Pregnancy Nesting

At almost 26 weeks of pregnancy i have noticed my Nesting instinct kick in.

Nesting is the urge we get to start creating a home for our new born; somewhere safe, cozy and clean.

As we have decided not to find out the sex of our baby until its born... I have been keeping to a gender neutral color pallet as i start buying little bits and peaces for the nursery.

Sticking to tones of cream colors, wooden brown (crib) and highlights of turquoise. Baby pink or blue will be incorporated latter on.  All together this gives the room a little bit of a vintage look.

Yesterday was Monday and i started taking upon my self to clean the room that will be the nursery as well as the rest of the house step by step.

I would like to get as much as i can done before i become to heavy! Already bending over is not an option as the baby is a little bigger than the usual for 25 weeks; said the Doctor, at our last scan. This makes me believe that it might be a boy ;)

This week end we made our first purchase for baby clothes. Nothing much just 4 baby vests and a hat. Oh! and also a pair of curtains that i happened to find second hand in great condition for just €6.00 :) Nevertheless it was exiting to pick them out together with my hubby and imagine our little bundle of joy wearing them soon.

So yesterday was Nesting Day 1:

I ended up washing window, windowsill and shutters of the large window in the baby's room.

Then came the fun part which was hanging up the curtains we had picked up this weekend!!! It is incredible how curtains change the image of a room with not to much effort.

The next item i would like to purchase for the room is a double bed quilt in the same color pallet of the room. We decided to keep the existing double bed in the room to come in handy if we have guests over or for those night when baby keeps us up. I will probably also make use of the bed as a changing station.

Also on the to-do-list is to get hold of some of those small hangers for baby clothes. Luckily most times when buying baby clothes they come already on the hanger which is very convenient if you planning to hang clothes. But nevertheless i think it will be a good idea to get a few more. I know IKEA carries them and will probably be taking a trip there soon. I might also start making compartments in the wardrobe for the smaller items like hats, socks, mittens and other little items.

We are expecting in the beginning of winter so i want to make the nursery as cozy as possible. Hopefully i will be able to save up a little and get a nice rug or carpet for the room. Financials are really an issue these days so i will be looking out for a bargain.

Hopefully i will be able to add a few pictures of the nursery soon when things start taking shape.

But until then i still have a lot of scrubbing and cleaning to do!

Practice makes a perfect Business

We all have heard that practice makes perfect!

This should be no different when it comes to starting up your own business. So once you have done some soul searching and found that special idea that excites you to move forward don't just jump in to it with no experience in your back pocket.

Make a Plan:

Decide on a time span that you can afford and that would be adequate to gain a good amount of experience for the idea that you have chosen. As my idea is creating a home cake bake service i have set aside the next 4 months for practice/experience and experimentation.

Goals for this time period:

During this time my goals are to bake as much as possible.

 - Try out new recipes without being afraid of the flops.

 - Keep all the good recipes and make my "bake bible"

 - Have as many people as possible taste my creations and give me their honest opinion. (keep an 

   open mind and take critical criticism constructively)

 - Volunteer to bake as many cakes for special occasions as possible (birthdays, celebrations, 

    baby-showers, family functions etc.)

 - Day Dream about what my business will be like... Thinking of names (just as if you were planing 

   on having a baby). Your business should feel like something you love and want to nurture just like 

   a  new born baby.

 - Take advice! Listen to the people around you that have more experience than you and learn as 

    much as you can from them.

 - Save!!! Having the means to start your own business is probably what will make or break you. If 

   you worried that you may not have all the funds that you need start saving! If you can save 10 

   dollars; those are 10 dollars more then you had yesterday!!!

 - Be afraid! If  you do not fear about what may or may not happen; then probably you are not 

   thinking to seriously about this new change! Being scared helps you stay focused, challenges your 

   determination, makes you practice more and work harder to achieve your goals. So don't be scared 

   of feeling scared!

Here is a sneak peak to one of my practice cakes "Doukisa Cake with a Summer Theme" (we made this to take to a friend house when we were invited for drinks...

I believe this still needs some more practice to make perfect. But it was a good start and i probably know what needs to be adjusted now so that the recipe will be perfect.

Apple & Cinnamon Cake

So i made this delicious apple and cinnamon cake that wowed everyone at the office!

 Loads of people have asked me for the recipe! So here it is:

Ingredients:

3 Cups plain flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
5 eggs
1 1/2 cup sugar
1 cup oil
3 cups chopped up Apples
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 teaspoons whiskey
Some icing sugar to sprinkle on top (i also sprinkled a little cinnamon on the top)
Butter and flour / non stick spray for cake pan (not to stick)

Preheated Oven: 170°C

Here is How:

Step 1 - Wisc the flour and baking powder together in a bowl.
Step 2 - In a larger bowl beat your eggs until frothy. Add sugar to the eggs and keep beating until creamy. Once creamy add the oil and whiskey to the eggs and sugar mixture.
Step 3 - Add slowly and one cup at a time the flour mixture to the egg mixture.
Step 4 - Add in a separate bowl your chopped up apples and one teaspoon of cinnamon. Mix together so all the apple has cinnamon on them.
Step 5 - Add the apples to the egg and flour mixture folding in with a wooden spoon.
Step 6 - Butter and flour your cake pan to insure no stick.
Step 7 - Poor the cake mixture in to cake pan and allow to bake for about 40min.

 Here it is:

 

Saving achievements and setbacks

From the beginning of the month i had planned to save some money as last month i had literally found the bottom of my savings.

This has not been easy but i have still not lost hope; with 17days left for the end of the month the goal is to save €140.00 which would be double of what i was able to save last month.

There have been quite a few demanding challenges to overcome this month and i have been trying to tackle them one by one with these few steps: 

Lower the Bills:

We all know that they are coming and they can not be stopped. The bills will end up at our door step no matter what we do! Nevertheless this does not mean that we can not do our part in lowering the amounts. By taking caution of the electricity use at home i was able to lower our electricity from the usual €90.00 to € 63.00. :)

• I was able to do so by making sure to remember to use the full potential of daylight and not switch on lights during the day. Also remembering to turn the lights off when leaving a room. 

• I reduced our loads of washing to once or twice a week rather than the usual three times a week. Bonus! i don't have a bunch of folding to do so often :) 

Second Hand:

Preparing for a new baby one of the first items on our must have list was a Stroller and car seat. After searching online for a while; we were able to find a good quality stroller (Graco Evo pushchair stroller with car-seat) second hand in great condition and for the fraction of the price of a brand new stroller. I'm not saying it was easy! we had to go through a lot of rejects as many adds would say good condition but in reality they were quite worn away, used and abused. Nevertheless we finally got lucky and i am super happy with our purchase of €95.00!
So i recommend having a little bit of patients to search and check out what is out there second hand.

Creative Gifts:
This month happens to be high wedding season here in Cyprus. Meaning... we have to not only attend but provide wedding gifts for many couples to who's wedding we have been invited to. For a special friend who i wanted to give something nice to i ended up making her a hand crafted, 3D-bridal duplicate of herself made from POLYMER CLAY which i had at home. She thought this was very special and ended up loving it. So, i was able to give her a gift that i was proud of without having to spend extra.

Catalogue Shopping:

Besides making a list of all the things we needed from the supermarket and keeping to the list. I was able to find the Specials Catalogue of some of our local supermarkets online. I made sure to get the items that were on my shopping list according to the Specials and Offers that were advertised on the catalogue. Yes, this might mean that you would have to sacrifice your favorite shampoo brand for an alternative one that happens to be on special. But surprisingly enough i have discovered brands that i like even more with this tactic; brands that i would probably not have tried if not for this new shopping system.

I must admit that i was not all good this month...
On the days where i felt to tired and to pregnant to even think of cooking i fell in to the temptation and easy solution of ordering in or eating out.

Also ended up buying a few things that i had not planned on purchasing this month. That is what happens when you get the idea of just taking "a walk" in the mall!

Also indulged in a night at the movies which came up to about € 32.00 for 4 people.

I estimate that my setbacks have a total of € 132.00

So, with 17 days left i am hoping to have saved €140.00. It would be great if next moth i could double that amount but lets see how this month goes first!...

Lego theme party decor

Here are a few more creative ideas that we used for our Lego Themed Party (Christening)

Photo Booth 

This was great fun to have at the Party and most of the adults enjoyed it maybe even more than the kids :) It was a fun addition to the Lego themed Party.

Styrofoam Lego Decor

My sister and her hubby stayed up all night spray painting these Lego centerpieces that came out looking amazing!!!

One for each table...

 

 

Actual Legos

The younger kids were entertained for hours playing with actual Legos that we had here and there. We also ended up with beautiful creations to take home...

Lego Crayons for Lego theme Party

Here are some creative ideas that were used for our Lego Themed Party (Christening)

Lego Crayons

What you will need: 
Lego themed silicon mold 
Old (or new crayons)
Oven
Knife (or scissors)

Method:
1. If your old or new crayons have paper on them; peal the paper off.
2. Sort your crayons by color
3. Cut the crayons in to small pieces
4. Preheat oven to 220 C. 
5.Fill the molds with small pieces of crayon (after a couple minutes in the oven you can    pull them out and add more pieces of crayons to the ones that needed it.)
6.Place mold on a baking tray and into the heated oven for 5 minutes to completely 
   melt.
7.Once fully melted, take out of oven and let them sit for about 10 minutes. Then 
   place in the fridge or freezer till hard.