Thank You

As I sit here tonight trying to figure out what to write, I keep thinking of all of you and the journeys you are all on and where you have been.....

I have to give a shout-out to my fellow bloggers who are getting ready to start their IVF and IUI cycles (or are currently IN them). Good luck Ladies! I love reading your blogs and keeping up with everything.

I pray for ALL of you nightly - no matter what you are going through. It is so blatantly clear how much love we all have in our hearts - and yet we were dealt a horrible, horrible, hand. Life can really suck sometimes - and it definitely doesn't seem fair. Today I almost posted the headlines from a few news sources.... headlines about clearly unfit people being parents. I wanted to talk about all these people who do not appreciate the gift(s) they have been given. As I was collecting the articles, I realized I did not need to point out the obvious to the readers of this blog. We all know that infertility is a crazy ass bitch. Instead I took a moment and thought about how strong all of you are.....

You, (well, actually "we") have all endured so much more than we ever thought we could. We've each been pushed to our breaking point - yet here we are - holding each other up. Many of us have created strong bonds of friendship without ever meeting each other. I know I have personally cried over your losses, laughed at your crazy mishaps, bitched at the stupid people who make your lives even more difficult than they already are, and I have smiled with pure joy at your accomplishments - no matter how large or small. My heart swells with excitement when an adoption is finalized, two lines show up, a beta increases, or you just decide to take the next step in this horrific journey.

We are a truly unique group of people. Broken in some respects - but stronger than those more fortunate. You read that correctly - MORE fortunate. Stronger in that we have not thrown in the towel. Our bodies are broken - but not our spirits. We've been dealt a shitty hand. So what do we do? We slam the cards down and demand a new deal. Maybe our new deal is trying DE, IVF, IUI, surrogate, adoption. It doesn't matter. We want the final outcome of our cards to build a house with a child in it. We keep playing and changing our strategy. We're motivated. We're educated. We're determined.

We are definitely a unique group. A group that I never ever wanted to be a part of. I joined this group involuntarily. I joined kicking and screaming. Now that I'm here - I cannot imagine being anywhere else. Without joining this group, I would not have become a Mom to Ukulele. I would not have *met* so many of you who feel like sisters and true friends. I would not have wholly appreciated and understood how truly precious life is. I feel that I am a better person since I have become part of this exclusive and elite group of women. So thank you - all of you . You inspire me.

Okay - back to my regular snarky self next post. Mushy-ness over.

Com.cast vs. NFL

May 1 is quickly approaching. We need to decide if we are going to switch to Direc.tTV or some other satelite service prior to that time. Right now we have Com.cast and our status as subscribers is about to come to a screeching halt.

You see, Com.cast carries the NFL Net.work. NFL Net.work would like their channel to be free. However, Com.cast (being the greedy cable monopolist that it is) has been charging for it, and NFL is not happy. Therefore, NFL is yanking their channel come May 1.

GatorMan and I are NOT happy. We are both NFL fans (although different teams), and watch that channel religiously.

So.... come May 1, we will most likely have a new service provider... which means we probably need to scope out new internet service as well (since Com.cast has the monopoly on that in our house). We do not have landline phones, so our internet service will most likely be DSL.

Am I going to miss Com.cast? Decidedly "no." But you may want to ask me again when it's raining.

Tax Man Cometh . . .

. . . but not taketh our money!

Yay! Taxes are done - and surprise of all surprises - we are getting a return! WooHoo! We were not able to claim Ukulele as an exemption for 2008 because her adoption was not finalized until 2009... nor were we able to claim her as a dependant even though we were her legal guardians in 2008 (aparently there is some six month time-frame-thingy). Whatev. We are still getting a return which is quite the shock.

How will that money be spent? Hmmm.... let's count the possibilities:

1. Partially pay for new roof. It was raining in our master bath yesterday. Not good.
2. Partially pay for new air conditioning unit. Popular opinion of at least 4 repair firms concur.
3. Pay down brand new windows on entire house that were installed last month.
4. Repair cabinets under sinks that have mold (counting 3.... we only have 4 in the house....).

Does anyone see a theme here? We closed on our house February 23. We did have an inspection. Did the lovely inspector notice these things? NO. Would we have bought the house knowing these things. NO. However, it is now (housing) our bed, so we will lay in it. Or is it "lie" in it? Anyway, you know what I mean. And to answer the inevitable question that will arise: do we have a claim against the inspector? Sure... for the amount of the inspection. That amount will hardly cover the cost of any of the things listed above. So, word of mouth works wonders. And my mouth is fairly large.

Outside of the "Money.Pit", as GatorMan lovingly calls our home, things are going well. I've missed you all very much - and I promise to write more often!

Wha????

Holy Crap! Where does the time go? It's been TWO WEEKS since my last post??? So sorry. All I have been doing is unpacking boxes, putting stuff away, setting up rooms, oh - and yeah - working. Not only did I go back to my full-time job on Monday, I also started teaching my classes again on Monday. I tell ya, when I go back, I GO BACK!

And another thing? We still have to file taxes. Ugh.