Why it's taken me an hour to type a post title...

I sat down to type a 'quick' blog post...an hour ago.  This is how far I've gotten.  Right here.
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Between nursing the noob - who is now in her bouncy seat next to me, wildly kicking one leg, sucking her thumb, and generally happy for no reason. :) Getting a glass of water, forgetting said water, starting some laundry, doing a sink full of dishes, and kicking neighborhood kids out 50x (I'm only slightly exaggerating).  Sat down at the computer about 10 times between all of that, and SOMEHOW didn't get very far.  *sigh*


So...here we go!

Callie is almost 5 months old.  five. FIIIVVVVEEE.  I know babies grow up fast, but she's really pushin' it.  Yer killin' me smallz.

 

 Lilly is crazy as ever.  Busy being busy, starting to talk more finally, and generally wearing me out from her antics. ;) 

 

Zach's finally getting teeth back where they'd fallen out, which is good because I was starting to be concerned about his tooth to gums ratio. (there was another lost a couple days after this)

 

And now I've been interrupted so many times, I can't even remember what my original blog post was...

 

I did manage to bust out my serger, THREAD my serger, (thread my serger AGAIN, because for whatever reason, it doesn't work unless I do it in the right order?  Maybe?  I don't know if that's it exactly, but it worked!) and make some baby wipes. Out of flannel that I've had for AT LEAST two years.  Mhmm, cuz I'm that awesome.  Or a procrastinator.  Or a hoarder.  Ok, not a hoarder, our cat is alive.  (ooohhhh, but you know it's true)

I ran to the fabric store today to get terry cloth to make kitchen towels.  And when I say "I", what I mean is "me + 3 kids".  I started with noob in the Ergo (do you have an Ergo? You should get an Ergo.  They're expensive, I know, but if you have more than zero children, you should get one.  Heck, if you're a hoarder with a cat, get one.  I'm not judging.) Lilly in the umbrella stroller, and Zach on his own two feet.  We did ok the first 5 or so minutes.  *I* didn't even wander aimlessly, as I'm prone at a fabric store.  Then I reached up to touch some fabric (as...I'm prone..) and somehow..?... the bolt tipped over, right onto Callie's poor noggin. 

Crappy mom  of the year folks!  Right here!

So, luckily it was light, and really wouldn't have hurt her, aside from the edge of the cardboard caught just right and gave her a tiny scrape.   and she screamed bloody murder :(  I can't blame her, with all of Lilly's "affection" at home, she's managed to come out unscathed, and just chillin at Joann's and gets biffed by some cardboard.  (she's totally and completely fine by the way!) 

While I consoled her (read: nursed in the ergo), Lilly realized she wasn't ACTUALLY buckled into the stroller (rookie mistake) and got out.  But I thought...well, let's try it.  She's been SLIGHTLY better about not bolting every chance she gets.  And she did really well for a few minutes, we walked around and looked at fabrics, she was charming and docile.  And then...she must have sensed that I'd relaxed a bit...and started squealing and dancing/running/giggling away.  Not exactly a streak mind you, but going for it none the less. 

I did coax her back to walking with me...kinda...we found our terry cloth, and after a friendly scolding (?) from the lady at the cutting counter, for her not to sit in the bottom shelf (she was going night-night on some squishy material) grabbed what I wanted, got it cut, and left.

So now that I got interrupted again just there...one neighbor boy threw a dead bird at his brother, who went to tell on him (seems appropriate) told Zach and bird-thrower to go wash their hands NOW.  I'll just end it and try to salvage 10 minutes of quiet before Lilly wakes up and/or they come in AGAIN.

Hopefully next time I'll have pictures of finished projects. OR...me, on my first day at the funny farm!  it's 50/50.  place your bets now!





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.....my front door just opened.  I think we know where I'm headed.

Recipe Success!

Love when that happens, as more often than not...it doesn't. (user error, usually)

A few days ago I came across this: "Cheesy" chickpea quinoa and spinach

So I thought "that looks good!" and pinned it on Pinterest. (where recipes go to die)  but no!  I actually MADE this one!  I'm officially no longer a Pinterest recipe poser.  ;)

I did tweak our version due to..well...I forgot some stuff at the store.  Happens.  A lot.  But mine did end up looking like this: (crappy cell phone picture mind you)
 

 

When my husband saw the recipe, I think he started planning what cereal he'd eat after dinner to replace the dinner he was going to fake eating.  But, he's a trooper so he feigned interest, and even threw out a "looks good" when it was time to eat. 

I'll have you know this got the ever coveted "This is actaully pretty good!" award from Eddie Cupp.  From the guy who'd rather eat ding dongs, bacon and mountain dew, this is high praise!

I did "double" the recipe, and used 5 cups of water + 3 chicken boullion cubes because I'd forgotten vegetable broth.  No onion so I threw in a tsp? of onion powder, a tsp of oregano, a bit of garlic salt, and some spanish paprika because...well I don't like chili powder and it was red.  I know. Weird. But it worked!

I DID manage to get the nutritional yeast, and by golly, it DOES taste kinda cheesy!  I'm impressed.

Of course Zach wasn't a fan of the cooked spinach (just FYI...there is a very fine line between "wilted" and "cooked" I perhaps crossed that line) but I convinced him to take a bite of spinach with the chickpeas/quinoa and he wouldn't taste it.  It worked, amazingly.  

A recipe that is HEALTHY and got a thumbs up from a junk food junkie and 2 kids?  Wonderful! :)

I should probably proof-read this post before I hit 'publish' but wee babe is screaming with dad, so here it is suckers!  Grammar errors and all! (let's face it, I have grammar errors even when I proof-read!)  Go make this! Now!

...ok tomorrow.

Our Gluten-Free Trial

And a trial by fire of sorts.  Long story, involving...well...poop.  But we're trying Lilly (2) on a gluten-free diet for a couple of weeks.  There have been too many conversations in our house as of late about diapers, and realizing it's been MONTHS now, and after calling her dr. and getting IT tested (look ma! no parasites!) I resorted to my ever trusty resource...GOOGLE!  God Bless the interwebs. =P

Essentially, I found nothing "scientific", but did find a handful of message board posts from moms with toddlers with the exact same situation, almost word for word what I'd googled.  Almost all of them...ended up being gluten/wheat related. (a couple were dairy)  Technically, I don't buy into the whole gluten free craze going on right now.  I think it's a marketing gimmick that people have bought into.  I *do* think there could be something to it, that benefits people. But I'm not convinced it's GLUTEN.  Wheat, processing of wheat, GMO crops, the pesticides used on wheat crops?  I dunno, that's my two-bit theory.  But I'm willing to give it a shot, WHATEVER the direct cause might be. 

So will it help?  Who knows, but it can't hurt to try.  Especially when I find recipes like this: Cinnamon Apple Quinoa Parfait  
(minus the oat crumble) thank you pinterest!

...I know, right?

So on that note, if you happen to have any gluten-free recipes that you really like, send 'em my way! 

I'll keep you updated on if it works...without details ;)

I'm Back! ...Again. ...I think.

Oh, hey, hi there!  How's it going?  Kids are in college now?  That long? wow!

Ok, so I'm back, I hope!  I actually got the *most* AWESOME comment in my email today, (here) and it was the best kind of random.  So much so that I checked my statcounter out of curiosity to see where it came from.  In doing that, I saw that my tutorial has been posted "all over" the internet.  And by "all over" I mean "like, 3 or 4 places"  which is A LOT if you're me.  And on pinterest!  #nerdyhappydance 

 I also saw there are a lot of comments I never saw.  Apparently, my email only alerts me to the viagra, porn offers, and foreign language jumbles comments.  ::thumbs up::  So THANK you! to anyone who commented and enjoyed that post!  Had I known, I'd have responded! ;)

At any rate, all of that, along with cleaning up all the viagra links, made me realize HOW. LONG. it's been since old bloggy and I have had a chance to sit down and insult America via my crafting.  (That won't make sense if you didn't follow that link and read the crazy.)  So I fully intend to get back to it, post every week or so, hopefully make something here and there, and quite possibly, be presumptuous whilst doing it! woohoo! :)

I say "I hope" because since we talked last, I made another one of THESE:

husband giving her a once over, approves.

<3

Callista Rose 9lbs3oz (I don't mess around. Deliciously chubby babies are my thang.)  She's two weeks old now, and just woke up FURIOUS that no one is feeding her (as happens when you're 10lbs) So I'm off to do that.  More later!