Author: spaleksic

Finally NO MORE DIAPERS

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diapersDear readers this is only intended for those of you that might consider yourselves poop stain fighters. If you have never had kids, never changed a diaper or have no intention of doing either of these things then stop reading because you might be grossed out by this post and will definitely never come over for dinner. To all of my fellow readers that might have at one time or another found yourself cleaning someone else’s bodily fluids this one’s for you.

Today is a very happy day in this house.

Today I cleaned the carpets.

Today I ran the potty’s through the dishwasher (all by themselves of course). I thought it was really gross too but my mom does it so it must be OK. For those that have never had kids and even for those that have I warned you that you might not want to come for dinner.

Today is the day that I washed all of the cloth diapers for the last time, the very very last time.

Today is the end of diapers because today everyone in this house goes to the bathroom in the toilet. Today is day that I thought was only a fantasy. But here it is and I am elated.

I hope to never again hear…so and so pooped on the floor. Like on the floor floor, inside the house? Please tell me it’s not on the carpet. Nobody stepped in it and tracked it onto the carpet, right? Stop right there DON’T TOUCH IT. As the parent it’s then up to you to clean up the kid, clean up the floor, clean the clothes and clean whatever else was in a unfortunate place at the scene of the accident.

Inevitably right after the carpets were clean in walks the “finally toilet trained” two year old with a smoothie. As we all know the smoothie ended up on the carpet because it had been a whole 10 minutes since I finished cleaning them. Its sort of like when you wash the car and minutes later a bird fly’s over and drops a huge load smack in the middle of the windshield. So on that note I totally expect that just writing this is going to jinx me. Tomorrow the carpets will no longer be clean, but here’s to hoping that it’s not poop or pee because my days as a poop stain fighter are over.

You might think that this is a sad day, but its not. My toddler poops in the toilet. I guess that he’s not a baby anymore and I am OK with that.

P.S. there are no secrets to toilet training contrary to what you might have read, you can bribe them, reward them, clap, sing, read books, use cloth diapers, stand on your head, act like a dancing monkey it really doesn’t matter because they will go when they are good and ready. Have you ever tried to go to the bathroom when someone else told you too? It’s not so easy.

Hobby Horder

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I have a problem. Even though I am working towards a masters in business I still feel the need to learn more, and make more. I have exams that I should be studying for but I just can’t help myself. I enrolled in a cake decorating class. I feel the need to constantly be learning something new. Just over a year ago I took up crochet, the year before that I learned to knit, now I am into cake decorating. Learning a new skill, craft or hobby for me is relaxing. I love making something out of nothing.

The problem really is that with each new hobby I add to my roster, I don’t give up the old ones. I am a hobby horder. With the hobby’s comes the supplies, and I have my fair share of crafting supplies. So much so that I can usually make things without going to the store. When I registered for the cake decorating class (2 hours before it started) the woman on the phone told me that I needed to bring 6 cupcakes. You might find this hard to believe but I already had 6 cupcakes in the fridge, I had to scrape the icing off but other than that I was ready to go. Here are some of my practice cupcakes all decked out with the fancy icing techniques I learned.

class 1

Sunbathing Beauties

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Beach bears 2 My oldest graduated from Kindergarten this week and I couldn’t pass up the chance to bake some cupcakes for the celebration party. In the process I learned that you can make and ice about 60 mini cupcakes from a standard boxed cake mix and tub of frosting. These bathing beauties were vanilla cupcakes with cream cheese frosting, dipped in light and dark brown (sand) sugar. Topped with a strip of fruit roll-up for the towel and a gummy bear. Garnished with a paper parasol these were a hit with the kiddies.

Ingredients

  • Boxed cake mix
  • eggs
  • oil
  • Tub of frosting
  • gummy bears
  • light/dark brown sugar
  • fruit roll ups
  • paper umbrella

Instructions

  • Bake the cupcakes as per the box instructions
  • Ice once cooled
  • Roll iced cupcakes in the sugar
  • Cut the fruit roll up into towel sized pieces (I did 1″ pieces for mini cupcakes)
  • put a dab of icing on the top of the cupcake to attach the towel (fruit roll up)
  • Put a dab of icing in the middle of the towel and attach the gummy bear
  • decorate with a paper umbrella

How are you? No really how are you?

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how_you_doin_____joey_tribbiani_by_iamthewalrus46-d3rbpuqSince I have been diagnosed with a brain tumour and people know about it, I have been asked How are you doing? When I give the standard, fine or OK. I get a followup but how are you really doing, sometimes with an accompanied point at my head, or how’s Timmy the tumour doing. Well here’s the low down.

I have an appointment with my neurosurgeon tomorrow. This is the followup from the MRI I had in April. I am a little nervous that he is going to tell me that we should just wait and watch the growth, and at the same time I would be relieved. I feel like my life is being held captive by Timmy because I am having a hard time committing to anything long-term. Do I go back to school in September? Or on vacation out of the country? Both of these questions I can’t really answer right now. It’s hard to plan for the coming months when I don’t know Timmy’s plan. I would love the surgeon to say lets take down Timmy mid summer so you can recover sooner rather than later.

I get dizzy often, sometimes it feels like I am wearing a hat that is too tight and I having varying degrees of headaches. So for these reasons I would like Timmy to take a hike pronto. At the same time the idea of having brain surgery is SCARY. For the record I have never had surgery and have only been hospitalized for the rather uncomplicated births of my two kiddo’s. I have never even had a broken bone. I am scar free. Yet it doesn’t surprise me for a second that my first surgery would be on my brain because I am a “go big or go home” type of person. If you are going to have surgery you might as well go for it.

reality-679x350Those stages of grief or loss that you hear about are also very applicable to my current situation. I was in denial from the first headache until the CT Scan showed the tumour. Now that I have had 2 scans that both show Timmy, a couple of dizzy spells, and a headache or two it’s hard to deny Timmy’s existence. Depression was very real in the first couple of days/weeks but that has passed now. As of right now there has been no bargaining, but the days before I have surgery you better believe I will be promising anything to live and to live as I have been just without Timmy. The anger I am experiencing is a very new emotion for me, it’s not like being angry at someone because there isn’t anyone to be angry at. I am just angry. I am angry I can’t do the things I want to do. I am angry that I will be having a lovely day and I get dizzy and am reminded that I have a brain tumour. I am angry when I escape reality for a couple of hours while watching a movie, or sleeping only to be smacked in the face with reality. I am angry my head will be cut open. I am angry that this situation is mine and I have to do something about it.

But I am also thankful, so incredibly thankful that its me and not either of my kids because I think that I would lose my mind if I had to deal with this as a bystander. I am also thankful that while this is serious it is also treatable. I just finished reading “Still Alice” by Lisa Genova about a woman who has Alzheimer’s disease which I found surprisingly uplifting. I am reminded that it could be so much worse. So that’s how I am doing. How are you doing?

Family Photos

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Gallery 3What do brain tumours and photography have in common? Probably not much. But having been recently diagnosed with a brain tumour has prompted me to yet again have family photos taken. When I told my husband that I wanted to have photos taken his response was “really AGAIN”. It has only been a year since the last batch and I understand his point but I played the brain tumour card anyway. You never know what the future may bring, so while I can get some family shots taken I went for it. Scroll to the bottom to see the lovely pictures that Nicola at Lily and Lane took for us.

We don’t have a lot of family pictures of all of us, there are a pile of the kids, and lots of my husband with the kids. I am almost always behind the camera so just in case something goes wrong and Timmy the tumour wins (which is highly unlikely in my opinion) my family will have some new shiny pictures of me. Until that dark day (holy morbid) inevitably happens sometime in my late 90’s I plan on enjoying the photos. Which means that they need to make their way out of the computer.

Step 1 is getting the photos, Step 2 is getting them out of the computer and into some form that you can enjoy. Hint, hint nudge nudge. I stumbled across this fantastic INEXPENSIVE, EASY, AND QUICK way to display photos. In the image above there is a mix of pictures taken by three different photographers (myself included). In the top row the 3rd and 6th images from the left, and first and fifth images in the bottom row I mounted on wood artist panels. It’s really rare that I come across any DIY project that is all three, so I am pretty excited to share this one with you. This project cost $2.00 for the wood artist board at the dollar store, $3.00 for the 8×10 print, $1.00 craft paint to paint the edges from the dollar store.  I already had a jar of modge podge and a paint brush, but neither of those items will break the bank.

What you need:

Supplies

  • 8×10 photo
  • modge podge
  • Canvas or wood artist board
  • A paint brush/foam brush
  • craft paint to paint the edges
  • Exacto knife

Instructions:

Step 1 – paint the edges of the canvas or wood board and wait for it to dry. Have a glass of wine while you wait.

Step 1 and 2

Step 2 – Apply a second coat of paint if needed and wait for it to dry

Step 3 – Apply a coat of modge podge to the canvas/board and lineup the photo making sure to remove any air bubbles, wait for it to stick

Step 4 – Trim around the edges of the canvas/board

Step 4

Step 5 – Apply a coat of modge podge as evenly as possible over the entire photo to seal it. A foam brush is better than a bristle brush.

Step 5

Photo Gallery

Graduation Cupcakes

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IMG_7863
Image provided by Megan

One of the moms in my son’s class had the brilliant idea of hosting a party for 40 kids graduating from Kindergarten. It was an opportunity for all of the families to meet and a chance for all of the kids to get together on the weekend outside of the school environment. There were a group of moms that got together to plan the event. We rented a “block party” trailer from the city which included chairs, tents, tables and games. With 40 kindergarten children plus their parents, and siblings we ended up with just over 100 people in attendance. With a group that large we opted to book a local park with a playground. We ordered party platters of fruit, veggies, cheese and meat to compliment the chips, popsicles and cupcakes. There was also two surprise guests from the movie Frozen who made a special appearance.

The weather was fantastic. The turnout was amazing. And my kids were exhausted and that is the sign of a good party. I volunteered to bake the cupcakes, all 100 of them. It was a bit of an undertaking but it was a challenge that I eagerly accepted. If you happen to be planning a graduation party these cupcakes were a hit.

Ingredients:

  • boxeingredientsd cake mix
  • eggs
  • vegetable oil
  • canned frosting
  • fruit rollups
  • mini peanut butter cups
  • chocolate covered cookies
  • m&m’s

Instructions:

1. Bakes the cupcakes as per the box instructions and let cool

2. Place chocolate covered cookies upside down on a tray (so that you can put them in the freezer)

Step 2

3. Put a dab of frosting in the middle of each one

Step 3

4. Place the small end of the mini peanut butter cup in the frosting/cookie

5. Place the try in the freezer to set for 15-20 minutes

6. Cut the fruit rollup into 1/4″ x 1 1/2″-2″ strips

7. Remove from freezer once stuck together and flip all of the cookies over so that they are standing on the peanut butter cup

8. Put a dab of frosting in the middle of each cookie to adhere the tassel and M&M

Step 8

9. Place the fruit rollup “tassel” and them the M&M in the frosting and place the tray back into the freezer to set

10. Ice the cupcakes

11. Place the graduation cap (mortarboards) in the center of the cupcakes

12. Refrigerate or freeze (because we were having an outdoor party I froze the cupcakes so that the chocolate hats would melt slower. We had them out for an hour and only had a couple break before eaten)

Superhero capes

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If you could choose a super power what would it be?

spaleksic's avatarMaking A Life

If you could choose a super power what would it be?

At a party this weekend I was asked what superpower I would chose if I had the option and my response was the ability to fly. Most people wrote something about reading thoughts or controlling people with their minds. Thinking about it now flying might not be the most practical super power but it sure would be fun. In keeping with the flying theme I made all of the super hero’s in my life personalized capes for Christmas. And if you are interested I will make one for you too, click here for details.

When you have more than one child I find that there is fighting over everything. Having personalized toys helps cutting back on the fighting (at least when they can recognize their own names).

Up, Up and away.

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King of the Castle

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king of the castleWhenever I get out crafting supplies one of my kids asks what I am making. When I told my oldest that I was making crowns to give as birthday presents for a couple of upcoming parties, he requested one. I had a crown pattern drawn with stars on it and when I showed him he requested more points and to change the stars to diamonds. So this project was designed by my oldest and sewn by me. He is my biggest critic, greatest source of inspiration and the king of the castle. At least one of the kings of the castle, my youngest is challenging him at every step. No one around here wants to be the dirty rascal.

My youngest is yelling to the neighbourhood “I’m the king of the castle you are the dirty rascal”. He is also sporting his superhero cape and his love shirt.

If you are interested in making a crown here is a pattern. If you are interested in buying one here is a link to my Etsy store.

Taco Salad

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Taco saladHere’s a little secret. My husband is a much better cook than I will ever be. But as my family will attest to I rock a mean salad. Since I was diagnosed with a brain tumour I have been sitting back eating junk. I had previous to the diagnosis been running for exercise because it’s free, we have a treadmill and it’s a great excuse to buy new shoes. Exercise was also the reason why I had the intense head pains that caused me to go to the doctor and led me to the brain tumour diagnosis. So running is off the table for now. Which means that healthy eating is on.

I always thought that those fancy taco salad bowls in restaurants would be hard to duplicate. I am happy to say that I was so wrong about that. Last night I made a couple taco salad bowls and here are the instructions:

Ingredients:

  • 8″ flour tortilla shells (from a package)
  • onion powder, garlic powder, paprika, and chili powder
  • Olive oil
  • cooking spray

Instructions:

  1. Lay the tortilla shell on a flat surface, lightly brush with olive oil
  2. Lightly dust with spices
  3. Spray non stick cooking spray inside an oven safe bowl
  4. Put the tortilla shell into the bowl, pressing down in the middle
  5. Heat in the oven until crispy (350 degrees for 10 minutes in my oven)

Salad:

  • Romaine lettuce
  • Tomato
  • Yellow pepper
  • black beans
  • Chicken
  • Avocado
  • Green onion
  • Shredded cheese
  • Dressing (oil and balsamic vinegar)

A Mustachioed Snake

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Snake 5There are two people in my house that love to wear socks, and there are two of us that don’t. My husband and oldest son are the sock wearers. They seem to go through socks so quickly. I am not a fan of socks, and only put them on with sneakers, or in the winter. The rest of time I am barefoot, as is my youngest. I rarely wear out a pair of socks, usually the elastic goes before I wear holes in them. This is not the case for our resident sock wearers, they are constantly wearing through socks. I have been saving them because it seems such a waste to throw them out.

I am also an avid recycler. Pants, shirts, doors, milk jugs, new socks and now even the holey old socks in our house gotten a new lease on life. Meet our newest house guest, “Sunday” the sock snake. He is constructed of mainly of my husband, and eldest son’s holey socks. He is named Sunday because one of the pairs of socks said Sunday on the bottom, so I though that it was fitting. He is also the only snake that I know that has a mustache, or many mustaches.

If you are interested in giving your old socks a new lease on life, check out this tutorial from Grosgrain. I made a couple of alterations to the tutorial with the main one being using quilting batting instead of stuffing. I learned when making sock monkeys that it’s really hard to get the socks stuffed with out having big lumps, so for the snake I used batting. Here are some pictures of my battle with the batting. It was a full body workout to get Sunday stuffed. Now I will need to make a second one because I still have a pile of holey socks.