Freezing Bagels

I really like bagels, but I don't have them too often. I've tried making them before, but they are really a lot of work- maybe even more than making doughnuts. Not only do you have to make/knead the dough, let it rise, shape them and let them rise again, but then you have to boil them and bake them- cooking them twice. So every once in a while, I will buy a bag of bagels which cost 3-4 dollars for only 6. That's even more than bread, and I can get a lot more slices in a bag of bread. But when I saw them selling for only 75 cents a bag, I stocked up. How do I keep so many bagels fresh to use later? I freeze them.

Rockiness

I love to go on walks and am always interested in all the strange things that are growing or some wierd insect or cool frog. We moved about a year ago and when we first were moving here, I thought all the rockiness was really ugly. But I've really changed my mind about that and have just found that it's a different kind of beauty. 

Homemade Laundry Detergent

Since I use cloth diapers, I actually go through quite a bit of laundry detergent to keep them clean. I had known others who made their own laundry detergent, but never tried it until today. It's actually really easy to make and doesn't take very many ingredients. My sister sent me her recipe on how she makes it and I also did my own research online to see what other people recommended. There are lots of different ways to do it.

Learning the Alphabet with Playdough

 I've been getting excited thinking about homeschooling. Obviously with my oldest being only 20 months, I may be getting a bit ahead of myself. But I decided that if he is capable of recognizing that a word that I say is associated with a physical item like "blanket" or "cookie" (which he is), then he would probably be able to begin associating a shape with a sound, such as the letter "a" with the sound it makes. I don't expect him to make leaps and bounds in reading, but I figure I can go ahead and be teaching him in play and whatever he happens to pick up is great.

Yesterday we did the letter "a" with play dough.

Making a Polyester Maxi Skirt

 I really enjoyed the outcome of this project and found it to be fairly quick to put together. I made the length a little long for me, but thought it might be nice if I left it long for pregnancy too, to wear above my belly.

Frozen Sliced Bread

 I know I've done a few posts now about freezing things, but it really does make my life easier if I can make things ahead of time and have it ready. 

I used to try not to buy or make bread too often because it would sometimes start growing mold before we ate it all. But since I started freezing presliced bread, I don't have that problem anymore.

Homemade Cloth Diaper Inserts

I recently acquired a serger and have been enjoying trying it out for the first time by sewing together some cloth diaper inserts.

Spring is in the Air

It's amazing how one day can make such a difference on a plant in the spring.

Schleich

We love to buy Schleich toys for our son. They are made by a German company and are hand crafted and hand painted. The detail and likeness to real life animals is incredible.

When we were first looking into these toys we weren't too sure about them because many toys are made with plastics that have toxic softeners in them. We wrote to the company to ask them what they use to make their toys out of.