For all of you who have continued to stop back and check out my blog, thank you. I am very sorry for not writing in such a long time. I have still been posting on my Facebook page, but I have been a little busy here recently.
I am not divulging this information so I can get more people to follow the blog or anything like that, it's just to let you guys know what has been going on and as to why I havn't been posting in such a long time. Here is the short version, when I was 33 weeks pregnant I was diagnosed with breast cancer. On April 9th at 37 weeks my son, Oliver, was delivered via c-section. He swallowed some amniotic fluid and ended up in the NICU for 9 days. I started chemo the beginning of May and have gone every three weeks since then.
So it's been a little bit busy around these parts since then. I don't really share a lot of updates about my health on my instagram or Facebook pages, but I do shout out the occasional update. I didn't want it to turn into a blog all about cancer. That is only one aspect of my chaos, lol. I don't post as often as I'd like on there, but I do my best and will get back to doing a better job of it soon, once things settle down a little bit. I have two little guys going off to kindergarten and 1st grade this year, and my 3 year old will be starting speech therapy and possibly preschool soon, so it may just be me and the baby alone for a few hours each day. What on earth am I going to do with myself, hehe. For now that's all I've got, besides a hungry 3 month old. Hit me up on instagram m_mitchell, or check out the Facebook page for more frequent interactions with me. Thank you for your patience.
Thursday, July 16, 2015
Tuesday, March 10, 2015
Snow sowing, mini greenhouses
So I promised a post about these mini greenhouses that I made and I'm finally doing it, yay. Ok, so here are my supplies, Potting soil, clean containers that have holes made into the containers, duct tape, and a sharpie to write on the container what is in it and when it got planted. Oh and of course your seeds, can't forget those gems.
So these guys are pretty easy to set up once you have your supplies all ready. Put the soil in the container and wet the soil, don't soak it, just enough for the soil to be damp. Plant your seeds in the soil as recommended. I think I may have planted mine a little too deep, which it seems I always tend to do.
After you plant your seeds close up your container with the duct tape then make sure you write on the container somewhere what is in it, and when it was planted. In the picture below you can see some containers from last year that I have strawberries planted in. The basket I have used for potatoes in the past and it worked very well.
As an update I had planted my mini greenhouses almost 4 weeks ago, it will be 4 weeks on Thursday. So far, I've got nothin going on with them. It may be I planted them too early or my seeds to deep. Or it could be the below zero temps we have had almost constantly since being planted. But I am going to keep them together and see if anything comes with time since the temps are warming up. I still have high hopes that something is going to happen and still am in love with the concept so I'm not going to give up on this yet!
This is a picture I took today. I will be 33 weeks tomorrow, had a sprinkle this past weekend that blessed us with many baby boy items we needed. Mainly clothes, (we had a house fire when our current youngest was only 6 weeks old so we lost all our big baby gear and all 30 some boxes of hand me down clothes we had.) I still need to pick up a few bigger items like a swing and carrier but we are pretty set at this point. I also ordered our older boys their new bunk beds this weekend which will help getting things ready for baby because we are switching rooms and beds and using one of the cribs my guys are in now for the new baby. Things are going swiftly and time is counting down, I'm getting all excited in anticipation for this baby to get here. I have always enjoyed the newborn part more than the pregnancy part, may seem weird, but it happens, lol. Oh and today is my 4-D ultrasound :) I have never had one of these with my other pregnancies so I am really looking forward to it.
So we have a lot of stuff going on right now. Plants growing, baby getting born soon, and new feathery babies in the brooder. Oh did I forget to mention that, lol. I will have a picture up on Facebook soon of my new feathery babies. Babies all over!
So these guys are pretty easy to set up once you have your supplies all ready. Put the soil in the container and wet the soil, don't soak it, just enough for the soil to be damp. Plant your seeds in the soil as recommended. I think I may have planted mine a little too deep, which it seems I always tend to do.
After you plant your seeds close up your container with the duct tape then make sure you write on the container somewhere what is in it, and when it was planted. In the picture below you can see some containers from last year that I have strawberries planted in. The basket I have used for potatoes in the past and it worked very well.
As an update I had planted my mini greenhouses almost 4 weeks ago, it will be 4 weeks on Thursday. So far, I've got nothin going on with them. It may be I planted them too early or my seeds to deep. Or it could be the below zero temps we have had almost constantly since being planted. But I am going to keep them together and see if anything comes with time since the temps are warming up. I still have high hopes that something is going to happen and still am in love with the concept so I'm not going to give up on this yet!
This is a picture I took today. I will be 33 weeks tomorrow, had a sprinkle this past weekend that blessed us with many baby boy items we needed. Mainly clothes, (we had a house fire when our current youngest was only 6 weeks old so we lost all our big baby gear and all 30 some boxes of hand me down clothes we had.) I still need to pick up a few bigger items like a swing and carrier but we are pretty set at this point. I also ordered our older boys their new bunk beds this weekend which will help getting things ready for baby because we are switching rooms and beds and using one of the cribs my guys are in now for the new baby. Things are going swiftly and time is counting down, I'm getting all excited in anticipation for this baby to get here. I have always enjoyed the newborn part more than the pregnancy part, may seem weird, but it happens, lol. Oh and today is my 4-D ultrasound :) I have never had one of these with my other pregnancies so I am really looking forward to it.
So we have a lot of stuff going on right now. Plants growing, baby getting born soon, and new feathery babies in the brooder. Oh did I forget to mention that, lol. I will have a picture up on Facebook soon of my new feathery babies. Babies all over!
Thursday, February 12, 2015
A few tidbits about being pregnant in the Winter.
So I have pretty much been in every stage of pregnancy during the summer, with babies due in June, August, and October. So I must say I am by far enjoying this pregnancy being in the fall/winter months much more. There are a few reasons why.
Reason number one. I do not have to worry about getting around my belly to shave my legs every time I get in the shower :)
Reason number two. While I have already managed to gain 33 lbs :/ I am not swelled up like I have been in my past pregnancies due to heat. You would not believe how much more comfortable, (I know, pregnancy and comfort usually don't go together in the same sentence, lol) it is to be pregnant and not have the swollen feet/ankles, face and pretty much entire body. It also does wonders for your self image too, which of course can be really crazy with all these hormones swirling around.
Reason number three. Even though I do turn on my ceiling fan most nights as some point, I am not hot to the point of not being able to do anything. Plus in the winter I can easily put on a t-shirt or something or step outside for a minute to cool off if need be.
Reason number four. I managed to cover up my bump until we were ready to tell all our family about our newest addition. Which in today's world when you tell people you are having a fourth child you tend to get some not so nice comments or looks. And I seriously wish people would realize the phrase, "Boy you have your hands full." is actually to rude comment to say to a mom when she is in the store with her kids. Yes I know some people don't take their kids to the store because of reasons like this, but I have no fear taking all three (or four) of my kids to the store with me by myself.
Some reasons I do not like being pregnant during the winter months is mainly due to weather conditions as you can imagine. Falling on ice or getting in a car accident due to bad weather is a real danger when you live in an area where the weather can become such. I tend to take more precautions in the winter when the weather is bad, even choosing to stay at home instead of driving to take my preschooler to school. Although that mainly has to do with our driveway because it can get pretty bad and is at a pretty good angle. I have slid most of the way down it in previous winters and have had issues trying to get up it, it was rather scary at times.
So anyway, I am 29 weeks pregnant, wow, that went fast, almost down to the single digit weeks. Everything is still going good. Still in debate about what kind of delivery we are having, but I'm kinda waiting to see what baby does and what position he ends up in to see which route we go down. I am having issues with my hips this time around and have been referred to a chiropractor, I just have to make time to make an appointment. But other than that, just trying to figure out what we are going to name this fourth bundle of boy joy, lol.
But trying to make this post not all about my pregnancy, I have yet to get my seeds planted but want to do that here soon. It just makes it hard when the weather is so cold, I may wait a little while longer or get them all set up and just put them in the garage or something. Also I am doing really well working on my Christmas fund through Swagbucks, I am soon going to turn in my set of points to earn my fourth $25 reward through paypal, meaning I will have $100 already saved towards birthdays and Christmas and it is only the middle of February.
To see more of my day to day stuff, I am on Facebook, look me up. Also I have lots of fun putting pictures up on instagram (m_mitchell07), so hit me up and follow along.
My ducks were in a row this day, lol, but it didn;t last long.
Someone must have been wore out, he fell asleep sitting straight up! But he is sitting right between two section of the couch so the opposite cushion is what is holding him up. Still a cutie though :)
Reason number one. I do not have to worry about getting around my belly to shave my legs every time I get in the shower :)
Reason number two. While I have already managed to gain 33 lbs :/ I am not swelled up like I have been in my past pregnancies due to heat. You would not believe how much more comfortable, (I know, pregnancy and comfort usually don't go together in the same sentence, lol) it is to be pregnant and not have the swollen feet/ankles, face and pretty much entire body. It also does wonders for your self image too, which of course can be really crazy with all these hormones swirling around.
Reason number three. Even though I do turn on my ceiling fan most nights as some point, I am not hot to the point of not being able to do anything. Plus in the winter I can easily put on a t-shirt or something or step outside for a minute to cool off if need be.
Reason number four. I managed to cover up my bump until we were ready to tell all our family about our newest addition. Which in today's world when you tell people you are having a fourth child you tend to get some not so nice comments or looks. And I seriously wish people would realize the phrase, "Boy you have your hands full." is actually to rude comment to say to a mom when she is in the store with her kids. Yes I know some people don't take their kids to the store because of reasons like this, but I have no fear taking all three (or four) of my kids to the store with me by myself.
Some reasons I do not like being pregnant during the winter months is mainly due to weather conditions as you can imagine. Falling on ice or getting in a car accident due to bad weather is a real danger when you live in an area where the weather can become such. I tend to take more precautions in the winter when the weather is bad, even choosing to stay at home instead of driving to take my preschooler to school. Although that mainly has to do with our driveway because it can get pretty bad and is at a pretty good angle. I have slid most of the way down it in previous winters and have had issues trying to get up it, it was rather scary at times.
So anyway, I am 29 weeks pregnant, wow, that went fast, almost down to the single digit weeks. Everything is still going good. Still in debate about what kind of delivery we are having, but I'm kinda waiting to see what baby does and what position he ends up in to see which route we go down. I am having issues with my hips this time around and have been referred to a chiropractor, I just have to make time to make an appointment. But other than that, just trying to figure out what we are going to name this fourth bundle of boy joy, lol.
But trying to make this post not all about my pregnancy, I have yet to get my seeds planted but want to do that here soon. It just makes it hard when the weather is so cold, I may wait a little while longer or get them all set up and just put them in the garage or something. Also I am doing really well working on my Christmas fund through Swagbucks, I am soon going to turn in my set of points to earn my fourth $25 reward through paypal, meaning I will have $100 already saved towards birthdays and Christmas and it is only the middle of February.
To see more of my day to day stuff, I am on Facebook, look me up. Also I have lots of fun putting pictures up on instagram (m_mitchell07), so hit me up and follow along.
My ducks were in a row this day, lol, but it didn;t last long.
Someone must have been wore out, he fell asleep sitting straight up! But he is sitting right between two section of the couch so the opposite cushion is what is holding him up. Still a cutie though :)
Monday, January 19, 2015
How to clean oven fan filters.
So over the weekend, blame it on the nesting, lol, I cleaned my oven fan filters or whatever you want to call them. As usual I happened to see how to do this on the internet. But the process was very easy and all I needed was a pair of tongs and a little bit of baking soda, which I always usually have on hand.
So this is what my vents looked like when I took them out of the fans. Mine were on the underside of the microwave, which I don't like having above my stove, but don't really have any other option for that. We have lived in this house for almost three years and have never cleaned these. As you can see one side of the stove gets used more than the other, anyone else do that?
So first things first, get a pot, from what I've seen it needs to be a stainless steel pot, not something that has a non-stick coating on it. My filters were a little to big for my pot so I did have to flip them over to get the whole filter clean. Back to the water. Once it's boiling pour in some baking soda (I do not have an exact measurement for this), but be very careful. Your water is supposed to fizz up but mine didn't fizz up too much until I put the filter in so beware, I don't want your pots fizzing over.
This is what my pot looks like when I put the filter in the water. See all the grease on the right side of the picture, yuck.
After I took the filters out of the pot I did rinse them off in the sink. Make sure you use tongs to retrieve the filters since they will be hot! The filter that is on the right took awhile to get as clean as it is, but I may have to clean that one up again using a little more elbow grease to get it completely clean. But for now it is a lot better than what it had been, so I'm ok with that. The filter on the right was not as dirty and only took about a minute on each side to get it clean.
You can use the same water to clean both filters, you just may need to add a little more baking soda to the water. This is what my pot looked liked after I was finished cleaning the filters. Don't worry, it looks a lot worse than it is and was very easy to clean up. The site I got my directions from suggested dumping your water outside somewhere because your water does get pretty greasy and she didn't want that on her pipes. So that is up to your own discretion.
And to round out a post about cleaning greasy, grimy filters, a picture of little Sebastian. I caught him snuggling up on big brothers bed hanging out with all the soft toys.
So this is what my vents looked like when I took them out of the fans. Mine were on the underside of the microwave, which I don't like having above my stove, but don't really have any other option for that. We have lived in this house for almost three years and have never cleaned these. As you can see one side of the stove gets used more than the other, anyone else do that?
So first things first, get a pot, from what I've seen it needs to be a stainless steel pot, not something that has a non-stick coating on it. My filters were a little to big for my pot so I did have to flip them over to get the whole filter clean. Back to the water. Once it's boiling pour in some baking soda (I do not have an exact measurement for this), but be very careful. Your water is supposed to fizz up but mine didn't fizz up too much until I put the filter in so beware, I don't want your pots fizzing over.
This is what my pot looks like when I put the filter in the water. See all the grease on the right side of the picture, yuck.
After I took the filters out of the pot I did rinse them off in the sink. Make sure you use tongs to retrieve the filters since they will be hot! The filter that is on the right took awhile to get as clean as it is, but I may have to clean that one up again using a little more elbow grease to get it completely clean. But for now it is a lot better than what it had been, so I'm ok with that. The filter on the right was not as dirty and only took about a minute on each side to get it clean.
You can use the same water to clean both filters, you just may need to add a little more baking soda to the water. This is what my pot looked liked after I was finished cleaning the filters. Don't worry, it looks a lot worse than it is and was very easy to clean up. The site I got my directions from suggested dumping your water outside somewhere because your water does get pretty greasy and she didn't want that on her pipes. So that is up to your own discretion.
And to round out a post about cleaning greasy, grimy filters, a picture of little Sebastian. I caught him snuggling up on big brothers bed hanging out with all the soft toys.
Thursday, January 15, 2015
Dreaming of warmer days
So, as with a lot of people he new year brings with it thoughts of spring and gardens :) After one of my favorite past times, searching Pinterest I have discovered something called snow sowing. Since I don't yet have a greenhouse I have been looking at ways to start some of my plants early to hopefully keep costs down. Buying plants in May or June can get expensive. This year I am also going to be fencing in my garden because if you looked over my garden posts from last year I had a problem with something eating my broccoli, and when you buy 24 broccoli plants that can be a real pain in the but and loss of money.
So back to this snow sowing. What that basically is is you take gallon size clear plastic containers which can be milk jugs or in my case since I have a lot of these, old vinegar jugs, (just make sure to thouroughly wash them before use.)
You cut the container about half way up, but do not cut the whole way through the container, leave a piece still attached so it acts like a hinge. Drill about 15 holes in the bottom of the jug and a few around the bottom this allows for ventilation and drainage. Next fill with potting soil, wet the soil, plant your seeds then you are basically done. Tape the container back together then using a permanent marker write what is inside the container and the day planted so you can keep track of when to transplant. Oh, and don't forget to take the caps off and leave them off. This is how your plants gets water, but make sure to check in early spring to see if they need a little water from you. Unlike when you start seeds indoors, this method does not require you to harden your plants off before transplanting to your garden when the time comes.
I am really excited to try out this method of gardening and hoping it will turn out well for me and my garden. This year I have decided to change up this a little bit and only grown about a dozen or so veggies so that I can hone in on how to grow these few crops well. So this year I have decided to try my hand again at broccoli, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, lettuce, cucumbers, peas, carrots, and green beans. I ordered these seeds yesterday online. I will not be using my mini greenhouses for all of these, some of them are direct sowes. I will also be planting potatoes again. Last year my corn did not do well so I am going to be buying that in bulk again like I did last year. It worked out very well and I was able to support local farmers. I will also be buying tomatoes this year since I did not have good luck with those last year. By the time I had enough ready to can, half of them were already rotten. I have only planted carrots before once, and I have no experience with growing peas but I am thinking ahead and plan on making them into baby food for the little one on the way.
Here are some trow back Thursday picture for you of my garden from last year.
Follow along with me on Facebook A Life of Organized Chaos and Instagram under m_mitchell07.
So back to this snow sowing. What that basically is is you take gallon size clear plastic containers which can be milk jugs or in my case since I have a lot of these, old vinegar jugs, (just make sure to thouroughly wash them before use.)
You cut the container about half way up, but do not cut the whole way through the container, leave a piece still attached so it acts like a hinge. Drill about 15 holes in the bottom of the jug and a few around the bottom this allows for ventilation and drainage. Next fill with potting soil, wet the soil, plant your seeds then you are basically done. Tape the container back together then using a permanent marker write what is inside the container and the day planted so you can keep track of when to transplant. Oh, and don't forget to take the caps off and leave them off. This is how your plants gets water, but make sure to check in early spring to see if they need a little water from you. Unlike when you start seeds indoors, this method does not require you to harden your plants off before transplanting to your garden when the time comes.
I am really excited to try out this method of gardening and hoping it will turn out well for me and my garden. This year I have decided to change up this a little bit and only grown about a dozen or so veggies so that I can hone in on how to grow these few crops well. So this year I have decided to try my hand again at broccoli, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, lettuce, cucumbers, peas, carrots, and green beans. I ordered these seeds yesterday online. I will not be using my mini greenhouses for all of these, some of them are direct sowes. I will also be planting potatoes again. Last year my corn did not do well so I am going to be buying that in bulk again like I did last year. It worked out very well and I was able to support local farmers. I will also be buying tomatoes this year since I did not have good luck with those last year. By the time I had enough ready to can, half of them were already rotten. I have only planted carrots before once, and I have no experience with growing peas but I am thinking ahead and plan on making them into baby food for the little one on the way.
Here are some trow back Thursday picture for you of my garden from last year.
Follow along with me on Facebook A Life of Organized Chaos and Instagram under m_mitchell07.
Thursday, January 8, 2015
Starting off our Christmas fund.
So sometime last year I was looking into ways to make money from home. Being a full time mom leaves little spare time to do other sorts of things. I have tried doing some other things in the past that didn't work out for me, everything from survey taking, (which works for a lot of people, just not for me) to more costly adventures like when we spent $2500 of our tax return money on a course to become a medical transcriptionist that I wasn't able to complete within the time frame I was given, I really thought I could do that one.
But then I found something on a blog I follow. Actually several blogs i follow seemed to have a high opinion of Swagbucks. It didn't cost me anything to join so I figured it couldn't hurt anything to try it out. So try is what I did, and it worked for me! Swagbucks gives you swag points for doing simple things like watching a short video, which you can do with the sound off and as time allows you, playing games, taking polls, or even surveys. I recently downloaded the app for my phone and I can get points for downloading apps and all I have to do is open the app to get credit for using the app, then I delete the app.
All the points you gain add up and you can even get bonus points for reaching a daily goal that Swagbucks sets. Once you earn enough points you can turn them in for rewards which are very numerous and cover a wide range of things but my favorite is the gift cards. Last year all the points I earned went towards gift cards to Amazon, (it's the best deal where you can get a $5 gift card for 450 points, most other $5 gift cards require 500 points.) With these gift cards I was able to pay for almost half of my Christmas presents for free :).
So this year I am starting off a little earlier in the year, I believe I started last year in April or so, I'm being a little more aggressive in getting my swagbucks, and I'm going after the $25 Paypal cash (which is 2500 points but I'm still hoping to get at least one of these each month.) With what I leaned from last year is that I can sometimes get presents from other sites with better deals than Amazon and can just transfer the money over to my bank account to use or just pay the merchant through Paypal.
So that is how I hope to achieve one of my goals for this year. Last year Christmas kinda snuck up on me quickly, plus we have yearly taxes due at the end of the year so money is tight then. That is why this year I am being more proactive about Swagbucks this year and I hope to be ahead of the ball. Plus there is also the addition of another child to buy Christmas present for next year. If you would like to check out Swagbucks for yourself here is a link to check it our for yourself. And yes they have a referral program in which you can earn points for everyone who signs up using your referral link, but I just want to spread the word how easy it has been for me to earn free money that will help us tremendously at the end of the year. So head on over there and good luck!
But then I found something on a blog I follow. Actually several blogs i follow seemed to have a high opinion of Swagbucks. It didn't cost me anything to join so I figured it couldn't hurt anything to try it out. So try is what I did, and it worked for me! Swagbucks gives you swag points for doing simple things like watching a short video, which you can do with the sound off and as time allows you, playing games, taking polls, or even surveys. I recently downloaded the app for my phone and I can get points for downloading apps and all I have to do is open the app to get credit for using the app, then I delete the app.
All the points you gain add up and you can even get bonus points for reaching a daily goal that Swagbucks sets. Once you earn enough points you can turn them in for rewards which are very numerous and cover a wide range of things but my favorite is the gift cards. Last year all the points I earned went towards gift cards to Amazon, (it's the best deal where you can get a $5 gift card for 450 points, most other $5 gift cards require 500 points.) With these gift cards I was able to pay for almost half of my Christmas presents for free :).
So this year I am starting off a little earlier in the year, I believe I started last year in April or so, I'm being a little more aggressive in getting my swagbucks, and I'm going after the $25 Paypal cash (which is 2500 points but I'm still hoping to get at least one of these each month.) With what I leaned from last year is that I can sometimes get presents from other sites with better deals than Amazon and can just transfer the money over to my bank account to use or just pay the merchant through Paypal.
So that is how I hope to achieve one of my goals for this year. Last year Christmas kinda snuck up on me quickly, plus we have yearly taxes due at the end of the year so money is tight then. That is why this year I am being more proactive about Swagbucks this year and I hope to be ahead of the ball. Plus there is also the addition of another child to buy Christmas present for next year. If you would like to check out Swagbucks for yourself here is a link to check it our for yourself. And yes they have a referral program in which you can earn points for everyone who signs up using your referral link, but I just want to spread the word how easy it has been for me to earn free money that will help us tremendously at the end of the year. So head on over there and good luck!
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