First Haircut.

Me and Keith have discussed it for a few days now... whether or not we should cut Jude's hair. I couldn't figure out if sacrificing the cuteness of his baby curls and cute surfer dude look was worth losing the headache of taming it and keeping food out of it. It's just so cute, but I can bathe him and one meal later he needs another bath. He has curly hair, but only in the back at the ends, it's straight otherwise, so it's not like it was in cute ringlets. In fact it often looked like this




But on good days it's more like this



So this evening I said "Hey JuJu you wanna hair cut?" and he responded with his usual "Naow!"

Whatever, dude.

This ensued



It was brutal. The kind of brutal where you wonder if it's even worth it anymore, except you have already made a few cuts so you have to follow through. He cried and cried. It wasn't the clippers scaring him as much as it was us holding his chin straight so I did not mess up that was irritating him. I did it quick and dirty. Just ran the clippers down it against the growth of the hair to cut the length off of it and maintain some shape.

I think I did well. I mean, it looks like a long bowl cut or something. I didn't bother with the top of his head or anything, it wasn't a bother. I think he looks so much older now. So sad, but so cute




( keith was warned I was taking blog pics. He cared not.)
And yes, I collected all of the hair and put it in a baggy. Perhaps I'll do the thing where you frame the lock of hair from the first haircut. I don't know I always thought those things were kind of creepy.





He also got his very own twin bed this weekend. Complete with thrifted teddy bear quilt. He had a full sized bed that was great for cosleeping, but now- mommy doesn't fit. And, he doesn't need me to as much.



My boy is growing up. Kinda sad, but fun. <3

Homemade pizza.

I've been making my own pizza for several months now. We eat tons of pizza. I craved it hardcore when I was pregnant with Jude and even after he was born the taste for it has not left me, I could eat it several times a week. But pizza can be expensive and unhealthy so it's probably a good idea to figure out a healthy medium. This recipe happens to be very economical as well.

I use a crust recipe that uses yeast. Most people I talk to about it say that they cannot get yeast recipes to work. It can work! You can make it work! I will walk you through it. It's sooooooo easy.

First, the recipe:

1 cup of very warm water
1 TB of sugar
2 1/4 tsp of active dry yeast
1/2 tsp of salt
3 TB of olive oil
2 1/4 cups of all purpose flour

In a mixing bowl, add your warm water and sugar and stir to dissolve. Once the sugar is dissolved, add the yeast and stir to dissolve. It will look something like this





Then you'll need to wait until it proofs. You see, yeast thrives in warm environments and feeds off of sugar. So when the yeast is in the warm sugar water long enough it will expand, it's gonna take a few minutes so be patient. I like to watch, because when it proofs it bursts to the top in little starbursts. It's pretty neat. It looks foamy on the surface and will smell sort of like beer. Like this





Next you'll add your salt and oil and stir to combine. THen add your flour and mix well until you have a big ball of dough in your bowl. It will be sticky- you don't have to touch it, no kneading necessary



Now set it on your preheated oven (350 degrees) and set a timer for 10 minutes and let it sit. Go check your facebook or your email or make a phone call. It'll be fine, just let it sit there.

Once that 10 minutes is up, it'll be a little bit bigger, puffier- but not too noticably so. Coat your hands in olive oil and pick up the dough out of the bowl and pat it out onto your pan.



Now it's ready to add toppings! You can use canned or jarred pizza sauce, but I make my own using these ingredients


It's very easy and very cheap. I always have Italian seasoning and garlic powder on hand, and a can of Great Value tomato sauce costs 64 cents. I think a can of pizza sauce costs a dollar so not a huge savings, but it saves me the trouble of having to buy specific pizza sauce, plus I make my own spaghetti sauce so if I just buy 4-5 cans of tomato sauce at a time, I use them in random meals throughout the week and if I'm having a blah day and just wanna make pizza for supper instead of actually cook, I don't have to run out for pizza sauce, I can just make it. See, easy.

I spread tomato sauce on the dough and then sprinkle generously with the seasonings. Then I add my mozzarella or whatever cheese I have on hand and pop it in the oven for ... oh probably 15 to 20 minutes. We don't like ours real brown or tough.



mmmmmmmm..... delish.


I keep all of those ingredients on hand all the time so making pizza can be spontaneous and last minute if I need it to be. I have to believe it's not as fattening as store bought or delivery, after all there are no pools of grease on the top. But bear in mind, we're talking white bread and mozzarella and whatever meaty topping you may desire so it can quickly get out of hand.



YUM.. Give it a try, you'll be pleased! And probably never spend money on delivery again!

Peace.

(p.s the recipe as written will only make one pizza, I always double it for my family.)

Progress.

Dylan. In spite of everything, Dylan is my rock. The one thing that can bring me down to this Earth when I get caught up in it. He's the one being in my world that is constant, as strange as that sounds... because Dylan is anything but constant.



Dylan saved me. From what, I don't know. I don't want to know. But he saved me.

If you have ever met Dylan or spent a measurable amount of time with him, you can see that he is not like other kids. He's sensitive, to put it politely, and set in his ways. He prefers to play alone; a leader, not a follower.

Dylan has taken us on a ride, that kid. In August of 2008 we thought we could lose him.

For those of you that don't know, Dylan has recurrent brain inflammation. Caused by: nobody knows. He's been tested and evaluated for everything under the sun, but nothing matches up. He's spent a great deal of the past 3 yrs on steroids and in and out of the hospital. The worst time being the first time. He spent 21 days in the hospital and his entire central nervous system had shut down. He learned to walk, talk, eat, speak- all over again. He's a fighter (quite literally). He has had flare ups 3 times since then, hospitalizations required each time. I always relax once we are at the hospital.. I know he is in good hands. It is quite scary though because you can never know when a flare up can cause brain damage. It's hard to think that a mother could see a silver lining in such a serious situation, but I suppose you have to to survive. When Dylan is sick, it's me and Dylan against the world. I have to fight for him-even though he is so strong, he is strength. But I find peace in it. It brings me back down to Earth. I step back and see Dylan, and he needs me to do that sometimes. To reconnect.

He has been flare up free for 2 yrs this February. 2 Years!!!! He hasn't taken steroids since May '11. The longest he has gone without getting sick on steroids is 6 months and he has pushed past that. I can't say I'm not always observing him -looking for signs of neurological disfunction.

Dylan had to repeat kindergarten this year because he just was not where he needed to be to go to first grade. He has had learning disabilities since before he got sick though, so we have been working with Dylan since early intervention days and then he was put in a DD preschool program, which was a Godsend.

But this year, something is different with Dylan. He's doing so incredibly well. This is the second progress report I have gotten this year that looked exactly like this:






My heart sings when I see this! My boy is going so far, pushing forward every day. His speech is clearer, his comprehension is better and he laughs- oh his laughter is the sound of angels.

I'm so proud of you Dylan, if you ever read this - know that I'm rooting for you all the way. I knew you could do it! <3

Oh, and thanks for saving me.

The curious case of too many cases and the cute camo pants

I made the case for my camera, as previously blogged about. Then I made two more (!!) because I was experimenting with quilt batting in it to protect the camera even further... the original case is only 2 pieces of cotton fabric thick. So not very thick. It's more like a camera sleeve.

Tuesday was the day of the camera case! I just kept sewing them, I sewed all of these:





Cute huh?! Now I have more camera cases than I will ever have cameras for. The way it goes.

Funny how when you make a case for something, your eye wonders and you find other things that need cases... Like my kids' Leapster Explorers!!!

I was playing around with some leftover camo fabric and I sewed a zipper case for Hayden's leapster and I even added handles. It reminded me of a bible case I used to have... Anyways...

Me and the boys went to Wal-Mart and I was looking at zippers to make Dylan a case, and I eyed some Thomas the Train fabric..... before you know it I had purchased half a yard each of Thomas the Train and Spiderman fabric, a red and navy zipper and red double fold bias tape... I was prepared for custom made leapster cases!!

The kids are super excited about them! We go places alot... places that are "far far away" (anything that takes over a half an hours drive is considered far far away to them) and they take their leapsters so they can be occupied while we are riding or waiting in an ER or at a place where they shouldn't act like themselves.. basically anywhere that is not our home. Now they have protective carrying cases to tote them in, cute too!

(Hayden's)

(Dylan's)


Oh I forgot to mention that I purchased another yard of camo fabric... I wanted to make a Jude a pair of camo pants with knee pads.. I have seen a tutorial for them here and thought they were cute and finally went for it. (MADE is an awesome blog, I suggest everybody that reads blogs to read it, even if you don't sew or craft at all, her photography is beautiful) I used her pdf pattern and I made the knee pads out of brown felt.

(like my pin cushion penguin? Hayden calls it my creepy penguin)

Once the final stitch was in place I said "Ju Ju you wanna put on pants?" and his immediate response was "Naow!" in his cute little toddler refusal way, eventually I broke him down.



But he still wouldn't look at the camera. He's starting to figure me out, that kid.



Peace, ya'll.

Moving on.

“You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You

can steer yourself any direction you choose.” — Dr. Seuss

I can feel it in my gut. I've felt it for a long time. Our time in this house, this town even- is expiring.

I love big life changes. New job, new house, new interests... it's exciting.

I moved around a lot when I was growing up. My parents divorced when I was young and my mother remarried several times and almost every time she remarried or dated someone we moved and I had to start a life all over again. New school, new friends, new family dynamic. It's the truth- the way it was. I did not grow up in the same house my whole childhood and I don't have lifelong friends. People kind of come and go in my life and it's just something I am used to. I don't live near my family, but we visit often and work to nurture those relationships.

I often wonder if I had grown up in one house, would I be different. Would I not feel the need to move on.... If I had roots, would I - could I stay?

I certainly feel the voids. I wish I had people I could call on when I needed help. A sick child to help with, to send a meal when times are tough, to watch the boys while I run to the store. I wish I had a sense of community, surrounded by like minded souls.

I've been in this town for 10 years. Wow.

10 years.

This is not the town for me, or my family... I long to be somewhere else. Out of state. The world is full of places far more interesting than this. Life is too short to stay in one place.

Soon.

Camera Case

I made a case for my camera to protect it from damage it may receive while being toted around in my purse (it's dangerous in there). I'm really proud of it! It took around a half an hour to make and I did not use a pattern, just whipped it up. Some of my best stuff happens like that.
I lay my camera on some cute fabric and traced it, allowing about a half an inch for seams. I sewed those pieces together up the sides and the bottom creating 2 separate pouches and then set them down inside each other.I know there is probably some fancy way of sewing them together and then pulling them up and then magically there is no need for a hem, but I was not feeling like figuring that out or googling it. My poor Hay Hay is sick today, and I am trying to get over this cold... I just did it quick.

I zig zag stitched the top of the fabric all the way across and then folded it down to create a slight hem.
Then I cut two strips of fabric about 3 and 1/2 inches long and about an inch wide and sewed those right sides together and pulled them out, to make the strap.



I sewed velcro to the outside of the case and to the end of the strap and then sewed the strap into the case.Then I stuck my camera inside, and then pondered how I would take a picture of it all snug inside of it's case..... haha, bust out the cell phone.








You likey? I like it! Now my camera can be safe from a purse full of Mcdonalds toys, chapstick and loose change.

Peace, ya'll.

Happy New Year, ya'll.

We went to Florence this weekend and spent the New Year with My Dad and step-mother Kim. It had been a year since we had seen them so it was very nice to catch up with them again. We didn't stay up until midnight to bring in the new year, but we knew it would be there when we woke up the next morning and we were correct :)

I've done some sewing and crafts in the last few days, I'll share them with you. I took a diaper box and turned it into a fabric covered storage box using a tutorial found here and we are using it for clean sock storage. I don't match socks. Ever. But now they have a pretty box.

I took this:and turned it into this (on the right, the purple one that says socks)


I also made this game case/carrier for my kids's leapster games. Those games are literally tiny. They have already lost a couple of their games because they are just so hard to keep up with so I made this case to keep in my purse. I'm proud of it, it came straight from the top of my head.



I've gotten out my glue gun and tried it out... I've had that thing for a very long time, probably as long as I have had my sewing machine and I've always been afraid of it. Afraid I'll burn myself I think or that I just won't know how to use it correctly. But I used it to make my fabric covered box and now I'm like "what was the big deal????" I love my glue gun now. :D

I'm pretty exhausted. Winter break is wearing me down ya'll. Wearing.Me.Down.

I have plans for a digital camera case to sew (SQUEEEE!!!) Hopefully that'll spring forth soon.





Peace!