Thanksgiving Week 2013

Nothing is better than being with family. Last week, my grandparents from California came in, who I haven't seen in over a year (shame on me!). Plus my sister and her husband and kids were here too. Dani's 2 1/2 and Jackson is 1 now. In fact, we kicked of festivities with a birthday celebration for him. Our friends Bill and Rita came over, as well as my cousin Janae.

With mom, grandma, and Bethany all there Wednesday morning, I didn't have much to help with on the  day-before prep. I had stayed home until late morning getting my own house cleaned up... it needed it! So when Thursday came, mom assigned me to make sweet tea, and that was my sole contribution to dinner, besides cinnamon rings. It was great to have everyone together. Mom and Dani made some cute edible turkey place settings, and we also all contributed the Thanksgiving acrostic.

 

Friday we a chill day. We just sat around and talked most of the day, besides the afternoon, when Bethany, Mike, Janae, and I went to see Catching Fire. It was the second time for Janae and myself. So many deep themes to ponder- I love it!

Saturday was the last day with the kiddos, so Justin and I took Dani shopping for a Christmas tree. She loves shopping is was absolutely great the whole time! We came home and I made her lunch- a peanut butter and marshmallow sandwich and kiwi fruit. Although Bethany gave me a hard time for introducing this type of sandwich, I really don't see how grape jelly and marshmallows are that different nutritionally.... ;) It was great to spend some time with Dani, and it reminds me of how fun it will be to have my own. I'm four months along now, but it seems like it is taking forever in some ways!!

Being a pregnant teacher...

So I have to have at least one post about being a pregnant teacher. Because, while I'm totally a "a woman can do everything" kind of person, there are many days that I just want to have my pregnancy in the privacy of my own home!

First, who and when do you tell the happy news? I told my supervisors in a email first, to which almost all of them replied with excited emails. It was nice to know that I had their support. The same night I emailed some of the teachers that I am closer to- my department and others that I have done special projects with- to let them know. I had talked about probably having a baby last year, so I didn't think anyone was too surprised. One teacher said he though he had noticed a baby bump (note: I was only 10 weeks along at the time and had not gained any weight).

Then for the students. I announced it to each class with a simple riddle. The seniors caught on really fast. The riddle was, "Why will Mr. and Mrs. M. be getting a tax deduction in 2014?" The great part was the reactions to this announcement. The girls are "aww-ing" and the guys say congrats. For some reason it's just really fun for them to have a pregnant teacher. One reaction from a female student was, "We get to watch you get big!" (Oh, great, I think...) From an autistic male student, who tends to not have a filter for his thoughts and is sometimes perceived as rude, "Maybe the boys will stop talking about hitting on you now!" (Yes, he really said that. And yes, his parents laughed with me when I told them about this at PT conferences). To which a girl replied, "No, because your boobs get huge when you're pregnant." (Seriously, this is what high school students say these days).

Yet another response, this from a junior girl, was, "We'll be pregnant at the same time!" (To which I was saddened, because certainly she faces much more of a challenge at this point than me). As the last few weeks went by, one particular student, whom I had last year but not this year, keeps telling me she's ready for me to start showing. "When are you going to get big? I'm ready to see it." I try to explain with first-time mothers often don't show until the 5th month, so she will just have to wait.

So perhaps you might understand why I feel like I am being watched. In some ways it's fun to be the center of attention, but most of the time, not really. I'm one of the youngest people on staff in a school that tends to hire with more experience. The vast majority of the teaching faculty or other staff are at least 10 years older than me. There hasn't been a pregnant staff member for about 3 years, and before that, another 4 or 5. THEREFORE, I'M KINDA A BIG DEAL. Ok, just kidding! But I certainly feel like I am on display. I am trying to have a graceful pregnancy, to still keep up with everything, but it is definitely harder now. The fatigue, facial breakouts, seem more obvious on the job. And my pants are starting to fit a little tighter, but I'm not really showing, it's just a general tightness around the waist (Though I still haven't gained any weight. Wait, that wasn't the first time I said that, huh? LOL)

To wrap up last week, I had a junior student come up to me 8th period, and say she had to tell me something. Apparently a boy has said to her, "You know that Mrs. M., she's sexy, but she's getting kinda fat lately." Oh dear! The girl said she defended me by telling the kid I was pregnant, to which he replied, "Oh." (I know this is just a kid, I know I shouldn't care that they think I'm fat, but it still bothers me a bit. Plus, cut me some slack, I'm pregnant!). And I just keep trying to take it in stride, laugh at these comments, and know that, in fact, I'm providing a good example of a pregnancy in a loving marriage to my wonderful, supporting husband.

Who knows how people will take this post. But know that all these comments are just how the students said them, and I'm just trying to be honest, and it helps me process by writing things out. Your body is changing constantly, so just in size but emotions. Pregnancy can be stressful, ya'll!!

First Trimester Recap

I thought I would take a moment to recap my the first trimester of my first pregnancy, for posterity's sake.

After few months of trying, aiming to be due at the end of the school year, we found out I was pregnant in September. Hooray! The first baby! While three months of trying isn't too long (they say the average 25 year old couple takes 6 months), it sure feels long when you have to wait those few weeks to see if you are pregnant! I'm sure someone out there knows how this feels too. Anyway, I am due in May, and since I'm a teacher, I will probably take leave in May and then will be happy to be off in the summer for the baby's first few months.

It wasn't too hard to figure out some of the side affects of pregnancy. The most difficult one for me is being SO TIRED ALL THE TIME!! The first few weeks of school I was wondering why it was taking me so long to get back in the swing of things, but once we confirmed the pregnancy, it made a little more sense. Being tired has been tough for me, because normally I am such a high-energy person... go, go, go all the time. I have had to release myself from some of the guilt of letting a few chores go undone (the dishes aren't getting done until we run out of silverware), and also taking naps nearly every day when I get home from work (who needs melatonin? my head's practically dropping over my plate at dinner). I've also backed out of a few commitments at church, though we still have small group to lead and Sunday school to teacher twice a month.

If you remember, I ran the half-marathon in September, when I was about 7 weeks pregnant. I bet it would have felt different if I wasn't. But I'm still super glad that I did it, and I thought it was funny when my dad said he had no clue. (Does that mean I'm good at hiding things?) Now, I have scaled back quite a bit, though I am still running 2-3 miles, three times a week. It is healthy to do this! And I'm going to keep it up as long as possible.

Besides being tired, I've also had some food aversions, like sitting down to eat dinner and suddenly not wanting to eat it. Not a particular food, just that it doesn't sound good. Sadly, sometimes nothing really sounds good. I've had some skin issues too, which are not cool and make me feel like I'm still a pimply high schooler. No fun!!  Oh, and the mood swings. Poor Justin. I've definitely had a few sobbing bouts...

I've found that I really have to eat throughout the day, breaking my three meals down with a few snacks so that I'm eating something every 3 hours or so. I probably add and extra 200 calories in healthy snacks (fruit, veggies, cheese sticks, peanut butter). This seems to help with moods and energy. I'm happy that I haven't gained any weight yet, which is normal too. I'm guessing when I get into December or so, I will start to see a few more pounds add on. I have to admit though, this is one aspect that freaks me out. I have always had to really try to eat right and exercise to maintain my weight, unlike my siblings, who seem to eat anything and not really exercise and keep this super fast metabolism. So anyways, since I'm being honest about everything else, I figured I would write about that too.

Another area was when we would tell everyone. Of course we were excited, but once you announce it's like baby mayhem. People ask you tons of questions, and while it's fun to answer, it's the same questions over and over. So I broke it to a close friend first, so I could complain about some of the first trimester symptoms. A few weeks later, after the 10 week ultrasound, we told family. After that, I started telling at school and on Facebook. Common wisdom says to wait until the first 10 weeks are over, since that's the highest risk of miscarriage, so that's what we did. The downside is that I couldn't complain about anything, because no one knew. While my husband is a good listener, I still think another woman can sympathize more in this area. We used some of the pictures below to send to family, taken on the self-timer on my camera. (Everyone always asked about the baby swing, even though it just came with the house, so we thought this could be cute to announce the news).

Now the second trimester is here, and I've been feeling much better this week. Perhaps it's from the time change, but either way, I am soooo ecstatic about having more energy!!

My First Half-Marathon: The Air Force Half Marathon 2013

Well, I didn't die. Not that I really thought that I would, but 13.1 miles does get long after a while. Luckily, I had my dad running alongside me the whole way, and it was worth it. Now I even have the 13.1 sticker on my car as bragging rights!  Here's my tale of my first half-marathon.

Way back in high school, I started running. Really, it was probably more around 8th grade when I realized that I needed to lose the baby fat. So I started running. Dad was an encouragement in this. I also ran track for 9th and 10th grade, doing the 1 and 2 mile runs. I really didn't like the competing part; I just liked how it felt to run. You know, when you get into the groove and have your pace, and can really feel like your body is getting a good workout.

So when track ended, I still ran, mostly between 1-3 miles, all the way through the current day, over ten years. I've never been too concerned with going a long way, though I have gotten up to around 4 miles some summers. (Hiking is another hobby, and long hikes of 10+ miles weren't uncommon in the California Sierras). Over the years, I thought it might be fun to do a race, a 5k or something, but you always have to pay, and who wants to pay? Plus I didn't have desire to win, I just liked to run.

Finally this year I told dad that if he paid I would run the half marathon with him. Dad's a running veteran, doing the full marathon twice and the half marathon twice too. I started running again to build my miles up in April/May, just doing about 2 miles a couple of times a week. We were still putting a lot of time into fixing up our house, and I work of course, so I can't devote too much time. As June came around, I started really pushing myself to up my miles, and was running 4-5 mile "long" runs once a week, with 2-3 mile runs a couple of nights in between. This pattern continued into July and August, building up my long runs usually on the weekends, with a little lesser distance during the week. Really, I only ran every other night. I figured my body needed to rest and I needed to feel like training wasn't consuming me. By the end of August, I had ran 8 mile long runs twice. As September started, I ran two 10 mile runs the two Saturdays before the race, with my mid-week runs anywhere from 3 to 6 miles. So I had run 10 miles twice before my 13.1 mile race.

On race day, I think I felt pretty good. I say that because I couldn't feel much. I don't mean in the way of pain; there were just so many people that all you really thought about was not running into people on the course!! Honestly, that first 10 miles when pretty quick. Around the 10 mile hydration station, they passed out bananas, and I ate half of one. At each other station  (there was one about every mile and a half) I drank about 4 ounces of Gatorade and sometimes water also. This got me through, though after that 10 mile mark I was definitely starting to tire in my legs and lungs. While before we had done a 30 second walk through the hydration stations to drink, we started to take a few more walk breaks, maybe about every mile (one of these was before a hill-ugh!). One big positive overall was that it was overcast and cool, so at least we didn't have the heat to deal with. I was actually sprinkling when we started.

Running up the home stretch, we saw our family off to the side, and I jogged over to give my hubby a kiss, then dad and I held out hands together and high as we crossed the line. Next came the food tent. Oh yes, I just said the food tent. Here we had water, chocolate milk, bananas, bagels, and pizza to replenish our energy, we took some and sat down to eat before we caught up with the rest of the family.

So overall, it was good race, and my only complaint was that I didn't actually feel myself get into the groove. It's not that I felt out of a groove, but just that there was so much external stimuli that I wasn't as self-aware as I usually am on my runs. I missed that part. (But maybe it's sort of a good thing?) Still, having live bands, people to cheer you on, and plenty of water made it a great race.

I saw two signs that make me laugh. One said, "Ladies, run like Anthony Wiener is chasing you." The other said "No you can't stop, no you won't stop, but Miley Cyrus should STOP!" But of those cracked me up. I'm thankful for all the supporters, even if they weren't for me individually.

So that's the story of my first half-marathon. If I would do it again, or ever try a marathon, remains to be seen. The time to train is the biggest setback, but it was worth it, especially because my dad and I did it together.

 Mom and dad

 Justin and I

My sister and her husband and kids came up too!

Applesauce

Growing up, I have distinct memories of making applesauce with mom and my sister. The sweet smell of the warm apples and cinnamon were reason enough to spend all that time washing, cutting, and boiling the apples down. Mmm! If you have never had warm applesauce, you don't know what your missing. Even if you try to heat it up in the microwave after the fact, it's just not the same as when it is fresh.

So, to my delight, I had a good friend offer to let me pick some apples from their tree. I took two five-gallon buckets worth, and mom and I worked on washing and quartering them, after removing any spots. Then the apples are put on to boil with a little bit (1/2 cup or so) of water in the bottom of the pan. They have to be cooked on low and stirred frequently so they don't burn. When the apples are tender, I just ran them through the Victorio Straino, and SHEBAM, applesauce!! I added about three cups of sugar and 1/4 cup cinnamon for flavor. Maybe I put in more... I didn't exactly measure... just kept tasting until I liked it!

From start to finish, it took about 3 1/2 hours. I still need to divide them out into freezer bags, but the (worst, most time consuming) part is done. I can't wait to enjoy it throughout the year!

 

 

Done with canning... hopefully!

Well, I would like to say I am officially done with canning for the year. I tore up the remaining green bean plants and tomatoes this weekend. The beans were getting rather buggy and unproductive, as were the tomatoes. All in all though, I am pretty happy with my results. I canned about 5 dozen quarts of beans, 3 dozen pints of tomato sauce, 10 quarts of tomato juice, and 2 dozen pints of cinnamon rings (from cucumbers). While I would have liked to freeze corn, the animals got to my few rows and it just didn't happen. I still might do make applesauce, as I found out that a good friend has some trees that I can pick from. Whew, though, it is a big commitment to can! The best part about it, amidst all the hot mess, is that I know exactly what is in each can, and don't have to worry about additives and preservatives. So it is worth it!

(Overgrown) Cucumber Cinnamon Rings

If you have lots of big, overgrown cucumbers, read on! This  recipe is a favorite from my childhood. I'm not sure where my mom got it from, but it is an excellent and tasty way to use those overgrown cucumbers from the garden. It does take four days to complete, but if you are doing a big batch, it's well worth it! The end result is a crisp and sweet cinnamon ring that doesn't even taste like a cucumber anymore. You can serve it as a side dish or garnish, and I recommend them chilled.

Here's the recipe:

Let me add a few notes to the recipe too. The first day is probably the longest and messiest, because you have to peel and core the cucumbers. I think the trick is to have someone peel and then another person core. Try to find some utensil that is round to do the coring also- I ended up using a large icing tip, and it worked pretty well.

Use a LARGE container so you don't have to fight with everything fitting. I think I did about a dozen foot-long cucumbers, and I used a large plastic Tupperware container that was about a foot diameter and 8 inches deep. Even with this size, I didn't have a lot of room.

On the second day, you will need at least a stockpot to fit all the cucumbers. Or, use your cooker canner. Rinse them well to get the pickling lime off! Also, I found that it saves time to prepare and boil the syrup while the cucumbers are simmering for those two hours.

On the third day, all you do is reboil the syrup to bring out the flavor and then dump it back over. On the fourth, prepare your jars and get the hot water bath going while you reboil the syrup and pack the jars. Be sure you have a rolling boil going for 5 minutes, then remove the jars. I found that setting the jars on an old towel and covering them with an old town helps the heat stay in and seal the jars. 

Day One                                    Day Two

 Day Three                             Day Four

Feel free to contact me via the comments section and I can help you with the process!

Coco's Bistro Date

Justin and I went to Coco's Bistro last night for a date. It's so nice to dress up and get away. While it was a bit more than our traditional choices, we had it recommended to us. We weren't disappointed.

First, it's super easy to get to, right off of 35 in downtown Dayton. We had made reservations for 6pm, but it wasn't too crowded when we go there at all, though it did get busier as the hour progressed. Starting with the Fried Brie was a great choice! The brie is served with yummy bread and a host of other flavors swirled on the plate.

Next came our salads. I got a lovely spinach-blueberry salad with almonds and a sweet dressing, and Justin had a Caesar salad with honey balsamic dressing. I usually don't get into salads, but mine was really good.  Before the main course, they brought out the bread, and oh, was it delicious. It came with a freshly-mixed sweet butter. I wish I could tell you exactly what the bread was, but it reminded me of something between the texture of cornbread and French bread. It was thick but not too much, yet spongy too. Either way, I wish we had had more!

The main course for me was Shrimp Scampi Ravioli. The sauce wasn't too hot when you at it with the ravioli and shrimp, which I think means that it had a perfect balance. Justin ventured out and got the Cherry BBQ Duck Breast. We both liked it- in some ways it reminded me of the texture of squirrel or rabbit that I have had growing it. I don't think it was "gamey" though like some people say... anyway, it was good, and the sauce was tasty!! Justin's side of jalapeno cornbread stuffing had just a bit of kick, and the potatoes just the right amount of salt.

All in all, we would definitely go back again!! Try it out: http://www.228coco.com/

Fabric Paint Chair Revamp!

I snagged this chair at Valley Thrift store about a week ago for .69. That's right.... sixty-nine cents! Who priced this, I'm not sure, but it was destined to be mine. The only problem was that it was a little faded. I was sure I could find some fabric paint to spruce it up, and I did. Both Jo Ann's and Michael's carried Simply Spray fabric paint. After I cleared out Jo Ann's Blue Jay stock, I went to Michael's. (They actually had several other brands also, some that came in a pump bottle instead of a spray. I'm not sure how they would work but I just might try it sometime.)

On a technical note, I was super irritated because the spray kept jamming. I actually returned a bottle to the store because it sprayed for a whole two seconds and then didn't give me anything else!! Grrr! I ended up using about 6 bottles of the 2.5 oz size. With coupons and all, I think it cost me about $25 to change the color of the chair.

I think the key with this project was to stay in the same color family. For example, I wouldn't have tried to make the chair red- it might have ended up looking purple or something. So I really just brought the original color back to life. After taping off the wood framing that showed, I tried to saturate the chair as best I could, then let it dry. Once it dried I could see if I was uneven in any areas and spray again to cover better. The nice thing about this type of paint was that it doesn't need to heat set or be washed, so I works for a chair that can't go through the laundry!

You can see the before and after pictures below, and also a picture with the cushion turned over to see the difference. 

How to Distress a Dresser

A few years ago, I obtained a mid-century dresser as family hand-me-down. My Uncle Tim didn't have a place for it, and I needed a dresser in my spare room, so I snatched it up. Fast forward a few years, and our new house didn't have a place in our guest room for the dresser, so I decided to use it as a buffet in the dining room. I love it because it givens me lots of linen storage! However, with wood laminate floors and a wood table, I had too many wood finishes and wanted a the buffet to contrast more in the room (see pic on left). So I decided to paint and distress it. Here's how it worked.

First, I roughed up the original finish with sandpaper and removed the hardware. I had to use putty to fill in the holes from the hardware because we changed the knobs. Then, I painted a base coat of yellow paint (leftover from the kitchen) on the dresser. I made sure to have it plenty thick on the edges, because this is where I would be seeing it the most.

Next, I painted the top coat of a brownish-olive color that picks up some of the accents from the rest of the house and the green in the wall color. I did two coats of this. I used enamel from Sherwin-Williams, but next time I think I might try a different type because it wasn't super easy to scrub off for the distressing part.

Finally, I took sandpaper to the dried top coat along the edges and natural wear lines until I had as much yellow showing through as I wanted. I also used a "rough" paintbrush to give it wear on the top and sides since the enamel was pretty hard to distress on the flat surfaces. Sherwin-Williams has these 2-inch brushes for a buck that worked really well for this. 

To finish the piece, we put on new hardware from Lowe's. I didn't want it to look too new, so I rubbed paint over the pieces and then used a dry cloth to give it an aged affect. The knobs and handles were around $1 a piece, and the paint was about $15, so I did the whole dresser for about $25! Nice, right?

Colossal Coaster World VBS

Vacation Bible School was a blast, like always. DABC has quite a few children, and with visitors too, we hit 100 kids on Thursday night! It was an exciting time and I feel so blessed to be a part of it as the director. Everyone that helped, from snacks to games to lessons to music to decorations and everything in between, was incredible. There is always going to be things to do better next time, but I thought it was really a success. We had around 20+ unchurched visitors, and are following up with them now. I thought I would share a few pictures from the week, because they say it best!

Decorations

 

 Staff dinner

 Music

 Crafts

 Snacks

 Missions

 Drama team

 Games

 4's-K class

 Family night

 Our cotton candy makers!

 What a great week!