It's been a while...

It has been a few weeks since I've tapped these keys. A lot has been going on and I have been busy, busy, busy. Our little lady is about to be 8 months old and has 4 teeth (WOW!), Spring is trying desperately to peek through the cold, and my husband got orders for us to move to Ft. Campbell, KY! YAY!!! Look out, the Bairds are coming home to the Bluegrass state!

We will be doing our third PCS (permanent change of station) in less than six weeks. *gasp* In order to get ready for the move, I started pinning things like crazy on Pinterest to my Trip and Moves board. I found so many helpful tips, that listing them all here would be extremely time consuming. Another great link that actually I stumbled upon with our first PCS was this site full of printable PCS Checklists. They have never failed me. We are doing a "partial DITY (Do IT Yourself) move", meaning we will have movers come and pack up/move the majority of our belongings, and we'll take a small amount of household items with us from point A to point B. This has worked out pretty well for us in the past, and it gives us the opportunity to make a stop for a visit with family for a week or so. Typically, we only take what we'll need to survive comfortably until our belongings arrive at our new address. The list of what we actually need tends to shrink each time.

I am going to attempt to update my blog with the progress of our move as often as possible, but this is our first time moving across the country with our little one, so I may be hard pressed to find the opportunity. Luckily, my mom is flying in to Kansas to make the drive with me and the baby, since the hubs will be driving his car full of pets! If I come across any tips along the way that seem to make things easier, I will most certainly share them!

Also, I had planned on sharing a few crafts, recipes, and ideas that I had tinkered with recently, but as I said, time has not been on my side!

To hold you over until I can post these:
Wizard of Oz Dorothy tutu dress and ruby slippers
Smoothie recipes
Summer salad recipe
Tinfoil cooking
Meal Planning Binder

Here's this:

Summer Splash Pasta

Half a box of mini bow-tie pasta
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 small zucchini - julienne cut
1/4-1/2 cup julienne cut sun-dried tomatoes
4 thinly sliced baby portabella mushroom caps
Zest and juice of one orange
Teaspoon minced garlic
4 leaves chopped fresh basil or 1 teaspoon dried basil
Pinch of salt

Boil pasta in a medium-large pot.
In a large saucepan on low/medium heat, add olive oil. Allow the oil to warm, then add zucchini, tomatoes, mushrooms and orange zest. Mix around in pan to ensure everything is covered in oil. Let cook for 2 minutes and add juice, garlic, basil and salt. Cook until mushrooms and zucchini are tender (about 4 minutes). Once pasta has reached desired texture (al dente or softer), drain and add to vegetable mixture in pan. Stir and combine.
Serves 4.

Enjoy!!

Memories Don't Belong in a Box.

Scrapbooking is one of my favorite time killers. Unfortunately, it kills A LOT of time. I rarely have the hours to spare to create new pages for my multiple books. I have one for Piper, an Army scrapbook for Paul, and another for friends and family. The one that has the most pictures and memorabilia waiting to be put together lovingly in an organized, crafty fashion is Piper's. Before she was born, I knew the keepsakes would pile up, so I bought a little cardboard craft box at Hobby Lobby. She's six months old now and the items I've been saving are starting to get a little ridiculous! (I may have to rent a storage unit to hold the things I save over the next 17 1/2 years!)

The box was a little boring just sitting there in a closet with no decoration. Sure, it collects meaningful items, but it was also collecting dust. I wanted to put it out in the open to be admired while it holds all the memories of our little girl. (At least temporarily, until I can scrapbook them all!)

 I started with these three things:

My trusty glue gun and glue sticks
Mod Podge
A cardboard craft box
And you can't forget the decorations!

I chose items from inside the box to make it pretty.

Smaller photos, scraps or things I didn't mind trimming to fit, if necessary.

I did a dry run (so to speak) before breaking out the Mod Podge. Not every photo would fit and some of the items overlapped each other or the edge of the lid. No big deal to me! I was going for a collage effect, anyway.

Rather than coat an entire area with Mod Podge and start haphazardly attaching pictures, I used a paintbrush to coat the back of each piece and attach them one at a time. After I finished placing everything in the right spots, I trimmed the overhang and coated the entire collage in Mod Podge with a sponge brush to seal and protect the pictures. Any bulky items were attached with hot glue after the Mod Podge dried. I also hot glued ribbon and lace around the lid of the box to fancy it up a little.

Ta da!! Now, these beautiful pictures and keepsakes are no longer locked away in a box or book. This is a true memory box.

Washrag Travel Case: Trial Run

The other day I was washing my makeup brushes (using the tutorial found here) because 1) it desperately needed to be done, and 2) my face has been breaking out like crazy. After they were clean and dry and smelling brand new, it seemed a little silly to just toss them back in a makeup bag covered in blush and powder foundation. (Guess I should clean that, now, too?) I decided to tackle a pin I've had pinned on Pinterest for quite some time. I found it on Etsy, so there was no tutorial. Fine then. I made my own.

I started with two simple washrags, two pieces of patterned ribbon (cut just over an inch longer than the width of the washrag,) and thread. Velcro is an option, but I opted against it, because I'm not a huge fan of pulling fuzz and hairs out of it every time I use it. If you'd prefer to tie off your travel case, leave your ribbon a bit longer (perhaps double the length.)

The first step (pic. 1) was to lay one washrag flat and determine the length of the ribbon. I used two pieces, but you can get fancy and add whatever you'd like. Lace, several patterns of ribbon, fabric flowers. Just remember, the beauty of this little project is that it is machine washable, so keep that in mind when choosing your embellishments.

Then, I folded the ends of the ribbon over the edges of the rag and pinned them (pic. 2). If you use longer ribbon to use as a tie, skip the folding and just pin in place. I used a finished stitch along the length of the ribbon, right down the middle (pic. 3).

Next, the other washrag was folded width-wise with one side longer than the other and pinned in place (it should create a layered effect.) I stitched the rags together by sewing all around the edges with my contrasting thread. Then I decided what size I wanted my pockets and used four finished stitches lengthwise (pic. 4).

That's it! I now have a machine washable travel case with ten pockets for my makeup brushes, toothbrush, razor and whatever else I need to take with me. I do think that the next time I make one, I'll leave the ribbon a little longer and create a tie for my handy little case. Of course, this was a blind flight. I'm pretty impressed with myself!

My Organization Knows NO BOUNDS.

If you know me, then you understand why I've been compared to Monica Geller from 'Friends'. One of my favorite sayings is "a place for everything and everything in its place." I get a little charge from being the one to pack for a trip, put the groceries away and load the dishwasher so I can do it "correctly". My favorite video game is Tetris. Needless to say, I'm an organizational WIZARD.

Lately, I've been unstoppable. The laundry/craft/storage room, kitchen, Piper's nursery, living room, hall closets...they've all been conquered. I asked for storage bins and totes for my birthday. My next task will be our bedroom closet (once my pretty totes from Zulily get here,) but first I tackled my craft room project.

We've been recently preparing for Piper's impending crawling and pulling up. She's showing signs that it's not far off! That means the spinning DVD towers that stood beside the TV need to go. (They were starting to get old and boring to me, anyway.) It just seemed to be a shame to waste such potential! Well, you know me (and if you don't, you'll learn.) I couldn't just toss something like that aside. PROJECT TIME!!

I wish I had the forethought to take a before shot, but I'm sure you get the general idea of this tower's initial purpose. I kept the tower with the least wear and tear.

I had to purchase for this re-purposing:
Cork-board tiles
A small white board (the included marker already had Velcro on it for easy access.)
A plaque with four small hooks

I already had:
A cloth bag that our sheets came in (turned out to be handier than I thought!)
Crystal Light container
Soup cans (yet to be decorated...stay tuned.)

I rearranged the shelves to suit my crafting needs. The first image shows my attempt at making a caddy for file folders and notebooks that wouldn't otherwise fit on the shelves. I used adhesive tabs to hold a shelf in place on its side and TA DA! The cork-board tiles and white board came with adhesive tabs to hold them in place. Sturdy thumb tacks are holding the cloth bag (which houses my glue guns and an extension cord.) The plastic Crystal Light container is stapled to the cork-board to hold my Mod Podge paintbrush. I actually did have to drill a couple of holes and use screws to keep the hook plaque up where it belongs. (I learned that the hard way when I heard it fall off today, when the adhesive tabs gave way to the weight I had hanging on the hooks!) After that, it was just a matter of putting everything where I wanted it. The whole thing took about an hour from start to finish...and I can't stop staring at my accomplishment!

Prepared to Bug Out or Totally Paranoid?

My husband's latest fascination is the Nat Geo hit show, Doomsday Preppers. The side effect of him watching this show every chance he gets is MY fascination with it. It's on all the time. How can I not watch? Since day one of our courtship, he has been telling me how important it is to be prepared in the event of any emergency. I used to think he was nuts. In my imagination, he was that guy who was folding aluminum foil hats so the aliens who were about to invade couldn't read our thoughts. Of course, there are realistic emergencies to prepare for: house fires, floods, power outages...zombie apocalypse. ;) Once I made myself realize that my husband did, in fact, make a good point, I came around to the idea.

A few years ago I let him teach me firearm safety and how to properly fire any weapon we have in our home. (I'm still working on how to clean our weapons. Not gonna lie, I hate that part.) For Christmas last year I got him a starter B.O.B. (Bug Out Bag) and several items to stock it with. I'm slowly, but surely, becoming a prepper.

The issue I take with our new favorite show is that it tends to focus on those people who take preparedness to a whole new level. (Not to mention the folks who don't know their terminology, weapons safety, or actual facts. You can't see me right now, but I'm rolling my eyes SO HARD.) It is one thing to have a realistic plan of action, a plan B, and a reasonable supply of food and survival gear. It is another thing entirely to force an obsession of paranoia onto your completely unwilling and uninterested family members.

Since I am so new to the concept of prepping, I started a new board on Pinterest. I wanted to gather more information on how to efficiently "bug out" or "bug in" as the situation deemed necessary. We have an infant, two cats and a rabbit. Those are variables to pay attention to when coming up with a plan. My husband, being a soldier in the US Army, has a much better idea of how to get this SHTF ("sh*t hit the fan") plan rolling, so I turn to him most of the time to ask his opinion on whether or not something is a good idea.

The plans that we are putting together are:
Fire Evacuation
Power Outage
Tornado (We live in Kansas, ya know.)
Home Invasion
Illness or Injury
Financial Problems
Other (You never know when you will need to flee for whatever reason. Have a backup plan.)

Many people are of the opinion that this is silly. I was once one of those folks. Then, we had Piper. The idea of something happening and her being in danger scared the reality into me. I'd much rather have an escape route or emergency plan and have people think we're ridiculous, than to live in an illusion of "it will never happen to us" and reap the consequences.

My inner organizational nerd loves being in charge of researching new ideas for our SHTF plans, BOBs and stocking our food supplies. I get to use lists, charts, worksheets and COUPONS!! These are some of my favorite things. One blog that I found, No Ordinary Moments, has several worksheets for organizing your medical, insurance, and other important information in an Emergency Binder. Other sites had a PDF file on how to prepare evacuation kits for infants and toddlers and fire safety for pets. Of course, they are all printed and about to be put into our own Emergency Binder.

Start healthy habits early.

It's a blizzard outside in Kansas. Nearly a foot of snow and an icy wind that could cut through even the burliest of men. The view from our kitchen window this morning was a peaceful one, but inside there were noises aplenty. The sounds of baby gabbing, kitties meowing, musical toys, Game of Thrones (being watched by my husband at top volume) and the whirring of a Baby Bullet filled the warm air of our home.

You see, I've recently started making Piper her very own fresh baby food. Eating from a spoon and sitting at a high chair are new concepts for her, but she's learning quite fast. I nursed her exclusively for the first three months of her life, and then we started supplementing with formula when my milk supply dwindled. (Due to not enough knowledge and information on breastfeeding. If you want to know more on the subject of breastfeeding your baby, go here.) She's been starting solids gradually for a few weeks and she's really taken to them! We've given her a few store bought baby foods, but not only are those expensive, I don't exactly relish the idea of my child ingesting chemicals, preservatives and who knows what else. If breastfeeding is the healthiest way to feed your baby, homemade (preferably organic) baby food is the solids equivalent. I'm not one to tell anyone how to parent their child, but if you have the inkling to do this, I strongly recommend the Baby Bullet. It makes a very quick job out of an otherwise daunting task.

A couple of nights ago, after Pip was in bed for the evening, my husband and I got started. We had used the BB before, but only to mash up a quick banana half for her to taste. The other night we did it right! I broke out the steamer, the good knives and our BB accessories. I had made sure to visit the produce aisle at my last grocery trip especially for the occasion. On the menu for our little lady were sweet potatoes, bananas, avocado, yellow squash, apples and pears. As we had limited storage containers available, only half our fruit and veggie stock got made into puree. We refrigerated half of that and froze the rest. (That's right! You can freeze it!)

Refrigerated fresh pureed food only lasts for three days, and she goes through it two jars a day, so I got cracking on more today. I mean, what else am I gonna do with my time on a snow day? I got the steamer going on some squash and apples while I pureed her avocado and banana. Minus the time it takes to wait for steam to do its job, the whole thing took maybe 5 minutes. The total cost of the produce was approximately $5. I got 21 "jars" of food out of this. If I had paid for (not as good) jars of food at the grocery, it could have cost anywhere from $15-25, depending on the brand! I think I like this math.

So, not only am I saving money, but I'm doing something great for my baby. My husband said something really sweet to Piper last night. "Mommy has been making your food since day one." He knows how hard it was to stop nursing/pumping for her, so his words made me feel better about it. I may not be able to give her mother's milk, but I can still make sure that she has the best food I can offer.

Let's get to know each other.

Blogging is rather new to me. Originally, I had decided that I wanted to blog as a break from the constant social networking ruckus that is Facebook. Now, I feel as though, perhaps, I might actually enjoy it. Many people nowadays seem to have the belief that everything they have to say is pure gold, so they spew their every thought onto the web and wait for social accolades. Honestly, I can't say that I'm any different. I do enjoy sharing my ideas, favorite quotes, vents and opinions. I just don't feel it necessary to inform the world of my recent b.m. or every personal choice or decision I make. I will never push my beliefs onto another, nor will I use a public forum as a shoebox to spout off or tear down another. The internet was once a fun break from reality, and now it has become harsh and intense. Let's bring the fun back!! That's my plan. I want to share my favorite crafts, recipes, and moments from my life with those who chose to be my captive audience. Enjoy!