I'm not afraid of needles anymore...almost

A few days into injections for round two of IVF (In vitro fertilization) treatment and I am realizing I'm not so afraid of needles anymore.  Before our journey began, I was freakishly afraid of sharp objects, mainly needles.  The worst was getting blood drawn.  I had been known to get light-headed and faint during or after a blood draw.  The every-other-day testing took care of that problem, for sure.  I can handle it, just can't look at it.  I do a steady breathing pattern, in my nose/out my mouth, slowly.  It really helps.

The next challenge was home injections.  The first time I had to receive an injection at home, my husband and I spent an hour pacing, freaking out, and psyching out until he finally gave me the injection.  We were in our first round of IUI.  So when that didn't work out and we entered round two of IUI, I called up my aunt, a nurse, and she swung by our place on the way to dinner in the city.  She ran in, gave me the shot, and was out within 5 minutes.  My husband was so relieved he didn't have to inject me.

Unfortunately, our second round of IUI turned into a second ectopic pregnancy, emergency room visit IV, methotrexate injections and all.  IVs--those are the WORST.

A few months later, we began our first IVF treatment.  It took me 30 to 45 minutes every night to psych myself up for all the subcutaneous injections.  Then came the progesterone shots in the rear.  My husband dreaded that every night.  Now in round two, I find my injection times down to 10 minutes, quick and efficient.  I would like to say I'm cured, but I will always feel a bit of dread right before and I pray every day I never have to be in an emergency room for an IV and methotrexate EVER again.

Homemade Freezer Cookies

This past week I attempted a Pinterest cookie/brownie creation.  I had so much leftover chocolate chip cookie dough, I decided to freeze it and try to treat it like store-bought frozen dough.  It totally worked!  I was able to send my husband off with fresh-baked homemade cookies to eat on a long car ride and it only took 10 minutes. So here is what I did:

1. Made chocolate chip cookie dough from scratch.  I used this recipe (without the nuts): http://www.bhg.com/recipe/desserts/chocolate-chip-cookies/
2. Rolled the extra dough into a few logs (like store-bought cookie dough).
3. I placed the logs of dough into a labeled and dated freezer bag.  Then I dropped the bag into the freezer.                                                      
4. A few days later, I pulled out one of the logs of dough and preheated the oven to 375F.
5. I sliced the dough into half-inch wide circles, placing them on an ungreased cookie sheet 1 to 2 inches apart.                                              
6. I baked the cookies for 8 minutes, then transfered them to a cooling rack. (My husband ate half of them before they could even cool.)

I have come across more and more freezer cooking methods because of my and my husband's goal of making everything from scratch.  We want control over what is in our food, clothes, and more.  By freezing the cookie dough, it is allowing us to have fresh-baked from-scratch cookies at almost a moments notice in our busy lives.