More Cabinet Pictures

Here I am getting started with step 1: Cleaning them up. I removed all of the hardware from this first cabinet, including the interior brackets that allow the drawers to slide out. These must have been top of the line in their day, as they have all of the special pull out drawers, lazy susan corners, and special pull out bins. That's Aria helping me in the background. After getting this fella clean and stripped down to the metal, I primered with Rustoleum using a high density foam roller.

St. Charles Metal Kitchen Cabinets

We have been in our little tree house for over a year and a half now and we are finally ready to start working on the kitchen. Fritz and I found a set of old St. Charles metal kitchen cabinets from the 50s and we thought they would fit in nicely to our remodel plans. First of all, they were cheap. I mean really, really cheap. The entire set cost us $100 plus tax and a few trips to Pacioma in my Ranger. We found them at a place called The Re-Use People, which specializes in recycling building materials that would otherwise end up in landfills from other peoples' remodels or tear-down job sites. They have a wonderful warehouse full of doors, cabinets, windows, you name it. We went to see if we could pick up a couple of small cabinets to fill in some of the gaps in the kitchen. We ended up with this entire set after several months because no one else wanted them and so they practically gave them to us just so they wouldn't end up as scrap.

Now I know what some people (mami) are thinking. These probably should have ended up as scrap, as they are hopelessly old and out of date. Yet I can't help but imagine how cute they will look in our little old kitchen. The construction on our house spans from the late 20s to the late 40s, so a 50s kitchen is probably just what it needs, and hey, for the price, I can deal with a bit of elbowgrease. And speaking of elbow grease, I will be chronicling the work that is going into refinishing these cabinets over the next several months. I just hope to get the work completed before we have any additions to the family.

Insomnia

For at least 2 weeks I haven't been able to sleep. I have never had this problem before, as I can usually fall asleep on command, and stay that way until at least 3 crows of my rooster alarm clock. I think all the stress of the stones and the last IVF cycle may have me a little out of sorts. I will try to stop napping when I get home, although I don't do that terribly often. I fear to even think this horrible thought, but, maybe, I need to lay off the coffee for a while. I went from about 4 cups a day before the cycle to 1 half calf. Now I am creeping back up to about 3. Could this have anything to do with my precious sleeping pattern? I am forced to consider this.

So I finally went through with the stone extraction and "shockwave" to the big kidney stone. I am on my way to recovery. The operation was on Wednesday, two days ago, and I have been taking it easy since. I was surprised at how soar my throat would be, of all things, as they had a breathing tube stuck down my throat throughout. Fortunately, I was already out by the time they inserted it, so I didn't feel or remember a thing until I came out into the recovery room and wondered if they had taken my tonsils out while they were at it. This is what they did: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extracorporeal_shock_wave_lithotripsy.
It was pretty scary, but I am glad I went through with it, as for the last couple of days I have been spewing out little bits of gravel that once were the offending stone and I know it won't be bothering me anymore. Once this ordeal is behind me I can continue with our next IVF cycle. We are hoping to start up my meds this month so that we can stimulate and extract sometime in late March. I guess even if it works out, it will be too late for an '09 baby, but better late than never, and it is still a big "if."
To be honest, I am not looking forward to another cycle, especially after the heartbreak, expense, and complications during the last one. I just really, really want a baby in my arms. If I have to go through with this in order to get closer, then I will, but I just wonder if I am not just delaying the inevitable adoption question. I hate to be so negative, but I guess it is easier than getting too optimistic and then let down. On the positive side, I know that eventually, I will have my baby, and then I will look back and wonder what all of the fuss was about.

New Toy

The good news is that I just got a new HP desktop computer with all the bells and whistles. My living room is a disaster of boxes, styrofoam, and twisty ties, but I finally got it all set up and most of the programs installed. I decided to bite the bullet and go with a desktop after probably 10 years of exclusive laptopping. I can't believe how affordable computers have gotten. I still remember my first Mac, I think it was before the first Powerbook, and it cost something like $2500 and was basically a fancy word processor.
I don't know too many people that have gone from Mac to PC, as it's usually the other way around. I was burnt too early on by Apple, and the scars go deep. I am not ready to go back. Besides, I am already in love with my HP. I wanted a desktop with a good graphics card to support some of the CADD I am learning and most of those programs run better on PCs. (Sorry Steve Jobs, your marketing has no effect on me.) I hope to be able to publish some drawings of the kitchen I am working on, once I get them drawn, of course. In the meantime, I will post some pictures, soon, I promise.

Get OUT!

That's what I say to these awfull kidney stones that seems to be taking over my life. After much stalling and hoping that the stones will pass on their own, the docs and I have concluded that there is no better hope than to go in and get them out. I will be undergoing a 2 part procedure, which involves a "shockwave" to the kidneys in an attempt to break up the big ones in the kidneys, and an actual extraction of the stone in the urethra, closer to the way out. They will probably leave a stint inside the urethra so that the fragments of the bigger stones will have an easier way to go out. It sounds like a horrible and painful procedure, thus the stalling, but they are hurting and irritating me so much that I can't imagine just waiting any longer and I doubt they will be able to pass on their own. I am hoping the doc will be able to let me at least get a picture of the stone that they remove so I can post it.
In other bummer news, our last IVF cycle did not go so well. We got 4 fertilized embryos, but none of them made it to the 5-day blastocyst stage, at which they would have been implanted. Dr. B says that they probably were chromosomally abnormal and that we will take a more aggressive approach to the next cycle. That means more drugs, which mean more $$$.
Unfortunately, I am not sure when we will go through the next cycle. We were hoping to take February off and start up again in March, but as the stone issue has not been resolved, we have decided to wait until it is. I cannot imagine actually pulling a pregnancy off only to risk it by having an operation 3 months into it or so. I also cannot imagine going through 9 months of pregnancy with the stones in place and not being able to take any "good" painkillers. God willing, this procedure will go well and we can start to focus back on the family building efforts.

New Year, New Hope

And I'm not talking about Obama!
I am excited and nervous to report that we have taken a major step in our family planning and have just undergone an egg retrieval for our first (and hopefully last0 IVF Cycle. I have been going through about a month of daily injections, frequent doctor's visits and blood draws, not to mention all the pill-popping, but hopefully we are getting to the beginning of the end.
Yesterday Dr. B extracted 9 eggs from my ovaries and today I received the fertilization report over the phone. They said that 6 of them were mature and 4 actually fertilized. It might sound like alot, compared to the usual 1 egg per cycle of normal ovulation, but these are actually very low numbers for IVF. Someone my age can usually expect 15 to 20, but I have a low ovarian reserve, so we are quite pleased with the low number we got. It's much better than I expected. We have to wait 5 days total to see if all or any of those fertilized eggs get to blastocyst stage. Sounds very high-tech, well I guess it is. I will be crossing my fingers and trying to stay distracted until Wednesday. In the meantime, I have many projects to do and will fill in more details on this whole IVF thing in future posts.