Nature Fun With Toddlers: Dandelion Curls

When I was little, I remember spending hours in the backyard with my friends...and one of my favorite activities was making Dandelion Curls. I just adored watching those stems curl up and seeing what cool spirals they made.

So, today, on our way back from the little convenience store across the street, LBB and I found a dandelion that still had all of it it's little floater seeds on it. I showed him how to make them fly (towards the parking lot...we don't need to spread the dandelions any more than they do on their own) and then just as I was about to tell him to put the stem back in the grass, I instantly remembered dandelion curls.

We raced back to the apartment, and LBB got to experience Dandelion Curls for the first time. Now, just in case this would be your first time, here's how to make them:

Start with some lovely dandelion stems:

Pluck the heads off. (Sounds gruesome. Ew.) Then peel the stems. If you want thicker curls, peel the stems in half. If you want thinner, than peel as many times as possible. Thicker curls take a bit longer to curl than their thinner counterparts, but they are still cool nonetheless.

Next step? Simply let your toddler or small child drop the stem peels in a bowl of COLD water, and watch them curl! It is really simple, and yet so fun.

And once they curl? Well, you've got nature's springs...and apparently little toddler guys ADORE this.

Just a note...I knew that our lawn hadn't been sprayed yet for weeds. If by some chance you're unsure, you could always wash the stems before you peel them so your little one doesn't get any nasty chemicals on them. And a quick handwash after nature play is never a bad idea. :)

Sunday Book Review: Not Really a Book Review

The majority of the time, getting LBB to sit long enough to read a book (even a short one) from cover to cover is equivalent to pulling teeth.

He just. Doesn't. Like. It.

Then, today, I stumbled upon the miracle fix.

See that pile of books that the adorable little duck is sitting on? We read those in one sitting. Even Dear Sweet Hubby kept giving me those looks that said "Is that our kid?"

Yes, it was our kid. But the secret trick I discovered today?

LBB loves when Lenny the Duck reads to him. In full-on duck voice with quacks mixed in. :)

(Mommy's can be ever so talented, can't we?)

I just started off casually...making funny duck noises and "Lenny" asked LBB if they could read a book. LBB happily obliged. OK, I thought, this is interesting. They read the book together, then Lenny asked to read another book. And another. And a total of 7 books were read. It's a miracle. That's the best way I can put it. LBB cannot sit still. But somehow, Lenny brought the best bookworm out in him. Lenny talked about rhyming. "He" asked LBB questions. They even counted together.

So, Moms and Dads, if you've got a reluctant toddler who doesn't seem to want to sit still for more than a second during book time, I would seriously give this a try! Just grab the nearest stuffed animal or doll, try out your funniest voice, and see where it takes you!

You may just be pleasantly surprised!

And, if the thought of having your little one sit long enough to read a whole book isn't enough to convince you to give it a shot (which I'm sure is not the case), you may even be rewarded with sudden bursts of affection afterwards...much like this little guy had:

He couldn't stop hugging Lenny. He had so much fun he even wanted to pose with Lenny for a picture...that never happens. :)

His New Obsession

LBB is a boy of obsessions.

He's obessed with trains, tractors, and construction equipment.

He knows what he loves, and he has no problem taking his love to the next level. :)

But we have a new obsession.

Slippers.

He's always been partial to slippers. But, after his trip to the ER (which was accompanied by his puppy slippers), he's been inseparable from his slippers. Thankfully he has 3 pairs, because he does not want to wear shoes. At all.

In the past 3 days, he's worn shoes once...and that was a quick trip to the store, and it was a fight to get him to wear the shoes.

On his guy's night out with Dear Sweet Hubby yesterday, LBB wouldn't even let shoes be an option. So, he wore his Cars slippers out. Dear Sweet Hubby and I have decided that this is not a quirk that we feel is troublesome, so we don't fight him on it.

Sure, we may be giving in. But in the realm of things, him wanting to wear slippers at age 2? Not a big deal. :) So we let him wear them. He wears them in the morning. He wears them out. He wears them in the evening. He wears them to bed. And, if I am stealthy enough when we check on him, I am able to slide them off his little feet.

Do your kids have any quirky little obsessions?

I've Been Watching Too Much TV

Kids TV, that is.

We've been doing a pretty good job of limiting LBB's tv watching to 2 hours or so a day lately. But when he was sick, that is all he did. All. Day. Long.

So that's what I did. All. Day. Long. :)

Some thoughts that passed through my head during our tv-athon:

• Elmo can be sooooooo condescending. Case in point: "Why don"t we ask a baaaaab-y? Baby, how do you get dressed? {Tosses hat on baby's lap. Baby stares at him.} Hahahahahahahaha!" Geez, Elmo. Does it make you feel better to pick on a baby? Bully. 
• Have you seen Color Crew? It's a show about crayons. That color. Pretty simple concept. But the crayons, especially the blue one, are little....creepy. Then there's the eraser...he looks and sounds evil. And don't even get me started on the fact that they don't talk (besides to say the color name.) My LBB has enough issues with not talking...I don't need the little bit of tv he watches to encourage that.
• I have MAJOR issues with Chuck and Friends. I get that it's a show about friendship...and bulldozers. What boy wouldn't love that? But here's the deal. I'm NOT ok with how they portray friendship. Am I the only Mom that has a problem with the fact that Chuck is the worshipped friend while the other trucks fade into the background and praise everything he  does, including the (let's be honest) stupid and misbehaving stuff? To make matters worse, Chuck's mom Haulie totally encourages his behavior. In the most irritating episode I've seen, Chuck gets a new horn. Chuck's other friend gets a new siren and a new voice changer. Pretty cool. Now Chuck arrives to the junk yard as his friend is sharing his new siren and voice changer, and gets royally upset that HE wasn't the center of attention. He goes back to his mom's shop (pouting of course) and she asks him: "What's wrong? Didn't you show your friends your new horn?"  I have a major issue with this. It drives me crazy when Moms thinks it's a-ok to just bring their kids around to other kids and show off their new things. And I have an even bigger problem when they encourage their kids to feel that they are more important than their friends. At the end of that episode, Chuck apologizes to his friend for getting upset that he wasn't the center of attention (and stealing his big brothers wheels to try to show off even more). THEN...for some reason, his friend apologizes to him for showing his friends his siren and voice changer and sharing with their friends. WHAT? It's ok to share new toys, which is what his friend was doing, but it's where it's coming from. If you are showing to share, ok. (That's what his friend did.) If you are showing to show off and make yourself look cool, not ok. (Which is what Chuck was doing.) Ugh. Sorry about that...it's a touchy subject. Haha.
• We love Curious George. I love his curiosity.  I love that he uses great problem solving skills. And I think LBB really relates to him. But. What does The Man in the Yellow Hat do for a living? I am sure it has something to do with the museum, but he never goes to work there for long periods of time. He must have money, because his apartment is pretty awesome, and he's got that country place. The country place is apparently his family's. He makes a reference to his childhood there when George finds his old bike. But, his mom is still alive because he emails her. So...how does that all work? At first I thought he his family was dead or something, but I'm realizing that's probably not the case. Any thoughts?
• And my favorite show to let LBB watch? The Backyardigans. Hands down the best, in my humble opinion. Imagination, friendship (the good kind), and outside play? You can't beat that. I love that not all of them play together in every episode...it teaches little ones that it's ok to make other friends. I love that they use their imagniations to have fun adventures. I love that each character is absolutely unique. And I love that at the end of the show, they go to a different friend's house each time for snack. Such a good good show. There is singing and dancing, and my LBB just adores that. :) 

So, that's that. My random thoughts that have been building up in my brain. :) Thanks for reading, and thanks for going through the whole Chuck & Friends rant. Wowzers. :)

Nerve-wracking

This little guy is a bundle of excitement. You never know what's going to happen.

Sometimes he acts like he is going to happily color a piece of paper (what Mommy doesn't love a new drawing to hang up), and then he ends up coloring all over his face. In 5 seconds.

And then sometimes, the excitement isn't so fun. A few days ago, LBB was having a normal LBB day. Then, he woke up from his nap...and he was just burning up. We took his temp, and he was a very warm 101.3. So, we gave him so tylenol. Got him in just his diaper and some shorts, and worked on getting him cooler. An hour later his fever was up, but not by much, so we waited it out. Bedtime rolled around, and his fever hadn't moved much (just a little upwards), but knowing that our pediatrician isn't concerned until it REALLY spikes, we got him to bed and hoped a good night's sleep would take care of it.

An hour later, we checked on him...and he was laying there. Eyes wide open. Completely in a daze. That is definitely not my LBB. If he is awake, he is moving. I immediately worried. We took his temp...and it had shot up to 103.4. Now, I'm a worrywart. I know that. So we called the pediatrician's triage nurse, and while we  waited (impatiently) for a call back, LBB vomitted ALL. OVER. THE. PLACE.

We went straight to the ER. His fever kept spiking, and once he threw up, I didn't care what the nurse said. I wanted to make sure everything was fine. :)

Thankfully, after 2 1/2 hours in the ER, LBB started feeling better on his own. We have no idea what caused the fever. No idea what caused the vomitting. He rested the whole next day and was uncharacteristically calm. He slept on the couch, but by 5pm, he was back to normal and playing choo-choos and giggling away. :)

Thank goodness.

It is nerve wracking when your little one feels so cruddy. That's the highest his fever has ever gone. Something was just weird about it. But, no matter the cause, I'm just glad that he's a-ok now. All day yesterday he was his normal LBB self, and that makes this Mommy very happy.

I like LBB's excitement, but I could pass on the fevers and trips to the ER. :)

Farm Animal Exhibition

We've been having Farm Animal Exhibitions lately.

Actually, it is just LBB that holds these exhibitions. And they are daily.

The most amusing part...the fact that these exhibitions revolve around one very vital part of being a living being.

Each exhibition focuses on {drumroll please}...

...the fact that each animal has a potty place.

The other day he showed Cat #2 that each animal shares a characteristic. He's shown me. He's shown Dear Sweet Hubby. He's shown his GiGi. He's shown his PaPa. It's kind of a big deal. :)

Now if I could just get to get that excited about going potty himself.

Decorating Vintage-The Entry Way Edition

Another "installment" of my Decorating Vintage Series! Today, I'm focusing on a little bit of our entry way. Our apartment has a lovely little entryway...and without anything in it, it seemed like wasted space. Turns out, it was the perfect spot for an entryway table. We took the IKEA expedit coffee table we had, took the legs off of one side, and installed them onto the other legs, making the table much taller. Then we attached the legless side of the table to the wall using some "L" brackets. It's just the perfect height for the entryway...and as an added bonus the cat's litter box fits perfectly underneath. Score.

Now the top of the table? Well, that can be a problem. After all, what better place for clutter to accumulate. But if you take the time to make it look nice, amazingly you have no desire to get the entryway cluttered. :)

And my favorite part (besides the cute handprints of my LBB):

Some of my vintage books and the lovely Brownie Hawkeye camera a dear friend gave me a few Christmases ago. :)

Vintage can be anywhere in the house. When used just right, it gives just the sweetest touch of character to your home.

Do you go vintage shopping at all? What is one thing you are ALWAYS on the lookout for?

It's A Sham.

For a chair. :)

In fact, this chair. Meet Poang:

And meet Cat #2. The furry, dimwitted kitty that loves this chair. Not because it's comfy. No. That's not why at all.

Apparently, Poang has a perfect combination of whatever kitties see as desirable when it comes to ripping apart furniture.

Case in point:

Yes. Lovely, isn't it? No, she's not declawed. I could go into my whole soapbox speech about why we shouldn't declaw cats. But. I'd be lying if I said the thought to get her declawed hadn't crossed my mind. Mulitple times.

But, that ship has sailed. Onto dealing with the chair.

I've been drooling over slipcovers from Bemz. But, my checking account hasn't. And while I would love one of those gorgeous slipcovers, I just can't fathom spending more than...let's say more than $25. I'm thrifty.

Thank goodness I can sew. I  got 2 yards of home decor fabric (on sale for 50% off. Score.) at the fabric store. Then I headed home and went about to making a slipcover sham for the chair.

First, if you are covering a Poang cushion, make sure you get 2 yards of home decor fabric that is 54" wide.

Cut off the lovely white ends so all you see is your beautiful fabric.

Next, fold the top (skinny) over about 3/4". Sew straight down to make one finished edge.

Yes, you'd probably use pins. But, pins hate me, and to be truthful, I'm not too fond of them either. :) They jab me unexpectedly. I forget about them and run over them with my sewing needle. No, pins and I do not get along. At. All. (Although I did have to use them later in the project.)

Now you'll want to cut your fabric in half, from top to bottom (skinny top. I have no idea how best to label this.), essentially making two 26" x 2 yards rectangles. Am I making any sense? If not, check out the picture below. :)

Alrighty. That's what one rectangle should look like. Now...here comes the "play it by ear and hope it works" part.

Take your cushion and lay it on the WRONG side of your fabric. Leave about 10" of fabric on the finished edge side. This will become the top part of the sham. Fold the fabric over.

Now, take the second rectangle, and place it on top of the cushion. Make sure finished edge is by the other finished edge. This will become the bottom part of the sham.

Starting to look like a pillow sham, isn't it?

Now you'll want to trim the bottom of the fabric. I left about 2 inches past the end of the cushion. Does that make any sense? I hope so because I failed to take pictures of this step.

Essentially I ended up with about 6" or so of excess fabric from one piece and about 18" excess from the other.

Next, you'll want to flip the rectangles over so they have the RIGHT sides together. Line up the bottom edge (not the sham edge) and pin. Yep, that's right, I said pin.

You'll end up sewing a square "U". The larger rectangle will be on the bottom, and it will be longer than the smaller rectangle. Make sure you line up the UNFINISHED bottom edge, not the finished edge. Start sewing at the finished edge of the short rectangle, and sew down from there. (This makes your square "U".)

Now, the next part is another cross your fingers and eyeball it. Slip the cushion into the cover, and fold the long edge of the cover over. I estimated where I needed to sew it over into a flap, and it ended up being about a 5" overlap over the short rectangle.

You are just going to sew the two sides from the fold down to the finished edge. You now have one long, rectangular sham, right?

Turn the sham so it is right side out. And begin the awkward task of trying to stuff your cushion into the sham. I don't know what is more difficult...this or trying to put a duvet comforter in. Haha.

But.

If my directions made any sense at all (I sure hope they did...if not, please ask!), you should end up with something like this:

It's not as fitted as the original slipcover. But...I like the way it looks casually comfortable. Dear Sweet Hubby was impressed. And Cat #2 can't quite figure out what happened.

It took me about an hour to do this, from start to finish. I really apologize for the semi-cruddy tutorial, but I hope it gives you an idea of the process. In summary, if you can make a pillow sham, you can make this slipcover. :) It was a lot of eyeballing and estimating, but I'm very happy with the results.

Here's What I've Been Up to Today:

Preschool planning. Preschool planning. Preschool planning.

And I'm loving it. :)

This past year of early preschool with LBB has taught us a few things about what works. What doesn't. And what we need to work on. So I'm having a blast sitting down and actually working on his curriculum.

It is tailor made just for him, so that means I'm putting a lot more work into it than if I ordered a curriculum (which would be nice...I just like to make sure it fits him to a tee. And this is a fun age to plan for!)

But, I've already got the school year calendar done. Planner printed out for the first 5 weeks. Curriculum themes planned for the whole year. And now I'm working on each week individually. My goal is to have the whole year planned, printed, and mostly prepared for before school starts. :) This past year I would do a few weeks at a time, and that caused us to sometimes get...a tad lazy. I'd forget to prep a week, then we'd skip a week. But, no more! I will be prepared!

Once I get the planning done, I get to adapt the dining room to a homeschool room that works for us, so that's my motivation. :)

What has your Monday been filled with? (And sorry for the scattered post...I'm a tad tired. I'm on attempt number 892 of going caffeine free. Wish me luck.)

Sunday Book Review: One-Dog Canoe

I decided that once a week, I'm going to start sharing a book review.

Mostly because the book we read today is just so darn cute. :)

Dear Sweet Hubby, LBB, and I dog-sat my parent's adorable little Shih Tzu this weekend, and LBB did such a wonderful job. He fed her. Hugged her. Gave her treats. Played with her. And even helped put her out for potty time.

He was "Dog-Sitter Extraordinaire."

And to thank him, PaPa and GiGi got him this book:

from amazon.com

It is the cutest story about a little girl who takes her pup out for a canoe ride, only to have lots of forest animals ask to join her on their canoe ride.

The story is written in wonderful rhyme. The pictures are beyond adorable. And the ending is so adorable and almost guaranteed to make a certain 2 year old gasp in delight. :)

LBB thought it was a hoot when the moose asked to join the canoe ride, and when I asked him if he thought the moose would be able to ride in the canoe, he emphatically said "Yeeeaaahhhh." :) Turns out, the Moose could.

So, whether you are looking for just a cute read, taking your little one on their first canoe trip, or studying forest animals, this book is a sure bet.

What I Love About Having a 2 Year Old

I read THIS blog post today, and loved it. It really made me stop for a minute and think about all the wonderful things I love about this stage.

• Watching his imagination unfold. He loves to pretend that he is grabbing the moon or lifting the trees off the side of the road while we drive, then he hands them to us like he is handing something really heavy over.
• Seeing him learn something new everyday. I love when he does a new trick. Learns a new color. Or says a phrase.
• The super big hugs and sloppy kisses.
• Hearing "I got it." For EVERYTHING. His independence can be a bit overwhelming at times, but I love seeing it blossom.
• Hours and hours of trains and cars. Our life revolves around the train table and his car playrug.
• His sense of humor...he has a sense of humor that is amazingly hilarious. He is a master of irony. He went with Dear Sweet Hubby to a store that Dear Sweet Hubby used to work at, and while in there, LBB said, "Oh my. Mesth. (Mess)" And then when we left he was quietly giggling in the back seat saying, "Oh my, Dada work. Mesth." So funny.
• I love the attention he shows to the things he loves. 
• His quirks may be numerous, and he definitely is on the extreme side of things a lot (even compared to most other toddlers), but those quirks make him the unique little guy that he is. They make him see the world in a different light, and as a result, makes us see things in a different light.

I could go on and on. The tough days are tough. (Today was one of them.) But, the wonderful days are over the moon wonderful. There are some unanswered questions about his behavior that we need to talk to his doctor about, but mostly to find ways to help him through the bad days. This stage is so much fun, and even with it's daily challenges I couldn't be happier. I'm trying very hard to remember that each stage of childhood passes so quickly, and making a list like this is definitely a good way to remember that.

What do you love about the age your child is at right now?

Random Musings of Our Week

*Sometimes the only way to take a cute picture of a stubborn toddler is to have Dear Sweet Hubby stand behind me with a play camera. Why will he happily ham it up for a play camera, but not for a real one?

*Gloomy weather after such beautiful weather puts me in a funk.

*It's been 3 months since I last rearranged ANYTHING in our home. Normally I rearrange twice a month (at least.) I'm beginning to go through withdrawls.......

*And it's been a couple of months since I updated anything decor wise in the apartment. This is not normal for me! :) I feel like I should be redecorating something.

*I need to sit down and start preparing LBB's preschool curriculum for next year. We are going to take it easy for the next few months...still learning and all, but it's going to be about time for him to start preschool this Autumn. He will be 3 this school year, after all. Yikes.

*That being said, any tips from homeschooling MaMa's out there when it comes to preschool? I know the basics: have fun, don't take it too serious, and whatnot. But where do you begin planning? Do any of you use curriculum? Input would be greatly appreciated. :)

*Making our first sale in our etsy shop was just as exciting as we thought it'd be. :)

*Sometimes even I get tired of how wishy-washy I am when it comes to decision making. I'm not going to say anymore details on the subject, but I really am the worst at changing my mind constantly.

*Even on extreme-toddler days, life doesn't get any better than when LBB gives me a big hug and kisses my cheek. I am one blessed girl.

Gluten-Free Fish Sticks

LBB is piiiccckkkyyy. I can't stretch that out enough.

He won't touch most anything you give him besides fruits, veggies, and the occasional g-free cookie.

But, he does like fish sticks. Score. Except, of course, that the only fish sticks we could find for him that were gluten free were 6 bucks a box...and that box is small. Now, he loved those fish sticks...but currently my budget doesn't.

So, what's a mom to do? I went on a mission to make some gluten-free fish sticks for him. The tough part? I generally despise eating fish, so I had no idea what a good fish stick tasted like. Fortunately Dear Sweet Hubby does. And the best part about these fish sticks? I even liked them. That's how good they are.

GLUTEN-FREE FISH STICKS

4 fish fillets---we used flounder, and picked up the frozen pouch at the grocery store
1/2 C butter, melted
1/2 C corn meal
1 C crushed brown rice cereal
2 TBSP brown rice flour
1/8 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper

If fish is frozen, defrost until soft enough to cut. (I liked having it still partially frozen. It was easier to cut into strips.)  Preheat oven to 475*F. Cut fish fillets into 3/4 inch strips that are 4 or 5 inches long (think fish stick sized.)

Combine the cornmeal, cereal, brown rice flour, and seasonings in a shallow pie pan. Dip each fish strip into the melted butter, then coat evenly in the cornmeal mixture. Place on a greased baking sheet and repeat for all the other strips.

Place in the oven and cook for 20 to 25 minutes, until the fish stick is flaky. Serve immediately, or freeze in a freezer bag to reheat later for a quick meal.
-----------------------------------------------------------
I hope your family enjoys this g-free, healthy alternative to regular old fish sticks!

A Day at the Zoo

Last week for LBB's preschool, we focused on learning all about the farm. :) LBB had a blast all week...he made animal noises, played with tractors, actually did some of his worksheets, and seemed to have a toy farm animal in hand nearly everywhere he went.

To top it all off, we took a field trip to the zoo and their farm. And since it is Springtime, the farm was bustling with farm babies. What fun! LBB and I went with my Mom, and the three of us had a wonderful day. He got to see a cow milking demonstration, took a ride on the zoo train, and even got to watch the dolphin show! What a very wonderful adventure!

Beautiful American Cream Draft Horse

This badger was a bit of a ham.

Leopard Paw

Love this cool sheep!

Tom the Turkey, strutting his stuff.

Ah, so pretty.

Looking at a hedgehog with GiGi

Telling the calf a story. :)

Last week was such a successful week school wise, and this week? Complete opposite. When LBB gets set, or not set in this case, on doing something, he. Is. Not. Doing. It.

Sigh.

Our theme this week is fine art, which I thought he'd get a big kick out of. After all, art? All week? Well that seems fun. Oh sure. It'd be fun...if you weren't an obstinate 2 year old. :) But, such is life. He is still little, so if there are a few days where he wants to learn through imaginative play instead of what Mommy has planned, that's ok. Soon enough it will be time for him to focus on his required schoolwork, but until then, I'm just going to enjoy each day, no matter what. :)

That's the beauty of starting homeschooling at such a young age. We get to enjoy the lazy days and the field trip days without any worries about missing something.

After all, to a 2 year old, the WHOLE  world is a classroom. :) I think that's how it should be for every age.

We're On Etsy!

Dear Sweet Hubby and I have a love for vintage. And we wanted to pass that love on to others.

So, we kept our eye out for lovely little vintage finds while we were out and about, and we decided it was high time to open up our very own etsy shop.

So, please, stop by!

Our new shop is called The Midwest Barn, and you can find us HERE. We've also put the link our shop on the sidebar, so you can always find our shop that way!

For a limited time, we are offering 10% off at our shop to celebrate our Grand Opening! Just enter GRANDOPENING2012 at checkout. This offer is good until April 30, so place an order before then! And remember, tell your friends!!!!

Thanks!

Decorating Vintage

I'm not an expert when it comes to decorating, by any means, but I have learned a few things since Dear Sweet Hubby and I got our first apartment. It was there, much to his dismay, that I adopted what he so lovingly termed "Nursing Home" style.

Yep, that's my sweet hubby. Keeping it real. :)

But, like I said, since then, my "style" has evolved. I went from nursing home style. For a while our apartment looked like we lived in a cabin in the woods. Then I went through a "primitive Americana" phase. And most recently, our apartment literally looked like we bought IKEA and put it in our home.

Now, though?

Well, now it's a little bit of everything that makes us happy. And what really makes us happy is vintage. More precisely, vintage-industrial. There's a fine line between buying cool old stuff and becoming an antique museum. It takes a lot of balance and awareness of what you're actually bringing home. It also take a lot of knowing that some antiques can be useful as well as beautiful. And in our little apartment, form and function make me a very happy girl. :)

So, I figured that while I may not be an expert when it comes to this stuff, I do know a few things. I'll begin randomly posting various vintage decorating tips now and then.

My first tip, and I think this one is MOST important:

Know what you love.

Dear Sweet Hubby and I love vintage cameras. We love industrial looking goodies. We love distressed pieces. And I have a ginormous soft spot for pyrex. And LBB? Well, our little vintage nut already has a penchant for vintage toys. What better way to decorate a room, right?

Now I love cool old furniture pieces more than anything. But right now, we have our small apartment, and limited funds, so we are quite content mixing our cool vintage pieces in with our modern IKEA furniture. (Although, someday, we will slowly be merging in some cool old furniture along with our modern furniture. It's all a slow, wonderful, creative process.)

In our dining room, we have a cube shelf...the 4x4-cube Expedit shelf. Modern, modern, modern.

But, mix in a little of this:

and a little of that:

Well, now it's not so plain anymore. :)

You're going to have to wait a few posts to see the whole shelf...we're still in the process of doing a few things to fine tune how it looks.

But, did you notice? Awesome old cameras. Cool pink pyrex (from a dear friend of mine.) And a sweet, simple pic of LBB as a baby. It is completely unique to us. The old projector camera was my main Christmas gift from my hubby (he rocks.) The Canon AE-1 was my hubby's (who got it from a family member.)

Vintage. Personal. And nothing close to being just some antiques sitting on a shelf.

Look for things you love. Things that catch your eye. Not every piece you discover will have a super special meaning to it, but when combined with the pieces that do, along with whatever furniture you won, you will end up with a vintage style all your own!

Tell me...what vintage things do you love? What's the one vintage thing you're constantly keeping your eye out for?

The Super-Mom Myth

I've been thinking a lot this morning. Nothing new, I suppose, but I was thinking of the whole super-mom concept. Then I hopped online for a little bit, and came across this lovely post called "Your Children Want YOU!" over at The Power of Moms.

Everything she wrote went along with what I'd been pondering over earlier today.

Super-Mom.

Society would have us believe that we need to "do it all" as Moms. Clean house. Perfectly dressed kids. Always on the go. Involved in 18 gazillion activities. Homecooked meals with fancy desserts from fresh, organic, and local foods. Yadda, yadda, yadda.

And that post I read today is so right...we live in a era of social media, and it's even easier now to get sucked into what we aren't doing and what we need to do better.

Now, don't get me wrong. I love making delicious meals from organic and local foods. I love having a clean and lovely house. I love doing new things with my LBB and introducing him to the world around us. I love when LBB wears dapper little clothes and his face is spotless and his hair is staying in place (even if it's just for a moment.)

But.

I also love lazy days when we watch too much tv. I love hearing his giggles as he see Blue doing something funny with Steve. I love the super-duper, extra cuddles we share during those lazy days.

I love hanging out in his room playing for endless hours. I love pretending we are chefs. I love playing with his imaginext ninjas. I love building boats out of his blocks.

I love when we spend a whole day with Dear Sweet Hubby doing absolutely nothing. I love when we all take a nap on a sunny afternoon.

And you know what? Sometimes, among all that stuff, things get messy in the house. Dishes don't get done right away. Here's the thing though...at the end of the day, that stuff can get cleaned up. I don't need to be following him around picking up every single mess I see. Sometimes I get trapped into cleaning when I'm supposed to be playing.

Why?

Because I worry. I worry that if someone came over, they'd think less of me if my house was messy. I worry that when Dear Sweet Hubby gets home from work he'd be slightly irritated if things were less than perfect. I worry that if my mom stops by and sees my house slightly messy, she'll think I am a terrible mom.

WHY?

Why do I think these things? First of all, none of them are true. My true friends don't care what my house looks like. Dear Sweet Hubby probably wouldn't even notice...he's just glad to see us and be home from work. And my Mom raised me. She dealt with my messy room when I was a kid. :)

God wants me to keep an orderly home, and I do. We don't live in a pig-sty, but we definitely don't live in a palace. Things aren't alphabetized like they used to be before I had LBB, but they don't need to be.

Society has one idea of "Super Mom". But my little guy's idea of me, now that's what matters. I want to be his "Super Mom."

Now, I'm not saying my house is a disaster and that it's ok to not do anything. I love to have a clean house. I love to decorate. I love to do crafts. But I don't want all that to consume me.


I looked up "Super Mom" on Urban Dictionary, and this is what the entry said:

"Fun, energetic Moms who love parenting. Not the stereotype of the women who wear pearls and greet their mate at the door with a casserole in hand, these moms have thrown off the pearls and donned jeans and t-shirts instead. The habitat they are most likely to be found in is the playground, the grocery store in the organic produce section, the closest library or participating with their kids in any fun activity you can think of.

Not to be confused with Moms who think they are wearing proverbial capes and can "do it all". Super Moms are just having super fun!"

Now, I like that.

That's a good definition for Super Mom, and one that I think my LBB would agree with. :)

Grandma's Refrigerator Pickles

I'm not a big fan of pickles.

But Dear Sweet Hubby is.

And after going through lots of store-bought jars, I decided there had to be a better way. (Have you glanced at the ingredients in that jar? Yikes. I don't think something as simple as pickles should have high fructose syrup listed in the ingredients list. But that's just me.)

Anyhoo.

Luckily, my Grandma had a wonderful recipe for Refrigerator Pickles. And I'm tellin' you...it couldn't get any simpler than this. Not to mention inexpensive. A jar of fresh pickles costs me about $2. You can't beat that!

REFRIGERATOR PICKLES


7 cups washed, sliced cucumbers
1 cup sliced onions
1/2 cup chopped peppers of  your choice (optional)
3 TBSP salt
2 cups sugar
1 cup vinegar
1 tsp celery seeds 


Put cucumbers, onions, and peppers in large bowl and sprinkle with salt. Let stand for one hour; drain.


Mix sugar, vinegar, and celery seeds and pour over cucumbers. Transfer to airtight container, and put in refrigerator. Let stand for 3 days before enjoying. Will keep in airtight container for up to 3 months.

The best thing about this recipe? Besides the sheer simplicity and thriftiness? It's just a base recipe. The batch I made most recently I omitted the peppers and celery seed and just added a little garlic powder instead. (Dear Sweet Hubby gave it the seal of approval today...the batch just got done. I practically have to lock these things away until they are ready. haha.)

I've added dill instead of peppers to make dill pickles. There are so many options with this recipe!

Enjoy!

Because Walk-In Closets Can Hold So Much More Than Clothes

LBB has the "master bedroom" in our apartment. Mostly because, let's face it...he's got more than just a bed and a dresser (like Dear Sweet Hubby and I do.)

It just made sense that he had the bigger room. And, the bigger room comes with it's very own walk-in closet. Lucky kid. (Along with his own bathroom...I think a bathroom just for kids is a lifesaver. All those bathtoys get to just hang out in the tub indefinitely. haha.)

Anyways. I digress. Back to the closet.

He started out having his clothes hanging in the closet. Then, we trimmed down how many clothes he had, and were able to fit them into his IKEA stuva wardrobe. So, that left an empty closet. And, I'm a big fan of empty closets. :) After all, closets, when used correctly, can nearly be a very task-oriented room.

We got that cute little playkitchen at Goodwill...for a whooping $3.99. For a long time it sat in our dining room right next to the kitchen. I had great plans of LBB play-cooking while I cooked. Instead, the dining room turned into a regular mine-field full of play-utensils and wooden food.

It HAD to get moved. Thank goodness for empty closet space, right?

And with just a few small projects, LBB's walk in closet turned into a veritable play-kitchen.

I used my cricut and cut "Buster's Diner" (with the wall vinyl) to make the perfect little sign for his kitchen. The car rug was SUPER cheap at IKEA (but don't ask me how much...I can't remember.) My Mom and Dad got him the wall clock on the left. LBB loves "telling" time...of course, it's always 2 o'clock. And it's always "nommy" time. But, it's toddler-world, so it works. And, of course, Slink the Dog is man's best friend, and therefore, in the kitchen at all times.

We then decided that we needed something to make the space a little more "kitcheney." So, off to IKEA we went. (Have I ever mentioned that I love IKEA?) We got those two wall pockets, the two bars, hooks, and the basket, and it barely even dented our pocketbook. I like that. :)

We had two little decorative hooks on hand, which we used to hang up the ADORABLE chef's hat and apron my Mom made for LBB for Christmas. (The chef's apron says "I'm the next play-food network star.")

And those wall pockets? Ah, pure bliss. They are like miniature cupboards that he can put his food in.

And at this point, this is the farthest we have gotten with the corner. We picked up this cute vintage bookshelf at Goodwill, and it fit perfectly in between the wall and built in shelving. :) Literally, there's 2 inches or so of space. We want to paint it, but are kind of waiting until a later date. Paint or no paint, though, it's still perfect for keeping his pots, pans, dishes, mixer, and some more playfood in one spot. And notice the doggy? LBB is a big fan of doggies. They seem to be everywhere around his room. :)

So, there's a tour of LBB's play-kitchen! Sorry the pictures aren't the greatest...it's a weird layout in the first place to try to get a good picture of, but when combined with my bleh-camera and bad lighting, the odds were against me. :)

FACT:

Bears eat beets.

(Just a little "The Office" humor for you.)

But, supposedly beets also make good....wait for it....

...dye for Easter eggs.

Who would've guessed.

LBB goes completely berserk shows a slight aversion to artificial dyes, and it got me to questioning how good is it to have your eggs be SOAKED in artificial dye. Not that there's anything wrong with it...if LBB wasn't sensitive to those darn dyes, I'd so be buying the dye kits with the cute little rabbit on them.

But, he is sensitive.

And by golly, sometimes that dye leaks onto the egg itself. And that just can't be good.

So, this year we are attempting to dye our eggs the "natural" way. So far I've made red-purplish dye (using the beets) and blue dye (using red cabbage.) No word yet on how they look on eggs, but sitting in bowl, the colors are beautiful. We use brown eggs, and according to some different things I've read about natural dying, these natural dyes look beautifully muted on them. We're pretty psyched.

What about you? Have you ever dyed eggs naturally? Would you? (And if you want to see the recipe for making the dyes, click HERE.)

I'll let you know how they turned out. :)

My New Addiction

I loved picnik.

So when they announced they'd be closing, I was a tad depressed. And then I found PicMonkey.

And I love this even more. I'm not sure why, but I like the actions better. I like the simplicity. And boy oh boy, do I love the way it makes my photos look. :) Here's a few I've done in the past 12 hours. (it's become an addiction. I've spent all my free time digging through my facebook albums trying to decide which photos I want to edit next!)

It makes the pictures that my cruddy camera takes into something special. :) Trust me, once you play on there once or twice, you'll be hooked.