Thursday, August 16, 2012
Tuesday, August 7, 2012
More Storage!
For months it's felt like my kitchen cabinets were shrinking. Junk was being left out on counters and we were wedging things into the upper cabinets and lazy Susan with desperation. I've been on the hunt to find a shelf unit that I could use as additional pantry-type storage. After scouring CraigsList, rummage sales and Goodwill to no avail, I finally settled on paying for a new one at Target. This one was $99, but totally worth it already.
While I was rearranging things to fit on the new shelf, I was also wondering how I could get rid of the half-empty boxes of pasta and oatmeal cluttering my cabinets. This was what I came up with.
Half-gallon sized Mason jars do the trick nicely, and look pretty too.
While I was rearranging things to fit on the new shelf, I was also wondering how I could get rid of the half-empty boxes of pasta and oatmeal cluttering my cabinets. This was what I came up with.
Half-gallon sized Mason jars do the trick nicely, and look pretty too.
Friday, August 3, 2012
DIY Spice Jars
Anyone who knows me intimately knows that I have a slight case of OCD. I like things to be pretty, in order, and uniform. Since I am raising five anklebiters at the moment, my limits are pretty much stretched to the max in the order department. I look for projects that help me streamline my work, are nice to look at, not to hard to finish, and that give me something to do besides sit in a corner, mumbling, rocking back and forth chanting the theme song from Fraggle Rock.
Here's my latest project: baby food jars into spice jars. Bonus: I had a baby food spinner storage-thingy, and I painted that to go along with the whole she-bang.
Then I found this baby food jar storage spinner in the basement when I finally got around to cleaning up down there post-construction. Score!
A can of spray paint and voila! A spinner that no longer looks like cheap plastic to hold my transformed jars.
And now I have this nifty spinning spice rack on my counter. When going through my spice cabinet, I chose the ones that I use the most, since I had a limited number of jars. I still have space for two more jars on the spinner, once I acquire a couple more empties.
This project cost about $2 worth of paint out of the can, and I'll have the rest of the spray paint for future projects. Jars were free, and I already had the labels sitting next to the computer.
My OCD is satisfied for the time being, and now I need a new project. :) And I should say that I got the idea from a Pinterest post, so it wasn't entirely my idea. I did, however, add the spinner.
Here's my latest project: baby food jars into spice jars. Bonus: I had a baby food spinner storage-thingy, and I painted that to go along with the whole she-bang.
I started with baby food jars that my friend, Coni, generously donated for the project. She needed to get rid of them anyway, so win-win. I washed and thoroughly dried the jars before transferring the spices over. Also, because of the whole "wanting everything to look uniform" hang-up of mine, I printed labels using Microsoft Word. Handwritten labels on the tops with a white paint pen would have worked too.
Then I found this baby food jar storage spinner in the basement when I finally got around to cleaning up down there post-construction. Score!
A can of spray paint and voila! A spinner that no longer looks like cheap plastic to hold my transformed jars.
And now I have this nifty spinning spice rack on my counter. When going through my spice cabinet, I chose the ones that I use the most, since I had a limited number of jars. I still have space for two more jars on the spinner, once I acquire a couple more empties.
This project cost about $2 worth of paint out of the can, and I'll have the rest of the spray paint for future projects. Jars were free, and I already had the labels sitting next to the computer.
My OCD is satisfied for the time being, and now I need a new project. :) And I should say that I got the idea from a Pinterest post, so it wasn't entirely my idea. I did, however, add the spinner.
Saturday, July 28, 2012
Easy Does It
One of the most memorable things that I will take away from my sister's visit was a comment that she made while I was nursing Jed.
She said, "Why not look at breastfeeding him as a way of just stopping and taking it easy, rather than looking at it as an interruption to all the things that need to be done."
So that's what I'm doing.
Breastfeeding has not been easy for me. I committed to it for six weeks, longer than any of the other children. I've made it past that point, and I'm ecstatic! Because of physical roadblocks, none of the other children were b/f for more than a month. And I was okay with that after the initial disappointment and guilt faded.
Jed has been easier to nurse. My milk comes and goes at times, but for the most part he gets enough. I'm doing what I call "hybrid feeding", which pretty much means that I give him a couple ounces of formula if he's still irritable after two hours of nursing and chewing on me. Yes, two hours. He's gone that long at one time.
But I still find myself impatient, irritable and not entirely happy nursing him. Sounds horrible, right? Everything I read tells me that this is supposed to a wonderful experience for both mother and child, that we should be bonding in blissful harmony around the areola of my boob. But in reality, it hurts a lot, I'm sore all the dang time and let's face it -- feeding every 2 1/2 to 3 hours really slows me down when I have four other kids to raise.
It's hard, tiresome work and I find myself thinking that formula is much easier.
Of course, my reasons are all selfish reasons, centered on what works best for me and how it would make my life easier. For that reason, I'm still plodding along, putting the little guy first and continuing to breastfeed, even though it's not the glorious experience that I expected.
Then we come back to what my sister said during her visit last week. I keep saying that in my head, a mantra to motherhood that sustains me when my nipples feel like they're the latest patient to undergo electroshock therapy. And when I look down at his sweet face, all serene and fat and happy, I do feel a little bit of what the experts say I should.
That is, until he starts pulling on me like I'm ElastaGirl again.
She said, "Why not look at breastfeeding him as a way of just stopping and taking it easy, rather than looking at it as an interruption to all the things that need to be done."
So that's what I'm doing.
Breastfeeding has not been easy for me. I committed to it for six weeks, longer than any of the other children. I've made it past that point, and I'm ecstatic! Because of physical roadblocks, none of the other children were b/f for more than a month. And I was okay with that after the initial disappointment and guilt faded.
Jed has been easier to nurse. My milk comes and goes at times, but for the most part he gets enough. I'm doing what I call "hybrid feeding", which pretty much means that I give him a couple ounces of formula if he's still irritable after two hours of nursing and chewing on me. Yes, two hours. He's gone that long at one time.
But I still find myself impatient, irritable and not entirely happy nursing him. Sounds horrible, right? Everything I read tells me that this is supposed to a wonderful experience for both mother and child, that we should be bonding in blissful harmony around the areola of my boob. But in reality, it hurts a lot, I'm sore all the dang time and let's face it -- feeding every 2 1/2 to 3 hours really slows me down when I have four other kids to raise.
It's hard, tiresome work and I find myself thinking that formula is much easier.
Of course, my reasons are all selfish reasons, centered on what works best for me and how it would make my life easier. For that reason, I'm still plodding along, putting the little guy first and continuing to breastfeed, even though it's not the glorious experience that I expected.
Then we come back to what my sister said during her visit last week. I keep saying that in my head, a mantra to motherhood that sustains me when my nipples feel like they're the latest patient to undergo electroshock therapy. And when I look down at his sweet face, all serene and fat and happy, I do feel a little bit of what the experts say I should.
That is, until he starts pulling on me like I'm ElastaGirl again.
Wednesday, July 4, 2012
Photobucket
Photobucket.com is a cool website with photo editing tools that you can use to spruce up your digital pics. Here is a before and after of the same picture.
And I have no ulterior motives in posting this. Not getting paid or anything. Just a cool tool I found that I thought I would share. :) I guess you can call it a Tip of the Day, since I haven't posted one of those in a while.
And I have no ulterior motives in posting this. Not getting paid or anything. Just a cool tool I found that I thought I would share. :) I guess you can call it a Tip of the Day, since I haven't posted one of those in a while.
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| Unedited, as it was taken Jenny and Jed, 3 weeks old |
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| Edited with Photobucket's really cool tools ... have fun! |
Tuesday, July 3, 2012
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