Jackson's Jumble "Jumbo" Lemon Cookies

Do you remember Jackson's Old Fashioned Jumble Lemon cookies?? I always thought they were called Jumbo lemon cookies.

They were my moms favorite cookies!! She hasn't had them in years because I don't think they make them any more, but I recently had a cookie that reminded me of them.

Source

NYEBoy introduced me to these Carr's Ginger Lemon Cremes cookies the other day, and OMG. They are good, but they totally reminded me of the Jumble lemon cookies!! In fact, I went out the next day and bought my mom several packages to mail to her. It's the closest thing I've tasted to the Jumble cookies.

Do you remember the Jumble cookies? Did you like them?

Wash Cloths

One of my favorite things about Walmart's Back To School sales, has got to be the colored wash cloths. Every season, I try to pick up at least one pack of 18 wash cloths. I use the colored cloths in the bathtub/showers and the white ones to clean with.

At only $4 a pack, it's a cheap reusable way to clean! It cuts down on the amount of paper towels I go through when I clean if I have a huge stash to grab from.

Date Night: Think Like A Man

I'm not a huge fan of Steve Harvey, but NYEBoy will occasionally listen to his morning show. We didn't have any other movie to go see this weekend, so yesterday we stopped by the cheap theater to go see Think Like A Man.

We had the theater to ourselves, at 7 pm on a Sunday. We were both a little shocked.

We laughed a lot watching this film. I had to tease NYEBoy several times when they were talking about the guy who was afraid to commit. He just smiled.

If you can't find it in theaters, it's a good one to rent. We both enjoyed it a lot. Kevin Hart was a hot mess. Totally worth the price of admission. Lol

Date Night: What To Expect While You're Expecting

When this movie first came out, I was not in the right mindset to go see it. I was in the middle of Mental Breakdown 2012, so when someone told me it had a miscarriage in the movie, I skipped it.

Thankfully, I am doing much better now (more on that later), so we decided to go see it this weekend at the cheap theater.

OMG. Hysterical movie. Loved the cast. Loved the script. It was very cute. I can't wait to see Rebel Wilson and Anna Kendrick in Perfect Pitch in Oct.

This is a must see, theater if you can still find it, rent it if you can't!

For my fellow infertiles, if you're in a good headspace, don't let the miscarriage portion keep you from seeing the movie. It didn't play enough role in the script to avoid the movie all together. If you're on the emotional side, just wait until you're feeling better.

Date Night: Tyler Perry's Madea's Witness Protection

Heller. :-)

Okay, so we're not huge Tyler Perry fans, but I dragged NYEBoy to go see this. I have to say, we both really enjoyed it. NYEBoy said he was quite shocked with how funny it was. Yay! I win. :-)

This is a really good movie, and if you can't get to it while it's in the theaters, be sure to rent it when it comes out.

Date Night: Batman Movie Marathon

I've never done a movie marathon. I've always thought they would be cool to do, but never really had the time or ambition to go do one.

Well, NYEBoy and I half hazardously mentioned doing the Batman movie marathon a few weeks ago, but we never brought it back up. Until this week, that is.

I wasn't really sure if I was going to be up to it because of all the pain I've been in, so we decided to play it by ear. Even up until two hours before it started, we really weren't sure if we were going to do it.

NYEBoy finally decided we would go see what the line would look like and if they were sold out. If the line wasn't too bad and they still had tickets, we decided we'd do it. If the line was crazy or they were sold out, we'd just go grab dinner.

We arrived a few minutes before 5, which was right before the crowd got there after work. Also? They had tickets!

So, NYEBoy got in line while I picked up the tickets for the IMAX one.

When the line wrapped around to the front, we were given our IMAX lanyards, wristbands, and they had several posters to chose from. We just got the poster they had rolled up, I'm still not sure what it of since it's still together. Lol

In order to get into our theater, we had to have our lanyard, yellow wristband, ticket, AND ID! They had our theater roped off. It was kind of VIP style!

I have to say, minus being in extreme pain, this was amazing. We had SUCH a blast doing this. The crowd was really polite and not too crazy. They clapped before and after each movie, but they weren't overly obnoxious. 

Batman begins started at 6, so we didn't have to wait very long once we got in. The Dark Knight started around 8:45. And of course, the main attraction, was The Dark Knight Rises Again at midnight. 

I can't believe we were at the theater for nine hours! That's insane! (Especially with a cranky uterus and cervix!) But, it was worth it. 

It was nice to watch all three movies in a row since there was so much time between the first and the last one. 

I hated that Katie Holmes wasn't Rachel in all three films, but I guess Tom had her underwraps, huh? Lol Heath Ledger was fucking amazing. I teared up thinking he'll never make another movie again. Such talent cut in his prime, what a shame. Christian Bale as Batman and Tom Hardy as Bane were just fucking badasses. Anne Hathaway and Joseph Gordon-Levitt were also great. NYEBoy and I just couldn't stop talking about all the different things we liked. 

The ending was perfect. My hope is that they will continue on with a Robin spinoff of some sort. It's an epic film. You've got to see it in theaters if you can. 

Shortly after we got home from the theater, we heard the news about the shooting at the premier in Aurora, CO. My heart goes out to all of the victims of that tragedy. I imagine they were just as excited as we were when the shots rang out. I just can't imagine what they've gone through and what they will continue to go through as they recover. It's just heartbreaking.

Back In The Stirrups

My appointment was today.

First up, my lab results. Everything was within normal range. Everything looked great, including my thyroid. The only thing they didn't test was my testosterone, but I didn't even realize it until I had already left. I'll bring that up at my next appointment. (It's kind of important for us PCOS gals!)

After we went over the lab results, my legs went into the stirrups. Weeeeeeee! Pelvic exams don't typically bother me, and in fact, they've only bother me during the miscarriage, earlier this year when the cyst ruptured, and today. Holy fucking shit batman!

The cervix itself looked really good. She said there wasn't any cancer, but instead it looks like they are just cervix follicles/cysts. She said not to worry about them and we'll just keep an eye on them in the future if they start to bother me.

She said everything else looked really good and she suspects the bleeding, clotting, and pain is just because I haven't had a full cycle since the miscarriage and the uterus is just working hard to shed the lining.

She also did a check on the ovaries and I nearly came off the table. My whole lower abdomen is so fucking sore right now. Really hoping this pelvic exam didn't piss off my uterus too much. I'd like to stop the bleeding and pain for a change.

Pink Cactus

I've been looking for ways to add a little green into our apartment living.

When I came across a pink cactus at Walmart, I decided I wanted to make a little thing for my office desk.

What you'll need:

• Cactus
• Glass vase
• Dirt

Place a little dirt on the bottom, maybe 1/2 inch. 

Take the cactus out of it's plastic cup.

Carefully pour dirt around the edge of the container, pushing it down with the end of a kitchen spoon or something like that.

Water.

Then, wipe down the inside edge to kind of clean it up a bit. I wrapped a paper towel around some scissors and carefully wiped between the cactus and the glass.

Cactus $3.00 (Walmart)Glass vase $1.00 (Dollar Tree)Dirt $0.25 ($4 for the bag at Walmart)
Less than $5 for a cute little plant. You could pair a few up to accent a side table or make one for a friend!
I add a dash of epsom salt to all of my plants to give them a little boost once a month or so.

Excuse Me

Do these seeds make my butt look big?


What, you don't look at your strawberries and see little asses?

The Waiting Game

I thought the bleeding was going to calm down Saturday night, but Sunday morning it was back full force. I'm pretty sure I passed a fairly large clot at some point because after a little bit it finally calmed down.

I'm still cramping and bleeding, but the pain is manageable today. The doctor said to just keep my appointment for Thursday, so that's what I'm going to do.

Three more days to wait, wonder, and worry, but praying it's just nothing.

Storms a Rolling In

I've seen some really amazing clouds across the sky lately. Here's one I took this week as the storm rolled in.

Date Night: Moonrise Kingdom

I'll be the first person to say that I wasn't feeling very well this weekend, but I really didn't care much for this movie. The cinematography wasn't my fave, even though I know this is what they wanted. NYEBoy, on the other hand, enjoyed the movie. I'll admit, I could be just be cranky from being in pain. The story-line was cute, though.

ER Visit - Issue w/ Cervix

I left a message for the nurse yesterday afternoon, but no one called me back. I woke up covered in blood again, so I called the doctor back. They told me to go to the ER because of the bleeding/clotting.

I really didn't want to go. I laid in the bed for a few hours hoping the pain and bleeding would subside, but it didn't, it just got worse.

Of course, I started having nausea on the drive to the hospital, because, you know, why not? My blood pressure was 138/98 when I first arrived.

After waiting several hours, they finally called me back. They drew blood and did a pelvic exam. She said my ladybits looked okay, the only concern were white spots on my cervix that "she didn't think was cancer, but you should get this checked out on Monday". After she talked to another doctor they also said it could be cysts on my cervix. I guess I'll worry about this on Monday, after I talk to the doctor.

I turned down Zofran and Morphine since I knew NYEBoy would want to go to dinner and a movie afterwards, but I was hurting too much after dinner, so we came home.

I'm hoping and praying the pain subsides soon. This is pretty intense.

Big Brother 14 Begins!

The Big Brother live feeds don't start until 1 am, but I am (im)patiently waiting!

I have to say, I think I am going to love this season. Even though I am going to miss Jeff and Jordan, Janelle is one of my top five favorite players of all time. 

I am probably not going to get much done over the next 75 days as the live feeds seem to consume my life. Some women complain of becoming "football" or "baseball" widows, but the live feeds are something NYEBoy and I both enjoy watching together, especially now that they are on the iPad!

My first impressions of the houseguests are the following:

Team Jani (Janelle)

Wil: He's going to be a hot mess, I can already tell! I love it. I'm slightly jealous that his hair looks better than mine!

Joe: He reminds me of my father. I don't know what it is, but NYEBoy agreed that some of his mannerisms were similar to my father. 

Ashley: At first glance, she reminds me a bit of Kristen Howerton. Except Kristen is better looking. lol 

Team Boogie (Mike)

Ian: Omg. He creeps me out. W.T.F?

Frank: He's cute, but since he's on Team Boogie, I don't like him that much. Lol

Jenn: Love her attitude, but totally dislike her hair.

Team Britney

Willie: He's going to have a hard time fooling people if he really thinks he can avoid being Russell's brother; they look and sound just alike!

Shane: He looks like a douche.

Jojo: Clearly cast to be the Jersey Shore type of girl, but we'll see.

Team Dan

Jodi: Jodi, who? Goodbye! I have to say, I am a little bummed she didn't last longer. I'd like to have heard more about her story.

Kara: She's pretty. We'll see what her personality is like as the game goes on.

Danielle: Same as Kara, we'll see what her personality brings, but she's pretty.

If you haven't got your feeds yet, please get them through Morty's TV to support one of my favorite Big Brother websites! You can also check out his site for daily recaps. He's amazing.

Any other Big Brother fans out there?? What are your first impressions?

You Want Us To Work? Okay.

You know how they say if you pee on a stick, your period will come? Well, that doesn't exactly work with those of us with PCOS. Instead, those blank pregnancy tests just laugh back at us as our ovaries stay silent.

Starting June 2nd, I started spotting for two weeks of red blood followed by a week of brown. This isn't normal, so I made an appointment with my doctor. I haven't had a real cycle since the miscarriage 10 months ago.

So, my appointment with the doctor was today. She decided to run bloodwork first to see where my hormone levels were and said we'd do a pap next week.

I was feeling fine with this plan when I left, but apparently my ovaries decided they'd like to come back out and play. While I was waiting on NYEBoy to get out of work, I started cramping. During dinner, I couldn't even eat because the pain was so intense.

I haven't had a period in so long, that I honestly was shocked to come home to so much bleeding/clotting.

I'm kind of excited though, I won't lie. It's been 35 days since I started spotting last month. The thought of my cycles getting back on track is amazing. We'll see how it plays out.

iPad in the Shower

I've been living in our tub lately. I try to take a soak in the tub at least 3-5 days a week. While I'm soaking in the tub, I'm almost always watching something on the iPad.

The downside to being addicted to television shows on Netflix, Hulu +, and HBO Go, is that they aren't exactly shower friendly.

Since waiting a few minutes until the shower is over to finish watching the show, I had a genius idea!

We have a towel bar on the opposite end of the shower from the shower head, so I put the iPad in a gallon ziploc bag and hung it by two shower rings. Ta-da!

I put some clear packing tape along the under side ziploc strip on both sides and I cut two holes for the rings for extra protection so the rings don't rip through the ziploc bag causing the iPad to fall to it's death. 


If you center the iPad, you can still hear it fine and the ziploc is thin enough to still work the touch-screen.

It's a little redneck, but hey, I can take my shower and watch my shows!!

Sunflower Centerpiece

Sam's has their sunflower bouquets for $5, and since I had a dinner party tonight, I decided they would be perfect as a centerpiece.

I cut the stems off the sunflowers, and placed them in yellow party cups that I had cut just below the halfway mark. Fill the cup with a little bit of water and you're good to go! They were so pretty.

For the cost of about $6 with the cups, I had an instant, beautiful, centerpiece!

These would be perfect to put in a little clear cello bag, with a note for a friend or neighbor! 

Date Night: Katy Perry

Okay, I love Katy Perry. I can't help it. I have no shame. Some people get all hyped up on Bieber fever, but I prefer Katy. So, of course, I got all fan-girl happy when I first saw the trailer for her movie Part of Me.

NYEBoy originally agreed to go with me, but then started to change his mind after seeing Magic Mike and hearing some women bitching about how they couldn't believe someone would bring their man to this kind of movie, so I think he thought Katy's movie was going to be too girly for him.

BUT, I refused to take no for an answer! WE were going.

And you know what? He liked it. We both did. My absolute only complaint was that it was only being shown in 3D at our theater and my eyes just don't like 3D. But, the movie was great. I do think it made Russell Brand appear to be a douche bag as far as the divorce was concerned. (I'm not going to lie, NYEBoy and I both love us some Katy Perry and Russell Brand, and we BOTH teared up when she broke down. NYEBoy squeezed my hand, to let me know he loved me. :-) )

But, it was a really good movie if you like Katy Perry. Say what you want, but that girl works her ass off! She makes me seem like a slacker. Ha.

I may or may not regret not going to get my poster from the ticket counter since we use the automatic machines and didn't get our posters. Heh.

Date Night: The Amazing Spiderman

I'm not going to lie, we were both a bit nervous about going to see The Amazing Spiderman, because we weren't sure how it was going to be without Toby Maguire. We were both pleasantly surprised, though! The casting was great. (Side-note: Man, I love me some Sally Field!)

The storyline was changed just enough to be the same "boy-gets-bite-by-a-spider", but interesting enough to be different from the original Spiderman in Toby's days. 

If you go see it, make sure to stay after the credits. :-)

Date Night: Savages

We were going to go see Katy Perry tonight, but I totally forgot Savages was opening. Katy will have to wait until Sunday!



We both LOVED! LOVED! LOVED! Savages. The characters were perfectly cast. It was a love story, it was action, it was plain ole, bad ass!

Here Lizard, Lizard, Lizard

Childless, Family-less Holidays

It's still so weird, spending holidays without my family. It really magnifies how much it sucks to be childless on these days.

Growing up, we typically went to my grandma's brother and sister in-law's house in Arkansas for the 4th of July festivities. We'd usually go up the night before, especially if it fell on the weekend.

We would wake up in the morning with breakfast hot and ready from my Aunt C and Grandma. Sausage, gravy, bacon, eggs, and biscuits, all up for grabs. We would put on our swim suits before our food had time to hit our belly and jump in the pool. Then, we would swim all day long, only stopping for lunch and fights. Hey, kids will be kids, right? Lol

As a side note, my cousin and I are six months apart, and we've rarely ever gotten along. We just fight all the damn time. Well, my cousins daughter and A are a year apart, and everyone says they remind them of us, because they fight all the time. Lol It's mini Due and cousin M all over again. Lol Par for the course, I suppose.

I can remember going over there when A was a year old or so, and my cousin making bitchy remarks about A being in footed pajamas and drinking milk out of a sippy cup, she tried to say that was causing her to be too big for her age, when in reality it's called genetics! She's a tall kid!

We would always rush back home shortly before sunset, in order to catch the fire works over the Mississippi bridge. There were always cars lined up along the bridge, very dangerously! But, it was fun.

Then, we came home, and did our own fireworks. Lol

But, things are different now. It's just NYEBoy and I. I know it won't be forever, and in a few years, we'll be settled in a home raising our kids and passing along our own family traditions, but right now, today, it's lonely.

If A were here, we'd be at the local community 4th of July parade. Afterwards, we'd have lunch and snow cones planned. And this evening, we'd all trek down to the lake to watch the fireworks. And we'll probably still do lunch and fireworks today, but it's just not the same without kids or family, you know?

I hope you're all having a wonderful 4th of July.

Happy Birthday, America!

New Bed Help

As I mentioned the other day, we're going to be be re-doing our master bedroom. I want a new bed, desperately!

I bought our bed about eight or nine years ago, and it's just time for a change.

Here's my current dilemma. In two years, we'll be moving to another state, where we'll be living for awhile.

We currently have a Queen bed in the master bedroom and a Full bed in the guest bedroom.

Our ultimate goal is to have a King or California King at the new house when we move for our bed, and to leave the Full set here when we move.

So, I am left with either replacing the Queen to a King or Cali-King now, or just waiting until we move.

The cheapest option would be to just replace the top mattress (the box spring is fine) and memory foam mattress topper for the Queen for now, and then we'll use it in the guest bedroom once we move.

But, I don't know what I want to do.

Do you have any mattresses you recommend? Any suggestions on whether we should wait or go ahead with the King?

Thanks for your advice/help! I can't wait until it's done.

Date Night: People Like Us

We saw People Like Us yesterday. I have to admit, I had been up all night the night before because my sleep has been messed up, and I totally fell asleep about 20 minutes in the movie. I kept waking up, but I would fall back asleep. Lol I don't blame the movie, just my over-tired self!

NYEBoy said he loved the movie and that it was really good. I plan on trying to see it either at the cheap theater or DVD at some point. I hate that I missed it, but me so tired. Ha.

Have you seen it? What did you think about it? Do you plan on seeing it?

Eight Years

Eight years ago today I began my TTC journey.

That's 96 months.

Or 417 weeks.

Or 2,921 days.

Or 70,126 hours.

Or 4,207,590 minutes.

Or 252,455,408 seconds.

And counting.

A lot has happened in the last eight years.

I was diagnosed with PCOS. Then, I was clinically diagnosed with a chromosome mutation.

I ended a relationship that wasn't working out. Then, I met my soul mate.

I've seen countless friends and family members, including my then-teenage sister become pregnant and have their babies over the past eight years.

Our goal for fertility treatments is after graduation in two years.

But, last year, I decided to try a Low Amylose diet, which is supposed to help those of us with PCOS.

And it worked. But, we lost our baby before we even knew it worked.

It was devastating. But, we haven't lost hope.

Having the chromosome mutation puts me at a slight disadvantage as those with just PCOS, because I have a 50/50 chance of passing it on to my child.

But, I am back on the diet and trying it again. Even if we're unsuccessful, I know the diet is more of a lifestyle change that anything, because when we have PCOS, our bodies digest food differently, and with the help of a Low Amylose lifestyle, I'm able to keep my PCOS better controlled.

Even if my hands are still empty and my heart is even more broken than it was last year, I still have hope.

I know we'll be parents in the next few years, one way or another.

One good thing about being eight years out, is knowing I have less than that to become a mother. I'm on the other side of the hill now, on my way down to the finish line.

Thank you for being here by my side for the last almost seven years since I started blogging. If it weren't for the infertility blogging community, I don't know how I would have made it. I've had the pleasure of knowing some of the strongest women I know.


Here's to hoping this journey is almost over. I'm ready for the next chapter--motherhood.