Year in Review

Heh heh...silly me. I really did bring home my paper on which I had written down all of last years events yesterday. But, of course, I didn't realize it until I was already ready to head up to bed. Hey, but at least I got to the computer tonight to actually type it up, right?

So without further ado...my 2009 in review...

January: I spent New Year's Eve hanging out with some great friends over at Val's, while Ward was away in Korea for work. Great start to the year, right? He called me at like 9am New Year's Eve, my time to wish me Happy New Year! since it's was already midnight in Korea! I lost my previous promotion at work because of cut backs. That was a bummer. At least they only took my title...and my office... :o/ We started on Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover this month. Time to get that budget in gear!!

February: Go figure, the second holiday of the year, and Ward is gone again. But this time, I spent Valentine's Day here while the hubs was in Paris! Of all places, he has to go to the 'City of Love', on Valentine's no less, without me! At least I was able to convince Bailey to go out to see an old friend's band play at a local bar and grill. It was some wonderful girl time. :o) Also, this month, I finally quit the gym. Why pay $150 a month for something I was barely utilizing?? And most notable this month, I started this here blog!

March: This month, Ward and I celebrated 3 lovely years of marriage by spending a long weekend in Florida attending one of my cousin's weddings. It was quite a lovely little vacation. And a glorious wedding...the $100,000+ kind... At least I don't think Ward had to leave the country this month.

April: The most noteworthy event of April, as far as I can remember, was Ward having to go to Africa. He and his boss spent a week flitting around Europe before they finally arrived to spend another week in Africa. That was an interesting trip for him, to say the least. I'm pretty sure this is the month, while Ward was away, that I started reading the Twilight series. I'm also pretty sure I read the entire 2400+ page series in less than two weeks.

May: I don't think too much happened in May. We celebrated Val and Tony's birthday's. I got super excited to go see a Jason Aldean concert with some friends, but it ended up getting rained out. Total bummer.

June: June marked the first time Ward had to go to Brazil. He was gone for two long weeks. Umm...other than that...I hosted Bunco this month. Not sure if I did anything else... For some reason, I want to say I re-read the Twilight series again this month. I'm sick, I know...

July: This month, Ward and I got to spend a blissful 5 days on the beaches of the Dominican Republic with superb company. We also marked vacation as our official start to trying to get pregnant! I also got my iPhone this month! That was an exciting day for me. :o)

August: Ward spent some more time in Brazil this month. But we also were able to take a few days off from work and spend time with family up in Iowa for the Sweet Corn Festival. That was quite a nice time. I really enjoyed my Volvo convertible rental car, too.

September: We spent a nice day at the beach for Labor Day. And what a lovely day it was. Everyone with their dogs, just having a nice relaxing time. My best friend found out she was pregnant this month! That was exciting news. And Ward's pretty sure he went to Brazil again this month, too.

October: We did the 5k for the Susan G. Komen foundation in downtown Houston. I also did a 1 mile walk on the the beach with the dogs and my mom for the Alzheimer's Foundation. Ward went to Brazil, yet again, but this time he had to be down there for his birthday. :o( So we celebrated when he got back.

November: This month marked MY birthday! The big 2-7. How time flies! Bailey, Val, Val's sis-in-law, and I waited in line for two hours to see New Moon the day it came out. And well worth the wait, I might add! And in honor of the second movie in the saga coming out, I of course re-re-read the entire series of books...yet again. And still just as good the third time around! Lol! Oh yeah, Thanksgiving was this month and Ward's grandparents came out from California so it was nice to spend a little time with them while they were here.

December: December began with us having to put a brand new transmission in my car. My three and a half year old car. My only 47,000 miles on it car. Yeah, that sucked. At least we only had to spend about $875 on it since we're pretty sure the dealership screwed it up in the first place since it went out not one week after they "repaired" a transmission fluid leak. Uh huh. I also learned this month that I have a big ol' cyst in my mouth. Back under the gums where one of my wisdom teeth had been removed from. Awesome. And Ward took the last week of the month off of work to do some projects around the house. His brother, being on break from school, helped out so we got a ton of painting done and the flooring in the dining room FINALLY got laid. Pretty sure we bought that flooring in February. Of 2008. At least we ended the year on a good note, we bought me a new car on New Year's Eve!

Help me out, Val, did I miss anything?? I have such a horrible memory. Most of this stuff I only remembered because I had written down in my calendar! Goodness me.

Overall, it was a pretty lackluster year. A few ups...lots of downs. Some highs...lots of lows. I will say though, for as much as I thought 2009 pretty much sucked, there was plenty to be thankful for. We both have jobs, we have a roof over our head and food on our table (and in our dog bowls), we reined in our spending and saved a ton this year, and we even got to spend two great vacations with friends AND with family. So that, my friends, can sure make for a great year.

Australia

The movie, that is.

Ward and I watched Australia last night. I remember wanting to see it when it came out, but we never got around to it. Then I saw the DVD at Target a couple weeks ago and remembered I'd wanted to see it. So I added it to the top of my Netflix list when I got home.

It actually came in before Christmas, but with our house being in a state of construction chaos (more on that later), I didn't find it until this weekend.

Wanting a cozy evening on the couch, we watched it last night. If you have not seen this movie, go, right now, and watch it. Seriously. It's that good. Quite a long movie...like 2 1/2 hours long...but worth every minute.

Maybe I'm biased since I thoroughly enjoy movies based on real historic events (i.e. Pearl Harbor, Titanic, Twilight...uhh...that wasn't out loud was it?). So very first off I was intrigued by the story. Then there was the cast. I'm quite a fan of Nicole Kidman. And, whoa, when you see Hugh Jackman...and that body of his. ::fans self while blushing:: Oh my. They are absolutely great together, too.

There's funny parts, sad parts, happy parts, suspenseful parts. I thought it was an absolutely fabulous movie and I very much hope to watch it again. Soon. I may even buy it. Then I can watch it whenever I darn well please.

Funny that Ward and I recently got Netflix and we're a big movie watching family, but yet there are quite a few movies, that some would even consider 'classics', that I have never seen. At least not start to finish. Poke fun all you want as these movies include ones such as Grease (I'm not real big on musicals), Sixteen Candles (not sure why I've never seen this whole movie...), and The Notebook (sadly I have OWNED this movie for TWO YEARS and have still yet to watch it). So yeah, maybe I should go ahead and add these to my list so people will stop gaping at me, mouths hanging open, when I say I've never seen them. Yeah, that would be good.

Any other 'must see' movies y'all would recommend?

New year, new beginnings (Part I)

Look at that, y'all! I promised I would be back this evening, and low and behold, here I am! Crazy, I know.

Okay, so here it is, a new year. A year that, for me at least, I hope is better than the last. Val did a cute review of her 2009 and I believe that I will do the same, just not right now. (Actually, I wrote it all down at work, then forgot the paper! Hate when I do that...) So, for now, I will just tell y'all about my most exciting news for the new year.

And no, it's not, "I'm pregnant!" :oP

But hopefully soon that will be my news. No, no...for now my news is...

My new car!

Ain't she cute??

Even though my old car was only 3 1/2 years old, you'll learn in my 2009 year in review post that we just had to replace the transmission. Yeah, I know! This, after more problems than a 3 year old car should have, and Ward had had enough. He was quite ready to get rid of it. And so we traded it in for this beauty of a new Ford Edge. (Yes, just like Val has) Now we're twinkies! :o) At least I got silver and she's got white, right?

I have to admit though, it's a great car. I can definitely see me holding onto this baby for a long time. Especially since we pretty much went all out on it. It's got everything I'll ever need! Dual moonroofs, navigation, leather seats, satellite radio, power liftgate, heated seats, SYNC (which is AWESOME, by the way)...yep, I'm in love!

I really do have a couple other things I really want to post about, but they will have to wait. 1) because I'm hungry and ready to start dinner 2) I also need to go collect all the trash from around the house because tomorrow is trash day and 3) I need to take some pictures to make my post make more sense.

Okie doke, that's all from me...for now. :o) I hope you all had a wonderful New Year and here's to a stellar 2010!!

Fireworks

Or rather me, 'popping' in to say:

Howdy all! Pretty sure it's been quite some time since I posted last. Believe it or not, I do actually have a few things to post about! I'm sure you all are just hanging on the 'edge' of your seats to find out what, right?

(Oops...I didn't just give something away, did I??)

Well, you'll just have to wait a teensy bit longer because there is no way I can post it all from my iPhone app.

I'm sure the anticipation is just killing you! Well, don't fret too much. I promise to be back later this evening to tell you all about it! :o)

Oh, and yes, I'm still around. I wouldn't give up on me just yet. ;o)

I really did it!

Eeeeee!!

Sorry, had to get that out seeing as I'm super excited! After about 2 hours of work, I just finished a Christmas necklace and earring set for myself! It turned out even better than I was imagining it!

I wanted to make something to wear to our work Christmas luncheon on Friday, but since I finished tonight, I do believe I'll wear it to bunco tomorrow too!

This is the first thing I've ever made using chain like this. (one of the reasons it took so long) What do y'all think of my first attempt??












Sorry, those are the best pics I could take with my phone...but decent, right??

November

Alright, so I've been away for a while. I guess I might as well tell you all what I've been up to the past month since I've been gone.

Let's see. Obviously there are the major things such as Thanksgiving. Well, this year, Ward's grandparents came into town so we spent quite a few nights down at my mother-in-law's house visiting while they were here. We also spent an entire day working on centerpieces and other wedding stuff for my sister-in-law's wedding next May.

We had to take my car into the shop because it had been leaking transmission fluid. Apparently some gasket or something was leaking. Supposedly a pretty simple fix. Well, not one week later, I was driving home from work and the transmission started acting all funny. It was running at really high RPMs. It was shifting all funky. Ward drove it to my parents Thanksgiving day to see if he could figure out what was wrong. He couldn't. I had to drive it home. As soon as I pulled in the driveway, it dumped transmission fluid all over the driveway. The dealership who "fixed" the leak the weak prior came and picked it up the next day. They had the thing for over a week! Ended up needing a brand new transmission! Have I mentioned that my car is a 2006? With less than 47,000 miles? Yeah. Suck.

Ward and I spent a week or so debating whether or not to buy a new house. We found one that had (almost) everything we want in a long term house. Nice house (though old), on 2.3 acres, big workshop. The house, being old, would have needed some updating, and the master bath needed to be completely finished out. We didn't think it was worth what they were asking, but we were quite interested. We went back and forth for sometime trying to figure out what to do. We would have had to not only sell our house first, but it's not even on the market! So, yeah, that would have been a big deal. We ended up deciding not to pursue the house. As much as we liked it and were quite interested, we decided that we just weren't ready for a big move like that. Especially being an older house that would need lots of maintenance and upkeep. So for now, we will finish up all our projects on our current house and enjoy it for a while longer before we decide to make a move.

Work has been unbelievable crazy. I have enough work for AT LEAST three of me to do, and about half the amount of time I need to do it all. It beyond sucks. I tell you what. I'm pretty darn close to missing ALL of my deadlines for all my work. Which means no bonus for me if I'm late. Not that I very much care at this point. I just can't handle the stress lately.

To top it off, at work, at least, I'm missing all kinds of time this week especially. I was out Monday for my girly doctor visit. I took a half day today to go to the dentist because I've been having a toothache since last week. I see the dentist today and they determine that it looks like I've got a cyst forming where one of my wisdom teeth had been removed from. GREAT. So now, I will be out of the office yet again on Friday afternoon so I can go see my oral surgeon to have it checked out by them. And that'll only be the evaluation visit. More work will be missed if I actually have to go back and have some kind of procedure done for it. Don't get me wrong, it's nice to have an afternoon out of the office, but I have WAY too much work to do to be missing all this time. Boo!

I have no idea how close to being done with my Christmas shopping I am. We haven't decorated AT ALL at the house. I won't get around to sending out Christmas cards this year. I don't even know if we'll get the tree up! Believe me when I say I can't wait for this year to be over!! I just hope next year is better.

Surely it will be though. Think of everything good that will happen next year!
-New guy at work will finish training and can help lighten our workload
-I might finally be able to get pregnant
-Our house projects will get finished
-My best friend will have a baby
-My sister-in-law will get married

2010 will be a grand year, won't it?? I can't wait!

Umm...yeah...so I guess I decided to write as much as I would have in all of November in this one post. Sorry guys. Your eyes are probably falling out of your heads by now. If you've even made it this far. Don't worry, I won't blame you, if you didn't. :o) Love to all and to all a goodnight!

Much better!

Wow. Has it really been over a month since my last post? Gosh…I haven’t written a thing since my birthday. My oh my. And here, even my best friend has started blogging again! I better get on it! :o)

No, I actually had some pretty good news that I wanted to share. You may remember way back when I mentioned all my “hormonal challenges” and how I was going to go back to my old OB/GYN since I was not so happy with my current one. Well, yesterday I finally had my appointment. And boy am I glad I was able to go back to her!! The appointment went great. I brought in all my medications/vitamins I’ve been taking, my past bloodwork results, printouts of my temperature charts, and a ton of questions. The nurse got all my information of what’s been going on the past three years since I’ve been in there. She asked questions, wrote everything down, and even knew before I mentioned it again that I wanted to talk to the doctor about getting pregnant. None of which, I will tell you, the nurse at my old doc’s office did. Then the doc came in and we had another long discussion. She looked at my bloodwork, and my charts. She asked if my old doc had ever done any tests to determine why I wasn’t ovulating or having periods. Umm, no, she sure didn’t. So she talked about all my different options. Asked what I wanted to do. And only after I told her which option I liked better, did she tell me that is what she would have recommended in my situation. (Side note: old doc NEVER asked my opinion, only told me what she wanted to do…nor really gave me any options for that matter.)

Overall, I was soooooooo pleased with the appointment, even though I did end up being at the doctor’s office for like two and a half hours. I am very happy that I am back with this doctor and feel very confident with our next course of action. So, speaking of, here’s what actually went down:

As you all know, hubby and I decided to start “trying” in July. I decided to start charting my temps to determine if I was ever actually ovulating. Needless to say, my charts have verified that I, in fact, have NOT been ovulating. Um, yeah, that makes one entire year with not ONE chance of becoming pregnant. A little discouraging for someone who is now ready for it! So, while at the doctor, they sent me to the lab to have blood drawn to check some hormone levels and what not to try to determine WHY this has been the case. Once those results come back, she said she’d have me start the progesterone pills to induce a visit from Aunt Flo. And once she’s here, I will go back in for another appointment to check on some things that are most easily checked while Aunt Flo’s in town. As long as all that checks out okay (meaning that if I do start to ovulate, there’s nothing else that could hinder a pregnancy), then I will start on the Clomid. At this point, she agrees that the easiest and most cost effective approach. If that ends up not working in causing me to ovulate, only then would she refer me to a reproductive specialist to see what else can be done. Honestly, though, I don’t think it will get that far. I think as long as I can get my selfish ovaries to quit hoarding my eggs, it should be smooth sailing! :o)

While it still may be a little while before we’ll actually be able to have some “productive trying” (seems this whole year has just been “practice trying”…hehehe), it’s both exciting and nerve-wracking to know that it will actually happen soon! Here’s to hoping my hormone levels don’t come back to terribly out of whack! :o)