It's Pinterest Monday!

Hello all!  I hope that the Monday blues have not dragged you all down.  I must admit that even though I just finished day 3 of my work week, today was rough.  I work in a used book store that actually buys books (and DVDs and CDs and video games and magazines...) from the public and I spent most of my day flipping through boxes pulled from attics and basements and barns and garages and car trunks.  Let's just say that pet/human hair, dust, hay, mold, and general dirt do not make your merchandise worth more.  Ew.

Moving on.  Here are some of my awesome finds from the past week to help you shake off those blues and get ready for the week ahead.




Banana Cream Pie Milkshake

Chik-fil-A has one of these for sale and my mouth salivates every time I see their advertisement.  Unfortunately for me, I have gestational diabetes and cannot have one.  I know, sad face.  However! this may be the thing to save me.  I have found a carb smart ice cream that does not kill my blood sugar levels and with a little substitution of unsweetened almond milk for the regular milk, I think I might be able to have one of these beauties.  I'm going to try to make a more diabetic friendly version of this on Thursday so I'll report back and let you know if I'm still standing after it.

 

DVD Coloring Case

I always see so many cute things on Pinterest that require sewing skills and I can't sew worth a darn.  More sad face.  This craft perked me right up though because it requires adhesive glue and is needle free!  I am not much of an artist either but I love this idea of paper and pens and markers in an easy carrying case.  I see tons of DVD cases we have to discard at work because we can't sell the DVD inside and I'm excited to see that perhaps those don't have to go to waste any longer!  I think this would be a perfect DIY gift for kids!




White Texas Sheet Cake

I don't think I've mentioned all the blogs I follow, but the number is starting to rise the more I get on Pinterest.  This cake comes from one of my favorite food blogs, The Girl Who Ate Everything.  Christy always seems to know exactly what I need, and on this particular day she took me home to Texas, to my grandmother's kitchen.  Grandma was a wedding cake maker and the smell of cakes, especially white or yellow cake always takes me back to her.  I'm unsure if this recipe will be anything like hers but I'm willing to give it a shot.



DIY Cleaning Supplies

Jillee over at the One Good Thing blog has compiled some of her best, most effective DIY household cleaners.  I'm not much of a house keeper (although that nesting instinct is currently kicking my butt) but I love all of these ideas she has for more environmentally friendly and cheap cleaner alternatives.  I have not tried one yet, but it's on the list of things to do.  I want to compile a list of the cleaners that use the same ingredients so I don't have to buy a billion different things.  Look for an update on this soon!




Freezer/Bulk Cooking

I think I mentioned in an earlier post that I was going to tackle this freezer cooking thing that has gotten super popular on the internet.  If you don't know what that is, you can find out more here.  I will admit that I'm not going to be making an entire month's worth of food because I'm not that ambitious yet, and I haven't quite figured how to get that much food into my freezer.  I like making the food in two week intervals.  The moms over at Once a Month Mom have created all sorts of menus for different types of people including, Gluten-free, diet, traditional, and whole foods.  My plan is to mix and match the recipes from different menus so that we can get some real variety and I don't have to worry about my blood sugar going crazy.  OAMM has created all sorts of templates for you to use that include grocery lists and recipe organizers so I'm hoping for success!  Look for an update on this as well where I will go in depth in my experience with this.

I've got some awesome things lined up for myself to tackle while I wait for this baby to come and I hope this inspired you to get out and line up some projects of your own.  Or at least inspired you to make that cake.  Who doesn't need some cake?

The Nesting Instinct

So I am officially 36 weeks pregnant which means we've come to the 9 month mark and nearing the end of this pregnancy!  I can't tell you how excited I am that this is nearly over.  I won't sit here and pretend that this has been a real hardship because as far as pregnancies go, mine has been easy sailing.  I have not been constantly harassed by nausea or crazy mood swings (minus a few breakdowns here and there).  I did get gestational diabetes and that has added stress for sure, but even that has been manageable and I have done well with it.  I think that I just miss feeling like myself.  I miss being able to do and eat and drink things that I could before getting pregnant.  And what I really want is to actually see and hold my son.  I can't wait for my little family to finally grow and be complete.

Anyway, so this nesting instinct that everyone talks about is really starting to hit me.  I decided to clean up the hall closet that holds our towels and toiletries and random other crap and then tackle the bathroom.  My husband used to run a suit store and therefore accumulated a ton of ties and two tie racks.  Since he no longer needs the ties we haven't had a real use for the racks so they have been collecting dust in closets and boxes for the past few years as we moved from apartment to apartment and finally this cozy little duplex we have now.  And sadly for me, the bathrooms seem to keep getting smaller and smaller.  Now we have this tiny little closet of a bathroom with little counter space and no shelves.  It struck me a while ago that we could build some small shelves and then we came across the tie racks.  They have been sitting in the bathroom just waiting to be hung up and today we finally put them up.

 Ta-da! The little tie pegs make perfect holders for necklaces, bracelets, and headbands.  And the tops provide perfect little shelves to hold the little items that used to clutter the tiny sink.

 Here is the before picture of my hall closet.  I find that I can't part with any shoe boxes but I put them to good use!

I used one for all my travel sized sample things.  I read in someone's blog that they use them for overnight guests as well as when they travel.  Over the next few months I am sure that we will see plenty of guests so this is the perfect place to keep things that my guests might have forgotten like shampoo, lotion, shaving lotion, etc.

I used another for my diabetic and pregnancy supplies.  Instead all of those paper bags the pharmacy provides, I put them all in a shoebox so I can now find things in a timely manner.

Here is my after picture!  On top of the shoe boxes I found uses for all the cosmetic bags I seem to have accumulated over the years.  Now everything is neat and organized and I can find what I need when I need it.  Let me tell you, there is nothing like the peace of mind a little organizing can do for you.  I think tomorrow I shall tackle the bedroom.