tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-45034688880101696372024-03-05T04:14:22.737-08:00MomEngineeredA blog for this Civil Engineer turned SAHM to 3 beautiful children to share the craziness punctuated by crafting, sewing, baking and fun. Join us on our crafty, yummy adventures.Steph Lhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05544057747551124750noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4503468888010169637.post-21612930047054228742012-02-13T19:49:00.000-08:002012-02-13T19:49:14.713-08:00<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Happy Valentine's Day! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">We did a few Valentine's Day crafts this year. Just wanted to share some with you.</span><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">-Felt heart garland-</span></i><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">This idea came from <a href="http://blog.craftzine.com/archive/2011/02/how-to_valentine_heart_chain_f.html">Pinterest</a>. The girls had a lot of fun threading the hearts on themselves and did a great job with the sewing needles. I was impressed that Callie sat through her whole project and saw it to completion. Then wore it proudly as a necklace!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The girls also made Valentine's cards for their playgroup. I had visions of fancy homemade ones (ok, not fancy, just finger painted or something, thank you Pinterest for filling my head with crazy ideas) but when I saw the store bought ones at the dollar store, I said, YES! A girl has to know when to say enough is enough. Eleni signed her name on hers and Callie added the stickers that held hers together. They had fun and it was fairly stress free.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQrUjawtuNAgQ8SXasR4GL6L8QrHpF4iWsMq-KjNqeXGcPcyqOBE-RDqZik7t6oSZeJ95W6FAClWn06BmVeShMJsrwq0bidK7IDEfm2ez2zoKs-iNhyphenhyphenTNhH8Rd8GfSe6tolqO36e-eJdA/s1600/DSC_5716.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQrUjawtuNAgQ8SXasR4GL6L8QrHpF4iWsMq-KjNqeXGcPcyqOBE-RDqZik7t6oSZeJ95W6FAClWn06BmVeShMJsrwq0bidK7IDEfm2ez2zoKs-iNhyphenhyphenTNhH8Rd8GfSe6tolqO36e-eJdA/s320/DSC_5716.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Tomorrow we will be having some red/heart fun with food. Hoping to share with you later this week.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Have a fun day. </span>Steph Lhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05544057747551124750noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4503468888010169637.post-7541249859667874602012-02-09T12:29:00.000-08:002012-02-09T13:59:39.261-08:00Welcome to my blog. As some of my readers know I had started a blog a long time ago and abandoned it. I hope to start using this little piece of the web to share my crafty endeavors with you all. This way I can share more photos and tutorials for things I make, bake etc...<br />
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Here are some things that I have created lately that I hope to blog about soon. Here are some sewing projects:<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgF12tdTSAVqNL_cENdFtiSiSDnOdI0cDM3DGaciBXAhnvT1D1XUpNznkX_Dw_g_HeRPq90IFMWpGgVf2VlXr26tlCzmCMAxgP_RbdMKt3qBNsD3k0qIA2Q5AdsOWilswfPCgOgzG5jZkI/s1600/DSC_3904.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgF12tdTSAVqNL_cENdFtiSiSDnOdI0cDM3DGaciBXAhnvT1D1XUpNznkX_Dw_g_HeRPq90IFMWpGgVf2VlXr26tlCzmCMAxgP_RbdMKt3qBNsD3k0qIA2Q5AdsOWilswfPCgOgzG5jZkI/s320/DSC_3904.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pillowcases</td></tr>
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I'm making a few pillowcases when I have time or extra cute fabric to donate to <a href="http://conkerrcancer.org/home/">ConKerr Cancer</a>.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlvipgQSUTLcP2yZiesUmzoSGWJkOTHQZgH36fFMn9hZrRd76VOFoaaIcch3SxfwQ-yenYMJK6zrimF75mu0f5f3-bhB7vgUfghyphenhyphen4oEO9PQU6x8htkvFEf0pJWGaIG9vEkgHAH2juVyhI/s1600/DSC_4816.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlvipgQSUTLcP2yZiesUmzoSGWJkOTHQZgH36fFMn9hZrRd76VOFoaaIcch3SxfwQ-yenYMJK6zrimF75mu0f5f3-bhB7vgUfghyphenhyphen4oEO9PQU6x8htkvFEf0pJWGaIG9vEkgHAH2juVyhI/s320/DSC_4816.JPG" width="212" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A Seuss patchwork outfit for my little man</td></tr>
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When I see extra fabric my mind wanders and I find more projects for myself, despite a lack of time for most of these extra projects!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6idF4A5lrmIOpL4E4RAdi2rRyPcpRlULgl3yGMLoaMh2O9X8sfoRqkjjwtavpMBIpdDsUYsEiNkljUh-JsWXpBRIlZQR8ycYV_h9inyR_ZpENKIl6H-kQ3E9h5vKp-g9zrohzgY-94Xc/s1600/DSC_5704.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6idF4A5lrmIOpL4E4RAdi2rRyPcpRlULgl3yGMLoaMh2O9X8sfoRqkjjwtavpMBIpdDsUYsEiNkljUh-JsWXpBRIlZQR8ycYV_h9inyR_ZpENKIl6H-kQ3E9h5vKp-g9zrohzgY-94Xc/s320/DSC_5704.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A picture of the kids!</td></tr>
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My inspiration and/or my distractions, depends on the day really.</div>
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Hoping to share a lot of fun things with you.</div>
<br /></div>Steph Lhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05544057747551124750noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4503468888010169637.post-80928751380196042262012-02-09T11:18:00.000-08:002012-02-09T13:59:07.924-08:00Daring Desserts -<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 22px;">I love a challenge. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 22px;">My husband came home one night and told me I needed to create a cake for his work Holiday party. I immediately searched for holiday/red/festive cakes. All our children share January birthdays, so in this house, the winter is cake baking season. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 22px;">I decided on something that contained nutella and raspberries. Yummy and festive. After an exhaustive google search did not turn up anything eye catching I decided to combine these loves into one daring dessert. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 22px;">A four layer chocolate cake with a mixture of nutella and raspberry filling, covered with Italian meringue buttercream, flavored with raspberry and nutella. Topped with a chocolate ganache pool and decorated with raspberries and yes, more buttercream. It looked heavenly. It tasted good too. Unfortunately everyone was too busy drooling and no one took a photo of the inside.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc68_Kltv6FZcrBEFH9Ixf_gzcNDfk0HKDRiYcoCErgiYqA3ab8QsQrqLkR7d4U4d4xIC-Uy-RuDNBwgXT8H5BhNuYyCflVN-KbqkL0eGAZMeQ2-zAj49xOxBmsgU0tcZw2SqNNibkPI4/s1600/cake+small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc68_Kltv6FZcrBEFH9Ixf_gzcNDfk0HKDRiYcoCErgiYqA3ab8QsQrqLkR7d4U4d4xIC-Uy-RuDNBwgXT8H5BhNuYyCflVN-KbqkL0eGAZMeQ2-zAj49xOxBmsgU0tcZw2SqNNibkPI4/s320/cake+small.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 22px;">"Here is my entry to the </span><a href="http://www.appliancesonline.co.uk/washing-machines/washing-machines.aspx" style="background-color: white; color: #7b719e; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: small; line-height: 22px; text-decoration: none;">Appliances Online</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 22px;"> daring desserts competition, </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small; line-height: 22px;">check out the other entries on </span></span><a href="http://www.handletheheat.com/2012/02/daring-desserts-competition.html" style="background-color: white; color: #7b719e; font-size: small; line-height: 22px; text-decoration: none;">Handle the Heat</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 22px;">"</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 22px;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="line-height: 22px;"><b>Chocolate Cake with Raspberry-Nutella filling and Chocolate Ganache</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 22px;">Chocolate cake recipe from <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Birthday-Cake-Book-Candle-Worthy-Creations/dp/1558323821/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1328814069&sr=8-1">The Birthday Cake Book by Dede Wilson</a> or your favorite cake recipe will do! </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 22px;">Prepare 2-9 in cake pans with parchment paper. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 22px;">Bake according to your favorite chocolate cake recipe. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 22px;">Let cool until ready to frost. Freezing cake layers slightly will make them easier to slice. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="line-height: 22px;">Filling: </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="line-height: 22px;">1 cup nutella, warmed slightly</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="line-height: 22px;">1 cup raspberry preserves, warmed slightly</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="line-height: 22px;">Nutella-Raspberry Buttercream:</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small; line-height: 22px;">Adapted from <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Birthday-Cake-Book-Candle-Worthy-Creations/dp/1558323821/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1328814069&sr=8-1">The Birthday Cake Book by Dede Wilson</a></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="line-height: 22px;">1 1/4 cups sugar</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="line-height: 22px;">1/3 cup water</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="line-height: 22px;">6 large egg whites (room temperature)</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="line-height: 22px;">3/4 tsp cream of tartar</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="line-height: 22px;">2 1/4 cups unsalted butter at room temperature cut in small pieces</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="line-height: 22px;">1. Place 1 cup of sugar and water in a small saucepan. Stir to wet sugar. Bring to a boil over med-high heat, swirling the pan occasionally. Wash down the sugar crystals once or twice. Allow the sugar to simmer gently.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="line-height: 22px;">2. Place egg whites in a clean stand mixer and whip until frothy on low speed. Add the cream of tartar and turn the speed up to med-high. When soft peaks form add the remaining sugar. Continue whipping until stiff, glossy peaks form. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="line-height: 22px;">3. Bring the sugar mixture to a rapid boil until it reaches 248 degrees. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="line-height: 22px;">4. When the syrup is ready pour a thin stream directly over the meringue. Whip the meringue until cool to the touch. Once cool add the butter a few tablespoons at a time until the buttercream is completely smooth. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="line-height: 22px;">5. Add 1/2 cup of nutella to buttercream and 1/4 cup of raspberry preserves. Whip until nutella and raspberry is completely absorbed by the buttercream. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="line-height: 22px;">Chocolate Ganache:</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="line-height: 22px;">1 cup heavy cream</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="line-height: 22px;">8 oz semisweet chocolate</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="line-height: 22px;">Heat cream in microwave until it boils. Add chopped chocolate and mix until incorporated. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="line-height: 22px;">Ganache is now ready to use.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 22px;">Assembly:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 22px;">Cut each cake layer in half (helps to freeze layers slightly before cutting). </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="line-height: 22px;">Mix nutella and raspberry together and spread of each layer. Pipe a dam of buttercream around edges to contain filling. Once all layers and stacked frost cake completely. Refrigerate to set frosting. Add ganache to top of cake to finish. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="line-height: 22px;">UPDATE: I found a picture of the inside!</span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEU3JiCebWDjfxb0NplDeG4f8ZbIC_c49sjT1SKnHGkdLtTTBQb0l8aXOhq_UX8KccoNFVaYm8nKCraA33aZbuBnsSL_So_Nv3a3E8rccJpJvcHUo2d2mXW3MfcYHZQ8q002DNyFHgV7w/s1600/DSC_4384.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEU3JiCebWDjfxb0NplDeG4f8ZbIC_c49sjT1SKnHGkdLtTTBQb0l8aXOhq_UX8KccoNFVaYm8nKCraA33aZbuBnsSL_So_Nv3a3E8rccJpJvcHUo2d2mXW3MfcYHZQ8q002DNyFHgV7w/s320/DSC_4384.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Four delicious layers with nutella/raspberry yumminess inside!</td></tr>
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</ul>Steph Lhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05544057747551124750noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4503468888010169637.post-35522548346618355252008-04-03T16:10:00.000-07:002012-02-09T17:26:29.096-08:00Lazy Blogger!Well I haven't been good about keeping up my blog, but hubby has started his own personal finance blog and I have a couple of guest posts you can check out...<br /><br />Main page<br /><a href="http://www.dontfeedthealligators.com/blog/">Don't Feed the Alligators</a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.dontfeedthealligators.com/blog/frugal-baby-part-i-not-your-mothers-cloth-diapers">Cloth Diapers</a><br /><a href="http://www.dontfeedthealligators.com/blog/frugal-scrapping"><br />Frugal Scrapping</a>Steph Lhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05544057747551124750noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4503468888010169637.post-66882581769572358742006-09-12T17:10:00.000-07:002012-02-09T17:30:28.773-08:00Every pregnant girl needs the following...These are things that I found very helpful. They might not work for everyone, but here they are:<br />
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<span style="font-style: italic;">Maternity pant suspenders</span>. I saw these things in a pregnancy magazine and they basically attach to your pants and your bra like mini suspenders. Of course they were charging $12, I found something similar for $5 at Joanns. Since the new maternity pants are low rise, these things are great. No more saggy pants!!<br />
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<span style="font-style: italic;">Motion sickness bands</span>. I didn't need these (thankfully), but I did use them on a flying trip. Again, I'm not sure if they worked, but I didn't get sick and another friend has used them successfully.<br />
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<span style="font-style: italic;">Snoogle Body Pillow</span>. I bought this one <a href="http://www.babyage.com/products/13573_leachco_leachco_original_snoogle_total_body_pillow.htm">(snoogle at baby age)</a>. What a great invention. I didn't think I needed one at first, but then after starting to use about 4 pillows to get comfy, I made the investment. It's awesome!!</blockquote>Steph Lhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05544057747551124750noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4503468888010169637.post-56800754253024938102006-09-05T18:49:00.000-07:002012-02-09T17:34:38.315-08:00The Hacker’s Diet & my weight loss secrets and successes<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Back around November I starting thinking about getting “in shape” for pregnancy. I was not at my ideal weight and I wanted to concentrate on healthy eating. My theory was it would be easier to encourage healthy eating if mom and dad were leading by example. But I wanted to start before the baby arrived, so it would be a normal part of our routine, so I got a head start.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">So my quest to have a healthy pregancy began, pre-conception. I started small. I tried to cut out things that contained high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) and it’s in Everything! (mind you, now that I’m pregnant and my calories needs have increased, I do have HFCS back in my life, but in moderation!) But at the same time I started shopping smarter, avoiding the dangerous middle aisles of the store, sticking with the outskirts (produce, fish, meat, dairy). And thanks to my friend Karen, I have a handy dandy shopping list and on the back, when I print my list, I also make my meal plan for the week. I don't always come up with original meal ideas, but I have a list of tried and true things and they are tasty, quick and healthy. I find that if I plan out 3 meals a day for about a week, I shop better and don’t tend to buy food that sits in the fridge and goes bad. This way if I have fajitas with avocado on the menu, I buy and use the avocado (although those never go to waste in my house!!) At about the same time, I found a great website called <a href="http://www.whfoods.com/">The World’s Healthiest Foods</a>. which is great for letting you know which foods have the highest nutritional value, how to buy and store them and easy, quick recipes. It’s a great resource.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I also found a website called <a href="http://www.fitday.com/">Fitday</a> that allows me to track calories. But more importantly it also tracks, carbs, protein, calcium, vitamins etc so I can check that I’m getting the nutrients I need. I also started taking a prenatal vitamin (I highly recommend the CVS brand if you’re in the market, easy to swallow and has never made me sick). So I would record my data each day to see that I was hitting my targets. I started at <a href="http://www.nutritiondata.com/">www.nutritiondata.com</a> to get my calorie needs, this site also gives calorie needs for pregnant woman in particular, which was very helpful. So I kept track and I ate 1500 calories a day (which if my normal needs are 2200 would mean I would have an over 3500 cal/wk deficit which translates into 1 lb). And the weight started coming off. About a 1 to 1 ½ lbs a week, but I was able to maintain that amount of calories and didn’t feel deprived. (It's good to keep little snacks like funsize chocolates, so if you have some extra calories leftover you can have a little treat! But remember, moderation is the key) I also recommend <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="http://www.dietfacts.com/">www.dietfacts.com</a> which is a great resource for calorie counts and you can upload data directly into fitday.<br /> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">After a few months my husband started noticing my weight loss and got interested in how he could do the same (some people get the "freshman 15", for us it was the "1<sup>st</sup> 5 years of marriage 20"!) He figured we were basically eating the same thing, except I was losing and he wasn't! He found this website, The <a href="http://www.fourmilab.ch/hackdiet/www/hackdiet.html">Hackers Diet</a> and started reading. It reads like an engineer's guide to dieting (not unlike <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="http://www.niceice.com/">www.niceice.com</a>, for engagement rings, but that's an entry for a different day!) The basic gist is that if you track your weight every day you can establish a trend line. The ups and downs of the scale are what discourage most dieters, but with a trend you can neutralize the ups and downs into a realistic trend. Thus began our daily weigh-ins. We bought a new scale (<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="http://www.tanita.com/">www.tanita.com</a>) and were on our way.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I was about 5 lbs off my goal when I found out I was pregnant the 1st of May (but hey we were on vacation so it was a pretty good time to not have to totally worry about calorie counting!). At that time I gradually increased my calorie intake by about 200 cals a week until I was back to my normal caloric need. After the first trimester I increased to an additional 300 calories in order to start gaining 1 lb/wk. My husband is also well on his way to his goal (we should pass each other next week!) and is losing about 1 1/2/wk. He's pretty lucky, I send him to work on most days with breakfast and lunch and let him know the calorie counts, I'm his own personal nutritionist! Then he can determine how he wants to spend the extra on snacks. He has also started working out (I was too lazy for that!) I do try to keep active, but between living on the 2nd floor, laundry in the basement and parking far from the entrance at work I'm sure I'm doing fine and every now and then the hubby convinces me to go for a walk!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">If you are interested in any of this, I hope you find these resources helpful. I found that the diffierent websites were a great way to start eating healthy and feeling better. No guarantees, but feel free to post with questions. If you don't like the computer (what would you be doing reading a blog though!) <a href="http://www.calorieking.com/">The Calorie King</a> has a great book that is compact and portable and makes it really easy to count calories. So take any of this information and use it as you see fit. Good luck and here's to happy, healthy eating!</span>Steph Lhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05544057747551124750noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4503468888010169637.post-4196283564694791582006-09-01T12:22:00.000-07:002012-02-09T17:26:29.102-08:00Meet Rosie and Jeeves<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger2/6219/4009/1600/jeeves.gif"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 90px; height: 174px;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger2/6219/4009/200/jeeves.png" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger2/6219/4009/1600/RosieCartoon.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 154px; height: 130px;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger2/6219/4009/200/RosieCartoon.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><o:p></o:p>Rosie and Jeeves are our pet names for our new housekeepers. You see, we have two huge dogs, and although they don’t have a lot of hair, they do tend to make huge messes! So we had some extra money in the budget this month and bought two of the coolest electronic inventions after <a href="http://www.tivo.com/0.0.asp">TIVO</a> <span style=""> </span>and our fabulous harmony remote control by <a href="http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/products/productlistharmony/US/EN,crid=2080&categoryid=406">Logitech</a> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""> </span>(which is called that because it creates harmony and has probably saved ours and at least 1 other marriage that I know of!).<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger2/6219/4009/1600/scooba.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 168px; height: 168px;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger2/6219/4009/200/scooba.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Rosie is a <a href="http://store.irobot.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2172861&cp=2174940.2174932&parentPage=family">scooba</a>.<span style=""> </span>She cleans the kitchen floor and she does a great job. In 45 minutes she zips around and goes under the furniture and bounces off the walls. And I think the solution smells wonderful.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Jeeves arrived the other day. He was delayed in transit because he choose to take the train to get to us (Free pony express shipping from Amazon). Jeeves is the <a href="http://store.irobot.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2172859&cp=2174940.2174930&parentPage=family">Roomba Red</a>. He is a more rugged, all-terrain robot that zips over rugs and thresholds and gets into all kinds of dusty, cob-webbed corners (and even under the beds to rid the house of pesky bunnies!)</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger2/6219/4009/1600/roomba%20red.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 166px; height: 166px;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger2/6219/4009/200/roomba%20red.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>I’m sure we’ll still use our vacuum now and again, but with a new little one on the way, this is just a nice way to stay on top of the cleaning and create a somewhat sanitized environment (haha!! Even with Rosie and Jeeves we will never be a germ free house, but a wise man once said you need to eat a pound of dirt before you die!)<span style=""> </span>Rosie and Jeeves will just prevent our kids from exceeding their RDA!</p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p>Steph Lhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05544057747551124750noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4503468888010169637.post-60261511473623580432006-09-01T07:34:00.000-07:002012-02-09T17:29:19.815-08:00Sewing prowess, thrifty or just cheap??<br />
Either way it worked like a charm!<br />
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I just wanted to share my handy tips for creating cheap maternity wear. I recently lost weight, prior to getting pregnant, and have a lot of clothes that I have piled in a corner for goodwill. Fortunately, since I have been too lazy to take them to the drop off I have been able to use some of the items to make new and improved recycled items. I did hold on to a pair of black Dockers that were large and took me through my 4th month, but I knew come post pregnancy I wouldn’t wear them. So I figured if I could find a clever way, I could make them into maternity pants. Here are the instructions. The photo shown is similar to what I did, but not my handy work, I'll try to take a photo and post for comparison!<br />
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2” Elastic (sized for your waist)<br />
Stretchy material (black) (I used an old tankini swim top that was in the good will pile)<br />
Old pants (black) (standard rise waist)<br />
Misc. Notions<br />
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So I cut the stretchy fabric so that it was about 2 ½ times the elastic width and finished the two edges (that is the benefit of using the premade top, one side is done already). I then made a tube for the elastic by sewing the stretchy fabric in 2” (or just slightly more than the elastic). I then cut the top off the pants. Right under the belt loops (right through the zipper which you should close and discard the pull tab). I then hemmed the pants so I had a finished edge. Nothing fancy (I’m not that good of a sewer!), just a small hem. Then I took my covered elastic and sewed it to the pants. Voila, low rise maternity pants with full elastic! They came out great. I was very proud of myself and I saved $30! Here is what I would have bought at <a href="http://www.oldnavy.com/browse/category.do?cid=5852">Old Navy.</a><br />
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<br />Steph Lhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05544057747551124750noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4503468888010169637.post-41077176239298213472006-08-18T08:30:00.000-07:002012-02-09T17:26:29.099-08:00If it is even neccessary to establish some sense of direction...With all the people out there blogging about this and that, I'm not sure why my blog needs any direction at all. But alas, I owe it to you the reader (and that may be just you at this point, Michelle) to let you know where I'm going. Thus, giving you a reason to actually come and read my blog.<br /><br />I've been doing a lot of research into all kinds of interesting things these days. I've discovered the local <a href="https://library.minlib.net/search/">library</a> and have been reading, reading, reading. I've been told that this is a luxury that will soon to come to an end, being 5 months pregnant and all! So in the past year I have learned a lot about things you all may or may not care about, but I am here to share. <br /><br />Some topics you can look forward to in the near term are...<br />-book reviews (mostly pregnancy books thus far, but I've read a couple of main stream books for my book club as well)<br />-nutrition tips and websites I have found<br />-cloth diaper info (I'll let you know how that works out after the baby arrives, hopefully as well)<br />-dog training and baby intergration<br />-the DVORAK keyboard and why I dumped QWERTY<br />-my new maid "Rosy"<br />-why I'm a Jethro Tull fan<br /><br />ETC...<br /><br />and then maybe just some other misc things as I think of them.<br /><br />Hopefully someone will find this information useful.. and if not.. isn't that the whole point of a blog!<br /><br />Happy BloggingSteph Lhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05544057747551124750noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4503468888010169637.post-15668942371465617542006-08-16T15:00:00.000-07:002012-02-09T17:26:29.092-08:00Is there anybody out there...Just wanted to send out the first post of my blog to see how it all works and what it will look like on the main page. Stay tuned for the real first installment of Stephanie Says... possibly tomorrow... if you're lucky...Steph Lhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05544057747551124750noreply@blogger.com1