The Muffin Woman

We stopped at the Farmer's Market this morning to get some vegetables for the week. Abby is a true blueberry fan and signaled for a carton. We already had some at home, but it's hard to resist a little girl repeating "blue? blue? blue?".

With a surplus of blueberries and a heat wave outside, I decided to make some muffins inside. I love making blueberry muffins with some brown sugar struesal on top. Makes the house smell pretty awesome.

Whoever said that yogurt in replacement for oil makes a yummy muffin, was probably the same person that likes fat free butter. I tried it and they turned out kind of rubbery. Edible, but rubbery. I guess they are suppose to be healthier, but let's just say we'll save this batch for us and wouldn't make a batch for public consumption. Ever.

Texas Sized BlueBerry Muffins (Makes 6)
If you bake the muffins in a Texas Style muffin pan, they turn out large, just like the kind you'd find at a Corner Bakery. 


3/4 c. milk
1/4 c. vegetable oil (or use 1/4 c. vanilla yogurt for rubbery variety)
1 large egg
2 c. flour
1/2 c. sugar
2 tsp. baking power
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup fresh blueberries (frozen work just as good, don't kid yourself)


Oven Temp. 400 degrees
Grease a 6 muffin Texas Style Muffin pan. 


Make a streusal topping using 1/4 c. flour, 2 tbsp. hard butter and 1/4 brown sugar...chop ingredients with a fork so you get little "Butter rocks" coated with flour and brown sugar. 

Beat milk oil and egg in a brown. Stir in flour, sugar baking powder and salt. Fold in the blueberries. Add batter to the muffin pan, Sprinkle the streusel topping across. Bake for 20-25 minutes. 

And there you go. Throw them in a basket, put some fresh blueberries on the side (to prove it wasn't made from a box) and you're looking like a little pro-homemaker. 

Urp Cloths

Inspired by all those wonderfully creative Esty folk and lonely, housebound Saturday nights, I pulled out the sewing machine and decided to start making stuff. I'm a very, very novice sewer right now, but I get excited when I can stick two pieces of fabric together and it turns into something functional.

These easy Urp Cloths® make great baby gifts for showers, or baby welcome gifts. My friends were impressed with my new domestic talent, but hey, it was a cinch to do.


Making Urp Cloths
1. Buy Gerber cloth diapers
2. Buy Fabric
3. Sew fabric down the middle of the diaper. 

What I like about making my own Urp Cloths, instead of buying them is you can pick out your own fabric and it doesn't have to be all babylike. Be bold! Be Whimsy!  You'll find the Urp Cloths made with cloth diapers are so much more durable than premade store bought ones.

Easy, creative, personal, fashionable and functional all in one.

Exactly how I like life to be.

The Heat Was Hot

It's been humidly muggy and hot for over a week now. Makes me lazy, sticky, tired and feeling fat. These are the days a pool would come in handy.

Too lazy, sticky and tired to write anymore than that.

Rain Barrelin' Down

Early this Spring, we bought a rain barrel because we wanted to save some money and resources.

Composting IN.
Rain Barrels OUT.

It's 50 gallons and hooks up to one of our downspouts. I geek out when I make purchases like this and I was extra happy that we were re-using rainwater and saving some cash. It's a proud day when Me AND Mother Nature win.

The first rainfall of the year, it filled up. I thought it would take MONTHS to collect water, but just in one steady rainstorm, we had 50 gallons of water from one barrel.

With all the apocalypic rain storms we've had,  I've barely had to use it. We've had so much rain so far this summer, we had to attach a hose to redirect the overflow! Instead of using it to water plants, I mostly use it now to wash my hands and feet after digging, pulling and planting.

If you are thinking of getting a rain barrel, there are a few things you should know.

If you want a decorative one that looks all pretty in your yard, it's going to cost you. It's insane how a modified plastic garbage can command $75 and up. They are kind of cool looking, but I don't care to spend that much money on something that's going to hide on the side of my house.

Ask your village/town if they sell rain barrels. Most sell them for around $35, maybe less. Some towns might give them away? The one we got was from a local woman who takes industrial size marinara containers, puts on the spigget and the hose attachment with some screens on the top to keep the skeeters out for $45. The bright blue plastic can be painted with oil based paints suitable for plastics. If you're feeling ambitious,  paint butterflies or other pictures on it.

You can always make your own as well. It seems pretty easy to do and can also save you money. 

That Little Love of Mine

It's kind of ridiculous how much I love my girl. Even more ridiculous that she'll be 15 months tomorrow. And even MORE ridiculous that in a weekend, her brain started to emerge more than before. I'm pretty sure when she woke up on Sunday, her head even grew a little because that brain got smarter.

She started to walk about 2 steps and by Monday, she was walking 4 steps- back and forth to Grandma and Grandpa. Ask her to get you the "bear" or the "dog" and she trots over, picks it up and hands it up. Points to pictures and says "Nonna" (grandma) or "Da!" (dad) and even "Ba!" (Bella, the dog)

I've heard "more", "mama", "shoe" and "row row row", when we read and sing Row Row Row Your Boat.

Even at this age, she's starting to accessorize with drapes of necklaces (with supervision!), hats and sunglasses. Would keep them on all day and night if she could. I wonder what's that all about because I am not really a fashionista.

And the mimicking never gets old. Definitely makes me think twice about what I do and say. I've moved off using the "F" word to saying "Foop". Foop is the new "F*&K" in my house.

Yep, so I'm pretty proud of this little one. Growing fast, but growing smart. And I'm pretty sure all mom's say that about their babies, but I can't help but beam over it.

A Genie-ous Tip

We have one of those diaper genies to help mask the butt stink that comes out of our little child. If you have one, you know how fast you can go through a roll of those plastic chargers and they aren't exactly cheap. And well, I'm kind of a cheapskate, so I only use the genie to store poop diapers. The pee dipes go in another garbage can in a plastic shopping bag. So separate your #1 from your #2's and you'll be able to conserve those a little longer.

That's my tip for the day. Of course you could drop all your diapers in the regular garbage can and save yourself the sorting altogether :)

Grassyass.

I am a big fan of aesthetics. Which is why I'm always on the hunt for things that don't scream BABY LIVES HERE AND HAS TAKEN OVER THE HOUSE.  

Things in my world must be practical, but also fun and beautiful for both Mom and Baby. And I love companies that get that concept and have finally started to make things for the home that fit both needs. 

I got REALLY tired of the white, plasticy bottle drying rack that was sitting in our kitchen.  It LOOKED like a bottle drying rack and totally throws off any style I try to keep in the room. 

My favorite baby product company, Boon Inc. came out with a drying rack that fills my need to function and style. It's a grass drying rack. How cute, right? Sure, it was about $20, but it was worth the money and now I can look at my kitchen counter without cringing at the white plastic, double-decker drying rack. Come to think of it, my old drying rack was about $15, so paying $5 more to satisfy my need for some style is definitely worth it.