Welcome to Ultimate Blog Party '09!

There is this really annoying commercial on Nickelodeon. It's a compilation of these guys saying the word "dude" over and over and over. Last night, we were watching Scooby Doo (yes, one of my favorite shows) and the commercial came on. My loving husband offered to throw something through the TV to turn it off. A normal family would have changed the channel. We are not normal. The kids and I promptly went into a 2 minute chorus of "dude" as many different ways and tones of voice as we could. By the end of it, even my husband was laughing. Life is just too short to get annoyed with the little things. Welcome to my world.

My name is Michele, but just call me Chele. Everyone does. I am a stay at home wife and mom. My husband John and I have been married for three years this coming May. We each have one child from our first marriages. Katelyn is 15 and a freshman in high school and Michael is 10 and in fifth grade. We are all evangelical Christians, and the children (excuse me, young adults) attend a local Christian school. John is the IT manager for a chain of collision shops. I have a candle and scented products company. I handmake all our products. I adore my husband and kids. We have such a great life!

We live in the country on about three acres of land. I love it! I'm starting a local chapter of the Mary Jane FarmGirls here. I'm really embracing my inner barn diva. I'd like to actually have more land. I'd like to be able to be as self-sufficient as possible. I'm really frugal (ok, cheap), and the thought of not having to pay anyone else for stuff appeals to me a lot. There's also another reason we want to grow our own food. Food allergies.


Yes, I have some serious food allergies. People hear the list of what I'm allergic to, and the first question I get is, "What do you eat!". I'm used to it, and it makes me laugh. There is this perception that being allergic to something means that you are missing out. I'm sorry, but I eat very well without getting ill. My list of allergies includes dairy, the entire onion family (onions, shallots, chives, green onions, leeks and garlic), most food preservatives, meat tenderizers, MSG, roses, latex, most antibiotics, grass, dust, feathers, fur, and several others. My son is also allergic to dairy. I also have a health condition that makes me get very ill if I have too much fat. I can only eat 25-50 grams a day before my body starts to register its complaints. As a result, we eat very few processed foods, very little meat, and lots of homemade goodies. Some family favorites include spaghetti, all types of Mexican food, chicken and dumplings, sticky buns, bread, all types of Chinese (I make it from scratch, like most everything else) and almost anything edible. lol I love cooking, and we try new recipes often. I'm considering entering a cooking contest. We'll see how that turns out.

This blog is a mix of Bible study, homemaking, family news, and whatever comes to mind. I have a strange sense of humor at times, and we enjoy pranking each other. I also like to talk about living with allergies. It's a challenge that more and more people are living with. Living frugally is also important to me. We have a monthly grocery budget of $360, and that includes all of our pet foods, paper products, and toiletries. We're also working on being debt free in the next three years. I try to be organized. Really I do. It just doesn't happen very often. lol It's a work in progress. I'm a work in progress. I'm very open about my life.

Well, that's me in a nutshell. I welcome you to poke around the blog. I'm in the middle of doing a giveaway for my business. We just launched my revamped website. And now that I know where our camera is, I'll be taking pictures to share. The kids should be very scared. Let's just say I love taking surprise shots. lol