Late Monday Knitting

So I´ve been thinking about what to make during the Ravelympics and am throwing around a few ideas.

Maybe I´ll make an Ombre Basket by Liz

Or the Honey Cowl by Madelinetosh

Or a couple of Langstroths for my boys for the trip to Iceland this fall.

Or Snowbird by Heidi which is perfect for my pregnant and then newly post pregnant body this fall.

Or the Abi by Barroco which will be flattering when I´m shrinking back from having this baby.

These are all photo´s from the designer

Please vote fore which ones you think I should knit.

Late Saturday Personal Update

O enjoying the fact that we were home for the morning.

We are enjoying a long weekend this weekend. My husband took Friday off so that we could enjoy 4 days. Yesterday we went to the park and to the store to shop for the weekend. Now we are stalked up and ready to get stuff done around the house. We mowed and cut back vines today. Will do some more weeding later to finish getting the front beds ready.

M LOVES his trains

I´ve been knitting this week, working on a new design. Will show some pics on Monday. I´m pretty proud of what it looks like so far. More of a manly design this time around. Something you can make for your man.

I went to my first book club meeting yesterday. We discussed what we will be reading and so on but we couldn´t come to a conclusion. It was amazing though to get out of the house by myself for the first time in 3 weeks.What are some of the books you have read lately that you just couldn´t put down?

Waffles made from scratch this morning.

My husband's grandmother's old waffle maker

I did not get as much decluttering done this week as I wanted to. I should head up to my bathroom and do an overhaul of my cabinets there. I also have a linen closet that is busting at the seams but I only use half of the stuff in there. I´ve just been trying to keep up with the normal stuff. I cleaned the bathroom, changed sheets and took the boys to the park and cooked our meals. I´m still spending around 100 dollars a week on groceries. I need to get my veggie garden going so that we can save even more. I cleaned the beds out this week and need to get more dirt in the beds. O is old enough to really get into the whole picking veggie process and watching stuff grow. I want my children to know how to garden and how things are made.

What were your simple living accomplishments this week?

Late Friday Book Report- Mockingjay

I finished up Mockingjay and I was a little bummed at the end of it. The beginning was a little slow and then there was fast pace middle and then almost abrupt ending. As you know when Catching Fire, book two, ended Katniss was saved and hauled out of the arena by the opposition but they left most of the other players for the capital to catch and do as they will to them. Mockingjay is about how opposition is going to win this war and bring back their people held by the capital. I believe that they could have done more with Katniss and Peta´s relationship. At this age there is more excitement when it comes to attraction and it takes up a lot of thinking process. This book is different than the first 2 books. More mental break down and internal struggle. It almost felt rushed. But if you read the first two books then you know you have to read this one. The second leaves you at a cliff hanger where you have to find out what happens next. I couldn´t put this book down. I had to know how it ended but I guess the first two book just got me all hopped up to believe that at some point Katniss will really fall for one or the other guy and it will be an all consuming thing but the one she chose and how it happened was just so...... I don´t know. Unexciting. I´m sad that the story is over. Sad at the way it ended. I had a book club meeting with some friends of mine last night and discussed this book. They both agreed that the beginning was slow, and the end disappointing. My friend Elizabeth said "It was like she was done writing." and I agree that it was like the writer was sick of writing this story at the end and just needed to let people sort of know what happened after that.

What did you think?

Wednesday Simple Living- Dr Bronner review

So I had heard great things about Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps Pure-Castile Soap, 18-in-1 Hemp Tea Tree. That is was all purpose and the last soap I would need to buy.  Well either I got the wrong kind or it is just not for me. I used the kind with tea tree and Hemp thinking that it would be especially good for my hair. After I washed my hair it felt like I had not washed it in months and used hair products every day. I could have made dreadlocks with my hair it was SO gross. I guess I will use the rest for hand soap or something. BOO I was so looking forward to not having to have many different products for cleaning. The star rating is great on Amazon but I did notice that one person said that she had to use regular shampoo after using this stuff in her hair. I´ll keep trying it for other things but we will see if I find a purpose for it. Maybe it will make my wood floors shine?
Do you have a good all purpose soap? I was using California Baby but they recently changed the ingredients and have some chemicals in it that I wasn´t really wanting to use. But it does the job both for body and hair. I guess I will keep using it since it is better than the other stuff and just get a BIG gallon jug of it to refill the bottle I have. Reducing the waste. But this is just a body and hair wash. Maybe my hopes are too high to find one soap that can do it all.

Knitting Update-Malabrigo Superwash

Still have this Dos Superwash yarn from Malabrigo and trying to figure out what to do with it. It is sport weight. What would you do with it?

Maybe the Offset Wraplan by Sara Morris For my little boy?

Anybody have any other ideas it is a sport/DK weight yarn? I might just design something.

I haven´t knit anything this week. I was out of town all weekend and wasn´t feeling well during the week. Plus I ended up reading 3 books in one week which has NEVER happened before. Got hooked on the Fifty Shades of Grey Trilogy. Those books need to come with a warning that if you start you can´t stop.

Here is hoping for a better knitting week.

What are you knitting?

Saturday Sharing

This week I have been relearning how to be a stay at home mom. Of course my kids are older now and now my 4 year old only naps every once in a while which makes for the days that he doesn´t nap very long with no time for me. They have watched too much TV this week. I wasn´t feeling well. Mornings are where I get most of my housework done before I open the computer because if I start I get sucked into the vortex of the interwebs.

This week has been full of the boys fighting, yelling, pushing boundaries and crafting. I try to let them work out their own differences unless there if physical conflict involved. O is 4 and very touchy about what my 2 year old M says. M has some bad habits from daycare that need to be broken and I see some difficult time outs in the near future. They don´t seem to be missing daycare at all and have never asked to go back. This both makes me happy and sad that they were at a place they didn´t like.

M is potty training and has been doing pretty well lately. He is dry during the day but he still needs a night time diaper. I´ve decided that we have bought our last disposable diaper and during nap time I put a prefold and a cover on him.We use the Econobum by CottonBabys because it is a one size system from birth to potty training. It´s nice knowing that we will not have to spend any more money on diapers.We have AppleCheeks  pocket diapers in storage, which I LOVE, but since M only needs one or two a day it isn´t worth having to make a separate wash. I just throw the prefolds in with the towels and such. I´m looking forward to cloth diapering the new baby full time just like I did with O. At least now I know which products work for us and which don´t.

My in-laws have offered to take the boys for a week this summer and I am so thankful for all that they do for us and they are AMAZING with our kids. Hubster and I have been thinking of what to do for that week and maybe we might go on a mini vacation. Any suggestions? I can´t make up my mind if we should take a road trip to the beach, go to New Orleans or to the B&B that we got married in.

Chocolate Cake from Scratch

When was the last time you make cake from scratch?

Here is my simple recipe that anyone can make with the things you have at home.

1/2 cup Butter softened

1 1/3 cup Sugar

2 Eggs

1 Teasp. Vanilla Extract

1 cup milk

1/2 cup apple sauce (you can skip this but it makes it a little more moist)

1 teasp. salt

1 teasp. baking soda

1 teasp. baking powder

2 cups organic flour

3 tablesp. Cocopowder

Set the oven to 350F and then in a bowl combine the ingredients as they are listed and make sure that they are mixed well between each ingredient. When well combined, grease a 8x13 pan. and poor the batter in. Bake it for 30 min. While the cake is baking make the the icing.

1/2 cup butter softened.

1 egg

1 teasp. vanilla extract

3 tablesp. coco powder

3 tablesp. brewed coffee (I use left over from that morning)

2 cups powdered sugar

In a bowl add the ingredients as they are listed until you get to the powdered sugar.  Just keep adding the powdered sugar until the consistency is pretty thick. You might need more or less depending on how big your egg was.

Let your cake cool somewhat before applying the icing. Sprinkles can be added for fun.

 Then enjoy!

Simple Living Wednesday

Part of me simple living experience is to reduce and reuse. Which for me means reduce the amount of trash leaving the house and recycle more or find things and products that have multiple uses. Today I´m going to talk about body hair and it´s removal. Shaving my legs and underarms use to have me going through razors often. and I´m a lazy European so it really bothered me having to shave every day to every other day. I thought about waxing but you have to buy something to throw away after each use but I was liking the fact that I wouldn´t have to deal with it but once every 3-4 weeks. So I did my research and found something called Silk-épil by Braun.

There are newer models but this one was cheap and does what I bought it for. It´s a little machine that pulls the hair out by the root which is what waxing does but this way I can do it myself and there is nothing to throw away after I´m done and I paid as much for the unit as it would cost to have my legs waxed once. It takes about 20 min to do each leg the first time you do it but with each time your hair becomes less and it´s only uncomfortable the first two times you use it unless you let time pass between uses then it is uncomfortable again if you let months pass. I still use a razor under my arms because I haven´t gotten brave enough to use it there. But with just shaving my armpits I use one razor a lot longer so there is a lot less waste. Another bonus is the hair that you have comes back softer and lighter.I´ve been using this product on and off for years now but now I am sticking to just using this on my legs. Just remember to exfoliate in between using this product, I just use my luffa sponge in the shower, so you don´t get ingrown hairs and to use lotion for beautiful skin.

How do you reduce your waste?

Monday Knitting Update

 

My first photo is of Pebbles which is knit with some of my leftover O-Wool from my itty bitty toys. This is my go to pattern as a gift for expecting friends and family. I believe that I don´t have enough yarn to finish this though. We will see what I decide to do. Maybe the top will be a different color. But I don´t know.

 

Trying to make Saartjes Booties for the first time. I think I might rip them because they are for a boy and I don´t think they look very boyish.  I like the yarn though. It´s Gloss by Knit Picks.

 

Knitting this faraway, so close from the same yarn that I designed my iPad Cozy from. I really love the yarn. It´s just so soft and the colors are so pretty. It´s called Plymouth Yarn-Kudo in color 47.  I believe that I´m a skein short though. I´ll have to order another.  It´s cotton silk blend and just such a treat to work with. Can´t wait to finish and block this and wrap it around myself.

What are you crafting at the moment or looking forward to start?

Saturday Personal Update

Having fun on the trampoline!

I am officially a stay at home mother again. No work except for the most important job I can have in the world and that is to raise amazing children and take care of my husband. My job for the next few years is to declutter, organize, detoxify, and simplify my home. I want to walk into my home and love everything I see an be proud of how well it is being used. In the process, I will blog how well I am doing. I´m starting up my 10 item fling every Saturday to rid my home of clutter. I have designated a basket for those items in my kitchen for the items that can be donated or given away. The trash will of course go in the trash. Then I will try to find used or antique items that have multiple purposes to replace the things I have in my home that have only one purpose.

This week has been a busy week. I have mowed the front yard, done a mountain of laundry, finished up some last things for my former job, put clean sheets on all 3 beds, kept up with the dishes, made home made meals, gone to the grocery store with both boys in tow and of course some knitting and reading.

Next week will be full of the same plus I will copy my CDs and DVDs on to the home computer and then getting rid of the hard copies. This will get rid of quite a few things from our home next week. Also I need to dive into our closets and get rid of clothes that are outdated and don't fit. I believe we will have a large yard sale soon. 

What are some of the things that you use in your home that has multiple purposes and how do you keep your home from getting cluttered?

The product I´m trying this week that has multiple purposes is Dr. Bronner´s Magic Soaps. It is suppose to be multi purpose and the only soap you will need in your whole home. We have used it as hand and body soap and I plan to try it to clean the bathroom and kitchen this week. Will update later on what I think about it. 

Friday Book Report- The Hunger Games Trilogy

So, when I heard the Hunger Games were coming out as a movie I decided to quickly read the first book before seeing the movie. I know that most everybody and their dog have already read this book or seen the movie since it broke all box office records. The book was a very quick and easy read and got me hooked on it straight away. I got very connected with Katniss and the writer, Suzanne Collins, did a great job of painting the picture of this post apocalyptic world that Katniss lives in. I use my kindle to read these books because you get one book borrowed each month for free if you have Prime which we do. I started reading the first book on March 30th and read the book in 3 days. Then I started straight away on the the next book, Catching Fire, for free and read it since it was after the first of the month and I could get it for free. I also finished it in 3 days. Again, very well written and really drew me in. Now I am reading the last book of the trilogy, Mockingjay, and it is different. I´m half way through and again I can´t seem to put it down. So far, I like it even though it took a little more time for it to get started. We will see what I say next week when I have finished the book. I know these books are considered teen fiction but I believe it would be hard for anyone not to connect with Katniss and her fighting for her life in the Hunger Games. This is not a book for young children. There is brutal death and plenty of suspense. There is love and feelings of confusion. Katniss is a survivor and I look forward to telling you how I feel about this last book when I finish it by next Friday.

For those of you that saw the movie and read the book what did you think?

New Blogging Schedule

OK so here it is.

New blogging schedule will be as follows.

Mondays will be a knitting update. I am joining the ravalympics this year with the crazy bookworm team so you should see plenty of updates

Wednesdays will be Product review of the things I'm trying to detoxify my home or declutter or simplify. Sometimes this will come with a how to and or a giveaway.
Friday will be book discussion of whatever I´m reading at the time
Saturdays will be my brag day on what I accomplished over the week on my journey to becoming clutter and toxic free home and family.

In between I might have some giveaways from sponsors or I will publish a pattern or a tutorial depending on my week.

Thank you dear loyal readers for still checking in when I do have a blog update. I will start the schedule tomorrow.