We tried this month... and I'm now out 20 bucks and lots of gas- as in car gas, or gasoline. After a night of drinkin' in the driveway with neighbors, we celebrated our anniversary and "put it in God's hands". I just knew I was pregnant and even calculated my due date to be February 24th, 2012. But guess what... after obsessively poking and prodding my boobs and practically feeling myself up in the hopes that I'd experience signs of soreness- and after multiple trips to the dollar store and a trip to Wally World just to get the good test because I had POASS- Ya know- Pee On A Stick Syndrome, the verdict is in- I've got nothing. No fertilized egg, pregnancy glow, or baby growing in me.

And I'll admit, I was a little bummed. I was even working on baby names since my friends won't let me name my next son Jay'Ron after a Virginia Tech football player. I was also down because after a few hot days, I have now realized that we will put off "trying" until Christmas because I just don't feel the need to have a newborn baby to nurse off my sweaty chest next summer. I'd much rather be the beached whale on the side of the pool while my older children play. Or maybe, just maybe, a fit, middle-aged preggo mom that gets talked about for wearing a bikini because I find a pregnant belly nothing short of beautiful. We shall see...:)

In my last blog, I wrote about our pet cow. It's true... We had a few cows growing up. I even gave birth to a cow. Well, not literally, but we had a calf birth go wrong and had to tie a rope to the calves foot and pull it out. It didn't survive. So sad and heartbreaking... and we had to borrow a cow from another area farm to nurse on our mama cow to give the poor thing some comfort. True story. I can't make this stuff up.

Back to Big Red. Big Red was our pet cow that we raised to slaughter. I even wrote a poem about him...

I have a cow named Big Red,
I shovel and rake to make his bed.

I try not to become to close you'll see,
For come November, a T-Bone he'll be.

And that was so true. He turned into a t-bone... eventhough we think that the slaughterhouse sent someone else's cow because our meat was fatty and my dad took great pride in feeding Big Red to make the finest lean meat. Too bad we lost half of our meat when my grandparent's freezer was accidentally left open the day we loaded it up with fresh, white paper covered beef. Cow gone bad. And too bad I never ate Big Red because I became a vegetarian (except for McDonald's hamburgers) for two years. And too bad I still have nightmares of my best friend's brother chasing me around with the frozen beef of Big Red while mooing making me cry. I swear... I really don't make this stuff up.:)

So, if you've hung in here this long... what's all this talk about a cow for?

Lesson of the day: Eat your protein. And if you're like me, you can try a protein shake instead of your furry, best friend.:) Cheers!