Cup o Joe

I am finally sitting down here in front of the computer after my little Screamer has decided to stop screaming and start sleeping.  I know I only have up to an hour before she decides to let me know that she's awake again, so I figured I better make myself a cup of coffee and enjoy the peaceful moment.  Ahh, coffee.  Today I am brewing my current favourite a Fair Trade Nicaraguan blend.  It's mainly my favourite because of what these particular coffee beans mean to me.  It's not quite as strong as I would prefer, so I add a little bit of espresso to the filter and voila, a good cup of joe.

My latest summer time drink is the iced coffee.  Not sure why I didn't think of it last summer, but this year it dawned on me that it is a brilliant summer drink.  It just means I have to have ice in the freezer at all times, so when I was at Ikea last I picked up a couple bpa free icecube trays that makes cubes that look like fishies - couldn't resist. Well, in the morning I still have my hot cup of coffee or two when Aletta is down for her nap, so I just brew up about 6 cups and turn off the coffee maker (coffee makers use a lot of energy, and I am super frugal). 

freshly brewed iced coffee...mmmmm...

Often I don't get around to my second cup of coffee, so later on in the afternoon I pull out a glass put some sugar in the bottom, our over the nicely cooled, leftover coffee, throw in some ice cubes, and a bit of milk and voila, my perfect iced coffee for me to sip on while sitting on the porch while Aletta sucks away on a peach.  I know, it all sounds so romantical, but it's actually not!  Usually there is squealing and screaming, Lego barking, me yelling, and finally I just sit my butt down and I realize that I can't stop anything from happening and I might as well enjoy the sunshine and my nice glass of iced coffee.  OK, the Screamer is screaming now and she has only slept 30 minutes...when, oh when, will this possibly change??

Homemade Soap

I have been saying to my husband the past few weeks, "I'll make the soap soon.  I promise!  Don't go out and buy any."  Well, he didn't and we have been using my shower gel as hand soap the past week!  But today I finally got out and bought the items I wanted for this hand soap.  Here's what I came up with using what I do with my baby bum wipe solution:

1 cup of boiled water

1 T liquid castile soap (I use Dr. Bronner's because I love that it is Fair Trade and all-natural)

1 T olive oil

3 drops essential oil (I used peppermint, but I also saw on the shelf some other fun smells)

In a jar combine all the ingredients and let cool with lid off.  Once it's warm to the touch put the lid on and shake it up. 

I made a bunch all in one batch so that I don't have to make it up that often, otherwise I don't always get around to it right when we need it.  For handsoap it is easiest to use a foaming dispenser, since the soap comes out pretty runny.  My husband wasn't impressed when he first squirted it out and it ran all off his hand...his words, "oh this make your own handsoap is gonna be a lot of fun..."  Right.  So, I have researched a little bit and it looks like xanthinum gum should do the trick to thicken it up...now I have to find some of that stuff.

Other fun ways to use variations of this recipe: 

• I use it for my cloth baby wipes...minus the essential oil and use 2 drops tea-tree oil for the anti-fungal elements.  I put it in a spray bottle, spray the wipes as needed and wash the used wipes along with the cloth diapers.
• use for body wash
• since I use the baby mild unscented Dr. Bronner's liquid castile soap it can also be used for baby body wash.

Super easy and super frugal!  I bought the largest bottle of the Dr. Bronner's at a bulk store for $20 which I guess will last me at least 2 years (if not 3 years) using it for hand soap and baby bum wipes.  The tea-tree oil came in a tiny bottle for about $7 and the peppermint essential oil in a small bottle for $8. 

The Diaper Sitch

It's a long weekend and we actually stayed home for a change. Usually we take every chance we can get to get up to my parent's place, in the summer, go camping, or visit family and friends in the States. But this time Kevin said that we needed to stay home, or at least he would and I could go up to my parents with the Babe if I wanted. I opted to stay home with him and then go up to my parents next week.

Kevin has been working around the house, getting things cleaned up, spreading wood chips that we were given to us by a friend and taking coffee breaks with Aletta and I. I on the other hand have been hanging up laundry from our vacation, doing a load of diapers (pictured below) and trying to find ways to save our resources with my maternity leave benefits coming to an end.

Saving your resources and yet not being cheap is a precarious thing. Especially when you are already frugal. Now frugality turns into creativity. I hope to share in the next few blog posts about how my frugal living the past year (which I thought was already creative) worked out in a few areas, and hopefully that will give some of you readers some ideas of your own as you try to be stewardly with your resources.

from left: fuzzi bunz pocket diapers, waterproof diaper pail sack, diaper inserts, cloth wipes

The cloth diapers was one big way that we wanted to save money and not contribute to filling up landfills.  I have about 20 pocket diapers and a whole bunch of prefolds.  We just came back from vacation during which we used disposable diapers...and I have to admit it is super easy to pull off the diaper, wrap it up and chuck it.  Amazing, really.  Coming back to the cloth diapers I wasn't so pumped.  I can see why its easier to use disposable.  BUT, we don't live in a disposable world, so I remembered why we did cloth in the first place and pulled out the brightly coloured, super cute diapers.  And they look fun on the clothesline while the sun dries and bleaches them.

time keeps on slippin'

And here I was going to write a blog once a week...and then life happens. It amazes me how for some people blogging is their life. How do they do it? Where do they come up with all the interesting stuff to write about and then write it in a way that sounds interesting to other people? You got me.

So, really nothing interesting has happened in my life that others might find interesting, BUT, plenty of things that are interesting to me and my little family. The Screamer is still screaming. Oh, I wonder what the future holds. Now she mainly screams when she is going down for a nap and when she bonks her head - which is far too many times.

She is just getting into too many things for me to stay on top of her. How do I let her explore and be happy and yet let her know for the millionth time that the wicker basket which is narrower on the bottom than on the top WILL NOT HOLD HER when she insists on standing up at it? I say "Ah ah, Aletta..." and she looks at me with big, wide mouthed, goofy grin that just screams "I am SO proud of myself. Look at me stand at this. I am SO cool." Really, how is she not amazing??? She not only is prooving to me that she much further ahead than me, but that she will always be one step ahead of me. How does she do that?

Well, today, she decides to go to town in my little pantry cupboard which just happens to be at the perfect height for her. For the most part I don't care that she is pulling things out of there, until it comes to the bottle of Diana sauce, which I explicitely say "ah, ah, Aletta. No." (What she doesn't understand about that is beyond me.) And she proceeds to yank it out anyway, away from me. Well, it falls on her ankle, to which she screams and flails herself forward and does a doozy on her forehead as she connects to that shelf at perfect height. To which she starts screaming louder, hopping up and down almost leaping out of my embrace. Ohhhh, I wonder what the future holds.

One other thing of interest, that isn't about our little Screamer, is that our basement is almost complete (it's been almost complete for a while now) and I just can't wait to declutter and finally move things downstairs from our mainfloor. Like the television. We have this big, huge, honkin old school TV sitting in middle of our beautiful corner window of our livingroom. I hardly even watch the thing, but have been watching it a whole lot more since it has invaded our serene main floor getaway. So I am thinking that once everything has gone down to the basement that I will have my peaceful, serene, calming livingroom back again and I can live life like I did antes Aletta. HA. Will life ever be peaceful again? Our basement looks peaceful right now since no one ever goes down there. But that will be the perfect area for Aletta to play in and hopefully get into less things...everything comes around to Aletta, doesn't it. And here I was so determined not to let a tiny little creature rule my life.

Well, the breeze has just cooled down and it almost looks like it's going to rain. I probably better take the diapers in off the line before I have to defeat the purpose of line drying.

Happy Baby Blessings

It almost felt like we were back in Nicaragua today...last night I was going to write a blog about what it's like to live with a Screamer who decides she doesn't want to sleep anymore, but after today I am going to write about the little blessings God gives us when things don't go as planned.

The past week has been miserable for us being up every night with a sick, screaming child. Then, last night comes around and at the wise advice of my brother and sister-in-law (yes, the ones with 6 kids, so we take their advice very seriously) we let Aletta "cry-it-out"...not that we hadn't done that before, but after such a week this was really letting her cry-it-out. A battle of the wills of sorts and we had to come out on top. Well, let's just say we came out on top. And really, so did Aletta. She was happier than a pig in, well, it's play pen, all day today. I know, I wasn't going to write about the screaming part of my little Screamer, but I kind of have to in order set the stage for God's little blessings.

So, this morning (I guess it was just after noon) we are heading to some friends' place for lunch. We come to a roll in a very busy intersection and Kevin puts the vehicle into first gear as the light turns green and the car doesn't go... anywhere...well, lucky for us it was still rolling enough that he was just able to creep through the intersection and pull into the far right lane so that we didn't block too much traffic and have to experience the Nicaraguan feeling traffic of horns blaring.

I remember when we first arrived in Nicaragua we filled our cell phones with every English speaking persons phone number that we could find in case of such an emergency. Now, its pouring rain, cold and windy, and we also have a baby in the back seat. So who do we call? CAA. Of course. The strange person who answers the phone on the other end that can send out a tow truck and bring your vehicle to your mechanic of choice, is a welcome voice that can solve all our problems. Sort of. We also have Aletta to think about....can't just stand in the cold, windy rain. We called up the friends we were going to visit and they came to pick up Aletta and I while Kevin went with the tow truck dude to the mechanic, then his dad picked him up there and brought him home so that he could grab our other car and come out one more time to our friend's place.

It all worked out! Beautiful. And you know what was even more beautiful? Aletta was so happy the whole time. Thinking about it just brings a smile to my face.

Anywho, you'd think the happy ending (minus the mechanic bill) would be the end of the story. Not today. We are heading home, stop at a hardware store to pick up paint for our newly renovated basement (baby steps), and our second car doesn't start up! The battery is dead. WHAT ARE THE CHANCES? Kevin even made some joke about that as we were leaving our friend's place. We just looked at each other and laughed and laughed. Really, come on...what are the chances?? Twice in the span of 5 hours with two different vehicles.

It was almost time to feed Aletta and we had no idea how long it would take to get the car boosted. This time, Kevin called up another friend to come and give the car a boost. So I grabbed Aletta, wrapped her up in a blanket and walked a couple blocks to a coffee shop to feed her. Still cold and windy, but not raining. And Aletta was happy the whole time making everyones day with her big, snotty-faced smile. With a child like her, how can I be cranky about the situation at hand? Not a chance. Well, about 30 minutes later Kevin comes flying around the corner with a re-energized car. The end to our eventful, Nicaraguan feeling day. Praise God for friends, family, CAA and most of all, happy babies!

Now Kevin is in the basement enjoying himself painting the bathroom a bright, rich purple colour. Ha.

Chronicles of a Screamer: The Beginning

The world turned on its head almost seven months ago when my sweet baby girl came into the world, screaming. And she hardly stoppped to take a breath for the first thirteen hours of her life. I just remember thinking "What on earth just happened?!", and every once in a while that same thought reoccurs to me. She has kept me on my toes and on my knees in prayer ever since that day.

Just earlier this week my dearest friend in the whole wide world, Tracy, came to visit me...her first encounter with the Screamer...and I now feel like I have an ally. She might not be living close by - God knows I wish she was - but she now knows just how busy my sweet little Screamer really is. OH, my husband sure knows. So do my parents from the short visits I have with them at their place, but now my dearest friend who has been there for me thirteen years, has seen the worst and best of me and still loves me, she understands my perils with this child. That is a feat in and of itself. Oh how I treasure her friendship. Anywho, at the encouragement of Tracy I am starting up my blog again, a whole year later since I blogged about the adventures in Nicaragua, as a bit of a coping mechanism for living with and raising my beautiful little Screamer, Aletta.

The name Aletta is from spanish and dutch origin (very fitting) and means "footloose", "verity", "truth", "small winged one". As much as she is a handful, that is the very reason I am excited to raise this little girl. My husband and I just can't do it on our own, we need our family, friends and more importantly God. Yes, we need God!