Sunday, October 31, 2010

Why Felted Wool Sweaters Rock!!!!

I am in love with felting wool sweaters to make awesome new creations!! I love the naturalness of wool items and being able to sew instead of knit gives this very impatient mama the instant gratification I crave.

I just wanted to share some of my recent creations...

Kindle Cover

Diaper Cover

Skirted Diaper Cover

Hat (made from the turtle neck of the same sweater I made the skirt)

Felting your old wool sweaters is so easy, basically you just throw the sweater into the washing machine with a little soap and hot water and then run it through the dryer (ok, so there is a little bit more to it than that). The biggest tip I can give (trust me I learned from experience) is to put your sweater into a mesh laundry bag, otherwise you wind up with balls of wool all through your machine. I can't imagine that this is great for the machine.

The greatest thing is that now you are able to cut it apart without it falling apart making it very easy to sew into any project your heart desires. After I had already make the kids lunch bags for their bento boxes the thought hit me to make them from felted sweaters! Lanolize and keep any moisture from leaking into their back packs. Oh well, they will have the same lunch boxes next year. I have been toying with the idea of making reusable snack bags from felted wool shirts too. I would really like to stay away from using PUL for their food carrying bags. I don't mind using it in diapers, but food is a completely different thing. I'll have to play around with this idea and update.

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Not as Yummy, but Healthier!!!

Homemade "Doritos"




Ok, so they don't taste exactly like a Dorito (though I want to make these again when I have some Wildtree taco seasoning) they are still very yummy.

Ingredients:
Corn Tortillas (organic)
Grape Seed Oil
Seasoning and Salt
(I had Cajun and Fajita on hand)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly oil both sides of the tortilla, stack all of them and cut with a pizza cutter. Arrange in a single layer on your baking sheet and season. Bake for about 9 minutes or until a nice golden brown. Enjoy!!!

I have made these before, but I had only salted them. Having these healthy seasonings in my cupboard has opened a brand new door to my homemade chips. The next time I make these I think that a garlic blend could be really yummy.

So, maybe I really bit the big one when it came to selling Wildtree, but maybe I could get a job in their test kitchen.

I have been trying to make more and more of our food from scratch and my reasons were certainly validated at our recent Holistic Moms Network meeting! This was the first time that I had heard about Morgellons Disease and it's link to GMO's. It really is frightening and I don't understand why we aren't standing up as a nation and fighting for our food!!!! Here is a great site and source for foods to avoid and foods that are safe.

Now, I am off to the store to buy a GM free baking powder, ugh.

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Yes, I changed it again.

Why do I feel like I am constantly struggling to maintain my identity? Sometimes I feel like I have these labels on me and there is nothing I can do to shake them.

Yes, I may be into living a holistic lifestyle and yes I am very out spoken when it comes to breastfeeding, parenting, wearing your baby and many other things. But guess what, that is about a fraction of who I am and I am tired of stuffing it deep down and trying to always act like I have got it all together. Holy crap, I am about to be 33 I think it is time that I start letting it all out.

Still the same stuff, but more and without the labels. I am who I am and that's all that I want to be.

Saturday, October 9, 2010

It is going to be a long week.

So, I have my mom in town for the week and I am thrilled. It is great to have her here but I am saddened by a comment that she made on her first day. This morning after breakfast Taj looked at me and said "nee nee please" and my mom looked at me and asked what that meant. I told her that he was asking to nurse to which she replied "Don't you think it is about time you knock that off? He is almost 3." I told her that it has been shown that a child will naturally wean between the ages of 3 and 4 and that I wasn't comfortable with forcing him to wean before he was ready. Her reply was "Well, maybe but come on we aren't living in a 3rd world country." I quickly ended the conversation with a "Well, he doesn't really nurse that much any more any way." This his hilarious because my almost 3 year old nurses more often than my 1 year old does. He practically nursed through an entire play date the other day.

So after this very brief conversation I have felt really uncomfortable nursing him around her and so I feel like I have been brushing his needs aside all day. At one point when he asked to "nee nee" I told him that we would nurse later and he throw himself on the ground crying. So, we didn't nurse before we went off to my older two's soccer games and at one point he was begging and trying to pull my breasts out of my shirt right there on the side lines. We had a quick talk about being patient and I promised that he would nurse before nap. So after we got home him and I went upstairs to nurse and the poor child seemed so frantic, like I better take what I can get now because I don't know when I will be able to do this again.

It was a long evening and can I say uncomfortable one. When you have two kids nursing on a daily basis and then all of a sudden just one, hello very full breasts! Finally it was time for bed and the poor child nursed for almost an hour. I can not go another 9 days like this, I need to figure out what to say to her and also how to not push aside Taj's needs because I am not feeling comfortable in a situation. He is only 2 1/2 and this is not his problem, he just wants to know why all of a sudden I am not allowing him to "nee nee" whenever he would like to.

Any good words of advice would be really appreciated right now.