Cloth Diapering

Before the bean was born, I had my heart set on cloth diapering.  It was going to be wonderful and green and easy and save us tons of money. 

HA.

You know that saying, "Want to make God laugh? Just tell him your plans"? I think Grayson also opperates under this mantra. He HATED cloth dipes. Like miserable baby times a million as soon as he was wet. I think thats why he perfected the pout at 3 weeks old.

Anywho- Im over at Nap Time is My Time today telling the world about my first epic mommy fail.

Head on over here and check it out!!

Hope you have a wonderful and much deserved vaca, Emily! I had such a wonderful time blogging for you :)

Holy Cow- I made a grabbable blog button!

Ask anyone, I am the most technology challenged human alive.  Seriously, my students usually have to update my computer and work my dvd/vcr combo. A few weeks ago when the hubs saw me blogging he was AMAZED that I could do it. Like he kept repeating "Wow, I'm so impressed!" over and over.

Some would say that's insulting, I'm kinda taking it as a complement.

Anywho- a few people have asked why I didn't have a blog button, and when I said I had no idea how to make one they did give me some names of people who would make them for me for a small fee. I think the prices ranged from $8-20....which really isn't bad, unless your cheap like me. When I told the hubs he told me that I could pay to have one made, because he didn't think I could do it on my own. Oh he of little faith!

So off to the blogosphere I went. I actually googled 'How to make a grabbable blog button' and got a few different sites. The first one was super easy to follow, but it didn't work in the end. 

I started by making the picture for the button.

First, I uploaded a picture to picnik (LOVE that site!!).  Then I cropped it into a perfect square (click on crop on the left hand side, then in the drop down menu that says "no constraints" choose square) and applied the settings. Then I had to resize it to 125x125 by clicking on the resize option and putting in 125 and applying that.

Your image should get pretty small, then you can zoom in by adjusting the zoom on the bottom right of the screen. It may look a little pixelated, but that's okay.

Now youre done with the basic edits, and you can proceed to add text by clicking on the text tab. Play around and have some fun, you can do whatever you would like! Then when you're done click on the Save and Share tab and save it to your computer.

Then you need to upload it to a photo sharing site, I used photobucket. Alot of people recommended picasa, but I couldn't find the URL for the photo on there, and on photobucket its super easy to find. Just hover over the image and click on the direct link and it will automatically copy to your clip board.

Now you can make two kinds of buttons, the first is just a blog button that will link to your site. The second is a grabbable button that others can copy and paste onto their blogs.

The first code is pretty easy:

<a border="0" href="yourblogURL" target="_blank"><img src="yourimagedirectlinkURL"/></a>

So you copy and paste this into the HTML section on your blog and change the items in red to fit your specific blog. You have to keep the quotation marks and when you're done it should look like this:

<a border="0" href="http://inthiscrazylife-bethany.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://i851.photobucket.com/albums/ab79/lperkaos/BlogButton1.jpg"/></a>

Now this wont put in the option for others to grab, but it will make it appear on your blog or in a post and will link back to your blog.

If you want a grabbable blog button that code is a bit more complex. I found the one that worked for me over at The Pink Lemon Tree.

<div align="”center”">
<a href="YOURBLOGADDRESS" target="”_blank”"><img src="YOURIMAGEADDRESS"/></a>
</div>
<div align="”center”">
<form><textarea rows="”6″" cols="”19″" readonly="”readonly”"><a href="YOURBLOGADDRESS" target="”_blank”"><img src="YOURIMAGEADDRESS"/></a></textarea></form>
</div>

Here's what mine looks like:

<div align="”center”">
<a href="http://inthiscrazylife-bethany.blogspot.com/" target="”_blank”"><img src="http://i851.photobucket.com/albums/ab79/lperkaos/BlogButton1.jpg"/></a>
</div>
<div align="”center”">
<form><textarea rows="”6″" cols="”19″" readonly="”readonly”"><a href="http://inthiscrazylife-bethany.blogspot.com/" target="”_blank”"><img src="http://i851.photobucket.com/albums/ab79/lperkaos/BlogButton1.jpg"/></a></textarea></form>
</div>

Then just save the code and it should appear in your blog, allowing everyone to grab it.

 Easy peasy lemon squeaszy!

PS- hubs, if you're reading this I really did do this all by myself...check the bank account, I didn't pay a cent for it. HA!

Itching for Christmas

Here in our house, we LOVE Christmas.

Seriously, we are the Griswold's of our neighborhood.

Last year my husband put 5,000 lights on the front of our house and picked out a tree I called Shamu.

Cutting it down...it was 4 degrees outside, and these two kept me out there for an hour looking for the PERFECT tree. Which I said was too large.

After he cut two extra feet off of the bottom...it still touched the 10 foot ceiling. PS that window behind the tree is 4 feet wide.

All decorated with presents from Santa!

This year, we get to take Grayson out to cut down his first tree, so today I bought him his first baby snowsuit and thermal long undies.  If he's going to be in this family he's going to learn how to hang from birth I suppose.  I've also started to pull out Christmas decorations to put up when I get a chance, since its going to be a little harder this year with the Bean and all. 

Usually I make sure to wait until after Thanksgiving...we do respect the Turkey here...but this year the bird is just going to have deal with it. I can't help myself, I've already watched Christmas Vacation and Christmas with the Kranks - tis the season, lovelies!



Cinnamon Roll Waffles

The other day I saw a recipie on Pinterest where you plop canned cinnamon rolls into the waffle iron for 2-3 minutes instead of baking them in the oven.

Sounds quick and easy, but how would they taste?

Ammmaaazzziiinngg.

No crusty burnt bits, soft and gooey, and the icing melts into all the little waffle holes.

I made 5 waffles, and the hubs ate 4.5 of them before I even got a bite. Thats why he only ate 4.5, I finnally yelled STOP and got a half for myself. I would have made more, but we were out of Cinnamon Rolls- so this weeks shopping list has 3 containers on them as they would be great for a quick morning breakfast during the week.

Seriously lovlies, you gotta try these.

Hoo Are You!

Im participating in Night Owl Crafting's Hoooo Are You link up...its a super fun way to get to know other bloggers and to get to answer some questions about yourself that you may have never been asked!

1. Do you type on a keyboard the correct way or do you peck like a cute little chick?

I sort of do a combo. Im a correct typer, who occasionally hunts and pecks...my husband describes me as a hoverer. Apparently I hover over the keyboard instead of putting my fingers on the right keys.

2. Typically how long does it take you to get ready in the morning?

Before Grayson Boy, 45 minutes. Now, it depends on how much time he gives me...usually 15-20 minutes. Thats usually enough time for a shower and to find some clothes, Ive given up on the blow dryer, straightening iron, and make up.  The bean thinks his Mommy is gorge with caveman hair and dark circles.

3. Do you prefer lip gloss or lipstick?

Lip gloss, if I try lipstick I always end up with it on my teeth. Besides, lip gloss tastes way better!

4. Do you take clothes to the dry cleaner or wash them yourself even if they say dry clean only?

I dont buy things that are dry clean only, because Im way too lazy and cheap to take them to the dry cleaner. If something slips by I usually take it to my Mom and she uses that dryell kit in her fancy spaceship washing machine :)

5. Do you prefer Wal Mart or Target.

Target....why is it I cant get out of that store without spending $100? I think they pump something into the air in there that makes you go shopping happy.

Name Art and A Cheater Trick

Yesterday I had a kick ass Mommy day. I baked cookies (from SCRATCH, which is a HUGGE deal in this house), I did laundry, I cleaned out/organized the buffet in the pantry, I made lunch and dinner, and I snuck in a craft project.  All while my hubs was outside getting some work done around the yard to get ready for winter, meaning I had the baby.

Where the motivation came from I do not know, but I'm not going to fight it.

The craft project I tackled was one I have been meaning to do for awhile now, the wooden letters I bought to spell out Grayson's name above his crib.  Right now his crib is right in front of the mantle, and above that is a 5 foot by 5 foot blank yellow wall- of concrete. So its nearly impossible to hang anything there, because you have to literally drill into solid rock.  But oh, lovelies, I am a determined Mommy.

Enter super industrial strength Velcro.

I bought some of this stuff:

You just stick it to the back of the object and the wall and it will hang there perfectly.

Now, onto the letters. I bought the 5 inch wooden letters from JoAnn's (with coupons of course!), a pack of foam brushes and paint that coordinated with the bedding.

I started by painting all of the letters with a few coats of foliage green paint.  Then I realized I can paint two things, dots and stripes.  The dots were easy, they were just the end of different paint brushes.  The stripes were even easier- because I have a cheater trick, scotch tape.

After the letter is painted, break out the scotch tape and cover the letter, leaving open spaces in between. Make sure that they appear even, and rub over the tape edges really well so that no paint leaks under and then just paint away.  You can vary the width, or use something like a popcicle stick as a guide to keep them uniform. Once dry, peel off the tape and you have perfect stripes!

Here's the finished product:

Now- we just have to get them stuck to the wall and we'll be set!



Cheddar Bacon Biscuits = Amazing!

Who doesn't love the Cheddar Bay Biscuits from Red Lobster?

I love them, but I'm not a big fan of anything else that the restaurant serves. I don't do fish...it smells.

So when the hubs gets to go there I typically get a Caesar salad and lots of biscuits. I started thinking about how I could do them at home, and started searching for some recipes.

Thank you Rachel Ray for coming through in a pinch with a super simple recipe that I think is even BETTER than the ones at Red Lobster. Why you may ask? Because these ones have the added goodness of bacon. Mmmm.

Super easy. Start with a bag of Bisquick Complete Biscuit Mix.

After dumping that into a mixing bowl start cooking up 3-4 slices of bacon in a frying pan.  Once done to your liking, remove and let cool.  Pour a tablespoon or so of the pan drippings into the dry biscuit mix.  Chop up the bacon and add it to the mix.  Now grab the cheddar cheese and mix in about 1/2 cup of the finely shredded stuff. Add the needed 1/2 cup of water and mix to combine.  Drop on the baking sheet and bake according to package directions (450*F for 8-11 minutes).

They're beautiful and delish and I can make them at home with anything other than fish. Score!