With our raw milk and homemade granola bars, I know we seem like hippies to our friends. Of course, those things are probably cancelled out by the occasional trip to Chick-fil-A or the 2 cases of  Girl Scout cookies sitting in my pantry. But still. We’re trying to make better choices and one of our New Year’s resolutions was to eat “real” food. Because after watching Food, Inc. we discovered that we really weren’t eating much in the way of actual nutritious real food. Even the “healthy” things we were buying were full of…crap.

So, we started reading labels and buying organic. We found a source for organic local grass-fed beef (though we’ve cut red meat out of our weekly diet and only eat it on the weekends now) and we started avoiding everything with high-fructose corn syrup in it. We bought Food Rules and started following as many of them as we could. And for both health and financial reasons we stopped eating out. Almost completely. Which is pretty huge for us since we’re often guilty of just picking up something cheap and easy during the week.

And a funny thing happened. Despite the fact that we’re not cooking flavorless low-fat food we felt healthier. Then the other day I stepped on the scale (for my monthly moment of torture) and I’d lost 10 lbs. Without even trying. I am totally attributing it to the fact that I’ve stopped filling my pantry with garbage and I’m so excited about making this change for me, for my husband, and for my kids.

My reason for not doing this sooner was always the cost. Because real food is expensive. Amazingly, though, our grocery bill has stayed pretty much the same. The only difference is that we’re spending our money on things that are good for us and cutting out all of the extra crappy snacks that we shouldn’t have been eating in the first place. We do have to go to more stores to get everything we need. Whole Foods is our primary source, but when we find something for less at another store we make the trip to pick it up there. And this summer we’ll have a big thriving garden in the backyard to save us on our produce costs. Now if only I can convince Thomas to let us get a goat…

In the interest of sharing some real food sources I thought I’d share my favorite sites for all things whole food related:

- If you’re interested in starting a backyard garden to feed your family The Dinner Garden is a non-profit organization that will provide free seeds to those looking to get started.

- Raw Milk Facts provides answers to all you’re questions about raw milk as well as a directory of where to buy it.

- Jo-Lynne at Musings of a Housewife started her real food journey a while ago and has some great information compiled on her site about prioritizing what changes to make and eating “real” on a budget. There is a wealth of practical information there!

- My friend Georgia Natural Mom has been a big inspiration in this whole journey, too. She’s a great resource for recipes and tips for eating real and making your own healthy food. Plus, she’s a super cool person in real life and you should totally check her out!

So those are my favorite sites that are helping us as we are on a quest for real food. Do you have any to share?

I bought this doorway jumper 4 years ago at a consignment sale. I think I paid $6. I would gladly have paid $60 for all the hours and hours of entertainment it has given my babies. And I have at least two kids who have bounced themselves right to sleep in it. I only wish they made them for 5-year-olds…

Traveler 2010

Ivy 2007

For more Wordless/Wordful Wednesday head over to 5 Minutes for Mom and 7 Clown Circus!

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There’s still a chance to enter my giveaway for the “Start an Uproar” EP from Eddy! I’m giving away 3 digital copies!

You know I have a sister, right? A really talented sister? And even though I sometimes forget my “baby” sister is an actual grown-up, this new project of hers makes it down-right impossible not to realize how much she is capable of.

Because, y’all, this EP of hers? Awesome. Like really awesome. Wickedly awesome. (And I’m not just saying that because I feel sorry for her for being so cute and skinny. But I do. Feel sorry for her. Because it would suck to be that adorable and thin all the time. Right? I thought so.)

In fact, if you were to drive by my house on any given weekday at around, say, 5:00pm you might see/hear the sounds of us rocking out to the songs on her EP. And you might even see some dancing on the homeschool room table. The kids dancing, that is. I gave up dancing on tables years ago.

Want to know more? Check this out:

Promo Video from Eddy Sings on Vimeo.

You can also listen to the music at www.myspace.com/eddysings.

Do I lie? It’s fantastic, right? And here’s the best part. I’m giving away 3 digital copies of the EP to my readers because it is just that cool.

You have a few options for entering to win:

- Go to her site www.eddymusic.com and become a fan of her on Facebook

- Twitter about the contest using the hashtage #startanuproar (You get an entry for *EACH* time you Twitter about the contest!)

- Follow @eddysthename on Twitter

You get an entry for each of these things. Just leave me a comment below with your contact info to let me know. The contest ends February 28th, 2010 at 11:00 p.m. so hurry up and start entering. I’ll be choosing winners Monday morning and I’ll send you the digital download right away!

Looking for a fun, eclectic, inexpensive, DIY gift? Then I’ve got just the thing for you!

I made this for my sister for Christmas this year because she loves old records and I thought this would look so cool in her place. I’m actually a little embarrassed to post instructions since it was so incredibly easy. So, Eryn, stop reading right now. I want you to keep thinking I spent hours slaving away on your record clock!

Step One:

Buy an old record at any thrift store, Goodwill, or junk shop. You can use a 45 as well depending on the size of the clock you’re looking to make. I bought this record for a whopping 50 cents!

Step Two:

Pick up a clock kit online or at any craft store. The one I used only set me back $7.99. It came with self-adhesive numbers in the kit but I wanted to go for a more modern look so I left them off.

Step Three:

Mount the clock kit to the record through the pre-established hole in the middle. And Voila! A record clock. (See I told you it was easy!)

For more Wordless/Wordful Wednesday, head over to 5 Minutes for Mom and 7 Clown Circus!

I’m always amazed at the stuff I end up having to say to my kids. You’d think some things would be intuitive for little ones. But, alas, that is not the case. With a 5-year-old, 3-year-old, & 10-month-old I’m sure you can imagine the kind of things I’ve had to make into rules. And if you can’t, well, here you go…

Here are the top 10 rules I shouldn’t have had to make but I totally did.

1. Never put the toilet bowl brush in your mouth. (I wish I were kidding.)

2. Parking lot trash is not something we start a “collection” with. Let’s try Baseball cards instead.

3. No running around naked in the house when we have guests over. (That means you, too, Thomas!)

4. Do not tie baskets to the bunk beds to swing the cats in. Ever.

5. If you don’t know what something is then do not put in your mouth. (This one is for my 5-YEAR-OLD!!)

6. Barbies are never allowed to go in the microwave. No matter how naughty they were.

7. Never ask a person if they are a boy or a girl. You can wait until we get to the car and ask mommy about that one…

8. Tearing pages out of books is not a recreational activity no matter how much fun you think it is.

9. Hair dryers do not ever go in the toilet. That goes for hair straighteners, too.

10. Never ask strangers if they want to see mommy’s C-section scar. Not even mommy wants to see her C-section scar.

For more Top Ten Tuesday goodness, head over to Oh Amanda’s!

I love when it snows in February. It’s just so unexpected. I do not, however, love when it snows on the one Valentine’s weekend that we have a baby sitter scheduled for the first time in the 5 years since we’ve had kids. No, that I do not love.

Even though we didn’t get to go Tango dancing with our good friends, I tried not to be bitter. Especially since the kids were thrilled to have a chance to play in the snow all day Saturday. And, with faces like these it’s almost impossible to be upset for too long.

What is this Daisy Scout’s favorite thing about marching with her troop in a parade?

The bubbles of course!

For more Wordful/Wordless Wednesday, head over to 5 Minutes for Mom and Seven Clown Circus!

Apparently I’m turning into a crazy chicken lady. Which I’m thinking is worse than being a crazy cat lady. And I’m pretty sure my mom is wondering where she went wrong with me because here I am dedicating a whole Top Ten Tuesday to my backyard chickens. I may have officially lost my mind…

1. “Free” eggs! Okay, so I do have to pay for the feed and care of the chickens so they aren’t totally free, but by selling the extra eggs we offset the cost and get to eat delicious, cage free, free range eggs for cheap. And when they hens are at their best we get 8-10 eggs a day which is all kinds of awesome!

2. Chicken litter. We’re big into composting and chicken litter is one of the best things you can put into your compost bins. It’s awesome for your plants and breaks down pretty quickly and easily.

3. The entertainment value. Whether I’m shushing the rooster or unleashing a hen on a class of preschoolers, I have the craziest adventures thanks to these chickens.

4. Baby chicks! I was reluctantly talked into a rooster last year and it turned out to be a really fun addition to our backyard flock. Thanks to the very busy McLovin we had a dozen baby chicks last July and we’re planning to have more chicks again this spring.

5. They’re easy. Chickens really are about the easiest pet we have ever had. Feed them once a day, check for eggs, and clean their boxes once a week and you’re done. They’re less work than a fish tank and much more productive!

6. Teaching opportunities. The girls learn so much from our chicken experiences. They have a better understanding of where their food comes from, they learn responsibility from taking care of them, they learned about caring for baby chicks, and it provides lots of opportunities for hands-on science lessons.

7. The community. We joined the Atlanta Chicken Meet-up group right after we bought our first chicks and we’ve learned so much from the people in this community. We’ve had the chance to meet some really interesting folks and you might be surprised to find how diverse a group it is. In fact, in a recent tour of backyard chicken coops they had twice as many coops in the city of Atlanta as they had in the suburbs which I think says a lot about the new chicken movement.

8. They’re like a living garbage disposal. Here’s the thing you might not know about chickens. They’re a bit like pigs in that they’ll eat anything. In fact, we feed our chickens all of our leftovers. They love grapes and go crazy for spaghetti. And the better they eat the better (and more frequent) their eggs are!

9. They’re not disruptive. Unless you have a rooster, chickens are pretty much one of the quietest backyard pets you can have. Then make a bit of noise when they lay an egg but certainly not anything as loud as your average dog. And even our rooster is really not much louder than a medium sized dog and all of our neighbors have agreed that he’s a much nicer sound than the 100lb. great dane that used to live in our backyard!

10. Not just free eggs, but better eggs. Here’s the other thing about backyard chickens. Because they are cleaner than commercial chicken farms their eggs are less likely to contain salmonella. Which means they are safer. And since our chickens eat all of our left over fruits, veggies, & leafy greens their eggs are super nutritious and delicious!

For more Top Ten Tuesday about things other than my obsession with poultry, head over to Oh Amanda’s!

If you’re interested in learning more about Georgia’s “Right to Grow” bill check out the information here. And to support the rights of Georgians to grow their own food, contact your local representative.

One of our chickens is quite the trooper. She lays a double yolk egg nearly every single day. Look at that thing. HUGE. That’s gotta hurt…