Day 3 of no facebook & its a lot easier than I thought! I completely disabled my account, and I deleted the button on my toolbar and the app off my phone so I'm not able to access it easily. 

I'm in the process of refinishing a dresser to go with my dining room set. I'm planning on using it as a sideboard/linen chest. It will take awhile to do it properly, since the paint takes a few days to cure and there's a leg that needs to be fixed, but I'll post pics as soon as it is done. I'm hoping it will turn out great!

Our washer has been out of service for about two weeks now, which completely stinks. Luckily we have an extended warranty on it and Sears is going to cover the parts and labor for free... but it has taken awhile to get the parts sent out (they were back ordered) and then we received twice the amount of parts ordered. So now we have four HUGE boxes sitting in our dining room. We'll be making an awesome playhouse out of the boxes for Aislyn soon! Anyway the whole point to this is that I haven't been using my homemade laundry detergent which means I haven't needed to make another batch... which means I won't be sharing it with you all quite yet. But it's coming!!

We are looking at more houses tomorrow to make sure the one we placed an offer on is truly the home we want to spend the next several years in. Wish us luck!

Until next time,

Kaitlin

Eliminating Facebook

I hate to admit it, but I'm addicted to Facebook. It's bad. I check it every morning, multiple times a day on my phone, and right before I go to bed. It's horrible. It's shameful. It's not rewarding. I'm quitting.

We had a conversation in my Child Anthropology course yesterday about the damaging affects the internet has on our us and our children. It literally acts as an addiction. We get excited about a notification, new friend requests and messages. We start to crave it and so we sit behind our computers everyday and have virtual conversations about whatever instead of initiating face-to-face in our actual lives with actual people. Human beings are social creatures, yet social media is driving us away from fulfilling satisfying, normal social needs and instead allowing us to believe that a computer screen is going to provide that for us. It isn't.

So, for lent I'm giving up Facebook. I've deactivated my account until after Easter (maybe even longer, who knows?). I know that without it, I won't know exactly whats going on in my 600+ "friends" list. And I'm completely okay with that. I don't need to know about the relationship status of a kid I met once at a college party. I do know I will be much more productive, and much more engaged in the lives of my close, true friends. I also know that it will be a challenge... that I'm up to.

So see ya later, FB. I'll try not to miss ya,
Kaitlin

Homemade Yogurt

Before I researched how to make yogurt I was intimidated. I knew nothing about it and thought it was going to be a HUGE challenge to make. Boy, was I wrong. It's so simple! It does take about 12-14 hours to complete, but 99% of the time the yogurt it's resting, which means you can go about your day. The best part? TWO INGREDIENTS!

You will need:

• Whole Milk
• 1/4 cup plain yogurt
• Candy thermometer

What ya do:

 I have made several batches of yogurt with varying amounts of whole milk, but usually I do about a half gallon at a time. It depends on how much yogurt you want hanging around your house in the end. It makes slightly less than the original amount of milk you use due to evaporation but it's not by much... Let's get to it:

1. Pour your milk into a pot and heat it over medium heat until it reaches 185° F. Make sure your thermometer is not touching the bottom of the pan but is at least one inch into the milk. The milk will become a little frothy when it gets close to the right temperature. DO NOT LET IT BOIL. The milk doesn't like that.

2. After it reaches 185° turn off the heat and let the milk cool to 115°. Take about 1/4 cup of the warm milk and mix it into your plain yogurt (tempering). Then put the starter back into the pot of milk.

3. Cover your pot and put it in a warm place (I usually put it in a slightly warm oven) and walk away. It usually takes all day, or overnight if you start it late in the day. 

4. After the time is up, eat it up! Add some fresh fruit or honey, granola, whatever else you want and chow down...

...Or make Greek yogurt. You do this by lining a mesh sieve with cheesecloth, placing it over a container to catch the whey and pouring the yogurt into the cheesecloth. This step also takes some time (an hour or two), but it is the best, simplest, all-natural Greek yogurt you'll ever have. 

 This is my set up. See the whey at the bottom?

 Final Product: Creamy, delicious Greek Yogurt

There you have it, cheap and easy!

-Kaitlin