I promised I’d answer some of the questions I got about my site here on the blog. I found that most of them fit into three bigger questions, so I’m going cover those for you:

Hey, Kristen, can I really make money online?

Do you really want me to say no? I think you don’t Luckily for you, I’m not going to say no. That’s because I am making money online. And so are a lot of other women. A lot of other moms. But the beauty of my site is that it’s built using a proven system, and it’s got step-by-step instructions. If you follow the steps, you will build a profitable website.

I won’t lie to you – there’s work involved. This is not a get-rich-quick scheme. If you want one of those, I’m sure you can find one really quickly, though. Just count on failing just as quickly

Anyways, if you work, there are resources to help you. There’s massive amounts of information on how to make money from your site. There’s also tons of support in the forums. People on the forums really share the strategies that are working for them. One post in the forum literally doubled my income overnight – I applied what she shared in her post to some of the advertising on my site, and my income doubled in October ’09 (it didn’t double again in November but it’s still going up steadily… oh well, can’t see such dramatic moves every month)

Here’s a little video I did to show you some things you’ll have with SBI:

Will People Actually Come to My Website?

I’m going to sound full of myself here, but again, my website gets traffic (you found it, didn’t you?) Actually, it gets a pretty good amount of traffic, every day. And just like my income, it’s increasing steadily. It has been since I started the site. I’ve got another little video below, and I’ll show you my traffic statistics from my new website. It’s just a “baby” – started in Sept. ’09. And I’m going to show you NBBC’s stats. This traffic is just by using SBI’s traffic building resources:

How Am I Going to Find the Time to Do This?

I am not a supermom. In fact, this week I seriously contemplated giving my kids coal for Christmas (if you’re somewhere in the world that doesn’t have that little reference… it means my kids were driving me insane enough to give them coal instead of Christmas presents).

I don’t have it all together. My entire life changed dramatically just a couple of years ago – right in the middle of building my website. I became a single mom and struggled to get by. Then I moved a thousand miles, remarried, and took time off to get the family settled. Then I had another baby.

I’m not telling you this to chronicle my life (maybe it should be on a talk show…) – I’m telling you this so you’ll see that my website kept growing while all this was going on – even while I ignored it for weeks on end. The work that I did, when I was able to do it, kept paying off.

It’s like interest in the bank – it grows exponentially.

I’ll say it again, you do have to work. But you work when you want to. And when you can. If you need to spend 3 days holding your sick baby, you can. If you want to take 2 weeks to go visit family, you can. If you just want a vacation to celebrate life – take it! And if you want to have a baby, you set your maternity leave

You fit working on your site in when you can. If it helps, I don’t watch TV. I work on my site. But I do have time to watch movies with my husband (shhhh, we watch after the kids go to bed!). We go sledding as a family, take trips to visit family, to visit local farms, the local brick-oven bakery, and the children’s library. I just fit working on my site in around all of that.

You will probably need to set some priorities, and get organized. That’s true for any business. But the beauty of your website is that you don’t answer to anybody but yourself and your schedule – no cold calling, no doctor’s agendas to fit your data entry around, no clients, and no parties to set up and drive to. Work it around you – and your family.

It’ll be there at 6:00am. It’ll be there at 9:30pm – or any other time around the clock. You pick when you want to work.

Feel free to leave comments or additional questions below!

Click Here For Your Book

(you can also “right-click, save as” to save it to your computer)

Happy Holidays!

Now, my husband swears that things are probably never going to go wrong.  He says he’s been living here for decades and has never had much of a power outage, never had a bad blizzard, and that tornadoes and flooding aren’t going to come anywhere near here.

Me, well, I trust my hubby.  But I also like my own peace of mind.  Besides… my kids getting sick, me getting sick, him getting sick – and nobody being able to make it to the grocery store for a week… I can see that happening.

So whatever the “what-if” I like to have some supplies on hand.  I found an awesome website that has step-by-step “baby steps” that walk you through getting your supplies together.  It doesn’t matter what level of preparedness you’re looking for – a brief power outage, a week-long winter storm, or even a layoff where you need to draw on a few month’s reserves – these little “baby steps” will help you to accomplish those goals.

The 7 Day Challenge

The girls over at Food Storage Made Easy also just ran a “Seven Day Challenge” and I can proudly say my family survived it.  Ok.  With a long list of “to-do’s” at the end of 7 days, my family survived it.

The gals set up a different “situation” each day that we had to go along with and the kids and I had a blast.  It was challenging, to say the least.  But very fun.

Day 1 – Flood!

I was ready for this! I’d already gotten backpacks set up for the family with 72 hours worth of food in them.  I had a list of almost everything I needed to grab.  We had 1 hour to pack the van and “evacuate” and we got our stuff packed and ready to go in under that!  Yay us!

I did realize I needed to add several things to my “grab-list.”  And that I needed to figure out where we would evacuate to… I think my MIL’s house is most likely.  In which case I need to print some directions to her house because I never pay attention enough to remember it with my hubby driving

I think this was one of the best days.  You may not get caught in a flood situation, but there’s no way to tell when you’re going to lose electric service for awhile and need something to eat (or do… I had coloring books for the kiddos!)  It’s really very practical there’s something on the shelves (or in the bag) that can be grabbed and eaten quickly.

Day 2 – Pandemic!

Well, given the uncertain state of affairs in world health, we could be facing this issue very soon.  I felt pretty good about this one too – I’ve been working on our first aid kit quite a bit.  I changed out all the outdated things and restocked what needed to be restocked.  It’s a pretty comprehensive kit.  We made homemade chicken soup for our “sick” boys and Cassidy and I took good care of them.

If there were really a pandemic situation I’d set up an actual sick room and care for them a little differently.  There was also a link to an excellent “Home Care of the Flu” guide I found very helpful.  You can download it here.  Another gal doing the challenge posted that link – I’m very grateful for her!!

Day 3 – Dinner Guests!

This was an “every day” emergency and it was TONS of fun.  The situation was that my hubby called home to let me know that he and his boss would be there for dinner in an hour – his vegetarian boss!!  I had to have an appetizer, main course, two sides, and a dessert made… and I could not go to the store!

Well I managed to pull it off, though I lucked out because we had a box of fresh veggies from our CSA farm.

I made a platter of fresh veggie slices with a homemade veggie dip (fresh sour cream base) for our appetizer.  I made Jamaican Beans and Rice (from Nourishing Traditions) as our main dish, though I did use canned beans instead of dried, and canned chilies.  We had a big salad full of fresh veggies as one side and steamed broccoli as the other side.  Our dessert was an oatmeal/pumpkin bar thing I found online because I knew I had canned pumpkin!  I had to substitute canned coconut milk for milk (we were totally out of milk, even if the veggie boss would have been ok with it).  Anyways, the dessert came out very tasty, so I’ll actually make that again!

The kids helped me clean the house up while the food cooked, and we all got changed into fresh clothes and I had time to teach them a little bit about how to answer the door politely!  Needless to say when my hubby actually walked in the door the house looked pretty nice.  I was proud of myself and I’d like to think I could deal with real last-minute guests as gracefully.

Day 4 – Money is Tight!

I can say that this day wasn’t terribly challenging because I lived this for a long time – never being able to do anything and having to watch every penny because it was a choice between buying food or losing power.  (life is very different now, read my story for more on that!)

This day involved no cable (which we don’t have anyways), no internet (oh no!!), no cell phones…. and water service got cut off!!

Now the “no internet” is hard.  I’ll admit that, well, I do a lot online.  I do, after all, run a website.  Scott and I also play a game together online.

The one big surprise for me on this day, though, was just how hard “no water” was.  I have quite a few gallons of water stored, but it takes an amazingly large amount of water to wash dishes when you have no running water!!  Scott said if we ever actually didn’t have water due to disaster that he would go to the bay and bring back water in buckets for us to boil and use for cleaning dishes.  We had plenty to drink, but washing wasn’t easy.

Day 5 – Earthquake!

Uh oh.  No water again today.  And no power…  I decided I should add some paper plates to my “pantry essentials” list!!  We raided the 72 hour kits again.

The foods in our freezer were supposed to be good still (they hadn’t spoiled yet since power went off).  So we were able to have a cooked meal on the grill outside.  I’m glad the weather was nice, and I’m glad we had the grill.  Especially since my hubby did the cooking

Another thing about the earthquake day – a beam fell onto the computer.  This could be a huge issue for many families because it could virtually destroy all their data (think about all your pictures!!)  Luckily there are quite a few solutions to data storage.  I personally back my computer up to a remote server as well as an external hard drive that stays here at the house.  The peace of mind I get from this is incredible.  I was all set for this aspect of the earthquake

Day 6 – Healthy Lifestyle

Well this emergency wasn’t an emergency at all for us!  A family member gets very ill from having a bad diet.  We already eat very healthy food because of many food sensitivities and intolerance in our family.  I did differ a bit from the challenge because I don’t believe that eating “low fat” is really very healthy for us.  I was able to share some links and thoughts so maybe someone else in the challenge benefited from some new information.  (Read my nutrition info for more about good eating)

The one “healthy lifestyle” thing I do think I at least need to do more of is getting outside.  The kids tend to spend a lot more time outside than I do.  I need to join them more.

Day 7 – You Need What?!

By Day 7 everyone, including the gals at Food Storage Made Easy, were very tired.  It really was a big challenge!!  So this day was “easier” in that we just had to make a dessert with what we had at home – and no milk, eggs, or butter.

This worked out perfectly for me.  I just picked our oatmeal/pumpkin bar recipe again

Summing it Up

Perhaps what made me the most proud about the Challenge was the part of it that went all 7 days – we couldn’t spend any money for 7 days!  Since the first day of the challenge landed squarely on the day I was supposed to go to the co-op for milk, cheese, and butter it truly was a challenge.

But we made it.  I spent no money at all for 7 days.  It’s amazing to think about just how many small opportunities to spend money come up, or how much I take for granted a run to the market on a given day.  Lots of food for thought.

I came away from the challenge with a long to-do list and a great appreciation for what we have.  I feel good because I’m sure that we could handle it if anything does knock our power out for a few days.  I really like that peace of mind   And I’m so grateful for blessings we have now.

I’ve written one post where I described how I planned out my meals and how I went about the actual day of cooking.  Since then I’ve been asked about the recipes I used and how everything turned out.  In other words, was the food good?

There is no doubt that having the meals in the freezer was helpful.  Scott thought it was an awful lot of work for me to go through (spending an entire day cooking) – but it was very, very worth it.

And, on the whole, the food turned out well.  I think this was greatly helped by the fact that I picked proven freezer recipes. I knew they had “passed the test” in other kitchens.

The biggest issue I came across was the portions not being quite enough for our family.  Related to this was when my mom was here; I hadn’t counted on an additional person for some of the meals (and I hadn’t considered her preferences… Mom isn’t as much into things like pate as our family is :p)  That got a little stressful for me.

Next time around I will increase the amount of meat/beans in some of the recipes.  I’m not sure what I’ll do about the guest situation – I may plan to reserve “crowd-pleasers” that come in larger quantities (like soup or spaghetti) for the days I know we’ll have guests.

I decided the easiest way for me to share my recipes and meal plans with you was via a complete menu plan for you to download.  I’ve tried to credit where the recipes came from in the recipe file, though many of these recipes have been gathered together over time and I’ve forgotten exactly where they came from!

This download is part of an exclusive welcome pack for subscribers to Tiger Lily: The Newsletter of Natural Birth and Baby Care.com.

Get Your Freezer Meal Plan as part of the Tiger Lily Welcome Pack!

I use a lot of canned tomato products and I use a lot of canned coconut milk as well.  I also use canned chicken or tuna if I need a quick meal and I like keeping canned beans on hand to throw together a meal in a pinch, or add some protein to a meal.

And I like having a decent supply of food on hand so I won’t have to run to the store if someone is sick, or if something were to happen like a big storm.  It’s a little security feature for me to have a full cupboard

So what I’d really love is to have a great way to organize my canned goods.  Preferably something that will keep my Brennan happy too… and amazingly, I’m not alone.  I’ve found something that would be 100% perfect.  On Friday I have a chance to win one – and so do you.  I thought I’d share the wonder that is the Shelf Reliance Harvest unit.

You know those marble toys you played with as a kid (or jealously watched your brother play with as you got yet another pair of plastic high heels)? You dropped the marble in at the top and watched it roll down the levels.  Well the Shelf Reliance shelves do that for your cans – keeping them neat, and automatically rotating them so you’re using them in a “first in, first out” order.  It’s very nice!

Go to the Shelf Reliance Blog and enter to win this wonder of human ingenuity for yourself.

And in the meantime, you can see what the kids and I have been rigging up for a summer project – homemade can rotating racks   Scott got inspired and built us a wooden one too, which will probably last long after our cardboard ones.  But it’s fun and the kids are loving it.  If only they were front-loading like the Shelf Reliance System :p

Low milk supply seems surprisingly common in modern societies.  There is heated debate about whether this was so in more traditional societies – I haven’t seen any answer convincing enough to allow me to weigh in on any side of the issue.

(Note: please allow me to clarify that “seems” means that it appears common when you talk to many women. However, professionals believe, and I tend to agree, that low milk supply is actually quite rare in our present day, even among mothers who are not getting good food. I have participated in a lot of heated debate about this issue and I’ve known this issue to come between women before. The reality, I think, is that it is not common – however many women worry – needlessly – about the fact that it does *seem* common. )

However, a few women struggle with low milk supply and I do know some ways you can boost your milk supply through nutrition. Others may want to boost supply so they can pump and store extra milk or donate to a milk bank.  Remember, if you’re truly struggling with supply issues there are many other strategies you should be trying – such as increasing frequency of nursing. Get more ideas from Dr. Jack Newman.

The “Supplements”

One of the first things you’ll hear when you mention struggle with milk supply is “oh my friend used (insert food, drink, or herb here) and it really helped her milk supply!”

There are some things that have been shown to boost supply, and you can use them as a supplement to your diet.

• Oatmeal has been known to boost milk supply.  A bowl of oatmeal daily, or even oatmeal cookies, may give you a greater supply.
• Quinoa, a grain, has been used by traditional societies during lactation and is said to boost milk production.
• There are various milk teas on the market.  No, these aren’t teas made with milk.  They’re made with herbs that are supposed to boost milk production.
• Fenugreek is an herbal supplement you can take which many women have found helps boost milk production.  You know you’re taking enough when your sweat smells like maple syrup.

Your Diet

Though the above are nutritional strategies that can work, I believe if you’re suffering from low milk supply you should examine your diet.  Experts say poor nutrition doesn’t cause low milk supply.  However, poor nutrition can eat up your own nutrient reserves, causing stress and exhaustion for you.

You have heard that it really doesn’t matter what you eat, you’ll still make milk for your baby (and it’s still better than formula!)  Well, that’s true – but a higher quality diet makes higher quality milk*.  And a high-quality diet can help you to have abundant milk.  There may really be times when milk supply can’t be improved – but improving diet is one of the most basic steps to try and will benefit you no matter what the outcome.

Fats are Vital

The first step to take is to examine your fat intake.  No, I’m not going to tell you to cut out the fat.  In fact, I’m telling you the opposite.  Make sure you’re getting enough fat.  Be sure you’re eating good fats – “good fats” are traditional fats like coconut oil, butter, olive oil, tallow, and lard.  Avoid new “industrial” oils (such as corn oil, soybean oil, hydrogenated oils) like they’re a plague… they are!!

Use butter liberally to enhance the flavors of your foods.  Select full fat dairy products and don’t trim all the fat off your meats.  Drizzle olive oil on your salad greens.  Enjoy your food will full flavor.

How Much are You Eating?

Next up… are you eating enough?  Read through my nutrition pages to be sure that you’re eating well.  The late Dr. Brewer, the Weston A. Price Foundation, midwives, and other professionals all advise continuing your pregnancy diet during lactation.  Don’t obsess over pounds – just be sure you’re getting what you need for your baby.  Pregnancy and nursing do cause nutritional stress on your body.  You are growing another being.  You’re not going to be able to eat as if it were just you.  You left those days behind when you conceived your child!

Cut out unhealthy foods.  Processed foods, sugars, excessive carbs.  Get rid of those things if you feel like you need to “cut back” on something.  But eat healthy foods liberally – to satisfaction.  And don’t lie to yourself.  If you’re still hungry after supper have a small snack at bedtime.  If 3 meals a day aren’t cutting it for you (they don’t for many nursing mothers!) have snacks between your meals.

Eating plenty of food, and getting plenty of fluid, will help boost your milk supply.  You would not believe how many mothers I have ask me about milk supply who admit, when I ask them about what they ate that day, “oh, I had coffee for breakfast, and a small salad for lunch.  I’ll probably have a little bowl of pasta for supper.  I just don’t have time for anything else.”

Mama, make some time!  I confidently tell Galen “Mama needs to eat, or you don’t eat!”  There are lots of foods that can be easily prepared while your baby is in a carrier, in a bouncy seat, on a blanket on the floor, or being entertained by someone else.  I know it’s important to be attached to your baby – but your babe will not suffer because you’ve taken 10 minutes to prepare a meal!  Take a look at my pages on managing motherhood for more meal tips.

Eat Properly Prepared Foods – and Eat Some Raw

This next advice could get really broad, so I’m going to keep it to a summary.  You should prepare your foods properly.  This is primarily talking about grains, legumes, and seeds, which may be hard for your body to digest if you just eat them “as is” or simply cooked.  A soaking overnight may help make them more digestible, which in turn will make it easier for your body to utilize them and leave more energy for milk production.

Things you should soak are wheat, oats, rye, and other grains.  Nuts and beans (legumes) should also be soaked.  This is as simple as dumping your food into a glass bowl, adding some whey (the watery stuff that collects in your yogurt) or lemon juice, and setting the bowl in a warm place overnight.  Just add salt to nuts.  For flours (wheat, rye, etc.) you can soak with part of the cooking liquid.  The next day just pick up where you left off in the recipe.  After your nuts have cooked overnight re-dry them in a warm (not hot) oven.  It’s pretty easy and could help improve your digestion and help a fussy baby.

Also enjoy some foods raw.  Easier-to-digest vegetable salads are great with olive oil and raw wine vinegar drizzled over them (some veggies, like spinach, are best served cooked).  And enjoy at least some of your animal products raw.  In our world the easiest way to do this is to eat raw milk cheese, which is legal to buy at stores.  You can also make a number of raw meat appetizers (please use grass-fed animal meat) or enjoy soft-boiled eggs (please use pastured poultry eggs).  Or if you have access to it you can drink raw milk, or have raw milk yogurt or kefir.

That brings me to raw, cultured foods – which are very good for you.  I have noticed the absolute biggest boosts in my milk supply after I began to add extra cream to my milk, added yogurt with live cultures and lots of butter to my morning oatmeal, and began having a fermented vegetable condiment consistently each day.

Sauerkraut, kimchi, pickles, and chutneys are all cultured condiments when prepared traditionally.  You can find many of these items at your normal grocery store – make sure they say “raw” or “live cultures.”  These foods aid your digestion.

An Overall Effect

These dietary improvements are all beneficial to your overall health.  They’re not a miracle cure for low milk supply.  But by taking steps to improve your nutrition you are well on the way to creating better health for you, and good diet often directly correlates with the quality of milk you make for your baby (even if you’re not at a place where you can make dietary changes right now, your milk is still better than formula).  I know when we committed to a better diet in January of this year I noticed within the first week that my milk supply became more abundant and my milk was much richer.  Galen could hardly keep up!

Enjoy the benefits of improved nutrition for both you and your baby.  For more information on cooking techniques or the “whys” of what I have recommended check out the books listed at the bottom of this article.

*If you pay no attention your nutrition whatsoever you are still going to make milk for your baby and it is still going to be the best choice for your baby.  When I had my first baby I lived far, far below the current poverty lines and I couldn’t afford expensive organic foods.  I could, however, learn about nutrition and cook basic, healthy foods.  My baby thrived on my milk.  So even if you feel that you have little money to spend for food, know your milk is tailor-made for your baby.  Breastfeeding is best no matter where you are in relation to the poverty line.

I still strongly recommed that all mothers study nutrition and do what they can to improve their family’s nutrition for their own health’s sake and that of their children.  There is a wealth of resources at your fingertips for the best price out there – free.

Get more great breastfeeding how-to’s from these other bloggers participating in the Motherwear Carnival of Breastfeeding:

• Motherwear’s Breastfeeding Blog: How to help your baby kick the nipple shield habit
• Marketing Mama: How to pump successfully at work
• Mama Saga: How to breastfeed (or just look like you know what you’re doing)
• BabyReady: How to get baby to take a bottle
• Strocel: How to get breastfeeding off to a good start
• Baby Carriers Down Under: How to breastfeed hands-free
• Blacktating: How to treat a cold while breastfeeding
• Breastfeeding Moms Unite: How to become a breastfeeding support professional
• Breastfeeding Mums: How to wean a breastfed toddler
• Mama Knows Breast: How to get a spouse to help with breastfeeding
• Breastfeeding 1-2-3: How to teach your baby nursing manners
• Zen Mommy: Using YouTube to stop nosey questions!
• Happy Bambino: How to deal with unsupportive family members
• The Bee in your Bonnet: How to be comfortable around nursing mothers
• MoBleez: How to naturally increase your milk supply – try seaweed
• Milk Act: How to care for a sick nursling
• Maher Family Grows: How to to increase milk supply using supplements
• Tiny Grass: Tandem Nursing – how to do it without driving yourself and your nurslings crazy!

It is possible to “go green” for your kids on a budget – first off, by shopping used. Used clothing may not be “organic,” but it’s already here. It has been manufactured (or lovingly sewn by somebody!) and chances are, it hasn’t been worn out. By buying used clothing (and dressing your kiddos in hand-me-downs) you’re choosing green.

Does this mean your kid is going to look scruffy and unkempt? Not at all! Like I said, I like my children to look nice. I have an idea of what I want when I go into a second-hand store. I look over clothing carefully. You can usually find great clothes. I can almost always find knit golf shirts for the boys in great condition. I usually choose name brands because the quality is (usually) better. These shirts cost around a dollar each!

Another option is a children’s consignment shop. We have a Children’s Orchard in my city and I love it.  They have a “playclothes” room where tops and bottoms are usually just $1-2 per garment.  Again, I can often find knits or button-down shirts for the boys that are in great condition and name brand for a great price.  I also like the consignment shop because I can find nicer looking girl’s clothing there.  I’ve had better luck with appropriate girl’s clothing at the consignment shop than I do at the thrift store – but both places can be good.

My favorite option for cute playclothes for a litle girl, however, is one I just recently came upon.  It’s an idea for making a little girl’s dress with a cute top and a woman’s skirt – or even a large bit of scrap fabric.  I was able to use a knit turtleneck top I found at the thrift store for an early spring playdress for Cassidy.  I took an old pink women’s skirt, cut a wide strip of it, and sewed it to the bottom of the knit top.  I used gathers to give a cute look and match size.  It took almost no time at all, and Cassidy has a really nice looking little play dress (it took so little time that I won’t be devastated when it gets all muddy :p)  I really liked this idea – I’m going to use several of my skirts that are worn out around the hemline to make Cassidy some summer playdresses.

Fabric scraps and old adult clothing can be used to make a lot of children’s clothing.  Old adult shirts and sweaters can easily make baby and toddler pants – or diapers.  Those ugly knee-high socks you’ll never wear can make cute legwarmers for baby.  I made Asher and Brennan pajamas and was able to use the small amount of fabric left over to make Galen a matching set.  A set of worn-out flannel sheets has gone to make absorbent trainers for Galen.

An idea from my mother, which is not really clothing, but I like anyways, is to take old shirts your child outgrows but still likes to make a “quilt” for your child to keep.

Not only does shopping thrift stores and consignment shops (and yard sales) help your budget – it also helps to reuse clothing, and re-using is a very good way to go green.  And remaking something old into something new is not only a good idea, it’s fun and creative too.  You might just make something your child will treasure!

Get more ideas at Thrifty Green Thursday!

I’m a work at home mom.  I like that.  Life gets frazzled sometimes, yes.  But I think this is an awesome life.  I’m able to be here with my kids, right through all the ups and all the downs, and all of everything.

I made the choice before I had my first baby that I wanted to be home with my kids.  Like I said on my “about me” page, people tell me I’m lucky.  Well I’ll tell you that “luck” has nothing to do with it!

Part of why I’m able to be home is this website.  It brings in income every month that helps our family out – and secures my position here at home.

My website also helps you and other moms out.  To me it’s a win-win situation.  I get to write about something I love and help other people out.  I get emails every week thanking me for the site and giving me ideas for making it better.  And it helps me to stay at home and be a wife and mama – what I really want to focus my life on

I couldn’t have made this resource without my site building program – it guided me step-by-step: everything from choosing a topic to write about (one that I love!), to building my site, to figuring out just how to make an income from it.

This program is called Site Build It! and right now there’s a Valentine’s special going on.  Buy one SBI! and get the second for a huge discount.  So you can start your own business as a work-at-home mom and share the love with someone else – your husband, your teenager, your mother… or keep it for yourself to make a second site (have I mentioned I’m beginning to wish I’d purchased my SBI! site when I could get another one for such a steal?  I have a million ideas for a second site!!)

Anyways, this special is great and I wanted to be sure you knew about it.  Are you wanting more information about becoming a work-at-home mom?  I just finished reading a great ebook and thought I’d share.  It has tons of stories from moms just like you and me

“Right click, save as” to download the WAHM guide!

For more information on how I got started you can read my story; I get a lot of questions about SBI! – read my answers to the most common ones.  And of course: Learn more about the special!!!

I missed Real Food Wednesday last week So I wanted to be sure I didn’t miss it this week!  This week’s carnival topic is “Rookie tips from You” – dedicated to helping you get started with better nutrition.

All moms spend time thinking about how to improve nutrition.  And I think it’s safe to say the thought overwhelms you.  It overwhelms me and it’s one of the things I’m most passionate about (besides birth and babies!) I thought I’d share some simple tips for getting started, and some things that have helped me:

• Switch to real butter for flavoring cooked veggies and soups.
• Use olive oil and red wine vinegar on your salads if making your own dressing is intimidating.
• Switch to coconut oil for sauteing, or a coconut oil/butter mix.
• Buy fermented foods if making them scares you   Real lacto-fermented sauerkraut, kimchi, and pickles can frequently be found even at conventional grocers.   You can also buy yogurt and (unsweetened) kefir.
• Learn to love your crock pot.  You can make delicious real food in your crockpot easily!  You can also cook beans in your crock pot overnight.
• Roast a whole chicken in your crock pot and use the bones to make chicken stock.  This is very, very easy to do and a great basis for better nutrition.  You can even make the stock in your crock pot if you need to be away from home.
• Use your home made chicken stock in soups throughout the week.  Soups are really easy to make too.
• Soak beans and grains you’ll need for the week all at once, then store in the fridge.  This one tip has helped me a lot over the past few weeks as we’ve been eating a 100% traditional foods diet.

And a couple of tips related to children:

• Feed your children lots of fat.  At least 6 tablespoons a day is good for young children.  Give them whole milk, whole milk cheeses, whole yogurt, and butter.  If you give them salads dress them with plenty of olive oil.  Flavor their veggies generously with butter.
• Feed your children at regular times throughout the day.  Children like routine and they learn to understand that they eat at meal and snacktimes – not around the clock.  Do nurse your baby on demand!
• Do not be a short order cook!  Teach your children that what is served is what they have available to eat.  Encourage them to at least take one bite of a food they think they will not like.  Teach them to thank the cook and show appreciation for food even if they don’t care for it.
• Please see the book Gut and Psychology Syndrome if you have a very picky eater; it gives helpful advice on teaching children to eat good foods.

Get more information on how to get started with better nutrition by visiting Kelly the Kitchen Kop!

We did have a point this weekend where I had to give in and allow the use of corn tortillas from the store.  I had no other grains or beans ready to go, everyone was hungry, and my family is not satisfied with a meal that doesn’t include either grains or beans to give some sort of carb illusion.

The moral of the story – always have beans or rice or something that is properly prepared in the freezer.  Actually, I always need to have meals in the freezer that can be pulled out and cooked.

The real issue was I was exhausted.  As I’ve mentioned in my blog posts the past couple of days, last week was completely exhausting for me and by the weekend I could hardly function.  I felt like I was walking around in a fuzz and I’m just thankful I don’t have to “go to work” like Scott does.  I’m not sure how I’d manage that.

So last week highlighted again the need to have good, nutritious meals in the freezer, or the ingredients to put together quick meals with minimal preparation.  This week I’ve planned to double most of my main dishes so that I’ll have that freezer supply.

Now that Galen is here it’s going to be awhile before I can do a marathon freezer cooking session like I did to have us supplied with meals (and yep, we’ve eaten all 44 meals) – but I can double or triple recipes relatively easily.

I don’t feel burned out like I did after the first 7 days of our trial.  Last week’s issues were mostly unrelated to meal planning, and the strategies that worked to help streamline in the kitchen really have helped.  I still spend time in meal preparation – around 20 minutes for breakfast, 30  minutes for lunch, and an hour for supper – but on the whole I feel it’s going well.  I’d like to get the time spent on supper down further, and think I may try to start doing some of the prep at snacktimes.  I found that helped last year before Galen was born.

Overall we are feeling good.  The “big boys” Asher and Brennan came down with colds last week, but the rest of us didn’t.  Their colds went pretty quickly too so their bodies cleared whatever was needed to be cleared.

The big kids are all pretty cheerful and content, helpful, and strong.  Galen has been cranky the past few days and drooling a lot.  It’s early yet for teething but maybe there’s something going on down deep?  He has been going to bed easier most nights.

I’m feeling great (other than tired) and feel like I’ve been able to spend a lot of time being productive.  This is a good thing because I start to feel like I’m going crazy if I’m not “being productive.” :p

Scott says that he’s feeling good and that makes me happy.  I like providing good food that makes my family happy.