Nesting...

Call it nesting or OCD or just the deranged doings of a pregnant lady but lately I've been feeling the urge to make crafts, sew blankets, organize clothes and closets, harvest the garden and make food, and just get tons of projects done. I've also been busy shopping online and finding deals on a new dresser for the baby's room, stocking up on diapers and formula and baby stuff, organizing my recipe box, updating the 72 hr kits, making lists and checking them twice, catching up on journal writing, saving and backing up pictures and files on the computer, and doing some deep cleaning (I actually dusted the whole house the other day and later got out the vacuum hose another night and cleaned all the corners and edges of a couple rooms because it was bugging me!) I feel overwhelmed with how much I need and/or want to do before I have the baby so it's a good thing I have the desire and some energy to tackle some of these projects now. So to feel a sense of accomplishment (and to check off on my list that I finally blogged about it :), here are just some of the things I've been working on lately...

I saw this rag blanket online a while ago http://quiltsjust4kids.blogspot.com/2008/04/pink-and-brown-baby-blanket-set.html and decided I wanted to make one for a boy if I ever had one. So here's the fabric I bought a few weeks ago...

I finally cut all the squares this past weekend...

And layed them all out in a pattern...


Now I just need to start sewing, which is the funnest part, and clipping the edges and it should look something like this when I'm done. I'm so excited!

Another fun idea I saw once, FHE jars. You put strips of paper in each jar that say titles of primary songs, gospel stories, scriptures, and games and then you just draw one out of each jar and you have an instant Family Home Evening. Very nice for when you have little kids and no time to plan a lesson or activity.

I couldn't stop with just one jar, though! I also saw this idea on my cousin's blog http://woodstockwoodstock.blogspot.com/2009/06/im-bored.html and had to make it too so I have something for the girls to do in a month when it's cold outside and I'm busy with the new baby.

My messy recipe/coupon/take out menu box that has been driving me crazy.

So I wrote down all the recipes on 3x5 cards and put them into a little file box, put the bigger recipes with pictures into a folder with sheet protectors, and threw out a bunch of outdated coupons and menus. Now, that's much better!

Since I organized all my recipes, that got me in the mood for cooking so I started harvesting the garden and have been making salsa...

And carrot cake, pot roast, and soups with many of the carrots from our garden. This is only half of them, I still have a bunch more in the ground ready to go in the next batch of soup or casseroles.

I was really bummed that I missed out on the prime peach picking time this year since I was gone to Utah for most of Aug. so I've been looking for good and cheap peaches in the stores the last few weeks and finally found some decent ones to cut up and freeze for winter.

Lastly, Abbie has been begging me to make bread ever since we came home from Utah because she got to watch her Aunt Irene make it several times while we were there and just loves it so much fresh out of the oven. I don't blame her, I love it too, it's just a lot of work to make it very often.

Here she is helping knead it...

And finally getting to eat some! Yay!

Can you believe I did all this while 8 months pregnant? I can't either! I'm tired just thinking about it so I'm going to bed, I've got to get my rest before the baby comes!

Grandma Reita's Bread

In my family Grandma's bread is lengendary. We all grew up smelling it as soon as we walked into her house and eating big rolls of it with butter and honey. I finally tracked down the recipe, through a sister who got it from another sister who watched Grandma make it and estimated how much of this or that she threw in since Grandma never used measuring cups. It could be that some if the ingredients were just something she happened to have on hand that day and wanted to use up. Nevertheless, I tried it out the other day and it turned out pretty good! Mind you, this isn't like your typical sissy fluffy white bread that most people make. Grandma was a serious health fanatic and it was only whole grains and natural ingredients for her. So here is the recipe, try it if you dare!

Combine and let sit for 5 minutes:
3 cups warm water
2 Tbsp yeast
1 cup honey (seems like a lot, I used 2/3 cup)
A big handful of oats (approx. 1/2 - 1 cup)

Blend together and add to above:
2 eggs
1 whole potato, mashed (approx. 1/2 - 1 cup)

Add:
2/3 cup oil
1/2 cup powdered milk
1 Tbsp salt
8 cups red wheat flour (I used white wheat because that's all I had but red is better, preferably freshly ground)

Add more flour or water as needed to get a nice firm dough and let rise until double in size, about 1 hour. Punch down and form into loaves (about 4) and place in greased bread pans and let rise until double in size again. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Eat warm with butter and honey!