Reasons to Love Sven

The Monday List

Sven is our new(ish) car.  We adopted him two days before Christmas and we’re in love.  I feel like he is the first adult car we’ve ever had.  We’re kind of glad our other car died…

1.  Sun Roof – lets so much light in, and when you drive near the airport you can see planes flying directly overhead.

2.  Tan interior – I’ve always had cars with gray interiors so the first time we test drove Sven, I was unsure about so much tan.  Now I’m hooked.  It seems so sunny and warm.

3.  iPod docking.  Finally – I don’t need to bring any cds in the car with me and I can listen to all my podcatst en route.  This feature alone is practically worth the price of the car for me.

4.  Digital spedometer read-out near windsheild.  I really have no excuse for speeding.

5.  Personality.  I don’t know about other Hondas, but this one is Sweedish and addresses us as Mr. and Mrs. Marksberry.  He is very concerned about our safety and has a can-do attitude.

Time Travel Tuesday

Who says you always have to time-travel far into the past?  Today I’m reliving last week’s trip with Kara to the Lebanon Quilt show.  I am increasingly drawn into the quilting world and I’m taking Kara with me. 

 

I bought this adorable pouch made from an antique quilt from an adorable little antique man who sells the products his wife makes.

 

I got yelled at by the booth owners for taking this picture – I’m a total rebel for posting it here.

 

We enjoyed onion rings and ice cream (the combo sounded good at the time) at an old diner.

 

 

Oh yeah, we saw some antique quilts as well!

The Monday List

I don’t want this blog to become an infertility blog, but then infertility is part of who I am now and so it spills out here from time to time.  Its a disease most people don’t know a lot about and I would be included in “most people” if it hadn’t happened to me.

Things You May Not Know about Infertility

1.  Studies have shown that infertility depression levels can rival those of cancer.

2.  Infertility affects 7.3 million people in the U.S. This figure represents 12% of women of childbearing age, or 1 in 8 couples. (2002 National Survey of Family Growth).

3.  91% of companies polled offering infertility treatment have not experienced an increase in their medical costs as a result of providing this coverage. Offering a comprehensive infertility treatment benefit with appropriate utilization controls may actually reduce costs and improve outcomes by eliminating the inappropriate use of costly covered procedures and allowing specialists to use the most effective, efficient treatment for a specific type of infertility. (Infertility As A Covered Benefit, William M. Mercer, 1997)

4.  Infertility is NOT an inconvenience; it is a disease of the reproductive system that impairs the body’s ability to perform the basic function of reproduction. (American Society of Reproductive Medicine)

5.  While vital for some patients, in vitro fertilization and similar treatments account for less than 3% of infertility services, and about (or approximately) seven hundredths of one percent (0.07%) of U.S. health care costs.

6.  The latest IVF Success Rate Reports from the Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology (SART)  show the percentage of births with triplets or more is now below 2%.  Non-IVF treatments with simple fertility drugs actually pose a much higher risk of multiples.

7.  The stress level for women coping with infertility has been compared to dealing with life-threatening illnesses such as cancer and heart disease. One common myth about infertility is that it is caused by stress. While the process of infertility itself is a stressful experience, there is little evidence indicating stress causes infertility. Comments such as, “don’t worry about it” and “just relax” can be very hurtful to an infertile couple. Most health care providers would not tell a patient with cancer not to worry about their disease process or chemotherapy treatments.  (Advance for LPNs)

8. There are battles going on every day in state legislatures that aim to reduce or restrict Assisted Reproductive Technology (infertility treatment).  You don’t have to look too hard to find people such as Fr. Thomas Berg, L.C., Ph.D  who say things like the following in support of a proposed Georgia Senate bill which would devastate infertility treatment in that state:

“As one who has studied extensively and written about artificial reproductive technology (ART)¹, I am familiar with the multitude of moral evils associated with this pernicious industry – an industry that thrives on creating human life in a Petri dish for commercial gain.”

9.  Many people with infertile friends or family members don’t know what to say or how to help.  Here are a few websites with good ideas:

         –Empty Arms Video – we didn’t create this but we could have

         –The Do’s and Don’ts of Support – a straight-forward, practical guide with tips

10.  To find out more or take civic action to protect and advance assisted reproduction, visit RESOLVE: The National Infertility Association.

More Conversations I’ve Actually Had OR HEARD about

Wildcard Wednesday

 

Conversations I’ve Actually Had OR HEARD this Week

 

Back, by popular demand, is my vignette on snippets of the audio-landscape of my life.  I hear a lot of funny things when I stop to think about it.

 

 

Setting: Girl Scouts doing a Newspaper Fashion Show in which teams design and model outfits made entirely of newspaper and colorful tape.

 

Girl (looking over the articles in the newspaper she was just handed): “Phew!  I’m glad my uncle’s not in this newspaper!”

 

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Setting: Girl Scouts making newspaper hats (we’re into recycled newspapers – they’re free).  Mary Ellen (my esteemed colleague) was assisting the girls who all wanted her help at once.

 

Girl: “Miss Mary Ellen!  I need help folding!”

Mary Ellen: “Hold on, sweetie.  I only have two hands!”

Girl:  “My daddy only has one.”

Mary Ellen: (cringing) “Oh…. really?”

Girl:  “Yeah.  He blowed it up.”

 

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Setting: Girl Scouts (they provide me with a lot of material) getting ready to play a game with Mary Ellen (back for her second appearance in this post).  Mary Ellen noticed a girl pouting at her desk.

 

Mary Ellen: “What’s wrong, hon?”

Girl: “I just burped and it smelled like eggs.”

Mary Ellen: “I’m sorry.  Do you want to go get some water?”

Girl: “No….I think I’ll just sit this game out.”

 

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Setting:  My kitchen after I got back from a doctor’s appointment for my sinus infection.  One important thing to note: Randy knew why I went to the doctor before this conversation started.

 

Randy: “So did you have to go see Joan, the nurse practitioner?”

Me: “No, remember – I don’t go to that doctor’s office anymore.”

Randy: “Oh yeah, you go to the gynecologist now.”

Me: “Not for a sinus infection!”

Randy: “Well I thought you like her and you just go to her for everything now.”

Me: “She doesn’t do sinus infections.”

 

Pet Peeves

1. People who walk slowly down the middle of the (grocery store aisle, parking lot aisle, church aisle, road, hallway, etc), sometimes even when they know you are behind them.  Because nobody matters but you, buddy. 
2. People in front of me in line who pay via check.  Get a check card – it comes out of your checking account, just like a check.  Except it DOESN’T TAKE A THOUSAND YEARS. 
3. Carelessly discarded cigarette butts several layers thick lining the curbs at intersections.  So what…that littering doesn’t count?  The world is your ashtray?  You choose to smoke but your car is too good to be dirtied up by your own refuse, so the environment is a suitable alternative? 
4. Suped-up Dodge Neons……NEONS.  My neighborhood is littered with them (speaking of litter).  That’s one I just don’t get……Neons. 
5. People who hang up on my answering machine.
6. People who make unnecessary noises in the bathroom stall next to me.  Especially: humming, a running commentary (“ugh, no more seat liners!” or “it always smells nasty in here”) or grunts and sighs. 
7. “In Memory Of” decals on the back windows of cars (aka “In Memory of Travis James Smith 1978 – 2006”).  What, exactly, is in memory of them?  The Ford F150 on which the decal is placed?  Can you dedicate a truck to the memory of someone?  Would the deceased want a truck dedicated to them? I’m fine with memorials but I also like boundaries.
8. Zipper.  Because she is both a pet and a peeve.  And the cats, too.