Better late than never.

I've done a positively shit time keeping up with this. For a while I was going back and forth between trying to figure out the Blogger interface with design or whether I should just keep my WordPress blog over at sereberry.com. I think Blogger is going to win just for overall ease, and I like the Google connect feature as well. Either way I'm going to try to do a better job keeping up with my crafting projects, since that was supposed to be a main focus for my blogging overall.

Baked Potato Soup

I've finally succeeded at making a tasty baked potato soup! Unfortunately, I had to do it the "easy" way, because the right way (heavy cream and actual cheese) didn't work for me. Go figure.

I used:
3 pan fried bacon strips, plus leftover grease
2 cans Campbell's cream of cheddar (with three cans of milk instead of two)
2 green onions (greens and whites), diced
1 bit of butter
4 medium yukon gold potatoes

In a 3-quart sauce pan brown the green onions lightly in the little bit of butter over low-medium heat. Fry the bacon in a separate pan. Dice the potatoes and boil them in an appropriate pan. As soon as your green onions are cooked to your liking add in the cream of cheddar soup and milk, stir. Once the potatoes are mostly soft drain them and add them to the cheddar soup. I crumbled my bacon, added it to the soup, and added a bit of the bacon grease. It looks gross at first, but it gives it some body and that delectable bacon flavor.

It all fit into a 3-quart sauce pan, so it would probably only make 4-6 servings, but it was quick and easy which makes it perfect for Keith and I on a chilly winter day. The only thing I would do over is to make more bacon and use some of it for topping, because putting the nice crisp bacon into the soup makes it sad and soggy. I like to use a small dollop and some shredded cheddar as a garnish. Tasty!

Project: Mei Tai

We've needed a different baby carrier for a while. The Moby wrap is a pain in the ass to put on/take off in public (I'm OCD about having to drag the ends on the ground) and it is made out of a jersey-knit material, so it stretches as you wear it and then the entire fit is thrown off. The Baby Bjorn is Keith's favorite baby wearing device, but it is supposedly bad for hip development because of the way it holds the hanging baby from the crotch. Alas.

My solution to this dilemma? The often crafted, never complained about mei tai! I remember seeing mei tais on Craftster years and years ago, and noted that if I ever produced spawn that a mei tai would probably be the baby-carting way to go if I was uninterested in using a stroller.

Now cue this gem: the Scandi baby carrier tutorial. Sweeeeet.

I went through my fabric stash and found many suitable bottom-weight and decorative fabrics perfect for this project. My fabric choices for my first mei tai are these:



The brown and green print is a canvas that I found on clearance at Jo-Ann's many years ago, and the umbrella fabric is just a quilting cotton, likely from Jo-Ann's as well. Fantastic!

Fabrics are pressed and ready to go!

The next challenge was the sewing machine. I hadn't even touched the poor thing in more than a year. Knowing that the last time I cleaned around the bobbin case was too long ago I decided to go in for some maintenance. Good thing I did, because I cleared an entire dust bunny dynasty out from the bottom of the machine. Gross!

Tomorrow I'm going to mock up some pattern pieces from broadcloth and hopefully cut all of my pieces.

Baby carrier freedom, here I come!

Hobby Lobby

Oh, how I love thee. When we first moved I searched to see where the closest location would be. 22 miles, in Glen Allen. "Hey, that's not bad!" Much to my dismay there was a cute little, "Coming Soon!" tucked underneath that listing. The closest open location was hours away!

Today I decided to check again and now there are store hours and sales. I know where I'm going this weekend!

White Rice: A Love Affair

I love white rice. The fluffy texture melts in my mouth, and it is made even more perfect only with the addition of furikake.

My favorite variety has seaweed and bonito (fish) flakes in it. Someday I will try some of the other varieties, which vary from sweet egg omelette to miso and many other flavors, but for now I stick with my old standby.

My love affair with white rice has placed great pressure on me to purchase a rice cooker, which I have so far resisted. Again, Keith has a great hatred for single use kitchen items, and though I have made the argument that a rice cooker doubles as a veggie steamer I still know that he would greatly disapprove of such a purchase.

Also I have mentioned my hatred for our electric stove. Well, I am proud to announce that I have mastered cooking rice on the electric stove top. I have the exact measurements needed down and I know exactly how long to cook it for. Yes, this is an achievement worth blogging about. That is how great my love is for white rice.

Freakin' FINALLY.

Today we finally went to a new pediatrician for Li's four month check up. Virginia is a trip; NOBODY washed their hands before handling my baby. IN THE HEIGHT OF COLD/FLU SEASON, NOBODY. Gross. Also, in Illinois that would probably be an impending lawsuit. I am slightly relieved that we won't be going back, since next month we'll finally be on Prime and we'll be going to the base's health clinic, which hopefully has better sanitary practices.

Tomorrow we'll go to see Keith. Hopefully I can get glasses at the PX. Otherwise I have at least $500 to spend this week on healthcare and related goods from my Whole Foods flex account. I never thought that would become burdensome...

On a Role

Oh, Hipstamatic, where have you been all my life?

Hipstamatic

I finally caved and bought the Hipstamatic app for my phone. So far I've gotten some good shots. Here's a favorite of Lilah.

Bad Wife!

I've typically been going on base to see K on Wednesdays, since Thursday is field day, and, well, Wednesday is hump day...

Knowing this I decided to bake blueberry lavender muffins and brownies to take with on my visit. Since Lilah is fussy when I try to do anything away from her and she's been nursing non-stop I decided to wait until 11 PM Tuesday to do so. (It worked out well that way.) I showered while the brownies were in. (Again, easier to do while she's asleep.) I got up the next day and did a load of laundry so I would have decent clothes to wear. I put on makeup and actually did my hair. I cleaned up little miss spitup, and put her in a cute outfit. Then we fell asleep...

I've been drowsy since I've been getting little sleep since I try to get things done while she is asleep. I have to stop doing this! I knew I was tired and even set an alarm on my phone just in case. Turns out I didn't hear it, twice. Missed three text messages and multiple calls...and eventually woke up to a displeased husband on the phone, demanding to know where I am.

So, all-in-all I'm a bad wife. Time to get my butt into bed so I can break this cycle!

Breastfeeding and You

There really should be an owner's manual for babies. As a first time mother with little support I find myself frequently turning to the internet to answer my pressing questions regarding the care of my infant. What troubles me about this is that I am well aware of the fact that anybody can publish anything on the internet. After all, that is one of my favorite features of the intarwebz.