I'm Suppressed!

sup-press: (verb) to vanquish or subdue, quell, crush

It's an odd expression, but the goal of my doctor's appointment today was to make sure that I'm suppressed and ready to start stimming. They did an ultrasound and an estradiol blood test to make sure that the birth control has done its job and has suppressed my natural hormones. As aforementioned, my hormones are wacky and I'm glad they've been quelled!

The ultrasound tech said that I had lots of micro follicles just waiting to grow once I start stims and my e2 level was below fifty so I'm officially starting the shots on Saturday. I will go back for at least two ultrasounds and e2 checks next week and then my retrieval should be sometime the week after that. After waiting for what seems like forever, this party bus is finally rolling. I'm excited and scared to death.

I also had a mock transfer done today to make sure there won't be any issues with my cervix or uterus when it's time for the real transfer and, according to my nurse practioner Rebecca, I have a very cooperative cervix. It hurt like a turkey but was nice to hear that everything should go smoothly when they transfer my embryo(s). I took it as a good sign that they used a Cook catheter for the procedure. Cook Pharmaceuticals was founded by the late Bill Cook, the same guy that founded the world champion Star of Indiana drum corps, Andrew's home away from home for five summers in the late 80s/early 90s. Hopefully, Bill's looking out for us.

Total cost today: $0...'cause I already paid for it in the lump sum payment...

Thank You, FedEx Man!

I just got my IVF meds delivered and I feel like a kid at Christmas. Only IF can make you excited about having a sharps container of your very own!



Total Cost Today: $2552.84

The Check's in the Mail!

Andrew just left to put the check in the mail for the actual doctor/lab cost of our IVF cycle. It's actually three separate checks to the lab, the surgery center and the fertility center itself. I was standing over his shoulder watching him write out the checks when he gave me a strange look. I guess I was being a little intense but it was a momentous event for me. Apparently it made him nervous, so I quit. I actually took a picture but I will refrain from posting it here since you can clearly see our names, address, phone number and bank account number. That's probably asking for trouble.

I'm making myself feel better about how much money we just turned loose into the cosmos by reading the IRS codes about claiming medical expenses on your tax return. FYI, you can claim medical expenses if you spend more than 7.5% of your adjusted gross income (AGI). Mission accomplished. You can also claim travel to and from appointments at $.17/mile so I've started a log of all of our trips. So far this year we are up to about 1500 miles going back and forth to Nashville.

Total cost today: $10,250...it's all downhill from here!

Medicine Batch #1

There are an overwhelming number of drugs that you take when getting ready for and going through IVF. Mini-batch number one for me includes Provera (bottle) to start a new cycle, antibiotics (six white pills) to kill something(??) and birth control (little pack) to suppress all my hormones. I'm pretty excited about the pills because my personal hormones are wacked out and I think they deserve to be suppressed and replaced by artificial ones.



Total cost: a very pleasant $22.28!

Yep, I'm a Planner!

Andrew and I spent the first half of the day in IVF class. I loved it. Lots of information and an official IVF calendar that's just for ME! Of course, the financial session was no fun, but I'm choosing to think of it as the best way in the world to spend the equivalent of the cost of a mediocre car...

When my next cycle starts, I'll go back on birth control. Everyone always points out the irony of starting bcps when most of us stopped them months (in our case--years) ago when we decided to start ttgp. I'm past irony; I'm ready for some action that involves a fairly decent chance of finally ending up with a baby or TWO! From there, it's shots and more shots.

My IVF nurse is wonderful and coincidentally has a music degree, so Andrew thought she was swell. She said it was a great time at their clinic and lots of people seemed to be having great cycles. I'll take all the good karma I can get and have decided to think of this as the "perfect time" for us to get pregnant.

As a side note, my husband (admitted needle-phobe) made it through the shot class portion of the morning with no major incident. According to him, the needles are much smaller in real life than he'd imagined. I still think I will be having a nurse friend give me the ones that I can't reach to do myself, but it's nice to know he might could do it if the need arises.

Things are looking up at the Mroch house! Any doctor's visit that ends with a calendar party is fun times in my book!

Freezer Paper Stencil Tutorial

I am co-hosting a double baby shower for two coworkers next week and decided to make some freezer paper onesies with a school theme. I've made several of these and they seem to be popular so I thought I would do a quick tutorial. It's easy and a cheap way to give a personalized gift.


To begin, I downloaded a fun font from dafont.com. It's a free site and very easy to use. This is my personal favorite, "Badaboom." You can experiment with different sizes and fonts, but keep in mind that the simpler the shape, the easier it will be to work with. I usually look for block-y shapes with no swirly designs. Print and trim the paper down to a more manageable size.

Tape the sheet of paper of paper to a slightly larger piece of freezer paper, with the design side of the paper touching the waxy side of the freezer paper. I like to tape along all four sides of the paper to keep the sheets from sliding as I'm cutting out the letters.

Turn over the paer and sit it on top of an old magazine or something that will keep you from cutting through and damaging your table. I use an old Golf Digest that I don't think my husband ever read. Using an Exacto knife, carefully cut around the letters. This "CCHS" is simple, because it doesn't have any letters that have enclosed shapes. An "O," for example, requires you to keep up with the circle that gets cut out of the middle. When you're ironing on the template, you have to place the center of these letters onto the fabric and make sure that they're placed correctly so that the letters can be painted. I use tweezers for the placement if the letters are on the small side. Once you've cut out all the letters, untape the paper from the freezer paper. You have made your stencil.

I prep the onesie by sliding a piece of cardboard inside. This will prevent the paint from soaking through. Next, set your iron to the hottest non-steam setting and place your template on the fabric, making sure it's centered and/or lined up correctly. Lightly run your iron over the template, melting the wax and sealing the template to the shirt. Run your fingers over the letters to make sure none of the edges of your design are unsealed. The wax backing of the freezer paper will stick to most cotton fabrics nicely, but will come undone if you iron over it too many times.

Paint over the stencil using acrylic paint. I use a foam brush and apply the paint in dabbing motions. I try not to rub the paint in because the stencil could always unstick from the fabric. This has never actually happened to me, but I'm careful anyway.

Wait (patiently) until the paint has dried and peel off stencil. Voila! A cheap, personalized gift (and my first ever blog tutorial)!

May's Reading List

1. Sing You Home by Jodi Picoult (A)--at least this one had a totally different storyline. My last Jodi entry was a critique of how often her storylines seem to repeat themselves. This one's about infertility and I managed to make it through to the end with no tears. As always, there was an interesting legal twist in the end that was resolved to the mother's liking.

Hello, Old Friends

Sweet Valley Confidential: Ten Years Later by Francine Pascal (A)--nostalgia for the dozens of Sweet Valley books that I read when I was younger dictates the "A" for this book. What better than a reunion book that allows me to revisit trusted companions that I practically grew up with? I'll pretend not to notice that everything was a bit too predictable and a bit like poor Francine is out of touch with modern times. I was also a bit worried that time isn't moving just right in Sweet Valley. The twins were in high school when I was in middle school and now they are younger than me... Nonetheless, I'll read a reunion book with characters I loved as a youngster any day of the week.

Moving Along

Andrew and I have an appointment at Nashville Fertility Center next week, so I'm trying to mentally prepare for what they might have to say. It could range from "You responded well to the medicine this time. We'll try that a couple more times." to "Yeah, you might as well suck it up and give us all your savings for an IVF cycle." One is infinitely cheaper and the other is infinitely scary. I'm just about ready for scary. We've taken this process much more slowly than many couples in our same position. I'm finished being patient and moving slowly. My last chance at having a 2011 baby just passed, so I'm working against the clock.

If only my biological clock was this cute...

It'll Be Okay

I found a new quote a while back that really speaks to me. In fact, I often repeat it to myself when I'm sad and/or stressed out about IF.


"Everything will be okay in the end. If it's not okay, it's not the end."


I don't even think about what might happen that would make me give up on trying to have a baby. Even though people are beginning to ask why I don't just give up and adopt already, I still feel like there are things yet to try and time yet to wait. I tried to explain to someone not too long ago that, for someone who is trying to conceive and has even the tiniest chance of doing so, to "give up" would mean that one morning I would have to wake up and think "I'm done. I give up. I admit defeat." Instead, I get from one day to the next by thinking that something is bound to go my way at some point and, if I give up, I will miss my chance. Besides, I don't think anyone really understands that adoption can be even more expensive than fertility treatments.


I'll take hope any day, even if it's only a tiny sliver.

National Infertility Awareness Week-Myth Busting

As a part of NIAW (National Infertility Awareness Week), women all across the country are using blogs to address popular myths concerning infertility. Even though I don't have a widely-read blog, I wanted to do my part to bust my least favorite myth, "Just relax and you'll get pregnant."

My first experience with the infamous "Just Relax" advice was with my family doctor almost a year after we started trying to get pregnant. When I confided in her that we had been trying for a while and that I was getting frustrated, she whipped out her prescription tablet and told me I needed some anti-anxiety medicine to help me relax.

I can't tell you how hurtful it was to hear that. It implied, at least to me, that I was doing something wrong. That I'm the reason I'm not getting pregnant. That all I need to do is get a grip and I'll instantly conceive. That my personality is at fault. I know it isn't true and I know that the people who regularly tell me this mean well. I still want to throat punch them.

In reality, more than 90% of infertile women are so because of physical problems that prevent conception and/or successful pregnancy. There are actually very few people for whom relaxing is really the answer. Do I understand that reducing my stress level is desirable? Absolutely. Will it "fix" the hypothyroidism and poly-cystic ovarian syndrome that prevent me from ovulating? Not in a million years.

By the way, I don't take those pills. I got the prescription filled and then put it away. I don't want to be one of those people who has to take medicine to take the edge off of my life. I don't judge anyone who does. In fact, I totally understand. Just because I didn't take one today doesn't mean that I won't take one tomorrow. I look at the bottle in the medicine cabinet sometimes and then shut the door, hoping the day will come when I won't even think about them.

Maybe one of these days I'll figure out just how to relax. In the meanwhile, I'll keep using a specialist (several of them, in fact) to figure out how to get my body to cooperate and my stubborn ovaries to let a few eggs loose.

If you know someone who's struggling with infertility, please don't tell her to relax. Tell her you've got your fingers crossed and that you wish her good luck and comfort in hard times. And, for God's sake, don't tell her you got pregnant the first time you tried.

For more information about infertility, please visit RESOLVE, the National Infertility Association.

Help Me, Mark Twain

"A man cannot be comfortable without his own approval." --Mark Twain, 1906

Spring Break 2011 is drawing its last feeble breath. Tomorrow is time to go back to work. Time to go back to Thing One that has been stressing me out beyond the limit of comfort lately. I vow to keep reminding myself that all I can do while at work is my best and what I think is right for kids. Even when my opinion is the unpopular one, I will be "comfortable" if I do what I approve of and know is right. The good Lord gave me thick skin for a reason. One of the questions I often ask myself when I'm wading into deep waters or broaching difficult subjects is, "If not me, who?" Help me out, Mark Twain.

"...it don't make no difference whether you do right or wrong, a person's conscience ain't got no sense..."--Huck Finn

To Tell or Not to Tell?

One of the decisions every couple makes when they start trying to have a baby is who, if anyone, they will confide in. Some people tell no one until they're pregnant. Some people share every single detail with everyone they know. Most people, including me, fall somwhere in the middle. I only told a very few people when we first started trying, more because my husband preferred the privacy than because I did. As the months rolled along, I shared with those I work closely with because they deserved to know why I acted like a crazy person when I was cycling and few other close friends.

Because I'm from a small town and getting closer to thirty, it is perfectly routine for people in my hometown to ask nosy questions about when Andrew and I are going to start a family. He's rather aloof and people tend to leave him alone and spare him the nosy questions. Me, not so much. Before we were even trying, I would smile and give some generic answer about how we were waiting "for the time to be right" or "until I finished my master's degree."

As time went along and it became painful to be constantly reminded by near-strangers that I still wasn't pregnant, I started being more upfront with people. Nothing shuts a nosy old woman up quicker than, "I'd love to have children. We've been trying for __ months and have started fertility treatments. Unfortunately, they don't seem to be working." The result of all this sharing is that I now get the "Poor Kim" look whenever the topic of babies comes up. As mad as that makes me, it's still easier to deal with than pretending everything's rosy and that we don't have kids because we don't want them. There probably aren't any people left that I know in my hometown or at work that don't know we are having trouble conceiving. I hate the pity, but know that there will be dozens of people celebrating with us when I finally do get pregnant.

Whatever you decide about telling or not telling, be ready to be the topic of conversation, particularly if you live in a small town.

March-April Reading List

It's almost the end of March and I'm just now adding my first book for the month to the list. That, by itself, is a clear indication of how crazy busy work has been lately. I have to remind myself daily that the same thing happens every year right before Spring Break. I'm tired, frustrated, and too aware of all the things that I would have liked to accomplish this school year that have fallen by the wayside. So, without further ado, the only book I've read this month: 1. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot (A)--When I picked this book up at Target, the description sounded vaguely familiar. The front cover says, "Doctors took her cells without asking. Those cells never died. They launched a medical revolution and a multimillion-dollar industry. More than twenty years later, her children found out. Their lives would never be the same." I don't read non-fiction that often, especially books about science-related topics, but this book tells a story that is so hard to believe, it might as well be science fiction. A poor black woman who was dying of cervical cancer had a cell culture taken without her permission. Doctors began growing HeLa cells and discovered that her cancer cells were invincible. They now makeup a large majority of the cells that are used for many types of medical research. They've been to space, been blown up with an atomic bomb, and have even been used in cloning research. All the while, her family has not benefitted from their use and can, in fact, not even afford health insurance.

April Reading- 1. The Shadow of Your Smile-(B) by Mary Higgins Clark--I still haven't figured out what the title means, but I like the subject of this suspense novel from the queen of suspense. A $6 treat from Wal-Mart.

Once More, With Feeling

My appointment with Dr. S. went just about as expected. He ordered a progesterone check (to see if I ovulated) and a beta (blood pregnancy test). I got the results today and both were negative, as expected. A different nurse called with the results than I usually deal with and she was speaking softly and quietly when she told me the pregnancy test was negative. Bless her heart, she didn't realize that I've taken more pregnancy tests than Michelle Duggar and not one single solitary one has ever been positive. I certainly didn't expect this one to be. My temperature chart clearly showed that I hadn't ovulated so the beta was a mere formality before I could get the Provera to start a new cycle (above, at left). I will also be taking a double dose of Femara this go-round (right). How funny that nearly every medicine you take trying to get pregnant comes with the giant pregnancy warning sticker??

The kicker to the appointment was the stinging news that, if the increased dose of Femara doesn't make me ovulate, I'm done with Dr. S. and will be moving on to a doctor at Nashville Fertility Center, the same fate I was trying to avoid by switching doctors in the first place. While I honestly appreciate the fact that he isn't willing to waste cycle upon cycle trying to get pills to work, I'm not looking forward to the shots that will be my fate if this doesn't work. I'm scared to death that this won't work. Of course, that stresses me out when I think about it, which makes me stress about how stress is causing me to stress...

Dr. S. is not a fan of temperature charting because he says watching it every day tends to stress people out and that there is no need for charting in order to figure out if I've ovulated because his monitoring does the same thing more accurately. I've never been able to give up temping for more than a week or two but am seriously considering giving it up. If I do, I will also give up the ovulation predictor kits (OPKs), urine strips that detect the hormone surge that happens at the time of ovulation. This would also mean that when the nurse calls with blood test results next month, it would truly be a surprise...stay tuned.

In the meanwhile, what in the world am I going to do to decrease my stress level?!

Stupid Stinking Ovaries

Grrrrr. I'm mad at my ovaries today. I'm at the point in my first cycle on Femara that it's becoming painfully obvious that I'm not going to respond. I still have a tiny smidge of hope since it was at about this time in my first and second cycle on Clomid that I pulled out a surprise O. However, there is a general consensus on Dr. Google that O'ing late in your cycle can cause egg quality issues.

I knew this was coming, partly because nice surprises never happen to me and having the first cycle of Femara work would definitely be a nice surprise. Also because the bloodwork I had at my last appointment with Dr. S. showed that my LH:FSH ratio was out-of-whack, which is an indicator of PCOS (poly cystic ovarian syndrome). I got these results from the nurse on the phone and asked her about metformin (a medicine commonly given to PCOS patients) and she said the doctor hadn't mentioned it. I didn't push it, thinking (always the optimist) that maybe the first cycle of Femara would do the trick and I wouldn't have to worry about met and the tummy troubles that generally accompany it.

I'm going back to see Dr. S. on Friday to talk about what we're going to do next since I didn't respond to the lowest dose of Femara. I know this isn't a major catastrophe, but it has been harder for me than the failed doses of Clomid were. Maybe it's the fact that I'm further into the ttc journey and I'm just tireder in general. Maybe it's the hype I read on the internet about how well Femara works for people who didn't have any luck with Clomid. Maybe I'm just hearing the ticking of that darn clock now that I'm inching closer and closer to my thirtieth birthday. IF sucks.

February Reading List

1. Chasing the Night by Iris Johansen (B)-another Eve Duncan book. The foreign plots aren't plausible enough for my liking, but I do keep reading the Eve Duncan books. This one ended with another twist in the search for Eve's daughter Bonnie's remains. I'll keep checking them out of the library until that part of the story wraps up. Western Kentucky has had more snow this week than I've ever seen at one time here in my lifetime so I've been snow day reading to keep myself from eating everything in the house.

2. Death Echo by Elizabeth Lowell (B)--this was one of the first authors that I noticed repeating the same storyline over and over again. I read several of her books all at once and they all seemed to follow the same pattern--world-leery man falls in love with woman, has a demanding and dangerous job, decides that the woman has betrayed him, finally realizes she didn't. This is a newer Lowell book and has the requisite world-leery man who falls for a beautiful woman. I kept reading, expecting a misunderstanding that would make him think his new love had betrayed him. Thankfully, this one was different. Hats off to Elizabeth Lowell for getting out of her rut.

3. Wench by Dolen Perkins-Valdez (A)--the story of slaveowners who took their black mistresses on vacations. Full of insight into the complicated relationships between slaveowners and their slaves.

4. The Postmistress by Sarah Blake (A)-- a Massachusetts postmaster in the early years of WWII watches the people in the town around her react to the war before it becomes an American war while an American CBS correspondent gets wrapped up in the stories that no one back home will pay attention to.

Hurry Up and Wait

This is all I seem to do. Hurry up and get a doctor's appointment and then wait for bloodwork reults. Hurry up and get a prescription filled and then wait for the medicine to kick in. Hurry up and get home so I can wait for A to get home from work. Hurry up and finish my master's degree so I can wait to get pregnant.

I read a blog post earlier about the difficulty of keeping a positive attitude while ttc and laughed out loud when I read the following--I try to think of my cup as half-full but lately I've been thinking someone knocked my cup over. I feel like that more and more lately.

A New Year, A New Plan

I'm finding it hard to believe that we're a month into 2011 and I'm still daydreaming about that hard-to-imagine day when I'll be pregnant. I never dreamed when I tossed the birth control in the summer of 2009 that the road ahead of me would be so long and windy. I am, however, feeling more hopeful than I have for a long while. I saw a new ob-gyn last week for my yearly exam. His practice works along with a fertility clinic to maximize patient care and insurance benefits. It is such a relief to have all my doctors in the same city, including the endocrinologist I see at Vanderbilt UMC.

Dr. S. was recommended by a friend and was every bit as good as her recommendation (and the online ratings that I found) suggested. He spent more time in the first appointment talking to me than my previous doctor did in all the visits I made to his office added together. He listened and took notes as I described my thyroid diagnosis, years of treatment, the awfulness of my Clomid experience and my desire to have a doctor who was willing to figure out what is wrong with me instead of just throwing prescriptions at the problem.

I left his office with information about the further testing that I will have this cycle and a four-cycle plan of action. He told me that there is no reason I shouldn't be pregnant within that time period. I know he can't guarantee that, but the reassurance was still enough to make me cry. I'm totally willing to use the help of a fertility specialist to get pregnant but am so thankful to have found a regular ob-gyn who will help me find the answers to what is going on with my body. Mostly I want a baby, but I would also like to have a predictable cycle.

My Homemade Rating Scale

Those two old guys already took the "two thumbs up" format of reviewing, so I need something that makes sense to me and will let anyone who happens to have stumbled on my blog to see exactly how enthusiastically I'm endorsing any given book that I've read. It goes something like this:

A-Absolutely loved it and will be purchasing any others I come across by the same author
B-Will be checking to see if the library has others by the same author
C-Finished it but won't be looking for sequels
D-Didn't care for it and wouldn't have finished it if I were that kind of person

I really try not to buy very many books. I read so many so quickly that it seems a poor use of our money. If I love an author and/or can't find what I want at the library, I look on Amazon (love the free Super Saver Shipping) for a good deal and, in moments of weakness, buy books at Walmart or Target. I usually only pay cover price at a bookstore when I have a giftcard.

January, 2011--A New Format

I struggled with how to format my reading list for 2010. I wasn't happy with one giant post because it didn't automatically go to the top when I updated it. I wasn't happy with the one-book-per-post format because it seemed to waste too much space. Soooo, for 2011, I'll try a post-per-month style. Here's January:

1. The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith (B-)---my husband's aunt is in Botswana with the Peace Corps so I thought this would be a nice read. I liked the main character and will probably read whatever other Ladies' books the library has. I like them enough to read from the library but not enough to purchase...

2. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (A)---This is how I felt when I ventured into the young adult section to read the Harry Potter books and the Twilight saga. "Yeah, I don't think I'm going to like this but will read it because all the cool kids seem to be reading it. OMG. I loved it. Must read all others!" This is the January selection for an online book club I've joined and think that this book is proof that I need reading buddies. I would never have picked this for myself. I loved it and am grateful to the TTGP Book Club for getting me to read it.

3. Tears of the Giraffe by Alexander McCall Smith (B-)--the second book in the No. 1 Ladies' Detective series. Not a fan of the title, which makes absolutely no sense until the last two pages of the book and, even then, doesn't fit with the story. A slower pace than the first book. I have third and fourth books from the library but I doubt I'll read all the way to the tenth.

4. A Gate at the Stairs by Lorrie Moore-(C)-this was on my amazon list for a long while until I ran across the book at Borders with a giftcard hot in my hand. As with most well-reviewed books, I found it hard to connect too. The characters were a bit too strange for my liking.

5. Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins (Hunger Games #2)-(A-)-my school's library finally had a copy of this to check out, so I jumped right back into the Hunger Games world. This one seemed to lack the substance and plot development of the first.

6. Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins (Hunger Games #3)-(A)-this one was almost as good as the first, although I thought the ending was too abrupt and seemed say "let's tie up all the loose ends as quickly as possible." I was happy that Peeta and Katniss ended up together, but was horribly disappointed that Gale just kinda dropped out of sight. Overall, I'm very glad to have read this series.

And One More for Good Measure

#101-12.27.10
The Elegance of the Hedgehog-by Muriel Barbery---This book had words upon words in it that I didn't know. I liked the feeling of being back in Honors Lit in college when I did my reading with my trusty American Heritage College Dictionary at my side. I was just getting really involved in the storyline when it abruptly ended with a twist I did not care for. Although, I am still thinking about the twist two days later, so perhaps it was better to have ended in a way that I didn't like than with the cliche happy ending I was hoping for.

#100! 12 24 10

Unbearable Lightness by Portia de Rossi--Ellen and Portia are one of my favorite Hollywood couples so I knew I had to read Portia's book when I heard Ellen talking about it on her show. It was heartbreaking and hopeful at the same time. The story of battling her weight and struggling with being gay in Hollywood was intense and I am impressed with her ability to tell the most private of struggles with so much detail and honesty. I buy very few hardback books; this one is a keeper.

Getting to 100 books in 2010 has made me realize that I read for more than just the simple love of reading. It is a form of escapism and has helped me get through some of the parts of 2010 that I don't care to relive, namely my ever-present struggle with infertility. Here's to hoping 2011 doesn't require so much reading material.

#99 12 21 10

The Face of Deception by Iris Johansen--another Eve Duncan book; might actually be the original Eve Duncan. I can see how the character has developed and will have to find some of the middle books to figure out how Joe got rid of his wife and finally got Eve to commit. One more...

#98 12 20 10

Quicksand by Iris Johansen--another Eve Duncan forensics thriller, this one better than Stalemate. I do wish they had titles that were a better match for the actual story. This one had precious little quicksand in it. Two more to go and more than a week left in 2o1o!

#97 12 19 10

Ford County Stories by John Grisham--I usually hate short story collections because they read too fast and each story seems to lack development. These stories were better-than-average and there was also a quick visit from Harry Rex, one of my favorite Grisham characters.

#9612 16 10

Stalemate by Iris Johansen--Love Eve Duncan, although Colombian drug lord storyline was a tad farfetched.

#95 12.15.10

New York by Edward Rutherfurd--860 pages of yummy historical fiction. This book, although fictional, could be the textbook for teaching a US History class through the lens of the most American of cities. I loved every bit of it!

#94 12 12 10

Body of Lies by Iris Johansen--I've accidentally stumbled upon a romance/thriller series with the same basic set of central characters. I have a bit of a literary crush on Sean Galen. I'll be going promptly to the library in the morning to get the rest of them.

#93 12 11 10

Sacred Hearts by Sarah Dunant--I've been fascinated lately with Renaissance Era nuns and the women that became nuns for a variety of reasons, especially those that were sent to convents against their will. This actually took me a while to read, but was very worthwhile. I'll probably find Dunant's other Renaissance books to read.

#92 12 10 10

Dead Aim by Iris Johansen--I'm a sucker for the Grade B kind of romance/suspense hybrids.. This one had some pseudo science explanation for thermal vents and creating weapons of mass destruction using the power of the earth. Not real believable, but good characters who predictably fall in love under stressful circumstances.

#91 12-6-10

Transforming School Culture by Anthony Muhammad--the district's read for this year. It's a quick, easy read. While I agree with his observations, I wish it had more of the practical suggestions that I've heard him make in training sessions and have heard second-hand from people who have heard him in person.

#90 12-6-10

When Kids Can't Read by Kylene Beers--this has been our faculty book study at school and I've actually read it front-to-back twice this year. I love how practical it is and how well it fits the students I've taught.

#89 12-6-10

Marley & Me by John Grogan---I laughed and cried. I saw myself and my puppy in this book. I avoided reading it only because it was so popular and I thought it would have to be trite. It was actually well-written and funny. Now I'll probably watch the movie, right after I watch Eat Love Pray.

#88 12.5.10

The Queen's Soprano by Carol Dines--kinda like a knock-off version of The Girl with the Pearl Earring, enough said.

#87 11.29.10

The House at Riverton by Kate Morton--I love Morton's period novels. This one takes place mostly in the WWI/1920s. I have one month left in the year and 13 books to read to get to my goal of 100. Will I make it??

#86 11.26.10

Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert--I resisted reading this book when it first hit the bestseller list because I thought it was some sort of self-help book and I generally don't read those. Not that I think I'm perfect and not in need of help, I just don't usually like touchy-feely make everyone happy kind of books. I really didn't decide that I would probably like it until they released the movie advertising version with Julia Roberts on the cover. Love Julia and actually liked the book quite well. I could use some quiet time in an ashram.

#85 11.24.10

Heart of the Matter by Emily Giffin--another cheating story, although this time I had a bit more sympathy for the mistress. The husband, predictably, returned to his wife in the end and the mistress's heart "slowly began to mend." I like the author, but this is not my favorite.

#84 11-4-10

Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese---I still don't understand exactly what the title means, although I do understand much more about Ethiopia and more about surgery.

#83 10-30-10

sTORItelling by Tori Spelling--Yep, I'll admit it, I love Tori Spelling. I was in elementary school when 90210 was on and never really watched it. I'm a late bloomer and did not discover Tori Spelling until Tori and Dean was randomly on my tv one night.

#82 10-24-10

Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver--- who would have thought that someone who doesn't particularly care for the great outdoors (me) would love a book about caring for the great outdoors? I just can't get enough of Kingsolver's strong female characters.

#81 10-19-10

Black and Blue by Anna Quindlen--domestic violence causes a woman to flee with her son and create a new life. Husband shows up and takes the boy. Ends abruptly shortly thereafter.

#80 10.17.10

Deeper than the Dead by Tami Hoag--Hoag is my absolute favorite murder mystery writer, followed closely by Sue Grafton. This book almost seems like a collaboration between the two. It is set in 1985, a time period Grafton writes about with ease, a time before DNA was widely accepted as scientific, a time before every professional in America had a computer sitting on his/her desk, and a time before criminal profiling was used widely. A great way to reach the milestone of 80 books read in 2010. I have 20 books left and approximately 10 weeks left in the year. We'll see.

#79 10.15.10

Pigs in Heaven by Barbara Kingsolver--the sequel to #78 and one of the few sequels that I like better than the original. The same distinctive voice that I liked in The Poisonwood Bible is alive and well in the female characters of this book.

#78 10.14.10

The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver--I'm pretty sure I found a copy of this at school several years ago that one of my kids was reading for his/her English class and read it one afternoon. Nonetheless, I (re)read it tonight and enjoyed the story. I have always gotten a little thrill reading books that mention places I've been. This Kentucky author mentions Kentucky Lake and I think that's swell. I'll be trooping off to the library tomorrow to get the sequel.

#77 10.14.10

The Likeness by Tana French-another Irish mystery involving one of the two main characters from In the Woods. I actually liked this one better, likely because Cassie Maddox reminds me just a wee bit of Lisbeth Salander.

#76 10.12.10

The old post about the books I've read was getting long and unwieldy so I decided to switch to a new post per new book read. #76 is The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton. As a child I would often start a book and stay up until the wee hours to finish it. Last night, about halfway through the book, I went to bed and layed awake thinking about the book and getting up to finish it. A sure sign that this is a great book. Double bonus that it takes place in England and Australia, both places that I love. Love British lit!

Baby Names!

My thyroid issues are causing me some problems with getting pregnant so, in the meanwhile, I've been occupying my time by daydreaming about all things baby-related. One of my favorite things to think about is baby naming! Since middle school, I've kept running lists of the baby names I like. They've changed (thankfully) over the years but I thought I would start keeping the list on here since this has become a list of the lists I keep.

Girls!

• Ada--DH's grandmother's name
• Amelia
• Arden
• Beatrice/Beatrix
• Brynn/Brenna
• Camilla
• Carys
• Claire
• Darby--means "free man" and my maiden name is Freeman
• Della
• Ellery
• Evangeline
• Evelyn---current fave is Mary Evelyn, who would be called M.E.
• Gemma
• Hadley
• Harper--DH both like, but is becoming trendy
• Hazel
• Iris
• Ivy
• Landry
• Liesl--might be a little too German with our last name
• Lucille
• Lydia
• Maggie/Margaret
• Maren/Marin
• Marianne/Mariana
• Miller
• Palmer--as in Palmer House, where we got married
• Perri--DH is orginally from Perry County, Indiana
• Phoebe
• Piper--might have too much of a music connection to be cool
• Rose
• Tess
• Violet
• Vivian
• Wallis--my grandfather's name was Wallace
• Willa/Willow--DH's unused first name is William and he doesn't like any of the boy versions

Boys!

• Atticus--gets a little too Mockingbird combined with Harper on the girls' list
• Bennett
• Carter
• Charlie
• Ezra
• Finn--one of my current faves
• Fletcher
• Gabriel/Gabe
• Henry
• Jamison
• Max
• Miles
• Miller
• Milo
• Oliver
• Palmer--can't decide whether I like this as a boys' name or girls'
• Quinn
• Rider
• Sawyer--one of my best friend's last name is Sawyers
• Silas--love Silas Marner
• Simon
• Sutton
• Tate
• Theodore/Theo
• Vincent
• Will--I like it, DH doesn't
• Wyeth

Crate and Barrel Idea Shopping

While we were in Indy, I spent an afternoon wandering around Crate and Barrel idea shopping. I think this white table will be perfect for the eat-in kitchen in the new house. I like the clean lines and think that it would would look good on the dark hardwood/bamboo floors that I have in mind.

This collection caught my eye. I like the colors and the patterns. I think they could be reproduced with some of the square album frames that my husband has but isn't really doing anything with and some antique wallpaper. Too bad I don't know where to find antique wallpaper...


This orange chair doesn't really fit into the furniture collection we have, but would be perfect for my friends Richard and Ginny, who have just bought an older home that has total retro potential. The upstairs is a denim blue color that would be perfect with this orange.

Peach Pie and Other Summer Fun

How yummy does my peach pie look? And how cute is my new owl dishcloth? The pie was supposed to be in celebration of fresh summer peaches, but I couldn't find any in my lame little town, so it's made with canned peaches. I had some extra crust after making a very simple lattice, so I got out my music note cookie cutter in an effort to make Dear Hubby like a dessert that doesn't include peanut butter or chocolate. The dishcloth came from a cute little home store in Murray. I was replacing an old favorite that met an untimely (puppy related) end.

We had a nice 4th of July visit with the Thomas family in Indianapolis. Aunt Kim and Ava get along smashingly. She's smart, likes books and is a great big sister to Bash. We also decorated the entire driveway with sidewalk chalk while I was there. Cute, aren't they?

Summer's winding down and I'm getting that panicky feeling I get any time a vacation is almost over and I'm not sure I've gotten everything done I'd like.