Snow Storm!!!

I'm actually semi-excited to see a downpour of snow over the next 24 hours. Most people aren't. Most people are mad they canceled school. Most people don't think it will snow that much. And Most people are idiots. Then you get those of us who PREP for the snow storm. Our main need was flashlights...just in case. We have one flash light and the ones on our phones, which if electricity goes out we don't have car charges so that won't do us any good after a day or so. The likely hood of no electricity is slim, but I've seen it happen due to snow and it sucked!! However, my kids will quickly learn what life without the Wii, Xbox, or Playstation is like. (spoiled brats!)

But back to the main subject. Here's how we prepped, because we're cool people who do that sort of thing. First we packed kiddos up and headed to Wally World, the store that has everything right seemed a legit place to be. Here's what we bought...

4 awesome glow stick/flashlights which are ultimately for the kids
Bread (which we were lucky there was any left, apparently everyone thinks its Armageddon)
Candy (lots of it because... well, lets face it, who knows when you'll need candy in your life)
Milk (@ 2.48 a gallon I might say)
Sunchips(@1.96 so we bought 4 bags :))
batteries (duh)
breaded greenbeans that you bake and are amazing and cheap (I think they are called crispers? frozen section, they're yummy but not enough in one box for our family)
bagels
peanut butter captain crunch (NECESSARY!)
Bubbles (for pinterest idea I'll post about)
and random other items I can't think of. But for the most part, nothing anyone really needs to be prepared for the storm....We do have quite a bit in the house as it is so I guess we didn't need to buy too much but our grocery list looks pretty pathetic to the outsider and I have to laugh at it. oooooh yea, and we bought beer. Leinenkugals Holiday something or another bundle. Beer is essential when stuck at home forever with 4 kids right?! of course it is!
Anyhow, if you'd like to have more ideas on how to prep for a storm...don't follow me, I'm terrible at it :)

I'm in Lincoln, Nebraska...right on the edge of that 10-12"/8-10" line. I don't doubt we'll see that much at all. The weather men aren't that far off!

Simple crochet nb hat pattern

This is my pattern, mine only, Im sure there are similar ones out there but this is my tried and true pattern. I don't care if you use it, sell things from it, what have you but would love some sort of acknowledgement or shout out once in a great while :)

Materials:
I hook
worsted weight yarn

gauge: 13 hdc in 4"

ch. 4, slip stitch to join.

Rnd1: ch 1. 9hdc in circle, slst in first hdc
Rnd2: ch1. 1hdc in same space, 2 hdc in next stitch and next 7stitches
Rnd3: ch1. 1hdc in same st, *2 hdc in next, 1 hdc in next*, repeat around
Rnd 4: ch1. 1hdc in same st, 1 hdc in next, *2hdc in next stitch, 1hdc in next 2* repeat around
Rnd5: ch1. 1hdc in same st, 1hdc in next 2 stitches, *2hdc in next st. 1hdc in next 3* repeat around
Rnd 6ch1. 1hdc in same st. 1 hdc all stitches around

Rnd 7-13: repeat row 6

Finish off with yarn needle. Slide remaining yarn through stitches so it is hidden and trim off close to your hat.

Voila!! Your finished!

(P.S. feel free to ask me any questions. This is the first pattern I've written down so I may have missed something. Keep in mind that you may not always end off with a perfect round, that's ok, having odd stitches will do that)

Bus-nass

About 85% of all my sales come directly from Facebook, whether it be custom orders or from sales I host, so I've decided I'm done with Etsy, a place where I can get lost in the crowd among thousands of other people selling the same exact thing but maybe in a different color. I don't think this is a fix all nor do I expect to suddenly clear out my closets (which I desperately want to happen) but I am tired of paying another site to not sell what I can not sell all on my own :) This whole "running my own business" thing is a daunting task. I spend so much time making things and most of them don't sell. Instead someone may want something similar but not exactly the same. Which I don't mind at all, I'm happy for the sale. However I don't like when I have piles of items slowly stacking up in my closet. I need to get rid of some stuff so I can make new stuff to sit around on the shelves for this next year! lol

Anyhow, here's the link to my page, again. www.facebook.com/navilluscreations. Find the album titled "FOR SALE" (practical title huh?) and start shopping. Here's a preview of whats currently listed until I find more stuff to list.

      

Yo-no

When dieting its important to get the right balance of everything, fruits, proteins, veggies, some non fat dairy, yada yada...give me some chocolate! Sigh, really I need some chocolate right now, I hate dieting. So for now let's call it a lifestyle change. I am currently making a lifestyle change and consciously trying to change my horrible eating habits. I've gotten into a slump of eating things from a box and not things from the ground. It's cheaper that way, plain and simple. So while I'm still feeding my kids half box and half natural things I'm doing better myself by not eating more than 20% or so in processes foods. It's working, I did great last week but binged on my "free day" and have to start all over. Seriously, don't so this, it's discouraging and really sucks.
Ok back to my main point. I bought some Yoplait Greek the other day (I had a coupon so it was of course a good plan) thinking I like Yoplait so I'd probably like their Greek too. No, nope, nay, I say. It wasn't terrible per se but was far from good. Its like the added false sweeteners or something to it making it unbearable to eat. I may have eaten half before giving it to E because he'll eat anything. I think I'm gonna have to stick with Chobani, the more expensive option. Chobani has an ok texture (im a big texture freak) and definitely not artificially sweetened. Pineapple is my favorite :)

Freebie Friday!!

Really I only titled it that because it just so happens its Friday, otherwise I'd totally have named it something less cheesy/mainstream/what everyone else would call it ;)
Anyhow, Ms. Kelsey at http://kelseyhomolka-keepingupwithkelsey.blogspot.com told me I was slacking in blogging, in a totally friendly way I'm sure. So to prove I'm not a slacker and instead of making hats like I should be for customers I'm gonna blog about my last 45 minutes. Which of course weren't that exciting other than knowing I will be getting free stuff in the mail in the next month or so. This free sample splurge started a month ago, somehow I came across www.bsavings.com, they're pretty awesome, they have lots of links for samples. Some are slightly annoying because they want you to fill out this and that, and this again. But for the most part its "please fill this out" and then "thank you, you should receive this product in .....weeks". I'm thankful for those ones. Also thankful for autofill to simplify things (thanks Google). Anyhow occasionally you run across links to other freebies sites such as www.freeflys.com which are organized according to product type making it easy for me to get what I'd actually use. Tonight I signed up for a lot of hair and body products, some laundry items, and I think some vitamins as well. I could probably do it all night long if I wanted but I have things I should be doing...oops. Oh another way to get freebies/samples, go to product fb pages, a lot of times they have links to their giveaways or even when you "like" the page you can apply for samples. Other pages have giveaways when you leave a short review. Pretty sweet deal for free stuff I think.
But, just so you know, so far I've received a free cookbook from Jiffy which was relatively thick and had quite a few recipes in it. Jiffy is super cheap so I use it frequently and will definitely find use in my little cookbook. And yesterday I received free samples of airborne as well as $1.50 off coupon. When I get more freebies/samples/coupons I'll try to update, as well as update when I find more sites to go to.

Big boy!!

I can't believe it's been almost 6 years since my oldest boy was born. By far the roughest pregnancy and the roughest first year I had to go through, but it was all worth it. During my pregnancy with him I worked like a dog as a manager in a maternity store (you'd think they'd give me a break considering the business...no), on top of that I had this horrendous rash. After months of trying to figure it out my ob sent me to a dermatologist who said it was a pregnancy rash that would get worse with subsequent babies. I almost cried. This rash covered my arms and my entire torso, I'd wake up scratching myself and was often bleeding at that point. I was miserable!! However, thankfully the steroids my ob had given me decided to kick in before I purchased the expensive creams the pharmacy was ordering for me! And even more fortunate, I never got that rash again with the last to pregnancies, YAY!!! As for M's first year, the poor kid...he was so tiny. He was born 7lb 13oz and 2 weeks early for induction scheduled prior to my rash dissolving because we were all kind of worried this wouldn't go away until the rash was gone. Anyhow, healthy baby, completely healthy, great hair, perfect. Then we get home...within a week he was throwing up every drop of breast milk he took in. The pediatrician of course said it was normal and to just watch his weight. We watched it for a year and because he never dropped of the charts nothing was ever done. He was 3% for his weight most of that first year. Right around 11 months he finally quit throwing his food up, finally! and he got pretty dang chubby. Now he sits around 45-50% for his weight but he's rather short, which I blame for the lack of care he was given during that first year, I should've been more proactive, I blame myself for not seeking out another doctor....Anyhow, his birthday is next week on the 7th, I'm super excited for it, we're doing a Lego theme. He wanted the Hulk but Lego is something I can create myself for a little less I think :) Yesterday we went out while the weather was semi decent and took some pics. They turned out amazing of course, all thanks to my dslr and my awesome editing skills, seriously I'm getting pretty damned good at making my pictures go from nice to amazing if I do say so myself :). Here's a little collage I put together of the best ones.

Time out?

Clearly as my kids get older the punishments for their indiscretions have to get a little stronger/harsher. And maybe I'm a strict mom, I don't know, all I know is I want my kids to grow up well adjusted and not become thieves or drug dealers. Not too much to ask is it? Time-out definitely doesn't hold the same torture at the age of 7 as it did at the age of 2. Grounding them from video games seems logical usually but I think it's more for my need to take something away from them, they on the other hand will just find something else they enjoy. After weeks of M lying and years of T taking things that aren't hers I feel like throwing in the towel sometimes, I'm at a loss. C throws fits over having to do minuscule tasks or not getting his way so I put him in bed and he's done. Break time for us both. E gets into things and sits in time out for 30seconds and pulls the "look how cute I am" maneuver and alls well...turd. But the older two need more for whatever reason. Hot sauce for lying, works for M because he hates hot sauce, T won't eat a taco without it, but she doesn't lie too often. However she does take things without asking which drives me crazy!!! She no longer takes things from the stores (candy) or from friends at school (usually keychains off backpacks) but she can't leave my stuff alone, even if I get her something similar. So tonight her punishment for taking a brand new book to school is dishes. She's 7, she has a dishwasher. I was 7 when I had to start hand washing for accidentally breaking a window. And I had to do it for a month. I think one night for this is ok right? And it's one chore she can't really mess up unless she breaks something. I honestly wouldn't have even cared about the book if she had asked. Which she did and then was told know by my husband, but she took it anyhow. Hopefully she won't be come an adult petty thief. Nah, it's just a phase...right?!
This parenting gig is getting harder every day...sigh...I'm not ready for my own time out I think.