Elizabeth, Mary, and N

It has been a while since I last posted.  Let's see...what has been going on...Well, I have been teaching. Lots. I love teaching! I have also been unseasonably busy at work.  It feels like what January normally feels like, so I don't know what to expect the rest of this month.  I had shared with a few of you that we were preparing for another round of IVF the end of this month. I have since taken my name off the calendar. Even though the doctor donated his professional fees, we still had to come up with $10k in lab fees. Uff da. We don't have quite that much saved up.  We were at a crossroads of what to do next and just decided to take a break.
What has been incredible through this whole experience is that I feel like God is still whispering to me. When I hear the incredible stories of Elizabeth and Mary in the Bible I am awe struck.  I know my faith in the Lord continually evolves, but recently I find that I have more faith than ever before.  This break from IVF will allow me to continue on my weight loss journey, save money, and just put all of our faith in whatever the Lord has planned for us.
What else to update you all on? Let's see...my sister has been here for almost two weeks! Such fun!!! We have gone shopping, gone through my closet, gone to a comedy club, played games, and just relaxed. My friend S asked me to a reader and bridesmaid in her wedding in April! We are so excited for S to marry K! We also had a nice little milk and cookies party with our friends over recently.  It was quite delightful. That's all for now...maybe more in the near future!

Abundantly Blessed

This morning when I got to work, my friend D had a surprise for me. We walked out to her car where she carefully got out a candle she made just for us! It is a tall, white, pillar candle that they added gems and blue butterflies to. She gave it to me today, because it is Pregnancy & Infant Loss Awareness Day. I was so incredibly touched by her thoughtful gesture of love.  We are going to burn the candle tonight and have our moment of peace.  I was so touched!
I was at work for just a few minutes when I got the call to schedule our next round of IVF. I was so happy to share with the clinic that I'm on track with weight loss and excited for round 2.
Fast forward a couple more hours and I got a phone call for a phone interview!
Soon after, we were able to book tickets for a family member to come visit for Christmas.
Life is good. We are so blessed. I am so at peace and I am so happy. Thank God.

That awkward moment where...

This evening was the last night of my first class.  For the last five weeks I have enjoyed teaching, getting back into academia, and getting to know the people around me.  In fact, I have been eating dinner with another instructor.  We usually chat, laugh, and he tells me about his wife and kids.  In exchange of course I tell him about my wonderful life.  Jerry has been very nice to me and kind of filled me in on important pieces of information that everyone else forgot to tell me...like the code to get into the faculty work room and the fact I don't need a parking pass.  Needless to say, we have gotten to know each other. This evening I walked in to our work room to sit at my cubicle and my hubby called me at the same time. Of course I answered the phone (he has been so sweet to call and talk to me before I teach every class, which helps since we don't see each other on Mondays and Wednesdays). I'm talking to my hubby, but Jerry, who has headphones on, keeps answering.  Finally, he looks over and realizes I'm on the phone. Haha, he let out a big laugh and went back to work.  After I hung up with Jason, I looked over and Jerry was working hard, so I got back to work.
A few minutes later, Melissa walks in. She has also been very nice to me and has talked to me every Monday and Wednesday for the past five weeks. She is telling this story to anyone who will listen about how her treat for her class shattered and as she was telling another staff, they randomly walked away.  She tells this story about three times in ten minutes.  She was clearly flustered.  Finally, Melissa sits down and starts signing a stack of cards. She flips through them and says loudly, "I don't even know who some of these people are...like who is N?"  Jerry now says, "I don't know who that is either."  I pause for a moment stunned.  Then I turn my head and say, "Did you just say you don't know who N is?" Melissa says, "Yeah." I of course say, "I'm N!" Melissa's face turns red and she begins apologizing. At this point Jerry is now laughing again.  I point out to Jerry that we have had dinner together every Monday and Wednesday for the last five weeks and he didn't even know my name!  Melissa is still apologizing, but it gets better.  She says, "Wow, I just shoved my foot right into my mouth. I'm so sorry Amy."  I giggle.  Clearly, my name is not Amy.  Jerry and I both correct her.  Fast forward two minutes.  Melissa, "I am so sorry Amy." She called me Amy no less than three times in ten minutes.  Finally, I said, "Should I put my name badge on to help you learn my name?" 
It was really awkward and really funny.  Good news, I'm getting a birthday card. Bad news? Apparently, there are only like four staff who know who I am.  Previously, just two knew my name. Now we are up to four. At that rate, I'm really making friends. At the end of the night Melissa went to say good-bye to me, she made sure my name was still N.  I said it was and just for fun replied, "Good Night Jamie." Haha.  Before I left for the night she smiled and said good night Amy, I replied with a good night Jamie.

Updates Galore

I'm ever amazed by how life can march on, then in a matter of days or even seconds change.  I realized tonight that I felt like I had lots of updates and they were all from like the past couple weeks. So, here they are...
1.) As a result of a co-worker going back to earn his MA, a promotion came available. I took a leap and applied. It would mean more nights and weekends, but I would become a director. It's a natural career progression and would set me up for larger roles in the future. That being said, I'm hesitant to get my hopes too high.
2.) Two other jobs opened up and I applied for them too. I of course didn't share this with my supervisor.
3.) I started teaching two nights a week at a local college! I'm enjoying it so far.  The students have complained I give them too much homework, but I gave them an hour of homework and they had 5 days to get it done.  I was also relieved that after grading their first test, they all passed.  I think I was almost as nervous about it as they were!
4.) I interviewed for a job here in Greeley (over the phone) while I was in Wyoming visiting my friends T&T and their baby J! I turned the job down due to pay. I had so much fun visiting T&T and the little pork chop (that's my special nickname for baby J). It was also relaxing to get away for a week and do something totally different.  I'll always treasure the time I spent with the little pork chop while he was two months old and of course the time with my friends!
5.) We went to Montana to visit my mom and sisters! We had a fabulous vacation. It was difficult to come back, because we just had such a nice trip.  We also got to see W&K and their kiddos! We spent time in Glacier Park, at the Electric City Water Park, and had a nice bbq.
6.) A co-worker resigned on Monday morning...so my event season feels like it has started over. Mentoring events, covering for staff, etc.
7.) I visited Dr.Bachus today! My insurance covers more than my old plan, so I decided I needed to make use of the additional coverage. I specifically wanted to know if he thought I should pursue a surgical procedure to have my tubes unblocked.  I'm not quite ready for IVF...I want to lose at least 30-35 more pounds minimum. With the difference in insurance he suggested I have some testing repeated. Specifically, the HSG. That test was the one that stands out as a day in my life that was one of the most challenging. I don't remember the whole day, but I remember a few parts. I remember prepping to go back in for the procedure.  Next, I remember the moment where I watched the screen as the doctor injected dye into my uterus and the dye stayed there in a triangle like shape instead of passing through my fallopian tubes.  I remember feeling like every emotion was drained from my body.  Finally, I remember going back to the recovery room where my hubby was waiting and sharing the news.  Dr. Bachus came in within moments.  I'm sure we grieved the rest of the day, but I know the grieving lasted longer.  In some strange way, I'm looking forward to re-doing the test. I already know what my worst case scenario feels like, so at this point, I can only be pleasantly surprised.  The doctor was happy with my continued weight loss, but obviously I still need to go farther.  He came back to suggesting bariatric surgery and suggested the name of a doctor he trusts. 
I have pretty mixed feelings about bariatric surgery...I've already shared that on here. I'm losing 1-2 pounds per week all on my own. Keeping track of what I eat is just a part of my life.  If I opted for lap-band, I would still lose 1-2 pounds per week, but have side effects. I'm not sure I'm ready to sign up for that, but on the other hand I know how easy it is to regress.  I also don't think insurance will cover it. I've checked in to it before. Dr. Bachus offered to read my insurance policy and see if there were any loop holes.  I'm not going to really worry/think about it until I know about insurance. Besides, I adore my little Weight Watchers plan.

See, I told you I had a ton of updates. I'm sure I will hear about the jobs slowly over time. One of the three said I wouldn't even hear about an interview until the week of the 27th of July.  The HR department sent me a personality assessment for the one that would be a promotion. It was DIFFICULT!  The e-mail thanking me for taking the assessment said I might not hear anything for two more weeks. So, I'm just going to wait. I won't have the HSG done again until my cycle starts over...so that is a few weeks out as well.  For now we are in a holding pattern and I'm okay with that!

Remodel Photos

I've been so slow at posting these! Here they are...

The grand remodel begins...

Good evening! As I have been taking pictures of our remodeling project and seeing our progress, I have decided I don't want to give everything away! I want to keep the grand finale as a surprise to share on here and on Facebook for our far away friends, but for our friends in the area...or those who want to come take a Colorado vacation, we are going to have a basement unveiling party! I also think it is more fun to to be surprised all at once. With that said, I will share a few things. Like our before pictures. I want you all to see what we are working with! If you haven't been to our home before, you will see below why I am so excited about this project. I also decided to share what style our furniture is and some of the accent pieces.

This is before.  Although, we have already taken out the old furniture, our TV, games, movies, other home gym pieces, etc.  Notice the banister, pretty wood paneling, and the shutters! Not to mention the floor. We had already replaced the light fixtures in this room about a year ago.  So, those are updated.

This is after J started doing some demo work, like taking out the banister.  It is a gorgeous piece, originally from the University of Northern Colorado, but difficult to decorate around! Not sure what to do with it yet. Also, my weight machine is very difficult to get out of this room, it will happen, but has to be taken apart and as one may guess, it is heavy! You can also see the "creepy" room.  Actually, there is a window to it that they used to use to do projection through.  There is a screen built in at the other end of our basement. It's warped, but I dream that some day I will use it for something fabulous.

The shutters are also gone and I believe the trim is also gone in this picture. Below is the guest bedroom. What you don't see is the burlap like wall in the other corner, hope I got pictures of that for later! We (really I say we, this whole project is thanks to an amazing husband who is doing ALL of the work, seriously!) also took down shutters in this room and took out the queen size bed and captain's bed, for now anyway.

Here is a sneak peak of the carpet we chose! We got two different bids. The first one was a different carpet, but twice as expensive. The second bid was half the price of the first.  We offered the competition a shot at doing a second bid for us and it was still higher! So, we went with Lowes!  Below you get a sneak peek at the furniture we chose. Yes, I went with red! Okay, so the color scheme is gray and white with black and red accents.  I've always wanted a really fun piece of furniture, like a cool chair.  Purchasing a whole set in red, is mind blowing...and so much fun!!!

Conveniently for me, target happened to be selling some home decor in the proper color scheme.  By the way, if you have ever done a full remodel that did not include beige carpet, it is a difficult decision of where to start...do you buy furniture first? Carpet first? Pick your colors first? Ahhh, where to start. We started with furniture, then filled in the rest.  I bought the two canvas you see pictured above. I wanted the accent pillows really bad, but they are EXPENSIVE! So, I will make my own! That's kind of fun anyway. Below is the last sneak peek.  The windows in the basement hadn't been washed the whole time I lived here. Partially because they had shutters over them, partially because they are in the basement, and partially because I have never felt compelled to wash them.  For fun I did a before and after.  Pretty drastic in the amount of light that can come in when you wash a window that we figured hadn't been washed in 8 years!  Well, that's all for tonight. Stay tuned for more in the very near future! Carpet should be laid this week and painting is nearing completion!

What's new in our house?

The past month has been kind of crazy.  The same day I posted about my review, I had a job interview. It went really well, but I didn't get the job. I know God has an amazing plan for me, so I am okay with it.  They were very kind when they told me they offered the position to another candidate.  They also didn't have any feedback, darn it!  Sometimes it is nice to get some helpful feedback. Oh well, I'm just happy there were so kind to me. About the same time as that was going on, J and I decided to put a contract in to build a brand new house about 20 miles from our current home.  I had also scheduled a doctor's appointment with a dermatologist to check a small spot on my back. Additionally, my allergy medication had stopped working again to treat my allergies to our cats.  Finally, I was anxiously awaiting the birth of my friend T's baby. 
A week after putting a contract in to buy a brand new house, we pulled our contract.  Our new home purchase was contingent on meeting with our real estate agent.  The reality of the situation was that we would lose a LARGE chunk of money selling our current home.  Neither of us were willing to make that sacrifice, so we backed out.  I can't explain why, but this was one of the most peaceful decisions I have ever made. I am just very at peace with our decision.  In my gut, I feel like we made the right choice.  What's kind of odd, is everyone seems more disappointed than we are.
The very same day, a friend posted on Facebook that she was going to take her little girl to the pound to adopt a cat.  With a heavy heart, I sent her a message and told her we needed to re-home our cats.  I hadn't said much to anyone about it, because it was such a painful decision.  I didn't know if everyone would understand what it was like to already have asthma, but not be able to breathe on top of it, even with medication.  I had to make a decision to put my health first.  After some conversation, our friend took both of the cats and they are in the process of adjusting.  Please pray they continue to adjust and love their new home.  They are in a huge house with a family who has kids home all day long to play with them.  They will be well loved and taken care of.  We did say if for some reason things didn't work out, that we wanted to be the first to know.  What has been amazing is that I have started sleeping again. I can breathe again. I feel so much better and it has only been a couple of weeks!
My friend T had her sweet baby boy on April 10. I haven't gotten to meet him yet, but am working with my crazy schedule to make some plans to go meet the new little family member. He is absolutely adorable!!! Momma and baby are doing good.  He already has my heart and I haven't met him yet.  I love being an auntie...it's the best job in the whole world! Seriously...best job ever!
This past week I saw the dermatologist for the spot on my back. She did not like what she saw, so removed it that day.  I have stitches and a bandage that can't get wet for two weeks. Pretty tricky to wash your medium length hair when you don't have a hand held shower nozzle. The best part of the story is, I don't have skin cancer! Woohoo!! She said it was atypical, but not malignant. Now I just get to heal and be happy!
Since we decided to not purchase a new home, we had a small amount of money to decide what we wanted to do with.  We decided to remodel our basement and stairwell! Remodeling has commenced...I will post more on that project later. It's quite fabulous though!
I flew to Las Vegas for the first time in my life for a conference for work. I got to work on training and even got to give a speech, LOVED every minute of it.  Plus, it was my very first trip to Vegas. Interesting city. Nice place to visit, but just for a couple days. 
This morning I knocked one of my four events out of the way! Another great accomplishment.
Oh, one more thing about April...I hit my 25 pound mark at Weight Watchers and earned a Weight Washer.  Say it out loud, it's funnier.  I feel like for the first time in my life the changes I am making are really sticking.  I just live life with Weight Watchers.  I actually don't feel like I do anything very differently from most Americans, I am just aware of what I am putting in to my mouth and the portion sizes.  My next hurdle will be to add in physical activity and just make it a part of my daily routine. Not there yet, but it's coming...I'm sure it is! 
How is that for a whirlwind update of April? Tomorrow is my first full day off of work in 20 days straight. Oddly enough, I am actually enjoying my job in small amounts again...that's refreshing. Okay, I will post again very soon with remodel photos...prepare to be amazed!