A Puuuurrrr-fect Halloween

The whole trick-or-treating part of Halloween last night was a fail. We went to one of Keegan's co-worker's house who normally gets hundreds of kids during the night, but since it was raining, we got maybe 30. We ended up bringing over pizza and just hanging out, so it was a nice night, overall.

The biggest surprise of the night was when Keegan and I got home. We got out of our cars and heard this loud mewing coming from our neighbor's house. There is an older white cat that hangs around their house, so we figured she was complaining about getting wet. We walked over to see if we could coax her into our house for the night, but couldn't find her. We looked and looked until finally Keegan looked up. To our surprise, there was a kitten clinging to the top of the roof (blue arrow) mewing its little heart out. We were able to coax it down to the edge of the roof (red arrow) and Keegan got a ladder to rescue it.

We took the kitten inside, dried it off, and gave it some food and water which it wolfed down in no time. Since we have two other cats, we kept the kitten in a spare room by itself overnight, and as far as I know, it cuddled up in its towel and went to sleep. We took the kitten to our vet this morning and were surprised to find out that it's a neutered male. Our vet assumed that since he's neutered, he was probably at a shelter at some point and may have been adopted. We were debating whether or not we should become a three cat family, but now that we know he might be someone's pet, we're just going to hold onto him until we (hopefully) find his family. I've posted the picture below on our local Humane Society's Facebook page and are waiting to see if we hear anything. 

Little mister is lucky he's so cute. I stepped barefoot into an ant hill during our search, so now my feet are covered in itchy burning ant bites. He's all fur and bones, but one of the happiest, cuddliest cats I've met. The entire time we were with him last night, he was purring up a storm which of course melted my heart. I sincerely hope we find his family, but if we can't, I won't be upset adding another fur ball to our family. 

*Update*

We found Mr. Kitty's owner, apparently it's our neighbor. Keegan talked to her and she said that she leaves him outside "all the time" and is aware that he "sometimes climbs the roof." 

I'm so upset about this. This kitten was skin and bones, and when we took him into the vet, we found out he has fleas. She "might" pay us back for the $108 we spent this morning to update his shots and get him flea medicine, but I'm not holding my breath.

Liebster Award!

Back in September, Anne from The Second Bedroom nominated me for a Liebster Award! I'm just getting around to posting about it now, but I wanted to thank Anne for the nomination!

So, 11 random facts about myself....

1. My first concert experience was seeing Kitty and Otep when they came to the local music venue in my hometown. If you're not familiar with the hard rock scene, Kitty and Otep are known for being somewhat extreme. Since I was only 16, my mom felt more comfortable accompanying my friends and I to the concert. When Otep came out with a (fake) pig's head on a spear, she turned to me with wide eyes and said she was going to go watch the baseball game with the bartender. She never came to a concert with me again. 

2. I have an extremely wide taste in music. If you look on my Pandora, you'd find songs from Dropkick Murphys, Shakeria, Green Day, Celtic Woman, Eminem, Fun, Tegan and Sara, Maclemore, Broadway tunes (I love the soundtrack from Wicked) The Avett Brothers, and more. If a song has a good beat and lyrics I can sing to, there's a good chance that I'll like it.

3. I went to the same university that my dad is a professor at. During my graduation, he surprised me by being up on stage to be the one who gave me my diploma and a hug....in front of thousands of people.

 

4. I have 7 piercings (two in each lobe, one cartilage, and one industrial) and a Celtic knot tattoo on my foot.

5. Keegan and I were long distance our entire relationship until we moved together to Mississippi. We went to school about an hour and a half from each other, and Keegan did two co-ops, (one in Alabama, one in Memphis,) while we were dating. Since we never spent more than a week together, moving together to a different state was one of the scariest things we've ever done. 5 months after moving we got engaged, and 10 months after that, we were married.

6. During college, I worked at Hot Topic. It was a great job; flexible hours, great music, angsty teens who wanted to shove metal through their faces... But in all honesty, I loved working there. Sometimes I miss the easiness of it all, but then I remember those parents who had to get those band t-shirts for their whiny children on Black Friday.

Yes, we're posing with a cardboard Edward. Those teenage girls (and their mothers,) love them some Edward

7. If I had to shop at one store for the rest of my life, it would be Target. It kills me that the closest one is now an hour away, but my wallet is thankful. 

8. On my university's campus, there is a tiled clover with the word "engineers" below it. Legend is, if you walk across the tiles, you're fated to marry an engineer. I walked across those tiles about a month before I met Keegan, who's a metallurgical engineer. Everyone with me, "aaaaaawwwwwwww"

9. I had Shirley Temple hair when I was young. My mom actually had someone ask if she permed my hair when I was 2. 

10. I still have my comfort item from when I was a baby. He's a little worse for wear than the picture below, and currently resides under my pillows. My dad surprised me with another one for my 21st birthday, so now I have one to give to my future child. 

11. My favorite food is pasta, specifically mac n' cheese and chicken alfredo, and I've been craving both like none other lately. My craving is so bad that I made Keegan promise me that we'll get mac n' cheese from Noodles and Co. when we're in Missouri for Thanksgiving. 

Here are the 11 questions Anne asked:

1. What do you turn to for comfort?
I wish it was something different, but food a lot of the times. There's something special about lunch with a good friend you can confide in, or a romantic dinner with my husband. Perhaps it's not the food that really comforts me, but the people I'm with. Keegan is definitely a big source of comfort, as well as my parents. 
2. Do you have any habits/mannerisms other people consider odd but you couldn't do without?
Yes actually! It's hard to explain, but I do this strange tapping thing with my fingers. I'll go thumb, middle, pointer, fourth finger, middle, pinky, then pinky, fourth, pointer and thumb over and over again. If I'm listening to music, it's in time with the music, but I'll also do it to a tune in my head. I'm one that can't just watch TV or a movie without doing something with my hands, so this tapping sequence keeps my hands occupied. I should probably take up knitting or something more productive. 
3. What is your favorite thing to cook? Or, for non-cooks, to order in?
I am more of the baker in our house, and I love to bake cookies. I found a recipe for chocolate chip cheesecake cookies on Pintrest and they're to die for. I've made them for a lot of get togethers with Keegan's co-workers and they've been a big hit.  
4. It's your day off. No commitments yet. Shockingly, ALL your laundry is clean. What do you wear?
I suppose it depends on what I was going to do that day. If I was just going to laze around the house, probably yoga pants and an old t-shirt. If I was going out to run errands, jeans and a t-shirt. I'm not one to dress up unless I have a special event to go to.
5. You can have one word or phrase stricken from the minds of humanity--they just forget it existed and you NEVER have to hear it again. What is it? "That type of thing..." It's a phrase my co-workers says all.the.time and it drive me up the walls. I've caught myself saying it once or twice and it makes me cringe. 
6. You're a billionaire, hooray! What charity do you make your pet cause?
This is such a hard question. I don't think I could choose just one charity, I'd have to give money to many. I'd give money to a local Humane Society, a woman's shelter, a youth reading program, and any other charities doing good in the community. I'd more than likely keep the money local so that it could affect the community I was residing in. 
7. Do you wear socks to bed?
I do during the winter. My feet and hands get so cold that they'll keep me up at night, and startle Keegan awake if they touch him. During the summer, though, I'm usually ok without. 
8. I've got a gift card for you! You can't spend it on bills. Only frivolous things. Where do you go?
Probably Target or Old Navy. I've found that their clothes fit me best while I'm in those strange in between sizes during my weight loss. Also, they're cute and cheap so I could buy a lot without spending much. Oh, and also Starbucks. Om nom nom. 
9. What one thing that you do on a regular basis do you wish you never had to do again? Honestly? Try to figure out what's for dinner. With this diet, dinners have become hard to plan and it's the biggest pain in the butt to try and figure out what we're eating every night. Every day, for the last two-ish hours of the workday, Keegan and I are texting back and forth trying to figure out what we want to eat. If we had an unlimited budget to eat out, or an in-house chef, that would make life so much easier. Besides that, dishes. I hate doing the dishes. Dishes soaking in the sink make me shudder.
10. If you were an expert in one area, and people came from miles away just to ask your thoughts, what area would that be? I don't think I have the discipline to become and expert in anything. I'd much rather have a little knowledge in many areas than a lot of knowledge in one area. 


I'm being lame and not nominating anyone. I know this award has been circulating for a while now, and I don't feel like trying to figure out who hasn't been nominated. Just know that I love you all, so consider yourselves nominated if you want to answer Anne's questions.

If You Have A Spare Moment...

http://www.themakingofbabyben.com/

...send up some prayers/good thoughts/rain dances for Holly and her two babies





As well as Waiting For Baby. She just posted that she's leaking fluid and her midwives are afraid it's amniotic fluid. She and her little Ladybug could use your thoughts. 

Am I A Twat For Not Tweeting?

The question is simple really. I don't have a Twitter. Should I get one?

So far, I haven't felt the need to get a Twitter, mostly because it's just one other social media that will take up my time and potentially start drama.

However, I've noticed that a lot of IF bloggers will connect through Twitter more often than they will through Facebook. Is that because you can make an IF based Twitter, while Facebook makes you "like" pages through your personal page? (or maybe no one likes me enough to be my Facebook friend.)

The point is, I'd like to connect with you wonderful ladies more, and the platform to do that seems to be Twitter.

So, let me know. Do you twat? Tweet? Twit? Obviously I'm going to have to brush up on the lingo.

As another plus, if I get a Twitter, you won't have to read posts like this that could have been boiled down to 140 characters.

Tuesday Tidbits

It's been a few days since I've written, so I have a lot of topics I want to write about. Bullet points it is!

• My mom called me Friday morning to tell me that my youngest sister was in a car accident. She was hyperventilating and complaining about her neck and head hurting, so she was taken to the hospital. She's fine, just sore from the whiplash, but she totaled my parent's only working car. I have a very ranty post that was written on Friday which I may post later, depending on how much of my family's "dirty laundry" I want to air. Let's just say that my sisters lack of apology wasn't unexpected. 
• Thankfully my parents were able to get a rental car just in time to drive down to my cousin's wedding on Saturday. The wedding was on the groom's family "farm" (I say farm loosely because as far as I could tell, they don't raise livestock or grow crops,) and it absolutely beautiful. I hadn't seen this side of my mom's family in over ten years, so it was nice to catch up with them. 

Photo taken by Keegan of the gazebo that was used during the cocktail hour.

•  I believe that I ovulated late Saturday night or early Sunday. I had a flaming positive on a cheap OPK and a smiley face on the digital OPK Saturday morning, but a negative on both Sunday morning. Keegan and I sexed Saturday night, Sunday morning and Sunday night, so hopefully we covered our bases. So far, my temperature hasn't jumped like it normally does after ovulation. I'm not sure if the Clomid is to blame, or the fact that I've been waking up freezing these last few days. During the night, temperatures here in Mississippi get into the 40s and 50s, but we're being stubborn and not turning on the heat yet, especially since it'll get up in the 70s during the day.
• Did anyone else have wacky temperatures on Clomid? Before ovulation, my temps jumped around without rhyme or reason. After ovulation, they're taking their sweet time increasing which is odd for me. I'm used to two days of positive OPKs, then a huge jump in temperatures confirming the fact that I ovulated. 
• I meant to write about this earlier, but I seem to be one of the lucky ones and didn't have any side effects from the Clomid. I was fully expecting hot flashes every day and a five day headache, but I didn't notice anything. I might have had a hot flash the third night of the medication, but I did get sun burned that day, so I don't know if I should blame the 3 minutes of sweating on the Clomid or my stupidity. I did notice that my lower abdomen felt...fuller for lack of a better word. I wasn't crampy, I was just more aware of my ovaries. 

• The night before ovulation, I had the worst ovulation pain I can remember. My lower abdomen was so tender, that when Keegan snuggled close, I yelped and pushed him off. I'm hoping that this means that the Clomid is making my follicles big and juicy, not exasperating the cysts that are most likely hanging around.

• I was a dingbat and forgot to sign up for ICLW.

Crusin' The Coast 2013

This past weekend, Keegan and I drove down to the Mississippi coast for Crusin' The Coast 2013. Like I've mentioned before, last year as a wedding present, I surprised Keegan with a weekend away at this event and it's quickly become a yearly tradition for us.

The premise behind Crusin' The Coast is to get car enthusiasts and gear heads in one spot to show off their cars and to drool over everyone else's. There is also a swap meet, auction, and industry experts there to sell products and help trouble shoot problems.We were hoping to drive down in Keegan's 'Vette down this year, but it's unfortunately still out of commission.

Since Crusin' The Coast brings in thousands of people, you have to reserve your hotel room for the next year basically as you check out of your hotel that current year. Unfortunately we didn't do that last year, so by the time we got around to looking for hotel rooms, the only ones available were in the casinos with jacked up prices. We decided to splurge and booked a room at the IP Casino in Biloxi.

Friday, we got down to the coast around 7:30 and headed straight for Mellow Mushroom, a pizza joint that I had never heard of until last year, but is amazing. I thought for a second about getting their gluten free pizza, but I splurged and got a regular pizza with pineapple and feta, so good! We drove around a bit, looking at all of the pretty cars, then went to the hotel. I have never been to a casino before, so I didn't know what to expect. The hotel was so busy, crowded and loud! There was live music coming from one of the bars, people of all walks of life wandering around, stores, spas, and more. It was a total overload to my senses, so I was glad to get to our room and crash.

Saturday, we got up and drove down to Bay St. Louis, our favorite spot from last year. All of the cars are lined up in the historic downtown, so you're able to drool over the cars while catching lunch or shopping in one of the boutiques. We had tried to go to IHOP for breakfast, but it was insanely busy, so we ended up grabbing frozen custard. Oh the perks of being an adult. We ate lunch at Trapani's, a local seafood focused restaurant. Keegan got a half shrimp, half catfish po boy and since I don't like seafood, I got a roast beef po boy.

They had the coolest tables at Trapani's. They were filled with sand, shells, starfish and sand dollars from the beach that was just a few yards away. 

We spent about half the day in Bay St. Louis, then drove to Ocean Springs, drooling over cars the entire way. 

Saturday night, we decided to dine in our hotel and ate at Costa Cucina, an Italian restaurant. We went hog wild and did an entire four course meal: appetizer, salad, main course, and dessert. We had a really young, enthusiastic waiter that was fun to talk to, and throughout the entire meal, we watch the chefs throw dough in the air for handmade pizzas. Earlier that week, Keegan had gotten a bonus from the general manager of his mill in the form of a $50 money card, so we used that for dinner and only spent $15 out of pocket to cover the leftover and the tip. As Keegan said, best $15 meal we ever had. 

Sunday, we ate at IHOP before heading back home early enough to do some laundry and relax before the impending work week. The weekend was the perfect getaway and allowed Keegan and I to have some us-focused time together. We can't wait until next year!  

I Want To Thank You

Over the last year or so, I've read many infertility blogs. I've read stories of hope and excitement when a woman who has struggled gets a positive test. I've read stories of women recalling the difficult days in the trenches while their miracles sleep peacefully on their laps. Stories like this give me hope.

But I've also read stories of hurt, sadness, despair, anger, unfairness. Stories from mothers of babies who were taken too early. These stories make me angry and sad and force me to question why these babies had to go, why these mother and fathers have to suffer.

These stories make me scared. While I want nothing more than to be pregnant, I'm also scared of becoming one of those stories. I honestly don't know if I would be able to handle having that hope and excitement taken away from me in an instant.

But, I know that I would be ok, eventually.

I've seen many women, too many women, have to overcome the hurt that is infant and pregnancy loss. It hurts me that so many women that I've met though this blog, women who I call my friends, have had to go through such a horrible experience.

I want to thank those women.

I want to thank them because I know that if I ever have that hope and excitement taken away from me, those women will be there with a shoulder to cry on, helpful advice, or a comforting word. They will be there with extra support when the days get tough, and there to celebrate when things seem to be going ok.

Because of these women, I would be ok, eventually.

I want to thank those women for being so strong. So supportive, to all women, even if they haven't gone through a loss. For being an inspiration.

I'm thinking about all of you today.