Farewell 2012/Hello 2013

Holly Hot Pot Party Dec. 2012 (aka Dinner & Fellowship at the Holly's)

Well, yes I've been AWOL, to say the least. It's been quite eventful since my last post. First off, I failed to keep an update about my fall season for Ultimate. In brief, great teammates... just had uber loss factors, which placed us 2nd to last place. And my family? My parents are getting ready to move back to the P.I. My sis and her little clan moved to another house. My youngest sis doin' her thang and getting ready to graduate from college. My hubs did a superb job managing the children while I adjust to working full-time.

Design Strategist (in the making)
I know I haven't posted anything about this, but yes, I got a job! It's been almost 2 months. So, less blogging, less pinning, and more productive work around the house, at the office, and makin' money for the fam bam.  It's quite a challenge to have 2 hats at a job. Strategize to plan and organize the purpose behind all design projects. Then, eventually execute the design. But, it's been a fun challenge.

However, it's a huuuuge challenge to mentally leave work at work and put on your mommy, wife, chef, housekeeper hats on. Then switch on and off and on and off day after day. The first couple of months were particularly exhausting because we were all sick w/ the cold/flu. I'll spare you the details, but lack of sleep or interrupted nights, coughing all day and one scary episode of my husband fainting one night, did not make it an easy time to be working full-time. And sometimes, the hubs forgets all that entails to be a working mother, and asks me everyday, "Honey, why are you so tired?"

Many firsts in 2012
I posted on facebook my many firsts this year.

"...
Tirzah's first year in school.
Homeroom parent for Tirzah's teacher.
Noah & Jonah's first year in pre-school.
Learning stick shift and getting over the fear of stalling on hills.
Gym membership.
Joined local Ultimate (Frisbee) League.
Lost my wedding ring, due to my first bee sting.
Voted in Florida.
A full-time job as a mom..."

In Addition to Many Firsts

5 year old Daughter

Tiz has had her share of firsts

Biking w/o training wheels

Reading a whole book (Bernstein Bears: Spooky Old Tree) on her own

Writing & spelling out words on her own

Tossing a disc beautifully

Drawing sharks :/

The boys (Twins just born 15 months apart)

I say twins because they're practically the same in size and everybody always ask. The hardest part of them being slightly different in height, is sorting the laundry. Not much firsts for them at this point, but just a blurb.

3 year old Son

Color matching and counting to 20

Speaking in complete sentences, yet w/ an English accent and cute toddler slurs. I'll miss it so much.

2 year old baby

Talking beyond babby babbles and hubs and I love it.

Counting to 10

Self-taught fibs

Terrible 2's have hit earlier than his 2nd birthday

My little boy's favorite word, "No."

Climbing everything and everywhere

Zazzle

I sold a few items on Zazzle! It felt great to receive an email from them saying, "Your product sold on Zazzle." I probably could spend more time on this, but hmmm. Right now, I'm limited w/ time sooo I'll just see how it grows on its own. I do have another idea brewing along the same line. Let's see how time allows.

Wishful thinking for 2013

It's been quite adventurous and hasn't been easy to be away from my hometown and favorite people and places. But, I have to say that Tally is growing on me. There's a lot for us to look forward to in 2013. 

With this in mind, I hope and plan to do the listed items below (priority not according to sequence).

• Be the first to line up at Trader Joe's grand opening in Tally
• Take Krav Maga and/or Hagana lessons
• Finalize our budget plans for the next couple of years
• Home improvements according to budget plan
• Work as a Design Strategist at my full potential and excel
• Support Ultimate locally and internationally
• Keep my home open weekly for dinner & fellowship, to all genuine believers and friends in Tally
• Teach my children proper character traits
• Children to take lessons (either one of these: Piano, TKD, Golf, Soccer, Frisbee, French)
• Support my husband and his goals (mainly save money and shop less. heehee)

Maybe the aforementioned is a little over the top for the limited budget that we have. But, gotta pan out the details. I figure, if my professional job is to plan strategy for high-roller type companies, I could at least do it for my personal life. Hello 2013, here we come.

Ultimate Mom's Top Ten Reasons

Accessorize

Before I get into the reasons why, here's a little blurb about my latest line of promo items.

I recently designed a few icons for my store on zazzle.com. Some of them featured below. I just noticed how there are plenty of Soccer Mom accessories out there and if I did find Ultimate Mom promotional items...sorry to say I didn't like 'em. I went ahead and quickly put a few together.

No, I have not sold any yet. Zazzle gets a huge cut, so in order to gain a little profit I'd have to charge a reasonable percentage. It could be the price that's holding people back. Hope there are some out there who can support this cause.

I created this line to encourage moms out there to promote Ultimate, who either play or have a son and/or daughter who play this awesome sport. They can either stick a magnet on the fridge or a bumper sticker somewhere on their car. Have a conversation w/ other moms in your neighborhood about why it's a beneficial sport for children. My top ten reasons below:

Top Ten Reasons Ultimate is the best sport for kids

1. Involves the highest standard of sportsmanship (Spirit of the Game here)
2. Non-contact sport (minimal injuries)
3. Covers principles from several sport (football, soccer, basketball)
4. Speed & Agility (similar maneuvers around the field)
5. Builds endurance (a lot of running & cutting)
6. Technical skills with throwing the disc (deep throws, flicks, hammers, scoobers)
7. Everyone can learn and get better
8. Fastest growing modern-day sport in the world (there are talks about it becoming an official Olympic Sport in 2016)
9. The most affordable sport (only need a disc, a pair of cleats, and cones)
10. It's fun for all ages to play together

Ultimate Mom's Doodles

Well, as I endeavor to promote this sport locally I'll doodle a few strips. Currently, my daughter is in kindergarten and two boys are in daycare. While I have downtime, I do the house work, think of meals, go shopping, and yet still need to find time to look for a job, work out at the gym, practice throwing, and play a few games once or twice aside from league games. Not to mention the other social & spiritual gatherings we have.

Honestly, my job search has been inundated by my unending ideas to promote Ultimate. What to do? I guess that can be another comic strip to laugh about.

Poor hubs is not finding this passion fortunate, although it does keep me temporarily happy. I am doing my best to look for a decent job to take care of the family and catch up on some debt.

It's been a nice break having the kids in school, since I was practically either pregnant, packing up for a move, adjusting to motherhood on speed for 5 years.

I am wishful that something will work out, whether part-time or full-time. Lots of friends are praying for us. Hopefully, I don't lose too much time for the family and Ultimate of course. In the meantime, as I tell my hubs, I will combine my 2 passions, design & Ultimate, to add to my ongoing production of an ever-evolving portfolio.

Fall League

This season in my 2nd season of league, it has been an eye-opener for me. I know, I know, I'm quite behind on my posts. Ahhhh for several categories. Ugggh. Just a snippet, it's been 3 games and my team lost them all. There are several factors. For me, I'm required to do more than last season. If I make mistakes, which I have, then it majorly affects the game. Unfortunately, I'm not the only one making errors.

Last season, I barely did anything. Another comic strip. Granted I knew how to catch and run to open areas, but didn't know terms well and was confused half the time. "Huh? Cut where? Oh, it's my turn to cut?" and "What the heck does cut under mean?" By the end of that season, I think I started to pick up on everything. But, my star teammates did a lot of the work. So, I got away with not doing much, nor learning much.

This season, I'm trying to do more, cutting in the right spot and completing passes 98% of the time. However, I've been sheepish on my throws. If pick-up has taught me anything, it has trained my arm to throw deep. I guess it's not a common thing for a girl to do it?

When I hucked it deep during a club's open practice, they were surprised. I would throw hard enough for the receiver to catch in the red zone, a few yards shy of the end zone. Anyway, the downside is I lack control and technique. I try to throw a dump (back to the handler like a point guard) and then it floats pass the dude.

Or, I try to lightly pass it for fear of throwing it too hard and it goes AWOL. Then, my flicks/forehand throws. Oh no. I can easily throw solid ones during practice and then during the game I don't know what happens. Hopefully, our 4th game's a charm with Zone plays allowed. Wish us luck.