Okay, the title sounds boring, but the results are so adorable, and fairly easy!
Supplies:
Wooden letter of your choice
Skeen of yarn
Wrapping can cause hand cramps. I took several breaks. Also, if you're starting out, I don't recommend the wooden letters with curly ends. Those are difficult. Mady's "M" took me 2-3 hours, whereas Adair's "A" took maybe 45 minutes. My instructions are based off of doing the letter A.
Start at the base of the letter, where the Serif part (the foot, if you will) is at. Wrap the yarn vertically around both sides of the foot. Hold the end when you make the first wrap, then cross over the end upon the second wrap to secure it in place. Once the foot is totally wrapped vertically, wrap it horizontally. Start at the bottom of the foot and wrap up.
Continue to wrap your yarn upwards on the letter. For letters like A, once you get to the cross bar, do a few wraps diagonally into the corner, then wrap vertically on the cross bar. Continue that process around the sides of the opening of the A (or whatever letter you're doing). Do a few diagonal wraps from the peak of the opening to the top. I secured the end of the yarn by wrapping it under the tightly pulled yarn.
Repeat the steps for the other side of the letter. When you get to the crossbar part, wrap your yarn horizontally across the entire length. Continue to wrap straight up. It's okay to double wrap some areas. Pull the yarn end under the pre-wrapped part to secure it.
That's it! You're done!
Friday, July 27, 2012
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
Crock Pot Pulled BBQ Pork
Okay, I'm stealing this idea from a friend who blogs about her cooking adventures and recipes. Thanks Danielle!
As my mother puts it, I have become quite a good cook. :) It was always there, I just had to feel like cooking! Last night, Mom and Dad came over for dinner. We did pulled BBQ pork, roasted potatoes, and black beans with corn. The beans definitely needed to soak longer (they were a bit crunchy), so they got left in the pot soaking over night. lol. Anyways, the rest of dinner came out great!
Pulled BBQ Pork
2 packages of Pork Loin Backribs (I used about 2 lbs)
1 bottle of BBQ sauce of your choice
Put the pork loin into your crock pot. Add the BBQ sauce (the entire bottle!). Set your crock pot on low for roughly 8 hours. That's it! It shreds really easily by dinner time.
Roasted Potatoes
4-5 small to medium potatoes (I used russet potatoes)
Butter
Paprika
White pepper
Garlic salt
Cilantro
Parmesan Cheese
Skin and chop the potatoes. I quartered them, then quartered each quarter. Put them into an ungreased casserole dish. Mine was an 8x8, but the size is determined by how many potatoes you use. Add several large dollops of butter (nobody said this was a healthy dish!). Use seasonings of your choice. I listed what I used. No exact measurements again, I just add a few good dashes to get a good coating. Sprinkle with the Parmesan Cheese. Bake at 400 degrees for 45 minutes. The top potatoes will be nice and crusty, with the bottom ones soft and tender.
The beans and corn were easy. Soak the beans (the longer, the better. Overnight, if possible), then cook them. I added corn and cilantro straight to the pot of beans. Serve warm or cold, both ways are tasty!
Next time I try a new recipe, I will remember to take photos.
As my mother puts it, I have become quite a good cook. :) It was always there, I just had to feel like cooking! Last night, Mom and Dad came over for dinner. We did pulled BBQ pork, roasted potatoes, and black beans with corn. The beans definitely needed to soak longer (they were a bit crunchy), so they got left in the pot soaking over night. lol. Anyways, the rest of dinner came out great!
Pulled BBQ Pork
2 packages of Pork Loin Backribs (I used about 2 lbs)
1 bottle of BBQ sauce of your choice
Put the pork loin into your crock pot. Add the BBQ sauce (the entire bottle!). Set your crock pot on low for roughly 8 hours. That's it! It shreds really easily by dinner time.
Roasted Potatoes
4-5 small to medium potatoes (I used russet potatoes)
Butter
Paprika
White pepper
Garlic salt
Cilantro
Parmesan Cheese
Skin and chop the potatoes. I quartered them, then quartered each quarter. Put them into an ungreased casserole dish. Mine was an 8x8, but the size is determined by how many potatoes you use. Add several large dollops of butter (nobody said this was a healthy dish!). Use seasonings of your choice. I listed what I used. No exact measurements again, I just add a few good dashes to get a good coating. Sprinkle with the Parmesan Cheese. Bake at 400 degrees for 45 minutes. The top potatoes will be nice and crusty, with the bottom ones soft and tender.
The beans and corn were easy. Soak the beans (the longer, the better. Overnight, if possible), then cook them. I added corn and cilantro straight to the pot of beans. Serve warm or cold, both ways are tasty!
Next time I try a new recipe, I will remember to take photos.
It's been a while
It's been a while since I actually blogged. Let's see. What's new.
A few months back, we decided to put the kids in separate rooms. That has made a world of difference. The night terrors stopped almost immediately for whatever reason. Both kids seem to love having their own rooms, and bedtime has become somewhat easier, other than a stubborn little girl who tries to turn pajama time into a game. Haha!
Mady has started talking in sentences. She is currently spending the month of July with her dad, so when I have gotten her for my weekend, it was incredible to see her progress. She just absolutely blew me away. She gave me a kiss after having an M&M cookie and got chocolate on me, so now she tells me her kisses are "chockit". lol. She finally got a (small) haircut. She is rocking bangs now and looks like a 2-year-old. We are thinking about getting her into swim lessons. She just loves the water, and can kind of float when she loses her balance and goes under. Oh, and the apple doesn't fall far from the tree with her. She seems to enjoy drinking (yes, drinking) pool water. Oh joy! She is also one smart kiddo. I was hiding the water ball at the pool from her. She kept asking Gram, "Where it go?" Once she got the ball, she started hiding it from me, asking, "Where it go Momma?" She would then produce it from behind her back and crack up. Mady also enjoys throwing it and shouting, "Go get it Momma!"
Adair is out in California until October. It's rough. We all miss him. Mady constantly asks, "Where's YaYa?" (She can't say Adair, so she calls him YaYa.) Apparently, it threw his mom for a loop since he's started calling himself YaYa. She doesn't like the nickname, but hey, when his sister has come up with a name that she can say for him, that's what is going to stick. Oh well. They're 2 and 3 after all. He has started Speech Therapy at the very least. We are hoping he will do Occupational and Physical Therapy while he is out there as well. We got all the referrals sent with him to California so that he can keep doing therapies. We have about figured out he's roughly a year behind (with speech at least). When Mady's speech exploded, that was the same time Adair's did, so it's helping us mark his development. His mom says he is having fun out there. He gets to go to MUCH larger zoos (which I know he loves), and the beach. That child loves sand! We get to Skype every so often with him, and Mady just adores seeing her brother on the computer and shrieking "YaYa! Momma, there's YaYa!"
James and I will be married 3 months this Saturday. As he put it, it seems so much longer since November will mark 3 years that we've been together total. We are going this afternoon with Mom and Dad to look at 2 houses with the thought of exploring the possibility of purchasing. I just don't see the point of throwing $10,000 in a year away on a house that isn't ours and that we can't do anything to. Our current place has a gate that "latches" into the side of the house via mortar that has been routered out (unless the wind blows over 5 mph, then the dog has free run of the neighborhood. Thanks gate!). Our fence has been "repaired" multiple times, yet still has stability issues. Our landlord has "repaired" it by screwing 2 boards horizontally across the front of 2 parts of the fence, and has filled holes they created (seriously, who puts a new fence section over a tree root, creating roughly a gap about a foot in height next to the tree?) in the same manner. Our a/c unit is too small for the house, so we got told not to set our thermostat below 81 (81 in West Texas? How is that going to help us reach a little bit of comfort INSIDE?). Needless to say, I have a bad taste in my mouth from renting now. Oh, and we have to attempt to cover exposed tack strip with small runners, which the kids and dog now trip over. The joys.
Roscoe is closing in on a year old now. I think the digging in the backyard has stopped. He has mostly quit chewing on electrical cords outside. I wonder if he figured out he gets tethered, which he hates, when he chews on cords? He gets to start Obedience Classes Saturday. We have GOT to break him of eating the kids stuffed animals. Doors have to stay shut currently or he will destroy Mady's bed. But, the kids adore him, so off to Obedience Class he goes.
A few months back, we decided to put the kids in separate rooms. That has made a world of difference. The night terrors stopped almost immediately for whatever reason. Both kids seem to love having their own rooms, and bedtime has become somewhat easier, other than a stubborn little girl who tries to turn pajama time into a game. Haha!
Mady has started talking in sentences. She is currently spending the month of July with her dad, so when I have gotten her for my weekend, it was incredible to see her progress. She just absolutely blew me away. She gave me a kiss after having an M&M cookie and got chocolate on me, so now she tells me her kisses are "chockit". lol. She finally got a (small) haircut. She is rocking bangs now and looks like a 2-year-old. We are thinking about getting her into swim lessons. She just loves the water, and can kind of float when she loses her balance and goes under. Oh, and the apple doesn't fall far from the tree with her. She seems to enjoy drinking (yes, drinking) pool water. Oh joy! She is also one smart kiddo. I was hiding the water ball at the pool from her. She kept asking Gram, "Where it go?" Once she got the ball, she started hiding it from me, asking, "Where it go Momma?" She would then produce it from behind her back and crack up. Mady also enjoys throwing it and shouting, "Go get it Momma!"
Adair is out in California until October. It's rough. We all miss him. Mady constantly asks, "Where's YaYa?" (She can't say Adair, so she calls him YaYa.) Apparently, it threw his mom for a loop since he's started calling himself YaYa. She doesn't like the nickname, but hey, when his sister has come up with a name that she can say for him, that's what is going to stick. Oh well. They're 2 and 3 after all. He has started Speech Therapy at the very least. We are hoping he will do Occupational and Physical Therapy while he is out there as well. We got all the referrals sent with him to California so that he can keep doing therapies. We have about figured out he's roughly a year behind (with speech at least). When Mady's speech exploded, that was the same time Adair's did, so it's helping us mark his development. His mom says he is having fun out there. He gets to go to MUCH larger zoos (which I know he loves), and the beach. That child loves sand! We get to Skype every so often with him, and Mady just adores seeing her brother on the computer and shrieking "YaYa! Momma, there's YaYa!"
James and I will be married 3 months this Saturday. As he put it, it seems so much longer since November will mark 3 years that we've been together total. We are going this afternoon with Mom and Dad to look at 2 houses with the thought of exploring the possibility of purchasing. I just don't see the point of throwing $10,000 in a year away on a house that isn't ours and that we can't do anything to. Our current place has a gate that "latches" into the side of the house via mortar that has been routered out (unless the wind blows over 5 mph, then the dog has free run of the neighborhood. Thanks gate!). Our fence has been "repaired" multiple times, yet still has stability issues. Our landlord has "repaired" it by screwing 2 boards horizontally across the front of 2 parts of the fence, and has filled holes they created (seriously, who puts a new fence section over a tree root, creating roughly a gap about a foot in height next to the tree?) in the same manner. Our a/c unit is too small for the house, so we got told not to set our thermostat below 81 (81 in West Texas? How is that going to help us reach a little bit of comfort INSIDE?). Needless to say, I have a bad taste in my mouth from renting now. Oh, and we have to attempt to cover exposed tack strip with small runners, which the kids and dog now trip over. The joys.
Roscoe is closing in on a year old now. I think the digging in the backyard has stopped. He has mostly quit chewing on electrical cords outside. I wonder if he figured out he gets tethered, which he hates, when he chews on cords? He gets to start Obedience Classes Saturday. We have GOT to break him of eating the kids stuffed animals. Doors have to stay shut currently or he will destroy Mady's bed. But, the kids adore him, so off to Obedience Class he goes.
Friday, March 16, 2012
Running on Empty
So last night was a very rough night, which led to a rough morning. Adair gave us about 4 hours of solid sleep before he began waking up and screaming nonstop. And we went to bed at our normal time, around 10. The kids were down around 8:30. I knew it would be rough when it took us almost an hour to get him to stop screaming.
We do the same bedtime routine nightly: story, prayer, song, water, hug, kiss. We make sure the nightlight is on (he will freak out, screaming "Stars!" until it goes on). It was working for us until about a week and a half ago. He now will demand hugs and/or kisses for close to 10 minutes if we let him. I literally have to tell James when to step away and start making Adair go to bed. It kills us and wears us out, especially since Adair will only allow James to put him down, comfort him, anything at night. So I'm no help at all for the bedtime routine, unless James isn't home. Then I can get him down fairly easily.
Like I said, 4 hours of good sleep. We eventually put Mady in bed with us, James put earplugs in, and we let Adair scream himself out. We can't figure out why he screams. Anytime he wakes up, morning, night, naps, whenever, he will scream until we physically take him out of bed. James is running on fumes and pure exhaustion today.
This morning, there were tantrums nonstop from the time he woke up. Part of them came from him wanting the TV on (his mom would allow him to watch TV every morning for the 4 months she had him while she got ready for work), and the other part, well, we don't know what caused them. He woke up at 6:20, and by 7 a.m. was already in time-out.
We child-proofed our house the other night. I got tired of having to lock our bedroom door once he was up just to get dressed (plus, the kids seem to love destroying our bedroom), so we now have doorknob covers on every door in the house. If a door is closed and he is up for the day, and one of us happens to be behind that closed door, we end up with an epic meltdown, complete with him practically beating down the door.
We have the first evaluation March 26, but I am hoping that we can figure something out that doesn't make this bedtime routine last for an hour or more, and that we can get a few more nights of sleep before then. Full nights. I think I can count the full nights of sleep on one hand in the almost month we have had him back.
We do the same bedtime routine nightly: story, prayer, song, water, hug, kiss. We make sure the nightlight is on (he will freak out, screaming "Stars!" until it goes on). It was working for us until about a week and a half ago. He now will demand hugs and/or kisses for close to 10 minutes if we let him. I literally have to tell James when to step away and start making Adair go to bed. It kills us and wears us out, especially since Adair will only allow James to put him down, comfort him, anything at night. So I'm no help at all for the bedtime routine, unless James isn't home. Then I can get him down fairly easily.
Like I said, 4 hours of good sleep. We eventually put Mady in bed with us, James put earplugs in, and we let Adair scream himself out. We can't figure out why he screams. Anytime he wakes up, morning, night, naps, whenever, he will scream until we physically take him out of bed. James is running on fumes and pure exhaustion today.
This morning, there were tantrums nonstop from the time he woke up. Part of them came from him wanting the TV on (his mom would allow him to watch TV every morning for the 4 months she had him while she got ready for work), and the other part, well, we don't know what caused them. He woke up at 6:20, and by 7 a.m. was already in time-out.
We child-proofed our house the other night. I got tired of having to lock our bedroom door once he was up just to get dressed (plus, the kids seem to love destroying our bedroom), so we now have doorknob covers on every door in the house. If a door is closed and he is up for the day, and one of us happens to be behind that closed door, we end up with an epic meltdown, complete with him practically beating down the door.
We have the first evaluation March 26, but I am hoping that we can figure something out that doesn't make this bedtime routine last for an hour or more, and that we can get a few more nights of sleep before then. Full nights. I think I can count the full nights of sleep on one hand in the almost month we have had him back.
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Maiden Voyage if you will
As many of my friends know, James and I are getting married April 28. I thought I would start a blog to chronicle everything we've gone through, are going through, and will encounter, especially since we are both coming into the marriage with children who are 18 months apart.
Needless to say, life is interesting in our house. Some days are great and easy, and others are trying and wear us out, and all we want is a sanity break by mid-afternoon. I had the, shall we say, privileged to stay home for 3 days with both kids. If you ever want an adventure, stay home with a 2-year-old and a 3 1/2-year-old. I was never happier to see James than at the end of that first day.
It wasn't all bad. Our kids usually get along really well (up until 2 hours before dinner is cooked). What's trying is that there is some speech delays with Adair, which I'm sure makes him frustrated, especially since we force him to tell us what he wants. We are also dealing with some intense tantrums, so we are taking things one day at a time.
This blog not only chronicles what I mentioned before, but it's our outlet for when we need that Sanity Break. We believe Adair might have some form of autism (too many symptoms to really list here that he is exhibiting), and we have multiple evaluations with different groups set up for the next month or 2. We aren't certain that he has it, but it's worth getting him evaluated to rule it out and see what's going on. It makes daily things a battle sometimes: trips to the store without Mady make him very withdrawn and nervous, for example. Or if we do dinner earlier than what he wants it to be, he has a meltdown and won't eat until it's the proper time.
Mady tries to help him. We can tell she understands that there is something going on with him, she just doesn't know what. She will try to lead him away when he's angry or upset, and ends up getting hit/kicked/pushed. It's obvious she doesn't understand what's going on, and it hurts me to see both kids hurting and confused and not being able to help either. I kiss the boo-boos and wipe the tears, but I wish there was more that I could do for both of them. I told my mom that I consider it a victory if Mady is only pushed into a wall once during the tantrums, which is slightly sadistic (in my views) to say.
I pray the evaluations help shed some light on what is going on with my sweet stepson. It hurts me to see how he reacts and acts out and know that I don't know how to help him right now.
Needless to say, life is interesting in our house. Some days are great and easy, and others are trying and wear us out, and all we want is a sanity break by mid-afternoon. I had the, shall we say, privileged to stay home for 3 days with both kids. If you ever want an adventure, stay home with a 2-year-old and a 3 1/2-year-old. I was never happier to see James than at the end of that first day.
It wasn't all bad. Our kids usually get along really well (up until 2 hours before dinner is cooked). What's trying is that there is some speech delays with Adair, which I'm sure makes him frustrated, especially since we force him to tell us what he wants. We are also dealing with some intense tantrums, so we are taking things one day at a time.
This blog not only chronicles what I mentioned before, but it's our outlet for when we need that Sanity Break. We believe Adair might have some form of autism (too many symptoms to really list here that he is exhibiting), and we have multiple evaluations with different groups set up for the next month or 2. We aren't certain that he has it, but it's worth getting him evaluated to rule it out and see what's going on. It makes daily things a battle sometimes: trips to the store without Mady make him very withdrawn and nervous, for example. Or if we do dinner earlier than what he wants it to be, he has a meltdown and won't eat until it's the proper time.
Mady tries to help him. We can tell she understands that there is something going on with him, she just doesn't know what. She will try to lead him away when he's angry or upset, and ends up getting hit/kicked/pushed. It's obvious she doesn't understand what's going on, and it hurts me to see both kids hurting and confused and not being able to help either. I kiss the boo-boos and wipe the tears, but I wish there was more that I could do for both of them. I told my mom that I consider it a victory if Mady is only pushed into a wall once during the tantrums, which is slightly sadistic (in my views) to say.
I pray the evaluations help shed some light on what is going on with my sweet stepson. It hurts me to see how he reacts and acts out and know that I don't know how to help him right now.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)