Parente Family Blog

So, I realized today that it’s been a while since i’ve posted.  We’ve been back from Florida for a week now and will be off to Utah on Saturday.  It’s been fun visiting with family and getting away from the nasty Chicago winter we’ve had this year.  I’ve started looking for a part-time job and have an interview on Friday.  It’s with a Senior care center that specializes in helping the Elderly in their homes.  I thought it sounded really interesting and something that I might enjoy doing so we’ll see what happens.

I can’t believe that in a little over a month, Steve and I will be celebrating our one year anniversary.  Time flies!  We are still hoping for a baby.  I’ve been working with the doctor and am on my third round of clomide this month.  If it doesn’t work, I will be going back in to the doctor to figure out what our next step would be.  It has been quite a trial.  On the whole, I think I’ve been handling it with patience and trying to learn from the experience.  There are days, however, that are quite trying.  In the end, it will be worth all the struggles though.

I just completed my first big sewing project yesterday.  I’ve been working on a blessing dress for our friends, David and Jenny Caldwell.  I finished yesterday and, I must say, am very proud of my work.  It’s not perfect but I think pretty darn good for my first attempt.

Other than that, life has been pretty much busy nothings.  We’re looking forward to spending time with family and friends in Utah next week.  Hopefully, it will be a little warmer there than it is here.  We’ll see!

So, here I am after trekking through another lovely Chicago snowstorm to get groceries wonder why the heck we even bothered to come back here….seriously.  This winter has been one of the worst ones I’ve been in since living here.  Snow isn’t even the worst of it.  In a few days, after the snow has subsided, we will get pounded by subzero temperatures until we leave for Florida next Friday.  You might as well live in fricken’ Siberia…I don’t think you’d be able to tell the difference!

OK, enough complaining about the snow.  Apart from the nasty weather, Steve is out of town until Monday and I’m pretty sure I’m going to have to take ANOTHER round of fertility drugs this month.  I’ve decided that if this coming month offers no success, I’m calling the doctor to see what the next step can be in our on going trial to have a baby.  Fortunately, Steve’s insurance is good so we have a lot more options that most people.  It has been hard to stay positive but I’m tryin’.

Good news….in one week, Steve and I will be sitting on an airplane headed for Orlando…woohoo!  I’m so excited to see the Orlando gang and hang out at Disney!  It’s going to be so fun.  Knowing we’re going to have a reprieve from the winter weather is pretty much the only thing keeping me from pulling all my hair out:-)  It will be great!

And the grind is winning!

It’s always tough coming back to work after a long vacation (2 weeks is long in the IT business). It’s especially tough when you come from a warm climate back to a cold one. Needless to say, Mindy and I still want to move to a warmer clime…Dallas anyone?

Of course, we will get to spend some time in Florida soon, but that won’t really get us through the cold part of the Chicago winter.

Mindy is still fighting off her cold, and I’m trying my best to not catch it. Unfortunately, I tend to get sick when I travel, and I’m flying to NY on Wednesday, so I expect to have the sniffles when I present my training classes in NY. The only upside to the travel I’ll be doing over the next many weeks is that it will help prove the point that I can do my job from anywhere. This may be a useful point when our lease runs out in September.

-Stevis

OK, this has been one of those weeks where I definately feel as though I have outstayed my welcome in Illinois.  This weather really sucks!

We’ve had two pretty major snow falls this week and now have about 1 foot of snow covering the ground.  It’s been freezing and windy and just plain nasty.  Needless to say, I think Steve and I are both excited about leaving for Dallas tomorrow and than having only two weeks until we go to Florida….woohoo!

My friends, Sheila, was here all week which was way fun.  She, of course, has decided that Chicago is definately not the place for her…can’t really blame her really.  I don’t understand anyone who would actually want to stay her after this week.  We had fun in spite of the weather, however.  We took her to all her favorite ethnic foods, Indian, Thai and Sushi this week.  On Tuesday, she and I went to the Museum of Contemporary art and on Wednesday Monica came over and we went to the KristKindl Market in Dailey Plaza and than saw a show at the Second City in Old Town.  Second City is comedy improve and lots of famous people made their start there…the Belushi Brothers, Alan Alda, Dan Akroid, Bill Murray, Steve Carrell, Chris Farrelly, Mike Meyers…and the list goes on.  It was a very funny show and we all had fun.

So, now Steve and I are in the middle of packing and laundrying in preparation for our trip tomorrow:-)

Things have been slow with the pregnancy thing.  I’m on another round of Chlomide this month.  Our doctor said that the blood tests came back positive and I’m now ovulating so it’s only a matter of time.  He’s pretty confident that in the next few months, we should have some good results.  We shall see.  It’s been frustrating, mostly because I feel like I’m surrounded by people who seem to get pregnant at the drop of a pin.  Argh.  Anyway, you just have to keep trucking forward.  It’s a very tedious process.

Other than that, life is pretty good.  We’re excited for the holidays and looking forward to see lots of family and friends over the next several months.  We sure love you all and hope you have a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!  Love to you all!

Mindy

So, I managed to finish cleaning the house today and got the laundry all done.  I’ve volunteered to put together Giant Step’s newsletter each month.  They had a hard time finding someone to take on that task after I left and I had e-mailed Bridget to see if there was anything I could do from afar to help with things.  It was one of my favorite parts of my job, funny as that may seem since it was something I volunteered to do and not part of my job description.  Anyway, I’m putting that together this week, trying to get my sewing project underway, and we’re having a couple we met in the ward over for dinner tomorrow night.  Should be fun…I’m excited to get to know some new people in the area.

Steve is working late tonight as he has training meetings all week.  We had a fun time at Grandpa and Grandma Glover’s house for Thanksgiving.  The time, however, went by all too quickly and now we are back at the grinding post.  I’ve started looking around for part-time work.  Just something to bring in a little extra money.  I was just called as a family history consultant along with my Nursery calling.  All my “free time” with me not working is being used up quickly! :-)  It’s a good thing though.  I really enjoy volunteer work.  If we were independently wealthy, I’d just as soon look for a full-time volunteer position.  Unfortunately, we are not rich…at least monitarally speaking.

I have started fertility treatments this month and we’re crossing our fingers that it will be the answer to our prayers.  I’ve been trying to be patient…of course, Steve says I’m not but I keep telling him that compared to most women in this situation, I have been reasonably calm.  The doctor seemed confident that this first set of pills would do the trick.  They are what most women take when they first go on fertility drugs…one of the more mild kinds.

Apart from that, we’re just plugging along.  We’re looking forward to seeing almost everyone at Christmas…David and Erin, you’ll have to mosy on up to Chi town soon:-)  We’re also looking forward to our trip to Disney and Orlando in January.  Although Steve will be working part of that time, he’s excited to be going to Florida when it’s crappy out here.

Well, I’m on day three of my yucky cold.  Steve DID take very good care of me on Sunday and I’ve managed to survive.  He’s back at work and has been very very busy the last few days which doesn’t help with recovery.

On a different note, I go in to the doctor today to start treatments for my PCOS.  I’m hopeful that it works quickly and we will have good news in the next few months.

I’m headed out now to see what i can do about getting our car registered to our new address.  It’s been quite an undertaking trying to figure out city stickers and registration.  Never a dull moment!

Well, I came home from LA with my cold, and I’ve managed to almost get over it. I still have my cough and some weakness as a result, but the majority of it is gone…and it only lasted 12 days! Of course, always being one to share, I’ve managed to pass it along to Mindy. She’s naturally very thankful for my sharing and kind nature. Since I didn’t actually get a chance to rest and relax while I was sick (working 8-10 hours per day isn’t very restful) I think that may have extended the cold beyond its normal lifespan. A number of people at work and church have had similar colds, and most of them have lasted about a week. We’re hoping Mindy’s is one of those variants. I’m also hoping that there isn’t another one going around that I can still catch.

Due to the number of people who showed up from the ward to help us move, I felt I needed to assist with a move yesterday. I wasn’t up to full strength, but I figured I was healthy enough to help. It turned out that about 8 or 9 other members showed up (making around 13 people total) and we unloaded a fairly large truck in pretty short order. It was to a second floor unit, but the staircase was quite large, so we didn’t have any issues with making things fit. The bed was even able to make it up the stairs without any acrobatics. Aside from some sore muscles, I don’t think I did myself any harm by going.

We didn’t think Mindy should go to church today, due to her cold and the fact that she’s now a nursey worker. We didn’t want to spread the disease to the kids, as that’s just plain unfair. Of course, they’ll happily spread their germs to her, but that’s standard practice. I think I’ve managed to keep her from doing any actual work at home today. I’m not the best cook, but I do make a pretty mean scrambled egg breakfast.

We made plans for our January trip to LotuSphere. Most of you probably don’t know what that is, but it’s the annual convention held by IBM (formerly Lotus, but they were bought years ago) at Disney World. Mindy will be going with me, and she’ll get to spend her days on the rides while I’m in classes. The event happens the week of her birthday, so we decided to make it her birthday present. We’re looking forward to the time away from Chicago’s weather (even though it hasn’t been cold until the past few days) and we’re also looking forward to seeing her family members that live down that way.

Well, I have to go start taking care of Mindy again, so that’s all for now!

-Stevis

Well, for all my worryings and doubts, I must say that I was mighty proud to have voted for Barack Obama last night as he made his acceptance speech to the nation and the world.  Whatever our differences, I truely believe that he will try to help bring our nation together.  It was a pretty incredible moment to watch as our first African American President take the stand.

I also have to add that I was very pleased with McCain’s speech.  I believe he really does want to back President Obama up so that we can all work together to bring our nation out of a dark time.

It is far from over.  The hardest part for President Obama will be to show the nation that he isn’t just all talk.  It won’t be all roses and I’m sure that we will have disappointments along the way.  I do believe, however, that he will do ALL in his power to live up to the changes he has promised he will bring to Washington and to the our nation.  He may not always win, but I really do believe that he will give 100%.  This will be his trial by fire.

Well, here we are…the day before elections and I’m still not convinced.  I know in my entry earlier I had said I was sick of both parties and was thinking of voting libertarian but after researching Bob Barr and the libertarian party, I’m not so sure I can agree with them on a few pretty important issues for me.  He’s a huge supporter of the right to bare arms and is an advocate for home schooling, two VERY big issues for me.  I like the general principles behind the party platforms but there are too many things I disagree on.  So, despite my disappointment with some of Barack’s former dealings with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, I am still prepared to align myself with him for this election.  The basic ideals of the democratic party are what I believe and I cannot deny it.

On another note, I have been asked to work in the nursery at church.  We’ve got a huge group of 30 kids and they just split the group in to two.  I will be working with the older group.  I’m very excited about it.  It is so much fun getting to know the kids and being able to teach them.  It’s good for me and keeps me on my toes!