As 2010 is drawing to a close, its made me consider my blog, my writing, and the direction I want for 2010. And not limited to just blog, but life. Possibly pregnancy, finishing up monumental tasks on the Baby Bucket list, learning, writing. I feel like 2010 has been such an amazing year, and I’m so looking forward to 2011!

In light of this reflection on 2010, and hope for 2011, I decided to join Reverb10.

(Source: PostSecret)

Please tell me I’m not the only one who does this. I’m going to say it anyway.

I grade you by how well your house is kept.

Especially when someone is expected as a house guest, like for more than an afternoon. The layer of dirt on the baseboards behind the bathroom door- the dust on the statuettes in the living room- the eww around the base of the toilet- and whether or not it appears that your carpet needs to be cleaned. Even if someone’s house is clean on the surface, all you have to do is lift a toilet seat to see how well they keep up. If I go to your house, I’m looking at the fingerprint/dirt smudges that build up over time on the wall of the stairway, where your hands just naturally brush everytime you go up them.

If I don’t like you- or if I’m still evaluating- I will take all of that into consideration for my current opinion of you as a person.

You know what that kind of trait is? Ironically, its disgusting. lol

Anyone else have cleanliness judgment?

So now that we’ve officially called off the goalie…anxiety is in full swing!

One of my biggest fears about actually starting to try to get pregnant is not being able to. The blogosphere seems to be Mommies, and Those Who Want to Be…and admittedly, the infertility aspect scares me to death.

I was diagnosed at 16 with endometriosis, and have had two surgeries to take down adhesions. As optimistic as I usually am, I still hear that voice in the back of my head that says, Who says you can even get pregnant? Because you’ve had doctors say that its going to be tough! And while I always worry that I’ll end up wanting to quit school and not finish my graduate work once I have a baby, it scares me even more to think about getting done with school and not being able to have kids.

My apologies to those struggling with infertility, because my intent is not to be hurtful. I just worry! And although I won’t worry about this once I see two lines, I will move onto worrying about a baby. And when I’m handed my newborn, I’ll start a whole new set of worries… *sigh*

How ironic is it that getting pregnant, being pregnant, becoming a Mom, are some of the the BIGGEST worry times of your life…but the happy pills you can take are not recommended for pregnancy?!?! lol

****This contest is closed, congratulations to Kaitlin @ahmymarriedlife on winning!****

In celebration of Calling Off the Goalie, I decided it is high-time to have a giveaway!

So I was reading the One Hot Mama blog, and she was talking about all her favorite baby products…one of the recommendations was a Kalencom diaper bag. I investigated further, and was thrilled with what I found- specifically the Eleanor collection. I love the bright colors, the funky animals, and the bag seems to be laid out well for baby stuff. (I don’t have baby experience, but I haul around a laptop, portfolio, makeup kit, hairbrush, lint roller, and all manner of purse miscellaneous in my work bag, which has to count for something in bag evaluation, right??) And Marmot was impressed with how not-girly they were, and the fact that he’s willing to carry one of them says a lot for the male likeability factor!

And so my dear readers, you have the chance to win one of these awesome diaper bags! Specifically, the Toucan pattern bag in the bright greens and blues that I love so much.

How to Win:

• Be (or become) a follower of @thehoneyb on Twitter!
• Post the following on Twitter: I want to win the funky Kalencom diaper bag #giveaway from @thehoneyb http://bit.ly/bfJ91r Please RT!
• Leave me a comment with the link to your tweet.
• You can tweet daily.
• And that’s it!

This contest will extend until midnight CST on December 5th, 2010 or until I hit 1000 Twitter followers, whichever happens first! Happy Thanksgiving, and good luck!

This giveaway is entirely because I like the bags, I was not asked to promote Kalencom diaper bags nor was I compensated for the review…but I will try harder to arrange that next time!

Day #1 of my first Two Week Wait.

This whole Baby Bucket List has been a long process, and some days I thought that if we waited until these things were done (hell, half done) we would never have children. So now imagine my surprise at realizing, we’re just about there. And not even just about there, but we’re like in the stages of I didn’t buy wine and I’m drinking my Fertilitea because we’re that close. THAT CLOSE!

And then I think…is this really the right time, are we doing the right thing? Oh the second guessing!

But its been good for Marmot and I as a couple, we’ve not felt rushed or pressured, this has been a decision we’ve come to in our own time. We sat across the table from each other at a beautiful restaurant last week, and decided that we’re ready for this journey to begin.

Off the ice!

So we’re going to do it. We’re calling off the goalie.

…what I secretly think about Stay at Home Mom’s.

But its over at Our Mommyhood, head over there to get the scoop!

So the potential plan of TTC in December or January has put me into a little bit of a babies-rabies/panic/overdrive. And like every good Type A planning freak, as soon as I felt the need to research and obsess, I went to Amazon. And here’s what I’ve found so far:

I just finished The Big Book of Birth, and I was impressed. Like way impressed. I had anticipated some hostility towards one side or the other, but this was very objective, written very fairly. Furthermore, the writing was done in the most friendly and non-intimidating way possible. I assumed that as a nurse (that did quite well in OB actually) that I’d prefer a more textbook tone in birth books. Way wrong! And she was funny too. After reading the book, I felt like I had been able to dispel a lot of the fear I’ve always had about labor and birth, and I’m actually starting to look forward to it, if thats possible? I don’t think I could recommend this book any higher.

Earlier this year, I went through Naturally Knocked Up’s fertility e-course, another pre-pregnancy recommendation that was quite simply, excellent. I am my (crunchy) Mother’s daughter, and I really wanted to learn about getting my body ready, beyond the What to Expect Before You’re Expecting book which is much like its predecessor, and had me worrying a lot about pretty much everything. The course was laid out nicely, the topics were excellent, it had a forum for participants to discuss the week’s content, and worksheets, links, and resources on each weeks topic. Look into it!

Prenatal vitamins are quite the racket. I spent no less than five hours researching the best prenatal vitamins that met the recommendations for what the vitamin provides, and also spent at least an hour researching DHA supplements (which apparently will turn your child into a genius). The vitamins that were prenatal and DHA didn’t have quite the recommended amounts of either, one of the better prenatals had concerns about the use of bean sprouts, the next best required taking two pills three times a day (gag) and the ones I’ve been taking for the past year expire in three weeks. And just in case anyone reading is in the market, the verdict of all my research is: Rainbow Light Prenatal One vitamins and Expecta Lipil non-fish DHA supplements. And the Bellybar chewable prenatals although I find chewable aftertaste to be slightly gack, nothing like Flintstones.

I’ve got a few more books in my Amazon cart, and another few stashed on my Kindle: the Mayo Clinic Guide to a Healthy Pregnancy and the Womanly Art of Breastfeeding.

Are there any you would recommend land in my Amazon cart?

Halloween was our first real holiday in the New House, and we got inaugurated with over 75 kids, $35 of candy gone in just over an hour! We also gave ourselves a great introduction to the neighborhood, with the first doorbell had Brewer crashing through the door and bolting down the street with me in hot pursuit. Nothing like barreling down the sidewalk after your idiot dog, with parents and their trick-or-treaters looking at you like wow, never seen a fat lady run that fast. Note- Brewer was not in the lobster costume yet, which I was told by a neighbor would have really added to the hilarity. I grabbed Brewer about two blocks down and hauled him back home, with Marmot (who had been in the shower) coming downstairs just in time to ask, why the hell are you sweating?

I put his non-sweaty self on candy duty...

Because we don’t have children (and because, according to Queen B, we have an inordinate amount of spending money for stupid things) we bought Halloween costumes for the dogs. Now one of the challenges of having two large dogs (88lbs and 105lbs) is that the XXL costumes from Petsmart are a little snug. But we were not disuaded by this small detail, we stuffed the dogs into them anyway. If I can stuff myself into a pair of killer shoes, the boys can suffer for an hour of costume wearing!

Brewer the Lobster...

Trying to get them to sit still for a picture!

Max the Shark

And yes, even the cat’s costume was too tight. But I’ll admit, it was on clearance at TJ Maxx for $2 (the inmate costume I really wanted was sold out) and it was actually an XS dog costume…who knew she was that fat?? I’m starting to see a pattern here…

Happy kitty!

So we decided to deliver pumpkin muffins to the neighbors from Max the Shark and Brewer the Lobster…Neighbor Bob shook his head, and told us we need to have kids already. lol

Yum!

The pumpkin muffins were a-ma-zing, its a recipe my sister Apple B. found on Allrecipes.com, the Pumpkin Bars II recipe and she just put the batter into muffin tins. Note: the tablespoons of baking soda and baking powder should actually be teaspoons. lol The awful part is that Brewer has taken up counter-surfing as a hobby, and ate about 12 of them.

Hope you all had a wonderful Halloween!

I have to say, its been a looooong time since I’ve been awake on this side of midnight. Voluntarily. But I’m taking it as a good sign! We’ve been through a lot in the past month, I haven’t been able to stay awake to even see midnight, let alone stay up past it.

*School trudged on during all the insanity that was October, and would have been uneventful (wouldn’t I have loved uneventful!) until a classmate tried to slide a little plagiarized content into a group project. And then was snarky about my attitude when I called her out on it. This is not like a just-out-of-high-school kid, this is an adult. And the best part? The class was Health Care Law and Ethics. *facepalm*

*We have six items that will be crossed off the Baby Bucket List in the next six months. And the rest are the fantasy-land items, like a trip to Europe. Marmot has always said he’d like a fall/winter baby, and I’ve always teased my bosses that I’d love a maternity leave that goes over Thanksgiving and New Years…so starting to try in December or January could be on the radar. WOW. December is only three weeks away?!

*And with the beginning of the first potential TTC cycle is only 29 days away, I’ve been feeling like a student behind on homework. So out come the books I’ve been hoarding/hiding for the last year, and the homework is getting caught up! More on that to come…

*But the potential shopping to prepare for a baby? That outrightly freaks me the hell out. And yet Marmot, the official Financial Freak in our house, just says ‘We’ll be fine Honey…we’ll be fine!’ Who is this man, and what has he done with my husband?!

*Last but not least, the Honey B. blog is going to have a makeover coming up soon…stay tuned for the reveal!

And I’m off to bed…hope you’re having a wonderful weekend!