DIY Greek Yogurt

I have become a big fan of Greek yogurt.

But I am not a fan of the hefty price tag.

What oh what am I to do????? (Besides cease with the multiple question marks, I mean...)

Why make my own, of course :).

I was reading in my husband's MBA alumni magazine (I'm a nerd, I know) about "Tempting Trends"--tasty food that is trendy right now.  Not surprisingly, Greek yogurt was listed.  They described it as "strained, to ensure an ultra-tangy taste and creamy texture."

Long ago, I made a "Yogurt Cheesecake" (not too bad, actually) by straining the whey out of yogurt through cheesecloth until what was left was the texture of cream cheese.

Could this method be what they were talking about in the article?

It is.  I googled it and found support for my theory.

I made it, and it was soooo good.  Yay!

Here is how:

First, you will need:

• Cheesecloth--about a 2 1/2 foot strip, cut in half
• Plain, natural yogurt (you could probably use a natural flavored one, I was just starting with the basics)
• Wire strainer
• Bowl for underneath the strainer

1. Put the cheesecloth in the strainer in an "X" (more of a "+" sign, actually) pattern.  Put the strainer in the bowl.

2. Get your yogurt out of the fridge.

3. Dump your yogurt on top of the cheesecloth

4. Cover with plastic wrap (or not, if you like to live dangerously).
Put in fridge.

5. Wait for about 8 to 12 hours and take out of the fridge.  I did mine for 12, and I think it may have been a bit too thick.  I plan to continue to rigorously experiment.  :)

6. This is what the whey looks like that drains out.

7. Dump the strained yogurt into another container and sweeten/flavor to taste.  I used some strawberry jam, and it was great.  Even better would be pureed real strawberries and honey with a few drops of vanilla.

Yum!!

And the Winner Is....

Well, my acute camera problem has been alleviated by my sweet mom's willingness to share her camera with me until I can blackmail convince Aaron to get a new DSLR :).  Only joking! (at least about the blackmail--deathly serious about the camera...)

I thought I should post some pictures of the actual haircut.  I know anyone who loves me enough to read this has been waiting on pins and needles and everything, right ;)? Just so you know, after all my bluster/messing around on the makeover tool, I went for a cut I've probably had about 20 times in my life.  I always seem to end up with the same haircut.  Shorter, longer, same basic thing.  Sad, but oh so true.  Someday I am going to shock and awe with a totally different look, but apparently not right now.

Anyhoo, it may not be completely revolutionary, but I highly recommend this Heidi Klum-inspired haircut.  Here are some things you can expect from it:

This is the end of a long, tiring, day (or maybe that's just my new look?  scary :) ).  But this haircut is versatile.  You can expect it to look good even when you don't :).

It also looks great when you are kissing a smoochy baby.  Lucy is so chill about being smooched on all the time.  Oh yeah, people love me--so what else is new?

It looks great when your face is expressing--what would you say this is?--chagrin?

It even looks good when you are glaring at your 15-yr-old son for using his Grandma's borrowed camera without your permission.  

Of course, then I proceeded to rope him into using the camera some more by taking pictures of the haircut.  Such mixed messages--bad mom!

Quick Curtain Rod Decorating--Making a Rental My Own

We have been renting for almost 9 months now.  There are definite upsides to renting, but there are also some downsides.  One is that I am positively dis-incentivized (is that even a word?) to do anything very permanent decor-wise.  When the things you inherit are ugly, it is sometimes easier to just roll your eyes and try to ignore them.

However, I've been having fun doing some things to make this house my own, even if it is only my own for a little while.

For example, when we moved in, the kitchen window had this curtain up:



I know it's hard to visualize just how ugly this valance is when it is shoved up in the cabinet like this, but picture this: swags of yellow/red/green backed with a nondescript blue that says "Oh how I wish I was French Country."  Not cute.

So I took it down and left the rod hanging there bare for a while.  I like the bamboo shade that was hidden by the valance, and I'd rather look at something I like than cover it with something I don't (crazy, I know :) ).  I debated with hanging some pictures (ribbon hung framed pictures) from the rod, but didn't get to it.

Then I had an "a-ha" moment the first part of December and decided to use this curtain rod as a focal point of seasonal decorating.  Yee-haw!

So here is Christmas:



The wreath came from Trader Joe's and the ribbon came from Costco a few years ago.  And if you look really closely you'll see that this wreath is dead as a doornail (I took the picture after we came home in early January from Christmas away).  I promise it looked better when it was green instead of a sickly gray :).

Below is my nod to Valentine's/Winter.  I actually had the same snowflakes hanging there by themselves with a sheer white and silver ribbon during January, but I either forgot to take a picture or my kids deleted it from the camera.  I probably forgot, but I wouldn't put it past my kiddos, either :).

These snowflakes were cute enough that I recycled them for Valentine's.  I liked the look of them in front of this big shiny heart that I've had for years.  And I'm such a cheater--that is the same Costco ribbon that I used for my Christmas wreath.



I am going to hang something fun for Spring in a few weeks.  I really like having seasonal changes here because I spend so much time at the sink doing dishes.  It is fun to have a pretty focal point, and it helps make a bare curtain rod look like it was meant to be there.

So I'm curious--anybody else have some good tips for making a rental space your own?  Or any thoughts on what to do with a curtain rod besides the obvious?  I'd love to hear any and all decorating suggestions...

A Few More Options

Okay, here are a few more options to add to the mix.  For someone who professes to have such a busy life, I clearly have waaay too much time on my hands.  Also, I'm not planning to do any major coloring, so I am interested in all of these just for the cut, not really the color--not planning to go blond--it would be too much work to keep it and with my dark brows it would look just plain weird.

#1b

#2b

#3b

#4b

Any thoughts?

Makeover Frippery

This post will reveal to the world just how shallow I am.  

So, here it is:

I am getting a haircut tomorrow and need to figure out HOW I want to have it done.  I have been lazy and busy and haven't had a haircut for about 9 months (unless you count my DIY bang trims).  My hair is currently longer than it's been for years--just past shoulder length.  It is thinner than usual, since I am still experiencing the fun I-just-had-a-baby hair loss, complete with baby bangs sprouting around my hairline.  Ah, the things we do for love.  My hair is still pretty thick, though, and quite fine and straight.

So, I went to iVilliage's makeover tool.  I've used it before, but boy is it updated and really easy to use.  Upload a picture, sign your life away by sharing some of your personal info, configure a few settings, and in 5 minutes you are ready to play.  I have seriously wasted two hours I'll never get back having the time of my life trying all sorts of new looks and hairstyles.  So, here are some options:


9 to 5, anyone?


Do I look like a "California Gurl" in this sweet 'do?


The program also lets you do make-up separately or try on celebrities' whole "looks".



I'm supposed to look like Carrie Underwood.  Yes, I know it's spooky.


Here is Claire Daines--ahem, I mean me.  I actually think this one is kind of pretty--but I am not nearly high maintenance enough to go blond.



This is me as Christina Aguilera.  If I ever decide to quit my day job and put on the red light, if you know what I mean, this look would carry me far...


Note: sorry for the distracting bands of my own hair on some of the styles.  You can sort of virtually pull the hairstyles around your face to cover your hairline, but it would definitely work better if you took a dedicated makeover shot with your hair pulled back and looked straight at the camera.  I am still stymied by what to do about my broken camera (IE buy a nice DSLR? buy another point and shoot?) and so I had to use what I had stored in my computer.

Anyway, enough ridiculousness.  Here are some legitimate contenders:

#1



I kind of like the piece-y bangs, but don't think my hair could maintain this texture day-in/day-out without a lot of work.

#2


I like this one--I'd add side-swept bangs, but this would work if I want to keep it fairly long.

#3




I actually think this is pretty cute, but I dont' know if I'm willing to go so short for this haircut.  Maybe next time?  And it wouldn't end up being this poofy on me because my hair just doesn't poof without an insane amount of effort.

#4


This is pretty, too.  I would add more actual bangs.  Is it just me, or is it similar to #2, but just styled differently?

Any comments would be totally appreciated.  I'll let you know what I end up doing tomorrow!

Anniversary

Hopefully people will forgive my long rambling post.  I have a couple tutorials in the works, but my broken camera is slowing me down.  In the meantime, I've felt like I can finally catch my breath after what has been a crazy 8 months or so.  In that time, our family moved several states away, our minivan caught fire while we were staying with family (it was a total loss, and it gutted my in-laws' garage and smoke-damaged every part of their house) and we had a new baby--#6.  Needless to say, I've been needing some down time to process things emotionally for a while.  With a baby who is getting more self-sufficient and easy by the day, I finally feel like I'm coming up for air--and boy does it feel great!  Anyway, here is something I've been thinking about for a few weeks:



Today is an anniversary of sorts.  Two months ago today, I turned in my hospital grade baby scale and hospital grade breast pump after 5 months of intensive use.  The birds were singing, the sun was shining (no really--even in Washington we get some winter sunshine) and all was right with the world.  I called my husband at work to tell him the I had some good news.  He said cautiously "Uhhh...what kind of news?"  Many a conversation about a positive pregnancy test result has started in the same way, so I don't blame him for his caution.  He was relieved that my news just involved the cessation of $45 in monthly bills, although he may not have grasped the full extent of the lightness and joy that I was feeling at that moment.

I have nursed all my children happily until they were two years old.  Yes, I am one of those women.  Minus the sensible footwear and art teacher-y clothing, I am really a total earth mother.  I love nursing--I love the closeness, the forced sitting down and reconnecting with your baby.  I love how nursing gives me time to examine their tiny fingernails (not to mention hang out on the computer).  I love it when they finish feeding, looking up at you with a sweet smile, milk-drool slowly dribbling from the corner of their mouth.  I love knowing that I can give this gift of health and love to each of my children.

Then came Lucy.  From the very beginning, I felt like something wasn't quite the same with her nursing.  I've never been as sore with subsequent children as I was with my first, but usually for the first couple of weeks, an infant's initial latch on makes my toes curl a little with the force of it.  But not with Lucy.  I was completely comfortable.  Uh oh.

However, early on I realized that she wasn't getting enough to eat.  I saw two different lactation consultants who both couldn't figure out what was going on.  In the meantime, she was nursing endlessly and not gaining weight.  I saw our family practice doctor who made me feel like I was failing.

I had to start feeding her part formula because without adequate stimulation, my milk supply had dropped off.  When we started out, she was getting about 1/2 of her calories from formula.  This was very hard for me.  It was hard for me not to feel like every bit of formula she got was a symbol of my failure as a mother.  I knew rationally that mothering is much more than food, but nursing had become such a huge part of how I felt about myself as a mother of an infant.

I had to start pumping after every feeding, since Lucy's nursing wasn't strong enough to keep my milk supply up on her own.  I had to either feed her with a bottle or a nursing supplementer, which allowed her to drink expressed milk or formula as I was nursing.  I was completely obsessed with making this nursing relationship work, but I didn't even know what was wrong.  I wondered if it was me or her.  Meanwhile, all my kids were home for the summer and I felt like I was failing them.  I was tethered to my pump and nursing.  Even a quick outing to the park felt like an accomplishment.

The second lactation consultant I saw referred me to the Seattle Children's Hospital to see an occupational therapist who specializes in infant feeding issues.  Robin took one look at Lucy's tongue and pronounced her tongue-tied.  Both lactation consultants had ruled this out because she didn't have a classic tongue tie.  Basically, you have a frenulum under your tongue, which is a membrane that connects your tongue to the floor of your mouth.  If the frenum is too short, or extends to the tip of the tongue, it is hard for the tongue to move past the gum line and you are considered tongue-tied.  Nursing is usually difficult or even impossible.

Robin referred me to a specialist who also took one look at Lucy's tongue, prounounced it "a perfect example of a posterior tongue-tie" (lucky us) and performed a frenotomy (clipped the frenulum).  I was hoping and praying for an immediate improvement, but instead there was a slight improvement with each thing we introduced over a series of months.  I did facial "exercises" with Lucy to help increase the mobility in her face and jaw.  We tried using kinesio tape on her cheeks to stimulate better muscular strength and coordination.  Through it all, I was monitoring her weight and pumping to keep up my milk supply.  Slowly, she started to improve.

Thanks to a hands-free pumping bustier (every bit as attractive as you might imagine lol), I learned to pump while still being able to keep up (I use the term loosely) with household chores like laundry and dishes.  I even pumped in my car while driving kids to sports practices or on the way home from Costco runs (using a nursing cover, don't worry :) ).

I also realized (through the unblinking eyes of my clear-sighted husband) that people needed to come before pumping.  I realized that instead of seeing every bit of formula as a symbol of failure, that every drop of breast milk was a priceless gift.  I decided to do the best I could with pumping (I averaged 5 sessions a day), but not if it meant neglecting others (or myself).

The breakthrough came toward the end of November when I did a pre/post feeding weight and realized that she had just taken in 3 1/2 ounces of milk from nursing directly.  I monitored it a little more, but gradually was able to cut out pumping completely.  Now, about 1/4 to 1/3 of her calories come from formula.  

Before experiencing this, I had no idea what it felt like to have nursing not work out as you'd hoped.  When I met women who would laugh brittlely and say like one friend, "Oh, the nursing thing didn't work out for us...", I would think, deep down, that they didn't try hard enough or care enough.  Now I know that you can be desperately trying, and it may not work out the way you'd hoped.  I know how agonizing that is when you want so badly to breastfeed your baby.  Sometimes people cover hurt by trying to be blase about something--especially when they probably felt my unspoken judgment.  I am so sorry about that.

Interestingly, when I was deeply discouraged that I might not be able to nurse Lucy, I decided that instead of trying to pretend everything was fine when people asked, that I needed to be honest.  I am usually someone who doesn't admit I need help until my world is crashing around me (and okay, it was, but getting me to admit this was a big step for me!).  The support I received from people around me was wonderful.  I talked with several new friends about what I was experiencing and how miserable I was about it, and both of them confided some of their own nursing struggles and how they still feel sad about it--even years later.  As I was talking to them, I felt such a wave of empathy for them.  I don't think the pre-Lucy me would have been able to have that kind of conversation because I was too convinced that nursing just takes effort and determination, period.

I am so grateful for my hard-earned empathy, but I am even more grateful for the resting place that little Lucy and I have found.  She is eating a few meals of baby food now, in addition to the breastfeeding and formula.  As I'm typing this, she is resting on my chest with milk on the corner of her mouth, having nursed herself to sleep for the night.  It's difficult for me to imagine heaven being any sweeter than this.

Which is why, on December 17, the lightness I felt was only partially about setting down a heavy breast pump and infant scale.  It was only partially about the winter sunshine glistening on the evergreen trees around me.  It was the peculiar kind of lightness you feel when you have been carrying a heavy burden of the soul and have finally been able to set it down.  On that day, I put down my sorrow and disappointment over what I had wished for and felt the lightness and joy of being grateful for what I have been able to accomplish despite the obstacles.

Happy Anniversary, little Lulu.  We've made it.

I'm linking up to Weekend Bloggy Reading at Amanda's Serenity Now:

Family Picture--Ye olde but ye goody

We had a family picture taken of us when we went to our church's "Festival of Nativities" in December.  It is a wonderful tradition, where people all over Bellevue donate their Christmas Nativities to be displayed (borrowed) during a the first weekend of December.  The variety of nativities was amazing, from beautiful hand-carved olive wood nativities from Israel, to German "Kertzen Pyramiden," to some of the handcrafted nativities made of found objects like old aluminum cans rolled up into figures.  This whole event just set the tone for my Christmas this year.  My favorite display was a whole roomful of beautiful framed pictures of Jesus like this (one of my favorites by Liz Lemon Swindle):

Anyway, they had a room where your family could dress up and pose their own Nativity scene.  Yes, it took me this long to look ours up and order some pics on Shutterfly.  Here's it is:

Man, give me some lipstick!  I look like I'm dying of anemia.

But the rest of this picture is so stinking cute I can hardly stand it.  The shepherd standing next to me is dashing enough that I may have to quit the angel thing and marry him :).  The taller two wise men are very handsome, Mary and Joseph look perfect and if you've seen a more adorable midget wise man, I'd like to know (not to mention a more luscious angel-in-training).

I have some pictures of projects I've been working on (hint: new to me sofas at last!) that I'll get up by the end of the week if I can get the camera Wise Man #2 accidentally broke yesterday to load pics to my computer--Sadness!  In the meantime, I wanted to post something that made me smile today, even if it is evidence that I still wish it was Christmastime.  I hope it made you smile, too.