Pull up a chair . . .

Sorry, but the orange festive background was stressing me out! Too much energy. I know this isn't quite seasonally appropriate, but I need some tranquility. So, come join me where I feel most relaxed. See that extra chair in the picture . . . that's for you. Sit down, relax and tell me all about it!

Oh, and I'll be back Monday to finish "One, maybe two, possibly three, what do you think about four?"

One, maybe two, possibly three, what do you think about four?

When I first met my husband, I was fresh out of a first marriage. I just couldn't see myself ever really being in love again or having a family. Doctors had been telling me since the age of 16 that for me, getting pregnant and actually carrying a child full term would be highly unlikely. I had been through a surgery or two, had cysts removed, adhesions and lesions had taken over my abdomen and had left a lot of scar tissue. The doctor said that if, by chance, I did get pregnant, the pregnancy itself would improve my condition. This just left me feeling like a cat chasing my tail . . . "hey, it's near impossible for you to get pregnant, but if you could, it'd really help, you know!" Then, throw a divorce in that situation and I felt hopeless. I had pretty much set my mind on not ever having children. In fact, when people asked in casual conversation if I wanted children, I'd say "no, not really." But those who REALLY knew me, knew that wasn't true. You see, I thought that if I said that I didn't want children, there would be no disappointment when I couldn't have them. And frankly, at that time during my life, I began to question what sort of parent I would be --- I mean, 27 and divorced . . . I was truly disappointed in myself. And I remember thinking, I would be a horrible mom. #1 - I have no patience --- seriously, I was about the most impatient person I'd ever seen. #2 - I was selfish. #3 - I felt awkward around babies. I grew up babysitting children. Heck, I even had a niece and nephew. And I was fine with children. But babies, I just didn't know what to do. And I wasn't one of those sappy, baby talking, adults. I.JUST.COULDN'T.GO.THERE. And that worried me.

Anyway, getting back to when I met my husband, he wanted a family -- the whole kit and kaboodle -- wife, 3 children, house on the farm with a horseshoe driveway and white picket fence. And in my mind, I could envision all of that. But, eventually I'd have to tell him, that those 3 darling children that he dreamed of having --- well, they wouldn't come from me.

I guess we'd been dating about 7 months when the endometriosis starting acting up. I had horrible pain in my abdomen. I remember heading to work one morning with a heating pad in tow. I sat at my desk in my chair that day with a heating pad on my back, constantly popping ibuprofen. The doctor had given me pain pills, but I was totally against taking those because I knew that I needed to learn to deal with the pain. After all, the only fix for my problem was pregnancy or a hysterectomy. And neither of those were an option for me right now. So, ibuprofen it was.

That day, the pain got so severe that I ended up leaving work, at the urging of my friend and co-worker Teena, and headed to the Urgent Care center. From there, they ran some tests, and sent me to the emergency room so that they could do an ultrasound. I received the results from the ultrasound that evening. They said I had another cyst. And probably more endometriosis that needed to be burned off. You see, 6 years prior, I had surgery to burn off endometriosis and some of the adhesions and lesions. Little did I know that in order to keep myself in good working condition, I needed this surgery every 4 years or so. Huh? That surgery was quite painful and the recovery was all but fast. Every 4 years . . . are you sure?

So, I left the hospital with that news. By that time, I had missed a phone call or two from my now husband -- we'll just call him R. So, I returned R's call, agreed to a dinner date and began to wrack my brain to figure out how I was going to tell him all of this. Y'all -- I liked him. No . . . I REALLY, REALLY liked him. And this news could possibly be a deal breaker. I mean, we were getting serious. We had talked about marriage. And yes, I know. I know that I should have told him the full extent of my condition a long time prior to this moment. But how do you say that.

"Hello guy who I'm dating. Since the age of 16, doctor's have said that I would have a hard time getting pregnant. Every month, I have a miserable day or two with endometriosis that sends me to my bed to lay on a heating pad. There is no definitive answer about my status of becoming pregnant -- I've never tried. But hey, it's stuff you need to consider before even thinking about marrying me."

Ok, well, that was pretty easy -- but actually saying it to him and wondering whether he'd walk out the door -- it was a scary thought. I mean, I'd explained some of my condition before -- and I think he understood and knew more than I gave him credit. But, I felt like I needed to lay it all out on the line. Tell him everything. And hope for the best. I kept thinking, what if the doctors were wrong. Who gave a doctor the authority to tell me what God had planned? In any case, R needed to know.

So, I arrived at R's place, determined to sit down and be fully honest about the situation. He greeted me at the door in his normal fashion -- a kiss, a hug and a "how was your day?" I felt my stomach flip flop. "R, you need to sit down. I have something to tell you . . ."

Girls . . . play nice!

Every Tuesday and Thursday, the girls and I have been meeting with a playgroup. Our group consists of two girls Maddy's age and one little boy Baby Lulu's age. We do things like go to the park and have a picnic, gather at each other's house and just let the kids play and do crafts, head to the indoor bouncing center and let them jump til their heart's content . . . you know, fun two year old stuff.

So anyway, yesterday, we headed to one of the other children's house to play and do our "turkey" project. We (or shall I say I - the control freak) have decided that each Thursday, we'll do a kiddy craft. So, I printed out templates, etc and headed out the door with girls, armed to make turkeys in honor of Thanksgiving.

We arrived at our friend's home, unloaded my um-teen number of bags (seriously, with two in diapers it's like packing for a week long trip just to run to the store!), and greeted our friends at the door. Maddy ran inside and immediately hugged her friends. They headed back to the play room and began to choose the toy that each would play with. Now, let's inventory here . . . one grocery cart, one baby doll stroller, three 2 year old girls. Problem! And I bet you can guess what happened next . . .

"Mine!"
"Momma, so and so is not sharing!"

And then we see girls, yanking at other girl's toys and then all of three of them start crying.

I can't say I'm surprised. My mother-in-law warned me of this. She did a brief observation of 2 year olds back when she was in nursing school. She said she found that 2 year old children like to play independently. I believed what she had told me, but for some reason, I thought that we could MAKE them play together.

So, getting back to the 2 year old drama queens, we gave them all a good talking to and sent them on their separate ways. And you know what? They each played in a little corner all by their lonesome. And each was happy to do so. And the house was a much more peaceful play to be!

So, here are a few pictures to document our crafting fun! Our little turkeys making turkeys!

And the finished product . . .


The turkey is made from a plastic plate and construction paper. If you'll notice, the feathers are made by tracing the child's hand. Cute, huh!!

We explained Thanksgiving and that we should thank Jesus for everything that we have. Then we talked about turkeys . . . what sound do turkeys make? Gobble! Gobble! Gobble!

All in all, I think the playdate and craft time went very well. So, I leave you with this . . . what happens when you leave two, two year old girls alone for more than 30 seconds?

This . . .

Wordless Wednesday

Busted!

For more Wordless Wednesday, go here!

Your chance to get a FREE Phillips Senseo!

If you've read my post here, then you'll understand this post. If not, click on the link and then come back here, ok?

Alright . . . are you back now . . .

Are you there?????

Hello?

Oh, there you are! Ok, now let's get down to business. The nice people over at Phillips are giving my readers a chance to get a free Phillips Senseo. Yes, you heard me . . . FREE! So, all you need to do is go here, answer a few questions and they'll let you know if you qualify! It's rrreeeeaaaallll simple! So, go! You know you want one! Just go . . . you can thank me later!

What in the world do pods have to do with coffee making?

About two weeks ago, I received a Phillips Senseo coffee maker for FREE! Yes, that's right, I said for FREE! You can imagine my excitement when the mailman rang my door bell and there it was waiting for me. So, Maddy and I immediately brought it inside and ripped the box open. And then, disappointment struck. What? It only makes a cup at a time? I hate those machines. They're too much work! I just want a whole pot of coffee sitting there, steaming, waiting for me to refill. So, I promptly set it aside and thought "Re-gift!"

Fast forward two days later . . . I took a second look at the coffee maker and thought, These nice people at Phillips sent me this coffee maker for FREE in good faith, hoping that I would try it, love it and tell others about it. And I haven't even bothered to pull it out of it's box. Shame on me! So, I began to think some advantages to using this coffee maker in hopes of prodding myself along and cranking up the machine:

1) Hubby is gone 1/2 of the month. Instead of making a big pot of coffee when he's gone, I could make one cup at a time and save myself the trouble of using the big machine.

2) Since it is only making the coffee one cup at a time, every cup is hot and fresh.

3) Oh yes, the pod thingys. They come in different flavors and such, so each morning I could technically have a different flavor.

4) It has a sleek, attractive, modern design. I wouldn't mind this machine sitting out on my counter.

So, I plugged the machine in and decided to give it a whirl. I did a quick little clean of the machine and then it was raring to go. I lifted up the front lever, inserted one pod, closed the top, filled the water compartment and pushed the button. In about 90 seconds, I had a fresh cup of coffee, sitting there waiting on me. Cool! And the coffee? IT.WAS.DELICIOUS. How easy was that!

So, then I remembered that I had French Vanilla and Cappuccino pods and decided to experiment. I did half an 8oz cup with the french vanilla coffee pod and then in the same cup, swap pods and used the cappuccino. And right then and there, I had a French Vanilla cappuccino --- SOLD! I immediately fell in love with this machine. The whole process took less than 2 minutes. That's right ladies -- no running to Starbucks -- no dragging out the Espresso/Cappuccino maker, grinding the beans, frothing the milk -- no ma'm. It was so simple. And so GOOD! I added a little Reddi wip
on top and voila --- heaven on earth in my cup!

"Senseo advertises it's system as a way to personalize your coffee. The coffee pod system lets you savor a single serving of coffee at the touch of a button, just the way you like it, whenever you like it!"

With the great coffee, ease of use and sleek design, the Senseo is sure to be a hit.

Now, let's get down to the nitty gritty. Target is selling this machine for $65 (or atleast my local Target is). However, Senseo was so generous as to send me a few $20 gift certificates to be used on the purchase of a machine. So, if you're interested, please let me know and I'll get one to you (first ask, first get basis! Supplies are limited so ACT NOW!). Of course, Senseo's website sells the machines and pods, but they have the machine listed at $69.99 -- and then you have to pay shipping and handling. I priced the pods at Target and they were selling 2 bags for $7. Each bag contains between 10-18 pods, depending on the flavor and variety. I was able to use each pods for 3 to 4 cups of coffee (though they recommend you use a fresh pod for each cup of coffee -- why waste a good pod, I say!)

Well, I hope that I have shared some helpful information! Feel free to comment with questions and I'll try to answer them.

*As with any products I write about on this blog, I am not being paid to endorse those products. This product was provided to me free of charge from Phillips and I agreed to tell others about my experience -- good or bad.