Left is the New Right

I have found yet another political writer that I can read without snoring into my chest. Nor do I read it in wonder at the ability of people in the political realm to use shorthand and jargon that I will never understand. Hallelujah!

Those of you who know me well have long known my desire to understand the world around me and to help our country be better... always better. That desire has only intensified with my interest in becoming a mother; so much so that I am constantly scanning book shelves and blogs for reading that helps me understand how things went so wrong, and what I can do to help. When Hubs got books by Robert Reich from the library, my interest was piqued. I picked up one of them and can't seem to put it down. He is one of those rare (lately anyway) voices who seems open to listening to all sides, is against radical thinking to the right OR the left, and genuinely seems to have good ideas on how we can get a toe hold in this windstorm of recession, political dissent, and a foreign policy in shambles. He also explains very well the history of how things have come to pass and what exactly liberal is supposed to mean and what exactly conservative is supposed to mean. The radical conservatives of today in no way resemble the courteous, cautious conservatives of the past no more than the extremely left leaning liberals of the 60's typify the liberals who helped to accomplish better rights for blue collar workers or who founded this country on the idea that we shouldn't have a wealthy ruling class.

Then I found that he has a blog! You can bet I'll be reading faithfully. If you're interested, check it out here: Robert Reich's Blog
(NOTE: His books are much easier reading than his blog)

If you don't agree with my points, maybe this will sway you. Look what I can do*: इ कैन नो राइट इन हिन्दी.

*In the spirit of a scene from the Emperor's New Groove

Fess up!

I would like to officially join "fess up" week. Check out the Stirrup Queen's idea, and then leave your comments! I welcome the comments on any post. Would love to see you all.

Comes on sweet with a bitter finish

I think this weekend is going to turn out to be a really good one. (by the way, when I say "weekend," I mean my weekend, which constitutes days other than sat/sun) Yesterday dawned gloomy and cold for Florida, but we headed to Starbucks later in the afternoon to meet with K&K from the Wielecki Twins. You may remember them as the "normal couple" with whom we enjoyed conversing at the peer support group quite a while back. It was just as delightful to meet with them this time. They are both so well versed on such a variety of subjects and have done lots of interesting things. They are also both friendly and fabulous at drawing people into conversation. How do you DO that? I need to work on that a little instead of my normal rambling. And I must say that the expectant mother is looking quite radiant. It's very cliche, I know, but it's just the truth. :)

So I guess instead of having the regular support group that Mel suggested a while back, I'll just be meeting the infertiles (or should I say subfertiles?) in Florida one by one. That's cool.

On top of all that, I'm getting much better at this knitting with 4 needles thing. I think the pattern I'm using is going to make a rather huge mitten, but that's ok. It's my first time right? I still can't show you the other two projects at which I've been toiling away. I can't wait though!!

Tonight I head out for a girls' get together. I can't even tell you how nice that's going to be again. I can't believe it has taken me this long to start living life to the fullest again. Scratch that. I guess I can believe it since infertility has hit me so hard. Ah well. We're making it.

So I'm pretty happy despite the backsliding I've been so mysteriously referring to lately. Mysterious is sexy remember? I have to make me interesting somehow. I'm still not going to go into detail in this post, but basically, I've had an incredible resurgence in the desire to give birth to a child. I just can't seem to shake it. I guess if someone told me it was completely hopeless, I could then move on to adoption without these nagging feelings pulling me back. However, I started ovulating, and despite the fact that I know it's probably a slim chance it gave me hope. So now I've been struggling with that whole cycle again. I guess it never really will end. But damn it, we just want to have a baby!! Why is that so EFFING hard?

I have returned

Hey all! We're back from our trip! There were a few tense moments involving discussion of babies/have we seen a doctor/why don't we have any/why don't we try this or that. However, I am proud to say that thanks to some growth from working through this stuff, I was able to handle the questions with minimal angst and convey that there was no need to offer information on all the things we may try since we are much more well versed than you are thankyouverymuch. So after a bit of probing and my quite well thought out responses (if I do say so myself), they pretty much left me alone about it. My favorite moment came when someone asked about babies at the dinner table. Hub's more sensitive Aunt must have noticed the look on my face and deduced that there were problems immediately because she jumped right in there with a quip about how Hub must not have the goods. ;-} It's well known that Hub can handle this stuff better than I can... or at least he hides it better. She gave me a look, and I told her how refreshing it was for someone to assume it was HIS fault since all of his family has constantly acted like I just must not be giving it up enough or something. And that was the end of that!

It was very nice to see our nephew too. He is freakin' ADORABLE. It does sting a bit though that he was an "accident," and here he is, almost 2 and we're still waiting on our "planned" pregnancy. Lots and lots of thoughts to come on the whole pregnancy bit. I don't know if I've taken steps backward like Unsung Lullabies suggests will happen, or if I've just realized my own truth. More on that later.

For now, 2 things that made me very happy were seeing an Anna's Hummingbird (we only have ruby throateds in the east) and getting a shot of the Grand Canyon from the plane. I've only seen it twice, both times from the air, but I didn't get a photo last time.

TTFN

I haven't even left yet, and I already have blog withdrawal. ;-)

I'm moody, and hot, and anxious. Lots of things are bubbling in my brain since I seem to have had an "I'm dealing with it" set-back.

On the good side, some awesome things seem to be happening to some of my bloggy friends for once. What a relief! (see Plump & Baby Steps to Baby Shoes)

In knitting news, I've started mittens on double pointed needles (my first time)... MITTENS! Can you believe it? More when I get back. "Til then, be good!

New idea

If you saw my other post. I'm a dip. Just check this out for now...

U.T.E.R.U.S

Obligatory Update

The cramps are finally easing, but I'm just kinda here. I'm trying to get up the oomph to run errands and clean. Let's see how that goes shall we?

I just wanted to update even though I don't have lots to say. Hub and I are heading out for a family trip this weekend, so posts and comments will be quite spotty for about a week. Wish me luck with all the tummy patting and baby wondering. Some of them know, so hopefully they passed it around on the down-low, and I won't have to hear it. (wishful thinking huh?) I am quite happy to get some time off work though.

Something I am quite excited about is that we just booked our first trip ever to Europe! We have family and friends we've been meaning to visit there forever. We really wanted to go this year for personal reasons, and I found the lowest price flight I've seen in years! I could hardly believe it. So that overtime? Not over yet baby.

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Please feel free to share your happy times in Europe (or your dreams of where you'd like to go) with me in the comments.