Archive for September, 2009

09-02

2009

Guest Post Fridays

I would like to start a mini project, Guest Post Fridays. The idea is that you want to write about a topic, generally something specific, could be related to tech (computers, mobile phones, etc), blogging (cms, css, xhtml, etc), attachment parenting, and so on. The plus-sides for you would be: increased traffic, increased exposure, helping me out (especially the closer I get to having the baby!), and more. Any takers?

archived under: Snippets

{16 comments}

09-02

2009

Small Additions to OSN

I’ve added a few tidbits to OSN. On the links/elsewhere page I added a small area at the bottom suggesting exchanging links (NOT to be confused with “link exchanges”). I got more specific on the submit a link page on WHAT links I will accept at this time. I added a new feature, Guest Post Fridays. I also added on the right sidebar, the five most recent posts on Nocturnal.

archived under: Snippets

{4 comments}

09-03

2009

Cloth Diapers

We received yesterday (no thanks to UPS, LONG story) our first order of cloth diapers from Jillians Drawers! Mind you this is the first “batch” if you will since we will still need at least another 12+.

And lastly, my son testing one out (yes those are Star Wars sheets), we didn’t have the fancy BumGenius 3.0 one-size CD when he was a baby!

archived under: AP

{11 comments}

09-04

2009

Guest Post: Vegan Tortilla Pizza

Hello, everyone! My name is Lisa Marie from Lisa’s Thoughts. I’m a married mom to one, and have been eating Vegan for going on a year and a half now!

When I first found out that the lovely Sarah was going to start allowing guests to post here at OSN, I jumped at the opportunity to post a delicious recipe. I’m hoping to be able to share more with you in the future. Now onto the good stuff!

There are times when I just don’t feel like cooking. I know, that’s hard to believe coming from me, right? Ordering out is rarely an option though.

I hate spending $25 — $50 on one meal when I can spend even less at the market and make enough to feed my entire family.
Being a vegan I don’t have many options. I don’t want to overkill the very few that I do have.
I almost always get sick after eating somewhere other than my own kitchen.

So even on those lazy days I still find myself cooking. However, I have learned lots of tricks along the way. I try to make it quick, make it as healthy as I can and without spending a ton of money. One of my favorites is Vegan Tortilla Pizzas. For only $15 I make enough pizzas for a family of 6. Not bad, huh?

The good thing about these pizzas is that they’re light yet filling at the same time. The flour tortillas make an excellent “crust” because it gets so crispy. I don’t know about you, but I love a thin, crispy crust. Also, you can be as creative as you want to be and don’t have to worry about fussing over the dough. There’s no rolling, stretching, pulling, punching, etc. Pull a flour tortilla out of the package, place it on a baking sheet, load it up with your favorite pizza toppings and pop it in the oven. It’s that simple. Here is a favorite in my household.

What you will need

1 package of fat free flour tortillas
1 package of Lightlife Gimme Lean Sausage (pssst… it’s also fat free)
1 container of Whole Foods brand freshly made pizza sauce
1 package of Follow Your Heart Mozzarella Flavor Cheese
nutritional yeast flakes
crushed red pepper
oregano

Directions

1) Preheat oven to 375°. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2) Cook sausage according to instructions on the package.
3) Place flour tortillas on baking sheet. Spoon 2 heaping tablespoons of pizza sauce onto the tortillas and spread out evenly. Sprinkle some of the nutritional yeast flakes over the sauce (I usually just pour a little into my hand and lightly sprinkle some on top). Next top with crumbled sausage. Last top off the pizzas with slices of cheese.
4) Bake for 10 minutes or until the edges are browned and turning upward (similar to the photo at the beginning of this post).
5) Sprinkle some of the crushed red pepper and oregano on top of the pizzas. Using a pizza cutter, cut the pizzas into 4 triangles. Enjoy!

Of course you can use your own pizza sauce if you’re feeling up to making it. Since this is considered to be one of my lazy dishes I opt for a pre-made sauce. And like I said, you can be as creative as you want to be. Load those bad boys up with some veggies! Roasted garlic, spinach and cheese is my personal favorite. I also like broccoli and cheese. If you have children have them help you out in the kitchen. Let them create their very own pizza. It’s a fun way to get them to eat their veggies. Not to mention less work for you. Have fun!

archived under: Guest Post

{6 comments}

09-10

2009

quick update

I know I’ve not been around this past week, too much stress I suppose! I’ve been working like crazy on a new design which I hope to get up, no later than Monday. Also, just a reminder if you want to submit a guest post, now is the time!

archived under: Snippets

{no comments yet}

09-11

2009

Guest Post: 5 Tips to Improve Reader Usability

Happy Friday everyone! My name is Angel and you can find me at Static-Romance. I’m a freelance graphic designer and web developer from Florida. I’ve been blogging for over five years now at various places. I’m so grateful Sarah has opened an opportunity for me to guest post here at OSN.

Lately, I’ve been connecting with many personal bloggers who blog about everything from babies to handbags. Having a blog is a wonderful experience for the blogger and the reader. As an avid blog reader, I enjoy visiting a site that is optimized to make reader usability easy. However, there are some things we, as bloggers, don’t realize make our sites easier for readers. Here’s five tips to improve reader usability.

1. RSS Please

I cannot express how important it is for a blog to have a visible/active RSS feed. I know some of you are wondering, “What is RSS?” RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication.

Your users use feed reader or news aggregator software allow you to grab the RSS feeds from various sites and display them for you to read and use. — Whatisrss.com

If you have no idea how to set up your RSS feed with your CMS, I would suggest getting a Feedburner account. Feedburner is the easiest way to track your RSS feed readers, optimize your RSS feed, and share your RSS feed. One of the biggest turn offs is not being able to find a site’s RSS feed. I will usually never visit the site again if I can’t find an RSS feed unless they have outstanding content. Bookmarks are so 2004! More people use RSS feed readers than you think.

2. Battle of Categories and Tags

I cannot stress how important it is to organize your organize your categories and tags. As a reader, when we visit your blog and we find a specific topic interesting, we’d love to find more entries about this topic. If you have 200 tags, you make it hard for us to search through what we’re looking for. Be sure to not overdose on categories and tags. Always use correct spelling and grammar when naming your tags/categories. It’s easier for you to organize and it’s easier for the reader to find them.

3. I Can’t Read Your Text

Have you ever visited a blog and thought, “I love your turquoise text. I really do, but I’m sure you don’t expect me to read your blog entries.”? Despite the fact that I’m terribly far-sighted, as a graphic designer, I cringe when visiting blogs with terrible text readability. Text that is too small, with tiny letter-spacing, and tiny amounts of line-spacing turn your readers off!

Remember that it’s always nice to have a great blog design, but be sure your text colors aren’t clashing. It’s nearly impossible for anyone to read light-colored text on a light background without straining their eyes. Always be sure to use dark text on a light background, and light text on a dark-background. Try to steer away from harsh colors such as #ffff00 yellow and #ff0000 red when it comes to text.

4. Do You Need A Compass To Navigate Your Site?

What’s the best way for your readers to discover everything on your site? Using the navigation! Most blogs offer a menu of the pages they offer on their site. How is a reader meant to read more about you when they can’t find the page? It’s important to have a well-styled menu. Use grammatically correct terms. It’s tempting to name your links after your blog’s “theme” however it may be confusing for your readers. Be sure your navigation is easy to find. It’s best to have it at the top or in a sidebar. It may be a hassle for the reader to find your pages if they’re all listed in the footer. Navigation is key! Don’t let your readers get lost.

5. Don’t Forget Us!

It happens to the best of us. We all get into some situation where we just get tired of blogging. Blog burn-out gets to all of us at one point or another. I’m terribly guilty of this, seeing that I didn’t update my site for over three months at one point. However, you at least owe it to your readers to tell them you just are tired of blogging. There’s nothing worse than following a really great blog and the blogger disappears. Then he/she reappears years later saying how much they missed us, only they didn’t give us a proper goodbye.

When all else fails, turn to guest blogging. If you can’t blog, find a friend who will blog for you or put your site on hiatus. It’s easier for the readers to know that you’re leaving the blogosphere than to have them constantly checking your site daily, wondering when you’re returning.

I hope you enjoyed the post! I hope to return to guest post here at OSN sometime in the future. Have a wonderful weekend!

archived under: Guest Post

{4 comments}

09-11

2009

Redesign: Autumn

Redesigned… again! I may blog more in-depth later, but as you can see I removed the submit links area, added a larger sized footer, and little stuff no one but me notices really. Feedback would be appreciated.

archived under: Snippets

{7 comments}

09-17

2009

Processing the Negative: Pregnancy and Upcoming Birth #2

It’s interesting how sudden I lost the ability to think, to write. I’m sure this is partly due to the fact that my due date with baby boy #2 is NEXT FRIDAY. Sounds more scary that way, doesn’t it? I feel so unprepared and I can’t quite put my finger on “why?”. I guess I was a bit resigned to the very real possibility that my oldest son was going to be an only child, oh and I still haven’t packed a bag, installed the car seat, do not have enough cloth diapers, etc.

It’s also interesting, when I look back on this particular pregnancy, the cloud of anger and negative attitudes I’ve received.

My former place of employment pretty much threw a fit, (I was hauled in almost daily to “discuss” my pregnancy), I lost pretty much every single friend, (or so-called apparently), I was told OFTEN especially in the first trimester by employees I didn’t even KNOW that I had “options” to “deal” with the pregnancy. I found it so highly offensive considering when I found out I was 27yrs of age, in a solid relationship, working full-time, oh and already was a mother! That’s not even to get into the comments by the management…

I’ve had to deal with such negative and mis-informed thoughts/opinions/attitudes about the birth from family and the few friends I have left. Yes, it’s a big list:

NOT letting my newborn be given eye drops (they are used to “treat” the baby’s eyes if the mother has a STD) was illegal
Without having the medical profession TELL me, command me, to push that my body literally wouldn’t know how
It’s not possible to birth without being on your back
I would have to (god forbid) sign waivers if I declined the HepB vax (my baby isn’t born shooting heroin/having sex)
That waiting to go to the hospital for my VBAC would 100% result in the baby being born in the car
Having a VBAC would automatically mean my uterus would rupture, so why try
I should have a repeat c-section, because it’s selfish of me to not “choose” my baby’s birthday
I was told I can’t handle pain, I would “need” the epidural because of how I was after having the c-section & gallbladder removal surgeries. Because labor and birth are exactly like major abdominal surgery apparently.
That I am “idealizing” the birth, because “what if?!” the baby presents with his hand by his face, his heartrate drops, etc. That I haven’t “prepared” for every single possibility. Somehow my having a VBAC makes all the “what if’s” certain events.

Actually there is a ton more but even just going over those make me testy. I’ve not even gone into all of the actual parenting crap that has been spouted at me regarding breastfeeding, no circ, co-sleeping, no vaccinating, cloth diaper, etc. I really REALLY do not get how people can even TALK to me about breastfeeding in a negative way (for those who know me personally) especially considering my son NEVER had a drop of formula, no bottles, no pacifiers, and self-weaned himself at 4yr. I think I can handle breastfeeding another child the same way. I also don’t understand why anyone would think I would change the way I parent in general.

Oh yes, I am a bit with the rage. What makes it ok for ANYONE to spout crap without doing any research? An “opinion” isn’t FACT.

Sigh. Generally I try to not let it get to me, but lately that’s proven to be very difficult. I don’t know what I would do if I didn’t have the full support from my boyfriend and son. I know at the end of the day that’s all I really need.

When did it become ok, and even applauded, to attack someone for not being mainstream? Has anyone else dealt with being shunned, verbally attacked, etc, for the way you parent?

archived under: AP, Thoughts

{20 comments}

09-21

2009

Huge Photo Post: Rokky the Cat, Pancakes, and the Boy Slicing Berries

Just not feeling very well lately, super exhausted, most likely my body preparing for labor soon enough! I would appreciate feedback on the photos!

archived under: Photography

{7 comments}

09-25

2009

Vent: Birthing Scare Tactics (long)

Some of you know from following me on twitter that I was in the emergency room at Northwest Community Hospital (in Arlington Heights, IL) for a severe migraine (I’ve been suffering from them for years, they are not pregnancy related).

I had gone originally in the evening on Wednesday night, they tested me for Group B Strep (common to be tested around 36wks, if you test positive, you get antibiotics during labor) of which I am negative for, gave me some pain meds, had the on-call OB take a peek at me. He palpated my belly, made a comment that the baby was average, maybe even on the smaller side size wise. He also said that I was a great candidate for a VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarean).

Sadly, the migraine rebounded and I had to go back yesterday (Thursday). We were there for approx 8+hrs. The arrival itself went smoothly, although, like usual, they discounted my very large history of migraines and assumed it HAD to be pregnancy related, naturally, it wasn’t.

The first doctor that came to the room performed a cervical check on me, during the migraine itself where I could not think, focus, etc, (as anyone who has had a migraine can atest to, your brain doesn’t WORK during a migraine) and it was extremely painful. So much so that I am very sore today. He also tried to force my legs open even though I told him I physically couldn’t open them past a certain point, due to my separated pelvis.

I was then declared to be 1cm dilated and 50% effaced. He then started to berate me for choosing to have a VBAC, how HE would NEVER choose that, I wondered how he thought he would ever be faced with that option considering he was male, no uterus, no vagina, etc.

So they finally give me pain medication, once it kicked in they proceeded to do a full ultrasound to check fluid levels and such. The ultrasound tech commented that I was very articulate and “good with your words”. She told me the baby looked great, heads down, and approx 8 1/2 — 9 lbs, measuring EXACTLY on time for my due date (which is today by the way).

I was then put back into the hospital room, where my 7yr old son had fallen asleep, my boyfriend was dozing (he had only slept maybe 3 hrs the night before) and I was pain free so I was focused on getting the heck out of that hospital! The nurse came in, told us that a different doctor NEEDED to speak to us before we would be permitted to leave, we simply assumed he wanted to review the radiology report from the ultrasound.

TWO HOURS LATER, he comes in the room, throws himself in a chair, and proceeds to attack me for not having a repeat c-section.

Fear Tactic #1 He told me it was Illinois State LAW that unless I had “proof” of the uterine incision I had, that I had no “choice” but to have a c-section. I asked him to provide me with written documentation of this law. Twice. He then recanted and said, “well maybe it’s not a law, but I’ll tell you NO hospital will ALLOW you to VBAC without it”. Right ok, so first fear tactic and lie. Interesting.

Fear Tactic #2 He then tried to tell me that my unborn son has macrosomia. Interesting since by all proven documentation the baby would have to be about 10+ lbs for that to be the case, the ultrasound tech GUESSTIMATED 8 1/2 — 9lbs, and ultrasound is the LEAST reliable method to determine baby’s weight, could be off as much as TWO POUNDS. I am not measuring ahead, baby is not measuring ahead.

My oldest son was born at exactly 39wks and was 8lbs 3oz. My twin sister was 6days overdue and her daughter was 8lbs, 13oz. Just to show the general “size” of our babies.

Fear Tactic #3 He then attempted to use my separated pelvis against me, trying to tell me a “large” baby would damage it further. In all actuality, the fact that my pelvis is the way it is, actually gives my body the ability to birth a larger than “normal” baby.

All in all, he spent about an hour trying to scare me, shame me, etc. It didn’t work. All it did was make me utterly furious. He finally left the room and had a social worker come up (due to our health insurance issue), and I told her how he was with me, how upset I was, and she actually recommended we go to a different hospital (that is literally a 3minute drive from our house, as opposed to Northwest which is about 30 min away), that it was his practice who was on-call and they would try to force a c-section on me.

I am so angry still. I had nightmares of being at a social event and watching women be tied down and have forced c-sections performed on them all night. It was horrific.

As it is, I plan on waiting as long as possible before going to ANY hospital, I would prefer to go when in transition or better yet, when I have the urge to push.

There is no way I can be coerced into a RCS (repeat c-section), I am too angry and stubborn heh. I also have a great advocate in my boyfriend. However, not only do I have to fight for the birth ITSELF, but the moment my second son is born, I have to fight to prevent them from forcing formula down his throat, coating his eyes in Erythromycin ointment (the eye drops they use on newborns, is supposed to be used when the mother has gonorrhea or chlamydia for example), giving him the Hep B vaccination which is no longer even recommended for newborns (I don’t think my new infant will be shooting up heroin with dirty needles or having unprotected sexual intercourse the moment he is out of my womb), the Vitamin K shot (to prevent bleeding in the brain, usually it stems from an issue with the liver), and lastly, making sure they do not circumcise him.

I highly need feedback on this entry and encouragement. I would appreciate if you could retweet this as well. I need all the help, advice, encouragement, etc.

Today is my due date with my second son and instead of being mellow and enjoying the feel of him kicking my ribs, I have to worry about the medical profession doing harm to us, or punishing us, simply because I am an overweight mother who had a previous c-section due to my oldest son being a footling breech.

ETA on 09/30/2009 The 2^nd hospital, Lutheran General in Park Ridge, IL, is even WORSE. I explained more in the comments, but this statement from the SECOND OB (they tried to have EVERYONE who was there try and force me to have a RCS), told me that even if I showed up with the baby CROWNING they would “force” me to have a RCS.

I am in VERY early labor and have been since Monday morning. Insane amounts of bloody show, hopefully things kick in soon. Right now it looks like I am going to have an October baby, funny enough my own Birthday is Oct 17^th.

archived under: AP, Thoughts

{36 comments}

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