Books I read in 2014

2014
1. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by JK Rowling
2. Melissa Explains It All by Melissa Joan Hart
3. Divergent by Veronica Roth (x2)
4. Insurgent by Veronica Roth (x2)
5. Allegiant by Veronica Roth (x2)
6. The World of Divergent: The Path to Allegiant by Veronica Roth
7. Free Four by Veronica Roth
8. Four the Transfer by Veronica Roth
9. The Kill Order by James Dashner
10. The False Princess by Elis O'Neal
11. The Mark of Athena by Rick Riordan
12. Thankless in Death by JD Robb
13. The 9th Judgment by James Patterson
14. Sorcerer's Christmas by Felicia Tatum
15. Princess Academy: Palace of Stone by Shannon Hale
16. Eragon (The Inheritance Cycle) by Christopher Paolini
17. Inferno by Dan Brown
18. Outlander by Diana Gabaldon (x3)
19. Eldest (The Inheritance Cycle) by Christopher Paolini
20. Arena Two by Morgan Rice
21. Sugar and Spice by Joanne Fluke, Fern Michaels, Beverly Barton, & Shirley Jump
22. Brisingr (The Inheritance Cycle) by Christopher Paolini
23. Inheritance (The Inheritance Cycle) by Christopher Paolini
24. Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon (x2.5)
25. Attachments: A Novel by Rainbow Rowell
26. Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline
27. Waiting for Alaska by John Green
28. The Faults in Our Stars by John Green
29. Four the Traitor by Veronica Roth
30. Unbound Destinies by Felicia Tatum
31. Four the Initiate by Veronica Roth
32. Four the Son by Veronica Roth
33. Voyager by Diana Gabaldon (x2)
34. Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
35. Dance Upon the Air by Nora Roberts
36. A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness
37. Heaven and Earth by Nora Roberts
38. Blue Dahlia by Nora Roberts
39. Black Rose by Nora Roberts
40. Red Lily by Nora Roberts
41. Face the Fire by Nora Roberts 
42. Shadow of Night by Deborah Harkness
43. Book of Life by Deborah Harkness
44. Lord John and the Private Matter by Diana Gabaldon
45. Lord John and the Brotherhood of the Blade by Diana Gabaldon
46. The Scottish Prisoner by Diana Gabaldon
47. Drums of Autumn by Diana Gabaldon (x2)
48.  A Leaf on the Wind of All Hallows by Diana Gabaldon
49.  Get Pretty, Kick Butt by Alison Lumbatis
50.  Devil's Food Cake Murder by Joanne Fluke
51.  The Fudge Cupcake Murder by Joanne Fluke
52.  The Fiery Cross by Diana Gabaldon (x2)
53.  The Cinnamon Roll Murder by Joanne Fluke
54.  A Breath of Snow and Ashes by Diana Gabaldon (x2)
55.  An Echo in the Bone by Diana Gabaldon (x2)
56.  Written in My Own Heart's Blood by Diana Gabaldon (x2)
57.  Silver Angel by Johanna Lindsey

I'm doing a guest post!!

Stop over and check me out at Julia's blog My Life in Transition.  She hosts a series all about moms and today I'm talking about being a mom to a kiddo with special needs.  Come say hello and leave me a comment!!

Here's the link to my post.

Photo by Kate

stuff... things...

1. My fat clothes fit.  Sad face.  I need to step it up.

2.  I had to drive JT's car yesterday, it was weird.  And this  morning I had to put all my stuff back to where I like it in my car, the mirror, the radio, the seat, the fan controls. Oy.

3.  JT has an interview for a paid internship today.  Yay!!

4.  Monster got a wheelchair a week or two ago.  She's so tiny in it and it's so tiny itself... such a strange sight seeing her on the lift on the bus.  But she likes it, I think, so that's good.

5.  Work is busy, busy, busy.  Like so busy that I'm not stressed about how behind we are because there's nothing I can fix by being stressed.

6.  Caught up a little bit yesterday with my high school tennis partner.  We were super good friends but then somewhere in college just lost touch.  Hope to stay in better touch with her now.

soup season

I'm the type of person who doesn't like to eat soup/stew/chili in the hot months.  I just can't do it.  Somewhere around March myself says NO SOUP.  Anyhoo.  Now that it's cooling off again, soup is back on the menu. YAY!!  My favorite canned soup is from Progresso, Light Chicken Noodle.  It's just that perfect amount of noodles to broth that I enjoy.  I also like creamy chicken and wild rice, homemade or from a restaurant but not from a can, especially from Emily Bites. 

Anyone have any good, easy soup recipes to share??

This week

Well, this week sure was a whirlwind.  I've been running around like a chicken with its head cut off.  Mr. Goo started at an actual daycare on Wednesday (OhMyGawd) but it turned out pretty good.  AND... Monster had a whole day off preschool... Seriously two weeks in and there's a day off? Turns out the second Tuesday of every month there's a 2-hour late start which means no preschool (since preschool ends at 10:45 anyway).  Yikes.

My mom, had her hip replaced on Wednesday meaning she's out of commission as our daycare for the next 6-12 weeks depending on how she recovers, as to why Goo is at an actual daycare.  Grandma is still going to watch Monster in the afternoons because grandpa will also be home (he works in the morning).  It's going to be an interesting new routine and then once we get used to it, JT will be starting a new schedule and then Grandma will be back to watching both kiddos, or so we hope.  Oy. 

It's okay. It's all good, just a bit of reshuffling and unpaid time off and all that jazz.  We'll figure it out :) But, working for only 3 hours in the morning and then getting to leave to get monster from preschool... pretty sweet and flies by!

First day of school traditions

When I was in school there were certain things that we did every August to get ready for the first day of school.  I'd get a haircut, some new clothes, and possibly new shoes.  My favorite thing was getting new school supplies and a new bag for the year.  I clearly remember after the annual shopping trip, putting all my folders and notebooks in nice piles and sorting through the markers and pencils that we had bought.  I especially remember in 2nd grade having a messenger bag of sorts and making my friend come over so I could show her all the supplies and the new bag that I had.  It was so exciting. 

Now that I'm the mom, I'm trying to establish traditions like that for my kiddos.  Even though it was just preschool (JUST PRESCHOOL!!!) this year, I did the new clothes/shoes for Monster and she even got her first haircut! It was only a little trim but she looked so grown up afterwards. 

We also did the traditional picture on the front steps.  I was going to do a sign saying first day of preschool and all that, but then I realized she can't hold the paper, probably wouldn't look and smile at the camera, and can't stand up by herself anyway, so I just went with her sitting on the steps with her book-bag. It was cute anyway.  Maybe when she's older... there was a super cute sign that I saw on Raising Snowpeas, that Jodi made herself!!

Another tradition I'm hoping to start is muffins for breakfast on the first day of school.  In one of my all-time favorite books, the family always has fresh baked muffins for special occasions like the first day of school.  Always one to get ideas from books, I decided I wanted to do that too.  I made oatmeal blueberry applesauce muffins (say that 3 times fast) that I found on pinterest.  I wasn't extremely impressed with them but they were still pretty good.  I think if I made them again I would cut out the blueberries and ramp up the apple/spices. 

first day of preschool

Yesterday was Monster's first day of preschool and she did AWESOME.  Not a single bit of crying or fussing or bewilderment.  She played with her para and made friends with the little boy who sat next to her at table time/snack time.  It was really great to see! 

We got her all ready to go in the morning and put her on the bus... It all happened so fast that I didn't have time to get upset about it. I didn't even think about it, just waved bye and then got Goo ready to go. 

After dropping Goo off at grandma's I did pass the preschool bus on the way to the school.  I got to her classroom and just settled in to wait over by the windows.  I don't know for sure if she knew I was there at first, but I think she saw me a couple of times.  I know for sure one time she started to come over to me but then got distracted by a new toy to play with. 

She was so great the whole morning, rode the bus like a boss, and I had nothing to worry about after all...

on the eve of preschool

My baby girl, who is almost 3, is going to start preschool next week.  To say I have mixed emotions about it is unrealistic.  When I think about it, I want to curl up under a rock with her and pretend that time isn't going on.  She's my baby and always will be.  However, on the other hand, I know she'll do great in school.  She loves other kids, being around them and being exposed to what they're doing.  She doesn't get a lot of interaction with other kids her age, mostly just way older kids or her baby brother, so I'm interested to see what it's going to be like.  The problem I'm really facing is that she can't communicate with other kids or express her needs.  She's going to be in the special needs classroom and we got special permission so that she could start at the beginning of the year at 2 years old (because her birthday isn't until October) so that she can get the extra help of another year of preschool.  She'll have lots of one-on-one attention and the ability to learn what school is, so that's good.  Also, she'll have all the specialists (Speech, OT, and PT) that will come in the classroom to work with her and teach the teacher and paras what she needs as well. 

We considered putting her in an integrated classroom where there were half "normal" kids and half special needs kids.  The idea behind this was to expose her to other kids who were normally talking and running around like 3 years olds "should."  We decided against it because I just couldn't do it.  We observed a class one day and it seemed to me that the kids were so much older and more "normal" than my monster ever would be.  They were playing together and sitting at the table and doing all the preschool activities that you imagine they'd be doing... while Monster just sat by herself on the floor.  There were a number of adults in the room and they said that she'd have a para especially one-on-one with her, but I still felt uncomfortable.  Would she get the attention she needed? What if she freaked out? What if she didn't?  What if she just sat there?  There were no kids with physical needs that I could see, so Monster would be the only one obviously different.

I don't know how I'm going to feel next week, but at least I've met the teacher and the teacher has met Monster and knows what she's like/what she needs to focus on.  I'm very excited/nervous for this BIG milestone in my baby's life and in my mama life... Now to figure out what to do with Goo...

clothes!

This capsule thing is harder than I thought...  Fall is such a weird season clothing wise in Minnesota.  September can still be summer-like but November is often wintery... Oy.  Plus, I was doing some piled up laundry last night and MAN, do I have a lot of clothes to go through.  I'm pretty sure I don't wear/fit into half of them but... daunting.  Plus, I have to go through Ms. Monster's clothing as well pretty soon.  She's starting preschool in a week and a half, but that's a whole other story.

So far I'm thinking of trying to stick with the prescribed amounts of clothing from the capsule wardrobe, which is 9 pairs of shoes, 9 bottoms, 15 tops, 2 dresses, and 2 jackets to equal 37 items of clothing. 

So far I've got:

2 jackets
2 dresses
6 tops
6 pairs of shoes
5 bottoms

lots to do before Monday. 

PS How nice is it when a month starts on a Monday? I love it. :)

wardrobe building

I've been thinking about clothes a lot lately... like A LOT.  Perhaps it's because I like to visit many fashion blogs or perhaps because I've just started a new job and have to get dressed before leaving the house now... but any way, clothes have been on my mind.  I'm working on cleaning out my wardrobe and organizing my closet (thanks liz!!).  The other day I read this, which led me to this, and I've decided to jump on board with it.  I've just been in the planning stages so far but I'm getting excited to begin.  Fall in my world starts in September so my fall capsule will be September thru November.  yee-haw!

Fall capsule board

Solid food

I think mr goo has been fully indoctrinated into the world of eating. Today he tried chicken, feta cheese, artichoke hearts, and orange sherbet (along with his baby food).Liked it all but wasn't sold on the sherbet. I think the only trouble we'll have feeding this boy will be him eating us out of house and home... By the way, where did that expression come from anyway? 

Current obsessions

Iced coffee

Dexter

Aveda lip gloss

Curly hair

Fashion/beauty blogs

Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon 

Bare minerals

My new deck 

Help wanted

Any of my blog-reading friends out there have any info about or related to school districts and/or special ed programs in the TC area?? We're looking at suburbs south of the cities mostly but anything would be appreciated! Also, info on neighborhoods would be good too...

Please email me caits310@gmail.com

Job

Well, thank the lord! I gots a job. I start on Monday. I had an interview this morning and within an hour got a phone call with an offer! Yay! 

I need to go shopping! 

After 7 months off, going back to work will be a challenge. Hopefully mr goo will decide to start sleeping all night so I can too. 

Outlander

I've been reading the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon. I just recently found out there's going to be a tv series based on the books. Umm yay!!! It makes me wish we had Starz. With a star like this... 

Can you blame me?? Hott! 

Shoes!!

Shoes!! Well, sandals actually. After finally busting through my last pair of old navy cheapies, I didn't have a single pair of easy to wear summer shoes... So I went shopping around the interwebs and here is I what I found.

  

here

here

here

here

here

here

I must be really into brown this year... And flat... Hmmm

What about you? Any new sandal purchasing this year?

Mother's Day

My mother's day was a good one :-)  it started out with mr goo sleeping all night!!! What an awesome gift. He woke up at 6:15, yay! Granted the next few nights have been multiple wake ups but there's some hope, right? (Of course monster was up a couple times that night but one kid sleeping all night is good news to me!)

After everybody got up and were eating breakfast we lounged around watching tv and taking cat naps. JT gave me a gift and card along with a sweet card from the kids. I can't wait to schedule my massage! I'm trying to decide when is the best time, weekday or weekend? 

We had lunch at a local Italian place, went for a nice Sunday afternoon drive and then just spent time together as the 4 of us. It melts my heart thinking of the years to come with my little kiddos growing up.

A few things

I love my kids, don't get me wrong but between the hours of 9 pm and 6 am, I just can't stand that they're awake. Is it so wrong to give mama a little break? 

Like in the Sheryl Crow song, I've been living on coffee and nicotine only without the nicotine and sub in ALL THE CAFFEINE instead. Will I ever get to sleep more than 4 hours in a row again?

I've been reading again, yay!, and remembered how much I like mystery-murder type stories. James Patterson and JD Robb being two recent authors.

Drove home the other day through torrential downpour. Stupid decision from the one who doesn't like storms. It was like driving through a sheet of never ending water. 

Mother's Day is tomorrow. Excited to spend the day with my husband and kiddos going to lunch and if it's nice, the park/farm zoo near our house. Which reminds me, need to get the grandmothers cards!! 

Day in the life -- Thursday, April 17

Why is this taking so long to put together?!? I swear every time I've sat down to write this post, some one or the other needs something or cries or something!! I've been trying for a week. Anyhoo... here goes nothing.

Today is (was) Thursday April 17, 2014. Monster is 2.5 years old and Goo is 3.5 months old.

12-6 am

Feed baby, crawl back in bed, pray for more sleep x2

6-6:30 am

Feed baby, replace pacifier, hope for more sleep

7:15-7:30

Wake up, JT overslept, rush to get monster ready, Goo crying too

7:30-9:30

Monster and dad leave. Play with Goo, change diaper, feed baby, watch tv, feed self. Baby naps, clean bathroom, laundry, feed cats, do dishes, take out garbage and other things I get distracted by like the mail. 

 9:30-12:15

Goo is awake, we play, practice sitting, tummy time, check the weather, schedule a massage (Christmas gift from my mom!), get Easter clothes ready, text JT and Annie, more tv, more playing, feed baby, eat lunch, look for jobs, work on resume. 

 

12:15-3:30

Feed baby, talk to JT, drink caribou (yum!), shower, change baby x2, fight baby to sleep, laundry, hold sleeping baby (aww), read blogs, check instagram and twitter, watch twins game, mail time, feed baby more, monster comes home

  

     

3:30-6:30

Not many pictures from this time of day due to screaming children... and frustration. 

Start supper, screaming baby (oy! for an hour!), Monster screams too (not to be left out), Monster takes a late nap, hold the pacifier so baby sleeps..., try to eat supper, watch TV, eat frozen blueberries.

 

6:30-10:40

Nana arrives. Jt and I go to yoga. Get home, take out garbage. Monster to bed. Goo to bed. Feed him again, fight sleep again, I read, JT watches hockey game. Fight baby to sleep some more... what is with him today? Finally I crash out and hope that Goo stays asleep. 

  

Preschool!?!?

We went to visit a preschool class this morning with monster. She seemed to have fun playing with all the kids and teachers. It was kind of hard to watch but good at the same time, seeing her with all those other kids around her age.

It was an integrated class where half of the kids had needs, be it language delay or something like that, and half were "normal" kids. I think it's a good idea for monster to be exposed to a regular classroom and regular preschool, and language, hopefully that would help to advance her skills quicker than being in just a special ed class. Though, one day would be just the "special" kids and the other two would be with all the kids.

I can't believe she is so old. It's hard to watch. Probably because she's not walking and talking yet, I don't see her as a big girl but still as my baby.

Along the same lines, we had a contractor come out to give us a bid on building a wheelchair ramp off the back of the house. We'll probably have him do a deck and a new sliding screen door out there too! Very exciting, you know except for the fact that monster needs a wheelchair... I'm hoping she won't need it for much more than transportation to school and back. I'd better start pinning some ideas for the first days of school and for the exterior of the house. Lots of fun updates and work to be done!!!

Check me out on Pinterest.

Game plan

The scale is moving the wrong direction again. Here's what I'm going to do to reset.

1. Cut down on sugar... Way down.

2. Come up with good snacks and keep them on hand.

3. Watch portion sizes.

4. Up water consumption.

5. Plan ahead. 

6. Keep track of what I'm eating. 

7. Move every day, even a little bit.

I have a secret (s)

I still wear my maternity yoga pants and probably won't stop anytime soon.

I don't like breastfeeding, I think it's a pain, but I do it anyway.

I can eat a bag of trail mix in no time. 

My husband is dieting and and I am looking for any excuse to eat junk food.

I would be happy not to leave the house for days on end.

If I had a choice, I'd be a 1950's housewife or a modern trophy wife. 

I am addicted to diet Pepsi and recently admitted I won't be giving it up anytime soon. 

I'd rather read a book than watch tv or go outside and play. 

pumpkin banana muffins

Apparently I bake when I get bored.

I made pumpkin banana muffins and they were delicious. Bonus, less than 200 calories each and not too much sugar! yay! healthyish!

Here's the recipe that I used.

Pumpkin Banana Muffins

Ingredients: 
3 ripe bananas, mashed
3/4 cup pumpkin puree
2/3 cup sugar
2 eggs
4 TBSP butter, softened
1- 1/3 cup flour
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking salt
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 12-cup muffin tin with nonstick cooking spray.

Using a fork or potato masher blend mashed bananas, pumpkin, sugar, eggs, and butter. In separate bowl mix together the dry ingredients. Mix together the wet and dry until well combined. pour into greased muffin tin and bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Makes 12 muffins.

Adapted slightly from this recipe.

what a day

Yesterday I had a job interview and it turned out to be really odd. I didn't prepare for it all so going in I was a bit nervous. When I got there, there was nowhere to park! All the visitor parking and most of the other lots were full or you needed a permit to park there. It turns out there was a some huge thing going on and there were 450 more people there. I decided just to park in one of the closer permit lots and walk, hoping I didn't get a ticket or fall on the icy sidewalks on my walk over. I don't know that the HR people knew this was really an interview because they didn't ask me any of the standard interview questions and the one lady didn't hardly talk to me at all. They decided I needed to talk to the guy who ran the department I would be working in, so we walked across the campus through a maze of hallways. The guy was not in his office so the HR admin lady had to go find him. I waited for over 20 minutes for this guy to come back to the office so he could talk to me. He didn't seem to have a very clear explanation of the position or what he wanted me to do. He just kinda talked in circles for 10-15 minutes... After, I went back to HR to ask a couple of questions regarding compensation, etc., that the department guy didn't know and the HR people didn't know either... but they wanted me to hand over my license and SS card and fill out a bunch of paperwork before I even knew what the pay was or had accepted the offer! Ridiculous. They emailed me today and the offer is not exactly what I expected. The job sounds interesting enough and the department/people seem really nice, but I don't know if I can swing it financially.


I did get another call for an interview today and am currently playing phone tag with her, so we'll see what happens. Man, I hate job searching. I wish I knew what I wanted to be when I grow up, that may make this easier...

meal plan for the week

Here's my meal plan this week:

Supper: Shepherd's pie, Pumpkin burgers, Tortellini meatball soup (crock pot), Burrito bowls, Tortilla pizzas, Mac and Cheese muffins.

Lunch: sandwiches, salads, leftovers
Breakfast: oatmeal, toast, eggs, cereal
Snacks: smoothies, yogurt, fruit, veggies


What about you? Do you do a meal plan or just go by whatever you have in the house? How do you decide what to make? How do you decide what to get at the store? I don't remember my mom ever making a meal plan or really a grocery list... she'd just go to the store and bring home some things and every night there would be supper ready to eat. It seems like i spend a lot of time on thinking about meals and groceries.

Kate -- I'm interested to hear from you because of your no devil's syrup and local food ideas...

Travel wish list

In the last very cold days, I've been dreaming of a vacation, Sometimes just me and JT and sometimes as a family. Hopefully some day we can cross off some of these places....

Hawaii

San Diego

San Francisco

Seattle

Las Vegas

Memphis/Nashville 

Boston

DC

NYC

Maine

Colorado

Alaska

Door County

Ireland/Scotland/England 

Canada

Mexico

Germany

Italy/France/Spain 

Greece

Brazil

Japan

Russia

Egypt

Wouldn't that be nice? 

Year in review

1. What did you do in 2013 that you’d never done before? Had a bouncing baby boy! 

2. Did you keep your New Year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year? Nope, not even close... 

3. Did anyone close to you have a child? Liz and Val.

4. Where did you travel? Los Angeles in March and Monmouth, La Crosse, and the cities multiple times.

5. What would you like to have in 2014 that you lacked in 2013? Motivation!! 

6. What dates from 2013 will remain etched upon your memory? 12/31/2013.

7. What was your biggest achievement of the year? Having a baby come before their due date on the last day of the year! Tax break! Whoo!

8. What was your biggest failure? Not doing as much with Monster as I should have.

9. Did you suffer illness or injury? Pregnancy. Enough said.

10. What was the best thing you bought? Trip to LA in March.

11. Where did most of your money go? House, bills, baby stuff.

12. What did you get really excited about? Liz moving closer to us.

13. What song will always remind you of 2013? I'm not sure there is one. 

14. Compared to this time last year, are you: a) happier or sadder?b) thinner or fatter? c) richer or poorer? Happier, fatter, poorer.

15. What do you wish you’d done more of? Dates with Justin.

16. What do you wish you’d done less of? Felt crappy.

17. What was your favorite TV program? How I met your mother -- so sad it's almost over.

18. What was the best book you read? I really liked the Susanna Kearsley books I read and surprisingly Water for Elephants as well.

19. What was your greatest musical discovery? Didn't have one.

20. What did you want and get? Nothing comes to mind.

21. What did you want and not get? A new vest for Christmas. (Shallow, no?) 

22. What was your favorite film of this year? Iron man 3. I can't remember any other one I saw...

23. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? Had a party and I turned 30.

24. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? Not getting laid off.

25. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2013?Maternity clothes for the most part.

26. What kept you sane? Justin.

27. Who was the best new person you met? This little fuzzy headed guy is pretty cool. 

28.Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2013? Stop and take a breath before reacting to any situation. Stay positive. 

Updated Master List

Stuff
Crib
Crib mattress
Waterproof liner
Sheets
Blanket
Receiving blankets
Sound machine
Night light
Changing pad and cover
Dresser
Hamper
Baby monitor
Black out curtains/curtain rods
Garbage can and liners
Diapers
Desitin
Wipes
Baby washcloths
Nursing pillow and covers
Pacifiers
Bottle nipples
Baby Tylenol
Thermometer
Nail clippers
Nasal aspirator (get from hospital)
Nasal saline drops
Baby book/calendar

Clothes 
(wait to see what is handed down from nephew)
Home from hospital outfit (newborn and 3 mo)
Onesies (white and colored, short and long sleeve)
zip up sleepers
pants
bibs
socks
hats/mittens
warm coat/snowsuit
warm hat
baby laundry soap

For Mom
Nursing clothes
breast pads/cream