2012 Recap

This year I started off my posting with a recap of all of the running I did in 2011 (ahem- a lot).  I guess I should recap my running just to show how far I have fallen off the running wagon!  I would say that posting about it may push me to remedy the situation, but with IVF and doctor-mandated no running/jumping/bouncing/etc. for two weeks every cycle, I can't imagine I am going to want to start/stop/start/stop/start/stop etc. through the cycles.  Maybe I should just focus on getting my butt to the gym and doing things other than running....

In February I finally got my period after fibroid/endo surgery the previous November.  After over half a year lost to Lupron, my surgery, and then waiting for my period, we were cleared for IUIs. The first half of the year was spent doing three IUIs (spoiler alert- none of them worked).  I went into my first IUI with a lot of hope and excitement thinking THIS COULD BE IT.  I COULD FINALLY BE PREGNANT AFTER THIS PROCEDURE.  I wish that my CT doctor had let me know of my FSH and AMH levels ahead of time because I wouldn’t have gotten my hopes up so much.  I’m not sure that we would have moved quicker to IVF because of the whole financial aspect, but still.  My hope diminished drastically for the second and third IUIs.  

Our only major travel of the year (at least together) was to the Dominican Republic for a wedding.  We had a great time and drank way too much.  

Sunset in the DR

We did a whole lot of work outside in CT on our front lawn, our back yard, and our garden.  I can't wait to install garden beds in our new house this spring!

CP drastically changed our lives by getting a random call from a headhunter in April for a fantastic job in Chicago.  After he got the job offer we were able to quickly sell our house and CP and I spent two months apart from each other while he started his new job and I stayed behind in CT to work and get the house ready for the closing.  All of the pieces fell into place for the move when I received word that my transfer to the Chicago office had been approved!  However, we were bummed when we learned that despite the fact that IL has a state mandate for infertility treatment, CP's new health insurance for the two of us wouldn't cover any treatments.  But HOORAY I found an insurance plan through my work that does cover IVF!  Coverage starts the second week in January!

The first full day of CP being in the Chicago area he went to an open house and ended up going back the next day to put an offer on the house with my dad.  I didn’t even get to see the house until after the inspection.  As soon as we moved in after our August closing, we started A WHOLE LOT OF WORK on the house.  We have fixed up the sunroom, the living room, the dining room (post coming after I get back from NY), most of the downstairs bathroom, and most of the kitchen (CP may have finished everything prior to me getting back from NY too).  Oh and we have a whole new yard after hiring an awesome landscaper!  

Meanwhile, we our older dog went in for emergency surgery for bloat.  Thankfully we caught it in time, but unfortunately the money that went towards her surgery we had hoped was going to go towards the house.

This year I learned NOT to schedule doctor appointments on the same day as birthdays and anniversaries.  Finding out that I had started growing fibroids again ruined our three-year anniversary.    Luckily, my doctor determined that I didn’t need to have surgery on the fibroids.  

This year was also my year of reaching out for more support with our infertility.  Despite CP making fun of going to a support group for infertility, the monthly meetings are informative and really helpful.  I will definitely continue going to them.  In addition, I have had some one-on-one meetings with other infertiles that have also been helpful.  In addition YOU GUYS have been supportive every step of the way.  I CAN'T THANK YOU ENOUGH AS I'M PRETTY SURE YOU KEEP ME SANE.

This past month I turned 34, CP and I spent a night going over IVF paperwork and making decisions, and I unfortunately learned that my FSH and AMH levels were not normal.   (I should have known better than to write this post calling myself “lucky”- I totally jinxed myself.)    I’m finishing out 2012 and starting off 2013 by working in New York helping out Sandy victims.  Hopefully that alone gives me some good karma going into 2013.

Overall it was a year of change that hopefully was for the best.  We enjoyed our two years of living in CT, but to be only 30 minutes from my family is amazing.  Plus, we have an awesome neighborhood and a house that will be awesome someday (hopefully in 2013).  CP is enjoying his job while getting to travel around the world via business class, while I am finally enjoying my job (most days).  Hopefully IVF is the way to finally conceive and the big hole I have in my life will be plugged up.

You should never fast-forward into the future.  Because every time you do, you rob yourself of the journey, the present moment, which, in the end, is all there really is.

-Alyson Noel

What was your high point this year?  What was your low point this year?  What are you looking forward to in 2013?

ICLW

Wow I can’t believe that I haven’t participated in ICLW (aka International Comment Leaving Week) since April!  Well, let me get you up to speed in what has been going on in our life since then.  (If you want the very basics about me they can be found here.)  

Sadly, IUI #2 and IUI #3 in May did not work. But we had other things to worry about because my husband CP got a job offer in Chicago.  Amazingly, we were able to sell our house in 8 days, I was able to get my job transferred to the Chicago office, and we had a final consultation with our RE before CP left for IL. 

A day after CP got to Chicago, he went to an open house for a place that had been on the market for 60+ days, then brought my father back for a second opinion the next day.  He then put an offer on the house without me even seeing it in person.  I was stuck in CT for six weeks while waiting for the sale of our house to go through while CP stayed in an extended stay hotel and started his new position.  Because we were away from each other during the right time of the month, we had to suspend baby making activities.  We were also saddened to find out that CP’s company somehow gets around the mandated infertility coverage requirement in IL and we had no coverage for IVF.  

In the beginning of August I started my new job (well, transferred job) and am still hoping for more work.  We moved into our new house and I posted pictures showing just how much work needed to be done on our new house.  After about a month in the house we finally had one room complete and a working kitchen.   Then just last week our older dog had to go in for emergency surgery for bloat. Thankfully she made it through the surgery and is doing much better.

This month we are hoping that we have a surprise pregnancy, but not counting on it.  We are looking forward to our appointment with our new RE on October 1^st.

I made it!

I’ll try to make this quick….

Last week the moving process went fairly well.  CP and I had some fights because he didn’t understand why I had to run around town doing errands and packing up stuff in advance, things that were stressing me out.  Ummm hello who wants some random guy packing up your underwear, toiletries (especially the ones that scream I’M INFERTILE), and other potentially embarrassing items?  Not to mention we were told we could save money if we packed some things in advance.  CP thought that I was making things harder on myself, but I saved us some money by returning boxes to U-Haul, by selling a few items on Craigslist, and donating items to the Salvation Army.  Right now, we need to save money so to me it was worth it.  But yeah, I was a bit on edge last week.

I have to say that I am most likely moving-spoiled now.  Having other people pack up our house and then move everything into a truck that they drive across the country for us?  LOVED IT.  Especially because the day that they packed up the truck it was 90 degrees out.  It was a little boring watching other people do the work (it made me want to jump in and help), but instead I sat in the AC and that wasn’t half bad.

After the walkthrough on Thursday night, I finished cleaning the house and set out for central PA with the dogs.  The dogs had been in doggie daycare all day and were thankfully exhausted.  We got into our hotel around 1:30am (I unfortunately got a later start than I wanted to), I threw on a Sleep Machine App so that Buster wouldn’t hear people in other rooms and bark, and slept for about 3.5 hours….until the person above me woke up and started stomping around at 5:30am.  Sigh.  That woke up Buster who didn’t bark, but did start to pace around the room.  I threw on the Sleep Machine App again and fitfully slept for another hour before deciding that it was time to wake up and get on the road.

Friday was spent driving in the car.  It took me about 10 hours, but that was probably because I stopped a bit too often.  Starbucks Refereshers and various NPR’s Freakonomics Podcasts kept me awake and entertained throughout the drive.  It was scalding hot every time I stopped so I would take the dogs for short walks at the rest stops but nothing too long because there wasn’t much shade to speak of.  The closing on our CT house went well that afternoon and CP and I were officially homeless.

The rest of the weekend was spent at my parent’s second home in Southwestern MI.  Buster got to meet my Dad for the first time (and bark at him as he likes to do to strangers, but then later snuggle) and the dogs got to run around the large yard.  They will be heading back there this weekend with my parents so that they are not in the movers' way when they drop off the furniture.

Monday morning CP and I dropped the dogs off at a nearby boarding facility (where they so far seem to be okay despite it being a new place for them) and headed to our closing for our new house.  The seller is still crazy, but everything worked out and we now are IL homeowners (pictures coming soon)! 

Yesterday CP left for a work trip and I had my first day of work at my new office.  Everyone here seems really nice and happy that I transferred to the office.  It’s nice to work in a big city again!  This week I’m staying with my parents in the city while the hardwood floors in our new house get refinished and stained a different color before our furniture arrives.  Saturday our new appliances and all of our furniture get delivered.  Then next week the electrician and the HVAC guy will be working in the house.  It’s getting hard to juggle everything!!

What has been going on with you guys?  I have been trying to keep up with my Google Reader, but I’m still a bit behind.

Excited to see CP

(Scheduled post)

If all goes according to plan, the dogs and I will be pulling in to my parent's place tonight and all three of us will once again be in the same state as CP!

Buster has been quite confused and wondering why he hasn't seen CP in a while.

Fuzzy Britches is REALLY EXCITED whenever she hears CP's name.  She can't wait to reunite with him (this is the longest they have ever been apart)!

YAY YAY YAY YAY YAY!

Almost wordless Wednesday

 My last picture post from CT....

It's hard to believe that our house went from looking like this just two years ago with two dead trees in the front yard....

....complete with large, overgrown bushes (the azaleas are pretty, but not well-maintained).....

...to this.  The front features more flowers now that the trees are gone and it gets full sun.  (The large bush on the left will turn purple soon- I'm sad I'm going to miss it!)

I love our daylilies!  So pretty.

The herbs are more like bushes after they thrived in our winter garden.  In the back the yellow squash are looking good, along with the chinese kale and chinese broccoli.

The spinach bolted a while ago, but the swiss chard is doing great.  The garlic still has a way to go.  (Please ignore the  weeds that I haven't had time to tend to.)

Tons of green tomatoes- but so far they have turned!  So sad that I am going to miss out on fresh tomatoes from the garden.  In front the eggplant is flowering and the buyers should have jalapenos pretty soon.

After ripping out the bolted lettuce, the sugar snap peas, and the green pole beans, the yellow wax beans continue to thrive and produce!

We will definitely miss this view- our favorite walking/running path in our town!

Last four days in CT

The dogs and I leave Thursday night for Chicago.  I made the decision to stop part of the way out there, because 14 hours is just too much.  But before we can leave, I have a million different things that I have to finish up (don't worry- I won't bore you with a list).  I'm definitely regretting the fact that CP didn't fly back to help this past weekend because I'm rushing around trying to fit everything in.  Thank goodness I had the foresight to take off this entire week from work!

• Last Wednesday I met up with a friend so that our dogs could play one last time.  Buster seemed off as he wasn't interested in playing and had thrown up earlier that day.  Well, I ended up taking him to the emergency vet at 9pm that night because he wouldn't eat dinner.  This boy would finish his 2.5 cups of food in 30 seconds if we didn't buy him a bloat bowl (one that slows down his eating), so I knew there was something wrong.  As I sat in the room waiting for the vet, all I could think about was that it was the same room where CP and I heard that Fuzzy Britches possibly had a brain tumor (which is why she had the seizure) and that we shouldn't put her on medication because "she would have a whole host of other problems in a year anyway based on her size."*  My mind automatically went all kinds of places as to what was wrong with him- thankfully he just had a fever, diarrhea, and nausea.  $400 later (oh yes- medication is way more expensive for big dogs!) and strict instructions on water/food intake and we were out the door.  Thankfully he is back to eating, drinking, and pooping normally- I don't know what I would have done if he wasn't better by Thursday!
• Friday was my last day at work.  The entire week was rushed and stressful, trying to finish projects, answer questions from my boss, etc.  The office did a going away cake and gave me a few trinkets to remind me of CT which was cute.  My boss was pretty good the entire week, but did make a few passive aggressive comments about "letting me leave CT two weeks earlier than planned" (because our house sold so quickly) and overall trying to make me feel guilty about leaving for the Chicago office.
• Friday night I headed up to MA to see a college friend that I hadn't seen in two years.  Sadly, we just haven't thought to make the time to see each other and now I'm moving away.  The last time I saw her she was ready to have a baby, and it turns out that she is now 9 weeks pregnant with her second child.  We had a great time and we vowed to be better about seeing each other.  I just love friends that you can pick up with even after a few years of seeing them/talking to them.
• Directv is on my sh*t list.  I had called a few weeks ago to cancel our service and they said they would be shipping boxes out to me so that I could send my receivers back.  I hadn't received them yet, so I called on Saturday wondering where they were.  Turns out they don't send the boxes until AFTER you shut off your service which makes NO SENSE if you are moving!  So I tried to shut off my service on Saturday and get the boxes shipped out to me, but it takes 7 days and they won't arrive until next Tuesday.  REALLY??!!?  So my choices are ship the receivers back myself or lug the receivers to IL, call Directv with our new address, and then ship them back.  Ridonkulous.  I guess I'll just pay for shipping myself.  Not to mention that my cable went out yesterday and has yet to come back on.  I will just be calling and cancelling and NEVER USING DIRECTV AGAIN. 

Posting may be light for the next week or two as I am losing access to my home computer until our furniture gets delivered.  Wish us luck with our drive!!

*BTW, thank goodness the vet has been wrong about this so far!!!

Well sh*t

I just got off the phone with our new health insurance company- despite the IL mandate for infertility insurance, CP’s company somehow is able to exclude it???  I’m guessing that even though they are based in IL, they must have written the policy outside of the state?  I’m shocked, saddened, and frankly pissed.  I should have called before today to find this out- then maybe we wouldn’t have picked a house that needed so much work.  We are now going to have to put off IVF because of the cost.  We certainly won’t have $20,000+ lying around after having the floors refinished, new appliances put in, HVAC work, new countertops for the kitchen, and an electrician re-wire the house (amongst other things).  I wish that we could NOT do some or all of those things, but unfortunately they are all immediate needs for the house, not wants.

F*CK.

Moving stinks

The older I get, the harder it is to move.  Along with all of the furniture that one accumulates when you start to “settle down” in a house, not realizing that you will be moving again in two years, it’s all of the other, stupid, little (but time consuming things) that come with moving.

·         Finding a new hair stylist

·         Changing the address for all of your magazines and affiliations (Fun note: I’m now on my 3^rd state since being admitted to the bar only 4 years ago.  None of my addresses have been located in the state where I am actually licensed.)

·         Cancelling cable, gas, electricity, etc

·         Figuring out the documents needed for an IL license and title/registration for the cars

·         Scheduling charity pickups and/or people from Craigslist to take stuff you no longer want/need

·         Eating out more than you would like once it gets down to the last few days because the dishes are already packed

·         Getting an oil change and making sure that your car can handle the drive out to IL

·         Finding new vets/doggie daycares/dog walkers for the puppies

·         Finding new doctors (including infertility docs), dentists, etc.

·         Changing insurance and other policies

·         Finding a new waxer

·         Figuring out the layout of your new town and how to get around.  Where is the closest bank?  Grocery store? Etc.

·         Figuring out the commute to the new office

·         Meeting new coworkers and having to learn their names- my new office is much bigger so I suspect it is going to take a while!

·         Having to start from scratch with our garden.  We may not even have time to put together raised beds and cut down overgrown shrubs before next spring.  That would make me very sad.

·         Making new friends

Some of these things I haven’t encountered yet, but will as the move date gets closer (I’m sure that I am forgetting a bunch of things too.)  I’m really just ready to move into the new house and start unpacking.  Enough with all of this crap leading up to the move.  I’m ready to be out of limbo and back in the same state as my husband!

My head is still spinning

What a short but productive weekend in Chicago.  It left me very overwhelmed, but ready to make lists, contact people, and get going on the house NOW.

Friday morning CP had to work- but at least it was from “home” (the extended stay hotel).  I didn’t want to bother him too much so I headed to a nearby Forest Preserve for a 5 mile walk/run workout.  It was already super hot and I forgot water so towards the end it was definitely more of a walk, but a good workout nonetheless.  Thank goodness for all of the trees as the shade helped a lot.

Great view for the beginning of the workout

Later on in the day we met with a loan officer to figure out our options for improvements to the house, then headed downtown on the train to meet up with friends and their twins, then have dinner with my parents.

Saturday morning CP and I headed to the house with my parents to meet with a plumber, an electrician, two hardwood flooring people, and an HVAC person.  Oh and for me and my mom to see our new house for the first time.  :-)  I’m not going to lie, the two hours in the house left my head spinning.  So much to do, so many different contractors to coordinate.  Overall, the layout of the house is great, the rooms are big, and the neighborhood is nice.  Once we do some painting, take down a lot of wallpaper, put our furniture in, and get the house updated to 2012 it will feel more like home.  We also have A LOT of yardwork to do.

Afterwards we headed to a huge appliance store and because my head was still spinning, I wasn’t much help.  Thank goodness my dad stepped in with all of the appliance measurements and the research that he did online.  We then purchased a new cooktop (CP is very excited about the 5 burners instead of the usual 4), a double oven, dishwasher, fridge, washer, and dryer.  Yeah, it was an expensive day.  But since the appliances aren’t working, it was necessary.  We decided to go with all stainless steel because eventually if we bump out the kitchen we may want an oven with a range instead of two separate appliances, but hopefully we can resuse a lot of what we bought.  And if we don’t reuse it stainless steel is something that everyone wants in their kitchen.

The bad news is that we couldn’t find a cooktop that fits in the current counter cutout.  They just don’t make that size anymore (it’s tiny).  Soooo we are going to have to redo the kitchen a bit more than we had hoped.  Instead of just painting the yellow metal cabinets (yikes) and dealing with the Formica counters until our redo, we will be installing granite counters, a new stainless steel sink, and a new faucet.  Since we just did this in our rental place out west last year we knew that it wouldn’t be too expensive, but it’s a couple thousand that we hadn’t counted on spending.  Hopefully between the new counters/sink/floor (we will refinish the hardwood below the laminate) and painting the metal cabinets the kitchen will look a whole lot better.

I had an uneventful flight back to CT yesterday, and soon after arriving home I was on the road driving up to NH to take care of my FIL and his wife’s four cats.  The drive wouldn’t have been so bad other than the fact that it was pouring rain for an hour of the drive when I was on windy, hilly two lane roads in VT.  I had my wipers going as fast as possible and my max speed was 40 as I was in no mood to kill myself.  After getting past the torrential rain obstacle, I then felt like I was part of the game Frogger as I swerved on back roads to avoid hitting frogs that had death wishes.  So much fun.

I am a big lover of animals, but I will never own a cat.  I know that cat owners feel like dogs are nasty, but to me, cats are nasty.  Cleaning up hair balls and cleaning out cat litter is about as disgusting to me as eating pig vomit.  It’s just not my cup of tea.  Plus cat litter makes the house smell and cats track it through the house on their paws.  Eww.  Anyway, the cats are all fine and will be very happy to have their parents home this week.  And I am happy to be back home (at least for the next three weeks).

How was your weekend?

Long weekend in Chicago

I just have to make it through my work day and then tonight I’m on a plane out to Chicago to see CP!!  It has been three weeks and this week especially I started to get lonely (that might be due to getting my period).  So I am very much looking forward to a few days with CP.

Already, I really like his job (thankfully, so does he).  His boss found out that I was flying in and told CP that he could work from home tomorrow.  As in, wink wink be available by phone, and check your email once or twice, but mainly spend time with your wife.  :-)  Tomorrow night we will head down to Chicago to have drinks with friends and then go out to dinner with my parents. 

Saturday is the day that I finally see our new house (I’ll try to take pictures so that you too can see the Miami Vice colors and hideous wallpaper throughout the house!).  I jokingly have been referring to it as “The Money Pit.”  While I’m checking out the house for the first time, we have meetings with an electrician, a plumber, two hardwood flooring people, and an HVAC person.  We are going to get estimates for all of the things that we view as immediate needs for the house.  Although the immediate needs are not “fun” needs like picking out new finishes, tile, cabinets, etc. I will be happy when the house has updated mechanical systems and is more livable.  Afterwards we are going to drive around the neighborhood and then look at appliances (don’t be too jealous).

I’m sure Sunday afternoon will come far too soon and I will have to head back to CT.  However, as soon as I land in CT I am driving up to my in-law’s house in NH.  They are on a two week trip in Sweden and needed someone to check on their cats, clean litter boxes, etc.  My MIL is a little weird about who she lets into her house, so I agreed to take a few hours off on Monday so that I could drive up Sunday, stay over, and then head back home on CT.  Yeah, it’s going to be a little crazy, but they have watched our dogs in the past (I am saving them $1000+.  Boarding 4 cats for two weeks would have been expensive!). 

What are you doing this weekend?

Inspection results

Ahhh the inspection on our new house.  We knew that it would turn up some interesting things, but we didn’t know that it would be THIS extensive.  CP, my dad, and the inspector ended up being at the house for TWO HOURS.

Off the top of my head, the house needs:

·         Complete rewiring of electrical system including an upgraded panel and replacement all two-prong sockets with three prong (inspector found some cloth wiring)

·         Whole-house re-do of plumbing. 

·         New AC unit (it is 40 yrs old and not working well)

·         New furnace (it is 40 yrs old and not working well)

·         New cook top, oven, dishwasher, dryer (all not working)

·         New gutters (currently being held up with duct tape)

·         New 2 x 6 rafters in attic

·         New soffits

·         Absestos tile in the basement- would need to tile over it

·         New siding

·         New windows

·         Chimney work (bricks are crumbling)

·         New flooring around the downstairs toilet (there have obviously been leaks that have not been cleaned up properly)

·         New shutters

Basically the only new thing in the house is the roof (two years old).  *Sigh*

The inspection report is due today and at that point we will have the laundry list of things that need to get done.  Honestly?  All of this stuff is making me nervous.  I mean, we are still going through with the purchase of the house, but I was hoping that most of the work that we would have to do would be cosmetic, upgrading kitchens and bathrooms, maybe adding on to the house…..not this kind of stuff.

We are going to have to do some of these things immediately just to be able to live in the house- things like the electrical rewiring of the house need to get done because some of the new appliances will be too much of a load on the electrical panel if we run more than one at a time.

Not sure what this means for trying to get IVF done as soon as possible though.  CP and I ended up switching from my insurance to his and we are crossing our fingers that his insurance has to follow the IL mandate.  Unfortunately, because we don’t have a permanent address in IL just yet we can’t switch over and CP is too busy at his new job to call to find out the differences between coverage in CT and IL.  (annoying)

Under contract

This weekend the seller officially signed our offer and we are under contract to buy the fixer-upper.  It was quite an ordeal though because the seller seems to be quite crazy and his real estate agent can’t seem to rein him in.  At one point he refused to sign the contract because he thought he was going to be put in jail.  ???!??!?!?  Thankfully he finally signed everything on Saturday, but I worry what lies ahead in this house-buying process with him…..

We agreed to buy the house as-is because we know that there is a lot of work to do, but after we signed he suddenly told us that the oven and the dryer don’t work.  We knew that the cook top didn’t work, but now we are going to have to buy four new appliances within days of moving in (according to my mom you always buy a washer and dryer as a set).  He also wanted to put into the contract that some of the lighting fixtures may not work.  I’m not sure how this guy has been living in this house without workable appliances- maybe he just microwaves all of his food and hangs stuff to dry? 

Now we move on to the attorney review period (which I don’t quite understand but is IL-specific).  I’m hoping that this goes a bit smoother than the actual signing of the contract.  CP and my dad are going to the inspection this afternoon which I HOPE HOPE HOPE goes well.  We know that there are going to be lots of things on the inspection list, but I hope they don’t find evidence of mold or termites.  Those are two things that would most likely make us walk away from the house.

Meanwhile we have the appraisal for our house today and our realtor emailed me this morning saying that she looked at comps and our purchase price should be fine.  Our house needs to appraise for the purchase price because the buyers are using an FHA loan and are not putting a ton of money down.  I’m hoping our realtor is right!

Enjoy your Fourth of July!  Sadly I think that I am spending the day with the dogs because all of my friends are out of town.  I only have tomorrow off so it’s not worth it to drive down to the Cape for a day AND figure out what to do with the dogs.  Oh well.  Only 10 days until I see CP!

June loves

Things that I am loving recently:

HBO GO

For those of you that have HBO, I would highly recommend HBO GO.  HBO puts all of their series, documentaries and even movies up on the site and you can stream them whenever you want.  I have the iPhone app and during my lunch I have been catching up on True Blood.  The site even remembers where you are in the show so the next time you turn on the app or the next time you watch the show at your computer, the show starts up right where you left off. 

By the way, friends begged me to start watching True Blood and although it is cheesy and silly at times, it’s not too bad.  Of course nothing compares to Game of Thrones (a show that I can now watch over and over and over and over because of this site).  :-)

Surface Bassu Hydrating Masque  

When my hair stylist recommended that I start using a hydrating conditioner (in addition to my everyday conditioner), all I thought was, how much is this going to cost?  Turns out not very much.  I think that I might have paid $25 for the bottle and I only use a dime size dollop of it about two times a week (you have to leave it in your hair for about 2 minutes while in the shower).  I have had the bottle for over a year and I'm still not halfway through it.  It smells amazing (almost like a freshly-baked cake) and makes my hair feel 10 times softer.  Even though I only get my hair cut every 12 weeks or so, I don’t have as many split ends and my hair is healthier.  BUY THIS PRODUCT.

Columbia Back Up Just Right Pant

I kid you not- these are the most comfortable pants in the history of the world.  And the best part about them?  You can take them hiking OR wear them to work (yes I wore them to work yesterday).  These pants are extremely comfortable and look like black dress pants.  My only complaint is that they put the Columbia logo on the back side of the pant- which is fine, but I have to make sure that I wear a long enough shirt to cover up the logo when I wear the pants to work.  Yeah.  Love these things.  Will buy another pair soon.

Passion flavored Tazo tea

I generally hate iced tea.  I love hot fruity teas and hot Chai tea, but hate when they are iced.  But this tea changed my mind.  I have been trying to drink less Crystal Light because it has all kinds of artificial ingredients….but needed something else to drink other than water.  Now all I have to do is heat up the tea kettle, hang three bags of the tea into the pitcher and voila!  Three minutes later I have delicious iced tea.  Love it.

The neighborhood around our new house in IL

Yes that’s right!  The seller verbally agreed to our last and final offer yesterday.  We had to come up a bit from our first offer, but my Dad thinks that we got a great deal.  So I have been checking out what is around our new place and have found some cool things about our new place.  It is 2 blocks away from the train station that is going to take me downtown to work every day, 2 blocks away from the Public Library, 2 blocks away from a park, 2 blocks away from another public park (this one with a swimming pool, tennis courts, baseball field, etc), and 2 ½ blocks away from an ice cream shop and other restaurants (that ice cream shop could be deadly to my waistline!).  It even looks like a poultry shop that has free range and hormone-free chicken and eggs is only a few blocks away!  It really is a fantastic location- maybe we can even get rid of one of the cars?

Houzz.com    

I found this site while perusing Pinterest and I LOVE it (it even has an iPhone app).  Designers and regular people can upload pictures of houses they have worked on and people like me can go on to the site, view the pictures, ask questions, and save the pictures to “ideabooks.”  This site is PERFECT for our fixer-upper because they we can get a bunch of ideas together and really decide what we want to do with the house.

Facetime
CP recently got an iPhone and I'm so glad that he did!  Last night was the first time we were able to use Facetime to talk to each other and it was great!  Not quite the same as talking to each other face-to-face, but better than just a phone call.  It will help get me through being stuck in CT until August.

What have you been loving recently?

*Sadly enough I was not compensated for these reviews, or even asked to do them.  Just thought I would spread the word about things that have been making me happy recently.  :-)

Waiting

I have to be honest- I am waiting for the other shoe to drop with this whole move to Chicago.  Things are going SO WELL and things are fitting right into place…..something has to go wrong.  It can’t be this easy.

I know that I shouldn’t have this fatalist attitude.  Maybe it is infertility that has changed my outlook in life.  But for some reason, I have a feeling that something is going to fall through.  Our house won’t appraise for enough money.  The closing won’t happen on time.  Something will happen and my transfer out to Chicago will no longer be available.  Or if we get the fixer-upper house there will be something like termites everywhere during the inspection.

Or even worse, I worry that something will happen to a member of my family before I get out to Chicago.  I don’t know why but I am anxious to get to Chicago because I have lived in a different state from my family for 8 years after leaving for college and then after only a year of living in Chicago before law school, another 7 years.  Living away from my parents didn’t bother me before, but I think that it is the knowledge that my parents are getting older….I feel like I am missing out on spending valuable time with them.  I don’t think that they are going to drop dead tomorrow, but you never know when you are going to get in a car accident.  That goes for CP too- what if something happens to him before I get out to Chicago? 

If something happens to anyone before I get out there I am going to feel so guilty.  It’s not like that is a rational thought though- there is nothing I can do about being here in CT.  But it is the fact that I could have been making memories and spending time with my family….and instead I am out here.

Aren’t these awful thoughts?  But I can’t get them out of my head.  What is wrong with me?  I certainly hope that I am wrong….

Do you ever have thoughts like this?  Thoughts that things are going too well?

Offer

So yeah, CP put an offer in on the major fixer-upper last night.  He viewed the house again with my dad and our realtor, and oddly enough the seller’s realtor also showed up.  The seller’s realtor walked them through the house, pointing out any flaws and things that we should take into consideration.  I guess that she lives in the same town and would be a neighbor, so she wanted to make sure we knew what we were getting into (the answer to that is no- ha!).  Plus she said that the seller would rather not deal with too many inspection items so it would be better to lower the offer now.

We lowballed our offer due to the fact that we are going to have to put A LOT of money in the house.  Well, I say “we” but really it was all CP and my Dad.  I knew that they were viewing the house at 6pm last night and finally at 8pm I broke down and called them to see what was going on.  Turns out they were “about to call me” to tell me about the offer.  It annoyed me that no one called me to discuss how to price the offer.  I get that CP and my Dad were there with our realtor and that CP and I had already discussed him putting an offer in the night before, but still.  It is my paycheck that will have to pay the mortgage.  At least call me to give me a heads up.

Anyway, from the first day we will be able to live in the house as almost everything is working and safe, but very outdated.  (There may be asbestos in the tiles in the basement and the cooktop is currently not working.)  If we end up getting the house, we have A LOT of work ahead of us.

I have a teensy bit of doubt that this is the house for us at this moment simply because we are trying to add a child into our family, but who knows how long that is going to take.  And a lot of the work that needs to be done will not be done by me and CP because it is going to be too technical.  CP and I have always said that we aren’t going to stop living our lives while trying for a kid (other than foolishly spending money of course), so if we could get this house it will be a steal….even if it needs a bunch of work.

Cross your fingers our offer (or a subsequent offer) is accepted!

Fixer-upper

Things move quickly around here-it’s hard to keep up with everything!  CP left early Saturday morning and made it safely to my parents house that night. 

Then yesterday CP went to check out an open house.  You see, my dad has been checking out listings ever since we started talking about moving (yes, even before CP got the job offer!).  Needless to say, he has steered us towards a few houses and is convinced that this house is THE house for us.  The online pictures had us interested, but the house also looked a little rundown and outdated.

Sure enough, the pictures didn’t lie.  The seller has lived in the house about 50 years and hasn’t updated it in a very, very long time.  He has clearly “fixed” the house himself for a while- including one odd “fix” in the basement- an old ironing board that is currently holding up duct work!  Every single room needs updating- including bumping out the kitchen wall (currently the kitchen is TINY), and redoing both of the bathrooms (read= EXPENSIVE).  Even the landscaping is overgrown.

But CP and my dad both see potential in the house.  Sure it is a MAJOR fixer-upper, but it is only a few blocks from the train station that I could take downtown to work.  It is in a very nice neighborhood with two parks (including a town pool) only a few blocks away and great schools.  If we fixed up the house and updated it the neighborhood would definitely hold the value.

Before CP left we discussed the fact that he may have to buy a house without me seeing it first.  While that scares me, I trust CP (and my dad).  So CP, my dad, and our realtor are scheduled to see the house tonight.  My dad has already drawn up plans on how to bump out the kitchen, how to add a fourth bedroom and a third bathroom (if he didn’t become a lawyer he would have become an architect)- which obviously won’t be happening any time soon for money reasons.  We hope to be in this house for years on end- not just two years like every other place we have lived in which means technically we should have plenty of time to fix up the house.

Depending on how it goes tonight, we may be putting an offer in to the first house that CP looks at in the Chicago area….  SCARY!

CP's last night in CT

Tonight is CP’s last night in CT.  I can’t believe that he is leaving for IL already.  All of his clothes are gone from our closet which completely weirded me out this morning.  He has been enjoying his week of freedom from work, even if it has been 90+ degrees for the past three days.

We are headed to a friend’s house tonight to hang out before CP leaves early tomorrow morning.  I know that it is silly, but I am likely to cry tomorrow morning as he is leaving because I won’t see him for three weeks.  And even then, my trip out to Chicago in mid-July will be a quick long weekend to house hunt.  I know that there are plenty of people that go long periods to time without seeing their significant others, so three weeks to those people is nothing.  But I function a lot better when I am in the same state as my husband.

Living in our house without him is going to be weird.  He had to teach me how to use our lawn mower a few days ago- that machine and I are not going to be friends.  And today when I get home from work I get to learn how to use the weed wacker- joy! (eye roll)  The sugar snap pea plants, the green pole bean plants, the yellow wax bean plants, the lettuce, and the swiss chard plants are currently growing like crazy in this weather- I have no idea how I am going to keep up with eating everything without him!  The dogs are definitely going to miss him and I will miss that he gets up early to take them out on the weekends.  :-)

My saving grace is that I will still be around friends- hopefully I will stay nice and busy while he is gone so that I don’t have to dwell on it too much.  While I won’t starve without him, I certainly will not eat as well as when he is around.  Yesterday he even made me a big pot of chili so that would have food through the weekend (awww he is so sweet).  I have already stocked up on Ramen for those days that I just don’t want to cook.*

So if my writing sounds sad or depressed until August 3^rd when I pack up the car with my clothes and the dogs for what should be a really fun day drive (insert another eye roll), you know why.

*Yes I realize Ramen is NASTY and processed, but it is also inexpensive and we are trying to save money for a larger down payment in Chicago.  Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do.

CP is all in

As well as everything else has been going in our lives, there is one thing that is not going well- obviously, the whole getting pregnant thing. 

In short, IUI #3 didn’t work.  I wasn’t surprised when my period came this week.  I wasn’t feeling any different and figured that if the first two didn’t work, then this one wouldn’t either.

Although he is leaving next Friday to start his new job on the 25th, CP is pushing for us to meet with our doctor here for a consultation.  I think that it is a waste of our time and money because we are leaving and we certainly aren’t going to start a cycle with the whole moving thing going on, but he is adamant. 

I don’t know if it was his birthday (he turned 36 yesterday) and the realization that he is getting close to 40 and doesn’t have a kid yet or what….but suddenly he is ALL IN.  He wants things to happen RIGHT NOW.  The man that was against IVF (and even IUI and drugs like Clomid) in the beginning is suddenly ready for IVF (I wasn’t super excited about medical intervention in the beginning either but at this point I’m up for anything).    (By the way it is so hilarious to go back and read that post over a year later.  How naïve we were….)  CP doesn’t know what IVF entails, but is ready to get the show on the road.  I’m not quite sure how he is going to feel about sticking me with needles if we do go the IVF route though….

His thought was that I could start a cycle and then continue the cycle after moving to Chicago…I told him that most likely wasn’t going to happen.  First off, from what I hear you have to get checked weekly to make sure that follicles are progressing and that the drugs aren’t stimulating your body too much or too little. Plus moving is stressful- something that you don’t want when trying to get pregnant.  Not to mention that I called my insurance company to find out what changes with my policy if we keep the policy after the move to IL.  My policy doesn’t change, but my doctor was wrong (which I had thought all along)- my policy doesn’t cover IVF at all.  So why are we going to start treatment here and spend a bunch of our money when his new company may have insurance that covers infertility (we will find out on his first day)??

So the long and the short of it is that we are going in to talk to my doctor on Monday to see what he recommends as the next step.  But more likely than not, nothing will be done until I get out to Chicago.  Even the possibility of IUI #4 here (or naturally) is probably not going to happen because CP will likely leave before I ovulate anyway.  At least my body will get a month and a half off from drugs….

Another piece of the puzzle

While I was in DC last week for work we had quite a busy week at home with showings.  Poor CP had to leave with the dogs for hours on end because we had so much interest!  I’m definitely not complaining….let’s just say it is a good thing that he hasn’t been too busy at work recently!

So in the first two days we had seven different showings.  On the third day a couple from Alabama came for the third time and called our realtor to make an offer….an offer $30,000 BELOW our asking price.  HA HA HA HA.  It was very insulting.  I get that they probably had a palatial place down in Alabama, but that is not the housing market here.  Not only are we getting a lot of traffic in the door for showings, but the house has been on the market for TWO DAYS and we haven’t even had the open house yet.  Not to mention we just spent money on a painter to repaint the trim in the house and reglaze the front windows.  Way to piss off the sellers- especially because we competitively priced our house only a few thousand more than when we bought the place because we wanted it to sell quickly.  Maybe they thought that we were in financial trouble and that they could get a steal of a house??? 

CP was tempted to not even start to negotiate with these people, but we ended up dropping our price by $1000 because they came in with a strong offer otherwise (not having to sell a house, putting a bunch of money down, etc).  They came back with an offer only $8000 more than their first offer, we dropped the price by $4000.  They upped their price by $5000, then we gave our realtor a final offer of $10,000 off our initial asking price on Sunday.  We were prepared to lose a little money on the house just to get it sold quickly because CP’s relocation package would help with the loss.

The open house went well on Sunday, but the realtor didn’t have anyone telling her that they were going to contact their agent about the house.  Meanwhile, we had a showing Monday morning and then a second showing again that afternoon.  The Alabama buyers came back and said that they would take our final offer of the $10,000 off our asking price Monday afternoon.  BUT then the realtor got a call that the people that came in for two showings on Monday said that they were writing an offer.  They knew that they were up against a different offer so that they had to make it strong.  BIDDING WAR!  Love it.

So these new people came in with a much better offer (over our asking price!) and also don’t have to sell a house themselves.  SCORE.  Our realtor went back to the Alabama couple to see if they wanted to better their offer, and then inexplicably lowered their offer to $20,000 below our initial asking price.  I’m truly hoping that this negotiation is not the realtor’s strategy because it is awful!  First, piss off the sellers with an insulting offer three days after a house goes on the market and then lower the bid once you find out there is another offer in play?  WTF? 

Obviously we signed the offer from the second set of buyers who came in above asking price.  Because they came in with a serious offer, we are going to be more willing to work with them on any inspection items that come up….whereas we would have been hard-a**es with the Alabama couple- who also seemed as if they would be nit-picking on the inspections items too.

Another piece of the puzzle has fallen into place- after only 8 days on the market!  I just hope we get a competent appraiser!!

Approved

Sorry for my absence most of last week.  My training down in DC went great.  I really felt like I could give great suggestions and be part of the conversation.  There were fellow employees in the room that were much like me when I first started here- like a deer in headlights.  They will learn in a few years.  :-)

When I wasn’t kicking butt in training, I got to catch up with close friends that live in DC.  I met my best friend’s new boyfriend and another friend’s new girlfriend.  I also met my friend’s 9 month old child.  I went to delicious restaurants- including Founding Farmers, an amazing farm to table restaurant that also serves the greatest drinks!  My favorite is the Organic Cucumber Delight made out of Cap Rock Organic Vodka, cucumbers and cantaloupe.  Yum!  But the bartender also mixed us up a gin, dill, cucumber, and some other stuff drink that was really good too (and I don’t like gin).

While I was down in DC, the head of my division came to say hi and meet everyone.  I had never met her before, but when I introduced myself, I believe I saw a little flicker in her eye of recognition that I was the person asking for a transfer out to Chicago.  Then when we were leaving on Friday, she gave a short speech about how so many of us were the future of the agency….”people like Julia and Non Sequitur Chica.”  That gave me a little hint that maybe I would get transferred??

Amazingly enough, the approval letter for my transfer came in yesterday.  You don’t understand how much weight was lifted off my shoulders.  Despite the fact that I am not in love with my job, I really didn’t want to have to look for another one in the midst of moving and trying to sell our house.  Not to mention with trying to get pre-approved for a mortgage with both of us starting new jobs….  So a big THANK YOU to my job for coming through with the quickest transfer approval ever so that I didn’t have a heart attack.

I feel like this move to Chicago is definitely meant to be.  With the headhunter’s call, everything has fallen in place with the new job offer, my transfer, and the interest so far from people in our house.  Now if only the good luck would extend to our efforts to conceive…..