Annual Distraction

Each Autumn I endeavor to create an ever more time consuming and elaborate pumpkin carv-, er, sculpture.  This year was no different.

Techniques and tools: 

A cartoon image borrowed from the internet

An exacto knife

Seven hours of my life!

The results:

Not much really

Back to the grind, a week off will really cause the requests to stack up. 

I've started playing my Yoga "game" on the DS. I also found a series of yoga for back pain videos online. I've quickly figured out that backward-bending positions are not for me. My lower back has always had issues, since I worked on my feet all day as a cashier for 3 years. I love when DH picks me up and my spine can hang and stretch. So, maybe some specialized regimes will help me out.

Other than that, I'm not dong anything special this cycle. No temps, no opks, no avoiding alcohol (until next week when I might O), no caffeine ban (though I've given up the hard stuff - coffee).

I'm not reading anything. I can't decide whether to buy & read the next Twilight book, finish a fantasy book that has been sitting on my shelf for years - I have read the first 10ish pages - or read Wicked which I bought for the trip but didn't get to. Hmmms.

Bump in the road

I'm back. It was a great conference, though I won't know if I passed my exam for 6 weeks. I'm really happy to be home.  Though I must report that the motherhood effort has hit a minor snag.

The attempt at procreation didn't happen before I left. But, I'm not sure it matters since AF showed on Thursday - a whole week early. It was annoying to have to buy overpriced uncomfortable hygeine products from the hotel gift shop, but oh well.That puts my last cycle at 21 days... I have no clue what's up with that.  Correction, either marital stress, travel, or changes in vitamin consumption are most likely at fault.

I would guess that I didn't ovulate. If I did ovulate on time that would put my LP at 6 days.  I'm used to 11 or 12, so that can't be right. I have no reason to think I ovulated early.  So, I'm going to chalk this one up to an annovulatory cycle due to stress/travel!

At least the next cycle gets to start earlier than expected. :)

Effort

There are a few things that are going to require my effort over the next couple of days.  

The one most relevant to this blog...  is getting DH interested in making us parents.  DH has been under some stress lately, and he just hasn't been interested.  I have some enticement in mind, I hope it is effective. The tried and true methods have not been very successful. 

The other is studying a 4 inch high stack of flash cards. I need to answer a 200 question multiple choice test that is geared toward people with masters degrees that I do not have. But, I have years of experience in the field, and my trusty flash cards to study every waking moment between now and Monday morning. I think I can squeak out a pass if I can keep my test anxiety in check.

Lastly is packing for this trip, and cooking some food DH can reheat in my absence. I don't have to make delicious meals before I leave, but I want to.

If I can get through all of the above... I have two books and two DS games waiting to reward me.  The former are New Moon and Wicked. The latter are FF Revenant Wings and a Yoga training game. Wicked and Yoga were impulse buys, a rare thing for a girl who grew up without much money. But, I'll have a week of evenings to fill.  

Of course, I'll have my werk laptop and the internet. The hotel actually charges for net access. In every hotel I've been to in the past it was a free perk.  Oh well, werk is definitely picking up the tab on that one.

Okay, back to studying.

Twilight, Relax Method

Twilight was fun. Fun enough and entertaining enough that I will grab the next one before my trip to MN next weekend.  It isn't my typical genre, I prefer more medieval style fantasy.  But it was tough to put down in a few spots. I can really relate to Bella, especially on the clumsiness factor! 

On the TTC front, I'm doing good at forgetting about it for the most part. I was a happy healthy person before TTC, so why should I have to change everything? I drink sodas, mostly diet but sometimes not. I don't always get the recommended daily alotment of vegetables. I do not exercise. But, I don't care.  No one ever prescribes the above as forms of birth control, and I have no reason to think there are any extra issues.  So, I'm TTCing this cycle as Me not Supermom.

Pretty much the only thing I'm going to do is make sure we BD before my trip!