Ain't No Party Like A Due Date Party

Greetings from Chez Baldwin! I'm fixing pancakes because, heck, why not. We're having a due date party! Minus Bebe.

Look! I'm full-term!

Baby, you don't know the party you're missing! Please come soon!

Hi from us!

What I did today: cleaned the kitchen, folded laundry, paid bills, updated our expenses, took a nap, watched Monk, did some editing and writing, and updated everyone on baby's lack of arrival.

"The Lord is good/ a refuge on the day of distress;/ He takes care of those who have recourse to him." (Nahum 1:7)

#7QT: Kill with Kindness

Four days till my due date... and that's all the baby news I have. Holla back to Jen!

{one}

Pope Francis and his awesome interview - my thoughts here at Ignitum Today, "Whom Would Kindness Kill More: Them or You?" on the interview and the spiritual work of mercy of comforting the afflicted.

{two}

This week I made two larger meals out of the ground beef we bought. One was spaghetti and meatballs, the other was a casserole. Will does not like cooked vegetables, which is a good reminder to me to think more before I make a big meal of foods I like, because then I have to finish them. Since we don't eat meat on Fridays, this pushes leftovers back even further. Sadly, I am already over both these meals (and ground beef) and onto my next culinary adventure dreams...

Crock pot time!

Will requested a rump roast, and I found this recipe for Pioneer Woman’s Perfect Pot Roast; its only flaw is that it lacks potatoes, though, which we have an abundance of - it seems like I could add more vegetables too (for my own benefit).

Natalie of The Busy Budgeting Mama posted Round 3 of her freezer crock pot meals, and they look delicious. She also posted the recipes + grocery list, because she is an angel.

I also found this recipe for balsamic vinaigrette, Will's favorite dressing, so we can eat happy salad this week. BOOM. VEGETABLES.

Do y'all have any favorite crock pot or make ahead meals?

{three}

The Myers-Briggs test - have you ever had yourself personality tested? Will and I took it at our pre-cana retreat, and I'm glad I wrote it down for reference! I am an ISFJ (married to a ESTP! Which, I was thrilled to read later, is the natural pair to my personality - isn't that fascinating?).

I mention it because Jen asked in her 7QT, if our personality was a song, what would it be?

I've picked Natalie Merchant's "Wonder":



What is your personality type?! What is your song? (It's subjective - just pick one!)

{four}

The coolest part of reading my personality "portrait" were my different career starting points:

ISFJs have two basic traits which help define their best career direction: 1) they are extremely interested and in-tune with how other people are feeling, and 2) they enjoy creating structure and order, and are extremely good at it. Ideally, the ISFJ will choose a career in which they can use their exceptional people-observation skills to determine what people want or need, and then use their excellent organizational abilities to create a structured plan or environment for achieving what people want.

One of my possible career paths is child care, and as silly as it sounds, it was exactly what I needed to read today. Nannying for almost two years was my most favorite job - more than writing, more than editing. I have high hopes for this mommy job!

{five}

Here is a just found picture from my MIL's camera! Will and I where we got engaged, 6 months into our marriage, right before we moved to NOLA.

{six}

Okay people, taking a poll about my bloggy-blog. I'm thinking of changing the name to "The Julie View" (same as my Twitter handle) from "The Corner with a View" (for simplicity's sake). I'm not in the mood to start a new blog, just fixin' up the original for now. May even add a tagline... and an actual, personalized header!

{seven}

I miss my family! But they're having a good time anyways.

Four of the six of us

The dogs in my sister's high school uniform shirts

Oh hey, E!

Happy Friday, everybody!!

The Need for Self-Care

Originally published at The Mirror Magazine

Last Sunday, I drove two and a half hours to a beach in Alabama with my husband and a friend, chatting and laughing and singing along to the radio and our CD collection. A couple hours later, we were driving back to New Orleans, with white sand stuck to all the crevices and skin (and in our hair), sunburns, and conversations that would dwindle off as a favorite song came into play.

Once we crossed back over the border into Louisiana, I asked my husband to drive because I was so tired. The waves had been strong and full, white-capping and carrying our bodies forward and onward. It takes strength to stand up against the tide, even when you dig your feet into the sand and swear you shan't move. But moving isn't the problem - it's where you end up. Let yourself get swayed, and you'll end up 20 feet down the beach. But maybe that's where the adventure starts? As I sat on the sand in the late afternoon and watched the sand crabs dive into their holes, I thought: this is self-care.

Self-care "refers to actions and attitudes which contribute to the maintenance of well-being and personal health and promote human development." Self-care starts with self-awareness.

What are you able to do? What do you want to do? Why are you feeling this way?

My husband likes reading on the beach between swims, and our friend took at least one nap on her towel, but as I was less than two weeks away from my due date (a week now!), I cannot lie on a towel without needing Will to physically help me up again or sit comfortably near the hot sand for so long. So, I thought, what do I want to do? And it was a wonderful feeling. I went and sat on the lower part of the beach, and let the waves wash over my legs and my belly, where my baby pokes me and teases me.

It's taken me nine months to get to the point where I can sit in the sand. I've never taken leisure time very seriously. There was work time, vacation time, quality time (with friends and/or family), chore time and productive time. Even sleep time got the short end of the stick, more often than not.

Leisure is not the same as self-care, but it can feel that way to me. Instead of being optional, however, self-care is possibly one of the most important things a person can do for herself. Self-care is a recognition of your limitations, a want to improve, and a desire for sanity. If a person does not relax, their body will become ragged and force rest upon them in forms of sickness or exhaustion, mental and physical.

Source

Self-care can come from necessity - my pregnancy forced me to re-evaluate how I never took time to rest. Self-care must become a habit, verses a special occasion.

I've focused my self-care on four areas: daily prayer, daily exercise, daily writing, and naps.

I've taken small steps - morning prayer, and daily mass once a week. Exercise for 30 minutes. Writing without publishing.

I learned to nap. I learned to sit down and watch. I learned that it was okay being passive, as long as you didn't get stuck there. I learned that it was okay to let people help you, and admit that you can't handle a work load.

This week, I think I'll paint my nails. I've organized the closets and re-written the chore and grocery list, for my own peace of mind. Now, to finish a few bigger projects and book reviews!

How do you self-care, reader? Do you self-care? Why or why not? What is holding you back if you're not?

Five Favorites - In Vino Veritas! Edition

Check out Hallie's here!

{one}

The top slot of the day goes to Maple Bourbon Bacon Jam.

Yes, you heard me. MAPLE BOURBON BACON JAM. I have not had this particular kind, but I have had bacon jam, and I am beyond ecstatic at the thought of going home for the holidays and creating my own jars of deliciousness with my bestie and fellow foodie Sarah.

H/T to the always wonderful April, who has made her own jars and is making me seriously contemplate driving west to obtain a jar or two...

{two}

Next, Essie nail polish - because it is a happy, classy brand. It also makes my hands look like they have a party to attend.

{three}

Every Saturday, we have Supper Club with a classmate of Will's and her sister, who have become very dear friends down here. Unfortunately for them, their neighborhood is infested by roosters. Fortunately for me, I got to spy this sweet mama hen and her three chicks this past weekend!

I know I'm not the one being woken up every morning by them, but GOSH they're cute!

{four}

We had another one of Will's classmates over for dinner and he brought the wine. If I was not preggo, I may have consumed half the bottle. It is that delicious; and the label is funny too!

Barrel Monkeys, 2011 Shiraz - from McLauren Vale in Australia.

{five}

My Dad ordered me my very own subscription of The Magnificat and it is so comforting to me to have morning prayer, the mass readings, and evening prayer at my disposal, as well as a daily reflection and saint of the day. I was especially touched by this passage: "Behold, I have left an open door before you, which no one can close." (Rev 3:8)

I love that I can read it all through my iPhone app as well - much better than bringing the book along, and then misplacing it for days.

Have a wonderful day, y'all!

Blueberry Bundt (There Is A Hole In This Cake)

Yesterday was my 39 week appointment, which confirmed this baby ain't leaving soon. The nurse asked if I was in any pain, and I gave her the "Well..." answer and went to go pee in a cup.

Note to everyone: do not leave a nurse hanging like that. She will find you and she will demand to know how you are feeling.

I was feeling fine, at that point. I was awake most of the night with a tightness across my abdomen, which was more persistent and annoying that particularly painful. Not contractions, and I'm not close to going into labor. The pain I had to think about (and then forget to mention to the nurse as my brain went into La-La Land on the scale) was my throat. I hesitated to mention it because I wasn't sure if it was pregnancy-related, but as I've never had tightening/slight burning before, I figured it had to be.

Acid reflux, anyone? At least, a very mild-mild case of it. But enough to make me not want to eat ANYTHING. Which most people can tell you is not a good thing. But my MIL told me she would eat bites of angel food cake and sip milk when she was preggo and had acid reflux. Which brings me to this week's greatest idea ever:

BLUEBERRY BUNDT CAKE, with special thanks to Martha Stewart - the bearer of delicious recipe ideas

{Now, if you've clicked on the link you'll see that it is actually blueberry-lemon bundt cake. For the sake of my throat/stomach, I omitted the lemon... for now.}

ingredients

2.5 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature {I put them on top of the toaster oven 2-3 times, rotating sides}
1 cup packed light-brown sugar {I used part light, part dark}
1 cup granulated sugar
4 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup plain greek yogurt [Chobain brand!] {Martha calls for sour cream} ... I also used more than a cup

2 cups blueberries {I used frozen and did not thaw beforehand}

instructions

{Natalie Merchant radio on Pandora is not required, but certainly enhanced this baking experience.}

I used my mixing stand (thanks, Aunt Joanne!) to cream the butter and sugars together first, then added one egg at a time. I added one cup of flour, mixed; scooped in some greek yogurt; mixed; one cup of flour, mix-mix-mix; the rest of the greek yogurt, mix; half cup of flour, mixy-mix; 2 teaspoons of baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract and kept the mixer going.

Then, I removed the mixing top and plopped it in the sink. (Fine, I ate some of the batter first, then plopped it in ze sink.)

Now, this is where it gets tricky. The instructions say to fold the blueberries into the batter. I took this as, generously guesstimate 2 cups of blueberries into the mixing bowl and stir, stir, stir.

However, after spraying the bundt pan with nonstick butter spray, and the timer for the oven went off, and... I got impatient about putting it into the oven, so I stirred less than I should have. The only thing that happened was that there were more blueberries on the bottom of the bundt cake, but I think that is easily remedied if you, dear reader, took more time - or put the blueberries in half at a time, so ensure them to be better spaced out.

Here you go, in its raw glory {see, I could have folded the blueberries better}:

Then, 70 minutes later at 350:

(The recommended cooking time is 60-70 minutes on the lowest rack.)

After letting it cool in the pan, I covered it up and went to bed. In the morning, I had this for breakfast:

Consensus: delicious!