Powder Room Vanity Update

For the most part our main floor powder room was updated and looked nice. The only thing that needed to be done was an update to the vanity. A new vanity was not necessary, just a coat of paint on the current vanity along with some new hardware was just the sprucing up that was needed. I had this project in mind last year and already had the paint. I got a small sample size of paint for a different project and decided it would be perfect for my update. My sister-in-law was in town for a weekend visit and she helped me with painting this and another project I'll reveal soon.

Here are a few pictures of the bathroom beforehand. It's a tight little space that is a bit difficult to photograph.

    

I did a few test patches of some colors I had downstairs to make sure I liked my choice.

After deciding on the paint color I wanted, I took the doors and all of the hardware off. Then I put a coat of my favorite primer Zinger Bulls Eye 1-2-3 Primer. (Affiliate Link) Rust-Oleum 2004 Zinsser Bulls Eye 1-2-3 White Water-Based Interior/Exterior Primer Sealer, 1-Quart . I use it on all of my furniture painting projects. It allows your actual paint color to stick and blocks other stains that might seep up through from old wood or laminate. After the primer, I applied two coats of the paint color. Always use two coats, you'll often regret one coat, but you'll never regret the second coat. After the paint had dried well, I installed the new hardware and rehung the doors.

And presto, here it is all finished up! I love how it just brings the whole room into this century. It certainly wasn't a big hard project, but it makes a big impact.

Herb-Marinated Cinnamon Rubbed Grilled Chicken with Cinnamon Garlic Roasted Sweet Potato

Herb-Marinated Cinnamon Rubbed Grilled Chicken with Cinnamon Garlic Roasted Sweet Potato

I don't have a garden, but I do have what I like to refer to as my estate-grown herbs. If you live somewhere other than Arizona in the summer, you can grow most herbs in outdoor pots in the summer. We've had a lot of rain here in Dayton this summer which means all of my plants are just doing wonderfully! I'm trying to take advantage of the herbs in my cooking as much as I possibly can. I've seen wreathes made out of fresh herbs that dry for use in the winter, but I'm not exactly sure how to do this. Does anyone have any tips for me so I can bring the taste of summer into my winter cooking? Please send me links or tips if you know of anything for drying herbs. 

Back on topic, last night I made a tasty marinated grilled chicken breast for dinner with some roasted sweet potatoes and a big garden salad. It was super tasty so I thought I'd share it with all of you! You can make a meat marinade out of almost any seasoning, but some work better than others. You should also always use a little oil and an acid like lemon juice or vinegar. If you follow that you can marinade any meat with confidence. Joe received an awesome foodie book for Christmas one year from his aunt and uncle called The Flavor Bible by Karen Page. It is an awesome guide for any adventurous chef out there. It tells you what flavors compliment each other for almost any food you can think of. I used it to create this marinade for my chicken breast. 

Marinade ingredients: garlic, rosemary, thyme, basil, olive oil, and balsamic vinegar

Rub ingredients: cinnamon, salt and black pepper

Herb-Marinated Cinnamon Rubbed Grilled Chicken with Cinnamon Garlic Roasted Sweet Potato

Ingredients for the chicken:

1 lb boneless skinless chicken breast

1 tsp ground cinnamon

salt and pepper to taste

1 sprig fresh rosemary

1 small bunch of fresh thyme

2-3 fresh basil leaves

1 clove of minced garlic

2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar

In a small bowl combine the cinnamon, salt and pepper. Rub onto the chicken.

In a plastic zippered bag add the olive oil, balsamic vinegar, slightly crushed herbs and garlic. Mix and add the chicken. Allow to marinade for 2-4 hours.

Grill until internal temperature reaches 165˚. Remove from grill and allow to sit for five minutes. Slice and serve. 

Ingredients for the sweet potatoes:

1 large sweet potato sliced into 1/4" rounds

1/2 tsp cinnamon

2-3 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1 clove of thinly sliced garlic

salt and pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 425˚. Use a mandolin or a sharp knife to slice the garlic and sweet potato. In a medium-sized bowl toss all of the ingredients together until the sweet potato is evenly coated. Spread out on a rimmed baking sheet. Roast for 20-25 minutes.

Great Aunt Carol's Vegetable Beef Soup

After our little guy was born, Great Aunt Carol came for a few days to help out. It was wonderful! I hope that all new moms have a Great Aunt Carol in their lives. :) One of the things she did of course, was to cook some tasty food for us. This vegetable beef soup was so hearty and healthy that I begged her for the recipe and asked if I could post it for you! 

Vegetable Beef Soup

Ingredients:

1 large onion, chopped

2-3 Tbsp olive oil

2-3 cloves of garlic, diced

2 pounds of top round or sirloin steak cut into 1 inch cubes

salt and pepper

2-4 cups of beef broth

2 14 oz cans of sliced stewed tomatoes

1 bay leaf

1-2 potatoes, chopped

3-4 carrots, chopped

1-2 cups shredded cabbage

2-3 celery, chopped

1-2 Tbsp tomato paste

1 package of your choice of frozen vegetables

Lots of chopped parsley

Heat a soup pot with the olive oil on medium high heat and add the onions. Saute for 5-7 minutes until soft. Add the garlic the last min. Remove to a separate dish. 

Season the beef with salt and pepper. Turn the heat to medium high. Brown half of the beef in the pot and remove. Do the other half. The key here is to brown the meat and not steam it, so give it space to cook. Add all of the beef, cooked onions and garlic, beef broth, stewed tomatoes and bay leaf. Reduce heat, and simmer until the meat is tender, about 1 hour.

Add potato, carrots, cabbage and celery. Continue to simmer for another 30 minutes or until these are soft. Add tomato paste, parsley, and any final frozen veggies of your choice and cook for another 5 minutes. 

Season to taste, and enjoy!

Cloth Diapering Journey for a New Mom

The journey into cloth diapering started before I even became pregnant. Last year when my sister found out she was expecting, she and I had a conversation in the early stages of her pregnancy in which she told me with a derisive laugh that she would never ever use cloth diapers. Fast forward one month and she sheepishly brings up the topic of cloth diapers again and says that now she's convinced that she's going to use them. She had a few moms at work bring in their cloth diapers and show them to her. All it took was that one conversation to convince her of the benefits. Well, let's just say, I wasn't sold on the idea yet, but it didn't really matter because I wasn't even pregnant yet.

When I found out that I was pregnant, I didn't really think about diapers until I was at my sister's baby shower and my mom asked me what I was going to do about diapering. Now, mind you, I was only 11 weeks pregnant at this point and hadn't really considered the topic much; I was just getting used to being pregnant. Did I really have to start planning for baby's arrival already? If you're newly pregnant and reading this, then yes, start considering these kinds of questions because 40 weeks (38 in my case) goes quickly when you're still working, attending showers, writing thank you cards, preparing a nursery and squeezing in trips to see friends and family before baby comes.

My first reaction to my mom's question was along the lines of I'd be open to the idea of cloth diapers, but they really seem like more work than they are worth. I mean, all of that laundry! Ugh! And isn't it kind of gross? Are they really better for baby?

After doing a lot of research on Pinstripes and Polkadots, I became a believer. Everyone has their own reason for getting into the cloth diapering world. For some it's a cost factor. For other's it's environmental. For me, it was two-fold. First of all, babies who wear cloth diapers are far far less likely to develop diaper rash. Secondly, the biggest reason for me, babies wear cloth diapers potty train on average by 18 months versus 3 years old in disposables. What?!? That's twice the age. Think about that. It's far less diaper changing for me overall, and talk about cost savings. It's not just a monthly savings using cloth diapers, it's cutting out 18 months of diaper buying on average. Clearly these are just averages, but I'm willing to play the odds on this one.

Even though I was convinced to use cloth diapers, I was overwhelmed by all of the options. It just seemed that there were too many options out there for me to grasp: prefolds, all in ones, all in twos, pocket diapers, even a diaper service where you receive your diapers like people use to receive milk at the doorstep. Fortunately, I have a dear friend who cloth diapered her four children and she gave me a great start. I did some research to figure out all of the different cloth diaper types. I'll list a few that I've now used, and a little bit about it so you can learn too. If you want to know more, there are tons of great resources online. There are even great resources on Youtube that helped me out a lot.

Below you'll find the three systems that I am currently using to varying degrees listed from my favorite to my least favorite. I suggest having a few different systems to decide what you like best. It may be different than my preferences. Also, I do find I like have a few of each for different times of the day based on the activity we are doing. If you are interested in trying out cloth diapers, but you don't want to fully commit before trying them, buy some from nickisdiapers.com. They have a 15 day try, wash, love or return policy. So you can try them for up to two weeks to see if they will work for you.

Types of cloth diapers:
Profold with a cover:

Prefold                                                              Cover

I have come to love this combo. It is by far the cheapest cloth diapering system out there. I use the newspaper fold with a Snappi, and I've never had a leak out of the cover yet. With each diaper change, you only change the prefold and just wipe the cover off to reuse unless it is poopy or it's been through 3 or 4 wet diapers. I like the better fit or smart fit prefold because it is shorter and doesn't need to be folded down even further. It just fits the diaper cover correctly. The only drawbacks of this style of diaper is it's somewhat bulky and it is two steps when putting the diaper on. 

All in one (AIO)

This is just what it sounds like. It's a cloth diaper that is all in one piece so this goes on just like a disposable. It's very convenient and easy to use. The biggest benefits are it's ease of use and similarity to disposables. However, it has some drawbacks. It is as expensive for one of these diapers as it is for 6-12 prefolds. It takes longer to dry. And the biggest thing for me is that it doesn't always contain the messes. The Imagine all in one is the only one of this style that I haven't had a blowout or wet leak yet. They are also the cheapest all in one that I've found, so yeah for that!

Pocket Diapers

Pocket diapers are similar to all in one diapers except they have a pocket that you stuff the absorbent lining into before putting on the baby. I think that these were created to cut down on the amount of drying time required because I can't figure out any other benefit. The Imagine all in one has a liner that is attached on one side and separates on the other side to speed up the drying time so I haven't noticed a difference in drying time between the two. These have the same downfall as all in ones because they are almost or just as expensive as the all in ones, and all of them have leaked for me. They also have the added downfall of having a pocket that you have to stuff before you put it on the baby. 

Since I'm creating dirty diapers to wash, I also use cloth wipes. You can just cut up pieces of flannel or old washcloths. I received some flannel wipes as shower gifts. I also use my own wipe solution that I store in a spray bottle and just get the wipe a little wet from that. I use the recipes from Zany-Zebra. 

You also need something to store the dirty diapers in before washing them. I have two bags that I alternate and wash with the diapers. My favorite is the Fuzzibunz hanging diaper pail. 

It's great because you just toss the dirty diaper in there and forget it until it's wash time. It has a zipper opening on the bottom so you never have to touch the dirty diapers. Throw it in with the diapers and it comes out fresh and clean. 

The final piece is washing all of this. This was the part that had me concerned, and I didn't believe the people that said it's really not adding that much to your day. But really, it's not adding that much to your day. I wash them every other day. Any longer than that, and it starts to smell. I do a large load setting and do a warm rinse with no soap. After that, it's a hot-cold cycle with soap on the longest setting for my washer. Then it's into the dryer and finally on the baby. The nice thing is that unless you're using pocket diapers, there is no folding involved. I just throw them in the drawer and done! You do have to be careful with the soap you use though. Check out this chart for help in finding a soap that won't ruin your new diapers.

If you're at all interested, there is a ton of information on the internet that will give you more than you need to know. I'd encourage you to try it for a couple of weeks before giving up on it. It becomes easier with time. Also, never feel guilty for using disposables. You have to do what works for you. I still use disposables at night, on vacation and when we go out for errands because that's what works for me. 

Do you have any tips for me? I'm still a very new mom and would be happy to get any tips on cloth diapers that you have!

*Edited: There were lots of great comments on my Facebook wall after I posted this with some great tips that I hadn't known. I'll transfer some of them here for those of you just stumbling upon this blog post on your own. 

*We loved the Flip system at cottonbabies.com- the covers were great, and we used whatever prefolds I found with them, and then really liked that they have disposable inserts that you can throw when traveling. (snaps better than velcro for longevity)

 *I was given the advice to order "seconds." They are not used, but have slight mistakes in them ( I never could find the mistakes) and were much cheaper than buying new. Here are the seconds on flips. http://www.cottonbabies.com/index.php?cPath=51

*I had a terrible time with the pockets after about 4 months using. If I were to do it again I would definitely do prefolds. It's how our moms did it! 
Thanks for the blog. It was a good concise summary.

*Glad you're enjoying cloth! We're up to our eyeballs now 3+ years in. But you may want to forget about the detergent chart... Most manufacturers now emphasize CLEAN over all else (as they should) and many find that good old Ultra Tide outperforms all of the natural detergents by a country mile 

*We used a diaper service for all of our children but that was way back in the day of pins and plastic. Much less diaper rash than my friends dealt with.

*We're using Flip as well. A good friend recommended hemp inserts. There pricier, but they're better for sensitive skin and after some uses they're the most absorbent. The website posted by many frequently clearances out covers that are discontinued colors. I love the snaps. They've fit since he came home.

*We used flips and pockets with my first one. They were on her day and night...the only time we didn't use them was on vacation (except one vacation we used the disposable inserts for flips- I found some cheap ones on Craigslist). I loved them both. I mainly did cloth diapers because I have very sensitive skin and thought my babies would too. The time in diapers really varies- my fist born was in them until she turned 3 (I think it depends on the kids personality etc because we tried to potty train her earlier and it was an epic fail!) unfortunately my second was in them for only a year and had to transition into disposables (makes me a little sad though). She is a pooping machine and I couldn't keep up with changing (before she got a rash) and washing! I am going to try it again for the third though. Thanks for your thoughts - it has given me thoughts on prefolds and another brand!

*Here is another great item that I found last night for those of you still using cloth diapers. I'm sure you know that it makes those onesies tighter because of the bulk. Here you go! https://www.etsy.com/listing/231465508/bodysuit-extenders-expanders-add-a-size?ref=related-3

Calm and Cool: Gray, Navy Blue and White Nursery

I know that it's been a very long time since I've posted anything. We've been busy with our new sweet little boy. The time I might have spent sharing with all of you on the blog here was spent growing a little one, writing many thank you notes for all of the wonderful generous shower gifts, and preparing the nursery for his debut. I appreciate your understanding while I've been gone. 

I'm excited to share with you our newest room, Richard's nursery! I chose to go with navy blue and white as the basic theme because it is gender neutral with some coral accents for a girl if we should have one in the future. But for now, Richard and I are enjoying a lot of time in this calming room. My favorite part is the chair we got from Babies R Us, and I'm pretty sure that his favorite part are the curtains, lots of high contrast that he can focus on. :) 

The curtains are from Home Goods. The night stand is from Amazon and the lamp from Lowe's.

I found this crib after months of searching on Craigslist. It's 4-in-1 convertible crib that can transition into a toddler bed and ultimately a full bed. 

The center cross-stitch is a prayer that was done by my godmother and aunt for me when I was born, and I was very excited to reframe it and use it for our children. I found the other large prints through this website Little Gold Pixel, and the small print is a card from Trader Joe's.

I found this changing table on Craigslist. I spent even more time watching for the right changing table. I love this one because it's tall and has drawers. I only paid $50 for it and put on one quick coat of white paint to freshen it up.

Winter Wonderland

There are some truly picturesque spots in our town of Beavercreek that I've noticed over the months driving around our new town. It's been on my mind to take pictures of these spots during each season. Winter hit yesterday with 5-6 inches of snow around here. It seemed like now or next winter to get my winter pictures. Can you sense that I'm hopeful that this is our last snowstorm of the season? I'll just let you enjoy!