Animal House

New Blog

2009-12-03T21:22:00.000-08:00

I feel kind of bad leaving this site behind, but it just seems like it doesn't quite fit in with our life now. This blog was started specifically because of the adoption but now.... With the process over, it just doesn't seem to fit so much. I think that I'll come back to this one when we start our next adoption, but for day to day life, I just wanted something separate. So, if you have the urge, visit the new blog. I am really going to try and keep up on it!

http://muddleadventures.wordpress.com/

WOW

2009-10-30T21:21:00.001-07:00

I really suck as a blogger. Has everyone become as bad as me since getting involved with Facebook. Based on my Facebook comments though, I can't believe that anyone is all that interested in my blog!!!!

Hey, if I still have any straggler followers, let me know if you are interested in hearing the story of me kidnapping the neighbor's cat....... Just curious before I spend all that time typing in the story. If no one cares, it is hardly worth it....

Oh, and since the last post, we have also gone to Disney World, Trick or Treated at numerous places, had job changes, travel plans, soccer stories... I guess, quite a few things.

Curious if anyone cares. Otherwise this becomes an online journal. woo hoo

Not Quite a Month

2009-09-08T20:04:00.001-07:00

Hey, it hasn't been quite a full month since I last posted!!! That's some sort of progress, right.

Well, I thought about doing a post from the Margarita Party - I know, how relevant two months later, right? But I was looking through photos that other people have posted on Facebook and really don't see any reason to bother. Basically, there was a party, there was good food, there was lots of alcohol, Laiya's fire dance was awesome, and that's about it.

So instead, I am taking the super lazy route, and will just see if I can find some good pictures from the summer.

Well then. Not so lazy today. Blogger is not working so I can't upload any pics. Guess I'll have to try again later. We didn't do nearly enough, we are so lazy with the camera. We have Boko at the ArtsFest but forgot it at the zoo! Go figure.

Wait, may have figured it out. Let's try this one more time.

One of the few days warm enough for water. Weird summer!

I don't think that he has even seen this Star Wars but its the face painting he wanted.

Hanging out with dad at the ArtsFest. And for those of you from here, yes, these are super old. And his hair is a hell of a lot longer. He's getting Jessica curls!

He loves him some lemonade!

Apparently we don't know how to push the button right.

Back To School

2009-08-14T08:54:00.000-07:00

School starts on Monday. It doesn't seem like summer was that long, but it has been almost 3 months exactly since his last day. Crazy! We took his supplies to school last night. 6 bags of stuff!!! I do not remember having to take that much to school when I was in Catholic school.....

Generally Speakiing

2009-08-09T22:28:00.001-07:00

=)~ Boo You Should know who you are.

Coming Home

2009-08-03T20:03:00.002-07:00

Boko will be home tomorrow. Its been almost 2 1/2 weeks that he has been gone. He started calling about a week ago saying that he wanted to come home NOW. Its funny because I know that he is having fun with the chickens and the goats so he isn't hurting too badly. But its kind of nice to know that he actually misses us!

Apparently he was trying to throw them at the windows of the chicken coop - Why? To fly of course!

2009-08-03T20:03:00.001-07:00

Doogie

2009-07-31T20:47:00.000-07:00

Sorry one more..... Neil Patrick Harris... Outside of Two and a Half Men, this is the best performance on TV. And talk about reinventing yourself and your career.... Outstanding!!!!!! I'd sleep with him... His character obviously, since he wouldn't have me in real life... =(

Katherine Heigl

2009-07-31T20:44:00.000-07:00

Bitch - Thumper's mother said it best. If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all..... Especially when they are paying you more money than any mediocre actress on the planet has ever been paid in recent memory or is due..... Okay, I added that last part. But SERIOUSLY!!!!!?????????????????

First Birthday....

2009-07-13T21:20:00.000-07:00

In the US at least. So, I'm not quite two months behind on getting this posted.... His Birthday was 5/21. Oh well.

He was soooo excited for his birthday. It was all that he talked about for about a month. First, he wanted everyone to know that he was going to be 5, and second, in case you didn't know,w hen you turn five, you automatically get a bike.

Of course the theme of the party, invites and cake, was Cars. When we went to pick up the cake the morning of his party he squealed. I mean loud, Oh Yes! He was so excited. He even wore the birthday boy ribbon that I got him. We had his party at Boondock's and he had friends from school and day care, and of course, the girls had to shove their way in to sit next to him. I have to say, it was a great place to have a kid's party (lots of lemonade for mommy, spiked by daddy of course) and they're pretty much contained in the building so you don't have to worry about them much. The problem is that they give you like 3 hours of party time. A.) that is a lot of time with other people's children for me and B.) that is a lot of time for me to be stuck in doors. I was going a little stir crazy by the time the last kid's dad came and got him. So glad we stayed longer though and went outside for go karts and mini golf with Boko.

His actual birthday was the following Thursday and that is when he got his presents from me, my mom and my grandpa (his came the day before he died). Of course the bike was a huge hit. He loves it. In fact he has decided that he is saving up his money (from losing teeth and just generally being good) to buy another bike. He currently is down to one training wheel and he only has that on because he can't quite balance himself to get on. In the last two days he has had some major falls too. But of course gets back up and on his bike.

I think that the pictures are pretty self explanatory!

TOTN Correction

2009-07-08T13:42:00.001-07:00

I need to make a correction. The event is actually at Solitude. I don't know what I was thinking!

Taste of The Nation - Salt Lake City

2009-07-07T11:13:00.000-07:00

I have been posting this message on every other site that I am a member of and even though I am sure that all of my reader's have kicked me to the curb by now, I thought that I would put it up here too.

I don't now how many of you are familiar with Taste of The Nation but this is an event held every August (this is the tenth year anniversary) at Snowbird resort. The event benefits Share our Strength, an organization with sole purpose of ensuring that no child in America grows up hungry.

The event is held in cities all across the country and this year, Salt Lake's is August 2nd. This is a great day out of good food from chefs in the Salt Lake area, as well as great wines and beer. I am letting you all know for several reasons. First, tickets are on sale at www.taste.strength.org. All proceeds from the tickets go to the charity, so it is a write off - yay!- and one ticket is good for the whole day, meaning unlimited food and drink. So at a minimum I encourage everyone to go. Beautiful weather, great scenery, wonderful food, its a good time.

Secondly, I am looking for sponsors and donations for the silent auction. Unfortunately, as is so often the case with charities, we are cutting it close on both. All of these need to be in place by the 20th of this month, for the sake of printing. Sponsorships start as low as $250 and can be customized to fit your needs. Silent auction items can be goods or services, and are a great way to get a little advertisement for your business as well as help a good cause.

Please contact me if you are interested in participating as a sponsor or a donor. Also, please feel free to forward this on to anyone else who you think would be interested.

Cheers,

Stacy Deru
stacy.deru@gmail.com
801.558.4906

Failing Miserably

2009-06-09T20:58:00.000-07:00

Yah, that whole last post about being a better blogger. I was just kidding! Obviously. Where in the hell does a month and a half go? Oh yah, I know, work, Boko, his birthday, crazy ass drama filled funeral, work, soccer, a few nights lost to vino and vodka, and that should just about cover it. Oh yah, let's not forget a couple of dog fights. What kind of market do you think there is for a canine version of Fight Club, with Shelby in Edward Norton's role and Sake in Brad Pitt's?

At this point in time it is kind of tough to even come up with what I want to blog about. I suppose top of mind for me lately is work, so I'll go ahead and make a completely self-serving and obvious pitch for myself. I can always use some more business, so if anyone out there has a company and would like to offer additional benefits for their employees, at no cost to the company, let me know. If anyone wants some additional, and very affordable coverage for themselves, maternity pre-planning anyone, please let me know. Remember, the whole point of Aflac is that it pays you cash.

Okay, that will be it for tonight. I don't want people to be completely annoyed with me for my blatant sales efforts. I'll do it in small doses from time to time!

How about some pictures, since its been so long?

I can't remember if I've posted this one before or not, but oh well. Boko STILL asks about Bonnie's baby.

href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_M_wG7MQN0D0/Si8ySPy7ZaI/AAAAAAAAAdU/h8FXbKOTMJs/s1600-h/March+10+2009+download+310.JPG">

Why am I posting such an unflattering photo of myself? I guess I just feel like I should prove that I am not completely crazy for keeping these menaces.

Old photo, I know. Like March. His hair is sooo much longer now. I obviously need to download some photos from the camera!

Trying to be better....

2009-04-26T19:13:00.000-07:00

In an effort to be a better blogger, I have added a new poll. Please take the time to answer if you stop in.... I have a purpose. ;)

Nothing Special

2009-04-26T18:28:00.000-07:00

Well, I have been a very bad blogger. And since I can't really think of a great story at the moment, you're getting pictures. Actually, I probably could come up with some stories, in conjunction with the pictures, however, I need to actually get some work done. I know, lame.

What a big dog Boko!! On the Saturday before Easter we went to the Children's Museum in Denver and they had the great dane rescue outside. That one weighed as much as me and was still 30 lbs underweight!! If I didn't have the circus in my house I would have totally brought home Moose!!!

Boko LOVES Bonnie's baby. He talks about her at least every other day. Who knows? What do you think Bonnie? Mother in laws? We'd have a great time together! ;)

Cheese!!! Thanks Christie and Ryan for all my cool Easter gifts.

The Denver aquarium is awesome!! They have a ton of cool animals. Sharks and tigers.... Need I say more. But they also have a bar. With a big huge aquarium window. So once you go through the whole aquarium, mommy and daddy can sit down for happy hour and the little ones can glue their faces to the aquarium window. Then, they have this scuba diver swimming through the tank and he comes up and interacts with the kids.

Petting the baby sting rays and feeding them too. Watch out for the teeth though!! Yes, they do have them.

Oh and not that she is reading this, but Ashley is in Ethiopia picking up her little cutie and I hope that they are having a great time!!!

The Face of Hell

2009-04-04T18:08:00.000-07:00

Now I may be the worst mother ever, on the sentimentality score card but I am NOT the worst parent. First, I am bad because today Boko went to his first birthday parties. And he had a lot of firsts. First on the big bouncy contraptions and slides. First time in a pool. First time on a climbing wall. First time seeing Spiderman, aka, creepy man with junk showing who one HAS to wonder- Why is this grown man traipsing around in this outfit only to be subjected to 4-10 year old bad behavior during his "act"? What exactly is his satisfaction?

To my defense, however, Boko DID drop my camera and put a big spider web crack on the preview screen. I'm telling you, Best Buy is totally losing on this warranty. Its like sending me to an all inclusive resort. Really, you WANT to give ME open bar. Good Luck!!!

Anyway, at the first party today a woman came to the party, late. Now I can't say , for sure that her name was Rosemary, but I have my suspicions. We were at Kangaroo Zoo, which is basically an indoor arena for big air inflated bouncy things..... Whatever. Anyway, you have to go in without shoes. I was back out to get something out of one of our bins and there she was, with her 2, 2.5 year old. So first of all I thought she can't be part of our group because this is a 5 year old birthday party. Then I see her talking to the mother and realize that she is a guest. This is when I really notice little Damian. That was not actually his name but we will use it to protect the innocent. And by innocent, I mean me. As we all know, demon spawn knows when you talk about them, especially negative, then the creepy music starts to play and you fall through the ice, or through the banister. So for my safety, let's keep this anonymous.

I see this child and he looks at me, and I swear to god, all of his teeth were pointed. They ALL came to a point. I'm really not kidding. And the light glinted off of them with the warning that if you came close enough he could bite off a limb like most kids would bite into a marshmallow bunny. We are talking horror movie, leprechaun, don't put your hand in there, oh my god how could a limb be severed like that - situation!! And his laugh! Oh his laugh. It was pure evil. Cliche I know but I was afraid. It was maniacal, like something you would expect in a Manson documentary. I mean really. This kid is a bad seed. It is obvious.

And the mother. She immediately checked out. Talking to other people. Socializing like everything is okay. Like her child isn't one of the four horsemen of the apocalypse. Keep telling yourself that sweetheart. And granted, she looked normal, but hey, doesn't the anti-christ usually choose someone who looks perfectly harmless?

I watched this kid interacting with the other kids. I had him down to 60 seconds flat to clean out a bouncy. He would go in swinging. Hitting every kid in site. And hard. One girl tried to tell on him and she paid.

In the party room, his mere presence sent other children into blood curdling screams. Parents would come running only to find out that Damien had inflicted his person into the personal space of their child.

Needless to say, I did not attempt to befriend this mother. Sorry, she is on her own and I expect to see the news of her untimely and curious death on the news any day now. I did see her correct him once.....

When Jack Russells Attack!

2009-03-17T19:08:00.001-07:00

This happened shortly after Shelby and Sake started on their happy pills. Shelby had been accidentally locked in Boko's room and we heard her whining from downstairs. I was in the middle of a work phone call and Boko went running upstairs to let her out. I'm on the call trying to make an appointment with the company while trying to quietly stop Boko from opening the door - Why you might ask would I not want him to let her out.

Well, it is not letting her out that it is the problem, it is letting her out of the room with Sake standing right there. Because inevitably, Shelby will be pissed off that she was "locked up" while that bitch was left to roam with the rest of us???!!! I will kill you you interloper!!! Who do you think you are??? ATTACK!!!!

Which of course is exactly what happened. However, due to the effects of the drugs it was more of a slow motion attack. So, as I am still talking on the phone, I was able to grab Sake by the color and whip her up into my left arm. Right arm still holding phone. Then they go nuts screaming and yelling at each other. This is where I have to admit defeat on the phone front, explain that I am working at home today and someone is walking by the front window - lie lie - and can I call you back in five.

Sake by this time is in full let me at her I'll tear her apart, mode, and is pushing on my arm and scratching at me. I get her downstairs and to her kennel but have to wait until I can get Shelby far enough back with one foot to be able to get Sake into her kennel without Shelby latching on to her.

Crisis averted. Dogs don't have any marks on them, no blood letting. Woo hoo. But I can tell that I have a lot of scratches on my arm. Oh well. As the day goes by I start to notice that my arm is a bit sore. But I didn't really give it any thought. I had a long sleeved shirt on that didn't really pull up so I just let it go. When Cory got home that night, and I was changing for bed, that's when we saw it. Bruising that looked like I had gone through the window of a car, when you combined it with the scratches. And it looked nasty!!!! The pictures were taken a couple of days later and do NOT give it justice.

Nothing like going to the gym and having some one actually say that domestic abuse should be considered. Sure, go ahead, call the police on Sake. I would love to hear what they have to say. I mean I do consider her a child, so there may be some ground to stand on there!

Thanks for the Soccer Help!!

2009-03-10T16:55:00.000-07:00

Thanks to replies, and specifically Jessica's, we are now registered for soccer. The thing is that it only lasts for one month though, the end of April to the end of May. That seemed kind of odd to me. But I can't really remember things perfectly from when I was that age.

Shan, thanks for the suggestion, but I think that is a bit too far for me!!! ;) The one I signed up for is somewhere over here on South Mountain. I will have to figure that out as I have never had a reason to go to any of these types of places before - little kid soccer fields, the public pool, etc......

And not at all on topic, some more pictures.

First day of school

Jenny and Boko hanging out.

Helping daddy shovel the driveway.

Happy Valentine's Day Boko!

Mom, look at the school clothes we bought today!

My Kingdom for a Soccer Team!!

2009-03-09T20:18:00.000-07:00

Does anyone know of soccer teams in the south end of the valley here?? Seriously, how can it be this hard to find a soccer team for 4/5 year olds in breeding central? AHHH!!

And what everyone really wants, some pictures. As we all know I am a complete slacker when it comes to photos. And although we have been taking a lot since we've been home, none of the super recent ones are downloaded. So here are some others from earlier this year. And FYI, we have only been home for like two months, so its not like they're that old and technically they are new to all of you so =)~

These are all from the limited time that we had him at the hotel with us - remote controls and light switches - Like toddler crack with a side car of Patron!!! Boko's first glass of wine.... Come on, seriously? They poured the water in there. Come on people. Sleeping on the floor at the Minneapolis airport. Not an easy thing for mommy to allow to happen and finally, entertaining ourselves by doing laps around the luggage carousel while we waited for Cory to bring the car back. Oh yah honey, forgot that my phone died, so extra laps because he thought we would be watching for him in the dark, out there in that 3rd lane of pickup at the SL airport, or even more genius, waiting outside on the curb!! Yes Boko, welcome to the 8th level of hell (Isn't that the cold one or was it 9???)

Chillin' with the doggies followed by self portraits.

Immigration Appointment

2009-03-01T19:50:00.000-08:00

So when you travel to pick up your child in Ethiopia, you will have an appointment where you go in and meet with immigration. You take your filled in I864 - which is basically for the purposes of proving that you can afford to bring an immigrant home with you and support them. You take copies of tax returns and W2's. They make this sound much more stressful than it actually is. They coach you leading up to it on what to say and what is expected. So you go in somewhat nervous, thinking that you could say the wrong thing and mess up the whole adoption.

After lunch time, they load the kids onto the bus, which they LOVE by the way, and drive from HH over to the guest house. Oh, WHFC has their appointments on Mondays. Always. They pick up all of the parents there and you ride to the embassy. The security isn't too bad, metal detectors, you can't take any electronic devices in with you. They will take them from you at the door and keep them up front, but we just left ours at the hotel. So limited pictures from that day.

Then you are led into a waiting room. We were immediately taken from this waiting room and led outside to another building where we sat in another waiting room. This one had a tv and play area for kids. We waited in here, with some American wrestling show on, WWF, or something. Great representation of the US! Woo hoo. While we waited, the other families who had been left waiting in the other room, came in. Eventually all of them were called upstairs. We were one of the last ones to be called up.

So, the whole time that we waited, Boko was great. Patient, quiet, really good. Then when it was time to walk upstairs he threw a fit. I had to pick him up and carry him up the stairs. At the top he kept trying to run back down. Eventually the guard did something that you get used to having happen in the US. He took him from us. Not in a mean way, but in a helpful way. It is perfectly okay for a stranger to take your child from you and comfort or play with them there. You just have to go with it or else its a big cultural faux pas and adds to some of the negative feedback that you hear about Ethiopians having toward American adoptive parents.

Anyway, we go up to the counter, the guys asks us the standard questions - is this the child you agreed to adopt, have you met the family, have you given them any money...? And that was about it. Really easy and kind of pointless in the overall scheme of things.

You go back downstairs, and wait for everyone else to be done, then you load back up on the bus, and go back to the guest house. We were able to spend most of the rest of the afternoon playing with Boko there, and the other parents actually took custody of their children that day, if they wanted to.

That night, the head of the orphanage over there takes you out to a local Ethiopian restaurant for a traditional meal and dinner show, of two men and two women performing dances. It was very interesting, even if one of our dinner partners totally ruined my meal by having no idea of how they eat in Ethiopia and giving the most disgusting display of dinner manners for any country that I have ever seen. I left hungry and totally pissed off. Someday I will have to go into more details if anyone is actually interested. The honey wine actually was not as sweet as I expected it to be and a few of those helped a lot. They serve it in these things that look like beakers from a lab and I thought that it was just a serving container, especially since they were fairly large, so me and the other person who had ordered it asked for glasses to pour it into. Oh well, we definitely were not the stupidest looking people at the table!!!!!!!

That's about it. Most of the rest of our trip consisted of going to museums, visiting the lions, and playing with Boko. I'll try to tell a bit more about all of it, but I am becoming the worst blogger and want to try and catch up on more recent events too.

Let me know if there is anything specific that you would like to know about. That is if anyone out there is still reading this.

Fuzzy

2009-02-12T20:31:00.001-08:00

I'm trying to remember if we met Boko on Saturday or Sunday. And I am fairly sure that it was on Saturday afternoon. I'm sure now that I think about it.

So Sunday, we got up, had some breakfast and then went over to the kid's house as soon as we could. When you get there, the kids are all up, they've already had breakfast and they are figuring out what they will be doing for the day. Although we saw the nannies occasionally have a group get together and sing or something (usually with the younger kids) we never saw anything that resembled school in the time that we were there.

On this second day, we had more balloons, of course more candy (caramello but quiet on the r... Best way I can think to explain what it sounded like). We also brought beach balls with us. This is where Boko finally started playing with me and thinking that I might be okay. We would hit the balloon or the ball, whichever he had, back and forth, over and over and over again. He was amused though! Not that easily amused any more. He also started learning that he could knock things up onto the roof of their sleeping area. This was the best thing ever, especially since balloons and balls usually came back down. From the looks of that roof, they had gotten a kick out of throwing LOTS of things up there.

I hate to say it, but this is really as exciting as it gets. Playing with the kids, trying not to be completely covered in snot, or catch ringworm. There were a couple of adorable little boys who wanted to play and cuddle, but I noticed that their heads were covered in ringworm. I loved it when one of the parents said, Oh, don't worry about it, usually it only effects people who are susceptible. You'll be fine.
Well..... HAD it! BAD!! December through February of my freshman year in college. I had it in MY EYE!!! So as adorable as you little rugrats are, get the HELL off my lap. Where are the disinfecting wipes??? Which, by the way, I had on me at all times while we were there. I used packages of these things. Lots of them. Which leads me to another thought. Also glad that I had toilet paper here too, as the bathrooms in the second guest house never had any - could have just been the time that we were there.

For anyone who is interested, the Indian restaurant in the Sheraton is awesome. We really liked. This was the first day that we went in and had lunch there. Once again, did the nice relaxing bottle of wine and hung out for a while. Why not, we had HOURS while they were napping.

Yes, these are all from the same day. He likes his clothing changes!

Eating

2009-02-09T21:47:00.001-08:00

For the record Jenny, there is more to the eating story to come..... don't get ready for you two bonding over food issues quite yet. He's taking after me!!!

4th Picture 4th Album

2009-02-08T17:20:00.000-08:00

A few different blogs that I read had a general tag on for this one. Post the 4th picture from the 4th album on your computer.

So here you go...

Now, anyone else who hasn't done it is tagged!

Meeting Boko

2009-02-08T16:42:00.001-08:00

Since we now knew that we could not meet Boko because it was nap time - kind of a trend when you are there, never really told in advance what the schedule/plan is. Just find out as you go, we went back to the hotel for a couple of hours to freshen up and grab some lunch.

Unfortunately, what I was afraid of happening has started to happen. I am losing some of the details from our days here. Nothing major, but maybe just can't remember exactly what we did each day. Where we had lunch, how long we waited to do certain things.... I'm going to have to start asking Cory, but I don't know if he'll remember any better than me.

Apparently he does, jogged my memory. We went back and ate out by the pool. We shared french fries, french onion soup, a pizza and a couple of St. George beers. We didn't have a lot of time so it wasn't a really long leisurely lunch. Plus we were maybe just a little bit antsy for it to be 4, so we could go back.

Our first time at Horizon House, we pulled up out front of two large metal garage doors at a building up the street from the guest house. It was very nondescript and the doors were the size and shape of a garage that you would see in New Orleans - where you pull into a court yard, and from the street, really have no idea what is back there. We pulled in and there is a teeny tiny grass area in front of a small house and enough parking space for a small bus and a couple of cars. You walk along side the house and the stone wall on the opposite side and in the back is another small building that looks kind of like mini barracks. The yard in front of them is all asphalt and concrete, and there are 3 or 4 doors facing the yard.

At one of the doors, was Boko. He was the first kid up from nap time - which would not be the case most of the days moving forward. The other parents who had now arrived were there as well. All but one set of parents who were part of our travel group, were there to pick up children in the 4-5 year range. Only one couple was there for an infant, so did not come over to the big kids house.

Honestly, he was smaller than I expected. We had measured things in his rooms, mirrors etc, to be around his height as we knew it. I'm sure that he was the size that they had told us, but for some reason, I just had bigger in my mind.

Let me tell you, it was immediately apparent that this kid is NOT a morning person. He looked annoyed for being up. Annoyed slightly that anyone wanted to talk to him. He was very tentative in coming near us. Especially me. It was also obvious pretty quickly that he was more attracted to Cory. I spoke with another mother who was there to pick up their 4 year old boy as well, later in the week, and she was having a similar experience. Their little boy wasn't too concerned with her, not compared to his dad. We figured that it must have had something to do with them being without a mother for so long. Boko at least had lost his a year and a half before. I can only imagine what he was thinking when Cory went up to him, and he had to get used to the idea of him being his dad, but who was this superfluous adult? A spare just in case?

Still though, it even took Cory a bit to get him to come to him. We of course came armed with mini candy canes and foo fuhs (sp???) aka balloons. We were quite the hit with all the kids. And for the most part, Boko was not too concerned if I just played with the other kids this first day.

We hung out and played with the kids, throwing around balls and handing out candy, until it was dinner time. The other parents were taken back to the guest house by a guard - I still don't understand this one - and we stayed while we waited for Mulat to come and take us back to the hotel (this would be one of the few days that Mulat drove for us, usually we were with Yonas). So we hung out with the kids.

There is a room, where they take the littler kids in during the day to play and sing songs and this is also their dining room. Snacks are had outside on a blanket, but dinner is in this room. There is one big round table where the older kids, at this time that was the 4-7 year olds. The smaller children sat on the floor and the nannies and the older girl who was there to help spent most of their time with these kids. Making sure that they ate.

A lot of the nights that we were there, the kids had injera with a bean wat. This was also the first time that Boko showed interest in me, when he tried to feed me his food. Okay, not exactly tried, since we were trying to bond, I of course took it when he handed it to me. As you may or may not know, they eat with their hands in Ethiopia too. I realize now though, that he did this more to get the food off of his plate than just to share. He was not a fan of this dish. At the time though, we were thinking that he was just a difficult eater, I mean come on. Injera? Its like the national food of Ethiopia. All the other kids down it, even the 2 year olds are just shoveling it in. Not our kid though.

This is one of the first times I was really happy about staying at the hotel. We realized that we could come and go as we pleased, while the other parents were on the schedule of the guest house. Where by the way, there was no wine, no cocktails, no mommy and daddy drink of any kind. ;)

When we left that night we went back to the room and were beat, so we ordered up some room service and this was the first time that we tried Ethiopian wine and found a lovely white wine, called Cristal (I think that was the spelling) and since it tasted good and was about $8 a bottle, of course we became fast friends.

And that is the end of another day. I will try and be a better blogger from now on and finish up with this.

I'm telling you, balloons will buy you love with these kids!!!!! Take LOTS of balloons with you. Beach balls are good too, but for a cheap way to bribe your child, you cannot beat the balloons!!!!

Back to Addis

2009-01-26T21:22:00.000-08:00

Fitsum showed up shortly after we finished breakfast to haul us back to Addis. He had told us the day before that we could take our time on the way back and stop and see any sites that we wanted. It was more or less decided that we wanted to get back to Addis sooner rather than later. So we were not necessarily opposed to going a bit more slowly than we had on the way down, when we were on a tight schedule, but we did not necessarily want to take the day to tour one of the national parks and see the birds.

At dinner in Awassa, when we were talking to the adoptive father doing the film, Solomon, the driver with him from WHFC told us about a fish market, not far from the hotel, where there were monkeys. He said that we should definitely have Fitsum take us there the next day. When I mentioned it at breakfast, the other couple was fine with going.

Now, when he said fish market, I had men around counters, throwing fish to one another. Then I realized that I was not in Seattle, and my vision switched to something from Andrew Zimmern Bizarre Foods. Dirt floor, battered tarps, wooden stands, and people everywhere bartering and negotiating for fish.
Well, I was wrong on all points. We drove up to a set of gates with guard stands on either side, and into a national park. We drove over into a grove of trees and parked. On the way you could see small brown monkeys jumping out of the trees to get a closer look.

The grove was on the edge of a lake and the fisherman were all coming in with their small boats, and their small catches. Little kids were running all over the place, and when they saw that I was completely giddy over the blue balled monkeys they ran and go bread – kind of like English muffins or soda bread and sold Cory two pieces. This was so we could coax the monkeys over to us, and it certainly worked.
There was one monkey in particular that really liked me. I felt so bad for the little guy. I’m not sure if I have mentioned before that there are dogs wandering everywhere with no owner in particular. Well, as I was feeding this monkey I noticed that he had marks all over him, like big festering sores kind of marks…. I was a little concerned that I was going to get some sort of monkey leprosy. But he was smaller than some of the others and seemed Very hungry.

I asked Fitsum what was wrong with the monkey and he told me that it was the dogs – that they attacked the monkeys and the sores were actually the bit marks from the attack… Poor monkey!!!! So I kept feeding him, holding out the bread with him taking it out of my hand. The little ingrate tried to steal my ring. Yup, I had a cheeky, blue balled monkey try to steal my cheap ring from Mazatlan. So there I am yelling at a monkey at this “fish market” saying let go you bad monkey. Bad monkey. The monkey seriously put his head down and his hands between his legs, until I got over it and then he started taking the bread from me. He tried to steal one more time – the rest of the piece of bread, and he got yelled at again. “Endlessly, horribly bad monkey!! That is rude. Don’t do that”. Yes, I was serious. I forgot that there were other people around me. And no, it is not on video. Thank God Cory as sleeping on the job. This time the monkey kept his head and hands down for a really long time. Then when we walked away to explore more, he followed me. I think he liked the tough love.

There were also a lot of crazy looking pelican type birds here. The kids would go over to where the fishermen were cleaning the fish and take handfuls of the guts to throw at the birds so they would stand up and show their full bodies, so that us tourists could take photos. Then of course they expected payment.

The lake was gorgeous and the birds were interesting, but let’s face it, it was all about the monkeys for me. If I could have gotten a visa for one of those guys – well, let’s just say there’d be some poop flinging happening in this house right now.
So we left and headed back to Addis. On the way we took our time, stopping to take a photo here or there and having a cup of coffee at a little roadside hotel/café. Basically just relaxing and if I haven’t mentioned it before, let me now, or if I have, do it again. If you are in Ethiopia, bring your own toilet paper. I cannot tell you how invaluable those little rolls of travel Charmin are. And also, don’t forget hand sanitizing wipes of some sort too. Some of the toilets outside of Addis are holes in the ground with a place for your feet on either side. There is pee all over the floor, and I don’t want to know what kinds of spiders, and it smells like the outhouses at parks here in the US in the middle of the summer time. Although on the main road down, the hotels that you would stop at have normal toilets, rarely with TP. Or soap and water to wash with. Crazy for a country that eats with their hands and are so concerned with washing them before meals.

Of course on our way out of the park, we were required to pay for use of the park. I can't remember exactly what it was but when someone with a rifle tells you to pay, you just do it.

One last story about the way back to Addis – the Camels. As we were coming up the road, we saw a herd of camels coming down along the side. This was something new. So our driver stopped for us to take pictures. He told us that they were from the Oroma region and that they were leading their camels to water. That is one hell of a walk. We’re talking days. As were taking photos, it became painfully obvious that the kids herding them were not cool with that. One kid, and he was a kid, I would say 13 maybe, was coming toward us across the road, yelling and shaking a rock at us, ready to throw it at us. His cohort, a little older, maybe 16 or 17, stood in front of the car so we couldn’t leave. Everyone quit taking pictures, pusses, and waited to find out what was happening. (My camera was dead) Our driver had no idea what they were yelling at us. Apparently he did not speak that dialect and it had no similarity to anything that he did. A car going in the opposite direction stopped in the middle of the road and they spoke their language. They explained to our driver that the boys were upset because we were taking pictures without paying. Seriously!!!! I think that we ended up paying them 10 birr, a dollar, but it was still annoying. Violent little extortionist. After we left there was a second herd of camels, and this time we offered money up front – gave them 20 birr and they were nice enough to pose with the camels too.

Next stop Addis. I’ll talk about getting back and meeting B for the first time.

I think that the pics are fairly self explanatory and I'm too lazy to label each one. Let me know if you have any questions!!

Slacker

2009-01-24T21:34:00.001-08:00

I know I am and I promise that I am working on the next post in our trip, but I just haven't seemed to have a moment where I can fully concentrate on it.

Been a little busy with Boko, my crappy job, regular things, and then of course Shelby and Sake have decided that one or the other must die. This has come about in the last two days and it is out of control. Even with muzzles on they try to beat each other into the floor. I have never seen anything like this and I'm hoping my vet is on the prozac/lithium boat because I am running out of ideas short of leaving them muzzled/kenneled forever. AHHHHHH!!!!

Birth Family Visit

2009-01-13T21:24:00.000-08:00

Warning : Someone is obviously a little wordy!!! Read at your own risk.

It was surprisingly easy to get up and ready for our birth family visit. Compared to sleeping in the chair in the airport in Amsterdam or trying to sleep on a flight with greasy feet in front of me, I think that 3 hours in the bed probably felt like 8!
We got all of our stuff together, we were leaving to drive south and would not be back until the next day. When we went down to the lobby our driver Fitsum was waiting for us. He loaded us in and drove to the guest house, where we picked up the second couple, and I have to say, had some of the most heavenly bread ever. It is made fresh every morning by the cook at the guest house and it is absolutely to die for. So good. After Cory and the other couple were done eating, we loaded up in the Land Cruiser and took off.

Driving in Ethiopia is an adventure it itself. At almost no time is there not someone or something on the road with the cars. And it is fully expected and understood that the cars are sharing their space. Sharing it with people, donkeys, donkey cars, horses, horse carts, dogs – lots of dogs, goat herds, cows, camels, etc.. And as you’re traveling on this highway in and out of little towns, all along the way are these little make shift houses and huts on the side of the road. Imagine driving along I-80 and people have just started putting up tents, or cabins, or some other type of small housing along the side of the road. The interstate! And everywhere are little kids. Some dressed, some not. Older kids walking to school, older kids who obviously are not in school, probably because their parents cannot afford it. Younger children, playing and standing along the side of the road. Right up on the shoulder, where a donkey cart could come by or a car could veer to avoid a horse cart. And I mean barely just walking tiny. Just standing there, watching. And its constant. There are children EVERYWHERE in this country. And rarely with adult supervision, at least once they could walk.

We drove through the Rift Valley – you know the cradle of civilization, where they found Lucy. Its dry and I won’t say barren, but dry, definitely dry, and very large. There are a few large lakes that you drive by, and as I mentioned lots of little towns. Each one seemed to be in a war too. Coke vs. Pepsi. A town had signs for one or the other, not both. Way to go guys. Can’t imagine why I saw so many kids with their teeth rotting out!

We also saw a lot of green houses. Extremely large green houses. Way bigger than a football field. I had read before going that Ethiopia was getting into the floral business, exporting to other countries, and this was obviously the production area so to speak.

When we got to the WHFC office in Awassa, we picked up a couple of guys who were going to help with the birth family visits, then went and picked up another man who was more familiar with the area we were going to. I can’t remember the names of the two men from WHFC and feel so bad. They were not the regular social worker whose name I had memorized so I think that it through me off. We all loaded back up in the car and started to Arbegona.

In Arbegona, where by the way you cease to be on pavement, it is now all dirt roads, we met with the birth families of the children that the other couple was adopting. It was very interesting to see both of their houses and this was where we first started being stalked by children. Cameras are like catnip for these kids. They see one and they are all over you to get their picture taken and have you show it to them. They were following us up and down streets like we were the Piper and they were, well you know the rest.

I probably shouldn’t share too much about the other family visits, for privacy, but it was interesting to see the two different types of houses that the women lived in. One was a small house, wood framed, with no real floor covering and odd papers posted to the walls for decoration. The second house was a hut, dirt floor, dark on the inside. In a very small place was the seating area, an eating area, a small bed and then a partition where the fire was for cooking. A hole in the top of the hut. It took us a while to focus in the dark and never noticed until we went back out into the sun that Cory had black soot all over him from the “walls” of the hut. Actually the grass fringes that hung out and had collected, I would imagine, years of soot from the cooking.

From here, we walked back to the car and we were standing around, wondering what was next. Where we were going to meet B’s dad. Finally the WHFC employees from Awassa ( I feel SO bad that I cannot remember their names) said that he did not show up. The plan had been for him to walk from his village to Arbegona and meet us at the community center. Well, for some reason, he did not show. They had no idea why and gave us the option of driving to his house to meet with him. It crossed our minds that he may not WANT to meet us, but we really wanted to be able to give him the letter we had written and the pictures of B, plus, be able to tell B that we had, so we said sure. We asked how far it was, and they said that for the dad it would have been a 5 hour walk – and it was about 20km.

Finally I got to be in the front seat, so for once I wasn’t feeling like throwing up. The countryside was very pretty. Green, creeks, mountains and clean air – which I would really appreciate later in the week in Addis. And people EVERYWHERE. You know how when you are driving in the mountains, going camping or fishing and you really have to pee, so you just pull over and hop out behind a tree. Good luck doing that here. Every time I thought, here’s a spot where I could go, I would see one pair of eyes peak out through the bush, and then another, and possibly another. There were kids mostly. Just like on the road coming down, but this was a dirt road where cars rarely come.

I honestly can’t remember how long we drove for, maybe an hour. It probably wouldn’t have taken as long if the Land Cruiser had a transmission that wasn’t about to fall out and the driver knew how to use the four wheel drive. The road really was not as bad as he thought it was and would not have been a problem for my Jeep. Finally he was not willing to go any further, the road was getting more rutted, so they paid a kid to run down the road to his dad’s house and find him. We waited in that spot for about an hour and a half. Taking pictures of the massive group of kids who had accumulated and finding a tree to pee behind where I was finally not bothered by anyone but a nosey cow.

Finally there he was, B’s dad. It all happened really fast, and we walked back up the road a bit from where we had been hanging out to a building that I had not paid much attention to. It was behind a high fence and pretty nondescript. Come to find out though, it was a church. We went in and sat down on the lawn to talk to him. The interpreters closed the gates behind us to keep all of the other locals out of the meeting. Honestly, I am not sure at one point they all just came in but I do remember looking up at one point during the visit and realizing that we had a massive audience.

We found out that he never got the message that we were coming and that he needed to go to Arbegona. So yay! We had not hunted this poor man down and forced him into a situation that he did not want to be in. When he got there he looked a little red eyed, almost as if he had cried recently, but maybe he had just hurried from his house. He started off the whole conversation by thanking us for taking his son. He immediately explained why he had to do this, and how happy he was that his son would be taken care of. It made the whole thing so easy for us. We asked the questions that we had, and as expected, it was difficult for it to be translated exactly and we did not necessarily get the detail we would have hoped for. You can’t really get a family medical history and we were a little disappointed not to meet B’s siblings, he said that they were in school. He also couldn’t really tell us a lot about his mom. No details on them meeting – he said they met when he asked her to marry him – or their life together. Also, no stories that we will be able to pass on to B about his growing up. You know, nothing to explain the scars, or stories about him as a baby. Kind of sad. But not his dad’s fault.

The meeting was fairly short, maybe a half an hour. One thing that we noticed is that his father was very good looking. I’ve noticed that many people look much older than their actual age. His dad was one of the first people living out in the rural areas that actually looked younger than his recorded age. You could see Boko in him, but not through any specific traits, unless you count their hair. It’s difficult to explain but it was there.

- Side note: I’ve been going through pictures from the trip with Boko, and he does not seem to recognize him. In the pictures of us sitting with his dad, he only points at Cory as daddy and me as mommy. Nice for the recognition but kind of sad that the memory is already gone.

We got back in the car immediately after the meeting and started back to Awassa. WHFC had made reservations at a hotel there for us. One fun part was when we pulled over on the way out, because everyone had to use the restroom, and it was completely dark, so we are all wandering out into the bushes looking for a place to use the facilities as they were, and I of course stepped in a big fresh steaming pile of shit. Nice!! I assume it was cow, but who knows. Given the fear that Boko has of snakes I’m glad that no one warned me of anything like that either.

We got to the hotel, around 8 pm I think, checked into our rooms – 400 birr, about $40 a night., and then went down to the restaurant. We sat with the WHFC employees for a bit and talked to them about the day. We ordered beers – St. George which according to them is the first beer in Ethiopia. After they left we met another one of the adoptive parents who had come to Ethiopia early. He is a film maker and was donating his time to do film on the humanitarian work done by WHFC. It was really interesting to hear about what he had seen and what WHFC does outside of adoption. They definitely do not promote that side well enough on their website. Which is obviously where he came in. While we were waiting for our dinner, the power went out – pretty typical for most of Ethiopia and we ended up eating by candlelight. So romantic if I didn’t have remnants of unidentified poo on my shoe. I did have some awesome doro wat here though.

When we went up to get ready for bed we realized that we only had one towel. No phone in the room so Cory ran down to get one. They had to deliver it, and while Cory was in the bathroom they showed up. I have a point to this, I really don’t just go into this much detail for no good reason. I answered the door for the towel, and had just taken my shoes off. The man who brought the towel was very concerned that I had not put on the slippers, and came in, pulled them out from the night stand – they were very flimsy slippers – and put them on my feet for me, my stinky feet with dirty socks still on. It was just kind of bizarre that he was so concerned about this.
The room was clean and comfortable, and although no phone, there was a tv with a lot of English channels. Kind of surprised, Ethiopia has things like CNN and CBS instead of Sky TV. Only two issues with the room. 1.) Fred Flinstone is pissed because his bed is in that room. Seriously, I had to look under the sheet to be sure that I was not laying on a rock slab. If I hadn’t been soooo incredibly tired I think that it would have been more of a problem. However, since this was my first full nights sleep in like 4 days, I slept like a baby. 2.) Individual water heaters in the bathroom which need to be plugged in and turned on. Want to do that early not after you’ve finally drug your ass out of bed after hitting snooze five times!!

The breakfast buffet was included in the price of the room and it was really good. Crazy! FYI – no pork in Ethiopia. I did not see one pig with all of that livestock roaming around and your choices were typically turkey ham, chicken sausage, beef bacon or veal sausage. All of which were really good. Wish we had all those options here. Beef bacon is much better than turkey bacon, just not as greasy as pork.
Well, I think that this is already an insanely long post so I will wrap it up and try to do another one soon on the next day. And don’t feel bad if you can’t make it through the whole post. I’m not sure that I could!!

Oh one thing that I did forget though is the blanket type covering s that all the men were wearing in Sidama. While we were in Arbegona we tried to find one in the same colors as the one his dad was wearing but we could not find any that were close. So we got a very purple one with blue details. It is called a Fasha and I did not see them anywhere in Addis, so if you are going to Sidama, and want something from your child’s area it is something to consider. With negotiating I think that it ended up being $15 US.

Pictures on the drive toward the village and house where B is from and pictures of some of the random kids who came up to hang out with us while we waited for him. One other thing I forgot to mention - I know the mind reels that their could be more. While we were waiting, Cory took out the photo album we had for his dad, which included lots of pictures of B, and he was showing it to the kids - they were pointing at the pictures and saying Boko. They remembered him. And Boko has pointed out some of the kids in these pictures and said their names. Too bad I can't always understand his pronunciation well. I would love to try and write their names down for him later.

Found IT!!!!

2009-01-10T08:27:00.001-08:00

I’m writing this post off line right now, I’ll have to cut and paste it in later, because our power is out. I just got someone to bed, folded some laundry and sat down with a piece of potica, all ready to do a post – a good one, and of course, the power goes out. Hope it comes back on soon, or it is going to be a very cold night.
Anyway, my thought was to try and document on a day by day basis, our trip to Ethiopia, but we’ll have to see how that works out, since a fair amount of time has passed. Also, there are some stories that I want to share, but only with certain people. I have to see if my blog template allows for password protected posts, I’m not sure, and obviously cannot check right now. Otherwise, I will have to do those by email or something. You know, protect the innocent, or not so innocent as the case may be.

So in my earlier posts, I think that I have covered up to about Amsterdam going over. Of course my cold was still bugging me the whole way over so I was not in the best of moods. Then in Amsterdam, Cory went to plug my laptop in for me and fried the adapter – the new one we had bought to replace the one that didn’t make it out of Prague alive. And here I thought it was just an Eastern block thing. Or maybe it was the converter. Anyway, I don’t claim to be proficient in the area of hardware. He had to go back out into the airport – we were in the KLM Crown room, and go to the massive electronics store to find something to replace it… Actually, looking back I’m pretty sure he fried both because he could only find one and not the other, but it all worked out in the end. I was in a Nyquil induced fog at the time. Give me a break. While he was off looking for this I was napping in the chair I was sitting in. Didn’t even care if anyone took our stuff. I wake up and Cory is up at this counter, which obviously had better outlets than the ones provided in the lamp bases by the chairs and he is charging up the computer. He comes over to tell me that he would like to go out into the airport to find something to eat. For those of you who know me, you will see how sick I was by my response – but I already ate here in the Crown Room. Yes, for our 4.5 hour layover I was perfectly willing to just have two pieces of turkey cold cuts and a small roll. As we’re discussing our dining options and old man goes over to the counter, which is obviously being used by people with their own laptops and starts trying to use mine. Cory had logged out so he couldn’t, but he kept trying to enter a password, even when Cory went over and explained it was our computer. The guys STILL kept trying to enter a password, probably the one they give you to access the internet. He just did not believe him! Nuts.

Well, wandered out, got a breakfast I was not wholly into, and then realized we had to reorganize all of our liquids again because Amsterdam is one of those awesome airports where you have to go through a separate screening to get to your gate. Can I just say how much I hate those? You have to get to the gate at least an hour before your flight, you can’t leave again to get anything, like a magazine or snack, because then you have to go through the ridiculous security again. It’s such a pain in the ass. Cory ran down to get our Ziploc bags, and of course, it was a one bag per person minimum and their required bags are smaller than the ones at the US airport. Nyquil wearing off, Stacy getting very cranky.

We get to the gate, go through security and before getting on the plane Cory goes up to the counter and asks the woman how much it would be to upgrade to business for this third leg of our trip. I can’t remember what she said exactly, but it was not horribly unreasonable and we were considering it before she said, “But the flight is not fully booked so you’ll have plenty of room in Coach. I wouldn’t do it”. Okay, thanks helpful flight attendant…. Actually you evil, evil, cruel woman. Maybe before you make a promise like this you should look at the seats the people are in. Walking through the first half of the plane we’re thinking yah, this flight isn’t full, it’ll be fine, until you get to the third part of the plane, the very back, which is so packed full of people already, that their combined body heat already makes the place feel like a sweat lodge. And I’m sorry, I don’t mean to be judgmental or cruel, but with this crew, I was looking for the chickens, seriously. The woman sitting in front of us had her shoes off, and she must have had them off for the last 3 years they were so black and it was so thick. Seriously, it looked like she was doing clean up for the Valdeez (sp?) with her shoes off. And she was just putting her feet all over the seat, all over everything. I spent the entire flight just making sure that they didn’t happen to come backwards under her seat and touch my purse. I HATE feet as it is. Even the clean feet that come out after a pedicure. Keep them the hell away from me. So now I am freaked out about every airline seat I come in contact with. God knows who’s feet have been on them. And her kids. Oh don’t even get me started. Loud, obnoxious, the person behind me kept kicking me, and that was an adult. A few other men were just so excited to be on a plane that they kept getting up and running back and forth to each other – maybe pinching themselves to make sure it was real. I don’t know, but I was in what I thought was the 6th circle of hell, little did I know there was a time later in the trip when I would look back on these moments with fondness.

This group and a lot of other people in our area got off in Sudan during our refueling stop. After they all gave a round of applause when the plane touched down on the ground. Not like the pilots could even hear them back in the ass end of the plane. I could still just slap that woman at the desk…..

The next group that got on in Sudan was better. Same situation in front of us, family with small kids but these kids were so well behaved and their mom did not concern me with her feet, but the poor thing had to sit on that seat that swamp thing had been in…. Makes me cringe.

Another hour and a half to Addis Ababa and we were done. Went through customs got our luggage and out into the main area. Mulat was waiting for us to tell us what time we had to be ready for the birth family visit the next day. I felt so bad that he had to come out there at that time of night – almost 11 pm by the time we got to where he was, just to tell what we pretty much already knew. No wonder it took him most of the rest of the time we were there to warm up to us. After talking to Mulat we went over to the Sheraton area to let them know we were ready for our shuttle. I went to the bathroom while waiting and had my first experience with no TP. So glad I brought those Charmin travel rolls. Went back to where we were waiting for the shuttle. I hurried because they said 10-15 minutes. First experience with EST – Ethiopian Standard Time. 10-15 is very fuzzy. Could be 10-15 from anything. Not necessarily that moment. For us it was 10-15 minutes from 20-25 minutes from now. It was odd though how the hotels all had little booths almost carved out for themselves. All looking nicer than the airport which is fairly sparse. But the Sheraton’s was the nicest. Wood paneling all enclosed in its own little space with a 6 foot Christmas tree decorated and their poor desk guy in a suit. Leather couches and a coffee table. Just a lot different than the others. We ended up on the shuttle with two idiots from Europe. One was German and the other was Dutch. They talked during the whole drive and they had just met each other. Each one was trying to outdo the other with how much he had to travel. I can’t remember all the details now, but it was just wonderful entertainment.

Next we get to the Sheraton and it is pretty impressive when you drive up. It is its own little oasis in the city. I have heard a lot of people refer to it as a compound, but it’s just a nice hotel in the middle of Addis, which is unfortunately pretty much synonymous with extreme poverty. And after hearing that there was a bombing a few years back at the Hilton, I am happy that both hotels now have guards out front with the little mirrors on rollers to check under the car and that they make drivers open their trunks before coming in. Didn’t bother me a bit. Neither did the scanner and metal detector going in the front door. Oh well, it was always quick and safety is not a bad thing.

Well, this place was decked out for Christmas. That is one thing I noticed, that we were totally mislead on, that the kids there will have no concept of Christmas. That is total BS. There are Christmas decorations everywhere, EVERYWHERE and there is even a section of the Mercato dedicated to Christmas decorations. The Sheraton was decorated like you would expect most nice hotels. Big tree in the lobby, lights all over the grounds, Santas everywhere. Difference was, all the Santas were saxophone playing Santas, except for the ones climbing up ladders on the building, which gave me the creepy feeling of an elf invasion. Every Santa we saw in this country had a saxophone in his hands. And the ones out front around the fountain, had their legs removed so they were just torsos, heads,, arms and saxophones. Different. Every day up to Christmas they also had a real Santa in the main lobby that people would bring their kids to see. Kind of like the mall here.

Anyway, this is our introduction to Addis. We checked in, they had us in the wrong room. I pointed this out because the reservation sheet he gave me said 217, and he tried to put us in 1 something. When I asked if it was non-smoking he needed a few minutes to get us a different room. Guess which one that was, 217. The room was nice. The bed was a little uncomfortable, but overall it was good, with a huge patio. I mean the patio was at least the size of our room, although we really didn’t spend much time out there. Looking back on things, I wish that we would have spent a bit more time at the hotel. I don’t think that Boko would have been scarred for life if mommy and daddy had taken an afternoon to lie around the pool. But at the time we just thought we should keep going to see him as much as possible. Probably guilt over the fact that we were the only parents who could not take custody at any point because we were staying at a hotel…..

Sorry on a tangent. We got to bed around 12:30, probably a little closer to 1 and sent our alarms for 4. We had to be up and ready to go at 5 am the next day to be picked up by our driver and then go to the guest house to pick up the other couple that we would be traveling with.. And that is the end of our first night I guess in Ethiopia. I realize that it is painfully detailed, but hey, the power is out and I have nothing else to do right now. Brrrrr. It’s starting to get cold in here too.

The back of the hotel.

Still trying to organize all the pictures. I don't have Cory's on here either.

Not meant to be

2009-01-10T08:12:00.000-08:00

So last night, our power went out. I had the intention to sit down and start blogging about our trip. So I just went ahead and typed up my entry in Word. And it was long and I even started on the second day. Well I saved it, multiple times. Save save save..... Well when I went to put it on the blog this morning, I had to restart the computer because it was not finding the internet connection. Log back in, go to retrieve the file - and its gone!!!!! WTF!!!!! Seriously. I mean it was thousands of words. I'm supposed to do that again.

Well here you go.

We got an airplane, then another then another. We got off in Ethiopia. It was dark

The End.

Where To Start

2009-01-01T21:44:00.000-08:00

Well, I'm starting to feel a bit better, and actually staying up a little past B. Still don't think I have a full post in me, but I'mm going to try and start picking back up soon. I want to write about each day we were in Ethiopia before I completely forget about everything. That said, maybe a couple of pictures....

Not too far from where B is from.

Some of the kids Boko grew up with. A lot of them could recognize him from his picture.

The bizarrely random gnome village at the Sheraton.... No clue.

Bad Blogger

2008-12-30T19:01:00.000-08:00

I know I'm a bad blogger. But since we've been home I am just so sick that all of my energy is going to toward Boko and once he goes to bed I can barely stay awake. In fact falling asleep as I type.

Sitting at the airport

2008-12-17T07:43:00.000-08:00

Of course our flight was delayed today - mandatory crew rest. I'm not sure if I should feel reassured by this or nervous.

So I had about three paragraphs on here and then it all just disappeared!!! I hate it when that happens.

So, we are sitting in the Crown Room now, and I am watching the woman across from us re-ball or whatever you call it her thing of yarn. Over and over again. Makes you almost want to take shots. That an the woman who just walked buy with a matching red patent leather purse and red patent leather clogs.... WOW And she keeps parading around the room like its a fashion show. And those brand new red patent leather shoes that she spent weeks look for to match her bag, are obviously NOT comfortable. Already limping.

Hey, fyi, and everyone else may already know this, but you are only allowed one clear quart ziploc bag of liquids per person when going through security. I never take anything but a Tide pen, lip gloss, and sample perfume usually so this has never come up. But in the interest of not being left high and dry if our luggage is lost, like Prague, we thought we should take essentials so we had a bunch of little .5-2oz containers of shampoo, etc..... Yah, that was a HUGE pain in the ass. This was right after the TSA guy at the initial line had yelled at Cory that he needed to go to the podium at the end, NOW. Well, I was obviously handing him his passport and boarding pass, which took a whole 10 extra seconds ass bag and gee, the five people behind are probably going to miss their flight now. Then Mr. Sunshine proceeded to yell at me.... "Are you with HIM??!!" Yes "Well then you need to stay TOGETHER"..... FINE.....

But what I really wanted to say was, well actually we came here together but since he forgot my Food & Wine, Conde Naste and book that Christie gave me for Christmas at home, we just agreed that was the last straw and are getting a divorce, so I DON'T WANT TO STAND NEXT TO HIM YOU SECURITY NAZI!!!! But I thought better of it. I am not good with no food.

But at least the world is now safe from bombs made from Crest Sensitivity toothpaste and Scope. You can all sleep soundly tonight.

20 Hours

2008-12-16T11:06:00.000-08:00

Which is really more like 14 since I will try and fit in some sleep there.

Good news - I called the Netherlands embassy in Addis Ababa today and was told that we do NOT need a transit visa. I just needed to hear it from someone who was actually in a position to say yes or no, not just hear say. So I feel much more relaxed now.

Still sick. Actually I woke up at 4 am because the left side of my face hurt so bad, I am assuming from my sinuses. It was perfect timing for calling Addis though. =)

Only really nervous about forgetting some important document. This is so much different from a vacation trip out of the country where all you really need is your passport. Most of the places you go on vacation you can replace pretty much anything else. I suppose I should have included wallet with passport as all you really need!! ;) This is different. In lots of ways.

Have to take the dogs to the kennel today. =( I always HATE doing that to them. Poor guys. But they had a pretty good Christmas. Christmas was celebrated early at our house. Last night, Cory stayed up late packing and when Sake didn't come when he called her to bed he went looking for her and found her on the big dog bed in the living room, with four stuffed toys around her and one of the big rawhides from their Christmas stockings, totally passed out. SOOOO sweet. Still hate taking them though. The worst part is that last night when the house is so quiet. I really wish that the Utah Pet Center, and their 24/7 drop off pick up schedule hadn't closed. We used them in September and it was one of the best kennel experiences we have ever had, me and the dogs. Oh well.

So once I finish up with work, go pick up the dogs, come back down then drop some stuff off at my mom's, go home and finish packing, which is pretty much just getting toiletries and prescriptions into the remaining space. Packing clothes was fairly easy this time. Jeans, other comfy cotton pants, lots of Shade long sleeve shirts, a couple of scarves and some sweaters. Two pairs of shoes and good to go. Not like I need a lot of wardrobe options on this trip!!

36 Hours

2008-12-15T19:02:00.000-08:00

Kind of the final count down. In 36 hours we will be on the plane to Ethiopia. Crazy huh!!! I would think that I would be a bit more wigged out now, but I'm scarily not. I need to start actually packing tonight. I think that I have gotten most of the packages that people were sending to me at this point, so I can start getting things in my bags.

I keep getting distracted though. I really hope that I'm not forgetting anything.

Did I mention I have a cold too. SOOOO happy about that. Perfect timing.

Found out when our birth family visit is today too. We get in on Thursday night at 10:30 pm and we have to be ready to go on Friday at 5:30 am. Knew that would happen. Its good and bad. Not fond of getting up that early but it will be nice not to have it hanging over our heads. Its an over night trip to Southern Ethiopia so we'll back in Addis on Saturday so that will be the earliest that we will be able to meet B. In case anyone is wondering where we'll be.

Polling

2008-12-11T19:37:00.000-08:00

Anyone wanna fess up to the "Pity the child already" vote??????

I must admit that I'm surprised that I didn't get anyone that wanted to donate anything, even $20. Not trying to guilt anyone, just surprised.

Poll

2008-12-09T21:49:00.001-08:00

I don't know why, its not like I'm bored, but I added a poll on the right side, below Ethiopia time......

Coincidence???

2008-12-09T11:40:00.000-08:00

As we all know, I am having some difficulty with the fact that I will not be here for Christmas this year... Think the along the lines of the dad in Christmas Story after Bumpes' dogs ate the turkey.. No turkey hash, no turkey soup.... so on and so on.

Well, when I came downstairs this morning, I could have sworn that I smelled Christmas popcorn in the kitchen. You know the kind that you melt white almond bark all over. And people only make it at Christmas. I always make it. Well of course it was just my tumor playing tricks on me, or so I thought.

But then, today when I went to Hannie's for a manicure, guess what my holiday treat was? Yup, a bagful of Christmas popcorn!!! Yay!! Thanks Hannie for making me feel a little less Christmas deprived. =)

The Ticker

2008-12-05T10:28:00.000-08:00

I had myself all convinced today that we had PLENTY of time until we have to leave. A WHOLE 12 days.... Then I made the mistake of looking at our blog, and the ticker at the top, and it says ONE week and FIVE days. This seems like much less time to me. ONE week.... Can you imagine what I'll be like this time next week????? Hallelujah, Holy Shit, where's the Tylenol!!!!!

Where we are....

2008-12-04T20:17:00.000-08:00

So far I have made reservations for flights.... At least I think that is taken care of. I still haven't seen a receipt from the travel agency. I think that they needed a letter from our adoption agency so they could confirm us for the adoption rate though, and I sent that to them today.

Hotel is done. Thanks Christie!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Aunt Christie...... hee hee

Dogs have their reservations for boarding but this new place requires bordatella every month and they have it within the year but not 6 months so I need to call and make a vet appointment for them. I could just wait and do this at the new kennel, but I figure maybe I can get their checkups out of the way too, since those are usually after the first of the year.

Prescriptions for Cipro, my malaria meds, and scabies body wash were picked up tonight. I have an appointment at the pediatrician next Friday, where she is apparently going to give me more RX. Need to ask her about something for lice.

Cory put together the car seats today. =)

Lots more to do though. I need to go to Old Navy still and do some shopping.. Underwear, socks, shoes, etc....

Hey, a while back I had mentioned the topic of donations. I did not get any responses. Don't feel pressured, but a few people had asked me previously about giving donations. If you still want to, please let me know NOW. =) I want to get this handled as soon as possible. As I had mentioned earlier I think that cash will be best. Let me know what you are comfortable with though or if you have a specific idea.

Photos

2008-12-02T21:18:00.002-08:00

Presenting Boko Jaxson Nannemann.

This was the first photo that we ever saw of him, the one that we "picked" from all the other pictures of little kids.

Having a little snack.

Dum Dums and Tea. Christie thinks that I should take a big bag of Dum Dums with me to Ethiopia... She doesn't think that I should abuse the child until we're home, you know with things like vegetables and fruit. REAL food.

Not a ham at all.....

Overwhelmed

2008-12-02T20:40:00.000-08:00

Jessica and I went for pedicures today from Hannie, which are always wonderful!! We were finishing up, getting up from the massage chairs, when my phone beeped. I had a text message. It was from Cory saying that I should check my email. I assumed that it was something having to do with insurance. We had an argument last night about sending me emails about insurance leads, him not being specific enough, building enough urgency.... blah blah blah. Anyway, I asked him which email. He told me my sctigger.

So I checked my email on my phone, thinking that if it WAS an insurance lead it would be perfect timing since I was on my way to my reserve class. I'm scrolling through the emails and see "Travel to Ethiopia - Nanneman (misspelled) Family". I opened the email and see a reaffirmation that all of our information is up to date at the Embassy in Addis... Big deal. We get these once a month. And it would not be the first time that Cory got overly excited about one of these. I'm thinking you JERK... Ready to kill him, then I realized that there is something about that title. Its just different. Scrolling further, trying to read the email on my phone.. Yell at Hannie and Jessica to shhsh I'm trying to read............. Then I'm telling everyone in the room, Oh My God, we are going to Ethiopia, We have to be there the 20th - of December!!!! My hands are shaking I am trying to read the email. Jessica is impatient to hear so she holds my hands still to read.

Lots of screaming, excitement. I called the district manager at Farmer's, tell him I won't be coming in for class today, I have to start making travel arrangements. So since 2:30 I have gotten our reservations at the Sheraton - the end of the December was the only time within like a five month range where they had starhot rates by the way - dogs reservations at the kennel, and decided on a flight, which will hopefully be booked tomorrow - I just happened to decide to try another agency last Wed. The woman at the new agency had left for the holiday, but got back to me yesterday with a quote, and she just happened to use the dates 12/17-27 in her guesstimate. The exact dates we ended up wanting. And Cooking Light has a section on Ethiopian cooking this month. Strange. I don't know why I felt the need to put all of that out there right now.

So, barring any mumps outbreaks or CIS hold ups, we will be leaving in just over two weeks from today.

I am 99.9% sure that it is okay for me to post a picture now and give his full name, but since I am slightly paranoid of government agencies in general I want to double check.

I also have to say that I am very disappointed to be missing Christmas. I know, everyone keeps saying its the best present ever, and it is, but given the updates and info that we were getting from our agency, I had put a lot of time into convincing myself that it would not happen this month and that I was actually happy about it. And I am pretty damn convincing, so now I have to completely switch gears and get out of the mind set that "Cory and I will have this great one last Christmas just the two of us - go to plays, go to dinners, go to tea at the Grand." Plus Christmas IS my absolute favorite holiday and missing it just bothers me in a ridiculous way. We went to the Bahamas one year and I said I would never go on vacation for Christmas again. The things about the holidays that stress everyone else out get me excited. I love the baking, the parties the slight rush, but mostly I love it when a Christmas Story starts its 24 hours on TBS, and we sit down to shrimp and whatever else we found at Market Street and a couple of good bottles of Champagne on Christmas Eve, Santa comes, and then we get up and spend the day having cocktails and taking our time opening presents - With a Christmas Story still on of course. Anyway, just had to get that out. I know its kind of selfish to feel this way, but like I said, I spent a lot of time convincing myself in the last month, that this scenario was going to be the best EVER because I was so convinced that we would not be traveling this year.........

Don't even get me started on how stressed out I am just thinking about what I am going to do about work when we get back...... Oy!

B's Room

2008-12-02T20:33:00.000-08:00

As promised, some pictures of B's room.

Every kid HAS to have a hanging chair.

I hope I don't regret the bunk bed. At least it can't be flipped over to a regular bed.

Update

2008-11-28T18:19:00.001-08:00

So another mother went over to Ethiopia last week to visit with her child - she of course has not passed court yet either. She emailed me yesterday with the following update on B....

Greetings ..
We spent the afternoon at the big kids house. It's beautiful with a lovely garden and lovely house; very clean and welcoming. It's a nurturing environment, felt like a big family house. Sister S. was there AMAZING, INCREDIBLE WOMAN.

B is charming and relaxed and smiles ALOT!! He's tiny. He ABSOLUTELY LOVED looking at his picture. I'm so glad you sent it. He loves to play with other kids, they said he's a GREAT SHARER. Always looking out for the younger kids. He LOVES balloons and movies, the teletubbies of all things.

They said he's come a long way. When he first got there he hated taking pictures and was quiet. Now he's very composed and engaging and just wonderful. He's gonna make your heart melt. Such a nice, handsome kid!!! He also loves to dance, as we left the whole house was rocking along to an Ethiopian band on television. He was shaking up the dance floor .. giggle.

Email is not so great here. No way I can send the pics we took. Will do so next week. Just wanted you to have my little notes on Thanksgiving!

Sigh........

Donations

2008-11-26T11:27:00.000-08:00

Obviously I have been trying to occupy myself with thinking about anything BUT when a travel date will come specifically, but I realize that there are a lot of other things that we can get in order while we're waiting.

One of these is donations. I don't want anyone to feel like they have to do this, but if you are interested in donating in some way, either to the orphanage we are going to, or Hope Enterprises (see right hand bar), or possibly AHOPE, the orphanage for HIV positive kids, then please let me know. I want to get an idea of who would like to be involved and to what extent. My feelings are that I would prefer to take as few things with us as possible, but I realize that there are some items that they will want that can't be found in Ethiopia. My thoughts were to collect money from most people and then go out and buy items there that they need. This way, I don't have to haul it all over like a pack mule, or one of those couples you see at the airport with 17 pieces of luggage dressed like they are about to have their photos taken, who obviously don't fly over 2 hours very often and are in for a rude awakening as they enter their 15th hour of international travel. It also puts money directly back into their economy which is a good thing.

Let me know what you think and which option you would be more likely to want to participate in - Giving me cash, or items (which I will have to get a list of when we are closer to being able to travel).

And maybe no one will want to. I know its not like everyone has piles of extra cash this year. But a little can go a long way there. ;)

No Cavities

2008-11-25T19:11:00.000-08:00

While I was laying in the dentist's chair this morning, getting my teeth cleaned it occurred to me that I will most likely be back in this office sooner than the normal six month check-up/cleaning. Given my obsession with teeth, B will be needing to visit the dentist ASAP once we get him home. ( I hope I'm not being overly optimistic thinking that will be sooner than six months from now!)

Anyway, as I'm sitting there, looking at the woman with the mask on and the funny goggles over her glasses, and the bright light shining from up above I had tow thoughts.. 1.) Sitting here with my mouth held wide open for an unnaturally long time is NOT helping my efforts to reduce the signs of wrinkles, and 2.) WTH is this poor kid going to think? If he'd ever seen an episode of X-Files I would assume that he thinks this is what happens when you're abducted. This is a fun outing that I have to look forward to. Especially since I hate having my teeth cleaned. You know how some people have a problem with fingernails on chalkboard, well I'm that way with metal on teeth or dinner plates... But sticking with the situation. Teeth. I can only imagine how uncomfortable the whole situation will be for him. Just one more odd situation that you don't usually think much of because its so normal, but will seem so insane to him.

The dentist is under the impression that his teeth should be okay, due to lack of sugar, but given the blog posts I have read about kids basically having to have a surgery on their teeth to repair the damage after coming home from Ethiopia (not all but a few) and the fact that I have a photo of the midget eating a Dum Dum, I won't hold my breath. Maybe Dr. Lucas will be able to go down and buy a new truck!

No Comments

2008-11-20T11:30:00.000-08:00

I have to admit, that I am a bit surprised by the lack of comments on the Festivus entry. I hope I didn't scare off any readers! Figured the picture of Dave would bring some sort of a response.

Festivus Miracles

2008-11-18T21:38:00.001-08:00

Saturday night we had a Festivus party at our house. I know, a month early from when it actually should be, but oh well. Although we did not have the feats of strength, I was not sure how to do this without being held liable for loss of future earnings, we did have the airing of grievances. Which I have to say, was the funniest thing I have ever seen.... Pictures to follow. I think that everyone had a good time, and to those of you that left some time after 12, I am sorry if I didn't say goodbye or said anything actually. Obviously I hit a wall somewhere around then. Unfortunately it did not stop us all together, but that's another story for another blog.

Pat and I in the bar..... I do not remember the taking of this picture. Not that that means anything.

"Come on Troy, just one cookie.. No one will notice.. Those girls? They're drunk, they don't know what's going on!"

"You build that Festivus pole yourself Clark?" "Sure did Eddie, with my own two hands" (Yes, I know, I'm mixing my media here....)

Bye Jenny ......... She left the next day for CO and is still ignoring me. =)~

Funny and disturbing all at the same time. Dave's grievances were a full stage show. This is as far as the stripping went though. I promise, it was nothing perverse.

Oh, the camera was only dropped once, again, not by me, but this time, it made it out in working order. I still have 18 months on that oh so worth the money, no questions asked, warranty at Best Buy.....

Instead of Working..

2008-11-13T11:13:00.001-08:00

I stole this from someone else's blog. Give it a try, but only one word answers.

· Where is your mobile phone? Desk
· Where is your significant other? Working
· Your hair color? Depends
· Your mother? Alive
· Your father? Pat
· Your favorite thing? Food
· Your dream last night? Drunken
· Your dream goal? Unknown
· The room you’re in? Office
· Your hobby? Non-existant
· Your fear? Uninformed
· Where do you want to be in 6 years? Somewhere
· Where were you last night? Home
· What you’re not? Patient
· One of your wish-list items? Travel
· Where you grew up? Wyoming
· The last thing you did? Ate
· What are you wearing? Dress
· Your TV? Fixed
· Your pets? Unruly
· Your computer? Addictive
· Your mood? Bored
· Missing someone? Yes
· Your car? Cold
· Something you’re not wearing? Bracelet
· Favorite shop? Anthropologie
· Your summer? Fast
· Love someone? Yes
· Your favorite color? Red
· When is the last time you laughed? Today
· When is the last time you cried? Questionable

Its a Dog's Life

2008-11-10T19:33:00.000-08:00

Since this blog was started to keep people up to date on the adoption, and there is nothing to keep up to date on right now, I need to find somewhat interesting things to post about.

I have seen a tag that is pick the sixth photo album on your computer then post the sixth picture from that album. This is what you get....

Chivas posing for photos for a Christmas ornament.

And for some added entertainment.

The girls in a heated game of Monopoly Here and Now. This is tough playing with all these large sums - help mom!!

I shouldn't have drank so much wine.......

Seriously, this is what you guys consider to be a good time. Shelby, why don't you play tug of war with a squeaky toy with Sake and I will hump her in unison to the squeak. Ahhh, that sounds like a good time.

They are having such an easier time distracting themselves from B than Cory and I... Its a dog's life.

New Year

2008-11-06T15:03:00.000-08:00

After a call with our agency today, which was basically just a repeat of things we already knew and morale booster, I am now fairly sure that we will not be bringing B home until after the new year.

Originally we were hoping/thinking that we might have him here by Christmas but that looks very unlikely now. At first I was a little disappointed by this, but they made some good points on the call today. One of the main things you hear over and over again is to guard against over-stimulating a child when you bring them home. Don't have a house full of toys or a lot of people outside of the two of you. He needs to understand that we are his parents and bond to us. Also, if he comes into welcome parties, and a lot of excitement, he will have a hard time understanding the natural order of the house, and what life is like on a typical day.

All of that said, Christmas is obviously not a typical day. Especially if you come to our house. We usually put up 3 trees, There's lights on the house, decorations everywhere.. Basically looks like an elf vomited holiday cheer everywhere. If we were to bring him home before Christmas we would really have to tone everything down. Which I would do, but, I suppose that one last Christmas on our own isn't the worst thing in the world. Plus this way I don't have to miss Jenny's party, we still get to go do a lot of the things that we like to do, and I can still have presents. =) Yes, I really am that shallow. Or possibly just that good at forcing myself to get over the bitchy streak I've been on.

Ethiopia Update

2008-11-03T12:15:00.000-08:00

Got another update from our agency today. They are being told that no families will travel until late December at the earliest now. Lovely. The courts are apparently backed up with so many cases, and they are still working through a backlog from summer, before the courts had closed.

So nobody ask me if I've heard anything for at least a month. Understand. Not that I'm angry, but I am disappointed, and I have nothing, absolutely nothing to tell anyone, and it is very frustrating. I think that my head might pop off at this point if someone asks me if I've heard anything. Remember, this is not anger directed at anyone, I am just not a patient person and I can feel this pressure building in my head. Seriously. Its all compounded by the fact that people from other agencies are traveling already... WTF???!!!

Lack of Pictures

2008-11-02T19:03:00.000-08:00

B's room is done for the most part, and I should take pictures, but Cory still hasn't moved the ladder out of there and it would be distracting. That and I have had an unspoken goal of getting off the couch as little as possible today. I promise that I will get pictures up though. Bed is up, the other furniture, pictures, and the hanging chair. Haven't quite decided where to put the growth chart. Which is awesome by the way.

This woman hand paints wooden growth charts or other name plates with whatever you like and your child's name. http://www.creativenamesigns.com She did ours with a Dr. Seuss type of look, a big tree, a goofy bird in it and a dog. Trying to push the dog thing as much as possible.

There are a couple of different schools of thought with the dog issue too. A lot of people say not to send pictures of the family pets to your children over there because they are taught to be afraid of dogs. They are taught to avoid them because they are strays and may have rabies. Many of the children are actually afraid of them. We included pictures in his album anyway, because I think that it would be worse to blind side him when he comes home as opposed to giving him time to prepare for the situation and have people around him who speak his language to explain the situation to him. If anyone else has an opinion, feel free to share, although the album was sent off a while ago. So, there is a good chance that he has it by know and knows about the strange looking people with the wild animals that he will be coming to live with... Poor kid!! ;)

Running Out of Things to Keep Me Busy

2008-10-28T19:05:00.000-07:00

Obviously.......

You are most like: Selective Procrastinator
As a selective procrastinator, you know how to procrastinate but only do it when you feel you can afford to. Your a faker!
Take this quiz: How Bad A Procrastinator Are You?
Visit Toys For Your Blog.com for more blog quizzes

You are most like:

Selective Procrastinator

As a selective procrastinator, you know how to procrastinate but only do it when you feel you can afford to.
Your a faker!

Take this quiz: How Bad A Procrastinator Are You?

Visit Toys For Your Blog.com for more blog quizzes

Who knew Calvin was moonlighting as a model?

You are most like: Average Joe
Your pretty regular. Chances are your still a little afraid of the other drivers or your car just can't go fast enough to get away from other drivers.
Take this quiz: The Road Rage Meter
Visit Toys For Your Blog.com for more blog quizzes

You are most like:

Average Joe

Your pretty regular. Chances are your still a little afraid of the other drivers or your car just can't go fast enough to get away from other drivers.

Take this quiz: The Road Rage Meter

Visit Toys For Your Blog.com for more blog quizzes

Better than I thought I would do!!! A LOT better!

You are most like: Sentimental Shopper
You spent hours on each persons gift. Browsing as many stores as possible to find the perfect present. Each gift is based on your feelings for that person. Cost (no matter how great or small) is never an issue.
Take this quiz: What kind of Christmas shopper are you?
Visit Toys For Your Blog.com for more blog quizzes

You are most like:

Sentimental Shopper

You spent hours on each persons gift. Browsing as many stores as possible to find the perfect present. Each gift is based on your feelings for that person. Cost (no matter how great or small) is never an issue.

Take this quiz: What kind of Christmas shopper are you?

Visit Toys For Your Blog.com for more blog quizzes

Not sure how accurate this one is.

You are most like: Occasional User
Don't be fooled by the title of an "Occasional User". Your on your way to being a full out addict! Beware the addiction.
Take this quiz: The Quiz Addiction Quiz
Visit Toys For Your Blog.com for more blog quizzes

You are most like:

Occasional User

Don't be fooled by the title of an "Occasional User". Your on your way to being a full out addict! Beware the addiction.

Take this quiz: The Quiz Addiction Quiz

Visit Toys For Your Blog.com for more blog quizzes

That should do for today...

Something to Pass the Time

2008-10-25T15:04:00.001-07:00

Some gratuitous kid pictures.....

If Anyone Cares

2008-10-24T15:17:00.000-07:00

My license for Life and Health has come through.... So, give me a call.

Hey, I have to advertise any way that I can!!!!! You're supporting B. ;)

Announcements

2008-10-22T12:29:00.000-07:00

I bet that all of you waiting and watching to find out if we have a travel date, though that was what this post was about, huh??? Suckers!!!!

Nope, not yet.

I do have two things to share though. First of all, since the best way to encourage the universe to send you something, like a travel date to a country half way across the world to pick up your first child, is to not plan for it and plan other things in its place so you are appropriately thrown into chaos when it happens, that's what we're doing.

A Festivus For the Rest of Us
November 15 at our house - evite to follow of course.

The second announcement is not quite as fun for the rest of you but hopefully it will eventually turn out to be for me. I am officially selling insurance. At least property and casualty, which includes, home, auto, toys, business... pretty much anything that you can think of outside of life and health. I am waiting for my license to come for the life and health, so will be able to sell that in a couple of weeks... So, if you need insurance, don't like your agent, are indifferent to your agent and of course like me much better, or just want to get a quote and see what's out there, please let me know. Right now I can only do this for you if you are in Utah though. Come on, support a mommy to be. =)

That should be it for now.

Change is the Only Constant

2008-10-20T20:23:00.000-07:00

Does anyone remember 2 months ago, when we accepted our referral and I said that it would be 2-4 months before we could go get B. Well, add those together and you're closer to what we are now looking at. Yup, you heard it, 6 months... Grrrrr.... That much longer for me to obsess....

And I AM obsessing. I need to get over it and just let it happen. Now, keep in mind, six months is not an absolute, just a possibility. Our agency does not expect to have anyone traveling before the end of November. Apparently, due to the low number of judges, and the increased number of adoptions from Ethiopia, world wide, plus the back log from their little rainy season vacation, things are REALLY backed up.

So keep your fingers crossed, pray, or whatever you have to do, that this will all be done sooner rather than later. This puts all sorts of things on hold for me. Which I'm sure only adds to my antsy feeling.

Visitors

2008-10-18T19:40:00.001-07:00

I've noticed that I get a lot of visitors from who never leave comments. I know this because of where people are viewing from. I would love to have everyone leave comments when you come to visit. Even if its just hello, no matter who its from. Its kind of like mail, everyone likes to get it!!! Especially from people I see popping in from Wyoming.....

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Also realized that I never followed up with more pictures from Napa.... So here we go. By the way, loved it there and kept my eyes open for kid friendly things, so we will definitely be going back.

This first one is Darioush. The wine was pretty good here, but you have to go to see the building. As the lovely gay couple we met the night before said, its very ornate and looks a little pretentious at first.

These are the pugs that were completely in love with Cory's shoes ... That his brother's dog had peed on a couple of days before..

Look at the cute Corgi. He was at the sister winery of the one with the pugs...

Rub my belly, I'll love you forever.

Look how sober we are. V Sattuie (sp?) We did the wine tasting with food pairings. Every time our wine was empty and we still had the food that went with it, the woman would fill our glasses up again. Totally worth the $15 a piece.

No News is Good News...

2008-10-17T16:29:00.001-07:00

Isn't that what they say? I don't know if I buy that one. And really, I can't honestly say that there is NO news. Although we have no idea if our paperwork is moving through in Ethiopia, which I'm still deciding if I like. I know that some people swear by doing it the WHFC way, it still seems as though some tiny bit of encouragement would preferable. Nothing I can do about that now.

We did get an update on B though, and he is taking after his older "sister" Sake. In the last photos that I saw of him, we thought that there was a bit of tummy, but attributed it to the clothes. Nope, my little porker has gained 8 lbs since the last report we had on him, but only grown an inch. Which, as a newbie to this, I am told by the experienced mommies, that this is normal. Can you imagine if any one of us women gained 8 lbs. since August??? Holy crap!!! Melt down!!! Its just a different view point that I need to switch to I guess. But in all seriousness, it is a good thing that he is chowing down and gaining weight. I just want him to stay sort of little until we get there... So I can enjoy some of the tiny time. At lease he weighs more than Sake now. That was going to be so embarrassing for her.

TEARS!!!

2008-10-12T21:27:00.000-07:00

Go to Jenny and Troy's blog - to the right... They have video posted from the party they threw for us last weekend and I am laughing so hard, I just about had tears running down my face. I think that it would be funny to anyone, but let me know if its one of those things that you had to be there for!!!! OMG!!!!!

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I just realized that this is my 100th post!! I've been blogging for over a year. Some how the pictures I pointed you to just seem so appropriate for a 100th post.

Tequila Shots..????

2008-10-10T08:25:00.001-07:00

There were tequila shots??? Seriously, there were??? I remember those on Saturday night but not so much Sunday........

Shower

2008-10-09T11:24:00.000-07:00

Sorry I haven't updated for so long, but I have been really busy, with work, insurance exams, playing, you know.... Life!

So, the courts definitely appear to be open, and the people who are with agencies that tell you your court date (which we are not) are apparently having dates assigned. I have NO idea what this means for us. At this point we could be going any time from November to January... Which is fine, because apparently, and this is for Troy, the instructions at IKEA have not been improved. There is still a frustrated little dough man calling IKEA on his phone for help. So needless to say, Cory got a very small child dresser put together, and it only took him ALL of yesterday afternoon.

Also, last Sunday, our friends, Jenny and Troy threw us the best shower ever!! I hesitate to fully call it a baby shower, since B isn't a baby, but still. It was great! Awesome food, great games, complete with shots. This is the best way to be pregnant, seriously, and wonderful and extremely thoughtful presents from our friends. We are very lucky to have them all.

I don't have a lot of pictures, when I get a chance I will post the ones that I have, but, if you go to Hannie's blog over on the right, you can see some!

Rumor Has It.....

2008-09-30T19:59:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-27T16:34:00.000-07:00

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??

2008-09-22T12:03:00.001-07:00

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!

2008-09-20T18:03:00.001-07:00

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!

2008-09-20T18:03:00.000-07:00

Depressed

2008-09-12T20:02:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-12T08:01:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-09T18:55:00.001-07:00

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....

2008-09-04T11:04:00.001-07:00

A Couple of Items

2008-09-02T18:53:00.000-07:00

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.

What Kind of Flower Are You?

2008-08-31T13:51:00.000-07:00

Since I don't have much else to talk about......

"Mischief is your middle name, but your first is friend. You are quite the prankster that loves to make other people laugh."

I am a
Snapdragon

What Flower
Are You?

We did get all of our final paperwork sent off to WHFC this week though and now we're just waiting.

Made Some Announcements

2008-08-27T19:58:00.000-07:00

So I told my grandpa, grandma and dad today. That was actually fairly painless, so now we just have Cory's family to make the big announcement to. We will be up there next month for his grandma's 80th surprise birthday party so he can knock them all out at once.

So my previous post, about not telling people is null and void.

Okay, I'm tired. It's late and I'm ready for bed. =)

Note To Quiz Below

2008-08-26T09:22:00.001-07:00

If you just click on the submit button, it will take you to the Quizilla website, where you need to take the quiz from. Then you should get your results.

Which Dr. Seuss Character Are You?

2008-08-25T12:35:00.001-07:00

Quick Note to Matched...

2008-08-21T21:44:00.000-07:00

Hey, not that this should come up, but just in case someone in Rock Springs ran across my grandpa or grandma... They still don't know. And I know that Jenny is saying, WHAT??!! And shaking her head saying that I am so weird and its just so bizarre...

But I do have my reasons. They don't know about this yet, and there will be a lot of explaining involved when I talk to them just because of that. My thoughts are to wait and spring the news when the adoption is actually complete. I can just see me telling them, something going wrong and then having to explain why - over the phone - to multiple people because they are not blog/computer people and that is just not something that I want to deal with.

So, don't ask my grandpa how he feels about being a great grandpa!!! ;) He will look very confused, and then next thing you know people will be talking about how sad it is that he is losing it. You know how RS is.

Celebrity Collage by MyHeritage

2008-08-20T20:02:00.001-07:00

http://www.myheritage.com/collage

MyHeritage: Family trees - Genealogy - Celebrities

Does anyone even know who most of these people are?????

Matched!!!

2008-08-19T12:16:00.000-07:00

As some of you know, last week Cory and I decided to ask for more information on one of the waiting children at Horizon House (the orphanage in Addis run by WHFC).

They sent us his file, the cutest little four year old ever, and we decided that we would change our age request, once again, to an older child. This involves additional paperwork for our agency, including an updated Home Study, Local Resource Provider Worksheet, another form for our social work to sign off on and meeting with a pediatrician to have his file reviewed. Oh, and another on line course for adopting the older child. So my Thursday and Friday last week were spent calling all over the valley, looking for an International Adoption Clinic - only took me about 4 hours to finally find one at the U. Therapists, interpreters, respite care providers, etc..... And why you might be asking was there such a rush to get all of this completed by Monday? Because there were other families who had thrown their hat in the ring for him. Yup, multiple other families.

So when there are multiple families requesting a match with a waiting child, our agency has a match meeting, where they sit down, compare the files and decide who they will assign this child to. There are a lot of different things they look at to make their decision.... So, I kept telling myself that there was a very good chance that we would not be matched with him, and made myself look at some of the other kids, even though he was the cutest with the biggest brown eyes and long eyelashes EVER.

So, I had everything in yesterday, and my social worker said "Um, you're very thorough...." I wasn't sure if that was a good thing or what.. So she tells me the meeting will be this morning (today) and she could be able to call me by this afternoon...

Imagine my surprise when the phone rings at 10 am and the caller id says Massachusetts.... I answer the phone and Nicole says, "Hi Stacy, I have some good news for you and Cory...." Well, I think that you can all figure out what that is..

In 2-4 months we will be going to Ethiopia to get our 4 year old son. That still sounds kind of weird to say and I really don't think that any of it has hit me yet. I was so prepared for them to call me later in the afternoon that I just don't feel like I was ready for it. I was just kind of like "Oh, that's something...wow" Happy but just not the same I guess as if you totally weren't expecting it, like with the referral stories you hear. Cory was kind of the same way. I called him and tried to be all coy about it, dropping hints the size of boulders, like "We'll need the money to pay the agency this week... You know the big balance you have to pay when you are matched with a child......" Nothing, I just got okay. In his defense though I did wake him up and he said the same thing that he just didn't have time to think about it. I talked to him later and it had kicked in and now he's making lists of things that need to be done (so my thing usually) and climbing around on the roof killing wasps.

One other thought, this poor kid is going to come home with us in the winter. Full on winter at our house, complete with 20 foot piles of snow.. Jungle, winter. Fun! Jessica told me there is a Patagonia sale on Labor Day. I am thinking toddler snow suit... Anyone want to come shopping....?? ;)

P.P.S... Because of the Ethiopian laws I cannot post pictures of him on the blog and I am not completely comfortable sending them to everyone either. They can't be posted ANYWHERE!!!! So no pictures until he is officially ours which will be some time after the courts reopen. They reopen in a month or so, and then we have to wait for the adoption to go through the courts. So it will be a while. Sorry!!! I don't even know if I am supposed to put his name on here honestly, so I am airing on the safe side.

So Not an Accurate Quiz

2008-08-14T16:26:00.001-07:00

You are most like: You are Yellow
The clouds part and the smell of daffodils and daisies fill the air when you are around. Your sunny disposition cheers most, and makes others (the jealous and bitter ones) wish you'd never gotten out of bed.
Take this quiz: Which Crayola Box of 8 Color Are You?
Visit Toys For Your Blog.com for more blog quizzes

You are most like:

You are Yellow

The clouds part and the smell of daffodils and daisies fill the air when you are around. Your sunny disposition cheers most, and makes others (the jealous and bitter ones) wish you'd never gotten out of bed.

Take this quiz: Which Crayola Box of 8 Color Are You?

Visit Toys For Your Blog.com for more blog quizzes

"Kid Friendly" Explanation

2008-08-12T14:47:00.001-07:00

I was already thinking that I would have to explain that comment......

It is true, I don't like to sit next to children in restaurants. Most restaurants. Why? Because most of the time when people take their children out, especially in our current home state, the parents see it as a chance to try out that, "It takes a village to raise a child" motto. It's suddenly mom and dad's break. I mean seriously, they will let the kids run around the restaurant, turn tables into sties a pig wouldn't frequent, kick the backs of booths, run up to other people's tables... And generally cause every childless couple's reproductive organs to shrivel and disappear.

Before I get the crabby comments, notice that I said most. And let's face it, anyone reading this agrees with me. You're right there with me, asking for a bottle of wine and shot of ANYTHING to drown it out. Now, you go to some places though and you learn to expect a certain amount of child noise, but over the last few years, I've been taking note of the places where people take their kids, but control them for the most part. They make them sit there and act like humans, like the little mini forms of adults... What a novel concept. Some of these would be Citris Grill, The Porcupine, Fratelli's even... All casual environments, good for well behaved children. I still don't think that other restaurants are made for children, but we will see how my opinion changes in the next few months... Although I guarantee you I will not sit somewhere like the Metropolitan as my child screams and throws a hissy fit, ignoring him to the detriment of everyone else who wanted to enjoy an evening out. Junior will be seeing the outside of the building faster than he can say "But I want it". I don't care. That's what take out is for and mommy has plenty of wine at home. You can sit in your room, and I can play pool.

So, in conclusion, yes, I have been taking note of events, restaurants, etc, where a well behaved child would fit in. And the one that we went to last weekend was the best of both worlds. Kids can run around and play on the grass, while mom and dad enjoy a nice sauvignon blanc and a slice of pate with a berry salad.

Happy now Jenny.... You better watch the smart ass cracks, or I will have to take your appointment to Aunt Jenny under review.....

Taste of the Nation

2008-08-11T20:44:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday we went up to Solitude to attend the Taste of the Nation. This is an event held in cities across the country to raise money for people here in the states who can barely make ends meet. Basically, in honor of those who cannot afford Spam, the rest of us spend $x to go to an event where 40 or 50 local restaurants come together and create a tasting to represent their establishment. You go from tent to tent, and back as many times as you want, getting helpings of things like steak tartare, paella, corn chowder, mole's, awesome seared tuna, cupcakes, ice cream, etc... As well as all you can drink wine and beer. I know that in some places they have a mixologist.

I highly recommend attending this. The silent auction was pretty cool too. We walked away with a 100 year old bottle of balsamic vinegar and a limited edition Dr. Seuss Cat in the Hat cookie jar, a ton of cookies and brownies from Mrs. Fields, a cute little Dr. Seuss lunch box, and pail, which probably end up as a trash can for the upcoming midget.

It was definitely a good time though and kid friendly as well. You're outside the whole time and its just a nice summer afternoon - for a good cause.

Camera Update Part Deux

2008-08-05T16:16:00.001-07:00

So, last Friday or Saturday, I can't remember, I got a message at home saying that my camera was being shipped back to me and I could expect it in about 5 days... I wonder if they were actually able to fix the poor thing.

Canine Casino Night

2008-08-04T19:17:00.000-07:00

So last Friday my friend Jenny and I each took one of our dogs to No More Homeless Pets Canine Casino night. Its a fundraiser for homeless pets, in case you didn't catch that already.

It was great, dogs everywhere, a lot of them dressed up. Shelby wore a pink dress with a rhinestone skull and cross bone on the back, and Molly, Jenny's Boston Terrier, wore her wife beater with shiny Playboy bunnies all over it. For $35 everyone took their dogs to the Radisson, destroyed a ball room in the only way a room full of usually potty trained dogs who just met each other can, and drank so so drinks and had so so hors d'oeuvres. It really was fun though. We didn't ever get around to playing any of the casino games, but we hit the silent and live auction. I walked away with a gift certificate to Fleming's from the silent auction an Jenny got a day at doggy camp. In the live auction Jenny paddled us into another Fleming's gift certificate and tickets to the Slippery Kittens Burlesque show. If you go to this photo gallery, http://www.reddragonflyphotography.com/Galleries/Gateway.aspx?g=22 you can see all the cute doggies, including Shelby and Molly, and their great costumes. Check out the chihuahua, it was barely 2 pounds.

And everything went to a good cause. So if you ever have the chance to attend one of these, I fully recommend you do so!!!

Busy Busy

2008-08-03T19:47:00.001-07:00

So I've been really busy lately so not a lot of time for blogging......

I realized that I never covered the whole vaccination outing. Cory and I are now protected against Yellow Fever, Menongitis, Hep A & B, got my first tetanus shot EVER and typhoid and a polio booster. I think that is it.

Cory wanted me to point out to the doctor that I have never had chicken pox and ask for the new vaccine that they have for that, but I thought that I had enough viruses being shot into me and I was done. I figure that my great grandma on my mom's side, and my grandma on my dad's side has never had it so I have a natural immunity... That's my story and I'm sticking to it. Seriously though, my class go chicken pox on two different occasions, where half got it the first time and the last half the second time and my younger brother had it over Christmas break when I was in junior high and my mom basically had me lick everything he ate off of, sit next to him, which was horrifying to me at the time, and drink from his glass, and nothing... I think I'm good without a shot.....

So now that I've covered that, I will try to do a few entries on what we've been up to, including Canine Casino night, when Jenny sends me the pics to add.. ;)

Sky Diving Decision

2008-07-30T11:43:00.000-07:00

Unfortunately, I just have too much going on in August to do the sky diving. I know, don't I sound so important? But seriously, I have like the next 8 weekends planned with different parties, trips, etc... So no jumping out of a plane for me, this time....

And, who voted you're crazy anyway, do whatever you want? It was Christie, wasn't it?

Sky Diving

2008-07-25T09:20:00.001-07:00

I see that two people have voted, and they both said yes, and take me with you....

So who voted and who is coming with?

New Poll

2008-07-24T12:04:00.000-07:00

There, I did it ahead of schedule. You have a new poll to vote in to the right. I really am trying to work this out for next month. Amber is arranging it and I am not sure what I have going on the day that she has it scheduled for.. But it would be exciting. Anyone else want to go?

Polls

2008-07-23T13:25:00.000-07:00

I realize that I have gotten totally behind on the polls. I had intended to do one every week, and that lasted all of two weeks. Big shock, ey?

I will put it on my to do list for this weekend to come up with something at least semi-interesting.

In the meantime, the baby pool is sucking it up. There are only two people over there. Now I realize that Christie and Jenny are good with those odds, but come on!!! Where are my gamblers?

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Camera Update

After my first camera was mercilessly smashed to bits in a dimly lit bathroom in a tiny bar in Prague - Yah, sugar packet, ha! I purchased another camera. This was on April 22. I bought it on line from Best Buy and during the checkout process was given the option of purchasing the warranty for Accidental Damage. Considering the demise of the previous camera, I thought that this would be wise. It lasted for 2 years.

Well, here we are 3 months later, and that is the best $30 I have spent in a long time. I took the camera and accompanying pieces into Best Buy today, and the woman at customer service took me to the Geek Squad. They were quite impressed with the state of the poor camera. After having me sign it into their care, one of the geeks said, "That should be ready in 2-3 weeks..... that's if they can even fix it." He sounded doubtful.. So I confirmed, "What happens if they CAN'T fix it"... "It'll be replaced." Fantastic!!! Happy customer.

Oh, and here's another little aside on the camera epic... Last night I was hosting a Liv Fit (SXinney) Party at my house. I wanted to use Cory's camera, since mine is broken and all. Well of course his is not charged. I put it in the docking port by the computer, and no lights come on. Keep in mind this is more Cory's PC than mine and behind the desk is a jungle of cords that no sane person would risk putting an appendage into. So I call him at work.
"Hey honey, the light is not coming on. Don't I just plug it in...?

Cory: "Yes, but it might not be working...."

Me: "Ok, why? And what is my alternate course of action"

Cory: "I unplugged it all when we went to Prague. I plugged it back in but not all the way..."

Me: "......" there is nothing to say.

Cory: "Use the cord that plugs into it its right there"

Me: "Right where, there are LOTS of cords here"

Cory: "Its black with grayish, and its got another thing on it, then it plugs into the camera.."

I am getting very irritated at this point needless to say. This is not the only thing that I have to do. I start looking under all the crap that is accumulated up there and finally find it, as he is still going on and on trying to describe with all sorts of helpful words and phrases like, "you know, the thingy, gray, black, like the computer"

I finally find it, and do you want to know what he said to me.... Divorces happen over less than this.

He says....

Well if you'd quit breaking your cameras you wouldn't have to be using mine.....

Thought he was funny.

Thought he was real funny.

You know how they show dams or other large objects in movies when they are about to break. Its all quiet and then they explode.

Yah, it was kind of like that.

What the #$#@%$@$@$@$#!!!???????? I HAVE NOT BROKEN ONE #$@$# CAMERA!!! And correct me if I'm wrong but every one that has been broken has been by someone with a penis!!! AAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!

Of course, you can hear him trying to cover up the phone laughing his ass off on the other end. yah.

Time Flies

2008-07-21T16:48:00.000-07:00

So I know that I am going to be put on some adoption blog hit list for this one, but I really feel like the wait time for the referral is flying by. I mean seriously, I looked at our ticker today, and it seems like just yesterday that the little elephant was barely even pulling away from the left side. Now he's about a third of the way across.

I know that most people have a seriously hard time with the wait and considering how impatient I am typically, you would think that I would be too. But nope!!! It feels like it is just moving right along to me. I think that a large part of this is the fact that I had set expectations going into this regarding a wait time. I notice that a lot of people move fairly quickly from the decision to adopt, then into the process. Whereas we have been talking about this for years, knowing that we wouldn't start until last fall, so I got a lot of the urgent "I want it to happen now" out of me I think and had been reading the adoption blogs for so long that I had a realistic expectation set.

Wow, sounds like I'm awfully proud of myself doesn't it? Didn't mean to. Just wanted to comment on how quick that little baby elephant is moving!!!

Memories - Stolen from Amber's Blog

2008-07-18T15:39:00.000-07:00

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you.

________________________________________________________________________________________

What Tree Did you Fall From (Also Stolen from Amber)

I am a Hazelnut Tree:

Hazelnut Tree (Extraordinary ) -- charming, sense of humor, very demanding but can also be very understanding, knows how to make a lasting impression, active fighter for social causes and politics, popular, quite moody, sexually oriented, honest, a perfectionist, has a precise sense of judgment and expects complete fairness.

Find your birthday and then find your tree. This is cool and somewhat accurate. Then send it to your friends, including the one that sent it to you, so they can find out what tree you fell from, but do not forget to change the subject line to your tree. Find your tree below and see how accurate it is ....

Dec 23 to Jan 01
Apple Tree
Jan 01 to Jan 11
Fir Tree
Jan 12 to Jan 24
Elm Tree
Jan 25 to Feb 03
Cypress Tree
Feb 04 to Feb 08
Poplar Tree
Feb 09 to Feb 18
Cedar Tree
Feb 19 to Feb 28
Pine Tree
Mar 01 to Mar 10
Weeping Willow Tree
Mar 11 to Mar 20
Lime Tree
Mar 21 (only)
Oak Tree
Mar 22 to Mar 31
Hazelnut Tree
Apr 01 to Apr 10
Rowan Tree
Apr 11 to Apr 20
Maple Tree
Apr 21 to Apr 30
Walnut Tree
May 01 to May 14
Poplar Tree
May 15 to May 24
Chestnut Tree
May 25 to Jun 03
Ash Tree
Jun 04 to Jun 13
Hornbeam Tree
Jun 14 to Jun 23
Fig Tree
Jun 24 (only)
Birch Tree
Jun 25 to Jul 04
Apple Tree
Jul 05 to Jul 14
Fir Tree
Jul 15 to Jul 25
Elm Tree
Jul 26 to Aug 04
Cypress Tree
Aug 05 to Aug 13
Poplar Tree
Aug 14 to Aug 23
Cedar Tree
Aug 24 to Sep 01
Pine Tree
Sep 02 to Sep 12
Weeping Willow Tree
Sep 13 to Sep 22
Lime Tree
Sep 23 (only)
Olive Tree
Sep 24 to Oct 03
Hazelnut Tree
Oct 04 to Oct 13
Rowan Tree
Oct 14 to Oct 23
Maple Tree
Oct 24 to Nov 11
Walnut Tree
Nov 12 to Nov 21
Chestnut Tree
Nov 22 to Dec 01
Ash Tree
Dec 02 to Dec 11
Hornbeam Tree
Dec 12 to Dec 21
Fig Tree
Dec 22 (only)
Beech Tree

TREES (in alphabetical order)
Apple Tree (Love) -- quiet and shy at times, lots of charm, appeal, And attraction, pleasant attitude, flirtatious smile, adventurous, sensitive, loyal in love, wants to love and be loved, faithful and tender partner, very generous, many talents, loves children, needs affectionate partner.

Ash Tree (Ambition) -- extremely attractive, vivacious, impulsive, demanding, does not care for criticism, ambitious, intelligent, talented, likes to play with fate, can be very egotistic, reliable, restless lover, sometimes money rules over the heart, demands attention, needs love and much emotional support.

Beech Tree (Creative) -- has good taste, concerned about its looks, materialistic, good organization of life and career, economical, good leader, takes no unnecessary risks, reasonable, splendid lifetime companion, keen on keeping fit (diets, sports, etc.).

Birch Tree (Inspiration) -- vivacious, attractive, elegant, friendly, unpretentious, modest, does not like anything in excess, abhors the vulgar, loves life in nature and in calm, not very passionate, full of imagination, little ambition, creates a calm and content atmosphere.

Cedar Tree (Confidence ) -- of rare strength, knows how to adapt, Likes unexpected presents, of good health, not in the least shy, tends to look down on others, self-confident, a great speaker, determined, often impatient, likes to impress others, has many talents, industrious, healthy optimism, waits for the one true love, able to make quick decisions.

Chestnut Tree (Honesty) -- of unusual stature, impressive, well-developed sense of justice, fun to be around, a planner, born diplomat, can be irritated easily, sensitive of others feelings, hard worker, sometimes acts superior, feels not understood at times, fiercely family oriented, very loyal in love, physically fit.

Cypress Tree (Faithfulness) -- strong, muscular, adaptable, takes What life has to give but doesn't necessarily like it, strives to be content, optimistic, wants to be financially in dependent, wants love and affection, hates loneliness, passionate lover which cannot be satisfied, faithful, quick-tempered at times, can be unruly and careless, loves to gain knowledge, needs to be needed.

Elm Tree (Noble-mindedness ) -- pleasant shape, tasteful clothes, modest demands, tends not to forgive mistakes, cheerful, likes to lead but not to obey, honest and faithful partner, likes making decisions for others, noble-minded, generous, good sense of humor, practical..

Fig Tree (Sensibility ) -- very strong minded, a bit self-willed, honest, loyal, independent, hates contradiction or arguments, hard worker when wants to be, loves life and friends, enjoys children and animals, sexually oriented, great sense of humor, has artistic talent and great intelligence.

Fir tree (Mysterious ) -- extraordinary taste, handles stress well, loves anything beautiful, stubborn, tends to care for those close to them, hard to trust others, yet a social butterfly, likes idleness and laziness after long demanding hours at work, rather modest, talented, unselfish, many friends, very reliable.

Hazelnut Tree (Extraordinary ) -- charming, sense of humor, very demanding but can also be very understanding, knows how to make a lasting impression, active fighter for social causes and politics, popular, quite moody, sexually oriented, honest, a perfectionist, has a precise sense of judgment and expects complete fairness.

Hornbeam Tree (Good Taste) -- of cool beauty, cares for its looks and condition, good taste, is not egoistic, makes life as comfortable as possible, leads a reasonable and disciplined life, looks for kindness and acknowledgment in an emotional partner, dreams of unusual lovers, is seldom happy with its feelings, mistrusts most people, is never sure of its decisions, very conscientious.

Lime Tree (Doubt) - intelligent, hard working, accepts what life dishes out, but not before trying to change bad circumstances into good ones, hates fighting and stress, enjoys getaway vacations, may appear tough, but is actually soft and relenting, always willing to make sacrifices for family and friends, has many talents but not always enough time to use them, great leadership qualities, is jealous at times but extremely loyal.

Maple Tree (Independence of Mind ) -- no ordinary person, full of imagination and originality, shy and reserved, ambitious, proud, self-confident, hungers for new experiences, sometimes nervous, has many complexities, good memory, learns easily, complicated love life, wants to impress.

Oak Tree (Brave) -- robust nature, courageous, strong, unrelenting, independent, sensible, does not like change, keeps its feet on the ground, person of action.

Olive Tree (Wisdom) -- loves sun, warmth and kind feelings, reasonable, balanced, avoids aggression and violence, tolerant, cheerful, calm, well-developed sense of justice, sensitive, empathetic, free of jealousy, loves to read and the company of sophisticated people.

Pine Tree (Peacemaker) -- loves agreeable company, craves peace and harmony, loves to help others, active imagination, likes to write poetry, not fashion conscious, great compassion, friendly to all, falls strongly in love but will leave if betrayed or lied to, emotionally soft, low self-esteem, needs affection and reassurance.

Poplar Tree (Uncertainty) -- looks very decorative, talented, not very self-confident, extremely courageous if necessary, needs goodwill and pleasant surroundings, very choosy, often lonely, great animosity, great artistic nature, good organizer, tends to lean toward philosophy, reliable in any situation, takes partnership seriously.

Rowan Tree (Sensitivity) -- full of charm, cheerful, gifted without egoism, likes to draw attention, loves life, motion, unrest, and even complications, is both dependent and independent, good taste, artistic, passionate, emotional, good company, does not forgive.

Walnut Tree (Passion) -- unrelenting, strange and full of contrasts, often egotistic, very attractive, aggressive, noble, broad horizon, unexpected reactions, spontaneous, unlimited ambition, no flexibility, difficult and uncommon partner, not always liked but often admired, ingenious strategist, very jealous and passionate, no compromise.

Weeping Willow (Melancholy) - likes to be stress free, loves family life, full of hopes and dreams, attractive, very empathetic, loves anything beautiful, musically inclined, loves to travel to exotic places, restless, capricio= us, honest, can be influenced but is not easy to live with when pressured, sometimes demanding, good intuition, suffers in love until they find that one loyal, steadfast partner; loves to make others laugh.

Random Items

2008-07-17T19:47:00.000-07:00

So first of all, tomorrow Cory and I are going to get the first of our immunizations. I say the first because I know that at least one or two of them have a series of shots. Soon I'll by immunized to yellow fever, Hepatitis A & B, Typhoid, Meningitis, Rabies, and a couple of other things.... And I can get that tetanus shot that I've NEVER had, and a flu shot probably - also something that I have never had. I'm not comfortable with having these "reduced strength" bugs injected into me. The shots themselves, I'm fine with. Needles don't bother me. But the rest of it, not so looking forward to it.

And while we are on the subject, I had a strange thought the other day while I was getting ready for work. While I'm going about my life like normal - going to work, throwing parties, going out to eat and to movies.... My little boy is already alive somewhere. When you really stop to think about it, isn't that just crazy. I know that other people who have adopted have had this thought, and many of them obsess over it, at least from some blogs I've read, but that was the first time that I actually internalized it, actually felt, I don't know what exactly. Sad, wishful, thoughtful.. I don't know. Anyway, if you do the math, and assume that we will most likely get a referral of a little boy over 18 months old, there is no way that he has not been born already. Then I started to think about what he is doing. Is he with his mother, or is she even alive still? Is he hungry like so many children in Ethiopia right now? If he is not with his parents then he is probably with an extended family member like a grandparent, who can barely take care of and feed themselves, and is torn by the knowledge that they may have to give up their grandchild. I can go on and on and let my imagination get the better of me, but there it is. Something to think about. Especially for anyone who is considering adoption. I know that there are children here in the US too, and I know that a lot of them are hungry, its hard for anyone in our positions - jobs, houses, cars, etc.. - to fully comprehend that, but just imagine the idea of 100,000's of thousands of children on the brink of death at any given moment.

Anyway, now that I've tried to depress everyone, let's move on to a completely different topic.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Margarita Party

So, as a lot of you know, because you were here, we had our annual margarita party on Saturday night. Needless to say, the food provided by Allyson was AWESOME as always. There were copious amounts of alcohol consumed, and for some just mixer from what I hear (Hannie, I am so disappointed in you). Overall I think that everyone had a good time. Especially when Randy broke out the 100 yr old Grand Marnier - yes it was as good as it sounds. The shots were yummy and the margaritas he made with that and the Patron Platinum were to die for, or from. Haven't quite figured that one out yet. Our new (to us) neighbors from up the street, Jason and Amber, who moved to Utah from Fort Collins brought down their version of the Rio Margarita. Anyone from Colorado or who has spent any time there knows what this is. The Rio is a restaurant/bar in Ft. Collins and one in Denver, that has a 3 marg limit. Apparently they say that's how strong they are. Well I had at least 3 of those Saturday, numerous shots, and a few of Randy's margs, and let's just say when 5:30 am rolled around, I probably should have had a fork stuck in me hours ago.

So, without further ado, some pictures....

Here's Troy and Cory.... drinking, wow!

Andy didn't know what was on his pants, and frankly, I don't think
that I want to either.

Ta Da!!! Here's Jamie showing off Randy who brought the yummy Marnier!

A bunch of the girls together. l to r: Hannie, me, Jenny, Jamie, Amber and Jessica.

In Memoriam of the Red Kodak Camera April 2008 to July 12 2008. Rest in peace little buddy. You never had a chance in this house.

Second camera down this year and I am happy to say that I have not broken either one. I feel that's a valid point.

Tagged By Jenny

2008-07-10T21:37:00.000-07:00

My lovely friend Jenny has tagged me. So if you are reading this and you are not her, consider yourself tagged!!!

1) Favorite book ............ and why you love it? This is a really tough one. I suppose it would be an encyclopedia. I mean other books are entertaining, but you can find so much information in an encyclopedia.

2) Longest relationship other than your spouse -- who and how long, plus any commentary you'd like to share? Mother - Since I was just a twinkle in her eye... hee heee

3) Favorite drunken memory? Isn't this a bit of an oxymoron? If I'm drunk, how am I supposed to remember? So many to choose from..... Getting pulled over for walking drunk down Grand with Jenny, shortly after Ryan the Cop had made me park my car is quite a stand out though...

4) Favorite pair of jeans - where'd you get 'em, how much, and add a picture of you in them... Okay, I just got a new computer so I don't have easy access to pics, but I LOVE my 1921's. I got my first pair for half off and I think that they were $80. They are so comfy and look really good.

5) Describe your favorite meal, or whatever meal you are craving? Indian sounds really good. Chicken Tikka Masala, Shrimp Saag or Palak Paneer, some garlic naan, and maybe some peshwari naan too..

6) What would you do on your dream date? Take a private jet to another country, Italy maybe, and be taken on a shopping spree then fed.

7) What would you do if you won $10 million in the lottery? Pay off any outstanding bills, take a trip to celebrate, put a million in savings, a high interest account and the rest - invest.

8) What is something that you regret not doing when you had the chance? Travelling right after college. I am so jealous of Jenny and Troy for doing that. We should have just applied for a bunch of credit cards and gone for it!!

9) What professional sport would you play if you could? Maybe tennis, since its not a team sport.

10) Who do you look up to, and why? I can't really think of anyone right off the bat. I respect, maybe even admire a lot of people, but look up to implies putting someone on a pedestal to me, and I don't want to do that to anyone.

Breaking Up

2008-07-02T12:04:00.000-07:00

Can someone explain this phenomenon to me? Not breaking up like breaking up with a boyfriend or something. That I have no problem with... No, the breaking up with Blogger.

One of my favorite blogs to follow had their last post on June 1, saying goodbye. That they were "breaking up with blogger". By most of the comments that I saw, I determined that this is a regular thing, but I am baffled.

Is blogging like a relationship, does it eventually run its course? Or is it that people just get bored with it? This is my first experience with it and I am bummed. :( I keep checking back just in case they change their mind and come back. I feel like the girlfriend/boyfriend who just can't accept that its over. You know, like that guy in college you break up with and then he sleeps on your porch until you talk to him, or leaves 53 messages, or breaks into your friend's house looking for you and loses her cat....????? Okay, maybe not exactly like that, but you get the picture. (Possibly way too much of a picture of some of my college days too!)

HOW COULD I FORGET!!????

Porsche is sold!!! Yay!!!!!!!!!!!! That's all. (added later)

Long Time No Blog

2008-06-30T20:10:00.000-07:00

So I've been out of the blogging loop for quite a while, but I'm back. Unfortunately, I don't have a whole lot to say today...

Since my last post I can't think of a whole lot of exciting news. I was in San Francisco for a few days last week. Jessica and I went out there for a presentation, that actually went pretty well by the way... Then we stayed for the weekend, we had a LOT of yummy food. Seriously, we made little piggies of ourselves. We had limited time though and way too many wonderful restaurants to not make good use of them. I specifically would like to point out Cafe de la Presse, right outside of China town on Grant... So good!!! It was just like being in a cafe in France.. in fact a lot of the patrons were speaking french, and the Croque Monsieur was awesome!! Then there was the Italian restaurant down the street from the Monaco. Punetti something or other. Canelloni, stuffed with chicken, ricotta and raisins with a parmesan cream sauce and walnuts...... mmmmmmmmmmmm Those are just a couple.

I suppose the other new interesting thing is that I've started selling Sxinney water on the side. It's a really easy way to detox your body, lose weight, and balance out your Ph. Cory was off the Red Bull in a day ( and you know how car guys love their caffeine ) and said that he had just as much energy but could actually sleep at night. I don't want to bore my whole five readers, so if anyone wants to know more about it, just let me know. I'm not usually into this sort of stuff, I never drank the Xango, ie Kool-aid ;) But this seems to be something really easy and helpful for busy people.

Well then, that should cover it for tonight, don't you think?

Before you cast your ballots...

2008-06-19T11:46:00.000-07:00

Allow me to enter one more event to be considered with my Mother of the Decade nomination... Poop.

This morning, as I'm getting ready to go to work, I walk down the stairs and I smell poop. Very strong and distinct, and by God, I am sure that someone has pooped somewhere on the main floor. So I search all the rooms. The front room, the kitchen, the bathroom, the laundry room, the living room.... oooh. Definitely has to be in the living room. It smelled SO strong. Look all over the floor, the lovely new wood floor. Nothing anywhere, not by the fireplace, not in front of the TV, not behind, or under the sofa (I have no idea how a dog would poop under the sofa, but they are talented). Looked in Chivas' kennel, nothing, looked in Sake's kennel, nothing again. hmmm.... Maybe I'm imagining this. Maybe my sniffer is off. Maybe someone just had a very ripe expulsion of gas... I'll have to let it go. There is no poop.

I go back to the kitchen, get my lunch together for work, make my Skinny Water, and I'm walking in through the garage door, after putting the big bowl of macaroni salad back in the refrigerator out there. I glance at the living room again, from a new angle, and HAA! Found the poop.......... Wait for it.... Wait for it.....

Wait for it....

Asking yourself, where could it possibly have been, aren't you???

It's a good one.....

There is the poop, on the coffee table. It really is true, things are always in the last place you look.

Mother of the Decade

2008-06-18T14:12:00.001-07:00

Yup, that's right, that's me, or will be when I have a child. And here is all the proof you need....

26

Created by OnePlusYou

Please don't report me to any agencies. Its just a quiz people! I say this because I know you are lurking out there anonymous, just waiting to pounce.

As Promised...

2008-06-16T20:03:00.001-07:00

Pictures...

The half of the room that is done, with all of the furniture piled up in it...

And all that is left!

Nothing Exciting

2008-06-16T11:21:00.000-07:00

Nothing has really been going on. On the adoption front, obviously we are still waiting and will be for some time. Actually, on our updates from the agency that we get each week, it seems as though they are getting a lot of referrals and people who have requested a child in the same age range as us seem to be moving along pretty steadily. It concerns me a bit that we could get a referral earlier than I had anticipated. Just by way of, Jenny needs to get her painting clothes on again and get working on his room... ;) While I sit and drink wine and watch, since I'm not good at ANY of that. I even got taken off of taping duty when we did the kitchen. Which by the way, I still have not done the touch ups on... Oops! And Cory needs to do the floor up there still too. Kids are just work work work, and he's not even here yet! ;) j/k. We all know that the carpet had much to do with puppy pee a lots.

Other than that, Cory is working all the time, of course.. I'm still at the same place, shocking I know, and I was supposed to be in DC this week, but that was cancelled, but still going to San Francisco at the end of the month... That is it. We are dull. I was even considering planting some things in the yard. How domesticated is that!!! Then again, I don't know what the sentencing is like these days for knowingly killing a plant that could have actually gone to a good home. I have a bit of a black thumb.

Oh, hey though, if there is anyone reading this who didn't get an invite to the Margarita Party next month, or heck, anyone who reads it who will be out this way, let me know! With all of my job hopping, email addresses have gotten lost!

I'll try and remember to take photos of the room Cory is almost done with!

Still Here

2008-06-14T20:28:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to say that I am still here. Hi! I just don't have much to say unfortunately...... I'll try to come up with something though.