Yep, still pregnant! I had an appointment last week and an ultrasound. At the ultrasound they discovered I have developed Polyhydramnios, which I had never heard of! I guess I have too much amniotic fluid, if you google it you will panic and have nightmares! They think it's possible I had it last pregnancy too, considering I left the hospital 26lbs lighter and lost the whole 72lbs in four months. As a result I have to go on the monitor twice a week =/ At the ultrasound he already weighed at least 8.4lbs, they guess by now he weighs over 9lbs (my first weighed 9.10lbs).
Yesterday I noticed my legs are turning purple...I've been checked for preclampsia and re-checked for gestational diabetes, both a negative! So they have decided that the baby is large and on my spine cutting off my circulation. =( I have also started to develop PUPPPS again boooo....
I can't wait for him to come out. 4 pineapples, 3 cups red raspberry lea tea, 2 membrane sweepings, and 1 tablespoon castor oil and I AM STILL PREGNANT! I have my induction scheduled for February 6th! They guess by then he could be over 10lbs, I was hoping to push out a smaller guy, but it doesn't look like that will happen.
Well today I'm just whining.....sorry!
On a more hopeful note! We have been freezer cooking and we have saved so much money in such a short time! We are under budget! The other super exciting note is that we signed up for a CSA! I'm super excited about it! We found one that really meets all of our needs and leaves us with a ton of options. If someone is looking to join one I highly recommend researching a few. There were a few closer to us, but they just did not meet our needs. I can't wait until we can take advantage of it!
Hopefully I'll be back with something much more fun and interesting soon!
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
Sunday, January 20, 2013
Meal Planning
Hello! As I mentioned in my last post I really wanted to get better at meal planning and doing freezer meals, I'm starting my second week and it seems to be a success! Being almost 39 weeks this also seemed like the logical thing to do.
Last Sunday I spent about 2 1/2 hours preparing/cooking meals, it seemed like a long time and I made a huge mess, but it was worth it. I have found that by having things prepped and frozen hardly anything gets tossed, like fruits and veggies. They are all used and frozen.
So... to get ready I spent my Saturday night picking meals and making a list. My husband went and did the shopping by himself the next morning =) Our grocery total was $199 for EVERYTHING, including paper products. My meal list consisted of:
-Chicken won tons
-Super healthy turkey meatloaf
-Pot Roast
-Spicy tomato soup
-Crock pot BBQ beef
I made the BBQ beef on Monday, super easy, I followed the instructions exactly. It was delicious! We had a ton left, we ended up having left overs on Wednesday with sweet potatoes cooked in the microwave and veggies =) Easy enough! We had so much left that we even sent some home with my parents.
Tuesday I made the chicken won tons and salad. they were easy because I had already cooked and shredded the chicken and just had to put together/fry the won tons. Thursday we took out the tomato soup, when making/ freezing this put everything together EXCEPT the pastina, put that in we re-heating or you end up with mush, tasty mush, but mush =/
My son went to my mom's for the night on Friday so on the way home from shopping my husband picked up Burger King...oops! We finished the week with TWO meals still frozen! I just added them to this week!
For the Pot Roast I just put it in a freezer bag with cut veggies (carrots, celery, onions) a can of cream of mushroom soup and french onion soup mix. It's all frozen and will just need to hit the fridge the night before to thaw enough and head to the crock pot the next morning!
The meat loaf is the same, fridge night before and then head to the oven when we need it.
For this week I knew I had two meals to start, so I picked 3 dinners and 1 breakfast our list was smaller than last week, even with detergents and fresh fruit/veggies and milks, the bill came to $169....wayyyyy better than our usual $300ish a week!
Our meals this week will be:
- Baked Ziti
-chimichangas
- Corn casserole
Everything we make is changed to be lactose intolerant friendly! So everything I pick can be changed easily. For the baked ziti follow the directions up to the point of baking and just stick it in the freezer. Try not to use glass containers when freezing things, they could expand and you would have a big mess! Ceramic and throw away containers are best (cheapest at Walmart). The chimichanga recipe gives directions to freeze, they are great!
In trying this freezer cooking things I have picked things I liked and altered them to work for freezing, so many of these recipes have been taken from others, links to the original sites are attached. There are some things that can't or shouldn't be frozen. Things like uncooked potatoes, rice/pasta, and raw eggs...they just become yuck! If you decide to try this be prepared for a big mess! It is kinda nice to clean up only once a week though!
Good Luck! Have fun saving time and money!
S
Last Sunday I spent about 2 1/2 hours preparing/cooking meals, it seemed like a long time and I made a huge mess, but it was worth it. I have found that by having things prepped and frozen hardly anything gets tossed, like fruits and veggies. They are all used and frozen.
So... to get ready I spent my Saturday night picking meals and making a list. My husband went and did the shopping by himself the next morning =) Our grocery total was $199 for EVERYTHING, including paper products. My meal list consisted of:
-Chicken won tons
-Super healthy turkey meatloaf
-Pot Roast
-Spicy tomato soup
-Crock pot BBQ beef
I made the BBQ beef on Monday, super easy, I followed the instructions exactly. It was delicious! We had a ton left, we ended up having left overs on Wednesday with sweet potatoes cooked in the microwave and veggies =) Easy enough! We had so much left that we even sent some home with my parents.
Tuesday I made the chicken won tons and salad. they were easy because I had already cooked and shredded the chicken and just had to put together/fry the won tons. Thursday we took out the tomato soup, when making/ freezing this put everything together EXCEPT the pastina, put that in we re-heating or you end up with mush, tasty mush, but mush =/
My son went to my mom's for the night on Friday so on the way home from shopping my husband picked up Burger King...oops! We finished the week with TWO meals still frozen! I just added them to this week!
For the Pot Roast I just put it in a freezer bag with cut veggies (carrots, celery, onions) a can of cream of mushroom soup and french onion soup mix. It's all frozen and will just need to hit the fridge the night before to thaw enough and head to the crock pot the next morning!
The meat loaf is the same, fridge night before and then head to the oven when we need it.
For this week I knew I had two meals to start, so I picked 3 dinners and 1 breakfast our list was smaller than last week, even with detergents and fresh fruit/veggies and milks, the bill came to $169....wayyyyy better than our usual $300ish a week!
Our meals this week will be:
- Baked Ziti
-chimichangas
- Corn casserole
Everything we make is changed to be lactose intolerant friendly! So everything I pick can be changed easily. For the baked ziti follow the directions up to the point of baking and just stick it in the freezer. Try not to use glass containers when freezing things, they could expand and you would have a big mess! Ceramic and throw away containers are best (cheapest at Walmart). The chimichanga recipe gives directions to freeze, they are great!
In trying this freezer cooking things I have picked things I liked and altered them to work for freezing, so many of these recipes have been taken from others, links to the original sites are attached. There are some things that can't or shouldn't be frozen. Things like uncooked potatoes, rice/pasta, and raw eggs...they just become yuck! If you decide to try this be prepared for a big mess! It is kinda nice to clean up only once a week though!
Good Luck! Have fun saving time and money!
S
Busy, busy, busy...
(written 1/12/13)
Welcome 2013! I hope everyone had a great Christmas and a happy and healthy New Year!
Sorry it's been so long since I've been on but we've been pretty busy. Mr.M has been super sick and now I have caught it =/ I'm also 37w 4d pregnant! The final countdown is on! We had some unexpected things happen things week, like a last minute appraisal on our house, snow falling off our roof onto my car and crushing the hood, running out of propane(our fault), but we're moving forward.
I'm trying to finish up orders for Two Mama Owls and working on some new things! I've spent time working on some things for just us too! I still have unfinished projects that I will need help from my father to complete. Mr.R's room is done, well it needs blinds put in, but other than that DONE! A lovely train room for the new guy! I even made some no sew valances for the room.
Today we are trying to catch up on all the LAUNDRY!! Mr.M was sick on what seems like almost everything we own, he's sleeping beside me on the couch at the moment. Thinking of all the laundry got me thinking about how to save some money on laundry and I'm considering an indoor laundry line...thinking about this also made me think about composting (AGAIN) and going back to meal planning. Meal planning went out the window during the end of this pregnancy =/ We were doing pretty well before and saving some money, but starting the store and being pregnant derailed me from couponing and meal planning. I really need to find a way to get back into it, even with the new little guy. We hope to make some changes in the future which we really should save some money for! Soooo I am just now making my resolution, 12 days late, but who cares...I need to find ways to save money in ways that we don't feel it (I'm not good about just not spending =/ )
So I guess my top attempts at saving money will be:
- Find cheaper high quality pellets (DONE!)
- Start drying laundry on an indoor line when it's too cold to put it out
- compost
- meal plan and coupon
That's all my chatter for now! My husband should be back soon so hopefully I can get some sewing done for the store!
S
Welcome 2013! I hope everyone had a great Christmas and a happy and healthy New Year!
Sorry it's been so long since I've been on but we've been pretty busy. Mr.M has been super sick and now I have caught it =/ I'm also 37w 4d pregnant! The final countdown is on! We had some unexpected things happen things week, like a last minute appraisal on our house, snow falling off our roof onto my car and crushing the hood, running out of propane(our fault), but we're moving forward.
I'm trying to finish up orders for Two Mama Owls and working on some new things! I've spent time working on some things for just us too! I still have unfinished projects that I will need help from my father to complete. Mr.R's room is done, well it needs blinds put in, but other than that DONE! A lovely train room for the new guy! I even made some no sew valances for the room.
Today we are trying to catch up on all the LAUNDRY!! Mr.M was sick on what seems like almost everything we own, he's sleeping beside me on the couch at the moment. Thinking of all the laundry got me thinking about how to save some money on laundry and I'm considering an indoor laundry line...thinking about this also made me think about composting (AGAIN) and going back to meal planning. Meal planning went out the window during the end of this pregnancy =/ We were doing pretty well before and saving some money, but starting the store and being pregnant derailed me from couponing and meal planning. I really need to find a way to get back into it, even with the new little guy. We hope to make some changes in the future which we really should save some money for! Soooo I am just now making my resolution, 12 days late, but who cares...I need to find ways to save money in ways that we don't feel it (I'm not good about just not spending =/ )
So I guess my top attempts at saving money will be:
- Find cheaper high quality pellets (DONE!)
- Start drying laundry on an indoor line when it's too cold to put it out
- compost
- meal plan and coupon
That's all my chatter for now! My husband should be back soon so hopefully I can get some sewing done for the store!
S
Monday, December 24, 2012
Getting Ready!
We will be having a very White Christmas! We have a good amount of snow, while one town over there's next to none! Funny little town we live in! We are busy getting ready for Christmas festivities. I have completed one batch of cookies :( I'm wayyyy behind. I stayed up until 3am finish my last gift, hopefully my brother likes it! All our other gifts are wrapped and my dad picked them all up yesterday! (we head to there house as soon as we get up, they live less than one minute up the street =)
My single completed batch of cookies are chocolate crinkle cookies, which are delicious!!!
Here's the recipe: williams sonoma
I've been tacking on other crazy projects as I go too. I don't know what comes over me! We had to make an emergency trip to Home Depot yesterday for supplies. Hopefully, with my dad's help, those projects can be done next week. Last night we did some work setting up Mr.R's room. =)
This was my dresser from when I was a baby. My parents were nice enough to give it to us. It was stained brown (sadly we forgot to take before pics) We recruited my brother to refinish it =) I went crazy and went with a glossy dark blue! I love it!
I'm such a sap that I cannot get rid of the original knobs and pulls circa 1982-83....I will save them!
~S
My single completed batch of cookies are chocolate crinkle cookies, which are delicious!!!
I've been tacking on other crazy projects as I go too. I don't know what comes over me! We had to make an emergency trip to Home Depot yesterday for supplies. Hopefully, with my dad's help, those projects can be done next week. Last night we did some work setting up Mr.R's room. =)
This was my dresser from when I was a baby. My parents were nice enough to give it to us. It was stained brown (sadly we forgot to take before pics) We recruited my brother to refinish it =) I went crazy and went with a glossy dark blue! I love it!
We ordered some special knobs and pulls to give it more of a "boy" look
We are super excited for Christmas! We are also way far behind with things...so back to work I go! Merry Christmas all!
and good bye Magic! See you next year!
Tuesday, December 18, 2012
A Christmas Mess!
Well, it seems everything is going on at once for us! Between Owl orders, Christmas, having a wild two year old, and only 43 days until my due date I'm going crazy!!! I stay up past 1am every night and then get up with Mr.M in the am =( So I'm pretty tired! I have declared today a PJ day! The weather has helped me decide this!
So back to watching "snowy Barney", that's what Mr.M calls Barney's Christmas special
PS I have to thank Holly for "managing" my household while I finished up my orders and many Christmas gifts this past weekend! Thanks! Love you!
~S
The snowflakes are really big, but my iPhone camera just doesn't do it justice. (On that note, any camera recommendations??? I'm hoping to purchase one after the holidays, but I know nothing about cameras!?!)
I've been trying to get everything done and sadly my Christmas crafting has suffered =(
I'll share what we have managed to accomplish....
My burlap tree was a hit and I had to make and mail some for friends and family! It was easy, but time consuming for sure!
My son's felt tree was a hit for the first few days, he seems to have moved on to bigger and better things, it doesn't help that we put this up a week before Thanksgiving!
Baby trees! Trees for the boys! We got these little twig trees from the Arbor Day Foundation at the end of the summer and planted them in little pots. We brought them in to decorate with and when we end up in our forever house they'll go in the ground! Until then they look very seasonal wrapped in a little burlap.
I finished my burlap and red tree skirt just in time to put up the tree! I worked fast and late to get this done!
Our first real tree! I was super excited! We placed our tree stand in a large galvanized bucket, which is a good idea if you're like me and can't control where you water =) We used colored lights for the first time too. My parents suggested it and said that kids love colored lights and they're only little for a short time, so my style went out the window for a more Mr.M friendly tree!
All of our presents are wrapped and under the tree or HIDDEN away! One week from today! I'm super excited to see Mr.M open his gifts this year =)
So back to watching "snowy Barney", that's what Mr.M calls Barney's Christmas special
PS I have to thank Holly for "managing" my household while I finished up my orders and many Christmas gifts this past weekend! Thanks! Love you!
~S
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
Today's the day!
I'm officially starting up again! First an update! I'm 33 weeks pregnant today, exciting! Baby R's room is nearly complete, I hope to post some pictures and projects from the room in the near future. Brenda and I have been working hard on orders for Two Mama Owls (www.twomamaowls.com). I'm happy to announce I'm nearly caught up on orders, but I still have many Christmas projects to try and complete in the next thirteen days. =/ I've been figuring out what I want to make for Spring and I have a shipment of yarn on the way!
So my plan is to re-post my most popular entries from my original blog. Here's my #1 most popular, MY STAIRS =)
I absolutely hated my stairs! We had redone the floors, but the stairs weren't exactly "normal" measurements and carpet was just too costly after the remodel we had done. I thought and thought and dreamed about the stairs and then I realized painting them would be the easiest alternative and it only took 3 inexpensive nights!
So my plan is to re-post my most popular entries from my original blog. Here's my #1 most popular, MY STAIRS =)
I absolutely hated my stairs! We had redone the floors, but the stairs weren't exactly "normal" measurements and carpet was just too costly after the remodel we had done. I thought and thought and dreamed about the stairs and then I realized painting them would be the easiest alternative and it only took 3 inexpensive nights!
- First I sanded the stairs and wiped them down THOROUGHLY! I grabbed some white paint from the basement and went crazy! When I did this part I wasn't sure how wide I would go with the "runner" part so I just painted away!
- Our stairs have a funky angle at the bottom so some tricky measuring had to take place (thank goodness for my dad). I did buy this paint especially for this project, I went with Behr floor paint. The floor paint is great because it makes it so it's not slippery at all. I taped off for nice clean line and painted away again.
- The last night I did the sides. I measured and taped off the sides. I used leftover paint from the bathroom for this part.
We LOVE our stairs now! (I have stained the railing since this photo was taken)
I'm happy to be blogging again!
~S
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
Some upcoming changes!
I have really neglected this blog! Ever since my original blog was destroyed I have had very little motivation to work on the new one, this very page! Today I have a renewed interest!!! I have joined with a very good friend of mine on Etsy and soon she will join me on here too! I'm very excited to share my "cyber space" ;) with B!
I will warn, the next few days I will continue to neglect Mr.M's second birthday is only days away and I have many things to do. Once that has passed I plan to put up some of the old favorites, things that I still see getting pinned on Pinterest, but have a dead link to my old page.
Well, I must get to work! I hope you all had a very happy Halloween! See you soon!
~S
I will warn, the next few days I will continue to neglect Mr.M's second birthday is only days away and I have many things to do. Once that has passed I plan to put up some of the old favorites, things that I still see getting pinned on Pinterest, but have a dead link to my old page.
Well, I must get to work! I hope you all had a very happy Halloween! See you soon!
~S
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