4:23 PM: One last day of recovering... and then tomorrow we're back at it. I have been released to my regular life, with no restrictions. 

So I suppose I'll start over with the exercise and whatnot. 

Now I know that this miscarriage deal is over and done, I know there are no more surprise surgeries or procedures waiting around the corner, and I know I have a wedding coming up in April. I need to get my act together. 

To that end, I've been doing a little shopping, picking up some odds and ends for the wedding, and trying to tie up some loose ends. 

Shoes are on order from Nordstrom:

Still need to find some SPANX and try on the bras at Victoria's Secret. 

We went out last night with a couple of pals to lift out spirits and put the past couple of weeks behind us. 

We tried a new place called "LONDON CLUB" in Crystal Lake. It was pretty darn good. Menu was put together by a very successful local chef who has been involved in several successful restaurants in the area, including another of our favorites, Montarra Grill. That's Chris, me and Peter, above. 

3 Martinis. Maybe that's why the picture turned out fuzzy?

A little bit after dinner, the band started. So we did some dancing. A little white girl's overbite. 

You know we had a good time when we're molesting a mannequin dressed as a British guard... all before 10:30 PM. This is Peter's wife Willa and me.  Saucy. 

10:38 AM: Something unusual and completely unprecedented has been taking place at the Palace over the past couple of days. I'm not sure how to describe it, other than FUCKING UNBELIEVABLE. Molly, our 8 lb terrorist thug, has suddenly, and without warning, taken a liking to Chris. It has only taken her 5 years, 3 months 3 weeks and 1 day (yes, I counted it out) to get to this point... but... she HAS arrived.

This has created a feeling of peace in the Palace. Sure, Molly is still a little moody, but I don't get the vibe that she's interested in disemboweling Chris anymore.

Last night:

Remember, Molly launched a screaming attack on Chris' face in the middle of the night once. She has never much liked him. Never EVER has she snuggled up to him or voluntarily touched him with anything other than her teeth.

And then this morning:

No bloodshed! No fur flying! No drugs were used! I'm in shock. I don't know if it's a sign of things to come or not, but I'll gladly take this peace for as long as it lasts. It sure beats chasing them around with a squirt bottle, yelling, and locking them up one by one while pulling out my own hair.  

12:54 PM: Well I just got back from what is hopefully my second to last blood test and my levels have dropped to an exciting 162. This is good, as this means I'm on the other side of this pregnancy and once my body clears everything up and resets itself on some sort of a schedule, we are free to try again. This is good. 

Will probably start doing some sort of exercise again tomorrow, since I'm feeling so much better, both mentally and physically. 

Here's a random photo from yesterday's uploading...

It was May of 1994 and my friend Sharon and I went to San Francisco to visit my friend Al in Petaluma. Petaluma was fairly close to San Fran, but not THAT close... we had to get a rental car since we wanted to explore. Went all over; to Sonoma, to a party in Bakersfield, to the city of SanFrancisco, and of course, back to Petaluma. 

Al had his bike hanging from the ceiling in his living room where we were sleeping. My friend Sharon (of the black and white plaid wedding) stood up and knocked the bike off the hooks and it came crashing down onto Al's bookshelf. We were in a rush leaving for the airport. We left Al in his livingroom picking up the pieces of his bookshelf. 

Al and I are still friends and we laugh about this now... and actually, we laughed about it then... some of us harder than others, though. 

10:21 AM: I'm doing great. Just really tired. Am going to use today to hang out at home and organize my "errant photo" collection. (You can imagine how huge this collection could be). Most of my pictures are in albums, but those that aren't are in a random pile in a cabinet in Orbit's office. I'm going to purge the duplicates, organize the the rest, and scan a bunch too. 

I appreciate all of the hugs, virtually and otherwise. This has been a really long couple of weeks. I think it's over now, though, and I'm ready to forge forward.

A shout out to Chris. My main dude. The one and only. Couldn't have done any of this without him. (Hah. I don't mean that in the MOST literal sense, but I guess I sort of do...)  He has not skipped a beat and has been there whenever and wherever I may have needed him. Even before I knew I needed him. I don't think there's a better man on the planet for me. How fortunate we are to have found each other.

God Bless the internet. 

6:39 AM: Up and headed to the hospital. I am freaking hungry. 

1:02 PM: I'm home. Absolutely exhausted... I've still got a bunch of anesthesia floating around in my veins. Trying to watch TV and play Words With Friends with a couple of 7 year olds, but I think I'm going to go bed for a little nappy. 

Everything seems OK. I passed a couple of large pieces of tissue last night and this morning before the surgery, due to a pill I had to take in order to aid this process. My levels went down from over 800 to less than 400. They did the D & C anyway to be sure, and to stop dragging out this process any further. I should be able to start working out again Monday, hopefully. 

Speaking of working out, I set off the HR alarm on the HR monitoring equipment because of my low RHR. The nurses asked me how much I exercise... Hah. 

DANCE WEDDING WEDNESDAY!

Please enjoy these random photos of people dancing at weddings (myself included!) while I'm out today getting myself D'ed and C'ed. 

The marriage was defunct, but clearly, the dancing was not. This is my mild mannered BFF Rachael absolutely getting down, and me hoisting up the girls on the dance floor in 2002, at my (first, and entirely ill advised) wedding. 

My pal Amy and I pause for a photo opportunity on the dance floor at Sharon's black and white festival of velvet and plaid. 

Me and my friend Michelle (with a little flip of the wrist) at the wedding of Suzi and Grant, May of 2004.

Anyone up for a little mid nineties line dancing? This was Whitney's (defunct) white wedding, 1996.

And of course, the classic BT Wisconsin Donkey Dance Party... Amy Jo + Craig May of 2011. That's me and Kristin and Amy Jo out there shakin' what we got. If you look closely you may also be able to spot Schmize!

5:06 AM: Well, will you look at that. I'm up and going swimming... then going to walk on the treadmill with Trudy for a bit. I'll hear from the doctor today, too.

2:48 PM:  Got a call as soon as I walked into the office; my hormone levels are still too high and I was being ordered an emergency ultrasound which will be followed tomorrow by a d & c. I can hardly wait. The emergent thing was that they wanted to be sure there wasn't an asymptomatic ectopic pregnancy lurking in a fallopian tube someplace, waiting to burst. Turns out there's not. What it is is just a bunch of gunk still stuck in my uterus that didn't come out naturally... so my body is confused and thinks it's still "sorta" pregnant. My HCG levels aren't rising, so the body knows it's not growing an actual fetus, I imagine, however they're not falling either, so my body is just hanging onto whatever remains. We need to get this "pregnancy tissue" out so the old Whizzzzzzbod can reset itself and I can start ovulating and give it another try. I'd be lying if I said I was looking forward to a d & c. I'm not. At all. However, I'm looking forward to having some closure on this particular issue, and it looks like tomorrow I'll get it. 

11:31 AM: So... I schlepped my ass into the doctor's office again today for another blood test. I won't know the results until tomorrow. So, we drag this out yet another day...

The plan for today is to work, go to Whole Foods for lunch, get a bunch of vegetables/fruit other good foods, clean up my eating, and get to the gym after work for some treadmill walking and lifting. It's the first day of the rest of my life, and the first opportunity I have to get on the path to wedding dress hotness. I'm also going to set a goal of either doing 15 minutes of stairs 3x a week or 100 situps 3x a week, in addition to whatever regular workouts I get in.

Oh deer!

Speaking of Saturday's deer-sleeping-arrangements...

I give you... me, as a child, up close and personal with some very awake deer. I am clearly feeding them something. I have no idea where we are that would allow such an interaction, but you can be sure that kind of stuff doesn't happen in the year 2012. People are too worried about infectious diseases (the deer could have licked me!) injuries (the deer could have kicked me!) and other unbeknownst tragedies.

That deer looks like he's been thru the wringer himself, though, doesn't he? All scratched up... he was probably happy there was a miniature human at his disposal, willing to feed him a handful of...whateveritwas.