Phobia's

Phobia's are a natural part of life, or so I am told. Most people have at least one phobia they deal with in their lifetime, for example: flying, spiders, snakes, heights, clowns, or in my case bee's. However my phobia is a healthy and completely rational fear.  I am mildly allergic to bee stings and I know the pain and suffering it causes when stung, which feeds the idea of a phobia into my brain.


Now some people have irrational fears or unhealthy fears. This doesn't make you crazy like some of your friends and family members might tell you. It just means you have a fear and you are emotional and irrational about it. Take my son Samuel for example. We received a call one morning asking us to go from our Olympia home, into Port Orchard to rescue an F-3 female Savannah cat for rehousing. Samuel was about 6, making my daughter 4 years old at the time. So I explained to my children that we were going to take a ferry across the water to Port Orchard. Apparently this idea was much to complex  for my son who is a deep thinker and questionable planner. He was positive that the boat would not hold our car, and that we would sink into the freezing cold water and DIE.


So like any good parent we convinced him of his safety and compromised with him to calm his fears. We packed along our life jackets that we use when ever we go out in the kayaks together as a family. I was sure that as soon as he saw the size of the ferry that he would realize that he was afraid all for nothing. So we started on our trip and eventually made our way to the ferry dock. We played games while we waited in a long line of cars to be loaded up. Samuel seemed calm and collected not a worry in his little head. Actually he seemed more excited than anything else. The time came and we drove our car on to the ferry where we were instructed to park. My husband and I start to grab our things to take with us up above in the viewing area. No sooner did I turn around to instruct my kids to carefully get out of the car, when I noticed my two darling children carefully strapped into their life jackets sitting calmly in their car seats. We set our things aside, climbed back into the car and proceeded to have a emotionally healthy family chat.


Long story short, everything ended up well. Samuel and Audrey eventually removed their life jackets and we were able to enjoy the rest of our trip in Port Orchard. The lesson I learned that day wasn't about the actual fear of something. Anyone can be afraid of anything. It was about understanding what drives the fear,  the decisions and measures it takes to slowly over come those irrational feelings, and move forward from there.


I still have my phobia of bee's. However I have learned for myself that I can over come those irrational fears by simply being prepared. I always carry benydral and a cell phone with me at all times. I have bee sting products on hand in my car when I go places, and I always watch for potential places of hazard. I'm not cured of my phobia but I am much better off, and am now better equipped to deal with my irrational fear of bee's.

Healthy Eating

Physicians for years have been concerned about the growing increase of diabetes, and heart related diseases throughout the Unites States. High intakes of sugary foods and unnecessary fats, are the majority to blame these days. 

Our family struggles with weight issues and medical problems but despite all these things, we try to eat healthier and live a more active lifestyle. Slowly things are changing and little by little so is my waistline. So today I would like to include a healthy recipe which our family enjoys, and some healthy heart tips that my own personal physician recommended to me.

                      Stacey's Magnificent Homemade Chili:

•  2 lbs of cooked beef or chicken.  
• 2 or more fresh tomatoes cubed. 
• 1 chopped fresh green pepper.
• 1 sweet onion sliced to desire.
• 2 cans of low sodium tomatoe sauce. 
• 2 packets of low sodium chili spice.
• Fresh or powdered garlic optional to taste.
• 1 can of red Louisiana kidney beans rinsed clean. 
• 1 can of Pinto beans rinsed clean.
• 2 cups of warm water. 
• Add salt to chili when ready to serve.

So basicially all you do is chop up all the things that need chopping. Brown all the things that need browning. Don't forget to drain the grease or if you are like me, rinse the meat also. Throw in all your ingredients ACCEPT for the BEANS and mix it up well. Then add your water. You can add more if you need. Let the Chili simmer for while before adding the beans last. After you add the beans you should be ready to eat in about 20-30 minutes. Watch the chili so it doesn't burn and turn heat on a medium low.

ENJOY!!!!

Savannah Cats

For those who don't know, my husband and myself are HUGE Savannah cat fans. We own an F-5 Savannah named Thandiwe. Which translates from Swahili to "She who is loved." A Savannah cat is a hybrid cat, mixed with an African Serval and a domesticated cat. Depending on how much wild African Serval they have, the lower the F-#. Example: an F-1 Savannah would roughly be about 50% Serval and 50% domesticated cat. Thandiwe is and F-5, so she has about 6% African Serval.


We purchased Thandiwe from a breeder because our son has multiple allergies, both food and airborne. Having a hybrid cat is different. Some people who are allergic to cats will have no problems with Savannah's and other's, well.....it won't make a difference either way. Savannah's are usually water loving cats which is our #1 reason for adopting our lovely Thandiwe. But like most animals they all have their own personalities and some just won't have anything to do with water regardless.


What I wanted to touch on, besides how AWESOME our cat is, that Savannah's can be very expensive and hard to manage if you don't do your research. Savannah's often have potty problems because they don't like to share the potty with other household pets, they are master escape artists, and extremely intelligent. In fact our Thandiwe can open cabinets, closed doors and I've even seen her open my dresser drawers at night.


Sadly people purchase Savannah's as babies and then tend to grow tired of their bad habits by the time they are 2 years of age. I have worked in Savannah rescue programs and have own and relocated more than a few. They are amazing animals and deserve kind and loving homes with families who plan to keep them through good times and bad. Please if you plan to own a hybrid cat or animal, please make sure you are ready to care for that animal for life. They live long lives and bond strongly to their families which make them hard to relocate in the future. I hope this article has been helpful for anyone who owns or plans to own a hybrid in the future. Thank you and don't forget to "Bob Barker" your animals. It is the kindest thing for them in the long run.

Birds and the Bee's

So, my blog is about not only my life but my children, husband and other family member's as well. This story just happens to be about my son Samuel. Samuel is now 10 years old. A growing boy about 5'2".


A year or so ago I brought up the subject to my husband about the the birds and the bees. And how we needed to coordinate those important issues into our homeschool teachings. So we studied the human body all year long, planning to tie it all together with the BIG s..e..x..talk. The time came and I choked, I just couldn't do it. My sweet little baby boy growing up and I could not bring myself to talk to him about....(gulp)... it.

The other day the kids were playing Zoo Tycoon. Buying animals and making cages for them. I heard my 8 year old daughter say, "I have a male lion and a female lion and they will mate and make babies." So I asked my kids, do you know what the word "mate" means? They looked at me like I was seriously stupid. They responded, " Yeah, it's how animals make babies". I then asked, do you know how human babies are made? Both kids looked at each other and said, " No, that's disgusting and we don't ever want to know!" I think we can officially check the birds and the bee's off our list.

Homeschool at the Trawick house.

Well, it seems as though we are starting off the new school year with an AWESOME bang!!! We have plenty of great homeschool ideas and are happy to share. This year we are using the Teaching Textbook Math curriculum. Perfect for on the go learning which we will be doing a lot of this year. It's so easy and idiot proof that even I can handle the install on our kids laptop. And bonus.....the kids love it!!!!

Teaching Textbooks come with computer software, printing options, teacher answer key, and a massive workbook with plenty of new lessons and refresher questions. My favorite feature is the workbook page. It keeps track of all the lessons and scores on the computer....and allows you to edit lessons and questions. So you can have your child go back and complete the whole chapter again......or just go back and fix a single wrong math problem. Where was this when I was in school?

Oh yeah, home computers were still being invented.