Kefir. Kefir is weird.

I first heard about Kefir through a friend who had grains to give away because she was moving.  And she was cute and fit and fun and funny.  And I thought, Kefir must be the same as her, why would it be any different?!  I researched it and thought - DUH!  That's awesome!  I need to get me some of that! It's good for you in so many ways, primarily to me it was the helping to regulate blood sugar AND the probiotic part.

  Well, I was lazy and didn't get the grains from her before she left.  BUT then I saw the local Farmer's Market sold a couple different versions.  I thought on it for a good few months, ok, like 9.  Then, one fine Saturday morn, I jumped in.  I made the investment in the Milk Kefir Grains, not fully understanding what I as getting myself in to, but committed because of all the wonderful health benefits - primarily because my Hubby would benefit from it also!  

I jumped right in and gave it a go.  Here's instructions.  The photo on the left is about 2-3 days in to the Reactivation process from dehydrated grains.  It took a good 5 days for it to start really making Kefir.  The photo on the right was about 5-6 days in.  

When I tried Kefir the first time, it wasn't too bad.  But it was barely even a spoonful of a taste.  The hubs took a wiff of it and about passed out.  (It really doesn't smell that bad!  Just not what you're expecting a Milk product to taste/smell like - yeast!)  When I've tried to drink it plain, I. just.  cant.   I'm trying though.  I really am.

Here's the things that have worked successfully:
Instant pudding - substituting SOME of the milk, no more than half.
Mac N' Cheese - the milk portion
Bread recipes
Pancakes
Mug cakes
SMOOTHIES, endless smoothies.

And when you let your kefir sit out too long, it turns in to cheese.  And I've put that cheese in pastas and burritos so far, both successful.

Here are some more recent pictures of my Kefir.  It's a lot more than a spoonful!  It's been getting bigger since week 6.  I'm excited to share more grains with family and friends!

I don't know how to say this part, but it turned my baby's poo bright green. I'm nursing my 15 month old still. and I read it was beneficial to the baby also!  The night after the first time I had it, she went #2.  and I honestly don't know how to describe it without sharing the picture.  SO, if you don't want to see a picture of bright green baby poo, DO NOT SCROLL DOWN.  You've been forewarned.  But, all I can think was that kefir did it's job!  She's had a healthy colon for a while!  My hubby too!

 and there you have it.

I made an Octopus costume.

I saw this cute pin of a baby in an Octopus costume and so I made an Octopus costume for my baby girl.  I  had trouble finding the cotton tights, but I had 4 pairs of nylon tights that were similar colors, thick elastic, and googly eyes all in the house. We're in business!

 I stuffed 3 of the pairs of tights with poly-fil. The tights we had were a size bigger than what she could fit, but, really, who gives?!  I drew pink circles around the "bottom" of the tentacles, including the pair she was going to be wearing, and outlined the circles with purple.   I folded the waist portion of the tights around an elastic band and secured them with sewing across. I made sure not to sew on the actual elastic so the tights could move around the waistband.  I took another elastic band and turned it in to a headband. To turn her in to an octopus, I just hot glued some googly eyes on!  Day of, I threw on a long shirt with a little ruffle around the bottom, the tights, the headband and then added the tentacle waistband.  OCTOPUS!  

For me, I was a Brick House.  Yep.  I rocked it.

I got a red shirt, painted on bricks with regular old white acrylic paint.  I used the cardboard from in between a sheet set and painted it brown.  Next, I took leftover box cardboard cut in to 4 rectangles, painted it red, added white lines and then just duct taped together in to a box shape, open on both ends.  It definitely didn't look perfect, I knew no on e would really care.  I also added a little duct tape to the top and squared it off a bit.  I cut off some of the bottom so it would sit on the roof at an angle.  Just scissored it up!  Ok.... now I know you're all wondering, how'd you get it to stay on your head?!  Very simple.  In fact, so simple that when I tried it, I thought there'd be no way it would work.  I got one of those sport elastic headbands that I had from college rowing and duct taped it in two spots, on either side of the roof.  I threw it on my head and viola!  Done!  It was a hit.

And that was my hand made Halloween. (Hubby wouldn't dress up and my son wanted to use the same costume from last year, Captain Rex.