But, for the sake of wanting to look back someday and perhaps read about this time in my life, I figure the good old blog is much more reliable than fishing through hundreds (thousands?) of status updates and try to piece them together.

So, goodness, where to start here? Since my last post I’ve finally come out of the first trimester and in to the much easier to handle 2nd trimester. I luckily didn’t lose my lunch much in the first tri, but I seemed to exist in a constant state of nausea, where the threat of losing my lunch always seemed to follow me around!

I hit the second trimester in late August, and have been enjoying the absence of nausea (most of the time), but it has been offset by a major case of hormonal emotional craziness! Those who know me well know that I am usually pretty even-tempered…usually in a good mood and not quick to anger or sadness. Well, let me introduce you to the blubbering loose canon that I have become! I’m thinking during this time that Brad is probably happy to be in Abilene most of the time. My apologies to those that actually have to deal with me on a daily basis. From crying over television shows to losing my cool over perceived slights, it’s definitely been a weird adventure.

Now, unbelievably, I’m exactly 100 days from my due date! I start my third trimester on Thanksgiving day…and I turn 31 next Thursday. In 37 days Brad will be back home, having graduated. There are so many things slamming together in such a short amount of time. It’s hard not to feel overwhelmed much of the time, but I am taking things one day at a time and enjoying feeling the baby move and kick.

Oh, as for the baby! It’s a GIRL! She’s doing great and always measures perfect. I felt the first flutters of her moving around 18 weeks (I’ll be 26 weeks on Friday). Brad and I have decided on the name Reagan, which has no “special” meaning for us, it just seemed to stick out when we were pouring over pages and pages of baby girl names. The middle name will be LeeAnn or Lee Ann (we’re still undecided). Lee is after mine and my dad’s middle name, Ann is for Brad’s mother and my late Aunt who passed away when I was just a baby.

We finally finished our registry at Target just this last week, and let me just say that it was an overwhelming experience! Being the youngest in my family, my exposure to babies is limited…I had no idea what insane devices lived on those isles. I hope I did it right, it took us 2 trips to figure things out. O.o As far as baby things we have already, a bittersweet blessing is the furniture we had ordered back in 2009 before the miscarriage. It had stayed in boxes in storage all this time. It is definitely a blessing now, as there would be no way we could afford it at this time! Brad and Jeff assembled that a little while ago, and I was so excited to finally see it out of the box! We painted the nursery green and white, but beyond that we haven’t done a whole lot of decorating. There’s still so much to do!

Work is still going pretty good. There are many stressful days with some of the projects I’m involved in, but as I’ve always said, I’m thankful to have a job where I get to do something a little different every day.

Brad as I mentioned is almost graduated, and is definitely feeling the effects of Senioritis! He (and I both!) are so ready for him to be done, to come home, and to finally be a family unit again. I am still staying with my brother, and we will probably be with him for a time after Reagan is born while we figure out what direction we’ll be going in with Brad going after his masters.

So, that is my text-driven update for now. Of course everyone’s favorite bit -  pictures!

Our Third Sonogram, it looks like a baby!

4th Sono - it's a GIRL!!!

So of course I had to make a cake

Of course by now you know what color is inside

:)

And cupcakes for co-workers

Jeff and Brad had so much fun putting together baby furniture and painting a nursery

"I get to paint... Yay?"

Apparently I didn't "do it right," so I was relegated to taking pictures

Nursery is Green - of course!

Our Crib and Changing Table

Chest of Drawers

Brad crawled (literally!) to the back of the storage building to find this figure my mom bought for me back in 2009...

A popular craving of mine...

Brad seems to always come back from a grocery trip with something new...he's so excited!

That’s it for now! I’ll try and keep up with the blogging world a little better, if time allows!

So, where to begin? I guess I could start by saying that Brad and I were actually NOT trying to get pregnant when this all went down. With him being in Abilene until the end of the year, we had both agreed to wait until the fall to even start trying, thinking that I would have to go back on fertility meds, doing all that timing, standing on my head, etc. So when I say we’re shocked, we’re shocked! We spent this year trying to focus on other things – Brad on school, me on losing weight etc.

Apparently weight loss was really good for my body…so much so that my ovaries decided to give PCOS the big finger and start dropping eggs!

Everyone always would tell me “it will happen when you stop trying.” Personally I had wanted to strangle those people – my body was NOT working, so just waiting for things to happen did not seem like an option to me. Now here I sit. And here’s how it went down (there might be some boring technical info in there, but I wanted to record it for me):

In the month of May I did actually test for ovulation. I knew that losing weight COULD make you ovulate on your own, and so I wanted to keep track so I’d be able to know where we stood when we decided to do fertility procedures again. According to all my tests I never ovulated in the month of May. But I was apparently very wrong, lol.

Actually what appears to have happened was that I ovulated very late in the month. Where most “normal” ladies ovulate about 14 days into a cycle, looks like I was pushing 30 or 40 days. So late in fact, that I started to take Provera to start a new cycle. My doctor thinks in fact taking the Provera may have induced ovulation.

(I hear you, shutting up with all the technical crap. I even promise pictures here in a moment!…

So, suffice to say after taking the Provera…nothing happened. I had no inkling that I might be pregnant, but that perhaps the Provera was just taking a long time to get things going. For some reason though on a random Tuesday (June 7th to be exact) I figured…”you know, I’ll just test for fun.” I even forgot that I had planned to test until that evening, right before Jeff (my bro) and I were supposed to go out to dinner. Brad’s in Abilene at this point.

I took the test and remember it actually fell over face down on the counter. I was all pissy about that because…well, it’s got pee on it…and was pretty grumbly when I turned it back over, not 10 seconds after starting it. And oh-my-gosh was there a line there??

I immediately took a second test, and was shocked beyond belief when this was staring back up at me:

How did this happen?!

And of course, not to trust one test, I took a few more over the days:

Ok, maybe those first 50 tests weren't wrong...

(FMU = First Morning Urine – sorry, I’ve spent WAY too many years trying to have a baby here.)

The next morning (the 8th), I took my butt to the doctor to have blood drawn. I won’t go in to all the ins and outs Beta number testing, but between the 8th and the 10th I bit my nails waiting on the results that did confirm that I had a pregnancy that seemed to be viable.

Between that time I told two people (thank you Christi and Todd!), because I couldn’t hold it in! The crazy thing is that I was able to hold this news from Brad until Friday. Through the years I had always imagined telling him myself with some sort of surprise, the last time we got pregnant though he was in the room when I tested. With him in Abilene I actually somehow managed to not tell him on the phone and wait for him to get in that Friday afternoon. I was insanely girly, and gave him a present with Daddy goodies in it:

Surprise!

He was as shocked as I was…I think “how??” was asked more than once. As soon as I told him that I’d gotten good results on the betas we were both cautiously…scared out of our minds.

It seemed like the longest wait ever to get a first u/s. Brad and I told hardly anyone what was going on, just because we didn’t want to have to go back through and un-tell everyone in the world like we did last time. We finally had our first appointment on 6/24. I was almost shocked to actually see something in there…I guess more than half of me was expecting another empty sac.

Hi! I'm here, and I have a heartbeat!

Once we saw that and saw a tiny little flickering heartbeat we breathed our first sigh of relief. We told some friends, some family. But I guess for some reason we wanted to wait until our second u/s before going full public with it. I was measuring exactly 6 weeks at the ultrasound, which made what I thought might be a late January baby (remember I had NO IDEA when I ovulated) into a mid-February baby.

February 17, 2012 is the current eviction due date.

Enter in my good friend nausea – lots and lots and lots of it. I suppose I am lucky, I’ve only thrown up twice, but yeah, not so fun. I think it’s finally on it’s way out, but I’m knocking on 3 wood surfaces right now because I don’t want it back!

3.5 weeks of nausea later…and a reveal to the rest of my co-workers who were starting to wonder why I suddenly didn’t want to drink beer…I finally got my second ultrasound:

Hello! I've grown a bit!

Once again I think I was shocked. Lol, I guess it’s taken 2 months and 2 ultrasounds for me to believe that something is actually going on in there. The sono technician said that that’s where the head and feet are…but I’m just seeing blobs right now.

But I’m good with blobs.

Anyway, here I am – I’m preggo! I guess this means no more excuses for not keeping up with the blog.

I can say without hesitation that when I wrote that last post shortly before midnight on December 31st that I had no intention of letting it go this long without an update. Here we are, six months later…

And in some ways I can say it seems like it could not have been so long ago…in other ways it feels like a million years ago! My last post was all about a year’s worth of growth. I wrote it while sitting on the couch in my brother’s house a few minutes before midnight, after having a glass or too of wine.

3-4 hours later Brad received a call in the middle of the night, our nephew Cooper had taken a turn for the worst. By 3pm on  the afternoon of 1.1.2011 he was taken from our family by the cancer that was attacking his body. It was a surreal start to the year. The first week of which was spent with Brad’s family in a whirlwind, planning a funeral that so many thought would not happen. Cooper would have been 5 on January 31st.

During that whirlwind I found myself in the comfortable task of creating a photo video for the family. I say comfortable because diving into that helped me to deal with what was happening around me in my own way. I let Brad take on his role of funeral planning, I could handle media and other aspects of what the family needed.

As I sat there editing the photos, trying to balance out all the members of Cooper’s family in the video, I came to a realization…which at the time didn’t seem to bother me but I know now that it did. There was not one photo of Cooper and myself.

Don’t misread me, I am not so ego-centric that my vanity was hurt or anything like that…but it made me think about the world around me and my place in it. I’ve always been the photographer, not the photographed…never wanted to be the one photographed. But, knowing he was gone and that the opportunity was lost, the thought stayed with me. And I would be lying if I said that the incident didn’t conjure up old feelings from the miscarriage and my own desire to have a family.

So, call it what you will, something kind of snapped into focus that week…there had been buildup the weeks prior, but I suppose that event was a catalyst for me.

Since that day I’ve lost 60 pounds – and I’ll start fertility treatments again soon. I think I’m finally ready to get back on the horse so to speak, that first week of January I finally let the depression of my miscarriage and chemical pregnancy stop beating me up from the inside out.

So I’m kinda back, I guess is what I’m trying to say.

Beyond that – the quickie update:

• Brad is still in school and doing amazing – he is set to graduate in December, and I can’t wait!
• I’m still working at Nexstar and enjoying it – I’m working on some very intensive but rewarding projects right now
• Still living with Jeff – he’s still the best brother a girl could ask for
• We are still broke 
• Oh and did I mention I freaking lost 60 pounds!?

I’ll post more updates soon, with photos I promise – thanks to those who told me to blog again, I appreciate your kind words.

But I will say that I never stopped in reality – I started a second blog that was mostly dedicated to weight loss and my little journey, I simply decided to keep it “off the grid” of people who knew me. If you are desperately bored and want to read it, and you know me, then send me a message on Facebook and I’ll give you the address.

I’ll leave you with the video I made for Cooper:

So without further ado, here’s what 2010 was for me and mine:

• We learned that Brad’s old job in Abilene was going to cut his commission by about half, and make him jump through a bunch of hoops to earn even that.
• Brad sought out and found a job offer here in the Metroblob, that promised much riches and a great career path. We, suckered and naive, said “sure why not!?” We all know how that turned out.
• We up and moved! Moving in with my brother because surely our beautiful house would sell within a month! (snicker!)
• Brad started his new job, and I adjusted to working from home, living at home, and being all around bored during the days.
• I gave “professional blogging” a try…and quickly decided that I was much too lazy to do this. My friend Christi’s professional blog, however is awesome and you should all go there and follow her (hey, shameless plugs are still allowed!).
• I had a chemical pregnancy.
• I took a chance and emailed an old boss of a boss and wound up landing what I can only describe as a dream job.
• Brad’s job tanked…and we soon found ourselves living off of savings and limited choices.
• Brad sought other employment, only to be denied automatically even an interview due to his lack of having a college degree.
• We made the difficult decision of Brad going back to school to pursue happiness instead of riches.
• I almost gave up dream job to move back to Abilene with Brad…but after much discussion and soul searching, we decided to live apart as he finished his undergrad.
• My dear brother agreed to let me live here for another year rent free. I am so grateful for him.
• I moved my husband back into our old house…you know, the one that was supposed to sell in a month?
• Brad’s grades soared, and he made a perfect 4.0 for the semester (where it had been a 2-something when he dropped out years ago).
• My job went great, and I found my place there – and made some great friends along the way.
• We finally got out from under the house, and moved Brad into an apartment on campus for his last year of school
• All attempts at trying to have a baby were put on hold for at least six months…as Brad not living here (not to mention a tight budget) would kind of make that difficult.
• I got to enjoy a few weeks with Brad before sending back off to school in a week.

That, ladies and gentlemen, pretty much sums up my 2010. It seems that so much happened, but at the same time this year simply flew by. I can’t wait to be through 2011, because after that my family should be united again. My “goals” for 2011 simply include kicking butt at work and focusing on creating a better me, while Brad does the same at ACU. I hope to look back at this time next year and have had a great time and felt much growth. I wish nothing but awesomeness and growth for each of you as well.

Until next year,

-A

Don’t feel bad or neglected (even though you’ve surely been very neglected!), I have taken hiatus’ from many things over the last few months – including, at times, my sanity!

So, gosh, where to begin? Luckily I have my trusty iphone photos to remind me what all I’ve done since my last update. At least the things significant enough to warrant a picture.  But first, the generalized update:

Things are going very well for Brad and I. Well, let me rephrase: We’re both broke, but we’re happy. It’s extremely hard living apart, but we’re both happy. Brad started school in August, and he’s been pouring his heart and soul into it. Right now I think he’s maintaining an A average in all his classes, which is amazing! He’s taking a full load of 18 hours, and I think there are some days where he wonders what the heck he’s gotten himself into, but I can tell that he’s determined, and feels blessed to have been given this chance to return to school.

We also made it to our 11 years anniversary without killing each other, so high-five!

I am still loving working for Nexstar. I’m finding my place in our little eMedia team a little more each week, and I feel very blessed to be working in a place where I’m not only enjoying what I do, but I look forward to the (hour long) drive each day to hang out with my co-workers, who each make working here very fun and interesting.

(Heh, while reading over that last sentence, I realize that that sounds like one giant suck-up…so if any of my co-workers stumble upon this blog, consider yourselves all sufficiently sucked-up to. )

I’m still staying with my brother, who is gracious beyond belief to let me stay rent-free while Brad and I continue our attempts to sell the house…which is seeming more and more impossible. Last weekend on my last visit to Abilene, there were no less than 8 houses on my street alone for sale. I do not know how this is going to play out for us, but until Brad graduates he has a nice enormous house all to himself.

On the baby-making front, nothing much new to report. We’re still trying, though 150 miles sometimes makes that arrangement a bit…interesting. :/ But, we’re still trying, maybe not as fervently because well let’s be frank, we can’t really afford a baby. But I’d rather keep trying since it seems like it’s gonna take a few thousand years before any humans spring forth from my womb. On that same note, I made it through my year anniversary of getting preggo with a minimum of tears last Sunday (If you’re new and confused, you can get depressed here). Don’t take my sarcasm seriously, by the way, it’s simply a mechanism that I use to deal – as long-time readers of my blog should know by now. I’m resigned to the fact that yes, someday we will be parents in some way shape or form. All I can do is be patient, and I think I’m finally mature enough to accept that graciously. Well, most of the time.

So! Now that we’re good and updated, let me take you on an additional walk through what has been happening in our little world over the last 3 months with photos.

First off, just in case you think I’m a liar, here is Brad’s acceptance letter back to ACU that we received back in July.

It's Official!

This next one was too adorable not to put in. When Brad first moved back to Abilene, he took Titus with him. Well, it soon became apparent that I’d have to take him back, once we saw that Brad’s schedule pretty much has him at ACU from 8am to 11pm everyday with his class and work schedule. This is a pic that Brad sent me of Titus, who was a little too happy to be back in our big bed back in Abilene.

I don't want to go back to Fort Worth!

Next is one of my new obsessions. I’ve always kinda enjoyed sushi, but it wasn’t until my boss took us out to a very awesome sushi restaurant that I truly began to love it! Before, I always kind of stuck to a bit of the blander variety, and my co-workers had me try all sorts of varieties that day that made me truly appreciate it’s awesomeness. Much to Brad and my brother’s annoyance, I try to grab sushi now whenever possible. This plate was taken at a place near Jeff’s house, that while good does not hold a candle to the other one!

YUM!

Next up are some photos I took while on a trip to Utica, New York! I was sent there for work to help our station there with a project that I helped on development here at the corporate office. I was very nervous before going, it was my first trip out of state (and WAY out of state!) that I had taken by myself! I had a blast, and met some great people at our station there.

Random photo taken while driving through all the little towns to get to Utica from the airport

Station Tower.

Our station in Utica

The view from my hotel window

The flight home

I was only in Utica for about 2 days, so it ended up being a whirlwind trip. But just like the trip to Beaumont that I took, I had a blast and really enjoyed seeing another station.

This next photo is from the Jack Johnson concert in August that Brad and I went to. I had bought him tickets for his birthday.

I like Jack Johnson!

I volunteered to help out at our GM conference this year in August as well.

What's a conference without a giant check?

I got to spend a couple of days working in Abilene a few weeks back, and sat through one of Brad’s classes. He tried to not be caught on camera but I was too quick!

"I better not find this photo on Facebook or your blog"

(Sorry dear, you’re too cute of a bookworm not to share! )

Since I am a fair and balance fur-mom, I have to put a picture of my other babies on here. This is usually how I find them every night.

"We better not find this on Facebook or your blog"

(Sorry cats!)

So, these next two photos have to do with my other not-so-new obsession. Those of you awesome people out there know that there was a new Halo game released, right!? It’s just the ONLY video game I play. So of course I dragged my dear brother to the store for the midnight release. Brad was in Abilene at midnight that same night to pick up his copy.

Unfortunately most people who go to midnight releases look like this...and still haven't discovered the wonders of deodorant.

But I held my breath and got my Halo on!

Most nights since it’s release have found me online playing with Brad, Jeff, and even co-workers. Well, just one co-worker, but I’m sure the rest secretly want to play too.

A few weeks ago I got to hang out with my sister-in-law and our awesome nephew Cooper. He is doing OK, he’s set to have a bone marrow transplant in November, and we’re hoping that this might bring an end to his long journey he’s had this last year with chemo, radiation, and it seems a million other things. A few days later, Brad was in town and got to go to the Museum of Science and History with Cooper as well.

Hanging out

Brad and Cooper found a giant light brite!

I love this picture. My hubby the photographer!

I find it a strange and totally awesome coincidence that this year Brad and I started following the Rangers and baseball in general…and look at what has happened! That being said, Brad and I made it to one more game this year right before the playoffs. We had received free tickets for filling out some survey or something. They ended up losing that night with players out on injury (and probably saving their strength for the playoffs), but we still had fun!

Go Rangers!

In other interesting dining experiences, I tried an Indian restaurant for the first time ever. I went with the only other girls who work on my hall (3 of us total!), and had a great time. They both helped steer me clear of anything too spicy, since I’m a wimp.

Why do I take pictures of my food??

So, that brings us up to today. This last picture is my office, I’m all geared up for Halloween. You’ll notice the lovely “Creepy” sign – which Christi bought for me. Anyone who hangs out with me for any length of time will know that Creepy is one of my staple adjectives of choice. I have no idea why! But when she and I got to hang out in Michael’s last week, we both saw this and just started cracking up. I think I might have to leave it up year round.

Creepy!

There you have it my friends. That’s been my life for the last 3 months. I’m doing surprisingly well with living “on my own” apart from Brad. Thank God for technology, with texting, chatting, and kicking each other’s butt on Halo while talking on xbox live, it’s been a LOT more bearable. That and being around family and making great friends here work.

That being said, I sure hope this next year goes by fast and I can have my own little family back together again!

That’s all for now, if you’ve made it this far, thanks for reading, and hopefully it won’t be another 3 months before my next update!

Yes, it’s been too long since my last update, and I must admit some of the reason was because I didn’t want to report what was going on with us at the time (nothing horrible!). The other reason is just that I’ve been so incredibly busy this summer. I feel like I’ve blinked and time has leapt from May until now.

So, what has been going on with us? Well, nothing short of insanity that’s for sure! In my last post, I alluded to the fact that Brad’s job was not going so well. It was a bit of an understatement and a front on my part to keep up appearances, the reality of the situation is that from February when this adventure began up until a few weeks ago we had gone through all of our savings, and became faced with some very difficult decisions.

Brad had been looking for a new job as far back as last April, and no one here would even give him a call back. So, we started considering moving back to Abilene. Unfortunately, we ran into the same issue – no one would even call Brad in for an interview. What we finally concluded, was that unless he knew someone and it was for a sales position, no one was going to give him the time of day because he never finished his bachelor’s degree. So many jobs that he was interested in (and over-qualified with experience!) listed a bachelor’s degree as a requirement, and so his resume’s were automatically discarded.

So. As savings started dwindling, Brad was becoming more and more miserable, not just with the fact that he wasn’t able to make any money at this job – but with the realization that his future really seemed out of his own control. With sales jobs you’re always at the mercy of the company you work for. That’s true of any job really, but as we learned last year (when Brad’s salary was cut), good deeds are not rewarded when someone at the top decides that they want to save a few pennies. Brad decided that sales was not his passion.

Brad and I talked and talked about what we were going to do. We could both move back to Abilene, and try to make things work. He could find something here and try to make things work. What it came down to though was when I asked him what he wanted – what did he want to do with himself? The answer was one that he had been talking about for the last few years – he wanted to go back to school.

I totally supported this idea – Brad, though he had done very well with sales throughout the years – just wasn’t happy with what he was doing in life. He was tired of having to go out every day and basically ask people for money. He believed in the products he was selling of course, but he just did not enjoy the aspect of trying to “up-sell” someone or bending the truth to someone just to get them hired.

He just wasn’t happy, plain and simple. Over the years I had noticed more and more that he would come home from work frustrated and in a bad mood. It was a bit of a roller coaster, as his mood (and consequently, my mood) would be directed by the ebbs and flows of what was going on at his work.

But enough of the negative. Fast forward to him telling me he wanted to go back to school. Like I said, I completely supported the idea and we started looking at options. Brad had 70-something hours with ACU from when we went to college before, so he only lacks about 50 or so more hours. We started gathering documents, his transcripts, etc and tried to find out what we needed to do to get him back in school. His (and my) first choice was for him to go here at UTA since this is where my job is and all. Well, others who went to ACU will remember that unfortunately not many classes (and the hours they represent) will transfer to other schools. For Brad to go to UTA, he would lose more than half of his credits and turn what should be a year’s worth of work to finish into 2 or more.

Back to the drawing board we went. I reluctantly started looking at jobs in Abilene, he looked at other college options. We each had separate goals and desires and kept trying to bend them to accommodate the other to be supportive. Soon it became increasingly clear that there was only one option left for us.

I’m staying here, and Brad is moving back to Abilene.  (cue dramatic drum beats here!)

Yes, though, it really is true. Our plan is for the next year, Brad will move back to Abilene to go to ACU (where his hours count for credit), and I will stay in the Metroplex with my brother to continue working at Nexstar. Brad and I will take turns seeing each other on the weekends.

So, Brad and I started working on this plan – and he was officially accepted back to ACU just last week. Student loans will  help supplement his income as he returns to (of all places!) the campus center at ACU to work while in school.

And why did we come to this decision? I could have just found something in Abilene (eventually) and just move home with him. But, my problem comes with the simple fact that I love my job. Right now my job is basically what Brad is striving for – something that utilizes my skills and makes me feel like an important part of something. I won’t go all gushy about it here, but suffice it to say that I feel like I might be able to go places with the company and move up.

So, while I’m supporting Brad and his decision to go back to school, he wants to support me and my career here as well. It’s kind of crazy, to be separated during the week, but we really are wanting to encourage each other during this year as we pursue our goals. Within a year, we’ll know more about what we want to do. If things are going as good with my job as they are now, Brad and I will end up here.

And what is his school goal? He wants to finish his psychology degree to start. From there, he wants to look into going for a Master’s in psychology as well and pursue that career field. I really think he’ll be excellent at it – he’s got wonderful listening and communication skills, as anyone who speaks with him knows. And I know he really wants to find something where he is helping others.

I’ll stop going on and on now. Brad and I are happy with this decision, though we both hate the idea of living apart. We’ll take turns every Friday making the trip to see each other. And the nice thing about this whole long distance thing as compared to how we did it when we were dating is those lovely inventions like texting, video chat, and even xBox live!

I would ask for any prayers you can send up for us, I have a feeling this next year of my life is going to be good, but crazy. I’m excited to see where it goes, but yeah, a little (lot!) nervous.

So, if you’ve made it this far through our little dramatic story, please enjoy these awesome photos as a reward!

Moving our things back to Abilene! We've taken our house off the market and Brad will be there during this time. We haven't decided what we'll do with it in the long run.

Brad and my brother on an impromptu RV trip

My brother's friend's RV that we got to borrow! Much fun was had!

My brother and dad outside on the RV trip...I'm safely inside, away from bugs!

The boys tried to go fishing...my dad had the only, uh, "catch" of the day!

This is Nexstar's station in Beaumont, where I went for a few days to assist the eMedia team. It's the first station in America to be located in a mall!

I had fun there. Lol!

Brad had his birthday last week - the same day that he found out he was re-accepted to ACU! I bought him a new backpack.

This photo is just one for fun - I showed this to Brad to show him a typical day at work. Interpreting info from the technical side to the laymen. With totally awesome and oh-so technical doodles! Hehe

This last one is nice and sappy. On this day Brad was in Abilene working on trying to get back into school, and I was getting out of my car from work, when I turned around and saw this. It made me feel like we were making the right decision, and that everything was going to be ok. Sappy, but there it is!

So, to summarize: Life is crazy, full of insane twists these days, but I’ve grown so much in the last couple of years that at this point my answer is “bring it.” There’s nothing we can’t handle together.

Now, on to the more mundane. I promise there will be bunnies here in a minute.

Life is continuing on here in the Metroplex – Brad is trying his best to make his job work. I don’t think I’ve mentioned it before, but it seems that the job was a tad bit misrepresented in the “hey this job is awesome” pitch that they gave him in his interviewing. You might even say that as much as I am loving my job, he is hating his. He’s been looking around at other opportunities, but nothing really seems to be coming up. Unfortunately that means a steady drain on our saving account as our house continues to steadily chill on the market – I am feeling that something will have to give soon.

But, no fear my dearies – we are keeping the stiff upper lipity action going strong, and our crazy life continues on…just maybe minus a few baseball games! Lol, I think Brad’s (and my!) baseball fever is over…I think the return of the Texas Summer Sun might have a bit to do with that.

We did get to go see Wicked though, and it was every bit as wonderful as I remembered! My brother enjoyed it very much, I’ll turn him into a theatre buff yet!

Nothing much other than that is happening in our little world – just work, laundry, and…and….bunnies!

So..my mother works at a Walmart, for those that didn’t already know, and though she claims this helps her and my dad’s income…I think it’s because she has a secret bargain shopping addiction. Take the last major holiday for example – Easter. As soon as the holiday is OVER – suddenly my mom creeps in each night carrying after-Easter bargains. This resulted in about a half dozen giant chocolate bunnies hanging out in here fridge. Now, my mom and dad don’t really eat giant sweets, so my mom just wanted them for little snacking chocolates. And since she has arthritis (or a sick sense of humor), who do you think she asked to commit this heinous act of bunny-cide?

What a horrible thing…like biting the heads off of a ginerbread man…

The following images might be disturbing to some viewers.

Hey, how's it going? I'm just a cute little bunny - what's that hammer for?

I mean, what can I say here? I should be going to jail!

Have you seen my son? His sister and I were looking for him...hey, what's that?

You knew it was coming - but it's still bad isn't it!?

All this so my mom could save space in her fridge!

And in the back of my mind…I have to wonder…did I take a tiny bit of joy in murdering those little bunnies?

No one will ever know.

Oh, and for those that might have missed on FaceBook, I’ve started a blog about my “infertility journey.” That sounds so cheezy…but I figure that aspect of me has a life and an attitude all its own, and having a separate space to vent and hope would be a decent outlet. Anyway, so if you are ever curious about the state of my ovaries (because let’s be honest, who isn’t?) – visit my ramblings on The Fertility Nerd.

So, yeah – don’t hate me! As I stated on Facebook – there have been a lot of transitions going on in the last month – heck in the last 6 months! But for me, this last month has been especially up and down. New job = saying goodbye to old job ( ), new work computer = being totally disorganized while waiting on new work computer, laptop died = new home computer (which leads to further disorganization).

All that to say, I’m totally digitally disorganized…not to mention that as I write this there is literally a knee-deep pile of laundry in the bedroom because Brad seems to have forgotten where the hamper is (you like how I used that blame-the-spouse card…that’s one of my favorite cards!). So, I won’t go into a huge amount of details here, suffice it to say that I really do love my job. I don’t remember the last time I could say that job-LOVE. I mean, I’ve had several jobs I liked (and when I say “job” here, I mean the myriad of different hats I wore throughout the years at KTAB. Otherwise my job history is really just 2 jobs!), and several that I was good at but didn’t quite care for…and as I’ve said before, the pace of TSTC and the structure of that job was exactly what I needed during that time in my life…but I couldn’t say that I was passionate about it.

I’m feeling job-passion, my friends!

The rest of the last month can be summed up in just a few pictures, which I’ll gladly display for you!

My car finally rolled 30,000 miles...what it's only been 5 years!

(and trust me, since taking this new job…40 miles round trip every day…it’s only going up and up!!!)

While conning Brad and Jeff to help me take my office stuff up to work...we stumbled upon one of the last Bennigans in existance!

Brad's work is right by the stadium, remember? We park there for free to go to baseball games, and get a nice view on the way!

Did someone mention baseball? Here is the game that started Brad's craze...

...and so we've gone... (these are our favorite seats!

...and gone... (with the parents for their anniversary/mother's day)

...and gone... (this blurry photo of an awesome granny playing words with friends on her iPhone!)

Ok, is it sad that I think there’s like 2 more games that we’ve been to? I just didn’t think to take any photographic evidence. Yay for cheap entertainment! You can’t beat a $7 ticket I suppose.

Let’s see, what else..

Here are some logo'd cookies that were sent to the eMedia team at work. For some reason I thought these were neat enough to take a picture of. Plus they were tasty.

I found this awesome old toy in my parents garage - some lego knock-off called loc blocs

My brother and I were so excited that our parents always made us pick up all our pieces as kids...I think there were only 2 pieces missing!

I got a new haircut...and proceeded to do a total MySpace photo session in the bathroom. This is the best of the worst - enjoy!

Titus keeps us entertained on a daily basis

I saw some groovy fireworks - at a baseball game no less!

Brad found a place that serves his favorite girly beer!

I found a drink called the green thing! This was a night out with my brother to a comedy club downtown.

As well as keeping us entertained, Titus likes to entertain himself by tearing apart the bathroom trash on a weekly basis...

A family friend gave my an orchid for work, and I haven't killed it! (yet.)

And last but not least, did I meantion that I love my job? Here is a bad drawing of a web design I'm working on.

And there you have it! My lazy rendition of a monthly update. I hope to have something of more substance soon, and hopefully is less time than a month!

Ok my reader friends, I can finally talk about this new job! Well, I guess I could always talk about it, but besides torturing you just for fun, I just didn’t want to jinx it!

So, we all remember the olden days when I worked for KTAB/KRBC, yes? I mean, it was only a year ago January that I left to take the position at TSTC. Well…I’m BACK (kinda).

Back in January, when Brad first had his interview and I knew our moving was eminent, I started sending out resumes of course. I didn’t know at the time that TSTC would be gracious enough to let me keep my job working from home until May (which thank goodness they did!). So, I set about sending resumes and applying for jobs listed in the Metroplex (which consist of about a billion – most of which apparently allow you to work from home and make a million dollars…gotta love spam).

Needless to say I soon realized whereas I may be a medium sized fish in Abilene’s small pond, I felt like I would most definitely be a micro fish in the ocean of DFW. I never heard back from the 20 to 30 resumes I sent out. Not from one person. (I did however start to receive about a dozen emails a day from these so called “experts” who could help me with my “poorly written” resume. But that’s another story.)

So, once we finally moved here and I knew that I would be working from home for a few months, that took a little of the pressure off. And sometime in February I took up the search again. I thought to myself, “What about TV again? I have some moderate experience in that field.” Which, of course, the DFW stations are a teeny bit larger than Abilene, so I knew my only “in” would be if I knew someone. Sending a resume there would just be like throwing my needle into the haystack.

At that point in time, I emailed one of the Vice Presidents here at Nexstar. For those of you following along in the detailed life of Amanda, that’s the company that owns KTAB and KRBC. They are based here in Irving. I remembered that this particular VP used to be the General Manager of the local CBS affiliate here in Fort Worth.

So I emailed, just asking if he perhaps remembered me from the stations, and if so could he please put in a good word with them, and maybe give me a contact or two to beg for a job with.

Flash forward 2 months, and here I am. Not working for a TV affiliate, but working for the company that I used to work for in Abilene. In their corporate offices! Not only that, but I’m back working on web!

It was definitely a blessing of right place, right time. Not to mention a few good words from friends still in the company (you know who you are…unless you’re too busy to read my blog!). It’s very strange, considering most people that end up at corporate are from sales. I mean, I’m not a big power player or anything, but it’s very surreal.

So, my position with TSTC ends on May 1st officially, I’m still wrapping up some of their needs for the rest of the semester. I definitely enjoyed my work there, the slower paced environment came in a time of my life when I needed it most.

But, I feel up to the challenge of dipping my toes back into the rat race! It’s nice to be going to an office again, and to be seeing people. I really thought that the whole working from home thing would totally be up my alley, but you can only watch so many episodes of Wife Swap or America’s Next Top Model before your brains start to leak a little out of your ears.

My official title is eMedia Support Coordinator, for those of you dying to know. The position is a new one so I couldn’t give you a concise description of what I do, suffice it to say that involves a lot of mystery solving so far. Trying to track down numbers and so forth and helping the others understand what it’s like from the stations’ perspective of the websites. So far, so good. But yeah, I’ve only got one full day under my belt!

So that’s it in a nutshell! I promise to post some pictures and more info soon! I’ll leave you with one, here’s my new (undecorated!) office.

Thrilling, isn't it?

Now, if only I could bring Abilene’s (lack of) traffic here. The whole 40 minute commute thing is kinda annoying.

You know how it is…there are just some times in our lives now sadly that we (or at least I) have to put the technology down and sit back and enjoy life…you know, like watching some old, arcane TV! Just kidding!

So, updates first! Brad and I are doing great! The living situation with my brother is going so well. Jeff is so relaxed and groovy, and we all have our own spaces, which is nice.

As for me on the job front – the company that I mentioned interviewing with a few weeks ago has called and officially offered me the position, and I have accepted! I don’t want to mention the name still until the I’s are dotted and the T’s crossed, and let’s face it I just want to keep you in suspense – it makes me feel oh so special, don’t you know? I will be overlapping this with my TSTC job as well, at least until the end of the semester. I’ll be shifting their hours to night, and so I plan to be swamped for the next couple of months! After that, I don’t know what will happen with TSTC and me, I’m still waiting to get the details on that.

Brad is doing awesome at  his new job! Things were slow to get going, and of course there were a few days of “did we make the right move?” Those were mostly days that he had been stuck in traffic for an hour or so…lol, welcome back to the Metroplex! They are finally getting his office space rented this week, which he is so excited about – he’s been without a proper “base” all this time – a place with a desk, computer, and all his stuff…he’s been just going back and forth between different locations, so he’s ready to stop being so spread out!

All that to say, we’re doing really well. To celebrate my getting the job and things going good for Brad (and a very late Valentine’s Day, since we were moving during that), he surprised me by taking me to a cabin over the weekend! He had some meeting in Austin for work, and we decided to make a weekend out of it!

So, what does one do when planning a trip to a lovely Texas retreat where I’ll be surrounded by nature, a lake, and beautiful bluebonnets?

I forget my camera. That’s what.

Yeah, and not just my fancy-pants camera, but my little point and shoot camera as well!

Yes! Me, who fancies herself a very amateur photographer…like with a capital A.

I guess forgetting the camera(s) was very amateurish of me.

But, like this guy says, the best camera is the one that’s with you! Thank goodness for the iPhone. Here are the few pictures I have from this weekend.

First of all, a trip down 35 South would NOT be a trip without stopping at West, Texas.

The best kolaches in Texas!

Once we filled our face with kolaches (what diet?), we headed through Temple on our way down, and Brad asked if I would mind if he made a quick stop. He wanted go by his grandparents’ (on his dad’s side) house. He hadn’t been there since he was a teenager, and was just curious what it looked like. Apparently he had put his hand print in the cement of the driveway when he was three, when they had repaved it, and he wanted to see if it was still there.

And it was!

How cute is that!? Of course, whoever wrote his name there left the “e” out.

Of course, I had to get the comparison shot!

In case you’re wondering what that “III” is all about, you know how when you’re a kid, grown-ups that meet you for the first time always ask you your name and then how old you are? Apparently at three Brad wanted to help save time, so when asked his name, he would reply “Bradley, three.” His family used to tease him about that all the time, and here it is set in stone, so to speak!

It turned out that his grandparents’ old house is up for sale, so we stuck around and took a look around.

The house, according to Brad, used to be a canary yellow color

I remember playing right there!

We found some more prints in the backyard

The “JWC” print belongs to Brad’s Uncle Jerry, and Sassy was (obviously) the family dog years ago.

After looking around for a bit, we hit the road and make our way to Spicewood, Texas. The cabin Brad had found was called The Treehouse, and it was lovely! Basically it belonged to a couple that had bought land around there and through the years and built these little houses. It sat right on an edge of the Lake Travis, where we could walk down and sit by the water – Brad tried his hand at fishing both mornings we were there…but had not one nibble!

The deck style patio went all the way around 2 sides of the house!

There were 4 sets of french doors, which let in a lot of natural light!

The kitchen was big and well stocked with utensils (ignore my blurry husband!)

Another view of the kitchen from the little sleeping area.

There was so much natural wood used in the construction of this place that it almost felt overwhelming, but after a while it definitely made the place feel more like a cabin!

The view of Lake Travis from the deck!

Another view from the deck

Our little slice of Lake Travis

Where are all the stinkin' fish!?

We mostly hung around this beautiful cabin for the weekend, it was so nice and quiet…there was hardly any cell service…which I still haven’t decided whether it was a blessing or a curse! On Saturday night, we decided to go out for dinner, and we looked up a place right down the road, called Poodie’s.

Yes, I said Poodie’s.

Poodie’s turned out to be an old honky-tonk bar and grill, that is apparently very well known in the Willie Nelson, Hank Williams circles. My dad likes those guys if you’re catching my drift. Hehe, I like them too, but I’m just trying to paint a picture for you here.

So, we went to Poodie’s, who does have a very awesome hamburger (excuse me, Poodie-burger). We called and invited Brad’s mom, and her and his brother Bryan made the trek all the way from Temple to come and hang out with us for a while! I felt so bad when I realized how far they had to drive to get there, and then had to drive back!

Seriously, don’t believe me? LOOK!

It was so nice to see them though – and I would show you a picture so that YOU could see them, but unfortunately my best camera that was with me did not have a flash, and we were sitting outside…which rendered picture-taking pointless.

I did get this nice pic of the sunset before they arrived though.

As seen from Poodie's!

So, my final word on The Treehouse? It was great, it wasn’t nearly as secluded as our “normal cabins” that we go to, but it was definitely relaxing! It was a great gift from Brad – with all the stress of moving, trying to sell our house, starting new jobs, getting new jobs, the crappy traffic…it was so nice to sit still for awhile.

So, that’s really it for my update! TTFN!