Rememberance

One year ago today my oldest and closest friend passed away from breast cancer. She was 46. I've thought about her often over the past year, and particularly over the past week as May 30th came ever closer. Today has not been easy. I miss her.

Gina and Jeff never had children of their own. They were happy being the doting aunt and uncle to all their nieces and nephews. She was looking forward to one day being Auntie Gina to our child(ren). I'm sorry we weren't able to make that happen for her.

V. and I have made several attempts over the past year to get in touch with Jeff. We wanted to see how he was doing. Today he called because he was thinking of us. Rather than be alone, I was glad to see that he was reaching out to those of us who loved Gina as well. I hope we can renew our friendship with him. We miss him too.

Sorry for being awol

It's been a bit busy around here, and I've had nothing really to say on the IF front. I've spent the last 2 weeks setting up V's birthday gathering and organizing a 70th birthday party for my FIL. I am so far behind on my blog reading, I think there were 140 feeds to read this morning. I'm slowly working my way through everything.

Thank you to those who sent V. their good wishes. Although I've told him about the comments, I think he's been too busy to even go up and respond. So, I am thanking you on his behalf, and now I can tell you about the surprise(s) I managed to pull off. :)

As I mentioned we were going out for dinner and to shoot pool with friends. This was not a surprise so he knew all about it. We went to a local restaurant that we'd never been to but has very good food. I'd gotten 8 of our friends to join us for dinner. We were sitting at the table (he was against the wall facing out) waiting for the last couple to show up. I hadn't told him that our friend's wife was unable to join us, but in her place he was bringing his 17 year old daughter who was in town from Calgary. We don't often get to see her so it was a big surprise for him. Point scored for Pam!!

After dinner we went downstairs to the bar to shoot pool. We had two tables and were playing in teams. I was teamed with BB but we were having a very off night (I suck normally, but she doesn't). I had arranged with his brother in Ottawa to come in and surprise him, so all evening I'm getting updates about his whereabouts en route. Once he'd dropped the family off out our place, my BIL arrived, around 1am. We had stopped playing by this time, and were just chatting and drinking (well they were, I was DD). V. was sitting on a stool with his back to the bar entrance so rather than go up and get him, I was able to send the message to just come down. I then went over to get him. I wish I had a camera because the look on V's face was priceless when I tapped him on the shoulder and got him to turn around. It took a minute for him to register that his brother had driven in to surprise him. It was great! Score another point for me!!!

The rest of the evening was spent chatting, going off to a club to catch some music and people watching. We were back home by about 3pm. I left the boys playing with a new "toy" that BIL had brought him and drinking rum.

All in all, I think V. had a great birthday.


As for the party for my FIL, that was this past weekend on May 24th. I had taken off the week from May 16th until the 26th in order to buy the necessary supplies for food, baking, appetizers, decorations, etc etc etc. I think I averaged about 3-4 hours of sleep a night until the party. We had about 140 people coming, and we were doing the food ourselves with the help of a family friend. The appetizers were purchased, and the desserts were essentially homemade. We had a couple of cakes from Costco as well as fruit trays. I had a friend make cheese cakes. I made two Trinidad black cakes. One was cut up into small pieces to give away (like a wedding), and the other was cut up and distributed to family. We also had tons of cookies, squares and tarts that I made during the week. Baking really is my thing, although I am an accomplished cook. BIL handled the music, and V. had arranged Pan group to play for the first three hours. The group was comprised of a keyboard, bass and steel drum. They were excellent and a big hit that night. Our "caterer" did all of the cooking at our house of Friday and Saturday so we were "sampling" the food all evening. :) Most importantly though, was that my FIL had a great time. He was able to reconnect with family and friends he's not seen recently, as well as some he's not seen since his days in the Trinidad Coast Guard. It was a busy night, but well worth it. I was supposed to go back to work on Monday, but I've been so tired, I've taken the last two days to recover. I'm back at the office tomorrow.

I'll leave you with the cake that I baked, but was decorated by a very close family friend.

Lordy Lordy Look Who's 40!

Just a quick post to say Happy Birthday Hon! I love you very much and hope today is just the beginning of a great year.

That's right, today V. has reached a milestone and joined the club that I've been a member of for several years. :) We've both got today off work and we're going to be relaxing and celebrating. We're off right now to meet his Dad for breakfast, then a couple of errand outside and back home. We'll be heading out this afternoon to see Iron Man (finally) and then we're meeting friends this evening for dinner and pool.

we hope everyone has a good day, and if you're in Canada, enjoy the long weekend.

Life goes on

Sorry it's been so long since I've posted. Mainly it's because there's really been nothing to post about, at least on the TTC front.

Yesterday was the first day in a few where the sun was out and there was no rain. So I was finally able to meet up with Aurelia for coffee and I must say, she looked mahhvelous. We started talking as we walked down to the main road for a quick "coffee" and never stopped. I really am not sure how long we were out, although on likely more than an hour, but we headed back when her husband called to see if we were lost. :) It was the same as when V. and I met Gil. It was like we'd known each other for years and were just picking up from where we'd left off the last time, had there been a last time. There was no awkward silences when we ran out of "blog" talk. And I had the pleasure of meeting her husband and one of her boys. Based on our numerous email chats, and her recommendation, I have started taking DHEA. We'll see if it helps or not. She knows I'm not overly optimistic, but we've got nothing to lose. :)

Another friend we saw on the weekend asked what was going on with us. My response was nothing; that we weren't doing anything in regards to IF. However, I guess that's not entirely true. I'm currently exploring our options. I've been up on one message board reading posts of others looking for donors, although I've not yet had the nerve to post looking for someone. I am still more comfortable with a third party involved. I've been in touch with a Canadian agency (rather they contacted me)who has started to provide egg donors to couples. As most of you know, it's illegal to compensate donors in Canada for providing eggs. This agency has gotten around that by recommending that intended parents give a "gift" to the donor which essentially is the fee that would have paid if they used a US agency. I have trouble with that. If I'm using a Canadian agency, I would expect that the donor (even if they are from the US)is making the donation altruistically, not expecting any kind of remuneration/gift, and allowing me, the IP, to benefit from the Canadian law. I didn't get the impression that this "gift" was optional. And if it's not optional, why would I choose to use their services rather than go back to the US agency? At least if I use the US agency, I get a receipt for all monies paid and can then claim it all as medical expenses. The other thing we've got to get done is complete the application for our clinic's egg donors. No big rush there, but we need to do it.

I finally got our taxes done! Woohoo!! And we're both getting a nice refund. Our benefactor had requested that my refund get invested in my retirement. But when I receive it, I'm going to speak to that person and see if it would be alright to put that refund towards the next cycle. It's not enough, but definitely a good start.

I started Wei.ght Watc.hers last week. I am not happy with the extra weight that piled on with these two cycles over the last 6 months. We've got a wedding to go to at the end of July and I'm hoping I can lose 20lbs by then. I think I can do it. :)

The only other thing that's keeping V. and I (and other family members busy) is the preparation for my FIL's 70th birthday party on the 24th. What had started off as perhaps 100 people has become a 200+ person, West Indian partay!!! A lot of work, but we know it's going to be a good time in the end. And the food is going to be amazing! (We've got a really good caterer. :) )

Other than that, there's really not much going on.