3 Loves and a Hate

I read about a very cool site called Print Friendly. I added a link to it on my bookmarks bar, and when I am on a page, I just click it and it pulls up its print preview page. (You can also just go to the site and copy and paste the link from the site that you want to print something from.) From there, you can delete any of the content, pictures, etc. to make it how you want it. I just printed a recipe that had a bunch of pictures in the directions. I only wanted the first picture of the made recipe, and deleted the rest easy peasy, without having to save it to Word and work from there. Love it!

Pinterest.com Very fun site that is like a big online bulletin board. You can pin any of your favorite recipes, sewing, crafting, scrapbooking or cooking tutorials, quotes, blog posts, home decor ideas, etc. That link takes you to my boards if you want to follow my pins. It is such an easy way to keep track of things, especially if you are like me and you have a million things bookmarked, recipes, inspiration pictures, etc. saved to your computer. Here is one of the quotes I have pinned.

Source: asdfghjkllove.tumblr.com via Natalie on Pinterest

Good one, huh?

I really strongly dislike, OK, hate the big colorful ads that Windows Live has added to my emails. I use 2 different email programs because it is easier for me to read them all if I separate the emails I get that way. (I get blog emails, recipe emails, sewing group emails, etc. Why yes, I do spend too much time online. Why do you ask?) I was considering switching it all to gmail, which is an awesome email program.

Thanks to Jake though, I found out about Google AdBlock for Google Chrome (my favorite browser.) YIPPPPPEEEEEEEEEEEE ad-free browsing and especially ad-free email. LOVE.

What Floats Your Boat?

I'm sure you'll be surprised to hear that I haven't had the mental energy to blog lately. (What? But I've written so much haha.) However, I did have one idea that excited me a little bit. I am going to jump on here sometimes and share some of my favorite things, happy things, or whatever is floating my boat. So, here goes:

1. The internet's plethora of recipes, grain-free, dairy-free, whatever you need, it's out there.

2. A book called Self Compassion: Stop Beating Yourself Up and Leave Insecurities Behind

3. My sister's very fun long visit.

4. My brother and his wife coming, and the funny stories they shared.

5. Nieces and nephews

6. Shrinky Dinks

7. DVRs

8. The Pursuit of Happyness movie. I just watched it last night and was thoroughly engrossed. Did.not.want.it.to.end.

9. Lark Rise to Candleford - I have been getting the dvds at my library and holy cow, I am so in love with this series. It ran 5 seasons on PBS and is a MUST watch. SO, so good. This show proves that quality shows can be produced, acted beautifully, be brilliant and engaging, and not be full of garbage! YAY.

Happy 2011

I can't really say I'm sorry to see the back end of 2010. So much has happened to throw our world upside down, but so much has also happened that brought lots of sunshine through the clouds. Like the birth of this little joy:

And watching this little sparkle grow.

We started last year with my dad planning to start some heavy duty cancer treatments. We are thankful beyond thankful that he got a 2nd opinion and decided to do a lighter treatment that is working beautifully! He got a horrible case of shingles and a worse case of postherpetic neuralgia. Which superbly sucks. He is in constant pain still. Praying hard for that to go away this year. PLEASE!! My mom got cancer too. She flew through treatments with flying colors and is cancer free now. My cousin is in the hospital right now in a coma due to being crushed by a truck in a nasty car accident. We are praying for miracles for him and are seeing some already.

This year, I am hoping for some miracles. A cancer-free family, a pain-free family, a family who has all the babies they want. For my cousin to be able to heal fully. I am hoping for Jake to be able to find some answer for his anxiety and ADHD. For him to not stress so much about school. And for the back and forth to his dad's to not disrupt his life and friendships too much. I am hoping to find answers to my illness. Ah... just to feel well. THAT would be such a huge miracle. To do small things like cleaning up after cooking, (If I cook, I'm toast, and have to clean up later, not because I want to put it off, but because I literally do not have it in me), or simply being able to cook a meal a few days a week instead of a few times a month. How heavenly it would be to have that kind of energy. Or to be able to go grocery shopping, AND put away all the groceries within the same few hours. I get home, sit on the floor and get stuff in the freezer and fridge, and the rest sits out while I rest, sometimes for a couple days. Nice, huh? To be able to go to all 3 hours of church without it taking all I have for the week. (I just go to 1 hour, and I'm so grateful it is later for us this year - which makes it 1,100% easier for me.) To be able to exercise without it making me hurt so much, and taking all I have for a few days. The ones for me are my small and simple wishes, that really aren't so small and simple after all. Don't take those things for granted, K?

I truly am so blessed in so many ways and I'm so grateful for all my nieces and nephews that bring light to my life. For my family that I love so much. And for the health and strength that I do have. I am grateful for my wonderful Savior, who is also my friend.

And I'm grateful for all of you that read my blog. Thanks for reading, and commenting!! HAPPY NEW YEAR!! I hope this year brings your dearest wishes to fruition.

P.s. - did you notice how cool the date was yesterday? 1/1/11 and just think what it was at 11:11. :)

Merry Christmas

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

I hope your day is filled with joy and that your new year is filled with peace and love.

Flowers in the Winter

Here is a bit of sewing for 2 of my nieces that I started way back in the Spring, finished this fall, and am just now getting around to posting. As I've said before, the treatments I am doing have been wiping me out really bad, so I'm just glad I got them done while they could still wear them! I got excited about making these when I saw a striped onesie at Old Navy. This striped/big applique combination has been calling to me ever since I saw this and this at Mini Boden. Mini Boden does some amazing appliques. I actually like the strawberry one best, but this project just seemed to call for a flower. I was so excited to find an XL Women's shirt in the same stripe so I could make something out of it for Sarah to match her little sister Gracie.
So here's Sarah's skirt. (I figure she can wear leggings with it for now, right?)

And Gracie's top went through some changes. It actually started out as a onesie, but my sister doesn't love the look of those on an older baby, so I cut it off and hemmed it, and then added the white sleeves from another shirt to make it a layered-look long sleeved top!

Here is the shirt I used to make the skirt for Sarah:

Maybe I'll do a tutorial for it one of these days, although the pictures I took were all in the middle of the night and not great!

And lastly, here is a little thought for today:

Just remember in the winter

far beneath the bitter snows

lies the seed, that with the sun's love

in the spring becomes the rose.

---The Rose

Christmas Shopping and Legs

Jake and I did a little Christmas shopping this weekend. He found all these legs in a pile at Sears and since there was seriously not a single person working on the 2nd floor where we were, he took his time building statues with them. And I laughed. We had fun.

My phone camera takes terrible pictures, but hey, at least we have a shot to remember the silliness.

Holiday Wish List Meme

I figured my son would kill me if I had the chance and didn't enter this giveaway, plus it is fun to share this information here!

Mama’s Holiday Wish List Meme

TodaysMama (link to: http://bit.ly/tmwishlist) and GameStop (link to: http://bit.ly/gamestop10) are giving away a sleighful of gifts this holiday season and to enter I’m sharing this meme with you.

1. What is your holiday wish for your family?
Calmness, peace and happiness.

2. What is your Christmas morning / Hanukkah Nightly tradition?
Our real traditions are Christmas Eve - we get together with my family and exchange gifts, which is an amazing time. And I've just decided Jake and I are going to have a pj tradition. Getting jammies on Christmas Eve is my absolute favorite tradition from growing up, and we haven't been doing it - we are going to start! Maybe for Christmas morning, we'll start a green smoothie tradition to counteract that stocking full of candy!

3. If you could ask Santa for one, completely decadent wish for yourself, what would it be? A trip to Pennsylvania to see my nieces, nephew and sister!!

4. How do you make the holidays special without spending any money?

Hmmm... using decorations we already have... making cookies and wishing I didn't...

5. What games did you play with your family growing up?
"Guess Who" was one of my favorites, and we also played "Restaurant" with bubble gum and candy that was made like food, or that we made to be like food. For instance, we would put Big League Chew, and gum balls together in a bowl for spaghetti and meatballs. Ahh... the awesomeness of being a kid.

6. What holiday tradition have you carried on from your own childhood?
I am going to reinstate the pajama tradition.

7. Where would you go for a Christmas/Hanukkah-away-from-home trip?

Other than my sister's, I would choose to go somewhere sunny like the Caribbean, Hawaii, or to visit my friend Kristen in France!!

8. Check out GameStop (link to: http://bit.ly/gamestop10) and tell us, what are the three top items on your GameStop Wish List this year?

1. I know my son would love an XBOX 360. He already has his favorite gaming system - the Play Station 3, but he would love to be able to play some of the games his friends play on the XBOX.

2. A Wii - I think it would be fun to do the Wii Fit, and Jake would love to have a Wii!

3. I'd let my son pick out some games - I know there are a ton he'd love. I'd let some of my family members pick some games too!

Action Shots

We got some fun action shots when Jake was snowboarding in our driveway during one of our big snowfalls a couple weeks ago. He was so excited that it was snowing so much that it took some of the ickiness out of it for me. He loves sledding, snowboarding, etc. He gets creative thinking of things to use for sliding down the hills. We have skateboards without wheels covered in tinfoil, plastic, wax, etc. He's nothing if not imaginative. This is actually a plastic snowboard that we found at Toys R Us. We used the burst option on my camera so that I didn't only catch the picture right before or after he caught air!

He gets a little blurry.


Ok now he's just a phantom snowboarder. Which is kind of awesome.


There he is.

He had fun!

Go Ahead, Make My Day

I haven't blogged forever, but I was sitting here unashamedly and at the top of my lungs, singing "A Little Fall of Rain" from Les Miserables on repeat in my Itunes, and was thinking about the best moment earlier today and had to share it.

I read my horoscope out loud to Jake in kind of a silly announcer voice. It said:

"Feel free to take charge today, Natalie. You are able to win people over with your smile. Talk with the people and get a feel for their wants and needs before you proceed with your plans. Realize that your actions will have a profound effect on the people around you. This is your opportunity to shine. Take advantage of your tremendous communication skills and your ability to relate to others."

And then he said - Wow that is perfect for you. That is you in a nutshell. (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) I about died. 1: That he would say something so amazingly wonderful. and 2: That he thinks that. Totally made my day, week and year. I couldn't believe it. I am hoping to gain a more positive self-image, and I'm really working on self-love. I just can be so super hard on myself, and of course I had the negative commentary running through my mind "yeah I express myself well when I'm not stumbling over every word like an idiot," etc.......) so that is why this meant the world to me. Happy day. :) My son is a sweetheart.

Healthy and Tasty Greens

For my birthday, I received one of the best gifts ever! This beauty:

A Vitamix! We found her second hand on Craigslist and I am in love. It is a blender with 2 peak horsepower and makes beautiful green smoothies. It is such a great way to get veggies in our diets and I am so excited to quadruple my veggie intake! (Or more.) I have known for a long time that I needed to increase the amount of vegetables I eat, but usually could only bring myself to get 1 or 2 in per day at most.

Right now I have 6 jars in my fridge. A couple for my mom, a couple for Jake, and a couple for me. I make Jake's with a lot more fruit, some yogurt and less veggies so that he will drink them. You can barely taste the greens! I could make them with a little less, and you wouldn't be able to taste them at all. Really! Hopefully, he will get used to the taste and I'll be able to add even more greens.

Aren't these pretty?

The bright green one was the first one I've made where I felt like I had to write the recipe down. I have just been throwing in whatever sounded good together, including kale, parsley, spinach, carrots and carrot tops, strawberries, blueberries, apples, etc. They have all been good, but this one is my favorite so far. If you are going to make green smoothies, you can tailor them to your own tastes - you can use lots of fruit, you can make savory smoothies with only veggies and maybe a tomato... whatever your heart desires. I don't like it too sweet - smoothies that are all fruit are way too sweet for me, but adding some fruit in with the greens makes it delicious.

Pretty Bright Green Smoothie

1 to 1 1/2 C. water

1/2 small to medium head of romaine

2 large stalks of celery

3 large handfuls of spinach

1 frozen banana

About 12 oz pineapple chunks (I used canned because it was all I had, but fresh would be fantastic.)

Dropping In

I have some pictures to post, but I don't know how to get the printer to download them from our memory card, and too tired/lazy to figure it out right now. So I am just going to stop in and say hi, I'm still alive, and will put up some posts with pictures soon. Jake has started 9th grade. I'm so glad he has a fun class - percussion - because it makes the whole day better for him. I am struggling with getting up with him at 7 am, because for some reason morning hours are the only hours I ever really feel like I sleep. I don't want to miss the time with him though. He is just growing up too fast.

We had a really fun last bit of Summer. My brother and his wife visited my sister in PA and brought my nephew Sam back with them, so we got to spend lots of time up at Gram and Pa's house watching the kids swim, jump on the trampoline, etc. Kids are such a miracle of life and are my favorite kind of people to be with. They are filled with unconditional love, fascination with almost everything, joy, purity, and beauty. I am so grateful for them and the happiness they bring us. I love how my parents have taught me to appreciate kids and babies. They delight in every little action and movement, and I have definitely inherited/learned that from them.

8/9/10

I'm just dropping in to say "Hi" since it has been so long! I thought it was such a cool day to have a birthday... 8/9/10, so I had to post it!! I think that means it will be a great year! I'll try to post some updates soon.

Cake Wrecks!

I took a break from my sleeping/resting/sleeping schedule that NAET has so kindly required of me to do something super fun! The people behind the hilarious Cake Wrecks blog came to our town and my sister Suzanne, her friends and I love the blog, so we signed up to go! John and Jen are the married couple behind the blog and are both so funny. They shared a slideshow of some really crazy (and some creepy) cakes and then we stood in a long line so that Suz, Kara and Jana could get their books signed. John came around and talked to us in line so that was cool. He took this picture of the crowd while they were doing the slideshow. (This picture is from their blog - I just cropped it so you could see us a little bit.)

See those faintly circled partial heads? From left to right, the circles show me, my sister Suz, Kara's forehead and Jana. It only looks like there are people sitting in between us because there were a ton of people there. We are straining to see the screen because it was kind of low and the place was packed to the gills. We had so much fun!

Updates

Thanks SO much for all the kind words and prayers for my dad.

He is in the hospital with shingles. He is in a lot of pain. But anti-viral and fluid IVs are helping him get better. Ironically, the cancer drugs didn't make him sick (yet... crossing fingers) but the anti-viral pills he was on sure did. He is off the cancer meds for now so his immune system can fight the shingles.

Just so you know, if you ever get shingles (and now that I have seen pictures of my poor dad, I sincerely hope you don't), apple cider vinegar can really reduce the pain, and possibly even shorten the time you have the virus. I found this link and my dad said that before the acv, his pain level was very literally at an 11 on a scale of 1-10. And he has a high threshold for pain. After a few treatments of letting gauze soaked in acv sit on his face, the pain went down to a 5. I am so glad he had some relief and that he is now getting good care at the hospital. (He was too sick to even make it up there the first couple of days.)

I am finding things to eat again and am not quite as frustrated. That's good. Because I need to eat.

I have a tiny bit of energy back, and am not in bed 24/7. Yay.

Jake is enjoying Summer!!! I LOVE how relaxed and happy he is during the Summer. We are friends, instead of me having to drive him all the time to finish homework, etc. etc. He does chores with hardly any complaints because he wants to earn allowance.

I loved the Little Dorrit series that just played on PBS. SO GOOD. Did anyone else catch it? Their Oliver Twist was amazing last year too. I'm so mad I missed the airing of Emma earlier this year!

My Dad

I wanted to share a little about my wonderful dad. First, some awesome pictures.

My mom and dad in 1965. Aren't they hot stuff?! My mom has had some seriously wicked hairstyles in her lifetime, but that is another post entirely.

Holding my older brother Jeff. Good looking much?

In a kiss sandwich with me and Suz

Being silly with Sam. He has to be the funnest grandpa out there.

My dad has showed Jake support many, many times by coming to school concerts, church talks, and by helping him build the winning Rain Gutter Regatta boat and an unbelievably sleek Pinewood Derby car for Scouts. (Where are those pictures?) I can't honestly be more grateful for how he has been there for him.

Always doing fun things with the family. He LOVES those grandkids.

It is such a privilege to have my dad as my father. He has a beautiful testimony of our Savior and shares it. He is brilliant. He has such a generous heart and he has blessed so many in so many ways. He loves his family and is committed to his family. He always wanted to give his family the very best and has. He has taught me about integrity and that living a righteous life is what brings the greatest joy possible. He has loved my son like he was his father and was a constant companion for him for so many years. He bonded with him in a way that even his own father didn't. He gave him so many hours of his time, of his life. He taught him about science, math, life, being a strong person, and being there for those you love.

I am so thankful for a dad who blessed me with so many amazing opportunities in my life that have broadened me so much, and that he saw the importance of family vacations. We have made some amazing memories that way. A dad like this is priceless and precious beyond words. A dad like this is loved beyond words to describe. Thank you Dad, for everything.

It is hard to post about this, but if you would say a prayer for my dad, I would really appreciate it. He starts two medications tomorrow for the multiple myeloma he was diagnosed with this fall. One of the drugs he will be taking is a chemo drug, and one is a very high dose steroid. We are very worried about how the side effects will affect him. I am grateful for the advancements in medicine that will hopefully help him fight this thing hard and have many good years left.

What I've Done This Weekend

First of all Happy Memorial Day. Are you having a nice long weekend? I hope so. I was so excited to have a long weekend all to myself to get some stuff done. Jake is at his dad's house, and I wanted to clean and sew and finish up some things on my very long to do list.

But nope. This is what I have done almost the entire weekend.

Sleep, sleep, sleep, get up, eat, read, rest, rest, sleep, sleep, sleep, and over again.

But I didn't look this pretty.

More like this:

Among other things, I'm doing a treatment called NAET to see if it helps me, and it has wiped me out. Not to mention, I am having extreme bladder issues. The good thing is that I CAN sleep and don't have to worry about getting Jake places or homework, etc!

I hope you're able to relax this weekend.

Some Fun

It's no secret that my favorite times are when my family all gets together, and the more in town the better. My sister came with her kids last week, including my new PRECIOUS niece Gracie. That girl is a charmer! She smiles and goos constantly.

We had sooo much fun! The kids always have a blast together and I adore playing with them.

This little girl is growing up! She loved feeling like she was one of the big kids and "drawing" with them.

My favorite time bar none with the kids, is lying down with them when they are going to sleep. They snuggle right in to me, and they aren't going anywhere, they're stuck with me. We tell or read stories and talk about stuff, and it seriously doesn't get much better than that. I think it is heaven. Jo doesn't, because I am not good about making them go to sleep and after playing hard all day long and waking up early, they need to. (Sorry Jo. Sometimes I can be good, I promise.) But seriously, I don't get to have this much fun very often!

Jake is proving to be a great cousin to all these little ones. He made lots of grilled cheeses and made Gracie smile by kissing her tummy, even when she wasn't in the mood to smile. Having little brothers (his dad's) has been so good for him! Here's his hand holding little Gracie's.

Jo is moving to Pennsylvania, so we had the best time picking out decor for her new place.

On a completely unrelated note, I loved American Idol this season and don't want to see its demise. I loved Lee all throughout, liked Casey a lot and then fell head over heels for Casey about a week before he went off, and now I can't get enough of him. He is such a good guy! AGH those long legs. That ready smile. Those eyes. That voice. Swoon. (Oh, and the AI judges? I've grown to really like and value Simon, but now that he is going, can he just take the others with him?)

Mad

I have to admit, I'm mad. I don't eat any grains. Zip, zilch, nada, not even a grain of rice. (I did cheat for my book club and Mother's Day, but that is very rare.) I don't drink milk, can't use buttermilk, cream or sour cream in recipes. Cottage cheese, ricotta cheese, cream cheese (am I making you hungry?) are all no nos for me due to allergies. No refined sugar, I stay away from most anything sweet, except to use a low glycemic natural sweetener for certain recipes in small amounts. I found I could live with this. It was hard but with a lot of searching the internet, low carb books, etc. I have found a good bunch of recipes I can live on quite well when I have the energy to cook them.

Enter extreme and constant bladder pressure, sometimes excruciating pain. This has been going on for years, and is really, really bad at times, and others it is bearable but always uncomfortable. Nope, no infection. Yep, I've had it checked and even x-rayed by doctors. Another super fun mystery in my life. I've been told this may be caused or exacerbated by a food allergy. According to a natural doctor, I am allergic to hot peppers, as well as grapes, olives and a couple other things. No olive oil? Fine. Grapes are too sweet for me right now anyway. But these babies?

I am not huge on really spicy food, but I had no idea how much this little fruit/vegetable/spice was used in things, including my own cooking. I didn't realize how much I relied on it and loved it.... from the scrambled eggs my dad taught me to make with a couple dashes of hot sauce for flavor, (it doesn't make them spicy!) barbecue sauce, worcestershire sauce, or the delicious pork made so easily in the crockpot with salsa and enchilada sauce... (OK I did realize that had it in there, but seriously? That is one of our most favorite and easiest dinners.) I would not have guessed that 8 out of 10 dinners I am drawn to has some kind of hot pepper ingredient in it. I wasn't mad about grains. I coped. I wasn't mad about getting rid of most dairy. I coped. But this, I can't seem to live with.

Silly, huh?

The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind

I just love the book I found for the book club at my house this month. William Kamkwamba is a humble African with such an inspiring story. In his home in Malawi, his family went from being poor, to suffering through a terrible famine. He wanted so badly to attend school so that he would have a chance to make something of himself, but they couldn't afford the $80 per year it would take and he had to drop out. Only about 2% of people where he lives have electricity and even that is spotty. William is resourceful though, and well, he and Jon Stewart will do a better job telling his story than I could, so I'll let them tell you. He has a sense of humor and enjoys Jon.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
William Kamkwamba
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Tea Party

Here is William's website. This is a MUST read book in my opinion! If you want to watch more, there are a few good videos linked on his website. Here are two more of my favorite videos: 1. Soon after people found out about his windmill and was just learning to speak English 2. His own presentation 2 years later

Modeled photos!

I get SO excited to see my nieces and nephews in things I make them!! I love seeing pictures of them period, so with them in something I made is just the crème de la crème. I made matching outfits last Summer for my niece Sarah and her best friend. Here is a picture of them together in them!

How sweet are these two? My sister's friend is an amazing photographer and she took these pictures of the bffs for posterity!

And here are photos of Sarah in the butterfly dress I made a while ago! Sarah had a butterfly show-and-tell day at school and was excited to wear it.

It was a windy day. She's the cutest thing!