What I've Been Up To

Life here has been a little crazy, as always.  Recently, I decided to really attempt to go gluten free and joined in with a 6 month challenge.  I am joining in with thedailydietribe.com for the challenge.  For the next 6 months, I will be gluten free.  I will get to talk with a health coach every other week, and I have to write a blog post at thedailydietribe.com 3 weeks out of the month.  It's been one month so far and I have had a few aha moments.  I've been working with Mia Davis at Blissful Chicks and she has been great.  She has been supportive and resourceful giving me recipes to try.

One of the recipes was plain yogurt sweetened with honey.  I bought some plain yogurt this week and was not really looking forward to trying it (not one of my favorite foods), but I actually let my son try it since he tends to like any yogurt.  I added some liquid chocolate stevia from NuNaturals for some sweetness.   I also gave his twin sister some to try.  He didn't like it, but his sister did.  I ended up eating his and was pleasantly surprised at how good it tasted.  I now feel like I can get plain yogurt and control the sweetness and use a sweetener that I like.  NuNaturals has had a few products that I have tried and been happy with.  I will say that NuNaturals did provide the products for free, but I will definitely be buying certain products that I love, like the liquid lemon stevia, liquid chocolate stevia, and the fast dissolving tablets.

I've also been trying to make time to be creative.  I have been trying to teach myself how to hand piece quilts.  I have made a couple of blocks so far and plan to make a whole quilt with hand piecing and hand quilting.  I have been working on a hexagon quilt as you go quilt.  I am trying to use flannel blankets from when my kids were little as well as some scraps of fleece and flannel.  I am trying to use up my stash since I don't really have room to keep a stash.

fabric for the hand pieced quilt

I am also working on a english paper piecing project where we complete 1 EPP block a month.  I have completed 2 so far with the 3rd one in process.  The 3rd one is made up of 81 1/2 inch hexagons and I just can't seem to bring myself to work on it much.  I will start the next month's block when we get it and work on June's block a little at a time.

1st month's block in process

I also took a class from my Facebook friend who is opening a craft studio/gallery.  We made floating lanterns and I had a blast.  I am contemplating teaching a quilting class as well as a knitting class.  She is actually doing my dream and if I can be part of it, I really want to take the opportunity.  

I am also practicing playing with fabric dyeing.  I have tried some tie dyeing, with the goal to get it to be less tie dye looking and more batik looking.  I'm not sure how to really get there, but it will be a fun thing to practice.  I am also thinking about trying some more art quilting and maybe even modern quilting to branch out.  I ultimately love traditional quilting, but I want to open my mind and learn a little more of what it out there!

Summer has just begun.  The kids will start summer school and I will start, hopefully, working during the day.  It will be interesting to see what the summer brings.  We have started our garden and started going to our local farmer's market.  I am really excited to start getting things out of our garden and using them to cook with.  I hope that I can keep up with my creative time.  It may be hard, but I plan to be really conscientious about maintaining creativity through the summer and beyond!

Amy

Changing Back

I changed back to my previous blog name.  I've been doing a lot of thinking about this blog and decided that I wanted to follow though with why I actually started this blog in the first place.  I still want to document all the creative things that I make, butI want to talk about my belief in living a more natural life all while trying to balance the pressures of everyday life.

As much as I have certain beliefs, the different pressures of everyday life sometimes get in the way and do not let me follow through as much as I would like.  right now, I am dealing with a herniated disc and treatment for that.  Over the weekend, I was trying to plan dinner and ended up just getting Chinese food from my local Chinese restaurant.  I was just in too much pain to cook.  As much as I want to cook my own food, sometimes there are good reasons why I can't or don't.

I love the idea of making my kids clothing and trying to up cycle.  I have 3 kids (all who are 4 right now), a job, a house, a husband, which makes it difficult trying to make things from scratch.  I still try to not buy brand new things so that we can hopefully re-use clothing that is still in good condition and not spend money unnecessarily.  My goal is to try to get better at making things from scratch and even up-cycling material from other things rather than just going to the store and buying new.

I am also thinking about trying to buy plain material/yarn/paper, and dye my own.  I'm thinking that it is going to be more creative and less processed than if I buy it at the store.  I will also have more control over the type of process being used.

I am looking forward to our garden this year.  It's time to start planning what we are going to grow, what we are going to grow from seed vs from already started plants, when to start planting, etc.  I am hoping that the kids being a little older this year, means that we are going to have a better year with them not running off.

I'm trying to get better at eating healthy and exercising.  My goal with exercise if to get outside and exercise vs being in a gym.  I don't want to spend the money on a gym membership and I get so bored exercising inside.  I am so much happier walking and running and hiking as well as playing with my kids!

So, my old blog name is back and what I write about is back on track.  I am very much looking forward to writing about my beliefs, hopes and dreams, and projects that I am working on.

Here's just a few things I have been working on lately:

An afghan that I should have finished when the twins were babies (I had to rip out and start over since I couldn't figure out the pattern)

My tenderloin steak dinner cooked like a restaurant (locally bought cooked at home).  So delicious!  My husband wants to have it once a month.

Homemade bread pudding.  So yummy!

Wire wrapped ring, quick and easy project!

Amy

What's New?

As summer comes to a crashing end, I am sitting here thinking about all that I didn't do.  We started a garden last year and had pretty good results.  This year, it seems as if we did nothing outside.  I don't know what we did or why we didn't spend time in the garden.  I think part of it is that we walked 4 miles almost every day, Michael was in preschool the month of July, we tried to spend time as a family, and probably the biggest issue was the crazy anount of mosquitos that we had in our yard.  Oh, and child illnesses, including Lyme Disease for Miss Eva Rose.

When I think about our garden, I am kind of diappointed.  We did get a ton of tomatoes, but we also got some sort of blight/fungus that is killing them now.  I am trying to save as many tomatoes as I can so that we can enjoy some garden fresh tomatoes.  We did have a decent amount of cucumbers, which we didn't have last year.  My carrots are finally at a point where they can be eaten, albeit small.  the best part about the carrots is that they came from seeds as did the beets and the radishes.  My next step is to pull up all the lettuce, spinich, peas, and other things that are no longer doing well, and plant a second crop of cold weather veggies, like more peas, carrots, beets, greens, etc.

I still have lots of projects to work on.  I started a scarf for one of my sisters.  Hopefully it will be something she likes and something useful.  She is going to be a sophmore at UMASS Amherst and will be working in the barn (I think) and I am hoping that it will be warm and useful for her as well as something that she will like.  I have a few other knit gifts as well as sewing gifts planned.  I am hopeful that I can actually get a schedule going so that I can complete some of my projects!

I know it is still August, but it is the end of August.  I am trying to plan for the winter months so that I can feel productive and enjoy the time in the house vs being able to go out.  I want to use my tiem to create, plan my garden for next year, learn more about herbs and aromatherapy, and maybe even kick start an etsy.com shop.  We'll see how things work, but I definitely don't want this winter to be an unproductive season, nor do I want to hate winter.  I need to find a way to make winter more fun and enjoyable.

Amy

Christmas

Yes, I know it's still August and Christmas is far away, but I always put off my Christmas list until the last minute and then I never have any time to make people things like I want to.  I am not wishing away summer, but I know how time flies and I know that I need to start planning so that a) I know what I want to make people, b) I can afford it, and c) I have the time to complete all I want to make! 

When I started this blog, I had a goal of not going to big department stores, but shopping at smaller local stores and trying to make my own things, from food, to clothing, to gifts, etc.  I haven't really been able to really follow through with that goal, but it still remains a goal.  One thing I really would like to do, which would essentially be a huge help to meeting the goal of making my own things, is to have a work station where I could leave things set up, like my sewing machine or a jewelry project, or anything else that I was working on.  Once my brother in law leaves, which will hopefully be soon (we can all hope), I hope to move some things in the basement and get a work station set up so that I can leave my sewing machine set up, have an area to work on jewelry projects, maybe even scrapbooking/paper crafts, or even my aromatherapy stuff.  I have most of my supplies organized, just no place to actually work!

Once I finish this post, I am going to start my Christmas list so that I can hopefully plan out what I want to make people and have goals set to finish projects.  My first priority is my husband and my kids.  I have been wanting to make a picture quilt for my husband for a long time now.  I have bought some material and even the special material to put through a printer to print the pictures on.  I think I have even printed some old pictures from before we were married ( I had printed them before we were married, that's how long I have wanted to do this).  I also want to make all 3 kids something special from me that I have made.  I would like to make this an annual tradition.  My absolute favorite gifts/cards are things that my husband has made me and I want my kids to treasure things that are handmade and mean something not just some thing that was bought at a store and made in China.  I also want to make special things for special people in my life.

I am really hoping that I can plan things out so that I can get projects completed in time for Christmas.  It will really feel good to give handmade special gifts that will hopefully mean more than jsut something I picked out from the store, especially since I really enjoy making things.  Hopefully I can also get a spot to work out of so that I can be a little more productive!

Amy

Plans

My goal of not drinking soda is still going strong.  It sounds silly/stupid, but it's been 2 weeks since Ifirst wrote about giving up soda and I haven't had any since then.  I feel really good about that, and now I need to add another goal to this so that I keep making good/healthy changes in my life.  I think the next goal should be to eliminate dairy from my life.  I do it for the kids, but I haven't yet done it for me and I really should!  I will be looking for dairy free alternatives!  this is not going to be easy, but it is something that I have to do!

My next non-food/health goal is to actually finish my mother's prayer shawl.  I have two granny square blocks finished and have a bunch started that I need to finish.  I also want to make her some chemo caps in case she loses her hair after the chemo, which starts tomorrow.  My goal is once I finish the ones for my mom, I will make more to donate.  This has been some thing that I've wanted to do for some time now, but I just haven't followed through.  I have a ton more projects to work on, mostly for the kids, so I want to seet aside a specific time to work on some projects to donate.  I really want to spend some of my time creating things that can make others happy.  Tonight, there are a bunch of shows that I like to watch, so working on granny squares is an excellent thing to do so that I can feel productive while I watch TV.  I have so many more projects to work on, that I really need to schedule time to do them, but first things first, I need to get the things for my mom done!

The next goal I have is to put together a schedule for the kids so that we can get things packed into our day and I can feel like a productive parent.  I can keep the house clean and some what organized.  I want to do what's best for them and I think having a schedule will help.  It will help having the days with warmer weather, though we could be getting mroe snow in the next couple of days, but that's New England for you.  I jsut need to figure out what we can do for activities now that Michael is in pre-school.  It will be nice just having the twins for a couple of hours, but I am still stressing over making sure that I am home in time for Michael's bus.

I'm off to work on my granny squares.  I will be working toward making a schedule for me and the kids so that we all get what we need out of our days!  Any scheduling suggestions, other than classes that cost money?

Amy

Christmas Plans

Since Christmas Eve is tomorrow, then Christmas the next day, I'm sure I won't be writing much.  I still ahve some sewing to do for the holidays.  Hopefully it won't be very extensive and go very quickly.  Nothing like waiting to the last minute, as is usual with me.  There's really only 1 thing that I need to finish and that is the blanket for my baby (18 year old) sister.  I have had a fleece panel for a few years now and I have embroidered her name on it, but haven't finished the edging.  That is the first gift that I need to finish.  I have a few winer sacks to finish and they should go quickly, really just short straight seems.  Then the only other thing is the felt bow tie pasta that I want to make for the kids.  Simple enough, just time consuming.  The worst part of all this is that I am sick and I have little to no energy to complete these things as well as the cooking that I need to do.

For the cooking, I need to finish the truffles and hope they came out ok.  I need to make the nuts, which shouldn't be that hard.  Then there is the coffee cake for Saturday that should be baked tomorrow as it says it is better if it sits over night.  Then there is the bean and rice dish, which is really easy, but I made up the spice mixture as I went along and never wrote anything down.  I hope that this time it comes out as tasty as the last time I made it.  Then Saturday morning, I need to make my casserole.  Once the kids are in bed tonight, I don't think it will be bad, I just need to get the energy to complete things.

I have a couple of more gifts to wrap.  I need to order my husband something online.  Other than what I've listed, I think I am in better shape than in the past.  I can't wait to see the kids faces and hear them Christmas morning.  It is going to be so awesome to watch them open their gifts since they get toys now.  And 1 month from today, the twins will be 2 and we will have more gifts.  Maybe that's when I can give my daughter her handmade doll from mommy!  I'll jsut need to figure out something for my son!  Then a month and a half later my older son will be 3.  I can't believe I've been a mom for almost 3 years.  It's carzy to think about.  I'll have to figure out a handmade by mommy gift for him too!

Merry Christmas,
Amy

Weekend Update

I had lots of things planned for the weekend, and I actually got somethings completed.  This was not the weekend for the twins group outing. so that was one less ting on the list.  What I did get completed was the granola, some garden work, the mei tai, and even got to bed on the earlier side and got some rest, since the kids all slept really well.  Oh, and I make cookies with the kids (of course I did most of it with a little help from the kids).  I still need to make graham crackers, yogurt, more granola, more planting (not any time soon with the rain we are having) and I know that there is more that I need to do!

These are the pictures of my mei tai.  I tried on all the kids quickly this morning.  I was actually able to do it by myself, and Eva Rose as the first was my worst.  The two boys cooperated much more and I am really excited to use it!  I think the kids will really like it.

Work in progress

Miss Eva Rose in the Mei Tai

Mr Michael in the Mei Tai (better positioned)

Mr Thomas in the  Mei Tai

Finished project

Finally finished!  I feel pretty good about all that I got done this weekend.  I still have plenty of things that I need to work on.  I need to plan what projects I can work on while I am at work if there is down time.  I have a bunch of cooking baking things that I want/need to make and given that it is going to rain for a couple of days (much needed) I think I may get some things done.

Amy

Projects For The Weekend

Last night, I started trying my plan to get organized.  I followed flylady.net advice and shined my sink. Great, I can do that every night and yes it did look really nice.  I will work on day 2 of my flylady plan.  I will also make some granola tonight, maybe even attempt some homemade yogurt since we seem to go through it so quickly with 5 of us eating it (I'm eating the low fat though so not as much of mine get eaten as quickly), I will at least cut out the material and if possible sew a pocket diaper for Thomas (we are trying out new diapers to see what is going to work best for the kiddos given their sensitive skin), I think I will also make oatmeal for breakfast in the slow cooker (yummmmm).  Between tomorrow and Sunday, I need to plant the irises that my mom gave me, transplant the lillies that I already have, and overall get the front gardens looking better.  I also want to make graham crackers (no HFCS or partially hydrogenated fats in these), a peach and blueberry cobbler, sew more diapers, and make my mei tei wrap before my little ones get too big!  There is also the possibility of going on an outing with my twins group and I don't know how that will fit in to the weekend of if it does at all.  Maybe we won't even go.  If I can get even a few of these thing completed, I will be thrilled!

Even though I want to get things accomplished (and the things I listed don't include the housework I need to do) I need to make sure that I get to bed at a normal hour (I think 11 o'clock is appropriate).  I will just have to prioritize what needs to get done and what can be postponed!

Amy

Getting Organized

I really need to get organized (as I have so often wrote)!  Last post, I worte about getting more balance in my life.I think that one of the first things I need to do to get organized is to find time for myself.  That most likely means that I will need to get up at specific time every day, hopefully before the kids, so that I can plan to do thing by myself.  Initially that may mean that I get up early and start spending a short amount of time organizing an area in my home.  I need to start getting a schedule of things that need to get done, daily, weekly, monthly, and seasonally.  Once I get that, I can start to get a plan on how to get things done so that I can find time for me.  I also want to be able to find time to make homemade food items.  I really am inspired by the blogs I read and also the friend I have.  I want to make sure that I find time to be creative.  I have so many projects that I want to complete and that I really need to complete.  I need to schedule time to complete these projects.  I guess I also need to figure out specifically how I want to spend my days.  I also want to start scheduling time to spend with the kids doing tasks that allows the kids to have some learning time!

I have lots of things that I want to do and many things that I need to do.  I just have to prioritize them and spend less time doing things that I don't need to be doing like watching tv, facebook, and other things like that!

Amy

Outdoor Project Updates

 As you know, my husband and I have been working on a bunch of outdoor projects.  We have completed a butterfly garden and are just waiting for it to bloom more!  I have been working on our front gardens and I'm sure that next year they will need to be done again.  I have a bunch of bulbs and annuals planted, so I think I will need to plant more perennials so that they will come back year after year.  This way we'll save money and I will just need to do up keep vs continuously planting every year.  My husband is also working on the swing set we bought for the kids.  There are so many pieces that it is taking forever to put together.

butterfly garden taken today

 

gardens in the front of the house (looking kind of pathetic)

All 3 gardens have some seed that are just starting to get real leaves, so I'm hoping that it will look better once they grow and bloom.

Our big project, our veggie garden, still looks the same.  Tom still has to till in the fertilizer, then we need to plant.  We spent a ton of money this weekend, buying plants and seeds.  I am amazed that you can still plant veggies from seed.  I am so looking forward to this garden.  I know that the kids are little, but I am so ecstatic that we get to show them a garden and where their food comes from.  I am trying really hard to eat healthier.  Unfortunately, I have gotten away from eating beans and have started eating more meat.  I really don't like that.  I don't know why all of a sudden I started craving meat again.  I had been doing so well eating less meat and want to get back to that way of eating again.  I have put a pork loin in the slow cooker for dinner tonight, but have frozen most of the other meat that I have recently bought.  I probably should have portioned it out so that I only had to take out a small amount at a time.  I am so looking forward to being able to just walk outside to my garden for veggies.  I am hoping that I will not have to frequent the grocery store this summer and hopefully I will be able to save enough to eat some through the winter.

These are pictures of the different plants that we bought for out veggie garden.  We have a bunch of different kinds of veggies and herbs plus seeds!  I can't wait to plant them!

I know have to find time for my creative outlet.    I have so many projects, it's just hard to 

find the time to complete them.  I know that I have repeatedly said that I need to watch less tv, but I really do.  That will give me so much more time.  It's kind of nice that the season is coming to an end and the nice weather is here.  Hopefully I'll get away from the tv and have more time for other interests.

There are so many things that I want to learn and do.  Right now time and money are the things that are holding me back.  I only hope that some day, I will find something that I love to do and be able to make money at it.  I am looking forward to Wishcasting Wednesday over at jamieridlerstudios.ca tomorrow.  It always makes me think.  I also need to go back and look at what I have written in the past and see what I have wanted!

I went on a job interview yesterday.  I applied for the job back in January and finally got an interview.  I am so disappointed that I may get a job for the summer and beyond.  I know that it would help financially, I just wish that I was able to get through this summer without working.  It will be in my field, but I am thinking that I would like to do something outside the box.  Maybe I'll just have to wait til the kids are older and maybe even in school.  Oh, well.  Wish me luck in making whatever decision is best for my family!

Hope you are able to enjoy some nice weather.  We should be close to 90 degrees here in MA and hopefully we can keep cool.

Amy (who is totally craving some iced coffee.  I may be back on the coffee bandwagon at least for the summer)

Outdoor Projects

This year, my husband and I have started multiple outdoor projects!  Last year, we had a tree cut down, and this year we added a butterfly garden to where the tree was.  I posted pictures of it when I first planted and here it is now!

The butterfly garden still has to grow and it may not even be what I want it to be this year.  I may need to wait for next year for it to really grow and bloom like I want it to!

Last year, we also took out all the shrubs in the front of the house.  We were going to plant a bunch of bushes, but we decided to save some money this year and just pant some flowers.  It look ok, and you really can't tell what it looks like from the pictures, but it is nice not to have huge bushes blocking the front of the house.

My husband tilled an area in the backyard for our veggie garden.  I can't wait to plant veggies and for them to grow so that we can just go out  into the backyard and pick them instead of going to the store!  I think either this week or next week, we will start planting.

Finally, we bought a swingset for the kids.  We weren't going to, but decided that it was a good deal and bought it.  There are so many parts, but my husband is doing awesome getting it put together!

I can't wait for these projects to move ahead.  I am really liking the nice weather and can't wait for it to stay here.  I will put up with the heat, since I know that it will let me get out with the kids.  I think it will be lots of dun and hopefully we can get together with friends this summer!

Amy

Food Update and other things!

Last Sunday, we had my family over for a cookout.  To go cheap, we bought hamburgers and hot dogs.  It ended up not being all that cheap since we bought a ton of frozen hamburgers and really good quality hotdogs (I know oxymoron regarding the hot dogs).  Since I tend to be a major meat fan, especially steak, my goal has been to decrease the amount of meat that I ingest.  I have done fairly well with decreasing my intake of meat in general, especially steak, but I seem to get in a rut for lunches and this week I ended up eating a hamburger every day and then last night I had 2.  I know that doesn't sound too bad, but for me meat eating is such a slippery slope, that I can see myself very easily getting back into each a ton of meat and I so don't want to do that.

My newest goal is to try to decrease the amount of starchy carbs that I eat.  As with meat, if not more so, I tend to carb overload.  I have been eating pretty much little to no white starchy foods, but there are certain thing I love i.e. potatoes, Italian bread, and things like that.  I tend to eat wheat bread and brown rice which are better, but I can still over do with them.  I also tend to eat way too much butter when I have starchy foods.

I have done well with my no coffee drinking.  I think since just after Christmas I have had 2 cups and only really drank one of them.  I am really enjoying being a tea drinker and really don't miss my coffee.  I have always like tea, especially iced tea since I was raised on it my Southern grandmother.  I love tea cups and tea pots.  I love the taste of tea.  My husband and I having been buying our loose tea from Teavana, which is really good tea, but expensive.  Since we are a family of 5 living one 1 teacher's salary, we have been researching other places to buy tea.  I believe that we will be placing an order with adagio teas.  It will be interesting to see how they compare with Teavana.

The weather here, just north of Boston, is getting better.  Of course, we have a few great days then we have horrible rain.  I am starting to work on some of the gardens that we plan on having.  Right now I have just worked on starting to edge around some bushes that we already have.  I have started seeds, but I'm not sure how they are going to be when it gets to be time to plant them.  I think this year, we may have to start with plants that are already started.  Oh well, I can't have everything!

On  non-food related note, I have a few projects that I am trying to complete.  I have a couple of sundresses that I want to make for my daughter, a couple of rompers that I want to make for my sons, and I noticed today that the covers for our high chair seat are really disgusting and it says that they are not machine washable.  I am thinking that I may be able to make a pattern from the existing seat covers that I can throw in the washing machine every so often.  I have many more projects that I want to work on, but for now those are the main ones!

Oh, and I plan to have my husband put up a clothes line so that I can hang clothes outside now that the nice weather is here.  As a kids I always hated that chore, but now as an adult thinking a little more green, thinking about cost effectiveness, and thinking about how much better it is for my clothes, as well as hearing from many people that hanging the cloth diapers out in the sun helps to clear away any yeast issues, I now look forward to hanging my clothes out!

Long post, but lots to say,

Amy