Go Fly A Kite

 

I did it myself.

J watched yesterday as I gave myself the first of many PIO shots.  I gave myself this morning's injection too.  The small free standing magnifying mirror I have helped to see if I was getting any blood or not.

And now this is what we did yesterday in Port Townsend:

J is actually pretty skinny.  The vest is hiding his shoulder harness and handgun.  Plus all the pockets are great to hold my camera and the shells I collect from the beach.

Oh what is that in his hand?

A Day Away

We needed a bit of time away yesterday.  I brought with me my crutches but I knew that there was no way I could get down to the beach with them so I left them in the vehicle.

We invited my sister with us.  Wait I have a sister?  Not a biological sister but I did upgrade my bestie, S, to sister as of yesterday.  We are a family, an Army family.  Her husband deployed recently and I'm still waiting for mine to get his orders to go.

So S, J, the 2 redheaded boys and I headed out to Port Townsend for the day.  It was spur of the moment but that is the way things sometimes end up being.  I did some Christmas shopping while in town and I'm quite pleased with the purchases I made.

J took the above photo while on the beach at Fort Townsend with the boys.  S and I walked the beach together toeing up pretty rocks.  I brought home two of the rocks.

Some of you are probably curious right now as to the results of the HPT I said I would be taking this weekend.  I did take one yesterday morning and this morning.  This morning's was negative and that means that yesterday's line was only an evaporation line.  Its now 12DPO.  I still have another 4 days to go until my next cycle is likely to start.  Usually my cycle is 24-27 days, and like I've said before I'm an early ovulator so I usually have about 16 days to wait in the two week wait.  I still have time for a positive to show up but its highly unlikely with my egg quality issue.

One bad sign, the box of endometrin I just opened, not one of the tablets has been whole.  Each one has been broken so far.  Maybe an omen?  No damage to the outer box, inner box or packaging covering each tablet.  Go figure.

Another bit of bad...If J isn't getting deployed he will most likely be pushed out of the Army when his contract is up next year.  Not fair, but what can we do about it?  I'll find out more in the days to come.

Relaxing

Photo by me of me taken today.  I'm relaxing today.  Well trying to at the least.  Today was a marriage counseling session.  J and I are working on building a better us and trying to decrease the stress he brings home with him. 

Yes, he's been getting on my nerves and raising my blood pressure.  Its not healthy for me to have it that high.  Our counselor has now suggested a better way for J to deal with his work stress so that he doesn't bring home as much of it.  He told him to take up to 20 minutes when he gets home and just putter about the garage or in another room and leave me be. 

I can't handle his stress.  I've told him that there is nothing that I can do for him to fix any issue he might have with his job.  That is a solid fact.  I'm not a soldier I'm just a soldier's wife.  I can cook, clean, help raise a family but I cannot and will not tell him how to do his job.

So this afternoon we went to the pharmacy and picked up my script for the double strength blood pressure medicine Labetalol.  I now take 400 mg a day of it.  Three years ago I took just 100 mg once a day.  There is only so much Zen breathing, Yoga and a low sodium diet can do when there is so much stress in my life.  Going through an IVF cycle is very stressful!

Still a photo of me taken by me today.  I'm wearing one of the gifts that J gave me for our anniversary.  Its a very interesting pendant which is handcrafted.  Its a drusi stone in the center with mother of pearl discs on the two sides and two silver leaves, one above and one below.  I loved this pendant the moment I saw it and I had to have it.  Lila Drake in Port Townsend is just the jewelry store I need when I want to find that unique piece at a great price.

Oh the sweater is new too.  Since I've lost so much weight I deserved the sweater from the clearance rack at the Eddie Bauer outlet.  I went shopping there last weekend with J and my bestie S.  We are planning on going back there again soon.  Who knows maybe this long weekend.

I'm starting to learn that shopping can be a great stress reliever as long as the stores aren't that crowded and you are with good friends.  I've never been one to like to shop but I think I might be changing my mind about that particular contact sport.

Anniversary Weekend

Photo of our dessert at the Olympic Timber House Restaurant. 

Last year we stopped by this particular restaurant and decided we liked our meal choices so much that we'd go back again the following year.  What better time to go than on our anniversary?

We went to Poulsbo and Port Townsend for the day after getting a late start.  To save time we decided to take the Tacoma Narrows Bridge and the floating bridge cutting 30 minutes off our normal time.  Usually we take Hwy 101 up to Port Townsend and back again.  Not trying to avoid paying bridge fees but deciding to take Hwy 101 back home gave us the opportunity to stop at the restaurant with the really delicious food.

Luckily our wedding anniversary day dawned bright and sunny in the area we chose to travel to.  To the left is a photo of downtown Poulsbo.  We'd actually never been to this town before but after reading how it was a viking settlement we decided we had to stop and have a look around.

J loved the little gift shop called the Viking Maid.  Well he actually just loved the pewter drinking implements they had on display.  I thought the trolls and gnomes were really cute but over priced. 

 We stopped into just one of the town's antique shops.  I would have liked to have stayed longer but we needed to get to our final destination which would take up most of the afternoon.  So after a lunch at  an Italian restaurant in Poulsbo we hit the road once again.

By the way if you are ever headed up on this route north gas can be found cheaper at the Chevron in Chimacum than can be found on our military installation by almost 10 cents a gallon.  While that might not sound like much it is when you are refilling your gas tank.

This is a photo of the outside of the Timber House Restaurant.  The interior is worthy of quite a few photos too alas I didn't feel like offending the other diners with my flash photography nor make them feel uncomfortable by snapping pictures without flash while they try to eat in peace.

The only bad experience I had at this place would have to be a single diner that was overly loud about wanting to find a place to get her smokes and the fact that she was flossing her teeth at her table.  No manners.   I wonder if she was one of those kids that parents dreaded bringing out to eat in public.  One would think that by her age, had to be mid 30's, she'd of learned some manners.

Okay now to get away from missed manners to the food.  This trip J had the prime rib with the roasted garlic cheese toast  and I had the All natural Filet Mignon with a side order of clam chowder.  For dessert J had the creme brulee and I had the the chocolate raspberry cake.  I would highly recommend these choices along with the first dinners we ate there which were: Prosciutto Chicken and the All Natural Rib Eye.

Port Townsend, Our Last Stop

Port Townsend was our last stop in our Lavender Festival Weekend and I have to say that the weather was the best for this part of the trip.  I haven't seen such glorious blue skies in months.

The walk along the beach head gave breath taking views of the Puget Sound, which is part of the pacific ocean but hardly anyone remembers that little fact.   If we weren't on a time table I would have stayed longer.

It is along the beach head that the bunkers were placed to defend our country against foreign enemies.  I'm not so sure how much of a threat Canada was back during WWII but I'm guessing because it was an easy sail up to the Puget Sound we were worried about other folks.  In the museum are small scale replicas of the various sized disappearing guns that were once housed in the bunkers.

 It always saddens me when someone decides that what they have to say is so much more important than the value of an artifact and its history to our nation.  I detest seeing graffiti on our national monuments, state parks, and museums.  If you have something so important to say buy a commercial spot on television and shout it there, not on a wall that is a monument.  This was one of the bunkers that housed the disappearing guns.

Just one of the photos that I took while walking about the beach head at noon.

Later we headed into town and ate at our usual restaurant while in Port Townsend, The Public House where I had the 'shroomwich which is always a favorite of mine.  J had their burger as he always does and it was wonderful again.

 Another photo of the bunkers, this one taken by J. 

In town we did some shopping.  J really enjoyed the coffee from the french press while we were staying at The Hampton Creek Inn so I took the opportunity to purchase him a french press at a kitchen shop.  J then in turn made a couple purchases for me, jewelry of course.  Jewelry always fits no matter how much I lose or gain while on the infertility treatments. 

He purchased for me a pair of earrings and a pendant in green amethyst from Lila Drake.  I love them and the fact that they didn't cost what we would have spent at a retail store makes it a bonus in my eyes.  I'm a bargain hunter.

  Here is the pendant.  Now we just need to find a nice silver chain for this heavy pendant.  Oh they had nice chains there but I wanted a heavier one than what they had in stock.  So I"ll keep my eyes open for good deals on silver chains.

Our trip ended on a happy note with a nice drive along the coastal edge of the Puget Sound.  The weather held and we were able to enjoy a picnic lunch at a park before we got home.

We truly needed these weeks together and I'm sad to see them come to an end.  Already we are talking about next year's vacation and where we'd like to go.