Mother's Day Crafting

Mother’s Day is tomorrow and we all know what that means - homemade gifts are coming! My children have given me candles with their messages & drawings stuck on, flower pots, hand print creations, paintings, macaroni art, and some of the other traditional crafts. I love them, but most of them end up in storage somewhere. My household is full of nerds & we will proudly tell anyone that this is a fact, so I thought we could come up with a nerdy craft for the kids & I to make together for their grandmother this year that wouldn’t collect dust. Most recently, my kids have gotten into Harry Potter. I know he’s been around for awhile, but can anyone really get tired of the magic? Turtle Mae is a Hufflepuff like her momma, but Turtle Monroe joined their grandmother in Slytherin (this does not bode well for her teen years - eek!). Both of my girls said we had to do something Harry Potter themed.

After spending way too much time browsing Pinterest, we decided on bath bombs in house colors. I borrowed from a few different posts to create our final recipe & we all loved the idea of putting them inside the mini plastic cauldrons. Grandma gets green for Slytherin, but we have to make some for us to play with as well of course! I had everything ready over a month ago, but I'm a true procrastinator & put it off until last minute. Yesterday was the day I realized I do not have another week like I thought I did so we finally got to work. I now have baking soda and mica powder everywhere, but the kitchen smells good & the bath bombs look great!

If you’d like to make your own, simply use the recipe below. The choice of food coloring and essential oil scent is up to you & helps make each bath bomb unique. After packing the cauldron halfway, you may also add a necklace, charm, pin, or other small item before adding more on top so that the recipient finds an added surprise. If your kids are in to Shopkins, those little plastic balls they come in are perfect for placing your hidden gift inside. Enjoy our pictures & have fun making your own whether they’re for a gift or a much deserved evening of pampering yourself!

What You'll Need:
3-4 Mini Plastic Cauldrons
1 cup baking soda
1/2 cup citric acid
1/2 cup epsom salt
3 Tbsp avocado oil
2 tsp essential oil
10 drops liquid dye for soap (use 5 drops each if mixing colors)

optional:
mica powder (your choice of color)
isopropyl alcohol

In a large bowl, mix the baking soda, citric acid, and epsom salt together. Make sure to remove all clumps (you can press them through a sifter if that's easier). If it is not well blended, your bath bombs may develop bumps on top.

In a small bowl, stir together your liquid ingredients. Be careful not to add too much color or you may end up staining the bathtub!

There are different ideas on the best way to add the liquid to the dry ingredients. Some prefer to put the liquid in a spray bottle and squirt a small amount at a time while using their hands to mix everything together. Some dump it all & then stir quickly before it fizzes up. I don't have the patience to use the spray bottle & I've always ended up with a fizzy mess when I add everything, so I pour a small amount of liquid at a time into the dry and mix quickly. This is also a good way to prevent your bath bomb mixture from being too wet which will cause cracking or crumbling later. The best consistency is like damp sand. You want it to hold when squeezed together and not crumble apart.

Using a small spatula or spreader, scoop a bit of the mixture at a time into the cauldron & pack it in firmly before adding the next scoop. If you are adding a hidden surprise, once the cauldron is about 1/3 full, pack some of the mixture on the sides and then drop it in the middle. Scoop more of the mixture on all sides of the surprise and pack it down before finishing filling the cauldron.

Allow your bath bomb to dry overnight. If you'd like to add some sparkle (makes it look magical!), add some isopropyl alcohol to a small spray bottle and spritz the tops of your cauldron. Dip your finger in the mica powder (you may want to use a glove for this step), and rub it gently on your bath bomb. You can add some white pearl mica to make it look a bit more swirly. Allow it to dry a bit more and then wrap your bath bomb in plastic wrap or use a small heat shrink bag to seal it up and keep moisture out until it is ready to use. Ta-da! Potions class dismissed!

Read More

Don't Stress About The Mess

I don't know what your house looks like, but mine doesn't exactly look like one of those beautiful homes in the magazines where everything is perfectly in place. We have an overwhelming amount of stuff. If you visit, you'll probably find toys in nearly every room, dishes in the sink, piles of laundry that need washed or clean clothes that need put away, & just general clutter.  I fill trash bags & my hubby takes them for donation or the consignment shop, but I swear the stuff just multiplies after each load leaves! I would love to have a gorgeous clutter-free home where everything is perfectly clean & organized, but I also enjoy hanging out with my kids & hubby. Energy is limited so I make sure the worst messes get taken care of & leave the stuff that can wait so I'm not too tired to make memories.

Usually, I feel really guilty about the state that our home is in & my inability to get things caught up. I should be able to clean my own house, but the reality is that it's incredibly difficult to complete just one task so the odds of me doing several are pretty slim. The kids may grumble about their chores, but they are really good about helping Herbie and me out & I'm incredibly grateful to have such a fantastic family. Even though we're always behind on housework & the clutter is ridiculous, the dirt is cleaned up (mostly).

At least the coffee table is clean!

Struggling with balance between a clean house & fun is not a problem exclusive to those of us with MS. At the urologist's office today, the nurse & I had a chance to chat while waiting to use the ultrasound machine. Now that her son is getting married next month, she was reflecting on all the time spent cleaning that cut into her time to spend with her children before they grew up and warned me not to do the same. She said that when her kids were young, she would make sure their house was pristine - always fussing over anything out of place or a speck of dust on a shelf. The nurse sighed and said, "All that time wasted." Nowadays, she makes sure her house is still clean, but doesn't obsess over it & instead focuses on enjoying life.

 I can't be the only one looking around at the mess and feeling like a terrible parent. As long as your home is clean enough to keep you sane, let go of the guilt & leave the rest for the days when you have extra time & energy. The mess will always be there, but your child looking at you with those big eyes begging you to play with them will not. What fun thing will you be doing today?

Read More

Definitely Not Meant To Be A Chef!

I’ve never been a great cook. My sister loves to tell everyone about the time I hollered for help because my thumbs were stuck in an egg I was trying to crack. My college friends will share that I cooked all my meals, and even their birthday cakes, in the microwave. My husband will tell you that for the first couple years that we were married, I frequently ruined meals & had to measure the amount of water to boil for macaroni & cheese. You get the idea…

While I’m not as terrible as I used to be, I’m still not fantastic. Most of my new recipes are failed attempts. Every once in a while, I’ll have a happy accident where I made it incorrectly, but it still tasted okay. Usually, I’ll tell my hubby I’m trying something new & he tries to hide a sigh. Sometimes he’s pleasantly surprised, but most of the time he’s right to be concerned.

Lately, I’ve been trying to eat healthier (think lots of smoothies & salads). I’m trying to give up grains & dairy, but it’s been difficult. My cupboard is now filled with coconut flour, arrowroot starch, tapioca flour, nutritional yeast & other ingredients that are foreign to me. Herbie & I are a bit skeptical that we can make a yummy “cheese” sauce with potatoes, carrots, & nutritional yeast. I’m sure we’ll let you know soon how that comes out! We will try anything once, so if you have a great recipe feel free to share it & I’ll be sure to post photos of Herbie helping me make it!

Read More

My Journey To Diagnosis Part Two

Today’s adventure is starting on the couch. After spending a fun, but very cold day at Carowinds on Sunday and working yesterday, I am exhausted. I stared at the floor that needs swept & the pile of dirty dishes in the next room and decided that it would be easier to type up the second part of my diagnosis journey instead. Those tasks can wait until my energy level recovers.

We left off with a misdiagnosis of occipital neuralgia which meant I ventured into the pain clinic for occipital block injections. These are scary to think about, but in reality they are not too terrible. Before giving the first one, the Dr. explained that the injections will be given during an ultrasound of the back of the lower skull. He then went on to tell me that the reason for doing this is to be sure the injections are placed in the correct location. Being slightly off could cause partial paralysis or, better yet, turn me into a vegetable. Welcome to what I called the weekly round of “Russian roulette”! For added fun, they may blur your vision for an hour or two. Freaked me out the first time since no one bothered to mention that, so if you ever have to get them and that happens, no worries!

Each week I would have a new symptom: my right arm would go numb, my legs would feel like my feet were planted in cement, my left arm would go numb, my left leg would feel really weak, etc. While driving to work one day, I felt a vibration in the middle of my spine and was trying to figure out how in the heck my cell phone had gotten behind my back. I searched while stopped at a red light only to discover my phone was on the passenger seat beside me. Weird. I could’ve sworn that I felt it vibrate from a text message. For the next few weeks, if you saw me jump a bit in the middle of a conversation, that was the reason. Every time I received my blocks I would ask the Dr. if that was normal for occipital neuralgia & each week I would get the same response: everyone responds to pain differently. I knew my headaches were bad & my pain tolerance is pretty high, but I found it hard to believe that I was in enough pain to cause all these random symptoms.

After receiving the occipital blocks for 6 weeks, I was told that I had been given the maximum and would have to wait another 6 weeks before resuming them. My speech hadn’t slurred for a couple weeks & some of my newer symptoms had come & gone so I thought maybe they had been helping a bit. The first week without them was okay since it was the normal timeframe between shots, but the second week was interesting. Each day I felt worse & another symptom would return until I collapsed at work one day. It was super embarrassing to have them practically carry me through the store & out to the car in the parking lot. I told myself that since my symptoms usually got better overnight, I’d be fine again in the morning. Haha! My body had other plans. In the morning, I was still unable to stand on my own & we ended up going to the hospital.

Doctors and nurses assured me that the walker they gave me would only be used while I was at the hospital. A few days later, they changed their tune & it would only be for a few weeks at home while I did physical therapy. Eventually, it became “The walker is your best friend & you should never leave your best friend alone.”

Hanging with the walker my incredibly talented sister painted for me

It’s been just 2 years since MS tapped my shoulder & insisted I pay attention to it. My "best friend" & I are still enemies at the moment, but I’m grateful for my friend’s presence at some point each day. Every time I see a new Dr. or speak with someone else who has MS I hear the same words: “Wow, that’s fast for MS!” I guess it must be true since I’m told that so often, but I’m just lucky. MS certainly isn’t funny, but I’ve become clumsier than ever & laugh at myself & my situation often. No worries! It could always be worse!

Anyway, that’s the gist of my personal introduction to MS. For those of you who are also battling your way through daily life, I would love to hear your stories!

Read More

My Journey To Diagnosis Part One

It’s no secret that I have multiple sclerosis. For those of you unfamiliar with this condition, the nervous system of the individual attacks the lining (myelin sheath) of their nerves. Have you ever tried to charge your phone with a power cord with an area of the wires exposed? It shorts out a lot so you have to fiddle with it to get it to actually charge. That’s how my nerves work. Certain nerves in my body are just not sending the signal properly. They call MS the snowflake disease because no one has all their lesions in the exact same locations as someone else so each person is uniquely affected. This diagnosis does not define me, but it does have quite an effect on my daily life so I thought I would share my story.

I’m not exactly sure when it began to be honest. It’s possible it was lurking for years before insisting that I pay it more attention or it could truly be a recent development. Either way, it started tapping my shoulder around the beginning of 2016. I’ve always had migraines, but they were monthly & predictable. They rapidly increased in both frequency & intensity until I was having a pretty good one daily. My Dr., thinking it was hormonal, ordered a hysterectomy. This was THE BEST mistake ever!!! I did not miss my cycle at all, but it didn’t help the migraines.

I was given a referral to a neurologist and, a few months later, (who knew neurologists were so hard to book???) she looked at me for 5 minutes & decided it was occipital neuralgia. This Dr. referred me to physical therapy as well as a pain clinic, but the pain clinic was going to take several months to get into. I did physical therapy for a bit where they gave me neck exercises to do & massaged my occipital nerves (where the skull meets your neck), but it didn’t really do much & I started having other issues. I never heard from that neurologist again.

I found myself at work one day slurring my words. I shrugged it off and decided my headache must be worse than I thought & I would nap when I got home so I pushed through. A couple hours later I was staring at the computer screen. What was I typing? Oh crap! How do I type??? By the time I would remember the word, I couldn’t figure out how to get it on the screen. Once I figured out what a keyboard was, I couldn’t remember what word I needed to type. It took me a ridiculous amount of time to type a 3 sentence email to our district manager & I can only hope it made sense. I think that’s the point where I started to think that maybe there was something really wrong.

Are you still reading this? Wow! The next part is where the fun really begins. I started my weekly rounds of what I called “Russian roulette”. For those of you still interested in reading my ramblings about my journey to diagnosis, you can find out more in my next post. Thanks for following along!

Read More

Welcome To My First Post

Hey there! If you’ve found this blog it’s either because you know me, have received a diagnosis that’s left you searching the web for anyone going through the same thing, or stumbled across this randomly while bored. Whatever the reason, I’m glad you’re here!

Like comics? Let’s chat! Need to save money? I’ll talk about couponing for as long as you’re willing to listen. Parent needing a laugh or a place to vent? Perfect! Have MS and  need someone who understands what you’re going through & has experiences to share? I’m here!

I decided I wanted a place to share my tips, tricks, & crazy stories. Welcome! My turtle companion, Herbie, rides along wherever I may go. I’m a bit camera shy, so you’ll be seeing a lot of him. Since it’s our first post, I’ll just share a few photos from our day.

Picked some wildflowers with the kids

Fun on the swingset

A giant bowl of popcorn & Despicable Me 3 before bed

Read More