Thanks BzzAgent!

I walked out my door this afternoon to find a box. I love getting packages so I was excited to see what it contained! I opened it up to find my SC Johnson Smart and Easy Spring Cleaning kit from BzzAgent! I have been a BzzAgent for about a year. I think I signed up after I saw it on someone's blog naturally :) I checked in a few weeks agoto see what was new, and signed up for this campaign. Well look at all the freebie's I got.

Let me give you the rundown:
- One 4oz. Glade Limited Edition Spring Collection jar candle (smells so good!)
-One Glade Plugins Scented Oil refill Crisp Waters
-One Pledge Lemon Clean aerosol spray
-One 20oz. bottle of Scrubbing Bubbles Mega Shower Foamer with Extend-A-Clean
-One Scrubbing Bubbles Toilet Cleaning Gel Kit with dispenser and gel discs
-A mega-savings coupon booklet-Over $58 dollars in coupons!!!

I was so excited about all the goodies, and I am a coupon loving girl. They have included enough coupons to share with some of my coupon loving friends. All I have to do as a BzzAgent is try the products, share my opinion with others, and complete a few activities at BzzAgent.com. Pretty easy and a good deal for such great freebies. So I will be sharing my opinions of the products I received in upcoming post. I also really encourage you to become a BzzAgent if you are not already.

Latest Attempt at Being Crafty

Wanted to share my latest attempt at being crafty. It started almost a year ago when I was finally able to drag convince my sweet husband to go to this cool architectural salvage place in downtown Memphis. It is South Front Antiques. This place is a DIYer's dream! Their website says it is the largest architectural antique store in Memphis. I would believe it. This place has three floors filled to the brim with all doors, windows, doorknobs, mantels, etc.

I just wanted to check it out because I have never been to an architectural salvage place before. I knew maybe I would want to eventually do something neat with an interesting old window. I dug through all the windows and didn't find one. Well in front of some of the column's there she was.

I wanted to take her home then, but Patrick said I should think about it. So fast forward a week when I convinced my mother in law that she would love it and we needed to go. So since my pretty window was out in the open and not covered up with other discarded one's I thought she would be gone. We walk in and I try to give my MIL time to look around, but I really wanted to run down to the basement where I last saw my pretty. We finally get down there and there she was! She was purchased with a few other treasures I will show you later!

So then I brought her home, and started the sanding process the next day. She was pretty bad off. Then we got busy with different things ,and she kind of got shoved in a corner where I forgot about her.. sad huh. Finally I got her out to spray her my lovely Rustoleum American Accents Heirloom White. Of course after a hefty application of newspaper and painters tape to safe the lovely panes.

Once again I had to put her up while we went out of town. So she had to sit for a few months (notice a trend here). Finally I got heavily bit by the DIY bug and drug her out two weeks ago to finish her. I sanded her in a few places which was followed by some walnut stain in a few key places. Then she got another one of my loves applied- Ralph Lauren Smoke Glaze.

I knew I wanted to put pictures in the eight small panes, but I was not sure what to do with the four long ones. Finally it hit me I would finally use my Cricut to cut vinyl. I had a two sets of wall hangings from Willow House that I wanted to use with the window so I found some scrapbook paper to mount the pictures on that closely matched their colors. I then cut out some fun scrolls that worked with everything and cut those out.

I really liked the final product, and I am proud of my first big (at least so far) DIY project. I naturally wanted to hang it in the center of my wall with my two sets of wall hangings on either side. But we all know how smooth plans run. The studs dictated where she would hang so we could only use one set. Oh well I really like it and it looks a whole lot better than the blank wall I had for so long. You be the judge. Also sorry for such a long post, but I got a little excited!

I lost my old blog posts...grr

Yep you read the title right. I have had this blog since 2009 and had made several posts here and there over the last two years...well they are all gone. Including my first of this year that was big. It had a lot of details about our infertility. One of the main reasons I started this blog was to keep up with my life, and be able to look back and see how far I had come. I can't get those posts back that contained my feelings at that time, and that really upsets me. All I can do now is move on. I was planning on coming here and posting more pictures of some more crafty attempts. I will post those maybe tomorrow after I cool down some.

Craft Attempt

Well I have had all the materials for probably close to a year. Finally on Saturday I decided to bite the bullet. I didn't really make anything I just changed something that I got on the cheap and not my taste to something I really like.

I bought this little piece at one of favorite stores ever Hobby Lobby.

It was on the clearance aisle for $8. The previous sticker said $13.50, but I am not sure of the original price. I bought it more for the shape than the design. The shape reminds of something Pottery Barn would sell.

So yesterday I broke out my materials used so often by some of my favorite bloggers Shanty 2 Chic. First I sprayed it with Rustoleum American Accents Heirloom White. Then I used my one of my new loves Ralph Lauren Smoke Glaze. You just paint on and wipe off with an old towel. It was so easy!

Here is my final product:

And I decided to put on my tv cabinet with my some of my Etta B Pottery.

While I had all my stuff out I finished up a project I started back in the fall. I will update in my next post about it.

I Promise to Blog More

Alright well once again I have taken way to long of a break. I want to blog to be able to look back at all the things happening in my life. Hopefully I will post all the great things going on in my life right now such as being on the American Farm Bureau's Young Farmer & Rancher Committee, the little things we are fixing in our house, my attempts at being trying to be crafty, or my attempts to save big with coupons. I am also sure I continue to post about our continuing infertility struggle. That is something I have really been struggling with lately.

On the infertility side my doctor finally gave us a referral to a fertility clinic. We were able to get an appointment in September. He looked at my previous blood tests, and the year’s worth of Patrick’s analyses and told us our only option was IVF with ICSI. After some uncomfortable and painful tests, and more countless blood draws I waited for them to contact me like they said. Finally I called the doctor's nurse end of December to ask what was going on. She said she looked over my file and meant to call me the month before to start things. I was a little upset that I was kind of over looked. So here we were waiting again and feeling defeated. So she told me to call her the first day of my next cycle so I can start the birth control pills. So I call in January and she says my cycle won’t work this time because the lab will be closed when I need to come in. Once again I was left feeling defeated, and I could barely finish the phone call before bursting into tears. So once again we wait, and I think I am going crazy in the process.

But as my blog is titled I am trying to be hopeful and patient. I am trying to change the way I look at things, and remember only He knows when and where. I am also trying to find things to occupy my time so my mind does not wonder. We have been gone so much the past couple of months with the committee that I have not really had time to think. Well now I am home and I starting to have too much time on my hands. So I came up with a few ideas to try to keep myself busy. One thing I am going to try and do is get my Willow House business in full force again. Willow House was formerly Entertaining at Home, which I have been with for four years. I usually have two to three parties a year, but I know I can do so much more with it! I am going to get my name out there more by posting some things on my blog, Facebook, and looking into some sponsor opportunities on other blogs. Also I am going to help out in the office of our farming operation. The poor back office is paper logged so I am going to use my organizational skills to hopefully find the top of the desk!

Well hopefully my next post will be really soon.. although like I have said before I know I am the only one who reads these. :) Also I am working on getting a prettier blog :)

I think I might be crazy...

It has been quite a long time since I have posted anything. My life is pretty boring, and I was the only one reading about my boring life. :) Oh well I am going to start blogging again. At least I will have a record of some exciting things going on in my life.

I have wanted to start exercising, and take control of my health. I only have the one life and I want to LIVE it! Also my friend Tracy just lost her 33 year old brother. That really hit home for several reasons. I had met him a few times and he was a great guy, my friend was hurting, and that seriously could happen to me. I am only 31 years old and I feel so out of shape and generally just blah. So here is where crazy comes in. Tonight I completed my first night of Couch to 5k (C25K.) Basically you run for 90 seconds and walk for 60 seconds several times for a total of 20 minutes. Then you also warm up for 5, and cool down for 5. I decided to do it at night because I didn't want anyone to see how sad it would be. lol So did I make the whole 90 seconds each time I had to run..no. But you know what you have to start somewhere. I am really bad at not being motivated enough to stick something out, but I want this to be different. I am also hoping this might help out some on the infertility front. I will end with a great quote I found.

“You must do the thing you think you cannot do.” - Eleanor Roosevelt

Hope & Patience

I read several (really way too many) and one of my favorites is Mo'Joy. I have been reading her blog since before her sweet nephew Jake passed away. She has the cutest little girls, and is so creative!! Her post yesterday was about choosing a word of the year. She got the idea from Ali Edwards whose blog I also adore. I would love for my word to be Hope... I am hopeful after waiting almost two years this would be our year to be blessed with a baby. I also have so many dear friends’ that are faced with Infertility, and I hope this would be their year as well.

But I have realized my word should be Patience. It is unfortunately not our time but His time. Wiki defines Patience as: the state of endurance under difficult circumstances, which can mean persevering in the face of delay or provocation without becoming annoyed or upset; or exhibiting forbearance when under strain, especially when faced with longer-term difficulties. It is also used to refer to the character trait of being steadfast.

So I have claimed Patience as my word of the year!