In case you hadn't guessed

Yep! I'm having another baby!

Less processed, Eggless, eating cookie dough

My silly pregnant self had a craving spurred by a post I found on Pintrest (go figure). However, since processed sugar and white flour are not kept (unless I'm making a cake for someone) in my house I had to augment the recipe a bit. Here it is:

2/3 cup of raw sugar
1tbsp honey
1/4 cup (that's half a stick) of butter - the real stuff here no margarine, softened
1/4 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup milk
1cup white whole wheat flour- it is unbleached whole grain flour made from hard white winter wheat
A pinch of salt
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Remember this dough is not for baking, but it could be worked into truffles, icecream, a spoon, anything you want it is raw cookie dough, but without risks associated with raw eggs. You can omit the honey without messing it up too.

So today I am blessed to be creative in the kitchen. I hope that choosing to share this blesses someone else too.

Oh, and to give credit to a fellow blogger, this is what I pinned:    http://baskersfunfoods.blogspot.com/2009/05/cookie-dough-for-preggies.html

Sensory box

Today during naptime I am occupying my oldest with a sensory box. I like to call it a "bean box" since that is what it is filled with. I added a few extras to it. There is a cup, a metal toy pan that long ago lost its handle, a formula scoop that I washed out and saved, and a spoon from a microwave rice cooker that I broke years ago. It has become a very fun thing for him very quickly. He's very good with my rule that the beans stay in the box and he is learning while he plays. I wish I hadn't waited so long to put this together. On a side note you can get plastic storage boxes at Dollar Tree so you can store everything right in the box. I just used what I had on hand. Even the 3 lbs of beans were in my pantry.

Disabling Facebook

I hurt my husband's pride with a post about re- entering the workforce. This along with my seeming inability to keep my trap shut about his career and things he considers to be stupid wastes of time and attention seeking, have led me to disable my Facebook account all together. It was simply a way for me to attempt to communicate with other adults in an open forum, but it became a divisive issue, so I am eliminating the problem. It is temporary for now, but we shall see. Sometimes a sacrifice for the greater good can be a blessing in itself.

Life, or something like it

Today I am blessed. I am blessed in many ways. I am very thankful that my father- in- law has, so far been allure to pull through. Yesterday he was taken in the fix his brand new pacemaker and internal defibrillator and he coded. They did CPR and brought him out of that, but he was put on a ventilator. Today they took him off the vent. He is improving. He won't ever be 100%. He had decided against a heart transplant, and his heart was only working at 15% capacity. He is still with us. I am thankful for that. My husband is an over the road truck driver and he has been on the road the whole time this has been going on. He is being routed home n but it will take 1 1/2 days for him to get home. He will hopefully get to see his dad then and we hope his dad will be around for a long time to come. The problem with his heart is genetic. That's scary because my husband or our sons could carry the same gene. There is testing that can be done, and measures that can prevent it from getting this bad if it is caught early. It is a lot to take in. I think it may be a good idea to get my husband and our boys tested. For right now I am happy that things are looking up for the moment. I am also more aware that I need to spend more time with my own dad. I think I know just the perfect Fathers' Day gift for him this year too. I can't include it in case he reads my blog, but they say that experiences are one of the best gifts you can give and I am planning a fun day for me and my dad.

Welcome!

This is not a faith blog. This is about learning to love yourself just as you are, and finding happiness. This means showing love to others, taking care of yourself, getting control of your life, and having fun. I am not an expert. I do not profess to be some perfect being, quite the contrary. I have body image issues, I have confidence in general issues, and even though I am a stay at home mom, I am not born organized I am just learning myself to manage my household with two small boys and a husband who is an over the road truck driver and a veteran.  I am a survivor of domestic abuse in a previous marriage from which I had no children, but that is something I try not to let define me. I am still learning and growing. I believe that the laws of attraction will be in my favor here. I intend to keep this blog positive and upbeat, so please feel free to comment, but please keep it positive. This is about finding your bliss, and after all we are all individuals with different interests.