tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-43828932103513244802024-03-14T02:08:47.512-06:00Live, Love, Capture.A blog about our little organized chaotic family.Sandyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15861734540310788936noreply@blogger.comBlogger199125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4382893210351324480.post-3718145859457403202018-09-16T23:57:00.001-06:002018-09-16T23:58:12.329-06:00Blueberry Dutch Baby<span style="color: #7f6000; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(127, 96, 0);">One of my favourite breakfasts is none other than the dutch baby. It's a cross between a pancake and an eggy bread because of the high egg to flour ratio. It's super simple to make and I always have the ingredients on hand. I've made it with fresh and frozen blueberries, both with great results. Today's was made with "throw many in the garbage and pick out the moldy ones" blueberries. The recipe I have used again and again is from <a href="http://www.alwayswithbutterblog.com/blueberry-dutch-baby/">Always with Butter</a>. I don't follow it exactly because I'm lazy and don't want to take the extra step in melting the butter, although I should try it one day and see if it makes a difference. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #134f5c; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">3 eggs<br style="word-wrap: break-word;" />1/2 cup milk (I've used 2% and 3.25% with good results)<br style="word-wrap: break-word;" />1 tsp vanilla extract<br style="word-wrap: break-word;" />1/2 cup flour<br style="word-wrap: break-word;" />1/2 tsp salt<br style="word-wrap: break-word;" />1/8 tsp cinnamon<br style="word-wrap: break-word;" />1-2 tbsp butter<br style="word-wrap: break-word;" />1/3 cup blueberries<br style="word-wrap: break-word;" />powdered sugar</span></div>
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<span style="color: #134f5c; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Preheat oven to 425 with a 12" cast iron skillet inside. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #134f5c; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Whisk the eggs in a large bowl with the milk, vanilla and salt. Dump flour and cinnamon into the egg mixture. (You can mix the flour and cinnamon first beforehand if you like extra work =P).</span></div>
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<span style="color: #134f5c; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Whisk until well combined. Take hot skillet out and melt butter in the hot pan, ensuring butter covers the entire bottom. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #134f5c; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Pour mixture into the skillet & sprinkle with blueberries.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #134f5c; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Bake for 15 minutes, then turn heat to 325 & bake for an additional few minutes until golden brown. (I know a few minutes is vague. I can sometimes pull it out after the initial 15 minutes and other times I leave it in 3-5 minutes longer. The initial recipe calls for 10 minutes which I have never done before). </span></div>
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Sandyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15861734540310788936noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4382893210351324480.post-60620291040999351052018-09-13T22:28:00.001-06:002018-09-13T22:28:26.607-06:00Lentil Bolognese and Biltong Jerky<span style="color: #7f6000; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">I miss the blogging world so I decided to try and randomly hop back on to share random ramblings every now and then. Posts will be short and sweet. Tonight for dinner I tried a new recipe for lentil bolognese from <a href="https://www.theendlessmeal.com/deliciously-rich-lentil-bolognese/">The Endless Meal</a>. It isn't the first time I've used lentils as a meat replacement and won't be my last. The final sauce was nice and hearty and although the flavours did remind me of a rich bolognese, the texture did not. Lentils have a starchy texture that just can't replace the texture of ground meat. I added some mushrooms and only used half a red pepper. I would definitely make this again. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #7f6000; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Onto the next topic, biltong jerky. What the heck is biltong you ask? Apparently it's an African type of jerky. Jamie has tried making it a few times with little success but he picked up some from a local African market and it's really quite delicious. The key difference is it's not smoked but rather dipped or marinated in vinegar, coriander and other spices so it's got quite the sour tang to it. My house reeks and I remind Jamie every time I leave the house and come back in to a smack in the face vinegar smell, to which he replies, "What?! It smells awesome."</span><br />
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<span style="color: #7f6000; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br /></span>Sandyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15861734540310788936noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4382893210351324480.post-71365327982423800472018-08-28T23:39:00.001-06:002018-08-28T23:39:57.101-06:00What Being Burnt Out Looks Like for Me. <span style="color: #783f04; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">It's been a long time since I last blogged and lots has changed. First off, we had a second baby! Little E has been amazingly typical and we are so grateful. Not so Little C just turned 4 and she's been keeping us so unbelievably busy. To give you an idea of how busy we are and why I am burnt out, here's a snapshot of last week and this week. 10 weekdays, 12 appointments. That's right. TWELVE. And not all appointments are just "show up and the work is done" type of appointments either. Oh no folks. Most of these appointments are "here's your homework" appointments. Little C has both private and publicly funded speech therapy sessions, all 1 hour long. It was also time to visit the pediatrician, dentist, non-invasive ventilation clinic, and the multidisciplinary team (OT/PT/SLP/psychologist). That doesn't include the half day camps that Little C was in last week either. I've been running on fumes for a while now but today the camel's back broke a bit. Actually it broke last week when I completely lost it on my poor child after she repeatedly bit me while trying to floss her teeth. Because our first dental visit made me feel like crap. Never mind the 3+ years that we fought and fought to brush Little C's teeth only to have finally gotten to a decent place with brushing the past few months. </span><span style="color: #783f04; font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"> Let's add that to the never ending list of things to work on. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #783f04; font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">Fast forward to today. A simple visit with the non-invasive ventilation clinic to talk about how the CPAP is working for Little C. It was a new respirologist who immediately rubbed me the wrong way when she couldn't wait 5 damn seconds for Little C to attempt saying hi. Saying hi is a really new thing for us. It's not quite a hi, but more of a "haauh..." Everyone, and I mean <i>everyone</i> that we have stopped to say hi to was able to read my social cues (me cuing Charlotte for the practice, modeling how to say hi, and waiting beside her) and would patiently wait for Little C to say "hi". This includes random strangers on walks, in the grocery store, you name it! This physician comes rolling in, talks over us and Little C in her greetings and cuts off our poor girl who started to say hi but then stopped. Then it was 30 minutes of her telling us that we need to sleep train our child so that she can self soothe at night because we had mentioned that she was waking up more often than normal this past month. She tried to hide her cringe when she realized we stay in the room with Little C until she falls asleep, but I saw it. She asked about parenting courses and lectured us on how we really need to have her learn how to self-soothe. Nothing she told us I didn't already know. So we left the appointment having gained nothing but to wait 6 months for another sleep study. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #783f04; font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">On the drive home, it finally dawned on me why I was so irritated and defensive with this physician. She doesn't know our journey or Little C's struggles. We have worked <i>so damn hard</i> to be where we are at today. She doesn't fight us to put on her CPAP mask. She happily reads books with it on and will sleep the entire night with it blasting air up her nose. I'm not sure how many of you have tried a CPAP, but it EFFING SUCKS. So if I <i>choose</i> to sit in my child's room until she falls asleep because she's got a CPAP on and crying with it is not at all enjoyable, let alone vomiting with it on, then you better stand the eff down. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #783f04; font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">So I was angry. And with anger always comes tears. And the tears weren't all angry tears. They were "I'm exhausted, frustrated, and I have so little left to give" tears. Our days are filled with appointments and constant work. I don't even know how to juggle all this and still keep our sanity. If we aren't teaching Little C a new ASL sign that we just learned, we are modelling and teaching her how to use her augmented and alternative communication device, or getting to her to try to turn on her voice. Fit in some strengthening activities, a heck of a lot of crying (because she can't communicate what she really thinks), and your "normal" day to day activities and I'm pretty sure we have negative time left in the day. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #783f04; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">So that's the rant. Ironic that I have no time but made time to blog. I told the hubs that I need an outlet. I need somewhere to rant about how hard it is to have a child with a disability. How all consuming and isolating it is. I am thankful for the support and love that we have because we would never survive without it, but on days like today, when all it takes are some mindless words of a physician who has not walked 1 second in our shoes to make me feel like I'm not being a good enough parent for my child, I need to remind myself that we are freakin' ROCK STARS. </span>Sandyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15861734540310788936noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4382893210351324480.post-71213943620760792352015-12-30T23:47:00.000-07:002015-12-31T00:03:53.404-07:00My Breastfeeding Journey<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="color: #7f6000; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;"><i>A lovely gift from my sister in law. It brought me to tears. </i></span></div>
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<span style="color: #7f6000; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">1 year, 4 months, 11 days. I pumped for a total of 498 days. Boy that seems long when I put in that way. Today I did my last pumping session and surprisingly I wasn't all that emotional. The end was coming for a long time and I had a hard time letting go. I grew attached to my little Medela Freestyle double pump. It and I were honestly BFFs. In the beginning days, it felt like I spent more time bonding with it than with my newborn baby. My good friend, Leslie, told me that she wrote a letter to her son when she weaned him. What a fabulous idea. So I pulled out the journal that I'm writing to Charlotte in and the tears started to fall. I feel like I'll remember every last bit of this journal to share with Charlotte when she's older, but I wanted to share my story here as well. A bit of my story anyways. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #7f6000; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">In my past work life, I helped new moms after they came home from the hospital. It was my job to help moms latch their baby and feed. I did that for 5 years. Yah I was pretty rocky at the beginning and looking back, I feel bad that those moms got very textbook ideas/instructions. By year 4 and 5 though, I had attended quite a number of breastfeeding conferences, I've shadowed lactation consultants, and I've successful helped countless numbers of moms with their breastfeeding challenges. I felt quite prepared to handle whatever latch problems would come my way. I did after all, supposedly know all the tricks and strategies. What I wasn't prepared for was a lack of supply. Breast hypoplasia, meet me. Me, meet breast hypoplasia. I had some classic symptoms of it, but talked myself out of them because that's what I did for many many moms. Reassured them that their body is designed and programmed to produce milk for their baby. Just trust their bodies. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #7f6000; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">So I didn't have any breast changes during pregnancy. That's okay. Not everyone does. </span><br />
<span style="color: #7f6000; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">So I have small breasts. That's okay. Breast size doesn't dictate whether or not you can produce enough breastmilk. </span><br />
<span style="color: #7f6000; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">So I didn't have any leaking colostrum towards the end of pregnancy. That's okay because, again, not everyone does. </span><br />
<span style="color: #7f6000; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">So I was only engorged for like 1 hour when my milk came in. That's okay because... well I didn't realize that this was anything bad. One of the many things I learned on my journey. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #7f6000; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">I should've known things were not going well when I nursed my girl for a solid 20 minutes, active sucks and swallows, and when we went to do a post-feeding weight check, we thought the scale was broken. It wasn't. My poor girl just wasted 20 minutes of what little energy she had, only to get not 1 ml of milk. Not ONE!!! I remember the first night we came home to sleep a couple hours while Charlotte was still in the NICU. I had my friend's electric pump that she lent me and was so thankful that she did. We had gotten home close to midnight and I made Jamie go digging for the pump. I got so little and in my attempts to get every last drop into the bottle, in my lack of sleep zombie state, I manage to spill out a good portion. I was devastated. Thank goodness there was still some left that I could bring back. Then on another occasion, I managed to drop the bloody bottle while setting it down. I was <i>so</i> angry over spilled milk and all I could do was cry. And cry. And cry some more. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #7f6000; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">As the days went on, I saw lactation consultants. I scoured the web for more "unapproved" methods of increasing milk supply. I pumped 8 times a day. I set my alarm to wake me up to pump. I was on over 30 pills a day including motilium, fenugreek and blessed thistle. I was eating oatmeal every day. I made sure to drink enough water, skin to skin, think about baby, watch baby videos, be with baby, drink nursing tea, acupuncture twice a week. You name it, I've tried it. I got loads of unsolicited suggestions. <i>Maybe you're too tense. Babies can sense when you're upset and it inhibits letdown. Are you drinking enough water? Have you tried this? What about that? </i>I was starting to question all my own actions. <i>Maybe I'm not drinking enough water... Maybe I am too tense... Maybe I need to watch more videos of Charlotte while I'm pumping. </i>No. I was doing everything I possibly could and nothing was working. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #7f6000; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">On top of my lack of supply, I had a baby who (likely because I had no milk!) absolutely refused to latch after the first day. It quickly progressed to only latching with a nipple shield. Then it was only when I would syringe milk into her mouth. Then it was only when I would syringe milk into the shield. Then we tried a supplemental nursing system that our wonderful birth photographer lent us (because nowhere carries them and it has to be ordered in!!!) and we were able to latch a couple times. It was so stressful and truthfully, painful trying to latch her. I got very frustrated, as did Jamie. What saved that grief was the fact that Charlotte ended up getting her swallowing assessed and had to be on thickened fluids. I kept telling myself that the thickened fluids likely wouldn't flow through the SnS tubes, but I never did try. That was my out for not fighting my poor girl to feed. Every. Single. Feed. She hated it. I wanted it but hated it. She wasn't going to increase my supply by nursing directly on the breast. There was no win in this for me if I kept fighting her. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #7f6000; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">My visions of breastfeeding my child, while sipping coffee with my girlfriends and their babies, never came to fruition. I had to lug around hot water, cold water, bottles, formula powder, thickener. I hated feeding Charlotte in public. I often did all that I could to plan my day so that I could feed her at home. Part of the challenge was the amount of guilt and shame I felt. I just didn't <i>feel </i>good feeding her in public. Around all my friends who nursed. Everyone was always very supportive, but the inner demon won and it won often. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #7f6000; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Out of the 3 lactation consultants I saw, the last one was the most supportive. She had no techniques for me. Nothing new to try. No encouraging words. Just told me what I already knew. I wasn't going to produce more. No matter what. Period. It's unfortunate, but the reality. I grieved for a very long time and I'm still grieving. I think I'm finally at the acceptance stage and that's good. I need to move on. Hopefully with my next pregnancy, my breasts smarten the heck up and grow some more glandular tissue. Because apparently there's only 2 occasions where a woman can develop more glandular breast tissue. 1. Puberty 2. Pregnancy</span><br />
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<span style="color: #7f6000; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Some ask me how I did it. The worst part for many is the washing of pump parts. Sterilizing. It's a pain in the arse. Imagine pumping 8x a day, 20 minutes each time, taking another 6-8 minutes to clean all your equipment. So essentially 30 minutes x 8. 240 minutes. 4 hours a day. It was brutal. Especially if I slept for any length of time at night, I had to squeeze in all the pumping in an even shorter time period. I still remember Jamie always saying, "What? You have to pump again? But you <i>just</i> pumped." Most of the time he was right. I did <i>just</i> pump. Like barely 2 hours ago. I know some of you are thinking, well that's how often babies feed! It's not the same. I can't articulate it for you here, but trust me. It's not the same. Then this one blog post I read, from a mom who also pumped full time, offered me a saving grace piece of advice. Why wash all the pump parts every single time? Breastmilk is good for up to 7 days in the fridge. Why not just pump, store it in the fridge, and pump with the equipment again? She washed and sterilized everything once a day. I followed suit. That saved off over an hour a day of just washing crap! I can honestly say, it is one of the reasons I was able to pump for as long as I did. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #7f6000; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">So fast forward 400+ days. I weaned off all my medications and cut my pumping from 8 to 7 to 6, 5, 4, 3, and finally 2 times a day. I've been waking up early to pump before work. Going to bed later so I can pump right before bed. I travelled 3 times on vacation while pumping. Pumped in airports and on airplanes. It really has been quite the journey. Now Charlotte doesn't even really enjoy my breastmilk. You read that right. Not enjoying. So why even continue? I'm pretty sure my milk had a higher amount of lactase and since I had such small quantities of milk, it often took several sessions to get enough for a half or full feed. In the last few months, with an ever decreasing supply, it took even longer to build up a decent amount to feed her. She actually preferred formula. That broke my heart. Truly. We often have to coax her into drinking it or trick her by mixing it with some formula. And when she doesn't finish, the wasting of liquid gold just rubs salt into my ever aching wounds. So it's time. It's time that my journey with breastfeeding come to an end. In the whole 498 days, I only ever managed to say out loud that I was nursing my child once. It was to an oral surgeon when he asked about a bone scan for my jaw. "I'm breastfeeding." It was surreal to say and I remember being taken aback. I never did say it again. I hope that for my next baby, if I'm lucky enough to be blessed with one, I will be able to have a different journey. And even if the path looks the same, at least I know where some of the shortcuts are. </span>Sandyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15861734540310788936noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4382893210351324480.post-76484985844175487142015-09-12T09:11:00.003-06:002015-09-12T09:11:49.902-06:00Whole Wheat Coconut Oil Vegan Scones<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="color: #7f6000; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><b>Whole Wheat Coconut Oil Vegan Scones</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #7f6000; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Original recipe from <a href="http://www.gimmesomeoven.com/3-ingredient-coconut-oil-biscuits-recipe/">Gimmesomeoven</a>. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #7f6000; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><u>Ingredients</u></span></div>
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<span style="color: #7f6000; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">- 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour</span></div>
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<span style="color: #7f6000; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">- 1/2 cup whole wheat flour</span></div>
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<span style="color: #7f6000; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">- 1/4 cup unmelted coconut oil (solid)</span></div>
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<span style="color: #7f6000; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">- 3/4 cup vegan milk (coconut, soy, rice etc.)</span></div>
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<span style="color: #7f6000; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">- 2 tsp baking powder</span></div>
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<span style="color: #7f6000; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">1. Preheat oven to 425°F. Mix dry ingredients together in a bowl.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #7f6000; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">2. Cut in the solid coconut oil with a pastry cutter/blender or forks. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #7f6000; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">4. Turn dough out, flatten into a 1/2" layer and cut out rounds. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #7f6000; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">5. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until barely golden (I couldn't get mine quite golden without over baking). </span></div>
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<br />Sandyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15861734540310788936noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4382893210351324480.post-51521705715926135392015-07-21T10:47:00.000-06:002015-07-21T10:47:12.134-06:00Vegan Baby Banana Oat Mini Muffins<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="color: #7f6000; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Ah, what did we ever do before Pinterest? Rather, what did we ever do before the internet?!? <a class="g-profile" href="https://plus.google.com/111179341557771430536" target="_blank">+Elizabeth Der</a> pinned <a href="http://www.hellobee.com/2013/11/12/our-favorite-recipes-baby-led-weaning/">this simple banana oat mini muffin recipe</a> and I decided to give it a try. It was super easy and I almost always have the ingredients on hand. Since Charlotte is allergic to cow's milk and eggs, it was simple to make these vegan. </span><div>
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<span style="color: #7f6000; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><b><u>Vegan Mini Banana Oat Muffins</u></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #7f6000; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">- 1/2 cup quick cook oats (I did a quick blitz in the Vitamix)</span></div>
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<span style="color: #7f6000; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">- 1/4 rice milk</span></div>
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<span style="color: #7f6000; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">- 2 ripe mashed bananas</span></div>
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<span style="color: #7f6000; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">- dash of cinnamon </span></div>
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<span style="color: #7f6000; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">- splash of vanilla</span></div>
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<span style="color: #7f6000; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">- 1/4 tsp baking powder</span></div>
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<span style="color: #7f6000; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Directions: </span></div>
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<span style="color: #7f6000; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">1. Preheat oven to 350°F, grease mini muffin tin (I used a coconut spray and toaster oven!)</span></div>
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<span style="color: #7f6000; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">2. Mix all the ingredients together.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #7f6000; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">3. Divide batter out between all muffin cups. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #7f6000; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">4. Bake until muffins are set. It took about 15 min for me. </span></div>
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Sandyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15861734540310788936noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4382893210351324480.post-63433015342485300732015-07-12T13:04:00.001-06:002015-07-12T13:04:10.876-06:00Quilt for Reid<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ZGG4pYavKFg/VaKymYHxh5I/AAAAAAAADvc/YRD2TtmITYs/s1600/IMG_6345.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ZGG4pYavKFg/VaKymYHxh5I/AAAAAAAADvc/YRD2TtmITYs/s200/IMG_6345.JPG" width="150" /></a><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jGmaWPQseJw/VaKyl_mYT2I/AAAAAAAADvM/lyjKfwWsuw0/s1600/IMG_6344.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jGmaWPQseJw/VaKyl_mYT2I/AAAAAAAADvM/lyjKfwWsuw0/s200/IMG_6344.JPG" width="200" /></a> <span style="color: #7f6000; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Way back (a couple years ago) I made a quilt for my niece, Annalise. Fast forward and she is now a big sister to little brother, Reid. It just seemed so perfect to make a boy version of the same quilt. I used the same pattern from <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Kati-Cupcake-Pattern-Co-Willow/dp/B005573URS">Kati Cupcake Pattern Co. called Willow. </a> It might look a little intimidating and complicated but trust me, it isn't. It was my first attempt at making a quilt on my own after my <a href="http://livelovecapture.blogspot.ca/2012/11/quilting-complete.html">quilting class</a> that I took with <a class="g-profile" href="https://plus.google.com/109131974115279328513" target="_blank">+Jinnee Barazzuol</a>. The cutting part was quite labor intensive but the sewing part came together relatively quickly. After piecing all the blocks together, I played them all out to decide what layout would look best. It would've been easier if I had a bit more forethought before I sewed them all because some of the prints had characters that were right side up so it bothered me if I put any of them upside down! </span><br />
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<span style="color: #7f6000; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">With Annalise's quilt, I used a darning foot and quilted the entire thing at home on my little Singer machine. I'm not gonna lie, it was rough. Like really rough. If you can imagine rolling up the quilt so that it could fit into the little hole in your sewing machine and then needing to maneuver it around at a steady speed to get a design. One of the doctors that I work with introduced me to <a href="http://sparrowstudioz.com/">Sparrow Studioz</a> and I will <i>never</i> quilt on a home machine again. The last 3 quilts I quilted with a long arm machine, I followed a pentagram but I decided it was time to venture out to free arm quilting. It was scary but oh so fun. I think it'll be free motion from here on out! I chose flannel for the back for the very first time and I love how soft flannel gets as it's used, washed and loved. I hope Reid gets good use out of it! </span><br />
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<a href="http://www.pinterest.com/pin/create/extension/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.blogger.com%2Fblogger.g%3FblogID%3D4382893210351324480%23editor%2Fsrc%3Ddashboard&media=https%3A%2F%2F3.bp.blogspot.com%2F-vYVKjVlOXwU%2FVaKyoLKj9XI%2FAAAAAAAADvw%2FWWjk8t6jFGE%2Fs200%2FIMG_6365.JPG&xm=h&xv=sa1.37.01&xuid=zwVRK2osK5Uq&description=" style="background-color: transparent; background-image: url(data:image/png; border: none; cursor: pointer; display: none; height: 20px; left: 369px; opacity: 0.85; position: absolute; top: 799px; width: 40px; z-index: 8675309;"></a><a href="http://www.pinterest.com/pin/create/extension/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.blogger.com%2Fblogger.g%3FblogID%3D4382893210351324480%23editor%2Fsrc%3Ddashboard&media=https%3A%2F%2F3.bp.blogspot.com%2F-vYVKjVlOXwU%2FVaKyoLKj9XI%2FAAAAAAAADvw%2FWWjk8t6jFGE%2Fs200%2FIMG_6365.JPG&xm=h&xv=sa1.37.01&xuid=zwVRK2osK5Uq&description=" style="background-color: transparent; background-image: url(data:image/png; border: none; cursor: pointer; display: none; height: 20px; left: 369px; opacity: 0.85; position: absolute; top: 799px; width: 40px; z-index: 8675309;"></a>Sandyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15861734540310788936noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4382893210351324480.post-80149780750191269352015-07-06T22:01:00.002-06:002015-07-06T22:01:25.041-06:00Korean Treat<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="color: #7f6000; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">How delicious does this Korean treat look? We picked it up at the Korean market on Friday and I was so excited to try it. I was imagining this super yummy sweet black sesame paste sandwiched in between chewy sweet glutinous rice flour. What I got was a bland but slightly salty, chewy unpleasant mouthful of blah. Last time we got dessert from the Korean market, it was also not yummy and we got suckered in yet again! Arrrrrg! Darn you freshly made Korean dessert rack at the checkout!!! </span>Sandyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15861734540310788936noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4382893210351324480.post-80425811936773558082015-07-05T23:15:00.001-06:002015-07-05T23:15:15.191-06:00Bandana Bibs! <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WmGST-s6EV8/VZoLWmh_9PI/AAAAAAAADuc/gyCj-N8hFPI/s1600/IMG_6268.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WmGST-s6EV8/VZoLWmh_9PI/AAAAAAAADuc/gyCj-N8hFPI/s320/IMG_6268.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
<span style="color: #7f6000; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Using store bought bibs has been frustrating because they all leave a gaping hole around the neck. We use <a href="http://www.ikea.com/ca/en/catalog/products/30178006/">these bibs</a> from IKEA and love them. Super cheap, easy to wash and often I can reuse the bib more than once since I can use a spoon to scrape some food off the bib. The problem with them is that I can't make it small enough so I find myself using two bibs, one fabric one underneath to protect Charlotte's neck and then a plastic one on top to protect her clothes! Even then, the fabric ones don't always suck everything up because they also fit too loose. That's when Pinterest came to the rescue! Making my own bibs allows me to make them fit Charlotte's tiny neck and the bandana look makes them look uber cute. The pattern I used can be found <a href="https://samandlurel.wordpress.com/2014/04/28/free-bandana-bib-pattern/">here</a>. Super simple. I used a cheap terry fabric with PUL lining on the back that can be found at Fabricland for the back and then some random fabrics on the front such as flannel and cotton. I did have to buy some KAM snaps and a set of snap pliers but well worth it! They turned out super cute and I'm so happy with the tutorial. Give it a go, you won't regret it. </span><br />
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<br />Sandyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15861734540310788936noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4382893210351324480.post-34101804486093408092015-07-03T10:44:00.000-06:002015-07-03T10:44:18.062-06:00Suck Pads<span style="color: #7f6000; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">I can't believe my maternity leave is coming to an end so quickly. I feel like I haven't been able to do all the things I wanted to do, crafting wise. I wanted to get caught up on my Project Life but I'm still about 2 years behind on that so that'll be my next big project to tackle. In the meantime, I carved out some time to do quick simple projects that are more "pressing" because they are items I could use right away. The first item in order was suck pads for my carrier. Charlotte is either rubbing her face against the sides to scratch her eczema or she's sucking on it so making these was priority. <a class="g-profile" href="https://plus.google.com/108262144015170917578" target="_blank">+Cynthia Chau</a> sent me a tutorial for these suck pads that you can find <a href="http://katieskps.blogspot.ca/2015/02/corner-drool-pad-tutorial.html?m=1">here</a>. I had leftover minky fabric from my quilt so I opted to use that for one side and plain cotton for the other. As much as I love minky, it's so brutal to sew and I hate. It. So. Much. It stretches, bunches, and is just overall really brutal to work with. I think next time I'm going to leave it uncut, sew what I need to sew on it, then trim off the excess minky. Maybe that's what one is supposed to do...? Who knows. Excuse the dark photos. I was too excited to finish them and show them off in the middle of the night. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #7f6000; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br /></span>Sandyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15861734540310788936noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4382893210351324480.post-21545874838731035242015-07-03T02:45:00.000-06:002015-07-03T02:45:29.352-06:00Creamy Asian Dressing<span style="color: #7f6000; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">We've been eating a <i>lot</i> of salads lately so changing up the salad dressing is a must! Today we tried a creamy asian dressing and it was a nice change from our normal vinaigrettes. I didn't follow the measurements exactly and I used almond butter. Still turned out great. The recipe can be found <a href="http://detoxinista.com/2014/08/creamy-thai-peanut-dressing-dairy-free-nut-free/#comment-255830">here</a>. </span><br />
<span style="color: #7f6000; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br /></span>Sandyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15861734540310788936noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4382893210351324480.post-52086099250936497282015-03-30T11:16:00.000-06:002015-03-30T11:16:47.243-06:00Traveling With a Baby<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="color: #7f6000; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">We were lucky enough to travel to Hawaii a few weeks ago and it was our first trip with baby. I am so happy that Jamie and I took a couple big trips before baby because traveling with an infant is so different. It was a very long trip getting to Maui but I'm glad we had the support and help of my in-laws along the way. First mistake we made was booking a 7:00 AM flight. Every time we book flights, I say to myself I'll never book another 7:00 AM flight and yet I do it time and time again. With a baby though, <i>definitely </i>not doing it again. It was extremely challenging for us to plan Charlotte's feeds for 14-16 hours and carry all that gear with us. We had 2 big backpacks just full of feeding equipment such as bottles, formula, thickener, pump parts, ice pack etc. The first night I had a mini meltdown, saying to Jamie, "This is SO hard and I just want to be home right now." We settled in nicely after getting some decent rest though. I'm glad we chose a destination that was nice and chill because you really can't go go go with a baby. We opted to bring our own car seat but decided against the base because it was just that much more to lug. Lesson learned. Although it was easy getting the car seat strapped in with the seat belt, it definitely was less convenient so we will bring it on our next trip. We also decided to go stroller-less. I used a ring sling in the airport on the way there and then used our Emeibaby carrier for the rest of the trip. It was definitely very convenient using the carrier although I did have to remove her when going through security because the rings set off the alarms. I thought I was going to use my woven wrap a lot but I didn't bring it out once just because the carrier was that much more convenient. I only missed the stroller once and that was when we landed and had our first Costco trip. Having the use of a kitchen was also another lifesaver. We were able to wash all of Charlotte's bottles, my pump parts etc. Charlotte is fussing so I'll cut this short. All in all, even though we did not accomplish much in Maui, it was fabulous to get away and I can't wait to show do it again! </span></div>
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<br />Sandyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15861734540310788936noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4382893210351324480.post-3090896840035299942015-02-20T23:49:00.000-07:002015-02-20T23:49:22.535-07:00Cloth Diapering Journey Thus Far<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="color: #7f6000; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">I originally wanted to share my cloth diapering journey in some regular posts but with the lack of time now, here's the Cole's Notes (do they even still make them?) version. Even though our peanut is 6 months old (!) already, we have only been able to cloth diaper her little booty for approximately 3 months. She had this unrelenting diaper rash that is still not fully healed yet so we were in disposables for 3 months, trying cream after cream. Everything I read and everyone I spoke with, highly advised against making a huge purchase of one brand of diapers before testing one out first on baby's bum. Being the true Asian that I am, a sale got the best of me and we splurged on about 12 pairs of Applecheeks diaper covers and 30 bamboo inserts. That set us back over $500 right off the bat and I just hoped that they would work out for us because there seemed to be so much Applecheeks love in the cloth diapering world. Well they sure did not disappoint. I absolutely loved cloth diapering from day 1, although I did not love the gDiapers that we borrowed from a family member. Regardless, it got us through the first couple of weeks when Charlotte was itty bitty. Now I realized as I was typing, this is not looking very Cole's Notes like so I'll just share a few things that I want to share. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #7f6000; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">1. Disposable liners can probably convert a lot of non-cloth diapering folks to switch over because it makes handling poop so easy. Just pull off the Bounce fabric softener like sheet out of the diaper, chuck that out and you're good to go! The Applecheeks liners cost about $0.08/liner but we cut them in half. If you're uber <strike>Asian </strike>green, you can hand wash the liners that have only been peed on, hang dry them and reuse them. I misread and thought I could throw them in the washer and reuse them. That does not work. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #7f6000; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">2. I don't think Charlotte's rash was ever ammonia burn but it sure got me reading into all the issues that cloth diapers can have if the wash routine isn't getting them clean enough. Ammonia burn, mineral build up, barn yard stink, the list is huge! Now add on all the diaper creams on the market that are not cloth diaper safe and the things you have to do to your diapers to get the creams out, it'll make your head spin.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #7f6000; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">3. I like the idea of a one size diaper but I really do prefer the trimmer fit of the Applecheeks' sized diapers vs. one sized diapers like AMP. AMP snaps also drive me a little crazy and I hate them! </span><br />
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<span style="color: #7f6000; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">4. We had an old top loader that I made Jamie sell and we purchased a nice HE front loader. Only after, did I find out that old school top loaders supposedly work better for cloth diapers. I don't regret it though because we redid our laundry room. The new washer and dryer look fabulous and we all know a fabulous looking laundry room, like all the ones you see on Pinterest or Houzz, make doing laundry seem less like a chore. Jamie put up some hanging racks we purchased at Ikea and I found a cute little metal tin at Winners that says "Laundry Detergent" on the front. You might not believe me but I can honestly say, the new laundry room makes me actually enjoy laundry. What I even enjoy more is stuffing inserts into diaper covers. It's amazing the number of moms that find stuffing diapers relaxing.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #7f6000; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">5. So has cloth diapering saved us any money so far? Absolutely NOT! As so many cloth diapering memes say, I just want to<i> </i>BUY ALL THE DIAPERS!!! There are so many cute prints that I have to constantly resist the urge to make purchase after purchase of these dang cute diapers. We didn't decide to cloth diaper to save money, but rather to try and decrease our contribution to the landfill. After using disposables for almost 3 months, I'm so happy to be back in cloth because I felt awful every time we had a full bag of dirty diapers to throw away. I feel like we went through them extraordinarily fast because of Charlotte's rash so that didn't help matters. What I am hoping for though, is if I <i>do </i>stop buying more diapers, everything should last us at least another child so we might break even in 5-7 years. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #7f6000; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">6. If nothing else, just the sheer cuteness of cloth diapers might just lure you in! </span><br />
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<span style="color: #7f6000; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br /></span>Sandyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15861734540310788936noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4382893210351324480.post-22082103135869262062015-02-06T10:57:00.000-07:002015-02-06T10:57:18.215-07:00The View From the Top<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="color: #7f6000; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">I'm about 2 years behind on my Project Life albums when I finally decided to skip ahead and work on 2014. I'm not making a lot of headway since I'm only working on it 1-2 hours a week, but as <a class="g-profile" href="https://plus.google.com/108262144015170917578" target="_blank">+Cynthia Chau</a> pointed out, that's more than when I didn't have a baby. We did a hike at Diamond Head and the view up there was so spectacular. I tried to capture it the best I could and here's my pieced together attempt. It's choppy but still breathtaking. Besides the view, the second most memorable part of the hike was when we were half way up, in the blazing sun, 20 weeks pregnant, I ask for water, and we have none. Not one drop. We forgot to pack it even though we did a mental checklist of everything we needed. Needless to say, pregnant mental checklists are <i>not</i> dependable. It's a good thing we packed a small container of mixed berries so that gave us a bit of sustenance. I was so excited to gulp down some water when we made it back to the car, but we didn't even have nasty hot car water to drink!!! Epic fail. </span></div>
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<br />Sandyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15861734540310788936noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4382893210351324480.post-68493220064803423782015-02-05T00:03:00.000-07:002015-02-05T00:04:17.602-07:00Random Update<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="color: #7f6000; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">My BFF asked for a blog post and it's been a while so I'm taking a bit of time to do a quick update for my dear buddy and fellow readers in the blogosphere. Before Christmas, I got <i>really</i> into crocheting and found that the Michael's crappy hooks just weren't cutting it so Jamie and I put in a big order on KnitPicks and I made a sweet hook holder for all my new toys using <a href="http://www.berroco.com/patterns/kluster">this</a> pattern. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #7f6000; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-8Yd9Nojtl-I/VNMPNdV-ygI/AAAAAAAADpY/__ILgZ1gLs0/s1600/IMG_1604.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-8Yd9Nojtl-I/VNMPNdV-ygI/AAAAAAAADpY/__ILgZ1gLs0/s1600/IMG_1604.JPG" height="200" width="200" /></a><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-h5BUfDghqHw/VNMPNXqQ0zI/AAAAAAAADpU/jRIdACWAXiY/s1600/IMG_1683.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-h5BUfDghqHw/VNMPNXqQ0zI/AAAAAAAADpU/jRIdACWAXiY/s1600/IMG_1683.JPG" height="200" width="200" /></a></span></div>
<span style="color: #7f6000; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">We also made Charlotte's first Christmas ornaments using a simple salt dough recipe. It took a <i>lot</i> of tries to get her little hand and foot to cooperate. I'm glad that salt dough is very forgiving and easy to work with. I think they turned out adorable and I can't wait to hang them on our tree next year! </span><br />
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<span style="color: #7f6000; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">I did my very first DIY RLR diaper insert strip because Charlotte got this terrible rash from having diarrhea and I thought it wouldn't hurt to strip the diapers just in case there was some ammonia build up. I absolutely love cloth diapering and have been very sad that I haven't been able to for the last 3 months because Charlotte's poor rash just isn't healing and I'm using all these non-cloth diaper safe products to try and protect her skin. She's got extremely sensitive and finicky skin so hopefully we can make our way back to cloth soon. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #7f6000; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-AXHEFCQRVUE/VNMPNcNieTI/AAAAAAAADpQ/_l8m-87aQv4/s1600/IMG_1959.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-AXHEFCQRVUE/VNMPNcNieTI/AAAAAAAADpQ/_l8m-87aQv4/s1600/IMG_1959.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="color: #7f6000; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">We also picked up a bunch of picture frames from Ikea when they had a sale. I was envisioning this wall for quite some time and Ikea just happened to have frames on sale and a display conveniently put up that I fell in love with so we just stole the whole idea. Jamie didn't really have a choice but to put it up because we had no room to store the frames since we were hosting Christmas dinner for 20 people. Unfortunately, the frames are still sitting empty. Yet another project to tackle. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #7f6000; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-j7_WHZG7le8/VNMPPXyENeI/AAAAAAAADpw/o76BSN4913w/s1600/IMG_2123.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-j7_WHZG7le8/VNMPPXyENeI/AAAAAAAADpw/o76BSN4913w/s1600/IMG_2123.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="color: #7f6000; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">With the amount of hoarding I do with crafting goods, I knew I wanted to make some tag blankets with the vast, VAST amount of ribbon I own. I managed to sneak away one Monday night to a friend's house and hunkered down for 2 hours. I think I used about 0.02% of my ribbon. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #7f6000; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0onVxbgpZ_E/VNMObVNdpdI/AAAAAAAADo8/N8jiFkUmUY0/s1600/IMG_2418.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0onVxbgpZ_E/VNMObVNdpdI/AAAAAAAADo8/N8jiFkUmUY0/s1600/IMG_2418.JPG" height="150" width="200" /></a><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IzrGb-J0a40/VNMObiOr2XI/AAAAAAAADo4/cT3xLreELFE/s1600/IMG_2421.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IzrGb-J0a40/VNMObiOr2XI/AAAAAAAADo4/cT3xLreELFE/s1600/IMG_2421.JPG" height="200" width="200" /></a></span></div>
<span style="color: #7f6000; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">We've been doing a lot more cooking since I started maternity leave. A new salad dressing that I've been obsessed with is this lemon garlic concoction. I don't remember where I found the recipe, but those who know me know that I'm not good with measurements so I'll just list off the ingredients. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #7f6000; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><b>Kick Butt Lemon Dressing </b></span><br />
<span style="color: #7f6000; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">- olive oil</span><br />
<span style="color: #7f6000; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">- lemon juice from 1/2 to 1 lemon</span><br />
<span style="color: #7f6000; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">- salt and pepper</span><br />
<span style="color: #7f6000; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">- mashed garlic</span><br />
<span style="color: #7f6000; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">- oregano </span><br />
<span style="color: #7f6000; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">- a tiny bit of sugar if you want</span><br />
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<span style="color: #7f6000; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">It's seriously <i>so</i> yummy that it got Jamie actually enjoying salad! One thing to note though, the garlic is what makes the dressing so one must be okay with stinky raw garlic breath. Below are just some random shots. I attempted to make this <a href="http://lilluna.com/white-chicken-chili/">White chicken Chili</a> and although it didn't turn out like the recipe, it was still delicious. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #7f6000; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Vl3sbenaQHY/VNMOcIPEsWI/AAAAAAAADpA/yuxmpKvSKLU/s1600/IMG_2873.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Vl3sbenaQHY/VNMOcIPEsWI/AAAAAAAADpA/yuxmpKvSKLU/s1600/IMG_2873.JPG" height="150" width="200" /></a><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-FAHosos1DS4/VNMPQWnyc5I/AAAAAAAADqA/gwUvrcKrzHM/s1600/IMG_2780.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-FAHosos1DS4/VNMPQWnyc5I/AAAAAAAADqA/gwUvrcKrzHM/s1600/IMG_2780.JPG" height="150" width="200" /></a></span></div>
<span style="color: #7f6000; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">A few girlfriends and I are trying to get back into shape post baby so I've been doing baby barre class where you strap baby to you while doing ballet moves and strollercize (which is essentially working out while baby stays in the stroller). I've also managed to get in a couple walks with the warm weather we were having. Whatever little time that Charlotte is napping and I have my hands free, I'm trying to catch up on my Project Life. I'm only about 2 years behind now. Jamie is de-cluttering the basement and finally recycling all his university textbooks. Makes me sad knowing we both spent thousands and thousands of dollars on those damn things that we can't even use as firewood. They are literally worthless paperweights that are taking up valuable storage space, but yet I cringe at the thought of dumping them. How Asian of me. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #7f6000; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WV3cAyfQ8nM/VNMPPEpinTI/AAAAAAAADpo/cEiSyxqG38s/s1600/IMG_2738.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WV3cAyfQ8nM/VNMPPEpinTI/AAAAAAAADpo/cEiSyxqG38s/s1600/IMG_2738.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></span></div>
<span style="color: #7f6000; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">To end off this random update, say hi to the puppies! </span><br />
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<span style="color: #7f6000; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ETt4wVX2Pfc/VNMOa25ABDI/AAAAAAAADow/Ypa3Xz1Dt2g/s1600/IMG_2618.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ETt4wVX2Pfc/VNMOa25ABDI/AAAAAAAADow/Ypa3Xz1Dt2g/s1600/IMG_2618.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></span></div>
Sandyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15861734540310788936noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4382893210351324480.post-732293647479658902015-01-05T15:36:00.002-07:002015-02-05T00:04:41.779-07:00Grateful<span style="color: #7f6000; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">I cannot believe our wee little baby is almost 5 months old. I found some time today to edit some photos and it brought me right back to the NICU. It amazes me how resilient babies are, and people in general. I am so grateful for our health care system, that I did not have to worry about how I was going to pay for the care my baby was receiving, and that I get to spend an entire year with my sweet girl. What an incredible life I have and I am thankful for every minute of it. Sure we do not drive fancy cars, or have many expensive things, but with our health, a loving family, amazing friends, a roof over our heads on this cold, cold day, and full bellies, I am fulfilled. </span><br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-s-1Qf0xMOnY/VG_aWfu2KLI/AAAAAAAADm4/mAXxvbwjEEU/s1600/IMG_1377.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div>
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0GpJnavf0eM/VG_aVbywCYI/AAAAAAAADmw/uPdMvhUwsVE/s1600/IMG_1354.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-s-1Qf0xMOnY/VG_aWfu2KLI/AAAAAAAADm4/mAXxvbwjEEU/s1600/IMG_1377.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-s-1Qf0xMOnY/VG_aWfu2KLI/AAAAAAAADm4/mAXxvbwjEEU/s1600/IMG_1377.JPG" height="200" width="150" /></a><span style="color: #7f6000; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">I cannot believe how quickly time is moving. Little Charlotte is already 3 months old and my maternity leave is 25% over!!! Our days are spent pumping, feeding, changing diapers, snuggling, and getting together with friends whenever we can. Jamie and I are both sneaking in some crafting whenever we can. He's the knitter and I'm the hooker, also known as the crocheter! Some projects we've worked on include a knitted poncho, some <a href="http://www.crochethooksyou.com/chunky-crochet-boy-baby-booties-pattern/">cute baby booties</a> and a baby quilt to match my massive queen quilt. If you want to find some great patterns, <a href="https://www.ravelry.com/account/login">Ravelry </a>is fabulous. I love wearing Charlotte and although I might be breeding some bad habits of having her sleep on me, I relish all the chances I get to have her close to me. I know she isn't going to sleep like this with me forever. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #7f6000; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Tc3lkSUrjXk/VG_ZfUp6JyI/AAAAAAAADmg/r8MJclULxq8/s1600/IMG_1386.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Tc3lkSUrjXk/VG_ZfUp6JyI/AAAAAAAADmg/r8MJclULxq8/s1600/IMG_1386.JPG" height="200" width="200" /></a><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-upz5Xb8G-qs/VG_ZvHEYQpI/AAAAAAAADmo/OruVLOIl8tg/s1600/IMG_1372.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-upz5Xb8G-qs/VG_ZvHEYQpI/AAAAAAAADmo/OruVLOIl8tg/s1600/IMG_1372.JPG" height="200" width="200" /></a><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0GpJnavf0eM/VG_aVbywCYI/AAAAAAAADmw/uPdMvhUwsVE/s1600/IMG_1354.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0GpJnavf0eM/VG_aVbywCYI/AAAAAAAADmw/uPdMvhUwsVE/s1600/IMG_1354.JPG" height="200" width="111" /></a></span></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SdAzYeIwabw/VFbb4_UBw0I/AAAAAAAADlw/mYlCO-MrcjU/s1600/IMG_8616.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SdAzYeIwabw/VFbb4_UBw0I/AAAAAAAADlw/mYlCO-MrcjU/s1600/IMG_8616.JPG" height="150" width="200" /></a></div>
<span style="color: #7f6000; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Who doesn't love a fresh, warm baked bun with their dinner? I was searching online and found <a href="http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/baker-s-dozen-yeast-rolls">this simple recipe</a> at Taste of Home. It's quick to make and tastes oh so fabulous with a bowl of turkey chili. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #7f6000; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><b>Ingredients: </b></span><br />
<span style="color: #7f6000; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">- 2-2 1/2 cups of all purpose flour (You can substitute in 1 cup of whole wheat flour)</span><br />
<span style="color: #7f6000; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">- 2 tablespoons of sugar</span><br />
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cEEhq86hBps/VFbb4rMIObI/AAAAAAAADlo/uMcnS-2a-Ss/s1600/IMG_8618.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cEEhq86hBps/VFbb4rMIObI/AAAAAAAADlo/uMcnS-2a-Ss/s1600/IMG_8618.JPG" height="150" width="200" /></a><span style="color: #7f6000; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">- 1 package (1/4 oz) of quick-rise yeast</span><br />
<span style="color: #7f6000; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">- 1/2 teaspoon salt</span><br />
<span style="color: #7f6000; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">- 3/4 cup of warm water</span><br />
<span style="color: #7f6000; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">- 2 tablespoons plus 4 teaspoons of melted butter (divided)</span><br />
<span style="color: #7f6000; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">- 3/4 cup of shredded cheddar cheese</span><br />
<span style="color: #7f6000; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">- 2 teaspoons honey</span><br />
<span style="color: #7f6000; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">- 1/8 teaspoon garlic salt</span><br />
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<span style="color: #7f6000; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><b>Directions: </b></span><br />
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-MVWQEpCJg-Y/VFbb4gRqMeI/AAAAAAAADls/D-N8VFRTJ1g/s1600/IMG_8619.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-MVWQEpCJg-Y/VFbb4gRqMeI/AAAAAAAADls/D-N8VFRTJ1g/s1600/IMG_8619.JPG" height="150" width="200" /></a><span style="color: #7f6000; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">1. In a large bowl, combine 1 1/2 cups of flour, sugar, yeast and salt. Add water and 2 tablespoons of melted butter, beat on medium speed for 3 minutes or until smooth. Stir in cheese and remaining flour to form a soft dough. </span><br />
<span style="color: #7f6000; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">2. Turn onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 4-6 minutes. Cover and let it rest for 10 minutes. Then divide into 13 portions, forming each one into a ball. Place them into a greased or lined 13" round pan and let them rise for 30 minutes or until doubled in size. </span><br />
<span style="color: #7f6000; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">3. Preheat oven to 375 F. Bake 11-14 minutes or until golden brown. Combine honey, the remaining melted butter and garlic salt and brush over rolls. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #7f6000; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">(I don't find the cheese adds any extra flavor so I skip the cheese.)</span><br />
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<br />Sandyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15861734540310788936noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4382893210351324480.post-81303973221430517842014-10-13T18:38:00.005-06:002014-10-13T21:06:30.391-06:00Thankful<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="color: #7f6000; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">I can't believe my wee little baby girl is almost two months old already. People aren't kidding when they say children grow up way too fast. My maternity leave is flying by and I feel like I haven't truly been able to enjoy it yet because of all the challenges I've had with breastfeeding. Hopefully by three months, we'll have a better idea of what road we want to continue down with nursing, or rather, the lack of nursing. </span><br>
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<span style="color: #7f6000; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">I am often thankful for all the amazing things in my life and grateful for all that we have but as like everyone else, it's nice to list some of it for Thanksgiving. Our relative, Mai, had a <a href="http://wonderemployment.blogspot.ca/2014/10/a-thanksgiving-day.html">blog post</a> about taking the time every 30 minutes in a day to think about the things to be thankful for. I didn't do that today but I'll just take a few moments to tell the blogosphere just a few things I'm extra thankful for today. I'm thankful for a healthy beautiful daughter. I often think that with a poorly functioning placenta at the end of a pregnancy, she could have easily been stillborn. I am thankful for my amazing husband who puts up with all my rants, raves and outbursts. I am thankful for family, our health, and that we all have full bellies tonight in our warm house and a soft bed to crawl into afterwards. I am thankful for all my amazing friends and their healthy babies and sending prayers to the ones that need it. I am thankful for the gorgeous view we have from our kitchen and the amazing sunrises I get to see, despite having our daughter keeping us up all night long. I am thankful for the gorgeous park that we live near and that our "backyard" park is so amazing during the fall. I'm sure Jamie is thankful for getting to use his electric carving knives (that I gave him crap for buying). What do you have to be thankful for? I would love to hear it. </span><br>
<br>Sandyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15861734540310788936noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4382893210351324480.post-87972309894383912892014-08-31T16:48:00.001-06:002014-08-31T16:48:34.436-06:00Parenthood<span style="color: #7f6000; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">This is going to be a short post because if you haven't already done the math based on my last few posts, we welcomed our sweet little baby girl into our arms on August 19th at 2:03 AM and she's currently napping soundly against my chest in a kangaroo T-shirt (something I didn't even know existed!). So before she starts raising a ruckus with her punchy little hands demanding to be fed, I thought I'd let the blogosphere know that Jamie and I started a new chapter in our lives. Parenthood. We are still in awe that we created this little being and little she is! Weighing only a mere 4 lbs 12 oz (2160 g) at birth, she was classified as IUGR (intrauterine growth restriction). I have lots I want to share but the little peanut is stirring and before she gets angry, I best get off my sore bottom and get her some food. </span><br />
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Sandyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15861734540310788936noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4382893210351324480.post-36867891863826105062014-08-04T12:15:00.001-06:002014-10-27T12:44:06.224-06:0018 Days Left<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="color: #7f6000; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">I can't believe there's less than 3 weeks before my official due date. We aren't ready yet but then again, what parents are <i>truly</i> ready? Jamie and my dad have been working on finishing our laundry room and baby room so that we can get the dresser and such set up. I feel pretty useless because I'm just waddling around the house doing odds and ends. I can't get all the baby clothes and linens ready because we have no washer and dryer. I wanted to catch up with my Project Life but I've only printed photos up until August 2012 so I'm still 2 years behind. This week will be my last week at work. If baby cooperates, hopefully I'll still have some time to get last minute things done. </span><br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PdTCJozP8Ms/U9_LfzZ9rMI/AAAAAAAADgk/VHWy3BhC8Uw/s1600/IMG_9899.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PdTCJozP8Ms/U9_LfzZ9rMI/AAAAAAAADgk/VHWy3BhC8Uw/s1600/IMG_9899.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
<span style="color: #7f6000; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">On Dramafever, I've discovered that they have some good old Hong Kong Cantonese dramas (only 3 though) so I'm on my second drama. It's nice to play those in the background while I'm doing things because I don't have to read subtitles! One episode showed the gang having a HK BBQ with hotpot meatballs so I was craving them yesterday. We invited some friends over and stuffed our faces full of meat and marshmallows. It was the first time we used our fire pit this year and might even be our last. Hopefully I can fit in one more fire pit before baby's arrival because I've forgotten how tasty s'mores can be. Top it off with a preggo belly and I've got zero guilt binging! Cheers to not counting calories! </span><br />
<br />Sandyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15861734540310788936noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4382893210351324480.post-66558610523066208952014-07-24T14:36:00.002-06:002014-07-24T14:36:55.806-06:00Quilt Finished with 29 Days to Spare<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-CJH0dMHdjz8/U9Fs0nJUsII/AAAAAAAADec/UjUMGyCT3nU/s1600/IMG_9778.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-CJH0dMHdjz8/U9Fs0nJUsII/AAAAAAAADec/UjUMGyCT3nU/s1600/IMG_9778.JPG" height="320" width="320" /></a><span style="color: #7f6000; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Remember when I posted <a href="http://livelovecapture.blogspot.ca/2014/06/60-days-to-go.html">this massive queen sized quilt</a> that I've been working on for the past 6 months or so? I worked on it for 2 or 3 hours once a week since late January/early February with my other 2 quilting buddies. 6 months later, countless hours and I finally started putting finishing touches on it earlier this week. I spent almost all day Monday at <a href="http://www.sparrowstudioz.com/">Sparrow Studioz</a>, learning how to use the long arm quilting machine and another half day on Tuesday to finish off the quilting. I was originally going to pay someone to quilt this massive beast of a quilt for me so I opted for a minky backing. The owner, Bradie, convinced me that I could easily quilt it myself and get the satisfaction of saying, "Yah, I made this <i>entire </i>quilt myself." I was sold. I'll never quilt on my little home machine again. For $30/hr, it's a steal of deal to rent studio time. I squared off my quilt after the quilting was done, came home and spent the last two evenings binding the quilt. I'm <i>so</i> happy with the finished product. Not only because I feel like it's such a huge accomplishment, but because I opted to go for the queen size that fits onto my bed. It's going to be something that I treasure and hopefully pass onto my children. When I was making this massive quilt, I messed up a couple times which left me with a large number of blocks so it's just meant to be that my soon-to-arrive baby will get a matching lap quilt. Like momma, like baby. :) </span><br />
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<span style="color: #7f6000; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br /></span>Sandyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15861734540310788936noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4382893210351324480.post-70223473902197388482014-07-23T10:03:00.002-06:002014-07-23T13:42:00.988-06:00Cabinet Rejuvenated with Annie Sloan's Chalk Paint<span style="color: #7f6000; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Leanne from <a href="http://www.appleboxboutique.com/">Apple Box Boutique</a> has totally got me hooked on painting furniture to give it a second life and now I see old wood furniture in a whole new light. I took a class from her earlier this year and was able to transform Jamie's old night stand into something that I absolutely love. </span><br>
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<span style="color: #7f6000; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The picture really doesn't do it justice because the gold gilding wax is amazing in person. We have a matching dresser for this night stand that's in line waiting to be transformed into a baby dresser/change station. Hopefully that'll get done before baby's arrival! </span><br>
<span style="color: #7f6000; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Leanne had a massive furniture garage sale a couple months ago and I managed to pick up this beautiful, made in Canada dresser. It fits perfectly in our foyer and I knew I wanted wanted to test out the oh so loved Emperor's Silk paint color. It took 2 coats of paint, 2 coats of clear wax and some spray paint for the hardware to almost complete the look. I picked up some dark wax to give it more character but haven't gotten around to truly finishing this dresser yet. In the meantime though, it stands loud and proud in our foyer, strutting its new sharp look. </span><br>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="color: #7f6000;">I haven't had one of those, "Wow I've been so productive today!" kind of days in a </span><i style="color: #7f6000;">long </i><span style="color: #7f6000;">time. Yesterday fixed that dry spell and it wasn't because I woke up early or because I didn't take a 2 afternoon cat nap, but because I finished what I had set out to do! I was up at 7:30 but wasn't feeling great so I snoozed and rolled around in bed for another 2 hours. 9:30 finally comes by and I thought to myself that I better get out of bed so Jamie doesn't have to wait any longer for breakfast. We had leftover buttermilk from last week's Canada Day breakfast and I had exactly enough to make 1/3 of the recipe. <a href="http://allrecipes.com/recipe/buttermilk-pancakes-ii/">This</a> is the recipe I used and it's been very kind to my growing belly. Keep in mind that I was able to make 5 pancakes to feed 2 adults with only 1/3 of the recipe!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wKBtbjdO9cw/U7nkRQ8mT5I/AAAAAAAADcQ/m1A_hUehKPA/s1600/IMG_9641.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wKBtbjdO9cw/U7nkRQ8mT5I/AAAAAAAADcQ/m1A_hUehKPA/s1600/IMG_9641.JPG" height="150" width="200" /></a><span style="color: #7f6000;">I knew I wanted to make some granola because we have 2 huge bags of oats to use up from way before our kitchen renovations started and they were starting to get the "sitting in the pantry" odor so I knew I wanted to use it up but a preggo can only eat so much mushy oatmeal. We shopped for a bunch of ingredients on Saturday and while the pancakes were cooking, I set out to make our granola. The recipe I sorta of followed is <a href="http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Megans-Granola/Detail.aspx?event8=1&prop24=SR_Thumb&e11=granola&e8=Quick%20Search&event10=1&e7=Recipe&soid=sr_results_p1i1">this one</a>. I made a few changes: </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="color: #7f6000;">- only used wheat bran</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="color: #7f6000;">- added 1 cup of raw sunflower seeds</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="color: #7f6000;">- 1 cup of shredded unsweetened coconut</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="color: #7f6000;">- omitted the brown sugar</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="color: #7f6000;">- used 1/2 c. coconut butter and 1/2 c. of butter instead of veggie oil because I don't have veggie oil laying around</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="color: #7f6000;">- toasted the mixture at 200 degrees F for 30 minutes before cranking it up to 325. Be sure to check it every few minutes because it gets brown fast! </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="color: #7f6000;">While I was doing all of this, Jamie whipped up our first official green smoothie using <a href="http://simplegreensmoothies.com/Recipes/cilantro-limeade">this recipe</a>. We added a bit of kale to the mixture and our first sip was... less than stellar. We tweaked it by adding a bit of agave syrup and 2 more bananas (we used frozen) and that made it palatable. The cilantro limeade smoothie did not make the cut for another debut. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="color: #7f6000;">After breakfast, we got started on prepping our ham, <a href="http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Creamy-Au-Gratin-Potatoes/Detail.aspx?event8=1&prop24=SR_Thumb&e11=potatoe%20gratin&e8=Quick%20Search&event10=1&e7=Home%20Page&soid=sr_results_p1i1">potato gratin</a> and <a href="http://www.onceuponachef.com/2014/06/asian-kale-slaw-ginger-peanut-dressing.html">Asian kale slaw salad</a> dinner. The dressing tastes very similar to a dressing Jamie makes using </span><span style="color: #7f6000;">miso paste except this version had </span><i style="color: #7f6000;">many</i><span style="color: #7f6000;"> more ingredients.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-W_t25FEZ5Wc/U7nkTswi6nI/AAAAAAAADcc/u2WG5UAfISw/s1600/IMG_9645.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-W_t25FEZ5Wc/U7nkTswi6nI/AAAAAAAADcc/u2WG5UAfISw/s1600/IMG_9645.JPG" height="150" width="200" /></a><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-6ONCnhgZ2nY/U7qib2mUuEI/AAAAAAAADcw/rmw3QapTBUY/s1600/IMG_9651.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-6ONCnhgZ2nY/U7qib2mUuEI/AAAAAAAADcw/rmw3QapTBUY/s1600/IMG_9651.JPG" height="150" width="200" /></a><span style="color: #7f6000;">Jamie also felt like he had a very productive day. He managed to build some shelves and maneuver our "linen" closet shelving so that we could actually use it for linen! In the process, I managed to de-junk a bag of clothes. Some of the items needed to be pried out of Jamie's hands while I just lost the battle for some other beloved items and they made their way back into the closet for storage. Today is another promising day as I was up at 5:00 and after trying to fall back asleep for an hour with no luck, I managed to cook some breakfast, do a load of laundry, get some ironing done and do a blog post! I know I'm going to crash in a couple hours since I only got 4 hours of sleep. Happy Monday :) </span></span></div>
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Sandyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15861734540310788936noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4382893210351324480.post-13322338782850189292014-06-30T11:01:00.001-06:002014-06-30T12:43:31.534-06:0053 days to go<div>
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<span style="color: #7f6000; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">I know anyone who's ever been pregnant tells me that towards the end, the baby can't seem to vacate the womb fast enough but right now I'm mighty happy that the little peanut is content its ever shrinking temporary room. We've been kept busy trying to get the house ready and the biggest job was definitely our kitchen renovations. We've been "working" on the kitchen for the last 5 or so years and it wasn't until baby's imminent arrival that really pushed us into action. </span><div>
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-LaYznYnARCg/U7GTVF1uRtI/AAAAAAAADac/gmIFQWLGfGs/s1600/IMG_9517.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-LaYznYnARCg/U7GTVF1uRtI/AAAAAAAADac/gmIFQWLGfGs/s1600/IMG_9517.JPG" height="240" width="320"></a><span style="color: #7f6000; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">We lived with exposed 2x4 walls, our newly purchased appliances sat in our living room for 4 years, engineer drawings sat in a filing cabinet, it just wasn't a pretty sight. Fast forward 4 years, a baby on the way and a hired contractor later, we finally have a fully renovated fully functioning kitchen. There's still a lot of settling in that we have to do for the kitchen but it's so great having that big burden off our back. Now we are just left with the 100 other little odd jobs to finish off. We have accumulated a massive amount of clutter and we're slowly working our way through the mounds of <i>stuff</i>. While the de-cluttering is happening, Jamie is working on the laundry room with my dad. In his spare time (ha!), he's working on framing and drywalling the baby room closet. I've been on a sewing frenzy. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #7f6000; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Jamie and I decided to embark on a cloth diapering adventure, mostly because the idea of throwing hundreds and hundreds of diapers into the landfill doesn't sit well with me. We aren't the greenest people and nothing against the mommas that use disposables. Since we were going down the cloth diaper path, it only made sense to go down the route of reusable baby wipes as well. I had <a href="http://livelovecapture.blogspot.ca/2012/01/fabric-hoarder.html">loads of old flannel</a> that I've accumulated over the years so I set out to sew some cheap wipes. 71 of them to be exact. I would've loved to use a serger but I don't own one so google told me I could just stitch close to the edge with a regular machine and it'll be just fine. I ended up leaving way too much leftover border fabric so when I washed them last night, I had threads <i>everywhere. </i></span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-imSgVgi8QBw/U7GWAsJhVMI/AAAAAAAADaw/Ih2QGsAJ9G0/s1600/IMG_9600.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-imSgVgi8QBw/U7GWAsJhVMI/AAAAAAAADaw/Ih2QGsAJ9G0/s1600/IMG_9600.JPG" height="240" width="320"></a><span style="color: #7f6000; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">I thought about trimming the fabric closer to the stitch line, but they just looked so cute with the little border. Bad decision. I ended up with fluff, string and lint over all our cloth diapers and everything in that load of laundry. I also wasted time plucking all the loose bits of thread that had started coming off. Lesson learned. Lesson learned indeed... </span><div>
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<span style="color: #7f6000; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Onto a bit more of a successful project now. I've been doing weekly quilt nights with a couple friends. A while back I purchased a large amount of fat quarters when it was buy 1 get 1, with no project in mind of course. I finally found this lovely pattern called, Yellow Brick Road. At first I wanted to make a twin quilt because my <a href="http://livelovecapture.blogspot.ca/2012/11/quilting-complete.html">first quilt</a> really isn't big enough to snuggle with. That twin soon turned into a, "Well I might as well make a queen so it'll fit on my bed!" queen-sized quilt. It wouldn't have been so bad if I wasn't pregnant, which is what I'm blaming all my screw ups on. I'm still not done yet because I need to border, quilt and bind it but no big deal. I still have 53 days... <br><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Sandyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15861734540310788936noreply@blogger.com0