Iron tonic.

Okay, I admit it... the reason blogging has been light is that I'm throwing up, sleeping, and throwing up again.  In other words, I'm about eight weeks pregnant. 

I'm happy, of course, but right now I'm also pretty frustrated.  There is an unbelievable amount of stuff that has to get done around here.  My Ideal To-Do List is about twenty lines long.  My Real To-Do List is as follows:

• Get dressed
• Feed children
• Do math or reading
• Feed children again
• Take nap while children dump toys on floor and watch DVDs they got for Christmas that I haven't had time to screen yet (please, someone tell me that Madagascar is not too objectionable, because they've already watched it four times and I haven't seen it yet)
• Possibly make dinner

That's all that happened today.  Laundry?  Nope.  Clean up after breakfast or lunch?  Nope.  Schoowork prep?  Nope.  Packing any boxes (supposedly we're moving on Saturday)?  Nope.  Blogging?  Okay, one entry (other than this one), made while we ate breakfast. 

I did do one other thing today.  Yesterday at Melissa's, after I woke up from an impromptu nap taken while everyone else was making lunch and serving it to the nine (hold on --- gotta count --- yep, nine) children, Melissa and Hannah gently suggested that perhaps I might consider brewing up some iron tonic, and Deanna asked me if I was taking my vitamins (um, yes, I've taken them.  Some of them anyway). 

Sooooo, properly chastened, I stopped at the co-op on the way home from Melissa's and bought a couple ounces each of dandelion root and yellowdock, and a bottle of blackstrap molasses.  At home I dropped half an ounce of each into a single quart jar, filled it to the top with boiling water, capped it, and let it sit on the counter overnight.

This morning I strained the deep-amber infusion into a saucepan and boiled it away until only a cup was left.  That went back into the quart jar, where I added half a cup of molasses to make a thin brown syrup.  That's it:  iron tonic.  Take one or two tablespoons a day.

I'm having some now.  If you like the taste of molasses, it's not bad.  I stirred a tablespoon into a cup of hot water and am drinking it like tea. 

We'll see if I have any more energy in a couple of days.  If not, I swear, I am going to start chugging Red Bull for breakfast.

Comments

[Kelly]

Congratulations! Another fall baby, then?

[mrsdarwin]

I have to say, that sounds just disgusting (the Iron Tonic, not the pregnancy), but if it gives you more energy it's probably worth it. I hate the smell of molasses, though -- early in pregnancy, my husband made some cookies with molasses in them, and I went charging to the bathroom. Gak.

I spent the second and third months of this pregnancy on the couch napping. Nothing got done and the girls watched DVDs all day long. (That was kind of okay, since we'd already vetted all kids' DVDs anyway). And I was sick several times a day -- pretzels and milk, baby, pretzels and milk!

Best of luck to you!

[bearing]

Nope, early August baby. Did I count my weeks wrong?

Pretzels... I've been DYING for a proper soft pretzel. WHY CAN'T I FIND ANY IN MINNEAPOLIS? The only kind are mall pretzels steeped in butter and sprinkled with cinnamon. A pretzel should be good and salty, pale, and have the faintest bitter trace of lye (that's how they stick the salt on...)

Oh you Southern Ohioans, you have no idea how good you have it!!! The closest I can come is a salt bagel from Bruegger's.

[mrsdarwin]

Can you mail order frozen soft pretzels from Philadelphia? I thought I remembered a college friend from Philly having a big bag of those our freshman year. They were tasty, too.

[Ranee Mueller]

I am a few weeks behind you in my pregnancy and I completely relate to your ideal to do list and your real to do list. I found your site searching for Lenten recipes. I'm glad to find a kindred spirit. :)

[bearing]

Thanks!

By the way, I discovered that the iron tonic is much nicer added to 4-8 ounces of milk, warm or cold.