What are you thankful for?

So as I mentioned a while ago, I read several blogs every day. Today I was catching up on my Google reader and read Katie's post at My Life as a Wallace about being thankful. She said that her pastor's wife challenged her friends to post everyday about what they are thankful for. I think that this is something I might be able to accomplish.

I am thankful for the gift of laughter.

After a rough day at school, then going to the office and feeling pretty crappy about my current employment situation, I felt like no one liked me! I sometimes feel used and that my abilities are under appreciated. Well, after voicing my pitiful opinion of myself on facebook, my friends made me laugh! Sometimes I guess I just feel bad for myself and get paranoid that others think the same of me. It takes a little bit of reassurance from my friends and being able to laugh at myself to make me feel better. So thanks to my friends for making me laugh (at you and myself)!!

~*~

Let's see...a recap of yesterday....well, we sat around the house for a little while, I got in the shower at 12:30, and we went to Bob and Fran's to weigh in. I gained a pound. Booooo! So that's 9 lbs total that I've lost. Bobby lost another 2.2 lbs, so he's at 14 lbs in 9 weeks! I'm so proud of him, because he wasn't going to do this at all and now he's the one that's lost the most weight!

Last night we had dinner at Bob and Fran's to celebrate Jason's (that's Janelle's husband) birthday. We had delicious stuffed peppers and mashed potatoes. YUM! We also had yellow cake with cool whip/pudding icing, and chunked pineapple on top! DELICIOUSNESS! Aaaaannnndddd...that's about how exciting the day was! Haha.

This morning, my alarm went off at 6:30, just in case the school called. Well, as soon as my alarm went off (which is on my phone) my phone rang. It was Penns Manor. They needed me at the elementary school in the third grade. It wasn't a bad day...at first...but as the day went on, the kids got more crazy. I wound up being so upset with them at the end of the day that I was actually GLAD that the I was going to my other job. Haha. What a joke that was!
So yes, I did go to the Coach after school. I have to say, that most of the ladies there are fantastic. I do really love them, and they have become great friends over the past 3 years...BUT..some of them have such a lousy disposition on their lives. They're so miserable that they drag everyone else down! GRRRRR!!!!

TOMORROW WILL BE A BETTER DAY!!!!
That is going to be my motto for the week...no matter how bad the day is, the next day can't be any worse, can it? At least I hope not!

Let's see...what else to share...ummmm...We are going to Hershey/Harrisburg for Thanksgiving. My mom, brother, Bobby, and I are going to go stay near my mom's brother and sister to spend a few days with them. I know my grandparents are going, too, but I'm not sure if my mom's other brother, his wife and kids will go, though. This is going to be our first major holiday without dad. It's going to be rough, and I think the best way to deal with it is by being surrounded by family. I hope it works.
For those of you who have lost a loved one, is it better to be alone on holidays or with family? I would really like to hear what you have to say. Please tell me!

That's about it! It's 10 pm and I'm ready for bed. We'll see if the phone rings in the morning!

Bad Wife?

Do you ever feel like you're a bad wife? Or maybe that you aren't appreciated for what you do?

All week I taught and I went to my other job a few days as well. After spending the day with 500+ kids and having to constantly be on my toes I'm exhausted. I have to make sure that they aren't talking when they aren't supposed to, that they're keeping their hands to themselves, understanding what they're supposed to be doing, reading, doing independent work, spelling, math...singing, playing an instrument...which includes checking fingerings, the embouchure, how they're holding the instrument, if they know the name of the note, how long it needs to be played, are they resting...ugh! It's crazy! I love what I do, honestly, but my brain is engaged from the minute I walk in the door of the school until I walk back out to my car.

So when I get home, I'm drained. I am not ready to cook and clean when I get home. That housewife switch doesn't turn on. I feel like I'm letting my husband down because I don't cook dinner for him every night. I wait until the weekend to do laundry and some of my other housework. Does it make me a bad wife because I don't care if I do my wifey jobs everyday??

How do those of you who work balance all of those things? Does your husband help you? Mine doesn't very much. It makes it even harder to get things done when I do it all on my own! Suggestions? Help?! Please?!!??!

Something to share

It's time for me to finally share this with you...I've avoided posting about this because I had a lot of false hope and was really let down.

For the past month and a half, I thought I was pregnant. But, as I found out Saturday...I'm not.

I was so excited and had already thought about how I was going to change our spare room into the nursery. I had already thought about the finish of the crib and the rest of the furniture. I was looking forward to traveling to the beach this summer and having my big belly and enjoying every moment of it.

The back story - I posted back in September that I was going off the pill...and I did. Life has been marvelous since then. My mood swings have decreased and I've not been so down-in-the-dumps. We aren't actively trying to have a child, but I can't really say that we're doing much to prevent it.

Anyway...I haven't had my period in 2 months, so I took a HPT 2 weeks ago...it was negative. But, I knew that annual appointment was coming up with Dr. Stever, so I figured I would talk to him about it. So, I did...he gave me a script for blood work and told me that depending on what the lab said, if I wasn't pregnant he would have to put me on meds to help me ovulate...which would be why I hadn't gotten my period in 2 months.

I went last Monday and had the blood drawn and waited the whole week to hear from Dr. Stever. He called me on Saturday night and told me that the blood tests were also negative for pregnancy. I was crushed!!!! It wasn't enough that the HPT was negative, but to hear the doctor say it made it even worse for me. What he did tell me is that my Thyroid levels were a little high and that I would have to have the blood work repeated.

Did I mention that I HATE needles?!?!

So...today I went and blood drawn again...now it'll be a waiting game to hear from him. I'm either going to have to go on medication to help me ovulate...or to lower my Thyroid levels.

And I know what you're thinking..."It'll happen when it's supposed to happen." I know that, but that's not what I wanted to hear from anyone. I wish someone would've said, it's okay to be angry, sad, and everything else that I was feeling. One of the girls at work said that she didn't think I was ready to have kids yet...but we've been together for 6 years and yes, I am ready.

I hope you understand why I couldn't share what was going on with me...I spent the past 2 months looking forward to something that I can't have yet because my body isn't working right. And I know it's going to be a few more months until we can think about trying because it'll take a while for the drugs to work. When I hear from Dr. Stever again, I'll let you know what my real problem is...and what the next step is so that we can have a little one sometime soon.

It's not been the best day

I'm not feeling the greatest today...not sick, just down in the dumps.

Sara and Tyson are coming for dinner tomorrow night, and to see the new house, which I'm really excited about...but...I cam home with some great ideas for dinner tomorrow night, that I'd really like to try, but Mr. I'm-too-picky-to-try-something-new totally shot me down. I want to make turkey meatballs with a little bit of spinach in them, along with a great cheese sauce, over a bed of pasta, and a potato-green bean salad to go with the meatballs. He said "I'll eat the pasta..." which made me so angry because he won't try anything new.
I'm so frustrated. I can't make something new because he won't eat it. Which means I'm stuck eating spaghetti and meatballs, or alfredo, or pizza because he won't try something even once.
I am almost ready to cry over something as simple as a dinner with friends. Ugh!

I think I'm just going to make it and he'll have to get over it. If he doesn't eat it, it's not my problem. He can just be hungry.

I have to go to the grocery store to pick up a few things...here are the recipes, courtesy of RachelRayMag.com

Super-Size Turkey Meatballs with Spinach and Cheese
Rachael Ray
30-Minute Meals

Serves 4
One 10-ounce box frozen chopped spinach, thawed
2 1/2 to 2 2/3 pounds ground turkey breast
1 medium onion, finely chopped
3 garlic cloves, chopped
1 large egg
1 3/4 cups milk
3/4 cup bread crumbs (3 handfuls)
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese (2 generous handfuls)
Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
Extra-virgin olive oil (EVOO), for drizzling
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 cup chicken broth
One 8-ounce package shredded provolone cheese or Italian cheese blend
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg (eyeball it)
1/4 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley

Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 400°. Wring the spinach dry in a clean kitchen towel. Place the ground turkey in a large bowl and make a well in the middle of the turkey. Add the spinach, half of the onion, the garlic, the egg, 1/4 cup of the milk, the bread crumbs and the Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese and season with salt and pepper. Mix until combined, then form the turkey mixture into 12 large balls, arrange on a nonstick baking sheet and drizzle with EVOO. Roast for 25 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, heat a small saucepan over medium heat. Add a drizzle of EVOO and the butter to the pan. Melt the butter, add the remaining onion and cook for 2 minutes, then whisk in the flour. Cook for 1 minute, then whisk in the remaining 1 1/2 cups of milk and the broth. Bring the liquid to a boil, then stir in the provolone. Season the sauce to taste with salt, pepper and the nutmeg.
3. Place 3 turkey meatballs on each of 4 dinner plates and drizzle with the sauce; garnish with the parsley and serve.


Balsamic Potato and Green Bean Salad
Tara Bench
EIGHT SERVINGS
Prep Time: 10 min
Cook Time: 20 min

Ingredients:
1 ½ pounds small new potatoes
Salt
10 ounces green beans, trimmed and halved crosswise
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
½ teaspoon sugar
¼ teaspoon Dijon mustard
¼ teaspoon pepper
½ cup extra-virgin olive oil
4 scallions, thinly sliced
2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme, plus whole sprigs for garnish

Directions:
1. In a large saucepan, place the potatoes, 2 teaspoons salt and enough water to cover by 1 inch. Bring to a simmer and cook until the potatoes are tender, 12 to 15 minutes. Add the green beans and cook for 3 minutes. Drain and let stand.
2. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, combine the vinegar, lemon juice, sugar, mustard, pepper and 1 teaspoon salt. Whisk in the olive oil until combined.
3. Toss the potatoes and beans with the dressing to coat. Using a fork, mash several potatoes. Toss in the scallions and thyme. Season with more salt and pepper to taste and top with thyme sprigs. Serve warm or at room temperature.




Sounds good to me!!!

Off to grocery shop!

We'll see how this goes

Well, I thought I would try to start up one of these things and keep tabs on our life. I can't imagine that I'll be posting every day, but I'll try to keep up.

Today is our 2 month anniversary. It's hard to believe that it's been two months already. It seems like the wedding was such a long time ago. It seems tho, that the things that used to irritate me, have only gotten worse.

Maybe it's just me, but I was raised in a house where my brother, parents and myself shared the responsibilities of taking care of our house. My husband was not raised like that. His mom was home with her kids and she was able to do everything for her husband and children. I get so upset that my husband doesn't help me do things around the house like the dishes, laundry, and general cleaning. Why should I have to ask him for help? Why can't he see that I can't do it all by myself and help me do it?? Maybe it's just me and I'm over reacting. Who knows.

More later!