SortaWhat?

Over at Raising Five today, Katherine continued the conversation about commenting on blogs. I linked to her previous post about Checking the Box, but she has a further insight I hope all my new-to-bloggin' friends will check out as well!

So within her post, Katherine makes mention of checking out blogs based on unique blog titles, and wonders "why on earth someone would name their blog 'SortaCrunchy' "? hee hee hee. Great question!

One of my big plans for blogging is to play around and fix this place up so it's more user/reader-friendly. I have even thought about packing up and moving to WordPress, but I just can't quite commit yet. Anyway, if I ever do get around to gettin fixed up, one thing I want to include is a little background on why SortaCrunchy . . .

When I first started this blog, I had chosen "sortacrunchy" as my screenname on a private mommy board on which I am very active. I didn't take too much time back then to explain why I had chosen that name because all of my friends on that message board know that I really am pretty much a sort of crunchy kind of mama. And because to this day my message board friends comprise about 98.9% of my readership, I have been sort of lackadaisical in taking the time to share with any other readers who have clicked over here what makes me a sortacrunchy kind of lady.

D and I are headed out of town at this very moment, so I don't have the time to go into as much detail as I had hoped to (when I started this entry three hours ago!). Here's an excerpt from one of my very first posts that shares a snippet of background:

In this blog, I am hoping to be able to share some information on natural parenting practices that I have taken up in the past 18 months. Some of the NP stuff I am into include cloth diapering, babywearing, and extended breastfeeding. I hope to also share information on circumcision, vaccinations, homeschooling (and unschooling) and other topics relevant to NP.

In my next entry (whenever that might be! hopefully later this week) I want to go into this a little further. But if anyone should happen to click over from Raising Five today, I hope this will serve as a brief explanation as to why on earth . . . :)

"Dear Children" Group Writing Project!

Just a heads-up for all my writing mama friends . . .

Very Cool Jordan over at MamaBlogga is hosting a fantastic Group Writing Project this week. Here is what you need to know. I am so hoping to put together an entry, and I really can't wait to see what everyone comes up with!

Amongst my little circle of friends, there are some fabulously talented writing mamas. Girls, I expect to see your entry there!

Happy writing everyone. :)

Pregnant Lady Bakes

No menu plan this week . . . and maybe not for a few weeks. The month of June will be devoted to an in-town move for the SortaCrunchy household, so things are going to be a little bit crazy. I found some great tips and tricks from Laura at Organizing Junkie that I fully intend to use!

Anyway, last Friday night I found myself overcome with the urge to BAKE! The Coach loves peanut butter cookies (and there literally does not exist a cookie that I don't love) so I decided to whip some up. I searched through my wildly unorganized recipe files and simply could not find the peanut butter cookie recipe I usually use.

(This particular recipe was given to me by my mother-in-law years and years ago when The Coach and I were newlyweds and I baked up some cookies for my darling groom for the first time. Hard as rocks. And just about as tasty. He lovingly suggested that perhaps I should "call Mom and ask for her recipe." Once I finished licking my wounds, I made her recipe and they were really good!)

But alas, that recipe is currently Missing In Action, so I did what every super mod bakerina does in such a crisis . . . I googled "best peanut butter cookie recipe!" And I discovered this gem of a recipe that The Coach has not only requested become our permanent house recipe for peanut butter cookies, he also wants me to send the recipe to his mother!! Love it.

Anyway, these are really, really fabulous. We both could not stop eating them. They are gone now, nothing but some peanut-y crumbs as trace evidence of their existence. I am going to post the recipe as it was written, with my notes to the side.

2.5 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 lb. (2 sticks) salted butter (I never have salted butter on hand, so I used two sticks unsalted and added 3/8 tsp of salt to the recipe)
1 cup brown sugar, packed
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup crunchy peanut butter at room temp
2 large eggs
2 tsps. vanilla extract (I am lucky enough to be able to keep Mexican vanilla on hand. Oh dear LORD that is some powerful stuff.)
1 cup roasted salted peanuts

Preheat oven to 350. Grind peanuts in food processor until they resemble bread crumbs, about 14 pulses; set aside. Line two large cookie sheets with parchment paper. (I don't have any parchment paper - shame on me! not a real baker, I suppose - but I baked these on my nonstick cookie sheets and they came out fine)

Whisk flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in medium bowl; set aside.

Beat butter until creamy. Add sugars; beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes, scraping down bowl as necessary. Beat in peanut butter until fully incorporated and then eggs, one at a time, then vanilla. Gently stir dry ingredients into peanut butter mixture. Add ground peanuts; stir gently until just incorporated.

Scoop into balls with about 1.5 Tbsps. dough per scoop and drop onto parchment about 2 inches apart. Press criss-cross design into the top of each ball using a fork dipped in cold water. (I, of course, added the requisite sprinkling of sugar to the top of each cookie)

Bake 10-12 mins until cookies are puffed and slightly brown along edges but not on top. Cookies will not look fully baked! Cool on sheet until set, about 5 minutes; transfer to wire rack to cool completely. The ground peanuts add a lot of flavor and surprisingly, do not add grittiness. I don't like peanuts in cookies as a rule, and I don't like crunchy peanut butter, but I love these cookies. When my mom makes them, she likes to make a glaze of powdered sugar with a little milk and a small amount of creamy peanut butter and drizzle it over the finished cooled cookies.
(I followed her baking instructions and it took about 10.5 minutes for them to reach perfection in my oven. I also didn't make the glaze, but that sounds delish, too!)

Again, these are so, so good. Enjoy!

On comments and email

Something has been puzzling me. Well, a lot of things puzzle me, but the solution to this particular puzzle may be enlightening to some of my friends and readers.

Two of the bloggers I so enjoy reading - Michelle at Scribbit and Katherine at Raising Five do a spectacular job of sending a quick email to me when I leave a comment for them. I love it! It makes me feel really connected to them and their writing and it definitely inspires me to stay tuned in to what they have to say.

No amount of head-scratching and Blogger searching turned up an answer to my question of "how are these ladies doing this?" so I just up and asked them both. Both had the same reply, but I am notoriously awful at explaining things, so I am going to direct you to Katherine's post on the topic - Comment Mystery Solved - and let you read for yourselves. Read the comments, too, as they have some extra insights.

Thanks to Michelle and Katherine both for taking the time to solve this mystery for me.

And gentle readers, if you would like to hear back from me after having taken a little time to leave me a comment, then make sure you have your "show my email address" box checked, too!

Super! Cool! Contest!

Oh, friends. This is exciting!

First of all, thanks to AnnaLiza at Ventanahoos Candid, I have had the joy of discovering yet another amazing and super cool blog. And this blog mistress is having a very cool, very fun contest - but it ends Friday morning at 9 CST, so hurry, my friends! Hurry over Adventures in Babywearing to enter her giveaway to Mason & Matisse! Since we are having a little baby boom in my online community, I know I don't have to twist anyone's arm to browse the hip and chic collections Mason & Matisse carries . . . and while you are there, check out this toddler bedding! Rad, right?

But, so yeah - how I have not stumbled across Adventures in Babywearing before tonight?! Although I don't write about it nearly enough here, babywearing is a serious passion of mine. So looking forward to reading more from this cool mama. Ahhhhhh, yes. Babywearing. That reminds me. I've got some serious shopping to do . . .

Words of wisdom

Tickled pink! That's how I feel about the plethora of friends o' mine who have jumped on board the blogging bandwagon!

Today, I ran across a great entry from MamaBlogga with some Advice to Mom Bloggers. Connecting with other bloggers has been the greatest joy and most wonderful surprise since I ventured into the blogosphere. I am no veteran, and certainly no expert, but I have been reading great blogs for months now and find I am entertained, taught, moved, and shaken by amazing writers whom I will probably never meet yet to whom I feel a great connection. (That last sentence is a grammatical train-wreck. Forgive me.)

Had to share!

Menu Plan Monday

As always, thank you to Laura at I'm An Organizing Junkie!" for hosting!

This week, I am hoping to get back on track with some actual MEALS. The Coach was on the road for most of May, so D and I have done a lot of soup and sandwich nights.

As much as I love to surf the web for new and exciting recipes, I found myself longing for some good ol' fashioned cookbook perusing. I got out my trusty Taste of Home cookbooks and went to town. Here's the plan:

Monday: Hurry Up Ham and Noodles, Tangy Carrot Coins, Peachy Ice Cream Sundaes
Tuesday: The Cashew Chicken from a few weeks ago I still haven't gotten around to making *blush*
Wednesday: Baked Omelet Roll, Buttermilk Banana Pancakes, Hot Fruit and Sausage
Thursday: Upside Down Meat Pie, Macaroni Medly Salad, Ice Cream
Friday and Saturday - D and me :)
Sunday - Veggie Chicken Wraps, Quick Corn Chowder

This shouldn't be a problem, right?

Something TINY happened!

I've already shared this scoop with my message board amigas, but I am so in love I can't keep quiet!

A few months ago, I loaned our baby swing to the wonderful and sweet mama who owns Full Circle Baby. Full Circle Baby is a darling brick and morter (and online) natural family living shop in the town just south of us, and Lisa helped me get my start in cloth diapering. Last week, she emailed to say they were done with the swing, and could she pay back the favor by passing on some of their newborn diapers? Um, YES!! This was, of course, so totally not necessary as it was no bother at all to let that swing out of the house to a home where it would be used and loved for a while.

Imagine my surprise and true delight when we were given all of THIS by sweet Lisa:


I mean, seriously.

Have you ever seen anything so sweet in your life?! (Well, okay, maybe a FEW things are sweeter, but not many!)

So I have been fondling and petting them and trying to imagine this little Sweet Thing swimming inside me actually wearing these. Oh, the delight!

And now, I am afraid, the shop-for-cloth bug has bitten me once again. I am using Super Woman amounts of self-control to not buy up every tiny little diaper and cover I see! Preparing for an in-town move next month has left our budget crying for mercy, so Mr. Post Man will have a few months of rest before the avalanche of fluffy mail makes its way south.

Oh yeah! I am 23 weeks today, and I think that I can now say I am six months pregnant. Does that sound right?

Warm and Fuzzy!

Oh, I feel just awful that I am just now sitting down to do this! Sweet Friend Julie tagged me last week to do a Top Ten Warm and Fuzzy list. My mind is going thirteen different directions at once right now, and my stupendously poor time management skills have kept me from blogging duties and delights.

But now, here we go . . .

TOP TEN THINGS THAT MAKE ME FEEL WARM AND FUZZY INSIDE

1) The twinkle in Dacey's eye when she knows she is being cute

2) Treating myself to a latte (Toffee Nut, please!)

3) Freshly painted toenails

4) Phone calls from The Coach during the day "just because"

5) Settling in on the couch for a night of movies or even TV with my Man. We are such homebodies, and we love it that way!

6) Singing along to favorite songs from high school and college when they come on the radio

7) Being in the congregation at church when someone is baptized. We uptight Southern Baptists don't have much in the way of tradition and ceremony - a true dirth of Pomp and Circumstance - but to me, the act of baptism by submersion is one of the most meaningful, beautiful ceremonies! I get tears in my eyes every time.

8) Fresh bed linens

9) Wildflowers in bloom

10) The way D wraps her arms around me and pats me on the back before I lay her down in her crib at night. *big sigh* Perfect ending to any day!

To say that I am totally into the blogging community right now would be the sort of understatement that can only be equaled by something along the lines of Texas in the summer can get a little hot and humid . . .

Everyday I come across fun and fascinating blogs; my bloglines feeds are fat and sassy and I am loving it!

Anyway, one bloggy mama I am crazy loving right now is Boo Mama. Don't let her humble subtitle fool ya - she has hundreds of readers! Today's post on the heartbreak of our children growing up is reflective and poignant (and funny), and there is a little something in most every one of her entries that at least gets me to giggling . . . more often than not, though, I am laughing out loud.

So anyway, just thought all six of my readers might like the heads-up on her. Good blog times!

Flushed under the freckles

Well, this is certainly humbling!

My funny, sweet, sassy, awesome, funny, gorgeous - did I mention funny? - friend Meghan has been so kind as to nominate the old Sorta for a couple of Blogger's Choice Awards!

It's hard for me to post this because I haven't really written anything that would land me in the "best" category for much of anything, but I dearly love Meghan and so I am posting this for her!

Blog Design Giveaway!

Wowza! And hooray!! One of the coolest, hip-est, neatest blogistas I so enjoy reading - Everyday Mommy - is honoring mamas with a Blog Design Giveaway!!

As you may remember from way back when, I have been wanting a new look for oh-so-long now. I have toyed and toyed with the idea of purchasing a design from one of the many talented blog design gurus out there, but in the end I have decided to hold off on that until I get for real serious about blogging. But if someone wanted to tinker around with the ol' blog for free . . . well, wouldn't that just be one of the most memborable Mother's Day gifts eva?

Menu Plan Monday

I gotta tell ya - D has been sick all weekend, and I am not feeling all that awesome today, either. Still, I have mapped out a menu for the week, and we shall see what happens.
As always, thanks so much to Laura at "I'm an Organizing Junkie" for hosting!

Monday - Banana Buttermilk Pancakes, eggs, bacon
Tuesday - Spinach and cheese ravioli - not sure what else
Wednesday - Spaghetti, veggies, cheese bread
Thursday - Popcorn chicken, fries, veggies
Friday - An Ordinary Mom's Chicken Chesnut Casserole
Saturday - Honey BBQ meatloaf, mashed potatoes, greens
Sunday - Mother's Day - we better be going out to eat! :)