What NOW?

Well, let's see...what has happened since my last post? Um...A LOT!

Where to start?

One night in late October (it had to be shortly after my last post) we went to dinner at Sweet Tomatoes and I received a phone call from my oldest son. Keep in mind, I'm still bleeding from a miscarriage and not feeling 100%. He cheerfully tells me that I'm going to be a grandmother. A GRANDMOTHER! He is 19 years old, was homeless only a few months ago, and works at Taco Bell. I'm 37 years old and still trying to have a baby of my own.

Anyway, that happened almost two months ago so I've had time to process it. I'm hoping this will be what it takes for him to grow a brain. Then at least something good will come out of all of this. I'm sure I'll love my grandchild and it'll work out but it's been a bit on the stressful side.

Speaking of stressful...just got off the phone with J2's principal. Security picked him up walking in a nearby neighborhood instead of Algebra class. Turns out he's failing EVERY class and hasn't bothered to show up in a month. Is it possible to hate and love your child at the same time? Because I think I do.

N just had her Colorado State gymnastics meet this last Saturday. She did AMAZING! She's the Colorado State Champion on bars and floor and 3rd place on beam. Unfortunately she took last place on vault...which brought her to 4th place All Around (which she would have grabbed 1st if she hadn't had such an awful vault!). I was so proud of her! She doesn't have another meet until September.

Both C and N have had recent birthdays...today C is getting her shots. I asked her if she was scared and she laughed at me. The kid has no fear.

We just got back from a trip to Florida. It was pleasant if uneventful. I did get to see my sister and that was good. It was just nice to get away from the cold for a while. We went up to St. Augustine and drove down to Key West.

St. Augustine, Florida

C and her prized coconut

 N after winning the Speech Meet

C climbing a palm tree

Hmmmm...what else is new...? Oh yeah. Only that so far I'm pregnant again! On the plane ride out to Florida was feeling pretty nauseous but I figured it would be too early to take a pregnancy test. After two days of feeling like caca I decided to buy one of the First Response pregnancy tests that is supposed to be super sensitive to HCG levels. Sure enough, a pink line showed up pretty quickly!

I've had a little spotting here and there and that's made me nervous. I went to the doctor yesterday and they drew blood. Now I'm waiting for them to call me back with the results but they are never in a hurry and it drives me crazy. I'll have to go back tomorrow to have it redrawn and then I'll likely have to wait another 24 hours for the results. It's killing me...

If this one actually sticks then my due date is August 22nd. Praying for good news!

So I will likely have a grandchild and baby born within two months of one another. Yup, my life is not complicated at all!

A Good Day

Today is a good day -- and maybe it's just my perspective because yesterday was such a BAD day. Let me back up a bit. On Monday I decided to buy a new phone. As I've made everyone reading aware, I live at nearly 9200 ft above sea level. Which is another way of saying I live in the middle of nowhere. There are no cell towers where I live and cell reception is absolutely non-existent. For the past 2+ years I've had Verizon and have used their network extender, which really doesn't extend my signal to more than 1 bar (on a good day). So I decided to take the plunge and go with the latest and greatest phone from T-Mobile. The Samsung Galaxy S III makes and takes calls over wireless so it was perfect for up here on my mountain.

Anyway, I ordered the phone on Monday. As soon as I ordered it I realized that I ported over my old number to my new phone and realized that if the new phone didn't come in within the 24 hours it was supposed to come in I would be without a cell phone. So I called Customer Service, who assured me that the phone would be there Tuesday afternoon, right about the time my old phone number ported over to the new phone. Okay, I was happy.

The next morning I found out that they had already ported my number. I checked the shipping tracking number and the found out that UPS decided my phone wasn't important enough to ship within 24 hours and decided that 4 day shipping was more appropriate. I freaked out and called both T-Mobile and Verizon who said it was too late to un-port my number and that I would just have to wait until Friday to have a new phone. I gritted my teeth and said FINE!

So Friday (yesterday) came. I called UPS to make sure that they were on their way. I was assured that they were. Around 12:00 I checked the tracking number and it said that my package had already been delivered. Um...what? So I checked the front and side decks and there was no package to be seen. I called UPS Customer Service and they said that there was a note that the package was left on my front deck. Fail.

On a hunch, I drove down to the bottom of my driveway. Sure enough, hanging from a tree was my new phone (in a clear garbage bag to save it from the falling snow, I'm sure). Feeling phone-deprived for the better part of a week I drove back up to the house and ripped into the packaging. I admired it's light weight. I oohed over it's pretty blue color. I turned it on. Then I peeled off the protective sticker and saw...

That the bottom of the screen was completely cracked. AAUUGGGHHH!!!!!

I called T-Mobile Customer Service. She acted like she was doing me the hugest favor ever by sending me a new phone. I literally screamed at her like she was one of my children (did I just write that?) when she said it would get here Monday. It took a while to calm me down. Oh, who am I kidding I'm STILL mad.

Anyway, as I said at the beginning of this post (which I realize was quite a while ago now), today was a good day. I took my cracked phone to N's gymnastics meet and recorded her beam routine. It was a very good meet for her, the judging was fair and she got 2nd place on beam and floor. She got 4th place on bars and All Around. Her bar routine was flawless until the dismount, which had too much power and she ended up taking a few steps and almost falling over. Such a bummer, she would have easily taken bars and first place All Around if she had stuck her landing (which she had in warm-up just minutes before). Oh well, she still had a good day and is pretty happy with all of her medals.

October Blues

I guess I need to accept that winter is pretty much here now. It was in the 60s and 70s last week and now nothing over 40F in the foreseeable forecast. Yuck! And they're calling for 4-5 inches of snow tonight. I sure hope my tires are still good on the Sequoia...

So it turns out that miscarrying a baby takes longer than I ever thought it would. The ultrasound last week showed a sac but no baby and that it probably stopped developing at 5w1d. Which would correspond with the day I first started spotting. My numbers had only risen about a hundred or so. I knew it was over and stopped taking the progesterone. Within a few days the bleeding started and a week later it's still going. I just want it to be over already!

J2 is driving me crazy. Why can't the kid get his algebra and chemistry grades up? If he could just pass this year then his senior year will be a cake walk. I just want to hit him over the head and knock some sense into him.

N has another gymnastics meet this weekend. The last few have been underscored and it's kind of bummed her out. Apparently there are a few judges in the area that strongly dislike our gym owner and want to take it out on the girls. So unfair. Hopefully we get the good judges this weekend!

C is supposed to be napping right now but I hear her upstairs banging around. I'm thinking about going up there and doing something about it but I have a meeting with my boss in a bit and then I'm considering taking a nap...which I can't do if C is awake then. So I think I'll let her bang around some more up there for a while and then she and I can snuggle together -- just the perfect thing to do in this yucky weather!

Updates

After reading my previous blog I realized that I had forgotten a few key updates...

The drama with N's teacher eventually came to a head and we decided that we had to do something. Knowing that N is exceptionally bright (yes, that's a shameless brag there :P) we decided to have her tested for third grade. She passed with flying colors (and a six+ grade reading level!) and her life as a second grader came to an end after only two weeks. She's been happy in her new class and still pulling As :)

N's doing well at her meets but while her floor and beam routine look great, her bars are not as spectacular as they once were. Hopefully she can get some of her mojo back there.

J1 is working a lot and hopefully staying out of trouble. He got into a car accident a few weeks ago and his head went through the side window. The people he was with were drag-racing while drunk. I can't believe how unbelievably stupid he can be sometimes and still manage to survive.

J2 decided in early September that he no longer wanted to be homeschooled. It was with great reluctance that I allowed him to go back to public school. You see, he's always had a difficult time around people. He can't seem to focus on anything and tends to stare at the paint on the walls. But he really wanted to do this and I know a diploma from an accredited high school is worth more than what I can give him being homeschooled. The first couple weeks were okay. Since then he's been floundering and I'm desperately hoping he can pull up his two Fs in Algebra and Chemistry. How can I have one kid who skips a grade and another two (the boys, of course) who can't seem to get it together?!

Nothing new to report with C. Only that her hair is growing back and she almost looks like her haircut was intentional.

Rollercoaster Ride

Where do I begin? Did this really happen to me? Is it still happening?

I have four children. I had the first two when I was a teenager. Turns out that teenagers are unexpectedly fertile because I didn't exactly have to work hard at getting pregnant. The first was an oops. The second was planned, but still didn't require a whole lot of work to get that way.

My girls were born when I was 29 and 33 years old. Everything went well, no major drama as far as the pregnancies were concerned (minus the fact that I had to have my labor stopped twice with C at 25 weeks). I've never had a miscarriage. Those happened to other people. I was made to make babies; obviously I've carried four of the buggers without major complications.

I thought I was done having children. Well, I was. My husband, on the other hand, wasn't ready to call it quits. But on Sunday, September 30th I was feeling weird. My period was supposed to come that day but it wasn't there. I tested the next day but it came up negative. Still, I suspected I was pregnant. The next morning I took another test and it was positive.

I've never exactly been a fan of being pregnant but I was starting to get on board. We wanted to be prudent and not tell anybody, but after I told a close friend she accidentally spilled the beans to her daughter, who happens to be a good friend of N. I knew we couldn't expect a seven year old to keep that kind of secret from N so we decided to tell the kids. Once the kids knew then of course everybody was in on the news. No big deal, though, I told myself. It's not like I'd ever had a problem with any of my pregnancies before. No reason to think I would this time, right?

It was a mixture of arrogance and ignorance that I missed the symptoms. Pregnant women aren't supposed to have acne. I normally have clear skin with the occasional zit around that time of the month. I bragged that I didn't have morning sickness. Pregnancy symptoms came and went.

I was five weeks and one day when the spotting began. I figured that I had just overdone it the day before and wasn't excessively worried, but I figured that it couldn't hurt to have a blood test done to make sure. I went into the hospital and had my blood drawn. That was Monday.

On Tuesday I was still spotting, but it was just that: spotting. Light brown and not something that most people would take too seriously. I didn't actually think anything was really wrong. After all, miscarriages happened to other people. I still anxiously waited for the call from the doctor to tell me that everything was fine so I could put my mind at ease.

The call finally came that afternoon but it wasn't what I expected. The nurse told me that my progesterone levels were extremely low (6.7). Apparently they wanted my levels to be at least a 15. My HCG levels were low as well (281). I asked to be put on progesterone supplements, she told me that the doctor didn't feel that it would help me. I asked if they could recheck my blood and she told me to come in Wednesday morning and see what happens.

I cried. A lot. The baby that I never wanted was suddenly something I would do anything to save. I bought progesterone cream from the health food store and prayed and prayed for a miracle. 

The next morning I had my blood redrawn. The hours crawled by as I waited for them to call me back with the results. I must have called the office ten times only to be told that I'd have to wait for somebody to call me back. Finally, they called and informed me that my numbers did go up. Maybe not quite as much as they'd hoped but they climbed up to 403. Once again I begged for progesterone and they agreed to prescribe it to me. They asked me to come in for another blood draw on Friday to confirm that my numbers were starting to double as they were supposed to.

I felt confident. I believed that God was granting a miracle. I just knew that Friday's blood draw would show my number to be in the 800s as it was supposed to be and that the medical community would chalk it up to a miracle baby and I would go on to have another boring and uneventful pregnancy. Imagine my shock, then, when I got the numbers back only to find that they had not doubled and were only at 589, with a progesterone level at 11. They told me to stop the progesterone and let nature take its course.

Instead, I made an appointment for Monday and continued to take the progesterone through the weekend. I know I'm probably only delaying the inevitable. I likely would already be cramping and bleeding without it. But I need proof that it's really over. I need either another blood test with the numbers going down or a sonogram to show me that there's not a tiny heart beating away at six weeks and one day. I've seen too many close call stories online to just give up so quickly and without a fight.

So tomorrow is my appointment. I know it's probably not going to happen for me this time and that miscarriages do happen to me too. I pray that God decides to give me a miracle but I can honestly say that I am at peace with whatever happens. Either I'll be celebrating a pregnancy or I'll be drinking a glass of wine tomorrow night. One way or another I'll have a smile on my face and peace in my heart.

And next time I get a positive pregnancy test I'll meet it with an entirely different perspective. Not only will I view it as a gift instead of taking it for granted, but I'll wait the entire three months without telling anybody but my husband. We'll wait on pins and needles together until it's safe to hope again.

Summer's Almost Done

Have I really not posted since June? Oh, that's bad.

Of course, there really hasn't been much to blog about. My eldest has finally gotten his own apartment but I'm unable to get a hold of him because he would rather have cigarettes than pay his phone bill. Oh well, at least he has a roof over his head and (I can only assume) food in his belly.

My second oldest son is terrified to learn how to drive. I took him on an empty dirt road in the middle of nowhere and he freaked out. I mean, what seventeen year old boy doesn't want to drive?! Sigh.

N started 2nd grade. I know I'm going to sound ridiculously 'mom-like' right now, and I apologize in advance, but I seriously doubt that they're teaching to her level. Yeah yeah yeah, I said it. But, come on, her spelling words this week consist of 'me', 'my', 'duck' and 'spot' among other words that she's been able to spell since before she started Kindergarten. Not to mention that her teacher has completely lost all my confidence in her. She keeps sending mass blank emails to everybody and then sends the same email twice. She gave N's markers that I bought to another student and then made herself sound like a hero when she bought some new ones for her. "Mom, you should really thank her for buying new markers for me!"  Um...yeah. The icing on the cake is that she mispronounces N's name and called me by my mother's name today (I can only assume it's because she was looking at the emergency contact list since that's the only place I put her name). N says she's sooooo nice. Hmph. Of course she is...

C has started gymnastics again after taking the summer off. She's doing so good! She has her back-bend kickover and it almost even has straight legs now. I'm unbelievably proud of both of my little gymnasts. N's season has started back up and her first meet it September 15th. I might be more excited than she is :P

Hope I get a chance to blog again soon!

ADHD Inc.

That's what I should name my new business. I change hobbies at least once a week and it's probably a problem. I am a woman of many interests; writing, doodling, sewing (clothes, dolls, etc - depending on the week), cooking, baking, crocheting, exercising...you get the idea. This week I've started on a new hobby: antiquing furniture. It all started when my mom dragged me to the antique store (kicking and screaming, I might add). Ever been to one of those? It's like everybody cleaned out Grandma and Grandpa's closet and brought their junk to one place. You can find anything at an antique store. Even just a bunch of garbage that nobody would ever want (think armless Skipper dolls). My mom went in looking for an old oil can for my stepdad. Of course she found one.

I was mildly interested until I came across something that I knew I had to have. Of course, the price tag on the antique china cabinet was $2500. But it was perfect for my dining room! So it got my mind a brewin'. What if I could find somebody's crappy discarded china cabinet on Craig's List and make it look like an antique? Suddenly my options were endless...and that's when I decided to create an antique-looking guest room. I have huge ideas: beautifully remade shelves, dresser, pictures on the walls...my mom even offered to make me a matching quilt. We picked up an adorable powder blue bed frame that was perfectly distressed. Now we just need to wait for J to move out of the room...haha (kind of).

We decided to hit the thrift stores first. There we found several cute shelves and a hanging quilt rack. I think I paid a whopping $12 for everything!

The first thing I did was sand everything down to a dull finish. That took a while but it was worth it. After that I painted them and let them dry. When they were perfectly dry I distressed them - sounds insane but I threw rocks at them, dropped them a few times and sanded down the edges to roughen them up (to give that worn down antiqued look). Then I gave them a nice polyurethane bath and called them complete!

The other day I picked up a dresser on Craig's List for $30. Solid wood that was beat up a little but that's a good thing in my book. Less rocks I have to chuck at it. I sanded it down (it took considerably longer than the shelves but it was good exercise, right?). Oh, I also removed all the spiders (EW!).  Then I painted it and let it dry. Roughed it up and sanded it down again.  Once it was dry I polyurethaned it and I will give it to the girls for their bedroom until J2 moves out and I can move it to the new guest room...unless I find something better for that room in the meantime


I'm still keeping my eye out for the perfect china cabinet...it's only a matter of time until I find just the right one!  I'm also considering doing a vanity with mirror for the girls...we'll see where my ADHD takes me next!

It's hailing...it must be summer (finally!)

I hear thunder outside...I guess that means it's FINALLY done snowing up here! It snowed less than a week and a half ago. I like to think that we're done now...but I've been wrong before.

I've been having teenager issues lately. Having an 18 year old (J1) is the WORST! Especially this one. He went to live with his dad when he was 15 and it's been nothing but downhill for him since. Praying that he gets a job soon and I'll be able to sleep again at night.

J2 just left for his great grandparents house in western North Carolina. Lucky kid gets to spend the entire summer in the Smoky Mountains. Whatever will he do without his video games? lol

C decided to cut her hair a few days ago. I thought she was upstairs playing nicely but she was in my sewing room and found my super duper sharp sewing scissors. She gave herself a nice side mullet. I screamed bloody murder and in her words 'freaked out'.  This is her after the hairdresser did her very best with what she had.

N has another gymnastics meet this weekend. She just learned her round off back handspring so she's ready to go!

Her last meet didn't exactly go well until her bar routine. Then she pulled a 9.35 and won first place in her division! Hopefully I'm better at taking pictures/video than I was last time. I actually did get a video of that (try to ignore my annoying voice if you can!):

Nine Years!

On Friday, Chris and I celebrated our 9th year of wedded bliss. Time flies when you're having fun (or changing diapers, arguing, doing laundry...etc).

Why does my husband always look unhappy in these pictures??

We went to Cuba Cuba for dinner and it was a good time!

So, a month or so ago N was complaining about her eyes. She said it was blurry and that she would get headaches from time to time. I took her to the eye doctor and I was surprised when they said her eyesight was just fine. Well, on Friday she brought home a note saying that she failed her vision screening in both eyes. I immediately called the eye doctor and they told me to bring her in yesterday. I brought her back in and, sure enough, she needs glasses. I KNEW it! Never doubt your mother's intuition, folks.

Continuing on my low-carb diet, I've decided to take a crack at this recipe this week. It's a coconut cream pie (my favorite!) using only natural ingredients, without wheat flour or sugar. It also happens to be Passover this week so I might just make some for dinner...(No, we're not Jewish but we follow the Jewish festivals instead of the Christian holidays -- if you ever wonder why, go here). I'll have to let you know how the pie turns out! Looks like a lot of work but for a good pie I am up to the challenge!

Starbucks Who?

I drove by a Starbucks today and nearly had a moment of weakness. At the last second my wits returned and I kept driving. But it got me thinking...why not make a Frap at home? I have all the stuff, it's just a matter of finding the lid to my blender...

Jen's Frappucino Recipe (sugar-free and low carb, of course)

1 tsp instant coffee
4 tsp Truvia (or erythritol & stevia...or Splenda if you must)
1 T unsweetened cocoa powder
3oz water
3 T half and half
1/2 t vanilla
1 c crushed ice
Heavy Whipping Cream

Directions:
Blend everything but the whipping cream. Pour into your cup and liberally apply whipping cream. A fraction of the cost and carbs but LOADED with taste!!

This is stolen from here (but I tweaked it for my own preferences)

Now THIS is news!

Chocolate-eaters have lower body mass: study

Healthy people who exercise and also eat chocolate regularly tend to have a lower body mass index than those who eat the rich brown sweets less often, a US study suggested on Monday.

The survey of a population of more than 1,000 adults, published as a research letter in the Archives of Internal Medicine, reinforces the notion that chocolate packs heart healthy benefits, despite its high calorie and sugar content.

People in the study, whose ages ranged from 20 to 85, reported eating chocolate an average of twice a week and exercising an average of 3.6 times a week.

Those who said they ate chocolate more often than the norm tended to have a lower ratio of weight over height, a calculation made by taking a person's weight and dividing it by their height times two.

A normal BMI is typically 18.5 to 24.9, while people who figure lower are considered underweight and those above 25 are overweight.

"Adults who consumed chocolate more frequently had a lower BMI than those who consumed chocolate less often," said the study led by Beatrice Golomb and colleagues at the University of California San Diego.

"Our findings -- that more frequent chocolate intake is linked to lower BMI -- are intriguing," it added, calling for more detailed research and perhaps a randomized clinical trial of chocolate's metabolic benefits.

http://news.yahoo.com/chocolate-eaters-lower-body-mass-study-201855724.html

In other words...Carpe Chocolatum!!!!!!

Goodbye Fatty

Something amazing happened on Saturday. I started dieting on August 7th, 2011. I'm not prepared to write how much I weighed when I started, but let's just say I was busting the seams of my 12/14 sized pants. The funny thing was that I didn't feel that fat, at least not until I looked at pictures of myself. The person I saw in the mirror was the same person I've always seen so it was easy to lie to myself and be convinced that I wasn't that heavy. But of course I was. I don't remember what finally made me take the food by the horns and wrestle it down, but that day in August I knew I was going to stick with it this time. I remember having a similar feeling about a year after having my second baby; I simply knew that it was my time. Like every other failed diet was practice for the real deal.

I started slowly. I watched what I ate and walked on my treadmill, or took hikes in the woods. My good friend was on her own weight loss mission and it was fun to watch ourselves shrink. We made plans to go to Key West in February and I had that in my brain the entire time I struggled through a work out.

Then the dreaded plateau hit and I was stuck at the same weight for 3 months with 25 lbs left to go. I decided to go low carb and have been doing it for the last 4 months, while also doing T-Tapp and exercising my my elliptical (my treadmill took a dive and Chris STILL hasn't fixed it >:( ). Now I'm down 49lbs and I only have 11 lbs to go :)

But back to Saturday...I hadn't bought clothes since last year (when the 14s were snug and I wanted to cry). Having lost nearly 50lbs made me completely unprepared for what to bring into the dressing room. The weather has been unseasonably warm up on my mountain and I needed a pair of capri pants that didn't fall down.

So I grabbed a couple pairs of 8s from the shelves and told myself that if they were tight I would deal with it like a champion. I put them on and was completely floored when they weren't just big; they were HUGE. I was running late so I grabbed a pair of 6s from the rack and went through the checkout line. I sat in the back of my truck and put them on, praying that they wouldn't be too tight, but preemptively reassuring myself that I would be okay if they were. After all, I hadn't been in a pair of size 6 pants for at least 7 or 8 years now. Imagine my surprise when I buttoned them up and realized that they were actually too big for me!

They only thing that I can imagine is that they had to have lowered the sizes to give us all a self esteem boost. And you know what? I'm okay with that. Imagine how good I'll feel about myself in another 11lbs!

And now I feel like working out...

Fat Dutch Braid

I've been on a hair kick lately with my girls. I happened to come across a really cool website (www.princesshairstyles.com)that has completely inspired me to do something cute with their hair every day, even if I only have a few minutes.

This Fat Dutch braid only took me a few minutes to do. I am always able to do Dutch Braids (upside-down French Braids) in my own hair but I've never been able to do them in anybody else's. Finally I used my brain and stood in front of N and braided it from that angle. It worked! For those of you who don't know how to Dutch Braid, it's essentially the same as French Braiding only you pull the strands under instead of over. If that didn't make sense I suggest you head over here because she explains it way better than I ever could.

Once you have finished the braid, gently pull the edges of each of the sections of the braid, starting near the elastic. This gives it the 'fat' appearance and makes the hair look thicker than it really is.

This hairstyle took me about two minutes to do!

Flourless & Almost Sugarfree Peanut Butter Bars

The peanut butter bars were a big hit! They were especially good after a night in the refrigerator and even better considering that I haven't had dessert since January.

Here's how I think I did them:

Bars:
2 cups peanut butter
1 cup Truvia sweetener
2 eggs
2 tsp baking soda

Chocolate Topping:
2 large bars 85% cacao chocolate
1/2 stick butter
2 T Truvia sweetener

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix bar ingredients together in a mixing bowl. Pour into greased 9x13 pan. Bake for about 15-20 minutes or until edges pull away from sides of the pan. Keep an eye on them, though, because I live at 9200 feet above sea level so cooking times will likely vary.

Combine the chocolate topping ingredients in a microwave safe bowl. Melt in the microwave in 30 second increments until it is completely soft. Spread over the bars once they are out of the oven and let cool completely.

Super yum without the guilt!

Why a Blog?

You know, that's a good question. I find it funny that I started a blog today, especially since we happened to be discussing this topic during my daughter's gymnastics class. My daughters, I'll call them N and C for the purposes of this blog (so that my hyper-secure and overprotective husband's head doesn't explode) both go to gymnastics, the older one for 3 hours at a time. Naturally we gym moms get to know one another pretty well and have long discussions about...oh who knows. But today we happened to get on the topic of moms who blog and we all agreed that it was stupid. Well, it sounded like that's what we agreed on but the truth is that I've wanted to start a blog forever. I just couldn't, for the life of me, figure out what on earth to call it.

Tonight I had a massive craving for peanut butter and chocolate. I've been on a low-carb kick for several months now and by the time I got home from gymnastics I needed something sweet so badly that I concocted an interesting no-flour peanut butter and chocolate something that I'm still waiting to cool off before I can test its edibility. I'll let you know. Anyway, with chocolate on my brain I finally came up with my blog name: Carpe Chocolatum. If you can't figure out what that means then...Google it.

So a little about myself. My name is Jen (and I can tell you that because we make up at least half of the human population and about a third of the pet population so I don't need to worry about my husband popping an artery). My husband's name is Chris (aha! Take that scaredy cat! Okay, another generic name) and we have four children, though two of them are more adult than child. I live on top of a mountain in Colorado but I'll keep that pretty vague as well. After all, it's not like you actually care, right?

Anyway, so I plan to use this blog for whatever fits my fancy at the moment. I am a woman of many hobbies...specifically I like to sew, write, read, and occasionally cook (meaning that I always cook but occasionally I enjoy it). I have a Facebook page for my sewing: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Petite-Poire-Boutique/284916846513 I'm kind of ADHD with my hobbies so I'm pretty sure this blog will show just how wishy washy I am with them. I might use this blog to rant about people...or my cats.

Okay, so my first awkward post is out of the way. PHEW!!


This really is the view from my dining room window first thing in the morning. It's the only reason worth waking up for if you ask me.


This is N...yes, she's very flexible. You'll see more of her.

Here's her sister, C...

Isn't she cute? Don't let her fool you, she's really kinda naughty. You'll see.