Feelin' Good

After my bout of an awful time with this infertility monster (see here and here in case for some reason you want to relive that dark spot), I am having a really good day today. I am totally content, very happy, and hopeful tomorrow will bring the same feelings.

First thing's first, Josey won the giveaway!! Josey, email me your address and I will ship you your natural dishwasher detergent!! I hope you like it as much as I do!!

Secondly, I just want to bask in today. I hope that's okay. Those of you who are not having good days, be assured you are in my prayers. I have been where you are- when it seems so dark you can't possibly imagine light again. Hang on as best you can- we are all here for you (HUG)!! Just to show you that things do turn around, here are some things going on:

• I had an amazing afternoon with my beautiful friend and her daughter yesterday. I invited them over so I could introduce them to the mennonite farm and bulk store I have grown to love so much. Luckily for me, they loved it, too!! And time with them is just such a balm to my heart. She struggled with IF, too, and her daughter is a beautiful example of God's plan for adoption- as a result, she is so sensitive to how it feels to deal with IF. We have an honest, prayerful relationship, and it is so wonderful! If I could pass along two prayer requests from her, please pray that her husband is led to the job God has in mind for him, and also please pray that God will give them clear direction on what is next in the building of their family. Thanks!
• I made amazing pizza for dinner last night. The crust turned out perfect! I also used our own tomato sauce, with fresh mozzarella from the mennonite cheese shop, and ground beef from the farm!
• I also made an apple crisp last night with apples from an orchard we went to last Sunday! The crisp turned out really good- it was all I could do to avoid having it for breakfast!
  
• This morning my cousin came over to go hunting with Mr. A (bow deer season now). He's a senior in high school, and it was really nice to just hang out with him! They are gone all day, but it is the most perfect fall day you can picture, so it will be an amazing time in the woods. Not sure they will get a deer, but that would certainly liven up our activities tonight! Nothing like butchering your own deer...
• Because they are gone all day, I have had a great day to myself. I've hung out 2 loads of laundry, and washed/hung up all Mr. A's work clothes. I went and got my dad a birthday card and some organic strawberries for.....
• ANOTHER TWO BATCHES OF FREEZER JAM!!! I'm not sure if you can sense my enthusiasm. ;-) I picked another 8 cups of raspberries from our bush recently and wanted to make a different combination this time (last time I combined the raspberries with rhubarb). This time I used some pectin I got at the mennonite store that allows you to use less sugar or HONEY! This universal pectin's jelling power is from calcium, not by the sugar you add to the jam like other pectins. Long story short, I made one batch with honey and one batch with sugar (lower quantities than my previous batch), and it was VERY easy!! I can't wait to try the one with honey- how cool is that!
• I am also making chicken and dumplings from scratch for my hungry hunters tonight. I am boiling the chicken right now, with some carrots, celery, garlic, and onion, and the house smells wonderful!! AND I already have some dumplings frozen from last time- the dumpling recipe made too many! It will be a really satisfying dinner (I hope) on such a crisp fall evening.
• Our dogs are being so precious today. I don't know how we ended up with the world's two greatest dogs (am I biased?), but we sure hit the jackpot with them. Even though Bert is only 10.5 months old, he (and Banana, but she is always great with kids) did so great with my friend's daughter yesterday- they are the same eye level! I was a tad worried he'd knock her over, but he was wonderful! I don't think my friend's daughter was prepared for all the doggie-kisses though ;-)

Well I better scoot and do up some dishes from my cooking escapades this afternoon. It has been so wonderful to create things in the kitchen! I wish you were all here with me hanging out and making stuff :)

Guest Post (Bert)

Hello, I am only 10.5 months old right now, so this is my first letter I've ever written, so forgive me if I don't have all the speling right. (This will be quick because it is raining outside, and this is a prime napping morning!)

Up until 2.5 months ago, I lived my whole life in a shelter. People would come see me, and then they would never come back for me. It was really frustrating because I am so friendly and I tried to make a good impression. But then one afternoon when it was thundering and raining really hard, two people came to see me and brought their other dog. In the small room at the shelter, we all met. I really liked their dog, and they could tell I was a great dog. But then they left again. I went back to my kennel at the shelter and wondered if I'd ever see them again or if it'd be like all the other families.

Much to my excitement, the very next day the man came back!!! He filled out some paperwork, and then he gave me my very own fancy collar with a shiny nametag with MY name!!! He led me outside- could this be it?! He opened the door to some kind of box and wanted me to get inside, but I was nervous- what was this thing- I had no idea?! He opened a bag of treats and put one on the seat. I hopped right in- I'll do anything for a treat!

I am SO happy to be home. It took my sister (Banana) a few weeks to get warmed up to how much I want to play, but now she wants to play just as much as I do. We take a walk all together first thing after I get up, and then we go outside every morning after breakfast (except today because it is raining) and we smell around the yard and run after each other. It is so nice to have someone to always play with! Then we come inside and take naps next to each other on the couch or chair. We really have to curl up tight to both fit on the chair, but it is so cozy!! And the rest of the day is spent snoozing and maybe playing with some toys. Then my dad comes home from work and we all go for a walk. Then we eat dinner, play outside some more, and come to rest at the end of each day cuddled on the couch again.

My mom said that she'd love to post some pictures of us, but their computer just broke so they lost all of their pictures. She promises to take more so you can see me and Banana!!

Sometimes, especially when I am dozing next to my sister on the most comfortable couch on the planet, or when we are running gleefully around the yard, I think back to when I didn't know my family. I woke up every day for 8 months hoping it'd be the day I'd get to go home like some of my other friends there. Eight months is a long time to keep hoping. My mom says that I probably got discouraged the same way she does, but look at what a happy ending the 4 of us are. I have loved being here, learning the things that they are teaching me, playing with Banana, and being safe and cozy. I have tried my best to be the best boy I can be, and my mom and dad tell me all the time that I am a very good boy! Except when I bark at rabbits (that I smell) when we are walking in the pitch black at 6am....

Okay, I'm getting sleepy, so I better sign off. I just wanted to say hi to everyone. I will write again soon!

Love, Bert

PS. My mom says don't miss entering the giveaway below!

Back in Business! (GIVEAWAY!)

Wow, it feels good to open up the laptop and write a new post again! PLUS, I am so excited to be able to visit each of you this morning and leave a comment after so long of just reading!! I hope I haven't lost too many readers :)

And, just like I promised, it's time for a celebration giveaway!!

As you know, we've switched most of our food to organic/natural, and that has extended into other products around our home, too, like shampoo, soap, and cleaning products. I don't consider switching the home products to be quite as important as food, but some of the ones that come into contact with our skin are something to consider because of some of the ingredients, for example parabens which mimic estrogen and therefore can have an effect on our hormone system that we are so desperately trying to manage!!!

My favorite website for natural products is vitacost. There are tons of reviewed products, from vitamins to laundry detergent. And their prices are better than at least the stores in my area, usually by a couple of bucks. For my giveaway, I will be offering one of two products- you can choose which one you'd like!!

E&O Peppermint and Tea Tree Hand Soap: Alot of the naturally-fragranced products use lavender. I got the world's largest bar of all-natural lavender soap for our downstairs bathroom in the spring, and at that time I mentioned to my acupuncturist that we'd switched to natural soaps, and I had this amazing lavender one, and she told me that lavender oil is used in some instances to bring on your period, so I shouldn't use it during the 2ww! Ack!! So when searching for a new (period-inducing-free) bathroom hand soap, I was really happy to find this one. The scent is just right- not too overpowering or girly (for the very manly husbands)- and it definitely does not dry out your hands. But it also cleans very well- so I have a bottle at the kitchen sink, too. Plus, the blue bottle is really pretty, and the soap is paraben free!!

Earth Friendly Wave Lavender Dishwasher Soap: Okay, since I don't wash with this soap, I allow it to be lavender. Ha! It really does make the kitchen smell nice!! But more importantly, I have found this product to work better than cascade! We don't have a very new dishwasher, and I am not one to rinse all my dishes, and when I was using cascade, alot of my glasses would not get clean on the inside- to the point where I just started handwashing all the glasses. Amazingly, this product gets all my glasses clean!! (Unless, I put something really icky in there without rinsing it, but that is my fault...) I am always impressed by how well this product works, and it doesn't contain bleach or any other harmful ingredients that are prevalent in other dishwasher soaps. (I was using Palmolive Eco because it is free of alot of the other chemicals, but then I checked the label and it contained bleach!) Anyway, I think you will be impressed with this product. You have to remember to shake the bottle before putting it into your dishwasher though :)

So there you have it! I hope you will want to enter this giveaway and go explore the natural products for you and your home! (I'm not being paid by vitacost- I did email them to see if they wanted to partner, but I haven't heard back yet- still hoping they will want to in the future!)

To enter, leave a comment and tell me which product you'd choose and why! I'm keeping it simple :) (ETA: No comments after 5pm EST Friday. I'll announce the winner (random) on Saturday morning!)

Winner and Hilarity

Last night, I asked Mr. A to tell me a number between 1 and 12 (number of entries on the Giveaway post), and he picked 6!

So.....

The winner of the wine pourer set is....

MELISSA!!!

So Melissa, please email me your snail mail address (email linked in my profile), and we can get the ball rolling to ship the set to you!! Hopefully it will be a great addition to your kitchen!

****

In the "hilarity" portion of this post, I just want to share last night's conversation between me and Mr. A about how much to put in our health savings account for next year (deadline is Monday!)...

me: Since it will be too early to tell if we're pregnant on Monday (9dpiui), maybe we should put in more than this year but not the maximum, in case we actually won't need it to help pay for IVF.

him: Well I just don't want to put too much in there and then lose it if we don't have to do IVF.

me: I'm pretty sure that if we're pregnant, I heard you can use it for accupuncture, and we'll still have plenty of medical things to pay for...especially whatever the insurance doesn't cover for the hospital stay and delivery...

him: Doesn't F.ed Ex charge like $20 for delivery? Why can't the stork use Fe.d Ex??

Hahahahahahahaha!! Thank God for husbands! I guess I'll be calling the stork today to see what delivery options we have (next day? express? guaranteed by August 28, 2010?)!!!

Giveaway!

Okay everyone! Time for the Blizzard Baby Giveaway :) I hope this will instill in him/her the idea that giving to others is alot of fun :) Pay attention, baby!

Here is the great product that the great folks at All Modern are allowing me to give away! (Remember to check out the great dining room furniture at another of the online stores (Dining Rooms Direct) that is part of the CSN Store collection of web stores. See my favorite here!)

For all you wine-lovers, this will be an awesome addition to your wine cabinet! It's a set of a decanting pourer (left) and a vacuum stopper (right)!!

I am not a huge wine-o, but from what I do know, decanting your wine will allow the flavors to all mix around together and therefore enhance the taste of your wine. (Also if you have sediment at the bottom of your wine bottle, it will make the sediment stay out of your glass- bonus! You don't have to eat your wine anymore!) AND, the vacuum stopper (which I probably need more than the pourer) enables your wine to stay fresh for longer after you open the bottle! That is particularly desired in households (like mine) where only one person likes wine (me), and on normal occasions I don't drink a bottle of wine by myself in one sitting ;-) Ha!!!

So here is the deal :) To enter, leave a comment on this post telling me your favorite Christmas tradition! I will take comments until Monday at 10PM Tuesday at 9AM (EST), so be sure to leave your comment ASAP!

I'll randomly pick a winner (or I'll get Mr. A to help me), and then I'll announce it Wednesday! Then the winner will need to email their address info, then I will pass that along to my contact, and then it will be shipped to you! Enough "then"'s for you? Haha :)

I will start off the Christmas tradition list with three of my favorites:
1. For the last three years, my sisters and I have met at an outlet mall in early December to go Christmas shopping!
2. Mr. A's family goes to church together the evening of Christmas Eve, eats a big dinner, and then we all watch "A Christmas Story" together and inevitably all fall asleep in the living room...
3. We tease my mom endlessly about the hassle of this tradition, but it is a neat one- each Christmas (or Thanksgiving, now that we alternate being with them) at the big meal, she goes around with a bowl of honey and traces a Cross of honey on our foreheads to remind us of all our sweet blessings from God. Of course everyone ends up with honey dripping down their head and then you wipe your forehead and forget that honey was there, and so now you have honey all over your hands and your forehead, but it has been in her family for many generations, and someday I'll get up the guts to carry it on when we're having our own celebrations!

PS! Tell all your blog friends about the giveaway! Feel free to link here, etc.! The more the merrier, and it will be so fun to read about everyone's traditions!!

PPS. I am extending commenting for this giveaway until 9AM Tuesday morning to give more people time to enter!

PPPS. Need some bar stools to shimmy up to your home bar?

Blizzard Baby(s)

That's right folks. I am officially calling our prospective offspring our blizzard baby(s)! Isn't that cute? We woke up to snow this morning, and it has steadily accumulated to about 4" right now! I think estimates are around 8" for this snowfall, but it looks like it is tapering off. Banana hates the snow (where is the grass to poop on?!), so she is less than excited, unlike me who is completely stoked that it's snowing! Our area is just breathtakingly gorgeous under a blanket of snow.

ANYWAY, by the grace of God, we arrived safely at the RE's this morning (the interstates were a bit slushy/slippery, but no snow on the road thankfully). And safely home, obviously. Mr. A is again the star of the day, as his part of the event this morning went really great! :) I feel like I was gearing up to ovulate early this morning (pretty bloated/gas pains), so I'm pretty excited about the IUI timing! During the IUI itself, I had some cramping, and I am cramping right now, too, as well as still feeling kind of bloated. I have way less spotting than last time.

I am praying our blizzard baby(s) will find a place to snuggle in!! Baby, it's cold outside!

(It is totally not a real blizzard. Which makes me calling them our blizzard babies even more hilarious because every time I call this a blizzard, Mr. A emphatically expresses how ridiculous I am being!! HA!!!)

The coolest part of the morning is that in between Mr. A's appointment and the IUI itself, we went to look at wood stoves! We are hoping to have one installed in January in front of our fireplace, since wood stoves are more efficient than fireplaces. (And since Mr. A has a ton of friends with property so we can get free firewood, this would drastically decrease the cost of heating our house in the winter.) I think we picked one we both like, and I'm pretty sure Mr. A is going to order it on Monday! He's actually meeting up right now with my sister and her hubby to clear some trees they have down on their swim club property. (Yes, somehow he convinced them to meet up while it is snowing!)

It was really fun to go wood stove shopping :) Much more fun than running a red light and crying in the Burger King parking lot like last time!!! I think the wood stove is going to look great in our family room and do a wonderful job of heating!!

I am going to write up the Giveaway Post this afternoon and have it publish tomorrow. Basically, all you will need to do to enter is leave a comment on tomorrow's post (I'll cut off comments Monday at 5pm EST), and then I will randomly pick a winner! But I'll be more specific in tomorrow's post. I also wanted to mention that I'm not getting paid to do this or talk about their site- I just thought it would be a fun thing for you readers!

Hope everyone is staying cozy today! Thank you all for your prayers :) Here's praying (begging) for a week-before-Christmas BFP and a late August little one (or two, haha)!!

**Edited to add this verse my friend T emailed me this morning- I love how powerful and comforting it is, having waited for such a time already!!!

"But these things I plan won't happen right away. Slowly, steadily, surely, the time approaches when the vision will be fulfilled. If it seems slow, be patient! For it will surely take place. It will not be late by a single day." ~ Habakkuk 2:3

Fun Times

Last night for dinner Mr. A and I had the other portion of the ravioli my sister and I made a while back! The ravioli's were just as good as I remembered them! I am asking for the pasta maker mixer attachment for Christmas so I can add homemade ravioli to my list of fresh foods in the freezer that become quick and easy dinners!!

While we were eating dinner, Mr. A leaned back to give Banana a pat on the head, and apparently the armrest of the chair is not a spring chicken anymore, and so Mr. A almost fell out of his chair...ha! Needless to say, I almost lost a ravioli. Ha! It was pretty funny. But it sparked our discussion (did I say "our discussion"? I meant "my monologue"...) about how we need to get a new kitchen table. The one we have was given to me 7.5 years ago from a coworker right after I started my job- her family was getting a new kitchen table and they heard my straight-out-of-college apartment was only furnished with just an old couch and a computer desk from I.kea.... So our current kitchen table and chairs is probably at least 15 years old. And it's kind of retro looking, so lest you think I'm giving a classic, timeless wooden set the boot, don't you worry. Our set has served us well, but it's time to keep our eyes out for something new. (Never mind the hilarious fact that Mr. A just exchanged his broken chair for one of the two that we never use, since it's a 4-chair table, and there's only two of us... Lord help the person who sits in that chair after we forget it's broken! Ha!)

Which is pretty convenient, because a few days ago I received an email from CSN Stores, saying that they want to let me do a giveaway to you girls (guys?)!! I was surprised and honestly a little skeptical, but I asked some not-so-subtle "are you for real?" questions and requested other examples of giveaways, and as sure as I can tell, you readers are in for a treat! Luckily the guy was not offended by my "are you a scammer?" inquiries...

Anyway, back to the kitchen table situation. I found some great casual dining room furniture at one of the online stores (Dining Rooms Direct) that is part of the CSN Store collection of web stores. This is one of my favorites (pic from website):

This is just one example of the wide variety of furnishings you can find in their online stores, so go check it out! (Edited to add: I have in no way, shape, or form convinced Mr. A to buy this table! Just a dream of mine! Haha!)

I've decided I'll be posting about/doing the giveaway this weekend in honor of our IUI! So stay tuned! Here is a hint: those of you who enjoy a glass of wine will definitely want to enter to win! And even if you don't like wine, I'm sure you know someone who does, no?

(PS. As I've had more email conversations with this marketing guy, it cracks me up that he'll be checking my blog, complete with gory IUI updates and dpiui information, to see how the giveaway is going... ha!)

(PPS. That trigger shot just kicks my butt. I am exhausted this morning! Can I please go back to bed???)