SitRep and Thanksgiving

So I am about thoroughly over this whole pregnancy gig.  I never was really too stoked on the idea to begin with.  I mean, what happened to that damned stork that's supposed to airmail these suckers, huh?  No muss, no fuss, just a knock on the door, and ta-da!  But in all honesty, it's not been as bad as I anticipated. A friend asked me a couple months ago how it was going, and I was honestly able to reply "piece of cake."  I can't really say that now.  I'm starting to have aches and pains that I haven't had before.  Simple stuff is getting more difficult.  I lost the ability to touch my toes, and sometimes just getting in and out of bed is something of a chore that would be made much easier with an engine hoist installed in the bedroom.  I think I am finally over the awesomeness of my huge bed that requires a step-stool to get into when I'm not bigger around than I am tall.  As a matter of fact, I pulled something getting into bed last night, and today I'm really kind of pathetic:  hobbling around like an ungainly weeble trying really hard not to do anything to stress the spot further.  I'm down to the final 4... that's all the weeks I have left.  It's kind of intimidating.  I'm getting performance anxiety.  I'm kind of excited, but mostly nervous.  I think it's pretty safe to say, though, that the actual pregnancy part hasn't been too bad.  It's been quite tolerable, actually, and nothing like the horror stories people have fed me over the years.  So in brief, the sitrep is I'm pretty ok.  Which brings me to the Thanksgiving bit.  I have a lot to be thankful for, but one person just so outshines everything else this year.

I believe there is only one reason why this pregnancy really hasn't been as difficult as it could have been:  My B.
He is awesome.
He is patient.
He is loving.
He is kind.
He takes care of me.
Boy does he ever put up with me.
He takes the time to push the swelling out of my feet and ankles for me.
He puts me on orders to take a day to chill and damn the housework that gets neglected.
He helps me with the housework.
He sometimes just randomly does the dishes.
He carries baskets of laundry up and down the stairs for me.
He asks me how he can make it better.
He brings me chocolate.
He holds my hand.
He sleeps on a pallet next to the couch when I can't manage to get comfortable in the bed.
He puts up with my elaborately piled pillows that have taken over our queen size bed.
He helps me get *into* that ridiculously high bed that I was so tickled with and specifically requested when my step-mom built it.
He gives me a hard time when he knows I'm feeling playful enough to accept it gracefully.
He doesn't when he knows I'm moody, hurting, or just not feeling good.
He appreciates me.
He gets up at Oh-my-gods-it's-early to go to work every day, and he doesn't complain about it.
He turns his paycheck over to bills and household necessities, and never seems to begrudge the fact that I don't contribute much financially.
He makes me laugh.
He encourages me.
He does his very best to balance me.  When I get worked up or stressed out, he's calm, patient, and reminds me that there's no need.
He doesn't yell or get ugly when I'm moody, bitchy, and catty.
He hugs me when I'm moody, bitchy, and catty.
He ties my shoes for me.
He seems to think I'm doing a fine job, even when I feel like I'm being a slacker or a sissy.

He makes me feel confident.
He gives me strength.


He has been so wonderful throughout all the physical and emotional ups and downs all this year.  I can't even begin to list every single thing he has done to help me, encourage me, cheer me up, keep me grounded, make me happy, and comfort me.  I just wish there was a way I could show him how much it's meant, how much he's helped, and how much I appreciate everything he does all the time, every day.

Homemade Creamer and other Completed Craftiness

Where've I been?  Honestly... I'm cheating on my blog.  Pinterest has become something almost consuming it it's hold over me.  I pin all the time.  I pin the bath, I pin when I'm cooking, I pin when I'm cleaning, I pin while watching TV or movies, and I even manage to pin while having conversations with my husband.  I think I have a problem.

Pinterest is so much less work than a blog, you see.  You just make boards and stuff things there in categories that may only make sense to you.  I've started so many recipe boards and money saving type boards (like DIYs for cleaning supplies, furniture, sewing, and hygiene).  If I try something and like it, I move it to a different board, so it's easy for me to find again.  If I don't like it, I move it to yet another board, so I know not to use it anymore.  It's pure awesome.  A few of my pinned projects have made it over here, but I think I've been extraordinarily neglectful of my blog over the past several months.

While not a pinterest project, I have added a few more diaper covers to my stash while I was away.  My husband is so tickled with these things.  He brings me chocolate every time I finish one... I am not sure if that is incentive to make more, or if I should stop before I gain even more weight with this pregnancy escapade than I already have.

This has also been completed while I was away.  The sideboard is made of scavenged pallets.  I love it all unfinished and rough around the edges, especially with my cast iron hanging above from a likewise rough shelf/pot rack.  B made them both, and he seems to think it's a bit odd that I just love that they're not quite true, that there are knot holes in them, and that there aren't two boards of the same color among them.  It makes me happy.  He wants things to look nice when he makes them, and even though the materials are really primarily responsible for the finished look, he gets frustrated when he can't make crooked boards make straight lines.  He gets over it because I just love it!

These are my answer to canisters.  I spent $24 total on a case each of half gallon and quart jars.  I'd love to have some gallon jars for flour and sugar, but the half gallon ones work out fine.  Wide mouth jars have a big enough mouth to easily get a 1/4 c measuring cup in there, and I am pretty sure a 1/3 c measuring cup would make it, too.  I can scoop out what I need without having to lug out the big buckets underneath where I store the bulk of my bulk dry goods.  The shipping tags were only $3.99 for a package of 100 from Office Depot, and the jars came from Ace Hardware's website, since it seems to be impossible to find half gallon jars in stores when it's not canning season.  I think they're super cute, and they fit right in with my primitive/rustic storage.  I also love the fact that they're not $20 each like the glass canisters at the store.  The lids and rings won't last forever, but those will be cheap and easy to replace when the time comes.  I'm happy with them.

These were a pinterest project.  Dollar Tree baskets ($1 each), and cotton print fabric on sale 30% off at Hobby Lobby.  I spent about $12 on the whole project (not counting the glue sticks, since I already had those), and ended up with 4 fabric covered bins for the price of one (or two if you're lucky) from Wal-Mart. I hot glued some cute little painted wood cut outs onto the sides.  There's a motorcycle, a tiger, and a guitar. Somehow when I was in Hobby Lobby, I forgot I had 4 baskets and only got 3 embellishments, but it works out since one of the baskets really isn't very visible in it's place on the bottom shelf of the changing table.

This actually might deserve an entry to itself.  It is another pinterest project that I have altered and tweaked over the past few weeks until I have almost exactly what I want.  It's liquid French Vanilla coffee creamer, and it's way cheaper than $4 per bottle.  The original recipe I found on pinterest called for a can of sweetened condensed milk, milk, and real vanilla.  Yes, it honestly did taste better than mine.  Mine, however, can be made for even cheaper, and all the ingredients can be bought in bulk and used for plenty of other stuff (like cream of anything soup mix, homemade bisquick, and homemade instant oatmeal packets, for a few).
I use:
1.5 c powdered milk,
1 c sugar
2.5 c hot water
5 T imitation vanilla flavoring.

Truth be told, real vanilla would make a big difference in flavor.  It's more intense and really shows off with the coffee, but it's also a LOT more expensive.  That big bottle of imitation vanilla was just a few dollars at Sam's.  Real vanilla is several dollars for a tiny little bottle that you'd use up in a single batch and dramatically increase the cost of making this, thereby defeating the purpose.  Put it all together, stir it up good, and put it in a container of some sort.  I reused a liquid creamer container I'd saved.  It only take a few minutes to mix up, and the dry ingredients have a really long shelf life.  I have no idea how long it keeps once mixed.  Ours never lasts more than a week with both of us having a couple cups of coffee each morning.