1) We’ve had 6 inches of snow here and another 9 are forecast, for a grand total of 15 (in case your maths are bad) or 40cm (in case your metrics are good). It’s big fun and I love it, although tomorrow was supposed to be Day 2 of the new job and it looks like I won’t be able to make it to the office, nor have I got the login details to use the new sparkly kit I’ve received to do my new job. Nor will Melissa and Jeff likely be able to fly home. At least the weather is cozy, eh?
2) Ah yes. The new job has started. I am still sorting things out, but I think I love it. Watch this space.
3) Something cool has happened. More later. Let’s just say that I am floored.
4) Something not cool has happened. More later. Let’s just say that I wish I’d kept the receipt for me, I’d take me back for a refund because clearly my statutory rights have been affected. Shit should not be breaking down here, I am obviously badly made.
5) I am reliably informed it is De-Lurking week, but since procrastination is my middle name, then how about half a week? So go on then. I won’t hunt you down. If my statistics are correct then there are quite a few people out there who read here, and this is the one time of the year I ask you to tell me about you for a change, meaning that I’ll now be terrified and cowed by those who come here and wonder why you bother with my little corner of mental. You know my life and who I am, now the table turns and my curiosity asks if you’ll tell me about you? Capes off! De-lurk!*
-S.
*Er, please, that is. Not like I’m ordering you to or anything.
Delurk, delurk, delurk delurk delurk delurk deluuuuuuuurk (I have been humming the Pink Panther theme all day!)
I am also thinking I need to remember delurk when I play ‘words with friends’ on my iPhone. That is a high value word, right there.
Not a total lurker, here, but not a real frequent poster though. Super easy going, 33 year old Software Engineer from Salem, Oregon. Blissfully married to my wife for just over 11 years now. We are now expecting our first child. Don’t know what else to say beyond that. I found your blog from some of your Flickr pictures, I believe it was 365, back before you were pregnant with the lemon heads.
Christopher
What, de-lurking week again ALREADY?
Hello Helen, or Shannon, what was the other one? Vanessa??? I’ve been keeping an eye on you for quite awhile now and I’m glad to see that 2010 is looking like a good year for you. Your kids are adorable, your house is intimidatingly amazing, your work ethic is admirable. I’m a little (oh, let’s be honest, quite a bit) older than you, and I want to let you know that it gets easier. You’re getting really close to the first corner now, it will get easier and easier from now on as the kids get older.
Like many Canadians, I first heard the word “blog” in a Maclean’s article early in 2004. It featured that sweet girl from Minneapolis, Plain Layne, and it was there in Layne’s comment box that I first met you and followed your link back to Everyday Stranger. Was it Joshua or Ryan who posted, a few years ago, the plaintive remark: “You know what I miss? I miss the people in the comment box.” Yes, I miss the community we all had while Odin Soli lied to us, the naive childish days when I thought that everyone on the internet really wanted my unfiltered opinions on what they were doing.
Hence the lurking–real people don’t really want to know when you think they’re doing something dumb. Ah well.
Best wishes for 2010 and the coming decade.
I comment sometimes, but sometimes I lurk too – hi! I am near Washington, DC, I found you I think via some other long-forgotten blog (it was 2004, I can’t remember back that far!), and I stuck around because I heart your writing.
I keep typing and erasing, I am not sure what I would say about me. Sigh…
Hello from Texas!
Ok, so I admit it. I’m a total lurker.
I’ve actually been reading your blog almost since the beggining. I’ve always enjoyed your writing and photography… some of which actually inspired me to take up photography myself.
I’m Johanna, lurker from – and in – Iceland. I found your blog when I was searching for infertility blogs. My boyfriend and I have been through ICSI and two frozen transfers before discovering we need a donor sperm because of some genetic flaw in by beloved. So that’s next on the agenda … as soon as we can afford it …
I’m a wannabe writer, suffer from anxiety and on-and-off depression, love taking photographs (but really am rubbish at it) and LOVE looking at your pictures and reading your blog. I’m so glad everything is going well for you and your family now.
Hugs and love from Iceland
I’m Patsy delurking from the midlands of South Carolina. Married 40 years, 2 grown kids, 2 grandsons (5 and 2 3/4–and no, the little one isn’t the least bit interested in using the potty). Retired admin assistant with the family court system. A friend (Edd) recommended your blog, so I’ve laughed and cried with you about 5 years now.
I’m not a lurker – I’ve read and commented for years and even e-mailed a little. I did change websites though.
Been reading regularly for maybe four or five years. In that time I’ve gone from being a newspaper reporter in Ottawa to a law student in Victoria (with a long, poutine-filled stint in Montreal in between). Although I have to admit I’ll be a tiny bit sorry to miss some of the more private details of your life, I’m very happy to hear that you’re working on boundaries, in your blog and otherwise. Happy 2010!
Not so much a lurker, but waving “hi!” anyway.
Hope the not-cool stuff gets ok very quickly.
HI! I found you when I liked your comment on Matt Logelin’s blog about his daughter riding in the weiner mobile. I live in New Hampshire, have a 3 1/2 year old and 5 1/2 year old boys. I am an elementary school teacher – not much else to say about that. I admire your courage, your photography, your writing, and your lovely lemon heads. I also like some of the British lingo…. Happy New Year to you, Shannon, and I am wishing you all the best!
An occasional commenter here. Was directed here several years age by Skippy of fareastcynic.com. Have been an avid reader ever since. Have read each and every post since the first.
I am an older reader from South Carolina. Married to wonderful woman. Three great kids. Three marvelous grandkinds. Not prejudiced at all.
Thanx for your posts.
Hello, Bonnie here de-lurking from beautiful tropical Hawaii. I’m 29, 3 kids and my husband is in the Army, hence our living on Oahu. I’ve been reading since Summer 2006 (wow, has it really been that long?). I have been super happy for you (lemonheads!) and I have been here for low times and worried for you, sending good vibes your way the whole time. I am so glad to see 2010 seems to be off to a great start for you and your family. I cannot say what compels me to read here, but I do drop by several times a week to see what is going on in your corner of the world. You are a great writer (don’t ever doubt that!!!) and quite a talented photographer. Through your site, I found Flickr and I began posting pictures myself, that being a cool way for our family on the mainland to see our kids whenever they want as well as for my husband when he has had to deploy. Thank you for the peek into yourself, keep writing and I’ll keep reading!!
An irregular commenter here. Doin ok, in the middle of a 2ww. Feeling nauseated, blech.
I’m an irregular commenter too, but I always read. West Palm Beach here… no snow, but cold enough that I keep having to drain my solar panels from my hot water heater so the water doesn’t freeze in them overnight. Give us a week… we’ll be up to 80 degrees again. ;-)
Hi, My name is Nicole and I’ve been lurking for a few years now. Sometimes you make me laugh. Sometimes you make me cry. Love the lemonheads. Love it all. Sometimes more drama than a Spanish Novella. Good stuff.
Live near San Francisco, CA. 39 years old. Love to relax at the end of the day with a glass of wine and your most recent blog update. Don’t blog myself. Clipped sentence structures would irritate the readers. Keep it up. Hug your fiance for me. The proposal was fantastic!
Cheers!
Nicole
Hello from Victoria, BC. My husband and I recently bought our first house and we are in the midst of major repairs; the snaps of your renos are inspirational. I don’t comment often but am wishing you and your fabulous family all the best in 2010,
S.
I guess if I comment that isn’t technically lurking, but waving hello nevertheless.
g
Hi Shannon. So glad that you are doing better these days. I am an infrequent commenter and occasional emailer that originally stumbled onto your wonderful posts on the “Twisted Ovaries” blog. I followed you here after the twins were born and have been hooked ever since. Looking foward to hearing about how 2010 unfolds for you and your family, and also looking forward to someday reading that fabulous book you’ve offered us some snipets of in the past.
About me? I live in Ann Arbor, MI. After three difficult years of fertility woes, my husband and I now have an amazing 6-month-old daughter. We love her to pieces and cannot imagine our life without her.
Take care,
Sarah
I love your little corner of mental..it goes well with my little den of depression. I have been reading your work for what seems like a really long time. I have enjoyed so much your vivid and often heartbreaking stories and the accompanying photos. I feel like you are a friend although we have never met. I did come out of the woodwork a bit over a year ago to donate to your “Children in Need” fund. While travelling for work and bored to death I reached across the miles to put a bit in the coffer to hit your goal. Made me feel so good in that moment that corporate hell was slightly tolerable.
I live in SW Ohio, have a cuter-than-cute dog (although Gorby wins in the photogenic department) and will celebrate my 20th wedding anniversary next year. No kids…but an infertility sob story that I rarely tell. That is actually how I found you, through a discussion board on miscarriage. How funny, something so sad led me here to find such joy in your writing. Your posting last week made my heart smile – as I have been right there with you this year in the struggles with ups and downs (as for me, I lost my job, and have lost a father-in-law, 2 dogs and a cousin in the last 2 years…loss, loss, loss).
And I have five little angels on my Christmas tree each year. No one knows what they represent but me.
Happy New Year, Shannon. Keep on writing for all of your fans out here on the internets. We love you just the way you are. Love to the Lemonheads!
I followed a link a few years ago, isn’t that the way the internet weaves it’s wicked web? I was in an IVF cycle and was searching google and viola, there you were.
I wasn’t sure at first, were you the kind of person I could take “advice” from, even if it was only internet advice? I kept reading and you kept writing.
I was lucky with the IVF, my life was seemingly more charmed than yours and with fewer demons. And you kept writing and I kept reading.
I hit a few bumps with both my job and my marriage,my life seemed less charmed than yours but still fewer demons. And you kept writing and I kept reading.
You struggle so to be authentic, to be true to yourself even at the expense of your happiness. I only just recently realized I was performing my life, a role rather than a reality. I don’t need to find ‘me’, I am right here… I need to be me. I think I may have learned that from you. Please keep writing and I will keep reading.
I’m a US expat who has been living in Germany for at least a decade. My husband and I have 3 ivf miracles out of 5 tries, the oldest child a bit younger than the Lemonheads. (Yes, our household is a little chaotic). I love homemade choc chip cookies and hate mushrooms and all sorts of fish and infertility. Much (too much) of my thinking and writing takes place within parentheses. I have 5 academic degrees, all Ivy League and Oxbridge. I write for a living, but not online (though some of it does appear online, it’s not me who puts it there).
Shannon, I appreciate your blog as it helps me to be more introspective in a healthy way and to challenge some of my thoughts and habits. In addition, I relate to much of what you write as a mom, worker, expat American, wife/partner, writer, questioner, infertile, and person in general. I miss you when you don’t write. Thanks!
I’m not a total lurker, but mostly I just read. Found your site August of 2006 and have been hooked ever since. I’m 32 and from Buffalo, New York. I love reading your tales and relate so well to your posts. Thanks! : )
Greetings from Rochester, Minnesota. I have been reading your blog since 2004 and I always enjoy your writing. I’ve been married 17 years, have a 13 year old daughter and a 9 year old son, 2 shelties, and 3 kitties.
I have been reading you since the Plain Layne days. How long ago was that exactly? 6 years? 7 years? Dunno. Plumpernickel – from Calcutta, India – occasional commentor. Mostly lurker.
I’ve been reading your blog for years….It has been so long that I can’t remember how I found your site. ;) I’m in Houston, TX.
I probably don’t comment often, though I read often. But I DO comment. So I don’t know if that makes me a lurker.
East Anglia, England, but transplant of US, general, military brat turned military wife!
Tracey.. long time reader and benefactor of your angel bracelet which I still wear in hopes that one day my wish will be fulfilled and when it is.. I will pass the torch…. :-)
Hi Helen/Shannon – Sara from Omaha, NE. I’ve read you while I lived in Rochester, MN, while I’ve travled to England and Sweden. And now I’m back home in snowy Omaha.
Cheers to a great 2010 for you and your family!
De-lurking from the snowy Shires. I have commented a few times in a “wow” sort of way, when you have had exciting news to share with us.And I have sat in my office wondering how the hell you pick yourself up from the depths of despair.
I enjoy reading your blog, and hope that your book finds its way to a publishers. I am ready to fight you for David Tennent, he really is a thing of beauty.
I am 27 mother to one in Victoria BC and I stalk bloggers. But you already no this. I am wondering what #4 is…
Wallflower and occasional commenter. I used to have a blog too and that was when I first started reading yours. 2003 maybe? Anyway, I’m in Durham, NC studying for my master’s at Duke. Married and we have 3 furry kitties. Always glad to read when you are doing well, and I always feel twinges of pain for you when you are not. Have a great 2010!
Hi, I’m one of the people who come out of the woodwork during the de-lurking times. I don’t have a website for to check out, but feel free to look me up on FaceBook.
Mostly lurker, longtime reader, former blogger and fed in DC.
Mostly lurker, longtime reader, commented about 3 times, shared my favorite pasta recipe, laughed and cried with and for you.
I found you when I searched for others who had moved to Sweden or were thinking about it, although I have had to postpone these plans for another couple of years.
I liked your writing, came back for more and have been following your adventures ever since, even dug through most of the archives, because I think you’re great, and that far too much bad has happened to you, and that you didn’t deserve any of it, because, did I mention? You’re great. I also think you’re absolutely beautiful, and hope you will be able to see the full scale of your beauty for yourself one day.
I also have a kid the twins’ age and YES I compare. He’s not potty trained either, if that helps, and he’s nowhere near making full sentences.
I’ll stick with you and wish you incredible amounts of good things.
Hi Shannon, delurking from Kansas City, Missouri. I’ve written in once or twice before. I’ve been following you since right before your twins were born as I was going through an IVF process that led to a succesful twin pregnancy, also boy/girl. Mine are almost 20 months now and don’t say any words yet. Unless you count Hi and Bye. I’m one of those stories where after several years of infertility I got pregnant with twins and then having come to the conclusion that birth control was unnecessary, got pregnant without intervention seven months after my twins were born. So I now have 20 month old twins and a three month old and I just started back to work. I can’t quite believe it. AFter thinking I’d have no kids I now have three very small ones who all want to be on my lap at once. So I read your blog when I need inspiration on how to juggle a career and a chaotic but wonderful family life. You’re very admirable! Please keep writing in good times and bad!
Erika
Been lurking so long I forgot how I found you now. I live in Colorado, have cats, still crying a bit over David Tennant..
Hello from Santa Fe, NM. I found your site one night a few years ago through a link from another blog and stayed up for several hours reading your archives. You’ve led quite an interesting life. I also worked in telecom in Raleigh until I got laid off in 2001. Met an Englishman (also in telecom) during that time and debated moving to England. I guess I indulge my fantasy of the “road not taken” by reading your blog.
Hello there, it’s Jeannine from Los Angeles. I comment every now and then but read you all the time. I have boy/girl twins a couple months older than the lemonheads and you and I are just a month apart in age too – I’m older :(. I started reading Twisted Ovaries while going through my infertility treatment back in 2005 (and 2006 – it took a while) and followed you here after we both got lucky and had our babies. Without making this sound like a personal ad, you and I share many interests namely writing, drinking wine and cooking/eating fabulous food (and fast food french fries)among other things. Happy new year!
Been lurking and popping up once in a while for 3-4 years now. Followed your life with baited breath, crossed fingers smiles and tears.
I’m 47, Grew up in Harthill Scotland but now live in Toronto, Canada work in Media and internet and all kinds of computery stuff. Have 5 amazing kids, an awesome wife, and consider myself to be very lucky.
I’m here, quietly supporting.
Hi man, hope you’re loving the new job.
General good cheer to ya!
Greetings!
Been reading your blog since right before your beautiful children arrived. Although I don’t send comments I hope you know I cheer for you when things are going well and do my best to keep you in my thoughts and send good vibes when times are rough. I enjoy your writing and photographs very much! I’m a SAHM to a lil boy 2 3/4 years old, expat living in Southeast Asia due to return to the US sometime this summer or fall. Came across your blog from some other expat site…Enjoy hearing about life in the UK, your adventures with your family, work stories, Gorby and Maggie tails, etc. I wish you and your family a happy and healthy New Year and look forward to your future posts! Cheers!
I’m still here! :)
Hi Shannon,
Just moved up to Washington state, and am suffering through no internet at the new apartment (sigh). Catching up by visiting the local library and sucking up their broadband. So, “hi!”, a little late :)
Delurking… I’ve actually posted a comment or two in the past. I started reading while you were pregnant. I don’t remember how I found your blog but I remember thinking how different it was, and how non-boring (like many a blog, my own included.). I relate to a lot of your thoughts and have had similar issues/struggles in my life. I also love seeing how you and Alastair are molding your home. I’ve never owned a home and it’s amazing to see all of your efforts and changes take shape. I also dream about being an American in Europe someday if my path leads me there…
Anyhow.. there it is for now. Sorry it’s belated.. Never stop writing! Your writing is so beautiful and pure.
Meredith
Also a belated delurker (or should that be belated delurking?) here… I found your blog I guess three years or so ago while you and I were both going through IVF at the same time. My daughter was born a day before your twins actually, which turned out to be kind of funny. I have kept reading your blog and have since gone through IVF again to add to our family. My twin boys were born this past September 1st, I have to say being a mom of twins is definitely a bit of a roller coaster ride.
I hope you never stop writing here, I think it would be a great loss.
Christine