Moving on Over to Blogger

I’m no longer going to be posting on this page, as I have been unhappy with WordPress. I’m heading over to Google’s Blogger. I manually copied many of my posts from this site to Blogger (because Blogger can’t yet import from other blogging services–one complaint there), so you’ll find them there, too. Visit the new Made Cunningly.

Essays on Art by Artists

I received a new book via UPS a couple of days ago that I have had on my Amazon Wishlist for a long time. It’s called It was Good: Making Art to the Glory of God. It’s a collection of essays by over 20 different writers, who also happen to consider themselves artists, and who also happen to call themselves followers of Jesus. Each of them is writing about being creative and making beauty as one made in the image of God, the Ultimate Creator.

I’ve been excited to read this book as I’ve felt for a couple of years this “something” inside of me that God has placed there that is a desire to create, to “do art,” for lack of a better phrase. I’ve dabbled in lots of different things trying to find exactly what that specific “something” is: sewing, music, visual art, writing. And I think it’s somewhat of a combination of those things. But I don’t want to just make something that’s cheesy looking or sounding like so much of Christian art and music; i want it to be truly good. And this is where I think I’ve gotten sidetracked because I want it to be good right away and not fail. But I guess everyone’s gotta start somewhere. I mean, even Jesus had to learn the trade of carpentry from His father, and I’m sure He probably couldn’t build houses at His first get-go.

Anyway, I read the reviews of this book, which made it sound awesome and inspiring to get out your pen, instrument, paints, pencils, whatever and start creating for the glory of God. Larry Norman (from waaaay back in Christian music) once sang, “Why should the devil have all the good music?” Why should the kingdom of darkness have all the good art?

Well, as soon as I read the book, I’ll post my thoughts on it. I’m waiting on another Amazon book I purchased at the same time on a similar subject, but more “hands on” oriented. We’ll see what it’s like when it gets here. I had a couple of small gift certificates for Amazon, so of course I buy books.

Paper Doll Chains

My oldest daughter Naomi is in love with this project. And it’s so easy for me to set it up for her. I found the idea in some toddler activity book someone gave us a while back, and my little artist is hooked. All I do is take a long sheet of paper, or several pieces of paper taped together, fold accordian style to however wide I want my “dolls” to be, draw an image of a boy or girl, and then cut it out. Now, I’m no talented artist, so the drawing part is hardest for me, but Naomi doesn’t need an extravagant figure. She just likes to color their hair, clothes, and shoes in hundreds of different ways. She totally reminds me of myself when I was younger. I used to draw clothes all the time. Anyway, here are some shots of her creations.

The top row is all her girls and the bottom her boys

A closeup of some of her most colorful girls

The top row is all her girls and the bottom her boys

Cutest Diaper Cover Ever

I crocheted this cute little number for Illiana and her cloth diapered little bootie. It was such an easy pattern for me, a relative beginner at crocheting. I’ve done it off and on for a few years, but this is my most proud achievement, I think. It actually fits her, too! The pattern found here calls for an elastic waist sewing inside a casing, but I went for a drawstring look, simply because I wanted to. And because I could do it easily enough while watching my Star Trek movie marathon. What is this, you ask? No, I’m not a trekkie, but someone lent us the entire 10 movie Star Trek series and I’ve been watching them as I sew and work on the computer. They’re so cheesy! Anyway, here’s the photo of the cover.

Illiana's Crocheted Soaker Diaper Cover

Fun Finds from our Yard

Here’s a couple of pictures of things the girls and I discovered in our yard.

We picked some roses and random wildflowers growing

So many yummy veggies…and more came that afternoon

I found this little guy in our kid pool one morning…so little

We picked some roses and random wildflowers growing

Onion Breath B & B Pickles

Our cucumber plants are pretty much exploding with fruit, so I finally had to find a decent refrigerator pickle recipe in order to use them up, and found one on Cooks.com that I tweaked a little. I knew my husband and I both loved bread and butter pickles, so I finally found one that sounded good. And I got to use up some green peppers from our garden as well. Jake’s the only who eats them in our family, and we’ve got tons growing. So here’s what I did:

These keep for a long time in the fridge, but I don't think they'll last that long.

12 cukes
2 onions, sliced
1 green pepper, sliced into strips
2 c. sugar
1 tsp. turmeric
3 c. vinegar
1 tsp. mustard seed
2 tbsp. salt
1 tsp. celery seed
1 tsp. salt
Put 2 tablespoons of salt over sliced pickles. Let stand 1 hour, drain. Combine vinegar, sugar, celery seed, mustard seed, salt and turmeric. Bring to boil. Cool and pour over cucumbers, onions, and peppers that have been layered in jars. Refrigerate. Let stand 1 week before serving.

Oh my, these are superb, especially if you like a little kick in your pickles. Next time I might add just a little more sugar, but I don’t know. I don’t really like sweet pickles, but these could you just a little more…maybe. Oh, but they’re awesome! However, Naomi says they’re too sweet for her; she likes dill pickles instead. So, maybe they don’t need more sugar. And maybe I need to make bunch of dill pickles. How I wish I had lots of jars so my fridge isn’t overloaded.

What’s Happening?

Wow, so much has happened since last I posted on here. I was thinking of just giving up blogging because there are so many other things that make demands on my time that I consider more important, but it is a nice place to have a record of all the little projects I’ve been working on and things I’m thinking. Anyway, I did finish that shirt I mentioned here.

Here’s a shot of me wearing it. I did leave out a couple of things that the pattern called for. One was the tie strings that you tie in back of the shirt. Those things annoy me when I’m sitting down, because I just feel the knot from the bow in the middle of my back. Secondly, they remind me too much of maternity clothes, which I love to wear when pregnant, but not when I’m not. The other thing I left out was the interfacing in the yoke. Just laziness, I guess. And I didn’t have any interfacing on hand, and wanted to just finish the shirt.

So here she is:

My sleeveless yoke shirt in yellow

I’d like to try this pattern in a drapier fabric next time. While it’s very comfortable, I’m not so crazy about how it sits on me, but, you know, it’s my first try at clothing for myself.

Update on the Vitamins

So those Supermom vitamins came in last week and have been awesome! My old multivitamins gave me nausea and didn’t help with my energy levels at all, but these Supermom multivitamins/herbal supplements are amazing. I started taking them right away and…no nausea and my fatigue that was remniscient of 1st trimester pregnancy fatigue was no more. Check them out for yourself at Bee-you-tiful!

I haven’t been updating recently due to a hectic schedule. Last weekend was camping at Governor Dodge State Park with my husband’s family (3 siblings, his dad and stepmom, and a nephew) and our 3 girls. Fun in the hot sun! Except Naomi keeps talking about the one beach there that had poop all over it. She didn’t like it. I wonder why. Just FYI, it was massive goose poop.

This afternoon we’re leaving on our road trip to Garden City Beach! Hooray! I’m in need of a vacation.  I love being a SAHM; however, an occasional break in routine is so refreshing. It’s a LONG drive down, so we’ve loaded up on road trip food: candy, popcorn, pretzels, carrots, and PBJ!! Plus audiobooks from the library for everyone.

I have some awesome sewing/repurposing projects in mind, so I’ll update when we return.

Breastfeeding Nausea

Man, the past week or so has been a reminder about how I felt during the first trimester while pregnant with my three girls. It’s the strangest thing; whenever I nurse Illiana, I get all queasy and feel like barfing. I looked it up and it appears that it is not such a strange thing after all, as I read about many moms experiencing this b/f nausea. I’ve noticed it more lately since it’s been hotter out and my body’s been feeling a little more dehydrated, so I’ve started chugging water constantly. Apparently, when you nurse, your body gets flooded with hormones, and if your blood sugar gets low (which mine is known to do) or you are dehydrated a little, then the effects can amplify. So, I get to drink more agua and eat more food. Unfortunately, that does not necessarily help my efforts of trying to lose the remaining 7 or 8 pounds of pregnancy weight I’ve got left on me…mainly hanging out there in my belly and legs.

I think all this nursing and queasiness has been tiring me out lately, so I finally decided to order these vitamins I’ve been eyeing for a long time, called Supermom vitamins. They are chocked full of all those great vitamins that give you energy, like B complex vitamins, and they’ve got some spirulina and other yummy algea

Mmm...spirulina

creatures packed in there. Mmm (see image to the right). Supposedly spirulina is loaded with antioxidants and B vitamins and other great things that help your body get more energy from the food you eat. A three month supply was only $43 with shipping, so I went for it. I’ll update you on how they work out.

Meanwhile, this little, tired mama needs her sleep.

Hillbilly Muffins

A couple of years ago I stumbled upon this great website called Hillbilly Housewife…great name, I know. While I haven’t explored the whole site, I have found a number of useful recipes from their vast collection of quick, easy, and inexpensive meals and treats. There are some really cool things like how to make your own “convenience foods,” like hot cocoa mix, rice blends, baking mixes, etc. As outrageous as it sounds, there are also two separate one-week menus, complete with recipes for a family of 4; one is for $45 for the whole week for everything, and the other is $70, I think. I don’t know; I’ve never tried them, but I know grocery prices are high, so I’m not sure how old those plans are. For those of you who don’t feel the need to serve meat at every dinner, there are some great vegetarian recipes on the site as well.

OK, anyway…on to the muffins. I made these amazing muffins last night for breakfast, since we were low on milk for cereal and didn’t want to go buy any. They are raspberry muffins on the website, but I used a frozen mixed berry blend. I don’t have any pictures for these babies, because they got scarfed way too fast.

Here’s the link to the recipe. Below are the alterations I made:

I used half whole wheat and half white flour in place of all white flour.
I used applesauce in place of oil.
I used reconstituted nonfat dry milk in place of skim milk.

The first time I made these, I added white chocolate chips to the mix. And I think I used rolled oats in place of chopped pecans for the topping.

These are fast, quick, and easy. They’re relatively healthy if you want to use whole wheat flour and applesauce, too.