Productive day

Today was a productive/tiring day. First, I spent all morning planning my weekly menu, and grocery list. Then, I went out shopping. Old Navy is doing this special weekly coupon promo, where they add a few hundred high dollar coupons to their website. I have been watching the releases of new coupons, and also been on a chatroom, where other ladies help each other get coupons. Some of them were nice enough to give me $45/$100 coupons.

A few days ago I switched all the winter clothes for the summer clothes, and did an assesment of what I have and what I need. It turned out Sterling had only 2 pair of shorts, and NO long jeans (without holes in the knees). So,.. he got 4 pairs of jeans, and 2 pairs of shorts. Ginger also needed jeans for next fall, and shirts for this summer. When I got to the checkout, it turned out that some of the clothes were actually cheaper than marked, so I had to get another $30 worth of stuff to get to $200. Guess what I got... I actually got myself something! Just jeans.. but still.

I also did my weekly grocery shopping, and used like 40 coupons at target. Then, I also headed to Lowes for some tomato cages, and plant feed. I ended up seeing a eggplant plant, and never having eaten it, thought it might be fun to grow in the garden. If I can get it to grow, I'll have to look up some recipes. Oh yeah, Ginger stayed home!!! It was her naptime anyways, and it's sooo much easier without a toddler on my side. By the time I got home, it was already 6pm, so we had a quick dinner.

After dinner we all headed outside. Joe mowed the lawn, the kids played on the dock, and I worked in my garden. I installed the cages, spread fertilizer, spayed insecticide, pulled some weeds, sprayed roundup on some weeds, and planted my new plants. Another project I have wanted to do is growing potatoes in tires. During some of my research on how to grow potatoes, I came across several website that recommended growing potatoes in old tires. Well, we just happen to have plenty of those laying around our land!! (the previous owners used them for land preservation...)

This is how you grow potatoes in tires:

1. Place a tire in a spot without weeds
2. loosen the dirt
3. place a layer of manure or other compost
4. Add dirt to almost the top of the tire (this is the hard manual labor!!!)
   
5. Place seed potatoes, eye side up, and cover with an inch of dirt.

Once the potato plants are about 8 inches tall, you place another tire on top of the first, and bury most of the plant. The plant then will send shoots of roots up to the top, with potatoes attached. You keep doing this until you have 3-4 tires on top of each other. This method takes less space and makes it easier to harvest the potatoes. I have never done this before, so I'll let you know how it turns out.

Another picture of the garden to come soon. I am very proud of the progress so far! The plants are actually visible now!

Mother's day weekend

This year I had an unusual kind of mother's day gift. No kids for the whole weekend! It was the best gift ever. It was nice to be home without the kids. Turns out, I can get a lot done when I don't have 3 other human beings to take care of. Things I got done:

• Go on a date to Johnny Carino's - free mother's day meal
• during the date go shopping at old navy with my $60/$100 coupon
• Stay up late talking about our family finances
• Sleep in until 11am, and only wake up because of a phone call
• Clean for 10 minutes
• Pull weeds in the garden for an hour
  
• Come back, and what I cleaned earlier is STILL clean!
• Waste time on the internet ranking the new bachelors that will be on the Bachelorette
• Fold some laundry
• read my book for a while
  
• Clean some more
• Go on ANOTHER date, this time to a movie: Ghosts of Girlfriends past - good entertainment
• Sleep until 9am on Sunday, when we have to leave for church at 9.15am
• Drive to church with my husband, and no fighting kids
• Enjoy Relief Society, without having to take Sterling to time out
• Make lunch for just me
• Talk to my mom for half an hour without kids yelling in my ear
• Take a nap on the way to grandma's house
• Be able to appreciate my adorable kids when we are finally reunited

Now that's a good Mother's day weekend!

Mary Had a Little Lamb

As I sit here in my office, Ginger burst in and serenaded me with a voluminous version of "Mehhh-we had a widow-wamb, widow-wamb, widow-wamb!"  It was actually funny enough to jump on here and make a comment just to commemorate the event.

Too much

Today was kind of rough. I was feeling a little better this morning, so I thought it wouldn't be that big a deal to make some bread. I have a mixer, so I don't have to knead by hand, and mostly you just have to throw the ingredients together, and let it rise, etc. Well, as I was putting them in the oven, I could tell I had overdone it. The rest of the day I've just been stuck to the couch. 

I was able to get a bunch of laundry folded (I do that on the couch anyways), and learned a lot about the law. Just kidding... I spent several hours watching daytime TV, including a lot of people's court. Some of those folks are very ignorant!  What? You don't have to pay for the vet bill when your dog attacks another dog, because you told that other person not to bring the dog on that street? Idiots! 

Being kind of limited in movement, I haven't made it outside. I have been dying to check on my garden to kill weeds and generally check on the plants. The rain has been so crazy here lately, that I haven't been able to spray insecticide for bugs yet, and as of Saturday, my pepper plants had some bug holes in the leaves. As soon as these storms let up, and I start feeling better, I'll have to do bug control and fertilizing. This year I am determined to have a successful garden!

Big Secret

I wanted to keep the secret until we were in the clear. Well, it turns out we are NOT in the clear, so now I am ready to spill all the beans. Up until last week, I was pregnant. We were so excited, and I was almost ready to tell everyone, because my bump was getting bigger. As things have happened, I have written blog posts to document my feelings and thing going on. I just simply didn't publish those posts. So now that the secret is out, I will go back, and publish all my drafts.

As for today I have to write about my amazing friend Rosanna. Sunday in church, she could tell something was wrong with me. I denied it. Twice. But on Monday, just hours after we got home from the doctor, she called me and asked again. I told her what had happened. This morning her husband came over with just about a week worth of meals! I didn't even know what to say. She is so selfless and amazing. She truly made me feel loved. The lasagna is cooking in the oven right now, and it's so nice not having to eat mac and cheese for the next 3 days!

D&C

WARNING: Some female related business that you might not want to read about!

The option to wait and let the miscarriage happen naturally was too uncertain and hard to think about. That's why I opted to have everything cleaned out by a Dilation and Curettage (D&C). Often, when you wait for the body to do it on its own, it can take weeks. There are some risks involved with a D&C, as it is a surgery, but to me the risks were worth the piece of mind, and fresh start.

This morning we had to get up super early to head to the surgery center. We were the first ones there, and didn't have to wait long to be taken to the back. They checked my vitals, and determined I was indeed healthy enough for surgery. After changing into my lovely gown, I headed out of our little room to the bathroom. This (guy) nurse was like: Hey, how are you doing? It took me a minute to realize this guy has lived in our ward for the last year (with his wife's parents). Then he informed me he would me my nurse.

It was a little awkward, but then again, he's a professional, so who cares? Right? After asking me the usual questions about my health, last meal, etc, he left. I even told Joe that it was a little awkward, but I would be asleep anyways.... Apparently it was more awkward for him. A few minutes later he came back into the room with another nurse, to inform me that he had given my case to her. Although I was okay with him as my nurse, I have to admit I was a little relieved when I got my new nurse.

They got my IV started and then it was waiting for the doctor. I had never met Dr. Halderman before, but she works in the same office as my midwife. She was really nice, and answered all my questions. I asked her what type of D&C she was performing, and she told me it was the suction kind (versus using a scraper, which is harder on the uterus). I was especially worried, because just moments before I had pretty much signed away my uterus. They had me sign a paper, that said that, if necessary, they were allowed to take everything out. That's right! They had the permission to give me a hysterectomy. Of course they would never do that unless absolutely necessary, but still, that's a big thing!

The anesthesiologist came in a added something to my IV. The effect was pretty immediate, and I started getting a little loopy. After that, I was super tired, and slowly waking up. Everything was done, and the nurses were just waiting for me to wake up. It seemed to take Joe forever to pick up my pain meds at the pharmacy, but then again, I probably wasn't awake enough to leave anyways. I started cramping pretty bad, so they gave me some more meds. Then I was allowed to go home. I am so glad I have had medication to help with any pain.

Not too long after coming home I went to bed to take a nap, and I think I was out for about 3 hours. Now, I am just taking it easy and hoping I can get better soon.

The best thing out of all of this, is that the doctor told me I don't have to wait and try to get pregnant again. She said I just have to wait 2 weeks to heal, and after that we are good to go. That's so much better than having to wait 3-6 months

Anything to save a buck

I learned about this Old Navy website, where they put up some great coupons every week. They ususually update the site on Thursday night/Wednesday morning. However, since the coupons are gone so fast, they have started staggering the coupons. So now me, and a bunch of other poor souls are wasting hours and hours waiting for ON to update their coupons! The best coupon is for $75 off your $100 purchase. Last Thursday I actually came to the site while there were some coupons left, but I couldn't figure out how to find it. I really could use a shopping trip. I can't even remember the last time I bought myself any clothes. So, I'll just keep trying, and wasting my time. Can you tell I am a "little" crazy???