sugar, and spice, and all that's nice

I have found that my last two pregnancies (my current one, and when I was pregnant with Spike) have presented me with an interesting dilemma. A strong distaste for sweetened foods. With Spike I think I was farther along, and I don't remember making any specific diet choices, other than just not eating sweets when they were offered.

However this go round, I am currently in a stage where I feel sick if I have gone more than 5 minutes without eating. My current snack has been blueberries, which are wonderful, but sometimes I need something with more substance. But I am having a hard time coming up with ideas that aren't sweetened.

And I am having a hard time coming up with breakfast ideas. For breakfast we usually have things like pancakes, cream of wheat, oatmeal, bagels, etc. Most of which are usually served with added sweeteners, or are sweetened themselves. I guess I can skip any topping, I think that might be what I did last time.

Anyway, I am wondering if anyone has any suggestions. Maybe things I haven't thought of. Oh, and I am against fake sugars, and really sweets just don't appeal to me, so I don't think substituting other sweeteners is the answer.

Any suggestions?

Update

I just got back from an ultrasound. I haven't talked to the nurse or dr yet, so I don't know what they will say. I saw a heart beat, the technician said the baby looked healthy. However I am still spotting, so at least until I hear otherwise or the bleeding stops, I am still supposed to take it easy. My load definitely feels lighter now.

Tears

Three weeks ago I found out I was pregnant again. It was a little surprising, but not unexpected. I had been moody, and feeling sick for a few weeks. So I took a pregnancy test, and it was possitive. It took me a little while to accept it, but I finally did. I have been feeling pretty normal except for morning sickness, exahstion, and an emotional rollercoaster. This last week we spent the majority of the week with my husbands family at a reunion. On Wednesday as I was getting ready to go to bed I niticed some blood, while using the bathroom. Thursday morning I was still bleeding, and very worn out. It wasn't a lot of blood, but I was still worried. I called my OBGYN's office, and the nurse ordered some blood work, and pelvic rest. I am the mother of young children so I can't do nothing, but am trying to take it as easy as possible. The blood commes and goes, as well as some mild cramps. I am so afraid I am going to loose the baby. I know I need to ask people for help, but I don't really know what to ask for. And I hate being needy. I feel so guilty, becase my house is a disaster, my kids are spending the day playing the computer, I have no idea what to do for dinner, and my husband hasn't been feeling the best, and here I am laying on the couch reading books, and typing on my nook. I feel so lazy, because there is so much to be done, and I don't feel like I can do it, because I don't want the bleeding to get worse. I won't know the results of the bloodwork until Monday, this is going to be a long weekend. This isn't a request for help, mostly just trying to vent my emotions. Prayers would be appreciated however.

Your room is messy

Today Guy was making a "town" in our family room.  I asked him to please take them downstairs to the playroom to play with them.  He then told me that there wasn't room down there because it was too messy.  So I told him that "Gunny Bag" was going to come and clean up down there if he didn't.  Aurora just got a dollhouse for her birthday a few days ago, and when she heard me say "gunny bag" she grabbed her dollhouse, and said, "I don't want this broken.  Can you help me carry this upstairs?"  So I asked her if she wanted it to go in her bedroom.  Guy took this as Aurora's way of saying that she didn't' want to clean it up, and if it was in her room it could be messy.

A few hours later I reminded Guy that "gunny bag" is coming, and if he doesn't want his toys to disappear he had better clean them up.  To which he responded, "I want to keep them in my room."  I told him he can only keep them in his room if he can keep them cleaned up.  Then I asked if his room was messy or clean.  "Messy" he said.  Then Aurora said, "my room is messy.  Your room is messy.  But there isn't anything on Daddy's side."

Guess I better clean my room too.

China colors

I have been awful about keeping up with my blog.  So many other things to do you know.  Anyway so hopefully I can put enough information in this post that it makes sense, but not so much that it all bogs down.

When Spike turned 1 his big present was a ball pit.  

The ball pit was put in our "rhino room"  (I will try to do a whole post about that later.)  Now this last week, Cinderella had a friend over, and they went to the rhino room to play, and I heard her friend ask if the balls were made in China.  Cinderella's response was "no, they are made of plastic."  Anyway I didn't hear anymore of that conversation.

Well last night I took Guy on a Mom date.  We went and bought shoes and then we went to Krispy Kreme and got doughnuts.  The doughnut he chose had sprinkles on it.  The sprinkles seemed to be an Easter theme, of blue, green and orange.  I asked Guy if he thought the sprinkles looked like Spring colors.  He said, "no, they look like China colors.  Don't you think they look like China colors?"  So I asked him what China colors were.  His reply was "yellow, blue, orange, and green."  I asked him where he learned that, and he said from Spike's balls, because they were made in China, so those colors are China colors.

Hot Wheels

This morning Guy lost some toys in the car, so I was looking for them, while hunting, I found a bunch of other toys that had been left in the car on other occasions.  One of these toys was a little match box car.  Guy picked the car up, and said, "Mom, the wheels are cold, but they are supposed to be hot wheels."

Crayon Rolls

There is a man I know by the name of John Colson.  John has had 2 different kidney transplants. The first one lasted about 7 years, and the second less than 2.  For the last 7 1/2 years he has been functioning  without a kidney, needing to do dialysis on a daily basis, just to function.  After having 2 transplants, getting a new one is tricky business, the likelihood of his body accepting the transplant is not very high.  However he is the father of 4 children, from 6- 16.  He's not ready to give up on life yet.   Thankfully his family has been able to locate a hospital that has the technology to  wipe out his immune system, and do the transplant.  The downside is that the said hospital is about 2 states away from where he lives.  To have the transplant he will have to travel there, and stay there for 3 months, not a costless venture.  In fact his family figures they will need between $20,000-$30,000 for the transplant and living costs, should he receive the call that he is next on the list, and they have a transplant for him.  This is in addition to what insurance will cover.

Due to this, some women that I know decided to do a string of fundraisers for the family to see if we can prolong John's life.  For the fundraiser, I had the inspiration to turn scrap fabric I have into something marketable.  Crayon Rolls.

I had someone ask me how to make them so that she could also make some to donate to the cause, and I decided to make the instructions into a blog post.

 For a roll that holds 8 standard size crayons, I cut a 7 1/4" square out of 2 fabrics and one out of interfacing.  I don't know if the interfacing is necessary, but it makes it stiffer and helps reinforce the stitching.   I have used both fusible and non-fusible interfacing, I prefer the fusible, but they both work.

I then put the 2 fabric squares right sides together, with the interfacing on the wrong side of one of the squares.

   I then put in a 1/2" seam, all the way around, except on the last side where I sew 2 3/4 down, leave a 2" gap then sew the last 2 3/4".  

Press. 

Trim the corners down to the stitching.  

Then using the 2" gap, turn the square right side out, making sure the corners get turned all the way.  

Press again.  Cut 4" of elastic.  I have used both 1/4" & 1/2", both work well, it is just the scraps I have on hand.  Fold the elastic in half and sew ends together using a zigzag stitch. 

 Tuck the raw end of the elastic into the top of the gap in your square,  you can baste it in place if you like, but I never do.  Next do an edge stitch around the whole.  I forgot to do it on this one, but it gives it a much more finished appearance.  

   I then fold up the bottom of the square 2" so that the bottom meets the elastic, and sew the edges in place.

  Then measure 3/4" over and draw a strait line on the folded over piece, then measure 3/4" from that line and draw another line.  Continue this process until you reach the other edge.  There should be 8 spaces between the lines.  

Place a seam on each of your lines, creating 8 little pockets. 

 All done.  You now should have a roll that will hold 8 standard size crayons.