Her booby trap.

I know this is nothing new to anyone ever. But I HATE stepping on pointy/hard/wobbly/unforgiving things on the floor. Because of this hatred, I rarely do ever step on anything that cause me pain because I'm always looking at the floor.

Until tonight,

While I'm cooking, Saoirse likes to go through all of the drawers pulling out everything in them and placing them on the floor in such a way that I might kill myself trying to get anywhere in the kitchen. She especially likes the potato masher.

you know,

one of these.

As I was walking through the living room minding my own business my toes somehow get tangled in the wiggly bits of the masher while the tender arch of my foot is supporting all of my weight on the centimeter wide edge part. 

I only mention this because I almost died and it still hurts 2 hours later.

On the plus side I'll be uploading pictures soon of 3 more bag books and the cutest video of Saoirse laughing you'll ever see. Ever.

By the bye, I'm really getting into the Dick Van Dyke Show. I think it's safe to say that I LOVE IT. It's hilarious and CLEAN! I mean, the parents sleep in separate beds. You can't get much more 'pure' than that. 

I should have lived in the 60's.

I made something!

I try to be one of those crafty moms.

It seems like half of the time I'm more excited about the finished product than Saoirse is.

But today, I feel like I've got something she'll love - or at least will be handy in an airplane...


I made this!

It's a Saoirse number book! I fell in love with this idea because the Ziplock bags will keep off any drool/food/water/milk/poop(hahajkbutreally). Not only that but you can use one book of bags and replace the paper inside - that somehow seems like too much work to me so I'm just making several bag books.. which is in fact more work than just switching paper out in reality. 

I just printed out the numbers 0-9 (I believe I googled "printable colored numbers" in case you're interested) and cut along the dotted lines they lovingly provided for me then taped those to bigger pieces of paper that would fit nicely inside the bags. I also had the genius idea to put metallic flowers in there too so you can count along!! Could I have just drawn all of this? Yes, of course, but I really don't want to make Saoirse's education/entertainment rely on my ability of draw.

And then I remembered that I only printed out the numbers 0-9. ZERO through NINE people. Who the heck teaches their kid to count only to 9???? Instead of wasting paper for a stinking 10 I just drew one.. I also had to draw in half of the flowers since a 10 wasn't in my original plans for some reason.

Looks pretty good if I do say so myself.

Then for the fabric binding I got creative and did a fun little pattern with the sewing machine. 

It would have been awesome had I thought to use a different color of thread than the fabric... seems like that's how all of my projects go. 

Hopefully the little miss likes it. I'm not planning on giving it to her until we're on the plane. So that way it's new and exciting.

I'm going to make two or three more of these that will be a "body book" with pictures of different parts of her body (eye, nose, etc.) and a "faces book" with a bunch of pictures of some people in our family and herself (since she's her own favorite topic at the moment) and eventually I'll make an alphabet book. We'll see how I feel after making the other two. 

UPDATE!

I decided to see if Saoirse likes the book so I gave it to her for a few minutes and she LOVES LOVES LOVES LOVES LOVES it. I mean, I took it away a couple of times and she cried. Real tears people. This project is definitely a win!!

You can judge me.

Seriously.



Why would you judge me do you ask?


Because I bought this for Saoirse.

That's right. I bought her a leash. Actually I prefer to call it a "safety harness." But let me defend myself before you go all "child degradation" on me. First, this is not degrading - it's a fun monkey backpack! Second, anyone who really does have a problem with these things I cordially invite you to take my daughter in public and force her to sit in her stroller. Even better, why don't you try carrying her for a few hours? If your arms aren't tired from carrying 25 lbs, maybe they'll get that workout you've been dying for if that 25 lbs is screaming in your face and struggling for freedom.

I feel like I'm doing the world a service. I'm sure nobody wants to hear my child cry-screaming, and I don't want her wandering off by herself. Win-win right?

Really.

We're going to Iowa soon-ish and I desperately needed something to assure her protection from crazy strangers and from her own curiosity while we're at the airport(s). 

I've heard of some people having serious problems with these things. I'll admit that I didn't think they were necessary when I was younger. But that was before I had a kid and realized the genius behind these things. Your child can walk and be safe while in public! Everyone is happy.

On another note, I made this last night for dinner.

Yummy.

It's a black bean salad/dip. You can eat it by itself but I highly recommend dipping some chips in there. Have I had onion breath for 24 hours? Why yes I have. And it's been amazing, thanks for asking.

Black Bean Salad

Serves 4

Two 16-ounce cans black beans drained and rinsed well (to avoid turning your salad grey)
1 very large tomato, diced (I used three)
1 16-ounce can corn (I used 3 corn cobs)
1/2 Vidalia onion, diced (the smaller pieces the better unless you really like raw onion)
1 can sliced water chestnuts, drained, rinsed and diced
1 bunch cilantro, chopped
1/2 lime, juice and zest
3 Tablespoons balsamic vinegar or more to taste

1. Add beans, tomatoes, corn, onion, and water chestnuts to a bowl (glass looks pretty) and mix.
2. Add cilantro, lime and balsamic vinegar and mix again. Serve alone, with cucumber open-faced sandwiches or chips for a perfect meal!

Her sensory box!

I decided today that I wanted to make Saoirse a sensory box that she could love and play with and love forever. GREAT IDEA!!

I started by poking holes in the side of a box.

Then I threaded some extra stripped fabric I had from previous blanket projects.

And I taped down the little bits on the outside so they could be pulled on pretty hard from the inside.

Inside.

Then I cut up some foam I had and glued it to the inside.

 Lastly, I cut little windows for her to look through.


I didn't get any pictures of her playing with the finished product because the box is TOO SMALL for her to play in! I blame it on her very large head (thanks daddy).

Oh well. It was a good try right?



On the plus side she really enjoyed the newspaper I shred up for her while she was waiting for her sensory box...

Must keep this in mind for a quick distraction.

On a side note, we had a pretty decent storm here last night. There was rain, wind, thunder, and lightening! In fact, the lightening struck the side of Y Mountain and started a tree or bush on fire. If you're 'in the know' you might understand how scary that actually is. The drought has made the already dry state of Utah pretty dang crispy and there have already been multiple wildfires that have consumed thousands of acres of land and a few houses.

Here's a blurry picture taken out of our kitchen window.

A little smudge of white smoke in the middle.

Watching the fire/watching the rain.

They got the fire out within about an hour but I guess it started back up again this morning? EMBERS people! They got that one out too. I hope they stomped and soaked the embers this time. Seriously.

My bready adventures

After being vegan for a while I feel like I'm slowly able to better appreciate healthier food choices. Right now I'm focusing on getting rid of preservatives and chemicals and things. Basically get it as natural as possible. For the most part we've been able to replace or cut out things that contain unpronounceable white powders and "natural flavors" (castoreum?). But a HUGE weakness of ours is bread. If you've never looked at the ingredients list on your weekly bread loaf you buy from the store lets just say that the list is so long and huge that the font is almost too small to even read. To remedie this problem I decided I was going to start making my own bread.

It was an AMAZING SUCCESS. I'm pretty sure I could eat this stuff all the live long day. This picture was taken of the two loaves just before I put them in the oven. They are probably about an inch or two taller now. 

Unfortunately I don't have any after pictures... someone whose name rhymes with "Meer-shah" might have been a little impatient bumble bee to eat some.


Oh! I almost forgot to mention that this is VEGAN. My favorite part! Whole-wheat honey bread is my new best friend.

So you know when you go to the store and you see those amazingly cute baby/toddler things that you just HAVE to have? Yeah, so I bought this itty bitty tiny tooth brush (I mean, she'll need one eventually anyway), because it was dang cute. I've heard that you should start brushing their teeth as soon as they get them anyway. So after 4 teeth it's probably time to get a tooth brush. 

The blur really emphasizes how well this went I think.

Once I sort of brushed her teeth I gave her the tooth brush.

I wanted at least one good shot of her with the dang thing in her mouth. I think she's still a little confused by the whole process.

That "good idea" lasted about 2 minutes before she remembered the recently used bathtub was there. She has this thing where she needs to rub everything she can hold on the inside of the tub - which is really gross to me. 

I mean, naked bodies go in there.  

My little girl.

Um, here's a video of Saoirse. It was raining here in Provo - something that is about as rare as me washing the sheets.

*cough*

Anyway, us midwesterners get all excited and have to go experience the hard drizzle and since Saoirse has probably never seen rain in her life, it's probably a wonderfully confusing thing to see.

My triumphant return.

So I think I've officially decided to start blogging again. I think the reason I stopped was because I wanted to make my blog a little more private without creating a password and saw that it had been viewed in several different countries. Funny thing is that I know like, no one outside of the U.S. so to those 2,000 people in Russia and those 200 in Mongolia reading this, HELLO!

I think I just didn't like the idea of having, well, basically a photo journal/diary being read by total strangers. I mean, it's still kind of weird that somebody in New Zealand can see my daughters face and read about her latest and greatest achievements, but heck, nobody can read her name so it's not like she's in any danger anyway right?

So, I guess a lot of time has passed since the last post and you might assume that amazing things have happened and great feats have been met, but no. Not really. Unfortunately the life of a stay-at-home mom is not glamorous or all too exciting. Unless you think making homemade cleaner is exciting? Then stay tuned! You're in luck! I've got all sorts of little ways to get by while being poor.

Speaking of which, I'm going to be a bridesmaid in a wedding in two weeks. I decided that, to save money, (since I always stand by my "modest is hottest" rule) I would make my own jacket to go with the sleeveless dress. Well, I finally finished the painfully slow and stressful task of making it (out of $40/yd fabric mind you) and I might say that it looks fantastic. I mean, I'm pretty sure it could have taken a mere fraction of the time it took me for someone who actually knows what their doing. But for someone whose never made anything like that before? It is a win. Plus I found some super cute and cheap shoes to go with it. Man I'm feeling good.

That's right.

Now, some might like to think I'm talented (I like to think so at least) but in reality, I'm just poor. Am I complaining? No way. I get to learn really great skills so that I can save some money. For example, (I wasn't kidding about this), homemade cleaning solution! It's like, the best thing I've ever heard of for a couple of reasons, one, it's totally chemical-less and harmless to children and animals - aka totally natural! And since I'm on this all natural thing with my foods it doesn't hurt to clean a little safer too. And two, it is by far the least expensive thing out there and it cleans EVERYTHING - minus windows (if you're going for that streakless look that is).

It's easy to make

All you need is one grapefruit or an orange or something like unto them, and save the peels. I'm going to be honest, we usually just let our grapefruit rot because they're kind of gross so I don't even eat the inside.... anyway, put that in a quart-sized mason jar and fill it to the top with distilled white vinegar.

Boom.

Let that sit there for at least 3 weeks. This little puppy has been going for a month and a half. Unrefrigerated of course - nothing gross will grow in there because, it's vinegar, it kills things. 

When you're ready for some cleaner you just strain the citrus vinegar liquid and poor it (the liquid of course) into a spray bottle. The bottle I have perfectly fits a jar-full of vinegar + a jar-full of water. You could use it straight up but I like to dilute it a little to stretch it as far as I can. And as far as I can tell, most people would suggest diluting it. Why? Who knows. Now, I KNOW what you're asking, "Does it cut down on the vinegar smell?" A little. You definitely still smell the vinegar but it's enough that I think it's worth the (very) little work to make it citrusy.

More to come later folks. Perhaps I'll mention the Minecraft obsession going on in my house sometime. Maybe.

My portabella pride.

It's been a while since I posted anything on here concerning vegan eatings but let me reassure you, the reader, that we are vegan and well!  We have slimmed up and wised up to the follies of man-made "food." I'm happy to report that my body now repels any and all dairy, and meat for the most part.  We eat out once or twice a month and I try to stay with the diet, occasionally eating some chicken or turkey.  But what I really wanted to talk about in this post is... the portabella mushroom!

As it turns out, these mushrooms are the meat in the vegan society.  There is also nothing I hate more than mushrooms.  They are a fungus.  People spend their entire lives avoiding fungus and they want me to EAT it?  No thanks.  But let's be sensible, being a vegan requires a bit of fearlessness when it comes to eating.  You have to eat new things especially when your diet only consisted of Wendy's Jr. Bacon Cheeseburgers and Sterzings chips (ooooooooooh Sterzings, how I love thee).  We decided to try 3 different ways of preparing portabellas.  Okay really more like 2 different ways, but we'll say 3.

1. Portabella mushroom steaks:

Season prepared mushroom with olive oil, salt, pepper, and garlic powder.  Grill for about 10 minutes.  We served this with baked beans (definitely not vegan friendly with Miss Queen Bean ruling her can-kingdom) and a baked potato with Stewed Tomatoes (a Forks Over Knives recipe) on top.

-Result-

The mushroom tasted REALLY good but the texture kind of did it in for me.  I figured out that if you season it like you would a piece of meat you'll get it to taste EXACTLY like your favorite kind of meat.  You just won't get it to feel like one.  Maybe I cooked it too long?  Who knows.  I probably won't be making it again for the texture reason.  The potato was good, as usual and the beans were satisfying the desire for fake sugar, salty meat, and FAKE SUGAR.  Bad Abby.

2. Portabella burgers:

Season prepared mushroom as you do the steak version; with olive oil (on both sides), salt, pepper, and garlic powder.  Grill for a few minutes (I tried a little less time to see if it might not be so squishy).  Served with sweet potato baked fries - bake slices at 350 degrees for about 25 minutes.

-Result-

SO AMAZING.  Honestly one of the best burgers I've ever had.  So tasty and satisfying.  I would definitely make this again and am looking forward to making these somewhere in the mountains this summer!  The texture was again, not very mea-like, but it wasn't distracting either.  It worked with with the bread texture of the bun and was overall quite wonderful for all of my senses.

3. Portabella sloppy joes:

We bought small presliced portabella mushrooms (we were going to make the burgers again but they only had these little prepackaged, presliced deals so we tried it out) threw those in a pan with a little oil (oil wasn't necessary but we did it because our pan makes everything stick to it) and added 1/4 cup of Heintz Ketchup (no high fructose corn syrup or nasty preservatives) along with lots of onion powder, lots of garlic powder, pepper, cayenne pepper, parsley, basil, and Montreal Steak Seasoning... I think that was it.  Served with baked sweet potato fries.

-Result-

I would make this again in a heartbeat.  Who needs meat when you can get the same taste and half the price??  I don't.

Her new teddy bear.

It's small.  It's ugly.  And I made it yesterday!  Enjoy!

It's made from the scrap cotton fabric I used for one of Saoirse's bed sheets.  I think it's actually kind of cute in its ugliness.

My killer Vegan Pancakes.

Revisited!  We changed the recipe a little to help the pancakes stay together a little better.  They tended to be a bit crumbly with the previous recipe.  It's much better now.

These pancakes were a scary substitute for our Sunday pancake breakfast.  I say scary because there is zero dairy/eggs/such things that make bready things happy.  Joseph found the recipe online and I refined it to exactly what my taste buds will force me to make a special trip to the store for.  You wouldn't guess for a second that there is no milk or eggs in these bad boys!  Yes, I did just make them for dinner.  YES, I enjoyed every single bite.  So good!  Sorry I have no picture, I was going to take one tonight but they were gone way too fast!

Vegan Pancakes

1 cup flour
2 Tbs sugar (we like to put 3)
2 Tbs (no less!!) baking powder
1/8 tsp salt
1 cup soy milk  (I use vanilla almond milk)
2 Tbs vegetable oil
apple juice

1. Heat pan to medium Heat.
2. Combine the dry ingredients.
3. Add milk and oil to the mixture until smooth.
4. (optional) add apple juice until you like the consistency.  I personally like my pancakes thinner so I add 2 or 3 Tbs of water, don't add anything if you like your cakes thick.
5. Make some stinking pancakes!
6. Serve with syrup or some delicious homemade fruit topping; just boil your favorite berry or fruit in a little water and a little sugar.  Boom done.


And people say that vegans eat boring food.  These are, by far, the best pancakes I've ever eaten.