kettunainen, posts by tag: fam - LiveJournal

Can I just say once again how much I LOVE FAM [fertility awareness method]? I Love it. I do I do I do.

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Amazing progress has been made on our wee apartment in the past week. Two rooms have been rearranged and have had new furniture added to them and the hallway has been completely transformed from a Goodwill-dumping-ground to an actual hallway. Yay! N's room looks fanTABulous! with new-to-us bed and Ivar all around. Very open and spacious. It feels so much better than it did previously. Good energy now. My and L's bedroom is still in the process of transforming. I have a wall of closet, thanks to Ikea and Mr. N, who graciously assembled the fucking behemoth. I can now hang up EVERYTHING. It's a bit excessinve, I admit, but I'm making up for the past four years of not really being able to hang up ANYTHING.

I did yoga on Saturday for the first time in two weeks, and I did it again today. I'm avoiding the poses that fucked up my leg, but I'm generally happy that I'm getting back into it. I need to come up with a regimen, though. I can't stick with the one in the back of my yoga book, because my body can't handle right now, so I'm floundering. I need to coallesce my repertoire into something more succint and appropriate for morning workouts.

And I DID ovulate. The confusion I was experiencing with my basal body temperature was due to low post-ovulatory progesterone. Hopefully, hormone levels and cervical fluid will begin to normalize a bit in the coming cycles. Regardless, I'm bleeding now in what is my first real period in two years. This is both terribly exciting and supremely annoying. My skin hasn't broken out this badly in SO LONG! And my moods have been swingier than I'd like (shit, I actually cried, at one point! gah!). I'm now drinking red raspberry leaf tea for the second day in a row in the hopes that any cramping I have will be lessened.

I have an interview tomorrow for a job I applied for in early June. The only job I've applied for. This is the second interview. As far as I know, it's between me and one other person out of 160 applicants. Because I've waited this long, if I don't get this job, I'm going to be supremely pissed off. I could really use more money now. There are so many things I need to take care of financially that I haven't been able to for some time now. Argh! Think good thoughts for me tomorrow, please! I want this job!

I also find it highly ironic that I will likely feel like absolute shite tomorrow during my interview due to my very-well-timed period. Thank you, Murphy.

I'm feeling ever so much not myself today. Really kinda down. This may be due to over-consumption of sugar in the past several days or maybe I DID ovulate and now I'm PMSing. I really don't know. I think I'm going to latch on to the possibility of PMS because thinking I ovulated makes me feel better. I feel weepy and unmotivated and generally pissy, and if this were a typical cycle, I'd be starting on Monday, so I'd definitely be PMSing. Let's just pretend that that's what's going on. With a little sugar on top.

I have a ton and a half of stuff to do.

I got news from Missouri re my fingerprints -- I have to redo them on THEIR special fingerprints cards. What fucking bastards! Now I have to go to the place where I got the other prints done and see if he'll do them again for free or for a reduced rate. Otherwise, it's ANOTHER $40 or whatever. I'm pretty pissed about it. I just hope that everything is ok with the Kansas prints. I'm tired of everything taking so fucking long. I'm REALLY TIRED of dealing with bureaucracy. All I want is my PR card. PLEASE?! It's been long enough!

And this week I have to call about scheduling a second interview for the job I applied for way the fuck back in early June. I'm annoyed that she wants me to call to arrange this. I figure if she really wanted someone for the position, then it'd be near the top of her list of priorities. It feels like a mind game, and I REALLY HATE mind games. Yes, I'll call. I'm not an idiot.

Lynx and I picked optimystik up from the airport last night. He took an earlier flight, so he was able to be home by 11 instead of by 3 or 4am the following morning. And he had originally taken today off from work, but things got screwed up before he left, so he had to go into work today. Dammit, there were things I really needed his help with today! I was very much looking forward to having him here.

Fie fie fie.

I haven't been able to do yoga in over a week and I'm pretty peeved about it. My left front groin is all out of whack from overdoing it (by doing the regular amount suggested instead of taking it more slowly) with certain asanas. Sometimes it hurts to walk and I have to limp along like a sad little clown. I will have to get back into the groove and skip the asanas that fucked up my leg. These are also the asanas that build abdominal muscles like nobody's business. I'm sad to have to let them go. I was hoping for more definition, but I'm not going to get it at the price of walking!

And I'm REALLY TIRED of people not questioning authority. I'll get more into this in the coming months. Fucking chaps my hide, it does. And it makes more work for me. I get tired of educating people. I really, really do. But then if I don't on certain topics, then I'm seen as negligent, reckless, and irresponsible. Fucking hell.

Had a beautiful time there outdoors. Everything is so alive and wonderful and I felt it so much more keenly this time (grâce à Spell of the Sensuous, sans doûte). Went kayaking yesterday for the first time in 2 years. Still have a bit of water phobia (more things-in-the-water phobia, really), which I will someday explore more fully. But not now.

Amazing event this weekend: KISKA SWAM! Our little princess of a dog who walks around puddles on the sidewalk got in the lake water and tried to swim to us while we were kayaking. She did this multiple times, even, so it wasn't just a one-off fluke. I'm so proud of her! The only thing left to do is get her to fetch. Then she'll be a Real Dog (TM). Kidding aside, I'm really happy that she's trying new things. Every year, she gets more and more relaxed and confident. It's such an awesome process to watch.

We brought home garden-fresh cucumbers, hand-picked blueberries, and teeeeeeeeny tiny baby carrots that are almost too cute to eat (but they're crazy sweet, so they'll definitely get eaten!). I look forward to having my own garden someday. I would grow greens and squash and carrots and beans and peas.

I did NOT ovulate. My temperature did a weird flux thing, so my body is still horked from hormones. I tried not to get my hopes up but I should know myself better by now, and, as such, am slightly disappointed. I will likely not ovulate this month. I'm hoping for timely anovulatory bleeding, though, instead of irritating extend-a-cycle. Will ultimately be happy if I ovulate sometime within September. Will be very disappointed if I don't, but life will go on regardless.

Got a great book of shamanic stories from the Arctic Tikigak people. Haven't started the actual stories yet, but I read the intro about their culture and customs. They were polyamorous! To a degree, that is. Couples would hook up with other couples on a long-term basis and trade partners. Yeah, it was hetero-centric, but the reason they did it was to preserve marital happiness. How very practical! From what I gather, it was a common enough practice that it didn't make waves in the community when such a thing occurred. Wives would also be sent to live with other neighbouring tribes to promote good relations. Not sure how I would feel were I the wife being sent off, but it still seems quite practical.

Anyhow, I very much enjoyed a weekend away with my wife and our dog. We should do this more often. Also looking forward to seeing N. again on Wednesday.

Hope everyone had a good long weekend. Time for more reading!

It's been a billion.5 degrees lately and the one food I crave? SALSA. The hottest salsa I can find.

Fuck me, I'm brilliant. (yeah, yeah, I know there is a certain logic to this: hot foods = sweat = cooler exterior temperature; but still, it seems completely counter-intuitive.)

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I think I ovulated this cycle. My basal body temp is up, though not drastically, so I can't tell if that's due to the hideous heat wave we've been having or because of higher progesterone levels. Regardless, all the other signs of ovulation have made themselves known. This is very happy-making, since it's my first post-pill cycle. I love my body.

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We ordered books from Amazon.ca on Monday afternoon. I got a notice saying they'd been shipped yesterday, and the order arrived today. That's FAST. We have five new books! Wheee!!! Emergency Childbirth kicks total ass. I heart that book hugely. Birthing From Within seems like a mixed bag. Definite disagreement with some things in there.

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In other book-related news, I'm almost finished with The Spell of the Sensuous. I'm super intrigued because it's making me rethink the existence of souls. Or, at least, think about souls and spirits in an entirely different manner. Don't know what I'll think by the end of that mental discussion, but this book is definitely mind-blowing. I have a new, profound appreciation for air and wind (especially in this heat wave!), and a more pronounced appreciation for the Hebrew alphabet. (If you're Jewish or interested in the Hebrew alphabet and also have an interest in nature, you should definitely read this book.)

I haven't posted a real update in a looong time. I've been busy WORKING. eee! I've been temping for the past week and a half at my (step)MIL's travel agency while everyone's away on holiday. I'm working legally and I'm enjoying it. Yay! Except for the part where things pile up at home and don't get done because I'm away for 5+hours a day. Oh well.

I'm also learning that I have more work-type clothing than I thought I did. This is definitely happy-making. The downside is that I have almost no tops that aren't black! I feel like I'm wearing half a uniform. I like how I look everyday when I leave the house. I don't like that I look almost exactly like I did the day before, even when I'm not wearing any of the same clothing! A little variety would be nice. Also, with this temp job, I don't need to worry about covering my tattoo -- mainly because it's a relaxed work environment, but also because I'm the only one there! Yay for being able to wear tank tops!

As for the job I had mentioned previously, that is currently on hold until the week of Aug. 8th when the employer gets back from holiday. I still need to go in for a second interview, but I'm not terribly worried about it. I'm not sure the other person who also got called back for a second interview will want to wait the 3+ weeks it will have been for this half-time job. At least, I hope s/he doesn't wait. This would mean that I would pretty much get the job by default. Here's to hoping!

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And I've been reading (still!) The Spell of the Sensuous by David Abram. It's fan-fucking-tastic! He bases his theories around phenomenology and his experiences and research with oral cultures.

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I feel much much better than I did earlier. I'm going to pretend, though, that the earlier part of today just didn't exist.

Also, having realised that it may take longer than 3 months for me to ovulate normally again after being Pill-bound, I'm not waiting until I am eligible for OHIP to go off the Pill. I will still likely wait until my waiting-period is over to start trying to conceive. Until then, it's condoms and FAM charts.

There is lots and lots of other things I want to post about (mostly to do with research that I want to do), but I don't have time for it now.

Tacos for dinner and fruit salad with Real Homemade Whipped Cream for dessert!