She’s Almost Two

In a few days our daughter will be 2!!!  It is hard to believe that two years have gone by since she joined our family, but also can not remember life before her.

She is smart, caring and kind.  She has better manners than most adults I know.  She is slow to warm up to large crowds, but once she warms up, she is the life of the party.  She has an enormous memory.  She remembers where things are, like a tractor in a field or where Grandma works.  She remembers little details like daddy telling her she could touch an old army tank.  She has an infectious laugh and smile!  She is strong-minded and in to everything.  She likes to bake with me and wants up to see what I am doing on the countertops.  She loves being read to, rocked and played with.  She enjoys watching our neighbors and anything moving in our neighborhood.  She adjusts quickly and is a good listener.  She loves to be chased.  She is really into Dora the Explorer right now.  She has never seen the show, but loves the Dora books and music.  She has been going on the potty for the last few months, but rarely tells us when she has to go.  She can hold it for hours…literally, 5 or more.  She loves her daddy and he loves her tremendously!!  She loves chocolate like me and loves the homemade granola bars we make together.  She enjoys smelling spices and gets into the frig. on a mission to spell spices before I catch her.  She is great at sharing and does well playing with other children.  She really enjoys her Thursday music class that our playgroup hosts.  She likes to talk about Papa’s John Deere tractor and Harley Davidson motorcycle.  She enjoys seeing school buses.  She now will nap other places other than home.  That is great!!  She has a little friend named Katie that she adores and likes to play with.  She likes to play matching games and is very good at them.  She sleeps well at night, but has been an early riser the last few weeks.  She has been adding, “Um” to the beginning of her sentences and she knows it is cute.  She has the cutest little smile and likes to look in the mirror.  She likes to go to Super Target, Whole Foods, Trader Joes, any park, the library, stroller rides, outside, Grandma and Papa’s, Grandma Pat’s and Aunt Tammy’s.  She also likes staying home.  She can climb the ladder to slide and likes to swing on the big girl swings.  She likes to peel bark from the trees and pick dandelions.

She is my little darling and there is so much more about her that is precious.  Love you sweetie!!

Still No Internet

We cancelled our internet service a few weeks ago now.  I have to say I am slightly relieved at the moment.  It was totally stressing me out.  I have been able to use the computer at the public library to check email and read all the fabulous blogs out there, but it is not like having it at home.  I’m actually at my sister’s house right now while she is hard at work.  My little one is eating a snack and loving the new toys and books to play with, so I’ll do a quick update on what we have been up to.  Oh, and we may be cancelling our Direct TV too.  No, we haven’t gone mad.  We are just trying to live more simply and to not be so plugged in.  We want to enjoy each other, plus we are saving money too. 

What we have been up to…

Well, I made a nurses hat for my daughter.  It will either go in her Easter basket, or for her upcoming birthday.  She is totally into playing nurse.  She has a book, ‘Nurse Nancy’ that she loves.  I made it up entirely myself.  I plan to do a tute on it eventually, as I could not find one online that I liked.  Stay tuned.

Also did my first applique.  It turned out pretty good.  I used a hand-me-down shirt that was stained and just used the design to cover up the stains.  It has a tree on it and a bee buzzing down to the tree from the sky.  I really like it and think I did super, especially for my first go at it.  I’ll post that some time too.

I made some really cute fabric covered hair clips for my daughter.  She loves them and likes to wear the red one with the different colored polka dots on.  They only costs about $.37  to make, but do require a little time.  My mom is going to buy some from me for an upcoming gift.  Cool!  I also plan to give some as a gift to my daughter’s little friend for her birthday in April.  She is such a little cutie!

I’ve been busy preparing for my husband’s birthday that falls next week.  He doesn’t want anything.  I did find a bathrobe in green on clearance at Super Target the other day, so he’ll be getting that.  He mentioned it awhile ago, so I hope he still wants it.  I also made him a remote control cozy for the couch.  it has three pockets that hang down and the rest of the fabric slides under the cushion.  Think really large open crayon roll.  I’ll also be making him 3-0 sugar cookies with my sister’s delicious frosting recipe.  Hope he likes it.  We will cap off the day by going out on the town after our daughter is in bed.  Thank goodness for Grandma’s willing to drive 1/2 hour just to sit around our house while our daughter sleeps.  Thanks Ma!

Valentines prep is underway as well.  Our daughter will be receiving a Dora Valentine book this year.  We will also be making heart shaped sugar cookies.  I plan to cut her food into heart shapes on Valentines Day.  We will also do some celebrating through the week, but I’ve got to get my ideas together.  Some things I know we will do are songs and art.

Lots of other stuff, but that is all for now.

Hope you are all well and enjoying February!  I can’t wait till Spring is finally here!

Sticker Stash

Here is our sticker stash that we have collected in the last few months. 

These are just the stickers we have gotten in the mail in catalog offers and at the Whole Foods checkout. 

Our daughter does not use stickers yet, but there will come a day when she will.  I’m glad I’m stashing away all these free stickers now.  She should have quite the collection by the time she is ready to put stickers to paper and not on toys or in her mouth.

What free things to you collect?

Lavender Salt Body Scrub

Well, this will most likely be my last post for quite some time.  We are getting rid of the internet at home for awhile.  We are tying to live more simply and also save money, so bye-bye internet is the plan for now. 

One last little thing to share…lavender salt body scrub.  I made this for an upcoming event and I hope it is well received.  We’ll see I guess.

Here is the recipe:

1 cup sea salt

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

1 Tbsp. vitamin E oil

1 Tbsp. dried lavender flowers

12 drops lavender essential oil

As you can see the olive oil is already separating in the jar, but I guess that is how the cookie crumbles.  I just wrote on a pretty tag and tied it on the jar with a white shimmery ribbon.   I can’t remember where I got the recipe from, as I had it jotted down on a little scrap of paper.

Thanks for reading.  I hope to be back here and there while I am at the public library.  I’ll sure miss writing this and reading all the other great blogs out there.  Thanks for visiting!!  Take care!!!!!

An Exciting Day!!!!!

Well, I was talking to my friend on the way home from an appointment and she was telling me that her daughter is potty trained.  The last time I talked to her she had not purchased a potty yet, so I was really surprised and happy for them.  Yay!  Yay!  Yay!  Anyway, while we were talking, the light bulb went on for me.  Our daughter has been sitting on the potty, but had yet to produce anything in there.  We’ve been doing this for a few weeks now and nothing.  She enjoys it, but nothing.  So, the light bulb went on when I was asking how they deal with outings.  Do they take the potty?  Etc., etc.  Anyway, they do take a potty, which I think is a good idea…for me and for my little one.  Germs….  Anyway, I was saying how I didn’t know how my daughter would do because she usually doesn’t go poop when we are out and about and will save it until we get home.  Light bulb!!!!  Oh, maybe she would like some privacy.  So, after lunch is usually a good time for a poop, so I put her on her potty with a few books, told her I was giving her privacy and asked her to tell me when she had pooped.  Well, a few minutes went by and I just looked in to make sure she was still on the potty.  I went back to what I was doing, then went back to check again.  She was kind of squatting, so I went in to help her get back on the potty and low and behold pee and a little poop too.  Exciting!!!  Exciting!!!  Exciting!!!  I think she still had to go, because a while later back in her diaper was more poop, but oh well.  So exciting!!!! 

Daddy is picking up some undies today.  I think we may try the underwear thing during the day and diapers (and pull-ups when we are out of diapers) at nap and night time.  We’ll see how it goes, but I’ve heard rave reviews about just putting children in the undies so they can feel that it is uncomfortable. 

I know not to push the issue and to let her take the lead, so we will see how it goes, but she has been giving me a lot of signs, so we’ll just try it and see.  If it doesn’t work, we can always try in another month or two.  I’ll keep you posted.

Muffin Tin Tuesday

Here is the MTT from today:

Top row:  Whole Wheat and Flax Bread Circles, Cherry Tomatoes, Banana

Bottom row:  Corn, Yogurt, and Crunchin’ Grahams

Sara Snow’s Energy Bars

Just made these today. 

They were very easy to make.  Just throw in the ingredients, stir and place on wax paper.  I found the easiest way to do this was to use the spoonula to mix it and to drop it on the waxed paper.  Then, just fold the wax paper over and smash down a little to make a flat patty.  I froze a few and put a few in the frig.  Here is the recipe from Sara’s website:

INGREDIENTS
2 1/2 cups old fashioned organic quick oats
1/2 cup whole flax seed  (I got this in bulk at Whole Foods…reasonable as well)
1/4 cup organic dark cocoa power (or slightly less)
1/2 cup natural peanut butter
1/2 cup honey
1/2 t spirulina
1/2 to 1 cup HOT water (I used 1 full cup of hot water)

INSTRUCTIONS
Stir ingredients together.
Form into individual sized paddies, like hamburgers.  (See my little hint about spoonula and throwing it on wax paper instead of forming it into patties.  It is very sticky, so I found it worked the best to just put it on with the spoonula.)
Wrap in plastic wrap and keep in freezer or fridge.

Also, I was able to get the spirula at Whole Foods.  I did almost have a panic attack when I saw the price…$39.99 a pound.  But, don’t worry I got enough to make this recipe about 8-10 times and it only costs me $.80.  Under a dollar.  I looked up spirula online and found out that it is awesome for you.  Very high in protein, vitamins and other antioxidants. 

Taste….

Well, I liked it and so does our toddler.  I would say that picky eaters may not eat them, but you can try it on them.  They would definitely be worth the nutrients you and your children would get.

Bleach Commercial…Are You Kidding Me???

The Clorox Bleach commercial that has been running recently has been driving me nuts.  Well, seems I’m not the only one!  While I was reading my blogroll today, I came across this post.  So, instead of just yelling and shaking my head at the TV, I thought I’d blog about it too. 

Here is some of my research I’ve done over the last few months on chlorine: 

*  Toxic respiratory irritant that can damage the skin and other membranes

*  Listed in 1990 Clean Air Act as hazardous air pollutant

*  Very dangerous for children because they have higher metabolic rates and greater lung surface area

*  OSHA monitors exposure because it ranks 1st in industrial injuries and deaths in the U.S.

*  It is heavier than air, so it hangs around low-lying areas.  Think kids…shorter than we are sucking in all that nastiness.

*  The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has found dioxin (a toxic byproduct of chlorine) to be 300,000 times more potent as a carcinogen than DDT

*  In 2000, U.S. Poison Control reported chlorine bleach was implicated in injures to 18,863 children under the age of 6

*  Mercury is used to produce chlorine.  Need I say more?

*  It’s by-products and compounds have been known to cause cancer and have been linked to liver disease.

*  The cumulative effects of dioxin (a by-product) in humans have been linked to birth defects, cancer, reproductive disorders and immune system breakdown.

*  Chlorine is a highly corrosive substance, capable of damaging skin, eyes, and other membranes.

*  Household bleach is the most common cleaner accidentally swallowed by children

*   It is considered an unclassifiable carcinogen by the World Health Organization and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

*  It is classified as a development toxicant, which means it can interfere with normal development of a fetus or child.  Most people I know would not use bleach while they were pregnant, so why would anyone use it when the kids are outside the womb? 

Have I convinced you yet?  I’m sure you can find a ton more on your own.  I’m convinced not to use the nasty stuff.

Here are some common names of chlorine that you may see on your cleaners:  chloramine, sodium hypochlorite, bleach, hydrochloric acid, trihalomethanes, disinfection byproducts.

Some alternatives: 

*  Use cornstarch to lift stains. 

*  Use distilled white vinegar to clean the floors, toilet, fruit, etc.

*  Use a truly green product, like Seventh Generation or Shaklee.  Not the greenwashed products that do not disclose all ingredients.

I feel better now.  Thanks for reading!

Third Hand Smoke

That’s right, third hand smoke.  What is it you ask?  Well, it is the leftover goodies  carcinogens smoking leaves behind.  It is the nasty smell on clothing, hair (remember that smokey bar smell you had frequently in your younger twenties), carpet, furniture, etc.  I’ve been secretly worried about the bed I inherited from my Grandma when she passed a few years back.  The box spring and mattress still have that lingering smokey smell.  Love you Grandma, but I may have to get rid of that bed. 

Here is a great post about third hand smoke.  I’m sure there is much more information to digest out there.

Fabric Baby Bottle and Dish Towel Apron

Finished the dish towel apron yesterday.  It looks wonderful!  Still scared to use my machine, so I used my friend’s that I am used to using and know how to use.  This weekend though, watch out…sewing class here I come.  Here are the pics of the apron and the baby bottle…