7 Quick Takes (vol. 2): Scrambled Egg Question Answered

Happy Friday y'all!

--- 1 ---

Note:  if you're going to clean your glasses, before taking glasses off to clean them, make sure that the bottle of cleaner in your hand is, in fact, cleaner...

... and not hairspray!

--- 2 ---

My grandmother answered my incredibly pressing scrambled egg question.  She's so smart.  She said that scrambled eggs are not scrambled eggs unless you scramble them in the pan.  Not scrambling them in the pan produces an omelet.  My sister and my husband said this too, for the record.  Who knew I had such logical people in my life ;)

--- 3 ---

Inspired by The Library Project over at Like Mother, Like Daughter, I ordered The Three Little Pigs and The Three Bears for Matthan.  He loves books like "Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can You" with sing-songy text and bright pictures.  Do you have any books to recommend?  Let me know in the comments.

--- 4 ---

I discovered a hazard in making dinner and dessert at the same time.  I licked batter off of my finger and it tasted like garlic chocolate chip cookies.  Gross.

--- 5 ---

Cloth Diaper and Diaper Rash advice - skip to #6 if talking about these and poop ain't your thing


We have been dealing with the terrible ammonia smell that can sometimes come with cloth diapers.  I think we've fixed it now!  This post was helpful, so was another one, but I can't find it.  If I find it I'll post it.

On that note, here is one of the best pieces of mommy advice I've ever received, ever (you can thank my sister for passing this along to me)...

For diaper rash, place your kid in a cornstarch/baking soda bath.  The ratio of cornstarch:baking soda is 1:1 and the water should be opaque (or cloudy so you can't see the bottom of the tub).  For a normal sized bath tub, I use about 1/4 cup of each and run the water til it's waist high with my kid sitting (so a few inches of water).  I let Matthan soak for about 15 to 20 minutes.

This has worked, thus far, for any type of rash or blemish he's had on his tukus.

Matthan had a particularly nasty "burn" from an acidic teething poop, that left really bad marks like his skin had been rubbed off.  AWEFUL!  After two baths on consecutive days, it was already 98% better!

I also put coconut oil on him as a "diaper cream".

Bonus:  all this above is cloth diaper friendly :)

--- 6 ---

I made envelopes this week inspired by Pinterest (using instructions from here and here).  Why?

My templates

My new, pretty, homemade envelopes

Made a card to go with one of the envelopes

Inside detail of the card

--- 7 ---

I've created a "completed" board on Pinterest, mostly so I can find the ones I use a lot.  It makes me feel accomplished.  Like checking things off the To-Do list.   

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!

-Just to be clear, when I direct you to a site via one of my links, I'm not necessarily endorsing the whole site, but rather just referring you to the individual post in question (unless I state otherwise).-

{Pretty, Happy, Funny, Real}...

... but not in that order.

~ Capturing the context of contentment in everyday life ~

Every Thursday at Like Mother, Like Daughter

{Real}

There is a lot of real going on here this week so I'm going to start with that.  

I thought I was losing my mind...that's not much of a stretch on some days, but I digress.  My fridge and freezer smelled like pickles.  This just did not make sense to me because we did not have pickles in our fridge.  After a couple of days of justifying why the fridge smelled like pickles when we didn't have pickles, and promising myself to clean our fridge "really soon", I went to retrieve something from the bottom drawer.  And found...

Lake Pickle Juice

We did have pickles in the fridge!  The lid was not on tight and it had tipped over  :(

the culprit

Using almond milk to make mac'n'cheese produces a rather funky mac'n'cheese.  Now you don't have to do the research yourself.  It really should have been fine except our milk was vanilla flavored and not plain like I thought.  How to redeem it?  Just add parmesan.  It masks the funkiness nicely and redeems your late night snack.  Now you know.

Remember how I was complaining about my bedroom being the default place to drop junk?  Well, I have resolved not to make it our bedroom anymore.  This doesn't solve my junk problem, but it does make for a nicer place for me and the hubby.  The room above the garage is now the default.  This is simply the overflow of the closet up there, I spared you that picture.

{Pretty}

I made some envelopes this week.  Just for fun.

{Happy}

I ordered some things for Matthan that I'm really excited about.  Arriving soon will be a set of alphabet magnets, a new Baby Signing Tim video, and a couple books.  I can't wait.  (He can't either, he just doesn't know it).

{Funny}

I finally captured his frown.  He's such a ham. 

Tim texted me to let me know that he was going to be home late from work.  I texted him back this picture with the caption "Matthan says that is unacceptable".  Lol :)

Go check out more {Pretty, Happy, Funny, Real} posts at Like Mother, Like Daughter

Unaffected

(With gratuitous pictures of my kid for your viewing pleasure)

 I couldn't sleep last night.  After reading this post on conversiondiary dot com (#4, specifically) I put my phone down to try to pray, or rather, "listen" to what God wanted to say to me.  And the word "unaffected" popped into my head.  

I have been fascinated by the blog shalomsweethome dot com, for many reasons, but one of which is how Jessa and her husband are living their Christian faith in Israel where the most prevalent faiths are not Christianity and the traditions of these faiths (primarily Judaism and Islam) affect Jessa and her husband and the people around them every day.  It doesn't matter if you're not Jewish, if you live in Israel, you cannot avoid the effects of the Jewish faith.  Jessa and her husband have to walk to church on Saturday, because (a) Saturday is the Jewish Sabbath, and their city comes to a halt and (b) because Saturday is the Sabbath, then Sunday is a work day, so Jessa's husband has to work and cannot attend Mass on Sunday with Jessa.  

There are codes of dress, such as orthodoxy women having to wear skirts that have affected Jessa when she has accidentally walked through an orthodox neighborhood and received looks of disapproval from the people in the neighborhood, simply for wearing pants. 

Another blogger, who I've been following, has mentioned that her father currently resides in a country (sorry, I forgot which one) where the national religion is Islam.  Her father, although atheist himself, has something like a really loud blow horn outside of his apartment window that is used to call the muslims to prayer five times a day... the first call to prayer being before sunrise.  It doesn't matter if this man could care less about the faith, he is affected every day by the faith being practiced around him.  

And then it got me thinking, how completely unaffected we are in America.

(Excuse the generalizations to come, if you disagree, let me know, I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments or via e-mail).

I would venture to say, that the most we Americans are affected by faith in this country is that we cannot go to Hobby Lobby and Chick-fil-a on Sunday because they are closed (and, in full transparency here, I gripe about that on occasion).  Or, depending on where you live, you get stuck in "Sunday traffic" because you ventured out of your house when the mega-church down the road is letting services out.

Something about this seems very wrong to me.  Shouldn't our faith affect every area of our lives?  

I once read about some monks who set their watches to beep every hour so that they were constantly reminded to keep their thoughts on our Lord and to pray without ceasing.  When I want to, I can seem to find time to check Facebook, or Pinterest, or blogs, or e-mail, or texts, or voice messages every hour and yet I struggle to lift my heart in prayer any more than grace before mealtimes, and sometimes I forget that.  

I love the seasons and feasts of the liturgical year.  I've tried harder this year to implement traditional practices.  For example, Matthan and I took flowers to a friend on the Feast of the Assumption. The actual tradition is donating flower arrangements to your church or nursing homes, I think, but hey, I have to start somewhere.  The more common practices we're known for is no meat on Fridays during Lent and mass every Sunday.  

If I practice even the minimal recommendations or obligations for the American Catholic, my faith affects my life... and by extension, the lives of those around me.  

What a witness this can be.

Think about it.  If we went back to the days where everything was closed on Sundays, how would that affect us?  Think about that for a moment.  If everything was closed on Sunday...

-we would have to grocery shop on another day of the week

-we'd have to carefully make out our food plan or just make do because there would be no last minute run to the grocery store for that forgotten item

-waiters and waitresses would get a break and other employees would be able to be with their families and actually go to church with their families, because their bosses wouldn't ever ask them to take a shift on Sunday

-people might hate Monday's less because they actually got refreshed on Sunday

-businessmen would have to do something with themselves (hopefully with their families) because no one anywhere would be in the office doing anything

-the list could go on and on...

But if this were the case, think about how it would affect those that do not practice the Christian faith.  If every Sunday, life came to a screeching halt, then all the "inconveniences" of everything being closed would maybe make non-Christians think, even for a moment, even subconsciously...why.  

That is the point of all the little practices that I have in my faith.

When I don't eat meat on Fridays during Lent...

     ...I think about God's incredible sacrifice of coming to earth so he could die for my sins on that Holy Friday so long ago

When I get myself and my family to mass every Sunday...

     ---I think about that my God is different because He resurrected from death on Holy Sunday and that I can look forward to the resurrection of the body and life everlasting

When I continue to celebrate Christmas for the 12 days following Christmas (when "Christmas and good cheer" cease to exist, it seems)...

     ....I think about God humbling himself and coming as an innocent baby and how he wasn't welcomed and celebrated by all

When I see the crucifix on my family alter...

     ...I think to lift my heart up in prayer and thanksgiving, and that I'm called to take up my cross daily and follow him.

The point is, that our faith should affect us.  In America, I think we need to be a little more affected.

"This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."  John 13:35

Monday Musing's (vol.1): Frowning, Scrambled Eggs, and Iconography

Here's round one of Monday's Musings (you know, if I commit to doing this regularly) in 7 Quick Takes style.

--- 1 ---

I think Matthan learned to frown yesterday.  It didn't occur to me that frowning was something you learn (it makes sense, I just didn't think about it).  I don't think I've seen him do this before.  He looked like he was practicing it yesterday, and then he frowned at a few people at church.  His frown is adorable too.  I'll post a picture when I can capture one, but when I try to get him to do it he just smiles at me.  Such a conundrum ;)

--- 2 ---

A pressing question . . .

([The Back Story, you can skip if you wish]  I was telling my sister the other day that I saw an interview where Matthew Lewis (the actor who plays Neville in the Harry Potter movies) said that he was discussing making scrambled eggs in the microwave with Imelda Staunton (actress) while sitting in the make-up chairs.  She was completely repulsed by the idea.  And then Alan Rickman (another actor) came up and said that scrambled eggs in the microwave were quite nice.  At this point, my sister said "but they wouldn't be scrambled eggs if you made them in the microwave".  Which brings me to my pressing question . . . )

Are scrambled eggs, scrambled, because of the scrambling that you do in the bowl before dumping them in the pan, or because you scramble them around in the pan. . . or both?

I need to know.

--- 3 ---

We painted our room this weekend in case you missed it!  (Eckhem, because I just posted that post.)

--- 4 ---

I recently found out that our church bells are a recording.  Makes sense, there is no bell tower (duh! me), but I was still disappointed.

(Our church has only had the "bells" for maybe a year, so I haven't been confused about them for like years or anything.)

--- 5 ---

There are moments in motherhood where your instincts to intervene are overridden by "let's see how this pans out".  I watched in utter amusement as Matthan flattened himself down to get under the bars of our chairs to get a toy that was under there.  But then he got stuck.

What do I do now, Mom?

And couldn't figure out how to get back out.

I can't get back out.

I give up.

Oh, my child. :)

--- 6 ---

I want to study the art of iconography at some point.  Here is a video of a church being built and painted this year.  Click on their channel to watch updates of the icon painting.

--- 7 ---

What is the point of a to-go coffee cup that does not fit in the cup holder?!

Have a Happy Monday!


-Just to be clear, when I direct you to a site via one of my links, I'm not necessarily endorsing the whole site, but rather just referring you to the individual item (post, picture, video, etc) in question (unless I state otherwise).-

Healthy Discontent is the Prelude to Progress

"Healthy discontent is the prelude to progress." ~ Mahatma Gandhi

Well, I don't know if it is healthy, but I have definitely been feeling discontent with the state of our bedroom.  Part of my discontent was wanting to paint the right color the first time, because our ceilings are twelve feet (I think) in the highest places, and I think my husband would quit on me if I asked him to repaint the entire room because I picked the wrong color.  Hence the five paint samples painted on our wall.

Bottom middle color was the winner :)

It donned (sp?) on us that we have never lived in a place with color on the walls (since college, anyway.  Ironically, both of our rooms growing up were an intense teal, similar to the darker colors on the top row of the picture above.)  I didn't take any good before shots of our room, but since we lack creativity in furniture arrangement, you can see exactly what are room looked like here in an old apartment, and envision that arrangement in our room with the beige walls from when we moved in.  You'd get a really accurate picture because our room was full of junk until about Thursday when I realized painting was going to be extremely difficult if we didn't remove the junk.  

I loaded up the little guy and took him to The Home D-Pot (that's how you say it if you're cool ;) with me to buy our paint and other painting "necessities".  (Oh, c'mon, you know I had to slip at least one picture of Matthan in here).

"It's ok Mom, I'll drive"

A light switch plate may not be a painting necessity, but the bulldog one left by the previous owners wasn't jiving with our new zen bedroom plans.  But anyway, the painting began!!

Our bedroom seems to be the dumping ground for anything that doesn't have a place.  I'm determined to fix that, but I feel like I have a very long way to go.  Any suggestions??  Yes, I'm slowly getting rid of stuff.  After an average of a move a year since being married, we've purged a lot.  Guess I'll have to purge some more.  We also have a very small attic because of the tall ceilings in 2/3 of our house.  As I clean, junk just seems to move from one room to the next, depending on which room I'm cleaning that day.  

Before the big reveal!

But for now, it's clean!!! And painted!!  Progress has been made, people!!

Taken with panoramic setting on my iPhone.