Day 7: Do you have pets?

I have two dogs! I brought one into our family and we got one together. Our Miniature Pincher, Ami, weighs 10 lbs. He loves cuddling and he never learned to lie down. If you tell him to, he just rolls over. Our Pit bull, Bailey,  is 35lbs of wiggles and kisses. She is currently dealing with a case of Demodex mange but she gets better everyday! They do tend to bark, especially since some of the neighborhood kids have decided that our dogs and the ones across our fence are fun to tease. I even had to stand outside and watch kids walk half way down the next block. Crazy kids. :)

Peppermint Cookies!

These sound delicious! I will be making them soon!

3/4 Cup - Butter flavored shortening
1/2 Cup - Brown Sugar, firmly packed
1/2 Cup - Sugar
2 Tbsp - Milk
1 Tbsp - Vanilla Extract
1 - Large Egg
2 Cups - All Purpose Flour
1 tsp - Salt
3/4 tsp - Baking Soda
3/4 Cup - Crushed Peppermint



Heat oven to 350 degrees.

In a small bowl combine flour, salt, and baking soda.

In a large bowl with an electric mixer combine shortening brown sugar, sugar, milk, and vanilla. Blend until well mixed. Beat in egg. Add in flour mixture at a low speed just until blended. Stir in 1/2 Cup of the crushed peppermint candy.

Place 1 inch balls on cookie sheet. Bake them for about 9 minutes. I had to lower this when i moved into my house it was 12 in my apartment so adjust as needed. Immediately sprinkle with more pepper mint candy and let cool 1-2 minutes before moving to a cooling rack.

Day 6 : Favorite ways to pay it forward!

I love to do things for other people. The best time to do it is when they aren't expecting it and for absolutely no reason. Some of my favorite ways to do this involve beverages. :) I am not above buying a random stranger a drink, be it at Starbucks or a bar. I also tend to bring random people coffee or doughnuts if I happen to be stopping anyway. Tomorrow is my first day back to work since having my son and as a way to quell my guilt and anxiety today I am making cookies for my office! I guess that one doesn't really count because I am getting something out of it, but I am doing it anyway. So remember to look out for the people around you, they might be having a rough time and a little compassion could go a long way.

Day 5: Top Most Played Songs on my Ipod

I thought this one would be super easy since your Ipod will tell you what you listen to most! So here we go...

1. Caress Me Down - Sublime
2. Santeria - Sublime
3. Doin Time - Sublime
4. Good Kush and Alcohol - Lil Wayne featuring Drake and Future
5. Pass the Dutch -Drake featuring Lil Wayne and Young Money
6. Wrong Way - Sublime 
7. Cinema - Benny Benassi
8. Swagger Like Us - Drake
9. Forever Drake featuring Lil Wayne, Kanye West, and Eminem
10. What I Got - Sublime
11. Dance All Night - Baby Bash
12. New Kid in Town - Rockabye Baby
13. F@#kin' Problems Asap Rocky, Drake, 2 Chains, and Kendrick Lamar
14. Money to Blow - Birdman
15. Shoop - Salt'n'Pepa

Well there you go! I have weird taste in music. What is your favorite song? Do you hate any of the ones I am listening to? Let me know what you think! 

Day 4: How do you fix a bad day?

This one just sounded like fun to answer! It depends on what kind of a bad day it is. Not all where created equal so their solutions are a little different. All of my favorite fixes have two components.

For those awful days when everything has just plain gone wrong and no matter what I do it just seems to keep sliding down hill. I love Reese's and Mountain Dew.

For when people are irritating or unhelpful. In San Antonio this is mostly related to their driving. The thing that helps is a hot bath and a glass, ok ok bottle, of wine.

Of course, even when I am feeling my worst, spending a few moments holding my son makes my heart melt.

Day 3: Top 4 Favorite Movies

Well I am glad it didn't say one because I can NEVER narrow it down.

1. A Knight's Tale
2. Ella Enchanted
3. Monty Python and the Holy Grail
4. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (I love them all but this is my favorite)

The first 3 are family rainy day favorites! We still love to watch them when I am in town or when they visit here. Not only that but quotes from these favorites are constantly getting thrown around in my house. I cant wait to see what movies Jameson picks as his favorites and to be driven crazy by his need to watch them over and over!

Visiting the dead!

Living in the heart of Texas there is a large Mexican-American community so there is a Dia de los Muertos festival. Yesterday my boyfriend and I took our son downtown to see the sights. I also really wanted to try a sugar skull, a pressed sugar skull that is decorated in bright colors. We went a little early so there was not a lot of things going on yet, but the colors where amazing and the alters that people had erected to loves ones where very impressive. Out of respect I did not take any pictures of the alters.  While we were there I purchased a sugar skull and one of my  Texas favorites ribbon fries. I fully enjoyed both and I definitely recommend the San Antonio Dia de los Muertos festival to everyone! It was a great time and next year I think we will try to make our own sugar skulls!

Day 2: What are you afraid of?

Well that is harder to answer then I thought when I picked it. My first thought was spiders because they are terrifying nasty little creatures. I know they eat other bugs and they have a place in the food chain but that does not mean that they have to be my friends. After I thought a little more about what I would write about my eight legged little terrorizers I found that I kept coming back to the fact that nothing is scarier to me right now then, well, everything. My whole life got turned upside down 5 weeks ago by the most amazing little angels arrival into this world. The side effect being that now I am scared of everything and how it could effect my son Jameson. I don't yell because I am afraid to startle him. I have done hours of research on my deodorant to make sure it won't effect my breast milk. Having a newborn is the most amazing experience of my life time but it is also terrifying!

30 Day Blogging Challenge.

I wanted to do something to break my habit of not blogging for weeks at a time. So I searched for a 30 day blog challenge to build a habit of blogging daily. I was unsuccessful in finding a current challenge list but I found a couple of old ones so I am going to mix them together and see what we come up with.   So here goes day one.

DAY 1: Self portrait and 5 random facts about yourself.

#1 I have a huge Harry Potter obsession!

#2 I can change my oil and tires.

#3 My name is spelt with a K in place of a C. It is Jessika not Jessica.

#4 I can't keep left and right straight so don't ask me to navigate unless you are ready to make a few U-turns.

#5 I love two stepping! Aerials and everything!

My fall favorite!

Apple Tart

Crust

1 Cup+1 Tbsp ~ All-purpose flour
1/2 tps salt
1/3 Cup cold shortening
3-5 Tbsp ice cold water

Mix flour and salt in a Medium bowl, cut in shortening using a fork (or if you are high speed a pastry blender). This should look like small crumbs roughly pea sized. Add water one Tbsp at a time until all the flour is moist and pastry almost leaves the sides of the bowl. Gather into a flat round blob (kinda like a big hamburger patty) wrap it in plastic and refrigerate for 45 minutes. Use a floured rolling pin to roll your pie crust out. It should end up about a 1/4 of an inch thick or less.

Filling

2/3 Cup Brown sugar
1Tbsp cold butter
4 Cups sliced apples (about 4 medium apples)
1 Tbsp flour

Mix together sugar and flour, add the apple slices put in pastry crust, and crumble butter over the top of the apple mixture.  Fold edges of the pastry up over mixture.

Bake

Now I do not use a pie pan I use a pizza pan so that it bakes flat and the pastry is a little crisper.
425 degrees for 25 minutes.

When all else fails bake!

I love to cook. Baking is such a great stress reliever and I love ending up finding flour on the back of my calf and not being quite sure how I managed to get it there. I (almost) always bake from scratch. I have always told my mom that baking from a box is "faking baking". I love adding each ingredient and watching your product come to life.  So in the spirit of making the world a better place I have decided to share a new recipe with all of you every Tuesday! I am calling it Sweet Tooth Tuesdays! Below is the first recipe and it is one that breaks my "nothing from a package" rule.


I started making these a couple years ago as a quick simple thing to make for a work function and now I get instructed to bring dozens upon dozens of them. I don't remember where I got the recipe but here it is.

Temptations

What you need:

Store bought chocolate chip cookie dough (I have found the cheaper the better because they don't stick to the pan)
Reese's miniature cups
Miniature muffin pan


How you do it:

• Bake the pre-measured cookies in a miniature muffin pan, one cookie per muffin well, for 10 minutes.
• Remove from the oven and press one Reese's into the center of each one. Please unwrap them first. I have accidentally baked a wrapped one before.
• Return to the oven for 2 minutes.
• Remove from the oven and let completely cool before removing from the pan. Sometimes you may need to give them a little spin to loosen them up.

I am sorry I haven't made a batch to take pictures for this post. Since I am trying to work on my post baby body I shouldn't be alone with these cookies. If you do make them and you would like to share send me a picture and I will add them!

Booby problems.

Well now that all the grandparents have gone home after coming to meet Jameson I am so ready to settle into being a family of three! Though it will only be a few weeks before I am back at work and my boys are left to their own devices durning the day, so I am already pondering my breast milk supply. When my milk first came in I had WAY too much, I was pumping 12 ounces twice a day and still feeding just fine. However with all the running around and stressing I haven't been drinking as much water as I should and drinking too much caffeine so I have seen a huge decrease in production. So of course being a woman of our day and age I searched the internet for things that help and this is what I found.

Flax seed (High in Fiber)
Brewers Yeast (Made from ground hops. Bakers Yeast does not have the same effects)
Whole Wheat (again Fiber)
Teas made from a host of ingredients including

Fennel seeds Goat's rue Blessed thistleAlfalfa Anise seedsfenugreek seedsred raspberry leavesstinging nettle leavesmilk thistle seeds and a whole host of other things.

And last but certainly not least water.

The first two people suggest adding to oatmeal. I find that particular breakfast unappealing so I choose not to partake. However adding it to Oatmeal Cookies worked out beautifully. The actual increase in production hasn't been huge an ounce or two at most during a pumping session but every little bit ads to my store so I am tickled pink. The effects are only good for a little while though so my rule of thumb is two cookies and 16 ounces of water about 20 minutes before I go pump.

I have yet to try any of the teas so I cant really comment on the effectiveness. Water just makes a ton of sense, your body cant create
liquid if it doesn't have enough for itself and then some so bottoms up!

Is there anything else that helped you? Help all of us new moms by sharing your experiences.

Baby Boy is Here!

So as I had mentioned I was expecting the arrival of my first baby at the end of September. Well he came right on his due date! He is now 5 days old and the experience of being a new mom is one I don't really know how to describe.

Here are a few things that surprised me.

The amount of love I feel for my son is insurmountable and indescribable as most moms will tell you there is an instant flood of love that you can't imagine until you feel it. I am not saying I was surprised that I love him because I have loved him since I found out he was coming but the depth of that love is something I didn't even know existed.

The way my feelings toward his father, Juan, would change. Juan and I love each other very much. We are that stupid cute couple that will make goggly eyes at each other across a table,if you can detach us from one another, no matter who else is there. He is my strength and my rock. That was never more real to me than when I was in labour and I needed to stare at his face and needed to hear him  tell me I was doing a good job. Since the birth of our son I have grown to love Jua
n even more then before. The way he looks at the child I cherish so much brings tears to my eyes that I can't always stop.  They are having a scowl off while I work on this.

How tired you can be and be willing to stay up for as long as it takes to make that little being content.  I have never slept so little in my life as in the last 5 days. Juan has been amazing about sending me to bed to get some rest while he looks after the babies needs for a few hours but you never seem to sleep deeply when you are listening for that inevitable "I'm hungry" cry that you haven't pumped enough to soothe. So an hour of sleep feel like 10 minutes. Even with my extreme lack of sleep I would trudge to hell and back just to learn a swaddle secret so that he would be content for just 5 more minutes.

I am sure there are other things that have taken me by surprise or will catch me off guard but those are the ones that have been extremely impactful. What are some of your early parenthood surprises?

Blogworld meet Jameson!

Crafting

I love crafting. I have a huge yarn collection for crocheting. I have a beautiful sewing machine that does an amazing job of making sure my projects don't come out too bad even though me and straight lines don't really get along. I have one problem though, I NEVER seem to finish a project. I have 3 crochet projects going right now and there is an unfinished burp cloth sitting on top of my sewing machine. So to give me some accountability for getting my projects done I am going to show you all where they are now and then I'll update you as I get more work done.

Busy Beaver

I am so sorry it has been so long since last I wrote but with the imminent arrival of our little boy I feel like I don't have any time to do anything! I nest, I sleep, and I go to work.

One thing I have found time to do is take care of my man and his new super strict diet. Crap I almost forgot to make his breakfast! Hang on. Ok now that that is done I want to share what I made him for dinner last night because It is SUPER easy and quick.

Mandarin Chicken Tacos.

Bake and then shred
3 chicken breasts
     Seasoned with salt, pepper, and cheyenne pepper

Toss
12oz Mandarin Oranges (I drained 2 4oz cans and used the juice from 1)
1/2 Red Onion (carmelized diced,but leave large)
Lime Juice, 1 whole lime.
1/2 tsp cheyenne pepper
1 cup spinach (minced)

Then all you have to do is put in on a corn tortilla and you are ready to enjoy.

I hadn't shredded the chicken yet but I found them easier to enjoy once I did. 

One day at a time.

 I have decided that I really have to make myself stick to a blogging schedule if I am ever going to post new and fun things for all of you beautiful people out on the interwebs. So I am going to divide that up to make sure I talk about all of my favorite things. One of which is organization. I know I know if you have seen my house/car/desk/purse you would never believe me. I am a horribly messy person. I throw things everywhere and then dont know how they got there when I go to pick them up 2 weeks later. I do however love to organize things. I just can't make myself not screw it up after about 5 minutes. So at the moment my kitchen is about 20% organized because I did it and then left for work just so for 8 hours I could say that the plates and cups really are where they go. It is a good thing I have a very understanding man in my life because he hates the mess but never says anything. He knows I wish I wasn't messy I just can't help it. It is like everything I touch explodes.

I am really good at not taking pictures of my mess the one above with my brother in it is the only one I could find of my kitchen in a normal state.

So I guess this post was really more of a request. Can any of you, or all of you, suggest ways to get and stay organized? Especially bathrooms and kitchens with very limited storage.

Oh Baby!

33 weeks in and only 7 more to go!
Since I didn't start my blog until well into my pregnancy I thought maybe I should do a bit of catch up. I am having a boy around the end of September, although I have a couple of people rooting of October 6th. I haven't had the easiest of pregnancies. I am high risk for preeclampsia due to a prior existing condition.

That was devastating news. There is something wrong with you that puts the baby you are carrying at risk. Being in the military sometimes the overwhelming male population influences the views of those around you. They assume that you will react a certain way to what they have to say and lets just say the  nurse that gave me the news was not very kind in her delivery nor was she very happy at my tear filled reaction. She gave me a long speech about how if I was going to have a baby I needed to grow up. Needless to say I swiftly switched to a different doctors office. Bright side I get tested all the time and have not had any problems that have been related to my condition.  I did however have a short hospital stay around the start of my second trimester for nausea and dehydration but it was just a couple days of having someone bring me everything and it turned out to be a really good break for me. There have been other rough patches but I don't want this to turn into me whining and get away from all the amazing things I've experienced.

First Sonogram: 6 weeks...at flea market ha ha ha
First Movement: 17 weeks!
Most active time: Bath time
First hiccups: 32 weeks
Most recent Sonogram: Oh later today!! Yay for 3D! He looks so much like his dad.


Consistant Symptoms
Heartburn: everyday almost all day and even with medication it makes sleeping nearly impossible.
Insomnia: I thought the sleep deprivation started after the baby got here.
Nausea: Really bad early on but now it is only if I go too long without eating.
Tailbone pain: I get it weight gain and posture changes, but sometimes I can hardly walk.
Pinched nerves: mostly lower back and rearend.

Cravings: DAIRY any kind all the time!


I am sure I will think of other things to add but for now this is what I got!

Here is a great giveaway from Unconventional Mommy Tails! Her blog is amazing and this giveaway is great. I have already ordered my lotion bar and I can't wait for it to arrive at my house!

I'm thrilled to bring to you a new company that I just started working with, Lips N Lotions. 

All lip balms and lotions are made of the same ingredients but just in different ratios. 

The ingredients are: 

Organic Unrefined Shea Butter

Sweet Almond Oil

Local Pure Filtered Beeswax

Coconut Oil

That's it. I love the fact that you know exactly what you're putting on your body. 

With that being said there really isn't a lot of things that I love more than doing reviews of beauty products. With this one I had quite the dilemma choosing which flavor & scent that I wanted to review because they all sounded so amazing. I ended up choosing to review the pizza and bacon lip balms. Why? Because I have never tried anything like them before and they sounded awesome. I couldn't decide on a lotion bar scent so I told Monica to just choose. She sent me "Dragon Fire" and wow, amazing.

It just melts with your body heat giving you the perfect amount. I used it and felt immediate skin softening results. Monica gave me the tip to put it on my feet before bed. I'll admit to not having the softest feet but this definitely helped. 

Yup, You're seeing that right. Pizza & Bacon. 

They taste exactly like they should. I kid you not. 

The husband will probably like kissing me 100x more now that I taste like his favorite foods.

Note: You DON'T have to try these crazy flavors. She makes a ton of "normal" ones too! 

Make sure you stop by Monica's LipsNLotions Etsy Shop and be sure to like the Facebook page! 

The Giveaway

a Rafflecopter giveaway
Must be 18 or older to enter. Open to US only. No PO Boxes. Must have a valid email address and respond to winning notification within 48 hours or another winner will be selected. Unconventional Mommy Tails is not responsible for the shipment of this prize.

Fun day

After a super rough start to the morning, what with random morning sickness for me and a hang over for my other half all I can say is: What an amazing day! What pregnant lady doesn't like spending all morning making a big deal out of her belly?  I had my maternity pictures started today out at Paradise Canyon Recreation Center. Though the water was 4 or 5 feet below where it was the last time I was out there making water pictures impossible the surrondings where still magnificent. Juan and Christina's husband made getting around on the rocks and uneven ground a lot easier. I am so thankful that she brought him along to help her and me. We are finishing tomorrow here in my home so I still get another day of parading my bump around. We are working with an amazing photographer, Christina George. Here is her website if anyone in the San Antonio would like to see her work http://christinaageorge.wix.com/christinageorgephotography I have worked with her a couple times and she is so in love with what she does it is a joy to be around her while she is doing it. I can't wait to post pictures for everyone to see.




Oh goodness, sorry dear readers that was the first and last time I will ever blog from my phone!

Seeing the bright side of disappointment

I think this is a lesson that everyone needs at some point in life. I lean on that lesson all the time. Today the promotion results came out for everyone that will be promoting to Staff Sergeant this coming year. I was unfortunately not on that list.  So that means I will have to try again at the test next May and I may or may not get to promote some time in 2015. So I could sit around and wallow about not getting a raise for over a year or it making me not sure about whether or not I should continue my Air Force career beyond this enlistment. However that wont change anything and it will just be added stress for me and my poor unborn son. So I wont, I am going to rejoice for my friends that did get selected and study harder for the test next year. That being said I am not saying that I didn't cry for a moment in disappointment but I have another year to learn all I can for the NCOs around me and then I can take on the responsibility with more knowledge and experience.  So my challenge to everyone is to find a silver lining today. Running late? Maybe you would have been part of that fender bender you just passed if you had been on time. Got spit up on and had to change? Maybe the shirt you change into will look even better then the first one.

Morning Blues

Ok ok confession time, I am a morning person. I am incapable of sleeping in (most of the time) and I love to get up get, get dressed, and go find an adventure. My boyfriend on the other hand could sleep the day away and be perfectly happy . This means he gets a lot of creepy wake ups because I am the puppy at the edge of the bed starring at him.

I on the other hand spend a good part of the morning hanging with our two dogs or lately I use this time to expend my nesting urges. That being said I hate cleaning so I have turned nesting into furniture construction and crocheting. I can't wait to take pictures of my poor son all wrapped up in my attempts at Martha-Stewartdom. Unfortunately I am running out of ideas to entertain my nesting brain. So do any of you have any cool ideas on how to keep busy during these last weeks before baby gets here?

Here goes nothing!

I recently had a dear friend start a blog and it has been a great opportunity for her and in amazing way for all of her friends, family, and fans to keep up with her busy life so I thought I would give it a try too.  So if you have any questions please feel free to ask I would love to answer them. I am excited to start this journey with all of you and to start the new journey of parenthood soon.