Things that I have been doing instead of those chores and spending countless amounts of time online: playing with my daughter! It has been such a joy to watch her develop and grow. She is able to actually play and problem solve and interact. It has been my joy to stop everything and smile, giggle and play like a kid with my kid.

I have hundreds of ideas for posts, from recipes to tips to craft projects. But none of them have any importance compared to just being with my daughter. So, I don’t foresee much blogging in my future. I don’t think you’ll mind too much!

p.s. Now I want a Kit Kat!

First of all this stuff is packed with nutrition. It has carbs, protein, monounsaturated fat, polyunsaturated fat, fiber, and omega-3 fatty acids. It also has vitamin B6, vitamin E, folic acid, iron, magnesium, and phosphorus! This stuff is amazing. Out of all of those, the omega-3 fatty acid makes it quite amazing. More and more research is uncovering the amazing effects of omega-3 fatty acid. It has been shown to aid in heart health. The benefits of omega-3 fatty acid are innumerable!

If you eat a whole flax seed, it will come out the other end as a whole flax seed! Leaving you with none of its nutrition! That is why it is important to eat it as a round meal. You can purchase it ground already, or you can save some pennies and grind it yourself in a coffee grinder. To keep all the nutrients in tact store what is not being used in the fridge or freezer, and don’t grind more than you will use in 3 months time.

How should you use it? The possibilities are endless. It is recommended to have 1 to 3 tablespoons a day. The most common uses are to sprinkle it into smoothies or over oatmeal. But it can also be used in baking. It can partially or completely substitute as the fat needed, but extra moisture will need to be added as flax is very absorbent and will dry out your baked goods. I do not have this substitution down to an exact science, I am still experimenting with how much to use in each recipe. I use it often in waffles and muffins.

The Flax Cookbook by Elaine Magee is an excellent resource. This book explains the benefits of flax, from the diseases that it wards off to the nutrients that are so rich within it. It also gives loads of recipes! Some of the sections are: muffins, smoothies, bread, power bars, entrees, and desserts. I checked this book out from our library and have loved all of the information and recipes I have obtained!

So, flax it up!

The hubby had to work all day and then in the evening. We only got to spend less than one hour as a family in between jobs! Neither Little Miss or I liked this! She cried as he left and crawled to the door. A good thing: when he got home she woke up and cuddled him. It was adorable, the highlight of my night!

As far as dinner went, nothing sounded good. I made some homemade cornbread, it was delicious. I hate half a pan of cornbread and some cantaloupe, probably lacking some keep nutrition in that meal. But at least I enjoyed it and didn’t want to throw it up!

Then we get to bedtime, the most dreadful part of the day. Little Miss actually went down seamlessly, and a half an hour EARLY! She was so tired. But, 20 minutes later: awake and crying. When I went in there she was trying to put her sassy (pacifier) back into her mouth with no success. I helped and laid her back down. She laid down with no trouble and fell asleep. But, this kid is a light sleeper. I stuck around for a few seconds to make sure she was asleep. Her eyes popped open in 3 seconds. We continued this for 45 minutes! I finally got tired of standing/squatting next to the crib so I moved to the bed only a few feet away. She did not approve of this move. She didn’t need to hold me or hear me sing or anything, she just wanted me close. She stood up and let me know how much she did not like the move. But, I stayed because I was too tired to stand/squat next to her for another 45 minutes. After who knows how long, I finally decided that she was not sleeping on her own, so I scooped her up to bring her to our bed where I wouldn’t have to fight her anymore, or at least I could do it laying down.

On the way to our bedroom, I needed to go to the bathroom (which happens A LOT when you are pregnant). So, we made a pit stop. As I go to flush, my lovely daughter drops her night time stuffed animal right into the toilet! YUCK! I was so upset. I grabbed it out and threw it in the sink (where it still remains) to be cleaned later.

Once we finally made it to the bed, it took over an hour of wiggling and rolling for sleep to actually come to that beautiful little girl. It was so exhausting. Then she slept for less than one hour and woke up SCREAMING. I mean she was letting me know that she was unhappy. At this point it is only 10. She wanted to be nursed, but I am trying to cut down the night time nursing. Because 5 times a night is just too much for this preggo. What happened next? We both balled our eyes out. My crying actually had a bit of a calming effect, but not for long. I finally gave in after 15 minutes of holding her and sobbing. She ate and fall asleep happy soon after.

Hubby came home and I was able to share our evening’s events. When we went into bed our little girl woke up and cuddled with her papa. It was adorable! Then, she refused sleep again. And screamed and wiggled and kicked. And then tooted! twice, really big! It is so hard to tell when she is acting fussy because she wants us, doesn’t want to go to sleep, or has painful gas. I really cannot wait until she is talking!

Here is hoping that tonight goes better!

So, au revoir French. Maybe we will meet again in a little while.

Tools required:

medium saucepan not to be used for preparing food after used to make laundry soap

grater (same rules apply about food)

large spoon (same as above)

3/4 c measuring cup (same as above)

bucket

containers to put it in (we use the “party pail” 1 gallon ice cream containers, makes 2 of these)

Ingredients:

1/2 bar Ivory soap

3/4 c washing soda (not baking soda!)

3/4 c borax

water

1. Put 6 c water in the saucepan. Grate the 1/2 bar of soap over the water and heat until the soap dissolves. Add3/4 c washing soda and 3/4 borax. Stir until dissolved.

2. Pour 4 c hot water into a bucket. Add the soap mixture and stir. Add 1 gallon plus 6 c water to the mixture and stir.

3. Pour the mixture, which is completely liquid,  into the containers and seal with the lids.

4. The soap needs to rest over night for 24 hours. It will look  gel like, this is perfect! Make sure to get both liquid and gel substance in every load. Use just 1/2 cup of soap for every load.

This is what it should look like the next day. It smells so great!

Happy washing!

I made a few substitutions. I used White Whole Wheat flour from Bob’s Red Mill and I used a squirt of honey instead of sugar. I did not do the egg wash, I sprayed them with a little cooking spray. Which, I also used instead of parchment paper. I guess I did a lot of things differently, but they turned out great! Check them out:

The whole wheat white flour gave them a rich flavor. We sliced and toasted ours and add some butter. They were scrumptious!

Ingredients:

ground sausage

flour

milk

biscuits (I used store bought because I was too hungry to make homemade)

Get your biscuits cooking while you make the gravy. Brown the amount of sausage you want, I did about a third of the package. Then remove the sausage from the pan, leaving the grease behind (so gross I know, but that is what makes it taste so good). There should be about 2 to 3 tablespoons of grease in the pan, if there is more than that discard some. Add an equal amount of flour, 2 to 3 tablespoons, stirring continuously. Keep the  burner on medium to medium high, slowly pour over the milk, about a cup. Keep stirring while the gravy cooks and becomes thick, it may take a little while, just keep stirring. Once your gravy becomes thick add the sausage back and voila you have sausage gravy!

1. Making your own detergent. This is so easy to do, very inexpensive, and makes a ton. The next time I make it (in a few months) I will post the recipe and pictures, for now just do an online search and you will find several different methods.

2. Use cold water for wash and rinse. Over a year this will save a lot in the cost of heating water.

3. Only wash full loads. Seriously, full loads!

4. Hang everything dry, well almost everything. Our sheets are the only thing we don’t hang dry because they are too big to fit on our balcony. We have two folding drying racks that we place on our balcony or, if the weather is bad, set in our living room. They are a little expensive, but the drier is one of the top energy using appliances so it was worth the up front cost. If you have a backyard hang a clothes line and get some good clothes pins.

If you do not have a washer and dryer in your home here are a few tips for you:

1. Check around local laundromats to see if they run specials on certain days of the week. Such as $.50 off double loads on Tuesdays. Then do your laundry on the “special” days.

2. Hang dry, this will save you at least a dollar a load. But, usually the dryers aren’t they great and require a second go round which saves another dollor. (see above for more details)

3. Hand wash. In our last apartment we used a Wonder Wash (counter top crank washing machine) to wash our clothes. We purchased it to wash the cloth diapers so we didn’t have to pay an arm and a leg in laundry every other day. It is simple but does require more time and effort than putting your clothes in a machine and walking away. I will post more on our Wonder Wash another day.

Happy laundering!

I began tonight with the floors of the kitchen, entrance, and bathrooms. I swept and then really wished for a mop, so I wouldn’t have to scrub on my hands and knees. Then I looked up and saw a swifer-floor-cleaner-thing-a-ma-bob which I didn’t even know that I had. I investigated and found that I even had 2 of the pads you stick on there to clean. I was ecstatic! I sprayed the floor with my favorite all purpose disinfectant spray: vinegar and water, and went to town. My floors are brilliantly clean. I think that they are actually making a twinkling sound!

Then I thought, I need to make a reusable pad for this mop! So, I intend to do that. I am going to check out my stash of rags and see if I have anything in the right size. Depending on the material I may need to make it a few layers thick. If so I will just hop to the sewing machine and stitch it lengthwise in the middle and then a quarter of the way on each side and then on the ends, essentially quilting the pieces together. I may also try one of the cloth diapers that we used as burp rags made out of birds eye material, essentially gauze. They are already three layers in the middle and might even be the right size!

Hopefully all of my house will be twinkling soon. Although I am predicting that once I have made a clean sweep I will turn around and it will be undone! Tis the life of a 10 month old!

It happened instantly there was no 2 minute delay like the box said their might be. We were and still are overjoyed! (If you know nothing about pregnancy tests, this means we are pregnant!) We were hoping to get pregnant to have our babies close in age. We hugged, I jumped around, and then we prayed.

At first I could think of no words other than “thank you!” then I realized there was much more on my heart. I began to pray about my desire for a natural birth and not a c-section as my last child was. I know childbirth is a “curse” but it is also a huge blessing, at least from everything that I have read and every one of the accounts that I have heard of my friends’ experiences. God knows what is best for us. If the c-section is what will bring a healthy baby and healthy mom that is what I want. However, selfishly, it is not at all what I want. I will have to surrender this to the Lord often. I don’t want to become obsessed with this issue. I need to become educated but I need to keep things in perspective. I will continue to pray. You could pray for me too.

P.S. Sorry to all of you we did not tell in person. We told mostly family over the phone, but we want to shout it from the roof tops! So, please accept our apology and feel free to spread the word.