Coloring Wooden People With Kool-Aid

Posted on February 24, 2012 by Samantha

Toddler child has speech therapy once a week and then on our own time we constantly work with him. It’s a daily battle to master communication. He’s very verbal, but he might as well be speaking Klingon. The boys and I have learned to decipher most of his words, but there are still times where we smile and nod. There are many more times when we try to make him slow down and enunciate and in these  moments I’m most certain he thinks we are either deaf or stupid or BOTH. His pronunciation doesn’t change he merely repeats the “word” he was saying only he says it slower and places emphasis on the syllables, much like we do to him. “Riley say cookie, coo-KEE” “Boooo-dee” I still have yet to figure out what “bo-ar” means and this leaves us frustrated and it’s no wonder he chooses to stand at the doorway to a room and just squawk at us.

Some of our activities involve sorting colors and sizes and working on the words associated with them. The more he talks about anything the better it will get overall. So we decided to make him sorting families. I keep these little wooden people on hand.

We used them to make sink handles on the play kitchen and painted little ninjas for the boys to use while playing “angry birds” with their blocks. They build towers and then fling things at them. But only if they are faster than baby-zilla. Just saying these make a good addition to your craft supplies.

Now I wanted them to be colored. I had painted the ninjas, but I always cringe a bit when the bean decides to nom on ninja heads. Most of the ones you see for sell have been painted with water colors. I know watercolors are non-toxic, just in case a kindergartener drinks the pink rinse water, but I don’t have watercolors on hand and figured surely there could be another option. Plus it’s no fun if EVERYONE is doing it. Then I remembered all the little Kool-aid packets I picked up to try my hand at dyeing yarn with Kool-aid. That still hasn’t happened, but maybe one of these days.

So I busted out my little Kool-aid packets the kind without sugar. Now I know there is nothing natural about Kool-aid and I don’t let the kids drink the stuff, but if the kids chew on them I feel slightly better about Kool-aid over paint. Some might disagree with me, but oh well. I dumped each color in a jar, added about a cup and a half of warm water and a glug of vinegar.

The blue was kinda weird.
I plopped in the little people and was surprised they floated. I should’ve seen it coming (wood floats afterall), but went “oh poo” so everytime I walked by I gave them a little shake and twirl to try to make sure we got all the sides. Now at the end of the first day the red ones were a bit pink, the orange ones a tad yellow and I was sure the green and blue weren’t going to change at all. I thought my little experiment had been a fail. But I left them sitting in the jars anyway and several days later I actually have little colored people.
The green and the blue are still not as solid and vibrant as the red and orange, but I’m happy with them. I do need to seal them with coconut oil and the fruity smell will probably increase the likelihood that they get taste tested by the babe, but I consider this a success.

 

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Super Exciting $10 Play Kitchen

Posted on December 22, 2011 by Samantha
I recently got into reading all about DIY play kitchens. We wanted toddler child to have a play kitchen, but a good solid wood one runs several hundred or more dollars. Have I mentioned I’m cheap?! So for several months I’ve been looking out for a deal on a night table I could convert. There’s a whole flickr for people who’ve done conversions and I thought I could do that. Maybe not as cute, but hey I’m not making a kitchen for Emril. Remember those V8 moments I sometimes have? Well, I had another one. I’d been looking for a piece of furniture and I failed to remember I had something on hand that would work.
Enter the old icky entertainment center:
(I forgot to take a true before picture, but this is from when we still used it. Pardon the mess we had pulled all the boxes out of the crawl space for Christmas and the dogs were cute. Look through the chaos.)
Several years ago we upgraded to a wall mounted TV, but we still had the cabinet the dinosaur tv was on. Long ago the older boys broke the glass out of the front and we’ve thought of getting rid of it a hundred times, but the thing is sturdy wood, not that fiberboard junk you usually find. So we kept it. Since the move it’s been sitting in the garage. And when I had my “aha” moment we unwrapped it from the packing paper and got to work.
I pitched the idea to my uncle. He’s retired and very busy, but figured he’d be more than happy to play along. I know my way around power tools and wood, but I don’t always have the time to lock myself into the garage and hope my kids don’t burn the house down. Uncle was kind enough to put the back on as well as new doors, and dismantling the drawer to turn it into a door. Essentially he handled the grunt work. The things I would have pawned off on the man I married. Enlisting uncle’s help was also to our benefit because his garage of random bits is bigger than ours and anything I didn’t have he did.
Once we got everything put together. I was able to paint it and do the detail work. And though it’s not perfect I’m excited with the outcome:
I only did two burners, so we’d have more “counter space”. Pretty cool for only using what’s on hand right? The faucet was the letter J from Jo-ann’s. And I had to buy the paint for the burners and a can of spray finish, but that’s all. Would you believe I spent less than $10 making our play kitchen dreams come true?! The fridge isn’t very fridge looking and some day I might swap out the knobs to long handles. I also think if I ever come across a little pan I might make a “water dispenser” to look more like a true double doored fridge, but in the mean time I think we have a winning present for Christmas. 
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Snowfall

Posted on December 4, 2011 by Samantha

It snowed today, makes it feel like home. I’ve always loved the smell of the air when the snow is coming. All ove town Christmas decorations are popping up, but I look around the house and you’d hardly know the holiday was creeping up on us. Maybe I’m in denial, maybe it won’t be so sad if I don’t embrace it, maybe I can get all my gifts made if I pretend I have a little more time. By now we would have hiked out and chopped down a tree and the thought of digging the artificial one from the basement leaves me hollow inside. Soon my kids will force me to play along and in the end I’m sure it will be good for me. It’ll be our first truly alone Christmas in ever. Maybe it’s time to explore some new traditions…

On the other hand snowy weather means soup. There is little more comforting than a bowl of steaming soup. I had a craving for potato soup. It’s different every time I make it, but I love it. I found this batch was picture worthy.

Note the bacon bits. I’m not a huge bacon fan, at least not on it’s own. The boys love it and the man I married would happily eat a whole pound for breakfast. I tend to prefer sausage as a breakfast meat. All that aside I needed bacon on my potato soup, so I cooked it up. I used the grease to cook the onions, celery, and garlic for the soup and then I had an aha moment. Now I realise it’s not a new idea, I’m not a genius, just sometimes things occur to me and I go “doh why didn’t you think of that sooner.” So my great idea SAVE THE GREASE. I hear this is common in the south. This is not something I recall from being a kid, but why haven’t I been doing this all along?! Bacon is expensive and so much of it ends up in a puddle in the bottom of your pan. I usually bake my bacon to avoid the stovetop mess, but I still end up with a sheet o’ grease afterwards. Well, now I have a happy jar o’ grease to add flavor to my cooking. I tend to eat fairly healthy, but I enjoy real foods; butter, lard, and now bacon grease! Yummo! 
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WIP Wednesday

Posted on November 23, 2011 by Samantha

It’s been a busy week. The kids are taking their turns being sick and I’m grateful I don’t have to plan Thanksgiving dinner around that. Though that is a bitter sweet feeling as we used to love having our own tradition and celebrating our way as a family and now I’m back to being a load on someone else’s holiday. I enjoy being with our extended family, but the holidays still make me want to hide my head in the sand and pretend it’s just another day. But time for an update on the projects sitting around me in various states of complete.

There are of course the Lark Hoodie and (Endless) Effortless Cardigan that have been on my needles for months. I have a goal to finish them next month due to a Nerd Wars challenge.

I picked up zippers to repair midkid’s coat and a couple pairs of PJs for the bean.

I have finished one of my Reading Mitts and the second is about 15% done:

And I’m making great progress of these cute longies that are a custom. I have no idea who dyed the yarn she sent, but it makes me think of chocolate chip sorbet.

As we type there are pumpkin rolls rising in the kitchen, but I imagine they won’t survive long.

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What did you do today?

Posted on November 18, 2011 by Samantha

Today I was told that I needed to get a job and not expect the money due me for child support and alimony. Never mind, that I’d pay more in daycare than I’d bring home. I was also told that the times when I get stressed out means I’m not taking care of my children and I’m a bad mother, that someone else would do a better job and that I should send the boys there to be cared for. Now I’m the first to admit I’m far from perfect. I fell apart when my world was shattered and there were days when I didn’t get out of bed. Heck, I still cry pretty regularly. I know I got by with the bare minimum sometimes as long as the kids were fed, clothed, had clean diapers, and went to school, then I considered the day a success.

I’m in no way healed, but the house is kept cleaner than I ever remember my home being and my kids eat better than they ever have. We keep processed food to a minimum and family time to a maximum. Yet, I look at myself in the mirror and run through the list of ifs. A thousand or more ways in which if I had been better our life would still be the way it was before. If I had quit my job the way he wanted, if I had sucked up so his mom liked me more, if we had moved, if I were thinner, if I spent more time cleaning if if if. Deep down I know none of it’s my fault, but you can’t always rationalize that void inside you. So I browbeat myself up enough I don’t really need someone calling and reminding me of my shortcomings.

But it happens and after several hours of self loathing and the encouragement of some good friends I remembered that really even he can’t do what I do everyday. So I thought I’d list it out just to see.

Wake up by 630 only now I don’t get woken by a kiss it’s the shriek of the alarm or the toddler banging on his bedroom door.

Make breakfast, ordinarily there would be pancakes or something on hand to warm up, but we had to make them from scratch. Some mornings I’d like for the boys to just have cold cereal, but we can’t really afford it. And I don’t believe in mixes. They topped their pancakes with homemade syrup with homemade applesauce on the side. Then they downed their homemade kefir smoothies.

The bigs went to school and the littles settled in for stories and play. I think I read a dozen books not including the ones for nap or bedtime. Built and crashed a  ton of block towers and raced cars over and over again. I changed over a dozen diapers (over the day) at least 4 of which were pooey.

Nursed the baby at least 8 times today. While he had his first nap I’ll admit I let toddler child watch an episode of the Backyardigans, so I could wind yarn for some longies I’m being commissioned to knit. Oh maybe that could count as the job I’ve been advised to get.

Received nasty phone call.

Prepared lunch, yes it was leftovers, but in my defense the chicken soup and pumpkin dinner rolls had been made from scratch in the few days before. The baby’s lunch was pureed carrots that didn’t come from a jar.

I had washed 2 loads of laundry and we went outside to hang them on the line. Toddler child got to play. Before taking his nap. We made at least 10 different trips to the potty. Training is a joy!

Planned meals for the next week and made a short list of things to pick up at the store. Swept from lunch and cleaned up the dishes and ran the dishwasher. Picked up toys and books in living room.

After nap walked to pick up kidlets from school and stopped at library to exchange books. Supervised after school tasks, homework, etc.

Made dinner, wasn’t feeling particularly motivated and whipped up the standby spaghetti. I will note the sauce was not from a jar. After dinner I get some help. Eldest child does help clean up the dishes though I still wash the pots & pans and midkid will sweep from dinner and wipe the table. The kids got to color while I folded laundry and wrote this blog. In less than an hour I will start the bed time routine. The littles will get baths, teeth brushing and stories and be down by 7:30. The older boys get a little longer and on a day like Friday probably won’t sleep until 9. I will have been ready for bed long before them, but won’t retire till another hour or two later because there are things that just can’t be done with everyone running amok and I still need a little time to myself. I’d love to curl into bed and put my cold feet against his legs and share our day the way we used to. But now a days I guess what I did today is of little import and not at all significant, so I shouldn’t be sad that there’s no one to discuss it with.

On the other hand I bet there are thousands of women a lot like me; who feel belittled over the “simple” task of running a home and caring for their children. And maybe if you write it all out and really think about it it’s really not nothing after all.

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Mended Jeans Even a Preteen Will Wear

Posted on November 16, 2011 by Samantha

Holey jeans are a given with four boys, but I’d like to get more than 2 weeks worth of wear from any given pair. Yes, even the $3 ones from the second hand store. When toddler child busts a hole it’s usually because he’s the 3rd child to wreck havok. When eldest child busts a hole I wonder what he’s been doing crawling around on his knees. On the same note when toddler child busts a hole I can make a cute patch and he will happily sport a dino or star or whatever I come up with to extend the life of his britches. The odler boys, however, will not wear something as childish as traditionally patched knees. Nevermind they will run around with gaping holes. But I will only let them wear them for play clothes and this soon finds them with one pair of school pants and a half dozen play jeans.

I wish I could claim this idea as my own, but a friend suggested this meethod for a distressed look rather than a true patch and I can’t find the link again, but it’s a pretty simple concept. And if I’m cheap enough to think this is a great idea I’m sure someone else is in the same boat. So I started with a pile of jeans. I’ll admit some were beyond saving, but I can use them for fabric later.

I made sure to press all my pieces first. Then I cut strips of heat n bond. One of those rolls of stitch witchery would’ve been great, but we make do with what we have, remember?

 
After using a few strips I let toddler child “help” by putting the backing in the trash with the denim scraps. I then had to dig out the unused pieces because he got carried away. 
I cut out some denim from the leg pieces we had left over from making this summer’s cutoffs, making sure each piece was a couple inches bigger around than the hole I was patching. Then we ironed on our cut heat n bond strips.
Then we peel off the backing and iron our patch to the inside of our jeans, covering the hole. Once they cool we flip our jeans right side out. Holding our tongue just right we sewed an up and down zigzag covering the hole and the area around the hole. This really takes some fanagling because you don’t want to sew through the leg of the jeans and catch the back. I roll up the cuffs to sort of help get them out of the way while sewing.
And tada:
Jeans that look distressed rather than patched. Heck, they almost look like they could’ve bought ’em this way. I’m more okay with them wearing these to school than with the state they were in before. And the boys don’t mind a patching that looks like this. Jeans go on to  fight another day!
I did this for 5 more pairs of jeans this morning. Between steps we had to get toddler child a snack, change baby child’s diaper, and do some prep work for dinner. If I could have some undivided attention for “crafting” I might have finished the whole pile. But we’ll save the rest for another post.
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Knitstant Graftification

Posted on November 13, 2011 by Samantha

Knitting is among my newer obsessions. I find the clicking of needles to be soothing and hugging skeins of wool just makes me smile. Unlike sewing it’s a very portable craft. I can knit in the car when I’m not driving. I can knit while waiting for kids to be picked up from school. I can knit while catching up on Bones or reliving my favorite episodes of Supernatural. Knitting while nursing proves to be an adventure in contortionism, but the bean and I are adapting. I think I know what it would be like to own a cat and be a knitter. He likes to help and often forgets he’s supposed to be eating and instead has his way with the yarn or instigates a tuggin war over the current work in progress. Some skill is required to pry my needles out of his little hands while preventing the stitches from slipping off. I know these days are short lived so we embrace the chaos of babydom.
Most projects take several days or weeks. I have a certain project that’s been taunting me for months, but I vow to finish it soon, -ish. I’ve reached the point in my knitting evolution where I have multiple projects in the works. It’s fun to cast on a new project. But sometimes the time involved begins to suck out the joy and like a junky you need a quick fix. It’s nice to say “I finished.” Wash cloths and baby sized hats make for great instant grafication projects, but this week I learned the joy of bulky yarn and large needles. I test knit a pattern for a friend in bukly yarn and size 11 needles. I’ve never used needles that big before, but in a matter of moments I had put a sizable dent in my project and in hours had a hat. It was like magic! I immediately cast on my next bulky project and my size 13 needles are smokin’ away.
*Same hat on bigger child*
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Makeshift Mama

Posted on November 11, 2011 by Samantha
You know those moments when something goes wrong and you just have to rig something up quick to get by? Like when you’re on the way out the door and realize your hem is unraveling so you staple it up with every intention of sewing it later. We had one of those moments yesterday. Toddler child has a blue winter coat. Mind you he’s not the first kidlet to use it, but this is the coat he loves. Probably because he can say “my blue coat.” Yay the speech therapy is working! But the blue coat at some point in it’s previous life got a little too close to something hot. Maybe during New Year’s firworks or maybe the dryer got excited. I don’t really know, but the sleeve end was gnarled and burnt. This led to rubbing and chaffing on toddler child’s wrist. I’ve been meaning to fix it, but we haven’t had too many really winter coat worthy days, so I kept putting it off.
Yesterday was a rough day for toddler child. It’s not easy being three! We were trying to get out the door to story time. “Where’s my blue coat?” “It’s in the sewing pile, wear this one.” Enter melt down here. He has the cutest little peacoat that he adored last year and can fit again this year, but he wants nothing to do with it, not even the sweet toggle buttons. I don’t normally break in these situations, but I’m at the end of my rope this week. Granted I could’ve just let him wear the sleeve and listened to him gripe the whole way to the library and back, but surely I could whip up a solution in 15 minutes or less.
Enter my makeshift mama moment:
First we trimmed off the burnt edge. It could’ve stayed since it was going to be hidden anyway, but oh well.
I salvaged the exsisting velcro piece to sew back on after. Then I cut of a rectangle piece of fleece and wrapped it around the cuff and sewed it down. This took a little fanagling, but we got it. And reattached the velcro. Tada!
It may not be the prettiest thing to look at, but toddler child was happy and we made it to story time. Plus there’s one less thing in my to do pile!
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Albino Carrots

Posted on November 7, 2011 by Samantha

I think parsnips are a very underrated veggie. The boys call them albino carrots. They have a nuttier flavor and texture than their orange cousins, though their waxy peel can be a little off putting. But I get excited when I find them in the produce section and always bring them home. They generally find their way into soups and being sliced into veggie chips. Last night I found I had macaroni boiling and no true plans for something that resembled a vegetable to go on the side. This is where failing to plan my week’s menus bites me in the keister. The man I married would argue that homemade mac ‘n cheese can stand on it’s own merits, but let’s remember that were he still here I’d still have to be the voice of reason and growing boys need more than cheese alone. Quick rummage through the kitchen and…

Hello parsnips!! Now it could be the giant bowl of Halloween candy, but my sweet tooth has been in overdrive lately and I needed something sweet. How does one make parsnips sweet? Cover them in honey of course! So we took a couple tablespoons of honey and a couple tablesppons of coconut oil. That happened to be what we have around, but I would have used olive oil or similar. I’ve also been craving ginger (there may be cookies in my future) so we threw in about a 1/4 tsp of ginger and 1/4 tsp cinnamon. Mixed it all up and coated our diced carrots and parsnips, there were about 3 parsnips and 3 carrots all medium sized. The macaroni was baking on 350 so they went along for the ride. About 30 minutes later we had a nummy side that the toddler child even ate before touching his macaroni. I wish I had thought to take a picture, but it was pretty and autumny. I love when a pleasant side dish can be just as quick as steamed broccoli, but seem like so much more.

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Welcome to Fall

Posted on November 6, 2011 by Samantha

I guess you could say we’re actually speeding into winter, but summer was dreadfully hot and our Alaskan blood boiled, so the cooler temperatures these days make me happy. It’s enjoyable to be out in the sun and having the leaves crunch under your feet. Fall is a short season in Alaska, blink and you’ll miss it. But here we’re enjoyed every minute of Autumn.

Pumpkin patches and apple orchards have given us fun activities well beyond the days we spent trekking through rows of trees or carting a collection of pumpkins. Alaska has neither pumpkin patches nor pick them yourself orchards, or any orchards to the best of my knowledge. So these were fun outings for the boys. I was amazed at how inexpensive it was to pick your own apples. At $1 per pound we were able to pick enough to make several batches of applesauce and apple butter. It’s all the more satisfying when you did so much of the work yourself.

The kids opted not to carve their pumpkins this year and we spent an hour or so one afternoon painting them. Initially I was a tad disappointed. But I had an epiphany the day after Halloween! I’ve been known to let pumpkins sit out all winter so the moose can eat them. The fridged temps keep them from becoming a disgusting mess and the moose get a treat. Win win! But it’s still warm here and no moose come to visit. But I found myself looking at the little row of intact pumpkins and I realized I could still use them. It’s like the secret life of pumpkins, they had their dress up fun and then could still be practical. So we scooped them up washed of the paint and gutted them. The kids all did Linus impressions “You didn’t tell me you were gonna kill it!” and we set to work. We carefully cleaned and dried all the seeds. (one of our favorite snacks) And then we once again busted out grandma’s little pressure cooker from 1952. Unfortunately, half way through we managed to break the handle. However, my aunt was amazing and ran out and bought a BIG one with the promise I could play with it any time I wanted. Yay me!

We sliced them up and then found that the serrated peeler from Pampered Chef is AWESOME. I already liked it for things like kiwis or peaches, but boy did it make quick work of the thick skins on our pumpkins and we hardly lost any of the flesh. turkey keeps wandering through the kitchen pointing at the jars, “my pumpkin?!” There’s a small competition to see whose pumpkin made the most jars. We now have enough jarred pumpkin to enjoy muffins, pancakes, cookies, pies and anything else we can dream of all winter long. I may never carve another pumpkin again.

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