Happy Easter!

In celebration of the upcoming holiday, I give you one of my all-time favorite classic Easter images.  Nothing quite captures the true meaning of Easter like Peeps engaging in unsavory (pun intended! Because Peeps are sweet, not savory, duh) behavior.  Am I right or am I right?

Well anyway, I think it's funny.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and a beautiful Easter!

St. Paddy's Day Two-fer

Happy St. Patrick's Day, friends!

I'm channeling my inner Irish today, which isn't easy to do because it's buried somewhere under a bunch of Greek, German, English, Danish, Welsh, Dutch, Swiss, Scottish, and French.  Yep, I'm a true American mutt!  But the Irish usually manages to fight its way out from under the dogpile - at least in time to drink, which I definitely plan on doing tonight.  Not only because it's St. Paddy's Day, but also because it's my big brother's birthday and the family's getting together to celebrate!  And if you'll recall, I'm off work tomorrow and have nothing to do until my 1:00 pedicure.  That should be plenty of time to sleep off a few beers.  ;)

Cheers to all my friends and family, and a special shout out to my bro!

Lucky stars above you,

Sunshine on your way,

Many friends to love you,

Joy in work and play.

Laughter to outweigh each care,

In your heart a song,

And gladness waiting everywhere

All your whole life long!

The airing of grievances

Disclaimer: The Airing of Grievances, like traditional venting, doesn't have to be a well-constructed diatribe; any diatribe will do.  Even this one.

For Christmas, my MIL got each of her kids a copy of Jon Stewart's Earth (The Book): A Visitor's Guide to the Human Race, and I've been reading it just about every day.  Jon Stewart is a pretty funny guy and the book is very entertaining, as well as mildly informative.  As I read it I'm reminded of things I learned in middle and high school school science classes, and then I giggle at his sarcastic comments and think, "If an alien did happen get their hands on this book after the human race was wiped out, it would never understand these jokes and would probably think we were really freaking stupid."  But I digress.  ...Already.

Anywho.

The other night I got to the section on "life," and there's a list of the scientific criteria required for an object to be considered alive.  I know you still have them memorized from 7th grade, but just in case you missed class that day, they are: Organization, Homeostasis, Metabolism, Growth, Response to stimuli, and Reproduction.  And now you can guess where I'm going with this.

Lately I've been stewing thoughtfully pondering the common perceptions many people have about infertility and ART.  So, in the grand tradition of Festivus (which I realize I'm a week late for), I give you my Airing of Grievances. 

Thankfully I don't see very much of this in real life, but I can't even describe how sick it makes me when I see ignorant comments on online infertility articles saying stuff like,

•  "Infertility is God's/nature's way of controlling the population,"
• "Obviously there's a reason you're infertile, quit being selfish - stop trying to conceive your child and (just) adopt," and,
• "You're being pretty dramatic, so what if you can't have kids?  It's not like you need to!  I don't have kids and I'm perfectly happy about it!" 

You all know what I'm talking about, you've seen the comments and know I'm just scratching the surface of the idiocy that's out there.  And if you don't, please see Exhibit A.

So when I'm reminded that one of the basic criteria required just to be considered ALIVE is the ability to reproduce, my jaw drops that so many people think infertility is no big deal.  Or that it's some kind of punishment.  Or that there's some deeper reason for it that somehow benefits the rest of the world (i.e. population control).  Or particularly that any reaction to discovering you're infertile besides simply and quietly accepting it, stop trying to conceive, and adopting a child instead, is selfish and egotistical.

Well guess what?  It's not selfish or egotistical to have the desire to reproduce.  It's LIFE.  Life wants to continue and it tends to do whatever it can to survive.  Remember that line from Jurassic Park, "Life finds a way?"  It's true.  Seriously, just think about your garden - you work hard to keep it pretty, tearing out weeds like crazy, but no matter how weed-free you manage to get it those damn weeds are always going to find their way back in there.  It's what they do, and that's just plants!  Animals, and certainly humans are also wired to perpetuate their species and keep living.  I believe that a desire to create genetic offspring is evidence of that.  And I believe that desire, for many if not most of us, goes right to the core of our humanity.  Which is why those of us unable to act on it feel like the very foundation of our lives is shaken, damaged, or sometimes irreparably broken.

So to anyone who still believes that infertility is anything other than a disease or malfunction of the human body that Infertiles have every right to treat however they damn well please, to quote Frank Costanza, "I got a lot of problems with you people!"  And I respectfully request that you immediately cease and desist with your self-righteous, know-it-all, judgmental, and often downright mean (and even more often downright stupid) assertions.  We don't need any more proof than we already have that the wrong people were "chosen" to be infertile.

:P

363 days until Christmas

Good morning, fine folks! I trust everyone had a decent weekend and a lovely Christmas if you were celebrating it.  You'll be happy to know that I did not spend mine in a drunken stupor, contrary to what my last post may have led you to believe.  In fact, I was sober most of the weekend.  Although there were a couple of moments I wished I'd made that punch after all, but who doesn't have those moments?

Hubs and I had an absolutely fabulous Christmas together.  We savored the morning and took our sweet time going through our pile of presents.  We mostly got each other clothes.  He got a new jacket, sweaters, some books and a game for the Wii; I got some super cute new skirts and dresses for work, a hot pair of boots, and some really nice product that will hopefully clear up the small solar system that was recently discovered on my chin.  Atticus got a toy, but I gave it to him days ago when he was driving me nuts while I was trying to wrap presents, so for the most part he just chased balls of wrapping paper and tried to eat ribbons.  He seemed satisfied with that.  We also scored some sweet swag from our families - most notably a gas grill!  Not to mention the "family" gift we got for ourselves - a new computer that Hubs built, complete with a snazzy new monitor.  The Von D household definitely got some upgrades this weekend.  And now we're on spending lockdown for the foreseeable future.

Thankfully, the weekend was low on drama after last week's ordeal and we enjoyed a busy day Saturday followed by a very mellow day Sunday.  Now it's back to the grind, where I am reminded every day that I need to GET THE F OUT of this job.  My boss added a whole new dimension to that reality last week when he proved he doesn't give a rat's flea-infested anus about my department, and then flat-out lied to me just so he wouldn't have to go to any effort whatsoever for us.  There are only four of us in the department and I guarantee every one of us is seriously considering looking, if not already actually looking, for new jobs.  And now I have this burning desire to go out in a blaze of glory.  Hubs suggested we have sex on the president's desk, but I thought that might be taking it a bit far.  At any rate, the job hunt is beginning NOW.

Now that Christmas is over, we can all start talking about the new year, right?  What are your plans for New Year's Eve?  Hubs and I are going to a small get-together at a friend's place, which will be an enormous improvement over last year's South Park marathon.

For the drinkers

For anyone planning on drowning their sorrows this weekend, I thought I'd share the recipe for this SUPER YUMMY punch that I thoroughly enjoyed last night.  Of course it's just as fabulous even if you're not depressed, but if you're going to drown your sorrows at Christmas, you might as well keep it festive!

1 bottle champagne
Appx. 1/2 cup brandy
Appx. 1/2 cup apricot brandy
1/2 - 1 cup sparkling red grape juice, for color
A few scoops of raspberry sorbet to float on top

We also added about a shot of extra (plain) brandy to each glass; it gives it more of a kick without losing the tasty frou-frou flavor.  Throw in some blueberries and it's a gorgeous and delicious knock-you-on-your-butt libation! 

Bottoms up!

Almost perfect but not quite

I started writing a post the other day about how I've kicked out my inner Grinch and am actually, for the first time in three years, looking forward to Christmas. But then I never got around to posting it, which turned out to be a good thing because the shit hit the fan on Tuesday night and I remembered why the holidays suck so much.

Without going into the gruesome (and yet somehow also boring) details, I will just say that it's about the same thing it always is: Trying to schedule 4 family functions into one day while maintaining my sanity and maybe getting 5 minutes to do what I want to do, like spend a quiet moment alone with Hubs. I thought I had it all figured out, that this was going to be the year we finally had a stress-free Christmas! Oh how wrong I was.

I just wish our parents would try to understand that we do want to spend time with them at the holidays, but it's not always going to be the ideal situation because we get pulled and guilted from all sides every year.  Everyone wants a piece of us, and there just isn't enough to go around.  I'm trying my best to make everyone happy, but in the end it always ends up making me unhappy!

So Hubs and I are thinking about trying to move the trip to Hawaii we had planned for our 5th anniversary next year up to next Christmas instead.  Then even if I piss everyone else off, at least I'll be happy and relaxed!

There is good news about Christmas this year; the reason I was so excited about it is that it's the first year since we've been married that Hubs and I bought a lot of gifts for each other.  That sounds really materialistic, but I don't mean it to be.  It just doesn't seem like Christmas without a big pile of presents under the tree to wake up to, and we've never had that together.  But this year we will, and I am excited to share it with him.

Merry Christmas, ladies. I hope you all get exactly what you want this year, whatever it may be.

Thanksgiving

Today I came to a realization: I just don't like the holidays!  Is that so wrong?  I find them to be more trouble than they're worth, besides being a painful reminder of what I don't have.  So I don't have any holiday spirit.  It is what it is.  Today I will still put on a happy face and no one will be the wiser.  I will ignore the bitter feelings and be truly thankful for what I have.

And I will eat turkey and green bean casserole and pie and drink wine all day.  Because really, that is what Thanksgiving is all about, isn't it?

Happy Thanksgiving, my friends.  Thank you for being a bright spot in this bitter scrooge's life.  ;)

My happy Halloween weekend

Don't you hate it when a perfectly good weekend is interrupted by a VERY ~Monday~ morning?  Atticus was in rare form whining for food well before my alarm went off, someone left all the windows in the house open last night so the whole place was freezing, and I've had some stomach issues for the past week that culminated in the unstoppable need to barf while I was brushing my teeth.  Things can only improve from there, right?  I hope...

Before this morning, though, the weekend was pretty great.  Our potential guests decided to stay with another friend, which worked out perfectly.  On Saturday morning we headed downtown to the farmers market and stocked up on veggies and a lovely bouquet of autumn-y flowers.  I was feeling adventurous and also picked up some pomegranates, yum!  Afterwards we walked to a couple of thrift stores in search of Halloween costumes.  The plan was to dress up as an old couple, but when I found a fabulously 60's dress and Hubs discovered a pair of 1970's Levi's 'Gentleman's Jeans,' we decided to go to the party as a retro couple instead.  I just wish I'd gotten a photo of my gorgeous blue and gold eye shadow; let me tell you, it looked pretty amazing. 

It was nice spending the evening with some friends we hadn't seen in months (isn't that usually the case with me?), even if the party was a little on the bland side.  As if to spice up the evening, we had one of the scariest cab rides home I've ever experienced.  Many laws were broken, the cabbie was messing with his cell phone, pager, and GPS all while speeding, and then when we got home he kept trying (unsuccessfully) to give Hubs some business cards.  Looking back we should have taken one, just so we'd know which driver to NEVER get a ride from again!

After I slept off my hangover on Sunday, Hubs and I ran some errands and then came home and carved pumpkins together.  We wanted to create our own designs, but were both at a loss for what to carve, since it's been about 15 years since the last time we'd done it.  They ended up looking really cute though.  I tried my hand at scraping for the first time and made a firy cauldron, where the flames were cut out but the cauldron was scraped so it just sort of glows.  Hubs's jack-o-lanterns turned out better than mine did, he made two: one scary face and one scared face.  Since we weren't handing out candy and didn't want kids to think we were, we put our creations on the steps by the back door instead of out front.  Then we ordered some take out and watched Bram Stoker's Dracula before going to bed. 

It was just about the perfect Halloween weekend.  Well, except for that one moment when we found out another one of our friends is pg, but I'm working on blocking that detail from my memory.

Hope your Monday is going easy on you!

Why can't I quit you?

I have a confession:  I've been on blogger every day this week.  (What do you mean you could already tell??)  I've read some posts, I've commented on some posts, I've clicked some links within some posts that took me to some other posts...  Even when work is busy, I itch for my fix and make time when I can to visit blogland.  I suppose it's time to admit I have a problem. 

Hi!  (Waves)  I'm Kit, and I'm a blogoholic.

Y'all are my drug, and I'm hooked.

******************************

Well, it's that time of year again:  Halloween is nigh!  The day when little monsters dress up as angels and go door to door begging for freebies.  Actually in my neighborhood the little monsters don't dress up, nor do they bother begging - they just stick their grubby little hands in my bowl and dig out fistfuls of candy before I can even get the door all the way open.  I desperately wish I was exaggerating.  Hoping for a "Trick or treat" is almost as pointless as expecting a "thank you" before they run off to the next house.  So once again this year I'll be leaving my porch light off and curtains drawn tight on Sunday night.  Maybe I'll get Hubs tipsy enough to curl up on the couch with me and some popcorn and watch a scary movie.  (He's a manly man, but he doesn't like scary movies.  They scare me too, but I like to be scared once in a while!)

We're invited to a couple of parties on Saturday night, but we're facing a few dilemmas:

1. We may be hosting house guests for the weekend, starting tonight.  Yep, I said "may."  And to answer your question, yep, I'm annoyed that we still don't know for sure if they're coming.

2. We don't have costumes.  Hubs doesn't want to dress up, and I'm not going to a costume party without a costume.  So I told him it's up to him: either we go and dress up (and he has to help me with the costumes), or we don't go.  I'm not sure if he's decided what he wants to do yet.

3. Halloween also happens to be the 30th birthday of one of our potential guests, and he is as indecisive as Hubs about what he wants to do this weekend.

Jeez I sound like a crotchety old lady!  I'm not as crotchety as I sound though, I promise.  Whatever happens this weekend, I'm not that worried about it.

So.  Are you dressing up this year?  What are you going to be?

Happy Halloween! :)

CD1, WTH!

Happy Mother's Day to ME.

AF crashed my weekend and showed up 2 days ahead of schedule, the hag. What's she trying to do, make up for last C when she sauntered on in 4 days late? Sigh.

Some thoughts on this visit:

1. I thought I felt O pains on CD14, which would mean I had a 12 day LP. That's not too bad, considering I don't normally O until day 17 or 18, giving me a 10 or 11 day LP in a 28 day C.

2. Some of my usual PMS symptoms were MIA - no sore/swollen boobs at all, minimal moodiness, no bloating, and very little cramping (until now). All this and #1 make me think maybe, just maybe, acupuncture is doing something for me.

3. At least my period will be mostly gone by the time hubs and I leave for our anniversary trip on Thursday. Not that we'll be getting all romantic in the guest bedroom at our friends' house or anything! But you know, I'll be able to wear my white spandex pants and twirl in slow motion and whatnot.

As you can tell I'm really trying to see the silver lining in this situation. I'm not happy but I'm not devastated either. Last month was much worse with all the "signs" and AF being so late. I'd much rather start early than late, and I had no reason to get my hopes up this C. Plus I was so depressed all last month I was kind of looking forward to it being over!

I'm also looking forward to trying Circle + Bloom this C. I'd read about it a couple months ago but didn't want to spend the money on it at the moment, and I was also a little skeptical. Then I read about it again on Busted Plumbing the other day and thought, why not? I got hubs (a.k.a. the Treasurer) to approve the $59 it costs for the mp3s, and I'm about to head on over there and download them right now.

I hope everyone made it through today with relative ease, you were all in my thoughts! (((Hugs)))

Bombardment!

I thought I was in the clear for The Dreaded Holiday this year, seeing as my mom is currently off the continent and my MIL is on the other side of the country (hubs's family usually does a big party for MD). I already DVR all my shows, so I can fast-forward through all the MD ads, and I hate shopping so I wouldn't be coming face to face with many banners and signs anyway. I figured I can pick up some cards whenever the mood strikes, have them ready when the moms get back, and bada-bing, bada-boom: a Non-Mother's Day!

Well, my friends, I neglected to take into consideration the fact that I'm signed up for every email coupon list known to man. And do you know what all their emails are geared toward this week?? Of course you know!

BevMo - Wines Mom Will Love!! I don't doubt that many moms love wine, mine sure does (and so does my MIL)! But this year I think I'll drink it all myself, thanks! Do I still get the discount?

Quizno's - Kids Eat Free!! Well, Quizno's, I don't have kids, but can you slap a scoop of tuna in a cup for me? I'd love to take it home to my cat. What, you don't serve cats?? Specists! (You know, like sexist or racist, but toward different species.)

Even my VocalPoint email (surveys, free samples, etc.) asked me to fill out a survey about whether I'd be interested in a toothpaste marketed to "TWEENS." Uhhh... NOPE! But next time you have something for 29 year old infertile women who always forget to floss, send me a sample!

My one saving grace was from Macaroni Grill, who so thoughtfully remembered my wedding anniversary and is giving us a free slice of chocolate cake to celebrate. Thanks, MG!! It's nice to know someone's looking out for me.

Okay, honestly these emails don't really bother me all that much. It's just a little annoying to be bombarded with ads to buy stuff no one needs, and reminded that I'm not normal, and yeah, I'm still a tiny bit bitter about it. But I'll get over it!

Acupuncture & Easter

I've been dragging my feet on this whole acupuncture business. As of this weekend I still hadn't called the 4th place back to get their prices, which means I hadn't picked an acupuncturist, much less made that first appointment. What is my problem? I honestly don't know.

Saturday I had a little meltdown (possibly fueled by my lunchtime margarita consumption). I was convinced that this C would be another bust, even though there's no way I could know that yet, it was only CD21. Then I didn't think hubs was being sympathetic enough, so I told him we should just stop trying. I was being a baby. But hubs was great. He sat down and talked me through our TTC options, even going so far as to ask if I wanted to just go to an RE and put it all on a credit card. In the end, he told me he really wanted me to go to the place that we refer to as the "fancy" acupuncturist - the one right by my work that specializes in fertility (in fact, I'm not sure they even treat anything else). The acupuncturist there is a doctor, whereas most only have their master's degrees; his assistant was really nice and helpful when I spoke with her too. Both hubs and I had a really good feeling about this place from the beginning, so we decided that would be it. No more procrastinating. I called this morning and got an appointment for next Tuesday at lunch. Please keep your fingers crossed :)

Our Easter was pretty good. We went to church in the morning, followed by brunch at the in-laws' house. That was fun, hubs and I got to hide eggs for our two little nieces (ages 4 and 19 months) for the first time. It was adorable! Afterwards we took a breather at home, then headed to my parents' for dinner and more kiddie fun with my brother's 20 month old daughter. She was in rare form, all bouncy and talkative, so that was fun too. I ate waaaaay too much and was about comatose by the time we got home, but it was worth it! The food was so good!

And here we are back at Monday. And could this day BE anymore Monday?? (You see that? I'm channeling Chandler Bing.) It's dark and rainy and dreary, and I have absolutely zero motivation to work on my soul-draining reports. But, work on them I must. So I'm off! Here's hoping for a quick and painless start to this week!

So sleepy

Final results of the poll: 37% of you suggested I wake up when hubs got home and DTD then, 37% said to wake up extra early this morning to BD, and 25% said to drive to his work for a quickie (FYI - one of the votes for a work quickie was hubs). My interpretation of these neck-and-neck results are that half of you are morning people and half of you are night owls. And of course, hubs just wanted sex sooner. So what type am I?

Is the suspense killing you? ;)

I ended up going to bed at 10:00 and waking up to DTD when hubs got home around 1:00 a.m. I wouldn't say I'm a night owl, but I'd rather sleep until I HAVE to get up. Plus I'm just not a huge fan of morning sex.

As sleepy as I am today, I feel horrible for hubs who left for work at the same time I did this morning. He must have had about 4 hours of sleep. Luckily he only has to work for a few hours today, then he can head home and go back to bed.

Anyway, HOORAY FOR FRIDAY! I just hope it doesn't drag as much as I'm afraid it will!

Tomorrow I'm meeting up with a friend I haven't seen in a while for lunch and margaritas at a favorite Mexican restaurant that hubs never wants to take me to. (Was that a run-on sentence? I don't care.) After that I think the plan is to spend the afternoon relaxing at home. Maybe hubs and I will have date night. We'll see where the wind blows us.

Sunday we're having Easter brunch with the in-laws and dinner with my family. Free food is always appreciated, so that will be nice! Maybe I'll get REALLY lucky and my MIL won't make us hunt for our Easter baskets this year. Don't laugh! Okay you can laugh. It is pretty silly that she not only still makes us all baskets but she also hides them. To be fair, my mom still gives us Easter baskets too, sans hunting. I don't know why they think we need (or want) all that candy, but it's a nice gesture!

I swear I am going to fall asleep on my keyboard today. Not because I am THAT tired, but because I'm tired, plus I'm working on my never-ending first-of-the-month reports. There's only so much excel a person can look at before they start drooling and going cross-eyed.

Okay for realsies now, I'm done. Have a great weekend!

Lent

So it's officially Lent. And for the first time in a few years I am giving something up for these 40 days. And that thing is: swearing. I'd like to give up infertility for Lent but I don't know how, I already don't drink soda, and booze helps me deal with the IF, so swearing it is!

I never used to swear so much, and lately I've been sounding more like a sailor than a lady. I don't even know where I come up with some of the things I say, except that sometimes I actually try to say the most gutter-mouthiest thing I can think of to try to express my frustration. Not really a good thing. And even hubs, the epitome of "bad Catholic," has been scolding me for my blasphemy lately. He's right. It needs to stop. And I might as well attempt to stop ALL of my foul language at once, not just the blasphemy (which is of course the worst).

I am allowing myself the use of "hell" though. It's in the Bible, after all, so it can't be that bad. ;)

I'm trying to come up with some satisfying replacement words and phrases, so if you see anything totally off the wall in my posts, that should explain it. The only thing I've got so far is, "For the LOVE!" Which is suprisingly gratifying to say, especially in traffic. If you have any additional suggestions I'm all ears! I need to learn how to "use my words."

Oh yeah, and I do realize I swore once or twice in my earlier post today. Oops. And I said sh** out loud twice today. I should probably do some kind of penance for that... maybe my cramps will count for something, though.

Who else is giving something up for Lent?

V-Day

I was able to get some royal jelly at the honey farm today, they sell it in capsules which is way handy! It wasn't too expensive - just $12 for 100 capsules, and you can take one or two per day. They also sell propolis there, which Misty mentioned the other day you should take with the RJ. I tried to find some info on that but couldn't find anything, so I didn't buy it. Does anyone know if/why the two should be taken together?

We've had a really nice V-Day. After honey tasting (which took all of 15 minutes), we walked through some model homes on the way back to town. I love looking at model homes! We daydream about what kind of house we'd buy and how we'd set it up if money was no object. After that we went to Lo.we's and bought all new exterior doors for the house. It's been a long time coming - the doors we have now are not very secure, not very sturdy, and ugly as sin. Hubs's dad is going to help us install the front door next week, and then I'll get to paint it. I'm thinking an earthy green to go with our yellow and white house. Slowly but surely our little bungalow is coming together. :)

I hope everyone is enjoying the weekend and had a wonderful Valentine's Day! I'm off to feed my whiney animal and hopefully relax for the rest of the evening.

Ringing in the New Year

I would have created something lovely to share with you for the New Year, but I didn't think of it until today and sadly I don't have Photoshop at work! So here's something I pilfered off the interweb. :)

Now for some mush...

2009 was a particularly difficult year for many of us, but I can't count it as a complete loss. I am so happy and grateful to have met all of you wonderful women. You've helped me through one of the hardest times of my life (not that it's over yet!), and without your amazing support and encouragement, as cliche as it is to say, I would truly be lost today.

I hope that 2010 brings us all something wonderful, whatever it may be!

Jonesin'

For my birthday - in July - my mom got me a Wii Fit. I'd used my brother's and LOVED it, and had been casually saying to my mom that I wanted to get one. I honestly was not dropping hints, because I don't actually even have a Wii. So since I got the Wii Fit, hubs and I have been planning on getting a Wii for Christmas. We cashed in some points on a credit card and got a gift card to B.est Bu.y. I already had another gift card I'd been holding on to forever, and the rest we got for Christmas. We now have more than enough in free money to get ourselves the coveted Wii!

Unfortunately, of the 6 Be.st Bu.ys in a 60 mile radius, not one has a single Wii in stock! They say they'll get more in this week, but they don't know which day.

Can I tell you how much I've been itching to use my Wii Fit??? A LOT. For months! They better have them in before the weekend, I need something to do on Saturday while hubs is at work.

Speaking of 'doing' and 'hubs'... I can't believe that today is CD7 already and the BDing will pretty much begin tonight. AF is gone and my libido has taken her place - I just hope it sticks around for a couple weeks! I can't deny that my hopes are up this C. I'm trying to keep it in check, but I have to admit it feels good to be hopeful and excited for once. I'll worry about being disappointed after I ovulate. Until then I'll continue sipping my green tea and daydreaming about ways to make BD fun...

Christmas

Our Christmas was very nice. Busy of course, what with the trapsing all over town to attend every possible event, but it was EXTREMELY helpful that it was the weekend - we didn't feel nearly as rushed as usual. They should seriously consider making Christmas fall on a Friday every year!

I won't go into all the boring details, I've lamented the craziness of holidays with my in-laws to you enough already! But there are two things I'd like to share.

1. On Christmas day, hubs and I went to mass for the first time since probably Easter. I was really looking forward to it, kind of hoping for some peace or wisdom, or some kind of something from God. Well, about halfway through, the priest invited all the children up to the altar while he prepared communion. At first I was totally fine, but eventually I started getting emotional. I held the tears back for a while, but then it was time for the Lord's Prayer, at which point everyone holds hands - even reaching across the aisle - and sings. Well, I was sitting on the aisle, and across from me was a little old lady who was very cognizant of the fact that I was having a hard time keeping it together. She looked at me sympathetically, and while we were holding hands she kept squeezing mine. After we started singing, I lost it. I was literally standing in the middle of church, right in the aisle, with tears running down my cheeks, and a little old lady squeezing my hand the whole time. (Yes, hubs was squeezing my other hand.) I don't really even know why I was crying, but she was trying to comfort me. I wish I would have said thank you, but I did squeeze her hand back, so hopefully she knows.

2. On Saturday, hubs and I went to see some friends at their new house. Well, when we got there we quickly realized it was all guys, no wives or girlfriends anywhere! Except me of course. We planned on having one beer each and then running off, but it turned out to be really fun and we stuck around for a little while. At one point some of the guys started asking about my lap, and saying how much they hoped we'd be able to have kids. Granted, they were getting drunk (they were in that semi-emotional state), but it was still nice to have the support! And they never would have brought it up if they didn't care a little, no matter how drunk they were :) So I thought it was cool. Hubs has some good friends!

So now it's back to the grind. I seriously didn't want to get up this morning, and it didn't help that it was overcast and darker than usual. If you're working I hope your day is going by fast, and if you're off I hope you're enjoying your day to the fullest!

Come on!!!

Bah! Why must AF toy with my emotions so? I'm still just barely spotting and it is so GD annoying. Why can't she get her ass in gear already?!

Whew. Sorry, this PMS is brutal! I will now attempt to compose myself... Ahem.

(UPDATE: Woohoo!! AF finally got it together, and it's officially CD1!)

Yesterday I got some very exciting news - my friend A, who was the MOH in my wedding, and who's been with her boyfriend for ten years, got engaged on Monday!! We've been friends since HS and she's the only person I've ever considered my best friend (except hubs of course), but for the past couple of years we haven't been keeping in touch very well until recently. I'm so glad we're back in touch because I would have HATED to miss their engagement! They always knew they'd get married, but obviously it's been a long time coming and much-anticipated for both their families and friends. I joined her and a couple of her other friends last night for a champagne toast and a long look through her 4 year old wedding ideas binder, and it was a blast. They're going to get married for sure in 2010, possibly within the next several months! I am SO EXCITED for them!!!

Well, just one more day until Christmas. And yes, I have to work. Everyone else in the bank is leaving early tomorrow, but both of the departments I supervise will be here until after 3:30 (there's a good, semi-complicated reason, though). It's not too horrible, it'll most likely be DEAD, so we're going to be watching movies in the wire room! ("Elf" I think, and I freakin' love that movie!) We'll definitely have snacks and maybe a delish McD's breakfast too. Also, I work in a particularly professional environment, but they're letting us wear jeans! Amazing. All in all, it's not going to suck TOO much. (Knock on wood!)

Happy Christmas Eve-Eve!

Nooooo!!! (And the weekend)

I had a horrible night's sleep last night. That often happens on Sunday nights though, I'm sure it's usually anxiety-related. Well last night I woke up early with the chills. I could not get comfortable - I was either too cold or too hot. Then I had (TMI) what can only be described as "mud-butt" when I finally got up. YUCK. And I still can't get comfortable, I'm a little sweaty, too hot and too cold. The worst part is, one of my underlings called in sick today because she and both her kids have the stomach flu! So now I'm all paranoid that I'm getting sick. I brought my Emergen-C to work with me, but I doubt it will help if it is the stomach flu. I'm hoping it's just a coincidence because usually the flu hits fast and hard, and except for the hot flashes I'm not really feeling too bad. So maybe it's just PMS. Let's hope!! Send me some wellness vibes please!

This weekend was another quickie, wasn't it? Saturday hubs took me to see Ne.w Mo.on. He is so funny - I was whining to him the other day about how we never go to the movies anymore (and I LOVE going to the movies). On his days off during the week he'll go see the guy flicks that I don't want to see, but we don't go see anything together. So on Friday he said, "Do you want me to take you to see Ne.w Mo.on tomorrow?" Aww, what a guy!! Granted, he did make several hilariously snarky comments throughout the movie, but I think there was enough "action" to hold his attention a little bit. Afterwards we went out and finished our Christmas shopping and finally got our cards printed, so those are going in the mail today. Then we capped the day off by going to a friend's Christmas party.

I decided I'm giving my underlings cookies and brownies and whatnot instead of gifts, now that there are 4 of them, so on Sunday I spent almost the whole day at my parents' house baking with my mom (and also drinking wine, hehe). We made quite the variety - there are 3 kinds of cookies, brownies with mint chocolate candy topping, these super yummy pumpkin squares, cupcakes, triple chocolate cherry cake/squares, and fudge. And we were worried we wouldn't have enough!

I have my post-op appointment today, so I get to leave work at 3:00. My incisions are still sore, especially my belly button, but other than that I'm feeling pretty good. I'm not too swollen anymore so that's nice, I can almost wear my regular jeans again!

Okay I'm going to go take my Emergen-C because I just noticed that it says it has electrolytes, and that's always good when your intestines are working overtime. So it can't hurt, right? I hope it helps...

Happy Monday, for those of you working this week - I hope it goes by fast!!