........

The test this morning was negative. I am really just so fed up right now. Why would the first test be positive if I'm not pregnant?

TTC is driving me CRAZY!!!

I know you have been patiently waiting all day....or maybe you have been dying to know.....or maybe you could care less....but the results are IN! (Well, sort of....) When Brad and I were grocery shopping last night (after we witnessed a truck have a wreck with a motorcycle, the truck running OVER the man on the motorcycle, the man being flung into the median of a very busy highway, waiting for the police and ambulance to get there and giving a statement of what we saw to the police) I decided that I was TIRED of always buying the expensive pregnancy tests. I've heard the cheap ones work just as well as the expensive ones. So I bought Fact Plus. Cheapo. Then this morning, I got up and took the test (how many times have I done this now!?). I brushed my teeth and looked down (not expecting to see anything) and I saw a faint line! I picked up the test to get a better look and the line disappeared a little. Crap. I wasn't supposed to touch it for like 2-3 more minutes. The line was sooooo faint, it looked like a little piece of thread was on the screen. I woke Brad up and told him to look at it. He said that he didn't see it (but then again he was still half asleep and his eyes were not focused yet...). So I brought it to work to let my sister and Mom look at it. Mom couldn't see the line, but April could. Did I mention the line was FAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAINT?!?!?!? They keep telling me "A line is a line" but I'm just scared that because it was so faint, that it might be a faulty test, or a false positive. Usually if the vertical line of the (+) is faint, it's the whole line that's faint, right? Mine only showed a little thread of the vertical line. So we went out and bought an EPT Certainty Digital test. Negative. BUT my urine was less concentrated (at 10:30am) and the digital test detects hcg as low as 50.....the cheap test detects hcg as low as 25. So maybe I'm just barely pregnant? Like Las Vegas pregnant? And so my hcg level isn't higher than 50 yet? I'm so confused. And at this point, I've probably confused you too. SO I'm just going to take the other cheapo test in the morning and hope and PRAY it's positive too. PLEEEEEEEEEEEEEASE pray that it is!!

Bunco

So May is my month to host and I'm having a really hard time deciding what to do about the food. Everything has been done-pizza, spaghetti, tacos, hamburgers, hot dogs, lasagna, wings, etc. What the heck am I going to do? Keep in mind that I don't cook! I can cook, I just don't like to. So any ideas?

Testing..1..2..3...Testing

When to test, when to test.....I tested last Wednesday, you know. So I'm thinking of testing again this Wednesday. And then the next Thursday is my annual you-know-what appointment....if this week's test reads negative but I am really pregnant, surely he will be able to tell.....you know, by my cervical position and what not...hmm.....I am having a lot of symptoms too! I've been nauseous for a week or two now. And it's getting into more of a pattern, usually between 7:30-9:00am and 2:00-4:00pm. Weird, huh? And I've had those flippin headaches, too. Did I mention my forehead is ALLLLL broken out?? And I've had a few cramps here and there. Those symptoms sound promising, don't they? But then again, I've also convinced myself that I was pregnant before and had similar symptoms....even to the point my hair wouldn't lift when I got highlights-that's some serious convincing! So who knows.....I'll let you know when I test. But for now, how cute is this?

I'm thinking about getting letters like those for our nursery. What do you think?

11 months

Only one more month until our very first anniversary! How exciting! I know everybody always says this, but time really does fly by! After we got back home (and back to reality!) after our honeymoon and settled in, I was very surprised by how much of Brad I still had to learn about! You would figure after dating someone for six years and basically growing up with them, that you would know everything about them. Boy, did I get a rude awakening once we moved in together. Men are so....different! That sounds stupid when I type it out, but it's true! It was so hard at first, learning to live with someone (since I lived on my own for two years). But we've made it through our first year!! Well almost anyway!



I love him!

American Idol

Have you seen this article about the new Idol judge possibly quitting already? I hope she does. I can't STAND her. And seriously, if she says the word 'riffs' one more time, I'm going to go through the tv and smack her.

I know Randy Jackson said last night that this was 'the most talented group of kids he has ever seen', but I am really not that impressed this year. Danny was my only favorite from the beginning, but he hasn't been doing all that great here lately either. No one has really. I like Adam because he is entertaining (and he can sing crazy notes) but in the real world, I don't think he could sell that many albums. Same with Allison, even though I think she has a BEAUTIFUL name!

I am glad Lil went home last night, but I think Matt should have gone home before Anoop.

So there's my Idol recap for you. Do you like the new look? I do! Thanks Leslie!

It's good to be back!

I'm not having the best of luck back in Tuscaloosa either. I took a test this morning and it was negative. Then, my first day back to work, I had to fire our maintenance man-and all that off 4 hours of sleep! Not the best of days! But I'm not going to let anything get me down. I am still holding on to some hope that this will be our cycle to get pregnant! I am very confident! And very excited! Now back to my mountains of paperwork...

Oh, and by the way, I'm having to change my blog up again-hope you like the new layout too!

I'm BACK!!

Blogging that is-not back home. We are sitting in the Vegas airport right now waiting for the plane. I can't tell you how much I've missed blogging!! Our plane is set to arrive in Birmingham around midnight tonight. So needless to say, I'm not getting much sleep tonight before I have to wake up at 6:00am to get ready for work! That sucks! Anyway, here is a recap of our trip and I'll go ahead and warn you-it's LONG!

Day One
We arrived in Las Vegas at about 1:45pm (Las Vegas time). We caught a shuttle to our hotel, The Mirage. The entire ride to the hotel, I didn’t really get to take in the sights because I was concentrating on not throwing up!! I don’t know what’s wrong with me (besides the fact that I might be PG)! After we checked in and changed clothes, we ate at the California Pizza Kitchen. We split a Sicilian Pizza and it was pretty good…and different. Then we hit the slot machines for a little gambling! After we won a little at The Mirage, we headed over to the neighboring hotel, Treasure Island, to try our luck over there. By the end of the day we were up about $150! Not too shabby for our first day. Then, we finally went to bed at about 8:00pm.

Our fabulous room!


The bathroom


The view from our room


We were on the 21st floor! Yikes!


Day Two
Brad and I both woke up at about 6:30am….Alabama time. That’s 4:30am Vegas time! We slept on and off until about 7:30am Vegas time. I felt sicker than I did the first day and could hardly hold my head up with a SEVERE headache and nausea. Brad got ready and headed downstairs to find me some medicine and to pick up something for breakfast. He brought me back the biggest, most delicious blueberry muffin I had ever tasted!



Yum! After I took some DayQuil and got ready, I felt a little better. We visited MGM Grand (the hotel we stayed at last time), Luxor, Excalibur, The Venetian, Harrah’s and New York-New York. And Brad also watched the A-Day game on ESPN while I took a much needed 2 hour nap. For lunch, we ate at BLT Burger where we split a hamburger, fries and cheese sticks. We didn’t really eat dinner, but more snacks here and there. And we also saw the Cirque Du Soleil show, Zumanity. It was a pretty good show…..with a LOT of boobies!! If you could get past all the nakedness, the acrobatics were pretty impressive. By the end of the day, we were $200 in the hole with the gambling and I was feeling a LOT better.

Day Three
We woke up at a much later time on day three…6:45am (LV time)! I felt 85% like my normal self again so we got ready and made the looong trek over to the Rainforest Café at the MGM Grand. We split a delicious omelet and gambled some too. From the MGM Grand, we visited Bally’s, Paris and Bellagio and then we headed back to the Mirage to eat lunch at The California Pizza Kitchen and to take a nap! After our nap, we gambled some more! At one point, I was sitting at a machine next to a (slightly tipsy) older lady. She asked me if I would watch her machine for her while she went to the bathroom. I told her that I would and as soon as she walked off, I looked over at her machine and noticed that she left her money in it….$530.00!! Holy crap!! At first, I thought ‘What an idiot. I could soooo take that money and RUN!’ then I thought ‘I bet I’m on some game show right now…..where they see what you would do in certain situations’ and after about five minutes the lady came back. She said, “Thank you for watching my machine and for being honest. I guess that was pretty stupid leaving all that money here, huh?” That’s it?? I figured I at least deserved $25 for watching her $530 for her!! But nothing!! Anyway, after we played a little more, we headed over to the Venetian. For supper we ate at Johnny Rockets. We split a hamburger and fries and were still out $20. After dinner, we went to go see Wayne Brady’s show. When they say the camera adds 10 pounds, believe it! That man is SKINNY! Seriously I bet he could wear a size 0 in women’s! The show was hilarious!! I really thought my face was going to cramp up from smiling so much! Brad and I have also learned that we do not need to be out and about in Las Vegas past about 10:00pm. That’s when all the crazy, drunk, half naked people come out! So after the show, we practically RAN back to the hotel and locked ourselves in! By the end of the day, we were about $500 in the hole! No more gambling for us!

Day Four
We woke up on day four and I felt like I never ever went to sleep. I was still sooo tired. Brad went and got breakfast at the Roasted Bean again. I love those muffins! And then we headed to Madame Tussaud’s wax museum!! SO much fun! I was honestly a little scared to go in once I saw a couple of the wax people. I seriously thought they were real and that they were going to jump and scare me! That's how real they looked! I made Brad go up and touch a couple of them to prove they were wax before I would walk by them!

Me and Ryan Seacrest


Larry King


Brad with Jenna Jamison


Me with Puffin!


Jessica Simpson


Denzel Washington


Brad playing golf with Tiger Woods and Arnold Palmer


Obama


The hotness that is Tim McGraw


Sir Elton John


My foot next to Shaq's


We found Tupac!!


For lunch we ate at Toby Keith's I Love This Bar. We split a hamburger and nachos. We said we weren't going to gamble anymore, but it was just so tempting with all the machines everywhere. So we gambled a little. For dinner, I was really craving some Chinese, so I went and got Panda Express-the cheapest dinner we had in LV! $2.50! After that, we went to go see the Sirens of TI (a free show outside of the Treasure Island hotel). One word to describe the show? Sucky. Ten girls got on stage (the boat) in skimpy little rhinestoned bras and shorts and danced around to a pre-recorded song. So stupid, yet so hyped up. By the end of the 4th day, we were still down about $500.

Day Five
Today, we woke up and went over to Treasure Island to eat breakfast at Kahunaville. We were seated at a table and our waitress walked up to us, never said a word, and gave us a look that said 'Well are you going to tell me what you want to drink or not!' Crazy LV people! After breakfast, we chilled out in the hotel room until noon. We checked out, gambled some more, headed to the airport and here we are! It was a fun trip, but I am SO GLAD we are heading back home. I still feel pretty sick today, same nausea and headaches. I'm going to test in the morning!

Las Vegas Day One

We are travelling to Las Vegas today! Our plane was supposed to be leaving Birmingham at 10:45am, but it's been delayed until 11:30am. So basically we are bored out of our minds in the airport.

I planned on testing this morning, but I didn't. I don't want to get my hopes up again, only to have them smashed. And I didn't want the bad news to ruin our trip. BUT I woke up this morning feeling like CRAP. The hour long car ride to Birmingham this morning was almost unbearable because I was so nauseous. I still am. Is that a good sign? I hope so. If I am still nauseous in the morning, I might run out and get a test. We will see.

My sister April's friend Leslie Lambert is going to be redecorating my blog! YAY! So when you see the changes, let me know what you think!

In the mean time, keep checking back here. I'll keep posting to this post for the rest of the day. Have fun at work girls and don't miss me too much!

Update: We are about to board the plane. I don't know when I'll have internet access again, so it might be Wednesday before you hear from me again! Don't miss me too much!

Slacker!

I know, I've been slacking lately. I have been SO BUSY at work that I've barely had time to blink! I'm trying to get my new maintenance man lined out PLUS get a little ahead of my other stuff so that when I'm gone to VEGAS everything won't be so out of whack. So in the mean time, enjoy this picture of Brad and I when we were in Las Vegas two years ago!

Happy Easter!

I know I'm a day late, but our power went off last night and didn't come back on until about 3:00pm today!! The Easter drama went very well Saturday and Sunday nights. Sunday night was completely packed out and we ended up having to go and get more chairs for people that were standing in the back! Here is Brad's costume:



Sexy, right?? And here's mine (that I made!):



It's a little long, but hey-that's ok. I was frankly tired of sewing on the thing!

And here's Bella on Easter morning, smelling my decorated Easter eggs:



And the happy couple on Easter morning before church:

Brad and I are soooo tired from all the Easter festivities. After church Sunday morning, we went over to April's house for lunch. We had an egg hunt with all the kids, then went home to change clothes and head right back out the door to Brad's Mom's house. We spent time with his family for a while and then headed BACK to church for the last performance of the drama. EXHAUSTED. So we obviously can't wait until Friday when we leave for Las Vegas!! Quality time with my hunny....I am so excited!!

Happy Easter Eve!

Why is it that on the morning you actually get to sleep in, you wake up wide awake at 7:00am??

We have had an easy going morning. Brad cut the grass and spent some time outside while I decorated Easter eggs and finished sewing my costume for the Easter drama.

Brad and I are in charge of breakfast for our Sunday school class in the morning. So I made these:


Now I just have to figure out what else to prepare!

Here is my finished costume:


We have the first of two performances tonight! Everyone in the Tuscaloosa area should come! Valley View Baptist Church, 7:00pm tonight and tomorrow night. Brad is John the Baptist!



Mommy's helper. I promise she isn't as fat as she looks. We took her to the beauty shop last week and while she was there, the lady broke the clippers. So Bella didn't get her much needed hair cut. Maybe next week...

Brad and I hope you have a wonderful Easter weekend! And we pray that everyone remembers the real reason we celebrate Easter. It's not about the eggs and the bunny, it's about remembering that Jesus died on the cross for our sins so that we can live eternally with him in Heaven! And we also pray that YOU will come to know Christ as your Lord and Savior, as we have!

Only 8 more days!

I'm seriously thinking about getting this shirt! Thanks Erin for thinking of me and sending me the link!

I can't wait! The Vegas trip was initially planned more for Brad because he loves it there so much, but I'm getting pretty excited myself! And I am even more excited that I could possibly already be pregnant by the time we get there!! Woot Woot! And speaking of that, I almost died when I saw MckMama's post yesterday entitled Woot Woot! I thought I was the only loser that said that!

Brad and I are pretty exhausted. With Easter coming up, our church always puts on a huge drama for the community and last night we rehearsed for almost three hours. I can hardly keep my eyes open this morning-not to mention there are NO Mountain Dew's in the fridge. AND I have to finish sewing my costume by Saturday afternoon.

Have a great Thursday! Survivor tonight!

Finished!

I completed half of my lastest project. With the help of my lovely mother, I finished my friend's Easter costume last night!



I will hopefully finish mine on my lunch break today so that I can wear it tonight for rehearsal!

To change the subject, April and I have interviews allllll day today. She walks into my office this morning....and we have on the SAME SHIRT. How professional. I told her that we could tell the interviewees that it was our uniform.



The two sexiest women I know!

I'm famous!!

So I was walking to my car coming out of Lowe's. I walk past a cute, older gentleman-we make eye contact and smile politely at each other. I walk about five more steps and I hear, "Ma'am!" I turn around and the cute old man walks up to me and says, "Ma'am, I don't mean to be forward and I could be mistaken, but aren't you the young lady with the beautiful voice that sings on the Valley View praise team?" "Why yes! I am!" "Well I just wanted to tell you that my wife and I love your singing. You look just like someone I used to know. And every Sunday, my wife has to nudge me in church so I'll quit staring at you and pay attention to the music. Oh, and my name is Bobby Miller." Bobby Miller? As in-the county commissioner?!?!? YES!!



Bobby Miller, as in-the Bobby Miller Activity Center?? YES!!



Holy crap, even the famous people think I'm famous!! I'll be signing autographs after work today. Hit me up if you want one.

My latest projects

The first is this:

April and I bought this frame at Kirkland's for the living room at the beach house. It took a while, but it's cute!

The second is this:

I lovingly volunteered myself to sew a friend's costume for the Easter drama at church.....and then decided that I needed a new one myself! Oh, and did I mention that they have to be done by Wednesday?? That should be fun!

Baseball!

Two of my four nephews kicked off baseball season yesterday.

They didn't really keep score because it was a jamboree, but the boys think that they won, so that's what I'm saying! It was SO hot out there, so Reece and I left after the first game. I taught her how to say I Love You! She is so flippin cute!

Ok, back to cleaning the house! Have a great Sunday!

The hostess with the mostess

In honor of April's birthday, Brad and I are taking her and Reece (the boys have baseball practice) to our favorite restaurant, PFChangs! I just called to make the reservation (because they are ALWAYS packed out!) and here is the conversation I had with the hostess:

H: Hello! Thank you for calling PFChangs! How are you today?
Me: I'm fine. I need to place a reservation for tomorrow night.
H: Ok. How many and what time?
Me: Four people for 6pm, if that's available.
H: Certainly. And your name?
Me: Allison McMichael.
H: Allison Michael?
Me: No, Allison MCMichael.
H: Ohhh, ok Mrs. McMichael, I have a reservation for four people at 4pm tomorrow night, April the 2nd.
Me: Umm, no. I needed 6pm....and today is April the 2nd. I need the reservation for tomorrow, the 3rd.
H: What's that? I can hardly hear you. Let me turn up the volume. (TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP) Are you still there?
Me: Yes.
H: Ok, so you need reservations for four people at 6pm tomorrow night, April the 2nd.
Me: NO. TODAY is April 2nd, I need the reservation for TOMORROW the 3rd.
H: Oh is today the 3rd? Let me look at my calendar.............long pause..................Oh I'm sorry, let me just white this out.......long pause........ok, let's start over. Seriously? Did she just say start over?? Ok, so you need a reservation for tomorrow, the 3rd, for four people and 6pm. Right Mrs. McDaniel?
Me: Growing extremely irritated, NOOOOOOOOO. Mrs. McMichael, not McDaniel.
H: My apologies Mrs. McMichael. And your phone number?
Me: 205-555-5555
H: That's 205-555-5557. Got it.
Me: Sigh.......No. It's 205-555-5555.
H: Oh ok. Your confirmation number is 3276. See you tomorrow!
Me: I hope so!

She's growing up so fast....

It's April's birthday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! She's ancient, old, worn out, kicking the bucket, circling the bend, about to keel over........she's 27!! That old hag!



Let's take a look at April through the years....shall we??

My, what a cute little sister she has!

Happy Birthday Skanky!