Marla Anson Photography

Saturday, January 12, 2013

Double Sided Needles

I'm starting my first knitting project using not only double sided needles, but needles that are this small, a size 2. This will be my first pair of socks as well. I have used double sided needles to finish other projects before, but this will be the first time using them for an entire project. We'll see how this goes.

I also started another baby blanket last night. Light blue and pink are the colors for this one.

Counting By Tens

Posterous was having some problems this past week and I wasn't able to post this until now. This is Tmoe on Wednesday, learning to count by tens using some very realistic looking play ten dollar bills. Trent is funny because he has the hardest time remembering the word ten, and keeps calling this "10" seven. If he looks at this "7" he will say seven, but he just has the darndest time remembering that "10" is ten. We'll get there, it'll just take some practice!

He's also a little bit frustrated with school work because we took a long break for the holidays. He wants to start over from scratch on everything. I told him we won't be doing that because every curriculum we are using implements plenty of review along the way!

I Do Stuff I Find On Pinterest - Stopping Using Campbells Cream-Of Soups

I've been avoiding a lot of recipes I find that call for a can of Campbell's cream soups. Campbell's has such crap put into their soups. I feel like I'm missing out on a bunch of really great recipes as a result. I found this recipe on pinterest ages ago and was going to try making it over the Summer (but then I broke my foot...) Since I'm sort of getting my life back in order right now, I'm starting to do the pinterest experiments again, and I assembled this one tonight!

I will update with the outcome of these experiments, but the idea is to make a simple dry mix that you can use in place of Campbell's soup when a recipe calls for it. I made one according to the original recipe (almost). I also made another special one. I have a friend who has a child that has a lot of food allergies. Believe me, when I say a lot, it's an understatement. She has enough on her mind because she has two other kids besides the one with allergies. I'm always looking for ways to cook gluten-free anyway, so I'm giving some experimentation a shot here in hopes that I can find a way to make my friend's life a little easier.

The batch I followed the recipe for has a chicken bouillon base, the other has a vegetable bouillon base. The veggie base is gluten-free, msg and sodium free. I mixed that one up in hopes I will have good results using milk alternatives. First I'm going to try with almond milk and then I'm going to try with coconut milk and see which tastes better. If neither of them work, well the experiment didn't go so well. I'm hoping it does though. I read through almost all of the comments on the original article to try and find a way to make this work for my friend. Keep your fingers crossed, folks!

I Do Stuff I Find on Pinterest - Positive Reinforcement

Here's another Pinterest find that I have implemented. We only just started it within the past week and I'm already noticing a difference in my children's behavior. The concept is simple. If you notice your child doing something good, you add a pom-pom to their jar! Then they get something good. I'm finding my children already trying harder at things. I don't ALWAYS give them a pom-pom for good behavior, just when I think they have been exceptionally good!

Wednesday, January 9, 2013

I Do Stuff I Find On Pinterest

Yes, I actually do stuff that I find on Pinterest. Usually it's just recipes, but today I started the jar you're supposed to open on New Year's Eve. You write down only good stuff that happens to you through out the year on scraps of paper and throw them in the jar. On December 31, you read them all so you remember the good times you had. We'll see if I can actually stay on top of this little project.