more giveaways!

Momma Needs a Timeout is doing a giveaway! Check it out!

Also, there are a bunch of Christmas giveaways at 5 minutes for Mom! Check them out!

Oooh! A contest!

My friend Jen posted about this contest, and since you know I can't pass up the opportunity to:

a) draw attention to my blog

b) draw attention to others' blogs

and

c) possibly win something,

of course I'll participate.

MckMama is having a contest/giveaway on her blog! Check it out! Tell a friend! Click on the link (picture) below! She's got the cutest.kids.ever! :)

Two quick questions

Wow - look at me! Posts two days in a row! I can hardly believe it! As such, I've been staring at my blog page a lot more frequently than usual and I realized how much I hate the look of it...but seeing as how I'm cheap/poor (whichever you would like to call it), I don't really want to spring for a blog makeover just now...So that's where my questions come in...

1. What are some website out there with free blog layouts?

and

2. If I use those websites (which I tried once before), is there a way to cut & paste the HTML code in without losing all of my side links, pics, menus, etc? That was why I never put the changes into effect the last time I tried it...I was afraid of losing all of my stuff over there, never to find it again!

Help me if you can! :)

Being Thankful...

Lord knows I have so many things to be thankful for...I realize that I probably spend so much time on here griping about what I DON'T have that I must sound like an ungrateful little brat...but I really DO want to take the time to tell everyone how thankful I really am for all of the blessings I have...

My top 10 things to be thankful for this holiday season...
10. Internet friends - when life has got you down, you can trust your internet friends to pick you up. THANK YOU! You will never really understand how much your emails and blog comments of encouragement and sympathy really mean.
9. Our Health - aside from my broken, whacked out reproductive system, we are both very fortunate to have our health. We're alive, able to walk, breathe and work. What a blessing!
8. My kitty - since we have no children of our own, Faithy has filled the spot well for the past 5 or so years. She's quirky, fat, and scared of everything, but I love her to pieces!
7. Finding my earring yesterday - ok - I know - this one seems so strange, but it was totally a God thing, therefore I must write about it. On Tuesday evening, I put my hand up to my ear and realized that my three-stone-diamond earring was missing. I wear both of my pairs of earrings (the other being white gold hoops) non-stop. I don't even take them out to sleep in. They've been in my ears pretty much continuously for years. I don't even think I'm aware how often I put my hands up to my earlobes to make sure the earring backs are tight, etc., so when I realized the earring was missing, I was, in short, freaking out! I searched the entire house, inspecting every hair, dust bunny, or thread that caught my eye on the floor, but to no avail. G was very gracious about the whole ordeal, but I was so upset and emotional about it all (see item #2 on this list). I assumed the earring was gone for good. Yesterday, I went to work as usual & was talking to the first little girl who arrived at daycare when something caught on the floor caught my eye. Lo-and-behold! It was my earring...despite the fact that the area had been vacuumed the night before, the earring somehow remained, albeit somewhat worse for the wear. I took it to the jewelry store after work and got it straightened out & the back replaced, only to have G find the backing on the bathroom floor yesterday night. I had managed to go from our bathroom the whole way to work without the earring falling out! Wow! I don't think I could ever be that fortunate again!
6. Real life friends - Although it is so hard to keep in touch and keep up the kind of relationships that we used to have, I do cherish my real-life friends. We try to keep in touch via phone, facebook & occasional get-togethers (yay!), but it's kind of sad that I can honestly say that I don't have any friends here like the ones I made back home. I have a few people from G's work that I hang out with, but I know they don't know me in the same way as my "old friends" do...especially my high school & TAGG friends. So, if you're reading, I miss you terribly!
5. My job - Even though my current position (well, actually just the 3-year-old portion of it) frustrates.me.to.death, I know that I am very fortunate to be working, especially with our economy and many people being laid off, etc. My 4-year-olds are amazing & they make coming to work (at least 3 days a week) a true joy!
4. My family - G & I are both blessed with wonderful parents, brothers, sisters, grandparents, & extended families. Both sets of our parents have provided & continue to provide for us in so many ways. They are such blessings!
3. Our new home - With the economy being the way it is, we were so fortunate to be able to sell our old home (in a month!) and comfortably settle into our new home this year. It was a completely unexpected turn of events that started back in April, but we could not be happier to be in our own little dream home!
2. Gregg! - G is definitely the one person in this world who "gets me." Even though he rolls his eyes when I'm overly emotional (who me?) and frustrates me to all-get-out with his ridiculous coaching schedules (let's not open THAT can of worms! k?), I do know that he's always there for me and truly wants me to be happy (not that it's all about me or anything). He's so silly & has a quiet, cheesy sense of humor that puts me into hysterics sometimes...yep, I think I'll keep him!
1. God! - I've been kind of a wayfaring follower lately. Personal issues with our infertility (and finances related to infertility), my job, and our infertility (wait? did I already mention that?) have really not been good for our relationship. I know I'm just lost right now & eventually, I'll find my way back to Him...but the wonderful part is that God knows where I'm at even when I'm lost...that little light is flickering in there somewhere & eventually, I'll have the strength to make it burn again...but for now, He's holding onto me by a thread & for that, I'm thankful.

Christmas Meme

I was tagged by my bloggy friend Melissa in a fun little internet meme. I am to list three things on my holiday wish list. I am going to play!!!

Here are my wishes - however lofty and unattainable they may be!

1. A Penn State sweatshirt. I've dropped hints about this one to Gregg, so hopefully this will be under the tree on Christmas morning (the black one with pink PSU).

2. This is more of my wish-list gift than anything else since I KNOW this won't be waiting for me under the tree on Christmas morning... a Canon Rebel digital camera.

3. A baby - I know, I know...no one could really get me this for Christmas, but if you are infertile yourself or you are close to someone who is, you know how difficult the holidays can be for infertile couples. Each holiday that passes by (especially ones so family & child centered as Christmas) is just another reminder that yet another year has passed by and we STILL don't have a baby. So please show some extra love and compassion this time of year to family members and friends who cannot have children or have lost their children. This will be our fourth Christmas since we started trying for a baby & each one gets more emotional and more difficult to deal with.

Now it's your turn...help me continue the fun. Let me know if you play along!

I am tagging:
Megan
Hafsa
Terri
Kara

busy busy busy

This house has sure been keeping us busy, let me tell you! G & I decided that we did more in this house in two days this weekend than we did in four years at the other house (minus painting, of course!)! We hung curtains, paintings, pictures and mirrors. We unpacked tons of boxes and have enough of the garage cleared out to park a car in there. We hope to have the other side cleared out by the weekend so that both cars will fit! We dismantled all of the boxes that we have unpacked (probably about 50+) and took them back over to G's parents' barn for when his sister moves in a little over a month (wedding bells are ringing soon!).

So why don't you come on in and let me give you a (picture) tour!!!??

First, you walk in the foyer (oh look at the dirty floors! My parents are coming this weekend and I refuse to sweep or mop until the last minute since we're constantly moving stuff through there)...


















To the left of the foyer is G's messy office--oops did I really say that?? Ok, yes, I did - but I hate cords, wires and such just HANGING there - we need a solution to that ASAP!


















To the right of the foyer as you walk in is the dining room! You can see the lovely painting made by G's late grandmother, which we received from his grandfather as a wedding gift. We have to wait a year to paint because of nail pops, but when we get the chance, this room will be a nice, pale blue with blue and brown curtains.




































Next, we come to the living room. We got curtains for this room, but we have to wait for them to be hemmed since I couldn't find the right length. As per the advice of a co-worker of G's, we are going to paint the far-wall (opposite the sofa, where the TV is) a maroony-red color (which will stretch over to the breakfast nook) and then the rest of the walls either a pale, pale gold or a pale beige.



































Now comes the breakfast nook area - sorry this picture is so horribly blurry. I don't know why it did that.


















And now, the kitchen. It's a bit messy here (sorry), but you get the idea. It's definitely one of my favorite places in the house. In fact, I cooked some great meals (meatloaf and chicken parm) here over the weekend!



































Now, let's go upstairs, ok? Here is half of our lovely staircase!
























Here is my messy crafting room (as you can see, I just started setting this up late last night).


















And finally, the master bedroom, closet & bathroom! In the first picture, at the foot of the bed, you can see the beautiful hope chest that my grandparents made us for a wedding gift. My mom made us the quilt on the bed as a wedding gift! Don't we just have such crafty family members?? I think that gene skipped over me :(

And I don't know what's going on with the crazy shadows on the wall in the 2nd bathroom pic! I tried to re-take the pic 4 times and it still turned out that way! Sorry!























































































I spared showing you the pics of the other two bathrooms, the basement, the garage, and the 2 guest bedrooms They kind of all start looking the same, right? Maybe I'll post pics once we get the beds all set up, etc! I hope you enjoyed the tour of our home! Hopefully many of you can come visit soon!