homemades/handmades

I have been meaning to post forever and forever about a few handmade items I’ve acquired in the last eight months. (Why, yes, I do procrastinate.)

First, about the whole not washing my hair for five weeks over the summer. This has to do with that. Before that experiment, I switched over from regular, liquid shampoo to bar shampoo. I read about Blue House Soaps on nature moms blog and started ordering shampoo bars and face soap from them. I was very wary about the shampoo bars because I was convinced they wouldn’t really clean my hair. However, I LOVE them. And, the owners send the soaps wrapped in cute little bits of fabric. Right now, the owners are moving to a new house and they aren’t taking any new orders. I’m not sure when they will begin again, but I hope it’s soon. I have been using Dr Bronner’s All-in-One soap as shampoo for the last few months. I get that over at Whole Foods. I use both the plain one and the rose one. The face soap, though? I love the Blue House Soaps face saver soap. It’s the best face soap I’ve ever used and I’ll be sad if they don’t start making their soaps again.


I was so excited when I got these in the mail all those months ago. Also, I ordered that little wooden soap holder and they sent a free sample of soap.



This picture is from when we went to visit Poke and her family in August. I had just gotten a new order of soap. This time, I also ordered some soap for Pic. I got another free sample, but I don't have a picture.

As for the five weeks over the summer: I went no ‘poo. I used a baking soda paste on my hair, which actually did clean it, but it never felt clean enough. The instructions said it would take between two and eight weeks for my hair/scalp to get used to me no longer using shampoo. I almost made it six. I think I might try it again next summer and see if I can go until my hair feels normal to me again.

More handmade: my new pads. I’ve had them for a few months now, but I’ve had a few weird periods (which I’m sure everyone needs to know), so I still wasn’t sure if the pads were going to work out. Now I know, though, that I love them. I bought them from Crea8tiveMama on etsy, per Poke's suggestion. I’d like to get some more. I bought a starter set and a Pad My Stash set. If only I knew how to sew so much better than I do. I’m trying to talk my mom into opening an etsy shop and I keep giving her ideas about what to sell. I have no plans of ever going back to disposable pads.


(Not to worry: This is a pre-use picture. I just wanted to show off the fun designs.)


Now, just to gross you out (in case you aren’t already grossed out by the thought of cloth pads…because, believe me, Cardo is grossed out), I’m thinking about switching us over to handkerchiefs. I’m not sure how grossed out I myself will be about this prospect, but I’ll give it a go. However, what material are handkerchiefs made from? Cotton, I’m guessing, but there’s every possibility that I’m totally off on this.


Other ideas or suggestions for me?

SNOW!

Okay, so let's recall the day before yesterday when I was waxing on about snow. Lower-case snow. Let me refresh your memory.



Yesterday, though, we got actual snow. Please note:



Yesterday, Pic and I bundled up in so many layers of clothes that I was getting her pretty close to A Christmas Story bundled proportions on top. If only we had snow pants. We set off on a mini-trek. We only made it about fifteen minutes outside yesterday, but that was enough time for Pic to eat some snow and pack some away in the mittens that are attached to her coat. The neighbor kids were making snow angels in the back lot, but I think I might have lost Pic back there had we gone much further in. Anyhow, she wasn't much interested in being up to her mid-thighs in snow.

Today, the sun is shining, but there is still plenty of snow on the ground. Our parking lot still has a good layer of snow, although they did clear it as well as they could at some point. At least Cardo got to work in his own vehicle today. Yesterday, he left for work and then came back up to the apartment at almost the time he was to start work. 'Aren't you going to be a little late? What are you doing?' I asked him from the warmth of bed. I was still not quite awake and not really thinking that well. He told me that he had been outside for an hour, trying to get out. He left again, but ended up stuck at the entrance to the apartments. Someone helped Cardo and several other people out of that predicament. Cardo ended up calling a coworker to come to this end of town to pick him up just outside of the parking lot. It's days like yesterday that make me want to be able to buy the four-wheel-drive car we are wanting, but it'll be a while before we're in any position to do that. Also, we'd only need that car specifically a very small number of days a year. It would be nice, though.

So, now, Pic is 'resting' in her room. After that, we'll bundle up again and try another no-doubt-short walk, after which we'll come back for warm drinks to enjoy while bundled up on the couch.

It's days like these that I love to look at the snow and enjoy having it (as long as I don't have to drive in it) and that I'm also so very glad that we have a home, and a home with a working heater, especially. I don't look forward to our next power bill, but I'll think about that later.

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P.S. I just checked the temperature and it's 14 degrees here. I checked earlier today and it was 7 degrees. Whoo-hoo!

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Update: We made it outside for thirty minutes today. Pic was able to eat plenty of snow, one of her favorite pasttimes. We finally came back when Pic told me, 'I'm too frozen. Let's go home.'

snow

Pic was quietly creating a story with colored pencils. I looked up from my book and realized she had stopped coloring and that she was staring intently out of the sliding glass door, mesmerized by the falling snow.

'I think I want to go outside in the snow now,' she told me.

I was tempted to tell her that, no, it was too cold to go outside, out of my own selfishness in wanting to continue sitting, wrapped up in blankets, reading. However, I put a paperclip in my book to save my page, put my book down, flipped the blankets aside and said, 'Okay, get your coat and snow boots.'

We bundled up, grabbed the trash, went outside and walked to the back of the complex. I dropped off the trash, almost slipping on the curb, and then we went to the back park area and crunched around in the snow. We used our boots to write our names in the snow and then headed for a very, very short walk. Despite my gloves, my hands were freezing. Pic told me she was freezing also, so we came home and made hot chocolate and an early dinner.

It was good to get out, no matter how badly I wanted to stay in. Also, I felt better about sitting and coloring and reading for pretty much the rest of the evening.

balls; or, a night of double entendre

Tonight, I went to Furie Queene's, where she hosted a cookie exchange. First of all: Yea, cookies! Second of all: The promise of cookies made by Furie Queene! Not to be turned down, right?

You'd think, but I did hesitate. Well, actually, I immediately accepted the invitation, but as the gathering neared, I got more nervous about it. I'm a worrier. I'm not great in social situations, especially those in which I feel I need to make small-talk with people I don't know. I had many moments this morning, while I was making my own cookies for the exchange, in which I thought I'd just call and beg off. I'm glad I didn't.

I forced myself to talk to people I don't know, and I'm glad I did. I never doubted that the people who would be there would be great people, I just doubted that I'd be able to peel myself away from the wall long enough to talk to them. Let me just say, the people there were great. It helps some that I knew about half of the people there, but the people I was just meeting were so easy-going and open that it was easy to join in a conversation here and there. I'm not saying I really pushed myself, but I did a bit.

Usually, on returning home from an outing, I get this let-down sadness that I hate and that is one of the reasons I don't go out so much. I'm not feeling that sadness right now.

I'm off to watch Friends with Cardo, but, before I do...thanks Furie Queene, for being an awesome host and for getting me out of my hidey-hole.

three firsts

I really wanted to title this 'a week of firsts,' but, well, one project alone took more than a week start-to-finish (I hope you can figure out which).

Yesterday, for my Wordless Wednesday, I posted this



She is my first all-on-my-own sewing project. She is based on a project from Sewing By Hand by Christine Hoffman and Harriett Barton. Of course, the amazon description says the book's for four- to eight-year-olds, but no matter. Of course, my mom has been sewing on her own since she was about eight, maybe younger, and I've seen her do this all my life, but no matter. I'm just getting a late start. I even made a modification to the pattern, which was for a cat, but Pic wanted a bear. She wanted a polar bear, actually, but she hasn't said anything to me about how un-polar bear this is. So, I rounded the cat's ears. Fancy, no? Also, the fabric? We recently went to Joann's to pick some up and I let her pick something from the clearance rack and this was her choice.

The sewing is definitely not perfect (um, yeah, don't ask what happened with that foot...let's just say that, first, my overhand stitch needs some work, and, second, I should not wait a week while Pic plays with the bear before I sew up her foot because by then the fabric is all nice and frayed). The beginning knots are a gargantuan mess, so I'm glad they're hiding on the inside there. Also, I did the sewing, but as this was Pic's toy, I wanted her to help with it, so she did the stuffing part. The project in the book called for filling the toy with beans or lentils or something, but I was afraid that my stitches would be too big and they would fall out, so we used polyester stuffing. Next, time, though, I'll use the beans, but only because Pic's four and past that whole three-and-under-choking-hazards-everywhere stage, because you never know when my stitches will split or whatever it is they do.

So...next.



A week ago, today, I made my first pumpkin pie from scratch. I'm pretty sure that at one point I made a pumpkin pie with canned pumpkin and premade dough. This time, though, I wanted to try my hand at something of a challenge (hey, for me, most cooking/baking is a challenge). I actually made a pumpkin and butternut squash pie. I roasted the pumpkin and butternut squash at the same time and then let the puree languish in the fridge for almost too long. Finally, Pic and I gathered all of the needed ingredients, made the dough (oh-so-not-as-difficult-as-I-thought), and mixed together all of the ingredients for the filling. That's when I started to freak out. Experimenting in the kitchen is daunting to me because so many things could go wrong when I'm in charge. Then what? We have a mess we have to throw out and we still need to eat. I know I sound melodramatic, but I hate the thought of wasting so much food on a failed recipe and we aren't exactly rolling in the dough here (ha!) so I'm worried about throwing away food we spend Cardo's hard-earned money on.

So, the pie filling? It was watery. Is it supposed to be like this? Shouldn't it be thick? This is not what it looks like when it comes out of the can. This is what kept running through my head, but I couldn't find any place where I had messed up, so I went with it. I was just extra-careful (or, overcareful) getting it to the oven. After the prescribed amount of time in the oven, though, the pie looked just like it was supposed to (except that kind of burnt spot there where the filling went over the edge of my imperfectly shaped pie crust). That night, I made some whipped cream and then waited as Cardo first tasted the pie. (I do this with just about everything I make. I wait until he tastes it first. He never complains, but I wonder if that's just because he doesn't want to have to do the cooking himself.) It was good! We ate all of it over the next few days. (Oh, I used the recipe from the label on the sugar pumpkin I bought at Trader Joe's. I used that pumpkin plus the butternut squash, so I just substituted half of the pumpkin with the butternut.)

Finally, tonight



My first homemade pizza dough! Just like with pie crust, I was thinking, I can't make pizza dough. It'll probably suck. I'll mess it up. It'll be too hard. Ha, ha! I say now. Although our apartment is about ten degrees (okay, so it hovers just under sixty most days now) and I was sure the dough wouldn't rise because there isn't a warm place to put it, unless I tuck it in my bed, the dough did rise.* I only had a recipe for the dough, a recipe I got from The New Moosewood Cookbook in Katzen's calzone recipe, and I didn't actually use any instructions other than that. I didn't bother to see how hot the oven should be or how long we were to cook it. So, I wung it ('wung' 'winged'...y'know). I set the oven for 425 and let the pizza cook for twenty minutes. We probably really didn't have to let it cook that long, though.

On top of the pizza: a bit of olive oil brushed on, queso fresco casero (it's the only cheese we had), yellow squash, zucchini, turkey bacon. The bacon almost didn't make it because I wanted to eat it while I was cooking it. I usually only make apple pizza, so I wasn't sure what needed to happen with the toppings for this pizza, so I cooked the bacon and the veggies for a bit before we assembled the pizza. Is that how it's done?

The taste? Oh, so good. I'm so having a piece for breakfast tomorrow. I'm so making pizza dough again...and again and again.

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* When I'm making WHO bread and, now, pizza dough, I let the dough rise in a bowl on the rangetop. I cover the bowl with a hot damp towel (which, of course, cools). As I've only been making the bread for the past month and the pizza for the past few hours, I've been dealing with a cold apartment. To create some warmth, I set the kettle to boil (making sure to not light the nearby towel on fire) so I can have a nice warm mug of tea while I wait. Also, today, cooking the bacon on the stove and roasting the squash in the oven underneath helped create some warmth. Otherwise, I might have to actually turn on the heater and warm the apartment. So far, though, my methods have worked.

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P.S. Yes, you guessed it (I sincerely hope): the bear took more than a week. It could easily take a day (for me...a half-hour for others), but I was procrastinating. I copied and cut the pattern and pinned it on one day. I did all of the sewing, minus the last little bit the next day. And, then...I waited several days to actually finish it up.

'tis a season

Right? It's a season for something. I'm just not sure how we'll be celebrating this year. I hope I'll remember to be jolly no matter what, though.

I'm beginning to teach Pic about Solstice. Every year, I tell her we are celebrating it, but we don't really have any traditions surrounding it. At least, we don't have any traditions solely for Solstice. We do buy a tree and decorate it with lights and ornaments, but that's so linked to Christmas (although not at all to the celebration of Christ's birthday, as far as I can tell). I'm working the lighted tree into our Solstice celebration. I need to do more research on Yule, no?

I have a couple of books on Solstice checked out and a few more coming, but I haven't found the story I want to share with Pic yet. (Really, I haven't found the story that I want to cherish yet.) Perhaps I'll just start by telling her what different people have celebrated at different times. For now, we are focusing on light. I've told her that Winter Solstice is the shortest day of the year (although, as one book so clinically pointed out, every day is twenty-four hours, Solstice is just the day with the least sunlight) and that we celebrate because the light will be slowly returning for longer and longer amounts of time until Summer Solstice. We are celebrating the light and its return. I know this sounds flimsy, but I'm not building on personal tradition, here, I'm needing to come up with this on my own.

Growing up, we celebrated Christmas. A kind of Christmas. Once, at a time I was attending a Catholic church with my sitter's mom, I went to Midnight Mass, but I'm not sure how much of that I understood. I knew, growing up, that Christmas was the mass of Christ, a celebration of his birth (although I was also aware of suggestions that Christ wasn't born in December and that at some point Christianity had done what religions do in that it had superimposed one of it's holidays on that of a religion it was squelching). I never understood how lots of the elements of Christmas as we celebrated it fit in with the birth of Christ. Why a tree? Why lights on houses? Why crazy gift-buying for everyone? Why Santa Claus?

Here's what I remember: My mom would start gift shopping in July (or some other really early date). She'd have a list of gifts, and as she'd wrap gifts, she put a code or symbol on the package to indicate who the gift was for and what it was. Christmas was a time of baking and lots of food. Christmas was a time of tension. I'll not go into that.

It seems, though, that in moving away from what I know, and don't know, about this holiday, I've moved away from any sort of celebration at all. We went a good couple of years without even putting up a tree. Cardo doesn't say much, but I think he'd like if we did more. I'm sure he remembers somewhat...boisterous Christmases, what with having such a large family headed by a strongly Catholic mamma. Since Pic has been a part of our lives, I've more and more wanted traditions such as holiday traditions to celebrate and enjoy. I'm just getting a really slow start.

So, how will you all be celebrating this Solstice/Yule/Christmas/Kwanzaa/Chanukah? I'm sure I'm missing some important holidays here. Are there any other holidays you will be celebrating this month?

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P.S. December 19th seems to be National Oatmeal Muffin Day. It's also my parents twenty-ninth anniversary, in case you were wondering.

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