Two years

Today is our two year anniversary! Looking back on our wedding pictures this past weekend made it seem as if we have been married 10 years and not two years. I attribute part of that to the fact that we were together four years and one day before we got married. To read up on our story, go here.

This past year has been....interesting. In last year's post I talked about all of the big decisions we had made since getting married. Buying a house. Trying to get pregnant. Deciding to get a second dog. A lot of those things have spilled into this year.

This year was making the house more "us". We still need to paint various rooms, but creating our raised beds in our backyard this past spring brought us a lot of joy (and fresh veggies!). We have other, more ambitious things that we want to do to the house (redo the sunroom, clean up the basement, organize the garage, etc) but my medical bills may keep those projects at bay for another couple years.

We obviously have continued to try to get pregnant...until I found out about my fibroid. While that "project" is on hold and my hope of getting pregnant before our second anniversary didn't happen, I (and we) still have hope that we will be able to get pregnant before our third anniversary. We have even talked about me putting off braces/my jaw surgery for a few months so that we can try IUI once my uterus has healed from the surgery. My jaw problem doesn't have an expiration date like my eggs do. Ha! Our hope is tempered, but we still have hope.

And then there is Buster. I am so happy we made the decision to bring him into our family. He has been a good distraction so that we don't have to be sad every month when I get my period. He was a HANDFUL for the first month and we had to do a lot of extra work with him to make sure that he was going to be a normal Berner in terms of personality with people and dogs. He still jumps. He still eats anything and everything on the ground. But he is a smart dog, learning tricks quickly because he is food motivated. I have to keep reminding myself that he is only 7 months and therefore still a puppy (sometimes his 70 lb body tricks me into thinking that he is older).

What do I see for us in the coming year of marriage? One, possibly two surgeries for me. A trip to the Bahamas in December. A possible trip to the Dominican Republic for a wedding. Hopefully a successful fall/winter garden (more on that later). Going to the fertility clinic for an IUI this spring (hopefully we only need one)! But what I hope for most in the coming year is just that we are happy, no matter what life throws at us.

Love you CP.

The State of NSC- August 2011

A monthly take on my world.

Weight: 205- which means I gained weight again this month. I’m going to blame it on the processed food I had to eat during the power outage and the birth control pills that I had to take before my Lupron shot. Yep. That’s the ticket.

Current Feeling: OVERWHELMED. But hopefully that goes away tomorrow.

Running Stats in June
Total Miles Run: 5.5 miles
Time Spent Running: Nike+ is being a b*tch and won’t load but I am guessing a bit over an hour. Haven’t run since August 20th. I suck.
Longest Single Run: 1.9 miles

Current aches and pains: I am hobbling around these days not because of plantar fasciitis, but because of some mysterious pain on the outside of my left ankle. I have been noticing that I am rolling my ankle a bit (maybe due to wearing flip flops?) and so I am trying to make a conscious effort to change my stride. Sadly it doesn’t seem to be working.

Current Favorite Song: I keep singing “Moneygrabber” by Fitz and the Tantrums.

Looking forward to: VACATION. We leave tomorrow for two weekends of weddings and while that is not technically a vacation I DON’T CARE. I will be away from the office for a glorious 6 full work days and with CP’s family and then friends from law school. Here’s hoping hormonally-unbalanced NSC doesn’t come out on this trip… Speaking of which, I didn’t have enough time to write any posts in advance so you will just have to pine for my words until I get back. :-)

Annoyed about: The price of ONE shot. $1024 out of pocket for ONE shot. That still blows my mind. Also the price of where we have to board the dogs. Almost $100 A DAY until Wednesday. We have NEVER paid more than $25/day before (for one dog). The fact that it doubles because we are in CT? CRAZY.

Proud about: Uhhh that I am not bat-sh*t crazy yet? Because I only get one shot for the entire three months the side effects are going to be bad in the beginning but will taper off. The nurse who gave me the shot said that although it is a bigger dose, it’s better to get it once instead of once a month. Although I was hoping for a hot flash today at work because they have the AC turned up to ungodly levels…..

How are you feeling with the start of this new month?

Random questions

1. Why is it that the people I see roaring down our not busy suburban street are all of the mothers in minivans with kids in the back seat? The SAME MOTHERS that have a “Drive like your kids live here” sign in their front yard???

2. I understand that people are not as crunchy as I am these days. But why would you get pesticides sprayed on your lawn if you have a dog? I have to keep my dog off your lawn when I am walking her because of the chemicals- but yet you are subjecting your dog to the chemicals every day? I don’t get it.

3. It is supposed to be 70 degrees outside today. But yet I am in my office with cold hands and a fleece on because I am freezing. It’s really just the suite that I sit in that is so cold. The rest of the office is perfectly fine.

4. Why does my throat start to hurt the day before a 12-mile run?? Hopefully I’m not getting sick. The lack of sleep lately can’t be helping things.

5. Why are puppies born with a lack of fear? Buster jumped off our back stairs “Superman style” last night while CP was watering the herbs. The stairs are probably at least 4 feet off the ground. Almost gave CP a heart attack. (Buster’s fine)

What are you wondering about this Friday?

Puppy tomorrow

Thankfully Fuzzy Britches seems to be back to normal again. She is interested in her toys, hangs out with us during dinner and while we are watching television and even took a 30 minute walk with me last night. We are still watching her like a hawk, but hopefully this was a one time occurrence.

Meanwhile, tomorrow I have to run 11 MILES. Not sure how long it going to take me- 2 hours or so? I have only fit one run in earlier this week so hopefully my body doesn’t rebel during the run. Weather.com is predicting showers which is NOT going to help me get up tomorrow morning. The 10 miles was cold and gross in the rain- I don’t want to add another mile on during bad weather.

But….by the time I finish my run CP should be back with the yet-to-be-named puppy. He wants to see him and bring him home before naming him. My top two favorite names are Rocky and Tank (since we already know he is going to be HUGE). CP thinks that we need to name him something fun and kid-like since he will be around when we have kids.*

I promise puppy pictures next week!


*That’s a whole ‘nother post- the fact that he still believes that we are going to get pregnant even though we have been trying for a year….

The State of NSC- April edition

A monthly take on my world.

Weight: 202.5 (because of the discrepancy last month I have no idea if this is a loss or gain). But at least I’m getting closer to being under 200 pounds again!

Current Feeling: Devastated (more on that tomorrow). Exhausted. I think that I may be getting sick but can’t really afford to this week.

Running Stats in April
Total Miles Run: 65.7 miles
Time Spent Running: 12 hours, 58 minutes, 3 seconds
Calories Burned: 10,070
Longest Single Run: 10 miles (longest ever!)

Current aches and pains: Still having problems with my plantar fasciitis, but try to ignore it the best that I can. I have one month left of training and then I can rest it!

Current Favorite Song: Anything that keeps me going during my runs. I’m getting kind of sick of my “running” playlist. Any suggestions of songs to add?

Looking forward to: Puppy comes on Saturday! Unfortunately I will be in the middle of an 11 mile training run while CP is picking the puppy up at the breeder. I would skip the run if we were only running say 7 miles (like we did this past weekend as kind of a breather), but I know that doing 11 on my own is simply not going to happen.

Annoyed about: WORK. I need a new job.

Proud about: My first 10 mile run ever. Finishing the garden beds in our back yard. Moving all six yards of loam/compost this past weekend into the beds. Now all we have to do is start planting!

How are you feeling with the start of this new month?

Fun with Facebook

Holy crap am I busy AND tired. I only have enough brain cells to put together a bullets post.

• My nine mile training run on Saturday went SO MUCH BETTER than my eight mile crying run. It’s amazing how your emotional state can really affect your run. This weekend we are tackling 10 miles- the first time I will have run in the double digits!

• After my training run CP and I headed out to the breeder to meet the puppies. OH MY GOODNESS THEY WERE SO CUTE. They looked up at you with their adorable eyes and I completely fell in love with all six of them. I’m surprised I didn’t steal one. :-) The puppies are only 5 weeks old so we arrived, played with them for about an hour (which basically meant petting them and laughing at their teething issues. They were all about biting anything and everything- my foot, buttons on my sweater, my jeans, my fingers, etc.), and then they were very sleepy.

• After that we hung out with the breeder’s SIX adult dogs and that was quite overwhelming. All of them wanted attention and petting. One barked if you weren’t petting her; all of them used their nose to ask for attention. The only male in attendance (the grandfather of the puppies) who is a HUGE 120 pound dog would take swipes at your leg if you didn’t pet him before he would roll onto his side and ask for belly rubs. Adorable. CP is hoping that our dog gets to be 120 pounds; I think that he is CRAZY.

• We didn’t get to pick the puppy out, but the breeder will do it for us based on temperament. One of the males will be going to a friend of the breeder’s so there are three left. CP is hoping for the puppy that has a very large head, but honestly, they were ALL adorable so it doesn’t really matter to me. The good news is that we get to pick him up May 7th!!! I can’t believe we have less than three weeks to go!
  

Sleepy puppies


Another sleepy puppy

The adorable face!

• 
  
  This past weekend was also our last pickup of grass-fed beef for the year. I am SHOCKED that we are not sick of beef after picking up 20 pounds every month for six months. I think that we definitely would have been bored with beef if I had been cooking (chili, chili, hamburgers, etc.) but CP has been able to mix it up and we are still really enjoying it. I think that we will definitely do it again. The farm was awesome and even started selling fresh eggs!

• 
  
  One of the reasons that I love Facebook is for the ability to keep in touch with friends in different countries. Sunday was a great example of why it rocks. On our honeymoon we spent a safari day with a couple from Australia. They were really nice and we ended up having a great time with them. We friended each other on FB and have sent messages to each other once in a while for the past year and a half. A couple of months ago we got a message from them that they wanted to take a 5 week trip around the US. So we helped them plan their trip, including some time in NYC. On Sunday we met up with them at the Met and hung out with them all day. Very cool. We didn’t run out of things to talk about and it was great to catch up. So as much as I sometimes get annoyed at Facebook, there are legitimate reasons to keep a profile.

Do you have any fun Facebook stories?

Wordless Wednesday

I can't remember where I have seen "Wordless Wednesday", but I follow someone's blog that has this feature. Let me know if it is you and will claim you as the rightful owner of that title! :-)

The breeder sent us new pictures of the puppies at three weeks. They still look a little like rats, but still super adorable. I can't wait to meet all of them in just a few weeks!

Especially this guy/girl. S/he looks like s/he is either lazy or about to start some trouble. Either way I want to meet her/him and bask in their adorableness.

While I did other yard work tasks, CP tackled a stump in our back yard with his new chainsaw. I told him that he had to be very careful. I didn't want a husband missing half of his face or a hand. Thankfully he didn't have any problems and we demolished the stump!

I love random flowers! Whole Foods was having a sale on tulips...so pretty!

My medal for finishing the Quarter Marathon. My friend and I wore the medals in the grocery store after the race because we are super cool. :-)

I've been on a bread making kick and this was my first crack at Country Classic Bread. Delicious! (The sheen on the top is from butter that they have you brush onto the bread after it cooks.)

Okay so this post was not exactly wordless...

The State of NSC- March edition

A monthly take on my world.

Weight: I’m a bit confused. Yesterday I was 201, then this morning I was up to 207. I didn’t eat crazy things yesterday and only had two beers last night. How can you gain 6 pounds in one day? I still have about two weeks before my monthly visitor comes. ?????

Current Feeling: Sad. Frustrated. Not liking that things are out of my control. (more on this next week)

Running Stats
Miles Run: 41.49
Time Spent Running: 8 hours, 1 minute, 36 seconds
Calories Burned: 6442
Longest Run: 7.12 miles
PR: Ha ha ha. Not this month!

Current aches and pains: Thankfully the soreness in my legs is almost gone and I even got to run on Wednesday night. The soreness in my arms is still present, but not as bad. No knee pain and my plantar fasciitis hasn’t been acting up too much.

Current Favorite Song: Nothing really comes to mind.

Looking forward to: The Quarter Marathon race is tomorrow. I am looking forward to finishing it so that I can focus on my Half Marathon training. I’m also excited about visiting the puppies in a few weeks!

Annoyed about: My lack of motivation in running. Just last month I was walking on air. Now it is kind of like a job. Booo. Maybe when we start to hit distances that I have never run before I will get happy again…

Proud about: Completing the three hour fitness tour. Yes I was sore for DAYS afterwards, but now I can say that I have done CrossFit. And I may even incorporate some of the things we did into my normal routine. If they made me that sore I am clearly not doing enough strength training!

Craving: Pineapple. We are getting closer to the time when all of the fresh pineapples hit the grocery stores. I LOVE pineapple and will eat it as much as possible. I have perfected cutting it up too. Yum!

How are you feeling with the start of this new month?

Best time of the year

The best time of the year has once again come around. Sure the warmer weather is nice. The prospect of spring flowers are something to look forward to. Also, not having to wear hats and gloves. Bringing back the FLIP FLOPS!

All of that is nice, but the best time of the year is when CP and I finish our taxes. It is such a relief! Turbo Tax makes things easier, but when you have to file in two different states (only ONE state next year- woo hoo!), account for a rental property in a third state, take deductions for a home office (CP 5 days a week, me 2 days a week since September), etc things can get complicated!

So yeah, we are now nice and relaxed and just waiting for our refunds. Oh that’s right- plural! Not only will we be getting money back from the feds, but MA has decided to give us a huge tax return. WOO HOO! (And yes, I realize that the government doesn’t pay interest on the money owed to us throughout the year so that it is actually better to get less of a refund, but I LOVE REFUNDS.)

What will the money be going towards? Well, the first and most important thing? A PUPPY!!!! That’s right! The litter was born this past weekend and there were 4 males, 2 females. The breeder has already let us know that we will be getting one of the males. I AM SO EXCITED. A puppy! In just 8 short weeks!

Picture from the breeder of the new puppies. They are so tiny!!

The other purchase we may make is for a pair of poly-lumber Adirondack chairs. CP and I saw these at the CT Flower and Garden show a few weeks ago and they were so comfortable! They look exactly the same as a regular Adirondack chair, but they are made out of high density polyethylene (HDPE) plastic taken from post-consumer waste such as milk jugs and plastic packaging. I love that the material goes into the chairs instead of into a landfill!

Chair found here. There are a number of manufacturers all over the country.

They come in a variety of colors that won’t fade because the color is throughout the material. They are a bit pricy, but most manufacturers have a 10-20 year warranty on them, so they seem to be well worth the price.

Did you get a tax refund this year? What do you usually spend your refund on?


P.S. Just my own opinion on the chairs. Not paid or compensated in any way.

Doggies

This past weekend CP and I headed to the CT Dog Show. Have you ever seen the movie “Best in Show”? That movie and the characters were pretty much spot on.

We didn’t go into the weekend planning on going to the dog show. But on Saturday afternoon I spoke to the CT Berner breeder to set up a time to meet with her. Not necessarily an interview for us to be puppy parents, but a chance to get to know us and make sure that we are good doggy parents in general. She mentioned that a couple of her Berners were going to be in the show on Sunday….we thought it might be a good opportunity to suck up, I mean, meet her.

We arrived not to find stadium seating as we were expecting, but plastic fencing to mark the borders of seven different “rings.” Seating was on the floor or camp chairs that you had to know to bring in advance. This was clearly not the Westminster Dog Show. We ended up standing the entire time. Mostly because dogs would pee/get so excited they would accidently pee wherever they were. So it was just safer to stand. :-)

Away from the fencing was the “prep” area. Dogs of all sizes, colors and breeds had their nails cut, their fur cleaned and then dried with a hair dryer. The poodles looked especially ridonkulous. It was crazy.

Picture found here

We focused on the bigger dogs- there were some adorable Great Danes, Great Pyrenees and St. Bernards, but we were (of course) partial to the Berners. We did find a new, very cute breed at the show- Leonberger. Ever heard of them? Adorable.

We didn’t quite know what was going on with the judging stuff, what they look for, etc. but one of the Berners wasn’t too happy when the judge had to feel his balls. Ha! We watched the agility stuff for a few minutes too- it was young dogs taking commands from owners. It included a jump over a fence to retrieve a toy which was adorable! Although the dog show stuff is not of interest to me, the agility stuff I could watch again.

Anyway, so we ended up meeting with the breeder and talking to her while watching her dogs compete. Luckily she was not over the top crazy as some of the other owners at the show. And our “interview” went well- she deemed us good puppy parents! YAY! So the next step is waiting for her current female to give birth (in about 2-3 weeks). She was in the process of breeding another female that weekend too, so if it doesn’t work out with the currently pregnant female, then there will hopefully be another litter in about 9 weeks. :-)

In the past month we have run into two Berner puppies- one at our beef CSA farm and the other at the dog show. OH MY GOD THEY WERE SO ADORABLE. I seriously wanted to steal them. Seeing them made me even more excited for the new puppy that we are going to have in just a few short months!!!