Prayers and Remembering

A friend of mine from high school who I am friends with on Facebook posted about a friend of hers who is in dire need of prayers.  She recently delivered her baby boy and he had diagnosed with Trisomy 18 which is most often fatal.  It is a genetic condition similar to down syndrome but much more severe and is a result of additional chromosomes.  My heart goes out to this couple and I am praying for them! 

I can't help but think back to my last pregnancy and what a rough time I had with it.  As most of you know my pregnancy with Lacee was anything but easy.  There is a lot more in depth information in my blog archives but in short we were told that Lacee would not survive.  I remember the day exactly, it was June 8th.  I had been referred to Maternal Fetal at Baptist due to the suspected growth issues with my pregnancy.  Earlier I had been told that I was at much higher risk for a genetic disorders because of quad 4 testing and other factors and that was if she even made it. They did an ultrasound to check her growth and the news was very bad. The doctors told me that I would lose her and that I should consider my options and in my belief there were no other options (which is a dang good thing) but to let time tell.  And Time did tell. Every week I was told to prepare to go into the hospital and to be ready to deliver and have a lengthy NICU stay but every week Lacee kept proving them wrong.  The baby that they told me would not make it was delivered at 38 weeks FULL TERM completely healthy just a really small!   She was only 4 lbs 7.2 ounces. 

Sometimes I think we forget how blessed we are.  Things with Lacee could have been so much worse and we are so blessed that we got the ending we prayed so hard for.  So I ask that you pray for this family and this baby because they could really use it! 

Banana Ice Cream - Another reason to love Bananas

Looking for a healthy ice cream alternative then try this!  It was very good!

Ice Cream

4 bananas, just slightly overripe (brown spots good, completely black not so good)
2 tbsps creamy peanut butter (optional – thus 2 ingredient ice cream)
2 tsps cocoa powder (Dutch process), (optional – thus 2 or 3 ingredient ice cream depending on peanut butter)

DO NOT FREEZE THE WHOLE BANANA, you’ll have a heck of a time blending that beast.

Peel the bananas and slice them up into 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick disks. Place the banana slices in the freezer for about an hour or until they are frozen solid. Put the frozen slices in a food processor and pulse. First they will start to resemble gravel, but keep going. The bananas will soon turn into a frozen mush – at this point, start scraping the sides down (you will do this a lot). Or you could add a dash of milk since the liquid will help the blending. I’m lactose-intolerant, so after a few minutes of stopping to scrape the sides down, the banana begins to blend into a creamy texture. When the bananas look like whipped ice cream, you can add your mix-ins like peanut butter and/or cocoa powder, chocolate chips, toffee, raspberries, anything goes! Straight out of the food processor, the ice cream is like soft serve. You can also freeze it for a firmer texture. I find it’s pretty hard (and therefore, brittle) when I scoop it immediately after removing it from the freezer. Just give it a minute or two to soften up. Makes a pint.

Nisee and Lacee Christmas Pictures

Just a few pictures of the girls at Nanny's in their Christmas Dresses that my Mom made them!

Kara and Stuart Christmas Shoot

Some great friends let me take some shots of them for Christmas!  I am very happy with how they turned out!

My Photography

Earlier this year I got a new camera! Really I lucked into getting a great used camera from a friend of mine who is a professional photographer.  It is a Cannon 30d and she sold it to me with a 20mm wide angle lens.  I later purchased a zoom lens with image stabilization that will reach up to 250mm.  I mostly use the camera for taking pictures of the girls but here lately I have decided to dabble in some actual photography.  I am working on learning more about the art of photography this year.  I will post some of my work here for you to see.  I don't plan to ever do it as a business or anything, just to help out friends and family but mostly because I enjoy it!

January Challege

A Push Up Challenge and A Squat Challenge for January ... I know they say December but January has 31 days too so it will work!  I am a few days late in starting so I am going to have to make them up and maybe go into the 1st few days of February!

Cool website

http://www.modelmydiet.com/

This website is great it will show you what you look like now and what you will look like when you reach your goal weight! I highly recommend trying it!  It is great motivation to see what you could look like at your goal weight!

Making your own Laundry Detergent and Fabric Softener

Laundry detergent is way over priced, even the stuff you get at the large outlet stores.  I had been reading a lot about making your own detergent and finally decided to do just that!  I wasn't too sure how it was going to turn out but the cost savings couldn't be beat and I am glad that we did!  It was so worth it!

I got my recipe from Frugal Girls and it only uses 3 ingredients.  

1) Arm & Hammer Washing Soda ($3) 

2) Borax ($3)

3) Fel- Naptha Bar of Soap ($1)

You can get about 12 gallons from the Washing soda, about 18 gallons from the Borax, and 6 gallons from the bar of soap.  That makes each gallon of detergent roughly $0.50!  Yes you read that right!  My washing detergent only costs $0.50 per gallon!  It works great and our clothes feel just as clean as the stuff we were paying a lot more for.  It only takes about 20 minutes to mix it up so it isn't time consuming either!  I highly recommend it! 

Basically you grate off 1/3 a bar of the soap and mix it in with 6 cups of water and melt the soap into the water.  Mix in the borax and washing soda (1/2 cup of each) and stir in until dissolved.  Remove from heat and add 4 more cups of water and then pour into a large bucket to finish mixing.  Then add 6 more cups plus 1 gallon of water (12 cups) and mix well.  Then pour into containers (we use old detergent bottles we already had) and let it sit overnight.  You just use a cap full for each load! 

We also use the make your own fabric softener recipe from Frugal Girls too!  This is super easy and works just as great as the more expensive ones.  It only has 2 ingredients that you have to buy.  

1) vinegar - white distilled  (3 cups) 

2) conditioner (yes the hair kind)- I use suave as it smells the best and they have a lot of different scents, Oh and its cheap! (2 cups)

Just mix up the both those with 6 cups of water and heat until mixed well. Store in old containers and use a cap full for each load.  This fills up one Snuggle bottle and half of another one.  So while this doesn't have as much cost savings the laundry detergent it is cheaper than most of the other name brand softeners and I love it!  

We also use dollar store fabric sheets cut in half.  You get 50 for $1 and cut in half is only a penny a load!  

There are lots of great ways you can save money by just making things yourself!

  

3 blogs WHAT?! and a few updates

Yea so I am doing 3 blogs.  This one of course and a weight loss one that is private and only visible to me and the other girl who is my partner. My third blog is a photography blog that I am going to be using to help improve my photography skills.  This is a blog that I am doing with some other girls and I think its going to be a lot of fun!

I am going to try to do at least weekly posts on here!  I love to write on my blogs but I only have so much time and I have a lot to do.  It has been a long time since posted here so I am sure some updated are in order!

Chad has a new job at Ingersol Rand. He loves the job and we are praying that it will become permanent.  Chad lost his job earlier this year because the guy he worked for at his old company is an ass hat!  We will just leave it at that.

I am still working at the same place but something new is coming in 2013!  I will be a work from home team lead starting very soon.  They were actually supposed to install my equipment tomorrow but because they ran out of avaya licences I am stuck waiting another week or two.  They say patience is a virtue but we will see!

Nisee is growing like a weed and I mean it!  Even though she is only 3 and a 1/2 she is firmly in a size 4T and even wears some 5T's.  She's not that big around but size 3T pants are high waters on her now.  I don't have her exact figures right now but I will update soon!  She is also so smart and observant!  She asks tons of questions and her favorite things right now are Princesses and still Dora!

Lacee is the opposite of Nisee.  She is very petite.  She is 15 months old and weighs just under 19 pounds.  She wears a 9-12 months clothing and only has 3 teeth.  She didn't get her first tooth until she was 13 months old.  She still hasn't walked yet but she has taken a few steps where she didn't realize she had.  She is a pistol and has a completely different personality from Nisee.

Here are a couple pictures of the girls recently!

2013 Resolutions! Lots to do this year!

Yes I have been gone a while but Now I am back ... Starting New in 2013

I am really excited about 2013!  I have a lot of great resolutions for 2013 that are for each part of my life!

My 1st resolution is to reach my weight goal by the end of the year. That is totally do able!

I like to set goals and time frames based on Holidays so here goes!

Goal 1 is to lose 8 pounds by my birthday Feb 7th!
Goal 2 is to lose 12 pounds by Easter March 31st (total 20 pounds)
Goal 3 is to lose 10 pounds by Nisee's 4th Birthday May 15th (total 30 pounds)
Goal 4 is to lose 12 pounds by July 4th (total 42 pounds)
Goal 5 is to lose 10 pounds by August 23rd Vacation Starts (total 52 pounds)
Goal 6 is to lose 10 pounds by Lacee's 2nd Birthday Oct. 6th (total 62 pounds)
Goal 7 is to lose 8 pounds by Halloween 2013 (total 70 pounds)


My 2nd resolution is one that I will help me with my 1st resolution but has its own intent.  My goal for 2013 is to really stick to a budget! One of the main parts of this is to avoid eating out as much as possible.  This has 2 benefits with the 1st being it is easier to control my calorie intake and stay on track and 2nd the cost savings.  If 2012 taught us anything it is that we have to be better stewards of our money.  We make enough money to not be living paycheck to paycheck and budgeting will be a great way for us to make sure we start to have a savings built up!

My 3rd resolution is read at least a book a month!  I love reading but 2 small children have really derailed my reading time.  I have a long list of books I want to read.  Chad and I got a Kindle Fire to share for Christmas and our birthdays so hopefully I can use it for some of my reading!

My 4th resolution is one that has to do with my photography and one that Kara is going to help me with!  I am excited to be a part of a photography club in 2013!  We are going to work on expanding our over all knowledge.

My 5th and final resolution is that I will complete at least 4 craft projects this year!  One each quarter!  I am saying 4 for 2 reasons.  The 1st being because my craft projects tend to be large and time consuming and since I am going to be focusing on my weight loss, cooking more, photography and reading so 4 is probably going to be the most I can get done!


Well there you have it!  My resolutions for 2013!