A Whole New Definition to Black Friday

My sister and I have done the Black Friday thing for years. It started about 10 years ago, I was driving to work one November morning and the radio personalities were talking about how the mall was going to open at 12:01am on Black Friday. I wanted in. My mom was never a big Black Friday person, she is more the kind of person that starts her Christmas shopping in October and is pretty much done by Thanksgiving. My sister and I decided to start our own tradition. Over the years, my sister has become more like my mom and starts Christmas shopping early. I like to be a little more traditional and do not start my Christmas shopping until Black Friday.

This year was different. We stopped going to the mall years ago, but we still liked to head out of the house by 5am and would get home around 9am with Christmas shopping more or less completed for the year. This year, I had my blood pregnancy test at 8:15 in the morning. My mom and my sister decided to change things up a bit, and have a late Black Friday. The logic was to keep me busy with retail therapy while waiting for the doctor called back. We got to the mall around 10am, and about 30 seconds after I stepped out of the car, my phone rang. 

The test was negative, we lost both embryos. 

Shopping to keep my mind off of things quickly turned into full scaled retail therapy. I focused on Christmas as a temporary escape from my heart breaking. I choked back the tears, called Tom, because he needed to know, and went about my day. I managed to keep myself occupied with family visits, shopping, and dinner out until almost midnight, by that point, Tom and I had the "what do we do now" conversation. We went to bed, and I thought all was going to be okay. 

Everything was okay, until about 5am Saturday morning when everything hit. I cried. I cried for my overwhelming sense of failure, for the loss of our embryos, for the loss of the idea of having an entire family born the same month. As much as I tried to remain cautious, I was still optimistic. I wanted this IVF cycle to work, we have been trying so hard. I cried because of the numbers of children that are neglected and seemingly unwanted in the world, but we cannot have a baby of our own. It was hard. Crazy hard. 

Where do we go from here? Tom and I are going to relax and enjoy the holidays. My mother-in-law is planning to drive to Maine from Kansas City, and we are going to host Christmas dinner for both families. I am going to spoil Tom with presents, smile, and enjoy the season. In January, we are going to start the entire process over again, with the IVF cycle occurring sometime in February. We are working to reduce/ remove all of the big stressers in our life. We are also going to be much more private about it, because I think I jinxed  myself by blogging about it. For whatever reason, this time was not our time. We will become parents, no matter what it takes.

Embryo Transfer and the Emotional Rollercoaster

Our two perfect embryos

Our embryo transfer was on Wednesday, November 14. The procedure itself was very quick. We were told to arrive at 10am for a 10:30 procedure. They took us into the procedure room around 10:15, and Tom and I were on our way a little after 10:30. The nurses gave us a picture of the two embryos we had transferred. They are absolutely perfect. Our doctor told us we have the best case scenario for a successful IVF cycle. To further increase our chances, I had acupuncture therapy before and after the procedure.

Physical recovery following the embryo transfer was minor, at best. I was a little crampy. I was told to go home and relax. Emotionally, that is an entirely different story. Going into the embryo transfer, I expected to be really giddy and excited. In reality, the complete opposite is what happened. I have been dealing with infertility for several years at this point, and I felt exactly the same before the embryo transfer as I did after. There was no magic moment where I suddenly felt pregnant. I am trying to be optimistic, but at the same time, the concept of being pregnant is very surreal to me, and I do not want to get too excited just in case this cycle is not successful.

I started experiencing nausea and cramping Thursday night. In my head, I am interpreting this as morning sickness and using as an excuse to feel a little more optimistic. The reality is that morning sickness does not start for most women until the sixth week of pregnancy. I will be hitting week four on Friday, so I am more than a little early. The symptoms might be in my head, or, more likely, a side effect of the progesterone that I am on. I spoke to a nurse this morning, and she agreed with me that it is a little early to be experiencing morning sickness and my symptoms are likely a side effect of the progesterone. She also noted although it is not common, some women start experiencing morning sickness earlier than others. There is no way to be sure until my blood pregnancy test.

Post Egg Retrieval Update

Source Human embryos, not ours

On Friday I had my egg retrieval surgery. It was very quick, the prep actually took the longest part. I got to my doctor's office at 8am on Friday, they took me out back and had me change into a gown while Tom produces his, ahem, contribution. I got hooked up to an IV, and the nurse went over a pile of paperwork. Tom joined me as the nurse was finished up paperwork and the anesthesiologist came in. I was asked to pee, and then they walked me into the OR. I was positioned on the table, and the next thing I knew I was waking up and the procedure was done. All in all, the doctor was able to retrieve 13 eggs. Our goal was 10-12, so I did good. The procedure itself took about 15 minutes. Once I woke up, they wheeled me back to a recovery area. I dozed a little more, and then they gave me cookies and ginger ale. The nurse retrieved Tom, and as soon as I was able to pee again I was allowed to get dressed and go home.

The rest of Friday was spent laying on the couch with a heating pad and taking Tylenol every 4 hours. All of the surgical literature says to expect menstrual-like cramping after egg retrieval. Menstrual cramps don't make me cry, so yeah, it hurt. I was fortunate in that I did not experience any nausea, and as long as I stayed put with my heating pad, I was good. I actually went to work on Saturday, although I did use a second chair to keep my feet up. Today I feel fine, occasional mild cramping, but aside from that I would say I am back to normal.

We found out on Saturday that of the 13 eggs retrieved, 12 fertilized. You can probably guess that this is really good, Tom and I were giddy. Today we found out that our little embryos are healthy enough to stay in the incubator until day 5, which is also known as the blastocyst stage. Tom and I are very fortunate in that we have insurance coverage for IVF, but it only gives us 3 lifetime cycles. I wanted to give this cycle every possible chance so that we can save our other two cycles for siblings. Scientific research indicates that embryos transferred on day 5 have a higher chance of implanting, which ultimately results in pregnancy. Our doctor explained it by saying the longer the embryos are able to incubate, the better able the embryologist is able to choose the healthiest embryos to transfer. Healthy embryos make healthy babies.

What this all boils down to is that on Wednesday I will have two embryos transferred back into me.  In other words, I will be pregnant with twins (until proven otherwise) in three days. Tom and I have been trying to start a family for three years, we knew it was going to be a difficult battle, but now we can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Our friends and family have been so supportive throughout this IVF cycle, everyone is praying for us. Tom and I have this gut feeling that we are going to have twins next August. I am dreading the two week wait until we find out if everything is successful. Our nurse on Friday told me that the stars all seem to be aligned this time, my egg retrieval was nine months from Tom's birthday, and the transfer will be nine months from my birthday. I should also throw in there that 13 is our lucky number. We shall see.

Trigger Happy

My last ultrasound was on Tuesday morning, at which time I had 15 follicles. The doctor called and decided to have me do my last round of shots last night, and scheduled me for my egg retrieval surgery on Friday! I took my trigger shot tonight at 9pm, which will get all my little follicles ready for Friday. It also means that I am officially done giving myself injections. Our little embryos will be conceived on Friday, which happens to be nine months from Thom's birthday. They will be transferred back into me next Wednesday, which is exactly nine months from my birthday. With luck and prayers, we should be pregnant by the middle of next week!

Ultrasound #3

Source

In addition to injections every night, I also have the pleasure of almost daily ultrasounds and bloodwork. Actually, as of today, I'm up to daily ultrasounds as my next one is scheduled for tomorrow. For those of you that have not experienced IVF, the stimulation phase is a time in which fertility medications are administered via injection with the goal of creating follicles, which are little pouches of fluid that contain an egg. Each woman is different, the ideal situation is to create 20 follicles prior to egg retrieval. My ovaries have been rated as fair, and my doctor has given us the goal of 12 follicles prior to egg retrieval. In order for a follicle to be counted, it needs to measure 12mm in any direction. As of this morning, I am up to 6 measurable follicles, with a another half dozen or so that are between 11.5mm and 12mm, which will likely be countable tomorrow when I have my next ultrasound, followed by an acupuncture session, thank goodness. When the nurse called me today to give me my medication instructions, she told me that egg retrieval could occur as early as Wednesday but will likely occur on Thursday or Friday.

I am definitely looking forward to egg retrieval, not only because it means another step forward in our journey to become pregnant, but also because I'm not going to lie, it is really uncomfortable to have swollen ovaries. The average woman ovulates one, maybe two follicles in a cycle. I have about a dozen on each side. I'm crampy, and the heating pad and tylenol are not helping at all. I keep telling myself that the cramps are a good sign because it means that follicles are growing, but it is still very uncomfortable.

Halfway Through

In addition to last night being Halloween, it was also the halfway point of my fertility injections. The needles are starting to sting a little more and my tummy is very tender. I have more or less been living off of Tylenol and my heating pad for the last couple of days. I had my first ultrasound on Tuesday, and everything is looking good, the shots are definitely doing their job. Tonight I get to add a third medication to the mix. Fortunately, the nurse told me I could mix it with my other medication so I still only need to give myself two shots.

I also had a reality check this week. I looked at my calender and did some math out, if everything continues to go according to schedule, I will be having surgery next week for my egg retrieval. Five days after that, the embryos will be transferred back into me. In other words, in about two weeks, I am likely going to be pregnant. This process has definitely flown by. The cramps from the shots suck, there is no denying it, but at the same time, it is only for twelve days, and before I know it, I will be finally experiencing pregnancy.

One of my friends on Facebook connected me with one of her friends that had recently gone through IVF. It was really nice to be able to talk to someone on the other side. She happen to have the same doctor that Tom and I do, and was put on the same medication regimen. She now has two beautiful twin boys. She describes infertility as something she would not wish upon her worst enemy, but at the same time, she appreciates the inner strength it forced her to discover. They say that God does not throw anything at you that you cannot handle.

If all goes as planned, Tom and I find out if our IVF cycle was successful on Thanksgiving. My new friend told me that the two weeks between embryo transfer and the pregnancy test will be the longest two weeks of your life, but if you meditate, you will know. My response is that I will be doing a lot of self-reflection and meditation, and I hope to have something very special to be thankful for this Thanksgiving.

Time to Shoot Up, With Fertility Medication

Did you ever wonder what $8,000 worth of medication looks like? Turn to your left, and you will know. That's right, three zeros. I have a bag sitting in my dining room that I am pretty sure is worth more than my car. The best part? It is all injectables, aka shots. I started giving myself shots last night. They are subcutaneous needles, which means they are very tiny. I would compare them to the needles my acupuncturist uses. I was really nervous about giving myself shots, but the lovely nurse at the apothecary gave me a hands on tutorial. It really is not that difficult, I have to mix one of the medications and it kind of makes me feel like a chemist or something. In the near future, I will be adding a third medication, but I can just mix that with one of the other medications I'm taking and stick to two shots a night for 12 days. Now the needles are not that bad, the cramping that comes from after the shot sucks. I've been loving my heating pad since last night. I knew cramping was going to come into play, but I did not expect it so early in the game. Oh well, it will be worth it in the end right?

Overwhelmed

Source

So, my blog has sort of taken on a different flavor as of late. When I first started writing again, towards the end of August, I was all optimistic that my blog would be a collection of recipes, restaurant reviews, and DIY projects. The thing with blogs, and writing in general, is they sort of take on a mind of their own, they ignore what your intention was, and encourage you to get to the heart of everything. As a result, my happy go lucky little newlywed lifestyle blog seems to be shifting. It is shifting to my life, and my story, and maybe I will be lucky enough that other people will want to read it, if not, it's a way for me to get my emotions out. Let me tell you, right now, my brain is absolutely fried. I explained it to Tom the other day, he asked how I was feeling, and I told him that I cannot focus on anything and my brain feels like scrambled eggs.

Our first IVF trial is now in full swing. I just completed my suppression phase, and now I am waiting for good ol' aunt flo to arrive so that I can become a human pin cushion. I mean, so that I can start administering my hormones, by injection. Two a night, for I want to say about 12 days. I'm not afraid of needles, but I am absolutely terrified of the idea of giving shots to myself. I've watched the educational videos online that my doctor prescribed, and tomorrow I get some one on one time with a nurse to answer any questions. Then I get to start going to regular ultrasounds until the doctor decides that I've created enough follicles for surgery. Which should be sometime in mid-November. Five days after that, the best two embryos will be transferred back into me, and by Thanksgiving we find out if the entire process is successful. My doctor is very optimistic due to my age. I'm terrified. I'll be honest, I'm so used to being infertile that over the last year, even when I've been late, in the back of my head, like it or not, I knew that I was likely not pregnant. It still hurts to have confirmation, but at the same time, it has kept me away from thinking about being a mommy. This time around? Completely different story. I don't know how to describe it, but Tom and I just have this sort of gut feeling that next August we will be welcoming twin girls into the world. The reality of we are going to become parents, sooner versus later, is starting to hit home.

Tom and I paid our final car payment about a week ago, and now we are on the market for a new car. Our list of things we are looking for in a car has completely changed, we need something that we can take camping and on road trips, that will also fit a car seat or two and baby gear. Safety ratings are also taking a whole new priority. This past weekend, my mom and I went to a baby shower. I had a blast at the baby shower and got to hold my cousin's three month old baby. Once I got home, I browsed around the website of a popular baby chain. I was more than a little struck with sticker shock. Babies can be expensive! Needless to say, we are also in the process of stabilizing our finances, with plans to purchase our first new car by the end of 2013 and a house, yes, a house, in the next 3-5 years.

Medical procedures, babies, finances, cars, and houses. No wonder my brain is scrambled eggs. On the positive note, I'm happy to be planning for the future and making steps in a positive direction. On the other had, it is a lot to process in a relatively short piece of time.

Moving Forward

I apologize for not posting lately, truth be told, I just do not have a lot to write about right now. There is so much happening, yet at the same time so little. We received financial approval for IVF, now I just need to wait for the finance department to get in contact with my specific doctor so that they can tell me what to do next. Things are starting to get very real, I went to my cousin's baby shower on Sunday, and all I could think about it how next summer we will (hopefully) be celebrating my baby shower. I had an acupuncture session this morning, and my acupuncturist informed me that next week we are going to start focusing on fertility and less on anxiety, which is definitely going to be a change.

In other news, but sort of related, Tom and I have started looking at new cars. Specifically, an SUV crossover. Right now, we drive a Chevy Impala, which we love, and paid off last Thursday. The only problem with our current car? When Tom and I go camping, we use up the entire trunk and the backseat. There is simply no way we could fit a car seat or two plus baby gear plus all our camping equipment. We also like to road trip and need something reliable that we will all fit in. I guess the nearly 200,000 miles we have put on our current vehicle does not help the situation either. After test driving about a half dozen different vehicles, I think we are going to go with a Subaru Outback. We really loved test driving it, it has an excellent resale value, and our friends are giving it rave reviews.

I guess that's about it, lots of dreaming, planning, and waiting.

Fryeburg Fair

In New England, fall is fair season. As a kid, I remember my mom used to call us out of school just so that we could go down to New Hampshire and go to the fair with my grandparents. I have vivid childhood memories of the rides, carnival food, exhibition halls, and the animals. This is a tradition that Tom and I intend to continue with our future children.

For the last two years, we have been visiting the Fryeburg Fair, which is one of the biggest fairs in the state of Maine. I actually think it is the biggest, but I'm not 100% on that. Regardless, it's a fair, it's fall, and it's awesome.

Tom and I tried a different fair strategy this year. Rather than getting up early to get to the fair right when the gates open, we opted to go in the evening. We left our apartment around 2ish and got to the fair around 3. For any Maine locals, this is the way to do it. We saw very little traffic going in, and if Tom didn't make a wrong turn at the fair grounds, we would not have gotten stuck in traffic at all. We picked a sunny day to go, which was definitely a good thing because it rained the rest of the week. In fact, we overheard several people talking about how the fair was "mobbed" that morning because it had rained the two previous days. Another reason to go later in the day. There were crowds, but not so bad that we felt over crowded or unable to see everything.

Our primary purpose behind going to the fair is to indulge in carnival food. We have our usual things that we always get, like fried dough and veggie tempura. This year, Tom convinced me to share a turkey leg with me. I am very happy we shared one, there was enough protein on that thing to keep me full for the rest of the day.

This year, the fair introduced a specialty foods exposition hall. Tom and I were intrigued, so we went in and enjoyed samples of various locally made goodies; hot sauce, honey, jams, jellies, popcorn, and barbeque sauce. We discovered blueberry pepper jelly and absolutely fell in love. It starts out sweet with a spicy chili finish. We loved it on the crackers the vendor provided, but then the vendor told us about how he likes to cook with it as well as a marinade. Needless to say, a jar of that came home with us. We also have their website and will be ordering more.

After eating and checking out some agricultural exhibits and the crafters hall, we wandered over to see the animals. My grandparents have a dairy farm, so I grew up around cows. I love seeing all the animals, like the pigs with their pile of piglets, the sheep that feel like walking sweaters, the bunnies with their motor noses, and the poultry exhibit, where it takes all of my self-control not to crow like a rooster to make all the chickens twitch... okay, I'm weird.... but it's funny. Take my word on this one and try it some time.

We also stopped to watch a bit of a horse pull. In my many years of fair going, I have never really gone to any of the agricultural events, except for the occasional pig scramble. It was really impressive to see horses pulling over 7000 lbs of weight. Tom helped me put it into perspective by saying the horses were pulling 2-3 of our cars. I was impressed.

The one the we did not check out was the mid-way. Tom and I have outgrown it, and last year the carnival games were not that great. I honestly did not even miss it. When I was a kid, I used to try to rush through everything to get maximum time on the rides. I'm sure that thrill will return once we have a little one or two to take on the rides.

All in all, it was a perfect fall day.

And so it begins...

As of 7pm, Wednesday evening, Tom and I have started our first IVF trial. Well, I started medication to prepare me for our first IVF cycle. We are still waiting on insurance approval. It should go through. Right now I'll just enjoy my weekly acupuncture appointments, gummy prenatal vitamins, and medication. With any luck and half a prayer, we will be the parents of twins in August of 2013.

My First Experience with Acupuncture

During our doctor's appointment last week, our nurse recommended that I try acupuncture as a treatment for my anxiety and infertility. Scientific research has determined that acupuncture is an effective method of treatment for infertility in that it can increase blood to the uterus, it also eases the egg retrieval process, and works in conjunction with embryo transfer. Acupuncture is also known for it's ability to relax the patent and calm symptoms of anxiety. One less that I have learned in life is that it is important to give everything a try, at least once. With that, I booked my first acupuncture appointment.

I brought Tom along for support. I'm not afraid of needles, it was just something new and I wanted him to be there. The appointment started out with the acupuncturist asking me questions about our fertility journey, as well as some questions about my anxiety. She then had me get up on the table for an introductory session. This was when she stuck the first needle in. Do you know the feeling when you get a tattoo of the needles almost tickling your skin? This was far far less intense than even that (I giggled while getting my tattoo). The acupuncturist put about six needles, between my wrist and elbow. Another four or five in each ankle, and then four or five in each ear. Then she left me be, with classical music playing, a heat lamp to keep me cozy, and the lights turned off.

I fell asleep.

That's right, needles stuck in, I felt as though my arms and feet were literally melting into the bed and I fell asleep. I just lay there and relaxed, and before I knew it, it was time to take the needles out. I have had many treatments for my anxiety, from massages to medications, this was by far the most relaxed I have ever felt. Tom brought me home, got me to the couch, and I haven't moved since. This is only an introductory treatment? Sign me up. My acupuncturist wants to see me on a weekly basis, initially to treat my anxiety, but she will also work in treatments to coincide with my IVF cycle. Aside from the obvious goal of pregnancy, we also set the goal to manage my anxiety with acupuncture, so that I can completely go off of my medication during pregnancy. That would be best for our baby.

The moral of the story? If you have a condition that can be treated with acupuncture, give it a try. It is no where near as painful as you would expect it to be, and the end result is just... amazing.

Where did Jenny go? My Journey through Infertility and the beginning of IVF.

As you may, or likely may not have noticed, I haven't been around much in the blogging world for the last week or so. Did you ever have one of those experiences that just rocks you to the core? That was last week. Let's back up a bit, and get a little more personal. 

Tom and I want to have a baby. We have wanted to have a baby for a very long time. I was diagnosed with PCOS during my early twenties, so I knew that having a baby was going to be difficult. As a result, when I first moved in with Tom back in 2009, I threw out my pack of birth control pills. Our mantra for the next two years was when the time is right, we will get pregnant. Fast forward to August of 2011, a month before our wedding. At this point we had been informally trying for two years. The average couple is able to conceive within one year. My doctor referred us to an ob/gyn that specializes in infertility. To spare you the details, we tried everything, including surgery. No dice, still no baby. Tom and I are very fortunate in that we work for a company that provides insurance coverage for IVF. It was because of this that about a month after my surgery, Tom, myself, and my ob/gyn made the decision that if we were not pregnant by August of 2012, we were going to seek the IVF route. August has come and gone, still no baby. Our ob/gyn referred us to a reproductive endocrinologist. Our first consult was completely harmless, about a half hour talk about what we have tried and an order for blood work. Then we went in, and the pulled eight viles of blood from me. To the average person, this may seem like a lot, for someone that has been going through infertility for over a year, I don't even feel the pin prick anymore. Then comes our second consultation, which occurred on Monday of last week. Pardon my French, shit just got real. 

The appointment started out with reviewing the results of our bloodwork. Tom is completely normal, so the problem is with me, but we will probably never know exactly what the problem is. The doctor recommended IVF and is highly optimistic that it will be successful because everything in me appears normal, there just seems to be a problem with the sperm meeting the egg. We then started discussing actual plans, as in, how many embryos to transfer, what day to transfer them. If that wasn't enough, then we got to meet with the nurse. The nurse greeted us with a mountain of consent forms, a time line, and videos to watch. The videos? They were about how to give myself shots. That's right, injections, with a needle, two a night, for about a week. Then I get to have surgery, then my eggs are combined with Tom's sperm, and then two little embryos will be transferred back into me. Hopefully, to make themselves at home. 

It was a lot to take in. Infertility is a lot to take in. It seems like some women simply need to look at a man, and then get pregnant. It is the most basic female thing, to carry a child. I cannot do it. I would not be able to do it without help. I fail. It is a very lonely journey. I try not to talk about it much, but people ask. Friends, family, and co-workers know that we are trying to start a family, and everyone wants to be the first to know. People give me advice, like "you need to relax" or "you are young, it will happen," I know these people are trying to be nice, but no offense, especially if you already have children, you have no idea what I am going through. I've also been asked if we have considered adoption. Yes, we have, but as an ultimate last resort. We want a baby that is OUR baby, not someone else's. I want to experience pregnancy, I want the baby belly, I want the intimacy that is breast feeding. I want to look at our child and see Tom's eyes, or my nose. 

Anyways, yeah, that is my excuse, that is my reason for being away for the last week. I'm trying to process everything, to adjust to what will soon become our new normal. I don't want my blog to become an infertility blog, the journey is just a bit too personal for that. I will occasionally give updates, especially if everything goes as planned and we successfully become pregnant in November. This is a lifestyle blog, however, and this is my life right now. 

Our First Anniversary, Not Quite as Planned

So Monday, September 10, was our first anniversary. Our plans were relatively simple, Tom was going to go to work, as usual, and I was going to spend my usual Monday off cleaning the apartment and doing laundry. We were going to get dressed up and go out to dinner, and then we were going to spend the weekend camping at Acadia National Park. Like I said, simple and low key. Our wedding day was perfect, so why expect anything less of our anniversary. As you can see from the picture to your left, things did not exactly go as planned.

To back things up a bit, back when Tom was about fifteen, he was involved with wrestling. While at practice one night, he attempted a pivot. Well, his body pivoted, but his foot did not, resulting in a broken bone right above the growth plate. He was taken to the hospital, and a screw was put in to hold the bone back together. Over the course of a couple of months, everything healed up, and he was good to go. Except for one little detail, they never took the screw out.

Fast forward to this past Sunday. Tom had been having ankle pain for the last week, which we did not think much of. Broken bones tend to lead to arthritis, and he tends to experience some discomfort whenever the seasons change. This past Sunday, his ankle hurt a lot more than usual. Just laying in bed, he said it was at about a 7 or an 8. When he stood up, on a scale of 10, he gave it a 12. I parked him on the couch with ibuprofen, wrapped his ankle, propped it up with some pillows and added some ice. After about six hours, we saw no improvement, so off to first care we went. The first thing they did was an x-ray, which you can see above. Then they gave Tom some pain killers, an air cast, a prescription for crutches, and advised him to contact an orthopedist. I'm not a doctor by any sense of the word, but this sounded pretty serious. We went home, went to bed, and woke up to a completely different anniversary than planned.

Tom stayed home from work, we got his crutches, and he met with his regular doctor for "pain management" aka Vicodin. Then we attempted to find an orthopedist. The cool thing about doctors up here is that everything is electronic, so the first orthopedist we called was able to pull up Tom's x-rays and check them out. They then promptly called us and said that they could not do anything, and referred us to a bone specialist. The bone specialist was unable to get Tom in for an appointment until Friday 9/13. At this point I realized if my husband is hobbling around on crutches, on pain killers, with an appointment to see a bone surgeon, he is likely not going to be so comfortable camping that weekend, let alone hike around Acadia National Park. So, with a tear in my eye, I cancelled our anniversary trip. The campground we were planning on visiting has been very gracious and granted us a rain check to use at any point next year. By the time we got home from doctor's appointments and picking up prescriptions, it was late into the afternoon and I had not even started cleaning. Not a problem, it does not usually take long to straighten up the place, that is, unless the vacuum explodes all over the living room floor. Two hours later, we have the vacuum unclogged. By this point, I was in tears. It was 8pm, I was covered in vacuum dust, restaurants were closing, and I was ready to throw in the towel. What happened next? I'll post about that in a little bit. ;) Don't you just hate cliff hangers?

Pinterest Project of the Week- Wedding Invitation Ornament

For those of you that have not yet discovered it, Pinterest is a wonderful thing. It's essentially a website to store visual bookmarks of stuff you find around the web. It is great for organizational purposes; but the best part is browsing the various projects and recipes that other people have pinned. I'm not going to lie, I've started to accumulate quite a collection. So, now that I've started a new blog, I decided that now was as good of a time as any to attempt either a project or recipe that I find on Pinterest at least once a week, and write about it. Who knows, maybe I'll create a link-up with it of some sort.

For this week, I made a wedding invitation ornament that was inspired by the blog From Glitter to Gumdrops The project itself is really easy, take a your wedding invitation and cut it into 1/4" strips. Wrap each strip around a pen to make a coil, and then place the coils inside a glass Christmas bulb. This was especially easy for me, in that I actually designed our wedding invitations, so I simply printed out an invitation on ivory cardstock. Our invitation happened to have a lot of blank space, and I wanted to add a little bit of glitter,

so I used some gold glitter glue on the blank strips. Everything fit nicely inside the ornament, and I used some extra pearls and crystals that I had from my handmade wedding jewelry to make a loop for hanging. The finishing touch is a simple white satin bow with some wedding rings.

Overall, I really like the finished effect of the ornament and I cannot wait to hang it our on Christmas tree in a couple of months. I was careful to cut the strips line by line, so as you move the bulb, little details become visible, like our names, the date, and the lines from the poem. The glitter

adds just enough color an contrast to add interest, otherwise I think the ornament would look a bit monotone. I can definitely check this project off the list, now the question is, what to make next?

Have you made a project that you found on Pinterest? Did you blog about it?

Happy 80th Birthday in Heaven, Grampa

On August 2, 2012, my grandfather passed away. My sister and I were always close to grampa. I remember growing up visiting the farm and spending hours playing outside in the fields and surrounding woods. My grampa was always one to tease, he would refer to my sister and I as "pests" and threaten to feed us to the coyotes if we did not do as we were told. Everyone knew that teasing was grampa's way of telling you that he loved you. I come from a good French Catholic family, my mom is one of five children and I am one of twelve grandchildren. Every single one of us took grampa's passing hard.

My grandfather passed exactly 10 days before what would have been his 80th birthday. After a long a difficult couple of months, my mom thought it would be a good idea to celebrate my grampa's birthday anyway, so that my family could gather together again with happier circumstances. My grandmother, aunts, uncles, and cousins agreed and over the course of a day or two the event was planned. It was a simple, nothing fancy, a family barbecue with burgers and hot dogs, everyone brought a dish to share. Country music was playing and horseshoes were thrown. We also had a balloon release, as a means of sending our birthday wishes up to grampa in heaven. My grandmother, along with each of their children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren each wrote birthday wishes on a balloon. After the count of three, and a big "Happy Birthday" the balloons were released to the sky.

Following the balloon release, we had birthday cake. My cousin Ashley managed to get a photo cake put together with less than 24 hours notice. The cake was perfect, complete with a pipe. My grandmother and the original five posed with the cake before we cut it. Notice all the orange, that was grampa's favorite color.

Overall, it was a wonderful day. It was nice to spend time with family, and we all needed something to smile about. I think grampa was happy that we had the party as well, because shortly after the balloon release the sky cleared and the sun came out. My mom saw a rainbow her drive home. Grampa, let it be known that words will never describe how much you meant to our family. You will be forever in our hearts and sorely missed. You were a wonderful husband, father, grandfather, and great-grandfather, and I am sure that God has set aside a farm in heaven, just for you.