The Plague

We are all pretty sick at my house. What I thought could have been food posioning is apparently some kind of nasty intestinal bug. Joe came down with it today as well. Since we didn't eat the same thing for lunch yesterday, it is unlikely that it was food poisoning. Between almost hemorraging because of my period, and then losing all the bodily fluids I did yesterday, I feel like a walking corpse. Come to think of it, I look like a walking corpse! I have circles under my eyes that almost look like black eyes, they are so large and dark. Joe didn't have to work today, so he hasn't left the couch. Unfortunately I did have to work, so I dragged myself there this morning and made it till a little after twelve before I was sent home by my co-workers. I went right to bed, and slept for three and a half hours! I'm still exhausted. I've been chugging Gatorade by the bottle, but there is no way that I'm not totally dehydrated. The house is still a mess and the social worker is coming tomorrow for her last visit. I pray that I feel better in the morning so I can do at least a couple of loads of laundry and vacuum the house.

Abort "the plan"

If you were patient enough to read the post before last, please disregard it. And I apologize for it being so lengthy. Boy, sometimes I think I just like the sound of my own typing(ha!), the way I go on and on sometimes. Anyway, today went nothing like the way I had planned, but nothing ever does, right? The first part of the plan went exactly as I wrote it. Including the part about the radiologist telling me I am clean and there is nothing to worry about and I'll see you next year. Yay! So relieved! In fact, everything went off as scheduled until exactly 12:45. That was when I arrived home from lunch with my husband. This is where the plan went terribly awry.
After I got home I was so exhausted from lack of sleep that I decided I would take a short nap
before I began cleaning the house. So I went into the bedroom to lay down. The next thing I remember is being woken up by stomach cramps and a severe feeling of neasousness. Ummm...and it was four o' clock in the afternoon! Hellooo.....I slept for three hours! So much for the "short nap"! And on top of that, I was feeling seriously ill. So I spent the next hour either on the toilet of laying on the bathroom floor! Not fun. I'm not sure if it had something to do with my period, or what I ate for lunch, but I am so happy to be feeling better now! Needless to say, nothing else on that list was accomplished today. Unless I add "laying on the couch for hours" or "taking a 30 minute shower" to it. Oh well, there's always tomorrow!

A Huge Relief

My second breast scan came back clean! I do NOT have a lump in my breast! Whew!

The plan for today

So far I am not enjoying my day off as much as I had hoped. I didn't sleep again last night. At five a.m. I was wide awake and ready to scream because I was so tired and yet couldn't sleep. It has to be some kind of cruel joke that I awoke at that ungodly hour on a day that I could have slept in! *Warning* Gross Menstrual talk ahead* This has been the period from Hell. I am bleeding more than I think I ever have in my life. That's one of the reasons I couldn't sleep. I had to keep getting up and cleaning myself up. I soaked through two pairs of sweat pants. I finally just put a towel in the bed so I wouldn't have to keep getting up. I soaked that too. I may have to call the doctor. I always put off doing so because A) They never seem too concerned, and B) I always wait so long to call that the problem subsides. That seems to be the case now. It has at least slowed quite a bit from last night. I fell like crap though. Lightheaded. Severe headache. Cramps. Exhausted. Blech. *Gross menstrual talk is now over.* Thank goodness I don't have to go to work. Anyway, here is what I have planned for today. I don't know if I will accomplish it all, but here's what I hope to get done:
10:00 a.m. Leave the house to get to my doctor's appointment, allowing myself plenty of time for traffic.
10:20-10:30 Arrive at Doctor's office
10:30 They take me back right on time for my exam(hey, one can always hope!)
11:00 Meet with radiologist to go over results of said exam. He/she tells me that my scan is clean and there is absolutely nothing to worry about and we'll see you next year(the power of positive thinking)
11:30 Go to lunch with my husband
12:45 Arrive home.
12:45-1:45 Clean the whole house, top to bottom. Kitchen, bathroom, living room and bedroom, complete with mopping of floors and getting a handle on the uncontrollable laundry situation that is going on in our bedroom.
1:45-1:30 Run errands. Pick up prescriptions and something for dinner.
1:30-2:00 Stop by scrapbook store to pick up supplies for more mini books. I want to try one that is geared towards the trip to China. I'm tossing around the idea of selling these(trying to sell them).
2:00-2:30 Take the dogs for a brisk walk. The weather is beautiful today! So different from yesterday.
2:30-3:30 Begin mini scrapbook
3:30-4:30 Mess around on the computer. Check my blogs.
4:30-5:30 Finish laundry. Fold and put it all away(this will never happen. Again, the power of positive thinking!)
5:30-6:00 Prepare dinner.
6:00-6:30 Eat dinner
6:30 Prepare dinner for Joe.
6:30-7:00 Wash dishes, clean up after dinner
7:15 Greet Joe at ther door, get him his dinner.
Spend the rest of the night cuddled up on the couch with husband. A very fruitful day!

A Better Day

Today was a good day. I'm feeling better, I had fun with the kids today, and it is Joe's night off. Yay! I am hating this teaching three nights a week schedule. I miss him when he's gone. Oh well, only 10 more weeks of the semester for him until he has a new schedule for me to get used to. Today is made all that much better by the fact that I don't have to go to work tomorrow. Yahoo!! I am having my second breast scan done and I took a sick day. Even though I'm pretty sure there is nothing to worry about, I didn't want to have to go to work if it was not good news. That means I get to sleep in tomorrow. Double Yahoo! This time change is messing with me big time. I simply. cannot. get. up. in the morning. I'm sorry, but my body thinks it is still 4:30 a.m. instead of 5:30 like it is used to! Add to that the fact that I simply cannot fall asleep before 11:00(again, my body thinking it is earlier!), and that equals me being exhausted this week. Soooo tired. I imagine this must be how you parents feel when your kids keep you up at night. Not good! Anyway, I am super happy about not having to go to work tomorrow. Now I must go and make dinner. Chicken Tortilla Soup. Mmmmmm.......! Is it me, or does it seem like I am always on this computer when I am supposed to be making dinner? :)

Crazy

It has been a hectic two days. So hectic, in fact that I had a meltdown in my car today, crying on the phone to my husband. Don't worry. He's used to these, and he knows exactly how to handle them. I am much better now. I am sitting at home on my couch in my sweatpants with my new computer on my lap. Ahhh..much better! (Did I forget to mention that I also have a pint of Hagen Dazs Triple Chocolate Ice Cream with me?) Anyway, the reason for the meltdown. I started my period today(thus the crying and the chocolate ice cream). Finally. I have been having a lot of pain this month and this means I'll finally be feeling better. Did anyone happen to notice how I didn't post even one entry about how much pain I have been in? Yup, I'm trying to keep the blog lighthearted and cheerful these days. Anyway, those weren't the only reasons for the meltdown. Yesterday I saw a Urologist. My primary doctor made me go see one because my urine test keeps coming back abnormal and he won't sign off on my med form for the adoption until he finds out why. So I went yesterday. I didn't know what to expect. I didn't even know what one was. I was kind of hoping to go there and tell him I was fine, and I just needed a note from him so I could get my medical form signed off. That's it. I wasn't expecting an exam, and I certainly wasn't expecting what he told me. So he comes into the room and starts going over my chart and he asks me why I am there. I tell him the only reason I am there is to get my medical form signed saying I am fine so that we can adopt a child. I tell him I am having no symptoms, and I don't even know what's wrong with my urine test results. He looks at the results and says "Well, you have blood in your urine." Then he pauses and looks at me kind of funny and continues "A lot of blood. Are you sure you aren't experiencing any other symptoms?" I tell him "No, I didn't even know about the blood, and I wouldn't have known if I hadn't had a physical". Then he asks me whether or not I have been having any pain. This is where it gets dicey. I told him "Yes, I have a lot of pain, every month, but that's because of Stage V endometroisis, not because of my bladder". And he says "Hmmm...I'm not so sure that's the case. I think it is possible that the pelvic pain from the endometroisis is masking the pain in your bladder. No one has that much blood in their urine unless there is a reason." By this time I am confused, and a little bit scared. I wasn't expecting this at all. So I ask him "What kinds of things would cause blood in your urine like that?" And he answers(slowly). "There are three probable causes. Cancer, a large kidney stone, or cysts in your bladder." Those were his exact words. He follows that statement by saying "Of course we would be least worried about the Cancer, given your age and family history." But I don't hear that part clearly because I'm thinking "What????? Did he say Cancer? What's he talking about? And what family history is he referring to? I clearly wrote "unknown" on that part of the form, and wrote "adopted" next to it. I don't know my family history you idiot! For all I know, my mother is dead of Cancer as we speak! And if you are least worried about that, why did you mention it first?" Luckily, that part of the conversation only occurred in my head! Instead I calmly answered "O.K. What do I do?" He said first I had to have an exam. I was a kind of nervous. I usually like to be a little more prepared when I have to take my pants off at the doctors. Now if you have never been examined my a urologist before, it is very similiar to a visit to the gynecologist. Except that it's a little different. It's a little, how should I say this, more intimate. Let's just say my husband hasn't been that intimate with me in a very long time! Your urethra lies on the upper lining of your woman parts, and is kind of hidden in the.........folds. Here is a very good site that explains it quite well. Caution. It is very graphic. Anyway, the exam was quite strange and I felt pretty uncomfortable. The doctor himself was very professional and he did nothing himself to make me uncomfortable, and there was nurse present too, of course. It's just that I am uncomfortable being touched in the places he had to touch me to do the exam. Anyway long(long) story short, I have to go back for a bunch more tests to detemine why there is blood(a lot of blood) in my urine. I get to have a camera put into my urethra, and I get to have a series of X-rays that takes 45 minutes to complete, while my bladder is full. Whooee, there is a lot of fun to be had by me in the next couple of weeks! Add to that my second mammogram on Thursday, and I think I may have had all the fun I can handle! Now I must go and throw something together for dinner quickly before Joe gets home because holy cow, it's 7:15 already and I haven't made dinner yet! This time change is really messing me up.

Pictures of the Baby Book

Here is the baby scrapbook I made for one of my pregnant friends. I'll be making a few more of these, so if you are pregnant and you are my friend, please don't look! Just kidding. You can look. I'm thinking about making one for myself with the new Michael Miller paper I just bought on e-bay. It is so cute! I love all of the ribbons and the doo dads inside. That class was well worth the time and money spent.

Even the back cover is cute!

Gracie's Video

Okay, I've been wanting to post this video here forever, but had no idea how to do it. It's not really Gracie's "Gotcha Day" Video. It's a slideshow I made of some of the pictures I took in China. There are some pictures of gotcha day included though. The song is called "Love Takes the Best of You" by Catie Curtis, who is one of my favorite artists. All of her songs are beautiful, but this one touched me to the core when I first heard it, a couple of months after Lisa and Scott announced they were going to adopt a baby from China. Of course I made a video for Cameron too, so I'll post that one probably tomorrow.

Computer Love

I love my new computer. Love, love, love it! Did I mention I LOVE it? :)
There's only one problem. I haven't moved from the couch ALL DAY. I've been on the computer the whole time(except for one small break to prepare breakfast. Hey, we've got to eat!) That's it! I must. move. off. the. couch. I am getting nothing productive done. I'm just fooling around. We are planning on going for a walk later, and since it will be light until almost seven, we may actually do it! (Unless we are really that lazy)

Well I obviously made it until Friday, as maddeningly slow as last week went for me.
The good news is as I sit here and write this, I am doing so on my very own computer!
No, I wasn't able to get mine fixed. With some help from my Dad, I was able to get financed for one of these. Thanks Dad!
That means that not only do I now own a laptop, I also have a better computer than Joe! Am I lucky or what? It is just. so. cool. Needless to say, Joe is not exactly thrilled about mine being better than his. I think it's a guy thing. We have decided that when his computer is paid off, he can sell his and we'll get him a new one. I also promised to share mine with him too. It has a bigger screen than his, so when we are at home and he is working on his web site he can use mine. Both of them being Macs, all we have to to is connect a cord from one to the other to transfer information back and forth. One of the very cool features that it has is a camera built right into the top of the screen! I took this picture with it! I also got this very cool laptop case for it. Isn't it pretty? I'm doing a great big happy dance over here at my house!

Finally Friday(almost)

I made it through this unbelievably long week. I still have not gotten around to taking pictures of the baby book. What can I say? I'm lazy. Maybe I'll have time to do it this weekend. Sharing the computer has not been all that bad this week, as Joe has been on Spring Break from his night class. Next week will be a different story. I guess I'd better get used to it though. Joe says not to worry, that we can get another computer as soon as his is paid off. Our bank gave us a two year computer loan at 2% interest. So I got all excited, until I went online to see how soon that would be. We still have eight months of payments left on it. I'm not so excited anymore. I'm bummed. Oh well. I guess I'm going to get used to waiting, between the adoption and the new computer. This will make me a more patient person, right? Joe and I went to the movies again today. Twice in one week, that's got to be a record for us! We saw Thank You for Smoking. I wasn't so sure I was going to like it, but it was actually hilarious and I really liked it a lot. I definitely recommend it. Other than that, pretty boring around here. The Social Worker called and scheduled our last visit. She'll be coming by a week from Saturday. She said she would have our home-study done a week after that. I have set a goal for us to have the dossier done by the end of May. We are well on our way to making that a reality. At least I feel good about that!

The scrapbook class was good. We were too busy making our books to talk much about babies, and there were no pregnant people there. Yay. The scrapbook itself turned out simply adorable. I can say that, because I had nothing to do with the actual design. All I did was follow directions and put it together. I'll post pictures tomorrow, if I can wrestle the computer away from my husband for a little while. This week is draaaaagging by. We did go to the movies today. That was fun. It helps break up the week a little bit. We always go during the week, to the matinee, after a movie has been out for at least a week or so. What can I say? We're anti-social! We saw Inside Man with Denzel Washington, Clive Owen, and Jodie Foster. It was pretty good. It kept my interest throughout, which is saying a lot since I have the attention span of a two year old. Well, Joe's giving me the evil eye because he wants the computer back. It's my bed time anyway. Good night!

A Quick Post

I only have time for a quick post today before I head out the door to a scrapbook class that I signed up for. The theme is "Babymania". No, I have not lost my mind. Normally I wouldn't be caught dead in a room full of new mothers. I can't help it. It's the infertile in me. No, I'm not taking this class for me. I have at least three friends that are having babies and I want to make scrapbooks for them. If I can make one in class, I'm pretty sure I can get the other two done by the time the babies come along. Today was a good day, despite the rain and having to keep the kids inside all day. One day inside is usaully O.K. two days in is another story. I think we're headed that way considering how hard it's raining right now. The outlook for the c omputer doesn't look good. They aren't sure if it can be fixed, and at $85.00 an hour I'm not sure I want them to try! They said they can get the stuff off of the hardrive for me to transfer to another unit, but we don't have anything to transfer it to at the moment. Big Bummer. I guess we'll be sharing a computer, at least for now. It hasn't been that bad, I guess. (Yeah right! Check back with me in a week!)

Pretty good for a Monday

Today was O.K. Not bad, as far as Mondays go. Fairly uneventful. Lately it seems like I am living purely for the weekend. Am I the only person that feels this way? I'm serious, I am already counting off the days until Friday. On a Monday! That's just sad. I think it may have to do with the fact that Easter falls much later this year than it did last year, and there are still two more weeks until Spring Break. That means we will have gone six weeks without a day off! Now if you have a regular job(like at a bank or grocery store or something), I know you won't be sympathetic, but when you work in the Education field you are used to having the occasional holiday off. My school hasn't been off since President's Day. Those holidays are the only thing keeping me sane! Working with kids has a high burnout rate, and when you don't get a break now and then you feel like you're going to go crazy(at least I do)! So lately I've basically just been going through the motions each week until the long awaited Friday comes along. I'm dying for a three day weekend! Maybe it's Spring Fever. I don't know. What I do know is I am coounting the days until Spring Break when I get to spend a week with my niece and nephew.
Only 18 days to go. Sigh.

Scrapbook page for my sister

I made this scrapbook page of my nephew for my sister. I really liked the colors and the layout. I can't take credit for it though. It was a pre-made kit I picked up at my scrapbook store. Gotta love those!

This is the text at the top. The circle says "Cameron Garret 2006 four and a half years old"

A More Positive Outlook

I seem to be over the drama I was feeling yesterday and Friday. Thanks for all the kind words. Now that I know how common it is for people to have to have a second scan, the more sure I am that this is nothing to be worried about. I've decided to put it out of my mind(at least until a couple of days before the scan!) Note to self: Do NOT watch the movie "StepMom" while feeling hormonal and laying around home alone on a Saturday!

My Word Cloud

Well, I've succumbed to peer pressure(plus, they're so cool), so here's my word cloud

I've been doing a lot of thinking about the last post. I probably shouldn't have shared the information regarding my breast. I don't want to scare anyone, especially my family. I should have waited until the second scan before I mentioned it. It's just that I would be lying if I said I wasn't scared. The news came totally out of left field for me, because honestly I only had the mammogram because I had turned thirty five and didn't know my family history. I never in a million years thought the results would come back anything but completely normal. I was totally shocked when they said they wanted me to have a second scan. I'm feeling kind of alone in all of this too. Joe won't even talk about it. He says that everything is going to be fine, that it's just a cyst and since we can't do anything about it right now, why worry? I think he can't even entertain the thought of it being something bad. Everyone at work blew it off in the same fashion. They said that the second scan is only precautionary and it almost always turns out to be a cyst or something else not serious. It isn't just my imagination that is running wild with horrific thoughts of breast cancer. I have first hand experience with it. I've seen what it does to people, what it does to their family. It has claimed the lives of two moms at my workplace in the last two years. I saw what they went through. It terrified me. I know there's nothing that can be done now, but it's in my nature to worry. I am good at it. And so I guess I'll worry in silence for the next thirteen days. I think it may be the longest thirteen days of my life.

The end of a looonng week

I am so glad it's Friday! This week wasn't the greatest. Some weeks are like that I guess. I'm still struggling with the headaches. A visit to the doctor is beginning to look inevitable. My computer is still not working. I'm starting to have serious withdrawals. We're taking it in tomorrow to see what can be done. If they can't fix it I'm not sure what I'll do. Sharing a computer with my husband would be imposible. he is on it twenty four seven. I am hoping they can find the problem and it is fixable. On the adoption front, my medical form is still not done. Apparently my urine test keeps coming back "abnormal". The doctor's office said they can't sign the form saying everything is O.K. until I see a Urologist. I don't want the form to say abnormal because I'm afraid we will have to explain later, so I am seeing a urologist on the third. Who knows how long this will delay things. Unfortunatly, that's the good news. I received a call yesterday from the Breast Care Center. There appears to be a "density" in my right breast. I have to go back for a more in-depth scan. This is really freaking me out. I know the chances are pretty good that it's nothing to be concerned about, but it still worries me. They can't get me in for another scan until April 6th, so that's two more weeks of worrying. I should be nice and worked up by then! It's probably nothing. I'm pretty sure it's nothing. I hope it's nothing. But what if it isn't?

Nothing New Here

Today was just another non-eventful day around here. I'm dissapointed because tonight is Joe's only night off from teaching and we were supposed to go get our criminal clearance letters AND apply for his passport. The only problem is I got a terrible headache around two o'clock and it became progressivly worse as the afternoon went on. It took all of me just to drive myself home and then all I could do was lay on the couch with a heating pack on my head. Thankfully, it seems to have subsided for now. I've been getting pretty bad headaches like this for the last two months or so. If it keeps up I'll have to go to the doctor I suppose. I'm pretty sure they are hormonal, as I only get them during certain times of the month. They really are horrible, and sometimes they last up to three or four days. On another not, I am truly disliking the schedule Joe has this semester. He is teaching every night but Wednesdays and Fridays, and he's only home during the day for an hour or so. I don't get to see that much of him, and he isn't cleaning the house or doing the dishes like he used to do when he was home during the day(I'm spoiled, I know). It seems like our schedules totally clash right now too. Every time I have a quiet moment at work and I call him, he is always in the middle of a lecture and all I get is voicemail. Then when he finally does call me back, it's the busiest time for me and there are kids screaming in the background so I can hardly hear him. (Who am I kidding? There are always kids screaming in the background when I am at work!) Anyway, all of this has left me feeling a little neglected. It doesn't help that I feel crummy the one night he is off. Hmmm...sounds like I might be feeling a little sorry for myself. Time to snap out of it! Tommorow is another day.........

Good Wishes

I have been working on my wishes for some blogging buddy's 100 wishes quilts. I have finished three of them. One is for Julie at Wandering Child. The second is for Jen at Stay at Home Motherdom . The third is for Shelli at Turnips and Carrots. I have a few more wishes to get out. If anyone is interested in receiving a wish, just e-mail me and let me know. I bought a bunch of fabric and printed up a few more wishes and would be happy to send one out to whoever wants one. I will be requesting wishes for my quilt after we are DTC.

Corners of My Home #3

Here is the third installment of Corners of my Home. This is a picture of our patio. We live in an apartment so we don't have a backyard, just this patio that is off of the living room. It's an O.K. size, as far as patios go. It is big enought to store some stuff and there is plenty of room for a small sand box or blow up pool for when Sophie comes. We really cleaned it up quite a bit for the homestudy. Joe had bought a few plants and flowers to put out there when the S.W. came, but since then he has caught spring fever and planted a bunch more plants and flowers in containers. It looks very pretty out there right now. This is a picture of the new table he built to hold some of the flowers. He also put shelves all around the perimeter of the fence and has filled those with beautiful plants too. As long as he takes care of them and not me, they should be fine. I was not born with a green thumb!

Lazy Sunday

It's been a wonderful day, just hanging around the house. I seem to have recovered from whatever it was that kept me in my P.J.'s all day yesterday. I like Sundays where most of the "chores" are done and you get to do whatever you want. The laundry and dishes are done and the house is still relatively clean from the home-study, so there wasn't a lot that needed to be done. I did make some killer homemade eggplant parmesan that we are planning on having for dinner. We were watching Iron Chef America last night(Joe just loves that show) and the secret ingredient was eggplant. Well of course one of the chefs made eggplant parmesan for one of their dishes and it looked so good that I decided I. Must. Have. Some. So off to the grocery store I went to get the ingredients. I'll post the recipe later. I got it off of Food TV dot com. It is one of Mario Battali's recipes so you know it's good! I can hardly wait until dinner. I may not be able to post much this week as my computer crashed on Friday and I don't know how long it will be until we can fix it. Joe has been kind enough to let me use his computer this weekend, but he is gone for most of the week so it won't be available to me. I think I may go through withdrawals if we can't get mine fixed right away. I could really use a new one, as my computer is a good six years old, but that certainly isn't in the budget right now so I hope it is something we can fix(cheaply).

Slicing the eggplant

Frying the eggplant

The homemade sauce

The finished product

Yum!

St. Patrick's Day Fun

I'm dragging a little bit today. For the first time in many, many years Joe and I actually went out to celebrate St. Patrick's Day. We didn't get home until close to 1:00 in the morning. I'm a little embarrassed to admit that I just got up! (I know, I know I won't be able to do that when we have kids) . We had planned this little outing quite a while ago. We went to the Coach House to see Flock of Seagulls. Remember them? They were big in the eighties(yes, I am that old). Their one big hit was "I Ran". This is what they look like now. The only original member is the lead singer(the guy in the last picture with the interesting hair do), which of course prompted us to make many jokes about how they should change their name to just "The Seagull"(since the rest of the flock is gone). Ha! Ha! We arrived at the concert hall at about 6:30 to have dinner. Unfortunatly I didn't look closely enough at the tickets so I didn't realize there would be three other bands playing before them. So we were subjected to the music of three ametuer bands before the band we actually came to see went on. For your enjoyment, here is a song from the first band, called Saint Monday Shakes. They are a punk band. If you enjoy deafening drums and guitar, coupled with screaming, then this band is for you! I'm fairly certain I will never regain complete hearing in my left ear after hearing them play! They were followed by a band called Three Mile Walk. They are an "alternative" band. They were much better than the first band, but still very loud. They came on at about 9:30. That's my bedtime, so I was starting to kind of lose it at this point. But there was still more fun to be had! So next came a band called Blood Proxy. They are classified as rock/gothic . If you really want to have some fun, go to that link and listen to the second song, called Death Wish. Oh yeah, that's some good music there! Sitting next to us was a couple that looked to be in their sixties. We couldn't figure out why in the world they would want to go to a concert like that, until the lead singer from Blood Proxy came over to say hello to them. She was their daughter. They ended up leaving shortly after Flock of Seagulls came on. Now that's what I call suppporting your children in their endeavors! By now it was closing in on 11:00, and I could tell Joe was about ready to go wait in the car. I was getting pretty tired too, and the chairs we were sitting in were very hard and uncomfortable. So finally, after being subjected to listening to three other bands, Flock of Seagulls came on. I actually really enjoyed them(him?). If it hadn't been so late I think Joe would have enjoyed them too. He was pretty much ready to go home at this point. After they played their set, they came out for an encore. When that was done, he says to the crowd. "Because it is St. Patrick's Day, I'm gonna play a few more songs for you guys". I think it took all of Joe's self restraint not to stand up and scream "Nnnnnooooooo!!!!" I have to admit I was done too. But we stuck it out, and ended up getting home a little after one in the morning. It must be a sign that we are getting older, because I am so tired today that I'm not even going to go have lunch with my Dad. What happened to the days when we could stay out all night and still get up and go to work the next day? Ah, youth! I'm going right now to have a cup of coffee and some Tylenol. Happy belated St. Patrick's Day to all!

I Do Not Like Green Eggs and Ham

I do not like them Sam I am! It has become a tradition at my workplace to make Green Eggs and Ham for the kids on St. Patrick's Day. Of course we start off by reading the book. It never ceases to amaze me how many children(after listening to the book) will say. "I'm not eating that. I don't like it", even though they have never tried it. Helllooooo.....Were you listening to the story? Nine out of ten times I can talk them into at least tasting it, and most of the time they surprise even themselves by actually liking it!(Of course there's always that one stubborn child that refuses even a tiny taste). So today I went to the store to buy the eggs and ham for us to make tomorrow. I'll post a picture of what it looks like this weekend. It actually looks kind of gross, but it sure is yummy! Oh, here's a recipe I found on the internet for it:


Green Eggs and Ham à la Sam-I-Am

Ingredients

1-2 tablespoons of butter or margarine
4 slices of ham
8 eggs
2 tablespoons of milk
1-2 drops of green food coloring
1/4 teaspoon of salt
1/4 teaspoon of pepper

What You'll Need

knife, medium-size mixing bowl, wire whisk or eggbeater, large frying pan, spatula, aluminum foil, serving plates

1. With an adult's help, melt a teaspoon of butter in a large frying pan over medium heat. Add sliced ham and brown until edges are slightly crisp. Remove the ham from the pan, cover with aluminum foil, and set aside.

2. In a medium-size mixing bowl, combine the eggs, milk, salt, and pepper. Beat with a whisk until frothy. Then add 1-2 drops of green food coloring until you reach the desired shade of green.

3. With an adult's help, heat a tablespoon of butter or margarine in a large frying pan over medium heat until the butter begins to sizzle. Then add the egg mixture to the pan.

4. Stir the egg mixture with a spatula until the eggs are firm and not too runny.

5. Transfer the eggs to individual plates. Garnish with a sprig of parsley. Add the ham prepared earlier. Serve with toast or warm rolls.

Feeds 4 hungry green-egg lovers.

What Do You Mean That's Not My Dossier?

O.K. there's no way to tell this story without you all thinking I'm stupid, but here goes anyway. Yesterday we had our second visit with the Social Worker. All went well, until she asks us how we are coming along with our Dossier. My answer was "Oh, we're coming along great! In fact, we're almost done!" And she answers "That's great! Do you have it so I can make sure that things included in your homestudy match up with what your dossier paperworks says?" I replied "What do you mean? You have it right there!" (I was referring to the packet of stuff we completed for our homestudy-fingerprints, references, biographies, medical forms, financial info, etc). She looked a little puzzled and said "Oh no, this is just the stuff we need for the homestudy. You should have a whole lot more documents from the agency you are planning on using for the China end". To which I replied "Huh"? "You mean there's more?!" She smiled sympathetically and said. "Yes, I'm afraid there is a lot more". Then she graciously called the agency we are planning on using and had them send out the dossier package to us right away. Ummmm....Duh! Apparently we got our wires crossed somewhere. When Joe first spoke with the agency we are using for our homestudy, they gave him the impression that we were supposed to wait until the homestudy was done before we contacted the agency we will be using to facilitate with China. This is of course, not the case. We were supposed to be doing these two things concurrently(the homestudy and the dossier). In my defense, I did ask my sister about ten times "Are you sure this is all we need to do for our dossier?" And she said "Yes" every time! I blame it on the fact that she now has two children and really can't remember as far back as when she was doing the paperchase! In her defense, she used an agency that worked exclusively with USAA, whereas our agency has their own China program, and people usually use that instead of another organization. So now I am anxiuosly awaiting the dossier package so I can get started on that. The S.W. said not to worry because a lot of the dossier documents are just duplicates of things we have already done. She also said she has seen people put together their dossier in as little as three weeks(after the homestudy was completed). So I should be feeling better. But I'm not. Because now I have a whole new set of things to worry about!


On non-adoption related news, I had my first mammogram done today.
Whooeee, is that fun! :) It actually wasn't that bad. It wasn't painful at all(like one of my co-workers told me it would be). I was pretty amazed at how flat they can make your breast! Flat as a pancake I tell you! I know, I know, too much information!

Second Social Worker Visit and Lunch in La Jolla

Today was our second meeting with the Social Worker. We had our individual interviews today. All went well. I really like this S.W. I feel very lucky to have her. Our visit lasted a little over an hour, then we headed North a little bit to have lunch in La Jolla. What a pretty little town it is. We used to go there all the time when we were first dating(a million years ago), but hadn't been there in quite a while. It felt good to not have to go to work on a Tuesday. It will make the week go by much quicker!

That last post was kind of deep. Here's something to counteract it!

I got this from another blog. Kind of silly, but I thought it was cute Your Monster Profile

Hungry Destroyer You Feast On: Fried Chicken You Lurk Around In: Corn Fields You Especially Like to Torment: Pop Stars

What's Your Monster Name?

Musings from a MWFNK

Yeah, I made that up. It stands for "Married White Female, No Kids". I've been thinking about a lot of things lately. One of them being Why do I(we) have this burning need to have a child? Why is it that being "childless" was not an option for us, when other people choose this option and seem to be "O.K." with it? One of the questions the Social Worker asked was "Why do you want to be parents?" I have to say, I had a hard time with the answer. It's hard for me to put into words. I think I answered something to the effect of "Well, we have always talked about having kids. We love the idea of nurturing another human being and seeing them grow and change into who they will become. We want to pass on our morals, our views, our values to another. We want to have grandkids someday. We want to have someone to take care of us when we are old. We want to have a family."
People tell me all the time how lucky we are that we don't have children. They say they're jealous of the lack of responsibilities, the amount of time we have to spend entirely with each other. It seems they envy the freedom we have. When I come into work on Monday and I have spent the whole weekend working on my scrapbook, or laying around on a cold rainy day watching movies(like I did yesterday), or really doing nothing at all, they tell me "You're so lucky! I spent the entire day at a soccer game, or stuck inside with my kids because it was raining and they drove me crazy." It is ironic because I'm thinking to myself "I wish I had a kid so I could go watch their soccer games" or "I would love to have spent the day playing games or watching movies with my kids. My weekend was boring!" I wonder sometimes if it is a case of always wanting what we can't have? Of course I do realize that having a child is hard work. I'm not debating that. I work with children, so I do have a small(very small. I know) taste of how tiring it can be, and how much it can try your patience. I guess what I'm asking is, if we know how hard it is, how much work it will be, then why do we want to do it? And if we want it so bad, then why do we complain so much after we get it? Maybe it's just our nature as human beings to complain(I know it is mine). This whole post came about because of two reasons. The first being that my friend is having a very hard time with her child right now, and she offers that child to me almost on a daily basis. The second being that a woman offerred me her child in the grocery store. You know the scenario. I'm standing in line at the store when a woman and her toddler get in line behind me. The child is screaming and kicking and the woman is trying to hold her basket and the child, who is arching her back and crying. Subsequently, she drops her basket of food and it rolls all over the floor. As I bend down to help her retrieve the food she says to me "You want her? You can have her!" I came very close to saying "Alright! I'll take her, I can't have any of my own you know!". But I didn't. I smiled sypathetically at her as I placed the food I had picked up in her basket and moved up in the line. I wish I had a dollar for every time someone offerred me their child. I could adopt two children! I guess I'm just having a hard time with the infertility issues right now. The S.W. said that one thing China was concerned about was that the infertility issues be resolved. I think they're worried that the decision to adopt might be second choice, or "second best". Although I don't feel that way at all about our decision to adopt, we were hoping that we might have a biological child. Is that wrong? I truly wanted to be pregnant. I did. I wanted to have a big, fat belly. I wanted to feel that child inside of me. I wanted all of the attention that comes along with being pregnant(which is strange because usually I don't like being the center of attention). I know plenty of people who said being pregnant was over-rated. I also know people who have adopted/are adopting that had no desire at all to be pregnant. I'm not one of those people. I still cringe when I see a pregnant woman. It still makes me sad to walk though the Maternity Dept. at Target(on my way to the Plus Size section). It still makes me cry sometimes when I hear that one of my Moms at work or one of my friends is pregnant again. Many people I know that are my age are on their second or third child and I don't even have one. It makes me sad sometimes. Do all of these things make our decision to adopt wrong? Is there such a thing as a wrong reason to adopt a child? I don't know. What I do know is that along with the sadness, I have never felt this happy in my life. I have never felt so at peace. We are going to have a child. The further we go in this process, the more real it feels. It is happening at a much quicker rate than I thought it would, and I'm glad. Because no matter how lucky I am that I don't have kids, I know in my heart that I will feel one hundred times more lucky that I do have them. Even with all the hard work they entail.

Thoughts and Prayers Needed

I just found out that my nephew did something to his neck yesterday and is not feeling well. They're not sure what is wrong, but if he isn't feeling better today, they will have to take him back to the hospital for further tests. I need all of your prayers and/or good thoughts that everything turns out fine. I'm extremely worried.


We're sorry you aren't feeling good Cameron! We hope you feel better soon.
P.S. I sent you something really cool in the mail, but it probably won't get there for a couple of days. We love you! Aunt Michelle and Uncle Joe

Corners of my Home # 2

This corner of my home is brand new! Before I got the chair the only thing there was the little white cabinet. Since we're still in the process of cleaning out Sophie's room, Joe put the chair in the corner where the cabinet had been. It fit pretty good there, so I moved the cabinet next to it, added my new lamp and ta da! A cozy reading chair! I like it so much I'm not sure if it will make it into the baby's room after all. As you can see, somebody else likes the new corner too! I wanted to take a picture without the cat in it, but didn't want to disturb her, so I tried on several occasions to take it, but she was always in it, so I gave up and took it when she was there. Our house is so clean right now I feel like we should have people over or something. It seems kind of wasted on just the two of us! (Everyone was right about the S.W. She barely looked around. It could have been a lot less clean and still been O.K.)

The Home visit went great!

At least I think it did. The Social Worker was very nice. She was here for a little over an hour. The questions were pretty basic. We totally aced all of the parenting questions! I explained a little bit of my discipline strategies for smaller children, and Joe told her how he handles his "Big" kids. (They're actually considered adults, but they are straight from high school and I'm sorry, but they are still kids!) She said we were both right on target with our explanations. She even seemed a little bit surprised that were so knowledgeable about those things. The only time I messed up was when I admitted that I have been seeing a therapist. Joe and I both agreed ahead of time that we were only going to give out the information that was required, and no more. When she asked me outright if I had ever seen a therapist, I couldn't lie! Then she proceeded to ask me how recently I had seen her, and I admitted that I was still seeing her! Again, I simply cannot lie. She seemed a little surprised by this information. She said it should be fine as long as I get a letter from my therapist saying that my "mild depression" won't affect my parenting skills. Darn it! I should have kept my mouth shut! Anyway, we're meeting again on Tuesday in San Diego(where she's from), and then we'll have one more meeting and that's it. You guys were right. I made more of a big deal out of it than I needed to. But hey, I'm good at it! :) I'm off to pick up some lunch. I have been so nervous all day that I forgot to eat and now I'm starving!

T minus 15 minutes until the social worker comes

The house is sparkling clean. The rugs are vacuumed, the candles are lit, the coffee is made, and the cookies are on a plate on the table. I think we are ready. Thanks for all the kind words everybody. Deep down I know everything is going to be fine. It's just nervewracking. (As you all know!)

Update: 12:30 p.m. Oh my Gosh!!! It has just started hailing at our house! Isn't that some kind of bad sign????

I am supposed to be posting my second "Corners of my Home" installment, but I'm too exhausted and freaked out over the Social Worker coming tomorrow, so it will have to wait. I can't believe I'm going to work tomorrow. I wish I had taken it off. I won't be able to get home until around 12:00. That only leaves me a half hour to obsess over the rugs being vacuumed for the hundredth time, or wether or not my husband left dishes in the sink(again!) I'll post tomorrow to let you know how the visit went. We might have to go out to dinner to celebrate. Yes. I think that will definitly be necessary!

Busy as a Bee

Well, Monday's phone call sent me into a flurry of activity. I have been running all over town looking for new rugs, calling the maintenance department to see if they could come out ASAP to do some repairs we have been putting off, and picking up some flowers and plants for the front porch. I wish I had time to get the rugs cleaned. I did cover almost every square inch of carpet with a rug though. Speaking of cleaning, the housekeeping service I hired is here as I write this. Yeah, you read right. I hired someone to clean my apartment. I have never hired someone to clean before. I always do it myself. I 'm just too tired and overwhelmed to do it myself this time, and they were actually pretty inexpensive. It may become a habit! :)Probably not. I have threatened my husband with his life if he messes it up before Friday. (They let single women adopt from China, right?) Just kidding. I'm sure he will do his best to keep the place in tip top shape. He'd better!

Just another day

That's right. Today was just another day. A Monday like many other Mondays I have experienced. That is, until the phone rings at 10:55 and my boss yells from her office "Michelle- phone's for you". So I make my way to the phone, thinking for sure it is Joe. I pick up the phone and say "Hey"(That's usually how I greet my husband or sister when they call). The person on the other end says "Oh yes, is this Michelle (lastname)?". I quickly realize it is not Joe and respond "Yes it is. How may I help you?" At this point I think it is a bill collector or telemarketer or something. And she says "Hello, this is so and so from So-andSo- Adoptions. I am the Social Worker that was assigned to you. Do you have minute?" Now I am supposed to sign in 20 Kindergartners in about 5 minutes, but I could easily have someone else do it, because this phone call is very important to me! But do I say "Sure, no problem. Just let me go to a quieter place."
No! Like a moron I say "I only have about five minutes right now. Will it take much longer than that?" Huh? Why did I say THAT? She says "No, it won't take long at all." And I say "Oh, O.K. Let me go into the office where it is quieter."(The kids are screaming their heads off right now). So I go into the office and we have the following conversation:

S.W. "I was calling because I wasn't sure how much of a hurry you were in to get your Dossier finished but I am planning on being in your area soon for some other business and wondered if I could kill two birds with one stone."

Me: "Ummmm...Yeah. We would like to get this done as quickly as possible. When were you thinking?"

S.W. "Thursday or Friday."

Me: Total silence

S.W. "Hello? Are you still there?"

Me: "Ummmm..Yeah. I'm still here. Do you mean this Thursday or Friday?"

S.W. "Yes. Thursday or Friday of this week."

Me: "Ummmm...like in three or four days from now?"

S.W. "Yes. Thursday the 9th or Friday the 10th."

Me: "Uhhhhh...Yeah, Friday works for us(All the while thinking to my self WHAT? ARE YOU CRAZY?!)"

S.W. "Great. How about 12:30 on Friday then?"

Me: Uuhhh...Yeah, sure. 12:30 on Friday sounds good."

Then we exchanged phone numbers and such but I don't really recall the rest of the conversation because inside my head I was FREAKING OUT.
What did I just do? We are in no way ready to have a homestudy done on Friday. No. Way.
And yet we're having one! I wished for this process to go quickly and I certainly got my wish!
I have to go now. I need to breathe slowly in and out of a paperbag to keep from hyperventilating! I think that left over Xanax is going to come in handy this week!

My favorite moment of the Oscars

Is when Ludacris and 3-6 Mafia(a rap group) after "singing" the song "It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp" (In which they had to bleep at least two words) stand up after winning the Oscar and the first thing they say is "Thank You Jesus!" Ha Ha! That cracks me up!

Psychedelic light

On Sunday Joe and I went to Ikea. I wanted to look at the rugs and we both wanted to check out the baby rooms. We got this cool light for Sophie's room. It's very whimisical, with the beads. And it casts these cool patterns on the walls when it is lit. Psychadelic! Joe wants to be very much involved in the decorating of the baby's room(he has already scrapped my Shabby Chic theme). We have decided together on a garden theme, with bright jewel tone colors of orange, blue, pink and green. I have yet to find any linens or anything to use as an inspiration. Joe's idea was for the room to look like a garden, but as it would look from a bug's perspective, with things a bit oversized like big flowers painted on the walls. I thought that sounded kind of neat, and while at Ikea we found these . I think they fit in perfectly with our theme! I may hang one over the crib like a canopy and put the other one on the wall in a corner with some pillows, like a book corner. They look really cute in the display room at the store. We also got one of these to put stuffed animals and toys in. I think it is going to be necessary because we don't even have the child yet and she already has a shelf full of stuffed animals and toys!

Trash to Treasure

As I'm sure you've noticed from some of my earlier posts, I love a good deal. I actually don't have a choice. We're on a pretty tight budget, so if I want to buy something, it has to be on sale or I'm not getting it. So when I saw this sitting over by the trash dumpster at our apartment complex, I was estatic! I'm not so sure my husband shared my enthusiasm when I asked him to go rescue it from the trash for me! At first I thought I could just buy a slipcover for it, or even cover it with a sheet for the time being. But then my Dad gave me the number of an upholsterer he knew with very reasonable prices. So I called them, and they came to pick it up, and two weeks later they returned with this . What a transformation, right? And they only charged me $125.00! There is no way I could have bought that chair new for that amount. I'm very excited. When I first found the chair I intended for it to go in Sophie's room as a reading chair, but when I brought it home I found the perfect little corner for it in the living room. I'll post a picture next week in my second "Corners of my home" segment. I think I'll try and find a glider or maybe even a rocking chair for the baby's room. (On sale of course!)

This is what we got up early on a Saturday morning to do. We had to get blood drawn for our medical report to be finished. It was a fasting test, so I couldn't do mine during the week since I have to be at work at 6:45 a.m. and the labs don't open until 6:30. Apparently a lot of other people can't do theirs during the week either, because the lab was packed and we waited almost an hour. There's no picture of me because I went first and Joe was already in the chair by the time I was done. What a fun way to start your Saturday!:) It was really no big deal. I have to have blood tests done all the time for my thyroid, so I'm used to it. One more thing checked off the adoption list. Yay!

Corners of My Home

This is a new theme I will be posting about each week. I totally stole it from Stephanie over at Forks and Chopsticks, but she got it from another blog and she said it was O.K.for me to copy her. I was thinking about joining the whole "Self Portrait Tuesday" craze, but it didn't speak to me. Maybe that means I'm not comfortable in my own skin, which is probably true, but I decided not to participate at this time. I really like the Corners of My Home Theme. Even though we live in a very small apartment, we spend MOST of our time there, and many good times have taken place in it. I'm not sure how many weeks this will last, as it is a small space, and there are only so many corners I can photograph, but it will be fun for the time being. This is a picture of "my couch" We have only a couch and a loveseat in our living room. My husband, being the bigger of us two claimed the larger couch as his own, leaving me with the small loveseat. I have primped it up with Shabby Chic covers and pillows. It sits right next to the French Country style end table my sister bought me for my birthday one year(which I love), and on that is a lamp with my Shabby Chic lampshade. I got a deal on it at their wherehouse sale several years ago. The original price on it was $280.00(which is ridiculous), but I think I got it for $40. The couch is topped off with my luxurious faux mink blanket that I got at Walmart for twelve bucks on clearance. It is so cozy! I spend a lot of time on this couch. It is where I watch T.V. every night. It is where I curl up with a book on a rainy Sunday afternoon. It is even where I scrapbook! The coffee table is right in front of it, and I usually sit on the floor and lean up against the couch and scrap right there on the coffee table. Many good times are spent in this little corner, and it is definitly one of my favorite places in my home.

Home improvements

Behold my lovely new cornice! I made it myself!(O.K. my husband helped a little!) I saw the idea a few years ago in a decorating magazine and really liked it. It's a pretty simple straight cornice painted white with glass doorknobs attached. We got the board at Home Depot and I painted it white. The doorknobs came from Walmart. At $5.00 for a set of two, they were a steal. And they're actually glass, not plastic. We added a shelf to the top, because we will never have enough space to store all of the books my husband has(Ever) and that was wasted space up there before. I was planning on hanging a valance of sheer white, tied onto the doorknobs with ribbons like in the pic I saw, but I kind of like how it looks without the valance. Now all I need is the new curtains. I chose the material and I'm having them sewn(I can not sew). I hope to have them by next week. The next thing will be new rugs. I have to cover up our carpets before our homestudy. They are thrashed so badly that I won't even waste the time to have them cleaned. I wish we could rip them out, but I don't think our apartment complex would take kindly to that. I would also love to get new slipcovers for the couches, but I just don't think it's in the budget. Yes, I do realize these minor improvements will in no way affect the social worker's opinion of us as parents. But it will make me feel better. New rugs and slipcovers would make the house look a lot cleaner, as both are very well used right now. The curtains are all for me, because they are pretty, and pretty makes me feel good. The old valance was not pretty. Eewwww. Can't believe I lived with that for three years. There's nothing like a homestudy to get your butt in gear on home improvements! I recommend everyone get one at least every couple of years. You know, just for fun! (Because fun is what we're having getting ready for this thing. Fun with a capital F!)

Hmmm...interesting!

Your Hidden Talent

You're super sensitive and easily able to understand situations. You tend to solve complex problems in a flash, without needing a lot of facts. Decision making is easy for you. You have killer intuition. The right path is always clear, and you're a bit of a visionary.

What's Your Hidden Talent?

Jambasta

Last night I finally got around to making the dish I was supposed to make for our anniversary. It's called "jambasta" because it is a combination of pasta and jambalaya. (Two of my husband's favorite dishes)
It turned out great and was sooooo yummmy! In fact, we're having it again tonight because I made such a huge pot of it! Perfect for a rainy day. Here's the recipe if anyone is interested: Jambasta Recipe. Oh yeah, I found it in one of Rachel Ray's new magazines Every Day With Rachel Ray. There are some great recipes in there. The only mistake I made was not putting the whole amount of hot sauce in that it called for because I was afraid it would be too spicy. It ended up being a little too mild instead, so I suggest using the recommended amount. I may try to spice it up before serving again tonight. I just love when dinner is already made when I get home!

Am I a dork because I am sad that Dancing With The Stars is over? I love that show! Am I an even bigger dork that I was seriously P.O.'d when Stacy and Tony got third place? She was one of the best dancers there! So much better than Jerry Rice! Lisa Rinna was better than him, and she got voted off last week! What's wrong with people? I have to say, I am very happy that Drew and Cheryl won. He is just. so. pretty. O.K., I think I just answered my own question. I am a dork for becoming so emotionally invested in a T.V. show! Time for bed. 5:30 a.m. always comes way too soon on a Monday.

More scrapbook pages

What do you do on a Sunday afternoon when you're sitting at home and bored? If you're me, you make scrapbook pages! Here are some I finished a little while ago. I'm still thinking about setting up another blog only for scrapping, I'm just lazy and haven't gotten around to doing it yet! The first page is of cutie Miss Grace playing in the puddles at Christmas. Since it rained almost the entire time we were up there, I have a ton of these pictures so I figured I better do something with them! The other page is something kind of different for me. If you were to look through my scrapbooks(all thirteen of them), you might be a little hardpressed to find a picture of me! Since I'm the one usually holding the camera, I get a lot of pictures of other people and not too many of myself. This is the first page I think I have done that is dedicated solely to me. I like the way it turned out, although I'm not sure I like that picture. I'm especially proud of the little file folder on the left hand side of the page. If you fold it down, it has a list of some of my favorite things. Too cute! If I do say so myself!:)

This is for my Nieces

Nieces. As in more than one. That sounds weird to say, but so cool! Anyway, I found this mirror while I was out and about with my Dad today. It is going to go great in my niece's new room. I'm planning on spending Easter vacation up in S.F. with my sister, and we are going to redecorate Gracie's room. When Lisa and Scott moved into their new house a few years ago, I helped them do Cameron's room. The theme was "Under the Sea" and I painstakingly hand painted waves all around the room as a border, with clouds on top. Well who knew one of Cameron's first words would be "truck"? So a few months later Cameron moved into a new transportation themed room, and my sister set to work on his old room for Gracie. When she told me she was planning on changing the theme of the room and painting over the waves, I about had a cow! It took me three whole days to paint those waves! So she graciously decided to keep them for the time being, and changed the room slightly from "Under the Sea" to "Mermaids". It looks cute, but with another little girl coming along, it's time to change to something a little more appropriate for two little girls. So Lisa decided on "Princesses". How cute will that be? Think pink. Think boas. Think rhinestones. Think girly! I love doing this kind of stuff, so I'm pretty excited.

It says "Princess Quarters" at the top

Cute Rhinestone trim

A very fruitful day

Today we got so much done towards the adoption. I played hooky from work (well not completely. I did work a couple of hours in the morning). Joe and I both had our physicals this morning, followed by our tax apptointment in the afternoon, and then we headed straight over to get our livescan fingerprinting done. Whew! We just returned home a few minutes ago. It is such a relief to have all of that completed. Now things are really rolling along. The next step will be to call and schedule our homestudy. I hope to have our first home visit by the first or second week in March. Woo Hoo! This is finally starting to feel real. Our documents for CIS will go out on Monday, and then we'll pretty much be waiting for things to happen(Our homestudy appt., our fingerprinting invitation, etc.). A lot of the paperwork is done. I feel like a huge weight has been lifted! Now we are off to wait in line at our favorite Sushi restaurant. Yeah, we're going to eat dinner at 5:00. We will make great senior citizens someday! It's just that the place doesn't open until then, and they don't take reservations and if you DON"T get there right when they open you have to wait like two hours! No thanks! I'd rather dine with the seniors!

Inspired by the scrapbook expo

I was so inspired by everything we did and saw this weekend that I spent all day on my scrapbook today. I finished this page a little while ago. I'm very happy with the way it came out. I really wanted to make a page dedicated to my husband for our anniversary, without using a Valentine's theme. He let me take these pictures of him today(which is rare. He hates pictures of himself). I converted them to Black and White, and distressed the edges with ink. I have never spent so much time on one page, and I am thrilled with the outcome. I may have to start a separate blog just to post my scrapbook pages, so I don't bore all the non-scrappers out there. Oh, by the way, how do you like the new header and look of the blog? I'm pretty happy with it. Hubby spent about two hours fiddling with it to make it look just so, and helped me choose the name. Oh, and you may have guessed we chose the baby's name too! It is actually going to be Sophia, but we'll call her Sophie for short. Joe actually chose the name(of the baby AND the blog). We decided on "Searching for Sophie" because we tried in vain for several years to start a family. Along the way we were met with sadness, heartbreak, but most of all, indecision. Should we continue on the path we were on, with no medical intervention? Should we go ahead with the infertility procedures? How far? It wasn't until we met our niece Gracie that we both realized what we were meant to do. THAT's how we were meant to start our family. As soon as we made that decison, a peace came over us. The fear, and uncertainty and heartbreak melted away. Somewhere in China our daughter will be born. She will wait there until God unites us with her. That's what we were searching for. The right way for us to begin our family. All along we were searching for Sophie!

More scrapping fun

Our second day at the Scrapbook Expo was fabulous. Our classes weren't until later today, but we still got up early in order to beat the crowds. This picture is from today, before the mob of people arrived. Yesterday was a zoo! This is a picture of all the cool stuff I got in the $1.00 bins. These particular products usually go for about $3.00-$5.00 each, so it was quite a deal! We got so many projects done today at the "Make and Take" booths. I now have at least seven layouts that are totally done. All I have to add is pictures. I was going to post them on Flickr, so as not to bore you non-scrappers, but I can't seem to log into my account so I may just have to post them here. Lisa shoud be boarding her plane about now. Her flight was delayed four hours due to snow back East, but they wouldn't let her stray too far from the airport, so we had dinner together and then left her at the airport reading her book. It's been a long day for her, so I hope she gets home without any further glitches. All in all a great weekend!

Scrappin' weekend

Here's some pictures of our weekend so far. We got up bright and early to head on over to the Orange County Fairgrounds for our first class of the day. The theme was "Forever my little girl" and we completed three adorable 12X12 layouts. Pictures to come. Our second class was "Shabby Chic Style", and we completed another beautiful "girl" page. I am well on my way to starting the baby's scrapbook! We only took pictures with Lisa's camera at the Expo, so I can't upload them, but here is a picture of us scrapping after we got home, and some very cute pages Lisa completed for Gracie.

Anniversary pictures

As promised, here are some pictures from our anniversary(Valentine's Day). Those flowers were part of my present. Joe brought them to me at work, making everyone extremely jealous that I have such a wonderful hubby. I also received a relaxation C.D. I wanted, and he wrote me the most beautiful poem that made me cry when I read it. I wanted to post it here, but he says it's private and he doesn't want me to share it with the world. I might post just a few lines, because it is so beautiful and he is truly a talented writer. I'll post pictures from our "scrapper's" weekend later tonight. We're having a blast!

The Best Anniversary Ever

Last night turned out so romantic and fun, I think it was one of the better anniversary celebrations we have had. I opted not to cook(too tired), so Joe picked up some Chinese food for us. He ended up calling in sick too, so he was home early. We had a romantic candlelight dinner, with champagne(2 bottles!) and strawberries dipped in chocolate for dessert. Then we made a makeshift bed on the living room floor and snuggled up to watch the Olympics. Boring, I know, but we truly enjoy watching them. We did some other stuff too, but this is a G rated blog, so we won't go there :) I'll post some pictures tomorrow(Of our dinner and my present, not the other stuff!)

On this day I married my best friend, the one I laugh with, live for, love

This was the verse on our wedding announcement that we sent out thirteen years ago today. It's hard to believe we have been married that long already. After all these years I still feel like the luckiest woman in the world. Happy Anniversary Joe! I Love You!

What are we doing for our anniversary again?

A big topic of discussion in our house the last week or so has been about our plans for our upcoming anniversary. Our thirteenth wedding anniversary is on Tuesday. Yes, that's right, we got married on Valentine's Day. Go ahead, let's hear it: Aawwww...how cute! We used to think it was romantic and cute too(when we were 22 and 23 years old), but now we are older and wiser and it mostly is just a pain in the butt. Flowers are more expensive, it's impossible to get dinner reservations anywhere(unless you think way ahead-which we never do), and it is such a huge commercial day. We aren't into all of the hype surrounding Valentine's Day. We're pretty private, quiet people(Heck, we eloped!), and we like to spend our anniversary in such a way. In years past we did do the obligatory dinner out. We hated dealing with the crowds, so for the last two years we have stayed home and had our dinner brought to us. That was nice, but this year we tossed around the idea of going out again, but couldn't come to an agreement on where we would go or what time, or pretty much anything. So we still have no plans. The whole situation is made more difficult by the fact that my husband forgot to tell his Tues/Thurs night class that they would not be meeting on Tuesday. When I asked him if he had remembered to cancel class he asked "Why do I need to do that?" I'm sorry, but to me, this constitutes him forgetting our anniversary! He told me that he didn't forget the "date' of our anniversary, just the "day of the week that it fell on', which is not the same thing. Uhhh...I'm sorry. To me it is the same thing! So now he has to go to work on Tuesday night, for at least a little while, since he forgot to tell them they wouldn't be meeting. He could call in sick, but whose going to believe anybody who calls in sick on Valentine's Day? He should be home by 6:30 or so, and we could still go out, but I've decided to take matters upon myself. We're going to stay home and watch sappy movies and I'm going to cook. Problem solved. I wanted to cook something that tasted home cooked, but wouldn't take all day to make. So I turned to my Rachel Ray/Thirty Minute Meal cookbooks(love them!). I found this recipe called "Jambasta". It is a combination of pasta and jambalaya, which are two of my husband's favorite dishes. It looks pretty easy to make too. I'll post the recipe after I try it out. For dessert I'll be making chocolate mousse, and we'll be trying out the mini fondue pot with chocolate and strawberries that my mother-in-law got me for Christmas. Yum! My stomach is growling just thinking about it! Well, I'm off to the store to buy the stuff I'll need.

A Much Better Day

Today was much, much better than yesterday! The kids were good, I started my period, and it's Friday for goodness sakes! That alone makes it a better day than yesterday. Mu husband brought me dinner, and I am now in a chocolate induced semi-coma from the gift basket my sister sent me for Valentine's Day/our anniversary. Yummy! I'm off to take a nice relaxing shower and to watch the opening ceremonies of the Olympics(we taped it on our DVR-no commercials. Yay!) Let the weekend begin!

A horrible rotten day

Not the best day ever that I just had. I am still fighting this cold. I'm on day eight and NOW it has decided to go to my head, after spending the last seven days in my chest. I wish it would make up its mind. Actually, I wish it would simply go away. I am bloated and have cramps, anxiously awaiting the arrival of my period. I must have slept wrong last night, as there is a crick in my neck and I can't turn my head to the left at all. How is it that we can injure ourselves while sleeping?
Work was stressful. And exhausting. The kids are all wound up from the fires, and the winds, and probably Valentine's Day, and maybe it's a full moon too. There is always some excuse as to why they are all hyped up. I seem to have lost some of my authority too, which is not good. I usually have no problem getting the kids to listen to me. Most of the time I have their respect. For some reason, in the last week or two I noticed I have been getting a lot more back talk. I have to repeat something two or three times before I get a response. I have no idea why, but it is annoying. That means I have to do twice as much talking, explaining, and consequences to get them back to where they should be. It wears me out. Today I ended up staying late at work because Joe wanted me to meet him before his night class. I waited at work for an hour, then in the parking lot at the bookstore for a half hour. He got stuck in traffic and was able to meet me just in time to say hello and goodbye before he had to get to his class. Not exactly worth an hour and a half wait. Because I left for home so late, I got stuck in traffic too, and it took me almost an hour to get home. Yuck. I have a monster headache. I think I will feel much better after a hot shower and I am in my sweat pants. Tomorrow is another day. One that is sure to be better than this one!

My house is a disaster

I'm not exaggerating. It's a total disaster. I won't even post pictures of it because I'm too embarrassed of the way it looks. I don't think it has looked this way since...Wait. I don't think it has EVER looked like this before! You know how when you are cleaning out a closet or a cupboard and you have to take everything out so you can organize it and put it back in neatly? Well, imagine doing that with a whole room! And imagine if the contents of that room were spread from one end of your 1000 square foot apartment to the other! Now imagine that your husband is the biggest pack-rat ever, and that means three times as much junk spread all over your living room! I'm having serious anxiety about it. Luckily he came home on his lunch break and threw some things out and put some things away. We have made a TON of progress on the baby's room though. He worked very hard all day Saturday, and when I came home he said he had a surprise for me. Now I was thinking to myself "Awesome! He must have gotten the entire room cleaned out while I was gone." Ha! Wishful thinking. The surprise was pretty sweet though. When I opened the door to the bedroom(he made me close my eyes), I saw this. Yes, he took about twenty million of his books(he's an English teacher, remember?) off of this shelf and put all the baby's stuff on it. I hadn't realized we had acquired so much baby paraphernalia until I saw it all in one place! More photos Here. And Here. Pretty cute huh? It was his way of saying that he WILL get this done, and this room will be ready for a baby soon! He was very reassuring, and it's a good thing because the rest of the room still looks like this!. Yikes! How is it possible that one individual accumulates so much junk stuff? Oh well, I'd rather focus on the baby stuff. We have baby stuff in our house! And it's going to be for our baby! Someday :) Yippeee! Somebody pinch me!

The cold that's kicking my butt

Today I feel more sick than any of the last four days. And I thought the worst was over! What I thought was a head cold has completey skipped my sinuses and promptly settled into my chest where it seems hell bent on staying for awhile. I haven't had a chest cold like this in I don't know when. I still cant tell if it's just a cold or the flu, as I spent most of last night between chills and cold sweats. My chest is so tight it hurts to cough and there is a wheezing/rattling when I try to take a deep breath.
There is also metallic taste in the back of my throat. A hot shower seems to be the only way to loosen up the phlegm, so I've tried that three times already. I may have to send Joe to the store for a decongestant. I'm bummed because we're missing a pretty cool Super Bowl party too. Oh well. At least now Joe can watch the game in peace. He was concerned there were going to be a bunch of kids running around during the party and he wouldn't be able to concentrate on the game. He would have been right, but it's still fun to watch with other people, especially if you aren't that interested in the game(which I am not). I am hoping I feel better by tomorrow, because I can't miss any more work right now. Well, gotta go. The game's on!

Something strange is going on in blogland

I haven't been able to get onto my blog for the last four hours or so, and now when I finally did, my last post disappeared! How does that happen? Like, where did it GO? This has never happened to me before and it's quite annoying so I hope it doesn't happen again. I've just finished watching "Supersize Me". Now I feel depressed about my weight and lack of physical activity, and I swear I'm never eating fast food again!(yeah, right) Joe and I have made a pact to either join a gym or buy a bunch of tapes so we can exercise at home. I need to find something I can do on my own, since he's gone three nights a week. It' s hard to play tennis by yourself!

I haven't posted for a couple of days because I wasn't feeling up to it. I was in a lot of pain on most of Tuesday and all of yesterday. I feel fine today. I don't get it. There seems to be no rhyme nor reason to my painful days versus my pain free ones. I do have to say that the pain meds the doc gave me at my last appt. are really working. Yay for that! The only problem is, one of them makes me quite drowsy. I almost fell asleep while sitting on a bench outside while the kids were playing. When we came inside, I actually had to lie down on the couch for a few minutes because I couldn't keep my eyes open! I was sent home early and came home and took a two hour nap. I don't know which is better-having pain and being able to stay awake, or being pain free and falling asleep on the job! For now I choose pain free, because the pain is really awful. I'm having a hard time at work already. Ever since my surgery I have been in the middle of a "discussion" that turned into a disagreement, that took an ugly turn today. It is a long, drawn out story that I'm sure I will write about eventually, but really am not in the mood to do right now. It involves how much time I took off, and my sick pay, and state disability(which they MADE me take). The accounting person all but accused me this morning of trying to rip off both the school AND the state disability program. I'm sorry, but thems' fightin' words! I about came unglued. I am one of the most honest people there and I do not appreciate being called both a liar and a thief. Luckily my husband stepped in a took over(calm, collected person that he is), and I don't have to worry about it(for now). I still don't see this ending peacefully, as now there is a huge rift between myself and the accounting person. Yes, I have now pissed off the person that cuts my paychecks. Grrreeeaatttt....
I really need to learn to just keep my mouth shut!