Wheel Thrown Agate Ware

This post is for all you ladies out there that have ever had to pee in a cup to find the moment of ovulation or tested for pregnancy at home.  Some might find it embarrassing but we all do it.

Yesterday I received a beautiful gift in the mail from my friend and local artist Alex.  She knows that I'm going through a difficult time right now and thought I might like to be cheered up.  I have to say that she is not only beautiful but very talented.

She has similar items to my lovely hand thrown agate ware cup, pictured at left, in her shop online shop called Ugabugabowls. Honestly the photos I take don't do her work justice.  I think I need to purchase a better camera and see about taking some photography classes to improve on picture taking while I'm at it.

Though its hard to see in my photographs the cup is about 2.5 inches tall and 3 inches across at the top opening.  She calls this, for me, a pee cup.  For those of you that do a lot of peeing on sticks you know you need a cup.  Why bother with the disposable cups when you can pee in such a pretty cup?  Besides all those disposable cups aren't good for the environment and I want to go as green as possible.

View of the inside of the cup.  Again this is hand thrown pottery.  Totally unused cup that could also be used as a bathroom cup and not just for the reason why Alex sent it to me.  But I'm going to use it for just that reason because I'm hoping it will be bring me a bit of good luck.

No I'm not superstitious but when a pregnant potter sends you a cup to pee in, so you can use the test sticks to find the right moment or even use it for the home pregnancy test, then I'm going to use it for its intended use.  Wouldn't you just love to purchase a beautiful, reusable, cup to pee in too?  I mean seriously you'd be doing the environment a favor!

Alex makes a lot more than these beautiful cups.  She makes wonderful bowls, mugs, cookie jars, goblets, pet food bowls, and even a mortar and pestle set.  She really is talented.  Why she even has on her site a chicken roaster pan that she made by hand.

Watch here as she makes some hand thrown Agate Ware.

Pregnancy Test Blank Window

I'm on my spouse's laptop on bed rest today.

****TMI***
Last night I had more of the bright red, thick bleeding. No clots thankfully.  That is of course until it turns to the brown stuff.  When it goes brown it gets all sort of clots in it.

I took a home pregnancy test this A.M.  A digital one, EPT to be exact.  I did as directed and waited watching the little hourglass work its magic, then it goes blank.  WTF!  Yes, it went blank. 

Okay so it has a battery in it and I have to crack it open to separate the electronics from the rest of it for proper disposal.  Besides it does have a test strip inside, this isn't the first time I've cracked one open. 

Luckily for me I could read the test strip.  Its not rocket science and I've no clue how some folks can't read them.  So for today I saw the thin blue control line separated by a white space and a big blue smudge three times the thickness of the control line.  So I guess I'm still pregnant.  Its good news I think.  But the bleeding is scary.  Maybe the bleeding is nothing?

I have yet to call the REI nurse after she told me to take it easy yesterday.  I'm definitely on bed rest today.  J's been very helpful and has loaned to me his laptop, brought into the bedroom my healthy snacking foods (nuts, and such), the 300 dvds in the single case, another blanket, bottles of water too.  He is so sweet when I asked him to do this.  He had to get to work but he took time for me. 

You should have seen his face screw up in agony this morning with the test results.  He is happy but he is also afraid that I'll still lose JR in the next few hours.  We are both afraid that the blood test tomorrow will come back negative.

I'm hoping of course that JR decides to stick around for the full 9 months but I can't make it happen if its not to be.  I continued with the PIO shots this morning.  This one given in the bedroom while I was on my side. 

My bad back is really hating me right now.  I need to get up and move about but I know that the more I move about the less my uterus will rest, the more the blood pressure will rise, and so on and so forth. 

I'm sure many of you out there know what I'm going through.  I'm struggling just like the rest of my infertile cysters to keep my embryo in my uterus.  Each pregnancy is different for every one of us.  If I'm lucky enough to carry to term I'll try to not complain too much about the pain from my DDD, bulging and herniated discs in my back and neck, and the fibromyalgia pain.  No promises though, I knew what I was getting into before I got started.

Crossing The Dragon's Path

I broke down this morning.  I met a dragon.  I crossed its path and was tested.  Today was the earliest day possible for me to take a home pregnancy test.  I was hesitant.  As of last night I was determined to wait until Wednesday but at 0420 hrs this morning I changed my mind.

No I'm not going to share the results of the home test until I have the results of the blood test.  It could go either way still and right now I'd rather not worry.  Oh but I will worry anyway.

5 more days until I get my pregnancy blood test.

I can test again on another home test before my official blood work.  I'm scared.  Either way the test result comes out I'm going to be scared.

Right now I'm looking at baby cages.  I'm sorry to call them cages but they ARE cages.  Ugly wooden cages.  Is it my imagination or have the baby cribs come to resemble cages?  All of them look pretty much the same, wooden slats closely spaced together with no nice scroll work or embellishments done to the wood.  What happened to pretty carvings in the wood frames?  Yes, I realize they just have to be functional but really they've gotten way to minimalist in design.  If I'm going to pay a lot I want quality.  I want something that is not only functional and convertible but something that will be cherished and last a long time.

So far the only cage that has appealed to me and I don't like the color is Baby Venezia Convertible Crib but its way too expensive on a soldier's pay check.  I'll keep looking.  I am a research junkie.  This does not mean in any way the test was negative or positive either.  For now I'm keeping the results to myself and only sharing it with my spouse.  Oh and the dragons know my secret, they guard it well.