Ah, the day after Thanksgiving...
I was responsible for pies this year. I had planned on making the pie crusts on Wednesday night (since I am terribly slow at that process) and then make the pies Thursday morning, thinking that would be enough time for them to cool. My mom called at about 9:30 Wednesday night freaked out because her oven wasn't working and she was hoping we could bake the turkey in my oven. That meant I had to get my pies baked and out of the way that night. {sigh} So I started on the pumpkin pies first and then I got a call from my dad asking if I wanted the good news or the bad news. The good news was that the oven seemed to be working now. When he said there was no bad news, I said the bad news was that I had already started on my pies and would have to be up late. Oh, well. So I got the pumpkin done Wednesday night.
Thursday morning I woke up and made the pecan pie and then went for my morning run and had a relaxing morning while Jim went to help set up The Way Out Ministries for their Thanksgiving Day ministry stuff. I headed to my parent's house a little after noon to spend some time with them and my sister, Susan, who had endured a horrible drive from the Bay area the day before. Jim joined a little later and then his parents and Aunt Barbara.
It was a really nice day. In the early evening we all went out for a walk with the dogs and it was fun to see a lot of the neighbors out walking off the T-Day indulgences.
And no, (according to Wiki Answers) turkeys do not have balls.
Friday, November 28, 2008
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Fire! Fire!
I woke up this morning aware that the winds were starting to blow. I just started working out again and wanted to get my run in today. I wasn't sure if the winds would get worse or better throughout the day so I just resolved to get it done this morning. I was definitely aware that it was warmer and the winds were drying things out. Then I came home and spent a few hours just taking care of some things. I started to smell some smokiness in the house and closed up the windows. I was really surprised that the fires (which I thought were pretty far away) were affecting my house.
Then, at about noon I headed out for some errands and was shocked to see quite a bit of ash swirling in the air. As I drove to the mall, I could see a major plume of smoke coming from the Riverside County direction. It actually looked like it was pretty close to my work in Brea. But I figured it was probably further away than it looked. Over the next couple hours the air got so bad. There was a clear line of smoke heading south into the clear blue sky that still remained.
I finally got home and pulled out my camera. Unfortunately I am just far enough north that the blue sky is not visible from my house so you can't see the contrast. But here is what the sky looks like... It is not night time. I took this photo at about 3:15 in the afternoon. Am I ever glad I got my run in this morning!
And my backyard is gathering quite a nice collection of ash.
Ick...
Watching on the news and getting a better idea of where the fires are is pretty heart wrenching. Normally fires season brings fires that are in areas I am not very familiar with. A year or two ago there were a couple that were next to areas I knew, but it still didn't really mean much for me. But now the fires are burning in places that I know! I've driven through these neighborhoods; attended wedding and baby showers; played volleyball. It's a weird feeling to be so familiar with what is on the news this time.
Then, at about noon I headed out for some errands and was shocked to see quite a bit of ash swirling in the air. As I drove to the mall, I could see a major plume of smoke coming from the Riverside County direction. It actually looked like it was pretty close to my work in Brea. But I figured it was probably further away than it looked. Over the next couple hours the air got so bad. There was a clear line of smoke heading south into the clear blue sky that still remained.
I finally got home and pulled out my camera. Unfortunately I am just far enough north that the blue sky is not visible from my house so you can't see the contrast. But here is what the sky looks like... It is not night time. I took this photo at about 3:15 in the afternoon. Am I ever glad I got my run in this morning!
And my backyard is gathering quite a nice collection of ash.
Ick...
Watching on the news and getting a better idea of where the fires are is pretty heart wrenching. Normally fires season brings fires that are in areas I am not very familiar with. A year or two ago there were a couple that were next to areas I knew, but it still didn't really mean much for me. But now the fires are burning in places that I know! I've driven through these neighborhoods; attended wedding and baby showers; played volleyball. It's a weird feeling to be so familiar with what is on the news this time.
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Now back to the rest of our New England trip.
After lunch in the station, we decided to go check out the possibility of going to the Statue of Liberty. The tours for inside the statue were already sold out, but I personally wasn’t as interested in that anyway. So we bought tickets which would take us to Liberty Island and Ellis Island. Unfortunately we had no idea what we were in for. We walked and walked and walked just to find the end of the line for getting on the boat.
It was more than an hour just to get on the boat. You have to go through a security screening which involves lots of security guys barking out orders over the crowd and isn’t very pleasant. Then you enter a big holding tank where the masses wait for the one tiny little gang plank to get on the boat. I tell ya, I think they are trying to recreate the immigrant experience and doing a really good job of it. The boat was pretty crowded but we got seats inside and it was a pretty short ride.
On Liberty Island we walked the loop around the statue and it was really neat to see up close and in person.
But the line to get back on the boat was horrendous again and we were hesitant about what Ellis Island would be like. When the boat pulled up there was a big line there too. Since we didn’t know of any family to look up, we decided to stay on the boat and skip Ellis Island. Then back on Manhattan Island, we squeezed out of the boat by way of one tiny gang plank again. This time, with the crowd, and the heaters blowing inside and the boat bouncing up and down, Jim was getting seasick or claustrophobic or both. It was pretty miserable. As we finally reached fresh air, one of the guys helping get people off the boat said “Don’t be considerate of the person in front of you, this is New York.” That at least made us laugh.
But I would not recommend this experience. At minimum have reservations. Then you get to skip the huge line. But I think the "huddled masses yearning to breathe free" experience would be the same. Maybe there are private boats available? I don’t know. Ugh!
After that we walked through Central Park and went to FAO Schwartz. Then dinner and the train ride back.
My mountain man!
Jim, Cheri and I spent October 20 in New York City. We drove from Connecticut to a train station in New York which took us into the city. It was about an hour and a half ride and took us into Grand Central Station. It’s a pretty magnificent place. If you want to see a pretty cool video of a Frozen Grand Central, click here.
I thought about this clip as I was in the station and realized just how massively crazy this must have been when it happened.
After lunch in the station, we decided to go check out the possibility of going to the Statue of Liberty. The tours for inside the statue were already sold out, but I personally wasn’t as interested in that anyway. So we bought tickets which would take us to Liberty Island and Ellis Island. Unfortunately we had no idea what we were in for. We walked and walked and walked just to find the end of the line for getting on the boat.
It was more than an hour just to get on the boat. You have to go through a security screening which involves lots of security guys barking out orders over the crowd and isn’t very pleasant. Then you enter a big holding tank where the masses wait for the one tiny little gang plank to get on the boat. I tell ya, I think they are trying to recreate the immigrant experience and doing a really good job of it. The boat was pretty crowded but we got seats inside and it was a pretty short ride.
On Liberty Island we walked the loop around the statue and it was really neat to see up close and in person.
But the line to get back on the boat was horrendous again and we were hesitant about what Ellis Island would be like. When the boat pulled up there was a big line there too. Since we didn’t know of any family to look up, we decided to stay on the boat and skip Ellis Island. Then back on Manhattan Island, we squeezed out of the boat by way of one tiny gang plank again. This time, with the crowd, and the heaters blowing inside and the boat bouncing up and down, Jim was getting seasick or claustrophobic or both. It was pretty miserable. As we finally reached fresh air, one of the guys helping get people off the boat said “Don’t be considerate of the person in front of you, this is New York.” That at least made us laugh.
But I would not recommend this experience. At minimum have reservations. Then you get to skip the huge line. But I think the "huddled masses yearning to breathe free" experience would be the same. Maybe there are private boats available? I don’t know. Ugh!
After that we walked through Central Park and went to FAO Schwartz. Then dinner and the train ride back.
My mountain man!
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Vulnerability
The past few weeks have been a roller coaster and it puts me in the position of struggling with what to share on this blog. So I will try to let myself be a least a little bit vulnerable.
We started our first round of Clomid in September. All signs were looking good: I knew I ovulated and the tracking of my temperature was indicating that things were working. Jim and I went on vacation in October and got the happy confirmation that I was indeed pregnant. What a shock to learn that the Clomid worked the first time!!! But then we were tortured with not being able to share the happy news until we returned. We had to tell our parents first and had to do it in person. We had so much fun sharing the news with our family and friends and started thinking about all the things to be done.
Then, unfortunately, on the night of Tuesday October 28 I started to suspect I was miscarrying. I tried calling my doctor on Wednesday but she was unreachable. So we ended up in the emergency room to at least find out what was going on. It was a long four hours which ended in confirmation of the miscarriage at six weeks.
The emotions connected with this have been so overwhelming and I’m still sorting through them. But I am learning a lot about myself and I know I will grow from this. Trying to understand what God’s plan is for my life continues to baffle me, but I will continue to try to understand. Patience has NEVER been a strength of mine, and that tends to bite me in the rear over and over.
But part of why I want to try to share all this is to also just express my thankfulness and gratefulness to all of you who have poured out your love and support to Jim and me. Being on the receiving end like this is a new experience and surprisingly kind of hard. I know that I typically try to gloss over things and put on the front that “All is well.” But I am trying not to do that this time. I am surprised at how much effort it takes for me to let the vulnerability show through. We do really appreciate all the flowers, cards, emails and notes that have been sent our way.
As far as moving forward is concerned… Jim and I saw the OB on Thursday and she seems much more attentive than what we have felt in the past. We kind of feel like because I’m such a complicated case that perhaps she wasn’t really optimistic about my getting pregnant and was just going through the limited motions to appease us. But I think now that she has seen that we can get pregnant, she’s ready to take things more seriously. So we have to wait a couple months before she will prescribe the Clomid again, but next time I get pregnant she will start blood work on me right away instead of waiting to see me at the typical eight week mark. And she echoed what we have been saying that at least we now know that I can get pregnant and that is a step forward.
We started our first round of Clomid in September. All signs were looking good: I knew I ovulated and the tracking of my temperature was indicating that things were working. Jim and I went on vacation in October and got the happy confirmation that I was indeed pregnant. What a shock to learn that the Clomid worked the first time!!! But then we were tortured with not being able to share the happy news until we returned. We had to tell our parents first and had to do it in person. We had so much fun sharing the news with our family and friends and started thinking about all the things to be done.
Then, unfortunately, on the night of Tuesday October 28 I started to suspect I was miscarrying. I tried calling my doctor on Wednesday but she was unreachable. So we ended up in the emergency room to at least find out what was going on. It was a long four hours which ended in confirmation of the miscarriage at six weeks.
The emotions connected with this have been so overwhelming and I’m still sorting through them. But I am learning a lot about myself and I know I will grow from this. Trying to understand what God’s plan is for my life continues to baffle me, but I will continue to try to understand. Patience has NEVER been a strength of mine, and that tends to bite me in the rear over and over.
But part of why I want to try to share all this is to also just express my thankfulness and gratefulness to all of you who have poured out your love and support to Jim and me. Being on the receiving end like this is a new experience and surprisingly kind of hard. I know that I typically try to gloss over things and put on the front that “All is well.” But I am trying not to do that this time. I am surprised at how much effort it takes for me to let the vulnerability show through. We do really appreciate all the flowers, cards, emails and notes that have been sent our way.
As far as moving forward is concerned… Jim and I saw the OB on Thursday and she seems much more attentive than what we have felt in the past. We kind of feel like because I’m such a complicated case that perhaps she wasn’t really optimistic about my getting pregnant and was just going through the limited motions to appease us. But I think now that she has seen that we can get pregnant, she’s ready to take things more seriously. So we have to wait a couple months before she will prescribe the Clomid again, but next time I get pregnant she will start blood work on me right away instead of waiting to see me at the typical eight week mark. And she echoed what we have been saying that at least we now know that I can get pregnant and that is a step forward.
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