Hi, my name is Maria, and I'm a blog giveaway addict. (Pt. 1)

Since the subject of giveaways is still fresh in my brain, I thought I'd take the opportunity to talk more in-depth about them. A little backstory: I enter a lot of blog giveaways. Not surprisingly, I win a lot of stuff, as well. Here are some of the cool things I have won in the past few years:

-A Best Bottom diaper (just came in the mail today! I'm SOOOO excited to try it out!)

-$100 gift card to The Vintage Pearl

-$25 for Groupon (I am just WAITING for a massage deal to show up! :-D)

-A pair of stylish Crocs. 

-Two Little Scholastic board books-- Baby's D's favorite!

-A wet bag, a reusable Swiffer wand filler, and 4 handmade bars of soap, among other things!


There are some amazing prizes to be had out there! So, as a veteran giver-awayer-enterer, I thought I'd share some tips on how to maximize your giveaway endeavors and minimize wasted time.

-Enter only for items you really want. This probably goes without saying, but sometimes, it's easy to get so caught up in playing the bloggy lottery that suddenly you find yourself entering contests for mechanical pencils and wart remover. Ask yourself, "Do I really need/want this? Can I just buy this fairly inexpensively at the store? Will I actually use it?"

-What would YOU do to win a Klondike bar? Most giveaways give you a plethora of ways to gain extra entries: follow the blog, like something on facebook, follow on twitter, subscribe by email, etc. Sometimes these are mandatory entries. You'd be surprised by how seldom I do them! And that is because I have a problem with selling my loyalty to win junk. I can see how offering free stuff should entitle a blogger to demand a following in return, but the little voice within me asks, Don't you want to know that people are following you because they genuinely like your blog, and not because they just want to win crap? So I don't follow blogs unless I love their content. I don't "Like" things on facebook unless I've actually tried the product and truly do like it. Actually, I usually follow after I win something, as a thank-you. But otherwise, if a giveaway requires that I follow in some way, I just walk away.

My one exception is Twitter. Maybe I'm just dumb, but I don't understand Twitter, so I never use it. But would I for the chance to double my chances of winning? Heck, yes! So I opened an account for the sole purpose of following sponsors and regurgitating tweets. And that is literally all I do with Twitter. And somehow, even with my limited and horribly abusive use of Twitter, I have nearly as many followers there as I have for this blog. Hmmm, maybe I ought to rethink that whole well-crafted and thought-out blog post thing. ;-)

All this to say, think about what you're willing to do for a couple extra entries. If you have no problem with spamming your friends' facebook feeds or having a cluttered blog reader, then be my guest! I hope it wins you something!

This came up in Google Images for "giveaway".
Who wouldn't want to win candy?

-Enter only giveaways that will email you if you win. Since I rarely follow these particular blogs, it doesn't make sense to enter a giveaway that will announce the winner on the blog itself. I don't keep track of the giveaways I enter, so one of the first things I look for is whether or not they will email the winner. 

-Leave an email. Make it ridiculously easy for the giveaway host to contact you. Even if the comment section has a slot to enter an email, I always additionally leave my email in the comment itself. Spammers like to pull email addresses from giveaway comments, so I enter my email in this format: myemailaddress at gmail dot com. And then don't forget to check your email! Most sponsors give 24 or 48 hours for the winner to respond, so be on the lookout-- even in your spam folder. I actually almost missed a prize recently because I wasn't checking my spam folder.

I love Picnik.com.

So now you know how to do giveaways the smart way; I talk about where to enter them in Part 2!

(you should start here... with my very own fitted cloth diaper giveaway!)

My Fitted Diaper Giveaway! *CLOSED*

I recently published a tutorial for sewing your very own fitted diapers. Boy, was that tutorial a long time in coming! Broken cameras, dead computers, teething babies, and packing a house definitely interfered with that whale of a post!

So, to celebrate, I thought I'd give away the cute little diaper I made in the tutorial.

But, wait! There's more!

In the earlier days of my diaper-making, I sewed several before I hit upon the idea of making Snappi grips. One of them has been sitting around, patiently waiting for some little girl to wear it.

Since this one doesn't have Snappi grips, you will need to fasten it with pins. Oh, you could wrestle a Snappi on it-- but I've already torn one good shirt on a Snappi that came loose from a diaper without grips, so winner beware.


One winner will receive these two fitted diapers! Made from flannel with a terrycoth soaker sewn into the lining, these are great for EC or for going coverless. The top is left open, so you can stuff it inside itself to accommodate smaller babies, or even add an insert if you need to.

To the moms of boys, I am so sorry to make this a girl's diaper giveaway. As a mom of a boy myself, I hate how horribly unfair it is that all the cute stuff is for girls! Maybe sometime, I will get some boy diapers on here. But know that I feel your pain. :-P

So how can you win these lovelies?

Play the little Mad Libs game I created (also found in the tabs at the top of the blog), and copy and paste your results into a comment on this page. And that will be your entry. Sorry the Mad Libs format is so ghetto, but you definitely get what you pay for (in this case, I paid nothing :-P).


Giveaway ends Saturday, March 19, 2011 at 11:59 P.M. CST. Winner will be drawn via random.org and posted on this blog as well as emailed. Please leave a valid email address so I can contact you if you win! (of course, you can always subscribe to me, as well-- I won't complain! :-D)

I Made Baby D Cry It Out Tonight

And it wasn't pretty. And it's definitely not something I'm going to make a habit of, but two weeks into this single parenting gig, I am SO.TIRED. Tired of constantly nursing, tired of eating my meals cold, tired of hearing Baby D scream at me all day, but mostly just plain TIRED. I haven't slept well in three nights because Baby D has been waking up constantly, all night long, and refusing to settle, even after I feed him. And the days! My normally placid baby has been yelling at me from sunrise to sunset for over a week. He's not napping well, either. I've actually started wearing him for at least a solid hour every day, during which time he blessedly never makes a peep, but he is a giant baby, so even my muscles are tired. And the second I set him down, BOOM! He starts the shrieking again.

So tonight, I thought, all right, he can scream at me either here or in his bed. And it was really sad. :-( I picked him up and rocked him until he dozed off a couple times, but as soon as I laid him down, he was awake and wailing again. But tonight, I was too tired to care.

I have no idea how single moms keep it together! At least I'll be reuniting with Adam sometime before the month is out-- granted, I still do almost all the childcare anyways, but Adam takes care of ME. Several friends have offered to babysit Baby D, but there's the issue of feeding. I have a cruddy little hand pump, and it takes forever to pump a significant amount. So I can't complain too much, because I could drop Baby D off if I was desperate enough, but pumping is the last thing I want to do after nursing Mr. Crabby all night long.

Okay, time to wrap up this moan-and-groan post! Thanks for letting me have my whine with my cheese... Just keepin' it real here. Not every day, or every week, for that matter, is great at the Downright Domicile. :-P

Fitted Multi-size Diaper with Pocket-- a Tutorial

It's finally here!!!

This is a tutorial for a multi-size fitted diaper with the top left open, so you can stuff it inside itself to adjust the rise for smaller babies.

I LOVE this fabric!

A few notes:

• I call this "multi-size" instead of one-size, because I'm not sure how small it fits. I started making these for my son when he was 19 pounds, so I'd love to hear how this works for smaller babes!
• This diaper is not waterproof, so you will need a separate cover to make it so. However, if you like to go coverless around the house or practice EC, this diaper is fabulous all by itself!
• I don't know how this works for heavy wetters or over the course of many hours, because I like to change my son just as soon as he gets wet. But, the nice thing is that you can stuff this diaper with an extra insert if you need to!
• You may also have to experiment with the placement and size of the Snappi grips to accommodate your individual baby.

What you need:

-Flannel (at least 3/4 of a yard in length). If you want different prints for the inside and outside, you will need at least 3/4 yard of each.
-An old bath towel (the more plush and absorbent, the better!)
-Elastic (I like to use 1/4"-thick for the legs, and 1/2" for the back waist, but 1/4" all around will work just fine)
-Paper grocery bag for making the pattern
-Safety pin (not pictured, whoops!)
-Optional: a washcloth to use as a Snappi grip (I use the cheapy Wal-Mart ones). Unfortunately, flannel isn't that great at holding a Snappi, so unless you plan on using pins, you'll want to add this.


STEP 1: MAKE THE PATTERN

You can trace a diaper you already have, or find a pattern on the web. I used this pattern from this tutorial for a starting point, and tweaked it. I added 1/2 inch to the top for wider tabs (3" instead of 2.5"), and at the other end, I made the diaper stop tapering 3" from the top, for easier stuffing.

If you use the pattern I used, it's helpful to make the piece from a paper grocery bag. For a symmetrical piece, I recommend folding the paper in half, and measuring/tracing/cutting half of the pattern on the fold.



STEP 2: CUT YOUR PIECES OUT

From the outer flannel print:
-One diaper piece from pattern

From the inner flannel print:
-One diaper piece from pattern

After you cut a diaper piece, you should have a small piece of fabric left over like this:

Save it, because you will need to use it later.



From the terry cloth:
-One 13" x 4" piece (I like to round the corners a bit, but you can just leave it square if you'd like)

From the washcloth, if you want Snappi grips:
One 5" x 2.5" piece
Two 3" x 2.5" pieces
I like to cut the corners on these to make folding easier.

STEP 2.5: MAKE THE SNAPPI FRONT
If you are going to attach some terry cloth for Snappi grips, now's the time to attach the front piece! I'm still figuring out the best size and placement, but here's what I have so far. Take your 5" x 2.5" piece, fold each side under 1/2 inch (If you want to make it easier, you can sew those edges down before pinning to the diaper front), and fasten to your outer diaper piece-- about 4 inches down from the front top, down the center.

With a straight stitch, sew 1/4 inch from the edge. Then, using a zigzag stitch, sew right on the edge.

STEP 3: ATTACH THE SOAKER

Pin the your 14" x 4" towel piece to the wrong side of your diaper inner piece. I like to position it about 4 inches from the front top so I can stuff the finished diaper further into itself. Using a straight stitch, sew 1/4 inch from the edge, with the presser foot as your guide.

Remember that scrap of fabric you saved? Pull that out and lay it over the soaker, covering it as best as you can. (Ideally, you want to use the scrap from whichever flannel print is lightest, but for the sake of instruction, I am using the ladybug print, wrong side up, so you can see better). Using your sense of touch as a guide, pin the flannel to the terry cloth, making an outline of the soaker.

Here, the pins are outlining one end of the soaker

Turn the diaper inner over, so that the right side faces you. Using a zigzig stitch, and using the presser foot as a guide, sew along the outside of the straight stitch you just made.

Being careful not to cut the diaper inner, trim the excess fabric off the soaker.

STEP 4: MAKE LEG CASINGS

Some diaper tutorials instruct you to sew the elastic directly to the diaper. I've tried this before, and it compromises the elastic's stretchiness big-time! It also makes replacing the elastic next to impossible. So, we will be sewing leg casings instead.

Place both diaper pieces right sides together, and sew 1/2 inch seam along the back and sides, leaving the front top and tab sides open. Turn right-side-out, and press.


Starting about an inch from the diaper tab curve, sew a 5/8" seam, ending about 4 inches from the front top (where the diaper pattern straightens out). Sew another 5/8" seam along the top back, beginning and ending about 3" from the ends of the tabs.

The pins mark where to begin and end the seams.

STEP 5: INSERT ELASTIC

Attach the safety pin to one end of the elastic.

Using the safety pin as a grip, thread the elastic up through the leg casing until it's clear of the end of the casing seam.

The safety pin is up at the top, near the diaper tab

Sew across the elastic near the pin. Because I am slightly OCD, I like to make two separate seams about 1/8" apart, sewing and reversing a few times on each. That elastic ain't goin' anywhere!

Holding your new seam, pull the elastic until it's taut, but keep your diaper body straight and unpuckered. If I had another set of hands, I'd show you what I mean. :-(  Pinch the elastic at the front top, and pin into place.

Make another seam (or seams) at that end of the leg casing. Clip off the excess elastic. Hooray, you're done with one leg!

Repeat for the other leg and back.



STEP 6: FINISH

Turn the diaper inside-out again and close up the diaper tab seams.

At the diaper front top, turn under 1/4 inch and press. Turn under again (somewhere between 1/4" and 1/2") and press again. Pin into place, and stitch all around. Since I have kind of a love affair with the zigzag stitch, that's what I used, but you could just as easily use a straight stitch.

STEP 6.5: MAKE THE DIAPER TAB SNAPPI GRIPS

Take one of the 3" x 2.5" pieces of terry cloth. Fold and attach to a diaper tab, the same way you attached the front Snappi grip. You may need to play around with the placement to suit your baby, but here is where I place mine for my 20+ pound chunky baby:

Repeat for the other tab.


Congratulations, you made a fitted diaper!

I love the nice, deep, poo-catching pocket it forms inside. I have never had one of these diapers leak yet!

To shorten the rise, you can stuff it inside itself...

And it will fit a smaller baby!

******

So, what gives? I have a baby boy, and yet this diaper is clearly for a girl! Well, I don't want to giveaway any answers, but you will want to check back for a special post soon! :-D

Bean Dish

In preparation for Lent, Elizabeth at That Married Couple is having a week of blog posts dedicated to meatless meals, so I thought I'd join in with my favorite ever vegetarian meal!

This is a meal that my mom made for vegetarians that visited my parents' restaurant when I was in high school. I never saw the actual recipe, so I just kind of guessed all the ingredients and made it my own! I don't have a name for this entree; around here, we call it "Bean Dish". Real creative, I know. :-P But what it lacks in titles, it more than makes up in flavor!

Ingredients
-One can black beans (or equivalent in dried beans, cooked)
-One can diced tomatoes
-1 cup frozen corn
-1 small onion
-A few cloves of garlic
-Olive oil
-1/2 cup salsa
-1/8 tsp cayenne pepper (or more, if you're not too attached to your taste buds)
-Salt and pepper to taste
-1 cup rice
-Shredded cheese, sour cream



1. Cook the rice. The box will tell you what to do. :-P

2. Chop the onion and garlic, reserving some of the onion for garnish. In separate saucepan, saute the rest of the onion and garlic in olive oil until cooked. (if you want to add meat, here's the place to do it! Toss in a chicken breast or 1/2 pound of ground beef) Add beans and tomatoes. Add corn, salsa and cayenne pepper (and other spices you wish); let simmer until bubbling.

The green flecks are cilantro that I added at the last minute.

3. Serve the bean sauce over rice. Top with sour cream, cheese, and the reserved onions.

Serves about 4.


Easy, huh? And you wouldn't believe how quickly it fills you up, and how tasty it is-- it's a little fiesta for your taste buds! So, if Friday rolls around, and you are strapped for a good vegetarian meal... you know what to eat.

7 Quick Takes Friday

1. My house currently looks like I'm getting ready to set up a bar. Liquor boxes everywhere!!! But they are truly wonderful for packing heavy objects, since they're made for transporting booze. Their smaller size also makes them ideal for sorting clothes! Hopefully, it will be many years before Baby D figures out that "XX" is, in fact, not his clothes size.


2. Can anyone recommend a good (or cheap :-D) Mac-compatible webcam? After nearly two weeks of separation, my hubby is getting rather antsy to see his wife and child!


3. Baby D turned six months last week! In one way, it doesn't even seem possible he's been around that long, but in another way, I kind of see my entire past life through a Baby D lens now, like he has been there all along, and my life was just waiting for him to appear at some point. Are there any other moms who know what I'm talking about, or am I just batty?


4. I have been fantasizing about making a back carrier like a mei tai or onbuhimo for... oh, six months now. :-D All the tutorials I've seen on the web are TERRIBLE, so I'm just going to have to muddle my way through and make a better one for y'all. :-D Have you tried a mei tai or onbu? Which do you like better?


5. I'm also supposed to sew a sling and nursing cover for a friend who's TTC-- she will buy the materials, and I will do the sewing! I'm eager to see what materials she chooses, because I know her sense of style. FYI, this is what I like to tell people choosing a sling fabric: many women like to choose colors based on the gender of their baby, or the colors of their nursery, but I recommend that you take inventory of your wardrobe and choose a color/pattern that complements what YOU usually wear. When you wear a sling, it's like wearing another piece of clothing, so you want something that matches the rest of your outfit!

I have since redone the shoulder seam, but here's my sling.
A friend actually recently recognized me solely from the sling. Ha!

6. I have actually thought of making up business cards for my sling-making, because I get TONS of comments on my sling at the supermarket. Would you be weirded out if you struck up a conversation about a stranger's sling and got offered a business card?

I've put this picture up before, but I could stare at those pleats forever.
That sling was a bugger to make!!

7. It looks like I have let sling talk hijack this Seven Quick Takes. Whoops! One more quick tip: if you are looking to make your own, do NOT use the tutorial that the Maya Wrap store provides. You'd think a sling store of all places would give a good pattern, right? WRONG! It gave instructions for a really funky, uncomfortable shoulder; I eventually ripped mine out and started over with a much more comfortable "floating rings" style.

I got a lot of ideas for constructing my sling from Jan Andrea's site, which also has tutorials for a zillion other baby carriers. Well, I think this has sufficiently taken care of my baby carrier itch for a while! ;-)


This post is linked up to Conversion Diary's Seven Quick Takes, which are actually happening at Betty Beguiles this week!

Why I Hate Apple Products

Last week, when my desktop died of unnatural and mysterious causes, I dug my old iBook out of hiding and tried unsuccessfully to fix that, too. The summer of 2009, my iBook told me, "You won't be the boss of me! Ha!" and deleted my administrator account. I said, "I don't need you anyway! So there!" and let it collect dust on a shelf somewhere. So we were begrudging acquaintances at best when I finally decided to take it to the Apple store this Monday. And I dreaded it.

Gandhi once said, "I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians." I feel exactly the same way about Apple-- good product, but man, do lots of Mac users annoy the heck out of me. My experience with the Apple "Geniuses" (lol) leads me to believe that they are about two iPod upgrades away from greeting me with, "We are the CHOSEN ones, b****!"

Really? Since when did some people decided they could get all hoity-toity over a piece of plastic with a screen? I used to watch coworkers prostrate themselves before the newest employee to own an iPhone, and I just don't get it. It's a PHONE, and a phone that seems to compel people to endlessly tap on it while you're trying to hold a conversation with them, at that. I think iPhones are great tools, but a phone is a phone is a phone.

I guess the thing that bothers me the most about Apple products is the false sense of elitism it gives its owners. People, Apple products are not exclusive or uncommon or special. Your neighbor owns one. Your mom owns one. That guy who doctors photos of Obama and send them as forwards owns one. Poor college kids without a penny to their name own one, as does every high school kid who likes music. If everyone came to the realization that Apple products are common tools and not fashion accessories, the world would become a happier and much less snooty place.

So go buy that iPood or whatever the heck it is and start impressing people with your ability to use a credit card. You will recognize me as the girl plugging away unconcernedly on her six-year-old VINTAGE computer (yes, that is what the Apple store gods Geniuses called it) and actually talking on her phone.


I am a fairly satisfied Apple user, and I have an internet connection. Therefore, I am qualified to pontificate about this. I know several people personally who do not let their ownership of Apple products get to their head, and it is wonderful-- if that is you, congratulations! The rest of you had better watch out, because I'm laughing at you.