Odds and Ends

It's time for some housecleaning of the website variety! So here are a few announcements:

~I put a Linky at the top of the blog for January's Use It Up, Wear It Out event. If you are wanting to clean out some of those odd ingredients that have been sitting in your pantry forever (can of lima beans, I am looking right at you!), I would love to read about your creative cooking experiences! The Linky will be up all month, so you can post whatever whenever.


~Speaking of which, yesterday was a stroke of Providence. I suddenly remembered that I had stashed all my money from playing Christmas gigs a couple years ago as an "eat out" fund-- which I promptly forgot about. A regular squirrel, I am. :-P So I was able to restock on some basic food around here. Now I don't need to get as, um, creative as I originally planned, but I will still be raiding the pantry and writing about it!


~ Unfortunately, as I was taking pictures for a post the other day, my camera slipped and broke on the hard kitchen floor. Here is the last picture it took:

So my posts in the near future are going to be a little bare of pictures, which is great news for anybody using dial-up, until we fix this camera (if that's even possible) or get a new battery for the other one.


~ I haven't forgotten about the cloth diaper tutorial. I'm still designing, tweaking, and testing. Not to mention, I'm without a camera right now. But let me tell you, this diaper is going to be AWESOME. What I have in the works is a reversible one-size fitted/pocket diaper. One side is flannel, and the other side is fleece, both with absorbent layers sewn inside. The idea is that you can wear it as-is with the fleece on the outside for daytime use as an AIO, or you can stuff it with an insert for extra absorbency, wear it fleece-side-in, and put a cover over it for night-time use. Yeah, I'm pretty jazzed about this one. :-D I hope it all works out all right!

Well, I think that's about it. Stay tuned for a bread post later!

Use it up, wear it out: January Edition

January is always a very interesting time in the Downright Domicile. I don't know how we do it, because we don't spend much on Christmas at all, but every January since we got married, we completely run out of money. I mean, COMPLETELY. That first year as a newlywed, when Adam broke the news, my reaction was akin to this:

Fortunately, I'm used to being broke by this time, so my reaction this year went more like this:

Bottom line, I have to delve into the back of my pantry and get creative until next Friday. Remember back in July, when I did a Use It Up, Wear It Out series? I'm thinking of doing one again. And I am wondering if anyone wants to do a little using up of their own and blogging about it, because I would totally put up a Linky if you do! Well, I'll catch you later-- there is some menu planning to do!

Giveaway Winners!

First off, let me say that I thoroughly enjoyed reading all about your Christmas memories! Newborns in stockings, Bobbsey Twins books (those were my favorites growing up!), family trips, and engagement rings! Christmas is definitely a time to make some memories. And let me tell you, one day, a Kitchen-Aid mixer just might magically appear under the tree for me some day. :-P

So, without further ado, here are the two winners, according to random.org:


#26

pmj said...

My favorite gift would have to be having the family together playing games and NO fighting-which isn't easy in my family!

January 6, 2011 5:16 PM 

And #20

Nan said...

My favorite gift is one I broke down and bought for myself a couple of years ago...my KitchenAid mixer. I had wanted one forever. A very close second is the pearl necklace my hubby gave me this year :)

January 6, 2011 3:48 PM

Congratulations to pmj and Nan! You will be receiving an email shortly! 

Last day to enter the giveaway!

That cloth wipe giveaway ends tonight at midnight, so if you're looking to start or enlarge your cloth wipe stash, head on over here! I've been enjoying reading your Christmas stories!

Finding value in staying at home

Raised in a society where value is usually translated into money, I have days where I really struggle with finding value in staying at home and taking care of Baby D. Some days, as Adam goes off to a job he absolutely loathes so that he can kind of keep us afloat, I get a little embarrassed that I get to do something I absolutely love without contributing to the family coffers. I plan on at least teaching music lessons after Baby D starts weaning, but for now, I'm just working on getting an Etsy shop off the ground.

I know that I'm making the right choice, so here are a few thoughts that help me find my value on those off days.


*We do not have to pay someone to take care of Baby D. So my time is already worth at least $8.00 an hour. :-D

*Baby D is receiving wonderful immunities, saving medical bills, and getting some powerful nutritional and emotional benefits from full-time breastfeeding.

*The house runs more smoothly. The floors get vacuumed, the dishes get done, and no one has run out of socks or underwear since I came home.

*Now that I can stay on top of laundry, we save money (and Baby D's skin!) with cloth diapers.

*I left a crummy desk job that paid in peanuts. It's not like I gave up a great income or even a great career to stay home.

*I think for us, it all boils down to quantity versus quality. We choose to go without a lot in order to have a happier, less complicated house. Baby D has the security of never being far from a parent. I have so much more inner peace, now that life has slowed down and I can focus energy on the things that really matter to me. Now, if we can just find Adam a job he loves, we'll have the "quality" in abundance.


One of these days, we won't have to worry about the financial side of things so much. *crosses fingers* Do any of you SAHMs go through this? I'd be interested to hear your thoughts!

Knead It Monday: Amish White Bread

For my first 2011 loaf of bread, I decided to go with a simple white bread. I'm not a huge fan of white bread, but Adam is. In fact, it's one of our little marital sources of contention. I even made a pie chart to demonstrate.

But I wanted to make something fairly uncomplicated, so I went to allrecipes.com and found this recipe for Amish White Bread. Am I the only one who finds it ironic that the original recipe for this "Amish" white bread called for a bread machine?

Right off the bat, the recipe called for a technique I had never tried before-- proofing. You mix the yeast, water, and sugar (yes, sugar! But I decreased it from 2/3 cup *gag* to 2 Tablespoons) and let it sit for about five minutes until the yeast gets all foamy. I took the picture after I added the oil, so that's what the blob is in the foam.

After rising, the recipe called for yet another technique I'd never done with bread before: kneading the dough after the first rise. Usually, my recipes call for chucking it right into the baking dish. But I kneaded it again, and set it out for the second rise.

They rose really well! I had a very good feeling about these loaves.

When I pulled them from the oven, I was elated! My number one problem with my breads are that they never rise much. These ones were by far the tallest loaves I've ever produced!

The one on the right looks like it needs to go on a diet. 

My one complaint is that they're somewhat mooshy inside-- maybe I should have baked them longer. And it's white bread. I just can't get past the lack of substance, even though this is way better than store-bought. I'm definitely going to have to cleanse my palate with a batch of whole wheat next week!

How do you like the little graphic I made for my weekly bread posts?

Time for an EC Update!

Happy New Year! Hope you didn't party too hard! We rang in the new year at - get this - a baby party. We were invited by a couple whose baby was in the NICU with Oscar, when I ran into the mom at La Leche League a couple weeks ago. Kind of random, but we showed up anyways to a party full of couples with their babies. We didn't know anybody there, but it was fun! And I actually met someone else in real life who is doing EC with her baby. Isn't this a nice segue into an EC update?

December proved to be a uniquely challenging month of EC. We had freshly come back from a ten-day stay in NY, which was murder on EC training to begin with. Then, Oscar caught a minor stomach bug from Adam. And then he started teething. All mayhem broke loose with his little digestive system!

Suddenly, I wasn't catching his movements. We would actually go for days when I wouldn't catch anything at all. :-( I'd hold the little guy over the toilet, wait, and... nothing. So I'd put a diaper on him, and about three minutes later, he would do his business. It was really frustrating!

And then Adam surprised me. Usually, he lets me go my merry way with all my crazy ideas, and just kind of amusedly observes me. And he thought this idea was particularly hokey. However, a couple weeks into December, as I was pouring out my frustrations, he encouraged, "Just keep going through the motions. He'll get it."

Knock me over with a feather! He knows it works!

Fortunately, we got the ball rolling again. Here were three actions I found helpful:

1. Going through the motions. Just as Adam said. It really helped me keep momentum through the rough patch, instead of giving up entirely.

2. Going coverless. Leaving Oscar with just a fitted or a flat on helped me know exactly when he did his business, and from there I got a feel for his rhythm again.

3. Pottying at specific, predictable times. One easy way I helped ensure a catch was to take him to the toilet every time after he woke up, whether in the morning or after a nap. That, in my opinion, is the optimal time for success because baby wakes up with a full bladder.

So now we're pretty much back to how things were before all the craziness started. Baby D, you have pulled through once again!