nov 24th - 2

give your dog a rawhide as big as her head, keep her entertained for hours...

nov 24th

we finished putting the lights and outside decorations up on sunday afternoon. we took full advantage of the great weather!

here's the house during the day:
here's the house lit up at night:

nov 21st - 2

after 4 and a half months i finally got a period on my own yesterday. it just so happens that my ob/gyn is a member of our church, as well as a member of choir. so we've been discussing the course of action to take for me to ovulate - since that is a pretty important part of making babies. there are a couple of different medicines that are a usual start to fertility treatment. we were thinking of starting the medicine in late winter/early spring because i have some work projects that are in fully swing right now. but, when it came down to it yesterday, we thought, work will never be perfect, so i called the ob/gyn office.

if i wanted to wait, then if i didn't get a period on my own again, i'd have to take medroxyprogesterone (was on it for a few months before) to trigger one in the spring.

so i opted to start the first dose of metformin now. metformin (glucophage) is a drug primarily used by diabetics to help regulate blood sugar. it's very commonly used in the Trying To Conceive (TTC) world. apparently, the regulation of blood sugar helps bring on ovulation. so, this first does is 500mg a day, then next month is 1000mg a day, then the third month is 1500mg a day which is what's considered the "therapeutic" dose. a couple of friends at work had successful tries with metformin, so we'll see what happens.

the bad side effects: GI issues. i haven't noticed any of that yet, but i've only taken one pill so far. the good side effects: possible weight loss, since it's helping the body regulate blood sugar.

so, i'll be tracking with test strips to see if this has any effect.

nov 21st

a few things. mr c. is off hunting so i feel like i have little bit of time to write an much needed update.
hazel is doing SO good. she just got her rabies and some other shots yesterday at her 18 week checkup. she is now just under 8 pounds. she's definitely thriving. she is ALMOST fully trained to the box. she still does great when she's in the kitchen by herself, and now when she's out in the house, #1 is almost always done in the box, and #2 is not quite that consistent yet. we went over to my parents' house last night to hang out, and i took a litter box & litter to keep over there. she played SO well. she #1 & #2 in the box, with no accidents anywhere else. this a huge step in the right direction. her final puppy class is today. we'll continue to take her to puppy party, so she can keep socializing. i'm going to talk to the trainer today to see when would be a good time to introduce a new puppy to her so she can have a companion. she gets pretty lonesome and i think that'd be really nice for her.

nov 12th

Hello friends & family!

I just started a new gig to earn some extra cash, and to provide great products to you. This new business is Mary Kay!

So, to get started on the right foot, I'm offering a grand opening sale
on my website. After all, Christmas is only 6 weeks away. You don't
have time to lose!

Get some shopping done for all the special women in your life! Here's a
few to get you started: your mother, daughters, sisters, aunts, wife,
girlfriends, teachers and your boss. Shop for her >

There are great gifts under $30, stocking stuffers, super cute gift sets, as well as the great make-up that she uses every day.

My gift to you is a 15% off savings through next Thursday, November 19th.

And hey, Mary Kay even carries men's stuff like fragrance, shaving
and grooming products, so don't overlook the special men in your life
either! Shop for him >

Hurry, this special 15% off sale is for one week only, so start
shopping! Sale runs today through Thursday, November 19th. Discounts
won't appear
in checkout, but will be processed when I place your order.

Thanks for your support!

nov 6th

well, i had the baby gate down last night so hazel could run all over the place, while working on the "come" command. she was doing SO awesome...until she pooped & peed on the carpet. now keep in mind the litter box was about 4 feet away. when i yelled BAD DOG! she took off for her bed, and stayed there the rest of the night. ahhh dachshund stubbornness. gotta love it.

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my mom and i are going shopping tonight at Jo-Ann Fabric's. they're having a friends & family event for 20% that was advertised through their email marketing. i'm very excited to get some more things for the house.

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PHOTOS:
Halloween | Hazel

nov 5th

happy birthday to mr. d! the big 2-5!

nov 3rd - house tour 2

we had the "blue star room" ceiling scraped, sanded, retextured and painted last thursday. we have now primed it and it's ready for paint. before that unveiling you can take a look at where we're at on the house as of thursday night.

nov 3rd

hi all. man it's been a crazy busy last couple of weeks.

my dad is having his spleen removed on the 16th. my mom and i will be updating his caringbridge site when that time arrives: http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/mattgatchell

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hazel is doing so good. we have her completely litter box trained. currently, it's in the kitchen with her, and she goes in there all day. but, now we have to be super consistent with her when she's in the house to make her way to the box when she has to go and she's not confined to the kitchen. she's doing really well with puppy class, and we also take her to puppy party at the dog training center. she get's to spend an hour with puppies her same age, and play and run and socialize. i guess that it's SUPER important to get them socialized at this age so they don't turn into crazy dominant doggies.

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mr. c's aunt & uncle came to visit from virginia the week before our anniversary. they got the grand tour of our house, and we had a great time with them.

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for our first anniversary, we went SEVEN hours north and stayed at a cabin in Iron River, WI. it was SO relaxing. before we knew it, we had to pack up and come back home.

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mr. c got news at work that there's a good possibility he'll be promoted and moved to a different shop. he'll probably still be on second shift, but the chances of him moving up are much greater at the other shop (non-union) than the shop he's at (union).

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we had our first trick or treaters! we had about 50 kids, and we had plenty of candy which was good. we even had some unopened leftovers to return to the store!

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i'm now down 5 pounds. i've been having trouble staying consistent, but it's definitely going in the right direction. all of the food is in the basement pantry. so, there's no eating just out of boredom. you have to go over the baby (puppy) gate into the kitchen, then go down to the basement to get something. so that really helps curb the snacky monster attack.

--- pictures to come.