Discussion 2 - The Violets of March

I feel, like it has been foreeever since the first discussion, but I guess that's what happens when we have an extra Friday in the month! ;)

Greetings and Happy Friday.  It’s Lisa of Lisa’s Yarns.  I hope you all enjoyed Violets of March as much as I did. I had been looking forward to reading it since it first came out and I was not disappointed.  I read it in a span of days, staying up past my bedtime on the final night to finish it as I just had to see how it would all turn out.  For me, it’s always a sign of a good book when I am willing to break my strict bedtime rule.  ;) 

While I loved the book, there were some things that bugged me.  For instance, I didn’t find Greg & Jack’s characters super believable…  Maybe I am just too cynical these days, but the professions about her beauty, etc, seemed a bit overdone and made me roll my eyes a bit.  And it annoyed me how she was willing to accept the mysterious nature of her relationship with Jack.  But besides that, I really loved the book and was surprised by the ending.

 Now for the discussion questions…

1. What role does Bainbridge Island play in this story? What makes it unique? What does the island offer Emily that she can't get from her life in New York?
2. Both Bee and Elliot harbor guilt about the night of Esther's accident. How do you feel they handled the situation? Would you have protected Elliot the way Bee did? Would you have gone down after Esther the way Elliot said he had wanted to?
3. What do you think about the fact that Esther was living all this time?  What do you think about the fact that she kept in touch with Henry, but never made contact with her child?
4. Elliot says that he and Esther were “soul mates,” and Emily's relationship with Jack mirrors that sentiment. Do you believe in soul mates? What role does timing play in these two couples' relationships? What could Esther and Elliot have done differently to be together.

Thanks, Lisa! I really enjoyed this book too, and can't wait to discuss Winter Garden by Kristin Hannah in April.  Discussion dates will be April 13th and 27th! Hope you will join!

April's Group Read

I realized, I never posted on the blog what April's pick was, I just mentioned it on twitter.  Of course the results are on the side bar, but I should probably let you in on that, huh? ;)

We will be reading Winter Garden by Kristin Hannah.  Discussions will happen on April 13th and April 30th.

I do not have the book in my possession at this point, so I cannot let you know chapter break downs.  But the first half will be discussed on the 13th and the second half / rest of the book on the 30th. ;)

Thanks for joining us!

Teeth Suck

Oh my poor baby, she is a miserable little lady.

Right after Thanksgiving and a round of shots she was a mess.  Then two teeth popped through.  Those were quick. 

Now, for the last 2-3 weeks she has been working on 2 more, but I think I saw 4 total the last time I got a look inside that mouth before she decided to clam up whenever anyone dared to enter the same zip code. ;P

On one side she has an upper lateral incisor (i think ha) coming through and it looks horrid (last time I was able to see it).  The other one hasn't popped yet, but there was a bump.

My poor girl.  She has cried inconsolably and woken more often than normal and on the one positive, she sleeps more,just more interruptions.

Poor lady.

Come on teeth!

And, for not the first time, I wish all babies could wake up magically with all full set one morning, or at birth.

On a good note for my boobs, she hasn't thought they were a chew toy for awhile.

A day in the life of Angie...

If you want to share a day in your life, email me at pinkflipflops44 @ gmail dot com!

Today we have my fabulous friend Mrs. Slick! You can find her over at Mrs.Slick where she writes about her journey through infertility.  She's funny, tough and a great friend.  Here is a day in her life...

5:00 - Alarm goes off and I get up. Now comes the challenge of dragging the beast out of bed without waking the mister.

::Gunner, here. Guuuuuunner, heeeeeere::

Nothing, he doesn’t move. He’s pretending not to hear me. So I go drag him out of his bed. He resists at first but then gives in...but not without stretching and taking his sweet time to get to the door.

5:29 - He’s finally outside, now I go to turn on our weed...I mean PLANT lights. No, really it’s all perfectly legal. The almost constant glow of the blue plant lights in our house just looks very suspicious.

While getting ready for work, I realize today is THE day.

6:15 - Gunner is back inside, I’m ready for work and have my lunch packed so I leave.

I make it to my doctor’s office before my 7:00 appointment time so I play around on my iPhone for a while until the nurse can get me back. It takes her a few tries to get my vein and I realize I haven’t drank anything today...oops! She takes two vials and sends me on my way.

7:52 - I pull into work and run in. I’m supposed to be there no later than 7:50, luckily I sneak in unannounced.

A few students drift in and out for tutoring before school starts. I check my phone compulsively even though it’s too soon for THE call.

8:30 - School starts

1st and 2nd period: Oh, my special babies. I teach what is called Opportunities. It’s a co-taught class with a special education teacher for kiddos who need additional support. Most of these kids should be in resource, one should probably be in a self contained classroom, and many have been in and out of juvy and trouble. I love my special babies. They need much more attention and tlc and I love giving it to them.

Half way though I realize that I forgot to make copies of today’s homework so I play the hero, “Surprise guys! No homework today!” I smile at their excitement and let them think I planned it. Little do they know that I planned on an evil handout, ha.

I checked my phone 3 times between 1st and 2nd period - even though I still knew it was too soon.

3rd period: This is a regular class but still has some special babies. I get all the ones that need a little more love. None of the other teachers seem to have the patience for them. I have little patience for the snotty advanced kids - well really more their parents.

One boy falls asleep for a brief second and rips a loud fart on those hard plastic chairs. He wakes himself up, realizes what he’s done, shrugs and attempts to lay his head down. While shooting death glares at any kid who looks like they’re thinking about laughing, I tell him to keep his head up and get to work. ::inside I’m DYING to laugh but I keep it in::

Again, I get to play the hero by not giving homework - woohoo!

Lunch: I have 25 minutes for lunch. One of my special babies has trouble with her back pack zipper and wants to tell me all about her new dress. I help her out and listen intently - it takes 3 minutes to get her out the door. I now have 22 minutes. I check my phone. No call yet.

I start walking to the lounge with the microwave...damn, forgot a fork today...now I have to trek it back up to the front of the building get my fork then walk back to the lounge. My food is heated and now I head down to my friend’s room where a group of us eat, it’s all the way across the building. Now I have 14 minutes to eat. I check my phone again. Still no call.

While eating a student comes to me and asks if he can get back into my classroom because he forgot his binder with his science homework in it. I take him back to my room and then walk back to lunch - I now have 3 minutes to finish my meal ::sigh:: As I’m walking back to my room, I check my phone yet again - yep, no call.

4th period: This class is like the ocean, you can’t turn your back on them. They’re a tough bunch. I am exhausted by the time this class is done every single day. Give them an inch and they’ll run a mile - in the opposite direction you want them to just to annoy you. This is a class of 26 kids - I only have 24 desks. And 19 of them are boys. There is just too high of a testosterone to estrogen ratio for things to run smoothly, I think. I don’t check my phone at all this class - I can’t trust them to take my eyes off of them or go to the back of the room to my desk.

5th period: Another one of my special baby classes. This class is a supplemental math elective for kids who need additional math support. Today we’re going to the computer lab. They are PUMPED! They love it and so do I because it means I can get some work done. While they’re working, I’m grading homework assignments and answering emails from the day. I also may or may not have checked my phone a bazillion times.

6th period: I’m so glad I get to save the best for last. I’d like to lie and say we teachers don’t have favorites, but we do. I love my 6th period class. Every single kid is hilarious in one way or another. They’re all super sweet and willing to help out others when needed. They make me cute funny pictures to put up on my wall and send me funny emails when they’re given computer time in other classes. They even send me punny math jokes.

::Hey Mrs. Slick, what did Zero say to Eight? Give up?...I like your belt::

Surprise! Principal stopped by for an impromptu observation. I’m lucky they picked this class period instead of 4th, I would likely cry if that happened. The principal gets to see me play the hero yet again with no homework. Phew.

I checked my phone 5 times this class (before the principal came in).

7th period: Conference. I get some more graded and pretend to work, but I’m really compulsively checking my phone.

3:30 - Last bell rings and kids fill the halls to go home and I get to put on my snazzy yellow vest to do parking lot duty.

3:45 - I come back in and check my phone. Nothing.

3:59 - Phone rings. My heart pounds, palms instantly get sweaty. I panic.

::answers phone, listens to nurse, talks to nurse, hangs up phone::

4:01- I made it to the car before breaking down in tears. I’m supposed to stay until 4:30 for tutoring but I don’t think I can today.

4:34 - The mister calls and I tell him the news.

::We’re not pregnant, it didn’t work, I don’t know if it will ever work::

We’ve been trying for three years now. Our main obstacles are that I have PCOS and a uterine malformation. We’ve tried everything from old fashioned sexing it up to IVF. This was our 3rd embryo transfer and we now only have enough embryos for one more transfer. With this failure comes the start of our last chance to have a biological child.

6:18 - The mister comes home unexpectedly early. He usually works long strange hours due to his job as a police officer. He tells me that he just got to come home early but I think some of his coworkers are covering for him and he just doesn’t want me to feel guilty. Either way, I’m glad he’s home.

We go to dinner and I lose it at the table. I feel terrible for the waitress, as she has no clue and doesn’t know what to do.

We get home around 8:00 and I take some Benadryl and go to bed. I can’t handle anymore of today. I need a redo.

Oh Mrs. Slick.  My heart aches for you and I just want to wrap you up in a hug.  You are a fantastic teacher and an even better woman. ((((()))

How do you cope with disappointment?

My 28th year...

Happy Birthday to me! The big 2-8.  I really can't believe that I am sooo much closer to 30 than 20.  I don't feel like an adult.  Well, I feel tired like an adult and I do adult things, but like my good friend Jimmy Buffett says, "I'm growing older, but not up!" ;)

This last weekend I pampered myself and got a haircut, pedicure and ate tons of foods I shouldn't.  I even enjoyed a short nap on Saturday afternoon, which is very very rare around these parts.  My Buckeyes made it to the Final Four and Mad Men started back up.. Woot woot.

What can make my birthday even better? For all you lurky loos to come out and say hello! Taking a page from the amazing Amber .

1. Who are you?
2. What's your favorite book?
3. Red or white wine?
4. Why don't you comment all the time?

Happy Monday!

Wine & Love

Finally, it is Thursday.  I feel like it should have been Thursday, 3 days ago.  It's been one of those weeks! Hence, I'm linking up with Nora!

Wines
- A miserable teething baby is good for NO ONE.  I hate teeth, have no desire to look up the correct names, but her teeth on the top sides (not the front) are coming in and OWWWWWWWW.  Poor baby.  Poor mom.  Poor anyone who has to deal with her.

- Rude students. OH MY GOD.  Horrible.  They are 4! I cannot believe the language/attitude I've been getting.  And I'm pretty much done calling some parents since it would be like the 5th call and NOTHING has improved. 

- An unfortunate incident with my new cell phone. SO freaking pissed at myself.

- The babe may have possibly been exposed to shingles/chicken pox.  Now, personally I would much rather she gets chicken pox than have to rely on a vaccine.  However, WE ARE GOING TO FLORIDA IN A WEEK.  NO BUENO.  So since I don't know if she was exposed YET or not, I found alternative care for her today and tomorrow and am debating on whether or not to do it for next week too.  Yeah, it may be overly cautious. BUT OH MY GOD. NO CHICKEN POX ON SPRING BREAK.  Ugh.

- Pumping sucks.  Why can't I just tell my boobs how much I need and they give me that amount? K, thanks.

Loves
- The BEAUTIFUL weather.  OH MY GOD.  IF winter/spring was like this all the time I would be in heaven.  HEAVEN.  Daily walks, trips to the swings.  ahhh.

- First spring in FOREVER, where I tried on my summer stuff and most of it was toooo big or fit fabulous! Woot.

- My birthday is coming up and I am getting a much needed pedicure, hair cut and trip to the mall by myself on Saturday!

- FLORIDA IS ALMOST HERE!

- Isla is wearing a ton of adorable spring clothes and like 2 seconds away from walking.

My philosophy of the week? Just keep swimming.. just keep swimming.. and have a beer! ;)


What's on your list?

Don't forget to vote in the side bar for April's Group Read!! Voting ends tonight!!!!

Blank Screen..

Don't you hate when you really want to blog, but you just sit there and look at the screen and have NOTHING to say?

It usually makes me want to go out and do something fun so I can write about it. But, I  HAVE been doing fun things lately,but when I want to share? Nothing comes out.

I was going to post pictures of my kid, cuz she's adorable, but I realized I only took one photo since the last time I posted any, and it would take more effort to move it from my phone to the computer, so I was like eh... no.. 

Then I was going to blog about how my birthday is coming up, ON MONDAY!! And I was going to review my 27th year of life, and then I though.. ehhh, that's a lot of work.

So then I came and I was like ok, I will blog about my horrible day yesterday, but then I was afraid of the rant it would go into about freaking rude children and parents who allow their children to interrupt adults talking and not teaching them how to listen and how they are all disrespectful and realized I didn't want to do it.  And there I just ranted a tiny bit..

And NOW, I am blogging about not having anything to blog about and I suppose I could have just not posted but I really wanted to blog.

So this is what you get.

Happy Wednesday.  Two days until Friday!

A day in the life of Bethany...

Today, I'm featuring, Bethany a friend of mine who is currently waiting to find out if her first IVF cycle was successful!  Head over to Can't Rush a Miracle and wish her luck!

If you would like to participate in the series shoot me an email at pinkflipflpos44 @ gmail dot com and we will set it up!
A little background info, I have been married for over 2 years and trying for baby just about as long. My husband and I were in the midst of our first (and hopefully only) IVF cycle when I recorded this day.

6:15 – alarm goes off. Snooze
6:20 – turn off alarm before it goes off again. Time to get up and get dressed.
6:30 – wake up husband so he can give me my shot. 

6:40 - shot is done and I’m in the car on the way to the reproductive endocrinologist.
7:-00 – arrive at the RE’s office and head back to the ultrasound room.
7:30 – ultrasound is all done. The nurse says things are progressing nicely and gives me my updated meds plan and we schedule another ultrasound for tomorrow morning.
7:40 – give more of my precious blood to the lab. They’ve gotten my blood every day this week and I’m starting to think I may run out before the end of this.
7:45 – back in the car to drive to work.
8:00 – arrive downtown and park. I’m very fortunate that my RE is so close to home and work, as I know many women who have to drive hours to and from.
8:10 – Stop at the Subway for breakfast and then head up to my desk on the 4th floor.
8:15 – work starts! I work in the new business area of an insurance company processing all of the incoming annuity applications (if you have to Google annuity, I totally understand. I did too when I started). I get logged into phones, enjoy a peaceful 5 minute breakfast, then pop my morning pills

8:20 – Work starts. First on the agenda is to look over contracts that issued the night before and make sure we did everything correctly before the contracts are mailed out to the clients.
9:00 – all the contracts are ready to go out so I hand them off to another associate for mailing. I now move into the daily processing. I review incoming applications for completeness, email agents with outstanding requirements, apply payments to contracts, and answer any calls that come through the 800 number. This is pretty much the bulk of my day.
10:00 – taking a break from my routine work to help out our service assistant. Our team is currently down about half of our staff, so there is a lot of helping each other out going on. This morning I’m sending out some rollover requests to other companies.
10:40 – I am sitting at my desk doing nothing. I can’t get up because one of my coworkers is away from her desk and if I get up our phones are abandoned. This is the worst part of my job. I have things to do but I’m chained to my desk, so they wait. I guess this is a good time for an internet break to see if anything exciting is happening on my message boards.
11:00 - Coworker is back, so it’s back to work.
11:30 – lunch time! The nice thing about working downtown is the large amount of food choices available in the skyway. On cold, dreary days like today I don’t have to go outside. Woo! Today I am heading down to my favorite sandwich place for a Thai chicken wrap. I always bring it back to my desk so I can play on the Internet while I eat.
12:15 – Back to helping out since my work is currently all done.
1:30 – My own work comes in, so I shift focus back to my usual.
3:50 – Error reports. I take a few minutes to run through and fix any issues that would bomb the system overnight.
4:15 – Back to the grind.
4:50 – Time to start staring at the clock. I’m ready to get the heck out of here
5:00 – Oh my goodness I get to go home!!!!!
5:30 - Walk in the front door to smell of pizza. My husband picked up Little Caesars. woo!
6:00 - TIme for my evening routine of sitting in my recliner watching tv and playing on the internet.
9:00 - Time for more shots. I have two this evening to get through. I get everything all ready and then my husband does the stabbing. I also have 4 more pills to choke down

9:15 - shower time!
9:30 - hop into bed with my husband. We always watch a little tv before bed. Tonight we settle in for an episode of Newhart.
10:00 - lights out. I have another appt. in the morning so I need my sleep.

Thanks for sharing Bethany!! I am jealous of your skyway and your multiple lunch options.  I only have 2 quick options and I get quite sick of them when I am busy and have to grab stuff from there constantly!

Do you go out to lunch or do pack a lunch from home?

Weekly Meal Plan

Once again, we are back to planning out our dinners, couponing and trying to limit grocery shopping because we got out of control again on our grocery bill! It helps that my husband's new business is not as crazy busy as he has been in the last 5 months so we can actually plan on eating together and on meal times (for the most part). 

Here's what is up for dinner in our house this week..

Monday - Broccoli and Cheese Stuffed Chicken Breasts with Roasted Asparagus/Red Potatoes/Broccoli

Tuesday - Pork Tenderloin in the Crockpot w/ carrots and roasted red potatoes

Wednesday - Leftovers with the Pork, either bbq pork sandwiches and a salad or pork tacos with rice (will depend on our mood of the day ha)

Thursday - Meatball Stroganoff

Friday - Chicken Tenders w/ rice

Saturday - Out to dinner for my birthday

Sunday - At my parents for my birthday (lasagna)

What's on your meal plan for the week?

Baby Lit

It's no surprise to ANYONE out there that I have a book problem.  I hoard books like a crazy lady.  I am sure we have over 100 books in this house and they are stashed in various locations.  Actually, I am sure we have over 100 books.  Make that closer to 200.  It's insane.  One of the things I was most excited about when I was pregnant? Sharing the love of reading/books with my child.

Her bookshelves have been full since before she was born and her books are now joining mine in bursting out all over the house.  LOOOOVE. 

However? Kids/baby books? Some of them flat out SUCK.  As in, we never open them because they are just that bad.  Book publishers/writers/whoever, books NEED TO MAKE SENSE.  Even baby books!!!

I was stoked early last month when I came across Baby Lit books in Parents Magazine (i think?).  Pride & Prejudice for babies? Jane Eyre? Alice in Wonderland? Shakespeare? Be still my nerdy heart!!! I immediately added the Pride & Prejudice to Isla's Amazon Wish List and made a trip to Barnes and Noble to check it out in person, just to make sure I was a fan.

Oh my gosh.  The beautiful illustrations, the connecting to the real story (making reading time fun for parents and babies alike!!) , the sturdy board book and just enough words made it even more of a WANT.

Imagine my joy, when I opened an email a short time later asking me if I wanted to review some Baby Lit books? YES, PLEASE!!!

This week, I opened a package with Jane Eyre: A Baby Lit Counting Primer and Alice in Wonderland: A Baby Lit Colors Primer by Jennifer Adams and art by Alison Oliver.

I immediately sat down with Isla and read Alice in Wonderland.  She sat, listened, hit on the pages and when we were done she gave the edges a nice chew.  I think this means it got her approval. ;)  It defintely got my approval! Bright colors, simple words and a nice intro to Alice in Wonderland.  Only complaint? The blue caterpillar isn't really blue in my color opinion.  Very small complaint.

Later on that same evening, we opened up Jane Eyre.  Now excuse my ignorance as I have yet to read the real Jane Eyre, but I found this book to be just as awesome as Alice! My favorite page? 3 candles with a side note: It is always dangerous to leave a candle lit at night! So true!

Once again, beautiful illustrations, nice simple text and even a little science lesson with pictures of insects and their names!  Beautiful. 

I really cannot rave about these books enough! The illustrations are amazing.  I highly recommend them, especially for those adults who enjoy these stories.  Great books for baby and mommy/daddy!

Thanks to Gibbs Smith for allowing me to review these, however all thoughts / opinions are mine!