Evaluation and adjustment

The wool (cashmere!) diaper covers are working well, even at night-time. Most of them have shrunk further with washing, but they all still fit.

Previously. I kept my sewing machine in the dining room, so I could sew at the table while keeping an eye on everything. Now, about the only times I can sew are when I happen to wake up especially early, or during my designated Introvert Time, so it makes more sense to put the machine in my room in the basement, which is far from the bedrooms. I can leave everything set up in there so it is ready to go. I have some low-priority sewing projects that I am kicking myself for not chugging through before the baby was born.

The neighbors gave us a coffee table left over from their yard sale. I did a (relatively) quick refinishing of the top with Danish oil left over from the armchair project...it's not perfect, but it's much better. I am thinking of painting the lower part with some old paint samples, mixed together, which would reduce the visual weight of the wood finish, and harmonize its reddish color with the rest of the living room.

A little elbow grease

I had a few free minutes in which to tackle the gorilla handprints on the dropped ceiling panels in my little room in the basement. (You'd think even a gorilla would notice that he is leaving prints, after one or two, or eight, panels, and go wash his hands at the sink ten steps away. No, he had to leave his mark on all of them.) The panels look like they have been painted before, so painting them again could be an option, but the worst of the grime came off with a little scrubbing with warm water, and the rest is hard to see in the glare of the fluorescent light.

How to get things done with a baby

Really, it boils down to two steps:

1.  Admit that it's practically impossible to get anything done while caring for a young baby.

2.  Then go on and do what you can, when you can, anyway.

Small, focused efforts will add up, over time. My current project is catching up on weeding around the yard, after several weeks of no one doing anything. I've hoed and pulled weeds with my toes while babywearing, and have hand weeded during a couple of nap times. Not much time, but the yard is starting to look a lot better.

More diaper covers for the HE washer

My mother-in-law saw some of the diaper covers that I made from scrap cashmere, and got excited about making more, from her stash of secondhand cashmere. She borrowed back her sewing machine that she had given me, and went crazy for a couple of days, emerging with a stack of very nice covers (which are also called soakers). She sewed in the tops of old wool socks for most of the leg openings, added ties so that the elasticized waists can be reduced or enlarged, lined some of them with additional cashmere, and used scrap cashmere to do cute little appliques.

Baby time

I've once again managed to birth an embarrassingly large baby, an embarrassingly long time after the so-called "due date", after an embarrassingly easy (relatively easy, that is) labor.

The last room in the house

I got tired of sitting around in various degrees of pre-labor, and made an unsuccessful search among my husband's boxes of stuff for the one box of yarn, planning to knit a dishcloth. Blocked in that direction, I started thinking about what I could do with "my" room:  a windowless mostly-finished room in the basement with a very low dropped ceiling and a gas meter; the least attractive room in the house. I have a few of my few things in there, but spend very little time in it. Most of my craft supplies and tools have migrated upstairs, so I can work while watching children. But with the hotter weather, the basement has become more attractive.

I started with a couple of "How can I make this prettier and work better?" tweaks; getting the yards of phone cord and coaxial cable that came with the tiny closet off the floor, so I could put my homemade concrete weights in there; putting the handful of books in the crate that I have for a small bookshelf; bringing down a few more craft books. Our old rocker was a Problem upstairs, so it is in there now. This led to thinking about having a desk or a table to sit at, and to realizing that there was no reason not to make one....

I started by sitting in the rocker, at various tilts, with a tape measure to see exactly how high I wanted the table to be...the advantage of being able to customize something perfectly to your own needs is not one to be given up lightly.

After some scrounging in the garage and basement, I found a piece of scrap plywood from one of my husband's projects for a table top, and lengths of wood from the lumber motherlode for table legs. I simply joined them with screws, which is a rather wobbly way to do it, but it will be easy to disassemble for the next move. I can add more structure later, if I want. The table is not for heavy crafting; there is a workbench in the utility room next door for that. I sanded the top, and then rubbed in some paraffin wax from an old candle for a subtle finish (violin fingerboards are finished with paraffin in this way); I need to repeat this as I missed some spots. Then I painted the legs (which are rough, weathered cedar) with the same free latex paint from the hazardous waste center that I used on the dresser that is in there.

So the space is quickly being transformed. I have a short list of other things to find or make, for it to be fully functional. Then I want to do something about the panels in the dropped ceiling, which for some reason are covered in grimy handprints.

A simple start in the kitchen: recipes

I learned to cook and bake from helping my grandma in the kitchen, from experimenting at home on Friday Serve-Yourself nights (when my mother refused to cook), from working in church and camp kitchens, and from cookbooks. Now my children are learning how to get around in the kitchen.

Here are some of my core frugal recipes. Abbreviations:  C for cup, T for tablespoon, tsp for teaspoon.  I buy yeast in bulk at the co-op (for around $6 per pound), so I generally skip the "proofing" step in making yeast breads, as I know that it is alive and will activate. "Cocoa powder" means baking cocoa, not hot cocoa mix. In place of baking powder I often use 1 part baking soda to 2 parts cream of tartar, when I can buy the cream of tartar in bulk.

On my own recipe cards, I write the baking temperature and pan size at the top, because preheating the oven and getting the pan ready is what I actually do first in baking.

These are mostly baking recipes, because baking requires more precise and definite recipes, while stovetop cooking is usually much more flexible in terms of ingredients and techniques. I'd advise getting a good basic cookbook (such as an older edition of The Joy of Cooking) that teaches the techniques of cooking and baking, in particular:  how to select and cook meats and vegetables, make a white sauce, make a basic soup and stew, how to knead, when to take your baking out of the oven. Some sort of primer on slow cooker/CrockPot cooking would also be good. Dried rice and beans and pasta and oatmeal have cooking instructions on their packaging; it is well worth learning how to cook these "from scratch", rather than buying the convenience versions. I keep some old issues of Taste of Home and Taste of Home's Quick Cooking magazines, to browse through when I get in a cooking rut, although they contain many recipes that could hardly be called frugal.


No-knead peasant bread

2 1/4 tsp (or 1 packet) yeast
2 C warm water
pinch sugar
4 scant C flour
2 tsp salt

Mix ingredients in bowl; cover and let rise in warm place 1 hour. Divide dough into two greased pans and let rise again for 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 425 degrees, put pans in and turn oven down to 375 degrees; bake for 35 minutes.


Pizza/breadstick dough

2 1/4 tsp (or 1 packet) yeast
1 C warm water
pinch sugar
2 T olive oil
about 3 C of flour; increase slightly for breadsticks
1/2 tsp salt

Mix ingredients and knead a few minutes to make dough smoother and more elastic. Put dough in bowl, oil it with a little more olive oil, cover, and let rise in warm place one hour. Punch down. Let it rise again (I usually don't).  Press into cookie sheet/pizza pan for pizza, or flatten, slice, and twist to form breadsticks. Pizza dough can be prebaked for 5 minutes before topping (I usually don't). Pizza:  add sauce and toppings. Bake at 375 degrees for 15-18 minutes for pizza, 12-15 minutes for breadsticks. Breadsticks: rub tops with butter. (This recipe originally called for a shorter baking time at a higher temperature, but I can't remember exactly what they were, and this is what I do.)


Fast pizza dough

2 1/4 tsp (or 1 packet) yeast
1 C warm water
2 C flour

Mix and press onto pan; top and bake at 375 degrees for 15 minutes.


Simple chocolate pudding

2 C milk
1/4 C sugar
2 T cornstarch
2 T cocoa powder
1 t vanilla

Combine everything except vanilla in saucepan; stir and cook over medium heat until it thickens and boils. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla.


Cheese sauce

(This is a variant of the chocolate pudding recipe.)

1 C milk
1 T cornstarch
2 T butter
1/4 t salt
dash pepper
about 1 C of shredded cheese, or a handful of diced cheese

Stir and cook everything but cheese in saucepan over medium until it thickens; remove from heat and stir in cheese until melted. Put back over low heat and stir if needed to melt cheese.


Tightwad Gazette's Generic Muffins (rewritten to put ingredients in order of addition)

2 to 2 1/2 C grains
Up to 1/2 C sweetener
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

1 C milk
Up to 1/4 C fat
1 egg
Up to 1 1/2 C additions

Mix dry ingredients in bowl; add wet ingredients and mix briefly, put into muffin pan (greased or lined with cupcake papers) and bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes


Wacky Cake

1 1/2 C flour
3/4 C sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
3 T cocoa powder

1 tsp vanilla
5 T vegetable oil
1 T vinegar
1 C sour milk

Grease an 8x8 inch pan, put in dry ingredients and mix. Add wet ingredients and stir thoroughly. Bake 30 minutes at 350 degrees.


Cream cheese frosting

8 oz. cream cheese
1/2 C (1 stick) butter
1/2  tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp lemon juice (optional)
powdered sugar

Soften cream cheese and butter; beat until combined. Mix in vanilla and lemon juice. Gradually mix in powdered sugar until it is the desired sweetness and consistency.


Popcorn on the stove

I use a stockpot for this, with its accessory steamer basket inverted over the top to act as a lid that lets steam out while keeping the popcorn in.

2 T vegetable oil
1/2 to 3/4 C popcorn kernels

Put oil in large pot with 3 kernels; cover and heat over medium heat until kernels pop. Add remaining popcorn, cover, swirl pan to coat kernels in oil, and continue cooking over medium heat until popping sounds slow down, occasionally shaking pan from side to side.


Homemade cocoa

2 C milk
1-2 T sugar
1 t cocoa powder
2-4 drops of vanilla

Stir in saucepan and heat over medium heat until steaming.


Potato wedges

6-9 potatoes
1 T mayonnaise, olive oil, sour cream, or plain yogurt
1 t salt or seasoned salt
seasonings as desired

Slice potatoes into wedges about 1/4 inch thick and put into large bowl. Add other ingredients and stir until wedges are coated. Spread in single layer on cookie sheets and bake at 375 degrees for about one hour.


Quick bar cookies

1/2 C butter (1 stick), melted
1 1/2 C brown sugar (or use white sugar and add 1/2 tsp to 1 tsp molasses, or just use white sugar)
2 eggs, beaten
1 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 C flour
1/2 C dry oatmeal (optional)
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 C chocolate chips (optional)

Mix first four ingredients in bowl. Add dry ingredients and mix. Put in greased 9x13 pan and bake 20 minutes.