Wife, Then Mama

I really enjoy candy!  My waistline didn't used to reflect this fact, but it is definitely trying to be more honest lately.  Anyways, I am making an effort to post more frequently, so here is a just for fun post.  My favorite candies.  In no real order.  1) York Peppermint Patties 2) Junior Mints 3) Nerds 4) SweeTarts 5) Red Hots 6) Kit Kats 7) Atomic Fireballs 8) Smarties 9) Candy Corn 10) Lindor Dark Chocolate Truffles

I don't know how people can work and have kids.  Not in a judgmental way, not at all, it just seems really painful to leave them everyday.  I mean I am grateful for it, because it allows me to stay home and spend time with some awesome kids, but I don't know that I would like it at all. Michael and I went to the Cannon Beach Christian Conference Center for a week this month.  It was really fun, and I know I am blessed to spend a week at the beach almost every year.  But I had to put Miss Baby in the nursery for about an hour and a half, twice a day.  And I felt terrible, like I was abandoning her.  One evening they even served the kids dinner in nursery so the adults could have a child free meal.  I felt really bad about that, well at least I thought I would, turns out I was exhausted, and Michael was sweet and let me nap through dinner, so he dropped her off at nursery.  Apparently dinner was gross that night, so sleeping was a great choice....

Don't forget to enter the current giveaway for a Cloth Diaper Prize Pack from Betsy's Baby Boutique.   A little while ago I wrote a post about my inexperience in camping .  Another thing that I had not done in forever is riding horses.  For about a year when I was 12 we had ponies, and some friends and family had horses, so I rode horses on a semi-regular basis.  As an adult I had been on a horse exactly ZERO times. My grandparents have horses, and Michael had NEVER rode a horse (or even a pony at the fair!) so I figured it was high time to get back in the saddle (pun most certainly intended).  Turns out that was a TERRIBLE plan. One of my grandparents horses had sores on her belly, so she couldn't have a saddle put on her.  The horse that was able to be ridden is a brat.  My cousin put the saddle on the horse for us and my brother and Michael each took a turn riding.  The horse was being super bratty that day, and wouldn't really leave the ...

Some of these I know are common to everyone that is going through, or has been through, infertility.  Others are perhaps not as common, and I might be the only one, but I am hoping for affirmation that I am not the only weirdo. You have taken your temperature hundreds, if not thousands of times (for those that are not well versed in infertility - lucky! - the only way to confirm if you have ovulated is to take your temperature everyday to see when your body temperature goes up slightly.  Or get a blood test, but that is much more expensive). You know what TTC, AF, BFP, BFN, IVF, IUI, BD, DTD, RE, FF, POAS, and countless other acronyms stand for (again for the lucky ones - trying to conceive, "aunt flo", big fat positive, big fat negative, in vitro fertilization, intrauterine insemination, "baby dance", do the deed, reproductive endocrinologist, fertility friend, and pee on a stick). You have spent days of your life searching for "whatever mild ailment you...

I like to think I am classy.  But then I think of the long list of unclassy things I do, and realize its just wishful thinking. Classy ladies do not (but I do): Go outside in their pajamas (to let the dog out or turn on/off sprinklers) while holding their arm across their boobs so no one can see they are not wearing a bra.  They probably don't go outside in their pajamas at all. Let their yard get over ran with weeds.  Seriously, I work on the garden area, but all the stupid flower beds are COVERED in weeds, and they come back like crazy.  I hate to admit it, but Michael and I are going to be using poison spray for everywhere except our food garden.  Its just overwhelming!   Let their grass get almost a foot tall (or at least the weeds).  We don't have a mower (Michael is working on rebuilding an old one his friend gave him.  We also don't have a truck, so we have to wait until our generous friend is able to bring his over for us to borrow....

Hadlee and I were playing with the toy kitchen today.  First we were drinking "delicious" "tea" which supposedly was tea with water, milk, salt, pepper, catsup, steak, onions and various other things.  Then Hadlee brought out the pig and said something along the lines of "We can eat pigs.".  I said "Mmmmmm Bacon!".  Then she proceeded to "cook the pig".  I went and grabbed my camera because the following pictures were to good to not get.  Once she figured out I was taking pictures, she started hamming it up so it got a little crazy.  But before that the pictures were priceless. I think she might need a bigger pan... Baking is healthier than frying One of the Care Bears legs was salt, the other was pepper.  She was using the Care Bear to season the tea earlier too. This post may be linked up at one of these wonderful blog hops:

So last Saturday I started my period again.  Which is only 20 days after I last thought I started my period.  But I have no idea about that one.  Usually I figure people (girls anyways) know if they are or are not on their period.  But there were two times during my absurdly long cycle (or perhaps my not that long cycles depending on what was really going on...) that I didn't know.  It seemed like more than spotting, but less than a period.  This time I am abundantly aware.  Sadly, so was everyone walking into Target behind me Saturday morning when I leaked out of my pad onto my khaki pants and had to wear my shirt around my butt the rest of the day and wear my big puffy coat and sweat to death. In interest of being amusing, instead of JUST disgusting, I have collected up some euphemisms for being on your period.  Surfing the crimson wave - Cher said this one in Clueless I'm hemorrhaging - Vada in My Girl A Dishonorable Discharge from the...

The other day Michael said "I love you" to which I replied "I love you too".  Apparently he thought I said it to emotionlessly (I think I made up another word!) and said I should mean it when I say it.  I admitted that it IS pretty much a reflex, but since I ALWAYS love him its always true.  He said love shouldn't be a reflex. Why is "I love you too" a reflex?  Because I spend my day with not one, but two three year olds.  Who tell me all day long that they love me.  If one of them says it, the other one will 9 times out of 10 say it too.  No one wants to be left out of the love.  These girls are wonderful, and I DO love them.  But I would guess that I literally get told I love you 20 times a day, not counting when Michael says it!  Which is wonderful, you can't have to much love!  Since you can't ignore it when a cute little kid says I love you, I tend to say "I love you too" at least 20 times a day, and sometimes it is just a re...

I have a great life.  I really do.  I have a wonderful husband that loves me.  We just bought an awesome house (okay it has its not the most aesthetically pleasing house, but its big and cozy and has all the room we will ever need on a huge lot).  I have what I consider to be literally the best job in the world.  I don't have any chronic health issues or pain.  I have a wonderful family that I talk to on a regular basis and I know really cares about me.  Seriously I should be loving my life! I am only missing one thing.  A baby.  And for some reason missing this one thing overshadows all the good things I have been blessed with.  I hate how ungrateful I am when I have so many things that so many people don't have. 

Since the last time I blogged I have found out two AMAZING things! 1) Disney bought LucasArts!  Which could be considered a bad thing I guess, since Disney is kinda getting out of control big, but Disney also owns Marvel and The Avengers is an AWESOME movie.  With the announcement of Disney's acquisition was the 10000x better announcement that they are going to make A STAR WARS SEQUEL!  Okay I know, the prequels suck, the sequels probably will too.  But I am still super excited!  I actually read (ironically in a Disney Adventures magazine) about 15 years ago that after the 3 prequels they were going to do 3 sequels, but then never heard anything else about it.  Until NOW!  I don't know any details (other than a possible release date of 2015), and I probably won't keep you posted, because I am a slacker.  I guess it was 16 years between Return of the Jedi and The Phantom Menace so 10 years between Revenge of the Sith and whatever the new movie wi...

So I was watching Good Luck Charlie, because I am just that cool.  On this particular episode Amy (the mom) signs up for a "BuddyBook" account.  Teddy (16 year old daughter) says "BuddyBook" must be uncool now.  Then she finds out her grandma has an account and says she needs to delete her account.  When Amy sends PJ (18 year old son) a friend request, he denies the request! Maybe I am crazy, but I love when my family is on Facebook.  I don't understand why it would be embarrassing to be "friends" with your grandma, or your mom. I guess I just don't have anything to hide?  I mean I don't put naked pictures of myself up (yes I know, Facebook doesn't allow naked pictures, but some of them are close enough), or post offensive status updates.  As a teenager it might have minded a little bit, because everything feels like an invasion of privacy to a teenager, but I am pretty dang sure that if my mom had sent me a friend request and I'd...

Michael buys me the coolest presents.  See I am the type of person who pretty much doesn't purchase anything if it costs more than $10.  So my husband loves to surprise me with things I would never buy myself.  Usually media/electronics since he works at an electronics store.  Today he came home with seasons 3 and 4 of The Big Bang Theory for me, and he often surprises me with Disney movies or Sims expansion packs.  It is so much fun, because it is always things I would really love to have, but can't handle buying for myself.  He is such a sweetie :)

The house we are buying has SIX bedrooms!  Okay, one of them isn't really big enough to count as a bedroom, but its still a room.  I already have plans for all of them... There are two rooms downstairs, one of them is the itty bitty one.  The tiny room is going to be the office.  The bigger room downstairs will be the playroom for the kids I baby-sit.  I figure a downstairs playroom is much safer and more convenient than an upstairs one. Upstairs are the other four bedrooms.  Of course one will be our bedroom (duh).  Two of the other rooms will hopefully be filled by room mates (I think I want to call them boarders.  It sounds so much more old fashioned!) so our mortgage is a smaller percentage of our income.  Eventually, when we manage to have kids, the room mates' rooms will turn into a boy's room and a girl's room.  But that is WAY down the line.  Not only am I fertility challenged, but my kids will sleep in my room, and then...

I have a confession.  Sometimes I miss "the old Rachel".  The one who dyed her hair black (or blonde and pink) and pierced things.  The one who could drink six beers and NOT throw up.  "New Rachel" feels sick after two drinks and things she is to good for beer.  She is kind of scared of dying her hair because of the chemicals, but even when she does, it is only to various shades of brown.  Piercing things seems like a huge waste of money to "new Rachel".  "Old Rachel" was also WAY hotter than "new Rachel".  Probably because she was skinnier and dressed like a slut (but neither old or new Rachel was/is a slut!). What happened to "old Rachel"?  She met her husband.  He was not a huge fan of her ability to drink like a fish or her tendency to poke holes in her face.  This is NOT a bad thing.  Being a stupid teenager forever would be a bad thing.  You don't want to be 45 and acting like you are 18.  It is just pathetic....

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....

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...

I have not posted in figuratively FOREVER!  (notice the use of figuratively, not literally?) Usually people say things like, of I have been so busy, or my computer was broken or something.  But I am just going to be honest.  I am a lazy procrastinator. Plus I am uninspired.  I don't know why, sometimes I have like a zillion ideas for posts and I write them all up, then I type them and set them up to publish on different days so it looks like I am posting often.  I think that not having notebooks is throwing off my blogging.  I don't like to just type up my entries.  I like to write them down on paper, edit them (I know my posts are pretty crappy for being edited twice before I publish them) so they flow better and THEN type them up.  Plus I can write in a notebook whenever I get the urge, but I can only type if the computer is not being used and the kids are gone/napping.  But I packed all my notebooks.  I really thought I left one o...

I feel like my last mocing rant didn't really get into just how much I hate moving  THIS time. See, I failed to mention that I have been living in a house with almost no furniture for two weeks.  Michael moved our dining set, and I gave away our living room furniture.  It was REALLY old and crappy and I was afraid that if I waited until the last minute no one would take it and I;s have to figure out what to do with it.  We are buying my grandma's furniture, so we don't want to pay for  storage shed for furniture we don't want and don't need.  Boxes fit in Michael's mom's garage.  Couches loveseats AND boxes, no so much. Also we had a property all picked out to buy as soon as we saved a down payment.  Turns out that it is zoned interchange, which basically means that no banks will finance it.  So unless I can come up with $150,000, its not an option.  Seeing as how we make about $40,000 a year, I just don't see that happening, especia...

vaccines epidurals pitocin sunscreen pretty much all pharmaceutical drugs, but I am still kinda willing to take them to get pregnant Satan/demons shampoo, conditioner, lotion, etc. milk (unless it was organic and raw) the end of the world being scared of the end of the world, since as a Christian I am supposed to be excited about the end of the world not ever being able to have a baby eating new foods spiders (big ones) snakes (no matter what the size, they just freak me out) all the things that some people say are occult and then I wonder if they are, for example: acupuncture, mindlessly reading your horoscope (even if I just think its a big joke), yoga, etc. cleaning products meat (unless it was grass fed, free range organic meat) c-sections (aka, being gutted or being chopped in half)