ringing in 2007

How will you spend your night?

Usually DH and I head out to dinner and a movie and are home well before midnight. We stay bunkered down in the house because you never know which idiots will be out shooting off their guns. BUT ... We are doing dinner at his brothers house and then I am going to go babysit at 9 pm until ???.... FUN.. I know the kids might be asleep b4 midnight, but at least I can play with them for a while b4 they crash for the night.

I remember as a little kid my mom would allow us to stay up. We would get the metal pots and spoons and bring them out onto the front porch and bang the heck out of them at the new year. My neighbors would shoot off pretty & colorful fireworks and then about 20 minutes past the hour it would be all quiet. We would then go back inside and watch the West coast celebrations on tv. Little did I Know then that Dick Clark was TAPE DELAYED.. I was too little to know that he taped the New York celebration and then they replayed it for the West Coast. LOL

No, No New Years resolutions here except to have patience in the adoption process. I don't want it to take more than a year, but I have to realize that it could. Our agency is networking with more letters in January with hopes that some potential situations come of that.

I am doing well with Ebay these last few weeks and I hope to continue to grow the adoption funds. I need to update our marker on the fundraising. We hope we can pay cash for the next step in the process which is due when we are "matched" with a potential birthmother situation. Basically when she decides to accept our profile to be the potential parents to her baby. I think that fee is 5g's. Let me check on that.

Oh we got a new mattress this past weekend. We counted back and realized our mattress was 11 years old. No kidding. The pillow top was so beaten down and what remained of it was sliding off the side of the bed. We did not want to spend the money, but we had to. I could feel the springs poking through. Yikes. So I have to work extra hard to make up that money spend by babysitting and selling things on ebay and craigslist.

Speaking of Craigslist, my sister made a killing in December with selling things. She said it paid for all of her christmas gifts for the 3 kids and she had more to pay down a bill or two. So she did very good on there just cleaning out her garage and storage room downstairs. I will start working on the room downstairs(our "stuff" collection room) and start listing it on there. I need that room for my sewing set up and crafts so there is the incentive.

Cheers to a Happy 2007 for you and yours.

hounding the insurance paid off

back a few weeks ago I posted the picture of our gutter that was ripped off in the ice storm we had. DH put a claim in with our insurance full well knowing we have a $500.00 deductible. About 2 weeks later we got an adjuster to come out (while we were at work) and assess the damage. Since we were not there he could not get into our yard. Well actually they sent him out to look at the damage without setting up an appointment with us to let him in our yard through the house. The gutter was blocking the gate on the side of the house where most of the damage was behind. We got a whopping $36.88 check (again remember that we had a $500.00 deduct) for the difference in damages. I could not believe it. DH then talked to the adjuster and asked him how the hell he assessed the damage without entering the yard. The adjuster admitted the did his valuation from the FRONT of our house. Now from the front of the house is about 60-70 feet long to the back and due to the way the gutter came off you could not see the damage from the FRONT of the house. So I promptly got on the phone with my agents assistant just after Christmas and told her I was going to get 2-4 other estimates because I am not a fool to accept that there was only $536.88 worth of damage. I tried to call 4 roofing/gutter companies and they are all 6-8 weeks booked out to even do estimates. I then called the agents assistant back and told her to send out another adjuster this week. Thankfully DH was home so they met Thursday here at our house and DH let him in back and showed him the West side of the building gutter to prove it was damaged too. Today, Saturday, we just got a call from that new adjuster and they are cutting us another check for 600.00 additionally for damage. So our total claim amount was $1136.88. So we have a check for $36.88 and the next check for $600.00 will be in the mail Monday. YEAH... At least we have a good amount of money to hire someone to finally fix this gutter. Heck it might be until Spring before we can get a company out to do this, but at least this is out totally out of our pocket for this claim. Persistance and hounding pays off.

Bring on the New Year and .....

Joyful days for many.

Congrats to the Mae Midwest family on their new addition. Hard fought pregnancy brings .Next baby on board.

AND good luck to you all out there trying for baby #1 and 2 through treatments. I know how it is for baby #1 and if you ever need to chat, email me anytime.

Ebay is picking up. I need to sit down tonight and package up several of the items I sold on Buy It Now yesterday. I also have to fix a problem I had with a pillow we made that has a hole in it accidentally that I sold on there. I contacted the buyer and offered full money back or that we can make her another pillow, i hope she accepts the remake. So far in 2 weeks time I have managed to add about 150.00 to our adoption Fund. Thank you MOM!

Christmas was good to me. I got a 1gb flash drive. Nice, Now I can upload pictures so easily and bring them to work to share and move files around on the 3 pc's I have at home without fuss. Thanks DH.

I got an MP3 player. Now I need to learn how to fill it with songs. FUN. DH said he will show me tonight. Then I can get my butt walking at lunch at work so I can keep dropping the pounds away. Stalled at 6.8 lbs lost so far since late November. Still not too bad of a weight loss in the HOLIDAY season if you know what I mean. (COOKIES)

Going today to buy a new mattress for the bedroom. I sat down the other night and realized our double pillow top mattress is nearly 11 years old. OMG.. no wonder DH and I both wake up complaining of sore backs and especially my hips and shoulders. WOW.. can't wait to get it home. This means I will also go buy some much needed new sheets for the bed. When you buy a king sized mattress, regular king sized sheets are ok, but when you buy a double pillow top it does not fit the king fitted sheets so well.. they tend to pop off on the corners. So I need to buy those silly bedsheet straps.. You know, the kind that look like a old mans sock to shirt tail strap to hold his shirt tail down in the pants? Anyway.. I hear that we can get the mattress at a 1 year no payment plan thus we can pay it off in full with our small tax refund we hope to get this year. Ahhhh, thus No payments and no interest will accumulate if paid in full by that one year mark. I refuse to let it go over 1 year. NO MORE credit card purchases. NON.. NADA. And DH is on that kick too. Nice to have them paid off.

Ok, off to go shop for that lovely mattress.

I must return to work tomorrow after a long weekend. FUN I do AP/AR at work and they must all be done by Friday. New transitions at work are going well. Fingers crossed that it stays that way.

ok, I can't pry myself off the couch

procrastination is my middle name and let me tell you I hate it. I hate that I procrastinate like this. I have my shopping done, but now I have to wrap.

I have 5 nieces, 3 nephews bought for. My mom is taken care of and her boyfriend(thanks to my Sister). My MIL is dh's responsibility and he tried to get her gc today, but the gc network was down for several major companies today so DH has to go out tomorrow to buy her gc. Oh and I bought my bil's girlfriends name exchange item(nice perfume). I have all of those items sitting on my dining room table just calling my name. Calling me to come wrap them. I will do it, but not tonight. Too lazy. Bah.

Have I ever told you I was a professional gift wrapper? Yup, at a major department store. I did year round wrapping and two times during the year it gets beyond busy. Mothers day and Christmas. I loved wrapping things. No matter what size they were we had a system set up to be able to wrap efficiently and quickly. Have you ever made a professional bow? If not, hire me. I can make them.

Some of the paper the company used for wrapping patterns was hideous. Downright trashy looking... but we dressed it up with a nice looking bow and made the wrapping salvageable. They always had these little items to add to the bow as a highlight, but many people did not want them because they were even more hideous than some of the paper we had to use. At Christmas time those items were ornaments that could be hung on the tree that we tied into the bow...It is expensive to have items like this professionally wrapped, but let me tell you there are still people out there willing to pay. There were priced by size of the box and we had even charged 1.50 extra per item if it was from another store. Oh and we had to verify receipts of purchase in order to wrap those items so we were not wrapping a stolen item. LOL Yup we could refuse if they would not show proof of purchase.

Oh, DH mentioned we did not get any christmas gifts for the doggies and kitty. Well I guess I will be going to the store tomorrow again now. LOL

Oh.. and if you wonder... I did buy DH a few things, but he got himself a nice new tv a month or so back so that is his Christmas gift to him from me and him. Ha

be gone bug

I felt like crap 3/4 of this weekend. I had a tummy bug last weekend and I swear to you it carried over to this weekend. I think I got rid of it and it came back to me. I feel better today, but I have a headache that is dull and anoying. I had fever late Thursday, Friday and some Saturday, but it has gone back to normal. I just think I keep passing the bug between co-workers. Seems I had it first then my co-worker had it and I got it back mid-week. It was an upset tummy and the big D. yuck. I never actually threw up, but waves of nausea came and went. I hope it stays away. I missed seeing my friends for lunch both thursday and friday. I hate that. I hope I can meet up after the holiday with them. I hope I can stay ill-free this week too because my co-worker is off work and either her or I have to be there to run things. LOL

If I can't boot this crap I guess I will break down and call the doc tomorrow for some help. I don't know if anti-biotics will acutally help though. I heard that several co-workers took atibiotics and it did not help as they got it twice too. DH never seemed to get ill, why is that? lucky dog. I hope he stays well too.

I am so behind with Christmas shopping. I have a few things done, but I still have mil, nieces and nephews to buy for and then wrap. Yikes. I so hate leaving this until the last minute, but I know I will get it done now that I am feeling better. Just hope I stay better.

doesn't the post office sell stamps?

well apparently not today.. they were sold out of Christmas stamps at the local post office I live by.

You have got to be kidding me. A POST OFFICE SOLD OUT OF STAMPS?

Yes, shit like this only happens to me. LMAO

ebaying it

my mom and I are working hard to get things selling on ebay. It is hard to market these items so would you consider taking a peek? What do you think of them? Plus they are resonably priced. We also have some roll pillows she made and I sewed up.

baby bottle holders and more

saw that coming

DH put in a claim this past week on our Lovely gutter that 1/2 fell off in the ice/sleet storm the other night. Well, looks like our deductible bites us in the arse over this one. The adjuster came out today and said that the damage total was $536.88. So our claim amount is 36.88. Mind you we have a 500.00 deduct. Frick.

Yup. I swear to you there is more damage than that to the house. It pulled off the gutter and facia on the east side of the house and it has made the gutter bow out badly on the west side of the house. So that means we would have to replace both gutters the length of our house and facia on both sides in order to match. Or do they not care about it matching? WTF?

DH said he will call the adjuster this weekend and get an explanation as to why the estimate was so low. I want them to get 3 bids or I will get the bids to show them that there is more damage than 536.88.

Meantime, I got my hair cut today. YEAH. It feels so good. Now if I can only make it look as good as the stylist did. LOL

Off to go babysit. I was not feeling so hot last night, but after a few tylenol I am good to go to babysit tonight. I think I will have the kids draw me some holiday scenes to hang on my fridge. hehe

I will post later this weekend to let you know what the adjuster says to DH.

stalled

between the weight loss stall and my mental and emotional stall, I am so not in the Christmas spirit. Not one bit. DH forced me to put up and decorate the treeIno he really did not hurt me physically, but he decorated downstairs himself so I had no choice but to decorate upstairs incase guests show up unannounced.. HA), but I have refused to decorate the outside of the house yet and thanks to the ice storm and ripped up gutter I have managed to postpone that task too. HAHAHA. LOL I am just not ready for the Holiday. I have exchange names to buy for, 5 nieces and 3 nephews to buy for, DH's mom, my mom and her bf, work exchange to buy or make something for by this coming Wednesday and MAYBE something for DH. Well, maybe not for DH. See, he went out a few weeks back and got his flatscreen HD TV for the basement. THAT, my friends, WAS his early Christmas gift. I won't be buying much else for him. REALLY maybe another 20.00 in stuff, but he said that was ok.

I need to get my butt in gear and get things organized and bought. I managed to list several baby bottle holders my mom makes (wanna see the link to the items? ) and those sales end on Sunday. I have to file a NONpaying bidder complaint with Ebay on one item. Why must there be people out there like that? They say, "Oh I will send you a money order" but it never arrives. Go figure. Looks like a bad mark on them for a nonpayer. Not good on ebay.

One thing I will have fun doing tomorrow on my day off is getting my mop of a head of hair cut. Just in time for the Festivities to happen. I babysit tomorrow night and then I have a FUN party to go to Saturday night so my new do will help get me in the spirit of the season I think.

Day off work is a good thing. I had to burn up a few days since the adotion fell through and I was saving my days up for when we needed to travel, but currently I am planning on spending tomorrow off work and next Thur & Friday off and then the two days off after the 25th. I then get to carry over a 1/2 day of work into 2007. My work won't let me off the full week between Christmas and New year because of end of year bills that need to be paid. I understand and that is part of my job so I will use my future days for camping in 2007 instead. FUN.

DH already booked camping dates for APril 2007. hehe

3 weeks 6.2 lbs

I am the proud loser.

3 weeks of weight watchers and I have managed to lose 6.2 pounds. I am happy with that. I am looking forward to a good week ahead of sticking to eating my ww's meals and watching my points. I did not do that so well from Thanksgiving day until wednesday this past week.

It helps so much to buy foods for my ww's meals and divide them up in baggies. I have cauliflower and celery cut up in baggies and then I made ff dip again this week. I love those to eat with my usual ww's microwave meal. I eat yogurt for breakfast and then dinner is usually a light meal of some sort. Or even another ww's meal if I am too lazy to cook or DH is not home. LOL

I missed going to the meeting today because I volunteered (paid of course) to work overtime in our roadside call center taking calls due to the TERRIBLE weather conditions in the majority of the states our club services. I will go next week though. I think the meetings for WW's are a great help and boost to know I am not the only one out there struggling to not put that one bad piece of food in my mouth each day.

I wish I had a good movie to watch. Satellite is out because of ice on the dish and the dish being out of correct pointed location. I guess the wind and ice caused the dish to shift so our signal strength is out of wack. DH said they can't come until next Saturday to fix it either. Bummer. Bad thing is that the gutter is getting ready to fall the rest of the way and if it does that then we are totally out of signal because it will most likely pull down the dish cable that goes around the gutter. LOL

DH called the ins company about claiming our gutter loss, but missed the agents office calling back before the weekend started for them. He will try and get hooked up with them Monday and set up the claim. The west side of our house has the gutter and it is bowing pretty bad, I wonder if we will be able to claim them both now.hmmmmm

Cheers to a warm weekend for us all. I hope everyone that lost power gets it back soon. My MIL, Mom, sister and friend all lost their power and two of the 5 have gotten it back so far.

oh the weather outside is frightful

and my gutter fell off the house. Stop the sleet Stop the sleet stop the sleet.....(singing it to the song of Let it snow Let it snow Let it snow)

The sleet and freezing rain caused the gutter on the east side of our house to fall off 3/4 of the way. Yikes.

ENOUGH with the ice and sleet.

to our angel... I will always remember

one year ago today(1:45 am) we lost our ninth angel to heaven. I was 6w1d pregnant from our fifth fresh IVF cycle. DH and I went to dinner and while we were there I went to the bathroom and discovered I was bleeding terribly. We went straight home and within 4 hours I had suffered our miscarriage while at home. This angel went to heaven after only six weeks of life, sadly, but I was so blessed to have even gotten pregnant with him or her. We will never know you here on earth, but one day (hopefully when I am old old old) we will meet you again. I wish I had carried you to full term, I wish you were breathing life outside my womb. I wish......

Love and hugs to our 9th and final angel baby I physially carried.

gone baby gone

5.2 lbs that is...........


gone


never to come back

GONE after hard work to NOT pig out all week. LOL It is hard to stick to the diet when I have such a pizza craving. I did give in one night and had pizza, but I was still able to drop 5.2 lbs this first week on WW's. Ahhhh.

One lady in the group lost 11 lbs... WOW... congrats to her.

Diet root beer is pretty good. Have you had it b4? Better than Diet Coke. Yick. I love me some veggies and dip. I survive on FF cool whip and jello. I need to go shopping again for a weeks worth of yogurt.

So the days of waiting continue with the adoption front. I said my prayers this week that we can make it through yet another holiday season with empty arms. I know we will be mommy and daddy soon, just stinks that this past failed adoption match did not work out because we would have been parents before Christmas. Dangitalready. Chin up... marching forward. I know that keeping my emotions in check helps and venting here helps so thanks for listening. Today I was in the store buying some new couch covers and saw a little boy walking around with this dad, what a cutie. That keeps my hopes up that we will make it through the wait to become parents, no matter how long it takes. Our little blessing is out there to be placed in our arms, we just have to believe that. We have to remember that the road ahead of us might be bumpy, but eventually we will come to that valley of joy and love when we finally meet our baby and our baby's birthmother/family.

Ok, off to go put the new couch cover on. I hope it fits. Gotta kick the dog off the couch first.

home scale

I know, I know.. the weight watchers leader told me to NOT step on the weight scale at home, but I just could not listen to her advice. So today, after being VERY VERY GOOD yesterday on my new eating habits, I stepped on the scale at home and I was down 3.5 lbs according to my scale. WHAT? No way. Well, I know my scale is right on with WW's because I weighed myself on my scale at home with my clothes on b4 the initial weigh in yesterday. So lets see if this scale at home stays accurate. 3.5 lbs in one day you say? Yes, I have so much water weight on me right now it is not funny. Plus I am getting off this domperidone so it has really helped in the process to drop a lbs or two.

I know I am bragging, but I feel better today doing this than I did yesterday. When I went into the meeting I was hesitant to believe that I am ready to give up the high calorie foods and drinks I have been eating for the last several years. Really hesitant. I went to Shop-n-save today and bought lots of fruits and veggies to help me in my zero to 1-2 point snacks, lots of healthy options in meats I can cook up, steam, broil and roast. All much healthier than fried fast foods I was eating. I am set for the next week or so with food.

One challenge I am giving myself is to walk at least 1/2 mile a day at work on my lunch. We have a temporary walking track in the empty office space above my office and 20 laps around the small track is 1/2 mile. So I need to go buy some good walking shoes this week. Mine are old and suck.

6 days until Weigh in.

Oh, The Rams Suck. Ha.. Can't believe they lost todays game too.

adoption, stopping breastfeeding protocol, weight loss,

We experienced a failed adoption match first hand this past month, but we have moved forward with our chins up. Adoptoin will happen eventually for us, no doubts there! We will be mommy and daddy. It was a hard past 4 weeks or so until we confirmed that the potential birthmother(pbm) decided to not make an adoption plan with us for her baby-to-be. We will get there, just sucks that we have to have experienced this failed match. Glad the AIS support group and support group leader in town for adoption was there for us. Good timing for that meeting to happen. LOL. I wish the pbm the best with her decisions.

When I went on the domperidone for the breastfeeding protocol, I was excited. Now after several months of taking the domperidone and pumping my breast milk, I have decided to stop the protocol for now. I will stop the domp., but continue to pump for a while to see how my body produces milk without help of medications. I have over 220(will recount that this weekend) ounces of my breastmilk stored in the deep freeze. YEAH! That is good for at least 6 months from date frozen so I hope we can be blessed enough to have an adoption come through and baby in our arms in that time. If not, I will try the protocol again closer to when we might know if another match with a pbm and a due date. BUT For now I need to focus on me, me and DH and me and my job.

After having gone through nearly 8 years of infertility treatments, 7 losses and 9 angel babies, now a failed adoption match, it is damn well time to focus on me. Internally and externally. I am ready to do this. I am ready to lose some weight, no mark that out..........LOTS OF WEIGHT. I went last weekend to join weight watchers in hampton village, but the office was closed. I was stumped until a member showed up and said she had forgotten that the office was closed for the 9:30 and 11 am meetins on that particular Saturday because of a regional meeting all WW employees had to attend. So I was a good girl and went back today. 8 am meeting. I am glad I went at that time because the leader of the group meeting was the same lady I liked to go to meetings for back about 4 years ago when I lost 22 lbs on ww's. Well I am back there to lose those 22 lbs I gained back and to lose more on top of that number that I had never gotten to lose b4. Make sense? Ha. I rejoined because I needed a place to know that I am not the only one struggling with weight. I yo-yo often, but recently I have been going up and up and hit my highest weight ever by 1 lb. So that did it. I was frustrated a few weeks ago when I went to buy a dress for a wedding and did not find one. So that put me in the mood to finally get down to the dirty deed and drop these lbs. Gosh, I remember back in the late 70's when my girlfriend and I joked about her mom being a lifetime member of WW's back then, but let me tell you now I know about wanting to be a lifetime member myself, I am all for it and NOT laughing anymore. I know how important this is because I want to be fit and healthy for our baby. I want to be able to get on the floor and play on his or her level without struggling to lift myself back off the floor. I want to walk the steps at work without this extra weight hurting my knees like it does. I want to walk a mile and not sweat like a pig. I WANT and I WILL.

DO you do WW's? If so, post come tips for snacks. HEALTHY FUN EASY TO MAKE SNACKS

antiques roadshow.....my wish

I lurrvvee watching this show. I am always facinated in those that can go to a yard sale, estate sale and find a TREASURED item that cost them maybe 2 or 300 dollars and then take their item to the roadshow and get an experts estimate of the fair market and or insurance replacement value of the item. Such as a sword this man bought for about 200 at an estate sale only to find out that the sword was a ccnfederate soliders sword and its value was around 20,000.00. Or Japanese tin toys from the circus from the 30's for 1200 or 1500 dollar range. Amazing. I love hearing about these types of stories. Maybe one day I can find a treasure like these lucky folks.

freecycle mad woman here

watch out.. DH and I are cleaning out the basement so we can use it as it was intended for..... a family room. Bahahahaha

Yahoo freecycle groups are fabulous. I have gotten rid of these items today....

med sized dog cage, sedan bike rack, rubbermaid bucket of movies, dog chain, keyboard, pregnancy books(sadly I could not use them very long when I was pg back last year and the many times b4), 2 used coffee pots, tv stand, weight set. How about that!!!! I got rid of ALL the things I listed on freecycle today. YEAH! Gotta love that place.

So we are hosting Thanksgiving, thus the basement cleaning party. Bah.

I hate cleaning house. I hate it with a passion. I admit I am horrible at this. DH hates it, the anal military trained man he is(was). I have conformed him to be lack luster about cleaning too. No, not my fault for him. I only take responsibilty for my actions or lack of. Bah He has just taken grip of doing it too. Poor guy. BUT now that we know we are hosting Turkey day, well the game is on to clean clean clean.

Anyone got a Mr. Magic clean eraser?

Living through a failed adoption match

over the last 8 weeks we have been busy learning about a potential birthmother situation. Per our lawyer we were considered matched and were just working on being in contact with the lawyer in the other state, but sadly we have learned that the potential birthmother has most likely decided to not make an adoption plan with us. It was hard to hear this information, but after a few tears and days of heartaches we are moving forward. Thank goodness for the local adoption support group.

In a way this was somewhat comparable to when we have suffered miscarriage losses or a negative fertility treatment cycle after a picture perfect start to it all. I have learned to keep my emotions in check now. It was enjoyable to think about being one step closer to becoming a mom soon during those weeks, but now I have to focus on remembering that we will become parents and that this situation was just not "THE MATCH" we had hoped for.

Picking up my dragging tail and marching forward in hopes that our wait for our baby is not too far away.

I won't let this kill me.

:What has not killed me will only make me stronger:

fertility or lack of..... revisited

a few weeks back we got a notice from our fertility clinic that they were going to move our ONE frozen embryo to Colorado. Plus it would cost us 300.00 to store it there. We have until November 30th to make the decision of what we want to do with this embie. If we don't respond then they have the right to destroy our embie. ARRGGHHHH. We are not the only couple that got this same notice from what I hear.

So we booked an appointment with a different local IF doc that deals with surrogacy. The appointment is Monday. Wish us luck. We don't have a surrogate yet, but we hope and pray that this clinic will allow us to move our one embie to their storage and keep it there until we can find a surrogate to try a frozen embryo transfer.

I am scared to think about visiting a fertility clinic again, but this might mean a future for our one embie to become a fetus and our future held in arms baby. I so wish we had more embies.

I have more to post on this issue later.....talking about lack of storage at the clinic our embie is at for the time being, but I will chat later about this.

Off to the local adoption support group meeting.

tubeless in st. louis

t

oh the addiction

I curse the lady that gave me this site.

http://www.weffriddles.com

aaaaccchhhhuuuuu

loverly weather... really it is not that bad, except for the seasonal (which for me is all year long) allergies. What is blooming or is the mold count sky high today?

I was fine yesterday, but today, man watch out puffs box, you are my buddy today.

Yesterday was DH's bday.. 42! And he was the best man in a friends wedding and man did he look very good all dressed up! Happy Birthday!

So I am cleaning out the nursery of the items I have gotten either from family, yard sales, and or bought. I had a pathway to the rocker for when I pump and that was getting to become too little of a path. So up to storage go the toys my cousin so graciously handed down to us for our future baby. Packing up the items I have not sold on Ebay to my mom to keep. Moving the furniture around a little bit to make it more open floor spacious for a b-line floor path from the crib to the changing table to the rocker again.

Need to register for the Perspectives on Adoption conference hosted by SSM St. Mary's Health Center on November 4th 2006. 9-3:30 pm. This is put on by the lady / nurse that hosted and taught our adoptive parenting class. It will be nice to see her. Seems ages ago that we took that class (July - August).
If you want more details, let me know.

PCOS support group in town was suppose to meet the last Tuesday of this month, but due to Halloween she has cancelled that meeting. She=Dr. Jan. BUT I heard that she might combine her first Tuesday of the month IF Support meeting with a PCOS meeting. I am ok with doing that. I need some perspectives on how to get this weight back down. PCOS makes it very difficult for women to lose weight, yet put it on very easily. So that means I can use her help in creating an eating plan and exercise plan to get back to my goal weight. Heck, I have like 80 lbs to lose, but I know I need a while to do that. I know I can at least start and of course the nutritional food she suggests will also be good for breastfeeding and baby to come.

I freakin' hate cleaning house. Rest assured my actions so far today are helping make this house a better place already.

Yesterday I successfully pumped 6 oz. Ahhh, nice to see that kind of return. I pumped more that I usually do being the weekend, so maybe today being Sunday I can do the same or close to it. I am still happy with having produced about 5.5 oz on Friday though since I can't pump at work.

CHeers to a great day and

GO CARDINALS
GO CARDINALS

lack of words

you know sometimes in life you hit those areas of being speechless? well, that is the time of my life right now. I am one that tends to think and think and think, but never stop to write things down. I say "you better blog that", but then I never stop to do that and those thoughts are lost. My lack of worded posts come from the fact that I tend to make mental lists of things to do and NEVER seem to put them down on paper. Well, last week I talked to my therapist about this(yes, I still see a therapist after all our infertility issues turned adoption issues, best money ever spent!) and she really got on me about not making paper lists and or journaling. So I started my lists and promised myself I will print them Friday night and start working on the to-do lists to knock some of these things I have let go of. Do you tend to do this also? How do you cope?

I am at a new stage in my life and am ready to get myself back in shape. I am done with this body of mine. It disgusts me. I am sick and tired of it so it is time for a change. No, no diet... just a better alternative to eating. I am PCOS and believe me it is so hard to get the weight down. So my therapist runs a PCOS support group and I am going to get my butt in gear and join in next meeting. POST if you want details for this meeting. She gives wonderful info on proper eating and most importantly, exercising.

Exercising is something I don't like nor do at this point in my life, BUT I want to be a mommy one day that can walk up stairs with child in arms and not be winded once I reach the top of the steps. I want to be able to get up and down on the floor and play. I think the best kind of communication with a child / toddler is one of eye level communication. That means I will have to get down on their level and my gosh when you are overweight it is nearly impossible.

Speaking of impossible............ we will get a call one day soon. It is not impossible to adopt. RING PHONE RING.

To remember those lost babies

October 15th is National Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day

Thanks KD for mentioning this on your site! I know there are so many families that have suffered losses at many stages of either pregnancy or infantcy and it is so sad. I know first hand. Way too many losses in my book.

Blessings to those that have lost and thank you to those that remember.

more and more

4.5 oz each day and over 60 oz (maybe more if I go do a count) in the deep freeze

pumping and storing

quick reference guide for myself to link to:
kellymom
Storage guidelines
HUMAN MILK STORAGE - QUICK REFERENCE CARD
Temperature Storage Time
Freshly expressed milk
Warm room 79°F / 25°C 4-6 hours
Room temperature 66-72°F / 19-22°C 10 hours
Insulated cooler / icepacks 60°F / 15°C 24 hours
Refrigerated Milk (Store at back, away from door)
Refrigerator (fresh milk) 32-39°F / 0-4°C 8 days
Refrigerator (thawed milk) 32-39°F / 0-4°C 24 hours
Frozen Milk (Do not refreeze! Store at back, away from door/sides)
Freezer compartment
inside refrigerator (older-style) Varies 2 weeks
Self-contained freezer unit
of a refrigerator/freezer Varies 3-6 months
Separate deep freeze 0°F / 19°C 6-12 months

when all else fails

When all else fails to keep my sanity, I know it is then time to book an appointment with my therapist. Sure, she was my IF therapist, but she is a well rounded topic therapist too. She deals with all kinds of issues, not just infertility. Some days I think I have it all together, but lately I don't. I need to release my frustrations with the adoption wait, my lack of interest in losing weight, and my lack of cleaning the weighted full of junk household. OMG. My house is a mess. I admit it to anyone. I need to get my therapist to go over a structured schedule with me. Discuss the fact that I KNOW we will make it through the wait for a baby through adoption no matter how long it takes.

My head hurts when I walk into this house. I think I have an answer to my problems, but I just need to talk it out with someone and DH is NOT the person to help me as we usually turn our talks into fighting matches. Who can one up the other with arguments etc.... Know what I mean?

Oh shit.. I am not making sense am I?

I need a vacation and wouldn't it be nice to have one with a call that a baby is on the way? Camping soon so maybe we will get a match call soon. RING PHONE RING

Speaking of vacaction and babies......... I have 7 weeks of FMLA time remaining between now and May 22nd 2007. I used 5 weeks back in May of this year for my hysterectomy. If we are blessed to have a baby placed with us between now and May 22, 2007 then I only get 7 weeks remaining of the 12 weeks for FMLA. Now mind you this 7 weeks will be UNPAID as ADOPTION is not a medical reason to be paid for FMLA. So I am planning hard to save up the funds for at least 5 of those 7 weeks off without pay. I have 10 days of paid vacation right now and can carry them over until March 1 2007 if needed to use while on FMLA time off. BUT I get another 20 days of vacation time starting January 1st 2007. YEAH.. that means I can try and use up some of that vaction if we are placed with a baby between now and May 22nd. Less time without pay in those 7 weeks. Ok, is your head spinning from that mumbojumbo? LOL

I am off to go put together this shelf I painted and am decoupaging to match the nursery. FUN.

music to my ears

Someone sang the song I wanted to hear for so long in my ears this weekend. Someone told me yesterday (Saturday) that our baby could very well be in the process of being conceived or could very well be on the way to being delivered very very soon or could have been born right about now. Our baby will come to us by way of a birthmothers adoption plan.

WOW.... I hope they know something we don't yet know. Maybe, just maybe there really is a baby out there being conceived that will become our future child, maybe that baby is gestating and could be born soon, maybe our baby might be born already?! Yes, it is possible.

We hope and pray this is true. Today at my cousins wedding I listened to the vows they took and it made me realize that for as long as we have been married (just past 15 years ourselves in Sept) we have always wanted children. Never in my mind could I have imagined at that moment of our vows, on the alter at St. Margaret's Church, would I have thought that it would take us through a journey of nearly 8 years of trying to conceive a child to hold in our arms. And never would I have imagined that that journey would walk us through such heartaches and pain of miscarriage and failed cycles to bring us to a journey to meet and love and cherish our future child through the blessing of adoption. I can't wait to see how our emotions run after we are placed with a child. I can't wait to look back at this post and say, wow, these emotions were so raw, so curious, so stripped of knowledge, so kindergarten out of a possible 12th grade education level. Does that make sense?

A "Journey" is what this really is. A journey of our faith, love, dedication and perseverance. Learning the ability to break the barriers that we never imagined we would have to hurdle. Melt away the wax of a tall pillared candle that bares the inner most strength of the corded core. Rebuild our faith of the lost moments of each of our losses of heartbeats I carried in my womb.

Stepping back over the last 8 months or so, I now realize that becoming a parent is our goal and has always been from the moment we reached out our hands and said our vows to each other. The moment we sealed our marriage with a kiss. It took many years to let go of the dream pregnancy, feeling that kicking baby in my belly, hearing the heartbeat grow stronger and stronger. I will not experience that physically myself, but maybe with a child being conceived that will ultimately become us by an adoption plan one birthmother will make and come our way sooner than later.

Ok, it is 12:38 am and I need to go to bed.

I want to thank you all for hanging in there with us through our Journey.

don't you hate that?

In todays society you must have an ID and password for everything. Well, I done gone and done it. I lost my password to this blog. It took me a few days to figure it out, but I am back to work.

My new jewel.......... A Mazda Tribute. I got rid of my little ford focus and upgraded to a multi passenger car finally. Well, enough to have at least 1 baby in a car seat and 3 dogs. The vehicle is not a huge suv and it actually gets the same exact gas milage as my focus did. BUT the benefit is that it has room in the back to put the dogs and keep them back there with a cargo net. Ahhhh. Freedom of no dogs in my front seat finally.
I am excited about the new vehicle. We stayed in budget and when I called to change over the car insurance from the ford focus to the mazda tribute, my insurance costs went down 23 bucks every 6 months. WOW. Bigger vehicle, but lower insurance? Yup. I asked why and they said it was because the tribute is higher is safety ratings. huh? Dang, I was in danger in my little ford focus? Nice to have known that now after having driven it for 2.5 years. BUT it eases my mind knowing that when we do finally have a larger family by way of a baby then we will be much safer than that focus was. Now if I could only get seat belts for the dogs too.

Ok, off to find some dinner and shop on ebay for a few things like ink cartridges for my printer. Poor printer, I have run the color ink dry.

check this pack out

Western Kids Ladybug backpack $12.00 (+4.25 in s/h if needed)


email me if interested

I am here, and there, and there and small plug of the day

been a busy past few weeks. Well, if you call camping busy... that was last weekend. This weekend I babysat Friday night for a very nice couple and 2 kiddo's. Had a blast. They booked me for another night too! I sure hope they like me as I really liked them and the kids. Talk about some well behaved, mindful and sharing kiddo's. WOW. I will be chatting with mommy for some parenting skill help when we finally have our baby in arms.

No news from the adoption agency. Fingers crossed that something comes up soon.

Pumping is going well. Yesterday I managed to pump just over 3 oz total for the day. Up from the last few days. Gotta find a way to pump at work though. Might have to buy a good hand expression pump. I only get 1/2 hour for lunch so it is hard to squeeze a pumping session in and lunch too. Might be a kind of new eating routine at work then to dedicate my lunch to my pumping if I can figure out how to and where to pump. LOL

Ok, listing a few more things on ebay.

,my ebay items
I listed a really cute set of Halloween costume Angel Princess Fairy wings. More John Lennon items. The Barbie princess pillows and a few other things.
Come take a look and spread the word.

Going over to my moms tomorrow night to make more of the John Lennon Bottle Holders that are selling better now on ebay. Need to list a few more this coming week.

Thanks for all your support ladies.

BTW, if you are local in the area and would like a babysitter, email me through this blog and mention babysitting in the subject line. I am infant cpr certified, babysat since I was 13 years old and LOVE kids. Love to play games with them, love to draw and color with them, and I love to help at YOUR home! I can drive myself there and back so you don't have to. I know that can be hard to do when you have a teen babysitting and not able to drive themselves back home.

Ok, done with my plug for the day.

do you do Fall Cleaning instead of Spring Cleaning?

Yup.. the bug has bit. Fall Cleaning is in full swing. I love it. I want a clean house (yes, items still linger in my basement from May's yard sale). I want to dust (ahhh-chhoooo, dang allergies), I want to vacuum, I want to pull down the curtains and wash them. I have already done my weekly bed linens, but now I want to get the fall sheets out and put them on the bed. I opened the windows so dusting is a must in the next few nights. Time to replace the furnace filter and prep for FALL weather. Yes, I wish for fall weather. I want fall earthtoned leaves on the trees. I LOVE FALL. Bring it on.

Fall to me brings the idea of pumpkins, gourds, cornstalks and hay. Scarecrows, and the saying in my family "Happy Fall Y'all". Yes, I have southern MO hicks in my family and yes they do say that. Bah

Bring on the cool weather.

Bring on the grandma's sugar cookies scented candles.

Bring on the fresh baked pumpkin pie that my dh makes. Yum. (no, I don't cook!)

bring it on.

Camping is the best this time of year. Cool walking weather. perfect campfire nights.

ahhhhhh

Back to cleaning the house.

nearly 1

pumping and pumping and getting close to 1 ounce each day so far. I need to get up and get my pumping session in the middle of the night going too now. I am so not a middle of the night person, but hey if this means I am in prep for when our baby comes home, I am up to it.

be back later gotta unpack from a great camping weekend.

September 14

15 years ago today the weather was Sunny and the high temp reached 94 degrees officially. You ask, "Why is she talking about this?" Well it was my wedding day. My day started by waking up to the smell of bacon and
eggs cooking. My dad, "God Rest His Soul", was making breakfast for myself and the bridesmaids(5 of them and myself did a sleep over at my parents house. Our ceremony was at 11:30 am. It was about 90 degrees by that time and I was sweating my behind off. My parents lived about 8 houses up from the church so we walked down there to the "bridal prep" area and cooled off.
Thank goodness the church was air conditioned. The ceremony went off without a hitch for the most part. We had to rush out of church as another wedding started at 12:30 so only my handsome Groom and I got to take Alter
pictures. But we did get some great inside ceremony pictures that I love.

We got married at St. Margaret's Catholic Church in South St. Louis City. After the ceremony I had asked the bridal party to go to Tower Grove Park fountain to take pictures and NOBODY wanted to go. I was sad, but
agreed it was TOO HOT by then and I was ready to get out of my dress. So we walked up the street to my parents house again and proceeded to take pictures in
front of the house I grew up in. LOVE THOSE PICTURES by the way! We got pictures with MANY family members too. Much easier than hauling every relative over to the park and taking pictures. I am talking about 3rd and
4th cousins and such. Yes, I have a huge extended family that attended that day. I counted the hours I was in my dress that day. 4 total. Yes, I changed to shorts and a t-shirt after a while due to the heat. So dh the whole wedding party except for my maid of honor.

Then the reception, Oh let me tell you the reception was a BLAST. It was in the house and backyard of my childhood home/my parents home. Historic Shaw Neighborhood by Hwy 44 and Grand! If you have ever seen those houses you know they are HUGE and beautiful. We ordered 4 half barrels of bud light from Tom Boy's Market. Now mind you the reception really did not start until 4 pm so between 12:30 and 4 pm we KILLED 2 half barrels of beer and had to call and reserve another 2 half barrels for the reception. AND of course we ate 15 Imo's Pizzas for our afternoon snack.Yes. 15 pizzas. So by time 4 pm rolled around we opened the next keg of
beer and partied the night over and over. 2 regrets. We should have hired a DJ, but No, we were afraid the bitty old neighbors across the alley (not friends) would have a fit and call the police dept. So we opted to do our own TAPE music. Folks, we did not have a CD burner back then so we had to do cassette tapes for music. Bahahahaha. We had a great time though. Friends would go to their cars and get cd's they had and would play a few songs too. Then my brother-in-law broke out the beerbongs. OMG. I can only say that I had to drive to the hotel that night because my NEW HUSBAND was drunk off his arse.

We spent the next week on our "In State" honeymoon at the Lodge of the Four
Seasons and 3 days Camping at Meramec State Park. I loved it. It turned from 94 degrees the day of the wedding to lows in the 30s in the Ozarks. Talk about COLD. We had to buy clothes to wear for a few days. hehe

double pumpin' it up....

yes, I am double pumpin' it up! Pumping MILK that is. Sweet milk for our future baby. No, no match with a baby yet, but I am trying the adoptive breastfeeding protocol and BAM.. it is working. Day 5, I think, of pumping and I am working up to a great number of drops now in each side EACH time I pump. at least 4 pumping sessions a day.

See, I am doing the induced lactation long protocol well, 3 month protocol as I had to stop the bcp's due to swelling. BUT it is working. I am one that likes to at least try something and let me tell you I am pleasantly surprised how quickly I have produced drops and now am working up to sqirts. If you are a pumping/breastfeeding momma (or momma to be like me) then you know what I mean by sqirts of milk.

I now need to consider renting a hospital grade pump to help with the expression. Have any of you done that? Rented a pump to use? If so, how did it work for you? More production?

I know it might be months until we are matched and even have a baby, but I strongly believe in trying to keep pumping and then hopefully have our baby latch on and gain their nutrition from me. Thankfully my husband is 100% supportive of this. He cracks up at me in the nursery pumping each night b4 he heads to bed, but he was very surprised at the amount I have been able to freeze with each passing day. Me too! hehe

My ebay sales have slowed, but that is ok. I am still selling the baby bottle holders. I hope that becomes a very consistant thing.

Cheers to the FALL weather. Cheers to being able to camp finally after all the hot weather. Cheers to one less day we have to wait until we are matched with a potential birthmother/family and will be able to meet our future child. CHIN UP and always trying to remember to look forward.

purging purses

kenneth cole camel color purse

kenneth cole mauve purse

What do you think? purging more later

it makes me scared

a cyber friend that is going through adoption had a failed match this week. This, my friends, REALLY openend my eyes up to how topsy turvy the adoption process can really be. This is frightening to the core. Your hopes and dreams are shattered in one fell swoop. You get excited, you go into a frenzy to buy things, you pack your bags, put work on hold and go. Go face the POSSIBLE and sometimes what feels like the impossible dream. Then to have the rug pulled right out from under you, yet you have to catch yourself and remain upright in respect of the birthmothers decision to parent or even select a different set of parents for the baby. Also you have to remain upright in the fact that you must keep your focus forward as you have to put your profile out there ASAP again. See, many couples and or agencies pull your profile from public view once you are matched with a protential birth mother (pbm). Thus taking you off the market for PBM to look at your profile while you are matched.

So one from a failed match must dust off the dirty feet after your rug is pulled out from underneath you, pat yourself on the back for having done the best to not go INSANE in public(because you know you have cried buckets of tears in private), Grab your partners hand and get back out in the world of potential adoptive parents profile pools. Sure, that sounds easy, but the heartaches you just suffered through has got to be eating you alive. It is a grin and bare it situation. Grit your teeth at the failed match and then dust off your pants and move forward. I have heard of some couples that have taken months to grieve and rightfully so. I feel so bad for them and this my friends is what makes me scared. I fear grieving again.

Grieving. It is an internal gut wrenching process to go through when you have suffered losses of any kind. I have suffered through nearly 8 years of infertility that brought us to a different level of grief I would never EVER wish upon anyone. 9 angels in heaven my friends. No one woman should suffer thought ONE loss let alone 7 losses of 9 angels(2 ecoptics, 1 baby boy 8 weeks gestation, twins (1 baby girl) lost at 8w3d, twins lost at 10w, 1 chemical pgcy and 1 mc at 6w1d gestation). I grieve these losses in my own way and I so want adoption much more of a positive experience through adoption. I fear the unexpected, I hope and pray that we will be blessed with NO FAILED matches. But deep down in my heart I have to prepare myself for just the possibility.

Prayers to my cyber friend that had her failed match. I hope your hands are filled with the love and joy of a baby very soon.

one week from tomorrow

MOTC sale at Lindbergh (sp?) high school. 1-3 pm 1.00 addmission. YEAH.

email updates from the agency

we get a monthly update from our agency and this month it includes the hard work our agency owner/sw has been doing . She sent out over 500 letters of contact to many differnt places. I sure hope that we can get a possible situation or two or ... come along out of all her hard work. I know she is pulling for us all. I am not sure how many couples are with her now, I will have to email her and ask... but I do have hope that maybe something might come along in the next couple of months. I sure hope DH's saying that this will be a great Christmas hunch is right!! Please keep your fingers crossed that our agency gets MANY contacts from potential birthmother situations.

Keeping my Chin up.
working hard on selling things to raise the funds
having fun, that is the relaxing part.

having more fun listing things...

Really.. this is not too bad listing these items.

LITTLE TIKES TYKES LAUNDRY CLOTHES IRON IRONING BOARD

Gerry Baby Ultra-Light Backpack Infant carrier

Little Tikes RIDE ON Push Walker Toy Car Blue Red Yellow

can you see those items on craigslist?

I have made 20.00 from my extra pampered chef Items I listed last week. Hey.. It was stuff I had around here and or donated to us for our yard sale that did not sell back in May so I listed some stuff on craigslist and we will now see if these other items sell.

FUN. I like updating that Fundraising thermometer.

sold one thing and posting more....

Did I tell you? I sold this..........


Ahhhhh, Add 35.00 to the growing GOAL of funds.


Now I have these items. for sale. Post or email me if you are interested. LADIES.. Think Christmas gifts or Birthday Gifts. SO REASONABLE.

Or

Or

For Sale is one Barbie Princess Annalesse and Erika pillow with sweet lace ruffle on edge OR One Barbie Princess Erika(dark hair) and the Pauper (Ken) OR one Barbie Annalesse & the Pauper (Ken). This pillow is 14"x14" with 3.5" of lace around it. The perfect gift for birthdays and even Do some early Christmas shopping. 14.00 each with 3.00 shipping . I accept money order, cash and carry or Paypal for shipping.

Oh yeah... Check out these items in my Yahoo Pictures folders. If you can't view them, let me know. I don't have prices on them, but Post or email me and we can discuss.

so did you read August 3rd's post? guess what

I won something on the radio again today.

Dave Glover's show is giving away Movie tickets and gift card to dinner at Kriegers. I was the right caller. Actually, I was trying to win Cardinals tickets and they had already given them away and I was lucky enough to hang in there for the movie tickets and gc to kriegers. Sweet. Dinner and the movies. I love it

Do you every win?

I always try. Now I just have to remember to not try and win anything for 30 days on 97.1 fm. LOL

listings again ... trying again

some things sell well, some don't.

ebay:
ebay listings
craigslist listings:
lego primo blocks
pampered chef food chopper
pampered chef apple peeler corer slicerand yes I did spell corer wrong, but craigslist won't let me fix it. LOL My bad for not doing spell check in word first

and one last item so far
pampered chef accent decorator

do people know what they are selling?

I got 7.50 worth of scrapbooking supplies today at a yard sale. BRAND NEW. Average price would have been about 3.00 per pack and at 10 packs and a few page inserts, I racked up. I wish she had had more stuff. She said she thought about bringing it out, but had not. dang.

Got lots of baby clothes today. I broke down and started buying boy and girl clothes. Yes, I feel as though I am jinxing myself on us getting a match sooner than later, but I can't pass them up when they are brand new tagged still and .50 to 1.00 an outfit. NO WAY will I pass that up. I love a bargain.

I was joking with DH earlier this week about getting a part time job at Once Upon a Child as the S. County store is hiring.......... bah...... I would end up spending my paycheck there if that were the case then. ha

Fun day.

scrapbooking bug has bit

frick. Thanks Jennifer. OMG.. I am so not wanting to do this due to trying to save for the adoption process, but man, I want to make a life adoption book now. I know DH would love it if I did an Air Force scrapbook for him too for Christmas. Hmmmm.

Luckily my friend (named above) can't go either. LOL Archivers is calling my name. I will find out what they have for the next make and take then go from there. I need supplies. I need a budget for this. I need to print some pictures because I am a bad person that takes lots of digital pictures and NEVER prints them. I need a hole in my head. Oh the fever has bit. I swear to you a year ago I swore off scrapbooking, but they can be so cute. Simple, elaborate, intriguing, complex, FUN.

Do any of you use Michael's to buy your supplies? or do you stick with CM or what is your outlet for supplies?

keep feeding me the encouragement

thinking of buying a domain name for my mom to start up a business for her sewing.

I found who I will buy the domain from, but who do you recommend to hire for designing of the web site? creative fun sewing site, emboridery site... you name it, she can make it.

suggestions of a service designer I can use online to make up the contents of the site that I can edit pictures and prices on?

getting serious about this. I so can't wait to take a web design class / html now.


suggestions welcomed. post me a comment

can't wait to share the love

a house of love. I want to share it. I want to give another soul the love we have in our house. Sure, after nearly 15 years of marriage we have given each other so much love that you would think it is hard to find more to give, but there is still more to build and share and cherish. We have learned and accomplished love much love for our animals. We have learned and accomplished so much love for our family members including our nieces and newphews. Now I can't wait to share another new branch of love for our child that will one day be placed in our arms forever.

The wait is hard to an extent, but each day I feel it is a great test of our love to build and grow more for that day that we get the call that we have been selected by a potential birthmothers adoption plan for her baby. I just know it will happen. WHEN is the big question, but meantime we keep our focus on the clean house, behaved dogs and kitty, safe backyard, etc.

My niece gives me a hug each time I see her(13 yrs old, my fav age) and tells me she can't wait for us to adopt and become mommy and daddy and her to become a BIG cousin to our baby. How freakin' cool is that? I remember being her age and thinking that everytime I babysat the little neighbor girl I would be such a great mommy. And now I say that and plus I say I KNOW DH will be a great daddy. My niece told me she would love to babysit for us too. Can't wait to see her holding her new cousin.


All in due time.

Those that have been through a long wait for something so exciting, isn't the reward well worth it. Remind me that the wait is FOR A SPECIAL REASON.

just a link for drug exposures for a fetus/infant

this is a site that discusses fetal exposures to drugs. Anyone adopting should check this link out. It has more exposures on the right column to pick from to read and educate yourself on. DH and I had heavy discussions on what we would and would not accept in an infants exposure to drugs and this site explains what does and does not pass through the placenta, etc...
in uteral fetal drug exposure risks

Do you ever win things?

come rub me for luck because I do win once in a while....... not the most expensive things, but fun things.

Last week on WIL (yes, I won that $$ in Jan. from Cornbread) I won 4 adult 5 day passes to the Washington Town and Country Fair in Washington MO for this weekend from the daytime DJ. I love winning. I have been trying hard to win Cornbreads King Kong Kash, but have not had any luck so I decided to answer the Lost Lyric at lunch and I won! (thanks to google and lyric searches of course.. Bahahaha, hey a girls can cheat if she wants)... I found the lyrics and was the 7th caller and won these tickets. So tomorrow night DH and I are heading out there after work. It should be fun. My friend and her DH live out there and she said we will have a blast. I sure hope so. Long drive, but fun to be had. AND a free concert. HEART is playing main stage tomorrow night at 9 pm. Yes, Heart. That is one of the bands that I loved listening to growing up and I can't wait to see them in concert. Sure, they are "old" school band type of music, but you can't take that out of the girl in me.

So, what have you won lately?

just another 40/64 driver

After reading the local paper about hwy 40 / 64 construction projects stepping up in the next few months and then most likely sometime in 2007 for the MAJOR work to begin between kingshighway out west to hwy 270, I am freaking out. I work around 40 and 270 and let me tell you that hwy 44 to 270 is NOT an option I like. I watch the traffic reports and hwy 270 is a slaughterhouse of vehicles that travel to N.County mostly for their jobs, so throw the traffic from hwy 40/64 on top of that and it will be a bottleneck of proportions ever consumed by St. Louis commuters. I so wish we had metrolink that came out this way to work. I know our Shrewsburry(sp) metrolink station is opening in the later Fall of 2006, but it won't come this far West to bring an idea of light rail commuting to my budget. I know car pooling will be an option, but heck, that means adding another 45mins on average to my wake up time and commute, and what if we have a baby by then, another few minutes to prep the baby and get him/her out the door with myself and my lunch pale. Gosh. I dread road construction. Just last night I went to the Cheesecake Factory with some friends out in Chesterfield Mall, driving back East on hwy 40/64 they had the lanes down to 1. It took me 20 minutes to travel from Timberlake Manor to Hwy 270 when on a normal day it is maybe a 6 minute drive. I get so depressed thinking about how the hell I am going to get to work when they do start construction on hwy 40/64. I get on at McCauseland head west and it usually takes me a total of 35 - 40 minutes to get to work. Well, that time will triple, if not quadruple even with taking secondary roads like Manchester and or 44-Big Bend-270 or just 44-270 routes. Lord help me. Construction is months away and I am really having a hissy over this. Frick. And then to think about what the cost of gas per gallon will be by then if the rates keep going up like they are? I think I will try inventing a hover craft of some sort to get to and from work......


ok take a deep breath......... Just had to vent.

Offering my services.....

baby sitting services that is.

Jaded talked me into it. Email me at twogoots@yahoo.com if you need details.

All funds received while babysitting will be put in the bank for our adoption funding. I can't wait to see that balance grow.

Oh, I need to update that thermometer with some of my ebay sales I have made over the last 2 weeks. Hey.. every dollar counts, right ... Made so far. $32.00 after costs of products sold.

so much of the same

no good ebay sales.

No adoption news from the agency or other potential situations.

Hot weather and cranky days.

wonders if I will have a job come july 1st 2007 when my boss officially retires. Frick

ummmmmm

I need ot find a way to make some money for this adoption process and it is not coming in good ways. I am putting out more than making and it is not fair. I work my ass off and it pisses me off to know I am in the hole with trying to make money. WTF? I know some things take risk to get good sales, but man this is really pinching me hard. God Love my mother. She is trying hard and it is just not fair I can't get the sales to make this work. I guess I will break down and take on working a 2nd job again since DH won't. Sorry, but I have asked him repeatedly and he has yet to buck up and pitch in on working 2 jobs. Sure, cleaning house and mowing is a job, but I mean one that rakes in the CASH or even uncle Sam money Sorry DH, if you read this or if others that read this tell him this, I hope you won't tell him that, but I will mention it to him again tomorrow night.

FRICK....why is this so fucking hard to figure out? DO you know how hard it is to come up with nearly 18,000 dollars UP FRONT for the adoption costs? Yes, It really does cost that much for a domestic infant from the USA. And honestly that is on the conservative side of costs. Go ahead and ask me what costs are involved .. I will be glad to fill you in. SO far we have put out 3500.00 and 1/2 of that was my bday gift to me from my mom. Bless her.


Ok. go ahead.. ask me why it costs so much. I am up for a good discussion

trying the quilt one more time

check it out.
(click on "check it out" above to see the auction on ebay. )
also click on "view sellers other items "

quilt not selling... rather. .did not sell

less than 5 minutes to go in the auction for the lady bug quilt and Nada. lots of lurkers.. but not one bid. not sure if I should be sad or not///////////////
//////////////
revised..

It did not sell. Hmmm, can't find the market for this item now. What should I do to list it? might just try craigslist. If you want to see it that way then please post a comment here let me know what you think. Any help or suggestion is greatly appreciated.

trying to find that market for personalized items and I guess I can now try craigslist then.

pumping up

on my way home today I decided to stop by kangarookids on manchester. Not a bad resale shop for kids and adults.. ok prices, but most importantly I struck up a conversation with the worker there about breastfeeding. Yes, adoptive breastfeeding. She was very very excited I stopped in.. Thanks to a few in town that mentioned the place as a huge supporting outlet of nursing bras, pumps for sale and rent, herbal supplies to help with milk production. So my stop was to check out their store and scope out their breastfeeding supplies. I felt like I struck gold. They had both herbal supplements I was looking for and I WILL go back and buy them there. They had the mothers milk tea, well it was out of stock but some was on order.

SO in our conversation, the worker there told me about one of their breastfeeding support groups they have and luckily they JUST added an evening support group. WOW> I I am excited. I am serious about doing this. DH is VERY supportive of this.. now I just need to stay on the protocol (prep) for a few months(today is the 3rd full week of bpc's and now dom) and then stop the bcp's and continue on the domperidone and fenegreek herbs and PUMP PUMP PUMP and then hopefully we will have latching when the baby arrives. This will be interesting in a few months when I start pumping to see how I will do this at work. My work is not breastfeeding friendly to the new mom and even more not supportive of an adoptive breastfeeding mother to be! SO I will try and change that. Even if I have to go to my car and pump. OMG.. Yes, I have seen women do that and yes the pump I have does have a cig outlet adaptor to allow for this MILKING machine to be carried about to keep up the supply.

I have suffered through many losses though my life, but with his support I will try this to help feed and nurture and bond with our future child. I am one that believes that if you don't try something you have a passion about at least once(for most things in life, not all!) then you will have some sort of regret if you had any bit of thought of trying for having NOT tried. Just because I did not give birth to our future child does not mean I can't supply some or even a good portion of our childs nutrition in their beginning of life. His or her life is important to me. Our child will be given every chance in our eyes of a full life and in that one of those things we can try and do is to give fulfilling nutrition. Sure, I can't produce colostrum .. the first nutrition a birthmother produces when a child is born before the full milk comes in, but I can give him or her many many months or even a few years of goodness this way.

asklenore.com is one site I frequent often. I plan on utilizing the LLL of St. Louis' contact for adoptive breastfeeding. I met her once at bbru at the adoption event a few months back. Even more these days I am finding articles online and in magazines about this adoptive breastfeeding protocol. I plan on talking more about it as I progress through this process.

We have my doctors support on this also. He was very interested in my starting this protocol and tomorrow at my post-surgery visit I will be talking to him about this again. I know that I can end up with some issues with complications physically, but I am sure he will be there for me as he is for any breastfeeding mother. Our pediatrition we decided to go with also is very interested in watching us progress through this process once we have a baby in our arms. I love the support. If we were in a small town, you bet I would not have this kind of support. My family, well that is another issue. I hope they embrace this with us adopting, but if not I am ok with that also. I am sure I will do this and all I can do is ask my family and DH's family and our friends for the ut most support knowing that the baby benefits 100% from this process.

stay tuned.
my protocol is working
my boobies are growing
my life is moving forward
now bring on the good news of a match!!!

working hard

working hard on the next idea for fundraisers for the adoption front. I hope to post pictures or links to sales again soon. Check back in a day or two.

do you like quilts?

Do you like custom made items?

Do you like ladybugs?

It WAS my due date month

I was due with this last angel baby on July 21st 2006. Sadly our baby did not make it very far along in my womb. I so wanted to have a nice pregnancy after having had 4 uterine miscarriages and 2 ectopics. I so wanted this baby to hang in there, although that lingering thought of doubt hung in my mind and I never got to see our baby flourish and thrive in me. Our baby was a wee little one at 6w1d gestation when I lost him/her very violently at home. I would have been very pregnant right now if my stupid body had not yet again rejected and made me gutwrenchingly miscarry again.

sorry, in a very foul mood today. Just sad for my angel baby that would have been born this month.

I think a call to the doc is warranted. My moods are swinging lots these days. Maybe some of this is caused by my trying to fool myself into thinking I could try adoptive breastfeeding and maybe the progesterone bc pills are causing these mood swings. Poor DH.. I promise to be nicer to him tomorrow.

I sat at dinner tonight and said to myself, I am not fun company right now. I need to retreat and regroup and just grieve this loss of never having a child myself.

off to go watch some NASA channel ....... cool earth shots from the shuttle right now.

Thanks for being here my cyber friends. Thanks for a shoulder to lean on.

so DH never reads my blog so

he asked me about it tonight and I read him the last entry and he said I wrote a very good poem.

dana.. hehe.. He said you saw this last entry but he never reads my blog so I will dictate every post to him now. HAHA

don't cut the rope on us yet

lets see if this is really a possible string of hope to hold onto. Asking for some +++ thoughts and some prayers if you have them to spare to help us through the next few days.

A ray of hope, a wall of fears
I stand proud but on the verge of tears
I hold steady with hubbys hand in tow
I won't let my true feelings show
Let what happens happen for a reason
even if it is not to be THIS season.

what is that song name and melody?

good feeling.........

I sat at home tonight listing more stuff on ebay and realized I am a Mother-to-be in waiting. Yes, I am considering myself as expecting and dang it might take me more than 9 months of expecting to become that mom, but hey... I will enjoy it while it is happening.

Stroller bought and put together, THANKYOUVERYMUCH... I did it by myself.. DH sat and watched me. MEN! Argh.

Ebay sales.. so so so far. Hmmm, looking for a picture hosting web page I can list some items I want to sell(hint hint... XMAS is less than 6 months away!!). What site can I use for this? not those like Shutterfly etc... but one that anyone can look at without an ID and password and then can email me to make bids on things. ????



OMG.. What the hell has happened to our St. Louis Cardinals? is it possible to lose 8 games in a row? well it is sure looking like it. We are playing like poop against these good american league teams. Lord Help our Loving Cardinals ...

I listed a few things... what do you think?

1 mobile, 4 pillows(1 tooth fairy pillow) and 1 set of drawer knobs. Do the listings look ok? Do I need to make any corrections?

ebay sales

why is it when I want to list items on ebay I get a seller that lists the SAME exact things for next to zero dollars to start the sale off with when I wanted to list mine for at least 3.00 or even 5.00(which is what I paid for it!!) Ugh. So I listed one item and then decided because of this .99 cent BANDIT that I would hold off on listing my items until later this week.

My luck. I know that person is just trying to make money too, but when you have an item that sells for STARTING bid of at least 5 or 6 bucks and SHE lists them for 99 cents to start RIGHT at the same time I list mine, then I won't get the bids and she will. FRICK.

Ok, "So Jaded" said I needed to start a Tooth Fairy pillow business. Hmmmm.......... fun. Just need to figure out our costs and then see what the items should sell for to cover materials and labor. Good grief, I hope this works out. Themed items or custom?

score again...

this is why I go to yard sales.....


I found this at a yard sale and let me tell you it has nothing wrong except for a small scratch on the right part of the rail by the seat.

DH and I are going to pick it up from a lady's house not to far from ours. This is not trash.. but her treasure is my treasure now. GLIDER and ottoman is my score. oh, I paid 25.00 for it. I was looking at a new one from a store this past week that was 189.00 and I just could not pay that.

Now .. I wonder if I wish for money that I might win the lottery?

Mid-day ramblings.

only 3 more full days b4 I go back to work. I am ok though. I have been off since the 20th of May and I have enjoyed it. I am about 95% recovered from surgery and have finally gotten the OK to ENJOY the physical relationship with DH now. I am scared because I am physically different(no cervix) and I wonder if there will be pain associated, but that is to be found out and Not sure if I will report that to you if it is GOOD news. Bahahaha

Onto Ebay sales. I am shipping out one of the sold pillows today. I am awaiting payment on the other pillow. My mom is making more pillows as we speak and I hope to have them listed by Sunday at the latest. I have 2 or 3 small pampered chef things to sell too along with other John Lennon Real love nursery decor items that are extras and I don't need. Looking to make at least a few hundred dollars or even a few thousand on ebay (as long as my buying habit stops!!) to help fund the next part of our adoption process. 2500.00 for when we are matched with a birthfamily. Yet to happen, I hope to pay cash for that and not have to put that on the loan. So right now as I stand I have reset the Fundraising thermometer to 15.00 earned on the pillows(after ebay listing and paypal costs) of 2500.00 needed. Oh.. wait. I have 100.00 donated to us from family when we had our baby shower too. Sweet. so 115.00 towards 2500.00. I am still collecting aluminum cans etc... so if you have some.. drop me a line here and I will email you. I will gladly come pick those up. Even if it adds up to 20.00 a month in cans recycling then I am making progress. Ask your neighbors for me, please? I will supply the trash bags if needed too. I need to go buy a can crusher and install it on the side of the deck outside to keep the bags tidy.

Oh, might start a photobucket account to list some things for sale (REMEMBER XMAS Is less than 6 months away!!!) by not posting them on Ebay. I can try and link to those pictures from my site here and then you can email me if you wish to purchase by cash or Paypal. I am in full fundraising mode now. Also, what if you need to sell something and Don't have the time to list it on Ebay? I can sell it for you for a small (very small ) fee. REALLY!

Ok, off to tidy up the house b4 I start a long day with Family events. (wish I could go to the zoo today). Then dinner with more family and 2 friends. (KD... sorry I can't make your party... will you take an order from me?)

SOLD

Drama until the last minute of the sale. On Ebay I sold both of the pillow for the John Lennon Musical Parade pattern. We made tooth fairy pillows from the bumpers of the pattern and one had a bid on it from this AM and then finally with the last minute to go the other pillow SOLD too. I love it. This is a new found addiction.. making things to sell. I also have some other items I got in the John Lennon Real Love pattern to sell on there now too. Extras from sales. Lets see if this makes us any money towards the adoption funding. I will keep you posted. I hope to post more items this coming week. Wish us luck.

I was good, I promise....

I left the house and headed toward S. County BBRU. I went in and returned the duplicate diaper champ I got from there(other one I got was bigger and from target). I put the amount of the item onto another gift card we had received. Nice balance added up on that card. I did look at pack-n-play's, not going to buy one yet. I also did not find a baby book, you know, the kind that you can log info into from day one.... will look online for one of them. I totally forgot to get Thank You cards there. Ooops. I looked at changing table pad's and will go back and get one this week some time. That is one thing I wanted new, like a stroller. Then I looked at bathtubs and restrained. See, my cousin might have some things to hand down to us so I will restrain from buying until I can get out to her house.

Stop # 2 was Petsmart.. OMG.. thank goodness to for my petperks card! I saved 7.00 off the 3 items I had to get .. cat food (science diet for my 13 yo kitty) and purina one for the 3 tuckered from playing pups and then a box of cat liter. ALL on my pet perks reward discount!

Then I went over to the plaza next to the BBRU and found the Once Upon A Child store. Man that place is packed. I don't understand why those resale stores don't expand into a larger space. Packed to the hilt. I did not find any pack-n-plays in there, but I did spy a bassinet... but a lady in there grabbed it up very quickly(it was a new tagged item) because she saw the bargin price they had on it. Nice. I did not buy one thing in there. It is more for a time when we finally have a baby in arms and can go by sizes. Can't wait. I will watch their prices because they can be somewhat high for things.

Next I went to target and returned the dup. bouncie seat we got. Added that balance to a gift card we got and that card will now cover the cost of the stroller. Just waiting on the 10% coupon for target from applying for that RED instore card to buy that! I love coupons and what the heck. (I won't carry a balance on that card, promise! the interest rate is over 23% .. gulp!) but at least I can get the instore coupons to use and then walk over to customer service and write a check for my card balance. hehe. I did not find a new changing table pad there at all. Hmmmmm

I did get some Zout and a Clorox(sp?) pen to use on the baby's white clothes. I used it on some HMD(hand-me-down) burp cloths and man it took the stains on the white part out as I was rubbing it in with the pen tip. Sweet. I am a baby clothes cleaning lady now. Watch out. I love learning new tricks and Thanks to all my friends in the cyber world and my sister for the stain get-um-out tricks.

I then went food shopping and I will be honest with you that most of the time I am a coupon shopper but today I was very upset that there was only 3 items on my list that had coupons to match. hmmm. My goal when I go grocery shopping is to buy items (no, I don't always name brand shop!!) that have coupons that add up to cover the amount of taxes I have to pay for my total grocery bill. Does that make sense? So if my taxes on my groceries is 6.22 then I try my hardest to match that in coupons or even go above that if possible. Well today's taxes were 5.88 and my coupons added up to 2.49 so I covered some of it. Booohooo. hehe. My theory on taxes is that coupons are out there to cover the taxes if you are a really good shopper. Thus I try and shop Tax Free! Thanks to the manufacturers. Hey, do you do any online coupon free sites? if so.. please share their url with me. please?! (thanks Mol!)

So I did the first full load of baby clothes and gave DH the basket full of them to fold. LOL... I forgot to tell him to divide them in stacks by months. 0-3 mo, 3-6 mo, 6-?? months. hehe. I put them in the dresser finally. YEAH. A baby room is really being used for the right reasons now. ha. Now to hunker down and paint that dresser/changing table to match the decor. Yes, I only have this week left b4 I go back to work from medical leave and I still have not painted that dresser. Ms. Procrastination here!

first trip post shower

going on my first trip to babiesrus to return a duplicate and then to buy some Thank You cards. Then browse. Lord help me... I am not going to buy much, I promise.


I will report in later to let you know what I got.

A Party it was

indeed. We had a great time. DH had to wear a homemade Smock my mom made... it had baby nipples as his nipples, long salad tongs to help dispose of dirty diapers, mask and eye protection for those dirty diaper changes, diaper rash cream, Barney bib and Barney paci clip. (Now remember that DH hates Barney... oh, did I never tell you that? It is true, he believes Barney is dead(oh my, cover your kids ears if you are reading that out loud)). So it was fun thanking everyone there in their support for our new journey in life to add to our family through the beautiful love of adoption.

I did tell a few people that just b4 the party we had gotten an email with the potential situation that we had to decline(see post below) and let me tell you there were even more supportive of our journey then knowing it could happen at anytime possible. They told us all to hang in there and that to believe there is the right situation out there to come for us and I really truly believe that. DH and I are really feeling good about things. Sure, we have to prep for the possibility of many months before a match, but knowing we have such a wonderful support system out there, we are not giving in hope.

So I did get some duplicates of bouncie seats that I get to take back and apply those credits towards this graco stroller we need that goes with the snugride baby carrier we did get. Then we need to buy a baby bath tub, changing table pad(we got a cover as a gift, but not the pad, hehe) and a one other larger item, I can't remember what it was. I am sure i will think of it later. hmmm.

Diaper bag, lots of crib sheets, microwave bottle steamer cleaner, blankies(some homemade by long time family friends), baby lamb(so soft), car seat protector covers, diaper changing table organizer, bottles, wash clothes, diaper champ, some diaper wipes, ointments, and lots and lots of gift cards to both bbrus and target. SWEET. I am so thankful for all the wonderful gifts and support.

THis week i need to take back a few duplicates and buy that stroller and tub and then find room in the nursery to put the items we did get and store a few things for when the baby gets here. I love it. Thank you to everyone!!!


Off to enjoy the Cardinals game today. more later.

so one last edited note, do I really need a diaper warmer ? I keep my house cool in the summer and cool in the winter, I am hot blooded and have to! would a diaper warmer be warranted?

situation # 3 declinced

our reply to the agency, We regretfully will have to decline this potential adoption situation.

So sad.

1 2 3 4 5 .......

I love vacation, but man it is hard to come back

back to life, back to reality, back to the here and now.... sing it!

Yup.. vacation was a week long(tuesday to Monday) and we had a great time. We went here. Onondaga Cave State Park. We camped in the back of the line of camping spots and then enjoyed fishing in the Meramec river and pond from the cave and we also took the Onondaga Cave Tour. Very cool to realize we were so far deep and so high in the cave caverns. Amazing colors of formations and water colors. Some lights are shaded to give it a more dramatic effect, but natural light was their goal and it highlighted the most brilliant reds, yellows, whites, even green as turquois colors in the caves. If you are one that likes to explore nature, please go to this cave even for the 70-90 minute tour in Leasburg MO.

I did put on sunblock 45 and still got burned on my legs and arms and head.

I also did a first in my life.. I let my mom color my hair while at the camp grounds. Yes, first time I ever colored my hair. It is not far from my natural color, but now I feel a little bit more brave to try highlights. NO MORE GRAY HAIR. YEAH.

Now I am busy listing things on ebay. These are the hand-made pillows 1 and 2 my mom and I made while at the camp grounds.

ugh.. DH is needing the pc.. be back later for more of an update.

FUN and SUN . Summer is here

it pays

ok.. several weeks to save several bags of soda/beer cans(no, I don't drink beer bleckbleckbleck!!) and I turned them in today for a whopping $10.71. A backseat of my focus filled with bags and I only got 10.71? ok.. I won't complain, just curious as to why the price of recycling went down from 70 cents per pound from last week down to 63 cents per pound. Heck, I would have made another few bucks.

So let me add 10.71 to my thermometer. hehe

I also was a good girl and took back the tops i bought at jcpenney and got back 21.00. but that is not fundraising, that is just being wise to the al-mighty dollar!

a penny here a penny there

spending the next week working hot and heavy on some fund raising ideas.

What fund raising ideas can you throw my way?

I have been saving soda and beer cans from family and friends(if you wish me to take them off your hands I would be glad to come by and grab them tomorrow or next monday!!! just blog me here and I can come by locally!)

I am going to start taking pictures of the items my mom has been crafting and creating .....ladies.. think of xmas gifts(heck it is almost July and I have friends that start their xmas shopping in July!) so come back in about a weeks time to see if I have my links up yet of those nice handmade items. Lots of fleece items for kiddo's and some fun items for us adults, think mardi gras and st. pats day themes and such. She also makes custom orders so I will promote her work here soon.

I had my yard sale 2.5 weeks ago and made at least 200.00 bucks clear.. not much, but hey it helps pay towards the next step of the adoption process, THE MATCH FEE of $2500.00

I am making lots of fun beaded bracelets this weekend while on vaca and hope to sell them soon.

I found some good bargains at yard sales this weekend and plan to put them on Ebay soon too. Hey, are Kenneth Cole purses worth much to anyone? hmmm, might have to keep them for myself(one does have ink pen marks in the inside but the other is in pretty good shape(and I got them dirt cheap). I found extra nursery decor and I plan on listing that on ebay also(pieces I already have). That stuff is selling like hot cakes on Ebay these days. WOW.

I am going to start talking up the idea of me starting to babysit again. Yes, I am For Hire. And think of the funds going towards a great cause, OUR FIRST CHILD through the wonderful blessing of adoption soon!

I was thinking of asking my niece and newphew to help me do a car wash soon at the local repair shops lot, it would be on a busy street so maybe that could bring in some good customers. FREE Car Wash, but donations accepted for a good cause, OUR ADOPTION fund.

hmmm, what else? Are there any other things I can do to use as a fund raiser?


Your thoughts and comments are greatly appreciated.
and no, I am not begging for money, I like the idea of having worked hard for every penny here and every penny there! Just like idead to help out.

cycle of life

sadly the cycle of life happened too soon for the resident doves little baby. Doves are abundant in the City boundries. I am sure they are in the county too, but seems I have become the foster care host home of a resident dove on my wire harness that comes out of my house. I will try tomorrow to take a picture of that nest. She nested there about 4 years ago and each year she comes back with her mate. This year she has successfully raised and fledged one chick so far. See, doves mate several times a year and brood their babies all summer long.

first true summer sign

as I let the dogs out around the dusk hour(8:45 pm or so) I immediatly said "Summer is here" when I walked out onto the deck. Lightning bugs! (a.k.a. Fireflies for those that don't live in the inner-city!) LOL And bats.

Lighning bugs sure bring back the days when I was ages 8-12 or so. We (girlfriend down two houses) would go find an old pickle jar in her dads workshop, grab a screwdriver and proceed to poke about 5 holes in the top of the lid and then went out and picked about a hand full of grass for each jar and then had a hayday running and catching the lightning bugs! Oh fun. Yes, I was a tom-boy of sorts when I was a kid. I loved doing the "bug" thing when I was that age. Turning over rocks and playing with worms and roley-poley-ollie-o's. Fun.

Summer is here.

Where's the bbq?

our first holiday this year that brings us into SUMMER mode and where the heck is the bbq? Not one of my family members, or dh's at that, had a bbq this weekend. We did celebrate DH's bro's 40th bday by attending a surprise party for him, but that was good table food/deli meats, etc... and lots of beer and margaritas.. so DH is going to have to do some bbq'in for me this weekend coming up!

Yes, A margarita I had. I am off my meds now so I indulged and it was YUMMY. Very strong and everyone was loving them so I had to have one too, but I missed my salt rim as the makers of the margaritas did not bring any salt. BUT I enjoyed it!

lots of home items need to be worked on. Dang the weather. Oh, hornets are the subject for outside our house. Literally outside our house. They have taken up residence in the metal shack we have (little metal shed). We are watching the doggies when they go outside to make sure there is not a new hornets nest near or around the deck and or shack. Otherwise I am on target with the 25 foot hornets sprayer! ha. man, those things sure love to dive bomb the dogs and DH and I when out there. I wonder why they keep targeting our deck and shack? Why don't they go bother the man that has the falling down garage and sickly peach tree in his back yard that does not go out to enjoy his backyard? Murphy's law?

So this week is a short one for you all. Today I was driving around( yes, I am allowed to drive finally since surgery) and thought hmmm, today being Sunday, that means DH has to work 5 days this week and I DON'T .. hehe.. then I realized that it is Monday. Oopsie. So he has to work 4 days this week and I DON'T. hehe.

My follow up with the doc is next Tuesday and then we will look forward to booking a camping date sometime soon! YEAH. Hopefully near a river so we can go sit in the river under a shade umbrella in our river chairs. YEAH. Ummm, guess what my drink of choice will be that weekend that we finally go...........Starts with an M, involves a salt rim , blender to crush up some ice(read: frozen). I do declare a beach blanket (river chair/umbrella) celebration soon to be had.

Tell me something, Why do people who don't belong out in the heat still go out in the heat and overheat themselves? I do not get that. Today, while filling up my gas tank (27.00 and some change) a man was on the ground by the pay phone and with a fire rescue truck awaiting am ambulance. He was indeed overheated(heard the conversation) and was wearing long pants and socks and shoes and a wife beater top. I just don't get it. He was an older man and looked in shape, but it was clearly too hot for him out there. I guess I care about our elderly and I hate seeing them get sick and overheated when they can avoid it. I sure hope his home has an AC unit in it. He was not in a low income neighborhood either. hmmm

ok, off to pop dh some popcorn.. whiney is getting edgy for his popcorn.

another day closer

to healing, but not up to par just yet.

I swept the house today, that was a 3 part job. Swept living room, dining room and then had to stop. Swept bathroom and bed room and then stopped and then hallway was last and I then made DH to the kitchen. I was on the couch in pain after the hallway. BUT no percocet. Just leaning to deal with the pain management without prescirption and too many tylenol.

Doggies are not wanting to go outside with all this heat. I don't blame them. I went out with them at 8:30 this AM and I swear it felt like 90 degrees already. So I decided against going to a few yard sales and instead went back to the comforts of my sheets and conforter. LOL Maybe a few yard sales this coming week.

check these out. My sister is a bargain hunter and found these new john lennon real love baby shoes at the resale shop the other day. She was so excited to buy them and bring them to me the other day. She then went on Ebay and found the price for them in this auction that sold. She was floored and said she will keep searching for more for me so I can sell them on ebay too. LOL

So I need to make a to do list for next week after this holiday. Get my energy up to cut the dead burning bush from the front of my house. No, I never did that yet. secondly is to buy some night hanging flower baskets for my front porch and then plant some flowers in the pots for the front porch also. Then I need to get a hair cut and color. I will do this while out on medical leave. I am tired of my long hair and need a shorter cute cut and much needed color. I will treat myself. I deserve it. Then I will book my massage that DH got me for my b-day back in Jan. Also will do a pedicure while there. So need some love for these feetsies of mine.

The list of Thank You cards is growing. I need to buy some cards to send out. Beautiful flowers from co-workers from my surgery, some baby gifts of recent came in from friends, and some beautiful crocheted baby blankets from my aunt in Nebraska. Bless her. They are beautiful.

dinner is on.