J & L Selman Family Blog

Gluten Free OAMC

2011-08-21T19:51:00.000-07:00

Just finished this round of OAMC. Having to do it all Gluten Free (or at least making sure Justen has a GF option) made it an extra special level of fun. But it's done and in the freezer, except the lasanga. All the parts of it are cooked only for me to discover I'm out of freezer dishes. So they are ordered and will be here Monday, and then I can finish up and get that done. So here is my copy and paste of the menu I type to hang on my fridge so I stay organized and remember what is out there.

Meals in the freezer

-GF Mexican Beans and Rice Casserole X2 _____ _____

-GF Farmer’s Casserole X3 _____ _____ ______

-GF Meatloaf X2 _____ ______

-GF Carolina Pulled Pork X2 _____ ______

-Enchiladas X3 _____ ______ _____ (10 individual bowls of GF w/Corn tort.)

-GF BBQ Meatballs X2 _____ _____

-GF Taco Meat X2 _____ ______

-GF Steak Fajita Kits X3 _____ _____ _____

-GF Roast Beef and Gravy _____

-GF Roast Beef Gravy for hot sandwiches _____ (use buns Nanny made for GF, and grocery store beef)

-GF Taco Soup _____
-GF Stroganoff X3 ______ _____ _____

- Stuffed Shells x3 _____ _____ _____ (6 individual GF servings)

-Lasagna X3 _____ _____ _____ (8 individual GF servings)

-5 individual servings Nanny's BBQ with GF buns.

A few crafty things.

2011-06-11T20:16:00.000-07:00

A little dyeing, a little sewing, a little soap, and a little home decorating. Have forgotten to take pics of lots that I've done this month but here's the run down of what I did remember to take pics of.

Finished the curtains for Garrison's new room. Thanks to Loraine's help for getting me started by doing the blackout curtains (behind). I had crafter's block and couldn't seem to get started. Can't wait to get the rest done, he's going to love it. They didn't turn out quite like I planned since first I measured wrong, then I cut even more wrong, and then I had to salvage the whole situation. Oh, well.

Click this bar to view the full image.

My mom and I had a dye day while she was here. We did more than this, but this is all I remembered to take pictures of. This will be knit into a cabled sleep sack (pattern purchased from cabbages and kings- so CUTE!). And the roving will be handspun by me and my mom will knit it into a matching cabled hat. My mom does all my knitting since I don't know how. I also finished a really pretty skein of handspun yarn in tropical colors but sadly forgot to take pictures.

Click this bar to view the full image.

And finally, I'm pretty proud of this. A man who grew up in our neighbor hood (whose parents still live here) needs a liver transplant. The whole community was pitching in for a big fund raising effort. So I put this together to put in the silent auction. I have no clue what it went for but I sure enjoyed making it. I got the idea online, as some one else did a go green basket for a library fundraiser. It was a lot of work, but I enjoyed doing it. So here is my take on a go green kitchen basket:

Click this bar to view the full image.

Mine contained:
1 set dinner napkins - woven
1 set dinner napkins- flannel
1 set lunch napkins
1 roll unpaper towels.
1 bag holder
1 reusable shopping tote (purchased)
1 SS water bottle (purchased)
1 bottle seventh generation dish soap. (purchased obviously)
1 bottle seventh generation spray cleaner (purchased)
1 natural lip balm (made by me)
3 bars soap (also made by me)
and 1 natural oil lotion bar.

Lambing time

2011-02-06T08:23:00.000-08:00

We are half way through lambing and so far it's been a good year. We've had all twins and so far haven't lost a lamb. No, we don't have a bottle baby (thankfully). We had a little lamb with obstructed bowel, that just kept getting weaker and weaker. We found it about dead and had to milk out mom and tube feed it to keep it alive. It progressed to a bottle after tubing it twice. Justen performed an emergency "colonoscopy" when he decided it was going to die any way and amazingly enough it lived. We put it back with mom who accepted it back and now it's with her and doing well. Yesterday was still rough and he got several bottles (which means I kept having to crawl under mom to get the milk). After a dose of mineral oil last night with his bottle and some quality time teaching him where milk is suppose to come from he is in the pasture and looking great today.

Then this morning, Garrison insisted on helping Dad with chores before church. I managed to get him to stay in the house with me by cutting up strawberries and getting the whipped cream out (can you say BRIBE). But when Dad went back out the second time there was nothing I could do. I really just didn't want to hunt down his coat and boots because I was trying to get a bunch of other things done. I told him he had to find a hat and coat to go out. This is how he dressed himself.

Making Dinner

2011-01-30T16:04:00.000-08:00

I decided to grab a few shots of Garrison and Daddy peeling spuds for dinner tonight.

A few things...

2011-01-09T12:55:00.001-08:00

First off Garrison would like to show you the new use he has for undies, they make great hats! And I'm very excited to say that we are now officially done with diapers. Over Christmas break Garrison decided he was done with them. We were worried about him going to daycare because if he has a single accident there they will put him right back in pullups. He's been there a whole week now and hasn't come home in different clothes a single day. We still put a pull up on him at night, but most mornings even those are dry. I'm sad to see him grow up, but glad that the struggle of this stage is over.

We had a death recently at our house. The steam mop I got for my birthday last year died. It was a sad thing. Justen being who he is decided he would "fix" it. Well, since you can't buy parts, that isn't possible. But I had to take some pictures of Justen, steam mop surgeon. After much debate we decided to replace it. We just love our steam mop, and when we got it Justen started doing the mopping. When I was going to get a regular old mop Justen was less than enthusiastic, which translates into I will have to do all the mopping again. So, we did a little research and decided to buy another one, a little different model. We had a bissel, the new one we bought is the Eureka Envirosteamer. I can't speak to it's longevity, but it is SO MUCH BETTER than our old mop in terms of performance, and we thought the old one was great.

January Meal Plan

2011-01-05T19:10:00.000-08:00

Here is the menu I did for my latest once a month cooking (OAMC). I have to say, I love this way of thinking!! I make a huge mess in my kitchen and I'm totally exhausted when I'm done. BUT, I only have to deep clean the kitchen once. The whole rest of the month it's just wiping counters, and one or two loads of dishes A WEEK!! I put in links for recipes I found online. Many of the recipes are just my own normal ones that I've figured out the best way to freeze. This month's goal was to use up the already cooked turkey I put in the freezer at Thanksgiving, and the left over Christmas ham, as well as a huge banana squash I had in the basement. It went pretty well but I certainly couldn't have done it without Justen's help. The numbers after each meal like x2 mean how many of that meal is in the freezer. If it says +1GF that means I made an additional one gluten free for a certain somebody whose baby is due soon. If I counted correctly I made 46 meals or major portions of meals to put in the freezer. 41 of them are for us, which means this months cooking day should actually last us until the end of February at the rate we normally use them. Since I do still tend to cook on weekends, and some night s we are gone or eat left overs we only use 4-5 of the meals a week. This should almost get me to spring break when I have time to do another big day.

*Farmer’s Casserole (+1GF) (x2)

*Linguine Ala Anne (x2)

*Linguine Marinara (x1)

*Lentil Soup (+1GF) (x2)

*Meat Loaf (+1GF) (x2)- also made loaded spuds to go with these.

*Spinach, Cheese, and sausage stuffed shells (x3) - these are incredible! I doubled the recipe and ended up with three 8x8pans to freeze and a 9x13 we ate that night.

*Baked Ziti (x2)

*Hobo Casserole (x2)

*Lasagna (+1 GF) (x2)

*Light Turkey Tetrazzini (x2)

* Sicilian Supper (x1)

*Turkey Chunk Casserole (x2) -This is like turkey enchiladas except layered instead of rolled up

* Turkey & Wild Rice Soup (x2)

*Squash, Bacon & Leek Chowder (x2)

*French Bread Pizzas (X2)

*Chicken Fajita Kits(+1GF) (x2)

*Basil and Balsamic Pork Chops (x1)

*Citrus Pork Chops (x2)

*Taco Meat (x2) -To make tacos, burritos, or taco soup

*Armour Meat Balls (x4) Precooked-Ideas: Swedish gravy & noodles, mac & cheese, Soup, BBQ meatballs, Heat and serve.

*Spaghetti meat sauce (X1)

Christmas

2010-12-25T13:59:00.001-08:00

The pictures are totally in reverse order. We started out at home and did our family gift exchange on Christmas eve. Garrison loves ripping wrapping paper off, and this year he actually played with the toys inside instead of just the paper and empty boxes. Then we headed up to Nanny's for the night. He LOVES playing with his nanny and he dressed up in her frosty the snowman outfit. In the morning he got his stocking. Justen managed to find a pair of mini safety glasses to put in it. Now Garrison can be just like Daddy when they work. There was also a pillow pet under the tree with his name on the tag. We told him to figure out what under the tree had his name on it. He was so busy trying to find his name he totally missed what it was. He likes his puppy and laid on it while watching a movie. On the way to Grandma's he got kind of upset at us because we left his new puppy at Nanny's. Next, we went over to Grandma Raine's and Grandpa Chris's house. But mommy forgot to get out the camera. Finally, we headed over to Great Grandma and Grandpa Selman's where he unwrapped his new fire truck. He drove it all over their house. He loved giving everyone their gifts, but I think he especially enjoyed Grandpa Selman's because Grandpa let him help unwrap them. He really likes ripping paper off things, even if he doesn't get the gift inside. So here we are, back at Nanny's for nap time. I figured I had better get these pictures up while I"m thinking about it or it may never happen. If I get around to it, I'll try and get some from Nanny's party up tonight, we'll see.

This month...

2010-12-12T06:55:00.000-08:00

Garrison loves playing with Daddy's "guitar".

And showing off his new train outfit from Oma.

Pillow Pets

2010-10-24T17:31:00.000-07:00

Garrison has been very excited about something called a pillow pet lately. I'd never seen one myself, but Justen described it to me as a pillow with a stuffed animal head attached. Everyday for the last two weeks Garrison has been coming home from school telling me he wants a pillow pet like two of the girls have, and everyday I tell him his regular pillow works fine. Of course I was thinking this was just something silly and his focus on it will fade. It hasn't. Then the other day Justen and Garrison stopped at Walgreens to pick up my prescription and there they were. The often heard about but never seen pillow pets. Garrison was so excited to show them to Justen and tell him all about the ones the girls at school have, and how much he wants one. Justen thought about it for a minute, and luckily his common sense told him I'd kill him if he spent $25 on a silly stuffed animal. Now had it been a stuffed tractor pillow, he probably wouldn't have thought twice, but that's a story for another day. They came home and Garrison proceeded to tell me the account of how they saw them at the store, and how much he wanted one but Daddy said they were to expensive. As Justen described it, I got thinking, how hard can this be to make? So my quest today while I laid in the recliner (thank you crud that just doesn't want to leave me), was to find out what these things were and more importantly how to make them.
Here are the tutorials I've found out there in the blogosphere (seriously what did we do before the internet?)

Part 1
http://twelvecraftstillchristmas.blogspot.com/2010/07/pillow-buddy-tutorial-part-1.html

Part 2
http://twelvecraftstillchristmas.blogspot.com/2010/07/pillow-buddy-tutorial-part-2.html

And one about how to make one using a dollar store stick horse (I wouldn't use a unicorn like she did)
http://www.filthwizardry.com/2010/08/home-made-freaky-unicorn-pillow.html

I'm thinking about doing a brown puppy because I already have some brown fleece up in the cabinet. Or maybe a lady bug one because I have those colors of fleece too. Now, the real question... Will it actually happen in time for Christmas? I honestly don't know. We had planned on finishing the front landscape this weekend but now we're all sick. I had taken a day off last week in hopes of cleaning my house and all I managed to do was organize my fabric closet. So reality is it may not happen, but I figured I have a better chance of doing it if I post it here than if it's just one more idea running around in my head.

Edit to add: The other idea running around in my head... Could you put a zipper in it and use an actual pillow as stuffing? That way I could take the cover off and wash it. If anyone can figure out an easy way to do that please fill me in, because around here everything needs to be washable.

Our Anniversary

2010-10-13T06:12:00.000-07:00

Last night was pretty fun and kind of funny so I thought I'd share. It was Justen and my anniversary. We've been married 8 years now. The sad part is we forgot. Nanny called at 4:30 and reminded us. Opps, but it's ok we're going out of town this weekend and already have plans and reservations made. But the funny part came when Justen tried to explain to Garrison what an anniversary was. He said it's the day we celebrate when mom and dad got married. Well, he made one big mistake, he said the word the word, celebrate. Garrison got really excited and proclaimed, "Celebrate! That means we go out to a restaurant! Lets go!" He is totally obsessed with eating at restaurants lately. Last night he decided the hamburger stroganoff we were eating was "fancy food" and that we were at a restaurant. Then when he cleared his plate (and scraped it in the trash) he told us that he was the bus boy at Mommy's restaurant. We didn't have the heart to tell him that we were going out alone this weekend (he knows we're going but we didn't discuss the going out to eat part). So we took him to burger king and used some coupons, I was proud of my coupon accomplishment. For $7 we got a meal to share with an extra burger for me, a happy meal for him, and three mini ice cream cones for dessert. What can I say, I love cheap! And Garrison got to play at the play land. It was a win-win. And after we went freezer shopping, and to home depot to pick some stuff up for the shed Justen is building. It was a really fun night.
Now as for what we have planned for our anniversary, we're both pretty excited. We realized a couple of weeks ago that we have not been anywhere that wasn't for work without Garrison since he was born. We haven't so much as gone to dinner or a movie in 2 1/2 years alone. We decided it was time to get out. So we're going down to Salt Lake for the weekend. We're excited to go see the SLC temple, we've never been to that one. We're excited to go see whatever new movie is showing in the Joseph Smith building. And we're going to go eat at two of my favorite restaurants, Ruby River and Olive Garden. YUM! And Justen really wants to take one of the horse drawn carriage rides around temple square, neither of us have ever done that so it should be fun. Oh, and a big thanks to Grandma, Nanny and Morgan who have it all worked out to take care of Garrison for the weekend so we can go! It's a long overdue vacation for us.

For Nanny to see

2010-10-07T05:27:00.000-07:00

These are the carts. They are at the Utah Co-op in Murray this weekend for $25.

Some pictures

2010-09-15T15:47:00.000-07:00

I didn't take a lot of pictures this summer but I did get a few. Then today was just hilarious. So I thought I'd post a few. Garrison loves animals, that's no secret. He especially loves his Tia dog.

Garrison and Daddy like to lay around on a lazy Sunday morning.

And finally this was today. Garrison didn't like the pants he was wearing. He insisted he wanted pants like Daddy's. No amount of trying would convince him that his 3T wranglers were the same as Daddy's. Garrison ran down the hall and when I walked into the bedroom this is what I found. He didn't want to wear pants like Daddy he wanted to wear Daddy's pants.

Green Bean Tractors and Humpty Hondo

2010-09-12T14:15:00.000-07:00

A big thanks to Aunt Tanya for remembering to grab the camera to catch a few of the funny things Garrison says. His favorite song is Big Green Tractor and Johnny Cash ( by Jason Aldeen). He CAN sing them all the way through with no radio but of course when the camera comes out (or any time you try and get him to do it) he doesn't. But we at least got a snippet of his two favorite songs. The home depot thing is kinda confusing. One day he started saying, I want Humpty Hondo. We spent days trying to figure out what he was saying. Finally as we were driving past it he shouted, HUMPTY HONDO, and pointed. We would have never figured it out on our own. On our way to Nanny's after shooting this video he started saying home depot the right way. So it's a good thing we caught it when we did, because that may be the end of humpty hondo.

OAMC for Sept.

2010-08-26T08:51:00.000-07:00

I don't have a ton of time, but since I type out my menu to hang on the fridge I thought I would put it here too. This is our menu for the next month +. It was 27 meals total and we only use about 4-5 meals a weeks so it will last about a month and a half. This time it took me three days to get everything done, but I did some extra. In addition to all the dinners, I also did breakfast and snacks. For breakfast I made, Banana Choc. Chip Muffins, Sausage/ Cheese Corn bread Muffins, Waffles, and French toast sticks. I made lemon bars, and a huge batch of cookies. I froze the cookie dough so Justen can pull it out and bake cookies whenever he wants this way. So here's dinner for the next while.

Menu
-Spaghetti (x2) ____ ____

-Mac & Cheese Cassarole (x2) ____ ____
Thaw, bake 30 min @350

-Sicilian Supper (x2) ____ ____
Thaw, Bake Covered @350, 30 min, uncover, sprinkle w/parmesan bake 5-10 min more

-Stroganoff (x2) ____ ____

-French Bread Pizza (x2) ____ ____

-Cheese Burger Packets (x1) ____

-Stuffed Green Peppers (x2) ____ ____
Thaw, bake @ 350 20-30 min.

-BBQ Ribs w/ Crispy Cheesy Potatoes (x2) ____ ____
Thaw, put in greased pan, top w/ crumbs, bake @ 350 1 hour

-Basil & balsamic Pork w/Rice Pilaf (x2) ____ ____

-Citrus Marinated Pork w/ Crispy Cheesy Potatoes or Rice (x2) ____ ____

-Carolina Pulled Pork w/Baked Beans (x2) ____ ____

-Alfredo Pizza (x1) XXX

-BBQ Chicken Pizza (x1) ____
Bake at 450 15-20 min.

-BBQ Chicken Calzone (x2) ____ ____
Reheat from frozen in Microwave or Oven

-Chicken Supreme (x2) ____ ____
Thaw, put in dish, top w/ bread Bake 350 – 30-35 min.

27 total meals.

A bike trailer at last!

2010-07-28T12:15:00.001-07:00

We've been looking for a bike trailer since the beginning of summer. After reading all the reviews I finally settled on a Schwinn Scout. Then of course the bargain hunting started. I finally found a sale at Target but they were out and gave us a rain check. We've been calling every other day for over a month to see if they'd gotten one in yet. They never did. Finally yesterday we found out that particular model was not going to be carried in stores anymore (only on line)_ and our store wouldn't be getting anymore. But the American Fork store (60 miles away) had one left, and it was on clearance even cheaper than our rain check. So last night we were going to run down and get it. As we were walking out the door some 4-H kids pulled in to weigh lambs (we had forgotten they were coming opps). We had another family coming after them so we called to make sure they were coming and they were. They came, and could tell we were in a hurry and apologized if they were making us late for something. Justen laughed and told them what was going on, that we were just ansy to go get this last trailer before it was sold. She offered us hers, it's a schwinn scout only an older model. Her youngest is now 5 and rides his own bike. So we got a beautiful trailer that even has new tires, and she even delivered it to us this morning. She's such a sweet lady and we've loved getting to know their family this year, but I'm still in shock that we got the exact trailer we wanted and someone just gave it to us. Sometimes it's crazy how well we're looked out for. And yes, Justen has a big neon sign only strangers can see that says, Give me Free Stuff. Don't believe it, ask me about the plywood, or steel trusses, or 2x4s.....

Garrison LOVES it, and drug it all over the driveway. Justen got it all hooked up and Garrison loved his first ride. We're excited to get back to biking. We haven't done it since Garrison was born, but now it's something we can all do. Now I just have to dig out the dog joggers and their leather boots so they can go with us.

Cleaning, some accountability for me...

2010-07-27T12:11:00.000-07:00

I find that putting stuff up on my blog is more for me than anyone else. I link to friend's and families blogs through my own so I come here quite often even if I don't post much. But one way to keep myself on track is to post it here, that way I see it often. So I have my menu plan under control now, so I'm on to cleaning. During the school year I have a pretty good system in place. I get up a half an hour early and try to be ready to go at the same time as I send Justen and Garrison out the door, half an hour before I have to go. That gives me 30 min. to clean, organize, do laundry and dishes each day. I have to be really focused during that time to get it all done in time but it works for me. During the summer I have more time so you'd think that would mean I'd clean more, but instead I loose focus and clean less. Even though I only work part time in the summer, this summer I also started my Masters so that is taking up extra time. So I've decided to keep things on track, and keep my stress level down I have to keep on a schedule during the summer too. I figured it's more than just me that could use this help so I"m posting it here. If you see some way for me to stream line more and be more organized I'd love the tips! The only way I get everything in life done is to be super organized. So here's my cleaning schedule:
Everyday:
*Run Roomba (every other day in the kitchen/living room/hall, off days in other areas) -Roomba works amazingly well and helps me keep my sanity with all the dirt Justen and the dogs track in.
*1 Load of Laundry Daily, this includes Wash, hang dry, fold and put way
*Dishes kept up on (thanks to a college roommate I learned to put them straight in the dishwasher instead of letting them pile up in the sink. It now drives me nuts to have dishes in the sink. Justen is starting to get the hang of it, it only took him 7 years)
*Garrison's Toys away (he does this every night before bed)

Weekly:
Mon: Kitchen
Tues: Downstairs (we spend so little time down here I don't devote much to cleaning it, if every room gets hit once a month I'm happy)
Wed.: Living Room/ Dust
Thurs: Bedrooms
Fri: Bathrooms (these two rooms get cleaned next to each other so I can do one load of laundry for sheets and towels)
Sat: Deep Vacuum and mop (deep vacuum is with the dyson, roomba does maintenance during the week)

I've had several folks ask about my homemade cleaning recipes. About two years ago I started noticing that I was having more migraines and asthma attacks then I'd ever had. I was also totally out of energy all the time. I especially noticed that anytime I cleaned the bathroom I was wiped out for the rest of the day, I'd actually clean it at night so I could go to bed because that is all I could do once I was done. We decided to start cutting out commercial cleaners to see if it helped (about the same time we switched to cloth diapers for Garrison). It worked wonders, my migraines are less, my muscle spasms are better, and I breathe much easier. I still have some left over cleaners in the house but don't use them a lot, and when I do I always regret it. I have found that I can use most of the Method line of cleaners (less harsh chemicals but hard to find and quite expensive), and a lot of Eco friendly cleaners are fine, but not all. The clorox greenworks ones and the nature something(by lysol) are just as bad as any. I've found I can clean about anything in my house with a few simple ingredients. I feel a lot better about what I'm putting in my septic tank too. I have found a lot of essential oils don't bother me like commercial smells do so I use them for fragrance, but I still have to be careful. A lot of people use lavender oil in cleaners but it makes me sick so I don't use it. You don't have to fragrance them, I just have the oils on hand for my soap making so I use them. Here are some of my favorite recipes for cleaners:

*Redi-Wipes- Clorox Redi-wipes were a major cleaning crutch of mine. I went through 4-6 big sams club canisters a month. I really hate rinsing and reusing rags, I"m not sure why it just bothers me. But I found a great, cheap alternative. I cut up a huge stack of old T-shirts into 6X6 squares (no hemming required). I keep them in an old huggies container in the window sill. I keep a bottle of Multi-surface cleaner next to them. I have single use wipes ready to go all the time. I throw them in the laundry hamper in the kitchen along with my un-paper towels and wash them once a week with my whites. I have over a hundred of them to get me through until wash day.

*Multi Surface cleaner/disinfectant (Use my old method brand spray bottles, they have lasted forever)
In an old spray bottle fill up about 1/4 way with vinegar, put in about 5 drops of soap, a few drops of Tea Tree Oil, and fill the rest of the way with water. I hate the smell of Tea Tree so I cover it up with Mint Oil.

*Window Cleaner, Streak Free, Spray on wipe off with crumpled newspaper, buff to a shine (although right now I'm using a bottle of Method Minty Glass cleaner that I love)
1 1/2 c. vinegar
2 c. Water
1 T. Cornstarch

*Scratch Free Scouring Powder
1 c. Borax
1 c. Baking soda
Fragrance oil of choice. Mix. I put it in a canning jar and punch holes in the lid to use it like a can of comet.

If I need to get burnt on food out of a pot and that mix doesn't work I add a little salt and that scrubs anything out.

*Drain Cleaner- I sometimes get slow drains. Draino is bad for your pipes, horrible for the septic system (and the environment if your on city sewer) and the fumes are horrible. I put some baking soda down the drain, about a cup or so, then chase it with white vinegar. Let it sit and work a few min. Then follow it up with some boiling water. Works great.

*Dish disposal deodorizer- Grind a little ice, lemon peels, and baking soda in it. It sharpens the blades adn keeps it fresh.

*Dishsoap- I really haven't had a problem with dish soap, I use plain old dawn and it gives me no problems, some of the highly fragranced ones do though so I stick with dawn. But I did play around with homemade automatic dish detergent just for fun. And when I can't find any really cheap or free with coupons I do make my own because it's cheaper. This recipe is a combination of ones I found on other sites and works well in our hard well water. I do have to use a rinse aid or our water puts tons of minerals on our dishes. Again if I find it cheap I use jet dry if not I use vinegar in the rinse aid compartment. We used to not notice the hard water so bad in our old white dishwasher, but the stainless interior on our new one get gunky really easy, and the dishes show the minerals worse. I think it might be because it's one of those high efficiency ones. None of the dish stuff seems to give me problems, but again I had to try cutting it out to see if there was a difference for me, there wasn't on this one.

*Auto Dish Detergent-
Some websites claim that you can use one T baking soda and one T borax in place of dish detergent. If you have soft water maybe you can. But my dishwasher did not tolerate that. So after much searching, this is what I came up with for a recipe:
1 c. borax
1 c. baking soda
2 T. salt (salt is abrasive so I would try without it first and only use if needed)
2 T. Citric Acid (again more expensive try with out first or use a couple packets of lemon kool aid with no sweetener added to get the citric acid)
2 t. - 2 T. liquid dish soap ( I use a little more with hard water you can use less with soft)
Mix together thoroughly so there are no clumps of soap and use 1-2 T. per load. If fragrance is important to you you can add a couple drops of citrus oil

Laundry-Laundry soap is a mix for me. As long as I use something with out fragrance I'm fine. Once in a while though I have to use tide. If you saw some of the laundry Justen brings me you'd know why. (think towels covered in sheep afterbirth and coveralls from lambing and spring chores.) Sometimes I use store bought sometimes I use homemade it depends on how much time I have and what kind of sales I've found. These are my two favorite recipes both are from the Duggars website.

Homemade Liquid Laundry Soap- Front or top load machine- best value
4 Cups - hot tap water
1 soap bar
1 Cup - Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda*
½ Cup Borax
- Grate bar of soap and add to saucepan with water. Stir continually over medium-low heat until soap dissolves and is melted.
-Fill a 5 gallon bucket half full of hot tap water. Add melted soap, washing soda and Borax. Stir well until all powder is dissolved. Fill bucket to top with more hot water. Stir, cover and let sit overnight to thicken.
-Stir and fill a used, clean, laundry soap dispenser half full with soap and then fill rest of way with water. Shake before each use. (will gel)
-Optional: You can add 10-15 drops of essential oil per 2 gallons. Add once soap has cooled. Ideas: lavender, rosemary, tea tree oil.
-Yield: Liquid soap recipe makes 10 gallons.
-Top Load Machine- 5/8 Cup per load (Approx. 180 loads)
-Front Load Machines- ¼ Cup per load (Approx. 640 loads)
*Arm & Hammer "Super Washing Soda" - in some stores or may be purchased online here (at walmart). Baking Soda will not work, nor will Arm & Hammer Detergent - It must be sodium carbonate!!

Powdered Laundry Detergent - Top load machine
1 soap bar
1 Cup - Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda*
½ Cup Borax
-Grate soap or break into pieces and process in a food processor until powdered. Mix all ingredients. For light load, use 1 Tablespoon. For heavy or heavily soiled load, use 2 Tablespoons. Yields: 3 Cups detergent. (Approx. 40 loads)

TIPS FOR LAUNDRY SOAP: You can use Ivory, Sunlight, Kirk's Hardwater Castile or Zote(my preferred) bars, you can use fels naphsa but I find it fades my darks. Don't use heavily perfumed soaps. Washing Soda and Borax can often be found on the laundry or cleaning aisle. Recipe cost approx. $2 per batch.

- Sometimes I use unscented downy as a fabric softener sometimes I just use plain old white Vinegar, sometimes I use nothing it depends.

Stains- I use spray and wash sometimes, but mostly just oxyclean. If it's really stubborn I oxy-vin. Make a solution of oxyclean and water in the sink, add garment and pour a little vinegar on top. Let soak (if you think baking soda and vinegar is fun to watch, try this!)

I try to hang most of my laundry to dry, it saves on power use, and I have a hard time using power to run the dryer and using extra power to use the A/C to compensate for the dryer. It just seems like paying twice. The sun is free, and if we all conserved a little energy that is one small step in the right direction. I do use the dryer on whites though, all those tiny little cloths to hang up would be too much.

Mopping
For mopping we bought a Bissell Steam Mop. It works great and mops with no chemicals. I love it! You can just use plain vinegar in mop water as well, but I really hate the smell of vinegar and while I cover it up with oil other places I didn't want to on my whole floor so this works really well for us.

Carpet Cleaner- I have a Bissell Pro Heat carpet cleaner I really like. Fill the soap compartment with white vinegar. In the hot water part put a couple of scoops of oxyclean and a small squirt of dawn (think 5 drops or so), with the hot water. It works great and doesn't leave a soapy residue that attracts dirt like the normal soap does.

There are so many good things about homemade cleaners. They are cheap, work well, great for the environment, and easier on us. I can get a gallon of Vinegar at Winco for $2, and huge boxes of baking soda for $1.50. I only use a few drops of oils and you don't even need those. Hope this helps someone, it's also a nice reference for me in case I forget one of these. I know there are others I use and as I remember them I'll try and add them.

Menu Planning

2010-07-27T09:20:00.000-07:00

We were getting really bored eating the same old thing all the time. So the last few weeks we've been on a mission to try some new things. We've tried some fun things like Lime, Chili Fish kabobs, Grilled Tilapia, Kiwi Marinated Lamb Kabobs, Grilled asparagus , basil and balsamic pork chops (these were amazing and Justen thought it was the best pork he'd ever eaten) and Parmesan grilled corn on the cob. It's been really fun trying new things. One way I've found to keep myself on track and not get stuck in the what's for dinner rut is to Menu plan. I start by looking in the freezer, and cupboard to see what needs to get used. Then I look through the sale paper to see what is cheap this week. With those two things in mind I come up with a few old favorites then head over to recipezaar to find some new ideas. I finished my menu plan for the next two weeks on Sunday night, and went shopping yesterday for everything I will need. Aside from maybe a few more gallons of milk (only got six it will be close if we make it a full two weeks, we usually need 4-5 a week) and maybe a little more fruit for breakfasts and snacks we should have everything we need. I am hoping by posting it here I won't loose it, because little helping hands keep taking my list off the fridge and then I forget what I had planned and fall back into the rut. I've also found we eat healthier this way and produce doesn't go to waste because the produce I buy is all ear marked for a meal.

Dinners (two weeks worth)
*Sour Kraut and Brats (this was Sunday dinner)
*Braised Lamb Shanks (crock pot so not to heat up the house), Parmesan and Basil Orzo, Parmesan grilled Corn, and Grilled apples (this was last night)
*Grilled Trout and Acini di Pepe salad, w/roasted summer squash (trout was caught at a faculty party we went to for work right at the end of school)
*Scallops and Pasta Florentine (the new winco in town carries bay scallops at a really reasonable price)
*Black Bean Salad and chips (this has lemon, lime and orange juice, cilantro and fresh vegis in it, hoping we like it.)
*BLT Sandwiches (forgot to buy lettuce so we'll be having these with the spinach from the pasta- it was a big bag)
*Marinated Lamb Chops and Zucchini Couscous
*Grilled Chicken Pasta Salad (lots of vegi's in this)
*Chicken and Grapes salad on Pita bread (with Carrots and celery on the side)
*Grilled Lamb Chops (for our family BBQ/Party Friday night)
These last two are for my nights when I have to have a quick meal and there are no left overs left, like this thurs. night when we have our livestock board meeting.
*Beans and Weenies w/spinach salad
*Tuna Casserole w/corn

I just list it all out and then cook whatever we feel like eating that night. I don't list it on a day particularly because maybe we won't feel like fish on Monday we want it on Wed, so this has enough flexibility to keep us happy but enough structure to keep me organized and sane.

Lunch is usually leftovers, as is some dinners, the three of us just don't ever finish a whole meal at one sitting, so we have lots of left overs. We also always have stuff to make sandwiches. If we run out these are things that can be made with stuff I have in the house
*Tuna Sandwiches
*Ham Sandwiches
*Beans and Weenies
*Mac and Cheese (with corn and hot dogs or tuna)
-I actually made this today for lunch but for a fun twist we put fresh chopped
chives and parsley in it, a squirt of ranch dressing, corn and hot dogs. It was really good, actually made box mac and cheese enjoyable
*Grilled Cheese and Tomato Sandwiches
*Bean Burritos
*Egg Burritos

Breakfasts (we try to have a little fruit or something with this, like this morning we had the left over grilled apples from last night.)
We make huge batches of pancakes, waffles, and french toast sticks, then freeze them with wax paper in between. That way on a daily basis all we do is pull them out of the freezer and put them in the toaster for a few min. I also make big batches of biscuits and freeze them and can bake them in the toaster oven, we use them for breakfast but also sometimes to have fresh biscuits with dinner.
*Pancakes
*Waffles
*French Toast Sticks
*Biscuits and Sausage
*English muffins
*Bagels
*Oatmeal
*Cream of Wheat (I take a beaten egg or two and drizzle it in at the end while stirring really fast to add some protein make a big batch so left overs can be used the next day)
*Gries Brei Schnitzel (this stuff is awesome! You take your leftover cream of wheat and put it in a square container in the fridge. Let sit until the next morning. The next morning you slice it about half inch thick. Dip it in beaten egg then coat it in bread crumbs and fry it in a skillet or on a griddle. Serve with cinnamon sugar or syrup or fruit topping, and we always have either fried bananas, or fried cinnamon apples with it).
*Homemade yogurt w/fruit and granola (just put a batch of yogurt in the yogurt maker this morning)

Snacks
*Crackers
*Fruit (grapes, kiwi, apples, berries, cantaloupe, & bananas this week)
*Carrots and celery
*Yogurt
*PB and J (Justen eats a piece of whole wheat bread toast with pband j at least once a day, jam is homemade).
*Ice cream or Popsicles
I'm sure there is more I just can't think of it right now.

Sweets
*Banana Choc Chip muffins w/flax seed meal and wheat germ (to use old bananas up)
*Choc. Chop Cookies (Nanny's recipe-Justen is CRAVING them)
*Lemon Cake (for the BBQ Fri. Night)
*Rice Crispy treats (not healthy at all but we have a huge bag of marshmallows left from camping smores that needs to get used up).
*Old Fashioned Kettle Corn
*Kiwi Something?? I bought a huge box of Organic Kiwis at Sams a few weeks ago and I'm starting to loose the last 10 or so. I've got to figure out something to do with them, so that is today's project, save the kiwis. First kiwi recipe I've found is a Rachel Ray kiwi smoothie, sounds good! And uses up an over ripe banana, I may add a handful of raspberries too.

First Crochet Shorties

2010-06-09T12:14:00.000-07:00

I finally finished them! They started off last October destined to be longies for winter. I just finished them yesterday and I think the only reason they are done is because I only needed a 4 inch inseam instead of a 13 inch inseam. Luckily I can't read a pattern to save my life. They were HUGE! They still are pretty big, but had I read the pattern correctly they wouldn't have fit because garrison has gone from a 2T to a 4T in that time. These are 100% wool, from Paton's brand, so it was a very cheap way to practice. The shorts are so funky! I did rows backward and messed up the legs and all kinds of crazy stuff. But I decided they are my first try at anything crochet from a pattern ever so they aren't that bad. We are going to use them as sleep shorts. Our upstairs gets really hot in the summer, and Garrison gets the worst heat rash from any material that isn't breathable in the heat (such as PUL covers or disposable diapers) so this will be perfect. Everyone always thinks wool is so hot for summer but it breathes. Compare that with a plastic disposable diapers that their is no airflow. I wouldn't have believed it myself but the proof is in the rash (or absence of it actually). So here's to another summer in wool shorts. Of course now that I've said all this good stuff about wool I have to admit that we are taking a brief hiatus from cloth diapers thanks to my tonsillectomy. I've been down for almost two weeks now, and am still feeling pretty crummy so we are in total simplify mode right now. Although he is in a cloth diaper for the picture, he's to skinny for the pants without it. But we'll get back in our groove soon. We have to, Garrison carried out one of his super squishy bamboo velour diapers the other day and said, "mommy , I want to wear this one." He knows what he likes and he always picks out the super soft velour diapers to wear first. And he doesn't want to take the wool shorts off. I made him take them off last night though so I could lanolize them so they would be waterproof and ready to go.

Better Late than Never

2010-04-24T05:23:00.000-07:00

Garrison's birthday was only a month and a half ago, but we are just a little behind. Just last week we realized we totally forgot his two year old well baby check up. We forgot until daycare asked us for his new shot record...opps. Shouldn't the pediatricians office call and remind us of these things? His birthday pics are going about the same way. So here they are just a bit late. It was a crazy weekend. Justen and I were at State FFA Convention and Garrison stayed in Bothwell with Nanny and Papa. He had a ball, they went to Macs and had burgers, and killed voles/moles in the yard. I think Garrison would have gladly stayed there rather than coming home with us. We realized on the way to pick him up that I was just too exhausted to bake a cake, so we were going to pick one up at walmart, disgusting?, Yes, but at least he would have a cake. Presents were under control we bought them on Christmas clearance and they were already in the closet. Well, once again Nanny and Aunt Kristi to the rescue. With out us knowing they decided I would be to tired to bake. So Kristi brought in her cake pan, Nanny baked a cake and Kristi and Eric frosted it. It was awesome! Garrison had a great birthday. Here are some pictures.

We got him a Crayola Art station. He loves it. The middle is a flippable dry erase chalk board, and he has cubbies for art supplies, which we haven't filled yet. But it has his color wonder paper and markers in it for now. I love the color wonder stuff because it can't mark on other stuff, and we plan to add the paints and other things eventually so we can store it in his reach. Anything not fabric/walls safe will have to be stored out of reach and he would have to ask. He loves being independent so I want to try and keep it that way but not have to clean walls!

Garrison and Grandpa Chris with his Clown cake.

Garrison and his Selman side Cousins ready for some Cake!

Garrison is showing you what to do with a rake, "KILL MICE!" Nanny and Papa spent part of the weekend doing yard work and so they gave him a little yard tool set for his birthday. When we got home, he immediately grabbed the shovel and started pounding the ground, after a few good hits he would scoop something imaginary off the floor and go throw it in the kitchen trash can. We watched him do the several times and finally through our laughter asked what he was doing. He said "Kill Mice", and where did you learn that "Nanny, Papa's house". Ok, well before you beat my living room to death how about if we rake instead? He took the rake and started doing the same thing, with the same answer, "kill Mice". Garrison, who uses a rake to kill mice? "Nanny", who uses a shovel to kill mice, "Papa". Sure enough the whole story was confirmed by Nanny and Papa. They had voles all over their lawn and every time one would run out they would squash it and then scoop it up and throw it in the back field. So our son thoroughly enjoys killing mice but not shoveling and raking so much.

February

2010-03-07T09:19:00.000-08:00

I thought I would post a few of the things we've been up to in February. We went to IKEA in Draper for the first time ever. It was pretty fun. We got a book shelf to put tubs on and organize Garrison's toys in the basement. We are in the process of rearranging the family room, once it's all done I'll post pics. But here is Garrison doing his favorite thing in the world, helping dad.

Garrison has also decided he would rather shower (like daddy) and wear his towel just like Daddy too.

We hatched out some Khaki Campbell ducks in my incubator at school. The fun part though, they decided to hatch on the weekend when I had them at home so Garrison got to watch. He loves his baby duckies. I am excited for them too. We had ducks when we lived in Bothwell, and loved eating fresh duck eggs. Campbell ducks are known for their high egg production and can even outproduce some chickens.

Of course we have been lambing. Our first ewe to lamb had a set of quadruplets. The first one born was about frozen when we found him. It was 10 degrees outside, and we believe the mom tried to care for him but then she was so busy delivering the other three that he didn't get what he needed. We got him warmed up and tube fed. It took him three days of constant care before he even developed the ability to suck and hold his head up. But he is out in the field with all the others now. Garrison loves his Baby Baa.

Garrison's favorite thing to go do in the afternoons is to go feed the sheep with Daddy. Next time you see him ask him how we herd Nacho, it's pretty funny. So here is Garrison, "herding" the sheep, and talking to Nacho, our guanco.

And finally our crazy cat that likes to ride on the ewes, sleep on top of our buck babe, and plays all kinds of funny games with the lambs.

As you can tell the overriding theme at our house is anything to be like/with Daddy. The one and about the only thing Garrison doesn't like to do like Daddy is his hat. Justen always wears a baseball cap, with rare exception. Garrison much prefers his cowboy hat, and will only wear a baseball cap if it is John Deere and backwards. That is definitely different than Daddy.

I refuse to Cook this Month!

2010-03-04T19:20:00.000-08:00

It has been a long time coming, but we’ve finally come full circle. From not cooking to not cooking. In December I realized that I had all but quit cooking. I did maybe one meal a week on the weekends. The rest of the time we ate cold cereal, snacks, and out. It was a pretty pitiful existence food wise, but time and energy just didn’t allow me to do much else. In January (on my birthday) we had our debit card number stolen and our checking and savings accounts drained. We were left with $50 to live on for the rest of the month while fraud protection got our money back. Now this may sound like a bad thing, but in reality it was a blessing in disguise. It made us wake up and realize how much we’d been spending on food and how little quality food we were really eating. So with a full freezer and food storage and $50 to buy fresh food we went through January. I got really creative and we ate better than we had in a long time. In February I decided to start meal planning and budgeting better, we discovered Dave Ramsey and learned a lot about finances we didn’t fully understand before. I cooked dinner almost every night, planned my weeks out by the sales, and only allotted $200 for groceries in February. All that money we had been wasting on food before went into savings, how cool is that?!? So enter March. I can’t keep this pace up. I am so tired of cooking. I have not cleaned much because I was cooking, I wasn’t keeping up on laundry or doing much of anything I enjoy. By the time I got home from work and made dinner I was to exhausted to do anything other than put my boy to bed and fall into bed myself. So I decided that something’s gotta give, and it had to be the daily cooking. But I still didn’t want to give up my new found budgeting ability, savings, or good food. I discovered something called “Once a Month Cooking”. Google it, you’ll get lots of good information. I’ll tell you how I did it.
First I went through my kitchen, food storage room and freezer to see what we had. Then Justen and I put proteins on a piece of paper and brainstormed all the meals we like and routinely eat off those. We used Ground Beef, Chicken, Roast, ham and Lamb. Then I chose meals with similar ingredients so the prep would go faster. We decided not to do any lamb meals for the freezer because we both prefer lamb fresh grilled, so I made twice baked potatoes to make those a quick easy meal. When all was said and done I put 24 meals in the freezer plus about 25 twice baked potatoes to use as sides. We have been eating the food so far this week and I am loving my new found freedom! I started Friday night by precooking my hamburger. Then on Saturday was my big cooking day. On Sunday I made an extra BIG Sunday dinner and finished up by making roast, boiled potatoes, and the twice baked potatoes, as well as frying the bacon and onion all at once for the spuds, and the squash soup. So here are how my meals were grouped
Ground Beef- made with 3 different sauces, cooked up on 8 lb bag with pepper, garlic, and onion. Then split into thirds.
-One Third- Red Marinara Sauce, Made into Spaghetti(x2) and Lasagna (x2)
-One third- Taco Seasoning- Froze as meat for tacos (x2) and made Taco Soup (x3)
-One third- With Mushroom Soup made Stroganoff (x2) and Shepherds Pie (x1)
Chicken- Boiled and shredded about 10lbs- made soup out of the broth
Made: - Zataran’s Jambalaya (I love this box mix, and I add an extra ½ cup white rice with each box so it’s not as spicy, then add chicken and a can of corn.) (X3)
-Chicken Stuff (casserole from the Chugg Family cook book)(X2)
-White Sauce Chicken Enchilada Casserole (I actually made a huge batch of the sour cream/ cream soup mixture that I use for both chicken stuff and this used the first half, then added the green chilies for this). (x2)
-Chicken Pot Pie(x1)
-Squash Soup (had frozen butternut squash, add chicken, and fried bacon and onion (from the second day of cooking) and then will do fresh carrots and potatoes in the crockpot with these items on the day we eat it.)(x1)
Next up we have the Ham Items
-Ham and Spud Soup (made extra potatoes with Sunday dinner for this)(x1)
-Ham Fried Rice (actually made this up earlier in the week and froze it) (x2)
And then finally on Sunday for dinner I made roast and potatoes. Then I fried the bacon for the twice baked potatoes and made those as well. So I put about 25 of those in the freezer. I had put some of them in the freezer several months ago and we really loved just pulling a few out and microwaving them as we needed them. On Sunday Garrison kept asking for Banana bread so I also went ahead and made a double batch of that and have a couple loaves in the freezer along with my frozen cookie dough for sweet treats during the month. Now it was indeed a LONG day of hard cooking. I was beat by evening. But guess what, it has been so nice this week to take a break. And the really cool part, I only had to spend $85 on ingredients I didn’t already have in the house. So now all I have to buy during the month is our 4 gallons of milk each week and a few other fresh things to keep us going. And of course since it is time for Kent’s Case Lot Sale I’ll be stocking up on staples again. Another side benefit is the amount of dishes. All of this cooking and I only ran three addition loads of dishes over the weekend. During the month my skillet would have been used 8 times to cook ground beef, but only once now for my big day. And normally during the week last month I was running at least one load a day. Well, since we have no cooking dishes, I have only had to run it once since Monday and we are now on Thursday. I’m also saving time, energy, water and dish soap with OAMC.
That is the story of coming full circle, and how to not cook for a month but still have home cooked meals. Of course we’ll still probably grill a few lamb chops on the weekends, or when Justen gets a craving but that isn’t to bad. I’ve already got my new plan started for next month, with some new meal ideas since I’m sure we’ll be sick of these by the end of the month. Now if only I could figure out how to only clean the house once a month. Or maybe monthly laundry instead of daily...oh well, a girl can dream.

Darn Utilities... but we are winning!

2010-02-03T21:23:00.000-08:00

Last month our gas bill was the highest we've ever had in this house. Then we got the power bill, it was over double normal. We couldn't figure out what happened. So our goal for the month was to really cut back hard and see if we can get them down. So here's what we did for gas, it provides our heat, hot water, and dryer. We started by reprogramming the thermostad. It already lowers at night and kicks back on before we wake up and then kicks off again while we are at school, but we went ahead and lowered it 2degrees during the day and 3 at night. We put an extra blanket on the bed, wear hoddies more, and put Garrison in a sleep sack over his pjs. We went through the house checking for air leaks and sealed a few as well as put new weather stripping on the front door. We started washing all of our clothes in cold water (except sheets-hot to kill dust mites, diapers-hot, and whites-warm). We also turned down our hot water heater, started rinsing dishes in cold (the dishwasher washes them in hot why waste hot water rinsing), taking slightly shorter showers, and just generally trying to conserve water. We hang dry all our clothes in the basement except whites and diapers, there are just too many little things to hand, and diapers would take forever to dry. These changes really weren't enough that we noticed. They really were pretty small. BUT today we got our gas bill and we cut it by over a third even though January was colder than December. I'm pretty stoked to actually see a difference. The power bill hasn't come yet be we already figured out where the problem was on that. Justen used to unplug Tias heat mat and the sheep water tank heaters on warm days and at night. Well, in Decemeber he left them on the entire month. So we know power will be better just from that, but we've also made a few little changes there and we shall see how it goes. Isn't it nice when you see results from something you do. We are not only getting our bills down, but we are conserving energy which is always a good thing.

Christmas in Oregon

2009-12-27T14:25:00.000-08:00

Well, we made it to Oregon. We got here early afternoon on Christmas day. We had a crazy day of traveling and then hurrying to wrap presents because everyone had waited for us to open presents. It was lots of fun and Garrison is loving all the fun of having his cousins with him full time. He woke up many many times last night and each time he would wake up saying play, anna, play, oma, play.... the overriding theme was, "Mom, Dad, GET UP I WANT TO PLAY!!!" We are all pretty worn out today. Hopefully the next few days we can take it easy and catch up on some sleep.
Garrison and Justen opening presents

Garrison playing with the see and say treehouse toy with Great Grandpa Wales (my mom's dad)

Garrison is having a BALL with his cousins....

He has no fear of strangers, he climbed right up on Uncle Ben's lap. He has also decided that Uncle Ben must be the softie nice uncle. The minute Mom or Dad says no, you hear, Uncle Bum... (he has started saying Ben very clearly now but it was so funny at first when he didn't say it quite right).

And this morning before church we took a few pictures of all three grandkids for Opa's picture frame he got for Christmas.

Sewing in December....

2009-12-27T13:39:00.000-08:00

I got a lot done this month. I never seem to get as much done as I'd like to but at least I got more than nothing accomplished. This month my main focus was on Christmas presents. It was a lot of fun for me making things for folks to enjoy, that is always one of my favorite parts about Christmas. I'm also happy to report I love my new sewing machine. Now I will say its walking foot stinks compared to a pfaff, but I love everything else about it. So here's what I got done with my sew along group for this month.
Started off with a couple more pairs of soft soled shoes. I really love these things they are so cuddly and warm. These were made with the bamboo velour I low water immersion dyed last month.

Then I did a set of matching mother/daughter aprons. All I can say with these is I HATE BIAS TAPE!!!

Then I did matching father/son pjs for Garrison and Justen, it's John deere Camo. They are pretty fun and Garrison LOVES his matching pants. He kept asking for them this morning even though they were in the wash.

Then I did a couple of All in Two cloth diapers, these are some of my favorite design yet. I can't wait to make a couple more.

Then I made a roll of "unpaper" towels. So they are the same size and fit on a paper towel roll but you wash them. They all snap together with poly resin snaps. I was pretty darn excited to make these.

And then some matching scrubbie cloths to go with the unpaper towels.

And finally I made my brothers some Organic Bamboo Velour pillowcases and hand dyed them "gunmetal gray". Because shopping for them is hard but everybody needs a luxury pillow case so they can feel like they are sleeping on a cloud, right?!?

A tired Christmas.

2009-12-17T18:44:00.000-08:00

That is the only way we could figure out to describe how we were feeling tonight. Justen and I are just plain old worn out to the point that we can hardly even tell that it's almost Christmas. There are no halls decked, no cookies baked, and no music playing. I'm not even sure if I feel sad, pitiful, guilty or just plain old grinchy at my lack of Christmas spirit. We don't have a tree up and tonight decided we just aren't going to put one up. We are just to tired. Luckily Garrison is to young to know the difference.

Now don't get me wrong, I love Christmas. It's usually such a magical time of year. But this year we've just decided to admit defeat and go to bed early. I think this last week we've been in bed at 6:30 every night until tonight. We've had FFA activities the last two weekend in a row, and have them tomorrow, Monday and Tuesday after school. I've had two state accreditation things going on in the last two weeks, not to mention a host of other crazy things happening at work. And you may wonder why on earth would I blog about such an utter failure and defeat as canceling Christmas at our house, well the answer is simple. I'm to tired to get out of bed and go do anything else and to frustrated with myself to quit thinking about it.

We have decided we are going to do a few things to celebrate the season, but it is definitely not going to be the same. We are doing our annual Kash for Kids drive at school where we do a sub for santa thing for some families in our area. I love doing this, it is so much fun. We gather money and food all through December and then tommorow we go shopping for their gifts and dinner. Then next week we'll wrap and deliver it. It's such a great thing to see my high school kids be so giving. My classes alone have raised over $800 so far this year for the project, and as a school we are approaching the $30,000 mark (at least that's the rumor I heard today). It's wonderful we are able to pay for kids braces, and glasses and lots of other great things in the community. Justen and I also have our own little service project going that we decided to do last month, but it's a secret so I can't share, but it's been pretty fun for us too. So a little service helps it feel more like Christmas.

Of course we are doing the whole gift thing, not that it's all that important. This year we don't even really care about that much. We just aren't into "things". Now if someone offered to clean my house or bake me some christmas cookies (German ones of course) I'd probably get pretty excited (or say do my scrapbooking for me). But every time someone asks what we want for Christmas I can't come up with much of anything. Now part of that is because we've been very blessed this year and don't need anything, and wants just don't seem all that important when there is so much need out there. But part of me just doesn't care. I'm to tired to put much thought into anything at this point. I'm actually most excited about a few of the projects I've been working on for other folks, although some of you may be getting your gifts in January at the rate I'm moving. Garrison will get a few toys that we bought last year at the day after sales, but we're not even sure we're going to bother wrapping them. Besides if we wrap them we may have a repeat of last year where he chucked the toys and played with the paper and boxes.
Now I know Christmas is suppose to be about Christ. But somehow without all the other traditions I just can't seem to see it. We discussed in one of our Sunday school lessons a couple of weeks ago that when people's basic needs aren't met they can't focus on things of the spirit. Well, we were talking about things like food and shelter, but I'm starting to think that applies to our physical and emotional stress levels as well. I feel that if I could just find a way to clear everything else out of my life, the spirit that comes with Christmas would have room to come in.

So we have resigned ourselves to having a low key non-christmassy December. We are hoping to get to the live nativity pageant in West Weber next week, but with my luck a water main in the greenhouse will burst and I'll get called in to go deal with or something else similar. That's just the way this month has gone. At least next week we are flying to Oregon, so we can look at my parent's tree and eat their cookies and at least feel a little like Christmas does still exist. Of course we'll probably end up stuck in an airport because our plane can't take off and be stressed to no end by the time we get there, but hey at least there will be cookies on the other end. Oh, I so hope there are cookies...... and maybe a little time to recuperate from life and find Christmas.

Snow Day

2009-12-13T13:44:00.000-08:00

Today we had snow. Lots and lots and lots of snow.... it just kept coming. So Justen and Garrison went out to build a snow man. I've got a sinus infection and just didn't feel like helping, but I went out long enough to snap some pictures. They had lots of fun.

I've been working on reorganizing Garrison's diapers because they finally outgrew the laundry basket on the floor of his room, so here's how I figured out to organize them. Hopefully this will make it easier to find things. Pockets and all in ones are on the top shelf, bamboo and cotton fitted with wool longies and covers on the second shelf, and covers, wetbags, and doublers on the bottom shelf. Getting this shelf put together and organized has been my project for the week.

Justen couldn't be more Proud!

2009-12-06T19:21:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we had a very interesting experience. We were putting some things away in the spare bedroom when Garrison started getting really excited about something, followed by upset because we couldn't figure out what he was saying. We finally figured out he was saying FFA coat, but told him there wasn't one. We thought he was talking about the FFA hoodie Justen brought him back from back from Nationals. Well it turns out his insistance about FFA Coat was the one he saw on the shelf. He pulled it down and put it on, with a little help from Justen. He then paraded around the house in it. We tried to get him to take it off to go to town, but that just turned into a huge tantrum, ending in Garrison running down the hall clutching the jacket and hiding in his room with it. It was pretty funny.

And this is Garrison loving his new kitchen. Every time I cook he brings up a chair to help me. Well it wasn't a problem until he decide that the toaster oven was a his size version of my appliances. At first it was cute then when he started shoving stuff under the element that I didn't find until I smelled the burning we decided it was time he needed his own appliances that couldn't be plugged back in. He loves it. All he has wanted to do all day is play with his kitchen. It was especially fun when he started stealing stuff out of my kitchen to stock his. We probably should have waited until Christmas but we told ourselves it was a safety thing. ;) It is a safety thing but it turns out mom and dad have no patience for waiting for Christmas any more than kids do! Besides, he's to young to know we cheated, or at least that's what we are telling ourselves.

Sewing my way through Novemeber.

2009-12-03T20:47:00.000-08:00

I got a lot done again this month. Sadly I didn't get everything done I had planned but I still got a lot accomplished. Some of my sewing projects this month were following along with my sewing group, some were just ones I wanted to do. I have a HUGE list all ready for December and I am racing to try and have it all done by Christmas. We shall see how far I get. So these are my projects for November:
Started off with some baby legs- love these things for quick diaper changes around the house or extra warmth at night.

Then I FINALLY got my batch of daycare diapers done. These are stuffable AIOs (All in ones that can be stuffed for extra absorbency). There were a total of nine but only 8 made it in the picture.

Then I made a bunch of recycled wool longies (pants that act as waterproof diaper covers) out of old sweaters. The top two turned out to small, and the bottom one had to get hemmed up a bit.

And an action shot of my new longies on Garrison

Of course my soft soled shoes:

And then another pair

And finally, I finished up a pair of Father / Son matching PJ pants.

And not sewing related, but I played around with dyeing some wool yarn this month. Didn't work exactly as planned, probably because I was using food coloring instead of acid dyes. I also started crocheting a pair of longies for Garrison but those will probably be done around the time he has a prom date. And then I also played around with Low water immersion dyeing some bamboo fabric. It was my first try and I learned alot. I'm going to try swirl dyeing next.

Soft Soled Shoes

2009-11-27T13:02:00.000-08:00

I love the soft soled shoes Garrison wore as a baby. But now that he's 100% mobile we have gone to all "real" shoes. He insists on wearing shoes all the time. So I decided to make him some soft soled shoes for in the house. These are leather bottoms, then the soles have a thick layer of wool felt. The outsides are a cotton fabric, and the toe cap is lined with soft Organic Bamboo Velour. They are really nice and Garrison loves them. He keeps pointing out to us that he has tractors on his feet. I hope to have time to make a few more of these, they were pretty quick to sew up.

A day of Thanksgiving.

2009-11-26T19:18:00.000-08:00

What a great holiday! A wonderful day to enjoy food and family and enjoy the things we've been given in life. Today I reflected mainly on the joy of the living things in my life and what they have brought me. Justen is the best husband that could have been made for me; kind, patient, and hard working. Garrison sure took his sweet time joining our family but boy does he attack life with vigor! And at the end of the day I sure am thankful he goes to bed early and gives me a little time to enjoy the hobbies I have. Tia made a menace of herself begging in the kitchen, but she brought me the realization of how grateful I am for my animals, and the place we are in life that we can have them. Now, there are days when it's hard to find something good to say about Tia the psycho dog, but when Justen is teaching night classes or at late activities it sure is nice having a doberman around the house, and she does kind of grow on you (like fungus). Even though the only people she's ever scared are the ladies from church who stop by to check on me (and boy does she have fun with them!). Abby is one of those amazing border collies that you just can't help but love. She's not Elle and I still miss her some days, but Abby is still a good dog. I am so thankful that she was old enough to be a real help with the sheep by the time Garrison was born so I didn't have to go out and help when I was to sick to. She makes our lives so much easier by doing all the hard running and heavy lifting of caring for such dumb critters. Now about the dumb critters, I sure am attached to them. Itty Bitty is starting to look old, and it sure makes me sad. I am ever so grateful for the enjoyment they provide us, and the freezer full of meat. Which brings me to Nacho, I'm so glad that I don't have to worry about dogs getting in with our sheep any more, it is a releif to know that he will stomp them to death if they go near HIS sheep. And finally the cats, I'm a little miffed at them because I found a mouse in my house the other day, but all in all they do their job, when compared with how many mice we had when we first moved in. So for all the living things in my life I am thankful.
As I was cooking dinner today, and loving everything about my kitchen, I reflected on the years it took us to get here. Our first kitchen in logan left something to be desired but we got by. Then of course you had to love our bothwell house with cupboards that swelled shut. Our St. George house will always be unforgettable, built in well, 1860, 1900, 1920s, 1950, and 1970 as each consective addition was put on, and none of them by professionals or even people who owned a level or measuring tape, but boy what a learning experience that house was. Our 9 month stint in the RV was of course unique but at least the cupboards didn't swell shut- and it sure is easy to keep a 36' X 8' space clean. Our brief stay at Nanny's house was probably the best kitchen to that point but it wasn't ours. The best part about that kitchen is it was always well stocked with yummy food! But now I have a kitchen to LOVE. But as I thought about how much I enjoyed our home here, I realized that even with all the interesting places we've lived we've enjoyed each place we've been in. We've always had a place to live, food to eat, and blessed with all the things we need, and many of the things we want. We have a lot to be greatful for we've been very blessed in everything we do. I thought I'd give you all a pic of thankgsiving dinner and share a few of the recipes I used (mother- this part is for you so you have the spinich pinwheel recipe I used)

Now for a couple of the recipes I made today:
For the turkey, I used this blog. It turned out FANTASTIC! So moist and juicy. I think next year I want to try an orange glazed one thought, that sounds yummy.
http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/moms_roast_turkey/

I made the spinich pinwheels using this recipe:
http://www.razzledazzlerecipes.com/pampered-chef-recipes/cheese-spinach-pinwheels.htm

They were fantastic, I did make a few changes though. I used reduced fat crossant dough and cream cheese. And I sauted bacon and onions (chopped) drained, and sprinkled that on in place of the ham.

I did Loraines blueberry Jello recipe, but used frozen mixed berries instead of canned blueberries, I will be doing that from now on. It was good.

I used my super secret recipe for the stuffing. I'll share the secret with you though: stovetop turkey flavor. Anyway, those are the basics. Hope everyone had a wonderful day.

Some fun pics and an update.

2009-11-24T09:26:00.000-08:00

Last weekend was Justen's school's Harvest Ball. Since Justen and the FFA were in charge he put a ton of work into it. They did a carnival this year too with cotton candy, games and they were suppose to have a climbing wall. But at the last min. the National Guard (who was bringing the wall) called and told us the hydraulics were broken and they couldn't come. But the Seargent we had been working with felt really bad and brought a bunch of gear and tons of free stuff and did some fun activities with the kids. He also headed up one of the clean up crews, boy did those kids ever step it up for him!! We thoughrougly enjoyed having him there. Anyway, since Justen also had some parents cancel on him he asked if I could go. So Grandma to the rescue. Grandma Raine came and spent the night at our house with Garrison. Did he ever have fun! He woke up the next two mornings and the first word out of his mouth was GRAMMA as he ran down the hall looking for her. The second morning he was really dissapointed that he couldn't find her. I think he's used to having Oma Jackson here for two weeks at a time and getting to see her every morning, so he was quite confused that Grandma was only here for one. But they had lots of fun, and we got a few cute pics of some of Garrison's favorite things, Hiding in his cupboard, and his balck hat. It was a fun weekend. We also got to take Grandma Raine sewing machine shopping for my new machine. I was really leaning towards the Pfaff when we left (Grandma never quit leaning towards the Pfaff :) but in the end I did end up getting the viking. It does so many things automatically and that's good for me since I don't really know how to do them the hard way. Although last night as I was sewing I found that I liked having the old pfaff and the new viking side by side because I kept switching between them based on what I was doing. Without further ado, here is our cute boy...

And for fun, here are a couple of pics of Justen getting ready for his job interview today. He's got a good job, and he really thinks he'll probably end up staying there, but an opportunity came up he just couldn't pass up. He debated for over a week on whether or not he should even apply but in the end he decided he would kick himself if he didn't at least try for it. But either way he's happy whether he gets it or not, so that is a pretty good spot to be in.

Party Crashers

2009-11-01T08:42:00.000-08:00

So last night we crashed another ward's church Halloween party. We had decided that for Halloween we were going to go to the Punkinaze up on 1900 West. I had checked their website and it said they were open at 3 on Saturdays. So we went up, but they were closed. I decided I must have read it wrong so we went shopping and decided to come back on our way home. So we got there about 6 pm, and it was pretty empty but there were definitely people there so we went in. We stood at the ticket booth a long time and nobody came. Well someone who was already inside told us to come on in it was reserved for a church party but then would be open to the public and we could pay on our way out. So we did. We went through the corn maze and had a fun time. We came back out went back to the ticket booth and still nobody was there. After a few minutes a lady came up and told us they were closed, last week was their last weekend open. We explained to her that we had already gone through the maze and needed to pay for it. She laughed told us she was keeping the slide and fire pit going for a few more minutes before their church party ended and that we should come in enjoy the slide and help ourselves to their donuts and cider. She owned the maze and explained no one ever comes on Halloween because they are all out trick or treating. She wouldn't take our money but said we should just come have fun with them. So here are some pictures from it, we had a blast. As soon as Garrison got to the bottom of the slide he would jump back up and RUN, not walk RUN back to the stairs to start climbing to the top again. The picture of the side of Garrison's head is him RUNNING as fast as he could go (and faster than my camera could catch him) to go back down the slide again. Afterwords we decided to come home and trick or treat, but after three houses we had enough and came home and Garrison went to bed. And our sad but true way of giving out candy, we put a sign on the door that said, sorry we missed you, please help yourself to a treat, with a bowl of candy on top of our milk can. We left it up even when we were home so we didn't have to answer the door. Amazingly when Justen went and took it down at 10 pm the bowl was still half full. Of course according to the neighbors they only had two trick or treaters all night and one of them was Garrison, so I'm guessing where we are so far out everyone went into town to get their loot.

My sewing adventures for October.

2009-11-01T07:58:00.000-08:00

I can't believe October is already over. Wow, that went fast. Well I only got half of what I planned sewed this month, but I still got a lot done. Sad thing is every time I finish a project I find 5 more I want to do. This month in our sewing group we focused on Halloween and the cold. Sadly I didn't have time to get any new dipes done for daycare, so despite what our group is sewing in November that's what I HAVE to get done. Part of the reason for not getting as much done this month is I've been having machine issues. The machine I've been using was skipping stitches and sewing funky so we took it in to be serviced. And I just wasn't motivated enough to use my little brother machine because it's pretty worthless, and I REALLY wasn't motivated enough to break out my old pfaff (it is all old gunmetal insides and sews with a knee pedal instead of a foot pedal). They cleaned and timed it and fixed a broken pin and said it was all good to go. Well I got it home and it sewed fine, until I tried to do a diaper. The minute I put 4 layers of microfiber in there it went back to its old self. So last night we went to Joannes to get fabric. While I was in the cut line Justen wandered over to the viking dealer inside. By the time I was done getting my felt cut, he came over to let me know he'd picked out my new machine. It was shiny and I was drooling. So the lady demoed it for me, but any one who knows me knows I can't spend money without a good long "thinking about it" period. So I asked the lady if it would sew through 4 layers of microfiber and she told me it would no problem but since microfiber is one of the hardest things to sew I would probably need a sharp denim needle. So as I was wandering the store contemplating it dawned on me, the Pfaff I'd been sewing on had a Jersey ball point needle in it from sewing the waterproof fabrics. ALL THIS TROUBLE OVER A STUPID NEEDLE! So I called Loraine and she talked me through all the needles and what I needed. I may still end up with the very shiny Viking someday, but not today. So without further ado, here's what I've been up to.

We started our month with mittens. From now on I will be buying these at the store. Sewing them was not worth it.

Then I added some doublers and trimmed up some prefolds to get a better fit and more absorbancy. It turns out I still don't like prefolds as diapers no matter how much I keep wanting to.

Then I made Garrison a trick or treat bag.

Next we did carseat strap covers, so those pesky straps don't bother Garrison's neck.

Then we did Fleece diaper covers. I did two styles, one serged with side snaps, and one sewn with front velcro. They turned out pretty good.

Then came the scary project. Zippered pouches!!! Yikes, zippers scare me. Especially because I don't have a zipper foot. Actually, I may have one but I have no clue what it looks like or how to do it. So after going through five or six online tutorials on how to put in zippers I finally tried it. Not to bad for my first try. I did a wet bag. They are water proof pouches that you can use for swim wear or wet or dirty clothes, but in our case we use lots of them for dirty diapers. We send Garrison's clean diapers to daycare in one and then they send the dirties home in one everyday, and we keep them all over they are so handy. This is the first one I've made by myself.

And finally of course, Garrison's Halloween costume. It has a few major problems, like because I was using a scrap I had to cut it out the wrong direction to fit all the pieces so the stretch went the wrong way. It was also my first time working with ribbing so that is a little special. But all in all it's not to bad.

So there's my projects for the month. I've also been spinning some new yarn this month. While the sewing machine was being serviced, I decided to get back to my wheel. I have 8 oz. of Blue Faced Lester worsted weight yarn almost done. But then the sewing machine came back so it's been sitting on the bobbin again. Mabey that's what I'll work on this afternoon.....

Time to Color

2009-10-30T19:43:00.000-07:00

I am really not a big fan of Halloween. It's one of those holidays I really could stand to skip. In fact last year we pretty much did skip it, except for daycare. At daycare they go trick or treating to all the teacher's classrooms. So feeling guilty for being the slacker under-achieving parent that I am, I dressed Garrison in a pair of wranglers, a button up shirt and slapped a hat on him so he could go be a "cowboy". Well, I decided that this year was going to be different. So Wednesday night (they were going trick or treating Thursday) I decided I better hurry myself up and get Garrison a costume sewn. I've had the idea for a while but we threw it together pretty quick. I had a big scrap of fabric from my mom's attic and some felt squares from walmart, and with that we went to work. Justen worked on the hat while I did the applique. Justen fed Garrison dinner while I sewed, and just before bed time his Crayon was done. So we went out and got some cute pictures. The cats were being hilarious and wanted in on the fun. We're still debating if we will actually take him trick or treating ourselves, because I'm just not that into it. Besides, he came home with over 1 and 1/2 gallons of candy from daycare. He certainly doesn't need any more!

Garrison doing "Stick Em Up"

And I forgot to post this pic last week. Here is Garrison riding his new rocking horse. One of the teachers I work with is remodeling her basement and decided now that her grand kids are to old to enjoy this she wanted to pass it along to a little boy who would. Boy did she ever pick the right kid. He LOVES it!

More pictures.

2009-10-11T15:37:00.000-07:00

We are just hanging out at home this afternoon, and Garrison picked out all of his favorite things to wear. His Tractor hoody, boots, new sunglasses from Nanny's car, and carrying around his stuffed "Abby". He's a pretty happy kid.

The only thing missing from the above picture is his Vrooom hat. Also known as a green John deer hat that looks alot like one Justen has. Garrison has started insisting they wear matching hats. Garrison was running a temperature the other night and so we wouldn't let him go out to see the pups. He was pretty upset so Dad brought one in the house for him to play with.

Say NO to BYU!!!

2009-10-06T19:12:00.000-07:00

Well we are now officially BYU dropouts!! The good news is we also officially have our Biology Endorsements for the State of Utah. I guess it is kinda odd that we do everything together, right down to our degrees, our jobs, and we have the same endorsements on our teaching licenses, but oh well, we just like doing things alike. I no longer have to worry that I'm going to loose my job because I'm not endorsed for all the bio classes they have me teaching. It shouldn't have been a huge concern, but I'm a worrier I can't help it. SO anyway. The state decided to accept our Animal Science classes we had already taken for Animal anatomy in place of the human anatomy class they were asking for. They had told us originally that we had to take human anatomy, so we signed up for a BYU independent study class. Well, since it went in the state CACTUS system today (where they track all licensing for teachers in Utah) we dropped the class. Just in the nick of time too. If we had waited just a few more days we wouldn't have gotten any of our money back. SO it's a double happy thing. No class and we get all but $120 of our $1800 tuition bill back. Now we just need to try and sell our textbooks. Anyone need a totally unused human anatomy text book? I'm so happy I just can't hardly explain it. So much good news in one day. I kept looking up the Cactus page that had the endorsement posted all day just to make sure no body changed their minds and took it away again. They didn't. This has been a long road with a lot of headaches trying to get this thing done.
GO AGGIES!!!

A crazy half hour

2009-10-05T18:33:00.001-07:00

Well, I've been trying to take some pictures of Garrison and the puppies for a while now. Today was the day I decided. That was a big mistake. The mistake part was that I tried to do it by myself. Justen had parent teacher conferences so he wasn't home. Six puppies, two very attention starved adult dogs, an 18 month old and a camera are not a good combination. Garrison ended up getting knocked down by all the exuberant dogs that wanted his attention. He started crying and yelling no no no at the dogs. This doesn't normally happen, probably because I'm usually petting puppies too, but since they couldn't get attention from me they all ganged up on him. So I decided we would just take one puppy and go up front and take pictures. Of course we took Brie because she's my favorite. No we didn't name her that, her new owners have already chosen her name she just won't be weaned until next week so she is still here. So I got some cute shots. That's when puppy pandelirium happened. The other pups all heard us out front and turns out they can still get through the fence even though we fixed it last week. So before I could do anything I had six loose puppies, 3 kitties who decided to join the fun, and a boy running around the front yard chasing eachother. Garrison had so much fun, but when the first car came the pups ran after it and Garrison ran after them and I couldn't stop everybody. Luckily it was my neighbor and she had been slowing down to pull in her own driveway. None of the pups were hurt but it made me realize I needed a plan to contain these guys quick. So what do you do when you need help herding an unruly group? You go get a border collie! So I took Garrison and sent Abby after her pups. All I had to do was walk in the back yard and call Abby. Then quickly shut the gate before anyone could escape again. Then eventually got everybody back into the kennel, except one black pup. So we took some more pictures with him. Except for every body running crazy for a little bit it was pretty fun. I'm going to miss the pups when they go, but Tia and Abby will be releaved to be house dogs again.

A few of his favorite things.

2009-10-03T17:43:00.000-07:00

Well Garrison went to bed before I got any good puppy pictures. I thought I would post these instead. I've been meaning to get the first one off Justen's phone for a while now. The first one is at our Fremont homecoming parade. Our FFA float was a pony wagon. Our FFA president shows Shetland ponies and brought one of her teams and a hay wagon. Garrison was in heaven! He got to ride the ponies, then while our president drove in the parade she let Garrison hold onto the reins the whole way. He did everything she did, he yelled "get up" when she did, and told Rusty to get moving. He would tell them woa and pull back when ever he saw her do it. It was so cute. The second picture is from today at home depot. What can I say other than my boys love to go shopping for tools and lumber! Daddy was grinning just as big behind him pushing the lumber cart as Garrison was riding on it. Justen got a new circular saw since our old one died. Now he can put the roof on the shed. I got some lumber to rebuild a picnic table for our back yard. And we got enough stain to finish the fence, stain the picnic table, and hopefully seal the sheep chute.

My sewing adventures this month

2009-10-03T09:12:00.000-07:00

I've joined an online beginners sewing group. It's been really fun, and I've learned a lot. Each week we have different projects we all work on. It's also part of a cloth diapering forum so many of our projects are related to cloth diapers. So here's what I've been working on. It's really fun to help each other through problems we have and then we post pictures and share how we are doing. I also have Garrison's Halloween costume half done but no pictures of it yet.

We started out making cloth wipes. I've made lots of these, so I challenged myself. I made mine out of Organic Bamboo Velour. Its really soft but super hard to sew with. I dyed it myself. It's not suppose to look like FFA colors that was an accident. I have green dyed too but didn't get it sewn.

Then we moved onto embellishing prefold diapers. Since I don't use prefolds as diapers I made it into a pretty clean up rag that I would enjoy looking at. I'm tired of all the boyish stuff.

The next week the group did bibs. But since I made those a few weeks ago I skipped those and did some diapers instead. I did a couple of all in one diapers and some pocket diapers. I really like the side snapping ones. I've been testing a pattern for a lady so she can perfect her directions for a one size side snap diaper (fits from 8-35 lbs). I'm a good one to test because I'm not very good at sewing so the directions have to be really specific for me. I have also been playing with embroidering the diapers. And I made a fitted diaper (from my tester pattern-fitteds are not waterproof and require a cover) out of the Bamboo velour (super soft next to the skin), hemp fleece (very absorbent) and a cotton knit print (just for cuteness). It was a bugger to sew with all those stretchy fabrics.

And I am also playing with a new pattern for daycare diapers. For them they have to be all in ones, and velcro closing so they are no harder than disposables. We've used cloth at daycare for almost a year now (longer at home), and we are so glad that they are willing to use them. But sadly Garrison is out growing his entire daycare stash of diapers, so I'm sewing new. Here's my first from a new pattern I just bought- one using fold over elastic to bind, and the other the traditional turned and top stitched method.

Then last week our pattern was kids pants. My mom helped me sew wool shorts this summer, but I've never done a waist band by myself. So this was my first try at a waist band. Wool is an awesome diaper cover to use when you use a fitted or prefold (as the water proof layer). Fleece also works but not as well as wool. So I started by making a pair of fleece longies (what pants are called when used for waterproofing cloth diapering purposes.) They turned out pretty good. So I moved onto wool. My mom gave Justen this sweater years ago, but Justen just isn't a sweater person. What I did to this poor sweater about killed me. Now that it's all done I love the pants. I had to machine wash it on hot and dry it in the dryer to felt it up so it would work for covering diapers. I almost cried when I had to put it into the dryer. It was a really nice Pendelton wool sweater. Lucky for me the result is awesome. Once the pants were sewn I decided I needed a matching shirt so I embellished one with felt. Not to bad for my first t-shirt embellishment either. Now if only I could find a cute sheep print knit fabric to make a matching diaper...... Just a thought. Oh, and then I embroidered another shirt to match too. No I didn't sew the shirts, I'm not that good yet.

Thanks for letting me share what I've been working on. Hopefully I will find time this weekend to get some pictures of Garrison and his super cute puppies. We have been using fall break (we've been off work the last two days) to get some big projects done around here. Since our tractor is still at the mechanics (meaning the landscape is still on hold) we decided to paint this weekend. The new lambing shed is all painted and now just needs roofing. We are almost done resealing the fence, but we ran out of sealer. So as soon as I finish this and Garrison wakes up from his nap we are off to Home Depot so we can get more sealer and finish our outside projects before the snow comes.

Stupid Dog!!

2009-09-05T12:10:00.000-07:00

Tia is not making herself popular around here. She has had a very rough summer! She likes to dig "cool earth wallows" in the dirt so she has a nice place to lay, well this is the second time she has dug herself one, and then it has caved in and trapped her. This one was dug underneath the concrete for our deck. It took us a while to dig her out. The other picture is of her being "deskunked". She wanted so badly for the "kitty" to he her friend. She rubbed all over it even after it sprayed her. The funny part is Abby is always smart enough to avoid these disasters. Abby was the one that alerted us to the skunk, but she stayed well enough away. Abby also dug the cool earth wallows, Tia just always happens to be the one they collapse on. Oh, and just in case anyone ever needs to get rid of skunk, skip the tomatoes. Just get the dog wet, cake them up in baking soda, and douse the in vinegar. The smell is instantly gone! Just be careful around the eyes. It's sure a good thing we had Tia spayed, I think a litter of pups like her would kill me off for sure.

Cute boy and his cute puppies.....

2009-09-01T20:40:00.000-07:00

My week off

2009-08-15T10:27:00.000-07:00

It's finally sinking in. School starts Monday. I took this week off (well mostly I worked one day). And now it's Saturday and I had the sudden panic that next week I have to go back. I'm excited, don't get me wrong, I love teaching and my kids. But this is the first true week I've taken off since well, before I started here 3 years ago, the summer we moved from St. George. It's been wonderful. We've gotten tons done around the house, even though Justen has still been working. We got the camp trailer cleaned out and winterized, the laundry room cleaned (no easy task it was a mess.) We got our litter of pups here safe and sound. Now though I'm realizing everything I still have to get done before school starts. So, I thought I'd show you one of the projects I just finished. School starting also means Garrison goes back to full time daycare instead of just our sitter around the corner. At daycare his color is Green. This helps keep all of his stuff straight. So I just finished 4 bibs and a blanket all embroidered with his name. Then because I loved the bibs so much I made a whole bunch more for us at home. They are great! They have a hidden waterproof layer inside so no junk leaks through to his clothes. They also have a little turned up pocket at the bottom so they catch all the crumbs as they fall. I'm pretty excited about them. Having something fun to work on is softening the blow that we go back in 2 days.

There are actually two more bibs missing from the picture because they are already in the dirty laundry. We were in desperate need of new bibs, all his old ones have fallen apart.

Yum, had to share what's for dinner.

2009-08-13T09:49:00.001-07:00

We decided we wanted to eat a little more fish. Once a month would be "more" for us, so here's our first try for the month. Salmon is both of our favorite fish so we played it safe last night and had Salmon. Kent's Market puts it on sale for $2.99 lb all the time so it's even pretty good price wise. Hopefully they'll put some other kind of fish on sale soon so we can branch out. Last nights dinner was so good and SO easy I thought I'd share what we had. We had Salmon, green beans, and Parmesan/ramano rice pilaf. So for the salmon, we put a little lemon juice on it and then sprinkled it with Northwoods Spice from Penzeys Spices. Then wrapped it in foil and put it on the grill. I'm sure you could do it in a pan or the oven too, I just don't know how to use that thing in my kitchen during the summer. It was INCREDIBLE!!! My brother and Sister-in-Law sent us a mixed box of spices for Christmas and I would highly recommend all of the Penzeys blends, they are really good and fresh.
Next for the green beans. We got a whole bunch of fresh ones from our "garden". All we really have is about 5 bean plants up mixed in with my flower bed. So I threw them in the microwave to steam them first for about six min. with a little water in the bowl covered with saran wrap. Then I put a tiny bit of bacon in a skillet, but you could use a little olive oil instead. Then sauted the beans in the cooked bacon for about 6-8 min with a little onion powder and salt. Now I could have stopped there and they would have been great but I wanted something tangy. So I put a little splash of balsamic vinegar and cooked for another min. They were awesome. I'm hoping there are enough beans out there to have them again tonight.
Now the rice was awesome too. I'll tell you my secret to awesome Parmasan/Ramano cheese creamy rice pilaf. Rice-a-Roni Natures Way Mix in a box. I know it sounds terrible to top off such an awesome homeade meal with a box. But they are so good, and so easy.
So tonight's challenge for me will be to use up some of the tomatoes from my one little plant in a pot on the back porch. I have a whole bowl full of Romas from it and we're getting tired of BLTs so I need a new idea. If you have any ideas let me know, I'm thawing lamb chops so I need something to use tomatoes that will go with them.

Doberman's aren't Black and White?!?

2009-08-12T20:14:00.000-07:00

Abby had puppies today! She was a week early so it caught us completely by surprise. We had taken today off to get the wash room ready for her and get her whelping crate ready. She whined to come in and was laying in her crate while I cleaned. I walked out of the room to get something, and when I came back in there was a cleaned off puppy in her crate! We were so surprised. We called my Oma to make sure we were doing everything right (she's whelped hundreds of puppies so she's pretty much as expert as they come). She told us everything we needed and told me to call her if we needed any more help and let her know how many we got. Well when all was said and done Abby had six puppies. We called Oma to tell her about them and she asked us what colors, Justen told her 4 black and 2 black and white. She got really upset and told him, "What is wrong with your puppies, Doberman's aren't black and white?!?" Apperently we never told her it was Abby not Tia having puppies.
So back to the puppies. We got 2 girls, marked similarly to abby white blaze on the face and part of a collar. 2 Girls that are black, one with grey paws the other with a white spot on her chest. Funny thing is we also got 2 boys with the same markings as the two mostly black girls. If I didn't know that they were Border Collies, I'd say we were raising black labs around here. Garrison is really a bit confused. He keeps pointing at Abby and saying "Abby, uh-oh, meow?" He seems pretty convinced that a litter of kittens has invaded his basement. We only let him have a peek today so Abby could rest, but he sure does want to get in there to Abby and the Meows. But he was pretty satisfied to have Tia's undivided attention today since she was also banished from the washroom for the day.

Upadates for the month...

2009-08-12T20:05:00.001-07:00

Well, we've been super busy. Since a picture is worth a thousand word, here it goes.

We stopped at a restaurant in Nephi on our way back from St. George and Garrison was in LOVE with the train! The food was great too.

This is out at the Stone Rodeo

We got Garrison a little pool for the back deck, he really likes splashing in it. But some days he insists on having his hat with him while he swims.

It's been a while....

2009-07-07T16:01:00.001-07:00

It's been a while since I've gotten around to posting but we have lots of cute pictures I wanted to post.This is Garrison on his first train ride at Nanny and Papa's for the 4th of July.
And he LOVES the swing, we need to get one!

To much Junk!

2009-05-19T19:28:00.000-07:00

I have come to realize over the last few weeks of spring cleaning that we have way to much JUNK. I'm not talking about Justen's treasures, I'm talking plain old worthless takes up space, don't need it anyway, never needed it in the first place junk. And one trash bag at a time it is leaving my house. We're on our second trip to the DI, I've put some stuff on freecycle, and the trash can has never been more full. Last night I organized and de-cluttered the bathroom. I thought the kitchen was the worst, but the bathroom takes the cake. I am not exaggerating when I say this, I found 15 open tubes of toothpaste stuffed around the bathroom. They were in every drawer, every bin, every bag, nook and cranny. You may have wondered how many things of deodorant one person needs, well for the average person the answer is one at a time, for us the answer is 11. Now, while it's true that counts the travel sizes in our bathroom bag to go.... we actually each had 3 in there! So now everything is organized, all the partially used stuff has been combined into one bottle, or put neatly in a bag or box. I haven't gotten to the deep cleaning of the bathroom yet, it took me three days just to organize it. So as I said before I'm moving very slow. After two weeks of working I am now up to "day 4" on the spring cleaning party. My living room, kitchen, and bathroom are now done. We also went ahead and did the linen and coat closets since they are in the living room, and when we shampooed the carpets we did the living room and down the hall. Hopefully we'll have the bathroom deep cleaned by this weekend, and Monday we'll tackle Garrison's room. I know not everyone loves spring cleaning as much as I do, but hopefully someone will be inspired to tackle one room. I actually hate cleaning, but I love having my house clean, organized and easy to take care of. I can hardly wait until I'm done. At my current pace I should finish sometime around August.

Daddy's Boy

2009-05-13T07:46:00.001-07:00

The older Garrison gets the more obvious it gets that he is not a Mama's boy. He is all boy! Everything he does is to mimic or be with his Dad. This weekend while we were putting cupboard locks on he just had to help. The funniest part was when Garrison kept getting in and trying to get soap out of the cupboard. Justen told him No No and wouldn't let him get in again. Then as Justen tried to put the lock up Garrison got extremely upset that Dad was in the offlimits cupboard and kept telling him No No and pulling his hand out and shutting the cupboard door just like Dad had done to him. Mabey it's one of those that you had to have been there things.

Finally Motivated!

2009-05-12T09:05:00.000-07:00

I have to start out by thanking my sister-in-law Sarah. She inspired me to get started on my spring cleaning. I've been wanting to for a while. My house is driving me nuts, but where to start? Well I followed her link to the spring cleaning party and the routine put together by Simple Mom. It's awesome! I have to admit though I'm a bit behind. I can't keep up-my house is way messier and a bit bigger than her's appears in her blog. So while it is taking 10 days if you follow her routine, it will take me more like 10 weeks. But it is so worth it. I have already put together two full boxes for the DI. Justen and I are loving our new found space in our clutter free kitchen. I have also found my new favorite "toy" in all of this. For my birthday Justen got me a steam mop and a steam cleaner (similar to a sccunci but much cheaper). I have asthma and fibromyalgia and we've found both are irritated by most cleaning chemicals. I use the mop every week, but the cleaner hasn't been much use, until now. My kitchen has never been cleaner, and for the first time deep cleaning in years I haven't had an athsma attack. I will say though I used a tiny but of clorox cleanup when we pulled the stove out because I just couldn't resist, that was GROSS! We've steam cleaned all the cupboards inside and out. The last things left to finish the kitchen is to clean behind the fridge, wash the walls, and oil the wood cupboards. Then it's on to the bathrooms. So like I said I'm a few days behind because I should be onto Garrison's room but I'm not yet. But it feels so good to get things deep clean and the clutter we've collected out. I am absolutely loving her ebook and all the great tips-if you want to follow along just click on Simple Mom and it will take you there. Sarah I can't thank you enough for pointing me in the right direction!

This is how we feel!!

2009-05-03T19:02:00.000-07:00

We have been running so hard the last few months that we are totally exhasted. It seems like everytime we think we are going to have a nice weekend to rest, we don't get any rest. Everyday I'm another day behind. We finally have Fremont's FFA banquet behind us, and next week will be my greenhouse sale. Then we still have Layton's banquet and a few other things and then summer. Which is of course time for summer Ag program visits, summer classes, county fairs, and everything else. Hopefully someday we will get a break.

Lambs, Lambs everywhere....

2009-05-03T18:43:00.000-07:00

Garrison loves his lambs! He makes Justen take him out to check the sheep every day when they get home from daycare.

Birthday Boy

2009-05-03T18:26:00.001-07:00

I'm slow at getting stuff up but here's some of the pictures from Garrison's birthday on March 14.

He walks, he talks, it's awesome!

2009-03-04T11:46:00.000-08:00

It's awesome and scary all at the same time! Garrison's surgery was a success. They can't confirm whether or not he has any permanent hearing loss, but we've seen a huge difference. He's started walking all over and is really good at it. His evasive maneuvers to get around oncoming dogs is downright impressive. He also now climbs into the window sill (yikes) and waves at the neighbors. His "talking" is much improved too. He now jabbers constantly, tells you NO NO NO! if he doesn't like what you are doing, and "sings along" to the songs in church. All of this is new. His favorite new thing is of course LAMBS! We had a set of triplets born Monday and a set of twins at about 4 am this morning. Garrison loves them. He pounds on our back door constantly calling Tia and Abby and looking at Justen pleading to go see the "baas". It's pretty darn cute.

A Quick Update

2009-02-19T08:28:00.000-08:00

I haven't had a whole lot of time these last few months. Between Garrison and I we've been to the ER 6 times in three months. We're both finally feeling better. Garrison is now up to 33 inches and 25 lbs, so he's gained back the weight he lost while he had RSV. He lost down to 20lbs so he's been slowly working it back up. He goes in for surgery on Monday on his ears. They will be removing scar tissue from the ear drums, and putting tubes in. They are hoping to restore his hearing completely. At his last test he was at 90% hearing loss, but they hope it is a temporary loss due to the pressure built up behind the ear drums and the amount of scar tissue he has built up from ruptured drums. They said Monday should be pretty routine and he'll be feeling back to normal and hopefully better than normal by that evening. Garrison started walking a few weeks ago, but then when his ears got bad he quit again. We are hoping he'll decide to walk again once his equalibrium and balance come back. I'm hoping to have time to post a little of what we've all been up to soon. Justen is getting pretty close to having the roof up on our new barn, Garrison has rearanged and "organized" all of my kitchen cupboards, and I've beem working with students on FFA proficiencies, state degrees, and science fair projects. It's a busy time for us. Justen and I call spring "FFA Season". We have all of our competitions coming up, and we are both training several teams. Our greenhouses are also in full swing and filling up for spring. Keep reminding me to get pictures up so I don't forget! So much exciting stuff, not to mention we start Lambing in two weeks. If I don't post for a while just know we are busy!

Garrison and his "sisters"

2008-12-16T16:07:00.000-08:00

Well, there is no doubt that Garrison LOVES his dogs. He can't wait for them to run in the room in the morning. If he hears the clink of Tia's collar he tries to dive off the bed and crawl to her. Well, now he's started going to the window with them to bark. I'm not sure if this is a good thing or not, but it's pretty funny. Another thing we've found we love about having dogs and kids together is the built in maid service for cleaning up around Garrison's high chair. He's up to four teeth now, and growing fast. He's up past 24 lbs, 33 inches, and in 18 month clothes.

First Tooth!

2008-11-05T16:52:00.000-08:00

Yesterday Garrison got his first tooth! He also has a mouthful that look ready to come. Sorry it's so short, I'll get more up soon. I've had a migraine since last thursday and nothing is helping. I have some great pictures from Indiana but I can't look at the computer screen long enough to get them up, so they are coming soon.

Crawling??

2008-10-18T13:55:00.000-07:00

So he really isn't crawling, but he is scooting to get what he wants. He's been rolling all over the place for a while. Up until now if he wanted something, he would just roll until he got there or sit and happily play with something else. Today I was doing something on the computer and Justen put Garrison down across the room and next thing I knew he was at my feet to grab the toy sitting there. Justen was so excited that he was crawling, he just sat there amazed watching him crawl and didn't even tell me what was going on until Garrison was at my feet. I missed the whole thing. He did it another time or two, we went "fishing" for him with the yellow measure tape he wanted. Then when we tried to get it on video he really didn't want to show off anymore. So we got three scoots. It's better than nothing, he goes faster when he's not tired and the camera is off. Isn't that always the way? The min. you get the camera they quit doing what they were doing fine just a min. before.

What a Week!

2008-10-18T13:11:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm glad the last week is over, but I'm not sure I'm ready for next week. It's been incredibly busy. Garrison has had croup AGAIN! I'm starting to think he doesn't get over it, it just hangs on endlessly. He actually was better, but then we had that big snow storm and guess what, Davis school district won't turn the heat on in their schools until a certain date regardless of temp. And, Layton high is being remodled and the front of the school is a gaping hole. So the day of the snowstorm the daycare was freezing and he got sick again. He went to the Dr. Tuesday night and got another steriod treatment, and then had to have a second one the next night. But he is doing better now. We got the sheep taken up to Tremonton to be breed- and all but one have been bred. So if they all took we should be lambing 8 ewes in one week, doesn't that sound fun! Snow college FFA feild day is over, thankfully. Garrison wanted to know who's brilliant idea having to get up at 3 am to leave! He was a trooper all day, but man he has been a grump since trying to catch up on sleep. We've had two days off to catch up on sleep, and then we leave for Nationals. So Tuesday morning we again have to get up at 3 am to get to the airport and leave for Indianappolis. But I thought I'd post some pictures of Garrison hanging out with his aunt Brittney while we load sheep to take up north.

PS I forgot to add that when he was at the Dr. this week he is up to 20 lbs. 4 oz. Which isn't a surprise because he has started waking up at 2 am for an extra bottle for the last two weeks, and eating like a horse. So as suspected, he's in the middle of another growth spurt.

Filling up for Pocket Change!

2008-10-04T12:34:00.000-07:00

So we've been telling you all that we were going to convert our car to CNG for almost a year now. Well, we still haven't. The kit is sitting here and the tank arrived last week. But we filled up for under $3 yesterday. You guessed it, we bought a new car(well new to us it's an '02). We just couldn't wait anymore. We've been so busy we decided we just aren't going to get it done as soon as we need a new car. So, we went down to Uintah Alternative fuel vehicles and bought a chevy cavalier that had the CNG system factory installed. It's clean burning and our fuel dollar stays right here in Utah because the natural gas is mined right here. So we are no longer supporting foreign oil companies, YEAH FOR THAT!! Justen put 3/4 of a tank in for $2.58.That takes his daily commute cost from about $13 a day to less than $1 a day. We are pretty excited. There are definately some inconviences with it, we have no trunk, it's pretty gutless (but so is the saturn) and he'll have to fill a couple of times a week because the tank only holds 4 Gallons, but hey, how can you argue with that price. It was costing us over $70 a week to fill the van. So, if anyone is in the market for an old beat up minivan, let us know we have one we're parting with. We love our new car.

Sitting Up and Loving it!!

2008-10-01T20:48:00.001-07:00

Garrison has started sitting up on his own. He's actually been doing it for a while, but now he pulls himself to a sit and doesn't fall over. He also loves his favorite new toy, his Nanny phone. He takes it everywhere and it can make him instantly stop crying when he hears it. We call it his nanny phone because he got it on his first big shopping trip with his Nanny at Kents. I went to grab some produce and then I kind of panicked when I couldn't find the two of them. But a few minutes later they came around the corner, Garrison had the biggest grin on his face. He was shaking his new rattle. He's loved it ever since. It's actually the only rattle he plays with. So look close at his hand, that's what he's clutching, his red Nanny Phone. On another note today, we had our vents cleaned. I was at parent teacher conferences so Justen was here. He said it was NASTY!! He said they pulled out a huge canister of dirt. The canister on their truck was the size of a 55 gallon drum. Then they put some stuff in the vent system to kill mold and mildew. Hopefully Garrison and my allergies will get a break now. So, now we have to get the carpets cleaned and mabey the two of us will be able to breath again. There was mold in the vents (luckily not the scary or dangerous kind) so I really believe that was the cause of my breathing issues. Lets hope.

Good Eater!!

2008-09-30T18:46:00.000-07:00

These pictures were too cute not to post. He's such a good eater, and so patient. Tonight he had peas and chicken. But his favorite is peaches, hmmmm I wonder who he got that from.

Poor Tia, Poor Garrison...

2008-09-29T18:58:00.000-07:00

Poor Tia got a great big nasty gash on her front leg yesterday, but that's not what she's mad about. She's mad about the make shift ice-cream bucket cone on her head to keep her from licking it. Now that is one pitiful looking dog!! And today Garrison joined in her misery because he got his six month shots. He's a bit grumpy about his legs being touched. He's still a big boy, he's at the 98% percentile for height and head circumference, but he's at 77% for weight (19 lbs. 9oz. 29 inches). So all is well, he's healthy.

We're trying the blog thing!

2008-09-28T20:24:00.000-07:00

Well, I blog at school and I follow blogs of several friends and family. So, I'm finally getting around to setting up my own. Mainly so we can share pictures and news. So here it goes our first try. Today I thought I' d post the recipe we made for Tanya's Baby shower for Gluten Free Angel food cake so everyone has it.

Gluten Free Angel Food Cake

1/3 c. Potato Starch
1/3 c. corn Starch
1/3 c. Powdered sugar
12 egg whites
2 T water
1/2 t. salt
1 1/4 t. cream of Tarter
3/4 c. sugar
1 t. vanilla (gluten free)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Sift together 4 times the starches, and powdered sugar. In the bowl of your mixer, whip the egg whites, water, salt and cream of Tarter until foamy. Slowly add the sugar while beating until soft peaks form. Fold in the flour mix, a little at a time. Add the vanilla and spoon into a large angel food cake pan with removable bottom (make sure pan is very clean and free of any residue or oil). Cut through the batter with a knife to eliminate any air bubbles. Bake for 35 min. Reverse pan immediately when taken from oven and stand on legs or a pop bottle to cool. Drop the cake reversed onto a serving plate. serves 10-12.
**My Note** The cake was not sweet enough so next time I will double the powedered sugar and see how that goes.

For the topping. I bought the Triple Berry Blend (Frozen Berries) at Sam's club and thawed about 3 hours. Then added 1 1/2 c. sugar and stirred. Spooned that topping on and put on some whipped cream.

Just typing this is making my mouth water. I think next week we'll make the topping again (I bought too many berries) and try it on Ice cream. I can hardly wait.