To Baby Or Not To Baby

Is it just me, or is everybody pregnant these days? Maybe it's just my neck of the woods - all my friends and family. But I kid you not, I counted and fifteen of my friends and family are pregnant. I'm not talking about people that I sort of know. I'm talking about people I actually keep in touch with and know personally. I feel as though every time I turn around another friend is announcing her pregnancy.

And with my recent "comeback" I have been shocked at the number of tweets & emails I have received inquiring if I was pregnant.  Apparently many of you thought I took a little vacay from blogging due to an unannounced pregnancy.  Well I hate to disappoint you ladies - but this is not the case!


Steven and I have been married for over three years now. We were the first of all of our friends to get married. When we were engaged my girlfriends joked with my that I would start "popping out babies" immediately. I swore to all of them that I might have been the first to get married - but I would be one of the last to get pregnant. Turns out that is true. Most of my friends who are pregnant got married after me and they have beat me to it.

As you can imagine, this has lead my over analytical, type A, freak-out-about-everything self right into a tail spin. Over the past two months figuring out every detail of my soon-to-be pregnancy was of utmost important. I found myself googling words like Egg White Cervical Mucus & figuring out what an OPK was. I determined what month I want the baby to be born and calculated what month that meant I should conceive. And then came the horribly troubling thoughts - what if we have difficulty conceiving? What if my biological clock really is ticking and I wait too long and miss my opportunity to have a baby? What if I've waited too long and I am no longer able to get pregnant.

Why did I torture myself with all this panic & worry? I have no idea!

Before I found out everyone else was getting pregnant I didn't feel any deep urge to get pregnant. Of course I want a family someday, and I've known for about a year now that "someday" is quickly approaching - but I haven't been quite ready to start trying.

But suddenly I saw babies everywhere, and I wanted a baby.

A few weeks ago after discovering another pregnancy via Facebook I burst into the living room and screamed at Steven, "OMG. SoandSo is pregnant!! EVERYONE is pregnant but me!" Steven calmly replied, "Sweetie - do you really want a baby? Is that what you are ready for? Cause if so we can have a baby." I was on the verge of tears when I replied, "I don't think so. But you know me - I just don't want to be left out." To which Steven immediately burst into hysterical laughter and said, "There she is - my crazy wife!"

Which of course - I am crazy - but that's another topic entirely.

So I've decided to put the baby topic to rest for a few months. With recent job changes and other unnamed events, it seems like we could use a few more months to catch our breath and get a few things in order. I'm not saying this means we are going to start trying soon or that we are putting baby making on hold. I'm just taking a moment to realize that starting a family shouldn't be this stressful.

I'm so blessed to have the life that I do. I have loved being a newlywed with my husband. I really cherish the years we have had together - just the two of us. I hear so many women in their 40's with kids who say they wish they had waited a few more years and really enjoyed time alone with their husbands before starting a family. I don't want to look back on life and feel like I rushed into anything.

So for the time being, I'm focusing on loving my husband. Enjoying these moments because I am starting to realize that at some point in the near future we won't have the freedom and flexibility that we have now. I'm telling the control freak in my head to take it easy and allowing the carefree Amber (yes - she does exist - even if she rarely makes an appearance) to drive for a little while.

And until I have a baby of my own, I can always love on these cuties.
 

It's Finally Here!!!!

I cannot begin to tell you how long I have waited for this day. The past two months of boring, weekday summer nights have lead me to this day. This night. The night that Prime Time television premiers the Fall TV Lineup!!!!


Can you hear the choir of angels? Can I get an Amen or Hallelujah?

I'm kind of ashamed to admit this - but I spent my lunch break last Thursday mapping out our evening TV schedule. We recently switched from DirectTv to Time Warner Cable which means that we lost all the programming on our DVR and it will need to be reset. So I spent an hour visiting NBC, ABC, Fox & CBS online to see what their fall line-up looked like and mapped out our DVR schedule. Don't judge me......

I'm not going to tell you all the shows I will be watching, because it would be a little embarrassing. But I figure, I wake up at 5:00 a.m. every morning and get my workout in before work. I work from 8-5 and have an hour long commute home. If I want to relax in front of the TV Monday-Thursday evening for a couple hours, that's my perrogative. Plus you know me, Little Miss Frugal loves some free entertainment!

I will however share a few of my favorites and a few new shows that I have high hopes for:

Grey's Anatomy

Hands down all time favorite show. I can't believe Meredith gets fired - I'm sure that won't last long because what would the hospital drama be without Meredith??

Castle

Please, please, please can they just get together??? Will Beckett remember that Castle said the L word??

Modern Family

ABC Comedy Wednesday is my favorite night of the week largely in part to this fabulous show! Congrats on all the Emmy wins last night!

Criminal Minds

JJ is back! :)

I'm also adding a few new shows to the mix:

New Girl

I love Zooey Deschanel and this new show looks hilarious.

Whitney

Have you seen the promo where she says, "I don't get why guys have to wear jerseys while watching a football game. It's not like they are on the team. That would be like me dressing up as a hooker to watch SVU." Bahahaha.....

Is anyone else as excited about their shows coming back on as I am? Feel free to share your favorite shows!

I Love It When My Passions Collide

So as many of my long term readers know - I'm what you might call frugal. Some might even say a penny pincher. My husband likes to call it plain cheap. Whatever way you spin it - I love saving money!


When Steven and I decided to start following Zone, I immediately thought of the cost of eating healthy. I worried that we would not be able to stay within our allotted monthly budget for groceries if our entire diet consisted of lean meats, fresh vegetables, fruits, nuts and dairy products. I had a preconceived notion that eating healthy was expensive.

I'm glad to say - I've been pleasantly surprised to find out that notion was wrong!

It has been rather easy to find cost effective healthy lunch and dinner options; however, I found myself spending majority of our grocery budget on balanced snacks.

I love Greek yogurt. It's packed with protein and offers a conservative amount of carbs. One cup around 3pm each afternoon is enough to hold me over until dinner every night. I'm especially in love with the Key Lime flavor. I swear, if I close my eyes, it's almost as if I'm eating real key lime pie. And who doesn't like to snack on key lime pie??

One tiny problem with Greek yogurt is it can be quite expensive. The average single yogurt pack runs about $1.25. Add that up over a week and you've spent $6.25 just on afternoon snacks!

Thankfully my mother turned me onto couponing. Our local grocer, Harris Teeter, doubles coupons up to $.99. About every six weeks they will triple coupons up to $.99. So I save my Greek yogurt coupons until a special comes along and when it does - I stock up on healthy snacks at a steal.

Harris Teeter is running the triple coupon special this week and they have Yoplait Greek yogurt on sale 10/$10. I had 5 coupons of "Buy 2 Get $.50 Off". I purchased 10 yogurts for $10 on the VIC special. I had 5 coupons for $.50 off which was a total of $2.50 in savings. Triple that savings and I save $7.50 in coupons! I purchased $12.50 worth of yogurt for $2.50!!! I paid $.25 a piece when the yogurt was normally $1.25 each!!!

Call me crazy - but knowing that I saved 80% makes this key lime yogurt cup taste that much better!

I'm Back!

It's official ladies - after many not so subtle hints from many of my followers, friends and even my husband - I've decided to come back to blogging.


For the first time in a long time I'm started to feel like myself again - and let me tell you, it's a good feeling. Now that my schedule has slowed down slightly and I've been able to catch my breath, I have the itch to get back to blogging!

I've experienced a bit of a whirlwind the past six months though. I'll spare you the drama and give you the high lights:

-Knee injury has completely derailed Crossfit efforts. After 5 months of a vicious cycle of rehab for a week then working out for a week, I've finally committed to staying off my knee and rehabbing it properly. I'm two weeks in and not seeing much improvement - but I trust that within another 4-6 weeks I will see signs of improvement and be able to return to Crossfit.

- Remember that big girl job that I was so excited about in April? Turned out to be a BIG fail. Out of respect for my friends who still work there, I won't go into any particular details. Simply put - it was not for me. After four months, I made the difficult decision to explore other career opportunities and the Lord quickly blessed me with a new path.

-I've been at my new job three weeks now and already I feel a huge weight has been lifted. The schedule is much more reasonable and I truly see opportunity for long term growth and happiness. Thank-you Lord!

-I'm finally a blonde again!!!! After 8 long and difficult months, my hair has regained it's sparkle. Although, not without a lot of damage. Lesson learned - I will never go dark again - ever.

That about sums it up. Thank-you SO much to all of you who have checked in on me over the past six months. It makes me feel so great to know that my absence has not gone unnoticed and that there are people out there (even if you are technically strangers!) who care for me and my while being.

I'm done with the pouting and poor me stories. I can't wait to jump back on the wagon and see what everyone has been up to!