Kim Poppins!

So I'm almost back to 100%. The congestion has gone away and I only have a small lingering cough remaining - thank goodness! Thanks for all the get well wishes!

We went with some friends to an outdoor concert at a local park on Friday night. Most everyone brought their dogs (there's a dog park next door) and we grilled hot dogs (not to be confused with our pets!) and a good time was had by all. The band was an old dude country band, but it was still fun and the weather turned out perfect.

I'll have to post an updated Maddie pic. She got her hair did on Friday and they even gave her cutie little bows. Which I love and she hates. I only had to put them back in once over the weekend but by this morning...GONE! We had a mini photo shoot with her yesterday morning. I am trying to get a good pic of her (she is so NOT photogenic) because I have this bi-fold frame that on one side, you put a pic, and on the other is a paw print made into this clay like stuff. Well, I have had the frame for like a year and half in the closet - too lazy to mix up the clay or whatever. (And you need to do it shortly after the doggy is groomed so the print is a good one without the fur in between the pads of her feet.) Finally I decide to do it only to discover...yes, they forgot to put the clay stuff in the box!! Now I have no clue where I bought this thing from...Was it Hobby.Lobby, Mich.ael's or Pet.smart? UGH. I think I will try to find just the plaster.of.paris stuff you can get at a craft store that is sometimes used for kid hand prints? Hopefully that will work.

A couple weeks ago, my friend gave me a bag of Amish Friendship Bread starter. It comes with some instructions and a little story. Has anyone ever got this before? Basically, you "mush the bag" for 10 days, adding some ingredients to it once. Then you split it into 4 bags and make the remaining into this DELICIOUS homemade bread. Not like dinner bread, but more like dessert bread. It is SO GOOD!!! The story goes that unless you keep a bag of starter for yourself after you make your bread, then you can't make it again until someone else gives you a starter bag again and only the Amish know what the exact ingredients are in a starter bag. I gave several bags away to neighbors and my boss at work. Of course I had to keep one for myself because I wanted to be able to give it to my mom and sister. They came over for dinner last night and we had it for dessert and I gave them their bags. You can add whatever optional things to it that you want to make it customizable for you. The first time I didn't have any vanilla pudding, so I used chocolate instead and added chocolate chips (I LOVE CHOCOLATE!) and it was good, then this time I added bananas and chocolate chips (Did I mention that I love chocolate?) and it was excellent! So now I have another bag to prepare in about 7 more days....if I keep a bag every time, I'll be baking bread every 10 days for the entire summer!!!

Saturday we had 2 birthday functions to go to. The first was go cart racing. Not just go carts, but go cart RACING - like at the end of your "heat" you got a printout of everyone's standings, including lap times, best laps, and overall ranking. Those carts go 45 mph!! It was awesome! It was about $15 (if you had 6 or more peeps) and each race was 10 minutes. That doesn't seem like a long time, but when you're going that fast (probably maxed around 30) and around turn after turn after turn (not an oval track by any means) and the carts don't have power steering...WHEW! It was forever! My forearms are still sore today! The 2nd party was a surprise at this dive in League.City with a karaoke lady that was hysterical! But more hysterical was the birthday girl BLASTED with 2 of her birthday presents - she's wearing capri pants, but that didn't stop her from putting on her new "designer" zebra striped rubber boots (she has horses) while carrying her diamond studded goblet full of Shiner which had "BE-OTCH" emblazoned in diamonds!!! She had a damned good birthday!


My big golf umbrella broke yesterday during a thunderstorm as I was leaving the grocery store. I felt like Mary Poppins. Seriously - I thought I was going to be carried away in the winds by the umbrella. It started raining just about the time I was checking out - of course - so I was pushing the cart with the umbrella open. Almost to the truck and the wind picks up to like 50 mph. There is no way I can open the back door of the TrailBlazer, so I opt for the back driver's side door. Because I am smart like that and the wind is behind me so my butt is holding open the door and I put the umbrella over the door so it is also being "held up" by the wind pushing it. I only have 3 bags (love those "green" bags from HEB) and after I get 2 in the truck...the wind gusts up between the umbrella and the door and breaks the handle of the umbrella. Let me clarify - breaks the THICK WOODEN handle of the umbrella INTO MY HAND!!! So now I have splinters all in my hand and I am fighting the broken umbrella that is trying to launch into the air! So I let go of the cart and now it's totally pouring and the wind takes off with my cart! So I get the umbrella from behind the door and am fighting it HARD! And am getting more soaked by the minute. I run to the cart and get my bag out. Of course I am Anal Annie when it comes to strapping my purse into the cart with the kid seat belts to avoid a purse snatcher from snatching my purse...and lo and behold, guess what won't come UNDONE!!! (Good thing there wasn't a real kid in there yet!) AAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!! I finally get the damned thing unhooked and the cart takes off again. I can't do anything about it at this point. My apologies to the owner of the Ford.Explorer it ran into. The wind is still going crazy and I can't hold onto the jacked up umbrella anymore. It leaps from my hands into the sky and across the parking lot!!! It was terrible! My dad says he is sure that the security guys in HEB were getting a real laugh at my ass on the parking lot cameras!

As for the fertility front, I am well into 1500mg of Met a day now. I am done with this rest cycle and am going for a follow up with Dr. H on Thursday. If I recall, he wanted do a cycle of Met in conjunction with Meno.pur this time.

Sorry for the long windedness....It just seemed like forever since I posted!

Grateful for:

• the diarrhea side effects from the Met have stopped
• I am almost over this infection
• I got all of the umbrella splinters out of my hand!
• Tomorrow is Bunko!
• Wednesday is Astros game with friends!
• Thursday I get to see Dr. H
• Friday is July 4th parade and fireworks funded by the South.Belt.Cookoff money
• Saturday is Neighborhood Block Party!

Sick in the Summer...

Who gets sick in the summertime? Aren't colds and viruses supposed to occur during the winter? Not for me because I got myself a doozy of a viral upper respiratory infection! It started as an itchy throat last Thursday. On Friday I went to the nurse at work and she gave me some cough syrup and cough drops and said to pick up Del.sym at the drugstore. This is the best cough syrup you can get without a prescription. I got some of that on the way home. It was yummy and got rid of my cough. However...

Turns out that we had beautiful weather all weekend so we took the boat out to the San.Bernard River on Saturday and cruised on down almost to the Gulf..past the Intercoastal.Waterway anyways. I still had a sniffly nose at that point, but it was so pretty, we couldn't NOT go! We had called around and asked if several people wanted to come out with us but no one was available. We decided to take the boat back home (versus storage) and take it out again on Sunday, hopefully this time with people! Sure enough, we got a winner! (Winner, Winner, Lobster Dinner!) M&M and their friend K came with us. This time we took it to Lake.Houston. It was so very nice, but at the end of the day, I couldn't even breathe through my nose and my tummy was upset. Why? because I had been sniffing and snorting so much, all my snot ended up in my stomach! BLECH!!

So Monday morning, I really couldn't breathe and I sounded like a toad frog when I talked. I called into work and made a doctor appointment hoping to get back to the office by the afternoon. Well, my new doctor (I got a new one last year that was closer to my new house) said it was a viral upper respiratory infection and that if she gives me antibiotics, I will just build up immunity to it and they won't work. So basically she gave me a nose spray and said to go home and wait it out. Let the virus run its course. WEIRD! I had one of these in November and she did the same thing. It is so odd to me for me to be sick like this and not even taking anything for it. I was home Monday and Tuesday....But I guess that's what she has the real MD and I only have Google MD!! My sinuses are a little better, but I now have a cough (I called her yesterday, apparently that's the "next step" for Mr. Virus) and still sound like a frog...but I'm back at work today. I could only handle so much daytime TV and Lifetime!!!

Nancy left me quite a lengthy comment on the previous post, so I thought I could address some of her questions here to clear things up on my TTC Trek.

I am currently taking Met (just started 1500 mg this week) because the last IUI cycle, I had tons of follicles, but none of them were big enough. This is typical of PCOS, however I have not been diagnosed with that as of yet. My FSH is fine. The time before, we had lots of follies, good sizes, but the IUI didn't work then either. He wasn't sure why, because I did ovulate. Now that I read your comment (and based on previous Google MD experience) I think it may have been also due to my ibuprofen usage. It is the only thing that can get rid of my cramps and headaches , but I have read that it can conflict with IF treatments...anyone else heard this? My first IUI, doc "saw" the eggie being released and said we had perfect timing for O, then the prog was only .9 and he said this is the first time he's ever "seen" O and then the prog contradicts it. All of my cycles have been monitored.

Much Ado About Nothing

No common theme for today's post. Just a bunch of "thought bubbles" (I read that on someone's blog somewhere...) today.

• Since coming back from our vacation, I realized that there are still a lot of places I want to see and do. My Bucket List has several things listed such as Vegas, Hatch Chile Festival, Rome, Niagara Falls, The Outback, New York. Alaska was way super fun and I am glad I can cross it off my "list."
• Dean and I saw Sex and the City on Monday since ALL of my girlfriends saw it on opening day - the day before we were leaving - so I couldn't go since I pack last minute... :-( But we both (yes, the husband LOVES S&C) loved the movie! It made me want to the show to come back so bad. But (not to spoil it for anyone that hasn't seen it), I think it still left room for a sequel or 3... I love the show and all the girls. I was trying to decide which one most reflects who I am, but I thought it was a combination of all of them and then I found this S&C Survey, and apparently I am Carrie! (definitely without the fashion sense though. I CANNOT stand some of the "trends" and CANNOT force myself to buy things just because they are "in.") Hopefully my husband or my friends (hint, hint) buy me the DVD set for my birthday or Christmas!!!

• TMI Warning - Met.formin is still giving me the shits. I am almost done with Week 2 where I am taking 2 a day. I'm not sure if its supposed to be 1 twice a day or just 2 at a time, but I've been taking them 2 at a time before bed, hoping any bouts that hit me, will be while I am in the comfort of my own potty. Nothing worse than having explosive you-know-what at work, a restaurant, or a friend's house!! I have a follow up with Dr. H (man, seems like I haven't spoken his name in forever!) on July 3rd. Probably just for b/w to see where I stand after the Met.
• A good friend of mine had lap-band surgery on Wednesday so I am spending the night with her tonight to do my responsible Nurse Nighting.ale duties. Chick Flix and Chicken Broth! MMM, MMM, GOOD!
• Pregnant people are REALLY getting under my skin these days. Whenever I see one, I just want to poke them in the belly (No harm to the baby-to-be, of course) but still. GGRRR!! Last week L and I had lunch (she being the one with no ovaries, only a uterus) and let me tell you - we were critiquing every pg lady we saw. "Oooh how old do you think she is? Is she still in high school? I don't see a ring. She's older, wonder if she did IVF" etc, etc, etc. THEN on the way to work this morning I hear something about a "Pregnancy Pact." 17 girls KIDS in Massachusetts made a pact to all get pregnant. WTF? Most of them are under the age of 16 for God's sake. What are they thinking and how in the WORLD is this fair to me??? And a lady at work is back from having twins and another is CURRENTLY pg with twins. Another lady I know has an almost 1 year old and is "planning" her "next one." UUUUGGGGHHHH!!!

Enough ranting for one day, geez I am a whiner. Anyways, no other plans for the weekend. Hopefully if the weather stays nice, we're going to take the boat out to the river one day. Give me some sunshine!

Grateful for:

• TGIF - FINALLY! The 1st 5 day work week in about 5 weeks!!
• Girl time tonight
• Yummy peanut butter-banana shakes I've husband has made for me for breakfast all week!
• We joined a new gym in our neighborhood that is supposed to open in the beginning of July! Keep me motivated to look semi-decent in a bathing suit the rest of the summer...

Randomness

I saw this on PJ's blog and since I am having a bit of blogger's block, I'll do it too. The ones that apply to me are in GREEN.

Bought everyone in the bar a drink
Swam with wild dolphin
Taken a Ferrari for a test drive (It was a Corvette, does that count?)
Been inside the Great Pyramid
Held a tarantula
Taken a candle lit bath
Said I love you and meant it
Hugged a Tree
Bungee jumped
Visited Paris
Watched a lightening storm at sea
Stayed up all night long and saw the sun rise
Seen the Northern Lights
Gone to a huge sports game
Walked the stairs to the top of the Leaning Tower of Pisa
Grown and eaten your own vegetables
Touched an iceberg
Slept under the stars
Changed a baby’s diaper
Taken a trip in a hot air balloon
Watched a meteor shower
Gotten drunk on champagne
Given more than you can afford to charity
Looked up at the night sky through a telescope
Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment (a lot!)
Had a food fight
Bet on a winning horse
Asked out a stranger
Had a snowball fight
Screamed as loudly as you possibly can
Held a lamb
Seen a total eclipse
Ridden a rollercoaster
Hit a home run
Danced like a fool, not caring who watched
Adopted an accent for an entire day
Actually felt happy about your life, even for a moment
Had two hard drives for your computer
Visited all 50 states
Taken care of someone who was too drunk
Had amazing Friends
Danced with a Stranger in a foreign country
Watched wild whales
Stolen a sign
Hitchhiked in Europe
Taken a road-trip
Gone rock climbing (It was indoor rocks, does that count?)
Midnight walk on the beach
Gone sky diving
Visited Ireland
Been heartbroken longer than you were in love
In a restaurant sat at a stranger’s table and ate with them
Visited Japan
Milked a cow
Alphabetized your CDs
Pretended to be a superhero
Sung karaoke
Lounged around in bed all day
Posed nude in front of strangers
Gone scuba diving
Kissed in the rain
Played in the mud
Played in the rain
Gone to a drive-in theater
Visited the Great Wall of China
Started a business
Fallen in love and not had your heart broken
Toured ancient sites
Taken a martial arts class
Played a computer game for more than 6 hours straight
Gotten married
Been in a movie
Crashed a party
Gotten divorced
Gone without food for 5 days
Made cookies from scratch
Won first prize in a costume contest
Ridden a gondola in Venice
Gotten a tattoo
Rafted the Snake River
Been on television news program as an “expert”
Got flowers for no reason
Performed on a stage
Been to Las Vegas
Recorded Music (It was the sound booth at Astroworld, but still…)
Eaten shark
Had a one-night stand
Gone to Thailand
Bought a house
Been in a combat zone
Buried one/both of your parents
Been on a cruise ship (Yeah for Alaska!)
Spoken more than one language fluently
Performed in Rocky Horror
Raised children
Followed your favorite band/singer on tour
Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country
Picked up and moved to another city
Walked on the Golden Gate Bridge (We drove)
Sang loudly in the car and didn’t stop when you knew someone was looking
Had plastic surgery
Survived an accident that you shouldn’t have
Wrote articles for a large publication
Lost over 100 lbs
Held someone while they were having a flashback
Piloted an airplane
Petted a stingray
Broken someone’s heart
Helped an animal give birth (not helped, just watched)
Won money on a TV game show
Broken a bone
Gone on an African safari
Had a body part below the neck pierced (ssshhh)
Fired a rifle, shotgun or pistol
Eaten mushrooms gathered in the wild
Ridden a horse
Had major surgery
Had a snake as a pet
Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon
Slept for more than 30 hours over 48 consecutive hours
Visited more foreign countries than US States
Visited all 7 continents
Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days
Eaten Kangaroo meat
Eaten sushi
Had your picture in the paper
Changed someone’s mind about something you care deeply about
Gone back to school
Parasailed
Petted a cockroach
Eaten fried green tomatoes (and made them!)
Read the Illiad
Selected one important author who you missed school to read
Killed and prepared an animal for eating (fish)
Skipped all of your school reunions
Communicated with someone without sharing a common language
Been elected to public office
Written your own computer language
Thought to yourself that you’re living your dream
Had to put someone you love in hospice care
Build your own PC from parts
Sold your own artwork to someone that didn’t know it was yours
Had a booth in a street fair
Dyed your hair
Been a DJ
Shaved your head
Caused a car accident

Wordless Wednesday

George Bush OBGYN

Scattergories....again

Once again I am playing along with The Promise of Our Love:

SCATTERGORIES - it’s harder than it looks! Play here or play on your blog.

Use the first letter of your name of your street to answer each of the following. (if your street name is a number use the first letter that spells the number. If you live on Fifth Avenue then your letter should be F) They have to be real places, names, things - nothing made up. You can not use your own name for the boy/girl names.

1. What is the name of your street? Centerbrook Ct.
2. A 3 letter word? car
3. Something you would find in an office? cup
4. Something that smells bad? crap
5. Movie Title? Casablanca
6. Slow Dance Song? can't touch this - ok it's not really slow dancing material, but I got nothing else!
7. Something in your pantry? creamed corn
8. Name of a pet turtle? Casper
9. Fetish or Phobia? claustrophobia
10. something you would find in your medicine chest? cream

Play along!

Good Weekend, Bad AF

So this is how I feel today...I'm not sure if its because AF came to rear her ugly head on Friday or if it's from the Met.formin I started last week. I've had (TMI) diarrhea pretty much every day since I started it, sometimes more than once a day. Then AF brought some killer cramps with her as well. I just want to go back home and curl into a little ball on the couch and watch me some Lifetime!

We had a good weekend. Friday I was off so I met my friend L for lunch at Pappa.deaux's. Since I am also trying to eat better, I had the Lobster.Seafood.Salad. I don't think I've EVER not had something fried from there so this was a definite change for me. It was really quite good with big pieces of lobster, shrimp, and scallops. We did some serious catching up. Then Friday night, we packed up the pic-a-nic basket and took Maddie to the park to see the Norma.Zenteno Band. A couple of people from work and some neighbors joined us for the gourmet hot dog dinner and music. What a small world this is... D used to play trumpet professionally so he knew the band. As he was talking to the drummer, we realized the drummer's wife works at my company! We had a good time listening to them.

Saturday I went to a planning meeting for a July 5th block party for our neighborhood. This is the first big one we've had. We had one 2 years ago, but it was when not very many homes had been built so it was pretty small. This one will have food, drinks, and games! Saturday night was party, party, party! We had a birthday crawfish boil (which we had to leave early - BOO!) The crawfish were YUM-O. The first ones we have had all season. Wish we could have stayed for the pool party too. This was followed by a surprise 30th birthday party for our neighbor. He HATES surprises and was very surprised that his wife was able to keep it a secret for so long! It was casino themed and even had a poker, blackjack, roulette, and craps tables with real dealers! D didn't get home until 4 AM!! The guy finally learned how to play Texas Hold 'Em!!

We spent Father's Day at my parents with yet another fish fry!

Hopefully these cramps go away soon because I start taking 2 Met.formins tonight and I surely don't want the POOS X 2!!!

And I haven't done one of these in a while...

Grateful for:

• Leftover Baked Potato Dip and Brownies from the cookout (probably not on my "eating plan" but oh well.
• Joined a new gym that opens in July, hopefully to get rid of some of these pounds
• the neighborhood pools are finally open!

Promised Alaska Pictures!!

FINALLY!!! Sorry it has taken me so long! These are just a few. I didn't think most people would enjoy a 325 picture slideshow!!

Wordless Wednesday

No time to get the Alaska pictures!

Bad, Bad KimboSue....Tomorrow...PROMISE

Just a quick one...

Technically I've already posted for the day, but I came across this and couldn't resist posting about it. And although I cannot apply it to my own life (not even remotely close) , I know a few who can!!

The Boob Fairy

Scattergories...

Stole this from Promise of our Love...(Just realized #4 is missing from her post so I made one up!)

Until I can get the Alaska pictures uploaded, this is something to fill up today's post...

Use the first letter of your first name to answer each of the following. They have to be real places, names, things - nothing made up. You can not use your own name for the boy/girl names.

1. What is your name? Kimberly

2. A 4 letter word: Kill

3. A vehicle: Kia

4. Song: Kryptonite

5. A boy’s name: Keith

6. A girl’s name: Kendra

7. Drink: Kamikaze

8. An occupation: knitter

9. Something you wear: knickers

10. A celebrity: Kevin Bacon

11. Something found in a bathroom: Kleenex

12. Reason for being late: knocking boots!

13. Something you shout: Kick some ass!

14. A body part: knee

15. Word to describe yourself: Kind (aww...)

Play along!!

No Impeding Glaciers to Report!

(Stolen from here for blogger viewing pleasure: http://www.alaskalandandsea.com/photos/GlacierBay-ship.jpg)

We have made it back safe and sound on U.S. soil. No ship or airplane issues! We didn't get home until 1AM this morning, so needless to say, I haven't quite had the time to dump the cameras yet! Hopefully the pics will be ready to go for an awesome Wordless Wednesday this week!

The landscape was beautiful, the ship was superb, the food awesome, the wine delightful, and the excursions FAN-TAB-U-LOUS!

Our Trip Summary

• Saturday - Seattle, WA - Took the Underground Tour. If you are ever in Seattle, this tour is worth it. It gave a great history of Seattle! Walked through Pike Place Market They throw fish in the air! We had dinner at a little sushi place.
• Sunday - the ship departs from Seattle
• Monday - Sea Day - watched a martini demonstration (the making and the shaking), played Pictionary and went to a Wine Tasting; VERY rough seas - the ship was getting tossed around like a toy boat!
• Tuesday - Ketchikan, AK - crab cakes and salmon in town, Adventure Kart Expedition. This was like a 4 wheeler ride through the mountains, but more like on a souped up Dune Buggy 4x4. We had to wear rain gear as it had been raining earlier and there were lots of mud puddles to splash in!
• Wednesday - Glacier Viewing - Initially was supposed to be the Tracy Arm fjord, but per the Hol.land Amer.ica ship cruising ahead of us, the glacier had broken off several large pieces making the channel impassable, so we visited another glacier instead. The ice was so blue it looked turquoise! Juneau, AK - Dog Sled Summer Camp - super fun! There were about 120 dogs at summer camp for training. We got to meet a ton of them and 14 of them took us on a little ride. It was also very informative about mushing and what it takes to be a musher and what it's like to race in the snow! This is a really good kid tour! Mount.Roberts.Tramway - gorgeous scenery, but kinda pricey - $25 per person! Beer at The.Red.Dog.Saloon is a must!
• Thursday - Skagway, AK - Hike and Float - Hiked 2 miles up into the mountains, then floated 2 miles down a river. (What mountains and what river? It's escaping me at the moment). This scenery was also gorgeous, but this trip served another purpose. It made me ever so aware that I am in terrible shape! We climbed up to about 1800 feet before making the descent. After about the 3rd leg of nothing but UP, I was DYING. Seriously I thought I was about to stroke out. D said my face was ashen and I was completely out of breath and sweating like a pig (could have also been due to the long sleeved T, sweatshirt and rainproof jacket, but still...) So after the mountain hike, I decided to go on a diet and join a gym (on the way home TODAY). It was only cardio - GEEZ! But I also start Met.formin today (how convenient my cycle coincided with my vacation schedule, EH?!) and one of the "side effects" is weight loss so let's get this party started!
• Friday - Sea Day - VERY rough seas; more ship tossing; another wine tasting/wine club. This one was with the more expensive wines. The most expensive I have ever tasted for sure - $168!! But alas, the $72 was better tasting!
• Saturday - Victoria, BC - Love me some Canada, eh?! Took a pedicab (some poor guy had to peddle our cruise food leaden asses around for 2 hours uphill!!) tour around the city through some historical neighborhoods, downtown, by the warf, by Parliament...
• Sunday - Seattle, WA - was expecting a long, drawn out embarkation, but it was over in a jiffy and we were at the airport by 9:30AM....too bad our flight wasn't until 5:30PM!! So we people watched and read a book while waiting for our plane...

It was amazing! I was nervous at first since Alaska cruises are typical blue hair type activities, but there was a wide variety of age groups there as well. Thanks again to Papa AJ Travel for setting us up with a great vacation! We will never forget it!