15 Down… ? To Go…

15 Months.

Despite starting a new cycle today, it’s not been a bad day.  I’ve known for a couple days that this month wasn’t our month, but I’ve had so many good things going on today, that I couldn’t have asked for a better day for it to start.

I had lunch with the ladies I used to teach with in Bolingbrook.  When I took over the Downers Grove ESL class a couple months ago, it was really abrupt.  I never got to go back to say goodbye to my students or the other instructors, and I found myself really missing all of them.  They’re all significantly older than I am, but we really enjoy each other’s company. 🙂  I had a really nice time with them.
They brought a card from the Bolingbrook students.  They all signed it and some even wrote messages.  There were a lot of “I miss you”s and “good luck”s, but the one that stood out the most was from Guadalupe.  She wrote, “Smile Yessica Forever.”  Keep smiling, be as happy as you can be. That’s an amazing thing to remember, especially these days when it doesn’t feel like I have a lot to smile about.

In ESL today, we talked about idioms, contractions (they think contractions are silly, and I have to say I agree 😉 ), negative sentences and we read a story about winning the lottery.  Part of our activity was to make a list of what everyone in class would do if they won the lottery.  Trips to Disney World, Las Vegas, and Brazil, world cruises, houses, shopping sprees, and airplanes (with lessons) all got added to our list.  It was so much fun to hear the things they wanted in life.  They all want to spend more time with their families, one of them wanted to buy houses for all of the families in the village in Mexico she is from, and another just wanted to send her kids to college.  These students lift my spirits every week.  They’re always so eager to learn what I have to tell them.  They make me so grateful to be able to teach them.  I don’t think it’s a coincidence that my period almost always starts on a Thursday…

Jeremy’s urology appointment is at 9:20 tomorrow morning.  I’m nervous.  I’m so incredibly nervous.  I’m terrified of the drugs that come next, of the procedures that might come next.  The whole thing just makes me sick to my stomach.

But, I’m taking my brothers to see The Hunger Games tonight at midnight.  Hopefully that will prove to be a wonderful distraction. 😉

Boo

I’ve been feeling a little bad with a cold the past couple days.  Just congestion for the most part.  My temperature on my chart has been high for me, but not technically a fever (think 98.4 when it’s usually 96.8).
I came home from the Animal Expo today to find Jeremy sprawled on the couch sporting a very nice fever. 😦  He’s a trooper though.  He’s freezing with the chills, but keeping himself uncovered so he doesn’t get too warm.  He’s been popping tylenol like a champ.  We have to keep his temperature down so it doesn’t mess up his sperm analysis next month.   He NEVER gets sick and now he’s been sick with a fever twice this winter.  And just when things were supposed to be getting back to normal…  WHAT IS GOING ON????

Also.  We’re 8 days past ovulation.  4 to go.

Square One

Did you know that sperm take around 90 days to develop completely?  Did you also know that illness or high fevers can dramatically alter a man’s sperm count?  Neither did we.

A week or two before Jeremy’s first test, we both had a horrendous flu.  High fevers, body aches.. the works.

Sooooo, Dr. R wants Jeremy’s test repeated the first week of April.  Which means, we’re back to square one.  We have no idea what’s wrong and we’re back to waiting.  I am thankful that there’s a good possibility Jeremy is fine.  He didn’t need that hanging over him.

Two weeks from tomorrow, I’ll see my doctor and hopefully we’ll get more answers.

I’m taking my Christmas decorations down today.  I planned out my garden the other night.  I’m working on some stranded socks.  I finished Might Be Our Power last night.  Focus.

Meanwhile, Bella has to visit the vet in the morning.  She’s got a urinary tract infection. 😦 Poor kitty.

❤

 

Urology, Socks, and Books.

I’m so nervous about tomorrow.  We have an appointment with the urologist at 8:40 am.  I’m nervous about meeting someone new and letting him into this intimate situation, about what he’ll have to tell us, and I am terrified about what he won’t be able to tell us, that after everything we’ll still be in the dark.  I don’t like not having a plan.  At the very least, I’m hoping we leave his office with some kind of plan in mind.

I’m trying to focus on other things though.

I’ve been occupying myself today with finishing Jeremy’s Christmas socks:

Don't you love my fluffy prop? 😉

They were mostly done, I just needed to add the heels.

I’ve also spent the past couple days reading.  I finished Dawn by Octavia Butler.  She’s the author of my all time favorite novel, Kindred, so I thought I would give her Xenogenesis series a try.  Would I recommend  it?  Welllll… Do you like really out there sci-fi?  No?  Don’t even think about picking it up then.  I’m going to read the next to books in the series because I want to know what happens, but I’m really on the fence as to whether or not I liked it or just thought it was weird.  I’ll keep you updated.

I’m also 3/4 of the way through Mighty Be Our Powers by Leymah Gbowee.  It’s a memoir about the Liberian War and how Gbowee’s women’s groups helped bring peace to the country.  I don’t normally care for memoirs, but this book is extremely well written.  She really brings you into the story and has you both rooting for her and crying with her.  I’d highly recommend it.  It helps me keep my problems in perspective.

I’m nervous and scared.  I’m both dreading and welcoming tomorrow.  It’s a means to an end, the beginning of the end… etc…  It’s going to get the ball we’ve been avoiding rolling.  Whether we like or not, the ball is going to start rolling.

 

Moving Pains.

I. am. exhausted.

We’re moving this weekend.  In fact, the first load is leaving in about 12 hours.  Am I packed? Not completely.  Should I really be writing a blog?  Probably not.  Then, why am I?  Because I need a quick break.

I’m really looking forward to leaving this apartment, but this is reminding me for the 4th time in 3 years how much I HATE moving.  It’s unsettling and such a pain.  When we moved into this apartment last year I told Jeremy I didn’t want to move again until we could afford to hire movers to do everything for us… Yea, right.  Hello, my name is Jessica and I’ll be your mover today! 😉

Jeremy has been working crazy hours lately.  I think he sneaked into bed around 4 am yesterday and as of 11 pm tonight still isn’t home.  I’m really missing him.  I think more for the support than anything right now.  Moving and midterms don’t mesh well.

I have a suspicion that the bronchitis/pneumonia/cold/sinus infection I just finally got over is making its way back.  Slowly but surely.  I was feeling pretty good for a couple weeks, but I think I might be trying to do too much.  Spring break starts in a week though, so there will be plenty of time for sleeping then. 🙂

Bella and I took a quick break earlier to respond to some emails… We didn’t want to get up…

Off to finish packing the bedroom.  Falling asleep on my squishy bed almost sounds like a better option.

Knitting and Sleeping

I’m still alive… for now…  Feeling better than before, but still not feeling good.  I don’t think I realized how sick I was when I went to the doctor last week.  I’m more exhausted than ever and still sleeping a ton.  My chest is still sore and tight and I’m still congested.  The snowstorm in the midwest was a huge blessing this past week.  I only went to school on Tuesday and got to stay home and sleep the rest of the week.

Meanwhile, I’ve gotten quite a bit of knitting done… 🙂

First, I sewed the buttons Jeremy picked out onto the cowl I made him for Christmas.  It matches his hat and I thought he could use it with the bitter cold weather that was coming our way.

"Thermis" by Kris Knits

Next, I finished the sweater I made my mother-in-law for Christmas.

"Iced" by Carol Feller

I finally finished the Flying Saucer socks I’ve been working on since August.  I bought the yarn during the Chicago Yarn Crawl last summer.  The German fingering weight yarn is wound with two strands and then dye injected to give you two almost identical toe-up socks.  They’re psychedelic and I love them.  They’re a little itchy though (75% wool will do that), so I’m going to soak them in some conditioner and hope they soften up.

 

Schoppel Wolle Flying Saucer Yarn - 2112 - Kommando Socke

I worked on my baby hats for Save the Children as well.  I’m up to 20 which is far fewer than I hoped to have done by now.  I’ve still got a couple weeks before I have to ship them out.  They’re going to mothers in Asia, Latin America, and Africa.   Next time, they should have this going on from February through July.  My Christmas knitting really kept me from getting as much done.

 

Baby Hats for Save the Children

I’ve also been working on two other projects.  My “Snow Day Socks” and my mom’s birthday present.  Neither are finished yet, so you don’t get any pictures. 😉

Meanwhile, we have 3 weeks until we move and I’ve been packing like crazy.  I’m looking forward to it for sure. 🙂  Well, maybe not the actual moving part.   I have a feeling that unpacking is going to have to wait until spring break.  hehe.

Penguin Pajamas

I hate the color of my living room.  It’s beige.  An ugly beige.  And I’m sick of looking at it…  Go to the bedroom?  Same color…

Day two of being a couch monkey.  I’d like to report that I’m feeling much better, but I don’t think that’s the case.  At best I’m feeling the same.  Boo.
The building manager who lives a couple floors above us stopped by this afternoon to drop off our rent statement.  Usually he just slips it under the door, but it just so happens that today of all days he couldn’t seem to get it to fit and knocked on the door.  I’m scrambling out from under my mountain of blankets to find a robe and trip over Alice who finds the most productive thing to do when someone knocks on the door or rings the buzzer is to hiss uncontrollably… Meanwhile, I’m yelling at him to hang on a second and finally answer the door in a bright pink robe and the fleece penguin pajamas my brothers gave me for Christmas.
“Oh… Are you not well?” is the first thing he says.  Gah… I hate being sick.

That was the excitement of the day.. I need a nap…

I’m sick of being in this apartment.

Couch Monkey

I hate being sick.  I know, who doesn’t?  But it’s not the actually feeling sick that I hate, although that’s a bummer too.  I hate not being able to do anything.  I came down with a cold 3 weeks ago and ‘lo and behold, it’s officially turned into bronchial pneumonia… and a sinus infection…  Therefore, both Jeremy and my doctor have pretty much forbidden me from leaving the couch or bed for the next 5 days…  No school, no Stitch and Bitch, no working out, no errands, no cleaning (oh darn 😉 )…  I. am. a. Couch Monkey.

I hate sitting still.  I’ve been a knitting maniac already and I’m sure before my 5 days are up I’ll have lots of pictures for you.  My Flying Saucer socks are almost done and they’re AWESOME!

Other than my current 5 days of vacation, school is going well so far.  I’m really enjoying my classes and professors.  I’ve recently decided to apply to Roosevelt’s Sociology graduate program.  Yikes, eh? 🙂 I never thought I’d be going to grad school so soon.  Crossing my fingers that 2 years from now I’ll have 2 degrees and a job. 😉

Meanwhile, I’m exhausted and am going to take a nap.  More later.