My new blog address is
www.amyfortherestblog.blogspot.ca.
I know. Original. Come read me.
- Amy
Wednesday, December 26, 2012
Sunday, December 9, 2012
New Blog
Hello, faithful readers. Plans are in the works to switch my blogging platform to something other than Blogger. Please stay posted and I will let you know the new address shortly.
All the best,
Amy
Thursday, December 6, 2012
In which I wish I was a Fashion Blogger
There is a teeny piece of me that wishes I were a fashion blogger.
Says the girl currently wearing a nursing shirt with a hole in it and a pair of her husband's socks.
But whatevs.
It's just that I find myself wandering around the internet when David is at work, staring at these wonderful, cute outfits other people just throw together and thinking "wow. I could never do that. Never." It just wouldn't occur to me to mix those things together. Even when I'm doing my absolute best, I look neat and tidy and clean and put together, but not, you know, fashionable per se.
We brought home our new camera today!! Yay!! So far I have opened the box, wrestled it away from the toddler, figured out how to charge the battery and taken one picture; I have yet to figure out how to hook it up to my computer so be patient, pictures are coming.
Samuel is obsessed with the $2 pack of small, green soldiers that David brought back from the dollar store the other day. Seriously obsessed. He wants to 'play soldiers' all the time now; in fact it's overthrown cutting up paper with scissors, playing 'post office' and 'cooking' on the Cool Things To Play chart. The only thing better is cooking in the kitchen with mama and real food.
But is anyone else completely grossed out by toddler hands? Eww. Who knows what they've touched? And why oh why can you never completely get their nails clean? Really, children are disgusting creatures.
We have company coming over for supper on Saturday. Which means that there will be TEN people in this house eating supper! I've never cooked for this large of a crowd before, but I am notorious for making too much food so I think I'll be alright. After a lot of to-ing and fro-ing in my mind, I decided that we're going to have a baked ham, steamed peas and homemade mac 'n cheese. I'm really looking forward to hosting a crowd; one of the main reasons I agreed to the recent move is because a larger house means more opportunities for hospitality.
And speaking of food, I broke out the B@by Bullet today and made several trays of purees for Clara, the ravenous child-wolf that she is. Sweet potato and Honeycrisp apple, sweet potato and carrot, apple and pear, summer squash and tilapia and peas. A friend on FB asked me if I blended the tilapia, and yes, yes I did. I blended everything. In fact, I should have added even more liquid to the carrots because the puree was a bit too thick for Clara Bear. I also put a bit of olive oil in with the sweet potato and carrot, because I thought it might help boost some healthy fats in the drying winter months, but I think I'll skip that next time; it was quite olive oily.
I also tried the grain mill portion of the BB and made some organic brown rice cereal. We'll try that for breakfast tomorrow, shall we, Clara?
Terribly enough, today was Saint Nicholas' Day, and we forgot to give Samuel his gift. So we'll do that tomorrow. And hey! We can take pictures of it now! Yay!
Says the girl currently wearing a nursing shirt with a hole in it and a pair of her husband's socks.
But whatevs.
It's just that I find myself wandering around the internet when David is at work, staring at these wonderful, cute outfits other people just throw together and thinking "wow. I could never do that. Never." It just wouldn't occur to me to mix those things together. Even when I'm doing my absolute best, I look neat and tidy and clean and put together, but not, you know, fashionable per se.
We brought home our new camera today!! Yay!! So far I have opened the box, wrestled it away from the toddler, figured out how to charge the battery and taken one picture; I have yet to figure out how to hook it up to my computer so be patient, pictures are coming.
Samuel is obsessed with the $2 pack of small, green soldiers that David brought back from the dollar store the other day. Seriously obsessed. He wants to 'play soldiers' all the time now; in fact it's overthrown cutting up paper with scissors, playing 'post office' and 'cooking' on the Cool Things To Play chart. The only thing better is cooking in the kitchen with mama and real food.
But is anyone else completely grossed out by toddler hands? Eww. Who knows what they've touched? And why oh why can you never completely get their nails clean? Really, children are disgusting creatures.
We have company coming over for supper on Saturday. Which means that there will be TEN people in this house eating supper! I've never cooked for this large of a crowd before, but I am notorious for making too much food so I think I'll be alright. After a lot of to-ing and fro-ing in my mind, I decided that we're going to have a baked ham, steamed peas and homemade mac 'n cheese. I'm really looking forward to hosting a crowd; one of the main reasons I agreed to the recent move is because a larger house means more opportunities for hospitality.
And speaking of food, I broke out the B@by Bullet today and made several trays of purees for Clara, the ravenous child-wolf that she is. Sweet potato and Honeycrisp apple, sweet potato and carrot, apple and pear, summer squash and tilapia and peas. A friend on FB asked me if I blended the tilapia, and yes, yes I did. I blended everything. In fact, I should have added even more liquid to the carrots because the puree was a bit too thick for Clara Bear. I also put a bit of olive oil in with the sweet potato and carrot, because I thought it might help boost some healthy fats in the drying winter months, but I think I'll skip that next time; it was quite olive oily.
I also tried the grain mill portion of the BB and made some organic brown rice cereal. We'll try that for breakfast tomorrow, shall we, Clara?
Terribly enough, today was Saint Nicholas' Day, and we forgot to give Samuel his gift. So we'll do that tomorrow. And hey! We can take pictures of it now! Yay!
Wednesday, December 5, 2012
How to use cloth diapers when your budget is tight.
I love to sing the praises of cloth diapers, because they are truly not difficult to use and significantly less disgusting than people think they'll be. I mean, you have to look at poop, yes, but you have to do that with disposables, too. And honestly, I'm much more grossed out by the thought of a poopy disposable diaper sitting in my HOUSE for a WEEK until garbage day than I ever am about dealing with a cloth diaper 5 seconds after the poop has arrived.
But there is one area of cloth diapering that I can completely sympathize with naysayers about, and that's the cost. Cloth diapers can be expensive if you let them take over your life and become a hobby of sorts. But that being said I've come up with a few tricks on how to get them to work for you no matter what your budget is.
1) Buy used.
Many of my diapers are second hand, and provided they were taken care of well by the previous owner, you can save a substantial amount buying used. Before my second baby was born I bought 19 fitted diapers and a cover off a local buy 'n sell site for only $50. This could, with a few small additions, diaper a child until about 6 months if you were willing to do some laundry every day. You can regularly find diaper covers for as little as $8 second hand.
2) Buy on sale.
Keep your eyes open for discontinued colours, 'seconds' (slightly imperfect diapers), last season's prints, businesses going out of sale, etc. I got an AMP and an Applecheeks cover brand new for $10 each at a store closing sale and they retail for twice that.
3) Check thrift stores.
We recently found a pack of 5 Kushies fitted diapers and a cover for $4 at a local thrift store. Kushies isn't a great brand, but the diapers fit Clara and we use them around the house quite a bit.
4) Borrow from friends.
I must have close to ten borrowed wool covers in my house right now. Cloth diapering friends who aren't using a certain size you need, or who are out of the cloth diaper phase but don't want to get rid of their diapers yet are great resources.
5) Think outside the box.
I have over a dozen microfibre inserts that are homemade out of microfibre towels. And over a dozen flat diapers that are repurposed from receiving blankets and large kitchen cloths. They all work fine.
6) Ask for diapers as gifts.
Diapers are the perfect gift, and everyone loves to give something practical. If you have your heart set on a few expensive diapers, this is the option. A large percentage of my diapers are gift diapers. I also have used birthday money given to my children to purchase them diaper supplies.
7) Use 'online money' and look online.
Swagbucks works for Amazon, I believe, and Amazon will carry cloth diapers. Take a look at other online currencies and see if you can use them to purchase some of what you need.
8) Enter contests
You would not believe how many cloth diaper companies give diapers to bloggers who then hold a contest to see who gets them. Enter these contests! I have friends who have gotten diapers this way, although I haven't.
9) Make your own.
There are some serious patterns out there, for free, just for the looking. Some of them look complicated but some are actually pretty simple and don't seem to require much in the way of crazy materials.
10) Contact a cloth diaper charity.
If you cannot afford to cloth diaper in any way, but really want to, there are organizations out there that provide cloth diapers to low income families.
11) Barter.
There are hundreds of WAHM (work at home moms) making cloth diapers and accessories and selling them. Try bartering with something you have that they would like in exchange for diapers.
1) Your baby will grow out of sized diapers, which means you'll need to buy more covers. However, some people say they get a better fit with a sized diaper cover than one that's meant to adjust to multiple sizes. Personally, I'd buy one-size diapers.
2) The more high-tech the diaper, the more it will cost and the harder it will be to wash and dry. An expensive all-in-one diaper may run you, say, $30, and will be good for ONE diaper change before needing to be laundered. Diapers with multiple layers can take a long time to dry, as well. We have a decent dryer these days, but in the past I would have to dry some diapers up to 90 minutes. This completely gets rid of your savings. On the other hand, a simple insert or flat diaper system will wash thoroughly, dry quickly and cost less to buy in the first place.
3) Like anything in this world, the more work you're willing to do yourself, the cheaper the project becomes. You can diaper a child with two covers and twelve diapers if you have to, but you'd have to wash everyday. You can use a wool cover for ages, but when laundry time comes, you need to wash it by hand. How far are you willing and able to go?
But there is one area of cloth diapering that I can completely sympathize with naysayers about, and that's the cost. Cloth diapers can be expensive if you let them take over your life and become a hobby of sorts. But that being said I've come up with a few tricks on how to get them to work for you no matter what your budget is.
1) Buy used.
Many of my diapers are second hand, and provided they were taken care of well by the previous owner, you can save a substantial amount buying used. Before my second baby was born I bought 19 fitted diapers and a cover off a local buy 'n sell site for only $50. This could, with a few small additions, diaper a child until about 6 months if you were willing to do some laundry every day. You can regularly find diaper covers for as little as $8 second hand.
2) Buy on sale.
Keep your eyes open for discontinued colours, 'seconds' (slightly imperfect diapers), last season's prints, businesses going out of sale, etc. I got an AMP and an Applecheeks cover brand new for $10 each at a store closing sale and they retail for twice that.
3) Check thrift stores.
We recently found a pack of 5 Kushies fitted diapers and a cover for $4 at a local thrift store. Kushies isn't a great brand, but the diapers fit Clara and we use them around the house quite a bit.
4) Borrow from friends.
I must have close to ten borrowed wool covers in my house right now. Cloth diapering friends who aren't using a certain size you need, or who are out of the cloth diaper phase but don't want to get rid of their diapers yet are great resources.
5) Think outside the box.
I have over a dozen microfibre inserts that are homemade out of microfibre towels. And over a dozen flat diapers that are repurposed from receiving blankets and large kitchen cloths. They all work fine.
6) Ask for diapers as gifts.
Diapers are the perfect gift, and everyone loves to give something practical. If you have your heart set on a few expensive diapers, this is the option. A large percentage of my diapers are gift diapers. I also have used birthday money given to my children to purchase them diaper supplies.
7) Use 'online money' and look online.
Swagbucks works for Amazon, I believe, and Amazon will carry cloth diapers. Take a look at other online currencies and see if you can use them to purchase some of what you need.
8) Enter contests
You would not believe how many cloth diaper companies give diapers to bloggers who then hold a contest to see who gets them. Enter these contests! I have friends who have gotten diapers this way, although I haven't.
9) Make your own.
There are some serious patterns out there, for free, just for the looking. Some of them look complicated but some are actually pretty simple and don't seem to require much in the way of crazy materials.
10) Contact a cloth diaper charity.
If you cannot afford to cloth diaper in any way, but really want to, there are organizations out there that provide cloth diapers to low income families.
11) Barter.
There are hundreds of WAHM (work at home moms) making cloth diapers and accessories and selling them. Try bartering with something you have that they would like in exchange for diapers.
Finally, once you've started your collection, keep these things in mind:
1) Your baby will grow out of sized diapers, which means you'll need to buy more covers. However, some people say they get a better fit with a sized diaper cover than one that's meant to adjust to multiple sizes. Personally, I'd buy one-size diapers.
2) The more high-tech the diaper, the more it will cost and the harder it will be to wash and dry. An expensive all-in-one diaper may run you, say, $30, and will be good for ONE diaper change before needing to be laundered. Diapers with multiple layers can take a long time to dry, as well. We have a decent dryer these days, but in the past I would have to dry some diapers up to 90 minutes. This completely gets rid of your savings. On the other hand, a simple insert or flat diaper system will wash thoroughly, dry quickly and cost less to buy in the first place.
3) Like anything in this world, the more work you're willing to do yourself, the cheaper the project becomes. You can diaper a child with two covers and twelve diapers if you have to, but you'd have to wash everyday. You can use a wool cover for ages, but when laundry time comes, you need to wash it by hand. How far are you willing and able to go?
Tuesday, December 4, 2012
5 Frugal Ways To Cut Back On Meat Even If You Love It
My husband's perfect meal is steak. Yeah, yeah, maybe something underneath the steak, but the steak is the main meal. But, we live frugally and with four people in the house, those steaks are not going to happen. Because neither of us ever ever wants to be a vegetarian, we eat meat almost every day, but HOW we eat meat has changed. It isn't the 'star of the show' necessarily, but it shows up all the same. And when we do eat a vegetarian main course, I've come up with a couple of great ways to help ease the transition, even for a steak loving husband like mine.
1) Use a little meat and a lot of X
The easiest way to do this is with ground meats, where you can add all sorts of 'other stuff' to the mix. When you make up your taco meat, you can add black beans or rice to stretch it farther. With chili, you can add TVP (textured vegetable protein - a dried soy product that's completely tasteless) that's been rehydrated in beef broth to the pot to stretch out your ground beef. In meatloaf, I add extra vegetables, or oatmeal, another egg, even some spinach.
You can also get your butcher to grind you your meat 'custom'. So, maybe 50% ground beef and 50% ground liver, which is substantially cheaper and higher in iron to boot.
2) Marinate or season in meat flavours.
I always cook my rice and other grains in broth these days, because it adds a meaty sort of flavour. My turkey casserole (which has maybe a cup of turkey in it, total, but can serve 6 people) has a tsp of poultry seasoning mixed in to encourage the tastebuds to think of turkey. Montreal steak spice is another good one to use in meatless dishes. And I always keep a small jar of bacon drippings in my freezer to saute my onions in when making stuffing or fried vegetables.
3) Add a stronger-tasting ingredient.
A strong-tasting ingredient helps mask the fact that meat is absent or only present in very small amounts. I have a great vegetarian lasagna recipe, for example, that uses pureed black beans in place of meat, but honestly you can't tell that the ground beef is missing because of the taste of the beans. Strong tasting vegetables are another good bet here - turnip baked with apples, squash with caramelized cranberry sauce, pasta tossed in melted blue cheese, potato latkes with sour cream and applesauce, french toast soaked in maple syrup and cinnamon sugar, roasted garlic baked potatoes. You get the idea - strong flavours.
4) Use cheese.
If the casserole is meatless, shred cheese on top. Melt cheese into spinach and fold up in phyllo pastry, make a cheese sauce and bake your cauliflower and broccoli in it, sprinkle on breadcrumbs and crisp up the top under the element for a minute. Get that cheese going, because everyone loves cheese.
5) Replicate texture.
I'm thinking portobello mushroom caps in place of burgers, chickpea falafel balls in your sandwiches, that sort of thing. I make a mean meatless stroganoff using button mushrooms and onions.
1) Use a little meat and a lot of X
The easiest way to do this is with ground meats, where you can add all sorts of 'other stuff' to the mix. When you make up your taco meat, you can add black beans or rice to stretch it farther. With chili, you can add TVP (textured vegetable protein - a dried soy product that's completely tasteless) that's been rehydrated in beef broth to the pot to stretch out your ground beef. In meatloaf, I add extra vegetables, or oatmeal, another egg, even some spinach.
You can also get your butcher to grind you your meat 'custom'. So, maybe 50% ground beef and 50% ground liver, which is substantially cheaper and higher in iron to boot.
2) Marinate or season in meat flavours.
I always cook my rice and other grains in broth these days, because it adds a meaty sort of flavour. My turkey casserole (which has maybe a cup of turkey in it, total, but can serve 6 people) has a tsp of poultry seasoning mixed in to encourage the tastebuds to think of turkey. Montreal steak spice is another good one to use in meatless dishes. And I always keep a small jar of bacon drippings in my freezer to saute my onions in when making stuffing or fried vegetables.
3) Add a stronger-tasting ingredient.
A strong-tasting ingredient helps mask the fact that meat is absent or only present in very small amounts. I have a great vegetarian lasagna recipe, for example, that uses pureed black beans in place of meat, but honestly you can't tell that the ground beef is missing because of the taste of the beans. Strong tasting vegetables are another good bet here - turnip baked with apples, squash with caramelized cranberry sauce, pasta tossed in melted blue cheese, potato latkes with sour cream and applesauce, french toast soaked in maple syrup and cinnamon sugar, roasted garlic baked potatoes. You get the idea - strong flavours.
4) Use cheese.
If the casserole is meatless, shred cheese on top. Melt cheese into spinach and fold up in phyllo pastry, make a cheese sauce and bake your cauliflower and broccoli in it, sprinkle on breadcrumbs and crisp up the top under the element for a minute. Get that cheese going, because everyone loves cheese.
5) Replicate texture.
I'm thinking portobello mushroom caps in place of burgers, chickpea falafel balls in your sandwiches, that sort of thing. I make a mean meatless stroganoff using button mushrooms and onions.
Monday, December 3, 2012
Coping
Ana of Time Flies When You're Having Babies wrote this post recently, and not only is it funny and so so so true, but I had several additions of my own.
Things I Do To Make Parenting Young Children Easier on Myself
1) I leave my children with either a sitter or their father for an hour every night I can stand it, and I go for a run with other friends of mine. We shuffle along our regular route and just talk about our lives. I do this (this is the key) even if my screaming, drippy, starving offspring need to be peeled off of my body. Then I come home and resume normal activities.
2) I feed everyone supper at the ungodly hour of 4:30pm. And I put Clara to bed at about 6pm and Samuel to bed at 7:30pm. Yes, this is early. Yes, this means my mornings start early. Yes, very early. But it's worth it to me to have some evening time before I crash from exhaustion.
I also enforce a nap for Samuel. Even if he doesn't sleep, he has to stay in bed for an hour. Quietly.
3) I take advantage of every offer of help in some way. If you offer to help me, I will find something for you to do. If you come over to my house to have a cup of coffee, I will use your presence in the livingroom to go to the bathroom by myself and probably pluck that stray eyebrow hair while I'm in there. And maybe trim my nails. But that's it, I swear.
4) I turn off the television. We don't have cable but the endless loop of children's dvds drive me crazy. Instead I force poor Samuel to play with toys quietly. Toys that don't have batteries.
5) I listen to adult music in the house.
6) If I think that someone is feeling sick, I don't wait 'just to see what happens' but immediately give them a dose of ibuprofen. I also pre-dose before innoculations, even if the child doesn't have a history of getting grouchy or hot afterwards.
7) On days when David works in the evening, I make a very large lunch and reheat it again as supper for the children and myself.
8) I keep several activities at the ready for times when I need Samuel to stop. touching. me. A set of tongs and a glass jar of acorns and an egg carton is one. Sets of markers and paper is another. Playdough, stickers, scissors and origami paper to cut into confetti...
9) I only bathe when David is home to watch the children. And then I lock the bathroom door.
Things I Do To Make Parenting Young Children Easier on Myself
1) I leave my children with either a sitter or their father for an hour every night I can stand it, and I go for a run with other friends of mine. We shuffle along our regular route and just talk about our lives. I do this (this is the key) even if my screaming, drippy, starving offspring need to be peeled off of my body. Then I come home and resume normal activities.
2) I feed everyone supper at the ungodly hour of 4:30pm. And I put Clara to bed at about 6pm and Samuel to bed at 7:30pm. Yes, this is early. Yes, this means my mornings start early. Yes, very early. But it's worth it to me to have some evening time before I crash from exhaustion.
I also enforce a nap for Samuel. Even if he doesn't sleep, he has to stay in bed for an hour. Quietly.
3) I take advantage of every offer of help in some way. If you offer to help me, I will find something for you to do. If you come over to my house to have a cup of coffee, I will use your presence in the livingroom to go to the bathroom by myself and probably pluck that stray eyebrow hair while I'm in there. And maybe trim my nails. But that's it, I swear.
4) I turn off the television. We don't have cable but the endless loop of children's dvds drive me crazy. Instead I force poor Samuel to play with toys quietly. Toys that don't have batteries.
5) I listen to adult music in the house.
6) If I think that someone is feeling sick, I don't wait 'just to see what happens' but immediately give them a dose of ibuprofen. I also pre-dose before innoculations, even if the child doesn't have a history of getting grouchy or hot afterwards.
7) On days when David works in the evening, I make a very large lunch and reheat it again as supper for the children and myself.
8) I keep several activities at the ready for times when I need Samuel to stop. touching. me. A set of tongs and a glass jar of acorns and an egg carton is one. Sets of markers and paper is another. Playdough, stickers, scissors and origami paper to cut into confetti...
9) I only bathe when David is home to watch the children. And then I lock the bathroom door.
Good news!
Well, we bit the bullet and bought another camera. Hurrah! We had a Sears giftcard left over from who knows when sitting in my wallet that we had last pulled out before Clara was born, and so we finished it off and ordered this:
I think. I'm fairly certain it was this one. Really, I'm practically Amish when it comes to these sorts of things and I'm sure salespeople can smell it a mile away.
I remember it wasn't terribly expensive and it came in three colour options and I chose either black or silver. Or something. Maybe there were four colours. Whatever.
Today I begged ten minutes to myself, locked the spare room door and spread out all of the Christmas gifts to organize before wrapping. Which is how I discovered that Clara had one toy and two stocking stuffers, and Samuel had, like, a pile. And one of our fathers had one more gift than the other. And I had something for my brother in law and both nephews but not for my sister in law. This is NOT GOOD. I was so sure I had everything covered but I DIDN'T. ARRRRGGGHHH.
So. New plan. I don't know what I was picturing that I had for Clara but in reality I have a wooden stacking ring toy. I know, I know...but seriously in my head there were more, and I'm just not sure what I was thinking about. But, since Clara is young and not particularly interested in toys anyway, my plan is to keep her one toy, and get some more stocking stuffers for her.
I'm going to ignore the unbalanced fathers, because they'll never compare gifts and will be far away from each other when opening present time comes. And that means I really only need to buy a gift for my sister-in-law.
One gift and some stocking stuffers. Perfectly reasonable.
Anyway, I got all of Sam's gifts wrapped, because he's the one who I'm most concerned about finding his presents before Christmas morning. On Thursday, when all the cards go out, I'm sending out the Christmas gift box as well. I thought I had to send three boxes, but it turns out the one of the gifts can go home with my parents who are coming to visit, and the other two are for David's family members who can all recieve in one box and then divy up the presents. Done.
Next on the list...the tree.
I remember it wasn't terribly expensive and it came in three colour options and I chose either black or silver. Or something. Maybe there were four colours. Whatever.
Today I begged ten minutes to myself, locked the spare room door and spread out all of the Christmas gifts to organize before wrapping. Which is how I discovered that Clara had one toy and two stocking stuffers, and Samuel had, like, a pile. And one of our fathers had one more gift than the other. And I had something for my brother in law and both nephews but not for my sister in law. This is NOT GOOD. I was so sure I had everything covered but I DIDN'T. ARRRRGGGHHH.
So. New plan. I don't know what I was picturing that I had for Clara but in reality I have a wooden stacking ring toy. I know, I know...but seriously in my head there were more, and I'm just not sure what I was thinking about. But, since Clara is young and not particularly interested in toys anyway, my plan is to keep her one toy, and get some more stocking stuffers for her.
I'm going to ignore the unbalanced fathers, because they'll never compare gifts and will be far away from each other when opening present time comes. And that means I really only need to buy a gift for my sister-in-law.
One gift and some stocking stuffers. Perfectly reasonable.
Anyway, I got all of Sam's gifts wrapped, because he's the one who I'm most concerned about finding his presents before Christmas morning. On Thursday, when all the cards go out, I'm sending out the Christmas gift box as well. I thought I had to send three boxes, but it turns out the one of the gifts can go home with my parents who are coming to visit, and the other two are for David's family members who can all recieve in one box and then divy up the presents. Done.
Next on the list...the tree.
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