Check out what Stephanie got in the evening of 13DPO. Methinks there's more than one!!
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
NOT ME! But somebody got a positive HPT!!!
Posted by Solitaire at 8:56 PM 8 comments
Monday, September 29, 2008
En-shop-tainment
Do you shop for entertainment purposes? I never thought I did, but these last two weeks I have been trying not to spend anything apart from the occasional lunch (and yes, that parking charge and Starbucks from Saturday), because of the old bank balance situation, and I've realized that I really did waste a lot of time shopping.
I mean, I wasn't one to troll the malls every weekend, far from it. It was never my first choice of something to do. But, you know, I might find myself there on a random weekend day, telling myself that I needed some new work pants, or something. And then I might end up browsing through handbags and perfume as well. Or I might find myself in Old Navy looking at t-shirts. Hell, even a quick trip to CVS for some aspirin might turn into a leisurely perusal of the moisturizer aisle. Or, the worst offender of the lot, I might find myself in Barnes & Noble. Which is disastrous for the wallet. More often, though, I'd head to the supermarket. Yes, I grocery shop for entertainment. You see, it's not like I don't have kitchen cabinets full of food, but instead of digging around and finding that falafel mix that was about to go out of date, or the frozen veggies that have been gathering freezer burn for a while, I'd tell myself I need more fresh vegetables or that I was about to run out of pasta (disaster!) and off I'd go, getting tasty little tidbits and interesting food items to try. At least with the grocery store you can tell yourself you are not being frivolous. That it's a chore. A necessity.
It gives you something to do, gets you out of the house, gives you a few minutes or more of time spent quietly looking at things. And then the thrill of finding a must-have or a new item and forking over the credit card. It can be quite an entertaining way to pass time. Now, of course, I'm sure I'd feel differently about grocery shopping if I had a rambunctious three year-old in tow. I'm sure then it can be a hideous nightmare - but one I'd gladly swap (most of the time) for any chance to buy organic goat cheese and cranberry spread on my own.
I admit, I thought I was better than people who were addicted to shopping. I was not one of those people who go out and buy so many designer clothing items that they can't afford or who sits and compusively dials a home shopping channel, I thought. But really, it's all a matter of degree, isn't it? I mean, how many falafel mixes does a person really need? How many t-shirts should a person have cluttering up her dresser? Actually forcing yourself not to go and take part in these activities can be eye-opening.
Hello, my name is Sarah and I'm addicted to shopping.
Posted by Solitaire at 12:22 PM 2 comments
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Volunteering fail
I never did register anyone to vote yesterday. I got there 15 minutes early, paid my $5 parking fee and boldly marched in expecting to find a few voter registration types setting up a table near the door. I figured they'd be happy to have me there early to help out and that I'd be all super keen and register a ton of people. Only there wasn't anyone there that looked suitable. I went up to the convention registration table, but no-one there had any idea that there were supposed to be any voter registration types. They suggested I walked around to see if I could find them.
Posted by Solitaire at 12:55 PM 3 comments
Friday, September 26, 2008
Moving right along
Anonymous, I pity your kid(s), I really do. I hope you deal with them with more empathy than you show here. I know this is the innernets and all, and you are allowed to say any old whack thing you like, so whatevs. But I hope you have more decency to the people in your real life.
Anyhoo. Here we are. I am not doing an insem this month, nor have I done anything with my eggs for three months. Except jump start a cycle after 2 months, but that wasn't necessarily an egg/insem issue. Sure, it had something to do with wanting my cycle regular again, but I hope that you realize that I have not exactly been jumping up and down with fear over "losing" a month of precious time. That's because I am not, in fact, obssessed.
Sorry, where was I? I did start this by saying "moving right along" and then proceeded not to.
I'm going to an anim.e convention tomorrow! Whoo! Not to actually attend or pretend any real interest in anim-e or even to hang out with the kids, but to volunteer at a voter registration drive at said convention. I figure now I am all hip with interracting with my fellow community college kids, I can easily stand there and badger a few hundred of them to find out if they've registered to vote. Of course, half of the attendees may be high schoolers, but hey. The big question of the day is what to wear, though, so I don't stand out like a complete idiot. I'm thinking lots of black, seeing as I don't have any graphic t-shirts with my favorite character printed on it. I hope I don't just look like someone's chubby middle-aged mom so that they all steer clear. Chubby 30's older cousin is fine...
Posted by Solitaire at 2:46 PM 5 comments
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Worrying at a hangnail
Oh! Hey! Anonymous is back! It's my lucky day.
Yes, you could do monthly IUI cycles with your eggs (haven't you gone through hundreds of eggs already?), 'cause it's definitely not more than money and time to waste and if you have them both in excess, go for it.
Or you could actually put your money and time towards something with actual odds that are better than zero and go for a donor egg cycle.
Recipe: If you want to keep getting what you've always gotten, keep doing what you've always done.
Posted by Solitaire at 4:56 PM 14 comments
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Kind of giddy
So, today is cycle day 1. Which means that last cycle was a normal length with a normal LP, normal EWCM at roughly the right time, and normal everything. And today was all nice and...normal. No spotting beforehand, nice red flow, and all that. Now, of course, it'll probably degenerate into clots and brown gunk shortly, but hey, at least it started off well.
Which all has me thinking that maybe if things have regulated (finally!) since being off the meds, that maybe, just maybe, I should resurrect the home insem plan. And some whining from a certain blogger (you know who you are!) that I just need to get on with it has helped too.
I'm thinking therefore that I might even buy some OPKs this cycle, just to see when things are really happening. And possibly sign up with that bank that ships to your house, in case I want to play around with a can of goodies next month.
Posted by Solitaire at 9:52 AM 3 comments
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Fall weather report
On the radio this morning, said with a wry chuckle:
The high temperature will "only" get to the mid- to high- eighties today. It is fall now, after all.
Posted by Solitaire at 5:39 PM 2 comments
Monday, September 22, 2008
She's crazy!
Word from Stephanie:
Here's the scoop:
6 of twelve arrested at some point.
3 of the remaining 6 were grade 3 blasts that the clinic doesn't freeze.
2 of the remaining 3 are grade one blasts.
The last one is a grade one expanded blast.
We transferred all 3!! Yikes!
But, I couldn't very well come all the way back here for one remaining blast. So, we tossed 'em all in. Easy peasy transfer. Progesterone a bit low so, we're adding injections (after some doing, that is!).Hopefully, we've got babies on board! :-)
Oh my! 3 DE blasts!
Posted by Solitaire at 4:37 PM 1 comments
Good luck Stephanie!! (and DH!)
It's transfer day over in the CR! There's no information on the embryos until they get to the clinic (and as I type they should be there right now, getting ready) but I hope there are lots of excellent quality blasts to choose from. And hopefully some left over that can be frozen for a sibling. Or two.
Posted by Solitaire at 6:30 AM 2 comments
Saturday, September 20, 2008
Let's talk TV
So, I'm guessing the new fall shows are on by now? What are you watching? What is good?
Posted by Solitaire at 8:58 AM 6 comments
Friday, September 19, 2008
Czech Update!
I forgot to post! Stephanie reported that they had 15 eggs retrieved and 12 fertilized! Woohooooooo.
Posted by Solitaire at 9:14 AM 2 comments
Thank you!
Ahhh, so it's the variability thing. I knew you guys would fill me in.
There is, of course, variation in colleges in the UK. Perhaps not so much as here, but it's fairly widespread, nonetheless. And we don't have any private universities at all, so that's kind of a foreign concept to me. I went to a good school although I see in the current rankings it has slipped somewhat from the days when I went there even though the entry standards are still fairly high. It wasn't top tier, but second (or maybe third, depending on your point of view) tier. So my experience there would not directly correspond with the experience here, as it might have done if I'd gone to a lower ranking university. And I'd forgotten that the experience there is variable too.
And of course, I expected the local community college to be pretty easy. That's why I'm going there - to just get this requirement for general ed. credits out of the way with as little expense, time and effort as possible. It's just the level of easiness that has shocked me.
Anyhoo, this has got me thinking. If I ever do have a kid, what do I do about college education for them? I had this plan that I'd get the state prepaid college plan, and encourage them to go off to UF in G.ainesville which is probably the better in-state college (or somewhere similar of their choosing). If they didn't want to go there, fine. If they wanted to go to an out-of-state public school or a private school (whether in-state or out-of-state), they'd be mostly responsible for scolarships, etc, to make up the difference in tuition amounts. [I was also planning on partially funding a 529 plan to help with such differences and/or graduate school, but not telling them about it until the last minute.]
But now I'm thinking this plan might be a crock of shit (ignoring the whole "I might not have a kid" concept). If where you go to school has such a huge impact on your quality of education, should one perhaps be aiming for private schools all along? Or on one of the really good out-of-state public schools?
Posted by Solitaire at 9:14 AM 7 comments
Labels: Skool Daze
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Edumacation
So, talk to me about the quality of U.S. education, particularly at community colleges. As you may know, I have to pick up a few general education credits before I can go to acu school, because I didn't do any for my degree. Different country, different system.
Posted by Solitaire at 5:15 PM 9 comments
Labels: Skool Daze
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Love this!
Treehugger has a post about the Japanese food pyramid here.
I've got to say that it's the first time one of these things has actually made a lot of sense to me, and could actually fit in with the way I eat. In fact, I love it so much that I printed it out and hung it on the wall, and am going to try to follow it. This could be my new healthy eating plan.
A 24-page pdf is here. Page 1 is a better view of the pyramid - or, actually an inverted pyramid that's in the form of a spinning top. Page 2 shows calorie allowances and how you'd vary the serving amounts, but for women aged 18-69 it allows 2200 calories plus or minus 200. I guess the plus or minus depends on height and how active you are. Page 5 shows what constitutes a portion, like half an apple, or that an average size piece of meat or fish is two portions. Sadly, all the text is in Japanese and I don't speak Japanese, but it's very pictorial and the Treehugger page gives a little bit of explanation.
Edited to add: I found an English version here.
Essentially it's saying:
Exercise.
Get most of your liquid from water and tea.
Have 5-7 servings of grains a day - e.g. a slice of bread, a small portion of rice or noodles.
Have 5-6 servings of veggies a day.
Have 3-5 servings of protein a day - e.g. meat, egg, fish, tofu.
Have 1-2 servings of dairy produce a day.
Have 1-2 servings of fruit a day.
Alcohol, sweets and coffee should be had only in moderation.
I mean - yesss! It makes so much sense! We shouldn't be gorging ourselves on fruit because they are high in sugar, so I like how they've separated out the fruit and veggie allowance. I hardly ever manage to have 3 servings of dairy a day, but I can often manage 1 or 2. The protein suggestion is much lower than the US version which was always unattainably high for me and I wasn't sure it was even necessary.
Posted by Solitaire at 12:37 PM 1 comments
The Czech update
Stephanie says:
Anyway, everything you said that you wish wouldn't happen did. Turbulence? Check. Really hard times on the train? Check. Comfortable bed to sleep in? No check. It's all just Czech! LOL The bed is hard and has this very odd rough terry fitted sheet on it. Very odd.
But, today was our retrieval day!! Everyone else (2 other couples) had to wait an extra day for stims but, ours did so well that she did her retrieval as scheduled. Today, we had to wait 1.5 hours for the wankatorium because some guy from the US whose wife just had her ER couldn't get the job done. He came out of the room sweaty and nervous and was pacing up and down. Oh dear. Eventually, he decided to go back to the hotel to see if that would help. Who knows what happened after that! Anyway, DH had no trouble.
Now, it's just the wait for the fert report which will come in the afternoon here tomorrow.
Hooray! Retrieval already! I hope they get a great fert report.
As for me, just plodding along. Still getting over the cold I caught last week - I seemed to have turned into a snot factory lately, but oh well. I'm slowly adjusting to the new schedule, but haven't done any exercise since I started college, really. I've just been too tired, so that's my big thing for this week - to at least get back to walking and do some cycling even if I don't think I'm up for jogging. And running a half-marathon? Uh, let's just say that's looking highly unlikely at this point.
Posted by Solitaire at 9:39 AM 3 comments
Monday, September 15, 2008
Good thoughts wanted
I wonder if you could beam some good thoughts for me towards Europe? If you can spare some, that is!
My dear local infertili-buddy Stephanie has just traveled to the Czech Republic to start her DE cycle. I am sending so many positive vibes every day in the hopes that this will finally work! I hope she'll email me updates and let me post them, because I am excited and want everyone to be up-to-date. And who knows, I may even get to babysit one or two times, if I prove myself trustworthy.
My brother has just been made redundant/laid off. It wasn't exactly a bolt from the blue, as we knew his company was in financial trouble, but my bro' is not one to plan ahead. Instead, he lives pretty much from paycheck-to-paycheck and I know he hasn't got anything saved up for a rainy day. He's also lost his car as it was a company car, so he's now stuck without transport and is planning on using his small reduncancy/severance payout to buy a new (well, used - new to him) car. So here's hoping he finds a good job quickly so he doesn't end up defaulting on his mortgage or anything and regretting spending that cash (though I'm no longer up on how the unemployment stuff works in the UK these days, so I don't know if he'll qualify for housing help or anything).
************************************
Did anyone see the SNL clip of Tina Fey doing Pa.lin? She nailed it. Right on, sista!
Posted by Solitaire at 1:01 PM 5 comments
Sunday, September 14, 2008
On politics
Calliope has been encouraging us to talk about politics. I wouldn't normally say much on here because, well, this isn't a politics blog. But I think I will take her lead and run with it, because I think the time has come.
Posted by Solitaire at 10:14 AM 7 comments
Friday, September 12, 2008
Sniffle
Stress + new schedule + too much caffeine + hanging out with college kids + not enough sleep + whirlwind trip to Boston + recirculating air on planes + meeting a bunch of people from all over the world = Sarah comes down with a stinking cold.
Achoo.
Posted by Solitaire at 10:21 AM 3 comments
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Note to Community College professor
Dear Professor:
Posted by Solitaire at 6:20 PM 6 comments
Labels: Skool Daze
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Drunken ass display
Hey, I just went to Boston for 17 hours. Plus 6 hours flying time. That's some crazy shit right there. That we can actually go so far for such a short amount of time. That it's no big deal to just burn up a shit load of fossil fuels to attend one function.
But I'm back. I didn't catch anyone's eye. I did dance with a couple of different cute guys and tried flirting but got nowhere. Except very drunk. I managed not to toss my cookies, though, AND didn't have any drunken blackouts, so it's mostly good. [Note how low my standards are for figuring out how drunk I was: no blackout = not exceptionally drunk.]
BUT. I have to tell you about this super embarrassing thing because I am either cracking up at my own drunken idiocy or burning in shame and I have to spill. So, I drag myself out of bed this morning, pretty much still drunk from last night, shower, dress, and go off in search of fried eggs, toast and coffee for breakfast. I accomplish that, and feeling somewhat revived I arrive back in my hotel room. I put the light on because it's dark in there, put some extra makeup on, grab my stuff, put it in my bag. And then I thought before checking out I'd try to have a second poop of the day. See, when I've drunk a lot, it, uh, loosens things up in there and I often end up not feeling really good until I've had a second poop. I walk into the bathroom, put the light back on and sit on the can without closing the door because after all I'm on my own in the room. I'd been sitting there a while kind of zoning out waiting to see if anything would happen when I decide to glance to my left, and get a straight view into offices across the street where there's a guy sitting at his desk in one office, and a meeting of three guys in the next office. Yes, clearly I'd opened the curtains before going out to breakfast and had totally forgotten about it, and what with the lights being on in the room I have been putting on a show for the world. I have never shut a door so fast in my entire life! Thank god I hadn't actually achieved any crapping as that would have been more embarrassing to have the whole butt wiping scene played out to an audience.
I slunk out of the bathroom, turned off the lights and went to investigate after a short while, and all the guys were studiously working away staring intently at their computer screens. Who knows, they might not have seen me, but I'm sure my face remained beet red for a while thereafter. There was a sheer curtain in front of the window, and I did notice as I was waiting for a cab that at least the sheer curtain on the ground floor was fairly non seethrough when looking from the outside, even onto a brightly lit reception area, so there's hope. But jeez, I am lame sometimes.
***********************************
In response to poster #1 from yesterday: note I said "your average fertile". I truly don't think that most, average fertiles have the same awestruck amount of gratefulness at the simple act of being a parent as infertiles do. I'm not saying that they are ungrateful. The vast majority are grateful for their kids, obviously. But there's degrees and gradations in everything. I have a friend IRL who is going through tertiary infertility (is that even a term?) and she has said that after going through this and talking to me over the years she truly never appreciated how mind-bendingly lucky she was before. And that's the key, I think, the realization that it is an utterly amazing, miraculous, mind-blowing thing to be able to parent which most people don't have until they have stared down the barrel of the gun of not having this thing that most of us think of as our right, as easy, as something we have to conciously avoid and be on our guard against until we're ready.
& of course thanks for the kind words to all.
Posted by Solitaire at 3:14 PM 3 comments
Tuesday, September 09, 2008
Shuffling off this infertile coil
So, as I was driving home yesterday I had the radio tuned to NPR and I caught the tail end of an interview with some woman, and they were discussing how her life had gone to shit when in one month her health had failed and she had to pay $600 a month more for medication and the bank told her they'd made a mistake with her tax/insurance escrow and she'd have to pay $800 a month more for that as well. And they talked a bit about the shitness of life, but then she said, in an amazed voice "but you know, I'm a MOM and that's all that matters. I have my daughters. And I'm a MOM. I am SO grateful for that every day."
Posted by Solitaire at 11:23 AM 6 comments
Monday, September 08, 2008
Ick
I deleted my adsense unit.
It had political ads. For the R-side. Ick.
Given that I only write drivel these days, and hardly get any clicks at all from this site anyway, it didn't seem worth it any more.
I either need to get myself a new theme - hey, maybe I should just ramble on about books - or just quit writing drivel. But we all know the drivel ain't going away...
Posted by Solitaire at 6:02 PM 3 comments
Monday ass
The media sucks ass too, you know. Gripe of the day follows: I pretty much don't follow sports. I'll watch the (soccer) World Cup if England are playing. I might catch a bit of Wimbledon or the US Open. The Tour de France might catch my eye. And that's about it, honestly. I didn't watch any of the Olympics. That's not to say I won't go to a sporting event and enjoy it, but watching it on TV leaves me cold. But there is one thing that I find pretty damn amazing and inspiring, and that's the Paralympics. Man, the obstacles some of those people have overcome just puts the rest of us to shame, quite frankly. So I was quite looking forward to a bit of Paralympic coverage, and can I find any? I cannot (I don't have cable, so maybe it's on ESPN or something but that doesn't help me). I can't even find any on CNN.com or anything like that, so I am reduced to catching the occasional snippet of information from the BBC website, which won't play any videos for me because of whatever deal the Olympics/Paralympics have sown up for coverage in different regions of the world. And the US is leading the medals tables, so you'd think CNN.com would have a teeny snippet or something. Nope, nothing. Gah.
OK, so the books - yes, they were both annoying, in different ways. The "Starbucks" book had a lot of namedropping, of pretty much every famous person who ever went to one of the author's dad's parties. It was kind of dull in that regard. Also, the author is utterly amazed that people respect one another in some walks of life. Where has he been his entire life? It made me feel sad for him that he'd gone through so much of life just following what he was supposed to do, and being a general ass about things. The "Bitter" book was annoying in that she's such an obnoxious bitch for 3/4's of the book. I only kept going at that point because I was waiting for her to get her comeuppance. But it was at least quite funny. However, I'm glad both of them in the end became better people, so it was worth it for that.
Ahem...I read another book on Sunday called Neither Here Nor There. By Bill Bryson. Who makes me laugh out loud. So that was the best book of the weekend. I did do most of my homework, promise!
Posted by Solitaire at 12:11 PM 1 comments
Sunday, September 07, 2008
In which I suck ass
So, in order to catch up at work, I needed to do about 4 hours on Saturday to make up for Labor Day, otherwise I will be down on my hours for the week and not be paid enough (or have worked enough hours to qualify for health insurance). I also have a mountain of college homework to get through. And then I thought I'd do about 4 hours work on Sunday, so I could get ahead of the game as I'm going to be doing a bit of traveling this week and will again get down on my hours for the week.
Posted by Solitaire at 10:51 AM 5 comments
Saturday, September 06, 2008
Seems like it might miss us
The path has shifted, thank the lawd. But now it looks like it is headed for N'orleans. Damn, they really don't need another one.
Posted by Solitaire at 8:22 AM 0 comments
Thursday, September 04, 2008
Yikes here comes Ike
The latest predicted path for hurricane Ike is very worrying. I hope it swings around, but right now it looks like it is aiming squarely at my house. I'm not sure the house can survive a category 4 impact. I know it'd probably be fine (fine as in: there'd be damage, but damage that I could cope with/fix) in a category 3, but 4 is much much worse. How does one pack to evacuate knowing that everything that you leave could be gone? What if the roof blows off and the contents are sucked out into the void? I have no intention of staying, by the way, if a 3 or higher is heading for my house so I'm not so worried about my personal safety. Just my house safety. And the choice of where to go and how far to go. And how the cat is going to deal with it all. And how on earth I'm going to get everything done.
Posted by Solitaire at 5:24 PM 4 comments
Tuesday, September 02, 2008
Times like these
Next time I whinge about my new schedule, I will have to remember times like these. I only actually worked a half day yesterday because I ran out of work. Yup. Rarely, if ever, happens to me, but I guess my boss has been a bit freaked about me working part-time as he gave too much work away to other people. So that means I'm 4 hours down on my pay, and will probably have to make it up on Saturday. Hopefully some new work will come in by then, or I will have wrestled some back off someone else. At least it let me rest and recuperate a bit from my first week.
Posted by Solitaire at 4:54 PM 2 comments
Monday, September 01, 2008
Bored/work
Homework? Check
House cleaning? Err, not done.
Holiday? Are you freakin' kidding me?
Yes, so here I am, at work, on a holiday. Nothing really new there, except this is the first one where I absolutely won't get paid unless I put some hours in. Which makes it a bit miserable really, seeing as most other people are out enjoying themselves. So, I'm bored. Reading about the hurricane and hoping everybody is OK. Trying to get down to some serious work but struggling.
Posted by Solitaire at 12:26 PM 1 comments