the giraffe life

I don't think it's a secret that Mr. G and I would like to expand our family - it's made appearances in both my 2014 goals post and my bucket list post. But I guess the secret is - we've been trying for a while with no luck.  So Mr. G and I had some tests done and the doctor broke the news to us last week that for us, becoming pregnant naturally is extremely unlikely. We are infertile. We're devastated. How could there be no kids in our future? Mr. G's doctor wants us to wait 6 months, then repeat the testing. If the results are poor again, then we'll be referred to another doctor to start talking about IVF (fertility drugs alone won't work in our situation). Unfortunately, IVF is a complex, costly procedure not covered by insurance. We could afford one round (about $12,000), but what if it's not successful? Adoption is just as complicated and even more expensive (about $25,000). So many what ifs. While we haven't given up completely...

I was the sickest I've been in a long time last week. (I'm sure you don't want any gruesome details, ha!) And I felt guilty about neglecting my blog by not posting. Kinda like that week in September when I was too busy . But feeling guilty is no good. It's not productive or beneficial. So in the future, I'm going to stop worrying about having a post twice a week on set days, or even once a week. I still plan to post on Mondays, but I'm going to embrace a willy-nilly posting schedule if that's what the week calls for :) In other news, our TV company gave us a free preview of some premium channels to entice us to add them to our basic package. Which has turned quite a few nights and weekends into movie marathons. It's just so easy to find something you want to see when you can browse through hundreds of instant options.  The result? A few cool movies, lots of laughing together, and far, far less reading than normal.  And to wrap up this disjointe...

Yesterday was Election Day here in the US, which meant a day off from work for me. (Side note: It's amazing what a day off in the middle of the week can do for you! I went to a doctor's appointment, participated in a mid-day yoga class, voted, cooked a big casserole for the week's lunches and still had time to relax.)  Do you vote? I know it's required in some countries, but not here. linking up for wordless Wednesday

I was thinking just the other day about how much more I seem to be reading in 2014 as compared to years past. I track all my reading on goodreads , which has a handy stats feature that shows I've read 19,790 pages this year, the most of any year recorded there. And then I remembered - this is the first time in my adult life that I've only been working one job, and I finished school in April. Combine the two, and that means more free time and zero required reading! I'll enjoy it while I have it :)  Letters from Rifka by Karen Hesse - Rifka is a young Russian girl in 1919 whose family is on their way to America to escape anti-Semitism. Of course they face a whole string of troubles along the way.  Locomotion by Jacqueline Woodson - I'll admit I picked this up because it was sitting next to Letters from Rifka and the cover caught my eye. Lonnie's parents passed away four years ago in a fire, and this is the story of him finding his voice through poetr...