Bookmarks for sale!

For those of you not on facebook, I've posted a bunch of pictures of my super-cute handmade bookmarks that are for sale. (Only $4 a piece!) Here's a link to the photo album:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2064714&id=1442197482

The picture captions have the bookmark item number and will say if the item is sold out or not. These are all one of a kind, so get them while they're hot!!!
All money will be going to our fertility treatments (and possibly towards the cost of making more bookmarks...I love doing it!) If you are interested in one, just email me at carlyjgates@yahoo.com or send me a message on facebook letting me know which one you want. Payments can be made through my paypal link on this blog.

They're super stylish and make great gifts!

Wait a minute....

We bought a couple of bird feeders for all the adorable birds living in our neighborhood. Then this happened....

What a little pig! Actually, we don't mind. The bird/squirrel feeders have become of source of entertainment to us, as well as the cats.
Lately my gnomes have been suffering the wrath of the two dogs and have tipped over about a dozen times this spring. Levi decided to step in and build a little wooden deck for them.
Don't you love our filthy garage? Deliciously white trash, in my opinion.

Buster voicing his approval over the new gnome area.


And finally, a HUGE thank you to everyone out there who has been helping us with the fertility process. We've learned more about love and generosity this week than we ever have. I am humbled and overwhelmed by it and I am so so blessed to be close to so many wonderful people. Thank you, thank you, thank you! (Formal thank-you notes are on their way!)
I've already started all the hormones and let's just say their effect is working so far (laughing one minute, crying the next and the problem of ENDLESS HUNGER!) I start the injections tomorrow and then on Wednesday they'll do an ultrasound to see when IUI will need to be scheduled. I'm so excited, I can hardly stand it!!
I'll leave you with a shot of my medicine for this week. This doesn't include the double dose of Clomid or the prenatal vitamins I'm taking. The pill bottle is a Progesterone suppository. Let's just say it isn't taken by mouth. Yuck!! On a related (or unrelated) note, does the Orem Public Library's book drop still say "Book Suppository"? That always made me giggle.

Yee haw!!!

Desperate times...desperate measures.

I am so embarrassed to be doing this. I NEVER thought our fertility woes would bring me to this point, but here we are: I've added a paypal donation link on the side of the blog.
Today we had an appointment with Dr. Foulk at the Idaho Reproductive Medicine Center. He is a god to the infertile women of Boise and is a miracle worker. We saw him last summer when we were thinking of IVF, before we found out just how much that would end up costing and had to scratch the idea.
My regular OBGYN has done all that she can do for me (especially after we found out that my left fallopian tube is blocked, making it so I only ovulate every other month) and told me the only thing she can do is keep giving me clomid prescriptions. She referred me to Dr. Foulk and said good luck. Dr. Foulk was so kind today. He had an answer for all our questions, told us things we never knew and came up with a great solution. Since there's the left tube issue, he wants to put me on medicine that forces me to ovulate on both sides every month. Then, I'll take a bunch of hormones, make sure everything is perfect and we'll do artificial insemination (IUI) at exactly the right time. We had tried IUI in the past, but none of the extra precautions were taken so it's no wonder it didn't work. This would be done under close supervision and everything would align perfectly to make sure the "swimmers", as he calls them, would have an optimal environment to meet my egg. This could happen as soon as next week. I left his office feeling ecstatic and so hopeful.
Then the reality set in. All the medicine and hormones are going to be around $290. This is using the absolute cheapest mail-order place out there. They are half the price that my normal pharmacy would be and the doctor's office uses them all the time. So $290 plus the $75 for them to get the "swimmer" sample ready, plus the cost of the procedure, plus the cost of the office visits. This adds up to more money than we have.
It's one thing to not be able to do in-vitro because it's $15,000 out of our price range, but to not be able to do this because we don't have and extra $500 is devastating. I don't want to be fifty years old, childless, and regret not being able to take control of my fertility because I didn't have $500.
I am beyond humbled and, after discovering there's nothing in my house worth selling, I have given in and taken my sister Heather's advice and added a paypal link on my blog. Believe me, this is so embarrassing and if I had anything of value to sell I would have done it already. We live entirely check to check and scrape by at the end of every month.
I know some people out there wonder why we're trying to have a child if we can barely afford our bills. I wonder that myself sometimes, but all I can say is that it feels right. It feels like we're supposed to bring a child into this world and have faith that everything would work out.
I'm not a person who naturally has a lot of faith, I've always tended to ask for proof, but this is one time that I've had to throw up my hands and tell God, "I'm trusting you because I know this is right. Please help me." I have been humbled and I don't really have an ounce of pride left in me when it comes to this subject.
So in conclusion, I've put the link up on the side of the page. I'm so embarrassed, but it's really come down to this. We're desperate and this was one of the last solutions.
Thank you.
Carly & Levi

Camping!

Levi and I did something we've never done in our almost five years of marriage: we slept in a tent! When we take vacations we either stay in hotels, with family or in the cabins at Redfish Lake. Heather and Zane have always been campers and I think that's super cool. Levi used to camp at a place called Edna Creek, which is about an hour up the mountain from Boise. We planned on camping there, until we started to climb the summit and saw how much snow was still on the ground! We back tracked a little bit and found a great site called Ten Mile campground. We had a fantastic time eating hot dogs and s'mores. The sleep, what little there was, was rough but that's all part of the fun, right?

On the road to the campground. Gorgeous, huh!


These letters are huge. Someone puts a lot of effort into making sure everybody knows!


That mountain air was great!


This was the only snow in sight.


We got this two man tent as a wedding gift. We didn't even fight putting it together :)


The ESSENTIALS! Purell: Genius invention.


Happy to be there!


The ONLY thing we forgot was matches. Good thing there were people near us who had a lighter!


The joys of waking up on the hard ground. It was fun, but man I was sore!


We had a great time and can't wait to go again! Heather & Zane, are you up for it??

My New Favorite Levi-ism.

Tonight I asked Levi how we would know if there were any available spots at the location we're going camping. And Levi quoth:

"There are always spots available sometimes."
And that, ladies and gentleman, is the man I love!

Tree help.

We have this cute little tree in our backyard and I can't figure out what kind it is. All of you out there know ten times more about gardening than I do, so I thought I'd ask you to take a look and give me your opinion. The blossoms are gorgeous. I love, love when the tree blooms, I just wish I knew what it was!
Here's a couple of cute pictures of Morty and Buster enjoying the Spring-ish weather.



Shortly after I took that picture of Buster on the hammock we had a little crisis. I have to help Buster on the hammock, but when he wants to get off he sort of rolls off it, usually ending up on his side because of his short legs. Today he landed pretty hard but got up and walked away. Then I noticed blood all over the patio. I FREAKED out and was worried it was some sort of head or organ injury, but luckily it was just his paw (which I've been told bleed a lot, even when only slightly injured.) Somehow he cut his paw, but was fine once I cleaned up the paw and gave him lots of doggie treats. Phew! Crisis averted! Honestly, I don't think Buster even cares. He just licked it a couple of times and went on with his usual day (biting Morty's legs when Morty's trying to point at birds, pooping, sitting on the patio chairs and sleeping in the sun.)
Yesterday I was doing laundry and noticed that the upstairs of our house, where the washer and dryer are, felt humid and about 30 degrees hotter than the downstairs. Levi came up and found that Louie the cat had been playing with the dryer vent hose and it had come detached from the vent. Silly cat. Levi was in charge of fixing it and was sweating, swearing and grunting like a happy home owner should.

Thanks hun!

Day off!

I made it through the week! I have the next two days off, which are filled with clouds and rain, but of course the day I go back to work it will be in the 70s and clear skies. Doh! Oh well, I'm still going to enjoy these two days off, rain or not.
I didn't get a chance to write about Heather and Zane's birthdays, Bonnie and Curt's visit and Mother's Day. Heather and Zane have birthdays back to back and this year we watched the kids for a little bit while they went out to dinner on Heather's birthday. The next night we came over for cupcakes and cake on Zane's birthday. Yummmy!!

Sorry about the red-eye. My cheap camera insisted there was nothing to correct.



Bonnie and Curt came up the following weekend and we had a great time chatting with them and being lazy. You two need to come back up ASAP, that or just move here once all the kids are out of school!
I spent Mother's Day at work, but was able to sneak in a call to my mom. Like Heather said, I wish she could have been up here, but a day spent with Laurie and the kids is hard to beat!
Last night on my way home from work, I stopped at the Stinker station near our house (one of the ONLY gas stations in Boise that is not a dreaded Jacksons) and bought a bottle of Mountain Dew. I was thinking that I'd put it in the fridge and it would be a nice thing to have in the morning. The bottle I purchased looked like good 'ol regular Mountain Dew, but it is an imposter! It is a new LIME FLAVORED Mountain Dew. Ewwwww! It tastes like window cleaner (or at least how I envision window cleaner tastes.) What a sham. I'll make sure to buy a nice cold bottle of the REGULAR stuff today :)
A couple of weeks ago Levi gave me a card that said, "I love you so much. Will you please go to Social Distortion with me in August?" Will I?!?! Heck yes I will. Social D is one of the greatest bands ever, not to mention the giant crush I still have on Mike Ness, the lead singer. (Funny story: When Heather met Levi for the first time she told me that he reminded her of a "nice Mike Ness." Damn right!) Besides Social Distortion, Tiger Army is the only band I like as much. Both have such great old-school country roots with new rock sound. Love it! Laurie, you should see if Ryan can go. It's on August 13th, so I don't know if you'll still be in town after Redfish Lake. We'd love to take him!
Anyways, I better do something productive on my day off. In the meantime, I'm going to enjoy this video from Mike Ness and Co.



Here's a fun Tiger Army video. Love those guys.

Not one of those days.

You know when you have a day where you say, "I love my job!"
Today is not one of those days.

You know when you have a day where you have a great hair-day?
Today is not one of those days.

You know when you have a day where you love your health insurance policy?
Today is not one of those days

You know when you have a day where everything seems to be going right?
Today is not one of those days.

Ugggh. These last couple of days have just sucked. I'm really hoping for a better week. Knowing I don't have a day off until next week isn't helping, but it sure will make me enjoy that day off when it comes!
Until then, I have a few things to cheer me up:
1. My wonderful husband will be home in less than a half an hour. Yes!
2. We're probably going to eat delicious food. Yes times two!
3. The Red Sox played such great baseball last night. Here's hoping for 2 in a row!
4. After the game is over we'll watch my new favorite show.
I suppose it's all the little things that can make a day brighter :)

Happy Birthday Heather!!

"Happy happy birthday Heather, dear. Happy days will come to you all year....."
Happy birthday tomorrow to my big sister Heather! Everyone at Barnes and Noble is convinced we're twins and I take that as a huge compliment! Heather is one of my most favorite people in the whole world and I have no idea how I'd spend my free time without her. She was never too cool to play with me, even if I was a dorky pest. Thanks for everything you do Heather!!

Can you tell I was obsessed with being as cool as Heather?

A wonderful Mom-filled weekend.

My cute mom came up for a visit this weekend and we had such a nice time! It was a weekend full of cooking, chatting, baseball/softball games, shopping and movies. We miss you already!!

I came downstairs on Saturday morning to find these two cooking breakfast. I couldn't love a picture any more than I love this one.


My beautiful mom and me.


I forgot to take pictures during Eliza and Wilson's softball game, but I did snap this cute one when I first got there. What a doll my nephew is!

It's definitely spring....

...when we dust off our bikes, fill up the tires and take them out for a spin. There is absolutely nothing more fun to do in Boise than taking your cruiser out on the town. I've never seen more bikes in my life than when I moved to Boise. Luckily this local addiction give Levi extra work since he works for George's Cycles on the weekends building all the bikes. He loves doing this and I love the extra income :)

A big, ugly word.

Hysterosalpingogram.
Have you ever heard an uglier word? However you say it, I'm having it done to me on Monday. It's a procedure that injects dye into my uterus to see if my fallopian tubes are fully open. Since I'm only ovulating every other month, one side may look pinched or closed off. This will at least allow me to see what's going on and start making plans on what the next step should be.
Yes, this really is a uterus vase. Classy folks, classy.

My mom had the HSG done years ago when she was trying to get pregnant with me and said it was one of the most painful things she's ever done. I was hoping, since that was nearly thirty years ago, that technology had changed and it would be a totally pain-free experience. To solidify this thought I started googling information about the procedure. Not a good idea. I found horror story after horror story of women saying how awful it is, how horrific the cramps are, how uncomfortable it is, etc. etc. Yikes!! I was told to take some Motrin before my appointment. Perhaps I'll just bring a wooden mallet and have Levi knock me out halfway through the procedure if it becomes too painful.
Until my appointment, I'm going to pretend that I'm going to a day spa next Monday. Thinking of myself laying face down, getting a back rub by a large Swedish woman named Olga while listening to that wonderful zen music is much more comforting than thinking about my legs hovering, aided by metal stirrups, unnaturally in the air while my innards are filled with dye.

Thanks for clearing that up, Chan Ho Park

This is good for a LOL. When asked why he blew the first game against the Red Sox this year, Yankees pitcher Chan Ho Park had this to say....


What's that song? "When you're running into first and you feel a sudden burst...."
I love Mariano Rivera laughing in the background.

Sinking house and other thoughts

I came home on Friday to my dining room ceiling weeping. This was a surprise. I was planning on coming home and plopping my butt on the couch to do some more simplified Sudoku (my new hobby). Instead I found this:




Apparently the pipe going from the toilet to the wall in our upstairs bathroom is all messed up. This caused the water to leak from the wall, to the floor and down into the floor's cracks, finally coming out the chandelier hole in our dining room. The insurance adjuster will be out today and I'm really keeping my fingers crossed. I just pray that at least some of the damage is covered. Wish us luck!
In addition to that bit of home improvement we are also going to be getting new carpet this year. I'm so excited! The carpet that came with the house is the WORST. It will be nice to able to vacuum the carpet and actually have something come out of the carpet. Right now all the cat hair, thread, etc. just lays stubbornly on the carpet and refuses to be vacuumed up.
Also, while we're at it, I want to repaint our bedroom. Any suggestions? This picture makes it look like the green/blue color we have on the wall is light, but it's actually quite dark...too dark. What color should we pick next?


Other than the house falling apart, things have been going great. I was able to see the Swedish movie version of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and it was every bit as intense as the book. I needed to decompress after seeing it! I'm reading the second book of the series right now and the final third book comes out in May. The benefit of working at a bookstore is always knowing the release dates of books. I was thinking of getting bumper stickers for all my fellow booksellers, maybe something like "Booksellers do it with their thinking caps on." but that ends in a preposition....I still struggle with that. Any other suggestions for a clever bookseller phrase? Working at a bookstore is endlessly amusing. It still amazes me how quickly people walking in the door have to rush to the bathroom. It must be the smell of the coffee. I remember Heather couldn't take either or her kids into the B&N without them having a major bowel movement minutes after walking in. (Another sentence ending in a preposition! I need help with my grammar!)

On a totally unrelated subject, I found the video for Loretta Lynn's "I Miss being Misses Tonight" on youtube. In 2004 Jack White of the White Stripes semi-resurrected Ms. Lynn's career by teaming up with her and producing her album "Van Lear Rose", similar to the way Rick Rubin revived Johnny Cash's career in the '90s and early 2000's. This video reminds me of Cash's "Hurt" video, kind of a reflection on their life of fame and the sadness of losing loved ones.
Mom, I DARE you to watch this without crying!


Here's Johnny Cash's "Hurt" video. What is it about it that's so intense! Goosebumps everytime!

(I had a dream the other night that the tattoo on my foot of Johnny Cash's signature washed off and I was so sad!)

Easter 2010

I love Easter. It means it's spring, and in the case of this year, it means it's opening day for baseball! We are beyond excited for another year of baseball and all the rivalries that come with it.
It's going to be a great season!



This year I actually had a three day weekend over the Easter holiday. Don't ask me how I lucked out. I requested it off a year ago and the retail gods saw to it that my wish was granted. Every year the Gates family meets at the home of one of the aunts or uncles and we have Easter lunch and then the kids do an Easter egg hunt. Only there's a twist: The Gates clan uses MONEY instead of candy for the easter eggs. You heard that right. Money. It's insane! All the grown-ups (excluding these two grownups, who are still coming to terms with their grown-upness) chip in a bunch of change and all that change gets tallied and divided amongst eggs. Rather than filling the eggs with the actual money, we write the amount on the egg and the children get to redeem it for the cash. Almost every single kid there this year walked away with at least $20. It's crazy! To think that when I was a kid I was knocking over my younger cousins to get an egg with a few jelly beans in it. I can't imagine how ruthless I would have become if there was the promise of $10.
This year we had the party at Grams' rest home. It's a great little place near the Boise foothills and they have rooms that accommodate big parties. I played the banker and there was a lot of pressure to give those kids the correct amount of money! Luckily Avery helped me count (she's a banker in real life, phew!) We had lots of fun visiting with all the aunts and uncles and enjoyed relaxing over the holiday weekend.

Gotta love Brad's shirt!

The Easter Egg Hunt at Grams' retirement home

Those kids made out like bandits!

I love this kid.

Check him out, pumping up the Sox!

Spring and a naughty puppy.

I am happy. Here is proof:


I am happy that it's almost spring. I know that the calendar insists that it IS spring, but the weather doesn't seem to think so. What a miserable spring break the kids up here have had! But, brief snowstorms aside, I am stoked for a glorious turnaround of weather. Even my trees are ready for this change:

(I would like to point out how much better my $160 camera is than our $369 that we returned. Yay for good bargains!)
I am also happy because we have been doing a little bit of yard work to make the front of our house more inviting. So far we're three grass bushes and thirteen bags of red bark into the project. Wish us luck!


At this moment I am also unhappy. Here's the proof:

I am unhappy because our basset hound, who turns one this month, still has a chewing problem. As most of you know, Levi and I LOVE sitting on the couch and watching movies and our tv. Buster has decided that we don't need to use our tv remote anymore.
Exhibit A:

What a BAD DOG!! As his punishment he was banished to the backyard where the rain was out in full force.

Some day Buster will learn that good dogs get to stay inside during rainstorms and enjoy the comfort of their bed: