Not Enough Hours

Lisa,
Your last post had me thinking today.  I have too many hobbies for hours in the day.  There are so many things I want to do: practice the piano, write out a lesson plan for my next voice lesson, take pictures, blog, make Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread, and the list goes on. But sometimes I just have to sit down with my little girl and watch Cinderella.  She always gets so excited when Cinderella finally gets to go to the ball, and she gets scared for the mice when they are trying to get by Lucifer. I wish I had popcorn, add that to the list of groceries I was supposed to pick up today.  But I'm not sorry.  It's the little moments that make me realize that the hobbies can wait (sadly this includes your quilt), I'm spending the day with my little girl.

About the quilt......It will be on your doorstep next week.  

Promise. Looking forward to Food Funk Friday!    

Surviving Summer Break

Emily,

 

I really want to love every second of summer break and a lot of the times I love it.

A lot of the times I survive it.

It makes me sad when I am in survival mode, because I know these moments are precious. Right? However, when your kids have painted their bodies in mud for the second time in the day, dipped all their marker pictures in waters and made copies on your counter tops, cut up your nice bed sheets, drawn on each other's faces with lipstick, and used a whole bottle of shampoo on their hair, all in less than twelve hours, then it is time to make a plan.

 

First stop, the library.

Our mission, find....

One book about someone inspiring. Helen Keller.

One book about something they want to learn about this summer. CC chose sharks. MJ chose Birds.

One book for me to read to them. A chapter book.

For CC, Mr. Pauper's Penguins. For MJ, C.S. Lewis's The Lion, Witch, and the Wardrobe. (They had a illustrated chapter book in the library. I thought she would like it.)

A lot of books just for fun.

 

Hopefully, tomorrow will go better.

 

What are you doing with baby girl?

 

Love you.

 

I got to go baby boy is whining,,,,

 

Bye. 



Comedy without Crass

Emily,

Today was long, really long.

CC is out of school, and summer break has begun.

The girls made one mess after another all day.

I couldn't keep up.

I just wanted a minute of mindless entertainment tonight. Clean mindless entertainment.
My sister-in-law posted this video. I laughed.
Then I realized they have a lot of episodes all equally as funny and equally as clean.

If you are looking for some good clean comedy, click here.

Also, here is a quick pre-view.

Enjoy.

I will talk to you again soon.
Promise.

Lisa

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Lisa,
I just found Studio C a couple of weeks ago!  I'm pretty sure I watched every last one.
This is my favorite:

Hope you enjoy!

Emily

Food Funk Friday: Microwave Baked Potato

Let's talk potatoes.

We have been lied to our entire lives. Potatoes are not bad for you.   

Here is what potatoes are:

High in potassisum

If you eat a medium potato it's 45% of your daily vitamin C

Good source of Fiber

They are cheap...let me say that again, CHEAP!

Fat free, Sodium free, and low in Sugar (1 gram)

 Raises your seretonin levels, for more information about that click here.

The only thing bad about potatoes is the fact that we eat them as french fries, tater tots, and smoothed sour cream, butter and cheese.

I'm not going to tell you how to eat your potato.  I like my french fries, but all things in moderation right?

6 simple steps and 4.5-8 minutes cook time.

Microwave Baked Potato

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 Step 1: Wash potato

 Step 2: Pat potato dry

 Step 3: Using a fork, poke holes in the potato to vent steam.  Poke 3 to 4 times per side including the top and bottom.

 Step 4: Moisten 2 paper towels or 4 napkins and wrap the potato.  This helps to keep the moisture inside (dry baked potatoes are gross).

 Step 5: Cook potato until your fork easily slides into it. It will be roughly 4.5 minutes for a small potato, 6 minutes for a medium potato, and 7 to 8 minutes for a large potato. Be very careful when removing it from the microwave.  

Step 6: Prepare it however you choose.

 Enjoy the fruits of your labor.

Missing You

Hello.

How are you?

I know living so far from the rest of us is hard.

I know you get lonely and even a little homesick sometimes.

I wanted to send you this video, so you can remember making breakfast for me when we were together at Mom's house.

It was such a beautiful day.

It always makes me smile.

Love you Em.

Pain Free Breastfeeding

Hello Em.

Breastfeeding is great.

Seeing milk drip from Jamesy's mouth is a beautiful thing.

There is one thing that die hard breastfeeding mother will never tell you about...the pain!!!!

I gritted my teeth and thumped my foot through the whole first two weeks.

 

It took that long for me to toughin' up those tender nipples.

I know your mother-in-law gave you a trick to help.

You suggested it before I gave birth.

I thought, It wasn't that bad with the last baby. I will be fine.

I WASN'T!

Please pass it on.

Everyone needs your advice!

Goodbye! 

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Hello Lisa,

The trick is simple.  Pickle your nipples.  It was honestly the best thing that I did for myself while being pregnant.

So for you and all the other foot thumpers out there, do yourself a favor and listen up.

This is an old southern secret passed down by generations.  I looked everywhere on Google hoping I could find some validation to the claims my mother-in-law made.  I found nothing.  I thought it was weird.  I had all these horrifying thoughts in my head.  If I did this I was sure that my nipples were going to look like leathery pickles.  Awesome.

When it came down to pain vs. pickles, I went with pickles.

I was wrong about all of my previous thoughts, and my mother-in-law was right...no pain!

So here's the secret you have been waiting for...

Pain Free Breastfeeding

Ingredients:

Rubbing Alcohol

Alum Powder

(It must be a powder, it may be labeled as powder but that doesn't necessarily mean it is.  I tried 3 before finding a powder. FYI McCormick is not. "Kroger Brand" was the only one I could find, which can be found at Kroger or at Smith's)

Directions:

Mix a small amount of alum powder with rubbing alcohol to make paste consistency (a little bit goes a long way).  Rub paste onto each nipple until dry.  Let stand for 1 minute.  Then rub each nipple thoroughly as you rinse. Do this 3 times a day during your last trimester, or once a day during your entire pregnancy.

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I hope you find this helpful with the next baby.

How do you do those awesome illustrations?  I'm jealous of your mad skills!

Goodbye.