Wife, Then Mama

Something I enjoyed doing, but fell out of the habit of is menu planning. I don't know how other people go about meal planning, but for me it is a pretty long process, and I only plan dinner! Step One: I write down the meals we have on a regular basiss.  For us these are usually tacos, spaghetti, and pizza night.  I also note nights that we will be gone so I don't need to make dinner. Step Two: I look through cookbooks to find the rest of the meals I need to have enough for everyday we need to have dinner.  This part takes forever!  I am REALLY picky AND I try to keep the calorie count below 500-600 for the meal (main dish, sides, dessert). Step Three: I categorize the meals by what sort of meat they use.  I don't really do the meatless things (and my husband really hates when I do), and I am not big on fish, so usually its just beef and chicken.  To ensure variety I switch them every other day.  So if we have spaghetti on Monday, then Tue...

A couple weeks ago at Goodwill I picked up this pattern: Quick Butterick 6504.  I don't know what year it is from, but based on the price I would guess the 70's.   The reason this pattern was such a good find is that when I checked the envelope to make sure all the pieces were in there (I never used to do that, but I have bought a couple awesome patterns, only to find out that they were missing key pieces, so now I always check.) not only were all the pieces in there, but all the pieces for BOTH sizes were in there.  I just got 2 patterns for the price of one!  Plus it only uses about a yard of fabric and looks super easy!

Okay, its not really that cool to most people.  But I think its pretty great!  While I was at Goodwill on Monday, I found this pattern (sadly I could not get the Goodwill price sticker off of it without tearing the 71 year old pattern envelope): It is from 1941 and has ALL the pieces, in great condition.  Its a size or two to big (remember, this is pattern sizing which is bigger than regular sizing, AND its an old pattern, which are 2-3 sizes bigger than modern patterns.  In other words PLEASE DON'T THINK I AM ANYWHERE NEAR A SIZE 18 in today's ready to wear styles). It claims it is easy to make, but I am not sure I believe it... 

I am 5 kinds of bitter about my struggle with infertility.  I am going to be really honest here, and just lay it all out how I see it (or rather feel it).  Bitter: 1. having a harsh, disagreeably acrid taste, like that of aspirin, quinine,                wormwoods, or aloes.             2. producing one of the four basic taste sensations; not sour, sweet, or salt             3. hard to bear, grievous, distressful; a bitter sorrow             4. causing pain; piercing, stinging; a bitter chill             5. characterized by intense antagonism or hostility; bitter hatred             6. hard to accept or admit; a bitter lesson ...

Can you guess what I am watching? Anyways, I think that Lifetime or TLC or some other reality/women's channel (except OWN, I sure hate Oprah !) should give infertile girls like me a television show. Seriously, it makes great sense!  I am pretty sure that a much higher percentage of people deal with fertility issues than teen pregnancy.  About 10% of the adult population could relate to the show.  The other 90% could understand what infertiles go through.  It might not be that interesting, but there are shows about midgets, people who are addicted to things like their own urine and cabbage patch dolls, polygamists, and crazy breeders (yes, I mean the Duggars and I mean it in the nicest way possible, I totally admire them and their family)!  Why not us? *after looking up crazy TLC shows, it turns out that there is a show called A Conception Story , but it is just a web series* We can pee on sticks, go to doctor appointments, cry on the bathroom floor, an...

Since the majority of my posts are whining about my infertility, I assume that the few readers that I maintain even through my sporadic posting and bitter ranting, must either care about me, or have some stake in infertility themselves.  Or I might have no readers.  Whatever. I am still unpregnant.  Not for a lack of trying of course.  I still take my temperatures and have recently started checking my cervix.  By the way, that is both disgusting and confusing.  I tried the soy isoflavones, one month they seemed to work.  The next they didn't make me feel better, and I am pretty sure I didn't ovulate at all.  So between learning more about the danger of soy and my need for instant gratification, I quit taking them.  I have ordered Maca, red raspberry leaf, and a fertility blend, and when they come in the mail I will start taking them.  I want to get false unicorn root as well.  And of course there is the lunaception. Strangely I ...

Guess where I'm still living.  Yup, my mother-in-laws.  The deal was that we would move out May 1st, it didn't happen.  I'm not to worried though.  Here's the story... The house we started out trying to buy ended up being pretty much unbuyable (I think I just made up a word).  Now we are REALLY glad that it was.  See it was an older manufactured home, like 22 years old or so.  That doesn't bother us, except for one teeny, tiny detail.  We found out that NO BANKS FINANCE MOBILE HOMES OLDER THAN 25 YEARS!  We literally would have been stuck in the house forever.  So praise the Lord that we didn't get that one. We spent a month or so looking at houses that didn't work for us.  They were either to small, on tiny lots, or way to expensive.  I have pretty cheap taste when it comes to most things, but I want space.  I don't have kids, but I am going to have 3 or 4 kids at my house all day, every week day, plus a room mate....

I've been attempting something called "lunaception". Basically the idea is that back in the day, before electricity, women cycled with the moon.  On the full moon they ovulated and they got their monthly visit with the new moon.  It seems a bit far fetched until you recall that the human body is about 50% water, and the moon controls the tides.  If the moon can control the whole freaking ocean, it can probably do something to our water dense bodies.  Actually I think it has more to do with light vs. dark, but whatever.  I am not a scientist, I am just a desperate infertile! There is not a ton of information available about lunaception, probably due to a combination of a lack of scientific research and the simplicity of it.  I will tell you how to do it, and some tips, so you don't have to search all over the internet for it. -Start sleeping in a pitch black room.  I mean no night light, no television, no stupid little light on the cable box, and ...

This is kind of a continuation of my "I'm a lazy quitter post".  I have the strong feeling that the two are connected... Something I think most people don't know about me is that I am INCREDIBLY competitive.  Like when I lose I want to cry and never play the game/do the activity again. I am aware this is pathetic, irrational, and absurd.  Especially considering that if I happen to have a talent, I have yet to find out what it is.  Plus, who wants to feel like a spoiled brat whenever they lose at something. My way of dealing with this is simple.  I don't try.  If you ever play something with me (that isn't basically a game of chance), you might notice my lack of effort.  Or you might just think that I am mentally/physically handicapped.  Take bowling for instance.  I calmly walk up to the lane and gently toss my ball towards the pins.  Or frisbee golf, where I lazily lob my frisbee in the general direction of the hole. If I don'...

I am pretty much a failure at seeing things through. -When I was six or so, I did exactly one season of t-ball.  Mostly I just drew in the dirt, but either was, only one season, -At around 7 or 8, I did one season of basketball (or more accurately, one season of sauntering up and down the court, picking my nose.  Yeah I was that kid.). -I did a whole half of a season of volleyball.  There was an odd number of girls on the team, and when we paired up, I always ending up practicing with the wall. -I also did some dance classes and gymnastics.  Some of my dance classes I only made it to about class number 2, others I did all the way through to the first show. -By the time I got to middle school I had quit starting new things for the most part, so I quit quitting for a while. -In high school the only thing I quit was pretty much every class that I took around mid-semester. -I paid over $600 for the 2 days of college classes I went to.  I forgot to cancel t...