Make your own Nursing Cover

With baby #4 due to make an appearance any time now (I pray, walking and being as big as a house is so not working for me) I wanted to have one of these. I am a frugal person. Didn't plan it. Not the fault of the economy, just how I have always been. If I can make it (or think I can make it/do it) I will give it a go.

These nursing covers are uber popular right now. I know I will be making one as a baby shower gift coming up in a couple months. I see them everywhere. The park, church and even in the grocery store. I wanted one too! But not for $30 plus. Yikes!

I made mine from Alexander Henry's "Sweet Cherries" fabric. I have admired this fabric for quite a long time now and even though I am having a boy I wanted something that was for me. Very rarely do I make anything for myself so this was perfect. Armed with my 40% off coupon I went to Joann's and got what I needed. Yipee! I was so excited. Smiling ear to ear. I used the tutorial found here. The directions are straight forward, easy peasy. I like that. It was my first time sewing in months (since I found out I was pregnant really) but it eased me right back into it. Like riding a bike. Now I am working on skirts and crib sheets. The materials you need are really low key as well, 1 yard of fabric, 2 1" D Rings, and boning. The boning I was able to find at wally mart one day for under $3 so I snagged it from there.

If you make one, I would love to see it. I think these things are so great. I am one of those moms that refuse to have to go and sit on a toilet to nurse my baby but I like some modestly as well. I cannot wait to use this when this little guy makes an appearance. Much better than a receiving blanket being draped over us.

Early Christmas Shopping

Here I am ready to have a baby pretty soon and it strickes me that Christmas (!!!) is almost here. I have started to crochet, knit and sew presents now because I know I will not get it done after Matthew has come.

So today I have added that knitted chunky thick cowl/neckwarmer to my shop for anyone else who wants to start shopping early. I have been working on this for a couple weeks now in between other projects. I looked forward to it. Why? Because the feel of this cowl is amazing. I loved having my hands on it. (yes, i'm slightly obsessed) I love these things! Not only are they awesomely stretchy so I can wear them over my shoulders if I want to, but they are so warm. However you can confortably move it away from your face ( I hate turtle necks because they are so restricting) when inside some place warm. It's like being hugged and feeling all cozy, enough to fall asleep. YUM. I love it, and winter and reasons to wear this. :)

Home-school Mondays, Finding a schedule that works

I remember when I use to do daycare I had a schedule. I followed that schedule precisely, mainly because it worked for the kids. I look back now and wonder why it seems as though it was easier then with six kids ( including grocery store trips with all in tow) then it is now with 3! And then in a moment of clarity I realized that I don't have a schedule now. So what? Who needs a schedule. I don't have state workers (since I was state licensed) dropping in at what ever time they wanted. I don't have parents coming in for interviews and my kids know what they can play with and cannot.
So why is it harder?

Back then I was dressed and the house was ready by 7:00am the latest, every morning Monday through Friday.

7:30 Breakfast cooked
8:00 Breakfast clean-up and wash kids hands and faces, check diapers
8-9:00 Free play
9-10:00 story time and talk about or act out the story
10:00 snack
10:30 clean up like before and then outside to play in the back yard till lunch time
11:30 Lunch
12:00 Clean up and get ready for nap time
12:30(45) - 3:00 Nap time
3:00 Change diapers, brush hair and play inside
3:30 Snack again
4:00 Free play or watch tv till parents come to pick them up

See, scheduled. And it worked. It was amazing. I look back at it in awe at how well those kids behaved. So why can't mine have days that go as smoothly? I don't have a schedule. A schedule is important not only to me but also to my kids. Kids thrive on a routine as well - it is comforting for them to know what’s next in their day, even those things they don’t like.

So here is what I am hoping to accomplish as a schedule. Lots of things can run us off the road so to speak. So now I am going to attempt to drive myself out of the ditch.

6:30 Get up and shower
7:00 Get Pumpkin up and have her get dressed and feed the rabbit, wake up
rest of kids
7:30 Breakfast
7:45 Make sure snack is packed for Pumpkin
8:00 Take Pumpkin across the street for pre-school
8:15 Get Princess and Peanut started on chores for the day while I clean up the kitchen
9:00 Start third grade home-school or have Princess start on her "Daily works" folder if I am not ready. This consists of at least an hour of work she can do on her own. More on that next week.
10:00 Snack time, they just think better if they stay fueled
10:30 Home-school lessons till it is time to go and get Pumpkin
11:30 Walk across street and get Pumpkin
12:00 Lunch time
12:45 Peanut and Pumpkin go down for a nap
12:45 Princess continues home-school, I clean up from lunch then go and help her/teach lessons
2:30/3:00 Peanut and Pumpkin are awake
3:00 Outside to play or a trip to the park to play and feed ducks
5:00 start to make dinner, kids are done for the day


I think this is do-able. I am following pretty much what we do. There are just some time constrictions. Also this helps me to see when two activities are to be done at the same time so I remember to tell Princess to go and work on school work. Ideally she would just know and she would remember to do it on her own rather than depending on her pregnant mom. Alas. She is a kid. lol

So what is your schedule? Do you have one? Share it. Maybe we can help to make each other's more efficient.

Cooking with the kids Crockpot Meatloaf and Potatoes

Okay so this weeks post is not really cooking with your kids. I mean, if you wanted to they could mush up the ingredients and that would be a lot of fun for them. Mine love it! But this is more a cooking and getting to spend more time with your kids (or napping) and having a wonderful dinner.

With three kids, home-school, a business to run, dance classes to attend and another baby on the way is it any wonder that I actually own two crock pots? I love my crock pot, also known as a slow cooker.

So here is the recipe to share this week. Yummy Meatloaf and potatoes

An easy one-pot meal from the slow cooker.

Ingredients:

• 2 pounds lean groud round or chuck
• 1 green bell pepper, chopped ( You can reduce this if you want, go by sight and what your family likes)
  
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 1 1/4 teaspoons seasoned salt ( like Mrs. Dash or just use Sea Salt which is what I use)
  
• 1 cup cracker crumbs or fine dry bread crumbs ( I use 1 slice of bread)
  
• 1 egg
• 1 envelope brown gravy mix
• 1 cup milk
• 6 to 8 small potatoes, halved or quartered

Preparation:

In a large bowl, mix all ingredients except potatoes. Shape into a loaf. Place in Crock Pot. Place potatoes at the sides of loaf. (If potatoes are peeled, wrap in foil to keep from darkening.) Cover and cook on low 8-10 hours or on high for 4-6 hours.
Serves 6.

Now I must say that I have never liked what has come out of my crock pot when it was cooked on high. I always cook on low. The funny thing is that my husband always seems to forget this when he comes in to help. But he is always the one that listens and will put it back on low. :)

Also as a side note. If you are worried that your kids will not eat the veggies that are going in, substitute some of them. I love to add corn to mine. I also find that when I dice up the veggies ( as long as they are not watching ) they will eat them and not say a thing.

I will be wanting to use my crock pots more often as I get closer to my due date. Does anyone have a fabulous crock pot recipe book they would like to recommend? I'd love to hear about it!

Home-school Mondays

Boy am I late! Here it is 5:00 and I am just sitting down to the computer and realize that I have not done a posting today! From the pregnancy books I have read, I should be better after the 1 trimester. Here's hoping.

My home-school thought for today is nothing new and it includes all of your family. Get everyone involved! If you are reading about the Gold Rush with your third grader then you can also read about it to your pre-schooler and toddler at the same time. Now my pre-schooler I can actually make up questions tailored to her. My toddler gets more excited if there is an art project that we thought of to go with it. She will tend to stick it out more. I am finding more and more that I like it better when I can do lessons that involve everyone and I really believe that it benefits the little ones. They get to see their sibbling behaving like a student and peanut here below like to raise her hand to answer questions. She will usually mimic what one of her older sisters said as an answer. It is so cute.

Home-school......it's a family thing.

New in Shop

I must admit that morning sickness has kept me from posting as I like to and made it even more challenging to get things in my shop as well as to get our schooling done. Schooling comes first, but I was able to get two new things in shop this last week.

They are a set of Kitchen Dishcloths. One cloth is a traditional square shape and the other is round like a pin-wheel (at least that is what it reminds me of). I love the round pattern, it is so unique. Each set took me a couple hours to complete and was nice and relaxing to make. One is in a rust color ombre and the other is in a spring color ombre, nice and bright.

Home-school Mondays Using what interests them

I write this as Pumpkin pictured above is recovering from pneumonia so it will be short. Every parent knows that bribery can be a great motivator. Some have mixed feelings about using it. I was the same way. My kids were just going to do what I asked of them because I asked it. LOL. Yeah that worked so well.

I like to use 'earned time' for getting tasks done. For example my eldest daughter who is 9 has a hard time staying focused in her studies. I write out the weeks lesson plans ahead of time. She gets to mark off the subjects completed for visual satisfaction and for every page completed front and back she earns 2 minutes of computer game time. So far this is working, for how long is any one's guess. Her rewards have changed over the years as we have schooled. Use what interests them and you will have success!

New in Shop for the American Heart Association

Every minute, someone's mother, daughter, wife or sister dies from heart disease and stroke in the United States. As many of you may know February is National Heart Awareness month, so in honor of this the Helping Others Street Team (HOST) is sponsoring this challenge, the Heart to Heart Feb HOST challenge, and it is open to everyone on Etsy who would like to participate, not just HOST members. Profits from your listing sale MUST be donated to the American Heart Association.

Above is my entry item. It is an Overlapping Hearts crochet bookmark. This bookmark is made using 100% mercerized cotton. Bookmark from top to tassel is 20" long. Each heart is approximately 1" long.

Cooking with the kids (recipe included)

With a little patience you can cook with your kids. Just make sure that you have age appropriate tasks for them and there will be nothing but smiles (and some good memories).

I was craving some Green Bean casserole so that is what we made. For this you really need to have fresh green beans. I tried it once with canned and then swore I would never make it again! Don't be afraid of fresh food. I know it is easier to pick up the cans of veggies at the market but really it is cheaper if you do it yourself. For example: These greens need to be cleaned (ends snapped off) and halved. Right above them for $2 more there they were already done. No thank you. I have three kids and a husband to feed. I can do the work myself.

So now that you have your green beans you are going to need some assistants.


Here are mine. So cute!

Now at first I was going to have red here help snap the ends off the green beans but that proved too difficult for her. So I snapped them off. I showed her how to properly use a knife and she cut them into halves. Her 2 year old sister here got the halves and put them in the measuring cup and later the coliander. They had a blast and so did I. We then dragged a chair over to the sink and they each got a turn washing the green beans. Red got a pot to boil the green beans in and we set the timer for 10 minutes. In that time we cleaned our mess and then put the scraps in a bowl for the compost pile out back ( I still need to make it though ). Check your green beans maybe at 6 minutes to see of they are fork tender. As soon as they are, drain. Ready to eat or in our case use in our recipe.

Green Bean Casserole (can also be made the day ahead and reheated, i'll tell you that later)

Time: LOL You are cooking with kids. It'll take longer but taste better.

Ingredients:
2 cans (10 3/4 ounce ea) of Condensed cream of mushroom soup
1 Cup Milk
2 tsp. soy sauce
1/4 tsp black pepper. Taste better with freshly ground pepper corns
8 cups cooked green beans (we did that above)
2 2/3 cups Frenches Fried Onions

Time to put it all together!

Put the soup, milk, soy sauce, black pepper, beans and 1 1/3 cups onions in a 3 QT casserole dish. If you are making this a day ahead omit the onions.

Bake at 350 degrees F for 25 miutes or until it is bubbling. Stir the mixture and top with remaining onions. I like to put them on the outside perimeter on the dish. Again if you are making this a day ahead omit the onions

Bake for another 5 minutes or until the onions are a golden brown. I had the assistants watch through the oven door and 'tell' me when it was done. I still set the time though because with littl ones you never know who will hit who first. I would end up forgetting that I was cooking. Bad I know.

Now you are done! This is a great recipe to do together. With homeschool and my own buisness
it can get hard to carve out the time. Planning ahead, even if it is that morining and only for that day helps. I like to set goals of what I would like to accomplish for the day rather than a To Do List. Just a play on words that makes a difference with me.

Okay now for if you make this dish a day ahead.....

You have just taken it out of the oven. I like to put it on my wire cookie rack to cool. Let cool to room temp. Cover will alum. foil and put in fridge.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Take alum. foil off . Now stir in those 1 1/3 cups of onions. Replace alum. foil losely over your casserole dish. This will help keep the heat in. Cook for 15-20 minutes or until bubbling. This way you know it is heated through. To cut down on cooking time you can set it for 15 mintues and at your halfway mark, stir it. When bubbling, add the remaining onions. Cook for additional 5 minutes or until they are golden brown. I almost think it tastes better this way.

I hope you enjoy this recipe. It really looks like a lot of work went into it when in reality it didn't. It is great for a homeschool lesson. Little ones can count the green beans, use them for addition, subtraction. They can also sort from big to small and group like ones together. Older ones can use them for muliplication and divison. They can also use the measuring cup. Sneak the lessons in whenever you can. Cooking is a great way to do it.Here is peanut mixing the ingredients before we add the green beans. She is an expert at this. :)

Getting your monies worth

When you are in buisness for yourself every dollar matters more. You want to make sure that you are spending them the right way. If you have your own website then you want to know where people are finding you, what keywords are they using and when they are coming. If you have sold on Etsy for any length of time then you have probably heard of Timothy Adams Designs .

Once again he has come with some awesome advice and help for his fellow estians. Check out his latest blog entry here. There he will show you (great tutorial pics) how to go in and actually see when as in what time your site is getting the most traffic. You will able to manage when to list, relist and make some noise about your store on twitter, the forums or wherever you do it.

Making a web banner using your own pictures

** Picasa will not let you resize to 100. Only the 760. I would recommend that you resize your picture(s) that you want to use to 100 before hand. You can do this by using picnik.com , keep proportions when you do this so that picnik will not distort your picture(s).

Another way you can do it is to keep the Picasa window open, insert your banner to your shop. If if need to be cropped some more to fit then go back to Picasa and do that. The former way seems like it would be the easiest to me but there are your options.

Good Luck

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This is something that I have always wanted to do. However I did not have the fancy expensive programs to do it in. And with this economy, I would rather try to do it on a free program. If you have read my blog for anytime you know that I have an Etsy store. I wanted to make a banner that used my products and looked nice and sharp. Here is how I did mine.

First download Picasa. It is free and it is here.

Here is the banner I made.

First step is to select the photos you want on your banner. When they are all collected in the selection tray (you can just click on them and they should show up there), click the collage button in the tool bar at the bottom to your right. Make sure to select the ‘Picture Pile’ type of collage so you can drag the photos into just the right order. Don't worry about them being the same size as you will be cropping them. Just make sure that you have them how you want them. Another cool thing with Picasa is that if you wanted one to be crooked you could do that.


When you finish, hit create collage and close your collage. You have a new picture. Next is to crop it, using the ‘manual’ size setting, into a banner, short and wide. Hit Apply when you have it cropped how you want. Now you can add writing if you would like also.


Here it is after cropping and adding some writing. Last step is to go under File and Export to folder. This will make a Folder in My Pictures just for your banner. When you export it make sure to size it to 760 for Etsy.


Your done! Aren't you proud of yourself?

Maraschino cherry Easy Microwave Fudge

I just made some of this yesterday and cut it out this morning. It is kid approved for yumminess. It get my mom stamp of approval because it is fast and easy and can be made with the kids.

Microwave Easy Fudge:

1 can Eagle Brand condensed milk
3 cups chocolate morsels
8x8 buttered pan
2 tsp. vanilla
Maraschino cherries

In glass bowel put in condensed milk and chocolate morsels. Microwave for 5 minutes on High. Take out and stir till smooth. Add cherries and vanilla. Mix. pour into buttered 8x8 pan. Let set over night. Cut and enjoy!

See told you it was easy and your kids and you will love making it!


Here is another take on it. If you do not like vanilla or cherries.

1 can Eagle Brand condensed milk
3 cups chocolate morsels
1/2 stick butter
Nuts (optional)

In glass bowel microwave first two ingredients on high for 5 minutes. Take out and stir, then add the butter and microwave for 5 more minutes. Take out and mix in nuts if desired. Place in buttered 8x8 pan and place in the refrigerator over night. Cut into small squares or whatever size you want and enjoy. I think these would also taste good with some shredded coconut mixed in.

New Items

I love how these earrings turned out. Earrings are a new thing in the shop of Rachel's Aprons. Resonably priced with excellent workmanship so that you can get something for yourself or a little gift without breaking your wallet. It really cannot get better than that. I am excited to be adding them. I hope that you enjoy them.

Buster

Buster is my daughters cat. When he was little (and so was she) she could push him in her doll stroller. They read together, watch TV together and sleep together.

Tonight may be his last night. The vet will call us tomorrow am to let us know if she can take him in. I will be up tonight taking care of him so there will be no Hump Day special in my store for tomorrow. I pray he makes it. She will be crushed if he doesn't.

Friday Sale!

I know that Black Friday is 'the' day for shopping deals but after waking up this morning hearing how someone was killed by being trampled, I think I will decline. Thank you very much. This makes me even more thankful for Etsy. Don't have to spend gas, fight traffic or find the perfect parking spot. I can be nice and cozy here at home next to my fireplace drinking a nice warm cup of peppermint mocha coffee. YUM.

On to my special!
10% OFF ALL aprons in my shop today. This offer is valid till 11:00pm EST. Just mention my blog in message to seller and discount will be refunded back into your paypal account.

Happy staying at home all comfy shopping!

Sorry

It seems that the day has gotten away from me today while rushing little ones to dance class, the library and making sure that I have everything I need to pull off our Thanksgiving feast.

So I apologize for not having a special up today. But look for Friday, I will be back on track by then.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Birthday(Friday) Special!

This day 9 years ago, my first baby girl was born. She is one of the most precious people in my life and though I was scared ( lack of mommy handbook will do that) my husband and I managed to get her to her 9th birthday. Today she got to pick the special.....

All Flower set Washcloths are 10% off today. Valid till 11:00pm est. Please mention my blog in message to seller. Discount will be refunded back into your paypal account.

Happy Shopping!

Friday Special

10% OFF all Washcloths
Soft, strong, absorbent.....you simply cannot go wring with these. Buy some for yourself or someone on your list. I even have a few that have flowers attached. All flowers are attached securely so don't be afraid to use them.

Please mention my blog in message to seller and discount will be refunded back into your paypal account. Valid till 11:00pm EST.

Happy Shopping!

Colder weather is coming!

With winter months here and my children everywhere, I wanted the warmth of a scarf without the hassle. I love scarves but my children would rather pull on the them and tighten them around my neck. I needed something to keep my neck warm without being to tight ( I cannot wear turtle necks without feeling as though I am being strangled).

This is now available in my shop. And of course while I was out on my twice a week shopping trip today I happen to find some more yarn that needed a good home. LOL

These may make it as neck cowls as well. Definatly the cashmere will. Keep an eye out, those cowls are next and they will be $40 each.

Secret weekend special

20% OFF this beautiful crochet bag. Take a look over at my shop. www.RachelsAprons.etsy.com

The bag is constructed using 100% cotton yarn so that it will not stretch like an acrylic yarn would.

Perfect to use for trips to the mall, market, grocery store or you local craft fair.

This is valid until 11:00pm EST Sunday 11/2/08