Unless you have been living under a rock, you know about the best/worst thing to happen to creativity: Pinterest!
It is a website where you can search for different crafts, recipes, etc and 'Pin' ones that you like to a virtual board for safe keeping. If Google was smart they would have done this a long time ago... how many times have you searched for a product, recipe or craft and then once you found it you weren't able to remember where it was you found it or how to do it?? Well, I do it all the damn time and that is why I love Pinterest... you can virtually hoard all of those DIY crafts and recipes that you find.
Another great aspect of Pinterest is 'following' people, so if you have a friend that has excellent taste, you can follow what she/he pins and then steal them from her/him. It has also convinced me that perfectly good strangers and I would be the best of friends, based off of their 'pins'.
I have used quite a few of the recipes I've found on there to great success; Philly Cheese Steak Stuffed Green Peppers are so far one of my favorites. The treat plates that I made for Christmas this year were solely based off of Pinterest recipes; Red velvet cupcakes with chocolate decorations, Peanut butter balls squashed in between pretzels and dipped in chocolate, sugar/cinnamon roasted almonds, 'Lumps of Coal' rice crispie treat balls with black food coloring, and brownie cookies with Wilton buttercream frosting and dipped in crushed peppermint. All were very delicious and I had to make a plate for us to keep at the house so I would stop eating everyone else's.
Tons of craft things are on there as well and I have had such a fun time twirking them to fit my own tastes.
With my best friend expecting (a boy!) I have started getting lots of ideas for her baby shower. Decorations, game ideas and favors... I'm so excited!
Needless to say, I spend entirely too much time looking at this on my phone. Way too many of my conversations start with "I saw this thing on Pinterest..." but I have benefited from it too much to criticize it... too much.
"Life isn't about finding yourself, It's about creating yourself"
Friday, January 25, 2013
Jackson Hole
For the last four years or so, Mondo and I have gone snowmobiling during the winter. It's a nice weekend getaway and is fairly reasonably priced. We always invite people to go up with us and once in a while they do. This year we went with a different tour company and went trail riding in Jackson Hole Wyoming. We have been going through West Yellowstone in Montana but I think we have seen all there is to see in that small town so we decided to branch out this year. The trip was Mondo's Christmas present because he is so hard to shop for.
Some friends of ours, Martha and Jorge, came up with us. We drove up together in my dad's Jeep and got drove into Idaho Falls for some lunch at the Steak & Waffle house, great combo am I right? We rolled into town around five and started the search for the hotel I found on the internet... Siri was not our friend and we ended up at a similarly named skeezy hotel- thank God it was the wrong one! We walked into the lobby and pushed a doorbell on the wall, when the door opened it was to a 12-year old looking girl in her pajamas watching Nickelodeon on her couch. I would have been very upset with Hotels.com if this was the place... Once we got to the right place I was very impressed. For cheaper than it was to get a dingy bed downtown for the night we were housed in a ski lodge resort. It was very much worth the money we payed and would definately stay at the Snow King Resort again... just don't do their breakfast... continental breakfast for 'sit-down' breakfast kind of prices.
That first night we saw a couple of moose in the tennis court, took one of those silly 'old-fashioned' photos (He told Martha we could do whatever she wanted... he should have been more specific), ate some bomb pizza and somehow ended up at this great cowboy bar. My husband hates country music, dancing and hanging out in bars- this was an amazing night in my book!
I also found a new favorite winter time drink. It was called a Snow Bunny- but that makes me feel like I need to dye my hair blonde and have fluffy boots on so I shall come up with a better name for it... it was coffee, chocolate vodka and whipped vodka with whipped cream on top. It was warm- the chocolate/whipped/coffee mixture tasted like a cafe mocha- delicious!
Snowmobiling was great, saw the beautiful Teton mountains, froze my arse off and got some great pictures. Our tour guide Tom was hilarious and really made the trip twice as fun as it would have been with anyone else. There was a couple from London, Michigan and some gentlemen from North Carolina with us. The poor gal and her boyfriend from London decided to be adventerous and each rode their own sled, I always make Mondo drive and just enjoy. She was a little too leary of man-handling the sled and she went off into the trees. Needless to say she was traumatized after that- we parked the sled on the side of the trail and she doubled up with her boyfriend. Since Tom would have had to tow her sled back- I volunteered to drive it down the mountain on the way back to the trailer. He went very slow for me and I ended up doing great- I def enjoy being a passenger better though.
We went to a local brewery for dinner, Snake River Brew Pub had some delicious food, even better dessert (gourmet S'mores) and the boys got to try all the beers that they made there.
It was a very fun weekend and I'm so glad everyone enjoyed it. I will post pictures once I get a chance to.
Some friends of ours, Martha and Jorge, came up with us. We drove up together in my dad's Jeep and got drove into Idaho Falls for some lunch at the Steak & Waffle house, great combo am I right? We rolled into town around five and started the search for the hotel I found on the internet... Siri was not our friend and we ended up at a similarly named skeezy hotel- thank God it was the wrong one! We walked into the lobby and pushed a doorbell on the wall, when the door opened it was to a 12-year old looking girl in her pajamas watching Nickelodeon on her couch. I would have been very upset with Hotels.com if this was the place... Once we got to the right place I was very impressed. For cheaper than it was to get a dingy bed downtown for the night we were housed in a ski lodge resort. It was very much worth the money we payed and would definately stay at the Snow King Resort again... just don't do their breakfast... continental breakfast for 'sit-down' breakfast kind of prices.
That first night we saw a couple of moose in the tennis court, took one of those silly 'old-fashioned' photos (He told Martha we could do whatever she wanted... he should have been more specific), ate some bomb pizza and somehow ended up at this great cowboy bar. My husband hates country music, dancing and hanging out in bars- this was an amazing night in my book!
(Proof!)
There was a live country band playing great songs, wonderful drinks and enough Wyoming-strength beer that my husband offered to dance with me. I also found a new favorite winter time drink. It was called a Snow Bunny- but that makes me feel like I need to dye my hair blonde and have fluffy boots on so I shall come up with a better name for it... it was coffee, chocolate vodka and whipped vodka with whipped cream on top. It was warm- the chocolate/whipped/coffee mixture tasted like a cafe mocha- delicious!
Snowmobiling was great, saw the beautiful Teton mountains, froze my arse off and got some great pictures. Our tour guide Tom was hilarious and really made the trip twice as fun as it would have been with anyone else. There was a couple from London, Michigan and some gentlemen from North Carolina with us. The poor gal and her boyfriend from London decided to be adventerous and each rode their own sled, I always make Mondo drive and just enjoy. She was a little too leary of man-handling the sled and she went off into the trees. Needless to say she was traumatized after that- we parked the sled on the side of the trail and she doubled up with her boyfriend. Since Tom would have had to tow her sled back- I volunteered to drive it down the mountain on the way back to the trailer. He went very slow for me and I ended up doing great- I def enjoy being a passenger better though.
We went to a local brewery for dinner, Snake River Brew Pub had some delicious food, even better dessert (gourmet S'mores) and the boys got to try all the beers that they made there.
It was a very fun weekend and I'm so glad everyone enjoyed it. I will post pictures once I get a chance to.
Friday, January 4, 2013
Text-A-Nurse
I am a nurse. I have been an LPN for two years and just got my RN- I am by no means an expert on things. Nursing school throws a million different illnesses, diagnoses, treatments and scenarios in your face and you are lucky if you remember the 80% that it takes to pass your boards. I have worked in a short-term rehabilitation center (fancy old-folk's home) and now I work at a surgical center, an ambulatory surgical center: where we only get same-day surgeries with fairly healthy patients.
Somehow this has translated to my family/friends as "Oh, I have a question related to my Period/Bowels/Urine/Etc., I am going to ask Natalie all kinds of complicated questions and she better have a solution"
I did not sign up for this shiz... I love to help, I really do- but I'm not a Gastroenterologist and the closest I come to specializing in Obstetrics and Gynecology is the fact that I have a vagina and hope to one day have kids...
I'M SORRY! I don't have a magical answer for you and you probably aren't going to like my diagnosis of "Well, if it isn't getting better after trying A, B and C, I would call your doctor"
In the odd case that I do know the answer to something- it's not because I have experienced it in the work place, it is probably because I have at one time or another diagnosed myself with it on WebMD: OMG, I have that!!
Again, I will reiterate- I do like helping- I am more than happy to take a swing at whatever it is that you are about- However I am still in that stage of my career where if I am not 150% sure of what I am saying- I WILL refer you to a better source, oftentimes that will be your MD.
On the flip side of that realize that your MD sees roughly 40 patients a day who all watch enough medication ads to 'diagnose' themselves and if they aren't taking you seriously when you really do have a problem- it is your right to speak up for yourself. Take control of your own healthcare and be responsible for your well being. Write symptoms down along with what seems to make it better/worse. Write down questions that you have and be empowered enough to ask them when you have their attention in the office- most likely you will not get that much detail in an answer if it goes through several people and is left on your voicemail. These things are not bothersome (or shouldn't be) to your doctor and will ultimately help them make a better diagnosis for you. If it does bother your doctor, they refuse to answer your questions or you get brushed off when you really feel like something is going on: Get a new doctor. They obviously don't need your business enough to care and there is someone out there who will.
That is my two cents and just realize that I will begin charging $5 a text for bowel/menstrual/urine questions that I receive throughout the day... effective immediately.
Somehow this has translated to my family/friends as "Oh, I have a question related to my Period/Bowels/Urine/Etc., I am going to ask Natalie all kinds of complicated questions and she better have a solution"
I did not sign up for this shiz... I love to help, I really do- but I'm not a Gastroenterologist and the closest I come to specializing in Obstetrics and Gynecology is the fact that I have a vagina and hope to one day have kids...
I'M SORRY! I don't have a magical answer for you and you probably aren't going to like my diagnosis of "Well, if it isn't getting better after trying A, B and C, I would call your doctor"
In the odd case that I do know the answer to something- it's not because I have experienced it in the work place, it is probably because I have at one time or another diagnosed myself with it on WebMD: OMG, I have that!!
Again, I will reiterate- I do like helping- I am more than happy to take a swing at whatever it is that you are about- However I am still in that stage of my career where if I am not 150% sure of what I am saying- I WILL refer you to a better source, oftentimes that will be your MD.
On the flip side of that realize that your MD sees roughly 40 patients a day who all watch enough medication ads to 'diagnose' themselves and if they aren't taking you seriously when you really do have a problem- it is your right to speak up for yourself. Take control of your own healthcare and be responsible for your well being. Write symptoms down along with what seems to make it better/worse. Write down questions that you have and be empowered enough to ask them when you have their attention in the office- most likely you will not get that much detail in an answer if it goes through several people and is left on your voicemail. These things are not bothersome (or shouldn't be) to your doctor and will ultimately help them make a better diagnosis for you. If it does bother your doctor, they refuse to answer your questions or you get brushed off when you really feel like something is going on: Get a new doctor. They obviously don't need your business enough to care and there is someone out there who will.
That is my two cents and just realize that I will begin charging $5 a text for bowel/menstrual/urine questions that I receive throughout the day... effective immediately.
There's a Snake In My Boot!
.... or rather A Dachshund In My Robe!!
My dog Randy is a .... special dog. This is a dog that only plays Chase Me (no fetch, no chew toys- nada), cries when you try and rough-house with him (aka playing like a normal dog) and carries mouthfuls of food from his bowl to the carpet to eat (the fake-wood floor is too cool on his feet/belly).
Since he has been banished to the floor at night (or until one of us goes to work in the morning) I have donated my Wall-E fleece blanket to the little man to burrow into.
Early this morning, 2AM-early, I hear a whimpering cry... Oh man, poor guy is having a nightmare! I only think this because he has them quite often- Lord knows what trauma this dog has endured that he gets night terrors. He'll be done in a second... when the crying continues I start to feel bad for the little man. I fling my legs over the edge of the bed and see that he was sleeping in my robe (My mom got me one for Christmas and in my attempt to not run around in my underwear looking for clothes everytime the FedEx man rings the doorbell I have been trying to get in the habit of wearing it) which I had dropped next to the bed.
I couldn't fault the guy-it was fleece just like Wall-E... thinking he had tangled himself up into it I bent down to him and noticed that he had gotten so cozy that he burrowed his way into the sleeve... when it started to get snug he panicked and tried to force his way out: Resulting in a long Doxie nose sticking out of one sleeve and the rest of his little body stuck.
I laughed so hard at my poor idiot dog- if he was a human we would be best friends and share embarrassing stories about ourselves together... It would be very creepy if he still rubbed his nose on my feet in this case...
My dog Randy is a .... special dog. This is a dog that only plays Chase Me (no fetch, no chew toys- nada), cries when you try and rough-house with him (aka playing like a normal dog) and carries mouthfuls of food from his bowl to the carpet to eat (the fake-wood floor is too cool on his feet/belly).
Since he has been banished to the floor at night (or until one of us goes to work in the morning) I have donated my Wall-E fleece blanket to the little man to burrow into.
Early this morning, 2AM-early, I hear a whimpering cry... Oh man, poor guy is having a nightmare! I only think this because he has them quite often- Lord knows what trauma this dog has endured that he gets night terrors. He'll be done in a second... when the crying continues I start to feel bad for the little man. I fling my legs over the edge of the bed and see that he was sleeping in my robe (My mom got me one for Christmas and in my attempt to not run around in my underwear looking for clothes everytime the FedEx man rings the doorbell I have been trying to get in the habit of wearing it) which I had dropped next to the bed.
I couldn't fault the guy-it was fleece just like Wall-E... thinking he had tangled himself up into it I bent down to him and noticed that he had gotten so cozy that he burrowed his way into the sleeve... when it started to get snug he panicked and tried to force his way out: Resulting in a long Doxie nose sticking out of one sleeve and the rest of his little body stuck.
I laughed so hard at my poor idiot dog- if he was a human we would be best friends and share embarrassing stories about ourselves together... It would be very creepy if he still rubbed his nose on my feet in this case...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)