Friday, October 31, 2008

HAPPY HALLOWEEN and some football



I am so sad that we do not get to participate in giving out candy tonight. We love to dress our little dog up in his cape and let him sit at the door while the trick-or-treaters come for candy. This year instead of the normal Halloween festivities, we will be going back to the mountains for our college Alma maters Halloween football game. Not sure if you have ever heard of Appalachian State University in Boone, NC but it is a great football school. We have won 3 consecutive championships.Although we are more famous for beating Michigan at the Big House last year. Anyways, we are going to the game tonight (which could end up being a pretty hard game). I am so excited even though I am upset about missing the trick-or-treaters.


GO APP STATE!


Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Engagement Memories

Lianna, at Growing Our Own Garden, posted her engagement story today and asked others to post theirs. Her engagement story is really sweet. I am a sucker for weddings so I love to hear how others got engaged. While Hubs is not the most romantic person in the world (which is okay since I am not either) he was really great with planning out the proposal.

So here is our story:

We met in college at Appalachian State University in January 2003. We were at a get-together and kind of got stuck talking to each other. One of my sorority sisters dated one of his fraternity brothers so that is why we were in the same place. We talked that night and ended up hanging out in a group again later that week. We started dating soon after. He graduated in 2004 and moved back to Greensboro where he was from. He stayed there for about 4 months and then got a job close to where I grew up. He moved in with my parents while he looked for an apartment. I was still in college and he came up to visit me for the weekend. On Friday night we went to a party at his old fraternity house and he was acting kind of weird. On Sat morning we went to breakfast and he needed some new snow boots so we went to the mall. Later we came back to my apartment and watched some basketball games on TV. I kept trying to cuddle with him on the couch and he kept moving away from me. I was getting ill because he had already been acting weird the night before and I was starting to think that something was wrong. Then the doorbell rings. I get up to get it and no one is there. Instead on the balcony there is 2 dozen red roses. I turn around and he is behind me down on one knee. I have no idea what he says but the first thing out of my mouth is "did you ask my daddy?". He laughed and I of course said yes. He had asked my dad which he knew was really important to me. The doorbell rings again and I answer it to find lunch from my favorite restaurant on the balcony. Two of our friends and his fraternity brothers had delivered everything and rang the doorbell. They also videotaped through the doorway once I turned around. BTW, the roses gave it away because he had told me when we first started dating that he would propose once he had given me 12 dozen roses. Those last 2 dozen made 12. We became engaged on January 30, 2005 and were married 18 months later. Life gets better everyday with him and I cannot imagine not having him in my life!

Monday, October 27, 2008

Weekend Recap in Pictures


I have gotten really slack about taking pictures so my goal this weekend was to capture lots of lil moments. It was a great weekend to carry the camera; we had a date on Friday night, Halloween party on Sat. night, and spent all day Sunday with our neice and nephew.


Here are some pictures:




This is us before going out on Friday night. It was so great just to have a night to ourselves.





Me in my lovely 50's outfit. I wasn't able to get a full body picutre of myself and Hubs.




Setting up for the annual carving competeition.




Hubs and our niece Lanie working on thier pumpkin. She wanted him to do a cat and he wanted to do a haunted house.


The cutest little farmer in the world. He was not into pumpkin carving.



Eli wanted to play with the flour instead of helping with the pumpkins. My jeans were covered in flour by the time we were finished.



The cutest kids in the world. Not that I am biased or anything.

Hubs with Lanie and Eli.

This was our fun packed weekend. Now back to work, ugh!

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Stay Expectant Everyday

This was the title of my devotional today and when I saw it this morning I knew that it was going to be one that felt like it was speaking straight to me. BTW, if you have not read Joyce Meyer's New Day, New You devotional, you should really check it out. Today's devotion talks about staying expectant and having faith. I want to share this verse with you:

"He said to them, it is not for you to become acquainted with and know what time brings or fixed years and seasons, which the Father has appointed by His own choice and authority and personal power." Acts 1:7

Isn't that powerful? We can and should pray for the things that we desire but we need to have faith that they will happen; not in our timing, but in God's PERFECT timing. I know that there are several women that visit my blog that are also struggling with infertility like myself. You ladies have been such an inspiration to me and while it pains me to know that you are feeling as frustrated and disappointed as I do; it has been such a blessing to "talk" and share my feelings with you. This blog has been a wonderful outlet for all the emotions that I don't feel I can express. Ladies, I truly believe that God does have a a plan for us. Our struggles are not a form of punishment or lack of love from our God. I feel that this is my cross to bear and one day I will be a mommy. I've already learned that I do not have control over this. It hasn't happened in my timing so I am going to sit back and let it happen in His. And thank God everyday for the blessings that I do have because sometimes I feel like I overlook those while waiting for others.

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Christmas 411

Amy at Chapters came up with the best idea. She suggested that we all share some of our personal favs for Christmas gift giving. This should really help for those 'hard to buy for" people that we all have on our list. Each item needs to be less than $50 (although you are allowed 1 free expensive pass). Below I have listed some of my favorites from past years and for this year.




Here is my Christmas 411 list:








I love blankets! We keep several on hand for those people (like neighbors or fellow teachers) that give you a gift and you either forgot or didn't have them on your list. This zebra print is super cute but it might me best to keep some simple colors on hand.








Throw out your plastic or brown lunch bags! These are thermal lunch totes and they are the cutest things ever. They are made by a company called Thirty-One and the monogramming is free. There are tons of colors and you can get anything you want put on them. The company also has a ton of other fabulous products. My friend is a sales rep and all the teachers at my school carry them.


Candles! Candles! Candles! And look at the yummy name on this one. I am a sucker for anything pumpkin. I have candles in every room of my house and I even keep one in my classroom with a candle burner (since they don't want fire in schools, go figure!)





These L.L. Bean slippers are so warm and comfy. And look how cute. They come in a wide range of colors but I just love these chocolate ones. What woman wouldn't want a pair of these to skip on after work?






For those people that you just really have NO idea what they want an easy and pleasing for all gift is movie certificates. Since just about everyone likes to go to the movies, these gift passes should make even the most difficult person on your list happy.

My 1st Award!


Thank you Rebecca at My Cup Overflows, for giving me my very first blog award. I am so excited about this. Now, I am supposed to list 6 things that make me happy. I have already done something similar to this so I will just do a quick list.
1) my wonderful husband... he is my rock, my best friend, and the person that holds my heart.
2) my beautiful house
3) my amazing family... they mean the world to me
4) the best friends in the world
5) a great job that I look forward to coming to each morning
6) this time of the year... I love fall, Halloween, football, Thanksgiving, and Christmas... plus all the birthdays
Since I am new to this whole blog thing I am not sure that I have six people to give this too. Here goes though:
1- Growing Our Own Garden
2- Megan Blanton's Webblog
3- Keeping Up with the Jameses
4- Lemberg Family
5- I'll Do Anything for you Baby
6- My Journey Towards the Glamorous Life of a Housewife




Tuesday, October 21, 2008

The Journey continues...

My dr.s appt. yesterday did not go quiet like I had planned. I was supposed to be going in so that she could tell me that I had ovulated and that everything looked great. Not so much! My body prepared itself to ovulate but instead it just filled up with blood. I know, it sounds horrible and very painful but I would have never known if I hadn't had the ultrasound. So needless to say that I would never be able to get pregnant as long as my body is doing this. So now I have officially joined the world of fertility drugs. Can't you feel the excitement...yeah right. My dr. has put me on Femara and I will begin that next cycle. (Its a good thing that I didn't have Hubs drive 4 hours to meet me last week). We are hoping and praying that this will be what we need... the next steps get pretty pricey. Please keep us in your prayers. (Pray for Hubs too please... supposedly the medicine can make you pretty cranky).

Friday, October 17, 2008

Power of 4

Saw this on My Cup Overflow's and thought it would be cute to do on this yucky, rainy Friday morning.

Top 4 wishes:
1) to be a mother... I have never wanted anything more than this.
2) to be able to show my students how much I care about them; even if they leave my class without learning anything else I want them to leave knowing that they have a teacher that thinks the are special and worthy.
3) to lose 30 lbs... which I would be happy to put on hold when I get pregnant.
4) to grow everyday in my walk with the Lord, I strive to be a godly woman and an example to others. I pray to be a beacon of God's love shining through me so that others will be drawn to him.

4 places that I want to travel:
1) the midwest... Wyoming, Montana, etc.
2) Ireland
3) back to Disney World for the uptenth time
4) Italy... only because Hubs really wants to go there

4 careers that I want to be involved in:
1) TEACHING... the best choice that I have ever made
2) motherhood... my ultimate dream job
3) baker
4) magazine editor

4 things that I would want God to say to me at the gates of Heaven:
1) WELCOME, my daughter
2) your at the right place
3) Come on in
4) Lets go meet your family and friends

If you haven't done this yet... give it a try.


Hubs surprised me and came home last night. He wasn't supposed to be home until this afternoon. I was so excited to see him!

Thursday, October 16, 2008

Ready for the weekend

Tonight is Parent/Teacher conferences so I've had plenty of time to sit here and think of some very witty blog titles. As you can see I haven't thought of any yet. The only thing that keeps coming to mind is how ready I am for it to be Friday at 3pm. Actually 5pm since that's when I will finally get to see hubs again. I've only had 2 parents show up for conferences which is pretty good for special ed. Usually I don't see any. Volleyball is finished so now I can finally have my afternoons off. Hubs and I are thinking about joining the YMCA so that we can both lose some extra pounds that we seem to be packing on for winter. I'm going shopping on Sat. with my mom, hopefully to get some more Christmas shopping done. I have already gotten a lot of things. We are trying to get some things bought early so that I won't have to buy everything in December at the last minute.
Well... off to the JV football game to cheer for one of my students. Hope you all have a wonderful weekend.

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Not So Perfect Timing...

I started this blog as a way to share my story and meet others that are also going through the difficult and extremely trying process of infertility. So far I have met lots of amazing women that have been such a blessing to me during this time in my life. I wanted to share my day with you but first I thought you may need some background information. So here goes:

My husband and I met January 11th 2003. We were both in college at this time. We started dating and he proposed on January 30, 2005. We got married on June 10th, 2006 and decided at that time to wait 3 years to start a family. By August 2007 I was ready but he wasn't. So one night in January 2008 he tells me that he wants to start trying for a baby in April. So in Feb. I go for my yearly dr. visit and let my dr. know that we will start trying soon. His response is that we are young and healthy we should be pg in no time. So April comes and we start trying. In June we buy the Clear Blue Easy Fertility Monitor. In August I switch dr.s at the request of a friend and my husband. My new dr. immediately starts testing both me and my husband. They do a sperm analysis on my hubby and he is perfect (which of course I already knew that) All of my lab works comes back fine except for my thyroid with was low. So they put me on medicine for that and my new dr. tells me she wants to do and HSG to make sure my tubes are clear. (FYI: In 2006 I had had an abnormal pap smear where they thought there may be some cysts.) In August I have the HSG done and my left tube is completely blocked with what they think is endometrosis. So she schedules me for a laproscopy in September. The lap is a complete success and removes all of my stage III endometrosis. She told me to use my monitor this month and come in for na ultrasound when I was ovulating.

Back to present: So on Sunday and Monday I got high on my monitor and called and scheduled the ultrasound for yesterday afternoon. I got peak yesterday morning so I kept my appt. She does the ultrasound and says that I have one really great follicle and that everything looks perfect and I should go home and be with my husband. Yay! That's great except for the part where my husband is out of town on a business trip until Friday afternoon. My dr. even told me I should call and meet him. Unfortunately he has his companies truck and wouldn't be able to put over 4 hours worth of driving on it without having to explain. At which point I do not think that meeting my wife to make a baby is a legitimate excuse. I was so upset and just cried. Hubs was so sweet and let me cry on the phone to him all the while apologizing. I know that this was not the time for us to get pg. God has a perfect time picked out for us and we just have to be patient and wait on His amazing timing. Please pray for me that I can be patient and faithful in my trust in God's plan for us and our lives.
Also, we are both in an out of town wedding at the end of June so an early July due date would not have been good for us.

P.S. Hubs has a business trip scheduled for this exact same time next month but he said that he was going to tell his boss that he couldn't go. That he needs to stay home and make a baby.

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Thankful for a 4 day work week!


Can I just say that my students are driving me INSANE!!!!


<------ Here is what I have looked like all week. Thankfully we have a teacher workday on Friday so there won't be any students. Not sure if I can make it through tomorrow though. 9th and 10th graders are the worst age in the world! I have just started handing out After School Detention slips... although keeping them for an extra 30 minutes only prolongs my torture. If only I didn't have volleyball practice. I could go home, take a hot bubble bath, and cuddle with Hubs.

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

The Wonderful Hubs

Hubs means the WORLD to me! He is my best friend and the love of my life. Since he means so much to me I thought I would let you know more about him.

1. He's sitting in front of the TV, what is on the screen? NC State, Appalachian, or South Carolina football, Hero's on Monday night, or th news

2. You're out to eat; what kind of dressing does he get on his salad? Ranch

3. What's one food he doesn't like? wow this is a hard one, only because he will eat just about anything, he doesn't really like spagettie that much

4. You go out to the bar. What does he order? white russian or a beer

5. Where did he go to high school? SE in Greensboro NC

6. What size shoe does he wear? 12

7. If he was to collect anything, what would it be? NC State, App, or SC stuff

8. What is his favorite type of sandwich? Italian Trio or Ruebans

9. What would this person eat every day if he could? cinnamon rolls

10. What is his favorite cereal? Frosted Flakes

11. What would he never wear? earrings

12. What is his favorite sports team? NC State

13. Who will he vote for? McCain

14. Who is his best friend? me :) best guy friends are N and K from high school

15. What is something you do that he wishes you wouldn't do? leave his clothes on the hope chest

16. How many states has he lived in? 1- NC

17. What is his heritage? Scottish

18. You bake him a cake for his birthday; what kind of cake? choc. chip pound cake

19. Did he play sports in high school? he was in the band, everyone thinks he played football because he is 6'5" and 320 lbs

20. What could he spend hours doing? watching sports and playing football on the PS3

Tagged


I have been tagged by Chapters (btw, if you haven't checked her blog out yet you really need to, she is fabolous). So here goes the 7 random/weird facts about myself.
1) I am OCD. I have to do everything in the exact same order at the same time. My morning rountine has been the same for as long as I can remember. I get up, get something to drink, shower, devotions, dry hair, makeup, breakfast, kiss hubby and off to work.
2) I love the smell of clean clothes. I will walk by the laundry room a 100 times while I am washing clothes. Sometimes I even get dryer sheets out just to smell them.
3) I am addicted to chapstick. I have 5 in my pocketbook, 1 in my living room, 1 beside my bed, and 1 in the bathroom. I wake up in the middle of the night just to put more chapstick on.
4) I would rather eat cake batter than the actual cake, brownie batter in place of brownies, cookie dough in place of cookies, and biscuit dough in place of the cooked biscuits.
5) I sucked my thumb until I was in the 2nd grade. My right thumb is now shorter and flater than my left thumb.
6) I am always reading at least 3 books at one time. It drives my husband crazy (he hates to read). He doesn't understand how I can remember what each book is about.
7) My favorite food is oatmeal. I love it and have ate it since I wa sa baby. I love any flavor and any form of it.
I am tagging anyone that is reading this. It is difficult to think about things that are weird since you may not think that they are.


Thursday, October 2, 2008

Happy List

I saw this on Mrs. Newlyweds blog and thought that it was a great way to start off the day! The object is to list things that make you happy or that you are grateful for.

Here is my list:

1) Fall weather... it is finally getting cool here in the Carolinas.
2) my wonderful husband who may very well be the greatest man in the world.
3) parents that love each other and everyone around them.
4) having the greatest friends in the world and getting to see them all the time.
5) students that care about their teachers. and teachers that care about their students
6) the inventor of Diet Sundrop and Chapstick... the only 2 things that I am addicted too.
7) Holidays... my favorites are all coming up... Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas... plus tons of birthdays
8) spending Sat. shopping with my mom
9) 3 wonderful doggies
10) Flip flops and tennis shoes
11) Christian fiction
12) pumpkins and fall decor
13) home cooked food that makes you feel great
14) over sized sweatshirts and pajama pants
15) Casual Friday (no jeans thought)
16) college football (Go Gamecocks!)
17) French Vanilla Frappas
18) choc. chip pancakes... my new favorite Sat. breakfast
19) wrapping Christmas presents with my mom
20) family get togethers

There are so many other things that make me happy or that I am grateful for. There is just no way that I can list them all.

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Personality Test

I saw this career test on Chapter's Blog and figured that I would give it a try to see if I am in the right profession. And according to my results; it looks like I am. I would say that the personality type is pretty dead-on too. Try it and see what it says about you. Career Test.

Your personality type:
Quietly forceful, original and sensitive. Tend to stick to things until they are done. Extremely intuitive about people and concerned for their feelings. Well-developed value systems which they strictly adhere to. Well-respected for their perserverence in doing the right thing. Likely to be individualistic, rather than leading or following.

Careers that could fit you includes:
Counselors, clergy, missionaries, teachers, medical doctors, dentists, chiropractors, psychologists, psychiatrists, writers, musicians, artists, psychics, photographers, child care workers, education consultants, librarians, marketeers, scientists, social workers.