Rocky Top

It has been 2 years since we officially moved to Knoxville. I was excited and very nervous. Kyle and I had talked about leaving College Station and Texas for years and here it was, finally happening. I was so scared that it might not be a good experience for Kyle, Taryne and Hayden. They were sacrificing so much to allow me to go to school (again) to get a Ph.D. I think we all knew it would be tough and we would miss things from Texas and of course our family, but I didn't think we would actually begin to love it here.

While I have missed some things from Texas, living in Knoxville has been great. We have one more year here and then we are off to the next city and next adventure. I don't think most Texans realize that there is so much more outside the state of Texas and most are not willing to live elsewhere. As an academic advisor, most students would not even consider leaving Texas, even if it meant a higher paying job and experience where they could eventually come back. Personally, living further north works great for our family. Our seasonal allergies are virtually nonexistent, I haven't had heat headaches and the weather is just amazing. Our "hot" days are in the upper 80's. Yeah, 80's and I think I am going to die because it is so "hot".

I truly was nervous about leaving College Station and our Aggie bubble. We are in a new orange bubble now and it has been so fun and crazy and frustrating all at the same time. People here bleed orange, not the ugly burnt orange, Tennessee orange. :) I think I will actually be sad next May/June as  we pack to move to wherever we go next.

Many days I feel that Knoxville is more "home" than anywhere in Texas, even College Station or Manvel--the two places I claim as my hometown. Taryne and Hayden love it here and Taryne insists we need to move to a location that is cloudy and rainy all the time because she doesn't like to see the sun that much. I guess she is my child. :)

"Rocky Top, you'll always be, home sweet home to me. Good ole rocky top, rocky top Tennessee, rocky top Tennessee!"

The "Other" Side

As a little girl, I loved to read. I look back and I did everything I could to get my hands on books to read. My summers were spent reading and some playing outside, but I remember thinking I would rather read than be outside in the heat. My favorite books were mysteries, especially ghost stories. I think I read Christina's Ghost at least 3-4 times per school year. Ironically I still don't own a copy of the book. Another book by Betty Ren Wright was The Dollhouse Murders. Really anything I could find with a ghost story and a mystery--fact or fiction--I was anxious to read.

When we moved to the "old house" in Llano, we were told there were "spirits" in the house. I didn't believe it, though there was a part of me that wanted to believe it. While I am not sure if there are really spirits there, a few weird things happened while we lived there that made me question if they were really there. The TV would often turn off if you left the room and sometimes the doors would shut.

Two things happened that really made me think someone or something was there. One night, in the middle of the night the TV turned on. To a station of nothing but static. The weird thing is the TV was one of those really old kind that ONLY turned on when you turned the knob. You know, the kind before remotes. The on/off knob was also the volume, so when you turned it on, the volume was very low and you had to continue turning to increase the volume. Well the TV turned on to a static station at FULL volume. And it was in the added on room that had an exterior door and lock and the door was locked and no one was sleeping in that room that night. I am not sure anyone really slept in that room again.

The other thing was in the detached garage. My dad was in there working and went in the house for a moment. When he came back, there was an old knife on the floor in the middle of the doorway of the garage. No doors were shut, so nothing could have knocked it loose. Just weird.

In December 2011, Kyle's grandmother passed away. Taryne was a little over 2, but pretty vocal on most things. At the church, she talked about the angel in the front of the church. The only angel was the small one on the nativity set on the side of the church. She insisted and pointed to the front, up high and told us there was an angel there. This lasted before, during and after the service. Kyle suggested that it could be Mamaw and Taryne quickly agreed. I had quite a bit of trouble keeping myself together during the service. I am sure part of it was being pregnant, but the other part was her constant pointing at the angel in the church, that only she could see.

When we moved in the the apartment our first year in Knoxville, Taryne constantly talked about the "shadows" in her bedroom at night. At first we thought it was just getting used to a new room and getting to the age where normal shadows scare little kids. When we moved to our current town home, the shadow talk stopped immediately. We thought she might continue since it was a new space, but she has not brought it up once.

Why am I writing about all of this? Well, Taryne recently mentioned the "shadows" from the apartment and that she was glad we didn't live there anymore. I asked her if they bothered her and she said no, just scared her. I really makes me wonder what, or who, those shadows were and I am now really glad to not be living there anymore! To be quite honest, I was surprised she remembered it. She even brought up the angel in the church. I was truly amazed she remembered both of these. It has been over a year since we lived in that apartment and over 2 1/2 years since the funeral.

Hello!!

We are still here! I have been swamped with my comprehensive exams all summer, but I can see the light at the end of the tunnel because my last question is due on Monday, the 11th. However, as I type, we are preparing for a fast trip to Texas, so I will be doing some work in the car to get it all done.

Spring Flowers

Early this spring we planted gladiolus and anemones in the tiny front flower bed. I am pretty sure Taryne was going to go crazy waiting for them to come up and then bloom. The anemones finally bloomed and in the last week or so the glads are blooming. I now wish we would have planted twice as many but we now know for next year.

Silly girl!

Sweet siblings

Break from bike riding...eating a coconut milk ice cream sandwich!

Such a beauty!!

More Changes...

***WARNING!!! If the brief discussion of a woman's menstrual cycle or feminine products makes you uncomfortable, scroll second paragraph and keep reading. Thanks!

So I stumbled upon this article with video a while back and was a bit disgusted. At first I was thinking, "wow, this is really scary" and then I quickly changed to "well this doesn't concern me anymore" (I use Mirena and have no menstrual cycle so therefore no need to purchase feminine products). I was however, worried about Taryne in the future, but happy to know that there are natural products on the market.

I didn't think about it again for about a week. And then it hit me like a ton of bricks. Taryne wears pull-ups and Hayden wears diapers. I bet there are the same odor absorbing, chemical-laden things in the diapers. And of course, there are no ingredient labels on diapers...unless you buy natural ones. So we finished the diapers Hayden had in stock and canceled our Amazon shipments for both the diapers and pull-ups. I began a subscription to the Honest Company for diapers and wipes. They tell you what is in the diapers. Yes, they are a little more expensive, but I would rather pay a few dollars more now and not have my children absorb who knows what type of chemicals into the small bodies.

Taryne is on the last package of the "bad" pull-ups and if I am lucky, we can just quit that all together. I am sure we have a little more time working on getting through the night without an accident, so I know we will pick some Honest Company ones up for her. Luckily, they are sold in some stores, but the biggest selection is online. I have heard they will now be offered at Target, but they are not in stores yet and unavailable online. Just found out they are now available at Target!!

Other Lifestyle Changes

Sometime last fall, a book was recommended to me by my cousin, so I ordered it. And never read it. I was just too busy. After Christmas break, I decided to get the book out and I finally started reading...and was thinking "oh my goodness, we need to make some serious changes".

Most of the things in the book are over the foods we eat and how they could contribute to cancer or prevent it. So that is where some of our changes really started. 

I have since read numerous other articles and we started changing other things too. Sunscreen, bug spray, shampoo/conditioner, hand soap, shower soap, dish soap, laundry soap, deodorant and the list goes on. I never realized how much some of these cancer causing chemicals can be easily absorbed into our skin, especially in areas like our arm pits. Oh and the diapers, but that is another post.

I recently switched from my regular deodorant to an all-natural one and had a reaction to the baking soda in the product. I then tried their sensitive version and had similar results, so I finally settled on Toms of Maine and love it. Kyle now uses it too. 

This is just one of the many articles that explains why I will no longer buy regular deodorant and no one in my house will either. One thing suggested by the first product I tried was an arm pit detox. After the reaction and peeling I had from the first trial, I think I pretty much detoxed and have all new skin under my arms! :)

Our Food Transformation

Last fall I wrote about Hayden's food allergies (here). Since then, we have come a long way in learning about food and what he can and cannot eat without being sick. It has also given us an opportunity to reevaluate the food we eat and buy.

We have pretty much gone completely organic and we buy non-GMO/Non-GMO Project Verified when available. For years I was okay with GMO crops because when it first came out there was this promise of less pesticides/herbicides which meant "better for us" food, better for the environment, etc. I was also sort of "anti" organic because during my time as a horticulture student I learned that even though some pesticides/herbicides were deemed okay for organic crops (they were organic vs. synthetic produced) they had the potential to be just as dangerous or more so than the typical synthetic ones used in commercial farming.

In recent years, many new studies have been published to show that GMO crops are actually using MORE pesticides and harmful things for our food, bodies and environment. The things I have read about GMO's actually frightens me and makes me wonder if some of the health issues we have encountered are directly related to the foods we are eating.

We actively seek local or chain food restaurants/stores that provide food without GMO's, preservatives, additives, etc and that are organic. We no longer purchase meat from animals fed grain (because it is all full of GMO crops). At one of the farmer's markets, we found a local beef farmer that raises grassfed cattle and is comparatively priced to standard grain-fed beef you find in the grocery store. We are super picky about our eggs, chicken and fish. Thankfully we have a great variety of stores here in Knoxville, but I think Trader Joe's has become our favorite. All of their products and produce are non-GMO, they are reasonably priced and they have lots of fresh items.

Kyle and I love soda, but we are doing our best to completely eliminate it from our diet. However, when we want a soda, we now buy Jones Soda. I am amazed at our changes and how our mindsets have changed over the past 6+ months--all because we had to start reading food labels and realized all the "crap" that is in our food.

I have yet to understand why foods that should only contain a few items actually have 10+ ingredients. Bread, for example, should just have a few things and most bread you buy from the grocery store shelf is riddled with preservatives, artificial ingredients and some type of over processed sugar. Why?

My other big "why?" here lately is why does most every other country ban GMO foods as well as many other ingredients we deem "ok" and "safe" here in the U.S.? I just don't understand it. Is this one of the reasons we are less healthy here in the U.S.? I really feel I could go on and on and on with this and many topics. You probably don't want to hear it and probably don't care.

My goal is for our little family to eat healthier, be healthier and cut the "crap". This past winter without all the normal "crap" we were eating (even things considered "healthy") we had less illness and we made it through a much colder winter than the year before with basically no missed school days. We are still working on transforming our food (because you just can't do it all overnight!) but we are much more aware of every thing we buy and eat.  We cook more, make more food at home and it has been totally worth it.