Menu Plan Monday

Well, after several weeks of not participating, I'm finally back! This week's worth of dinners is made up of meals that I made from the October menu at Dream Dinners. Dream Dinners is a meal assembly store, and I've found the meals to be healthy, DELICIOUS, inexpensive and very, very time-saving.

Monday: Herb Roasted Flank Steak

Tuesday: Peanut-Crusted Fish Fillet (leftover from Sunday)

Wednesday: Chicken with Sweet Ginger and Apples

Thursday: Moroccan Chicken with Pumpkin

Friday: Leftovers!!

For more meal ideas, go to Laura's new and improved blog!

Fall Y'all Bloggy Giveaway

Hooray!! It's time for Jendeis' first giveaway contest! For Shannon's Fall Y'all Bloggy Giveaway, I'll be giving away a $25 gift certificate to iTunes. Just think of how many great songs or audiobooks you can download to your iPod!

In order to participate, please post a comment below before Friday, November 2nd at 10 AM EST. I'll select a winner and post your name on a new post as well as on the Bloggy Giveaways page for this carnival.

**Bloggers and non-bloggers can participate in my giveaway. Just make sure that your email address is available to me, so I can contact you if you win!**

Go to Bloggy Giveaways all this week to participate in even more contests!!

The World of Infertility

Infertility is a very common problem, but most couples believe that they are alone in their struggles. I've recently found a large community in the blogosphere and feel comforted knowing that they are there.

I've met some wonderful women through their blogs discussing infertility. A few women got together to demonstrate their common bond to each other. That's where the pomegranate thread bracelets come in. You can find out more about Infertility's Common Thread at Melissa's blog. Many thanks to Dmarie at Bella Vida for her offer of free bracelets. I got mine today and will start wearing it as soon as I can tie it on.

I also just finished a good book for those just discovering their infertility. The Infertility Survival Handbook by Elizabeth Swire Falker covers in a conversational but still educational tone all of the tests, procedures and FAQs that couples encounter when they need technology to help them conceive. There is also a website that gives more information.

The Business of Being Born

The weekend before JD went into surgery, we were able to see a sneak preview of The Business of Being Born. This movie was conceived of (no pun intended) and produced by Ricki Lake. The movie discusses the many problems that surround birth in hospitals and advocates for midwives, natural childbirth, and homebirth.

I found the movie incredibly interesting, but was glad that I did not come to the movie completely uninformed. I find that this movie is not for the person who knows nothing about homebirth, because it doesn't cover the negative and positive aspects of homebirth vs. hospital birth adequately (though it does try). If you are interested in homebirth, my advice is to read Henci Goer's The Thinking Woman's Guide to a Better Birth. This book covers (in detail) the pros and cons of many different approaches to birth.

My History
Because my mother used natural childbirth for all three of her children, I come to this table as a believer in natural childbirth. MIL had both babies by C-section (one after many hours of labor, and JD's was scheduled). Also, SIL (JD's sister) had her oldest at a birthing center (not a hospital), but she and her husband chose a homebirth for their second baby. SIL is a great advocate of homebirth.

After speaking many times with my mother, MIL and SIL and doing a lot of research on my part, I am convinced that, if I am able to do so, I would like to give birth at home with a midwife. I was already of that mindset when I saw the movie, and the movie reinforced my thoughts on the subject.

John Dear was very skeptical about the idea of a homebirth, but after lots of discussions with him of my research and after seeing the movie, he is willing to go along with me.

For more information on the movie, please visit The Business of Being Born. Pictures courtesy of the website.

24 - Day 7 Preview

The preview for the newest season (Day 7) of 24 ran during the seventh inning of the World Series game. It is a must-see. Check out who we're fighting this year!

Both JD's family and mine have become 24 fanatics, but my brother and I have been watching right from the beginning. Here's hoping that this season will be better than last year's. One of the problems with the later seasons of 24 is that they really moved away from verisimilitude. In Day 1, I think the writers tried to have a realistic sense of what could happen in only one day. By Day 6 (hell, by Day 2), not so much. Let's see Jack eat or walk into a bathroom in Day 7!!

Also, I'm interested to see how they screw up locations and traffic times in the DC area, since the show will be set in the good ol' District of Columbia. Our traffic is better than LA's, but not by much.

Many thanks to Margalit for posting the link to the preview up on her blog.

G-D Bless Everyone

Even though they may never see this post, I want to send my heartfelt thanks to them out to the universe:

John Dear's doctors and nurses at the hospital who, despite bureaucratic screw ups and a cranky patient, tried to make the experience of JD's surgery as painless (for me and for JD) as possible.

The nurses at our local ER who took a screaming-in-pain John Dear at 4:30 AM back to a doctor before a man with a stab wound (the wound had been stabilized).

The orthopedic resident at the ER who cut open JD's bandages and assured the both of us that JD was healing well and that the pain was not from surgery, but instead, from gout.

Each and every member of our families, for sitting with JD, laundry duties, tons of dinners for the fridge and moral support. I would have had a nervous breakdown without you!!

Finally, to all the friends who sent good wishes our way -- we appreciate your thoughts and crossed fingers.

Am I in Guantanamo?

When a loved one has outpatient surgery and you are the primary caregiver, sleep is a precious jewel. Sleep is a precious jewel that you don't have and have only heard about from people who don't have a loved one keeping them up at night like some sort of secret police investigator interrogating a terrorist.

That is one of the things they do to torture people, you know? Sleep deprivation? Learn it, live it, hate it and anyone who prevents you from sleeping.

John Dear's pain has now stabilized and he is much more aware of how often he requests a fluffed pillow, more water, help to the bathroom, etc. But last week? Well, he's lucky he got through last week, because I almost killed him (and everyone else).

It's not that JD was impolite in his requests, more that they came so often that I didn't have a second to sit down. We both questioned how we could possibly raise children when I clearly cannot function without a full night's sleep. Plus, I was an enormous "not-good person" (rhymes with witch).

Now that I've had several full nights of sleep, I am back to my usual polished-halo self.