Linktastic - for Sophie

To remember: Discount School Supplies.

Including lots of inexpensive art supplies.

Garden - Weeds?

I planted a bunch of native wildflower seeds in the front and back beds and lots of sprouts and shoots and greenery is coming up. Now I'm having a hard time knowing what was intentional and what is just a weed.

I finally figured out the name of one that sprung up everywhere - Chenopodium album L.: lambsquarters or white goosefoot

Yeah, didn't plant that. It was either in the soil we purchased or it flew in on the wind. Most likely it was in the soil.

I've been waiting to pull it all out until I knew what it was. Now that I know what it is, it's time for pulling.

I think I have a whole bunch of Canadian Horseweed coming up around the yard, too. That I'm going to let be for a while.

Ah, henbit deadnettle - the little purple flowers everywhere.

We also have a lot of clasping Venus' looking-glass coming up after it rains. I like it.

Linktastic

Toasted Ravioli recipe. Yum. Decadent.

Mmmm, Cheesecake Pops. I might have to make these for my neighbors' big BBQ party in July.

Also, this book looks fantastic: Sticky, Chewy, Messy

Easy Produce Cleaning/Draining Bag Net Thingy.

Interesting: Recipe: Grilled Apple Pie.

Recipe: Slow-cooked Lemon Garlic Chicken. Yum. I never pan-sear the chicken first. I'll have to add that step.

Beer and wine and other goodies supplies. Mead making kits! Make your own bubble gum!

Recipe: Easy Ricotta Gnocchi

Recipe: Frozen Chocolate-dipped Bananas. Would be yummy with a good dark chocolate and almonds, too.

Recipe: Easy homemade ice cream. Shake, shake, shake.

Simple and very pretty DIY paper flower tutorial

No-join method of cutting long fabric strips. She uses an old pillow case, but someone mentions a t-shirt and plastic bags in the comments. Clever!

AND, because one of the cats (probably Tabitha) peed on Aaron's slippers yesterday: DIY slipper tutorials.

And then some links to remember from Not Martha.

In particular:

10 paths to perfect pizza making. (smitten kitchen)

Best Cabernet Sauvignon from the supermarket.

And, now that I have rhubarb AND strawberries together in the same house: the intense Strawberry Rhubarb Crumble. I think I'm going to make them in small dishes and give a few to my kind neighbor who fed the cats for us last weekend.

Baking Soda

I've been using baking soda instead of shampoo now for about a month. I have a cup in the bathroom and I put in about 1/4 cup or less and then add a bit of water to mix it up. Scrub it in (it helps to have short hair) and rinse it out. Sometimes I do a watered-down rinse of apple cider vinegar.

I have also been adding baking soda to my face soap as a scrub, but I recently read on Tiny Choices that some people use baking soda as a face soap replacement.

So, I decided to try no soap/just baking soda for a month and see how it goes with my acne. I pour a small handful and then add a bit of water to make a paste. And gently scrub it in a circular motion. Twice a day. You just have to make sure you rinse it out of your nostrils well or you'll be walking around with white powder in your nose. Or don't rinse it out if you want people to think you've been snorting something. Whatever floats your boat.

I've broken out a little in the past few days but I think it's because I had red wine this weekend. Or my skin is just reacting to being scrubbed.

We shall see.

If this works, baking soda is quite cheap and it appeals to my frugal instincts.

Tardis Cake

I love this cake - it's the Tardis from Doctor Who.

On that note, I highly recommend the Doctor Who series from the BBC. Series 1 was good, but Series 2 with David Tennant? He is simply fantastic as The Doctor. It's hard to list my favorite episode, but I loved the one with Queen Victoria and the werewolves and the one with the devil? Amazing. Seriously.

Where the Hell is Matt?

I know this has already been all around the internets, but I just watched "Where the Hell is Matt?" again and it filled me with extreme warm fuzzies.

And no, it's not Matt Lauer.

The ol' bag of water trick

Extra! Extra! Bag of water scares away flies! (via CasaSugar)

Ouch.

We heat our old house with steam radiators. Which means an oil-fueled boiler.

Last year, we pre-bought 1,000 gallons of oil to last through the season. We used around 950 gallons. There is still a half tank left and we're really hoping it lasts through the summer. Our hot water is also heated by the boiler. Last year we paid $2.56/gallon for oil.

I just checked the budget/pre-paid program for this winter season? $4.899!

So, if we pre-buy 950 gallons in order to lock in that rate, we have to pay over $2,200 more this year.

So much for trying to pay off our credit cards and car.

We're lucky we can (barely) afford to pay that. There are going to be a LOT of very cold people this winter. What do people do on a fixed income? They will be paying almost double what they did last year! And with the price of everything going up, there is going to be a lot of hurt. I live in a primarily working class area and this better be a mild winter or it's going to be bad, bad, bad.

I also predict a run on pellets because I hear a lot of people talking about buying pellet stoves. But what happens when there are no more pellets to be found?

New Sunscreen - SPF-50

I've found a sunscreen with which I'm pretty happy. It's SPF-50, all natural, has a high effectiveness rating (1 out of 10) at the Cosmetics Database, and has a very slight scent that I don't mind at all.

It's called Mexitan. It goes on pretty white, so I've found putting it on a little at a time and really rubbing it in works best. Put too much on your hand, and it bunches and gets kind of congealed looking.

For anyone looking for effective sunscreen without all the toxic nastiness.

Plus, it's not as expensive as the other "natural" sunscreens on the market AND you can buy it by the half-gallon, if you so desire.

Lab Testing - rancid prescription drug

Anyone know anyone who'd be willing to do some testing on my rancid medication to let me know what now exists in that bottle? I'd like to know what I ingested Friday morning.

Know someone with access to a lab?

Pass it on.

Thanks!

Happy Father's Day! (the barftastic edition)

It was a crazy weekend. I had big plans for making a cake and working on a craft project present for Aaron and then Friday night he proved to me why he is the most fantastic person in the whole wide world by cleaning up my barf when I didn't make it to the toilet in time (no, I'm not pregnant).

I think the heat wave turned one of my prescription medications rancid.

I had that "hmm, that didn't taste right" thought when I took the pill Friday morning. Shortly thereafter, I started feeling more and more nauseous and, by the time I made it to work at 7, I was feeling much worse. A stomach bug had been going around and I mentioned to a couple of my coworkers that I was feeling nauseous. "She's pregnant!" (seriously, not pregnant) flashed across their faces, followed shortly by, "OMG, I hope she doesn't touch anything."

I barfed at work around 8. And actually felt a bit better for an hour or so. Granted, I could only stomach water and a Triscuit, but not quite the rolling nauseousness of earlier. I was also sore all over and starting to run a bit of a fever. I finally gave in around 10, sent a note around to the people in my area and went home. I collapsed in bed until almost 3 when I realized Aaron wasn't home yet and he was supposed to pick Sophie up at 2:30. Feeling like I had been hit by a truck, I got dressed and started the painful walk (2 of the longest blocks ever) to Sophie's daycare. We slowly walked home and then the best sight ever: Aaron walking very quickly in our direction.

"I'm sick. Barfing. I've been home since 10.", was all I needed to say. He grabbed Sophie and we all walked slowly home. As soon as I got home, I went right upstairs and fell asleep. Until I barfed again and the aforementioned cleaning-of-the-bathroom by the best husband ever happened.

So, how do you Google "poisoned by medication that got too hot"? I tried that and got nothing.

Anyhoo, I'm feeling 100% better. Poisoning-by-prescription apparently lasts a couple of days. I finally ate a little bit of pasta last night. Today was much better.

We made cookies, Sophie made a little book for Aaron and we were back on track.

This has been a long-winded (and gross) way of saying that Aaron is the best. THE BEST. He's so great with Sophie and he's so great with me. To clean up someone else's barf without any hesitation is the mark of a truly great person. I tried to stop him - "I'm already puking, let me deal with it.", but he sent me back to bed.

Also, he's strong and safe and lovely and, uh, the judo is doing wonders for his physique. Seriously, he's hot stuff. Hubba hubba.

To a great dad and the greatest husband.

I love you.

Clever Girl

I was explaining to Sophie the importance of holding our hand(s) while crossing the street and making sure to look both ways.

Me: "You want to check the road because sometimes cars can't see you."

Sophie: "But Mama, cars don't have eyes."

-------------------------------------

We've been trying to leave Sophie's room before she's asleep. We give her some books to show her buddies (various stuffed friends). I've also been showing her how to "click" her eyes shut for the night and go to sleep. Because she'll just sit there with her eyes open for hours. As soon as she closes them, she falls asleep. My thinking was to just get her to close her eyes.

I said, "Remember, click your eyes," making little pinching motions with my fingers and clicking noises with my tongue, "when you want to fall asleep."

"Okay Mama."

A few nights of that, no problem. She didn't fall asleep much faster, but it gave her something to think about. And tell her buddies on the bed.

And then Saturday night. Aaron and I were downstairs, listening in on the monitor. She's still restless, so I head upstairs to talk to her about how it's late and it's time to sleep. She has her purple Care Bear on the bed and she's talking to him about her Frances book. We talk for a short bit about do you have to use the potty? do you want water?

And then I say, "Okay, Sophie, it's time to click your eyes shut. You, too, Purple Bear."

Frustrated sound from Sophie, "Uhh, Mama. He doesn't have fingers. Ugh."

Cue laughter from Aaron downstairs.

Cut Beer Glasses

Cool! My cut Corona beer glasses are on the CRAFT website!

In my Etsy shop.

Oh yeah...

This is the cliché post about how I forgot about the site for a while.

Lots has happened, is happening, will happen and every time I think about writing something, I get busy with something else.

Let's see.

Aaron's Spring term ended and now he's teaching calculus this summer for the first summer session. He's has an over-packed class and this is great news for summer finances. Not that we know when he'll actually be paid because the university is notorious for being very late with payments. I've budgeted it for the end of Summer, just to be safe. (should I capitalize Summer? I never remember the rule)

He's also very into Judo - going two nights a week to be thrown around and throw people around. He's lost a lot of weight and he's a solid fighting machine. Very, very attractive, if you ask me. None of his clothes fit well at the moment, but he likes things baggy, so that's good. His instructor suggested he compete in the Baystate Games this summer. Exciting! There's lots of Judo talk around the house (another word I tend to capitalize). We play around on the bed with Sophie and she says: "I'm going to Judo you!" and she pounces on us. Quite funny.

Sophie's daycare lost two brothers who have been there from the beginning with Sophie. One of them is very allergic to the big dog at the daycare and he can't come back. Very sad. I guess they're coming on the nice days when the kids play outside. But it now means that Sophie plays with a baby and a new 1.5-year old during the day. That's it. It is a good push for us to find a preschool for her. Montessori is just not going to work financially. We're looking into the local YMCA program. She'd get to swim and do gymnastics during the week and we'd get a family membership. We shall see.

Oh, I cut all my hair off. Well, most of it. I was getting sick of struggling with the frizzies and I always just pinned it back anyway. Now it's easy to shampoo and manage. I've been using a baking soda/vinegar scrub and mix combination on it and then I use a tiny bit of honey mixed with water as a gel.

I'm struggling to find a safe sunscreen for us to use this summer. There are so many that are very toxic and/or unsafe. And then the safe ones are very expensive. Why can't a company come out with an affordable, safe alternative? Like a big gallon jug of safe sunscreen? I'm sure lots of people would be interested in that.

I'm having a similar struggle with makeup. My skin has been ravaged by acne over the years and I still feel like I need something to cover the scarring. At least while I'm at work. It seems that the "safest" makeup is the mineral stuff but it tends to make me break out. Again with the expensive on that stuff, too.

Our garden is growing exponentially. I took pictures at the beginning of May and it's amazing how much everything has changed. I've been picking lettuce leaves (romaine and bibb and spinach) to put in my sandwiches, we had our first salad this weekend and the radishes are ready to eat. Very cool! We were just talking abut adding at least another container garden next year. I think it will be all lettuce since we eat so much of it.

I think the only seeds that have not come up yet are my hot peppers and the watermelon. I'm going to give them another week and then plant new seeds.

Yes, I need to take more photos. The camera is full at the moment with the last set of garden photos and then all the videos we took this weekend at my parents' house. Sophie had a blast with her Gammy. They have such a great space - lots and lots of land and forest and nature and birdies and fish and a huge pond.

Otto is holding steady. He's still eating and he's very playful. He even climbed his first tree! He came galloping across the lawn at full speed, tail in the air, and made it up into the crook of the maple tree branches. He loves our yard and is very good about staying either in it or close to it. He likes to lounge on the grass and watch the bugs and the birds. He's very strong and he's not tolerating the subQ fluids as much as he was in the beginning. We try and get as much in him as possible before he really starts fighting back. I guess the fight in him is good, right? The feisty-ness? He follows us around the backyard and plays with Sophie a lot - talking to her when she asks him questions.

We're not leaving the dry food out for the cats any more. They apparently should only have wet food and if they get the right amount, they shouldn't even need water to drink. So, all the dry food over the years was very bad for them. Plus, it's like leaving endless bowls of chips out. And the dry food eventually just made Otto barf all the time - something about the dry food causing gas build-up. Some cats can tolerate it and some can't.

The bonus is that Tabitha is actually losing weight. And she hasn't squirted poop in a while (knock on wood). And she's actually getting a bit friskier now that she's a little lighter in the girth. Don't get me wrong, she's still quite girthy, but maybe a little less of a sausage now. She's getting more used to the yard, too, and loves hanging out with us by the new-to-us garden bench we grabbed from our neighbor's "Free" pile.

I have a bunch of craft projects in the works - cut bottles for glasses, some new painted soft animals, maybe some more paper maché.