Author: Modern Wife

A Child’s Creation Story

My daughter loves hearing about how she was born. I tell her about her beginning as a tiny baby the size of a pea growing inside my belly. I tell her about how happy I was when she grew big in my belly and I felt her kicking against me. I tell her about the dream I had of her being held by a larger-than-life statue of the Madonna whose face looked like Freddie Mercury. I tell her that dream meant she had the gift of music.

I tell her that a few hours before she was born, her Daddy and I took a walk around the neighborhood and rescued a lost dog. I tell her that when it was time for her to come out, three midwives came to our home to help me. She likes thinking of them as three fairy godmothers. I tell her that at some point I hugged her Daddy and he could feel her kicking against us, pushing just as hard as I was. I tell her that when she finally came out, she blew all the fluid out of her nose and let out a strong cry, her first song. I tell her that when she was all wrapped up warm in a blanket, her Daddy sang her the “Macaroni” song.

I tell her that three days after she was born, she started turning orange. I said, I don’t want a pumpkin. I want a baby! So we went to Children’s Hospital and put her under bright lights. In a few days she was back to being a baby and we took her home.

At five years old, she began adding to the story. She says that once she was an angel who wanted to be human. She looked over all the mothers and fathers in whole world and picked us. Then she came into my belly and started growing there. I tell her how lucky we were that she chose us.

I suppose it is natural for humans to be curious about our origins. Where proof ends, we speculate. Cultures create and appropriate their own versions of creation myths. Even Science has its own unproven theory of our beginnings. We need these stories to give us a sense of identity. These stories, like stars, guide us as we navigate the future.

August 23, 2011
How Does Your Garden Groove?

Vacation comes, school is out
Summer ends, year in, year out.

-Neil Young

I can’t believe the summer went by so fast. This summer marks Malaya’s first theatre production. My baby girl is all grown up and onstage! Here is a video (a little over 13 minutes) of their summer camp production of “How Does Your Garden Groove?” by Michael and Jill Gallina. She played Pea # 2. And the sweetest pea in the garden, she is.

August 21, 2011
The Pretzel Fairies

What do you do with two 6-year-olds on a misty Sunday afternoon?

Make pretzels! It’s so easy making pretzel dough on the breadmaker. And after seeing me make spider-shaped pretzels, the girls, still wearing their fairy wings, took over with their own creations: bacteria… uhrm… dots of some sort.

Still yummy! 😀

More pretzel shapes:
music notes and G-clef
skeleton bones

August 7, 2011
Safe Cosmetics

This video, “The Story of Cosmetics,” is presented by the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics and the same people who created the really eye-opening and much-recommended to watch, “The Story of Stuff.”

I’ve been reading about toxic ingredients in cosmetics and body products since 1997 when I first read Dr. Hulda Clark‘s book, “The Cure For All Cancers.” Back then I was a toxic cocktail of body products, and it showed on my acne-ridden face. I was stuck on a vicious cycle of covering up my acne with toxic cosmetics, thus causing more breakouts to cover up. I had to go cold turkey, through herbal cleanses and zapping sessions, and endure the many months of my body detoxing from the abuse I had heaped upon it for years. It wasn’t easy, and it wasn’t instant. It took at least a year, if I remember correctly. There were many times when I questioned what I was doing, and was tempted to fall back to my old habits. Whenever my courage flagged, I read more and more books about the subject matter. Natural Organic Hair and Skin Care: Including A to Z Guide to Natural and Synthetic Chemicals in Cosmetics comes to mind, in addition to other titles by Hulda Clark.

When my skin finally cleared, my mind cleared as well. I became well-versed in body product ingredients. I could quickly pick out ingredients to avoid: anything with the syllable prop in it, such as isopropyl alcohol and propylene glycol, sodium laurel sulfate, anything with the syllable benz in it, such as benzoyl peroxide. These big ones alone are difficult to avoid. It doesn’t matter if the bottle says “All Natural” or “Organic” on it. Almost every product on the store shelf has at least one of these chemicals in it. They are petroleum-derived and toxic. Do Not Want.

I became known among my family and friends as an all-natural girl. It’s tough when my mom proudly shows me a new body product she’s using with the words “All Natural” in big letters on the bottle, and then when I turn to read the label the first ingredient on it is propylene glycol. Why must I always be the bearer of bad news? Help me out here. Let’s all get educated on the ingredients of the products we rub on our selves and our children. Read those labels and learn to discern between a healthy product and a toxic one.

The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics has made it easier for us by compiling a list of companies who are committed to producing only products that are safe and nontoxic. See if your favorite products made the list. Let your dollars vote on the products that are safe and nontoxic to us and the environment. You and your family are worth the effort.

July 12, 2011
Farmers Market Finds

Our local farmers market is back! The Coastside Farmers Market at Rockaway Beach in Pacifica, California is the best source of locally grown produce from May through November. Today was the first farmers market day of the year.

It was great to see my favorite vendors again. There’s the Indian food stall, the only seller who accepts credit card payments. He also offered to give me cash back today, because everyone else at the farmers market takes cash only. Santiago has the sweetest fruit! He charms me with his rhymes and adds free fruit to my bag after what I selected has been weighed and paid for. Manang and Manong are organic farmers from Fresno who gives my daughter fruit in exchange for a Filipino song.

I was also glad to see something new: springtime fresh local honey from nearby Montara, and the coveted honeycomb (my husband’s favorite!) from San Mateo. Honey grown locally is the answer to springtime pollen allergy. Honey from far away just does not have the same elements as what we are surrounded with, and therefore cannot do its job of providing our immune system with the key to dealing with the pollen in our environment.

Sometimes we have eggs at the farmers market, but sometimes we don’t. Today we had some farm fresh eggs from free range chickens fed only organic feed and rainwater in Half Moon Bay.

I mentioned to the farmer lady that my daughter’s kindergarten class kept eggs in an incubator and they recently hatched! The farmer lady gave my daughter a lesson about chickens and eggs: Did you know that you can tell what color eggs a chicken will lay by looking at the color of its ears? Fascinating, isn’t it?

There are so many reasons to buy our food from the Farmers Market. We support locally grown food that has a smaller carbon footprint than those grown and transported from far away. We support our local farmers and put the money straight into their hands instead of funneling it through large faceless corporations. We support family farms and organic farmers. We get to talk to the people who grow our food, and learn firsthand from them about where our food comes from.

Most of all, when we sit at the dinner table with our families, bless the food we are about to eat and bless the hands that made them, we can visualize the very people we are blessing before we enjoy the food they grew for us.

May 4, 2011
How to Zap

My family uses a zapper to keep ourselves healthy. The video above is of my husband demonstrating how to use a zapper. I’ve explained what zapping and the zapper is in my blog entry, Doing Nothing When My Child is Sick. Here is an excerpt:

Zapping has to be the best kept secret to health. The concept and practice of zapping has been studied and documented for over a hundred years beginning with Nikola Tesla in the 1900s. In a nutshell, a zapper is a device that emits a frequency which resonates throughout the body to shatter bacteria, viruses and germs, much like a singer shatters glass with the right pitch and frequency.

Despite the zapper not being acknowledged by the FDA and the medical establishment, I’ve been using the zapper since I came across it in 1997, with satisfying results. My daughter does not know life without it. Zapping doesn’t feel like anything, there is no electrical jolt or buzz. It’s the ultimate in doing nothing because you just sit there holding the electrodes while doing, well, nothing. I believe it works because symptoms are relieved after use, sometimes dramatically, like with a stomach ache. With colds or flu, it takes a while, but I’ve noticed my family kicks it sooner than most. Cuts that are pink and puffy with infection dry up faster when we zap.

(Disclosure: I am owner/manager of NaturalHealthSupply.com and we sell zappers. In 1999, my husband and I began selling zappers because we believe in them, not the other way around. I feel really lucky to have found the zapper as a solution to many of my health problems. I’ve spoken openly about zapping long before we started selling them. My testimonial above is my own personal experience with the zapper, and is not intended as a medical claim.)

I believe we are getting closer to the FDA and the medical establishment acknowledging the health benefits of using a zapper. Frequency Specific Microcurrent is now accepted by the FDA for treating patients with pain.

April 12, 2011
Almond Pancakes

I found this gluten-free recipe for Almond Pancakes from Mark’s Daily Apple, and it’s been a family favorite ever since:

Ingredients:
1 cup almond meal
3 large eggs
1/8 tsp vanilla extract
1/8 tsp ground cinnamon

Mix it all together until a batter forms. Pour the batter onto a buttered or greased skillet. Cook over medium heat until both sides are golden brown. Drizzle raw honey or just eat it plain. For kicks, add some blueberries or bananas to the batter.

One word of caution on this recipe: I would suggest keeping the size of these almond pancakes on the small side. Larger pancakes have a tough time sticking together.

We use organic maple syrup to sweeten our pancakes. When I’m on the last batch of pancakes, I heat some maple syrup till it bubbles and serve it warm. Not only does it taste wonderful warm, it also kills any mycotoxins that may be in dormant in the syrup.

This is a much heartier pancake than the basic flour-based one. If you look at the ingredients it is mostly protein and no carbs at all. The recipe above yielded enough for two adults and one 6-year old child, and we felt plenty full. Now we’re ready to go out hiking today!

April 3, 2011
Carrot Cake Pops for Valentine’s Day

My friend Issa made amazing Valentine’s Day cake pops that inspired me to make my own version, using the Carrot Cake recipe for my breadmaker. Here’s how I did it:

First, I followed my breadmaker’s recipe book instructions on how to make Carrot Cake. You might remember the disaster the first time I made this. Somehow getting the cake out of the breadmaker pan was tricky. Now I know what to do with my cake should it crumble getting out of the pan.

While letting the cake cool, make the frosting. Beat together until smooth and creamy:

3 oz cream cheese
3 tablespoons butter
1 cup confectioner’s sugar

After the cake is completely cooled off, crumble it as fine as you can.

Add the frosting to the crumbled cake.

Then mix together with a spatula.

When thoroghly mixed into a paste, roll the cake into balls and refrigerate for an hour or overnight. If you’re in a hurry, freeze for 15 minutes. But really, in the future I would refrigerate overnight for best results.

Make another batch of frosting, this time:

5 oz cream cheese
5 tablespoons butter
1 1/2 cups confectioner’s sugar

Push lollipop sticks into the flat side of the cake balls (the part of the ball resting on the plate/baking sheet will be flat after sitting there for a while). Dip into the frosting fully and decorate.

Here’s a more thorough step-by-step tutorial on how to make cake pops, which also includes a video that shows how to dip the balls into frosting and decorate with sprinkles.

And then of course, anyone who makes cake pops should be inspired by the mother of all cake pops, Bakerella. She wrote the book aptly titled, “Cake Pops.”

Have fun!

February 11, 2011
Winter Knit Hats for Toys

Even toys get cold in the winter. So I knit these tiny pompom hats to keep these toy elephants warm. A sweet little present for my husband, who collects and make toys.

Knitted with Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk DK. Pattern from Knit Simple Magazine Winter 2009

December 18, 2010
Gingerbread House

Last year we made a gingerbread house from a Wonka box kit and we had a great time doing it. This year, we got a little bit more ambitious and attempted building our gingerbread house from scratch.

We got the Gingerbread recipe and instructions for building a gingerbread house from Family Fun magazine.

We started off wrong when we picked a box that was too big for the recipe. We had to make another half-batch of dough so our house would have a roof! But since we would up with more dough than we needed, we were able to make trees and a bunny.

I’m not very good at geometry, so I made mistakes measuring the walls and it took us all day to get the house standing. We had to keep trimming the walls until we had just the right measurement that would support the roof. I kept thinking about those $15 gingerbread house kits that have perfectly measured parts. Those sure would have saved me time and money!

We finally got to decorate our gingerbread house after dinner. It was a lot of work, but in the end it was worth it. We all learned the virtue of perseverance and teamwork, and felt a swell of pride in our chests after it was all finally done.

From my family to yours, we wish you a love-filled holiday season and a new year full of sweet blessings!

December 17, 2010