Pregnancy Loss Day: My Story

Last year, when I was reading BlogHer, I came across the information that October 15th was Pregnancy Loss Day. I decided right then and there that I would write about my baby, in time for October 15th of 2015, my 25th year after the miscarriage.

Let's start at the beginning. I am the mother of an almost 25 year old. 2 weeks to go, in that regard. He is my Halloween baby, who was originally due on New Year's Day. Thankfully for us...he chose a much better day to be born.

Earlier this year, it was the 25th anniversary of the day that my Husband and I saw our son for the first time.

Actually, we can't confirm which one is actually our son, since as you can see in the ultrasound, there are 2 babies who were in existence at that time.

I tend to think that the larger one, is my son...but God only knows for sure.

The day that this ultrasound was taken, happened to be the day that puppeteer Jim Henson died. We heard the news on KNX 1070 that morning, as we drove down into the Valley. You may wonder why we had to drive all that distance, but my doctor was there and you go where the doctor is.

We were so happy to see that we had twins growing and nothing could make us upset that day. It had been a long time coming...3 years, to be exact.

We had some help along the way, but it was not easy to accomplish and we ended up never doing it again. It was nothing majorly exotic, like you hear about today, but we did have a bit of help in the way of fertility treatments. This pregnancy took, whereas the others never got to the point of even making an egg that we could fertilize.

It was April when we had a round of fertility drugs and they gave me a shot, to kick start ovulation. I call them my Passover babies...because they were conceived the week of Passover. One of the many ironies, that this pregnancy had. Shortly after, they gave me a hormone test and I came back not pregnant. At that point they did something called an endometrial biopsy of the uterus. They told me that I would bleed a little and I did...but I never had my period. So a few weeks later, they decide to try to find out what is going on and that was when this photo was taken, on the morning of May 16th.

We now knew that we were pregnant and it was twins. Things went along fine, until early June. I had some bleeding and mentioned it to my OB/Gyn at my July appointment. When he listened for a heartbeat, there was only one. Our second ultrasound about a month later confirmed the fact that yes, there was one now, where there had been two.

We were saddened, but we were also so glad that we still had a healthy child growing. Summer turned into Fall and I began to get large. Just large enough to begin wearing maternity clothes and pose with a pumpkin in front of my house.

About 2 weeks later (as I mentioned in THIS and THIS post), I had my baby at 32 weeks gestation.

He was almost 4 lbs, so definitely viable, but sometimes I wonder what would have happened, if I had continued to carry both babies.

I really believe that God was watching over him. As they say, all things are possible with God.

I had my one baby and I had hoped to try, one more time, for another...but life, lack of money and medical problems put that to an end by age 40.

I cried when I agreed to the surgery, but I truly believe it was for the best.

To my baby, who did not make it. I thank you so much for all you did, to get my son to the point were he could survive and thrive. My levels were not registering that I was even pregnant. Just imagine if I had only had one, at that time. I probably would have miscarried him.

I believe my other baby, made it all possible.

Thank you, I love you.

Will Steely Dan Be Able To Top The "Rarities And Unreleased" Show?

The 17th of October will be the ultimate Steely Dan fan event. Labeled: The Most Unforgettable Night of Whatever - Featuring Spectacular Musical Guests, Glorious Tunes and Riffage, and Whatever the Party Calls for! Special Guest Madeleine Peyroux opens.

To say the least, if I had a single dollar to scrape together, I would be there...but I don't and so I won't.

As we the fans ramp up for this stellar event, I saw a copy of the setlist that was played at the Rarities and Unreleased concert, 4 years ago. I was in attendance at that show and wrote about it many places, especially my review of the full concert, HERE.

It is not often that I cry at a concert...but I did indeed cry at this one. To hear a song that I never thought I would ever hear live, from the original members of the band who created it, was very emotional to me. I will never forget that night.

Can they top this show? I have absolutely no idea, but I would love to be there to hear what they put together.

Hopefully someone gets video of some of the gems that will be played.

I can't wait to hear about it.

A Power Outage

This was not the way I expected to post today. If I manage to get some power, this will post as is normal.

Otherwise, you will see it when you see it.

My Husband sent us a message around 1pm yesterday and told us that we lost power. I wasn’t too worried, since I figured it would come back soon. Hopefully, before I arrived at home.

That was not the case and plan B had to be put into effect. Pick up some food for the 3 of us to eat and try not to open the fridge.

My son, after eating and taking a shower, drove over to my Magic “Son’s” house to use their power and Internet connection. We were not as lucky.

It is a totally local power outage and they say they have got much of it back. We are not in that group.

Hopefully by 12:00am, as they mentioned in an update from earlier in the day.

Pray for the food.

Update: Power returned 11:30PM. A first glance at the fridge seems to indicate that we survived. Yay.

It could have been so much worse.

An article about the outage, is HERE.

New London Harbor Lighthouse

My Water Post For Today.

My brother-in-law came to see me. I had no idea why.

He took me up to the front of the ferry boat that we were riding in and off on the left side of the ferry, you could see a lighthouse.

It looked the most traditional, to me and I got a few photos of it, but did not know what lighthouse it was.

After a bit of searching, I found out that it is the New London Harbor Lighthouse.

It is not the clearest photo, due to us moving so much and the fact that we were far from shore, even then.

But I like it and I hope you do to.

Enjoy.

Art Deco And The Empire State Building

My Magic "Son" just returned from a whirlwind trip around the East Coast (and a stop in Chicago).

One of the things that was mentioned in the conversation about what he saw in New York, was the interior of the Empire State Building.

All 4 of us we so impressed with the Art Deco look in the lobby of that building. He went to the top during his tour, but my Husband and I just spent about 10 minutes taking photos of the many things you can see inside the lobby. We saved $50 and totally enjoyed our time there.

My real son, who was not with us, made the comment that he adores Art Deco and that it is his favorite architectural style.

I think I totally agree.

A few places my son has been to, over the years, that gave him some concrete examples of Art Deco:

30 Rock (where NBC lives)

and Hoover Dam.

Great looking structures. My kid has great taste. :-)

LA Dodgers vs NY Mets 2015

Well, my two teams are playing each other in the first round of the playoffs.

I have no idea how to behave and I find myself sort of rooting for the Dodgers (since that is what I do all year).

I admit that I am not sad that the Mets won the first game, but it is sad that I find myself not rooting for them.

It definitely looses something, when you don't scream and shout for your team.

Good luck to you both in game two and may the best team win.

Decorating The House For Fall (2015)

I have shown this off before (the large pumpkin and the fall leaves in my window), especially HERE.

My house does not change much now days, as I mentioned in this post from the past. I do the same things every year and it suits me. From what he said, when I bought my one pumpkin for the house, my Husband thinks I am nuts. :-)

The toll that the drought is taking on my lawn is getting worse and that is after I had planted grass in the bare spots last fall. A funny story about that grass seed. I bought a bag of low water grass seed and it grew at the beginning and then it died. I was sad, but that is life. Next thing I know, I get a notice that I am in a class action in regard to those seeds. It seems the company lied about it needing less water and people called them on it. Maybe I will get a few bucks, from my buying those seeds last year. Who knows.

On another note about grass and seeds: Just shoot me now, I am thinking of planting seed again, this year. The El Niño they are predicting, will need grass to keep the dirt from becoming mud and flowing downhill. I would prefer that most of my lawn be there and established by January. The traditional start of El Niño season.

Anyway, enjoy the season of pumpkins and falling leaves.

McGraw Hill Water Tunnel

We were walking down 49th Street, while in New York City in July. Suddenly, we see this pocket park over to the left. it had a really cool plexiglass tunnel, that allows you to walk through a wall of water.

Unfortunately, you really don't see the water enough to make it a water post, but it is still a really interesting park to walk through and (as we did) stop and have some lunch there.

I totally believe this tunnel was in the old school open of Sesame Street, back in the 80's or 90's. At least that is what my fading memory says to me.

I hope you like it.

"McGraw Hill Water Tunnel - this mini waterfall tunnel connects 48th and 49th Streets. As you cross over, you'll walk through a transparent plexiglass tunnel under a waterfall wall. Don't worry, you won't get wet, but maybe splashed a little if you're close enough. Many stop to take photos of this hidden gem, so a trip here may require a tad bit of patience."

It Seems To Be Layoff Season

Usually layoffs occur at the end of the fiscal year, or when there are serious money problems that need to be addressed in a hurry. The fastest way to solve all your problems in the short term, is to lay off staff. The words used are usually "right sizing the company for future growth".

You know it is coming, you live through it (or don't) and the office goes back to normal, for another 9 months or so.

What seems to be taking the place of the massive layoffs, is a new way of culling the herd. Laying off just a few people at a time.

You come in to work normally and you find out that several people are gone. No announcements are made and you are left to figure things out on your own.

You get used to the new way to do business and then a few more people are let go.

It seems to be almost every pay period, you lose a few staff members and it just doesn't stop.

Companies are starting to do this, to keep their names out of the newspapers. If no one knows exactly what is going on, newspapers have a hard time writing it up. Gone are the days of horror, when layoffs happen. Newspapers screaming the numbers and making things even worse.

In a reversal to this new way of doing things, Tribune goes old school.

The latest layoff announcement came out yesterday and in stark contrast to the situation I was just talking about, this announcement was made in a newspaper.

The Los Angeles Times is trying to get rid of their older, veteran journalists, by giving them a very generous buyout. They want the serious journalists out and the faster, the better.

Digital media has much lower standards of journalistic integrity and the most push back you get, is from people who have spent their careers living by their writing. They don't agree with just throwing out articles, without sufficient fact checking and sending out copy without someone who is an editor, checking it over for clarity.

Well, I think we can see what direction the LA Times wishes to go in. Schlock journalism, sort of like Yahoo does (read their comments, to get a hint as to how bad they can be). The more you make the headline into click bait, the better it is. Standards be damned.

The way you can catch such articles is that they rely on spell check and guess what, it does not catch all the mistakes. That is what will become more and more common place.

It is a real shame on their part.

Honey Garlic Chicken With Ginger

In addition to the recent recipe of Meatball Stroganoff, which I wrote about last week, I also made this recipe for Chicken.

Not to turn you off to the recipe, but there was a lot of lime juice in this recipe. That may have been my fault, because I did add a little extra, since I bought 5 limes and used 3 of them. So I would suggest going easy on the lime.

This recipe calls for 3 lbs of Chicken Wings or a whole Chicken, cut up into pieces. I cut the breasts in half for this, to keep the cooking time close for all parts.

Marinade

Zest of 2 Limes
1/3 cup of Lime Juice
1/4 cup of Honey
2 Garlic Cloves, crushed
1/4 tsp Tabasco Sauce
1 slice of Ginger
Salt to taste

Directions

Mix the marinade ingredients together and put about 2/3rds of it into a zip lock bag. Add the chicken and marinate for 3 to 4 hours.

Place onto a cookie sheet with the bottom side up, or on a rack in a roasting pan. If using a cookie sheet, line the pan with aluminum foil.

Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes.

Turn the chicken (skin side up) and brush with the reserved marinade.

Return to oven and cook for another 20 or 30 minutes, or until done. Temp for white meat at 180F and dark meat at 165F.

Wings will cook faster than the pieces of chicken.

Back To Lake Charles, Louisiana

My Water Post For Today.

The Lake Charles area of Louisiana has been highlighted before in THIS post.

When I was showing off the area, I highlighted the casino, over on the shoreline.

This photo shows off the bridge to I-10 and the marshland, close to the rail road tracks.

You do realize that there may be alligators in them there waters? :-)

I think it is a beautiful photo of the water and the clouds in the sky.

I hope you enjoy.

My 22nd Order From Abundant Harvest Organics

It's Pomegranate time!

Or at least that is what they tell me.

Yes, 3 weeks have gone by and it is produce time, again.

Here's what came in my box.

3 Eggplant

1 bunch of Black Grapes

1 bunch of Dinosaur Kale

5 Pears

2 Pomegranates

1 bunch of Basil

1 head of Romaine Lettuce

2 Slicing Cucumbers

3 Summer Squash

2 Sweet Potatoes

2 Tomatoes

The slicing cucumbers look just like the picklings cucumbers I got last time. Whatever. We will attempt to eat them.

The Black Grapes have seeds in them, so you do have to be careful. No problem and they taste good.

I may make pesto from the basil. Very fragrant.

Romaine Lettuce! I don't believe it. Already ate some.

Yes, I got 2 of the pomegranates and I have more ideas for this year. Last year I froze them and used them in my cranberry sauce. It was fine, but not a hit with my Husband. I am sure I will get something going, like jelly, or even a marinade for chicken.

All in all, a good box. See you next time.

Super Moon In The Morning

The big event (moon wise) was last Sunday night and as a matter of fact, my Husband and I kissed under the reappearing Super Moon, Blood Red Moon, Full Moon, whatever.

Unfortunately for us, we did not get a good photo of it.

The next morning, before the sun came up, I went to retrieve the paper and saw that the moon was still way up in the sky.

I waited until the sun rose and was rewarded with a stunning full Super Moon bathed in the pink colors of the dawn.

Quite impressive and worth the time it took to go out and see it.

Meatball Stroganoff

I was cooking a few new recipes for our Sunday dinner. One was a marinated chicken recipe, that I will deal with another day and then there was this one. It said from start to finish it took just over a half hour and that sounded like a great last minute recipe. Especially after dealing with so much else on Sunday afternoon.

I wasn't sure if my guys would go for it, but it was a BIG HIT!

I heartly recommend the recipe and yes, go with the packaged meatballs. They work so well with this. I use Rosina's Italian Meatballs and heat them up (to remove any fat) before adding them to either sauce or this gravy.

Meatball Stroganoff

Prep Time: 10 min(s)
Cook Time: 25 min(s)
Total Time: 35 min(s)
Servings: 6-8

  This from scratch stroganoff sauce is made from sauteing onions and mushrooms with fresh thyme, sour cream, beef broth, and dry sherry. Spooned over egg noodles, this beef stroganoff makes the perfect family dinner.

Ingredients

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 medium onion, finely chopped

Salt and pepper

1 pound sliced button mushrooms

2 tablespoons butter

5 sprigs fresh thyme

1/3 cup dry sherry

2 cups beef broth

¾ cup sour cream

2 tablespoons cornstarch

2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

1 pound Italian or Swedish meatballs, cooked according to package instructions

1 pound wide egg noodles, cooked al dente according to package instructions

Optional garnish: chopped parsley, sour cream, and fresh thyme sprigs

Instructions

Turn the stove to medium-high heat and drizzle the oil in a large saute pan.

Saute the onions for 5 minutes then season with salt and pepper.

Add the mushrooms, butter. and thyme. Stir the mixture.

Reduce the heat to medium-low and cover the pan.  Allow the mushrooms to reduce and release their liquid, stirring occasionally.  Cook for 15 minutes.

In a medium bowl whisk the sherry, broth, Worcestershire sauce, and corn starch. When the mixture is smooth without any lumps, whisk in the sour cream.

Slowly add the broth mixture to the mushroom mixture and stir until well combine.  Add the meatballs and reduce the heat to low.  Allow the sauce to slowly simmer for 10 minutes.

Spoon the sauce and meatballs over cooked pasta.

Garnish with parsley, a dollop of sour cream, and fresh thyme.

Me and the Dwarfs, One Year Later

A new month has begun and this month brings me to my Van Pool Anniversary. As of the end of October, I have been riding the Disney Van for 1 full year.

I have kept you up to date on the fact that our old van was retired and we got a brand new van, in July. The only problem with the new van, is it is cheaply made and it has springs that make the van bounce all the time. Not great for reading, in my humble opinion.

Things that have made me so much happier, I am good friends with the people on the van and we enjoy the experience of riding together.

Though next winter may end up being a bit of a challenge, with the predicted El Nino, coming our way.

Otherwise, bring on year two!