Homemade Laundry Detergent

I've been making homemade laundry detergent for roughly three years now using the Duggar family recipe, which can be found here.  This detergent has worked great for our family, and at less than $10 per year, it is a no-brainer for us.

Like many homemade detergents, it uses these ingredients:

photo credit

photo credit

photo credit

Homemade Liquid Laundry Detergent



4 Cups - hot tap water

1 Fels-Naptha soap bar*

1 Cup - Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda*

½ Cup Borax**

1.  Grate bar of soap and add to saucepan with water. Stir continually over medium-low heat until soap dissolves and is melted.

2.  Fill a 5 gallon bucket half full of hot tap water. Add melted soap, washing soda and Borax. Stir well until all powder is dissolved. Fill bucket to top with more hot water. Stir, cover and let sit overnight to thicken. (When it is thickened, it may look sort of "chunky" like egg drop soup. :-)  That is normal - it will not look that way once you follow the next step.)

3.  Stir and fill a used, clean, laundry soap dispenser half full with soap and then fill rest of way with water. Shake before each use. (will gel)

4.  Optional: You can add 10-15 drops of essential oil per 2 gallons. Add once soap has cooled. Ideas: lavender, rosemary, tea tree oil.  (You cannot smell essential oils on your clean clothes so I skip this step.)

Yield: Liquid soap recipe makes 10 gallons.

-Top Load Machine- 5/8 Cup per load (Approx. 180 loads)...I just fill up my laundry soap dispenser cap, which might be slightly less but works great for me.  

-Front Load Machines- ¼ Cup per load (Approx. 640 loads)

*Arm & Hammer "Super Washing Soda" and Fels Naptha soap bar can both be found at Smith’s (Kroger grocery stores), sometimes Walmart, and a variety of other grocery stores in the laundry/cleaning aisle. It is important not to substitute baking soda for the washing soda because it will not work as well - It must be sodium carbonate!!

**Borax (20 Mule Team Borax) can also be found in the laundry/cleaning aisle at Smith’s, or at Walmart and other local grocery stores.


The entire batch lasts me for about 6 months w/ two adults, two kids, and using cloth diapers, and it costs me less than $5 for the whole batch.

Toddler Towel Tutorial

Today, after weeks months of procrastination, I made this pink, hooded toddler towel for my sweet little Smooch.  She outgrew her baby towels ages ago.  It was originally inspired by this beautiful yellow towel that my friend Amey made for precious Princess when she was roughly Smooch's age.  Yes, what some people may mistake as creativity in my life, is actually little more than an "I bet I could make that" attitude.  I get it from my dad...and his mother.

See how awesomely long and big this towel is?  I love it for taking to the pool and for use after baths.  Princess adores that fact that it has a hood even though it is a big girl towel because she feels much warmer that way. 

The first thing you need to make this towel is a regular bath towel and a wash cloth.  I used a matching wash cloth, but it would be fun to do a complementing color as well.   I used Target RE brand towels for this.  They're inexpensive, easy to sew through, fast-dry towels that comes in lots of fun bright colors.

Then choose your desired ribbon for the trim.  I like a ribbon that is at least an inch wide.

The first thing you're going to do is sew the hood.  To do this you simply fold your wash cloth in half, right sides together as demonstrated by my lovely assistant below.

Next stitch one of the short ends, taking care to line up your edges perfectly so you don't have a crooked hood.  I stitched a good inch or so in from the edge.  You will see why in a moment.

After you're finished with that straight stitch, do a zig zag stitch between the straight stitch and the edge.  The reason the zig zag stitch is so important is because you are going to trim off the existing finished edge of the wash cloth - it is too thick and bulky to sit against your little one's head nicely.

The below photo shows both of my stitches completed.

Trim off excess about 1/4 inch away from your zig zag stitch.

Turn right side out, and admire your little hood.

Next center the hood on the top of the bath towel.  You will be sewing on the inside of the hood and towel (wrong side).  Do you notice how much let my hood overlap on the towel?  Adjust yours so that your hood is a size you like.  Once sewn in place, my hood ended up being about 9 inches long.  That will give Smooch plenty of room to grow while still not being overly huge.  Now once you're done sewing the hood in place, you could trim off the excess of the hood, but if you do keep in mind that you will want to do another zig zag stitch to prevent unraveling.  I just left mine like this. 

And yes, as you can see I am a lazy sewer and I don't like to pin my stuff down.  *Gasp*  Pin if you must. :-)

Once that is done, you are ready to put on the decorative ribbon trim.  There are lots of ways you could secure the end of your ribbon, but as shown below, I doubled the end of my ribbon under itself and stitched it down that way.

This is the part where you get to see how well you can sew in a straight line. For beginners:  I like to put my needle in the position furthest to the right and just line the edge of my ribbon up with the inside edge of the right side of the presser foot.  That way I sew the ribbon down nice and close to the edge but I have something really visual to follow so I don't mess it up.  I guess I failed to show that very well in the picture.

Sew along the top edge of the ribbon and the bottom edge.  You can place the ribbon as close to or far away from the top edge of the towel as you like.

Once the ribbon is on, you are done!  If you want, you can put ribbon along the top of the hood as well (but if you do, it would be much easier to do it before you sew the hood onto the towel).  You can also put ribbon along the bottom edge of the towel and otherwise embellish to your heart's content.  But I'm a simple gal and often believe that less is more. 

In fact, if you really wanted to get crazy, you could go for an entirely different look and make an animal face out of the hood like this.

Introduce your child to his/her new towel, and take a dozen pictures of them loving it.

Report back if you give it a try!

Signs of Spring - Part 1: Household Intruders

It is no secret that we love Spring around these parts.  Our allergies afflict us, the wind sweeps through town with vengance, and unsightly insects make their way into our home bringing with them a promise of summer. 

No, really, we do love Spring.  See my apple blossoms?  Our allergies are pretty mild really.  The wind?  Well it isn't our favorite, but our garden doesn't seem to mind, and we love our garden.  But I really could do without critters in my house.

Like this one:

Please tell me you see see that spider INSIDE our microwave's timepiece.  I obsessed over this guy for a full day.  And then he disappeared. 

No, you may not comment on the filth of my microwave.  It is a sad result of having a black appliance in a dusty desert-ish place,  and setting my mixer right next do it when it's time to whip up some cookies or some such yummy treat.  This is how it looks after three days of neglect.  Needless to say, once the spider went missing, this thing got a full detailing - inside, outside, underneath.  No, I did not find our intruder.

Have I ever told you about the "wind scorpions" we get up here?  If I can ever catch one on camera I will show you.  I once found one about 2 inches long in our living room.  Last summer.  While barefoot.  Without my contacts or glasses on.  It was a close call.  Thankfully my daughter left an over sized book setting out that night.

So...anyone want to come for a visit?

Project w/ Princess: Cake Cookies with Sprinkles

There are few things that our Princess likes as much as "pink ice cream."  However, a load of colorful sprinkles is pretty stiff competition.  So, when I saw a delightful post about cake cookies on the V and Co. blog,  I knew that I absolutely had to make them with Princess.  I was actually feeling brave and woke her up early from her nap yesterday so we'd be sure to have time to do this before it was time to start dinner preparations.

This recipe can also be found on pretty much any recipe website ever created.  It's very simple and yummy.  The cookies are light, moist and very sweet - sort of like a soft sugar cookie.

Ingredients:

1 box cake mix
1 egg
1/4 c. water
1/4 c. oil
sprinkles

Mix ingredients, roll dough into small balls and press tops into sprinkles.   Pressing the tops into sprinkles is a good job for little hands. (If dough is way too sticky to work with, add a little flour.  You still want it to be sticky enough to need to flour your hands.)

Lick your sticky fingers.



Place sprinkle side up on an ungreased cookie sheet. 

Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes or so and cool on a wire rack.

Eat a cookie.

Share a cookie with your little sister.

Next time I think we will have to try a pink cake mix and have a tea party.   Then I might try a chocolate cake mix.  Hmm...

Meal Plans & Grocery Shopping

In this post I'd like to share a little bit about how I do our meal planning and grocery shopping.  Then I will share this week's meal plan (of dinners) with you.

This week I spent $78 for our groceries, which was $1 less than what I estimated on my grocery list.  I only "meal plan" for dinners, as we eat a lot of leftovers for lunches as well as the the occasional pb&j, fruit, and oatmeal or eggs for breakfasts.  So other than making sure those staples are stocked up, my grocery lists mostly contain dinner items as well as the regular household items such as toilet paper, etc.  This week I was lucky and didn't need buy any household items.

I also buy my milk (1 1/2 gallons) and eggs (2 dozen) from a friend I met in MOPS who has chickens and a jersey cow.  So that's actually another $10 each week.  It is also notable that we (for the most part) only buy high-quality, grass-fed (where applicable), free-range (etc. etc.) meat.  This week, we made an exception and bought conventional roast.  This information is just to give you a more accurate idea of our habits for budget purposes.

On Saturday, as part of our date night, My Stud and I went grocery shopping together, which was by the far the fastest grocery shopping trip ever. (I know, we are wild.) This time, I did something a little different with my grocery list than I usually do.  You see, I usually plan meals, write out my shopping list and go.  And I usually end up spending more than our Food and Household budget allows for the week.  This means I am often taking a loan from another category and starting out next week's grocery funds by having to pay back money owed.  (For more on the cash envelope system I use, refer back to this post.)  Something needed to change in my planning.

This week, when I wrote out my list, I listed estimated the price to the left of each grocery item, added it all up, and made adjustments to my list where necessary.  Part of my motivation for doing this was that I had forgotten to plan for Easter dinner, and I wanted to buy a large roast and the fixings, I was already working with $20 less because of paybacks from the previous week, and I was determined to break the cycle of overspending/borrowing grocery money.

At the store, I was able to glance at my estimated prices and know how I was doing along the way.  Having to stick to my numbers also helped me stick to my list like never before.  I am always finding something on sale to stock up on or something I "forgot" to put on the list.  I actually did buy yogurt and a coconut, both on excellent sale, both not on my list.  However, I knew that I had a little room to flex since almost everything I bought was a little under my estimated prices, so it still worked out great.

I thought I would share this week's (dinner) meal plan.  At one point I used E-mealz to help with meal planning because I was in such a rut as far as simple, creative ideas go.  Now that I'm out of that rut, I am back to doing my own planning.  You will notice that we're not big on a bunch of side dishes at our house. I went through a phase where I tried very hard to improve in this area, and my family - well mostly my husband - let me know that he was just as happy with a one-dish meal and maybe one side, so I gave myself a break.  One thing is for sure, meal planning is the best way to get the most bang for your buck at the grocery store.  If you don't have a plan, you'll probably buy a bunch of random stuff that sounds good, and then end up having to make multiple trips to the store in order to turn those things into meals.  With good planning, I limit my grocery shopping trips to once a week.  Some people shop once per month, but I am  not that awesome.

Here is what we're eating for dinners this week:

Monday: Taco salad

Tuesday: Stir fry and wild rice

Wednesday: Crock pot chicken/green chili burritos

Thursday: Lentil soup and homemade whole wheat rolls

Friday: Spaghetti squash with sausage sauce and salad (regular spaghetti for kids)

Saturday:  Potato and ham bake w/ veggies

Sunday:  Easter - Pot roast w/ potatoes, carrots, onions, salad.

And now you know what we eat around here. ;-) 

What is your grocery shopping and meal planning strategy to keep groceries from being a budget-buster?

Miserly Things I Do

Photo credit.

Last week I had a big job to do: peel, core and slice 125 apples.  So naturally I called in the reinforcements and two of my mommy friends came over to to help.  As my friend J went to wash her hands at the kitchen sink, said something along the lines of "What's wrong with your hand soap?"  (Okay, she didn't say it like that at all, but that was sort of my interpretation. ;-)  I think it was more like, "Is this really your hand soap?" unsure if she was using the right thing.)

"I'm cheap, so I water down my hand soap."  I said, "about 1/4 hand soap and 3/4 water."  I especially like to do this in our bathroom where a certain 3-year-old soap waster often goes for independent hand (doll, dish, etc.) washing exercises.  (I used to do this with the foaming soap dispensers, but those break after awhile and don't like to buy them over and over.)

Okay.  I admit that was a little bit embarrassed.

This is not the first moment that I realized that I do a lot of miserly things that make most people scratch their heads, especially considering that I'm a mom of two children (not six) with a husband who has a well-paying job.  Let's blame it on the way I was raised, shall we?  I am the second of twelve children (yes, 12 - 6 girls, 6 boys - since you were going to ask ;-)), the daughter of a stay-at-home mom who was a stay-at-home mom when that meant we lived in a trailer.  Yes, it was that important to her.  And, yes, your children pick up on things like that and it shapes their own choices later in life.  As a mother of many, and a wife of one of the hardest working men I know to this day, my mom made it her personal mantra to stretch every dollar as far as possible.  She is still doing it to this day.  (My youngest sister is 7.)

I would say that I learned to water down my soap from my mom; however, I seem to recall that we always used bar soap in our house, so who knows.  I'm sure she must have done it at least once, because it just seems familiar.

At any rate, I have learned a bunch of "miserly" tricks from my mother and others over the years, and the soap thing has inspired me to compile a list of some of the money-saving things I do.  People who come into our house will note that we use a lot of natural/organic/etc products in our home, and one of the ways we have been able to pull this off through the years is that I employ these "stretch the dollar" tricks.  That is also how we paid for our trip to Disneyland last September.  (Just kidding.)  Okay, so the savings for each of these items will be very small, but when you add them up, it does make a significant difference over the course of a year.  Some of these items may be familiar to you if you have read my previous post that mentions some of the ways that you can cut the costs to make staying home to raise the kids work. 

And just for the record, you should know that while I am cunning at saving money in some areas, I know that I'm wasteful in other areas where others save (new gas guzzler vehicle, to be obvious).  I think it's safe to say we can all learn from each other and pick and choose what works for each of us. 

With no further ado, here are some miserly things I do around our house:

1.  Water down hand soap, especially if the kids have access to it. 

2.  Use as little shampoo as possible, and do not let small children pour their own.  For the record, I am still using the same little bottle of baby shampoo for our girls that we got back in December of 2009!  I bet I get a few more months out of it too - and, no, I did not water it down. ;-)

3.  Go grocery shopping once a week. When you run out of bread, cereal, milk, etc. earlier than planned, don't buy any more until next weeks' grocery trip.  If I ran to the store every time we ran out of something, I would nickel and dime our grocery budget to devastation.  Yes, at the end of your grocery shopping week, it is okay to run out of things and thus have to eat something else.  Limiting grocery shopping trips to once a week, also saves on gas.

4. If running low on gas and gas money, don't go anywhere unnecessary for a couple days.  In fact, if money is truly tight, you might consider cutting down on your daytime out-of-the-house activities as a general rule.  Many stay-at-home-moms get involved in so many play dates, church and social activities during the day, that they end up spending a good deal of money, unplanned, not to mention they are too tired to throw together a decent dinner at the end of such a day and thus are more likely to eat out regularly.  I'm not saying that in order to save money, stay-at-home moms should all be hermits.  But I am saying that they should act as smart, savvy, and resourceful as I know all moms are.  If you really want to meet up with a friend for lunch, consider taking turns having each other over for lunch instead. 

5. Learn to make things that your family loves to eat a lot of from scratch. Bread is one that I have been working on. Yogurt is next on my list of homemade ventures. (I'm scared but excited!)

6.  Consider cloth diapering your baby or toddler.  This is one in particular that quite honestly intimidates people.  Our story is that when our oldest child was about 6 months old, I got really sick and tired of trying to figure out how we were going to cough up diaper money time after time.  So I researched and learned everything I could about different cloth diapering systems (pros and cons of each), laundering considerations, the gross-ness factor, and cost.  Needless to say I was sold, and since then we have lined our pockets with $2100 (conservatively) that we would have otherwise, in a very literal sense, thrown away.  That's about $14 per week or about $60 per month.  Yikes.  I do respect that some people just aren't willing to deal with cloth diapers, and that is completely fine, but I sure don't want to hear those people complain to me about the cost as if there isn't anything that can be done about it.  So if you have determined that cloth is not for you, no complaining. ;-)  I digress...

7.  Don't go the doctor for a head cold.  Just saying...

8.  Don't use disposable things such as paper towels. Use dish towels and wash cloths for all your cleaning needs in the kitchen.  Right now I happen to have a roll of paper towels in my pantry b/c it was given to me in a road trip care package (:-)), but paper towels are one of the things that I don't normally buy.  Again, to me it is throwing away money slowly but surely.

9.  If you only wear something for two hours, and you didn't get any food, baby messes, etc. on it, hang it back up in your closet to wear again later.   I do this a lot if I change clothes for an evening activity or something.  Fewer loads of laundry.

10.  Use less meat than the recipe calls for.  For casseroles and stews, sometimes I use as little as 1/2 of the meat, and it's just as tasty to us - my husband doesn't even comment on it. (Shhh.)

There are also many things that I'm aware of that I don't do.  For example, a friend growing up had a rule in their house that you could only use two toilet paper squares.  We don't do that, but I see the value in such a rule when you have kids using wads and wads of the stuff many times a day. 

At any rate, you can see how these things can slowly and surely add up to a trip to Disneyland bit more money in your pocket, making it well worth a little extra effort.

Do you have any silly or embarrassing miserly habits that help you tighten up the reins at your house?  I'd love to hear them.

Clean Laundry

Um...there's something wrong with this picture.

I think I just figured out why it seems like I "never have anything to wear." 

But..there's less laundry to do that way, right? ;-)

I Haven't Forgotten How to Sew (or Bake) After All

I got the flu (minus stomach stuff - thank God) on Valentine's Day.  Until that unfortunate event, I had planned to make these even-tastier-than-they-look red velvet cupcakes.  I had posted on Facebook that I had eaten the most scrumptious Starbuck's red velvet cupcake one day and that - three days later - I couldn't get it off my mind.  An old acquaintance quickly offered to send me her most requested recipe of all time, and it was decided.  I would make red velvet cupcakes for all my sweet valentines this year.  And now we're back to the first sentence of this paragraph...

Two weeks later, after the last of the our family of four had finally recovered from our disabling disease, I decided the time had come to compromise our immune systems by suddenly introducing lots of refined sugar to our diets  surprise my beloved family with the sweet treats that they had missed when I was sick.

 

They were much better (and much less expensive) than Starbuck's.  And now there are only two left, so I volunteered our entire family of addicts to give up sugar for Lent next week.  I routinely volunteer my family to give up sugar with me a couple times a year (and we often like to participate in giving things up for Lent b/c we enjoy the discipline even though we are neither Jewish nor Catholic)...but really?  It is going to be hard to stop thinking of these.

The other thing I made last week is...

...a skinny, naked baby!  OR that cute bird print diaper cover.  I think the last time I sewed a diaper was last winter, so I was worried about being out of practice.  Nope!  Like riding a bike.

I used my homemade pattern which is a knock-off of the Flip Diaper by Cotton Babies (my favorite diaper in the whole world if you're wondering).  The reason I wanted to make this diaper cover is 1.  Cute bird fabric has been sitting in my laundry/craft room for months, begging to cover a sweet baby bottom.  2.  One night while lying awake in bed (typical Amelia), I suddenly thought of a way to make stretch tabs which was the one thing I hadn't been able to mimic in my previous knock-offs: FOE, which stands for fold over elastic.  Genius.  Then I waited two months before I tried it. :-)  Anyway, I adore the way it turned out.  The stretch of the tabs gives it a better fit I think.  The fact that I have two tabs on each side, allows for a different setting for the waist and the legs.  My skinny baby needs it tighter around the waist than the legs, and this allows me to do that. 

   

Look at those tabs stretch!  Now to see how they hold up after some use and abuse.  :-)

Well that's it.  I haven't been too crafty at home lately (compared to my past).  It seems that doing the crafts for MOPS gets it out of my system a little bit.  I hope to get back to crafting a little bit more, but we will see.  The warmer temperatures and sunshine outside are beckoning to me, so I may have missed my "holed up for winter" chance.  Time will tell!

Happy Birthday to Me

Since my birthday this year coincided pretty closely with the birth of our daughter and our big move to New Mexico, we purposefully shoved it aside.   The fact that I'm closing in on 30 had nothing to do with it.  (Fine. I turned 27, but that's getting mighty close if you ask me!) 

Though it is a bit hazy in my mind, I do recall attending a birthday party that my beautiful sister-in-law and I shared (she is exactly one day older than I am!).  I almost didn't go because my body was overtaken with a mastitis that rendered me nearly useless to anybody, including myself, for a couple of days.  Right when I was supposed to finish packing the house.  Great timing, body. 

This particular birthday and it's party was right in the middle of those days.  My 102.8 fever broke right before the party, so I went.  And if I remembered it very well, I would tell you that it was delightful.  I'm sure it was! 

Fastforward several weeks.  My husband said something like, "Well now that we're getting settled in our new home and things aren't as crazy, let's talk about your birthday."  (Remember, we ignored it's existence. Busy busy busy.)  As it turns out, I get to pick out a new set of dishes to replace the dishes I can't believe we've been using all this time.  I purchased them at Walmart while in college.  They're very...green.  The color, not environmentally friendly.  Oh nevermind. 

Of course, I was thrilled with this news, and I plan to take my time picking out the dishes.  This is a serious decision, and  not one that I take lightly. ;-)  Any recommendations?

This birthday conversation reminded me that on my birthday I received some generous gifts.  Some of those gifts were green.  The color.  I planned to pool these gifts together and reward myself for all my hard work unpacking, purging (take two), and birthing a child without any medication.  Just kidding on that last one. ;-) New clothes!!! 

Then I stared deep into our new closet.  My wardrobe is not elaborate or particularly stylish, but after all my gut-wrenching purging (I am a pack rat if you must know, so it is hard work for me) I just couldn't bare to turn around and add to our...stuff.  This decision may or may not have subconsciously been influenced by the fact that I went to Target, tried on six shirts and walked out with a new hat.  Did I mention I gave birth to a child five weeks ago?

I mulled it over in my head during the next few days.  What items do I habitually eye but never dare to wish for?  What do I want that won't add to the general clutter (or laundry) of my home?  Something useful.  Something practical.  Something that I wouldn't randomly ask my husband for.  Something that won't need replaced in a year or two.

Guess what's coming to my house!?

This:

And This:

Happy Birthday to MEEEEEE!!!

An Animal Tree

We love projects. In fact, my husband and I dream of someday designing and building our own home. We would also be prime candidates to buy a "fixer upper" and make it into something fantastic. Being both partially of the melancholy temperament, creating, fixing and transforming things energizes us both in a way that some people might not be able to relate. To be honest we enjoy the weekend a little more if it holds at least one small project - and we're learning to take on some projects that we can both participate in together. We might just start inventing projects if we run out soon! What some might call work, we call wholesome, satisfying FUN. Are we geekin' it or what!? Last weekend, we worked on a little improvement for Bella's room.

After receiving some serious inspiration from my friend Amey on how to nicely store stuffed animals, I determined that we just didn't have enough wall space in my daughter's room to make the adorable animal cage. However, our current stuffed animal situation was not working for me! To make matters worse, since I was fiercely attached to my stuffed animals as a child, I can hardly stand the thought of getting rid of most of them since Bella is showing a similar propensity toward stuffed animal love.

Then I remembered my friend Jody telling me that she used a fantastic space-saving technique for her daughter that her mom used when she was a child - an animal tree! After doing a terrible job of explaining the concept to my husband, we set out Lowes. Two or three tiny incidents of miscommunication ;-) and ten dollars later and we had all the supplies we needed (watch me butcher the names of half of these supplies. Ha ha!):

*A Plant hanger hook (fits very securely into ceiling, easily bearing the weight of the animal tree)
*Eyelet hook (large enough to fit over the plant hanger hook)
*Cup hooks (we got a pack of 40)
*A pole or rod or any piece of wood that is thick enough to screw your hooks into (ours reaches almost from ceiling to floor)
*Paint to match your room (optional)
*1/8" ribbon (I used a little more than one spool which was 10 yds.)


First Clay painted and sanded the pole (We actually used a rectangular piece of wood for this, but I'm going to call it a pole for lack of a better term.) Then I marked the desired location for the hooks by eyeing the number and sizes of Bella's stuffed animals. Next Clay pre-drilled holes in those spots and screwed the eyelet hook to the very top of the pole. Then we screwed the cup hooks in, up and down the full length of the pole on each side where we had drilled our holes.


While Clay installed the plant hanger hook into the ceiling from which to hang the pole, I tied ribbon around the necks of each of Bella's stuffed animal friends. So, now we had a pole with hooks all over it hanging from our ceiling. ;-)


After that, I hung each of the stuffed animals from the ribbon, with the smallest ones on top and the largest ones on the bottom on the "tree."


Now Bella can actually see her stuffed animals (they were previously piled in a giant heap on a coffee table in her room), and each day she requests different ones to play with. She loves her stuffed animal tree!

Pros:

*Her stuffed animals take up almost no space in her room now and freed up lots of previously wasted space (I'm going to sell the aforementioned coffee table)
*She can see all of her stuffed animals at a glance.
*It is so darn cute, like a stuffed animal store display!
*It only cost $10 to make and was accomplished in one morning.

Cons:

*I have to get the stuffed animals off for her (until she learns to do it).
*I have to stand on a chair to reach the animals at the top of the tree.
*There might be safety concerns to consider if your child would think it fun to climb the animal tree. (If this was the case, you could solve the issue by using a pole that doesn't hang down as low so the child cannot reach it.)

Posing for mommy.
(Ignore the framed poster on the floor that I've been "in the process of rehanging" for the past week. Hmm...better get on that!)

Choosing the fluffy friends she wanted to play with this morning.

Beef Broccoli Pie

In my parent's house, if the children were voting on the dinner menu for the night, my sister and I would probably ask for Beef Broccoli Pie. I just made some last week and it is also a hit with my husband. It may not be the most nutritious entree in the world (read: lots of beef and cheese), but man is it tasty! And it is a great way to get some broccoli into your diet. If you want, you can even use less beef and more broccoli for a more lean pie. All I have to say is yum yum yum! Enjoy. :-)


Beef Broccoli Pie

Ingredients:

1 lb. ground beef
1 – 10 oz. package frozen broccoli (or equivalent of fresh!)
1/4 c. chopped onions
1 1/4 c. milk
3 oz. cream cheese, softened
2 T. flour
3/4 t. salt
1/4 t. garlic salt
1 egg, beaten
6 or more slices of cheddar cheese
2 - pre-made pie crusts (or make your own)

Instructions:

Steam broccoli and set aside.

Brown ground beef with onions and drain.
Stir milk, cream cheese, flour, salt and garlic salt into the ground beef/onion mixture. Cook and stir until smooth and bubbly. Stir one cup of the meat mixture into beaten egg and then return to skillet. Stir until thickened, 1 – 2 minutes of medium heat. Stir in the steamed broccoli and set aside. Prepare crust in the pie pan, and pour filling on top. Then place slices of cheddar cheese on top of the filling and arrange the top pie crust, pinching the edges together with bottom crust. Brush top of pie crust with milk.

Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 40 – 45 minutes. Cover the edges w/ foil for the last 20 minutes if it is browning too quickly.

Cool for ten minutes and serve!

Tutorial: Sew Your Own Nursing Cover

If you're like me, you hate spending $30 - $40 on a nicely hemmed piece of fabric that hangs around your neck for nursing coverage in public places, even though those contraptions are handy! And if you're like me, your super sweet sister-in-law already bought you one once upon a time and your also super sweet first child was such a spitter that it was constantly in the wash so you'd really like a nice backup nursing cover. Well, I made a back up over a year ago, and to put it bluntly, it was a sad attempt. Since then, through a bit of trial and error and later making a few nursing covers as gifts, I have nearly perfected my technique at sewing an imitation "Bebe au Lait/Hooter Hiders" brand nursing cover. I love their nursing covers to pieces but the frugal voice in my head says, "Don't buy what you can make!" So make your own version for $10 or less, using these picture heavy instructions.

Materials:

One yard of lightweight fabric, preferably 100% cotton. This time I used a nice quilter's fabric. In the past I have loved working with lightweight corduroy , but I couldn't find any patterns I liked in the corduroy this time. Just be careful that your fabric is not so lightweight that it is slightly see-through or won't drape nicely.


1/2 yard of boning, 1/2" wide. I really like this thinner stuff (vs. the fabric covered boning) because it holds it's shape well, but is still thin enough you can sew through it without breaking your needle. Below is a closeup picture of the boning so you can really see what it looks like:




Two D-rings, size 1"

Step 1:

Lay your fabric out on a flat surface, measure and cut as shown in the photo below.


Step 2:

Cut 10" off of the strap piece, so that you are left with 2 strap pieces, one 10" x 4 1/2" and the other 26" x 4 1/2".

Step 3:

For each piece, fold right sides together so that the width becomes 2 1/4".


Step 4:

For both strap pieces, sew along the outer edge, leaving about a 1/4" seam, but for the longer (26") strap, sew a diagonal line from the seam to the end for the last 8" or so. This is to make the end of the strap taper.



Step 5:

Trim off excess fabric. Then turn right side out, and press.


Step 6:

Top stitch along the edges of the pressed straps. It allows the the straps to continue to lay nicely even after many washes, and I think top stitching looks professional. For the straps, I do my top stitch about 1/4" in. You can sew yours closer to the edge if you'd like. It's really a preference thing. (Note, with the exception of the tapered end of the long strap, I leave my ends "unfinished." This is optional. You may like to finish your edges.) Set aside.

Step 7:

Take the "body" piece of fabric. Choose which side is top and which is the bottom based on your fabric pattern. The finished nursing cover will be a rectangular shape, wider than it is tall. Got that? The 36" side is the width, the 30" side is the length. This is so that the nursing cover will be wide enough to wrap around you and baby without anything peeking out the sides. ;-) (My measurements are little more generous than the Bebe au Lait covers for that very reason.)

Step 8:

For the top and bottom, "Roll" your hems in toward the "wrong" side of the fabric and press. I do this by folding the hem in about 3/4" of an inch, ironing it in place, folding it a second time, and ironing. This will give you a beautiful, crisp looking hem so even the backside of the cover will look nice. We will roll and press the side hems later after we have stitched the top and bottom hems. ***Important Note: Do not make your hem any smaller than 3/4" for the TOP of the nursing covers because you will need it to be wide enough to slide the boning into place later on.


Step 9:

Take a lighter and melt the corners of your boning on both sides. The reason for this is, depending on the type and weight of fabric you choose, the pointed corners of the boning could eventually wear through the fabric after excessive washes if we don't round them out. Don't light yours on fire like I did to mine. ;-) (See that charred edge? It won't hurt anything.)


Step 10:

Take your boning and center it on top of the pressed hem so that you can mark the hem where the boning starts and stops. These markings will be where we sew in the straps.

Step 11:

Stitch along the rolled, pressed hem on the inside edge, as close to the edge as you can. Remember, you need to make sure there will be room to slide the boning in, so if you don't feel comfortable sewing right on the edge, you will want to make your hem a little wider than 3/4". You can "eye it" too buy looking at your hem and the width of your boning. As you can probably tell, I like to "eye it" and I don't like to use pins unless absolutely necessary. Lazy, eh? ;-)


Step 12:

When you get close to your first marking from Step 10, slide an unfinished end of the short (10") strap underneath the unsewn hem. Make sure it doesn't shift, if you hate to use pins like I do. Or just pin it. :-D


Step 13:

Continue to sew along the inside edge of the hem as you did before, and sew right over the top of your strap. You're securing the strap into place. This is what it will look like after you have sewn over it. Yes, the strap is pointing toward the bottom of the nursing cover.


Step 14:

Repeat steps 12 and 13 for the long (26") strap and finish stitching all along the hem until you reach the end.

Step 15:

Go back to the beginning of the hem you just stitched and position your needle so that you can sew along the outside edge of the same hem. Again, sew as close to the edge as you can. This time, when you come to the sewn-on strap, flip the strap forward, and sew over the top of both the strap and the hem. This will put the straps in the correct position for use! We're getting close. :-)


Step 16:

Remember how I didn't finish the ends of my straps? Well here I decided I wanted to finish the exposed end of the short strap. I just folded in the corners, and then the end and stitched over the top of it. (Sorry the pic of that is really blurry.)


This is what the front side of that finished end looks like now (before I trimmed up my threads):


Step 17:

Slip the D-rings onto the middle of short trap.


Then fold the newly finished edge of the strap down to the backside of the nursing cover so that the edge lines up with the bottom of your hem. Stitch it into place, sewing over your stitches from before.

Step 18:

Sew the D-rings into place so they don't slide around the strap. Do this by sewing in a straight line about a half inch below the rings.


Step 19:

Now slide the boning into your top hem until it is positioned in the middle of the two straps.


Make sure you have the boning turned properly when you insert it so that it bows outward from the body as shown below:


Step 20:

Once the boning is in place, sew right over the top of it, the full width of the boning on each end. This will prevent the boning from slipping or twisting inside the hem over time. This step is especially important if your hem is more roomy than my 3/4" hem.


Step 21:

Sew the bottom hem of the nursing cover just as you did the top. However, for the bottom hem (and the sides hems) you only need to sew as indicated in Step 11 - no need for sewing both sides of the them unless you just want to. I think it looks nice on the top hem with the boning in it and all.

Step 22:

Roll and press your seams to make hems for both sides. Sew hems as before.

Step 23:

Thread the long strap through the D-rings on the short strap and pull tight.

Step 24:

Try it on to make sure it's adjusted comfortably for you.

Step 25:

Nurse that baby in public!

Notice the different ways the nursing cover can be worn in the below photos. Some people prefer to wear it "apron style" with the boning opening up the top so you can peek at your babe, and the sides sort of tucked under your arms:


Some prefer to wear it "shawl style" with one shoulder exposed and the boning pulled flat against you. This option is part of why I made my pattern as wide as I did. With my Bebe au Lait cover, I can't comfortably wear it this way - it would fall off my shoulders. Look at how well this one drapes around my shoulers in these pictures though:



And please excuse my mediocre "point and shoot" photography for this turtorial, especially the awful self portraits. I was being quiet serious earlier in this post when I said that sometimes I'm a lazy crafter. How else can I get these things accomplished during one daily naptime!? :-)

Let me know if you try it!