1. How many houses/apartments have you lived in throughout your life? My parent's house, the dorm in college, my first college apartment in Minneapolis, my second college apartment in St. Paul, my aunt an uncle's house, my room in London, my flat in Edinburgh, my first apartment without roommates in Minneapolis, the St. Paul apartment with The Scientist, and now here. So that's 10. A nice round number.

2. Which was your favorite and why? I liked several of them for different reasons. I loved my first apartment without roommates in Minneapolis, for both emotional reasons (mine all mine!) and physical reasons (hardwood floors, near downtown and Uptown, cheap, relatively big for 1 person) but it had drawbacks (tiny kitchen, no closets, marginal neighborhood). I loved the location of our last apartment in St. Paul and the layout wasn't bad, but it wasn't quite big enough for us. The apartment here is a nice size and our location is good, but the utility bills are really expensive, we have to park on the street, and I'm just tired of living in apartments.

3. Do you find moving house more exciting or stressful? Why? Exciting and tiring. Not actually that stressful. The last time we moved we hired guys to take boxes from the truck to our third floor apartment (although we still had to do some of it), but I packed most of it and The Scientist, my uncle, and I loaded it all. I'm an organized person (and a planner) so we're usually packed in advance, with all boxes labeled, and just doing the apartment cleaning at the last minute. I'm done with lifting things, though. We've vowed that the next time we move we'll have someone else do all the lifting. I'll probably still do most of the packing and unpacking, though (with The Scientist's help, of course).

4. What's more important, location or price? Both, but I guess location wins. We definitely pay more for this apartment to live in an area we like and I'm sure our criteria will be similar when we start looking at houses.

5. What features does your dream house have (pool, spa bath, big yard, etc.)? Three bedrooms, finished basement, big eat-in kitchen suitable for gatherings, pantry, separate dining room, big multi-spray shower in the master bathroom, big porch, small yard but with room for a kitchen garden, fireplace, detached garage with a studio apartment over it. I think that's it. I don't want a mansion. I definitely don't want a pool. I wouldn't mind a hot-tub or whirlpool, but that's not essential.

My infertility appointment went pretty much as I expected. My doctor asked a lot of questions and was impressed when I produced a year's worth of basal body temperature (BBT) charts of my cycle. I'm scheduled for blood tests on Monday, an ultrasound on Friday (my left ovary is evidently enlarged). My doctor also found a lump on my left breast, but she doesn't think it's anything. Since she knows I'll be in frequently she said we should both just keep an eye on it. Frankly, I think it appears that the left side of my body is degenerating.

The Scientist has to go in for an exam as well and provide a...sample. I think that's all I'm going to say about that.

I called my mom last night to tell her about what's going on. I hadn't mentioned any of it before because I kept hoping it would go away. Having my doctor be concerned and proactive rather than dismissing and reassuring was a wake-up call, as was looking at the calendar and realizing that it's been a year. Anyway, she reacted really well and told me about some of her experiences (meanwhile my dad is in the background yelling, "Stop telling her that!"). I'm going to talk to my aunt this weekend as well. My doctor wants me to research my family history to see if there's anything genetic that raises a red flag. In a way it feels good to be doing something, but then again it confirms that there's actually some kind of problem.

We're going to the Twin Cities this weekend, just for fun. Saturday night we'll be at the Turf Club for a show. Live music, woohoo! We're hooking up with a lot of our friends and aiming to have a relaxed good time.