So this is the first Pinterest item I chose to try out mainly because I had everything on hand and my house has been too cooped up due to heat/rain.
Boiling Orange Peels or if you have a Pinterest account Boiled Orange Peels
Here is what I did...
I had some oranges that had perfect intact skins but were over the date I would eat them. I filled a small sauce pot 3/4full and peeled the oranges to put their skins in it. I also decided to squeeze half and orange worth of juice in for a more fragrant smell and added 1 tbs of cinnamon. I brought this to a boil and left on for 30 mins. Here are my findings.....
This is perfect for a small living space. My kitchen and dining room smelled wonderful but the rest of the house appeared unaffected.
Very easy and inexpensive.
You can leave and reboil the next day but I would advise no longer than that due to bacteria and possible mold issues.
I think that instead of cinnamon next time I will use cloves which just seems to mesh better together in my own opinion but I imagine you can use a variety of different spices.
Biggest disappointment is that I don't feel like my house smells heavenly but it does smell fresh in the small rooms surrounding my kitchen.
Overall rating 3.5 stars
Friday, August 31, 2012
Monday, August 27, 2012
Wow! It's been a while!
Wow! It's been a while and so much has happened. Without going into too much detail we can say the economy hit this family hard but we are strong and recovered...Here are some good things that happened since my last post!
- Vic got not one but two amazing opportunities for jobs
- I am now a Stay at home mom
- We have a new addition .... baby boy... Ventura Franciso dob 7/31/12 8lbs 5 oz 21" long
- I found Pinterest
- Ava got a new big girl room and loves it (still needs a lot of work)
- One of my besties came out to visit last year and we had a blast!
So lots of amazing things came our way but it wasn't without a price that we paid for 8+ months. It is amazing what things can do to you to bring your family closer together and for that I am very blessed. With the newest addition to our family I have decided that I want to do more crafts with the kids and just for myself/the home to save money. I am going to start using my blog to document these crafts, their process, ways I might change them or make them easier and if they really work. I figured it will be a good way for me to see what I do over the next year and I am also going to post a product that is similar and sold in stores so we can see the cost comparison and how much savings I create by doing this. Super excited! These crafts will include holiday/home and outdoor decor, crafts for kids, hygiene, organization and cleaning!
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Where has the time gone???
As I sit here I realize it's the first bit of true quiet I have had in a week and I look at a picture of Avalina and I wonder, "Where has the time gone?" Last night I had her leaned back on my legs sitting on my tummy and she just sat up completely unassisted. She is going to be 3 months old this Sunday and I simply refuse to believe my little angel is growing up. Everyday I look at her and want to pull my hair out because she desires so much attention and wants little to do with naps although she needs them but then I stop and just take in all her little babiness. Her adorable chubby cheeks, her soft skin, the fact that everytime I look at her she smiles...I don't have to do anything and she loves me unconditionally. I LOVE THAT! I love that I am her hero and I make her happy, I love snuggle time and hugs...well what we call hugs ;).
All I have to say is my baby is growing up too quickly and I don't care for it but I have cherished every day of it thus far and can't wait to see all her milestones.
Avalina's Firsts thus far:
Sat up unassiasted
Said dada, doesn't know what it means but it was her first constant/vowel combo
Smiles out of nowhere
Squeals in delight
"talks" cooing, squealing, babbling
Grasping for things and grabbing them
Held a rattle
First Cold :( but all better now :D
bearng weight on legs, she loves to "stand"
All I have to say is my baby is growing up too quickly and I don't care for it but I have cherished every day of it thus far and can't wait to see all her milestones.
Avalina's Firsts thus far:
Sat up unassiasted
Said dada, doesn't know what it means but it was her first constant/vowel combo
Smiles out of nowhere
Squeals in delight
"talks" cooing, squealing, babbling
Grasping for things and grabbing them
Held a rattle
First Cold :( but all better now :D
bearng weight on legs, she loves to "stand"
Monday, November 30, 2009
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
So much has happened.....
Since the 17th when I posted my last picture so much has happened. On Friday the 20th I went into the hospital fully expecting to come home. I still hadn't had contractions or any signs of labor but there were small traces of blood when I was going to the bathroom. My doctor suspected it was my "bloodt show" but wanted the hospital to confirm it. When we went in they had to check everything and hook me and Avalina up to monitors before they would release us. Unfortunately they ended up admitting us because Avalina's heart rate was very sporadic. It would be fine and then just significantly dip down.
The doctors decided because of this they wanted to induce labor so they set me up on all my IV's and started the pictocin and penicillin. For those of you that don't know how this works, they start the drip at 1 and gradually like to work you up to 10 to dilate you and what not. Well I never made it past 4. Everytime we got to 4 Ava's heartrate would drop too quickly because my contractions got too close together. They had to keep giving me a shot to stop the contractions and then race to find a position to get her heart rate up. The only position that seemed to work was me on my right side. So for the next 20 hours I spent labor on my right side trying to dilate to 10 and get completely effaced. At this time we still thought we were going to have a vaginal birth so I kept getting the penicillian, for anyone who has ever had this via IV, if it isn't well mixed it burns so bad it makes you think they are ripping your arm off. I am apparently very sensative to this drug and had to endure that pain four times. By the time I hit a dilation of 9 my epidural had stopped working on my left side because I am what is called a gravatational person. The side I was lying on took all the epidural and the other side was left feeling everything. This is when I started having extreme pain in my left hip. The doctors told me we could try another shot of pictocin to get Avalina out vaginally but I would feel all the pain on the left side of my body and it most likely wouldn't work which would mean she would become an emergency C-Section and I would be put under. The other option was to have a regular C-Section and be allowed to stay awake and let Vic be in the room. Since the options were limited we decided to try the normal C-Section since the risks of being put under were far greater than just having a huge epidural.
At about 6 pm I was wheeled into the surgery room and had been administered a ton of epidural medicine and morphine. 34 minutes later I heard the most beautiful cry in the world and saw my daughter for a split second before they had to start stiching me up. After they were done I was wheeled to postpardum where they monitor you for 2 hours, in those two hours you are supposed to be able to wiggle your toes, ankles, bend your knees and lift your bottom. I was told that this often takes the whole two hours to happen. The minute I was wheeled in I was able to do everything. The poor nurse was so impressed they didn't know what to do because they had never had this happen before. They decided to keep me for an hour and then finally I was wheeled to recovery postpardum and finally able to see my daughter and hold her for the first time. This was the most wonderful and exciting moment of my day. She is and was the most beautiful thing in the world to me. At that time I learned that she was born offically at 6:34 pm, weighing in at 7 lbs 13 oz and was 20 inches long. The reason that I was only able to lie on my right side without her heartrate dipping was because her umbilical cord was on the left hand side so lying flat or on that side put the pressure on the cord which dropped her heartrate. I also learned that the pain in my hip was her head. She was sunnyside up with her head turned so I was getting the back side of her head slammed into my pelvis. As much as I disliked the C-Section it ended up being a blessing in disguise.
From there we were monitored for 48 hours and were released at 6:34 on Monday and came home to finish the recovery process. I am very stiff, swollen and in pain. My abdomen feels like I was punched relentlessly and my legs to my feet are so swollen that I literally cannot fit into my pants. I was told the swelling will go down, it's because I had so many IV's for so long and my kidney's just cannot process all that quickly. Here were are 4 days after the C-Section and I am able to move around but slowly. I won't lie, it hurts like nothing I have ever felt and no pain medicine makes it feel better but everytime I hear a hunger or diaper cry I am reminded of how very blessed I am because despite everything I went through, God gave me a perfectly healthy baby girl!
The doctors decided because of this they wanted to induce labor so they set me up on all my IV's and started the pictocin and penicillin. For those of you that don't know how this works, they start the drip at 1 and gradually like to work you up to 10 to dilate you and what not. Well I never made it past 4. Everytime we got to 4 Ava's heartrate would drop too quickly because my contractions got too close together. They had to keep giving me a shot to stop the contractions and then race to find a position to get her heart rate up. The only position that seemed to work was me on my right side. So for the next 20 hours I spent labor on my right side trying to dilate to 10 and get completely effaced. At this time we still thought we were going to have a vaginal birth so I kept getting the penicillian, for anyone who has ever had this via IV, if it isn't well mixed it burns so bad it makes you think they are ripping your arm off. I am apparently very sensative to this drug and had to endure that pain four times. By the time I hit a dilation of 9 my epidural had stopped working on my left side because I am what is called a gravatational person. The side I was lying on took all the epidural and the other side was left feeling everything. This is when I started having extreme pain in my left hip. The doctors told me we could try another shot of pictocin to get Avalina out vaginally but I would feel all the pain on the left side of my body and it most likely wouldn't work which would mean she would become an emergency C-Section and I would be put under. The other option was to have a regular C-Section and be allowed to stay awake and let Vic be in the room. Since the options were limited we decided to try the normal C-Section since the risks of being put under were far greater than just having a huge epidural.
At about 6 pm I was wheeled into the surgery room and had been administered a ton of epidural medicine and morphine. 34 minutes later I heard the most beautiful cry in the world and saw my daughter for a split second before they had to start stiching me up. After they were done I was wheeled to postpardum where they monitor you for 2 hours, in those two hours you are supposed to be able to wiggle your toes, ankles, bend your knees and lift your bottom. I was told that this often takes the whole two hours to happen. The minute I was wheeled in I was able to do everything. The poor nurse was so impressed they didn't know what to do because they had never had this happen before. They decided to keep me for an hour and then finally I was wheeled to recovery postpardum and finally able to see my daughter and hold her for the first time. This was the most wonderful and exciting moment of my day. She is and was the most beautiful thing in the world to me. At that time I learned that she was born offically at 6:34 pm, weighing in at 7 lbs 13 oz and was 20 inches long. The reason that I was only able to lie on my right side without her heartrate dipping was because her umbilical cord was on the left hand side so lying flat or on that side put the pressure on the cord which dropped her heartrate. I also learned that the pain in my hip was her head. She was sunnyside up with her head turned so I was getting the back side of her head slammed into my pelvis. As much as I disliked the C-Section it ended up being a blessing in disguise.
From there we were monitored for 48 hours and were released at 6:34 on Monday and came home to finish the recovery process. I am very stiff, swollen and in pain. My abdomen feels like I was punched relentlessly and my legs to my feet are so swollen that I literally cannot fit into my pants. I was told the swelling will go down, it's because I had so many IV's for so long and my kidney's just cannot process all that quickly. Here were are 4 days after the C-Section and I am able to move around but slowly. I won't lie, it hurts like nothing I have ever felt and no pain medicine makes it feel better but everytime I hear a hunger or diaper cry I am reminded of how very blessed I am because despite everything I went through, God gave me a perfectly healthy baby girl!
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Monday, November 16, 2009
2 Days till D-Day and......
I am still only 1 cm dilated and 25% effaced. The doctor said at least another week of baking in her professional opinion. So here is a run down of what I learned today:
My blood pressure has been steadily going up....what does this mean? I may be at risk for Preeclampsia. http://www.preeclampsia.org/about.asp. If my Blood pressure keeps going up and I go into labor then they will run some blood tests and urine sampe to see if I need magnesium during labor.
I also have noticed decreased fetal movement but after 30 minutes of monitoring, Ava is healthy, her heartbeat was between 130-150's which is good and she had lots of movement tracked. They were also able to see my contractions which there were 4 of them during this time.
I also had an ultrasound today where they checked her fluid in the sac. Apparently the deal is that they take the largest and deepest sac and as long as there are 2 cm of fluid on all sides we are good. Not only did she have two deep pockets but one measured the normal requirements and one was 4-6 cm on all sides. So she is good in that department.
She is head down and locked and loaded. Apparently even while engaged she can still rotate around to be sunnyside up or down so we still aren't sure which way she will come out but at least she is head down!
If I am still the same next week and Ava is still not wanting to come out we will talk about induction.
So what does all this really mean? It means I have a butterball turkey in the oven and while done it's just not ready to come out.
I will post a 40 week picture soon. As always love you guys!
My blood pressure has been steadily going up....what does this mean? I may be at risk for Preeclampsia. http://www.preeclampsia.org/about.asp. If my Blood pressure keeps going up and I go into labor then they will run some blood tests and urine sampe to see if I need magnesium during labor.
I also have noticed decreased fetal movement but after 30 minutes of monitoring, Ava is healthy, her heartbeat was between 130-150's which is good and she had lots of movement tracked. They were also able to see my contractions which there were 4 of them during this time.
I also had an ultrasound today where they checked her fluid in the sac. Apparently the deal is that they take the largest and deepest sac and as long as there are 2 cm of fluid on all sides we are good. Not only did she have two deep pockets but one measured the normal requirements and one was 4-6 cm on all sides. So she is good in that department.
She is head down and locked and loaded. Apparently even while engaged she can still rotate around to be sunnyside up or down so we still aren't sure which way she will come out but at least she is head down!
If I am still the same next week and Ava is still not wanting to come out we will talk about induction.
So what does all this really mean? It means I have a butterball turkey in the oven and while done it's just not ready to come out.
I will post a 40 week picture soon. As always love you guys!
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