DIY Water Table and Mudpie Kitchen

Hello, friends! I'm super excited to share with you a project that I started last summer, and finally finished - Goose and I are both loving her new mudpie kitchen complete with a water table!  When I saw this Mud Pie Kitchen on Frugal Family Fun Blog (now Inner Child Fun), I knew it would be an awesome addition to our yard.

 I would guess that most of you are not lucky enough to have relatives who toss their junk out in the trees behind the farmstead, so if you hear of someone remodeling their kitchen and replacing their sink, jump on it! I tried calling plumbers to get old drains and didn't get much luck, but by keeping my eyes open, I was able to find sink drains for about $7.50 each (thank you Ace Hardware!)

Our sink came from hubs's grandma's, and she had it full of dirt for flowers.  Goose and I gave it a good scrubbing to get off all the dirt and gunk that we could.





Here it is, all clean and shiny!  Well, all clean, anyway...  A true DIY-er might have done something about the rust spots in the bottom; I just used Rustoleum and didn't worry about it.

(Note: it seems that particular brand of spray paint has problems with the nozzle - of the two colors I bought, one didn't have a nozzle and the other one didn't work.  I wrote the company and complained, and they sent me a package with about fifty nozzles. I think they were being kind of sarcastic about it, but I was able to use my spray paint so I didn't care!)

As an aside, I'm sure I used some awesome spray paint tips from Like Merchant Ships, but I can't find the post now...





Two coats of sunny yellow later, I was pleased with the results.

I called my sweet, now-retired dad with the measurements of the sink and he built a neat little drop-in stand for the sink.

Unfortunately, at this point, it sat sad and lonely in the garage for another year while I looked for cheap drains... but I found them and while my dad was here this spring, he installed them for me.  Turns out one of them leaks a little bit, but no matter.







Here it is in action! I have been collecting various items and kitchen things for a couple of years.  Every time I found something that was cheap and looked like it would be fun, I picked it up.

Muffin tins, sillicone muffin cups, spoons, bowls, old egg beaters, small saucepans, strainers, old spice containers (love the vintage metal!), whisks, all sorts of things!









Last weekend was the city-wide garage sale, and I picked up this set of shelves for $5.  I also got the big teal basket and the light teal tub (bottom left) for 50 cents each, the other baskets I had picked up for our camper but ended up not needing.

There is a water faucet about six feet in the grass from where her mudpie kitchen is, and this summer Goose has figured out how to turn it on and off, so she is set!

One thing I really like is how this area stays in the shade for most of the day.  Also, there is a window right above her shelves, so I can peek out at her and check on what she's doing.  This morning, we made a batch of flubber as suggested by Money Saving Mom and Goose had a great time out there.

See what everybody else is making at Skip to My Lou's Made by You Monday!

Can't-Get-It-Out-Of-My-Head Project

Do you ever see something, and then you can't get the idea out of your head until you make it? That happened to me when I saw this Rainbow Poncho Cape on Etsy.



This is what I ended up with:

(apologies for the lousy cell phone pics - I didn't get any with my camera)

I could NOT stop thinking about how cute it was, or whipping out my phone and showing it to other people... finally I decided I had to make one. I even made some sketches of different ways to style the poncho, since I don't love the classic poncho look. I wish I had my sketches to show you (not 'cause they're awesome - they're kind of sad, really - but because I was going to town with ideas!)

I had the basic poncho. One with slits for your hands to come out. Pocket on the front, pocket on the inside, pockets in both places. (I totally wanted to make it reversible, but knew Goose would probably always want it rainbow side out, so why bother?) I had it in my mind to make it more fitted than the big circle, maybe even using two tiers and having her arms come out between the tiers. I have a big problem with getting ideas in my mind to actually work in the physical realm, so I decided to keep it simple.

Clicking around yielded many, many poncho tutorials. Then I realized that I didn't have a big enough piece of pink fleece (yup, it was requested to be pink) in my stash to make a huge circle (I wanted it to be pretty long on Goose, both for warmth and room to grow!) So I rounded the corners and cut a neck hole - which ended up being too big, oops. The length turned out pretty well, though - it hits Goose around the knee and the width is just right as it's a bit past her wrists, so her hands can come out the sides.

Initially, I started to trim the shoulder part in to make it more fitted but realized that was a lousy idea, so I stitched back in the part I cut out, which is why it has "sleeve" seams. I wish they weren't there, but I don't notice them as much as I did at first.

Next, I cut the rainbow and stitched it on, and it's actually bigger than it looks because every color except red extends a couple of inches under the cloud. I didn't realize how big it was until I had to put the pocket so far down towards the bottom! (we'll get to the pocket in a minute...) After I had the rainbow on, I made a cloud pattern with paper to check the size, then cut it out but didn't stitch it on.

For the pocket, I used one of Goose's sweatshirts and traced the pocket, then noticed the fleece was folded and doubled over at the openings so I added that to the pattern then a seam allowance. After cutting it out, I folded and stitched the doubled part at the side openings.

This is where it seems to get complicated... since the cloud was going to overlap the pocket, I laid both out on the poncho and pinned the cloud to the pocket where it needed to go, and stitched it on where it overlapped the pocket. I then folded the cloud down toward the bottom of the poncho, pinned the pocket on and sewed the top of the pocket to the poncho. I unfolded the cloud and finished stitching it down (there is a bit of an opening where the cloud isn't stitched down since it is wider than the pocket), then I stitched the bottom of the pocket.


(she's watching TV, by the way - not feeling like posing for photos!)

Using the same sweatshirt, I made a pattern for the hood, though in hindsight I realzied that the bottom of the hood (around the neck area) needed to come in farther - the opening is too wide. (especially since I cut the head hole too big. I tried to go back and take it in, but it just didn't look right.) I cut the outer hood from the same pink fleece and the inner hood from some pink polka dotted fleece and stitched them right sides together, leaving the whole bottom open. I turned it right side out and top stitched, and I also stitched down the center seam to help it hold together better.

Instead of making it reversible, I decided to just line it so that it would be warmer. The only color of which I had a large enough piece was white, and as it turns out, I really like how it looks. I laid the white out right side down, and laid the poncho on top, right side up (wrong sides facing). I pinned the heck out of it, and cut the white around, leaving somewhat of an allowance. I then unpinned and put the right sides together, then I *really* pinned. I was thankful for the allowance because it isn't perfectly symmetrical (shocker, I know...) and I trimmed the extra white.

I sewed all the way around, leaving most of the back open for turning. It's been my experience that you can pretty much always tell where it was left open to turn, so making it teeny tiny doesn't really change that it stands out. Leaving the turning hole super big makes it far less frustrating, and actually I think it blends in a little better! Again, I top stitched around the edge so the white and pink would hold together, and carefully pinned and sewed my turning hole shut at the same time.

To attach the hood, I cut basically a slit in the white, since I knew I'd cut the pink too big. (side note, I do most of my sewing when Goose is in quiet time after lunch or in bed at night, so she isn't around all the time for me to try it on her.) I think I folded the white under when I stitched the hood in, but I can't quite tell. :>) I also think I did it in two steps - first I sewed the hood to the outer pink part (centering the hood seam with the center of the poncho and using lots of pins - do you see a pattern here? USE LOTS OF PINS!) then I folded, pinned, and sewed the white lining. I made a loop out of bias tape and added that to hang it up, by the way.

After the hood was on, I folded the white down over the pink in the front and stitched it. If the neck hole wasn't so darn big, I think that would about be my favorite part, it looks really nice! I thought about adding some trim around the bottom edge, but 1) it would take a TON and 2) I really like how it looks as-is, and 3) let's not kid ourselves, I'd never be able to decide what trim to use anyway.

The only thing I think I might add is something to fix the too-large neck hole. (Which, actually, if Goose is wearing her stocking hat already, it gives us plenty of room to get the poncho on still. So not all bad.) I'm thinking of making a "scarf" perhaps three or four inches wide (I'll have to measure Goose to be sure) and basically cutting it in half and attaching it on either side of the hood. I can cross it under her chin and tuck in the tails... Or I could make a whole scarf, attach it at the back and bring it around and tuck it in. Any thoughts, anybody?

This project took me six days from start to finish, though I worked on it a couple hours per day maximum. It works great in the car, since Goose is still in a five-point harness (want to see why? read this.) I flip the back up over the back of her seat and buckle the buckles under the front, then tuck the front in like a blanket. I'm probably a little bit too proud of it, but it sure is cute. :>)

I'll be linking to Skip To My Lou's Made By You Mondays in the morning.

Explaining Death To Little Ones

As you may remember, my father-in-law was diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease) in August of 2010. He passed away on December 2 of this year. This picture of him and Goose in their overalls was taken in September, just before his health really started to decline.

Blessedly, his death was quite peaceful. I used the concepts from the book What Happened When Grandma Died to explain things to Goose, though I didn't read the book to her because she is quite literal right now and I think she would have been confused trying to make the switch between Grandma in the book and Grandpa in our life.

It basically says that when we die, we leave three old things behind and get three new corresponding things: our body, our home, and our work. The book goes into much more detail, of course, but it provided for much discussion and an opportunity for Goose to ask many (MANY!) questions. I'll admit I had some trouble being patient answering the same thing over and over (AND OVER!), but once I realized it was her way of processing things, that helped. And it also warmed my hear to hear her explain to her 2YO cousin where Grandpa is. (in heaven, and also in our hearts)

I know that many of you have been praying for us, and I can't tell you what that means to me. I hope you have had a very blessed Christmas and I wish you all the best in 2012! (better get used to writing that now...) I'll be back in a bit with my Handmade Christmas 2011 post, which I meant to get up a long time ago, but better late than never.

Being an Intentional "Yes Mama"

I've been listening to my blogging friend Amy when she writes about being intentional. I have longed to be more intentional, rather than reactive. Now that my health is getting back on track, I am getting more serious about it, though I'm just taking baby steps. I'm sure I read about being a "yes mama" on Melissa Wiley's blog, though I can't find the specific post now. (I have, however, spent a glorious hour clicking around her archives. Lissa is probably the first blogger I followed!) (Hmm, maybe it was Danielle Bean? No matter, though I wish I had another hour to dig through her archives, too...)

As I remember, being a "yes mama" means that instead of thinking about the mess that will be created, all the setup and cleanup that will be necessary for what will surely be approximately seven minutes of whatever activity and saying "not now" or "maybe later" ... that you say yes, and follow their lead with what they want to do.

Seven minutes of painting, sure, but really, it only takes about three minutes to set it up and two minutes to clean it up (provided there wasn't an oopsie accident, and Goose is really quite careful).

I have been slowly accumulating various art and craft supplies on clearance, from garage sales, at thrift stores, and I'm now realizing that it doesn't make sense to keep saving them for a rainy day - especially when I tend to be a "not now" mama on rainy days, too. So, I pulled them all together and put them in a set of plastic drawers now located in the kitchen:

Yup, stepping around Goose, who was using stencils and colored pencils in the middle of the floor was kind of a pain, and she needed help pulling up and re-taping stencils, but in the grand scheme of things, it wasn't that bad. Plus she really, really enjoyed it. I also discovered that when I am more willing to say yes, she is also more willing to say yes when it is time to clean up (especially if we talk about it beforehand.)

Something that got me to thinking about all this again was when she brought me one of her books and said "can I do dat, Mama?"


I know that if I want HER to be creative, I need to demonstrate creativity myself. So, I said "sure!" and hopped up to make it happen. I was wishing that I'd picked up some crepe paper streamers that I see at thrift stores all the time, but I hadn't done so. (That has since been remedied!) So we got a ribbon from her dress up trunk and some masking tape. I taped the ribbon across the doorway, and showed her how to "ready, set, GO!" and run through to break the ribbon, just like in the picture.

Sure, I had to say "ready, set, GO!" (and then cheer her on) approximately eleventy hundred times, but I showed her how to tape the ribbon back up so she didn't need my physical help until the tape got too crinkled, then I just got her another piece.

As I'm typing this out, it seems so simple. But I hope it represents a shift in my thinking and how I make decisions as a mama. Here's to being intentional!

Crafty Tasks

I miss putting together the "Reading the Whole Internet Posts", but it is much easier using Pinterest. You can find me HERE. As I said previously, it's kinda nice because you can see a picture. If you'd like an invitation to join Pinterest, let me know.

To make a super long story short, Goose starts preschool tomorrow. We aren't doing the co-op again this year (oh, how I wish we were!), and I debated allllll over the place before deciding to enroll her in "real preschool" (as my 6YO niece once put it). Right now, my thinking is to have her get familiar with other kids, learn to "do school" and perhaps next year, we'll stay home. :) But we'll have to see, I guess...

So, one of the things she needs is a backpack. I didn't want to buy her a stinkin' princess backpack (though I know she'd love it) - I wanted to get crafty and keep my mind off the fact that I'm going to have to drop her off tomorrow. So, I made a rainbow backpack! It's one I thrifted, and I wasn't crazy about the primary colors, but it looked kinda rainbow-ish.

I made a scrappy rainbow and hand stitched it on the front. Didn't turn out quite like I thought, but I'm OK with it. I used embroidery floss and stitched Goose's name on the orange ribbon, then sewed it on. I used a piece of rainbow ribbon on the zipper pull.

I took the same rainbow ribbon and stitched it on the top and sides. It was kinda rough sewing around the zipper - and I accidentally stitched it down a few times. Oops. Nothing a seam ripper couldn't handle, though. I was out of rainbow ribbon by this time, so I used rainbow colored embroidery floss and braided it for zipper pulls.

And, of course, since every girl needs a new dress for preschool, I whipped a little something up there.

I used two women's thrifted tank tops. I took the teal one and smocked it with elastic thread - see MADE for some tips on sewing with that stuff, it went a little easier this time than it did last time.

Similar to the patriotic dresses I'd made, I cut the top off another tank top and sewed it to the bottom of the teal one. I then sewed some (also thrifted!) rick rack where the two joined, and made a flower using this method (though I stitched instead of hot glued) and added it to the waist. It's a bit more centered on the dress than I wanted it, but that's OK.

The straps were a bit interesting. I used a piece of the straps from the teal tank top to make loops on the back. Then I stitched the straps from the white top to the front of the blue top, ran them through the loops and brought them to the front. At this point, I tried it on Goose and measured where the straps needed to be and put a loop on the ends. (Are you loopy yet? I am...) The final step was to add some thrifted "ball" buttons - my mom tried to work me through leaving some space so the loops would fit better. Admittedly, the straps are a bit thick to hold well, but it works.

I've also been doing quite a bit of sewing for the craft consignment shop, though last month was the smallest month I've had since it started in May. I'm thinking that Christmas shopping is going to pick up a bit, so I'm not too worried. Plus it's more or less paying for my supplies, so that's about all I can ask!

It's a bit late, but I'm submitting over at Made By You Monday!

Um ... Hi!

Remember me? :>) So many links to post, so much to talk about. But all I'll do for today is share some cute dresses I stitched together for Goose. I made one for Memorial day, and of course she wouldn't get near it for the ceremony we attended. She has reconsidered, however, and worn it several times since. (and yes, there haven't been that many days since...)

Up first, the one I made first - a blue tank top with white stars turned into this:
It was my first run at elastic thread, and I'm not 100% happy with the results but it's cute enough and Goose loves it. I wound it on my bobbin by hand, then sewed four lines across the front and probably ten on the back, then sprayed with water and ironed to get it to shrink up. I can't manually adjust my bobbin tension, and it's too tight. I tried re-winding the bobbin and making it looser, and it was too loose. So I'll have to do some playing around. Oh, I used red thread on top for a fun contrast. I love it.

I cut the straps in the back and stitched them back together to shorten, though I left the long pieces on instead of trimming them off; and I stitched them down so they wouldn't flop and tickle. With as much time as I spent on this darn thing, I'd like Goose to be able to wear it next year!

To finish the dress, I sewed big red buttons on the straps (non-functional) and then I stitched some super-wide red rick-rack around the bottom. I think it's my favorite part! The first time I sewed it on, I tried really stretching the dress and it ended up too stretched - it didn't hold shape. So I took it off and gave it another try, and it's perfect. Actually the stretch in the dress from the first time gave it a nice shape the second time around. Who'd have thunk it?

Cost for this dress: $1.35 for the tank top (women's size) at Goodwill, probably 25 cents for the two buttons out of a package of several at Walmart, quarter for the rick-rack of which I used about 1/12th (remember that score? I still have the canvas and haven't figured out what to make with it yet) and probably another 50 cents for the elastic thread. That's a little over $2, plus some time, but it was totally worth it.

This dress was a bit easier since I started with one of Goose's old tank tops. It's actually a size 2T, but it still fits fine, just too short. The skirt was also formerly a woman's tank top. I cut the top off and pinned it on, stretching the shirt to match.

Actually, the pinning took waaaay longer than anything else! I'd pin and turn everything right side out to check, and one piece or the other would be inside out. So I'd re-do it, and the same thing would happen except both pieces would be flipped, so the other one was now inside out. Frustrating, but amusing!

To pin, I started by lining up the side seams, I then found the centers of both the skirt and top and lined them up, and stretched and pinned from there. I then sewed my widest, longest zig-zag stitch to give it as much stretch as I could. We're pretty pleased with the results.

Cost for this dress was $2 for the top from a consignment sale, and $1.35 for the one that became the skirt.

I hope everybody is having a good summer! I'll try to get back into some semblance of regular posting again soon.

See what everybody else is making at Skip to My Lou:

St. Paddy's Shirts

My Goose is going to turn four on St. Patrick's Day. (Where *does* time go??) When she was a teeny tiny baby goose, I saw a onesie at Old Navy that said "Little O'Cutie" and I REALLY wanted one, but we really didn't need it. I regretted that decision for a long time! This year, I realized there was no need to pine over it any longer - I can make the darn shirt. And I was inspired to make one for me, too. :>)




Goose's says "Little O'Cutie" and the dot over the i is a four leaf clover like mine, you just can't see it on the green. Mine, of course, says "Mama O'Cutie" and I'm still giggling over that. My sister-in-law snapped this pic for us yesterday, and since then I wonder-under-ed on a few shamrocks and outlined Goose's i dot shamrock with a sharpie. Except I should have followed what the shape should have been, not what it was. Oops.

Both shirts were thrifted, and I used Dana at MADE's freezer paper stencil tutorial. It was a bit tedious cutting the stencil out, but after seeing the results, it was TOTALLY worth it! Not counting the dry-time wait (I did two coats of paint), this project probably only took a couple of hours.

I gotta say, we WILL be wearing these often than just March 17! I can't close this post without sharing my favorite joke this time of year:

What's Irish and sits outside?







Give up? Paddy O'Furniture! (get it? patio furniture? hee hee!)

I'm linking up at Made By You Monday.

Daybook - April 16, 2010

Seriously, did anybody get the license number of the speeding truck that was the past two weeks blowing me by? It's been a little crazy around here. You may remember that last week, the washing machine drained on our (carpeted) laundry room floor, which was previously soaked in a Tide jug leak. The dehumidifier is still running, by the way. I stepped between the washer and dryer yesterday and when I stepped back, I saw I'd left a soapy footprint. After I posted, just as I finished hanging two loads of Hubs's work clothes on the line, the clothesline fell down. Could've been a lot worse, it was work clothes and on the concrete patio, anyway.

Things took an exciting turn on last Tuesday, though, when GOOSE FOUND A BAT ON THE GROUND. I'm still pretty freaked out about it. I had stepped inside for just a minute to get my gardening gloves, and when I came out, she said "wook, Mama!" and pointed at it. It was crawling around, and I told her "don't touch don't touch don't touch don't touch" as I grabbed a coffee can from the garage and scooped it up. (I fought down the urge to whack the ever lovin' crap out of it because I knew the head had to be intact for testing. Thanks be to God that it didn't start flying around as I was scooping it!)

I called our regional health department (I used to serve on the board of directors) and they in turn called the state to obtain permission to get it tested. We delivered the bat (in the coffee can that I put in a zip top bag and in the TRUNK of my car) to the local vet along with the required registration number, and then the little guy was sent to Kansas for testing. I'm praying for a negative... I don't think that it had a chance to bite Goose, but I can't be sure and as far as I know there has only been one person to survive getting rabies that didn't get vaccinated, and bat bites can be too small to detect.

Outside my window... It was actually chilly today, but not too windy. The past few days have been quite warm and very windy, and we've had some rain, which makes my farmer a bit cranky to get going on fieldwork.

I am thinking... that I need to work on my time management. I say that a lot, but I'm realizing that I don't accomplish very much on a lot of days.

I am thankful for... not getting rid of my dehumidifier when I was decluttering. (Did I mention that we've had water leak under our basement stairs twice? Yeah, I'm glad we still have that thing to dry us out!)

From the learning rooms... I went crazy trying to find the link to this post at No Time For Flash Cards on a magnetic weather station. As you can guess, I have a LOOOOOT of items in my favorites folders, and though I try to keep them organized, there's just a lot of them. This post got starred in my Google Reader, so it wasn't even where I thought it was!

From the kitchen... tator tot casserole, for one. I have several packages of hamburger to brown and freeze, and I plan to make a half batch (two loaves instead of four) of Sarah's Whole Wheat Oatmeal Sourdough bread. Other than that, I'm feeling pretty uninspired.

I am wearing... a grey shirt and purple pants. I actually have two pair of purple pants, I wonder why that is? It's not exactly one of my favorite colors.

I am creating... a spin on this pom-pom lamp for one of my nieces, and a hybrid of these two fishing games for another niece.

I am pondering... how some people really carry their crosses in silence. Sometimes that's a good thing, sometimes not so good.

I am reading... the same things as last week. Say Goodnight to Insomnia, upon the recommendation of a handful of fellow insomniacs. I really like it so far! Added to my "To Be Read" pile - All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten, Making Peace with the Things in Your Life, and Is There Life After Housework? I also picked up a stack of old Nebraska Life magazines in the local library's discarded section, and I can't wait to leaf through those.

I am hoping... to get Goose caught up on sleep. It's always a struggle.

I am hearing... Hubs's computer, not much else. I put Goose to bed super early tonight and Hubs is watching TV.

Around the house... lots of things are waiting for the laundry room to get put back together!

One of my favorite things... blooming tulips and daffodils that survived the wind. Goose and I have picked a few of them.

A few plans for the rest of the week... we'll hopefully go out to dinner for my upcoming birthday (and I pointed out to Hubs that there's an indoor mini golf course not too far from here), Bible study next week (which has been an amazing blessing to me!), and I really have to get my drivers' license renewed. Really. :>)

A picture thought I am sharing... I haven't shared a Treasure Hunting success in a while! (yes, Mom, those are Nappy's feet in the picture. It's better than her laying on the stuff, right?)

I scored some handmade felt Care Bears (Goose hasn't seen them yet, but she's going to be pretty excited! And I'll admit, I didn't know there was a Husker Bear :>)) for about a quarter. I think the Disney Sing Along Songs video was another quarter. The dehydrating cookbook and cake decorating book were both a dime each. Do you see the thick red rick rack? Another quarter, I think, for 6+yards! The metal tray has feet on the bottom that swing out so it'll go over a lap, and I plan to make the above magnetic weather station using it (another quarter).

Finally, I need some suggestions for the fabric! It is kind of a canvas or duck cloth, with a tan/khaki background and orange-ish flowers. I'm almost positive it's vintage! I have just under two yards, and I think it's 44" wide. What should I make? I want to make something that I'll actually use, and the only things I came up with were a jacket (probably too difficult for my skill level) or a bag, and since I just bought my enormous mom purse that I love, I don't really need one of those. Although maybe I could make a couple of reusable shopping bags and replace and/or augment the mishmash ones I currently have. Any suggestions are welcome, though!

Hopefully I'll get a Reading The Whole Internet post up this weekend. I have a lot to share!

Yeast Elimination Diet

A couple of weeks ago, my parents stayed here on their way home from my brother's. I wasn't sure when they were coming and wasn't exactly prepared to cook, but I ended up making a yummy supper of lasagna, a half recipe of herbed oatmeal pan bread, peas and a half recipe of butterscotch bars. YUM. I'm a re-submitting this post for the latest installment of the spring cleaning carnival at Kitchen Stewardship. The first topic for which I submitted this was Get the Gluten Out, and Amy at Simply Sugar and Gluten-Free wrote about her (very interesting!) experiences here. The latest installment is Get the Refined Sugar Out (at Kitchen Stewardship) and the guest poster is Donielle from Naturally Knocked Up, and you can read her post Cutting Back on Sugar.

Back to me. A couple of years ago, I couldn't have eaten that supper. Goose and I struggled with yeast for several months after she was born. It started with her diaper rash, that would NOT go away. Since I nursed her exclusively, I had my own troubles, too. An excellent resource for breastfeeding and thrush is this page on KellyMom.com. (Actually, KellyMom.com is an excellent resource overall for breastfeeding.) There is a lot of info on La Leche League's yeast page as well, and here is what Dr. Jack Newman has to say about yeast.

Though it is not specific to breastfeeding and thrush, I read The Yeast Connection, its corresponding website, and the cookbook (which I borrowed via interlibrary loan), all excellent resources.

We tried a very, very long list of things to get rid of the yeast. Nystatin. Diflucan. Gentian Violet. All Purpose Nipple Ointment. A weak vinegar wash and left the flaps down on my nursing bra for fifteen minutes after nursing, and changed nursing pads after each nursing session. Grapefruit Seed Extract. Acidophilis powder. Yeast detox supplements through our chiropractor. The only thing that finally worked was a yeast elimination diet.

*****Please note that you should work closely with your health care provider if you suspect you are having difficulty with yeast, also known as candida. I am not a doctor, nor do I even play one on TV.*****

There are a number of yeast elimination diets on the interwebs. I happen to be a rather picky eater, so I struggled to find one that I could actually follow, and I still made a few compromises. I finally ended up mostly using the diet from QFAC. I was able to follow it for about two weeks and both Goose and I were able to clear up our problems. I also lost several pounds! Unfortunately, I wasn't able to sustain the diet (or weight loss, sigh), but I've been thinking it would be a good thing to do periodically for my health.

My friend Sarah wrote a very informative post on Why Grain Free? at her blog Sarah's Musings that gives a lot of great information. Unfortunately grains are not just a filler for me (remember, I'm a recovering vegetarian married to a cow farmer!) so I don't think I could go completely grain-free. But it certainly gives a lot of food for thought.

Check out a lot more posts on gluten-free here at Simply Sugar and Gluten Free and more on cutting out the sugar here at Naturally Knocked Up. The giveaways for the gluten part of the carnival are closed, but go check out the ones for the sugar part!

Also, go check out some great posts on nursin' babies over at the Breastfeeding Blog Carnival at Modern Alternative Mama!

Very, Very Small Successes

Today is the day to celebrate small successes over at Faith & Family Live. Mine are very, very small today.

1) I have accepted the fact that the toddler and I both got up before we were ready to be done sleeping. (Her choice to get up, NOT MINE.) I'm really looking forward to naptime, though!! She missed a nap day before yesterday and has been quite "TWO" ever since. It's so hard to get her caught up!

2) I (mostly) kept my cool when there was a potty incident because she was messing around while on the potty. There was a brief exclamation of surprise, which I think is reasonably acceptable considering the circumstances.

3) I'm focusing on the fact that Goose recited the last half of her beloved Snow White book that she got a week and a half ago *from memory * while we were washing her hands.

and I have a bonus success:
4) After the stomach bug, Goose is finally back in her regular "under clothes" and seems to be back to normal. I kept a diaper on her just in case since then, though she did great at telling us when she needed to go potty most of the time. (There were a few incidents that woke her up from her naps - I can't blame her for those!)

Click the link above to see more moms and their small successes.

Friday Night "Fun"

I knew something was up when the Honker didn't eat much lunch. That in of itself isn't terribly unusual, except that it included some much-loved tortilla. And she asked for "bedtime" - though she did that a week ago, so it wasn't without entirely precedent either. I gave her a bit of Tylenol and put her down for a nap. She was up about an hour and a half later with a nasty, nasty diaper, and once cleaned up, she asked to lay back down. She slept for around another hour after that, and seemed to have better energy.

Until she wanted "Mama hold you". We cuddled for a while, and I could hear her tummy gurgling. Should have been my first clue, eh? I asked her if she needed to go potty a couple of times, and she kept telling me no. Then she sat up and hurked on me. I guess it surprised me enough that I kind of froze, instead of taking her over to the sink that was just a few feet away. Multiple hurks later, I shook myself out of the daze and we both hopped in the tub, which I think she found hilarious. I left her in there to play while I worked on cleaning the (carpeted) kitchen floor and (upholstered) kitchen chair, and started a load of laundry with our icky, icky clothes.

I just finished cleaning the floor when I heard her cry from the bathroom (it's right off the kitchen, so I felt reasonably OK leaving her - usually I do stay with her while she's in the tub, though). She'd gotten sick again. So, I put her on the potty in case she wasn't done, and started draining the tub and pulling her toys to clean. Thankfully there were no "emergencies" after that, though I kept her in a diaper the rest of the afternoon and evening and she was able to tell me once that she needed to go potty.

Keep in mind that I've been a deal nut for a while... About the tenth time I walked through the kitchen and sighed because I can still smell something yucky, I remembered that I bought a carpet shampooer a while back and it was still in the box downstairs. So, with a little help from Hubs (whom I had to awaken at 8:30PM, another sigh), I got it assembled and running. Let's hope I don't wake up tomorrow to any more icky smells!

Actually, I'm kind of hoping that I don't wake up in the middle of the night to a crying Goose and a mess to clean up, but as she's grown and evolved as a person, I've grown and evolved as a mother right along side her. Two years ago, I would have been nearly paralyzed at the thought of dealing with a sick child during the night. (It didn't help that I was consistently only getting about four to six hours of sleep during a 24 hour period.)

I'll admit it's hard knowing I am no longer able to comfort Goose by nursing her to sleep. However I know now that if she's up during the night, once her need is met, she'll go back to sleep. I know now that even if I have to get up with her multiple times during the night, God will give me the graces to deal with tomorrow on a lack of sleep, to clean up messes, to snuggle a cranky toddler, to do whatever it is that I need to do to fulfill the vocation of motherhood to which He has called me. I'm thankful that I can count on Hubs to help me out, even if it's just to snuggle Goose during the night while I am cleaning up messes. (Or during his pre-bedtime nap, if I need help with carpet shampooer assembly.)

For sure, things are put into perspective when I consider the struggles of people in Haiti right now, and many other parts of the world where day-to-day living is a struggle in of itself. If you'd like to join me in a good cry, watch this video from ABC. I don't know this couple myself, but they went to the same Nebraska college as a high school friend of mine. As a mother, I can scarcely begin to imagine what it was like for Mandy and Matt, not knowing if their nearly adopted daughter was hurt or even alive.

So, like everyone else, I will be including the victims of the earthquake in my prayers, and snuggling my little one just a bit tighter.

Calming a Cranky Goose

This past week, it has been reinforced to me that certain children (cough*GOOSE*cough) really need to stick to their schedule - especially with regards to sleep - to do well. Even if, for example, Goose still gets her nap but it's at a later time, it throws things off because our bodies have certain times that they are wired to sleep, and sleeping outside of those times tends can result in poor quality sleep. (I'm not just making this up, someday I'll tell you about my favorite baby sleep book Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child.)

After the "hen party" last week, I returned home to a crying Goose and her not-feeling-so-good papa - I think they were both pretty glad to see me! I'll admit that one of the reasons I waited so long to wean the honker was because she woke up pretty much every morning and from every nap crying until she was well over a year old. (After that, it was most of the time, and then decreased until her second birthday or so.) Since I can no longer squirt milk at her, I have tried to find various other means of distraction.

Though I try to limit how much "screen time" of various types to which Goose is exposed, there is a certain set of YouTube videos called Simon's Cat that will cheer her up almost without fail. So, Papa and Grandma, if you need some help, try these (I think I remember all their proper titles as bestowed by Goose) - the rest of you can just enjoy. :>)

Meow Meow On The Door



Puppy



Meow Meow Papa Go Night Night



Meow Meow On The Couch



Meow Meow In The Bed



Meow Meow In The Snow



Meow Meow On The Desk

Saturday Evening Blog Post

This month, I'm submitting my favorite post of the month to Elizabeth Esther's round up of the best of October. I picked Handmade Christmas, 2009 which is actually a work-in-progress. I'll be updating it with pictures of what I've made and how things turned out, plus I'd love to see other people's links to what they're making this year so feel free to leave me a comment! (And if you're my sisters-in-law or my mom, you still aren't allowed to click through, you scrooges. Sorry.) :>)

To see more of the best of October, visit Elizabeth Esther.com.

And also - Goose has taken a clip holding her crib rail off three times so far in this quite possibly failed naptime. I've duct taped the clip (and had only fleeting thoughts of duct taping the kid) but would love any words of wisdom on transitioning to a toddler bed, as it seems to be imminent. Thanks!

Cheap White Noise

When Goose was a tiny baby, it became clear that sleep was going to be an uphill battle with her. To make matters worse, her bedroom opens right into our living room, so that even watching TV at low levels or holding a conversation at a normal tone sounds like it is happening in her bedroom.

I read in a number of places to try white noise. Some suggested sources were a fan - which was too cold in early spring for a baby even if it was not pointed at her, static from the radio - new radios seem to try to edge into the closest signal and thus don't stay on static, and it just wasn't practical to run the vacuum cleaner every time she needed to sleep! (Though my carpets could have used the vacuuming, I know.)



I can't remember exactly how or when I figured it out, but I set up my fish aquarium in her room and used the air pump as the white noise. As a bonus, I could use the light from the aquarium as a nightlight. Of course, once she started crawling, that idea had to go out the window. But the air pump itself did not.

I disconnected the tube that ran into the tank, and coiled up and bound the power cord so that there was just enough room to plug it in and set it on the floor. It has provided about two years of white noise in addition to perhaps two or three years of use in an aquarium, so it seems to be lasting well. I don't remember what the cost was initially - I'm certain I picked it up at Wal-Mart, though, and that it was not a "top of the line" model. I've considered taking it with us when we travel, but I wasn't sure if it would be too weird for her to wake up to a familiar sound in an unfamiliar place. Regardless, this idea has worked very well for us!

And here's just one of those little things that keeps me from listing Goose on ebay . . . yesterday, she gave a short shrill squeal, as two year olds do to voice their displeasure with something. Immediately after, she very seriously and in a normal tone, said "calm down?" Yes, little one, I do want you to calm down. Thanks. :>)

For more frugal ideas, visit Life As Mom.

Homemade Care Bear Costume

After seeing the CUTEST Grumpy Bear ever, I was inspired to make a Care Bear costume for Goose. However, Halloween isn't too big of a deal to our family - there are only a few places we'll visit, and I'm not anticipating Goose will be all that crazy about her costume (though she could prove me wrong!), so I didn't really want to sink much money - or time - into a costume. Here's how I did it:

My first stop was the local thrift shop. I looked around for anything in fleece, specifically Care Bear colors - it helps to be a bit familiar with them! - I checked sleepers as well as bigger separate pieces. I kind of wish I had measured Goose and taken a tape measure - I ended up with a sleeper that was in the 3T box that said "Medium" and it just fits her.

It is yellow, so I went with "Funshine Bear" or "Sunshine Tummy Bear" as Goose calls it. I'll tell you the steps in the order I would suggest . . . not the order that I did them in. You're welcome. :>)

First thing I would do is cut off the feet. If you think it's going to be too long, you can trim taking that into account. If you think it's going to be short or close, you can use a seam ripper to take the feet seams apart then trim so the legs are as long as possible. Next, I'd remove the elastic from the ankles. Again, I used a seam ripper, but be careful around the seams - I ended up with some holes I had to stitch shut.

I ironed the area where I removed the elastic to make it look better - I used a fairly damp kitchen towel to protect the fleece, as I wanted the iron hot enough to *do* something but I was afraid it would be too hot for the synthetic fabric. It worked well in getting rid of the elastic marks. The drawback is that it flattened out the fleece! Our sleeper also had a patch on the top left, which I removed. I think I would have done well to have washed it at this stage, but I already had some of the other stuff done and was afraid that washing would damage it.

At this point, I tried it on Goose and noted that the legs seemed a bit short. I used some yellow felt that I had (same stuff that I used on the sun's face) and made cuffs, then stitched them on to make it longer. They were among the items attached by the time I ironed the legs, and I didn't think they'd wash well.

I then took to the internet to get some pictures of what the sun looked like. To make the "sunshine tummy", I used the biggest bowl I had as a pattern for some white fleece from my stash. I did some math and measuring and figured out the ratio of sun to tummy (my sun ended up 5" in diameter compared to a 10" circle). I used orange embroidery thread to stitch the eyes and smile, then used a zig-zag machine stitch to attach the yellow felt to the white fleece. Finally I went back to the orange embroidery thread to make the rays, though after I got about 3/4 of the way through, I realized I could have used the zig zag stitch on my machine! Ah, well, it didn't take all that long as it was.

This is where you could go a couple of different ways. I used my machine to stitch down the white fleece on the left side (as you're wearing it) of the tummy with a regular straight stitch around the edge, then realized that if I sewed the velcro on the fleece to hold down the right side, the stitches would show through the right side. So I went back and cut another half circle of fleece and machine sewed the velcro to that, then machine sewed that half circle to the full circle.

The worst part of that step was figuring out just where to place the bottom velcro. At that point, I turned to my mother-in-law, who wondered why I didn't just glue the velcro onto the main circle and be done with it. :>) The short answer is that I don't have fabric glue and didn't think about it. :>) She advised me not to worry about exact placement of the velcro, to stick the two pieces of velcro together and lay the circle out flat on the sleeper. Then gently pick up the edge of the fleece, trying to leave the velcro in place but peeling away the top piece, and pinning the bottom piece down. I'd kind of been trying to do that and it didn't seem to work very well for me. (More experienced seamstresses, please feel free to leave a comment with suggestions!)

What I ended up doing was beginning as she instructed - putting the loose velcro onto its mate and flattening out the sleeper and circle. I then took a disappearing ink pen (the link takes you to Amazon.com to show the brand I have, but I got mine at Hobby Lobby) and drew lines along the outside edge of the velcro, trying to take care to start and end exactly. The picture shows you what it looked like after I lifted the fleece up. I then took the pieces of velcro and pinned them (taking care to only pin through the top layer of the sleeper!) along the lines, then I used a straight stitch on my machine to sew them down.

*A note about sewing through velcro* - the "soft" side, the one with the loops, is easy to sew through. But when you sew through the hard/crunchy/pokey side, the one with the hooks, it is difficult to avoid breaking your thread. I have better luck when I sew sloo-ooo-ooow-ly, but believe me, I broke plenty of thread.

To make the hood, I totally winged it. :>) I have been inspired by Dana, though - she uses items that she already has and loves as patterns. You can see how she does it here with a little girl swimsuit and here with little boy pants.

So, I took one of Goose's jackets and traced around it to make a hood. It didn't turn out perfectly, but I'm not expecting Goose to keep the hood up for long! I made the ears half-circles, using a bear for approximate size and a small bowl as a pattern, and stuffed them with poly-fill. I pinched them into a bit of a C shape (with the open part of the C facing forward) and stitched them by hand onto the hood. I also gave the hood fabric underneath the ears a bit of a pinch to help them stand up better, but that meant that the hood kind of lumped up. I messed with it a bit, taking a seam a bit, but finally declared it good enough.

The final step was to cut a heart from red fleece and stitch it to Goose's "bunner" region. I first tried a zig-zag machine stitch but was having trouble rounding the curves, so I took that out and just stitched it on by hand.

I've debated adding eyes and a nose to the hood like the "real" Care Bear costumes, and so far, I'm leaning toward no. I also bought a package of yellow dye for the cuffs and hood but I didn't get that done right away so I just left them as they were.

A side note, part of the reason I was able to do this so cheaply and easily was that I already had yellow felt, red and cream fleece and yellow flannel on hand, as well as orange embroidery floss and all the colors of thread I needed. I've made it a habit to check out the clearance fabrics at Hobby Lobby and Wal-Mart and if something looks like it has promise, I pick it up. I also buy grab bags of sewing notions and whatnot at Goodwill and the local thrift store if I think there are several things in there that I'll actually use. It's kind of like stockpiling in your pantry, but in your craft supplies instead. :>)

For more frugal ideas, visit Life As Mom!

Any Atari Geeks Out There?

I have been reminiscing a bit lately, remembering all kinds of "this time last year, Goose was [insert action here]" - such as learning how to walk around the 4th of July. (She was a late walker.) About this time last year, I was comparing our life to the Atari game of Adventure. (Link takes you to Wikipedia.)

[Or better yet, click here to play! Though it's a bit tougher using the arrow keys instead of a joystick and I just figured out how to drop something without picking something else up: use the spacebar. Man, I could waste a ton of time there. We didn't need no stinkin' fancy graphics when I was a kid!]

Anyway. Where I actually was going with this - and it isn't necessarily going to make sense unless you have played the game a lot - is that having a newly walking toddler was kind of like having the bat in our house. I'd leave something somewhere, and when I went back for it, it would be gone. Something new might be in its place. And that thing would be somewhere else, and whatever was there would be gone.

I'm hoping *somebody* out there can relate having played Adventure in their glory days - because this comparison really cracks me up. And now I'm off to play Adventure again, and maybe lean on Hubs to hook up our old Atari . . .

Keeping Toddlers Occupied in the Car

For those of you joining me from Frugal Fridays, we are planning to attend my cousin's wedding in three weeks. It's about a 9.5 hour drive straight through, one way. We have a two-year-old. Yikes.

After doing some searching and thinking, here is what I've come up with so far. I won't be doing everything on the list, and I'm sticking to things that I can put together for cheap and/or free.

Things to Make:
* Color and Shape Cloth Book - You can see all the images here. I made it in a similar fashion to Goose's ABC cloth book, though the pages are cut a bit smaller. To make the pattern for the shapes, I used Microsoft Word and then sized them about the same (I think no bigger than 4x4"). I printed them, cut them out, then used fabric scraps. Like last time, I used Wonder Under to fuse them to the page and sewed around them with a zig-zag stitch. Instead of using fabric for the words, this time I used a fabric pen borrowed from my mother-in-law. Much easier! :>)

* Lacing Cards - I cut some stiff cardboard into shapes and punched holes around the edges. I bought a thick pink shoelace for her to use. She preferred to just play with them - calling the yellow pony-tailed girl "Papa", the green bed "tractor" and the red house "barn". Who am I to correct her?

* Finger Puppets - Ended up not making any. I planned to use some felt and fabric scraps that I have on hand . . . maybe when she gets a bit older.

* Photo Magnets - I printed some photos of family and cats, and used a big pile of freebie refrigerator magnets that I've been collecting forever just in case I had a use for them. And now I do! I used plain old Tacky Glue, and the photos stuck pretty well. I brought a rimmed cookie sheet that I plan to bring for Goose to use as a lap board for this and a number of other activities.



* Magnetic Puzzles - I printed pictures on cardstock (did searches for "coloring pages" on the images I wanted - cow, chicken, cat, pig), colored them in with markers, cut them apart, and attached magnets on the back for use on the cookie sheet.

* Play-Dough - perhaps Cardamom's Pod's recipe - though I wouldn't hand it to Goose to play with in the car. This would have been more of an in-the-hotel sort of thing. Had I done it. :>) Instead, I brought one of Goose's favorite toys from home, her Little People Nativity Set. She LOVES playing with her "baby Jesus toys".

* Geometric Insert Puzzles - I traced 3x3" shapes onto foam sheets, using shapes in Microsoft Word for the patterns. To make it easier for little fingers to grasp, I stitched a bead above the magnet on each piece so Goose can grasp that to pull the piece out. Unfortunately, the adhesive on the magnets didn't stick as well to the foam as the magnent stuck to the cookie sheet, so I glued them on. While she isn't all that exact with colors OR shapes, Goose enjoyed saying "blue, yellow, green" and "circle, triangle, square" as I handed her pieces. And the beads really helped, I thought.

* Sound Bottles - this is a Montessori thing - you paint several bottles so you can't see what's inside, then fill them with things that makes noise, two for each thing (i.e. uncooked rice or beans, etc.). The little one has to match the sounds and pick which ones have the same thing. They can check their work by looking at the bottoms, where you paint colored circles. Then again, this might not be the best thing to do in the car. :>) (Based on two posts at Chasing Cheerios.) I didn't do this. :>)


* Mini Felt Boards - I made one with a number of squares in several different colors, and one that is basically a felt Mr. Potato Head. I did some searching online to get ideas of what to put on the spud, then free-handed eyes, noses, mouths, glasses, ears, and feet. I was going to do arms, but then they just seemed too small to bother. The shape matching idea came from the list of activity bags for preschoolers at The Sunny Patch. I actually ended up not giving her these as I forgot to bring magnets to help hold the heavy background felt to the cookie sheet. We'll play with them at home instead.

* Busy Board - I collected various "fasteners" - large button, buckle, belt, velcro, tie, clip, zipper, etc. I made a pillowcase of sorts for the cookie sheet we took, and she can practice doing and undoing the different things. Inside the zipper is a pocket that held a small cat and dog, which she really enjoyed. Idea is from Teaching Montessori in the Home: Pre-School Years. Actually, I ended up adjusting the "case" since I decided to bring a larger cookie sheet, so I just opened the seam and stitched in a couple extra pieces of fabric along the top . . . then I ended up bringing the small cookie sheet, too, because I wasn't sure if Goose would think the big sheet was too awkward. She was fine with both, of course.

* I-Spy Bottle or Bag (Here is the one mentioned in a recent link roundup, though I saw another post recently about using an empty water bottle.) (Didn't get to this.)

* Magnetic "Paper" Dolls - This is credited to my mother-in-law. She found some fabric with a paper doll print. We cut around the dolls, and fused them to card stock with a metal washer between the fabric and the paper. We then fused the clothes to cardstock and glued magnets on the back. (again, magnet is stronger than adhesive - so we needed glue.) They are VERY CUTE! Goose preferred a magnet on the doll, too, so she didn't have to worry about it sliding. My aunt actually talked some of the fabric off my MIL and made some for her granddaughter, my cousin's little girl. She really enjoyed them, too!

Things to Put Together:
* Sorting Colors and Shapes - inspired by Sarah's Musing's preschool inspiration post. (I guess it WAS inspiring!) Like Sarah, I bought some reusable ice cubes - I think there are four colors and two shapes. I thought we might work on sorting them by color and by shape, but Goose isn't into that yet. Kind of a shift on that idea, though, was a package of brightly colored pom poms in three sizes. Goose enjoyed saying the different colors and "big" or "tiny" as I passed them to her, and she sorted them into a small tackle box, courtesy of her grandpa.

* Stringing Empty Thread Spools - So I'm a big geek about saving random things that you never know you might need. Kind of like Valerie at Frugal Family Fun Blog's invention kit. Anyway, I thought these spools would be easy for Goose to string on a piece of yarn (or shoelace), especially if I added a pipe cleaner "needle" as shown here on Chasing Cheerios. I ended up doubling the shoelace over (with a spool tied in what was the middle that became the end as a stopper) and used scotch tape to tape one end of the shoelace just below the other end, to make the "needle" part a bit longer. Goose LOVED this, and loved wearing it, too! You can see her modeling it as she was talking to my mom while we were waiting for Old Faithful here.

* Sewing - Valerie at Frugal Family Fun Blog posted several months ago about beginning sewing. I have some plastic blunt embroidery needles that I picked up at the thrift store, some embroidery floss, some cross-stitch fabric (very open weave) and a Goose-sized embroidery hoop. However, when I test-drove it, I realized the needle was still too big for it to pass through easily. So, we'll give it a run when I can find a better fabric for it.

* Bubble Wrap & Tin Foil I didn't give Goose the tin foil, but she enjoyed the bubble wrap!

* Crayons & Paper - always a hit, though she tends to request *I* draw things for her (such as our cats, and Papa), so it's not exactly something she does herself. :>)

* Yarn on Sandpaper - idea is from the list of activity bags for preschoolers at The Sunny Patch. Goose liked it pretty much right away!

* Chalk & Black Paper - Not only did I finally find the chalk I knew I had stashed away, I found another box at Goodwill for 50 cents. I also found the black paper I'd bought for cheap at the thrift shop a while back! Goose liked scribbling with it, though one or two colors were messier than the others, so I just wiped her hands with a baby wipe when she was done.

* Pipe Cleaners - can't remember where I saw this, but they can just bend and dink around with them. I'm thinking I'll roll the edges down a bit so they aren't sharp. Didn't use them.



* Open & Close containers - pictured here at Chasing Cheerios. I found a daily pill box and washed it out, a few small plastic containers, and a small wooden container. I didn't give it to her in the car because I knew if she dropped any lids, she'd get mad. She has enjoyed it at home, though.


* Sort In Compartments - pictured here at Chasing Cheerios. (I asked my dad for an old small tackle box. :>)) We mostly did this with the pom poms, except without any method to the sorting. :>)

* Match Color Paint Strips - based on matching colors using clothes pins at Chasing Cheerios. I plan to get paint strips and just use the darkest color on each for now. Though I watched Goose operate a spring clothespin yesterday, she doesn't really have the colors down at all. Didn't do it, but will sometime.

* White board and markers - At the thrift store, I found a small white board that is in a zippered case, there is also a pocket for markers. Like the play-dough, this one will need to be closely supervised. I didn't end up finding markers that were a balance between easy to wash off and shows up on the board. But I'll keep looking.

Things to Buy
* Little Books - I have kept my eyes peeled at the thrift shop and picked up a handful of new-to-us board books, plus ones that I've put away for Goose since books are 1) to be read and 2) to be pulled off the shelves in their entirety. One thing I wish I did was read the new ones to her once or twice so she'd have been familiar with them. Though I know she'd have wanted to read them over and over and over anyway . . .

* Travel Games (though I really didn't find any really for toddlers)

* Small New Toys - don't think I'm going to bother since I have so many other things planned.

* I considered getting Goose a magnifying glass, but decided to wait a while. I can see her accidentally setting fire to something in the backseat . . . (update - found one at the thrift store, but not for the trip. She and Papa can look at bugs or something with it.)

And for when the going gets really rough, I planned to borrow my parents' small TV/VCR, and we could also play DVDs on the laptop. We ended up not taking the TV and never did play anything for her on the laptop. She did quite well with all the other stuff!

Anything to add? Any tips? To make things extra exciting, I was planning to potty training her, until the stomach bug hit. Now she isn't very interested, and we have about three weeks before the trip. It looks like we're going to wait.

And, my 100th post will be coming up in the next couple of weeks. I'm putting together a number of random items to give away and I'd love it if you'd come back and enter - the more, the merrier! It's like a phobia of having a party and no one coming . . . I would be so sad to have a give-away and no one enter it . . . :>)

For more frugal ideas, visit Life as Mom.