Blueberries!!!

For a long time I've told myself that I didn't like blueberries... Last Saturday we went with Danialle, Chadd, Jennifer & Grace to pick our own blueberries. Since I didn't think I liked them I decided I'd pick some for my stepmom. Well, while we were picking I popped a few in my mouth and they were pretty darn good and realized I was going to have to keep all that we picked. Picking them was pretty fun, too. This farm was very clean and non-buggy and only 5 minutes from our house! Grace was as cute as can be out there, too. She at first took fistfuls from the buckets that we were filling. Then she realized she could pick her own and eat them, so she did that. I tried to convince her to only pick the dark ones, but she didn't quite get it. Although she didn't mind when she got the tart ones either, so I guess it was ok.



After we left I made the call to Peg to tell her she was going to have to come up and pick her own.

Oh the bonus is that they are SUPER easy to freeze, too. You just rinse them off and let them dry completely. Once dry you throw them in a freezer bag and toss them in the freezer. Voila! This weekend I'm making homemade blueberry pancakes and maybe some blueberry muffins, too. YUMMY!

There's more than CORN in Indiana...

I've had this urge for a while to start freezing corn and finally decided to take a stab at it. I called my nanny up and got her recipe. I wasn't sure how much to start with, so we headed to the farmer's market and got 3 dozen ears. It took a while to DE-cob all of the corn, but once that was done it was a breeze. I call it the "3-2-1 Freeze!" recipe*. I called my nanny during the process and ended up adding too much sugar and salt to one batch, but it was easily fixable by just adding plain corn to it on the next round. I ended up with 8 pints of corn total, which was not too shabby. Here's the mess I created...



*In case anyone is interested, here is the recipe I used

3-2-1 Freeze...Corn

Cut corn off the cob with a sharp knife
Use the dull side of the knife and run it up and down cob to get juices

In a bowl
Mix 4 cups corn
1/3-1/2 cup water (depends on how good you are at de-cobbing)

Microwave for 3 minutes
Stir
Microwave for 2 minutes

Stir in
1/2 Stick Butter
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar

Microwave 1 minute

Put bowl in a sink full of ice to chill, stirring occassionally.

Once chill put in container or freezer bag then freezer.

Card Night!!!

Recently a few ladies in my family & Eric (because he loves cards) started this weekly card night. The last few nights we've had it at my grams house and last night everyone came to my house. It was such a blast!! We played some mean Shanghai, which is similar to rummy, but a little different, and a few rounds of Mexican Train Dominoes. We feasted on some keish, chips & salsa, oreos, and sipped on my lovely tea.

Last week we learned some new words such as

Sneuter - sneu·ter (snū'tər, nyū'-) pronunciation
adj.

**A castrated animal neither masculine nor feminine in gender.**

You would sneuter a...

Hermaphrodog - Her·maph·ro·dog (hər-măf'rə-dī'dog) pronunciation
n.

**A dog who has both sets of sex organs.**

It was quite funny at the time let me just tell you. Last night the F*** word was thrown around a few too many times and grams thought she was going to have knock Sherrie out of her chair or drag her on the back of her car back home. Please believe me when I say my jaw hurts from laughing so hard last night.

Dog Biscuits - Take 1

I recently bought some "homemade" dog biscuits at the farmer's market. As soon as I got them home I checked the ingredients and new instantly that I could make them myself with very little effort. So off to google "dog treat recipes" I went. I found several. My first recipe I tried consisted of wheat flour, baking powder, milk & peanut butter. It was a cinch. I made probably around 50 biscuits, but they were much larger than I wanted for daily treats. So now I'm off to find some smaller cookie cutters. It was fun though and as soon as I find some different cutters I plan to make more and maybe even freeze some.

New Kitchen

So it took me forever to post that final part of our trip to Jamaica, I know. I've been quite busy the last few weeks and it was hard to make myself finish what I started. However, I vowed to myself that I couldn't post anything else until I finished it, so thus the lack of posts. Now I get to play catch up, so hopefully there will be lots of posts for a while. Enjoy!

A few weeks ago Danialle came up on a Saturday morning to help us paint our kitchen & dining room. We made a trip to the farmer's market first thing followed by a trip to Wal-Mart then got back home to begin our project. Eric & I had taped everything off the night before, so we waited for Eric to get everything ready to get started. Danialle broke out a peach from the farmers market before we got started. Well, Godiva through it was a treat (all that was left was the peach pit) and devoured it right out of her hand. She didn't even chew it because Danialle tried to get it back. We were a little concerned, but decided we'd just check and make sure it passed.

We got started on painting. It was a chore painting around all the cabinets and stuff. We painted the entire kitchen a pale yellow (pineapple fizz) and in the dining room we painted the yellow on top and a dark blue (planetarium) on bottom. Then we bought chair rail and cut and stained it and put it up between the colors. Here's how it turned out.

Dining Room...
Before


After


Kitchen...
Before


After


We are really pleased with how it turned out. It feels so warm and inviting now. The white drove me crazy. We finished around 7:00 that night, so it took all day.

To elaborate a bit more on Godiva by the time I got ready for bed she still had not passed it. Eric decided to google "dog eats peach pit" or something to that affect and we found out that peach pits are poisonous to dogs. Lovely. We called the emergency vet and they said she should be ok since she didn't actually chew into it, but they weren't positive, so we should call this poison hotline to make sure. So Eric called and they basically said the same thing. Apparently the inside of the pit is what is poisonous and normally they show signs of being poisoned after 6-8 hours. It had been over 12 by this point. They said to make sure we check her BMs and she should pass it within 48 hours. If not then we'd have to take her in because there would be cause for concern for a blockage. She was still doing #2 that day and even on Sunday, but no pit. Finally monday morning almost exactly 48 hour later she passed it. We nearly threw her a celebration party. Eric took a picture to send to Danialle for confirmation, but I won't share it with you all. Hopefully Danialle didn't even look at it. ha ha ha

Jamaica - Day 3, 4 & 5

So it's taken me long enough to post the rest of our vacation I know... Sorry

So on Friday we got up early, grabbed breakfast and departed for our trip to Mayfield Falls Riverwalk. We made several stops to pick up people at various stops. Finally we were on our way. The ride there was long, but very interesting. We saw so many things that you definately would not get just staying at the resort. You can see many of the things we saw in the photos. The drive to the falls was probably an hour to an hour and a half long, but again was super interesting. When we got to the falls you walk down this long set of man-made stairs. Then across this bamboo bridge which made me a little nervous. Then you get to an area they call the bar. We had to sign consent forms and made a restroom stop. Then they grouped us into 3 tiki huts. We ended up with 2 other young couples (one from New York, the other from Canada) and another couple that were probably a little older than us, but I can't remember where they were from. Finally they came around and got our lunch order. Our entire table ordered fried chicken. Then our guides came around and told us to leave everything there except what was absolutely necessary to talk. We were told to get in our bathing suits, but keep our shoes on. They had a waterproof bag that we could put valuables in. Finally we got to head to the river. It was cold going in, but so totally awesome once you were in. While we didn't see any ginormous falls. We did see a lot of small ones and one big one for the end. We took so many pics, plus there were two guys along with our guides that took pictures and video. We got to see so many gorgeous things. It was absolutely the best part of our trip without a doubt!! After the falls we walked on a path back to our tiki huts. We sat there and dried off for a bit and then they brought us our lunch and something to drink. The fried chicken was awesome and I'd never had red beans & rice, but it was very good, too. While we were eating we chatted with our table mates and the camera crew came around and gave us a preview of our pictures and video. We ended up getting all of the pictures. I think we ended up with about 20, so it wasn't a bad deal. Finally we walked down this long path back to the bus. Along the path we stopped at a little hut where a local woman was selling stuff. Our bus was down in this huge cliff it seemed and it was a little scary going back up. Thankfully I sat on the side closest to the hill and not overlooking the cliff. The ride back wasn't as long thankfully because we were absolutely exhausted. When we got back we relaxed for a while and then got ready for dinner.

Dinner that night was at the main dining area. The resort had a huge gala with all the food from all the restaurants at the resort and life music and dancing. It was really nice. We were so exhausted that after dinner we headed back and lounged around the pool with another couple for a while. Then we headed to bed.

Saturday we got to sleep in thank goodness. We got up and had breakfast then lounged around the beach for a while. It was nice just to relax for a while. We grabbed our regular lunch and then headed back to our room to get ready for the Rhino Safari Tour. Another couple who had heard it was awesome actually joined us. We left in the early afternoon and headed down the road. It wasn't long before we arrived at our destination. I had a bad feeling when we got there, but it seemed reasonably ok. We waited around until a group came in then we went over some things and got on our pieces of shit floatation devices, I mean boats. It was the worst experience of my life. It's really hard to explain, but you have to basically hang off the front of this thing at full throttle until you get the nose down, then you can sit down. However we couldn't get it very well and the other couple were taking in water and couldn't get the nose down either. Once you get the nose down you have to go at full throttle and our seat ended up falling off. All this in 20 minutes and we finally said screw it and told them to take us back because we were done.

When we got back to the hotel the guys went to the office and got a full refund thank goodness. That stupid "excursion" was not cheap by any means. Then we headed back to our rooms to get cleaned up and ready to meet up with everyone else to go to Rick's Cafe. This was absolutely worth every penny, too!! We watched several people jump off. Then Eric and another guy from our group decided to go. Ironically I wasn't nervous for him at all. I guess I knew he would be fine and of course he was! We watched some more and Eric jumped one more time. Then we sat down and ordered an appetizer and listened to the band. Two other guys from our group jumped a little later, then it was off to the other side of the restaurant to watch the sunset. The sunset started out gorgeous, but some clouds rolled in and we didn't actually get to see it duck below the horizon. You can see in this picture how I feel about it. Finally we made our way back to the resort. We had only eeaten the appetizer at Rick's so we joined a few others and had some italian, which wasn't too bad. Then we headed off to bed for our last night in Jamaica.

Sunday morning we got up early and packed everything up and grabbed breakfast. We walked around the resort one more time and took several more pictures. Made a last stop at the gift shop and met everyone in the lobby to head for the airport. The ride home was pretty uneventful as well. Our connection flight in North Carolina was delayed for about an hour because of a storm that was rolling through Indiana. As soon as we arrived it started downpouring again. We had to run to our car and were drenched, but we made good time on our way home and was glad to be home with the puppies again. I think they were pretty happy to see us again, too. We would go back again anytime. It was a great trip and we vowed to do more excursions on our next trips like we did in Jamaica. You just get so much more out of your trip. :D

View our entire photo album from Jamaica!

One Year Ago Today...

I lost my brother. My only baby brother. Life has not been the same since. I have so many great memories with him and for that I am thankful. Not a day goes by that I don't think of him. Because I am remembering the good times today I'll leave you with some of my favorite pics of he & I.













If you want to see more pictures of him, check out Matt's Photo Album

Jamaica - Day 2

Thursday morning we got up pretty early. Eric swam in the ocean while I relaxed and got ready. Then we headed down for breakfast. After breakfast we schedule two excursions, the Mayfield Falls River Walk for Friday and the Rhino Safari Cruise for Saturday. We had known before we even got down there that we wanted to go to Mayfield. Someone in our group had heard that the safari was "awesome" so we thought we'd try it out, too. We also checked out the gift shop and scoped out our purchases. I ended up getting a gorgeous tanzanite ring for an awesome deal. After that we lathered up in sunscreen and hit the pool. Around lunch time we headed back to get changed and then head down for lunch.

After lunch we found out that our new room on the "CO" side was ready so we got everything ready back in our room and headed over to the new room. The room was exactly the same except for a couple of things. First we actually had a view!! It was also on the ground floor as opposed to the second level, so we could open our door and walk right out to the beach. It was awesome! We spent a while unpacking all of our bags and getting settled into our new room. Then we went out to the pool and Eric played some volleyball. I sat in a chair and sunbathed and watched. Later I was still a little tired so I decided to take a little nap and Eric had to go to this "blending seminar" (so they could make it a business trip). I ended up not sleeping very well, so I ordered a tortilla & vegetable chip basket w/ salsa, sour cream and guac from room service and ate the whole thing just before Eric got back. :D After he got back we got ready and walked around for a while before heading to dinner.

Dinner was at the Japanese place at the resort. I thought it was good, but Eric wasn't as fond of it. I guess we are spoiled from our local japanese place. Our chefs were great. They were singing and telling us jokes/riddles. I actually tried some spicy tuna sushi rolls and loved them. I was pretty proud of myself for the things I was eating and trying. After dinner we headed back over to the "CO" side and lounged around the pool.



Again I added more pics to flickr from Day 2. Only a couple more days before it's finished.

Jamaica - Day 1

Jamaica was absolutely wonderful! We enjoyed it and it is now our destination of choice. We would go back in a heartbeat.

Tuesday evening we dropped the dogs off at the kennel. We ran some last minute errands and grabbed dinner before heading home. It was so odd going home that night with the doggies not around. We packed and just tried to relax for the rest of the evening.

Wednesday morning we got up at 4:00 AM, showered and headed to the airport. We were excited about getting there, so getting up early didn't bother us too much. We were one of the first couples to get there an check-in. We grabbed some Star*buck's and did some people watching while the other's arrived. Our flights were pretty uneventful. We caught the second leg of our flight in North Carolina. It wasn't much of a layover, so we grabbed some snacks to eat on the plane. We talked with a couple on the plane who were goingt down to get married on Saturday. They were pretty cute. Once we landed in Jamaica we had to go through immigration. I swear we walked 5 miles to get there and then waited in line for about an hour w/ only a fan blowing on a small area of the line, so we only got it on occassion. As soon as we got through immigration we went to this room especially for the grand lido guests. They took our luggage and we filled out these cards for the resort and waited for everyone to arrive. They did give us a complimentary small bottle of water. Finally we were off to the resort. It was about an hour drive. We stopped once at this little place and I got my first taste jerk chicken, which was yummy. I hated how they just took a butcher knife to it and chopped up the bones along with the meat, but that just made it finger food.

Finally we arrive at our resort. As soon as we got off the bus someone greated us with very cold washclothes which were heavenly by this point. Then ladies came around with classes of mimosas and rum punch. We were then sent to this waiting area. Finally someone came & called our names and walked us to our rooms. Our room was very nice, but the view sucked. We pretty much had a view of a damn tree w/ a tiny bit of ocean on either side. Eric went back down and complained and they said they didn't have a room for that night, but they'd move us the next day. It was around 5 pm and we were meeting for dinner at 6:30, so we just walked around the resort and took it all in. We took some pictures, etc. There is this huge tree (you can see in the pictures) that we are standing in front of and the look on my face means "there is a huge bee hive behind me, so please take the picture fast!!" After checking out the area, we decided that we actually wanted to be moved to the "clothing optional" side and ended up getting that settled for our move the next day. The reasoning was b/c it was further in and not right up next to the road like the clothing side was. Also it was just more quite & peaceful over there.

Dinner that evening was with everyone. We chose a table with a "cock" as the centerpiece, although someone eventually took it away from our table. Dinner was decent. After dinner we went for a swim on the "CO" side and just hung out with another couple for a while. Then we headed back to our room and ordered room service. before falling asleep.



See more pictures from the first day here

Rested and Refreshed

We are back from Jamaica. Well, actually we got back late Sunday night, but Monday we stayed home and recooperated from our trip, did laundry and went grocery shopping. Yesterday was my first day back to work and I spent the morning going through e-mails and the afternoon going through postal mail. Ugh!

Anyway, I am working on some posts and I'm sure I will have to do them in a couple of posts. I hope to post them soon. I also need to download nearly 200 photos to flickr... hee hee I just have to find some time for that.

Stay tuned for scenes from Jamaica...

On a differnt note, I joined my friend Jennifer in doing Weight*Watchers. I'm pushing a dreaded weight and really need to get my butt in gear and get it off and keep it off. So far it's going well. I didn't start until Monday afternoon technically, which didn't go too bad and yesterday was perfect. I even got a short walk in over lunch yesterday. I'm not thinking of it so much as a diet, but more of a guide to help me control portions, which is essentially what it is. My goal is to get back down to my ideal weight and feel more sexy again.

We're off to Jamaica!!!

See you next week!

Weekend of Shopping, Bridal Showers, Girls including Grace, Wax

My weekend was really nice. Friday Danialle got in around 10:30. She came to my office and we chatted while I worked. I hadn't planned on getting of work until 12:00, but managed to squeeze out at 11:30. We ran to my house to let the dogs out and then headed to C'ville. Danialle found out the day before that she would be moving back in 2 weeks to start a new job. She happened to call her soon-to-be boss on Friday morning during her drive down and learned that he bought her a house to rent off him so she and her hubby wouldn't have to live with relatives for a little while. He asked her to come down and take a look at the house, pick out carpet, and possible countertop. It's a small house, but sits on a decent size lot, so they can have a huge garden next spring. We met our grams and headed over to check it out. Boss already had a crew in patching the walls, tearing out old carpet and getting ready to paint everything "eggshell". They are free to paint the walls whatever color they want after they move in. After doing the house stuff, we headed over to our grandparents house and visited with everyone. Then we headed back to my house. We ran to Wal-mart to get some stuff for Heather's bridal shower on Saturday then headed to a local shop. I had scheduled a "waxing" for my trip to Jamaica. I had never had this done before, but thought I would "go to brazil". Well, I the pain was intense, so I didn't "go all the way". Just ended up with a landing strip. Plus I got my eyebrows done. It was a rough ride, but the chick doing it was awesome! After that we headed over to Goodwill then headed home. Eric left to get us pizza and we watched a few episodes of Sex & the City. Jennifer & Grace arrived around 9. Grace got a bath and went to bed, while the three of us hung out and talked until about midnight.

Saturday morning we got up and had breakfast at home. After everyone was ready we headed back to C'ville. Jennifer wanted to check out Danialle's new pad. After that we grabbed some super yummy chinese at our favorite chinese restaurant and then headed to TH for Heather's shower. We had planned on getting in early so we could see Heather's remodeled house, but we hit a detour and it ended up taking us longer than anticipated, so we headed straight for the shower. She had it at a friend's house and I was in awe over this lady's landscape. It was absolutely gorgeous! We had a great time at Heather's shower. She got some really cute lingerie and it was good just to see her again. We can't wait for her wedding at the end of July! (See shower pics here) We also got some lovely ideas on a baby shower we are throwing for Jamie in September. After the shower we headed back. Once back in Lafay, we grabbed dinner at Olive Garden, where Grace found a hottie waiter/bus boy that she couldn't keep her eyes off of. It was so hilarious! Then we stopped at Target for some shopping before heading home. We were all exhausted when we got home, so we stayed up to talk for a while and finally headed to bed. Oh and check my flickr pics to see how adorable Grace was!



Sunday the ladies left pretty early. After they left I cleaned house and got ready. Eric & I headed out to grab lunch and ran a few errands. We ended up getting a few more items than anticipated, but it was worth it. I got this adorable new Fossil purse (on clearance) & some jewelry to go with the dresses I got last week.




I spent the evening making lists and laying stuff out for Jamaica... We leave on Wednesday. We are a little nervous b/c of Alberto. We hope he's gone by the time we fly in although we are connecting in North Carolina... I think we'll be fine though!

Major Addiction

Last Friday we went to the Dave Matthews Band concert. It was pretty good, however he played a lot of new stuff and it was more instrumental than I was in the mood for. I wanted to sing and dance. I did...just not as much as I would have liked. The weather was perfect for it though.

Saturday I found my new addiction...Sex & the City... I watched 30 episodes in one day... Granted they are 20-25 minute episodes, but 30!!!

Sunday Eric mowed the lawn in the morning while I caught a few more episodes then took a shower & got ready. After Eric was done mowing, he showered and we headed to the movie. We saw The Davinci Code. I thought it was pretty good and quite thought provoking. Definitely raises a lot of questions, too. After that we headed over to the mall to grab a few things then headed home. I watched a few more episodes of S & the C and hit the bed.

This week has been rather hectic at work. We are still moving stuff and cleaning some things out. I can't tell you how many file cabinets I've moved. I'm ready to get into a normal routine and start purging some of my files. Today I have a recruitment workshop that initially sounded great, but I'm tired today and it's not sounding as fun. I'm still going, so hopefully it's worth my while.

This weekend my girlfriends are coming in and we are heading south to go to my friend Heather's bridal shower. Should be fun, so expect some pictures. And, of course, this time next week I'll be in the air heading towards Jamaica!!!

Oh and stay tuned for an issue I will be facing Friday night... I'll definitely post "pics"...

Memorial Weekend

My weekend was pretty good. It was so freaking hot out though. Friday after work we stopped by our bike shop and ordered me some Chacos for Jamaica. Eric got some a few weeks ago and we decided they would be good for when we go to the falls and stuff, so I ordered mine. Then we grabbed dinner at BW3s and headed home.

Saturday we went to see "X-Men 3", which was ok, but not as good as the first two. After the movie we ran some errands and then met Danialle & Chadd for dinner. It was nice seeing them as they passed through. We also did a little shopping (or more browsing). I did buy 2 little chocolate lab magnets, 1 for home and 1 for work. :D

Sunday I was l-a-z-y. My allergies kicked my butt majorly. You know that commercial with the chic talking about sneezing, nasal congestion, itchy, watery eyes, etc. etc. well I could have starred in that role. It sucked. Eric played outside with Godiva with the hose. It was quite cute!

Yesterday we had a cookout. We got ready yesterday morning, stopped and grabbed some flowers and then went to visit grave's. After that we headed over to my grandparents house. Everyone was late or rather no one told us they had changed the time, but that was ok. We visted with everyone and finally ate around 3:30 or so. It was yummy. I even got to play with my niece. She's so darn cute! I could just eat her up. Unfortunately I forgot my camera so I didn't get any pictures of her. I know...Bad Aunt! Last night I started getting a horrible headache and ended up in bed around 7:30. It was so bad I thought I was going to puke, but thankfully didn't. It lasted around 3 hours and I was finally able to get some sleep around 9:30-10. I haven't had one nearly that bad in a really long time and I hope it doesn't come back anytime soon either.

It's back to work today. We have some student workers starting so I will finally get some filing done and can start setting aside some of my easier tasks for them to do. Yay! I'll try to post pics in the next couple of days and do a post about my cousin's wedding and my florist skills. :D

JAMAICA Mon!!!!!!!

So Eric won/earned a trip to Jamaica!!! This couldn't have come at a better time... We are staying at the Grand Lido Negril. It is an all-inclusive resort. We fly out on June 14 and return on June 18, so 5 days in Jamaica (3 full days, oh my!). The resort has complimentary manicures and pedicures, which we plan to take advantage of. I even convinced Eric to partake, too. Plus we are getting the couple massage in the cabana. We are trying to get our room moved to the "clothing optional" side as well b/c we've heard its much better on that side. Some other places on our agenda include:

*Mayfield Falls
*Negril Lighthouse
*Rick's Cafe (where Eric plans to jump off the cliff)
*Drinking fruity slush drinks by the pool
*Maybe some Snorkeling
*Possibly a boat ride
*Fun in the sun
*Oh and LOTS AND LOTS of sunscreen this time. :D

I can't wait to get away for a few days and have nothing to think about but ourselves. I'm sure there will be a little worrying about our puppies, but they'll be in good hands.

Post-Cycle Appointment

We had our post-cycle appointment with Dr. B on Wednesday. It went well. Basically he thinks the most likely reason we didn't get pregnant was a chromosone difficiency. He used this "A" word that I can't remember. He said even though my embryos "looked" great that's the most common reason for women to not get pregnant. He said it's hard to tell. Sometimes average looking embryos that they aren't sure will implant do great and then perfect looking ones don't. Just one of those things.

Dr. B said the chromosone thing is a lot more common than people think, however our body recognizes it and doesn't allow implantantion. He said if that is the problem that it's unlikely ALL of my embryos.

If you remember when we were going through all of the tests in the beginning we found out that I am A- blood type and Eric is O+, which can cause antibodies to build up and attack after the first pregnancy. I asked Dr. B if it was possible that at some point I could have gotten pregnant and miscarried without realizing it and if that could be the problem now. While he said it was unlikely we could do a simple blood test to check for antibodies to be 100% sure. I love that he did it just to appease me. Haven't heard back about the results though although I'm sure the results are fine.

We went on to discuss the FET, which we plan to do later this fall. I would call them about 2 weeks before I'm supposed to start and let them know that I want to do it on the next cycle. They will put be on a low dose of FSH for 5-7 days, basically until my lining is at 8. Then they will unfreeze all 4 and transfer whatever make it. He figured 2-3, but if all 4 make it then we'd transfer 4 (that scares me a bit), but not enough to say "No". hee hee

I'd like to have a couple "normal" cycles before we start, too. That's my idea not the doc's. Plus we need to come up with some money. It was a little more than we both anticipated, but that's ok, too. It will all be worth it.

Yesterday, the day after meeting Dr. B and after 60 LONG days the flood gates opened up I just wanted to go home and curl up in bed. Ugh! I wasn't expecting it until next week per what they told me when taking the prometrium, so this was a rather pleasant surprise I suppose... Guess they just needed a little talk from the doc...

Matt's Grave

A few weeks ago we got together with my sisters and mom and landscaped my brother's grave. It was nice that all of us could do it and the grave itself really does look nice. See...



It was sort of soothing for me to get it done. It really sets it apart from some of the other graves, too.

Last fall after my brother's death I had already planned on landscaping his grave this spring. I found these two rocks as well that are just perfect to put out there. Click on the image to read what they say...





So now the landscape is done and I'm as happy as can be. I miss him so much. I think about him every day, too.

I've been neglecting another thing in memory of him that I hope to check off my list soon as well. We put together some videos of Matt when he was younger and my cousin Danialle put it together and editted it. I just need to make a DVD cover and make about 20 copies. I think I'm going to start working on this and give it to all of our family members around the 4th of July.

See last year our WHOLE family got together during the 4th and had the most spectacular time ever! This was just a few weeks before my brother's sudden death. Thankfully we were able to get that picture because that is how I will always remember the last few weeks of my brother's life. He was happy, maybe not on the inside, but you couldn't tell on the outside. I'm so thankful that I got to spend time with him before he was gone, too.

One of my favorite memories of him was the day before he died when we were all at my aunt's house. We couldn't find him and finally we looked outside and Matt was floating around in the little pool they have with a huge smile on his face. When I think about that it makes me smile.

I'm still around

It's been a while since I updated... Between my new job kicking my butt, sadness of our IVF/C not working, my cousin's wedding (in which I did all the flowers) and just laziness, I haven't gotten around to posting. I hope to get caught back up this week/weekend and get back to regular posting. Some posts you can look forward to in the near future are:

**Landscaping my brother's grave (pics), which was particularly soothing for me.
**Pics from our trip to the Wisconsin*Dells.
**Pics of my cousin's wedding including the corsages, bouteniers, and bouquets I put together.
**Hopefully my post-cycle consult appointment, which is this Wednesday w/ Dr. B.
**Pics of the rock we are putting down in our landscape in the next few weeks.
**Info about our much needed, all-inclusive, trip to Jamaica in mid-June for 5 DAYS...

I've been so busy at work that I have only been skimming your blogs and haven't been commenting. I hope to get back to commenting soon as well. This week is the start of some slower times at work and I can do things more at my own pace. I've been thinking of all of you though.

My life is just crazy and I think I'm fighting some depression issues. I quit going to therapy since I got my new job and shouldn't be taking off work. Maybe I should go back. I'm hoping that getting outside and doing some landscaping and getting into some regular exercise (walking, biking, maybe gym) will get me to feeling better, too. Anyway, I'm hanging in there and just wanted to let you all know I'm still around.

Rubbing salt in my wounds...

I've been a bad blogger. Since we got the good news and since starting my new job I haven't had the time or even the desire to post. I've thought about it multiple times, but then either get busy or don't know what to say... Thank you all so much for checking in on me. I greatly appreciate it. I'm hurting, I'm angry, I'm numb. I just feel so lost. I haven't started my period. That is what upsets me the most b/c it's just like a horrible tease.

Yesterday we had our post-cycle appointment with Dr. B. We got there and G called us back and said that Dr. B was way behind and we were going to have to reschedule b/c he had a surgery at 11:00. (Our appt was supposed to be at 10:30) I stood there in shock. Eric asked if we would get information about our 4 cryo'd embryos and she said that we would get all that in our post-cycle appt. She went back to see if she could reschedule us and I just stood there, numb. Then it occurred to me I needed to let them know I hadn't started my period. As soon as she came back I told her and lost it. She hugged me and was understanding. She said it takes 60-90 days for my cycle to get back to normal and if this was normal for me. I said no, that I was very regular. I was pretty much sobbing at this point. She said to follow her and she wrote us out a Rx for a beta (that hurt the worst) b/c of the med she then gave me to induce my period.

She said we could sneak out the back and call later to reschedule, but I sucked it up and said it was ok, we'll just reschedule for next week. She told us to wait and she'd go over a chart a little bit with us. I think she could tell we were dying inside...

They cryo'd 4 embryos, which we know. There are three stages where they cryo... I can't remember the names. Stage 2 was something like cleavage (what I heard) or cleaved (what Eric heard) and Stage 3 is balast (heard that one before). They cryo'd ours at Stage 2. This is good. They cryo them in "straws". Our were cryo'd 2-1-1, so 2 in one straw and the other 2 each in individual straws. Success of them surviving the unfreezing is somewhere between 60-70%. Don't know the percentage of getting pregnant w/ FET, but it's less than IVF.

For the FET, they basically give you meds (similar to clomid), but injectible for 5-7 days, then check your lining and 5 days later transfer. Then some progesterone, just for additional support. Have no idea on $$ though. Very easy cycle though. We told her we would be doing that later this fall in the Sept-Oct timeframe.

We rescheduled our appointment for May 24th.

Today we are leaving for Wisconsin for a vacation with my inlaws, SIL & BIL. It should be fun except it's supposed to be cold and raining. We'll still have a good time though. I'll be back to somewhat regular posting next week.

GWO 12

We had our quarterly Girls' Weekend Out this past weekend. Thursday night Eric & I cleaned the house up and sat down to watch TV. I made it through Survivor, but not all the way through CSI. Danialle showed up around 10:00 and we sat up and chatted for a while. We were both exhausted, so we headed to bed.

Saturday morning we got up and took our time getting ready and things. We grabbed some breakfast and headed over to this flower shop to check on some flowers for my cousin's wedding in May. After that we made a stop at Starbuck's and the bank. Then we headed back home to meet Jennifer, who arrived around 11:30 am. We headed straight to C'ville and had lunch at the China Inn. It was so yummy! After lunch we did some road farming while trying to find this house Danialle is interested in renting. It was quite fun. We made a quick trip to Kroger to pick up some cards and headed over to my gramp's retirement party. It was sorta fun seeing some people I hadn't seen in a while as I worked there for a short time. Unfortunately we got sad news that my great-gramps was in the hospital and he wasn't doing good at all. He has a huge mass on his brain and is going into renal failure. He was in good spirits though. After we left the part, we decided to go ahead and get our tattoos.

Danialle got 3 stars that represent us 3


Jennifer got three chinese symbols that mean "Survivor"


And I got this symbol we found that means sisterhood


James of Jak of All Trades was awesome! If you are ever in the area definitely go to him & tell him 3 awesome girls sent ya!!

GWO Tattoos...


After getting tattoos we went over to my grandparents to check on the status of great-gramps. He is basically slowly dying. He's still in good spirits though because he asked the ambulance driver who was taking him to a bigger hospital if they could stop by DQ and get him a "wizard" (that's what he calls blizzards). He still hadn't got one as of last night, so Eric & I are taking one to him tonight. He has prostate cancer and it is now in his brain and causing his kidneys to shut down. He keeps telling everyone that he's going to visit with all his family and then he's on the road to visit his wife. (She died in 2001) We visited with the family then headed home and pretty much went to bed. It was an emotional and exhausting day.

Saturday we got up and headed to iHop for breakfast. Then we headed to Target and walked around there forever. Finally a quick stop at PetSmart and Michael's and then headed up to see great-gramps. He was doing pretty good when we got there. We visited with him for a while then headed back to my house. Heather had already arrived. By this time we were starving, so we sat down and had a yummy healthy lunch. (Sandwiches, pasta, fruit) After lunch we decided to play some Phase 10. Heather hadn't ever played and ended up winning. Next we decided to break out the dominoes. We played a few hands of that and then got started on our "Build Your Own Pizzas".





That was a blast and they were pretty good, too. We played some more dominoes, had several drinks and then decided to watch a movie. That was all she wrote for me. I didn't make it very far before my eyes were closed. I think around 11 I headed to bed.

Sunday everyone got up and got ready to head home. After a quick breakfast they were on the road. It was a great & much needed weekend, despite the bad news about great-gramps. Later we ran a few errands, visited gramps and spent the evening on the couch. I was exhausted and just didn't feel well.

Today I'm back to work. I woke up with a sore throat, so I hope I'm not getting sick, but I have a feeling its coming my way. I just feel a little icky. I don't have time to read blogs or update much. This week is crazy busy and I have several trainings & meetings on top of the regular stuff. I'll be catching up as I get time.

Here is more pics from the weekend as well. GWO 12 Photo Album