HIV/AIDS Quiz

I wish that I could say that I did better than I actually did. I missed 2! Thanks to Heather F. for the link.

In honor of World AIDS Day today, I wore my "WE ALL HAVE AIDS" t-shirt to work and around town as I ran errands. And there were quite a few errands to run as today is also my husband's birthday. Aside from both offices, I went to Target, Mail Boxes Etc, Dairy Queen, the grocery store, teriyaki restaurant and two banks.

I was hoping that someone would ask me about my shirt. I wore it over a long sleeve black shirt, and under my denim jacket that was open so that the shirt could be read. The most that I got were some sidelong glances, except for one woman who actually... more

My blog friend Gabrielle has been invited to write an article for the following blog Topics from 192 Countries.

Here is the premise behind the blog:

Topics from 192 countries

I wonder if people from 192 countries across the Globe cooperate to write one blog. Different people, culture, society, politics, products, service... Only one person for One Country ! One Photo for One Story

Gabrielle wrote an article along with a recipe for "satay" to represent Indonesia.

For those who have never tried this... more

I had an mri today. My first one ever. And hopefully, it will come back to show that my brain is beautiful and perfect.

The back story: I've had vertigo for over a year now and no one can figure out why. Although I've improved to the point to living my life with some limitations and frustrations, it has gotten much better than the bedridden for days, vomiting me that I was last year. Allergy testing, sinus surgery have all had their go at curing me, but to no lasting improvement. The mri was the next diagnostic step.

Yesterday, I was... more

Last evening, I was very emotionally angry at my team of choice for losing a rival game. Most of the family was hiding out, trying to stay away from me until I calmed down. Every year I tell Chris that this rival game is one that I should watch alone, but he never listens and then I feel bad because I banish myself to the small television in the bedroom so the kids don't hear my mouth. Most of the time though I don't catch myself in time, realize what filth is coming out of my mouth and then get away from the family too late.

Still stewing after the final score, I was standing in the kitchen drinking apple juice out of the bottle and there was a knock on the door. I thought that... more

Yesterday, I listed some of the benefits of journal keeping. Today I will be listing some ways to start keeping your journal and also some helpful hints about approaching your journal time.

I have a lot of different journals going at one time. I have a desk top journal that helps as a calendar, list maker and general place for all of my scattered thoughts while I am working. There are quotes that I love, angel cards that I have drawn for a certain day, and random order numbers and tracking numbers from the internet. This has also served as my dream journal, as it is the most accessible of my journals and ready to be written in in the early morning hours.

I also keep an... more

I took a journaling workshop at our local cancer care center while my dad was sick and getting chemo. Last night I came across one of the handouts from the instructor, who is also a close friend. It has some great info in it and I thought that I would share it with you all. Journaling through the stress of his illness, and the grief of his death has been helpful to keep my head on straight. Any type of infertility stress can also benifit from journaling.

Journaling In earlier generations it was common to keep a diary or a personal journal. However, today few people do it and very few recognize the value and astonishing power of keeping a journal.

A... more

I'm wondering if I'm in the majority on this? Before I knew that I wanted kids, I used to be addicted to the TLC show "A Baby Story". It was so precious and fairy tale like that I would get sucked in and spend so much time watching and enjoying it. I even remember taping episodes as well. The feel good aspect of the show was addictive.

Enter infertility. And pregnancy. And new mommyhood.

I despised this show with such a vengance while I couldn't conceive and miscarried. I would try to watch from time to time and was so upset with watching... more

From www.lifescrip.com I've been searching for fertility related news bytes. There are many subjects that are important for women's health, yet, I'm unsure how directly related they are to having a baby. The following byte is related to delivery, so I think that I'm safe with that! For all of you that are pregnant at this time and planning your birth plan, as per Coley's posts last week, this may be of interest to you!

Now, this really seems like common sense. I would think that gravity would have something to do with the pain relief, but then, I wonder why the timeframe for both types of deliveries was so similar? The kneeling births were... more

Continuing on with my blogging reasons:

Connections with Others Being able to send people to my blog to keep up with dad's treatments, etc. was very rewarding. Instead of having to retell the same emotional story over and over, spending my sanity with every telling I was able to keep everyone informed through the written word. It was also helpful that everyone could access the info at once. Instead of having to think about who to call first, I knew that I could blog at 3 in the morning if I needed to and everyone would get the same... more