I’m enjoying the scent of my hyacinth as I try to mentally prepare for this week. We spent the last two days rearranging the living room to make more effective use of the small space. We’re nearly there, but I still have to finish sorting through our books and put the ones we are keeping back on the shelves.
This is also the week that our eldest gets his braces on. I know he’s getting so big now, but I still think 8 is really young to be getting braces. We don’t really have a choice though as his permanent tooth that grew in behind his baby tooth has to be pulled forward so it doesn’t throw the rest of his bite off. I had braces when I was a kid, and I have them now, so I know how hard it can be when your mouth hurts. It’s overwhelming right after they tighten them and it can be really tough to eat.
We’ve been trying to prepare him that it will hurt a bit, but that it will go away after a while. We’ll give him plenty of tylenol if he needs it and plenty of smoothies and other soft things to eat to ease the discomfort. I’m trying not to dwell on it in my own mind, it needs to be done.
All he can think of is how fun it’s going to be to get glow in the dark bands on his braces, just so he can show them off to his brother at night.
family, gardening, nature • Monday, February 8th, 2010 • 5 Comments »
A couple of weeks ago, Hubby and I went on a date sans kids (thanks mom!) Though it may not sound extremely romantic, we went to Barnes and Noble and just read quietly for an hour. It was so nice to flip through magazines without having to keep one eye on the kids.
I was flipping through the US Country Living and saw an article about using sweaters to cover items in your home. I loved the vases, but their instructions were vague at best and involved a lot of cutting and hot glue. Sounded kind of messy to me.
I wasn’t really keen on the idea of them being glued together as cleaning the cover and vase if necessary, wouldn’t be very easy. I also wanted to be able to swap out covers to coordinate with whatever was in them, or wherever they were in the house.I knew I could figure out a better way, so I gathered some thrifted sweaters and some empty bottles, and away I went. I am really pleased with how they turned out. I think it’s a really nice way to add some colour and texture to an arrangement.
They are so easy to make, and very quick as well. It’s fun to use different textured and patterned sweaters to create some different looks. Here is a tutorial in case you want to make some of your own.
Hope you guys have a great weekend.
gifts, green, home, sewing, thrift store finds • Saturday, February 6th, 2010 • 13 Comments »
How do we love thee? Let me count the ways….
apple blueberry oatmeal
chocolate orange oatmeal
banana cinnamon oatmeal
As we have six people in our family, breakfasts need to be filling, nutritious, and cheap. Oatmeal often fits the bill. After a while oatmeal can get a bit boring, so when I saw these three recipes I knew we had to try them out. They are in Jamie’s Food Revolution, which was a gift for Christmas.
The recipe actually called for blackberries, but we had blueberries, so it became apple blueberry. It was really good, with a sauteed apple, oat, and honey topping. The chocolate orange oatmeal wasn’t bad. The boys liked it allright, but I guess I’m just not really wanting any big bowl of chocolatey anything first thing in the morning. Our favourite by far was the banana cinnamon. With plenty of cinnamon, and a topping of sliced bananas, coconut, toasted almonds and a drizzle of honey, it was absolutely scrumptious.
We will definitely be keeping these fruity oatmeals in our repertoire. The beef and ale stew I made last night was also from this cookbook, and boy was it delicious. Also a keeper, but next time I will have to double the recipe as there were not enough leftovers.
Now I need to pick out some more recipes because if they are as good as these last ones, we’re in luck. What is your favourite breakfast?
books, food • Friday, February 5th, 2010 • 11 Comments »
All of my good intentions with bread and yogurt went out the window yesterday. I’m in the middle of dealing with a logistical nightmare with the closets around here. The last couple of days I have been sorting through the girls clothes, trying to pare down to what we actually use. Hang on, I’m getting sidetracked, more about the closets later.
I needed a few baskets to corral things in, so I ran to the thrift store. I found what I was looking for and swung by the blanket table. A little background first. Two years ago I knitted blankets for Hubby and the three bigger kids. They were a lot of work, a tad expensive, but totally worth it. For some reason, I just couldn’t justify spending the time or money on a blanket for myself. Since then, I’ve just been borrowing everybody else’s blankets.
Part of the love of thrifting for me is waiting to find the perfect thing. The success of finding something is sweeter the longer you’ve been waiting for it. Since I made the blankets, I’ve kept my eye out for a blanket for me. I’ve come across dozens of crocheted blankets, but most of them were really scratchy acrylic or the colours were just atrocious.
Today was my day. I went over to the blanket table and there she was. A gorgeous granny square blanket. It was big, 68″ x 51″. It was soft, and it was granny squares. (I have a really hard time photographing red, it never turns out right this is a beautiful scarlet colour). What could be better? Wait, maybe the price. Go on, take a guess. Yup, that’s right, $3. A whole $3. I couldn’t believe it, I almost squealed with delight in the middle of the store.
I was so excited. There is something about waiting and searching and then finally finding what you’ve been after. We got home, had some extra snuggles with the girls and I made the most delicious beef and ale stew (more on that later too) for supper.
The girls are doing a bit better, but my scratchy throat has now turned to a drippy nose ickiness. I had so many plans for this week around the house, but I’m not sure how much I’ll get done now. Now I think I might just need to get something warm to drink and curl up with my new blanket.
crochet, food, thrift store finds • Thursday, February 4th, 2010 • 19 Comments »
Yesterday, we did a big grocery shop. One of the things I like to do if I have time is do a lot of prep work ahead of time. It saves time and some of my sanity when I can pull out ingredients all ready to go. It’s usually between 4:00 and 5:00pm when I am trying to make supper that things start to fall apart. Kids are getting hungry, and cranky. The babe wants some extra snuggles, and I’m trying to make supper. So anything that is done ahead of time is a huge help.
Yesterday afternoon when we got home, I tackled the chicken. I sliced and sauteed up about 8 pounds of chicken breasts. Now it is all in the freezer waiting to be put into stir fries, curries, fajitas, and anything else I can think of. I can just pull a pre-portioned bag of chicken, thaw it and toss it in.
My other job for yesterday was granola. I recently found this recipe over at katie did. It is perfect for us. Not too sweet at all, which is huge for me since the kids like to gobble it up. I’m not a huge seed person, and right now I can’t really eat them because they get caught in my braces, so this was extra perfect.
This recipe makes a huge batch. Huge as in approx. 20 cups, which again is perfect for my family. You could always half the recipe if you didn’t want quite as much at once. I used quick oats instead of the regular ones (just smaller pieces of oats) and unsweetened desiccated coconut, so that it would not be too sweet. I think because the pieces of oatmeal were smaller, my batch took 45 minutes to bake instead of the two hours. If you make this granola, just keep an eye on it to make sure you don’t overcook it.
Granola has been one of those things that I have been trying to find a great recipe for, for ages, and now I have one. It’s a huge hit with my kids and me and Hubby. If you’ve been searching for a great granola recipe, do give this one a try.
If all goes well today, I’m hoping to get some bread and yogurt made. What are some of your favourite things to make?
food • Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010 • 11 Comments »
We use washcloths and dishrags instead of paper towels. We use them all the time, and have quite a few. We need them for the dishes, spills, washing up the babe after every meal. For months now, they have been a big pain. They have been juggled from one place to the other not really having a proper home.
When we were visiting Hubby’s grandparents in December, his grandmother had a massive box of magazines ready for recycling. She let me go through them and keep whatever I wanted. I saw this idea in a Good Housekeeping, though they intended it for keeping lingerie in the closet.
I had completely forgotten about this until I ran by the torn out picture the other day. This, I thought, would be perfect to house all of our towels. It needed to be somewhere in reach of the kids (so that they can grab a washcloth), but still not a huge eyesore.
In a perfect world, all of the towels would be neatly stacked somewhere, but let’s face it, that isn’t ideal. I spend all the time to fold them up, and then they just end up in a messy pile anyhow. So now, as soon as they are clean, they go into their new bag and just stay there until needed. No folding necessary.
All you do is find a pretty vintage pillowcase and a wooden embroidery hoop. I already had these in my stash, two vintage pillowcases at 25 cents each, and two wooden embroidery hoops at 25 cents each from my thrift store. I used a 10″ and 12″ hoop. Now, technically this is no sew, unless of course you’re me. Then, because you haven’t loosened the hoop quite enough, when you try and scootch the fabric around, you simultaneously tear two rips into your pillowcase. Then you spend the next 20 minutes hand mending the tears. Normally though, this involves no sewing at all.
If I really wanted to take a lot of time, I could have trimmed the top of the bag to make it even instead of just letting it fold down into the bag, but I kind of like this way better. Then if I ever decide to swap the pillowcase out for another colour or pattern, I haven’t ruined these.
Anyway, you need to put the inner hoop down inside the pillowcase and fold the top down into it. In order for it to lay straight, you need to put more of the front side of the pillowcase down in , than the back. I hope that’s not too confusing. Really, just play around with it and get it to lie like you want it to. Then cut an approx. 6″ length of ribbon (I used twill tape) and fold it in half. You are going to lay the raw edges down on top of the fabric that is folded over the inner ring. Make sure that the raw edges are pointing away from you and that the fold is hanging towards you. Carefully put the outer hoop on top, catching the hanging ribbon, and tighten.
If you are using vintage fabric, especially, be careful not to pull the fabric around too much, otherwise you might indeed end up sewing.
On a completely side note, the other day I really felt like some kind of hot chocolate with a twist. I opened the cupboard that holds all of our tea, coffee, etc. and saw a tub of Nutella staring at me. I wonder… Yes indeed it was delicious. I heated up some milk on the stove, stirred a spoonful of Nutella in, and yum. Yum, Yum, Yum.
The girls both have colds, and I think I’m coming down with one too. I’ve got a nice scratchy throat. I’m hoping it doesn’t last too long.
food, green, home, sewing, thrift store finds • Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010 • 19 Comments »
Last month I signed up for the One Small Change challenge. I had been getting a little lax about using cloth bags every time we went shopping, so that was my change for January. It went really well. I used my cloth bags when we went to the store, and came up with some new produce bags.
I only ended up using a plastic bag once. Hubby and I were on a date and borrowing a car (ours wasn’t driveable). I hadn’t planned on stopping at the store, so didn’t have any bags on me. Other than that, it was a plastic bag free month.
This month our goal is to not have any food waste, none at all. There isn’t usually much anyway, but occasionally there is a mouldy grape or two, or a slimy scallion. It is sometimes hard to get local food where we live, so I want to make sure that any resources that are used up by having food travel aren’t being tossed straight in the bin.
So, this is our February challenge, not a single bit of food waste. I anticipate it going well, I just need to be really good at keeping on top of what’s in the fridge.
Onto the winner, thanks so much for all joining in the giveaway. It was really nice to meet some new gals. The winner of the cloth bags is Wendy, congrats! I just need to get your address and then they’ll be on their way.
Hope everyone had a good weekend! I’ve got a few more projects up my sleeve for this week, so if all goes well, I’ll be sharing some new things with you soon.
food, green • Monday, February 1st, 2010 • 17 Comments »
I hope everyone has a fantastic weekend. Don’t forget to leave a comment on Friday’s post if you haven’t already, for a chance to win some cloth bags.
nature • Saturday, January 30th, 2010 • 12 Comments »
Two days ago, the weather was gorgeous. Well, still a little chilly, but not so cold and windy that we couldn’t play outdoors. I bundled the babe up and took the kids out to play. They all had lots of fun, and I sat on the porch wrapped in a blanket reading a book with a mug of warm milk.
I don’t get outdoors enough in the winter. If it’s not too cold, the kids go outside and play, but me, I’m usually inside trying to get laundry, cooking etc. done while they are out. Boy, it felt really good to be out there. Sitting and reading, which doesn’t happen much during the day, with the sunshine beating down on my face.
I need to get out more. I know it seems kind of silly that some days I don’t even step outside of the house, but some days I don’t. We homeschool, so I don’t have to take the kids somewhere every day, and with the windchill dropping the temperature by 20 degrees most of the winter, it’s not that brilliant for being outside. That wind can be brutal, one of the downsides of winter in Wyoming.
As with the 20 minutes of crafting each day, I am going to try to spend 20 minutes outdoors. I’m not sure if it’ll happen every day, but I’m going to try. I think can do twenty minutes.
Other news around here, our big guy did a great job with getting his tooth pulled. I had such traumatic memories of the dentist when I was a kid, but I shouldn’t have even worried. I love our kid’s dentist, and they do too. They had it out in a matter of minutes and he came bounding out with his tooth in a little tooth shaped container.
Our kiddo has been wearing a night guard as part of a series of nightguards to hopefully avoid full on braces. Today we got the bad news that he will have to wear real braces for a while as the permanent tooth that was growing in behind the baby one will need some work to be pulled forward.
I also found out that my lovely braces will now be on till March 29th. Ugh! They were originally supposed to be off last September, and it has been dragging since then. So, for a little while here, me and my kiddo will both have braces on at the same time. He is really excited at the thought of having blue bands around his brackets. The kids are always disappointed when I refuse to get hot pink ones. I try to explain that that is more for kids, and not mommies.
Good news though, our van is fixed. What we thought was going to be a whole transmission problem was just one little part. The dealer was going to charge us $170 to switch it out. Hubby ordered the part for $35 and switched it himself. Yay! That was a huge relief.
Don’t forget to leave a comment on yesterday’s post for a chance to win some cloth bags. It’s nice to meet some new people.
Hope you guys have a great day. I’ll see you tomorrow.
books, family, home, homeschooling • Friday, January 29th, 2010 • 14 Comments »
I really want to thank everyone who stops by my little space and especially those who leave such encouraging comments. I have been wanting to do a giveaway for a while now, but I wanted a little chance for things to calm down after Christmas. Today I want to send a little thank you to one of my readers, I wish I could send something to you all.
This month I have been really good about using my cloth bags as part of One Small Change. I thought what a perfect opportunity to combine a giveaway with something I am passionate about. So today, I am giving away two cloth bags. One is a regular shopping bag, and one is one of my new Cheesecloth Produce Bags, both made by moi.
All you have to do is leave a comment between now and 10:00pm MST on Sunday. I will announce a winner on Monday morning.
On a side note, my eldest has to get a tooth pulled today. It’s a stubborn baby tooth not wanting to give up it’s place to a more permanent one. It has been long enough and shows no signs of going, so today is the day. Wish us luck.
green, sewing • Thursday, January 28th, 2010 • 42 Comments »
