Happy Independence Day!

Dirk and I are looking forward to a nice day of relaxation, movies, barbeque, and just plain being together! = )

We have been asked for a blog update on the ivf process so here goes...

On June 16th we started the suppression round of our in vitro fertilization; one shot a day in my thigh of Lupron. The side effects from that weren't too bad. A few headaches, hot flashes and some major exhaustion, but only about a 3.5 on the cranky scale. Ok, I'm not particularly fond of needles - that's not a good thing considering where we are and what's still to come. Thankfully, Dirk knows his way around a syringe. He got his experience from injecting rats in his Bio-Psychology class. Not that he's fond of the procedure, though. I think it has something to do with the occasional whimpering and tears. :(

On June 29th we started the stimulation round. Two more shots a day were added to the mix. In the morning I do one shot of Repronex in my tummy (the thought of this really creeped me out at first). Then at night I do the usual Lupron (now at a maintenance dose) and a shot of Follistim (also in the tummy). The stimulation drugs, "stims as they are called", definitely make me feel tired and I must admit I might be a tad more cranky than normal (up near 7-7.5 on the scale). The other day I snapped at someone, but was removed enough that I was thinking wow who is that bitchy woman?? Certainly, didn't sound like the normal me. hehe Oh and don't even ask about my road rage these days!

Both the Follistim and the Repronex have to be mixed by us before administering. For example with the Follistim we have three vials of powder and one vile of liquid. With a large (I think the technical term is "big honkin") needle we draw up 1cc of the liquid, add it to one vial of the powder, mix, draw it up, and continue with the other two powders. Before the shot the needle tip is changed to a smaller needle (thank goodness!!). It took a little getting used to, but we are getting the hang of it now. I'm getting quite the collection of used syringes and needles to be taken back to the Doctor for disposal. When I look at them all in the box, I feel like we have already come such a long way!

Yesterday I went to the doctor and they looked at my ovaries to see if I was responding well to the medication and to measure the follicles I have growing. So far so good, they found five follicles in my left ovary and five in my right! Not quite a dozen. I feel like a hen with little eggs in my nest. Those hormones do odd things to me indeed!They lowered the dosage of Follistim so that I don't become hyperstimulated which can lead to serious complications. Tomorrow morning we go back in again for another look and measurement. If all goes according to schedule I will be having the egg retrieval next Wednesday (more visions of a henhouse and Dr. Su with a straw hat and basket in his hand...) and the embryo transfer any day between next Saturday and Tuesday the fifteenth. The actual date will depend on how they are developing and whether or not they want to transfer at the 3 day mark or wait for the 5 day Blastocyst stage. Whew... so there we are. So far it's been an altogether remarkable journey. I don't necessarily recommend it if you don't need it, but the whole process thus far has made us do a lot of thinking and soul searching about ourselves, our relationship, and our future. And I think we're the better for it.

Battery Point Lighthouse, California


It's gray, it's rainy, it sure doesn't seem like Summer, but hey it is perfect weather for curling up with a good book! Anyone have any suggestions? ; )

The Mars rover "Spirit" launched today!

In January we got a chance to see it in the clean room at JPL prior to its being sent to the Cape, it was very cool indeed! The second rover "Opportunity" is planned to launch on June 25th, weather permitting of course.

Sadly yesterday the Mighty Ducks were unable to win the Stanley Cup. I felt disappointed initially, but in the end I am happy because overall they played great. They made it all the way to the very last game of the Stanley Cup championship and played some good hockey along the way that was really fun to watch! Next year... GO DUCKS!!!

Getting Giggy with it!


It is my birthday wish to see the Duck's win the Stanley Cup!
*fingers crossed, blows out the candles*

GO DUCKS!!

Wooo... the new Summer issue of Knitty came out today too! Surf on over and check it out here Knitty .

Today we officially started the in-vitro process! In honor of this I have posted the cute little fur baby picture of Orion. awwww ; )
Excited, scared, and cautiously optimistic sums up how we both feel. We started the day with an internal ultrasound to look at the number of pre-medication follicles I have, which will help the doctor determine exactly how much stimulation I will need and what medications we will be using. Then we got his and hers blood tests done as per California state law for in-vitro couples. Tomorrow we will start on his and hers antibiotics for ten days prior to the start of the Lupron (the first of my injections). We got the breakdown sheet of the fees which was scary to see (about $10,000 if all goes according to plan), but seemed not too bad compared to some places (after doing some research into it).
After the Lupron we will be starting the stimulation injections then onto the egg retrieval which will happen at a respected facility in Beverly Hills. I have decided to have acupuncture right before (Needles and I will be close friends when all of this is done). A study in Germany found that acupuncture right before can increase the success rate of in-vitro by 50%. We don't know if it will help, but we do know that it will not hurt our chances. My "good" eggs and his sperm will be formally introduced, a little Barry White will be playing in the background, and hopefully they will get their groove on without needing any further assistance (if they are fussy this will cost more, they should find one another to be soul mates though!). The new little embryos will be babysat for three to five days and then implanted within me sometime early July. *Crosses fingers* then the dreaded two week wait to see.
It feels surreal to us that so many people will be involved in helping us to conceive a baby (or babies). We look forward to be able to hold our baby, look into their eyes, and have all of this culminate into that one incredible moment~ = )

Making some changes here at the Cove!
Trying to decide if I like this new look. = )

Oh yeah and hey GO DUCKS!

Post script: Well... the Ducks just need to get back in the hang of it. Too much barbeque over Memorial day, yeah that's it... food coma!
Next time we will get you Devils!

(Andrew Wallace/Reuters)

Ducks win!!! Go Ducks!

" People cross our paths casually, when trumpets should blast." (Sena Jeter Naslund, from Ahab's Wife)

This is how I feel about the wonderful women that I had the joy of having afternoon tea with yesterday! Great food, warm tea, a beautiful day, and Goddess energy flowing. It was perfect!

Today spent some time working on some of the garden. We went to the nursery and Home Depot to pick up some lumber for our new square foot garden we are installing. Hard work intially, but I am excited to see how it will turn out and to eat all those garden fresh veggies during the summer. I also dug out a little bit of our lovely St. Augustine grass and made a little planter. In it we put a Star Jasmine that already smells so nice. I hope to get some progress pictures up Monday or Tuesday. Maybe this summer we might have a nice enough area to actually have people over for a barbeque... well, lets not count our seedlings before they sprout! ; )


I have decided to hang in there and continue blogging; most likely not on a daily basis, but that is o.k.! I may change over to Live Journal, an intriguing idea that Buck and Flea suggested, I will keep you updated.


Oh and one last bit of news, I applied for a job at City of Hope Hospital and am also trying for a research internship there as well. Laboratory work has definitely been a strength of mine during my academic career, so it just made sense. Talk about doing research that really gives you the feeling you are doing something that makes a difference! I would like to get my foot in the door there at least (of course pregnancy could change a lot, but I can work for a good part of my pregnancy anyway).


Time to take my weary self to bed, all that gardening is exhausting work!


Have a great weekend!

I haven't had much to say for the past few weeks thus the lack of blogging. I have realized a couple things about my life since starting this blog about five months ago. One is that my life is quite boring and certainly doesn't make for good reading and two that I am not exactly what you would call a witty writer. I have seen and read some amazing blogs, but realize that I do not have those same blogging/writing/observational skills. I had intended this blog for friends and family to keep up with our lives and primarily our progress with trying to conceive. However, as is the way with the blogging community soon strangers are reading your blog and you are reading theirs. This has caused a small amount of self imposed pressure to have something interesting, witty, etc. to say. I soon realized that it wasn't likely that I could live up to that, especially on a daily basis. The past couple of weeks I have thought about ending my blog for these reasons. I am not sure yet what I will decide to do. Maybe I need to shut out of my mind everyone and just write for myself (of course this is something better suited to a personal journal); I don't know. Anyway I am giving this some time to see how I feel about it later.

Time to Spring forward to warm sunny weather!

Nothing much to say, but that is a good thing = ). Thinking about possibly changing the colors of my blog for a lighter look. Other than that though not much going on. Just enjoying being a homebody right now! The weather is very nice and tonight we barbequed for the first time since last year (yum).

Feeling better and better every day. The bug is almost gone and stitches come out Thursday. A little waiting and healing and then maybe July will be a very good month indeed! We'll see = ). Until then time to do some serious spring cleaning, organizing, and finishing up a little matter called a degree. Tomorrow back to real life and finishing up the last of what is needed for that infamous piece of paper that has eluded me thus. This may turn out to be one of the best summers ever!

I hope everyone is having a good week, weekend here we come!

Evil DOES have a name and it is...




The face of evil:




And a menacing laugh was heard across the lands:




Sometimes a little evil can be a good thing!

Is it safe to come out yet??


TGIF!!
Whew, it has been a rough week between watching the war unfold, recovering, and this nasty bug that seemed like it would never go away. Today, I am finally beginning to feel better. On Wednesday I got tired of being sick and decided to get up and plant a few seeds, pick up some stuff around the yard, and prune some plants. I most likely over did it because Thursday I felt horrible, but I must admit it was really nice to be out in the warm weather.

Hoorah Spring!

*Achoo* *Sniff* *Grumble* As you can see I have a nasty cold! Not the best timing, need I mention how it feels to cough when you had abdominal surgery less than a week ago? Bah I say! Well, on the plus side I have been getting some knitting done.Yesterday I finished the beary luxurious chenille scarf (picture link added on the left). I made this mostly for the knit and purl practice and to see what it was like working with chenille before trying something more ambitious. It was slow going and I had to untwist the yarn every few rows. = (

The good news is that it is almost time to start on a new project! I haven't decided exactly what it will be yet, but it is fun looking through books and magazines trying to decide.

The kitty catnip wonton was a big hit!

Just sitting here watching the academy awards and finishing knitting the feline dim sum. Above is a picture of the yarn I am doing it in. What can I say about it? It's bright, it's acrylic, it's hideous, it's Red Heart. I honestly have no idea what in the World my grandmother was planning to make with it. I inherited the stash so I can't ask. However, despite the brightness of the colors I have actually enjoyed seeing them blend together, as someone who has so far chosen mostly solid colors for her knitting, it has been a fun and different change. It will make a nice cat toy and my little Tortie Aphrodite will really enjoy tearing it to shreds. I will not feel too bad about it either. In fact I have several more skeins of this precious yarn from which to make her a new toy every month for the next couple of years!

It's Spring!



Post surgery recovery happening thus the lack of blogging. = ) Had my surgery on Wednesday and everything went well. I am very happy that I am home now and that is behind me!

To deal with pre-surgery stress Tuesday night I began knitting some feline dim sum, using some really awful acrylic yarn I found in my grandmother's stash. I will post a picture soon, so you can see just how bad the color of this yarn really is. It does make a good cat toy though! In garden news: I am looking forward to planting some sunflowers as soon as I can bend over! I bought a bunch of seeds on Tuesday in anticipation.


I hope everyone is having a good weekend!
Go on and get out, plant something already!

Trifolium repens


Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

In honor of this day and my Irish heritage a little Irish blessing for you all!

Walls for the wind
And a roof for the rain,
And drinks beside the fire-
Laughter to cheer you
And those you love near you,
And all that your heart may desire!

Busy busy busy... I have a final today and another on Monday so I haven't had much time to update, but I wanted to pop in and say hi!

Last year I took this picture, from a window, of the sun setting. I think the change in color shades through the trees is interesting.

Things have been getting a little hectic. In a just over a week I have a final in my Physics class, which I am happy to say I did pretty well in. Right now things are in a crunch period with some serious studying happening. After my final I will be having surgery as well, so I have been having some prep lab work done and tomorrow an ultrasound. As a result I haven't been updating my blog as much and I haven't been able to do much knitting. I know that when I am recovering I will get some quality knitting time and hopefully start something new! Something to look forward to, which is nice since I am otherwise emotionally frazzled with anxiety about the surgery.

A specimen of the order Orthoptera perched on Ficus pumila (Creeping Fig).

Grasshopper says:
"Only those who have the patience to do simple things perfectly will acquire the skill to do difficult things easily." -- Johann von Schiller

Aphrodite
As her name suggests she is a little love kitty!

Garden update: the rain has been kind to my little garden. I have lots of green onions coming up, as well as some of the spring bulbs I have planted. I can't wait to see them bloom! I have had some casualties: my lone brussel sprout plant as well as my broccoli were eaten up by some bug (kind of looked like aphids), my peas do not appear to be taking, and none of the lettuce seeds I planted have germinated (weird). So looks like there will be a whole lot of onion eating and that is about it = O! On the weekend I hope to go out and clean stuff up a bit and rip out the deceased. Time to set my sights on what to plant in March!

Knitting update: I am the SLOWEST knitter ever I am sure of this! I am currently working on a mini chenille scarf (2/3 done) on size two needles. I think this may have gone faster using circulars, next time! I saw some cute patterns in the new Vogue Knitting magazine, so I am at the stage of my current project where I really want to finish so I can start something new. Add to that the desire to move past little bags and scarves and tackle something more difficult. I may try a tank top for the summer (if I can muster the time and courage). Then if in vitro works I will not be able to wear it because I will be pregnant heh.
This weekend I am looking forward to some quality knitting and gardening time with a little bit of Physics work tucked in there to mix it up a bit!


Have a great weekend everyone!

It is sad day in the neighborhood!

Fred Rogers
(1928-2003)

Haven't you always wanted a Frog??

We made it safely out of Disneyland despite being almost eaten by Monstro the Whale!
While we visited the happiest place on Earth we saw Billy Hill and the Hillbillies, my favorite live show there. Later we stopped by to say hello to Mr. Toad and admired the stone reliefs of Angus Macbadger, Mr. Mole, Mr. Rat, and Thaddeus Toad. In the evening we watched the fireworks and took a ride on the new carousel.

So long for now Mickey and Mr. Balloon seller!

Off to Disneyland for the day! *cheer*

M I C
see you real soon!

Mmmm... socks are good eats!

Having a pretty quiet week so far. Since we don't have snow in our yard to go play in like New Yorkers do, we went to a movie on date night instead. My pick tonight was How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days. I thought it was pretty cute and Kate Hudson was adorable even while acting completely insane in some scenes. Dirk didn't love it, he thought it was largely uninspired, but he is old and hard to impress now ; ) . I loved the dress she wears in the movie too, it was all butter and goodness.


Ok, if Trista doesn't pick Charlie tonight I will eat my socks! The show has just started ssshhhh.... let's watch!

Wow! I am surprised, I thought for sure... Ah well good thing I washed my socks last night!

Last night we saw Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at the Curtain Call Dinner Theater for a friend's birthday. *Happy Birthday Kristin!! = )* The show was a lot of fun and quite wacky! At first I wasn't sure what to expect because it started off so different, but in the end I thought they did a great job of using the space they had (a small stage) and making it unique.

My knitted gift project ended up not going so well. = ( Unfortunately, I don't really understand how to correct mistakes in my knitting. I noticed a mistake and ripped back to the line it was on and began again from that point. Right away I knew there was something wrong because the yarn didn't feel right on the needle. When I started again the pattern then was messed up, which I know is a result of my ripping back. I did a few more rows to see how it would look, but it was too obvious. So I ripped back those rows again, knit four rows for finishing, and bound off. All is not lost, the heart cloth I was making is now a cute little baby washcloth. However, I definitely need to learn how to correct mistakes properly before I attempt any kind of larger project. My usual way of ripping it all out and starting over just would not work in that case (too dang frustrating) and any other correcting attempt always fails. Hmmm... perhaps a class is in order. Maybe I should check out Skein and meet Knit Dad! I am not an absolute beginner any more (yay me!), but I am definitely not skilled enough to do any real project yet. I can't wait for the day when I am making sweaters, even though I know of the inevitable frustrations that will come with making such a thing!

Happy Valentine's Day!


In honor of this day of love and passsion I have compiled a list of last minute gift ideas for that special someone: *warning most of these receive a naughtiness rating ; ) *

For those in need of a little help in literary department might I suggest a love poem.

Is your loved one a patron of the arts? Some of these special glass figures are sure to leave them in awe.

Does your little sweet muffin like baked goods? Then perhaps you should order something from this New England bakery.

Here are a few other treats for a fun evening.

Who doesn't like chocolate? Here are a few unconventional products made out of chocolate of course!

Now you have showered your loved one with adoration and dessert and you want to give him or her a special massage, here's a sensual massage primer to help you on your way!

Want to let someone else work out all those knots on your honey? Maybe this hunky healer can help. A great gift idea if I don't say so myself!

Don't forget the flowers and a box of these. Yum!


Have a wonderful Valentine's! ; )

Objects in digital camera are closer than they appear!

*Cheer* Here are the pictures from our wonderful hike this past weekend...enjoy!

Hiking album

Conrad Mactire Milliken

Nothing quite like being out in nature to help clear your head of the oogly booglies and get you thinking clearly again. Saturday was a bit rough after getting a call from the doctor (on a weekend no less), but then we got a call from Eric inviting us to go for a hike (how did he know??). The day was beautiful; we went up to Monrovia Canyon and did a three mile round trip hike to the waterfall. Of course I had the digital camera in hand! I am working on a picture album, hopefully I can get it up either today or tomorrow (got some really cute pictures of Conrad). = )

A pretty flowering bush we saw on our hike yesterday. Unfortunately, I do not know the genus or species for this...I know you are disappointed and have come to expect such things from me ; )

Look for more pictures tomorrow or Tuesday!

A small sneak peek at the project I am currently working on. Joe had an interesting post a couple days ago about giving knitted gifts for birthdays or Christmas. He makes a good point and one that I had not thought of before. I am a new knitter and it is fun for me to make things that I think people will like and it feels like it comes from a good place, but I would hate for the gift to draw attention away from the celebration of the receipient. For my friend's birthday coming up I am going to go ahead and give it since it is only one part of the gift I am giving, but I may think twice about it for next time.

We had our visit today with the ivf doctor and things went so-so. The doctor was nice and seemed very knowledgeable, but his office staff was the worst and I do mean the worst I have ever seen! They were quite incompetant, and they actually bickered in a way reminiscent of a grade school fight right in front of us. It went something like this "if you can't listen to what I am trying to show you then I am going to tell the doctor that you don't want to learn anything" "shut-up" "no you shut-up". It was horrible I wanted to run screaming from the office, but luckily Dirk was there to be the voice of reason. So we stayed to at least see what the doctor was like (he ended up being very nice). My other doctor said that he has an excellent reputation in the field, which I think helped to keep us there. I am glad we did, but I haven't decided if I can handle having to deal with his office staff when it comes time to actual begin the ivf process. I think we are going to look into one other ivf clinic first before deciding. The first step for us, and one that caught me completely off guard, is for me to have surgery. Next month it looks as if I will be having my fallopian tubes removed altogether (sorry to my male readers out there for sharing). I am most definitely not thrilled with this prospect, but it makes a pretty big difference in the success for ivf in people who have the same condition as I do. I suppose the timing is good because I can try to schedule it for the week after finals. There were some tears shed over the prospect of losing what I think of as one part of my essence of being a woman, but I am beginning to come to terms with it. If we are going to go through with the ivf then we need to do whatever it takes to try and make it successful. The next step will be to wait a couple of months post surgery then begin the ivf process. Looks like sometime in June my eggs and his sperm will be doing the tango somewhere in a little plate and perhaps in July (fingers crossed) I will have some good news to post! = )

Ephippiorhynchus senegalensis

Saddlebilled Stork


Friday we have our first visit with the in vitro doctor. The insurance will pay half of this visit, but it is the last official thing that they will pay for. So from here on out we are on our own so to speak. Luckily, Dirk's parents have very, very kindly offered to assist with the cost of some of this, which definitely helps take some of the financial stress off. I have been feeling mixed about the upcoming appointment. I feel like I should be happy and excited since this is the first step for us to potentially conceive, but in actuality I am scared (and some what depressed) about the process. The success rate is approximately 25-35%, kind of scary when it will cost approximately $10,000 per try. Honestly, I wanted to give up after hearing the news about my fallopian tubes being damaged, but now I see that I have to at least try in vitro. Maybe we will fall into the percentage it will work for and we will end up with one, two, or even THREE little ones, who knows! This process is hard on an emotional level I must admit, but I am trying very hard to adjust my thinking so that I go into it with a realistic yet also optimistic view. Adjustment, patience, and acceptance are the things that Infertility has given me the opportunity to work on in my life (so far).



*Saddlebilled Stork picture from Exzooberance

Every knitter has to have her own sheep right?


Woolie, my new adopted sheep.

Possibly the most fearless of all sheep, this breed laughs in the face of danger and chuckles at the eyebrows of despair.
Favourite pastime: Hanging upside down in trees to impress the lasses.
Favoured bedtime reading: 'Poisonous monkeys have feelings too'
Favourite rock album:


The Beatles
Fleecy Road


Go on and adopt your own sheep at the sheep emporium tell them Woolie sent you!





I ripped out the knitting for the special birthday gift I am making and started over using a different cast-on method since the edge was bad and the tension was messed up. I am really glad I decided to do that rather than continue on with it. It looks much better now and I am making good progress on it finally. I look forward to adding the picture to my finished objects list in a couple of weeks.

We attempted our first geocache yesterday. The place we chose, Horse Thief Canyon Park, in San Dimas is beautiful! I was sort of familiar with the area from doing chaparral research nearby in the San Dimas Experimental Forest, but alas we didn't find the actual cache. We had a wonderful hike anyway. We followed the clues and it was exciting to know that we were in the right area, but without a gps device it was too difficult to find.

Here are a few pictures from our adventure:

The hillside was beautiful and lush.

This little man-made channel looks like its purpose to collect water run-off from the mountains (it was dry of course).

Dirk and Maddie hiking along the horse carved trail.

This was an interesting vine we found along the trail.

Maddie and I hitting the trail.

There are a lot of horses nearby, so it was important to keep an eye out for road apples.

Tragic and sad. Enough said!

I love the electric light parade!

Click here to listen to the famous electric light parade.midi





Not a lot of exciting stuff happening right now. I added a new little link on the left hand side for my guest map. I would love to see where all my virtual readers come from (you can remain anonymous if you would prefer), so go on and let your finger do the clicking!

I started knitting the surprise gift last night, but already it doesn't look right. I guess I am going to have to rip out what I have done so far and begin again. I am not sure what went wrong and since I don't have anyone around to ask I will just have to muddle through. Luckily I do have a picture of a completed one to help me. Oh well, there is always the option of a gift certificate as a gift heh.

Last, but not least a private *hug* to Tiffany!

Bougainvillea glabra


I have something to confess... I have a serious problem, I have geocaching envy! I long for the day when my guy, my dog and my gps device go on cache hunts. I have felt this way for a long time (thanks Paul) and this weekend I have decided to do something about it once and for all. I am going to go on my first geocache hunt! I am still in the process of picking a good one to try to find (psst... taking recommendations too). I do not own a gps device (yet), but I am hoping I will still be able to figure out the location or at least have fun trying. I will have my digital camera along for the hike, so of course all of my virtual readers will be subjected to the pictures. I love being out in nature and the idea of a kind of treasure hunt while being out on a hike or drive sounds so cool; I can't wait!




Now for a garden update: I did a lot of work in the garden the past couple of days. I have planted many veggies (both transplants and seed) and am still in the process of getting my Spring bulbs in the ground (many, many bulbages to plant). I planted lettuce (3 different types), onions (3 types, including Walla Walla sweets because I lived there briefly when I was kid, and they are yummy), broccoli, snap peas, and one brussel sprout plant because it was so cute. I still have some cabbage seeds to plant, some celery transplants, and some carrots that I will be planting in a container (they are picky about soil). Here are a couple of pictures showing the new progress and for comparison I am re-posting a "before" picture. Honestly, it is hard for me to believe it is the same plot!

The "before" picture of the jungle

I took this one at night so it is a little dark. The new little transplants

The right side of the Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow bush has pretty flowers

I was thrilled yesterday morning to find my first little Nasturtium bloom





In knitting news: tonight I will be doing the unthinkable and *gasp* start a new project before finishing my scarves in progress. A special friend has a birthday coming up and I thought I would try and knit her a little gift. I can't say what it is because I want it to be a surprise, but later I will post a picture (if it comes out of course hehe).

SHI A WASE NARA TEO TA TA KO
SHI A WASE NARA TEO TA TA KO
SHI A WASE NARA TAIDO DE SHI ME SOYO
SORA MINNA DE TEO TA TA KO


This is the little song we all sang at dinner. Sung to the tune of "If you're happy and you know it..." I have no idea what the direct translation is, but now you can sing along as you see the pictures from the festivities below. ; )



Yay yay yay I got this album code to finally work, thank you for your tech suppot Paul!

Onto the good stuff...

Unfortunately, the order is messed up in the album, but the pictures are all there so go on and check out Dirk's birthday picture album!


Here is our post dinner group photo.

Check out Dirk's Brithday album

Sunday, January 26, 2003

The birthday boy and his girl


Last night for Dirk's birthday I surprised him with dinner at Benihana, the food was so very yummy and the company was wonderful! Mike, Nise, Paul, Carol, Joe, and Felicia were all in attendance to celebrate Dirk. We missed not having Eric and Adrienne as well as Sean and Kristin there, but we knew they were with us in spirit!
After dinner we went over to the Guads for some dessert. I had made a Mississippi mud bottom pie for Dirk (a tradition in his family).

I am working on creating a little photo album/slide show and hope to get that up here tomorrow; so check back to see the pics!


Have a great week everyone!

Happy Birthday Dirk!!

Love you! = )

A blast from the past for today, Madigan's puppy picture!
I love this picture. My first dog and he is so dang cute.

Hi everyone!

I got a new hard drive this past weekend (yea, more room for my digital photos), but the installation was less than smooth. After the dead one was returned (heh) the second one finally worked and I am set up and running with 80 gb of space! In another three years that will seem like nothing I am sure, but right now it seems like a ton of space. Unfortunately, my photo editing software is not yet installed so no picture of the day on todays post.


In between getting my computer back up and running and knitting I have been fighting the nasty Physics demon. Sometimes I want to pull my hair out of frustration with this class. The theories of the hows and whys I understand without a problem, but the actual word problem solving part is challenging for me. I think I am too old for this lol.

Happy Birthday Nise!!


Ding! /cheer