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Sunday, October 30, 2011

Adjustments needed

My back has been killing me lately. I often get ribs out of place which sends shooting pain through my back. It sucks when I'm holding babies and suddenly feel like I'm being stabbed. It wasn't so bad when we had chiropractors covered by insurance, but our new insurance doesn't cover it. It's not bad enough to need laser back surgery or anything, but an occasional adjustment would be nice. I also get migraines when my neck gets out of place, and having 2 babies to hold and nurse makes that happen more from the extra pressure and strain across my upper back. I always love getting into my nice soft bed at night and stretching out, feels so good. I sleep pretty good too (besides waking to feed babies) because my bed is so comfortable and relaxing after a day with the kids.

Getting educated

I'm so glad I have such a wonderful husband. He has always been extremely helpful with the house and kids, but since I started school he has taken on even more. He's willing to work harder taking care of things at home so that I can finish my education so that if I ever need to work I'll have more available to me than fast food, call centers, or Baggage Porter Jobs. Not that those are bad, I've done a few of those jobs to supplement our income at times, but if my husband ever was unable to get work we'd need something that pays more than minimum wage. Which will hopefully never be an issue *knock on wood*. In a year and a half I should be done with my Associate's degree, and 2 years from that I could have my Bachelor's.

Pumpkins

This year we had a lot of pumpkins to carve. First, our family grew by two members and we like to have pumpkins even for the babies, and second we got 2 free pumpkins at a party last week. So 9 pumpkins and since we don't trust the kids with knives that meant that Hubby and I had to carve all those pumpkins. Jason and Jakey were in charge of cleaning out the guts and separating the seeds so I could try roasting them. Hubby did the most carving. I wish we had some actual pumpkin carving tools, or maybe box cutters would work better than steak knives. Both of us had sore hands by the time we were done but they turned out good. We let Jason and Jakey design the faces on their pumpkins. Nathan's is a Blue's Clue's pawprint because he loves that show. The babies' just have I and C. Hubby's is the great Idaho #1 one and mine is the BOO tower with a ghost on one side.

Finding time to sew

I've been busy the last week, like always lol. But I finally had to get out my sewing machine again to make some costumes for my boys. I don't get a lot of chance to sew lately, but I didn't want to go spend money on costumes this year. Jason wanted to be a wizard, Jakey wanted to be a ghost, Nathan is luckily to young to really care what he is so he got to wear a Mario costume we already had, and I made the babies garden gnomes. So cute. I'll have to get a good pic of all of them together when they are dressed up tomorrow. I have a bunch of other projects on my sewing list but I don't see myself getting the time to do them any time soon. I do need to make a baby shower gift for a friend before Wednesday. Hopefully I can find time for that. I normally buy baby shower gifts, and these ones from berries.com look so cute, because I normally run out of time to make something. We'll see what I have time for this week!

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

MyMemories Winner!

Thank you to those who entered the MyMemories Suite scrapbook software giveaway! We have a lucky winner chosen by random.org...

#5 is Tiffany H! Congratulations! I will be contacting you on how to redeem your prize.

If you didn't win you can still order this software and get $10 off using the code STMMMS6534, which also gives you $10 off anything else at mymemories.com.

Sunday, October 16, 2011

Are you ready for some football?

I don't watch a lot of TV. For one, usually if it's on the kids have cartoons on, and secondly, I just have other things to do with my time. But now that it's football time that's what is on our TV every Sunday. We don't have cable or satellite but we have one of those digital antennas for tv and so we watch the regular broadcast games. We are Patriots fans and they've been doing good so far this year. I never really cared for watching football before I met Hubby but now I love it. :)

Fall break is not nearly long enough

The weekends go by way too quickly these days. Last weekend, Thursday through Saturday, was Fall Break from school for me so I didn't have class Thursday or Saturday and it went by so fast. This week I have a couple papers to get done for my culture class Thursday so I need to get those done. I've been feeling a bit overwhelmed lately with school and appointments and life. When I get a day off I like to just lounge around and do nothing. I'd love some comfy nursing scrubs to relax in, I don't really have a lot of lounging clothes. But being lazy doesn't help because then the housework piles up. I think I'd be able to handle everything better if I was able to sleep all night and feel rested, but the babies still wake up often. But I know that won't last forever so I just live with it. And I don't mind some nights, sitting there in the dark nursing Isaac, or having Caleb cuddled up next to me, I know I will miss this time when they are so cute and little and dependent on me.

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

MyMemories Suite Scrapbooking Software Review and GIVEAWAY!!!

I've never been much of a scrapbooker, I just don't have the time or will to come up with all the cute little layouts myself. Plus I never print out pictures, which makes it a little harder lol. But I do think digital scrapbooking is cool. I love creating photo gifts, like calendars and photo books, for the grandparents for Christmas. I know a few of you readers are into the digital scrapbooking also, so I'm sure you'll be interesting in what I'm about to say.

I was asked to review the MyMemories Suite scrapbooking software, award winning digital scrapbook software rated #1 by Amazon. I was so excited to get it and see what cool things it could do. I was not disappointed. My favorite part is how many cute layouts they have available for free to use with the software. Since design is not really my area of expertise, I rely on other people to be creative for me lol. They have templates for boys, girls, holidays, birthdays, outdoors, babies, and more.

The next best thing is how easy it is to pop in your pictures. Just click the add picture button, upload your picture, and drop it where you want it. You can also change around the picture and text elements if you want, adding shapes, word art, embellishments, etc. So you are able to personalize the pre-made templates as much or as little as you want.

Once you are done creating an album you can choose to display it as a calendar, video, photo album, and more. You have the option to upload it online and order a printed version of what you want, share the album, or you can print it out yourself.

I am loving the MyMemories Suite software and hopefully I will be able to get some time to create some more fun albums and try out all the cool little features they offer.

As a special for all of my readers, you can use this code to receive a $10 discount off the purchase of the MyMemories Suite Scrapbook software and a $10 coupon for the MyMemories.com store - $20 value! Just enter STMMMS4082 when ordering.


GIVEAWAY!!!
One lucky reader will win the MyMemories Suite scrapbook software! Simply go to MyMemories.com and come back and comment on which digital scrapbooking kit is your favorite.

Extra Entries: (leave a comment for each entry)
-Like MyMemories on Facebook
-Follow MyMemories on Twitter

Giveaway will end Monday, October 17th at 10pm MST. Winner will be determined using Random.org.

*I received a free copy of the MyMemories Suite software to review and give my own honest opinion.

Monday, October 10, 2011

And the winner is...

I almost forgot to post a winner for last week's giveaway for the Grime Guard Foaming Glass Cleaner! Better late than never!

Congratulations Melissa! I will be contacting you about getting your prize to you!

Friday, October 07, 2011

Upcycled Dress!

My youngest brother is getting married today! And that means I had to find a dress to wear. Not normally a problem except their colors were baby blue and pastel pink, and I don't happen to have anything in either color lol. But I then remembered I have a hand-me-down maternity dress that would work. Well, sorta. The color was about right, but it was quite obviously a maternity dress. So, taking some inspirations from New Dress a Day, I decided to upcycle the dress into a cute non-maternity dress! I even went so far as to make it something I could nurse in. The hardest part was finding time to make all the alterations. It's not perfect, but actually came out pretty much like I'd hoped. If I'd had more time I could have made a few more adjustments, but it will do. There is a bit of greenish stain on the shoulders (baby spit up is my guess, and Oxiclean didn't help), but considering I didn't notice them until the 3rd time I put it on, hopefully nobody else will either lol. So here we go:

I shortened the length, added some elastic and darts to bring it in around the middle, trimmed with some lace for the ties, and made it so the top front can be moved up and an elastic-y chest flap can be moved to nurse.

Also, my 5-yr old Jakey is the ring bearer and since I don't know if they had a tie or anything for him to match the wedding party, I whipped up this cute little blue bow tie.

Monday, October 03, 2011

Stanley Home Products Review and GIVEAWAY!!!

I was given the opportunity to review some cleaning products from Stanley Home Products, their Glass Cleaner Foaming Spray and Degreaser. Stanley Home has been providing quality cleaners for 70 years. They provide great products at affordable prices, as well as offer home-based jobs for Customer Representatives who want the freedom to work at home for a good company.

Grime Guard Glass Cleaner Foaming Spray

From their site: "GrimeGuard™ provides an invisible shield to guard against accumulated dirt and repel water spot build-up. This protective shield keeps surfaces cleaner longer and makes on-going cleaning, quick, and easy. Plus, the foaming spray is non-streaking and quick drying!"

I tested the glass cleaner out on my main floor bathroom. Since this is the bathroom my children use (and abuse) the most it gets pretty dirty. The mirror was streaked with a soapy mess and the faucet was covered in soap, fingerprints, and water spots. I sprayed on the cleaner and was amazed at how easily it wiped all of it right off. With my normal cleaner I usually need a bit more scrubbing and occasionally a reapplication of cleaner, but the Foaming Spray worked with very little effort for a spotless mirror and shiny faucet.

Degreaser Concentrate
"Concentrated to work hard: Dissolves grease in seconds on cookware, countertops, broilers, dishes, tools, and walls - wherever grease build-up is a problem."

I was really excited to try out the degreaser. From working fast-food years ago I know how important a good degreaser is. I knew exactly what I was going to try it on first- my stove top. My poor stove does not get cleaned as often as it should, and so it had quite the buildup of caked on food and grease. I even decided I should tackle the stove hood while I was at it. I hate the greasy dust that builds up on that thing.

So I took off the burner spider cover things (hm, wonder what they are actually called?) and soaked them in some of the degreaser and hot water. Then I put a few tsps of Degreaser in a bowl of hot water and wiped down the whole stove top with it then let it sit for 5 minutes, or it was supposed to be 5 minutes but the babies woke up and needed fed and eventually I got back to my stove about an hour later lol. Once I got some fresh hot water and degreaser I took my sponge and wiped down the hood. Now typically when I clean the hood it take a lot of work and frustration. But this time most of the greasy dust came right up, then I just had to go over it a few more times to scrub the really set in stuff.

The stove took a bit more work because of how dirty I'd let it get. I don't think the degreaser made the job much easier or quicker than how I normally do it with dishsoap, but it worked pretty well. And the burner covers cleaned up really well after soaking. My stove looks so much better, which is great because I have a group of ladies coming to my house to do some cooking Saturday and it would have been embarrassing for them to see it as it was.


Overall, I am extremely happy with both products, especially the glass cleaner. And now for the fun part- a GIVEAWAY!!!

GIVEAWAY
One lucky reader can win a can of the Grime Guard Glass Cleaner Foaming Spray! Simply comment below telling me what your least favorite household chore is to enter. For an extra entry, go to the Stanley Home Products website and tell me which product other than these two you could use the most. This contest will end Saturday, October 8th, 2011 at 8pm MST. Open to U.S. residents.

*I received a bottle of each product, and an extra bottle of glass cleaner, free of charge to review and giveaway. All opinions given are my own honest opinions of the products.*