Bless Your Heart

Andrea asked why do I want to try and like something I don’t like. Let me clarify. I’ve tried oysters once, a long time ago. Same for clams. But now that it’s been a long time I’m wondering should I give them a second chance. And when I do, maybe I’ll try them fried and see if that’s better. I don’t like trying something once and giving up on it if there’s a chance I may like it but due to circumstances (like the way they were prepared) I didn’t like them then. Like tomatoes. Hated them with a passion growing up- love them now.

I meant to mention in the smoking part of the last post what made me think of that question. I’m addidcted to the Real World Road Rules challenge and I’ve noticed that it seems like most of the girls on there smoke. They smoke and drink then get up the next day and dangle on ropes and climb walls and run obstacle courses. I just don’t know how they do it! If I stay up too late I’m a gonner the next day. Add some drinks in there and smoke in my lungs and I’d be dead before they blew the whistle!

Oh, so I haven’t updated about my knitting recently. I was like a sweat shop this season, churning out scarves like nobody’s bidness. I posted a pic a few days back of Hale’s scarf & hat, and here’s one of the scarves I made for my inlaws. They loved them (yay!).

Since I seemed to have stirred the pot a little yesterday, I thought I’d go ahead and ask a few questions. I have been wondering about these things for a while. Now, I’m just asking, there’s no judgement here. I really just want to know. So please, if you have an answer, I’d love to hear it!

-Do people like eating at Applebee’s? We have one 4 miles from the house and the parking lot is never full and it never crosses our minds to eat there. They seem to advertise a lot and that makes me wonder if maybe they are in trouble?

-Why do people smoke? I know it’s an addiction, but there are ways to quit. And it’s proven that it will kill you. I tried one once, and it just burned and smelled bad. So it really perplexes me why someone would want fire so close to their face!

-Why do people drink to get drunk after college? I understand why people drink, but some still want to drink only to get wasted. I’ve been wasted, I’ve thrown up, I’ve had the hangovers. And non of that is fun. So what up?

-Why wouldn’t people want to see the world? I understand being a bit wary with the current political tensions and all, but I want to go everywhere. And see everything. And some people don’t. They are happy to just stay in one place forever. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but why?

-How can someone like me learn to like oysters and other slimy seafoods? I’ll try anything once, but I just can’t get past the texture. Is there some special way to cook clams or oysters and the like where I’ll actually like it?

I have to confess something. I’m sure it will make people slackjawed in amazement, but it must come out. A dear friend and I have been arguing about this for weeks now and it’s come to the point where I must turn to my fellow bloggy people to find out where you stand. Am I in the minority here? Ok, here it is:

I don’t like jeans. I don’t wear them, I don’t own a pair, I don’t like the way I look in them. They make me too hot when I wear them. I especially loathe colored jeans (like khaki or black). Why would you wear colored jeans when you could just wear colored pants. I don’t like the way they look on most adults, especially women. It creeps me out a little if I see a man over the age of 30 wearing a pair. It really creeps me out when a woman over the age of 30 is wearing a pair and they obviously are 2 sizes too small. Jon owns 2 pair of jeans. One is strictly for doing yard work and the other is for bumming around. But he rarely wears them out to a restaurant or something.

Now, my 14 year old sister who is nothing but legs and stands almost 6 feet tall and has the flattest tummy and perkiest rear looks FABULOUS in jeans. And if I had her body I would wear jeans all day. Well, if I had a body like that you’d be hard pressed to get me into clothes, but when you did I may pick jeans. So to my little sister and all who look like her- wear your jeans!

I also don’t like sneakers that much. They don’t look good with khaki or black pants (my pant staples) so I don’t wear them unless I’m out walking, working in the yard, or something like that. I don’t understand why people would wear big clunky sneakers when they could wear flip flops or cute flats or something.

Now, my friend loves her jeans and wears them all the time. She says I always look dressed up like I’m going to a funeral home because I wear black or khaki pants all the time instead of jeans. Black pants are the backbone to my wardrobe. Standard or capris, you can dress them up or down. And I know that in a pair of black pants and a cute top I can go from the grocery store to a nice dinner and not feel underdressed.

So, here’s the question: am I overdressing by not wearing jeans? Do I constantly look like I just left a memorial service? Or, am I just making wise fashion decisions? Lemme know what you think, and if you are a jeans person or not- I’m curious now!

The tragedy of the tsunamis in Asia and the aftermath is so horrific I just can’t hardly get my head around it. I’m just a girl on the other side of the world who can’t imagine the pain these people are going through. And I didn’t know how I could help until I saw Dooce’s post today. And that’s when I realized I can help. It may not be much, but it’s something. I’m donating the revenue from my Google Adsense ads to the relief effort. Please do the same. Go here and see how.

I hate that my first post of the year is a bit of a rant, but I do have a question I could use an answer to, and that will come in a story below. And I promise to include something sweet and sunshiny.

-Just in case anyone thought infertility only affects the woman in a marriage, let me describe to you a scene from Jon’s work the other day: a co-worker of his asks Jon if we have any children. Jon says no. That’s when Jackass McEvil says “Why? Isn’t everything working right down there?”. Jon just said we don’t want any kids right now. Which of course is the farthest thing from the truth, but Jon’s not a big talker. Why don’t people think? Why do people thoughtlessly say the most hurtful things? I have half a mind to march right in there and bless that man out while squeezing the life out of his “down there”.

-The other day in Target I was wearing for the first time my after-Christmas clearance sale find (the most perfect black pants for a mere $7.90 marked down from $40). My Mom picked up a bottle of cleaner to put in the buggy when the bottom dropped right off and exploded on the floor. Apparently someone, people, aliens?, had loosend the tops of all the bottles of cleaner in that section, hoping for this type of thing to happen I guess. The cleaner splashed over my cute little shoes and yep, you guessed it, my fabulous pants. Oh, did I mention this was cleaner with bleach? Now I love Target almost as much as my own Grandmother, but I was mightily disappointed when the customer service people just stared back at us blankly while we explained the situation, me standing there with one leg dripping with water after trying to rinse the bleach off before it did any damage. We were quite the scene in the bathroom, me barefoot with one leg in the sink, my mom rinsing my pants, my sister in charge of my shoes. We were too late. The shoes are ok, but my pants aren’t. Had these pants cost more than $7.90 I would have been filling out claim forms, but it just wasn’t worth it. There’s a butterfly-ish looking bleach stain at the bottom of one leg. Any suggestions?

-I don’t know if I’ve mentioned lately how much I love living in a state where fireworks are legal, but let me just say that it is so cool to be able to watch the ball drop on tv then run out to the deck and watch a very impressive fireworks show courtesy of your neighbor across the pond. They must have dropped a pretty penny because we’re talking big, colorful starbursts in a show that lasted a good 10 minutes. Afterwards we exchanged Happy New Year yells across the pond and we included a yelled Thanks for the show. Man I love small town living!

I’m not into resolutions. I make a new one about every other day and they never seem to get resolved. So instead I have some general New Year’s goals.

-Get my house organized. I’m so into organizational tools and bins and boxes so why can’t I find anything in the office?

-Finish unpacking the boxes in the bonus room. Gasp! Yep, we’re still not unpacked from moving in here. I am so ashamed.

-Projects- I have a list of craft and home improvement projects a mile long to finish. Example: my sister’s honeymoon scrapbook. Yeah, the same sister who’s about to give birth to their second child. Another project is pretty secret for now, but will be unveiled soon. I’m so excited- but really nervous.

-Re-learn Spanish and learn for the first time French. I figured I should probably throw a new goal in there for good measure.

We’re ringing in the new year in a very low key way- Chinese food and Netflix movies. Happy New Year to all you bloggy folk out there!

Our fridge is stuffed full of leftovers and all I seem to be hungry for is Chinese, Mexican, or pizza. Our Christmas was very nice, full of good dinners, tons of laughing, and lots of running around trying to split the time between the families. We spent Christmas eve with Jon’s parents and Christmas day with my side. Poor Jon got sick though and ran a 102 degree fever, so he missed most of it being stuck in bed. He’s better now though.

The scarves I knit were a big hit, but no one was more styling than Hale (Mom’s bfriend) in his scarf and lil critter hat I knit.. Here’s Hale holding Jake (the highlight of Christmas was hanging out with Jakey) Another highlight was when the whole family gathered to play Scene It , the game my mom gave me for Christmas. It was so fun! Morgan’s little boyfriend came over and played the game with us and was very polite. To Morgan’s complete horror though- my very pregnant sister who was getting tired and achey yells out “Oh my hootchie cootchie hurts!”. Welcome to the family kid. =)

Feliz Navidad, Joyeux Noël, and Buon Natale! We’ll be busy celebrating with family over the next few days so we’d like to take this time to wish you and yours the very best this Christmas and always! Wow, that sounded just like a greeting card. So excuse the cheese factor, enjoy your families and friends, celebrate the most joyous of holidays, and we’ll all get together next week to share stories!

Everything went well at the hospital yesterday. I was in and out within 4 & a half hours. Jon was pretty grossed out with all the tubes and the iv. And the lab lost a tube of my blood so I had to shuffle up and down the hall in my gown and socks carrying my iv bag so I could get to the bathroom to provide a urine sample for pregnancy testing. Apparently they couldn’t take my word that I was not pregnant.

I bled some more yesterday, but as of now it’s pretty much stopped. And so has the cramping. Now my tummy just feels kind of like you do after skiing or some other activity that you do then wake up the next day with aches in muscles you didn’t know you have. Tight and sore, but manageable for sure.

Man, let me tell you how much I love anesthesia. All I remember is the nurse telling me to scooch over from the gurney to the operating table and then I woke up in the recovery room. God bless you anesthesia inventor.

Oh, I’ve got to tell you the cutest thing I saw in the hospital yesterday. I was laying there in pre-op when I saw a nurse pull a wagon through the main area. She put a blanket in the wagon then pulled it out of my sight. A couple minutes later she was pulling the wagon to surgery with this tiny little girl in the wagon holding her teddy bear. What a sweet way to do it, instead of having to ride on some big bed with lights in her eyes, she got to ride to surgery hugging her bear.

Warning- stop reading now if you don’t want to hear about blood or my uterus.

Guess who gets to prepare for Christmas by having a d&c tomorrow? Yay it’s me! I know how jealous you must be of me right now. The girl who loses a fallopian tube in the spring, spends the summer puking because of Clomid, the fall puking because of nerves now gets to spend the winter getting her uterus scraped out!

I haven’t blogged about any of this because, well, who really wants to know about my incessant bleeding? But it’s finally come to a head and now I have to go to the hospital so my girlie bits have finally become blog worthy.

So, I got my period (a rare occurrence) the Thursday before Halloween. It hasn’t stopped. So in November my obgyn put me on Prometrium to get it to stop, but it didn’t. Then a month ago she put me on a high dosage birth control pill, taking 3 pills a day (oy the puking that came with that flood of hormones). That didn’t work either. So my doctor just called me back after my last report in of yes, even more bleeding. So they want me to come in for the d&c.

I’ve never had one. I’m scared. I don’t like pointy things coming near my girlie bits. I don’t even like the word scrape. I especially don’t like it when it’s connected with anything tender below the belt. Shudder.