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"Mommy, I need to sing at the computer now"

Deacon and I figured how to use iSight on our Macbook to make videos.  Why did it take us so long?  The only problem is that he is always asking if he can sing at the computer.  Here's a video of him singing the first 3 (out of 9) verses of the metrical version of the 10 Commandments.  Andy has been teaching it to us during family devotions.  Can you tell that Deacon is enjoying watching himself on the screen?
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vD-Yk1_PPTU]

Here's the text incase you're not super skilled in interpreting 3 year old talk:

My soul, recall with reverent wonder how God amid the fire and smoke

Proclaimed His holy law with thunder from Sinai’s mountain when He spoke:

 

I am the Lord, your God and Sovereign, who out of bondage set you free,

Who saved you from the land of Egypt. Then serve no other gods but me.

You shall not bow to graven idols, for I, a jealous God, your Lord,

Shall punish sin in those who hate me, but love all those who keep my Word

Ginger Beer

Ok, I've made quite a few homemade things that have made people scratch their heads saying "How do you do that exactly?" but I've never made my own soda. I'm thinking about giving it a try. Read this article and maybe you'll be inspired too.  It seems pretty simple and you know how I like to have things growing in my kitchen.

the bacteria that is growing in my kitchen

About 4 months ago, I sent a self addressed stamped envelope to these people and a couple of weeks later, that envelope was filled with a very small baggie containing about 1 tsp. of white flakes.  I got all giddy and immediately started reviving this sourdough into an active starter.  The legend is that this sourdough starter has been alive since the Oregon Trail times.  The man that started this all was Carl Griffith.

"Carl T. Griffith, who gave a sourdough starter to anyone who asked, or who sent him a self-addressed stamped envelope, died early in the year 2000 at the age of 80. He is known for his generosity and the high quality and vitality of his sourdough starts, which came from a sourdough culture carefully nurtured and preserved in his family for over 150 years."

Since Carl has passed, his friends and family have been continuing the tradition by sharing the starter with anyone who wants it for free.  Isn't that just so fun?

When I first got the starter, I experimented with sourdough bread for a couple of weeks and found the San Francisco bread to be the tastiest, especially as french toast.  I also made an incredible pizza crust and can't for the life of me find the recipe I used.  When I tried to duplicate it on Deacon's Birthday, it majorly flopped and I sent Andy out to Little Caesar's just before our company arrived.  

Here's what's been going on in the land of sourdough bread at my house this week.  It seems like a lot of work, but it's REALLY not.  I'm finding that sourdough bread can be quite flexible for you as long as it has enough time to do its thing.  And if you don't have enough time, just add some commercial yeast to help it rise like normal bread. 

• Sunday: Fed Sourdough Starter and let sit overnight
• Monday: Started a sponge for sanfrancisco sourdough by adding flour and water to some starter and letting sit for 24 hours
• Tuesday: Added more flour, water and salt to sponge to make bread dough, kneaded for 15 minutes, let rise 2 hours, deflated, let rise another hour, kneaded again a tiny bit and put into loaf pans.  By now, It's like 9:00pm, so I put the bread in the fridge so that it wouldn't rise too much.
• Wednesday: The bread didn't rise much in the fridge so it is now rising in the oven with the light on.

I expect to start baking this bread within the next hour.  It's fun because you get to spritz the side of the oven with water and watch it steam up.  That makes the crust nice and hard.

And here's the other yummy living food I made this week.

Homemade yogurt isn't as difficult as it seems either.  All you need is milk and some yogurt or a yogurt starter.  I have a yogurt maker so I use the directions from it, but I have heard that you really don't need one to make your own.  You can use a crock pot or your oven to make it.  Honestly, it really tastes the best with whole milk both thickness and texture but you can make it reduced fat or fat free by thickening it up with powdered milk which I have done before.  It is a great healthy alternative to commercial yogurt to give to the children also.  Deacon likes his with crunchies (granola) on top.  I like to put a bit of honey to sweeten it as well.

So there you have it, some good old fashioned food science right here in my kitchen.

The bedroom is still in the works, we ran out of paint so we have just a bit more to go before it is completely painted. I have a few DIY decorating projects that I'm planning to do in there too.  I'm excited.  My first order of business is to go buy a staple gun.

Some of the music I've been listening to lately...

In the Car: Joshua Tree, U2

As I'm painting our bedroom (that's a whole 'nother post): Robinella

On an afternoon run: Boxer, The National

When I'm supporting local music: Dylan Sneed,  Hannah Miller and Mark Mathis

When I need inspiration to practice my banjo: Crooked Still, Tallest Man

While the kids are playing: The Weepies

After the kids go to bed and before I do: Mason Jennings

When Andy's coming home and I want him to be in an especially good mood: M.Ward

During Family Devotions: The 10 Commandments

When I'm rocking Owen to sleep in the middle of the night watching the Public television channel: The Police Reunion Tour

Now back to painting... Before, during and after pictures will follow this week.

Cheers.

stretching your dollar

I've been using equal parts dishwasher soap (the cheap stuff from aldi), borax and baking soda. Use 2 Tbsp in your dishwasher for each load. It gets the dishes real clean. Try it, you'll save so much money.
You can also use borax to stretch out your laundry soap, it's great stuff. Not all grocery stores carry it, but Target does.

Check out www.stretcher.com for more dollar stretching advice.  Also, if you're so inspired to try to get a hold of your budget- as I have been lately, www.mint.com is an incredible free and easy to use tool.

Quote

"It is better to keep your mouth closed and appear stupid than to open it and remove all doubts."
-Mark Twain

As I look out the window

The boys have spent the majority of the day outside. Currently, Deacon is blowing bubbles and Owen has taken a seat on the driveway examining a collection of leaves and blades of grass. It's days like this that I'm so glad to be a stay-at-home mom. What a blessing it is to really enjoy this beautiful weather we are having. I'm going to go back outside and pull some weeds. I'm super excited about getting the yard under control.

Andy is picking me up a Compost Bin from the city today and I found a place that you can pick up as much free mulch as you can take. I spent about 2 hours pulling over-grown monkey grass but there's so much more to go.

Since Heidi asked, here's a picture of Andy's 1979 Vespa that was taken by Devona.  Lovely, isn't it?  Maybe Andy will let me take it for a spin this afternoon.

The Quest

I've been trying to change the way I've been eating for the better lately.  I'm amazed at how quickly I can get full on so much less food than I was eating before.  It's been a real challenge for me though at night after the kids are in bed; the urge to snack is very strong.  I've lost 2 pounds in the past week which isn't much but it's a start.

There were 2 things that pushed me to start paying more attention to how I was eating: 1)I have a gig coming up that is going to be filmed and played on a local TV station and 2) Heidi's success with her eating journey.

So what have I been doing?  Eating lots and lots of salads!  Salads for atleast 1 meal a day, and sometimes a side for the other meal.  If it's the meal I always "beef" it up with egg whites, tuna, fish or chicken and lots of yummy veggies.  A typical day would look like this: Breakfast: Oatmeal with dried fruit, walnuts, 1 tsp brown sugar and 1/4c whole milk on top (YUMMMY).  Snack: Apple, banana, orange or fruit smoothie.  Lunch: Beans and Rice or a salad.  Snack: Granola bar or fruit or yogurt.  Dinner: Grilled Marinated Chicken with a veggie side and some rice or couscous.  Then I'm done eating for the day.  No more mindless snacking throughout the evening.  Sometimes if I'm about to go to the gym, I have a hard boiled egg as I'm leaving the house.  My trick is to plan out my snacks and it really keeps me from doing anything stupid.  It's not hard to grab a banana or granola bar before I leave the house and eat it when the time is right.  

It's actually been quite good for the grocery and restaurant budget as well which is a major bonus.  So I hope I can stay on track a bit more with this plan so that it just comes very naturally to me and I can lose those remaining pounds that I gained during pregnancy.  

The sad thing is that I'm going to take a bit of a hiatus from baking bread.  The kids have been coping with whole grain waffles with peanut butter and tortillas with cheese but it's not the same.  I'll start making it again soon.  I'm just trying to build up my will power a bit more.

I can make it!

While following some crazy rabbit trail about making children's clothing, I found this great site called "You Can Make This."  I downloaded the pattern for the boy's (and girl's) romper.  It was just all too perfect for my needs, with sizes from 3mo to 4T.  I could make pants, shorts, little ones for O and big ones for D.  These are simply my FAVORITE sorts of things to dress my boys in during the hot SC summer months.  

While I'd like, someday, to be able to truly call myself a sewer, I have to admit that for a while I was really scared of making anything involving curves and patterns.  It just seemed like too much attention to detail to me.  I've made appliques for t-shirts once for the boys, along with a couple of backpacks, but no clothing.  While this romper was rather simple to make with the pattern, there would be no way I could do this without one.  This was my first attempt at sewing clothes and I am so happy with the outcome.

They still need buttons, but aren't they cute?  This is a light seersucker fabric lined with white cotton.  I'm going to leave them long for a few more months and then hem them shorter when it warms up.  This is the 18mo size.  I'm planning to make a bigger one for Deacon using this fabric.   I'll probably  applique a train on them, or maybe an airplane.  These will be their Easter outfits this year--if I can make it happen.  (Andy says I should leave off the trains, planes and automobiles until after Easter.  I'm not sure that's necessary.)

I noticed that the colors really match Owen's name train that he got for his first birthday from grandma.  Maybe I'll get Owen's photo taken while wearing the romper and playing with the trains.  Won't it be so cute?  He really is rather photogenic, don't you think?

He's a little bit cartoony too.  Once I get buttons on it and my camera back, I'll take pics of Owen wearing them.  (Photobooth doesn't have a "kids and pets" function, so there's no way I could get a clear picture of him using the computer.)

Despite my best intentions

to blog often enough to get a bit if inertia on this blog, I've been quite busy caring for and cleaning up after sick children this week. I'm exhausted and praying that I will not catch the bug.

Andy left my camera in Columbia, so the new blogs won't have my pictures, but I have some good ideas for posts for next week and possibly even sound clips from my most recent gig at the sylviatheater.

Some of the things I'd like to cover in the next few days are:
-Groceries: Budgeting, planning, and ways to cut the bill.
-The new easter coveralls I am (planning on) making for the boys.
-My new aqua trench coat and other great thrift store finds- I seriously made out like a bandit filling up a trash bag for $7!
-A new way of eating, and response to Heidi's quest for thinness diet.

Cheers.