Saturday, October 31, 2009

Infertility News

I was reading my Woman's Day magazine this morning... I know it's a magazine that is really too old for me... but somewhere along the way I ended up with a subscription - and I probably won't renew it so that I can get something else that I'll enjoy more.

Speaking of that - while I'm working on my Christmas list this year... I'm wondering what magazines you guys can't live without... I've got Real Simple, Food Newtwork, and Taste of Home on the list... but I'm considering adding Everyday with Rachel Ray to the list. What magazines are must haves?

Anyway, back to the point of this post...

I came across their health section and on big bold letters - I saw "New Help for PCOS" - I know that some of my other readers suffer from this diagnosis like I do, so I thought I'd pass this along. This is what they had to say: "If you're among the 10 percent of women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), you know how hard it can be to treat, and that common remedies (like birth control pills) often don't do enough. New research reveals another option: acupuncture. A Swedish study found that women with PCOS who got weekly electroacupuncture treatments - which use needles that carry mild electrical impulses - had lower testosterone levels, reduced waist circumference and more regular menstral cycles after four months. 'The needles' stimulation seems to impact part of the nervous system linked to regulating sex hormones', says study author Elizabeth Stener-Victorin, PhD. Check out nccam.nih.gov to find an accupuncturist in your area, and be sure to ask if he or she does electroacupuncture."

John's on board... hahahaha... anyway - it is an interesting piece of information. I highly doubt that I'll try it - because I have this irrational fear of accupuncture and then adding the electric pulses makes me have this image of myself wetting my pants because I can't control my muscles. I know - it's silly, but it does make me nervous. I'm sure it would do wonders if I tried it out though.

Another weird health possibility has come to my attention as well - and since my two year surgical anniversary is coming up in 15 days... I'll need to go see my doctor anyway... so I plan on asking him what he thinks. Earlier this week, I learned of someone in our church having something called Hashimoto's Disease. I'm not kidding you when I say that I honestly think there is something here.

I believe that I've told you all about my sister having auto-immune hepatitis which is a disease where her body literally has been trying to attack her liver as if it were a foreign substance in her body that it needs to fight off. Hashimoto's Disease is similar in that it is your body attacking and trying to kill over your thyroid gland.

This disorder is believed to be the most common cause of hypothyroidism in North America. An average of 1 to 1.5 people in 1,000 have this disease. It occurs more often than women than in men (10:1 to 20:1) and is most often found in people between 45 and 65 years of age. (I've always been an early achiever!)

Symptoms include: weight gain, depression, mania, sensitivity to cold, fatigue, panic attacks, bradycardia, tachycardia, high cholesterol, reactive hypoglysemia, constipation, migraines, muscle weakness, cramps, memory loss, infertility, and hair loss.

It is often misdiagnosed as: bipolar disorder, anxiety disorder, PMS, cyclothymia, or depression. It can be treated with medications... but I will be asking if they can explore this as an option when I go in to see my doctor in the next month.


Copyright © 2007-2010 Thoughts By Kim. The content on these pages, including text and images are the sole property of the author unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved.

Friday, October 30, 2009

Costume Wedding Shower

After spending the morning at the craft fair with friends... I rushed home, got changed, and headed off to a Wedding Shower with an added twist... it was a Halloween themed costume party. It was really fun to see everyone dressed up - we didn't really participate in that portion, but got a lot of laughs at what people came up with.


The happy engaged couple... their wedding is coming up soon!



Two of John's cousins... see if you notice that someone else took over one of the costumes later in the party...



Another cousin... 4 kids, and she is still a smokin flapper!


This makes me laugh because it's John's cousin and his Dad...but how many times have you seen a biker hanging out next to a nerd?



The entry way decorations...



My sister in law, Susan... along with the cutest Wonder Woman, and Lady bug



I fed this lady bug so much candy and cookies to put her in a sugar high until next week... pay back is going to stink someday. HA!


Too funny... Susan, Uncle John, and John... (yes, John has an uncle named John!)


Brooklyn trying on her Mommy's witch hat.



John's family minus the two of us, and Susan's husband Ryan. (John's parents were "nerds" - his Mom's costum was debatable)

After the party - we were exhausted, so we went right to bed for the most part. Since I wasn't home for the majority of the day... and I spend the morning at church on Sunday... I had two furry creatures that needed some attention...  so I made some time for them.


Missy climbed right up on me and got herself a hug.


Maggie just came for a little scratch behind her ears... look at that face, would you be able to deny her some attention?


Missy is equal opportunity when it comes to demanding attention. So she climbed up in John's lap and let him scratch her belly for a while... too funny.

It was a busy Saturday, but very worth it... and I was thrilled to know that I had all day on Monday off by myself to recover. It ended up being a rainy cold day anyway - so I relaxed, drank some of my new Creme Brulee coffee, made some jewelry, wrote some blog posts, oh and started writing a book.

Anyone catch the last part? More on that to come later.

Thursday, October 29, 2009

Favorite Things

On Saturday, I went to The Country Peddler show with my friends Danielle and Natalie. We had a fantastic day of fun and shopping with friends... and laughed until we cried... literally. In honor of the fun and the GREAT booths that we visited... I thought I'd tell you about my favorite things from the show.

My first purchase was this shirt - she had them in tons of colors... I almost bought a gray shirt with pink and silver bling, but John is not a fan of gray... so I opted for the brown instead.



The next major stop for us was a coffee booth that sold about 30 different flavors of coffee, 10 or so of hot chocolate, 10 or so of instant Chai teas, Just add wine cake mixes, and 5 frozen drink mixes that you could mix with Sprite, Ginger Ale, wine, beer or anything that tickles your fancy. I bought Creme Brulee coffee, and a lime frozen drink mix for John. Sadly they don't have a website - or I'd be passing it along to all of you.... the coffee is amazing!




Next up, I fell in love with a lady that makes yard cutouts - she has a Christmas tree with lights that is to die for! I also fell in love with these little snowman kids... so cute!

We ate our way through the Companys Comin' booth... where they had samples of fantastic dips, casseroles, pies, cheese balls, pie filling mixes and olive oil dips. I personally bought some of their roasted garlic olive oil dip and some Aussie Artichoke and Spinach dip. I should have bought a few other things too... like the Italian Cream Cheese Ball, Chocolate Cheese Ball, and the Dixie Pie filling mix - none of which are online, sadly.

To cap off all of the lovely dips and casseroles... we passed by The Caramel Candy Company booth... and ladies, I'm not kidding a bit when I tell you that this stuff is HEAVEN! The pecan caramel was literally... to. die. for. They also make fudge as well - all sold online. If I had been thinking - I totally would have bought this on the spot - but I was side tracked looking at baby things across the aisle.

Honorable mentions go to... Chile Grill, because those are just plain cool.... if you eat jalapenos. Also to All of Us Soup and Dips - because yum!  Several of the soups and dips were tasty - but it was so early in the show that I was trying to pace myself... thank goodness they have a website. I don't know about you, but anything called chocolate cobbler is just something that I know I would instantly love.

After we hit all of the shops - I also got a snowman framed piece of art for $2.95! It was awesome. We left the show and went for lunch at Chili's which involved lots of giggling and enjoyment. The morning was a huge success, and a ton of fun - and I hope just the beginning of many more to come. There was talk of a couple of get-a-way shopping trips... I'm going to have to start stashing money away now!

Amazing Things Happening

Yesterday, John and I had the opportunity to be the hands and feet of God in that we were able to help someone that we care about in a very real and meaningful way. I don't know how many of you out there have truly experienced that - but it really is a blessing for everyone. To be able to step in and give something tangible in the same and service of God... it's truly incredible.

I think that everyone should take a little extra time to seek out someone in your close personal circle and see if there is a need that you can help meet. Does that mean that things might be tight for you if it is a financial need... maybe, but there are so many other needs out there as well. It could be just some extra prayer, some extra time spent holding their hand... or any number of other things.

I know that the first initial response would be for most of us to turn down such an offer, but I have a new philosophy on that. John read the book 90 Minutes in Heaven, and the writer there talks about how turning down offers of help is actually selfish - what? Yes, it can be... think about all the times that something has happened to a friend or loved one, and you just don't know how to help. You feel helpless... but really you are capable of doing certain things to help - the recipient just needs to be open to letting you do the things that you can. It is not a burden on anyone - they truly want to help - so let them do what they can.

Now, fast forward a few hours after we committed to helping our friends...

John is sleeping, and has a dream... but not just any dream. John's dream last night was about us getting a baby, in 3 months from a specific area of town. (EAK!) The dream framed it around another adoption agency... but the special part of this dream was that normally - John would have gotten up this morning and felt the need to research another adoption agency in that area of town... but this is where it gets cool. Instead, John felt comfort when he woke up and a sense that we will be getting a baby in 3 months time from our agency... but that the baby will be born in that area of town.

Now, that being said - we are going to continue down the path faithfully, and do everything that is put before us in the timeframe that is appropriate - to the best of our abilities we will turn each and everything around as quickly as possible... but you heard it first - if in January we announce something BIG (you all know what I'm referring to here) then you'll know that something supernatural was happening in my house last night - with just a simple dream and a whisper from God Himself. What an incredible God, He is...


Copyright © 2007-2015 Thoughts By Kim. The content on these pages, including text and images are the sole property of the author unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved.

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Family Game Night

A week or so ago, our church had it's first annual family game night. It was a great success... and we had a great time.



We played a couple of rounds of Family Feud, which was extremely entertaining... our church is such a riot. The families that were chosen had 5 members each, and were extremely animated. The game was a computer game - so that made for the game to be more real. One question cracked me up - it asked, "besides tomatoes, name an ingredient found in spaghetti sauce..." the kids answered things like, "tomatoes" and "noodles"... which cracked me up - the kid that initially answered noodles - did end up winning with the answer of oregano... which leads me to believe his Mom got ahold of him before he answered again... too funny.




We ate BBQ, in which John smoked three large briskets the day before - everyone else brought sides or desserts... we brought both potato salad and rainbow cake.



Our Children's Pastor made this cake - it looked so fun!




This cake made it's first apperance - and all of the kids loved it!



The bulk of the attendees played Bingo once the eating was completed.



A few however, played Dominoes off to the side...



A few others played Twister... which made me laugh.

A great time was had by all, and we all hope that this will become at least an annual event - if not having it more often than that!

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

October Birthday Extravaganza

On October 10th, my Dad, stepmother, siblings, and brothers inlaw... along with John and I all gathered up to celebrate the birthdays for the month. My brother starts us off on the 4th with his birthday, then my little sister's is the 9th, one neice is on the 10th, another on the 11th, my stepmother's is on the 17th, and one brother in law's is on the 31st. My father in law's is also on the 19th - so as you can imagine - October almost breaks the bank for us every year... it's like having Christmas and then having it again 2 months later!

Each year - we have one big party for all the birthdays, and it becomes a big huge event. Typically my Dad is able to slip away and go to an Aggie football game while my older sisters and I take care of all the kids. This year - the events were nothing sort of a carnival!

To start the day off - we made caramel apples. It was the first time I'd ever done this - but Cindy and I handled the actual caramel coating, and the kids decorated them.









Next up was lunch...



After lunch, we set up a painting studio for the kids... and they did a GREAT job. The paints weren't washable - but they didn't get it on anything, and the paintings were actually really cute. Here they all are with their creations...

Taylor, age 7... this is a birthday party with balloons...


Gabby, age 6... another birthday party with balloons


Josh, age 7... a haunted house with lots of blood splatters...


Megan, age 13... a happy birthday sign for the table...


Brittany, age 12... a flower - which was totally amazing! She's very talented!

After the painting, while we cleaned up - we sent the kids outside to burn off some energy... there was running, playing, cheering while my brother in law returned a cow to it's pasture...and some 4 wheeler riding... which of course means there were photo opportunities...




       
       
       

Next up was some reading... followed by the eating of their caramel apples...






Once everyone had returned from the football game... we opened presents...




This is the aftermath of the gift unwrapping... and only a small portion of the aftermath...

Next we had dinner, which my sister made the most amazing chicken and vegetable lasagna! Followed by some time for the adults to talk... and play some games... while the kids played with their new toys.





We finished up the night with some birthday cookie, cupcakes, ice cream... and some prayers from John and I that we don't add another child to this birthday experience - maybe a nice spring birthday for our child?








I only included this last photo because I didn't think anyone would believe me when I said that I ate a cupcake with gray icing...

A good time was had by all - and we all were exhausted... WHEW! Until next year!