Melissa'a Happenings

Dougie is one!

2011-12-15T09:15:00.001-08:00

My littlest man turned one, he's such a big boy! Not walking yet but that is A-OK. On his birthday we moved into our new house!!! I'll post more on that later!

God Still works miracles!

2011-11-21T11:26:00.000-08:00

Some of you may know that a few months ago we packed up our camper & moved from NY to NC. We have been living in our camper, all the while God has provided. I was starting to get a little down the other day. Just struggling financially (its alot of $$ paying for a house & living somewhere else) & not being able to bake & do normal stuff I do at the house, like laundry. Its a whole HUGE process & it costs alot with 8 people & 1 in cloth. Anyways, we got denied from our bank to get a lower interest rate on our home. They said Art's credit was too low (500's) & there were multiple delinquencies,(This was from NBT, a total Lie, becuase they don't want to lend, can't say that I blame them with tons of people in Schoharie County leaving their homes becuase they didn't have flood insurance, can't blame those people either). Well I flipped out becuase we just had our credt pulled & it was in the 700's & no issues AT.ALL. So I pulled everyone of our reports & paid for DH's credit score. NBT bank TOTALLY LIED! His creidt score is lowest score 649 & highest 769 so they were totally off. I got them from equifax, experian & transunion. I called her back & told her that they were lieing & said we are going to find someone different since they didn't want to lend to us. She causually said ok. That really got me discouraged & I was talking to Art & told him that I wished God would show us if he really wants us here or not becuase we can't afford it much longer. I told him I just want God to clearly show us. You know what a miracle happened. Saturday the Pastor of our chuch called, he said someone in the church had a house for us, they want us to live in it Rent FREE for the entire winter. That will save us 400$ a month that we are paying the campground & the best part!!!! I will live in a house again!!!!!!! I am so excited. Thanks for thinking of us (some of you have messaged me to encorage me & some of you have sent little things our way & some of you have provided vital information that we needed for the move) & thanks for all your prayers. I am sad a little that I doubted God's provision, but I am ever so happy that He saw fit to let me know where He wants me. Lots of my friends & family are & were judgemental. It was a quick desicion & we left NY fast, but there is no doubt in my mind where God wants me & my family to be. Its here in this wonderful Loving church. From the time we set foot in this church (Tabernacle) we have known God's love through even just the words from this church family. We have been correctly fed from the Holy Bible, convicted by the Scriptures & even have had our heart heal from many years of hurt. Now once again God has shown a light on our path. Praise Him for His goodness! Thank you God for being You! Thank you Pastor & Candace, Pastor & Becky Utley & all of the wonderful people at Tabernacle Baptist Church! Yes God is GOOD ;)

Oh no More to the Birth of Dougie!

2011-02-11T19:21:00.000-08:00

So the next thing on my list is this. After having an epidural that I didn't get medicine with, therefor no pain relief, I got the dreaded spinal headache. Firstly, they tell you all the possible side effects and you just think "I don't care, shut up and give me the drugs so I can feel better". Secondly you think you will not be one of those people that has one of those things happen to you. Well truth is, if its a side effect you can in fact be the victim of one or more then one. The day I had Dougie I felt good but that night I started to get the worst headache, when I was laying down I felt ok but once I started to raise my head my head hurt & my neck hurt so bad. I told the nurse & she though it might be a spinal headache. I just figured I pulled a neck muscle. She told me she was going to let anaesthesiology know and she also got me a heating pad. I started to feel a little better and was in denial so I figured everything would just heal up on its own. The anaesthesiologist told the nurse to give me some Norco (which I declined as I had never had a heavy pain killer and I wasn't about to start taking them, also I was nursing and I worried about the effects on Dougie). The next morning I felt pretty good so I talked to the anaesthesiologist and told him so. He figured whatever it was had gone away but told me to call if I had any more problems. I just wanted to go home. Once I was discharged I went home & it was kind of late so I went to bed. The next morning my head & neck hurt so bad. It only hurt when I raised my head even just a little bit. The pain was excruciating. It traveled up my neck, up the back of my head all the way around into my forehead and eye sockets. I couldn't even walt to the bathroom, it hurt so bad. A few days after dealing with the pain I called the hospital back. They told me it was a spinal headache and to drink lots of caffeine. I drank tons of Mountain Dew & coffee. Plus I took Tylenol & IB (which didn't do a thing for it). When Dougie was 4 days old I had to take him to the DRs. I hurt so bad I literally laid down in the waiting room. Once in the private room to have Dougie checked, I talked to our Dr. He told me to go and have it fixed. I was really nervous to have a blood patch. I had already messed up by having the epi and I didn't want to make another mistake. I trusted our Dr though as he is a friend and our Dr so I called out to Cooperstown and talked to anaesthesiology. They told me to come in and it was only a 5 minute procedure. So off to Cooperstown we went. I went into the ER as I was told to. They got me into one of the rooms, hooked me up to IV and I had to wait. I was in the ER over 3 hours. Meanwhile Arthur had all the kids in the truck and Ariel had to stay with me in the room in case Dougie needed to nurse. Once they were ready for me I was wheeled downstairs into the OR area. I waited there even longer. I was crying because I was scared and I missed my family. Once again I felt like I had failed. The nurses were very nice and reassured me that everything would be fine. Once the Dr was ready for me I was sat up on a table and curled over, just like having an epidural. They drew a huge tube of blood from my arm and handed it to the dr who injected it into my spinal area. It was very quick. The pain relief was instant! Then they laid me on my back & I had to stay that way for 2 hours before I could go home. They took me back to the ER room and there I waited. After having 2 bags of IV fluid I had to pee so bad!!! Dougie had to nurse and I couldn't move so I nursed him flat on my back! It worked great. Once the 2 hours were up I carefully got up and went to the bathroom, oh how good it felt to be pain free. I was careful as we went home, I reclined the whole way. Once home I went to bed, it was late and so I slept. Let me tell you. The blood patch was a breeze and I would suggest it to anyone that has a spinal headache. Don't wait, just get it. I thanked God for such great Drs, nurses & awesome pain relief.

More to the birth story...

2011-02-11T19:15:00.000-08:00

As I said earlier I was sick on Saturday 12-11 and that is why I had gone to the hospital. On our way there Dan had called ans said he thought LeAnn's water had broke but they weren't sure. We both advised them to come in and get checked. They called the hospital, and talked to a nurse who told them unless they were sure to just stay home. If her water had broke she would go into labor. They didn't really want to take a long trip to the hospital only to be told to return home. So on Sunday after I had Dougie, they came to the hospital because LeAnn was leaking more fluid, they were pretty sure her water had indeed broken. She was 5 weeks early though by her due date so everyone was a bit concerned. Turns out her water had broken and she was admitted to the hospital. On Monday early in the morning, the Dr's had said her water was broken for 48 hours and they were going to induce her. Less then 24 hours after Dougie was born, his cousin Olivia was born. It was quite the hospital experience for me. Sure a happy time. I was elated to have just had my son & an new niece within 24 hours!!! Such a happy time.

ok back...

2011-02-11T17:34:00.000-08:00

Haha I paused for a few days hun??? Back to the birth story.
Finally my Nurse midwife checked me again & I was 4cm. I let her break my water as I got all my antibiotics. I was 5cm when she got done breaking my water. I had to go to the bathroom so I decided to pee before I couldn't get up. I went to the bathroom & had a few contractions on the toilet. The Nurse came by & said "Don't deliver on the toilet." I figured it was time to get off seeing as she had said that & I had heard about women delivering on the potty. As soon as I stood up I got a contraction. Oh man it was bad. So bad in fact I lost all my control. I could hardly make it back to the bed & when I did I stood near it just trying to bear with the pain. I called for an epidural. I was in so much pain I was frantic. I really lost control! I got on the bed on all 4s & asked for Nancy or Arthur to counter pressure on my back., That just felt worse and it Burned so bad! I was sweating terribly & just begging Arthur to please help me. Nancy had to continually tell me to breathe. It hurt so bad I just wanted to pass out & couldn't even breathe. Finally the anesthesiologist came in and started talking to me, I told him I know all of it and just give me the epi. He hurried to get his stuff. I was in so much pain that as he prepped my back he said because I was so loosing it that he would give some instant relief. Which then he told me I should feel some relief. I relaxed a little thinking I would be ok, I knew that should help. It didn't!!! The next contraction it with a vengeance. I still felt all the pain I had before. He got the epi in and said he was going to lay me back before he put in the meds so I would be comfortable. Once laid back they needed to find the baby's heartbeat, which they found but it was low. I think in the 70's. So everyone was pushed aside. They told me to get on my left side, I said I couldn't I was so exhausted. They told me my baby needed me to. I rolled on my left side, they turned on the oxygen, put the mask on my face and my NM asked if I felt pressure or if I had to push. I didn't know, I was just too out of it to even answer. She checked me and the baby's head was right there, ready to be born. She told me to push. I pushed and thought, Oh I have to poop, no, no, I know that feeling I have to push through it. Once more push, the NM told me to push easier and out came the head. Next were the shoulders, I hate how they always feel stuck on my bones. Then the baby slid out and they held it up with legs slightly open & I saw it was a boy. They put him Right on my chest & I cried. The epi guy had run out of the room as soon as they put me on my side, he was grossed out, poor guy. So I never got the pain meds, just the tube in my back. Arthur was crying. They asked his name & I told them Douglas Ivar :)
We bonded for a long time, Arthur cut the cord and I nursed Dougie. We just loved each other up!
Later they came to take him to weigh him & clean him. The Epi guy came back, pulled out the epi tube.
Hind site is this. If I had paid closer attention to my body I would have realised I went into transition once I stood up off the toilet. I would have known that I had dilated when I was on the potty. I would have known that the intense pain I had was him moving down the birth canal. I feel I really screwed up. I'm sad that I called for the Epi & very sad I lost my cool. I'm also very upset that Dougie had to wait to be born. I'm sure that he was waiting the entire time it took me to get the epi as I was in a sitting position. He was just waiting to come out & I stressed his heart out by making him wait. I also think I would have felt the pushing pressure if I was standing or laying on my back. I wish the end had gone differently but I can't change it :(
In the end I'm very happy my baby is healthy & I love him!

Long time no post!

2011-01-25T12:19:00.000-08:00

So much has happened since I last posted. I'll try to do some posing while the baby is napping.
So last time I posted I was showing off all my knitting. I have done much more since then.
My pregnancy with our 6th term child was getting very hard toward the end. I really thought I would go into labor early seeing as Makanah was 9 days early. I even went Black Friday shopping & I was 38 weeks pregnant. I was certain it would happen then! But no Black Friday came & went. As tired as I was I felt really good on Black Friday and was able to do everything I normally would do on BF. Shopping, Getting our Christmas Tree, unloading all the gifts. It was a great day with my Hubby :)
As my Due date crawled closer I was really worried about going overdue & having to be induced. Sure enough on my due date my Nurse midwife checked me and I wasn't even dialated! No progress! Sigh, I really didn't want to be induced. I figured this would be my last child & I wanted everything to be natural. Well on december 11th I woke up to the stomach virus. Oh man talk about discusting. An over due pregnant lady puking & crying because I was so huge, puking... Diareah. So not pretty. I spent the whole day not being able to get anything into me or keep anything down. Not even water. At the end of the day I was contracting which I figured was due to the fact I was dehydrated. I thought I was surely going into labor. So rather then make a midnight run, having to wake all the kids and such, we decided to take them to the Wilkies house and head to the hospital ourselves. We got everyone ready, all the bags packed in the truck & went to drop of the kids. We dropped them off, met Nancy at the park & Ride in Cobleskill, then preceeded to the hospital. When we got to the hospital my contractions were about 5 mins apart & pretty strong. I was checked. NO dialation!!! NONE! I was so upset. They decided just to hook me up to an IV to get me hydrated and a monitor to check my contractions. My bloodpressure was really high, as it had been the last few months, so they wanted to watch that too. So we spent the night in the hospital. Nancy in the chair & Arthur in the recliner. What a great support team I have :) Throughout the night I had random contractions that I found myself breathing through but I thought they were no big deal becuase I had harder ones earlier that resulted in nothing. In the morning the nurse midwife came in to deiscuss what we should do. My BP was still high so they wanted to induce me. I was overdue anyway. They wanted to insert Cervidel. Yikes no way. I had that once and it was terrible. So I begged to just start PIT. She told me she would check me but becuase I wasn't at all dialated just 12 hours earlier they couldn't start with PIT. They had to soften my cervix first. Well when she checked I was 2cm & soft. YAY!!! Those random contractions had done something. She said she could break my water but I told her no. I know how hard contractions get when your water is broke. We started PIT at about 9:30am. I had very mild contactions that built over time with the increases of PIT. I wanted to wait to have my water broke until I had all my antibiotics in my system, which I had to have because I was Group B Positive.
pause... the baby is hungry, I'll be back to continue

I want to show the world!!!

2010-09-15T12:01:00.001-07:00

I guess, without boasting, I want to say I am so proud of my knitting. I taught myself how to knit last year around august. I decided to cloth diaper Makanah & found out that wool is a great cover. Now, now, yes I thought wool was terrible, itchy, yucky stuff that I would never want to wear. Boy I couldn't have been more wrong! I'm sure most people think that about wool We remember our moms putting a wool coat on us, or some other wool clothing item that made us very uncomfortable. So uncomfortable in fact that we could think of nothing else but getting that item off of us! Well wool, is not really like that. When it is processed & chemicalized in plants by manufacturer's, it takes on the terrible itchy feel. Alot of untreated wool is very nice & becomes even softer when washed in the right wool wash (NEVER WOOLITE!) or lanolized. Anyway...I'm on a rabbit trail :) So I wanted to learn how to knit. I bought a book and read it. Nope, not me, I'm a visual learner. So I got my pattern & youtubed it! You got it right, where the pattern said K2, I looked it up and found out what it meant & how to do it. So here we are a year later. Want to see what I can do???

And yes there are a few things I didn't take pictures of, I forgot & then they were given away as gifts. The very top photo is 100% Cotton Wash Clothes with handmade soaps as a baby shower gift :)

I would love to win!!!

2010-09-10T15:51:00.000-07:00

Take a look at this awesome giveaway!
Man I'd love to win this!!!

http://www.clothdiaperblog.com/cloth-diaper-blog-super-stash-giveaway/#comment-46590

For my babies.

2010-05-11T20:14:00.000-07:00

I know my babies are in Gods arms :) I picture "Suffer the little children to come unto me and forbid them not for such is the kingdom of God"

My Babies

Be informed.

2010-05-06T13:40:00.001-07:00

Think Plan B is safe? Right? In Emergency? Think again. Firstly I am a child of God, I got that way by repenting of my sins and asking Him to save me, live in my life and heart, and take me to heaven when I died. That being said I already know the answers to my first questions. However if anyone is searching for information about this drug then I hope that you stumble upon my post. Maybe it will save your life or your babys life. Take a minute and read the link to the info I'm posting. This drug is being pushed by its makers (ofcourse), it is not safe for a woman or young girl and it in may cases is being used by men as a form of protection on there part. If you are a woman be aware, do not allow anyone to give you pills to take unless you know where they are from. Please, please read this info

[url=http://www.cwfa.org/images/content/mapalec.pdf] Blan B Emergency Pill [url]

All Women, young adults, Christians... need to be informed. Be informed!

Encouragement without saying a word.

2010-04-21T18:43:00.001-07:00

We have these AWESOME neighbors, a couple are crazy but one neighbor we have is just great. I started to clean up the property line between them and us the other day. There was garbage that blew there from the winter, dirt and rocks from plowing, lots of old dead vines and branches, a down fence, well you get the point. So I cleaned alot of it up and raked it all up burning the brush and garbage. We trimmed a few trees. Well our side of the property looked really good. Then yesterday I realized that there side of the property line looks great, they raked and trimmed things up, fixed the fence and it looks awesome. Who knew that encouragement can be done without saying a word :)

Today

2010-04-21T18:39:00.000-07:00

Today we got some landscaping timbers set into place and almost finished the back porch floor. We have a long road ahead of us. We intend on finishing the back porch, landscaping, including planting flowers and making flower beds, finishing the siding on the house, adding another porch on the side and cleaning up the inside back porch. This house must sell soon, it is getting small for us. I pray that God leads us in the direction he wants.

My Love :)

2010-04-21T18:31:00.000-07:00

Ah my love is 34 today, Yup, 34. We have been together for 15 awesome years and married for 13 years, LUCKY 13 ;) He is the Light of my life, The SunShine when the clouds are over head, The Sugar in my Not Tea that I can't drink, The Beat to the rhythm I walk to, My encouragement to get through life, labor, sickness and more. He's the man that said "It's my fault the mower blades should have been sharpened". He deals with my obsessions, my mood swings and my ugliness to myself. I love him. He is what I wanted all my life, He is my everything. My Love.

And the story of my life goes on, LOL

2010-04-21T18:20:00.001-07:00

Last night I was in the hospital! Yup, what a ride. Yesterday I got over zealous and decided that I needed to get off my fat butt and get some exercise, so I thought I would push mow. It started out that I was going to just push mow the front of the house but it looked so darn good that I mowed more and more and more until I had push mowed almost 3/4's of our whole lawn. I was tired a little but I had taken lots of breaks and stayed well hydrated, I know I'm out of shape. After I stopped mowing I had flutters under my breastbone, had a hard time breathing and a ton of pressure on my chest. No pain anywhere but it made me nervous so I called the Dr.'s office and they told me I needed to got to the ER. Well it turns out after 3 hours in the ER and a HORRID drink of Lanicane & Malox that I have extreme Acid Reflux and I had overexerted myself. My male nurse told me I just did this so hubby mows from now on, lol. The funny thing is we have a riding mower in very good running condition but I was to anxious to get my rear in gear. Now I have to be on a diet, YAY. No tea, decaf or caf, it's a total no no. Goodbye to most of my loved food. Maybe now I'll lose some weight, NOT!!!

About Makanah

2010-04-19T14:36:00.000-07:00

BFP~1-11-08 / EDD~9-25-08
Makanah Lyn ~Born 9-19-08 (39w 1d) 7lbs5ozs
9-22-08 6lbs 15ozs
10-7-08 8lbs 13.5 ozs
12-8-08 13lbs 9ozs 24 1/4 inches long
2-12-09 16lbs 6.5 oza 26 1/2 inches long

"Precious"

2010-03-01T17:09:00.000-08:00

I'm ready to post this. I was ready from the start but my husband wanted some time to adjust. On January 19th 2010 we found out, quite unexpectedly that we were expecting again :) We actually had been preventing and were very very surprised that the pregnancy test was positive. A few days later I had a "bleeding episode" as I called it. It was a large amount of blood only when I sat on the toilet. It was gone as fast as it came but was enough to start me worrying. I was nervous as I never had any bleeding with the other kids. I was also nervous because according to me charting, I had no clue as to when I got pregnant and I just didn't think it was right. I knew something was off. A few days after that "episode" I had another. Same exact thing as the first. My nurse midwife, said to have bloodwork done was overkill. I totally disagree. I decided to be prepared for the worst and drove to Walmart to buy pads. On February 3 I got really bad terrible cramps and back ache. I started to bleed real bad. My tests got lighter and we lost our baby. I'm glad I know without a doubt that our baby is in heaven. We named our baby Precious.

Get free tickets to disney

2010-02-11T13:38:00.000-08:00

www.GiveADayGetADisneyDay.com

Go ahead Volunteer, Disney is offering a free tickets to those who volunteer to hlep in their community. Go to the site for more details, be a big helper this year :)

Count your blessings....

2010-02-03T21:31:00.000-08:00

I'm setting here humming to myself, Count your blessings name them one by one...Meme Abby Jr Ariel Moey Arfie... Count your blessing see what God has done, Count your blessings...house friends church body...name them one by one, count your many blessings see what God has done. Thank you God. You are so good to me. I love you.

Its different now :)

2010-01-11T17:04:00.000-08:00

Well I have been MIA for a while and there is many reasons why. Let me tell you. A few months ago we got the stomach virus and we got it bad. For days we threw up, I mean power chucked and dry heaved. Then we never felt good for weeks after. I really never felt right after being sick. So I still had some stomach trouble. Then I started getting this really bad chest pain. I was afraid. I was so scared when it would happen that I thought I was going to die. A few times I was in pain and I was worrying so much that I puked and got panic attacks. I was really losing my mind. Well it just was getting worse. I would be in the store and feel even just a little pain and think here we go again, then I would have a massive panic attack. Heart palpitations, stomach pain, numb extremities, feeling of passing out and way more. I decided that it might be reflux so I put myself on omeprizole 20mg. Finally after Christmas the crap hit the fan. One day I just started panicking for no reason at all. I kept feeling like bad things were going to happen. I ended up in the hospital on Dec 29th. I tried desperately to describe what I was thinking how I was feeling and wondering if I was sane anymore. They gave me a Valium 5mg (wow how relaxing was that!) and ran some BW. Dr was thinking it was PPD, after he asked how old M was he decided it wasn’t (hind sight 20/20, I’m almost sure some of it was). Arthur was there talking with me and I was telling him all my fears. Finally after searching my heart I found out my biggest problem. I was not sure of my salvation. I had been lieing to myself for years and my pride was overcoming me. I cried out to God and asked him to forgive me for the things I had done and my pride, That night I gave him my life and I never want it to change. I went from having to control everything and worrying if I couldn’t to letting God have the control. I don’t have to carry all the burdens anymore. I can read my Bible now with an understanding and I am sure that when I die I will be in heaven with my savior. I was discharge from the Hospital and was told that I should take 5-10 mg Valium every 4-6 hours as needed. I have done a lot of praying and I have read my Bible every day. I am happy to say that God has taken a lot of the anxiety from me. Some days I have to just give my worries to God. I have been doing a lot more with my Hubby and family and am so happy to be with them. I gave God all the anger that I was carrying, toward anyone and everyone. I don’t want to be angry, upset, worried anymore and with God’s help I won’t be. I have only had to take 1 pill since being in the hospital and that was 2 days later. I have had nothing since. Praise God. I went to my Dr last week and he went over my issues. He said my BW said that my thyroid was off and my potassium was low. I have more BW to do at the end of the month. He wants to check my thyroid again. Also said that some might be slight PPD and anxiety. He also said that he is sure I have reflux issues and put me on 40mg of Omeprizole , 1000 Omega 3, Super B complex vitamins and multi vit every day. The reflux meds he said I should be able to wean off in a few months, I may have done damage to my stomach when I was throwing up so hard. I have to see him in 4 weeks. I really feel almost back to normal but very much better. I told my Dr about getting saved and he said getting that straightened out with God was a great thing and that can only help. He said that I am not losing my mind and I can get past this. He was also encouraging to have more kids if we wish and I thought that I would never have anymore because of these problems. So I have been doing a lot more, Getting out of the house, taking my vitamins, praying, reading my Bible, cooking, cleaning. Trying not to feel UN-important.

I have a very addictive personality!

2009-12-28T12:36:00.000-08:00

I don't mean that if you know me you will be addicted to me because I'm so interesting, lol. I only wish, but alas I can't be a genius and have a bunch of friends too :) Anyways on to what I was talking about, I find new things and like them. Like them so much that I go overboard with them. For example, I found the Goodmama diaper love, bought a TON of diapers and guess what, sold most of them because I didn't need them *smacks head*. So forever I have loved Partylite candle and I still do but I haven't really had the money to spend on them or the time to host a party so I can get them cheap! Well My Secret Santa sent me a Yankee Candle Tart warmer and I fell in love.... I went to the mall on Saturday for a little after Christmas Clearance and savings and ended up in Yankee Candle Store. They were having 50% off all there Holiday items!!! I walked out after spending 50$ I got 2 22oz jar candles, 2 shades and 2 plates. LOVE THEM! I bought a ton of tarts from Ebay, I bought tealights (read about walmart tealights) and 2 more jars off there online store (more 50% off prices), then today...hold on to your seat... I bought 8 22oz jars off there online site because they are 12.50$ EACH!!!!! OK I am done spending money on those stupid candles. Hopefully these will last me a long long time. See this is the problem I have, I am addictive! So if you love Yankee Candle go, go, go get some sales, they are amazing :)

Easy DIY change your Fuel filter? Not on our truck!

2009-12-22T19:44:00.000-08:00

A month or so ago we started having chugging in our 2000 Ford Excursion. We thought we had put some bad gas in it and were experiencing water in fuel related issues. So we did all the normal things you might do when you start having vehicle problems. We changes the Air filter, added dry gas, changed the oil and bought a new fuel filter to change. We took a Sunday afternoon and figured we would have enough time to do these few minor fixes to our truck. Art started by changing the air filter, and draining the oil. These things after we had put in dry gas earlier that morning. Then while the oil was draining he decided to change the in line fuel filter. Not so fast! Did anyone know you need a special tool for this? Not us. Do you think the guys at Advanced Auto would have told us? Nope. So I searched the internet for some information. Any information to help us change the filter without the use of the tool. No such luck. I found a picture of it online and Art and I got to work fashioning our own tool. We really didn't want to take a trip to Cobleskill for a 20$ tool that we might never use again (not that 20$ is much but with the trip and all it would have been a pain). We made a tool, I got under the truck to help ( I HATE BEING UNDER A LOW LIEING TRUCK!!! DO I NEED TO SAY IT AGAIN?). Well the tool we made might have worked but it was too cold to keep trying it and of course it was not perfect being as we had never seen this tool in real life. So we had to buy it. It was less then 20$ but it did the job. Actually, Art changed the fuel filter in the church parking lot, after church, in the dark while the kids were in play practice. So yes it is an easy DIY job as long as you have the right tools. Break it down... Make sure you have the tool to change your Ford In line Fuel Gas Filter. It will save you hours of frustration and frostbite, lol
Here is a great link and a picture of the "special tool" Don't ask me what its called. I have no clue and I really don't care, just thought someone might need this someday when you are stuck trying to change your fuel filter.
Our tool looks slightly different but it is basically the same.

http://www.fordf150.net/howto/fuelfilter.php

Homegrown or storebought? Homegrown baby!

2009-12-22T19:35:00.000-08:00

I sent Jr to our neighbors house today to give them a Christmas gift. I made Hot Chocolate and Homemade cake mix for there gift. When he came back he was carrying a dozen of fresh laid eggs, mmmm. I love fresh eggs! When I was a kid we had Rhode Island Red Hens and we got lots of eggs! We loved to search for them. Kind of like Easter everyday ;) Just to give you an idea of how much different homegrown eggs are from store bought here is a picture. Mind you my hands are very large and the egg on the left is very BIG, then next is a store bought egg and finally a small home grown egg! I feel bad for the hen that laid that very large egg, OUCH. One more thing, did you know that when a hen lays an egg she announces it! Yup, that is what all that racket is, lol.

Don't ever buy Walmart Tealights!!!!!!!

2009-12-22T19:14:00.000-08:00

My wonderful Secret Santa from TWW sent me a Yankee Candle warmer with 4 tarts for my Christmas preset! I love it. I wanted to try it out but the only tealights I had was partylite and I didn't want to mess up the scent of the warmer but I found one that was vanilla. I figured that couldn't mess with the scent of the tart too much so I used it. What a wonderful smell! I went to walmart and bought there tealights. They are Mainstays Unscented Tealight candles. Well the first one burned ok, didn't really melt the tart very well. I took a closer look and the tealight doesn't even look like wax 8/ I figured that it must have been faulty and so I tried another one. It didn't even soften the bottom of the tart, not to mention that the flame was TINY! Well I thought maybe I need special warmer tealights so I was just going to use these to put in my partylite nativity scene. These burn so crappy that they only burn a little hole in the what is supposed to be wax ??? Needless to say I am very unhappy with these candles and will NEVER buy them again. I hope someone can read this and not waste there money on this junk. Pics anyone???

Quick Cloth diaper Help and a little info :)

2009-11-22T12:21:00.000-08:00

There are a few different types of CDs, all-in-one, fitteds and prefolds/flats. All-in-ones are diapers that have the absorbant layer,fasteners and cover all in one diaper. Fitteds are the absorbant layer, may or maynot have the fasters and need a cover. Prefolds/flats are just the absorbant layer, these need fasteners (snappy or pins) and cover. A diaper needs to be absorbant and have a closure and a cover of some sort to protect clothing from getting wet. All-in-one,fitteds and prefolds/falts diapers can be ONE SIZE fits most with adjustable heights. They can also be sized, xs, s, m, l, xl. Cloth diaper require a Cloth Diaper safe detergent , you can't just use any detergent. here is a good list...
http://www.diaperjungle.com/detergent-chart.html
They also need to be cared for differently then normal laundry...
http://www.diaperjungle.com/washing-cloth-diapers.html
I suggest buying a toilet sprayer, anyone can install it, I installed mine...
http://www.diapersprayer.com/
Or make your own, looks very easy...you are looking to save money right :)
http://gidgetgoeshome.com/2008/08/25/diy-tutorial-make-your-own-diaper-sprayer/
Now that you know the basics, lets talk covers. I prefer Wool Covers and I knit them myself. I knit longies, soakers and skirties. Lanolize them and they are ready to prevent moisture from coming through.
http://www.cookiepants.com/clothdiaperreview.htm
My second choice is Thirties
http://www.thirstiesbaby.com/covers.htm
or something similar. PUL is excellent for keeping moisture in and your clothes dry :) That is a quick run down with help links. Let me know if you have any questions.

Why cloth for #5?

2009-11-03T15:28:00.000-08:00

I am so thankful I stumbled across a post about cloth diapers. I was on a forum talking with my "peeps" and one of them stated how they just got a great deal on Bumgenius Cloth 3.0 Diapers. I had always thought of cloth diapers as prefolds and plastic pull up pants. That was how my grandma cloth diapered and how I had seen other ladies cloth diaper when I was growing up. I considered using those myself with my first child as a money saver but I wasn't able to have my own washer and dryer so I figured it would not work for me. Well child after child I struggled with buying diapers. I wanted to buy the best... Huggies...Pampers but couldn't afford them and so conceded to buying the cheapest I could find. I had pee leaks almost every night and when my child would poop it was a poop-splosion! Out the legs...up the back sometimes in there hair! YUCK. I was sick of it. When I heard the word Bumgenius I was on a mission. I now owned my own home, had my own washer and dryer and felt I could tackle cloth diapers. WOW was I surprised. I never knew there was such trendy cloth diapers as Bumgenius, Fuzzibunz, Kissaluvs, Happy Heiny's, Swaddlebees, Grobaby's and even way more Work at home mom designs! I had no clue there was all-in-one diapers that required almost no work, all I had to do was put it on my child and wash it when it was dirty. In January of this year we started cloth diapering our 5th child. I wish I had done it sooner. My diaper stash now consists of Bumgenius 3.0 One Size (no need to buy different sizes), Bumgenius Organics (all-in-one organic), Happy Heinys and Goodmama diapers. I love the ease of Bumgenius. They are great for an on the go family like ours. Easy to wear out, just as easy as a disposable to change, trendy and the best for the environment to boot! They are just as simple to wash. A dirty diaper goes in the diaper pail (just like a disposable), then every 2-3 days they go in the wash. 1 wash with an extra rinse and they are clean. Hang or in the dryer to dry! All ready to go on the bottom again. The diaper bag is no different to pack either. I hope that you are reading this because you are contemplating cloth diapering and I hope I have encouraged you to do so. Best of luck!