November Reading List

November
1-112 Mama Knows Breast - Andi Silverman (11/4)
2-113 Breastfeeding For Dummies (11/5)
3-114 The Complete Idiots Guide to Breastfeeding (11/8)
4-115 B&N Edition of Aesop’s Fables - (11/8)
5-116 Mason Dixon Knitting (11/23)

yup, that's right...5, and 3 of them were breastfeeding books. which my husband can't believe i read, because "why would there be entire books on the subject?!" yeah, he's hopeless.

my favorite of the month was Mama Knows Breast. it was funny and quirky, and didn't make me feel guilty about not being able to BF with Kaeley (i like that, a lot.....)

November was also NaNoWriMo. Which i participated in for the second year. it does eat my entire month, but Ross and Kae are surprisingly understanding. I was hoping the beast would participate with me this year, but he flaked out pretty early. I have until May or June to actually finish my book and seriously edit it, because i signed up for CreateSpace, which will give me a free proof copy and 5 free bound copies of my book for finishing, and also give me free access to be able to publish and market the books through Amazon.com. I'm not sure i'll actually publish the book for human consumption., but having a copy of a book i wrote on my bookshelf is something i'd be super proud of.

November was actually a pretty active blog month for me. Kae did a lot of random things that i wanted to share. =D

Black Bean Experiment

Tonight we experimented with black bean burritos. Thought I'd share the experiment and the changes I'll make next time.

Flour tortillas
One can black beans drained and rinsed
One can low sodium corn
1/3 cup diced yellow onion
1 tbs minced garlic

Cooked garlic and onions together. Added everything else and some chili powder, salt, black pepper.

Spooned into warm tortillas, topped with freshly shredded mild cheddar cheese. Roll up

Nom

They were ok, but needed....more

Next time I'll cook the filling with cheese, some kind of queso or cream cheese. And possibly add the cheese after cooking the beans/corn with a packet of taco seasoning.

I served with yellow rice. That I wouldn't change, we lurve yellow rice.

Either way the kid ate all her food. That's how I judge success!

Thanksgiving garland

Today kae made a garland out of fall colored construction paper and yarn. The plan is to take it to Grandma Debbie's for dinner thursday afternoon.

While we made it we used each leaf to talk about the things we're Thankful for, and we wrote them down.

Here is kae's list:

1) my friends
2) my family
3) food (go figure)
4) for electricity so I can read at night
5) butterflies because they help us get honey
6) squirrels because they are cute
7) for mom and dad because they help me learn and grow
8) Ms Bailes because she's a great teacher
9) books because they help me learn new things
10) love because it makes us happy

I love my kid /sniffle

I am thankful for my family and friends (who may as well be family) and my kid and soon to be kid. I have a lot in my life to be happy about and greatful for.

Though I don't always show it /sigh

Have a happy safe thanksgiving everyone

Pow Wow

Kaeley's class had a pow wow for Thanksgiving, this goes along with the totem animals they did last month.

First they took white pillowcase and the teacher dyed them with Rit dye. The girls had dresses and the boys had vests. (with fringe cut into the bottom!) they decorated the dressed with paint of traditional symbols and animals (kae's has a rainbow and lizards)

They also made hair pieces out of a strip of leather, a pony bead and a feather. We attached ours to a bobby pin to make it stay in.

Today they went from classroom to classroom doing different projects. A necklace made from food-dyed rotini noodles, a bracelet with plastic beads on faux leather cord, and face painting.

She tells me they also learned an Indian dance, got to plays drums and turtle rattles, and made a turkey out of candy they got to eat.

Sounds like my kind of party!!

Playdate and Wii

Yesterday Kae had a Playdate. We have some friends who ride her bus and live within walking distance that she hangs out with.

They decided to bust out the Wii and Just Dance 2 (which we have at home too) and have some 4-player action lol.

Veteran's Day

We met grandma Pam at the Jensen mall on V-day to have lunch and window shop.

Kae walked away with a spiffy new pair of totally awesome boots (I myself got maternity jeans hurray!)

But no Santa, he was the slacker of the day.

Turkey poachers!!

Kae had another project due today, this was a family project, I love those!!

(though sitting on the floor to help is killing me these days!)

Kae had to disguise Tom Turkey, to hide him from the butchers and turkey eaters on Thanksgiving...I personally can't wait to have Ol' Tom smoked with potatoes!

The little nutter decided Tom had to hide as the Easter Bunny, so Tom became Peter.

I got poster board and scrap booking paper, plus some ribbon and a couple cotton balls. We also used some glitter paint from my stash.

I forgot to grab a final picture, of mr turkey, so I'll have to post it later /sad

I-cord garland base

My friend Jess over at Storied Yarns wrote up a crochet garland base pattern a few weeks ago.

I thought it was a great idea! But I can't crochet (booo)! So I sat down and wrote up a knit I-cord garland base pattern.

Keep in mind I Did Not check Ravelry first to see if a pattern existed before doing this. So it's free for everyone who wants to use it 

Mine is going to have hot pink silk organza flowers sewn to it to make kaeley super happy. But you can hang whatever you want from it, a great idea is as a display "rope" for Christmas ornaments!

Here be the pattern:


Cast on 3 stitches

Knit in I-cord for 8-10 inches

Knit into front and back of each stitch

Split stitches, 3 on holder, next 3 stay on needle.

Continue in I-cord, doubling stitches and splitting onto holders every 8-12 inches as desired.

Bind off I-cord and pick up first set of 3 extra stitches, knit in I-cord for 1.5 to 2 inches and bind off

Repeat until all picked up stitches are "stems"

Weave in all ends (yeah I know it's a ton)

Attach garland hangies to suit :)

Halloween!

Kae went treating with our friends Maiya and Gabriel (and Auntie Gail!)

Not much candy, lots of decorated houses that wouldn't answer their doors or said they had no candy (it was 5:30 wtf?!)

But lots of fun wad had, and when the girls got tired we went home and watched The Nightmare Before Christmas!

My little whiz-kid

We cleared out an old HP laptop and gave it to the kidlette!

She's got two sites to work from, raz-kids which is a reading site her teacher signed up for. She picks a book and listens to it, then she reads it out loud, then she takes a quiz, and earns stars, which can be spent to decorate and upgrade her "raz rocket". She's saving up for the pink planet and the pink alien.

The other site is pbskids.org, she usually plays the wild kratts games and the word girl games, hurray for vocal building.

Today I signed her up for her very own email address through a kids site called zilladog.net. It's free and totally monitored, also I can set who she can email and who can email her. So far of her 5 "buddies" she's got her grandma's and mommy. Probably add grandpa kevan since he lives so far away and daddy.

She loves the freedom, and it's great practice, since her school pushes technology to the nth degree. (iPad library anyone?)

October Reading List

Zero.


That's Right..none

i'm such a slacker.

i did START a couple books.

Incarceron and Mommy Knows Breast.

Even the audiobook wasn't working for me this month. and now it's November 1st and i need to head over to the NaNoWriMo site and get myself ready to typity type type.