Book Recommendations

Sophie book recommendations:

One for her health. We try to keep very healthy foods in the house but I know we could be better. I love Dr. Sears and this book: Healthiest Kid in the Neighborhood is great. It's about family health and eating habits.

Current favorite library books:

Armadillo Rodeo. Cute story about an armadillo who can't see very well. He thinks a pair of red cowboy boots is another armadillo.

Mrs. McNosh and the Great Big Squash. A lot of fun to read. I like this one better than "Oh My Gosh, Mrs. McNosh".

We're also reading the Why Should I? series of books. We've read about recycling, saving water, saving energy, and protecting nature.

This one is also fun: Excuse Me!. A book on manners.

And, last but not least, I read somewhere that it was impossible to read this book without yawning. So far, that statement is 100% true. A great bedtime book: The Sleep Book, by Dr. Suess. Of course.

The Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie

Apparently, you should let cookie dough rest for 36 hours before baking. Who knew?!

The perfect chocolate chip cookie.

From Orangette:

What I will say about it, however, is that it adds up to a very fine, very fetching cookie. In fact, it is, without a doubt, the best chocolate chip cookie that I have ever made at home. It is also the best chocolate chip cookie that I have ever eaten. It scares me a little to make such a bold statement, but I have decided to do it anyway.

I wonder if the same applies to peanut butter cookie dough.

Wardrobe Refashion - more toddler pants

One more pair of toddler pants. This week I have to make presents for my nephew's birthday party, so clothing refashioning is on hold.

In the meantime, here is another quick pair of easy kid's pants. Made from a striped polo shirt of mine that I never wore once my husband told me I looked like Waldo (from Where's Waldo...).

So, pants it became.

From these easy pants instructions.

Sophie wouldn't let me take a photo of her wearing them. Trust me when I tell you they looked very cute on her. I love the slightly cropped length with little kid sandals. Adorable.

Up next: Drape-neck blouse. Just need to find the perfect fabric in my closet for this.

Ooh, and this valance top for Sophie. Just have to find an old valance curtain...

Aspirin Mask - Recession-proof Beauty

Recipe for an aspirin mask - good for exfoliating and for acne.

Recipe Links

Polenta Pudding with Blueberry Topping

Peanut Butter Balls - yummy and healthy. Hmm. I navigated away from the recipe and now have to find the site again.

From memory: one cup peanut butter, one cup honey, two cups powdered milk, one cup toasted wheat germ. Combine peanut butter, honey and milk. Shape into little balls and then roll in wheat germ. Refrigerate or freeze.

Summertime Gazpacho

Long list of food links (to read through later)

Healthy Toddler Snacks

20 Cheap, Healthy recipes made from pantry staples.

6 simple diy freezer treats

And a book to check out at some point: "The Toddler Café"

One more: Chocolate Sorbet. Yum.

Feist on Sesame Street

This put a smile on my face this morning.

(link via best week ever)

Cut 9 years off your mortgage

Or more, depending on how much you pay. Instead of sending in monthly payments, send in bi-weekly payments. You are paying the same total amount, just in two parts. You start paying down the interest faster and it doesn't cost you any more than you're already paying.

I'm definitely going to start doing this with our payments.

Wow - the girl who silenced the UN

(via Crooks and Liars)

Powerful speech by a 12-year-old at the UN.

Chore Idea for Kids

I love this idea of labeling popsicle sticks with chores.

Each girlie has their own jar and their own color they picked. Next we colored with a marker one end of a popsicle stick. On the other side we wrote a "to do" that the girls need to complete before they can be able to go play outside, jump on the computer or hang with friends. After they complete a job they can flip the popsicle stick over. As soon as they are done and all the sticks are flipped over then they can play, go outside or whatever.

This would work for me, too.

First Wardrobe Refashioning

Yoga Pants!

I cut up Aaron's old turtleneck that I hated. He looked ridiculous in it. Sorry, Sweetie, but you did. You know it.

I had issues with the waistband and ripped out the seam a couple of times.

I cut the arms off the Yankees shirt I was using for Sophie's pants because I needed the hem for the top of the waistband.

And then I tried them on inside out to adjust the fit. Here's are the side adjustment lines. They are still a little loose so I might take them in a bit more now that I've been wearing them.

All in all, definitely something I'd do again.

As for the Snopherdoodle's pants, I took a capri-length pair of pants and used them as the pattern.

I wasn't concentrating when I started sewing the sides and crotch up and I had to rip out yet more seams. Ripping seams is my least favorite thing to do.

She was already asleep when I finished, so I'll have to get a photo of her wearing them tomorrow.

Imagine them on a cute little wiggly girl.

Yoga Pants from T-shirt

I'm going to attempt these yoga pants tonight.

And these easy kids pants, if I can get Sophie to sleep at a decent time. She's had a rough few days with heat and humidity. Actually, last night she fell asleep early because we finally hooked up the A/C (by running an extension cord from the bathroom to our room...)

Crafty and Recipe Links

Stubby Pencil Studio (via angry chicken)

Also from angry chicken: Recipe Cheat Sheet. So helpful.

And also this: Rhubarb Hand Pie. Yum.

How cute would these polka dot curtains look in Sophie's "new" room? And they're called "Sophie". Too bad I can't see spending almost $180 to buy four panels and two curtain rods. Ah well. Maybe I can make something similar?

Added: DIY floating bookshelf. So I can find it later.

Wardrobe Refashion Pledge

I'm a bit late to posting this on my site, but I signed up for 2 months of Wardrobe Refashioning.

As such, here is my pledge:

I pledge that I shall abstain from the purchase of "new" manufactured items of clothing, for the period of 2 months. I pledge that I shall refashion, renovate, recycle pre-loved items for myself with my own hands in fabric, yarn or other medium for the term of my contract. I pledge that I will share the love and post a photo of my refashioned, renovated, recycled, crafted or created item of clothing on the Wardrobe Refashion blog, so that others may share the joy that thy thriftiness brings! Signed, Erika.

(confession: I *did* buy a pair of pants for Aaron this weekend at Old Navy. But they were 50% off and I had a gift card. So, does that count as "buying"?)

I'm thinking I'm going to make some more pants/shorts for Sophie for the summer. And maybe look into fixing up some shirts for me.

I'd also like to try and make Sophie a pillowcase dress that I keep seeing all over the internets.

Painting Weekend

This was the long-awaited painting weekend. The previous owners of this house had painted their office a dark burgundy. That room ended up being Sophie's room and it wasn't the best color for a little girl:

So, I've been planning on painting it since we moved in but it is such an undertaking that we kept putting if off. Lots of excuses - can't do it in the winter, it's too cold and we'll want the windows open, can't do it this weekend, ugh, not today, and etc.

This weekend, however, worked out great. Our daycare has been on vacation since Wednesday and both Aaron and I had Friday off. Lots of prep-work later and I painted the walls today.

Oh, and also, Aaron's sister and family are coming to visit in August and this was the only long weekend before their visit.

I used Benjamin Moore's Eco-Spec paint in "seaside blue" (2054-50). It's low-VOC and low odor. Not the perfect "green" paint, but the best I could find around here. If I had planned better, I would have bought a gallon of Mythic Paint online but I kept thinking I could find it around here. Nope. However, I'm very pleased with the Benjamin Moore paint. To cover that burgundy it took ONE coat with a little bit of touch-up rolling after everything dried. Thank goodness because I was really sick of painting by the end. I can see why people hire painters. With tools, etc., it cost me about $60 to paint the room.

I'm so, so happy with it. Sophie came in (she played with Aaron downstairs all day) before her nap and said: 'WOW! It's so pretty!"

It really does look pretty. Bright and cheerful. Her room lights up the end of a now-dreary hallway.

We just need to paint the trim tomorrow (old houses and lots of molding...) and I hit the ceiling by accident a couple of times. So we need to find the ceiling paint to touch that up as well.

Aaron's really annoyed by all of this, by the way. He hates the clutter of moving everything out of Sophie's room. His nose was probably broken at Judo Thursday night so he's sore and grumpy and, thus, doesn't have the patience to watch Sophie for hours on end. He's starting to get two black eyes and his nose is more swollen now than it was yesterday.

He does like the color, but the journey was rough.

Anyhoo, I'm happy, Sophie's happy, and Aaron will be happy when everything is back in its place.

Crafting Links

How to submit to craft magazines

Etsy how-to month!

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.