Toast to September

Do you remember.. the 30 days of September? Sung like the Earth, Wind, and Fire song.. obviously. My answer to my own question is no. I could have sworn it was the 1st of September yesterday. 

Here's to parents who are unwilling to accept their child is anything less than #1. Wowzers.

Here's to your boyfriend actually enjoying going to Sams and Kirklands with you on a Saturday. #newhomeowner

Here's to a student teacher that leaves at 2:45 every day. Because that's reasonable in the teaching world.

Here's to not having to do anything the next 2 weeks because of said student teacher. The bright side.

Here's to being back at a .500 winning percentage with my volleyball team. Two game win streak  means we're at 2-2 baby!!!

Here's to the Rangers making me believe in them again and here's to them probably breaking my heart somewhere in the near future. 

Here's to being way more concerned with my Baylor Bears and RG3 than the Cowboys. I can't help myself. 

And here's to October being just as busy if not busier than September. Zero free weekends, but so excited about all of them!  

Night Shower-er

I’ve always been a person that showers at night. Everyone showers at night when they’re a little kid… I think… because it’s easy for the parents! We always loved shower time at my house.. with 2 sisters we’d run around the house naked with the towel that goes on top of your head… like a cape! Then my dad would dry off our hair.. and I still dry my hair like that today.

When I was a teenager I always had volleyball practice or volleyball games so I’d come home, eat dinner, and then shower. It was my routine. My hair is as straight as a board, there is zero need for me to blow dry my hair. It’s straight if I let it air dry and it’s straight if I blow dry. Same outcome.

Now a days, I like to think I’m doing my hair a favor by not putting so much heat on it by letting it air dry. I still have volleyball practice in the afternoon and so it’s still my same routine. I like just getting up in the morning, watching some sportscenter and not feeling rushed.

After last night’s game I went out with some coaches from another school to get the scouting report on the team they just played; by the time I got home, I was ready for bed. I decided I would just shower this morning. I’ve already discussed my slight compulsive disorder (see: tshirt post) (also see: shoe organizer).

Here are the reasons I should not shower in the morning:

I started by putting conditioner in my hair. I typically just condition the ends of my hair… about half way down, but nope I put the conditioner all over my head. 

I shaved my right leg. Yup, just the right one. The left one is still just as hairy as it was last night. However, one of my fellow coaches pointed out, at least it wasn't one armpit.. That would be worse.. I think!

My hair got stuck in my hair dryer. Ok, so my hair dryer is a little ghetto.. I lost that piece that covers where the air gets sucked in.. So if you're not careful (which I normally am).. Your hair will get sucked in to the back of the dryer. Now, my grays are already shining through and I still have a week and a half to go before my hair appt... So those brown hairs are precious. I cannot afford to sacrifice one to my hair dryer let alone 15!!!

All in one morning. I like to call that talent. Alas, good news is it's Friday... Better news is my red head and Duck Dude are heading to Huntsville with me this weekend for a birthday party! And my blonde is meeting us down there! And I get to see my sweet Lilly who just turned 6 months old!! 

Jiffy Casserole

I have been eating this casserole my whole life.. my mom cooked it all the time. I ate it all the time. Then, recently, my mom cooked it again. I probably had not eaten it in years! It's the easiest recipe in the world.

This week I invited Duck Dude over for dinner, but I had not been to the grocery store in forever. So, of course, I had to wait to go until after volleyball practice, which means I didn't even get to the store until 5. I wanted something fast because I was starving so I decided on the jiffy casserole. I had it whipped up and in the oven by the time Duck Dude got to my apartment... as far as he knows I spent all day marinating and slicing and dicing instead of the 10 minutes it actually took. We threw together some corn/bacon/red pepper as a side and were ready to eat in no time. As soon as we started eating, Duck Dude declared it "his favorite recipe I've cooked." What?? That's his favorite? Out of the other recipes that I've slaved over?? ha just kidding folks, all my recipes are easy, but this is one is four ingredients! 

1 pound ground hamburger (or I used ground turkey). 1 can of cream of asparagus. 1 can of french cut green beans, and 1 box of jiffy corn muffin mix. 

Brown the meat. Add the soup (undiluted). Put it in a 9x9 pan. Drain the green beans and add them on top. Mix up the corn muffin mix and put it on the top. Cook for 30-40 at 350. Bam.  

Best part is it's been my lunch the past two days and it still tastes just as fantastic! 
Way to go Jiffy casserole.. way to go. 

First Win

Friday. I am so happy to see you. Even though you are rainy and gloomy and made my head feel like someone is jumping on it… you are still Friday.

As a middle school coach you are always looking for that first win to boost an already fragile confidence of 13 year old hormonal girls. My first 2 games have been terrible. My girls have literally been running into each other on the court. We’ve done communication drills, we’ve done “out of system” drills, we’ve done serve receive drills, we’ve done “in the hole” drills, and yet they haven’t been working as a team.

Last night, we got that elusive first win. And man, it felt good. They finally played their little hearts and played like a team instead of 6 individual players. My all-star played like an all-star and the other 5 didn’t stare at her and expect her to do everything. They fought back from being down 10-7 in the second set and I was pleased to see that resilience in them (last week we were up 17-10 and lost 25-19, uh zero relisiliency). So I’m a happy coach today and hope that puts us on a winning streak, and I hope it puts the Texas Rangers on one too because they're slowly breaking my heart.

And I will have to find a way to wear my Spiderman socks every game, because that was obviously the problem.

peace, love, and TGIF.

Fall 5

Fall 5

In honor of the high temperature for Saturday being 85… I’m doing an all things fall post. This is my one out of two fashion-ish posts I do a year… so bear with me. I picked out five things that I cannot live without am desperate to have. I just feel like my life will be a lot happier if these 5 items are in my closet come October. Not that I am not happy… just happier than a camel on hump day type happy. (does anyone else think that commercial never gets old? I love it every time)

Black skinny jeans. I definitely am not a fan of the leggings as pants phase. At Baylor we called them “pantsless pi phis.” Yoga pants are different, but leggings are for under things and not to be worn as pants… no matter how big your shirt is. Plus, there are so many things you can pair with black skinny jeans. Sweaters, tshirts, denim, cardigans, button downs, and vests. Anything and everything. It’s a staple piece and so versatile… it needs to be in my closet.

 

Infinity scarf. I held off on getting one of these last year. I had enough fun tying my own scarfs all different ways. While I will definitely wear my scarves this fall too, I think I need an infinity scarf. You don’t have to tie it all, just wrap it around your neck! I kinda like how you could put it over your head too. The only thing I cannot decide is what color I think I need in my closet.

Aztec Sweater. I do not feel this should be any surprise to anyone. I love the geometric designs of Aztec sweaters. The triangles, the parallelograms, the trapezoids all combined with colors or the simplicity of black and white.. I love it all. I need at least one, but probably two in my fall attire.

 

Plaid. Don’t judge me on this one, but I think plaid is wonderful. You don’t have to look like a country bumpkin in it, or you can, because that can be fun too. I like it as a shirt or as a layer or as a jacket. I would really love to find a plaid vest and add that to my repertoire. And I could throw my new infinity scarf over it. Wa-BAM!

 

Boots. Because you can never have too many options. You can never have too many different styles. You can never have too many variations of brown. You can never have too many boots. Period.

 

And now I’m off to surf the interwebz for some new stuff. 

Miley

Miley.

That’s right. I’m going there. And my next comment might surprise you. I’m obsessed with her. Like full blown party in the USA, we can’t stop, obsessed with her. She is abundantly talented. Now before you write me off as crazy, hear me out.

I am not a fan of her recent actions. I think she is making herself look like a dang fool. However, her music is beautifully written and she has a unique, powerful voice. I am not talking about the song where’s she doing “lines” in the bathroom and referencing “Molly”… I am talking about her backyard sessions on YouTube - where she is stripped down (no pun intended) to just her voice and her acoustic band. Songs like Lilac Wine and Jolene… you can hear how strong her voice is and how her voice can flow through runs. I even really love Wrecking Ball, which is melodically beautiful… I held off on watching the music video for so long because I didn’t want it to ruin the song for me. I would love to hear an acoustic version of the song.

I am so sad that she is choosing to be known as a notorious performer rather than a talented artist. It seems that fame is more important than legacy. She is sending the message to my young students that it doesn’t matter what you’re known for, just that you’re known.

Her message is that we “just don’t understand her.” I often wonder how many of my students feel the same way… that I just “don’t get them.” I hope they realize there are other choices than to act a fool. There are other ways to communicate to people and other ways to tell people how you feel. There are other ways to display your talents. There are other ways to make an impact.

I want my students to be a wrecking ball to the current social standards. 

Moving Up

This weekend I had the privilege of helping Duck Dude and Koal baby move into their first home! 

It has been such an exciting process and I was so excited to help them get somewhat settled! The best part of the weekend was not having a tv and zero furniture. We listened to Pandora constantly, two-stepped in the den, and had hand stand competitions in the living room... because when else can you do that? 

We took a little break on Saturday to watch the Aggies and it was definitely a good game!! I wore an Aggie shirt and I felt like people were staring at me all day, but that might have just been my imagination. 

 

 

Seriously, how precious are they? And don't worry. Duck Dude has ducks strategically placed over the house. I got a lesson on the history of duck decoys. Which is probably a good thing since I have a Delta Waterfowl sticker on my car now... 

It's like a duck's dream home up there on top of the cabinets. 

Before and after the yellow wall! We got rid of it and I love the entry way space... even though there's an ATM lamp there.

Duck Dude's mom and I found this piece to go above the couch in the living room. I love it and sent Duck Dude a picture hoping he would like it so we could get it! Good news... he's either a smart man or he has good taste and both of those are good with me! I cannot wait to get the furniture to see what it all looks like! 

It was one good weekend. That's for sure. 

Boilermaker

Today, I am a boilermaker.

Why? Because Notre Dame is ranked one spot ahead of my Baylor Bears… and guess who they’re playing? You got it. Purdue. So I hope, for today, that Purdue wins and the boilermakers come ready to play their hearts out!!!

I am, for the same reasons, also an Illinois, Western Michigan, Lamar, Arizona State fan!! I am rooting for any team who is playing any team ranked above my Bears. So much so that I made an excel sheet to keep up with who I should be rooting for each splendid Saturday. You might be thinking ‘wow, Mollie, that’s a little much’ but then again you might not spend as many hours as I do watching college football. If you do, then you’re thinking ‘wow, Mollie, can I get a copy?’

There’s another first happening this weekend. I will be wearing a Texas A&M shirt during the Bama vs Aggie game. Call it love or call it he wore/has a Baylor shirt now so I have to return the favor…. But I will be supporting my Duck Dude and his school when they take on Saban this weekend. So we will not be rolling any tide and we will be hoping that Johnny Football can control his on field behavior and not get any unsportsmanlike conduct penalties.

And I will leave you with a football related joke for this fantastic Friday.

How do you say Tony Romo in Spanish?

Mark Sanchez.

Now that’s funny. And I’m a Cowboys fan. Still. Funny. 

T Shirts

T shirts. How many do you own?

I own approximately 90. Yes, that’s a real calculation folks. I might explain how I came to that number later. But for now, you need to know I have an absurd amount of tshirts and I am emotionally attached to every single one of them. Seriously, before I started this little task, I tried to “clean out” the ones that have sweat stains, have holes in them I never ever, ever wear…. And I got rid of 4. I’m looking at it like it’s a start.

A while back I pinned a blog post on a new way to fold tshirts. The blogger claimed you could see what each one was and it made more room. I left it pinned for a solid 2 months and finally on Labor day decided I would give it a try. (Technically I labored a little bit on Labor day, but it was organizing and I’m OCD so it was fun laboring)

I started by taking out my four stacks of tshirts and counting how many were in each stack.. It averaged out to about 11. Speaking of 4 different stacks I’ll just go ahead and clue you in on my organizing style. One stack is green and gold Baylor shirts, one stack is organization Baylor shirts (intramurals, frat shirts, dia del oso shirts, etc.), one stack is organization shirts, and the last stack is my random group that’s left over!

I started folding them like the post said and realized it was just as easy as it sounded. As I started to put the tshirts back into my drawer I quickly found out that I could fit more than 11 in a row. So, I ran to my dryer to pull out the tshirts that were in there! Typically I have to go on a rotation system because I have too many tshirts.. so the ones stay in the dryer until I wear enough so the piles go down and I have more room. You can fit on average 17 tshirts folded this way! I’m not even kidding. I felt like it was Christmas Day!

 

I kept folding and kept jamming out to my Kacey Musgraves Pandora and when I finished I found that I had room left over in my tshirt drawer!!!!! That has never happened in my life! I considered putting those 4 shirts that I had decided to give away throw away back in and then decided that was regressing from my original goal.

Then I moved to my school’s tshirt drawer and completed it for them as well! I felt so accomplished I sent pictures to my whole family. It’s fantastic and made this little OCD heart happy. So happy.

Homemade Donuts

Have you ever made homemade donuts? Because if you haven't, you are missing out!! It's the best combination of oil, dough, and powdered sugar ever!!

It's simple. Get some biscuits (the non flake style) and pour some grease in the pan and heat it up! Cut  out the middle and you will have your donut holes. It might take the first few to get the temp of the grease just right... Aka double check to make sure they're cooked all the way through! Then, have a gallon ziplock bag or a couple paper sacks ready with powdered sugar in it! Place the fried donuts in the bag and shake shake shake!! This is the fun part for your kids.... Or your 26 and a half year old boyfriend. So, try it out!!

Just a warning, you eat a lot of these while you're cooking. You might find that when you sit down to eat.. You're already full!!

Toast to August

August has come and gone. 

Here’s to the most awesome wedding I have ever been to.

Here’s to being forced to catch the bouquet from the wedding. “I’m not moving my hands”… It came straight to me.

Here’s to awkward CPR classes… I guess people don’t remember old episodes of the Office. “At first I was afraid, I was petrified.”

Here’s to the best summer of my life so far.

Here’s to only having 1 prep for school. Seriously, maybe I can breathe this year.

Here’s to being a Brunette even though we didn’t win a 2^nd year in a row. (Post coming on that)

Here’s to having a freshman, sophomore, junior, and senior family members at Baylor. We bleed green and gold.

Hooray for September!!! :)