Parenting from My Dad

I don't even remember how old I was.. We lived in Orlando in this small mobile home that I always thought was perfect. It's funny the things you realize when you get older! Now, I remember that the floor slanted and there were rodents in the walls...

I had trouble sleeping as a kid. For this time I was waking up during the night afraid. Dad says I would never tell him what I was afraid of, just that I had a bad dream.

One night, I remember going in their room and waking him up. I think I told him that someone was coming to get me. I remember him taking me to every window and every door in our dark house and showing me that it was locked. He told me that no one could get in, and he wouldn't let anything bad happen to me. He prayed with me and asked God to keep me safe. He used phrases in his prayer that I've since found came straight from Scripture:

"Take my thoughts captive..." 2 Corinthians 10:4-5

The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. ⁵ We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

"Send your angels to protect us..." Psalm 91:11

For he will command his angels concerning you
    to guard you in all your ways;

There is such power in Christ, and power in using Scripture against the enemy, Satan. Satan didn't want me to sleep peacefully, and he wanted my 5 year old mind to be afraid so he could plant the seeds of doubt. Jerk. I am so thankful for a dad who recognized that what I needed was reassurance and love, and what we needed could only be gotten from God.

We started saying prayers together at night. Until my older sister and I started staying out past the other ones' bedtime, every night we would gather the 4 of us plus Dad and each of us would take turns praying before we went to bed. This is one of my favorite memories!

What was I really afraid of at the time?? You might laugh. I think it's kind of funny now... I learned to read really early, and read everything I could get my hands on. I remember reading a newspaper over my dad's shoulder in the car one day. They would always get a paper after church on Sunday and I think Mom had gone in the grocery store or something. Anyway, I remember the headline on one of the stories - something about Jeffrey Dahmer. Yes, the cannibalistic serial killer from Wisconsin.. It didn't matter to me that he was already in custody and so far away from us; to my child mind he was coming to get us! I would lay in bed on the top bunk awake at night, watching the window, certain that every shadow was him.

My daughter has not been sleeping well lately, and if you ask her she'll say that she's scared of the dark, but won't tell you why. I found myself in tears the other night, walking around the dark house, letting her touch the window locks and door handles, reminding her that mommy and daddy are here, and that Jesus tells His angels to protect us...

Perfect Pie Crust -plus- Baking with a Toddler

It took me forever to master making pie crust. Tried every recipe I could find. Tried every method I could find. Gave up and bought Pillsbury many times... Until I realized I was messing up a couple of things:

Too much water.

Not having the right equipment

Too much kneading and messing with.

Too many ingredients. Flavorings? Not usually needed.

Not using butter. Really. Just use butter.

These days, I usually have a helper in the kitchen. I included her in this tutorial, so the little hands and feet you see belong to my almost-2 year old. I washed her thoroughly before starting so the dough would be fit for human consumption...

Here's what you need.

Butta, flour, sugar, salt, and ice water. You don't have to use kosher salt, and real bakers would probably tell you not to - it's just the kind I have on hand (thank you, couponing).

Start by chopping up your butter in large pieces. For this recipe, use 2 sticks. It makes 2 crusts - you can always freeze one for a while. Or use them both!

Cut it in half lengthwise, then roll it over and cut it lengthwise again so you have 4 sticks. Then chop it into cubes.

You want your items to stay cold. I like to dice my butter, then put it into the freezer while I mix up the dry ingredients.

Put 2 1/2 cups of flour into a large mixing bowl. Or, scoop it and let your toddler pour the cups into a bowl. Use a half-cup measuring cup because that means she can pour it 5 times - what fun! Add another tablespoon of flour to compensate for what got spilled on the counter. Leave the counter - you'll need it when you roll out the dough later.

Add/have the princess add a teaspoon of salt, and a teaspoon of sugar.

When she adds two teaspoons of salt because you weren't paying close enough attention, scoop as much of the salt out as you can. Add another teaspoon of flour as compensation for what got scooped out with the salt.

Have the princess stir the mixture. See the sifter in the top right corner of the above picture? You could use that, but my kosher salt is too big to go through the mesh, so I very effectively sift out the salt whenever I use it.. Still, it's fun for the girl to use, so I usually let her sift the flour by itself into the bowl. Don't forget that extra teaspoon of compensation flour back to the bowl!

Add your cold, cold butter to the bowl. My daughter loves to eat butter. Straight. Pure, unsalted, butter. Paula would be so proud. Me, not so much. Can a toddler's arteries get clogged??

When I was talking about the right equipment earlier, I wasn't talking about big fancy food processors or anything - I was talking about this. A $7 pastry blender. Sure, you can use a food processor, but who wants to clean all those 43 moving parts after? Besides, the girl's still slightly afraid of it.

Take the blender and start mushing.

You want to cut in the butter until you have the obligatory pea-sized chunks. Stop to clean off the butter when the wires of the blender get clogged. Allow the toddler to do some mixing too. They tire quickly and you'll be able to get back to mixing shortly. You want it to look kinda like this:

Don't mix it in too fine. The chunks of butter melt when cooking and create air pockets which in pastry land equal a nice flaky crust. It's heaven.

While I was mixing, the girl decided to take some more pics for me..

After you get your butter mixed in, add your ice water. Start with about 1/4 cup, and sprinkle over the top. I saw an episode of Good Eats where Alton Brown said you should use a spray bottle and mist the top of your flour and mix it in each time after 5 squirts of water.

                                                             

Thank you, Sweet Brown. Besides, the girl would wreak havoc with a spray bottle. Better safe than sorry, and let her play "fishing" with the ice cubes in the water cup. Err... After this part is not an exact science. You need to add more water a tablespoon at a time because the flour's moisture content varies so greatly you can't say for certain to add a specific amount of water. Is that vague enough for you?

See, needs more water.

Good. You still want it crumbly. Better less water at this point because it will be easier to roll out after it's chilled. Wash your hands. Wash your toddler's hands. And face. And legs. And feet. Don't ask...

Cut your dough into two pieces and plastic wrap each piece. Toss them into the fridge for at least 30 minutes or the freezer for about 10. I prefer the freezer method for two reasons - less waiting & toddler attention spans. Also, it's less time I have to leave the kitchen a mess.

After the allotted time, get them out. The girl loves to "frinkle" flour on the counter, so let her put down a couple of tablespoons for rolling. You can sweep the floor later.

Roll from the center out. Yes, I use two hands, just not when I'm trying to take a picture....

Roll it and rotate it, and make sure you turn it over also to keep it from sticking. Each time you rotate, let the toddler frinkle more flour underneath..

When you get it about 1/4 inch thick or a little thinner, it's ready! From here you can put it in your favorite pie pan and fill with something yummy. My current favorite thing to make is homemade pop-tarts! Just cut it into rectangles about 4"x8" and put a spoonful of jelly or whatever on half. I made these with Grandma's awesome raspberry jelly (for the girl) and chocolate philly cream cheese (for me!).

Fold it over, and use a fork dipped in flour to crimp the edges.

Make snowmen and pancakes with your daughter with the scraps. Do not eat them after such artistic projects.

Toss those suckers in the oven at 350 for about 12 minutes or so and enjoy! Turn the oven light on so the princess can watch then bake. Probably more educational than watching another episode of Spongebob, anyway.

I neglected to take a picture of the finished product because there was a flour mishap with the camera. It will be ok. Trust me when I say these are delicious! So much better than those store bought ones with the flavorless crust that the girl insists that I break off before she'll partake of them.. You can control the sugar too which is a must with an already rambunctious little one.. Don't want to be completely gray before I'm 30.

Try them and let me know what you think! :)

Crib Quilt, Part 1

My last quilting project was also my first. I wanted to make a quilt for the full size bed in Brysen's room, but I hate how the "full/queen" size blankets are barely large enough to cover the mattress, and I had a very specific idea of what I wanted, soooo, to a crafter, that means you just picked up a new project! I used a tutorial from Moda Bake Shop called Random Reflections. It wasn't so much of a quilt pattern as a how-to as it uses the Jelly Roll strip packs (2.5" wide strips" and is sewn together randomly. My kind of quilting! Anyway, here was the finished product:

I think it turned out great. Took a bit longer than expected, but don't they all?

Anyway, for the latest project I decided to do another quilt in red & white to go in the baby's crib. Maybe I should have done the small one first? Take it easy for my first project? Oops.
Here's a quick tutorial on how I got started with this one.

First: your pattern. If you're not using one you bought or found online, draw one. Here's mine, and it's a good thing I took a picture, because in the hour since I took the picture my daughter has made it disappear.

I like to decide on my finished size (52"x36" for a crib quilt) and go from there. Don't forget to add .25" to the edge of each piece for a seam allowance! For instance, if you want a 6" finished square, you need to cut a 6.5" square - .25" on each side of said square.

Next, cut your pieces. For this one, it's composed of half squares arranged to form a chevron pattern, so I cut 6.5" squares of each.

Nerd Alert: I watch sewing shows on PBS on Wednesday afternoon. One of them is a quilting show, and I've learned a lot from that gray haired lady from Nowhere, Wisconsin.. :) One of the things I learned was how to sew half-squares quickly and easily. First, cut your squares, then draw a diagonal line like so:

Pick the two that you want, and put them right sides together. Sew 1/4" to the side of the diagonal line. It helps to put a bunch together and chain-sew them. It saves time and a lot of thread!

 When you get done with the first side, flip those suckers around and sew down the other side! I like to use the edge of my presser foot as a guide.

After you have them sewn down both sides of your line, use your scissors or your rotary cutter (it's faster) and cut down the line.

 Voila! Press your seams flat. I use my rotary cutter and ruler to square them up again and cut off the little ears that stick out from the seam allowance.

Lay your little squares out so you can see where you're going to sew them next.

I guess it's up to you if you prefer to sew in columns, then rows, or vice versa. I prefer to sew a row together, then join rows when I have several done.

So that's where I am now. It doesn't take that long using this technique, but my sewing time is limited to when both children nap at the same time, also known as NEVER, or after they go to bed. This is two nights' worth of work between the designing, cutting, and starting to sew.

Next time I'll have the top done and show how to make your little quilt sandwich, which is every bit as tasty as it sounds. Or not... Happy sewing!

Happy New Year!

January 1st - the time when all our best intentions are alive and well. Do you make resolutions? I never used to, until a couple of years ago when I resolved to stop putting on makeup while driving. I kept it up for about 5 months. And then I had children, and suddenly the time used to apply makeup at home was replaced by feeding, changing or cleaning up after said children. Now, if putting on makeup is the least distracting thing that I do while driving, we'll all be ok.

What would I like to accomplish this year?

I'd really like to lose those last 10 pounds of baby weight, but that's not really a resolution so much as a continuation of what I've attempted for the last 3 months already. I did go running today, and I remembered as I was running that it was New Year's Day, and the neighbors were probably commenting on that crazy lady and her resolution must be to lose weight/exercise more. The new blister on my foot bears witness to how much I've been running lately.

I need to read my Bible more, and more consistently. It seems like there's never enough time to do what I want to do in a day, but I fimd that I always have time for what I really prioritize. My family needs me to have that time when I can focus my mind & attitude (& attitude, & words, & temper...) on whatever is true, noble, pure, etc.

I need to be more organized. This would need to be broken down into about 47 smaller resolutions, because I need this in every area of my life. My parents and siblings can attest to the fact that I've never been too crazy about picking up clutter, but clutter is starting to make me crazy. I go throw periods where I just really need to throw things away to feel better. Then, a few days later, Matt will ask me where something is and I have to think, "did I throw that away??"

There's a lot I'd like to get done this year, but I start sounding like my own to-do list. Oh trust me, that exists too. We are so hard on ourselves, aren't we? I think I'll just ask God what He wants of me.. Oh wait, He answered that already:

He has told you, O man, what is good;

And what does the Lord require of you

But to do justly, to love mercy,

And to walk humbly with your God?

Micah 6:8

Happy New Year!

Our house is too small. Or, we have too much stuff. Or both. Yes, both. If I made a resolution this year it would be to get more organized, so this is our latest attempt at such.

Between my dabblings in couponing and my lack of ability to keep things in their place (hello 2-year old!), our pantry is stuffed to the gills. We've been trying to think of ideas for this area for a while: More shelving? Built-ins? Starvation diet? Nothing seemed to be right, until my late night Pinterest browsings took me to ana-white.com, and a modified version of this:

 

We loved this because of the casters on the bottom of the shelves and the fact that it looked pretty easy and cheap. Cheap it was! Here's a run-down of what we bought:

9 scrap 4' pieces of 1x6: $.51 each

1 scrap 4' piece of 1x2: $.41

1-8' long 1x2: $1.97

1 caster: $2.38

1 pack o' screws: $4.97

2 packs of springy-type anchors: $2.97 each

We had the paint and spackle already, so that makes our grand total $20.26. We had a lot of screws left over, so provided we can find them again...........We can use them for our next project. ha.

Here's our starting point. It makes me cringe.

Ugh. Builder grade wire shelving, tons of crap, and my latest addition of $6 plastic bins from Sam Walton's place.

That's my sweet Anthropologie apron, which I only wear when I'm baking. Cooking is just not worthy of an apron, mostly because it happens in 30 minutes or less with at least one child either saying "hold me mommy" or "waaa!" or perhaps sitting on the counter attempting to open every spice jar within reach. But I digress.

I drew out the shelving, and the rest was Matt's doing. We were very lucky to find the scrap bin at Home Depot stocked full of the exact boards we needed, and because of making it two separate shelves we could use all scraps. Sweetness.

Why the two shelves? Wayyyyyllll.. We have these really great lever doorknobs. They're not only great for opening the door with your foot when you have your arms full of children and diaper bags and stuff, but they're great for the elderly and the very young to open doors and escape outdoors when you aren't paying attention. Naked. Guess which one I have experience with? Where was I? Oh yes. The lever doorknobs necessitated creating two separate units, or else we'd have a weird cutout, or it would have to be awkwardly off center, or too narrow to be of real benefit. So we chose two units.

He did it by cutting all his boards and building two basic bookshelves. He used the 1x2s on the front of the shelves to create a lip to hold stuff in, and also to hang the shelves. The anchors hold a piece of 1x2 to the door, and he screwed the shelves to the 1x2. Use good anchors! You really don't want a middle-of-the-night crash of your pantry falling apart. Because this is a hollow door, we put 2 strips of 1x2 for each shelf, and used the metal spring-type anchors instead of the plastic kind.

This really took about two weeks, start to finish, because we weren't really hard core on getting it done. You could easily finish this in a day.

 It looked like this for a while.. The girl used it for sippy cup and random toddler treasure storage. One night, I sanded and painted the first coat on the top half. This was not normal, because waiting for coats of paint to dry is not something I typically have patience for. The next day, I came home from work and Matt had it all sanded and painted and ready to go! Sometimes those magical times happen where both kiddies are asleep or otherwise entertained and you can get stuff done!

Here's the final product. I'm pretty pleased. Some things we learned along the way? Make sure there's enough clearance between the shelf and the door when you're closing it. We had to make our unit a little narrower than originally planned because we wanted to be able to actually shut the door. Kind of important, I think. Also, measure twice, cut once. Measure twice, cut once. It's the reason for the half-shelf at the bottom, which actually turned out great for tall boxes. Sometimes serendipity favors the impatient.

We're thinking of doing this to pretty much every closet in the house now. In the original post she converted bifold doors, which is what we'd have to do. What do you think??

Well Hello There!

Hi everyone! I'm Stephanie, creative genius here at Dirt Road Designs, and by that I mean my house. Late to the blogging party? Maybe, but I hope you will enjoy reading little tidbits about my life, as well as some projects I have going on.

Let me tell you a little about myself! I'm a mom of two - 19 months and 5 weeks, and wife to a very sweet and patient guy named Matt. In between everything else that's my life I like to make things - sewing, crocheting, knitting, and whatever else I can think up. Oh and cooking. Yes cooking. But only if there's chocolate, pumpkin, or lots of butter. Cue Paula Dean.

I learned how to do all these things, along with major home repairs, basic algebra and animal husbandry from my parents, who homeschooled all 4 of their kids and raised us to love God and each other. Jesus is my Savior and my bestest friend, and without Him I really honestly truly do not like the person I would be - lonely, angry and wihout hope. All of those things I have the opposite of now.. :)

I also enjoy commas, and dashes - if you haven't noticed.

Currently I have 47 projects going on so look for some poorly shot pictures of them. Some of them include a queen-sized quilt (73% finished), a yoda sweater I'm knitting for the boy's halloween costume, receiving blankets for a craft fair in November, and an endless stream of purses and wristlets for my business. I like to diversify. Ehh, I think we actually refer to that as crafting ADD.

The kiddies are waking up from naptime, so now I throw all crafting and blogging to the wind... Until next time!