It's not you, it's me...

I swear I'll be back on Monday for some new and exciting conversation.

I'm still weeping over my PC issue. I decided to rebuild the old one since we really can't afford a newfangled one.

But guess what? Only three BCP's left.

Which means next week the real fun begins.

Just because it's technically my day job doesn't mean I have to like it

Diagnosis = hard drive and major OS malfunction

After about 6 calls to tech support, and endless CHKDSK commands, I deemed my hard drive unrecoverable, and the tech walked me through reformatting. I am left with what are the original factory settings, which amounts to Internet Explorer and some cool windows games.

Yes, I did have a backup of important files... so I didn't lose EVERYTHING. But as I sat down and tried to remember the myriad of software and downloads I had on my pc, I started to sniffle.

I am in no mood to rebuild the last 4 years of computing.

And since my hardware is getting ancient already (shudder the thought), I figured I might as well nix the rebuilding of the old data and bite the bullet and invest in a new desktop for the family.

I hate technology.

The End of Days is surely upon us

About 10 minutes after I posted yesterday, I had a major PC failure (my home computer). Darn thing rebooted and I was presented with the most unattractive black screen which had an error that pretty much said....

"If you see this screen, you are majorly screwed. I hope to God that you backed up your files, because this is not going to turn out well"

I spent an hour or so on the phone with tech support, who said... either it's the OS or the harddrive. Do you have your original CD's handy?

Never a good sign.

And I appreciate they narrowed it down to those two choices. Because they had only three choices, and I was already pretty sure the motherboard wasn't involved because.... well... then the PC would be.... oh....... totally DEAD.

So I am writing you from my laptop, but I hate to use my work pc for "personal" ventures. I'm pretty sure some dude in Corporate IT has flagged my excessive use of QVC.com, Williams-Sonoma, and Perez Hilton.

I'm waiting on a couple recovery CD's today, and hope to revive my PC this week sometime. If it doesn't work, well, I'll be PC shopping by Friday.

Wish me luck.

Holiday? What holiday?

It's Monday, really?

That was the shortest 4 day holiday I think I ever experienced. Maybe it was the rushing around on Thanksgiving, or the fact that S. had to work on Friday AND Saturday. Perhaps it was the fact that I spent Friday cleaning out a closet while David enjoyed a movie with his Grandparents. Or perhaps the category 5 headache I had on Saturday which rendered me incapacitated and unable to setup David's Geotrax Train Set in his playroom.

Just about the only thing I remember was yesterday... dreading the fact that it was SUNDAY.

I had essentially not left my house all weekend. But worse, I didn't do any holiday shopping nor did I get out the holiday decor. I just didn't have it in me.

So we jumped in the car, and headed out to a local shopping center to visit THE MAN.

aaaaahhhhh.... now there's the holiday spirit I was looking for...

A little thanks to complement the giving

I have 15 hungry people showing up here in 24 hours for the holiday.

The house is a mess, the kitchen upside down with the goods sitting on the counter from my 7am grocery shopping trip today.

The bathrooms need cleaning, the carpets vaccuming... the table needs to be set and the dishes washed.

And I'm working today.

Well, only until about 2pm. Then I'll be moving down my list of to-do's, anticipating that I may get to bed this evening at a reasonable hour.

My goal is to wake up tomorrow, putz around with hubby and my son, and enjoy the Thanksgiving parade on TV while I am cooking.

By noon I will be on my second glass of wine.

The first will toast my thankfulness that I made it through another year, and how lucky, Blessed I am to have my family around me.

The second toast will be to YOU. My blogging friends. Because without you, I wouldn't have made it to another holiday season.

Wishing you your hearts secret desire for Thanksgiving.

Whether you are just happy to be with those you love, happy to be alone (not everyone loves a crowd)... whether you are cycling, recovering, or in the anxious 2WW.... whether you are at a big gathering or small (with people you love and/or hate).... or whther you are simply happy as a clam to drift off into a tryptophan-induced turkey coma...

I wish you the happiest of days.

Be thankful.

The most wonderful time of the year

I like to shop, normally.

I really do.

But this year I will freely admit I am DREADING holiday shopping. It's just once more stress component added on to my work situation, S. work issues, babymaking issues, the fact that I don't have time to houseclean, so forth and so on. Et cetera!

No, I'm not a scrooge.

But considering I am one of those people who usually puts a lot of thought into the "perfect" gift, I am a bit, well....... guilty this year.

I am declaring.... "Christmas Lite"

As in, we will be focusing on the part of Christmas that is not rushing around or standing in line at the mall. Let me back up... I would gladly stand in line at my favorite local bakery for sweets, but I won't be at Macy's behind the person opening a new, revolving account at the register when 30 angry people are in line.

We will celebrate the holidays with the things we enjoy most- being together with those we love and counting our blessings that we still have the opportunity to laugh and reminisce.

So.

If you are a member of my dear family, please don't expect the perfect gift this year. More than likely, your gift will be a gift card. It's not that I don't love you enough... it's that I love you too much to give you a lousy gift you don't want because I will be soooooo off the mark this year (my brain being off-kilter and all).

Having my friends and family is all I want this year.

and a BFP at the end of my next cycle, that would be good too...

just sayin'...

Ups and Downs

Well here's a bit of good news. My new refrigerator was delivered this morning. Of course the best part is they showed up unannounced at 7am WHEN I WASN'T HOME. Apparently someone made an error at the store and scheduled delivery and forgot to call us to confirm.

Lovely.

The upside is they turned around and drove back an hour later, just enough time for me to haul everything out of the old one into the basement fridge.

The downside is I couldn't fit everything in the freezer downstairs, so I have a free extra turkey thawing in the extra fridge.

Oh, and the new one seems to be working, so that's good right?

On the bad side, I got 129 e-mails in my work inbox OVER THE WEEKEND. Freaking overachievers...

The good news is I created a folder called JOB #3 #4 and #5 in my email account and sorted them out of my inbox. I will get to them someday, or after I HIRE TWO people to backfill the roles. Does it make sense to lay off people and hire in the same two weeks? ....methinks not, but I am not the CEO of Big Computer Company. I just do my job. Times five.

Thank goodness it's a short week.

Well stocked

Well, if there's ever a national emergency, I am set with pharmaceuticals for the next lightyear. At least I know when I am ready to start this next cycle, I have everything I need (except maybe I should have bought another fridge just for stocking the meds).

Gonal-F (qty. 30) $2,254? Seriously?

18 more BCP's to go.

Safety in Numbers

I've been a reader of Kathy's Blog, Pink Martinis, for some time now. Like many of us she is concerned about the litany of information clogging the internet, televisions, and print publications reporting on the safety concerns and issues for children in our lives.

Nowadays, we practically need to take on a part-time job just trying to disseminate information and Googling when we should be spending time with our families.

Kathy has developed Safe Mama, a site that combines tons of information on child safety, product recalls, health and well-being resource for parents, for anyone who has a child in their life (as a Mom, Dad, Aunt, Uncle, Grandparent, and so on). She plans on extending it to include much more info about safety with plastics, baby gear and organic and eco-friendly topics too.

Spread the word! Let's face it. It's hard to keep up on all the current news and warnings. We are all in this together, and sites like ours here, Kathy's, and others can keep the education and information flowing!

Cross posted at Moms Speak Up

Retro Shelli

Don't they say sometimes you have to take one step back to take two steps forward?

The last time I was free-wheeling, pregnancy-avoiding Shelli was when I was 33 years old. It was the eve of my 34th birthday when we decided we were ready to start our family. That was almost 7 years ago.

I had been on birth-control pills for nearly 14 years.

Today, I am back on the wagon against my will.

Well, it's not the world's worst tragedy I guess. I was hoping to start my injectables cycle in two weeks, but that will now be extended slightly because I just started a pack of 21-day pills today.

It seems my body is still revolting from the m/c from hell, and I am getting tired of seeing spot every single day for the last three weeks... so my RE thought it might be a good idea to regulate this cycle and get to another (hopefully normal) period in December.

I had an uneventful u/s today, and the good news is there are no abnormalities causing the continued bleeding (no cysts, just ill-behaved ovaries asleep on the job).

I guess it could be worse. It's just the thought of birth control is somewhat ironic (even though I know it's used a heck of a lot during infertility treatment). I just lose a month of trying au naturale.

Please tell me it will be ok and my body will abide so I can get one cycle in before the end of the year? Please?

BTDT IF/SIF buddies, please make me feel that this is a good thing. Because I am really trying to stay positive.

Well, at least it's not an ice chest

Have you shopped for a major kitchen appliance lately? I am aghast at the prices out there for basic kitchen necessities. Not to mention the quality has declined year after year. Which means whether you buy a $4,000 fridge or a $800 one, they all have similar shelf-lives. Thank you China.

Hubby and I have been on the hunt for a new refrigerator, mainly because since the resuscitation of the old one back in August? to the tune of $250, our beloved fridge has been going Sybill on us lately. One day the milk is just a touch not cold enough, the next day it's the polar ice cap.

I don't need a fridge that sings to me or tells me how beautiful I am in the morning (although that might be a nice add-on). I went shopping for a basic fridge with an external filtered water dispenser.

So, off we go to Lowe's for their Veteran's Day Sale. They had four rows of refrigerators. Your basic top/bottom, side-by-side, and the new french door top with the freezer bottom. We didn't want the bare-bones top-bottom (no water dispenser or inconveniently located in the fridge). We looked at the new-fangle french door ones, but as much as I loved seeing the fridge portion wide and at eye-level... the freezer on the bottom was useless. I mean, who wants to DIG in your freezer? I would never find anything in there!

So, we are forced back to the side-by-side. And, now, we decide we want stainless. But did you know there are several different kinds of stainless? true stainless, faux stainless, satin stainless? Satin stainless won out (I did the fingernail test... shhhhhh) because it was the only one that did not scratch with minimum effort and showed no handprints.

In the end, our final choice was a Whirlpool Gold, which met all of my needs except it doesn't talk to me. lol.

It does however, have a few bells and whistles I could have done without. Of course it was one of the only models that cannot be delivered next-day. So we won't have it until the day before Thanksgiving next week. Or maybe earlier local Lowe's helper says.

Did I mention I am hosting Thanksgiving?

Eventually, when I become independently wealthy, I will need to replace the stove and the dead microwave, even the dishwasher soon I bet. Now that it's been 8 years since we last fully furnished the kitchen I'll know better next time when I am thinking appliances aren't THAT expensive.

For now, I thank Lowe's for the no-interest financing... which allows us to buy food to put into the refigerator.

What's Cookin'?

It's chilly 'round these parts today. Because after we curse the hot and humid days of Summer here in the Northeast (Hot enough for ya??), we start complaining about the cold of impending Winter. We are just full of complaints. Cold enough for ya?

What's cookin' tonight readers? Here's what's on the stove tonight at BagMomma's house.

This is called a Soup, but it's sorta a "Stoup" (yo, Rachael Ray).

This however, is not Rachael's recipe. But it's fantasic!

Have some Tostito's Scoops with this, it's like healthy Nachos in a bowl. And lots of sour cream and cheese (you can do low-fat, but this is worth the splurge). David loves to scoop the stoup into his tortilla chips. And Hubby likes it because there's BEER in it. What's not to love?

So, go forth and cook! Don't forget to come back to thank me later.

Happy Eating!!


Slow Cooker Chicken Taco Soup

INGREDIENTS
1 onion, chopped
1 (16 ounce) can chili beans
1 (15 ounce) can black beans
1 (15 ounce) can whole kernel corn, drained
1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
1 (12 fluid ounce) can or bottle beer
2 (10 ounce) cans diced tomatoes with green chilies, undrained
1 (1.25 ounce) package taco seasoning
3 whole skinless, boneless chicken breasts
shredded Cheddar cheese (optional)
sour cream (optional)
tortilla chips (optional)

DIRECTIONS
Place the onion, chili beans, black beans, corn, tomato sauce, beer, and diced tomatoes in a slow cooker. Add taco seasoning, and stir to blend. Lay chicken breasts on top of the mixture, pressing down slightly until just covered by the other ingredients. Set slow cooker for low heat, cover, and cook for 5 hours.
Remove chicken breasts from the soup, and allow to cool long enough to be handled. Stir the shredded chicken back into the soup, and continue cooking for 2 hours. Serve topped with shredded Cheddar cheese, a dollop of sour cream, and crushed tortilla chips, if desired.

must. stay. awake.

This is very bad. Since I've been on my combo of new antibotic and cough medicine, I can hardly keep my eyes open.

In fact, this morning, I put my head down and fell asleep at my desk! That was after my XL coffee. Even the computer screen is putting me in a trance. I wish I had a bed in my office. Wait, that would probably be a bad thing.

On the plus side, the Halloween candy is almost gone, thank goodness. If I had to eat another peanut butter cup, I think I'd go crazy. Bwahahahahaha.

Perhaps the universe is attempting to comfort me by forcing chocolate and sleep into my daily routine.

I have to snap out of this.

Maybe Friday. ;-)

Doctor, Doctor can't you see I'm burning, burning?

I'm still sick. I haven't mentioned it because, quite frankly I am tired of being sick and tired.

I started antibotic course #4 on Monday. Remember that strep I had 6 weeks ago? It never really left. In fact, it morphed into head cold #idon'tknow for the year. I can't catch a break. The good news is I have some killer cough medicine I take at night to quell the coughing spells. It's very good, and I have had the best sleep in years.

To add insult to injury, I still am dealing with AF. It's been almost 14 days. I've been spotting ever so lightly every day for the last week and if it does not let up by the end of the week, I need to call the RE again. They love me there.

Oh, and while I was at the family doc on Monday, I got a Tetanus shot (it's been well over 10 years since my last shot). It seems in my county there has been a serious Pertussis (Whooping Cough) outbreak. Who knew? My arm has felt like a dead appendage since then. No one mentioned that the shot itself wouldn't hurt as much as the soreness afterward.

Light at the end of the tunnel? Who knows. But I finally got my meds ordered for my injectibles cycle next month. That is, if I ever get to the next cycle.

{that's the sound of my head beating against a wall}

off topic..... whatever happened to the Thompson Twins?

Take Action for Infertility

This week is National Infertility Awareness Week. Visit RESOLVE
to learn about activities you can take part in to show your support.

Also, please take a moment to vote for fellow Stirrup Queen, Mel.
Her website is up for the Weblog Awards in the category "Best Medical/Health Issues Blog". Winning this award would mean a lot to Mel (and all of us) bringing attention to infertility issues, education to the general population and our government leaders, as well as bloggers alike. You can vote once a day until November 8th!!

23 Years Late to the Concert

Picture this.

1984.

I was a sophomore in high school, and me, my best friend, and her older brother had tickets to see The Police in concert.

But I never got there. My Mom and Dad thought I was still "too young" to go to a concert by myself with friends. I moped around the house for days playing my "Synchronicity" album on my turntable.

Sadly, The Police would not be my first ever concert. They broke up during that tour. A year later, I went to my "first" concert. Live Aid in Philly. Bwahahaha. I have to laugh about that. My Mom thought I was too young to go to a two-hour concert across the bridge, but was okay with me going a few months later to an ALL DAY concert. Maybe she knew how historical of a concert that would be. lol.

So, after 23 years, I finally saw The Police at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, NJ this past Saturday night.

I went with S. (who isn't a fan, but I love him for going anyway), my brother, and my SIL.

Let me digress, to give you some background. My parents are casino-addicted (in a good way, not the 1-800-GAMBLER way). Anyway, they are the people you see in Vegas and AC that never pay a red cent for a hotel room, meal, ticket, flight, etc, etc. High-rollers, if you will (although I still don't know how they got to that point and don't ask).

So, we all went down to AC on the casino's pocketbook. Butlered room, dinner at Gallagher's Steak House, and the concert.

So the butler brings us the tickets. And the FACE VALUE was $350 EACH. Do the math 4X$350= $1,400

Free to us.

WTF???? Are you kidding me?

So, fast forward to the concert... we get to our seats (2nd row on the side... a mere 50 feet from the stage) and we are cackling about who in their right mind would actually BUY $350 tickets. And the people in front of us turn around and wince. Yep, they actually paid that. And the people behind us. And then they all hated us and I felt like an idiot.

That aside, I really loved the concert. And I must make a few observations:

1. Sting looks younger than EVER. Dude is smokin' hot.
2. Since they have not toured in 23 years, they also must have never bothered to buy new instruments. Sting's bass looked like a 100 year old piece of driftwood you'd find on the beach. Not kidding.
3. The mean age of the audience was 45-50 years old. Also not kidding. WE were actually the YOUNGER people at the concert.
4. They can still rock out. Andy looked like he was about to have a stroke playing guitar, but Stewart was playing the drums like he was still 20.
5. Sting's son's band was the warm-up act. We did not know that until the morning after the concert after we mocked the kid all might for sounding too much like Sting. DUH.
6. Sting is hot. Did I already mention that?


So it was a very good weekend. Glad I finally made it to the concert. Better late than never, right?

Ode to Scrappy

My son has a blankie,
he calls it "Scrappy"

It used to be a beautiful blanket,
but now it's just crappy

It's worn over the years,
thread-bare and matty

If David can't find it
he just goes batty

I tried to trick him
and buy him one of the same

One that was fresh and new
and not stinking lame (accent on the stinking part)

But David saw through my evil deed,
and on the 'new scrappy' he peed (accidentally of course)

Mommy has given up
Yes, it is true

David and Scrappy are stuck like glue.
(at least until the washer finally eats it)

~~~THE END~~~

The day after

We had a nice Halloween. And since David was not given the opportunity to OD on sugar, he had a relaxing night (I think he loved giving out candy more than actually going trick-or-treating).

Surprisingly, we ended up with a small bag of candy untouched, a little less kids than in previous years, but it was still crazy as ever.

Now, the hard part... not eating the leftovers!!