Daybook - June 22

Outside my window...the sun is shining brilliantly. However, the air is delightfully cool (in comparison to what it has been at least). Perfect day. Outside my back window is a garden that is finally growing! At least we're hoping it's growing. There are plants in it either way. Now to just keep them all alive...

I am thankful for...a friend who I can talk to about anything and everything and who knows my deepest, darkest secrets, my ugliest, craziest thoughts, and who still loves me.

From the learning rooms...[or in our case--the learning brain]...comes so much. It seems like every day Blueberry is learning to do something new. Practicing a new sound. Pushing new boundaries. Most if them are little things, but they all add up to a quickly changing and growing little girl.

From the kitchen...I just made Peanut Butter bread. Not bad. It's not amazing. But it's edible. *Amendment: I've decided that I don't like this recipe. At all. Will work on drying it out and making bread crumbs out of it. I think that it would be pretty tasty that way.

I am wearing...brown yoga pants and a white t-shirt. Haven't gotten "dressed" for the day yet as I've been working on several rather messy

I am creating...some things with my sewing machine. Yay! Very exciting! We'll see how it actually turns out. Details and pictures to come.

I am going...to start taking Blueberry to her first dance class! Kind of. At the studio where I teach, they are desperately in need of another teacher to know the Wee One's class (ages 18 months up to 3 years). So starting next week (and for the next 6 weeks), Tuesday mornings I'm going to take Blueberry with me to the class while I start learning it and then Thursday nights I'll also go (sans Blueberry) for the same purpose. Then hopefully in the fall I will at least be able to substitute for the class or potentially even be teaching it (depending on how some other details work out).

In my mailbox lately.. .Came a fun quilt and umbrella for Blueberry to sit on outside. Rather timely as we've (a) been spending a lot of time outdoors and (b) she's obviously inherited her father's sensitivity to grass as every time she has tried to crawl through the grass she winds up with a rash on her feet and knees that takes awhile to clear up.

I am reading.. . the first book in a five book series called Rhineland Inheritance. It's a historical, Christian fiction series based just after the end of WWII. So far it's rather good--which is nice as I tend to not be a huge fan of a lot of Christian fiction. I hate to say it, but so often it's poorly written, and that really bugs me!

I am hoping...(and praying) for God to answer a prayer quickly and with little mess.

I am hearing...birds singing in the backyard. Hum of the fan. Silence otherwise as Blueberry is napping.

Around the house...I have laundry in the dryer. Diapers that need hanging out on the line. And the vacuum is sitting behind me as I'm waiting for Blueberry to wake up so I can vacuum her room and finish that job for the day. I also plan to work on cleaning out our disaster area of a garage. Well, at least start working on it as I'm pretty sure we're looking at a several day project here.

One of my favorite things...perfect summer days like today. It makes me feel good to be alive and full of energy (despite being slightly sleep-deprived).

A few plans for the rest of the week: Lunch with a friend tomorrow. Got to go CVSing as well. Saturday lunch with a different friend (and husband). Much funness! Blueberry and I have also been biking every morning this week--just around the neighborhood to stay close to home as she's gotten used to the idea. However, I plan to get the bike rack reattached to the car and go out to a park on Friday (weather permitting).

Here is picture (or more) for thought I am sharing...





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On the Subject of Food

Just got back from grocery shopping. Very tired now. Blueberry is down for a nap, I'm eating a rather late lunch, and decided to take a few moments to write.

I attempted price matching at WalMart today. It went rather well. Granted, I wasn't price matching a whole bunch of stuff, but the few items that I had to match went pretty smoothly. The only minor hiccup I had was when I gave them a catalina from Price Cutter for some almond milk. The lady didn't want to accept it at first, so I was going to go and pull out the WalMart policy and all that, but she called a manger over, and the manager told her it was just fine. Yay!

The advice I read on price matching was to put all the items you're going to price match on the belt at the end, so you can make sure you catch each item as it gets rung up. I also will be putting sticky notes on the items I am price matching (easier for me to find and check and for the cashier). You technically don't have to bring the ad in any more, but I did to be on the safe side and also so I could double check the ad.

I think I will probably do this once in awhile, but not all the time. As I've said before, WalMart is not my favorite place to shop, and they don't have the good meat sales that other stores do. Now price matching will kind of help that, but honestly, the best meal sales I get are the specially reduced items, and you can't price match something like that. However, for those weeks when I need stuff from WalMart already or even for the times when all the stores are having great sales all at the same time, this will be a decent solution.

In other food news. I did make Blueberry some baby food bread. Tried two recipes. The first one I wasn't to impressed with; although, I think if I made it with regular wheat flour instead of GF flour, it would come out better. I haven't tried gluten yet with Blueberry. We were actually going to try this week, but given the nasty diaper rash she's been getting over, I decided I better wait a few more days to make sure that's all cleared up first.

Any ways....recipes. The second recipe I tried came out beautifully. If you're interested, here's the two recipes.

Baby Cereal Cookies (GF/DF/Egg White free) - Variation on the actual recipe

• 1/4 cup molasses
• 1/4 cup vegetable puree (jarred baby food) with a smidgen of oil
• 2 egg yolks
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 3/4 cup GF flour mix
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 cups infant cereal
• 6 Tbsp water
  

Mix together. Form the dough (it has a spongy texture) into little patties and place on a baking sheet. Bake 375 for 9-10 mins. Remove immediately onto cooling rack

BABY CARROT BREAD - Parenthesis are my notes/adjustments

3 1/2 c. all-purpose flour (I used GF)
1 1/2 tsp. salt
3 c. sugar (I used 3 jars of pureed applesauce/pears)
1 tsp. cinnamon
2/3 c. water (no water--not needed with the extra moisture from the baby food)
4 sm. jars of pureed carrots (baby food)
2 tsp. baking soda
3/4 c. chopped nuts (left these out)
1 tsp. nutmeg
4 eggs, beaten (used 2 egg yolks - again, didn't need as much due to the added moisture above)
1 c. vegetable oil (no oil)

Sift together flour, soda, salt, sugar, nutmeg, and cinnamon. Combine eggs, water, vegetable oil and baby food. Add to dry ingredients and mix until well blended. Fold in nuts. Pour batter into 2 well greased loaf pans or into several smaller sized loaf pans. Bake in preheated 350 degree oven 1 hour or until toothpick comes out clean.

Again, I was really pleased with how this one in particular came out. Very moist bread that holds together pretty well. And (depending on the day), Blueberry really likes it!

OK, break over. Must go be productive now.

Quck Take #8--in which poop features strongly

I had to post an additional Quick Take today because I need to get this out of my system. Or I shall cry. And I'd rather not cry. I prefer to laugh. And if I can make myself laugh by writing--all the better.

Little Miss Blueberry has not been at all obliging with her naps today. Basically it went like this. She gets very sleep. We go through nap time routine. I put her down. And she proceeds to howl. And poop.

I get her up. Clean her up. Calm her down.We play a little bit. Read a book. Have a cuddle.

Her head is drooping. Eyes are shutting.

We attempt nap again.

Repeat earlier steps for the fail.

Give up in disgust for the morning, go out, buy some plants, and come home. Have lunch.

She gets extraordinarily sleepy (not having napped yet today). We go through nap time routine. I put her down. She naps for 20 minutes. And then she proceeds to howl. And poop.

I get her up. Clean her up. Calm her down.

She's desperately tired.

Try to lay down with her. No good.

Finally decide that whether she likes it or not, she's going in the crib for awhile to attempt another nap ((because my mind is about to flee from me and my patience is one howl away from being snapped).

Put her back down to attempt nap again.

Immediate howls.

I grit my teeth and tell her to tough it out. Take a nap. Because Mommy needs to walk away for a little while.

Proceed to get the plants out of the car so they wouldn't die. Talk to someone who understands.

She does not nap during this time. She howls. Angrily.

I finally have calmed down enough to deal with my child in an appropriate manner.

Go into her room.

She is standing up in her crib. Howling.

Covered from head to toe in poop.

I guess her anger was reasonable in this case.

New rule: No putting Blueberry down for a nap in just a diaper. Onesie must be present at all times.

She had managed to get her diaper off, pooped, and then spread it all over the crib. And herself.

Spent next hour cleaning up her (of course she's mad and not impressed with anything at this point, so that was not an easy chore), the bed, and 2 other dirty, poopy diapers that were waiting in the bathroom to be cleaned out because between her howling all day long, I hadn't had a chance to clean them yet. Tossed one stuffed puppy that was in the crib with her that was not going to be cleaned because he apparently can only be damp cloth wiped down. Not going to work in his case. Damp cloth clean only? Really?

By the time I got to cleaning up her bed and the other diapers, she was much happier. So happy that she was (thankfully) willing to play on the floor by my feet.

Except all of the sudden she decided that the toilet was fascinating and she needed to get her hands into helping mommy clean out her poopy diapers.

Proceed to clean up child for the second time.

Finally clean up self.

Sit down to write this because...well....I needed to. Because it's come down to either crying or laughing.

And I have just realized that she's gotten her hands on the cell phone and turned it off. And I can't turn it back on.

Shrug.