Howdy!

Hi ya'll!  Testing out the new blog setup here.  (I think this is going to work.  )

Anyhow, NEWS from NE bLACKhAMMER:

My new (in November - 2011 that is) washing machine is installed!  Yippee!  And it works AWESOME.  Thank you Brad Matthew Tostenson for surprising me Sunday morning by hooking it up. 

New problem:  it takes a lot more clothes to make a load.  UFF DA - what a Problem!

New opportunity:  a big gaping hole in the corner of the livingroom where the in-the-box washer resided as an unusually shaped shelf for my collection of cow bells.   Hmmmmmmm.

Liz

Enough.

Enough leaking diaper nonsense... this ends today! I'm replacing elastic and velcro. And stripping diaper pads. I'm going to make these work until we're ready for pull-ups/training pants. Yeah! I love Grovia diapers, but there is a limit to how many wears you can get per cover before you can expect to do some diaper upkeep.
~Becky

Update...

Charlie is sleeping-in this morning. I've heard him make noises a few times, but I never know what I should do with myself in situations like this, ha ha.

So I stripped the diaper pads and they came out looking SO clean. I guess it would make sense that I would need to do this more frequently as he is older/bigger/I've used quite a bit of diaper cream lately. I'm thinking I should just strip the diaper liners every time, keep them seperate and soak them prewash or something so they don't contaminate the diapers, which is sort of their role in the first place. Must start this now before his diaper pail is full and I have to sort through to find the liners I've already used, soak them and then wash diapers.

I had 2 plain jane diaper covers waiting to be re-velcroed for months. CHECK. But they won't last. I wonder where a person buys better quality velcro? Oh well, its not really that much work AND it got me back on my sewing machine (GOAL- to sew more things, preferably toddler boy clothing, sew cute, pun intended).

And I seam ripped out the velcro on the 4 grovia diaper covers that I had revelcroed a while back. Boy I sure sewed those suckers on there. Then I ran out of velcro. I'm considering not doing it and using baby safety pins, which is what I had been doing anyways, and Charlie likes the cute little animals on them.

Finally, I still need to re-elasticize them (just doing the 4, the snap one held up better, thinking I just didn't use it as frquently, but in retrospect I would purchase all snaps in the future). I will attempt to complete this tonight, as I need the diaper covers to use. I found this link- http://www.mamaslaundrytalk.com/2010/02/25/how-to-repair-the-elastic-in-a-cloth-diaper/
which states that I do not need to remove the old elastic.

And that's all I know about diapers right now. Your supposed to blog about things that are happening in your life, right? Lizzie might be interested anyways. And your probably thinking, sounds like a lot of work, right? But so worth it for Charlie's little bum, and I've actually saved like $2000- 3000 dollars on diapers (by the time I'm done anyways). So, actually not so much work. Although now thinking of the fairly minimal cost of purchasing a few new covers, I would still be saving thousands.
Oh well, now I've saved another $50. I'm already making money today.

"Maw-Mawwwwww!"

~Becky

Baby Clarence in the house.

My house! Yeah!

~Becky

Kale Chips.

1 bunch kale (washed and dried)
2 Tbs. olive oil
2 Tbs. lemon juice
1/4 tsp. sea salt

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. 2. Chop kale into 1/2-inch pieces. 3. Place in a large bowl.
4. With hands, massage oil, lemon juice, and salt into kale. 5. Place on parchment-lined baking sheet.
6. Bake at 350 degrees F for 10 to 15 minutes until dark green and crispy. 7. Cool and serve.

*Don't overdue the liquids. The flavor of mine were good, but they were too soggy.

~Becky

Berry Mint Smoothie.

Charlie's after-nap/pre-supper snack...

2 or 3 parts strawberries, dethawed (frozen from last year, did not make it to the berry patch this year)
1 part blue berries (Thanks Na-ma Wiste :)
1/2 part mint (from the garden)
1/2 part ice cubes

blend well, put in sippy cup with a straw, complain that you want to drink the last half with a big boy cup.

*Every time I go into the freezer, Charlie tries to sneak in to grab an ice cream bar. But he never grabs just one, he always gets me one too, the little sweet heart.

** Also, Charlie needs his own man-bag. He currently insists on carrying mine (kind of too large for him, but completely adorable).

*** Travis watched me boss Charlie around on how to load the washing machine (he insists on putting the clothes in, so I tell him which ones). He said, "Don't you do anything around here anymore?". Ha ha, I never have to alone :)

~Becky

I'm Ba-ack.

After a short break from the blog-sphere (after repeatedly short attempts at blogging), I have decided to Facebook less and blog more. Like maybe a summer break from Facebook, so instead of checking out what other people are doing, I will be doing something. And then maybe I will blog about it.

I am inspired mostly by Kali  (I love seeing what you are up to all the time!, finding out what you are thinking about in that moment, and of course wedding updates), and also by the amount of time I waste looking at other people's Facebook pages. After Charlie goes to bed. As in I try not to watch television or go on the computer while he is awake (mainly because it is better for him, but also because it is very difficult most of the time), so I am totally wasting part of my personal free time. Which we all know is very valuable.

So stay tuned... I seem to keep threatening to start, and then when I do it is a blog post about blogging.

I will add a little about my day-

- I washed and made my bed twice today. Charlie spilled milk on my clean sheets, and so I had to take them back off to wash them, and then remade it. Ha, moments like that. What else is there to say?

- Charlie rode Bob the Builder's truck at Wal-Mart, as he does mostly every time we go there. He just loves that thing.

- I blanched and froze the remaining 5 or so heads of Spring cauliflower.

- I cut and washed MANY gallons of various types of lettuce from the garden, and have been working on giving as much of it away as I can.

- Travis thinned the beets again, but this time the beets were surprisingly large. I boiled a few for his lunch, and then Charlie and I ate the rest (large portions each) for supper. I didn't know if he would like it. Will he pee red tomorrow and will that stain his diapers? Only time will tell.

- I made chocolate chip cookies with the good chocolate chips- Ghirardelli good.

That's enough for now I think :) I have to go watch Mad Men on Netflix until Trav comes home from work.

~Becky

Yoga Meltdown.

My Yoga video no longer works... I hadn't done it in a while and it was getting a little sketchy before, but now it is done for. So, today at Wal-Mart I picked up Jillian Michaels' Yoga Meltdown. There wasn't very many options, this was the cheapest, and Kali mentioned using her workout video. Well, OMG and Holy Bleep! I can hardly hold my arms up to type. And it was only a 30 minute video. Can anyone say Power Yoga? ~Becky

Breakfast (in pictures).

*Hint. If you click on the first picture, it pops up as a slide show for your viewing pleasure. 

Then just click the Right arrow to see the rest.

 Also lunch, because it was Fab! Even Pooh joined us (that's spinach from the garden, yo).

Ha ha. My kid always has a dirty face.

~Becky

Vroom, vroom. (I have a feeling this won't be the last blog post with this title.)

We had such a good run today. Its hard not to be motivated when I have my own sound effects baby, "Vroom, vroom, vroom!" much of the way. Besides the skid loader, he also brought his mini dump truck along.
Charlie got a package from his Ya Ya today with some Vroom Vroom pajamas. They won't fit long, but they do fit and he loved them. I'm kind of partial to body hugging pajamas in the hue of fire engine red anyways. (Love the new shorts, too! So cute.)


~Becky

I am in need of a new knitting project. Yeah! What shall it be? I'm thinking something Charlie related.

By train, bus and automobile.

Uncle Trum-Brum and KT should be somewhere in the Dakotas by now, heading west. Safe travels and please post some pictures if you get the chance.

Also, a link to the Milly the milking machine.

Think spring.

Trav started SO many plants already for this year, and we've been eating on some of the basil. So he brought me up some basil, cilantro, parsley, greek oregano, and italian oregano to plant for the kitchen. Love it! Charlie keeps asking to smell them.

And we're eating cheese burgers tomorrow! Going to try some homemade french-fries, too. We've still got some potatoes left. That's sort of where we are at this year... trying to eat up on some of our last years goodies so we can start fresh again.

And Charlie! We went to toddler tales yesterday at the library, and he made himself a Dr. Seuss hat. He also likes hanging out in the kitchen closet.

 

And trying on everyone else's shoes. 

He's got "Ma-ma" down now. For the longest time he would call both Trav and I, Da-da, and who knows what all else. Then he started correcting himself. Now he says it with emphasis. He's playing around with when to use it... and its just one of those special things I'll savor for ever.

 ~Becky

Becopotty.

I am proud to say, that Charlie made it 6 or 7 out of 9 or 10 times today! You know, to the potty. The Becopotty to be exact...

When he gets done using it, we're going to plant it in the garden (and you're all invited, you know, to the potty planting ceremony).

So we've been using mainly Gro-Via cloth diapers so far and they have these adorable (in my mind anyways.... weird the things that change when you have babies... I used to watch Sex and the City and dream about shoes. Actually on a side note, I may be one of the only people that think there should be a third movie. But this time Carrie and Big should have a baby! You know, because I have one AND can you imagine the clothes!?! LOVE baby clothes). Anyways, they are way too expensive for a stay-at-home mom's budget; but there's these patterns all over the internet that are similar to this style. I am hoping they will be my next project, but if so, I had best get sewing!


~Becky

And a major PS side note.
I just talked to my Dad, who was still out in the barn when I called, because my Mum was prettying up Millie (the cow). Apparently tomorrow people are coming from the Dairy Star or some such newspaper to photograph her. At least according to DHIA records, she is currently the oldest and highest producing cow in all of Minnesota! Congrats ol' gal!

My crazy camera.

My friend Bill thinks the picture orientation issue may be with Blogger! I think I might write an email.