Spring Cleaning...

Well, everyone who knows us wonders why we need to spring clean because #1, we have only been in this house for about 9 months, and #2, since the wife is a bit obsessive about the cleaning anyways, dirt and clutter do not survive for long around here. I'm wondering how I've managed to not get tossed out as part of the clutter. I'm sure if I don't get this paperwork on my desk under control soon, that may change. ;-)

Anyways, the wife works very hard to keep this place very clean, but it turns out that we both walked into this marriage with old crappy vacuum cleaners. Mine died in about the first 2 weeks of moving in, and the wife's has barely been holding on. So, when her vacuum finally died itself last week, we decided to go out and get a good vacuum cleaner that would last us...so we went and got [queue the choir] the Dyson! Hallelujah!

We agonized over spending that much on a vacuum, so I feel compelled to share the justification. #1, the wife will quit her job once the baby is born, so I'm trying make all of our major purchases the top-of-the-line, will last 10 years kind of purchases. And, #2, that 20% off coupon to the Bed Bath that came in the mail last week didn't have "Dyson" in the exceptions, but the new one in the Sunday paper did...so we ran out and got it while we could get in on the "technicality". 20% off was big money on that thing.

So, last night, while the wife watched TV, I vacuumed our upstairs. You can tell that this is a new "toy", because the odds of finding me cleaning anything around here are slim...I'm not a cleaner. But I thoroughly enjoyed reclaiming my pretty shag carpet upstairs that the old vacuum simply did not have the strength to revive. What I did not enjoy, was emptying the canister. I read that when reading the reviews...the first time you vacuum with the Dyson it will completely gross you out. It did. The amount of dust and cat hair in our carpet was...just gross. I emptied the canister, then vacuumed the carpet 2 more times. There was still stuff coming up. It was disturbing.

Now that the carpet is pretty and soft again, and I got 9 months of nasty out of the carpet, I'm realizing what everyone was talking about with this vacuum. As much as I hated spending that money, and seeing all that dust, we both felt so much better knowing that the carpets the baby crawls on will never be that dirty. And maybe my allergies will benefit a bit too...that would be nice.

Week in review...

So, I suppose a lot has gone on this week in our life. So, I figured, rather than a long diatribe on each of these topics, I'd do a concise "week in review". Maybe it'll be less boring.

We went to the fertility clinic this week. Very positive experience. The doc
is starting out by treating me as "infertile"...thus doing all the tests to make
sure all systems are a go. I'd much rather know now if there is a blocking
issue, than later on when we've blown more money in vain on the marinade. The
first test requires that I take both a valium and a vicodin an hour before the
test. I'm trying not to think too in depth how scary that'll be that they have
to drug me that much to get through it.

My childhood home set on fire on Monday. That kind of makes me sad - but it
was made easier because I was getting inside info from Jenny, a reporter for the
local paper, and my source for all small town happenings. Much better than
seeing it there on the front page of the paper. The whole place didn't burn
down, it just gutted the master bedroom, so not too bad. At least it wasn't my
old room. That would of made me sadder.

I got roped into a Mary Kay party by my buddy Jenny this week too. Made less
painful by wine, but still a surreal experience. I find it hard to act excited
about microderm abbrasion or fancy eye shadow. That's either a cause of my
genetics, or just my cynicism.

Well, that was my week. Busy, I guess. I'm glad it is almost the weekend. :-) Happy Friday people!!

Milestones...

Well, I sit here on the deck of our hotel room in Hilton Head, writing this post. The wife is looking at something on the TV. We are here taking some much needed R&R - and celebrating our one year anniversary. I can't believe it has been a whole year...

I'd love to say that we spent the whole day doing fun and exciting things. In reality, we went down to the harbor at 11am for a dolphin cruise, which ended up being cancelled because the first mate never showed up for work. So we came back to the hotel, planning to get on the computer to find another dolphin cruise. I got out the computer, sat on the deck and started looking stuff up. The wife, as usual, was in the room with the TV on. Once I had found what I was looking for, I walked in to show her -and she was fast asleep.

So, I left the patio door open, climbed in the "Heavenly Bed" (we're at the Westin), and listened to the waves as I drifted off to sleep for 3 hours. It was the best afternoon EVER!!

We went out for some great seafood, and came back to the hotel. We tried to go for a walk down the beach, but it is very windy and cold here. So, we went to the poolside bar, and had some coffee and dessert where it's warm. We watched the sunset, and talked about the next milestone in our lives...becoming parents.

I'm not into sleep deprivation

So, I was up to 3am last night with a work call. This morning, I fell like I've been run over by a truck. I'm a bit concerned about my ability to live with sleep deprivation. Granted, the kid will be cuter than the annoying folks on my call last night...but there was no screaming and crying on the phone like I expect I'll be experiencing at 3am with a little one.

I suppose in moments of desperation, I can hand the kid over to the wife. Can't really do that with the work call, but the thought of handing the phone over to the wife and asking her to fix some computers while I go to bed amuses me...

Working into the wee hours...

OK...so it is 1:37am. I've been on the phone with a customer since 3pm, trying to help them fix stuff. We now have the folks on the call who had nothing better to do than get on a call at 1:30 in the morning and ask inane questions. Yay me.

So, I sit here, listening to management types ask silly questions, try to explain things in kiddie terms that they'll understand, and eating thin mints. If I was going to be staying up into the wee hours of the night, I would have hoped it would have involved alcohol and dancing. Or at the very least bad reruns of Leave it to Beaver.

Springtime...means...home projects...ugh...

Hello folks!

So...welcome warm weather. Spring always (in our house at least) brings home projects. This week, it is the spare bathroom. We painted this weekend, put up shower curtain and decor, I just finished putting up the new cabinet, and will finish the towel rod tomorrow (I mis-measured about 5 minutes ago, putting unnecessary holes in the wall that the wife must now patch). So...now that I have an unplanned break from my Little Miss Home Improvement duties, I'm here being a better blogger. :-)

I took the day off today and the wife & I went to Ikea. I am getting old. I took a vacation day to go to Ikea. We spent 5 hours there...that place is HUGE! But SOOOO cute. So much to look at, and so many good ideas. And since the wife is a decorating queen, we had a truly fabulous time. We have lots of new ideas for the baby's room...yes, we are getting ahead of ourselves, but girls can always dream, right? Power of positive thought and all?

So...we have a very cute bathroom done in rubber ducky decor. We have great ideas for a very cute baby room, and we look forward to doing that sometime this year, hopefully. We got some cute ideas for our bedroom today, and will most likely conquer that task in a month or two. We are busy making our home homey. And...coming from the quintessential anti-DIY girl (sorry Katie)...it is actually kinda fun. :-)

Hello world...

Hello world!

OK...I'm going to stop saying that I'll get better at this blogging thing. I've been trying to analyze why I haven't been blogging. This is what I've come up with:

1. I'm busy. Which I am. However, I'm pretty sure that when I spend 50+ hours in front of a computer a week, I can probably find 20 minutes to dedicate to this blog. So that one's out.
2. I'm lazy. Which I am. However, I would think that blogging would be a really good method of procrastination, avoiding other things that require real effort...like my job. So that one's out.
3. I'm not that into introspection these days. OK...this one might stick. Blogging requires a level of introspection that I may not be too comfortable with these days. Maybe it is just me...but when I want to avoid my own brain, I tend to become very busy and run myself ragged. Who knew my brain was such a scary place? (OK...here the wife would say "I knew it...all along...thoroughly frightening"...yeah...love you too honey)
4. I have no idea what the future holds for us in regards to parenthood...and the premise of this blog isn't quite as fun as it once was. This one might stick too. We are entering a whole new world with this "trying to have a baby" thing...one that frankly isn't so fun and cute, and just scares the crap out of me. Yeah...that one holds water.

OK...so, in avoiding introspection and the main topic, I've found myself sitting here at 10:30pm on a Friday night introspecting and discussing my ovaries again. For those of you still tuning in because you love me that much, I apologize. I'm lame today.

So...here's the deal. We have an appointment with fertility. Don't know what is going to happen there, but my OB says "you won't believe how fast it'll happen now"...gee...I hope she's right. Wish us luck there.

My life isn't getting any calmer, easier or less stressful. I hope my ovaries and eggs can handle it all...I'm strung a little tight these days. They should get used to it. I can hear their little 15 year old voices now..."yeah, my mom's always strung a little tight. That's why she makes us come to therapy every week...I think she needs it more than us"...yeah...screwing them up before conception. That's gotta be a new record.

All in all, we're here, we are surviving, and we have the small blessings we hold onto. The wife swears she still loves me even though I've put her through several levels of in-law hell over the past three months. You guys still love me...you still come by to check on me here, because you know I probably won't call...even though I hope you all know that I love you dearly. And I felt a bit of spring today while riding in the convertible with the wind in my hair. Maybe, just maybe, the winter will melt away, the flowers will bloom, and spring will bring new life. We can only hope.