For the Love of Pinterest

Whoa . . .things are getting a little crazy this is my 2nd blog in a week! Whoo hoo! I would just like to be very upfront and tell you this blog will feature any Eli pictures or well any pictures at all. Rare I know, but that is just how this one is going to be.

So I am sure that most you have heard or maybe even experienced the internet time wasting sensation that is  Pinterest. Well, if you haven't I am not sure if I can actually explain it to you it is truly something that you have to experience for yourself. BUT as I once told a friend I am not entirely certain what it is or the point of it but I am totally hooked!!! Okay, I do know what Pinterest is . . .it is a web-site where you can go out and “pin” different things to boards like recipes, photo ideas, quotes, craft ideas, etc. You can follow others and they can follow you. Basically, it is a good way to share things with everyone on the world wide web. I have been “pinning” since before Eli came. A good friend had told me about the web-site and I put in a request to get an invitation to join. One at about 5am during one of my pregnancy potty breaks/I am to uncomfortable to sleep I discovered I had got my invite and immediately started pinning for about an hour. I told you it was addictive and a MAJOR time killer!

So after all these months of pinning I have finally made one of the recipes I found on Pinterest. Last night I made Cake Batter Pudding Cookies, the actually recipe can be found at this awesome blog <----click here. They did turn out pretty good and were tasty. Nick said they did taste a bit like yellow cake, which I believe was the goal. Sadly, I do not have a picture of them and they were actually some of my better looking cookies. They actually all came out round and relatively the same size! Huge score for me. I owe stroke of cookie shaping to the Small Scoop I recently purchased from Pampered Chef! That thing literally scoops out the perfect size for cookies! I anticipate having pretty cookies from here forward because of it. Now if you want to see a nice picture of the cookies I encourage you to check out the other blog, she took a lovely picture of hers.

I am proud that I finally made something from Pinterest and now look forward to trying more of those recipes I have been frantically pinning. See all that time wasting wasn’t for nothing after all Happy Pinning my friends!

Sensational 16

So here at the Oaks house  we have actually done a few things to prepare for Baby Oaks in the last week. 1st and foremost Daddy got a Baby Hauler! By that I mean he traded in his Nissan Frontier pick up with the jump seats for a (new to us) Toyota Tundra with a double cab. It is truly a nice truck and will haul baby and at least one more in the backseat. On the advice of a friend we took a field trip to Babies R’ Us to make sure the infant seat fit in the back and it DID! Such a blessing to be able to get a truck like this and know we have 2 vehicles that we can tote the Acorn in safely.

I also became a fan of  a new web-site last week. If I was still doing those “Site of the Week” blogs this week would be all about babysteals.com. Another beautiful Mommy to-be and friend knew that I was wanting the Ergo Baby Carrier, and was keeping my eye out for a good deal. Well, babysteals ran certain colors at 40% off and she sent me the sale e-mail. Needless to say that bad boy was ordered within the hour. I had to get a blue one, but I did not care it was such a good deal!  So exciting to have something for baby!  I am now a babysteal believer and check the web-site at least daily to see what the “steal” is. Here is a pick of the carrier in packaging:

I can’t wait to carry Baby Oaks in this!

Now on to the main event . . .

16 Weeks

Size:  Hello Avocado!!! Baby is measuring 4.6 inches and 3.5 ounces

Physical Features:  Tiny bones are forming in baby's ears which means the Acorn can now pick up on  my voice. Now I cam start singing to baby! A few more minuscule changes: Eyebrows, lashes, and hair are starting to fill in, and taste buds are forming.

What I Miss:  Right now I can not really think of anything I am missing. I am still struggling a bit with body image and knowing my body/weight is going to change. BUT I am coming to terms to fact that it is all for the growing baby. My body is not mine anymore, I am sharing!

Aversions:  Still no new aversions. Might be time to come up with a new category

Cravings: Hamburger meat was high on my list on Monday night, so we had Taco Ring, which hit the spot. I would still not call this a craving, it was just simply what I wanted to eat or maybe I have just always had cravings, haha!

Overall feelings: Still feeling really good and extremely BLESSED! I have had some headaches but I blame those on sinus and tension. I have a massage scheduled for Saturday and I am hoping to get most of those issues worked out then.

Appointments & Coming Events: I have a Doctor’s Appointment next Wednesday! It is just a normally monthly check up. I am hoping to get to hear the heart beat (love that) and get that anatomy scan scheduled!

Picture time . . . .

Feeling a little icky in this one. I had a big but wonderful dinner tonight at Chop House!

In case I do not blog again before Sunday a very Happy Mother’s Day to all the Mom’s and Mom’s to Be in blog land! It’s hard to believe I will have someone calling me Mommy soon!

We love you Acorn!!!

Site of the Week: Fox News Guide to Reconciliation

WARNING- This blog is going to be political in nature. When I started my blog I promised myself that I would keep politics out of it, however; I have been compelled by the recent Health Care vote to speak out.

Sunday night by the cover of darkness and while most of us were sleeping the House voted  a big “Yes” on the Health Care reform.  Along with the Health Care Reform vote, the House also voted on a Reconciliation Bill which now needs to be voted on by the Senate. Confused yet, wondering why this was not covered in School House Rock? Well, you are not alone. I like to think that I have a decent grasp on the legislative process for an average citizen, but the Reconciliation threw me for a huge loop. Thus, I went looking for answers and found the Fox New Guide to Reconciliation, this weeks Site of the Week. I definitely recommend reading this article no matter which side of the debate you are on. I learned many things from this Guide, including that the vote is far from over. In fact this political tennis match could go on for a while. Read the guide, understand the Reconciliation. This is not OVER yet!

I am not going to pretend that I am not upset and angered by last night’s vote. America is a country of choices and freedom, and this current administration seems to be determined to infringe upon those wherever possible.  Despite a negative impact on the majority of the people in  nation, the Bill passed and was even described as “What Change Looks like . . .” Well, let me just say that this is change I did not ask for or want but my government decided for me.

To quote a bumper sticker I saw recently:

“I’ll keep my guns, my money, and my freedom and you can keep the CHANGE.”

I know that everyone does not feel this way about the Health Care Reform or the direction of Washington, so I do apologize if I have offended you. Again I encourage you no matter what side you are on to be informed about what is going on. This is our future! Lets all sit back and see what happens with the Reconciliation.

Now I will step off my soap box and I promise to bring you a less serious topic in my next blog.

Site of the Week- The Fuselage

First and for most I would like to apologize on behalf of the “Site of the Week” for not posting last week. Due to my trip to Nashville the post just did not happen. I do sincerely apologize but I can not promise it will not ever happen again.

Now without further ado I bring you this weeks Site of the Week . . .

The Fuselage

This sight is dedicated to a show near and dear to me . . .you guessed it . . .LOST! For those you who did not know I am a total LOST fanatic. I have been watching the show since the beginning, I have all the episodes on DVD, and I am DVRing the current season so I can watch it again before it comes out on DVD.  Sadly, this is the final season of my favorite show,if you wanna get technical as of today there are only 9 new episodes left. I am excited about seeing how it all ends up but sad that it will be over.

Now for those you who are Losties like me you know how much fun it can be to swap theories and discuss episodes and characters, but often it is hard to find a fellow Lostie when you really need them. That is where The Fuselage comes in! The Fuselage was started by the Lost creative team and features a ton of threaded message boards where Lost fanatics can get together and discuss all things Lost!

I am a member of  The Fuselage, however, I have never actually posted anything. I joined so I could become a member of the Spoiler group and access the Spoiler board. I know it’s bad! But I am one of those people that will read the last chapter of a book and then go back and start at the beginning.

I just NEED ANSWERS and sometimes I can not wait! I am refraining from checking out that board right now, I really do not want to know “the end” till it is time.

So whether you need to be spoiled, find a fellow Sawyer fan, or just catch up on some theories I recommend you check out The Fuselage. It will help you get through those tough times between episodes.

 

Later Losties!!!

“We were all brought here for a reason . . . .” –John Locke

Site of the Week- StillTasty

I cordially introduce to you . . . StillTasty. Ever found something in the back of the fridge or your cabinet and thought, “Hmmm wonder if that is still good?” Before you make some kind of educated guess or resort to a sniff test dial up StillTasty. The web- site StillTasty has food categorize by type for you to look up the shelf life or you can actually use the search feature and type in anything!

The site also features some other great information on food storage, thawing tips, and reading expiration dates.

Once again I can not take full credit for finding this wonderful site. My Mom actually e-mailed me a link to it several months ago, but I had lost it. Then lo and behold StillTasty was featured in the March Issue of Real Simple Magazine. So a big thanks to Mom and Real Simple!

So I encourage you to no longer wonder if your Peanut Butter is rancid, give StillTasty a shot!

Disclaimer—I am sure StillTasty is not 100% full proof. So if you use the site and still have doubts, I say throw it out. Better safe than sorry!

Till next time Safe & Happy Eating!!!

Site of the Week- Goodreads

Welcome to a new feature on my blog- “Site of the Week.” In this feature, as the title implies, I will weekly share a web-site I find fun, useful, and interesting.

The 1st site of the week post was actually inspired by something my sister in-law, Megan, posted on Facebook about wanting to be a part of a book club. Since I am in the US and Megan is currently in Italy the 2 of us starting a book club could be a bit challenging, however it is not totally impossible. Thanks to the world wide web and our site of the week . . . . Goodreads that and so much more is entirely possible.

I should note that I was introduced to this site a few months ago by a friend from church. Thanks Leslie!

Goodreads is sort of like a social networking site for readers. This site really has some great features  that any reader would find totally useful. Here are just a few of the things you can do once you become a member:

• Search for books
• Make a catalog of books you have read and would like to read
• Rate books and write reviews
• Form book clubs
• See what your friends are reading

As an avid reader, I find Goodreads extremely useful! I always have one book going and one audio book going at the same so the cataloguing of what “I have read” and what “I want to read” is very useful to me. I also like to see what books my Goodreads friends are reading. This often gives me ideas of things that I might want to read.

My least favorite thing about Goodreads is how few friends I have on the site. So if you are a reader of my blog and a reader of books I encourage you to become a member, you will not regret it. After you join, find me! I would love to see what you are reading!

 

Until next time . . .Happy Reading!!