Babby Semiversary

The Babby (AKA, Baby Lucy) turned six months old yesterday. That's right, in just six months, she's gone from looking like this:


To looking like this:


She's got the rocking/lunging thing down, so crawling is quite imminent, I fear. She was very skinny for the longest time, but she has slowly but surely developed some nice, healthy baby chub around the thighs and face. Yay! As of yesterday, her stats are 16 pounds, and 27 inches long.

Yesterday also marked six months of (near)exclusive breastfeeding for me. I'm pretty sure I deserve presents. OK, not really. I'm just doing my job, and it hasn't been that bad. Here's to another six months of breastfeeding and beyond!

(What's that you say? "What does '(near)exclusive breastfeeding' mean?" Oh yes. For the last two weeks or so, we've been putting Lucy in her highchair at dinner and giving her some of whatever we're eating, so long as it is not a grain and won't make her choke. Sunday she actually swallowed some banana! She's still not a real big fan of these funny-tasting toys. But that's OK! We've got all the time in the world...)


So yeah, I'd say we're getting along.

Garbatrage, October 2009, Week 3

Welcome to Garbatrage, Week 3!

We found some pretty good stuff this week, even though we only went out on Friday evening. Without further ado, the goods:


Microwave stand type thing. Yes, I picked this thing up and fit it in our trunk. Rawr.



Ya know what I see a lot of? Besides TVs and (usually) commodes? Baskets and flower vases. You should probably not ever give these to people as gifts. They will wind up in the garbage.


Incomplete power tool set.


Rack for boiling water bath canning. I've been reading this book, so I'll probably keep this.


Cool, right? There are four of these. I can't decide how many to keep.


(Again, don't know what's up with some of these photos.) OK, here's the best stuff. Yes, that is a Rugrats puzzle. There were some really crappy puzzles mixed in with these puzzles:

(There's like a little glowing halo around these -- can you see it?) None of these are missing pieces. And there are two number ones. Fabulous. I'm going to make each one its own drawstring bag so we can at least pretend to keep the pieces with their puzzles.

That box also had these (incomplete alphabet puzzle pieces with no board = crafts!)

And these (a wooden, magnetic farm!).


I'm quite sorry to report that once again, there were no commodes. Alright, City of Norman, that is it! I expect to find at least 6 tonight to make up for it! You're on notice.

Garbatrage, October 2009, Week 2

Welcome to Garbatrage, Week 2. (Sorry about the lack of posts last week -- just couldn't find the time.)

We managed to hit up the town both Friday evening and Saturday morning last week, which explains all the commodes (see below). Apparently people do have some sense of propriety, and wait to set toilets on their lawns until right before the trucks come by to take them away.

Here's the haul:


Several boxes of books and office supplies...



...out of which I saved several old books (for journals), some ledger paper, and a vibrating metal engraver! (I don't know why these photos are doing this... Just turn your head sideways.)

I also put about $80 worth of the books on half.com anf already sold two of them.


Toy lawn mower (for garage sale). Also, a toy xylophone, which I would keep, except that 1.) It somehow is broken in such a way as to be out of tune and therefore plays a minor scale (creepy), and 2.) I want to keep the toy noise level down as long as I can possibly manage.

I also found a little pull toy telephone (like this) that I'm really excited about. Hello, birthday present! But it's already hidden away, so I forgot to take a photo of it.


Never know when you might need these...


Not for our kid...


I found more tiny plant pots than I could ever know what to do with. These should certainly get me started in the spring, wouldn't you say?


We also found these, and since we couldn't fit them in the car, we took a picture of them instead.

OK, now the good stuff -- Commodes!



Now with bonus scummy shower door!




[To see all the commodes collect over the course of two and a half years, see here.]

Lucy's Christmas Stocking

I realized several days ago in a panic that Lucy needed a Christmas stocking. I hadn't thought about this fact for approximately 5 months. Yipe! My brain kicked into high gear and got right to designing, and then cutting, and then sewing, and before I knew it I had this:


This is very different from what I imagined her stocking would look like while I was pregnant with her. I thought I'd go with some sort of cutter quilt type thing, but now that I know Lucy, that just wasn't going to work. I decided on "girlified denim", as I'm calling it, because I think it's kinda timeless, not too young, not too grown up, not too boyish, not too girly.


While I was making it, I was thinking about its possibilities. This is Lucy's Christmas stocking. Hopefully she'll like it, and it will be the only one she will ever need. I thought about my Mom's Christmas stocking, which her grandmother made for her. She's had the same one for 40-some-odd years, and I suppose she'll have it until she dies. Then one of us will have it. I hope my grandchildren have to decide what to do with this stocking after their grandmother joins us in Heaven.


The lining is made from the gown I wore when I gave birth to Lucy. My mom gave it to me for my wedding. I didn't know what had happened to it after the birth, but when I asked the midwives, they said they had it. They don't throw things away, apparently. That's nice. I was afraid it was gone. They washed it, but it was still a little stained. But ya know what? It was childbirth. I kinda saw that coming. I've been saving the gown, trying to think of something I could make out of it for Lucy that she could keep forever. Eureka!

Garbatrage, October 2009, Week 1

Garbatrage 2009 has begun.

Here's our haul from this last weekend (Brookhaven and surrounding neighborhoods). We went out Friday evening, but not Saturday morning. I had a slight cold, and the neighborhood's not really the best for curb shopping.



Some baskets, a cooler, and (to Norman's great delight) tiny orange traffic cones.



Some 3-ring binders, a muffin tin, and other miscellany.



A box of books (I saved out Mr. Popper's Penguins, Ramona Forever, and a beat up hardback copy of Huck Finn.



Two large boxes of clothes. This photo is of the clothes, washed and dried, which will be garage saled (garage sold?).



Here's what I've saved out for Lucy from the boxes of clothes. (I was also able to give a few pieces to a friend for her kids -- part of what I love about garbatrage!) And, oh my gosh, that tiny purple floral? Corduroy overalls! Adorable!



A box of craft supply-types, out of which I saved...



A nice stack of envelopes



And awesome argyle thank you cards!

Alas, not a commode in sight! Apparently people in Brookhaven are too fastidious to leave old toilets on their lawns. Boo hiss.

You can read about previous garbatrage exploits here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.

Bonus Adorable Babby Photo!

At one point we had to stop, park, and feed the babby. Daddy held her up so she could burp, but she wanted to do a little more than that. ::sniff:: They grow up so fast...

If you want more of this (photos of trash, tales of found toilets, adorable Babbies), subscribe to the feed, would ya?

Extreme Makeover: Freezer Edition

I recently acquired a large amount of meat. And turkey broth. The meat came from my mother-in-law and an Angel Food order. The turkey broth came from some of the meat from my mother-in-law. So I'd just been throwing stuff in there whichever way it would fit. Not good, my friends. Don't ever do this.

So in order to cook and grocery shop efficiently, I decided it was time to reorganize. I also didn't have anywhere to put the turkey broth, which I made because I didn't have anywhere to put a whole turkey. Oops.


Between my kitchen table and the extra card table I set up for the occasion, everything was out of the freezer and in plain view. I wrote down everything and then put it all back, but better. Much better stacking. Much better use of door rack space. And somewhere to put my broth.


Hopefully I will remember to actually scratch things off the inventory as I use them. Ha. Probably not.


(And yes, I realize this post is much less compelling than it would have been with before shots. Again, oops.)

Turkey Broth

Remember last Friday when I told you I'd share a blog post about the broth you're supposed to be making with your leftover turkey Karkass? Well, this is it, people. Pay attention.

So you roasted your turkey. (It was easy like I said it would be, right?) And you saved the carcass and the giblets because I told you to. Well now you're gonna want to do the following (this recipe is loosely based on the one from Nourishing Traditions):

1.) Get the biggest pot you can find.

"Not like practical joke big..."

2.) Put in it the carcass and giblets, a couple splashes of white vinegar, and fill it almost to the top with cold water. Let sit at room temperature for half an hour. (I promise this makes the broth way better than if you heat it straight off.)

3.) Bring to a boil. Meanwhile, chop up some carrots, an onion, and some celery if you have it. After everything has come to a boil, skim off all that foamy gunk from the top. Add your veggies and maybe a couple of bay leaves.

4.) Turn the pot down to a simmer and leave it there, covered, for at least 6 hours, up to 24. (At least that's what Sally Fallon says -- I've personally never left it longer than 10.) If you have an electric range, feel free to leave your house and come back later.


5.) Turn off the heat and let the broth cool a bit. Then take ya some kitchen tongs and pull out all the big pieces of stuff and throw them away. Strain the liquid into a bowl (or in my case this time, two bowls and a pot). Store in fridge overnight.


[Batman villain's fridge?]

6.) Go to sleep and dream of tasty soups.

7.) In the morning, take your bowls out of the fridge and skim the congealed fat off the tops. (When you use a carcass for making broth, you will have very little fat. If you boil a whole chicken or something, there will be a lot more. In that case, you should save the fat for sauteing things in.)

8.) Measure the broth out and store in jars, tupperware, or ziplocks. Freeze, or store in fridge and use within a couple days. (I put 2 cups in a container so it can substitute for a can of broth -- mostly in ziplocks, because they will lay flat in my freezer and subsequently defrost quickly.)


You may also want to pour some into ice cube trays. Then you'll have little bits of broth for throwing into skillet meals or sauces (like the cheesy white sauce).

[My freezer, newly reorganized. Blog post to come.]

Broth is good for all sorts of things, but I mainly use it for soups, white sauces, and for cooking rice in. I also took a bag of broth cubes with me to give birth. Norman threw a few at a time in a mug and warmed them up for me. Yum!