Long Story, Short

Ok, so I don't think I've ever told a long story in a short manner but that is usually my intent. I will do my best here.

Work has been completely insane this week. I had that conference to prep for and it took place Tuesday morning. I had to get up at 4:45am to make it downtown in time to get what I needed and head over to the convention center for an arrival time of 7:00am. Long day to say the least. It went well and everyone was pleased with the work we did. Our executive council meeting was set to start Wednesday. It's a 2-day meeting and the days are broken down by topic. My boss wanted to hand out materials for her portion on Thursday morning. No big deal...she told me that I would be making 60 packets. I can handle that. I come in Wednesday fully prepared for the task at hand. Everything comes to a screeching halt when I find out that I actually have to make 125 packets! Holy sh!t! That changes things...big time. Plus, 2 documents have to be in color. Which means making a last minute request to our printing department (which they love by the way) to get these copies made for me. The materials changed, and I kid you not, at least 5 times during the day. So I come to the realization that I will be staying late to get them done. Which I do. However, the packets have not been approved by our president yet. There could be changes. The meeting starts at 9:00am on Thursday and if I have to make changes to 125 packets then I will, again, have to come in super early. So I do. I get up at 5:15am yesterday and drag my ass in here only to find out that everything is fine. Which is good. However I still have to get them over to the meeting place. Everything went fine and I'm so glad it's over. These couple of days of pandemonium and long days have really taken a toll on me. Not to mention that I drove in yesterday to save some time and because we had some really wicked storms in the afternoon I sat in traffic for an hour longer than I should have. It took me over 2 hours to get home. I am spent.

Today will be a catching up day from everything that has been piling up on my desk this week. And that is fine with me.

In cycle news...I'm on CD23, 13DPO. My boobs are hurting, and I'm constantly checking them. I'm on the look out for any spotting. Since I have been feeling pms-y for about a week now, I can't judge my moods. I'm not temping so I don't have that bit of info either. All I have is sore boobs. I'll take it. That means that my body is doing what it should right now.

I haven't been a very good commenter lately and I apologize for that. I've been feeling pretty stressed at work and they limit what I can do on here so it's hard to comment as much as I want to. I plan to get better. But I also plan to get pregnant. :-) Just kidding, I will get better. Rest assured though, I am reading and following along with all of you. Those are the times of my day that I enjoy...when I can read a blog entry or two and find out how all of you are doing.

No plans for the weekend, really. We have the Little Guy but he'll be with his mom tomorrow afternoon and evening for a b-day party...for her 40-year-old friend. Don't ask me why he needs to be there for that but whatever. I'll be cleaning house for sure. Having 2 cats has multiplied our need to vacuum and dust more regularly. I actually have some house news and some good Gizmo stories but they will have to wait. This is entirely too long and pretty boring already.

Oh what the hell....we found some shades that we really like for the kitchen bump out sidelights and for our bathroom. Mind you, BJ put blinds up in our bathroom just a few days after we moved in. I hate them. They are so plain and white and just feel cold to me. We found some at Lowe's that I think will be wonderful! We haven't ordered them yet as they are very expensive to say the least. We are waiting for my bonus check to come in (next Friday!) before we spend that kind of money. The kitchen ones are just white but they are the top down/bottom up kind. That way we can put the top down to let in the light but or neighbors won't be able to see us through the bottom! Clarification....this will help broaden our horizons to where we can have "fun" time! The bathroom shades are called day and night. The top half (that can come all the way down) are brown with a design on the fabric and then the bottom half (that can go all the way up) are an off white linen type of material. My plan is to pull the brown part about 1/3 of the way down the window to give the area some color (the bathroom colors are blue and chocolate brown) and then leave the off white part down to let the light in (or raise them if I want to see out). They are extra expensive because we had to have them custom sized and they charge extra for cordless, which we got for the kitchen windows. The back door is a glass door and I recently got one of those curtains that just covers the glass and bunches in the middle so I think everything will match well. And I know I still owe you pictures of my finished kitchen. If BJ would ever put the handles on and put the shoe molding back, I could take pictures. I refuse to do so until it's completely done. So you will just have to suffer without seeing it done the same way I am. :-)

Anyway, sorry for the long post...see, I might be wordy but I'm not an exaggerator. I warned you that I can't tell a long story, short. Have a great weekend everyone!

CD23 - Gearing up for the Next Round

I'm going with the graphic stuff first. I don't know what is going on with my CM. I never had anything to write home about this cycle (pre-ovulation) as far as CM goes. It got a little creamy but never watery. And since the big ovulation day (FF says CD13 but I really think it was CD12) I have had quite a few days of sticky CM. I guess I can't really read anything into that. The female body is full of all kinds of conundrums. My temps were 98.3 for 5 days in a row, went down to 98.1 on CD21 (9dpo by me, 8dpo by FF) and then jumped up to 98.4 and then this morning I was back at 98.3.

I was actually dumb enough to get a little excited about the dip and then the rise until I started paying attention to my other signs. I'm getting snippy, I'm getting tired, I'm getting sentimental. And last night my joints in my knees and my hip started aching. All of these are signs that the period will be making an appearance very soon. She's not due to show her ugly face until Saturday, and the time line of these symptoms is right on schedule. I imagine that my thermometer will be thrown across the room by Thursday morning as I'm sure it will be displaying a temperature drop that I so do NOT want to see. But I feel armed and ready for next cycle. I have my little pee cups to dip my new opk strips in and we have our swimmer friendly lube in the night stand. Bring on next cycle....I'm not scurd.

(Loss mentioned in story below)


Today is the anniversary of my little brother's birth. My Dad and step-mom's first son. He was born 3 months early on this day 26 years ago. My how I wish medicine were as advanced back then because he would probably still be with us today. I was 7 years old. My Dad and I were at the hospital. I remember his friend, Tommy was there with his wife, Carol. My Dad asked them to take me home with them. We arrived at their trailer and almost immediately the phone rang. I didn't hear what was said but I knew it wasn't good. I didn't understand exactly what was happening but I remember my Dad and Step-mom picking me up a short time later. I was in the front seat, in the middle of them. Mind you, this was 1983 so there were not child safety seat laws or seat belt laws for that matter. My Step-mom was crying. My dad was looking straight ahead as he drove. He said to me, his voice cracking "I'm sorry you only got to see him in a picture, Princess". I think I said that it was ok but I'm not sure. I had never seen my Dad sad before. To a 7-year old it kind of sticks with you.

I only recently found out that it took them 3 years to conceive little Christopher. I can't even imagine their pain at losing him when he was 2 days old. Life is so unfair sometimes. It must have been so hard to hold him knowing that he wasn't ready to be out in the world yet and just wishing they could put him back for a little while. My poor parents. They were strong, though. They pushed through their grief by jumping back in the pool, so to speak. She was pregnant again by February. My shining star brother, Brian, was born in October...he was about a month early. I will tell his story another day.

I miss you little Christopher. Even though I never knew you, you will always be my brother.