Cheap Dates!!

When I was browsing the blogs I read, I came across a post about someone doing a "50 Cheap Dates" thingy. She was asking for a cheap date idea (please no Barnes and Noble dates). I thought to myself, you know Dh and I have had some great CHEAP dates! LOL Or we've heard some wonderful cheap dates from friends that we've filed away for future use. :)


1. Valentine's Day 2000 - new house, saving for me to be a SAHM, completely BROKE. I fixed his favorite dinner, pulled out our wedding china, set the table with our fancy tablecloth and fancy cloth napkins. Planned the full dinner to be timed when JM was put to bed (he was a young thing then). We turned out the lights, lit the candle, turned the music on low and ate our dinner by candlelight.

2. Some friends of ours celebrated their anniversary by putting on formal clothes, putting their daughter to bed, and doing the dinner and dancing thing in their dining and living rooms. All was well until their little girl woke and wanted to dance with Daddy. ;)

3. Dh and I have checked out a book on constellations. Late at night we've turned on the baby monitor, take a blanket outside (yes this is a SUMMER activity), and sit outside and gaze at the stars finding constellations. We talked. We found the space station. We shared our dreams.

4. Another cheap date, but this one requires babysitter (which sort of negates the cheap aspect), is to go hiking at the state park nearby. We hold hands, look at the flora and fauna. We reconnect. It's great for a family date as well (provided the kids are big enough to walk by themselves).

5. If we want to do the movie thing, we contact some good friends and watch their children one weekend. They watch ours the next. This helps keep our costs lower. :)

6. Another option for the Movie thing, is we rent a movie (or buy it). We wait until the kids are in bed. We spread out a blanket on the floor and pop in our movie late at night and snuggle.

7. We've also turned on a CD put on some formals and danced (those college ballroom dancing classes were good for something!). This is especially fun in conjunction with a candlelit dinner at home as well.

8. Family Date - We take the kids to the park and go bike riding together. I pack a picnic of favorite treats and after we finish riding bicycles we have a picnic. The kids love to look at shapes in the clouds. Sometimes, if we feel adventurous, we'll take a frisbee or some other sporting equipment.

9. Another fun family date, or couple date, is to purchase an annual pass to the local zoo. We take a picnic and then stroll around looking at the animals. The kids are occupied and happy, Dh and I have time to hold hands and talk. The cost of the pass is not cheap, but since this means we can go to the zoo monthly it provides us with lots of entertainment options.

10. During the summer some friends of ours go to the concerts in the park put on by local groups. Sometimes it's the youth orchestra. Sometimes it's the senior citizens choir from a local church. It's free to attend, you take blankets and lawn chairs and just listen.

hmmm...most of these are "warm weather" dates. I need ideas for cold weather dates!!!

Referral Math!

Everybody ready?

Looks like referrals went through 10/13.

10/13/2005 to 9/14/2006 is about 336 days.

We have 334 days of referral LID to get through before our LID.

How long until OUR referral? That's a good question! No one really knows. It could be that CCAA will speed up, or they could slow down, or they could continue at the same pace.

If they continue at the same pace of roughly 2.3 months to get through each 30 days of LID. So, we'd have a referral in 334/30*2.3 or roughly 25.76 MORE months to go. So, at the exact same pace of 2.3 months to get through each LID month we're looking at April 2009 for our referral.

BUT (there's always a but), it's entirely possible that it will speed up (or slow down).

If they managed to do and even 2 months for every 1 month of LID we'd be looking at 22.4 months (or January 2009). If they managed to go 1.5 months for every 1 month of LID, we're looking at 16.8 months, or July 2008 (right in time for Olympics). Of course we're hoping for an awesome couple of "double months" that would have us getting a referral in September 2007! LOL That does belong in the "in your DREAMS" category.

Someone asked how I was handling this wait as compared to how I did not handle the wait on the 171h form...this is much easier. I get to cross numbers off and see "progress" being made. I have something concrete to watch (even if it moves at a snails pace sometimes, my LID gets closer and closer). While waiting on the 171h, I watched the line for China adoption ahead of me keep growing and growing. I watched the months where they only did 5 days of LID for a month of referrals. Those times were horrid to watch knowing my wait was being slowed down drastically by that.

Addendums, updates, update for expirations....homestudy headaches!

and you thought the paperchase ENDED when you were DTC!

We've had a minor change (for the GOOD) that our agency feels we should update our dossier for. Great! If it means less questions in review, then by golly I'm all for it.

Problem! Our homestudy expires April 1st. Medicals expire in Feb. Financials expire in Feb. Child abuse clearances expire im March and April. So, in order to do the addendum, we really need to a full update. Okay, doesn't seem so bad.

However, we should start our 171h renewal in October (end of Sept) timeframe, and the USCIS office does not want a homestudy that is more than 6 months old.

We're kind of caught between a rock and a hard place here. If we do the addendum, then we need to do a complete update. However, that complete update will be too old for the 171h renewal...which means a 2nd complete update in about 4 months.

Why are we running into these problems? Well, the letter that I needed to get the addendum took me about 2.5 months to get. 2.5 months ago the addendum would have been a no brainer...just send it in. The person I was relying on took forever, then the US postal service LOST it, then I had to have to redone...oh joy joy.

So, here I am, wondering, is the addendum REALLY that important? I have the letter, I can send that in to agency to send to China to add to the dossier. Then, we can wait until, oh June, and do the homestudy update (and include special needs in that). That way we can start the 171h renewal process (oh joy joy) in Sept/October with a homestudy that is current enough.

oh...those pesky USCIS fingerprints? expire May 2007.

it's causing some major frustration headaches I tell ya! Reminds me greatly of dealing with doctors and insurance in trying to get the infertility stuff covered.

You'll be happy to know...

I cleaned the litter box. Yes, I caved. Cleaned it, the kitchen, the bathrooms, did 6 loads of laundry (and put it away), AND picked up toys on Friday. I was Little Miss Productive (that's what happens when I must get up and moving by 8:30 because someone was coming to the house).

Yes, someone was to be here between 9-10am. I was up, dressed, and JM was doing his learning work by 8:30 (and I started with the major messy parts of the living areas). Piano tuner called about 9:45 and said he would be about 30 more minutes. Ended up getting here around 10:30, and he didn't leave until 1:15. Yes, it was that badly out of tune.

Okay, I'm not that bad of a slacker with my musical instruments, but it has only been in our possession for 3 years (or so). I hardly had time to play it, so it was not high priority and we knew it was going to be EXPENSIVE to tune (was right about that). Why now? JM started piano lessons. Mr. "I can hear the teenest tinest dischord" told his piano teacher that her piano sounded MUCH better and it was strange to hear the songs on her piano. *roll eyes* Yes, it was time.

Take my advice, when you plan on paying down lots of debt in a year don't start January off by signing up 2 kids for Karate, starting 1 kid in Piano lessons, and then realizing you need to sign kids up for summer camps and programs (not to mention swimming lessons...oh my I forgot to put swimming lessons on our schedule). OH, and we had to sign up for baseball as well.

All of you praying types, please pray that I will have some clients call for sessions!!! I would really like to get my student loan paid off this year before we decide it really is another child (or pet). It's been around as long as we've been married now and I really do NOT want to look at how much interest I have paid to Sallie Mae.

It's a silent war

But it's quite smelly (at least it gets that way each week). Dh and I play this out every single week. It's the War of Household Chores, with particular emphasis on the skirmish of the Litter Box. You'd think one of us would learn, or at least admit defeat and keep it from starting. But, honestly, it's one of those chores. One of the chores that neither of wants to do.


Yes, it's a smelly job. It's a nasty job. I even bought Dh rubber gloves to wear! We have the Litter Maid so there is really minimal scooping involved IF you stay on top of things. Which means that ideally the litter box tray would be emptied ever 2 days or so. It could probably make it every 3 days if you shook it once since the cat only seems to be able to do his it's business in one spot. (He's an it now and has been for close to 11 years)

This cat is Dh's cat. He picked him it out. He took care of all feeding and all litter box duty for at least a year before we got married. Dh even took care of the litter box duty for a good portion of the first years of our marriage (he loves me and the kids that much). But you see, it's now become...well...who can outlast the other. I have the super sensitive nose, he does not. He literally can not smell the knock you down and make you gag smells that I do.

Currently we're at a stalemate. He's not cleaning the litter box. I'm sleeping on the sofa. Since AF is visiting, there doesn't seem to be any incentive for Dh to clean the litter box. I know what is coming, it's happened before. I'm going to break down and clean it because the smell is getting too bad.

How bad is it really? None of my friends who come over can smell the litter box. Only I can. But then again, my friends aren't going into our bedroom, because they really have no NEED to go into the master bedroom. So, honestly, Dh doesn't think it is a problem. Once HE can smell it, then it will be cleaned. I think at this point it's time for the actual Litter Maid to be scrubbed with bleach again (which of course is MY job).

Now, the other "skirmishes" in the house involve the kitchen, the bathrooms, and the laundry. Which reminds me that I need to go hide the laundry basket full of clean unmatched socks before the piano tuner gets here (matching socks is one of the least favorite chores of our house, and I think Dh actually prefers cleaning that litter box to matching socks).

Target, shopping, and the mall

Oh my, am I ever in trouble when I go to Target. I always end up buying more than I intend to. Like this week, I wanted a pair of "comfy pants" to wear around the house at night. Not quite sweat pants, something with a wide waist band, and something with loose legs that go all the way down to the floor (which should NOT be hard as I'm closer to 5' than to 6'). I found 1 pair of sleep pants on clearance (pink of course). Found a sweatsuit, which I thought would be GREAT for lounging around the house some days. It was not sweatsuit material, but rather the thick french terry type material...ooh, it'd be great on an airplane as well. Then, I found a pair of jeans (IN MY SIZE!!!).

Since I had the boys I was NOT trying things on. TG for returns. The jeans were a little too snug (surprising actually unless all those oreos I inhaled the past 2 weeks mean I put on weight). I'm thinking it was the "stretch" label that means they were meant to be snug. Whichever the case may be, I returned them. I also returned the sweatsuit because...well...I don't need it. I went for the "comfy pants" only. I did keep the $3 brown turtleneck though. ;)

So, after returning these items (and buying drinks for myself and the boys), I headed to the mall. Yes, with the boys. No stroller, and NO gameboys. I was BRAVE. I think I found a pair of jeans - too bad the price was $89.50. *gasp* Then I found a pair for $29.99 (but holding them up they looked WAAAAAAAY too long). Again, I had the boys and I was NOT trying them on. So, back on the rack they went.

Somehow I found myself in the Disney Store. 50% off the sale prices! Wooohoooo!!! I think though I overbought. Both kids have 2 sweatsuits each (one for now, one for next year). Samuel got a fluffy fleecy jacket for next year. Samuel also got a Pirates jeans/shirt outfit. JM got an extra pair of sweatpants. They also got a Pirates fleece throw. Yep...spent WAAAY too much. But the sweats were $5 each. It's amazing to me how quickly $5 each item adds up! LOL

We left there and Samuel announces (quite loudly I might add) that he needs to go potty (#2 option as well...LOVELY). He does go, but evidently when he said "all done" he really wasn't as he informed me that he had some #2 in his croc while we were in the middle of store. I took that as a sign that we should just call it quits and go home! I wonder why I subject myself to this torture? Shopping with 2 boys by myself? Why do I do it?

Teaching 3 year olds Music

I can not remember if I mentioned this earlier or not, but on Wednesday nights I "help" with the 3 year old Choir. Well, we call it 3 year old Music as choir seems a little more ambitious than we get. There are 5 teachers for roughly 15 3 year olds (well 3-4 year olds as it goes by the school year). Yes, we NEED that many teachers!

This class is so sweet, energetic but sweet. We start out with a craft project where the kids glue things down to create something related to our "music" that week. For example, this week they made penguins to go with a penguin story (because you know it's COLD out there). Notice I said STORY and not song. LOL

We always start with this one song, "So Happy You're Here" by Hap Palmer. Anyway, it's one of those songs that stays in your mind...for hours. (if you click the link from the name you can hear the song!). The kids absolutely love this song, and they do the motions, they stand, they sort of sing. LOL Some words come out, sometimes it's just a hum, but they are trying. Hopefully by the end of the year we'll get them singing it. By the end of the year I should have it memorized.

Then, Miss Melissa (who has endless energy) leads them into the "5 Little Monkeys" song (same CD and listed right after the "So Happy You're Here" and yes, we're jumping, hopping, turning, and such. It's an active music class in case you didn't realize it from the songs. Another link for your pleasure

Eventually we all must sit down (and usually it's the teachers wanting to sit down first). Now, I know if you've ever worked with kids before, you KNOW that sometimes things come out of thier mouths that make you giggle. Sometimes they do something, but it never fails that at least one incident of giggles occurs. :) One little girl CHEERS after every song and says with a huge heartfelt sigh "I LOVE that song." After every book, "I LOVE that book." Sometimes we get "instruments" and the kids love to hit the rhythm sticks, or ring the bells, or shake the jingle bells, or strike the xylophone, or rub the sandblocks. Now imagine...15 kids, all at one time. It's LOUD. Getting them to stop semi-together is tough. One child will just keep playing that instrument (and it's a different child each week). Getting them to put the instruments away is easier than I imagined (Miss Melissa says, "Okay let's put them away and do the ______ song."). Typically, it's another "active" song. *GROAN* Tonight found me jumping, hopping, walking, flying, crawling, and giving hugs. I'm glad we didn't do the Hokey Pokey this week!

We do sing church songs, but Jesus Loves Me, Father Abraham (another active song), and such are rather hard for the kids. We've tried "I am a Promise" but the part where it says "I'm a great big bundle of potentiality" kind of messed them up. Boy was it cute to see them TRY to sing it though.

The last few weeks (well months) we've been reading "No David" and the kids repeat each line in the book, and make comments on each page. Like the first page "David's mom always says, 'No David.' " The kids say "NO, David!" when Melissa reads the first page. Then one little girl will yell out "He's not supposed to write on the wall!" When David breaks the vase, the kids say that he was not supposed to play ball in the living room. The first week we read that, one little girl said "OH NO, he'll get a spanking! He should have listened to his MOMMY." But I think their favorite page...is "Come back here David!" (you know the page where he is running down the sidewalk) The page where David is picking his nose (and you have to hear Melissa's tone when she read "No David" as it's PERFECT for a Mom whose told her child a million and one times to not pick his nose), well, on this page tonight one little one said "I can do that!" and proceeded to just that. *giggle*

What I've learned from this group, is that all these kids are good kids. They are all little individuals with great big personalities. We don't have to do everything religious. I thought when we started the year that we'd sing lots of children's religious songs. That all the stories would be Bible stories. But, I've learned, that it's mostly about having a good time and making them enjoy it. After all, if they enjoy coming to church, and we do some religious stuff...isn't that best?

2 years ago.

2 years ago we were in the midst of fertility treatments for our 3rd child. It had basically been 2 years of trying by this point (not all with fertility drugs of course).

2 years ago I sat in Church with JM, and struggled not to cry during the baby dedication service. I remember it being about 8 babies, and 7 were girls. The girls were the ones that really made me sad. I realized that my heart was longing for a daughter. It was Sanctity of Life Sunday (which is how I remember).

On the way home from Church I told Dh that I did want another child, but more I wanted a daughter. I didn't care if I were ever to be pg again. I didn't care to go through the newborn stage. I didn't care where she was from, or what she looked like. I wanted a daughter. I told him I was willing to go through with the fertility treatments and if I had another boy, I wanted to have MORE children until I had a daughter. Dh, who had been resistive to international adoption but wanting domestic adoption looked at me. He told me that during the service (he sings in the choir) that he felt that he too wanted a daughter. He felt that we should adopt, and more importantly that it was China we should adopt from. He didn't have a reason WHY, he just felt that it was what we should do. (basically we both felt G*d leading us this way)

Well, from this point until February 2005 I researched China adoption. I found a few websites (mainly from Shoahannah's Hope site). I requested information. I called agencies. I browsed the blogs I came across. I got a feel for agencies (and have since learned I did not scratch the surface of agencies). I knew that China had an age rule, but I was hoping I could start NOW and that I only had to be 30 when we got the referral.

Nope...had to be 30 when we were DTC. So, I had months to wait. Good news was that we could start paperchasing when I was 29.5. We continued to TTC until I turned 29.5, but without the fertility drugs.

Since this was obviously NOT enough to keep my mind from waiting to start the paperchase, we planned a trip to Disney World. :)

Now, it's 2 years later. We're logged in, waiting on a referral. What am I doing to keep myself from obsessing over the wait? Planning a trip to Disney World! As much as things changes, some things stay the same.

This is just too funny!

What Johnny Depp did when he saw Cap'n Jack for the first time on the new improved Pirates of the Carribbean ride at Disneyland. It's about the 2:15 mark.

Now, I have to admit, the Cap'n Jacks in the ride are AMAZING animatronics. Just truly AMAZING. So lifelike, and they captured the nuances of Depp's character from the movies so well.

My own little pirates are going to love this ride. Have I ever showed you all the Pirate photos I took of them? :) Well, I found 2 of Samuel.

Step away from the photolistings!

LOL

I think I've fallen in love (again). This time, I've actually written the agency (why? it's my homestudy agency who has the file!). Not sure how or if that would work, but gosh, she's gorgeous. LOL so, ALL the kids are gorgeous, but it's okay I can be biased.

It looks like the 6 month wait is going to be in effect May 1st, but my agency has not said anything...and it might even be an agency rule? Who really knows. I need to step away from the internet it seems as well.

It breaks my heart to see the photolistings though. So many children, so many little boys. I purposefully do not open the boy files. The ones that really get me are the children who are the same ages as my own children. I look at their files and wonder, are they learning to ride a bicycle? Is this 8 year old loving math? Is this 4 year old learning to count to 20? Is this 8 year old reading books? What does he (or she) think about science? I wonder what their personalities are like. It's so hard to tell from their photos, but every once in a while you can see one child who exhibits tons of personality. That one child that you look at the photo and think "oh I bet he's fun to be around" or "oh my look at that mischevious little grin" and you can fall in love...JUST.LIKE.THAT!

Our agency had one little girl, she was 6. If we were not really trying to maintain birth order, I would have had to requested more info. The info given to us was just about a perfect fit. I hope I can find out who is adopting her, because I fell in love with her too. I want to follow her adoption story, I need to see that happy ending. KWIM?

Like I said, "Step away from the photolistings!"

but if my agency and my homestudy agency could say "As you wish!" ah....my life would be a much happier one. My guess, I wait. So good at the waiting now. (well I can think I am good at the waiting)

SN program changes?

You know, I can handle the thought of not getting a referral until 2009. Why? Because every 3-4 months I have the "chance" of a referral from the special needs list. I have quite a few marked, I truly feel like our daughter will be from the waiting child program. However, with the changes coming in the SN process, I'm quite nervous.

No one knows for certain what will happen, but one rumor is that people logged in for more than 6 months may not choose a child off the WC list and change to the SN program. Well, crap. 6 months for us is March 2007. Our agency, during that time frame, *might* have had 2 lists come out. THAT'S not a lot to choose from. Ya know? Especially with the wait for NSN is probably going to be close to 30 months for me. Just doesn't seem right.

Now, I can see where they might say "6 months from LID" if they have the new program in place and this is for May 1st people. Or 6 months from whenever the new "online" list is available. But until then? what about those of us who do not get access to a list very often? *sigh* I've seen about 4-6 girls (from other agencies who were waiting) that I would have loved to find out more info and probably adopted.

Yeah, I'm at that "feeling sorry for Carla" stage again. I'm sure in a week or so, it will pass.

Confessions of a Procrastinator

I had so many things I wanted to accomplish this week. I didn't get hardly any of them done. I don't really know why, except that I procrastinated right through the week. I have a doctor's letter that needs to be county certified (yes that paperchase NEVER ends). It's an update to our homestudy, and since we need to update the homestudy..well...there we go.

The boys started Karate, and LOVE it. I mean LOOOOOOOVE it. It's quite satisfying to sit and watch your child be 100% focused and succeed (well okay it's not quite the smooth motions yet) at something. Then have them get in the car and tell you very sincerely "Thanks Mom! I LOVE Karate!" Even S, who is 4, is loving it. His class though is quite fun to watch. It's more of a "learning the basic motions and we all know they'll be white belts for at least a year" kind of class. LOL Sensei has tons of patience though, and he's wonderful with the kids. That took up 3 afternoons.

JM had speech therapy and orthodontist appointments this week. Plus a class at the Science museum. Not to mention our van needed a tune-up. Plus Wednesday night church activities, and well, you can see that my week through Wed really had NO chance to do anything at home. Especially as a I had an client scheduled Monday night.

So, here it is Friday. I have laundry that needs doing. Beds need changed. Dinner needs cooked. I have an office that needs de-cluttered. My kitchen table and bar are "hot spots" and need cleaned off. Then, the kids rooms, oh my they are a wreck. However, Karate "rules" are that they are supposed to keep rooms cleaned. :) That should help out today. If they don't, then 10 Bunny Hops are in their futures!

Off I go now, to stop procrastinating and start cleaning. Yeah. that's what I'm going to do.

My Wish for all my Online Friends

May peace break into your house and may thieves come to steal your debts. May the pockets of your jeans become a magnet for $200 bills. May love stick to your face like Vaseline and may laughter assault your lips! May your clothes smell of success like smoking tires. May happiness slap you across the face and may your tears be that of joy. May the problems you had forget your home address. And may 2007 be the best year of your life!

2006 Meme...

I've been tagged by at least 3 friends on my other blogs (and NO ya'll aren't getting those addresses...those are all password protected private ones on other places). Saw this on Wicked Witch's site (okay, gotta admit that I SMILE huge when I see that name pop up).

1. What did you do in 2006 that you’d never done before?
I was fingerprinted. Left Samuel overnight with my Mom.

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
Yes, for the most part. Yes we will make more - but they're realistic ones.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
My sis (I have another nephew) and my friend Beth.

4. Did anyone close to you die?
No.

5. What countries did you visit?
Just the USofA

6. What would you like to have in 2007 that you lacked in 2006?
Katie to join our family.

7. What dates from 2006 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
August 18, 2006 - DTC, then September 14, 2006 - LID. I have others, but not as big as those.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
it could be getting Samuel pottytrained, but isn't that HIS accomplishment?

9. What was your biggest failure?
Not being patient during the wait for DTC.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Does Strep 2 times in 1 month count?

11. What was the best thing you bought?
Vacation tickets. :)

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
The kids. They are maturing quite a bit and it warms my heart.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
The kids. Some days it doesn't seem like they will ever learn common manners.

14. Where did most of your money go?
Bills like most people, we're still climbing out of debt, and Disney.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Going to Disney with just Dh. :) The adoption of course.

16. What song will always remind you of 2006?
When Love Takes You In

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
a) happier or sadder? b) thinner or fatter? c) richer or poorer?
I guess happier, about the same weight (could have gained a pound), and definitely richer (in both materially things and friendships)

18. What do you wish you’d done more of?
walked, ridden my bike, spent more time outdoors with the kdis

19. What do you wish you’d done less of?
sitting in front of the computer (and what am I doing right now?)

20. How did you be spend the New Year night?
Went to a friends house for a little while, my headache from the morning came back, we left, got home at 10pm, put the kids in bed and watched How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days (she was just evil!)

21. Did you fall in love in 2006?
Just deeper in love with Dh and the kids.

22. How many one-night stands?
bwaaaa haaaaa haaa...not a one.

23. What was your favorite TV program?
Do you REALLY want to know? Battlestar Galactica, Stargate SG1 and Atlantis, CSI anything, NCIS, The Unit, Numb3rs, and a new SciFi show...ummm...eternity...no...Eureka! oh I really like that show (even IF I can't remember it's name)

24. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?
Don't hate anyone, but some people do make me want to scream sometimes. ;)

25. What was the best book you read?
Since I doubt you want to hear about the gushy fluffy historical romance novels, I'll put Paper Daughter by M. Elaine Mar. It was very very interesting.

26. What was the best movie you saw?
Cars

27. What was the most beautiful day you spent during the year?
Have to be being in Disney with Dh....alone...no kids.

28. Your best Christmas present?
ummm...not really sure.

29. Your wish for everyone for the new year?
That all your dreams come true! (oh yeah, I've been spending too much time planning our Disney vacation with the kids)


Gotta share: As I've been typing this up, I've had JM working on school work (it finally clicked what alphabetical order means) and Samuel has been playing with his Word Whammer and is practicing the Alphabet song. He's just about gotten it! :) so sweet to hear his little voice singing ABCD...EFG...

What to do this year?!

Reading of Rumor Queen website about referrals and how much longer to wait. So, IF they make it to 9/29/2005 this time, then I will have

1 day to get to October
31 days in October
30 days in November
31 days in Dec
31 days in Jan
28 days in Feb
31 days in Mar
30 days in Apr
31 days in May
30 days in June
31 days in July
31 days in August
14 days to my LID

that's...umm...350 days until my referral. Using RQ's math, that leaves us roughly 26 MORE months to wait. *where's the fainting from shock smilie when you need it?*

So, what to do? We've already gotten the bunk beds for the boys and combined them in the same room. LOL 2 years before we MUST have them there. Heck, in 2 years we could be living in a new house. But since that requires homestudy updates, I highly doubt it. However, our house WILL be "remodeled" somewhat.

I'm planning on remodelling the kitchen this year. Along with the bathrooms (if you do cabinets in one, may as well do all of it together).

Then, there is the "replace flooring upstairs" issue. I mean, between the kids and the cat it's quite dirty. It is this lovely "light cream" color, it was NOT scotchguarded, it's the cheap builders special, and well...mix all of that with my clumsiness in carrying drinks, or Dh's clumsiness in carrying snacks...and those "drippy" no spill sippy cups. *sigh* It needs to be replaced.

If that doesn't take up all our time, I can do the dreaded landscaping (with my brown thumb it will be on-going). I wonder if the "greeness" of your thumb is related to your fertility? LOL I've managed to kill a tree, 3 azalea bushes, and a hydrangea bush just in 1 year. We planted another tree last year as well (as soon as we realized I'd killed the first one) and we are anxiously awaiting spring to see if it too died. I suspect it might have. The lilac bush I planted, well, it had black spots on it most of the year. I looked it up, it's not susceptible to black spot.

Now the climbing rose bush I do not like, that I've purposefully tried to kill, pull out, etc. is doing wonderfully. Reminds me of the science fair experiment we tried. I thought I had it all figured out. Purchase 2 plants (I bougth Gerbera Daisies), leave one alone, the other pull EVERY leaf off except for 1. Water normally for 2 weeks. Observe what happens. Our hypothesis was "the plant with only 1 leaf will die." I mean for a Kindergartener and his Mom that seemed logical. Right? WRONG! The "full of leaves" plant died while the one with only 1 leaf thrived. I am still not sure that was supposed to happen!

We're also trying to grow lima beans. 2nd grade science is a bit more complicated. We're now on our 2nd set. At least I don't take the blame for this one. Dh is in charge. *snicker* He had to buy the plants for the "hide one under a cardboard box and observe" experiment. He bought cacti. LOL It didn't do anything. So, we tried it again with pansies. JM got the correct answer for that experiment. LOL I just wish we could grow those lima beans!

I think I might move Samuel back to his old room. I mean, why not? Hey, it might even speed up a SN referral. LOL He and JM want to play too much at night right now. Plus, JM might enjoy being able to sleep on the bottom bunk. Or I could turn that room into an office. That'd REALLY speed up that SN referral (or the CCAA) wouldn't it?

So, what are YOUR plans for this year?

Lama Barn Goings

If that means anything at all to you (and you would know almost instantly what I am talking about if it did), then please leave a comment...I need to find out if what I have is correct.

Does it lead to sandbagging?

If so, then HELP with sandbagging! LOL

If you are 100% completely clueless, then I'll need to post something soon on this. It's been great at keeping me busy so I do not think about how slowly the world of International Adoption is moving. :)

What an amazing year!

It has truly been an amazing year for us. 1 year ago I was anxiously awaiting approval from our agency to start the process of adoption. We needed one doctor's letter verifying the information we had given them before they would approve us. Samuel wasn't potty trained. We had only been in the house for 1 year with lots of projects still undone. LOL we still have those projects undone! It's amazing what all can happen in one year.

Most of all, I'm thrilled that I started blogging. That I have found so many people online who share my passion for adoption and adoption from China (I have a quote about that passion versus obsession but I'd have to go look it up and I'm way too lazy tonight to do that). On my list of things to do is to update my blog with all the blogs that I read. :) I also want to update the look of things, change the theme out (and I need to talk to someone about that).

On the subject of to do lists, does anyone else have one that seems to only GROW in length? Mine never seems to shrink. I keep adding more than I mark off. One thing that I will be marking off soon is New Year's Resolutions. We always make them, and some we actually keep. "Get out of Debt." Is NOT one, rather it's more like "Pay $xx to debt to reduce it." Why this way? It's an attainable goal, and "out of debt" includes the house in our books. This year though, I think I'm going to put in a resolution of "eat out only X times per week...or month" Then another will be something like "exercise Y times per day...week...month...year" LOL Dh wants to lose weight, and I think I will resolve to help out in anyway I can (which means no more chocolate binges during that week of every month IYKWIM).

As soon as I get business stuff taken care of (end of year stuff), and as soon as we get our 2007 budget squared away (ooooh boy that sounds fun doesn't it?), I'm going to post some photos - Then/Now for the Friday Foto challenge, and "year in review" type of thing. It always amazes me how much the kids grow each year, how much older they look in December than they did in Jan. Where is that pause button for Life?

Why is it?

Why is it that I can think of wonderfully witty blog posts in the van, but when I sit down to blog them I have forgotten them? Why is that?! Oh, it's probably "Mommy brain" you know that phenomenon that occurs when you become a Mom. You suddenly have so much on your mind (like did you match up the number and dollar amount of stocking stuffer for both boys or did you make a boo-boo and they are unequal...because you KNOW that 8 year old will figure it out) and since you have such innane things on your mind you can no longer remember important adult like things...such as what you were going to post on your blog.

Blech.

Was it about the Christmas songs you were listening to?
Was it about the super cool anniversary trip you just took?
Was it about the stupid drivers on the road who are rushing around for last minute shopping and driving you crazy?
Was it some silly quip the 4 year old made?

Who really knows at this point. LOL

OH YEAH!!!! I remember now!!!! It was about our trip. *giggle*

Dh and I were in EPCOT, and visited this Coca-Cola place where they have flavors of Coke from around the world. One flavor was from China, and I found it quite yummy. It was a very sweet watermelon type flavor. Being the sweet, loving, adoring wife I am, I got a sample of the China one for Dh and then proceeded to get him a sample of Italy's "The Beverly." Now, admittedly, there are descriptions above each flavor, and "Beverly" said something to the effect of "bitter tasting drink that is supposed to stimulate the appetite." I had heard on the Disboards that it was foul. I too had a sample of "The Beverly" and I took a sip. Being someone who never drinks, I am assumming that this cola is similar in flavor to some nasty alcoholic beverage, and I thought it tasted remarkably like pure soda water...you know the nasty stuff that comes out in the drink fountain with the syrup for Dr. Pepper is gone? So, here I am with a sip of this foul concoction in my mouth and I notice Dh take a BIG OL GULP of the stuff. I, of course, started to giggle. BAD idea with a sip of nasty foul tasting soda in your mouth. Not wanting to spew it out everywhere I try to swallow. Dh, has of course swallowed his huge gulp and I heard, "It's not....OH MY WORD the aftertaste." Oh...I could feel it....the burning on my tongue, and I knew it would really really hurt to come out of the nose. I had to turn around and swallow quickly because just thinking of Dh's reaction and looking at his face had me rolling with laughter. I got my teeny tiny sip down. I gulped down the wonderfully sweet China cola, and that aftertaste...oh that aftertaste was STILL there. Dh and I were laughing like crazy (he didn't finish his Beverly and I tossed the rest out). The rest of the colas were decent. The ginger one was not too bad. I don't remember the others that much.

So, there's my advice...don't drink "Beverly" at EPCOT! LOL

Oh, and when you leave, be sure to pay attention to all the people who give you weird looks for laughing so hard with your beloved. :)

2nd tip of the day...baby wipes in the toilet are NOT a good thing.

What do you mean there is NOTHING Mulan in Disney?

Dh and I just got back from a wonderful 3 day anniversary celebration trip to Disney World. :) We honeymooned there, so for 10 Wonderful Years together, we went back...without KIDS!

I figured, okay, I've struck out EVERYWHERE finding a Baby Mulan doll for Katie. I figured I could find at least something Mulan for Katie in Disney World. I was WRONG. Nothing. Nada. Zilch. No Mulan stuff? I couldn't believe it!! Sure I could have gotten a photo taken with her at the China pavilion, but to NOT have anything to purchase with Mulan on it? I was shocked. Not to mention dismayed. If you find anything Mulan, please please please let me know. Well, nothing too expensive!

Being a Mom, you learn about puke. LOL I've learned that I can't stand it. One thing you learn in Disney is that puke is sometimes unavoidable...kids, lots of "rich" foods, rides, and then sweets is a BAD combination. Here were some of the phrases we heard:

Waiting to ride Dumbo (yes Dh and I rode Dumbo...at night, in the rain):

"Just a couple of minutes! One is extra wet and one is not so pretty." It was raining, so I guess the "extra wet" one was peed in, and the "not so pretty" one was puked in. LOL We stayed away from those and managed to get in an elephant that didn't go up and down. Not a problem though as I didn't care about that part.

Going on the "Green" side of Mission Space (you know the not so intense version):

"We're experiencing technical difficulties in the more intense version so we're letting the "Orange" riders use the "green" side with spinning turned on. It should only be a few more minutes before the technical difficulties are cleared up."

Then walking down the street I hear one cast member say to another:

"We have a protein spill just outside of Buzz Lightyear. Who is on that duty today?"

Then...I heard from an older-than-little-kid size person (could not figure out if she was 12, 18, 20, or 25)..."I don't feel so good." Yes, I quickly WALKED away.

Overall, we were lucky as we were not around as many "sick" sounding people as we typically are during our September trips. See, I'm the lucky one who ALWAYS (and I mean always) sees, hears, or just about steps in puke on our trips. Never fails...the kids sitting next to me at Beauty and Beast lean over and puke between the bleachers. The kids sitting down from us at Spectromagic pukes all over the sidewalk. The people sleeping 5 doors down from us in the hotel have balled up bedding outside their room...with suspicous looking stains. Ah yes...just LOVELY memories. LOL This trip I only had people around me complaining LOUDLY of sore throats, or they were coughing, or they were sneezing. So many kids sounding like they had bronchitis. So many feverish looking tweens. Airborne was taken daily. Dh did come home with a cold.

I'll have to share photos and share more stories of our trip. My feet are aching, more so than normal. I wore Crocs for 1.5 days, and my arches were not happy. They are GREAT for rainstorms (yes we had that). I feel like I pulled some muscles around my ankles and outside of my feet. Walking was interesting, but it is amazing what you can "push through" when you are having fun with your dh. :)

Missed the kids, of course. They didn't really miss us. Grandma is GREAT! She kept them busy busy busy. Now we can not wait to take the kids back to Disney (trip coming up this year).

Here's one photo - from the day after we heard "One isn't so pretty" in riding Dumbo.

*removed because it's been long enough*

LOL...oh the new point and shoot focused on DUMBO not on us. :) *giggle* I have back focus problems with the big camera, and notice focus issues. Ignore the focus issue here, just enjoy the snapshot of us on our anniversary trip. :)

Not this time.

That's my update.

Actually, my agency received 29 referalls, 12 of which were girls and VERY few of those were in our requested age. We are really wanting to preserve birth order and after 2 boys I am wanting a girl! I need some more girly things in this house. I mean, even the cat is male (well neutered but male). LOL

I was amazingly okay with not getting a referral. I did not really expect it, I had hoped. I told some friends it was much like getting that negative HPT after TTC for 3 months. You really hoped for it to be positive, but when it wasn't you didn't fall into a deep dark place. Now, a year from now if we are STILL waiting and I don't get a referral? I just might fall into that deep dark place. However, and this is a BIG one, I know I can survive. I know I will have a child at the end (well I hope so anyway). It's all about trusting in Him and His timing. My daughter is coming to me, everything about this adoption would NOT have happened the way it has unless He had a plan and He had a daughter picked out for us.

Then, it's almost Christmas! (heck of a topic change huh?) I can not believe another year has passed. I can not believe that it's almost Christmas. It's been quite hectic this year, and luckily we're done shopping. Now, it's time to focus on us...on our family...on celebrations. One thing we're doing this year is the Jesse Advent Tree, and it's been truly awesome. That's the first link that popped up from Google. :)

Now that my Christmas Rush season is just about done (last day for orders was today), I'm hoping that my house can regain some semblance of order soon. I am also hoping to be able to start on getting the kids rooms situated, pics posted, etc. The boys are enjoying the bunk beds. All of Samuel's toys are the "boys" room. I am *almost* ready to start on Katie's room. It's going to be SLOW going until we get a referral. Of course, I've fallen in love with some bedding, and I hope to catch it on sale soon. It's Cherry Blossoms from Pottery Barn Kids.

There I am. No referral. Christmas is almost here and I'm giddy about it. Christmas rush is over. I have vague ideas for Katie's room. :)

I have an 8 year old now.

Wow. I can not believe that my oldest is 8 now. Seems just like yesterday I was bringing him home from the hospital. He truly is a joy and so smart! Well, we think he's just the smartest. We have been discussing birthday parties and expenses. We offerred to send him to Parent/Child weekend at Space Camp or another similarly priced type of Camp (or multiple camps) in exchange for doing a big birthday party. He agreed. It was a bit rough leading up to his birthday, but he seemed okay with it.

We were going to make his actual birthday all about John Mark. Anything would go, he got his way. 2 things happened though. I ended up watching my friend's twins. She's very close to delivering her 3rd baby, and with the twins in daycare and she thought she would be having a late appointment at th doctor's yesterday. It was fun. 2nd thing, now that we are "twin free" I think I am getting sick and so is Samuel. Strep again if I can diagnose myself correctly. I mean, I just had strep last month! ugh

Other than that, we're just waiting to see if the Special Needs list contains our little Katie or not!

Check out this monitor

Okay, might need to scroll over to actually see the article...8 LCDs in One

I want this monitor! LOL I doubt I could make this a "need" at this time, but hey, I can dream.

8 LCS in One

Referrals through Sept 8 are coming! Which means our "LID date" for a referral is what...ummm...365+6 = 371 days away. Coming down, slowly, but coming down!!! However, we're pretty sure we'll get a question in Review so we all know that this will actually make our LID pretty much useless. *sigh* According to Dh's spreadsheet (which he's running based off of all the places LIDs are listed), we have a chance of getting our NSN referral in Feb 2008.

Just a few from our Thanksgiving

We went to Dollywood on Saturday for an enjoyable time with my Mom, brother and his girlfriend. It was rather pleasant until the sun went down, then it got a wee bit COLD for my taste. Those of you that live out of the Southeast US don't laugh at me, but I was freezing. Yes, it was a mighty cold 50ish degrees outside. LOL

I got my hair straightened a couple of weeks ago, and had not gotten a picture for my friends. Here's me with Samuel (notice the STRAIGHT hair)! This is a huge deal for me as I've lived with this extremely curly hair for my entire life. I told Dh that I was turning into a high maintenance gal this year. Who knows, I might even *gasp* start wearing makeup!

Samuel, at his shrimpy size, is still not tall enough to ride rollercoasters. However, JM is. He's my thrill ride junkie. When we go to Disney, he begs to ride Mission Space over and over and over and over again. He managed 7 times in one trip once. We were considering paying people to sit next to him. So, here is his reaction to Thunderhead, a wooden rollercoaster at Dollywood. He's ridden it a few times, but this time he and Dh rode it in the front seat. I think he liked it.

I have a "tree" image as well for the Friday Fun Foto challenge it's not MY tree, but one at Dollywood. Anyway, it's a huge tree in the middle of Dollywood (real tree) that they wrapped every branch with blue lights. Pretty darn cool in person. Not so cool in a photo where you don't really see it. My excuse? I only took the point and shoot. If I'd have had the "big" camera, I could have exposed it properly, done my magic on it and voila a wonderful image of this awesome tree. So, sorry, you just have to imagine it all beautiful!

A family Thanksgiving adventure.

Having been swamped with clients the past couple of weeks (still barely keeping my head above water there), we took the boys to visit Grandma and Grandpa for Thanksgiving. Ahh, nothing like doing 5 loads of laundry Tuesday evening/night/wee early hours of Wednesday, frantically packing, then realize the van is totally and completely DISGUSTING and in need of a good cleaning, only to realize that half of the city had the same realization at the automatic car wash (hey it was like 40 degrees outside and I refuse to wash the van with the boys in THAT weather), and THEN finally getting out the door only to turn around because you forgot to put the trashbag with the rotten smelly eggs in their containers out in the trashbin. LOL

So, finally, we get to Grandmas and I sigh in happiness in NOT HAVING BROUGHT work with me! Yippee!!! 3 full days of NO work. So, I bake some desserts, read a book, and relax.

Thanksgiving morning I get up and help Mom with dinner, watch TV, get dressed, and then go with Dad to pick up my grandmother from the assisted living home. My grandmother has had 2 major strokes this year, and the doctors feel like it is only a matter of time before she has another. Anyway, Grandma is a bit feisty still, and we had a fairly good visit. I enjoyed seeing her at any rate. :) Knowing how fast life passes you by, I cherished getting to see her. Dad takes her "home" and then when he gets back Dad, Dh, and JM all go to bed around 6pm. Yes...my 8 year old voluntarily went to bed at 6pm! Guess he was tired. Dh was tired as well. Me? I read another book. LOL Well, Dh had been scouring the Black Friday ads for weeks, and had decided to brave the crowds. Imagine his surprise when Thursday afternoon he found out he could buy some things online?! It was great, and reduced his need to 1 store. Since he went to bed at 6pm, he woke up at 2:15 AM. Yes, 2:15. He was out of the door at 3AM, standing in line at 3:30-3:45AM. Me? I was happily snoozing away, nice and warm in BED! LOL Circuit City was his store of choice, and he got all he wanted (except for the free camera because of a non-moving line he got into). However, he was done around 8am. He called me, told me he was on his way back. I was preparing to leave with Mom and my sister to go to visit my other Grandmother where my cousin was having a baby shower (yes a 3 hour drive there, 2 hour baby shower, and a 3 hour drive back) so I told him I'd see him later.

20 minutes later he calls to tell me he has lost his wallet. ACK! I ask if he checked the car really well (he's done this before but the wallet was in the car). He said he had. So, I start the exhausting process of cancelling the cards. PSA only carry those cards you are going to be using! Well, after getting the 4 cards cancelled, we commisserate over the lost "free meals" on the frequent diner cards. 4 hours later...he calls again. Guess what? The wallet was under the driver's seat. *explecitive* I'm now trying to remember what was on the cards that was "auto-draft" so I can call tomorrow and get that sorted out. Only one I'm needing is the card I use for business, and that is because my main work source needs to have something ordered TONIGHT, so I'm going to call tomorrow morning and see if I can have an account opened with them for the next week so I can make my orders.

I get home finally...Dh leaves with my Dad. He forgot his cell phone at the house, and panics that he lost it. ARGH. Then Saturday morning we get up to go to Dollywood and Dh can't find his wallet again. This time he checks the car REALLY well, and it's there.

Yes, I've had loads of fun teasing him about his lost wallet. LOL

We had fun at Dollywood, it was nice.

I blinked and it's Thanksgiving!

Does this ever happen to anyone else? You vividly remember taking the kids Trick or Treating, and then you blinked and it's now suddenly Thanksgiving? Where did the time go? I mean, it's good that it went by so fast and I really hope the rest of the "Big Colossal WAIT" goes this fast, but WOAH where did the time go?

I think being extremely busy is one help. I'm currently buried in client stuff with my home business. Working from home AND homeschooling requires tons of organizational skills of which I have none. So, since I know this about myself we were already over 90 days into our school year so the past 1.5 weeks have been "Thanksgiving Break" for JM. He's loved it. My house has not. Unfortunately I promised the kids that we could put up the tree before Thanksgiving...and now I'm not sure we'll get it done.

I did manage to work on our Christmas card image...all I hope is that the rest of you in blogger land had an easier time of it than I did.




I'm seriously considering that feet photo for our card.

and ON that note, I had this brilliat idea to do a "Christmas Sock Feet" photo of all of us. Target only had Christmas socks for Women and Girls. So, I bought my pair, and bought girl socks for the boys (in a more gender neutral design...you know green with Santa or blue with snowmen...not the red with girly colored ornaments). JM can read, and he saw "Girls Socks" and that was the end of that BRILLIANT idea. Humph. I can not wait for Katie to be part of this family so I can do girly things, but yes I'm prepared for even her to turn up her nose at the idea of Girly Christmas Socks.

Autumn Leaves!

Another Friday Fun Foto Challenge!

Katie's future room

oh my is it fun to look for bedding and decorations for Katie's room. My biggest problem is that I find I like it all. I'm at a total loss as to what I want to do. I fell in love with this Pottery Barn set, and was quietly saving up money for it. However, when we moved the boys into 1 room, we had to decide which bed set to keep for Katie's room (on the floor without a frame). The twin bed or the full bed? The full bed means family visiting will actually have a place to sleep. The twin bed means Katie has more room to move around and play. The full bed means that she can sleep on the bed with me or Dh when we get home. The twin bed means her crib will actually fit in the room. LOL Then there is the whole question of if we move and Katie is in her own room, what size bedding will she need then. I need to figure out which size bed she will HAVE when we move. Her furniture is pretty girly, so the boys won't want it. S has had it for a little while, but since he was a baby/toddler it didn't really matter. One boy will get the bunkbed set, the other will get the maple furniture that is currently in about 3 bedrooms! LOL Hmmm...the full size bed frame matches the maple furniture, so I guess Katie will get the twin...but I could always order her a white bedframe in full size...right?

Why is this important? well, that set I love at Pottery Barn will not be there for a long time. I need to decide WHICH size I need now.

bit of a stressful situation trying to decide. So stressful I may just ignore it all and NOT order it. Who knows, something better may come along. I think she needs the twin size, but who knows if I will even LIKE this bedding when she's ready for it.

Guess I should wait huh? But I want to start on her room so badly (since I can't feed that shopping habit with buying baby girl clothes!).

Forgot to cross off days on that referall list...

Made it to August 25 (but some were "skipped" and will come up later, but I'm not going to think of that happening to me!).

So, August 25, 2005-August 25, 2006 = 365 days
August 25-August 31, 2006 = 6 days
August 31-September 14, 2006 = 14 days

Grand total of...385 days of dossiers ahead of us!

Friday's Photo Challenge

Doublehappiness posts a Friday Foto Fun challenge, and this week was "crybabies" and while I know I have some of my boys crying somewhere, there are not any on this computer that I can find!

So, instead, I'm doing a "Pouty-Baby" but Samuel will be the first to proclaim "I'm not a BABY, I'm a BIG boy!" So, I guess pouty-boy will have to be our cry-baby this week. LOL

Insomnia, caffeine, and a good fluffy romance novel

add up to me being awake at 3 AM. egads I'm in for it in the morning. The boys (who also went to bed late) will still be up bright and early, but they will also be whiney. Oh the JOYS of parenthood.

since it's 3am, I have also forgotten this great topic for a blog post. Guess that fluffy romance novel had more mind numbing powers than I thought. ;) Hey, it was nice and relaxing to lay on the couch for a few hours reading about Knights in medival times. Why is it I never can seem to remember HOW to spell that word?

OH, exciting news is that JM got a 93% on his spelling test today!!! He, unfortunately, got his father's genes in spelling. I know he'll make a grand engineer one day as I swear he could spell the simplest word 5 different ways and all of them wrong after studying it for 2 weeks straight! I find it endearing since Dh has financial spelled wrong on 3 different budgeting spreadsheets (and yes misspelled 3 different ways). But JM, as a 2nd grader, really does need to learn how to spell such words as hundred, circle, force, and porcupine correctly. So, we celebrated his 93% tonight with a meal out where kids eat free.

disjointed update...

I'm procrastinating on a bit of a updated paperwork for our dossier, which will in turn require an update to our homestudy, which in turns needs to all be notarized, certified and authenticated. Oh joy joy.

In other exciting news, I heard through the grapevine that my agency has requested the next Waiting Children list. I hope and pray that we get a referral on it this time. Trying to remember what all I put down so I can update and put in other conditions I've educated myself on that I feel we could handle in our family.

I started on my first preparations for Katie in our lives. The boys are now proud owners of bunkbeds. Which also meant I painted their room. I took photos of it, but have not yet been able to get them web-ready. So far, we've only had a few jumping off the ladder to the floor or bottom bed. Both boys have hit their head on the ceiling from standing on the top bunk. Both boys seem to have a harder time going to sleep now due to talking to each other! Of course, being brothers, I've also had my share of going in there to break up arguments, and soothed my share of bumps. So far though I think they like them. S, the 4 year old, was scared of the bottom because it was so dark underneath. Oops! Dh went to get a nightlight (did you know they make an LED all in one piece that can't be taken apart easily version?), and he found one that has color changing lights. The first night we heard S exclaim "Ooooh pretty colors!" Which of course had us laughing! I will say the "pretty colors" kept S still and entertained long enough for him to fall asleep.

I want to join in the photo challenges, but who has TIME? So, I guess I'll just add some fall foliage photos instead! :)

disjointed update...

I'm procrastinating on a bit of a updated paperwork for our dossier, which will in turn require an update to our homestudy, which in turns needs to all be notarized, certified and authenticated. Oh joy joy.

In other exciting news, I heard through the grapevine that my agency has requested the next Waiting Children list. I hope and pray that we get a referral on it this time. Trying to remember what all I put down so I can update and put in other conditions I've educated myself on that I feel we could handle in our family.

I started on my first preparations for Katie in our lives. The boys are now proud owners of bunkbeds. Which also meant I painted their room. I took photos of it, but have not yet been able to get them web-ready. So far, we've only had a few jumping off the ladder to the floor or bottom bed. Both boys have hit their head on the ceiling from standing on the top bunk. Both boys seem to have a harder time going to sleep now due to talking to each other! Of course, being brothers, I've also had my share of going in there to break up arguments, and soothed my share of bumps. So far though I think they like them. S, the 4 year old, was scared of the bottom because it was so dark underneath. Oops! Dh went to get a nightlight (did you know they make an LED all in one piece that can't be taken apart easily version?), and he found one that has color changing lights. The first night we heard S exclaim "Ooooh pretty colors!" Which of course had us laughing! I will say the "pretty colors" kept S still and entertained long enough for him to fall asleep.

I want to join in the photo challenges, but who has TIME? So, I guess I'll just add some fall foliage photos instead! :)

Dove's Campaign

Dove's Film - Evolution

If you have not seen this yet, please take the 1 minute it takes to view it. Amazing evolution of a woman to model and all that goes into it. Our daughters NEED to know this is how it is done. Our daughters (and sons) need to know what REAL BEAUTY is.

If I had 5 minutes...

If I had five minutes to myself, I'd

#1 I'd check Rumor Queen
#2 I'd drink a Dr. Pepper
#3 I'd check my Mommy blogs
#4 Find a book to read
#5 Eat something chocolate!

If I had $5 to spend, I'd

#1 Buy a new fluffy romance novel
#2 Buy a package of playdoh as it keeps S entertained for hours
#3 I'd rent a movie for the kids, so I can read that fluffy romance novel.
#4 I'd call my best friend who is long distance
#5 I'd take the kids to buy a treat from the dollar store.

Five Items I'd love to get rid of:

#1 All sibling rivalry in my house. AMEN!
#2 All whining in my house. AMEN again!
#3 Excess hand-me-down furniture that causes my house to be cluttered with junk
#4 The clutter all over my desk and Dh's desk.
#5 The waiting for our daughter's referral.

Five Items I wouldn't part with:

#1 My books.
#2 The hugs and kisses from my kids (and Dh too I guess) ;)
#3 My Bible
#4 My friends
#5 The internet

Five Words or Phrases I'd love to hear:

#1 This is Amy/Allison from your agency, I have a picture here of a beautiful little girl for you!
#2 This is your agency, I know you just got your referral today, but we have your Travel Approval in hand and you leave tomorrow.
#3 Dh to me, "Just sit down and read your book, we're going to clean the house spotlessly clean"
#4 Dh to me, "I'm taking the kids out for the day, the house is clean, please do whatever you would like to do all day long."
#5 "Mom, I'm totally caught up on my school work, can I have more to do?"

Well, my five minutes are up! If you haven't done this one, consider yourself tagged! Let me know in the comments if you do it, so I can come visit yours:)

Please support Hunter!

Over the past few months I've been following this little girl name Hunter. I've never met her, only know of her through a friend who has met her and her family. Hunter is fighting cancer again (she relapsed), and Hunter is 4 years old.

"Hunter is the 2006 "Taco Bell kid" for Taco Bell's annual Jimmy Fund fundraising campaign! From today, October 18th, to November 8th, Taco Bells in New England and parts of New York will be asking for donations to the Jimmy Fund. Hunter's cute little face is on all of the promotional materials."

her Caringbridge site is here.

Reading this journal, and others like it, remind me everyday that our children are truly blessed to be healthy. I hope that all these little warriors survive, but I also pray for a cure...and soon. I can only imagine what their courageous parents go through, what these precious children go through, and I pray I never find out because I'm not strong like that. I don't want to be a downer, but truly, the Jimmy Fund needs all our help and these little kids need our prayers and support as well.

Brown envelope and profound thoughts...

Got our Brown Envelope yesterday!!! :) Nice surprise in the mailbox, and it made it all seem so much more REAL to Dh and I. Now, I'm impatient for that referral. LOL I have...what...23 more months to WAIT?!

okay, here's the profound thought for the day.

The Four Agreements - Don Miguel Ruiz

http://www.miguelruiz.com/teachings/fouragreements.html

* Be Impeccable With Your Word. Speak with integrity. Say only what you mean. Avoid using the word to speak against yourself or to gossip about others. Use the power of your word in the direction of truth and love.

* Don’t Take Anything Personally. Nothing others do is because of you. What others say and do is a projection of their own reality, their own dream. When you are immune to the opinions and actions of others, you won’t be the victim of needless suffering.

* Don’t Make Assumptions. Find the courage to ask questions and to express what you really want. Communicate with others as clearly as you can to avoid misunderstandings, sadness and drama. With just this one agreement, you can completely transform your life.

* Always Do Your Best. Your best is going to change from moment to moment; it will be different when you are healthy as opposed to sick. Under any circumstance, simply do your best, and you will avoid self-judgment, self-abuse and regret.

Celebrated my youngest's bday

We had a Pirate party theme, and despite the wanting to switch a week ago to a Star Wars party...it went great. Moon bounce, running around, and playing Pirate when you are 4 is just grand.

I made "Great Mommy" status today though with the party. S LOVED his cakes. Yes, I had a "brain fart" when I saw the cake on Family Fun's website. What in the world was I thinking? Okay, other than "COOL CAKE!"



Okay, the 2 "Pirate Ships" were indeed cake and frosting (and probably about 2 pounds of wood after all the toothpicks and wooden skewers I had to use to try and hold them together). I put Playmobil pirates on them, made the sails, Nestle treasures for "treasure" on the ship, and a Playmobil treasure chest on the cake-taker. Rolos were for "gold" and MilkDuds were cannonballs. Pretty clever of Family Fun I thought to use those (see I'm not even trying to take credit for THAT creativity).

The 2 blue circle cakes were "ocean" cakes and what we actually ended up eating. Again, playmobil pirates and Disney pirates for decorations. Plastic gold coins on the table in place of confetti for decorations. I do take credit for this creativity, although the "ocean cakes" were always my plan for backup if I could not get the ships assembled. I had not thought of the scenario of getting the ships assembled but they probably are not edible!

The kids all LOVED it of course, which made it worthwhile. But oh my am I ever TIRED now.

all these referrals...

I'm so excited to read these referrals and see the pics of the babies. It's always a happy day. But this month, oh THIS month is even more exciting to me than before. Why? Because this month I can cross off DAYS from where they are referring to where MY LID is!

So, August 9, 2005 - August 9, 2006 = 365 days
August 9,2006 - September 9, 2006 = 31 days
September 9, 2006 - September 14, 2006 = 5 days.

Grand total = 401 days!

(let's use EASY numbers of 400 days and 20 days of LID per referral batch)...at this rate, it will be 20 months until we get a referral. Still within that 18-24 month range I've prepared myself for. :) I like that it is closer to 18 months though. I still seriously doubt I'll know anything before 2008 (for NSN).

1. FIRST NAME? Carla
2. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE? No
3. WHEN DID YOU LAST CRY? umm...recently but I don't remember when, I was probably frustrated though
4. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING. No
5. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCHMEAT? None. Can't stand it. Tomato sandwhich please!
6. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU? Yes
7. DO YOU HAVE A JOURNAL? does an online blog count?
8. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS? Yes
9. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP? Nope
10. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL? Honey Bunches of Oats with Strawberries, or something chocolate
11. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF? No
12. DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG? Sometimes
13. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM FLAVOR? Monkey Bites from Cold Stone, or Mint Chocolate Chip from Breyers
14. SHOE Size? 7.5
15. RED OR PINK? PINK!!!!!
16. WHAT IS THE LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF? My skin condition
17. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST? My best friend from High School
18. WHAT COLOR PANTS AND SHOES ARE YOU WEARING? Blue jeans, no shoes
19. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW? S fighting sleep, playing with a toy in bed, and Dh is watching the Monday Night Football game.
20. WHERE IS THE ONE PLACE YOU WOULD LIKE TO BE RIGHT NOW? In some Civil Affairs office, In China, being handed my baby girl!
21. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE? Purple
22. FAVORITE SMELL? Buttercream Yankee Candle
23. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE? Gina...no I think it was Christy...NO! Dh on the cell phone tonight trying to find out where I was parked when he got to the softball game!
24. THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE YOU ARE ATTRACTED TO?
25. FAVORITE DRINK? Dr. Pepper
26. FAVORITE SPORT? for me to do - Snowskiing, to watch....ummm...baseball?
27. WHATS YOUR FAVORITE COLOR? Purple
28. HAT SIZE? 7 3/4? Is that a hat size? It's quite large due to the hair.
29. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS? No
30. FAVORITE FOOD? Chocolate - anything chocolate
31. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS? happy endings
32. WHAT COLOR SHIRT ARE YOU WEARING? rose colored
33. SUMMER OR WINTER? Summer
34. HUGS OR KISSES? hugs
35. FAVORITE DESSERT? anything chocolate
36. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING? Restricting myself until I'm caught up on business, but it'll be a romance novel of some sort by the end of the week.
37. WHAT'S ON THE MOUSE PAD? Nemo
38. WHAT DID YOU WATCH LAST NIGHT ON TV? Amazing Race
39. WHAT ARE YOUR FAVORITE SOUNDS? Silence these days. ;) Samuel's BELLY laugh/cackle.
40. THE FURTHEST YOU'VE BEEN FROM HOME? Home? which home? furtherest from where I live now? or furtherest from where I lived at the time I did the travel? LA or San Diego (from here), furtherest "travel" Bahamas
41. WHAT ARE YOUR SPECIAL TALENTS? Photography, cross-stitch, painting (not pictures though)
42 AND WHERE WERE YOU BORN? Not gonna answer this one. ;) If you are curious, ask me in person.
43. WHO SENT THIS TO YOU? Got it from Angela
44. WHAT DAY IS IT? Monday, September 25, 2006

Now here's the deal:Leave me a comment if you are going to answer these questions on your blog so I can follow, and get to know you better.

We have LID!!!!!

Got word this week, that were Logged In on September 14, 2006!

wow...almost a full month from DTC to LID. Oh well. Now is the time to START counting down to our referral day!

Last month they made it to July 22, 2005, so 365+54= 419 days of dossiers ahead of us! If they average 15 days of dossiers a month, then we are looking at...oh...roughly 28 months until our referral. To keep to 14 months, oh my they need to do 30 dossiers a month. Yeah, I think realistically we are looking at over 14 months for our referral (non-special needs that is).

Regardless, we're excited to have that LID and we celebrated by eating Asian tonight!

Another ladybug sighting!

Okay, having watched the LID appear for the August 2006 DTC group, I know my LID is coming up soon. :) Basically DTC August 14, 2006 was LID early September. So, 4 days later for our DTC we should be fairly close.

Tonight while out taking photos of a baseball team, I noticed a ladybug on my camera bag. Admist all the rambunctious boys, no flowers to be seen anywhere, just a ball field and there on my bag was a ladybug. Okay, it was a dull orange color and did not have many spots at all...but it was a ladybug. Wonder if our LID is today? September 8, 2006? 9-8-06? Hmmmm...could be. :)

Ladybug Sighting

Last Wednesday, August 23, our cat had escaped the house. Knowing he hides during the day and comes home for food at night, I left the back door open for him to come in. After 15 minutes, and LOTS of moths later, I closed it. Dh was standing by the lights and saw something red flying around. I guess it was around 9:30pm. It landed on a light and it was a LADYBUG! Our first REAL Ladybug sighting. :)

2 days later (thinking the cat who did finally come home) had gotten all the moths (and that little ladybug) I saw a speck of red on my oldest son's door while I was cleaning. Upstairs and opposite corner of the house from original location, but I'm guessing it was the same one.

Hmmm....since we're considering special needs, want less than 12 months...could she have been born on August 23rd? That would put her roughly the correct age for a spring waiting child list! :) What a wonderful dream.

Ah...dossier is at CCAA

and I've sat here for 2 days, relaxing with nothing to stress about with the dossier. I noticed the house. Hmmm...I think I neglected the housework in order to get certain things done! LOL

I currently have a Mount St. Foldme waiting for me. The kitchen is in decent shape, the boys rooms are...well...kids rooms. The main living areas are okay. OMG when did the stairs get so many stains on them? LOL I've been busy, and I'm now attacking the housework. I was feeling pretty good until I walked outside and noticed the flowerbed. I've not had to "stalk the mailman" lately, so no weeding has been done. Coupled with some rain...and it's now affectionately named "weed bed" by Dh.

I want to post photos, but Dh is having a fit since this isn't password protected and we don't know you....tried to explain it was okay. I took the kids out this weekend to play, bought them Pirate costumes, and we had a blast together. I took photos of them, the kids played Pirate. When we got in the car I heard, "That was so much fun Mom! Can we do it again?"

Now, to start thinking about Christmas card photos and designs for cards. :D

DTC today!!!!!

Henceforth and forevermore August 18, 2006 will be known as "Dossier to China for Katie" day! :D

I have fed ex tracking number....dossier has been picked up from the agency.

done with paperchasing. done done done (well until it's time to renew something)

Dossier to Agency!!!!

It's going tonight (well in a little over an hour when UPS picks it up...)

Why UPS and not Fed EX? Fed Ex would only insure documents for $100. ummm..NOPE. That dossier would take close to $2000 to re-do rushed services. I insured it for $2000 with UPS. $50+ to get it to our agency tomorrow insured for that amount...yeah...fun stuff.

so...anyone wanna watch the skies with me tonight? Please, no UPS plane crashes. Please no UPS truck crashes...let me documents get to the agency okay.

On a hot, humid, sunny day....

it arrived! Mail even ran EARLY. :)

We have our 171h form (well 797). It is now "copied" and "notarized copy of an original"

Monday = county certification day

phew!!!!! here's hoping we're DTC by August 18

10.5 weeks and still waiting

For a process that started in November 2005, this paperchase has been the pits. I knew it could take longer than 4-6 months we were "quoted" but 9 months? When as our family coordinator said, "You are one of my most proactive families."

10.5 weesks so far for USCIS to get us the 171h form. Yes, it "bad word here" that we are still waiting when people that were "behind" us in line have their form. I do know that our application was processed and approved on Tuesday (thanks to calls to USCIS we know this much). But we are just waiting for the mail to get it to us. I thought, since someone from my area had one processed last Tuesday and got it Friday that today would be the day. But no. We were told it could take up to 14 days to get it us. GAK...that's a LOONG time still. So...we wait. Hopefully tomorrow.

It's not here

It's now passed the day of our "homestudy to USCIS" and my date has been skipped. We have no idea what is going on, but it's looking like our homestudy did not make it to Atlanta. So, well...guess we've done 10 weeks of waiting in vain.

oh...my....gosh.....

Still waiting...

but hopefully for not much longer!!!

Today, someone I know who is a day ahead of me at the USCIS office with their paperwork got their 171h form!!! Hopefully this means tomorrow or Monday for my own.

Please...please...please...please!

Yes I was a band geek in high school

I had a good chat with a friend last night, who was also a band geek. We compared music we loved playing, fight songs, etc. :)

We both agreed that Russian Christmas Music was awesome. Chorale and Shaker Dance was fun but not as hard as Russina Christmas Music. Then, she had a fight song stuck on her mind (not Rocky Top or other Univ. of Tennessee fight songs), and I thought of "Washington and Lee Swing". Yes, that was it. LOL It was my high school fight song (which is how our whole conversation got started in the first place).

Well, the piece of music that I remember the most from high school is this one:

Helm Toccatta by David Holsinger

I played French Horn, and let me say...this has such a LOVELY horn part...lots of "high notes" lots of LOOOW notes. Rips. hard sequences. etc. Just...well...lovely. I remember the subtitle to this one was "Death by Trumpet".

So, there's my geeky high school band showing itself.

Would you believe me if I said, Still Waiting?!

well we are. Over 8 weeks now and quite honestly I've found that I'm checking the mailbox less. I'm not eating as much chocolate. Basically my mind now thinks it's never coming. LOL

In an effort to distract myself, I've read lots of books lately. You know, those mushy, fluffy, romance novels? It's been nice. Plus it gives me something to do while waiting on JM at swim lessons. Of course since I wait in the van with S, who is watching a movie, it qets quite warm. BTW, vehicles with DVD players are wonderful! It makes waiting in the van pass quickly, except for yesterday. S didn't want to watch Dumbo, he "raced" his matchbox car from the back of the front seat all the way to the back seat over and over again. I finally had to open the side doors as it was getting hotter and hotter in the van even with all the windows open.

I had taken some water for S, in a small water bottle. He told me "Water is yummy!" ahhh...I love that. Water is yummy. AT least I could understand him with this one. A few weeks ago I asked the kids where they wanted to eat dinner. S answered, "Jumpers!" Huh? What's Jumpers? I asked where it was. "It's way far far away." Okay, then I realized that to a 3 year old "way far far away" could be on the other side of town. I remember thinking, while growing up, that going "into the city to the mall" took forever and I needed a book to read to pass the time. It was a 30 minute drive. LOL So, I asked S what he ate at Jumpers, "SHICKEN!" Okay, another bad question as he only eats Chicken when we eat out, or Chicken means "something I liked and good" I'm not sure. I asked who he ate with (as he sometimes eats out breakfast with Dh and JM only). Well, it was all of us. No grandparents, which was helpful. So, Jumpers is "way far far away" serves "shicken" or at least something S really likes and he ate there with Mommy, Daddy, and JM. Okay. I couldn't figure it out.

Last week, I didn't want to cook. Surprise surprise. So, we were thinking of eating at this sub shop, and pulled into the parking lot beside it. We were discussing where to eat (did we really want the subs?). S says "JUMPERS! Eat at JUMPERS!!!" Dh, having no better luck on figuring out Jumpers, said, "Where is Jumpers?!" S says "right there!!!" and points. Where did he point? IHOP. OH my...I got it. "I Hop" or "I jump" which can easily translate in a 3 year old mind to "Jumpers." Glad to have figured that one out. LOL No, we didn't eat at Jumpers. We ate the subs. I think Jumpers would have been better.

trying to stay positive

Well, still no sign of the 171H. We have not gotten a reply to our fax sent a week ago either. Nothing from the USCIS office, and I'm not feeling too hopeful now. It's so hard to stay positive and upbeat when rumors fly about wait times extending longer and longer and you can not even get to DTC part. I am having a tough time being happy for others who are DTC (and started AFTER our 1st meeting with the homestudy agency). It's so hard. It's very reminiscent of infertility treatments...no knowing if you will even get to the END of anything and have a child in your life.

So...there we are. Still waiting. Still getting frustrated. Still trying to learn patience.

Parenting adventures

Okay, I'm not sure if we responded correctly or not to this parenting moment last night. S-, our youngest, is almost 4. We've been in the throes of potty-training for 2 years, and while I'm happy to say he's 100% day trained it is the night-time we're struggling with. Of course it could be the water we give him when we put him to bed, but he's a bed-wetter. He sleeps so deeply and soundly that he doesn't wake up when he's wet either (well most of the time). So, we just aren't forcing the issue, he'll do it eventually. He's in pull-ups or diapers for now at night. JM never had this problem, he night trained at the same time he day trained.

Last night, we forgot the pull-up. Around midnight we hear a noise from his room. I immediately remember the pull-up. OOps. Dh finds him in the bathroom trying to pee while half-asleep (he got my non-waking up ability). ;) His clothes were soaked (he didn't pull them down...poor thing was still asleep). The stool was soaked. His bed was wet of course. So, I find new clothes (and the pull-up). Dh cleans him up. We dress him. Then, we take him to bed with us. You should have seen the smile he gave us. Totally "cat that ate the canary" look. He was so happy to get to sleep in Mommy and Daddy's bed. It felt like we were rewarding him for wetting the bed. Were we? Possibly. I don't want to punish him for that though, since he IS trying. Hey, he woke up last night at least. ;) His bed was wet, so what else do we do?

Ah well. He was happy to snuggle with Mom and Dad last night (and kick us in the back, steal our pillows, turn in circles, kick off the covers then huddle as close as possible to us...).

I thought last night...wonder what action each of the "philosophies" in parenting would have responded with that situation? LOL And this, folks, is why I have insomnia. I start thinking of things like this and have trouble drifting off to sleep (or it could have been the little foot in my side).

Then, JM, our oldest. LOL On the way home from music camp this week he tells me something important. "I forgot how to do it. Wanna know what I forgot how to do? Mom, wanna know?" I didn't respond...he'd been talking non-stop and I knew no response was necessary. Even if I said, "No I don't want to know" he'd tell me anyway. 7 year olds are like that. After a silence of 1 minute (at the most), JM piped up, "I forgot how to do armpit farts." Yes, I guess that is important to a 7 year old.

Some math for you.

Our 1600A was received by the USCIS office on January 27. We were fingerprinted February 10. Homestudy was sent May 24th.

So...it's been (true for July 12, so add days yourself if it is past July 12).

166 days since USCIS received our 1600A
122 days since we were fingerprinted
49 days since home study was sent to USCIS.

236 days since we sent in our application to AWAA
189 days since AWAA approved us and we officially started the paperchase.
161 days since we started the home study with the home study agency

It took 113 days to complete the homestudy process, JUST the homestudy portion for our state.

Not that anyone is COUNTING or anything. *rolleyes*

So, hopefully that number, that 236 days since APPLYING with our adoption agency number, gives you an indication of WHY I'm so frustrated. BTW, if I had chosen to go ahead with the infertility treatments and I had gotten pg around then I would be DUE in 44 days. At the rate I'm going, I won't even be DTC yet. Much less have a LID. It's entirely possible that I will not have a LID either. *sigh* and if you go by MY pg and births, I would deliver at 39 weeks, so 37 more days to go. *stomping foot* It's NOT fair.

ps. I don't want to hear that my daughter will be the PERFECT one for me, and these delays mean she's not ready for me yet. I don't care. I'm frustrated. I'm not ready to hear that just yet. I need to whine, complain, and vent a little more first. ;)

You guessed it! Still waiting.

Yes, that darn form is STILL not here. *bleep* *bleep* *bleep* (afterall it's a censored child friendly blog since my oldest can actually read).

Angela tagged me. 7 things about me...this should be interesting. :)

7 things I would like to do before I die:

* See my children fulfill all their potential and become awesome parents
* Go to Australia and New Zealand
* Go to Hawaii
* Go snowskiing in Colorado or Utah or Montana
* Be completely debt free, including the house, building wealth so I can give it away
* Become a succesful photographer and well liked by my clients
* Retire early with Dh and fulfill HIS dream of visiting every majorleague ballpark in one baseball season.

7 things I cannot do:

* Enjoy watching a major league game of any sort (football, baseball, basketball, etc.) I just can not get into them. Give me a book, and I will sit happily after my 30 minutes of interest have gone away. ;) Or I'll do the running back and forth to the concession stands.
* I can not eat fish, except when pregnant with my first child. Blech.
* I can not keep the house clean, I mean the entire house all at one time. I get distracted too easily to get it all clean in one day.
* I can not say no to chocolate, in just about any form.
* I can not live without lists.
* I can not add, subtract, multiply, or divide. Well, I can do easy things, but semi-complicated things I make mistakes without a calculator. It's a true joke between me and all those who know me, see what I can do below though.
* I can not go to bed without kissing my kids, or send them to bed without hugs. Well, okay, I can but I don't like it as much.

7 things I can do:

* Take a photo on full manual mode, understanding what I'm doing, and knowing the results I'm going for. :)
* I can derive functions, differentiate equations, and integrate equations. I understand them. I can even prove the theroems that go with them. I can prove that 1+1=2. just don't ask me to add, subtract, multiply or divide. ;)
* I can eat a whole bag of chocolate without them knowing (after all if they KNEW about it, they'd get some).
* I can make my "friends" either REALLY skinny or REALLY fat in photos. I can bulge out their eyes (like the cat in Shrek 2). I can smooth out wrinkles. I can give them lots of acne. I love Photoshop. Does anyone have a photo of the person doing the 1600A application processing? bwwwaaa haa haa.
* I can answer the most inane trivia questions, especially Disney related ones. Okay, I enjoy Trivial Pursuit and have lots of useless tidbits stored in my brain. However, those tidbits never seem to be the questions I get asked...those tidbits are always what my opponents are asked. Not fair I tell ya.
* I can make lists upon lists, even lists that organize my lists. Does this make me Type A personality? LOL
* I can play piano and french horn (although not at the same time).

7 things that attracted me to my husband:

* His looks.
* His personality.
* The way he treated me. I love that he opens doors for me.
* His drive
* His determination.
* His love for God, his family, and his friends.
* The fact that he indulges me

7 things I say most often:

* Just a minute.
* Turn that down, I can't hear myself think!
* 10 more minutes on the playstation then you get off
* Hush. Shhh. Be quiet. Stop talking. (it's amazing how much little boys can TALK all day long about nothing, or making noises, or just anything especially while I'm on the phone with a client.
* What do you want for dinner?
* mmmrph...sleep more....mmmpssh. (every morning when Dh or the kids are trying to get me up, and I do get up eventually with much grumbling, get in the shower and then I'm awake).
* Love you. (followed by a quick kiss and hug)

7 books I love:
Just 7? Only 7? Not sure I can.
* I'm lumping Historical Romance Novels in one book. I love to read them, even the sappy pure fluff ones.
* Gone with the Wind (it was ever so much better than the movie, and I love the movie), and I even liked Scarlet (the sequel written by someone else)
* Alice in Wonderland, Charlotte's Web
* Harry Potter (the entire series)
* Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, Emma, Pride and Prejudice,
* Little Women (well the entire series)
* A Wrinkle in Time (and the rest of the Madeline L'Engle series that follows this)

(can I keep going? please? I've not even covered half of the books I love)

7 movies I love:
* Gone with the Wind
* Dirty Dancing
* Sixteen Candles, Pretty in Pink (I always watch them together)
* Schindler's List
* Pretty Woman
* National Treasure
* The Princess Bride

Okay, so do I now tag blogging people myself? Oooh...this will need to go to my friends. Watch them all run and hide now. LOL

When do mail checks become obsessive?

It's become quite...umm...obsessive lately for me.

Wanna take a guess? How many times a day do you think I check the mailbox, knowing that the mail is never earlier than Noon and has been as late as 4:30pm?

1 time? I have it timed perfectly (okay, so I stand at the window ready to pounce as soon as I see the mailman leave)

2 times? I check in the morning to verify it's not gotten there, then I stand by the window watching to pounce on the mailman.

3 times? I check in the morning, then again around Noon, then start my vigil by the window.

4 times? I check in the morning, again around Noon, again after I did some housework, then assume the vigil by the window.

5 times? I check in the morning, again around Noon, again after housework, again after computer time, THEN assume the vigil by the window.

6 times? more of the same...just more frequent checks, or more accomplished between morning and vigil

7 times? ditto above...fingers getting tired...

8 times? ditto

9 times? .....

10 times?

you'd think I'd never heard "a watch pot never boils" huh?

This is JUST today...the mail is NOT here yet...will I get my "golden ticket" or not? What is YOUR guess? LOL


the answer? LOL 7 times and NO 171H form. Got the credit card bill though.

Yep...still waiting.

Heard that our USCIS office was processing through May 15 at the end of last week. Which puts us probably receiving our 171H by the end of 2 weeks from now. :) Might we have a fun and joyful 4th of July?!

Mail checks have become "obsessive" in that I watch for the mail carrier to drive up the street...or I check the mailbox at a certain time "early for mail delivery window" then watch for the mail carrier. I sprint out to the mailbox after they come...and so far...have been disappointed.

Chocolate helps. ;)

still waiting

I'm waiting, fairly easily. Not too down about checking the mail daily yet, and only checking it up to 2 times a day now. :) Doing good there.

I was reading on another blog today though, someone who was homestudy to USCIS on May 24th got their "Golden Ticket" today. :( Do not know if they were the same USCIS office or not...but gosh...it REALLY could come anyday couldn't it?!

I'm still thinking we'll be one of those unlucky few who find out at the 60 day mark "OH there's a problem" or "Oh we never got the homestudy it's lost in the mail" or something like that.

I'm trusting in G*d though that it will come soon, like in the next 7 days (7 more days fulfills the average for our USCIS office). It seems so far away, yet sounds like it could be so close.

BTW, my 2 documents are still at Chinese Embassy. I really would like to get those back soon. I'm starting to stress that those documents will hold us up!

May 24 - it was an important day

My homestudy was sent to USCIS from the state on May 24, 2006!!!!! It was approved, and I'm about 2 weeks into the wait for that elusive 171H form. Supposedly it only takes 60 days to get. Yeah..only if my luck changes. RIGHT?!

Where oh where are my documents?!

With all the focus on my homestudy, I failed to mention that I have 2 documents being finalized authenticated.

These 2 documents originated from states that had to go to the US Dept of State then on to the Chinese Embassy. This meant, that I sent my original certified copies, with their state seals certifying them as original, plus a copy, plus 2 Fed Ex envelopes, plus 2 money orders, PLUS Chinese Embassy cover sheet...all laid out with directions (I checked with our family coordinator to make sure I had it right)...and made a trip to do the Fed Ex in person.

I sent it out May 25 overnighted.
US Dept of State got it May 26. (love tracking numbers and Fed Ex)

So...waiting (hmmm...there's that waiting thing again) for US Dept of State to send the package on to Chinese Embassy.

then wait on Chinese Embassy to Authenticate it and send it on back to ME!

What did I learn (besides that it's really confusing to work with the Fed Ex website), is if you send REGULAR post mail to the US Dept of State it sits in their mailroom for 2+ weeks. WOW.

In honor of "Finding Nemo"

Just keep waiting...waiting...waiting.
Just keep waiting...waiting...waiting.
doo--dee-dee-doo-doo-dooooooo
Just keep waiting...waiting...waiiiiiiting.