Minimalism Update

So apparently I was leaning towards minimalism on my blog this month as well. Here is my final update on my self imposed minimalism challenge.
I said that in Weeks 2 & 3 I would clean out:
Week 2:

-My bedroom

-My closet

-Toy room

-Calebs toys.

-Dvd's and Cd's

Week 3:(depending on weather)

-Toys in the shed

-Yard supplies

Cleaning our bedroom was simple because we don't spend much time in there other than sleeping so we don't keep much in there. I prefer it to be a clean space so that I don't need to spend time making my bed and tidying in the mornings.

 I cleaned out my closet, as I do every spring, with our local clothing swap in mind. Some friends host a swap where we can donate our gently used clothing and they display them like a cute boutique.  They have games and treats and usually a quick devotional. It is a good time and I look forward to it every Spring and Fall. I did finally give up some shoes that I had to admit I'd never be able to wear again. Pregnancy grew my feet by a half size.

I ended up going through the toy closet and Calebs toys on week 1 so that was done.

DVD's and CD's were hard for me. I feel like they are so tiny, who could they possibly bother by keeping them? But I did get rid of a couple of them that have never been loved here. My husband got rid of most of his CD's years ago after switching to MP3's but I am old fashioned. With the era of Amazon Prime and Netflix, I feel like we are inundated with media options so those chincy little dvd's that come in cereal boxes or happy meals were ditched as well as "Special Holiday" edition cartoons.

I did get into the shed and get rid of a couple of toys that were outgrown but we kept most of them. We spend a lot of time outside in the summer(by we, I of course mean them. I watch from the window) so the water table, scooters, bikes, balls and sand toys are all well loved.

Most of the yard supplies belong to Jared. And he does not like me to get rid of his stuff.
Ever. There were some broken things we tossed and since we ripped out the old fence and rid ourselves of 40+ fence panels and 50ish posts, I still felt like we transformed and cleaned our yard. We spent a long day ripping out fence and cleaning up debris from the winter storms.

My last job for this month is to clean out the cobwebs in our house. Nobody needs this many cobwebs ;)

I hope you were all inspired to make your lives a bit simpler and clean with this challenge!

Week 1 progress!

Update on the minimalism challenge.
For Week 1 I said I was going to clean out the:
-Tupperware cupboard

-Craft cupboard and random craft crap

-Daughters closet and toys

-Hall closet

-Upper cabinets and refrigerator

-Pan cupboard and dish towels

I successfully cleaned out the craft cupboard on Monday and it was pretty easy since I had just done it after Christmas to fit in all of their new craft crap. They love coloring, painting and crafting so being able to access it more easily is a great thing for their sanity and mine.

Today we ventured into the toys. I had actually planned to do the toy room next week but since I was doing the girls', I decided to tackle every toy in this house. My son, doesn't have that many interests. He likes things that go vroom or boom so it was easy to clean out his room. We took out all of the baby toys(cue the tears! for mama) and made room for all of his toys to fit nicely in his toy box.
The girls room was tougher. They have dolls. Lot's of dolls. But Emily plays with EVERY.SINGLE.ONE! Molly isn't really into them but Em spends most afternoons playing Barbies/Ever After High Dolls/My Little Pony games. So we decided that at this point, we are not going to take any away. We did remove some broken dolls and ruined clothes but mostly I just organized them.
The play room seems to be the room where the toys my kids don't actually like, end up. Since I do in-home daycare, things don't always last long in there. When you put 6 kids in a room together, things get a little wild. So today we removed broken toys and Happy Meal toys. ..side note.. I hate happy meal toys. They make me grumpy. Runza has the right idea.

After cleaning out the toys, I decided to jump into the project of the girls' closet. This also wasn't as big of a job as I thought it would be because I had done it earlier this school year. I sort the girls clothes by the size I think they will be in at the next season so we went through their closet and removed the too small clothes and then opened the box of spring clothes and had the girls try them on. We always have a few hand me downs which saves us a lot of money and this year, neither girl has grown much so they don't need much for this next season.

So it's Tuesday and the back of my car is filled with 3 boxes of toys. I took out a small box of broken toys to the trash and my living room table is covered in clothes that need a new home.

Week 1 is off to a good start!

Home-free haircuts

I have been sharing ways that our family saves money and this is possibly one of my favorites!
Last year I watched a couple of YouTube videos on how easy it was to trim little girl hair. My girls have very long hair and don't want short hair so it seemed like it would be easy. I bought a pair of scissors from Walmart and did some research. I found a lot of videos on the subject but my favorite was Hair 101 with April. I thought she was very comprehensive and not annoying to watch at all. She is a mom as well so she had some great tips for dealing with kiddos.
This is the cut I did with Emily, and with her slight curl, it was amazing. I thought it was easy and fun.

Molly's was a little different. I did box layers on her and they framed her face so well! After trying both methods, I decided I liked box layers better and have since done them on both girls.

And the finished product after the first time.

One of the best things about it was that it was 20 minutes completely alone with each girl. I banned siblings from the room so I could focus and what that meant was that we had a lot of time to talk.

I have also ventured into men's haircuts. I cut Jared's every 6 weeks or so but every 3rd or 4th time, he goes to the barber to get a really polished cut. His hair is very thick and I haven't mastered it yet. Caleb is much simpler. I took him into a stylist and asked for a crew cut but what we came away with was a poorly done buzz cut. He has such beautiful hair that I really don't want to buzz it. Tonight I did a crew cut on him for the first time. He sat really well but once he saw the hair falling, he kept shouting, "Hey Mom! Ma hair!"

It's certainly not perfect but it is better than the last 2 I paid for.He has a funny little cowlick in the front that is hard to work around but I think it went well. It took about 10 minutes. I used the Wahl Color that I got for Christmas. It is so easy to use and is a great value.

I figure that cutting my children's hair saves me around $200 a year and I really enjoy it.The best thing about cutting their hair is that it grows back. With very long hair, the girls can afford to lose a little extra if the cut isn't right and Caleb is 2 so he really doesn't care what he looks like. This is definitely something I would recommend for all families to try.

March Minimalism Madness

I'm sure most of you have been seeing the 40 bags in 40 days challenge on Facebook. Remove 40 bags of "stuff" from your home in 40 days and donate it. It coincides with Lent and I think it is wonderful! But, 40 days is a long time for me :P I like to really dig in and get things done quicker than that. So here is my schedule.
Week 1:
-Tupperware cupboard

-Craft cupboard and random craft crap

-Daughters closet and toys

-Hall closet

-Upper cabinets and refrigerator

-Pan cupboard and dish towels

Week 2:

-My bedroom

-My closet

-Toy room

-Calebs toys.

-Dvd's and Cd's

Week 3:(depending on weather)

-Toys in the shed

-Yard supplies

I think I may add more as they come to me. I would encourage you to make a list of the areas in your home that are getting a little out of control but don't schedule it too strictly. Life happens, and sometimes you don't get stuff done and then it piles up. Allow yourself some grace.

March challenge

It's almost March which means, I can eat bagels again soon!
Also, it means Spring Cleaning!
This year, I am making my usual cleaning list, including things like, waxing the kitchen floor, cleaning ceilings and airing the mattresses, but I am also adding to it this year.
I have decided to embrace my inner minimalist. I think that if I hadn't gotten married, I would have become one of those really strange minimalists who lived in an apartment with 2 bowls. I would have never had company because I wouldn't have a spare chair. But I did get married and had children and they enriched my life so fully that they filled my house full of stuff!
I think I am pretty good at removing surplus stuff from our home but it still builds up. So I am digging a little deeper this year.
As our children get older, our lives are getting a little busier and more hectic. Because of that, I want our home to be as simple and calming as possible. I've noticed that my kids are stressed by putting away their laundry because their drawers don't close. That is undue stress for them and the best thing for them would be to remove it from their lives.
I am making my list and schedule and plan on sharing that with you soon. I'd love it if you followed along and joined me in making your life simpler but don't feel like you need to follow my schedule. We all have different areas in our life that collect clutter. Mine is my kitchen, my daughters have their closet and Caleb owns a thousand toy cars. Work on the areas in your life that are weighing you down.
Stay tuned for more!

I don't own a WHAT?!?

Okay, sit down. Set your coffee down. I am about to tell you something big.

Are you ready?

Okay, I do not own a dishwasher. Gasp!!! No seriously, I don't. When we bought our house, we said we would get one before we had kids but you know how it goes, we made plans and God laughed. So baby #1 arrived before we had been married a year, followed quickly by baby #2. We ended up getting a portable dishwasher and it was very helpful for about a year. But soon, I found myself irritated by the amount of work it took. I couldn't run it if I needed to use my sink and it was loud. In a tiny home, a loud appliance is very unwelcome. So we ditched it 3 years ago and I have been washing every load by hand.

That is my kitchen sink as I head off to bed. I usually try to have all of the dishes done but as I was making Jared's lunch for tomorrow, I had to dirty some more.
This option is not the right one for everyone but it works for us. I wash dishes twice a day. Usually when I am making supper and again after supper. Soon, I hope to pass the supper dishes off to Molly and Emily.
Why do I prefer this option? It saves us money. Like, a lot. I don't know if people realize how much more money it costs to run a dishwasher rather than a load of hand washed dishes but it does. On top of that, if we were to put in a dishwasher, we would have to put in a lot of work and money into our kitchen. While I don't love my kitchen, we are not in a place that we can do that. Some days, like the other day when I was sick, I really don't want to wash the dishes but I never regret it the next day. It never takes more than 5 minutes and gives me great satisfaction in knowing I did something for my home.

They call me a cheapskate.

I was recently asked to lead a round table discussion on how to save money in your home. There is a good chance that if you follow couponing blogs then you will likely know all of this but as I told the ladies at the round table, if you learn just 1 way to save $100 a year, that's a $100 you didn't have before. ($100 pays for a night away at a nice hotel which sounds soooo nice right now!)

These are my notes, they are as scattered as my brain. So let me break it down for you

Budget Cutting Ideas

·       Cable Hacks- People spend a crazy amount of money on cable yearly. I would wager that almost everyone would get a little nauseous if they looked at their yearly total. There are so many other options.

1.  Roku-A device that streams apps such as Netflix, Hulu, SlingTv, Amazon Prime as well as many free apps that stream entertainment directly to your TV. We don't have a Roku because when we replaced our DVD player a couple years ago we got the Smart option so it streams for us.

2.  Netflix-Netflix is probably the most well known streaming service and it has a lot of great programming for around $10 a month.

3.  Amazon Prime-For $99 a year, Prime offers free television shows and movies but also gives you free shipping, free music streaming(commercial free), free books on Kindle and more!

4.  SlingTV-I personally have no experience with this streaming option but I do know that it offers sports while the others do not.

5.  ProjectFreeTV and ShareTv.org are both websites that allow you to watch TV for free. As far as I know, there are no apps to stream to your TV but if you don't mind watching on a computer, they are great!

·     Internet-It is a little known fact that you are allowed to ask for a lower price from your cable and internet companies. Especially if you have recently had a hike or are searching for a new company, ask firmly and kindly. It may be small, like a $10 one time discount or they may knock $5 off each month. Either way, it is worth a phone call. Phone call, not email. Trust me.

1.  Ask for discounts

2.  Change providers

3.  Cell companies-There is the option to get your internet through a cell phone company. We personally use Viaero and our internet service costs less than 1/3 of what the only other option in our area is.

·       Cell phone and Home phone

1.  Ask for discounts

2.  Never assume your current plan is the cheapest

3.  Shop around

4.  Evaluate your need for a home phone(Skype is a great alternative) -I think the rest are pretty self explanatory but this one might be new to you. My best friend has been using Skype as her home phone service for years. If you look at their website, it cost's less than $5 a month. You can stream it through your computer or get a Skype compatible home phone that connects to your internet. Another option is to use an old cell phone with no service plan and use it only on internet for Skype. You can download the app and use it to call out. For us, a home phone has not been a necessity but I do see it's value as my kids get older.                                                                                                   

Grocery shopping tips

I am not going to go into detail on these but grocery shopping is seriously your best avenue for saving. I am not a huge couponer because we eat pretty "real" so it doesn't work much for our diet. But it is worth looking into because its a great way to save on things like toothpaste/shampoo/soap/detergent/diapers. The other great option is apps for your phone. Ibotta is amazing! I use Ibotta all the time and in 4 months saved over $90. It get's transferred to your paypal account or a gift card. Checkout51 is similar but has fewer options. MobiSave is one of my new finds and while I don't find a lot of rebates on there, every one you redeem is sent directly to a PayPal account. While it isn't much, it's nice when shopping online to realize you have a few surprise dollars to spend.

·       Coupon! Coupon! Coupon!

1.  Coupons.com

2.  Ibotta!---Please use this link to sign up! I will give you a cookie! https://ibotta.com/r/lvagirx

3.  Checkout51

4.  MobiSave

·       Shop the Ads and Price match

·       Pricematcherz.com

·       Save on food items.

§  Cheese! Buy block instead of grated

§  Meat! Buy bulk!

§  Shop the “Sell By” sections(foods to look for-yogurt, sour cream, breads, chips, anything that can be frozen) Frozen foods can last up to a year longer than in your refrigerator.

§  Make your own!-hashbrowns, instant oatmeal, cookies, self rising flour, refried beans.

v Garden-This is seriously the best and hardest way to save money on food.

v Grow simple produce that is easy to store- Onions, potatoes, garlic, herbs, green beans, carrots, leeks.

 Honestly, we save the most by working harder. Meal planning, gardening, buying in bulk and making our own. It all takes work but it is all worth it. For instance, homemade refried beans are the best! Never buy them again. It takes a few hours in a crock pot and cost about $1 for 4 meals worth! 

Honestly, I don't love couponing and scrimping, but it allows me to stay home with my babies. And it's really less than an hour of work each week. If you are looking for ways to save around your home, implement these steps. And stay tuned...I've got so much more to share with you!

Bacon Cheeseburger Cabbage

I have hated cabbage my whole life. To be fair, I really only ever ate it in my Mom's vegetable soup. Of course, when cabbage is boiled it gets very slimy. In the past couple of years though, I have learned how to cook it differently and this is by far our favorite. This one fits perfectly into my 28 day Reset that I am doing. My only complaint would be that there isn't enough!!! I could eat it for days.

So here is the recipe in poorly taken cell phone photos:
Bacon Cheeseburger Cabbage
First I browned some hamburger, about 3/4 pounds.
Then I cooked some bacon.






Yum!
Chop an entire head of cabbage and a medium onion.





Pull the bacon out of the skillet but don't drain the grease. Add in the cabbage and the onion and sautee in a good heavy pan(I will always recommend a cast iron. So cheap and so amazing) until well wilted and tender.
 
 While it was sauteeing I seasoned with garlic powder, salt and pepper. I usually add real garlic but I was interrupted and forgot. When I tasted it at the end I added more salt and some Lawrys.
 
As you can see, it cooks down a lot! As my kids grow, I am guessing I will need to 2 heads of cabbage. It should be glistening and the onions should be translucent. If it gets a little browned, it will just be even yummier.

Add the meats back in once the cabbage is cooked. Heat it through.
 
At this point, I pulled my helping out because with the 28 Day Reset, I can't eat dairy. But of course, kids eat everything a little better if it has cheese so...




I added about a cup of cheddar to the rest. It wasn't quite as yellow as the photo makes it look but it was delicious!
This meal takes about 5 minutes of prep, cutting the onion, cabbage and bacon. It takes about 40 minutes to make but it is not a meal you have to stand at the stove while cooking. Once I added the cabbage in, I only stirred every 5 minutes. It took about 25 minutes for it to cook through. And the cleanup, well it was 1 cutting board, 1 knife, 1 skillet and a spoon.
I know a lot of people feel like eating healthy is too expensive so let me break this meal down for you,
1 head of cabbage $1.78
1/2 pound of bacon(on sale) $1.86
3/4 pound hamburger(I got a family pack so it was extra cheap) $1.80
1/2 onion(because mine were huge) $.42
1 cup of cheddar(sale!!) $.95
 Total of $6.81
Now, I don't include my seasonings in my pricing but I suppose if you feel like that will help you budget, you could add $.10. Either way, this meal fed my family of 5 and there are leftovers for mine and Calebs lunch tomorrow, for under $7. And it is healthy. Yes, there is red meat. Yes, there is bacon. And oh ya, cheese! But did you know that most American women don't eat enough red meat? I am a big proponent of "Everything in Moderation" so eat some bacon, eat some cheese! But also, eat that cabbage! And have an apple.
I hope you try this one out, trust me. If you hate cabbage, try it anyways and if you hate it, I will gladly eat it for you.

28 day detox

I am a huge fan of Cassey Ho and her website, Blogilates! I have been contemplating trying her 28 day Reset for awhile but it is a pretty hefty commitment so I needed to be prepared. February seems like the perfect time to do something for 28 days! The reset requires you to give up gluten, sugar, dairy, alcohol and pre-packaged foods for 28 days. I gave up sugar last February and was surprised at how easy it is. Gluten and dairy will be the hardest for me because I LOVE bread and lattes. I've tried G/F bread but it really doesn't compare and in this instance I think I would rather do without altogether.
Now, to be totally honest, I am going to cheat. I need coffee and I very much prefer coffee with cream so I am still going to drink my cream in my coffee each morning. I also have plans to cheat on Valentines day when we go out for dinner with friends.
I don't plan on updating my progress daily but I wanted to share the recipes that I plan on doing. Some are old recipes and some are new but all look like foods we would normally eat. I don't have recipes for all of these because some are just part of our repertoire and I just fudge my way through them each time.

1. Lemon chicken with roasted brussels sprouts. 
2. Chicken stew
3. Roast chicken and root veggies  
I make this all the time but I add some Herbs de Provence for some oomph!
4. eggs, ham and biscuits(for them, not me) 
I bought a Kretschmar ham at Walmart recently for a great deal and it is so good that I could probably eat just ham for a few days.
5. BLT breakfast salad 
I have not tried this one but it looks REALLY good! I will omit avocado because we despise that weird green fruit.
6. Beef stroganoff(I will pull mine out before adding sour cream and serve over taters) 
7. tacos(no cheese for mine and corn tortillas) 
8. turkey wraps and fruit 
9. cabbage and bacon 
We loved this! I usually add cheese but this time I will just top the family's with cheese and leave mine plain.
10. chinese 
Served with fried rice
11. bratwurst and fries
I make my fries in the oven and they are sooo good!
12. twice baked breakfast potatoes 
I found a recipe for Twice Baked Breakfast Sweet Potatoes and it looked great! Except the sweet potato, ew. So we will do it without. Basically it is a twice baked potatoe with ham/bacon and an over easy egg on top. Season with green onion. It looks so good and we are huge egg fans!
13. taco salads 
14. chicken with zuchinni noodles and pesto sauce
No recipe here. I will just bake some herbed chicken thighs and serve them over the pesto "pasta".

Aunt Julie's Cinnamon Rolls

I've written about her before but to reiterate, my Aunt Julie is one of the most amazing cooks on the planet. Many of our favorite recipes are hers and the times I spent at her house as a child she always took time to teach me how to cook. What I really liked was that she gave me all of the tools and knowledge to complete my recipe and then she left me alone. She let me make messes, I mean, I had to clean them up, but that was all part of the learning process.
I made these cinnamon rolls for Molly's first day of school and quite a few people asked for the recipe. I am not great at making breads and rolls but this one was so easy! The dough was so easy to deal with and pretty that I was a little sad to cook it.
I giggle a little when I read this recipe because dear Aunt Julie obviously thinks that everybody knows how to make cinnamon rolls without real directions. I will share it the way it is written and then add my extra instructions.

Leanne's Bread or Cinnamon Rolls

Rolls:
2 1/2 teaspoons yeast
2 1/2 cup warm water
2/3 cup lard or shortening
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 1/2 teaspoons salt
8 cups flour

Dissolve the yeast in water. Stir in shortening, sugar, eggs, salt and flour. Knead. Let the dough rise, then shape into dinner rolls or cinnamon rolls.

Topping for cinnamon rolls
1 cup ice cream
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup butter or margarine
Melt ingredients together, boil for approximately 1 minute.

Literally. That is the end.
I love that she thinks people just know what to do with that. Here is the same recipe with my additions in color.

Leanne's Bread or Cinnamon Rolls

Rolls:
2 1/2 teaspoons yeast
2 1/2 cup warm water
2/3 cup lard or shortening
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 1/2 teaspoons salt
8 cups flour

Dissolve the yeast in water. Stir in shortening, sugar, eggs, salt and flour. Knead. Let the dough rise, then shape into dinner rolls or cinnamon rolls. To make the cinnamon rolls, roll dough out to a large rectangle about 1/2 inch thick. Sprinkle with cinnamon and brown sugar, I used about 1 tablespoon cinnamon and 1/3 cup sugar. Then, starting with the long side, roll up into a spiral. Cut into 20-24 1 inch slices.

Topping for cinnamon rolls
1 cup ice cream
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup butter or margarine
Melt ingredients together, boil for approximately 1 minute.
Pour mixture in the bottom of 2 9x13 pans and level out. Layer the slices of rolls evenly in the pan and cover to rise. Once they are doubled in size, bake about 20-25 minutes at 350 degrees. Remove from oven when they look done in center. Let cool on counter for about 5 minutes and then invert on a baking sheet to let the caramel drip over them. 

This recipe is fantastic for dinner rolls as well. My Mom and I are of the opinion that holidays don't really need anything except these rolls. 

Working it!

A while back, I read an article that really stuck with me. So much so that I have no idea who wrote it, who posted it or how to find it. Ha! But the message stuck with me much better than that. It was about working out. I have been working out fairly regularly for a couple years and I love the way it makes me feel. Endorphin's are pretty dang awesome! There are so many fantastic benefits to a fitness routine like sleeping better, stronger body(especially for a weak back!) smaller clothes, albeit marginally in my case, and energy.
You hear about all of these benefits constantly on tv, online, from that super annoying friend who works out constantly and yet their hair is never messed up (like seriously, what they hey?!) and of course, crossfitters. Gotta love their crazy enthusiasm even if I don't understand the strange lingo they speak.
There is another benefit that specifically hit home with me. I have people watching me. Little people, with really big eyes. Little minds that are still forming and learning who they want to be. They watch every move we make and those moves define how they will view life and themselves one day. As Christians, it has always been our main focus to to teach our kids to live for God by doing so ourselves and that principle is exactly the same in this instance.
Girls of all shapes and sizes struggle with their appearances. We are raising daughters. I have bounced from feeling too skinny-too fat-too tall-too flat chested-to busty and back again a few times...well I haven't bounced back to too skinny. I don't hate my body and in fact, after having kids, I actually like it more, after all, I made people! But that doesn't mean I don't understand the danger of low self esteem. Jared is great about treating me like a lady and giving the girls an example of what love should be and how a man should love a woman but I have not always lived up to my end of the bargain. I hide my attempts to improve myself. I prefer to only show the parts of my life that I feel good about. I usually work out after the kids are in bed.
This week I made a change and started working out in the living room with a large and often interactive audience. I don't necessarily love it, especially when I can't quite do something. They love it. Emily excels at burpees and jumping jacks, Molly can do push ups and planks like a pro and Caleb learned how to do somersaults, on accident, while attempting a burpee. Ha! Tonight, we did yoga, they don't do it well but then, neither do I. Caleb stopped me mid vinyasa to grab me by the ears and kiss me violently.
Is it working? Am I instilling a good work ethic and teaching them to love their bodies? I don't know. But it is worth a try. And even if it garners us nothing more than some laughs and good family time, well, we get to have some laughs and good family time.

Playing with Dolls-The boring grown up way.

It is January, which in the Hemberger household means that we are tidying, cleaning and purging. Last week I tackled clothes and this week I am working on toys. My Mom sent me a video recently of a way to clean and repair American Girl doll hair. I knew I wanted to try it but put it off. Today, Emily asked for a tea party with her dolls and I noticed just how nasty the poor doll heads had gotten!

 I mean seriously, look at those poor things! So I got out the supplies and went to work.

 

 That is a shampoo/conditioner 2 in 1 that I banned my husband from using on our daughters heads ever again, a spray bottle with just water, a plain old straightener(like, seriously old. Pretty sure I have had it for 13 years) and a wig brush. You can get a wig brush at Sally Beauty for under $5 but you may also find one at Walmart.







I started by getting their hair soaking wet. On the Dollie and Me brand doll, this was a cinch but on the Target brand dolls, their hair did not absorb water at all. I would hazard a guess that they had some sort of water proof coating. It took quite a bit of warm water to actually saturate the hair. Next, I washed it with the shampoo and rinsed it well.






Next, I brushed the nasty mess. This is a Target brand doll and it wasn't too bad. The Dollie and Me brand was tough. She came with semi curly hair that tangled very badly. It was also not sewn in well so she lost some hair. You can't tell by looking at her though so I didn't care.

This is the Dollie and Me doll. Her hair straightened very well, much better than the others. She was tougher to do because her body was not stiff enough to stand or sit so I had to straighten her hair laying down. I straightened their hair with a standard iron. She said the key was to keep it very wet so that is what I did. Basically it steamed it straight. The hair was still quite wet when I was done.

If you are wondering what my kids were doing for the 1.5 hours that this project took, they were being angels. Emily was engrossed in her PBS cooking shows and Caleb dismantled the house.







I am very happy with the way they turned out. Both Target dolls were a little more work to straighten but the end result was nice. I did need to trim one dolls hair because some ends were just destroyed. This was quite a project but I am really happy. There is a tutorial on the video to curl their hair too but I think it will be easier for the girls to manage their hair if it straight. The girls don't own an AG doll but I have one from my childhood and after experimenting on their dolls, I look forward to rejuvenating her next.

Here is the video, the girl in it must be 12 but she has some great tips!
American Girl Doll Re-Hab

Why my cupboards are nearly bare

I have been contemplating writing this post since last fall when it was clear to me that our eating habits had changed for good. It wasn’t a conscious decision by either of us but a happy by-product of my recipe challenge from last year. Suddenly, packaged foods, foods with cream of whatever soups, anything that came out of a can, now tasted bland or extra salty. I was searching for recipes that didn’t have any of those ingredients and was excited to see new recipes for “whole foods”. We began eating many veggies and loving them. I used to despise carrots and cauliflower, but as it turns out, I just don’t like them raw or steamed. Roasted is the way to go for those vegetables! I have learned new cooking techniques that intimidated me before and now are just a quick step I don’t even think about when preparing a meal. Roux no longer frightens me.

We have also discovered that, with the exception of Chinese food, we don’t enjoy going out to eat as much because we feel like we could make it at home for a better price and it would be better for us. Really, I am paying for someone to do the dishes and I am too cheap to do that. We haven’t gone so far as to eliminate white sugar or white flour from our diets, in fact, I am of the opinion that sugar is not bad for our bodies if consumed in moderation, but we have begun eating more fresh foods, no convenience foods and foods that have more value to them.  When choosing veggies in the store I used to reach for the basics-lettuce, bananas, apples, potatoes and the occasional onion. Now we eat an enormous variety. I have learned so many things from this venture that I want to share with you.

 

1. You may dislike a vegetable because of the way it has always been served to you. Like I said, I used to despise cauliflower and carrots because they were ALWAYS served raw or steamed. Carrots were often cooked with roast making them bland and mushy. I learned to roast them and now we all get very excited when I am making them. Broccoli was one I would only eat smothered in cheese but now we roast it quite often. Asparagus, green beans, peppers, onions, brussel sprouts, leeks and sweet potatoes are some of the many other veggies that we have learned a lot about and now actually enjoy. I still don’t like zucchini.

2. There is a good chance your food is under-flavored. This was an eye opener for us! We started using fresh herbs and more onion in our cooking and we discovered that many dishes we hadn’t liked before(stroganoff, chicken stew, potato soup) was just lacking in flavor. Once we learned how to layer our flavors it gave eating a new joy. We actually enjoy eating in a completely different way than we used to. We don’t eat to fill up, we eat to enjoy. Going out to eat can be a huge let down now as we have gotten so used to eating full flavored food.

3. Butter. It really is better. I can honestly say that I still prefer margarine to top my toast. I don’t like the flavor of uncooked butter. But cooking with it transformed my food! We even use it sometimes when the recipe calls for olive oil. The flavor that it gives our food is absolutely unbeatable. And if you haven’t tried browning butter yet, you are missing out! Wowza! I realize that some people are under the impression that butter is unhealthy but I firmly believe in eating foods that have been processed as little as possible. Butter is as natural as it gets and the fats in butter are actually , mostly, good fats.

4. Onions are so under rated! I didn’t used to like onions. I’m still not a fan of raw ones but adding a good, sweet onion to a meal can enhance the flavors to make even the blandest of meals into something amazing. We have gotten back to a much simpler way of eating with more meat and veggie style meals and nearly all of them require a healthy dose of onion. We used to eat one a month but now we are eating a dozen or more each month. Just this past Friday evening I realized that we were completely out and kind of freaked because my entire menu required onions. On top of being absolutely delicious, onions are sooo good for you. They even help you fight off germs by giving your immune system a boost. Which brings me to my next point;

5. No more sluggishness. We used to experience severe sluggishness after dinner and now we feel refreshed after eating fresher foods with no preservatives. Now that summer is here, we have noticed that the sluggishness returns on nights we have chips with burgers or bratwurst. But we love brats and chips and once in a while it’s a nice treat.

6. Weightloss. For Jared. I have not achieved that particular happy side effect. I think one of the main reasons for this is because our meals stick with us longer. There is less snacking after dinner because meat and veggies last longer than highly processed foods.

7. Attitude changes. My kids were always pretty good about eating what they were served and even ate veggies pretty well. Now they get excited for them! We don’t cook a separate meal for them so they have tried, and mostly liked, everything we have tried over the last year+. Just tonight we had roasted cauliflower and green beans(from our garden) baked with chopped up chicken breast and topped with bacon and cheese. Everything we ate was healthy and “real” food but it was still a kid friendly, delicious meal that we all loved.

8. Budget. I am not going to lie, our food budget had to stretch a bit to compensate for the healthy foods that we were adding. I would say it is a 10-20% increase depending on the menu. We do eat less than we used to though, and veggies are actually incredibly cheap.

9. Shopping. The way I grocery shop has changed a lot. We can’t use many coupons anymore because they just don’t make them for the foods we eat. I get really excited when I find them for dairy products or condiments that we actually use. Same goes for price matching, when your diet is mostly veggies and meats, price matching is rarely an option.

10. It is worth the effort. We feel better, fuller, more content and we really enjoy food.

Of course, we break the rules and it will probably seem a bit hypocritical of me to post this the same day that I posted a photo of the baby eating cheetos. We are working on it. It will be an ever evolving lifestyle for us. I don’t buy cheetos often and it was a real treat for the girls. Plus, I hate cheetos so there is no temptation for me. I still drink soda occasionally and Jared is a big fan of potato chips. I feel like deprivation is not the way to go. If I ever find a way to make potato chips at home that are healthier and still taste good, I may do that. For now, we are working on it a little bit at a time. My cupboards are becoming more bare as time goes on and we eliminate more and more processed foods. At first, you miss it, but after a while, it doesn’t even occur to me to grab a can of condensed soup anymore. Little changes over time have a great impact. So if you see me in the grocery store with a cart full of chocolate, don’t hold it against me, I am a work in progress. Also, I am a Mom and chocolate is food group.

Stitch fix-Take 2

I was really pleased with my first Stitch Fix box even though I only ended up keeping one item. This time around, I am in love!

41Hawthorn Dita Sleeveless Ponte Dress $68

When I pulled this out of the box, Emily begged me to give it to her. She is a big fan of purple. I really loved the fit of this dress and will keep it. It is a deeper purple than the photo shows.

Pixley Ohara Faux Wrap Tie-Waist Dress $68

I so badly wanted to love this one! I love the print and color and fabric but alas, my upper body did not love it. It would look fantastic on someone a couple cup sizes smaller.

Level 99 Cindie Linen Short $78

Upon first glance, I didn’t love these. But they fit very well and are a bit longer so once I put them on, I wanted a pair in every color!

Market and Spruce Char Geo Print Maxi Skirt $58

I adore this skirt! Cute print, great cut and the fabric doesn’t cling to my extra curves.

Daniel Rainn Eliza Lace Trim Blouse $64

I love this style of top but they just don’t work on me. They hang funny and look like mumus. Again, it’s a cup size thing. This one is also shear and the last thing I want to do in summer is layer up.

Because I had a few friends sign up under my last link, I have a $100 dollar credit to use on this box. If I buy the entire box, I get a 25% discount making all 5 items minus my discount, $152. I went ahead and bought the whole box with the intention of selling the blue blouse and green dress on a Stitch Fix Facebook page. If I sell them both, I will have pretty much paid for my box, making my other 3 items totally free!

Once again, I have to recommend this service for anyone who needs help shopping. I love that it shows you how to style each item.

https://www.stitchfix.com/referral/5211886

Stitch Fix Review

I really enjoyed my whole experience with Stitch Fix. The clothes that I received were very high quality and cute. I have decided to keep one of the five items even though I really did love 3 of them.

Liverpool Denise Bootcut Jean $78

These jeans were an obviously good quality and they fit pretty well. They were a little loose in the leg and they were a stretch denim. I am really not a fan of stretch denim so they are definitely going back.

Gilli Gabbey Sleevless Maxi Dress-$74

I really liked this dress. My photography does not do it justice. It is a nice color, great fit and it is made from good fabric so it flows well. But, I have a dark blue maxi dress in my closet. And though I like this one better, I can’t quite justify it.

Olive and Oak Liah Racerback Blouse-$48

Okay, this one fit soooo well! And it was long enough which tends to be a problem for me. The print was my issue with this one. It reminded me of the housedresses my Grandma wore.

Renee C Huebert Space Dye Open Cardigan-$58

I really loved this. It fit so well and would be perfect for nursing….but it was $58. And I am a cheapskate.

Pixley Millie Textured Dress-$68

This is the one I will probably keep. It fits very well and skims over my problem areas. It was comfortable and I really loved the pattern. $68 is more than I would typically spend on a dress but it was a very good quality.

When you order your box you spend a $20 styling fee that is then applied to any purchases you make. If you don’t purchase anything, you lose that $20. They also send a postage paid bag to mail back anything you don’t like and a styling card to show you ideas on how to wear the clothes. If you buy the whole box you get a pretty hefty discount, mine was over $70. I will probably be doing this again in the future because I really had fun! And, there is no impulse buying! Huge plus for me!

If you are interested in ordering your own box, here is the link.

http://stitchfix.com/referral/5211886