pinterest trial number 5

i saw this done on pinterest and decided to see if i could create something similar. i used google+ uploaded my photo and then added some text... really easy! pinterest trial number 5 = successful!



Pinterest trail number 3 and 4...thumbs down and thumbs up

Pinterest

vinegar in place of jet dry thumbs down! i recently tried this and wishing i didn't.... my wedding silverware from pottery barn has held up for 7 years nicely  but now it almost looks like they have a permanent water stain. also some of the plates and bowls had a strange film feeling and all my dishes smelled like vinegar. i didn't think you really needed to have jet dry as a regular product in your dish cleaning until my mom told me when they bought their new dishwasher the sales associate informed her to get the best cleaning functionality from your dishwasher you will want to use jet dry. since i have been using jet dry on a regular basic and noticed that when the load is finished my dishes tend to be dryer and less spotting.

Outnumbered

"bar keepers friend" on my scratched up plates thumbs up! i tried another pinterest tip using "bar keepers friend" cleanser and polish on our dishes from macy's (we also got for our wedding). our dishes from macy's. over time they have gotten covered in scratch marks from our silverware. after calling the manufacture and no help from them i saw this pin and  i'm so glad i didn't have to buy new dishes.

magic eraser

i bought a burberry purse on ebay about 3 years ago and knew i was paying way too much on it ...but its a classic and i will have it forever. around 9 months ago i felt like it was getting a little dirty- i started to ask around to see if anyone knew of a "good" dry cleaner that could do the job right. 

after much debating i decided to stop in the burberry store at easton and see what they recommend. i admit i was scared to go inside and embarrass myself if this purse that i all along have thought was real (and paid too much for it) was a knock off. when the sales associate approached me i started off saying, "i received this purse as a gift and i am not sure if it's a knock off but if it's real ....how do you recommend i clean it?" the sales associate took a look and confirmed it is the real deal (sigh). AMEN!

he told me since its italian nylon that you can use a magic eraser to clean it or mild soap and water. i was really confused and repeated his instructions- he confirmed a $2.99 magic eraser would make it look brand new. next stop target...  tested one area and it defiantly magically cleaned the dirt off. waited to see if it was going to leave a big water stain or worse bleach it... after 10 mins nothing happened so i cleaned the rest of the purse and it looks brand new!

who knew buying an expensive purse would only need a $2.99 cleaning?!

Happy Birthday -Hot Coral #712

Today is my Grandma Kilner's birthday-  I still think about her and what she taught me as I grew up. Gavin and I read the book The Little Red Hen and I tell him this is all about his great Grandma Kilner that would have loved to known him.

Today I will wear hot coral #712 in honor of her and we will read The Little Red Hen before bed tonight.

Pinterest trial number 2

This past weekend we made hambugers and used the "best hamburger seasoning" pin from budget savvy diva. I didn't realize until later after we ate them and my husband pointed out that it was the same seasoning that Fuddruckers used on their hamburgers. We both agreed that they were pretty darn good and we would use the recipe again when we make bugers.

source

What you need:

1 teaspoon paprika

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon dark brown sugar (we used light)

1/8 teaspoon garlic powder

1/8 teaspoon onion powder

1/8 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper

What to do:

Combine all ingredients together. Sprinkle seasoning on burgers before cooking.

Anyone else trying anything that you have pined on pinterest?



 

pinterest inspired... laundry room

I'm going to try to post once a week a pinterest inspired project. When we bought our new house I was happy to have a laundry room on the first level. As the first year came and gone I realized that this room was just not a good use of space. We looked into having the washer and dryer moved to the basement and turning this room into a real mudroom. After two attempts this was out of our price range for now.

Pinterest has become my new obsession and I love that I can file all these great ideas in one place. So I collected some ideas and we had a friend help us on a much cheaper level make this room a tad more usable.Below is the "before" picture- I realize this is not the best "before" picture to share but I forgot to take one before the project got started.





BEFORE



AFTER

 

Here are my ideas I pined on pinterest to help me design.

father's day brunch

I held father's day brunch at my house this weekend with both my family and my husbands. We had an egg casserole, fruit salad, banana bread, and buttermilk blueberry breakfast cake. I found the blueberry cake recipe on pinterest and I have to say its so good I could eat the whole thing myself. This is the second time I've made it and love it even more the next time- if that is possible. The recipe is below and I recommend trying it yourself and I have to agree with the source that buttermilk does turn everything into gold!

source

Buttermilk-Blueberry Breakfast Cake

Serves 6-8
½ cup unsalted butter, room temperature
2 tsp. lemon zest or more — zest from 1 large lemon
7/8 cup* + 1 tablespoon sugar**
1 egg, room temperature
1 tsp. vanilla
2 cups flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. kosher salt
2 cups fresh blueberries
½ cup buttermilk
* 7/8 cup = 3/4 cup + 2 tablespoons
** This 1 tablespoon is for sprinkling on top

1. Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Cream butter with lemon zest and 7/8 cup of the sugar until light and fluffy.

2. Add the egg and vanilla and beat until combined. Meanwhile, toss the blueberries with ¼ cup of flour, then whisk together the remaining flour, baking powder and salt.

3. Add the flour mixture to the batter a little at a time, alternating with the buttermilk. Fold in the blueberries.

4. Grease a 9-inch square baking pan (or something similar) with butter or coat with non-stick spray. Spread batter into pan. Sprinkle batter with remaining tablespoon of sugar. Bake for 35 minutes. Check with a toothpick for doneness. If necessary, return pan to oven for a couple of more minutes. (Note: Baking for as long as 10 minutes more might be necessary.) Let cool at least 15 minutes before serving.

This is a picture of me and my dad- I think I was in 8th grade!

racing....

I feel like the world is racing around me these days and I can't catch it! This is typical for the time of year as we are in our "busy season" at work... BUT since the beginning of 2012 I've had this feeling. I know it will go away and I know i have to stay positive and keep going.

I'd like to run away from all this crazy and see if i can catch up with the world- maybe the second half of this year I will find a way.

favorite sweater

j.crew has my favorite sweaters right now... the whisper linen cardigan- its the right lenght and weight but a little expensive. i still bought two (navy and  cerise) and hope to catch them when the are on sale- LOVE THEM!!!

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Mowing

I begged to mow the grass the other day - it was a sunny 80 degree day! An hour and half of peace.. listening to my music and no one bothering me. Ahhhh- heaven! (oh and burn 357 calories would be an extra bonus) I got about 75% of the lawn done and had to quite... it was so hot and I nearly passed out. This was more work than I remembered.
Before I met my husband I owned my own house and cut my own grass. My thought this warm sunny day was... I did it before I can certainly do it now. After spending 15 mins of begging him to let me...he ended up having to finish up where I left off.

Lesson learned he should continue to cut the grass! I will have to find a time for my peace somewhere else.

holidays...blah

I am kind of wishing they didn't exist anymore... it seems as if every month I am having to figure out what is fair and what we will do. It would be so much easier if our family lived closer and there would be not as much traveling involved. The only easy holiday that I feel is not "as" stressful is... Thanksgiving. Every other year we go to the spouses parents home (Michigan or Hilton Head).

My feelings for holidays all started around Christmas this year... all the running around and talking about where we are going to spend a few hours of a particular named holiday was too much. Just because a certain day is tagged Christmas Eve or Christmas than we start talking about where we will spend that day/night. I told myself that just because that day is tagged "Christmas" doesn't mean that if we were to celebrate it a day after or even the weekend before can be just as meaningful/eventful.

In 3 weeks it's fathers day and I am having that feeling all over again. We usually have an annual golf outing that we organize (this year we have changed the date) and my in laws always come up. For the past 6 years I have not spent this weekend/day with my dad. I feel he has gotten the short end of the stick (but because he is such an awesome dad) he had never once said anything- he always seemed to understand. Since we have moved the golf outing to a later date I feel we should go home  (Michigan) to see my dad. But since my in laws are here it makes it difficult to just leave... on top of having a newborn- when it was just Gavin I had not a thought of jumping in the car and going home- now with two it just seems to be so much harder right now. (I might have to break down and get a mini-van which is a whole post its self)

All this would be so much easier if we all just live in the same city- but we don't!  I've got to get this figured out so I can stop thinking about it every holiday.

worth every penny

JJ Cole's car seat canopy is hands down one of the best things I have bought for Henry! I had no idea there was such an item out there like this. I was using blankets to cover him while we went out and they would blow in the wind. (Henry was born in Febuary) Now that summer is here its nice to have something to protect him from the hot burning sun.

I actual envisioned making one of these myself until I found this while shopping in a little boutique store in Ann Arbor. I had no idea that this even existed- saved me a giant headache and time that I don't have. I HIGHLY recommend this to anyone that has just had a baby or having one in the near future!! Worth every penny and super cute!




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making me laugh

confessions of a scary mommy by jill smokler- i am truly laughing out loud while reading this book. since I have been home on maternity leave I've been watching the today show every morning. they featured a segment on jill and her book and just some of the crazy confessions of mom's. at that moment i packed henry up and we were on our way to barnes and noble to get my own copy. i highly recommend this book if you have kids or even going to have kids.

scary mommy

sleeping

this is how henry sleeps the best if we are at home... on the dryer with the vacuum running next to him. i can't quite understand how he can sleep with all that movement and noise... i like peace and quite! several baby books that i have been reading suggest soothing your baby with loud noises like a vacuum, hair dryer or static along with movement (mostly head bobbing). with gavin i was able to follow the happiest baby on the block method but since henry is not cooperating with taking a pacifier we are short one of his 5 steps. you need all 5 to be successful.

henry is particular about his movement he likes either the car, the dryer, and bouncing on an exercise ball- two of those methods are costing me a pretty penny to run. i have been reminding him that he only has 3 more weeks of this bad habit before he has to go to daycare because they will not be driving him around or placing him on a dryer. hope we get this figured out sooner or later- it will make going back to work a tad easier on me. i hate to think that he will be crying all day long.

* please note that i do not leave the area when he is on the dryer.

update....

i wish i was blogging more about the topics i want to blog about but for now i am just blogging about life - seems easier to write about right now.

henry is a tiny bit better... we started the prevacid and it seems to be helping. over the weekend we tried out a new formula "gentalese" by enfamil. i had heard all these wonderful story's about how great it was and my pediatrician said go for it. it seemed to help henry but as day 2 came we started to see blood in his stool again... which means that he can't digest the protein in the way the formula is made. we are back on alimentum by similac with a call into the pediatrician because he is just miserable. on a good note he is getting one good chunk of sleep at night (3-5 hours in a row) so we don't have our days and nights mixed up yet.

we are on our way to michigan this weekend for easter and a long week...  i've started to pack but feeling a tad overwhelmed with what i should bring.... trying to keep things to a minimum. any advice from other mom's that have traveled lately with young ones?

you get what you get and you don't throw a fit....

we use this saying a lot with Gavin and now I need to say it to myself... we are happy to have our new addition but henry is following his brothers steps...  even making bigger steps ... he is fussy, colicky, cries A LOT, has acid reflux and just doesn't sleep well. I am telling myself that I will get through this (you get what you get and don't throw a fit)... I did with Gavin. some how this is making me a stronger person or I am suppose to learn something from this?! week by week i have hope that we are moving forward...

I wish I could say that all the techniques/products that are out there are helping and I have tried them all this time:

Colic Calm - beware its BLACK and turns your baby's lips/mouth and poop black. my MIL bought this for us and warned me that it was indeed black... I gave it to henry and not but 5 mins later my neighbor was knocking at the door to see him... I felt like she was looking at me like I was nuts and that i was posining my baby (LOL)... warning do this when you are certain no one will be seeing him soon :)!

Gripe Water- he seems to like it when I give it to him but in 5 mins we are back to bright red face crying. the only cute part of giving this to him is his lips are like a baby bird waiting for more...

Alimentum- we didn't change gavin to this until 4 months and saw some changes - at least our new pediatrician is quick to trying new methods. costs $26 for a small can and lasts us about 5 days... I'd pay $100 if it works!!! (also, smells really bad)

Zantac- started last week to see if this would sooth henry's acid reflux.... we've been on it for a week and haven't noticed a dramatic difference. it never worked for gavin either.

Prevacid- adult medication to treat acid reflux... we used this with gavin and had better results... we went back to the doctors today and we are going to try this... I'll check back in and let you know if we see any big results later this week or next week.

I have 8 more weeks of maternity leave and as much as I would like to say I'm enjoying my time away from the working world... some days its 10x's harder than just going to work and juggling a family while working. i fear that when I do need to return to work henry will not have made any progress and I have to drop him off to daycare and hope that someone else is going to have the patience to hold him, rock him, or just listen to him cry for hours and not get upset. I know from experience that things change daily with kids and in just as short of a week what they are doing can change to something else. therefore, in 8 weeks henry could be just fine!

so many people told me ... your second will be SO much easier!!! there is some truth to that ... I know more than I did the first time. BUT so far I am not going to believe that it's easier... I promise to never use this statement while talking to others that are expecting or thinking of having more children. in the meantime... i am just going to go with... you get what you get and don't throw a fit!!!!

It's a boy....

Henry William Farkasovsky arrived in the world at 10:17 am on February 17th.  It's already been 3 weeks and we are still learning about each other- (a lot about each other).  I have managed to get the nursery almost finished (with the help of so many awesome ideas from pinterest and etsy)- I would have had this done had we found out what we were having but, I am so glad we stuck to our guns and waited!



Modern Birth Announcement from Simplicity Papers



Monogram Oval Dots Vinyl Sticker from AllOnTheWall





Vintage cross-stitch handmade by my Grandma Fracke (updated with a new frame from Hobby Lobby)



I think he likes his room!

my date for valentine's day

this is my valentine's date tonight!!! looking forward to meeting a collage friend and her girls for dinner.
hope you have something fun planned for valentine's day!

fighting the world

i've decided that i am going to stop fighting the world in a few ways (not all) but i have come to realize that i might be a little bit happier if i make some changes and just go with the world changes.
1.) baby monitors - i didn't register or really want the video monitor when gavin was born. i had in my mind that if he is crying its a no brainier you go see what is wrong or what he needs. if i had the video monitor i'd look at the picture and still get up and see what was going on. i wouldn't change the early stages of not having a video monitor but now that gavin is almost 4- and the last 2 weeks he does not want to stay in his room to sleep - i kind of wish i had one. i've been waking up every hour wondering when he might come walking into our room. only for me to walk him back and then sit on the floor until he falls back to sleep. so far i've only had to get out of bed once per night and sit in the dark for 25min.

2.) baby seats/buckets- i said we don't need to have two buckets/one for each car. i thought that was just the craziest idea that others would have one in each car. we would just switch cars and split the week up and monday, wednesday, and friday the same person would just drop off and pick up and then the other on tuesday and thursday. all to save $60 and a little bit of plastic!!

3.) maternity clothes- i have been trying to use what i have in my stash- happy to know there are things that don't fit me this time (bc i'm not wearing an XL- amen!). BUT i've been so uncomfortable and now that i am 5 weeks out i decided instead of being uncomfortable and making due- i splurged on maternity underwear... who knew they would be the answer to feeling less uncomfortable. i tried not to buy anything new and if i did it had to be on sale. today i bought myself a whole outfit!!! i can't wait to wear it! all this time i was telling myself just wear what i have and afterwards you will be happy to spend the money on new "real" clothes. perhaps when i see all these pregnant co-works they are happy and bubbly bc they have just gone with the flow of buying maternity clothes like your buying "real" clothes. they never gave it a thought that why invest in so many when you only use them for 9 months (ugh ... 9 months is forever)!

we went out last weekend and bought the second base for the infant car seat. we also bought gavin his new booster car seat and got 2!!! (i had $35 in coupons to use so this really helped me bit the bullet). i plan to go buy the video monitor this weekend (its on sale and i have $15 in coupons). i'll keep you posted on other things that i've been fighting the world on and finally gave in.

i am pretty sure i'm the minority on all the above but if i'm not i'd love to hear from you and if you have the same thoughts?

olive returned for christmas...

olive returned for chirstimas... we waited to let gavin find him on christmas morning.he was pretty excited to come downstairs and find him on top of all his presents from santa!