Rumor Has It.....

Yesterday our agency sent out their weekly update, and in big red letters it said that there were no updates on the court opening. Okay, good to know.

Well, the rumor today is that the courts have opened. I say the rumor because I've read it on a Yahoo chat group, a blog and another agencies website..... So, it looks like there is a good chance that the courts in Ethiopia have reopened. What does this mean to us? Not much unfortunately. All the families that accepted referrals before us need to get their court dates, and there are people who accepted their's at least a month, if not longer before us. Hopefully our documents have been working their way through the dozen or so other agencies that need to give their stamp of approval prior to getting a court date though, and... Oh well, no point in trying to guess. I really don't even know what the point of the post is.

B's Room

Here are a couple of pictures of the colors that we painted the munchkin's room. Its hard for me to get a good picture of the whole room so here are two angles. We're going to have to go buy a bed soon, and start putting it together but this is a good first step.






I'd ask for opinions but its not like it really matters. Its painted and done. =)

Parkers??

I was still trying to catch up on some of the blogs I missed while we were out of town, and I went to read the Parkers... And they're gone. Like completely gone, not even private where you can send a request to be allowed in. =( Where did they go?

We're Baaaaak!

The trip to Gillette went well. Better than I would have expected. Then we were off on vacation. We flew from Gillette to San Francisco on Monday and then drove up to Yountville. Kind of messed up and did not take the most direct route, however, it was much prettier than the faster more direct route that we took back down a few days later. Too bad I couldn't really appreciate it since I had not eaten ALL day. By the time we got to the B&B we were pushing 6 pm (flight delays and stupidity at the rental car place - not to mention a car seat that smelled like ass). And I was dying. Thank God we got there on the tail end of the evening wine and cheese that they put out for you. It was a really cute place.



See, pretty drive. However I was seriously giving consideration to how one of those cute little gray squirrels would taste.. I don't care what Eddie says about the cholesterol.




The B&B was soooo cute.

I'll put some more pictures on a different entry. I've run out of steam now... Big painting day. ;)

We're Baaaaak!

Depressed

Typically, we are on vacation this time of year. Not because our anniversary is this time of year. Our anniversary is this time of year because its when we usually take vacation. But we are a week off because Cory dropped the ball and didn't right the days off before someone else decided to take a cruise. I hope they were hit by a hurricane. You can tell, I'm very understanding.

So tomorrow we are finally leaving, unfortunately, the first two days of what should be vacation will be spent in Gillette with Cory's family. Its his Grandma's 80th birthday. Now, if you know anything about Gillette, you know why this is not a beginning of vacation. It'd be just like going to my home town. We're both from Wyoming for those of you not up on the history.

Anyway, Monday morning we fly out of there and spend the rest of the week in San Francisco and Napa Valley.

So why exactly am I depressed? Not just because of where we are going tomorrow, but because of where we were this time last year. My friend Brenda has been in Italy for over a week now and it just rubbed more salt into the wound, that that is where we were last September. I can honestly say that I have never been so depressed about NOT being somewhere that we had visited on vacation. Sure, when we are leaving I always pout a bit, I don't want to go home and reality, but I get over it. Especially by the time we go on another trip and this year we've gone to Mexico, Prague, and I've been a bunch of little trips in between.... But Italy is different. So, in honor of my depression ;) here are a few pictures from this time last year.



The beach outside of our hotel in Venice... looking at the Adriatic Sea.




The glass blowers at Murano. It's kind of sad that most younger generations have no interest in learning this skill. They really are artists and it would be horrible to see it just disappear.



The Grand Canal



Our Gondola ride. Something everyone has to do.



View from the old palace in Florence. It is right next to the large duomo. We had the choice of walking up hundreds of stairs to the top of that or a fraction of that and get this view. This was good enough for us.



Capri - I cannot possibly express how much I LOVED this island. LOVED LOVED LOVED LOVED LOVED LOVED LOVED..... Like its between coming here and ever seeing your husband again. I would really have to take some time on that one.



The view from our hotel room in Capri.



A bunch of locals fishing off the docks - still in Capri.


Okay, enough pictures for today. If anyone is interested though I have a lot more, including a bunch of really cool ones from Pompeii.... Then again, they might get posted on here even if you're not interested. I am bored, and don't have any other interesting pictures that I can post at this time....

Hard to Watch

I can't say that I have any definitive decisions regarding the election this year, but watching this video made me want to cry. What can I say, I'm an animal lover. And I honestly think that it says a lot about someone who, maybe isn't necessarily an animal LOVER, but who has no respect for nature and any living creatures, other than humans. It is very egotistical and short-sighted, to say the least.

Click here to watch our new television ad on Governor Palin’s support for aerial hunting and help us run it on television stations starting in Ohio, one of the handful of swing states that will decide the election.

Warning: This television ad -- like the governor’s support for this brutal practice -- is disturbing.

My Kingdom for a Decent Picture

So one of the things that I still need to accomplish since accepting our referral is putting together a photo album that I will send to B. I ordered a talking photo album, which the kids apparently really like. You record little 10 second messages for each photo. Problem is, I am having trouble coming up with pictures to send.

I have found a few pictures of Cory by himself that are appropriate, but for me it is harder. I actually caved and used a couple of head shots from a photo shoot. I feel like that is kind of weird, like it could be taken as vain, but seriously, I have limited choices.

The problem is that I have so few pictures of Cory and I together. Typically we take pictures on vacation, which means that I am taking photos of him or vice versa. We have quite a few photos from Italy, even a few together, but the issue there is that my hair is VERY blonde. I don't want to confuse him and I doubt that he or the nannies are going to understand the concept of spending 3 hours every 4 weeks to radically change the color of your hair. In fact, I am being good right now and trying to keep my hair pretty much the same color so that the pictures I send look like me when I get there.

So I have 24 picture sleeves to fill and not that many pictures!! And I was told not to send more than one of the pets, because the dogs might scare him since they are not used to having pets like that there. And NO, I am not worried about him eating the dogs or wanting to eat the dogs when he gets here. They don't eat dog there (to the best of my knowledge) so I hope that clears it up for everyone!

At least trying to put together photos gives me something to do while we are waiting. I was telling Jessica today that I'm starting to act the same way I do when we plan a big vacation. I am always really excited when I book everything, a couple of months in advance, then not again until we are going to the airport. I seem to be that way now. Really excited with the referral and now..... ah. I think its my own internal gauge that keeps me from going nuts since I have NO patience.

Oh, we have also decided that we are not going to do the few days in Paris on the way over anymore, and are now just going to spend some extra time in Ethiopia and maybe do a short tour there. Go and see some of the historical sights or go to one of the national parks and check out the baboons. Not sure which yet.

Well, that's about it I think. Passed my Property and Casualty exam yesterday, so that is another good thing!

So Sad....

A Couple of Items

First of all, the referral contest, that only TWO people participated in... Here is my question, since I didn't actually get the "normal" type of referral, where the big surprise, unexpected phone call comes and they tell you who your child is, and we chose on our own, do I honor the contest? I would ask people to vote, but since I couldn't get any of your lazy asses to participate in the original contest, I won't hold my breath.

Wow, and I just had an elderly moment and totally forgot what the second thing was that I was going to mention..... Maybe it will come back to me later tonight and I will come back and add it in.

Not what I was originally thinking of, but.... Since we are no longer getting a baby, or baby range, I won't have any use for crib bedding...



So if anyone is interested.... There is the 4 piece crib set, the bumper, quilt, dust ruffle and fitted sheet, the lamp, and a hamper... I'm still iffy on whether or not I'll keep the hamper, but definitely not the other. So if anyone is interested in these, let me know. Never been opened!!

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NEW BLOG THAT I ADDED

I added a new blog to the right, the Parker's Check out all of the pictures and video from their recent trip.