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change is in the air

autumn leaves

There’s a tree in my neighborhood that’s starting to change colors. Slowly, branch by branch, its leaves are turning red. Most of the tree is still a brilliant, summery green, but you can tell change is slowly coming. My website feels a little bit like this tree today.

Over the weekend I merged julie-bird.com with this site. I’m guessing most of you wouldn’t have even noticed if the rss feed hadn’t sent out one of my posts from a few weeks ago. (Seems feedburner is easily confused by change.)

Like the big green tree outside my window, most of the site remains unchanged. However, there are a few exciting things to note:

  • There’s finally a navigation bar at the top!
  • Tutorials have their very own page (with photos to come soon)!
  • Images are bigger! Tutorial photos are easier to see!

You may notice little changes in the coming months. I’ll let you know if I add anything terribly exciting. Right now, I’m just happy to have a little more elbow room to organize my creative thoughts.

Are the leaves starting to change in your part of the world? Real or metaphorical, share in the comments!

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recipe: how to make drop scones with yogurt

lemon cranberry yogurt scone recipe

A few months ago, I wrote about my success at making soft and fluffy scones. At first, I thought their texture was because of the yogurt. Turns out, it’s because of the flour.

I have tried many variations of this recipe and the only scone that stays soft and moist is made with a mix of unbleached white flour and cake flour. I’ve had tasty success with whole wheat pastry flour, but the texture just isn’t the same. I’m posting the white flour version, but I encourage you to try different, healthier flours to see what you like best.

I’ve also tried different kinds of plain yogurt and found that a drippy consistency is best. Regular store-bought and homemade yogurt* work fine as is. I recommend thinning Greek yogurt with milk to get the right consistency.

This recipe is loosely based on the one found in Alice Water’s The Art of Simple Food. I almost always make them with lemon and cranberries. Try substituting orange for the lemon and play around with the dried fruit.

Lemon Cranberry Yogurt Drop Scones

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Mix together:
1 cup unbleached white flour
1 cup cake flour
2 1/2 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
1/4 c sugar
1/2 c chopped dried cranberries
grated zest from one small lemon

Stir in:
1 1/3 c yogurt or yogurt/milk mixture
juice from one small lemon (about 4 T)

Mix until the dough just starts to come together.

Drop 12 heaping spoonfuls on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

Bake for 15-17 minutes.

*I make my yogurt with 2% milk. I promise you won’t miss the butter or cream in this healthy treat. Enjoy!

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which came first: dumb t-shirts or dumb attitudes?

Every Fall for the past few years I have gone to Neat Repeatz, one of Lincoln’s largest consignment sales, looking for some cute and affordable clothes for my daughter. This is where I first learned that cute for toddler girls is anything pink or lavender covered in princess decals. I had to shop the boys section if I wanted to find anything with primary colors, trains, cars or dinosaurs.

Last week I learned that cute for little girls isn’t so cute. As I looked through the hundreds of t-shirts, I found the princess theme for this age group is now “Treat Me Like the Princess I Am” and “Her Royal Highness.”

dumb t-shirts

Even less cute are JC Penney’s and Forever 21’s back-to-school t-shirts: “I’m too Pretty for Homework, so My Brother Has to Do it for Me” and “My Best Subjects: Boys, Shopping, Music, Dancing” and “Allergic to Algebra.” They have been pulled from inventory after enormous public criticism, but how they even made it to sale is troubling to me.

dumb t-shirts

It doesn’t stop there. I recently read Lisa Bloom’s Think and discovered some scary statistics.

  • A quarter of young women would rather win “America’s Next Top Model” than the Nobel Peace Prize, according to Oxygen Media.
  • Half would rather get hit by a bus than get fat, according to USA Today.
  • Fifty-one percent say that becoming famous is their number one or number two goal in life, according to the Pew Research Center.
  • Most American women can name at least one Kardashian sister, but the majority can’t name a single branch of the federal government.

Seriously, ladies?

It’s becoming clear to me this is no longer about finding appropriate clothing for my daughter. I have to ask, does a market filled with “Too Pretty for Homework” type t-shirts cause this problem or do the t-shirts exist because of the problem?

I also have to ask how the parents of boys feel about all of this. Are you noticing similar trends? I’ll admit that I’m probably more exposed to the girl side of things because I have a daughter. Share your thoughts!

related links:
– julie-k tutorial: ruffling up some boys t-shirts
-in the news: JCPenney’s Too Pretty for Homework t-shirt
-in the news: Forever 21’s Allergic to Algebra t-shirt
-statistics: published on CBS’s website, along with a link to an excerpt of Think

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finished: wagon wheel baby blanket

this moment

I am so excited this is finished because I’m really ready for a new project. It turned out just as beautiful as I had imagined the day I found the sweater.

this moment

I couldn’t wait for it to dry, so I took pictures while it was blocking. I don’t normally block blankets, but because this is a gift, I wanted all of the squares to look perfect.

this moment

Some friends have asked me about my seaming technique on this blanket. I took pics along the way so I can post a tutorial. My next blanket will be joined as I go. Maybe it won’t take so long to finish.

original post: You can see parts of the original sweater in my first post about this project.

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easy kids bike shorts pattern

wardrobe refashion

The bike shorts pattern is finished and ready for download! It’s been over two years since my original Easy Kids Shorts pattern and I do a few things differently now.

  • These days I sew the inseams first, then the rise.
  • I almost always use a 1/4 inch seam allowance instead of 1/2 or 5/8 inch, usually because I’m trying to squeeze as much as I can out of a piece of fabric or t-shirt.
  • 3/4 inch elastic seems to be more comfortable around the waist than the smaller widths.
  • Now that I have a serger, I finish my raw edges and just fold the waist over once. You can finish your edges with a zig zag/overlock edge or adjust the pattern to accommodate the double fold waist.

I recommend you pay attention to the type of knit fabric you use. The original piece I traced for this pattern was a tightly-knit jersey. The t-shirt I used was a loosely-knit jersey and the shorts turned out a little big. Not big enough to re-sew, but definitely roomier.

Finally, my daughter is long and lean: 20 inch waist and 14 inches from waist to knee. Adjust seam allowances and elastic size to get a better fit for your child. Want them shorter? Trim off the bottom of the pattern an inch or two.

Please leave any questions in the comments. Download the pattern here. Enjoy!

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this moment

this moment

{this moment} – A Friday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. Join in the fun here.

Photo credit: The Daweshaus

. . . . . . .

Posting my “Friday” ritual on a Sunday. And it’s a moment from a few weeks ago. And I didn’t even take the picture. Husband was out of town and I’ve been a little distracted the past few days.

I was also working on my annual September 11th post. It feels weird knowing that when I combine blogs, words like this will be mixed in with a t-shirt bike shorts pattern.

Yep! I found the the bike shorts pattern under a pile of my daughter’s artwork. Hope to get it posted this week.

Stay safe and hug your loved ones.

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my words on september 11, 2001

I started writing on the Internet in 2003. It wasn’t until the year after my daughter was born that I started writing about September 11th. Before she was born, I just dealt with the memories on the inside. Since then I’ve realized that some day I’m going to have to talk about all of this with her. Not only am I going to have to explain the historical events, but how that day affected her mom and dad. I’ve been changed forever. Will my words change her forever?

Even though I wasn’t writing online back then, I was active in an online forum. I had stumbled upon this group of people who discussed all kinds of things: politics, life, food and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Really, what more could you ask for in online friends?

They were the ones I spent most of the day with on September 11th. I was alone in my office. News websites weren’t loading. TV reception was horrible. I needed to know what was going on. I needed to talk to other people. Thankfully, they were there, looking for the same things.

Those words are locked as our permanent archive of that day and the day after. Ten years later, I checked to see if they were still there and was transported back to my desk in an office building on 17th and K.

My thoughts are scattered throughout multiple conversations about different topics, but I’m going to try and pull them together for my own historical record. I’m not going to edit them too much for grammar or context. I hope they aren’t too disconnected. They obviously make sense to me. Ten years is a long time, and even though I feel like I remember everything as if it was yesterday, there are details that I don’t want to forget.

I’m in DC. I’m stuck downtown. a few blocks from the White House. it’s major gridlock. my co-worker’s husband works at National. we are getting scary reports of another hijacked plane. I’m shaking. it seems like dream. I’m so glad you all are online. I can’t get through to CNN, MSNBC, nothing. we have the news on, but there are so many rumors. stay in touch!
—
I’m still stuck in DC. things are quieting down. gridlock is over. most places are closed. I’ve got a ride out around 3 pm. checking the forum and watching tv until then.
—
I can’t figure out what this underlying feeling is that I have. I think it is anger. I’m really angry. angry at people who would do this. I don’t think I’ve ever felt like this before. and I don’t know where to direct my anger. I want to cry, but I can’t.
—
a friend’s son is in school right outside of dc. they are staying open normal time. trying to keep some sense of normalcy for the kids. only 4th graders and up have been told what has happened. I think this is a good thing. knowing how numb I feel right now, I can’t even imagine the panic a child would feel.
—
ok, I’m signing off. the mayor has ordered people to evacuate DC so I am catching a ride and will wait for my husband in maryland. good luck to all.
—
low tech weapons? they used a plane full of fuel! where did you all hear about the box cutters? scary. I heard on the news an interesting comment, that made me take pause. we live in a country that is very open. we don’t want security cameras on our street corners, we don’t want a military presence on our streets. as a result, we are vulnerable to these types of attacks. but would you want to live under tighter security and give up other freedoms?
—
jeesh! how can we can protect ourselves against attacks like this? we are still waiting to hear about two more family members in NYC. all day at work I kept thinking, “I can’t wait to be home and watching this on tv instead if it happening down the street.” now that I home, I feel emotionally exhausted. I am so grateful that my husband and I are safe. thanks again to all of the wonderful people on this forum. you’ve all had a very grounding affect on me today. I really appreciate it.
—
I’m back in DC today. 17th and K. it feels bizarre. things look the same but don’t feel the same. the guy who plays the violin by the metro is still there. same homeless people hanging out on the corner. the woman who sells krispy kremes on the corner is still hollering “donuts for sale.” the perimeter around the white house is 18th and I, so I know I am close to things. I don’t ever pass by the pentagon, so its images on tv feel just as unreal as those from new york. I don’t know how to explain it. I just feel flat. deflated. sad. we heard from our cousins in new york. they are safe. thank god!
—
ok, I take back what I said earlier today. I just came back from lunch and there are humvees on every corner along with the National Guard. I don’t know how I am going to get any work done.
—
more evacuation in dc: apparently they evacuated the street down from me (16th I think) around 4 pm because of a bomb scare. I didn’t even know it. a coworker just called me from the street saying it’s crazy gridlock with tons of police down there. how did I not hear about this for two hours?
—
I finally began to release when I saw the guy from Cantor Fitzgerald. before then I was in such a state of denial, nothing seemed real. but now, it is really starting to sink in. I cried a lot last night.

Those words aren’t the only ones I’ve avoided for the past ten years. Downstairs boxed up in the basement with other miscellaneous stuff from our house in Maryland are three magazines — Time, New York and The New Yorker — dated September 24, 2001. Magazines that were purchased, but never read. I think it’s time to get them out. Time to honor the heroes and victims within those pages by reading their stories.

This is going to be a tough week.

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homemade raspberry jam

homemade raspberry jam

Last night I made jam. Ooey, gooey, yummy in the tummy jam. It was so incredibly easy that I can’t believe I haven’t done this before.

I started out following the recipe in the Ball Blue Book , cutting ingredients by two-thirds because I only had three cups of fruit. On the first try, the fruit didn’t gel. Maybe I had let the berries get too ripe? I boiled again and added some powdered pectin. Still no luck. Tried one more boil and some more pectin and voilà! Jam!

Two containers are in the freezer. A half filled container is in the fridge. Now I just need to make something that needs jam. Maybe scones?

resources: Target has the Ball Blue Book in stores right now with the canning supplies. I also found this website helpful and followed this advice when my jam didn’t gel.

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it’s u-pick your fruit season!

picking fruit

Over the weekend we went to a local orchard to pick raspberries and apples. It was a beautiful day: warm and sunny, but not hot — breezy, but not windy. Autumn is definitely in the air.

picking fruit

First up were the raspberries. They aren’t supposed to reach their peak ripeness until later this week, so we had to hunt for good ones. I think we did pretty good.

picking fruit

My daughter enjoyed picking them until she began to notice Bees! and long grass Scratching Her Legs! In her defense, she doesn’t really like the seedy texture of raspberries, so this was a lot of work for something she wouldn’t eat.

picking fruit

After the berries, we headed over to the apples. Galas are our favorite and they just happened to be the ones ready for picking. Our daughter was much happier once she got her hands on a juicy, sweet treat.

picking fruit

It was hard to resist some of the other trees that were full of unripe fruit. We couldn’t believe they weren’t ready and threw a few into our bag anyway. Woah, were they tart! Lesson learned.

picking fruit

I plan to make some freezer jam with the raspberries. The apples will disappear fast around here, but I hope to at least get one pie made and maybe an apple crisp, too. On our way out we talked about a return trip later in the season, maybe when the pumpkins are ready.

for the locals: We went to Martin’s Hillside Orchard. I follow their updates on facebook. A list of local orchards can be found here.