12 in 2014

Already did my resolution/to-do list recap, so how about a yearly photo recap to top it off?

So much goodness at House Unseen.

Some older recaps:
13 pics in 2013
12 in 2012 (this and 2011 are more question-based)
11 in 2011

JANUARY

This little munchkin turned the big 0-2!

FEBRUARY

I could cry and whine reminiscing about the winter-to-end-all-winters, but instead here is a picture of me sledding for the first time ever. Cora and I both had a blast with this new experience.

MARCH

We went to Louisville and saw the HOT sign on at Krispy Kreme.

We also decided that jockey fashion is rather becoming on us.

APRIL

Easter, pinkeye, and somebody's first trip to the dentist.

MAY

So much goodness in May--husband's birthday, a 5K PR (and I won a gift card!), and the SOTG cocktail I made that I'm still drooling over.

JUNE

I turned 30!  B left for his 2-week AT in Italy. We hosted some visiting friends during his absence. I drove on my own [plus tot] to Georgia and celebrated the twin nieces' baptism. Cora got up-close-and-personal with Bill the Lion.

JULY

B and I climbed Stone Mountain, then celebrated my long-time friend's wedding in GA. We spent a lot of time at a lake in Michigan, I started weight-lifting, found out I was pregnant, then went to my first NASCAR race.

AUGUST

I got a job! We had lots of 'little moments,' including various types of flying discs. B played Ultimate on a summer league and we had a family disc golf outing.

SEPTEMBER

I officially started work, and Cora took to daycare/preschool like a fish to water. We got good news of a heartbeat at baby #2's first appointment.

OCTOBER

I designed an ad that ran in the local paper, Cora refused to wear her hand-me-down Halloween costume to the point where we ended up at Wal-Mart on the day before to pick a new one (Minnie Mouse). We celebrated 5 years of marriage with a date to a local dinner theatre production.

NOVEMBER

We found out the sex of the baby and had a Thanksgiving gender reveal. My parents came to town, and we got one of the few halfway-decent family pics of the year.

DECEMBER

I passed my licensing exam to become a bona fide real estate broker, Christmas happened, and I got a fancy camera that I'm still learning how to use.

And that was 2014 in a nutshell of a blog post.

Not Blogging Here, But Apparently Elsewhere

Time to dust off the ol' blog.

Over a week ago, a guest post I wrote for Poekitten (a blog friend I've actually met IRL!) was published. Her adorably cute 2nd baby girl was born a few weeks back, and she actually likes to keep things active over there so I helped her out with a post sitting in my drafts.

It's about the "Potty Parade" that I did with Cora (way back in August, I think?). Here's a snippet:

"I now have a 2-year-old who is mostly potty-trained (except nights), but it took some work to get there. We were doing great at home, but my daughter HATED public bathrooms! She mostly hated the noisy flush. Automatic, manual, didn't matter. She even cried about going into the bathroom with me when I needed to go. Luckily, she's a holder, so it was never a question of accidents. It was more just getting her comfortable with other toilets.

I knew we had to fix this, so I picked a nice day and we went on a Potty Parade . . ." Read More

Hope you enjoy it and some of Poe's other guest bloggers. Also check out the rest of the Many Waters blog, including the awesome recipes page with the Beef & Noodles recipe that I always use now!

The Big Purse Dump in 7 Quick Takes

Double link-up time! 

--- 1 ---

Let's start with how it is now.

My Vera Bradley bag (that I got at the outlet sale last year) hang out here, and I keep my hat and gloves shoved into the top.

--- 2 ---

Now dump it!

What a mess! Sort that out.

--- 3 ---

Cora's stuff.

Those onesies are different sizes, and I don' think that cute tree one even fits any more. And I'm pretty sure the pants are highwaters now. The Cheerios? Probably been in there for months. (I gave them to her for dinner last night.) And that diaper is about to fall apart since I haven't actually changed her diaper during an outing in at least 3 months. The cute cats are a small wetbag (for cloth diapers orclothing accidents), and the white thing to its left is an emergency rag/diaper.

--- 4 ---

Hair junk.

I don't even use those running headbands for running. Or anything. (Cora likes to play with them, so one goes back in!)

--- 5 ---

Random junk.

A Metro card for the Washington, D.C. subway. (I live in Indiana, by the way.) 2 coupons to Culver's. A protein pouch I got as a freebie.

I tried the pouch later--it was a lot like the GD-test drink. 1/10 do not recommend.

--- 6 ---

Tissues. Some used.

Trash and a cough drop, neither of which I have needed for months.

--- 7 ---

Things I actually use.

Vera Bradley wallet that fits my phone in it. Still love.

What went back in:

--- 8 ---

Fin.

Winter protip: gloves inside hat whenever they're not on your body.

For more Quick Takers and/or Purse Dumpers, see Jen and Kendra.

Cleaning Out My Post Drafts

I just checked and had 29 posts stuck in draft mode. Some of them just got deleted, some are one sentence long, some of them a bit more. I don't feel like finishing some of them, so I'm just going to dump them here in one wacky post!

Cora's Family Book (April 2012)
(this post had no text, but I was going to rave all about the book I made for Cora when she was like 4 months old--it has all her family members in it)

Here's a picture of it instead:

I saw a DIY tutorial on Pinterest, but using Shutterfly was 1000x easier

What I've Learned (January 2013)
Here are a few things I've learned in my first year of parenting:

• If it smells like poop, check. It probably is.
• If you're going to do cry-it-out/controlled crying/whatever you want to call it, have a plan for yourself. Find something to do, take a shower, etc. Use headphones.
• Having a plan is also key in the early days for marathon nursing sessions. I kinda miss all that extra reading time.
• Use an old remote control/phone without batteries that can be given to the baby.
• Write all your baby shower thank-you notes before your baby is born. Hell, even write them during labor. If you get gifts after the baby is born that require notes, make someone else write them and then just sign them.
• Find mommy friends that have more in common with you than just the ages of your children. Your life will be vastly improved by not talking about bowel movements for more than 5 minutes a visit. Okay, 10 minutes.

Blog Hacks/ Pro Tips (April 2012)

Here are 3 of my favorites that could making the blogging world just a bit better.

1. Copypastecharacter.com This site is AWESOME(Yes, the large, bold, fon tis necessary.) Thanks to this site, you can easily write that you spent 98¢ on the Benadryl® to cure your 102° fever that you contracted during El Niño.  ←See what I just did there?  All it took was some copying and pasting. ☺ And interrobangs‽‽

2. Embed (or just link to) Youtube video at a certain point:  There are a few ways to do this.  One way, to just get the link is to pause the video where you want it, then right click and pick the second option down that says "Copy video URL at current time".  For embedding, if you get the embed code, go to the "src=http://link" part of the code.  At the end of the video link, add #t= and then the minutes and seconds.  Hooray for hashtags!

3. Put a link in a comment. Use html img src code in a comment. (Eh, figure it out yourself.)

Let's Hear the Good Things (September 2013)
You wanna know something dumb?
I used to be scared.
A lot of women are scared to birth or scared to have a baby.
But that's not what I was scared of.
No, once I had a baby, I was scared to have a toddler.

(I'm not really sure where I was going with that post, but I think it has something to do with complaining about kids all day but then adding, "It's soooo worth it!" afterward. People without kids don't understand that, trust me.)

So there ya go, 4 posts in one. Feel free to use any as a jumping- point for conversation or your own blog post.

7 Quick Takes (plus one)

--- 1 ---

I met a blog friend in real life this week! 'Poe Kitten' (not her real name) from Many Waters was driving sorta nearby here on her cross-country road trip. I drove up to Michigan and spent an afternoon in her cousin's house and just hung out with her and her adorable daughter (and a handful of other people, too, since her cousin is a mom of 6).

She was as cool in person as she is online! Granted, we talk on twitter all the time and even took a class on Coursera 'together', so I shouldn't be too surprised. It was just like having a baby playdate with an old friend, easy and relaxed.

--- 2 ---

Something weird about meeting an online friend in person: I realized about 10 minutes before I got there that I wasn't 100% sure how to pronounce her first name. Turns out the way I'd been saying it in my head for the past few years was incorrect. Well, now I know!

--- 3 ---

I did a Color Me Rad 5K this past weekend! Read all about it! There was a professional photographer there, and he got this extra pic of me (that I don't plan on buying, so the logo is staying).

At the 4K color station

--- 4 ---

Speaking of running, I'm less than a month away from my Fort4Fitness 4-mile race. I'm starting to realize that this one is THE running event around here! Well, not just the 4-miler, there's also a 10K and a half-marathon at this event. And being a big event, we get cool stuff. Vera Bradley is giving all the participants a market tote (retail value $8!). We also get a medal at the finish (an "EGAM" says husband--is this a military term??) and a FREE photo of us crossing the finish line. (Tips on what wacky pose I should strike are welcome.) Oh, and the finish line is the home plate of our minor league baseball stadium. B kept saying I was a fool for paying to run (something I can do for free), but at least I'm making some of that back in a way. (I think I paid less for this race than the Color Me Rad, too.) I'm sure the atmosphere at the race will be exhilarating, if it's the kind of event I think it will be.

--- 5 ---

The next few takes will be all about our new house! After posting the picture of us standing outside it on FB, there were requests for inside pics. Well, we aren't moving in for at least another month, since there is so much work to do! Seriously, the previous owners were both lazy and cheap--a horrible combination for homeowners--and never cleaned (or paid someone to clean). They also let their dogs pee everywhere and we're pretty sure they smoked indoors. So new paint, new carpet, new lighting, new knobs and kitchen hardware (1990's gold-brass--that has to go), lots and lots of cleaning, and a bathroom renovation are on the agenda. It seriously hurts my brain just to think of all the work, even though a lot of that will be hired out.

--- 6 ---

On that note, my in-laws are awesome. They came up here to help with the house last weekend, and B's dad did some serious work on our landscaping (oh, the people didn't keep up their yard very well either). The neighbors took notice and many came over to meet us and one even brought tomatoes from his garden! I have this strange hunch that they're glad the old owners are out.

While B and his Dad were working in the yard, my MIL and I tried to attack the kitchen. It was a lot of contact paper-removing and lots and lots of cleaning. Still not done. (I can only do so much when Cora is running around there as well.) They're coming up again this weekend, and we can hopefully accomplish more (although B is working every day). I totally feel like a slave-driver, even though I didn't ask them to do any of this.

Here's a sneak peek of our kitchen:

We need a refrigerator, new lights, new knobs, new (or no) curtains, and the floor needs to be professionally cleaned. Oh, my head.

--- 7 ---

Refrigerators? Got one that you love? Tell me about it! I think we want a side-by-side (with the freezer on the left, not on the bottom).

--- 8 --- Anyone wanna join me for Skirtember? All you gotta do is look purty in a dress or skirt every day of next month.

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!

5 Favorites

1.

Target Cartwheel

Finally, an app-type of coupon clipping thing that you don't actually NEED a smartphone for! You just clip what you want and can either show the barcode on your phone at the register, or simply print it out. Plus, you can stack the Cartwheel savings + Target coupon + manufacturer's coupon + 5¢ off per each reusable bag. (And if you have the Target credit card, you get another 5%!)

I would also like to point out just how similar the font they used is to the one on my blog. It's kinda freaking me out.

2.

Brown Sugar

Why is this stuff so good? I could probably eat spoonfuls of it straight-up.

And a little tip: I prefer the light brown over the dark brown for chocolate chip cookies. Easier to tell if they're burning, too.

3.

my Danskin running shorts

Mine are an obnoxious shade of purple

I don't like the inner liners on most running shorts (um, I'm already wearing underwear!), so I had to search a few places for new shorts.  I eventually got a pair of Adidas ones from Dick's Sporting Goods, which are okay. But then I decided on a whim to buy this $7 pair from Wal-Mart, and they turned out to be my favorite! I mostly just like the hidden pocket, which perfectly holds my scan card to get back into the Y. (It would probably fit my car key, but I leave that in a locker.)

4.

Gallery Walls

I put one in our apartment that you see right when you come up the stairs from the entrance. It's so fun to look at all the pictures, and I love seeing them in other houses. But now I need to figure out where exactly to put ours in . . .

5.

Our New House!

So we're buying a house, and this is it! Offer has been made and accepted, and the inspection will be happening next week, and closing will happen the week after we get back from Virginia in mid-August. The back yard is HUGE, and I think we're inheriting the herb garden as well. I'm kind of excited, but also overwhelmed. It was under our budget, so we'll be making some big updates before we move in. I will be talking much more about this house on the blog, including before-and-after pics, of course!

5 Favorites

1.

Parenting: Illustrated With Crappy Pictures

I have loved this blog for a while, and I just devoured her book in a weekend (and I'm one of the slowest readers ever). It's weird because I seriously haven't even had most of the issues the author complains about (yet?). Still, the MS Paint-style pictures are hilarious, Amber's writing is hilarious, and Crappy Baby is adorbs.

2.

Birthday Freebies

This was some of last year's since I'm too lazy to take a pic of this year's

Ah, I love my birthday. Mostly because of the influx of coupons, freebies, and good deals that hit my inbox in the week leading up to it. I got a free sub at Firehouse Subs, a free (kid-size) scoop at Baskin Robbins, a free $3 to spend on whatever at CVS, and a free burrito (with purchase of drink) at Moe's. I still have a free breakfast at IHOP that has so far gone un-used, along with a couple other 'buy something get something' offers that I'm not always so keen on because there is actual money involved. (But I did want that burrito on Sunday night, so that worked out well.) I think I just ate more fast food in one weekend than I have in a few months. Happy 29th to moi!

3.

the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles (BMV)

Yeah, this is a weird one, but they do a great job with this here! They have good hours that can appeal to people in almost all shifts --open Tuesday through Saturday with certain days of the week open until 7pm. This is totally awesome because it meant I didn't have to lug the child with me to get my car registered here. (I did take her to get my license, and it was a huge mistake because she whined the whole time I was attempting my computer test. Doable, but not ideal.) They also have perfected speediness and short wait times. There were actually a lot of people there when I went to do my plates this week, but there were 10 workers, and each could handle anything. And there were another two 'floaters' who did things like checking my car's VIN number while we handled the rest of the paperwork. I got my number at 4:51 and walked out of there with my car registered in Indiana at 5:10. Less than 20 minutes, start to finish!

The only weird thing is that I only got a temporary plate, and they'll mail me the real one. The other states I've lived in just grabbed one from the pile and handed it over. Also, I've heard that IN plates are crappy plastic, but my others are pretty metal. I'm planning to hang my 3 former plates in our garage when we buy a house, so this kind of matters.

4.
this house that we didn't buy

I probably shouldn't think about it any more, but we saw this house last Thursday with our realtor, and it was fabulous. It was also at the top of our budget so we decided to wait a few days. Someone else put an offer on it the next day, and there is now a big "Sold in 7 Days!" sign next to the other one on the lawn. If you want to see more pics, here is the trulia listing. (Yes, it even included the swing set!) Things I've learned: we (actually, it's just me) are totally gun-shy about making an offer, especially this early in our search, and the good houses around here go fast. I'm also probably going to compare every house we see from here on out to this one.

5.

Maximum Cuteness

In the Crappy Pictures book, Amber Dusick introduced me to the phase called "Maximum Cuteness" which goes from about 16 months until 3 years. (I guess kids get mean and nasty about then, or at least that's what Crappy Mama says.) Anyway, Cora has hit this stage, and I am loving it. She had never shown much interest in her stuffed animals before, but now she has started carrying them around and hugging them and such. Then, there was this:

Let's take a closer look at that: 

And last night she fell asleep with her stuffed cat under one arm and her mousey under the other. I can't even handle the cute.

5 Favorites

1.

Fort Wayne Zoo

I hadn't been to a zoo since I was 8 months pregnant, and that zoo was not very good and made me sad for some of the animals (namely, the monkeys). When we were moving here to Fort Wayne, everyone and their mothers said that we had to go to the zoo! It's fabulous, they said. Your kid, no matter how young, will love it!

So we went! Sure enough, we loved it. Kangaroos and giraffes were favorites. We'll definitely be coming back. (I bought a membership! I even tacked on an "add-a-guest" option, so if you come visit me, I'll take ya there!)

Zoo buddy babies

2.

Eating this for breakfast

A scrambled egg on top of a toasted English whole wheat English muffin, alongside a smoothie made with random fruit, spinach, yogurt, and applesauce.

I'm not a morning person, and my usual breakfast of cereal and milk reflects that. I just need something super-quick that requires zero effort because I'm usually in zombie-mommy mode. However, I always find myself really hungry around 10am and usually start scrambling through the pantry for unhealthy crap around then. But I'm taking this Child Nutrition and Cooking and our assignment last week was to make a balanced breakfast with protein, grain, and at least one fruit or vegetable. I had this, and it sustained me well until lunch. (The picky toddler loves the smoothie, too, so right now it's one of the only ways I can get her to eat green veggies. Sigh.) My new goal is to make this at least once a week for breakfast. I did it again yesterday, so I'm on track! I think I might freeze the smoothie as popsicles and then thaw them down back into smoothies in the morning--is that a decent idea? (I have no desire for a popsicle at 7am, sorry.)

3.

Daphne Oz

Speaking of food, I love the show The Chew on ABC. If we're hanging around the house on a weekday at 1pm, I turn it on. My favorite host is Daphne, who I had never heard of before the show! She's Dr. Oz's daughter, if you're curious. She also has a new book out called Relish, and I had it on hold at the library for the last month and it's finally my turn. Lots of delicious (and healthy) recipes and general Daphne Oz-someness. (Get it?)

4.

trulia

It's no secret that we're on the hunt for our first house. Although we now have a realtor and pre-approval for a mortgage and all the jazz, we started our house hunt on the trulia website. It has a lot of great searchable features (I narrowed it down to school system + price + age of house + other picky stuff), and we found a few open houses to look at on our first day out through it. I now just have it email me when houses that meet my criteria get listed. Which is like, every day. I guess we're not as picky as it sounds. We do have our first meeting with our actual realtor on Thursday, in case you were wondering.

5.

Lindt Chocolate Cremosi Assortment

I won these from a blog giveway (thanks to The Young Retiree!), and they are so good! There are 3 types in the bag, and I love them all. I got B to try one and he just popped it in his mouth like a piece of popcorn. I asked him what flavor it was, and he was all, "I dunno, chocolate..." Oh, I got so mad at him! I told him he wasn't respecting the chocolate and that he can't have any more of them. This would be a great gift for someone who respects the chocolate--check out the whole collection here at The Young Retiree's shop.