A little of this and that

Things keep popping into my head that I mean to blog about, but someone came into my house one night and replaced my sweet, even-tempered baby with this monster that cries all afternoon. Seriously. What happened to her? Where did the sweet girl go? Can I have her back?? It isn't ALL that bad. She is still usually pretty happy in the mornings, but Alann has been home with us for a few days and now he knows I haven't been exaggerating when I tell him what a handful she has been. I don't know if she is teething or colicky or just being a brat. She seems like she might be teething. Her gums are not as smooth as they were when she was born, and she really likes her teething ring and the ducky with the teething feet. (The duck has 4 feet. It's rather strange and hopefully won't be confusing to her later in life.) Plus she keeps rubbing her tongue on one part of her mouth more than others. But who knows what's going on with her. All I know is I dread the afternoon, and look forward very much to Alann coming home and being able to entertain her for a while.

My garden isn't doing too hot. Well, some of it is, and some isn't. My chard bolted (meaning it sent up a flower stalk, not that it ran away), so it isn't too happy. The broccoli had one good head per plant and that was it. We have been getting at least two per plant in the past. The cucumbers are falling over and turning yellow. The onions are not looking too happy. The kale hasn't grown in weeks. And it honestly doesn't look like what I expected. I'm pretty sure it isn't a weed, because it is growing where I planted it. I need to pull out the seed packet and see for sure what I planted. The tomatoes and peppers are actually pretty happy. I have a few tomatoes started already, and a couple of peppers all over. And the weeds are doing FABULOUSLY! And the snails. Too bad I can't make escargot.

I bought some cotton "kitchen" yarn a while ago, intending to make some dishclothes (or would that be dishcloths?). I hadn't gotten to it, until yesterday. Since then, I have made a dish cloth and a household sponge-shaped cloth. The dish cloth is not square. I dropped a stitch in one row. (I crochet.) The "sponge" actually turned out pretty good, and it was only slightly difficult. Each one took me about an hour to do, which I did while watching TV. I'm going to use the sponge later this week to clean the bathrooms and see how that goes. I might make more to actually wash dishes with too. I decided to do this because we have a ton of kitchen washcloths, but they don't make great dish washers, or counter scrubbers, or really anything. They make the cutting board not scoot all over. That's about the best thing I can say for them. And they are good for washing the floor. But when they get wet, they take FOREVER to dry out. So I usually throw them wet into the dirty kitchen towel basket (yes, it is separate from my other laundry) which proceeds to get everything else wet and then it all smells. And I cannot abide the stink of kitchen rags /sponges. So I am hoping with these they will dry quickly, do the job well, and not stink! Plus I can wash them as usual, unlike the sponges which once they start to stink, you cannot get the stink out. Yes, I've tried microwaving them, putting them in the dishwasher, washing them with soap. Nothing works. And I hate the way the stink gets on your hands and never leaves, even after three washes with super smelly soap. So it's a problem for me. Obviously. One of my many compulsions. So we will see how these work out. If they go well, I'll be making lots more, especially since they are pretty easy and I can crochet and watch TV at the same time.

I also discovered making my own pita bread! I love pitas, but it seems that whenever I buy a package, they crumble, or the pocket is fused, or I eat 5 in a row and the rest go moldy and gross. One of the blogs I peruse occasionally does a baking day every few weeks. She mentioned that she makes pitas. I followed the link to a white flour recipe but, luckily, the same person had a whole wheat pita recipe. I'm sure you all know about my obsession with whole wheat by now. I just don't like eating white flour if there is a whole wheat alternative. And pitas are so down to earth, so primitive, that making them with white flour seems sacrilegious. So I made them. And they were awesome. I halved the recipe, so I only made 4 rounds, cut into 8 halves, which works great for me. I can definitely eat them all. And they aren't crumbly. They hold up. And you know what, they actually have a pocket! I know. Surprising. Then today on "Baking with Julia (Child)" she and some crazy guy (with the world's most AWFUL hair) made pita pockets. Of course this show was taped probably before I was born, but it was fun watching it anyway. For lunch today I had a very simple but awesome chicken salad on a whole wheat pita. It was great. (except for the crying baby that wouldn't let me put her down. That was not so great.) (did I mention that it took me over an hour between making my lunch and getting a chance to eat it?) (Did I mention that baby DIDN'T WANT TO BE PUT DOWN!?)

I think that is all the news. We are planning a youth conference in my stake for next week. We are going to go to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple Open House, but of course Alann is in class that day. =P I don't know if I will be able to take Claire or not. It's going to be a rough day for her, not being home all day long. So we might take a break and come home while everyone else goes and then Alann and I will go some other time. I hope. Who knows how many other open houses I will get a chance to go to.

Oh, and I've been reading the Nightwatch series. Thanks Dan. I loves it! The library has it, which is easier than shipping it cross country, thanks for the offer though! I've also been reading a LOT of Dean Koontz (he writes mostly psychological thrillers, with a smidge of romance and horror or supernatural stuff in them). I've read so MUCH Dean Koontz lately that I started having dreams in which I was being chased by something (which is the general plot line of his books). So I had to take a break. Now I am reading "Omnivore's Dilemma" by Michael Pollan. And not wanting to eat meat, or anything I didn't grow myself, and becoming angry at the govt for corn and all of it's issues. Much the way I felt after watching King Corn last year. I also dreamt the other night that Claire was crawling, which may not be just a dream much longer.