Science experiments

A few years ago I approached science fair with JM with excitement. I loved science fairs as a child, and I was eager to share that with JM. We discussed various experiments, and came up with doing one I was sure I knew what the outcome would be. The experiment was to take 2 plants and tear all but 1 leaf off of one plant and leave the other alone. Take care of them and observe them for 2 weeks, then report on what you saw. After 2 weeks both were still thriving. After 4 weeks the one with all it's leaves was starting to droop and look a little sick. At 6 weeks I finally had to admit that the one with all it's leaves still attached was dead while the one with just 1 leaf was thriving. I still maintain that the results we found are not what what we were supposed to find.

Today Dh and JM are measuring how far JM can hear a clock ticking. First of all, we have 1 clock that actually ticks. I knew it was quite loud, but it's something we all tune out easily. JM could hardly hear it with hands over his ears on the other side of the room. Listening to it to measure distance with ear uncovered did not go so well. JM could still hear it outside the back door. You could hear it across the room with the TV on. Dh finally got that part figured out with turning the TV on to a certain volume, redid the version with the hands over the ears, and went on to the final "test" which was to listen for the ticks with a paper "funnel" to the ear. That went over well. He could still hear it outdoors with the TV on, so I told Dh to call that done as JM understood what the funnel to the ear did!

To think that Dh wonders why I do not want to do the experiments with JM?! LOL Give me the projects where JM has to write a haiku poem anyday! I do love and enjoy science, but science experiments for elementary kids just never seem to work out how I expect them to.

Coupon Mom - Works for Me!

I'm typically busier than I would like to be, and typically so busy that other things are more important than clipping coupons (like, oh, pulling weeds). I honestly can say that I look forward to the day when I no longer need to clip coupons, it's not one of my favorite chores. It's one chore I'm eagerly looking forward to passing off to my kids.

Awhile back, someone sent me a link for The Coupon Mom and if you go to Grocery Deals by State (on the left hand side) you will find a drop down list where you choose your state and grocery store. Now, I realize that not all stores are listed here (and yes I know that big megastore will match ads, but refer to that "despise clipping coupons" part about me again), but there are some decent stores listed.

This will open a new window with this week's deals in the ad and which coupon from which paper could be used. NICE! This means that I do not clip coupons, but rather keep them together. I go to this site and get a list of "deals" and which coupons go with each one. Sunday evenings I head to the store and buy groceries.

Now, if I could only figure out a way to not even go to the store in the first place! LOL I hope it helps someone else out there as it has helped me!

Head over to Rocks In My Dryer for other (probably more helpful) tips!

Paper Daughter

I put this book on my list because it came from a good friend in a box of books (along with many fluffy romance novels). :) It looked very interesting, and I hope she included it because she wanted me to read it. I do not know, but D-, THANK YOU!!!!!!

Anyone adopting from China, this book is a wonderful glimpse into a young woman's life from living in China prior to age 5 and then immigrating to the US. I have found that I do love reading about other's lives, other's families, and this book did not disappoint. I wonder if I like reading blogs so much because it is like one long story of someone's life. I just wanted to jump through the pages of the book and give that little girl a HUGE hug in several parts (those dealing with going to school and such). Okay, there were many parts throughout the book I wanted to jump in help her out or cheer her on!

D- also sent me The Kitchen God's Wife, which reminded me that I had read Joy Luck Club in high school. So, I added both of those to this list as well. I think I might jump into those soon. I love having friends who send me a box of books to read, and put so much thought into which books to include.

The Starbucks Experience

First finish on the Spring Reading list, and I really liked it. It made me think about how I treat clients in my business. What details am I not paying attention to? What detail am I missing that is causing problems for either me OR more importantly my client?

How can I surprise and delight clients? Am I available enough to them? How can I improve my relationship with them? Do I respond well to negativity from friends, family, and clients about the business?

Very thought provoking questions for me. Everything made me stop and think about how something small I do can impact another in a great way. Even though I read it for business purposes, I found that there were several areas that could easily be applied to my personal life, such as do I pay attention to the details of my friends lives? Do I show them that I am "invested" in them? That I pay attention to our friendship. Am I involved in the community enough? Do I listen and learn from someone telling me something negative about myself? Can I take that criticism and turn it into something I can improve on? Do I know when the criticism is actually coming from someone who can never be happy with me or would always find something to fault?

As this book made me think about myself quite a bit, I will not share my answers here. I found it a very easy read, and a very thought-provoking book. Definitely not of the fluffy romance novel genre!

365 photo blog...

Doing this on another blog, so I thought I would share. :) Actually bombard you with photos, don't ya love me?!

The past 2 days - Samuel at karate (isn't he just so CUTE!)


Then, weeds. Yes, they have taken over my life outdoors. I can definitely tell Spring is HERE!

Works for Me!

Hmmm...what does work for me? I know! Working on replacing linoleum with tile in the master bathroom!! LOL That linoleum is tough to scrape up, and it ends up hurting muscles, and you get blisters. Generally it's a yucky job. But since the end result is worth it, I'm here to tell you a few ways to make it easier.

1. A scraper of some sort is essential. Especially if you are doing this on concrete and get semi-big sheets of the linoleum up, but leave that paper backing glued to the floor.

2. I used vinegar and water and mopped that paper. It helped to loosen the paper somewhat. Then I could scrape a little easier.

3. The absolute BEST way though to get this up, is to look sufficiently hot and tired when Dh gets home. Have enough done that it looks like you made progress. Then, when he's feeling quite quilty over how hot and tired you are, start scraping again...but you know, WEAKLY. This part is important, because big strong manly Dh will not be able to watch you barely scrape the paper stuff. He will take over the yucky job and get it done much faster.

Okay, so I'm fairly lame and do not really have a good "works for me" on this topic. I am about to decide though that paying someone to put this down in our 35 square foot bathroom might have been the better option. Too bad we only have about 9 square feet left to do (if that).

My Spring Reading Book List

Okay, I guess here is where I admit my addiction. I adore fluffy romance novels. Especially historical ones, and even MORE especially (is that even proper grammar?) those historical ones set in Regency England, or set anytime prior to 1900 in Scotland. I do enjoy a good time travel book, as long as the time traveler goes to said period that I am thoroughly enjoying obsessed with.

I was not always this way, prior to turning that magical age of 16 when Mom decided I was old enough for my first Harlequin, I devoured many great books. I have read all of Lousia May Alcott's Little Women series (absolutely adore them). I've read, and enjoyed, the great classics from the Bronte sisters. I even started reading Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes. I didn't really care for it though.

Now, my list may seem, well, rather long. But I read fast. Okay, I read fast before kids, now it might actually take me more than a day to get through a book only because my reading time is at night. You know after those little monsters heathens angels are in bed. It all started in 5th grade. My 5th grade reading teacher Mrs. B gave my class the honor of doing 50 book reports in 1 school year. Okay, so most of the class did not feel like this was an honor. She told us that the first one to finish would get a surprise. The challenge was on! I remember my first one submitted was for Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and she told me that 7 pages was too long for a book report. I needed to narrow down my enthusiasm for a book to no more than 2 pages. It was tough, but I managed to for The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. I almost had to go to 3 pages for Little Women. But, I persevered and in January I turned in my last 5 book reports (that Christmas break provided good reading time). Yes, I managed to complete 50 books from mid-August to early January. My friend Sarah told me I was an overachiever. I still disagree with her. ;) I think I shocked Mrs. B. I never got a surprise, and I do not remember her mentioning the book reports much past that point either.

I told you that story so that my list of books did not seem, um, well too shocking. I really have no idea how many books I will read from March 21st through June 21st, but I have some I do want to read. I'm declaring MY RIGHT as the blogger here, to add to the list any an all books I complete (even if they are pure fluffy ooey gooey historical romance novels). ;)

Disclaimer! These are in no particular order, just as the titles popped into my head.

1. The Starbucks Experience
2. The Little Red Book of Selling
3. Passages from the Heart
4. Bridge to Terabithia (to the kids)
5. Harry Potter 1 (to the oldest)
6. Harry Potter 2 (to the oldest)
7. Harry Potter 3 (to the oldest)
8. Harry Potter 4 (to the oldest...oh heck, who am I kidding, I want to reread)
9. Harry Potter 5
10. Harry Potter 6 (yes in preparation for book 7 which I have on pre-order)
11. Joy Luck Club
12. Kitchen God's Wife
13. Paper Daughter
14. Fox in Sox (out loud to 4 year old...ugh)
15. Financial Peace
16. Treasure Island (with kids)
17.

I am hoping to get my oldest to add his own list. While he is in 2nd grade currently, I do plan to give him the wonderful assignment of 50 book reports in a single school year when he is in 5th grade. Hopefully it will further increase his love of reading. Yes, I'm fully prepared for book reports on World War 2. Did I tell you all about the book he chose? FOR PLEASURE?! DK World War II book Obviously he's not entirely my child. Here is his other favorite book of the moment. At least I think it is, I could not find it in his room and I suspect he might have snuck it out to read on a fun-filled trip with the church group (all Dads and boys). Yeah, that would be MY genes coming out. I admit to that. I did take 3 books to Disney World. Yes I completely read 2 of them, and had the 3rd started. Yes, they were fluffy historical romance novels. At least I'm consistent!

What happened to my links?

Okay, I'll admit I'm not real swift when it comes to changing my blog around. I begged for help (I even offered to pay someone). But, alas, I tried to muddle through on my own.

I did finally find something called blogroll. LOL Not sure if it is the best or not, but I've got a nice blogroll going. I think I've about figured out how to add it instead of my links (that I've been adding one.at.a.time and not updating).

I *think* with blogroll I can make a personal one and one to share. That way I can keep the ones that personal IRL friends separate...never know when someone might post something embarrassing about me. ;)

dinner was still good, even though it was wrong

I had a friend over this last weekend while the big boys were gone on their trip (her Dh and oldest son were on the same trip). We let our little guys play and we scrapbooked. Lovely time it was too. Our little guys are close in age and play very well together, so throughout the evening they played light sabers, played with the knights, put on costumes, played playstation games like Cars and Lego Star Wars 2, and even watched some movies. When you are 4.5 and almost 5 you can do lots in a short amount of time.

C and I decided that we deserved a GOOD dinner, so we called Macaroni Grill for "To Go" order and I ordered the Create Your Own pasta without chicken. I'd be vegetarian if my family would let me. ;) We discussed what to get our little guys as mine is lactose intolerant, hers is anaphalactically allergic to tomatoes, potatoes, squash, etc., highly allergic to eggs, and highly allergic to peppers. Guess Mexican was out for them! ;) So, we swung by Burger King and bought their dinners. We check their food and it was correct (no ketchup allowed AT ALL for C's little boy...it has tomatoes).

We get to Macaroni Grill and pick up our food, take it home, and start to dig into it. Her's was correct (Pasta Milano) and mine was a Create your Own Pasta dish, but it had onions and CHICKEN in it! WAAAAAH. We didn't check our food, just assumed it would be correct ya' know?! I picked out the chicken and the onions and it was still good, even though it was wrong. I was missing that asparagus. I wonder who got my Create Your Own dish? Bet they were surprised by the asparagus! LOL

Trying to stay busy and distracted.

2 years ago we replaced yucky stained carpet with laminate flooring (we're in a starter home and not too rich to do the real hardwoods for the entire downstairs). We are now getting around to putting down the quarter-round/toe-board. Yes, 2 years living with "gaps" around the edges of the rooms. We are not normally so slow to finish those kinds of projects, but that finishing has been one of those "we'll get around to it" projects.

In addition to that I convinced Dh to finally replace the linoleum in our bathroom with tile. I mean, it's 35 square feet total in that tiny bathroom. It's definitely not one of those glamour baths! Lowe's had some tile that was decent for 98 cents a square foot. $35+ extra supplies to replace that flooring! Well, and lots of sweat and tears. Currently, I'm the one doing the sweating AND the crying. Dh's turn comes when it is time to actually mix the grout, lay the tile, and cut the tile. I would love to replace the tub, but I just do not see that happening. Plus, I'm not entirely sure how to get the current tub out of that bathroom as the door is quite narrow.

Those are the current projects going.

Ahead - Project De-clutter! Replace all cabinets and counters and sinks in the house. Tile the kitchen (it's currently laminate wood flooring). Oh, the kitchen is total 99 square feet...so when I talk replace cabinets, it's MAX 15 linear feet of cabinets! Then, I have the yardwork to do as well. Flowers to plant. Carpet to replace upstairs, stairs to re-carpet OR put down wood. I would love to add in extra patio space off the back. Add a storm door on the front....oh and GUTTERS on the back of the house. LOL A fence would be good as well.

Since Disney is over, and we've not planned any vacation trips between now and when we travel to China, house projects will have to suffice. Once it warms up some, I think we're going to plan some weekend camping trips. The boys have been begging to go camping (I keep hoping they'll forget...there are BUGS out there).

Why the house projects? Well, home improvement is always such a wonderful weekend activity! Seriously, we'd like to sell our current house in about 12-18 months (or right after we get home from China). We're currently in a 3 bedroom (with 2 boys) and can see how soon after we return from China we're going to feel a wee bit cramped with 2 boys and 1 girl PLUS us in 3 bedrooms. Okay, so the boys will sleep in their bunkbeds and Katie will have her own room. I know lots of kids share rooms, but not sure our two boys should do it long term!

I got this packet in the mail today.

It was from our agency, and it had some info on what to expect when you get your referral. Huh? Do they know something we do not know? Okay, it is the 2nd schedule mailing from them. We did just pass 6 months of waiting, and it's time. In the past our referral would be very close after 6 months of patiently waiting. *stop laughing ya'll* But, in the "New" China referral times, we are a good LOOOOOOONG way from a NSN referral. I wonder if I will need to hold on to this mailing for reference then, of if the agency will take pity on us and mail another copy when it is close to our referral. I'm really hoping for another mailing of it.

I do plan on reading this, as the first was very informative and I actually enjoyed it. Of course I enjoy anything to do with China, particularly China adoption, these days.

So, it's officially 3/17/2007 and I missed celebrating our 6 month LID anniversary. We did mark it's passing with eating at an Asian restaurant last Saturday. Okay, so we love eating at this place and since it's more expensive than the kids eat free place we had to have a reason to go there. Thus, "Celebrating our 6 month LID" was good enough!

6 months down!! Wooohooo! Now, if we knew for certain we were within 6 months of a referral...ah, that would be good news.

Spring Reading Thing!

Spring Reading Thing!

Yes a "carnival" for reading books!!!! :) I'm in heaven, absolute heaven. Now to narrow it down to how many?

But to get me started, Shalee of Shalee's Diner has a book meme.

(umm...sorry her formatting didn't come through, and yes I'm too lazy to fix it...even if I knew HOW!) and well, couldn't figure out how to do her key either. so, oh well.

* bold - did read
* italicize - want to read
* strike - won't read or read but hated it with a passion and if I could burn every copy so that others wouldn't be exposed to such terrible dribble I would do it and people should not be allowed to get paid for such awful writing
* underline - own
* * - never heard of the book
* colored - loved it and would recommend it to others
* If there is nothing done to the title, then that means I'm indifferent to it or I haven't decided about it yet.



The Da Vinci Code (Dan Brown)
Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen) LOVED and OWN
To Kill A Mockingbird (Harper Lee)
Gone With The Wind (Margaret Mitchell) LOVED and OWN
The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (Tolkien)
The Lord of the Rings: Two Towers (Tolkien)
The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (Tolkien)
Anne of Green Gables (L.M. Montgomery) -LOVED
*Outlander (Diana Gabaldon)
*A Fine Balance (Rohinton Mistry)
*The Celestine Prophecy (James Redfield)
*Angels and Demons (Dan Brown)
A Woman of Substance (Barbara Taylor Bradford)
*A Prayer for Owen Meany (John Irving)
Memoirs of a Geisha (Arthur Golden)
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (Rowling) LOVE AND OWN
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Rowling) LOVE and OWN
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban(Rowling) LOVE and OWN
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire(Rowling) LOVE and OWN
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Rowling) LOVE and OWN
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Rowling) LOVE and OWN
*Fall on Your Knees (Ann-Marie MacDonald)
The Stand (Stephen King)
*Ulysses (James Joyce)
Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte) LOVE and OWN
The Hobbit (Tolkien)
The Catcher in the Rye (J.D. Salinger)
Little Women (Louisa May Alcott) LOVE and OWN
*The Lovely Bones (Alice Sebold)
*Life of Pi (Yann Martel)
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams)
Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte) LOVE and OWN
The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe (C. S. Lewis) LOVE and OWN
East of Eden (John Steinbeck)
*Tuesdays with Morrie (Mitch Albom)
Dune (Frank Herbert)
The Notebook (Nicholas Sparks) OWN
*Atlas Shrugged (Ayn Rand)
1984 (Orwell)
*The Mists of Avalon (Marion Zimmer Bradley)
*The Pillars of the Earth (Ken Follett)
*The Power of One (Bryce Courtenay)
*Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister (Gregory Maguire)
*The Red Tent (Anita Diamant)
*The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho)
The Clan of the Cave Bear (Jean M. Auel) OWN
*The Kite Runner (Khaled Hosseini)
*Confessions of a Shopaholic (Sophie Kinsella)
*The Five People You Meet In Heaven (Mitch Albom)
Bible OWN, LOVE, but have yet to read the entire thing!
Anna Karenina (Tolstoy)
The Count of Monte Cristo (Alexandre Dumas)
*Angela’s Ashes (Frank McCourt)
*The Blue Sword (Robin Mckinley)
*She’s Come Undone (Wally Lamb)
*The Poisonwood Bible (Barbara Kingsolver)
A Tale of Two Cities (Dickens)
*Ender’s Game (Orson Scott Card)
Great Expectations (Dickens)
The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald)
*The Stone Angel (Margaret Laurence)*
The Thorn Birds (Colleen McCullough)
The Handmaid’s Tale (Margaret Atwood)
*The Time Traveller’s Wife (Audrew Niffenegger)
Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoyevsky)
*The Fountainhead (Ayn Rand)
War and Peace (Leo Tolstoy)
Interview With The Vampire (Anne Rice)
The Hiding Place (Corrie Tin Boon) LOVED
The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants (Ann Brashares)
Catch-22 (Joseph Heller)
Les Miserables (Hugo)
The Little Prince (Antoine de Saint-Exupery)
Bridget Jones’ Diary (Fielding)
*Love in the Time of Cholera (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)
Shogun (James Clavell)
The English Patient (Michael Ondaatje)
The Secret Garden (Frances Hodgson Burnett)
*Redeeming Love (Francine Rivers)
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Betty Smith)
*The World According To Garp (John Irving)
*The Giver (Lois Lowry)
Charlotte’s Web (E.B. White) LOVE and OWN
*Not Wanted On The Voyage (Timothy Findley)*
Of Mice And Men (John Steinbeck)
Rebecca (Daphne DuMaurier)
*Wizard’s First Rule (Terry Goodkind)
Emma (Jane Austen) LOVE and OWN
Watership Down (Richard Adams) OWN
*Brave New World (Aldous Huxley)
*The Stone Diaries (Carol Shields)
*Blindness (Jose Saramago)
*Kane and Abel (Jeffrey Archer)
The Talisman (Stephen King)
Lord of the Flies (Golding)
The Good Earth (Pearl S. Buck)
*The Secret Life of Bees (Sue Monk Kidd)
The Bourne Identity (Robert Ludlum)
*The Outsiders (S.E. Hinton)
Lightning (Dean Koontz) just not my kind of book

Referral Math...for March!

China made it to 10/24 for most agencies (it seems a few have surprise later dates, but my agency had 10/24). :)

That leaves us with...oh...11 days less than last month for LID. LOL I'm too tired to figure it all up, but we're less than 11 months of LID out now. Yippee!!!

Dh has a spreadsheet where he's collected data from all over the place (he figures he has roughly 1/3 of all people logged in accounted for). Anyway, if they continue to do the same number (or roughly the same number) of referrals each month we should see our NSN referral by mid-2008 (possibly even early 2008).

According to Chinaadoptionforecast.com we have a "guess" of November 2008.

According to my pessimistic view, it's going to be early 2009.

So, we're still at least a year away from a NSN referral despite having waited now for 6 months. Not too long ago we'd already have a referral, and 6 months is what we were quoted when we started (it just took us forever to get that dossier to China).

Just a few from Disney

I have many more to work on, but these are 2 of the ones I felt I could share. I want to know when JM got to be so big! Yes, the shadows are a little stretched, but he really has gotten quite tall. My baby is growing up fast!

I'm BACK!

Not that you knew I was gone or anything, but we're back from our vacation to Sunny Florida. It only rained for about 30 seconds on us (just long enough to put those ponchos on and then it stopped). We had a wonderful time, rode lots of rides, turned Samuel into a thrill-ride junkie, and managed to memorize the locations of 100,000 point targets on Buzz Lightyear ride (without stopping I managed 586,000 points and Dh managed 603,000+). Yes, we rode it THAT much.

Yes, I have photos. No I have not done anything with them, I promised myself I would unpack and straighten the house before playing this time! :)

I must say though, leaving nice temps, going to Florida where it was 70-80s, and then hearing "current temp is 39" was shocking. The cold was depressing and took the joy and cheer I had gathered on our oh so magical vacation right out of me!

Well, we're back to the grind and drudgery of housework and daily living. I need to find that Mickey confetti!

How I deal with toys!

My submission for Works for me Wednesdays! Okay, I'm admitting first off that this does NOT work exactly as I had hoped. It does HELP though.

I bought some of the containers that are clear with lids. I bought pretty fabric open boxes. I bought shelving stuff for the closet. I got the kids organized (and no they can't seem to keep it exactly as we started).

We then, as a family, sat down and listed the 20 toys they would keep. 20 is MORE than enough for 2 boys. In our definition of a toy, Legos were 1 toy (no matter that there were thousands of the little blocks). Star Wars toys are another toy. Puzzles are a toy. Boardgames are a toy. Playdoh is a toy. All books are one toy.

Then, after they had selected their "toys" we organized them and gave every toy a spot. This means that now when I tell them to clean their room they *should* know where everything goes. More likely though, I will go into the room point to a toy and ask, "Where does this go? Does it have a home? Is it one of the 20 toys?" If they answer it is NOT one of the 20 toys they can choose to either KEEP it and get rid of another toy or throw it away. :)

One rule is that books and board games are NOT allowed to be selected for throwing away. :)

Here's some of our list:

1. Books
2. Board games
3. Puzzles
4. Playdoh
5. Legos
6. Playmobil
7. Cars (you know, matchbox and hot wheels...and they MUST fit in the ONE box)
8. Star Wars
9. Pirates
10. RC items like Robo Pet and RoboSapien
11. Computer games
12. Playstation and Ninentendo DS games
13. Shake and Go Speedway
14. Stuffed animals (other than the "lovies" they sleep with)
15. Balls to play with (that didn't make it to outside toys)
16. Leap Frog Math desk (I tossed Leapster in with this one)
17. Markers and crayons, and other art supplies
18. Mr. Potato Head (we have lots of Disney pieces to go with him)
19. Take apart cars (hard to describe)
20. K'nex

why is it everything conspires against you sleeping past 6 am?

Okay, normally, I do get to sleep later than normal people. This morning, however, was NOT the case.

I had a nightmare last night (and at the moment I can NOT remember what it was). OH YEAH, I dreamed that I was in a family where I was the "robot maid" and had to get away. Only, I was actually the human in the family along with the two GIRLS. The "Mom" and "Dad" were the actual robots. I was put before groups of robots to prove that I was being a good robot. It was just a little weird. I remember waking up thinking, what the heck? Am I robot now? LOL It was roughly 6 am.

So, laying there trying to decide if I am a robot or not, I heard "ding" and chuckle. There's that ghost again! I know it's Dh's cell phone again as I had plugged and charged my own a couple of days ago.

I start to drift off to sleep and the litter maid litter box starts up. It finishes, and I start to drift off again. The PHONE rings! ARGH.

Okay, background on the phone. Our number is one number off from a retail store that is popular with people who get up VERY VERY VERY early. We typically get at least one early phone call a week. I'm always surprised by how nice I am to them.

Me: "Sir, you've dialed the wrong number."
Sir: "Well what number did I dial?"
Me: "I don't give that information out. Just trust me, this is not XXXXX store you were trying to reach."
Sir: "Okay, sorry to disturb you."

I put the phone down next to me. Close my eyes and wait. Wait for it to ring again. If it does, then they have the old ad for the store that had a mistake. What mistake? They printed OUR phone number! If they just mis-dialed (easy easy to do), then typically they do not call back.

sure enough...ring!

Me: "Hello?"
Sir: "oh...umm...sorry."
Me: "You need to dial XXX not YYY"
Sir: "okay."

that solved it. Phew. Start to drift off to sleep and...

DH's ALARM goes off! He hits the snooze button. He, of course, goes back to sleep. Me? I'm debating if I should just get up or not.

Needless to say, I'm TIRED today.

Things that go ding in the night!

I posted this to my "friends only" Mommy blog on July 15, 2006.



Okay, I have an overactive imagination. I do not handle "spooky stories" well, nor can I watch scary movies. The movie, The Shining just about did me in in broad daylight. Had to sleep with the lights ON. I was in college at the time as well.

So, yesterday, I notice a thread on a forum "Wanna see a Ghost?!" I had ignored it for days, but this time I notice it has over 5 pages worth of posts. Okay, I'm curious. I open and read. They have a photo straight out of a disposable camera with a supposed ghost on it. Weird. But I can dismiss that. You...PHOTOSHOP. LOL Stupid me continues to read. The rest of the thread is full of stories of personal accounts of things that are "hanging around people." One lady had her husband pass away when she was 9 months pg with their daughter (3-4 years ago). She has LOADS of stories of "odd" things that she claims is her Dh hanging around helping her raise their daughter, and hanging around letting her know he's there. Lots of little spooky stories. I read in the afternoon. I thought for sure it would be okay. In fact, I was not scared at the time. Just interested, and disbelieving. I do believe in angels, but ghosts? not really. Which led me today to thinking exactly how contradictory that sounds.

So, late last night, I was reading a book. Luckily, even though it was set in historical Scottland and London, there were no "spooks" in this book. ;) I heard a "noise" that sounded like a piano key being pressed. Just once. Weird...but faint. I thought "must be a toy." I heard it over and over every once in a while for the next 2 hours (by this point it was 2:30 AM). Bad me for reading so late. I go to bed, lay down and I hear the noise. I truly thought "that sounds like a piano key, somewhere around an octave higher than middle C being pressed." WEEEIRD.

I try to "calm" myself and NOT think about all those ghost stories I had read that day.

I hear bumps and strange noises, not piano related. Normally I can dismiss them as Einstein (as having the cat DOES help since he makes most of the noises). A little bit later...that PIANO key was pressed again. My heart starts beating a little faster. My mind starts racing a little more. A loud crashing type noise...surely that's not Einstein! I start trying to remember if I left any doors unlocked. I'm trying to distract my mind from ghosts. I remember that the piano key lid has not been opened for at least 4 months. I mean...I clearly remember having BOOKS laying on the piano key lid. ACK!!!! My heart starts beating even faster, my mind is racing, I'm wanting to cower under the covers but I'm getting sweaty and HOT...I scoot over closer to Dh. I look at the clock, it's 2:55 AM now. More noises...another piano noise. I'm starting to see SHAPES and PEOPLE SHAPES. I basically am laying on top of Dh now (or trying to get under him). I'm shaking. I'm absolutely freaked out and terrified.

I hear MORE noises. I give up. I shake Dh. I poke Dh. I shake him some more. STILL SNORING. Finally I prod and shake and poke enough and hard enough and get him awake. I whisper, "I'm hearing noises. Like piano keys...be quiet and you'll hear it too."

Okay, I have to admit here, I've done this many times before. Dh is a great guy, he thinks I'm crazy but he investigates all my noises.

I continued on, "I know there's a logical explanation, but I'm freaked out and it's 3AM" We lay there for a few minutes, I'm shaking and he's trying NOT to fall back asleep. "DING" ah...vindication...see I'm NOT hearing things. Dh gets up. He's awake now. He turns on all the lights and goes to the piano. He says, "I think a string is breaking." We clear it off, and open it up. I don't want to reach in there...who knows what I'll feel. He runs his hands over all the strings and applies pressure. They seem fine. I notice a sticker - Tuned 1989. OMG...it's been THAT long?! Found a nail. pull it out. close the piano back. I go to the bathroom, Dh sits on the couch (fighting sleep, but curious since he DID hear it). "DING"

Dh says, "it's not the piano." I heard it in the bathroom, but faint...so between our bathroom and the great room. What could it be? Lights are on. Doors are all locked BTW. Einstein is in full form and wide awake. Dh checks the fire alarm. It's wired into the electrical system, but the test button didn't fire. Hmmm...perhaps that's it. He gets it to beep, but thinks even though the LOUD beep isn't our "ding" that the echo might have been it. I'm not so convinced. My mind is still on those ghost stories and I'm wondering if it is time to head to a hotel. ;)

He sits in the hallway. I sit on the bed. "DING"

Not the firealarm, it's in our room. Okay...what could it be? It's got a slight electronic sound...so...we invetigate the electronic stuff. Our obvious choices - littermaid box or the weather alarm (shorting out or acting up).

"DING" Nope...not either of those. It's not from MY side of the room, or from the alarm clocks. NOTHING is left. I'm no longer thinking ghosts...Dh has that calming influence. I'm relaxing...lights are on, but I dare not fall asleep after waking Dh up. We find 2 remaining objects...the light/fan switch (it's a remote switch in the wall) or Dh's cell phone. Cell phone looks normal though. We've had problems with the lightswitch before (though it never made sounds). Remember at this point it is roughly 3:40AM. Dh has one ear next to the wall switch, and one ear with the cell phone on it.

"DING"

Cell phone it is. Battery is basically dead and it was alerting us that it was almost dead and needed recharging.

WHO decided to make it a "B" above middle C on a piano last tuned in 1989 sound? I dunno. But I learned my lesson...NO MORE GHOST STORIES!

Ladybug sighting today!

It's actually NICE outside, so I took the boys outside to play in the sunshine and get some energy out. It was wonderful to sit in the sun, with the warmth on my face, and just relax. Samuel and JM were swinging, and Samuel comes to get a drink from his Caprisun. I notice there is a red dot on the back of his neck at the shirt. I lean forward and it's a LADYBUG!

I started liking ladybugs years ago, before I knew of their connection to Chinese adoption. So, when I researched China adoption I found the reference and boy was I surprised. It really further cemeted the thoughts I had had that we were supposed to do this.

Anyway, I carefully pulled it off of Samuel to show him. It flew to Samuel's arm, Samuel freaked out a tiny little bit...and away it flew. :) I am not sure if I believe there are any connections with ladybugs and our daughter, but I thought I would note when I saw them. :) Who knows?! Right?

ABC's

Samuel has learned his ABC's. It's very cute when he sings them. It's even cute when he starts writing them out. I, however, had forgotten how proud 4 year olds are of their accomplishments. He can not stop at singing them one time. No, he must sing them at least 5 times in a row. He must sing them while riding in the van. He must sing them during church. He must sing them while picking up his room. Incessantly until you want to scream.

But it really is CUTE.

Sunday, during church, I heard him saying/singing "A.B.C.D.E...E!!" Then "A.B.C.D.E.F...F!!!" I looked over and he was writing the ABCs down. Yes, he'd sing until he came to the next letter. Then he'd start all over again to get to the next letter.

In other school related news, JM wrote a haiku poem. He also scored a 99% on a language arts unit test!! He's progressing right along, and doing much better with writing and spelling.

Here's his poem:

Dark rain drops splashing
Gary sky leaking umbrella winter clouds downpour
Soggy dark boots small umbrella


the instructions had a list of words about winter and rain.

always a day late for everything!

Happy Year of the Pig!!!!

I hope that all of you reading my blog who are waiting on a referral get one this year (yeah that means a HUUUUGE speed up). ;)


Life has been busy switching computers and adjusting to Vista. We've only "lost" a few programs due to incompatibility, so not as bad as I thought. The tablet though works!!! It does one thing funky, so I must keep a regular mouse plugged in (those security questions the pen does not work for). Now to get to work on calibrating the monitor and such.

Oh my how embarrassing!

My younger brother changed his cell phone number and he gave to me from memory. I programmed it into my cell phone so I could call him if I needed to. (that's the background)

Today, in the mail, came the sw*msu*t issue (you know from that magazine). Knowing that Dh doesn't really care for it, and knowing my little brother would probably like it (he's in college). I called him from my cell phone.

R: Hello?
Me: Hey, I've got something here you might like.
R: What is it?
Me: The sw*msu*t thing (except I said the name and such)
R: What makes you think I want that?
Me: Because you are ** (age that he is in college...)
R: I think you have the wrong phone number.
Me: Is this R?
R: Nope.
Me: Oh my word, I'm so embarrassed. Sorry about that.
R (chuckling): Don't be, you made me smile.
Me: I guess there is that. So sorry about that.

I quickly hung up, then called my sis to get R's REAL phone number. Called R, and of course he was interested. Came right over to get it (he's living with 2 of his college buddies).

Of course he came over all stuffed up, sneezing, and hacking. Geeze THANKS lil' Bro!



So, did you do anything embarrassing today?

yagoon time!

Works for me Wednesdays.

As a homeschooling mom who also owns her own business, I find myself juggling things (all of the time). A busy schedule, grading that needs to be done, business things that need to be taken care of, etc.

We found an electronic calendar (and I keep multiple paper calendars as well). The calendar is called Yagoon Time and is free (can upgrade to professional version). We have been fine with the free version so far.

It allows you to have multiple colors for different things. Like my business appointments are in purple, JM's sports practices and games are in dark green, his homeschool activities are light green. Dh's activities are red. One great feature is that if you have multiple computers in your home, and have them networked together then you can update over the network!

Keeping it up to date and accurate, well, for me it's tough to do! LOL

Mr. Kitty and Mr. Bear

I'm attempting a 365 photo challenge. I will not bore you all here with the photos, but a few I will share. :)

BTW, February 14, 2007 marks our 5th month of being Logged In. 5 down, many more to go!

Change in my blog

not that I shared a ton of images of my kids, but Shannon brought up a good point that made me think. I do still want to share images of my kids here, but I need to protect them as well.

I think what I am going to do is watermark images, size them small for the web, and then only leave them up for a limited time. That way you get to see them, I get to share them, but I limit the risk.

I do reserve the right to change my mind and not show them again. :) But since my family reads this blog as well, and I am terrible about sharing images with them, I will continue to post some here.

As always I will continue to obsess monitor my stats for this blog.

Book-a-holic I am

I am borrowing this from Susie, who shares my love of reading. Feel free to play along on your own blog!

Hardback or trade paperback or mass market paperback?
Paperbacks, mainly ones I've traded as I go through them waaaaaaaay too fast.

Amazon or brick and mortar?
Mainly my little local used book store. I think I might keep them in business by myself.

Barnes & Noble or Borders?
Barnes and Noble! I'm even getting my kids hooked on it too. Of course JM's last purchase was the DK World War 2 book (you know the kids encyclopedia kind)

Bookmark or dogear?
I always use a bookmark. Or at least some piece of paper I find laying around (like a business card, receipt, kids artwork...)

Alphabetize by author or alphabetize by title or random?
Neither. Books rarely make it to the bookshelf, those few I keep are put up randomly.

Keep, throw away, or sell?
Rarely keep any, trade/sell the rest. I have to feed my habit somehow, buying new would bankrupt us! Throwing a book away is NOT an option. I donate the rest whenever possible.

Keep dustjacket or toss it?
Keep it.

Read with dustjacket or remove it?
It typically becomes a bookmark.

Short story or novel?
Novels unless it's a collection of Christmas romance stories.

Collection (short stories by same author) or anthology (short stories by different authors)?
Neither really, unless it's Christmas love stories. LOL

Harry Potter or Lemony Snicket?
I've read all of the Harry Potter books, and loved them. Have not read Lemony Snicket. Can't wait to share the Potter books with my kids.

Stop reading when tired or at chapter breaks?
Typically stop reading when the book is done. If I am just too tired, then it will be a chapter.

"It was a dark and stormy night" or "Once upon a time"?
"Once upon a time" most definitely!

Buy or Borrow?
Both. But mostly used books. Every once in a while I'll purchase one. Sometimes I'll borrow one from family if I've not read it (typically they borrow from me).

New or used?
Used. I do like new ones sometimes, but not always.

Buying choice: book reviews, recommendation or browse?
Mostly browse.

Tidy ending or cliffhanger?
Tidy happy ending!

Morning reading, afternoon reading or nighttime reading?
Mostly late at night, after the kids are in bed.

Standalone or series?
Both.

Favorite series?
Harry Potter, but I've not read Chronicles of Narnia so I reserve the right to change my mind.

Favorite book of which nobody else has heard?
Don't think I've got one. LOL Mostly read nice fluffy romance novels.

Favorite books read last year?
Can't remember. I'm really enjoying The Starbucks Experience (but it's the ONLY non-fiction I've read). Loved all the fluffy romance novels I've read in the past year. LOL

Favorite books of all time?
Harry Potter - all 6 of them, can't wait for July!!!
Gone with the Wind
Pride and Prejudice, Emma, Wuthering Heights, Little Women (and the rest of those by Ms. Alcott).
Wrinkle in Time (and the rest of that series) by Ms. L'Engle (another I can't wait for my kids to read).
The Xanth series (by Piers Anthony), made it book gazillion and stopped reading them
then there are the Judith McNaught, Jude Deveraux, and....LOL I can go on and on.

Oooh, and Bridge to Terabithia was a favorite...and....

Need some help

Does anyone happen to know how much a child's orthodonic retainer costs? You know, the one that goes in the top of the mouth up next to the palate? It's removeable (hence the begging for help). JM seems to have lost his. I knew he would, I mean, he's a kid...this little thing comes out to eat. We eat out...he fold it in a napkin, it's out of sight. Yeah, recipe for "lost" if ever I've heard of one. So, today, he lost it. Ortho is closed of course on Friday. I know he can make it until Monday, but honestly, I want to KNOW about how much we're going to have to pay to replace. Mainly, because I think JM needs to help us replace it with his money...the one he has been saving for weeks to pay for a new computer game.

argh. I try to remind him, but I honestly thought he did not have it at all this morning (rush morning going out to go ice skating).

Snow Days!!!

Wild card for Family Foto Friday

A Snow day in the past few weeks, the boys enjoyed having snowball fights.

Sometimes things happen that make you stop.

I had news this week of someone I don't know personally. I know her through an online community only. Where she lives is not important, what is important is being aware of what happened to her family this week.

She lives next to her family, and her kids often go between the two homes playing during the day. One day this week the Mom realized she did not have her little shadow with her. She called the other house, they had not seen her 3 year old (almost 4) who had been playing her her older siblings. Mom had been busy with the baby and cleaning house. They live in the country, this is normal for the little girl to play with the siblings (especially since they typically just run to their family's house nextdoor). Well, they found the little girl (she was still alive) but was in the family car. The car was unlocked, but the back doors had kid locks on. The driver's door is heavy and the little girl probably could not open it. It was quite warm outside, and the paramedics think she was in the car less than 10 minutes. The car was black and in the sun. After hanging on to life for a few days in the hospital, the little girl passed away.

Please, teach your children that if they are in a car that they can not get out of to honk the horn (make sure it works without the car running before telling them this). Please, keep your car doors locked when no one is in the vehicle. Lastly, because I've heard of this happening often where a parent forgets their baby is in the car for some reason, please ALWAYS check to make sure a little person is not in the car with you. I lived in Arizona for a time, and even when I knew I did not have my children with me I still checked because I wanted the habit be for me to check.

I find this one story particularly hard because the little girl was not a helpless baby strapped into a car seat. But I imagine how frightened she was at not being able to get out...how scared when it started getting very hot in the car, and I think of how sad this mother is now.

Off to give my kids extra hugs now (and like the boys they are, I will be shrugged off...but perhaps Samuel will "wiggle me" some first).

Works for Me - Valentine's edition

I'm trying to join in on the fun with the Works for Me Wednesdays.

Hmmm, we don't have a Valentine tradition (need to start one), so I'm going to share something I've done in the past 10 years with Dh. I like taking really hot showers, which have the effect of steaming up the bathroom. When I get out of the shower I will draw a heart on the mirror. Or write "I love you." Or "I you." After a week or so, the mirror gets cleaned and the message is gone. So I will write another.

Sometimes though, I get a message back.


OH, another "lovey kind of thing" is that being married to an extremely analytical kind of guy, I don't get flowers often. He just doesn't think of them (and typically we're too broke to buy them). I noticed one day, in Target of course, that there are $5 small bouquets. Not of roses, but purpled dyed daisies and other fun flower things. I bought one for myself, got in the van and told Dh "Look what you bought me!" I leaned over and gave him a kiss. He smiled, and to this day when I buy that bouquet it's from him. ;)


One of the best Valentine's Day gifts was when Dh bought me a rose bush. I loved it! Too bad my brown thumb killed it within a year.

and then you wiggle dem.

Samuel and I were having a discussion after Karate class today. It was about what to do when someone was crying. See, during his Karate class 2 of the little kids cried. He stared at both of them (with this look on his face that said to me "what in the world are they crying about this is fun?"). So, Samuel and I were talking, okay I was telling him that he should not look at kids crying in his Karate class because ignoring them would help them to stop.

Which led us to when it IS appropriate to help someone who is crying. I told him outside of Karate it is okay to comfort someone who is crying, like Mommy, or Daddy, or JM. He said, "Or one of my friends?" Yes, or one of your friends.

I then asked him what can you do to comfort them?

S (very excited): I give them a HUG...
Me (yes I interrupted him because I thought he was done): Yes, you give them a hug.
S: then I wiggle dem!
Me: Huh?
S: I wiggle dem.
Me: Can you show me?
S: Yeah, but you are too big.

So, I got down on his level, he put his arms around me, squeezed for a hug...then "wiggled me" back and forth!

I think I know what is so frustrating in this whole process.

The lack of control. I can only sit and wait, either on our government to process a form or on China to process the referrals. I must have patience. I must continue to live our lives day by day. I have no control. I am not good at waiting patiently. I like to be in control.

We've heard from our agency that they have a list of special needs children that just came in, and even knowing that we could hear something in the next couple of weeks is hard. Why? Because I want to know details. I want to know the likelyhood of us hearing from our agency with a referral. I remember how excited I was in December, and had almost convinced myself that we would have a referral. This time, I'm hopeful, but expecting not to get a referral. Why? There are 80-100 families on the interested families list. It's HUGE. There are 20 kids, 12 of them are girls. The possibility for us to get a call is slim. Very slim. I'm trying to tell myself that we will not have a match at this time, that it will be at least the next group or the one after that one. I try to tell myself that waiting for the non-special needs referral is okay too. I can make it.

I am so not good at waiting. I know I can do it though, I can distract myself with the myriad details of my life. I know I alone do not have to have the ability to wait and the patience required, but I know that G*d will help me with that. But giving control over to G*d is hard as well. I like to be in control. I thought I had learned all of these things when we struggled with infertility, but I guess I was wrong and need more practice at this. ;)

So, I am going to try very hard NOT to watch the group for our agency's special needs list. I'm going to try very hard NOT to jump on the phone to see if it is the agency calling. I'm going to try and focus on our house, getting it clean and organized. I'm going to focus on our family and our upcoming vacation. Perhaps that will give me a few more months to count down in this long wait.

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?