Yay, I got sleep!
Ramzubo: Everything is going pretty well now. I'm glad to be able to relax just a little bit. I can see where sunny all the time could get old . . . but it's sunny here most days of the year (maybe 300), and it's still not too much for me! But yeah, the short days are tough. I think they're the reason that I like sun so much. And I know just what you mean about they symptoms. Yeah, I was gassy last cycle . . . and the cycle before, and the one before that . . . it's really hard to tell the pertinent stuff from the noise. The last month I went ahead and recorded that stuff anyway, even though it didn't seem to mean much. There were one or two things different than previous months, but not enough to think that it was more than chance. Hopefully your maybe/maybe not signs come up positive for you! I've actually been on Ravelry for a long time, too, but I hadn't ever done anything at all with it until a month or two ago. I just like their pattern search feature, really.
Birdie.lee: Yay for so positive! I think that's great. On the topic of looking at old posts, I thought of you (and felt more normal) while I was reading last year's November DDC and seeing how many of them had babies. The vast majority now have babies, even the ones that felt unsure like me, and I felt reassured. So thanks for keeping me from feeling like a creepy lurker and more like a normal person with valid concerns, and allowing myself to just be reassured. I didn't go forward with my elimination diet, because you're not supposed to start one while pregnant, but I think I'm getting close to figuring out my rash triggers anyway. My sister has a reaction to red wine (a rash) and a lesser one to white wine. Wine has tannins, histamines, and sulfites as likely culprits. I'm pretty sure I have a problem with onions (especially uncooked), which contain sulfur compounds, and uncooked ones contain more. Yesterday morning I ate eggs (which contain a bit of sulfur) and dried fruit (which contains a ton of sulfites) and my rash got ten times worse in the afternoon, after it has been holding steady for a few weeks. So, maybe sulfites. I will avoid them for a few days (easy compared to wheat and milk!) and try dried fruit again to see. I sure hope your elimination diet is working for you, and that you wind up having easy-to-avoid triggers - like beets or something. I can see loving thunderstorms, too. There have been a few thunderstorms in my life that were so awe-inspiring . . . but up here they're usually in the afternoon (so you can't see the lightning) and cold, so you don't want to go out and watch them anyway. Texas, when I lived there, had some awesome thunderstorms! I'm amused that you made hubby accidentally watch a birth event. That would be a bit surprising.
Cristini: I hope business time is going well for you. I can definitely see choosing Caribbean weather. And yeah, ten years of a sweltering apartment almost certainly did change your body's "expected" external temperature. That's why people from Texas think it's freezing here, even when it's not winter, and I thought Texas was unbearably hot. You could theoretically reset it again, but you would have to be just as uncomfortable on the cold side as you were on the hot. Yuck. Getting a place in the dominican republic seems like a fine solution . . . I might even be a little jealous. Thanks for the story about your sister. I'm always interested in what motivates people to do things differently than I would . . . it sounds like her whole set of motivations is different than mine. Anyway, I hope it goes smoothly for her, whichever way it ends up happening. And I hope you can keep from becoming too thoroughly enmeshed in her drama! I'm glad you didn't miss a fertile day . . . but even if you had, you would have still had a pretty good chance to get pregnant . . . it worked for us!
Bel: Hello, our dear lurker! Not thinking about it so much is probably a wise decision. I hear that's what makes it happen for a lot of people. Anyway, whether it happens right away or not, we'll be here to cheer you on. And it will happen eventually. Hugs!
Boots: Yay, boots for president! We already know you love us, and we love you too! Nonetheless, I think you will make a wonderful, consciencious threadkeeper. I think it's so sweet that you dreamed about it. Sorry about the bitchy white sticks (that's the perfect word for them, isn't it). I hope you get to the end of this cycle, one way or the other, soon. I'm imagining you not testing until day 100 and then being . . . what is that, just over three months pregnant? I guess it's nearly four months. Wouldn't you be surprised! Anyway, that's the outcome I'm really hoping for for you, but if that isn't going to happen then I hope you get AF right away so you can give it another whirl. Don't feel bad about being home yesterday, if you thought you wouldn't be able to go in, then it made sense to call a sub. And if you recover for a bit longer, maybe you'll stay well for longer! That is, indeed a weird dream. It sounds like some of it (like the unbelievable BFP) is pretty relevant to your life. My dreams seldom have so much relevance. Last night I dreamt (this is weird, be warned) that I was watching TV (which I don't really do) and the show that was on was some kind of weird ultra-Christian porn. Yeah, with women talking about God in sexy voices and sexy poses, but fully clothed . . . it was incredibly creepy. Creepy! I laughed at your being enraged at the honey in the sandwich - maybe you ARE pregnant, I hear that makes us likely to get enraged about minor things. Snoring cats crack me up! Also, YAY for month-long party!
rush2ady: Yay, you're still here! I mean, it would be even better if you were in a DDC, but hey, I'm glad you're still keeping up with us. I know what you mean about the inner battle and this thread. I was the same way for months. I was interested in how everyone was doing, but I didn't want to make my obsessing any worse than it already was. And it's funny how "unlikely" conception really is in any given month, yet nearly everyone trying does eventually get pregnant. Tell your husband to save his 2x a month for when you have an infant - right now he should be getting all he can, because there's gonna be a while there when he won't be able to anymore! I don't think your MIL has jinxed you (although she might have tried, by the sounds of her), but I do think that probably her being in the same house has a negative effect on your (and your husband's) sex drive . . . which definitely decreases your chances. I've never been comfortable DTD with my MIL in the same house, and she's not . . . mean, like it sounds like your MIL really is. Mean was the nicest word I could come up with. 
I'm very glad for you that she is moving soon. Less stress means more baby dancing, and higher probability of success thereof! Thanks for the sticky vibes . . . I'll send you "oust the MIL" vibes as well as the usual baby dust!
Val: Hiya, lady! It was nice of you to share that story about your friend! And you have great willpower, I would have totally blabbed to her as soon as she told me she was pregnant.
Northstar: Wow, you tested starting on 6 dpo! You have a way higher constitution than I do. By about the third negative test I would have had a nervous breakdown. I know nothing of those meds regarding TTC. I hope you can find answers! Sorry about AF. On to the next cycle!
Calycanth: Ah, man! That's a pretty long power outage. I hope everything came back online in time for your company to arrive. I'm glad you have friends whose power didn't go out to couch-surf with. My parents and sister (and a whole schwack of other people) had their power go kaput with the big Arkansas/Oklahoma ice storm two years ago . . . I think my sister's was out for about 4 or 5 days (and they have electric heat) and my parents' was out for over a week - eight days, I think. They live out in the country, so they weren't high on the power company's list. At least they have wood heat, though. I was in the airport on my way there when they got hit the worst, so we all stayed at my parents' house in a big sleepover while the power was out. It was cozy . . . and they only had heat, no power, so we played a lot of boardgames by lantern-light. It actually has good memories for me, but that's because I was there seeing my neice for the first time . . . I think the memories would have been just as good without the ice storm. Nonetheless, it's kind of nice how stuff like that brings people together . . . at least there's one nice thing about it. I hope you aren't out for the month, and that that's the best kind of spotting. But if you are, I'm sure rooting for you for the next cycle. It's harder to stay relaxed about it when you have a deadline, isn't it? As a backup plan, is there any way you can arrange to visit your husband in the field for at least one of the relevant times? Depending on where in the Arctic he is, there's some pretty fantastic places to visit up there anyway . . . if you can swing it with your work. I don't know how busy you might be in the summers.
Catheleni: I can definitely agree with you about the "novel" weather thing. I even like raindays, as long as there's not more than one overcast day in a row. And winter is okay, beautiful really, for about a month, maybe even two. By the fourth or fifth month it's getting pretty old. I was more hormonal/depressed last cycle than pretty much EVER before, my mood on 6dpo was friggin' AWFUL . . . I thought it was a shame that my PMS seemed to be starting earlier and earlier and hitting me harder and harder. I think they say that you get bigger hormone surges in pregnancy cycles, even before implantation, so it's possible that that's a very good sign, even though it sucks to have to try and get through it. I'm sorry you're still feeling frustrated about your husband's reaction to your hormones. I think most men are a little baffled about what to do, and some of them deal with it by taking it out on you (like you're not already in a bad enough place!) I'm not sure that you're saying that, but regardless, fighting is no fun for anyone. I am so, so sorry you have to try to deal with the mother of that poor child. It's so infuriating that people can be so cruel to their children with no consequences. And that they can blame others for their actions - she should have thought about getting reported before she hit her kid. I'm sure she has problems too, but it is so unfair to let her pass those problems on to her kids, especially when there are couples who would love to look after those kids the way every person deserves. My dad was a social worker, very briefly, because he couldn't handle the frustration. Don't feel bad for bumming us out - that's part of our reality, and ignoring it certainly won't make it go away.
Tickletoes: One is, indeed, all it takes. So hopefully you didn't O quite yet and get a few more tries, but if you didn't, you've still got a just fine chance. Holy moley, do you ever have a lot of homework! I'm so glad to be done that. And to think, I planned to go on and do my Master's . . . I'm glad my hubby talked me out of it.
nmouse: Will do, with the moving you! California really does have fantastic weather. The light there, especially in northern California, is really special. If it were just about weather, I would move there in a heartbeat . . . but it's too expensive and crowded for me. I love the dowsing for genders cupcake idea . . . I hope you don't mind if I steal it. Of course, I might have to modify it so I get more than one measly little cupcake.
LivingSky: Yeah, I'm not pleased about the weather's decision to get cold again. I would kind of like to be going out and walking my dog in the sunshine (at least it's sunny!) but it's too darned cold. I don't want to get more than about 5 feet from our stove. Ah well, it could be worse, it could be -30. At least it's sunny. I'll just keep repeating that to myself, because it makes a huge difference to me. And to the critters - they have all been standing in front of the south face of the barn, soaking up the rays, for the past few days. I like fall, but I like spring even more - there's just so much hope and renewal in the air in spring here, everything is just rushing to grow. It's frenetic, and I like it. Really, I like it all, although winter is too long, but I think spring is my favorite. Probably because winter is too long! I can't wait until you find out the sex on Tuesday! Not that it matters to me in the least, just because that is one thing that makes it seem more real. I'm glad you like checking my chart to see the green line get longer. Me too! Hopefully soon I'll want to stop, because I think I still have the capacity to be worried by a lower temperature, but I really wished I had temped up to my miscarriage, for some reason. So I don't want to stop just yet, I just want to keep it up. And it does make me feel better, because every day I add on is one more day towards relative safety!
AFM: I'm feeling pretty good. I'm tired and craving seaweed (I've been eating sushi nori - just the seaweed with no filling - with soy sauce. Yum!) and beef jerky. I'm trying to keep a little bit active but stop if I get tired or if I feel twinges. I'm still super-paranoid, really, but I'm feeling cautiously hopeful too. The more people I talk to, the more I realize that we may have very early miscarriages pretty often, and that most people go on to have babies just fine after that. My best friend told me her mom had two early miscarriages before she had her first baby, my MIL had one between her kids (if she wouldn't have had that miscarriage then my husband wouldn't exist - there's a funny way to look at it), a lot of the people in last year's November DDC had previous miscarriages but went on to have their babies that time. Yes, I stalked them enough to check. It made me feel way better. Anyway, while I hope that no more of us have to go through that, those that have can rest assured that it doesn't mean anything negative about their ability to have children. And if (god forbid) it does happen to anyone else here, feel sad but don't feel hopeless!
I'm planning to start doing abdominal excercises today. . . I really should have been doing them all along, but i didn't want to do too much to prepare, in case I was just setting myself up for disappointment. I'm going to try to get into a routine of mild exercise and yoga every day. I don't want to overdo it, because that worries me, but I shouldn't just sit around either - then when I get to 9 months I'm going to be unable to walk, and giving birth will be way harder! I think I'm doing pretty well at drinking enough water and eating well. I sure hope I don't get sick for all the last 8 months like my sister did - I'm here alone for the summer. I don't think I will. But, she didn't think she would either. I think I'm going to have an uneventful pregnancy like my best friend. That's my goal, and I'm going to use the power of positive thinking to acheive it!
Today, on the 28th day of my cycle, I just got my period. Sad thing was I thought I had implantation bleeding on Tuesday and even Thursday morning b/c it was literally two dots and dark. But yesterday afternoon my trip to the ladies room (sorry if this is TMI) I passed what looked like two tiny clear bits...my heart sank. Probably nothing but then...AF!
sorry 
showed her face! The first few months off of BC are often frustrating because of inconsistent cycles 
I guess I'll give the standard answer - try to keep BDing, it certainly won't hurt your chances? If it were my chart, I would think O was impending. But I can't be sure of that!
I think you're Oing as I write this - but no matter what, I'm looking at your stats.. ovulation pain. The other months show O around CD 15/17 - and I think your BD timing is right on the mark. High temp, followed by a low temp and two higher temps. Tomorrow, I think you'll get crosshairs. 
+ OPK last night and this morning.. we have nothing to lose.. XOXOX
Follow Mothering