• Thursday, December 18, 2008 - strange places to keep your baby (from a 2-yo)
Posted By Morning Sunshine
Background:
dd2, Lion, acquired a baby doll recently. It is tiny, about 5 inches from head to foot, but since it is in a sitting position, it seems much smaller. She has named this baby "Eddie." I do not know why. Do not ask me, and if you ask her, well, I cannot guarantee you will understand the reason! So, anyway, she occasionally keeps this baby in one of the school drawers (one of those Sterilite plastic drawer sets with 3 drawers about 12"x9").
Set up:
Last night we were scouring the house looking for Baby Eddie. We were looking everywhere (and, I have to confess, I was not too urgent about finding him quickly - she wanted to go to bed, and it was about 45 minutes too early, so I was using this as an excuse to keep her awake and alert)
Me: Did you look in your school cubby? Sometimes you keep him in there.
Lion: maybe. (she looks). Nope. No Eddie. Hiding.
Me: I do not know why you keep Eddie in a school cubby. Seems like a strange place to keep a baby.
Lion (looking at me VERY intently): Mommy, baby tummy.
Now, I do not know how much she meant to imply, but following my comment, it certainly seems like she was saying to me "Well, mommy, YOU have a BABY in your TUMMY. Talk about a strange place to keep a baby!"
I have not stopped laughing about that all day! |
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• Tuesday, December 16, 2008 - garbage musings
Posted By Morning Sunshine
Our road has 5 houses on it. Ours is the second. The really steep part of the hill starts after our driveway splits off. We just received a call from our neighbor at the top of the hill. He is also the president of the homeowners association here (it is mostly used as a network for keeping our private road passable in winter - no crazy "thou shalt only have masonry building on your property" or "you MUST plant 3 of THIS type of tree on your parking strip" or "only WHITE vinyl fences will be allowed").
Anyway, yesterday was garbage day, and I guess his garbage was not picked up. So he called to find out why this would be. I do not know the reason for yesterday, but, it seems that where we normally place our garbage and recycle cans can cause problems for the truck on a cold wintery day.... they cannot get the traction needed to make it to the top of the hill. This makes sense to us - that is where we got our van stuck in a snowbank last February. So, they have requested we place our cans on the other side of the road for them to grab on their way DOWN. easy enough.
Our neighbor asked if ours had been picked up yesterday (cuz his was not) and I said that we had not put it out; we do not have that much garbage, so we only take it up every other week or so. And even taking it up every other week, it is still only 1/2 - 2/3 full. our recycle is generally FULL every two weeks (which is when they send the recycle truck), but the actual garbage - almost never.
But this conversation made me think about our garbage habits. The make up of households on our road are: two childless older couples, two families with most of their children gone - one has a ds10 and dd8 and the other a dd11 and a ds18 still at home. And then us. with 3.5 children under the age of 7.
I do not know about the garbage habits of our neighbors - are their cans always full? The one house we pass has two cans that are out every week. I do not know if they are full or not, but if they are 2/3 full each week, that is still 4 times as much garbage as we have. I wonder - do we just have less garbage than the average family? if so, why? we have a child in diapers - that would have to up our garbage level - LOL!
is it our eating habits? We eat from scratch most of the time, and that means very few boxes/packaging. how much garbage is generated from processed foods? We have really cut down on our eating out habits (it helps that I am no longer suffering morning sickness and we are not eating out 3-4 times a week! But even when we did, I cannot stand fast food, so we had to do the sit-down family restaurants, and brought home little of that - we share meals when we can.)
We also use paper napkins, and rarely paper towels. Even when we have friends or relatives over, we generally use regular dishes instead of paper goods. The only disposable item we use on a regular basis are diapers (sorry - not ready to do the cloth thing yet!) and kleenex (or whatever cheap variety is on sale when we start running low). Well, and TP, but that does not generally end up in the garbage (ds7's "experiments," notwithstanding!)
Come spring, we will be getting our compost back up and running, and that will cut out even more garbage. And dd2 is potty training - slowly but making progress on her schedule, so that will be less diapers. Except, by then, we will have a newborn going through diapers like crazy, so that will pick up.
So what are other families throwing out? We don't get credit card offers - thanks to LifeLock's services, so that cuts down on garbage, but that would go in recycle anyway. So I do not get it. What are people throwing away?
things to think about, anyway.
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• Monday, December 15, 2008 - Butchered more chickens
Posted By andiplus8
Well, last thursday before we butchered a pig, we butchered more chickens. My friend and I got together and did this ourselves. My husband killed a few of them for us, but we took turns and killed the rest ourselves. Then we skinned some and plucked some. Now I see the difference in both. I usually just skin. Plucking is not so bad. At least it was easier than I thought it would be.
Then we spent the next 6 or 7 hours canning the chicken. I wanted to can some since I still have a freezer full of chicken we butchered last time! That was my first time canning meat. Now I know! It wasn't so bad either. Just took forever......and ever....and ever......My word, I thought it would never end. I was so tired when I finally got to go to bed!
But it was so worth it!! |
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• Monday, December 15, 2008 - Pig Butchering
Posted By andiplus8
This may not seem too exciting to some, but I just got to do my first pig butchering!!! It actually was exciting. Except the killing part. Thankfully the men took care of that!
We formed a little group of friends to butcher with. Processing is so expensive anymore that all of us decided to just get together and help each other. We all pitch in equipment and gather at our neighbor's workshop. It is nice and big and WARM thanks to the wood stove.
We got together Friday and Saturday. The actual killing took place Friday. Then we skinned, gutted, quartered and froze the meat. On Saturday, we took the partially frozen meat and cut it into actual butcher cuts. We also made sausage and packed the bacon in salt to cure. We will try smoking one of the hams.
It was a learning experience to say the least! We are going to do another one this weekend. Fun! I love that we can all get together and do this for each other. Good to have nice folks you can depend on. :) |
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• Monday, December 15, 2008 - Draft Stopper Idea
Posted By andiplus8
Here's a little something I just tried and it works!
Take the leg off of a pair of men's old worn out jeans. Cut it at an angle off the seat. Put a safety pin in the bottom to hold it together. Fill the leg with scraps of material or plastic. I used some denim scraps I was saving for a quilt top. You could use walmart bags too. Or old towels or rags. You get the picture. Close up the top end with two safety pins or using a yarn needle thread some colorful yarn through and tie it off. (that's what I did) Now take the filled leg and put the long part of the angled top against the door. Even it up and then staple it to the door at each end. It should hang over the ends just a touch thanks to the angled part. Now when you go out and close the door, the draft stopper goes with the door! Hope y'all can get some use out of this. If you don't have a jeans leg just use a towel and sew it up. Fill it and staple to the door. Voila! |
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• Saturday, December 13, 2008 - toy experiment
Posted By Morning Sunshine
We have a beautiful "turret" that is on all 3 floors of our house. The five windows look to the East and South, 5 parts of an octagon. It is part of the master bedroom upstairs (which is where I winter my citris trees). It is the "library" in the basement. And it is part of the living/family area on the main floor. This is the perfect place for a Christmas tree. Absolutely perfect.
During the rest of the year, however, the walls under the windows in the family room (about 2 feet of wall space there) is the home of toys. I moved the toys to the main room so I could a) monitor my children while at play - I like having them "underfoot" - and b) make sure they all got put away at night. This has worked well - every toy has a container in which it belongs, and they nest nicely against the wall.
But came Thanksgiving, and time to set up the Tree. Where do I put it? My perfect tree spot is gone. Taken over by that bane of 21st century living with children - endless toys! I briefly (VERY BRIEFLY) considered putting it in a corner in the couch room (aka parlor, although nowhere so neat or tidy or dainty), but that was not likable.
Then came the brilliant thought - "put away the toys." Ah-ha! So, each child picked a toy: ds7, Bug - dress-ups (he had just gotten some knight and patriot gear for his birthday - love post-halloween sales for these kinds of things!); dd4, Bear - My little Ponies (she has my old ponies from childhood; she is a horse fiend!); and for dd2, Lion - I kept out the trains, not totally Thomas: too expensive, but Thomas does make some cool accessories to add to our cheap set (I kept this out because this year for Christmas, she is getting her very own battery-operated engine; the other kids each have one, and it is one of the few battery toys I like - cuz you can only use it AFTER you have used your imagination and engineering skills to build a track!)
So, three toys are left out.... well, and the wood toy kitchen with all its paraphenelia - it was too big to be moving about. Add to that the fisher-price nativity set (which we love! kid friendly, with all the proper participants - have you noticed that kid sets usually have only a few pieces?), and we seem to have a very full compliment of toys in the corner (but not the turret). Gone are the blocks, legos, tinker toys, puppets, stuffed animals, cars, trucks, etc. yes, these are good imagination-building toys, but they are no longer cluttering my living space. Clean up time at 4pm takes 30 minutes instead of 2 hours, which means I am not nagging the kids for 2 hours, and they are not burned out from cleaning up their messes.
And a strange thing has happened. My children have been making up their own games. The older two are playing with their little sister more. Maybe because she is not "destroying" their lego creations or block buildings. They play ring-around-the-rosie, and spin the bottle (this was cute - on their turn they had to say 3 things for which they were thankful!), they make up games together that involve everyone. They color more and help Lion thread beads onto boondogle for bracelets.
Lion loves all this. instead of yelling at her to go away while they are playing, her bestest friends in the whole world, the two people she loves to be with the most are including her. Her face is just lit up when she is playing with them. Half the time she has no idea what she is doing, or what it is they are asking her to do. But she does what they are doing, and giggles the entire time.
So, come January.... I might just leave the toys put away. or let them exchange one box for a different. We still have all the puzzles out, the craft supplies, the little-toy games - they belong in a different place, and that has been well-maintained for some time. And if they never want this toy or that pulled out.... how long before I can get rid of it? I like them playing together. I like to hear them laughing and giggling instead of screaming or crying or running to me "I had xxxx first, and s/he just took it out of my pile/hands!" |
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• Thursday, December 11, 2008 - pocket pita bread
Posted By Morning Sunshine
here it is $1.99 for 10 oz. that is 10 HALF pitas that open nicely into sandwich pitas. Normal sized pita bread halves.
I found something last spring - mini pitas. about 3-4 inches across, and that was the whole pita. perfect for small hands to eat sandwiches. And because they are smaller with less surface area, they do not rip as easily either, meaning that your stuffings do not fall out so easily. But... they are also $1.99. but wait - only 7 oz. I do not remember how many pitas were in the package. That doesn't matter - same price for 3 oz LESS.
So, I am making my own pitas. I have tried, oh, probably 5-6 different recipes for these, and this is the recipe I find tastes the best and is the most easily reproducible. So here is my recipe. The original that I found somewhere.... dunno where. and my variations in red. I have half of last nights' batch in the freezer to test the freezing aspect, and next time I plan to substitute some whole grain flour. I do not like making things with all white all the time. But switching a recipe straight over to ww is problematic.
Pita Bread
4 1/2 to 4 3/4 cups flour (2 1/3)
1 pkg yeast (1 1/8 t)
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar (¾ t)
1 1/2 teaspoons salt (¾ t)
1 3/4 cups water (½ + 1/3 c)
2 tablespoons oil (1T)
Mix 2 cups of flour, yeast, sugar, salt. Heat water and oil until warm. Add to flour mixture. Beat 3 minutes at medium speed. Stir in flour to make smooth and elastic about 10 minutes. Let rest 20 minutes covered. Punch down and divide into 12 parts. Roll into smooth balls. Cover and let rise 30 minutes. Heat oven to 500. Roll balls out into 6 inch circles. Bake about 3 minutes.
made the half recipe twice now. Very important to follow the beating/kneading/rising times listed. Made 16 small pitas out of the half (red) batch. Each time I have gotten fully puffed and tasty pitas. The oven never quite gets up to 500, but I get impatient. they still puff nicely after 1.5 minutes – if they are not fully puffed, give them another few seconds. 30 seconds on other side. I am going to try freezing these and see if I could make a huge batch and freeze – to save energy in the oven. |
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• Thursday, December 11, 2008 - almost amused....
Posted By Morning Sunshine
I have now been visited by Anonymous. the slightly snooty, know-it-all, you-are-an-awful-mom Anonymous. I have read her comments on other blogs, but I was beginning to wonder if she ever read mine. But I guess she does, and has finally found something about which to complain. I guess I am part of the "in-crowd" now here at HSB. LOL!
In regards to my post about feeding my son. Dear Anonymous, I guess you haven't read a lot of my posts - some of that was tongue-in-cheek: of course, I do not want my children to stop growing. Of course I want them to grow up. What mom doesn't? But what mom also DOESN'T want her babies to stay small and cuddly and holdable?
My children know that they can have fruit as snacks any time of the day, as long as they have eaten their previous meal. And, yes, I am a stickler for this. We introduce foods that they do not know, and sometimes we eat foods that they do not particularly care for, like beans. we eat beans 2 times a week. And I expect my children to eat them. They are still young enough that their tastes are changing, and what they do not like today, they may like tomorrow. And the rules are different for each child, depending on age and ability level
ds7, for example, has to eat everything he takes at a meal. We let him serve himself, but encourage, strongly, small portions each time. He is welcome to serve himself as many times as he likes, but in small portions so that he does not waste food. He is also expected to to take at least two bites of everything, whether he likes it or not.
dd2 is a different story. We give her everything we are eating, in small portions, and let her watch us enjoy it. She tries pretty much everything, and we do not expect her to like it. Or eat it. There is generally something on the table she likes, so after she has tried the new thing, we let her fill up on the other yummies. She is the child that would live on crackers and fruit and nothing else, were I to let her. I will not let her. She needs other things, and I love her enough to expand her food horizons.
dd4 is between the two, although closer to ds7, since she can understand and reason things through a bit. I try to help her explain in words why she doesn't like something. She does not like strong flavors, "too spicy" is her usual mantra. But it is not always "spicy" just sharp or tangy or spicy. But she also eats what she takes.
So, yes limiting snacks to children who have eaten their previous meal is something I feel is important. If they are really hungry, they can go back and finish that meal. It is in the fridge.
Anonymous did have one thing right - I am controlling about food. At least, that is my tendency. But that is something I recognized a long time ago, and I am working on that, and have already made a lot of progress. And I am sure, I will make a lot more as my son stretches his wings in the kitchen to make himself snacks when he is hungry. I have shown him how to make baked potatoes and popcorn and he knows he is always welcome to make a piece of toast with pb or a slice of cheese on it. I am working to have yummy snacky things for him. Things that are healthy too. That is the hard part because he is a boy of this century, and expects everything right here, right now. So he would like the nice packaged processed snacks. But that is not an option.
I was actually thinking about letting him make some granola bars, so that he can make them and that might help his desire to eat them. anyone have a good recipe?
oh, and Anonymous, I did erase your comment. I did not want to read it any more than the one time, it would just make me stew. but, hey, I did want to respond. Next time, leave your name so we can have better dialog. |
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• Wednesday, December 10, 2008 - HELP! My children are GROWING - snack ideas, please?
Posted By Morning Sunshine
up until now, we have had a great system for feeding our children:
Breakfast (hot cereal 1-2 days, eggs and pancakes/crepes/waffles/muffins 3-4 days a week, german pancakes 1 day a week, cold cereal ONLY 1 day a week) sometime between 6:30 and 8 am (depending on when they wake up)
snack of a piece of fruit or leftover breakfast or banana bread or yogurt cheese about 10 or 10:30 (only if they ate all their breakfast; if not they get to finish that)
lunch (leftovers from last night dinner, pbj or quesadilla) 11:30-12
afternoon snack - see morning snack, around 2, and maybe another about 4
dinner at 6
this system has kept them all fed and happy for some time. My problem is my eldest. He is 7, and I think he must be growing. he will eat 2 full whole wheat waffles, an egg, a half-grapefruit for breakfast. He will eat twice as much chicken and rice for dinner as dh and I. He will eat 4 bowls of soup and a roll. And I think, "okay, he is full."
In AN HOUR he is complaining that he is hungry and start ransacking the kitchen for food. He is eating 3-4 apples a day, or half a bag of clementines. I know fruit is a great snack, but he needs to eat something besides fruit if he is hungry, and I am not going to buy ready made "snack" food. I need help. He is driving me NUTS!!!
What do you feed your growing children? Is this what I have to look forward to in the teen years? What kind of high protein snacks can I have for him? Protein is what he needs, I am sure. Cheese, peanut butter... what kind of things should I have for him to be eating whenever he gets hungry? Should I just make a shelf in the fridge for things he can pull out and eat at will? Should I buy some nuts for him? and how do I deal with the girls - if I make the snacks available to him, the girls will eat them as well, and then not eat their meals that I make for them. (And why can he not keep the food schedule I set!?!?! - it has worked until now!)
He throws potatoes into the toaster oven and eats baked potatoes for a snack with cheese. He tries to make lemonade or a bowl of cold cereal when he is hungry (neither of which I am down with - these do not fill an empty tummy).
HELP! Please. I need snacks that he can do with little help from me that are high protein and healthy for a little boy. (And why can he not stay a little boy! - why does he have to grow up!?!?!) |
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• Tuesday, December 9, 2008 - morning
Posted By Morning Sunshine
why is it....
when you have an early start to your morning planned, and a lot of errands to run and a long car trip... your children sleep in. You even start breakfast early so that you can be done with it by 7:30.
but....
when you would like a slow lazy morning, with extra time to just relax and putter... your children are up at 6?
sigh.
and we have 2 of these mornings this week. Today we are headed to Ogden to see the midwife, so she can tell me that everything is fine, baby growing, I am normal, etc. and a trip to Costco. That should be interesting, since I have switched to a cash-only grocery budget. But I have a list. And I will stick to the list. I am generally very good at list-sticking.
Agh - My office needs a serious clean. and I am scared to do it. it is so massive a job, it is hard to start. but start I must. tomorrow.
ah - I hear the pattering of feet above. I guess the children have decided to awake! YEAH! |
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