holiday inspiration

I received this book for Christmas, and got to start reading it during our annual Christmas Day Nap. (Sophie even took part this year - I tricked her by saying she only needed to lay down and rest, and she ended up falling asleep!). 

I haven't finished reading it yet, but I got through the first few sections and got inspired to start implementing some of her ideas for creating spaces and providing supplies that encourage kids to create. I made some blank books for Sophie to fill in, using plain white paper inside (I used 4 folded sheets per book), construction paper for the cover, and pink duct tape to cover the spine (hey, it's what I had!).  

I showed them to Sophie when she woke up from her nap and she wasn't super impressed; she's always grumpy when she wakes up so it probably wasn't the best time to introduce them, but I was excited about my creations!

I cleaned out her big art drawer and re-stocked it with blank drawing paper, construction paper, origami paper, notebooks, the new books I made her, and cards and envelopes. So far she's only gotten into the blank drawing paper, but I'm sure she will "discover" it all on her own in good time. My stubborn girl only does things when she decides to do them!

Here's a picture (bad lighting, sorry!) of Sophie's newly-organized drawing tools... She got lots of new art supplies for Christmas - from Santa, me, grandparents, and friends! It's so neat to see her growing and expanding as an artist. I decided I need to find a way to keep and remember her artwork as she grows and goes through different stages with her art. For now I started keeping a file folder of her current artwork to save and go through later (once a year maybe?), and I want to get her a portfolio to keep her favorites/my favorites from each year. Also on my shopping list is cloth tape (to make nicer bindings for her books!), plastic envelopes and some more organizational-type supplies like small baskets to keep her supplies easily accesible and easy for her to put back when she's finished.

Now that I'm done with school (finally!!) I am excited to have more time to spend just being with Sophie and being more present with her all of the time since I no longer have a running list of deadlines and to-do lists weighing on me in the back of my mind. Of course I still have a to-do list - but I'm very thankful that for now at least it consists of things like "clean house" and "write thank-you notes." Hopefully you'll be seeing more of me here, as well - I've even been knitting! Finished object post coming up soon :)

emergency! winter has arrived

That is the view from the 7th story of Alaska Regional Hospital, where I was doing my intensive clinicals for three weeks. Winter was ahead of the game in Anchorage - there was a snowstorm on Halloween night!

Anyway, winter has made its way down the coast to Juneau. Yesterday, Sophie and two of her friends were playing in the front yard while the mamas sat inside drinking coffee. All of a sudden we heard boots running on the porch, and muffled yelling. Sophie shoved the front door open, saying, "Emergency! Emergency!"

My friend and I both jumped up and ran towards the door to see what the "emergency" was - expecting a crying child at the very least. But no one was crying, and Sophie pointed up at the roof of the porch, where there were ice-sickles hanging from the eaves.
"We can't reach! We want to eat the ice!"

Emergency indeed.

on (and on, and on) about nursing school

26 days until my last final exam of nursing school. It can't come soon enough! If only all I had to do was take the final, I'd be set. Unfortunately I have 3 more papers to turn in, one 9-hour clinical day, three 12-hour shifts with my preceptor (this part I'm looking forward to!), and a medication map, in addition to two final exams left to do.

I just sent in one paper - I love checking things off my list!

Unfortunately, I'm trying to stay focused on getting more things done while sitting on the couch with Sophie, watching Caillou. Thank goodness for the Roku and Netflix instant streaming for sick days. Sophie and I both have colds, plus she has a terrible rash all over her neck and back from (I think) shampoo I used on her a few nights ago. It's making her pretty miserable and it's taking a long time to go away :(.... Benadryl and hydrocortisone cream are only helping her a little bit.

It's good to be home after spending 3 weeks in Anchorage doing intensive clinicals. It sucks to be under the weather though. I feel like since I'm sick from my autoimmune issues nearly all of the time, I should somehow be exempt from colds.... too bad my immunosuppressive medications don't play nice with viruses :(. I am going to start on a new medication soon, though - I have high hopes for it working! It'll take probably six months to be able to tell if it is or not, though.

sneaky peanut butter cookies

Sophie and I are gearing up to go to the Haines Fair - and camping for six nights in Haines!

Today I am busy baking snacks to take along with us. These peanut butter cookies are delicious and also sneakily (almost) healthy.

Sneaky Peanut Butter Cookies (adapted from The Fiddlehead Cookbook)

1 stick + 4 tablespoons butter

3/4 cup white sugar

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

1 egg

3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

3/4 cup peanut butter

1 1/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour

1/4 cup whole grain flour (I used Bob's Red Mill's gluten-free all purpose flour)

1/4 cup wheat germ

1/4 cup ground flax seed

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

Cream butter and sugars together. Add egg, vanilla, and peanut butter, beating after each addition. Mix together dry ingredients, then add to butter mixture and stir until completely combined. Spoon dough onto cookie sheet, then flatten with a fork dipped in sugar.

Bake at 350F for about 12 minutes.

finished object, a rainy day, and muffins

First off, the finished object - Habitat by Jared Flood. I wore it today to the beach hoping that the rain would block it to my head all by itself. It may need some actual blocking some day, but for now it'll work!

It was a rainy summer day, warm and very wet, and we joined Outdoor Preschool at Outer Point for three hours of fun in the woods and on the beach. Here's Sophie with a limpet she found, right before she tried to stick it to her nose :)...

And then we came home and made muffins! My kind of rainy day. I used the recipe from the bag of Bob's Red Mill Oat Bran, and instead of whole wheat pastry flour I substituted 1/3 quinoa flour, 1/3 wheat germ, and 1/3 Bob's gluten free all-purpose flour, plus a handful of whole flax seeds. For the wet ingredients, I put a banana, three carrots, a handful of raisins, and a couple handfuls of walnuts together in the food processor and then mixed them in. I also halved the amount of sugar.

They turned out good, very tasty. The only thing is that every time I've tried to use the gluten free all-purpose flour, things turn out slightly burnt on the outside before they're done on the inside. Is there a trick to getting gluten-free things to turn out right? I'm not even doing all gluten-free, just trying to incorporate more alternative grains (other than wheat) into my baking.

tangled knitting

Or rather, knitting tangled. Or, never mind. This:

... is what I'm working on. It's the first time I've picked up needles in far too long, and it did take me a couple tries to get it going well, but I've got the hang of it back now. It's to be a hat, for myself (what? crazy talk), and it's called Habitat (not 'tangled'.... why do I keep thinking that?) by Jared Flood.

The yarn I bought in Portland, at the one and only yarn shop I went into, and it is in fact the one and only skein of yarn I bought in said shop. I was quite proud of myself for only coming out with one skein, and a skein with a purpose at that. I've been wanting a new hat, and there was a sample knit up in the shop of a hat out of this yarn, so it seemed it was meant to be. It's Blue Sky Alpacas worsted, half merino and half alpaca, and it's so soft and wonderful to knit with! I can't wait till it's done and I can wear it :)

oatmeal raisin cookies plus protein

I bought this stuff at the store the other day and have been wanting to experiment with adding it to baked goods. Being the lazy vegetarian I am and Sophie being the picky eater she is, neither of us tend to get enough protein on a regular basis. I know that Sophie's mood and self-regulation fares much better when she's eating enough protein (and I'm sure it's true for me as well) - so in the spirit of Deceptively Delicious I thought I would try some sneaky protein additions.

Today I went with cookies. I started with the Oatmeal Raisin Cookies recipe from Deceptively Delicious and went from there....

The original recipe calls for zucchini puree and banana puree. I didn't have either but I did have a zucchini in the fridge and an over-ripe banana on the counter! I put the zucchini in the food processor and called it good (I didn't cook it first, not even a little), then mashed the banana in with everything else.

I wanted to make the cookies vegan (just for fun really) so I substituted ground flax seed with water for the egg white called for. This is really easier than you think - just whisk the flax in with water, microwave, whisk, and microwave again until you get something that looks like this:

Ok, I know it's hard to see in that picture, but basically you want it to gel up enough that it hangs off the whisk for a second before dropping - kind of like an egg white - which is, after all, what we're going for here.

I added six tablespoons of the protein powder along with the dry ingredients, which according to my (very rough) calculations only added a measly 2g of protein to each finished cookie. Humph. At least the oat flour has a good bit of protein in it too. I think this addition made the cookies a little dry, so next time I'll probably add something else with the wet ingredients to balance it. Maybe applesauce. Or not, who knows.

The finished dough looked like this:

And the finished cookies, well, they look a little weird. They didn't flatten in the oven, so I squished them down with a spatula half way through. I think this is the too-dry issue caused by the added protein powder. But they taste good, and Sophie keeps asking for more - success!

Alright, here's what I did:

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies - adapted from Deceptively Delicious

6 tablespoons Earth Balance margarine

3/4 cup brown sugar

1 zucchini, ground in food processor

1 banana, mashed

1 tablespoon ground flax seed

1/4 cup water

1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour

1/2 cup whole oat flour

1 cup rolled oats

6 tablespoons soy protein powder (optional)

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 cup golden raisins

Preheat oven to 350F. Beat the margarine and sugar in a large bowl. Add zucchini and banana; mix (and mash at the same time if you're lazy like me). In a small bowl, whisk together the flax and water. Microwave for 30 seconds at a time, whisking in between, until the mixture gels. Add to ingredients in large bowl and mix well.

In another bowl, mix together flours, protein powder, oats, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Add to wet ingredients and mix gently. Add raisins.

Drop by heaping spoonfuls onto a baking sheet and bake in preheated oven for 12-15 min.

Enjoy!

pumpkin muffins

I messed with one of my favorite recipes and came up with these:

I think they're pretty good, they passed a double kid taste test, and they're super healthy. And I even remembered to write down what I did! Here it is:

Pumpkin Muffins

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup pure olive oil

1/2 cup applesauce

3/4 cup pumpkin puree

2T ground flaxseed

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour

1/2 cup whole oat flour

1/4 cup quinoa flour

1/4 cup wheat germ

4 heaping tablespoons powdered soy milk

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground cloves

1 teaspoon ground allspice

1 teaspoon nutmeg

Vanilla soy milk (about 1/2 cup)

Preheat oven to 350F. In a big bowl mix the sugar, oil, applesauce, and pumpkin. In a small bowl, whisk the flaxseed with 1/2 cup water. Microwave for 30-second increments, whisking in between, until the mixture gels up. Add to the big bowl and mix. In a medium bowl mix the dry ingredients together, then add to the wet ingredients and mix gently. Add soy milk at this point until the matter reaches the right consistency for muffins. Bake in greased muffin tin for about 20 minutes, until the tops spring back when lightly pressed.

You could use different oil and experiment with different flours, and don't worry if you don't have powdered soy milk. (I finally found it hidden on a bottom shelf in our health food store). Also, I used a ton of spices - if you (or your kids) don't like super strong spice flavor, use less - a lot less - maybe half of what I put.

Enjoy!

new favorite: rainwater botanicals

I love shopping on Etsy, and recently came across what just may be my new favorite shop: Rainwater Botanicals.

Check it out!!

version 2.0

Of Pumpkin Pie Muffins - recipe adapted from 'Deceptively Delicious' -

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

1/4 cup molasses

1 cup canned pumpkin

1/2 cup almond milk (or soy milk) with a splash of apple cider vinegar

1 egg

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour

1/2 cup quinoa flour (or whole oat flour)

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon cinnamon

Sophie loves these! Next time I will add some oat bran and wheat germ as well. These are moist, light, and airy - kind of cupcake-like, actually. Bake at 350 for about 14 minutes.

And Tiger's Candy -

This time I rolled them in shredded coconut, and they are immensely better. Sophie is gobbling them up. Success!!

tiger's candy

My mom used to make these things called Tiger's Candy when I was little. I remember them being amazingly delicious, and even better because I was allowed to have them almost anytime I wanted one.

I'm mentally getting ready for camping season (one more month maybe??), and I have begun experimenting with different ways to get more protein into Sophie without a fight. Protein = energy = kids who will hike without fussing (as much). This is my theory anyway. So I found the recipe for Tiger's Candy online and made a test batch while Sophie was at preschool today.

I rolled them in cocoa powder since Sophie loves chocolate, but next time I will try rolling them in shredded coconut.

In my opinion, these aren't as amazingly delicious as I remember, but then again everything's better as a child. I'll have to ask my mom what substitutions she used.

Here's the recipe - adapted from Diet for a Small Planet:

Tiger's Candy

1/4 cup peanut butter

2/3 cup ground sunflower seeds

1 tablespoon wheat germ

1 tablespoon ground flax seed

1 tablespoon honey

1/2 cup finely chopped raisins

cocoa powder

Blend peanut butter and ground sunflower seeds together, then add wheat germ, flax seed, honey, and raisins. Blend well. Form into balls and roll in cocoa powder.

The original recipe calls for powdered milk, but I looked all over the grocery store and couldn't find powdered soy milk to substitute, so I just threw in some wheat germ and flax for fun instead. I'll have to look at the health food store, because that seems like a good way to add protein to just about anything.

beetle

A few weeks ago, Sophie found a beetle on the kitchen floor. At first she was a little scared of it, but once she realized it wasn't a spider she decided that it was her friend. She convinced Papa to put it in a jar for her so she could keep it as a pet, and she fed it lettuce and watched it for a couple days. Eventually she decided Beetle wanted to go back outside to play with its friends, so she let it go on the wood pile.

A couple days ago, Sophie was playing in the kitchen while I got ready to leave in the morning. All of a sudden she got super excited - "My beetle! My friend beetle come back!" - and ran to get a jar. She plopped the jar down on top of the beetle so it couldn't get away, and started singing a song to Beetle (she's constantly singing a narrative of her play). Part of it went like this, "My beetle, my beetle my friend beetle name is Beetle, he come back to play with me again, and I saw him on the floor and I almost step on him, but I didn't! And Beetle be my pet beetle, and I keep him in a jar..."



Unfortunately Beetle's jar got knocked over and Beetle got away, but she's still on the lookout in case he comes back to play again.

peanut butter banana oatmeal cookies

Sophie and I are home together today. I have the day off of school, and she's on spring break from preschool.



She's a very good helper. I struggle with being patient and letting her actually help me - especially if the oven's already done preheating and we're not ready yet. I'm getting better at it, and she's getting better at helping, too. She cracked the egg today and didn't get any shell in with it!


My rule is that you can't eat any cookie dough until the first batch is in the oven - this is her "hurray I get to eat dough now!" face.



After the first batch came out, Sophie decided that the rest really needed to have chocolate chips in them.

Delicious! We used this recipe, and substituted half whole wheat pastry flour.

owls

The owls have emerged on my o w l s sweater!



I'm almost done, just have the rest of the yoke and the neck to do now. I think these owls look pretty cool! I want to make a kids version for Sophie, but I think it will have to be in cotton because of her fussiness about itchy wool (she thinks everything is itchy). Even though cotton is death cloth in a wet climate, I do want her to wear the things I knit for her...

You are supposed to sew beads on for the eyes on all the owls, but I think I'm just going to do two pairs - one in front and one in back. What do you think?

off the needles/on the needles

A pair of socks are off the needles and completely done! Another one in the Christmas pile.



I love knitting socks. I've only knitted plain ribbed socks, though. I want to try a pretty pattern like these or maybe these.... someday. I do appreciate a good solid plain sock though. Mostly I keep knitting the same socks over and over because I have the pattern memorized, so they make good tv-watching or Sophie-watching knitting. The endless stockinette is broken up enough by the heel and the toe to make them interesting, and they're pretty fast to knit as well. Always a plus. I always have a harder time with completing the second sock, but for this pair I split them up and knitted the cowl in between. I think the two socks fit better with having done something different in between - usually I knit the second sock just a little bit tighter than the first, and that didn't seem to happen this time.

Hand knit socks are so much more comfortable than regular socks! It feels like getting a massage every time you take a step. Try it, you'll love it! :)

On my needles now is the second sleeve to my o w l s sweater, which I can't believe I have never posted about before.


That's the body which I did last summer, and at some point I knitted one sleeve. Now I'm about half way up the second sleeve and then I have the yoke to do. This goes super quickly, with chunky yarn and size 10 needles! I'm excited to finish this and wear it. I think this will be my camping sweater - it's 100% wool, and it will be pretty warm. The yarn isn't the best quality though and I know it will pill pretty quickly. That's ok with me - I love camping clothes! I plan on wearing them a lot this spring, summer, and fall. Can't wait for the snow to melt!

second saturday at homesteader's cache

Tomorrow there will be a soap making demo from 1-3pm at Homesteader's Cache - right around the corner from Mommy N Me. I love this soap! I'm hoping to make it there on Saturday with Sophie at least for a little while, it sounds neat. I've been using her soap and shampoo bars for over a year now and they are wonderful. The shampoo bars are my favorite - they last forever, smell good (I have the rosemary one) and my hair has way more body and wave than with regular shampoo. I went 'no poo' for a while (using baking soda to clean my hair), and while that worked well and I was pleased with the results, I went back to using the shampoo bar because I like how it smells and it's more fun than dumping lukewarm baking soda/water on your head in the morning. Yay for hippies and nice soap!

smoke ring

I wanted to knit something that was fast, easy, and pretty.... and for some reason I was in an old lady-ish mood and wanted something a little bit fuzzy and plain. I have strange tastes sometimes! Anyways, I found the yarn I wanted to use and then looked it up on Ravelry. I love looking through other people's projects with a specific yarn, it always gives me inspiration. What I found this time was the Old Shale Smoke Ring - and here it is!





Sorry for the bad iPhone pictures, I was too lazy to get off the couch, get my camera, find good lighting... You know.

Little miss took a 3-hour nap yesterday so I already finished this! And washed it and uh, stretched it out on a towel. I wouldn't go so far as to call it blocking. Again, lazy. Just need to weave in the ends!

I don't even know who this is for, I just wanted to knit it. I think it will go in my gift stash, I'm already stockpiling for next Christmas! I figured it's really more realistic to start now if I expect to have anything finished in time.

I can't believe that by next Christmas I'll be done with nursing school! Hurray! I better get back to paper writing if I want to finish though... :)

homemade hippy stuff

This is my laundry detergent:



I've been using it for..... well, over a month now and I love it! I'll definitely be making another batch when this one runs out.

I switched from the generic eco-friendly, unscented liquid detergent from Costco and I haven't noticed any difference at all - my clothes are just as clean as ever, and as a bonus they smell nice coming out of the washer because I used lavender soap in my concoction. The smell is gone once the clothes are dry, but if you like scents then I'm sure you could experiment with adding essential oils to the mix.

I found my recipe online somewhere, but I don't remember where. Sorry. But here's what I did:

2 cups washing soda
2 cups borax
1 bar of Dr. Bronner's pure castile soap, grated with a cheese grater

Combine all in a big bowl and mix with a fork, then transfer to a container for storage.

I'm using one heaping tablespoon per load of clothing, and two heaping tablespoons for rags and extra dirty stuff.