Apples and Moonshine

September 20, 2011 By
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Have the leaves turned by you yet? Perhaps the air has gotten a tad crisper? I know it has by Alex and I which is why this past weekend we took the top down on the jeep, the doors and windows off, and I grabbed a good hairbrush so we could head on up to the apple orchards.

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Hillcrest Apple Orchard is one of the most popular orchards along “Apple Highway” in Ellijay, GA. It’s also the one with the moonshine museum which automatically makes it Alex’s favorite. Not that they actually SERVE moonshine. Because that would be naughty.

The museum did have some rather interesting stills. From the mud-packed ones, to the half buried ones, y’all gotta give hillbillies credit. When they want a little ‘shine they sure are gonna find a way to make it, hide it, and sell it!

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Alex sure studied the set-up’s pretty extensively. (Y’all don’t think he’s got any plans do you?)

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I mean, that’s what stock car racing (otherwise known as NASCAR i.e. a Sunday staple along with Football and Church) was all about when it first got started. They had this fun photo spot at the end where you could have your picture taken in a cut-out of a boot-legger and Alex very reluctantly agreed to take a photo.

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I bribed him a little more with the offer of cider donuts and he actually stuck is FACE in the photo the second go-around. (The man will do dang near anything for these delicious, melt-in-your-mouth donuts. Which is lucky for me since I sure wasn’t getting into that photo!)

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After wandering the festival area and the museum tour we headed off to the actual orchards. We wandered past Rome, Mutsu, Fuji, and Golden Delicious apples so I could get to my haven.

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Granny Smith apples. YUM!

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Alex went for the Golden Delicious and Rome.

We ended up topping off the bag with a huge mix of everything else which will be perfect for the apple pies I’m planning on making later this week.

Lastly we examined all of the jams and jellies they had inside. I had a few favorites, Tequila Jam being one of them. Alex however insisted on a jam that would (and did) make my boss cringe.

I wouldn’t let him buy it for her because well, I want to keep my job! (Plus I really don’t like wearing jelly and I’m pretty sure the jar would have been tossed in the air since Frogs are her nemesis.)

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Now that we are back home with our TWENTY-FIVE POUNDS of apples I have a lot of baking to do. Alex, he’s just ready to head to the next festival.

Course it is the Moonshine Festival so I can’t say I blame him.

Filed Under: Fall, Family, Marriage Adventures Tagged With: , , , , , , 6 Comments

To My Husband

September 12, 2011 By

Today is September 12th. (Yes I know you know but let me be…)

Two years ago we joined hands. We joined lives. We made vows.

The past 12 months have been anything but the smooth expectation of marriage we had hoped for, but you know what….we’re still here. Together.

The last week has been monumental to our lives and our future, but you know what….we’re still here together.

I don’t know what the next week brings us. I don’t know what the next year brings us. I DO know what I hope for. I DO know what you have told me you hope for. The best of us are reaching out our hands. Because you know what baby? Love don’t run.

I raise my glass, I reach out my hand, and to you I say I love you and Happy Anniversary. Love your punkin, your wife, your partner FOR LIFE.

signature To My Husband

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A Big, Dark, Horrible, Not-So-Terrible Secret

August 12, 2011 By

Our big dark secret (that isn’t so secret…or dark for that matter) (well unless you count the time of day when we go, then its dark out) is Alex and I have been in marriage counseling for the past month.

We entered counseling because the fights are bad, the good times are AMAZING and I cannot stress that enough. We laugh, we chill, we cuddle, and we love on one another every single week. We just were also fighting…every single week. Now we’ve knocked it down to two distinct fights and I think two quietly discussed reviews of situations in the course of a month+. (Quiet enough to hear the cats purring beside us….we can get quiet.)

This blog is and will remain about our marriage adventure. The good and the bad moments, but this series of events has left me befuddled and ashamed. Ashamed that before our 2nd anniversary of marriage we’ve had several “should we get divorced?” conversations both on the calm, rational level and the screaming at the top of our lungs level. (I’m a match and light up easily…he’s a tea kettle, takes his time but definitely gets the point across.)

In fact, in recent discussions with close friends I’ve had two distinctly different responses. One was “I didn’t really think y’all would get better” and the other was the best advice I’ve ever heard. I was told, after pretty much sobbing my heart out about being a failure at marriage, the fact that all of our friends’ marriages were amazing and they were so in love, yadda yadda yadda and Alex and I … we fight. Life sucked. This friend let me get it all out and then went…

“Stop judging yourself based on other people’s marriages. Remember you only see the 10% façade they show the rest of the world. They only see the 10% façade y’all show the world. No one truly knows what another marriage is like except the people in that marriage.”

LIGHTBULB!!!

After that statement I quit being ashamed that we needed counseling already and started looking at it as, who knows maybe we are normal and we’re just less able to adjust to the changes marriage has on a couple without some guidance. Ultimately what we needed, and found, in our counseling is we need a translator. I don’t speak guy. Alex does not speak gal. Thus most things get lost in translation, even if it’s as simple as “I need to think about this.” The good news is, its working!

So I guess in all of this I wanted to let other married couples know its ok to need counseling. Even if you are newlyweds or have been married 50 wonderful years. Mindee over at Our Front Door has a great post on what your wedding vows really mean, and I’m personally thinking this should be handed out before you actually say “I Do” because reality is those two tiny words carry a whole lot more weight than you might think.

::Wipes Brow:: Whew! I am so glad to have that deep dark secret out. Now, I’m off to the craft store to buy a pirate flag for a cake I’m baking tomorrow. I’ll show you photos of the cake just not me from the party since it’s a pool party and bikini photos are not making it up on the web. Hope y’all have a great weekend!!

signature A Big, Dark, Horrible, Not So Terrible Secret

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Our State of Ovary

July 19, 2011 By

Well as I mentioned in my last post (sorry for the sporadic, but trying to keep posts actually topical and not nonsensical) I took last Friday off to go to the doctor again! My appointment was at 9:30 and I managed to be finished with the actual appointment and then subsequent lab visit by 11:30 so altogether not too bad.

Yesterday I got the lab results and spoke to my doctor about what everything means. To sum it all up…

I am infertile. I’m considered infertile because I have Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) however it is treatable. YAY medical science! I was diagnosed with PCOS through blood work. My ultrasound was normal, which basically means I didn’t SHOW any cysts. (Which btw, just because you PCOS doesn’t mean you have many cysts…go figure.) The lab work however should I have an extremely high anti-mullerian hormones (AMH for short). You can read some of the previous posts here, here or here.

Now for the explaining part, because I had to ask my Doctor…so I’m betting I’m not the only clueless one. First, PCOS doesn’t necessary mean cysts like you might be thinking. In fact it almost always implies you have a whole bunch of follicles working every month. My high count of AMH is what triggers that in me. Effectively my ovaries do not release eggs. Good Job Ovaries!

(They are like mini-hoarders…or they just find boys yucky and avoid them at all costs, it depends on your point of view.)

So hey, now that I know I have PCOS because I have high levels of AMH, I had to find out whether it was caused by insulin resistance. That’s what Friday was all about. So post-bruise (seriously, labs must you bruise me so?!) I have learned I am NOT. YAY! Which means I get to take the commonly prescribed drug Clomid. (Well the generic version anyway.) So now that we have all that little info, what’s next? Let me tell you!

In the normal course of starting treatment you get your drugs (HOLLA! These ones are legal AND give me a great excuse to be grumpy…mwahhaha.) You take said drugs for days 2 – 7 of your “cycle” which theoretically jump-starts the ovary battery factory into actually, you know, doing their job. Then you get to use the ovulation predictor kit for days 12 – 16 to watch for a magical pink line. Said pink line means one thing….time to get behind some closed doors. Then you hold your breath for a few weeks (ok not really, because you’d be really really blue if you did) and in week 4 you head off to the doctor AGAIN. The doctor then checks you for any signs of alien life forms and if you are in the clear you go home, and repeat again.

If there be life in that there factory than congratulations you now have a bun (or buns…this is fertility treatments we are talking about…thus multiples are a possibility) in the oven! The eagle has landed! You’ve made life Dr Frankenstein! (Can you tell I’m keeping a sense of humor in all of this?)

Of course, Alex and I have chosen to do the opposite. We go all the way up to the doctor going “Which pharmacy?” and responded…”NONE!” Basically, we’re taking a break. We want to work on getting a few things straightened out personally to ensure that when the above monthly treatments (AND BILLS) start we’ll be prepared.

So there you have it in a nutshell, PCOS is a P.I.T.A. but at least the birth control is free now!

signature Our State of Ovary

Filed Under: Family, infertility, Marriage Adventures Tagged With: , , , , 11 Comments

Alex vs. Military Grade Phone

July 13, 2011 By

(this is from Alex…directly from him.)

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signature Alex vs. Military Grade Phone

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Catching a Dragon by the Tail

July 12, 2011 By
survive the dragon

Do you believe in dragons? What about taming them? Or even, RIDING them?

(And no this isn’t some cutesy story about me and a dragon named Toothless, although I’m pretty sure Harley thinks he is a mini-toothless at times. See?)

Back to dragons though….not only have I seen The Dragon, I’ve conquered it and ridden The Tail of the Dragon! What you think I’m nuts? I promise I’m not.

The Tail of the Dragon is an 11-mile stretch of US-129 that stretches from North Carolina to Tennessee. During that 11 miles you twist and turn a whopping 318 times sometimes in gentle curves and sometimes you scrap metal. Most of the time you should plan on leaning to the left and then the right and then the left again in quick succession while enjoying the wooded vistas surrounding you. See this red line? That’s the road.

dragon%20map Catching a Dragon by the Tail

click for source

If you are a good driver without plans to scrape skin of your kneecaps, then you will be able to avoid the “Tree of Shame.” This tree is literally covered in parts from motorcycles and race bikes that have zoomed their way straight into a curve or tree. The tree is actually really impressive when you realize that Deal’s Gap (as the Dragon is otherwise known) has really only seen an average of two fatalities per year.

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Luckily for me, my Dad is a great driver who also acknowledges that his daughter is a wimp. Therefore, while he could have gone faster he decided to slow it down to avoid scaring me right back off the bike. He took me up and down the Tail of the Dragon. Which if you do the math, is a whopping 632 curves in only 22 miles. Good news?

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I survived The Dragon.

And?

I got a tank top to prove it! (Thanks Daddy!)

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How’s that for a birthday weekend adventure?

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Happy Father’s Day Daddy

June 19, 2011 By
Fathers Day 2011

Fathers Day 2011 Happy Fathers Day Daddy

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Infertility – The Results

June 14, 2011 By

Never let it be said that a woman’s intuition is full of poop.  Based on the call I got today, mine is not only in effect…it was / is right. Oh how I wish it was wrong.

In March 2010 I had my annual female “check-up” and at the time Alex and I had been discussing children. I have a pretty crazy family history that includes endometriosis, infertility, and the hardest one of all…Schwachman Diamond Syndrome. That last one, I’m a carrier for and it’s also what my brother was born with. So we talked ALL of that through before I went into the doctor’s office. I went ahead and got my birth control prescription. (I figured it was easier to get it and elect to stop taking / not take it at all then to not get it and want it.)

Three more days of discussion and meds, and that’s when we made the decision that I would stop taking The Pill. (Does anyone else get that “Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday…birth control commercial song stuck in their head? No? Oh well..excuse me while I go hum and think of synchronized swimming.) We figured we’d have some fun, and things would work out.

 

planned parenthood 2 Infertility The Results

source: Google Images

 

 

By the time October rolled around I was driving Alex batty with the “this doesn’t seem quite normal” ponderings. However the holiday season distracted me and we continued on our merry way. Then 2011 came and I started to talk to my Mom about her issues. My cousin about her issues. Everyone in our dang family about their issues. I became convinced that Alex and I needed medical help, but he wasn’t so sure.

Finally March of this year I said, “Alex, I am making an appointment. We’re both under 30. We should be pregnant. I’m done pretending things are normal.”

He said “Whatever”, but supported me when I kindly informed him that this meant he was getting tested too.

I went to the doctor who listened to me and said that he could set me up for some tests. So began our barrage of tests (well my barrage, Alex only had one and it was easy). I had my first update a few weeks ago with the progesterone tests.

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Then the next set of blood work, the FH and FSH tests, as well as my HSG results came through. Then Alex’s test came through till finally we’ve got our answer.

Alex is, as he suspected and me as well, perfectly healthy.

I have Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS). In other words, without treatment I’m considered infertile.

In other other words, I was right. Things were not normal, we should have been able to get pregnant in that amount of time, and we do need help. Well, my body needs help specifically.

The phone call today was a tad rough, not because my doctor was mean or I wasn’t expecting this, but because no one likes to hear the “Look, we need you to get more testing done but I can straight up tell you right now that you have PCOS and are considered infertile.”

Those words hurt no matter how much you are expecting them.

So what now? Well let me tell you…

The next step will be for me to go BACK to the lab for MORE tests (YAY…Not) where I will have a test done to see whether I need to be on Clomid (forces your body to release eggs) or Metformin (commonly used to treat type II diabetes). Both drugs are used to treat PCOS because the disease itself can be caused by a number of under-lying issues, although most of my symptoms indicate I’ll be on Clomid. If these don’t work we move on to more aggressive treatments (think IVF).

So that is where things stand right now. Something is wrong, BUT on an extremely positive note it is something medical science can treat.

On happier notes, I am working on photos from this past weekend and my trip to the winery and outlet mall as well as to a Rock festival. (Its way more exciting than it appears.)

signature Infertility The Results

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