Happy Bithday to Me

Dear Friends and Family,

Happy Birthday to me
Happy Birthday to me
Happy Birthday, dear mouse
Happy Birthday to me

It's my birthday today. And, I'm giddy. It's been a little more sane at work the last two days. I might have time today for a good long walk. It's a long weekend this weekend. And, Mr. mouse made reservations for dinner that I'm really looking forward to.


Cheers!
mouse

June Baby Posts

Dear Friends and Family,

I won't ask where the month went because I already know the answer. We attended some neighborhood festivals. We had friends visit. And, work. That's where the month went.

In any event, August has come and gone, which means it's time for another round of baby... maybe updates.


Cheers!
mouse

Light at the End of the Tunnel, Hope It's Not the Train

Dear mouse journal,

It's been a crazy two weeks at work. And, last night was a long night. Went to bed at midnight after working all night. Took a little bit to unwind and fall asleep. And, got up four hours later thinking about work.

Hopefully, we get some big pieces taken care of today and tomorrow and I can get a piece of Friday off to sleep and regroup. Then, I've got my fingers crossed about the long weekend. If it's not filled with work, it'll mean I get four days which at this point seems like absolute heaven.

43 more hours until end of day Thursday. 43 more hours. I can do this.


mouse

08.26.08: Weekly Weigh In

Dear Friends and Family,

weigh in: 123

It's been a stressful two weeks at work. And, the stress has translated into additional caffeine, additional granola bars and additional chocolate. I've never been a chocolate person. And, lately, I've become a chocolate person. So, even if I'm counting points, I'm not meeting my 8 Good Health Guidelines. Our big deadline is next week on 9/3. I've got to manage my stress this week to get through this is one piece.

Mindless Eating, Why We Eat More Than We Think
by Brian Wansink

Chapter 4: The Hidden Persuaders Around Us

Fact #1: If we see it, we're more likely to eat it. Admins given a free chocolate in a clear jar (with explicit instructions that the chocolates are not to be shared) ate 71% more chocolate than the control group given the same chocolate in a white jar.

Fact #2: If we dwell on it, we're more likely to eat it. Two guys sit in side by side cubicles. George passed donuts on the way into his cube. Will did not. If they both encounter the donuts again, later in the day, George is more likely to eat one than Will. He's had the chance to dwell on it all morning.

Fact #3: If it's convenient, we're more likely to eat. In another chocolate dish experiment, admins were given free chocolate, but the dish was moved each week, from right by the computer, to in the top desk drawer, to on a file cabinet six feet away. The less convenient the chocolate, the less chocolate was consumed.

This can all work to our advantage. Put fruit on the counter and chips in the cupboard. Or, put all food away. Make healthy food more convenient (e.g. pre-washed bags of salad) and junk food less convenient (e.g. oven bake pizza). Little things that apparently can have a big impact.


Cheers!
mouse

08.25.08: Making the Most of Summer

Dear Friends and Family,

I'm getting a little schizophrenic with my blog entry syntax. Something I'll need to ponder and make a decision on at some point.

Friday night, Mr. mouse and I turned in early (as in 6 o'clock early) and slept roughly 12/13 hours. We got off to a slow start on Saturday, and I was feeling a little mopey which didn't help matters any. We checked mail. We got Korean for lunch. I got a manicure. We made dinner and played Scrabble (403-301, Mr. mouse thanks to a leftover V on my part) while watching the last of the Olympics.

Sunday, we got up to go watch the F1 race at the bar. We biked out and then went on a 21 mile jaunt up to Glencoe through some pretty rough winds and some pretty rough cobblestones. I was exhausted by the time we got home. Dinner consisted of salmon, angel hair pasta and cauliflower soup. Closing ceremonies. And, we were in bed by 11.

And, now it's Monday. And, as my coffee mug states - let the stress begin.


Cheers!
mouse

08.23.08: What Can I Say?

Dear mouse journal,

And, just like that, my month "off" is officially over. This morning, Mr. mouse, 1) didn't hear me and 2) totally blanked and therefore 3) totally skipped on the use of a prophylactic. And, my long awaited break from the craziness of the last nine months is no more. I'm not sure who I'm more pissed at... myself for not saying anything once I thought I had made my point clear, or Mr. mouse for not hearing me and for not keeping this top of mind.

Actually, let's be clear. I'm pissed at both of us. But, I'm infinitely more pissed at Mr. mouse than I am at myself.

We've agreed that we would take next month off instead and that I could have my birthday dinner next month instead. Still, I'm massively disappointed and massively depressed and just plain upset and annoyed that I feel like the next week is ruined. I was so looking forward to birthday dinner and now it's going to get jumbled into September and September isn't my birthday and it's my sister's wedding and I'm just... clearly not coming to grips with any of this.

Watch, with just my luck, we'll end up pregnant, and it'll be a million and one years until I get my break. Great.


mouse

Terminal Cancer, Patient Doesn't Know

Dear mouse journal,

My cousin called yesterday for my sister's cell phone number to figure out logistics for the upcoming wedding. And, she mentioned she was looking into plane tickets to New York for her mom who wants to go see her brother, our oldest uncle.

Our uncle is dying. He's been diagnosed with terminal lung cancer and has about six months left to live. It's sad, but, I've come to grips with it. I never met Mr. mouse's mom. She died when she was 51 from lung cancer.

Back to my uncle. According to my cousin, the family hasn't told him he has six months left to live. They told him he's sick. That he requires treatment. But, no word of cancer. And, no word of time frame.

What is wrong with these people?!?! How can you hope to keep that kind of information a secret? And, more importantly, why would you keep that kind of information a secret? And, it's not exactly a secret. Everyone knows, with the exception of my uncle.

How is this a good idea, people? More to come, I'm sure. I told my cousin I would go back the same weekend she went back so we could see him together.


mouse

Drawing a Blank

Dear Friends and Family,

I've been sitting here for the past hour waiting for inspiration to strike. I'm exhausted beyond belief and not feeling too chipper. I think I need the weekend to be here now so I can zone out and relax and regroup.

Hopefully, next week will be a better week. In fact, I know next week will be a better week, because Friday is a special day for me.


Cheers!
mouse

Who Am I?

Dear Friends and Family,

Sometimes you get off on a tangent and it takes you down a path and your mind starts wandering and before you know it you wonder...

• how do different people perceive me?
• would life be different if...?
• who am I?

It leads to some good introspective brain time. Ultimately, I'm not sure the questions have answers or if the answers matter. I think the book on me is still being written. And, for now, I'll indulge in my navel gazing and ponder my own personal koans.


Cheers!
mouse

08.19.08: Weekly Weigh In

Dear Friends and Family,

weigh in: 122.5

I've been avoiding the inevitable for the past half hour - procrastinating on writing my blog because I knew my weigh in was a bummer. I was 119 on Saturday. What can I say? Too many cupcakes, too few days. This will be a good week to get back on track or I'll really be procrastinating next Tuesday.

Mindless Eating, Why We Eat More Than We Think
by Brian Wansink

Chapter 3: Surveying the Tablescape

Now that we've debunked our stomach's ability to help us in the eating game, we move onto our next potential strategic partners, our eyes. Unfortunately, they let us down time and time again as well. No wonder we're in such sorry shape. We're so easily fooled.

Package size matters. It doesn't for me because I weigh everything like a hawk. But, for most normal people, size matters. On average, people eat about 20-25% more from a larger package. With snack foods, the number can sky rocket up to double.

Glass size matters. It's an optical illusion, but we all fall for it. Tall, narrow glasses: good. Short, wide glasses: bad. Don't feel bad, even professional bartenders have trouble eyeing this one.

Plate size matters. Bigger plates equate to larger servings. How much more? 31% more. And, if you give them a large serving spoon in addition to a large bowl? Count on 57% more. The really sad thing is, this experiment was done with a group of professors and their PhD students, in Nutritional Sciences. Lovely.

Visual variety matters. When there's more choice, we eat more. The technical term is "sensory specific satiety." That's why those über specific diets work in the short term. You can only eat so much cabbage soup before you go crazy. The tricky part is we can be fooled by variety. One bowl of M&M's had seven colors, one bowl had ten. We all know all M&M's taste the same. Yet, there's a 43% increase once you increase the visual variety.

And, now I can bring this all back to this weekend - cupcakes, there's an endless variety and an overwhelming urge to try each one. And, once you eat it, your stomach has no real recall of how many it's eaten. And, you can fit a million of them on a plate. And, the proprietors are all branded - Sweet Mandy B's, Molly's, Swirlz. And, the cupcakes are all branded (upcoming chapter). And, once you decide, "this is going to be good." It is. And, you're guilty of having too many cupcakes.


Cheers!
mouse

08.18.08: Air + Water Show

Dear Friends and Family,

It was an almost perfect weekend of sun, fun and cupcakes.

Friday, after a crazy day of interviews, conference calls and emails, we headed out for the evening. We picked up cupcakes at Bleeding Hearts Bakery, Dinkel's Bakery, and Chaos Theory Bakery before heading out to dinner at Smoque Barbecue. Of the three bakeries, I liked the cupcakes at Chaos Theory best. They go out on a limb and make some fun flavor combinations that can become addicting - like their curry cardamom chocolate cupcake.

Note: We also had an cupcake arsenal built up from Sweet Mandy B's, Swirlz, and Molly's. I think my favorites overall are from Sweet Mandy B's. The best cake texture and frosting combination - classic flavors combined with flawless execution.

Saturday was the perfect day for the Air + Water Show. It was mid-80's with a partly cloudy sky and a cool breeze. I should have worn a swimsuit, but I knew we'd be seeing some of Mr. mouse's work colleagues, so I stayed with the tank top/shorts combination. Must get rid of some of the crazy tan lines I've gotten this summer.

We split for the evening with Mr. mouse and the Dad going over to Toyota Park to watch the Chicago Fire take on the DC United. Unfortunately, they lost 1-0. The Mom, the Daughter and I walked down to Navy Pier, had dinner and watched some performances at the Turkish World Festival before heading outside to watch the Navy Pier fireworks. We all drove home together, ate a couple more cupcakes and watched the Olympics on TiVO.

Sunday, we had a couple of friends over for a barbecue. We had jerked chicken, mini bison burgers, guacamole and chips, cucumber salad and bean salad while watching some flyovers, catching some rays and glorying in the summer sun. Around five, we headed inside to try all of the ice cream flavors. There was peanut butter chip chocolate chip peanut butter with a caramel swirl, watermelon, peach, basil, mint chocolate chip and a couple of other flavors. I think the peach was a big winner and the basil went over well. The basil is my favorite, by far. B and Chef M gave us a book on the history of ice cream. I can't wait to read it.

We crashed Sunday night in front of the TV and watched more Olympics while polishing off more cupcakes. And, now, it's Monday. And, there's one cupcake left per family. And, it's time to start getting ready for work. How did the week go so quickly?


Cheers!
mouse

Job Interview for Mouse

Dear Friends and Family,

A colleague of mine recently switched jobs and called me up to try to recruit me. And, since he's a close friend whom I respect, I agreed to go in for interviews. In an ideal world, I would have waited three weeks to get through a big off-site I've been working on and to have my mid-year performance discussions before interviewing. I firmly believe knowledge is a good thing.

But, he's in a rush, and so, I'm coming in today. It's a quandary. I'm truly enjoying the work I'm doing. And, I've gotten to the point where I have friends at work. And, I'm curious to speak with my former boss about a move into his new department with a potential promotion. But, I wish we were doing better as a company. I'm just not sure. I guess it's a good thing that I'm enjoying the work I'm doing.

We'll have to see how this side bar plays out.


Cheers!
mouse

08.15.08: Mr. Mouse is Enough

Dear Friends and Family,

It was the briefest interchange of comments, but it stuck with me. One of the consultants I've been working with recently asked me if Mr. mouse and I had kids or were planning on having them. And, since I didn't want to go into the gory details I simply said no. Then, I said, having Mr. mouse is enough for me. And, having me is "definitely" enough for Mr. mouse, implying taking care of me was more than enough work for him.

When I thought back on it, I realized it's true. Having him is enough for me. If we don't ever succeed in this crazy procreation endeavor, it's okay with me.

I'm glad we're taking a break from the whole trying routine. My life has been crazy the past couple of weeks and the additional stress would have made life a bear.


Cheers!
mouse

First Signs of Fall

Dear Friends and Family,

After waiting so long for spring and summer, it's come and gone in a blink of the eye. Yesterday, I needed to turn on the lights to shower, because it's getting brighter later. And, on Tuesday, I noticed that some of the trees are beginning to change color. Already? Sigh.


Cheers!
mouse

CSA Box Contents

Dear Friends and Family,

After a four week hiatus, we're getting a box tonight. Due to bad rains, our CSA had to skip a shipment (and tack one on at the end). The last box we got is long gone. We had some snap peas go bad (I forgot about them), but other than that, we ate it all.

According to the newsletter, we can expect:

• green peppers
• cabbage
• carrots
• bottle onions
• garlic
• sweet corn
• melon
• cauliflower
• heirloom tomatoes
• new potatoes
• red tomatoes
• chard
• lemon basil

And, we get an egg share (a dozen eggs).

My plan of attack (in order of preference):

Tomatoes can be used with our crazy basil to make caprese salad. Melon. Fruit is delicious. Carrots, pre-cut into 3 oz portions for easy snacking. Sweet corn will get roasted and then made into a salad with beans and lime and cilantro. Bottle onions will roast on the grill. Chard gets made into soup, I'm sure. Green peppers will most probably get roasted on the grill. Potatoes get eaten randomly. Which leaves cabbage, cauliflower, and lemon basil. Things that make you go hmm.

And, our garden. I've been having a ton of fun with the garden. The tomatoes and peppers are doing great. We've had 54 cherry/grape tomatoes so far. And, each one is a luscious bite of juicy, red, tomatoey sweetness. There's no comparison. Supermarket tomatoes just taste like water afterwards. We've had 16 banana peppers, 11 jalapeño peppers, and 28 cayenne peppers; it's enough to share. I sent some home with B for Chef M. I repotted the peppers this weekend to give them more room to grow. I'm planning on taking them in for the fall and growing them indoors over the winter. We'll see. Very happy with my peppers. Our zucchini, which was supposed to be the easy, sure-fire thing, has turned out to be a total bust. One sad little zucchini fruit so far and the plant is doing this crazy twisty-turny, climb out of the soil, don't fertilize thing. I've just about given up on it. And, our melons? We have two of the most adorable little cantaloupe growing on our melon vines. We'll see if they grow into anything edible. Next year, I may just do a crazy batch of tomatoes. Or, I may try other plants in lieu of the zucchini.

The other thing grand experiment we'll be embarking on this week is trying to harvest the seeds from the CSA box. I want to try saving the seeds from the melon and the tomatoes. We can plant them next spring and see if anything comes of it all.

And, last but definitely not least, our neighbors got in last night! Well, at least the Mom and Daughter did. Dad wasn't scheduled to come in until Friday. They picked me up at work and we headed out for conveyor belt sushi. Today, they're headed out to Lincoln Park today to go to the zoo, do a cupcake crawl and enjoy the neighborhood walks. I hope the weather cooperates.


Cheers!
mouse

08.12.08: Weekly Weigh In

Dear Friends and Family,

weigh in: 120.5

Progress! Two and a half pounds from goal. This week will be a tough one. Our neighbors are coming in town today. I'm so excited about seeing them and spending time together. But, it'll be tough getting through the week and not adding any poundage. I must remember, I can have as much fun without going on a points spree. They've seen me on Weight Watchers and they're hip with it.

Mindless Eating, Why We Eat More Than We Think
by Brian Wansink

Chapter 2: The Forgotten Food

This chapter starts with the hypothesis: "Your stomach can't count." And, goes on through a series of experiments to show there's a good volume of data to show that it's true. We're not so good at keeping track of what we ate because our stomach isn't the smartest organ in our body. Once the food is off of the plate and in our bellies, our recall is imperfect at best.

Experiment #1: free wings at a Super Bowl party, half the tables are regularly bussed, the other half let the bones pile up. Not surprisingly, the bussed table ate more wings; they didn't have the bones to keep track of what they ate. How much more? 22% more.

Experiment #2: bottomless bowl of soup, four bowls at a table, two regular, two rigged to continually refill from a contraption underneath - truly bottomless soup. The regular bowls ate about nine ounces of soup. The rigged bowls ate about 15 ounces of soup. Now, that's just downright depressing, and kinda funny.

Since the stomach clearly can't count, we rely on how tightly our clothes fit to gauge progress or trigger alarms - both at the meal and over the long haul. And, that's why elastic pants are sinful. They're an accomplice in mindless eating and a fashion tragedy. And, that's why something like Weight Watchers works for me. Clearly my stomach isn't any good at keeping track. But, Weight Watchers forces my brain to get involved in the eating process.


Cheers!
mouse

08.11.08: Catch Up Weekend

Dear Friends and Family,

Another mixed weekend. We got a ton done. We spent some time enjoying summer in the city. And, we've come to realize there are some issues we're having a tough time reconciling as a couple.

Saturday, we got most of our errands crossed off of the list, including cleaning the house (which is easier when you do it every two weeks, it only gets so bad in two weeks) and doing laundry and picking up groceries and a bunch of random errands. Then, we headed out to the 13th Chicago Korean Festival to see my peeps. We saw a fan dance and several traditional drum troupes. My grandfather used to play the drums and I remember going to watch him perform. Will have to add it to the list of things to look forward to next summer - Air and Water Show, Lollapalooza, Run for the Zoo 5K, July 4th fireworks from the deck, Trixie's July visit. I do love summer in the city. I also want to try the Japanese Festival, Annual Ginza Holiday, next year. I should start making the calendar now for next summer.

Sunday, we slept in. Then, we repotted the peppers and ran a couple more errands. We got to the gym and then ate dinner before heading out to West Fest to hear a couple of deejays do their thing. And, our evening devolved from there. Not really sure how to sort through the disaster that's become our personal life. And, not ready to write about it yet. Someday. But, not today.


Cheers!
mouse

Busy Bee Friday

Dear Friends and Family,

Sorry for not posting this morning. I overslept. Then, I had to rush into work. Scurry all day and sit in a parking lot of Friday afternoon traffic. Watching the Opening Ceremonies now.

TGIF!


Cheers!
mouse

All Quiet on the Mid-Western Front

Dear Friends and Family,

It's a quiet Thursday morning and I don't have a ton to write about. And, that's perfectly okay. Work has been crazy recently. I've still been catching up on sleep from last week's travels. The house is still decently clean, but can use a definite spruce up this weekend. We have friends coming over next week for a week. I'm really excited to see them! And, life in general is good.

Hope you're enjoying the summer as much as we are.


Cheers!
mouse

08.07.08: Not Pregnant

Dear Friends and Family,

Well, after an agonizing week and half, Mother Nature finally caught up with us. Still not pregnant. Mr. mouse is going to call to schedule time with the fertility clinic. And, until then, I get a blissful break from the daily scourge of trying. A break. I could really use a break.

During our first visit, I'd like to learn what the options are in a typical treatment journey. What the odds are at each one. What's covered by insurance. What the risks are. Etc. Then, before we even begin step 1, I want to draw an agreed upon line in the sand - we go this far and no further. I need my sanity.

But, back to the moment. I'm going to savor every minute of my break.


Cheers!
mouse

08.06.08: Nothing Yet

Dear Friends and Family,

Nothing yet. WTF?


Cheers!
mouse

Mouse Pad Progress

Dear Friends and Family,

I have a secret confession. I love getting the mortgage bill each month. It's the one bill we still get by paper. All of our other bills are delivered electronically. Every month, we pay a little more in principal towards our house and a little less in interest. And, each month, the unpaid principal balance drops infinitesimally closer to zero. Owning our home free and clear would be fabulous. And, each mortgage statement brings us one step closer to that.

This month's statement was especially fun to open. We decided with the stock market roller coaster that we would hold off on investing and use the same money to pay down the house. It's a guaranteed rate of return vs. potentially negative returns. We decided to wait for two consecutive months of positive returns on our existing assets to get back in the stock market game. Which means, when I opened this month's statement, we made even more progress towards home ownership since we had an additional principal payment in the calculations.

Life is good.


Cheers!
mouse

08.05.08: New Chapter

Dear Friends and Family,

Day 39, still haven't started yet. Tomorrow, we take another home pregnancy test.

I had a chance to talk with our doctor yesterday. She's not optimistic that we're pregnant, given the ovulation kit didn't show an LH Surge until Day 28. In other words, we should manage our expectations accordingly.

And, given that it takes 4-6 weeks to get an appointment scheduled with a fertility specialist, and that she thinks we'd be a straight forward case for them, she recommended we contact them to start down that path.

Mr. mouse and I agreed too, to take a break from all of this for August. July wasn't a fun month for me. And, if we're not pregnant, I'd just like a month off. If we are, then, obviously, we go from there.


Cheers!
mouse

08.05.08: Weekly Weigh In

Dear Friends and Family,

weigh in: 122

Where do I begin?

1. crap weigh in
2. crap sleep (storm)
3. crap night last night (another major fight)

Ask me how I'm feeling. As a colleague at old work used to say, craptastic. It's wonderful feeling.

Mindless Eating, Why We Eat More Than We Think
by Brian Wansink

Chapter 1: The Mindless Margin

We start with the painfully embarrassing question of "Did you ever eat..." even when the food doesn't taste good (e.g. leftover cake, cold French fries)? And, sad but true, most of us have. I'm as guilty as the next person. But, fortunately, I'm in good company.

Experiment #1: free popcorn at the movie theater, two sizes (medium and large), it's five day old, stale as can be popcorn. And, sad but true, people ate it. And, the larger the bucket, the more they ate. Not only does it prove people eat mindlessly, but it also proves that how much we eat is based on how much we're given, not on how hungry we are (both sizes were too large to finish).

Experiment #2: free wine at dinner, Trader Joe Two Buck Chuck, labels removed and relabeled (fine Californian wine, fine North Dakotan wine), prix fixe menu. Everyone finished the wine, regardless of whether they thought it was Californian or North Dakotan wine. But, the Californian wine drinkers rated their food as better tasting. And, they ate more of it. And, they took longer, lingering over their meal. Once the California wine group decided, "this is going to be good," they made it good. And, once the North Dakotan wine group decided, this is going to be mediocre at best, they made it mediocre at best.

Experiment #3: Supermarket signs, 1 for $1, 2 for $2, 3 for $3, say 10 for $10, we all fall for it buying 30% to 100% more. Wonderful.

Which brings us to the mindless margin. The 50-100 calories a day we could increase or reduce and never notice. It's not going to make the scale jump. It's the pound a year weight gain that over the course of a decade begins to equal middle age spread. It's the difference between eating until you're full vs. eating until you're no longer hungry. It's all of the experiments in this chapter and the title of this book. It's mindless.


Cheers!
mouse

08.04.08: Play Ball!

Dear Friends and Family,

There's baseball and there's Yankee Baseball. As one famous player once said, "I'd like to thank the Good Lord for making me a Yankee." The same can be said of its fan base.

With Yankee Stadium closing this year, Mr. mouse bought me tickets to see a game there. I'm counting it (along with Yaz) as my early birthday gifts. And, the day turned out to be perfect.

We flew out to Newark Friday night and Mr. mouse's dad picked us up. Saturday, we headed out in the morning for the City. Found street parking and then caught a ride up to the stadium. We got off of the train and it had just started raining. But, it was pouring as in "wow, they can't play in this" pouring. We stood on the train platform, which was thankfully covered, waiting for it to pass. Almost 30 minutes later, it let up enough that we risked going down.

We got on the super long line for Monument Park where they have the numbers and plaques of all of the retired Yankees. I was overwhelmed. Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, to start, and the list goes on. Just as we finished walking through the park, they started calling out the names for Old Timers' Day. I won't go into the details on Old Timers' - a bunch (72 for this historic day) of retired Yankees come back to Yankee Stadium, get introduced and play a couple of innings of baseball. It's cute watching them get out and swing the bat and run the bases. And, of course, it's great that both teams are wearing the same uniform and numbers repeat all over the place.

The game started at four with the sun shining. And, of course, there's nothing better than cheering for the Yankees in Yankee Stadium. They won 8-2, and Mr. mouse was on his best behavior (he's a Red Sox fan) so I could enjoy the game. We walked around a bunch. Then, we headed down to the Brooklyn Bridge to take a picture of some water falls. Found a super cute sushi restaurant where we had the omakase dinner. Delicious.

Sunday, we met one of Mr. mouse's high school friends for brunch. Then, we flew back home. And, now, I need to hustle to get some work done before heading into the office. As my coffee mug says, "Good Morning! Let the stress begin!"


Cheers!
mouse

08.04.08: Day 38

Dear Friends and Family,

Day 38 and no cycle yet. This Wednesday, we pee on a stick again. And, either way, if I don't start we go to see the doctor. Joy oh joy. Did I tell you how much I like having doctor's appointments?

This past month has been especially stressful. First, our doctor's optimistic month that this month is our month - since so many couple's are successful after their HSG. Then, the missing LH Surge. Then, the call from the lab that Mr. mouse needs to repeat his semen analysis. Then, the late LH Surge. Then, the realization that my thyroid levels, while normal, still haven't resulted in my feeling right. Then, the realization that if we don't conceive this month, we're in for another doctor's appointment. And, now, the fact that I'm late, but nothing is showing positive.

Really? I need all this like I need a hole in my head. I think I want to take the month of August off. Doesn't everyone get a birthday treat? Perhaps mine can be a stress free month of being me.


Cheers!
mouse

Never Ending Day with a Happy Ending

Dear Friends and Family,

Yesterday was one of the longest days ever. I flew down to Dallas on Wednesday night for some customer research. Our arrival was delayed an hour. Then, we went to see the latest Central Market before grabbing a bite to eat and checking in at our hotel. Call it 11:30 by the time I was in my room.

Then, since I had caught up on emails on the flight down, I tried to log on to synch my emails. After much crashing of computer systems and jury rigging of technology, I had my laptop on the wireless network with my blackberry for authentication and my vpn for security. If any one of those fragile systems went down , the computer needed to be restarted and the whole process kicked off again. Call it 1:30 by the time I crawl into bed in a hotel room with a gurgling toilet.

Thursday, I woke up at 5 o'clock on three and a half hours sleep. A broken coffee maker followed by a front desk that doesn't answer the phone kick off my day. The research went swimmingly until the debrief session when I was able to confirm 100% beyond a doubt that one of the people I work with is just a bear and if she dropped off the face of the Earth tomorrow I wouldn't be the one spearheading the search party (although I would join, of course, for the record).

Finish at 6:30. Get to the airport a little after 7 for the long wait until our 10PM flight. Yes, our lovely travel policy wouldn't let us spend the extra money for the 9PM flight and I didn't want to cut it close by gunning for the 8PM flight. All is well and good until weather delays our 10PM flight to 12:05AM. Lovely. We land, call it, 2:30AM.

There's a message from Mr. mouse. He's at the airport waiting for me. He came to pick me up! I had been planning on taking a cab home, but, this is even better - especially when I go downstairs and the cab line is empty. We get home sometime between 3:00 and 4:00. Yeah, Mr. mouse!


Cheers!
mouse