Today's Appointment

What a day, what a day.

I had an appointment this morning with my PCP because I have been having some abdominal pain. The doctor seems to think that it is a gallbladder problem, possibly stones. I had to have blood drawn and an ultrasound. The only problem was that for once, I had gotten up in time to eat breakfast, and the ultrasound required that I fast for 8 hours prior to having it done. So my small cup of fruit that I had for breakfast blew my entire day - I could not eat or drink anything until after my ultrasound, which was scheduled for 6pm. Which means that I finally got something to eat at around 7. I was STARVING!! Truth be told though, I was more thirsty than hungry.

Now I get to wait for the results. Since the technician is not allowed to give me any kind of a diagnosis, I don't know any more than I did before the ultrasound was performed.

Before Green Gables

Before Green Gables

I found this book in the library by chance and thought it looked interesting. Boy was I right. If you liked Anne of Green Gables, you'll love this book.

Doctor's Appointments

So I called my ob/gyn's office yesterday to make an appointment for a pap & pelvic. Not that it's my favorite thing to do, but it does have to be done each year. And I'm overdue - I should have had this done back in April.

The soonest they could get me in was JULY 23rd. And, I have to drive 35 miles for the appointment (once upon a time I could get them done here in town). This, to me, seems a bit ridiculous, especially since I wouldn't even be seeing my regular doctor (I'd be seeing a "temp" doctor) and I don't want anything fancy - just your standard girly appointment.

So I stopped in at my family doctor's office this afternoon to see if I could get in to see him any sooner. Guess what. June 30. Only 2 weeks away (instead of 7) and right here in town. I guess I'll be calling to cancel that ob/gyn appointment. I wasn't going to see her any more after that one anyway, seeing as we're moving at the end of August.

Which leads me to - going back on the pill. I don't really want to, but with all of the stress and excitement of moving, we're not really TTC right now anyway. It's much better for me (and my sanity) to go back on the pill during this time so that I can know exactly when AF will arrive and how long she'll stay. Irregularity is a nuisance at best. This way, after we're moved and settled, I can start again with my new doctors, hopefully not having to start completely over with the procedures, etc.

S is a fun letter...

I'm noticing that I can make a lot of cute logos/names with an S. Which comes in handy since my first name starts with an S. A couple of examples are Sara's Sox, which was my original idea for a business (beaded socks). Then I branched out into sewing and came up with Sara's Stitches as a business name, with Sara's Sox as a subsidiary (sounds way cool that I have a subsidiary, IMO).

The one I came up with today isn't intended as a business name per se, since I have no intent to go into photography as even a side job; it's just something I enjoy. But I wanted to have a cute name to make into my watermark for those rare times when I do take pictures for someone else, or just to make my watermark stretch further across the picture (I don't want someone to be able to easily edit it out with PhotoShop). Today's cute "S" name: Sara's Snapshots.

I'm going to beat someone senseless someday...

Or maybe they're senseless already and that's why I'm so frustrated!

I work in the deli department. A large portion of my job is slicing up various meats and cheeses for customers. For reasons that I may never understand, 95% of customers are EXTREMELY thick-headed when I ask for clarification on how thick or thin they want their slices to be!

There is no such designation as shaved - nor do I have a setting on my slicer for slivered, chipped, deli thin, sandwich thin, average, medium, etc. We have a chart with numbers corresponding to various thicknesses for a reason. Our slicers have dials with NUMBERS on them to indicate the how thick the slice will come out. When I ask you to clarify what you mean by "shaved" by using a number, don't look at me like I'm the idiot and repeat that you want it shaved. Doing so is likely to cause me to do a piss-poor job with your request, since you did a piss-poor job of telling me what you really wanted. PICK A DAMN NUMBER!

And please, for the love of anything you wish to love, please don't ask me to shred your meat. That's why you have a food processor and/or a blender. Shred it yourself. I have better things to do, like throw things at the customers who insist that they want their meat "shaved".

I just finished this book:

From Booklist
Infertility and infidelity pack a potent--and potentially fatal--one-two punch to Elinor and Ted Mackey's once-idyllic marriage in Winston's perceptive and poignant exploration of marital commitment and liberation. Intelligent and successful, the Mackeys appear to have everything going for them except the ability to become parents and the agility to withstand the devastating emotional impact such a loss imposes on their relationship. Her hormones in a state of turbulent imbalance, Elinor becomes alternately volatile and withdrawn, driving Ted to seek refuge at the local gym, where his nubile personal trainer, Gina, is more than willing to provide the sympathy and support he craves. Madly in love with Ted, single-mother Gina has a secret weapon to eventually win him over: her ten-year-old son, Toby, whose open adoration of Ted may prove too hard for anyone to resist. Once again, Winston demonstrates a laserlike ability to focus on the inescapable reality of contemporary relationships, tempering her characters' abject pain with appealing good humor.

Carol Haggas Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved.

Here we go again!

Yet again I am going to attempt to be a good blogger. I do well for a while, then forget to blog for days, weeks, or months at a time. I actually have at least two blogs somewhere in cyberspace that have been abandoned for over a year.

So we'll see how it goes. I enjoy blogging - it blows my mind that I'm not better at keeping on top of it.

Sewing Still

Lucky me I found a new lead for my sewing projects. A cousin of my mum's has two kids who are in show skating. She is going to hook me up so that I can go to skating events and sell practice outfits (skirts mostly, but some dresses) and through that possibly get some orders for actual competition costumes! The practice outfits alone usually run close to $50 - and show/competition costumes can be $100 and up, depending on their complexity. This is a very good opportunity for me! If I can get into the skating scene, that plus what I pick up in general clothing orders will really help me to make a good argument for taking a pay cut of $40 per week to switch to a job that will let me be healthier & happier.

So far, because I'm trying to get the word out about what I do, I am doing a lot of freebies. I make something and give it to someone, hoping that that person will then order more from me and send people my way. Not much luck yet, but I have made a very cute baseball outfit for my niece to wear to Sunday's game. We're going to watch the Detroit Tigers (hopefully) stomp the Boston Red Sox. I will have plenty of business cards on me, so whenever someone compliments her outfit I can say, "I made that for her. Here's my card." Since it is a Sunday, kids will be able to run the bases after the game, so there will be a lot of kids and parents there. Hopefully I'll get a few leads!

Updating a bit

I'm a little behind with this update, but here it is in all its gory glory.

I met my new doctor, Dr. Fuller, on June 1, 2007.
I like my new doctor. She is an ob/gyn - this is the first time I've ever had a female doctor. It's a little strange, but in a good way if that makes any sense.
She wants me to take a couple of months and try to lose some more weight. No big shock there - if you're as heavy as I am every doctor you see wants you to lose weight. She also has me on Prometrium during the second half of my cycle now. That will keep me from having the marathon cycles. Whether I ovulate or not, I'll be having a more regular cycle.
I started the Prometrium right after my appointment, and was on it for 10 days. No side effects, but that was a very HEAVY period after my last dose of Prometrium!! I wasn't surprised by it - after all, my last prior one was back in January - but it was rather inconvenient since it was the worst on the day of my BIL's wedding. I hope and pray that future AFs are not that heavy.
In August or September, I'll start on Clomid and Metformin again. The Met will help with my Insulin Resistance (thankfully I'm only slightly IR), and the Clomid will help me to ovulate. I'm pretty sure that I'll still be on the Prometrium during the second half of the cycle, although I have to double check on that.

I will be having an endometrial biopsy on July 13th. I actually have to call to make sure about that, since now that I have an idea of when AF will show up, I might have to change that appointment. When I made the appt, I got the impression that if possible there was a certain time within the cycle that they prefer to do it. At that time I had no idea when my next period would show. Now that I'm on the Prometrium, I can at least narrow it down to within a few days of the end of that last dose - which actually has me starting right around the day that my biopsy is scheduled for. Probably not what they want. I'm guessing they'd rather I was in for that before I stop the Prometrium.

I am a little worried about having to possibly reschedule - this appointment that I have on July 13th was their first available appt way back on June 1st. I'm hoping that if I do have to reschedule, I won't have to wait another 6 weeks for it! When I call for that, I will also make my August/September appt. Might as well take care of both appts at once.

Interesting Dr Appt Today

I went to the doc today because it was that time of year - time for my pap & physical. Woo-flippin-hoo. And, today's visit just reminded me how much I like my doctor.

I have been spotting since Easter. Before that, my last AF was in January. Doc said two things were wrong with that: #1 I should have called for something to bring on AF after 2 months of not having it, so that I go no longer than 3 months w/o AF; and #2 I shouldn't let the spotting go on more than 3 weeks without calling to get it checked out. I did tell him that I let the spotting go because by the time it got to the point where I would have called for an appt, I already had today's set up so I just decided to wait it out.
I also told him that I don't have an ob/gyn anymore because my previous one no longer participates with my insurance, and I had to stop going to the RE because it was just too far away. I didn't mention that we were working on prepping for adoption, because our discussion was focused less on getting me pg and more on getting my cycles straightened out. He has referred me to the Women's Practice that is associated with his office - he wants me to have a pelvic ultrasound and finally get 100% confirmation of a PCOS diagnosis (I've been told many times that I probably have PCOS and that it is most likely what my problem is, but I've never been given the definite diagnosis of "Yes, you have PCOS."). He also said that my uterus is tilted towards the back - I knew it was tilted but not which direction.
He ordered a bunch of blood work today - he tested FSH and LH, insulin levels, and a pgcy test! I don't expect it to come back positive, but I almost got the impression that the doctor does. He said that he won't prescribe me anything until that test comes back - if it comes back negative he will have me take Provera to get rid of the spotting, and if it comes back positive we will go from there but we will have to do something to find out why I've been spotting so much and so long.
I'll be calling tomorrow for my appt with the Women's Practice. After I find out about my blood work, I will post how that came out.

Amazing - I thought I was done with all of this fertility stuff for a while!

Six Pounds!

In my first week on Weight Watchers, I lost six pounds!! I am so excited!!
I'm sure that a large portion of it has to do with the fact that I am drinking a LOT less soda now. That doesn't make it any less exciting!

It also means that I may already have to do an alteration on a skirt I'm making for myself! I was just waiting to have time to install the zipper, and since I have lost over an inch off my waist in the past week, I now have to try it on before I finish with it to see if it will be too big. Luckily there is a side seam that is not connected to a zipper, so if I do have to take it in an inch or two, I'll just do it on that side. The skirt will then be not quite symmetrical, but I don't really care about that. I'll be much more excited that I had to take it in!

Good Day, Sucky Night.

Today was a good day. I got up, made breakfast (eggs & bagels - yum!) and watched television while the dishwasher was running. I also found and took my photo for my 365 blog. When DH got up, he got dressed and I took him into town so he could go to a meeting, then came back home and posted an ad online for my sewing business. Within hours, I had an order!! One of my good friends wants me to make a comforter for her daughter. After picking DH up from his meeting and getting some lunch, we went to Wal-Mart so I could check out patterns and fabric. I got a pattern I liked, but none of the fabrics really jumped out at me. We came home so DH could watch the baseball game, and I went back to town in search of a zipper foot for my sewing machine and to hit another fabric store. I found the foot that I needed, and much cheaper than I expected! Also, I found a fabric for the comforter that I just LOVED. Pale yellow with cute butterflies, bees, and ladybugs. I didn't buy it yet (one of the hazards of a brand-new tiny business - sometimes I need payment before being able to even start the project) but when I came home I discovered that this same friend also wants me to make her a second blanket - this one a throw for her made out of her daughter's old baby clothes. It's a very sweet idea and I am thrilled to do it.

Tonight was a sucky night. We had decided to go to a movie tonight. DH really wants to see "Grindhouse" and I sorta want to see it, so we were going to see that since it probably won't be in the local theatre much longer. DH went outside and got into the car while I finished posting, and then I went out, shutting the door behind me. Little did I know, DH had NOT grabbed the keys when he went outside! We were completely locked out - neither of us had a set of keys on us. We walked the 3 miles to the landlord's house to ask her to let us in, only to discover that she wasn't home. So we walked another quarter-mile to McDonald's where we called my sister (an hour and a half away) and begged her to come rescue us. To her credit, she did. I have a habit of locking myself out (don't ask, I'm not even sure myself) and since she used to live in the same town, we gave her a key to our house back then so I could call her if I ever needed it; she has always had one since. She took a very long lunch at work and drove over here in the dark and rain to let us back in to our house. We thanked her profusely and gave her $20 for gas. From the walking (in terrible shoes, I might add, but in my defense I wasn't planning to walk more than a few yards, let alone three miles!) I now have a sizable blister on each foot, which makes it hurt considerably to walk even a few steps. I'm glad I have tonight off, but I have to work tomorrow!! I hope the blisters shrink down by then so that they're less painful.

Mailbox

Every time it snows enough for the roads to need plowing, somehow the plow manages to open the back side of our mailbox. Today it was in rare form though - it opened the front and the back, and popped the flag about halfway up. How this is possible, I'll never know. But here's the proof.

More Crafty Fundraising

In addition to the beaded socks, I'm also selling handmade clothing. It started with some cute froggy pajama pants that I made for myself (I posted a photo and people started saying, "I want some; will you make me a pair?"), and is going to expand from there. I recently purchased a TON of cute patterns on eBay for kids' clothing, which includes popular items like pillowcase dresses, peasant dresses, bloomers, bandanna dresses, onesie dresses, scrunchies, and a lot more.

If anyone is interested, all you have to do is let me know!

New Fundraiser

I have a new fundraiser! Thanks to a good friend of mine on FROGs, I am now selling beaded socks for girls. I am making them in all sizes from infant to adult. The sock pictured is an example:
This particular pair of socks would cost $5.25, because the beads on it glow-in-the-dark. Regular price for non-glowing beads is $5 per pair. Shipping is $2 per pair, 50 cents each additional pair in the same order.

If you would like to order, simply contact me and let me know what you want! I need the following information with your order: sock size, yarn color, whether you want the beads to match or coordinate, and if you want glow-in-the-dark beads. Glow-in-the-dark beads will not always match as well as the ones pictured.

Saving & Fundraising for Adoption

I just wanted to make a list of all that I am doing to save and/or raise funds towards adopting. As time goes on, I will re-post this list with any additions or deletions, and an update of how much closer we are to our goal ($20,000).



~ Donating Plasma: I make $20 per donation, up to $200 per month. Karma perk: it is helpful to those who have been injured or in need, much the same as donating blood. This actually hasn't started quite yet - my first donation will be on Nov 15th.
~ Savings: I opened an account at INGDirect that has no minimum balance requirements and pays interest to the tune of 4.10%. I started the account with $15, and any money I receive from my fundraising efforts will go into this account. I will also be making a small deposit every pay period, the amount of which will depend on what is left over after our bills are paid.
~ More Savings: I have an account at Bank of America, and am enrolled in their "Keep the Change" program. Every time I use my debit card, the amount is rounded up and that amount put into savings for me. Plus, Bank of America matches a percentage of the money put into savings through this program, and the savings account accrues interest (0.2%) and there is no monthly fee if I maintain either a minimum balance of $300 or set up automatic transfer of $25 or more from checking (I'm doing the automatic transfer for now, once I have $300 I will just let it sit and build up from my Keep the Change purchases - it will be a slower savings, but it will be there)
~ Interest: Our joint checking account (the one we use for bills) is an interest-bearing account. Once per month it accrues about 10 to 15 cents in interest. It's not much, but it helps.
~ Amazon: I am an affiliate on Amazon.com. Go to Amazon.com by clicking on either of the links on my blog, and I will make a small percentage of your purchase. How much I make from this depends on how often people shop on Amazon through my site.
~ Amazon, part 2: I am also selling items on Amazon. Many of our VHS tapes have been sitting on our shelves untouched for over a year, and I am clearing the clutter while making a little money at the same time. How much I make from this depends on whether or not people buy my stuff.
~ eBay: I am taking steps to become a seller on eBay. Once I do that, I can sell many things that we have floating around our house. Both J & I have extensive collections of collectible card sets, among other things. Again, how much I make from this depends on whether or not people buy my stuff.
~ Google: I signed up for a Google affiliation. I'm not 100% sure how it works, but the link to it is on this blog, so check it out!


There are a few more things in the works, but this is what is set up and going for now. It's quite a list!


We have $69 so far, only $19,931 until we reach our goal!

My co-worker

I got some good news at work - I'm doing just fine.

Here's why this is such a big deal:

I've been working in this position since the middle of July (so about 4 months now).  It was all new to me - I had never dealt with accounting in any way, and especially not in relation to retail.  It was a lot to adjust to.  I was pretty slow as I got used to it, because I wanted to make sure I was doing it right.
As time has gone on, I've gotten faster, but Kathy (who trained me) has kept telling me that I need to get faster because I'm making others' jobs harder by being so slow.  No matter how much I have improved my speed, she keeps telling me that I'm still too slow.  It's hard to deal with, because she has never said, "Good, I'm glad you're getting faster" just "You're still too slow; you're leaving too much work for Mary & Michelle to finish up."

Friday morning I spoke with Mary and told her that I know I'm faster, but I feel like I'm not good enough still and I know where I am still having problems.  That night, Michelle told me that not only am I just fine as far as speed goes, but that Kathy is not as great as she thinks she is.  She also thinks that Kathy tries to ensure her own job security by not training people well (I'm the third person in this position since Kathy started in it).  I have noticed that - Kathy has trained a couple of other people who are backups for when neither of us can work, and she trained BOTH of them better than she trained me.  I picked up a few things that I need to be doing just by listening in while she was training them.  And, she showed me about the slowest way possible to do a couple of things (I have since picked up faster methods on my own).  I've also noticed recently (including an instance just last night) that she seems to find new things that I "ought" to be doing each night as soon as I start getting finished with my work at a decent time.  I just start getting into a pattern where I'm getting what I need to get done, and she says, "You know, you should be doing this every night, too."  It's as if she wants me to look bad, so she can always look better.

Last night I was so offended, I almost told her off (but I bit my tongue just in time) because I was trying to figure something out and she said, "It might just be too complicated for you."  Um, excuse me??  This coming from the woman who spells the word "comments" as "commits"??  No.  It's not too complicated for me.  I had made a mistake on the adding machine and was trying to fix it and said to myself, "No, that didn't work, either," - thus eliciting that comment from her.  I know that I am more intelligent than she is (not bragging, just a fact) and her saying that to me was very insulting.  I did keep my nasty comeback to myself, and now that I have had time to think about it, I have a better response.  Next time she implies that I can't handle something, I will simply say that I am perfectly capable of doing my job.  That's it.

money & job

Or maybe job & money. Anyway... I'd like to find a new job. I don't hate my job, I don't even really dislike it all that much. I'm just frustrated. It doesn't seem fair to me that upper management gets more weekends off than on, and dept managers get every weekend off, and most floor people get one or two weekends a month off, but I'm expected to work every weekend??? And if I do want one off, I have to put in a request at least a month in advance and hope I get approved for it. If I don't get approved, I have to work it. It didn't bother me one bit until I requested a weekend for J's birthday so we could have friends over and I could actually SEE them, and it got denied. I don't want to be a big grouch, but if I don't get at least one weekend off between now and January, I am going to be livid. I knew I was going to be working most weekends when I got this position, but I also said that if I needed time, I'd put it in. That's annoying but okay. It's when they deny the ONE weekend I ask for in a month that I get mad. So I would like to find a new job. I am being very picky, so there's a good chance I won't find one. Michigan's economy is in the sewer after all. Unemployment is VERY high - the rest of the country has seen dropping unemployment rates, but here in Michigan it just keeps going up. Of course, that only counts the people who can draw an unemployment check. There are many more who are unemployed but have used up their benefits, but since they're not drawing the check, they don't count in the figures. I know all of this, and am going into my job search with open eyes. Here's what I'm looking for: something in an office; 8 or 9am until 5 or 6pm; Monday through Friday - NO WEEKENDS. I am sick and tired of never seeing my friends because they've all got real jobs and I'm the only loser still stuck in retail. I also need to be making at least as much as I make now. I made a comment to J that with him working, we could afford for me to drop down in salary a little bit if it gets me into a job where I'm happier. His response was that he'd love to see me happier, and working more normal hours, but if we're going to save up $15K any time soon, I can't take any kind of a pay cut. He's so right. So I need to make at least as much as I'm making now, if not more, which will be very difficult, especially in this town. If we could move it would help so much - I know of one company just off the top of my head that starts at over a dollar more than I make now, but it's over 2 hours away (I don't even know if they're hiring, but that would be easy enough to find out). We live in a college town, and there's an almost unlimited supply of people willing to work part time for minimum wage, so it's hard to find anything that pays anything above that. He's now a little worried that I want to change jobs, because the economy is so bad right now. I tried to reassure him that I will not quit this job until I have found a new one, and that since I am being so picky I know that there is a chance I won't find what I'm looking for and will have to stay with this job. He still seemed apprehensive about it, but I have promised him and I promise myself - I will not quit my current position until I have a new job lined up - and that new job must fit all of my criteria. The only thing I'm flexible on is weekends - I don't mind the occasional Saturday, but no Sundays - I'd like to start going to church again.

Donating Plasma

I'm cleared to donate!  Woo-Hoo!!  This is exciting.  It will add $200 per month to our adoption fund, making the goal of saving enough to adopt that much easier to attain!  The local center pays $25 per donation, and you can donate up to twice per week.  $50 per week x four weeks per month = $200 more per month towards our savings!  I am so excited!

I went in to find out what I would need to do to be cleared.  Did I have to talk to my PCP, did he have to sign something, do I have to submit anything?  What do I need to do?  By the time I had finished talking to the guy there, and he talked to the doctor there, I had been cleared!

They require a basic physical on your first visit (bp, temp, height, weight, general health) and the next available appointment for that wasn't until November.  So there is still a delay, but only a month!  My appointment for my physical and first donation is November 15th.  I am so looking forward to it.  I can't describe how much that money will help us out in our quest towards having a child of our own!

China

Just a quickie post - I found some pricing information on adopting from China today.

The one agency that I'm looking at that deals almost exclusively with China lists the cost as approximately $15,000.  Naturally, that does not include travel or other incidentals - just the adoption process itself.  But it is $3,500 cheaper than Russia, so it might be more of an option for us at this time.

A cursory search for travel costs lists Detroit to Beijing as being about $3,000 for the two of us (close to $1500 each, but still at least $1000 cheaper than 2 trips to Russia at $1000 each per trip).  Only one trip is required, which will be a big savings as well.  However, the trip does have to be somewhat long - about three weeks.  Luckily the "gotcha day" would be a little less than a week into the trip, so we would have our child with us for the majority of the time we are in China.