Cuteness – Page 5 – Her Green Life

Halloween trick or tart

I lack the time or tools to be crafting/sewing costumes. Fortunately, as I discovered last year, it’s easy to find nice, affordable used costumes — wear once and send back into the costume recycling circle.

There will probably be no trick-or-treating this year, due to a conflict with bedtime, but we ventured out to the Botanical Garden’s event on Sunday afternoon. Our little bee enjoyed buzzing around the garden on a gorgeous fall day. He seemed nonplussed by all the other little ones in costumes, which (we discovered later) may have been due to discomfort from too tight pants (that I stuffed him into — sorry, Baby!).

We also whipped up a little treat over the weekend — this chocolate peanut butter tart, a recipe I’ve been eyeing since I made my birthday cake request in May. We assembled all the ingredients except for regular peanut butter. We buy the natural kind that needs to be stirred, and I was nervous since the recipe was specific on that point.

Fortunately, the peanut butter mousse whipped up beautifully with our peanut butter of choice, though perhaps a bit less sweet. We didn’t mind too much.

It’s hard to mind much when you’re eating the equivalent of a very high quality peanut butter cup (and watching a great football game, as was the case Saturday night).

I’ll end with one more for the cuteness column — Baba found not one, but two Halloween costumes, so we had a bee and a cow this year.

Who let the cow into the ~~pumpkin~~ squash patch?

New to us: Shopping Craigslist and garage sales

I grew up with garage sales being a fairly regular Saturday morning activity, but it’s something that’s seldom been part of my adult life. If I wanted to spend my weekends driving all over the metro area, I’m sure I could score a few good bargains, but if I’m in search of a specific item, it’s easier to turn to Craigslist.

I also strive to limit driving with Craigslist (CL) hunts, usually only looking at ads that list a location within five miles (or a bit more if it’s in a direction that I would be headed by car anyway, like near my MIL’s). Biking to CL pickups is ideal, of course.

I found myself in just such a situation when I responded to an ad for a booster seat in “South City.” The term encompasses a rather wide area, so I was delighted to find that the seller lived in my neighborhood, just seven blocks away. Better yet, when I arrived to pick up the seat, she let me do some early shopping from her selection of toddler boy clothes that she was preparing for the neighborhood garage sale, so, for a very good price, and very little effort on my part, I took care of most of Gabriel’s winter clothing needs.

As an added bonus, I met another mom in the neighborhood, who we’ve since run into at the playground a couple of times, and who offered to contact me as her 4-year-old son continues to outgrow clothes.

While I prefer new to used in almost all areas anyway, used kids’ pajamas are particularly good in my book, since they likely have lower amounts of potentially toxic fire-retardant chemicals remaining.* As an added bonus, somebody looks absolutely adorable in his “new” footie pajamas, and I rest easier knowing they’ve been through a number of wash cycles.

NOT spontaneously combustible, but possibly in danger of death by cuddles

Though I wasn’t initially planning on it, I took the time to check out some of the neighborhood garage sales that weekend (it was an organized event with over 30 sales on one Saturday). Instead of lots of driving and in and out of the car, I spent a couple of lovely hours on a fall morning biking around my neighborhood. For less than $15, I picked up five DVDs, a nice baby gate, and a couple of new toys for little Pookie.

I didn’t find anything that I was REALLY looking for (e.g., nice shoes for Gabriel, a coat rack for our front stairs), and it was money that I would not have spent if I hadn’t gone out, so I think it’s for that best that my garage sale-ing is self-limited.

*”Chemicals used in sleepwear labeled ‘fire resistant’ will remain in the fabric for at least 50 washes.” Source here — see bottom of page for specifics on pajamas. It’s not like mattresses or sofas or babies sleeping sweetly in their pajamas are prone to spontaneously bursting into flames. It’s disgusting that the widespread use of TOXIC fire-retardant chemicals was introduced primarily as a precaution for fires started from another chemical nightmare — cigarettes.

Cool weather biking with baby

While we’re still in cool fall weather and not cold winter weather mode, yesterday’s morning bike ride prompted an impromptu solution for staying warm on the bicycle. My balaclava was only a tad big on little Pookie.

He was a good sport about the new head gear. I missed having my face covered, but I still had my under-the-helmet hat, so we were both fairly cozy.

In fact, he may have found it a bit TOO cozy and comfortable, because he fell asleep on the way home. We’ve just switched to one nap a day, and fearing that an 11:00am bike seat snooze would be disastrous to the real deal, I fought hard to keep him awake — shaking his shoulder, talking and singing to him, and ringing the bell (right in his ear!).

He was so out of it, he just turned his head a bit and whimpered at my efforts. I felt like a jerk, but I really didn’t want to jeopardize a good nap later. Not to mention that it was rather difficult to shift with his head on my hand.

Anyway, Matthew reminded me that we have an extra small adult balaclava somewhere around here. If we find it, that should work well for brisk days. For really cold weather, I think the trailer will be the warmest spot, since the rain cover turns it into an almost completely enclosed space (save for the vents).

We’ll probably still have to draw the line somewhere, temperature-wise, to prevent freezing little hands and feet. We generate internal heat while biking (and even with that and good mittens and boots sometimes have trouble keeping the extremities warm), but he won’t have that advantage when he’s just along for the ride.

Anyone else have a minimum temperature for biking with little ones, or general suggestions for keeping them warm and happy?

Little gardener

Now that Gabriel’s walking, he’s ready to take a more active role in the garden. I’ll let him take over the narration. First, there’s horseback riding.

The best way to the garden is on horseback. After that, the real work begins. I oversee the gardening crew — they work hard, but sometimes need a little direction.

The amaranth looks good, but those fingerling potatoes aren’t going to dig themselves, Dada. And what about the eggplant? Your water break is over!