friendship bread

I think friendship bread is called that because you have to share the batter with friends, but also because only a friend can give you a 10 day long cooking assignment with out you throwing it back in their face.

So here's what we got from hubby's aunt 10 days ago: a gallon bag of batter and a sheet of directions. The drections tell us what to do each day. Days 1-4 you are just to smoosh the bag and let any air out, day 5 you add 1 c flour, 1 c milk, and 1 c sugar and smoosh the bag. Day 6-9 you smoosh the bag and remove the air.

Day 10 we are to prepare 4 new gallon bags. You pour the contents into a large bowl and add 1 1/2 c flour, 1 1/2 c sugar and 1 1/2 c milk. From this mixture, you pour 1 c each into the 4 bags.

With whats left in the big bowl you add:
3 eggs
1 c oil (or 1/2 c or less oil and apple sauce to make 1 c)
1 c sugar (or 1/2 c if you want)
2 t cinnamon
1/2 t vanilla
1 1/2 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
2 c flour
1 lg box instant pudding (any flavor will work)

We used coconut cream pudding, but anything should be OK. It's also best to let you staff sit on the counter.

Here's my tip for cooking with little folk. It's simple, but I did share a rather simple bookmark tip yesterday, so apparently anything goes here. When we measure out ingredients, I do the scooping and measuring from the jar/box/etc. Then, I dump it into my little helper's larger container, usually a measuring cup. They still get to add the ingredient, but there is much less chance that they spill the whole thing on the way to the big bowl.

Cooking with little people is a great way to work on math skills. This recipe needed 4 scoops of flour (4 -1/2 cup scoops). I told Bee that we needed 4 scoops and each child needed to add the same amount. How many scoops would each of them get to add? Her answer was 2 and my 4 year old just did some division. Bee and Lou each added one scoop each. I asked Lou how many scoops were left. He answers 2 and my 2 year old just did some subtraction.

The recipe makes 2 regular sized loaves. Bake for 1 hour at 325 degrees. The hard part is to try to get pictures before it gets gobbled up.

I am not 100% sure how you would start a starter. I would guess that you might start on day 5 with the 1 c flour, 1 c sugar and 1 c milk. Then, when it's time to divide up the batter, I suppose you would have only 3 to give away and 1 portion to bake. I suppose it would work.

guest post- book holder

Have you met my guest blogger yet? If you've been around here much, I'm sure you've read about her. She is very artistic and super talented in a number of ways. If you ask her what she's good at she says it's "climbing trees and keeping my room clean." I've seen her room... I would have to disagree.

Here's our guest for the day. Her name is Bee and she's 4. She likes princesses, jumping, and fancy jewelry. She is excited about kindergarten (which isn't for months) and says she's ready for her own etsy shop. She is mine and rather clever.


She was pretty proud of herself recently when she came up with a clever idea for holding your spot in a book if you can't find a bookmark. She showed me and then said, "I bet some people online would like to know about this. Can I put it on your blog?"

She came up with this in the car one day when she didn't have a book mark. She explains how it works: "You just open you book and lay it on your lap.

Then, you find another book and also open it.


Fold your book over the other one and there you go."


Cleverness from a 4 year old.


She is sharing a craft project on here soon. It's also pretty neat. In the meanwhile, here is a recent flower picture that she painted for me. It's my favorite so far.

sew cute socks

Well, this is not my guest post as I thought that I would be having today. Further ramifications of previously mentioned computer virus. I'm calling it a computer ATTACK! Maybe I should get a mac.

One of the issues I'm having is that I can't upload pictures from my camera to the computer as well as upload pictures from my computer to blogger. (Also can't print anything!) Here is something from my 'vault' of in-progress posts though. It's back from February.

We received these fun socks from Carol at Sew Cute as a little valentines gift to Bee. We sent her a pair of socks and she returned the favor. We made out much better in this deal than she did! How cute are these? They have buttons and beads crocheted around the tops. Bee likes them so much and they jingle just a tad.

Another crafty friend (the goat friend- sorry, I must come up with another way to refer to you!) and I sat and studied them and tried to figure out how she got the beads and buttons on while crocheting. We came up with three different methods, all of which were overly complicated and time consuming once I learned the real method.
Carol doesn't have any in her shop now, maybe she'll put some up sometime. I'm sure she'd make you some up though if you emailed her. (Hope it's OK that I'm volunteering you Carol!) Here's her etsy shop and blog.

Who knows what you'll find here tomorrow. Hopefully it's my surprise guest blogger- but it could be a vault item... sigh.

my thoughts on cloth diapers

A friend of a friend emailed me this week about cloth diapers. I get asked about them from time to time (more a few ago than now) and am always happy to share my thoughts. I have 4 years of cloth diapering under my belt. I love them. As much as someone can love a diaper. I realize that this topic is not relevant to most- so, see ya tomorrow for my guest poster.

(This is Lou at maybe 6 months ish)

Here's my standard response to friends who ask- in fact I copied and pasted the reply to my friends this week:

I say go fuzzi bunz all the way. I can't say enough good things about them.

cost and number- We bought 14 or so with Bee and then were able to use them again with Lou. They lasted 2 years on each kid! Then I was still able to re-sell them! The 4 year used ones went for like $4 a piece (the elastic was pretty much shot, they were only good for 'at home' use. The 2 year used ones went for $6. We got them for $12-15 a piece (although I see they are $18 now). With Lou, we picked up an additional 6 or so, then we didn't have to wash every day. With Bee, we just washed everyday or 1 1/2 days. They were easy to use and even hubby was on board with them.

size- We bought Bee's when she was 4 months old and she wore size medium from 4 months- 25 months when she potty trained. With Lou, we bought some size smalls and he wore them from 3 weeks- 4 months. Then he wore mediums from then until 24 months when he potty trained. Honestly, Bee can still squeeze into a medium at age 4 (she still needs a little something at night time and every once in awhile, we run out of what she wears and I stick her in a fuzzi bunz).

Routine- with Lou: We used them all day, except at night (because Lou would sleep through the night (generally) if we didn't change his diaper. He was a time pee(er) at night and would soak though a FB. anyway. He wore them all day. You do have to change more frequently than with disposable. When we went out we carried a wet bag (a small cloth bag lined with some fabric laminate) and just changed as needed and put the wet ones in the wet bag. You just have to make sure that you empty those out when you get home and not leave them in your diaper bag for a few days. stink! We threw them in a laundry basket on top of the dryer and just washed every other day. The smell was minimal because they were not in a closed in area and in a breathable basket. Some people buy a large wet bag and use it like a laundry bag. It was not a big deal to throw in a extra load. With Bee, we filled up the washing machine tank with some water at the beginning of the day and just threw in both parts of the diaper (you pull out the insert) as we changed her. At the end of the day, we washed.

Doing the laundry- We sometimes dried them in the dryer, but a lot of times, we hung them on the drying rack. To wash- you'll find all different methods. If the tank was full of water, I would finish that rinse and then do a hot wash with a tiny bit of laundry soap and then another cold wash no soap. If the tank wasn't full, I did two hot washes and called it a day. Sometimes I did a cold rinse, hot wash, cold rinse. It doesn't matter, you'll find what works for you. Here's a site that compares different laundry soaps on cloth diaps.

(This is Lou's first Christmas. He and Bee are watching a little puppet show- He is 7 months here and bee is 2 1/2)

Poo- most people are scared of the poo. With breast fed kids, the yellow mustard seed infant poo is no big deal. You just throw it in the wash. It's doesn't stain the diaper at all or smell on the clean diapers. When they start eating solid food, it thickens up you know. I would just shake off any 'chunks' (lovely to talk about!) in the toilet and throw the rest in the wash. This is gross, but if it was chunky but kinda stuck to the diaper, I might have taken a piece of toilet paper and tried to wipe some off. The FB are lined with fleece and the poo actually kinda 'peels' off as you give it a little shake over the potty. I never swooshed them in the toilet water, like you have to with old school cloth diaps. We did try some old school folded diapers and didn't like them- we also tried some all-in-ones and they took forever to dry. I also didn't like the hemp. It was crunchy.

Sunning and stripping- Occasionally, you have to 'strip' the diapers. They get a build up from the laundry soap (you never use diaper cream, bleach, or fabric softeners!) and you have to strip that off. This is also easy. You just throw in the diapers with a few drops of dawn dish soap and wash on hot at least 2 times. Maybe 3. Some people add a bit of vinegar too. Then, I would sun them. To sun them, you just hang outside with the lining side facing the sun. It really gets them fresh and clean.

Flannel wipes and diaper cream- You can use regular wipes, but you are washing anyway, so using cloth wipes is just as easy. They just get thrown in with the diapers. I used flannel wipes made out of old receiving blankets. (I sewed mine together to be 2 layers thick) I kept them wet in a wipe warmer. I added 1-2 drops of tea tree oil and some water in the tub and it kept them wet and warm and fresh. If we were out, I would just run them under water in the bathroom or I had a tiny wet bag (or zip lock) and got them wet before we left the house and just used them out of the bag. Also, since diaper rash cream will mess up diapers (you'd have to strip them all day to get it out), you can use a little and then place a one layer thin flannel wipe between that and the diaper. I so rarely needed to use rash cream because you are changing more often and the fleece wicks away the wetness. Plus there aren't those chemicals sitting on the tush all day to irritate it. Plus, generally cloth diaper parents are breast feeders (just what I've seen), there are less diaper rashes there too for a number of reasons.

Drawbacks- One draw back is that their tush is fluffy. Bee and Lou needed clothes a size bigger for some time. Although they were chunky babes, so they needed the looser pants anyway. It is easier to have them in sweats or other loose/stretchy/comfy pants rather than jeans or something tighter. This may throw off your sizing for awhile. But- on a good note, Bee had jeans (18mo or 2T) that she wore at 12 mo (rolled up) that we wore as capri as 2 and shorts at 3. She just needed that room in the waist and bottom as a tiny tot.

Potty training- I also think they potty train faster. They seem more aware of when they go and there's a bit of motivation to have a bulky diaper off. Disposable diapers are so thin and easy, I think some kids don't mind wearing them. Lou trained the month he turned 2 and bee was almost trained at 18 months- then was in the hospital for a week with rota-virus and we reverted. She was fully trained at 25 months. (expect admittedly, nighttime)

There's my book. I've typed all that out a number of times for friends, now I can just tell them to go look it up.

eye spy fun

We were attacked by some crazy computer virus this weekend. Thankfully, between my hubby and our computer savvy neighbor, we are back up and running. We have a new operating system and photo upload thingy, so I'm still figuring things out. Here's an old post I had in the docket.... but I have pictures from Easter and a few other projects coming this week as well as my first guest blog. My guest has two posts coming this week- one is a current sewing project and the other is a handy household hint. It's good stuff.

We've been having fun with eye spy games. Lou is surprisingly good at searching out little pictures. We have gotten a few real eye spy books at the library and have a few off brand princess and train themed spy books. Recently, we've been playing with these printouts.

It was a bit time consuming at first, but it'll be faster now that I have the images copied already... I copied and pasted black line clipart from google images. I just searched "outline tea pot clipart" or whatever image. I just copied and pasted into a word doc. Once the page was full, I printed off a few and we got started. We all took turns saying something like, "I spy a football helmet" or "I spy something you wear to help you see better." Then we searched them down and colored them in. If you laminated them, you could use an erasable marker and reuse them.

Now that I have the images already, I will just add a second page to my document and move the pictures down and move them around. It'll be a whole new game.

I'd share the file.... but it looks like that was not one of the files that was backed up. I lost it to the virus. Rather that than the months of pictures I haven't printed out. I might do that today!

Here's another one I found online that is printable:  

skirt donation

We are traveling for the holiday(s). Do people say that about Easter? It's a holiday... so I guess I can say it. Anyway. We are out of town, but I've been meaning to pass this along-

I posted recently about the seeds for sewing project for the Haiti. Randi collected 291 skirts! Isn't that awesome! See a picture of them all here.

Easter pics

Here are my lovelies in their Easter outfits. Bee had an Easter party at school this past week and she wanted to dress up. Lou was willing and I wasn't going to pass a chance to dress him up. He's getting so particular about what he wears. Mostly it's an Alex shirt or a way to small basketball t-shirt.

They just love each other so much. They are still planning a winter wedding. They really don't get it why siblings can't marry. Someday I might use it as blackmail. A lot of days they'll just go play together in one of their bedrooms and randomly we'll here one of them say, "Bee, I just love you." They're sweet.

Pretty sure I'm going to eat them up!

I did not make a single thing they are wearing, though I had planned to. I found Bee's dress at a consignment shop for $6 and Lou's at a mom-to-mom sale for $4. I couldn't have made anything for that amount. Lou's shoes are brand new (guess you can't see them- they are white K-Swiss) and also came from the sale for $5. Bee's sweater and shoes were a last minute run to Kohl's as last years sweater and shoes are officially retired. It's was about time. The sweater was even from two years ago.

Happy Easter!

stealing? I think not.... it's recycling (and a grilling recipe)

Hubby just shakes his head when I come back from the recycling place. People generally come home empty handed. They take things, they don't bring them home. I on the other hand get a little giddy on recycling day. They have a huge container full of magazines. I pick through and select a few gems that I might read. I also, of course, take our pre-sorted cardboard, newspaper, and general junk mail.

I like having a few good magazines for guests to thumb through, and this is a great way to keep a good supply on hand. When I'm done, I take them to the gym and leave them in the magazine case. Cooking magazines make for great work out reading material! You've gotta remind yourself why you're there!

Here an easy recipe that I tore out from one of the magazines. I can't remember what magazine it was though.

Grilled Ranch Steak

thin sirloin steak

ranch dressing (a regular old bottle, not the envelope- unless of course you make it up like the bottle stuff)

red potatoes

-Place wooden skewers in water and soak them to prevent burning while grilling. Clean and cut red potatoes in large chunks- or don't cut at all if they are small creamer potatoes. Trim up steak a little and cut steak in 1 inch or so strips. String meat and potatoes on skewers. The pretty picture in the magazine had them like layered- like piece of meat, potatoes, next spot of meat folded up, potato, top edge of meat. It doesn't really matter, just get it all on there. Place them in a 9x13 with loads of ranch dressing. Get them all covered and slathered. Grill until meat is done. I think it took about 15 minutes. If you forget about your grilling and talk to the neighbors until you fear you've burnt everything- it's probably OK too. It's good to have nice neighbors.

While you have the skewers out, why not string up some fruit. Yum! Another fun fruit on a stick project coming soon. Bee has leader day again next week- do you think the kids will poke themselves?