3 in 30 May Update #2

My goals for 3 in 30 and the progress I made on them are below.

1. Finish the projects I did not complete during the past four months.

- Clean half my office - I cleaned off three more shelves in the closet which contained crafting supplies; cleaned off the smaller set of shelves which had household and homeschool supplies; and the left-hand side which was where I kept surplus empty bags.

From that, I:
- threw away one bag of trash;
- have four bags of craft supplies and household items to donate;
- have two large bags filled with plastic grocery bags that I'm going to bring to the grocery store for recycling, and
- have nine bags of paper grocery bags that I'm going to bring to my Mom's home as I continue to clean out my Dad's offices (some will be for items to donate and others for recycling).

Of the remaining supplies, everything is either organized on a shelf and/or in a plastic bin that is labeled with the contents so things are easier to find.

- Finish cleaning the blue room - Still need to dust the furniture and fan; and wash the windows.

- Finish "Shaking Off the Bonds of Stuff...for Lent" - I did not do anything with this project.

- Put trimmed branches from trees in backyard in the firepit - This was done last week.

- Paint the accent areas dark green (behind the bed and over the window on the west side of the room) and the walls white - I did not do anything towards meeting this goal during the past week.

2. Do the Biology of Behavior program. More information about what we are doing is on the here. Sophia, Olivia, and I continued to use acidophilus and grapefruit seed extract three times a day (before each meal). We will do this for seven more weeks. The girls also are taking two multi-vitamins a day (one at breakfast and one at dinner).

Olivia, perhaps, has had the most positive response to using this probiotic (a.k.a. "good germs" - or microorganisms that help to maintain a healthy intestinal tract and aid digestion). For years - from the time she was adopted to now - she has strugged with intestinal issues.

Around the age of five, she went through a battery of tests at the Children's Hospital because her health wasn't improving and her height and weight dropped off the growth charts. After all the tests - and thousands of dollars - the results came back negative or inconclusive. Basically, the specialists didn't know what was going on.

"Hopefully she'll grow out of it," was what the GI specialist said. "Come back in six months and we can run more tests." 

Four years later in April 2012, I attended a homeschool conference and attend a workshop about how health issues can affect learning. I come away from the conference with a concrete plan and hope that things will improve. Within the first week they did. Needless to say, all stomach and intestinal challenges Olivia had been experienced: resolved!

Yesterday, we began the part of the 9-week program by reducing sugar and carbohydrates. This is suppose to continue indefinitely.

I took eight pages of notes from the books recommended by Dianne Craft as well as ones that I ordered from the libary. They are:

- Super Immunity for Kids by Leo Galland, M.D.
- The Yeast Connection Handbook by William Crook, M.D.
- Healing Foods by Michael Murray, N.D.
- Tired - So Tired and the "Yeast Connection" by William Crook, M.D.
- Successful Child by William Sears, M.D. and Martha Sears, R.N.

3. Do a nice Mother's Day meal. My mom wanted to have pizza instead of the planned meal. She thought it would be easier to do. So, my brother is getting the take-and-bake pizza, my sister is getting a cake, and I'll make a couple of salads.

I went grocery shopping and got the ingredients for the salads; and got paper products in blue since that's my mom's favorite color. It's certainly not fancy, but it will save time with clean up.

We also will be packing on Mother's Day for her move to assisted living for a month while her diabetes gets stabilized. I'll be meeting with a couple of representatives from assisted living (including the nurse who does the intake and helps set up the schedule for my mom's daily needs) on Tuesday.

Then, I'm helping her with the move on Saturday (May 19th) - dealing with the movers at her home; getting all her items at the nursing home transferred over to assisted living; getting her apartment set up; and ensuring that the first day of safety checks by health aides, the nurses, etc. all show up and things are in place for her.