Pumpkin carving and more

I haven't blogged in about a week because we've been busy getting Evan ready to head off for a month of training. He's leaving this weekend so I guess I'll have plenty of spare time to blog. Last weekend we decided that it was time to carve our pumpkins that we picked from the farm the previous weekend. I was so excited because it was my first time ever carving a pumpkin. I'm 27 but I've never carved a pumpkin. Insane, I know. I think Evan's turned out better than mine but he insists that mine was good for my first try. I'm excited to light them up tonight for our trick-or-treaters. I do wish that Evan was going to be here to hand out candy with me but at least I have the dogs to keep me company (as long as they don't bark every time the doorbell rings).

(Evan carving his pumpkin)

(Mine on the left; Evan's on the right)

(Pumpkins lit outside)

Also this week, I got to meet with the dean of the education department at the local college to discuss which classes from Georgia would transfer. She informed me that the school just changed the curriculum and some classes that should have transferred weren't offered anymore. Evan and I made the decision that I should just pursue my teaching certification online. I applied this week and will be starting school at the beginning of January. I can't wait!

We decided to take it easy last night so I decided to make some pumpkin chocolate chip cookies for Evan and his guys. They turned out fantastic! Here's a picture and the recipe. They're moist and delicious!

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 (15oz) can pumpkin puree
6 oz. chocolate chips

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and nutmeg in a bowl. Combine sugar, applesauce, egg, and vanilla in a separate bowl. Add pumpkin and dry ingredients alternately to the wet ingredients. Fold in chocolate chips. Use a tablespoon to drop cookies onto a baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes.



Hope everyone has a great Halloween!

What is going on here?

I thought I was on my way to getting an appointment with the RE on post when Tricare approved the referral a little over 3 weeks ago. Boy was I wrong. I called the clinic 3 weeks ago to try and make an appointment. The receptionist transferred me back to infertility and all I got was voicemail. I left a message and figured I would hear back in a few days. Nothing. I called again, left another message, and waited again. Still nothing. After a week of no response, I decided to take the next step and go to the clinic to find out what was going on. The receptionist went back to talk to the woman who is in charge of making appointments and I was told that I was on a waiting list to be called back because the office was receiving many infertility referrals. Understandable. I know that the post has a lot of new soldiers coming in and a lot of units just came back from deployment. I waited another week and still no phone call. Frustration set in yesterday and I was advised by a friend to call a patient advocate. I called after the gym yesterday morning and spoke to a nice woman who told me that she would definitely get someone from the clinic to call me back after lunch. I was doubtful that the call would come but lo and behold, my phone rang around 1 PM. Unfortunately for me, the woman from the clinic was very rude with me. She told me that I was told the previous week that I was put on an appointment waiting list and wouldn't be called for at least 30 to 45 days. I told her that I was told by the receptionist that I was on a list to be called back about an appointment and I thought that it was strange that no one had called back. I also expressed concern that my referral would expire because Tricare only gives you 28 days to make the appointment. She said that the referral didn't matter and that she would only call back when an appointment slot opens up. I'm so confused about this whole thing. Doesn't the clinic make appointments in advance like a normal office? Time is running short before deployment happens and right now it looks like I won't be seen until mid - November to early December. I'm totally stressing out about this!

Keeping busy

Since Evan has started back at work, it's been a challenge to find things to do during the day to fill my time. I go to the gym every morning for spin/muscles classes but unfortunately that only takes up about 2 hours of my day. Today I decided to tackle a few chores that I've been putting off. About 3 weeks ago, we had a terrible rainstorm and it washed away more than half of our landscaping in the front of the house. I re-mulched about half of the flower beds but will have to finish the project later in the week after I pick up another huge bag of mulch. I also plan to pick up some mums to go with our pumpkins. After finishing up outside, I steam cleaned all the hard surface flooring in the house. I love the Shark steam mop!

We have two extra bedrooms in the house right now - hoping one will soon be turned into a nursery. Evan has neglected the office and refuses to unpack any of the boxes. I turned the music up and rearranged his gear in the closet, fixed up his desk, and decorated the room. I moved right along to the guest bedroom and totally rearranged the furniture. I wasn't feeling great about the way the movers had placed the furniture so I took matters into my own hands. I think it looks so much better now. I also finished up fall decorating inside the house. All in all, I think it was a pretty successful day! Now I just have to figure out what to do tomorrow. Any ideas?

(Guest bedroom - before)

(Guest bedroom - after)

(Decorations for the mantel)

(Leaves for the tops of the cabinets)

(Kitchen table centerpiece)

(Fall flowers for the end table)

Off to the pumpkin patch

(Gross Farms - Sanford, NC)

Since the weather was beautiful today, Evan and I decided to head out to Sanford to pick pumpkins for the front of the house. Before pumpkin picking, we paid our admission and walked through the giant corn maze. We probably covered about 4 miles in the cornfield so that was my exercise for the day. I thought the maze was a lot of fun - I'm such a big kid :) As we were heading out to look for our prefect pumpkins, we saw all of the families. I cannot wait until we have children to take to places like this. Everyone looked so happy and the kids were having so much fun. There was a giant trampoline, a playground, hayrides, and wagons that they could ride in as they went through the pumpkin patch.

Evan and I each picked out our own pumpkin plus got 2 little ones for Bella and Murphy. We have them sitting outside on the porch and will be carving them next weekend in preparation for Halloween. I just have to head over to Lowe's sometime this week to pick up a few mums and then the fall decorations will be complete.

(Evan and his pumpkin)

(My pumpkin)

Day 29 - Hopes,dreams and plans for the next 365 days and Day 30 - A dream for the future

There are so many things I wish for and hope to accomplish in this next year/the future. First and most importantly, I WILL get pregnant and have our miracle baby. I will be strong and independent while Evan is deployed. I will finish all my classes for teaching certification (just got my acceptance letter in the mail today)! I will grow closer to my husband. I will laugh more. I will try not to take things to heart so much. I will make new friends here in my new town. I will tone up more. I will run a 5K. I will discover a new hobby. So many things I want to do - I hope when I look back on this in a year, they will all be checked off.

Day 28 - Whats in my handbag/purse

I actually just cleaned out my purse so I know what's in there and it's not much. My wallet, small hairbrush, car/house keys, check book, and 2 pens. Nothing too exciting going on in there.

Day 27 - My worst habit

I'd have to say that my worst habit biting my nails. I've always been a stress biter. Whenever I'm nervous or anxious about something, I go right to my nails. I've never had long nails because they're constantly being bit off. I also refuse to get my nails painted because nail polish tastes disgusting!

May Angels Lead You In

Today is a very hard day for me. Evan and I should be welcoming our first miracle baby into this world but instead I'm still grieving our loss. I've been doing a lot better as far as dealing with the situation these past few months, but today is just hard. It hurts to look at the calendar because I had written "Baby's due date" across today's date. I tried to cover it up but I know it's still there. I broke down in the car today as I drove home from the gym. I miss my baby even though I didn't get to meet him or her. I miss being pregnant. I miss feeling like I'm waiting to give Evan the best present I could ever give him. Even though I will never forget about our first baby, I can't help but think about what the future holds for us. Truthfully, I thought we would be pregnant again by now. It's been over 6 months since our loss but still nothing. I hope our angel baby has a talk with God and lets him know that we're ready for another chance.

Day 26 - Your week, in great detail

So I've been slacking on this post because my life really isn't too exciting and not much goes on. Instead I'll just recap what we did this past weekend....

Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday were beautiful days here in North Carolina! Sunny and very warm for mid-October. Evan and I decided to have a lazy day around the house. It was nice to have a 4 day weekend to spend with Evan since he starts work today. He had some more in-processing to do on Friday morning so I headed over to the gym for the last spin class of the week. Not many people showed up because of the training holiday but it was still a great workout. A lot of hill climbing and strength drills and some good music. After class and lunch, we headed off to Smithfield to go outlet shopping. Evan and I both found a few things - new jeans and 2 shirts for me and a pair of pants and a shirt for him. We treated ourselves to a small cup of ice cream then headed home.

On Saturday, we slept in then headed over to the gym for a morning workout. After the gym, we laid around the house for a bit then headed downtown. I stopped in at the library to return a book and picked out a few new ones. After that, we went to the movies to see "It's Kind of a Funny Story". We loved this movie! It had a sweet but funny storyline with a lot of dry humor. When the movie was over, we went next door to an Italian restaurant for dinner. Evan had baked ziti and I had stuffed shells. We shared a fantastic cannoli for dessert! When we got back home, we finished the night off with a few episodes of "Big Love".

I already talked about Sunday in the previous post so I think I can skip over that. Yesterday, we got up early and went for a 13 mile bike ride on post around the Army airfield. It's been awhile since I've been on the road bike and it felt great to get back on it. After the ride, we had to wait around for the builders to come to repair a few things around the house. Once they were finished, we went out to run a few errands. We grilled out for dinner and played some baseball in the backyard while our food was cooking.

Overall, it was a great weekend! We're trying to make the most of our time together before Evan leaves for training and starts gearing up for deployment. Today's plans are to head to the gym for spin at 11, meet up with Evan for a picnic lunch, and call Tricare and figure out why they haven't reviewed my referral approval yet. My referral got approved so I can see an on-post GYN (hopefully I can get in to see the RE though). I just went through an unmonitored cycle of C.lomid and if I don't get a BFP this month, I'm hoping to be monitored for the next cycle to see if it's causing me to ovulate. Fingers crossed that things get moving along again.

Day 25 - Your day, in great detail

This morning, we got up around 7:00 - thanks to Bella's relentless licking. After getting dressed, we took Bella and Murphy to one of the local parks for an early morning walk. We walked for a little over a mile which is good enough for our dogs. After we got back from the park, I made my commissary list and we headed to post to do our shopping for the week. After putting away our groceries, I made some lunch for Evan and myself. Evan then decided to go on a bike ride, so I got ingredients ready to make pumpkin chocolate chip bread. While the bread was baking, I finished up my chores that I've been avoiding since Friday. I did 2 loads of laundry, dusted, vacuumed, ran the dishwasher, and swept out the garage.

The plans for the rest of the day are to make dinner (tortellini primavera), take the dogs on their evening walk, make snacks for the football game, then watch the Eagles beat the 49ers (hopefully)!

It's been a nice weekend so far - looking forward to heading to Sanford to check out a corn maze and go pumpkin picking. I love the fall!

Day 24 - Where I live

It's crazy to think that my address has changed 6 times in the past 3 years! For the moment, we are stationed at Ft. Bragg and live in Fayetteville, NC. The Army has given us many opportunities to move around and explore the country but I'm glad that we get to stay put for at least the next 3 years. It's nice to finally have some stability even though it may not last for very long.

There are some positives to living here....

We have some friends who are already here.

We're a lot closer to home. It only takes about 7 hours to drive to Lancaster.

The winters are manageable here even though I think there was snow last year.

Sweet tea and Chick-Fil-A :)

Wordless Wednesday

Day 23 - A Youtube video

I had to take a few days off (well ok about a week) from blogging because we went home to PA to see some family and friends. We're back in NC now and getting back into our routine.

This video was one of my favorites ones from a few years ago. Still makes me laugh when I watch it now.