This Morning's Scorpion [A Handmade Baby Costume]

We found another scorpion on our kitchen floor this morning.  It is by far the biggest sighting so far.


A little back story for those of you who might not know: Since moving to Tempe in August, we have found eight scorpions in our house and backyard.  Friends who have lived here their whole lives are astounded, because apparently this is not normal, especially considering our neighborhood.  I feel like dressing Kiddo up as a scorpion sums up with what our world has been like since moving here. Crazy, cute, with a hint of the ridiculous.

Not going to lie, I am pretty proud of myself for coming up with this costume idea.  I'm even prouder of myself for pulling it off.  Most of all, I'm proud that I made it for less than $10.

Here's how it happened.  Take one six month size footed pajama from the clearance rack at Target.

Cut out scorpion design from felt. Sew, stuff, and then sew some more.

The pincers, legs, and tail were all first sewn by machine, then stuffed.  I then hand-stitched them, along with the back and arm designs by hand onto the back of the pajamas.  All in all, not too hard.  Felt might be my new favorite fabric.

Only downside is the footies are making it very hard for Dellie to crawl around.  But she's managing :)

Happy Halloween from J&S Extermination Services ;)

Shelby, Josh, and Adelle

Gluten-Free Recipes for Fall [A Round-Up]

Its finally starting to feel like fall here in Arizona, and with that, I finally feel like I can cook fall-ish foods.  Here are a three super yummy recipes that I gave a whirl over the last couple weeks.  I am just sticking with three because each one of them is really, really yummy.  So instead of having a bunch you might pick and choose from, here are just a few that I think you really should try.  Because I know you will love each one of them.  Promise.

While all these recipes have flour in them, I was able to adapt them to gluten-free versions; they all still tasted ah-mazing.

Pumpkin Spiced Oatmeal Pecan Cookies from Skinny Taste

I made these cookies for our beer tasting party.  They tasted so much like normal cookies that even my husband had to ask if they were gluten free - a couple times.

I adapted the recipe with Bob's Red Mill all-purpose, gluten-free flour and with quick cook gluten-free oatmeal.

Pumpkin Pasta Bake with Sage & Parmesan from Shrinking Kitchen

This was my first go at actually trying to cook a vegetarian dinner.  I was skeptical, not only because it was vegetarian, but really, pumpkin and pasta?  My skepticism is gone now.  This recipe works, both with flavor and filling.

I adapted it using gluten-free noodles and replacing the 2 tablespoons of flour with 1 tablespoon of cornstarch.

The BEST Apple Crisp from The Complete Guide to Imperfect Homemaking

I didn't realize what made this apple crisp so incredibly amazing until I took a bite.  The apples coated in molasses just make this, truly, the best apple crisp I have had to date.

I adapted by using Bob's Red Mill all-purpose, gluten-free flour and gluten-free rolled oats. And don't do what I almost did and read the instructions wrong - 400 degrees for 10 minutes, not 40 minutes :)

Please give each of these recipes a try, and then let me know what you think in the comments below! And if you really, truly like these recipes as much as I did, head over to these ladies blogs and give them some love as well.

Happy fall (finally)!  Hope you have a great weekend!

The Great Pumpkin Party

So we actually had such a good time that... I forgot to take any pictures.  But I promise, it was a blast! We even had a clear winner with our beer tasting - it was [drumroll please!]...

Linus!

I know, it's mean of me to not tell you which beer actually won, but I am not here to promote a particular company's beer.  Besides, if I just told you which beer was best, you would have no reason to have your own Great Pumpkin party.  And therefore forget to take pictures of the extremely awesome time you had.

We're planning on doing this again, hopefully for the holidays. Any recommendations for great holiday beers?  I would love to know your favorites!

*Update 12/12 - someone kindly [and rightly!] pointed out that beer has wheat in it.  You are so right, and I realize that it's kind of weird that I am writing about a beer party on a gluten-free eating blog.  Shame on me for not catching that earlier :(  My husband has found that, for him, beer doesn't have much of an effect on his gut.  Because of that, he does let himself indulge in beers every so often.  It's a personal choice of his - we have also been experimenting with gluten-free beers and I hope to share some of our better finds with you down the road. Thanks for being so flexible with this blogger!

Preparing for the Great Pumpkin

source

Linus: He'll come here because I have the most sincere pumpkin patch and he respects sincerity.

Sally Brown: Do you really think he will come?

Linus: Tonight the Great Pumpkin will rise out of the pumpkin patch. He flies through the air and brings toys to all the children of the world.

Sally Brown: That's a good story.

Linus: You don't believe the story of the Great Pumpkin? I thought little girls always believed everything that was told to them. I thought little girls were innocent and trusting.

Sally Brown: Welcome to the 20th century!
 the other source


We're having a party tonight in celebration of the Great Pumpkin!  Okay, we're really having it as an excuse to try out a bunch of different pumpkin ales.  Josh and I have been eyeing all the different holiday beers since the beginning of September.  We originally were planning on just getting a bunch of different brands and trying them, but we realized that just the two of us downing a few six packs, alone, could result in two very inebriated people.  So we decided to add a few others to the mix, therefore distributing our inebriation with people we like.

In the spirit of, well, spirits, Josh wanted to make the evening a blind taste testing of the five different brews we picked. He figured out a fairly ingenious way of making sure none of us knew which beers we were tasting.

The plan is that one of us will take out a bottle of each brew and cover over the label with a paper sleeve.  That person will also have to pop the cap off the top in order to keep the second person from seeing the brewing company logo.  Each paper covering will be labeled with a number from 1 thru 5.  Person one will write down the corresponding brew to the number, put it in their pocket, and leave.

Then, person number two will come in and pick which numbered beer will go with which Peanuts character. Each taste testing cup will be labeled with a Peanuts character. They will pour the bottles into their corresponding character taste-testing cup, write down which character was which number, and then serve!

Here's a picture of the paper our guest will use to first rate each beer, independently of the others.  Then, they will rank their three favorites.  The beer with the most favorite votes wins!

I wanted to show you how I made the taste testing cups, because, honestly, I'm pretty proud of myself :)  I found some pictures of the five characters and then inserted the image multiple times on Word, sizing them down to about one inch tall.

I happened to have a circle punch that was just the right size, so I fortunately just had to punch the images out instead of cutting each one by hand.

The original plan was to make sleeves for the cups, but Josh wanted to put the images on the bottom of the cups for a fun surprise after each taste test. It was also going to be a lot easier for me, so I ran with it.

I'm really glad I did, because I think it turned out super cute.

Here's how I did it: mod podge the bottom of the dixie cup, place the image facing towards the cup, then mod podge over again to make the image stay. Let it dry, and then they were ready to go!

The best part about this little project is that I was able to complete it within an hour, all the while still being able to play super mom to one very busy nine month old.

What do you think? I'm pretty proud of how they turned out, and I'm really excited to use them tonight!  I'll let you know who the winner is on Monday!

Have a great weekend, and keep an eye out for the Great Pumpkin!

Sun, Sun, Sun, Here We Come.

We don't actually have a clothes line like the typical, old-school ones you might be thinking of.  We just have a little fold up accordion rack that I like to drag around the back patio every few days.  You can just barely squeeze a full load of diapers on it, and it has a tendency to fall over from the slightest breeze.  In fact, we had to bolster the sucker up with paint cans and tool boxes every time we used it when we lived in Hawaii.  Thankfully, Arizona doesn't seem to really be windy.  Ever.

I really do love using dryers.  I love how warm and fluffy clothes get after going through the dryer.  Same thing goes with Dellie's cloth diapers.  However, using your dryer in Arizona can be really expensive.  We have to avoid using the dryer between 3 and 6 p.m. to keep the electric bill down - the price for electricity is almost ten times more expensive during those hours.  Somehow, I always wind up timing my diaper drying right at that time, so I end up having to use the drying rack out of necessity.

Turns out, its not a bad deal.

Arizona is a pretty good place to dry clothes outside [especially during the summer].  Its hot and dry, just like a dryer. Only its free.  The sun also does this pretty nifty thing where it actually helps get stains out.  Which is a huge plus with cloth diapers, because poo stains happen a lot.

Do you use a drying rack?  What do you like about using one?

Hope you have a great week!

The Official Tour

Welcome to our home!  Today, I am going to show you part of how exactly my family does cloth diapers.  At this time, I have one child - Adelle - who is nine months old as of yesterday :)

Here's our "changing station".  This is actually a dresser that the hubby has had since he was a kid.  After moonlighting as a makeshift computer desk for six months, this dresser hung out in our garage for years until Adelle was born.  It now serves as a perfectly sized piece of furniture to store all of Kiddo's diapers.   It also matches the wall color a little too well, which was not on purpose. That paint job was there when we moveed.

Since Adelle was born, I have split our stash of cloth diapers evenly into two baskets.  Each basket lasts 2-3 days before I run out and need to do laundry.  Having all the diapers separated evenly really helped my new-momma-foggy-brain remember to wash diapers on a regular basis.  Instead of having to try and remember if I had done laundry on Monday [or was it Tuesday?], I would just keep using diapers until I ran out of them in one basket.  Then, while those diapers were washing, I had my other half ready to start using.

Adelle wears prefolds with covers while she is awake, and then sleeps in all-in-ones [both naps and bedtime].  We use two covers with the prefolds throughout the day [alternating them each time we change her], and use a new pair of covers for each day.

See the basket hiding on the bottom shelf, with the pink ribbon?  I store our extra inserts in there.  While Adelle doesn't pee enough to need the extra absorbency right now, I am sure the time is coming soon enough.  But for now, they hang out on the bottom shelf.

I have two sets of wipes on top of the changing station.  One is filled with disposable wipes, the other with cloth wipes.  Why?  I really like using cloth wipes [Sometime in the next couple weeks I will explain why cloth wipes are a good idea].  However, I am not as big of a fan of using them to wipe Kiddo after she poos.  Basically, the cloth wipes are for the pee, and the disposable wipes are for the poo.

The spray bottle goes with the cloth wipes.  Inside it is a concoction of water, baby soap, and baby oil.  I personally like to keep my cloth wipes dry while they are being stored.  When I need to use a wipe, I just spray it a few times and use.

Also up on the dresser is a jar of diaper rash cream.  Here's the scoop on diaper rash cream - you can not use regular diaper rash cream with cloth diapers.  Why?  Because regular diaper rash cream [Desitin, Boudreaux's Butt Paste, etc.] is designed to create a waterproof barrier.  This a great when trying to keep a tiny tush dry, but not so great when it gets in fabric that is supposed to soak up urine.

Hence, the need for a special "cloth diaper safe" butt cream.  I use CJ's BUTTer cream. I use the cream every time Adelle's rear starts showing signs of irritation.  I'm pretty vigilant about it - maybe even a little too much so.  She has only had one full-blown diaper rash since she was born - that was over the summer and was due to detergent build-up. While we were problem solving and getting all of our diapers a thorough rinse, we used Boudreaux's with disposables.

Quick note: The price of CJ's creams can be a little shocking for how small of a jar you get.  However, I have had our jar since Adelle was born, and I barely just used half of it up at this point.  Just a little bit of this stuff goes a long way.

On the other side of Adelle's crib are the two trash cans.  One is for the cloth diapers and cloth wipes; the other one is for disposable wipes.  We have two waterproof trash can liners for the cloth diaper trash can.  That way, while one liner is being washed with the diapers, the other one is is available to use in the trash can.

We also have two travel size wet bags, which both live in my diaper bag.  That way, I almost always have one available for dirty diapers while out in public.

Well, there you have it!  This is how we do the cloth diaper thing is our house.  If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to post them in the comments section below.  I would love to hear from you!

Hope you have a fun weekend planned!  Josh spending the weekend doing National Guard stuff, so I'm looking for ways to keep myself as occupied as possible.

Student Living: Two Month Update

Well, we have officially been living the student life here in Arizona for two months!  This weekend was completely consumed by Josh's first film project for one of his midterms. From where I stand, it was a smashing success - filming went without a hitch, a couple college boys got their first home cooked meal in months, and our couch got broken during one of the scenes [ha!].

My world has been a little less exciting than Josh's has been. The weather has finally cooled enough that I can go out for walks semi-regularly. Beyond that, I feel like time has flown - I still can't believe its already October. Considering that only eight short weeks have passed, I feel like I have already learned a few important lessons.

1. Contentment is a choice. I have discovered just how hard it is for me to stay positive when the weather gets above 85 degrees. With this discovery, I have realized, yet again, that my heart naturally wants to dwell on what I don't have anymore. The great irony of discontent is that I will wish to have back what I was dying to rid myself of only months before. In Hawaii, I was counting down the months until we finally got to move back to "the real world," but now, if I'm not careful, I will start longing to go back to our life out there. The reality is, we made the choice to leave our life in the Army for the sake of our future. When we prayed over our decision to leave the army, we found peace. I have to choose to dwell on that God-given peace instead of my discontentment.  Otherwise, I begin to lose traction over my emotions, get discouraged, and become useless.

2. In order to move forward in life, I must be thankful. Remember student life?  The good ol' days where furniture didn't match and anything sounded good as long as it was cheap.  We are back in that world, only this time we are doing it alone.  All of the friends my age have a source of regular income. Going out to dinner is a typical date night for them - we are going all out if we buy a $6 pint of ice cream.  Once again, discontentment can creep up when I begin to compare our life to the lives of others. I have found that I have to purposefully walk through the house, giving thanks for what we do have.  Everything from our fancy pots and pans to my handsome husband is included. I have to also be thankful for our life we used to have when Josh was in the Army.  By being thankful for what Army life did provide for us, I can let go of the past and move forward.

3. Fast food and gas suck your finances dry.  I found this out simply through not spending money on either expense for the last two months.  Josh is a true sport and bikes 10 miles a day to campus. Those miles of biking have saved us potentially hundreds of dollars in gas expenses.  The same thing has happened with eating out.  We didn't ever think of ourselves as people who ate out regularly, but now that we purposely never go out [except on very rare occasions], there is money sitting in our bank account that otherwise would have disappeared meal by meal.  I was afraid of how quickly we would have to start going through our savings. Surprisingly, we haven't touch hardly any of it, and what we did use was for moving expenses. Not spending money on eating out or on gas are the only two changes that we have made, but they have made a big difference.

4. Sucky things you experience are possibly preparation for suckier things to come. When I say this, I am specifically talking about bugs.  Creepy crawlies. Hawaii was home to some of the largest bugs I have ever seen in my life, and I had to figure out how to deal with them, oftentimes all by myself.  I was super excited about leaving the giant cockroaches and centipedes that graced our home in Hawaii, thinking I would never have to deal with them again.  Instead, I moved to a place where the creepy crawlies are actually dangerous.  Specifically, I am talking about scorpions. While the nasty cockroaches freaked the bejeezus out of me, they weren't going to potentially kill my child. I'm pretty sure that because I was forced to deal with all the bugs in Hawaii, I can now find a three inch scorpion in our laundry room without having a melt down.  Had I moved here straight from Colorado, I know I wouldn't be able to emotionally handle sharing my home with our little scorpion buddies.

Hopefully I don't sound too much like I hate living here; I am truly excited for what this adventure is going to bring! I am sure as the next few months pass, I will find my groove and have more positive lessons to share with you.  And a huge thanks to my little band of awesome readers for sticking with me over that last two months!  Your consistent readership means more to me than you know.  If you have any topics that you'd like to read about on this blog, let me know!  You are welcome to either post your ideas in the comments below or by email, if you feel more comfortable with that.

Pirate Stew

I'm bummed I missed out on this recipe for National Talk Like a Pirate Day [which is on September 19, in case you were wondering]. I suppose there's no better time than the present to make up for a missed holiday :)  Avast, me hearties! Its time for some Pirate Stew!

I think I need to stop before I get myself in trouble.

Pirate Stew

Taken from Fix-It and Forget-It Cookbook: Feasting with your Slow Cooker

Cooks: low for 6 hours

Makes: 4-6 Servings

Ingredients

• 1/2 of an onion, sliced
• 1 lb ground beef
• 1/4 cup uncooked rice
• 3 large potatoes, diced [still raw]
• 2 sticks of celery, diced
• 15 oz. can kidney beans, drained
• 8 oz. can tomato sauce
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/8 tsp pepper
• 1/4 tsp chili powder
• 1/4 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1/2 cup water

Instructions

1. Brown ground beef with onions in skillet.  Drain.


2. Layer ingredients in your crock pot in this order - beef and onions, rice, potatoes, celery, and kidney beans.


3. Mix together tomato sauce with spices and water.  Pour over the stew in crock pot.


4. Cover and cook on low for 6 hours, or until potatoes and rice are cooked.

For added flavor, top your Pirate Stew with sour cream and/or shredded cheese.

*I'd like to note that this stew reheats really well.  You know how some meals just aren't that great the second time around?  Not the case with this one!

Hope you have a great weekend planned ahead!  Ours? The hubby is filming his first of two midterm projects at our house.  I'm emotionally preparing for the mess of cameras and lights and college boys that will be parading through.  Wish me luck!

What All Do I Need?

This is part five of a series called "The Poop on Cloth Diapers." [To head back to the beginning, simply click on the series title in quotes]

What You Basically Need For Cloth Diapers - And Nothing More

This list contains the bare essentials of what you will need to use cloth diapers (whether full time, part time, or only weekends and holidays). Without these, someone will be calling Child Protective Services on you :)

- enough diapers -

- enough wipes -

- a trash bin -

- access to a running washing machine -

- cloth diaper-friendly detergent -

- cloth diaper-friendly rash cream -

What I listed above is the most basic of necessities. There is a myriad of other accessories that are handy, and even some that you may find necessary for you personally.  Here is my list of what else I use for my cloth diapers:

- a dryer, sometimes -

- a fold up drying rack, for other times -

- fabric trash can liners -

- a diaper sprayer -

- travel wet bags -

- reusable wipes -

Looking for specific brand recommendations?  Here's the stuff I use.  I have loved using these products, and I would recommend them to anyone in a heartbeat.


Thanks for making it through my series!  I really appreciate you taking the time to read through and give me feedback as we went along. Over the next several weeks I want to give you a tour of how cloth diapers work in our world.  With that, I can show you how our family's cloth diaper routine works, the system of organization I use, and the details on what I like about all these different accessories.

 And now, time for responses!  What is the most useful cloth diaper accessory for you? Mine - a diaper sprayer.  It is the one thing that has allowed poo to not be as big of a deal.

Hope you have a great week!

P.S.  Having a microwave again is fabulous!