Two Random Observations

The hotel got new tennis raquets. I decided to bring some of the old ones home for the girls. As I put them in the trunk of my car, I wondered to myself, who will end up in the ER first? Then I laughed. It will be Avery. My guess is stitches after Delaney clocks her in the head. Maybe I won’t give the raquets to them.

Also, things really do happen in threes. Three “bad” things happened in 24 hours. First, there was a credit card left at a restaurant. Then there were keys locked in a car. Then a cell phone was left in a different restaurant. All three things were fixed, thankfully!!

Goodbye, Martha.

I’m ashamed of myself. I’m going to get fired as a Martha Stewart fan. In that big post I did the other day where I listed all of the things I had done since I last blogged, I forgot one. WE WENT AND SAW MARTHA AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And by we, I mean Lyz, Joni, Me AND Chris!! We made him come with us this time. As usual, it was a total blast. Our episode doesn’t air until next month, May 11 I believe. It was the French cooking episode, and we walked away with a bag of goodies, yet again. We got bacon, truffle butter, honey, cookies, chocolate and a cookbook! WoooHooo us!!

Pictures:

One of my favorite things about going to see Martha is the people watching. We wait in line outside of the studio for about an hour and a half. When Joni and I walked down the street to use the restroom, Martha walked by. So Chris and Lyz got to see her RIGHT THERE!! So jealous. Then Carson Kressley walked by why we were waiting too!! Then inside the studio we were talking about different outfits that people were wearing. I’ve mentioned before that Martha sends out a specific list of appropriate colors and patterns to wear. Some people simply cannot read. Joni picked a woman and told a whole story about her, it was awesome.

This will be the last Martha taping that I will go to. Her show has been cancelled. They did the last taping this week. I even sent a long sob story email about the Martha Muffin. Weird, I just did a blog search and I have never spoken about the Martha Muffin on here before!!

Story of the Martha Muffin. **Warning-if you didn’t already think I that I am a nutcase before reading this, you are totally going to think I am insane after reading this**

The very first season of Martha was in 2005. My dear friend Diane, was able to go to one of the very first tapings. For that episode, Martha made muffins. I don’t even remember what kind of muffin it is. Yes, I said is. I will get there, hold your horses. Diane also happened to be coming to visit me at The Hotel that weekend. She loves me so much that she saved her muffin, and her ticket, and brought them to me.

I did not eat the muffin. It was too holy to eat. I stared at the muffin. I rained tears down on the muffin. I worshiped the muffin. I kept the muffin. Yes, ladies and gentleman, it is now 2012 and I still have a muffin Martha baked in 2005. That is how big of a freak I am.

A few years ago I emailed this story to the show and they called and asked me if they could have Martha call me to talk about the muffin during the show, but then things fell through so I was unable to. So I thought maybe, just maybe, if I sent them a note that I still have the Martha Muffin, they might bring me back for the last taping. Oh-well. (And no, there are no future plans to throw the muffin away. It has lived in three different houses. Until that thing actually starts growing mold, or falls apart, it will stay with me.)

So dear Martha, thank you for having me at three of your tapings. Thank you for all of the goodies you have sent us home with. Thank you for being my inspiration!! I can’t wait to see what you bring us all next!!

The Poconos

A very long time ago, Crush and I started talking about going to the Poconos.  A few weeks ago she brought it up again.  We picked a date.  We planned it out.  We got extremely excited.  To the point we were nauseating people on facebook with our updates of how many more sleeps it was.

On Monday I got the girls ready for school, threw my bags in my car, got Avery on the bus, took Delaney to school and went to work for a very long six and a half hours.  After punching out I hit the gas and flew to Crush’s house!!  Within moments we were on the road:

(Yes, she has given me permission to share her pictures on here-and yes, her hair is bright green!)

It was the quickest drive of my life. We talked so much that time just flew by, before I knew it we had arrived at our hotel. We quickly unloaded the car and decided that we would go to a Japanese restaurant for dinner. There had been a sign about it in the hotel lobby, and since at least 75% of the meals we have eaten together have been Japanese, we decided it was a sign. So we drive and drive and find it, only to find it is closed on Mondays!!! So we went back to the hotel and ordered pizza instead!

We watched a bit of tv, then Crush broke out her guitar. Swoon…

On Tuesday morning we got up and went out to breakfast. Crush used to live in the Poconos so there was a place she really wanted to go, brought back memories and all that:

And we almost died laughing. I may have made fun of the way she eats toast. Then we had lessons on the proper way to eat toast. Our sides hurt from laughing and we had a long day ahead of us!

So we drove a little further, and came across the most beautiful building ever:


The Bushkill General Store. And a dream was born. Crush and I have decided that we will be purchasing this store and fixing up and running it. There are two houses on property, one for CLAD and one for Crush’s family. We will live in the apartment above the store, like good storekeepers.

Anywho, on to our destination—Bushkill Falls. I had gone several years ago with Chris, Lyz and my ex. I remember it being beautiful, and I remember being very tired and unsure that I would make it through. There are a lot of stairs. There is a lot of climbing. And you know what? I thought it was much easier this time!! That is not to say that by the end Crush and I were both beyond tired and totally wore out, but it was easier!

A few pictures:












Ok, so that was more than a few pictures, but in reality, that is a very very very small amount of pictures compared to how many were taken!!!

Once we were totally tired out (and kinda ticked off because the trail map was awful and we had tromped around forever looking for one part, only to find it in a completely different area) we sat and had lunch, then headed back out for some sightseeing. She showed me where her grandparents used to live, where she used to work, we drove to the top of Camelback mountain and gazed at the beautiful view. Then we went back to the hotel. After showering and changing we went back to the Japanese restaurant and had dinner!! (they are open on Tuesdays)

After dinner, we pretty much passed out lol. We were two tired girls!

Wednesday morning we got a bit of a late start but then had a total blast! We went to Magiquest…totally awesome. It is like a treasure hunt/scavenger hunt that you do with a WAND!! You know I love me a wand! Sadly, I have no pictures of this, as I forgot to steal them off of Crush’s camera. But, anyway. We tromped all over the place collecting everything we needed to become Master Magis. We may have been a little tired by the end, because there are three floors…did I mention we did a heck of a lot of stairs at Bushkill falls??? My thighs were not happy campers. But we did it and laughed and smiled and teased each other the entire time.

Once we were done, we stopped for a quick supper to eat in the car and then drove home. I’ve mentioned before that I really don’t like singing in front of Crush. I don’t have a great voice. But as we were driving home I found a few songs that I didn’t mind her hearing me sing. The drive home seemed even faster than the drive there, and now I have been spoiled. 48 hours of Crush.

I enjoyed every moment of it. We pretty much talked non-stop. I learned a lot about her, and hope she was able to learn some about me too. We smiled. We held hands. I have sprained cheek muscles from all of the smiling. She really is simply amazing.

So that was our mini-vacation. We have already started talking about where we want to go next. More hiking?? Niagara Falls?? Not sure, but I can tell you, it isn’t soon enough ❤

Where in the world have I been??

I cannot begin to tell you how many blog posts I have started. Sooooo many. I’ve been a busy girl so this will be a quick post with some highlights, and then there will be one more post with what I did earlier this week!

Let’s see…

• Monday 4/2-Crush picked me up after dinner and we went to go pick up our painted pottery.  But…since I am a moron, I never checked to see their hours, they were closed.  So instead we drove to a park and walked around looking at nature.  We took pictures of trees, we walked around the pond, we talked a lot.  It was awesome.
• Friday 4/6-One of the CSG’s (Catholic School Girls), Abby, had a birthday!!  Lyz and Chris had gone to Oriel’s opening day, and I decided that I would go to Abby’s b-day dinner.  As I was sitting in the parking lot having a minor panic attack about going in all by myself (and this was after I had already driven home once because I panicked) Lyz texted and said “Don’t forget we are going out tonight!”  Just the added boost I needed, so I walked on in!  Abby said me showing up without Lyz there to be my rock was her bestest birthday present 🙂  I got to meet Shar, who lives in Florida (creepily enough in the same freaking town where my darling ex lives), and who I had been chatting with for a bit via text.  After dinner I ran home and met Lyz and we went out to a bar and oh my heck people, I danced!!  I had told Lyz a long time ago, that once I got down to a size 18 I was going dancing.  Well, I was wearing my 18’s that night, so I had to dance!!  (a small amount of alcohol might have helped me along there).  I must mention one of the CSG’s husbands here…Steven, you are awesome!!!  He made me feel so comfortable!
• Saturday 4/7-Crush called me on her way home from work (this has become a new habit of ours…we sneak in quick phone calls here and there lol) and told me she was making a delivery, did I want to stay on the phone with her for a bit.  Sure!  I was at work and we talked for a bit.  I asked her what she was delivering, flowers.  Where are you delivering it to, Harrisburg, about a 30 minute drive.  When I heard wind blowing into the phone I asked her if she had arrived at her destination, yep.  Then I looked up at The Hotel doors…there she was walking in, with two potted bright pink Gerbera Daisies.  One for my office at The Hotel, and one for at home.  My heart melted.  She is simply the sweetestmostwonderfulromanticamazing person ever.                                             Later that evening, I got to help Lyz fill Easter eggs for the bunny to bring on Sunday morning.  Both Chris and I would be at work 😦 but at least I got to help and participate!!  I told Lyz, well, at least if I never have children, I have gotten to help prepare for both the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus.  In case I have never mentioned it before, living with CLAD is the world’s most amazing blessing.
• Sunday 4/8-After work I met CLAD+J at the park near Chris’s work for a Easter egg hunt for just the girls, that way Chris could see his girls for a bit on Easter.  We hid eggs all over a playground set.  Watching Avery and Delaney is so perfect.  Delaney is a little perfectionist and would stop any time sand or mulch got in her shoes.  If Avery saw that Delaney was stopped, she would ramp up her egg hunting lol.  After they found all of the eggs we played on the playground equipment for a bit.  This is important to share because I was swinging on the swings.  Not a big deal you say??  Well, I have lost enough weight that swinging on the swings didn’t hurt!  The chains weren’t digging into my hips making me want to cry.  WooooHooooo!!
• 4/9-4/15-Nothing much…work, softball, more work…you know, the usual!
• 4/16-4/18-I went to the Poconos, with Crush!!!  More on that in a future blog post!!!

Yes, I am alive :)

Blog posts from the last 16 days will be coming soon…

Thank you to everyone who has emailed/texted/facebooked checking on me!! I’m perfectly fine, just very busy 🙂

xxoo

Infertility

Very rarely do I ever really think about being a bitter infertile. It just isn’t on my radar anymore. There is so much good in my life, I just don’t have time to focus on the parts of life that I’m not as fond of.

Sometimes though, it sneaks in. And once it does, I’m stuck there for a bit. I went there Saturday night. In the crisper drawer of CLAD’s fridge, sits a box of drugs. A box that was given to me by an angel. A box that I once thought held the key to my future. It was one of the first things I grabbed when we went to take my things out of my old home. It was top on Lyz’s and mine’s list of things that will not get forgotten.

Every so often I see the box. I know it is there, and it has never really bothered me. I’ve thought many times about throwing it away, but couldn’t make myself do it. I know that throwing that box away means nothing, afterall, the drugs expired many years ago. But it just isn’t something I could do.

Lyz asked what we should do about the box. Should we throw it away? I looked at her for a moment, and knew that was what I needed, someone else to throw it away. Yes, wait a few days and just do it, please.

I was fine. At first. Then my eyes filled with tears. I sat down with my book and pretended to read. Casually wiping my eyes every so often. I finally got wrapped up in my book and the thought went away.

Did you hear that? The thought went away. I’m okay. That just wasn’t the box. Although the box came with the perfect backstory, although the box was once my key, my ticket to motherhood, I’m okay that the box never fulfilled my wishes for it.

And that fact almost bothers me more.

I’m not saying that a child isn’t in my future, I still very much believe there will be a child, or children, down the road for me. But I am so comfortable knowing that a child was not brought into my marriage. This future child will come into a home where it is loved UNCONDITIONALLY. And that box of drugs expired before that was possible.

When I get home tonight, I am going to open the crisper drawer. If Lyz hasn’t already thrown away the box, I’m going to do it myself.

I Love April Fool’s Day!!

So, I’m sure there are some of you that are angry at me for yesterday’s post, but like I said on one of the many infertility sites yesterday, sometimes you just have to laugh, or life is too depressing.  So I’m laughing at the fact that I am not, nor will I be in the foreseeable future, pregnant (this did cause a minor cry fest for me Saturday night, I’ll be back with that story another day.)

Anywho, that was not the only prank I pulled.  And, only one of my pranks backfired on me!  I did two of my pranks after everyone went to bed Saturday night so that they would be attacked when they got up at the “butt crack of dawn” (Chris’s words not mine) to go to Chris’s softball tournament.  I used a blue egg dye tablet.  I shoved it up inside of the kitchen sink faucet so that when someone turned on the faucet the water would be blue.  I then went on to prank number two:

Somebody’s eyes are watching…

After gluing all the eyes onto the stuff in the fridge, I had to wash my hands…you know what happened right? I forgot that I had already done the kitchen faucet. So I had blue hands. AWESOME!!

In the morning, Lyz posted on my facebook: Chris says you are 2 for 2. It made me giggle.

Awhile later I get a text letting me know they were on their way home. A half hour after that, the following text conversation happens:
Lyz: Slight detour… Pretty sure Avery just fell and broke her arm
Heidi: OMG…I just got out of the shower. Do you need me to meet you somewhere?
Lyz: Looks like Avery is one for one 🙂
Heidi: Lol. Awesome!! Tell her I love her to bits and pieces!! She rocks!!

I didn’t do anything else weird until dinner time. On Saturday, Avery and I prepared “fruit punch” for drinks to go with dinner.

It looked much better before I moved the straw, but I had already taken a “sip” before I remembered I needed a picture!! It is jell-o and it really looks like a drink!!

For dinner we had CAKE!!!

Which is really meatloaf “frosted” in mashed potatoes!! It was yummy. Chris said I could make it again lol.

Dessert turned out totally awesome. To the point that Avery had issues eating it!

Fried Eggs!!

Vanilla yogurt with a half a canned peach on top! I thought it was pretty darn yummy!!!!!

So my April Fool’s day was a success!! I am already thinking of things for next year!!!

Surprise!! I’m pregnant too!!!

Happy April Fool’s Day!!!  Aren’t I totally evil???  I’ve been saving this picture for months and months and months!!

 

Be glad you don’t live with CLAD!!  Although, I did have one of my pranks backfire on me and I’m coated in blue dye…oh well!!!  I will be back with a full report tomorrow!!!