The Press-Dispatch
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YOUTH FIRST TODAY Reducing stress for new moms By Alicia Slaton Youth First, Inc. Being a new mom brings a wide range of emotions, whether you're a first-time mom or a seasoned veteran. New babies pose new challenges and worries. If you plan to be a working mom, whether you decide to stay home for 6 weeks or 3 months, the time will come when you must return to work. This too presents a whole new set of challenges. The responsibilities and expecta- tions from home continue as you add on stress and expectations at work. It often feels like you must make difficult deci- sions and set aside one for the other. For example, you might be faced with the need to work overtime, which then means your kids eat a fast-food dinner from a drive through. Or perhaps you have to drop your children off at day- care early so you can get to work and catch up from the day before. Unfortunately there is no magic for- mula to help you balance work and home life. It is okay to continue work- ing without feeling you are neglecting your children. It is also okay to spend extra time with your children without feeling that you are failing at your job. Here are some suggestions for eas- ing the transition back to work as a new mom: Ask for help when you need it. They say it takes a village, so don't be afraid to reach out for help. Instead of drag- ging the kids to the grocery store each week, schedule a grocery order pick up and ask a family member to pick it up for you. This will save more time (and stress) than you know. Put off unnecessary tasks. The laundry is washed and dried but not put away. So what? It's okay to live out of the clean laundry basket for a week, I promise. Al- so, there are often ways to hire af- fordable help for tasks such as cook- ing and cleaning. Stay connected. Whether it's a night out with the girls, a daily check-in phone call with a parent or a kid-free date night with your spouse, stay connected to your loved ones. Focus on stress management. Accord- ing to verywellmind.com, "Stressed working moms often find themselves less able to connect with their chil- dren or focus at work, which may lead to acting out by the kids, time-consum- ing mistakes at work, and other things that increase stress for working moms and their fami- lies. Therefore, taking a pro- active stance on stress man- agement is quite import- ant." It's essen- tial to have several quick stress re- lievers in your toolkit. Breathing ex- ercises and reframing techniques (alternative ways of look- ing at stressful situations), as well as long-term strategies such as regular exercise, med- itation or a hobby, can help relieve stress for working moms and their families. There's no such thing as a "perfect" working mom. The important thing to re- member is that you are a good mom and a good employee. All you need is a healthy balance between the two. Alicia Slaton, LSW, is the Youth First Social Worker at North Elementary School in Posey County. Youth First, Inc., a nonprofit dedicated to strengthening youth and families, provides 64 Master's level social workers to 92 schools in 11 Indiana coun- ties. Over 60,000 youth and families per year are served by Youth First's school so- cial work and after school programs that prevent substance abuse, pro- mote healthy behav- iors and maximize student success. To learn more about Youth First, visit youth- first- inc.org or call 812-421- 8336. Sweet's Column By Barb Sweet Hi stars and welcome to the big stage all lit up color- ful bright lights and decorated to help celebrate with all our stars who will have a birthday or anniversary in the week of May 6 -12. Come up onto this stage and take a bow. CURRENT BIRTHDAYS May 6 -April Aldridge; An- gela Hill turns 41; Daniel and Brittney Baker celebrate 15 years. May 7-Bradyn Kohl Ray Hartley turns 13; Khloe Dawn Hartley turns 13. May 8 -Becky Russell Pride; Deputy Mike Willis turns 55; Patton Joe King turns 8; Bri- an and Angie Schwengel cel- ebrate 11 years. May 9 -Justin Meyer turns 42; Becky Lamp Popp turns 32. May 11-Ryleigh Dillman turns 16; Owen Sanders turns 14; Samantha Jo Poehlein. May 12-Reta Goodman Cop- ple turns 72; Cami Richardson turns 38; Cheyenne McCand- less turns 23; Zon Risley turns 47; Matthew Alan Popp turns 5; Daniel and Beth Merritt cel- ebrate 20 years. May all our stars have a re- ally great day and may all your wishes come true. Keep in your heart and in your prayers all our stars who have COVID-19 and those with symptoms from the shots, those with season- al allergies, and those with the aches and pains of every- day life. EVENTS May 5 -Winslow Parks Board at 7 p.m. at the Com- munity Center. May 6 -Winslow Lions Club dinner meeting at 7 p.m. at the Gamble House. We will have fried chicken and then discuss our upcoming events. May 8 -County-wide yard sale. See the list of yard sales in the Press-Dispatch. May 9 -Mother's Day - show Mom how much you love her by saying, "I love you, Mom." May 10 -Winslow Town Hall at 6 p.m. May 11-Winslow Beautifica- tion at 6:30 p.m. and Winslow Economic at 7:30 p.m. at the Community Center. May 13-Petersburg Lions Club meeting at 6 p.m. at the Village Inn. May 15 -Open Fun Horse Show starts at 11 a.m. at the Rockin' G. Saddle Club. Call Matt Gamble at 812-789 -6430 or Dallas Gamble at 812-582- 9661 for more information. The Winslow Lions Club will be serving food. Winslow and Petersburg se- niors will not meet again un- til Governor Holcomb gives the okay. There were no postcards at Sweets Column, Winslow, IN 47598 Winslow Patoka River was half empty, but it could rise a bit with the 1-3 inches of rain we had Wednesday night in- to Thursday morning, when the severe storms came into the tri-state area. Most of the storms stayed south in Ken- tucky and south of I-64. All week, the temps have gone up from the 60s to high 70s, and the windows could be opened to bring in the fresh air, and we could turn down the furnace. The winds have blown the helicopters that fall- ing from the trees, the redbud trees are about to lose their purple leaves to yellow, but the Dogwoods are still a bright white in the Pike County woods. Rose bushes are leaf- ing out. The irises and flags are growing taller with pur- ple irises and some plants, like Phyllis, have buds. The spring flowers are still in bloom in yards and by the roadways. A fter yards are mowed and they look so manicured, the cut grass smells so fresh and also the soil smell after the farmers plant their crop. This is also the mushroom hunting season, where ma- ny have started their walking the woods, like Nathan, who has gathered 100 mushrooms. Some also find some in their yards every so many years. In a few weeks, cicadas will emerge from their 17-year sleep and this year should be more of them than other years, billions of them in the month of May. I have also heard to watch your dogs that they don't eat too many of them, it's not good for the digestive system. Last Saturday, April 24, the Winslow Masons had their yearly pork chop dinners that started at 11 a.m. and this year, the showers didn't stop everyone from enjoying the delicious meal of a boneless pork chip with baked potato, corn, green beans, dinner roll, tea and cherry pie. We hope you didn't miss out from enjoy- ing your dinner. Thank you to the Masons. It was very tasty and seasoned just right. Sunday, April 25, was the rain date for the Cup Creek Car show, where you could see 17 of the area's cars or trucks, and Norm put in Ava. Those who entered got a Cup Creek Car Show dash plaque and a bog of information and items for their vehicle. Tables of donated items to be auc- tioned were set up and you could also sign up for a door prize and your number to big for the auction, and get a bag of items from Jasper Trans- missions. The Winslow Lions Club set up to see hamburg- ers, hot dogs, brats and walk- ing tacos, and the Cup Greek youth sold the drinks, chips, candy, cookies and cupcakes that were homemade and re- ally tasty. The day started off as a sweater day, but the sun helped to warm you up. It was a great day to mingle with lots of friendly Pike Coun- ty people. I decided to bid on some items and with my num- ber of 5, I got a hanging bas- ket of mixed flowers that are also a ground cov- er. My other bid I made was a big planter on wheels filled with a big bag of potting soil, rake and shovel plant- ing tools, kneeling pad, garden gloves, jobs and a garden flag. The door priz- es were called out all day and I got a wooden wind chime. The auctioneer and his help- ers were great as each item could be seen while the bid- ding was going on and some items brought in a good price for the fundraiser. At the end of the auction, the winners of the car show were named. If you missed this event, you missed a day to see old friends or meet new friends, see dif- ferent makes of vehicles, and enjoy the tasty items of food, then bid or see a fun-filled auc- tion of items. Norm and I stopped by to see Tim and Jeanette where the little pig, Susie Q, is re- ally active when she hears her name and she has a long- legged calf as her company in the pen area. Stopped by to see Terri Ann, Ted and Mom as we droved around the ar- ea. Daniel and Kyana stopped by one night as Kyana got her nighttime hours of driving in. Then, Laura stopped to say hi. Friday, April 30, we're go- ing to see Dixie in the play of "Four Old Broads" and Sat- urday, May 1 is the Poehlein Spring Bass Tourney. Then, the family get-together of eat- ing out when Mom goes back home will all be in next week's column since as of me writing this, it hasn't happened yet. As the lights begin to dim, keep an eye on family and friends. Keep wearing your mask to keep others safe. Slow down and see all the wonders in your area. As always, smile, wave and say "hi" to everyone you see this week. The Press-Dispatch Wednesday, May 5, 2021 C-7 HOME LIFE TO ADVERTISE: Call: 812-354-8500 Email: ads@pressdispatch.net Visit: 820 E. Poplar Street, Petersburg Deadline: 5 p.m. on Monday BANANA FUDGE PIE MEALS IN Monica's MINUTES Share your favorite recipe! www.facebook.com/mealsinminutes Monica's Meals in Minutes PO Box 68, Petersburg 47567 mealsinminutes@pressdispatch.net FACEBOOK MAIL EMAIL By Monica Sinclair I happen to believe that if you don't love pie, you can't be American! I know, I will have some naysayers, but my husband and I would be happy if we could have pie ev- eryday of the week. Over the years, we have found some outstanding pie places in our travels, but I have never been fantastic at making pies. I hoping the recipe is easy enough that I can't mess it up. If you love chocolate and bananas, you will love this week's pie. Enjoy! INGREDIENTS • 1 sheet refrigerated pie crust • 1/2 cup miniature sem- isweet chocolate chips, melted • 3 cups whipped top- ping, divided • 2 large eggs • 1/4 cup sugar • 2 bananas, sliced • Additional miniature chocolate chips for gar- nish, optional DIRECTIONS 1. Unroll crust into a 9 -in. pie plate; flute edge. 2. In a large bowl, combine melted chocolate, 1 cup whipped topping, eggs and sugar. Mix well. Pour into crust. 3. Bake at 350° for 30 minutes. Cool 10 minutes, then refrigerate for 1 hour. 4. Layer sliced bananas over pie and top with remaining whipped topping. Sprinkle miniature chocolate chips on top if desired. Chill until serving. Source: tasteof home.com To enter the Birthday Club, email your name, ad- dress, phone number and birthdate to birthdayclub@ pressdispatch.net. Only the person's name, town and birth- day will appear in the paper. As an added bonus, one lucky person each month will receive a free three month Press-Dispatch subscription. This month's birthdays have a chance to win a $25 gift certificate from Sue's Flowers and Gifts, in Oakland City. APRIL WINNER And the winner is... Susan Zenthofer from Petersburg. Su- san won a $25 gift certificate off an oil change from Sims Automotive, in Winslow, and a three-month subscription to The Press-Dispatch. Congratulations! THIS WEEK'S BIRTHDAYS Kelly Farmer ............................. Petersburg .............5/6 Marsha Shawhan ....................... Petersburg .............5/6 Cathy Dearing .............................. Otwell ................5/7 Stacy Murray ............................... Winslow ...............5/9 Ruby Sallee ............................... Petersburg ........... 5/11 Jamie Sallee .............................. Petersburg ........... 5/11 THIS MONTH'S SPONSOR 310 W. Morton St., Oakland City 812-749-4500 • www.SuesFlowersIN.com