12 in '13

This post idea has been brewing in my head for quite some time.

Summer of 2012 I read The Happiness Project while on vacation with Adam.  And I just loved the way she had a goal for each month.  Because how many of us remember what we resolved to do last January?  But one month?  That is an amount of time I can handle!

Then I started reading Motley Mama during her one month with out the internet.  I had to read it because so many other bloggers were tweeting about it and I got curious.  I fell in love with her blog, and there was that same idea again.  One month = one goal. 

I admit, I'm worried about how these will all go down since I'm having a baby in January.  Good thing that's not a surprise so I can kind of tailor my goals to the situation.  And I'm excited to blog all of these because I know I wont lose the list somewhere.  I am a great loser of things.

January: Get my apartment in order before the baby arrives

We're moving this week!  Who does this?  I can barely do my hair with out running out of breath, but I'm about to move a ton of stuff to a new apartment just weeks before I have a new baby.  Just waiting for that nesting energy to kick in (With Olivia I wasted all of that energy organizing my classroom and lesson plans for my long term sub.  This time I hope it will benefit my family more.)

February: Cook dinner once a week

After Olivia was born I remember feeling like I could never find the time to cook dinner ever again.  So I want to start out slow and just cook a fresh meal once a week in February.

March: Learn to really budget well

Money is going to be tight and I've never been good at budgeting but I hope I can have no choice but to get better at it this year so we can afford our own house soon!

April: Attempt to potty train Olivia

VIA (I haven't read this article, so I can't vouch for it, I just liked the picture)

I'm pretty sure Olivia's been ready to potty train for a while now (tells me when she needs to go, asks to try going on the potty) but with vacations and the holidays there just hasn't been time.  And now that we are having a new baby, I just know she'd regress if we tried to do it before the baby.  So I'm aiming for just after her second birthday.

May: Open my Etsy shop

I just got a serger for Christmas!!!  Its pretty much the one thing I've been needing for my etsy shop.  Well, that and time, but no one got me more of that for Christmas, so I guess I'll just have to do what I can with what I got!

June: Work out every day, except Sunday

This is not me.  This picture came from here.

By June my kid will be five months old.  I think by then I should be able to get back into a workout schedule.  I'm not hanging on to those five pounds again like I did with Olivia.  NO.  I will get back to my pre pre pregnancy weight :)

July: Eat vegetarian for a month

My family is mostly all vegetarian and I feel strongly about eating less meat, so I think it would be good to give it a try for at least a month.  Hopefully I lose weight and get really skinny (hey, a girl can dream!) 

August: Read religious texts daily

Scriptures or conference talks, I want to make that part of my every day routine (right now I do just okay) and hopefully a month of doing it will make it stick and I'll continue in the months ahead.

September: No Sugar for One Month

I've done this before, two years now, so this month was a no brainer.  I'll be following the same rules as last year so no need to type them again.

October: Family coordinated Halloween costumes

What do Billy Idol, Barbie and a Lady Bug have in common?  Nothing!  I know this is a silly goal, but its probably the only way it will ever happen, otherwise I'll be putting together costumes on Oct 30th!

November: Complete my Christmas Shopping

If I can finish all my shopping in November then maybe things will be calmer and we'll stay healthy in December!

December: Create four new Christmas decorations

Again, this one is just for fun.  But if my shopping is done, I should have some time to make four cute new decorations for my (hopefully, fingers crossed!) new house!!


Some are silly and some are serious but hopefully it will push me to do a little more and be a little better this year! 

Five Favorites on Friday: Etsy Shops

This year I've done quite a bit of my Christmas shopping on etsy.  But you have to start early if you want handmade, so I should have done this list back in November.  Oops!!  Better late than never I guess :)

Feet on the Floor
This is where my friend sells her vintage thrift store finds.  So if you're like me and you think vintage is cool (or you have friends/family that love it) but you suck at thrifting, you can buy her amazing finds here.  I got two of my Christmas gifts from her shop this year and I'm so excited to give them!!

Awesome earrings still for sale.  Wish I could show you what I bought, but since its a gift it will have to wait!

IvieBaby
This shop is obviously for babies.  Most of the stuff would be for new moms, but if you have a baby on your Christmas list, the PolkaSpot or Albert would be fun gifts to give!


Dream Catcher Baby
Again, this one is just for babies!  Can you tell I have one?  :)  I think her big bow dresses are just darling and would make a great gift.

The Rusted Chain
This is not technically an etsy shop, but it is handmade and I had such a great experience ordering from them I can't not mention them.  I received the wrong necklace by mistake and they handled it with amazing grace and fairness and still got me the right necklace in time for Mother's Day.  Both my mom and mother-in-law love their necklaces and they both have totally different styles!

Firebird Bath and Body
I love so much about this shop, where to start?  I love that they have scents for both men and women.  I'm a chapstick addict and I would love their tin with five lip balms soooo much. I love their packaging. . . the list goes on.  Check them out.

Do you have an etsy shop?  Or one that you just love?  Do tell!!

Must be Santa

We took Olivia to see Santa last night.  We took her last year and thought it would be a fun tradition.  Unfortunately we didn't have any church or work parties sporting a Santa, so we had to go to the mall and get ripped off.  Adam told me to remember I was paying Santa's hourly wage and not just for three pictures, so that helped a little. . . just a little. 

I hoped she would smile and tell him her name.  But she very nearly cried.  Every time we could distract her from crying they snapped a pic.  

And dang it!  I forgot to put her head band on.  I was waiting until right before so she wouldn't pull it off and I waited a minute too long! 

Being a Grownup

Its funny how sometimes I don't feel like a grown up.  But every now and then I have an a-ha moment when I realize I am.

There is a plate full of fudge in my kitchen.  As a kid I would have eaten that whole thing if I was allowed to.  I'm the only one in charge now, so I am allowed to.  But I'm smart enough to know that will make me sick and not healthy.  Instead I ate some yummy lentils and had a large glass of water.  And then a piece of fudge.  :)

Yep, that's pretty much the definition of a grown up.  

Five Favorites on Friday: Christmas Songs

As a child I had an on going battle with my dad.  He probably doesn't even remember it, but to me it was a big deal.  When can I start listening to Christmas music???  (This was before the days of iPods and I certainly didn't have my own CD player, I had to listen on the stereo in the living room so it did affect the whole family)  And I felt like every year the answer changed.  Sometimes it was after Halloween, sometimes I had to wait until Thanksgiving.  One year I wised up.  I asked my dad and the answer that day was after Halloween.  So I wrote a quick contract and had him sign it.  I hope its still around.  I hope I can find it someday.  So funny.

I love all the classics and the religious Christmas songs, but these are the songs I like to jam to on my way to work.  Today I'm counting backwards, bottom to top.  Favorite to favoritest.

5. Mavis Staples: Christmas Vacation.  I loved this song before I ever saw this movie. 


4. Paul McCartney: Simply Having a Wonderful Christmastime. I don't know why this song gets so much hate, but I love it (synthesizers and all!)  If you've never seen the video, the angels with sunglasses singing in space it worth a watch, even if you hate this song.  I heart Paul forever!!!


3. The Waitresses: Christmas Wrapping.  Once I had a roommate who told me this song did not feel like a Christmas song.  I said "Maybe not this year, but wait until next year.  You'll learn to love it and when you hear it again it will bring back awesome Christmas memories."  A year later she facebooked me to tell me I was right!  (PS the video to this song is pretty weird, but it was better than the one that just had the lyrics.  LAME)


2. Tran Siberian Orchestra: Carol of the Bells.  This is not the whole song, but I seriously love this montage from The Office, because that's what this song feels like to me: CHRISTMAS!!!!


1. Bing Crosby and David Bowie: The Little Drummer Boy/Peace on Earth.  This song is just so beautiful, and the intro is just cute and touching.  Plus I just love David Bowie. 



And for fun, some of the worst Christmas songs off all time: 

Elton John: Step into Christmas.  I will change the station.  I love me some Elton, but this just went so wrong.

Band Aid: Do They Know its Christmas.  Pretty sure snow in Africa has nothing to do with poverty and every thing to do with climate.

New Song: Christmas Shoes.  If I was dying I would not want my child running around town buying shoes, just sayin'.

What songs do you love or hate?  I'm sure I've forgotten some good/awful ones!

Wedding Rings

I don't wear my wedding ring.  It stopped fitting when I was pregnant with Olivia and I was able to get it back on when she was about 9 months.  Apparently I gain weight in my fingers.  When it finally fit I started wearing it to work again.  And now I'm six months pregnant and it still fits most days, but I haven't worn it regularly since May.  Its too bulky and I scratch Olivia with it too often.

Do people notice?  I don't get hit on when I go to the grocery store (with or without giant baby belly) and most people probably wouldn't expect me to wear it when I jog with Olivia to the park.  But a lot of people make a big deal about it when their ring stops fitting or when its getting cleaned and they can't wear it for a few days. 

Someday I want to get a more simple band that I can wear daily and save my more extravagant ring for special occasions like church an date night.  In the mean time, am I a walking invitation to single men?  (To be fair my husband lost his wedding ring for several months.  He just found it and was excited to prove to his co workers that he was indeed married)

Funny story: A totally drunk guy ended up sitting with us at a bar/restaurant (long story short, we didn't know it was mainly a bar when we went to eat there) when I was only two months pregnant with this baby.  He found out we were Mormon and then asked if we were jack Mormons because I was pregnant and we weren't married.  We tried to convince him that we were (not very hard though, who cares what a drunk person thinks of you?) but our lack of wedding rings ensured him that we were liars and we were not.  That's another thing I don't do, bring my wedding ring on vacation.  I've left too many things in hotel rooms to risk it.

Playing with children

I have this difficult argument in my head all the time.  How much do I need to play with Olivia.  I'm usually somewhere in between "not at all" and "medium".  I'm grateful I'm a nanny, for the kids that play with her, because I'm horrible at it.  I hate it.  I hate playing with my kid or with any kid really.  Things I do love: reading her a book, giving her a bath, feeding her, singing with her, dancing with her, coloring with her.  But like dolls?  I honestly don't know how to play dolls with her, except to encourage her to kiss her baby or hug her baby or put her baby to sleep.  Most of these things she does with out my prompting, she's got a good imagination.

The kids I nanny will beg: Play trains with me!  But if I'm feeling weak and actually give in, all it ends up being is them bossing me around with what to say and do.  Eh, I don't see how it enriches them.  I usually end up begging them to read a book with me instead.

I kind of feel like kids should have to play with out adults.  Isn't that where imagination and creativity come from?  I can teach a kid their ABC's or numbers, but I can't teach a kid to use their imagination. 

I'm guessing in the future I'll play board games with my kids, I'll do craft projects with them, and a few other things that Olivia isn't able to do right now.

I feel good about teaching her to play independently.  And I feel horrible about it like I'm neglecting her.  Except I'm totally not.  Anyone who has heard her speak knows we have a lot of conversations and she's picked up on some pretty funny expressions from me. 

So if you disagree with me, and think I'm a horrible parent, don't feel too bad for Olivia.  Her dad plays with her a lot.  I kind of think that's what dads are for.