What's Happening Lately - 8 Months Overdue Edition

SO. Long time no post! I doubt anyone's reading this at this point (and why would you? I never update!), but what the hell, let's catch up.

• I put on my first play! It was a middle school play, and it was terrible, but I learned from it and I'm still proud of myself for getting it on. I'm putting on another play this spring, and I'm about as prepared now as I was for the last one, but I will start working on it next month. Right now I'm a little busy. 
• Despite my terrible debut, I was hired back at my job! This is my first time returning to a teaching position, and I couldn't have been more thrilled. I really love the student population and my coworkers, so I was so excited to be asked back, and I worked my butt off for a fair amount of the summer to prepare for the school year. I'm so excited to be a contributor to making my school the best program it can be. To the point where my current big life change makes me feel a little guilty that I can't devote myself to contributing as much as I want to (but they're totally accepting and understanding of it at my school, which makes me want to do as much as I can with what time I can devote there)! At the moment, though, I'm not at work and I won't be back until December. Why? Well...
• I kind of hinted in my last entry at some news I wanted to share but couldn't share? Well, I can finally share it!
  
  
  
  
  
  And I'm 8 months overdue on it! Not only was I pregnant, but I gave birth! Yeah, I'm WAY behind. I wrote my last entry when I was just 6 weeks, and we hadn't gone to the doctor yet to get the official "Yup, you're knocked up" confirmation yet. But I'd taken 3 pregnancy tests and they'd all come out positive, so it was looking fairly good. Luckily, it stuck and our beautiful baby girl was born just on the brink of the Libra astrology time frame. As silly as it sounds, I love that she was born a Libra, as I am a Libra as well and I think Libras are awesome.
  
  I wish I'd posted while pregnant, but there wasn't much to post and I was just so tired I usually slept when I had a free moment. I was lucky in that most of the pregnancy was easy until the last few months. I had gestational diabetes, which required insulin injections (ow) and twice weekly non-stress tests (ugh), but that was about as hard as it got. Not saying I want to jump right into the next pregnancy, but I'm hoping if we are lucky enough to have a second one (planned or happy accident) that it will be similarly easy.
  
  The Hubs and I love being parents so far, as exhausting as it is. She's the cutest baby ever, of course, because she's our baby and we're totally biased, but she gets lots of compliments from strangers so we're feeling pretty good that it's not just our bias blinding us and that she is, in fact, adorable. So far she's a good baby, too. She's a good sleeper and a good eater, and when she's fussy it's usually easily resolved. Babies are fairly simple - they're either hungry, wet, gassy, or lonely. The only problem is figuring out which one is the issue in order to stop the crying. ;) Whichever scientist creates a legitimate baby translator will win the Nobel Prize that year, I swear.
• Speaking of Libras, tomorrow is my 33rd birthday! I usually live for my birthday, but I'm too braindead and tired from the little angel pictured above to really give a crap at the moment. The Hubs has promised to pick up dinner from wherever I want for dinner, and I think I'll treat myself to a long shower and an attempt at shaving my legs. I haven't shaved them since I was at least 8 months pregnant, because it hurt to bend over. I could braid my leg hair at this point. Otherwise, eh. I'm too tired to care, and leaving the house with a newborn is just too daunting a task right now. I know we need to leave the house eventually for reasons other than her pediatric appointments, but I'm still not quite ready. Luckily, most people are willing to come to us, which I greatly appreciate. 

So yes, I've gone from a Hot Mess Housewife to a Hot Mess Momma! We'll see how it goes, but I will post cute stories when I have a moment. No guarantees! But I want those who've been through it to have the opportunity to laugh at my naivety, of course. 

What Works for Me: Healthy Habits Checklist (Free Printable!)

  Download link: JPG  PDF

So not only am I doing all that healthy eating junk, but I'm ALSO getting my teeth health junk in order, too! Nothing serious, but my dentist would like me to brush my teeth twice a day (I'm a mornings-only brusher) and floss at least once a day (Yup, I'm REALLY bad). I'm naturally blessed with good quality teeth; I'll be 32 this year, and I still have only had one official cavity! My gums aren't great, though, and I went through a deep root planing 2 years ago and I will be DARNED if I have to go through THAT again, ugh. (I'm sure it's nowhere near as bad as a root canal, but it was bad enough to make me want to be better about my teeth!)

I've been pretty good the last week or so, but it's not a habit yet, so I thought it might help to put a little checklist near my bathroom mirror so I can check it off. I wanted it to be reusable, and then I decided I wanted it to be cute, too! So my solution: Make a cute graphic (like the one above - yup, I made that!), and use one of my favorite teacher tricks for cheap whiteboards: Put it in a document protector and use wet/dry erase markers for the writing and checking!

Use the wet-erase marker for the habits you want to work on, and the dry-erase marker for the check marks. This way, you can erase your check marks without having to re-write your goals every day. (Of course, you could always use PicMonkey to "write" it on the image itself.)

I haven't had a chance to take a picture of it in action, but it's nothing fancy, just in the clear sheet protector. :)

Hopefully this checklist helps you keep track of your daily goals! You can do it!

Fiesta Friday: A Foster-Parent Shower of Love

About 2 years ago, our friends the J's started the process to become foster parents. For miscellaneous reasons beyond their control, it wasn't until May that they were finally finished all the requirements and were approved for foster parenting!

They don't have their own kids, but Mrs. J has worked with kids before and had some kid stuff around the house. They also bought enough basics to get any kids by in the meantime (like, you know, BEDS), but they still needed a lot of basics that most parents accrue over time - and they kind of need it, you know, ASAP.

So, our mutual friend R and I decided to shower them with love! The J's are good people and they definitely deserve to experience a "baby" shower. The only catch is the youngest kiddos they'll be housing are 4-year-olds. So we called it a "Shower of Love"!

Mrs. J requested lime green and white for the colors, so we gave her lime green and white! ;D

R handled the invitations, food, and half of the decorations; I did the centerpieces, the banner, and figured out the games and prizes. We were able to use Mrs. J's church's reception room for free, which was nice, because we needed a BIG space - lots of people love the J's!

So the biggest problem was figuring out shower games for a non-traditional shower. I wanted it to center around welcoming the J's into parenting, and not so much around baby stuff because it doesn't relate to their journey. Brainstorming with my friend V, we came up with some modified versions of baby shower games.

• The first game was a silly brain-teaser; it has clues that relate to different names of candy! The people who got the most answers correct got bags of candies that were in the game as their prize. Guests really seemed to like this game, it was challenging but not frustrating!
• Another game we played was a modified baby shower game called "Guess the Price" - except instead of baby items, I picked parenting "essentials" like chewable vitamins, shampoo, swimming wings (or "floaties" as I grew up calling them), etc. This game was a lot harder than the baby version, apparently; the highest score was one person got 2 out of the 6 right. :/ I would modify it by offering multiple choice options, maybe, or picking different items.
• Finally, we played a variation on "baby bingo", but I called it "The Joys of Parenting Bingo". I came up with a bunch of different parenting scenarios (good and bad), and called them out like bingo numbers! I asked the winners if they had any funny stories to share from their Bingo line, too; no one had any, except for Mrs. J's mom! THAT was funny, hahaha.

Speaking of the joys of parenting, we had a "wish vase" for guests to provide words of wisdom and encouragement to the new parents-to-be!

I'm proud of the prizes I came up with, too - "movie night in" baskets and a stationary basket! The stationary came from the Michael's dollar bins, and the "movie night in" are simply movie-theater-size boxes of candy, microwave popcorn, and some Redbox codes for free (to the victor) rentals!  

The "gift card" for the Redbox codes - I included all the legal info that was emailed to me when I bought the codes on the back, so those who won them knew what to do and had the links to more info.

R came up with a great idea for the centerpieces - kids toys! This way not only are they cute centerpieces but HEY MORE TOYS FOR THE J'S FUTURE FOSTER KIDS! Unfortunately, R is a real grown-up with a year-round job, so since I had the time I did the execution. I decided to theme each of them, and wrap them in gift-wrap ribbons and bows so they look like presents but are also totally obvious as to what they are. We had kid books, bubbles, water/beach toys, puzzles, games, art supplies (like coloring books and markers), and a teddy bear! The ribbons tied the gifts back to the color scheme.

1 example of the centerpieces - art supplies!

All the centerpieces! Art supplies, books, games, puzzles, bubbles, pool/beach stuff, and a teddy bear!

Finally, I made this pennant banner. AND I WILL NEVER DO IT AGAIN OMG. Yes, it turned out cute, but those rosettes behind the letters were the bane of my existence. Seriously, it will either have to be for The Hubs or our own future progeny to convince me to put myself through that again. I mean, the end product was cute, but SHEESH.

Yup, I made that. Next time I'm making it a month in advance or just paying someone else to do it.

Detail close-up!

We kept the food simple - cakes from Costco, lemonade, water, and fancy mixed nuts for snacking were on the tables (it was a mid-afternoon shower). Guests also got those pastel mints as party favors.

The basic table set-up

All in all, it was a successful shower and Mrs. J was so grateful - she thanked us (and the guests) repeatedly, and overall seemed to have a great time. The guests also told R and myself that they had a great time, too. All the thanks and compliments made all the stress worth it! (Seriously, if you describe yourself as etierh "a perfectionist" or "anxious", don't plan a party. SERIOUSLY. I'm lucky I'm still married because the night before I damn near went off the deep-end when I realized I screwed up the Bingo cards at 11:30pm.)

I only have my crappy phone pictures right now, but I'm hoping Mrs. J will share the good pictures her photographer friend took! I'll post the better pictures and downloads/instructions for the games next Friday hopefully.

I may have linked up at: 

Six Sisters' Stuff

Xmas How-to: Boozy Hot Chocolate

Yes, this is the simplest thing ever, but sometimes a person just needs explicit instructions.

Plus I wanted to take pictures of my new mug. :D I have a thing for glassware, apparently - probably because it can hold booze.

Here's how to make perfect alcoholic hot chocolate:

First, you need booze and hot chocolate. Hot water, spoons, and mugs also help. The best type of booze for hot chocolate is liqueurs; I prefer Baileys and Kahlua, but peppermint schnaps is pretty awesome, too.

The how to:
Pick an awesome mug. (This is an early Xmas present from The Hubs, in honor of my favorite Xmas special - "A Charlie Brown Christmas" for life, yo!)

 
As the water heats up, prep the booze and cocoa mix: Pour in the cocoa powder, and then pour in the booze. Since we're adults, we're going for a decent dose - I basically pour until it covers the powder (so about 1/4th of the mug). We pour the booze first so we don't take up too much room with that stupid hot water. Stir until it's a slurry of booze and cocoa mix.

Once the water's hot, pour and stir to get the chocolate as smooth as possible.

Stir, stir, stir until frothy. Best served with some delicious sweets cooked by your loved ones - my MIL and SIL made these bad boys. (Chocolate chip cookie made with Andes mints instead of regular chips, "slutty brownies" which is a layer of chocolate chip cookie dough followed by peanut-butter oreos with brownie batter on top [OMG SO DELICIOUS], and homemade fudge.)

Enjoy while watching the appropriate Christmas special that coordinates with your mug.

Happy Holidays if you celebrate, happy Tuesday if you don't!

Goals Update/Keeping Busy

(Here's the post of the original goals)

My health goals have slipped. I've been better this week, but it's still a bit of an uphill climb to get back on track. I seem to do well during the morning/afternoon, but when I get home I lose all sense of restraint and I'm like "EAT ALL THE CARBS". Urf. On the plus side, we have tried to eat out less this week, and next week our schedule is a little more predictable and stable so we should be able to cook at home more.

No pumpkin-carving party this year, so I'm going to start thinking about an optimal time for a gingerbread bash! I haven't made a gingerbread house since I was a little kid, and Xmas is my favorite holiday of the Holiday Trinity, so I'm pretty psyched. Of course, I need some of that pesky thing called spare time before I can plan anything. *sigh*

Volleyball is moving forward in that I've found a local open-gym night on Thursdays (that of course was closed the first week I'm free) and joined a Meet-up group (that of course has no current scheduled games). I think XOSO's next season starts in November, so come hell or highwater I WILL PLAY VOLLEYBALL SOON.

Finally, my crafting by hand has been on semi-technicalities, but I'll  count it because at least it's making me be creative and take a moment to work with my hands. I technically missed the second week (although I did create some very cute bulletin boards for my classroom, even if my T.A.s technically put half of them together), but last weekend I drew my RPG character for the new campaign my friends and I are playing. (Yes, I'm one of those nerds!)

Guevana, a gnome Rogue. If you don't know what that means, you were probably popular in high school

Tonight I prepped my possible costume for Wednesday - IF it's cool to wear costumes at work. I would think it is, and my costume is perfectly acceptable for teaching (I'm dressing as a "citizen of the Capitol" a la The Hunger Games - I couldn't find an Effie Trinket-style wig, so I settled for a platinum bob wig), but I want to double-check first. I didn't really have to make anything specifically for the costume - heck, the only money I spent was for the wig, because the rest is from my closet. I had a feathery-thingie that's been in my crafts cupboards for years, so I attached it to a bow headband I had from my New Year's Eve dinner party costume (I'm also using the same dress, belt, and earrings). Et voila:

It's gonna look AWESOME with my wig. Very Effie, I think.

I wish I had more to do for Halloween - this year our usual crew was busy helping our friends move into their new house today! Whooo! Unfortunately, though, that means we don't have any plans. Might see if my cousin and her partner will let me come over and pass out candy - that way I can still wear my awesome costume if I can't wear it to work, haha.

Other than that, my schedule is still crazy but I think it might be slowing down and I can catch up (famous last words!). This is in reference to work schedule, of course - the next three weekends are booked solid as well. Oy. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy to be so busy, being unemployed drove me NUTS; I think I just like having the right to complain about it. ;D

4 simple goals: Week 1

A reminder of what those goals are (Full post here):

• Meds and healthy eating regularly
• host a pumpkin-carving/gingerbread-house-making party
• join a volleyball team or league of some sort
• craft something once a week

Progress:
I had a rough week, so rough that my body finally went, "Ya know what? EFF THIS, you're taking a day off" - and I ended my week with a head cold and took Friday off so I could rest, ugh. When I get stressed, I resort to old habits out of comfort. So my eating was not very healthy. The ironic part of this is that I should be eating healthier when I'm stressed, because it makes me feel physically worse. Fortunately, after a few days of eating like this, it loses its novelty and I crave the good stuff, so I usually find my way back, which is nice. It's a small step back as opposed to several steps. Meds are on the reg, though, which is good.

The party will happen; of course, the next party I'm having will not have pumpkin carving or gingerbread house construction, it's for my birthday! We're keeping it simple this year, because last year was just a clustereff in that it left me emotionally destroyed and set me back in my insecurities for really STUPID reasons. Ugh. Don't get me wrong, my birthday ended up being awesome, but fretting over the guest list and how many people weren't coming or were only coming to the dinner kind of ruined it for me. Still ended up having a good bday weekend, though. This year is simple: Game night at our apartment with food and adult beverages and friends, and the actual day of the birthday has my parents coming here for lunch, which is nice.

I found a volleyball group on MeetUp.com, but it's only bi-weekly. I plan to join the soonest one after my volleyball coaching ends, and I'm on the email list for the XOSO social league so when the next "season" starts I'll hopefully sign up in time.

And crafting! I actually hadn't gotten around to making anything (as Friday and Saturday was mostly resting, although Saturday I did catch up on work and go see "Looper" - really good movie, btw), so this morning I decided to do some art journaling.

"The older I get, the more I like myself "

Granted, I'd previously stamped the background and apparently never did anything with it, so this wasn't terribly difficult. Took about half an hour, but it was nice to just sit there and decorate something to (hopefully) make it pretty. It's not my best work, but it looks nice and gave me some tranquility while I made it. Next weekend I want to make a button monogram in a shadowbox!

One bonus about these simple goals: They're not overwhelming, and it gives me a reason to update. Whooo!