'Poo Free

After reading this blog post ... and this one ... and this one ... and after realizing that this might better for my child and if I'm going to put it on her head I should really try it myself ... I decided to try going 'poo free. TRY. I was really hoping it would work for her but dubious and I would convert. I love the lather of shampoo. And the smell. And I knew that baking soda and water and apple cider vinegar would give me neither. At least not the smell I was wanting. And, honestly, vainly, I didn't want to deal with the greasy hair transition. But, amazingly (because I tend to have greasy hair), I didn't have to. My hair's fine. No grease. No transition. Weird. What did I notice? Clean hair. Softer hair. A little more body. And (this is the only negative) a faint scent of apple cider vinegar. Boo. According to my husband, apple cider vinegar is one of the worst smells in the world. His hell would smell like apple cider vinegar. So that's a problem for us. But then, just before writing this, I read this blog post. Not only do I like her "Simple Method" idea, because the soda mixture in a bottle would be more accessible than mine in the cup, but I like the idea of adding a cinnamon stick and maybe some essential oil to the rinse. Some friends had already suggested essential oil so that was on my grocery list anyway, but a cinnamon/something woody combination sounds kinda nice. I can't do vanilla, too sweet. I suppose I'll decide when I'm looking at all my choices :-) Update to follow soon.

Menu Plan Monday

The last few weeks have been a bit disorganized in the kitchen. With the end of school, a mini vacation, and the beginning of summer and our mad attempt at sorting everything for a garage sale this weekend, my menus have been forgotten ... resulting in less time in the kitchen (which I have, surprisingly, enjoyed), more money spent on groceries (boo), and a little more laissez-faire approach to mealtimes (which, for the most part, has been pleasant). But we're back to it this week. More routine is needed. And less money spent is always good. I've even got some wheat berry sprouts and a new sourdough mother starter on my counter again. It's nice to be home :)

Monday
B: scramble, toast, coffee
L: leftover curry chicken salad, apple
D: moroccan lamb sausage, corn on the cob, salad
Prep: tend wheat sprouts, feed sourdough, start yogurt @4, soak/sprout beans

Tuesday - Strawberry Jam Day!
B: scramble, toast, coffee
L: tuna melts, veggies w/hummus
D: black bean/zucchini quesadilla w/tomatoes & creme fraiche
Prep: make strawberry jam, apple sauce, granola (what an afternoon in the kitchen!), dry sprouts, feed sourdough

Wednesday
B: quiche, toast, coffee
L: leftover quesadilla fixings
D: pizza, salad
Prep: make quiche crust & pizza crust, feed sourdough

Thursday
B: leftover quiche, toast, coffee
L: leftover pizza, salad
D: date night
Prep: start defrosting ground beef for Saturday, make bread

Friday
B: leftover quiche
L: tuna melts, carrots
D: dinner @ the coast
Prep: bake cupcakes for Sat park party, start quinoa sprouts

Saturday - Garage Sale Day!
B: scramble, toast, coffee
L: leftovers picnic
D: bday dinner w/fam-burgers, chips, potato salad, fruit, homemade ice cream
Prep: prep stuff for park party & dinner during garage sale

Sunday
B: Turkish poached eggs w/homemade bread, coffee
L: roast chicken, salad, bread
D: quinoa/chicken salad, veggies

Feels good :-)

Check out other MPM menus here.

Melodies

Last weekend we got a great gift. A friend loaned us their cabin outside Sisters, Oregon. It was lovely and peaceful, probably the most relaxing vacation we've been on since Riley was born. So refreshing.
There was a piano in the corner of the main room, and Riley was soon pointing us over there regularly. Many of you know that we have a piano, but a combination of business and laziness has caused it to be buried underneath books, papers, computer disks, and many other less important things. Plus it's in our study, which Riley rarely visits. And thus, she has only played our piano a handful of times. So this was a treat.
She loved touching the keys lightly, then pounding them and squealing. She'd catch our eyes with a twinkle in her own as she made her own little melodies. For a musical mama and papa, it was pretty heart-warming to watch out little Bean make her own little music. We chimed in with some on-the-spot lyrics, which, as you can probably guess, Ryan is pretty good at (good=entertaining). Soon I was both singing and laughing. Fun moments.

Waiting for Dad

Our windows are perfect height for Riley. She loves standing there to watch cars, birds, walkers, dogs, trees sway in the breeze, and her dad come home from work.

Jewelry Board

In this month's Real Simple, there's a section on organizing according to your personality. By personality, they mean "right brained" vs. "left brained" people. On almost every right brain/left brain test I've taken, I come down pretty much right in the middle. That would explain why I'm in almost constant conflict between wanting to check things off on my list and wanting to just sit down and relax make something. Last weekend the right side won and I made something. (The idea, let's connect this back to the beginning, was from Real Simple. An idea for a right-brainer, in fact.)
I started with a frame, $2.75 from Goodwill.

And some sale fabric from Joann's, $1.50.

And some Glazier's Points from TrueValue Hardware, $1something I think.

And some leftover cork board from another project.

And a messy dresser.

With an especially messy jewelry section.

And I ended with this!

And a much nicer dresser space :)

First, I removed the picture and fixed the cork board to the glass using mounting tape. Then, I covered the cork board with the fabric, taping it to the back of the glass using packing tape (there's probably a better way to do this step, but this way worked for me. Last, because the back of the picture had been nailed into the frame, I used the Glazier's Points to secure the glass back into the frame. And voila! Not so bad for about $5 and an hour of my Saturday.

Menu Plan Monday

Or rather, Menu Plan (Late) Monday ... but it's better than not at all. That was last week.

Monday
B: eggs, toast
L: chicken curry salad
D: pizza, salad

Tuesday
B: baked oatmeal w/yogurt & apple sauce
L: chicken curry salad
D: quiche, toast
Prep: make granola

Wednesday
B: baked oatmeal
L: quiche, toast
D: burgers, salad, fries
Prep: make bread

Thursday
B: baked oatmeal
L: quiche, toast
D: date night, picnic?
Prep: shopping list for trip to Sisters, start prep

Friday
B: scramble, toast
L: sandwich, salad
D: bbq @ friends
Prep: prep food for trip

Trip food will be planned ... later :-)

Redonkulous

If you've read Freakonomics: The Hidden Side of Everything (and liked it, I guess), then you'll enjoy his blog to. Being a logophiliac (is that a real word or did I just make it up by combining a couple roots?), I enjoyed this post and thought I'd pass it along.
Redonkulous huh?