Younger News

Pretty, Happy, Funny, Real

2012-02-02T08:00:00.000-06:00

{Pretty}

We've had some beautiful days. I've opened the windows two days in a row now. Hopefully, more tomorrow!

{Happy}

Daddy and Peanut have a great time playing. Even when there is laundry to be folded.

{Funny}

I forget what Peanut was responding to, but its a funny face for sure.

{Real}

My little boy is growing up. Every day he's a little less baby and little more boy-child.

Oh, Glorious Day!

2012-01-31T16:02:00.002-06:00

Its in the 70's outside and the windows are open! I love it!

Peanut isn't feeling great today, but that doesn't stop him from playing hard. Yesterday, I caught him playing with his toy box... instead of the toys!

Doesn't he look like he's having fun? He's doing the "army crawl" more and more, but he still isn't so interested in sitting.

I feel like I had some great luck today. While out on errands, we stopped at the only children's clothing thrift store I know of around here, Smarty Pants. I was able to get all this... for $10. Yep, 2 pairs cotton 2 piece pjs, 1 really warm with a hood pj, 2 footie pjs, and 2 long sleeve onsies. Most items were off the clearance rack, which means one item at $0.75, and 2 at $1.00.

Plus, I got a stack of patterns off of freecycle.org...

These were up earlier in Jan, but when I emailed the gal, she said someone had spoken for them. She called me last night to say that the other gal never came to pick them up, so they were mine if I'd come and get them. So, I did.

women's, non-maternity

maternity

children's

Are items from the 90's vintage, yet? What about 80's? Anyhoo, I *think* with the right fabrics, these could make some nice outfits. And, luckily, there is one little girl in the family (a niece) because all the children's patterns are for little girl outfits. Oh, yes, we'd love to have a little girl, but who knows what the Lord will give us.

Dinner is in the crockpot, the kitchen is just about cleaned up, Peanut is asleep and I'm having a cup of coffee (full caff! living on the edge today!). This has been a good day.

Things others might have known...

2012-01-28T08:00:00.000-06:00

...but I'm only just figuring out.

You can't wipe down dry wall. Why would anyone use anything but washable paint?
Dish soap is an awesome degreaser.
Baby toys should be marked if they are dishwasher safe (yes, I know that batteries mean "no")
Door knobs loosen over time and use.
Door jams and knobs get nasty, even in a house of only adults.
Switch plates do, too.

Yep, Peanut is starting to sit. If you put him in a sitting position, and give him a reason to sit, he will sit for a few minutes before falling over. He's getting up on all fours and rocking a bit, but that only lasts a few seconds before he flops back down. He is also army-crawling to grab something he wants, but not far. He's going mobile!

Sewing like a big girl

2012-01-26T08:00:00.000-06:00

A few years ago, I did actually sew a clothing item for myself, and I wore it Tuesday -- the day I'm out and about. It was also apart of my efforts at wearing more skirts and trying to be a bit more fashionable. Of course, the jury is out if my outfit was 'fashionable' or not.

I picked it all out the night before to facilitate the whole process, but used the timer function on the camera for the pictures... so a few have my head cut off ... not on purpose, I promise. (I was trying to be Oona-like and failed.)

Can I put this shirt with that skirt? Noone looked at me too funny today, so I guess its okay.

I wore my traditional cardigan that had pockets as the skirt doesn't have any pockets. I love pockets.

I really don't mind having my face in pictures, really.

Isn't it a beautiful print? I purchased it as a sarong while in Thailand years ago. It was a single rectangular piece of material that a lady wraps around her and folds down to secure. My hips are just too much to accommodate this style of clothing, so I made a skirt with it. I used the selvage as the bottom hem (so I didn't have to hem it) to get the most out of the pattern. There is a zipper in the back, even with a hook. Seems I remember the zipper being the hardest part of this.

Yes, I wore my tennis shoes with the skirt. I was running errands and doing grocery shopping... you must forgive my fashion fopa. [edit: sister pointed out that its 'faux pas'... joys of English]

Unfortunately, I don't have the pattern, so I'm not sure what pattern I used. I'm sure it was Simplicity or McCalls, as that's mostly what I have.

I'm quite proud of myself, that I remembered that I had made something!

Busy, busy days

2012-01-24T08:00:00.000-06:00

We have stayedquite busy over the past week. Its been a good week overall, as well,which has me feeling pretty good.

I made yogurt.Peanut and I have made a point to have some yogurt each morning atbreakfast, and a piece of fruit at lunch. These habits are goingwell, so far!

Peanut is gettingpretty good with getting food into his mouth. He loves to eat, and sofar, has liked everything I offered him. We tend to have quesadillafor lunch and Peanut seems to really like them. One day we hadstrawberries at lunch, but Peanut picked out all the tortilla bitsand ate those before eating the strawberries.

Our kitchen faucetwas leaky, and the company sent me a new one. I spent one afternoonreplacing the old faucet with the new one. I needed Hubby's help toturn the water off and unscrew a piece and then screw a piece backin, but it took about 30 minutes all told. I'm feeling very handy.

We acquired a boatload of books, and it was creating quite the ordeal in the livingroom. So I did some changing and organizing. I just moved the shelfat the bottom of the bookshelf so the books sit better.

Next step is clearout the small bookshelf in Peanut's room to set up a toy storagearea. I plan to rotate the toys, so not all of them are in the livingroom at once. Just makes cleaning up easier.

I'm planning toput up new posts on Tuesday, Thursday and sometimes Saturday. I'vestarted on an "internet diet", and posting more than 2 or 3times a week is just too much. But I love to blog, so I want to keepat it. So, fellow bloggers, how do you balance your on the computerand off the computer time and still get enough sleep? I'm stillfiguring that out.

Diaper Bag Make-over

2012-01-17T08:00:00.000-06:00

So, I have a nifty single strap backpack that a formula company gave to the hospital to give to me -- hope that makes sense! Its a great diaper bag -- not too big, but big enough, easy to carry, and cool looking. But lately its been so full I can hardly zip it!

I've also found that its hard to find things when everything is stuffed into the one compartment. So, a make-over needed. In fact, as I emptied the diaper bag I found a pocket diaper without an insert, 2 onsies, 3 pairs of socks, a long sleeve shirt and a pair pants, plus 4 sposie diapers. How did I do this?

I considered the various bags in my closet, but none seemed just right. So I stayed with the same bag.

Then, I collected the few drawstring bags I have around the house. I used some twill tape to write on and stitched those onto the drawstring bags. I labeled a bag for clothes, clean diapers and dirty diapers.

Yes, its a big girly for a little boy, but I'm the one the diaper bag is really for.

Here's what I finished with --

From left to right... the black backpack, a container for sposies, a changing mat, a bag for clean clothes, a container with coconut oil, wipes container, bag for clean clothies, 2 wet bags (dirty diapers and clothes), a nursing cover and burp clothes.

Now, hopefully, even the non-mamas who use the diaper bag can find what they need. Last time Peanut was at the nursery at church, his onsie and pants got wet, but they couldn't find the clean onsies in the bag, so he had only a shirt and pants (and it was chilly outside, poor boy). No biggy, but when there were 2 onsies on the bag....

And Peanut has decided he wants to help...

But the kitty was thwarting him...

Book Review: Lord of the Rings

2012-01-16T08:00:00.000-06:00

On Sunday, Hubby woke up feeling pretty puny. So, we stayed home (no church, no small group). I decided I wouldn't try and make it a "productive" day, so we just napped and laid around and read.

Here's what much of my afternoon looked like --

Wrapped in the afghan that Hubby's grandma made, reading "Return of the King".

This trilogy really doesn't need me to endorse it, most know that it is worth the read. And these aren't books that can be read through half thinking about other things. They require thought and effort of the reader. These books will be a challenge to most Americans, as they are written at a High School (or so) level. "The Hobbit" is more written at a Jr. High type level, and the "Silmarillian" is at a college level. So, don't expect to breeze through this trilogy quickly.

I certainly enjoyed the books, and have 2 observations to present about them.

First, the title is deceptive. The story isn't about the ring, its about the hobbits. Yes, the ring is what prompts the adventures, but the story is about the hobbits and their adventures, of which the ring is a part of, but is not the center of. The movies make the books out to be about the ring, and its story arc, which is why the scouring of the Shire is left out of the movies. "Its anti-climatic", says one. Well, sure, if the story was about the ring, its is. But the hobbits haven't reached the climax of their story arc. They don't come into their own until they return and rescue the Shire from those who have sought to destroy it (which the primary individual seeking to destroy the shire does so because of the hobbits and their involvement in his downfall).

Second, I found it interesting at my own reaction to the story. I enjoyed the books, but my heart leapt as I read about Sam replanting the trees in the Shire. And each time Sam thinks about his garden and planting things, my emotions are drawn in. Upon finishing the book, I started working my own spring garden plans.

About reading out loud -- I think reading out loud is a wonderful thing and is particularly great for children. I think it is especially helpful to read something (out loud) that is just beyond the child's reading level. Listening to the story makes it more accessible and introduces them to vocabulary and writing styles that they might not have encountered before. These are excellent books to do this with, keeping in mind that the fight with Shelob (in the 2nd & 3rd boook) is particularly gruesome and could be very scary. She is a giant spider after all and the passages are rather detailed in now nasty she is. Otherwise, I think the stories could be appropriate for most children starting about ages 6 to 8 (for reading out loud and, perhaps, not right before bed). I'm thinking about this a lot these days, and I can't wait for Peanut to be ready for me to read chapter books out loud to him.

Exercise Fun

2012-01-13T10:15:00.001-06:00

I have wanted a Wii for several years now. Yes, I am one of those that they have marketed to, and it was successful. I don't dislike physical activity, but physical activity for the sake of it isn't fun to me. I don't really like to run, I don't want to have to go some place else. Riding a stationary bike is okay, but it's dull. Have you figured out that I'm rather picky about this topic? (like most topics, I think... :P)

For Christmas, I opened a bag that contained a Wii remote. I thought, COOL! But what will I do with this with out the console? Sweet MIL, at that moment, says, "Wait.... I forgot something!", and proceeds to bring out the Wii console, and another game for Hubby. She might have honestly forgotten, but I don't think so, she is clever like that.

Let's just say that I have exercised more since Christmas than the whole year before (perhaps, I could be exaggerating). The BMI and weight measurements are rather dull and repetitive, since they are done everyday (I'm sure you can skip this if you want) but its fun to see the stuff on the graph over time. I like the balance games (I got a balance board with Christmas money), I like seeing how I progress, I like competing against myself. Yes, the little dude on there can be cheesy, but I like cheesy most days. The trainer gal is a bit too perfect, but she's simply drawn so its not intimidating.

Its amazing how the balance board seems to figure out what I'm doing and if I'm doing it right. I did a push-up/side plank exercise the other day and really struggled (I'm really not strong enough to it yet) and at the end the trainer girl says "seems like you aren't quite strong enough for this exercise yet. Keep working and you'll get strong enough (or something like that). That is cool (at least to me, as you might be able to tell, I'm not all that self-conscious).

I'm not so crazy about the super mario brother's game that came with the Wii, but that's just not my forte (as the balance board dude says about my performance in many balance games).

When you use your left (or off) hand, there is a "nunchuck" that you hook into the remote for use in the off-hand. I've found its a bit fickle about if it recognizes what I've done -- of course, could be I'm just not doing it right. When you do the boxing, you really have to throw the punch for it to register as "right", can't just push your arm out there willy-nilly. That also makes this somewhat lazy exerciser work harder... when the punching bag isn't registering that you've "hit" it, makes me try to hit harder the next time around.

I've discovered I'm puny at balance games and at rhythm games. No surprise there, and I'm getting better! And I'm having fun while doing it!

Pretty, Funny, Happy, Real

2012-01-12T12:00:00.000-06:00

My pictures are totally not in order, so bear with me, I'll get to each topsc.

{Real}

We'd decided to keep the backseat open when driving at Christmas. We did great, until we saw the various cousins on New Year's day. Then the backseat filled up with the various hand-me downs and such. But it all worked out; we got home safe and sound and it was just as easy to nurse Peanut in the front seat, as the back seat. It just meant Peanut was outside a few more times than otherwise.

{Funny}

I'd realized that knitting in the dark would be difficult, so I took along some wool yarn to make dryer balls. I love them!

{Pretty}

I have journaled a fair bit in the past, but left off when I got married. I had someone to share my thoughts with, I didn't need paper! More recently, I'm feeling the desire to record my thoughts, even though I have someone to share them with (Hubby); I also want to write out my prayers, I find it easier to stay on track. So, to make the writing even more enjoyable, I covered the composition book with some cute paper. I'd started with fabric, but it was too slick, so I used paper in the end. But I still think the fabric is pretty. I'd started to take pictures of the process, but was running out of time (nap time for Peanut) so the pictures stopped. I'm enjoying my new journal!

{Happy}

I made a cake for a triple baby shower. I had fun doing this, and its one of the first layered cakes I've done. The shower was a "Three Kings" theme, since it was three baby boys we were celebrating.

And, today the prize I won from Prince Lionheart arrived! Exciting times!

Celebrating the everyday

2012-01-11T08:00:00.000-06:00

Getting the labels off books, using a just-the-right-size piece of wet paper towel.

Figuring out my baby clothes storage system. For now, I've settled on two boxes -- 1 for 0-12 month clothes and 1 for 12 to 24 month clothes.

Making ice cream in my new, Christmas gifted, ice cream maker. Thanks, Dad and L! I'm on a ice cream making kick these days. I've even figured out, yes, already, a recipe that we like better than the one in the book that comes with the maker. More on these adventures later.

And taking pictures with the new, Christmas gifted, camera. Thanks, Mom and Dad - in-law! It even has a "food" setting, which is so totally cool.

And Peanut enjoying all the new-to-him board books from his cousins. We are now loaded with books. And Peanut has started actually looking at the books, not just chewing on them. He got several new toys for Christmas, and some hand-me-down toys, and as soon as I get the shelves in his room cleared off, toy rotation starts. Just too many to keep in the living room.

Peanut loves to pick things up to eat. Most recently, he's started on goldfish. Mamma loves goldfish, too. He's learning to use signs to ask for "milk" and "more". I think he's generalized "milk" to be "eat", as he uses it in the high chair also. No, I"m not worried about it, but its funny to think about. Truly, nursing is the eating he knows!

True, Beautiful, Good

2012-01-10T08:00:00.001-06:00

Before Christmas, Hubby discovered "Two Cellos" on youtube, and received a CD at Christmas. While out running errands today, we had it in CD player. At one point, I thought, "this is art", which got me thinking about what "art" is.

While I was teaching, we often talked about thinking about things that are true, beautiful and good. That seems a pretty good way to determine if something is "art". Now, I don't propose a logical or scientific definition, as I don't believe there is a 'science' to art -- its an art!

And my thoughts on these things are strongly influenced by my beliefs -- there is one true and triune God, we are sinners and separated from Him, but through his Son, Jesus Christ, we are brought into reconciliation with him. The Bible is His words to us, it is infallible and inerrant in the original manuscripts.

True -- in today's world, discussions are less about what is true and more about "facts". These two areas do overlap, and perhaps they are just the same thing. The feel of the words, the ideas, is so different though. And something in me says they are different.

Beautiful -- oh, this is truly varies between individuals. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, for sure. At the same time, how you define "beautiful" can make a difference. I'm not sure I can provide a definition, but I can provide examples. Seeing a father play with his child, where both are happy and laughing is a beautiful thing, though its not the stereotypical "beautiful". And pretty things aren't always beautiful. Many times, little girls are pretty, but not beautiful. And I wouldn't call a father playing with child a pretty thing.

Good -- Ah, if we could all agree on what is good, the world would be a better place, yes?

Bloggers celebrate these things, each in their own way.

down--to--earth had "on my mind..."
Like Mother, Like Daughter has "Pretty, Happy, Funny, Real"
Ivy Nest has "From the Weekend"
Throwback to Trapper Creek has "Wordless Wednesday"
SouleMama has "This moment"

There are others, I just can't think of them off the top of my head.

I like participating. Life gets in the way sometimes, but I think it is worth making the time to celebrate truth, beauty and goodness. Sure, we must also acknowledge the hard parts, the ugly bits and a dirty things. I know, with confidence, that these hard, ugly and dirty things will be transformed into beautiful, true and good things that will bring glory to God.

Just felt like opining today.

Sleep Training -- the other plunge

2012-01-09T08:00:00.000-06:00

Day time naps have been a bit of a battle with Peanut. He didn't seem to like sleeping during the day, and would sleep for 30 minutes 2 or 3 times a day. At 2 months, that didn't seem quite right, but then, every child is different, right? Plus, at 7 months, he was still getting up every few hours at night to nurse. Talk about tiring for a mama.

I am a reader, so I read lots on this. My three primary resources were
Breastfeeding Made Simple, Baby Wise, and The Baby Whisperer.

And I got to talk with one of Hubby's cousins who is a pediatrician with 2 kids of her own. Her youngest is only 5 days younger than our Peanut.

I received Breastfeeding Made Simple at a baby shower (Thanks Susan!) and really enjoyed reading it. It walks the reader through 7 "laws", which are the basic principles of how the breastfeeding relationship between mom and child works. Principles like 'the more you nurse, the more milk your body makes'. So, when Peanut wanted to nurse, I let him nurse. And, to be honest, I was worried about my production at first (which I shouldn't of been). I learned from this book that the first 40 days is when your supply is established, letting baby demand-nurse helps increase your supply to match his needs, and babies know when they are hungry, thirsty, or need comforting... the clock doesn't.

When I read Baby Wise years ago, when we were first trying to get pregnant, I though it was a great idea. When I re-read it a month or so ago, I thought... what was I thinking? The author starts with presenting all these testimonial's about mothers giving up breastfeeding from exhaustion, and that his system solves that. so, he says, nurse your baby by the clock. (he doesn't say it quite so bluntly, though)

Though the Baby Whisperer says her method is different, its still a nurse by the clock. She does talk more about routine and less about schedule though. Eat, play, sleep... repeat is her thing. Yep, looks a whole lot like the Baby Wise method. Anyhoo, we are more of eat, play, eat, play, eat, sleep kind of family, even Peanut.

Though I think both Baby Wise and Baby Whisperer ignore some basic facts about babies and nursing, there are some other principles that both present that seem to make sense. First -- what I think is wrong. Do you always get hungry and thirsty at the same time each day? I don't. My hunger and thirst schedule can vary depending on activities and even weather. Add in the facts about nursing, baby's appetite, and baby's stomach size and maturity, and you realize that some of these methods just don't fit what I understand reality to be.

At the same time, I know I craved a schedule, which is the main idea for both Baby Wise and Baby Whisperer. I wanted Peanut to be more predictable for my own sanity. What to do!!! So I cried at times, and I thought, and I prayed, and I thought some more. Then I realized I was being anxious in my own way, so I tried not to think about it too much. Then I made a decision. I really just wanted to be able to put Peanut down for nap without spending 30 to 45 minutes doing so (nursing) and then him only sleeping 30 to 45 minutes. And I wanted to get more than 3 hours in a single stretch at night.

Hubby's cousin pointed out that its likely Peanut is waking up so much at night (which is normal), but doesn't know how to go back to sleep on his own, so he cries to nurse. Start with bed time, she said, and let him put himself to sleep.

Here's what I did... I took what I thought was right from Baby Wise and Baby Whisperer and left what I thought was wrong. When Peanut was nursing, I worked hard to keep him awake. That did take work, as we were in the habit of nursing to sleep. At first, I did this only for day time naps. Hubby was still finishing up school, so I didn't want to mess with bed time yet, as that would disrupt his evening work hours. I tickled his feet, I talked to him, I scratched his back, I rubbed his head. Then, if I could tell he was sleepy, I'd change his diaper, pray with him, and put him down. But if he wanted to nurse, I let him nurse. Sometimes, it meant he nursed every 30 to 40 minutes, especially in the late afternoon. He decided when he wanted to nurse, but he didn't nurse himself to sleep. Often this was an eat, play, eat, play, eat, play, sleep cycle.

For first few days, the day time naps were a tad rough. He cried. I went in every 5 to 10 minutes and comforted him as best I could. Sometimes he calmed down, and sometimes he just wailed harder. But I persevered. I used my nifty flylady timer to keep track of how long it had been since I put him down and decided that after 1 hour, if he wasn't asleep, we'd call that nap time a wash. By the third day, it was all much easier. Peanut was falling asleep on his own within 10 to 20 minutes of me putting him down! I started telling him that it was okay if he wanted or needed to cry for a bit, but that he needed to go to sleep.

A very nice side affect is that Peanut is more focused when he nurses, so we spend less time nursing.

At the grandparent's house over Christmas, we went back to nursing to sleep, which was a big mistake. About 2 or 3 days in, we switched back to going down for daytime naps awake. At night, Peanut was waking up at least every 2 hours. We played with ways to keep him warm, which helped some, but it really came down to 2 things: (1) it was a new place and he just wasn't used to it, and (2) at night Mommy was right next door, could hear any noise made very clearly and jumped at each noise.

When we got home, that very first night, Peanut was put down for bedtime awake. We went through our normal routine, but then I brushed his teeth after nursing, then put him in bed. I think he cried a bit, but it was late (we'd just driven in that evening), and nothing too difficult.

Plus, I wanted him to sleep longer at night, which meant letting him learn to go back to sleep without nursing. That meant crying. In the middle of the night. I decided no nursing between 12 am and 5 am. Hubby and I would suffer together.

So, that first night, I let him cry 5 minutes when he woke up around 1 am, then I went in and let him nurse for a bit. The next night, I let him cry 10 minutes before going in to him. Third night? easy-peasy, he never cried more than 2 or 3 minutes when he woke me up. Night #4, though... I let him cry for 15 minutes before I went in to him, and then I didn't let him nurse. That was a hard night. He woke up around 1 am and I let him cry, but he fell asleep within 10 minutes, so I didn't go into him. The he woke up around 2 am, and cried and cried. I recognized the cry was different, so I went in to check and he was on his front. He does not like sleeping on his front and though he rolls fine, he won't/can't do at night. I picked him up, comforted him, rocked him, tried to help him calm down. After about 10 minutes, he was still upset, but I put him back down and went back to bed. He went back to sleep about 5 minutes later (I'm pretty good about checking my phone for the time). And last night? I nursed him about 9 pm -- a "dream feed". And I heard him about 4 am, but he fell back asleep within 10 minutes. Then I heard him about 5 am, and went into nurse him. I got about 6 hours of most uninterrupted sleep!

So -- I still let Peanut lead on when he wants to nurse, but he goes to sleep on his own. And its not been as hard of a transition as I imagined it to be. Goodness, I love being able to pick and choose from various theories.

Taking the plunge

2012-01-05T08:00:00.000-06:00

I'm doing it.

I, Rachael, take the Seamless pledge for 2012. I will abstain from buying any new clothes until the end of my pledge. I will find ways to be fashionable without breaking the bank and without contributing to the cycle of fast fashion consuming the high street. I will trawl through charity shops, I will attend clothes swaps, I will look for second-hand items on eBay and I will craft my own clothes with my own two hands.

THE RULES

No buying new clothes for the duration of your pledge. That is new mass-manufactured clothes (under clothing excluded).
I will buy second-hand manufactured clothes.
Vintage clothing is a-ok! (Not that I wear vintage, this would be new for me)
I hope to make most of what I need!
Does this mean I now have to be "fashionable"?

Finally, making a few resolutions

2012-01-04T08:00:00.000-06:00

So, here it is, January 4, and I'm finally figuring out what I want to accomplish in January.

I have good reasons for the lateness. We were driving on Jan 1 and 2, and Jan 3 was about unpacking, settling in and loving on Hank (who was all lonesome for 12 days! -- someone did stop in every other day to feed and water him, but it wasn't us).

For January --

1. Do a Weekly Home Blessing once a week (create the habit)
2. Make a pair of pants for myself
3. Expand the diaper stash with some new, slightly larger diapers
4. stitch up the inserts (micro-fiber terry cloth, very absorbent stuff, but frays like crazy)
5. Start spring seedlings

Have diapers, will travel

2012-01-03T20:41:00.000-06:00

Whew -- we got home early evening Tuesday after a long road trip. This was the first time we'd traveled with Peanut, and we were rather nervous leading up to it. How would Peanut handle a long car ride? How would we handle diapers? Should we got with sposies or stick with clothies? What items do we need to take along? Why does this feel like moving?

We survived. Peanut survived. The grandparents survived (and, I think, enjoyed the time; not that we didn't :P). Peanut did okay with the car ride. We used sposies, mostly while driving and took the cloth stash to use while at Grandpa and Grandma's. I was able to pack with discretion and even though it was a ton of stuff, it was all used.

Oh, diapers, diapers. They can make or break a moment.

This poo-splosion brought to you by sposies!

Oh, yes. We had several of them. Now, to be completely honest, I have cleaned some poo off the leg openings of onsies or the inside of pants because of a bit of seepage. Usually, the cover catches the poo, however, so most often it just the cover into the pail with the diapers.

Whoa-doggy. I've never had a poo-splostion like the one we had the day before leaving Grandma and Grandpa's, though. I could tell Peanut had filled his diaper, so off we went to change it. As I pulled off his pants, though... ARGH... poo all down his leg, covering the pants, the onsie, and what a sticky mess to clean up. I used, perhaps, 10 wipes (disposables, too) cleaning him up, all the while trying to keep the poo contained and not get it on anything else. I called for Hubby to come help, which he did and we had quite the laugh while cleaning poor Peanut up. (This was the one that interrupted by previous post.)

The second poo-splostion occurred on the drive home. We stopped in mid-Kansas on our second day of driving. Luckily, I'd gone into the "family" bathroom, so I could just pop my head out and ask Hubby to go get more clothes for Peanut. Unfortunately, Peanut is terrified of public bathrooms. Between the flush and the hand-dryers, he will start shrieking with fear. Putting him down on the changing platform brings about even more cries of terror. The poor child. Now, add in having to undress him because his clothes have poo on them and you have a very distressed little boy.

We even had two different brands of sposies to work with, but neither one fit Peanut very well. He has such skinny-skinny legs that I just couldn't get the waist tight enough to create any sort of seal around the legs.

That is one very, very nice fact about cloth diapers. The ones I've made fit great because they are made to fit my child. Plus, they actually soak up the moisture in Peanut's poo, so it not such a sticky mess. The sposies just leave the poo and all its sticky wetness there next to Peanut's bum.

And one morning, the sposie started leaking moisture after Peanut had worn it overnight. Since I can customize the absorbency in the clothies, I've not had that issue in a long time.

And the smell! I've read a few places where someone used sposies overnight because the smell in a cloth diaper the next morning was too much. But I found that the smell in the sposie was overwhelming... perhaps its the perfumes mixed with urine? Anyhoo, I'm proud to say that my clothies don't smell so bad in the morning compared to the sposie.

After the second poo-splosion, we put Peanut back in a cloth diaper. It just seemed safer.

Next time, clothies all the way.

Last Minute Goals

2011-12-31T20:48:00.000-06:00

So, here it is, New Year's Eve, and I have given little to no thought to 2012 goals and such. Well, I have some -- if you remember the "make your own clothes" resolution -- that was some thought. So, here I am, on New Year's Eve, scrambling to consider 2012 goals/resolutions. Well, I guess I don't have to scramble if I don't want to. But alas, I am just like that.

First things first. How did I do with 2011 goals?

2011 goals started here -- http://youngernews.blogspot.com/2010/12/to-resolute-or-not-to-resolute.html

If you follow the "goals" tag, you'll notice that I did really well at thinking about and following up on goals until.... April. Those who have looked at this blog (or know me) know that little Peanut (who is getting an official new nickname sometime soon -- ideas floating around) was born mid-May. And he completely threw my goal keeping for a loop. Ah, well, he is worth it.

And then he, Peanut, interrupted this blog post with the biggest poo-splotion we've had in several months. Ah, well, he is worth it. (Yes, this happened just now. Hubby felt the need to announce it, as he assisted in the clean up.)

Pretty, Happy, Funny, Real

2011-12-29T13:00:00.000-06:00

Its been a fun, and laid-back week -- so nice!

I have the hardest time with [Pretty], its not a word I use just a whole lot... I'm more inclined to think towards [Beautiful]... So here's my --

[Beautiful]

Wiggly, aka Peanut, got to meet his great-grandparents this Christmas. How fun was that! He is great-grandchild #14 for my grandparents and great-grandchild #9 for Hubby's grandmother. So many little blessings!

[Happy]

If that isn't one of the happiest little boys, I don't know what happy is.

[Funny]

Wiggly is really enjoying the bouncy seat that Grandma and Grampa acquired for our time with them. The seat also has lights and sounds, but we turned those off. After the first few days, we figured out that the lights were creating a crazy, over-stimulated Wiggly that wasn't sleeping during the day and was very fussy.

Its also getting significantly more difficult to get a non-blury picture of Wiggly (thus the nick-name change), so I tried the "sports" setting on the new camera. Its a grainy picture, as if I was using high speed film, but Wiggly isn't all that blury!

[Real]

I actually packed up and brought my cloth diapers to the in-laws, figuring if used them, great, if not, great. Well, I used them and, thus, did some diaper laundry. Let me now declare that Hubby's parent's have an AMAZING and TOTALLY AWESOME washer. They have a 'sanitary' setting that must be specially made for striping cloth diapers. (I figure it really isn't, but I can pretend.)

See more [Pretty] [Happy] [Funny] [Real] at

Fun pictures -- a bit of history

2011-12-26T20:25:00.002-06:00

Well, it might count as history... its only the past few months. But check out these pics...

June 2011

October 2011

November 2011 (or is this December 2011?)

I was browsing old pictures and saw that first one from June, and though... wow! Peanut is so small! Can I still give him the nick name "Peanut"... or does he need a new nickname? Peanut is a fair bit heavier than Hank, now, too.

Thought this was fun and I will totally keep up the Peanut vs Hank pictures.

BTW, Peanut *loves* Hank, but Hank doesn't like Peanut. Peanut will grab at Hank, and make loud noises. As Hank is about 1/2 chicken, he finds that very... scary. Luckily, even with Peanut learns to crawl and walk, Hank is still faster and can get to high places (like the top of the TV cabinet).

Christmas morning breakfast

2011-12-25T20:48:00.000-06:00

This morning, we made Sticky Monkey Brains for breakfast.

Ingredients

3 (7.5 ounce) packages refrigerated biscuit dough
1/3 cup white sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup brown sugar

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease 6 miniature Bundt pans.
In a small bowl, stir together the white sugar and cinnamon. Set aside. Use scissors or a knife to cut each of the biscuits into various sizes. Each one can be cut into anywhere from 2 to 5 pieces.
Sprinkle about half of the pecans amongst the 6 prepared pans. Roll pieces of biscuit in the cinnamon-sugar, and place them into the pans, distributing evenly. Sprinkle any remaining cinnamon-sugar over the dough balls.
Mix together the brown sugar and melted butter. Stir in the remaining pecans. Distribute evenly over the pans of dough balls. For ease of getting in and out of the oven, place all of the pans on a cookie sheet.
Bake for 20 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the biscuits are toasted and cooked through. Remove from the oven, and invert individual pans onto serving plates while still hot.

They were quite good, and rather easy to make. I did, of course, modify the instructions a bit.

I made it all in one bundt pan, which meant it needed to be baked for 30 minutes instead of 20.

I did find that with it all in one bundt pan, it does not need the full 1/2 cup of butter; 1/4 cup should be plenty. With the 1/2 cup, it overflowed in the oven as it baked and made quite the mess.

I paired it with Mulled Apple Cider. It was a fun and easy breakfast.

Christmas should have a special (but easy!) breakfast.

'via Blog this'

Growing things

2011-12-23T08:00:00.000-06:00

Many folks have told me I have a green thumb, as I tend to get veggies from the garden. Honestly, though, I think it is most luck. Nature has killed several of my plants outside and I kill many of them inside. This last summer, I successfully knocked off a baby Giant Sequoia and seedling peacan, both in pots. They just got to dry and it killed them (easy to do in 100'+ heat). All I had to do was bring them inside. Didn't think of that till early September.

And now...

Friend Liz rooted and repotted several basil and sage plants, and gave me 2 basil and 2 sage. Wasn't that nice of her? I kept the soil moist, and put them in the window for sun... but alas, I have killed the 2 basil and 1 sage is well on its way out. I'm not sure what I did, honestly.... was the window sill too cold? Too much water? Not enough? :::sigh:::

This why I don't do house plants. Strange to hear myself say that.

2012 Resolutions

2011-12-22T09:24:00.001-06:00

We've got about 1 1/2 weeks till 2012 is upon us, and I've only begun thinking about goals for 2012. I'm a big time goal setter -- evidence here.

I saw this... and it intrigues me... (from http://seamlessblog.wordpress.com/the-pledge/)

I, ________, take the Seamless pledge until __________________. I will abstain from buying any new clothes until the end of my pledge. I will find ways to be fashionable without breaking the bank and without contributing to the cycle of fast fashion consuming the high street. I will trawl through charity shops, I will attend clothes swaps, I will look for second-hand items on eBay and I will craft my own clothes with my own two hands.

THE RULES

No buying new clothes for the duration of your pledge. By new, I mean any new mass-manufactured clothes.
You can buy second-hand manufactured clothes – so be prepared to get to know your local charity shops awfully well.
Vintage clothing is a-ok!
Anything you’ve made by hand is definitely allowed. Get your sewing machines and your kntting needles out, because handmade is definitely in!
Get involved! Join in on the Flickr group and like our Facebook page. I’ll be looking to feature pledgers on the blog in the future. I’d love to see your second-hand finds, refashions and hand-made creations!

I am so very tempted to go for it, but I doubt my ability. See, I almost never buy clothes. Its not that I just don't have the money, though I am a tightwad, its just that it isn't a positive experience, and I don't think of it until there is something I *need*. For example, I recently purchased 1 pair of blue jeans, and 4 3/4 length (sleeves) tops to round out my new uniform -- blue jeans, long sleeve shirt, tank top and cardigan.

But I have a week and some before I *must* decide on goals for Jan, and I think I should have till Feb before I *must* decide on goals for 2012. And for all those who think "why make goals?", I am utterly aimless without them. And I really. don't. like. being. aimless.

What's a goal that you are thinking about for 2012, but are unsure about? Or maybe you've got your 2012 goals all figured out?

Luck shines on me again

2011-12-18T21:11:00.001-06:00

Second time this month. How cool is this!

Prince Lionheart Toddler Bundle #Giveaway:

'via Blog this'

Sewing without a pattern, and a tutorial

2011-12-17T15:46:00.001-06:00

I am NOT one to sew without a pattern. I do very few things without some sort of information, research, or instructions. Not that I always follow the instructions....

But this week, I did two... yes, TWO things sans-pattern.

First off, it struck me to make a dodecahedron. What, in the world, is that? That is a 12-sided figure. I made a pentagon template and cut out 12 pieces, 3 of each color (4 colors).

Start with one and stick another onto one side. Continue around, stitching pentagons around a central one.

As you stitch, stitch the adjoining sides together.

You'll eventually have a "bowl" looking figure.

You now have two options. You can continue to stitch pieces together until you have the ball, then flip it and stuff it. Or you can sew the other 6 pieces together into another bowl, then stitch the two bowls together.

This was the second dodecahedron I stitched. I kept adding pentagons, stitching adjoining sides till I had the ball. The last 3 pentagons added get 3 sides stitched in, and the last one gets 4 sides stitched on.

If you stitch two bowls, then plan to stitch those together, don't do what I did. I lined them up, one in-side out, one right-side out, points to points.

But then I got a star shaped figure. Not a true dodecahedron.

I figured out that I should have lined up points to valleys. I didn't try out, though, so I recommend you do it the first way. Peanut is enjoying the star shaped one, and Hank likes the true dodecahedron, though it is a gift for a nephew (good thing I have more than one, it can still be a surprise for one!). So, I will likely be making more. Plus, it was quick -- one Midsomer Murder episode.

I also jumped at turning a sweater into a cardigan. Cardigans are so much more convenient with nursing, so I picked out 2 sweaters to convert. I followed the instructions here, and also shortened the sleeves to 3/4 length.

The first sweater, and only one so far, that I converted I've had for years and years. I found the fabric at a fabric market in the small town in China that I lived in. I took it to a taylor and had him make a scarf, hat, mittens, and a sweater. I loved this set. In fact, so much so, that it was my "uniform". A student drew me in this uniform, even. (this is from 2002... so its an actual picture scanned in. Think of that 9 years ago, digital was still a novel idea!)

Here's my new cardigan!

Now to decide what to do with the little bits left from the sleeves being shortened. I still love these stripes and the colors. It matches almost everything!

Giveaways Galore!

2011-12-12T12:04:00.001-06:00

I'd hoped to be apart of it, but, alas, I don't have anything ready to give away. I'm still working on Christmas gifts for family!

Anyhoo, check out Sew, Mama, Sew and the mass of give aways of this give away week.

Non-sewing craft stuff
Sewing Supplies
Handmade Accessories
Handmade bags
Handmade Baby and Children things
Handmade for the home

I will explore and sign up for a few, I'm sure, but there are just too many to do all of them! They are open all week, so get you entry in by the 16th.

Having fun rotting my brain

2011-12-10T08:00:00.000-06:00

I enjoy watching TV. I almost never *only* watch TV; I watch sideways. In other words, I'm always doing something else -- sewing, knitting, crocheting, typing a blog post, reading email, cook, clean and any number of other things. I try to limit my TV watching to 1 to 2 hours in a day, and aim to not watch at all 1 or 2 days a week. With out limits, I'd have the TV on all afternoon and evening.Now, I'm not willing to watch just anything. I'm not nearly as discriminating at Hubby, but I can be pretty picky. I have a limited set of shows that I watch, a few of which I will watch over and over again. I have a few movies like this, as well, ones I will watch over and over again, such that I have most lines memorized.I watch either via downloaded episodes or amazon prime streaming video. We had netflix, but when they upped the price, we cancelled it.In general, I prefer shows that have a mystery to be solved. I also *love* science fiction. I'm not currently watching all these shows, but these are all shows that I might watch at any point. And I tend to finish that show before moving onto the next.

Currently, I'm enjoying "Midsomer Murders". My Dad and his wife introduced this show to me over Thanksgiving break. Yes, its British, as are several of my loved shows. Its a murder mystery, in the classical sense. There is some of the "crime scene investigation" science, but its on the side lines. The mysteries are intricate and there are always details to notice. And of course, Barnaby (the main character) notices things that aren't obvious so he has some revelation to make at the end.

Occasionally, Peanut watches with me and we rot our brains together. We will talk about the colors, or what someone is doing, or what something means, so I figure that helps un-rot our brains... some... hopefully.

And now, I'm off to listen to The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian. Radio Drama is my other beloved entertainment, but this is for another post.

Feeling Successful

2011-12-09T10:01:00.001-06:00

This morning, I feel successful... as a mother.

We've been working on making day time naps independent of nursing, since last Tuesday. At first, it was hard, but by the 2nd day it was much easier for him to go to sleep, and the 3rd day was a breeze. Saturday and Sunday had some rough spots, but then Monday was a piece of pie! (so says Hubby)

Yesterday, I put him down and listened to him babble to himself for a few minutes then drift off. Wow, I though, this has been *way* easier than I ever thought it would be. Did he sense my determination? Was it just the right time? If only I could see his thoughts, understand Peanut's mind (and body); ah, well. I'm still very thankful.

This morning wasn't so easy, though. He shows signs of sleepiness, we head to change the diaper, bundle up (its chilly these days) and settle down. The settling down didn't happen, though. After going in once to comfort (but not pick up, though he was on his front, and he doesn't like that), I realized at about 20 minutes in, Peanut really isn't happy about something. So, I head in, pick him up to see if he will burp, hold him. Try some gripe water (he loves the stuff), comfort some more. Rock a moment. Give some 'feel less crappy medicine' (tylenol) Figure out that he is okay, he's unhappy about something, but nothing crazy. He's calmer, though still at that 'grasp, cry, wail, gasp, cry, wail' stage. I knew that I could just get him up, or try again on the nap. And at this point, he's so far gone emotionally that he *really* needs a nap now. So, I laid him back down and 5 to 10 minutes later, he is asleep.

Ah, success. I feel like I really did the right thing. Such a nice feeling.

I've gotten a fair number of Christmas decorations up. That feels really good, too!

The tree is up on a small table to keep both Hank and Peanut out of it. Not that its keep Hank out, he had one ball on the floor earlier. I rescued it, though.

we used this train as a count down to Christmas for many years while I was growing up. In fact, I don't remember not using it. This year, I decided to count up. I found some advent cards (they just split the Christmas story into 24 parts) from Happy Home Fairy, and have been hanging them with a small ornament each day -- or 2 in a day if I forgot the day before.

As Hubby is finishing a semester about this time each year, and he doesn't have strong feelings about what we do, its really up to me what family traditions we have. I'm thinking hard about this, as I don't want anything burdensome, it must be easily transported (in-laws, overseas, etc), and it must have significance. I also tend to be non-decisive person, so this could be a long process.

Pretty, Happy, Funny, Real

2011-12-08T10:21:00.001-06:00

Goodness, been weeks since I've done one of these! Bad, Rachael, Bad. But then, my life is rather rote these days. Enjoyable, but mundane.

[Pretty]

These were utterly delicious! Its the dough recipe from LittleHomeInTheCountry, stuffed with pepperoni and mozzarella cheese. I made pizza the same night, but we kept each going for one of these "pizza rolls" as I called them.

[Happy]

Peanut loves to eat. I knew this as he is a nursing machine, but he seems to love the solids even more. In general, he has liked almost everything I've offered him. I'm so thankful that his nutrition is primarily still from nursing, so I can just offer him this and that, and not worry about if he's getting enough of this or that.

[Funny]

I never imagined that figuring out orientation while making slippers would be such work. It required all the spacial thinking I could muster, and I still ended up goofing. At first, I ended up with 2 left shoes, and then I had a right and a left, but in different colors. After redoing the uppers twice, I finally was able to make a second set so that I now have two sets, one in each color.

[Real]

Laundry is not done till its folded and put away, so my mother and flylady say. I'm trying to keep to spending 15 minutes each day just picking up and putting away, and that includes laundry. For such a little guy, Peanut sure has increased the amount of laundry that I do.

So, there is it. A glimpse into a week with Rachael.

It must be chilly

2011-12-07T11:19:00.001-06:00

Yes, I want to win something else

2011-12-07T10:11:00.001-06:00

An as apart of getting my name entered *again*, I do a blog post.:::sigh:::But I do love this cloth diaper website. I realized I left it off the "favorite blogs" post.... but I think the multiple days of posting for the giveaways makes up for that.Check it out!

My Favorite Things Day 1 Giveaway! All About Cloth Diapers | Cloth Diaper Answers All About Cloth Diapers

2011-12-05T12:38:00.000-06:00

My Favorite Things Day 1 Giveaway! All About Cloth Diapers | Cloth Diaper Answers All About Cloth Diapers:

This is a favorite cloth diaper blog. Yep, I'm all about cloth diapering and love to talk about it! Its easy, especially once you get going. This site has been a source of a huge amount of information for me.

Ask me more! I'm happy to tell all I know!

'via Blog this'

Sweatshirt Saga continues, and slipper goofs

2011-12-04T14:49:00.001-06:00

I've had a chance to really do some sewing in the past few days. I'm getting the hand, finally, of getting house work done, while giving Peanut the time he deserves and needs, and still do some of the fun, yet practical, things I enjoy doing. I finished a pair of fleece overalls for Peanut, for our trip north come Christmas. Hubby's home town is the furthest north I've ever been, and is actually right next to Canada -- which is the utter north in this southern gal's mind. Yes, Wisconsin is only just south of the utter north. Though its never been as cold as I imagine it will be when I've been there. But I've never been there in January or February... which I have heard is the coldest time. I have plans for another set of overalls, a fleece vest, a fleece jacket and a fleece hat. I might even scotguard one set of overalls and the jacket... but that might be overkill.

Anyhoo, the sweatshirt. I had so much fun putting the snaps on that I put them on too well... and they cut the fabric.

Argh, I thought. So, I cut the snaps out and am stitching on some patches. I'm planning on getting some sew-on snaps for the slippers, so I'll get enough for the sweatshirt, as well. Hopefully the sweat shirt will be back in usable condition soon because this week is going to be chilly-chilly.

As for slipper goofs... I found a nifty slipper pattern here, but it is sized for a larger foot (I'm guessing a 3 to 5 year old foot?). I printed the pattern and then resized it on our printer/copier. I tried to calculate what amount I should reduce it by (copy at 70%, 60%, or what?), but when I went to copy, I realized our copier only offers particular resizing options (Legal to letter, letter to A4, etc). So, I printed a 70% copy and a 50% copy. One look said 50% was too small. I proceeded to make a "muslin" with the 70% copy, but that was also too small. So, I copied at 83%, and that "muslin" (even though the "muslims" are made with fleece reminents) worked nicely. I modified the upper part some; I made the upper look more like another pair of slippers Peanut has. They came out very nice, I think.

Why, you might ask, is one blue with a white lining and other white with a blue lining? Why didn't you make them the same? Well, this is an aspect of a Rachael goof due to not thinking through right vs left. I think I was in college before I really grasped right and left, honestly. Not sure why those concepts are so difficult, really.

I made them both blue with white lining at first, but then I had two left shoes. Though it will be a while before I truly know if Peanut has two left feet, shoe wise he needs one right and one left. So, I took one apart and figured out how to make it a right shoe. I didn't want to take the lined upper completely apart, so I just flipped it inside-out, resulting in a white she with blue lining. I plan to make a second pair, where I will try very hard to make a blue right shoe and a white left shoe. Perhaps I will just be one really crazy and radical mama if I let Peanut wear one blue and one white shoe. That might be really groovy.

This week I hope to finish the Peanut winter wardrobe, the second set of slippers, and some slippers for me. I love slippers and house shoes, so I'm quite excited about this. Pictures promised!

Favorite Blogs

2011-12-02T21:15:00.001-06:00

I seem to be in blog-fog. I'm struggling to figure out what to post about, which is quite strange for me. Maybe I'm just tired. Ah, who knows. I'm sure inspiration will strike soon.

I have a slew of blogs I enjoy reading and thought I'd share those with you.

Marriage Blogs --
http://tolovehonorandvacuum.com/ I love Shiela's straight forward dealing with marriage and family. She always gets me thinking.

http://www.onefleshmarriage.com/ Brad and Kate have such good insight into relating as husband and wife. I seem to be able to draw something from each post I read.

http://hotholyhumorous.blogspot.com/ J is great! Again, she is straight forward and doesn't mince words. That's important to me.

Family Blogs --
http://ourmothersdaughters.blogspot.com/ Auntie Leila is a source of tons of mom-wisdom. Her daughters write fun posts, as well, and I regularly learn something and I'm often encouraged.

http://wantingwhatyouhave.com/ I enjoy reading about Heather's journey as a mom, a wife, and a woman. She's frugal, too! She's even got copies of The Tightwad Gazette.

http://littlehomeinthecountry.blogspot.com/ I have enjoyed following this gal's journey as a mother and a wife. Last summer, she gardened hugely to provide her family's veggy needs for the year. And she canned like a mad woman in Aug and Sept.

Sewing --
http://sewmamasew.com/index.php I'm always finding stuff to make here.

http://oonaballoona.blogspot.com/ Oona writes great posts, and makes such fun clothes. I wish I could sew like her! She also posts at Sew Weekly.

Food --
http://tastykitchen.com/ This site is associated with Pioneer Woman, which I also enjoy. I've found many, many yummy foods here.

Gardening (and cows) --
http://matronofhusbandry.wordpress.com/ She has cows and gardens. I know an unbelievable amount about rotational grazing and splitting firewood, which I have no use for now. But I learn something every time I read her posts.

Friends --
http://parkerlife04.blogspot.com/ This blog is Katie's communication about Leah Grace and her progress.

http://hillteatime.com/ Good friends living in south Asia. Amazing pictures.

This is not *all* the blogs I read, just the ones I jump for. What blogs do you jump for?

WAAAAA!!!! I won!!!!!

2011-12-01T12:25:00.001-06:00

I follow several blogs which I really enjoy, and I plan to present them to my readers soon -- next few days, I think.

Several of these blogs have giveaways... and I always do my part and post a comment or some such.

And I won! There are always tons and tons of sign-ups, so I know my chances are pretty slim, and this is the first win from a good 30 sign-ups.

Here, you will see that I am the 2nd of the Nov 20 winners... I'm getting Martha Stewart’s Handmade Holiday Crafts: 225 Inspired Projects for Year-Round Celebrations, and you know I like Stewart's books.

I'm so excited!

Book Review: Silmarillion

2011-11-28T08:00:00.000-06:00

The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is a must read. For everyone. Even if you don't generally like "fantasy". Because this is not fantasy... this is art.

This book documents the creation of middle earth and the years leading up to the war of the rings (which is known Lord of the Rings Trilogy). The characters are so real, the stories amazingly engaging.

Be prepared to work for it, though. This is not written at the "popular" level, and if you read it as if it is at that level, you will be quickly lost and bored. This book requires you to really pay attention to what you are reading, and give it the time it deserves. I took nearly 2 weeks to read it, when I would normally read a book this size in a few days. And it is worth every minute.

View all my reviews

More on "Growing Up Sew Liberated"

2011-11-27T20:36:00.001-06:00

As I stated before, I like this book. But, more recently, I've found a few things that have caused me to like it a little less. None are issues that can't be overcome, though.

First, it seems all her patterns are sized very small. I know my little Peanut is big for his age (he's extra long, though of average weight -- long and skinny he is). But when I make an 18 to 24 month top, I expect it to fit okay. Second, the clothes need to be appropriate for that age.

About a month ago I made the reversible baby sweatshirt. Its very cute and looks very cute on Peanut. I even made the 18 to 24 month size to allow it to fit well over a layer or two of clothes if needed, and to account for his extra length.

See how cute this sweatshirt is!

I more made it "lined" rather than reversible. And Peanut looked so cute in it, too.

I love those green striped pants. And doesn't it look like Peanut and Hank are imitating each other?

The ties were an issue though. Peanut *loved* to chew on them, which untied them, and they are long. I was worried he would swallow it and I'd have to pull it out... oh, that sounds just horrible!

The body fits nicely and is big enough that Peanut can wear a layer or two underneath and have room to grow into it. That seems important at this stage in the game.

The sleeves, however, are quite snug. I think the author must assume that babies are big bodied and skinny armed, as those sleeves are a tight fit, even with only 1 tee shirt underneath.

I can change the sleeves on this sweat shirt, so I'll just adjust the pattern for the next one. But the straps came off and I put on snaps. I love snaps... bang, bang and they are attached. Good for getting out aggression, too. It not quite as cute any more, but now I'm not worried about sweet little boy chocking on the ties.

As a seamstress, I'm still learning how to cut the fabric such that I can trust the seam allowances. But that is another story of Rachael learning to follow instructions and color inside the lines.

unbelievable timing

2011-11-26T13:34:00.001-06:00

Kids have crazy timing, I'm sure any parent will agree. It was Friday afternoon a week ago that I realized Peanut must be feeling pretty crappy for some reason, and, luckily, was able to get a late afternoon appointment with the pediatrician. Yep, it was an ear infection.

He finished the round of antibiotic on Tuesday morning, but then Wednesday morning started grabbing his ears, crying and had a low-grade fever. Drat, we thought. Is this a resistant strain? When he started the antibiotic, he improved quite visibly within a day -- as expected. And here we were suspecting another or continued ear infection... right before Thanksgiving. I was able to chat briefly with the pediatrician Wednesday afternoon, who said waiting till Friday or Saturday didn't make me a horrible parent. Kids survived just fine many an ear infection for many a year before doctors and antibiotics, he said. Just keep an eye on him and if his fever spikes or he stops eating, then be worried.

Thursday was actually a good day. Plenty of people around to entertain the extroverted Peanut, including Granddad, Grandmom, Aunt, Uncle and Cousin. And Daddy was home and not working, so that was 6 adults to 2 children. A good ratio, really.

Then it's Friday. Oh, a cranky-cranky day was Friday. Peanut is grabbing both ears, and crying, and being miserable. Until, that is, that Grandad and Grandmom take him and play. Oh, tickles and laughs can make anyone feel better, yes? Low-grade fever continues, and I am feeling quite confident that its a double-wammy ear infection. An hour after he goes down for bed, he is up to nurse (not normal). I finally put him into the swing to sleep, and later into the bouncy. I administer the wonderful and amazing off-brand Tylenol faithfully, and Peanut is able to sleep through the night.

This morning, Saturday, I find 2 new teeth. (sorry, no picture, Peanut is quite adamant that we don't mess with is mouth right now)

Yep -- teeth. 2 of them. at once. and evidence of 2 more ready to erupt. no wonder Peanut was cranky. He's gone from being Peanut 2 tooth, to Peanut 4 tooth over night and well on his to way to being Peanut 6 tooth. I think he likes being an even-number tooth kid.

So now, I wonder. The pediatrician is willing to take a look this afternoon at the ears to be sure about an ear infection. But all the symptoms are also explained by the teeth cutting through. Am I a horrible mother to say "we see the pediatrician on Tuesday anyways..." and put off the ear check? No, I don't think that's true, but it does nag me.

And how is that Peanut knows the weekend or the holiday is upon us, and that is the time to get sick or demonstrate miserableness that his mother feels compelled to figure out the source of?

He also launched himself from the bumpo this morning, which means that is out as a seating option. And he is quite mobile, even if not crawling yet. Oh, my baby is growing up!

Sweet Finds

2011-11-22T14:36:00.001-06:00

We live in a mid-sized town that is rather mired in limited options. We are half-way between two other large metropolises, so there isn't that much here. Sure, we have the one Target, the one Best Buy, the two Wal-marts, but there isn't as much beyond that. No World Market, and few nice thrift stores. Its either "boutiques" -- which tend to be more expensive -- or its Goodwill, which can be rather expensive for the quality of goods one finds there. I've heard good things about the "as is" lot at Goodwill and I hope to try that out some time soon.

To my great surprise, yesterday I found the neatest little grocery store. Its called "Frugal's Groceries". I had stopped in to Hobby Lobby (you are learning all the places I shop...) and noticed it as I was leaving the store (empty handed, no less). The name caught me eye, and I had to check it out. So, slightly-fussy Peanut and I sauntered over and entered the store.

It felt like one of those little, local groceries back in La Habra (a suburb of Los Angeles). Its a wide assortment of goods, all at amazing discounts. I figured out that they grab various deals on seconds, imperfects and out-of-date goods to see at some deep discount. Some of the herbs were a year beyond their stamped "use by" date, but others weren't. I found a container of coconut oil* that was 60% of the grocery store price because the lid was cracked. They had various baby items, such as pack-n-plays (which we don't need) to diapers (which we don't need) to shelf-stable food goods (which I will buy happily) to cosmetics and medicines. The overhead speakers occasionally moved from music to advertising and it said that if the customer buys something that they then deem unsafe, bring the item and your receipt and they will refund your money.

Unfortunately (or fortunately) the stock changes regularly, as it depends on what kinds of deals have come along recently, which means one must stop in regularly. Which I plan to do. If you live in Waco, and you are a thrifty tightwad as I am, you have got to check this place out. Its right next door to Hobby Lobby. Here's a link to the google map street view. Frugal's is the white-lit, completely unreadable sign. Yeah, you can tell by the lack of focus that the Google team wasn't so concerned about this area. If you check it out, tell me what you think.

*coconut oil is used on Peanut's bum, as its cloth diaper safe and has, as I've read, some amazing anti-microbial properties. And Peanut's bum always looks so nice and soft after shmearing the oil over his slightly irritated bum, whatever it might be from.

A Day in My Life, by Peanut

2011-11-20T08:18:00.001-06:00

Hi everybody. Mommy is drinking her coffee, and I've got the laptop, so I'm going to write a post today!

Mommy told me the other day that not everyone has the same kind of day that I have. I thought, "WHAT!!! Not everyone is just like me?" I found myself wanting to tell everyone what my day is like, so they can tell me how their day is different from mine.

I've been told the day actually starts at midnight, but I'm not usually awake till 4 or 5 am. But that is only for a meal to tide me over till breakfast at 7 am. Honestly, I like to eat, and I will eat any chance Mommy gives me.

Once I'm dressed, I like to play. Oh, yes, I love to play. I roll around, push up with my arms, grab stuff to chew on, feel the different textures, and generally have a blast. I got Mommy to take some pictures to give you an idea of my play time, since its so much fun, and pictures are so much better than words!

Can you see me kicking my legs? I love to kick.

Roll, roll, roll. Grab toy, stuff toy in mouth!

I will even gather all my toys about me, just to make sure I can grab the one I want, when I want it.

Move, move, move. Oh, look, something new to kick!

Roll, back. Eat bear.

Mommy! Look at me pushing up!

Wa-ha-ha. This is fun.

Sometimes, Mommy will get Hank to come and play where I can see him. I love Hank, but I don't think he likes me. I'm not sure why, though. (Mommy note: Hank doesn't like Peanut so much because of the loud noises Peanut makes and his tendency to grab Hank's fur if Hank gets too close.)

The kitty is so much fun to watch. I always stop to watch him if he is around.

Of course, I stop to eat regularly. And if Mommy makes me, I'll take a nap. But I don't like naps, at least not when the sun is up. I can't imagine what Mommy is doing while I nap, so I don't know why she makes me take naps.

Just recently, Mommy has started giving me food other than milk. I like getting to eat stuff, but sometimes it tastes funny and it's so different from milk. But I love the spoon. Spoons are fun to chew on.

This week, I've had to take this nasty tasting pink stuff. I'm not sure why, but Mommy gives it to me three times each day! I spit it out if I can, but she is getting crafty at making me swallow it. Why would she ever give me such nasty stuff?

Finally, after a fun day of playing, eating, and diaper changes, its time for bed. I don't mind going to bed. The sun is gone, and its dark out, so I figure now is the time to sleep. Some nights I get to take a bath, then Mommy puts me in my jammies. On cool nights, I get to wear my dinosaur jammies, that have a hood, spines down the back and a tail!

My monkey, sea horse and turtle sleep with me. I like to chew on monkey and sea horse will light up and play music. Sometimes, Mommy will turn on the turtle and I get to look at stars that the turtle shines on the ceiling and walls.

Sometimes we read a book, but most often I'm so tired by that time, I just want to go to sleep. Daddy says I'm turning into a pumpkin when I get so tired, but I just don't like to sleep when the sun is up. So, pumpkin it is.

I sleep and sleep, with 1 or 2 breaks for a snack. And then my day starts over!

Book review: Martha Stewart's Encyclopedia of Sewing and Fabric Crafts

2011-11-19T16:58:00.001-06:00

Martha Stewart's Encyclopedia of Sewing and Fabric Crafts: Basic Techniques and 150 Inspired Ideas for Sewing, Embroidery, Applique, Quilting, Dyeing, and Printing by Martha Stewart Living
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I grabbed this book from the library and I think I'll actually buy it. She's got good information on the various ways of using fabric and the things you can make from fabric. If you've read her magazine, many of these projects will seem familiar -- I think all the projects were originally presented in the magazine. I am one who will tear out the projects I like and save them in a binder. This book allows me to toss out all those pages and have one book with the ideas. Plus, its got a CD of all the templates used in the various projects, so no more going to look online for them. The book came out in 2010, so likely projects in the magazine from 2009 and on aren't in this book. And there are likely projects from the magazine that didn't make the book.

The pictures are all in color, and she explains different kinds of fabrics and their uses. There is a section for the various sewing notions and tools one might find and use.

This book only teaches the most basic of sewing skills -- basic hand sewing stitches, machine stitches, some embroidery stitches. But she does not discuss or attempt to teach more advanced sewing techniques -- some I can think of are darts, gussets, making pleats and such. I guess these are used mostly in clothes and she discusses a great deal more than clothes.

Conclusion: it's worth the $22 on amazon if you enjoy M.S. style projects.

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In a week...

2011-11-17T20:46:00.001-06:00

We ordered a new wireless router on Sunday evening. The current one died Monday morning. What timing!

Peanut is feeling better from his ear infection (antibiotics are amazing). I start feeling crappy on Tuesday. Either a cold or allergies. Either way, its miserable.

Peanut will sit long enough to get a picture!

He in the process of pushing/falling backwards.

I think he's having fun!

And even though Peanut isn't crawling (not that he isn't trying), he still gets around. Check out these time elapsed photos (I didn't move anything between, I promise).

When I first put him down to play. I offered tiger, elephant, book and bumblebee. He chose bumblebee.

You notice where gorilla started out. He's wearing the blue hat in the above picture.

Now notice that gorilla has moved again.

As of this evening, the red bear has lost his sweater, and zebra is missing a few tail hairs. I know this because I found them on Peanut.

It is so much fun watching him grow and develop. I'm so excited to see him crawl and yet I'm dreading it. Gone will be the days when I can set him down and know he will be in about the same spot when I come back!

PS. I'd said I'd donate half my net profits from Saturday to COTA for Leah Grace. I netted about $100, so that $50 more to be matched!

Monday, after a busy weekend

2011-11-14T13:41:00.001-06:00

This weekend was a bit crazy. I spent Wednesday, Thursday and Friday getting ready for the craft fair Saturday. Friday afternoon, I got Peanut in to see the doc, as I though he was sick. He was diagnosed with a mild ear infection, but we were told to wait and see. Many ear infections are viral, so that would clear up on its own. If it was bacterial, we'd know by Sunday. And we were graciously given a paper prescription, just in case.

Saturday was spent selling various canned goods (we did good!).

Sunday we chilled at home, to see how the Peanut was doing, and we were exhausted anyways. By Sunday afternoon, we figured out that the ear infection was not viral, so we got the prescription filled.

Today has been filled with laundry mostly. I can tell Peanut is feeling better after a day's worth of amoxicillian doses. For the past week, he's been taking looooonnnnngggg naps, twice a day. Today, however, he's slept for 30 minutes about noon. His norm is about 3 30 minute naps a day. And he's been playing hard in the living room. All over the small play area I've created. Take a look at this....

Peanut started out on the quilt. He moved himself (not crawling, yet, though) to grab the gorilla (its the black fuzzy animal), which was sitting next to the red bear originally, dragged the gorilla around, chewing on it. Then he found the white basket, and moved it around while chewing on it. He's ruffled the quilt, pulled the hat off of Yurtle the Turtle (that's the blue thing under Peanut's left arm) and just seems to be having a great time. For not crawling, he sure can get around. And he must be feeling better. And not really wanting to be held. My little boy is sure growing up.

He must get his energy level from me. Great, I'm doomed!

Sacrifices

2011-11-11T08:00:00.000-06:00

I am a librophile. I love books. And because of this love, I've been reluctant to let Peanut "play" with the board books if we aren't reading together. Why? Because his form of "play" is to chew on the book. It does make me sad to see a spit-soaked book with the corners coming apart.

But because I don't want to set a precedence, I'm letting Peanut play with the board books. Yes, I'm limiting it to only 1 or 2, so that only those 1 or 2 are chewed to pieces at a time.

:::sigh::: those poor books.

Entrepreneurship, enter stage right!

2011-11-10T08:00:00.000-06:00

Gosh, had to look that word up to make sure I spelled it right!

Yep, I'm trying out being an entrepreneur. I think it might be in my blood, as I'm always thinking about how I can make some extra money. I've had all sorts of ideas, from sewing things to knitting things to crocheting things to growing things. Until now, I've not had the confidence to follow through on the ideas, though.

But now, thanks to Hubby's encouragement, I'm ready to announce... my very own... what to call it... shop? business? no -- none of that is right. Anyhoo, Rachael's Homemade Goodies is now open! And I've got canned goods to sell!

This Saturday is an Arts and Craft Fair to raise money for Leah Grace to help pay for the meds she will need for the rest of her life (see http://parkerlife04.blogspot.com/ for the most recent update). Leah had a heart transplant several months ago, and she's doing quite well.

I purchased a table, as a vendor, to sell my goods on Saturday. I will have apple butter, candied jalapenos, pickled jalapenos and dill pickles. Yes, you will have the opportunity to taste my goods before buying, if you come on Saturday, between 10 and 3, to Fellowship Bible Church in Waco, Texas.

I will donate half of my net profits to COTA for Leah of anything sold through Saturday evening.

Should you not be able to make it Saturday, due to time, location, etc, you are welcome to still purchase these goods. Please email rachaelshomemadegoodies@gmail.com, and we can arrange shipping. (Shipping will cost extra; should there be interest, I will figure that out.)

Here's what I got:

Apple Butter -- All natural

contains apples, sugar, spices and water

4 oz jar -- $4
8 oz jar -- $6
16 oz jar -- $10

Dill Pickles & Pickled Jalapenos -- All natural and mostly organic (explanation following)

Pickled jalapenos contain jalapenos, water, vinegar, salt and spices

Dill pickles contain cucumbers, water, vinegar, salt, dill seeds, and mustard seeds

16 oz jar -- $10

Candied Jalapenos -- All natural and mostly organic (explanation following)

contains jalapenos, sugar, vinegar, spices

Not my picture, borrowed from tastykitchen.com. I will post a picture of my product as soon as I can!

16 oz jar -- $10

What does "mostly organic" mean? Both the jalapenos and the cucumbers for these items were grown in my backyard. I did not use any pesticides, herbicides or artificial fertilizer on them. However, we have only been in this house for 2 years, and I didn't use specially marked organic sugar, vinegar or spices.

I hope to see you Saturday. Those who come to my table on Saturday and can tell me what my most common tag is will receive a small gift of appreciation.

Enjoying a good book

2011-11-09T08:50:00.002-06:00

How I waste money

2011-11-08T08:00:00.000-06:00

Ya wanna know how I waste money? Yes, I do waste some of our hard earned cash at times. I don't mean it, and I don't do it purposely. But, due to neglect, sometimes I do. Here is it, its gross, so be prepared...

I made the picture as small as I could. In addition to this head of lettuce, I had to put 3 tomatoes in the compost pile. Luckily, even rotting veggies will nourish the garden. At least something good comes from my neglect.

Yes, sometimes I buy veggies and they end up rotting in the fridge. This head of lettuce was intended to be salads with spaghetti, and pizza, and some other meal. Perhaps the unfried chicken from last night?

I'm getting better at using the veggies before they go bad. Much better than even a year ago.

Hi, my name is Rachael, and I let veggies rot in the fridge.

In other news, I totally blew the October food budget. Yep, blew it out of the water. Good thing my Hubby is really smart and said I should work to *average* $200 a month. But even then, between September and October, I'm on a average of $370 a month. Ouch. Perhaps my $200 a month is unreasonable. Though I think I'll need November (a big month with Thanksgiving), December (a low month as we are at Hubby's family for the holiday), January (a more normal month) and February (a short month) to really see what a reasonable average is. Wait. Let me revise that statement. I will need April, May, June and July as well, as those are garden produce months (if I don't let the garden produce rot in the fridge). Alas, I think I need a year's of receipts to know what a reasonable month's food budget is.

Pintrest and such sites

2011-11-07T08:00:00.000-06:00

I really enjoy sites that allow you to track what you like. For example, when amazon put out their universal wish list button, I grabbed it. I'm regularly adding things to my amazon wish list from other sites. And then I also use diigo to bookmark web pages with tags. Much better than just using the bookmark folder in chrome, I think.

Recently, I also signed up for Pintrest. At this site, one can keep track of stuff they like by "pinning" pictures of liked things to topical boards. Here is my set of "boards": http://pinterest.com/mama_rachael/

I see an interesting trend. I have 6 boards: "Products I love", "Favorite Places & Spaces", "Entertainment", "For the Home", "Food", and "My Style". Only 3 actually have anything pinned to them! Can you guess which ones? Yes, "For the Home" is one. And... yep, "Food" is one. You got it, "Entertainment" is the third. Can you tell what is important to me?

Book Review: Board Books of Various Types

2011-11-06T14:41:00.002-06:00

We were given a slew of board books as baby gifts. I was so excited to see my basket of books grow and expand. Here are some of our favorites. The opinions presented are merely my observations of Peanut and Little Bobble as they "read" the books.

Hubby's cousin gave us a stack of Sandra Boynton books. My favorite is Belly Button Book

But Snuggle Puppy is also loved. This one is apart of our nightly routine.

Little Bobble loves Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can you?

and The Shape of Me

Some friends gave us My World, which Little Bobble loves. But I can't find it on Amazon.

Both Peanut and Little Bobble love Peek-A-Boo

The words describing the faces are in both Spanish and English.

Perhaps Peanut's favorite is a fabric book that has cellophane in the pages, so it crinkles. Its called Where is my Belly Button?, by Jelly Cat. But I can't find it on Amazon to get a picture.

We have a slew more Dr. Suess board books, and several more Boynton books (I think Hubby likes Hippos Go Berserk

the best. They count the hippos and add them up; correctly.)We have more than can be appreciated at this point by an almost 6 month old and a 18 month old.

Book Review: Taking Charge of Your Fertility

2011-11-04T21:02:00.001-05:00

Recently, a blog I read was discussing birth control options. I love this book, and so had to write up a review of it!

Taking Charge of Your Fertility: The Definitive Guide to Natural Birth Control, Pregnancy Achievement, and Reproductive Health by Toni Weschler
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

When Hubby and I were engaged, we decided to wait at least a year before trying for children. Thus, we discussed our birth control options. We believe that life begins at conception, therefore, we wanted to be sure that whatever we did was preventing conception, not implantation. Plus, we wanted something simple and easy. Many of the options were just not tasteful to us. Then a good friend recommended this book.

This book taught me a great deal about how a woman's body works. Weschler walks the reader through the changes that occur in a woman's body each month and how to figure out where you are at in the cycle. She discusses both the rules for how to prevent pregnancy and how to achieve pregnancy. Some might find her discussion too technical, but I really enjoyed it. It didn't feel like a textbook, but she doesn't talk down to her audience.

I was able to track my cycle and determine that the pill was preventing ovulation (sometimes it doesn't, and we wanted to know if that happened). Then, when I went off the pill, I was able to figure out what was wonky in my cycle and why I wasn't getting pregnant. When I finally did get pregnant, because of my charting, I can tell you the day I conceived (plus or minus 1 day). Because of what I learned in Weschler's book, I should be able to tell when my fertility returns (I'm currently nursing).

Ladies, don't be squimish. This is your body. Know what's going on.

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Talking to myself?

2011-10-31T11:57:00.004-05:00

I do this regularly. As I told Hubby this morning, when I say something out loud, it makes more sense, or I see the absurdity of it. Pre-Peanut I tried to keep this talking to a minimum when out and about at stores and such. But these days, I just "talk to Peanut".

I'm sure he gets something out of it, word acquisition and such. But goodness, it makes life easier to me!

Book Review: Shepherding a Child's Heart

2011-10-30T08:10:00.001-05:00

Shepherding a Child's Heart by Tedd Tripp
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A little over a month ago, we participated in the baby dedication at church. The idea is that as parents, we dedicated ourselves to raise our child in the fear and knowledge of the Lord. And the congregation, particularly those that are apart of your life, dedicated themselves to assisting and exhorting you in that endeavor. Its nothing all that fancy, but its one of those rituals or sorts of things that help to impress something on ya.

At the time, we got a gift bag with a certificate, a book and a set of CDs. The certificate went into Peanut's baby book, the CDs next to the CD player and the book next to my chair.

I have enjoyed this book. At first, I struggled with his writing style. Honestly, its written at a popular level, which means 5th or 6th grade. He writes with short, choppy sentences that could use some editing to make them smoother and more readable. But once I got past that, Tripp has some good things to say.

This is a sort-of discipline book, as in how to discipline and train your children. But, as the title suggests, it about dealing with your child's heart issues, not just his behavior. The book assumes that the reader is interested in raising children who love God, know God, and are interested in using Biblical methods to raise their children. The first part of the book provides the foundation and goals of child rearing and the second part discusses the theory and method.

Much of what Tripp says made sense to me. I'd seen this sort of child rearing in the home I grew up in and in a few other homes that I had close contact with. It was nothing new to me, but it was presented in a way that I feel far more confident now to implement these ideas.

Yes, he advocates spanking in specific, controlled circumstances. He lays out the parameters of when, where and how to spank. A spank is a specific tool with specific purpose that is only used in specific circumstances.

Although what Tripp advocates makes sense to me and seem reasonable and wise, I'm not sure I buy his argument that this is the "Biblical" method. The Bible does set out goals for your children, and some basic guidelines... "Fathers, do not anger (or embitter)your children", "Children obey your parents", and such. But the Bible doesn't really lay out specific methods out side of "talk about these things when you rise, when you sit, when you... [you name it]" You can, however, draw out basic priciples. Tripp does this excellently, but then calls them a "Biblical Method". I think that takes it too far.

So, if you are coming from the same view point of wanting to train your children in the fear and knowledge of the Lord, and you take the same basic worldview, this book has lots of good stuff to tell you. Even if you aren't on the same page, it's still good stuff, but you might have such a beef with what he says that you'll get nothing from it.

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Angie's Chai Tea

2011-10-29T17:13:00.002-05:00

I enjoy tea. The folks from India who stayed with us, left a package of tea, so I've been making "chai", which is really just tea. In Chinese, "chai" (with the right tone) is "tea". But, to the last few cups I've add a few cardamon pods, some cloves, a few black pepper corns and a cinnamon stick (half of one, less would be okay, too). It makes a flavorful tea when a touch of sugar is mixed in. I"ll give the recipe below.

As I sat and drank, I remember the first time I'd had this version of chai. It was in 2001. I was living in China, and had met a gal, Angie, when I was on holiday in Thailand who was living in Kunming at the time, which was an day's train ride west for me. It was the national holiday week, so I took the week and went west to visit her. That was the first week of October. It was just getting a touch chilly then, and Kunming is set up in the mountains so the nights were down right nippy.

We had a great time that week. Angie and I really hit of off. Two single gals, both of rather independent spirits. Both fairly well educated, and both in need of a good friend as we were both on our own in this new place. We were both studying Chinese, and spent several days scoping out and finding the spices needed to make "Chai". Its not easy figuring out how to say things like "nutmeg" when you aren't sure what the whole spice looks like. Google images wasn't available to us then. We had a few misses, but after a few days we'd found the spices, and knew the names in Chinese. We made the tea and savored it while singing to Angie's guitar playing. We drank it while chatting late at night, and in the morning before breakfast. Those were good times.

We both eventually returned to the states. I went to grad school, Angie returned home to work, and I learned later, met a boy and got married. Last time I saw her, she was married, and pregnant with her first (a boy if I remember correctly). That was fall of 2005. And I was figuring out what to do with this boy showing me all this attention (he's now my Hubby). Last I heard, she was pregnant with her second, living in Singapore.

Angie -- should you read this, I'd love to catch up and see where life has taken you!

Angie's Chai Tea

Ingredients

You will need:

loose black tea

cinnamon sticks

whole cloves

whole nutmegs

whole cardamon pods

whole black peppercorns

sugar (I figure you know what sugar looks like)

For 1 cup:
Use about 1 tbsp black tea, a single half-stick of cinnamon, a few (3-5)whole cloves, 1/4 or so of a nutmeg (use a knife to cut up), a few (4-5)cardamon pods and a few (3-4) peppercorns. Cover them with a mug full of milk, and heat over medium heat, stirring regularly. When hot, strain into a mug and add a spoonful of sugar. Enjoy!

For the next cup:
Adjust the spices to fit your taste. I tend to like a bit more cinnamon and a bit less clove and peppercorns. Also, if you don't have one or two of the spices, its still good. More than that missing and it is a bit bland.

You can also make it with water: Use more of everything, but not a ton more. Bring it to a boil, then let cool and seep overnight. Strain and store in the fridge. Add about half of this very strong tea and half milk to a mug and heat. Add sugar to taste.

Keep in mind, this isn't exact! And its all very flexible.

A good day so far!

2011-10-28T11:51:00.000-05:00

Woot, I like it when days start out good. And its nearly noon, so hopefully, it will stay "good".

That second tooth finally finished cutting through, on Thursday. Here's to hoping that future teeth act more like the first one and not the second one.

The cold front that moved in would be more accurately called a "chilly front". We did get some rain out of it, about 1/4".

Now, lets see what I can get done today!

Here's my attempts at getting a picture of the teeth.

Do you see the one? This was pre-second tooth.

No, Peanut, gotta move the tongue.

Oh, so close. Centering off. If you look close, you can see the teeth!

Can you hold still? No? I should of known.

I think he really likes the camera and get excited when I pull it out and point it at him. I'm guessing he gets that from me.

Days like this

2011-10-26T12:13:00.005-05:00

Do you have days where you just don't want to do anything, but read and chill out? Yes, its that kind of day for me. I think Hubby is having a similar day. Its not that life has been too crazy of late, though its been busy. Perhaps it has something to do with the two new teeth Peanut has. The first one came in quickly, and fairly painlessly -- based on his lack of fussiness. This second one has taken a fair bit longer and he is far unhappier.

Tooth #1:
Peanut had a hard time going down for a nap and then bed time. Next day, hard nap time during morning, and new tooth appeared in the afternoon. All good from there.

Tooth #2:
Fussy-fussy on Sunday... and Monday... and Tuesday. Hard time going for naps. Low grade fever on Monday. Tooth seems to be making an appeared now, Wednesday morning. Still generally unhappy.

I'm thankful for Tylenol, and plastic rings.

Sorry, no tooth view here. He really is not interested in showing off those new teeth.

And now, today, I desire to be lazy. Luckily, there are only a few things that *need* to be done today.

Carpet cleaning

2011-10-24T14:03:00.000-05:00

Carpets can get really nasty. And they aren't that easy to keep *really* clean. As Peanut is rolling like a champ, and working hard at sitting, I decided it was time to clean the carpet in preparation for his crawling. I figure if he's got his face in the carpet, I'd like it to be clean.

Friends of ours have a Bissell steam cleaner. Their son has crazy allergies, so it makes sense for them to own such a machine. I borrowed it, and have loved it. I so want a steam cleaner now... but if I'm going to clean the carpets twice a year, or so, is it worth buying one? Still thinking on that one.

Anyhoo, it was easy, and I was able to do a room a day. I started on the guest bed room, then did the hallway and nursery the next day. I got the living room on Saturday, as Hubby was around to hold Peanut if needed. Today, I got the master bedroom.

So, in prep for cleaning the carpets I vacuumed. I went ahead and vacuumed all the other rooms as well, just to start a new habit of vacuuming weekly. Oh, my goodness. Normally, our vacuum dust bin is quite full after I vacuum the house. And its usually a dark grey/black color. Lots of carpet fuzz, cat hair, Mommy hair and dirt. Today, however, after vacuuming the guest bedroom, nursery, hallway and living room, I had a small ball of carpet fuzz, cat hair and a bit of dirt/dust. And it was carpet colored. I know my carpets are cleaner than they've been since we moved in. Then I vacuumed the master bedroom (pre-cleaning vacuum). Yuck. I emptied more from the bin from just that room than I did from the rest of the house. WOW! I'm looking forward to vacuuming after the carpet is dry just to see how little I pick up.

As for the steam cleaner... its a Bissell Proheat 2x. I like that the soap container is separate from the water container, and the cleaner is easy to use. I don't like how small the clean water container is and that it is open to the dirty water container. The clean water is contained in a bladder inside the dirty water container, and there isn't a way to close off the clean water bladder. I'm somewhat certain that the clean water was a little soapy at one point. After reading reviews on Amazon, I did pick out a different one, that should I chose to get one, that's the one I'd want. Its a Hoover, and has great reviews.

The cleaner did pull up a fair bit of fuzz, as does the vacuum cleaner. I suspect if I cleaned the carpet too much, it'd be thread bare sooner than otherwise. But I know dirt is just hard on the threads and causes them to break sooner than otherwise. So, I'm guessing a cleaning twice a year for living room, and once a year for bedrooms would be enough.

Those who clean their carpets regularly, how often to do clean them?

Book Review: The Naturally Clean Home

2011-10-22T08:00:00.000-05:00

The Naturally Clean Home by Karyn Siegel-Maier
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I received this book as a gift from my sister a holiday or two back. I started reading it from the front cover and was initially unimpressed. Several of her recipes call for combining baking soda (an excellent cleaner) and vinegar (another excellent cleaner). Just because they are good individually doesn't mean they are good together. Why? Because together they react to release carbon dioxide and leave water. That's what all the bubbly is about when building a volcano.

Recently, though, I've found some good recipes from this book. I was cleaning carpet spots and ran out of foam cleaner. Rather than put the project aside till the next Walmart run, I made my own foam carpet cleaner from her recipe. I like it. It works, its easy to make, and its cheap.

This week, I've borrowed a friend carpet steam cleaner and I've used the recipe for carpet steam cleaner to clean the carpets. I like it. (And the carpets look so nice after being cleaned!).

Overall, I think she's got some good recipes for cleaning, but the reader will need to pick and choose. I like her use of essential oils and she has a nice chart at the front for what the different herbs are reported to be used for. The recipes are simple with easily found ingredients. If you need a reference for cleaning recipes, this isn't a bad one to have.

View all my reviews

Lubbock? Seriously?

2011-10-21T21:50:00.000-05:00

So, one of my few... ahem... many vices is watching the various CSI shows and offshoots. I've decided that CSI Miami effectively lowers my IQ by a few points each time I watch an episode, but I regain them when I blog... so it all evens out :P

I'm currently watching episode 3 -- "Blown Away". The crimes happen in the midst of tornadoes (yep, in Miami of all places). So the storm chasers mention an 'armadillo', to which the detective says "The only armadillos I know of are in Lubbock".

What? Lubbock mentioned in a nationally syndicated TV show? I always imagined my home town was a dinky little place, but it seems it more of a place than I imagined.

By the way, the episode isn't worth watching just for the comment. Its a rather dorky plot, and dorkish characters.

Laundry

2011-10-19T08:30:00.000-05:00

You might remember several months ago, I wrote about a weekly routine and commented that laundry needed no real routine as I didn't have that much to do. I was wrong, very wrong.

I realized quickly that I had an under estimated view of our laundry production and I was actually doing quite a bit more than a mere 4 loads a week. I do closer to 8 to 10 loads a week. Currently, my routine goes something like this:
Monday -- diapers, light clothes, dark clothes, towels (4 loads)
Wednesday -- diapers, light clothes, dark clothes, sheets (4 loads)
Friday -- diapers (1 load)

I've got some laundry line up on the porch that I've used some to dry laundry and I'd like to use it more. But when I'm doing 4 loads in a day, there just isn't enough room to hand everything. And now that its cooler, it takes longer for clothes to dry. Plus, with both Peanut and Little Bobble, I find it hard to get out to hand clothes and then take them down. What's a girl to do?

Here's what I'd like... diapers on Monday, Wednesday and Friday; clothes on Monday and Thursday; towels and sheets on Friday. And if I'm to hand stuff to dry, I need a lot more line. Maybe I can put the lines closer together to fit more lines on the pergola? Perhaps. Maybe I aim to at least get the routine right this week.

We figured, based on a website, that drying 1 load of laundry is about $0.30. Diapers take longer, so they cost more, I'm sure. If I line dry all our laundry, that saves about $3 a week in electricity. Not a negligible savings, I don't think, but I also don't feel bad about using the dryer when I'm feeling tired, crazy or overwhelmed.

Peanut really enjoyed Sujatha, as well, who is Srinivas's wife. We had a great time with them.

Yep, this is my home town

2011-10-18T20:54:00.000-05:00

I remember dust storms growing up. Sounds like this one out did anything I ever saw!

Dust storm magnitude startles even long-time residents | Lubbock Online | Lubbock Avalanche-Journal:

'via Blog this'

Day time Naps

2011-10-18T13:38:00.001-05:00

Peanut has never been a good napper. He sleeps great at night, though. I figured out sometime in month 2 that if given the chance, he is happy to go to bed for the night at 7 pm, and would get up about 630 or 7 the next morning. True, he would wake me to nurse several times and night (though most recently, I'm up 1 or 2 times at night only), but each time he went back down very easily. I'm uncertain he actually woke up during those nursings.

But the day time naps are a different story. I'm sure that first week or two, he slept fine, but from sometime in month 1 and on, he would sleep 15 to 45 minutes tops 2 or 3 time a day. Which means he is an utter pumpkin by 5 pm.

This last weekend, with our guests, has meant a change in sleeping locations. Usually Little Bobble naps in the guest bedroom, but for this weekend, I put her in the nursery and put Peanut in, ahem, our closet. Yes, our closet. Does this make me a bad mother? I hope not, because he naps great in there. We are guessing it has to do with it being so much darker in the closet than his bedroom. The absence of windows will do that! I found that first nap time in the closet went for 1 1/2 hours. Twice his longest nap time. Amazing. I thought maybe he was just tired. But this has held out. Consistently, he will sleep 45 minutes to 1 1/2 hours in the closet.

When is he napping? I've wanted to get onto a more consistent nap schedule for a while. Little Bobble is very consistent, she gets up about 9 to 930 am, and naps from 1130 to 130... very nearly on the dot. Peanut has been forced into a schedule based on this. He gets up by 7 am, and goes down for his first nap at 9 am. Since starting napping in the closet, I'm now waking him up at 10 am or so. He is ready for nap #2 by about 1230 or 1 pm. This is unfortunate, b/c it gives me very little time to myself while both Peanut and Little Bobble are both napping. Ah, well, I can deal. I am thinking I want Peanut up by about 2 pm, so he can get a third nap around 4 pm. This takes me through to bed time very nicely with out turning pumpkin before about 630 pm.

Of course any day I run errands, or when we go to church, or I go to Bible study messes with the schedule. But I guess that's life.

Peanut loved playing with Srinivas, who was our guest this weekend. It was a ton of fun watching them!

Oct Food Budget Update

2011-10-16T10:53:00.000-05:00

Well, as I mentioned before, its only half way through Oct and I have already spent more than $200 on food. There are some good reasons, but nonetheless.... Hubby suggested that I aim for $2400 annually, rather than a monthly budget, as some months are more expensive. Why?

This month, I purchased several staple items that I won't need to buy again for 4 to 6 months. This includes:
rice (both short grain and basmati)
flour
chocolate chips
almonds
baking soda

And several items I won't purchase again for 1 to 2 months:
whole chickens
chicken breasts
pork loin
lunch meat
whole, peeled, canned tomatoes
peanut butter
bagels

Also, we are hosting some Indian friends this weekend, and as they are vegetarian, I've purchased (1) more vegetables than I would normally in a month, and (2) enough to feel 2 more adults. I purchased the basmati rice as a treat for them and us. And the 20 lb bag of basmati cost more than the 50 lb bag of short grain; this is quite the treat!

We are looking at joining the local CSA. I see a few pros and a few cons to this...
Pros:
a chunk of veggies at less than I'd pay at the store
fresh, pesticide free veggies

Cons:
likely to get some veggies we just don't like
more veggies than we could eat... if we aren't intentional.

Yes, I'm looking for a friend to go halves with us. There are only 2 of us, and we are only learning how to eat veggies in larger amounts and more regularly. It doesn't come naturally to either of us.

I'm thinking October will round out to about $300, which means I've averaging $250. I do think I going to aim more to keeping the average around $200 rather than each month at $200.

How are you doing with your food budget? Have you started any new strategies? I'd love to have a conversation about this with others with similar goals!

Teething, food and life

2011-10-15T20:51:00.001-05:00

Goodness, every now and then, life sneaks up on ya and takes over, doesn't it? So has it been for me this past week. Yeah, its been near on a week since I last posted, hasn't it.

Lets see...
The weather has cooled off, such that we can open windows at night and get the house down to the low 70s and sometimes, the upper 60s. That's so very nice! I've decided that 69' is the near perfect morning temperature... I need socks and a sweater, and I can drink my coffee enjoying the heat.

We have guests! Yep, a paster and his wife, who our church supports, from India are staying with us this weekend. Its been a wonderful chance for me to learn how to cook India style, and I've learned that curries are all teh same, its just the ingredients that are different. This makes sense once you see the process. Heat oil. Add chopped onions and peppers (make sure they are spicy, spicy). Let those cook till they are nice and tender, then add vegetables. Tomaotes have been in ever curry we've had so far, but I guess just about any vegetable will work, so she tells me. I honestly dought that squash would really work, but that might be just me. Oh, yeah, add the spices when you are cooking just the onions and peppers. Serve with rice, eat with you right hand. Mix the curry with the rice, and scoop it up in your fingers, all 4 of them. Then use your thumb to push the food into your mouth. Quite easy, if you don't mind getting your hands messy.

Peanut is getting his first tooth! I noticed a few days ago that he was chewing even more and had become a major slober machine. I've been checking to see if I could feel a tooth begining most days, but nothing till this morning, and then, this afternoon, we could see the tooth poking up! He's been a bit fussy, mostly this afternoon and evening, but nothing like I expected. Maybe that comes later?

And Peanut has started to beg for food. I usually put him in his high chair when we eat, and he will watch us very closely as we eat. If one of us is holding him while we eat, he will grab at teh food or our hand, and he's been sucessful at disrupting the process a time or two. Well, last night, I caved and let him have a very small piece of pizza crust (from the inside where it is soft and not sause or cheese on it). Wow, he liked it. Today, he got a few grains of plain white rice, and wasn't as crazy about it. And this evening, I had a leftover piece of pizza and he actually fussed at me while I was eating... till I gave him a small piece of crust. It was quite humerous. I'd get a piece and as I approached him, he would open is mouth wide and grunt, like he does when he's about to nurse, and he would eagerly gobble the piece of crust when he got it. So cute.

In the movement area, Peanut is rolling regularly now.

I've broken the October food budget. I've already hit $200 and it only half way through the month. But then, I bought a lot of staple items. More details soon.

And last, but not least...

the coolest baby on the block!

I swear, I put him square in the middle of the baby gym. He's not crawling, but he can get around!

Oh, is it raining!

2011-10-09T08:33:00.000-05:00

We have prayed for rain nearly every night since last March or April.

It feels quite amazing when your prayers get answered.

The rain gauge is reading 4 inches and its still raining. Its not a crazy fast rain, which is nice, but hard enough that its really cooled everything off.

Thank you, Lord. You remind us of what a blessing something as simple as rain is when we've gone without. Thank you that this wasn't a crazy 3 year drought (2 Kings... think Elijah vs. Prophets of Baal).

Officially Frustrated

2011-10-08T09:47:00.000-05:00

Yes, I am.

See, I purposed obtained 4 boxes of Kellogg's Mini Wheat (which I do like) for the codes to get a free up to $5 book from Scholastic.com. Sweet.

I got enough codes for 2 coupons. At $5 a coupon, that's $10. Not bad.

I found 2 books, board books, that were each less than $5, added them to the cart. I got through the process of address, etc, and get to adding the promotion codes. And it only lets me add 1 code. Yep, seems I have to order the books separately, which means paying shipping twice.

And because I was a teacher before, its all screwy and keeps wanting to know my current school. Or the school my child attends... so, I registered as a teacher of a homeschool -- but it can't find my school, so I can't order today. Argh.

Scholastic -- why are you making this so difficult? I just want a couple of fun books for my little boy.

Pretty, Happy, Funny, Real

2011-10-06T11:24:00.001-05:00

Its been busy around here. I've not really gotten the hang of making use of my time to the fullest, which is frustrating, but I"m getting better. Often times I wonder, at the end of the day, what I'd accomplished. At first, I feel like I got nothing done, but then I begin to remember... I got the diapers washed, hung out, taken down and put away. I ironed 3 of Hubby's shirts (they look so much nicer ironed!). I took a nap with my baby boy. When I spend a fair bit of time just nursing (and reading while nursing), I feel unproductive until I really start thinking about it.

But today... what's going on today?

{Pretty and Happy}

I'm making apple butter! I got to use my mother's peeler/slicer/corer, which was fun.

I started in a pot too small, so I had to move it when it started to boil.

My plan was to donate these to be sold at the Arts and Craft sale, Nov 13, to raise money to help Leah Grace in her transplant costs. But I added in some leftover applesauce... which has high fructose corn syrup in it. Drat. Wanted these "all natural". So, I guess this batch is for me and I'll get more apples to make for the Arts and Crafts sale.

{Not really all that funny, but its fun}

I'm trying to figure out ways to use up fewer things. So, I'm trying out freezing meats and such in "reusable" containers, instead of ziplocks.

{So very Real}

And Peanut is working hard on his basic dexterity. Look at this!

He pulled the chew toy off from the rings. That's a strong little boy!

Can you tell he is currently an only child?

Find more {Pretty, Happy, Funny, Real} Here

Amazon Store and my recommendations

2011-10-05T17:08:00.003-05:00

For those who actually visit the blog, you might have noticed the Amazon "My Recommendations" on the side bar. Yep -- I've become an Amazon Associate. That means if you purchase the item via a link on my blog, I get a bit of commission. I promise to only recommend those items and books that are truly useful and deserving of such recommendation. I've begun putting links in individual posts, e.g. book reviews, so that you can go directly from that post to purchase the book or item.

Luckily, I'm a fairly opinionated person, so I should be able to offer you plenty of opinions of the various objects I use!

The week in pictures

2011-09-30T12:43:00.001-05:00

But Mommy, I don't care if you are cooking, I want to be held!

Pizza... yum....

Even with melted tines, the spaghetti scoop is still usable.

Citrus vinegar, should be nice to clean with.

This is what happens when I don't do dishes during the day. Luckily, Hubby is willing to help.

Daddy, Daddy! Look at me! I fill the bouncy. If you aren't careful, I'm gonna wiggle out of it!

Hmmm... I think I'm happy on Mommy's back. At least I get to look in the mirror.

Yes, I can be happy on Mommy's back.

How long can you hold your breath?

2011-09-29T13:52:00.002-05:00

I can hold mine for a minute before gasping for air. Peanut seems to be able to hold his for about 5 second. Sound strange that I know this?

Yep -- this is his new game that he plays with himself... holding his breath!

This game seems to have replaced the rolling over game, as he hasn't done that in a while. He is also starting to demand to sit up at times,which is funny, as currently, I can balance him for about 2 seconds before he topples over. So, I found a short term remedy --

Looks like I got him mid-blink! Ah, well, he's still so very, very cute.

Utterly amazing....

2011-09-29T10:06:00.000-05:00

I'll put text first, so that if you are bothered by the fact that the picture is of a baby's hand, reaching from his mother's uterus during surgery, you can read, and skip the picture. But I think the picture is worth a great deal.

I know many will dispute this idea: even an embryo, before it is a fetus, is a person. The words embryo, fetus are like the words infant, child, teenager... it denotes a stage of life. But neither label denies the fact that at each stage, this little being is a person. We might doubt this, some do. But consider, it just might be a person -- do you want to make the assumption that it isn't and turn out to be wrong?

Here's the story behind the picture --

A picture began circulating in November. It should be "The Picture of the Year," or perhaps, "Picture of the Decade." It won't be. In fact, unless you obtained a copy of the U.S. paper which published it, you probably would never have seen it.

The picture is that of a 21-week-old unborn baby named Samuel Alexander Armas, who is being operated on by surgeon named Joseph Bruner. The baby was diagnosed with spina bifida and would not survive if removed from his mother's womb. Little Samuel's mother, Julie Armas, is an obstetrics nurse in Atlanta. She knew of Dr. Bruner's remarkable surgical procedure. Practicing at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, he performs these special operations while the baby is still in the womb.

During the procedure, the doctor removes the uterus via C-section and makes a small incision to operate on the baby. As Dr. Bruner completed the surgery on Samuel, the little guy reached his tiny, but fully developed hand through the incision and firmly grasped the surgeon's finger. Dr. Bruner was reported as saying that when his finger was grasped, it was the most emotional moment of his life, and that for an instant during the procedure he was just frozen, totally immobile.

The photograph captures this amazing event with perfect clarity. The editors titled the picture, "Hand of Hope." The text explaining the picture begins, "The tiny hand of 21-week-old fetus Samuel Alexander Armas emerges from the mother's uterus to grasp the finger of Dr. Joseph Bruner as if thanking the doctor for the gift of life."

Little Samuel's mother said they "wept for days" when they saw the picture. She said, "The photo reminds us pregnancy isn't about disability or an illness, it's about a little person" Samuel was born in perfect health, the operation 100 percent successful. Now see the actual picture, and it is awesome...incredible....and hey, pass it on! The world needs to see this one!

Drat

2011-09-28T21:55:00.002-05:00

Well, for messing with the blog style, I really don't like it now. Its just... too much. But its late, and I musts go to bed. I'll figure it out tomorrow, and hope that I don't lose a reader for such abhorrent blog style.

With hopes that a picture will appease any offence:

Food Budgets -- going cheap

2011-09-27T19:40:00.003-05:00

There were some good questions from my last food budget post, where I said I was aiming for $200/month for our food budget. First, that does not include paper or personal products. Only food. I am also aiming to reduce our spending on those other things as well, but that's for another post. This is all about food.

How do I do it? How did I only spend $214 in Sept to feed the two who eat solids? There are a couple of things that I believe play into this. (Turns out there are 7 things, which are more than a 'couple'.)

1. We don't eat out much. We give ourselves permission to eat out twice in a month, and that comes out of "entertainment", not "food".

2. I know what is a good price for various foods and won't pay more than that. For example, I don't by meat if its more than $3/lb. I only buy whole chickens if they are $0.88/lb or less. I only buy boneless, skinless chicken breasts if they are $1.97/lb or less.

3. I'm not the best menu maker. I tend to decide what's for dinner that morning, or if I'm really ahead on the game, the night before. I know what's in the freezer, fridge and pantry and go from there. Yes, we tend to have spaghetti about once a week, and stir fry once a week (both quick and easy for me, and cheap). If I get to the store and something is a great price, I might get it and do something with it that night (for example, when corn was selling for $0.15/lb, we'd have corn the cob and something). If I want something particular, then I plan for it, but I don't do this much. I know what we like to eat and its all fairly simple stuff.

4. I have, both written down and in my head, a list of what should be in my pantry. This means I can stockpile when something is on cheap. I don't do this as much as I'd like, though, and think this is where I can reduce my food budget the most over the winter.

5. I buy almost no pre-packaged prepared foods. Well, I do by some, but I can list them for you... mac-n-cheese, cans of soup, cans of tuna. And I'm not sure the soup and tuna count. As for junk food style things, I buy tortilla chips, graham crackers, ritz crackers, chocolate chips, occasionally ice cream, and, when I'm back on dairy for sure, Nilla Wafers. For all these but the chips, I do buy the name brand, because I can tell the difference and I like the name brand the best. I bake choco chip cookies and will make brownies occasionally. But, as Hubby says, if its around, we will eat it, and that's not necessarily good.

6. I have a specific list of what I get at Sam's. I go about once a month to Sam's and get only those things. For example, I can get cheese cheaper at Sam's. And peperoni for pizza. And flour, sugar, and other baking goods. And rice -- we eat lots of rice.

7. I cook from "scratch" most nights. Of course, that depends on our definition of "scratch". No, I don't go out and kill the chicken for that nights dinner. But I do pull out the chicken from the freezer, and go from there. However, when I bake a cake, I do more than add water to a box of powder. For many things, I've done it both ways, and have found that it takes about the same amount of time either way (working from something convenience vs. from 'scratch'). And it drastically cheaper working from 'scratch'.

Things I plan to do:
1. Figure out, for some things, which is cheaper. Spaghetti sauce (from a can, which is about $1 or from canned whole tomatoes); Bread (buying a loaf of wheat for about $2.00 or baking loaves myself). I plan to take into account the cost of electricity as well. I hope to provide a step by step tutorial on this, so you can figure out your own stuff with your own prices and such.

2. Get better about stockpiling at rock bottom prices. This means watching sale ads, and stopping at more than one store a week. And it means feeling a tad embarrassed at the check out when I'm buying 40 cans of tuna at some amazing price.

Here are the two most handsome men (boys) that I cook for. Only one currently eats what I cook, though.

Funny story -- Back in Los Angeles, occasionally at Food-4-less, Kraft Mac N Cheese would go on sale for $0.50/box. When this happened, I would head in and buy 40 some odd boxes. One time, the lady behind me in line asked if I had a lot of kids. No, I said, this is just a great price and this stuff doesn't spoil that fast. She just looked at me funny.

If you happen to live in the LA area, its worth the drive to the Food-4-Less and worth the feeling-like-a-minority (if you happen to be very white and blond as I am) to get the good food prices.

How low can you go?

2011-09-26T20:58:00.002-05:00

I decided last week that I was going to aim to keep our grocery budget at $200 a month or less. I pulled out all my recipes from September, and added them up. Before the grocery store run today, I had spent $160 or so. After the grocery store run -- $214. I figure this isn't too bad, and I purchased two 12-packs of my new favorite soda (its my special thing since I can't have my chocolate).

I had one Sam's run this month, and it was a small purchase. So, we will see how that pans out over the next few months. I hope to get into the garden this week to get "salad" planted -- lettuce, spinach and such. That will save a bundle.

And I've been inspired by Little Home in the Country to grow enough in the veggie garden to feed the family. I'm not going to go for no grocery store purchases at all -- that's too much for my first try. And I'd need, likely, 20 some odd tomato plants to make enough sauce, salsa and such to last us all year. And we are only 3 (and only 2 of us are eating solids). Perhaps next summer I can get our grocery output to $100 or less, at least over the summer. That would be cool.

And for a picture -- compare these...

Daddy - Peanut Hands -- May 18, 2011

Daddy - Peanut Hands June 2011

Daddy - Peanut Hands Sept 2011

Ideas for doilies

2011-09-24T08:00:00.000-05:00

When the in-laws visited, they brought doilies that Hubby's grandmother had used. They are some good looking pieces and I'm thinking hard about how to use them. I don't imagine myself using them as they traditionally would be used, but I would love to use them some how. Here's some pictures:

Any ideas?

Pizza... yum....

2011-09-23T20:03:00.001-05:00

The pizza party at Shory's has been extended to include lunch!

Come and party with us, to celebrate Leah Grace's new heart....

Here's the invite:

MESSAGE FROM HOST

Celebration at Shorty's Pizza Shack! Come and join us as we celebrate Leah Grace Parker's new heart! We will have free Shorty's pizza, a sparkling kid-friendly toast, and a night of games and fun. You may also purchase from Shorty's full menu and enjoy the regular Monday night specials until closing time! SHORTY HAS JUST EXPANDED the offer to include lunch! If anyone cannot come at dinner, feel free to come, donate, and eat pizza during lunch!

Now that Leah Grace has her new heart, she also has new expenses. Please come prepared to give! We are suggesting a minimum donation of $20 per person to help us reach our goal for Leah Grace. A generous donor has covered the cost of the party, so 100% of the money you donate will go to COTA to help Leah Grace cover transplant-related expenses. We will accept cash and checks the night of the party, and will have a laptop there to facilitate secure, online donations.

Parking is limited at Shorty's, so please walk, park on the street, or park a half block down 12th at HEB, if you can. Also, please vote on the poll below for a time slot to let us know when you think you will be there, so we can have some pizza ready! Thank you!

See you on the 26th!

If you can't come, please still give! Your secure, tax-deductible, online donations are greatly appreciated:
www.cotaforleahgracep.com

How to do "science" with children

2011-09-23T08:00:00.000-05:00

(this is a rather long post, be warned!)

I am a teacher, both by training and by nature, and I'm always on the look out for good teaching materials and methods. The past two years, I was a science teacher at a small private school; it was classical with Charlotte Mason influences. Mason was an educator in the early 1900s who offered some counter-cultural ideas about how to educate children. I don't agree with all that she advocated, but a great deal of it is very good. I was prompted to write a post after reading Auntie Leila's post about teaching science at Like Mother, Like Daughter. I'm not disagreeing, but adding to.

Science is about observation. That's where science begins, as Auntie Leila stated. The ancients began by noticing what was around them: this shiny yellow stuff is soft, but beautiful and shiny and doesn't rust like this other stuff here, lets call it gold. We can call the stuff that rusts iron. But then, they are much alike in their feel and quite different from the cloth I wear.

Science begins with noticing what is the same and what is different, and continues with classifying the things you see. The ancients classified different things by what they were made of... earth, fire, water or air. Aristotle refined these ideas with simple bodies and the elements and created a system of how they interacted. Other ancient philosophers had some different ideas. As time progressed and future scientists built from the bits that older scientists figured out, science progressed. Mistakes were made, wrong ideas decided on and then challenged and truth sought out (notice that this truth has a lower case "t").

The vast majority of science is about classification and identification, whether physics** (what is this that causes everything to fall to the ground) or chemistry (what is this that makes the vinegar bubble) or biology (what animal is this). After classification and identification comes questions of "why" and "how". These are questions you and a child can answer together. As you look at things, come up with a list of questions you can ask.

For example, you (generic you) know that everyone puts up Purple Martin houses in early spring and take them down in late fall. Why not leave them up all year? Why do they need a "house" and not just a single nesting box? What do Purple Martins eat? How big are their babies when they are born?

These questions will hopefully lead you in your quest to discover about Purple Martins, perhaps taking you to some place that raises birds, or cares for birds before releasing or some such. But, by learning to create these questions, you have become a scientist. Answering the questions makes you a bona fide scientist.

You can embellish on this process as much or as little as you like. You can write a paragraph, draw a picture, create a bulletin board, build a paper mache bird, build a Martin house, build a website dedicated to Purple Martin information or any number of projects that reflect what you've learned (kids seem to love showing off what they know anyways).

This is only the beginning, but this beginning will take you, easily, through 6th grade science. The embellishment gets more complicated and involved as the child gets older, but its still the same basic thing.

I love books, and so have some to suggest to help you on this endeavor:

Noeo Science Curriculum -- If you are feeling lost and want something concrete that tells you what to do, this site does it. I like the curriculum and made use of it teaching 4th grade (Physics II), 5th grade (Chemistry II) and 6th grade (Biology II) at the school I taught at the past two years. They have it nicely laid out, with curriculum guides, science kits and the books. You can get everything individually, too, which is nice. The following books are all from this set of curriculum, and these are the books I'm familiar with and taught with.

Usborne Science Encyclopedia -- I LOVE this book. Its full of colorful pictures and tons of information. Its overwhelming, so I hear, if you don't 'speak science', but I believe that can be overcome by patiently reading each page with a tiny bit of interest. Feeling lost? Learn along side your kids, and if you don't know an answer, say so, and look it up together. This book has sections for biology, chemistry, and physics.

Usborne Mysteries and Marvels of Science -- This book is focused on the details and side quests of chemistry and physics. Again, colorful pictures (I love books with pictures) and tons of information. My 5th graders learning about quarks and gluons from this book (the bits inside the bits that make up an atom).

Adventures with Atoms and Molecules -- A practical chemistry book this is. Its basic experiments and demonstrations to show chemical reactions and physical properties of the basic bits of chemistry, such as air, water, gases, liquids and solids.

Fizz, Bubble, Flash -- The most cool book you could want, all about the periodic table. This book walks you through the periodic table, and presents tons of information (I love it when a book has solid info), and fun experiments that any kid in any house could do.

The Mystery of the Periodic Table -- This books walks you through the history of chemistry (and science in general, to some extend). It presents the stories of key men (yes, only men) who had an impact in the progression of the discovery of how the periodic table is organized. Its accessible to even a casual reader, but presents questions and experiments that could be replicated (especially the early discoveries). As the book talks about water, you could do experiments with water (see the Adventures book above). When the book is talking about acids and bases, you can do acid and base experiments.

Geology Rocks -- All chemicals are from some combination of elements, which all originate in nature some where. By and large, that some where is in the rocks and soil around us. Thus, we turn to geology. This book has very fun experiments (yes, the key to a good science book) and good info (the key to a good book).

Gizmos and Gadgets -- Physics is phun! So many a physicists would say. I, on the other hand, never understood physics till I was teaching it to 4th graders. Between the Science Encyclopedia (see above), the Mysteries and Marvels book (see above) and this book, I actually understand the concepts of force, work, energy, friction, inertia and a slew of other basic physics ideas. If you give your child the chance to learn these ideas (with out any math, please!), you have given them a HUGE step into the physics of high school and beyond. Just learn the ideas, do the experiments in this book, and have fun. You might end up with a budding physicist!

I hope this helps some one figure out what to do for science, because science is the most awesome of possible subjects.

**A famous physicist (whose name I don't know) said "There's physics. All the rest is stamp collecting." He points quite directly the overwhelming aspect of identification and classification in much of "science".

Pretty, Happy, Funny, Real -- Sept 22

2011-09-22T13:39:00.002-05:00

Its been weeks since I've participated in a {PHFR}. Nonetheless, here I am, ready to try again!

{Pretty}

The other night, it rained. And then it rained again the next night. That second night, we got nearly 3" of rain! And we have a chance of rain (or did last time I was listening to the radio) today, and the clouds suggest we might get a few sprinkles. We are a long ways from "breaking the drought", but this is a start.

{Happy}

And of course, as I'm getting better about hanging the clothes out to dry, the sky looks like rain. I'm gonna see how much I can reduce our expenditures by, as I'd rather spend money on books and sorts than on electricity. Avoiding the dryer is one small step towards that goal.

{Funny}

Peanut has decided that his toes are excellent chewing and sucking objects. He is most prone towards this when he is getting a diaper changed (and I'm holding his legs up to clean the bum), or diaper-less (to let his bum air dry). His dexterity is such that he can grab a foot and bring it to his mouth now.

{Real}

I tend to imagine the {Real} picture as something hard or difficult, or not totally happy. But... its 1:30 pm, and its not quite 80' out. That is amazing. This a certified cold-front! (Yes, we celebrate the "cold" fronts, even though "cold" means it drops below 90').

See more {Pretty, Happy, Funny, Real} here

P.S. And one of these days, I'll have it together enough to put up a {PHFR} before the afternoon on a Thursday.

P.S.S. Happy 4 years anniversary to Dad and Lorelei!

Timing is everything

2011-09-21T13:19:00.000-05:00

After re-examining the history of Peanut's diagnosis of food-induced proctocolitis with the pediatrician, we decided to go for a milk challenge. This means I eat/ingest something dairy, and we see what happens. So, Monday night I had a quesedilla (I cannot, for the life of me, figure out how to spell this, and all the checker's can't figure out what I'm trying to write).

Unfortunately, we didn't take into account that Peanut received 4 immunizations Monday as well, which make him cranky, and after a busy weekend with grandparents, a baby dedication, and the Aunt, Uncle and Cousin in town for lunch on Sunday, he's one tuckered out little boy. All of this has conspired to create several fussy days and we aren't sure the exact cause of said fussiness. Even now, Peanut is in his crib, crying, after nursing for an hour, and refusing to go to sleep. It makes me think of way-back-when we were calling it colic. Is it the cheese from Monday night? Is it the immunizations? Is it just being overly tired from the busy weekend?

Ah, well, this too will pass. The effects of the immunizations will wear off, the dairy will pass out of my system and he will get rested up from the busy few days. I just hope, beyond hope, that its not the cheese's fault.

Today is VERY important

2011-09-19T18:04:00.000-05:00

Ye be knowing what day it is?

You be needing to learn to talk like a pirate today!

Some helpful videos:
For instruction in talking like a pirate: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqMu6e5Dgtg
For thinking about your inner pirate: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PIwMbQXiAyI&feature=related
So ye can declare in song your pirate-ness: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AM1NUGlo2ww&feature=related

May ye language be full of pirate phrases today!

Planning the week

2011-09-18T17:02:00.001-05:00

Its been weeks since I've taken time to plan out the week on Sunday. I find my week goes better when I take the time to plan out when I'll grocery shop and I can see all the activities of the week. I have a nifty template I use to help me plan my week.

Its a basic document (on the computer) that has 5 columns: Day/Date, Events, Menu, To Dos/Need, and To Dos for Next Day. The rows are for each day of that week; I run the week Sunday to Sunday, with an overlapping Sunday week to week generally. Some weeks, I might run the document Friday to next Sunday (a week and a half) if I've got time to sit down and plan on Thursday or Friday. Here is a google doc to see how I format the document.

I added the events column as I would plan meals forgetting about something I was doing that day that would effect the meal in question. I added the to dos/need column as I would forget to add some particular ingredient or somesuch to the grocery list if I had to look over a recipe (yes, its a bit redundant, but it works well for me). This column also lets me put down things that have a specific day it needs to be done on. I added the next day column as at times I needed the reminder to pull the chicken out of the freezer two days before I was to cook the chicken (or some such).

I still have a calendar that hands on the wall for general planning and knowing what's going on. I pull the calendar down to work from as I'm planning the week.

I'm one that needs everything written out at some point, otherwise I forget.

How do you plan out your week? Do you plan it out?

It's raining, its pouring...

2011-09-17T20:09:00.002-05:00

the _____ man is snoring!

Who is this man? Is he yellow, as I remember learning, or is he old, as Hubby remembers learning? Is my version racist, as Hubby says? Gosh, I'd feel pretty bad is I learned something racist that I never realized. It has happened before.

Anyhoo, it is raining here, and has been for a bit. YEA!!!!!! Hopefully, it will continue for a while longer at this soft, gentle rate.

Thank you, Lord!

Do you love pizza?

2011-09-16T20:30:00.002-05:00

Do you live in central Texas? Then join us to celebrate Leah Grace's new heart on Monday, Sept 26.

Champagne and Shorty's! Come and join us as we celebrate Leah Grace Parker's new heart! We will have a champagne (and sparkling cider) toast, free Shorty's pizza, and a night of games and fun. You may also purchase from Shorty's full menu and enjoy the regular Monday night drink specials until closing time!

Now that Leah Grace has her new heart, she also has new expenses. Please come prepared to give! We are suggesting a minimum donation of $20 per person to help us reach our goal for Leah Grace. A generous donor has covered the cost of the party, so 100% of the money you donate will go to COTA to help Leah Grace cover transplant-related expenses. We will accept cash and checks the night of the party, and will have a laptop there to facilitate secure, online donations.

Even if you can't come, you can still help... Your secure, tax-deductible, online donations are greatly appreciated: www.cotaforleahgracep.com

To RSVP: http://new.evite.com/services/links/R2M2AIIZSF

For Leah updates go here.

All on his own

2011-09-13T19:56:00.001-05:00

He did it! And I got a video of it!

Look at this!

2011-09-13T07:18:00.002-05:00

Ummm, yeah, you might say, so what? Its Peanut in his crib. Cute kid, for sure. But what's the big deal.

The big deal is this.... When I nursed him at 200 am this morning, I put him down like this...

No, I didn't take this picture at 2 am, but several days before to show that he's now too long for the extra long sleepers I made.

And when I came in at 630 am this morning, he was like this...

My baby ROLLED OVER!!!!!! And I missed seeing him do it.

He's been working on this for a few weeks now, and I have this sneaky suspicion that he won't do it again for a while. Ah, well, I can handle it.

I think its an opossum or a rat...

2011-09-12T22:27:00.001-05:00

This morning when I went out to get food for Hank, the cat, I noticed the bag was such that something had been in the bag the night before.

This evening, I'm sitting at the dining room table, and I hear the cat food bag crinkle, like something is getting in it. So I call to Hubby that something is in the cat food bag. We get a flashlight (the bag is in the garage), and take a peak.

We opened the door just a bit, since we'd been informed of skunks roaming the area. The thought of being sprayed by a skunk was not appealing. We've seen that Myth Buster's episode. We could see that the bag was bent over, like a small critter had gotten into it, but we couldn't see the critter. "Must of scared it off" one of us said. But then I crouched down, and I saw it... a tail. Not a cat tail, and too big to be a mouse tail. I said, "look there, a tail. I think its an opossum, or maybe a rat".

Now, I took a mammology (study of mammals) class back in college where we went out spotlighting each night (and the prof shot the animal in the spotlight), trapped small mammals, and skinned and stuffed them. That was the summer of '98... 13 years ago. But I knew this tail, even if I've never seen a live opossum before.

Hubby rattled the bag, but the critter didn't move. Finally, we grabbed the yard stick, and from behind the kitchen-garage door, we stuck the yard stick into the side of the bag. The bag moved. And we both jumped back and slammed the door closed.

We did not want that critter in the house.

We calmed ourselves (this was exciting stuff!) and peaked out from around the door, and saw that the bag was empty of the critter (there was still cat food, luckily). I got down on my knees to look under the car... and there he was (maybe it was a she?) in his drastically long and hairless tailed glory. An opossum. And he just sat there and looked at me. That is one brave, or stupid, animal.

I hear Hubby moving behind me and I said, "the camera's on the table" and he says "I'm not going for the camera". He'd pulled out the bb gun. He pinged a few shots at it, and scared it enough to set it running out of the garage. So, no picture. Blame the Hubby. (I love you, Hubby of mine!)

He was at least as big as the cat. And that tail was longer than his body. Its one thing to see pictures and read about the animals. Its another see one.

And at least it wasn't a skunk. Right?

where I was 10 years ago today

2011-09-11T08:55:00.000-05:00

Ten years ago today, I was in a completely different time zone, so my story starts at night. It was late, I was sick with a fever, cough and was miserable. I'd gone to bed early. Around 10 or 11 pm that night, another American couple in town called to say that something terrible was happening in the US, that they were being attacked. I thought, "whatever", and went back to bed. I just didn't believe them.

A bit later, I thought, well, lets check online. I found I couldn't get any US newspapers or US based sites, or any outside of China websites. Drat, I thought, maybe so-and-so was right? I finally got the South China Post, which had an article saying that one of the towers had been hit, but that was it. I couldn't get anything else, so I went back to bed.

The next morning, I still couldn't get websites up. But off to work I went. Several people told me how sorry they were for my country and all that was happening. "What happened?" I asked. And they told me. I didn't want to believe it. We finally were able to get some news on the TV, and the internet started responding, and we got the whole story. We stayed in doors for the next week and didn't go out much. But those that we knew were sympathetic and helpful. Its always the mob that you should fear, not individuals so much.

I really began to experience the changes when I went home for Christmas in '01. My tickets had been purchased with cash out of Thailand... bad deal! I was stopped at every plane change and frisked. My bags were searched every 10 minutes. I saw the guards with rifles at LAX. And I was searched again, and again. It was scary. And I was "randomly selected" to be searched at every flight thereafter, until Hubby started buying my tickets on his credit card.

I was single and living overseas then. Now, I've been to grad school, got married, had a baby, bought a house, bought a car. 10 years ago, I'd never imagined I'd be here now.

More on diapers

2011-09-10T20:30:00.000-05:00

I realized the other night, while opining to Hubby, that I like the sized and fitted diapers best. We have 6 kissuluv size 0 diapers in use, and expect Peanut to out grow them in the next month or so. I've used them with wool soakers, fleece soakers and, now, a snapped cover. There are bits and pieces for each cover that I like and dislike, but overall, unless I'm thinking about it, I tend to want to go for the kissuluvs.

A few thoughts:
1. The diaper stash will need to grow. But diapers will only be used at a specific point in the child's growth, so overall, the diaper, I think, will get used less. Might mean they will last longer.

2. Fitted diapers can't be any harder to make than pockets. Plus, I can use more scrap stuff, mainly in the absorbent lining.

3. They will be easier to fold after washing. :::chuckle::: well, no folding, or stuffing.

4. I will need more covers to bridge the current size gap. I've got covers for 20+ lbs, but none for this 15-20lb stage. Luckily, the covers don't need to be washed as often, which, hopefully, means the cover will last longer than the PUL on a pocket.

5. the current snapped cover is great, but the fold-over elastic along the legs wicks wetness out. Not good. Might try folding the PUL fabric over along the legs and putting in plastic. Perhaps this will wick less?

6. I like snaps. I don't dislike the hook and loop stuff (i.e. velcro), but I like the snaps *way* better. Gonna have to get snaps. Luckily, I have some 50% off coupons for Joann's. :D

7. So far, it seems Peanut has no opinion on what kind of diaper he is wearing. Little Bobble seems to like the cloth ones, but I can't tell if she likes them better or worse than the disposables. Her mom is thankful for the diaper savings.

8. I gotta figure out how to find more time to sew. I've got a pair of pants cut out (for Peanut) and ideas for a skirt for myself, and diapers a plenty cut out, and struggling to find time to sew. Gotta think this out. Maybe a dedicated sewing table will help. Plus, I could use with one less hot spot.

Ants and Fruit flies

2011-09-09T20:38:00.002-05:00

As I was killing a few ants the other night, I was reminded of a book I loved when I was little. You can tell I loved the book by the pen marks found on some pages... I had a tendency to write in the books I loved. :P Well, still do!

Henry's Awful Mistake is a book about a duck who sees an ant in his kitchen. He happens to be making dinner for a friend (a girl duck) and doesn't want her to think his house is dirty. So, he goes about dealing with the ant. And ends up losing the house, but not the ant.

So, I decided I'd keep killing those ants I found, but I'm not going to stress over the ants. That's gonna take work, though.

We've also been dealing with fruit flies. As I'm doing the sans-dairy thing, I've been eating lots of fruits... see post on sorbet and fruit smoothies. I've been putting stuff in the fridge or those fancy green keep-it-fresh bags, but the little dudes persist. Finally, I figured out it was the worm farm (duh, Wifey). After working hard to add fresh shredded paper over a few days to no avail, I moved the farm to the garage. Its a tad hot for them, but the nights are cooling off nicely, so they should be fine. And I'll keep them fed and watered. I only moved the farm this morning, and already the flies are less. Yea!

I've also realized that though I'm quite comfortable in my house, I don't have much "pretty" to offer in pictures (thinking of Pretty, Happy, Funny and Real on Thursdays). I'm gonna have to think on that, and be intentional. It helps that the weather is cooling off a touch, so I just might be able to do something outside. Can a freshly tilled and planted garden be "pretty"?

Leah's new heart

2011-09-09T06:12:00.001-05:00

Leah's Mommy and Daddy were able to see her in ICU, early-early this morning. And they got up a few new pictures as of about 10 minutes ago. (Can you believe I'm up at this time... first to nurse Peanut and now to welcome Little Bobble -- her mom works at a breakfast serving place, so she goes in early sometimes).

Its amazing that such goodness can come out of such tragedy. One family has lost their child, and another family gains a longer life for their child. And not just one child... not only does a heart mean life, but kidneys, a liver. Perhaps someone has sight (or better sight) from donated retinas, and a burn victim now has new skin to cover the ruined patches. I am truly amazed that life and improved life comes from death.

On my soap box now: Are you a registered organ donor? If so, yea! If not, why not? Let's be brutally honest here, after your death, will you need those organs? (someone else will)

Anyhoo, I'm so excited for Leah and yet my heart fills with sadness for those who lost their child. And I'm heading back to sleep soon, just as soon as Little Bobble is settled in her bed.

A new heart

2011-09-08T19:31:00.001-05:00

Our friend's little girl, Leah Grace, is getting a new heart tonight. She's been on the transplant list for over a year, and its so hard to know how to pray for that. Do you pray that she will get a new heart quickly? That means someone else will lose their little child. That thought breaks my heart, yet, Leah needs this heart. And so we have prayed for the Lord to heal her heart miraculously, and we have prayed that if that isn't His will, that she will get a new heart soon. And we include a prayer for the donor family -- for comfort for their loss.

About 1 pm today, they get a page... there is a heart for Leah. Leah's daddy rushes from class (he's one of Hubby's classmates) and I'm sure Leah's mommy was dashing to load up Leah and Little Brother into the car to head north for the hospital.

Just now, they posted that the surgery should begin about 730 or 800 (central time). I'm guessing this is going to take ALL NIGHT, which means a sleepless night for Mommy and Daddy. Please pray for them, that they will be comforted as they wait, that the doctors would have steady hands, that Leah's body would accept this new heart, and for comfort and peace for the donor family.

I'll be sure post and update when I get one.

Is it really that cold?

2011-09-05T10:13:00.001-05:00

For the first time in his life, Peanut is wearing pants (otherwise known as trousers in British), because its that cold here (well, only like 75 inside, but still).

We've had a cold front move in, so this week high's are in the mere mid-90s! And lows at night in the low-70s/upper 60s. This morning, outside was 68-70', so we opened windows to cool the house. Outside the a/c at the hospital, Peanut has never experienced such cold before. I might even put socks on him when I put him down tonight. :P

Pregnancy Tips

2011-09-01T14:45:00.001-05:00

No, no, I'm not pregnant again... promise. But a good friend is! Congrats sweet Sarah!

I'm remember waiting, waiting, waiting, till finally one weekend, I was crazy tired. But we were traveling, so maybe that was it. But I was suppose to 'start' that weekend, and I didn't. Hmmm.... could it be? But this has happened before, and the pregnancy test was negative then, so this could be the same. But it kept on, me being tired, plus, we'd tried one round of a fertility med, so who's to say it didn't work?

Labor Day 2010, we trekked to Wal-greens and purchased a pregnancy test. And then the car wouldn't start. And I didn't have my keys (Hubby's key was a copy, and it just didn't work). So we called a friend to pick us up, take us home, grab my keys and take one of us back to get the car. While he was coming to get us, the car finally started.

Tuesday morning I did the test. And waited.... and wondered... would this be it? YES! I called to Hubby, "come look! It's positive!". Oh, the joy! So it was a crazy day of keeping a secret we didn't want to keep, but knew we needed to tell family first. And so started a week of trying to discrete, after all, what if I miscarried? And so started the nine months, or 40 weeks, of waiting and learning and preparing.

Tips for the newly pregnant:
1. Sleep as often as you can. Choice between reading that crazy interesting novel and sleeping? Sleep. Choice between TV and sleep? Sleep. Your body is working hard, building a new little human from scratch, and that's hard work.

2. Check out visembryo.com for growth facts. Yes, yes, what to expect is fun, but this site gives you the good stuff. Note that, at first, it count's from conception, not the normal counting from start of last period.

3. Eat what sounds good. Even if its weird. Just make sure you are eating.

4. Drink water. Yes, you are already peeing like there is not tomorrow, but the water will do your body good.

5. A cup of coffee a day is not as bad as it sounds. Two cups a day is as bad as it sounds. or so I've read. I, on the other hand, went cold turkey on the coffee.

6. Get a pregnancy pillow. I got one when I was about 5 month's pregnant and it really helped me sleep. By the last month, I NEEDED it to be comfortable. It helped me get comfortable after having a c-section. At about 4 weeks postpartum, I put it away because it wasn't helping any more. Originally, I had a body pillow and added pillows along my back till I comfortable. Thus I knew I needed something with pillow along my front and along my back. King size beds are nice for this, but we both still fit in the queen size bed, even with my air-craft carrier of a pillow.

7. If you want to make stuff for the baby, start soon-ish. When you read 12 weeks is soon enough, but don't put it off thinking "I've got months!" Those months slide by so quickly. And though you will have some down time when baby is born, you don't have that much. Plus, its hard to get much done when you are sleep deprived.

8. The adjustment period for breastfeeding is so worth it. It took me a good 5 or 6 weeks to really get comfortable, but, dude, it is so easy now! No bottles to sterilize, no nipples to wash, nothing to mix up, nothing to warm up. Its all just ready to go. Its worth getting a book on breastfeeding to get a good bit of head knowledge going, and ask for the lactation consultant to come help you while you are in the hospital. I got Breastfeeding Made Simple; I loved reading it, and I still consult it occasionally. I've heard that The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding is also quite good.

I promise more thoughts on baby gear!

Bread Making and a New Cup

2011-08-31T14:28:00.000-05:00

The bread I buy says "manufactured on shared equipement that manufacture products containing milk". So, I've been baking bread.

My last batch came out *really* heavy, because I let it rise too long on the first rise. All the fault of Peanut and Little Bobble. But it showed me that I can just willy-nilly bake bread now.

I've heard of "5 minutes a day" bread, but doubted it. I've read the Alton Brown explanation of what makes bread work, and it made sense to me. The logic of non-kneaded bread escaped me. But I've hear such good things about it, so I thought I'd give it a try. And when I saw this, she convinced me.

Well, its not exactly sandwich bread, but its close.

First, it doubled in size in 30 minutes (that's *fast* for a first rise). Might be because we only a/c to 80' -- that's still 20' to 25' cooler than outside. Or might be the relatively little flour used.

Second, I let the rise a bit too long for the second rise. And, third, I was in a hurry, and stuck it in the oven when I turned the oven on. That might be why it did rise much in the baking. Or might be the 445'F oven. That will bake the outside rather quickly. Finally, both loaves baked through in about 40 minutes, when it should of taken an hour to an hour and a half.

The bread itself isn't too bad. Its not traditional sandwich bread, for sure. There are large air-bubbles, making it quite holey and the texture is off. Its kinda like wacky cake, also called monkey cake (I think). Its cake you make when you don't have eggs, and uses vinegar and baking soda. It is nice, as it took very little hands on time and very little physical effort (especially compared with kneading a batch for 8 to 10 minutes!)

I wouldn't mind getting my hands on the book, and giving some of the recipes a try. I based my making on the ivynest.blogspot.com post. Ya know, I think I do have copies from a magazine... I should pull those and out try that recipe.

I also figured out a new cup. I looked at Walmart, but nothing struck me as worth it. I knew I wanted a cup with a lid that used a straw. Needs to hold 16 oz. Double walled would be nice, but negotiable. I remembered seeing using mason jars on a website once, and realized that pint jars are 16 oz. So, I grabbed a pint jar, wide mouth, a lid and a screw ring. I punched a hole in the lid for a straw and --wa-la-- a new cup for me!

strawberry, banana and orange smoothie. yum.

I've got lemonade in it now. Its working nicely!

Errand Day and Nap Schedules

2011-08-30T20:52:00.000-05:00

Today was Errand Day. Peanut and I ride with Hubby to school and drop him off. Then we do our errands (usually just grocery shopping) and head home. Later that afternoon, we will head back to pick Hubby up from school. And back home for dinner.

In theory, this sounds great. In Large Family Logistics, Brenneman lays out clear goals and objectives for this day, as well as how to prepare for it. Since its only Peanut and I running the errands, I really only need my list(s) and water for me. Thanks to Large Family Logistics, I'm usually fairly well prepared for this day.

In reality, however, it rarely works out so nicely. I'm pretty good at getting the list(s) together the night before, and having the diaper bag ready, and a snack with water for me. The hard part is fitting the running of errands in with Peanut's nap schedule. Brenneman suggests working hard to get home before the littles need a nap. I have yet to achieve this, though.

Yes, he has actually formed a schedule (yeah!). He gets up about 7 am, is up for 2 hours, and then sleeps for an hour. Up for 2 hours, sleep for {about} one hour. He's down for the final nap around 3 and is up around 4 pm. Then down for the night at 7 pm. (He still nurses 2 or 3 times over night; luckily one nursing time is before I head to bed). If I tried to fit the errands in the 2 hours between naps, that only gives me about an hour after the time given to nursing. Near impossible when the nearest store, Walmart, is about 20 minutes away.

Errand day usually runs like this: Peanut is up at 7 pm, we leave about 730 to 8 am. Drop Hubby at school, get to store #1 between 800 and 820. Spend 30 to 40 minutes in store. Nurse sitting in back seat of car. Head to store #2.... rinse and repeat. If we have only 1 store to stop at, we might be home about 9, and Peanut gets his nap relatively on time. Should I have more than 1 store to stop at, we might not get home till 1030 or 11, which means first nap is lost, Peanut is overly tired and Mommy is hungry for lunch. Alas, I've not figured out a good way to do this.

Also, some stores I want to stop at don't open till 9 or 10 am. Not figured out how to do that, yet, either.

I'm hoping that as Peanut matures, he will be awake for longer periods of time, which will mean I can get errands done and be home by 11, with only have missed part of a nap (not the whole nap). But then, Little Bobble is a year old and she makes it only about 2 hours before showing signs of sleepiness. It might be that Errand Day is just a wonky and difficult day till all children are down to single afternoon naps. Ah, well, I can handle that.

Now with pictures!

2011-08-29T20:58:00.002-05:00

Hana mentioned I should add pictures to my diaper reviews... so I did!

http://youngernews.blogspot.com/2011/08/what-i-like-about-various-cloth-diapers.html

Hair, hair, hair....

2011-08-29T12:54:00.000-05:00

Within the past 2 years, I donated hair for wigs. I know I blogged about it, but I can't find the post... ah, well. I know it was while we were here in Central Texas.

Today, I cut off a 10 inch ponytail to donate for wig making. I've never needed a wig, but my Mom and my step-mom have both used a wig while on chemo. (And both had beautiful silver-grey hair regrow after the chemo stopped. I'd love to have silver-grey hair. :::sigh:::)

I should have done this a month ago, before I was losing gobs of hair (postpartum thing, I'm guessing).

I have been blessed with fast growing and thick hair. This was not always so. As a child, I had fine, thin and straight hair. As an adult, it has thickened and curled.

One of these days, I'll figure out how to use the mirror for a picture and not get flash glare.

I suspect the next pony-tail that is long enough to donate will take longer, unless I get pregnant again.