My LO and I got back from grocery shopping about an hour ago. Always an adventure when shopping with a baby! Each and everything I took from the shelf had to be handed over to the naughty little baby. When the item was not given quickly enough, the grunting began. Yes, grunting, her newest “thing”! I listened to a lot of whining, crying, and grunting during our grocery shopping adventure, because obviously I can’t give her things like meat or cleaner. She held (and hugged fondly) the following items: iceberg lettuce, baby wipes, frozen pizza, cereal bars, block cheese, string cheese, pretzels, a 12-roll pack of toilet paper, bread, etc.
I have a little time left before “Grabby McGrunty” wakes up. I’d better get to hiding the groceries.
I was working on some Christmas cards today and just adore the stamps this year. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer is my favorite Christmas movie and I love the stamps they produced for this year. Today’s giggleFritz post is made possible by my geeky love of stamps and Christmas.
I have been yearning to add to my blog for many months. As I write this, my naughty little baby is taking a much-needed LONG nap. So, I quick cut out and baked up some sugar cookies out of dough that has been in the refrigerator all week. As I was cutting little mitten cookies out, I thought, “If the naughty baby stays asleep after I get these cookies done, I am going to write. TODAY!” Here I am. A blog post! 🙂
The baby is awake, and I am off again!
It was nice to drop in and chat. I will do it again really soon.
We have so many Fall birthdays in my family! I have been collecting gifts and gift cards for the past couple of weeks, trying to get everything done before baby arrives. I asked my husband, “What do you want for your birthday?” Of course I got, “nothing, I don’t need anything.” Boo!! So, I kept my husband’s gift simple. I made his main gift. (I won’t tell you or show you just in case he actually reads my blog!) I am adding a few of his favorite eats to this gift box. I hope he likes it anyway!
Once I started making my husbands birthday gift, more ideas came to me. I decided to also make his gift wrapping paper. I dug out some ink pads and my “Happy Birthday” stamp and got to work. I still have a nice big roll of white paper from the gift wrap section of Hobby Lobby. It isn’t glossy, so when you stamp, the ink is absorbed. I stamped that paper like a boss!! I like the two shades of blue together. Simple, easy, fun! That’s about all I can manage right now!
Have a wonderful Wednesday and make something fun!
Candy corn is a part of Fall and Halloween. Every year thousands of bags of different flavored candy corn fill the store shelves from August to November. Every year people make cute, crafty treat bags with candy corn and call them things like “ghost poop”, or “pumpkin teeth”. Fall craft projects thrive on the image of candy corn. Every year I get stuck with tons of candy corn that people give me. I hate candy corn. Not this year though. What the heck??!! I cannot get enough candy corn. I have been eating handfuls of candy corn by itself and mixing it with nuts and trail mix. My favorite is caramel apple flavored, but my sister bought me a bag of Brach’s regular candy corn made with honey and I am addicted to that stuff too. I am blaming it on hormones.
Warning: I am about to whine about my lack of coffee drinking! I miss my coffee! I have not had a pure cup of coffee since March and will not have another for at least another six months. I promised my husband no coffee during pregnancy and breastfeeding (caffeine). I have had chocolate and soda, but only after doing some research about the amount of caffeine in cocoa and sodas.
A while back I found a recipe in the newspaper for homemade hot cocoa. I cut out and kept the recipe to use because I don’t like all the stuff they put in store-bought hot cocoa. Cocoa is so good, but when I read the ingredient list it bothers me. Also, I didn’t drink hot cocoa too often (only with my daughter in the winter) because I always had my coffee. When I did drink hot cocoa, I ended up feeling bloated, tired, and I had a weird taste in my mouth. It made me wonder if the ingredients weren’t making feel crappy. I thought I would try this more natural hot cocoa recipe.
Store-Bought Hot CocoaStore-Bought Hot Cocoa Ingredient List
In March of this year, 2013, I was missing my coffee. I found my natural hot cocoa recipe and decided to give it a try. I made a cup and loved it! I was so excited because I really loved this homemade, natural cocoa and thought my daughter would too. I made her a cup of the hot cocoa. She did NOT like it. Not at all. It tastes “weird” she said. Ugh!! 🙁
Healthy Hot Cocoa this morning!
Well, I really love this stuff and had to have a cup this morning. Maybe you will like it too. Here is the recipe I have been using:
Homemade Hot Cocoa
1 cup Milk
pinch of salt
2 tsp sugar
1-1/2 tsp unsweetened cocoa powder (70% or more)
Directions:
Combine ingredients in a small sauce pan and whisk. Heat gently over low or medium-low heat (do not boil). Heat and whisk until hot cocoa begins to steam. Pour into a mug. Enjoy!
For greater convenience, you can make up a batch of the dry ingredients in an air-tight container to add to hot milk from the microwave:
Combine:
3-1/2 cups sugar
2-1/4 cups cocoa
1 Tbls. salt
Directions:
Heat 1 cup of milk in microwave until steaming (about 60-90 seconds). Add 2 Tablespoons of the cocoa mix and stir.
If you make this recipe, how do you like it? Do you have a favorite healthy hot cocoa recipe?
As you may have read, I have been busy getting ready for our new little girl. My latest project has been making a nursing cover to use for nursing in public. I really have been hoping I NEVER have to do that, but just in case, I am now prepared! I am not posting a tutorial on this project. There were so many tutorials on the internet, you can easily pick and choose which one works well for you. I chose to work with a tutorial from a blog called “Little Birdie Secrets“. I used most of their tutorial and improvised when adding boning and straps at the end.
Nursing Cover Hanging in the Nursery
Folded up Nursing Cover
Close up of Strap and Boning
I had fun making this nursing cover. Everything I used I had on hand from past projects. It was so much fun picking out the fabric and I can’t wait to pick out fabric for a backup! I didn’t use boning as the tutorial instructed. Instead, I ended up using the rim of an ice cream bucket lid. Another blogger, who posted a tutorial on making a nursing cover, said she used the rim of an oatmeal container lid. That got me thinking and so I used the ice cream bucket lid. I also like finishing up the project my own way, and having my way work out. 🙂
Along with cleaning, cooking, and stocking up on groceries for the next two weeks, this is what I have been up to lately during my wait. Back to making some fitted cloth diapers.
Looking South down Main Street, Downtown West Bend, Wisconsin
I had a few things to pick up today, and where better to get my stuff than the West Bend Farmer’s Market? We are down to the last three weeks of the Farmer’s Market for the 2013 season. I picked up a 1/4 peck of Macintosh apples, 4 lbs. of yellow potatoes, a sack of white and red onions mixed, and a big delicious jar of honey that will be perfect in tea over winter.
The weather was dreary and it rained on and off, but it is always wonderful to walk through the Farmer’s Market when you have a chance. The West Bend High School marching band played for a while on the north end of main street. There was another musical act performing in Settler’s Park near the middle of the market. The performer was getting people involved with The Hokey Pokey. As we walked through we could smell breakfast cooking in the restaurants and grilling burgers at one of the stands selling food for a local children’s group. There were beautiful bouquets of flowers and tons of veggies and canned goods for sale. We walked with young and old people, and moms with babies strapped to them with a sling! There were plain pumpkins and painted pumpkins and gourds and squash! It was just a good day to get out and enjoy Fall!
White Pumpkins Only $5 each. That’s a steal!!
We stopped at a few more places on the way home: Halloween Express to look over the costumes and makeup, Hobby Lobby for some glitter for my daughters part in the high school play “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe” as the White Witch, and Family Video to pick up some scary movies we are watching in a few minutes. When we got home I was exhausted and needed to rest this baby bump! In a few months I should be good as new and ready to conquer the world…I hope!
Now, I am off to watch one of the many “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” movies with my family. Wish me luck with that…
Waiting. For the last 5 days. Waiting. Moving too. Assembling car seats, cleaning the condo, folding clothes, organizing the nursery, sewing diapers, checking in at the doctor’s office and waiting.
I am filling in at my last job for three weeks for the lady that replaced me when I quit. My last job was at a place that sold spices, spice blends, etc. I worked last week and have two weeks to go. It has been difficult working an 8 hour day being so large and pregnant. However, I am so busy my mind gets taken off of being uncomfortable. Everyone has been so nice to me and helpful as well.
Last week was also very busy because I had to come home and make dinner FAST! I don’t miss working full-time and then racing home to make dinner, scarf it down, and then clean up as fast as possible before dying on the couch. I also had to do several loads of laundry after work a few nights, because I was behind on laundry and I don’t have many business-casual maternity clothes. During all this hard work it made me think of how I will really appreciate being a stay at home mom. Oftentimes, I think it won’t be enough to be home taking care of kids and the house, like I won’t be pulling my weight. My husband reassures me that is a full-time job itself, and he doesn’t see me as lazy. But, it is difficult to measure your own worth when for so long you brought home a decent paycheck and you no longer do. After last week, I can see it more clearly.
I will still be running my business, giggleFritz and Co. It is a little blurry to me right now how much I will be able to do. I am not good at waiting to see how things will turn out. I am not good at sitting still at all. Maybe, that is one of my strengths.
Tomorrow is Monday. Have a great week, and work at your own spicey life!
Missie 🙂
