(#14) Jayme Learns to Quilt:Part 2

If you are just joining me, I'm attempting to sew a quilt.

I started a kind of freeform circle-y thing that just wasn't working for me, so I decided to simplify and make my design using just squares.

I spent a glorious day cutting and piecing together my squares into a design.

The quilt  top kept growing and growing until it looked like this.

I'm showing you what it looks like now, "un-sewn", because I'm pretty terrified that once I turn on my machine I'll destroy it. I can't figure the darned thing out to save my life.

I'm going to attempt sewing it all together now. Wish me luck!

(#36) Jayme Learns to Make Flour Tortilla

I've made flour tortilla in the past and they always come out tasting great but looking more like a flat bread then a tortilla.

I'm visiting my parents in Florida, and decided to try to learn these once again from my mother. The problem with learning to cook anything from my mother is that she is an extemporaneous cook. It is fly by your seat, figure it out as you go, and don't ask me to repeat it cooking. When I try to replicate a recipe she recommends, it never comes out as good as it does when she makes it.

Luckily, flour tortilla is pretty basic, and my mom said the recipe below found in this gorgeous cookbook Flavors of Belize, pretty much aligns with what she does.

Here is the recipe:

Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 tablespoons of vegetable shortening
3/4 cup of water

(My mom uses Canola Oil instead of shortening, adds flax seed powder, and from time to time mixes the white flour with whole wheat flour. I told you, she always changes things up.)

Directions:

1. Combine flour, salt and baking powder. (The brown is the flax seed powder)

2. Cut in the shortening with a fork (or mix the oil with the dry ingredients).

3. Add water, a little at a time, and mix until flour comes together.

4. Place on a lightly floured surface and knead for 2 to 3 minutes until smooth.

5. Divide the dough into approximately 10 to 12 pieces; roll each piece into a ball.

6. Cover and allow to rest for 10 to 15 minutes.

7. Preheat griddle over medium to high heat. (My mom puts it on high heat and then turns it down just before she starts.)

8. Flour a rolling pin and sprinkle flour on a clean surface.

9. Flatten one ball at a time until thin. You can also flatten it manually on a greased plate. (Neither my mom or I have ever been able to keep them round. That is a trick to learn from my Tia Angelica next time I go to Belize.)


10. Place on a hot griddle and cook for 1-2 minutes on both sides. (You know they will be yummy if they start to puff up in the middle.)

Breakfast is served!

Before, I'd been following the Once a Month Mom recipe. But that recipe had no baking powder in it, which might have explained the odd consistency of the tortillas.

Any other flour tortilla lovers out there? Do you have a trick for keeping them round?

(#28) Jayme learns to memorize four poems for Ellie's bedtime

When I am putting my daughter to sleep somewhere without access to a favorite book, I like to recite to her Edward Lear's "The Owl and the Pussycat." It is a nostalgic favorite of mine, and I love the beautiful ridiculous aspects of it like the made up word "runcible" and and the owl and cat's wedding ceremony performed by "the turkey who lived on the hill."

I love reciting poetry. Like a lot of teens, I spent many years writing poetry as a way of processing my feelings and daydreams and I was lucky to go to a highschool that had a few forums for poetry recitation. Now that I'm part of a rather elaborate baby bedtime ritual, I wanted to get back into poetry and recitation.

Unfortunately, the only poems I still have memorized in completion are "The Owl and the Pussycat" and Langston Hughes' "A Dream Deferred" (stemming from a love affair I had in the sixth grade with the play A Raisin in the Sun).

I wanted to learn two poems that are classically for children, and two poems that can build my baby's "cultural literacy" (Any E. D. Hirsch Jr. fans out there?)- as well as make me feel, y'know,  all literary and smart and stuff!

So I went with "Wynken, Blynken and Nod" by Eugene Field  because I love the image of stars being herring fish, and  "A Pizza the Size of the Sun" by Jack Prelutzky because it reminds me of my husband who makes pizza every Saturday. I also decided to tackle "The Tyger" by William Blake, (read the analysis included in the link, it is fascinating!) and for the ease of memorization "Trees" by Joyce Kilmer.

In his essay, "In Defense of Memorization," Michael Knox Beran talks about the role memorization of poetry and prose plays in the development of children.

"Without knowing it, a child who has learned a scrap of verse has been drawn into the civilizing interplay of music and language, rhythm and sound, melody and word," Beran writes. 

He says, "memorization is a kind of exercise that strengthens the powers of the mind, just as physical exercise strengthens those of the body."

I have to say, it was kind of fun learning these. I may take on a few more as the year goes by.

Here is a great list of poems for children.

(#8) Jayme Learns to Play the Ukulele

I bought a ukulele last year on a whim. I like that it was small, seemed easy to hold chords on, and safe around kids.

I used to play guitar, in what seems like a lifetime ago. I always thought it would be fun to play guitar to my own kids one day the way my father used to play guitar for me.

When I was sixteen, I thought I'd try it out while babysitting two toddlers. They sat on either side of me as I began to strum. Then one started pulling on my earring, and when I turned to tell him to stop, I whacked the head of the kid on the other side of me with the neck of the guitar. Music fun time quickly came to an end, an ice pack was made, and I immediately began composing my "I'm sorry I gave your child a head-injury" speech for the parents.

Anyway, the ukulele seemed like something I could play without inflicting head injuries on Ellie. And apparently ukuleles are having a moment among teenagers. Here in Newfoundland the high schoolers have the most adorable ukulele choir made up of these fantastically talented girls. Ukuleles are sold out at my local music store, and the music teachers in town have quite a few uke students. Who knew a Hawaiian instrument would be popular so far up north?

I bought the ukulele already imagining myself writing Ellie little songs, daydreaming about becoming the next Renee and Jeremy, and then I hung it on the wall and I haven't touched it since.

Like my running posts, these ukulele posts will be updated monthly, because I am not a musical genius like Mr. Vardy, and I cannot teach myself the ins and outs of the ukulele in one afternoon (how cool would that be though?).

So I thought I'd show you the lessons I'm working with through Youtube, and then post an inspiration piece that I'd love to be able to play one day at the end.

If you have no interest whatsoever in learning to play the ukulele, just scroll to the bottom. :)

So first I learned how to tune my ukulele using this video.




Much easier than tuning a guitar!

Then I decided to practice some basic chords.

I found this video to be helpful.




Now for some inspiration.

Here is an awesome kid, Orla Gartland, rockin' out on her ukulele. She has a gorgeous voice.

(#27) Jayme Learns to Fold a Fitted Sheet

I have to admit, pictures like these

Source: tulutextiles.com via cloth & kind | krista nye schwartz on Pinterest

Source: fleaingfrance.com via Carol on Pinterest

Source: bystephanielynn.com via Elaine on Pinterest

make my heart sing.


Beautifully organized linen closets are weird things to get excited about,  I know.

My own closet is less than perfect.

I do that thing where I put all the sheets in a set inside a pillow case so I don't get them mixed up.

I swear I must have eaten the fourth pillow case in my sleep or something.

It still happens though.

Putting the sheets inside the pillow case makes things look kind of lumpy, mostly because it is so hard to fold those fitted sheets.

Although this is another factor that can make your linen closet a bit messy.

This is a tutorial I've tried in the past to learn how to  fold a fitted sheet.

Martha Stewart Living, October 1997

There is a foolproof technique for folding a fitted sheet. These instructions are for a right-handed person; just reverse them if you're left-handed.

Folding a Fitted Sheet How-To

1. Stand holding the sheet by the two adjacent corners of one of the shorter edges. With the sheet inside out, place one hand in each of these two corners.

2. Bring your right hand to your left, and fold the corner in your right hand over the one in your left, enveloping it. Next, reach down and pick up the corner that is hanging in front; bring it up, and fold it over the two corners in your left hand; the corner that's showing will be inside out.

3. Bring the last corner up, and fold it over the others; with its right side showing, it should envelop the other three corners.

4. Lay the folded sheet on a flat surface and straighten it into the shape shown.

5. Fold the two edges in so all the elastic is hidden.

6. Fold the sheet into a rectangle.

7. Continue folding until the rectangle is the size you want it to be.

Foolproof, huh?

Here are my results:

 




So then I thought, maybe if I watch Martha's video...




Oh my gosh! 

I am this poor woman next to Martha and her snubby fitted sheet instructor. The poor woman from the audience seems so embarrassed. I just want to give her a hug!

Clearly, this method wasn't going to work for me.

In my Pinterest search, I realized I am not the only one who has issues with this fitted sheet business as demonstrated by this tutorial below:

Source: littlewhitelion.com via Stephanie on Pinterest

So I kept looking.

And I found this

Source: motifake.com via Eduardo on Pinterest

and a video tutorial exactly like Martha's with the instructors first line was "one of the biggest challenges you're going to face in your life is how to fold a fitted sheet."

First world problems. But one that I am determined to solve.

Then I found this infograph/advertisement that clued me into the trick to this folding business.

Source: feedproxy.google.com via Madison on Pinterest

Thank you Sleep Number! No need for sheet origami. Just use a table.

Ta daaaa!

 

(#1) Jayme Learns to Run Without Feeling Like Dying

I wish I could say this was a one blog post learning experience, but sadly this whole running business is going to take some time.

Like many of the things on my list, I have attempted to learn to run multiple times, but it never seems to stick.

Running is something I've never been good at.

When I was seven, my first grade class had this running fundraiser where we earned money per lap we ran from various sponsors. If you ran a certain number of laps, you got a kid's cheeseburger from McDonalds. I don't know how many laps you needed to run to meet that goal, but I didn't make it there because a concerned onlooker at the event forced me to sit out the race after one lap because my face was so red.

I was the only kid in the class not to get my cheeseburger. Oh, the heartbreak!







There was also many a nightmarish game of tag that I spent stuck as "it" for the duration of recess because I wasn't fast enough to catch anyone.

Then there were the excruciating additional ten seconds it took me to run infield after an inning of softball or kickball.

I hate running.

Running is painful, exhausting, boring and in no way relaxing to me.

So why the heck am I going to learn to run?

Well, it is "an extremely efficient way to burn calories and drop pounds."  My husband and I live a nomadic lifestyle which doesn't always guarantee access to a gym. When you are a runner the world is your gym. Plus, running is a solitary endeavor, which is great for an introvert like me who struggles with team sports and basic conversational skills.

So I'm going to take it on slowly, and see if I can't be a runner by the end of the year.

Here is the plan:

• Follow the popular 9 week Couch to 5Kprogram. You can learn how the program works here.
• Possibly join a runner's club here in Newfoundland for additional running support.
• Pick an awesome 5k with a ridiculous theme to distract me from the fact that I'm running. I'm looking for runs dedicated to chocolate like this one, or a run where you are so distracted by the zombies attacking you at every corner that you don't notice your lungs burning.  
• Lose the excess Nutella weight from last year's pregnancy.
• Buy lots of cute running clothes.
• Crave a run instead of a fist full of chocolate chips.
• Train for a 10k, then a half marathon, etc. etc.

Or something like that.

I'll report back each month on my progress. I'm hoping to learn better form. I'm hoping to learn how to breathe without hyperventilating. I'm hoping to learn how to run while simultaneously pushing a stroller and holding a dog leash.

Does anyone have any advice for me? Has C25k worked for you? Have you run in a wacky 5k and lived to tell the tale? When do you change the exploding chest for the runner high, and how similar is a runner's high to say a vodka-induced buzz? Or are they not related at all?