A Year of Giving: February

This post is part of my Year of Giving series. You can read the background here.

In February we focused on economic exploitation. Rather than donation, I decided to make a conscious effort to do business with those who refuse to exploit, with business people in need of micro loans, and with refugee businesses.

I switched from Folgers to fair trade coffee. My first bag was from Nicaragua, and included support for Save the Children. The second was from Southern Mexico. I rarely make it to a high-end grocery store, so I just bought the Archer Farms organic fair trade coffee at Target. I may try Trader Joe's next, since there is one near where my husband works.

I made a $25 Kiva loan to Juana in El Salvador to help her buy clothes to resell.

I bought a gift from Hill Country Hill Tribers. According to their Etsy profile: "Hill Country Hill Tribers is a collective of artisans who were forced to leave their homes in the hill country of Burma and are establishing new lives in the Texas hill country. By creating beautiful traditional and handmade goods in their homes, they are honoring their past. Through participating in classes that teach English and entrepreneurship, they are transforming their future. Proceeds from the sale of each item return to the woman who made it. For more information about this organization, visit www.hilltribers.org."

In keeping with my plan to "give as opportunities present themselves", I helped with Loretta's Pay It Forward for Lent benefitting Eagle's Healing Nest. My grandmother, Loretta Giroux, passed away on February 7th. I've written about it a bit here. Later in the month, I helped my mom run a Facebook page for the fundraiser.

I didn't finish the blanket I began in January. This month has been particularly hard for me, and getting those seams in (all of the crocheting, minus the outer border, has been finished for some time) just hasn't happened yet. I'm more than halfway done--the first three strips of four patches each have been sewn and the first two strips are sewn together--working on attaching the 3rd one, now. Ultimately my goal is to finish that blanket as soon as possible and then make two small baby afghans by the end of March. That might not happen, but either way, I've learned something useful: no more patchwork afghans. Ever. Hand sewing is just not my thing. I tried to hem another pair of Sam's pants a couple weeks ago and, well, the pants won. I gave up.

So that's been February. Shortest month of the year, but sometimes it feels like the longest. March isn't much better, but by the time we hit April I should be over the SAD hump, so to speak. I just keep that "hope for spring" in my head as much as possible.

Staycation (on purpose, this time)

So Dan and I both took Thursday and Friday off last week, to have a 4 day family weekend. Here's what we did:

Thursday morning we took Sam to school together as a family. It was fun to see Dan get to see Sam doing his thing at school. Sam really seemed to enjoy it. He sat in Daddy's lap at circle time and participated in a lot of the songs.

After class we went out for brunch at Perkin's. Then we went home and got a few things done around the house, but mostly just vegged out. I made mushroom pasta for dinner.

Friday we took Sam to the Children's Museum for the first time. He seemed to like it, but of course, he found the very few things he was not supposed to touch, in a place where you're allowed to touch practically everything. (A security keypad and a fire extinguisher on one wall; also some cleaning equipment from one of the face painting stations being put away.) I think in another year when he's better at following instructions and we're able to get him more excited about imaginative play, it will be a cool place to go. We went with Jena and Reese this time, who have a membership, so Reese is an expert at having fun there. Afterward we had lunch at Subway as a group, and later that night Dan and I had the all-you-can-eat fish fry at Baker's Square, which was yummy. Sam ate our fries.

Saturday was busy. At lunch time I got together at Panera with four old friends from middle and high school. I've known these women for 20 years, though I've seen or been in contact with most of them only sporadically over the last decade or so. Our lives have all gotten pretty busy, but it was less awkward than I thought it might have been. Maybe because all of us are mothers now, we had certain things we could talk about--birth stories, breastfeeding, how we met our husbands, etc. There was still plenty else to talk about, though, too.

After that, Dan, Sam and I trekked out to Plymouth where my sister in law and her family were celebrating my niece's birthday by staying overnight in a hotel with a pool, splashpad, and hot tub. If we'd been able to get there earlier we might have had a little more fun, but by the time we got there the pool was pretty crowded and crazy (read: oodles of rowdy kids with drunk, inattentive parents) so we didn't manage to stay terribly long. It was still fun.

And Sunday was our day to relax and prepare for the week. I woke up with a terrible backache, took some pills and lay back down for a couple hours while Dan and Sam hung out. Once the pain meds sort of kicked in (read: no more crazy spasms but still plenty of pain) I managed to do some laundry, pick up my prescriptions, and we made a family Target run in which Sam passed out in the cart. He's been refusing naps and konking out at odd times, lately.

As usual, I completely forgot to take pictures. Here is one of Sam at the Children's Museum, fading into the blue screen in the "music video" type room.

 No idea who the little girl is.

Video Friday: "Don't Stop Believin': Everyman's Journey" Theatrical Trailer

Saw this in the middle of a case of the Mondays and it put a smile on my face. Anything is possible. I so want to see this movie.

Recharging my batteries.

Today is my last day of work for the week, and it's my "short" day: only 9 hours instead of 11.5 or 10.75. I've been puzzling a bit about what to write about lately. I have several ideas for posts that will take a bit longer to flesh out, and one post about a project that I'd hoped to finish weeks ago, but haven't managed to complete yet. I spent a good part of yesterday working on a post that won't be published until the end of the month, and another part of it helping out with this. And that's while working a 10.75 hour day...luckily Maggie took a long nap.

Dan is taking a little time off work, and rather than leave town in the dead of winter, we're just going to try to find fun things to do around town. Probably a zoo trip, at least, and we may try to find somewhere to go swimming. I think a four day weekend of sorts (we do have school on Thursday) will be good for all of us.

I should have plenty to write about next week, and have time to finish my project and work on some of those other posts as well. Last night, though, I just needed to take a break. No post tomorrow, and there will be a video on Friday. Thanks in advance for understanding.

[I tried to take a cutesy "woe-is-me" webcam pic to add to this but they were all abysmal. I both feel and look like crap at the moment...time for a break.]

Finally changing my update schedule

Woke up this morning with no posts close to completion. Most days I've had the next morning's post scheduled and set the night before, and I would say that I've been slacking, except that I spent last night doing laundry and taking care of things that needed to be taken care of. Life's just gotten too busy for a 5x a week update schedule, so from here on out, it's going to be M-W-F.

OK. Now go look at these cute puppies. Thanks!

10 Things I love about crochet

Actually crocheting! 

• I like to single crochet, half-double crochet, double crochet, triple/treble crochet, and pick up new and fun stitch patterns.
• Stitching into spaces.
• Making shell stitches, v-stitches, bobble stitches, gathers, etc.
• Borders! Getting creative with borders on blankets is so much fun.

Getting things done!

• The feeling I get when I've finally finished a project.
• Giving away finished projects. Especially when the person is surprised at the quality of the work.
• Using or wearing finished projects myself.

Shopping and gear!

• Yarn shopping! Online or in a store, both have advantages. In a store I get to feel everything; online I get to read what someone else thought about how the yarn felt (and read reviews to see how it was to work with).
• Pattern browsing! I just love to dream about what I'll make next. Here again is a good place to read reviews and see what worked, and what didn't.
• Susan Bates aluminum hooks. So comfortable to use. I like the shorter neck and cut-in slanted throat (rather than a tapered throat and longer neck like Boye hooks).

Video Friday: "The Luckiest", Ben Folds

Heard this on the Valentine's show on The Current last night and remembered how much I love this song. When I was pregnant and hormonal (or post-partum and hormonal) I couldn't get through a listen without sobbing my eyes out. Not so much now, but I still like it.

A Poem for Grandma Loretta

(Loretta was a late-in-life poetess. She self-published a book of mostly autobiographical poems in the 1990s called My Gifts of Love to You. I thought it only right to honor her, and work through my grief, in a LMSKG-style poem: rhyming couplets with awkward meter and religious overtones. Her poems always make me smile. This is a valentine for her, me, and everyone who joins me in grief.)

In the end, I'd been grieving this loss for years.

At your funeral, I shed only a few tears.

I was mainly just trying to get through the day,

though there were obstacles in my way.

First the van wouldn't start,

but I took heart:

Kevin came along with his truck.

We were no longer stuck.

We sped along through the ice and snow,

And we got to the church with only seconds to go.

I didn't have time to change into my shoes,

But no one seemed to notice--we all had the blues.

I read the scripture readings that you chose
Without worrying too much about my clothes.
The rest of the service went by so fast.
I was only a little sad that I didn't get to see your body at last.

The food was delicious, I know you'd want to hear.
Even my dad's side of the family came, which brought me some cheer.
Auntie Jena did a great job babysitting
(Though I bet Sam's antics made her feel like quitting.)

Then off to the cemetery we did travel
Snow crunched under our feet instead of gravel
Uncle Tony read some of your beautiful words
He got a little choked up but we all still heard
Of your love for the Lord and your courage in death.
I know you loved Jesus to your very last breath.

The drive home was long, since we (oops) missed a turn,
But we had plenty of daylight and gas to burn.
Jumping the van caused the radio to break--
So we had to talk the whole way to keep each other awake.
We managed to get home before the big storm
To our little townhouse all nice and warm.

My memories of you are happy and filled with joy.
I am so proud you got to meet and love my baby boy.
I will certainly miss your amazing hugs--
All soft and tender and warm and snug.
You gave so much to all who knew you:
Your family, friends, and "adopted" family members, too.

We are thankful that your body is no longer in pain.
We know that the diabetes and back problems and heart problems were all quite a drain.
We trust that even though you are away,
We will be reunited in heaven some day.

(Special note: Loretta's last big gift to the world was to start a pay-it-forward for Lent campaign supporting Eagle's Healing Nest, a farm/wilderness retreat for veterans returning home with emotional wounds to be healed. Please check out the campaign's Facebook community page and click on "about" for more information. I will write more about this as Lent continues.)

11 things I hate about crocheting

1. Hooks that are so small that the yarn slips off.
2. Hooks that are so big that they don't have thumb indents and I have to just wrap my hand around them like a claw.
3. Too much slip stitch. The amigurumi in Stitch 'N Bitch Crochet: The Happy Hooker are all slip stitch in the round. Just, no.
4. When my squares come out looking more like 4 pointed stars.
5. Yarns whose textures make it difficult to see my stitches. (Homespun I am looking at you.)
6. Assembling amigurumi. Because I dislike:
7. Stitching invisible seams (or any seams at all).
8. Weaving in ends (and now you know why I don't like stripes! So many color changes.)
9. Surface embroidery (with a special place in hell for french knots).
10. Intarsia. Can't do it. At all.
11. Stitching into a foundation chain. Haaaaate. At least I usually only have to do it once per project, if I'm following my anti-seam rule. 

Stay tuned for a list of things I love about crocheting, which is why I still do it even though I dislike the things above.

Babywearing Guest Post: Jill

[Today's guest post comes from my friend, Jill. I have known Jill for over 20 years now (how time flies!) and we've been through various life stages together. She owes me since I introduced her to her husband. :) ] 

Baby Carriers

For Melanie

     When I had my first baby Maddie, in February 2010, I received a carrier to borrow from a family member. It was an over the shoulder sling pod kind of thing. It was pretty horrible actually. I’m pretty sure these were recalled or discontinued or something. [Mel says: Yup, they eventually were.] I only put her in it twice for 2 reasons, 1. I felt really uncomfortable and felt like she was being suffocated as I held her and 2. She HATED to be carried/cuddled/swaddled and generally confined to any small space.

OMG MOMMY! I’M SUFFOCATING! 

     The next carrier I used was a gift from Melanie and Dan. [Mel says: This one is called a Mei Tai, pronounced "may tie". I bought it from a WAHM on Etsy.] It worked really well, but Maddie was way too independent and did not like to be confined to a carrier. She would wiggle herself out of it and cry and scream to get free. It was ridiculous. She was ridiculous. Believe it or not, she was an amazing baby and didn’t need to be held, she loved to sleep for 14 hours a night and take 3-4 hour naps in the day, and walked by herself at 8 ½ months, so....slings were not really something we needed for her.

     My second baby Emma, was completely opposite. She is the biggest snuggler ever, and I honestly don’t know what I would do without my slings. I would say if you have more than one child around, they are absolutely necessary. I use the carrier that I got from Mel and Dan around the house a lot with Emma. It’s nice because it is easy to put on, easily adjustable, and she can look around and move her hands. I can exercise with her in this one because it is light and breathable. She fit in it as a small newborn and will fit in it through toddler age I think. It is super comfortable. Downsides....hmmm....I seriously don’t have a real downside. I like this sling a lot and it is easy to use if you only need it for a shorter period of time. I don’t use it for longer periods of time, just because I feel like the moby is more supportive to my back since it restricts her movements.

     With Emma, I also bought a Moby wrap. I LOVE LOVE LOVE this wrap. It was especially useful when she was a tiny newborn because it just hugs the baby to you and she is completely supported. It was like I had a newborn duct taped to my body. Except it is way more comfortable than being pregnant! I still use it now when I am working with her. I live/work at a group home and sometimes need to help out with direct care. I can lift and care for other people easily when I have her in the moby wrap because she is wrapped up so snuggly to me. She falls asleep in the moby a lot. It is versatile and you can carry the baby in different positions, but I haven’t really tried another way yet because Emma is so content with the one way. The downside to this wrap is that it does have a learning curve. It can be kind of complicated at first and you have to learn how to use it for it to be beneficial to you. Once I learned and practiced putting it on several times, I was able to put it on while holding the baby without having it drag on the floor. [Mel says: Wow! I always dragged my wrap and I didn't hold the baby while I put it on, haha.] But....it did take me several attempts. Another downside is that it is WARM. very very WARM. If you are moving around with a baby strapped to you with yards and yards of fabric, it is bound to get hot, so it’s not really ideal to use it in the summer months when it is really humid. I anticipate using this sling well into Emma’s toddler years. [Mel says: once Emma hits about 25 lbs and/or gets more wiggly Jill may find that the Moby keeps getting loose and opt for a woven wrap instead.]

 

[Mel says: Emma's a bit low here, but we'll forgive Auntie Manda. Jill normally wears her "close enough to kiss".]

As far as nursing goes with these slings, I was one of those people who didn’t care who saw my boobs while I was nursing, and my boobs are way too big to be dainty and hands free. I always had to hold onto my boob with one hand while I was nursing so I didn’t really get the hang of nursing in a sling. I don’t think you could nurse in the sling that Mel and Dan gave me and be super discreet about it, but you could easily nurse in the moby if you have tiny boobs and no one would ever know.

Baking bread, part 2

The morning I posted my first bread baking post, my mom called to let me know that my grandma had passed away. She'd been in failing health for some number of years and had recently moved to the nursing home, so it wasn't a huge surprise. I'm not exactly in a mood to write, so I am hoping to fill most of the rest of this week with guest posts. Grandma was amazing. Here is her obituary if you're curious.

Still, here I was with a loaf of fresh bread and a bummed out attitude, so I ate half of it with butter while sitting at my computer. It was yummy, but moister than I thought it should have been.

Homeslices

I decided to pop another pound of dough into the crock pot for Dan. He was pretty disappointed that I wouldn't let him cut open the first loaf while it was still hot. This time I decided to let it cook until I was convinced the bottom was fully browned. Seventy minutes, another twenty, another thirty, another fifteen and it was finally golden enough that I felt comfortable popping it in the broiler.

Good enough

Four minutes later, it was done...though you can see from this shot why I hate my oven so much.

Not exactly even, but...

Then, I waited all day long to cut into it, until Dan got home. He said it was delicious and ate about half of the loaf. I tried a slice with my evening pills and it was a little dense but in a way that you expect a sourdough to be. The crusts were crisp enough and the insides weren't too chewy, with lots of air bubbles, so I don't think I killed the yeast or over-kneaded. I decided to make a little sandwich with part of the remainder of this loaf for lunch on Friday.

Heaven on a plate

Omigosh you guys. I had to make a second one with the last of the bread, because it was so delicious. This is just two slices of my bread, a little butter, three thin slices of hard salami, a little bit of shredded monterrey jack cheese, and ten seconds in the microwave. Cut in half and voila! You will freak out. I am calling homemade bread a "win" just based on my lunch. Mmmmm. This is now high on my list for comfort foods. (On a related note I will be delivering home baked bread to my mom ASAP.)

Video Friday: "Tessellate", Alt-J

So this is just one of those weird songs that gets stuck in my head whenever I hear it. The video is bizarre, like all of their videos. But whatever. At least it's interesting. It also reminds me of 10th grade geometry class. (The song, not the video!)

Baking bread

I decided to do something very silly, that is, very new to me and not something I ever thought I'd want to do. I decided to try to bake a "real" loaf of bread. I've made lots of quick-breads in the past, but they don't keep and don't really work for sandwiches.

So here I am. I managed to keep the kitchen mostly under control after I deep cleaned all the surfaces on Saturday. I decided to do a crock pot artisan loaf, just because it sounds neat. Dan had mentioned it several times, and I wouldn't be at the mercy of my slightly unpredictable oven. It tends to burn things, even when I follow directions. My crock pot, on the other hand, has been behaving itself particularly well. (This is amazingly easy and delicious. I used a chuck roast and made stock with the bones and trimmings. Then a couple days later I made chili using the stock as my liquid. Mmm.)

I started by whipping up a batch of this dough. At first I wasn't sure if I'd have quite enough flour for the big batch, which will make 4 loaves. It also took me a minute to find a container big enough to hold the dough as it rose. Luckily I remembered the gigantic metal bowl we bought ages ago. Here is how it looked when I set it on the oven to rise:

Covered in cling wrap

I used cooler water than I probably needed to; I wanted to use filtered water and I just nuked it for about 20 seconds to get it to room temperature or so. Therefore, I decided I would need to let it rise for about 3 hours, instead of 2. Here is how it looked after 90 minutes:

A little condensation; not much growth

And after several more hours, since it was taking its sweet time to rise (it was cold in my house):

Doubled in size? Close enough.

Then it was ready to be put in the fridge for later (3/4 of it) and formed into a loaf and put in the crock pot (1/4 of it).

For the fridge. Another 2-3 loaves in there, woo!

My cute little 1 lb lump of dough

The neat part about this recipe is that you don't have to wait for the dough to rise a second time. You just pop it in the crock pot and it rises there. Here it is after about 15 minutes on high:

Plumping!

The recipe said to start checking on the loaf around the 45 minute mark, so that's what I set my timer for. Here's how it looked:

Not quite there yet

It was just barely starting to crisp up on the bottom, but the top was nowhere near done. I set the timer for another 15 minutes. Also, it smelled AMAZING. After the 15 was up, I checked again and it looked more done, but not totally done. I poked at the top and it bubbled at me a little bit. It was like it was alive. Weird. So I left it for another 5, after which it looked like this:

Smells. So. Good.

You can see that there is a little bit of color starting around the sides, but the middle of the top is all bubbles and goo. I left it for another 5 minutes, with the same results. I set the timer for 10 after that, and got my baking sheet ready for the broiler. The top finally seemed firm enough, but when I took it out of the crock pot I felt that the bottom crust was not quite crispy enough, so I set the timer for another 10 minutes. When it went off, that was a total of 90 minutes in the slow cooker. Next time, now that I sort of "know" my slow cooker, I'm going to wait until the 70 minute mark to check it the first time, and go in 10 minute increments after that. I think all the opening and closing of the crock pot was making things take longer. I just didn't want to burn it. Oh well. Now I know. Here's the bottom crust at the 90 minute mark:

And we're popping it in the oven. 5 minutes on broil on the middle rack. I conveniently forgot that my oven tends to burn things...should have checked at the 3 minute mark, I think. It still came out pretty well, though.

Hello gorgeous.

By this time it was nearly 11 at night. The bread needed to cool completely before I could cut into it, so I can't show it to you sliced just yet. Plus, I can't tell you how it tasted. It smelled like heaven, though. I'll post next week about how it came out. (I'll comment below with a thumbs-up or thumbs-down, though, as soon as I can.)

Just when I think there's only bad news...

...Facebook surprises me with three posts from three separate entities heralding good news for same-sex couples.
1. Project 515 (and later OutFront MN and Unfundamentalist Christians) shared Freedom to Marry's photo announcing that the British House of Commons had approved the freedom to marry, and by a wide margin. Still has to go to the House of Lords, but still. That's a big deal.
2. Believe Out Loud shared an article about how the Pentagon is extending some benefits to same-sex spouses.
3. Unfundamentalist Christians shared an article about how Duff from Ace of Cakes is going to bake a wedding cake for a same-sex couple who were refused service by their local bakery.

The tide has turned. Sooner rather than later, the objections to same-sex relationships on religious grounds are going to sound as silly, stupid, and hateful as the thing I read the other night on my Nook: an ad at the end of Anne of Green Gables, presumably by the publisher, for another title called The Call of the South, by Robert Lee Dunham, for $1.50. "A very strong novel dealing with the race problem in this country. The principal theme is the danger to society from the increasing miscegenation of the black and white races, and the encouragement it receives in the social amenities extended to negroes of distinction by persons prominent in politics, philanthropy and educational endeavor; and the author, a Southern lawyer, hopes to call the attention of the whole country to the need of earnest work toward its discouragement." Yeeeah. It goes on, but you get the idea. Ugliness. My generation's not buying it, either. In my state, which recently defeated a ballot measure for a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage (which was already not allowed, but whatever), is now in the process of legalizing same-sex marriage as well. Love wins.

So I got a new phone.

And I used it to write this post. The one shortcoming the Blogger app has is that you can't schedule posts for the future. Other than that, I really like it. Also, I took this dorky picture of myself. Uploading pictures to the blog is much easier now.

Things I like: GudonyaToo hair products

There are so many products out there that I think are just amazing, so I decided to start sharing them with you. I am making $0 from this blog, and all opinions are my own. Nobody sent me any free stuff, I promise.

Regular liquid shampoo tends to make my scalp itch and give me dandruff. The worst offender is Pantene, but lately Herbal Essences and even Fructis have been doing the same thing. (Plus, I'm trying so hard with my Nestle boycott, which also means no more Garnier.) A few years ago I discovered solid shampoo, which works well if you have particularly dry, frizzy coarse hair. It is apparently fantastic on natural african type hair or any of the very tightly curled hair (think jew-fro). Unfortunately for me, my very fine, thin, slightly wavy hair would be so weighed down by it that it'd look like I never washed it at all.

Then I found Gudonya Too on Etsy. They have a creme shampoo that sort of splits the difference. It lathers and rinses well, but it feels like a thick scrub when you scoop it out of the container. It has sea salt! You use a lot of water and the salt dissolves which makes bubbles. (Look on the back of your shampoo bottle: if it lathers, it'll have some sort of salt in it.) It gets my scalp and hair clean without overly drying, and I use it with their intense hair conditioner. The conditioner is amazing, too. It feels thinner than you'd expect but a little bit goes a long way, and you don't need to use it every day.

I now have the softest, silkiest hair I've ever had. Plus, it smells amazing. I prefer the spa fusion scent, but they have all kinds, including unscented conditioner for the sensitive folks. (I didn't see unscented shampoo but I'm sure you could ask.) For those who would need to know, the shampoo is vegan but the conditioner is not (silk extract).

Soon I'll be trying something new to try and regrow my hair a bit--it's supposedly better than rogaine and safer for mamas. If it doesn't pan out, I'll be ordering more of my favorite Etsy hair products!

Video Friday: "Threw It On the Ground", Lonely Island

Oh, Lonely Island. I love you guys so much. Most of these are NSFW, in case you didn't know. This song is one of our favorites to quote when Sam (or any child, or any person, really) throws something on the ground.

Dan and I will just say "I'm an adult!" or "Happy Birthday to the ground!" whenever it's funny. Another favorite: Jack Sparrow feat. Michael Bolton (yes, you read that right). And of course the classic, Like a Boss.