miscellany; and how time is at a standstill

The majority of you reading this know how arduous the waiting can be when you are in the midst of TTC. So, I will spare you from having to read lengthy paragraphs about how tortured I am currently.

 Just know that the time between egg retrieval (ER) and frozen embryo transfer (FET) is an eternity.

I have an appointment tomorrow morning for an ultrasound and blood work. My clinic will call me later in the afternoon to tell me the plan. Hopefully in ten days I will be heading to Alderaan for my first FET!

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So, Buster and I have had a deal made for years. Since the summer of 2007, to be exact.

When we first started getting to know one another, we sent lots of emails back and forth. At that time, I was doing graphic design for the local newspaper, and Buster was working midnight shift at a local research facility. Because our schedules conflicted, we relied heavily on email correspondence instead of phone calls.

In one of those early emails to me, Buster mentioned that he really hoped I would make him quit smoking. He loved the fact that I didn't smoke (I think his ex-gf must have?), and was hopeful that I would somehow use my womanly wiles to get him to give it up.

Unfortunately, my womanly wiles failed me (curse you, womanly wiles!), and almost 5 years later, he has that same pack-a-day habit.

But we made a deal sometime in the summer of 2007. You see, this is when we knew we would be together forever. Only a few months into our relationship, we were both certain that we belonged together. And the talk of future babies was one of our favorite topics (squeeeee, right?).

We made a deal that when I get pregnant, he will quit smoking.

Well, here we are, ten or so days away from me being pregnant. At least temporarily (well, I guess it's temporary either way... 9 months or way less, depending). And he knows what this means.

I think I am dreading this as much as him. He hasn't really talked about how he's dreading it. He has just acknowledged the fact that he is going to quit.

But me, I'm scared shitless. He has been smoking a pack-a-day since he was 14. He is 29.

Have you been around someone who is in desperate need of a cigarette? I have. Grumpy sounds pleasant compared to the nicotine-starved beast Buster can turn into, sans cigarette.

I really hope he can quit, though. Obviously his health is ridiculously important to me. My grandfather died from lung cancer, and I don't want that to be Buster's fate.

And we would save quite a bit of money ($1,875+) per year if he would quit.

And I wouldn't have to worry any longer if my clothes or hair or the inside of my car smelled like a stale cigarette.

I will be sure to keep you posted on his progress!

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I have been meaning to blog about the books I've recently read, and about the TV shows I'm currently watching, but I never get around to it. Today, however, I've decided to give you the lowdown on my current status regarding...

Books

I have mentioned this before, but will again in case you missed it: I'm a complete and utter lunatic when it comes to choosing a book to read. It is very difficult for me to take a leap and read a book.

First, I don't want to be disappointed. I only want to read good books. I realize I'm asking a lot here, but I don't care. I am so afraid of wasting my time on a bad book. So instead of trying lots of books out, I wait and wait and wait until I get the courage to try one. That "courage" usually comes after reading countless reviews online, and sometimes polling my friends.

Second, I want books in a series. I don't want to mess around with stand-alone books. I need to really get to know the characters, the world, everything. I want to fully immerse myself in this world. This is why I am so enamored by fantasy books.

After I finished A Dance with Dragons (the fifth book in the series A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin), I was desperate for a new read. After some research, I purchased Gardens of the Moon, the first book in The Malazan Book of the Fallen series (a TEN book series!) by Steven Erikson.

Disappointed is an understatement in trying to describe my thoughts on the book. The writing style is odd, and I couldn't even get past the first chapter. Nothing there to hold my interest. And I don't think it helped Erikson's case that I was reading his book directly after reading all five in the series by GRRM.

Needless to say, my quest (I might as well use fantasy language, right?) for a new series continued.

Enter The Hunger Games. This isn't quite in the same vein as the fantasy I had been reading, but I opted to give it a shot based on stellar reviews from Amazon members and from friends. And it was part of a three-book series. And it was incredible.

I really enjoyed this series. I have two small complaints: 1) the books were too short! I prefer 1200 page tomes, and 2) I felt that the third book seemed rushed in parts. But overall, I would definitely recommend this series. And now I am excited for the movie that comes out next year!

So once again, I find myself in search of another series to read. While browsing on Amazon this weekend, I found a 99¢ fantasy book with pretty good reviews. I am about three chapters in to Taming Fire, the first (and only as of yet) in The Dragonprince Trilogy, by Aaron Pogue.

For 99¢, I'm quite pleased with the value of this book. It's enjoyable so far, and the character description is lovely. Hopefully Pogue is consistent, and the rest of this book is as good as the first three chapters.