October 2016, Halloween & an update

Its been far to long since I posted an update. We are doing good. We started school in September as usual. We had to skip the fair this year but that's OK. We got a good start and have had a good year so far. We found an awesome math program the kids love! Loo is using the one she finished last year with. She will switch in January possibly. As always we are ec lec tic, and use a few resources for school. Again we have hit a comfortable spot that's working well for us. We moved again. We are currently renting a very small house until we figure out what's next. We are within walking distance of a Water Park! Great in summer! A few parks, Museums, and lots of other things to do. We have been taking kids to the park and they play HORSE, Sebastian is pretty good! He can shoot up close, close enough to be hard for most people and he gets it in almost every time. We have done some Geo Caching and had fun. Sir N and Loo are taking photography courses so that means more excuses to get outside for pictures! SirS will be taking a course that combines Engineering, Mechanics and Robotics type things in one. He will learn to build things, make them go, about engines, how to take things apart and put them together as something else. He loves to build things and robots so when I came across it I knew it was perfect. Baby E, now will be called Miss E because she's no longer a baby and does not want to be called a baby. So She is doing lots of cooking and baking. She loves to Cook and is good at at. All the kids will be setting up blogs for school. Unsure if they will be shared or not. If they are I will let you know. 

This is Loo's last year of High School! Hard to believe she is graduating already. She's an amazing person. They all are. They are growing up so fast. 

There has been far to much happen in life to catch up. Larry just had unexpected surgery to remove his gallbladder. 2 weeks off work is rough but he feels better. He had been having some back pain that went away with surgery.  

 

Tea party dye eggs

The following year we did the same thing…only we extended it to a “Tea Tasting” party and we dyed YARN instead of eggs.

Dear Teachers,

Every spring this is my favorite class activity! I wanted to share it with you because “my kids” enjoy it so much…

When I was a child I used to think bunnies and flowers and eggs were all about Easter. Then I moved to the Middle East. In Egypt, every year, Christians and Muslims celebrate spring together using the themes of flowers, bunnies and eggs! In Iran, the New Year falls on the first day of spring every year and is a national holiday. They celebrate by creating nature tables of springtime items such as wheat grassgrown in little pots, goldfish swimming in small bowls, shiny coins, colored eggs and flowers. Two years ago I visited Iran during No-Ruz (the new year) and was amazed at the variety of nature tables I saw at all the hotels, restaurants and homes! Now, when I plan my April crafts I don’t limit the bunnies, flowers and eggs to Easter Sunday but I celebrate all month with these spring crafts – you might even find me dyeing eggs in May! One of my favorite crafts is called “The Spring Tea Party”

The general idea of the craft is that the children all get to make their
own herbal tea and THEN dye some eggs with that same tea! You can make
this a little silly if you want by making invitations for the eggs and
inviting them to the tea party. Or you can make this event completely
sacred and solemn. It is your choice what to do with the event. However,
here is the basic formula:

Spring Tea Party

Supplies Needed:

Rosehips tea (Pink Dye)
Blackberry tea (Purple Dye)
Cinnamon Tea (Orange/Brownish Dye)
Chamomile Tea (Green Dye)
Lavender Flower Tea (Blue Dye)
Turmeric Spice Tea (Yellow Dye)

SEE-THROUGH Tea Pots or Glass Jars or French Coffee Press

Boiled Eggs

Tea Strainer

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Boil a pot of water

2. You will need a spoon of herb for each cup of water you put in the
pots, jars or coffee press so calculate how many spoons of herbs you
will be putting into the pots and divide this by the children you are
working with so each child can spoon the same amount of herbs into the
pots.

3. Teacher or parent should then pour the boiling water over the herbs
and let steep for ten minutes.

4. At this point the children can pour some tea to drink. Use small cups
so that they may “taste” a little of each one. Have sugar, honey and
milk available for them to add to the tea if they like. Depending on
which container you use you may need to strain the tea through a
strainer to pour it out and the children may need some help. But
don’t strain the tea and THEN serve it because we are going to leave
the herbs in the “pot” for the dying later!

5. After the tea-tasting party is over you can add boiling water to the
herbs in the pots again if there is not enough water left in them. The
pots should be at least ? full. You can also add more herbs for a
deeper dye.

6. Have the children drop the eggs into the tea pots – one at a time.
This usually results in giggles. Leave the eggs over-night. In the
morning you will have colored eggs! You do not need to use vinegar.

7. The next morning show the kids what happens when the eggs “drink the
tea” too!

Enjoy!

It's been a while, an update on life, reason for not keeping up on blog

Hello everyone! I know I have not been doing a good job of blogging and letting everyone know what we are up to and how lifes going.  It has been over a year since my last post! There are several drafts started but not completed sitting there under drafts. Maybe I will put them all together  in 1 post and then you can see bits n pieces. Any way I am very sorry I haven't kept up, theres many reasons I have not kept up and most are to boring to share!  So I am going to start with a little of life and whats kept me busy, then I have a big question for people, and then I may attempt to fillin some of the missing fun we have had.
So most people know I have Fibro, Sciatica and a sleep disorder.  You may even know Iam in pain a lot, that I use a walker or wheelchair for most things that take me away from home. If someone is finding out these thins right now by reading this, Sorry. I didnt leave anyone out intentionally. I have mentioned my health here and on Facebook once in a while. I have not gone into detail for many reasons, mainly Im not comfortable putting it all out for anyone to see, and I try not to complain. I have talked about pain and other things before but I try hard to avoid posting daily, weekly or monthly updates on me and my health, or how much pain Iam in, or what its done to life.I dont want to come across as a complainer, wanting people to feel sorry for me. I do NOT want others to feel sorry for me so DONT start now.  I also dont want to bore people who do not really care about my medical issues. I also do not like to think about it all myself, its a downer. If Iam writing it out Iam thinking it over. So for many many reasons very few people actually know all the facts and details. I did not do this to leave anyone out, it just happened. I have had it brought to my attention that many people that do not know everything do not understand why I do not do many of the things I used to do, and why I dont work, fieldtrips, outings and have people over more, and a few other things.  When Larry or I have tried to explain it does not go well. Unless your here seeing it, daily, weekly and knowing everything it would be hard to understand.  But it has created a few issues. So in an attempt to let people know more about whats going on, and keep people up to date on our life  I found myself wondering how do I do this, how to include more people in our life, letting them know whats going on without making tons of phone calls or putting it all on FB or here or else where. NONE of those options are good. I do not want some things out there for the world,  I dont want people who dont care to be bogged down with info about me, or to come across as a big self absorbed baby.  Unfortunatley this leaves people who do care, who want to know left out. I dont want that either. I realize I have done just that without meaning to.  So here's my solution If you want to know whats going on with my life and medical issues I need you to let me know. You can do this by email, respond here, Facebook, or instant messanger.  I also need to know if you want to be kept up to date as things change and Doctors do their thing. Iam going to put together a list of those wanting to know. I will email those people letting them know whats up and whats going on when theres changes. I can not call everyone and go over it all that way. Its time consuming and I have to much to keep up with here between kids, house, homeschool, my stuff, Husband stuff and whatever else calling is not an option.  It isnt to be mean or because I dont want to talk to you on the phone.  So let me know if you want to know whats up and be kept updated. Iam not going to be spending daily, weekly or even monthly updates. I will only update when things change, or something new comes up. My email is renaissancenh@gmail.com
For now Iam going to share a short version of it all.  I have Fibro, most know that. I also have a long list of other stuff, if your unsure what something in the list is feel free to ask, I dont mind explaining.  So here goes:
Fibro
Sciatica on both sides causing extreme pain and numbness from my lower back to my toes at same time. Odd I know.
Bursitis on both hips, hurts terribly
I have Nerve damage and pain from about the middle of my back down. We are still unsure of cause.
I am in pain 24/7. It never goes away, the only thing that changes is the severity. Some days Iam good, it is tolerable for some part of the day. Other days moving and holding still are both horrible.  I can wake up ok and an hour later not be ok. I can be good half the day and not the other half. Unfortunately when I have a good day I tend to over do it and then I suffer more. Overdoing it is something I'm good at and always regret.
Ok on with the list
MCS also knows as Multiple Chemical Sensitivity. Not a very well known syndrome. If you have an opinion thats somewhere along "it doesn't exist or its make believe" keep the opinion to yourself, I do not want to hear it. I am the one reacting to many chemicals, I Am not arguing over it with anyone.
I also have Narcolepsy a sleep disorder. It causes me to fall asleep doing normal everyday things like cooking, talking, showering, walking,  driving, just to name a few. So between the Narcolepsy and chronic pain that always gets worse when in a vehicle I do not drive much anymore. I cant, its not safe for me, anyone else in the van or others in other vehicles or walking. Iam ok for 15 to 30 minutes depending on the day.
About 5 months ago I woke up and my right shoulder hurt. Over about 1 week it spread to my fingertips. It would come and go. Over the course of another couple weeks it spread to my left shoulder and down to finger tips.  Coming and going. You know how your arm feels when it falls asleep? Well my arms feel similar to that, only worse. Its like having an electrical shock run down your arm and never go away.My hands swell horrid. When it started the pain and numb feeling would come and go. Now its here and staying.  Docs are unsure. It seems to be Nerve pain but we are unsure of the cause. I also have a spot on my upper back that hurts terribly and the pain runs from my spine down both arms. The pain is the least of my concerns with my arms. I Am rapidly losing the use of my arms. I have very little muscle control, strength or grasp in my hands. I drop things daily. Using them only makes them hurt horrible. They get cold easily, were talking cold, If you touch them they feel cold. Its not fun. I am unable to do much writing. Thanksgiving dinner this year was made by my family, I supervised(watched while they did the work pretending they needed my input to do it)
We recently say the Doc over this. He ordered 2 MRI's. I rescheduled them until February. They cost to much, even with our lousy insurance. He also referred me to a Neurologist.
He also says to start planning for when it gets worse. Make arrangements to have help at home for me, kids, house basically everything I can't do. Which is turning into much more that I like and much faster than I want. So we have been moving furniture, books, homeschool stuff, my stuff all around in hopes of making things easier for me and everyone else. We are also changing the way much of the kids schooling is done so that they are more responsible for their education. Also changing things and making sure Larry knows what we are working on.  We have also come up with a way for me to let everyone know what kind of day I'm having and the daily routine will be based on that.
We saw the Neurologist about 1 week ago. Henwas nice, thorough, listened to Larry and I, answered our questions and ordered more tests. In Feb. I will have 2 tests done on my nerves. A nerve conduction tests and I'm not sure the others name. It will tell him more about possible damage,,where damage may be, how severe it is and I'm unsure on anything else. Those tests will be done 1 week after MRIs on neck and upper spine. When he has results for all that I will more than likely have an MRI on my brain. So we should know more in February.
Like I said before if you want me to keep you updated let me know here, on FB, or email renaissancenh@gmail.com  I will need your email also. If I don't hear from you you won't get notified of anything so if you want to know let me know.
Jaelene