The Messenger

I signed up to be a review for Bethany House publishing about two months ago. You can sign up here. The first book I signed up to receive was "The Messenger" by Siri Mitchell.

The book is a historical fiction set during the Revolutionary War. I'm a huge fan of historical fiction, but I've never read a book set during this era. Here is the book description from Amazon.com. "Hannah Sunderland felt content in her embrace of the Quaker faith ...until her twin brother ran off and joined the army and ended up captured and in jail. Suddenly Hannah's world turns on end. She longs to bring her brother some measure of comfort in the squalid, frigid prison where he remains. But the Quakers believe they are not to take sides, not to take up arms. Can she sit by and do nothing while he suffers? Jeremiah Jones has an enormous task before him. Responsibility for a spy ring is now his, and he desperately needs access to the men in prison, whom they are seeking to free. A possible solution is to garner a pass for Hannah. But while she is fine to the eye, she holds only disdain for him--and agreeing would mean disobeying those she loves and abandoning a bedrock of her faith. With skill and sensitivity, Mitchell tells a story of two unlikely heroes seeking God's voice, finding the courage to act, and discovering the powerful embrace of love." I have to say that this book was so slow to start out with. I had a hard time keeping with it. If it were not for the fact that I was reviewing this book, I may not have finished. But.... I'm glad I did. The author did spend her sweet time setting the book up, but about 3/4 of the way through the book I found that I couldn't put it down. In fact, at the end of the book I was sad to see that it was over. I think she wrapped it up well though. The whole beginning of the book sets up who the characters are and how they are so different from each other, as well as some important parts of their past that will be brought up periodically throughout the book. The middle part focuses a lot on their love/hate relationship as well as how the whole spy thing is going. My favorite part of course is when it started getting good. That was at the end of the book when all of the scoot to the edge of your seat and don't put the book down stuff started to happen. Overall, it was very interesting and I'll be looking for more historical fiction based on this time period. I will also be looking for other books by this author to determine if she'll be an author that I will continue to read. *I did get the copy of this book for free, but otherwise I am not being paid for this review.

I'm back! We'll see how long it last. It's been almost a year since my last post. AJ is four and Emily will be 2 at the end of this month. Let's see, what has happened since I was here last? I got a job as a teacher. AJ started preschool. We've moved like twice, but have found a place that we really really like. Emily is my prissy little princess with a feisty attitude! My friend Hannah was shot and killed. The situation with Hannah is still a very hard subject for me. It's been about two months since she has passed, and I can't shake the pain I still feel from it. It's hard because I pass by her grave every day on my way to work. I don't know how long it's going to take, but it feels wrong to be so hurt. Hannah and I hadn't been close for awhile before this. We use to be super close to the point where I went on vacation with them and spent the night like every other night. But there was a 7 year age difference, and I got married and had kids. She started dating a boy and going out with friend more around her age. It was just a comfortable space between us. I hope and think that she knew she could come to me for anything, and every once and awhile I would check up on her. When I got the phone call that Hannah had been shot. I think I was in shock because my first thought was not where or even toward the idea that she could die. I believe my first question was how? I started to freak out a little bit, and my mom came to check on me and I told her what happened. She was the one that asked me where. I was told it was her head, but it didn't really affect me yet. I went to my friends house to pick her up so we could go to the hospital. We had arrived at the hospital, but hadn't made it in yet when we found out that she had less than a one percent chance of survival. THAT was when I started freaking out. I stayed as long as I could over the weeks time she was in the hospital. I stayed there the first three days only getting about 6 hours of sleep, and I hadn't even gotten to see her yet. I just couldn't leave the hospital. I left to see my kids, change my clothes, and to cry. I wanted to see Hannah so bad that I convinced myself that I couldn't cry around anyone because I had to show how strong I was so they would let me in. Once I decided that I wasn't going to cry, I rarely did. Even to the point where I wanted to cry and I couldn't. At her funeral, I didn't cry. At her memorial service, it was her dancing ballet that made me cry but not a good let it out kind of cry. Even at her grave, I get teary eyed but that's it. The big break down moment that I had, and of course I tried my best to be quiet, but it was in church when Pastor Kelley spoke for the first time since she was shot. It's a month and a half later and I cry every once and awhile at night while I am by myself. I am really grateful because I was able to see Hannah's body before she passed. I was able to kiss her hand. I was able to talk to her. I say I saw Hannah's body because I still believe that Hannah had left her body at that point. For someone who was shot in the head, she didn't look it. She was absolutely beautiful, but I didn't get the feeling that if I talked to her she would be listening. She had moved onto Heaven. I was afraid that I was going to get in the way, and I left the room. I wish that I had stayed. I feel like I didn't get enough time. I feel like I want to go to her house and sit in her room. Sitting at the grave doesn't give me the feeling like I'm close to her. I want to be in the places that she was. I think there are acouple of issues that I still have problems with and this is why I can't get over it. First, I have a very vivid imagination (I blame it on my love for reading), and I can imagine myself in her mom's shoes. I can actually replaces Hannah's face with Emily's. I say that "I can" like it's something that I try to do, but it's kind of like flash blacks when it happens. The pain that I feel is actually physical and it makes my chest hurt very badly. The idea that death is so permanent is hard for me. Hannah's mom and dad can't hug her again, they can't talk, etc. etc. All the things that a parent should be able to do to their child, and their child is gone. I couldn't live if anything happened to either of my children.

I haven't posted in a really long time lol. A lot of those months were chaos while taking care of two children, going to school full time, and teaching full time. I new that internship time was crazy... I just hadn't been told how crazy it would be with two very small children.

But... that time has come and gone with me earning straight A's. I graduated and received my bachelor's degree in elementary education with almost straight A's. And now, I'm just spending my time subbing, and looking for a job.

Today is my two year anniversary. Two years ago today, I met my mother in law and sister in law for the first time. I couldn't stop giggling because my husband blew out the unity candle instead of his own candle. We got crazy drunk, and galavanted all over Las Vegas. Sometimes, I really really miss Las Vegas. I get a very strong urge to start planning a trip there. I remember when we were listening to a time share thing so that we could get free tickets. The guy that was trying to sell us a time share told us that people usually only go to Las Vegas one time in their life. I asked him why? He said that once they go, sure they have fun, but there isn't any reason to go back because they can basically mark it off of their list of things they want to do. I think I'm different. Forever, Las Vegas will always be special to me. I will go there again someday.

I can't explain myself very well when it comes to things like that. Memories are so important to me, which then makes places where those memories happen very important to me. Especially when it was very happy for me.

My husband is in the process of becoming sober. He's been sick for days now. Don't get me wrong, but part of me is sad for one reason. If he is truly serious about being sober, that means no more drinking together. I'm not one for drinking but I have really happy silly memories where we both have had a lot of fun on nights out drinking. Playing pool, laughing like crazy, and even crazy drunk uninhibited sex lol. Some of my happy memories. I will always enjoy those memories.

I hold some things so dear even though its from the past that sometimes I have to go revisit it just to calm my head. I'm not sure what it's about. OCD? Sometimes it feels like it. Like yesterday, I had the urge to go and see the trailer that we use to live in. The first place that Aaron and I lived together, the place where I got pregnant before we even had a bed, the stupid speed bumps that gave me contractions in the last part of my pregnancy, and the home where we brought our new born baby. I drove by it, and had the biggest urge to stop and go inside. It doesn't look like anyone lives there, but of course I didn't stop and go instead because that would break the law and I don't do that.

I have that urge for other places too. Every time I drive by certain streets I look down the road at certain houses even though the people don't live there anymore. I go to certain websites to look at and read things that hold some of my past. And for the life of me, I don't know why I do that.... sometimes it really irritates me too.

There are other things that should be important to me but aren't. The place we lived and found out that I was pregnant with Emily and brought her home to. I don't have any urge to go there. If I drive past that street, I don't look. I won't lie... that was not a very good time in my life. In fact it was stressful, and I hated much of what went on during that time. Maybe that's why that house doesn't mean anything to me.

Anyway, I find myself sitting here on my anniversary night alone because Aaron is working, and wishing that instead we were in Las Vegas making another memory for me to treasure.

So far so good!

Resolution #1 - Lose Weight

Today, I did day two of sparkpeople.com's 28 day bootcamp, and I did another 1.4 mile walk. Still trying to work on making good choices when eating, but, hey, it's still day two!


Resolution #2 - Graduation

I haven't done anything for this yet because I'm one of the lucky few who didn't get registered before the break. Some of my classmates are freaking out because they've been registered and they've already taken a look at the workload in the class. I'm jealous because I can't see the class, but I'm worried because they're freaking out and... I can't see what they see. Hopefully tomorrow I'm registered and Tuesday the class will pop up for me.


Resolution #3 - Financial Organization

I've been looking at different things that should make up a budget but I haven't actually worked on it yet.


Resoluation #4 - Organization

I folded clothes today. It doesn't really sound like organization but I'm counting it. First, we have one dresser and ALOT of clothes so I'm trying to find places for clothing while it's getting washed (or rewashed in some cases).


Resolution #5 - AJ and Emily

AJ and I went to the dollar store today to get Emily some diapers, and then I took him on my walk with me. I know he enjoys getting out of the house, even if it's just for a walk, and he was having a blast sitting in the stroller for our 30 minute walk.

Emily took a very long nap today. I think it's because she's always getting interrupted during her nap and also both kids were awake at 4 am.

Resolutions

New year, new blog title! I had to figure out a way to include Emily in the title.

The mandatory New Years resolution post. I've decided to make a resolution for different areas of my life to make sure that I'm working on bettering myself all around.

1st - I want to lose weight. My goal is to lose one pound a week, and to make sure that I am exercising at least 3 days out of the week. I started today with a sparkspeople 28 day bootcamp video, and a 1.4 mile walk.

2nd - I want to graduate in May, and then have a teaching job in August. I don't really know what goals to set for this other than to do my absolute best during internship.

3rd - I want us to be financial organized. I need to make a budget, and then we need to stick with it. That also includes saving. My goal for the first six months of the year will be to save at least $50 - $100 a month. It'll basically be all we can afford while I'm interning. I'll reevalute it as needed, but definitely by August when I'll hopefully have a job.

4th - Organization. I need to go through our things in the storage unit and here and get rid of what isn't needed and organize the rest.

5th - My kids. The order of the list isn't in order of importance. I want to make sure that I'm do whats right for my children. I'm already doing this but I want to keep doing this. With school being so demanding and just trying to survive on our tiny income, I start to feel like I'm not doing what I should for them. I can say that this is what I need to do to make sure they have a good future, but instead I'm going to stop what I'm doing and read a book or play with them. I also want to make sure that I keep up with this blog for the sole purpose it was made... to make sure that I have memories written and pictures taken for them to look back on when their older. So that being said.... a picture of each of my babies on the first day of 2011:

Emily had her one month check-up today! She now weighs 9 pounds 2 ounces and is 20 1/2 inches long. She's gained a lot of weight for two weeks, and the doctor is happy with her progress. I think I'm the happiest because I know that I made her gain that weight. I was so worried that we were going to be wrong about the birth control drying up my milk last time and that it would happen this time. I still want to get past 12 weeks because thats when I really knew it was time to give AJ formula, but I'm feeling more hopefully that I will be able to make it to at least 6 months and then hopefully a year.

Anyway here is my progress so far in the Day Zero Project:

1. Take my vitamin every day for three months (3/90)
2. Graduate with my bachelor’s degree
3. Lose 25 pounds (0/25)
4. Go through the closets (0/4)
5. Make sure the house is spotless before bed every day for a week (0/7)
6. Finish three of my WIPs (0/3)
7. Save $1.00 a day for 1001 days (3/1001)
8. Watch every episode of House (Season 1 - 3/22)
9. Finish this list
10. Buy one scratch off ticket every week for a year (0/52)

I found House Season One full length episodes at http://www.free-tv-video-online.info/internet/house/season_1.html. If you go there, make sure to use megavideo, and if it won't let you then novamov. I don't know that the other ones are safe, and I know that those two usually work.

Day One

Day One of 1001

So far I have 60 items on my list, and I have decided to work on these ones right now. It doesn't mean that I can't complete other ones, but I want to make an effort to work on these:

1. Buy one scratch off ticket every week for a year (0/52)
2. Finish this list
3. Save $1.00 a day for 1001 days (1/1001)
4. Finish three of my WIPs (0/3)
5. Make sure the house is spotless before bed every day for a week (0/7)
6. Go through the closets (0/4)
7. Take my vitamin every day for three months (1/90)
8. Lose 25 pounds (0/25)
9. Graduate with my bachelor’s degree

Day Zero

Emily was born on May 23. My dr decided to induce me on the 22nd after an ultrasound showed low amniotic fluid levels. The induction wasn't too bad this time. He used the foley method to start and then I was on pitocin. I elected to get the epidural but everything went so quickly that the epidural didn't even kick in before she was born.

She was 7 pounds 9 ounces and 19.25 inches long. She's absolutely perfect!

I'm really happy that I went through a whole pregnancy without finding out the sex. It was really hard, but very rewarding at the end, especially because she's a girl! I had a lot of people say right after that it's so great I have a boy and a girl, now I can be done. I really don't think I'm done yet. I definitely don't want another one until Emily is older than AJ is now. I think it would be great to wait until she is at least 3 before we start trying, so that would make her at the late end of 3 or maybe 4 depending on when I would get pregnant. Of course I don't know all of the details right now, but I know that as of this point, I'm not done.

So, I've decided to do this thing called Day Zero. You make a list of 101 things that you want to complete in 1001 days. I've made about half of my list so far:

1. Graduate with my bachelor’s degree
2. Take the Pro Ed exam
3. Take the Subject Area exam
4. Get certification to teach
5. Go one full semester without waiting until the last minute to do an assignment (0/16)
6. Join a gym
7. Exercise three to four days a week for a month (0/12)
8. Lose 25 pounds (0/25)
9. Make and take my lunch to work every day for a full month (0/30)
10. Replace 2 cans of soda with water every day for a month (0/30)
11. Take a walk everyday for a month (0/30)
12. Go without soda for a full week (0/7)
13. Go without soda for a full month (0/30)
14. No candy/chocolate/sweets for a full week (0/7)
15. No candy/chocolate/sweets for a full month (0/30)
16. Go to bed before midnight for one full week (0/7)
17. Get CPR certification
18. Donate 1 gallon of blood (0/8)
19. Take my vitamin every day for three months (1/90)
20. Buy a filing cabinet
21. Create a system for my bills and paperwork
22. Organize AJs toys
23. Go through the closets (0/4)
24. Make sure the house is spotless before bed every day for a week (0/7)
25. Don’t eat out for a month (0/30)
26. Potty train AJ
27. Change all of our light bulbs to energy saving
28. Eat dinner as a family at our table
29. Frame our family pictures and hang them
30. Finish three of my WIPs
31. Design and make my own graduation announcements
32. Make something for AJ
33. Make something for Emily
34. Donate one skien of squares to One Square at a Time Charity - http://onesquareatatime.wetpaint.com/
35. Learn to knit
36. Save $1.00 a day for 1001 days (0/1001)
37. Develop a budget
38. Find a new author that I like
39. Visit Aaron’s family
40. Go on a vacation with my family for at least 3 days
41. Watch every episode of House
42. Watch 15 movies that I have never seen recommended to me (0/15)
43. Go 24 hours without having the TV on
44. Go on one date night a month starting in September 2010
45. Go to a Redwings hockey game with Aaron
46. Finish this list
47. Get a new piercing or tattoo
48. Don’t go on Facebook for 24 hours
49. Get up to the alarm without hitting snooze 50 times (0/50)
50. Sleep without an alarm 50 times (0/50)
51. Go fruit picking with AJ
52. See a play
53. Make homemade bagels
54. Write from www.creativewritingprompts.com 20 times (0/20)
55. Build a blanket fort with AJ
56. Donate $5 for every task not completed after day 1001

It's been about two months since I last posted. I guess I haven't really felt like posting. I think about it, and I sign in to see the other blogs on my list, and even those ones seem to be slowing down.

What's new with me?
I have 18 days left until my due date, and I've had quite a bit of people tell me they don't think I'll last.
I've enjoyed two weeks off of school. I got 5 A's my last semester! The next semester starts on Monday and the first of my classes just showed up so I'll be starting that very soon. I need to make sure that I'm always one step ahead so that when the baby comes I'm not going to be too stressed about it.
I've been crocheting a lot. Right now I'm working on an Elvis blanket for Aaron's birthday. I hope it will be done by then, but I haven't had much motivation to work on it. I'm also working on a newborn dress, bootie, and headband set. I'm in a "babyshower" for my online group and I have to send my partner her present very soon. She's having a little girl. I hope she likes it. So far I've got the headband and both booties done, and I'm working on the dress. If I have enough yarn left I might make a pair of bloomers, but I have to send it out soon because her due date is coming up. I think I have like a week left before the deadline.
I just started working on my baby's things last night. I got the bassinet all cleaned and set up... and that's about it so far. I'm not too worried about getting it done, it will get done eventually... even if that means waiting for the baby to get here.


What's up with AJ?

He's a full blown two year old. He can't talk but think he can so there is a huge meltdown if you don't understand him.
He's rough and tumble with daddy, and tones it way down for me.
He has started to greet me when I come home from work. He comes running at me full speed jumping and yelling, "Momma, HOME" and I can't help but smile everytime he does it because it is just too darn cute.
He freaks out when I try to leave. He even says bye to daddy and tries to walk out of the door with me, but when I have to shut the door I hear him scream and cry. That makes me feel bad, and I'm so glad I don't have to deal with that in the morning because he's still sleeping when I leave.


I'm feeling lazy, and I don't want to get up to get the camera, but I have some pictures to post later.

I'm feeling the effects of late pregnancy. The drain of my energy, and the soreness of my hips... I really could live without it, but it's all for this child that I'm carrying.

Anyway, I've been busy this week sleeping, and cleaning, and sleeping, and doing some school work, and sleeping, and crocheting. I'm trying something new with crochet that I have never done before, and that is changing colors. I'm crazy though.. I couldn't take it easy and just crochet a blanket that had different striped colors.. I had to do a pattern. I found the perfect pattern to make Aaron a blanket for his birthday. I hope I get it done in time! Here is what I have so far:




It's white, which scares me, but the pattern part of it is black, and it's important that it's that way, because it will say Elvis and have an outline of his face... hopefully... by the time I'm done.

AJ and I have also been working on our second week of homeschool. He's learning about the Jungle, the letter B, and he will learn about the number two tomorrow. We did fall a little behind this week because of my energy problem. Not too far behind that we couldn't catch up during the weekend. Here is our learning poster from last weekend, and you can find the curriculum for that here: Week 1.

My Son

My son is amazing. I don't take enough time out to think about how truly amazing his two year old self is.

He's extremely smart, and very very sweet.

We went to gymnastics tonight. AJ was the only one there, which was actually kind of nice because the teacher was able to spend all her time with both us making sure that I was helping him correctly. She had nothing but compliments for how fast he is progressing. He can crawl across the foam pit by himself, he can climb ladders by himself, he can almost do a forward roll without any help, and he really tries to do the monkey bars by himself, but he's not really big enough to do it without help. He did wonderful being the only student as well... he barely got sidetracked with the big girls running and flipping all over the place. His class is about 45 minutes long and he lasted about 30 minutes before he tried to escape to see the big girls.

We also started Week 1 with our homeschool preschool. This week's theme is cows. He'll also learn about squares, the letter A, and the number 1 this week. Today though, we worked on coloring a cow, saying the word cow, and saying the sound a cow makes. It takes a lot of coaxing to get him to say the words and the sounds... but I have found out that he can say them almost perfectly, he prefers not too. We read the book Cow by Malachy Doyle, and by the middle of the book he was pointing out the cow, and either saying "There it is!" or "Cow, MOO". Although his cow sounds like his word for car which sort of sounds like "Caw". My expectation was that by Friday he would be saying Cow and Moo... not that he would be saying it the first day. Something else that I was surprised by was that when we started to read the book, AJ stood up and started pointing at the picture of the cow that he colored. Like I said, he amazes me.

I am so lucky to have a little boy who loves to give kisses and blow kisses and give hugs. I am so lucky to have a little boy who is so smart and beautiful, and completely mine. I couldn't have asked for more!

I can sum up my month of March so far in one word.... YUCK!

Last week was spring break for me, and I had envisioned going places and doing things with AJ while working my fanny off for some extra spending money since I would be free the whole week to work. Nope... didn't happen. I've been sick sick sick. Practically on my death bed! Ok, maybe not THAT bad, but it really hasn't been fun. And, I'm still sick. We're coming up on two weeks of being sick if I don't miraculously recover in the next two days. Since I'm pregnant there isn't much medicine to take to help me, and the medicine that is available hasn't really done much. I've had some good days where I feel much better, but then the next day I'm drained and feel even worse. At least I have a doctor's appointment on Saturday, so if it is still here by then, I'll talk to the doc.

I also had put my mind into working on AJ and the potty. That plan did not pan out. I was not feeling up to that much cleaning! So, instead the last few nights I have been working on getting AJ to sleep in his own bed. So for the last three nights, I have put him in his bed, and put him back in his bed, and back in his bed again and again and again. And for the last three nights, he has fallen asleep in his own bed. Now, he hasn't exactly stayed there the whole night, but baby steps! My goal is a whole week, and then we'll celebrate. It has gone pretty smooth. There are no tears when we walk back into the bedroom. Last night he was the most challenging because he'd run out and then run back to bed, giggling as if it were a game. It has really helped that there haven't been any tears because I'm dealing with a bit of guilt. While I do enjoy having my husband sleep in the bed, I kind of miss sleeping with my two year old bed hog. It's really amazing how such a little guy can take up so much of a queen size bed! Anyway, I have become accustomed to waking up several times in the night to make sure that his roley poley butt is covered with a blanket. Now, I'm waking up several times a night to tell husband to stop snoring. Oh well, in just a few short months I'll have a tiny little baby who will probably end up sharing my bed, and there really isn't room to have AJ sleeping in the bed as well.

Which is a whole new issue that I've started to deal with. I'm going to have a new baby, and I feel guilty because AJ won't have Mommy to himself anymore. I remember singing and talking to my belly all the time when I was pregnant with AJ. I think that I really bonded with the idea of AJ while I was pregnant, and that made it easier to bond after he was born and I wasn't so sick anymore. This time... I don't feel pregnant very often, and I don't talk or sing to my belly. I want this baby, but I don't know if I have bonded to the idea of this baby like I did with AJ. I'm sure that bonding after the baby is born will be just fine, maybe my issue is because I don't know very much about this baby. I don't know whether it is going to be a boy or girl, and I don't know if my due date is very accurate so I don't really even know when it will be here. I hope AJ bonds well with the baby too because he really doesn't have a clue that it's coming....

Relationship Advice

The title of my post makes me laugh, lol. I am in no way an expert on relationships, and I don't have the perfect relationship... but honestly, if you think you have a perfect relationship yourself, I say look harder, no relationship is perfect.

Actually, I just wanted to post about my husband and how sometimes he surprises me. Those surprise can be so heartwarming for me, and I don't think he realizes it or than any other guy could do something so simple and please their woman just as much as surprising them with flowers or something else like that.

There definitely is a huge stress put on the men to make a relationship romantic and smooshy for their women. AND, when going into a relationship where it is easy to be romanced and loved on... it can be quite disappointing when further down the line the romance doesn't last at the level it was at previously.

Honestly though, showing a woman that you love them doesn't have to be expensive and take a lot of time to plan. I was visiting my husband at work, and we were joking around. My husband's last comment pushed me to tell him that I didn't like him anymore. He responded by saying, "Well, I don't love you any less." First, for less than half a second, my mind registered the complete opposite of what he said and I was going to be angry with him, but when it actually sunk it what he really had said, I left smiling and giggling. His comment has left me feeling loved and happy all evening.

So, all I'm saying is something as simple as saying something surprising can be just as powerful as traditional ways of saying I love you.

I did it. I finally reminded myself to buy a new USB cord for my camera. So hopefully within the next week or two I'll be able to upload some pictures and actually start taking pictures again. I hate that my camera is full. One reason is that I started a new project and I'm super proud of it.

I had a small dilemma.. at least it was to me, it wouldn't have been for anyone else. Anyway, Aaron has a ton of old work shirts that have bleach stains and are faded or dingy looking. He only wears two or three of the better looking shirts to work and the rest just take up space in the closet. Thing is, he's constantly ruining shirts with bleach so our pile of useless workshirts grows rather quickly. We threw away all of his old work shirts over a year ago when he was let go. He's been back there almost a full year, and I swear there are at least 10 to 15 of those shirts taking up space. When he told me to throw them away, I just had this feeling like I couldn't. So, I looked up a way to recycle those shirts, and I came across rag rugs. So, I started to make one. I've already cut up one shirt and crocheted it into the start of my rug, and I super proud of it. Now, if only I could post a picture, lol. ;-)

Today was day 3 of 30 on my no eating out for breakfast or lunch quest. I'm not counting today as a failure although I won't be transfering the money into my savings account. I had an ultrasound today and my mom came with me. She asked me if I would take her out to lunch today, and how could I say no to that. I love going out to eat with my mom. We have our issues sometimes, but going out to eat is a special time, and I always enjoy it. Plus, my goal for the 30 days is to really stop eating out when I can take my lunch with me. The occasional lunch with a friend or family member shouldn't mean that I failed. I'll say that I just made up for it by not eating out for dinner. :-D So, yes day 3 of 30, and I've saved $12.

Science and Money

I had a lesson plan and presentation to do for class this week. My lesson had to teach that plants get energy from the sun, air, and water to make food for themselves. So, basically, photosynthesis. It was crazy writing this lesson plan. First, they aren't "real" lesson plans, meaning they aren't the kind that teachers will write when they are actually teaching. They go into so much more detail, and for a 30 to 45 minute science lesson, my lesson plan came out to be 7 pages with 5 more pages of attachments.
I tried really hard to make this lesson plan interactive and meaningful for my "3rd graders" (just my adult classmates). I introduced my lesson by discussing that we breathe oxygen to survive and plants provide that for us, then we did an experiment to show that plants give off oxygen, and then I had made a felt story board with felt pieces to put together a basic diagram of photosynthesis. I was so nervous about my presentation, but I received great compliments and comments, and everyone loves every part of the presentation. Although, I know that I could have presented 1000x's better if it were actually a group of third graders, but it's alright.

A note on that experiment... I had to change it last minute because my previous experiment didn't work. My new experiment required test tubes and I didn't have any and couldn't find any last minute... BUT.. the liquor sells shots in test tube like things and I ended up buying a couple of those and used an SOS pad to get the writing off. I of course didn't drink the shots because, you know, the whole pregnancy thing, lol.

So, I put a lot of myself into that lesson plan and I'm proud to say that I received a 92% on the presentation. I'll know on Tuesday how I did on the actual lesson plan. The lesson plan grade could be different because of all the detailed sections that can be confused and screwed up, and if I didn't get my accomodations correct then I'll take a huge hit on my grade. So, that's my news on school.

In other news, I've decided that while my family is doing well with a small cushion of savings in our savings account, I'm going to alter my life style a little bit. I found that when we have extra money, I decided that it is ok to go out and buy myself lunch, or breakfast if I'm not running late in the morning. For the next 30 days, I'm not going to eat out for breakfast or lunch. I'm making an exception for drinks and coffee because drink so much through out the day so I stay hydrated (preterm labor from dehydration was a reality for me last pregnancy) it would be crazy to carry around that much. I am going to limit my coffee buying though. So, everyday for the next 30 days, if I don't eat out I'm going to transfer 6 dollars into my savings account. I know that doesn't sound like a lot everyday, but if you do the math.... that's $180 on just lunch that just I would be eating!

One of my other reasons for doing that is because I've finally hit my prepregnancy weight and now I've surpassed it by 4 pounds. Now that I'm gaining, I want to make sure that I'm not just eating junk all the time, which is what was happening.

Today was day 1 of 30 and I have saved a total of $6 bucks!

AJ had his two years doctor's appointment today. He weighs 24 pounds 1 ounce, he's 33.5 inches tall, his head is 19 inches around, and his iron is back at a healthy 11.5! Here he is freaking out over the bandaid that they put on his finger after the finger prick.



I also finished a project last night. Yay! Finally I can cross one off my list :-) I did sacrifice my school work to do it, but it was worth it because I didn't want to work on my school work anyway lol. So here is the finished result of my valentine's day wreath!



Remember, I found the tutorial at Domestifluff.

Burgers Anyone?

This is what I did tonight INSTEAD of cleaning my house for my mother in law who will be here tomorrow and INSTEAD of doing school work that is also due tomorrow.



Sorry the image is so blurry, it didn't look that way on my phone, and now those burgers are all gone so no more pictures.


Actually, those are what I will be making for AJ's birthday party this Saturday. Our theme is BBQ because that is what hubby will be doing. I ordered a hamburger birthday cake, but it won't be big enough to feed everyone, so I made those cute little cupcake/brownie/icing burgers with cookie french fries. I've already been told that I'm so amazingly awesome and creative.... but... I really am not, and they definitely don't look as good as Bakerella makes them :-) Still, one day my baby will appreciate how much his mama does for him!

Dentist

AJ's official first dentist appointment was today. But, of course, he's already been to the dentist twice to repair a chipped tooth and then to repair the cap over the chipped tooth after an accident with a pillow and the floor.

He had a cleaning and exam with the dentist. He didn't get any xrays taken because they said that it's very hard to get a child his age to do it right, but they'll try every time. They also said that if I insist on it they'll do it, but I'm not going to force them to torture him. Anyway, from examining his teeth during the cleaning and the dentist looking afterward, he does not have any cavities, which is awesome!

I was a little irritated with the dentist office today though. The first two times we have gone, we went to the office that was open that day, which just happened to be in palm harbor both days. Apparently they have three offices, but I've only heard about the two. Well, the one in palm harbor is absolutely beautiful. The walls are painted brightly, the toys are well taken care of, and they a video game center for the older kids. The back area where they take the kids to wait looks awesome from the pictures I've seen. Just a totally kid friendly office, and the other parents that I've met there have all been really friendly and nice. Both time there were parents to offer me support when I'd start crying... hey, it's hard to send your one year old to the back to see the dreaded dentist!

The office I went to today is normally an adult office, and on certain mornings they share it with AJ's dentist. There were a very few, very worn, very unclean (I mean with black smudges and everything) toys. The waiting area was filled and wasn't much bigger than a walk in closet. Honestly, I was reminded of going to the health department when I was younger. There was even this one little girl who had bright green snot running down her face and she wanted to play with AJ, but I wouldn't let him. The last thing I really need while trying to balance work, school, aches and pains from being pregnant, is to get sick myself or have a sick toddler. The people there were... I don't know a good word... but there was a video game system and instead of letting the kids play, there were some adults playing on them. That is so irritating to me. I know AJ isn't old enough to play, but those aren't there for the comfort and enjoyment of the parent... When I was scheduling his next appointment and cleaning, I told them that I wanted to be moved back to the other office and they did give me a hard time about it. They reluctantly scheduled me for palm harbor, and I'll take the drive there every 6 months if I have to. The atmosphere is just THAT much better!

Project Ideas 2

So, I was at Joanns the other day, and saw that wreath. I absolutely loved it, but I didn't want to spend $20 bucks on it. I thought to myself that I could make something like it I was sure. So, I left thinking about it. A day or two later I stumbled upon www.oneprettything.com. There are tons of crafts on there that I would love to do. So, while I was there, I found this white wreath made by domestifluff.




That's basically what I imagined mine looking like except for it would be heart shaped, and it would be red. Then a few days later, I found someone who basically stole my idea and did it before I had even really thought of it lol. I can't copy the picture so here is the link so you can see.

Now, you might remember the picture of Paul's Blanket and the chair it was on.

Well, my dining room chairs basically look like that, two of them have different fabric, but I don't like how they look. So, I stumbled across this beautiful chair redone by Centsation Girl.

Now, I won't be changing the color of the wood to white because my table isn't white, but I definitely want to redo the fabric and backing.

Of course there are a ton more things that I would love to do, but these projects are one that I'm actually going to be doing lol.

Project Ideas

I found this blanket pattern while walking through michaels last summer. Like I said in a previous post, I decided that it would be the perfect blanket for my friend Paul who just came back from Iraq. I'm currently working on it, and I'm almost half way done. The only thing I did was double the size because it was going to be too small for Paul. He was always a big boy, but even though I'm sure he's slimmed up from being in the military, I'm sure he didn't shrink. :-)



This is the next crochet project that I'm looking at. Awhile ago, I found a link on how to make plarn. It's a way to reuse plastic bags, and I won't have to buy yarn for this project. I really would love to make a basket like this, but I don't know how. So, I thought that a bag would be the next best thing. My one concern is that it might stretch out considering it is plastic. Oh well, I guess the only way to find out is by trying!


So, that's it for my crochet project ideas. I have other projects that I want to do but I think that will be another post.