Joys In My Life

I didn't make a home run this month. I'm happy I'm back on the right path though. Giving up coffee for me is huge. I've also been working on giving up dairy, and I've read up on another herb or two I should take to build up my Spleen Qi to increase my luteal phase and other getting older symptoms. I'm going to pick up some astragalus and atractylodes. I'm not going to take ginseng, as from what I've read that would be contraindicated for my heat symptoms I have as well. I'm just one big science experiment! Went shopping a little yesterday and found some great sales at Ann Taylor. Spent less than $200 and got a black pencil skirt, black dress pants that fit awesome, black gaucho pants in the best silkyish fabric ever, and two v-neck sleeveless summer sweaters. I'm wearing the pencil skirt and one of the v-neck sleeveless sweaters. I feel like a million bucks.

I think I've gotten over that dream now. I don't think I'll ever forget it, but I have to move past it. I started reading my favorite parts of the book Inconceivable by Julia Indichova. This book has meant a lot to me in the past. It proves to me that I can take care of myself, no matter what. Holistic medicine is where it's at. That said I've given up coffee, dairy and wheat products again (starting today!) and taking my herbs. Part of it is that even if I don't get pregnant, I don't want to slip back into pre-menopause again. Short monthly cycles, low sex drive and irritability is not where I want to be.... ever! That said, I spotted on Tuesday, a week after ovulation. I thought immediately that I was going to start one of my 21-day monthly cycles, but it went away??? I'm trying not to get excited thinking that maybe it'll be implantation spotting. I want to think I've thought these things before and was disappointed in the end. So ...

We had an OK weekend. Had fabulous dinner party for 6 (including us) on Saturday night. Neither Tom nor I cooked and the food was fabulous. The dinner was for two of Tom's study partners at Villanova and their spouses. The daughter of one of Tom's study partners cooked with a friend of hers from school. She's going to school to be a chef at Drexel University (our alma mater). Her friend was pre-med at Drexel, but works in a kitchen. Needless to say, our kitchen got used to the fullest. All plates were used. Many gadgets were used, especially my 14-year-old KitchenAid mixer. Here was the menu (Rachel created the menu and sent to us a month ago): Pre-appetizer (I can't spell the French word for this. It sounds amoosing, LOL): cantelope with a bit of cream sauce wrapped in proscuitto with a mint leaf on top. Appetizer (two appetizers, three of each) - 1. tomato and mozzarella salad with pesto sauce between layers with balsamic vinegar on top. 2. crab salad i...

What a crap week! I'm so glad it's over! The crap part started Tuesday night at 7 PM. It was a beautiful, hot summer evening. I had chicken on the grill, Phoebe playing upstairs with her friend from next door (it was too hot to play outside), I was straightening up the kitchen and putting a salad together to go with the grilled chicken. All of a sudden, the lights in the kitchen go out. I look over at the ceiling fan in living room and it was turning off. WTF???? I look outside and the wind is really kicking up and the sky is getting dark. I go outside to put down the patio umbrella and notice the gas grill fires were blown out by the wind. No point in lighting it again, it was so windy. I call the girls down and told her friend she should go home. I'd watch her walk next door it was so windy. I would've walked with her, but Phoebe's freaking out that there's going to be a tornado. I try explaining that we know what to do if that happens, but she...

I've really been in a funk the past few days. I'm getting a lot done at work, but not much on the home front. But in general, it seems like things always take longer than I would like them to. I just wish sometimes I could curl up in bed with a good book until this feeling goes away or vegetate in front of a recorded episode of Footballers Wives . Heck with that Desparate Housewives. Footballers Wives is much much better. And my hair looks like Tanya's these days. That scares me quite a bit. Maybe I could get a new career if I develop some of those "over-acting" faces. LOL! Phoebe keeps me smiling though. She's really gotten into watching Star Trek: The Next Generation with me. I love this and the original show. The themes and existing life parallels are wonderful. We've been having some good conversations around the themes of the episodes. There's one we watched last week where Worf's son, Alexander, is not interested in learning t...

I'm going to have some serious quiet time from tonight to tomorrow evening. Tom is at school until about 5 PM Saturday evening, and Phoebe's at Tom's parents for the weekend enjoying some great pool time. I think I'm going to have some pampering time, take the dog for some long walks since it's not too hot out, watch some of my favorite movies (Bridget Jones, A&E's Pride & Prejudice), drink some wine, sleep late, clean the house. Lots of fun. So in the meantime, I noticed that there are other people out there that love Johnny Depp as much as I do. The People magazine website have a photo collection they've put together of him as preparation for the new "Pirates of the Caribbean" movie out this weekend. Go check it out. I'll wait..... I might convince Tom we should go to a Sunday matinee to see the movie. I'm much more excited about Jack Sparrow than Orlando Bloom's character. I was popping through channels sometime last w...

Phoebe is getting over a double ear infection. As usual, no one could tell she wasn't feeling well until it was unbearable for her. She was at my ILs this past weekend, enjoying time with her cousins and the pool. We got a call at 2 AM on Saturday morning. Of course when I heard the phone ringing, I figured it was a wrong number and no reason to answer. Then it hits me, "Phoebe's not home. There's something wrong with her!" I woke up Tom to answer the phone as it's on his side of the bed. She woke up in the middle of the night screaming her ear hurt her. Tom's mom wanted to know what she could give her. Some Tylenol and time later, she's sleeping soundly and we're driving the 1 1/2 hours to pick her up, so we can take her to the ped during their Saturday morning emergency hours so we can get some antibiotics into her system. At the doctor's office she doesn't have a fever or any pain, and the Tylenol should've worn off by the...