You’ll remember, of course, that we put up a pool this year.  It has been wonderful for the children to swim on hot afternoons.  Sister has taught herself how to go underwater and do flips (front and back).  She has also learned that you can open your eyes beneath the surface and that you only have to hold your nose if you want to.  Brother is learning how to deal with all of Sister’s antics and how to give orders safely perched upon the ladder.

We learned about something else around here too - something not so wonderful.  Swimmer’s ear.  Sister complained of pain in her ear so we went to the doctor who prescribed heavy-duty ear drops to clear the infection - which they did.  It was a somewhat unpleasant experience with crying and pleading and a few angry words (That was just me; you can only imagine how Sister took it.)  so we are not keen on repeating the experience.  To that end we put  2-3 Swim-Ear drops in Sister’s ears each time she gets out of the pool.  I could have purchased some at the store to the tune of $4 per ounce but chose instead to make my own with equal parts rubbing alcohol and white vinegar and packaged them in this pretty container.  Cheap solutions work for me.

For other great tips check out this list.

I can touch my toes!  See, I told you you wouldn’t be impressed.  But I am because after three days of rather excruciating herniated disc pain, I can touch my toes.

Now let’s see if I can still say that nine eight months from now.

I used to have migraines - 3 to 4 day migraines at least twice every month.  They started when I was a teen and continued for many years.  Even after I knew the cause nothing seemed to cure them.  See, I experienced severe anemia during both of my pregnancies and once when I went to give blood they turned me away because my iron level wasn’t even on the chart.  It was after this that I finally realized the headaches seemed to follow a rhythm remarkably similar to my womanly cycle.

I started taking a multi-vitamin regularly and that helped for a month or so.  Then I guess my body re-adjusted because things went back to “normal.”  I added a B-12 supplement to the mix as well as a regular dose of Ferrous Sulfate (yuck! and the warnings? scary!)  Even that was only marginally successful.  Then I found mention of a chlorophyll supplement that supposedly tricked your body into thinking it had enough iron.  Hmm, that might work.  I ordered the supplement and found that over the course about six months (100mg daily) the migraines all but disappeared.  Cool.  Then I got a little cocky and let my supply run out.  The very next month the migraines came back in full force.  Not cool.

So I have a solution to my migraine dilemma but I don’t like it.  I don’t like it because I don’t like being dependent on a product that I can’t produce myself in some fashion.  What to do? What to do?  More research leads me here and here where it finally clicks.  Chlorophyll comes from plants.  I know this, of course.  I even tease about it telling people I drink plant blood for breakfast.  But finally, I actually “get” it.  I don’t need a supplement.  I need a salad.  But a really intense salad.  A 20 serving salad.   ……  Right.  Like that’s going to happen on a daily basis.  But can and it does in the form of a green smoothie.  I’ve been drinking one each day for a couple of weeks now and I feel great.  I’m still taking my supplements but I’m down to 50mg/day instead of 100 so that’s progress.

Anyway, I said all that to say this:  Happy Foody is hosting a 30 day Green Smoothie Challenge.  I’m in and I think you should be too.  It certainly can’t hurt to get more greens in your diet and who knows you might actually feel better at the end of it.

Don’t know how to make a green smoothie?  A quick google will yield some 183,000 results.  Or you could just do what I do.

 *Add about 4 oz of yogurt to the bottom of your blender.  That’s one of those single serving yogurt containers or a couple of large spoonfuls from a bulk container.  I use vanilla but berry blends also work well.

 * Add one long squeeze of agave nectar (or honey.)

 * Add two handfuls of washed baby spinach and one handful of washed and cut kale or turnip greens.  Don’t pack it down.

 (I don’t have a heavy duty blender so the order is important.  It may not be for you.)

* Flip the switch and let it blend until it looks something like this.

*Add a handful of wheat germ. (It should go without saying but … stop the motor first.)

*Add some frozen unsweetened berries to taste.  Mix and match blueberries, strawberries, raspberries etc. or just use your favorite.

*Blend until very smooth.

*Pour and enjoy.

*This “recipe” if I may use that term for such loose instructions tends to yield about two cups or 16 oz of smoothie.

One last note - “green” smoothie describes the leafy content and most likely will not represent the actual color of your drink.  For this reason I only give my children smoothies with lids that hide the sludgy like appearance.   I’m just sayin’.

I’ve mentioned before that we like making smoothies around here but only recently have I felt confident enough to make up a recipe on the fly.  This morning Brother ate one bite of biscuit for breakfast so sometime around 11 it occurs to me that he may be in need of nutrition (y’know ‘cuz I’m a really good mom that way).  Anyway, a quick raid of the fridge yields some frozen blueberries and strawberries, Activa vanilla yogurt and whole milk.  Pull some wheat germ from the cupboard and agave nectar off the counter.  Toss it all in the blender and voila!  A yummy sweet treat that’s full of antioxidants, active enzymes, vitamins and other good stuff.  But most importantly, nutrition for even the most discriminating eater.

In case you’d like to create this yumminess for yourself I’ve provided the recipe below… at least as well as I remember it.

’bout 1/2 cup frozen blueberries

’bout 1/2 cup frozen strawberries

4 oz container of vanilla yogurt

2 big spoonfuls of wheat germ

1 long squeeze of agave nectar (maybe a tablespoon?) (You could easily sub honey here.)

whole milk (enough to almost cover the ingedients in the blender)

What sorts of quick treats do you make for your family?

So Will is laying in bed and I am working wasting time on the computer and out of nowhere he says, “Would you do a Google search for me?”

“Uhm, okay… let me just finish this very important thing I’m doing. (not) .. alright, what is it?”

“Do a search on ‘light causes sneezing.’”

As I type the words the question “where does he come up with this stuff?!” rolls through my head.  Imagine my surprise when in the middle of my typing, Yahoo (I don’t do Google) offers several possible search options similar to mine.  I go with “bright light causes sneezing” and ultimately end up here.

There is no point to this post really.

No, really… there was no point.  You can stop reading now.