38 Weeks

I'm going to be an aunt any day now. And I'm not talking about the Asian aunt, where everyone and anyone is called "auntie". My brother +Van Tran  and sister-in-law +Cynthia Chau are expecting their first baby girl and we are all so excited. They already picked out the name, but they've been very tight-lipped about it. All we know are the total number of syllables! But we'll all find out soon enough! I was adamant that we capture some photos of this cute baby belly before baby Tran decides to make her appearance so here's one of pictures I snagged earlier this week. 

Homemade Cream

I found a recipe for homemade eczema cream on Pinterest a while back and decided to give it a go since I have miserable eczema on both my shins. I read a lot of the comments and was skeptical about the ground up oats in the recipe, but there were enough positive comments that I went with it anyways. I'm never one to follow instructions exactly so I ended up using: 
- organic coconut oil (4-5 large tablespoon scoops)
- olive oil (a quick swig in the pan)
- shea butter (a tablespoon?)
- ground oats (1/4 cup unground)
I melted everything down in pan and poured the mixture into various jars I had laying around. As others had mentioned, the oats all settled to the bottom so I gave the containers a good shake every so often as it was setting. This worked like a charm to keep the oats suspended in the mixture. Unfortunately as I was using this mixture, I soon discovered that I absolutely hated the ground bits of oat. It felt like I had sand all over and since I used it right before bed, I constantly had to de-sand myself before climbing in. After a few days, I gave up and put the jars over my heating vents and the oats all settled to the bottom as the mixtures melted. I have since used up everything I made and I made a second batch. This time I altered it a bit just to see what else would work well with my skin. 
- 4 parts coconut oil
- 1 part petroleum jelly
- 1 part shea butter
- a swig or two of olive oil
The petroleum jelly gave the mixture a very soft clear consistency, almost like a very warm jelly. What's been amazing about it so far is that once you apply it, the greasiness literally disappears! It's fascinating! Even Jamie commented that it wasn't oily feeling like the first batch. I gave some of this new mixture to my brother and dad, both who have eczema on their shins (inherited much eh?). My eczema has been improving but is nowhere close to being cleared. If something miraculously clears up my legs, I'm patenting it! 

Happy National Nurses Week!

I'm going to keep this post short and sweet. It's National Nurses Week. We don't always get the praise I think that we deserve. You'll need a nurse at many points in your life, starting from the minute you're born all the way till the end of your life. I've been a nurse for 8 years now and although I haven't loved every minute of it, I do love the career I chose. You have likely seen a lot of these ecards floating around and most of them are funny because of the stereotype but many of them were funny with a very sharp edge. This one was true, funny and unoffensive so it won me over. 

My original plan for my nurses was to make cloth covered buttons to go over the retractable ID badges. Unfortunately this wasn't as easy as I thought it'd be. Turns out, there's a fancy dancy tool you buy to make fabric covered buttons. Who knew? Not I! So plan B was to go with what I knew and what I had on hand: leftover wedding fabric! I cut some circles out, lit my French Baguette candle from Bath & Body Works and plugged in my hot glue gun. I even made one for myself! Hopefully my nurses like them. I spent yesterday afternoon stamping up some cute little cards with a colleague and it was a fabulous Sunday. Happy National Nurses Week to all my fellow nurses! 

Administrative Appreciation Week 2013

Hopefully everyone knows how much administrative personnel are needed in any work environment. They truly are the oil that keeps all motors running smoothly. Without them, things would break down pretty darn quickly. They aren't always recognized for the work they do or the importance they play and it's unfortunate that sometimes I hear them say things that refer to themselves as "the bottom of the totem pole". I personally think their role is just as important as any other role. Without them, many offices, hospitals, work sites, just wouldn't be able to function. I wanted to let me clerical staff know that I value each and every one of them. With the help of +Jinnee Barazzuol and her Silhouette and Armor Etch,  I was able to customize a mug for each of my staff. I tucked a little handmade card in each mug and hopefully they all like it! 

Khuno Turns 5

I can't believe my little pup turned 5 last week. I would take you on a trip down memory lane with some photos of Khuno as a puppy but our network drive is down so I can't access them. Needless to say, he was cute as can be with him being all of a whopping 10 pounds. I still remember picking him up from the airport cargo area. We heard his poor puppy barks from the waiting area and our hearts instantly melted. He's caused us a lot of grief over these past 5 years, but we can't imagine our lives without him. He brings us such joy. I mean, look at that face. How can you not love him? The little hat was compliments of +Cynthia Chau. I'm glad Khuno has a little cousin, Audi, to keep him young at heart. Happy 5th birthday my sweet puppy. 

Canon CP900 Selphy

My friend, +Jinnee Barazzuol told me about a printer that she bought not long ago as she embarked on her 2013 Handbook Album and it peaked my interest in the idea. With my Project Life album well on its way... into May 2012... I figured it might not hurt to have the convenience of a small home printer. What I've typically done in the past was pick a weekend where I'd sit down and go hard at PL, figuring out layouts, creating collages, uploading photos. I'd print months at a time and just load them up to Costco because it was convenient for Jamie to pick up. But the idea of being able to print the photos and slot them in within minutes was appealing! I trusted that +Jinnee Barazzuol did her research and she had no complaints about the printer she got so I hoped onto Amazon.ca and ordered myself a Canon CP900 Selphy and 2 extra ink cartridges and paper. I could have swung by Staples to pick it up but why, when I could get it delivered straight into my hands? Many reviews talk about a line that runs down the left hand edge of the phone and I unfortunately have to admit that the line exists. The good news: it doesn't always show up! I had lines on all 5 photos that I printed with the test cartridge that came with the printer. After loading in a new ink cartridge and a full package of 18 sheets of paper, the line disappeared! I'm not sure if the line will reappear once I run low on paper/ink again, but the convenience definitely outweighs the line. 

A few things that I like: 
- Good quality photos
- No drying time required
- Convenient and easy to use software
- Can print from smartphone app
- Photos are coated and supposedly last 100+ years
- Small compact size means I could take it on a trip with me
- Did I mention it was uber convenient?

Things I don't fancy: 
- Slightly smaller than 4x6 size (the perforated edges take off some extra paper
- The cost per photo is as much as I would pay through a professional printer
- The dreaded line (sometimes)
- Glossy paper (I'm a matte fan)

In the end, I'm happy I bought the cute little printer. It is a lot smaller than I anticipated. If you look at the picture I uploaded, the 4x6 photo can be used to compare the size of the actual printer. Not much bigger at all then a standard 4x6 photo. Do you print your photos at home? What printer do you use? Do you even print photos anymore? How do you archive your photos? I'd love to hear ideas! 

New Craze: Overnight Oats

Apparently everyone is on this bandwagon of overnight oats. I heard about it from my friend, +Penny Nabozniak. She's been whipping up containers of these and can't say enough good things about it. She showed me a popular link, The Yummy Life, and also to just search on Pinterest. I finally decided to give it a go since I had all the ingredients conveniently in my house already! As you have likely learned by now, I'm not a huge follower of recipes and this might be the contributing factor to why I skim recipes. This time was no different! I dug out some old mason jars and attempted to follow the recipe from The Yummy Life: 

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup uncooked old fashioned rolled oats
• 1/3 cup skim milk
• 1/4 cup low-fat Greek yogurt
• 1-1/2 teaspoons dried chia seeds
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon honey, optional (or substitute any preferred sweetener)
• 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce, or enough to fill jar

What my recipe ended up looking like:

Ingredients

• 1/4 - 1/3 cup uncooked old fashioned rolled oats (one oatmeal serving is typically 1/3 cup)
• skim milk (enough to make the whole mixture a soggy cereal consistency)
• 2 heaping spoonfuls of greek yogurt (if you use plain, you may need some sweetner)
• 1 tbsp dried chia seeds (I like the crunch)
• small handful of almonds for extra protein
• whatever other flavorings you'd like to try

Some flavors I've made so far: 

- a spoonful of apple jelly, dash of cinnamon, toasted sesame seeds

- frozen blueberries and bananas with honey Greek yogurt

- fresh strawberries and banana with honey Greek yogurt

I've learned that more milk is better than less milk for me. I'd much prefer a runnier porridge consistency then the solid gelatinous chunk I found the first morning I made it. I think the recipe said she left her non-fresh fruit ones for up to 3 nights and yup, my apple cinnamon one had no issues when I ate it on the 3rd morning. The fresh strawberry banana one was starting to get iffy by the 2nd morning. This is way better than eating plain yogurt and I love how you can prep a few days worth at once. We pack this for our late morning snack since Jamie and I are always missing our lunch and we've even packed it this past weekend as an after swimming snack.  

Have you tried this before? If not, let me know if you do up trying it.