Trade Offs

Things we spend more money on because I'm pregnant:
* groceries
* eating out
* supplements
* medical care

Things we spend less money on because I'm pregnant:
* heating costs

Things we should be spending more money on but are not:
* clothing
* all the things in this post
* medical care (Have you any idea how cheaply you can have a baby if you don't do it in a hospital?)

Things I'm NOT Registering For, Part II

Yeah, this blog is getting more and more off-topic as the baby gets larger, isn't it? But I consider producing breast milk to be a crafty endeavor.

Food and Me

I have a complicated relationship with food. And the more I learn about food, the more complicated the relationship gets. Back when I knew nothing, I ate whatever I wanted, had pretty bad mood swings, and never really felt right. Over the last two years, I've been learning more about food -- what's in it, what it does once it's in my body, where it comes from. This is thanks in large part to a friend and a book she lent me.

However, I assure you, the more you learn about the Standard American Diet (SAD, for short), the more frustrated you will become. That's if you care, I guess. Some people I talk to don't care. That's frustrating as well.

All this is an intro to the story of what happened to me this last Saturday morning. And it's probably good that I've had a few days to digest it (haha... so to speak). The husband and I were invited to a birthday breakfast for a family member. The scene -- a local restaurant with all the standard breakfast fare. Now, I had been thinking on and off for a week about what I should order at this breakfast. I love breakfast foods, so I was excited. However, I also knew approximately what all was on the menu, so I was also having trouble thinking of something I could both eat and enjoy.

I'm not allergic to any foods, per se. However, choices on the menu involve many of the following, all of which I try to avoid if possible:
*white flour (toast, pancakes, biscuits)
*nitrates and nitrites (bacon, sausage)
*sugar/corn syrup (pancake syrup, jellies)
*MSG (gravy, sausage)
*hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated vegetable oils (margarine, hash browns, and probably anything cooked on the griddle)

However, since it was a special occasion, and I am not perfect, I had decided ahead of time to have French toast, bacon, and an egg -- if the restaurant had peanut butter and honey for me to put on the toast. (I wasn't about to put the pancake syrup on my French toast -- pancake syrup is mostly corn syrup with some artificial maple flavoring. I've never been to a restaurant that offers real maple syrup.)

So, before ordering, I asked the waitress if they had peanut butter and honey. She assured me they did, so I ordered, thinking, "Oh, won't this be tasty! And so much protein!" Well, unfortunately, after I had ordered, but before my food came, the waitress returned with little packs of peanut butter (made with hydrogenated oils, but I was mentally prepared for that), and several packets of this:


What. The. Hell. You serve your customers "honey sauce" when they ask for honey. Seriously?

So when my food arrived, I spread my French toast with peanut butter and sprinkled a little table sugar on it. That's how much I hate corn syrup. Here is the sweetener hierarchy I carry around in my head (ranked best to worst):

Stevia
Agave Nectar
Honey/Maple Syrup
Sucanat
White sugar/brown sugar/powdered sugar
CORN SYRUP.

So then, foiled by a cheap, inconsiderate restaurant supply manager, and helped along by my pregnancy hormones, I fell into a deep funk. At the birthday breakfast. Great.

However, to be perfectly honest, this funk comes upon me pretty much any time I eat with this set of family members. They eat the SAD to a tee -- so much so that I have a hard time finding things to eat when I'm at their house. This makes me sad, because I like them, and I like spending time with them, but so often that time involves food I can't/won't eat. It also makes me sad because I want them to live long lives, filled with happiness and a sense of well-being. And that simply cannot be achieved on the SAD. Even if they don't contract any of the major American diseases (heart disease, diabetes, cancer), they will be forever plagued with weight problems, fatigue, mood swings, digestive problems, chronic colds/allergies, and so many other problems. I see these problems eliminated in my own life when I take charge of my eating habits and don't just let the SAD happen to me.

(I know this is long. If I had written it on Saturday, however, it would be approximately the same length, but all angry rant. Consider yourselves spared.)


If you've read this post and are interested in learning more, here are some good places to start:

Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon and Mary Enig
A blog that explains the basics

Things I'm NOT registering for

Today the husband and I went to Target to officially start our Target baby gift registry. Although I'd rather register for things exclusively online, I know that, realistically, most people who buy me a gift will do so at Target half an hour before my baby shower starts. It's just our way.

So Norman and I wandered around Target, beeping pretty much anything we wanted that could remotely have something to do with Lucy, including season 1 of Spongebob Squarepants, and nitrate-free bacon. But here are some things we did not beep, and do not plan to purchase, register for, or keep in our possession:

*a crib (and thus crib sheets, bumpers, etc.)
*a stroller
*bottles
*pacifiers
*baby wipes
*disposable diapers (beyond perhaps that one small pack for emergencies)
*a baby swing
*shoes for babies who aren't walking yet
*a baby bathtub
*any devise that purports to help the baby learn to walk

I'm sure there are plenty of other things I could list. Oh wait -- I just thought of one: Baby Einstein videos, toys, or CDs. In a complete reversal of the way I live my everyday life, I'm going for minimalism. I'm highly insulted by the amount of crap merchandisers think they can foist onto me just because I'm having a baby. I also have nearly no room in my house for baby things.

Now, let the barrage of comments about why I actually do need one or more of the things on that list begin!

Baby Shower #1

Long time, no blog! (Does anyone read this when I do update it?)

On Saturday the dear ladies of the Oklahoma Etsy Street Team had a team meeting/baby shower for Lucy and me! (Oh, in case you haven't heard, our Bun is a girl named Lucy. She'll be here around the end of April.) Here are some photos from the meeting:

Claudia and Brigid, our fearless leader.


Heather, Jenny's friend, Jenny, and Adrian


Claudia had everyone play a game -- you chew a few pieces of bubble gum, and then use the gum to make a baby sculpture. Then I got to be the judge! :-)



Number 18 won, mostly because I just really wanted someone to make a fetus out of their bubble gum.

I also received a bunch of lovely, handmade gifts! Here they are:

100% cotton crocheted washcloths from Brigid. (I was [still am] going to make myself some!)


Flannel receiving blankets from Heather (not handmade, but ripe for the handmaking, and so cute!).


Zipper pouch from Adrian. She said that even though she knew the baby's a Lucy, she thought the nickname Bun was so cute that she put that instead. I love it!



Cotton/minky washcloths, and a recycled t-shirt burp cloth from Claudia. (The burp cloth is soooooo soft...)

Also, Jenny promised to make me a baby sling. Perfect!

And if this weren't all awesome enough, the meeting/shower took place at an adorable and highly tasty little place in the city called Cuppies and Joe. They make an incredible mocha breve, and delicious cupcakes, and their building is an old Craftsman-style bungalow that is just perfect. Go check them out.

Thanks for putting this together, Claudia!

Deluxe, a recap

This last weekend, I had my big craft show of the season. Its name is Deluxe, and this was its first year. The organizers did a fabulous job of well, organizing and promoting. Crowds were steady, as were my sales (yay!). Selling things always makes for an enjoyable craft fair, but beyond that, it was just plain fun to be in a room with 40 other people who do what I do.

Photos of my booth:







Norman was nice enough to be my brute labor and booth-sitter all day. And he did a bunch of homework.


Me (and Bun)! The Knitting Cowboy is the guy sitting behind me. Also, fun tidbit -- behind me, behind the Cowboy, across the aisle is where the roller derby girls were wrapping presents for donations! We're an eclectic bunch, apparently.

I was privileged to sit across from the girl who won the booth decor contest. She is totally cute. Check out her shop and her blog. I also sat behind the "Knitting Cowboy", as he's come to be known among the Disciples of Etsy. Nice guy. He raises his own sheep, and then spins and dyes their wool. Talk about DIY!

So, all in all, a great Saturday. Those of you who failed to show up for whatever reason totally missed out. Not to fear, though! The organizers are already whispering about a Spring Deluxe! (Which I will most likely not be vending at -- Bun is due to escape in the spring.) But you should go anyway!

The Giving of the Thanks

This year for Thanksgiving we went up to Minnesota to visit the 'rents and the brothers and the future sister-in-law and the nephew. (Whew!)

So, as we all know, I blog better in pictures, so here we go:

Norman at a Steak n Shake in Kansas. Oh. my. gosh. I had been looking forward to eating there for at least a month. Sooo good. Hamburger (with the crispy edges!), cheese fries, and a (small) chocolate malt. Yum.

Also, gotta jump in here and tell you about the thing I should have taken a photo of, but didn't. FAIL.
We stopped in Emporia, KS, in order to buy Braum's eggnog to take with us. And we got a little lost (Google maps FAIL), and ended up wandering through town (it's pretty cute, actually). On our way through town I saw a Wendy's sign. The moveable letters said "Closed for Remodel". And I looked over at where the Wendy's building should have been, and there was nothing. Nothing but a plot of dirt. I laughed and laughed. Remodel indeed.



The fam around the table. All the best, traditional Mindeman foods. Sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, sticky rolls, and cherry jello (but in tiny fancy glasses! with Cool Whip!).


My mom and my nephew Connor. (I started calling her Grandma by the end of the week. Weird.)

This, believe it or not, is the best of the SIX photos I took of the two of them. Dad kept making faces.

This is my parents' Christmas tree this year. It's like they just... gave up. It's precisely as depressing as it was on Charlie Brown.


Norman, Mom, Henry, and I went thrift storing in Mankato on Saturday. Henry found this elf/gnome, and he and Norman decided to takes menacing photos of him. Then Henry bought him, named him "Green Man", and took him home.


This was the view outside our bedroom window the morning we left to go home. Norman said he would have been disappointed if there was no snow. So, Norman, this snow's for you.


And this is the pile of things I had to ship out when we got back. Going out of town for 5 days around the busiest shopping day of the year -- not the best idea ever.

"Virtual Trunk Show" ...Huh?

What the heck is a virtual trunk show? Well, it's actually quite exciting and high-tech. A regular old trunk show is where a seller, or two, or five, or ten, get together at a physical location and show off their wares. Sometimes there's wine and cheese or what have you. Usually there's a sale. It's kind of like an open house, but it's usually at a storefront, and it's usually more than one person.

A virtual trunk show is where a bunch of sellers get together at a specific place on the internet to show off their wares. Which is exactly what the Etsy Trashion Team is doing this Friday. Yep, Friday. Black Friday. Although we prefer to call it Green Friday. Save your gasoline, stay home, and buy from Etsy Trashion sellers. We make stuff out of reused materials! Yay! That makes them super green and super one-of-a-kind. Double win!




You can just hop on over to the Etsy Virtual Labs on Friday at 7pm (Eastern), and you'll see the announcement for the Trashion Trunk Show. Just click on in, hang out, here us give our spiels, and take advantage of our sales! Oh, and did I mention there will be door prizes? Yep, prizes. Plural. Woot!

Where I Am

I'm thinking a few dollars spent on size 16 thrift store pants sounds like the wisest path. Maybe I should go do that right now.

Spiced Apple Cider recipe

The open house was on Thursday evening. It was fun! I was glad to accomplish my goal, as described previously, to share what I do with people I care about.

Unfortunately, in my frazzled attempt to set up everything and be outgoing, I completely forgot to take photos. Oops. So instead of photos, you get the recipe for the spiced cider I served. This is an oldie but a goody from my grandmother.


Hot spiced cider

You need a coffee pot. A big one. (I got my older one for $2 at a thrift store. You don't have to pay an arm and a leg.) Into it you will pour 1 1/2 gallons of apple cider (which you can find at any grocery store in the fall -- NOT apple juice). Into the basket of your giant coffee pot, you will place the following:

2 teaspoons whole cloves
2 teaspoons whole allspice
2-3 sticks cinnamon
1 unpeeled lemon, sliced thin
1/2 cup sugar

You will then plug in the giant coffee pot and let it do its percolating thing. Then you drink it (after you blow on it a little).

(TWSS)