If you are from Utah, you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about- especially this year.
About our blogger: ommilay
I feel like I have had a unique and cool life so far. I taught in Russia, graduated from college, spent time in Paris during tourist attacks, hiked in the Amazon and lived in Japan. Though I have done and accomplished a lot, being a married with a baby is far more important and fulfilling than everything else I have ever done. Did those things prepare me to be a mom? I believe so. But, still, if I had to choose between my crazy fun life before baby and my life now? Not even a choice. Being a wife and a mother is easily that best thing I have ever done.
Visit ommilay @ http://myamericanconfessions.blogspot.com/
Posts by ommilay:
You Know You’re from Utah if You Get This
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5 Ways to be Happier as a Stay at Home Mom
Being able to stay home with you children is an incredible blessing. In the hectic world we live in, more than ever, it seems like every family needs a dual income to survive, so to be able to leave one potential earn
er at home while the other goes away to work is sometimes miraculous.
But.
Let’s be honest.
While every stay at home mom loves her children Read the rest of this entry »
Tuesday: 10 Simple Life Hacks
10 simple life hacks for saving money on hand soap, cleaning using fabric refresher, new uses for aluminum foil, and basically making your life just a little bit easier and simpler. Passing it on and hoping it makes life better!
How Much is That Baby in the Window? Actual Prices for Labor and Delivery
I just finished making baby numero dos. Wonderful to have two children, but, as everyone who has had children can attest to, it is also wonderfully expensive. I tried to prepare financially for both births, but had a difficult time finding reliable information online- all I could really find was general, “Your labor and delivery could cost over $10,000,”.
Well, ok.
But how much to the hospital?
How much to the doctor?
How much for my epidural?
How much will insurance REALLY pay? Read the rest of this entry »
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Perfect Peanut Brittle
I confess, I used the recipe with cashews and
this is actually cashew brittle….
I am an avid candy maker, especially in the winter, when I’m cooped up at home, just staring at bags of sugar and corn syrup bottles, wondering what I can make. Through some trial and error, I have found a fail-proof (and I do mean fail proof!) method for making a perfect peanut brittle. It doesn’t take a lot of time or a lot of fancy ingredients. I can guarantee you will have a hard time enjoying any other brittle once you’ve made this.
Ingredients
3 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups light corn syrup
1 1/2 cups water
1 pound Spanish peanuts (or cashews….mmmm…. cashew brittle….)
1 Tb baking soda
Spanish peanuts
Not too extensive of a list, right? And the directions are about as simple.
Step 1
Take a cookie sheet with sides and grease lightly with vegetable oil
Step 2
In a large pot, combine the sugar, water, and corn syrup over medium to medium-high heat. Boil that sucker. If it is boiling too high (as in it seems like it is going to overflow the pan), turn the heat down. You want a constant boil, but nothing crazy. Stir every few minutes and wash the sides of the pan down with a pastry brush soaked in water
Step 3
Keep on stirring and boiling. Every 5-7 minutes, take a spoonful of your candy mix and pour it into icy cold water. If the mixture is soft and pliable, keep cooking.
Step 4
Once the mixture, upon hitting cold water, becomes hard and brittle (get it, brittle? I’m hilarious) and is the texture you want your peanut brittle to be, remove your pot from the heat and add the peanuts and baking soda. This stage of brittle candy is called the crack stage and should look like this -> when you pull it out of the water. (thanks to PinkPolkaDotCreations.com for a nice picture capturing what it looks like). Mix vigorously and quickly, QUICKLY spoon onto your greased cookie sheet, using a wooden spoon to spread the mixture evenly.
Step 5
Allow to cool. Then, once totally hard, smash that baby up with a mallet, knife, your hands, or whatever you want, and enjoy yourself some of the best brittle you’ll ever have.
DIY Quiet Book
I made this little quiet book for my baby girl for Christmas. I’ll be honest, going through her hands (she likes to chew on books- guess she’s hungry for knowledge?) I’m no sure how long it will last, but I loved how it turned out and wanted to share it in case you are making a quiet book, too, but are short on ideas.
Materials
*blank board book
*permanent markers
*stamps
*colored construction paper
*various printed scrapbook paper
*embroidery floss*washi tape
*reflective paper
*wood glue
*clear tape
*various 3-D objects (for the cover)
*card stock stickers
I’ll give you a few how-to’s for each page, but I mostly just want you to Read the rest of this entry »
Restaurant Refried Beans from a Can
I have, for years, eaten terrible refried beans from a can. I had no idea how little it takes to transform an ordinary (and honestly awful) can of refried beans into a wonderful side for your Mexican food that tastes as good as your favorite restaurant.
Ingredients
*1 can refried beans
*grease from 4 slices of cooked bacon (not healthy, I know- but amazing!)
*1 1/2 tsp chili powder
*1 Tb onion salt
*1/2 Tb cumin
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Online Couponing Made Easy
Couponing. Sometimes I feel like it’s synonymous with being a stay-at-home mom. Most of the stay-at-home moms I know coupon, either extreme-coupon style, or just a few diaper coupons here and there. I must say, it’s those extreme couponers that give me major guilt. You know, when they brag about the two cases of green beans that they bought for a dollar each… So, it’s only natural that I would coupon.
However.
I coupon with moderation.
Here, you’ll find a basic compilation of the most useful websites for couponing and save you from the headache of searching, downloading, and sifting through Read the rest of this entry »
Need a Laugh?
Let’s see how close your humor and mine are- because this made me laugh. Out loud. For real. Not just ‘lol’.
How to Donate Breastmilk
If you read this blog consistently, then you would know that I have donated breast milk before. After talking to a friend, a recent new mom, about my experience, I realized there are a lot of things to be learned about donating breast milk for those interested. In this blog post, I hope to answer a good number of questions for those interested in saving their own breast milk for others in need. I’ll neglect to mention why I donate breast milk and focus on the logistics of HOW.
First of all, let us acknowledge that there are four main ways to donate breast milk and each requires a separate process.
1. Donating to a friend/relative
2. Donating to a national milk bank
3. Donating milk to create fortifiers, Helping Hands Milk Bank
4. Donating using a third party, Human Milk for Human Babies, etc.
Donating to a Friend/Relative
The easiest and also least likely scenario Read the rest of this entry »
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