Race for Life

I can't believe how different I feel now that we live here. My friend Lynsey is doing the London marathon and instead of my ususal thought process "she is so admirable for doing something like this but I could never do it.." I have thought "she is so admirable for doing somthing like this. 26 miles is too far for me because I'm not a runner buit I could probably manage a shorter event if I put a lot of effort into training" And then I saw an advert for race for life (www.raceforlife.org) which is 5km. Furthermore, my Mum has had breast cancer and the proceeds go to breast cancer research, so I'm doing it!!!! They have one in Southampton on 16th July - so I have a little while to train. Sonia is going to do it with me (I think she's still in shock from my suggestion!)

The downside to it is that I can't start training yet because I have a bad back/neck. I saw the physio yesterday and she said it's probably caused by too much time sat at a computer! So my ebay time has got to be limited!!! Furthermore, this entry has got to be brief! - no typing allowed!! The physio thinks I'll be able to start training in a few weeks, so I'll still be OK for July.

Wish me luck!

Sarah
xx

Our trip to Lyme Regis

Pat has managed to share the on call rota with a neighbouring practice so from lunchtime Saturday we were free to do whatever we wished. He wanted to get away, so earlier on in the week, I booked a hotel in Lyme Regis, Dorset which takes dogs.

Having mostly lived in the East of England, Lyme Regis always seemed a long way away, but we're now close enough to go for a weekend - it only took 2 hours. Lyme Regis is a very pretty seaside town and even though it was out of season, it was quite busy - and funnily enough, there were loads of dogs about!

Our hotel was what you'd call "shabby chic" (or am I confusing it with just plain old shabby?) It's not our normal standard of hotel, but we had a problem finding one which will take dogs. It was a gorgeous old building, though, and it's located right on the seafront. We had a sea-view room and the sea was literally lapping against the wall right outside.

Here is the view from our window:

We walked to the pub in the evening along the esplanade (pictured below). The pub allowed dogs and did excellent seafood - so we were in our element! We both got totally wasted on a couple of bottles of wine and luckily didn't have to stagger far back to our hotel!!

We really enjoyed having the dogs with us and it was a real treat because they aren't allowed upstairs at home. They were very good during the night and stayed in their beds, but in the morning, I let them come into bed with us!

Although it was cold, it was really sunny. We had a fabulous view on the walk that we did because it was so clear!

Then, after the walk, we had a lovely meal in a tea shop followed by home made cake (I just LOVE tea shops!) and set off back home - healthy and happy. It was a truly enjoyable weekend!!

Back to work this week - how wonderful it is to wake up and not dread the week ahead!

Sarah

xx

PS The addiction is still going strong - currently selling 7 items and bidding for 5 (and awaiting delivery on 6!)

Beryl is awake!!

We are having an unusually cold March but one day last week, the temperature went up to 15 degrees and Beryl our tortoise awoke from hibernation and was raring to go!!

The first thing you have to do is give them a bath to warm them up and clean them off so here she is having her bath.

And here she is drying off afterwards. She doesn't look very impressed, does she?

She is now awake and living in the house until it gets warm enough for her to go outside. She doesn't like it indoors, so I'm hoping the weather gets warm SOON! It is lovely to have her back - I really missed her!

Our other tortoise, Edith, is still at our old house in Hertfordshire. I have grave concerns that she survived the winter outside, but I really hope she did and the people who bought our house find her. I have been in contact with them and they haven't seen her yet, but it's still very cold. As soon as the weather gets warmer, I hope she appears and we'll get her back!

Sarah

xx

Our weekend

We had a lovely weekend. Our friends Lynsey and Mark came down and we went out in Winchester. We had a lovely meal in Winchester and they liked it there so much that they wanted to go back the next day and have another look around.

Lynsey and Mark are getting married in September so there was a lot of wedding talk and we spent ages browsing the lovely shops for wedding items (eg jewellery for the bridesmaids, etc) and had a lovely chat in a tea room.

We also had a look round the cathedral and here are some pics of us outside.

Firstly is me and Pat.







Second is Lynsey and Mark




















Thirdly is me and Lynsey.










Pat and I have had a chat about our plans with the embryos. We have decided that we are going to carry on and try natural conception over the summer and have the FET in September. This means that we don't need to worry about doing the cycle while we're settling into our new house and have Pat's parents staying in August (Nightmare!)

In our quest to aide natural conception, we have booked a hotel in Lyme Regis this weekend. Am really looking forward to it!!! (I'm not getting my hopes up about conceiving, though - that would be TOO much!)


I read in a magazine about people getting addicted to texting and emailing and I fear that I'm addicted to ebaying. At the weekend, for some reason we lost our broadband connection and I got in a right state! As soon as lynsey and mark went home, I was trying to get it back on and I was really stressed because it wasn't working. And on Sunday would have gone down the library to use theirs -if they hadn't been closed!

Luckily, yesterday afternoon it came back again and instead of doing housework and starting on the dinner, I was on the computer! I feel so bad about it that as soon as I have made this entry, I'm going to go downstairs and do something ELSE!

Sarah
xx

PS My Take That tickets have arrived! 10th May!! Am very excited!!

Our visit to the local primary school

Yesterday, Pat and I visited the local primary school to talk to the 6 and 7 year olds about being a vet and how to look after pets. The dogs also came with us and they went down a storm. We really enjoyed ourselves and my heart ached, looking at all those gorgeous children. We definitely DON’T just want a baby - we want CHILDREN - we want little human beings with personalities all of their own. We loved chatting to the kids and we were both very broody when we got home.

I am back to feeling very infertile. The news of my infertility friend now being pregnant, together with visiting the school has made me think about it some more. I still haven’t made an appointment with the GP because it means starting on that very steep slope towards embryo transfer - a terribly dark and emotional place.

Furthermore, we have Pat’s sister visiting in May and his parents visiting in August and what with moving into the new house, we have a busy year. But after August, things will have settled down a bit, so that would be a good time for the next cycle. (Am I making up excuses?) I’ll have a chat with Pat and see how we feel.

Sarah
xx

PS Am still addicted to buying/selling online. This morning, I'd received all the items I'd won at auctions and HAD to bid on some more stuff. I just LOVE "outwitting" the other bidders and getting a bargain. How sad am I?

Feeling very positive

I have just been on my old infertility website and have found that one of my e-friends has had a positive after nearly 7 years of trying and umpteen rounds of treatment. I always felt that it was me, this girl and another girl who would be on the board forever, never getting pregnant and never moving on. The non-pregnant girl is in the process of adopting and now this girl is pregnant! I am so happy for her - no-one deserves it more than she does. And it's given me hope that maybe it is worth trying one last time. So, I' m going to go and visit the gp this week and organise a clinic down this way so that we can have one last go. Maybe if I'm not as focused on the treatment (ie thinking about the practice and the new house) we might be more successful this time.

Overall, I am feeling very happy. Sonia has finished with her latest boyfriend and came down for some cheering up. We went out for a curry in town which was good fun (I'm not too keen on Indian so won't be going again for ages!) I'm pleased to say that she went home this morning feeling a lot better than when she arrived.

I was succesful with a few bids online (although I'm regretting a low bid I made on a gorgeous dress which was sold before I could get back online and up my bid) And have sold quite a few items - mostly unwanted clothes and handbags. Am feeling very happy about it.

Practice-wise, the website is now up and running and I'm very pleased with it. Here is a pic of our practice, which I have used on the website.

Help! I'm addicted!!

When we were packing up to move to Hampshire, we realised we had loads of books, etc which we didn't want any more and we decided I would try to sell them on a certain famous Internet site.

I have had mixed success with the items I have tried to sell. Some have sold and some haven't. Then, I went mad and bid for a handbag, which I won. It's a lovely Italian leather bag which was relatively cheap and from then on, I am addicted! I get as much pleasure out of selling as I do out of buying and today I found my self wandering round the house looking for things to sell! At the moment I have various books, handbags and clothes for sale which I'm hoping will go. Furthermore, I am bidding for a couple of dresses. I am determined not to go mad and buy loads of stuff and if items go over my price, I'm being very good and not bidding again. I'm not sure whether I'll get the dresses or not - it will depend if someone wants them more than I do.

Other than that, all is going well. The business remains busy and we're making a reasonable profit. I am in the process of getting our website up & running but the host company are being a bit useless and as of this moment in time, we're still not live.

Am totally loving working at the surgery. I find myself wandering around and totally loving being there. I'm working Tuesday, Thursday and Friday afternoons so even better is the fact that I'm only working part time - giving me plenty of time to buy & sell on the Internet!!!

Here are some more pictures from my camera which you might be mildly interested in -

Firstly are a couple of pictures of my Mum and Paddy the horse which I took on Sunday






















And lastly is one which I took of myself - hence why I'm looking very close. I could say that I look minging and I don't normally look like that, but the truth is, that's how I look on a day to day basis - when I'm not done up and the photo isn't taken from a flattering angle...

























Sarah
xx