Updates

It has been an interesting couple of weeks. Oh, yes! On November 20th Jer and I went in to the fertility clinic for our egg retrieval. I was glad to be done with all the medications I had to take leading up to it, involving three needles a day towards the end and a very emotional me as a side effect from the very elevated estrogen level, but it was not a pleasant experience. I'm hoping we never have to do that one again! The staff at the clinic was great and tried to make us feel super comfortable, but like I said, I'm hoping we never have to do it again. Our fertility specialist was able to retrieve 18 eggs and of those 18, 16 were mature and 11 were fertilized using a process called ICSI. 10 of our embryos made it to our transfer day five days later. We transfered just one at the blastocyst stage, five were ready for freezing, and of the four left we were able to freeze one more. Six little embryos on ice! I go in to find out if it worked on December 10th, which seems like an unfairly long wait. I begged for a picture of our embryo, which is not something our clinic usually offers, but they were super sweet and made sure we got one. I even got a phone call from the IVF coordinator the day afterwards asking if we had gotten it. It really makes things so much easier to have a clinic where the staff goes out of their way to make sure we have the best experience possible. We had a not so great experience with our first specialist, so we're both very glad that we love our current one. Enough gushing, here is our little embryo..

Jer has nicknamed it bubbles. Several friends have made jokes about it having our eyes because if you look closely you can see two darker dots that look like a pair of eyes. Let's hope that bubbles sticks around!

A couple days after retrieval, Lucy came to visit me for a Pyrex trading/crafting/puppy playdate day, which was a nice distraction!

She taught me how to make adorable hair bows..

and I taught her to knit..

Lola and Bertram (Lucy's adorable pup) adored each other. They spent a while romping around the backyard and then chasing each other through the house. Lola loves a dog that will actually play chase with her! They were actually perfect playmates so we're going to have to get them together again soon.

Lucy and I have another thrifting adventure planned for this coming Monday! There are a couple of pieces I'm hoping to find now that we are re-arranging a couple rooms in the house. A mid-century tall boy for Jer is high on the list, and maybe that library card catalogue I've been lusting after. I need some better storage for my craft supplies.

I've also been slowly decorating this house for Christmas.

Garland making and star knitting have been first on the list. Feeling a little ambitious, I wanted to make some of these stars for gifts, but I'm not sure that is going to happen. I am a very slow knitter and I haven't managed to get them quite perfect yet.

We put up our tree last weekend, and are slowly pulling everything else out. Our shopping is almost done, and I am happy to say that more than half of our gifts this year are either handmade or vintage. There are still a few more to be made, but some of those will have to be shared after Christmas in case the recipiants are reading.

A couple Christmas projects I am loving this year:
Snow globes
Needle felted ball wreath
Adorable stocking

Thrifting with LuluBelle

I first met Lucy during a Pyrex trade night hosted at my home last winter. We've gotten together a few times since, including at our epic Pyrex sale this past summer. This past Monday we went on our second thrifting adventure together and it did not disappoint. Lucy is so much fun!

We met at her place where I played with her adorable dog and cat - Bertram and Lotus (and yes, we are planning a puppy playdate for Bertram and Lola), got a tour of her amazing home including her Pyrex shelves (wow!) and even a backyard waterfall where her broken Pyrex dishes find a home.

Lucy had a list of shops ready and we planned to hit as many as possible before we burnt out. Being on a host of IVF medication at the moment, that didn't take as long as our last adventure, but we still did pretty well.

We're both very methodical about our thrifting. Pyrex shelves first, then housewares, linens, dresses, toys (for vintage FP), and everything else.

We always make sure to hit the Balnkets section too.

We thought we'd showcase some fun finds for you..

This pretty lady can pull off anything!

Pink Martini dress? Sadly, did not come home with us.

We appreciate intricate handmade details.

I almost had to bring this sweater home. It's pretty amazing, isn't it?

Lucy's trunk went from this..

to this..

The day went from sunny to rainy and very windy, but we continued on.

The most amazing find of the day was a beautiful vintage formica table. Lucy had seen it at the Goodwill a few weeks back listed at $200.02, so of course she passed it up. On this day it was marked down to $50.05 and was 75% off. It came to a total of $12.51. Score!

We learned a valuable lesson, which has inspired me to put together a "thrifting kit". Screwdrivers, measuring tape, and other little tools are a necessity. Here, lucy attempts to loosen the bolts with a huge pair of pliers since the shop only had this and an allen key set.

We were so excited over this find that we accidentally locked the keys in the car. Oops! We had to wait for CAA to come rescue us with their magic loop while we waited with Lucy's new table in the rain.

Despite our little set back, which really just made our adventure more interesting, we had a great time. Our day came to an end with plans for another trip with more friends. We both took photos of our finds to share with a thrifting group. Mine (details about each item on my flickr page)..

And Lucy's (borrowed from her flickr)..

I'm sure there will be many more Thrifting with LuluBelle posts to come!