101 in 1001

During some down time in Grand Rapids last week, I was reading a blog that was linked to a blog that was linked to a blog…

Anyways, I came across this concept of “101 in 1001”, in short, one creates a list of 101 goals to be accomplished in 1001 days. I am not a goal-oriented person in that I am not very good at writing out goals that I actually want to accomplish. Don’t get me wrong I have written plenty of half-hearted goals, but not with too much thought behind them. Ironically though I am competitive aka stubborn enough that if it’s something I actually want to do, I’ll likely go through with it. So in hopes to make last week pass faster and in hopes to come up with some realistic goals for myself, I began compiling a list of 101 things that I’d like to I will accomplish in 1001 days. I’m going to be updating them on here under the "101 in 1001" page as I work through them and hopefully we’ll all be able to see my great progress. ;)

Some of my goals are serious others are pretty light-hearted. Some of my goals focus on others and some are downright selfish. I’ve broken them down into categories, more for my own sake so that I can easily find them versus searching through 101 things each time. They aren’t in any order of importance, but I find them all doable, even if a bit challenging!

So without further ado, here’s my list [in no particular order] of 101 in 1001:

101 in 1001
Start Date: June 28th, 2011
Goal Completion Date: March 25th, 2014
Goals Completed: 0/101

Food
1. No fast food for a month—including drinks *cough* McDonald’s Sweet Tea.
2. Go vegetarian for a month.
3. Cook 2 meals a week every week for 8 weeks.
4. Make a new recipe 1 time a week for 8 weeks.
5. Drink no pop for 6 months.
6. Do the “Daniel Diet” for 14 days.
7. Make a pie from scratch.
8. Try 4 new foods [or foods that I “don’t think I like”].
9. Freeze 10 meals before the arrival of our first child.
10. Can vegetables grown in our garden.
11. Eat an entire bag of popcorn, one kernel at a time.

Fitness
12. Run a 5k in less than 30 minutes.
13. Run 101 miles.
14. Do 50 real push-ups in one sitting. Short breathers permitted.
15. Run a block mile in under 10 minutes.
16. Lose all baby weight prior to completing goal #25.
17. Do the splits.
18. Complete a dualthalon.
19. Complete the Warrior Dash.

Health
20. Brush my teeth twice a day, every day for 30 days.
21. Shower every single day for 2 weeks.
22. Breastfeed lil’ one for at least 6 months.

Personal
23. Get a professional massage.
24. Have a baby. J
25. Get pregnant.
26. Limit my closet to 20 pairs of shoes.
27. Get a new Passport with current last name.
28. Complete honeymoon photo album.
29. Only trim hair until lil’ bean’s first birthday.
30. Try a new hair cut that I never tried before.
31. Deposit a dollar outside.
32. Hit the snooze button no more than 1 times for a week straight.

Relational
33. Host a dinner party.
34. Invite friends—outside of Girls Group—into our home 6 times over the course of 3 months.
35. Read 100 complete books to our child.
36. Go on a double date.
37. Plan a surprise party.
38. Take a “flip coin” road trip with Chris.
39. Stay at a bed-and-breakfast as a weekend getaway.
40. Plan a surprise get-away with/for Chris.
41. Answer Tuesday Night Questions consistently for 3 months.
42. Give Mister a goodnight kiss every night [that we’re in the same location] for 101 days.

Awareness
43. Go barefoot for a day.
44. Identify 101 things that make me happy.
45. Read 43 books from BBC Top 100 books.
46. Sew an article of clothing and wear it in public. [Beyond a simple seam and hem.]
47. Ride bike or walk everywhere for 2 days. [No gas usage.]

Blog
48. Blog about each of my 101 accomplished goals, unless supposed to be anonymous or uber personal.
49. Blog a personal/life update once a month for 6 months.
50. Answer 50 Questions that will Free Your Mind, perhaps blog about them.

Spiritual
51. Read the Bible every day to our lil’ bean for 30 days.
52. Pray every night with Chris before bed for 30 days.
53. Memorize the books of the New Testament, in order.
54. Memorize the books of the Old Testament, in order.
55. Study a book of the Bible with Chris.

Outdoorsy Stuff
56. Sleep under the stars.
57. Carve my name on a tree.
58. Go fishing.
59. Play in the rain.
60. Go camping—somewhere other than our back yard.
61. Camp out in our backyard.
62. Build a fire without a match/lighter.
63. Build a snow_____ [fort, man, etc].
64. Go skiing.
65. Go sledding.

Just For Fun
66. Write a letter to myself to open in 10 years.
67. Watch 26 movies I’ve never seen starting with each letter of the alphabet.
68. Complete a photo challenge.
69. Make a wish at 11:11 on November 11, 2011
70. Submit a post to PostSecret.
71. Go ice-skating.
72. Learn to tie a tie.
73. Create a font in my handwriting.
74. Pee my pants. J
75. Go to Cedar Point.
76. Smile while petting a cat. [Although I know this won’t be a “fun” one!]
77. Go to the drive in movies.

Giving Back
78. Pick 5 people who have changed my life and write each of them a letter.
79. Leave 25 Operation Beautiful notes.
80. Write three “Dear Stranger” letters and leave them in random spots around Lima.
81. Donate blood 3 times.
82. Plant a tree.
83. For Christmas one year hand-make a gift for each person receiving a gift from me.
84. Write our Compassion sponsor child once a month for a year.
85. Send hand-written notes of encouragement to 10 friends/family members.
86. Complete paperwork for Century Farm Recognition.
87. Leave a 100% tip.
88. Send an anonymous note of encouragement/flowers.
89. Put together 5 Christmas shoe boxes.
90. Contact 5 managers about the good work a specific employee has done.
91. Give money to someone who asks for it, even if I don’t “trust” their motive.
92. Grow out hair and donate it.

Finances
93. Pay off 2 student loans.
94. Continue to have $0 debt outside of Mortgage and Student Loans.
95. Use at least one coupon, per purchase, for every purchase for four weeks.
96. Save half of my “Rachel Money” every week for 2 months.
97. Do not buy anything for myself for one whole month.
98. Teach someone the basics of couponing.
99. Make no withdrawals from savings accounts [excluding possible car purchases].
100. Save $5 for each completed task.
101. Donate $5 for each incomplete task.

Feel free to comment or question any of these goals and I'll give you a better explanation or the story behind the goal! [Or if you have some suggestions as to how to go about completing a particular goal, share the love through a comment! :) ]

Showered with Love

This past Friday we welcomed some of our best friends to stay the weekend with us. Luckily the timing worked out so that the weekend that we were all available was also the weekend of my shower, but before a short shower post, we started out our Saturday morning with a 4-mile run. And by "we" I mean, Josh and Chris ran and Leslie, Rob, Kate, and I supported them running! [I "felt up" to running Saturday, but I have never done 4 miles and the Spencerville run is more competitive than the runs I like to participate in so I passed! Maybe next year.]

Chris finishing 3rd in his age group!
Way to go Mister!
Josh won their age group with 28:something. :)

Then Saturday afternoon about 35 ladies got together at my parents house in order to celebrate the anticipation of the arrival of our lil’ one and I just have one thing to say, “Holy cow, our family and friends are generous!”

Looking back on the afternoon, and after going through and re-going through our gifts, we realized that the only thing we still need are the Best Bottom diaps that we’ll be using once we’re out of the new newborn stage—and use up the over 200 disposable diapers we’ve accumulated from gifts and such. Oh and we’ll likely want to get some cloths for our babe once we know if he’s a he or she’s a she. The gender neutral selection—outside of the outfits already hanging in the closet—doesn’t give one much to choose from. 

So without many words to express our gratitude, here are some snapshots of our family/friends’ generosity—and creativity—that was showered on us Saturday:

Diaper Baby made by sis-in-law

Baby Bouquet
Onesies, Mittens, Hats, Socks & More

Favorite Outfit from Momma-cita! : )

Lots & Lots of "Stuff" filling up the Nursery

Legit Pic of Mister after going through all the gifts again.
I told you we were overly blessed! :)

*I couldn’t find my camera during the shower [yep, you guessed it though, it was laying out on the kitchen counter the whole time] so I wasn’t able to take pictures there. So these couple pics had to be taken after the fact. Also I don’t have a picture of the adorable cake that my mother-in-law made for us, but I know a few others do, so when I get that I’ll update this. :)*

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From Joie and some friends doing the leg work of planning to all the ladies that attended, Chris and I are very grateful that not only do people love us that much to shower us with love, but that in 8ish weeks the little one is going to be welcomed into a world of love and support. The lil’ one is pretty fortunate as well, I’d say! :)

Emotional [Sun]day

Pretend you are reading this on Sunday; I’m a bit late posting. :)

Today was an unexpectingly emotional day. It’s Father’s Day and since it’s Sunday, Chris and I headed to church. We went to Sunday School and then across the parking lot to church. As we entered into church there was a commercial video playing about Man-dles aka candles with man scents. Think locker rooms, jock straps, and cut grass. It was quite humorous, but that's where the humor ended.

The choir sang a song [which I don’t remember what it was called] and while they were singing there was a video playing that depicted an elderly couple sitting on their couch looking through an album recapping their lives. Cute, in love elderly couples always pull at my heartstrings, but this day was particularly pulling. As I watched this couple on the big screen, I thought about how each of my grandmas were sitting alone for the first time in decades on this Father’s Day. I couldn’t even imagine. It was hard to think about. By the end of the song, with a couple deep breaths, the tears had dried up, but the thoughts were still running ramped.

Then Pastor Jonathan sang a song about a relationship between a father and a son and how the dad wants to be sure to live his life like Christ’s because he knows that his little boy wants to be just like his dad and dad wants the little boy to be like Christ. Go on, pull at my heart some more. Instead of the somber thoughts of my grandmas being without their husbands and my parents both being without their fathers for the first Father’s Day in their lives, my mind went to how in 2 short months, Chris will be that dad, and the joy that that thought brings. I am so confidence in his role as a father and I’m sure just as often that I catch myself smiling gazing at our lil’ babe, I’ll catch myself gazing at Chris interacting with our babe! I’m already guilty of that when he interacts with our niece and nephews. :) So there were some [more] tears there, but I’m pretty sure I saw some welling up in Mister’s eyes as well having similar thoughts.

Pastor Charlie preached and then concluded the service with a challenge. He charged all the married men in the church to come forward. Now usually at this point there are maybe a handful of people who go forward for one reason or another, but this morning was different. Nearly immediately Chris and many, many other men went forward to pray. I’m not 100% sure what it was, but there is something about men being men and standing up to lead that hits deep. As Pastor Charlie continued to challenge the men, more and more came to the front. It was awesome. To be completely real, what he said to them, was probably the best words that I have ever came out of his mouth. It was like I was a fly on the wall that was able to hear men talk heart to heart and challenge each other to be better—better men, better husbands, better friends, better fathers. I could sit in on that conversation every Sunday day!

Lastly after church Chris helped me pack for a week in Grand Rapids. I have training for school through Friday and while I know that it’ll be good and productive, I hate the idea of being away from Chris so long! Ten miles out, I had some tears welling.

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And now it is Tuesday, and I wished that/feel like it should be at least Thursday. I miss home. I miss Chris. I’m going to continue to try to get everything out of this conference so I can be best prepared—well so that I can best prepare my long-term sub—for the kick off to the year and beyond, but Friday at noon I'll be celebrating all of my 3.5 hour drive home! I may even make it home in less time! :)

Too Small?!

This morning I was scheduled for my monthly-ish doctor's appointment. I got up, got ready, and headed out the door so I'd be just on time. I quickly discovered that it does no service to be more than 5 minutes early for my appointments because I always end up waiting a while in the lobby anyways. Signing in at 10:28, I made perfect timing.

After giving my sample [and noticing that the lady before me left hers on the rack with the rest of the clean cups--yuck!] I watched Dr. Phil for 15-20 before being called back. The nurse took my weight [4 pounds less total gain than my at home weigh-ins] and then lead me into my room for the routine checks. How are you feeling? How's everything going today? was the question that I regretted answering today. My response? Oh, everything's fine. I'm getting kind of bored with all of these appointments. I come in, wait longer in the lobby than I am even back in the room getting checked. [Now usually I just think this, and I don't express it, but I guess you could say I was a bit more irritable this morning and although it was my first experience with this nurse, I knew she wasn't going to be a fav lady!]

Heartrate was in the 140s. [This is the only nurse so far who hasn't let me see the fetal heart rate moniter while she took it either. Odd.]

Measured 27 cm--Until I sat up for her to take my blood pressure [120/60] and asked her to repeat that because that's what I measured at my last appointment-- "Oh, I mean 29. I was thinking and writing at the same time." [For those who don't know--like me pre-pregnancy--up until about week 35/36 the measurement should correlate with the number of weeks pregnant that you are. So I'll be 31 weeks on Monday, so I should measure 31.]

After 20 questions all with the response, "Nope, no issues with that." The nurse left to get the doc. When they returned, the doctor said that felt around my stomach a bit and said that she wanted to have me schedule an ultrasound for next week to try and see why I was measuring small. Okay. So this appointment isn't quite as boring as the usual, but still no red flags as my measurement could've been off simply because of the way our baby was laying today.

As I went to the nurse's desk to schedule my ultrasound and then the following 2 appointments, I explained that I actually will be out of town all next week so my appointment would need to be adjusted a bit. Well come to find out the sonographer was pretty much booked for the next two weeks anyways. I mentioned that if there happened to be an opening today, I could run across town to the other office for that appointment as I didn't have anything that I had to do afterwards. It was 11:08. They had an opening at 11:30, so I slid in there. Off I went across town.

Of course I immediately called Chris [he usually goes to the appointments but since they have been so boring lately and this one was thought to be equally as dull, he was doing some training at OG] and explained to him that something was a little off, but don't freak and I was off for an ultrasound. I also asked if Jodi was able to tell the gender, did he want to find out. I didn't know this answer to this question either as I hadn't thought it a possibility, but Chris said no, he already has the mindset that it'll be a surprise so he'll just still with that. That was until I suggested that if Jodi could tell, what if I had her put it in a sealed envelope and then we'd be able to find out together, or decide later if we wanted to even find out.

This idea he liked.

So with the promise of letting him know what I found out, I continued across town. I've very intentionally tried to not text and drive lately, but today was an exception. I had to let my momma and a handful of others know what was going on as I got a bit more nervous with every block I passed. I arrived across town, took a deep breath and signed in. As I waited in this much less crowded lobby, I began to get more and more nervous that potentially this easy, peasy pregnancy of mine could have taken a turn. It didn't help that halfway through the wait a lady patient left from the back office crying. Oh geesh. Will that be me?! Deep breaths. It's probably just the way the lil' one is laying.

Shortly thereafter Jodi's friendly voice called me back and I instantly felt a bit better! She was her normal, kind self and didn't seem alarmed so I tried not to be either. She even jokingly asked, "What's wrong Rach?! Aren't you eating enough ice cream!?" As we went into her room she asked if we still weren't going to find out the sex. I told her that after calling Chris we weren't sure if we wanted to know at this point and decided on the envelope thing. To which I think she doubted myself control and commented that we'd likely go home and rip it open to find out. :)

We continued to chat as she did several necessary measurements. Immediately I noticed that with each measurement I was actually measuring ahead of 30 weeks 4 days not behind. Jodi confirmed this information. Any even bigger sigh of relief! As she continued to peek into my womb [technology is amazing], the point finally came where she told me to close my eyes as she was looking for the "goods" or lack thereof! After searching and a chuckle she said I could open my eyes and I still was going to have a surprise because this babe's legs were closed!

Welp, no need to have to later decide if we wanted to open that envelope because there was nothing for her to put in it! Jodi finished up the ultrasound and printed me some pictures as I was quite relieved that there was nothing to worry about and I had a chubby babe [over 4 lbs. at this point] growing well inside of me. She also revealed that even if she was able to tell, she was going to write her number in the envelope to hassle us just one more time before we'd be able to know! :)

I called my momma and headed to Olive Garden to update Chris and show him the lastest pics of our lil' one. We were/are all relieve that there is nothing to worry about and everything is continuing to look good! So before wrapping my thoughts up with two conclusions, I'll give y'all a glimpse into the future...

Profile View with Baby's Lips Puckered

3D Button-nose Babe

*The quality and clarity is much better in person. I think that may have something to do with taking a picture of a picture on a cell phone and then uploading! I wanted to add a picture of the baby's foot with its fingerlike toes, but the clarity is bad using that previously mentioned method. :)*


In hindsight, here are my two that potentially would've changed my whole mindset had I thought a little harder and not been so "in the moment":

1. Perhaps the nurse who did the measuring was a bit incompetent out of the game. She mentioned to me at one point that she usually does the charts and such but noticed that the lobby was filling up so she wanted to help move us along. Now I don't doubt her ability or knowledge because she commented that she had been a labor & delivery nurse for 15 years prior to working in this office, but maybe it'd been a bit since she's measured someone's uterus. And she had the little 27/29 mix up. And I was never measured a second time.

2. My schedule is what caused this all to be more an immediate response. My doc didn't come in and say, "Rachel, you need an ultrasound asap!" She said she'd like me to get one next week but that just wasn't going to work out, so I suggested that it be slid in today if possible. I'm glad I didn't have to wait out the two weeks though as I would've likely been Nervous Nelly.

3. I know I said I only had 2. The lady who left the 2nd office crying. Had that not existed, I would've probably felt a bit better!

Regardless, the good news of it all is that we were able to get another glimpse into the future and a healthy little surprise is continuing to grow well inside of me and we are so incredibly excited to see our love in 9 weeks... or less! ;)

Waterpark & Another 5k

Last Friday I chaperoned a field trip to the Columbus Zoo and its attached waterpark, Zoombezi Bay aka Wyandot Lake! On Tuesday at our teacher workday, my coworker who was heading up the trip mentioned that they needed more chaperones--they only had one who was able to ride the bus and stay all day--so I thought "What the heck?! Sign me up!" I didn't have plans and Chris was working all day and night so it wouldn't take time away from us either!

So Thursday night I laid out all my stuff and headed to bed. It was a good thing I did. Friday the bus was scheduled to leave at 8am and we were supposed to be there by 7:45 in order to eat breakfast prior to take off. I woke to my alarm reading 7:50. Awesome.

"Aaaahhhhhh!!! Chris! The bus leaves in 10 minutes!" I leaped out of bed and threw on the clothes I had laid out. Brushing my teeth, I determined my hair was a hopeless hot mess so I quickly grabbed a hat and was heading for the door. As I made the corner out of the hallway towards the door, Chris was standing there with his hands out. Keys in one hand and water bottle in the other. What a man!! A quick kiss and I was out the door. Lucky for me, I live a hop, skip and a jump away from the school. Unlucky for me, I hit all but two lights in that hop, skip and jump! Regardless, I pulled in at 8:02 and half the students were inside using the restroom one last time before departure. I plopped myself in the bus seat waited for everyone to load up and we were off.

When we arrive at the Zoo it was raining pouring and because of lightening, Zoombezi Bay was currently closed. Nevertheless we unloaded in the rain and headed to the entrance. Soaked by the time we got there, we huddled under every available covering. When it let up a bit, we were off to the zoo to check out the indoor exhibits. We managed to keep decently dry for a couple hours going indoor exhibit to indoor exhibit and eventually the rain let up.

After meeting up for lunch, Zoombezi Bay was open and that's exactly where we were headed. I had four students who pretty much stuck with me the rest of the day. We started off "tame" on the lazy river and then the students were ready for some slides. Now I recognize that I was nearing 30 weeks preggo, but that wasn't going to stop me from having a good time.

The first slide they went on I passed. It was like the burlap sack slide at the fair, but instead you laid on your stomach on a foam mat. Many people think I'm crazy for being as active as I am while pregnant, but fear not, I drew the line on this one.

I passed on this one. I'm sure the lil' one--
and my mom--will thank me!

That's the only line I drew. My students even saw the signs that said that pregnant people weren't to ride the rides and questioned me. I informed them I wasn't pregnant, just fat. You can imagine the interesting conversations and odd looks that occurred when the girls would start a conversation, "Well Ms. Massie, since you're fat..." :)

The anticipation to this ride caused the most fear.
Rightfully so. I was a bit scared as we dropped into the
giant toilet bowl! We were all smiles in the end though.

I rode and even held hands with shaky-nearly crying-15 year old girls and encouraged them to ride all the other slides. We had so. much. fun! It was fun to see and be a part of these teenagers' lives. One girl in particular said countless times that she's never done anything so fun, even though she was the fearfullest of them all. [I told her not to worry, we're at a waterpark, if she's scared and pees her pants, no one will know! :) ]

Despite the rushed and wet morning, the day turned out beautifully and everyone had a great time. And I managed to closely resemble a lobster.

The next morning my parents picked me up for 5k #4 of the year. Mister was unable to join us as he had to work that morning. We arrived at Harrod for the Pork Rind Festival 5k, registered and received my neon-highlighter yellow participants shirt. After waiting for the start time to near, we were off. There weren't very many participants but I was fairly certain there were at least some walkers so goal #1: Don't be last. would be easy to accomplish. They fired the cannon to start us and we were off. Less than a quarter of a mile into the run, the 10 year old daughter of a coworker of mine was walking back in tears. Her dad was a head of me and she sobbed to him, "I can't do it! I'm going to pass out! I'm going to pass out!" We both knew that she just started off too fast trying to keep up with the top runners, so we encouraged her to turn around and walk. I knew that her dad was willing to walk with her, but I could tell he wanted to run it as well. So I volunteered to walk with her. I told her and her dad that I'd walk with her as long as she needed it and then if she felt better we could jog again.

She dried her tears and agreed.

I explained to her that we could just walk as long as we needed and then when she felt good again we'd jog. If she got tired, we'd walk again. That's what I do after all anyways. After about 2 utility poles, she looked up to me and said she was ready to jog again, so I said, "Alright, let's do it!" Now I forgot that to a ten year old "jog" meant take off sprinting--a lot faster than my typical wogging! So I began to jog and she was off! [She ended up finishing in less than 30 minutes, and didn't pass out!]

I continued at my own rate and felt pretty good except the fact that my sports bra straps were bouncing on my freshly burnt shoulders. My goal is always jog the first mile and then I give myself permission to walk if need be. Well there wasn't a mile marker, but I thought I remembered where the 1 mile mark should be about from GoogleMaps so I jogged there plus 2 utility poles' distance. I noticed the water station was just ahead so I jogged until that point then walked as I drank my water and then got to the next house [I like to start and stop jogging and places that I can go back and find on GoogleMaps to be able to see how far I jogged/walked/wogged. I continued jogging, and only stopped to walk one other time towards the end.

In the end I finished with a 38:30 time. Which isn't my worst but wasn't too bad for 30 weeks pregnant. I think I would've been about 37 minutes had I not stopped with Kianna at the beginning of the run. I was proud of myself for two reasons though:

1. I have never only stopped 3 times to walk before--and that includes stopping with Kianna. I've never counted how many times I've stopped before, but I know it was much more than that!

2. When I went back and GoogleMapped my walking distances, it was less than .5 miles. I'm sure this was this least amount I've ever walked before as well.

So in the end I was proud of myself for the amount of time I wogged even though it was a slower pace and that I only walked 3 times. Oh, and I got a sweet door prize and a medal for getting 2nd in my age group!

Coming soon will be a post about our nursery that's nearing completion as we have less than 10 weeks left in the countdown! Craziness!

Until next time, friend.

Lack of Sleep + No School = Crib Skirt?

Last night was a doozy.

I recognize that in 11 weeks, I may be very, very thankful for a solid 3.5 hours of sleep but this morning my wake-up call came way too early—more accurately, my bedtime was ridiculously way too late!! Such can’t be attributed to a growing belly and uncomfortable sleeping positions. Rather the verdict—I assume—was none other than:

PEPSI!

Now I am not a regular pop drinker overall and haven’t been for a long time, but I do still drink it from time to time. However usually clear pop, or at least caffeine-free pop, is my cola drink of choice. Last night though since Pepsi was cold and Root Beer was not, I went for the caffeine-filled, sugar loaded dark pop way too late in the evening aka after my preferred bedtime.

As Mister and I had pillow talk at about 11:30, I asked him if he was ready to go to sleep as his eyes blinked slower and slower as my mouth moved faster and faster. He said he was when I was ready to be done talking. I decided to be selfless and shut up so at least one of us could sleep. J

Because I was wired wide awake, I logged onto my laptop and began surfing and searching. Catching up on Facebook and reading blogs. After over an hour I decided to head out to the living room as I was afraid the light from the computer would wake my sleeping beauty. I also took advantage of this time by texting my fav lil' bro who was still wide awake raking in the cash at a casino [despite telling him g'night hours prior]!. 

I ended up looking at nursery things and diy blogs and 2 hours and countless browser windows later, I found a few nursery ideas that I really liked. Now I have looked at other sites—and some of the same one’s I looked at last night—many times before, but I finally settled on what I liked for our lil’ Mystery Massie! We’ll see how long this “settledness” lasts and if it gets carried through in the plans!

I did however decide that I for sure wanted to make a crib skirt for the nursery. So after a partial day at school wrapping up loose ends, I headed to Hobby Lobby and JoAnn Fabrics to find the *perfect* fabric to use.  I gazed up and down the aisles at JoAnn’s finding 4 “elephant based” fabrics that I liked but couldn’t decide on—each had parts I liked more than another fabric—and then I decided to just leave. I then headed next door to Hobby Lobby to find it. Well their selection sucked was quite limited. So I bought Heat ‘N Bond and Velcro strips and headed back to JoAnn’s to force myself to decide. Finally I did. And I settled on this pattern:

Huge piece of large colorful animal fabric.

As I drove away from the stores, I was kicking myself for picking this pattern and not one of the others [I was having a self-heated debate as to which fabric would be best to “genderize” after the lil’ one makes its appearance], but now “in the end” I do think it was the best choice! When I got home I immediately laid out the fabric and was ready to cut. On one website last night I found an uber-easy no sew tutorial for a crib skirt and I was ready to go. However I ran into one dilemma: the fabric’s print and the way I was planning on cutting would’ve made the animals all sideways.

Crap.

No fear though. After a few mathematical calculations, and remembering another site I came across last night, I had a solution! Cut in the proper way and put in a panel using leftover fabric from my crib sheet adventure! Sa-weet. Still ahead!

Within an hour or so, after thinking I’d have to go back and buy more fabric, I had a completed a crib skirt, and liked it! J Not a single stitch was made but rather I used Heat ‘N Bond for all the hemming and seams—why did I not know about this before—and then used Velcro to attach it to the crib mattress frame.

Simple Materials.
Fabric, "Panel" Fabric, Heat 'N Bond & Velcro.

The Final Product

Easy-peasy.

Now just to wait and see what Chris thinks of my latest project before I start another one soon! Another reason I love summer break!

Total cost for this project was a bank breaking $11.48 and I still have some leftover Heat ‘N Bond and Velcro! Gotta love coupons! J

Sorry about the sidewaysness. It took
forever to load and I'm not patient enough
tonight to redo it.
Note amount-of-sleep-last-night above.

Until next *project* time!

My "Last" Weekend

Today marks the final day of my last true weekend.

By definition the weekend is:  the end of the week; specifically: the period between the close of one work or school week and the start of the next. By all means, part one of the definition will continue to ring true. The end of each week will continue to come and go, but for part two not so much. Today is my last weekend--my last close of one work or school week and the start of the next.

With tomorrow being my students' last day of school and then Teacher Workday/Interviewing taking place on Tuesday my next "start of the next" won't come until early October! [Holy moly that's forever away!!] This summer I have a week of training for school and lots of planning for next year, but I am not officially working anywhere and won't be again until after Baby Massie is in our arms!

So in true blogging fashion, I shall recap my last weekend for a long time!

Friday's school day came and went quickly as students were working on exams and turning in last minute assignments and I was working on last minute to-dos and packing up my room. [I'll still be at good ol' Progressive Academy, I'll just be moving all my stuff across the hall the the classroom that I student taught in. :) ] Friday evening was pretty typical as Mom and I had spin class. After spin, Mister and I met up with Momma-cita & Dad for supper and ventured to the St. Gerard's Festival. Now we went to this festival last year but it must have been later in the evening because Friday night, the music was a heck of a lot better and there were a lot less drunks!! That's more my style. :) We enjoyed the music and people/dancer-watching and then headed home at a decent hour since we had another 5k Saturday morn.

Temple Christian Schools--where I coached volleyball, Chris went to school, and we attend the church affliated with-- was hosting their first 5k. I was a bit nervous about this one as it didn't start until 10am and it was supposed to be in the 90s throughout the day Saturday. Chris and I met up with Mom and Zac to run our race. There was a pretty good turn out for it being their first 5k so that was good for them. At first there weren't too many people there, so Mom & Zac were likely their odds of placing! ;) Hey, you gotta do what it takes, right?!

Taking off... I'm a ways back yet.
I don't fool myself in starting too far forward! 

Chris had the goal of less than 27 minutes and Zac had the goal of keeping up with Chris [he thinks that not running to train slows you done and deep down he was afraid he'd be lagging with me! ha!] I tole myself I was going to make a goal Saturday morn when I felt the heat [I wasn't sure if I'd be walking or wogging], but forgot to. I'm kind of glad, because I don't think I wouldn't have made my goal by 1 minute 43 seconds had I made one. So my unofficial, non-time related goal was to run my 1st 5k in my new running skirt and to wear a thinner shirt so I wouldn't be so dang hot! Actually prior to this run, I had worn the exact same shirt every race!

My New comfy Running Skirt :)
I think I may live in it this summer--not necessarily running!

The course was nice and I made it to the 1 mile mark without walking--that's always my unspoken goal-- and my only complaint was the water was a bit too late in the run. After the 2 mile mark, instead of at the 1.5 where I thought it would be, made that water all the more refreshing! Had I not worn a thinner white shirt, I may have just dumped a little on me! I felt good after the 1 mile mark and even on the 2nd and 3rd miles, I was happy with myself on my walk/jog wog combinations. I only walked the distances I set out to walk and I found myself jogging a bit longer than initially planned each time. Honestly, I just told myself that in 3 months when I have to push out a baby, I'm not going to be able to just stop pushing and take a break, so I shouldn't just stop jogging and give up so easily! It worked!

Zac captured my mildly disappointing finish.

Like a concerned Momma-cita that she is, as I approached my last tenth of a mile, my momma had water and wanted to make sure me and the lil' one were doing okay! I was though so I had her save my water for the finish line. Zac and Chris were ar the finish line to cheer me on as well, which is always encouraging! [See there is a benefit of being the slowest one of our little group! I can have my pic taken and water waitin' since they've all be done for a while!]

Twink captured the
Ladies Victory!

Overall my time was 36:43. Second best time for me. I thought I wouldn't been under 35 with the way I felt while wogging, but oh well. There's always next time. Chris made his goal by 28 seconds, and Zac was ahead of Chris so he made his goal too. Momma & Zac ended up getting 2nd in their age groups and I got 3rd in mine--which is a first! Really if you would've excluded Leanna, my Twink, who won for the women overall, you could say I got 2nd too. ;)

After the run, we came home, cooled off and headed to Menard's to pick up some last minute things for the garden. We--and by we, I mainly mean Chris-- will be testing out our green thumbs this year. He tossed all the soil and then I helped plant a hopefully bountiful harvest-- tomatoes, green beans, squash, zucchini, lettuce, spinach, and watermelon. Yum! Yum! Hopefully!!

The beginnings of the Harvest.
Complete with chicken fencing to keep our furry foes out!

Roasty-toasty after Gardening.
Here at nearly 29 weeks.
Holy moly. Only 11 more to go.
It's going to FLY!

Then Saturday evening we had a mock-girls night. Some of the lovely ladies that I get together with on Thursdays as well as Chris and I [Chris is the one who made it a "mock girls night"] met up for burritos the size of my unborn child Chiptole and The Creamery. I split half my "child" with Chris--only seems fitting right-- but you better believe the Moose Tracks in a waffle cone was ALL mine!! Delish.

Sunday was Lazyday. Walked to church. Tripped and fell on my hands & knees on the way. Shed a few tears because I was startled not hurt [well maybe my pride was]. Sunday school. Church. Grilled out for lunch. Read a couple months worth in What to Expect when You are Expecting. Snuggled with Mister and he stayed awake for a movie. Napped. Graduation Party. Blogging.

And that brings us to the end so far of my last weekend for awhile. I may end this weekend with coloring my hair and going for a walk, but we shall see.