Its in the mail!

Sunday night I sent out my resume and application for a promising new job. I kissed the envelope and stuck it in the mail box. Ironically, I got to work this morning only to find the goals and objectives form on my desk indicating the begining of our yearly review process. The third question asked "What are your goals for the upcoming year?" hehehehe. If they only knew.

Thankful

Although I didn't achieve my goal to be pregnant by this time of year, I'm still thankful for everything else I've archived in the last 12 months. I'm even more thankful for the wonderful and supportive family and friends I have. What would I do with out you?

I think change is in the air again folks! I'm applying for a new job that is closer to family and pays $20k more than what I make now. I think the best part of this job is it will allow me to do the type of city planning that I have always wanted to be a part of: redevelopment. Ooh and I actually have a real shot at this job! Just thinking about this gives me goose bumps. I haven't been this excited in a long time.

This potential change couldn't come at a better time. Ever since I won the big grant, my supervisor has started to make my life hell again. THIS IS NOT A COMPETITION! I DID NOT WIN THE GRANT IN AN EFFORT TO STEAL YOUR POSITION! I'm right back to square one with this guy. Why he feels so threatened by me is something I have a hard time comprehending. When it gets down to it, I'm a bit of screwball. One minute I have a genius moment and the next minute I'm the girl walking out of the bathroom with tissue paper dangling from the back of my skirt.

I recently relayed all the information I learned from my conference in Chicago to him and another co-worker. I also provided a list that I created of potential projects and jobs that we could go after in light of the recent shift in politics. He called my boss, where I was within earshot, and told him how HE had all these "great ideas" that will make us so much money blah blah blah. D-bag.

In other news, I finally found a promising international clinic for IVF. Its the Barbados Fertility Centre. Even with traveling expenses, doing IVF there was still significantly cheaper than it is here AND there's a vacation involved. How fantastic is that? I'm just trying to decide if I should try one more IUI first or go straight to IVF. The earliest I could do IVF is in August. Do I really want to wait that long? Damn I will be 34 years old at that point, another year lost. HMMMM....

Hope everyone has an excellent Thanksgiving! Safe traveling!

Cheaper IVF in Other Countries

A co-worker recently disappear for a week & 1/2 long vacation to Costa Rica only to come back with a new rack. I don't know her all that well, but I overheard her talking about how her operation was significantly cheaper there then it would have been here. Not that I'm in the market for new boobs (although a reduction would be nice), I want to ask her a million questions about how clean the facility was, how did she find out about this place etc., but I don't want to be that rude semi-stranger nosing into her life.

Her experience made me wonder if I can do IVF in other countries at a lower cost without increasing health risks. I found information on two clinics in Cyprus which seem to be legit and cheaper. More importantly they will work with single females and allow the use of donors (a few clinics in other countries would not allow it due to their laws).

So my wonderful fellow bloggers, has anyone else looked into going to another country for IVF?

Settling In

The move is complete, yippee!! There is so much space, I don't know what to do with all of it. My big puppy loves the staircase. He spent a good thirty minutes running up and down it, dropping his ball at the top of the stairs only to chase after it. Gotta love a dog that can play fetch by himself :)

I've been feeling pretty homesick the last few weeks and lucky for me, work is sending me to Chicago for a training seminar next week. This way I can quickly make the hour and half trek to the nort'woods to see the family once the seminar gets out. Yah der hey. I miss hearing the Wisconsin accent.

Still waiting to find out if we will actually get to work on the project that we won the monster grant award for but it looks like we are definitely in the lead for winning it. Of course you never know for sure until you sign the final contract. The wait has been keeping me up at night. Just winning the grant helps the chance of me getting a larger raise, but if we get the project I think the raise will definitely happen. The best part of the project is that it is cutting-edge-type of work for the midwest and I will get to put my name on it. Then my first step towards world domination will be complete. (haha jk)

How do people afford IVF?

I recently read on a fellow bloggers site that she is skipping IUI number 3 and going straight to IVF. I completely understand her frustration, I'm in the same boat and considered the same thing. However,after talking to my RE about going straight for IVF in August, I realised it would be really difficult to afford it. He said $10K minimum but could range to $13K. I know in the long run, statistics show better success rates with IVF opposed to IUI's, so I feel it is definitely worth the shot.

I guess my big question is how do you pay for IVF? Finance it, savings, second mortgage? Any thoughts blogging world? How did you come up with the funds for such an important investment?

Ready to move, take 2

I am so ready to move out of this stinkin' apartment! They have entered my apartment 2wice in the last week with zero notification. Very illegal. I thought it would be fun to play spy just to see why they were entering (because they are clearly not in there to fix anything), and caught the last illegal entry on video tape. Looks like the leasing agent was going through my drawers, (It appears like she didn't take anything). I'm feeling pretty violated at this point and cannot wait to leave. Next thursday is the big day and then Adios A-holes!!

I paid off another big bill this week, just leaving one more and then, with the exception of my car payment and student loans, I am DEBT FREE! hallelujah. That means I can enjoy my cruise in January and start trying again in February. I cannot wait.

The most amazing thing that happen this week is I won $1.5 million dollars this week. Seriously. The big grant proposal I struggled through in August, we won it! Beating out 1100 applications (225 completed applications). Of course this all goes to the city but in a long about way it might go mostly back to my employer (thus me) if we get awarded the project. I'm sensing a raise ;) It's really exciting and I'm still in absolute shock over it. If I get a larger raise off of this, baby making time might come earlier. Crossing my fingers.

Heartbroken

Another friend announced their pregnancy this morning. I'm rather shocked but mostly heartbroken. She's a really nice person, a fun person to be around and I'm happy for her. I think what I find disturbing is we had just had a conversation 2 months ago about me trying to get pregnant and although she was supportive of my decision she made it clear she never wanted kids, found children annoying etc. Why do people who really don't want children or people who shouldn't have a child become pregnant so easily?

I know in this situation the best thing to do is keep my mouth closed and help her as much as possible. When she was talking about her positive hpt, I could tell she was still freaking out about becoming a single mother. She's never held a baby before, changed a diaper, nada. She's still the typical mid twenties party girl. She will definitely survive, she's a strong person. Just deep down in side I wish it was me (just not under the same circumstances).

I'm still hoping to try my next round of IUI's at the end of November, but it's looking less likely to happen. To raise some funds, I've been picking up hours like crazy and have been selling my books on amazon. I love amazon.