Top 2, Treatment and Husband in the Kitchen!

Wow, I have a lot to share with you all in my post today!

First things first, lets start with Top 2 Tuesday over at The Undomestic Momma ! This weeks topic is Top 2 Summer Recipes!

While I thought this was a great topic, I totally cheated- because lets face it: I am not a great cook. I am not creative in the kitchen and I have the world's pickiest eater for a husband so those two things combined do NOT equal fun meals in the Hill household!! And while I am sure many of you are thinking "Really? You have the world's pickiest eater? Not likely!", let me leave you with this: Husband does NOT like the following:
any vegetables- with the exception of corn and ICEBERG salad
any fruits- there is not an exception on this one!
anything "fancy"
anything potato related unless it is french fries- no baked or mashed
and he is very weird about the "texture" of his food
Yes, this is how much I love Husband! And I love trying new foods so there are quite a bit of arguments over this topic! BUT, I will say Husband has been trying VERY hard lately to step outside of his box and branch out a little!

So with all that said- my two picks are things that I make year round (not just during the summer)- please forgive me!

1) Ginger Dressing
This one is actually Husband approved!! Even though there are probably 10 different items in the recipe that Husband would never eat outside of this dressing!


1/4 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 TBSP rice wine vinegar
1 TBSP water
1 TBSP chopped ginger
1 TBSP chopped celery
1 TBSP soy sauce
1 1/2 tsp tomato paste
1 1/2 tsp sugar
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp salt

Combine all ingredients in blender or food processer. Process until smooth then serve cold over salad.

2) Spinach Artichoke Dip
This one is NOT Husband approved- but, again, I am pretty limited. This recipe is by far my favorite of all the ones I have tried in the past for this dish!

1 cup thawed chopped frozen spinach
1 1/2 cups thawed chopped frozen artichoke hearts
6 ounces cream cheese
1/4 cup sour cream
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp garlic powder

Boil spinach and artichoke in 1 cup of water until tender; drain. Heat cream cheese in microwave for 1 minute. Stir in all ingredients and pour into baking dish. Bake at 375 for 20-25 minutes.

Yum!! I found this recipe on Food Network :)

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Now onto my next topic- I started some of my treatment today! I have officially started Clomid (again) so today is Day 1!

I thought it might be fun to take pictures each day through this process so below you will find my "Day 1 picture"- please ignore that I look silly in this pic- Husband was the photographer and thought it would be hilarious to yell out random things such as "Work It Baby!"- needless to say, I was laughing quite a bit! (Also, you cannot really tell, but the necklace I am wearing in the picture is my "believe" necklace that I had made- I have had some requests to post a picture of it, but cannot get a good one! They always turn out blurry! But it looks exactly like the one in the picture I posted before)


Stay tuned for more!

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Finally, I thought I would leave you with a good laugh........

As I pulled out things to prepare dinner tonight, 1 of the items I removed from the fridge was eggs. (Side note: Husband has always been obsessed with the Hibachi cooks anytime we go and eat at one of those types of restaurants! He is dying to be able to do all of the cool tricks they do with knives, food, etc!) So as Husband is standing in the kitchen watching me put things together, he decides that it is time for him to try his hand at becomming a Hibachi chef! He wants to start by learnig the trick where they roll the egg on the table then flip it in the air with a spatula and have the egg land down on the spatula in the exact perfect position to where it neatly cracks open the egg on the tabletop below. You can already see where this is going, cant you?
Here is his prep- the spinning of the egg:

Now time to flip the egg in the air with a spatula:

At this point the egg is nearly hitting our ceiling (notice how he threw it so high it is nowhere in the shot!)

And here was our final result:

Husband attempted a couple more times and I can say very confidently, after we had gone through several more eggs, that Husband will not be a Hibachi chef anytime soon!

--Cait

WOW 5-0!!!

You guys are awesome! Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!

--Cait

Fill In the Blank Friday!

After wandering around some blogs today, I saw this and thought it might be a fun post for today- since I am STILL stuck on the couch being sick :(

Lauren over at The Little Things We Do hosts this every Friday!

1. My favorite thing about this week has been: going to have another sonogram this morning and learning that I have been given the all clear to start my treatment on Monday!

2. The weather this week has been: DISGUSTING!!! Every day it has either been raining or very, very humid! All you have to do is walk outside and you instantly feel sticky- yuck!

3. The last (interesting) item I received in the mail was: my necklace that I ordered! (you know, the one I blogged about on my top 2 favorite purchases?) It just arrived in the mail today and I already have it on :)

4. The last movie I saw was: Eclipse!! I went to go see it last weekend with some friends and let me tell you it was AMAZING!!

5. If I could be doing anything I felt like today I would: do anything that does not require laying on my couch any longer. Maybe some shopping, perhaps?? :)

6. As a teenager I was: very confused! I had no idea who the true "me" was and spent many years wandering aimlessly from different groups of friends to figure out where I fit best. Luckily, I meet Husband when I was 17 and he helped me find "me"

7. I wish I could trade lives for the day with: anyone who is not sick! just kidding........probably any celebrity that has an amazing wardrobe (there are so many!)


There are my Fill in the Blank Friday results! Hope you all have a wonderful weekend- and I hope I am back to my normal self soon! Thank you for all the get well wishes!

--Cait

My Very First.......

........BLOGGER AWARD!!!!!!!!

OH MY GOSH!!! Now that I have finally stopped jumping up and down with excitement and I have had a moment to catch my breath, I can actually sit down and let you guys know just how freaking excited and honored I am! This is my very first Blog Award and it was presented to me by Ashley from My Carnival Ride! Please go check out her blog if you haven't already because she is now my newest blogger best friend! :)

I still cannot get over how lucky I am to have all of you! Every day or so I sit down and ramble about random happenings in my life and you all still continue to come back and leave wonderful comments on my page!

Now on to the award stuff.......

Rule #1: List 7 facts about yourself

1) I live by my daily planner! I have briefly mentioned before that I like to have everything planned- and I really do mean everything!

2) Dance was my hobby throughout my entire childhood. I was in dance classes, on competition teams and went to numerous recitals for over 1o years of my life! I now miss it very much.......

3) I am addicted to caffeine- in the form of coffee and iced tea (not sodas!).... I have to have a cup of either every morning to start my day. I still havent determined how I will cut this addiction if I ever get preggers :(

4) I am one of the few people that actually LOVES their job! I havent talked about my job before on this blog, but I work in a dentist's office. I originally started the job because of the shorter hours and flexibility (this was after leaving my fast paced career at Nordstrom). Little did I know that it would turn into the perfect fit for me! I work with the most amazing people and in them I have found a 2nd family!

5) I still get scared of the dark. Any time Husband is not home at night I have to fall asleep with the tv or some kind of light on- and I hardly get any sleep because I worry about every little sound that I hear.

6) I love everything that is pink! It is my favorite color and really shows that I am definitely a "girly-girl"

7) I AM NOT a fan of chocolate! (I can hear all of you gasping when you read this one!) I am Team Vanilla all the way!! Husband knows better than to ever surprise me with a box of chocolates- instead he should bring me some Cookies N Cream or Butterfinger ice cream!

Rule #2: Nominate new blogs that you love!

This part was really too hard for me- I mean how do I choose?? So instead of picking just a couple.......I have chosen everyone on my must read list! Please go to my side bar for a list of all my favorite blogs and if you come across one you haven't seen before- Click On It!!

Again, thank you for all the support!!

-- Cait

Sick, Sick, Sick

Ugh! I am a hot mess right now! My throat feels like its on fire, I'm all ache-y, and very, very tired. All of this started yesterday, right before Husband and I were supposed to have a fun day at the waterpark today :( Now instead of the enjoying the fun day I had planned, I am cooped up in the house catching up on these:

Husband has done a somewhat decent job of trying to take care of me today (but I think he is still secretly pouting that I ruined our day together)

I am very sorry to say I do not have an exciting post planned for today- feeling like this, the most exciting part of my day today is going to be when Husband and I make an ice cream run this evening. For the time being, I am pretty much a couch potato!

Hope you all are having a better Wednesday than I am!

--Cait

One Month Later and Top 2 Tuesday!

This weeks Top 2 Tuesday is..........



Top 2 Favorite Purchases Made This Year!

You would think with all the shopping I do this would be really easy or that I would be able to come up with too many to list, but I am actually struggling with this one. As I sit here trying to rack my brain for 2 items to post about, I have realized that I have not shopped enough this year! (shocking, I know) I was trying to think of 2 big purchases that we have made this year and I am completely drawing a blank! Everything that I can think of that I love was purchased last year! Do you think I could use this as an excuse to persuade Husband to let me do some more shopping??

With that being said, here are my top 2 (bear with me, one is a little cheesy and the other I haven't even received yet!)

1) Husband's College Degree

Yes, a degree is a 4 year (or longer) process, but this spring Husband finished his final semester of school for his Bachelors of Business- Marketing degree. I am so relieved that with a lot of hard savings we were able to get all of his schooling completely paid off! It is such a huge weight off of our shoulders to know that we no longer have to worry about this extra expense (especially if we end up having a baby on the way soon!).

2) My 2nd top pick is an item that I haven't even received yet (I actually just bought it today!), but I already know it will be my favorite purchase of the year!........

I wish I could take credit for this wonderful idea, but I actually stole it from a fellow blogger, Ashley at For The Love of Shoes and a Baby Too. She had posted pictures of her wearing a similar necklace to all doctors appointments and I fell in love with the idea! I had been wanting to find something as a token of our journey and when I found this necklace I knew it was perfect! I am hoping it arrives soon since I have quite a few doctors appointments lined up over the next several weeks and I would love to have it as we begin treatment with injectionables.

On a seperate note, I would like to send out a big THANK YOU to all of my followers for all of your support so far! I cannot believe that only a month ago I started this blog with hopes of venting some of our frustrations and other emotions while enduring this long journey towards Baby Hill. All of your positive feedback and kind words continue to astound me every day and I am so grateful for all of you! It has been so encouraging to read stories of other people who have experienced very similar journeys and have come out on the other side! While Husband and I may still not have the news we are wanting, we know it will happen for us soon and we have all of you to thank for reminding us of that.

I look forward to what the next however many months will bring- and am very anxious to get to the big 5-0 for followers (hint, hint!) :)

--Cait

Happy 4th Everyone!

Whoa! I have been a bad blogger lately (which I am very sorry for!), but in my defense, I was trying to enjoy a long holiday weekend with Husband before he begins working weekends once again :(

To celebrate our last weekend together (for a while at least), Husband and I planned a "fun date day" yesterday. We started off our morning with a wonderful brunch at a restaurant we had been dying to try for a while now (and by "we" I really mean "I"). Husband is usually NOT a fan of brunch, but it was so nice to enjoy some coffee, pastries, and other delicious foods together on a Saturday morning- instead of what we normally do: sleep in until the dogs wake us up.

Brunch was followed by some shopping (of course) and then we were headed off to the zoo!! Before we left the house, though, I had Husband take a picture of me in my "safari shorts" as I kept calling them:

The Dallas Zoo!

How Cute!

Today was a lazy holiday for us- Husband requested that we have a more relaxing day- so we enjoyed taking the dogs out to play frisbee, going on a long walk, and being lazy on the couch.

Hope everyone is enjoying a long weekend as well!!

--Cait