Growing Pains

I don't understand how I've spent my whole life trying not to get pregnant, and now that I want to be pregnant, it hasn't happened.  It seems like with how much we go through to not get knocked up, we instantly get pregnant the first time we try, right?  Apparently not the case. 

When Hubby and first starting talking about trying, we said we'd just stop trying not to get pregnant and whatever happens happens.  Yeah, that lasted about a day for me.  Next thing I know, I've ordered a book on the Fertility Awareness Method and Google-ing everything I can about trying to conceive.  I'm charting, taking temperatures, tests, etc.  But, I'm afraid that all this attention to myself has thrown me all out of whack, and it just hasn't happened yet.  I know that everyone says that it takes awhile.  You should try for at least a year before asking the doctor to test for fertility problems.  But now that we're trying it get frustrating quickly!  And to top it all off, it seems like EVERYONE else is pregnant.  Everyday it seem like I see someone else on Facebook announcing they're pregnant or get a text or email about it.  But, our time will come, right?

Last night we had one of our friends over for dinner, and we started talking about how much we would love to be a kid again.  We seriously had nothing to worry about except who we were going to play with and what game we could invent next.  Now everything is about bills, money, chores, stress, jobs, etc.  

Catching up

2 posts in one day!  (It's obviously a slow day at work...)  Anyways, since I haven't posted anything this year before today, I thought I catch up on a few things that have been going on in our lives.  Thank goodness I keep a calendar so I can remember!

January:  We actually had a pretty good New Year's Eve.  (I hate the holiday usually.  Bad things have happened most years - confronting friends with drug problems, being sick, having fights with boyfriends, and a house burning down.)  But, Hubby loves it, so I went along with the plans.  A group of us went on the casino boat.  It was great and horrible at the same time!  I think we all knew how gross those boats are, so we went in with low expectations and made the most of it!  That month I also stayed with a photographer friend of mine for a weekend so she could teach me how to use my camera and the basics of photography.  I still don't know a lot, but she was a definite help!  And it was great catching up with her.  Also, we celebrated Hubby's 30th birthday in January.  We had a big party at our house, and I got him 30 presents!  It was a lot of fun!

February:  Compared to January, February was pretty slow.  One of my best friends was in the midst of wedding planning, so I traveled to her town for one weekend to try on dresses and tie up loose ends.  

March:  March was the beginning of wedding season for us.  And what a busy, and expensive wedding season it has been!  We started off by throwing a wedding shower at our house for one couple, the following weekend went to an engagement party for another couple, celebrated St. Patrick's Day the next weekend (which is always fun and exhausting here), and the last weekend traveled out of town for a wedding.  Thrown in there I also got measured for a bridesmaid's dress (and was told I was "thick around the middle" by the dressmaker several times), and we got to see the Avett Brothers!

April:  The first weekend in April we traveled to Albany for my best friend's wedding shower.  While at the shower, I was thrown off a golf cart and broke my knee!  I had to stay off my leg, on crutches for 8 weeks.  So most of our plans during those 8 weeks were cancelled...  Hubby had to travel a lot while I was laid up, but luckily my other best friend was able to stay with me when he was gone.  I had no idea how horrible crutches were!  You can't carry anything, it's difficult to get in and out of places and cars, doors that automatically shut were my enemy, and showers completely sucked!  And I missed out on so many things that I had been looking forward to - Girls Night Out, Steeplechase, my best friend's bachelorette weekend...  I was feeling pretty sorry for myself.

May:  Hubby and I celebrated our 2 year anniversary in May!  Well, we didn't do much to "celebrate" since I was still injured, but still.  Both of us thought we were so clever with our anniversary gifts though!  Since the 2nd anniversary is supposed to be the "cotton" anniversary, I guess we both Google'd gift ideas in order to be unique.  Surprise, surprise but we both got the other a hammock!  My brother thinks we should hang them on top of each other as hammock bunk beds.  In May my best friend, whose shower I was thrown out of golf cart at, got married.  I was the matron of honor.  I had to sit behind a tree while everyone walked down the aisle, then crutch my way down at the right moment.  It was humiliating!  The photographer also wanted to take pictures at all these different locations, and she didn't want my crutches in any of them.  So I'd crutch myself to where I needed to be (or in one instance, 2 guys had to carry me down a hill) then they'd snatch my crutches away from me!  It sucked and my leg was so incredibly swollen and painful!  But, my best friend was stunning and so happy.  It was worth it to be there for her.  The rest of May included a bachelorette party, two couple's showers, and Memorial Day.  And eventually, I was able to lose my crutches!!!

June:  June was fun.  We had 2 more wedding showers to go to, but we also had an out of town wedding to go to.  The wedding was so fun!  It was in Outer Banks, so Hubby and I took several days off of work and turned it into a vacation.  We stayed in a beach house with the other groomsmen (Hubby was a groomsman), and just enjoyed ourselves with our friends.  And it was really nice to not be in the wedding!  

July:  July was slower.  I went to a bachelorette weekend, which was a blast.  (And I made the dessert display which turned out to be super cute!  Cupcakes with chocolate seashells, and bikini cookies!)  And we went to my hometown for my stepdad's birthday - it was the first time we'd gone since Christmas!  

August:  This month I was in a wedding.  The bride is a good friend of mine (obviously), but has been best friends with Hubby since the 3rd grade.  I also work for her father and brother at their law firm.  It was another gorgeous, fun, busy wedding weekend.  But I'm glad that I'm almost done with weddings this year!  We have one more to go to next month, but we're just guests and it should be a lot of fun!  The other thing going on this month is Hubby and I are trying to get pregnant.  Our friends know, but our parents don't.  I don't want a lot of pressure from them - they'll be too excited!  It didn't work the first month, but we'll keep trying!  

And, now I'm caught up!  Maybe it won't be another 8 months before I write again, who knows??

Admission

Ok ok ok.  I admit it - I'm a horrible blogger.  I love the idea of blogging, but I'm not very good at actually going through with it.  I'm also not a very good writer.  How do people make the time to sit down and write?  

Actually, I know that answer, they make time because it's important to them.  It's a priority.  I just recently finished the book "Quitter" by Jon Acuff.  It is a book about "closing the gap between your dream job and your day job."  I bought it because I would love to become a caterer.  My life pretty much revolves around food.  If I'm not currently eating, I'm thinking about what my next meal should be, or looking up recipes to make one day.  I have 5 pinterest boards devoted to food or the kitchen.  Anyways, one of the many lessons in the book is to actually practice your dream.  And I do practice.  I love to cook.  Every meal may not be difficult, or creative, or outstanding, but I love cooking every one of them.  But what do I have to show for that passion, that love, besides the mess in my kitchen and the number on the scale?  I need to start documenting the meals I create, large and small, special and mundane.  That way I can have something to show when (cross my fingers) one day people want me to cook for them.  

A friend of mine and I have been talking about starting a party planning business.  We co-hosted a wedding shower together for friends of ours and it turned out really nice, and we've been wanting to turn that into something more.  She is far more creative than I am when it comes to putting together ideas, but I'll work my tail off, and I would love it if we could include catering into the business.  My friend has 2 smalls boys, a full time job, and an internet business, so she is super busy, and the timing isn't quite right for our idea.  But, if I stock up on photos and blog posts on here, when the time comes I'll have plenty to add to our party planning blog.  

I do know that I won't do step-by-step pictures of all my recipes.  Some recipes, yes, but most of them, no.  I want people to ask me to cook for them, not teach them how to do it themselves!  One issue I'm struggling with though, is I don't have any original recipes.  I follow other's recipes.  If I have a recipe in front of me, I can follow it so it comes out perfectly.  But, should I learn how to cook something on my own?  Should I go to culinary school?  There are at least two local colleges that offer culinary programs.  One of them is a 6 month, 5 nights a week program.  That sounds very overwhelming!  The other college sounds like it offers classes more like I'm used to.  I flip flop back and forth on this all the time.  On one hand, it would be wonderful if I could learn everything possible about cooking, recipe building, presentation, etc.  On the other hand, it's expensive, and I think I could come up with enough to be successful.  But do I want to just "come up with enough"?  Is that enough?  But again, I don't know where I'll come up with the money to pay for culinary school without some extra income.  I don't know what to do...

Anyways, back to the point of this post.  I'm a horrible blogger, but if I want to make cooking and catering a priority in my life, I can use this blog as a tool.  Many people may not see it, but I can store ideas and creations here for when I'm ready to reveal them.  Now to actually do it...

I Resolve To...

I think a problem I have with keeping a blog is I don't want it to be completely mundane.  I live a very average life, and I know I'm not going to gain a large audience constantly talking about how lazy I am, or how I need to clean our house.  Sure, I could tell stories about our weekends that can sometimes be hilarious, but I don't know that I want to be known for stories about drunken fights between a pink bunny and a penguin.

I think if I stuck with the themes that I originally laid out for this blog it wouldn't be all that bad.  Those themes might not be interesting to everyone, but are interesting to enough people. 

But I need to have this blog at the forefront of my mind when I'm doing things.  For example, Hubby and I went fishing about a month ago, and I took a lot of pictures trying to get comfortable with my camera.  But I haven't even gotten the pictures on my computer yet!  I also cook 3 times a week on average, but I haven't done any posts on cooking.  I have also read 4 books since The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo trilogy, but I haven't written about any of those.  And finally, last week I made a lamp shade for a costume party, and I didn't take a single picture to document it!  So that's examples of 4 of my topics, and yet it's been a month since I've posted anything on here!  This will have to be a New Year's Resolution for me...

Home for the Holidays!

Well, I’ve got to start cleaning up again!  My mom, step-dad, and brother are coming down here for Thanksgiving! 

This will be my first year hosting Thanksgiving.  When Hubby and I got serious enough while we were dating that we wanted to spend our holidays together, we made the decision that we would alternate holidays.  While we were dating we somehow managed to always still go back to my hometown and be with my family.  (I swear I didn’t pressure him in any way!)  Last year was our first year as a married couple and we had Thanksgiving at my parents’ house.  Then, Hubby and I hosted Christmas with his family (our house is big enough, and it’s neutral territory), and it was fun and turned out really well, but I missed my family. 

This year though, my family is coming down here, and his family is coming over, and we’ll all be together!  I’m super excited to be cooking for everyone, but I’m not looking forward to having to clean the house so my mom can stay over.

I will freely admit (and I believe I already have admitted this) that I am not the best housewife.  I'm lazy.  I'll clean my kitchen, because that's where I spend most of my time, but I hate ironing, vacuuming, scrubbing showers and toilets, sweeping, mopping, etc.  I would so much rather lay on the couch with Hubby and watch our shows.  (That attitude also says a lot to explain our expanding waist lines...)  BUT, I keep up with the housework as needed, I don't want us to live in filth.  Our house may not be as clean as some others, but I don't think our house is nasty, and as long as I'm keeping Hubby happy and people are still fine with coming over to our house, I'm comfortable with the state of our house.

My mother, on the other hand, thinks differently.  Her house stays clean, because she works at it, but I wouldn't say it's spotless, and neither would she.  But, I remember the first time she came over I had spent a week cleaning our house from top to bottom.  I was so proud of how clean the house was, and just knew she wouldn't be able to find anything wrong with it.  After they got there, we were cooking dinner together, and she points to the back of the stove, where the clock is, and says "You know, you should wipe this off every once in a while..." 

Recently my cousin has had some personal family problems.  My mom called her up to let her know she loves her and if she needs to she can always come stay at her house any time.  She goes on to say "You can also go down to Suzanne's house.  You can bring your dogs because she has a dog and two cats.  But of course her house is filthy!"  I don't know why my mom decides she has to call people up to tell them how dirty my house is. 

So, Hubby and I have some cleaning to do!  We both have tomorrow off from work, and we're going to make it a fun, relaxing day off together.  But, thrown in there, we're also going to take our slipcover from our couch to the dry cleaners, and we're meeting an exterminator at our house at 2:30.  (Last night we heard something scurrying around in our attic, and I've had the hibby jibbies ever since!)  Hubby says he just wants me to get all the cleaning done as quickly as possibly so I can actually enjoy the holiday and having everyone in our home.  And I plan to!

The Girl Who...

I just finished reading the trilogy by Stieg Larsson: The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played With Fire, and The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest.  They were amazing!  The first one, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, was pretty slow to get into, but once it picked up, it was extremely suspenseful!  The second one didn't start as slowly, so I had trouble putting it down right away.  Then the third one picked up right where the second one left off!  I hear that several other books were written or at least outlined before Larsson died, and his editors are finishing them off.

I cannot wait for the movies to come out.  I think the entire trilogy will be instantly successful.  Salander, the main character, is such an interesting and unique character that I can't wait to see how she transfers over onto the big screen.

Although, I'm usually disappointed when a book is made into a movie.  I refuse to see movie version of The Notebook -- I love the book too much!  It's mainly for 2 reasons: 1) Key events that happen in the book, don't happen in the movie.  For example, in Gone With The Wind, Scarlett had another child in the book that wasn't even thought of in the movie!  I understand that if every detail was captured, the movies would probably be twice as long, but still.  2) I always have characters and scenes pictured in my head while I'm reading, and then seeing whoever is cast for a part is disappointing when they don't look like I would picture.  For example, in The Divinci Code, I would've never cast Tom Hanks as the lead!  He's nothing like I pictured!  Oh well, I'll have to wait and see how this series will turn out.

Finally, the Cushion Update!

When I think of how I would like the rooms of our house decorated, I picture classic, comfortable, and a little country look.  In reality though, I'm drawn to bright primary colors.  For example, our dishes are Fiesta in Scarlet, Sunflower, Shamrock, and Cobalt.  So then, naturally when I decided to make a new cushion for our glider, I went with brighter colors again.  Here's how the whole process went...

First, I bought 3 foam egg crates and folded them in half. 

My mom came up with a brilliant idea for a cheaper choice of fabric.  Beach towels!  I bought 3 beach towels and sewed them end to end.  Then I sewed each side.

As I mentioned in my first post, I've had very little experience with a sewing machine...

Hence, the bent needle.

So, I had to break out the manual to learn how to replace the needle.

Luckily, Nanny had some in her bag of supplies that came with the sewing machine.

So I get the needle replaced and I'm sewing along, when something goes horribly wrong.  I realize that I have somehow managed to sew the towels to the sewing machine!  I don't even understand how that's possible.  But apparently, if anyone can do it, I can.

I cut the towel off the machine, and take the whole thing apart.  Somehow, the tread wound around the bobbin casing.

How am I supposed to fix this disaster?  Back to the book...



Finally, I get everything re-assembled, and it's smooth sailing from here.

What the...

OK, this is really trying my patience, but I get everything untangled, and finally, finally, finally, get everything sewn.

Ta-Da!!

It looks like it should fit just fine, but when I started putting it on...

it was a little tight. 

Luckily, Julio was always nearby to help, or hinder...

Finally, after much struggling and accidentally punching myself in the arm, I managed to get the cover on!

All I had left was to sew up the fourth side by hand.

I searched everywhere for bright red pillows.  During my search, I realized it was the wrong time of year to be looking for bright red anything.  When I was about to give up, I found the clearance aisle in Wal-Mart and UGA 24" pillows on clearance for $7.50 a piece!  The Georgia G logo was only on one side, so I bought 5 of them, brought them home, and this is how the whole thing turned out!

Pretty cute, huh?  I am exceedingly proud and impressed with myself!