Discovering Me Again

Musings of a Pregnant Mom: Home birth vs. Hospital birth

2012-02-02T09:11:00.000-08:00

Today I was reading an article online about a home birth advocate who died during childbirth. Being the glutton for punishment that I am, I decided to read the comments below the article and, of course, they made me mad. So mad that even though I am not one to post comments where they can be dragged through the mud, I need to get my thoughts out there before I go insane.

First and formost, I have absolutely no problems with home births. Also, with some qualifications, I have no problems with those who chose to have their babies in the hospital. But it really gets me when people say that those who chose a home birth are uninformed and endagering their lives as well as the lives of their children. So here is my response to those people.

Yes, it is important to be informed when making a decision regarding the birth of your child. And yes, those that have tragic experiences with home birth may have been uninformed, but not in the way that you think. Those who have hospital births may be just as poorly informed as those home birth moms. When choosing where and with whom you want to have your baby, the most important thing about which you should be well informed is your health care provider. There are good doctors and not so good doctors. There are good midwives and not so good midwives. Whatever kind of birth experience you choose, you must be well informed on the person overseeing your birth.

When choosing a midwife, you need to know their record. How long have they been attending births? What is their maternal/infant mortality rate? What is their hospital transfer rate? Are they licensed? Can you get references from previous birth moms who have used their services? Is the midwife sensitive to your needs and concerns? What is your midwife's plan if something seems to be wrong? In my opinion, you need to find a midwife who meets your needs and desires as well as being careful to observe warning signs and get you the care you need before it is too late.

While those in the medical field stress how important it is to be informed when it comes to our care, how many future moms do you know that know anything about their OBs and hospitals? Just like for midwives, moms need to closely examine their OBs and the hospitals they work at. How long have they been practicing? What is their maternal/infant mortality rate? What is their cesarean rate? Are interventions like Pitocin, episiotomies, forceps, epidurals etc routine or are they only used when necessary? Do they talk to you about the risks of each procedure before they perform it? Are they sensitive to your needs and concerns? Do they involve you in the decision process or do they just tell you what is going to happen? Just because you are giving birth in a hospital does not mean that everything is going to be safe and perfect. However, by choosing a good provider, you can minimize your risks just like you would by choosing a good midwife for a home birth.

Now, what have I chosen for my next birth experience? I am going with a group of midwives that operate a birth center. My main midwife has a fabulous track record (25 years worth) and the birth center as a whole has amazing stats
(ie very low hopital transfers, very low cesarean rate and no maternal/infant mortality). I feel very comfortable with the care that I receive there and know that they will get me the help that I need if warning signs appear. I do NOT feel like I am uninformed and while I am not choosing to have a home birth (they suduced me with talks of massages and meals brought in to me which I would not get at home), these same midwives do attend home births and I would feel comfortable having them attend any future home births I might plan.

Ok, I'll step down from the soap box now. Have a great day!

Welcome to Jackson Acres!

2011-08-14T19:06:00.000-07:00

I'd like to be the first to welcome you to our new home.

That's right! We are buying a home! And not just any home....

Our new residence includes the following:
2.13 acres (Can you hear chickens?)
partially unfinished basement
irrigation
well established apple trees (and a few nuts. No, I'm not talking about us.)
grape, raspberry and blackberry vines
black walnut tree just begging for a tree house
hardwood floors
roomy kitchen

We really are buying our dream home. Because I'm too tired to do much else, here are some pictures for your enjoyment.

Karl took some vidoes as well, but they are too long to post here. I'll see what I can do.

We have a job!

2011-01-06T13:21:00.000-08:00

After just a few months of unemployment, we have received a job offer (two actually) and have accepted one. What a great feeling it is to know that in a month Hubby will be earning an actual income. Even better, we don't have to move. Since his job will be 15 minutes from where we currently live, we'll continue to live with my sister until we save enough for a nice down payment.

Hurray!!!

Not your usual "Dinner in a Pumpkin"

2011-01-03T10:29:00.000-08:00

Have any of you been intrigued by the idea of dinner in a pumpkin? I have. I think it is a wonderful idea, despite the fact that all the stuffed pumpkins I had experienced were, ummm, interesting: too much sugar, too much ground beef, cream of mushroom soup, and all sorts of other processed food options. Since I'm all for healthy, homemade, whole foods, I decided to come up with my own recipe. I was amazed at how easy it was to come up with a delicious recipe that met all my requirements, and now you can be amazed too!

Not your usual dinner in a pumpkin
1 5 LB Winter Squash
1 cup Quinoa
1 cup Onion , chopped
3 cloves Garlic , minced
1 cup Mushrooms , sliced
2 cups Vegetable broth
4 cups Kale , finely chopped
1 cup Meat , such as browned sausage or ground beef, cooked chicken, or whatever you have on hand
4 leaves Sage, finely minced

Instructions
Start with an eating squash (not a jack-o-lantern pumpkin). I've used amber cup and kabocha squashes with amazing results. Cut a lid out of the top like a jack-o-lantern and scrape out all the seeds and strings. Lightly salt inside the pumpkin and set aside.

In a small saucepan heat a small amount of vegetable oil or butter and add the onions and garlic. Cook them until translucent and tender. Add the mushrooms and cook for about 5 minutes. Add the sage, quinoa, and veggie broth and cook until the water is mostly gone. Add the kale and stir in. If desired, stir in the meat and then put the whole mixture into the cavity of the pumpkin.

Place a small piece of foil over the opening and replace the lid of the pumpkin. Put the squash on a cookie sheet or in an oven safe dish and bake for 1.5 to 2 hours, or when the squash can be easily pierced with a fork.

Remove whole pumpkin to a serving dish. Make sure to scrape the sides of the pumpkin as you serve so you get all that yummy squash!

Some notes:
You can use brown rice or a mix of brown rice and quinoa. If you use a mix, add the brown rice first, let it cook for about ten minutes, and then add the quinoa.

The meat is optional. This dish can be a very tasty vegetarian or vegan meal.

If you don't like kale, I'm sorry. But if you really must replace it with something else, know that kale works because it takes some cooking to get it tender. Whatever you use will need to be similar so you don't end up with vegetable mush. If you haven't tried kale, you should! It doesn't have a strong, "aquired taste" flavor, tastes fabulous with garlic, and is so healthy.

Jack should have been a baker

2010-11-07T08:47:00.000-08:00

This is the butter that I made.

This is the dough that was rolled in thin layers
With the butter that I made.

These are the pastries baked from the dough
That was rolled in thin layers
With the butter that I made.

These are the layers found in the pastries (243 of them, baby!)
That were baked from the dough
That was rolled in thin layers
With the butter that I made.

These are the children devouring the layers (all 243 of them!)
That were found in the pastries
That were baked from the dough
That was rolled in thin layers
With the butter that I made.

By the way, I love this book.

Musings of a Food Crazed Weirdo: The Best Food Website

2010-10-22T09:00:00.000-07:00

When it comes to blogs/websites/etc, if you want to me to be a follower you have got to be pretty special. If don't know you, you have got to be extra, extra special. And if you are a website dedicated to food, well, let's just say I'm picky.

Because I am so picky, I just have to share my newest favorite food website that I happened to stumble upon just a few months ago. And for something to beat Epicurious, that is saying something. I would highly recommend it, especially for recipes for those obscure veggies. We just can't get enough of this kale recipe and there are so many other recipes I can't wait to try.

But it isn't just the recipes! I love their articles. OK, sure, they are a little heavy on the local food, non-industrial food thing, but I like that. I like good honest food without fillers etc (I noticed my heaving whipping cream had added skim milk, oils, and a thickener. How is that cream?). It is amazing how much more control you have over what you eat when you start with the basics. I discovered that it is possible to make your own baking powder after my newest sister-in-law mentioned that commercial baking powder has cornstarch, to which she is allergic. I've tried it (1 part baking soda, 2 parts cream of tartar) and it works well. And I control what goes into my food.

Enough of that soapbox, I do really like Culinate. Check it out. You just might like it too.

Oh where, oh where has my little boy gone?

2010-09-17T08:59:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a momentous day in our family. We lost our cute little cherubic, surfer dude little boy. This is was he looked like:

Isn't he adorable? I loved his sunbleached, angelic curls, but they was starting to get long. Well, they would on an almost two year old who has never had his hair cut. So, we decided to take the plunge.

The night before, we got the clippers out and let Mathias play with the guards, hold the clippers, and feel what it is like when it is on. Fast forward to yesterday afternoon and we once again got the clippers out, this time to cut Hubby's hair. Then we asked Mathias if it was his turn. He said yes.

Oh, where is my cute little boy!? (Yes, I know he is still cute, but I so miss those curls.)

It finally happened!

2010-08-22T09:29:00.000-07:00

Just so you all know, Hubby defended his dissertation this past Wednesday and his committee has decided that he can graduate. Ah, what a feeling! All he has left to do is get his reading committee to sign off on his actual dissertation and then jump through whatever hoops the graduate student office has prepared and then we are free. Here's to hoping that a job isn't too far behind.

Crunchy, not Crusty

2010-06-29T13:25:00.000-07:00

My sister would say that I've been living in Seattle too long. While I certainly don't disagree with her, for completely different reasons, I definitely have changed in the five years we have been here. (Don't get me wrong. I do love living here.)

One of those many changes include how I take care of myself, personal hygiene-wise. Now, I have not become a non-shaving, skirt wearing, non-bathing, dreadlocked hippy. In fact, none of those descriptions would apply to me, except for skirt wearing and only on Sundays. But I have stopped using shampoo and conditioner.

Now, before you get up and move as far from me as possible, I promise you my hair is clean. Very clean and probably the healthiest it's been in years. It is even coming in a little wavy, something that I've never used to describe my hair, except on the odd day with 99% humidity. It's growing out now, but I even had that lovely halo of new hair growing in for a while. You know, the one that makes your hair look frizzy no matter what you do? It is finally getting long enough that it isn't as bad, but that means my hair will be thicker, and I need it!

So, when did I start this rather crunchy habit? Well, I first read about it in September '09, thought seriously about it in November '09, and did something about it in December '09. That's been more than six months of being shampoo free. And I love it.

Why do I love it? Well, my hair has responded very well to it. But it is more than that. It is also very "green", which also appeals to me, for reasons I'm not sure of. The final reason, and perhaps my favorite, is cost. It is SO CHEAP. A tablespoon of baking soda lasts me about two weeks. A tablespoon of baking soda costs three cents (if you pay a dollar a box). Add a couple pennies for the water and suddenly you are paying 10 cents or less a month to wash your hair. Compare that to the $3 a bottle (at least) I was spending before. The apple cider vinegar rinse is more expensive, but still probably only ends up being 20-30 cents a month. You do the math.

Unfortunately, I don't have a good picture of my hair to show off. But really, who wants to see a close up of my hair anyway. Just trust me; it looks great.

It is finally gone!

2010-06-15T13:40:00.000-07:00

Six-ish months ago we had the great cookie fiasco. Since I just can't get rid of anything useful, the flour/sugar mixture sat in the cupboard and even survived the move into our new place. Finally, about a month ago, I sat down with a calculator and figured out how much of the "cookie mix" I would need to replace the sugar in a recipe for challah.

And today, I used the very last of the "cookie mix".

By the way, challah makes marvelous french toast.

Nothing is ever as you expect

2010-06-14T10:51:00.000-07:00

In my last post, I was rather optimistic that my managing days were over and that the a life of peace and happiness was ahead of me. No such luck. It took a MONTH for them to find a replacement and I was stupid enough to offer to continue to work until they found a new manager or the end of March, which ever came first. Now that I'm not having nightmares about what happened (I really did have a few), I'll tell you the story.

March 1st: We were in process of evicting someone in the building. I got a call that day from a family member of the tenant involved saying he was at the building to pick up the tenant and would I please open the front door. I did so and stayed around until they left. And left they did: everything that was in the apartment. I didn't dare go near the apartment until several days later, and then only with someone with me. The place was filthy and was basically a drug house.

I almost quit right then, but I have an overactive sense of duty and I couldn't just abandon them. I did, however, refuse to clean anything in the apartment. The maintenance crew picked up all the needles, a junk removal company cleaned out the junk, and a cleaning company did the cleaning.

Wait a minute, you might say, did you just say needles? How many needles could their be? 10? 50? Try this:

Yes, that is the bathtub. Yes, it is full. No, no one believed me that it was as bad as I said it was, not even my property manager or the company that disposed of all of them for us. A friend of mine who works for the police department told her boss who thought "Yeah, sure. I'm sure the bottom of the tub is covered, but that's it." HA!

It is only got worse, if that is possible. We had fresh needles showing up in the parking garage for a while. Then the former tenants druggie friends were kind enough to break into every single storage unit in the garage and steal from a couple of them. Then a week later THEY STARTED TO DO IT AGAIN!!!! They only stopped when we changed the locks on all the outside doors.

And then they finally found a new manager and I was thrilled! And a week or so after that I finally turned my keys in. Oh, what a happy day that was!

What have I been doing since that blessed day? Trying not to have nightmares and spending plenty of time outside in our yard. I'll try to post more soon, if I can.

I QUIT!!!!!!

2010-03-02T13:55:00.000-08:00

For those of you that I don't communicate with more frequently, I've been feeling that it is "needful for me to obtain another place of residence". Being an apartment manager can be hard work and for the past several months it has become quite stressful, especially as my children need more and more attention.

So I quit. I've been looking around for places to rent, in particular houses or duplexes, and just a few weeks ago we found a place with in our budget. Of course, the move corresponded with a previously planned vacation, so I wasn't really involved. But thanks to my most amazing Hubby and his parents, the kids and I came home to a new house already unpacked. Am I lucky or what!

I sincerely hope that by removing the stress of managing from my life I will be more able to be a better person, mom, wife and friend. Wish me luck! And look for future posts about gardening in a YARD!!!

Ummm... So what do I do now?

2009-11-15T19:57:00.000-08:00

Hubby thinks it's time to start making Christmas cookies. Now, I don't disagree. His butter cookies improve with age and it certainly will save time later. Except...

Except that letting Hubby into the kitchen is sometimes disastrous, and tonight was no exception. After all was said and done, we ended up with two beautiful batches of butter cookies and a bowl full of 4 1/2 cups bread flour and 1 1/2 cups sugar*. Yep, bread flour. Can't use bread flour for cookies!

So, the question is, what do I do with a bowl full of bread flour and sugar? My first thought was to make challah, since that is a fairly sweet bread, but there is enough suger mixed with the flour to make EIGHT loaves of challah, following the recipe in the Joy of Cooking. I don't need that many.

Any suggestions?

*In his defense, last Christmas, there was only one tub of flour on the counter. Now there are two, one bread flour and the other all-purpose. Since they aren't labeled, they both just look like flour, as he so aptly put it. And he is a great cook.

Oh, Pumpkins!

2009-11-11T21:31:00.000-08:00

I love pumpkin. There is something about that orange color and squashy taste that just fills me with warmth and contentment. Perhaps I didn't always love pumpkin as well as I do now, but that's just because I didn't know where good pumpkin came from.

Apparently, there are two general categories for pumpkin: eating and carving. Now, you can always eat carving pumpkins. I grew up eating our Jack-O-Lanterns before they got (too) moldy. My mom would cut them up (and cut out the mold), steam them, puree them, and freeze them in convenient sized bags to use all year long. And who am I to question this order of things? It is the way it must be done!

So, last year after carving our pumpkins, I did what I was supposed to do and processed the pumpkins (they were not moldy). But I did something different without really intending to. While at the pumpkin patch, I fell in love with a beautiful pumpkin. It was a brighter orange than I had seen before and, while rather too squat and heavy for a jack-o-lantern, I knew I needed to have it. Back at home, it was dutifully carved and, within a day or two, processed into puree. Initially, I was astounded by only the orangeness of the puree. And then my mom made a pumpkin pie out of it. Wow.

To make a long story short, I'm not going back. In the future, I will be purchasing some pumpkins to carve and some to eat. I've already done that this year, getting not one, not two, but three Rouge Vif D'etampes pumpkins (two of which have already gone the way of the freezer).

A helpful hint when processing your own pumpkin:

Drain your pumpkin. I line a colander with paper towel, pour my pumpkin in, and then let it sit for a long time, often overnight in the refrigerator. The pumpkin doesn't stick to the paper towel once it has drained enough.

And some words of wisdom (ie don't repeat my stupid mistake):

Don't try and use a food strainer to remove the skin from the pumpkin. I have a pumpkin screen for mine and I thought I would try it out. Of course, I tried to do things right and looked online for instructions, but wouldn't you know, there is nothing worthwhile to be found searching under "food strainer pumpkin how to". So I tried just one. Sure enough, little pieces of skin came through. (Now, I'm not sure why you would use a food strainer to do your pumpkin if you have to scrape the flesh out with a spoon anyway. I'll take my stick blender anyday.)

And because I can't help it, one of the few photos of my cute little pumpkins.

And what do you do with pumpkin puree? I like the Joy of Cooking pumpkin pie recipe, or my mom's pumpkin pancake recipe.

Or you can try these:

And because I just can't help myself, here is one more pumpkin treat to enjoy.

Why I love being a Mom

2009-10-21T13:35:00.000-07:00

It's pictures like this that show why being a mom is so rewarding. I wouldn't trade them for the world.

By the way, even though I haven't posted much lately, I am trying to post more on my kids' blogs. So check them out if you can! (If you want in on this insiders club, just let me know. Their blogs are private, not exclusive.)

Did you miss me? Reflection and Confession

2009-10-12T10:07:00.000-07:00

Yes, I know I haven't posted in three months. I apologize to the half a dozen of you that occasionally read my blog, but I had my reasons. Life has gotten busy. So, let me show you what I have been doing, in no particular order:

Running after a very mobile little boy.

Filling my new chest freezer (which we've crammed in our already cramped apartment) with eggplant, pesto, blueberries and anything we can find on sale.

Re-rearranging my hall closet to fit in my canning (First time I've ever canned!).

Working on my Pain au Levain making skills and showing them off at the fair.

Celebrating one birthday...

... And then another.

Developing scars.

Swimming in Zion (with a bunch of polygamists (not shown)) and learning to wear underwear everywhere.

Growing our very own rooftop oasis.

As you can see, I've been busy. Mathias is getting to the age where he demands a lot more attention. But how can you resist such a cute little boy as he lifts up your hand and gently places Moo, Baa, La La La into it for the 15th time in a day?

Summer time is a time of light, and here in the northwest, you have to take advantage of it. In addition, summer is a time of fresh produce and I really have been spending many of my evenings canning and freezing.

And above all, I've been trying really hard to not spend so much time on the computer. There are much more important things that I need to focus on and that I take too long to do. Besides, I have trouble believing that there are people out there who really want to know what I'm doing everyday. I mean, who really wants to know that I can nurse Mathias in my Ergo while hiking near Cedar Breaks? Maybe there is someone, but I really don't feel like I am that talented of a writer or that interesting of a person to really matter in the blogosphere.

Whew, I got that out of my system. Now you know the real reason behind my silence. Now, don't worry. I'm not going to drop out completely, but my posts are going to be fewer and farther between. But I'll save this blog for the major discoveries.

Sleep at Last

2009-06-23T12:54:00.000-07:00

As you know, we have had some adventures with Mathias and his sleeping pattern. After the last breakthrough, we settled into an acceptable pattern of him waking up twice to eat, once right before we went to bed and once more sometime in the 2:00 to 3:00 am time period. Things were looking good, even if I still had to get up at night.

Then he stopped wanting to nurse during the day. Sorry, Bud, but that is not acceptable. Mathias would nurse well at night, and then not nurse much until dinner time. To me, there is nothing worse than wanting to feed my baby and to have him refuse, expressing his desire with wiggles, screams and bites.

Luckily, I spoke to a wise friend at church (the wisdom coming from having six kids) who said that she had had the same problem with some of her kids and that the only way to fix it was to stop nursing them at night. Inspired by her experiences and the hope that there was a solution to the problem (that I would be happy with), we started that night.

A week and a half later, I'm happy to say that Mathias is well on his way to sleeping through the night. I started by just cutting out the second feeding, but the last couple of nights, he has cut out the first one as well. I've been getting so much sleep that I am just exhausted! And even better than that, Mathias has nursed well during the day ever since I started. He doesn't get as distracted as he used to so I don't have to shut myself up in a room and warn Anna to stay away or else.

Hurray for Sleep!

AHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2009-06-12T09:12:00.001-07:00

So, I went to grind some corn in my Nutrimill this morning (for cornbread). I poured the corn in, turned it on and it just didn't sound right.

I stopped it, fiddled with the dial a bit, and turned it on again. Still didn't sound right.

Fiddled with it some more. Still didn't sound right and then stopped making any sound at all. Ummm, not good. Especially when there is smoke coming out of the back.

WHAT DO I DO!?! HOW DO I SURVIVE WITHOUT MY GRINDER!?! (at least until I can find a Bosch store in the area who's phone is not answered by a fax machine.)

Parsnips A-Plenty

2009-06-09T13:47:00.000-07:00

What do you do with parsnips? After Oma (my mother-in-law) left some for us at Easter time, I've been wondering what to do with them. Roasted parsnips are great, but the flavor of parsnips is so distinct and unusual that it is hard to pair them up with other dishes, at least the meals in my repetoire.

Then, the other night I was watching Good Eats at a friend's house and Alton made this recipe. Now, it seemed a little strange to me too, using parsnips in muffins, but I was surprised with how well they turned out (yes, the parsnips were still good after all that time in the refrigerator). What a great way to highlight the flavor of parnsips, Alton!

And for those of you who like Homestarrunner, I hope you enjoy this.

It's that time again...

2009-06-09T13:28:00.000-07:00

It's gardening time!!!!

Just in case you were interested, this year we planted: four tomatoes (Oregon Spring, Cherokee Purple Heirloom, Siletz, and a cherry tomato), arugela, a small romaine lettuce, swiss chard, cilantro, green onions and green beans. Oma donated basil, parsley, thyme and oregano for my birthday and Anna brought home two black bean seeds from church that sprouted and were added to our rooftop garden. We already had the chives.

Though I really don't like gardening in containers (I ache for a real yard with space to garden in), our roof deck is the greatest place to grow tomatoes. Every day that there is sun, our tomatoes get every bit of it. And here in the Northwest, we need to use all the sun we get.

Oh, I just love growing edibles!

One Man's Junk

2009-06-09T12:48:00.000-07:00

Let me tell you the story of our water pitcher.

Once upon a time, Hubby and I got married. With said marriage came gifts, for which we were very grateful. And one of those gifts was a lovely Brita water pitcher, making it possible for us to drink the water in Utah. Oh, we loved that pitcher. So much, in fact, that we carefully packed it up, sent it in a trailer to Oregon, and picked it up on our way to our new home.

Somewhere in this process, however, the unthinkable happened: the pitcher cracked. Being the frugal (cheap or miserly also works) person that I am, I could not bring myself to purchase a new pitcher and instead took epoxy to the outside of the crack.

Though the epoxy wasn't exactly food safe, the pitcher worked just fine and we tried to be careful to keep the water line below the crack.

Now, after three something years of living with the crack, we have finally moved on. We now have a new pitcher!

But wait, you might say, I thought you were miserly, I mean cheap, I mean frugal! How could you possibly convince yourself to purchase a new pitcher when the old still worked just fine? Well, I have one word for you:

Freecycle

Oh be still my miserly, cheap, frugal heart! And I thought Craig's List was amazing. Here is the description from their website:

Welcome! The Freecycle Network™ is made up of 4,763 groups with 6,854,000 members across the globe. It's a grassroots and entirely nonprofit movement of people who are giving (& getting) stuff for free in their own towns. It's all about reuse and keeping good stuff out of landfills. Each local group is moderated by a local volunteer (them's good people). Membership is free. To sign up, find your community by entering it into the search box above or by clicking on “Browse Groups” above the search box. Have fun!

Have fun, indeed. Once I discovered Freecycle, I was able to start getting rid of perfectly good stuff lying around our house that just couldn't be given to a thrift store and that I just couldn't throw away, like a partially used bottle of perfume. And through Freecycle, I was able to get a relatively new Brita pitcher (complete with three unused, still-in-the-wrapper filters) for free. And yes, keeping usable things out of the landfill is a great bonus.

Now, should I post my cracked pitcher on Freecycle? After all, it does still work...

Do you hear angels singing?

2009-05-28T21:47:00.000-07:00

Anna has something she wants to show everyone.

Yep, that's underwear. Underwear that she wore today. All day. Do you see where I'm going with this?

After months of slowly teaching Anna what to do with that lovely porcelain device in our bathrooms, we finally have some results. Our first, very first, accident free day.

You have to understand that this is a miracle. Less than a week ago, Anna started screaming any time we tried to sit her on the potty and was asking for a diaper. In fact, the whole time we've been trying to potty train her, it has been a struggle. However, after this last Sunday, I was about ready to put her in diapers until she was 20. But I didn't. Instead, I was forced to recognize that Anna and I were having major power struggle issues and if anyone was going to change, it was going to have to be me.

So, I discussed things with Hubby, and Aunt Ebis who happened to be in town, decided on somethings that I needed to change and hashed out a new plan for this whole potty training torture.

What we decided to do was a bit contrary to just about any advice I had been given. Instead of having her sit on the potty every hour or so, like everyone says that you should do, we stopped having her sit on the potty at all, except for right before naps and any time we left the house. I wouldn't mention it. Then, each time her underwear was wet, I would calmly respond and have her remove her underwear all by herself (not a fun task). Putting all the responsibility on her helped me to let go of the anger I felt each time Anna had an accident. Suddenly it wasn't my fault any more and she wasn't doing it to thwart my efforts to get her on the potty.

Of course, the first couple of days were messy, to say the least, but then she stopped pooping in her underwear, but would sit on her little potty when she felt it coming. And today she chose to sit on the potty several times, all on her own, and managed to keep her underwear clean and dry.

Yes, I know it isn't going to be perfect from now on, but at least I've been given a glimpse of what it is going to be like when this is all over. So, thanks to everyone who kept me sane. The end is in sight.

Spring Cleaning: Finally, some results

2009-05-27T21:57:00.000-07:00

Yeah, I know. Spring cleaning started, what, three weeks ago? And I still have yet to report on my progress? Shame, shame on me.

Unfortunately, I'm still not done with everything. The bedrooms have yet to be touched because of the overwhelming amount of work that needs to be done there. But they will be done. The kitchen I did do, but the problem is I use it, regularly. So what was once clean and nicely organized is now slightly cluttered. I'll get "after" pictures soon.

So what do I have to report on? The hall closet. Yep, the linen/food storage/wheat grinder/games/guest pillows closet. I've wanted to better organize that 4 square foot section of my apartment for months, if not years. And I sure am proud of it.

Before:

After:

Doesn't it just make you want to weep with joy? It is amazing how organizing such a small space makes such a difference in my life. Everything there has a place.

Now, on to the bedrooms...

Cloth Diaper Anniversary

2009-05-20T09:34:00.000-07:00

Six months ago this week I started washing my first batch of cloth diapers. Ah, what a great change that was! Other than a brief hiatus when the prefolds we had were far to small, we've hardly used any disposables at all. And I have loved just about every minute of it.

Even when Mathias started solid foods, it still wasn't so bad. Yes, I didn't like the toilet swishing, but we found a solution for that.

Thanks to the internet, and this site, we managed to find instructions on making our own diaper sprayer. All it took was a kitchen spray hose and some brass fittings, and we were ready to get spraying.

We did make a change to the original instructions. Hubby got a needle valve (per the Lowe's salesperson's recommendation) and installed it after the filter connector splicer. With that, we didn't have to get the compression connector. However, I would recommend getting a ball valve instead of a needle valve as you don't have to turn it as much to get maximum pressure.

Oh, and asking for help at the hardware store? Priceless. (Just make sure you and they know what you are talking about. Home Depot didn't, but then neither did I.)

Next in the cloth diaper scene? Visuals of some of the amazing diapers my sister-in-law made for us.

Crusty, Warm and Tasty

2009-05-10T15:56:00.000-07:00

This past week I had Moussaka on the menu. Every time I've made this lovely recipe, I've wanted some nice crusty bread to go with it, but I always forget to get something together until it is too late. Well, this week, I moved around my menu so that I could make Pain a l'ancienne from Peter Reinhart's The Bread Baker's Apprentice. I don't think I've ever made a better choice.

Are you drooling yet? This bread fit every one of my ideals for a "nice, crusty bread" and it went perfectly with dinner.

And even better than that? It was actually easy. And I mean easy. Usually, I have a lot of trouble shaping my breads before baking them. But this bread requires no shaping. You cut a strip of dough and then stretch it out. No rolling. No pinching. No perfect shape required. All you have to do is follow Peter's detailed instructions (read them a few times before you begin to make sure you understand them) and the result is fabulous.

Side note: I did end up letting my dough "wake up" for about 5 hours, rather than the suggested 2-3, after taking it out of the refrigerator. Because of the way that my mixer works, I think I ended up putting a little too much water in the dough, and I think that may have affected my raising time.

Spring Cleaning Update

2009-05-06T20:56:00.000-07:00

So, like I mentioned before, I'm following the spring cleaning schedule of simple mom and I feel like I have been rather successful so far.

Day one was easy, just a "clean sweep" for trash and other clutter. Day two and three have been the living room and, well, my living room is roughly the size of the bed of a pick-up truck. That, and I had recently dusted and de-cluttered my bookshelf. However, I did do some pretty thorough cleaning, of which I am very proud. In fact, the only place I didn't clean was behind the piano because I couldn't move it by myself. I wonder if it is too late to get Hubby to move it...

While everything has gone well so far, I'm a little worried about the bedrooms. Now there's a headache waiting to happen. But this whole cleaning thing is making me feel pretty good about myself. I just hope I can keep it up all the way to the end!

Inspired by Spring

2009-05-04T13:00:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I got to wondering why I try to make resolutions to change around New Years. Sure, the beginning of the year is a great time to rethink our life and try to make changes, but you can get all excited to exercise and then look out at the cold, grey sky and continue on with your life unchanged. Surely there is a better time to make life changes, and what better time than Spring?

Lately, I have been getting the urge to do exactly that: change my life. I don't know how we can look at the flowers blooming, smell the fresh scent of spring rain, and feel the warm sun on our faces and not want to change, to start over fresh just like the world outside. Here are some of the things that I have been inspired to do lately:

Clean: Thanks to simple mom, I'm going to be doing Spring Cleaning for the first time in my life (I'm just following her daily tasks as outlined on her blog, not buying her e-book). I'm not particularly fond of cleaning, but I've been thinking the last few days that if I want to have the life that I want (ie large garden, fresh bread often, etc) and be organized, I need to start working on liking work now. And I do love having a clean, organized home.

Organize: I need to get rid of stuff. Just like pulling weeds to clear the ground for spring planting, I need to dump a lot of stuff that has accumulated over that last three years. I'll just have to be careful not to make Hubby cry when I tell him to get rid of his "special treasures". It has happened before.

Records: For some reason, while sitting at church yesterday, I was inspired to write more in my journal.

I'm sure there will be more things that come to mind, especially as I start planting our "garden". Oh, how I love Spring!

Piggyback Squared

2009-05-02T20:57:00.000-07:00

It really is cute how our kids mimic the things we do (as long as what we do is cute). Lately, I've noticed Anna trying to copy another motherly aspect of my life. Everytime I strap Mathias to my back, Anna runs and gets her little leash/backpack (only used once for it's actual purpose) and snaps it on.

And yes, Jeanerbee, that is a Ergo I'm wearing. Oh, how I love that carrier! If I could recommend just one carrier, it would be an Ergo. It doesn't hurt my back like other carriers I have used. Also, it is nice to be able to use it in so many different positions (front, back, and hip). I'd like to wax eloquent here, but I'm just not that talented of a writer to do so. Just take my word for it that this is the best carrier I've ever used.

As if there were any question...

2009-05-01T12:41:00.000-07:00

I'm sure there are people out there who doubt Mathias' paternity. In this day and age, who wouldn't? Well, the facts are in and Hubby has nothing to worry about: Mathias like avacado.

I don't like avacado. Period. And don't tell me I haven't given them a chance. Every year or so, I'll sample some avacado or guacamole and every year or so it is the same: My life is much more pleasant without it.

Go ahead and roll your eyes, muttering under your breath "What a genetic freak!" because that is exactly my point. I, being genetically disposed to dislike avacado, could never have a child who likes avacado unless the father likes avacado, which Hubby definitely does. Proof for all you doubters out there.

Anna, by the way, does not like avacado. I, being the forbearing, loving, generous woman that I am, tried to introduce it to her at about the same age and she gagged on her first mouthful and didn't let me give her any more. Even now, she only eats it for the salt Hubby sprinkles on it for her. In fact, most of the time, she licks the salt off and asks for more. And it just goes to prove that she is my daughter, no matter how much she would like to deny it.

Hubby should now be happy, not only because he can be absolutely sure that Mathias is his son, but because now there is more reason for us to buy avacados.

Nighttime, Unplugged

2009-04-29T13:29:00.000-07:00

It happened accidentally. Mathias woke up during the night (a regular and frequent occurrence) and I turned the monitor volume off so as to let Hubby sleep (he was sick), fully intending to turn it back on again once I was back in bed so that I would not miss the next wake-up cry. But it didn't happen. That is, I forgot to turn the volume back on and what a blessed mistake! I'm not sure if Mathias woke up sometime between 2:30 a.m. and 6:00 a.m., but I know I didn't! To top it all off, nobody suffered significant trauma because I didn't wake up to feed him after the arbitrary 5 hour minimum between feedings (only at night, of course).

There is no point in using a baby monitor at night if the baby is sleeping right across the hallway, right? We didn't use it at night with Anna. Instead, we left her door cracked and ours open and let her wake us up when she really needed something.

I chose to use a monitor with Mathias because I wanted to keep him from waking Anna up during the night. A noble desire, I am sure, but it meant that Mathias was waking me up 3+ times a night, which can be difficult for someone as dependant on sleep to be a happy person as I am. Because of my "mistake", I was actually able to sleep for a decent length of time.

Practically giddy with success and sleep, I decided it was time to go completely unplugged. Last night, the baby monitor was consigned to the kitchen table and we just left our door open so that we could hear Mathias' cries when they became desperate. And you know what? He only woke up once last night. At least as far as I know. I was asleep.

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

2009-04-20T09:18:00.000-07:00

Saturday was a very special day in our home, so when Hubby mentioned that it was supposed to be a nice day (at least in Seattle terms), I knew just what we were going to do. Not far from us was a simple hike to view Twin Falls. We hiked there last year just before Mathias was born and really enjoyed it.

And it was a beautiful day. The trees were just starting to turn green, the weather was perfect for hiking (not too cold but not to warm), and the whole morning was very refreshing. Anna did a great job and managed to walk most of the way to the point where we turned around to go back, so at least a mile.

Ah, the outdoors! Just have to love it!

Words of Wisdom: Inanimate Objects and Cake

2009-04-17T14:06:00.000-07:00

Life is something to be learned from, right? Well, I've decided that I have experiences in life that everyone could learn from. Granted, you probably have already learned these lessons, or are not stupid enough to need to learn these lessons, but I will happily ignore that fact and procede with boring the masses.

Lesson: Don't fight with inanimate objects.
Story: Our freezer is a mess. I like to buy things on sale, mostly meat, chop it up and stick meal sized bags in the freezer for future use. I also will make extra when cooking, like pizza sauce or pesto, put it into meal sized bags and freeze. But when all we have is a teeny, tiny freezer on top of our fridge, problems evolve.

Yesterday, I had to dig some items out from the depths of the freezer and, once again, the door was unclosable. I had a choice; I could either rearrange the freezer while Anna whined and Mathias screamed for my attention or I could use the "slam the door" technique, which will sometimes allow the freezer door to seal and keep the contents of the freezer contained. I opted for the latter. However, the door did not want to seal and I became more and more frustrated. Finally, I went in for the final blow. Arm back, I used all my force to slam the door shut. Lucky me, my palm hit right on the edge of the door and I spent the next minute leaning against the freezer trying not to curse. I tried to take a picture of the bruise, but it is rather deep and doesn't show up all that well in pictures. So, don't fight with inanimate objects.

Lesson: Don't make a cake unless you will be feeding it to at least 10 people.
Story: I made a Cream Torte with my mother-in-law this last weekend and ended up eating over a forth of it. All by myself. It is a good thing I'm nursing.

Wonder of Wonders

2009-04-13T10:42:00.000-07:00

Sometimes miracles do happen. Let me tell you about our most recent one.

Last week, the last impediment to moving Mathias from our bedroom was removed, literally, thanks to Craig's List. With the prospect of Oma and Opa coming up for the weekend and needing to sleep in our room (Opa just had back surgery), I knew we had to get Mathias out of our room and into Anna's so that we could at least have some time to get used to it.

Here's an image to describe how I felt that first evening: Imagine you are swinging on a rope towards a large solid object, like a rock. Time seems to slow down as you approach and you tighten into a ball as much as possible, a cringe on your face as you anticipate the crunch of your bones on the rock face. Yes, that is how I felt. I could just imagine the sleepless nights as Mathias woke Anna up when he got hungry and Anna woke Mathias up because she was awake and had nothing better to do.

However, the rock was not a rock but rather a nice soft cushy pillow (perhaps like this one, he he). That's right. The anticipated difficulties have yet to arrive. That first night, Mathias woke up 2-3 times and each time Anna peacefully slumbered on. And it has been the same each night since.

Yes, I know that there will be times when the night will not go so well, but for right now, the transition has gone miraculously smoothly. I just hope that having Mathias sleeping in another room will help him to sleep through the night.

A Challenge and a Change

2009-04-10T12:42:00.000-07:00

I believe I've already proven myself to be a geek, but if you are looking for further proof I am prepared to provide it.

You may have noticed there has been a change to my blog. This is a change I've been wanting for a long time. I was tired of the monochrome look created using the limited features of Blogger. I wanted something different that would help me to express myself better. So I looked around.

Sure, there are plenty of places online where you can find free blog backgrounds, but they don't quite cut it for me. There is nothing wrong with them, really, but I don't like how they don't scroll with the rest of the blog. A personal preference, but a severely limiting one.

And so began my search for instructions on how to change the html of my template to get what I wanted. See? I'm a geek. I did google search after google search, but didn't really find anything. To make an extremely long, boring, and geeky story short, I finally realized that my friend Liz, who has a background that moves as you scroll, had gotten her background from Smitten Blog Designs. So I checked them out. In all my searching, I never found any blog template so accessible as these.

But, being the geek that I am, none of their templates really fit me. Instead of using one of their templates, I studied one to see what changes they made and where. From there it was "easy". Now I'm off to create a new heading using Paint, Picasa, and any other free program I can use. Wish me luck!

Mathias and the New Trick

2009-04-08T09:47:00.000-07:00

On Monday, Mathias had his 6 month check-up. He weighed in at 19 lbs even, 29 inches long, and is a very healthy little boy. But the best (worst?) part happened after we got home.

Here he is this morning, after having a little time to practice his new trick.

My goodness, these kids grow up too fast!

Oh, and Anna got her first haircut on Monday. Granted, it was only a little trim of the bangs so her hair wouldn't be in her eyes, but it is the first time her hair has been cut in her whole 2 and a half years of life. I'll post a picture when I get a good one.

Little Nurse Maid

2009-04-01T21:48:00.000-07:00

I've always wondered what Anna thought of how I feed Mathias. Sure, she ate the same way at that age, but like she's going to remember that! And for the longest time she would try to have her doll drink from her sippy cup. In nursery at church she rushes for the doll bin and collects all the dolls and all the bottles, and feeds them. I really don't know where she figured that one out since Mathias has only used a bottle once in his short 6 months of life.

Yesterday, we had a break through. My breastpump was lying out on the counter drying and Anna pointed to it and said "I need to punk." What? "I need to punk, Mommy. I have lots of milk."

Today was even better. I had just finished nursing Mathias and changing his diaper and came out to the living room to see this:

If you notice, she had to nurse on both sides (because, she told me, she had a lot of milk) and very properly burped the baby when she was done. I tell you, just seeing her gave me warm fuzzies.

Musings of an Exhausted Mother: On my Way

2009-03-31T09:14:00.000-07:00

Kids just don't get it. Honestly, what is so hard to understand about the fact that mom is a much better mother if she gets some sleep. Sleeping through the night = happiness all around. Waking up every couple of hours = unhappiness all around.

You would think that this formula for happiness would be self evident, but apparently it is not to most children under the age of three.

In any case, this is just temporary. I've made so secret of the fact that basically I'm on my way to Australia.

The Boris Chronicles: Bread, Bread Everywhere

2009-03-27T14:36:00.000-07:00

Sorry if you are completely bored by the constant stream of bread reports, but I remain unapologetic. I love making bread and have learned so much about myself as I have discovered this.

Back to Boris. Last week I taught a group from church about sourdough. Now, I don't consider myself an expert in sourdough, but I am in the process of gaining a lot of experience with it.

In any case, I spent three days preparing and baking bread. I must say I am very pleased with how Boris performed. Not only did each of the breads I made with him have a nice tangy flavor, but the breads themselves turned out nice. Oven spring is something I usually have issues with, but not this time!

Clockwise from top left: Sandwich Rye, Pain au Levain, Pain au Levain, Sandwich rye bursting at the seams, and 100% Whole Wheat Pain au Levain.

There is so much bread in my freezer, I'm not quite sure how to get rid of it all. But seeing all that lovely bread just made me feel so good. Vive le pain!

Hungry Little Monster

2009-03-20T14:32:00.000-07:00

Mathias has been eyeing our plates. Well, more than eyeing. He'll grab them, grab our arms as we try to ferry food to our mouths, and do what ever it takes to get some food for himself.

Once, he was successful (Thanks to Hubby). (He is eating some boiled potato.)

And then there is this. **WARNING** The following video contains gratuitous face sucking.

Ah, my little boy is so cute!

They're getting smarter

2009-03-18T15:52:00.000-07:00

I just got a call from a charity telemarketer (somehow they manage to get past the National Do Not Call list) that I found very interesting. There was a young man talking about veterans and how we should support them. In the background I could hear the characteristic hum of many voices supposedly making the same type of call. I would have been completely taken in, except I heard the magic words "the purpose of this recorded message...". I should have just hung up then, but it still sounded like a real person and I just couldn't do it.

A friend of mine used to work at a customer support call center and she told me that all she did was listen to what the response was from the caller and then select the recorded message that corresponded. All well in good for customer support (well, not really), but to use that technology to irritate poor stay-at-home moms by trying to extract money from our already tight budgets? What is the world coming to?

At least I felt better hanging up after I said "NO!". Really, people...

Goodbye, Old Friend

2009-03-14T13:25:00.000-07:00

Today I lost a good friend, a friend that was with me throughout college, that strengthened me in times of sorrow, that helped me deal with the stresses of life and school, that taught me to dance in the face of challenge. Goodbye, dear Panasonic SA-AK75.

Oh, Panasonic, you were more than just a stereo to me. You were my graduation present to me (I'm so happy!). I paid for you with my own hard earned money.

I carried you lovingly to my first year of college where you happily adorned my dorm room, bringing joy into the stressful atmosphere of college life. Through you, and Bridget, I was introduced to Paper Moon and Beautiful South. With you, we jammed to Mr Wendel, Bare Naked Ladies, The Police, and many others. You woke us up with the "wake-up music", though I forget what cd we used for that purpose.

After that first year, the only time I was apart from you was during my 18 month mission for the LDS church in France. While I knew you were in the careful care of my sister, I was so happy to be reunited with you. You observed my relationship with Hubby grow and eventually moved in with us when we got married.

From there you moved to Seattle with us and help alleviate the days, weeks, and months of unemployed boredom. You played my favorite tunes as well as audio recordings of books. You graced our living space with elegance and music. You even put up with little fingers pushing your buttons, especially when those little fingers inadvertently fixed small wiring issues.

Panasonic, eventually your age began to show. Your buttons became rheumatic, your system erratic. Still, I loved you. You patiently put up with Signing Time, Veggietales, and Sesame Street music. You did everything we asked you to do without complaint. But the time came for us to part.

Today you were picked up by your new family. To be honest, I tried to sell you, but your worth is beyond price and you were given away to a family that needs you much more than mine needs you. (Thanks Craig's List.) We will miss you so much. No, an ipod and laptop will never replace your magnificent speakers. We will think of you often, especially anytime I hear "Sweet dreams 'til sunbeams find you...". Thank you for all you have done for me and my family.

Families: Isn't it about...

2009-03-13T13:15:00.000-07:00

So, I found a ad the LDS church has put out, thanks to Delirious, that had me in tears. No, not because it is mushy or over-the-top heartwarming, but because I was laughing so hard. That, and it does make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside. But then it wouldn't be an ad for the church if it wasn't.

I'm not sure what I think about the "violence" in the ad, but I think they did a great job with it anyway.

No Cow Chow

2009-03-09T21:13:00.000-07:00

Let's start this out by saying that I am not a vegetarian. I have nothing against vegetarians, I just like to eat meat. ("Mmmmm...this dead cow tastes good": A direct quote from an Elementary school assembly.)

However, I am trying to include more vegetarian meals in our diet to cut down on our consumption of meat. So far, I have found a few recipes that delight our tastebuds, satiate our stomachs, and are full of healthy vegies. But I need more!!! And to prime the pump, here are some of my favorites:

Vegetable Quesadillas
Roasted Vegetable Curry
Navajo Stew

So, do any of you have any great vegetarian recipes? If so, please provide a link in your comment (if it is online). Thanks!

I'm geeking out about it!

2009-03-06T18:58:00.000-08:00

In the tradition of my sister, what movie is the title paraphrased from?

So, if it had not already been established, it is now completely proven: I am a geek. I've always know that, but there have been times when I tried to deny it.

And what brings this up now? Well, this week I had two wonderful things delivered to my door: a laptop and a wireless router. Oh, I am giddy! I love tech toys!

Why did I want them in the first place? As Mathias has gotten older, I've noticed that I have been unable to do many of the things that I normally did on the computer, mostly because he still sleeps in our room and things that I would normally do during his naps are now no longer possible. Work went undone, blogs were not commented on, emails went unanswered. But no longer. Friends and family, ye be warned! (So, what movie is the last part of the sentence from?)

The Boris Chronicles: Rye Not?

2009-03-02T07:57:00.000-08:00

***Please excuse the terrible pun in the title. I blame genetics (Thanks, Dad).***

It's been a while since I gave an update on Boris. So far, he has been doing quite well. While he took a little time to really get going, but he has made some lovely bread so far. In particular, he made some fabulous Pain au Levain, a french style sourdough that I tried for the bread testing.

One of the main reasons I wanted to start a wild yeast starter was for rye bread. According to Peter Reinhart, rye needs high acidity to keep its enzymes from compromising the texture of the bread, and a wild yeast starter should do the trick. I don't know if Boris is sour enough, but I tried rye bread this past weekend and the bread turned out just fine. Here is the proof (another bad bread pun) from start to finish:

Ready to mix.

Before proofing (raising).

After proofing.

In the oven, a little crowded on my pizza stone.

Cooling, a little dark because I left the temp too high for too long.

Ready to eat, full of whole wheaty/rye-y goodness.

The bread turned out a little thin, but looking at the picture in the book reassured me that the bread was just as it should be. Thank you, Boris!

Thank you, Mrs Gaskell

2009-03-01T10:37:00.000-08:00

It all began in September when my Mother-in-law came up here to watch Anna while Hubby and I went to the hospital. Since my Father-in-law finds great joy and purchasing anything in the form of a DVD, she came loaded with videos to watch during the down time, ie when Anna was asleep. Among those videos was Cranford. Now, I must admit, I was rather hesitant to watch it, as my MIL happens to be very fond of Hallmark movies, which I am not. However, I did end up watching it after she had left and just loved it.

Fastforward to Presidents' Day weekend when we finally got to celebrate Christmas with Oma and Opa. Sitting on top of the entertainment center, where most of the new DVD acquisitions end up, were two more movies that caught my eye: Wives and Daughters and North and South, two more adaptations of books by Elizabeth Gaskell. I quickly grabbed them to take home, which I have discovered to be a very good choice.

While I still think I like Cranford best, with Wives and Daughters a close second, both of the movies were very good. If you don't mind a spoiler, Wives and Daughters has one of the best proposal scenes I've seen in a long while. I would watch from the beginning of the clip as it provides some explination for why they do what they do, but the proposal starts at 4:30.

When I was still in school, I remember watching just a portion of Wives and Daughters on TV while at my cousins' home and wanting to see the rest. How exciting it was to actually find it again and be justified in my desire to see it!

North and South was also very good, but much more political and dreary, definitly a drama. The music was a bit heavy and there were far too many close-ups of people's faces and clips of people just walking. That and Mr. Thornton is just a little too, umm, serious and gruff for my liking. He doesn't smile until the very end of the film. In fact, there isn't much smiling at all, now that I think about it.

Now, I won't compare Elizabeth Gaskell to Jane Austen. I like them both very much, but their styles are very different, at least when their books are made into films. Also, Mrs Gaskell tends to kill of her characters, which can be a little disturbing but in line with what actually happened during that time period. I do plan on getting the books behind these films to see why the movies are so good.

What was I thinking...

2009-02-24T16:20:00.000-08:00

This morning when we woke up, we found Anna completely naked in the bathroom trying to get onto the toilet. That in combination with all the other signals she's been giving us must mean that she is ready to be potty trained, right? Oh, I hope that I'm not getting myself in too deep...

White Bread is Evil! (sort of)

2009-02-06T14:59:00.000-08:00

Now before you blow me off thinking I'm about to go one a rant about how white bread is causing the decline of civilization, I won't be doing that. I like white bread. I eat white bread. I even let my children eat white bread. So why is white bread evil? BECAUSE IT IS TOO EASY TO MAKE AND TASTES TOO GOOD!

As you may know, I'm obsessed with whole grains and love to make whole grain bread. In fact, other than the test recipes I am doing, I almost never make white bread. Until Anna got diarrhea. She isn't sick, so we are having to battle it with diet rather than meds. That means less fiber, or no whole grains. And since I had very little in the way of white flour baked goods, I made white sandwich bread from the Joy of Cooking. If I say so myself, it turned out perfectly. The texture was incredible: light, fluffy, and perfectly even throughout. So, why can't my whole wheat bread turn out so wonderfully? *Pout, whine*

My beautiful bread, the day after baking:

The one good thing that this has taught me is that I must have improved considerably since I started making bread a few years ago. All that work trying to get my whole wheat bread to turn out has helped me tremendously to know how bread works. That and bread flour is an amazing thing and should be used instead of the ubiquitous all purpose when making bread. It is called bread flour for a reason!

By the way, if any one has any suggestions on how to help a two year old to be "regular", please let me know. So far the "bland food" diet (bananas, applesauce, white bread, etc) hasn't done much. Neither have the probiotics we've been giving her (she's in a no yogurt phase).

What's Wrong with This Picture?

2009-02-03T16:14:00.001-08:00

The other day in our junk mail, we got lovely advertisement for heaters that just had me laughing (or cringing). Can you figure out why? (Yes, the photo is so very Photoshopped, but that's not what had me laughing. If you know anything about woodworking or the Amish, you'll see what I mean.)

Go do bread, Mommy

2009-02-02T15:18:00.000-08:00

Anna loves glue and today she asked to glue pictures to some paper. With a Burpee catalogue and a glue stick, we were ready to go. But as I tried to help her put glue on the pictures and put them on the paper, she shoos me away and says "Go do bread, Mommy". I think I've been making a little too much bread lately...

Miracle of the Potatoes

2009-01-29T16:53:00.000-08:00

Today was a bad day. A really bad day. I knew it was going to be bad when Anna woke us up by coming into our room at 6:15 and my headache from the night before had only gotten worse. I won't go into the details of the day, as they really don't matter. The bad day was entirely inside myself.

There was, however, one miracle. One brief moment where a smile graced my tired features. The miracle of the potatoes.

Knowing that I wasn't going any where today, the effort to get kids into the car being just too much, I needed to come up with something for dinner that didn't require a trip to the store. In a stroke of genius, I thought of shepherd's pie. I had plenty of carrots (I use about 5 times the amount recommended by the recipe), peas (another of my modifications), and some lamb in the freezer. Perfect! I started chopping carrots, thawing meat, and then I reached into the cupboard for the potatoes. I only had three. Normally, I use at least 6 to top my shepherd's pie and I was crushed. Not only could I not find a way to be happy today, but I couldn't even cook dinner for my family.

I tried thinking of anyway to get potatoes. I even tried calling Hubby to see if he could come home early, but the pre-WWII, bunker-like, cell phone reception squashing cement walls of Bagley Hall thwarted me once again. Finally, I decided to just make it with three potatoes. Sure, it wouldn't be as good as the other times I've made it, but it would be food. Then, as I was putting on Anna's shoes so we could run down to the front of the building and cut some rosemary, the miracle happened. For no reason at all, I suddenly remembered that the last time I had gone grocery shopping there had been too much to carry, so I left a new bag of potatoes in the car. Cue angels singing. Sure enough, there they were, in all their potato-y glory.

Thanks to that simple bag of potatoes, I had a smile on my face for at least a half an hour, a record for today. God certainly is mindful of every one of us. I'm glad that he loves me enough to remind me about a forgotten bag of potatoes just so that my day could be that much better.

Robbing the Rich to Feed the Poor

2009-01-25T20:51:00.000-08:00

Friday my W2 forms came and I just got this itch to prepare my tax return. Yes, I am crazy, but I love watching my refund in Turbo Tax jump up and up. Friday night was no different, and, when I had finished with what forms I had, a line from Disney's Robin Hood kept running through my mind. I wish I had the software to get just the part I want, but if you go to 1:15, you'll find it.

I'm still giddy from doing taxes and will be at least until our "refund" comes. (Funny they call it a refund when most of what they are giving us we never paid in the first place.) Ah, the blessings of being poor with kids at tax time. And thanks to Mathias for being born last year!

More and More Bread

2009-01-20T12:11:00.000-08:00

I'm sure you are all getting tired of my bread stories, but I just can't help it! As I mentioned in my last post, I'm now an official tester for Peter Reinhart's new book, and I'm already loving it.

How did I get so lucky, you may ask? Well, while writing previous posts about Boris, I discovered Reinhart's blog. I believe he mostly uses it to communicate with his testers, which made me rather jealous at first. Then I noticed that we would be opening up the list for new testers this past Sunday. Of course, I stalked his blog until the official word was out and immediately emailed him to ask to be put on the list. It was a good thing I did, because he had so many responses that he ended up closing the list early, after less than 24 hours rather than a week. I must say, Peter Reinhart (I'll just call him Peter from now on. That's how he signs his emails.) is a very personable guy. I got a reply to my email only an hour after I sent mine, and it wasn't a form letter!

Last night I tried the first recipe, a basic French bread. (While I probably shouldn't give out the recipes, I do plan on showing pictures, especially whenever Boris is involved in the bread making process.) Can I say wow!?! Not only was the bread so easy to mix up, it made the most beautiful loaf of French bread I have ever made, complete with crispy, cracked crust.

Of course, Hubby, Anna and I devoured the bread, which tasted as good as it looked, even though the crust did get a little over done. I don't think I've had such good bread since I came home from France.

Now, if anyone wants to try the bread, there is a super easy solution to that. Ask us over for dinner! (And ask us to bring bread.) He, he, he.

The Boris Chronicles: First Steps

2009-01-16T20:59:00.000-08:00

It has been a few days, but I did finally take my wild yeast starter on a test run and was moderately sucessful. The start, which has been named Boris (Thanks Bridget!), did very well and grew beyond my humble expectations. I don't think I've ever smelled a sourdough start that sour.

The big test came on Tuesday, when I made two different types of bread using the start. Both recipes came from Peter Reinhart's Whole Grain Breads. The first was the "master formula" or 100% Whole Wheat Sandwich bread (p 78 or p 95; yes, it is in there twice) and the second was Multigrain Struan (p 102). I actually made two loaves of the multigrain because I made a no-salt loaf for a friend. In addition to trying new recipes, and testing Boris, I also tried out some new functions on my camera. Please forgive my lack of photo skills.

The no-salt multigrain bread proofing in the bowl. According to Reinhart, having the flaxseeds soak overnight means that you can put them in whole rather than using them ground and still get all the nutritional benefits.

Proofing in loaf form.

Baking in the oven. Sorry the picture is fuzzy. I was trying to take it quickly so the heat wouldn't escape too much.

A beautifully baked %100 whole wheat loaf. I did mean to get a picture of all three loaves, but why show the mistakes? (They all turned out well enough, but one loaf did raise to long and collapsed a bit when baking)

I will have many, many opportunities to use Boris, especially since I just volunteered to be an official tester for Peter Reinhart's next bread book. Yes, I am a geek, but I'll have my name in the book if all goes well!

Thanks again for all of your name suggestions. It was certainly hard to choose, but Boris just seemed to fit. Hubby suggested that it was the Russian version of Bob, which is the name he gives to everything. (Bob was promptly vetod when he suggested it. There are just too many Bobs in the house right now.)

Adventures of a Wild Baker: It Lives!

2009-01-09T19:29:00.000-08:00

About a year ago, I tried to start a wild yeast starter using the instructions in Peter Reinhart's Whole Grain Breads. It worked just fine, until I neglected it for too long. After several other unsuccessful tries (all during the summer and all failed due to mold), I am trying again.

And here he is:

He lives! (Technically, it would be "They live!", but we'll pretend it is masculine and single.)

So, now that my wild yeast starter is well on its way, he needs a name. A friend of mine named her sourdough starter Fernando, and I thought it would be a great idea to name my starter. Fernando is taken, but do any of you have any ideas? I would like to have a name chosen by the first time I use him to bake, so bring it on!

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-25T19:38:00.000-08:00

Wishing you a Merry Christmas!

And, yes, it was still snowing this morning. I do love watching it fall.

We just had a few presents under the Christmas tree this morning, since all the grandparent presents were conveniently stored at the grandparents' home (at Hubby's parents' home) where we were supposed to be. However, Anna sured scored big.

Since she often "borrows" this from friends, we thought it would be best that she had her own.

And this was the gift that I was the most proud of. It started as a somewhat beat-up white rocking horse with dingy yarn hair and tail. Quite the improvement, don't you think? And I'm not just talking about the really cute equestrian. It was too big to take with us if we had traveled, but since we didn't go anywhere, Anna was able to find it under (or next to) the tree, which made me very happy.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

(Please Don't) Let it Snow!

2008-12-22T12:31:00.000-08:00

I love snow. Really, I do. Even despite dire predictions of friends in Utah that I would soon tire of it (I was from California and therefore only liked snow because it was a novelty), I still love snow. And then this last weekend happened. This is the view from our window as of this morning.

And here is the view of the park from our roof deck.

Over the last few days we have gotten over a half a foot of snow. And it sure is beautiful. There are, however, just a few problems. First, church was canceled (yes, we here in the greater Seattle area are pansies). Second, there are no tire chains to be had, "not even for ready money"(Act I, scene 1). Third, there is not deicing salt to be had. Forth, and by far the worst, we've had to cancel our Christmas travel plans. Yes, that's right. We were planning on spending Christmas with my in-laws, but with deep (ok, ok, we're pansies) snow here and very icy roads there and no chains to be had for our new car, we just can't risk it. I am very disappointed as this was to be the first Christmas we spent with them. However, I am excited to have Christmas on our own, if only because Anna's present was too big to travel with us if we had gone. I can't wait to see her face when she comes into the living room and sees it sitting under the tree. So, I'm a little mad at snow right now. You know, the kind of mad you get with someone you love, where it doesn't change how you feel about them, but you are still angry with what they did. I still love snow. The crunch of booted feet...

... the chill and brightness of the air, the way snow sits on everything that stays still for even a moment, and most of all, the way it falls so gracefully to the ground.

Merry Christmas and may you all travel safetly.

Mange ton gateau!

2008-12-17T14:15:00.000-08:00

"Let them eat cake." If that doesn't just sum up the French, I don't know what does. France and anything French is near and dear to my heart ever since I was able to live there as a missionary (I've been home 5 years!). Luckily for me, there are four other sisters in my ward that also served French speaking missions and so we try to get together once a month to indulge in a French menu and speak in French. Today was our Christmas celebration.

My assignment (self-imposed, I must admit) was to make the Buche de Noel, or Yule log cake. And I had a little too much fun.

I found this recipe on Epicurious.com and it sounded wonderful. Really, who wouldn't love a nice sponge cake with marzipan cream filling, ganache (basically pure chocolate) frosting, and cute little marzipan mushrooms? While the recipe wasn't all that hard, I did have to make the frosting twice. Word of advice: always use a double boiler for melting chocolate even if the recipe says otherwise! The cake tasted wonderful, even if I did forget to buy flour and ended up making the cake with mostly whole wheat flour. In the end, the cake was a success and I was successful in sending cake home with everyone, "for the husbands" (wink, wink).

Making this cake was very good for me. I love being successful and creating things, whether it be food, knitting, or otherwise. I was giddy when I went to bed last night after finally getting the frosting on and couldn't wait to show the finished product to my friends. President Uchtdorf, of the First Presidency of the LDS church, had it right when he spoke to the Sisters of the church this last October. Creation does bring "deep satisfaction and fullfilment". Creating this cake has certainly made my week, and even perhaps my Christmas season. Well, perhaps not as much as Anna's Christmas present, but I'll post about that once it is finished and Anna has claimed it as hers.

Merry Christmas and don't forget to eat cake!

Musings of an Obsessed Knitter: Knitting and Twilight

2008-12-10T13:21:00.000-08:00

When you are obsessed with something, you find your mind inserting it into daily life, your thoughts, and your actions. Take Twilight, for example. I'm not really all that fond of the book (it's the only one of the series I've read), but with all the hype about the movie I've been thinking a lot about the story and one thing that keeps coming to mind is the vampires' amazing reflexes. For example, Edward drives at insane speeds when taking Bella back to Forks from Port Angeles all the while avoiding other cars, trees and not ending up at the bottom of Lake Cresent.

How does this apply to knitting, you may wonder? Well, my mind, which is obsessed with knitting, keeps asking itself what whould happen if vampires knitted. What would happen? I would assume that they would be incredibly fast knitters and never make a mistake no matter how hard the project is. Hopefully, that wouldn't take the joy out of knitting.

Then again, perhaps if a knitter became a vampire, it would become their special talent, like Alice's second sight. I could just see their "bedroom" walls piled high with the largest yarn stash that you have ever seen. There would be piles of knitted afghans, shawls, scarves, sweaters etc lying all over the place. And the hospital in Forks, and every hospital on the Olympic Peninsula, would have more than enough knitted infant hats, chemo hats, receiving blankets, etc.
So, am I crazy or what? Perhaps my current project is just too hypnotic...

Mathias, Wonder Boy

2008-12-09T18:53:00.000-08:00

As all newborns do, Mathias has been growing and developing with lightning speed. His smiles are adorable, he is almost starting to laugh, he is starting to sleep more at night, and he nurses well and has a noticable affinity to his thumb.

Mathias is a big boy. He started big and has kept up the pace ever since. At his first doctor visit at a week old, he had gained 12 ounces over his birth weight. And then came his two month visit. Let me state that Mathias is not chubby, despite what his weight may imply, but he weighed in at 15 pounds and 11 ounces. When his pediatrician took a look at him, she thought she was playing it safe by asking if he was four months old. She thought he might be six months! He is just a large little boy. (And no, I don't feed him straight cream.)

As you can see, he has already reached the limits of his bassinet.

We just borrowed another bassinet from a friend so that we don't have to move him to a crib and into Anna's room. I'm just not ready for that!

On another note, Mathias has begun sucking his thumb with a vengence. He sucks his thumb when he is in bed.

He sucks his thumb at play.

I'm still not quite sure how I feel about thumb sucking. I remember vividly the struggle my parents had trying to get one of my brothers to stop and there is always the concern of dental issues. At the same time, what a great self soother. He can never lose a thumb like you can a pacifier!

We are so proud of our little boy.

What to write?

2008-12-08T12:21:00.000-08:00

Well, it has been some time since I've posted, but not because of lack of subject matter. I just can't seem to find a time when both kids are asleep and I have nothing better to do. And now that the planets have aligned and my children are asleep, there aren't many dishes in the sink, and I am somehow able to restrain myself from knitting, I can't decide what to write about. Let's see, there's how much I love Picasa (I've always wanted to hyperlink text!), a thumbsucking little boy, Christmas baking, a little boy who is almost 16 pounds at 2 months, a little girl who says "Dude" (still need to get the video for that one), Mathias' blessing, sleeping, long overdue pesto recipes and the list goes on and on.

Perhaps I should just go through the list I just wrote in the order I wrote it? I'll start with Picasa. (If you see something there that you would like to hear about sooner, please let me know and I will do my best.)

A few weeks ago, I went to open Picasa to do some more organizing, or perhaps to indulge one certain narcissist toddler, and was informed that there was an update available. Ok, sure. I always takes updates, even if they do mess up my computer sometimes. But this was no ordinary update. This was the introduction of Picasa 3.

Now, you must keep in mind that I'm a geek. When something new comes along, like a cell phone, camera, or computer program, I start exploring. I love discovering how things work and how to do what I want/need to do. This time was no different. I sucessfully managed to ignore children and Hubby while I checked out all the new buttons. Of course, many of the things that thrill me about the new version were probably there in the old, but I just didn't notice them. Here are some of the things that thrill me:

Albums. I had no idea that I could organize photos and videos into albums. No more scrolling through everything to find a video for my narcissist toddler!

Collages. My desktop will never be the same.

Uploading. Photos are automatically organized into albums and then it tells you how many photos are online. Then I can just press a button and any new photos I add to the album will be added to my web album as well!

Well, I could go on and on, but I won't. There is still more to discover and I do want to get some knitting done before a hungry little boy decides that 16 pounds just isn't enough.

Sleep like a baby

2008-11-17T10:46:00.000-08:00

Since Mathias was born, Anna has had a few sleeping issues, such as waking up way too early, not sleeping long enough during her naps, and having trouble going to sleep at night. While this can be rather frustrating at times and rather exhausting, it can give us a good laugh from time to time.

Here is Anna waking up in the middle of her nap yesterday (she went back to bed and slept for another hour, thank goodness).

And then early this morning I went out to go to the bathroom and noticed that Anna's bedroom door was open, a sure sign that she is not in bed. Our bedroom door had not been opened, so the only other place that I could think to look for her was here:

Yes, Anna is sleeping in the laundry hamper. That is one of her hiding places when she doesn't want to go back to bed, or get clothes on, or ... I just knew I would find her sleeping in there some morning, and this was the morning.

Halloween, finally

2008-11-10T12:32:00.000-08:00

Sorry it has taken me so long to post about Halloween. Honestly, it was the amount of information and pictures that stalled me. With so many activities, there are too many pictures that need to be shown and it can be daunting to try and show them all. So, here goes...

It all began with the costume. A week before Halloween we had our church Trunk or Treat activity and we did not have a costume for Anna. We tried looking at DI for something used, but I just couldn't justify the cost. Then I had the most brilliant idea. Anna has a set of "piggy" pjs and all I would have to do to complete the outfit would be to make a set of knitted "piggy" ears for her to wear on her head. Instant costume! And super cheap, since I already had pink yarn that I could use.

So, Anna woke up from her nap the day of the activity and was able to put on her set of "piggy" ears. (She now asks to wear them almost every time we leave the house. Sigh.)

At the Trunk or Treat, Anna refused to say anything. Not a "thank you" or "trick-or-treat" to be had, though she had proved herself an expert in the car. However, she very quickly understood that all she had to do was hold her bag up and she would receive a treat. Why go to all the effort of saying something?

We returned home and Anna had her very first taste of Halloween candy, which she enjoyed very much. Mathias did very well the whole evening in the sling, but no one was able to see his cute lederhosen. Here he poses with Anna while she eats her candy.

The next Tuesday, we went pumpkin hunting. We found some great pumpkins, if you ask me, including the one I was carrying.

The pumpkins were dutifully carved, though Anna did not like to touch the inside and spent most of the time eating her candy instead of helping Grandma cut out the face. But she did enjoy playing with the little battery operated tea lights Grandma brought!

If I say so myself, I picked a great pumpkin for myself (not shown) that made some pretty amazing pumpkin puree. We're going to have some great pies for Thanksgiving!

Finally Halloween night arrived and we celebrated by taking Anna trick-or-treating at the local businesses. Once again, she refused to talk to strangers (not a bad thing, I suppose) and simply held her bag out to be filled. Here, she got to pick out her own piece of candy.

Whew. There it is. Our Halloween was quite fun and full of candy. My mission for next year? Teach Anna to pick the kinds of candy I like to eat.

Voting

2008-11-04T12:50:00.000-08:00

Last night Hubby and I stayed up late, not because Mathias didn't want to go to sleep (he didn't) but because there was a voter's pamphlet that need to be studied. The entire time, I had the unsettling feeling that I was studying for a test and was woefully unprepared. I really don't get politics, don't know how to educate myself on key issues, and, unfortunately, don't care enough to do so. Yes, I know I should be a good citizen and know the issues, but where does one find the time? And with the media so skewed one direction or the other, how does one find the truth?

In any case, the deed is done and my vote is cast. I must admit, on one county amendment that came on the ballot, I voted "No" simply because it would make an appointed position in the county an elected one. I.E. one more decision I would have to make at a future election. Is that bad?

As we walked home from the polls, I mentioned my feelings to Hubby and he commented that, yes, it did feel like taking a test, but there is no score posted as you leave the building. And, honestly, because we don't get the newspaper, I will probably not hear how half of the things I voted for turn out.

Before and After

2008-10-28T15:52:00.000-07:00

Last week after giving Mathias a bath, we were given a reason to laugh.

So, here is me toweling him off. See the look on his face?

Now, this is what he was doing while my mom was taking the picture. No, none of the wetness is from me and no, most of the wetness is not a result of giving a child a bath.

It only looks like I peed my pants, but it was someone else doing the peeing.

Cloth Diapers and the Reason for Green

2008-10-25T16:49:00.000-07:00

Though I threatened to start with Anna, I just couldn't bring myself to use cloth diapers, until now. Over a week ago, I overcame my fear of buying the "wrong" prefolds and covers and took the plunge. And I must say, I'm pretty happy with it! The prefolds are easy to put on (thanks to a Snappi) and the covers that I bought do a wonderful job of holding everything in. We haven't had a poop stain on Mathias' clothes yet! I also made, with the help of my mom, many cloth diaper wipes which work amazingly well. Most importantly, Mathias looks great in them.

Now comes the big question: Why? Why do I want to use cloth diapers? There are several questions that one could ask me that would fall in this catagory. Why do I use cloth bags at the grocery store? Why do I save my produce bags and reuse them? Why do I recycle my food waste? Because I'm crazy? Unfortunately, the only response to those questions that I can think of is "Why not?". I have spent time thinking about why I do the green things I do and it is not because I am passionate about saving our environment. I was just fine not doing those things before. I do those things because I can.

Here in Seattle, there is a significant portion of the population that actively seeks to have a "green" lifestyle. I was quite astonished when we moved here by what people do and talk about. And here I thought that my neighborhood in California was pretty progressive because we had recycling. I didn't even know that I had a "carbon footprint" until I had lived her for a year or two. In any case, the city of Seattle makes it easy to be green. I can take the bus just about anywhere. I can put my food scraps in our yard waste container to be made into compost (which is then used by the city to fertilize all their landscaping and is also sold fairly cheaply at the store). I can buy cheap cloth bags at the grocery store and then get a bag refund each time I use them. So, why not? It's easy enough.

To end a long musing, I like being green. And though it may be easy right now, I don't plan on stopping if/when it gets harder (ie we move). It makes me feel good that I am doing things to help our environment even though I don't go overboard doing so (at least in comparison to some that I know). So, here's to green and cloth diapers!

Got Milk?

2008-10-14T19:46:00.000-07:00

The other day, my sister-in-law asked me what the perks of having two children were. Not only was this a great reminder to look for the positive in this experience, but among the perks I thought of, I was reminded of how much I love nursing. Sure, nursing a baby can be frustrating, exhausting, painful, and time consuming, but I still love it.

Granted, I have been blessed to have an easy time breastfeeding. Anna didn't give me all that many problems nursing and Mathias has been that much easier. Mathias does frustrate me by falling asleep and not eating as much as I think that he should, but he certainly doesn't look like he is not getting enough, now does he?

It is hard to pin down exactly why I enjoy nursing so much, but I think it comes down to two things. First, I love the closeness I feel with my child as I nurse. To sit there looking down on my child's face as he contently nurses brings me such joy. That may be from the hormones, but I'll take it any way it comes. Second, nursing is something only I can do for my children. Hubby can't do it, no matter how many times I ask him to take care of a night time feeding. Grandma can't do it, no matter how much advice she gives. Anna can't do it, though she does like helping me pump when he doesn't eat "enough". It is a job for me alone to do and being able to do it brings a lot of satisfaction, especially as they gain weight and I know it is all from me.

Now, I know that not everyone can nurse or that people choose not to nurse for very long or at all, and I respect that. But for me, nursing brings me so much fulfillment as a woman that I will continue to nurse for as long as my children want to, within reason.

What I have learned...

2008-10-07T15:28:00.000-07:00

I have now been the mother of two for a week and I just have to share what I have learned from this experience. Please be advised that there will be talk of "bodily" functions, but nothing that will turn your stomach.

1. The first child will learn/regress to an action that makes life more difficult, like learning to open one's bedroom door and not wanting to go to bed peacefully.

2. It is possible to have one's milk come in and not have problems with engorgement.

3. It is possible for a baby to lose weight at the hospital and still weigh 12 oz more than his birth weight after one week. See #2.

4. Being woken up in the middle of the night is no longer a novelty.

5. A bedtime of 8:30 sounds so appealing.

6. All babies are potentially dangerous during diaper changes.

Of course, this list is not exhaustive, but it sure sums up this first week. Thank goodness for grandmas!

Welcome to Mathias Daniel!

2008-10-03T13:18:00.000-07:00

The time finally came and our first son made his appearance on September 30th at 2:20 am. He was 9 lbs 8 oz and 23 inches tall. Everyone is doing well and we are all happy to be home!

Anna seems to be doing well adjusting to her baby brother, but we'll see how long that lasts. She does, however, often ask to hold him.

Like Mother Like Daughter

2008-09-21T17:30:00.000-07:00

Before Anna was born, my mother gave me a dress my grandmother had made me when I was two. Along with it, I received a picture frame with a picture of me wearing it as well as an empty frame in which to put a picture of Anna when the time came. A week or so ago, I happened to be putting one of Anna's dresses in her closet next to this dress and realized that they were the same size! That very next Sunday, Anna wore my dress to church. Isn't she cute?

Now, I think this is a pretty cute picture of me, but my husband says that Anna is much cuter. What am I supposed to think of that?

An Acceptable Addiction

2008-09-01T19:22:00.000-07:00

I have a confession: I'm addicted. Badly addicted. And I don't feel bad about it. And don't tell me that I need to stop knitting, or so help me...

So, you might ask, what is a good little Mormon girl doing justifying an addiction? Well, knitting is such a release for me and I love being productive with my time. I just love knitting. To see my hands creating garments, toys, and anything I want from needles and yarn gives me such a sense of accomplishment. My knitting makes me feel special and different; it is something that brings me joy.

The other day, I was reading on Ravelry forums (a knitting geek website) about knitting and feminism, and Ravelry member leTonBeau had the most beautiful retort to those that consider knitting anti-feminist, despite the poor wording. She said "My personal feminist/ craft rant is that to consider in “traditional women’s work” is anti-feminist is to deny the worth of the women who came before us and did it out of necessicity rather than choice." I certainly don't knit because I have to and I don't knit because it is considered a "womanly" thing to do. I knit because I enjoy it.

Ok, I need to stop rambling, so I'll just end with a few pictures of projects I have finished recently.

This is Hitty, a doll Anna will be getting for her birthday in a few weeks. I'm working on making some more clothes for her.

This is a poncho that I made for a friend and her new baby. I've made this poncho several times and absolutely love it. I made a few changes this time just to make it more interesting.

This was my very first lace project and I was very pleased with how it turned out. Unfortunately, I just used yarn from my "stash" and I didn't have any good colors to choose from, so it is a nice, lovely brown.

Thanks for letting me rant and show off my knitting!

For the Bounty of the Earth

2008-08-19T13:21:00.000-07:00

We live in such a beautiful world! Last Thursday, I picked up two bundles of basil from the farmers' market (Oh, how long I have waited for this day!) and picked at least a bundle's worth from a pot in our garden. That night, we had pesto for dinner, and even better than that, made seven more batches of pesto to put into our freezer for the winter.

While Hubby worked on the pesto, I took a large bowl out behind our building with a stepstool and got to work picking blackberries. Since they hadn't been picked since before I left on our vacation, there were tons of super ripe berries just falling off into my hands. I ended up with twelve cups of blackberries and about half that much in juice and puree after I had seeded them, just enough for two batches of freezer jam.

The whole time that we were working on making pesto and picking blackberries, I couldn't help but be grateful for the bounty that the Lord puts on this earth and for the desire that I had to take advantage of it. Once again, we won't have to buy jam for another year (especially since I've made another batch since and have enough juice for one more) and I certainly won't be tempted to buy pesto, or even basil, from the grocery store. We'll certainly be making more pesto while the market still has basil and with the jam and pesto, we'll be eating summer all year long.

A Week to remember

2008-08-13T19:13:00.000-07:00

For the past week, Anna and I have been off galavanting in Oregon while Hubby stayed at home to keep down the fort. And quite the week we had!

First, Anna's favorite single aunt wanted to take her to the beach. There we enjoyed lots of wet sand, cold water and good company.

Anna "helped" her aunt by demolishing all the sand towers she could possibly make. If you listen hard to the video, you might just hear Anna say "Helping!" while scurrying from tower to tower.

Anna got some sand on her leg. While that might be normal for the beach, Anna did not think so and held her leg up hoping that we would clean it off for her.

After the beach became too cold to handle, we went back to Grandma's house, with a short stop at a farm stand that had a few goats, bunnies, and chickens. Anna had a lot of fun feeding the goat.

Here's our little sunflower!

After the weekend, Aunt, Anna and I went to the Portland Children's Museum, which is next to the Zoo (Can I just say I love Cultural Passes?!). There, Anna got to color, play with clay, trains and balls, "drive" an ambulance, and dig. All the while, her aunt and I were running trying to keep up with her. Well, her aunt was running; I was trying to sit down as much as possible. What a great time she had.

Digging!

Our last day there was the opening day of the County Fair and we just had to go. We had a busy day looking at all the cows, goats, sheep, poultry, llamas, and rabbits. And that was after getting cheesecakes ready to enter into the daily contest (we didn't win, but we did get in for free!). While the highlight for Anna was probably all the animals, or the ice cream, my highlight was seeing this:

This was the very first year I have ever entered anything in the fair, and I won! I entered a sourdough loaf (Thank you to the Bogardus family for the recipe and the sourdough start!) that I didn't think turned out that well, but it won. Of course, I had entered it into the sourdough section and there were only two other entries. I got to taste the other two, and mine certainly was the most sour of the group and my mother-in-law just raved about the texture (I thought it was a little lacking). To say the least, I was very proud of my accomplishment and maybe I'll be able to enter more in the future. I am getting better at making 100% whole wheat hearth bread...

So, now we are home and glad to be there. But it was a wonderful vacation!

Green Thumb

2008-07-21T19:56:00.000-07:00

Because of pregnancy and the distance we had to travel to garden, we decided to garden at home this summer. This, of course, is rather limiting since we live in an apartment and have to use containers to garden. However, we have a few containers up on the roof deck of our building (it certainly is nice to have an "in" with the managers) and we are very proud of our plants.

This is our garden.

We have three tomato plants (one cherry, two larger), a pot of basil and parsley, a bell pepper, arugula, Swiss chard and chives. As you can see, the tomatoes are doing quite well, especially the cherry which is covered with baby tomatoes.

Our pepper has 13 peppers growing, according to my husband's count. I haven't bothered counting. They seem innumerable.

Our cherry tomato is huge. We can't even fit all of it in the tomato cage! We lost a few tomatoes while we were gone for the Fourth of July, but it is still covered.

This is one of our other tomato plants. See how many tomatoes it has?

Before I took the pictures of our garden, I had pretty much decimated our Swiss chard to make dinner. But look how much we got out of a little container!

Growing this garden has been very good for me. I've always loved fresh produce (thanks, Mom, for spoiling me) and I like to see success. Gardens, while they don't provide instant gratification, certainly progress fast enough to be either very satisfying or very discouraging. I'm feeling very satisfied this year.

Growing up

2008-07-02T18:28:00.000-07:00

Anna certainly is growing up. Just this morning she did what every other toddler girl does at some point in her life: insist on wearing a bathing suit, just because. Granted, I did just buy the suit yesterday, so when she saw it this morning, she insisted on putting it on.

Doesn't she look cute! It sure was hard to get her out of it though!

Anna is also enjoying trying on Mommy's shoes. She got the zippers on these boots done by herself.

Neat Freak

2008-06-04T12:19:00.000-07:00

I don't know which side of the family she got this from, but my darling Anna has become a neat freak. "Uh oh" is her word to say "there is something dirty there and I won't do anything you ask until it is removed or cleaned". This happens especially when we are eating. Just today at lunch, she noticed the lentil soup on her bib, said "uh oh" and then refused to wear it because it was dirty. In addition to this, she is always wanting a napkin to clean her hands, tray, and cup during dinner. In fact, she would spend all of dinner time cleaning up rather than eating, if she had a choice!

I have a video of her that I can't post because it is too long, but it shows her in the bathtub wiping things down. I really don't know where she learned this. I do try to keep our living space clean, but I'm not that much of a neat freak. Perhaps it is just a phase that she will grow out of...

Count your blessings...

2008-05-23T12:51:00.001-07:00

Hubby and I manage an apartment complex as a way to live comfortably in an expensive city while on a student budget. We feel that we were very lucky with the place that we found and have been working here for almost two years.

Yesterday, I was talking to our property manager about some rent increases, and she made the comment that perhaps we need to increase them even more because we have absolutely no trouble filling vacant apartments. Well, that got me to thinking, as it has many times recently, and I really don't think it has anything to do with what we charge for rent, the state of the building, or even our skill as managers. But how do you explain that you think that building stays full because God is blessing you?

I really do feel blessed because of how things are going here in our building. Our pay is determined by how many people pay on time, and over the year and a half that we have been on that payment plan, we have fewer and fewer people paying late. Also, we get a bonus if we are able to rent apartments within a week of vacancy. We have only missed 3 or 4 in the whole time that we have been renting apartments, and we've had quite a few vacancies. In fact, we had three people give notice this month and already they are rented. Honestly, how could God not be blessing us? We certainly aren't the best managers ever. We make our mistakes. But we still have a full building and our property manager wonders how we are able to do it.

All of this makes me want to continue to pay tithing forever and to accept all church responsibilities that come my way. Now, I've never really had a problem with those things, but seeing how much we are blessed right now just confirms to me that those things, among others, really do make a difference in our lives.

Here he is!

2008-05-21T13:51:00.000-07:00

This morning was the big appointment, the moment of truth, when we would be able to see our little baby and potentially find out the gender. And while our little guy didn't cooperate all that well, he did allow us to find out his gender. And since I am almost 21 weeks along, there is no mistake. Besides, it is really hard to confuse a boy with a girl, though mistakes have been made in the other direction.

That said, our little boy should be making his grand appearance in October!

Amaryllis

2008-04-08T12:35:00.000-07:00

We've had two amaryllis bulbs for a couple years now and I had the hardest time getting them to bloom. First, we checked the internet and the USDA website (or something affiliated with them) had instructions on how to care for your bulbs. One of the instructions was to stop watering for a couple months so that the bulb will go dormant and eventually put out a flower stalk. So, we stopped watering in October and by January I had given up all hope of seeing them bloom, again.

Then I attended a book group for church and the woman hosting had the most beautiful amaryllis plants and all of them were flowering! Of course, I asked her how she got them to bloom and her answer was "I put them outside in the summer and bring them into the house when it gets cold". But did she water her plants? Of course, when she remembered to. That did it. If someone could manage to get 8-10 flower stalks out of her amayrillis plants with a laissez-faire attitude, then I was going to stop trying so hard!

That night, I moved the plants back to the window sill and gave them a good watering. Within a week, bulb #1 started pushing out leaves and a flower stalk. A week after that, bulb #2 did the same, but at a much slower rate. Bulb #1 shot up with a 2.5' flower stalk and leaves from several places. In a few weeks, we had two beautiful flowers from that plant. Bulb #2 took about a month and a half longer to push the stalk up and flower and is just now getting a leaf. However, bulb #2 had three flowers, as you can see in the first picture.

In any case, I am so excited that my beautiful amaryllis bulbs finally flowered!

Bulb #2 before third flower bloomed.

All three flowers. The two in the back are starting to fade, but I got this picture before they really drooped.

This is my beautiful baby enjoying our first amaryllis that bloomed.

Ha ha!

2008-04-01T09:30:00.000-07:00

This post needs a bit of explanation. And it can be summed up in two statements:

1. I have never successfully pulled off an April Fool's joke.
2. Hubby takes long, long showers (especially when he is tired).

Here is the story. This morning after Hubby had gotten up and started his shower, I was lying in bed wishing that I wasn't so tired. Then inspiration struck, hard. It dawned on me that it was April Fool's Day and that if I changed all the clocks in our apartment (or at least the ones Hubby would look at) to be about 45 minutes ahead, I could tell Hubby that he had been in the shower for an hour.

After I had changed the clocks, I peeked my head in the bathroom and told Hubby that he couldn't stay in the shower forever. I then went and got Anna out of bed and then went into the bathroom to brush our teeth. That's when I let the bomb drop and told him that he had been in the shower for an hour, that it was 8:30 and he had better hurry. I of course started to smile at this point, but that was easily covered up by turning to get my toothpaste and shoving my toothbrush into my mouth. I also told Hubby that I had fallen back to sleep and that Anna had slept in (which she did, but only until 7:45). All through breakfast I ribbed him, telling him that he must have been tired and asking whether or not there would be enough hot water for me to shower with. Everything went perfectly until he took his cell phone out of his pocket to make sure that he wouldn't miss the 9:16 bus. I started to giggle and said "April Fool's!" Fortunately, he wasn't too annoyed. We both laughed and I've gotten a kick out of telling people how I got Hubby. Some other time I'll have to post about the Valentine's day lasagna.

Nuance of Language

2008-03-21T12:18:00.000-07:00

I've been wanting to post something about this ever since Hubby and I had a slight disagreement about a month ago. Our disagreement was based on Hubby's use of a word that I felt did not fully communicate what he was trying to say, or that it was misleading in some way. Unfortunately, I have this issue quite regularly because I don't feel that Hubby has a complete grasp of the nuance of language. (This could come from living in Germany for much of his young life.)

In any case, this "disagreement" really highlighted the fact that I love the meaning of words and that I'm a little, ummm, exuberant when it comes to using words correctly. (I'll do the same thing with grammer as well.) Why am I this way? I don't know. I've always loved reading and English, though I prefer editing to writing (I almost made Hubby cry when I edited his Letter of Intent for grad school, but that's another story.) My mother also loved writing and reading, though she studied Microbiology in college. And my sister (older and perhaps a little bossy) is an English teacher, which can explain quite a bit. But what it all boils down to is a love for words and using words correctly.

Unfortunately, I have to admit that my vocabulary is not very extensive, as I may have led you to believe. Along with an obsessive insistance on the correct use of words is a fear of using words incorrectly. So I tend to use the generic, everyday type of words in my speech with a few "superfluouses" and "acquiescents" scattered here and there, properly used, of course. Every time I use a word that has just the right nuance, I get this warm feeling inside that just makes me want to use more "big" words, but, of course, only if I use them correctly.

Normal? Maybe?

2008-03-19T12:29:00.000-07:00

Maybe having a pity party worked....

So, yesterday after breakfast I was playing with Anna and suddenly I felt like cleaning my leather couch and chair. Wow, that was strange. I haven't felt like cleaning in, umm, a couple months? After the couch was done, I dusted one of my plants. And then I felt like doing laundry, particularly my woolens that are so hard to clean (I cheated. I'll give instructions at the end.) I can't tell you how suprised I was. After a couple months of wanting to do nothing but read and lay on the couch, it was a welcome relief. I even was able to decide on something for dinner(with my sister's help), make it, and have it ready when Hubby walked through the door!

With all of the cleaning urges happening, I can't help but wonder if the end of morning/evening/all day sickness is in sight. I'll be at twelve weeks this Friday, so maybe things are starting to calm down a bit. Expecting it to go away almost immediately is unwise, but maybe I really am starting to feel better.

Instructions on cleaning woolens:
My in-laws are obsessed with all things wool (my sister-in-law married into a sheep herding family and my mother-in-law cleans, cards, spins, dyes, and knits her own yarn). This would explain the wonderful wool blanket (Pendelton, because that is the only place to get good wool blankets) we received from them for our wedding. And the last time we were visiting Grandma and Opa, my mother-in-law showed me how to clean our blanket without having to take it to the dry cleaners. It is actually very simple.

Here are a few rules to remember when washing wool:
Never, NEVER agitate (unless you intend to felt your woolen)
Always use the same temperature of water for every stage of cleaning (hot or cold, it doesn't matter, just don't switch from hot to cold or vis versa in the middle of cleaning)
Never run water directly onto your woolen

Here is what I did with our sweaters:
First I added Woolite to the washer and filled it up with water.
Then I added the sweaters and gently pushed them under the water until all the air was gone.
Then I let it sit for about 30 minutes to an hour.
Then I moved the dial ahead to the spin cycle, let the water spin out and then refill, stopping it as soon as it started to agitate. (my washer fills from the bottom up, no water shooting into the bowl. If you have one that shoots water, you will want to move your woolens out of the way, or remove them from the washer until the water stops shooting.)
I repeated this process again just to make sure all the soap was out, then I moved the dial to the final spin cycle and let it finish.

Now, if you have one of those fancy front-loading washers that I covet, just use your handwash setting and forget about these complicated instructions.

Feeling Sick

2008-03-17T12:08:00.000-07:00

I need a pity party! It has been a month and a half since I felt any where close to decent and there are so many things I miss because I just don't feel like doing anything. Here are some of them:

-piano lessons (and playing the piano)
-a clean apartment
-making some of my favorite dishes
-being able to decide what I am going to make for dinner (nothing ever sounds good)
-more walks outside
-Girl Scout Cookies (they have been sitting on our counter because I want to be able to enjoy them when I eat them)
-getting stuff done during Anna's naps rather than just sleeping
-Having people over more often
-not making Hubby do dishes for the entire day after dinner

Oh, the list could go on and on. What I really want back is my motivation. It disappeared quickly after the nausea started and some days I can hardly get off the couch. Hopefully in the next few weeks I'll start to feel better and actually enjoy being pregnant! Fortunately, I am getting really excited about it. In a week we'll be able to hear the heart beat for the first time!

Getting Excited

2008-02-19T19:26:00.000-08:00

So, Hubby and I were surprised last month when my period didn't show up. We were being careful, but somehow by the end of the month I was lying down on the couch suffering from morning sickness.

Now, don't get me wrong, it is not a problem that I am pregnant. In fact, we had discussed this timing previously, knowing that if I got pregnant in December or January, our kids would be about 2 years apart. Not bad timing for us. Then we discovered that Hubby forgot to sign me up for his insurance, which he has to do at the begining of each school year. Now, he immediately signed me up, but it wouldn't start until January, so December was out. So, because of that and because I am just plain scared of having more than one child running around, I wanted to put off the conception until this summer. Well, that obviously didn't happen.

Am I excited to be pregnant? Let's just say that I am working on it. Like I mentioned, I had mentally prepared myself for getting pregnant several months in the future. Also, I'm afraid that other women that I know will think that we are irresponsible. Because we live in such a liberal area, I get the impression that people that have kids only two years apart (or even just have kids) are looked down upon. Somehow, and I don't know how this happened, women are seen as not being true to themselves if they have children. I certainly don't agree with this, but I still worry about what others think of me.

And the biggest reason I'm still working on being excited? Well, it is rather simple. Very shortly after I found out that I was pregnant, the nausea set in. I really didn't have any time to prepare myself before I was sick. So, once the sickness goes away, I'll really be able to get excited. :)

The New Year

2008-01-08T12:25:00.000-08:00

A New year has begun, and I need to make those pesky little things called resolutions. I have learned, however, that I am not going to make any changes unless I really want to make those changes. Now, that might sound obvious, but simply knowing that something is good for me doesn't mean I want to do it.

Example: Exercising is good. It makes you healthier, happier (yeah for endorphins), and more in control of your body. I know it would help me sleep better. I know that when I decide to have another baby, it will help me during my pregnancy. I know that being more toned would help me to feel better about myself. But do I exercise? NO. Will I make a resolution regarding exercise? Probably. Most likely, it will be something about learning to like exercising or something like that. Will it work? Ask me at the end of the year.

Fear

2007-12-18T09:56:00.000-08:00

So, I'm afraid of blogging. Really, there is no reason for it, but I have friends with wonderful blogs and I feel like I just can't compete with their style of writing. To overcome this fear, I decided I just need to start. Of course, most people who see this blog will reading only to see pictures of my lovely daughter, but I'll pretend that they are really coming to be wowed my blogging skills.