Ma Bling

Joining in the fun with a little link-up!

Bling, Bling, Share Your Ring!

Here is my bling:

And I loooooove it.

To read a blog about my "bliggin' issues," click here.

Fertile Mertile?

Yesterday was the curriculum night at school and the PTA ice cream social.  It was fun to meet all of the parents and families but it was a long, loooong day.  I was at the school for about 13 hours yesterday.  Eeks.
I came home and wanted to just melt into bed.  I put K to bed and spent a few minutes on the couch to have a glass of wine with my husband.  I just needed to chill....relax.....come down.

We finally got to bed around 11 and just as I was just drifting off to sleep, I hear, "aren't you fertile today?"

Ummmm, what?

"I think you're fertile this week.  That's what the app says."

True, I do track my cycle on an iPhone app.  And I guess I casually said a few weeks ago that I would be fertile this week. 

Shockingly, my cycle is running at the textbook 28 days since the Mirena removal.  The first time, ever, in my life that I've had a normal cycle.  We're both thrilled to death with the predictability of it.  And now with this app...there is no guess work to it at all. 

So, he remembered that I was fertile this week.  And I double checked my phone.  Sure enough...he was right.

I asked him if he was truly ready for another baby and he thinks he is.....

But I still claim that you're never completely ready.  How can you be?

Cupcake Friday!  She choose a white cupcake with white and pink icing.

In other news, Zales has officially replaced my diamond.  The switching was never admitted but they were quick to get new diamonds in for us to inspect and choose from.... 

We went tonight to look them over and chose a new stone.  I should get my ring back, with the new stone, next week.  I am so thankful to have that behind me.  I'm tired of the back and forth with them.  And!?  I got a new watch battery for free.  Go me.

Dreaming of her first big rock!

We've Got A New Way....

I honestly had to search my brain for a blog today.  Sometimes, I have to weed out all of these different things that I want to say and choose the best one.... not today.  My brain woke up as mush.  R and I had to tip-toe around the apartment and barely even breathe to keep things super quiet.  You see, Kin has been becoming quite the early riser the past two weeks.  I'm talking 6:00-6:30 a.m. early riser.  Now this will work perfectly next week when I start student teaching and she has to go to day care at 6:30, but this week, is momma's last week of "summer break" and she would enjoy just a tiny bit of "me time" in the morning before jumping into her mommy work. 

So here it is 6:48 and I have my cup of coffee sitting next to me and I'm feverishly pecking at the keyboard and praying that the clickity clack won't wake her.  I'm not asking for a 10:00 wake-up (although wouldn't that be awesome!) but maybe an 8:00?  That would be cool.  Maybe I could even get a shower without the crying toddler holding the shower curtain open and soaking the bathroom floor.  Cause, yes, that is what she does when I shower.

I finally got word back from Zales about my ring.  The manager said that following a conference call with the diamond bond guy in Texas and then his regional manager, they conclude that it is "our" diamond and that we're basically SOL.  But!  If we want to fork out $325 they'll upgrade it one level on the clarity chart.  Sooo many things that I could say here.  But I took the info and told him that my husband would be contacting him.  Which he surely won't want....I promise.  Cause when I get mad, I cry.  When he gets mad, he causes a scene.

First of all, why would you even offer to upgrade our stone if you are certain that the stone in the ring is our stone?  Why is the process that you claimed would take a couple of days, taking almost two weeks.  And I still don't have my ring back.  It is stranded in Texas until we decide what we're going to do.  Who knows what will be coming back to us at this point.....the guy in Texas probably switched it out yet again.

Second, if you didn't screw up and switch the diamond in the first place, you shouldn't be offering a "super great discount" on a better stone.  You should  be confident in your decision and tell us that you're 100% certain that it is our stone.

Either way, I'm feeling ripped off.  Zales, you fail.  Big fail.  And I pray that I see "Zales" being searched in my stats.  Cause I have their new slogan:  Zales, we'll steal your diamond and make you pay for another.  Screwing you for a lifetime.  Buy our lifetime care and guarantee for your diamond to ensure that we can play the switcheroo game any time we want!

Okay, I am done complaining about them.

We had a couples session last night again.  Neither of us really wanted to go but it was too late to cancel without being charged for a no-show.  So we went.  It's kind of funny to sit in the waiting room.  You are surrounded by other couples.  And obviously we are all in the same boat.  Some sit in silence.  Some have casual conversation.  Some seem so tense and mad that you could cut the tension with a knife.  Us?  We were in the silent scene, then.  Now?  We walk in and are laughing, giddy, happy.  I think that we look like that couple.  You know, the one that you can totally pick out in a restaurant.  They walk in all lovey dovey on each other and happy and you look over at them and totally peg it as they are in the dating stage.  That's us when we walk into the office now.  I think that our counselor is sort of confused.  She's not sure what to make of the 180.  But the longer we go in this new way of our relationship, the more I believe that it's real and not just a honeymoon phase.  Are we really happy?  Are we really, truly making this work?

I think so.

In our session, we were going to pick up on the "What Makes You Feel Loved" worksheet again but after going through one question, it was brought up how a major hot spot of stress in our relationship is when I am in school and a stress freak.  Cause let's face it....I am a total freak when I get overwhelmed and stressed out.  So we used this session to talk through some things that will be overwhelming and cause friction in the relationship during this semester.  Mainly, Kinley responsibilities.

During the discussion, my stress was already starting to rise and I was getting all anxious and freaked out just thinking about how hard this is going to be.  And how risky it is to ruin how great we have made our relationship, but then I realized that he's not the same person he was last semester.  And I'm not the same girl that I was last semester.  Strangely, I have confidence that we will get through this.  We will succeed and survive this last semester of school.

She gave us lots of tips and talked us through morning procedures, pick-up procedures, dinner procedures and then my homework time procedures.  We are both on the same page and have the same expectations for how our lives will flow during the next 15 weeks.  If we stick to our plan, we shouldn't have many bumps.  Shouldn't.

Is dinner time stressful for all families?  Cause that is where we have most of our issues.  Her solution:  R takes two nights and I'll take three.  On his two nights, I don't get asked about dinner, I don't make anything, he does it all.  Whether it be grabbing Portillo's or getting pizza or making something.  It's all him.  And for my three days, it's all me.  And then, on Sunday, him and Kinley have the grocery shopping chore.  They go and get gas in the vehicles and grocery shop so that I have a couple of hours of uninterrupted homework time.  On Wednesday nights, we sit together and plan the weekly menu.  That way there should be no issues about what we're eating on what night and the whole decision making is taken out of the equation.

Sounds like it may work, and work well.  He is also taking the responsibility of dropping Kinley at day care in the morning.

Talk about a weight off of my shoulders.  Just knowing that those few things are things I don't need to worry about make such a huge difference.

I'm almost excited to start this next phase in our relationship:  surviving school.  If we can survive this, I will be certain that it's a real change and not a honeymoon phase.

And now I have realized that this blog has gone on way too long.  My apologies. 

Have some Kinley cuteness:

Her bestie, Carder.

This is the cutest thing.  I think she needs a tractor for her birthday.

They Made A Switch

Today I will spend my day in prayer.  One of my bestie's husband is going in for a pretty big surgery this morning.  I am so nervous for him (and her!).  She is being so strong at a time when I know I would break.  But that's how she faces everything that life hands her....with such courage.  He goes in at 8:00 CST this morning.  Join me in saying a prayer for Chet.

My step-dad is having surgery on his hand.  While it isn't as risky of a surgery as the above mentioned, I think that all surgeries are a risk.  So I pray for him to have a safe surgery, and quick recovery.  My mom really depends on him and I know that he's going to try to recover quickly.  But I pray that he makes it through without pain or complications.

I am also praying for an answer with my student teaching.  I talked to Sara (the placement lady) yesterday over the phone and she told me that I had three districts left to try out.  Within twenty minutes, the list was down to two.  She then called out a favor from a principal that she knows personally.  The school where he's at is in the ideal location.  Well, not as ideal as the one in my backyard...but still much more ideal that the last choice.  The school is right by Richie's office.  Totally convenient.  She emailed the principal yesterday and I am praying so hard that he accepts me into his school. 

If not, it's going to be an hour each way commute for me every.single.day this semester.  Ugh.

Last night we met with the manager at Zales.  I am so glad that you all pushed me to pursue this ring issue.  He was so very nice.  He listened to our concerns and didn't blow us off.  I insisted that he look up the transaction at purchase and tell me how my ring was "classified."  But before he did that, I told him to score the ring as it was today.  He told me that he would score it as an I-3 with visible inclusions.  I agreed with that score, because well--there is a huge white cloud in the ring.  We pulled up the sale transaction from four years ago, the ring was sold as an I-1-no visible inclusions.  Hmmmmm.

He knew that we were right.

When Richie looked at the stone under the scope, he noticed that the carbon inclusion that was in the stone wasn't the same carbon inclusion that we had seen before.  The inclusion that was in the stone at purchase was a small, round carbon speck at the bottom-center of the stone. But not visible by the naked eye, and not visible through the top of the diamond.  The now carbon inclusion was long and sprouted looking--like a river--sort of.  And was visible from the top of the stone.

That is not our diamond.

So he's sending it to the diamond bond guy--or whatever he is--to see "what can be done for us."  He asked me if I'd like to just trade in my ring to get something new and I firmly said no.  I want my ring.  I am more upset than anything.  That stone was OURS.  YOUR guy stole it.  What is going to be done?

All that he said was that they would most likely be replacing the diamond.

But what will it be replaced with?  No diamond will replace the sentimental value that the first had.  And you can bet your bottom dollar that I'll be getting that new diamond appraised immediately.  I think I may have lost all faith and trust in my once favorite jeweler, Zales.

My Blingy Issues

Kinley woke up at 6:00 which is was too early for me her and now she's mad at the world because she's still tired.  Everything is making her cry.  I'm almost excited that today is a school day. 

Remember how I told you about the whole Zales thing yesterday?  So, I did write a nice little note to their corporate office regarding the less than stellar customer service that we received at their store.  This woman was the rudest person.  And knowing how many thousands of dollars we've dropped in their store...we expect decent customer service.  Not perfect, but decent.  She was a far cry from decent.  So I wrote a note.  It resulted in a phone call from the district manager and then a fifty dollar gift card.  And not that I'm not appreciative, but a fifty dollar gift card from a jeweler is purely for their benefit, not mine.  Cause they know good and well that I'll have to spend at least another $100 to even use the thing.  But that's another issue. 

So we go to pick up my rings and we get the same fabulous sales person.  I get the vibe that she knows that I complained.  Maybe I'm just paranoid, but it sure seemed like she knew.  Not that she was even nicer, really.  I pick up my rings and away we go. 

We got to the car and I was taking pictures (for the blog, of course) and my husband asked to see it (to see how good he did--his words, not mine--such a goof!).  He immediately saw something in the center diamond and was like, "what is that?"  I start peering into the stone with him and was like, "oh yeah, what is that?"  There was a big white something in the diamond.  So he polished it on his shirt thinking that something got under the stone or maybe on top or maybe the side of it.  Nope.  Still there.

Not sure what to do, we put Kage back into her stroller and back into the mall we went.  Knowing that we'd be dealing with the awesome sales person again, I expected nothing but attitude.  After waiting for about ten minutes for her to come and help us, we told her the situation.  She grabbed her little magnifier thing and looked into the stone.  Sure enough, her "diagnosis" is that there is a large cloud inclusion.  We get that.  But my stone never had a large cloud inclusion.  My husband looked at tons of diamonds before buying the one in my ring.  He knows the stone well. 

So....what do you do?

She gave us the store manager's card and said we'd have to discuss it with him.

But in all honesty, it's their word against ours.  The diamond isn't registered, so there is no record saying that the cloud inclusion was there or wasn't there when purchased.  We still haven't called the manager.  We feel defeated before even starting....  What would you do?  We've heard accusations of jewelers switching diamonds before, but does that really happen?  We clearly stated that we weren't blaming or pointing fingers....we just want to know why there is an apparent inclusion there now that wasn't there two weeks ago when we dropped it off.

It stresses me.

To completely switch topics....(which is code for:  Kage is starting to freak out and I gotta cut it short)

I got a new polish color last night.  And I am in love.

Fuchsia Flare by Sally Hansen Insta-Dri

We picked up Kinley's Cozy Coupe car from our storage unit on Sunday and since, she won't get out of it.  She wants to watch Super Why in the car.  She wants to eat in the car.  She wants to climb in the car.  She wants to go on walks in her car.  She loves the car.

And this one, is just because it is so stinkin' adorable.

And lastly, this one is because it made me jump up and down.

Yes, I did in fact make the Dean's List last semester.  Go me!  I totally was shocked.  For some reason, I was under the impression that 4.0 was Dean's List...and well, I got 3 A's and 1 B last semester.  Guess I was wrong!  So my Dean's List run continues strong!