Thanks to everyone who entered our contest for a $25 gift certificate to Naturalpod.com!  Congratulations to ky2here who is looking forward to buying a branch raft boat.  As always, there are more great contests scheduled for the near future, so stay tuned for updates .  Don’t forget that you can sign up for email updates of the blog in the right hand sidebar, or follow me on twitter for the latest posts (random musings, prayer requests and family updates included at no-charge)!

There’s a wave of change moving through the church and it’s relation to finances.    This move to reform our financial lives is spear-headed by big names like Dave Ramsey, Crown Financial Ministries, and others – but it is blossoming in the hearts of believers continent-wide.  This movement to eliminate debt and to owe no man nothing but love is a common sentiment that I find amongst my blogosphere travels.

One of the most popular techniques for managing a monthly budget is the envelope based budget system.  I’ve seen these in action, and they’re very helpful for ’segmenting’ monthly spending, and not ‘borrowing’ from other areas of the budget.    Neobudget is a very affordable online envelope budget software that costs only $2.50/month.  Most of these cost $10/month, so if you’re looking for this sort of solution, you should check them out!

Saturday is normally a day where we are more heavily involved in domestic pursuits than usual.  We have our family-only Keepers at Home meeting (irregularly, must be more consistent!), work on developing forgotten domestic arts, and do some bulk cooking.  Not to mention getting caught up on the dishes – still have the laundry to go though!

Today we had a surprise addition to our domestic activities.  There aren’t many children in our neck of the woods, most farmers in Alberta are 60+ and we’ve seen the evidence of that.  Our new neighbours to the North are the only children other than ours that live right around us.  There was a homeschooling family down our road with 4 boys but they moved soon after we came here to life.

The two oldest girls came down for a visit – and to learn to knit today!  At our visit a few weeks ago the subject came up, I mentioned that Kaelynn is learning to knit (she’s great!) and everyone was so excited!  The oldest daughter (12) made it through around 20 stitches and is getting the hang of things, I’m going to pick up some better ‘beginner’ supplies for her though, because Kaelynn is using our ‘big’ needles and yarn.  I taught myself to knit from books, and from a few minutes of help from Larry’s mom – it makes a HUGE difference having someone ‘on-hand’ to help out.  It’s thrilling to pass on art-forms that are no longer widespread to the next generation, I only wish I knew more!

Isn’t that a headline that every woman loves to read?  The combination of chocolate and pregnancy is certainly enough to get my attention!    Not that we really need an excuse to eat more chocolate, right?  Truly though, current research is showing the benefits of eating potent dark chocolate – it’s full of minerals and antioxidants – I know it’s bitter, but it does give a hit of that theobromine goodness.

The latest news about chocolate comes from Elizabeth Triche of Yale University and her colleagues. The researchers studied 2,291 pregnant women who gave birth between 1996 and 2000. They asked the moms-to-be how much chocolate they ate in their first and second trimesters and tested blood from their umbilical cords for theobromine, a telltale component of chocolate. Women who ate the most chocolate were about 70 percent less likely to develop preeclampsia than those who eat the least, the researchers report in this month’s issue of the journal Epidemiology.

Chocolate = Good, Preeclampsia = BAD.

Enough said.

So my dear pregnant friends, share this information with your husband when he next raises an eyebrow at your chocolate nibbling ways.

If you’re looking for some particularly sumptuous chocolaty treats, you can find some yummy dark chocolate for pregnancy at Intentional Chocolate, but you’ll have to wade through some new-agey sentiments to get there – please ignore those, chocolate will do it’s job just fine without being infused by ’spiritual energy’, thanks very much.

Despite our plans to head down to Larry’s parents for his brother’s memorial we were rudely interrupted by a gallbladder attack last night.  Larry started a traditional Hulda Clark gallbladder cleanse that lasted through last night and this morning, and is now feeling greatly relieved from the pain/discomfort from the distended gallbladder, but is still regaining his strength from the fast.

Sadly we missed the memorial though our thoughts and prayers were with his family.  We’ll have to be more faithful on regularly flushing that naughty gallbladder out so that surprises like this don’t come up in the future.

Our family has been enjoying healthy and delicious virgin coconut oil in our home for years.  As public awareness continues to increase about the dangers of trans-fatty acids and consumers search out healthier fats that aren’t polyunsaturated, brands of coconut oil have been popping up like toadstools after the rain!

Despite the bombardment of brands (which quite honestly makes our family confused when we’re shopping at the natural foods store), Tropical Traditions was there first (you can watch this youtube clip to learn more).  They are the first brand of coconut oil our family used, they remain the most affordable, the most reliable, the most consistent, and the most delicious! They’re also believers!  You can read founder Brian Shilhavy’s testimony here.

We’ve tried the other brands, and no matter what fancy terminology they use for their processes I haven’t found any that beat Tropical Tradition’s traditional hand-processing of coconuts into oil.  Their Gold Label Virgin Coconut Oil is the creme-de-la-creme of coconut oils, perfect for eating raw, blending in smoothies, sauces, and all sorts of recipes – personally I love the delicate flavor it adds to our gluten-free chocolate cake!  If you’re not sure how to use it, there are many free coconut recipes available in their online collection, and it doesn’t hurt that they also seem passionate about providing gluten-free recipes either!  Our family also uses it as a sumptuous skin lotion – quick tip, rub it into cradle cap to soften, then brush gently with a surgical nail brush to remove, fast, gentle and effective!  It’s also great for dry skin of any type.

The ultimate source for all things coconut oil-related if you’re just getting started is Tropical Tradition’s book - Virgin Coconut Oil by Brian and Marianita Shilhavy, with over 70,000 copies in print, it contains testimonies, health benefits, and over 85 recipes to help you reap the benefits of coconut oil in your daily life.  You can receive a FREE copy of this title with your first order if you are a new customer by entering my sponsor ID – 2597923 - in the ‘Referred by a Friend’ field in the “How did you hear of us?” box during your first online purchase.  This book will be sent right out to you for free, a $15 value!

In the meantime, I do have a contest for my US/Canadian readers to win 1 – 32 oz. jar of Tropical Traditions Gold Label Virgin Oil!

CONTEST DETAILS:

Thanks to Tropical Traditions I have 1 – 32 oz. jar of Gold Label Virgin Coconut Oil to give away to one blessed winner in the U.S. or Canada!  To enter, visit Tropical Traditions online and let me know one item other than the Gold Label Oil that you’d like to try.

For additional entries:

1.  Subscribe to Tropical Traditions email newsletter to stay updated on sales, new products, and more (they have SUPER sales!)

2. Subscribe to this blog for updates – see the left hand sidebar. Leave an additional comment letting me know you’ve subscribed (or if you already subscribe).

3. Write a post on your blog promoting and linking to this contest. Leave an additional comment with a link to your post.

4. Add the Quiverfull Family button (see the code box in the right hand sidebar under BUTTON UP!) to your blog’s sidebar, or let me know if you already have the button displayed. Leave an additional comment with a link to your post.

5. Digg, Stumble, Tweet, Facebook or otherwise share this post on a social networking site. Leave an additional comment indicating how you shared this post.

6. Follow me on Twitter or let me know if you are an existing follower.

Each additional step taken counts for 1 additional entry. A total of 7 entries are available if you complete all of these steps. Please leave a separate comment for each entry!

The contest will close at 12 a.m. MST on Wednesday, December 02nd, 2009. One (1) winner will be randomly drawn for the 32 oz. jar of Tropical Traditions Gold Label Virgin Coconut Oil on Thursday, December 03rd, 2009 and notified by email. Please fill your email address in the comment form when you are completing your comment so that I can contact you. The winners must respond with a mailing address within 72 hours of my email, or a new winner will be chosen. This contest is open to those living in the US/Canada.

I look forward to seeing God bless a reader with this fabulous oil!

This is a Mama Buzz review. The product was provided by: Ultimate Cloth America for this review.

The Ultimate Cloth is the first cloth to receive a new patent in 25 years – made of MiraFiber (I have NO idea what this is!), I wasn’t sure what to expect when I signed up to review one.  You can find more information about the cloth itself here. I pulled it out of it’s envelope, and it was flat, like a super-tough paper towel, but less textured (seemingly).  This little cloth that seemed so innocous is a real workhorse though!

Designed for chemical-free cleaning, and laboratory tested to remove 96% of bacteria (NO, it isn’t a micro-fiber or Norwex like product), you just add water, wring, and wipe with it damp.  It’s amazing, it pulls dirt, oil, everything into it.  I cleaned my laptop (delicate screen included), television screen (full of fingerprints), bedroom mirror – fingerprints again, my printer, and one of my living room windows (let’s just say…ugh).The results are awesome.  I spent $30 for a fancy ‘cleaning kit’ when I bought my iMac a couple of years ago with a fancy no-drop spray, and two microfiber cleaning cloths so I wouldn’t scratch the screen.  And you know what an Ultimate cloth costs? $6.00.  That kills me!  You can use these ANYWHERE, you just rinse them out or wash them, and they are good to go again with a reported life span of 5 years.

I’m most amazed by the windows – moms if you have sticky tape residue on your windows from painting children’s artwork/craft projects up…just a little light pressure from the cloth and the tape residue comes right off!  It won’t go through the top layer of the tape – the plastic part, but if it’s already been peeled off once and left a bunch of gum – this will do it!  With no apparent abrasion to the cloth either, just balled up sticky residue that is easily picked off.  No more razor blades or expensive solvents!  Just wanter and this cloth!

I have done a LOT of cleaning in my day – my mother owned a professional cleaning company and I worked with her and my father, and I’ve never seen anything like this before.  We used to use a ‘cleaning’ cloth and polish up with a dry, clean cloth because most traditional cloths just push the dirty water around, it’s hard to clean and ’sop’ up in one pass.  But you can actually SEE the cloth picking up the dirt – it immediately transfers from the dirty surface to the cloth leaving a lint-free, streak free, CLEAN surface behind using only water.  Because it folds flat you can sneak it into tricky spots, use the corner alone, and refold to provide 8 different cleaning surfaces.

This is one of the ’stickiest’ products I’ve seen in years, it’s going to spread like wildfire through word of mouth alone, and is completely new.  Thankfully there are discounts available for bulk orders here.  I’m going to have to buy more!

Even better, there is supposed to be away you can get your hands on one for free – I don’t have the details yet, but if you follow Ultimate Cloth on Twitter or Facebook you can be amongst the first to find out how you can try one yourself at no charge.

Yesterday I had the opportunity to head into town all by myself.  Now, that might sound strange to some, but this is my second trip with nobody with me this year – everyone stayed at home with my husband.  Alone time is a rare commodity for many mothers, and it’s the same for me.

So, what did I do with my precious alone time?  I hit the local library used book sale!  I’d noticed it the last two times we were in town and driving by the library, but with some free time I thought I’d drop by.  I brought home two cardboard boxes full of books!  Seems they were clearing out their children’s reference section of some ‘less-desirable’ titles, so I was in there like a dirty-shirt!

My husband was thankfully gracious when I arrived home (he didn’t complain) and instead rummaged around in the books to find his favourites .  Unlike most homeschooling families we don’t use the library often (fines, lost books, you name it!) so I’m building one of our own!  Now if only I had a few more bookcases .

We’re having an absolutely gorgeous November here.  There’s no snow on the ground, and the weathers have been soaring…up to 10 above zero C!  Pretty balmy for up here in Alberta.  Still, when the days get shorter and temperatures drop, it’s tempting to think about life in warmer climes.  Earlier this year (last winter) I was so tempted to move, the winters are SO long here – a more temporary solution would be looking into vacation rentals.

Offering a more personal experience than a hotel, these homes that you can rent are available everywhere from San Diego area vacation rentals to Alberta, Canada vacation rentals - right near us!  In fact, it’s an international site so you can look up rentals around the world.

Stay warm, wherever you are!