Summer Nights

What's going on?

It's been awhile, and as usual life moves at lightening speed. Recently, my boy turned 9 years old. I know.  I am equal points proud of my little man, and frankly, a little unhinged that the next birthday is a big one for him. My little boy, not so little anymore...

Yeah, everyone talks about how fast time moves along, but I swear I can't tell you where this year is going. I've been busy continuing on my life improvement journey. It's going really well. I had a review of blood work and my cholesterol is normal! for the first time in my life. I am still losing weight, which is awesome. I am, however, still losing my hair (boo) and dealing with moderate to OMG pain! muscle and joint issues (for which I have a specialist appointment in June). So, good news/bad news I guess, but I'm just happy to put my health first. I'll get there one step at a time.

Summer is looming, oh heck, it's here I guess. The boy finishes 3rd grade on the 20th of June. We joined a swim club, once again (and maybe taking advantage of it more frequently when I'm not working). I joined a CSA (Co-Op) at an organic farm this year. First time doing this, and I am all kinds of excited. Will post some pictures of my bounty over the summer. As long a we don't have a drought here in the Northeast, I should be very happily stocked with veggies.

Photo Credit: aandrec75 via Flickr 

Vacation cannot come soon enough. Summer means our annual road trip down south to Hilton Head Island, SC. I am looking forward to my feet in the sand.  My chair is waiting...

 Lastly, it finally dawned on me why I find it so hard to blog here, and the reason came quite clear to me in the shower this morning (whaat?  I do my best thinking in the shower)... I hate this platform I am on. I am going to finally reinvent and renovate this place and move it to WordPress. I have a couple other places I've been writing, but it only seems like I am cheating on my first love, which is BagMomma and the years of history I have here. So, I am consolidating, shutting the doors on extraneous blogs and coming home (here)... although here will be "there" soon. Dresden, are you reading? I may need a line on some technical help to accomplish what I want to do. :-) For those of you that are still hanging in, thank you. I am still here and will continue to be, even more.

Photo Credit: admiralspalast via Flickr 

The title of this post? I heard this "Grease" classic while in line at a store a couple days ago, and I can. not. get it out of my head. Danny and Sandy on the brain.... my son thinks I am crazy as I have sang the complete song from end to end while sliding in the kitchen. He has not seen the movie "Grease" yet, even though I bet I can find it in five seconds on any cable channel right now. I'm thinking I will need to bust out the soundtrack at least so he knows I am not making this sh!t up. If you could only see the perplexed look on his face when I burst into my medley... in 1978 I WANTED to be Sandy SO BAD... of course that was when Travolta was... ummmm... more appealing.

Heh.

 

Zultan, the Magnificent

This weekend, we went to a Halloween party hosted by my neighbor, who is the ultimate party hostess. Her house, decorated inside and out is a Halloween showpiece. She spends weeks (yes, I said WEEKS) prepping for the holiday. I wish you could all see it, really I do.

So anyway, she has a ton of rare Halloween items, and one of them is a real fortune telling machine. Are any of you are familiar with Zoltar (from the movie "Big")? Well, she has a tabletop version that is every bit as mystical and cool...  meet Zultan.

Zultan was busy that night giving out fortunes. All you had to do was press a button, wait for the curtain to open, and listen. Most of the fortunes were sort of depressing. Aren't these types of games supposed to be rigged to sway towards the positive??  Come on!

I mean, would you keep playing with the Magic 8 Ball if it only said, "better luck next time", "the future is uncertain", "get lost, you're bad luck" (ok, I made that one up).

But I like to live on the edge.  Was I going to let Zultan ruin my party mood?  Hell no.

So I pressed the button.

And Zultan?

He told me my hearts desire will be mine. My wish will come true.

Zultan, you may be the economy version of Zoltar, but thank you.

For keeping my hope alive.

I needed that.

Proof my life revolves around Infertility and Handbags

I'm not one for blog statistics, but once in awhile I dig in to see how people have happened upon this blog.

I call it the Keyword Boredom Buster. Last time I posted about this I focused on some of the serious/heartbreaking search terms, so this is the more lighthearted version.

"is a 5 day transfer a good thing?" well, sure, if it works!

"jack sparrow pregnancy" oooh, is this the new twist for the next Pirates of the Caribbean installment? Something tells me this is stretching Johnny Depp's acting range. No- a pregnant male pirate is not an image I want in my head. But thanks for putting it there.

"fortune for getting pregnant" well, I can tell you it hasn't appeared in any of my fortune cookies, but if it does, I'll let you know.

"i'm infertile and I hate celebrities" yeah, me too.

"help, I'm trapped in a zoo" I hope you're not in the lions den. Good luck with that.

"cheap handbag looks expensive" You are KILLING me! This just does not exist. It DOES Not.

"is ringing in my ear sensing danger" Are you on my favorite show, Heroes?? ...either that or you have an ear infection. I'm betting ear infection.

"only infertiles are intelligent" I like you.

"is transfer implantation" I hope you are someone googling this because you are intrigued by the media's apparent lack of intelligence in that they simply CANNOT get the terminology right (especially with regards to recent events in the news). You TRANSFER embryos, not IMPLANT them. Using the word "implant" implies that people that undergo IVF should SUCCEED, and we ALL know how untrue that is. Oh hell, I just stepped onto my soapbox. Stepping down now.

"I love coffee more than husband" Disturbing and truthful.

"I'm stored in the closet" Hopefully, you have some nice handbags to look at. Is it dark in there? Wait, are YOU a handbag?

TV Break! Celebs that would make cool BFF's

This blog isn't all infertility, all the time. Well, it has been lately, but I still have other things to share. You see, while I am waiting for the phone to ring (or not), I am watching TV and my computer monitor for Internet live-streaming.

Are you watching The Bachelorette? Because honestly, I am a sucker for these types of reality shows. Sort of like sitting down with a bag of potato chips and a 20oz. Coke. Salty and Sweet. How could you not like Jillian? She's full of spunk and moxie and even reads all the comments to her blog. Something tells me that she is one of the "more real" reality stars. She's probably kicking back right now in her PJ's and fuzzy bunny slippers watching her episodes eating cheese curls and hot dogs.

I approve of Jillian's casting off of Reid last night. Sorry. He might be a nice guy from my hometown in Philly, BUT he's too.... non-committal. Too... dull. You snooze, you lose my friend.

Speaking of moxie, my other addiction is So You Think You Can Dance. Hate the title, but love the host. Cat Deeley should be raking in the $$$, not Ryan Seacrest! Travesty!

One my blogging friends brought up the fact that Cat would probably be a very cool friend in real life. I agree! Cat would be fun to hang out with, and since she's tall she probably has big feet which means I could borrow her shoes! Have you seen her shoes?? In fair trade I could let her borrow my handbags. Wait... who am I kidding? She probably OWNS more than me. Scratch that, she definitely owns more than me.

Last, I totally need to clue you in on my lunchtime obsession. At 12noon, I tune into the Fox News Strategy Room for the Entertainment Hour with Jill Dobson. If you haven't been to the Strategy Room, well, HELLO! You must. It's internet streaming only (not on TV). Relax, my "left-wingers", this is a no-politics chat about everything celebrity. And I bet Jill would make for a cool friend IRL, too. Stick around for the other segments (weekdays, 9-5)... it's good stuff.

The zoo, and a very large totebag...

I remember my first official elementary school field trip. We went to the zoo. I don't remember a lot about that trip, but I do remember we did a lot of walking. Most of the stories are retold by my Mom (she remembers the early days a lot better than I do).

Yesterday, I took off a day of work, laced up my walking shoes, packed a bag that I swore I would regret carrying (more on that in a sec), and joined the commune of (mostly) SAH Moms for the Kindergarten extravaganza of excitement and torture... otherwise known as the "trip to the zoo".

Fifty 5 and 6 year-olds, two buses, and 12 chaperones.

Oh, the bag... I must tell you. I didn't want to bring the Coach bag, so I switched to a Vera Bradley tote instead. The contents? Plentiful for student emergencies. I had wipes, tissues, band-aids, sunblock, water, tylenol, extra clothes, an umbrella, snacks, camera, napkins, and about 5 other miscellaneous items that made the bag so heavy I could have used it as a lethal weapon.

Overkill? perhaps.

But then as I met and started talking to some of the other moms, I realized they were carrying small purses or NOTHING. Which kind of intrigued me.

Let me tell you a little bit about my son's catholic school. Most of these Moms have LARGE families. If you work full-time or have two or less kids they marvel at you like you are some sort of endangered species. So, I have to wonder, why pack so light? I thought they would be the ones hauling the stuffed backpacks and acting in line with the Girl Scout motto... "Be Prepared!" But no, not the case.

So what if I told you I used EVERYTHING in my bag? Oh yes. I administered first aid once (to one of my assigned kids), donated all my napkins to another Mom cleaning vomit, dispensed all my band-aids, and used up my sunblock, used all my wipes (when the bathroom ran out of toilet paper), and donated a shirt to a poor little guy who got sick on himself. I strategically used all my snacks to bribe two kids to sit quietly and stop bugging each other on the bus.

I even became the staff photographer when several moms forgot their cameras.

The kids had a great time, the only downside was the zoo we went to was more than an hour away, so our time actually IN THE ZOO was compressed to three hours (and we had to build lunch in there too).

It was a nice day. And, after trolling the zoo looking at zebras, snakes, and alligators keeping track of a herd of kids (and saving the day with my two ton tote) I think I would qualify as a mom deserving of more than one kid, don't you?

Should I ask my RE to transfer a litter of donor embryos?

Whatcha think? lol.

Fun with Fortune Cookies: Part Two

You might remember this post from long ago when I looked for magic in a fortune cookie.

Consider this the second installment, but much less magical.


Hmmmmm.

Think about it (go ahead, I'll wait...)

Let me say one thing first before we explore the meaning of fortunes. Fortunes are supposed to be HOPEFUL, LUCKY, UPLIFTING.

So I put some real thought to this.

Ok, trees can't touch the sky....

Is this just a statement of fact?

Or rather, trees can't ever reach the sky, thereby never achieving their personal "tree" goals? Do trees have a goal?

ok, trees are people then (those Germans love their analogies, I should know... I am one).

People can't touch the sky. Physically, sure.

Is this supposed to represent dreams/goals PEOPLE can achieve?

Wait, this is seriously turning into a downer. Is this fortune telling me "don't bother reaching for the stars, because, HA! you'll never get there!?"

Oh for pete's sake. What a freakin' buzzkill.

Perhaps the economic downturn has affected the "fortune cookie writers"? I sense a very pissed off employee.

This "fortune" is no fortune at all.

I need a new Chinese restaurant.

Sugar Therapy

Behold a masterpiece...

I give you, The Candy Cottage, by David and Mommy...

How many pieces of candy were eaten during the construction?

Lord only knows, but it was good.

How much fun can you handle?

Whew! What a holiday weekend. From Turkey Day all the way through Sunday we managed to use every last spare moment of time.

Thanksgiving Day here at home was... exhausting, but fun. This is me and S. after 24 hours of cleaning and cooking...lol

Then we woke up Friday morning and drug out every last box of Christmas decorations. Was I meaning to do that? Hell, no. I was looking to just kick back and relax, but David had other plans. He's the worst supervisor, by the way.

Saturday we got up early and headed to the Please Touch Museum in Philly. It's in a new venue (such a beautiful building).


It had lots of hands-on stuff for the kids, and the adults. My personal favorite was the restored Dickens Village (think Christmas Animatronics set in 1776). The last time I saw the full display was waaay back in the 70's. It was an annual Christmas event at Lit Bros. Department Store in the city.


Oh, and the indoor fully restored carousel... just stunning...


Sunday, we woke up to rain. And fog. And sleet. And more rain. We had tickets for the North Pole Express Train Ride. We met my brother, SIL, and the kids after a 90 minute drive, but it was well worth it.

It was the worst weather day... but you know what? It made for a great day anyway. Lots of rain meant people stayed in. Which meant we had a great time in a place that is normally packed with people.


The rain actually added character to the day. Doesn't it look Christmas-y?

David and my nephews were bowled over when Santa walked onto the train to present them with a Christmas sleigh bell... they looked terrified and elated at the same time.. lol


Afterwards we kicked back in a nearly empty brewpub, had great beer and pretty awesome burgers.

Yeah, it was a pretty cool weekend indeed.

Lastly... a fertility update: In case you all were missing my status posts on the donor egg cycle, well, get ready. Pre-work is complete, and the cash has been procured. Tomorrow is the appointment to delve into the Great Big Book of Donors. More to come...

Soccer Star

So I was feeling creative yesterday, and put together a little movie.

You know what's almost as fun as dragging your nails across a chalkboard?

Watching 4/5 year olds play soccer. Don't believe me? See for yourself...

Phantastic Halloween

Behold, the S.W.A.T. man...

He looks intimidating, no?

He paraded at school... (that's his 7th grade "buddy" holding his hand... all together... awwwwwwwwww........)

He even had the time to pose in the dugout with the World Series Champions... the Phils!

Ok, that was trick photography...

It was a very bizarre Halloween around here with, oh, like, half the population in Philadelphia crowding the city, hooting, hollering, and drunk off their ass (well, it HAS been 25 years since we won anything).

But no, not us.

We were drunk on Snickers bars and Mummy Dogs. How much better could a day be?

Music meme (warning: 80's flashback ahead)!

The rules:
A.) Go to musicoutfitters.com
B.) Enter the year you graduated from high school in the search function and get the list of 100 most popular songs of that year.
C.) Bold the songs you like, strike through the ones you REALLY hate.

I graduated in 1986, the height of high hair and neon fashion accessories. This list brought back some serious memories. High school, freshman year of college, bad boyfriends, and my first car... my '86 Ford Escort.

But where's U2 and Depeche Mode on this list? lol......


1. That's What Friends Are For, Dionne Warwick, Elton John, and Gladys Knight
2. Say You, Say Me, Lionel Richie
3. I Miss You, Klymaxx
4. On My Own , Patti Labelle and Michael McDonald
5. Broken Wings, Mr. Mister
6. How Will I Know, Whitney Houston
7. Party All The Time, Eddie Murphy
8. Burning Heart, Survivor
9. Kyrie, Mr. Mister
10. Addicted To Love, Robert Palmer
11. Greatest Love Of All, Whitney Houston
12. Secret Lovers, Atlantic Starr
13. Friends And Lovers, Carl Anderson and Gloria Loring
14. Glory Of Love, Peter Cetera
15. West End Girls, Pet Shop Boys
16. There'll Be Sad Songs, Billy Ocean
17. Alive And Kicking, Simple Minds
18. Never, Heart
19. Kiss, Prince and The Revolution
20. Higher Love, Steve Winwood
21. Stuck With You, Huey Lewis and The News
22. Holding Back The Years, Simply Red
23. Sledgehammer, Peter Gabriel
24. Sara, Starship
25. Human, Human League
26. I Can't Wait, Nu Shooz
27. Take My Breath Away, Berlin
28. Rock Me Amadeus, Falco
29. Papa Don't Preach, Madonna
30. You Give Love A Bad Name, Bon Jovi
31. When The Going Gets Tough, Billy Ocean
32. When I Think Of You, Janet Jackson
33. These Dreams, Heart
34. Don't Forget Me (When I'm Gone), Glass Tiger
35. Live To Tell, Madonna
36. Mad About You, Belinda Carlisle
37. Something About You, Level 42
38. Venus, Bananarama
39. Dancing On The Ceiling, Lionel Richie
40. Conga, Miami Sound Machine
41. True Colors, Cyndi Lauper
42. Danger Zone, Kenny Loggins
43. What Have You Done For Me Lately, Janet Jackson
44. No One Is To Blame, Howard Jones
45. Let's Go All The Way, Sly Fox
46. I Didn't Mean To Turn You On, Robert Palmer
47. Words Get In The Way, Miami Sound Machine
48. Manic Monday, Bangles
49. Walk Of Life, Dire Straits
50. Amanda, Boston
51. Two Of Hearts, Stacey Q
52. Crush On You, Jets
53. If You Leave, Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark
54. Invisible Touch, Genesis
55. The Sweetest Taboo, Sade
56. What You Need, INXS
57. Talk To Me, Stevie Nicks
58. Nasty, Janet Jackson
59. Take Me Home Tonight, Eddie Money
60. We Don't Have To Take Our Clothes Off, Jermaine Stewart
61. All Cried Out, Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam With Full Force
62. Your Love, Outfield
63. I'm Your Man, Wham!
64. Perfect Way, Scritti Politti
65. Living In America, James Brown
66. R.O.C.K. In The U.S.A., John Cougar Mellencamp
67. Who's Johnny, El Debarge
68. Word Up, Cameo
69. Why Can't This Be Love, Van Halen
70. Silent Running, Mike + The Mechanics
71. Typical Male, Tina Turner
72. Small Town, John Cougar Mellencamp
73. Tarzan Boy, Baltimora
74. All I Need Is A Miracle, Mike + The Mechanics
75. Sweet Freedom, Michael McDonald
76. True Blue, Madonna
77. Rumors, Timex Social Club
78. Life In A Northern Town, Dream Academy
79. Bad Boy, Miami Sound Machine
80. Sleeping Bag, ZZ Top
81. Tonight She Comes, Cars
82. Love Touch, Rod Stewart
83. A Love Bizarre, Sheila E.
84. Throwing It All Away, Genesis
85. Baby Love, Regina
86. Election Day, Arcadia
87. Nikita, Elton John
88. Take Me Home, Phil Collins
89. Walk This Way, Run-D.M.C.
90. Sweet Love, Anita Baker
91. Your Wildest Dreams, Moody Blues
92. Spies Like Us, Paul McCartney
93. Object Of My Desire, Starpoint
94. Dreamtime, Daryl Hall
95. Tender Love, Force M.D.'s
96. King For A Day, Thompson Twins
97. Love Will Conquer All, Lionel Richie
98. A Different Corner, George Michael
99. I'll Be Over You, Toto
100. Go Home, Stevie Wonder

Ok, let's see yours. Even though I technically graduated in 1986, there are still 9 other great years of 80's music.

This post is dedicated to my college roommate, and BFF, Steph....
who, regretfully, would choose #51 as her favorite song of 1986 (since Peter Gabriel's "In Your Eyes" did not make this list... how did that happen anyway?)

It was so much fun we did it again...

...another day, another hayride.

This time, instead of heat and dust, we got cold and wind. Finally!

Perfect hayride weather. This time, we took "The Boys", the plural name my family uses to refer to my two nephews and David as one group of gaggling 5/6 year olds.

There's just nothing quite as exhilarating as sitting on a bail of hay and breathing in cow dung.

Or, getting lost in a three acre corn maze.

Did I mention the electric fence that has an itty bitty sign that said, "do not touch"?

A fun time was had by all, especially "The Boys"

...wait.... there's four kids here...


That's my kid brother, G. on the end. Well, he's not really a kid anymore at the age of 37.

Yeah, he is.

The Dust Bowl

Yesterday, I took David on a hayride. Unfortunately, so did half of the free world since it was a school holiday.

We took Grandmom (my Mom) along, and parked about a county away. Then we waited 40 minutes in line for tickets. And another half hour to actually get ON the hayride.

It was so HOT and so DUSTY. Totally ruined the ambience. No hot apple cider. I didn't even want anything hot. Maybe ice cream.

Damn global warming.

I had to carry three huge pumpkins back to the car and ended up getting a pretty good workout. My arms still hurt today. But all in all, David had a good time so that's all that matters.

Can't tell by the pictures... just imagine it's 60 degrees and Fall-like.

Maybe we'll do it again when we ever get a cold day!

Retirement Preparation for Dummies

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Music for the Masses

I don't do too many Meme's on this blog, but my buddy DD just blogged about a cool one (The Album Cover Meme.. very original DD lol), so I am jumping on the bandwagon like a peer-pressured teenager.

Behold my totally random first rock album cover:



You're jealous, right?

Want to make your own? Head over to DD's link above and follow the instructions (because I'm too damn lazy to repost all the links).

Rock On Chicas!

p.s. Bonus points if you can name the group that released the album in my post title.
Hint: if you know me WELL, it's the group I slept out for tickets in FOUR cities in my younger years.

The real Secret

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That's some down home 'putering there

I spilled my coffee giggling while I was reading this. Hope you enjoy as much as I did....

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My kind of Christmas shopping...

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Purse truths

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Pumpkin Patch

Searching for the perfect specimen...