It just went from worse to worse

I ran errands on Wednesday. When I returned, the computer was DEAD, and resisted all resuscitation efforts.edu I suspect foul cat play. I do have Wii internet, but it is horrible and forces me to point and click one painstaking letter at a time. UGH! So I'll be scarce until I rectify this computer situation. Oh well, I guess this means I'll actually have to be productive and pack up the house already! I'll be checking email and blogs from time to time, so I'm officially in lurker mode now. Don't have too much fun without me!

Cloth Diapering on the Cheap, DD-Style

Since I seem to be on a cloth diaper roll, I thought I'd write about ways to get your baby in fluff without breaking the bank. Since I don't have much of a bank to break in the first place, I'm kind of an expert on cloth diapering for cheap. If you've been researching this sort of stuff, you probably know that the cheapest conventional method is using prefolds with breathable waterproof covers like Thirsties Duo Wraps. Here are few other, more unconventional methods!

--Giveaways. There are a zillion cloth diaper giveaways across the internet that you can enter! Sadly, I haven't won one yet-- I've won tons of other random stuff, but not a diaper. I'm hoping that changes sometime!

--The Cloth Diaper Foundation. This site donates new and used diapers to families in need. I haven't done this because the applicant positions fill up super fast, and up until a few months ago, you had to return the diapers once your baby grew out of them (they've since changed the policy, so you get to keep them!). I'd rather build up a stash of brand-new diapers that will last through multiple kids, but this is a good opportunity if you're in a pinch.

--Sew your own. You can sew fitteds like the ones on my last post for super cheap. The materials I used were all free- some from my MIL and some from receiving blankets- but for the sake of argument, let's say you're buying flannel at $5 a yard. You can get three diaper pieces from one yard, which starts the cost at $3.33 per diaper. The elastic used is minimal (maybe 1.5 feet), and the terry cloth comes from old bath towels. I've been using cheapy Wal-Mart washcloths for the Snappi grip material (it works better because it's not so bulky as the bath towels). $5 for an 18-pack= 28 cents per washcloth. That comes to $3.61 per fitted diaper!

(and stay tuned for fitted tutorial coming soon!)

I'm also researching the cost to make a pocket diaper. You will need PUL (a waterproof yet breathable material) for the outside, microfleece or suedecloth for the inside, and something absorbent for the insert that you will stuff inside the diaper (microfiber, bamboo or hemp fabric, or a prefold). PUL is between $7.50-15.00 per yard. Suedecloth, which is cheaper than microfleece, is about $7 a yard. Both of these fabrics are normally 60" wide, so you should be able to get four diaper pieces from each! Let's say that you get a cute PUL print for $10 and suedecloth for $7. That will make each diaper shell cost $4.25. For the inserts, you buy an 8-pack of microfiber towels for $5. Since you need two towels for one normal insert, that will run you $1.25 per insert. The final cost of the pocket diaper: $5.50! If you want to make this one-sized by having someone like Convert My Diapers add rise snaps, it will add a few dollars to the cost-- a pricier start-up, but cheaper in the long run, and still less expensive than buying the diapers.

I really want to get a BabyKicks diaper
with my Swagbucks. *Droooooool*

--Swagbucks. For about 1900 Swagbucks, you can get a name-brand cloth diaper from Amazon.com! (if you don't have an account, you can sign up using my referral link and get me closer to some new fluff! :-D) 

--Helping orphans. Normally, I'm not big on buying from China. BUT, the proceeds from American-run Assunta Store in China fund a non-profit hospice organization for dying and disabled orphans. Since they are made in China, the pocket diapers are very inexpensive-- as low as $5! From the reviews I've read from independent bloggers, the diapers perform very well, so you can do both your wallet and your heart a favor and still get a good product.

So those are my oddball ideas for getting diapers inexpensively. Do you have any tricks for feeding that cloth addiction?

This post is linked with Works for Me Wednesday!

Diapers, Diapers Everywhere!

Miriam over at My Country Cupboard asked if I've been sewing anything lately. I haven't been intensely working on any projects, but when I have a few minutes to spare, I make... DIAPERS!

These are fitteds, so they're not waterproof, which is perfect for EC! My mother-in-law bought me a ton of flannel on Black Friday, so I've been having a field day with all the patterns.

I made the leg warmers, too! Elizabeth at That Married Couple has a great tutorial.

These diapers are constructed with two outer layers of flannel, with an inner layer of terry cloth (old bath towels) and flannel sewn in. It's actually very absorbent!

I've been experimenting with sewing strips of terry cloth on the outside for Snappis, since flannel doesn't hold a Snappi very well. :-(

Ohhhhhh, I love all these fabrics! My personal favorite:

This next one is cool because it's reversible! The layer touching Baby D's skin is polar fleece, and there is an additional terry cloth/flannel layer inside. So he can wear it as pictured, as a fitted with a stay-dry inner layer; or he can wear it as an AIO with the polar fleece on the outside. I've always been skeptical about how well fleece works as a waterproof layer, but so far, I'm pretty impressed!

Here's the original diaper I made-- it's reversible, as well, but this is before I started adding terry cloth, so it's not that absorbent.

These have been very good at holding in the blowouts. Not a leak yet-- and Baby D has made some doozies! One thing I'm not crazy about is the fastening. These are actually one-size, with the top open for stuffing the diaper inside itself until I have a good rise length. This means that my only fastening options are pins or Snappis. If I had a plastic snap press, I'd make the rise adjustable a la bumGenius! and add some velcro.

This is a very economical way to diaper Baby D at home, but alas, I still need some diapers that won't make babysitters run screaming in the other direction-- I'd love to just hand them a stack of pockets or AIOs.  As soon as I can figure out how to do rise snaps, I'd like to try my hand at making pocket diapers. (confused by all this diaper lingo? Rachel at Silver Spoons, Paper Plates has a nice explanation of all the different diaper types)

These are pretty easy to whip up-- if Baby D allows, I can finish one in a day! So you might see more popping up here and there, because now I can never rest now until I have every single flannel print in the world. Whoops.

Well, Oklahoma, it's been [somewhat] nice knowing you...

I didn't write a Knead It Monday post yesterday, because I was spending the day with Hubs before packing him onto an airplane this morning. But here's a short blurb about the bread: it was sourdough, from a starter I made myself! The resulting loaf didn't taste like sourdough at all, but I'm just happy that we didn't die from eating something that sat on my counter for an entire week. So there's another bread that I plan on revisiting sometime this year.

I mentioned a couple posts ago that we are moving! Here is where we're going:

We're not moving into in the White House itself, but we will be in the Washington, D.C. area! Adam's studies are Government/Pre-Law, so this is the place to be. We'll also be closer to his side of the family! My side is a little put out that we're not moving to Washington State, where they live, but I'm sure a trip to all the cool monuments when they visit will appease them somewhat.

As a girl who was raised in a pretty unhistoric state and relocated to another boring state, I'm stoked to be living somewhere with monuments, old buildings, and an interesting past! I'm really fighting the temptation to fall to American Tail Syndrome (I coined that one myself!)-- thinking that everything under the sun will be so much better in our new location.

Washington. D.C. is hardly the land of milk and honey, but I'm still very optimistic. :-) Our lease is up at the end of March, so we'll be moving sometime next month. We are very much flying by the seat of our pants on this one! Adam has gone ahead to line up work and living arrangements, so I guess we have a new Man of the House:

My first decree is to destroy the Moby Wrap!

Let's hope we get everything lined up soon. :-)

A Little Blog Upkeep!

It is a balmy 75 degrees out now, on a Saturday. While most people might be doing a little upkeep on their cars or houses, I'm here with the windows and door wide open, doing a little upkeep on the blog! Here are a couple new things you might notice on Downright Domesticity!

• A facebook "Like" button, which is now at the bottom of each blog post. I got the instructions and code here. After all that hard work, I'd love it if you started liking my pages! :-D

• A better comment box! Blogger's horrific comment system has almost pushed me to WordPress more than once. So I'm giving Blogger one last chance, with a little help from Disqus. I almost had a heart attack when I couldn't find any of the old comments anywhere, even after importing, but they finally showed up. WHEW! Oh my word, you guys, I am so psyched to finally have a Reply button! (proof that I've been blogging too long, haha) So we'll see how this works. Tell me what you think!

I'm pretty sure that you don't have to be a blogger/have some sort of account to post comments, so if you're just visiting, you can comment, too!

• This has actually been around for a few weeks, but you now have the opportunity to subscribe by email. Just enter your email in the little left-hand box, and my posts will appear right in your inbox-- no need to go to the blog itself! (unless you want to use that awesome new comment box, of course :-D) This feature is nice and handy if you're already following a zillion blogs via GFC, and your reader's getting cluttered; or if you're not sure you want to follow a blog yet, and you'd like a trial. 

Well, it looks like I'm on my way to having a Big Girl Blog. What other features do you like to see on a blog?

A Solid Approach to Solids?

On the cusp of celebrating six months with Baby D, I am increasingly asked the million-dollar question:

"Has he started solids yet?"

Short answer: No.

Long answer: I am a very lazy mother. I'm really digging this period of perpetually carrying around Baby MRE's.

Perhaps Le Petit Monsieur would like to try the Milk this evening?
Prepared fresh from the finest ingredients, and served by the chef herself! Ooh la la!

Meal planning is not my strong suit, and I'm not looking forward to actually coming up with nutritious dishes for the little guy! Also, I have better things to do than sit there and shove stuff in his mouth. I saw enough of my baby being force-fed at the NICU, thankyouverymuch.

So ideally, I don't want to start him on solids until he's ready to feed himself.

This will require

-Sitting up independently 

-Having some teeth already!!!

-Using the finger-thumb pincer grasp

 There are few other factors to the delay, as well. The diaper sprayer fell apart last week, so I'm not adequately prepared to deal with the solid poop. (The great thing about breast-fed poop [not that there's ever anything great about poop, lol]  is that it's water-soluble, so you can just throw those cloth diapers straight into the washing machine-- talk about easy! Once you start solids, however, you have to use flushable liners or spray the diapers down before washing. Sad face!) We're also moving across the country sometime next month, so the less complicated feeding Baby D is, the better! He is still growing at a ridiculous rate on milk alone, so I'm not worried about nutrition. I will not buy commercial baby food, and I hate cleaning blenders, so Baby D will need a set of chompers to puree his own food!

But when I DO start feeding him solids, I don't want to wean him completely yet. The goal is to breastfeed Baby D until at least his first birthday. However much further beyond one year is something we'll play by ear! I used to be that person that was so grossed out by the idea of toddler breastfeeding, but the more I find out about the wonderful properties of breastmilk, the more I'm in favor of keeping it in his diet as long as possible.

So that is [hopefully] my plan. I'm curious to hear other experiences or plans on introducing solids! When did/do you plan to start? It is easier with teeth? For you CDing moms: did it instantly get harder to wash those diapers?

Silly Monkey!

Almost exactly a year ago, I wrote a blog post about my very first purchase for Baby D:

At the time, I didn't know what the intended wearer would look like, or what kind of personality this baby would have. Heck, I didn't even know what Baby D's gender was!


It is SO.COOL. to see a million possibilities turn into one reality.

I am so blessed. :-)

A Funny Flashback

I was fifteen, thousands of miles from home, and dealing with the oppressive Southern July heat. I was in Florida at a three-week summer music camp, and enjoying every minute of it, despite being at a super-strict Christian college! (I liked to call it Pensacola Concentration Camp)

Almost every evening in the cafeteria, I was in the habit of selecting a random table full of campers I hadn't met yet and dining with them, so that I'd keep on meeting new people. One night, as I left the food line and surveyed the available tables, I caught sight of one table with a girl, a short guy, a tall guy, and one empty seat. Perfect.


So I sat down, and the introductions began! "I'm Stephani," said the girl. The short guy chimed in: "My name's Keith, and this guy is Brenden." He pointed to the tall guy.

Now, I'm usually really bad at remembering names, and since camp was already almost halfway over, I was getting really tired of being forgetful. I was determined to remember THESE names, at least! So I mentally repeated to myself over and over, "Stephani. Keith. Brenden. Keith. Brenden. Stephani." The rest of the dinner was lighthearted and fun, and I made sure to use their names a lot. "So, what instrument do you play, BRENDEN?" "Where are you from, KEITH?"

And believe it or not, I had their names memorized by the end of dinnertime! I was so PROUD of myself! So for the next ten days of camp or so, I relished every opportunity to use this knowledge. Since I seemed to run into Brenden the most, he got to hear his name called a lot.

"How's it going, Brenden?" "Nice to see you again, Brenden!" From across the campus: "HI, BRENDEN!!!!"

So it was utterly crushing when he pulled me aside a couple days before the end of camp, and said, "Um, Keith calls me Brenden because he thinks I look like Brenden Frasier, the movie star. My name is actually Adam."


And that, folks, is how I met my husband.


I think his name is Adam. I'll never be quite sure.


Have a Happy Valentine's Day tomorrow! Whether you have a sweetie or not, be sure to enjoy lots of chocolate! :-)

I actually still keep in touch with Stephani, whose real name is still Stephani. Thank God. Be sure to check out her blog!

25 Things You Probably Didn't Want to Know about Me

First off, let me say that my readers are awesome! You have helped jump-start my brain for new blog post ideas. Thank you, thank you. So here are 25 things about me, as requested.



1. I am totally fine with drinking unpasteurized milk and eating eggs fresh from the chicken coop, but I will not get within ten feet of that scary Amish Friendship Bread stuff. At least with the eggs and milk, you know exactly where it came from!

2. I don't share this little tidbit very often, but I was homeschooled all twelve years. Oh, I'm plenty proud of my education, but you'd be surprised at the prejudices people have against homeschoolers.

3. I have read The Bronze Bow every year since middle school. I don't even know why, because it's not my favorite book; it's just something I do. :-P

4. I own a coffee pot, a french press, and an espresso machine. You might say I like coffee! But I still limit myself to one cup a day.

5. My guilty pleasure: watching anime. But it has to be GOOD anime-- so I don't watch much. :-P

6. Foods you will never see cooked or consumed on this blog: mushrooms and green peppers. EW.

7. I liked Adam for an entire year secretly until he came around and realized what an awesome catch I was. ;-)

8. In high school, I went vegetarian for one month, and that was the best I've ever felt in my life!

9. When Pavarotti came to town on his final concert tour, I got to play violin in his orchestra! That was the coolest thing ever!

If you squint reeeeeeally hard... I'm still not in the picture. :-(

10. I am first-born through and through. Responsible, high-achiever, people-pleaser, can take charge if I really have to. Since my mom is also a first-born, that makes Baby D at least a third-generation firstborn. :-P

11. I am embarrassingly good at Mario Kart.

12. I was HUGELY inspired by St. Francis of Assisi as a teen. Even now, I love finding info about him.

13. I am a Francophile. I've been studying French since age 14, and I am chomping at the bit to go to France!

14. I am most seriously grieved by what happened to Littlest Pet Shop and Polly Pocket toys. Remember when those things actually looked like animals and actually fit in your pocket? Sigh.

These look like animals.

These look like aliens.

15. Most people start using mama cloth pads after cloth diapering their babies. For me, it was just the opposite! I started using cloth pads in college, and the difference in comfort was so phenomenal, I knew I couldn't put my future babies in plastic, either. :-P

16. Don't laugh, but I have always wanted to learn how to belly dance. Stop laughing!

17. I was briefly a church organist. I don't know how to play the organ.

18. I have also been Superintendent of Canned Foods at the county fair, but I don't know how to can. It is amazing the things you can do, even if you're a complete ignoramus!

19. I have no desire to quilt. Okay, maybe the crafter in me has a teensy weensy desire, but I just don't have the patience to cut a piece of fabric into zillions of tiny shapes,  just so I can sew it all back together again. I really admire beautiful quiltwork, but I just don't think that's an activity I would enjoy!

I have to admit, though, this is pretty darn cool.

20. The first thing I ever cooked was a fried egg, when I was eight years old. My dad must have gotten sick of making PB&J for me, because he called me into the kitchen and gave me a cooking lesson!

21. I never had a cavity in my life until I went to college and started drinking juice on a regular basis. That stuff is not that great for you!

22. I had a very real fear of Borgs (from Star Trek) all the way into college. I just knew there was one in a dark corner, waiting to assimilate me!

23. Despite being quite tall (5'9" on a good day), I am TERRIBLE at basketball.

24. I hate hate HATE promise rings. Invented by greedy jewelers who just couldn't squeeze enough money out of the engaged and married folk, these rings make an underwhelming statement of love: "I promise to promise to get married!" Seriously, if you're going to wear a ring on that finger, just commit already!

Look at me! I love to create really awkward situations when you ask if I'm engaged!

25.  It took me an entire day to come up with all these things. Gee, I need to learn how to skydive or something.

Time to ask YOU a question!

Okay, it's time to break out of this blogging malaise and bring you something besides bread posts. The problem is that nothing's been happening here since that snow storm last week. The roads are pretty horrible because Oklahoma doesn't know how to handle that white stuff falling from the sky, so I've been snowbound, and things have been booooooooring around here.

This is a Google Image result for "malaise".
At Downright Domesticity, the buck stops here!

So let me ask you: what would you like to read a post about? Any burning questions you have about what goes on at the Downright Domicile?


Now, sitting here thinking of what crazy things some of you might ask has given me a few ideas for what to post next. Hooray! But I still aim to please, so please feel free to put in your request!

Knead It Monday: Oatmeal Bread

You probably think by now that I sit around and brainstorm ways to totally mess up my breadbaking experiences. It may make good blogging material, but I am honestly just a girl who wants to make a decent loaf of bread but sincerely does that many dumb things in the kitchen. That being said, I had another weird bread adventure.

This week's loaf is also from the Reader's Digest Homemade book. I had such great success with the homemade pretzels, that surely their bread would be good, too!... Right? Right?

I baked this on the eve of that bad snowstorm that swept the Midwest. The recipe said that it was for one loaf of bread, but since I wanted two, I doubled the recipe. Herein was the first problem: the ingredients.


For a mere two loaves of bread, here are some of the ingredients I had to cough up:

• 3 cups milk
• 1 entire stick of butter
• 4 yeast packets (that's almost 1/4 CUP!!!!)
• 3 eggs (should have been 4, but I'm cheap :-P)

And when it came time to add all the flour and start kneading, I knew we had a problem:

This poor Jello is waiting to go to a good home after my pantry purge.

That is one GIANT lump of dough. I was sure that those Reader's Digest nincompoops had failed to test their own recipe, because this was obviously four loaves' worth of bread! I pulled out the two biggest pans I own, divided the dough, and set it to rise.

Since I only had three loaf pans, I called up my former-classmate-now-neighbor Rachel, who graciously lent me hers. It was only after this that I looked at the recipe and found out that I was actually supposed to knead the dough again after the first rise. This reduced the enormous puff of dough back into an enormous ball... that looked big enough for two loaves. Ugh.

But I was not about pour all those ingredients and that neighborly kindness into just two loaves, so I divided the dough into three pans. The end result?

Three of the most delicious loaves I've ever eaten, chewy and moist. And nicely-sized. I am still undecided as to the what original recipe was intended to yield-- was it really for a single loaf? 

The bread was absolutely scrumptious, but if you are looking to save money on baking your own bread, you will want to skip this recipe. I was really impressed by the texture, though, so I'll be sure to revisit oatmeal bread-- with a different recipe next time!

Knead It Monday: Eat your heart out, Auntie Anne's!

I hope that you are steadfast in your New Year's resolution to exercise, because this week, I made a snack that will CHANGE.YOUR.LIFE. In fact, it's so good, I'm going to lift the recipe out of the book and give it to you!

I have this Reader's Digest book called Homemade. It's full of all sorts of recipes for cleaning agents, condiments, and beauty products-- made from ingredients you most likely already have in your house. It's a fun read for anyone interested in frugality!

The book also has a section on making your own "fast foods and snacks". One of the first recipes is for delicious, homemade pretzels.


Someone actually beat me to violating copyright laws and putting it on the web, so here's the link to the recipe, should you want to make it. And trust me, you want to make it.

This recipe only makes six pretzels. Look how small a ball of dough it produced!

One nice thing about this recipe is that it only rises once. After you punch down the dough, divide it into six pieces and let the fun begin!

I did the obligatory traditional pretzel shape, but I couldn't resist getting a little creative.

Just in case there was some confusion over who got which pretzel. :-D

Before you put the pretzels in the oven, you need to brush them with melted butter and sprinkle with salt. I used coarse kosher salt, and it turned out beautifully. You can easily overdo it with the salt, so be careful! I also got adventurous and sprinkled a couple pretzels with onion powder. Best.decision.EVER!

When I bit into the first one hot from the oven, I was simultaneously sad that I didn't make like 200 more, and thankful that I didn't.

Hooray! So here is proof that I can actually make bread. Now go and make some pretzels.