Carney Exploits

MMMMM!!!!!

2012-02-06T22:18:00.004-07:00

I just got this book! The master recipe is awesome, it has to be the best bread I have ever tasted, and the simplicity of the process is awesome! It is so nice to just be able to pull a blob of dough out of the fridge and have fresh bread thirty-ish minutes later!

Squeal!!!

2012-02-01T21:37:00.001-07:00

Mark surprised me with a silouhette Cameo!!!! I am so excited! Off I go to play!

Ka ching!

2012-01-27T10:38:00.002-07:00

It's payday again...and another $1600 was added to our baby fund today! These super quick savings will be coming to an end soon however, because the crazy overtime that Mark has been working is slowing down. He will have a few more weeks with just a smidge of overtime, I am hoping that it will get us to our original $12000 goal, but I doubt it. We should get a tax return which might just be enough to push us over the edge, though.

I always knew....

2012-01-26T17:08:00.001-07:00

That the flute was cool! It makes me wish that I never stopped playing!

A Change in plans?

2012-01-20T09:27:00.004-07:00

Today was payday, and our ivf fund was able to grow by $1700.00. Bringing us to $6800, over half of our original $12000 goal! Not bad since we started saving only two months ago!

However, it looks as though we are going to need more than we thought. I have been feeling a little apprehensive about doing IVF and been having a hard time justifying the cost even though we have by all accounts an amazing doctor. So, I called a second doctor in order to get another opinion. I am feeling a bit better about the new doctor because his clinic offers a shared risk program while the first doctor does not. This means that for the cost of about one fresh IVF and one frozen embryo cycle, we can actually have two fresh cycles and two frozen cycles. The risk is that if we succeed the first time, we just paid extra, but if it is the fourth time, we got a steal of a deal. Since it is relatively common to need more than one IVF cycle, I think that this may be the best option for us. This clinic also is doing a clinical study on a new progesterone medication, and if we qualify we could receive 20% off the costs. Providing that we do not qualify for the study, we will need about $4000 more than we originally planned. That makes us just over a third of the way there. I meet the doctor at the new clinic at the end of February, and by then we will know what our insurance will cover, so perhaps it will be better than we think.

Moving forward!

2012-01-15T17:08:00.002-07:00

It has been difficult to find the time to write recently, so the blog has been sadly ignored. Mark has been working out of town, so I have had a lot of time on my hands to fill with other things.

I have been working my way through "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" trilogy. The first book was nothing special, but I adored the second!
I have made a couple new friends that I hope to see again.
I have been painting the closet we started re-doing last July.
I have done more than a few crafty projects which I will start sharing over the next few weeks.
Planning , researching and starting seeds for the garden has taken a lot of time over the last few days as I contemplate a few new to me gardening methods.
I have been organizing Mark's magic card collection......which has taken an enormous amount of time and space.

Most importantly, I have been organizing donations for our upcoming yard sale, and watching our IVF fund grow. We are now at $5100, just shy of our half way point!

What makes you whole?

2012-01-03T17:11:00.004-07:00

My Resolutions

2012-01-01T10:16:00.000-07:00

I am a goal setter.....but not necessarily a goal meeter. So this year my resolutions are going to be a little less all or nothing. Hopefully that will give me a chance to succeed a little more easily!

Be more patient. I struggle with being patient with people. It is a skill that I have improved greatly over the years, but I am still not where I want to be.
Get Dressed Six Days A Week. This a big one for me. I tend to hang out in pajamas, or work out clothes all day long when I know that I have no where to go, and only get dressed if I leave the house. Why am I only willing to look nice for people other than my husband? I think this will not only improve how Mark sees me, but how I see myself.
Early to Bed and Early to Rise. Over the last year I have gotten into the habit of sleeping until eight or finish and the staying up past midnight. While my schedule allows for this, it also means that Mark is staying up too late in order to spend time with me, and he is often going to bed alone. Not anymore....which leads me to my next goal.
Live Intentionally. With the absence of kids in our home, it has been easier to just go with the flow and have no routine and no real purpose. I want to live more fully, more for the moment.
Hold Hands More. No, not yours! Mark and I have always been hand holders, but it seems as though we have been neglecting the little day to day romances. I blame it on the stress of infertility treatments and the way that it turns romance clinical. It's time for us to change that!

Happy New Year!

2011-12-31T09:51:00.000-07:00

This year was a complete fail as far as getting a Christmas letter written! Instead, everyone will just have to read the blog for a wrap up of our year!

We began 2011 with the Glanville family and their six children living with us. The moved out over the summer and in the fall we were joined by a new renter (who has been the easiest one yet). While we miss the Glanville family, it has been good for us to have a little more space.
Mark started a new job this summer, for a company that he loves, and passed his journeyman's exam shortly afterwards. I went to school and volunteered at the children's justice center. Spring found us ripping out walls in one of bedrooms in order to make a closet more usable, summer and fall found us installing laminate flooring, and building custom desks out of old doors. Add in the year round gardening and our work kept us quite busy.
Though if you know us at all, you also know that we play as hard as we work! We had several camping trips this past summer, including our first backpacking trip. We made several day hiking trips as well. A road trip to Montana occurred as well as a brief jaunt down to cedar city for the night. We even visited an aquarium and hand fed sting rays. Through in swimming at the rec center, board game nights with friends, my crafting and Mark's computer games and we had a lot of fun to balance out our work!
We kept moving forward with fertility treatments all throughout 2011, but in October were told that we should move on to In Vitro Fertilization. We found an amazing doctor who is at the top of his field and we are hoping to do the procedure in April. Currently we are trying to stretch our pennies until they scream n an attempt to fund the IVF. We are a third of the way there, in just over one month! Not so shabby! Mark had been working a ton of overtime to add to the baby fund. The opportunity for so much overtime would normally not be there, but things have just fallen into place since we decided to do IVF. If things keep going as planned, we may actually be fully funded by the end of January. The IVF is not the only thing that we have planned for 2012, though!
I am hoping to have a great garden again like we did this year, as well as finally getting rid of the tree stumps in our back yard. I am determined that this year we will finish some of the partially completed home repairs that we have done. Just little things like replacing the flooring but not putting the base boards back in. We don't want to plan any projects that are too big in case we get a successful result from the IVF, but I would love to gt a new fence put in! There will probably be at least one road trip to Montana, and if we are able to, I am sure there will be some camping too.
We hope your year looks as hopefully and exciting as ours!

One-Third.......

2011-12-30T10:42:00.002-07:00

We are officially one third of the way to our $12000.00 dollar goal for IVF!

Mark has been working crazy overtime out of town, so we have been able to add a lot to the baby fund during December even with Christmas, needing to buy a new laptop and some minor car repairs. He is going to be continuing the crazy hours for a month and a half to two months, so we may manage to be fully funded by the end of January.

We really appreciate the love and support that we have gotten from everyone. The Christmas cash gifts, and the donations for our upcoming yard sale have all been immensely appreciated. There is a light at the end of the tunnel. Something that I never thought possible!

Progress!

2011-12-23T11:17:00.000-07:00

Our IVF fund grew by $1700 dollars today!

Insulin resistance

2011-12-22T06:00:00.000-07:00

This clip is great to show exactly how insulin resistance can mess with your body. I have been going low carb for about a week now, and it has been great for me. I feel better and I am finally losing weight!

Maybe it's hormones.....

2011-12-20T09:00:00.000-07:00

......but this made me cry more than a little!

The reason for the season....

2011-12-18T01:41:00.001-07:00

as only kids could tell it!

Hi there, ICLW'ers!

2011-11-21T15:12:00.002-07:00

Welcome to all of you from ICLW! Feel free to look around, put your feet up and stay awhile!

We have been trying to conceive for eight years with only a few miscarriages to show for it. I only ovulate a couple times a year, and do not respond to clomid at all. Our next step is IVF in march or April of 2012! I am scared, excited and apprehensive. After so long it seems dangerous to feel hopeful.

Flower shop

2011-11-21T14:56:00.001-07:00

What a fun way to explain a complicated subject!

Babies Everywhere!

2011-11-20T06:00:00.002-07:00

A dear sweet friend of mine is pregnant...........again. Since we began fertility treatments she has gotten pregnant, delivered and is now pregnant again. This will be her seventh child. While I am happy for her and think that she is an amazing mother, I can't help but feel as if this pregnancy of hers is some great cosmic joke. The unfairness stings and makes me want to yell at the world.

Yet, I am still glad that she told me. As much as it hurts to hear her news, I am so glad that I didn't have to hear it from someone else. I am also immensely glad that she told me over the phone so that my face didn't give me away as I congratulated her. Yes, it does seem a little two-faced to congratulate her while holding back tears, but that is my problem, not hers.

Infertility certainly has a way of tainting things with mixed emotions!

Poetry

2011-11-19T06:00:00.001-07:00

A while back I purchased a tattered poetry book at a yard sale for ten cents. I picked it up and began reading this afternoon and soon could not see through my tears.

The Childless Mother’s Lullaby
by Ella Rhoads Higginson, 1925

Oh, many’s the time in the evening
When the light has fled o’er the sea,
That I dream alone in the gloaming
Of the joys that are not for me;
And oft in my sorrowful bosom
Swells up the mother-love flame,
And I clasp with my arms that are trembling
My child that never came. . . .

The hours swim on the midnight,
The moon looks over the hill,
And the u-lu-lu of the night owl
Sinks mournfully and shrill;
The solitude aches with rapture,
And my heart with the mother-love flame
As I sing alone in the gloaming
To the child that never came.

Hee Hee Hee

2011-11-18T06:00:00.000-07:00

Mark just reminded me of a silly memory and I just had to share!

Ever hear this song?

My Def Leppard CD is one of my favorites, and one day while we were cleaning, I had this song blaring. Does anyone else have to have music playing in order to clean? Anyways, Mark and I were both singing and dancing to this song as we cleaned, but his lyrics didn't sound quite right. When I asked what he was singing his response was "super awesome hunger" instead of "pour some sugar on me." It still makes me giggle.

How we are paying for IVF

2011-11-17T08:14:00.000-07:00

Our goal is to find a way to fully fund our IVF within the next six months. We are going to:

Have a boarder, this puts $600.00 a month into savings.
Continue to save from paychecks, this adds $600.00 a month to savings at least.
Mark may be able to put in some serious overtime, we will find out on Monday.
A yard sale.
There may be side jobs that Mark can do.
Tax returns.
I may pick up some babysitting jobs.
Sell extra books on half.com

I still worry that this will not be enough, however, I feel better just knowing that we have a plan. Any other creative ideas out there?

Wordless Wednesday

2011-11-16T10:05:00.000-07:00

Mazie

2011-11-15T20:16:00.000-07:00

Our dog Mazie absolutely hates having her picture taken. She usually will run and hide under our bed as soon as the camera comes out. This time our door was closed and I was able to get a few shots. You can tell that she is not happy about it!

I needed this today..............

2011-11-15T16:25:00.002-07:00

"It's going to be okay in the end. If it's not okay, then it's not the end."

Confession Time

2011-11-14T16:19:00.000-07:00

I have had a weight problem since I hit puberty. It has gone up and it has gone down, the last few years it has mostly gone up. It has really gone up while I have been on clomid. Now that my clomid days are over, and we are moving on to IVF, I am more concerned about my weight than ever before. With that in mind, its time for me to reevaluate my habits.
My first goal to a better me is to kick my soda habit. I so love a cold coke! I am currently enjoying the last coke in the house, and I am not buying any more! Losing weight may be one of the hardest parts of the IVF!

Mt. Timpanogos picture taking

2011-11-13T20:29:00.000-07:00

Our friend Nathan was nice enough to take us up on Mount Timpanogos to take pictures, since my dear Sister in law (you know who you are!) was threatening us with black mail photos for the family calendar.

These are just a few of the pictures that he took, but we had a blast in the process!