Easy (Digital) Money!

 


I'm not sure I've mentioned this before, but I love Swagbucks. Basically, you just sign up and go there to search whenever you need to "Google" something. They have a search bar, and you are awarded points according to whatever you searched for. For example, I once typed in "Obama Election" and got 5 points! On average, I get a point or two a day. However, your points do add up and then you redeem them for prizes. The site has a ton of prizes, but I am a big fan of the Amazon gift cards. You can get a $5 Amazon card with 45 points. I have gotten a few of these, and it really helps with birthday/Christmas!

So...click on the picture above to start getting some sort-of free rewards! And, oh yeah, I get points when you get points. And then you share with your friends and then you get points. And on and on...and everyone's happy.

P.S. Shameless plugs don't make me happy. They make me feel lame. But everyone is a winner here, right?

 

 



 

Zombieland!

Best ZomCom ever! I hope Zombie Comedy becomes an actual genre. I would be so happy.

Top 5 Reasons why I absolutely loved Zombieland:
1.) Only 87 minutes long. Every movie should be this long. Or short.
2.) Bill Murray plays an actor playing a zombie mistaken for an actual zombie. Yep.
3.) What's scarier than a zombie? A clown! What about a zombie clown?
4.) Tallahasee (Woody Harrelson's character) searches for a twinkie the entire movie. He finds a Hostess truck and to his dismay, the truck is full of Hostess Snowballs. Of those, he says he hates them. Not the flavor, the consistency. So general coconut hatred is reaffirmed!
5.) Despite the extreme gruesomeness and the whole escape-from-zombies plot, the true theme of this movie is finding joy in the little things, like the people in your life or a simple favorite snack. That message reverberates at the end, so you leave the movie feeling all warm and fuzzy.



"First girl I let in to my life, and she's tries to eat me" Columbus

I have been thinking lately of how my mom made me a Zombie Survival Kit for my birthday, which was so awesome. The zombie survival guides you see at the bookstore are actually bestsellers. So, thinking of zombies and hashing out what to do during a zombie apocalypse (is it just me and Fox that has this conversation on date night?) is actual very useful in preparing for any extreme emergency. Around the time I was thinking of this, I found my old quote book, where I had copied this:

"We're not just afraid of predators; we're transfixed by them, prone to weave stories and chatter endlessly about them, because fascination creates preparedness, and preparedness, survival. In a deeply tribal sense, we love our monsters". Edward Wilson, biologist.

So, sometimes it is good to draw out your zombie escape plan with your husband on an Olive Garden napkin.

Sugar-Free Candy Corn

What is this, candy? Coco thought. Hooray!


Wait a second...this isn't sweet...



Go back to where you came from!



(For some strange reason, I got on a huge crochet candy corn kick last week. They are cute and fun, but I have no idea what to do with them!)

Oh, Robin...

Hood, that is. The BBC television series. Why do I love you so?
Is it because your characters have the greatest onscreen chemistry of all-time?



or that your eery Sheriff of Nottingham wears sparkles and paints his toenails black?



or maybe because your show has a fabulous, amazing costume designer?


Well, BBC Robin Hood series, you are awesome, but you broke my heart in series 2. Seriously, even my cat cried.

I don't think I can see you anymore

(but I will watch fan videos on Youtube while dipping spoonfuls of peanut butter into melted chocolate chips).

No-Fail, Yummy Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies

Remember my post about being excited about coconut? I still love coconut. Today, I had to make a dessert for a church function, and I decided to make coconut cupcakes--just a simple chocolate cake mix with a yummy, homemade coconut frosting on top. So, I took them to church...and, well, I guess people are just not as into coconut as I am. I have a whole tray of cupcakes sitting here. I guess that's breakfast!

What people are into are these yummy chocolate chip cookies that I make a few times a month. Everyone loves them, so I will share the recipe. These aren't the healthiest, but they are no-fail. And the wheat part makes you feel less guilty!

Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies (recipe from Betty Crocker)
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg
2 cups Gold Medal® whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 package (12 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips (2 cups)


1. Heat oven to 375ºF.
2. Mix sugars, butter, vanilla and egg in large bowl. Stir in flour, baking soda and salt (dough will be stiff). Stir in chocolate chips. Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls about 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheet.
3. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until light brown (centers will be soft). Cool slightly; remove from cookie sheet. Cool on wire rack.

 
 

 
 

 



 

Finally! Pregnant in America Review

Things that make me happy: anyone pro-natural childbirth! I first blogged about the documentary Pregnant in America a year and a half ago
  but I hadn't watched it until today. I found a link to watch it online for free here: so I used naptime to watch it.

The verdict? Amazing. Best birth video/documentary I've ever seen. Less gory, less anti-hospital, less shock-tactic than a certain other recent documentary on birth.
Pregnant in America follows a couple (the filmmaker and his wife) as they research birth options and hospital birth practices while they are expecting their first birth. There are interviews with all of my favorite people in the natural birth community, including Kerry Tuschoff, who I spent four days with this month as she trained me and 25 others to teach her method of hypnosis for childbirth called Hypnobabies.

I loved that this film documented birth practices in Holland and Germany. Probably not a good idea to keep watching docs if I want to continue happily living in America.

Most importantly, I loved that this film had a "You create your own reality" message, which is a central tenet of Hypnobabies and a general fact of life.

This film is not shocking. It is thoughtful, educational, and beautiful. It is just part of an underground movement to change the way birth is done here, and I'm so excited to get to be a part of it (when I start teaching Hypnobabies...soon!).

Using up Fabric

Okay, I saw this ruffle pillow tutorial and loved it! I had a sad looking pillow lying around that doesn't match anything in our house, so I decided to make a slipcover with ruffles for it:

and an hour later I had this:

Cost: $0! Although the pillow is still misshapen, at least it's cuter, right?