so much information on what we put in/on our bodies and how it affects us. She developed her own deodorant this last year and it’s had such rave reviews.
Also, I LOVE growth mindset, but you really have to adopt the word “yet” into your language. My youngest is the best at giving up on himself. At school they push the growth mindset skills and even with food he hates he now says “i don’t love it YET, but I’m willing to taste it because maybe someday I’ll like it.” The scripture “what lack I yet” took on a whole new meaning for me when I began to understand growth mindset better. I think I always thought of that scripture as a downer because it’s like remembering all my faults, but now I see it as “yeah so I’m not there YET, but there’s hope and a real possibility to get there someday.” Hope that helps!
Oh, forgot…favorite family vacation (with my sister’s family)
Finger Lakes, New York…rented a house on Canandaigua Lake 2 years; Keuka Lake 2 years
Picked blueberries, my sister and I took a cooking class at the New York Wine and Culinary Center in Canandaigua, the lakes are crystal clear…spent a day in Ithaca looking at colleges with my daughter…visited lots of farmstands, wine trail….total relaxation!
Ok, love your site- my family would starve without it!!! Primally Pure (order online) is the natural deodorant that I use and I too went through many last year but I really like this one and have been using it for 6 months +. With natural deodorant you just have to get use to sweating but I do think it has reduced. Favorite family vacation was our trip to Maine! We went to Acadia National Park and a few other places on they way there including Boston which was great. Of course the kids loved our trip to Jamaica too ☺️ Have a great weekend and thanks for sharing with us!!
I follow your blog religiously and almost exclusively cook from it. You’re pretty much part of the family around here. And I just had to say that because I’ve NEVER commented.
I use Milk of Magnesia in a roller ball bottle like this
Timoo 5 PCS 50ml Deodorant Bottles, Empty Refillable Roll On Bottles, Deodorant Container https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07HD2W6J7/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_k.enEbR68DTHF
Our favorite game right now is Skull King by Grandpa Beck. It’s seriously so fun and we have a blast talking in pirate voices while we play it.
I used native deodorant for a few years and it worked great for me, but I’ve recently found one I like even better. Go to the Just Ingredients instagram account and check out her deodorant. It’s even better for you and it doesn’t ruin my black clothes!
Mel,
As a 6th grade teacher, probably one of the #1 things that I’d like my students to develop is grit. My teaching partner and I work on it so hard every year. Kids can’t persevere through math problems that are challenging. They don’t want to read the whole article, “Can I just read the summary?” You are setting a great example with your quilting and crochet projects. They took a LONG time, but you persevered through them, fought back setbacks, and look how you feel about both of them now? As parents, I know we try to protect our kids, we don’t want them hurt, we want to make life easier for them rather than see them go through the challenges we faced, but honestly, our children will be better for it if we allow them to work hard, make them face those challenges, cheer them on from the sidelines, allow them to stop, take a break, and then continue on…so, so important. Instant gratification, telling your child the answers, and pushing back at teachers who try to challenge seem to be the new norm now for some parents. So disheartening…
Another comment on teaching kids to cook. It is SO important! Your kids are going to end up in college, they will want to live off-campus by sophomore or junior year, they’ll complain about the foodservice; however, have you taught them to cook? to meal plan? to grocery shop? to select produce? to understand unit prices and cost of food? I taught my kids by just recruiting them at meal times to come in and pitch in a hand. Then, they all ended up working at a pizza parlor where they really learned a lot about cooking (pizza, pasta, sandwiches, making salads, etc.). Such important and valuable lessons. My 3 are adults now living on their own, but they always credit me with teaching them to cook and always talk about the value of their high school jobs in helping them too. So few kids have room in their schedules now to take any high school classes dealing with cooking basics. It is so, so important. Otherwise, they’ll end up like my son’s college roommates eating fast food daily, gaining excess weight, and always running out of money because of their poor eating habits.
Obviously I had a lot to say on the subject. Happy Friday Mel, love your blog XOXO
deb
Smokey mountain National park was a very memorable family vacation with enroute trips to mammoth cave and Springfield Illinois historic Lincoln district.
The Lincoln Memorial Museum is amazing. We happened to stay overnight in Springfield Illinois on our way to Kirkland and so we drove around to see what we could do their. We voted between the Museum or Niagara Falls. Seriously a highlight.
We loved Hilton Head, SC. You can ride rental bikes on the hard beach and there are bike trains everywhere. Also good golfing. We lived in Savannah, GA but loved Charleston, SC. An amazing Plantation home.
Best wishes to your friend. Check out the vegan blog and/or cookbooks by Angela Liddon of Oh She Glows. I am not vegan but many of her recipes are family favourites and part of my regular rotation. She must test her recipes 50 times because they ALWAYS
work 🙂 https://ohsheglows.com/
Favorite vacation spot by far is Monterey, CA. We actually stay in Pacific Grove, which is the next town over (still within easy driving or biking distance to everything, but not quite as expensive). The Asilomar conference grounds there offer a great place to stay, and I believe meals are included?? Not 100% sure about that. We play at the beach, go to the aquarium, go to the butterfly groves in season (millions of monarchs!), go on hikes in the state parks near there, walk down Cannery Row, head down to Carmel and go to the mission, rent bikes or kayaks…. there’s tons of stuff to do whether you like history, science, shopping, playing, or just relaxing.
Alright, I’m only gonna comment about deodorants because I’m pretty passionate about my deo made by Soapwalla Kitchen in Brooklyn, New York. It’s vegan, happy, smells heavenly, and is just an all-around great product. Turns out, I can’t use their “regular” deodorant, although I loved it, loved it, loved it. So, I switched to their sensitive skin deo and really, really like it – but with not as much love as the original ONLY because I live in the South and am convinced no natural deo (besides the original Soapwalla deo) can stand up to the August heat + humidity + general sweaty anxiousness about WHEN WILL FALL BE HERE?!?! So, that’s my 2 cents on deodorant. I subscribe for the deodorant and save 10%, and one tub lasts me approximately 3 months. 🙂
So many thoughts!! But seriously all good. Congrats on the eagle. You take what you can get as a mom and a hug and kiss from a teen is top of the list. Well done on the quilts and ironic since I busted out some unfinished sewing projects and found approximately three semi done quilts. It’s on my to do list once I get more sewing needles bc my last one broke the other day. Vacations!!!! We have been to 30 states with our family. I think our favorite was Florida or going to Boston and Niagara Falls. We lived in Iowa so they were closer. The best part is finding unique/weird places along the way. (A chocolate shop in the basement of a house.) Tennessee is the most beautiful place we’ve driven through. That game sounds fun and I also want our kids to be finishers/tough/etc so we’re doing one of my husbands dreams this summer. Amount up our hiking and hiking all through glacier national park. My sister in law lives there so at least we get to sleep at her house and not on the ground. And finally about your friend with cancer. We love her and don’t even know her really but we love them all. We talk about them a lot and pray for them. When we say her name the kids know who were talking about. Just wish there was more we could do. You’re a wonderful friend. I admire you! Ok moving on. Ps mini eggs are already at Walmart just FYI lol have a good weekend
My favorite family vacation destination is Maui, but for a more budget friendly option, I love the Oregon Coast, specifically Newport. We go every summer with some friends and rent a house right on the beach. Living in Eastern Washington, the drive is long, but not impossible to do in one day.
La Vanilla Sport Luxe is my favorite natural deodorant and I usually buy mine at Ulta.
Please share all things about Newport! This is one of my bucket list vacations! I would love the info on the vrbo house you stayed in and all that you did!
I too, would LOVE to hear about where you stayed and the house you rented. Any details!
Check out the Fork Over Knives website and App. There is also a documentary on the benefits of a plant based diet. The app has great recipes and they also publish a magazine a few times a year.
I absolutely love your recipes. My family loves them even more!
Thank you!
Your quilt is stunning. Beautiful and stunning! I can’t imagine the hours it took. Congrats! As for natural deodorants, my favourite so far (I agree with you on the three you mentioned) is the one from Arbonne Cosmetics. It has worked the best for me. I have also tried Native and it didn’t work for me. The other one I like but re apply in the afternoon is Vermont Soap Company’s Sage Lime (I Amazon this one). I had all boys and had mine help cook too and now they’re all great cooks and bakers and their wives thank me. Kudos! I like the idea of doing it Sunday after church too. Great idea!
By far our favorite family vacations are the Disney Cruises and also we were blessed to go to Disney’s Aulani Resort in Oahu last year! There is so much to do in Oahu and Aulani is 30 min from airport so in a quiet area with only four hotels all with their separate bays to swim in. Across the street from hotel there is an amazing restaurant Monkey Pod, markets to get food, breakfast places. We loved hiking Diamond Head, Polynesian Culture Center, hiked to light house, North Shore, and of course Pearl Harbor.
We have also loved Rapid City South Dakota with Bear Country, Mt. Rushmore, Reptile Gardens, Crazyhorse, Hill City and the train, wineries, breweries. We have also had a blast in Wisconsin Dells where they have the largest water parks, duck boats, jet boats, Tommy Bartlett water ski show, and great food. Also we have loved recently last summer Branson and all there is to do there. My family thought I was crazy when I said we were taking a road trip but after a week there they didn’t want to leave, there is Silver Dollar City with crazy roller coasters, shows, great food, they also have their own water park but it rainted that day so couldn’t go, there is Big Cedar lodge, Top of the Rock, largest Bass Pro Shops, outlet shopping, famous store Dicks 5 and 10, Branson Landing! Hope this helps!
Dear Mel, I love your blog ! it’s been my go to for years, apologies for not commenting until now. One of my favorite vacations was when my husband, daughter and I went to d Dude Ranch !! it included lodging in our own cabin, amazing meals and horseback rides with real cowboys! It was so fun. Thanks for sharing your family with us. All the love in the world. Kim
My favorite vacation was when we rented a beach house on Cape Cod for a week. My brother and his family came and we literally did nothing the entire time. Our kids played together in the sand and we made really simple meals. We had planned to go see some sights in the area but we didn’t end up doing any of that because we had the beach literally right outside our door. I was heavenly and something we will always remember.
Also, I let my 4 year old cook with me pretty much every night. He’s been in the kitchen with me since he was a baby. He is now learning to use a knife and some more complicated techniques and recipes. I only have two kids (4 and 8 months) so it’s not quite the same level of craziness if I have him help as it would be with more kids. That said, the baby does scream at us from his walker if he’s being left out of the process. He wants to be strapped to me in the Ergo, facing out, right in the middle of all the action.