Things I've gotten for free

I thought it would be fun to keep a list of things I've gotten for free over the year. Free music downloads from emusic (this is in addition to the tons of free downloads from google play and amazon) Free audio book from emusic Amazon GC total: $5

Real Food Summit

The more I read about Real Foods, the more I realize I need to change my eating habits ASAP--before Piper starts eating solid foods. I know I could be eating better now, while she's nursing. I think about it and I talk about it, but I haven't actually done much about it.

I decided I'm going to spend July focusing on Real Foods and learning as much as I can. I need to jump in with both feet or else I won't do it at all.

To start, I've found UnderGround Wellness's Real Food Summit webinar that starts next week. I also watched their Paleo Summit a few months ago. I'm super excited to hear all of the good info! Check it out!

My First Mother's Day

Mom and Piper

I was going to try to write something insightful about how my life has changed by becoming a mother, but I was having trouble coming up with anything. Then I read this poem and it embodied everything that I wanted to say in a much nicer way than anything I could have come up with.

It talks about not being able to watch the news without thinking about what if it had been your child. The second week Piper was alive, my mother in law was here and wanted to watch the news. I had to leave the room because all I could think about was that I was trying so hard to just keep her alive, I couldn't think to the months and years ahead where things outside of my control could happen to her.

The poem is a mother's response to her daughter who is starting her own family. It says: 

My daughter’s relationship with her husband will change, but not in the way she thinks..

I wish she could understand how much more you can love a man

who never hesitates to play with his child.

I think she should know that she will fall in love with him again,

for reasons she would now find very unromantic.

I knew my husband was going to be a good dad, but I absolutely love watching him with Piper and he loves taking care of her. It is amazing for us to look at each other and think we made this little person--just us--and now it is our responsibility to make sure she grows up. Compliments are "you're a great mom/dad" and sometimes we don't get more time together than a quick kiss before bed, but we feel closer than ever.

For mother's day, my husband took Piper at about 6:30am and I got to sleep until 10:30am. I woke up completely startled and worried that she was starving, but he had defrosted some expressed milk and fed her so that I could sleep as long as I wanted. It was the best mother's day gift, but it gets better! He gave me a card and a bag of Red Vines (I craved them while I was pregnant). I was quite happy with that, but then he told me he was getting me a SodaStream machine! It was a great day. I can't even begin to believe I would be this blessed in my life.

Linking up:

Call Me Blessed

Piper's Birth Story

Note: This is a long, long post because I wanted to detail every moment. Also, there is a picture of me nursing at the end. You've been warned.


The Wednesday before my due date, we went in for our appointment and my blood pressure was higher than usual and higher than the recommended blood pressure, but it was not too out of control. The midwife told me to call if I had headaches or dizziness or if I just felt “yucky”. Thursday and Friday I had a couple of headaches, but I was not too worried about it and thought it might have to do with it being my last 2 days of work. The weekend was okay, but Monday (my due date--March 19th) I was feeling a bit dizzy.

I did not want to be a hypochondriac, but I was a little concerned. I decided to go to K-Mart to use their blood pressure machine before calling the birth center. My blood pressure there was 151/90 (“safe” is below 120/80), so I called the birth center. The midwife on call called me back and I explained what was going on. She seemed not to think it was that big of a deal, but told me to go to the hospital for monitoring. We went to Sonic and then headed to the hospital.

Last belly pic! March 19th--my due date.

It helped that I had pre-registered online even though I had planned to give birth at the birth center. We got there and got checked in at about 6pm. They put us in a room in triage, took some blood and strapped on a blood pressure cuff and heart rate monitor (for the baby). They were going to monitor my blood pressure every 10 minutes until the blood work came back which usually took about an hour. I watched some repo show on Tru Tv.



My blood work came back fine, but they said there were going to monitor my blood pressure for a while longer. I was watching the monitor and my blood pressure was getting lower and lower. When it was 90/60, I jokingly asked Keith how low my bp could go and still be alive. The nurse came in and said that everything was fine and they just had to wait for the midwife to call back and approve my discharge (she had 2 women in labor at the birth center). It took another hour for her to call back and approve the discharge. At this point, it was about 9pm. The nurse told me that they would have to measure my amniotic fluid before I could go (I have no idea why they did not do this during the hour I was just sitting waiting for the midwife to call).



The nurse took us into a little cubicle and did the ultrasound and then did it again. She told me that my amniotic fluid was measuring 4.9 and 5.1 and safe levels are between 5 and 25. She called the OB in to measure again. It took about half an hour for the OB to come and she brought two residents with her. She asked which one wanted to do the ultrasound and held the wand out to one of them. He shook his head and took a step back. She gave the wand to him and he measured the fluid. It measured just over 5. She told us that the risk of stillborn birth doubles from 1% to 2% when the amniotic fluid is low. Since it was my due date, she essentially told me that I would have to leave AMA or be induced. They called the midwife to let them know and they informed me that I risked out of being able to give birth at the birth center.



The nurse checked me and I was at 1 cm and not effaced at all. I was moved to a labor and delivery room and was given Cervadil at about 11pm. It is a 12 hour induction medication. They offered me a sleeping pill, but I turned it down. I probably should have taken it. Keith called our friends over and Mariam stayed with me at the hospital and Joe went with Keith to our house to pick up our hospital things. In the middle of the night, I had horrible chills that were causing me to convulse badly and my teeth chattering woke up Keith. I was finally able to page the nurse’s station and my nurse Liz brought in some warm blankets and wrapped me up. It really freaked me out and I started crying since the chills were uncontrollable. I also had to have continuous monitoring so I couldn’t move too far, but in the morning, I tried the birth ball for a while.



At about 11am, the midwife came in to give me the next induction medicine (I can’t remember what it was). I was at about 2 cm at this time and the intensity was that of bad period cramps. I said if it was my period, I would have called in sick to work, but nothing I couldn’t handle. My blood pressure was rising and I had to stay flat in bed. I asked the midwife for some ibuprofen and she said she’d let the nurse know. The nurse came in for the first time and did not introduce herself. I asked her if the midwife had told her I wanted ibuprofen and she snapped at me that I should not ask the midwives for anything and if I wanted something, I needed to ask her for it. I think I said something a little snotty back to her. Her other patient was suddenly needing her and I did not see her again for the rest of her shift.



Keith and I practiced Hypnobabies and I started listening to the Early First Stage CD. We did not have that track on the mp3 player, so I was listening on Keith’s computer, but the music player program kept freezing so every time I was interrupted, I had to restart the track. I never got all the way through it, but the first part really helped me. Things started picking up for me after a couple of hours, but they were still manageable. This second medicine was a 4 hour medication, so around 4pm, the midwife came in to check me. She couldn’t tell if I had progressed any, so she called in the OB. The OB checked me and said I was at about 3 cm and 50% effaced. She also broke my water at this time. They were going to start Pitocin and I knew that I could not eat after that. It was close to dinner time and the midwife told me I could take a 30 minute break and get something small from the cafeteria.

Keith and I went and walked around and I got some cottage cheese and fruit from the cafeteria. We also spent a little time outside in a courtyard at the hospital. My mom and Pete showed up from Phoenix at this time and met us in the courtyard.

In the courtyard.

The nurse (Amelia who took over for the rude nurse) tried to flush my hep-lock which was in the side of my wrist below my thumb, but it backed up. It had been painful since they put it in and the nurse could not get it to clear out to put in the Pitocin. She had to put another one in the top of my other hand. This was a little frustrating because they did not ever use the last one and they could have just waited to begin with.



By the time all of this happened, it was about 5pm when they started the Pitocin. My contractions started to pick up and I was using the Peace and Release cues from Hypnobabies with each one. I also listened to some of the Hypnobabies tracks until the battery in my MP3 players ran out. Keith was on his computer and I knew he wanted to take a shower. After a couple of hours, my contractions started to pick up and I had to groan through them and really focus. I told Keith if he wanted to take a shower, he needed to do it now because I was really going to need him soon. He took a quick shower and then sat with me. In Hypnobabies, the birth partner practices with you and has queues that they can use to help you get deeper into hypnosis. He and I worked through my contractions. We were on the same page and he was able tell the nurse the level of intensity that I was at without asking me.

My blood pressure kept rising, so Judy came in and checked me. I was only at 4 cm. I had asked not be told how far along I was unless it was time to push, but she forgot and told me that I was only at 4. I was discouraged because I felt like it was going to take me another 24 hours to go another 4cm. I asked Judy which midwife was on after her shift was up, but she told me I was going to have the baby before she left. That made me feel better.



She did tell me at this time that she had to bring my blood pressure down or else I would not be able to be her patient any more. My blood  pressure was around 150/90 at this point. She suggested I get the epidural because one of the side effects of it was that it lowers blood pressure. Getting the epidural was the one thing I was most afraid of in the process and I really didn’t want to do it unless it was absolutely necessary. The contractions were pretty intense and I did not want my high blood pressure to cause me to have any other interventions, so I agreed to it. Around midnight, the anesthesiologist came in and started to get ready. They let me get up and go to the bathroom so that I could delay getting the catheter.



I feel that if I could have been allowed to get up and walk around, things would have been easier because the contraction I had standing up when I was in the bathroom was one of the easiest ones I had. I was very worried about having a contraction while he was inserting the epidural, but he managed to time it between contractions. The relief was almost instant even though it took about 10 minutes to fully take effect. It was a little after 11 at this point.



I don’t know if I could have made it through the epidural without Keith. He was in front of me and the nurse and the midwife were on either side. He was walking me through our hypnosis techniques and saying calming things to me. The nurse joked that we were all going to fall asleep. Even the anesthesiologist was impressed.



The pressure started to get very intense at this time and I was itching like crazy. I called the nurse and explained that I itched so badly and she gave me some benedryl. With the epidural, you can press a button for a little burst of medication 3 times in an hour and at least 20 minutes apart. I ended up using all three presses and was still feeling very intense pressure even though I couldn’t even pick up my legs because they were so numb.



I called the nurse again and kept telling her that I needed to go to the bathroom. She just laughed and told me that was because I had to push--not because I needed to go to the bathroom. I think they expected it to take longer because I had only been at 4cm, but I managed to convince them that I needed to push. The midwife checked me again and I was at 9+cm. Liz helped me with the first couple of pushes while Judy suited up and got everything ready. My contractions got very long and several minutes apart. I was able to do about 4 pushes with each contraction even though they weren’t all productive. They would ask me if I wanted to push again and I would say yes because I wanted her to be out. I had time to rest in between each contraction and even close my eyes because the benedryl made me so tired.



I was on my left side and Keith was by my head and pulling my left leg up while Liz held my right leg up (they were still so numb, I couldn’t move them on my own). We tried a mirror so I could see what was happening, but I closed my eyes during every push, so it wasn’t very helpful. At one point, I told them I did not want to do it anymore, but Judy told me I would have to be stuck like this forever if I didn’t finish pushing. I knew that it didn’t actually make sense, but in the moment, it was what I needed to hear. I remember having the thought that I would never ever do this again. 

Piper started nursing immediately.

After an hour of pushing, Piper was born. We let the cord pulse for a few minutes before Keith cut it and they put her directly on my chest. Warm, slimy new baby is the best feeling in the entire world. They briefly wiped her down while she was on my chest and she started to nurse immediately. A few minutes later, Keith took her for a bit and then they measured and weighed her. Piper was born at 2:09am on March 21st. She weighed 7lbs 4oz and was 18 inches long. Her Apgar scores were 9 and 9.



Practicing Hypnobabies brought Keith and I closer in a way that nothing else could have. Piper has brought something into our lives that we didn’t know was missing and has made us closer as a family.

Vegan Thumbprint Cookies

Recipe by Shutterbean here.

I made these vegan thumbprint cookies for our work holiday party because we have several vegans on our team. Sadly, none of the vegans showed up to the holiday party, but a couple of vegetarians did and promised that they tasted good!

Now, Shutterbean calls them life-changing cookies. I'm not sure I would go that far, but they were pretty tasty. With the limited ingredients, I don't feel bad at all about grabbing a couple for breakfast!

The ingredients in the original recipe aren't entirely whole, but they can be easily changed:

• 2 cups whole almonds
• 4 cups quick-cooking oats
  
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups flour, divided
• 1 cup canola oil
  
• 1 cup maple syrup
• Assorted jams of your choice

The canola oil can be easily replaced with a different oil. I used honey instead of maple syrup because I didn't have any syrup.

I also used my own homemade blackberry jam--which was delicious, but it sunk down into the cookie more than her jam did. My blackberry jam was a little on the runny side, but it could also be that I made deeper impressions than she did for them jam.

Linking up to Simple Lives Thursday!

Kitchen Cabinet Organization and Seasoning Cast Iron

This week's task for the 52 week home organization challenge is to organize kitchen cabinets and drawers. Additionally, one of my whole food eating goals was to get rid of my non-stick pots and pans and season my cast iron.

I was able to kill two birds with one stone in a sense by going through my cabinets and making room for the cast iron.

I followed Whole Intention's cast iron seasoning instructions and it was super simple to do. I used vegetable oil instead of olive oil because I'm trying to use up my non-whole food items and I figured this was an easy way to use up the tons of vegetable oil I have without having to eat it. It is a somewhat messy process and I got to use my new apron for the first time while coating the cast iron in oil!

I have to say, I put off seasoning and using the cast iron for a while now because they are so darn heavy! I think that is one I'll just have to get over. The other reason I put off using them was because they came pre-seasoned, but they were weirdly greasy and sticky. I did not realize that I could season them again myself. Seasoning them in the oven fixed the sticky/greasy problem and they are perfectly fine to the touch now.

waiting for the oven to pre-heat (yes, my range is very dirty!)

When she says it is going to get smoky--boy is she right. I don't think my oven has ever been turned up to 500 degrees and all the crap stuck on the bottom started to smell bad. I have a big window in the mud room where my oven is, so I had that open, but I actually had to go get a fan and turn it on to direct the smoke out the window. I was actually worried that the neighbor might think my house was on fire.

While the cast iron was seasoning, I went through my cabinets and pulled out all of my baking items. I did not want to bite off too much, so I left the other stuff in the cabinets for another day. I stacked like items together (since things currently do not live together in my kitchen). I was able to get rid of 3 pie tins, a bread pan and quite a few pots that are all non-stick. I had 8 pie pans! I can't believe it. I don't think I will ever have 8 pies going, so I just kept the 5 Pyrex ones.

I did keep two very small frying pans that we make eggs in until I find some stainless steel or cast iron ones to replace them. The other non-stick items I kept are: muffin tins (for now, I'll line them with the paper liners), wok, a couple of electronics like my waffle maker. The waffle maker is the only one we use regularly, so I'm going to have to look at alternatives to that too, though I like the convenience of the electric one.

Slowly making steps to getting my house organized and living a healthier lifestyle.

Book Review: The Nourishing Diet

Image from Amazon

I stumbled across Dyno-Mom's Blog and was super psyched to see all of the awesome information she has posted on there about eating a Nourishing Diet. That was the first time I had really heard of Dr. Price and his philosophy, but I have been interested in eating healthy, locally and eating foods with the fewest added chemicals for a while now. The problem is, I did not know where or how to start and I'm honestly a little lazy.

When I saw that Melissa had just published an e-book that simplified and explained the whole process, I decided to try out the book.

The short version of a nourishing diet is foods that are selected and prepared as naturally as possible--"real foods". I laughed when I read the line in the e-book that chickens are not vegetarians and we should eat ones that have been allowed to eat bugs and worms along with other parts of their natural diet.

This book is pretty short--only 20 pages, and I admit, when I first started reading, I was not sure the e-book was going to really give any useful information. I was wrong about that and by the end of it, she had answered all of the questions that popped into my head when reading it.

The book is broken down into "types" of foods: Dairy, Meat/Poultry/Eggs, Plants, Fats, Salts and Beverages. Then each food type is explained and nourishing alternatives are offered and explained. Included is also ways to prepare the foods, but it is not a cookbook. (With a little searching though, there are TONS of recipes online--including on the Dyno Mom Blog).

I really liked that the book has lots of references to find the facts behind the claims she makes and the resource section is extensive. I've really only scratched the surface in looking at the resources she's listed. The best part though, is at the very end, she walks you through some first steps for getting started because by page 16, it is easy to feel overwhelmed with all the choices and changes!

One thing I would have liked to see in the book would have been a little more explanation in the beverages section on why someone should choose those beverages. I read that section and none of the drinks sounded all that good to me and the beverage section got bumped way down on my list of nourishing food priorities. I did some more research and found more information on water kefir and its benefits and it has moved up on my list of priorities.

Changing my diet, not only for me, but for my (growing!) family is one of my biggest goals for this year. I want to make lasting changes though, so I am taking baby steps so that I don't overwhelm myself. I know if I take too big of a bite to start, I won't follow though.
Here is what I'm going to start with:

• silicone mats for my aluminum cookie sheets (yay for leftover Bed, Bath and Beyond gift cards from our wedding!)
• replace aluminum and non-stick pots with cast iron (I only have a few aluminum and non-stick pans left and I have cast iron that needs to be seasoned).
• Start a sourdough starter
• Begin water kefir fermentation and introduce it to diet
• find alternatives for soy-based products in my kitchen
• participate in Get Real 2012 by Once a Month Mom
  

Until February 3rd, Dyno Mom is offering her e-book for only 99 cents! Check it out! She is also offering a give away until January 10th where two people will get a copy for free.

I received a copy of this e-book as a gift and am not receiving any compensation for my review. I just enjoyed this book and wanted to share it with others!

A prayer for my daughter

Today I am 26 weeks pregnant. This pregnancy is flying by and I can't believe it is almost over, but I have a confession to make.

I have not enjoyed being pregnant. I'm almost embarrassed to say it out loud, but it is true. I have been very stressed out and emotional through most of it and I'm coming to realize that most of those emotions are out of fear and selfishness.

I am scared of losing myself, losing my relationship with my husband and not being the mom that I want to be.

Today, I was reading a blog post, that led to a blog post that led to another one (watch the video if you have time). Then I realized how blessed I actually am. Then I realized...I have not prayed for this child once in almost seven months--all because I have been so focused on me.

I googled some prayers for daughters. This first one is short, but it says:

The gifts I have are many,
not one of them deserved...
You, my friend, are always steadfast,
when chaos fills my world.

Then, You blessed me one more time,
and a daughter came to be.....
Oh! The depth of joy untold,
this gift from You to me!!!

I need to remember that this baby is a blessing--one that I've wanted for a long time too! My husband reminded me the other night that I am getting to experience something special that not many people get to experience. He said he was jealous that I get to have this built in bond with our child before she is even born. How selfish must I look to him to complain about being uncomfortable and scared of losing my identity?

This page also has pdfs of prayers for different family members including daughters. Some of the verses that he references really spoke to me. [disclaimer: I have no idea who Jesse Rich is nor do I know anything about his ministry. I have not poked around his site at all. I just read the prayer for daughters pdf].

One of the verses that he includes is:

Psalm 127:3-5

New International Version (NIV)

³ Children are a heritage from the LORD,
offspring a reward from him.
⁴ Like arrows in the hands of a warrior
are children born in one’s youth.
⁵ Blessed is the man
whose quiver is full of them.
They will not be put to shame
when they contend with their opponents in court.

Offspring are a reward from God and blessed is the man who has many of them. This baby was not entirely planned by us, but I'm trusting in God's timing and not ours. I'm trusting that finances will work out so that I can stay home at some point to raise our children. I'm trusting that my marriage will only get stronger as our family grows. I'm trusting God will all of my fears so that I can enjoy the last 13-15 weeks of this pregnancy.

Best Books of 2011

I had set a goal for myself to read 100 books in 2011. I knew it was a stretch goal, but I thought I'd see how close I could get. I ended up reading 40 books total this year and probably started, but did not finish another 15 or so. They were not finished either because they were due back at the library and I could not renew them or I just could not get into the book and decided not to force myself to finish it. That 40 does not count the fact that I re-read the entire Black Dagger Brotherhood Series.

Lots of online forums are asking what was the best book you read in 2011. I don't know if I can qualify one book as being the best because I read books from many different genres, but I will summarize a few of the books I enjoyed the most.

Here is my list of books read for the year.

The book that suprised me the most:
Soulless by Gail Carriger--I started this book really not liking it, but I continued to read it to give it a fair chance since so many of my friends and ended up really liking it. I read all four books in the series this year.

Best Non-Fiction:
Your Best Birth by Ricki Lake and Abby Epstein--Over the course of reading information online about birth options, I saw this book and the documentary they also made mentioned several times. I decided to read it and see what I thought. The main premise of their book is that no matter what type of birth you have, have the one you want. Reading this book was really the turning point from me being somewhat depressed about the pregnancy to realizing I can do it and have a really good birth. I highly recommend it.

Enjoyable Historical Fiction:
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory
Tamar by Mal Peet
I am not a historical fiction reader and I was really suprised how much I liked all three of these books. The Book Thief is told from the point of view of a young girl from the age of 10-13 during WWII, The Other Boleyn Girl is about Anne Boleyn, and Tamar is told from the point of view of a young girl in the early 2000s and her grandfather during WWII. They are all three very different, but they were able to hold my attention.

I read several other really good books including several popular books for the year (The Hunger Games, Room and Robopocalypse), but these are some of the ones that stuck out for me during the last year.

Graduation Quilt

So where are all the crafting posts? Isn’t that a lot of what this blog is supposed to be about? I’ve been on a major self-improvement kick lately, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t been sewing my little fingers off.

I’m making my first quilt ever! (Ok, I did quilt a table runner last year). It is for my sister-in-law who is graduating from high school next month and she just turned 18 last week. As a birthday/graduation present, I’m making her a blue and gold quilt in the colors of the university she’ll be going to.



I did not want it to be “in your face” blue and gold, so I went with some softer colors with varying shades of blues and some of the golds are almost a rust color. I bought the fabric on a Sunday (Sue from Quilter’s Market was super helpful and made an otherwise intimidating experience super fun!) and I pieced together the entire top except for the border within a week. All I need to buy is the batting and the backing and put the whole thing together and quilt it. The quilting should be an interesting experience.

Here is the pattern.

Things I’ve learned from my first quilt:

1. I am not that great at quilt math. I have so much extra fabric of the big squares and I almost did not have enough for the small squares. In fact, two of the small squares are actually smaller pieces sewn together to make up the square. I also have to go buy more of the smaller border because that totally did not work out.
2. Cutting (accurately) is really hard.
3. Rotary blades get dull very fast
4. My sewing machine and I enjoy good, quality time together
   

DIY: ice cream cake

My husband and I love ice cream in all of its forms, so it makes sense that for our birthdays, we have ice cream cake.

Beware: this cake does not actually contain any cake (but it could if you wanted it to).

This is the cake that I made for my husband’s birthday in March:


Ingredients/Supplies

• Ice Cream--approx 1.5 pints or whatever size the half-gallon comes in now; pick your favourite flavor


• something for the crust (ie: oreos, cookies of any kind, graham crackers, etc). I used almost an entire package of off brand mint oreo cookies.


• 9x9 pan or pyrex


• Optional: toppings (I used egg shaped Reeces candies since it was right before Easter), hot fudge, fruit (honestly all of it is optional...this is entirely a “throw in whatever sounds good at the moment” type of recipe)

Pull out the hot fudge and start to microwave it in 20 second increments until it is hot-ish.

If you can multitask, break the cookies on a cutting board with a rolling pin while you are microwaving. If you can’t multi-task, just warm the hot fudge after you’ve already crushed the cookies.

Put the cookies in a small bowl and coat with the hot fudge. It should be more cookie than fudge, but really, do what makes you feel good.

Take a spoon and press the cookie-fudge mixture into the bottom of the glass pan--don’t forget the corners. I think my “crust” was about an inch deep in the pan. Throw the entire pan in the freezer and then lick the spoon.

About 20-30 minutes before you plan to pull the pan out of the freezer, take the ice cream out and let it start to soften on the counter.

Pull out the pan and spoon the ice cream on top of the crust mixture. Fill until you’ve used up the ice cream or the pan is full--which ever comes first. Add your toppings to the top of the ice cream. Throw the entire thing back into the freezer and then be patient.

I was not patient, so I do not have many pictures of actual “steps”. Honestly, I’m happy I remembered to take any pictures at all. I was really jones-ing for some ice cream while I was making this.

In the past, I’ve done a graham cracker and melted butter crust that did not really turn out so well. I’ve also topped the cake in berries of all kind and it has been delish!

Summer Reads

Since I could not find a book club that meets when I’m not working, I decided to join the Seasonal Reading Challenge on Goodreads. Essentially, each season, there is a long list of “challenges” for participants to complete. The “challenges” vary in difficulty and number of points awarded for each. There is not much to win besides bragging rights and the ability to choose the next season’s challenges, but it is a lot of fun.

The summer tasks were just posted and here are a few of them:

• Sun, Sea and PIRATES! Read a book about pirates.


• The Long and the Short of It. Read a short book (100-200 pages) with a long title (5 or more words) or a long book (400 or more pages) with a short title (fewer than 5 words).


• What’s Next? Choose a 5-star book from your GR read shelf. Go to What Should I Read Next? and type in the title (DO NOT hit enter!). Choose the correct title from the list that appears below the box. If the title appears more than once, choose the one closest to the top. Choose a book from the generated list to read. Required: Include the title of the 5-star book you chose from your GR shelf when you post.


• In The Eurozone The Euro is used by 327 million Europeans, but not all European nations use this currency.

As you can see, the tasks can get pretty challenging to find books that fit the criteria.

Another one is:
Don't Stop Reading. Since school's out, it's a great time to read a good book. Read a book from The Ultimate Teen Reading List.

I perused the teen reading list and there seem to be a lot of good looking books on there and not all of them are for teens. After I looked over it, I felt that as a librarian and lover of books, I should write a post about the list so I can have it for future reference.

Here are a few of the books I am going to be reading for the Summer challenge:

• Pirates!


• The Art of Racing in the Rain


• The other Boleyn Girl


• Apple Pie


• The book Thief


• Soulless


• Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World


• Wicked Lovely


• The Bucolic Plague: How Two Manhattanites Became Gentlemen Farmers: An Unconventional Memoir


• My Little Red Book


• Am I Blue? Coming out from the Silence


• Jersey Tomatoes are the Best


• Room


• Library: An Unquiet History


• The Handmaid’s Tale


• The eyre Affair

Now that I type it out, it seems like a lot and that is not even half of the challenges! We’ll see how many I get through. I’m just thankful that I have the time and luxury to do all of this reading!

25. Long conversations with grandparents

I thought the 25th think I'm thankful for deserved it's own post...


I sat today looking at my cell phone debating whether I was going to call my grandmother. I had not talked to her in several months and I did not call her on mother’s day. I wanted to talk to her, but I also wanted to be able to give her my full attention. I thought that talking to her on my lunch might cause me to cut the conversation short and I would not be able to just relax and read my book.

Ann V. in One Thousand Gifts talks about being completely present in each moment and enjoying each moment. I started thinking that I would have to make my moments if I am going to have them. I cannot just sit and wait for life to happen to me, so I decided to call my grandmother and I was so glad that I did.

I hope it gave her as much of a blessing as it gave me to spend a half an hour talking to her. She talked about the different homes she’s lived in--both in Canada and here in Arizona. At the end, she apologized for “talking my head off” but I am so glad she did. The moments where my grandparents recount their history are few and far between and I’m learning to cherish them more and more.

I’m trying not to feel guilty for not calling her as often as I should. I’m trying to think positive thoughts about the things I do do for my family and not about the things I should do, but don’t. My husband says I’m too hard on myself, but I hold myself to a very high expectation and I get very disappointed when I fall short. I am not a fan of the saying “shoot for the moon and if you miss at least you land among the stars.”

We’ll see...I’m getting there. One moment at a time.

Eucharisteo

I was only going to post this once a week, but I realized I need to do it when the inspiration strikes. I'm still reading One Thousand Gifts and it is really hitting home for me.

14. doing something I’ve never done before (sewing machine related)
15. having a hard conversation
16. floating in the pool with a friend (yes, it is bathing suit weather here)
17. finding a comment on my blog
18. an understanding boss
19. humbling myself and asking for forgivness
20. sewing love into a quilt for my sister in law
21. sewing straight lines
22. the kind lady at the quilt store willing to stop and help me
23. having a running vehicle
24. my dad taking time to give me advice even though he was busy at work

One through 13: here

8 weeks to a better me

Well, why not jump on the bandwagon for some positive posts? Sometimes Sweet is doing a weekly series about creating small, attainable goals so that you can see some positive outcomes quickly.

I'm going to combine weeks one and two into one post since I'm a week behind!

Week One:

Blogging...

1. Finish my 30 Day Detox posts
2. Comment on the blogs that I read regularly
3. Post the posts I've had drafted for a while

Week Two:

Fitness/Workout...

This is something that is really hard for me to commit to. I want to be in better shape, but I don't want to do the work associated with it.

1. Get in 20 mins of moderate (or higher) level intensity workouts three times a week
2. Start riding my bike
3. Take the dogs on walks

1000 Thanks

The start of my 1000 Thankful Things list:

1. Waking up to a fridge full of yummy healthy foods--thanks to my husband
2. Having a job that I enjoy that is in my field of study
3. My husband having work to do at his job
4. Having a beautiful house to live in
   

   From Drop Box

   
   (ignore the weeds)
5. Going outside to see my rose bushes in bloom
   

   From Drop Box

   From Drop Box

6. Getting my pictures to upload from my phone to Picasa!
7. Mrs. Dash Fiesta Lime Seasoning (this stuff is amazing on everything: salad, eggs, cottage cheese, chicken...the list goes on)
8. Being done with my class
9. My boss letting me leave early next week to go to a quilting meetup
10. My best friend pointing out to me that I could use Meetup to find a book group
11. Finding a book group meet up on my side of town
12. Having a boss and colleague nice enough to notice that I was upset today (even though I tried not to focus on the negative)
13. My book from Amazon coming less than 24 hours after I ordered it!

Coming up with 33 each day is going to be hard. I thought I'd stop now before I started stretching for something cheesy.

30 Day Detox Mind + Body

I've been really really negative lately. Even to the point where I told my husband that I hated my life and really hurt his feelings. I want any excuse to blame my bad attitude on, but ultimately, it comes from me being unhappy with decisions I've made and then rather than try to make better decisions, I look for an excuse.

The book One Thousand Gifts has been making an appearance in all of the blogs I've been reading and I have it on hold at the library, but I decided to buy it on Amazon to have it sooner.

Then, I read this post on Neathering our Fest and I decided that I've had enough messages from God and the universe and saying that I need to make a change. This was the motivation I needed. I am making the decision to abstain from negative thoughts for 30 days. I am joining in on the 30 Day Detox Mind + Body from over at Little Chief Honeybee.

The idea behind the detox is that if one little irritant can ruin the rest of the day (you know the guy who cuts you off and then proceeds to go 5 miles under the speed limit when you are running late for work), why can't one positive thing make the rest of your day better?

I've found this to be true when I worked retail. Someone would just really tick me off and on a good day, I'd look for reasons to go out of my way to be nice to people (employees and customers) for the rest of the day. Before I knew it, I forgot about the person who made me mad and, hopefully, I made someone else's day a little bit brighter. Sadly the "good days" were outnumbered by bad days when I let that person get to me and make me miserable.

My goal here is to keep the negativity out of my life both in person and on the web. I am also going to read 1000 Gifts and try to post 1000 things I'm thankful for during the 30 days. Now that is 33 things I'm thankful for each day and I don't want them to get cheesy, so it might go on longer than the 30 days. I hope that this short change will make a lasting change in my happiness, health and relationships. I am very tired of being tired and un-happy and I'm ready to change it!

The other component of the challenge is our bodies. I know if I take on too much at once, I won't be willing to do any of it. For this portion of the detox, I am going to make an effort to drink 75 oz of water each day (take your weight in pounds and divide it in half and that is the number in oz that you should have in water each day) and get in my 6 servings of fruits and veggies.

You can click on the button on the right hand side to join over at Little Chief Honeybee to find out more about it.

Pamela

Moved to blogger

Hello All!

I moved over to blogger from my Wordpress blog. I decided that I could not spend the money to personalize wordpress, but it was too ugly to even consider posting there and I did not feel up to messing with it.

I have lots of blog ideas, but did not every feel motivated to post at the ugly blog. I have customized this blog using Yummy Lolly's template and Totally Severe's background.

I am going to work on moving my old posts (what few of them there are) from wordpress over here, but it might take a little while.

Hope you enjoy!

Pamela