Seriously Good Deals

Hello friends. I just heard of some great deals from The Modern Baby Company. They have the most adorable and inspiring HANDMADE baby stuff! Their burp cloths are going for $3.00 and bibs for $5.50. Honestly you probably can't make them for that. So, go check them out here.

All Set Up

I have the delish blog all ready to go. Go check it out to see the rules and recipe choosing rotation. If you want to join but haven't posted a comment, you can still do so. If you would prefer to email me you can do that too.

Aprons

I feel bad for not posting a Make it Monday last week. I'm sure you all noticed and greatly missed it. The problem was I was almost done with these aprons but not quite. So now they are done and ready to be shipped. Yep, I'm mailing them away. You see almost a year ago I offered a chance to win something handmade by me on my blog. I haven't forgotten and as promised it hasn't been a year yet! I still have 3 months even. Hopefully I can get them and a few surprises mailed out this week. Enjoy.

Baking / Cooking Club

Oh good deal! I'm glad there's interest in the baking club. Lets alternate between baking and cooking meals and we'll do it every Monday. I want to start on March 16. Hopefully that will give us all enough time to buy the book.

If any of you have a cookbook to recommend for the meal making weeks please suggest it. I don't have one in particular that I'm crazy about. We could just email all the other participants the recipe of the week when we cook so we don't use the same cookbook. What do you guys think?

Also, if you want to participate in just baking or just cooking we can accommodate that too. So if you are only doing baking you would do it every other week and if you are doing both you would do it weekly. Does that make sense?

I've started a blog here to keep track of what we're doing and a place for us to share pictures and thoughts as we go along. If you can think of anything else I may be overlooking, please let me know!

We'll leave it open for anyone to join at any time so if you are thinking about it... join! It will be fun!

Baked: New Frontiers in Baking

I've been wanting to do this for a while and am finally getting up the courage to do it. I want to start a baking club. Here's how it works. We each buy the same cookbook (I am thinking Baked: New Frontiers in Baking by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito ). Then we all bake the same recipe and share our pictures and comments about the recipe. I think it would be best if we bake something new either every week or every other week. And of course we should take turns choosing what to bake.

I want this to be fun and successful. I really want to get as many people as possible to participate so even if you don't know me, please leave a comment that you're interested. Tell your friends to join. I'm totally serious. I think it would be a lot of fun.

As soon as we have a few people who are interested I think we should use a separate blog for our baking chit chat. Of course you can post pictures and comments on your own blog about the recipes we choose but it would be nice to have one central location to meet.

If you're interested please leave a comment letting me know the following things:
1. If you're interested.
2. If you think Baked: New Frontiers in Baking is a good choice. If you have a different baking book you would like to suggest, please do so.
3. If you think we should choose a new recipe every week or every other week.
4. What day works best for you to 'present' our baked item.

4 Months

Oh Calder, I can't believe you're already 4 months old. You are a fabulous baby! You eat and sleep very well. I feel so blessed that you've been so easy.

This month has been very full of new discoveries. You continue to dislike tummy time but you roll over immediately to your back in a matter of seconds. Just tonight you tried rolling from your back to your side. It wasn't successful but you sure tried! You are getting so good at putting things in your mouth. You can hand things from one hand to the other and use both hands to grasp your toys. You've found your toes but cloth diapers make it a little bit harder to reach them. You try. The second I take your diaper off to change it you throw your legs up to your hands to get your feet.

You've also recently started wanting to touch Deebo. You reach out to him and try to roll towards him. Deebo is very patient and doesn't seem to care that you grab a little less than gently. He seems to like you based on the fact that whenever you spit up on the floor he comes running to clean it up. (OK, I know that's gross. Sorry.)

Your favorite portable toys are books, Eebie (a stuffed bath toy), a very interactive lion and a doggy stuffed animal. I love how you taste every page as we read books and you've learned how to turn the pages. I'm impressed how you always turn the pages the correct way. You love your exersaucer, bouncy chair and bumbo chair but prefer to hang out with mom rolling around on the bed or play mat. You're also a big fan of your sling and Baby Bjorn.

The month of January brought terrible weather. We spent a lot of time inside. You didn't seem to mind but now that we have had a few warmer days you love being outside. You had so much fun walking in your big stroller. You also seem to like walking with Deebo.

I love you so much and have a hard time remember life before you got here. You're such a sweet boy. You give the best hugs and snuggles. Your daddy and I look forward to them so much.

Kindness

I have been trying to be a better friend. I was never intentionally a 'bad' friend I just feel like I'm a little socially awkward sometimes. OK, a lot. I always think of nice things to say or remember to ask about how something is going about 10 minutes too late. You know when you're driving home from church and you wish you could rewind so you could say that incredibly nice thought you had or ask how starting solid food is working for your friend's baby. That happens to me more than I care to admit.

I have many incredible friends. I have one friend in particular who is JUST SO NICE. I am always amazed at her kindness. It's not like she gives me things or is overtly generous like she pities me. She is genuinely a nice person who cares about ME. She asks how specific things are going in my life and always makes me feel special. I need that. I'm sure others need that and I could be that friend if I could just think a little faster and possibly more clearly. I do eventually think of these things, so I have potential to be a good friend. (I think.)

I wonder if I'm just selfish and therefore spend more time thinking about telling people what I think instead of focusing on them. I am having a hard time figuring out how to get from where I'm at to where I want to be. My specific friend is a fabulous example but it comes to her so naturally that I have a hard time knowing where to start. I need to spend more time just listening and asking more questions I think.

As I made this goal I tried to come up with ways to be a better friend. I thought I would be a better friend by baking goodies and giving them to my friends. Thus showing my friends I care and think about them. Well, that's where the thought process ended. Being the perpetual list maker and checker off-er that I am, I moved on to the next resolution. As I've been reevaluating my resolutions I've really been pondering friendship and have been observing what I feel makes a really good friend. Baked goods are nice but that's a small part of being a good friend.

At book group this month we read The Pact by Jodi Picoult. We discussed the relationships of the characters and the topic of friendship came up. There is a point where friendships get too close as I feel happened in the book. I think it is hard to find the balance. I find myself wanting my friends to be closer but being afraid to get closer to my friends. It's lame and I know it. I don't know if I'm afraid of putting in more effort and working harder to nurture the relationship or if I'm afraid people won't like me when they really get to know me well. I'm envious of people who have those close relationships. There are two girls in my ward who are such amazing friends. You can tell that they have done service for each other and spent a lot of time together. They understand the other's needs and seem to always have a good time together. They're close but not too close. I want that. I'm envious of that. It's like the relationship I have with my sisters.

I shy away from talking on the phone. I try to avoid it at all costs. I love to email and text and hear from friends that way but I'm not someone who could throw in an hour on the phone just chatting. Does that decrease my ability to be a good friend? Maybe. I think I could at least call to see how someones day went. But my goodness that's hard. In so many ways I'd rather bake a cake and drive it to their house than talk on the phone.

So, what makes a good friend to you? Do you think we need really close friends as adults or are solid friends good enough? Do you like to talk in the phone? How would you suggest building relationships? Do you feel a little fuddy duddy in the friend department?

Pictures for Grandparents

Here are a few pictures for the grandparents.
Calder loves his bumbo chair.
Calder LOVES books. He absolutely loves them. He will flip the pages as we read.
Okay, let me explain this last picture. It may be a bit inappropriate. Calder went through a time a few weeks ago when he would only do tummy time while NAKED on his changing pad. So, every time we changed his diaper I would flip him over and we would read or play with toys. I'm sure he will be mortified that his naked rear end is online.


Now he is so good at rolling over that he immediately flips over onto his back. So we spend our tummy time going back and forth. Sometimes in the bath he likes to pretend to swim and float on his tummy. But when he's done he throws his head to the side and tries to roll over. You certainly have to stay on your toes during bath time with our little swimmer.

Buttermilk Biscuits

I promise I won't feature a recipe every week. If I did I would have to change the name to Bake It Monday and honestly, that's just not as catchy. Next week you'll get something I've sewn. I promise.

I had some leftover buttermilk from a roast I made yesterday and thought I should make some biscuits. These are really good and I recommend them highly. The aforementioned roast was also quite good. Maybe I'll feature it next week. I'm kidding.

Buttermilk Biscuits

Ingredients:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 5 tablespoons chilled vegetable shortening
• 1 cup buttermilk

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 425F. In a large bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda. Cut shortening into the flour mixture with a pastry blender until the mixture forms coarse crumbs.

Add buttermilk, tossing with a fork, until dough holds together.

Turn dough onto a floured surface and form into a disk. Knead lightly just a few times until smooth.

Pat dough to a 3/4-inch thickness. Using a biscuit cutter or glass dipped in flour, cut out biscuits. Place biscuits about 2 inches apart on an ungreased baking sheet. Gather the trimmings and repeat forming and cutting.

Bake about 12 to 15 minutes, until golden brown.
Makes 12 biscuits.

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Raisin Cookies

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Raisin Cookies

I LOVE these cookies. I have a soft spot for anything with oatmeal for some reason. I had a really hard time finding that perfect recipe, so I made some modifications. They are pretty substantial and freeze very well.

Yields 18 large cookies

1 1/2 cups FLOUR
1/2 teaspoon SALT
1/2 teaspoon BAKING POWDER
8 ounces (2 sticks) UNSALTED BUTTER, softened
1 cup LIGHT BROWN SUGAR, packed
1 cup GRANULATED SUGAR
1 large EGG
1/4 cup APPLESAUCE
3 cups OATS
1 1/2 cups CHOCOLATE CHIPS
1/2 cup RAISINS

1. Preaheat oven to 350 degrees, and line two large cookie sheets with parchment paper.

2. Whisk flour, salt and baking powder together in a medium bowl.

3. In a separate bowl, by hand or by mixer, beat butter until creamy. Add sugars and beat the mixture until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Beat in egg and applesauce.

4. Stir dry ingredients into butter-sugar mixture with a wooden spoon or a large rubber spatula. Stir in oats, raisins and chocolate chips.

5. Place dough onto parchment-lined cookie sheets by large spoonfuls (about 2 tablespoons each), leaving at least 2 inches between.

6. Bake until cookie edges turn golden brown, 20 to 25 minutes. Slide cookies (on parchment) onto cooling rack. Let cool, and store in airtight container.

Make It Monday

domestic /dəˈmɛstɪk/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [duh-mes-tik] –adjective

1.	of or pertaining to the home, the household, household affairs, or the family.

I am so excited to announce that I am going to start featuring something domestic every week. It could be a recipe, a tutorial on making a duvet cover or a creative way to arrange a photo collection. I can't say I'm anywhere close to being an expert on any of these subjects, but I thought it would be a fun way to keep track of the creative things I'm doing this year. Especially since doing more creative / domestic things was one of my resolutions. So, check back on Mondays to see what I've been up to.