My own business?

So today I was looking at Etsy.com, checking out the stores that carry cloth diapers and such. I was already thinking that I'm going to be making my own cloth diapers for my babies when I get preggo and I had a thought - why not make diapers to sell, too. I can get patterns online to make diapers and cloth diapering is becoming really popular again, so why not just make more of what I'd make for my babies and create my own Etsy store? I like staying home, but I feel guilty for not "contributing to the household" (as my mother so elequenly put it). Making diapers to sell wouldn't make us a huge income, but it'd be a few extra dollars that could easily add up. I think in addition to the diapers, I'd want to make burp cloths and cloth wipes, wet bags, and maybe little cloth dolls and animals. I'm crafty enough to do it, so why not?

I'll talk to Jenn about it and see what she thinks. I'm getting a nice return on my taxes, so I can use some of that as "seed money" to get started and see where it goes. There are also other diaper swapping sites and communities on other blog sites that I could advertise on and get more sales.

Hmm...this is definitely something to think about...

8 is enough...or is it too much?

Did you hear about this family that had 8 babies by cesarean section yesterday? Holy Freakin Crap! And she held them in until 31 weeks!! That's insane! I thought it was crazy enough when the McCaugheys had 7 (or was that the Dillys??). I thought it was insane that Jon & Kate Gosselin had 6 (and twins) that had NO medical issues. This is crazy. I would like TLC to follow up on this lady. I want to know how she kept them cooking for so long.

Amazement aside, I hope that all 8 of those babies are healthy and don't have any long term negative affects from being such high order multiples or from being in the NICU for so long.

I dread hearing all the bad comments about these people. I've see it about other parents of multiples and parents who have numerous children (the Duggars) - being called breeders, saying people weren't meant to have litters, and, my absolute favorite, "vaginas aren't clown cars." Ugh. People are so ignorant sometimes.

If it's not one thing, it's another...

So we've been without a kitchen sink since Saturday evening. I thought it was my fault - putting something down the disposal that shouldn't have gone and it got stuck in the pipes after the disposal. When my dad came by and took the trap off, he found it to be empty, meaning there's a blockage farther up the line and it wasn't my fault. Jenn and I bought a small snake and some Drano to give that a go...didn't work as the drano never made it as far as the blockage. after draining the trap again and putting hot water to try to help disolve whatever was in the line, we went back out to Home Depot (2 of them, actually) and bought this contraption that uses CO2 cartridges to try to blast out the blockage and some other drain cleaner with lye in it. Those didn't work either. This morning, we finally got a plumber over here (we had to wait for approval from Jenn's boss) and he cleared the line after running the big mamma-jamma snake down the pipes (from the roof, of all places. LOL).

So just now I'm refilling my giant jug of water (I was making Raspberry Lemonade Iced Tea in my 2 liter water bottle) and as the water level got closer to the top, I see that the water is coming out slower and slower. I switched the faucet from the Brita filter to the regular side and the water stopped coming out. WTF?!?! The dishwasher was still going...so I go to the bathroom and try turning on the water there. Nope. Nothing. So I call Jenn and let her know so she can call East Bay MUD to find out what's going on. She went and checked with the neighbors (the little market that is in a building on our property, the dry cleaners across the street and the vet next door) to see if it's an isolated incident. The market hadn't noticed, so they didn't have any info, the dry cleaners were just fine, but the Vet's Office next door didn't have water either. As Jenn was walking back out, she noticed that farther past the Vet's Office, there's a fire hydrant flooding the street. A vet tech at the office called EBMUD and they're sending out the fire department to shut off the hydrant.

How fun. I finally get my kitchen back and the water goes out. LOL. Hopefully it'll be back soon.

A ghost?

When I took my shower earlier today, before Jenn and I ran out to Walmart and Home Depot (and then another Home Depot...our kitchen sink is clogged, but that's another post), a weird thing happened. I went through the normal routine - wash hair, condition hair, wash body - then turned to wash my face and this wierd thing with the water happened. As I turned into the water to quickly wet my face as I grabbed my facial cleanser, there was this kind of halo around the stream of water that started at the head, then rushed towards my body, following the path of the water. I gasped and jumped as that halo hit me in the chest. Immediately I wanted to cry. It was strange. That's never happened to me before anywhere that I've ever lived.

Honestly, I've wondered if that was some sort of ghost or something that passed through the water and into me. I felt very "off" for most of the day - I kept catching myself kind of staring off or just plain not feeling well.

I want to chalk it up to me being spooked by what very well was just a small burst of pressure in the system that caused the halo around the water, but I honstly don't know if that's what it was. I'm not normally a big believer in the supernatural, but I am pretty positive that I've seen a few ghosts in my time, and I wouldn't be surprised if that's what this thing was. At the same time, I don't want to scare the crap out of myself by over thinking the event. LOL.

Who knows what that thing was...all I know is that it was weird.

Drink up!

Since Aunt Flo decided to show up, I figure I should throw a party...Smirnoff and Pomegranite 7-Up, here I come!!

~Sent via email on my Samsung Blackjack~

It's been 2 1/2 days in the making...

Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup.

Doesn't it look lovely?? I even made the stock from scratch! lol

~Sent via email on my Samsung Blackjack~

Cycle 7

I was talking with Riki around noonish about whether my period had started (it hadn't) and about the cycles I charted last year. We were trying to figure out if this was, in fact, another 34 day cycle. Well, because of all the talk, I decided to take an HPT at around 1 or so. It was negative.

And then I went to the bathroom at 3:30 and there's my period.

That sucked donkey balls!

Needless to say, I'm unhappy. But, as someone pointed out, it could take between 6 months and a year to get pregnant, so I just need to be patient. I tell ya, though, I'm NOT a patient person. lol. This is not going to be an easy process, so I just have to throw my hands in the air and give up my control. It'll happen when it's supposed to happen.





Right?

#100

I wish I had something more exciting to post as my 100th entry, but I don't. LOL Just regular stuff.

Today is day 31 of my cycle. I've been mildly crampy for a couple days. I didn't wake up to my period this morning, but that doesn't mean it won't come this afternoon. There's also the possibility of not having my period until Saturday or Sunday (I counted wrong last time - Saturday is day 34).

I have been feeling "weird" lately, but who knows what that means. For a few days last week, I kept getting dizzy at random times during the day. Once it was after I was in bed and I had my eyes closed (and no, I hadn't been drinking). I upped my water intake thinking it was dehydration and it helped a little, but I still have dizzy episodes (they only last a second or two).

I suppose I could probably take an HPT today, but I'm going to wait until the weekend. I'd rather not waste yet another HPT if I don't have to (those things aren't cheap!!). I'm even hesitant to say that not having my period yet today is a good sign even though my last 2 or 3 cycles were only 30 days long. I guess I'm really just prolonging the inevitable, but I still think I'll wait until Sunday to test. lol.

Anyway...that's where we're at in this cycle.

It's A New Day

Well, technically, yesterday was.

I was going to make a post about how, for the last hour, I've felt the almost uncontrollable urge to cry. Like I wanted to sob. I don't exactly know why, though there are some possible changes coming to my future, though nothing is set in stone.

But then I found this posted by The Wilson Triplets and I had to forget my own issues for a moment and remember the HUGE, AMAZING event that happened 15 hours ago.

It's definitely a new day and I can't wait to see what the next 4 (hopefully 8) years have in store for us.

Virtual March

Join Equality Matters for Inauguration Week, January 17 to 24, for the first "Online March for Equality." The simple act of posting this website to your Facebook profile AND changing your profile picture will help spread the word and send a message of equality at a critical time in our Nation's political history.

If we're ever going to achieve equality, it's going to happen because we educate all Americans about the important rights we're fighting for: tax fairness, hospital visitation, medical decision-making, exemption from estate taxes, spousal immigration, and government benefits -- just to name a few.

Click here to select a badge for your profile or site.

Check out the 1,138 reasons why we must demand marriage equality.

Home stretch

This is the worst part of my ttc cycles...the last couple days before my cycle ends. Today is day 28...so my period could come as early as Monday and as late as Thursday. This week is going to suck with the waiting game. It's so hard not to want to break out the HPT each and everyday once day 30 comes. LOL. This cycle was VERY relaxed, too. I have not been tracking temperatures for 2 months. Last month I was just doing OPKs starting on day 10 and ending on day 20 (my hormones peaked on day 15, if I remember correctly). This month, I started OPKs on day 10, but due to one thing or another (schedules or tummy issues), I didn't test everyday. I managed to catch a very postive result on day 19, so we did the insem that night and the next. I'm hoping against hope that it worked. This is try #6, so hopefully it'll mean 3 times the charm times 2. lol.

In other news, I am making plans to go to Oregon and spend close to a month with my friend Riki. She's due on my birthday (May 30th) with her first baby. She lives alone and has no friends near by (though her mom and stepdad live about an hour away). I'll go up around the 25th and stay about 3 or 4 weeks with her. I'm so excited. It's going to be so much fun.

Anyway..think good baby thoughts this week for me!

Grit & Grime

Whenever it's on, I always watch How Clean is Your House? I'm fascinated, yet repulsed, by people who live in such filthy houses.

Honestly, I don't see how anyone can live that way. I know that I'm not the greatest housekeeper, but to live with inches of dust, piles of clothes on every surface and floor, piles and piles of garbage everywhere, mold and mildew on the walls, inches of soap scum in the bathroom, dishes that have sat in the sink for weeks, and DEAD RODENTS is just a thought that makes me dry heave.

I think I watch this show to keep me from letting the house get too messy.

follow me, everything is alright...

i just added the blog follower gadget thingie. i know there isn't much going on in my journal right now, but if you read me, comment and let me know and/or add yourself as a follower of my blog. ;o)

Coupon Clipping

Jenn and I started coupon clipping when we moved to Antioch. Since I'm not currently employed and will still be making a fraction of what I had been making even when I do get a job, we are cutting costs where we can.

Because of our issues with Comcast, we switched to AT&T and are saving $40 a month on phone/internet/cable. We got a Costco membership and are buying bread, meat, medications, and other things that don't have a short shelf life (read: no vegetables). Costco also has their own coupon book that we get in the mail, so we pick things off there that we can save even more money on. We are also clipping coupons out of the Sunday paper's ads.

We've also made it a habit (though we did it before, we are just more diligent now) to buy store brand items, buy one get one free (et. all), 2 for $x.

We went shopping yesterday and filled the cart with all kinds of things we need for a while and spent only $88. Everything we bought was on some kind of deal or had a coupon. Had everything been full price, it would have come closer to a $200 total. We definitely aren't sacrificing "fun" food in favor of this type of shopping either. We're still getting our normal foods...and then some that we didn't used to have. We're getting more veggies (frozen, though) because of the coupons.

Anyway..today, Jenn came across this blog about this lady who, last year, fed her family of 4 on $800 for the entire year. I'm intrigued, so I've bookmarked it and will be following it. I dont' think I'll have the same stamina this lady has for going through check out lines more than once or to make multiple shopping trips a week to use all of my coupons, but I'll definitely be inspired, I'm sure. LOL.

WTF?!?

Why the hell would you do this??? I had to pace behind this damn lad for 100 yards because she thought she owned the whole damn row with her cart. WTF is wrong with people??

~Sent via email on my Samsung Blackjack~

TTC update

so it's been a while since i've updated about baby stuff. obviously nothing has happened since i last posted. we were hoping for a christmas miracle, but that wasn't to be. right now i'm in the middle of insem round #6. we did it last night, tonight, and will do it again sometime tomorrow. i got a true positive on the OPK this time, so hopefully we hit the nail on the head.

miguel did get us a new fertility monitor, too. we had trouble finding the test sticks (replacements), so we didn't use it this month. it's the Clear Blue Easy electronic tester. If this month doesn't go, we'll give it a try. we got it second hand from a friend of miguel's, so that saved us a bunch of money. but the tester sticks are gonna be $50 a month!! the OPK's we've been using now are like $1.50 a piece (there' simple paper test strips) that jenn ordered from a supplier in canada (they come labeled as cosmetics on the customs sticker. lol).

i've been really crampy today, so hopefully that means something in the ovulation world.

jenn and i are also starting to plan a baby shower for our friend riki. she's 18 weeks preggo with a little girl. she just found out the gender last week. did you know picking out non-hideous baby shower decorations is a lot more difficult than one might imagine? LOL

Anyway, think good thoughts for us this month. hopefully the 6th time's the charm.

Hey! Or is that hay!

Just the things I see from my patio. lol

Yes, we live next to railroad tracks, but no they aren't active. lol

~Sent via email on my Samsung Blackjack~

hiya!

I am a happy, happy girl once again. LOL. It's amazing what happens when you get back what was deprived from you for so long. I'm such an internet addict!

I haven't caught up on everything I need to catch up on yet (friend blogs), but I've caught up on about 60% of everything (not including community/entertainment blogs).

So what have I been up to in the mean time? Well, besides whine and complain about the lack of internet (and, for a while, tv), I've read a bunch (finished the Twilight series again, and a few other misc. books), I've cooked a lot (there's lots of time for me to cook real food when I don't have to go to work), I watched a lot of DVDs (ones I own and ones from Netflix. Jenn and I are obsessed with OZ. We just finished season 3 and started season 4), and have done not much else. LOL.

Jenn and I saw Twilight twice in the theater. LOL. We love it. I wasn't so sure about it the first time I saw it, but when I separated the book from the movie, I liked it much better. We also just saw Milk on Sunday. It's very powerful. I cried. I really think everyone on the planet needs to see this movie.

My back has been bothering me a whole hell of a lot the last few weeks. Jenn's right in thinking it's from sitting on my ass all day. I need to get on the elliptical down in the garage once a day, just to get my blood flowing and to not allow my back to lock up. Right now, I'm just getting over another week of back pain, so it might be another couple days before I get down there.

I'm gonna have to find the applications I picked up and fill them out and get them back out to the retail stores I picked them up from. Jenn can support us on her salary, no problem, but I need to work to 1) get me out of the damn house, 2) keep me from getting another sore back, and 3) give us that extra bit of money to do a little bit of travelling this year. We've already got a plan to visit our friend Riki in Oregon in February, and then in June, we're going to another part of Oregon to spend a week with her family (it's a summer tradition - there are family owned vacation houses there and lots of family goes every year). There are a couple other things floating around that we want to do, but nothing's set yet.

Other than that, life has been pretty normal. Oh, we love our new apartment. It's 2br/2ba, huge living room & dining room, very nice kitchen with all new appliances, 2 patios!! We have updated some of our stuff to match our nicer apartment - espresso colored tall and short bookshelves (the short are being used for DVDs), a matching tv stand, chocolate brown couch covers so they all match, curtains, and some artwork and personal photos on the walls. Those who have seen our apartment have loved it. Oh! And we have central air! LOL I'm so happy to have central air back.

Anyway, that's about it for me. Hope you didn't miss me too much. =op

Long time no see!

I'm finally back online! It'll be a while until I can catch up on everyone, but I sincerely hope you are all doing well.

Thanks for putting up with my whining for the last 42 days. LOL. I promise not to do it again for a while. ;o)

Still not dead...

But I still have no internet. The cable got hooked up 2 weeks ago, so I do have tv to watch now, but the phone and internet are still absent. They were supposed to have been turned on by Wednesday night, and apparently the phone line is active (the wireless modem works through the phone line), but none of the jacks in the house work - I can't get a dial tone. So yet another technician is coming out on Monday to fix the jacks. Ugh! Why is this all so difficult?!?! I know Jenn isnt as frustrated as me because she has some internet capabilities in her office, but I am frustrated beyond words. I really hope that Monday will be the last that I have to deal with this frustration.

More than just not having phone or internet access (or cable for so long, either), this frustration comes from the lack of customer service coming from either Comcast or AT&T (that's who we went with after Comcast proved themselves to be completely incompetent). I am completely disgusted by all of this. I mean, a tech from AT&T was here Wednesday to "ping" the line, but didn't feel the need to come inside and check the jacks - apparently it's not deemed necessary by AT&T. Yeah, that should be part of the process, don'cha think?

I feel so distant from everyone. I have no idea what's going on in internet land and horribly miss everyone. I'll be back soon if it's the last thing I do. Lol

Oh, and I must say that because of all the ridiculousness of all this, Jenn and I have fallen in love with OZ. Lol we've watched the first 2 and 1/2 seasons in the last month and are going to plow through the rest in the next month. It's a bizzare show, but it's intriguing....plus I got to see Christopher Meloni's penis at he end of season 2. Lol Man is he hot!!

Anyway, my next post will hopefully be to let you know that I am up and running and back online. I hope you all had a great holiday season!! Happy New Year!!

~Sent via email on my Samsung Blackjack~