Happy July 4th!

Saved By Grace would like to wish all of my readers a happy and SAFE 4th of July!

I want to make sure you have a safe Independence Day and I have included some tips!

• When  outside for long periods of time, make sure to apply sunscreen, even if it looks a bit cloudy or overcast. You skin will thank you!

• Stay hydrated! You don't want to end up with heat exhaustion on such a fun day. One way to make sure is to stay away from too much alcohol and soda. These are not hydrating and will actually dehydrate you. Stick with water or add a lemon or a splash of juice to your water to mix it up a bit. A good rule is to drink 8-9 cups of water/fluids if you will be out all day. You should rarely feel thirsty.

• Be safe with fireworks! Follow all instructions and make sure to light them away from trees, buildings and dry areas. Light quickly and walk away. If one is a 'dud', leave it alone. Do not attempt to light a shortened fuse. Never light them in your hand.

• Be careful with food at cookouts. Food safety still applies at the BBQ. Keep hot foods hot and cold foods cold and use clean utensils and cutting boards.

• Be water smart. Never leave children unattended near water for even a moment. Do not rely on older children to watch the young ones.

With just a few precautions in place, your family can have a great holiday and avoid incidents that can be easily prevented.

Happy 4th of July!






picture via flickr by bayasaa

Garden growing!

I have been posting a lot about my garden since the start of spring and I wanted to update everyone on how it is coming along.

Of all the vegetables, the beans are taking off! They seemed to sprout overnight.

In the flower section, I am losing hope that they will ever grow. Seems like just a bunch of green.

I have several pots on my steps and they seem to be doing well. My cat will be happy when I hand over the catgrass to him.

Look at the pretty flowers! I just love the lavender! It smells divine.

And finally, our cilantro....

....and basil is sprouting!

I can't wait to harvest this fall! I am going to attempt canning for the first time!

A day in the sun!

Montana has finally seen some sun! I don't know why, but every year when it finally comes, it takes me by surprise. If you are thinking of moving to Montana, understand that while we do have all four seasons, but Summer and Winter really drag on and Spring and Fall seem to not exist at all some years! In Montana, we like to say,"We have 2 seasons; Winter and Construction".

In any case, we had a scorcher the other day and a friend of mine, Jenna, and her kiddos hit the local park with water features to cool off!

The kids had a blast, but only after her little man, Brayden got over his fear of the water. Then he was all in it!

Jaeda, my 9 year old was looking "cool" in her shades.

Baby McKenna, Jenna's daughter had fun it the water as well. Her little suit was so cute!

I love that my city put these parks with the water features in a few years back. It sure beats the turtles that sprayed water when I was a kid!

My daughter is such a budding photographer! Take a look at the picture she snapped on myself and Jenna!

I hope you are having a lot of summer fun!

My BIG announcement!

If you have been reading my blog recently, you will see a little post on my breasts.
In this post I talk about how having large breasts has really given me a hard time and actually caused tremendous health issues.

Well, I have an announcement:

I will be consulting with a plastic surgeon on the 12th of July this year to talk about getting a reduction. This has been in the works for several years as I have been gathering medical evidence.

I needed to gather medical evidence for insurance purposes. I have seen several types of Doctors to address the many aspects of larger breast size in relation to my health.

~My regular provider, Sandy P. FNP has been so wonderful to me. She has gotten the ball rolling on all of this and she has been inspirational on moving forward. It is now a serious possibility because of her!

~ I saw an Orthopedic practitioner and she recommended I get a reduction because of the way my back is curving

~A chiropractor recommend it as well because of the way my neck is curving forward.

~I had a doctor several years back tell me that I needed to consider it because of skin issues I struggle with in that area.

~A Doctor of sleep medicine suggested it because I actually have trouble breathing at night because of their size

~A respiratory therapist and pulmonary doctor recommend it because I don't actually have asthma. I just have a difficult time breathing because of the weight of them on my chest.


Did you know that breast tissue weighs approximately 1 lb for each cup size? Since I am an H, that means mine weigh 10 lbs each! That is 20 lbs on my chest all day and all night. It's no wonder I have issues with breathing and that it is causing serious back, neck and shoulder issues.

I have to admit, although I am excited, I am scared. This is a major surgery with a very pain-filled recovery (or so I have heard).

Wish me luck on this journey. You know I will keep my blog readers informed!

Some of the best websites for kids

I often look for great websites for kids online. I decided to compile a list and make it available to my wonderful readers!

If you are looking for a search engine that is kid friendly and safe, try KidRex.org
It is safe because it utilizes Google's safe search feature. It is really fun looking. It looks like a kid drew the page in crayon!


If you have a school aged kiddo who struggles with multiplication, try multiplication.com
You will find fun games that help your kiddo learn the tables.


If you have a younger kiddo, let them play educational games and watch videos on PBSkids.org



Kidscom.com is chock full of fun activities to do with your kids, games, SAFE chat for kids and educational resources!



Looking for some fun educational games on an easy to use website? You gotta check out funbrain then! Not only are there games, but there are also books and comics!


Now that school is out, don't let them lose all they learned! Introduce your kids to these fun and often educational (shhh!) sites!


picture via flickr by PictureYouth

I am more than my breasts!

So, if you know me in 'real' life, you know that I am, as some say, blessed in the chest.
Only I don't consider it a blessing anymore.

Warning! This post is very personal and I talk about a private body part of mine. Please feel free to move on if you are sensitive to this subject.


photo via flickr by Mike Liche

I am large chested, and believe me when I say, it is cumbersome. To be exact, my breasts are a size 44 H.

There are several problems with having large breasts and I have experienced all of them, some on a very regular basis:

~Rashes under the breasts and in between in the 'cleavage'. These rashes burn, itch and ache.

~Yeast infections in between the breasts and under. This is extremely embarrassing and very painful and hard to prevent and rid yourself of.

~Back, neck and shoulder pain. Even headaches. I have actually physical deformities in my back and neck from carrying around the girls that you can see on an x-ray.

~Breathing difficulties. You may laugh, but it's true. I have a hard time breathing because of the weight of them both at night while I am sleeping and during the day. This was confirmed by a sleep study and blood tests as well as breathing tests to determine if it was caused by a lung disease. The 'asthma' I thought I had is not-I have no underlying lung issue..it is simply the weight of my breasts that causes asthma like symptoms and high levels of CO2 in my blood.

~Shoulder pain caused by the straps digging in. I have a permanent groove in my shoulder from wearing bras.

~I worry about one thing especially; my breasts make it difficult to feel for lumps because of their size and density

~besides the physical issues, there is the self esteem issues.


You may think to yourself, "How in the world could a woman with large breasts have self esteem issues about them?! Doesn't she feel great having what all women seem to want?"

This is how a lot of people react.

But to be frank, it's not what it's cracked up to be.

I can't fit in most women's tops unless I buy a significantly larger size than I should normally wear. As a teenager and young woman, the men all thought I was "easy" and the girls hated on me. It was assumed I was loose simply because of my chest size.

No matter what I wear, I have cleavage. This is terrible especially when you are as modest as I am.

People like to point out my chest size and I am often the butt of jokes.

People think they have a right to ask my chest size.

Men often stare at my breasts instead of my face when meeting me or talking to me. They think I don't notice, but I do.

Exercising is painful. Its not only painful because I am out of shape, but its nearly impossible to buy a supportive sports bra in my size. It physically hurts to have them unsupported while exercising.

Say goodbye to cute swimsuits, cute bras (in a reasonable price range), cute tops and dresses.

That is only a SHORT list of things I encounter that make me suffer from self esteem issues related to my chest size.

But all is not lost!

I have a 'BIG' announcement coming soon! Stay tuned!

Now thats's a lot of ants!

My husband and I water the properties for our landlady and we came across the biggest ant pile I have ever seen in my life.

Of course, the child in me went inside and grabbed an Oreo style cookie and opened it up and placed it next to them. I wanted to see them scrabble to gobble it up. Much to my disappointment, it took quite a while for them to even notice it.

If the pile would have been near a building, I would not have done it, but it was on the other side of the sidewalk.

I was fascinated by it because it looked like moving dirt there were so many of them!

It got me thinking; why are there some bugs that I am not afraid of while others really creep me out?

Why Yes, I am a bird-watching dork :)

There is a beautiful place here just about 20 minutes from where we live called the Lee Mettcalf Wildlife refuge. It has beautiful nature trails, wetlands to explore and wonderful open fields.

I love to drive through there to watch for wildlife. To me, there is nothing more relaxing that getting out in the open beauty like that. Boy, did we need it this week, too.

As you may have read, I am in a battle over depression currently, and to top it off, we have the city replacing the water mains right in front of our house. It's noisy, it's annoying and it rattles the house all day.

Back to the beauty of nature before I go on too much of a tangent.....

There is one particular bird that is always at this site and it is very common around the US, but I have to say I just love it. I think it is very pleasing to watch as it shows off and the colors are bold and dynamic. It is the Red-Winged Blackbird.

Although this bird likes to show off, he was hard to get a picture of up close. Our camera has great clarity, but it only has 5x zoom.

The wild rosebushes are in bloom in the refuge and my husband swears he saw a beaver in the marsh.

And yes, we do have white sand here..next to the riverbed. The water is so cool and crystal clear.

Whenever I need to clear my head, I do so out in nature because I can see God's beauty and his glorious paintbrush.

Bitten...

I have been bitten..by the depression bug again.

Hopefully I won't bore my readers with my talking about my mental health issues again, but I just want to vent here a minute.

It is so hard to motivate myself when I get like this. I am a chronic sufferer of depression due to another underlying chronic mental health diagnosis.

For years now, I have dealt with depression rearing its ugly head and taking over my thoughts, happiness and life. When it does, I feel listless, like I don't want to be around people, like I don't want to leave my house, on the verge of tears most of the day and so grumpy I just could scream..at myself..because I can't even stand being around ME.

Anyone who knows how this feels knows how old the cycle gets after years of being on it. I have gotten to the point where I don't talk about it too much to the people in my "real" life, mostly because I am under the impression that the ones who have been around for any amount of time are annoyed with what probably comes across as whining and I just don't really want the sympathy anymore, because its not enough, even though I know the ones who care about me do it because they love me.

I just want to be free from this roller-coaster.

I want to share that I have gone to great lengths to rid myself of this. I have been through the ringer of therapies, for years. I have taken just about every medication there is out there for my condition (sometimes the cure is worse than the cause with many of those). And, yes, I have even spent time doing ECT (commonly refereed to as "shock treatments", YES they still do those).

The only treatment that worked for any length of time was the ECT, but it only worked for about 6 months (but OH was it a wonderful 6 months!) and I fear it is time for me to return to that.

Unfortunately, I don't have the time for it because I now have more responsibility. I hate it anyway. I have a whole month there last year where I have no recollection. It's as if the whole month never happened in my memory. I was so confused I don't even know. Thank God I had people to care for me.

I don't know what to do anymore. The only place I can turn is God.



picture via flickr by Frustrated Writer

Epsom Salt is a wonder mineral!

God made some awesome things, I tell ya. (duh!)

Magnesium Sulfate, also known as Epsom Salt is so useful for both humans and plants.

I have been using Epsom salt in my houseplants for years as a fetilizer. It really does help them grow well. My houseplants grow strong (almost too strong!) and healthy by simply adding 2 tbsp of Epsom Salt per gallon of warm water and using the mixture to water my plants once a month.

Did you know you can volumize your hair with Epsom Salt?

~It's Easy! Just combine warmed conditioner of your choice and an equal part of Epsom Salt and leave in hair for 20 minuets and rinse out.

~Try dipping your sore dry feet with this soak:

~Mix 1/2 cup Epsom Salt in a small tub of warm water and soak your feet. The soak with soften calluses and sooth tired feet.

~This summer, treat those stings and misquito bites with Epsom Salt. It will relieve itching and swelling! Make a cold compress by soaking a washcloth in water that has had 2 tbsp per cup of water disolved in it.

~Epsom Salt is great for all your summer gardening!
You can use the Epsom Salt to fetilize your veggies and lawn even!

Who knew that something so natural and versitle and low cost could be so useful!?

I want to say thanks to the Epsom Salt Council for providing me with all this wonderful info on Epsom Salt and the free samples of Epsom Salt. Make sure you follow them on Facebook for more uses for this wonder mineral!

Dandelions..Nature's pest or Nature's cure?

In the springtime, our yard becomes a yellow field of dandelions.  Most people spend a lot of money every year to rid themselves of these 'pests'.  We don't, but that is mostly because we live in an apartment and the lawn is our landlord's responsibility.

I had heard that dandelions may have some health benefits, so I looked into it.

According to leaflady.org, there are some wonderful health benefits to all parts of the dandelion. Who knew that what most of America sees as a pest could really be a miracle cure?

Dandelions contain all sorts of vitamins and minerals as well as important aids in digestion.

I was really amazed to learn that dandelions contain Inulin. Inulin is a substance that helps the body convert sugars. Inulin is awesome for diabetics like myself because it helps even blood sugar rises out. Who knew you could find this in dandelions?

Now, before you go picking the dandelions in your yard, make sure you have not used any pesticide on them. This can be poisonous to you as well!

If you haven't, it is as simple as plucking the leaves from the plant just before it blooms. You can eat them after, but they are more bitter.

Use them in a salad of just as you would spinach.

If you want to get really creative, I have heard you can turn the flowers into a wine.



photo via flickr by cygnus921

Diabetes

A lot of people don't know that I am a Type 2 diabetic.

Yes, that's right. I am only 30 and I have type 2 diabetes. It runs extremely strong in my family. My mother has it. My aunt has it and my late Grandma had it.

Right now, I am not insulin dependent. I have taken injections of insulin before when I have to have steroids. I sometimes have to take steroids when I get ill because I have a hard time shaking illnesses. I do however take oral medications.

I made this post so I could share some symptoms to watch out for. Diabetes is a serious illness and I care about my readers so I want to make you aware what things to be on the lookout. You may have all or only some of these symptoms, but make sure you get checked out by a doctor if you are questioning them

~Excessive thirst

~Excessive urination

~Feeling tired and cranky

~Feeling more hungry than usual

~Weight loss or weight gain (excessive) without trying to

~Tingling or numb feeling in hands and feet

~Longer healing times

~Frequent bladder and yeast infections


Diabetes can sneak up on you. You may be pre-diabetic and not even know it. I know it was a surprise for me when I found out and it quickly progressed from pre-diabetes to full blown diabetes. I now have been dealing with advancement of my illness which includes more low dives in my blood sugar that make me feel pretty icky as well as neuropathy, a debilitating pain in the nerves mostly caused by damage by diabetes.

I hope you found this post helpful and informative.



With love,
Chrissie

On my way to organization!

I started reading a great book on organization. (I will write the review later when I have completed the full 30 day challenge! I am about half way through!)

It has inspired me to clean up and purge my junk and get a more positive flow in my home.

Living in an apartment that is pretty small forces a person to be creative about storage of their things. Shamefully, my old way of doing it was shoving things wherever I could. I wouldn't say I am a hoarder by any means, but I do have a hard time getting rid of things that may be of use later. Living apartment style doesn't really allow that and it has come time for me to face that.

We have, no joke, 2 adults and a part time 9 year old living in our one bedroom space. It gets pretty filled up with all kinds of things pretty easily.

I started in my kitchen. My cupboards were a hot mess. I wish I had thought to take photos before because they are drastically different now. I had no idea I had dry goods that had expired 2 years ago in there!

I am still kind of working on the kitchen, but one huge mess we tackled was my daughter's art supplies and toys. We used to have a small side table packed full of papers, books, and art supplies. We purchased a cheap shelf at the Goodwill for 6 dollars and purged a bunch of her stuff. It looks wonderful now!

Since I do so many product reviews, our table was full of them. Products just staring at me asking me to review them and get them put away. I used to have a small basket filled with them, but stuff was overflowing. Instead, I cleaned out the cedar chest we used to use as our coffee table and stored my winter shoes/boots in it and took the tiny bin we had for shoes and used it for my review items. What is nice, is, my small basket fits right on top. I store later reviews in the bin and more pressing reviews in the top. It makes almost a two section storage.

Aren't you excited to have me review these products? I assure you this is just a handful of what I have to review! I didn't want to reveal too much :)


I am looking forward to getting the whole house done. This feels great to finally be free from clutter!

Time to hit up those thrft stores and yard sales!

I live in a College town. This time of year is a virtual goldmine when it comes to cheap shopping.

The thrift stores are full of furniture from graduating College students and yard sales pop up everywhere from everyone's spring cleaning projects.

Here are some of my personal tips for having the best time diggin' up these deals:

1. Go with a friend or your spouse. Split up at the store or yard sale. This ensures you will have full coverage of the area and allows both of you to look for things the other might like in a quicker fashion. Just plan to meet back at a point to discuss items found.

2. Grab a cart and just put anything you might like in it. You can discuss later before checkout if it is something you really need or want and if it fits in your budget. You will often see something you want and then decide later in that trip to go back and get it and it is already snagged by another shopper. Putting "maybe" items in your cart basically holds them for you while you decide later. Also, you may find something even better similar to an item you put in your cart, then you can choose between the two.

3. Unless you have lots of time and skill, don't buy things that need repair or are missing parts. I have found that items I bought with then intention of fixing up never end up fixed because of my lack of time, so it is just wasted money and takes up space.

4. Don't be afraid to haggle. If you find a shirt for instance with a small stain, bring it to the cashier's attention. They may be willing to knock off a few dollars.

5. For Yard sales, pick up a paper and scour craigslist to map out your route. You will find it more efficient that way.

6. If you find an item you think you got a good deal on, check out what it's going for on Ebay later. It's always fun to know when you got a screamin' deal and when you didn't. Knowing what the item goes for on Ebay will help you better understand how much you are willing to pay for similar items later.

Have fun!



Photo via flickr by youtube_user_willtrade4food

Couponing: The Extreme Video Course

I am a couponing newbie. I kind of have a general idea about coupons, but admit to being a bit intimidated by the thought of really using them a lot. Like many people, I worry if my time and energy will be wasted.

I then took Couponing: The Extreme Video Course. I feel much more educated when it comes to the art of using the coupon and getting maximum savings.

Couponing: The Extreme Video Course is a 14 video series that teaches you how to get maximum value and even how to shop specific stores that offer even more savings. There are two bonus videos with resources and other ways to save money on food as well as a downloadable workbook included.

I really enjoyed the series. I am a visual learner and this is just the ticket for someone like me. The series was clear, easy to understand and well laid out. I like that it was broken down into shorter videos. This made it easy for me to watch a video or two and then come back when I had more time.

The series really makes the user feel more confident in using coupons. Anyone can be an extreme couponer and save thousands of dollars!

Go get your own Couponing: The Extreme Video Course!

Also check out the other awesome resources on the Stay A Stay At Home Mom website. Be sure to stay up to date on news on the website by "liking" the Facebook page as well.



I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

Happy Memorial Day

Aww the "kick off to the summer" is here. (If only summer weather would actually grace us in Montana!). BBQ, Friends, good times..

Today is not National BBQ day though. Don't forget the men and women who have fought for our freedom here in America.

When I think of all the brave souls who gave their lives so I could be free in this country, my throat gets a lump in it.

Little known fact: I joined the military straight out of high school. I didn't stay in and got out before my basic training was over. It is so hard to be in the military. I admit, I couldn't cut it.

I am so grateful for those that could make the cut though. Without them, I am sure my life would be hugely different here.

So, today, while I am about to leave and go have a picnic under the cloudy skies here in Montana, I want to thank those that helped give me that freedom.

Happy Memorial Day!

Car situation solved!

If you read a couple days ago, you saw that we pretty much wrecked our old car (a 1998 Buick Century) by hitting a deer on the freeway.

Well, after frantically trying to figure out a way to remedy the situation, we decided our only option was to purchase a new car. The old car was gonna cost too much to fix and without full coverage insurance on it, the cost was going to be all ours. My husband gets off work late 3 nights a week and since our headlight was completely gone and demolished, it wasn't going to be work to keep the old car. We did a couple thousand in damage.

After figuring out our finances, we came to the conclusion that getting back into car payments in our only option at this point. It's going to be tight, but we will hopefully manage.

We are proud new owners of a 2000 Buick Park avenue:

I feel way too broke to have leather interior:

I am sure it will all work out in the end. In the meantime, we are getting full coverage insurance!

My very eventful trip

Hello Readers!

As you know, I took a 4 day trip with my husband for his business trip. I had thought I had planned for everything, but nature likes to throw wrenches in plans.

Nature literally did throw a wrench, or rather a herd of deer into our plans.

A little back-story; we just paid off our car in April. We were looking forward to a summer free from car payments. Our car was our pride and joy. We had scrimped and saved for 2 years to pay it off. It was in pristine condition for it's age- it is a 1998 Buick Century.

About 80 miles away from home, at around 4:30 am, we came over a small hill in the road and with no warning, a herd of deer ran out on front of us. We were traveling at about 70 miles per hour (5 miles below the speed limit here) and could not stop. My husband just yelled, "Hold on!" and we had no choice but to plow into them.

Needless to say, our pretty car is pretty badly damaged. The engine, amazingly is still in perfect working order. However, the headlight on the driver's side is gone, completely.

Now, I was mad at the situation, but due to my husband's good sense of humor, we were able to stay calm and even laugh about it in the days to follow.

I am very thankful it was only my car that was damaged and not us. We could have been seriously injured. We definitely had an angel on our side.

And my husband joked that when we hit him we scared the poop right out of him cause he pooped on the side of our car. (yes, my husband has a warped sense of humor, but it's part of why I love him!)

I am very grateful to be alive and so grateful we made it to our destination over 300 miles away that same day and back to home with no mechanical issues.

I do have to add that that whole day, was not a great one either. I have IBS and all the stress caused it to act up so I had issues all day and evening and I also go stung by a yellow-jacket that flew in our window as soon as we got to our destination. Oh well, every day can't be great can it?

What is your wildest road trip story?

Can't wait to go out of town

I am so excited! Tomorrow, my husband and I are taking a road trip across the state. He is going for work training and I am going with him to visit with some friends I have not seen in ages!

I very rarely leave town for a couple reasons:

a) We are low on the fund-age

b) I have a tad bit of agoraphobia (which is why blogging is so great for me!)


I am a little anxious about leaving, but to calm my nerves, I thought I would write a post offering my personal checklist of what to take on a road trip.

Ready? Here we go!

For the trunk of the car:

Jugs of water
Extra oil and anti-freeze/coolant
fix-a-flat
batteries for flashlight
flashlight
jumper cables
lug wrench and spare tire kit
extra blankets
Basic first aid kit


I think all of these are essential for traveling a good distance from home. These will help cover any minor car emergencies.



Now, you probably know that I love to save money, so here are some tips to save money on the road:

Instead of stopping at gas stations along the way for drinks and snacks, consider bringing a small cooler. You can put water, soda etc in it and your drinks are covered.

Pack a bag or your cooler with small individual portions of snacks that can be easily eaten in the car like fruit, carrot sticks, chips, sandwiches etc.

Freeze water bottles to use for ice. As it melts,you have the added bonus of a drink without taking up more room in the cooler.

Fill your gas tank up at a gas station away from the freeway. Prices at gas station near the freeway are often a bit more expensive, especially during tourist season. Use gasbuddy.com to check fuel prices in the area for the cheapest location.

Plan for free or cheap roadside attractions so you can have fun without going over your budget.

To save gas, try to stay around 60-65 MPH. This has been shown to save the most in gas than going faster.

Before you leave, check the air pressure in your tires. If they are low, fill them to the ideal weight per manufacture instructions. This actually helps you get better gas mileage


Fear not, readers, I will return on Thursday and I am sure to have plenty to blog about! Make sure you enter the Oh! So Pretty giveaway while I am gone :)




photo via flickr by mRio

Finally getting a start on my Garden!

So, another update on my garden. My husband dug up the garden the other day and even did the decorating. We planted several flowers from seed and hope to see them grow soon!

Now, some people might find it off-putting that I am also a "sorta" dumpster diver. By sorta I mean I don't go trolling dumpsters on a daily basis, but if I see something next to a dumpster I find useful and in decent shape, I snag it. (That just gave me an awesome idea for another post!)

Anyway, I found this heavy pillar next to my neighbor's dumpster. I live in a downtown area where several people use the same dumpster and no one (unfortunately) really talks to each other. So I feel no guilt snagging it. I am not sure what to do with it, but I want to incorporate it into my garden somehow. I just think it is so neat.

All that is left to do is dig out the other section for the vegetables to go. What a project that will be. Good thing I have a 9 year old eager to earn some money to help me :)

This is pretty much what the other garden looked like pre-digging.

As always, I will keep you informed as well make progress!