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MommaDogs

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About MommaDogs

  • Birthday 03/19/1972

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    Northeast
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    EVERYthing!

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  1. MommaDogs

    DAR

    I'm interested too. I have DAR on both sides of my family, mom and dad. Never did it because it seems too difficult. Looking forward to hearing if you get it done.
  2. LOL I'm addicted to Stevia. I use the English Toffee flavor liquid, or the powder in the raw... but I also grew my own and the only way I could use it was in an extract. It's not bad, and especially if you add some vanilla or other flavorings, it's divine. And I drink it in my coffee and herbal tea every day... but like I said, I use the liquid form. Maybe it's the toffee flavor or maybe it's the liquid, but I never detect an after taste. Here's some info from a stevia article... and by the way, it has medicinal properties as well. While there is no question that stevia is sweet, many users will admit that they have also experienced a bitter aftertaste from some brands. In fact, one of the problems with stevia products currently available from health food retailers is that many of them just plain do not taste good. They often have a distinct grassy taste, with varying degrees of bitterness associated with the sweet. These differences in quality may partly be a result of using non-Paraguayan stevia, partly due to poor extraction and processing techniques and partly the result of ignorance on the part of manufactureres concerning the real nature of the stevia plant. One knowledgeable producer of stevia products is attempting to set up industry standards for grading stevia leaves according to their quality. Grade A stevia would be the highest quality, an extremely sweet grade, with little bitter aftertaste and a concentrated degree of sweetness. This grade is very difficult to obtain due to climatic conditions that prevent harvesting at just the right time. Grade B would be a little less sweet with some minor deterioration of the leaf. Most of the best stevia arriving in the United States from Paraguay is Grade B. The vast majority of stevia sold in the United States would be classified as Grade C, a poor grade with a good deal of grassy, bitter flavor. Extracts of Grade C are particularly unpalatable, possessing far too much bitterness. Manufacturers often try to dress them up with other flavoring agents, but such attempts seldom work. Once you have tasted a premium stevia, you will never be satisfied by lesser products. The bitter principles are actually found in the veins of the leaf, while the leafy material between the veins contains the sweet components. Great care must be taken during production of stevia extract to avoid contaminating the sweet with the bitter. This pertains as much to extraction as it does to milling. http://healthfree.com/stevlife.html
  3. AWWWW thanks It's good to be back - missed you guys and thought of this place often :)
  4. btw if anyone ever needs help budgeting, I'm more than happy to volunteer some time for you. It's a true passion for me to help people get control of their finances.
  5. Sounds like you have a budget, but have you done a post mortem for the past few months? In other words, looked back and categorized your spending? Doesn't help at all to have a budget if you don't know what you've been spending your money on. I'm an accountant and I do budgets for people all the time to help them get out of debt (reminder to self, take own advice lol) I'd recommend making a spreadsheet - on paper or the computer, doesn't have to be very elaborate, only as much as you want. Make categories on what you want to spend money on, and then put your week or month's worth of spending into a category. ex. groceries - 200 a month... then go back and count past 3 months what you DID spend on groceries. Don't forget to pay yourself. I personally TRY for 10% tithe (not doing well there honestly), 10% savings and 5% me/family money. . If you neglect yourself all the time, it feels like punishment. If you have the money to eat out once a month, do it. If you don't, but you can afford a "new" outfit at the thrift store, then do that. If it's only quarterly, then at least you have something to look forward to. Something even Dave Ramsey recognizes is that discipline is a large part of this, but psychology is also up there. If you feel on a diet, for example, like you NEVER get to eat anything other than rabbit food, how long will you stick to the diet before binging? However, if you occasionally allow yourself a "treat" you are more likely to go with it long term. Rewards - both short term and long term (meeting your financial goals and not being on the street are some of them) - need to be in place to make it a lifestyle and not a "diet"
  6. Saw a youtube video - person tried various ways to preserve avocado. In water, lemon juice, airtight, and with an onion. Believe it or not, the onion did the trick. Now I store my cut avocados in the fridge with a half onion in the bag and believe it or not, I get about a week before I have to eat it. (not that an avo would last that long for me, but one time did when I had forgotten it )
  7. I have health care through my work, which I am required to take - it didn't cover the medical care I was receiving prior to the O plan, and my previous annual physicals and labs, which have been covered FREE for the past 20 years of my working life, now cost me $800. I have over $2k in medical bills and I don't know how I will be paying them. Prior to "affordable" coverage everything I needed was covered with just a small copay... in other words, it's not just those unfortunate enough to not have "regular" healthcare through employers, EVERYONE is suffering now, workers, retirees, and unemployed citizens.
  8. How about making your own from a local dairy? If you could find it for cheap enough at a local dairy... You get about 1 1/2 lbs of butter from a gallon of cream. If you can get it cheap enough, all you need is a blender or food processor (or a jar to shake if you don't have those things, but that takes a long time)
  9. Out here in the Northeast, I frequently see hair dye in the clearance section of Walgreens and Rite Aid, sometimes supermarkets. Combined with coupons it can be very reasonable... how about ebay? Maybe you could get lucky and get a free shipping win for just a buck or two?
  10. How much? $99 for only the mother's side. I wonder how accurate it is. After all, we have mapped the genome but we have hardly mapped all known variants.
  11. I always liked art stuff, and it can be had cheaply. Drawing, water paints, and picture books of animals. Lots of good suggestions up there.
  12. Oh, one more note. A bit of essential oils in the bathwater, with some coconut oil as a carrier... dunk yourself under the water to get your hair wet. When you're done bathing, drain the bathtub and shampoo your hair under the shower. It's like a hot oil treatment, and my waist length hair is shiny and beautiful, I never have split ends (I trim my hair yearly if it needs it or not LOL) - and it is not oily since you shampoo after you let the oil soak in for a bit. In fact, my shampoo froths up nicely with the coconut oil in my hair. It has a nice, synergistic effect on it.
  13. I also use it on and in everything. Baking, cooking, dog food, chicken treats, skin, baths, teas. I buy the 5 gallon gold label from Tropical Traditions when it goes on sale... and I pay for the membership, it works out very cheaply compared to other quality EVCOs. It's truly much different than any other oils I have tried - including store bought from Spectrum Organics. And it's storage profile is unmatched by other oils. It has a minimum 5 year storage life, but Tropical Traditions tells me that it really has never gone bad in their warehouse, due to the nature of the product. (antiviral/antibacterial, etc) NOTE: I also make a wonderful antibiotic ointment from EVCO and honey. Equal parts raw honey to virgin coconut oil - blend well and it mixes up into a white, creamy, almost frothy ointment that looks eerily similar to triple antibiotic ointment at the store. Given the moisturizing components of both ingredients, plus antibacterial, antiviral and antifungal properties, and it's edible nature, I use this every time I need to treat the animals for wounds. Keep some on hand to toss in tea or coffee, yum. LOL. Friend walks into house - me - you want some tea - them, yes please... OK, here, just let me toss some triple antibiotic ointment into that for ya. Yum yum. Why is it that my friends never come to lunch anymore?
  14. Hey, all, threw my back out shoveling snow today, so DH is going to do the next step in my ginger beer fermentation tonight. I'm on stage II. Have been doing a lot of root beer lately, and really wanted to try doing the raspberry orange again, now that oranges are more affordable. Did some whey recently in preparation for sauerkraut this weekend, but I think I will change it to kimchee.
  15. When are you going to swing by me? I had wanted to join, but haven't had time to pack my wagon. Any chance you'll be leaving directions for us last minute adds?
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