I Got Ahead of Myself

The highs and lows of a chronic illness are extreme. I was so thankful to find a cure for my debilitating allergy attacks, hives, asthma (I haven't used my breathing tea since I went mammal free) and middle of the night mild anaphylaxis...its been great. I definitely think I have alpha gal. 

But in my excitement I thought maybe some of my other symptoms might go away too and I find myself kinda sad today that I still have chronic fatigue. 

Today I went on a play date with another home-school mom, it was my first time meeting her and it was awesome. She has a 9 year old who loves to play chess and my 10 year old also loves to play chess. Her son beat mine three times! Reuben had a blast though, he wants to keep trying and playing. But there was my chronic fatigue making it so hard to concentrate. And hard to walk. And hard to keep track of my kids. I just wanted to go home. We stayed 2.5 hours and then I was a couch potato for an hour and now I am making roasted yams, fish and broccoli for dinner. 

I think chronic fatigue has been one of my hardest symptoms. It comes, and never with any kind of warning. It stays and then just disappears one day maybe for 24, 36 hours or sometimes a week. It always comes back. Sometimes I start the day okay and by lunch have chronic fatigue...

Today I am trying to focus on the good. I am better! Even a little bit counts! The hard realization that I am still sick is just life, and facing reality is better than trying to ignore it. My life won't look like the life of a person who is healthy. Not everyone is going to understand that, and that's also okay. 

I can still have dreams even with a chronic illness. They may be modified, slower dreams, but I can still dream them.

And I can still raise beautiful babies. God's blessings are so evident in my life. He is so good and he has been good to me, too.

What Chronic Illness makes hard: being intimate with my spouse, cooking, cleaning, parenting, homeschooling, going to church, volunteering, going out of my house, laundry, exercising, driving, moving, standing up, concentrating, singing...

What Chronic Illness doesn't make hard (for me): sunsets, warm days, reading books, listening to music, enjoying chocolate, smiling at my husband when he gets home from work, making lists, hugging my babies...

There is still joy to be found even in the hard parts. Thanks be to the Lord!

A Random Assortment of Updates

I forgot so many things at the store yesterday. Do you ever do that? Anyway, the kids and I were headed to a birthday party so I sent hubby to the store to get eggs, sour cream, and salt. Yes, we were completely out of salt. On a day that I also decided to make bone broth! 

Birthday Party Fun!

Anyway, its now Sunday and I just realized we are also out of cream cheese! We always buy cream cheese! Every week! What was I thinking? 

It has been a crazy 6 days. I don't know officially if I have Alpha Gal, but I really think I do. I suppose I should go in for a blood test to confirm my self-diagnosis. I think I have had it for a year. That was the first time I noticed having these awful allergies. My symptoms are random allergy attacks, like in the middle of the night sometimes! Asthma. Itchy throat, itchy ears, hives on the top of my mouth, stomach bloating and fatigue, constipation...when I have an attack of these, I usually am laid up in bed for a day. Or two! In the past month I have even had trouble breathing. I have been at my wits end to figure this out...

I also have other autoimmune issues like type two diabetes and IBS-C that I have had for years and years, but all the other symptoms that I listed above are new from the past year or so. 

I have now been mammal-product free for almost one week--I started last Monday--and I feel a lot better. My allergies are way better! I also feel less stressed about what in the world I am going to eat. Also, I was using a tallow lotion and tallow toothpaste and I need new lotion and toothpaste! I'm trying to read the ingredient list on everything that goes on my body or in my mouth. I just realized while writing this that I also own a tallow based hand soap...that will have to go.

We have a relaxed week of homeschooling coming up, and hopefully I can do some organizing. I need to make a list of home-school books to buy over the summer. I need to do some shopping for our summer plans--weeks spent by the pool! I want to get some snack containers and thin towels like turkish towels...anything to make lots of time spent in the sun easier. We also need to buy sunscreen, but we have two whole months until the pool opens to plan it out. 

Oh, and I'm also planning a garden. It's going to be great, I hope! We shall see...the garden plot is tilled and ready and now I'm just waiting on the weather. 

God is good and I am hopeful that as I continue to cut out mammal products I will continue to feel better...and better, and maybe I can have a summer with energy that is not spent in bed, or crying from allergies. One can hope?

I am content with what God gives me. Every day is a gift. 

I'm going to lay in bed and eat chocolate. 

Budget Feb 27-March 13 2026

coffee date from last week!

This month we did our taxes and got our tax return. It was $3,134 which was a huge blessing. We put $2,000 in savings and will be placing the rest (1,134) into our budget. 

Feb 27-March 6: Budget 1,567

• Pandora Subscription $13
• Trash $32
• Reuben Piano $120
• Tithe
• Target $160
• Goodwill $23
• Health Nut $17
• Kroger $66
• Gas $60
• Ice Cream $20
• Bakery Date $7
• Summer Hats $87
• Birthday Present for Daddy $60
• Amazon $105
• Keen Sandals for Becky $74
• Xero Shoes Sandals for Reuben $90

That brings our spending to $984 for this week, leaving 583 to roll over into next week.

We did all our spring and summer clothes shopping this week. We went to target and I got Reuben one summer outfit, Esther one summer outfit, and Becky two summer outfits. Then we went to goodwill and picked up a few other things...goodwill is by far better prices but sometimes you can't find anything. I think we did good! 

Becky needed a pair of closed toe sandals for summer. I'm a shoe minimalist, even with my kids. Each child is allowed up to four pairs of shoes. For them, I like to have a pair of closed toed sandals for summer, and a pair of open toed sandals. Then we always have a pair of church shoes (that also work for piano recitals) and a pair of boots (for rain, cold days) on hand year round. In winter we nix the sandals and add a pair of winter waterproof snow boots into the rotation. I do the same for myself. It's simple, and then because we are so minimalist on shoes I can afford to buy the barefoot shoes that help my kids posture... however, I could not for the life of me find a pair of closed toe sandals in size 1 or 2 for Becky, so I bought her a pair of Keen sandals. They are the closest to what I wanted that I could find-- I wanted a pair like this, zero drop and wide toe box. Hopefully Becky likes what she gets. 

Becky lost her hat last year and Esther has the same one, so I wanted to repurchase it. It's the butterfly hat from Sunday Afternoons. I also bought myself a straw hat. Mine broke last year, the webbing in the brim fell apart. It was sad. I bought myself this one in large. On Amazon, the most expensive thing I bought was this new piano book for Becky! This is the one her studio uses and thus, we need it for her piano lessons. I also bought a book for a friend, a cookbook for Reuben, a hairbrush and some hair headbands. 

I hope my husband likes his birthday gift. He turns 41 this year! 

March 6-13: Budget 2,150

• Brian Phone $35
• Internet $20
• Tithe 
• Raw Milk savings 50
• Becky Piano savings $100
• Azure $643
• Swimming $30
• Walmart $252
• Postmark $92
• Mommy Shoes $100
• Reuben next size up shoes $90
• Fresh Market bread to take to a potluck $23
• DMV $59 
• Home Depot $13

That brings our total spending to $1,557 for this week, leaving $593 left in our budget to roll over. 

What did I buy on postmark? I got Esther two cardigans. We looked at goodwill and target last week and there was nothing! I also got myself a 2 cardigans. I get cold in summer and I found I did not have what I wanted when unpacking my spring clothes.

The next item on my list was more shoes. I got Becky and Reuben shoes last week, but I had a few other items on my list--mainly a pair of shoes for me. Last summer, I really needed a pair of closed toed sandals and I am trying these Freet shoes from PedTerra. I have very wide feet and always buy the mens sizes so I hope these work...(they haven't arrived yet) I also saw while I was on the website that Reuben's Koel Madison sandals are being discontinued so I bought him a pair in size 39 for next summer. Reuben has a really high arch and very wide feet like his mother and...he also is prone to sweaty feet. He's wearing the 37 right now and I have a pair of 38s put up for him already but since we love these shoes I definitely want to stock up. He wears these sandals year round and I honestly don't know what he will wear when we can't find them. I love the Koel Madison sandals and I cannot find them anywhere to purchase in the USA in a wide variety of sizes...or any sandals that look comparable. Hopefully they will make more and PedTerra will stock them. 

What did I order from Azure? Oh, so many things! Einkorn penne, sourdough sandwich bread, brown rice, einkorn flour, sourdough spaghetti, frozen raspberries, strawberries and cranberries, paprika powder, smoked paprika, parsley, basil, garlic powder, lemon pepper, sourdough crackers, chocolate rounds in Mexicano, dark, eggnog, and salted, summer sausage, A2 strawberry yogurt, A2 vanilla yogurt, Bagels plain and cinnamon raisin, raw cheese, Lavender caramels, peppermint cups, and peanut butter cups. In total my order was 15 cases for 115 lbs. 

Remember in last week's budget I saved 100 for raw milk and 100 for piano and 100 for cognitive brain development? We are not moving forward with brain development and thus I will split that savings between the milk and piano, bringing those buckets up to 150 each. So now our savings buckets hold:

• Raw Milk $200
• Becky Piano $250

Our raw milk payment is due in April 2026 and piano is due in May 2026. 

On our credit card, we put Brians gym membership ($35, YMCA) and the payment to file our taxes ($185) which, total, was a little over $200...I need to keep better track of what goes on the credit card. We pay it off every month but since my husband has it, I don't usually think about what is going on it and I don't check it. 

Budgeting is never easy. What does your budget look like?