Don’t you love how I end posts about particularly tough things with some sort of, “I need to go hide in a cave now” sentiment and then I don’t ever really go hide? I think I just need to give myself permission to hide, but at the end of the day hiding would be the worst thing ever for me. Here at Casa Calliope we are doing ok. Not great, not crappy, just ok. GM has been hurting from her surgery and her very low dose pain meds have made her sleepy and since sleep=healing I let her sleep. But I worry about who she will be when she wakes up. Yesterday I was able to get her up, robed, and out to the den to watch some of the recorded Alabama game from Saturday night. She didn’t really speak, but she understood us and she was able to eat and swallow well.
Here is a totally random list of things:
1) drinking my decaf with a good splash of peppermint mocha coffee mate is the awesome. Peppermint is probably one of my all time favorite things so starting the day with a dose of it is lovely. And to all my fellow peppermint ice cream lovers out there- check your grocer’s freezer as peppermint ice cream should be stocked!
2) Why are there no good movies coming out on DVD? My Netflix queue is so sparse that I am now getting season one of The West Wing in the mail. (which is great, but where are the new releases?) What are you guys renting these days?
3) We have a video monitor in GM’s room now. Sometimes watching her sleep is better than cable. She does this thing where she smooths the sheets out as she sleeps and it is just, well for lack of a better word, it is precious. I have also seen her point at things in her sleep, sit up and nod, and wiggle her fingers.
4) The skin on my gut is stretching and it hurts. It hurts suddenly and, well, painfully. You would think that the vast gut landscape of a fluffy gal would be plenty of room, but it appears that it is not.
5) It is going to be COLD all week. yay. One of the great things about cold is that it makes the nights less cloudy so when I take Charlie for his evening walk we can see lots of bright, bright stars. I am super star dork girl and I make wishes on every single one of them. Actually what I do is more like: locate a star and assign it with a name of a person I want to be taken care of.
6) You know what else is great about COLD? Cats that want to be in your lap. BG says hello.
7) Just realized that Thanksgiving is happening soon and had this mild panic about planning something. Then remembered that Thanksgiving is just a Thursday around here. Although I am thinking that maybe we could try a Christmas tree this year. I kind of miss that holiday- we haven’t really celebrated in years because it was too anxiety filled for GM. But maybe we can decorate the dining room- a room that GM rarely sees- and that can be like my private holiday zone.
8 ) I just got early on-set Holiday sadness. crap.
9) I told GM’s 87 year old cousin about Snork this weekend. She was so excited and had way more detailed questions than I would have expected. Thankfully she never said the word “sperm” but she did want to know how I was able to “obtain the other genetic material”. Heh.
10) Watched the Barbara Walter’s special featuring the pregnant man and found myself having issues with him. And sadly my issues are total jealousy. How is it that this man stops his hormones and gets pregnant three months later and THEN not four months after giving birth is pregnant again. I think this guy is now taking over for the Duggars as the biggest media slap in my infertility’s face.
There really are no good Netflixes right now. I just got “Prime Suspect 1″ which probably is good, but it’s more a DVD that I thought, Hey I might like to watch some time, than something I’ve been waiting for.
Our Thanksgiving plans just fell through and there are sadly no back-up plans this late in the game, so it looks like it will be a quiet Thanksgiving for us too. I am trying to be a grownup about it, but frankly I’m depressed. Especially since we both have families that would love to see us but are unfortunately thousands of miles (and hundreds of dollars worth of flights) away. But I am telling myself a quiet holiday can still be a lovely holiday! I think I’m going to make a turkey breast and we can just stay in our PJs all day long and watch the Macys parade. There is something really awesome about that!
I’m glad GM is healing. A little college football does wonders in speeding that process.
1) Peppermint schnapps + hot cocoa = heaven in the winter. Mmmm. Oh yes, just realized that neither of us can enjoy that right now. Someone else?
4) MEEEE TOO. I feel like my stomach skin/muscles are like pizza dough that is being pulled up up up. It HURTS!
9) Other genetic material makes me giggle.
Barb and I are going Christmas crazy down here, if you want to come visit to soak some in!
Peppermint in hot chocolate is one of the best things ever. Hmm, I am going to go get some now. I have peppermint ice cream in the freezer already. It actually came out here ages and ages ago. Like in July? It was weird. But yummy weird.
1) Yes, actually, I do love that you say you’re going to hide and then don’t. It shows an essential warmth & pleasure in human contact, I think.
2) PEPPERMINT STICK YUM YUM
3) word about the pregnant man. WTF. I don’t hate him for being a man, I hate him for being vastly more fertile than I am.
oh, peppermint ice cream! As my boy would say, “That is so YUM.”
I did think it was odd that the pregnant man is again, pregnant.
10) Not only pregnant again, but pregnant AGAIN from frozen sperm and at-home, unmedicated ICIs. WTF??? Would it be easier for me to get pregnant if I became a transman????
My take on this is that we are your “cave” and you haven’t realized it yet. :0) At least, that is how it is for me. My blogging buddies are like one of those micro-fleece blankets that you just want to wrap yourself in when things get crummy.
I haven’t rented a movie in months, so I can’t tell you about current things. What about classics? Do you like them? Have you seen Cat on a Hot Tin Roof with Liz Taylor? I just saw it and I loved it.
And all I have to say about the pregnant man is “WTF???” He can stick it!
Peppermint Mocha creamer = happiness
I buy it from the second it goes up on the shelves at Publix until I can’t find it any more. (then I mourn when its gone till the next year) I have it every single day with my morning coffee. It brings me joy.
On renting:
KungFu Panda… ok ok I know its a kid movie. But for one, you might as well get used to that now… all I ever watch is kids movies! I can recite Finding Nemo start to finish. for two, its really really funny. I laughed out loud many times. Jack Black as a fat kungfu wannabe panda = funny.
On skin stretching:
are you using moisturerizer? I used cocoa butter on my belly multiple times daily. Not only did it make me smell delicious, but I didn’t get one stretch mark
Also… be carefull when you start bending over. I’ll never forget when my uterus finally got as high as my belly button… and then it started to scrape up against the back of my poor belly button. Bending over was sooooo painful! lol
oh… and where the heck are the belly pics! lol
dude! I totally looked for the peppermint ice cream this week at the store and it wasn’t here yet. I completely blame no one other than you for my addiction. Note to self: buy deep freezer to stock up this year!
ugh. forgot about the skin stretching feeling. didn’t like it, nope, i did not. it’s amazing though — you body just accomodates it. It’s a good excuse though to treat yourself to daily slatherings of nice cocoa butter lotions with wonderful scents
We’re in the same boat as you w Netflix, although in our case we started the new Battlestar Galacticas, which are so much better than I was expecting. NOT recommended for a preggo though — they’re good but tense!
I suggest adding Friday Night Lights to your queue, if you haven’t seen it already. It’s a high school football drama that’s much, much more interesting and deep than it needs to be. Oh, and it has lots of cute boys in it. I’m just sayin’!
Oh, I had the same reaction to “the pregnant man.” I was like, wtf? They get to have ANOTHER baby? And his wife was all, “I just thawed the sperm, pushed the syringe and bingo!” I mean, they made it sounds foolishly easy to get pregnant – it was like they were slapping me across the face.
Even though I lurk, oftentimes because everyone beats me to what to say, just wanna send out HUGE XOXOXOXOXO’s in your direction, tell you I love you, and, in the same sentence, smack you for reminding me about peppermint ice cream 2 days after I start WW. Mean!! Mean!!
I sure hope GM is feeling better. And… I wanna know what names you’re mulling around for Snorkie. Is that to personal to blog about? Even contenders?
I just emailed you a HUGE list
SO very glad that you arent able to go hibernate in a cave for long… tho it IS good you give yourself permission to need/do it…
mmmmm peppermint ice cream. yum. i am looking forward to thanksgiving in oregon and pumpkin waffled topped with pumpkin ice cream and whipped cream for thanksgiving brunch…mmmmmm…
love you,
g
btw, wanted to recommend Danny Deckchair for Netflix. It’s actually a feel good movie that doesn’t make me want to, well, barf. Don’t like the Sydney parts, but the rest is just nice and smiley.
“other genetic material”. NICE. You should of told her that after GM goes to sleep, you are a whore and have johns come in the house every hour, on the hour.
As for the “man” who is pregnant? No, that is a woman who wants to be a man. Nothing is abnormal about a woman who gets pregnant. (that guy/girl seriously bugs me)
We’re renting Weeds on Netflix right now. One of the million tv shows I missed because we don’t have the premium channels. It’s pretty good and we’re going to order the next season now.
Mmm..peppermint ice cream. Loves it.
I totally love peppermint ice cream. It isn’t in the freezer here yet, and I’m waiting, impatiently! It’s right up there with peppermint hot chocolate, and my new yummy food – Oreos with Candy Cane Cream!
I like the private holiday zone idea. Hope you can make it work!
LOL. I am happy I am not the only one admitting to be jealous of the pregnant man!
Oops.. I meant to say being jealous about him (pregnant man) being fertile.
I am also a star dork. I love looking at how bright the stars are and how clear the sky is at 5am when I let the dogs out. I wish on the very first one that catches my eye. I’m glad I’m not the only star dork out there!
The pregnant man. Don’t get me started. Very happy for the family etc etc but… but how so fertile???
J
A recent movie rent that I thoroughly enjoyed, “Lars and the Real Girl” It’s been out a while, but I just got around to watching it and loved it. It may not be for everyone, but it’s worth a look-see.
Thank God someone else feels like I do about the Duggar’s and the pregnant “man”. I told my husband the other day that in addition to Michelle Duggar’s uterus sucking all the babies out there in the universe to her, now I have be out-sperminated by a pregnant “man”. I told him it proved I was a failure….just a teensy bitter here.:) Enjoy your cool evening walks with Charlie and wish on a star for me.
I’m sorry, but I have serious issues with the pregnant “man.” Dude, if you want to live your life as a man, that’s great. But seriously, men don’t get pregnant. That’s kind of the first rule. I think you’re just confused, and I don’t really want to watch your confusion on national TV. Why is this news? I’m sure if I had watched more than 5 minutes of the story, I would know why the “wife” wasn’t the one carrying the baby…
Anyway, the cocoa butter lotion – excellent! No stretch marks to speak of (although I’ve always had kinda loose skin).
Enjoy your peppermint and stars – glad to see you can find the bright spots after last week’s debacles.
Long-time reader.
The New York Times ran a 2-column series on care-giving. I thought you might find them helpful.
<a hrefhttp://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/11/health/11brod.html
Long-time reader.
The New York Times ran a 2-column series on care-giving. I thought you might find them helpful.
When Families Take Care of Their Own
and
Caring for Family, Caring for Yourself
Best wishes!
I saw the peppermint stick ice cream last weekend and thought of you. And for me….there was Egg Nog ice cream!!!! Oh rapture!!
I am in awe of Thomas Beattie’s fertility. But for the commenters saying he is “confused” or whatever for wanting to use his fertility… well that just makes me sad.
1)There is some serious fucking transphobia going on in the comments, love. I get the being jealous for being so fertile, because hi, I feel that too. But this is a man who wanted a family so badly that he was willing to go through not 1 transformation from m2f, but another from m2 pregnant man. I don’t think any of us can imagine how hard that decision must have been for him, not just to do it, but because of the struggle he already had overcome just to be seen as he is. I’m probably not saying this right but seriously – a persons gender is their gender and their sex is their sex and the two may be the same or different or some combination thereof or totally fluid. He is a man who got pregnant and had a baby and got pregnant again. He’s a fucking lucky bastard. Ok. that’s enough on that.
2)Kung Fu Panda. So good.
i’m with you. pregnant dude gets on my nerves. and it’s NOT because i have a problem with any of it. but hello, he has ovaries and a uterus. it’s not that shocking. now, if he had a penis and no uterus… well, that would be something. hey could you please wish on a star for me, if you can spare one? the boy is arriving in less than 3 weeks. i can’t believe the love i’m feeling for him. i just want everything to be ok. the worry never ends. in return, i will send big fat northeast good vibes to you and GM.
p.s. ok i’m jealous of his fertility too dammit.
Yeesh! I had no idea he was pregnant again! I’m all about the envy at the moment (friends got pregnant, using sex of all things, two months after going off the pill, at 37 and 38).
We’re watcing:
Flight of the Conchords
Pushing daisys
Arrested Development
The office
Dexter
Monarch of teh Glen
Ballykissangel (be warned, 40 year old vet has an opps pregnancy)
FAther Ted
Did she really ask you how you “obtained the other genetic material?’ That’s a hoot and a half! What is she, an android? I hope you told her you dressed up in a pair of Daisy Dukes, spike heels and a halter top and hit the local biker bars to get you some “genetic material” the good old-fashioned way.
Oooh, I’m so on the peppermint ice cream train.
And I second the reader who recommended that you rent Lars and the Real Girl. I had no expectations for it whatsoever, and it just made me so happy.
Also, this is the perfect time of year to watch season 1 of Friday Night Lights on DVD. I’d give it a shot even if you don’t do football and you don’t do teen dramas (because I do recognize that my addiction to the latter isnot shared by all 30-somethings…
). It’s all set during football season, so it’s perfect for watching in November, curled up under a blanket when it’s cold outside. And it’s a really well done show. I promise. 