Date Day

On Friday, gail watch jaely for the entire day while tj and i spent the day in GR. Some things, like getting an oil change, were not as enjoyable as others, but it was so great to be able to run some errands that needed to be done.

The morning started early. We got up at 5 and were in the doctor's office by 7. And good news from our doctor. We are going to be able to skip to the treatment that brought us jaely. My body is stubborn. . . instead of being able to get my body to cycle with a single hormone that i take for five days, i need to take a combination of two for thrity days. So, we have to wait a little bit before TJ can start giving me shots. We are excited. We are praying that i don't get OHSS again. The shots will be very gradually increased to help the ovaries not get over stimulated. And we are praying it brings us a baby. :)

It was still early after our appointment, so we headed to panera bread for some goodies. Sipping chai or coffee and eating a cinimon crunch bagel or a breakfast sandwich without having to cut up food for jaely was so relaxing. We just sat, relaxed, sipped, and talked.

We went to a favorite toy store. Got an oil change. Visited the mall. And saw a movie.

It was awesome to sit in a movie theater next to my husband with a bucket of popcorn and a fountain drink. Harry Potter was alright. We enjoyed it. . . the book was immeasurably better, but we still enjoyed ourselves.

Then we topped off the day with a fabulous dinner at The Melting Pot. It was an unbelievalbe experience. It was so nice to take over two hours to eat a three course meal and dessert. We slowly dipped, cooked, ate, and sipped during the meal. It felt like how eating should be.

We returned home 14 hours later. Tired. Relaxed. Thankful and excited.

Jaely had a wonderful day with gramma. . . swimming, walks, playing, shopping, sleeping, and eating.

I'm So Happy!

I love organizing. . . at times, it can be a weakness of mine. When i walked down to the basement and saw this. . .



I was so excited. I immediately got out my label maker (yes, organization freaks like me have label makers) and labeled the tubs. Now our stacks of tubs won't float away again. . . and we have more room. I cannot believe how many tubs are baby/kid related. And i am sure this is just the beginning!

It is amazing what a little organization can do!

Thanks TJ for building these wonderful and safe shelves. They are super sturdy (even for sneaky climbing children!)

And, did you notice the clean, bleached floor. If you could have seen it before the sweeping and bleach- dead worms, decaying leaves, soaked insulation, and filth. Yeah! He is almost done with bleaching the basement floor. What a huge job it is to get the basement back to normal.

Nasty & Beautiful

This is nastyI had the light fixture in the picture to show the size of this moth. Absolutely nasty and hairy.
Absolutely beautiful. Although it is more blue than this picture is portraying.

More gardening

The pink impatience are finally starting to fill in.
The blooming hydrangea. . . a nice light shade of bluish/purplish
A daylily my friend Marilee got me for my birthday a few years back has bloomed.

Still going strong. . .
The hanging baskets are getting huge! (well, except for the bocoppa. . . those are dying.)
My new plant stands to complete the set. . . i got these with my birthday money from my aunt carol and uncle mike. They were 70% off. . .i was waiting! They are two tiered and made of slate. (thank you Antie Ca Ca and uncle coupon!)



The alien looking hen & chick is getting ready to pop!

The creeping jenny is really starting to creep. Look at it reach out to the glass ball. I should probably stop it!

The first shasta daisy bloom of the season.

This hosta is getting WAY too big. It must be moved this fall.

A wee little clematis. Love the deep purple.
Where i daily spend part of jaely's nap. . . watering, deadheading, and weeding. I love it.

The List

Every now and then, TJ and i make a list of wants/needs. Recently we made such a list. Here it is in no particular order.

• Shed
• Finished Basement
• Stairs of Deck
• Cement Driveway
• Tiled backsplash
  
• Hutch
• Trees cut down (some dead and some alive)
• Big girl furniture
• Fixed snowblower (this is no longer necessary thanks to Steve & gail!)
  
• Big screen TV
• Play structure
• Pond

It is so nice to dream and to plan these things. TJ made a quick drawing of plans we had talked about in finishing the basement. . . we would like a booth (we love sitting in booths), bathroom, guest room, kitchen, built-ins (don't get me started on that one!), fireplace, etc. . . .

I asked TJ to pick his top three independently while i did the same. Thankfully we had the same top three. . . just in a different order. :)

Although this is NOT one of the top three. . . look what i found on the internet. . . a stunning cherry hutch.