I wish I had known

prior to getting pregnant that, a few months after having a baby, your hair falls out. 

And not just like a few strands.

Gobs and gobs of hair.

Apparently we don't lose hair while pregnant like we do while not with child, in my opinion so that, while the hormones are regulating after birth, our personal summer of hot flashes can be made oh so worse with hair plastered to our face. And then it all starts coming out. I didn't believe it could happen to me. And then it did.

Left-brain was suitably grossed-out. Apparently, explaining that it's hormones doesn't work as well for hair as it did when I was sitting in the camper 10 days post-partum, crying because the book I was reading was really sad (an experience I NEVER hope to duplicate, I was wailing, y'all). Or else they should have covered it in the discharge speech--he understands baby blues, not red hair all over everywhere.

And now, all that hair is growing out, and looking horrible. I haven't had a haircut in 17 months--I didn't feel like explaining to the hairdresser that I couldn't get my hair dyed because the doctor said not to, and why have a pretty cut if it's half grey? But I have bangs at the side of my hairline--not in the middle, that's growing and flowing, my legit bangs are past my chin. I look awful. I have plans though--this is not staying this way, no, m'ams and messieurs.

I am going to pull out my sewing machine tomorrow. I ran up to Joann's to get sewing thread for it. Someone Small came with me--it was her first experience sitting in the shopping chart without being in her carseat. I put aside my germ fears, strapped her in, and we proceeded around the store. I often wonder how things look from her perspective and how she thinks about things--she looked at everything so hard, even the cashier.  She just stared at her, occasionally sucking on her pacifier like a little Maggie Simpson-girl. LOL.  I told the girl, "She's usually not like this." So my plan is to take it out, run the needle through an old onesie of hers that is too disreputable to wear anymore to get the oil off and try some finishing. This may be a slow process--bear with me.

Photo fun . . . and a recipe.

Told you I finished something!  I have had this rolling around my UFO pile for the last two years. I am so happy it's finished. I've always really liked this design, and decided the Crazy January challenge 2011 was the perfect time to commit to it.  After the designer for Primitive Needle passed away so tragically that same year, I dedicated it to her--I still feel so awful about the way she was taken. But then life took over, and this, along with the rest of the Crazy January starts, fell along the wayside.   But now it's done, and really, when it comes down to it, this is a pretty good message for the way my life has been going lately--we just gotta keep going and hope for the best.

This is my problem child. This was kitted up by my LNS, and I don't have enough floss to finish it. I can pull the DMC from my stash, but the hand-dyed floss is another question. Even if I were to go back to the LNS and complain, the kit is from 2008, and matching the floss would be a problem. I'm just adapting the design as I can. And I am annoyed. This was not a cheap little kit. It's very cute though, so I am hoping I can finish it and not make it look too bad.  Wish me luck.

I don't know if I've posted this before, but I wanted to share a recipe that is part of my family's Easter celebrating . . . glorified rice. My gramma learned this recipe from her grandmother, and I've been trying to research where it came from, because so many of my gramma's recipes were, "til it taste me good", and it's hard to quantify how to make them. It's the one recipe that does not seem to be on the Internet, though, because I can find recipes that are close, but none that are exactly the same. It's not ambrosia, it's not rice pudding, it's glorified rice . . . and it's heavenly. So I wanted to share.

The ingredients: (yes, I use store brand for the most part. I do use name-brand vanilla, Penzey's to be precise. To me, it's the Ferrari of vanillas, but if you don't have it, use your favorite)

4 cups of instant rice, prepared per package instructions.

1 medium can of crushed pineapple, drained

1/2 C of sugar

1/2 t vanilla

medium container of heavy whipping cream

Combine the rice, sugar, and pineapple while the rice is still warm. It melds together a lot better that way.

I have seen recipes that use pineapple juice, not pineapple, and lemon jello, but I can't imagine how that would taste, plus it always makes me amazed that, in the early 1900s, in the hollers of Western Pennsylvania, my great-great-grandmother had access to and money for crushed pineapple. This was truly a special dish if she had that for her family.

When mixed, pour the cream over it and add the vanilla. You can use a little more or a little less depending on your preference. I have adapted it to be less sweet than my gramma's way because Left-brain won't eat it when it's too sweet, and you get enough calories from the cream. It's going to look soupy, but it goes in the fridge to "draw through" and thickens up.

This was a photo I took of the finished product. I love to eat that first bowl while it's still warm and yummy. It just doesn't photograph well. But it tastes, well, divine.



Katie "helped" me make it; she sat on the floor, banging pan lids while the water boiled for the rice. It's not fancy food, not to a modern palate, but it's good, and it's home food to me.

So that's all i have for tonight. I hope your weekend is going well. They are calling for snow on Monday here. Not sure if they're going to be right--the forecasters are started to laugh at their own ineptitude at this point. But Easter means spring is here and it has to warm up sometime.

In case you haven't seen it

Cross Eyed Cricket re-released the freebie, Slicker Bunny, on their site:

Go here, then to "gift design" to get your copy of it, while it's still out there.


I'm getting through, here in Crazyville. The time change has really been kicking my patootie. That and a new effort to try to get Someone Small to go to bed at a normal hour--she's been staying up til 10 or 11 on a weeknight and does not want to sleep in her own crib. I am so jealous of people who say their baby goes to bed at 7:30 and sleeps all night--what is THAT like, do you know what I could get done with all that time? 5:30 comes early enough as it is, without spending the evening trying to convince her she really is sleepy, so we're starting a new effort to get her in bed by 9, in her own bed. So far, it's going OK, but still, it's going to take some time to get her used to it.

I have been working on a couple things since finishing No Scaredy Cats. I started Told In a Garden's Simple Gifts the next day, and work on that when I get a chance, which is not often, but also picked up the photo-to-chart image of the baby's hand holding my finger. I'd wanted to get it done by her first birthday, but I don't think that is going to happen, since I am not even finished the first page, but if not, I'll get it done by her second birthday. Debbie did a fantastic job charting it, I can already tell you what it is and there isn't that much done. And I started an older freebie my LNS kitted up for my March ornament for the Christmas ornament SAL. I think it's called Winter Moon. I've had to alter the design, since my LNS did not include enough green floss to finish both of the little trees in the design--it just makes it more personal. It's a big ornament, but that's OK, you have to have something for the bottom of the tree, right? 

I have two days off next week. On Friday, we're taking the baby for her 9 month pictures--can you believe she is 9 months old already?--but Thursday, I am planning on spending what time I can finishing ornaments. I think I may get the sewing machine out tomorrow to get it ready and figure out how to use it to maximize my time.

Other than that, not much going on. I am spending a lot of time on Pinterest, finding things I want to do. I like looking at the DIY projects, even though the holiday ones can make me feel woefully inadquate, but I am pinning them more as inspiration. I already have this great vision of white lanterns with red candles in them lining our walk next holiday season . . . and the wreath ideas! Left-brain has masses of old Christmas balls that his first wife bought to decorate their tree, ostensibly til they had enough of the personal ones to fill the tree (and I'll admit, I have done that too for my little tree, I just choose not to use them anymore), and we don't use them, so we just have a box of random Christmas balls that need to be refreshed and reused and I now have some ideas.

If you would like to follow me, welcome to my Pinterest world! And I would love to follow you!