{pretty, happy, funny, real}

{pretty}

  Last week I broke down and bought new shades for the living room lamps. The other ones were in shreds (literally), and they've been looking pretty, but completely useless, for nearly a year now. Of course, when I went to plug this one in, I found that the plug was melted. Not knowing that you can just buy a replacement *plug,* I cut it, and disassembled the whole thing before going to Wal-Mart to get the kit. I felt so stupid when I saw the replacement plug. On the other hand, they are old lamps, and I do feel better having a new socket and wiring.

 

These are lovely Italian lamps, part of the furniture we were left by Zach's Grammy.

The new living room arrangement from the entry way. Zach sets his table up in the living room to practice adjusting with his friends and my furniture always ends up moved around. Putting things back in their original place isn't usually on my dear husband's mind, so I decided to figure out how it could work better. I'm really happy with the way it turned out, and I'm hoping it will solve the problem. My next project is the family room, which has doors on all but one wall, but that one has a double window. It's also the room that has to function as many things: craft area, library, TV room, playroom, diaper changing station...oh, and where all the clean laundry goes, and stays sometimes for days. Not good!

From the dining room. I love the chair with the lamp in front of the big window. On the far right are are my unfinished cabinet doors...I'm holding Zach to his promise to do them over the break next month!

{happy}

After two months in disposable diapers, I finally have Tony back in cloth. It has been a huge learning experience for me, and I never would have thought using cloth diapers could become so complicated. While researching why they had an awful ammonia smell, I discovered that my homemade laundry soap was bad for them. Eek. I have since found a recipe that does not use *soap,* just equal parts of super washing soda, baking soda, and Sun oxygen cleaner (which I luckily found at Big Lots since Wal-Mart has stopped carrying it - sorry regular Big Lots shoppers, I bought all 4 containers!). Here's to many more years with these diapers!

{funny}

 Poor Tony. He always ends up being my {funny}. He is what brings me so many smiles, though. Here he rubbed mashed potatoes in his hair, and then Zach helped him make it stick up. Silly boys. Sometimes I can't believe how much Tony has grown up. At 20 months he puts things in the trash for me, carries items to the laundry room...little children are so smart, if you let them be. He even sat in Mass for the first time on Sunday! I was so happy! The Latin Mass we went to was beautiful, and the church is set up perfectly for having a small child. It wasn't crowded (at all, sadly), and we sat in the back, near a side room. When he was too antsy, Zach took him in the room, and walked him down the aisles. He would come back, though, and sit for 5-10 minutes. He loves going to see Jesus, which makes my heart sing. I'm trying to figure out a good in-pew distraction for him. He likes pictures, but can be rough on paper books. I know there are lots of patterns out there for quiet books, that I could probably adapt to be more Faith-centered. If anyone has good ideas, please leave a comment!

{real}

New spices! We started buying our spices from the bulk section at Wegmans and the co-op store last year, which has been great, because it's so much cheaper. I also like the option of only buying what I need for a recipe if it's something I don't usually use (marjoram, for instance. That did not agree with my pregnancy sense of smell). However, I started reading that all non-organic spices are irradiated (the spices I was buying are Frontier Co-op, and they sell some organic spices, and some of their non-organic are labeled non-irradiated, but I haven't had time to thoroughly check their website). I only buy grass-fed meat, and mostly local, organic produce, so it doesn't make sense to be serving them up with a nice side of free-radical ridden spices. Luckily, I needed to order herbs for my pregnancy tea from Mountain Rose Herbs, and saw how reasonably priced their spices are. I got a whole pound of garlic powder 50% for $3.50! The best part is that they are all organic, and most of them are fair-trade certified, too. Zach was sweet and put them in jars for me on Sunday. My collection is still fairly small as you can see, but, with the exception of cumin (which was out of stock!), I don't use more than that. (There are more than three jars, too.)

 Most of the spices are only available in 4- and 8-ounce bags, but if you don't mind that, it's a great deal!

Head over to Like Mother, Like Daughter for some more photos of contentment that will leave you wishing you lived near the beach! (In chilly central New York, I am somewhat jealous of California weather right now!)

Making Wool Diaper Covers - The Easy Way!

 I, sadly, do not know how to knit. Or crochet anything more than a single chain. I would very much like to learn, but since I barely get to my sewing machine, I don't know that I need to start another crafting hobby. 

The lack of knitting going on has stymied my desire to use wool diaper covers. They're monstrously expensive compared to the PUL, so buying them hasn't been an option. I had given up on using them, until my MIL surprised me with a wool cover at her last visit! It wasn't like any I had seen - it looked just like a regular cover with snaps. I got on their website, and to my great excitement, they said they make them out of upcycled sweaters! I can't knit, but I can sew! For a couple of weeks I checked the Salvation Army diligently for sweaters that might repurpose into a cover nicely. I found a few, and cut my first one out. I have a cloth diaper book with patterns that I bought at JoAnn's some months ago - it goes with the line of KAM snaps and PUL they carry. It was super easy, and I can definitely see the process getting faster the more you make. I only have the one finished so far, but I'm checking other things off of my sewing list before I tackle more. I'm also wanting to make some that pull up and can be used more as training pants. I'm thinking a cotton lining, or a pad that snaps in maybe?

You can't tell, but the snaps have FROGS on them!!

 There are some changes I would make to the cover design - there's wasted fabric in the "wings" that go towards the back. Depending on the size of the sweater, it could be difficult to fit the wings to wrap around the front, and the pointless extra going towards the back on the inside. Next time I might model it more after the cover I got from my MIL (you can see it here). I have a KAM snap setter, which you can get at JoAnn's (I got mine on sale for $15, I think), or from KAM Snaps.com. I ordered a mixed package of engraved snaps from them, and they came very quickly. (They come with white pieces for the inside, but instead of wasting engraved snaps on the inside of my diaper, I ordered extra white parts so I have 200 sets total, and don't have to use my cute ones where they won't be seen.)

For anyone else who has wanted wool covers, but been put off by the price or lack of knitting ability, this is the solution! (Not that I know from experience, but I almost like this better than the ones you can knit, because it seems like it would fit better, and be less bulky?)