Dang that Toothpaste

Arrrrrrg!  I am so sick of waking up in the morning and finding that the inside of my mouth has peeled due to toothpaste!  I was using Colgate Total and loved it, but was a little annoyed because the bottom left side of my mouth would peel every morning after using it.

I talked to the dentist about it and he said I should buy a "sensitive" toothpaste.  I bought Colgate Sensitive and was so happy with the large sized tube.  I thought for sure that my peeling problems were over.  After using the sensitive toothpaste, I woke up and found that the WHOLE interior of my mouth had peeled, clear up to my lip line!  What the L???  I waited about two weeks and tried it again with the same results.  I want my money back!

I contacted Colgate and will see how this turns out.  I don't think I am defective, because my dentist said when he uses certain toothpastes that it makes his mouth peel also.  I love my dentist and believe every word that falls from his lips.  And the most important thing..he has cute hair :)

Serenading Crickets

Each night when I go to bed, crickets serenade me through the moments when I am falling asleep.  Their busy little legs are working overtime.  I am so glad it is crickets instead of dogs barking.

It always drives me nuts when I hear the neighbor's dog barking just outside my open window.  I want to get out the paintball gun and plaster him with neon pink paint!  If I had a paint ball gun that is what I would do.  Then when I go to work the next morning I would see my handiwork plastered all over the black and white and pink dog.  With a smirk on my face and a giggle in my heart I would love to see that as I drive past.  I bet it wouldn't be too long before the dog learned not to come to my yard and bark his guts out at night. 

So the crickets are a welcome sound outside my window and remind me of happy thoughts as I drift to sleep....home in Tabiona....Jimney Cricket...

Birthin' Babies

I watched The Business of Being Born yesterday and actually felt quite proud of the birthing choices I had made.  I had three of my babies at home and all of them natural and would have had the fourth at home except for several factors that played into it:  living in Colorado away from the midwives, being in labor and not knowing how bad it was going to get, stopping in Roosevelt, having to travel many hours in the back of a van to get to Salt Lake.  All these things played into it.

As a young girl, when I read Mrs. Mike that was the first time I thought of having babies at home.  Mrs. Mike was married to a Canadian Mountie and had no choice except to have a midwife with her for the birth of her babies.  The romantic factor that played into it was when the Northern Lights danced when her babies were born.

Before I was even pregnant I bought a book Spiritual Midwifery by Ina May Gaskin.  I read it from cover to cover several times.  Ina May lived on the "Farm" which I think was a hippie commune.  She was a midwife and delivered babies all the time without incident.  At the end of the book it says, paraphrasing:  "If you are pregnant and can't take care of the baby, please come to the Farm and have the baby and let us take care of it.  Don't have an abortion."  I loved Ina May at that point.  I loved the Farm and the idea of having babies at home.  I knew my mom was going to have a problem with it though and she always did.  I was the first person I knew in my generation to have babies at home.

When I was pregnant the first time, I went to a medical doctor and tried to express some of my interest and fears, and he blew me off and said, we will talk about it when you are closer to having this baby.  I walked out of his office feeling like a cow in a herd.  I started searching for midwives in Utah and I found some incredible organizations and women.

So as I watched the movie yesterday, all the feelings came flooding back about birthin' babies.  Even though baby #1 was born in a hospital, I did not take drugs, so I have never had a drug induced birth.  Let me tell you, they were painful.  After baby #1 was born, I talked to my mom and said, "I can't believe you did that 5 times!!!!"  All the books I had read talked about moving, and walking, and being an active part of the birth rather than laying there like a slug.  I didn't want to be a slug.  I didn't want the drugs I took to have an affect on my babies.  So those are the reasons for my choices.  Husband, at the time was very supportive because we had no insurance and because a home birth was only around $1,000.  Cheap!

Please do not be offended by anything I have said here.  This information is based on my life and my choices at the time when I was having babies and does not reflect any negative sentiment on having babies in hospitals or with drugs.  It is always your own choice and however you choose to have your baby is perfect.

Can Your Horses Sleep Over?

I live on an acre of land and am not good at plowing down the weeds, or should I say "natural grasses" that thrive here.  So I am always grateful when someone asks if they can bring over their horses to eat their way around the house.  Currently I have a friend's two horses right outside my house plowing through the weeds for me.  Last night at a meeting I heard that the rye grass was only about 18 inches tall in our city.  Not so at my house.  The rye grass is over 3 feet tall here.  So you can see why I am always glad that friends will allow their horses have a sleep over.

There's a Spider in my Dishwasher

I opened the dishwasher and a big, fat, black, hairy jump spider jumped and ran down the interior door of the dishwasher.  It was a clean load of dishes.  How in God's green earth did a jump spider get in the dishwasher you ask?  Well, I'll tell you.  I don't know.  But I knew I had to kill the spider and wash the dishes again lest I find a spider nest and webs on my clean cups.  I chased him inside the dishwasher with a fly swatter and accomplished my task.  What can I do next that will rival the fun of a jump spider in the dishwasher?

This is a test

This too!