My Breastfeeding Journey in 95 Words

I came across a blog last night, shared by a friend on FB, that invited people to write about their breastfeeding journey in 100 words or less.  This was an exciting challenge and I wanted to be a part of it but I tend to ramble on and on, as many of you know.  How in the world could I ever keep my story to 100 words or less?  My journey includes 4 kids, difficulties nursing, tandem nursing, adoption, unexpected pregnancies, forced weanings.  It is a very emotional journey for me. 

In the end I decided to focus on the emotions I felt in the up and down ride and this is what I came up with.  I will be submitting it today and I really hope that they use it.  I also hope it's ok that I am sharing it here, I didn't see anything that said I could not share it on my own blog too.


A Breastfeeding Journey of 4....... First time mom, new baby boy..... Nervous, unsure, flat nipples, poor latch, pumping, finger feedings, frustration, trying so hard..... Triumph, he's got it, we're doing it, success...... New life, baby girl, latches on immediately, easy peasy, joyous, content, uneventful..... Surprise, baby girl, adoption, tandem nursing, bonding, comfortable, amazing, bliss..... Unexpected pregnancy, forced weaning, sadness, guilt..... New life number 4, baby girl, breech, emergency c-section, will she get it, fear... Strong latch, no worries, beautiful, blessed, complete.....  Ups and Downs, Joy and Sorrow, Hope, sacrifice, attachment...... through it all LOVE!


95 words, WOOT WOOT, I still had 5 to spare, that has to be some sort of record for me!

What would your story look like, in 100 words or less?

If you are interested in reading my complete nursing journey (thus far) you can check out my guest blog The Breastfeeding Rollercoaster: 4 babies, 4 years over at Natural Parents Network



Love,
this content mama,
Christy

Habiba and Alma, Together Again

Such Joyous news to share today!!  Habiba has been reunited with her daughter Alma after a traumatic and unnecessary 3 week separation.  If you are not familiar with this story please read the blog I am Habiba, You are Habiba, We are ALL Habiba.

So far,. most of the press releases are in Spanish so I do not have a lot of information.  The little I have found in English comes from Examiner.com

"In a translated statement from the Instituto Madrileño del Menor y la Familia, IMMF or the Madrid Institute for Children and Families, Habiba "has been assessed that in the last three weeks, the mother's attitude has evolved favorably."
It is reported that she has a job and a residence per the request of the IMMF. Habiba has also agreed to participate in psychological therapy."
- Reunited! Mother and child separated over attachment parenting together again.
  Jennifer Antonil
  Milford New Moms Examiner
  June 22, 2011 12:32 pm

Just to know that Alma is in the arms of her mama again, where she belongs, brings tears to my eyes.

From the Worldwide Mothers support Habiba! IMMF Give her baby back:
TOGETHER, EMBRACED AND FREE. little Alma is recovering leaning her head against her mom's breast without separating from her for an instant, as if everything had been a bad dream. Habiba shines with joy, as we have never seen her before. We reassure you everything you have done has been worth it. Alma, Habiba and us we will be eternally grateful for all your support.-Fundación Raices

I pray  that Habiba was able to keep up her supply during the separation, nothing will heal the wounds better than the close bond that nursing provides.  I also pray that the separation was short enough and Alma is young enough that there will be no lasting damage to her.  Hopefully it will fade away and she will grow up only remembering the love and security that her mama provided her with.

I was so elated I just wanted to share the news!!

We may have won this battler, but as the Worldwide Mothers Support Habiba  FB page also reports:
"Lynne Gomez: Just because Habiba and Alma are reunited does NOT mean this fight is over! Who will be the next Habiba? Who will be the next baby Alma? IMMF *NEEDS* to understand that this was unacceptable behavior and that it will not be ok for it to happen again.... We need to keep ON this so that no other mother and child have to go through this ordeal!!!"

For now, let's just shine in the glory of this victory.  Habiba and Alma, together again, together forever!

The Worldwide Mothers Support Habiba FB Page uploaded the most beautiful photo of mama and baby in each others arms again but blogger is being a pain in the tush and will NOT let me upload it right now.  I will try to come back later and add it, for now check out their page to see the picture.

FINALLY able to share the picture now:

Love,
this joyous mama,
Christy

I am Habiba, You are Habiba, We are ALL Habiba

Habiba is a young mother living in Madrid.  Due to financial issues she has been living with her 15 month old daughter at the Instituto Madrileño del Menor y la Familia or IMMF (roughly translated it means Madrid’s Family and Children’s Institute in English-Thank you for the translation  Amor Maternal).

On May 31 Habiba dropped her daughter off at the IMMF daycare center as usual.  Shortly there after that she was informed that she could no longer live at the IMMF Institute because she no longer had a child. 

It is alleged that the Institute took Habiba's 15 month old daughter away because Habiba was practicing extended breastfeeding.  It has been reported that the IMMF deemed the breastfeeding relationship between Habiba and her daughter as "chaotic" and "harmful" and also said it would make it more difficult to put the child for adoption if the need to do so were to arise.

I first heard of Habiba's plight from my friends Tanya when she posted a link to a press release that was in Spanish on Instinctual Mamas.  She gave a rough overview of what was happening and promised to translate the entire press release soon.  Ironically I was curled up on the couch with my 12 month old daughter nursing at the time that I read this.  I looked down at her and waves of emotion flooded through me.  I envisioned someone taking her away and telling me that our breastfeeding relationship was "chaotic" and "harmful".  I imagined the fear and confusion she would feel to not only be alone and in a strange place with strange people she did not know but to not have the comfort that nursing provides to help ease the stress.

Tanya did indeed translate the press release and posted it on her blog, Rockin Mama (click the link to read her full post on this).  She gave me permission to repost the translation here:

The Press Release Goes something like this: (roughly translated)

Four days ago, the Madrid Institute for Minors and Families (IMMF), decided to separate a little girl from her mother for not complying with the objectives of  a psychotherapy program and "maternal abilities" that imply to abandon  extended breastfeeding and breastfeeding on demand because it is considered "chaotic" and "harmful for every boy and girl".  With these considerations all lacking scientific or legal facts, they force mothers to take medication to cease milk production.  

According to the Spanish Association of Pediatricians, breastfeeding should be on demand and it can be extended as long as both child an mother wish.  No legal action has been taken to separate mother and child, and the mother has not been allowed to say goodbye nor has she been told where her daughter will be taken causing a grave defenselessness on both.  Habiba is engorged and on the brink of mastitis and with a broken heart with pain, with barely any sleep or bite to eat. This woman has been evaluated by a psychiatrist  and she does not show any signs of  mental illness, drug consumption or anything that would justify making her victim of such aggression.

They threw Habiba on the streets the same moment they took her daughter telling her she had no more room there because the resources they offer are for mothers and children and she did not have a child anymore. A humanitarian foundation has decided to help this mother donating legal support as well as shelter . We are deeply concerned by Habiba's pain and it pains us to imagine the circumstances this 15 month old child might be in, separated from her mother in an abrupt fashion most likely with no one explaining anything to her.

We consider Habiba and her child's case as a serious violation of human rights as well as children's rights. The damage is already done but if mother and child are reunited immediately it can be repaired because of this we urge you to write to write and protest to IMMF management, asking for the immediate return of the child to her mother

As I was preparing to write my own blog post on this PhD in Parenting reposted a guest blog originally posted by Amor Maternal on Habiba's story as well.  The post is called Spanish government authorities removed 15 month old nursling from mother’s care due to her refusal to wean her child by force.  I am always intimidated when bloggers I love and admire post on the same things I want to post on and often abandon such posts but I feel the more people who spread the word about Habiba the better her chances of having her daughter returned to her.  Definitely check out the blog above, it has a lot of details about the case in it.

I learned from Amor Maternal's blog that Habiba is currently being cared for by Fundación Raíces, which is a humanitarian organization.  They are providing her with psychiatric evaluations, legal services, healthcare and financial aid.

The IMMF has since said that Habiba's daughter was removed from her care not because of extended breastfeeding but because Habiba was a "violent person" but no one has been able to find any records of this anywhere.
Dr. Ibone Olza, one of the phyciatrists evaluating Hibaba was quoted  (from Amor Maternal's blog post) as saying:

“Based on Habiba’s thorough psychiatric evaluation I have reached the conclusion that this woman does not suffer from psychiatric disorders nor does she have a drug habit. In my opinion, she is a very capable, loving woman who is now suffering enormously from having been abruptly separated from her child.”

Habiba has not only suffered unimaginable emotional distress from this but she is also dealing with issues of engorgement and was close to developing mastitis when Dr. Olza stepped in to help her.

Habiba has only been allowed ONE 60 minute visit with her daughter since her daughter was abruptly ripped from her care and that was after NINE days of no contact.  She was forbidden to nurse her daughter in that ONE visit.  Amor Maternal reported that the IMMF did eventually take half a liter of breastmilk that Habiba was able to pump after pleads from Dr. Olza and many others but there are no guarantee's that the milk was ever given to the poor baby.

The accounts from Habiba and Dr. Olza on how the 15 month old girl acted during Habiba's ONE and only visit are just heart wrenching to read.  At many points I could no longer see the screen as my vision was so blurred with the tears. 

The little girl was reported to be listless and unconnected, she didn't even make eye contact with her mother.  No doubt living in a very underfunded and understaffed children's home in Madrid has already had adverse effects on her soul.  How the IMMF can justify continuing the separation is beyond me.  Habiba has been declared fit and loving and capable of taking care of her little girl.  Yet the IMMF has deemed the baby better off in a children's home that only  has 2 caregivers at night to tend to the needs of 42 children ages 6 and under.  I have 4 kids age 5 and under and I often have problems when more than 1 child awakes at night!

I know this sounds like MADNESS!  It sounds like the perfect plot line for a Lifetime movie.  Alas, it is all too true and there is a little girl out there stuck in a children's home lost wondering where her mommy is.  I can't imagine what is going through her mind right now "Why did mommy leave?"  "Who are all these strangers?" and the one thing that may provide some comfort for her, nursing, has been denied.

It has been alleged this is not an isolated incident and that many moms have been ordered to immediately cease and terminate their nursing relationship by the IMMF.

Most of the information currently out there on Habiba's fight are in Spanish, there are many Spanish links to her case.  So far, the only links I know of in English are the links above from Rockin Mama and Amor Maternal via PhD in Parenting.

I will leave you with the final plea in Amor Maternal's guest post:

If this story has touched your heart, if you wish to help in any way, please share this post. If you have a blog, please re-publish this information, if you know anyone in the press, anywhere in the world who could help in any way, please do contact them.

And a plea of my own- Please share my blog post, Rockin Mama's Post, and Phd in Parenting guest post from Amor Maternal with everyone you know.  Ask them to pass it on too.  Call your local TV news stations (or email them if you are like me and too embarrassed/self conscious to call).  We need to spread the word internationally.
If you speak another language please consider translating the information.   There is an abundance of information in Spanish, a few limited pieces in English and someone translated the original press release into French but that is is.

If you write a blog on Habiba's story please share a link in the comments so I can share your blog and post it on FB.  The more we repost these blogs the more people will be reached.

Please join the Worldwide Mothers support Habiba! IMMF Give her baby back on FB and sign the official petition which can be found in Spanish and in English

Save the photo above to your computer and set it as your default/profile picture on all of your social media accounts.  Tell people to ask you why that's your picture.  Share Habiba's story, knowledge is power.  SHARE! SHARE! SHARE!


This could be me.  This could be you.  We are all Habiba!

Love,
this choked up mama,
Christy

I never wanted to be "THAT" mom

this just screams "My mom's a Hippie!"

No, I don't mean the mom I already talked about in Great, now I am THAT mom!

I am talking about a totally different type mom.  One that I knew all along I NEVER wanted to be but now consider myself a proud card toting member of.  Well, proud for most days at least, exempt from the periodic bouts of second guessing brought on by friends/family/doctors.
This mom is the "Hippie Mom", or at least that's what I called her before I became one myself!  I saw her as the happy, love, rainbows and flowers mom.  The quirky mom who did "weird" things that just were not "normal" like breastfeeding, cloth diapering and cosleeping.  The mom who's kids ran around wearing tye-dyed items and peace signs all the time.

The "Hippie" Mom may practice:
*Please take not these were my impressions on this type of parenting before I ever had ANY kids.   I was such a great mom back when I had NO kids!

Breastfeeding,- YUCK!  I most definitely did NOT want to breastfeed my kids.  I saw it as something inferior to formula and something that only had to be done by those who could not afford the "superior" choice.  Formula companies are genius's when it comes to marketing and advertising I will give them that, even if it does violate WHO Codes.
*Once I was on the breastfeeding wagon I still felt it was totally gross and unnecessary to nurse a child over 6 months.  Once 6 ms hit I decided it was gross over age 1 because even formula is only given until age 1.  Once age 1 hit I decided it was gross to nurse past 18 months, he seemed like such a baby still.  Once he hit 18 months I decided 2 was the "gross age" for me.  He self weaned at 22 months so I have yet to actually reach an age that is truly "too much" for me as the girls had to be weaned much younger due to my unexpected pregnancy with Sariah.

Cosleeping- PLEASE!  No kids in my bed thank you very much.  That's a bad habit to start, once they are in they are in for life.  Just ask my friend who knows a guy who knows a guy who's hair dresser knows a guy who's kid slept in their bed until he was -insert extreme number that seems way to old to you here-

Baby Wearing- I'll take a bucket baby any day please!  How do you expect me to get anything done around here with a baby strapped to me?  That's what they invented baby swings, exersaucers, bouncy seats, the newest latest greatest must have baby gizmo for don't you know.

Baby Led Solids- do WHA A HUN A?  Are you speaking English?  If you are as confused as I was on this check out The Mom Informed: What Baby Led Solids IS and ISN'T
*I am now proud to say that Sariah has not had 1 single jar of baby food, ever.  Kimmy and Karma had some but I mostly made theirs, Sariah I didn't even do that.  She ate some lightly mashed bananas and avocados and just went form there to soft foods she could get to her own mouth.

Cloth Diapers- UMM, GROSS!  I have better things to do with my time than scrape poop out of diapers!  Wait, you mean you are supposed to do that with disposables too?  LUDICROUS!

Gentle Discpiline- Or as I liked to call it, Ineffective Mamby Pamby crap.  This is why kids are growing up to be spoiled, self-indulgent brats!  Smack them around a few times and they will shape up REAL quick.  It worked for you and I right?

Delayed or Anti Vaccines- Yeah, just rely on all of us people who vaccinate to keep your kids healthy too.  While you are at it, keep you cootie laden child away from mine before my kids catches some rare disease.  Its not like anyone dies from receiving a vaccine, right?  Besides, if they were really all that bad the government would make them illegal, after all the government always has the best interest of us all at heart.
*I have since learned all vaccines are not 100% effective and plenty of vaccinated kids still catch things like whooping cough and chicken pox.  I also have a daughter who has had 2 "seizures of unknown origin" at 6 and 12 months the just happened to have occurred within DAYS of receiving her vaccines.  They did many tests and could never figure out why the seizures occurred, finally classifying them as "unknown origin".  So we now do selective/delayed vaccines in our home.

baby lead solids, mmmm hummus.

There are many more "sins of the Hippie Mom" but these were the major ones I was against.  Many I fell "victim" to within days/months of my first child's birth.  Others it took awhile longer to convert me to the "dark side".  There are still others I waiver back and forth on such as vaccines and  homeschooling.  I can't handle homeschooling now, not with the girls so young and close in age. I jsut feel I would not be able to give Teddy the proper time/attention needed to really learn, but I have not ruled it out in the future.  I am not so sure I am ready for Free Range kids either but who kows what may come to be.

The thing is, the mom I thought was so cooky actually has a few things going for her!  She is informed.  She doesn't just blindly follow the pack doing what everyone else does because, well, that's what everyone else does.  She researches and looks into all of the options, choosing the one that is right for her family.  Not saying mama's who parent the opposite have not also done their research and are informed, just saying I made snap judgements about the Hippie Mom before really giving her a chance.

The Hippie Mom can surprise you.  Sure, she seems a bit extreme at times, but she always has the best interests of her kids at heart.  She is a fighter and she is willing to fight for those that she loves.  She also makes a really great friend, if you can get over all the "crazy" things she may post on her FB wall daily.

While your at it, take a look at a few of those "crazy posts".  It was other crazy Hippie Moms who converted me to many of the things I was so vehemently against before having kids of my own.

So I would like to rename this mom, she is no longer the Hippie Mama in my eyes, she is the Instinctual Mama!  She trusts her instincts and listens to her kids.  She is not the sum of her parenting choices, she is simply a mom making the best decisions based on her knowledge!  I am a proud to list myself within her ranks!

Love,
this unlikely Hippie Mama,
Christy

P.S. My kids do not own anything with peace signs, they may have a few tye-dyed items though.....just sayin......

I'm Crunchy because I am lazy

I wish I could sit here and list all of the selfless and altruistic reasons why I live and parent the way I do but when it comes right down to it, it's just because I am lazy.  Actually, because I am lazy AND cheap, or frugal yeah that's a better word for it, we'll call it that.

Take breastfeeding for example.  Tanya hit the nail right on the head with her blog titled I Am Lazy Therefore I Breastfeed.  You really cannot get more lazy than laying on the couch and pulling down your shirt to feed your baby.  Sure I could take the high road,  sit here and recite all of the facts to you about how breastmilk is the perfect food for baby or list all of the health benefits both mom and baby receive but honestly those are just perks to me.  I am lazy and breastfeeding allows me to do the most minimal work possible to feed my baby.  If I could feed my whole family just as easily I would.  Its like the staples Easy button.  CLICK and baby is fed.

I had never experienced formula with my own children until Monkey was 5 months old.  Before they were all exclusively breastfed.  I had heard all the stories about how formula was easier but told myself I wanted to do what I felt was best for my babies, even if it was the harder path.  Imagine my surprise when I had to switch Monkey over to formula after my supply dried up.  I could not believe the amount of work there was involved with formula.  The measuring the water, making sure it was the right temperature (Monkey refused cold bottles, she was used to warm booby milk on tap and wanted nothing less).  Measuring out the formula, cleaning the bottles and the nipples, remembering to pack everything before leaving the house, having to actually get out of bed every time she awoke at night to make a bottle for her.  What were these moms talking about?  This was so much more work to me.

I am not in any way trying to start a debate on which is better, as I said I have done both.   I do not look down on moms who use formula.  I am just saying, in my own personal experience, formula is much more work that breastfeeding.  I am also very forgetful and I cannot tell you how many times I forgot the bottles and/or formula at home.  Having breastmilk on tap is so much easier on my poor mommy brain.  I am too lazy to even pump.
My frugal side kicks in with this as well, formula and bottles are so expensive.  Breastfeeding is free.  Hmmm, that's a tough choice there.

I absolutely loathed having to get out of bed 2-3 times a night to make her bottles, which brings me to another of my crunchy ways that comes more from a lazy standpoint than anything else.  We co-sleep/bed share because I am lazy.  Why get out of bed, go across the hall to a nursery, pick up the baby, feed them in a chair, sit there until they are done and back to sleep, put them back in the crib, go back to your bed and try to fall back to sleep only to do it all again a few hours later.  With a newborn, you are lucky to get 1-2 hrs of sleep in between each waking so I am all about trying to cut that waking time to a minimum.  Having baby in bed with me means I reach them faster so they are less worked up and awake.  Plus I am able to keep myself in the sleepy state easily so that I can quickly fall back to sleep.  Those 7 months when Monkey was on formula were the hardest and most sleep deprived months of my life.  Easily worse than the first few months with a newborn.  By the time I got everything done for her, even though she was old enough to hold the bottle and feed herself, it would still take me a minimum of 20-30 minutes to fall back to sleep.  Sometimes I would be awake for hours and finally start to drift off just about the time that she awoke again.

I babywear because its just easier on me.  It allows me to get things done while still cuddling and holding my baby.  So maybe that's not a lazy or frugal reason, more a multi-task reason.  I also babywear now out of necessity.  If I go out somewhere with all 4 kids I have to put the 2 older girls in the double stroller and wear Tub Tub.  With my first, second and even third baby babywearing was also done out of laziness because it was just so much easier than pulling out and setting up a bulky stroller.

On the frugal side, I recycle, use natural/homemade cleaners, cloth diaper, and UNpaper towel.  Again, I could say I do all of these to live a greener and simpler lifestyle and to lower my carbon foot print, but as with the breastfeeding benefits, these are just perks.  They could come out with a study tomorrow that says using natural cleaners and cloth diapering has no beneficial effect on the ecosystem and I would still choose to do them because I am cheap, err ummm I mean frugal.

Why is recycling frugal?  Simple, our family, a family of SIX makes an average of 1.5 bags of trash per week, with 3 in diapers (but that's also due to cloth diapering).  So I can buy a box of 20 garbage sacks and they last us about 3 months.   This may seem like pennies but can add up over time. I dream of the day that they start charging for garbage removal services based on the pounds or even number of bags you have.  We all  know that day is coming, many cities already place a limit on the number of bags allowed and charge extra fees if that limit is exceeded   I am sick of paying the same amount for trash removal as the Jon Does down the street who have 6-8 bags of trash a week with a family of 4.  Plus it would just be nice to give others an incentive to recycle as well.

Cloth diapering is an obvious frugal venture.  Three kids still in diapers, even with only changing every 4 hours in the day (and we all know that's a low estimate) plus 1 diaper at night that's still a total of 12 diapers a day we would need.  You can do the math on that one, its a lot of money I can tell you that much. 

UNPaper Toweling is something I have been doing for years now, way before the cloth diapers, before we had kids even.  Its something my grandma always did and I did not even know it had a name until recently.  If you are not sure what UNpaper toweling is, its exactly what it sounds like.  Its using reusable/washable towels in place of paper towels.  I have different "levels" of towels in our home, this covers wash cloths too.  Tier 1 towels are for drying off after showering.  Tier 2 towels are used for washing and drying dishes as well as to wash little faces and hands after particularly messy meals such as spaghetti.  Tier 3 towels are used for misc household cleaning and most spills.  Tier 4 towels are the bottom of the the tower, they are used for the particularly yucky jobs such as cleaning pee or poo off floors or scrubbing out vomit.  The towels get passed down through the tiers as they go.  Once they are at the bottom they stay there.  If you are asking yourself why Tier 4 towels are necessary you are obviously not a parent.
We also use Tier 2 for eating purposes.  I do have a few cloth napkins but find they are really more for decorative looks than anything else and do not do a particularly good job of wiping up things or cleaning off messy fingers.
The cheap gerber cloth diapers you can find at places like Walmart and Target make GREAT UNpaper Towels for cleaning purposes.

Even with the natural cleaners its more about saving money for me.  Sure, I love using natural products in my home and not having to worry about what sort of chemicals I may be exposing my kids to but secretly I love it because its cheap.  I know what many of you are thinking, natural cleaners are pricey, not really.  Not if you know what you are looking for and comparison shop.  Many of the natural cleaners cost less than the chemical versions, you just have to know what you are looking for.  Plus I rarely buy any actual premade (store bought, commercial, whatever you want to call it) cleaners.  Most of the cleaning around my house are done with white vinegar and baking soda.  You can't get more frugal than white vinegar and baking soda when it comes to cost.  Plus, both do a superior job to almost all other cleaners out there.  Recently I had to do the dishes using these 2 items mixed together in hot water.  It was hard to wrap my brain around the fact that there as no suds in the water, I kept thinking the dishes were not clean because of it and my germaphobe instincts kicked into over drive.   Then I realized they were actually doing a better job of cleaning the dishes as they got rid of a few things that I thought were permanently discolored.  You know those items we all have in the kitchen that are plastic and came into contact with a tomato based sauce and now have a bit of an orangish hue.  Soak them in some vinegar and baking soda and watch them disappear. 
For a whole list of wonderful things you can do around your house with just baking soda check out Job Description : Mommy's blog entitled Baking Sodas Many Mommy Uses

This summer I plan to install a clothes line.  Or should I say I plan to have the hubby install a clothes line.  This is definitely not for lazy reasons as I am sure taking the time to hang clothes out to dry will be a tad more work.  This one stems purely form my frugal side.  Its a "2 bird with 1 stone" frugal venture.  It will save us money not running the dryer in the summer which costs electricity not just to run but also to cool the house back down from the heat it creates.  It also is proven to extend the life of your clothes meaning more wear out of them.  Plus the sun is awesome for naturally bleaching out stains, I learned this with cloth diapers.

The last example I will give is cooking from scratch, or as close to scratch as possible.  Yes its good for you and I love to be able to know and control whats in the food I am feeding my family.   You  pay for convenience.  The less work involved in the "cooking" or preparing process the more expensive the food is going to be.  I won't even go into the facts about how most convenience and processed foods should really be called "food like substances" as they are far from real foods.  I will save that for another blog because in the end, its about making my food dollars stretch.  I am not going to pay $7 for a bag of frozen breaded chicken when I can get twice as much for the same price buying and breading the chicken myself.

I enjoy living a simpler life though, I am not into material things and I really dislike giving my money away all the time.  I enjoy all of the benefits that come along with the choices that I make but when it gets down to the nitty gritty I must admit I am crunchy because I am lazy-AND FRUGAL!

Love,
one lazy frugal Crunchy Mama,
Christy