Flowers Galore

Today we visited the Flower Fields in Carlsbad. This is an area just North of San Diego where they grow fields and fields(and fields!) of Ranunculus flowers. It is stunning to see. We also saw many other flowers, included tons of roses(my favorites) and Orchids(Joe's favorites). The weather was perfect, not too hot and not too cold and we had a wonderful day. To view more pictures(although not all 70 that I took. I do not have the patience to upload all of those!), go here.

Roses

I took these pictures of some roses I got in my Dad's garden today. I messed with the color a little in I Photo on some of them, and blurred the edges on others.
They are so beautiful. My own roses are not doing quite as well. Thanks Dad!

School Retreat

Today was our schoolwide retreat. In case you don't know what that is, a Retreat is a day which offers the students a chance to experience school and each other in a different light – to think about their faith, to deepen their prayer and to review their lives. We began the day with Mass. It was a beautiful, uplifting service, with an element of fun in the form of music and singing and a small play put on by one of our own priests. The kids truly enjoyed it. After a healthy snack, the highlight of the whole day was a concert by Ron Biagi. He is a high energy Christian children's singer. With song titles like "What if Jesus was a Soccer Star", and "Even Cool Guys and Groovy Girls need Jesus", it isn't hard to see why the kids go nuts for this guy. He has Backstreet Boys like moves for all of his songs, and performs them in a boyish, goofy kind of way that has the adults bopping along and the kids following every move. If you have kids and are into Christian Music, I highly recommend his C.D.'s. They're upbeat, catchy tunes with cool dance moves and a Christian message. I tried to upload a short video of the dance moves, but YOUTUBE was having none of it. SO check out his website. I am going to pick up a couple of his C.D.'s for Sophie. With the way music is headed nowadays, it is nice to have some wholesome choices out there. The retreat ended with a game and a craft. The whole experience was everything that I love about working at a Christian school. The sense of community with the parents and teachers working together toward a common goal, the message we are teaching our children that God loves them and they can be anything they want to be if they have a relationship with Him. I have to admit, the day made me wonder what I am doing. How can I leave the school enviornment? How can I not work with kids anymore? Am I making the right decision to leave the childcare profession? How can I not work in a Christian enviornment? What am I doing? Needless to say I am feeling a bit insecure today about the job situation. It will pass. It really was a lovely day and I am so glad I was a part of it.

Being the Bigger person

Work has been a big topic of conversation around my house lately. I am ready for my last day. I am ready for this to be over and done. I got into a

screaming match heated discussion the other day with my boss about me leaving, and why, and why she didn't even have the courtesy to say one word when I gave my notice. No "Thank you for fourteen years of service", no "I'm sorry you are going", nothing. My husband is always telling me I can't expect people to act a certain way if they don't posess the maturity or emotional skills to do so. He says I have to be the bigger person, and act in a professional manner and ignore the

idiots people I am having problems with. All of this makes perfect sense. Yet at times is soooooo hard for me to do. I have been praying a lot about it, and asking God to please help me be the bigger person. It has been hard. I have been struggling. And then the blowout with my boss happened and I felt like I had failed. Miserably. Sometimes I wonder why do I always have to be the bigger person? How come no one else has to act like a mature adult? Why is it that I am the only person willing to be completely honest about my feelings and willing to talk about it? Then I realized these are not the questions I should be pondering. I should be asking myself how can I be a better person? I accept responsibility when I am wrong. I say I'm sorry if I did something that warrants it. I try to be a good person. But I haven't been trying hard enough lately. So I apologized to my boss today, and opened up the lines of communication regarding my departure. And you know what? She said all of the things I wanted to hear a long time ago. It was hard for her. She simply is not an emotional person and is unnaccustomed to sharing her true feelings. But I feel better about it now. I am still leaving. It will be a relief to go. But at least I am not leaving a job of fourteen years on bad terms. I will leave there knowing I did everything I could to make a bad situation right. I will leave there being the bigger person.

The post where I do not blog about work

I made a promise to myself that I would not blog about my work situation. I promised my husband I would not blog about my work situation. Repeat after me. I will not blog about work, I will not blog about work, I will not blog about work. Hopefully that is out of my system. I do, however, have one word to describe my work situation right now. Awful. Horrible. Terrible. Oops, that's three words. Sorry. Got carried away there for a minute. I'm fine now. This too shall pass. Anyone have any ideas about how to make seventeen days go by quicker?(More quickly? My English Professor hubby would be mortified about now). I'm going to go sew something. That will make me feel better. What a beautfiul day it was(weather wise) today. Highs in the 70's and 80's. Yessss...finally Spring is here. Have a good night!

Pillow Cases

I finally got a sewing machine. I have been wanting one forever. Problem is, I really can't sew. This machine does so much more than I can do right now. As soon as we have some extra money(ha!) I'm going to sign up for a sewing class. For now I have been just playing around. I sewed on a scrapbook page(something I have been wanting to do forever), and I made these pillowcases. I even put Velcroe on the dragonfly one. Just don't look too closely at the stitching on the end of that one. The other turned out much better. I love both of these fabrics. The pink really doesn't go with anything in my house, so Gracie may end up with that one.

Finally! We agree on something!

Joe has been very adamant from the very beginning that he wants a say in the decor of Sophie's room. This was quite a surprise to me, as I decorated the rest of the house with not much input from him at all. (Perhaps that's why he wants a say in this? Hmmmm...something to ponder) Anyhow, we decided on a theme(a garden), but simply could not decide on on the colors. I wanted light pinks and green, very Shabby Chic. He wanted nothing to do with that. It could be because that's how I decorated the family room and guest bathroom and he can't take another rose. Seriously, it looks like a rose bush exploded in our family room. So we settled on Lavendar and light green, but he still wasn't happy. He wanted brighter colors. Neither of us was budging, so the room has remained largely undecorated. Until yesterday. He brought home a greeting card from the bookstore and said "Now I want you to keep an open mind when you see this, but this is how I want Sophie's room to look, and with these colors." I have to admit I was a little scared. But then he showed me this. And I love it! It is very whimisical, and "gardeny"(Yeah, I made that up). The colors are pretty, and it still has lavendar and green in it. I really like it. So we'll be adding oranges and pinks and yellows to the color scheme, and painting flowers just like this on the walls. They will be very tall(like three feet), because we want it to seem as though you are a tiny little bug in a garden. We already have these over the crib. Now I need to look for bedding. That we can afford. Well, I already bought a lavendar crib bumber for five dollars at a consignment shop, and Lisa and I are going to doctor it up with bugs. Dragonflies and butterflies and maybe a ladybug or two. We'll see. For now I am just relieved to know the color scheme. I thought we were never going to come to an agreement!



Ummm...I am not liking that ticker at the top of the page. What's the deal? Doesn't five months and four weeks equal six months? I think it does. So we're six months LID today. I should be happy. But with a possible two and a half to three more year wait(I refuse to think beyond that), it's hard to be happy about six months. But I should. 6 months is a milestone. There was a time when I thought we would never get our Log in Date. So that's something. Happy six months to us.

I think this is a good look for me

What do you think? :) I'm up again at 6:00. Drat.

Quilt squares flying in

I have updated the quilt blog with almost all the squares I have received so far. I am only missing a couple. I am up to 87 squares. Almost there! I am going to continue to collect after I reach 100. Maybe I'll make two quilts! Check it out here.

Block Party

If you find y ourself at Disney's CA Adventure, I suggest you take the time to see their "Block Party" parade. It is so much fun! Here is a video of one of the ladies in our group who jumped out into the middle of the parade and brought her daughter too, to join in the festivities. Don't worry, other people were doing it too! They are much braver than I am. Just watching this video makes me smile. We had such a great time. I hope we can plan another get together soon. I've heard talk of Vegas. That would be a blast too.

Aarrrgh!

I am participating in a quilt square swap where the theme is Pirates. It isn't for my 100 Good Wishes Quilt, it is something I am planning on making into a crib sized quilt to take in the car, stroller, etc. Here is the square/wish I sent out. I wanted it to be "Girly", because girls can be pirates too! I think they turned out cute. This is what I have been doing with my unexpected day off. I am feeling better already. Thank goodness for Zithromax.

Strep Throat

I have had a nagging sore throat for the last four days. I am just getting over a cold, so I attributed it to post nasal drip, or just the end of a cold. That is until Tuesday night(morning) at three a.m. when I woke up with what felt like a huge lump in my throat. I could'nt even swallow. I gargled with salt water, drank some water and went back to bed. The throat pain was not getting any better, and I was finding it diffiucult to eat(I know, the Horror), so I called to make an appoinment with my doc. They couldn't get me in until Friday. I thought I could tough it out, but today the pain is pretty bad and I a found it very difficult to swallow, even liquids. I got up and went to work(why do I always do this?) but went straight to the Urgent Care when someone else came in. The diagnosis? Yup, Strep throat. No wonder it hurts! I feel terrible because that means I was contagious when I met up with my Blogger friends at Disneyland last weekend. I'm sorry girls! I truly thought I had a normal, run of the mill cold going on. My throat didn't even start hurting until Monday night. I was very careful not to share water with anyone, but I was blowing my nose like crazy and there wasn't always oppurtunities for me to wash my hands. I sure hope I didn't infect anyone. I will feel terrible. I'm off to post a message on our Yahoo group, then to bed. Strep. Yuck.

Today was a better day. That's it. My very bad week is heading into the weekend. Wahoo! I think I will lay low this weekend. I have tons of quilt squares to upload to the quilt site. Thank you to the family and friends who sent squares. They are so beautiful and I love them. They will mean so much to Sophie when she gets older.

Oh, I just remember I have a baby shower to go to on Sunday. So much for laying low! :)

Still numb

I am still feeling emotional today. I went to write a check and realized the date. April 17th. My Mom's birthday. I had kind of forgotten about it. I mean, I knew when it was, but didn't realize it was in a couple of days. She would have been seventy three. Or four. I'm a terrible daughter because I'm not sure. Are you supposed to know how old someone would have been if they hadn't died? I had such a wonderful weekend and now am having such a terrible week. A terrible, horrible, no good , very bad week. Maybe I'll move to Australia. (If you have no idea what I'm talking about, that is one of my favorite books to read to the kids). I am counting down my days left at work(seventeen). That makes me sad. I want to move on, but I'm really going to miss the kids. I am staring to stress out about the surgery. What if I'm not doing the right thing? I am awfully young for a hysterectomy. So many things are up in the air right now. My job, our finances(how are we going to pay our bills with me on disability?), my health, everything. I finally got my cell phone up and running. Finally. That's something. I want to go back to this weekend. I had such a good time. I am very lucky to have people like that to share this adoption journey with. I'll try to focus on that. There, I feel better already.


I miss you Mom. Happy Birthday.

What has the World come to

I find this hard to even type. I have been crying for much of the afternoon. How could this happen? Why? I can't comprehend it. My husband works at a college. His cell phone has been broken for three weeks. Mine has too. I lost the charger. I could not get a hold of him until 1:00 this afternoon, when he called me at work from home. I know nothing happened here, but it was terirfying. I feel numb. I cannot explain the deep sense of dread and sadness I feel for those thirty three people who died. My husband is devastated. I have never seen him like this. I don't know what to say to make it better. He doesn't want to go to class tomorrow because he doesn't know what to say to his classes. He is planning on cancelling his lessons and just being open to talk about how the students are feeling. He is a big proponent of gun control. Please don't leave me comments stating your stance against it. I don't care and I don't want to hear it. This should never have happened. I am sad. What do we have to do to get an education these days? Go through security procedures like we do at the airports? I don't know. I just don't know. I had such a lovely weekend, and now this. My prayers will be with those who were injured and killed, and their families.



In case you live under a rock, I am referring to this. It is a tragedy and I am sad.

Exhausted

I am exhausted. Tired to the bone. Thus ends eight days straight of travel, zoos, Chuck E. Cheese's, and amusement parks that included Six Flaggs, Disneyland, and CA Adventure. I got to meet up with two sets up bloggers, from Northern CA(with babies), to South(still waiting). I am so lucky to get to know such a group of awesome women. Being friends with them is going to make this wait so much easier. It already has. I had such a great time this weekend with seven other waiting Mommas(and one waiting big sister), plus one very cool waiting friend. If you had told me a year ago that I would be going to Disneyland, or Chuck E. Cheese to meet a bunch of people I had never really met before, I would have told you you were crazy. And yet, here I sit, having met ten more wonderful people whose blogs I read. And yet the flurry of activity and the lack of rest these last eight days has left me with a head cold(again), and the need to lie in bed for a very long time. So I am exhausted. But feeling lucky. Very lucky indeed. Thank you everyone that I spent the last two days with! I had the best time. The best. I hope we meet again very soon.

For Cameron

When asked what he would like for me to bring him from Disneyland, he answered "A pirate set(another one?). And Gold". Here's some pirate's loot. This and the pirate set will be in the mail Monday. Don't worry Gracie. There will be something in there for you too. Tinkerbell art stuff. Just like you asked for.

Disneyland pics

1. Group castle shot

2. Sully is eating Lisa's head!

3. Half the group poses for a pic

4. My precious

More Disneyland pics

1. How cool are these Mickey country pins? Of course I had to have both China and the USA
2. Castle with flowers
3. Get it? Caution: A-Head! Ha!
4. Space Mountain. Lisa is raring to go.
5. Matterhorn, ready or not.

I Heart My new Camera

I recently purchased a new camera. I got a new camera this time last year, but it was just a basic point and shoot and didn't do much else. I have been really wanting a new camera to take to China(someday), and also my old camera couldn't take close pictures of the jewelry I am selling. This one takes amazing pictures. It isn't the fanciest one out on the market, but it has some bells and whistlea and was in my price range. It 's a Canon Powershot A550 digital camera. I took some pretty good pictures this week with it. Here are some pictures I took while visiting my sister. I can't wait to use it at D-Land today. Oh, and in case you happened to notice, yes, I am writing this post at 5:14 A.M. There must be something in the water here, because the insomnia is back. Or maybe I'm just too excited about seeing Mickey Mouse. It could be that. :) I love that picture of Gracie in the crown and my sunglasses. The picture of Cameron is right before we went on the swings at Great America and I felt like I was going to die. Good times. That last pic is of Marie, one quarter of Team Salsa. At least I'm fairly certian it is Marie. Or was Rose wearing the pink shoes. Mary-Mia, help ,me out here? :) Either way, she is adorable. What a happy little girl.

Some pictures to tide you over

Until I have time for a proper post......

No, we have no idea who this little boy is. He saw Batman and decided he Must. Meet. Him. Now. And when I said excuse me, we're taking a picture(very nicely of course, so I didn't scare him), he turned around and said "Cheese"! He is simply adorable. His Dad came running over shortly after, apologizing. So cute.

MIA

Sorry I have been missing in Action. I have written three blog posts, but three people are sharing this computer and they keep getting erased. I am visiting my sis and kids up in S.F., and we are having a blast. We have been going, going,going, nonstop for the last four days. I am exhausted already. We spent Easter in Fresno with Scott's family(lovely), yesterday we went the the Oakland Zoo(so fun), and today we went to Six Flaggs in Vallejo(too. much. fun.) Seriously. Way too much fun. I have close to three hundred pictures to upload. Sorry, I will not be sharing ALL of them with you. Just a select few. But not until I get home. On Friday I go right from the airport to dinner with the Disney Blogger's Group. Then Saturday, all day at D-Land, and CA Adventure on Sunday. Monday I may just collapse :) Anyway, sorry for the lack of updates, but I am well(sickness gone), albeit exhausted(insomnia solved), and happy spending time with my sister and the kids. Hope your week is going a little more calmly.

Sickness and Insomnia

I am coming down with a cold. On the day I leave for a trip. Drat. It comes as no surprise, as every single person(and child) was sniffling and hacking last week. Maybe that has been contributing to the overall not feeling good I have been experiencing the last week or so. It is the nature of my type of kidney disease to be sick often. And tired. I am sick and tired. Ha! Also, I have been getting up between four a.m. on the days I have to go to work(five-thirty being the normal time) and six o'clock on my days of(between eight and nine-thirty being the normal time). And I am finding it hard to get to sleep much before eleven. Too many thoughts in my head. Reading this, I realize I have a lot of problems and sound very whiny. Not my intention. After all, I am leaving in eight hours to spend seven days in San Francisco with my sister shopping, playing at the park, and going out to eat. Who could complain about that? Now where did I put that vitamin C?


*I changed the profile pic again. Joe wasn't happy with that one. He says it makes him look bald. The new one shows he is in fact, not bald. Men. Sheesh.*

I changed my profile picture. As much as I loved that picture of me and Gracie(we took it in the car of ourselves at Christmas), she is getting to the age now where I don't think her picture should be plastered all over the internet. I know my sister puts her picture on their blog, but I visit a lot of blogs and I don't think her picture should be up there everywhere I go. I put up a pic of me and Joe in the mountains in Jan. I love that picture. That was such a great trip. My face is still a little bit swollen from the Prednisone, but it has such fond memories for me. Also, the other day Joe asked me "Hey, how come my picture isn't in your profile?" Well, now it is.

I put some new items up on Wishing Star. Also added a couple of quilt squares to the quilt blog. O.K. that comment on my last post scared me a little bit because I am not at all feeling well. I'm still waiting for those antibiotics to kick in. I still have a slight fever and chills and it hurts so bad when I urinate. Sheesh, I'm always sharing just a little too much on here huh? :) Must go drink more cranberry juice now.

For Jonni

This a plaque order I received. I tried to match the colors to her bedding, which is cream and sage with small silver dragonflies and red ladybugs. The chain is made up of flowers. I call it a daisy chain. Cute.

Got Cranberry Juice?

I do. Three quarts to be exact. That's a lotta cranberry juice. Did I mention I'm not that fond of cranberry juice? Well, I'm not. But I have to drink it. My bladder and kidney infections are not getting better, despite the antibiotics the doc gave me. Did you know bladder infections and kidney infections are two totally separate things? I didn't. Until now. I also did not realize they were so painful. They are. Very painful. So I down cranberry juice like it is going out of style. Ugh. The good news is that I am home on the couch now, with the next ten glorious days off. Ten days! I cannot tell you how happy I am about that. I guess I just did. :) Oh, and my surgery has been scheduled. On May 11 th I am having all of my girl parts removed. Good riddance. They never did me any good anyhow. And yet I am still a little sad. And scared. But mostly happy. It will be done with. I won't have to worry about it ever again. Good.

The job interview went well. So well, in fact, that she wants to hire me. The only problem is the pay is $1.50 less an hour than I make now. Oh well. I know there are other jobs out there. This was good practice. I am tired today. Getting up at four in the morning will do that to you. Couldn't sleep. Probably nervous. I'm so glad tomorrow is the end of the week for me. We get Good Friday off. So glad. I must go now and get the rest of my Easter cards out, as well as the postcards I need to send out for a postcard exchange I signed up for. What can I say? I am becoming kind of addicted to this swapping stuff. (Fabric, ribbon, postcards, etc. Get your mind out of the gutter people)


*I updated Wishing Star with a couple of bracelets. More to come!*

Urinary Tract Infections and Taxes

That was my day. It started at the doctor's office(again). I was having some, well, unpleasant symptoms(which we won't go into), so I called my kidney doctor and asked what I should do. Of course he wanted me to come in. So I trek all the way over there from work(a forty-five minute drive). I got in to see the doc right away this time, and he did his exam. Blood pressure, temperature, Urine sample, the usual. Blood pressure was good, but I was running a fever, was very tender to his prodding of my abdomen and back, and the urine test showed I had some kind of infection. After the exam he determined I had a pretty bad urinary tract infection AND a kidney infection too. Yay me! Off to the pharmacy to get my antibiotics, then back to work(another forty-five minute drive). I worked for two hours, then had to meet Joe at the Accountant to get our taxes done. Apparently the payroll person at work screwed up my withholding last year because we owe both State and Federal taxes this year. Grrrrreeeeaaaaat. Oh well, what are we gonna do?(Pay it!). Oh, and then out of the blue my cell phone rings and it is the dentist that told me the position was filled but wanted to meet with me anyway, and I declined. She has a position open and would like to interview me! She said she was very impressed with me on the phone and couldn't stop thinking about me! How cool is that? So tomorrow I have a job interview! Yikes!
Then my phone rang again and it was my gynecologist calling to schedule my hysterectomy! No date set yet. But soon. A very busy, exciting, exhausting day. Going to bed now. G'night.

LID Plaques *updated*

I have made this small plaque with our Log in Date on it to hang on the door to Sophie's room. I think it turned out cute. I added a whimsical beaded handle for hanging. These would make a great gift for someone just finishing thier paperchase, or who is in the midddle of the never ending wait. I am going to keep mine up until we bring Sophie home, then I'll probably move it to the fridge(They can be magnets too). I am selling these over at my other blog, Wishing Star Designs. I have added a few other things too. More to come!


I have added a paypal button on the site so you can pay directly with a credit card. You will need to sign up for a Paypal account, but it is free, safe, and secure.




Updated the quilt blog again. Fifty-eight squares and counting. Woo hoo!