Drum roll, please!

The random lucky winner of my Reverse Birthday Gifting giveaway is The Annoyed Army Wife.
A big THANK YOU to everyone who participated.

And that's all I'm going to post today. A very short one from me. Who would believe that I am short on words?! Not Mr Siili, that's for sure. Have a great weekend!

HBD to me!

There is only 8 more minutes left of my birthday-day and I have to say, it's been a decent day. Definitely much better than I was feeling yesterday. Yesterday I was quite down and totally dreading my birthday. It's not that I am unhappy with the number 35, as I've never really had an issue with the whole age/number thing, it's more of what the number 35 means in respect to pregnancy. I just can't seem to get the number 35 out of my head as the magical age where pregnancies are supposed to be harder to come by (as if it hasn't been difficult enough already) and where they are also more likely to be considered high risk. Enough of that for now...

This day has been quite relaxing but very nice. I woke up this morning in a very warm bedroom. We get the morning sun streaming right into our bedroom. Generally I love it, but this morning it was quite warm, even for me! As I was trying to drag myself out of bed, Mr Siili mumbled 'happy birthday' to me. *big grin* The first part of the day was quite laid back. I dealt with some bank stuff and then sat outside reading for a while.When Mr Siili went to get his hair cut, he also got me a card for my b-day. It is a very sweet dragon and knight card. I love it and the words even more. That is the only gift I got from Mr Siili as I told him I didn't need or want anything today (except a baby and that can't be given on demand). I do know I'll get some late b-day snuggles tomorrow. *wicked evil grin*

I didn't want to just sit around all day, so I sent out a message to several friends asking if they'd like to go frisbee golfing with me in the evening. (Mr Siili had basketball practice.) Eventually 2 co-workers (plus a boyfriend) said they'd like to join me. Yay! But first, one of them and I went to the shore and hung out at the lake. The day was beautiful, even if a bit overcast, which actually made it much nicer as we didn't sit there and sweat the whole afternoon. At 19:00 we met up with the other two and played a round of frisbee golf. We all sucked! LOL. And at hole 7 (out of 9) it started raining. We got very wet, but thankfully it was a warm rain. I loved it! This evening Mr Siili and I watched a couple TV shows together.

All in all, today has been a mellow day, but a good one. I'm thankful for my husband and friends who've wished me many happy birthday thoughts (on facebook and sms) today. I know I'm loved.
 
p.s. Don't forget my Reverse Birthday Gifting giveaway! Only 24 more hours to sign up.

Acupuncture

This morning was my first acupuncture appointment, ever. I have no idea if it will actually help me to get pregnant, but the experience was interesting and I'm willing to still give it a go. Also, my back is feeling a bit better after this morning. Is it a placebo effect or is it really doing something?

The whole appointment took 1.5 hours. The first part of it was spent with the guy, MRJ, asking me questions about my health and body. And then he stuck me with 40-50 needles and warmed parts of me with a burning charcoal stick (it didn't touch me, but was near my skin). I barely felt most of the needles going in. Usually when the needle went in, it was just a tapping feeling or maybe a tiny pinch. The few needles that I did feel weren't that bad. The 2 worst ones were on the bottom of my feet and the one between my toes on my left foot, which are sensitive areas to begin with. Once the needles were in, I did feel pain in my left ankle area, but when MRJ touched it or put another needle in (I'm not sure which, maybe both), it did feel better. Although, now my ankle is feeling a bit strange. I realized I didn't tell him about my ankle injury years ago that still bothers me. I wonder if that could effect anything? In any case, I'll mention it to MRJ before we start next week's session.

As for what my "diagnosis" is, it seems I have a cold and most lower part of my abdomen. Endometriosis is considered cold and wet and so is the fact that my hands and feet are usually cold. I also told MRJ about my asthma, to which he said it was considered a warm-issue, but most likely an infection (not a good warm in any case). The mucus that comes with the asthma is cold (I think). In any case, everything in the body is connected and from some of the symptoms I have (endo being a big one), my kidneys and spleen seem to be mostly effected, which are also part of the body that is quite needed to help with producing a pregnancy. My body is cold right now and a cold body (especially in the uterus/ovary area) cannot produce a warm life. So, we need to get my body warm again!

He told me that I shouldn't eat cold foods such as yogurt, ice cream, salad and veggies or fruits without at least heating them up a bit first (the latter items, not the first two). I should also try to eat foods with spices in them, such as dried ginger (blech), clove, hot peppers, etc and also walnuts. Other foods also include salmon, some other fish and lamb. But I should stay away from foods that are salty. None of these food items are a must, but rather ideas on what types of things I should eat. So, after this evening's salad (we have to get rid of the food we'd already bought) and that I did heat a bit, I'll being trying to stick with warm foods. That means no more frozen juice! Or ice cream! And it's hot right now.

I have one more session paid for (with a Groupon type deal) and then we'll need to discuss the price and how many more times are needed. Mr Siili isn't really on board with this or any other homeopathic/holistic approaches, but he doesn't stop me from trying them if I think they will help.


Don't forget my Reverse Birthday Gifting! Two more days to sign up.

Reverse Birthday Gifting

 As I said earlier this week, my birthday is July 28th. I'll be 35 years old/young this year. I'm not quite sure what to think about it, really. It seems that as I've gotten older, my birthdays cause me more confusion. I want to be excited about my birthdays like when I was a little kid. I have great memories of birthday parties, even if I do have a summer birthday. Yet, these days, it is rare I have a party. Most of my friends are off doing their own thing, especially being that it is summer. So, I try not to get up my hopes nor have any sort of expectations and still I can't get this sort of undercurrent buzz out of my system that my birthday is coming.

This year isn't any different. Up until today, I haven't really had time to consciously think about my birthday. Work has kept me very busy for the 3 weeks and after work I'm just so tired and hot that I don't think about much. But today marks the first day of holiday and I've finally got some time on my hands. Yay! But I have still had that undercurrent buzz I always have, but I also know this year's birthday will be a little different. The differences this year are my mom and my age. This is the first birthday without my mom. I'm a bit sad about it now, but I think it will effect me more on the day. As for my age, I've never been particularly worried about it. For the most part, age is just a number and some days (mostly) I feel younger than that number and other days older. But 35 seems to be the 'magical age' of when TTC gets harder and pregnancies become higher risk. But I've (we've) already been having a hard time TTC for the last 3 years, how much harder can it get?! This stresses me.

So, as usual, I'm trying not to have any sort of expectations for my birthday. I don't really want anything that can be bought. Although, it would be nice if Mr Siili would make dinner (or suggest going out without me having to decide where to go) and maybe a cake. Other than that, let's see what happens.

Now, about that Reverse Birthday Gifting (in other words, give away) I mentioned earlier this week and probably the only reason you've read this far... (hehe, I hope not.) I really liked what Mel at Stirrup Queens did for her birthday. She gave some games away instead of wishing for gifts. I've always liked giving and this seemed like the perfect timing.

I thought about this for quite some time of what I'd like to offer. I love doing crafts, but I wasn't sure what I felt would be worth giving away. I've made bookmarks, phone cozies, dream catchers, collage items and more. And then I also have glass jewelry that I make. I love making these items and I've gotten amazing compliments on them, so I thought I'd offer one (or two) up for the prize. Above you can see some (additional) examples of glass pieces I've made over the last 2 years.

The glass pieces I'm giving away are below. I have decided that the lucky person can choose 2 pieces of the following 12 items.

I know the picture doesn't do them justice, but I think I did pretty good at getting the colors quite true. But just in case the coloring looks different on your monitor than mine, I'll explain them quickly.

1. red & yellow base with a smokey-clear-black cover

2. black base with a blue metallic design and covered with clear

3. black base with metallic rainbow and covered with clear

4. white base with bits of metallic orange and covered with clear

5. red bits in the shape of a star

6. a see through grey stripe flanked by 2 green stripes and covered with clear

7. lime green base with a metallic clear/pearl strip and covered with clear

8. purple base with orange strips (same orange as in #4) and covered with clear

9. 3 stacked layers of milky purple, each one progressively smaller

10. lime green base with a metallic clear/pearl on top (no clear cover)

11. metallic turquoise base with a darker turquoise piece in the middle and covered with clear

12. black base with a metallic green/yellow piece and covered with clear

The 12 pieces above have not yet had their backing put on them (so you can choose which way you want them to hang). The backing will look like the following. A metal bit glued onto the glass and then a hoop for the necklace.

When signing up for my Reverse Birthday Gifting, I'd love to know your favorite color.

Please make sure that I have a way to contact you in case you are the lucky one to receive my gifting. (If you don't want your email here on my blog, you can email me at rowan6 at gmail dot com. Make sure you put Reverse Birthday Gifting in the subject. Sign-up for this will end at midnight July 28th local Finnish time (UTC/GMT +3 hours). I'll draw a name at random (using a random number generator thing online).
Best of luck and Happy Birthday to all!