Retail therapy

Something a little lighter

Thanks to ICLW, I saw this on "babybaker"'s page.

Here’s how it works: you have to mention (and link) to the blog where you saw it. Then use Google images to explain your answers for each category listed below. Join the fun!

(Babybaker listed the phrase she searched for, but I chose to only post the photo... )

1. Favorite beverage

2. Your hometown

3. Favorite TV show

4. Your occupation

5. Your first car

6. Your favorite dish

7. Celebrity you’ve been told you most resemble (this one was hard... there is no "most often" so I just chose two I have been told at one time or another...)

8. Celebrity crush

9. Favorite childhood toy

10. Any random photo

Life is short, but sweet for certain. **updated!

First of all, an important announcement:

I am wearing very cute underwear today.

Last week, I ordered some new underwear from G.ap Body. They used to make ones I really they called "Low rise ch.eeky hip.sters" but they don't anymore. :( Now I have these modal undies that I love from there, some tanga style and some "girlshorts" .I only had 2 girlshorts, so I decided I needed more. I ordered several of both styles. They came yesterday. (Cranky UPS man delivered them, but didn't ring the bell so I didn't have to deal with him, and he didn't have to deal with the dogs.) I'm wearing the purple girlshorts today, and along with being comfy and soft, they have these little details on them that make them extra cute. I love cute underwear. :)

u/s and bloodwork this morning. The tech told me that nothing was measurable yet, but there were lots of (10+) follicles on each side. *sigh* I'm feeling very impatient this cycle... maybe it's that 3 week BCP break. Or maybe it's that it coincides with the end of the school year, which I'm already impatient about.

**update! My est. was 406, which is great. The last 2 IUIs it wasn't even that high on trigger day. Hopefully that means my many teeny follicles in today's u/s will grow and we'll have a good 'harvest'. :) 3 more days of meds, and next bw and u/s on Sat.

On a very serious note, this weekend one of the guidance counselors up at the high school died very suddenly, of a suspected heart attack. He was 32 years old. :( He was very well respected and loved by students and staff.

The part that affects me the most is that he was recently married. His face.book page is public, and on it he has beautiful pictures of himself and his bride on their wedding day. As sad as I feel for all who knew him, and for the rest of his family, it makes me so, so sad for her. It is one of my biggest fears to lose III, especially early in our marriage. I don't know how I would handle the loss or what I would do without him. :( So I'm thinking a lot about this poor woman and what she must be going through.

T minus two days to the weekend, fifteen (fourteen w/kids) 'til my break...

Crazy eights!

Tagged by MeInsideOut! :-)

Rules: Mention the person that tagged me, complete the list of 8’s, and tag 8 bloggers.

8 Things I’m Looking Forward To:
- Just enjoying this weekend!
- Summer break
- III and I getting over our colds
- 4th of July vacation away
- starting stims tonight (how odd, huh?)
- SYT.YCD auditions to be done so that they actually start the competition with the partner dances. :)
- Bermuda in August
- Having a baby... (obviously)

8 Things I Did Yesterday:
- Taught FOIL
- Saw former co-workers
- Ordered take-out and bought cold meds
- Watched House
- Talked to the RN and got my stims instructions (1st blood and u/s on Wednesday)
- Took my first reduced Lu.pron dose
- Harassed my mom about choosing which week they are coming to visit
- Comforted KB who was freaking out about having to buy a new car
- Cuddled with my dogs

8 Things I Wish I Could Do:
- Get into a regular workout routine
- Go to the beach
- Read books for a living (Lisa-I'm stealing this one!!!)
- Take a photography class
- Find a job that I love, can do from home, that pays well (a girl can always dream...)
- Learn to be more organized
- Make my pets not get older (this one too.... ;-) )
- Get pregnant. *sigh*

8 Shows I Watch:
- SYT.YCD
- Grey's
- House
- AI
- Dog Whis.perer
- TMZ
- The U.nit (with III)
- Ult.imate Fight.er (with III)

8 Favorite Fruits:
- strawberries
- pinapple
- grapefruit
- cherries
- green apples
- blueberries
- peaches
- blackberries (I'd like them more without the seeds)

8 Places I’d Like to Travel:
- Greece
- Spain
- Portugal
- St. Lucia
- Israel (again)
- Aruba
- Venice
- PEI

8 Places I’ve Lived:
(Due to my anon fear, I'm going to be very vague here...)
- 2 different states
- 2 towns/cities in one state
- 3 towns/cities in the other
- very briefly in another country

Hey! That adds up to eight! :)

8 People I’m Tagging (going try not to duplicate MIO):

- Erica

- Ashley

- C by the sea

- Emily

- Kirke

- Michelle

- Dawn

- Anyone else who wants to play!!! :-)

New project

I spent the last two weeks or so trying to make a dress. I had this idea in my head, and found a pattern that I thought I could make work.

I got it mostly put together and thought it was looking pretty good... but yesterday I was finally able to put it on and see how it would come together once it had the closure in- and it just wasn't going to work. Actually, more accurately it would have worked but probably would have looked "home made". So I cut the bodice off and am just going to make it a skirt.

So this week I started a new project. With the help of You.Tube, I taught myself to knit.

So far I've only been doing the basic knit stitch. The first attempt was pretty ugly, but I got the hang of it. The second used some yarn I had left over from when I made M a doll- it was much easier to work with and turned out very nicely. Unfortunately, I only had a little of it, so I now have a little red knitted rectangle. I think I'm going to try to make it into a little bag for make up or jewelry.

I have 2 skeins of purple yarn that I bought just because I liked it. So I decided to use it to try to make a scarf. The easiest thing to knit from my understanding. This yarn is definitely tougher to use than the red yarn, but not as difficult as my original attempt. I started it 3 times, and pulled it out. I want to make sure the beginning is good because that seems to make the rest of it go more easily.

A friend of mine, who also used to be a teacher, stopped working when she and her fiancee (now husband) moved further out of town. After a while, she decided to open an Et.sy shop, selling jewelry. She's done a pretty good job and has a good number of regular customers.

I put a few of my photos on Et.sy at one point, but I didn't set up to take Pay.Pal and I didn't do anything to advertise it, so while I got some hits, I got no sales. I'd love to do something creative and sell it. I'm a little concerned about how, when you open your own "business" in that way, how taxes work... I know a lot of people do it 'under the table' but that wouldn't really work for us. So I may try again by making a few dolls like the one I made M.

I figured, if this was something I'd like to pursue eventually, knitting is always a good skill to have. :)

While I was in the process of typing this, SS popped into my room. She was contacted by an online wedding site because they wanted to use some of her wedding photos in an upcoming book. They contacted her photographer, but she told them they weren't hers... because they were MINE!!! How cool! I guess my photo taking isn't too bad. :) I actually had another photo that has been published on a website by an online tour guide type site, so if they do want these it would be the second time. Kind of exciting... :)

Nothing but the truth...

Yay! I've been nominated for my first award!!! Thanks Emily!

The Honest Scrap Award.

Here are the rules:

1) Choose a minimum of 7 blogs that you find brilliant in content or design. 2) Show the 7 winners names and links on your blog, and leave a comment informing them that they were prized with “Honest Scrap.” Well, there’s no prize, but they can keep the nifty icon. 3) List at least 10 honest things about yourself.

I don't have 7 blogs... I'm still kind of a newbie at this. But I'll tag Frenchie at Miss Inconceivability and Amy at Babies or Not (unless she's taking a blogging break...). Of course, I have to tag Carolyn because her blog is always full of fun stuff, and Queen B because she never seems to have any trouble being honest. :) I'm enjoying the newest blog I've been reading, Fertility Now, so I'll tag that author as well. I was going to tag Caroline and Lisa but they already did it... And, hey! If you're reading and you want to share, TAG- you're it! :-)

My honest things:

1. I'd love to live in a big Victorian house in the town next door. However, Victorian houses in the town next door (especially since we'd probably need/want to renovate them) are more expensive than we can technically afford. So the honesty comes here: as uncomfortable as I feel taking money from my in-laws, I probably would if I could get one of those houses out of it...

2. I feel like I have my act together much more than my sister. However, I definitely have some jealousy around the attention she gets from my parents. (Even though I'm 33 years old!!!)

3. I feel closer to KB than I ever have to my own sister. I also feel more attached to KB's daughter than to my own nephew...

4. When III proposed to me, I panicked. I almost said no! We had only been together for six months and I was afraid that one of us would regret it if we got engaged that quickly. Luckily, I was wrong. :)

5. I am terrified that someone I know will find my blog. There is one person in particular who may travel within the same blog circles. I have contemplated deleting or password protecting certain posts just in case...

6. I am known by my friends as a very open person who they can come to with questions about sex stuff or "female issues", but I'm loathe to talk about that stuff with my family and am seen by them as "the prudish one".

7. I had a feeling we were going to have trouble getting pregnant, even though both my mom and my sister got pregnant without a problem and our infertility is currently "unexplained".

8. I think it's time to start thinking about a new career, but I am very nervous about giving up my pension and my summer vacations.

9. I think other people's dogs (even if they are cute) smell bad, and that mine smell better than others.

10. My husband, while tall and handsome, is too skinny to be considered "my type."

So there you go! More about me than you ever felt like you needed to know... ;-)

F is for....

Frenchie has extended her friend's blog challenge to me. She came up with 10 favorite things that start with C, and now it's my turn to share my 10 favorite F words.

1. Fourteen. That's the age of the students I teach. There are days that they drive me crazy, but it is generally a very fun age to teach.

2. Financially independent. My greatest pride is that I achieved this on my own at a fairly young age.

3. Friends. I am lucky to have some very good ones.

4. Furry, because two of my best friends are. ;)

5. Fireplace. I have informed III that every house we ever live in from now on must have one. Love it.

6. Flirt. I used to love to flirt. And I was good at it! I am now in retirement (except with my husband, of course).

7. Fotos. Okay, so I cheated. But I do love photos and am trying to improve my photography skills.

8. Flowers. In the two years or so, I've started buying cut flowers at the grocery store to put in my kitchen. This past summer I planted a garden for the first time, which was semi-successful. I'm hoping to do better this year. :)

9. Festive. It's fun to be festive.

10. Fantastic! Just because it's a happy word and fun to say. :)

What's your favorite F word?