Weekend Planning Blog Hop

This weekend the Hubs is off on a hunting excursion and won't return until Sunday evening, so I have all day Saturday and Sunday to get as much as I can done around the house before his footprint comes in and makes everything messy!

These are his decoys or fake birds that make geese think it's safe to land there and then my husband kills them... yea I don't love it, but it keeps him happy :)

*Friday*

Run

Make Bruschetta that I didn't make earlier in the week

*Saturday*

Make meal plan for week

Take Dixie to the Dog Park

Get ink for my printer

Buy a new curling iron

Scrub shower AGAIN

*Sunday*

Grocery Shop

Laundry

Organize master closet

Print out recipes

Update on trying to get knocked up: NOTHING! Still no results from the doctor... here I come cycle day 46!  

Any fun weekend plans for anyone else??

Ughhh.. Doctors Doctors Doctors :(

Well like I said in a pervious post, this blog is going to be my outlet to vent about my troubles with trying to create a new life inside my belly!  So as of today I am on cycle day 43 with multiple negative home pregnancy tests.  After 11 cycles of negative pregnancy tests it still hurts.... ALOT, but my hopes don't get raised too much.  I always expect the negative at this point.  Since I have a history of having long cycles my doctor ordered for my to take a blood pregnancy test yesterday (just to make sure) and then start on a hormone to supplement my progesterone. I can't take the progesterone until the results of the blood test come back negative.  When I was getting my blood work done I asked the nurse when I would be able to have the results and she said 2-3 hours.  Well that was yesterday... and while I am 99.9% certain that the results are negative having them be unknown is leading me to change that 99.9% to 99.8%, 99.7%, etc.  I wish I could just read those words NEGATIVE.  Not only for the pleasure of knowing the unknown but so that I could finally start these progesterone pills that kick start my period so that I could potentially try again! Ok vent over, thanks for listening

Weekend away!

We are just getting back from a weekend up at a friends house that is 5 HOURS AWAY!!!  being in a car for 10 hours in one weekend shouldn't be allowed.  I thought I was doing good when we left Friday evening at 5... and then saw that it was only 8pm and we were just getting to the windy, icy, don't drive to close to the cliff or you'll fall to your death part of the ride.  Our friends live up in the mountains, which was beautiful during the day, but at night can be quite scary.  We had a great time though, Michael woke up early Saturday and went hunting while I stayed back with K and their boys (4 years old and 2 years old) and watched Rio.

The boys J (4) and K (2), notice the binoculars for looking for the deer? Lol

After we had a big breakfast everyone took a little nap (mine was with a 2 year old) and then went for a walk to the Lake.  They live in a country club with a huge lake a couple blocks away so we are pretty excited to go back this summer.

My walking partner, who likes to walk the speed of a snail...

View of the lake up the road.

That evening some other friends that we hadn't met came over with their 6wk old son, and I am pleased to say that I was able to hold him for a long time and put him to sleep :) It's an amazing feeling to watch an infant fall asleep.  

Plans for the week:

Monday: Grocery shop for the week, clean bathrooms, make rosemary lemon chicken with potatoes and carrots

Tuesday: Take returns to Kohl's from Christmas, begin to clear out front bedroom (our messy store all room), make bruschetta chicken with brown rice (mashed potatoes for the Hubs).

Wednesday: Finish putting front bedroom together, tidy up for guests Thursday night, eat leftovers :)

Thursday: Clean living room, make lasagna and green beans for our small dinner party.

Friday: Girls Night! Hubs will be off hunting, so instead of going out for drinks with the girls (I am trying to get pregnant!) I will be staying home and watching the sappy love movies that I can't watch when he's here :)

Saturday: create new meal plan, clean kitchen, cook either cioppino or chicken stew, not sure yet which one, depends on if the Hubs is back or not. 

Laundry fights

Laundry, laundry, laundry... how I loathe thy.  Laundry is the one chore that I hate the most.  Probably because it is the one chore that I can't just put off or I would run out of clothes.  Well yesterday while my wonderful husband was off of work he was trying to be his wonderful self and do the laundry.  I was running out the door to go to my first day at my "desk job" and he walked into the garage with a load of dirty clothes in his arms and a smile on his face knowing that he was doing good and was about to get credit for it.  I ran back to him gave him a kiss and said thanks so much.  I went off to work thinking "Wow I don't have to do that load of laundry today awesome."  That just gave me motivation for tidying up the rest of the house once I got home.  When I came home though.... the was a pile of clothes on my bed... He had washed the clothes, dried the clothes, and then threw them on the bed for me to finish when I got home. REALLY?!? He didn't understand when I told him that by him "trying" to do the laundry he had just created more work for me to do yesterday.  UGGGHHHH!!!! But then he always redeems himself by doing something so trivial that makes me smile like moving my car when he is done sweeping the garage rather than asking me to do it because it's my car :) I love him :)

What are some things that your significant others try to help out with... that doesn't really help?

Changes changes...

Well two days ago I posted about how I didn't like making New Years goals that set you up for failure, and well I'm not making a NYR to be healthier, I am just going to try my best.  I started my "desk" job today.  I was so proud of myself for getting up early, eating a healthy breakfast of a waffle with peanut butter and a banana. Then packed some snacks to eat while I sit at a desk with no work to actually do at that desk... and I was so preoccupied and happy that I had packed my snacks that at 2pm I realized I forgot to pack my actual lunch.... healthy eating FAIL. So when I got home at 430 I ate a bruschetta sandwich before making BBQ chicken and roasted carrots MMmmm! Then just as I was falling asleep on the couch and procrastinating from doing the dishes... my neighbor calls and says "Let's go for a walk".  See her and her family are trying to eat healthier and work out so I get to tag along for fun!  So we walked for 30 minutes around the neighborhood in the COLD! Now I am forced to do those icky dishes and clean that awful kitchen!

Any suggestions on what I could do at my desk job to keep my mind from going crazy?

New Year!

So here it is another year, another 365 days that whizzed by me so quickly I can barely catch my breath. It was a good year, with it's struggles.  But onto bigger and better things now.  So the big topic of the day... NEW YEARS RESOLUTIONS! What are some of your resolutions this year?  I don't particularly like New Years resolutions, I think that for people who don't have the right kind of motivation or consequences, a large change in their behavior sets them up to be unsuccessful.  But that's just the behaviorist in me :)  So my type of new years resolution is a step by step process.  I also start them prior to the new year, so that it isn't a huge change on that day when I might not be feeling so well.

Rules for New Years Resolutions:
1) Choose a behavior you want/can change.  (i.e. be more organized) 
2) Break that behavior up into small steps and make a list of those steps. (i.e. pull out all items you want to organize, sort them into piles, label piles, etc.)  
3) post that list somewhere you see it everyday, whether that be on your phone as a reminder,  an email that gets sent everyday to you, whatever it takes. 
4) Make yourself accountable.  Let's others know about what behavior you are trying to change so that they can help keep you motivated.  
5) Choose something you can treat yourself to when you have done good.  Preferably it would be a treat to just see the product of your resolution being followed through with, but let's be honest; we are creatures who like tangible rewards.  If you keep your living room tidy for 2 whole weeks, go buy a new piece of decor to look good in that nice tidy room. 
6) Make changes!  If you are having trouble with your NYR, make the steps simpler, or change one of the steps.  This is your resolution, you can change it!


So now that I have unloaded on my rules I should probably fill you in on my resolution.  My new years resolution is to take more pictures.  When I look back on my year, I feel like I have nothing to show for it.  Yes I have the memories and yada yada... but I love that feeling when you are cleaning something out and find old pictures.  You sit down to look through them and you are all of a sudden reminiscing about those memories. I want to be able to come across pictures that will be taken of 2012 and remember all the wonderful memories I will make.  So, super easy you might think, but it is what it is. 

 Take more photos steps:

1. Take my camera more places
2. Upload my photos weekly to my computer
3. Once a month print out photos 
4. Get picture frames for printed photos
5. Create a gallery wall in living room! 
1. Spray paint photo frames
2. Cut out newspaper to match frame size
3. Play around with setting the "frames" onto the wall
4. Pick photos to be in frames
5. Enlist help of my husband in hanging the frames. He does plaster work which is what is on our walls, so he likes to be the one to hang stuff on the walls.  It's weird I know but I still love him! :)

I am already taking my camera with me more places and have uploaded for this last holiday season (not counting last night).  

Our mantle 2011

Christmas Eve at our house with Michael's mom's family.  This was my
very first event that I hosted with his family as our guests!  

This is my house Christmas morning.  Michael lounging in his chair playing new iPhone games, Jewls chewing on her new toys, notice all the extra toys lying around?  She had too many to choose from.  Then there's Dixie my wiener dog lying 3ft away from a new bag of treats guarding them from her sister.  

I'm interested in hearing what everyone's resolutions are.....

For starters, I have to apologize ahead of time for the awful iPhone photo.  You never know when the idea of a blog post will come up and you have to capture that moment with a photo! Right now I am on Christmas break from work.  I have 11 days off and when I go back to work, work will be very different.  I will have a somewhat desk job... I think.  I will update this topic once I know more I promise! So anyways, this week I have done NOTHING!! Nothing at all, so when my neighbor and I discussed going to the mall and finding outfits for tomorrow evening... I didn't think it would be a bad idea.  We started the day at BJ's restaurant with some pizza and beer.  How can the rest of the day go wrong when you start it this way?   

Well I can tell you how!  TOO MANY PEOPLE mixed with being at home in your cozies for 4 straight days equals wanting to punch people in the face when they keep running into you and not walking through the crowds correctly.  It drove me crazy and I immediately wanted to leave.  We didn't find anything and will try to go to the local stores here in town tomorrow. No more going to the bigger city for me. So anyone else have any fantastic NYE plans?  Tomorrow I will post about New Years resolutions and my thoughts on those... Have a great night!