Leg warmers and neon and spandex, oh my!

So, I mentioned that I threw a "Totally 80's" party this past weekend, right? 

It started off with this invitation that Lover designed. It was girls only, cause, hey, well all need a night away from husbands and kids. 

I made Pac Man cookies. I did see a Pac Man cookie cutter, but who wants to spend $7 on a cookie cutter that I'll never use again? So I just bought a round one for $5 that I know I'll use again, rolled out my dough, cut out the circle, and then used a knife to cut out a wedge for the mouth. The cookie recipe I used was this one, and I used this technique for the icing. It was definitely easier and faster to use this recipe for the icing, but it wasn't as perfect as doing it the other way (with thicker royal icing for the outline, and thinner icing to flood the cookies). But I think it's definitely a technique thing. My last ones were so much prettier than my first ones.

I asked everyone to bring a little something to share. Some brought wine, some brought 2 liters of soda, others brought veggies and fruit platters, others brought chips. My friend Jenny surprised me with the soundtrack to Pretty in Pink. On VINYL. 

I made white sangria. I used one bottle of Sutter Home Sauvignon Blanc, half of a 2 liter of Fresca, and chopped up apples, grapes and strawberries. I made the fruit/wine mixture the night before, and then added the Fresca right before the party. I didn't get to partake in any (ya know, the whole pregnant thang) but I heard it was yummy.  

The two gorgeous ladies in this pic, I LOVE LOVE LOVE. Megan is on the left (and won Best Costume!) and blogs over at Miss Madison's Charmed Life. And Julie (on the right) blogs at It's Sew Stinkin' Cute.

And we did a couple of games. Pin the bow on Ms Pac Man (we went on the honor system, no blindfold to mess up our make up and hair), and a music trivia.

The best part? I set up a photobooth, and Julie brought her nice camera and we took pics. It was even more fun when we figured out how to use the remote. 

We took some goofy pics.... 

And some nice group pics...

Even my dog Titan insisted on photo bombing the pics....

The photobooth was so easy to make. 8 pieces of black poster board (2/$1 at Dollar tree) taped together, with neon paint drizzled all over it. If I had to do it over again, I'd do 3 rows of 4, instead of 2 rows of 4. I had to rebuild the sides in photoshop, which took a while.

It was definitely a lot of fun, and I can't wait to do another theme party. Next party's theme? Tacky Prom!

Highs and Lows 1/30/2012

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Lows

• Pregnant = emotional = getting butt hurt over things I have no control over. That's all I'm going to say about that. 

Highs

• My 80's party was awesome! I had ten girlfriends come over, we listened to bad music and played games. Plus I had a photobooth set up, so that was fun! I'll do a post with pics tomorrow. We decided that we need to do these more often. So next party? Tacky Prom. Bust out those horrible shiny, big puffy sleeved prom dresses, ladies!

• Got an appt with the OB doctor that I chose. Apparently she's highly sought after, so I was worried that I wouldn't be able to get in. She's willing to let me try a VBAC, and she does a sono at every appt. Feb 21st, we'll see our baby! 

• Found a new thrift store that I like. No furniture, and their home stuff is non-existant, but it's big and clean. Some prices are outrageous (like $10 for a pair of jeans?) but I did find a bunch of cute pants for Ava for $1. That girl always needs new pants. 

• Signed up to take some mom's class thing at the church with my friend Erin. It's on Wednesdays from 9:30-11:30 for the next 8 weeks, and they talk about mom issues, parenting, etc. Then we'll do lunch afterwards. Love girl time.  

• Lover won a $25 gift card to the movie theater at his quarterly staff meeting. Combine that with the Red Lobster gift card that my sister in law got me for Christmas, and that sounds like the perfect date night. 

I think that's it. It's been a lazy week. 

VBAC moms, I want to join your club

So, I'm only 4 weeks pregnant, but I'm all about planning ahead. I put up a post on FB yesterday, looking for OB recommendations. When I was first pregnant with Ava, we were going to a place called the OBGYN Place. But I wasn't thrilled with it. They have I think 6 doctors in their practice, and every appointment, you see a different doctor. That way, when you do deliver, whatever doctor is on call is a doctor that you've met at least once before. But I never got a great feeling from that place. Every appt (granted, I only went there until 14 weeks when my Quad 4 screening came back abnormal and I had to start being seen by specialists for Ava's gastroschisis), since it was a new doctor, they would go through your file, ask you a billion questions that you've answered at every appointment before. 

The doctor we ended up seeing after we had to change to Baylor Dallas, I really liked. But being that it's a 70 mile round trip to Dallas and back, I wanted to find a more local doctor. So that's when I put up the FB post. But, of course, all the doctors that were recommended are... at Baylor Dallas. Looks like we're driving out there anyway. 

I've narrowed it down to two doctors. Both were rated 4.5 out of 5 stars on Health Grades. One does a sonogram at every appointment, the other does a sono at most appointments. Now, since Ava had her birth defects and we had to monitor it closely, we had sonograms at least once a week for the last 4 months of pregnancy. So, I got a bit spoiled, being able to see her every week. 

So I'm going to call the one who does sonos at every visit (and apparently is a very highly sought after doctor in Dallas) and see if she's accepting new patients. 

The thing that's going to decide between the two officially though is if they are willing to do a VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarean). I really want to try it, and I understand if at the end, it's not possible. I looked up a bit about it yesterday, and since I've only had one and it wasn't medically necessary for me (just a precaution for Ava's gastroschisis) I should be a candidate for it. Of course, I managed to find the small handful of horror stories about the risks. But isn't there a risk to any delivery?

If I end up needing a c-section, then so be it. But I'll be honest, I hated the one I had. It took me FOREVER to heal from it (and I hated having to wake up my husband every time I needed to get up from bed and use the restroom, since I couldn't sit up myself. Those of you who have had a c-section know what pain I'm talking about, ouch). But I felt so removed from the birth of my daughter. I'm laying there, motionless and numb on a table, with a tarp in front of my chest, and everyone in the room knows what is going on except for me. I felt so separated from the whole experience. 

And, not that a c-section isn't a "real" delivery, but I really want my husband to experience a "normal" delivery. One where he's feeding me ice chips, encouraging me to breathe and push, etc. 

So, dear readers, have any of you attempted a VBAC?

High and Lows, 1/23/2012

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Lows

• We are all still hacking and coughing around here. All 5 of us. What. The. Crap. It's been like a month. I was pretty convinced that I have the ebola virus, or bird flu, or the plague, but according to the dr, it's just sinus stuff. He recommended Mucinex, but since we just discovered some lovely news, I get to suffer, medicine free. 

• Had to write a not to nice note to Arielle's teacher. We've been having a lot of problems the past couple of months with Arielle's behavior, and I've talked to her teacher about it. Arielle had a great conduct sheet last week, nothing marked off, so we've been really celebrating it. High fives, hugs, etc. Well, on Friday, I check the sheet, and there are two marks on it for Tuesday. What the crap? I've been signing it every day, I know they weren't there. So I wrote a note saying that it's impossible for me to discipline Arielle for something that happened four days ago, and I would appreciate it if in the future, her conduct sheet is kept up to date. I also had to remind her teacher that I'm STILL waiting on the results of the Connor's test (for ADD) that I sent in back in November. When I talked to her teacher on December 16th at the Christmas party, I mentioned that I sent in the test a month ago, and she said that they were waiting on her to do her part of the test, but she's been busy and will get to it. So I mentioned in the note (sent Jan 17th, so a full month after I talked to her) that I'm still waiting on the results, and voila! I get the results back the next day. Grrrrr. I'm all about appreciating a teacher, and I understand that my kid isn't the only one in your class, but come on lady. 

Highs

• Ya know, the whole I'm pregnant thang. Only 4 weeks along, but holy crap. I'm going to have 4 kids. I think it's still sinking in. We did plan this pregnancy, but dang.

• We played Twister with the girls the other night, and holy cow, I haven't laughed that hard in a long time. We're really trying hard to spend more time with the girls, as a family and one on one. 

• My 80's party is this Saturday! I'm super excited. I've been pinning things on Pinterest, but surprisingly there isn't a lot of ideas on there for 80's parties. I've ordered some things for prizes, making up a music trivia, costumes required. Let's just hope that some people show up! My friends Julie, Megan, and Jenny will be there, and a few others, I'm excited. I found an awesome outfit today at a new thrift store. I just need to have my mom make some alterations, but booyah, it'll be awesome. 

• Found a new show that I'm in love with, it's called Once Upon A Time. Seriously, love it. I like having new shows to watch. Ru Paul's Drag Race starts up again next week, booyah. 

• Arielle's Connors test shows that she has significant markers for ADD. And no, while that might not normally be a high, it's nice to know that I'm not just a shitty parent, and there is something that can be fixed/helped/modified. 

So, I think that's it. 

Coming soon.....

Green Smoothie for Weight Loss?

So, like me, I'm sure that everyone has some sort of health bettering resolution on their New Year's resolution. Weight loss, eating better, whatever. We tend to eat pretty healthy in this family (minus my addiction to Lays Sea Salt & Vinegar chips and Cherry Cokes) but I'm always looking for ways to add more water/fruit/veggies to my diet. 

Have you seen the green smoothie craze on pinterest? I read thru a few of them, and while some people use kale or chard, the general consensus is that spinach is the most tasteless of the "greens". 


So I decided to give it a try. I was a bit hesitant on the whole "let's throw some spinach in a fruit smoothie" thing. So at first, I just put one handful of spinach in my smoothie, and I didn't taste it AT ALL. So I added another handful, and still, nada. 


I've been making these for about a week now, with different fruit combinations. My girls even like drinking these. 


The basic recipe I use is...


2 bananas (it's a great way to use those bananas that are getting too soft to eat)


2 handfuls of spinach


handful of strawberries (I end up using 6-8 medium sized ones)


ice cubes, about 6-8


a cup of milk




If I'm not sharing it with the girls, I'll throw in a half a scoop of my protein powder, which gives it a slight chocolate taste. The protein powder I use is Champion Nutrition Pure Whey Protein powder in chocolate. It's 130 calories per scoop with 26 grams of protein.

I'll also add a spoonful of Metamucil fiber powder to mine. 

Spinach has fiber, vitamins A, C, E and K. Other health benefits of spinach can be found here. For me, I can always use more veggies in my diet, so anything that doesn't take a huge amount of additional effort in my book is a win. 


Some people use orange juice as their liquid, others use water. I never drink milk, so anytime I can add milk to a recipe and not taste it, I'll do it. Other people use almond milk (which is still on my "to try" list) or soy milk. 


You can basically add any fresh fruit that you have on hand (I will say that I tried it with raspberries, and didn't care for it, the raspberries were too over powering).

Now, mine did not turn out as pretty of a green color as the ones pictured on Pinterest. Mine is more of a blah, boring green. (I could have photoshopped it up, but that's not my style). But it's yummy, and easy to make.  I've been doing one for breakfast. I always end up making enough for two big glasses of it. So I'll do one for breakfast, and put it in the fridge until it's time to have it for my morning snack. 


Have you jumped on the green smoothie craze? Are you going to try it? 

Homeless Home Owners

So, here is a little story about my friends Erin and Ryan. I don't mean "friends" like "Oh, I've met them once or twice." We've been friends for 8 years. They've been there for me when I've needed them. They gave me a place for me and my two young girls to stay when Lover and I broke up temporarily and I moved out. Ryan has been there for me with answers to countless questions about my car. Erin is always there for me with a no holds barred, tell it like it is opinion, and I love that. Just good people that you hate to see anything happen to.

We've partied together. 

When Jake and I go up to visit St Louis, they always plan a get together with all of our friends. We always do Dave and Busters, since our kids and all the adults can have fun. 

Ryan surprised Erin for Christmas 2009 with a plane ticket to Dallas. 

I drove up to St Louis to go to their wedding. 

And they drove the long 10 hours to Dallas to come to ours. 

And we've had countless BBQ's and parties at their house. 

See that house in the background in the last pic? That's what this little story is about.

Back in October 2009, they came home and found a horrible smell in their lower level (they live in a bi-level home). They found that the drain pipe for the house's main plumbing had detached from the floor. They had a plumber come out, and the plumber found that the reason the pipe detached from the house is that the ground under the house was MISSING. 

Erin and Ryan contacted the City of Arnold, MO, and the city came out and did their own investigation. The city determined that it "wasn't their problem" and the city's insurance denied the claim. Ryan and Erin then contacted their home owner insurance, who also denied the claim, since it doesn't cover "earth movement or erosion". The mortgage company also does not want to get involved until the Egleston's go into default/foreclosure. 


They have contacted Erin Brockovich, Ellen, Oprah, and two of the TV stations in St Louis. They have also contacted their congressman, state reps and attorney general. They were told it's a local level issue and to start there. None of the city council aldermen will help, due to litigation. The Eglestons did have a short story on the St Louis news back in Feb 2010.

They also have a video on YouTube, showing the things they're dealing with. In the video, they also show a clip of them going to a City Council meeting to speak with the mayor. To me, the mayor seems very unsympathetic, and honestly, comes across like a jerk. 

In the video, it's revealed that the house was built on a human waste lagoon on a pier, and over time, the land has washed away. The city administrator says in the video that there were 29 lagoons in Arnold at one time, and since there are no lagoons now, obviously they were all built on. It's been suggested to Ryan that he find out where the other lagoons are, and to go and talk to those residents to see if they are having the same issues, but somehow, all those records are unavailable, and they cannot find the location of the other lagoons. That should be public record, yet no one can find it? 


So, since October 2009, two and a half long years, the Eglestons have been paying a mortgage on a house that is unfit to live in, and they've been living with family members. They finally have a court date set for September 2012, almost three long years after this all started.

There are a couple of other issues on their street, but the city says the problems are completely separate.

The street is literally caving away, since there is nothing under the asphalt. The city says it's not related.

The city also says that flooding isn't an issue on their street, and again, is not related. 

The blue car is Erin's, and that pic was taken from their front porch. It would be impossible to get out of your driveway with that amount of water in the street. You can't even see the curb, and that area in the distance in the trees is even worse. 

I don't expect anyone to have the magic answer. But a prayer, a word of encouragement or a suggestion would be appreciated.

Love you, Erin and Ry.