Buying a new warranty

Well, in line with my last post, I'm am going to buy myself an extended warranty.

I have done my research (well actually Dave did for me since I can't think straight) consulted two doctors - one MD, one Naturopathic - and I'm off to start my plan of rebuilding my adrenals back up. If you are dying to know, I'm going to be taking a boat load of supplements to rebuild since I'm that depleted. I'm taking:

whole desiccated adrenal cortex, but only for a short time.
P5P, the activated form of B6
pantothenic acid
niacinamide
Vitamin C
B12
tyrosine

in addition to my daily multi-vitamin, omega 3's and 6's (say burping fishing oil - yuck), vitamin D, and extra iron. So instead of eating cereal and milk in the morning, I eat a bowl full of pills :-) Well, I prefer that to pharmaceuticals. I did go through adrenal exhaustion before after having Maggie. I was on an adrenal supplement for over a year. My naturopathic doctor did some tests on me and told me that I was one of two patients in all his years of practice who had their adrenals that low. On a scale of 0-10, I scored a 2 (via blood tests, hair sample analysis, and applied kinesiology). I'm guessing that during that year I worked my way up to a 5 or 6, felt much better (in comparison to a 2) and didn't refill my supplements, as they are kind of expensive. 3 pregnancies later (two full, one miscarried), my body has depleted itself again, most likely back into that "2" range or lower, since my symptoms are worse. This time I'm going to do better and stick to my care plan better.

I am also needing to get off the sugar and processed foods. These foods, especially sugar, work the adrenal very hard, so it is necessary to combine this step with the supplements. Pray for me on this journey. This is going to be hard.

My warranty

Today the sun was shining so I knew today would be the day to do any driving errands, as cloudy days make me scared to drive because I get too brain-fogged. Ben was out with me. I missed a few turns and forgot a few very important items (like Ben's birth certificate so he could take his permit test). I was feeling brain-fogged anyway. Ben asked me why I've been so forgetful and spacey lately. I explained that I'm adrenal fatigued. I had a list of symptoms quite long. I can't remember all of what I told Ben, but this is what I'm experiencing...
1. Excessive fatigue and exhaustion, chronic fatigue
2. Non-refreshing sleep
3. Sleep disturbance, insomnia
4. Feeling overwhelmed or unable to cope
5. Craving salty and/or sweet foods
6. Sensitivity to light
7. Low stamina and slow to recover from exercise
8. Slow to recover from injury or illness
9. Difficulty concentrating, brain fog
10. Low immune function
11. Menopause symptoms
12. Low blood pressure
13. Sensitivity to cold
14. Allergies,
15. Arthritis
17. Anxiety
18. Irritability
19. Depression
20. Reduced memory

Then Ben said, "So, basically what you are saying is that your warranty has expired?"

"Yes, I guess when the warranty ends, the product breaks down doesn't it?"

I just hope they don't trade me in for a new model!

So our afternoon of errands went on... We went to the driving school to sign him up for the 6 hrs of Behind the Wheel, but we forgot Ben's money. So I wrote a check. Then we had to drive all the way back home and get his birth certificate and go back to where we were (plus a little farther) to the DMV. I brought the baby in to give her a quick nursing and diaper change, grabbed Ben's money, the birth certificate, and we were off again. Stopped at the bank to deposit Ben's money to cover my check, arrived at the DMV 20 minutes later. I couldn't figure out where to park. The DMV does driver's tests there so there is a small pretend city set up around the grounds for new drivers to take their test right there rather than on real city streets. In my confusion, I ran one of their red lights, and then almost went down a one way the wrong way. It was stupid. It was a street with four lanes going one direction separating two parking lots! Finally I found a place to park, and entered the building only to find out that they locked the door just 3 mintues before our arrival in the building. They close at 3:45??? There was a lady there complaining that they shut and locked the door right as she was the next in line to enter, and that the same thing happened to her yesterday too! I guess when we go next time I'll make sure we go there when public school is in session so we don't have to battle the lines! So back to home we started only to notice that we were almost out of gas! My van is unpredictable, and I've run out of gas in it twice before, so we started praying to make it to a gas station! Well, we did thankfully. Then I went home and took a well needed nap!

The Census

So Dave is not exactly the type to sit down and fill out forms, I usually get that job by default, but today Dave decided he is going to fill out the 2010 Census. I guess filling it out ourselves is better than the years in the centuries prior where someone would come to the door and meet our barely speaking English immigrant ancestors; ask their name, age, and race; and then illegibly misspell the name the census worker thought they heard on their forms so that we can look it up 150 years later on ancestry.com. I digress. So Dave is filling in the info and I can see that each person is dedicated their own page. I ask him how many people can be filled in, after all, we have a large family and on other forms I usually have to add a second sheet and write, “see attached”. Luckily there are room for 12 people! If Josiah were still living at home, we’d have filled the whole thing! Hey the Larsens can fill the whole thing! Cool. I digress again. So, Dave is having trouble remembering everyone’s birthdays and I’m thinking this could be quite entertaining... so I quietly listen to him fill in the blanks... out loud. Dominic decides he’s the birthday expert and wants to help. I giggle. Dominic is feeding him wrong information. Giggle again. Other kids correct Dominic. Then Dave gets one right, and Dominic tells him he’s wrong. More kids correct him. By this point I can’t keep it in. “See how hard it is!!!” I exclaim. I just had to list all their birthdays last Friday - and I had to do it in a couple minutes. Dave so far has taken quite a few, of course his little assistant wasn’t making things any easier. Oh what a joyful and heartwarming, funny moment. At least I don’t feel like the only one with birthdate memory loss any more... :-)

Book Review: John Treegate's Musket

Description from the Bethlehem Books web site:
"It is 1769, ten years since America’s colonial militia had joined with the British regular army and defeated the French for dominion of Canada. The current of feeling about what it means to be loyal to the King has changed. While many colonists are angry about England’s unjust taxation, wealthy merchant John Treegate remains fiercely loyal and certain that an agreement can be reached between the colonies and their mother country. Deciding to travel to England to appeal to the government there means leaving his motherless, eleven-year-old son Peter on his own, apprenticed to one of Treegate’s friends, a manufacturer of barrel staves. Peter’s new master is not severe, but the senior apprentice is a vicious bully and worse. A chain of events leads to trouble for Peter—involving murder, shipwreck, loss of memory, adoption by a strange and bitter Scotsman, until finally he is reunited with his father on the eve of America’s battle for independence. First title in the acclaimed Treegate Series.


Kristi's review: I found this book to be one of the most intriguing historical books on the Revolutionary War time period. The writing style is very impressive. All of our kids (k-9th gr) enjoyed listening to Dave read this aloud. We so enjoyed it that we located the out of print sequels. Bethlehem Books does intend on printing the next two, so I've heard, but we couldn't wait for them so our local library ordered them for us. We are reading the 3rd currently, "Sea Captain from Salem" and there is a very funny chapter on how to test gunpowder, whether the Devil is brave enough to enter the gunpowder room; and an thought provoking section just a few pages later about a character named Peace of God who prays for his enemy (the British) after he kills him. A master gunner says, "I seen him in the fight outside Boston, on that hill, bring down a grenadier with a hanger and then go down on this knees beside him and pray for him. And righ in the middle of it up comes another, and Peace of God left off praying long enough to bring him down too. And then he kneels between the two of them, with the battle smoke drifting over them, and call them poor sinners like himself and asks God to receive them joyfully into the everlasting glory, Amen."

"Seems odd to kill a man and then pray for him," said the powder boy named Dickie.

"Odd it is," replied the master gunner. "And yet if you take another look at it, it's odder yet to kill a man and not pray for him."

William's precious laughing

School Begins!

Our 2007-08 School Year has officially begun. We were sort of casual. The kids did a lot of playing. Dominic is starting kindergarten (though he doesn't know what that means - and who really does at that age?) He started the day excited about his books, then it all went downhill because his number 8 wouldn't write the way he wanted. So I told him to try a different book. Then he didn't like writing a B, so he took a nap. Must have needed it too, he slept for 2 hours.
The other kids were happy that they got recess. Isn't is weird that all summer long I say to go play outside, and they just say "I'm bored", then when school starts and I allow them 30 minutes or whatever, to have recess - they all love it.
Isn't the picture of Jeremiah building a mosaic perfect. See what he can do when no one is taking his stuff. I had to guard his stuff from 5 other kids who wanted the blocks at the same time! Oh - and today the little kids disappeared while I was doing some schooling with the middle kids. Later Jeremiah appears with all his armour on claiming to be Eric the Red - I didn't even know he knew who Eric the Red was! We haven't talked about Vikings in half a year! Smart kid.

Since when is cloning legal?

I gave Jeremiah a hair cut. I buzzed his hair, which I'd never done before. I then buzzed Isaiah, which I always do. I knew the two of them looked alike, but this is scary. Do they have duplicate DNA?