Pinterest Project: DIY Valentine's Day Conversation Heart Wreath

Ahhh Pinterest strikes my fancy AGAIN! Browsing my night away (and I wonder why I have "insomnia") I found this cute, creative wreath:

So I thought "Looks simple enough!" And decided to give it a go. The pin called for a cardboard box, a push pin, fabric, ribbon, hot glue, and conversation hearts. I myself used a cardboard box, a big valentines heart filled with candy for a stencil (I can't freehand) a small valentines heart filled with candy for a stencil, red acrylic paint, hot glue, gift ribbon, and a premade gift bow.

I traced the hearts onto the cardboard box with a sharpie and started cutting. This was not a simple task. It was very hard to cut into the thick cardboard with scissors and I had to use a sharp kitchen knife for the middle. This was the hardest part.

So when I finally got it cut out and trimmed, I painted it with acrylic paint.

Once you get the painting done, just find something else to do while it dries. I personally boiled chicken.

The next part was the most time consuming. Hot glueing every single heart onto the painted cardboard. 

From there, per instructions, I tied the wrapping ribbon to make a loop to hand the heart on my wreath hanger. Now the instructions simply say push the pin in the cardboard. This did not work. I had to triple glue the pin in the back to keep it from ripping out. 

I then hot glued my premade bow onto the front. Now here is the finished product:

Does it look like the picture? No not even close. It was inspired by the picture lol! So here is my completed wreath on my door. It was time consuming, I burnt my fingertips off with hot glue, but I think it looks cute!

Bacon Cinnamon Rolls (Today's Random Pinterest Project)

Ahhhh bacon and cinnamon sweet goodness together makes my taste buds go into taste orgasms and produce massive amounts of drool. Bacon is my most FAVORITE add on to any dish; and I have a weakness for all things sweet and salty. So when I saw a recipe on Pinterest for simply wrapped bacon inside cinnamon rolls I decided to give it a try. 

First of all; you get your grands cinnamon rolls and bacon ( I used Wrights)

Then you just unwrap the cinnamon rolls and roll the bacon up!

Oh my gosh!

From there I baked the cinnamon rolls according to the directions. 

(note: I just checked on them and it doesn't seem the bacon is cooking evenly so you may need to adjust cooking time accordingly)

The verdict? These are AWESOME! I will never eat a regular cinnamon roll again!

Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and other annoying things

Yes my daughter is only 4 months old and I let her watch tv. You see, Carlie IS NOT easily entertained. I cannot get anything to hold her attention for long at all while I attempt housework (or blogging, HA!) and it makes for a longggg disastrous day. Until we found Mickey Mouse and his high pitched voice, my days consisted of back pain baby wearing and constantly holding baby girl.

I do sit down and interact with her most of the time when we watch. So no judgmental moms, I don't let the tv babysit her. But she has seen enough episodes where she actually recognizes characters away from the tv. For example, at Kmart just yesterday, she saw a Minnie Mouse that sings the "Hot Dog Song" (not sure if that is INDEED the technical name, but it sounds good to me!) and her face lit up and I got cute baby squeals! I was half tempted to buy the dang $22 thing but she already has more toys than any 4 month old I've ever seen. So we left Minnie on the shelf and opted for a onesie with Minnie on it instead which she did not want to let go of so the cashier could ring it up. 

Later that day I stumbled upon a Baby Einstien DVD, which is another Carlie obsession. Now I don't know about anywhere else but around here, these DVDs are impossible to find. So every time I'm out and about thrift shopping and I spot one I snag it up. While I can halfway deal with Mickey Mouse, even though those songs get implanted into my brain, I just can't get into the Baby Einstein. Then again I'm not an infant. I'm pretty sure the images that flash on the screen are subliminal messages that only babies receive. But whatever, she likes it. And whatever the queen of Sheba likes, the queen of Sheba gets.

So with that said I give both Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Baby Einstein two Random Rambling thumbs up. Because with out them I would go insane.

Sweet Yeast Rolls! Nom Nom Nom!

Pinterest is my obsession. It sounds cliche BUT Pinterest is my crack! I've searched high and low for the "perfect" sweet yeast rolls but was unsuccessful until I found these Buttery Sweet Yeast Rolls. Yum! Delish! I excitedly got my dough hook out for the Pink Panther (My pink KitchenAid stand mixer) and got busy!

Within an hour and a half my dough had risen and my rolls were ready to go in. Soon enough they were ready and I sank my teeth into a roll that burned my tongue. They were almost perfect.

I had a few issues due to my personal tastes. For one, they weren't as sweet as I was looking for. By sweet I like almost Hawaiian Sweet Roll sweet. For two, I don't know why but I'm not inclined enough to put the dough in a ball in a pan. It looks like one big roll when I do this (what am I doing wrong?!?!) so I opted for muffin pans instead.

Other than that these were by far the best sweet rolls I have found yet! Next time though I am just going to add a wee bit more sugar.

Rock N Play Sleeper disaster

I have to be the only parent in the world that did not care for our

Fisher-Price My Little Snugapuppy Deluxe Newborn Rock N Play Sleeper. The reviews on Amazon.com were false advertisement. I remember one review said exactly "I would die without this product". I was sold! I begged my fiancé for one. 

"We NEED this for when Carlie is born!" His reply "We already have almost every piece of baby equipment ever made."

"But I will DIE without this product! That's what the reviews are saying!"

So I got the sleeper. And I got it with two months to spare in our pregnancy. I was ready to join the Rock N Play group of moms that had already sworn by it.

When the 2 months passed and Carlie was brought into this big world, I was prepared! As stated above, we had almost EVERY SINGLE piece of baby equipment ever made. But... She wouldn't sit in her cradle swing. She wouldn't sit in her upright swing. She wouldn't sit in her bouncer. She wouldn't sleep in her bassinet of baby bed. And she absolutely despised her Rock N Play sleeper.

What gives? This is a miracle made of metal bars and cloth sent straight from the heavens above. This helped 1000000 babies sleep through the night! This kept many tiny tots feel safe and secure! Is mine a freak of nature? What am I doing wrong? 

After many nights retrying various baby products, eventually Carlie learned to enjoy her swings and bouncer. She played in her baby bed and the cat adopted her bassinet. But she continued to hate her Rock N Play sleeper. 

Now Carlie is 4 months old. She is still teeny tiny and still hates her Rock N Play sleeper. Our Rock N Play now resides in our storage room. Just in case, by chance, we have another baby and he or she decides to hate it too.

Guilt after Death

Wow. Three years. My son has been gone for THREE years. I can't believe it. And I feel guilty. I feel guilty because this last year I haven't cried as much as I used to. I haven't lived in absolute sadness. Maybe I'm healing. Maybe I'm FORGETTING. I don't want to forget.

I don't want to forget the first time I held him. The feeling of absolute unconditional love. I don't want to forget his first smile, laugh, his first steps, his irrational fear of the vacuum cleaner and his light up shoes. I don't want to forget the years of happiness, his triumphs. I don't want to forget how happy he was when he completed his speech therapy, his love for his cowboy boots and pearl snap shirts. His love for God, his brothers, his family, his animals. He loved to draw and wanted to be a mechanic when he grew up. He loved horror movies and being scared; it made him laugh to be scared. He LOVED Kenny Chesney but his absolute favorite song was Lynyrd Skynyrd's Free Bird.

I feel like I should be sad remembering all these wonderful things but I am not. I'm guilty because I should be screaming and crying and cursing God, but I'm not. I smile. My son is with me. He's been with me. And he will always be with me. I love you Codey Drake.

Schick HydroSilk Sensitive Care Razor is....

First of all, let me say I am a BzzAgent. I got this product to test for free and to get the Bzz out about what I think of it. Well; here goes...

Schick HydroSilk Sensitive Care razor is a product that lives up to its name. Are my legs super duper sensitive? Yes and no. Its not that I can't FIND a razor that doesn't break my skin out. Its more like "ouch, somebody get me a water hose because my legs are on fiyah!" razor burn. While I did experience slight razor burn on my... ummmm... ladybits, (Yes I shave my ladybits. I'm sure most women do!) my legs and arms and slightly irritated ladybits felt hydrated for the most part.

I had a big slate to work with. In the winter my legs "hibernate". I very rarely shave during the winter. Not only that, but I also have a 4 month old demanding little diva so when I do get to take a bath, shaving is pretty much the last thing on my mind. My legs are sometimes hairier than my fiancés! But even though Sasquatch resided on my legs, I was very surprised how close the shave got. Usually I have to go up and down about three or four times. Not with the Schick HydroSilk Sensitive Care Razor. Twice in troublesome areas. Not bad at all!

The razor also came with a cute little caddy to hang in the shower or bath to hold your razor. It fell twice before I threw it in the corner of my garden bathtub. The caddy does not work people! Just toss it to the side (haha!).

All in all the razor works very well. I was pleased with its performance as a whole and I will most definitely make my switch permanent. But don't just take my word for it. Try it for yourself. You will see I'm not crazy!