Journey to our little ladybug

Until then

2009-09-29T22:03:00.000-07:00

Due to the fact that I am not feeling this right now, I will no longer be posting to this blog.
FOR FRIENDS AND FAMILY, I hope to set up a new blog in the near future.
I will let you know when I have a new one up and running.
Nothing here has changed, we are still in line to adopt,
I just do not want to use this blog for the rest of our story.

Babies all around!

2009-06-07T20:21:00.000-07:00

It seems that this is the year for babies around here. Not only am I starting to think we will have ours by the end of the year (Good Lord I hope so!) but three of my sisters in law are expecting. The first one is due in October, but she will be having a scheduled c-section, this is her third pregnancy, and fifth child. BOTH of her previous ones were twins. ALL BOYS!!!

Yeah, it's quite FUN when we all get together!

The second one is due in November (Hi Jen Jen, yes I finally posted!) we don't know yet what it will be boy or girl, and the third is due in December also don't know, blue or pink.

Several of the people who I have been able to meet along the way have recently gotten their precious daughters. Three of whom, just got them today, actually around 4 a.m. our time. I have been a mad woman the past few days, stalking blogs for pictures and updates! I was even tempted to get up before dawn to check for any new posts. Having these women receive their babies is starting to get me excited again! I have had over three years to get stuff done, and now that I have kept putting it off, I am wondering if I will be able to finish in time. I am also starting to worry. I don't suppose it is any different for others, I worry about attachment issues for her, I've read up on these things, and I know that I will have to parent her much differently at first and probably even for a good while than our other two girls. I know that I will get told by some that I am spoiling her, but I will do what is best for her. PERIOD.

I am not against co-sleeping, we did it (and still do at times) with Lily and Madilyn, so I always knew that we would be doing it with our third as well. I am a little worried about how much time I will investing in her, and I don't want to make the other girls feel "left out." It is very important for us to gain her trust, before she can start to bond with us, we will have to proove to her that we are not going to leave her, and that we will meet every one of her needs.

I have picked out a hip carrier that I will be getting before we travel, and I am sure it will be used quite a bit in our everyday lives, even after we get home. It is suppose to be the best of all hip carriers, and not hurt your back, or dig into your neck/shoulder.

There is now only 21 days of Log In Days before us. I am hopeful that we will have a referral by the end of September, and any earlier would be amazing!

I have got to get in the babies room and start going through what I have. Make lists of what I still need, and start to pick up stuff at the store whenever I go. I know it will be much easier for me if I try to keep organized, if I let it get down to the wire, I will not get much sleep, as I tend to lay there for hours going over in my mind what still needs to be done. So I will have to make me some sort of check list, to keep my (and the DH's) sanity.

We have again started playing the name game. You knowthe one, I like a name, he doesn't, he likes a name I don't. Well, I think we may have a winner folks, still not too sure about a middle name.
But I'm not telling just yet!

Oh, and about more babies. The horses that my sister-n-law used to have, well, they gave them to a cousin right down the road from them, so every time we are there, I drive down to see them. For months, and months, I kept telling them that Trixie looked pregnant (the stud colt never got fixed, and he is now a fully grown stallion) Well about two weeks ago, I got the call that I have been expecting for a while, she had a baby boy!

Take a look, he is just a LITTLE cute!

Well now, isn't that just DANDY!

2009-04-29T19:01:00.000-07:00

You know, I've read a little bit about this Swine Flu going around ( who hasn't? That's just about all that is on the news!) Anyway, to be honest I have not really been too concerned about it because, as of now there has been nobody here effected by it. Well, not so much anymore. Apparently 2 kids just got back from a trip to Mexico, and the school nurse wanted them tested. Sure enough they tested positive! Although, Lily does'nt go to school there, she does have Girl Scouts with three girls who do. I just checked the local news up here, and all schools here are going to be closed tomorrow and Friday. I'm kind of glad we found out now, cause she would have gone to Girl Scouts this Friday. Needless to say it will be canceled too. I talked to one of the troop mother's, her daughter does go to the school in question, and she had no idea, just as shocked as me! I was a little pissed, that they new this yesterday, but let all of the kids go to school today! I would REALLY be ticked off it my child did go to that school, and they said nothing.
I do know, from what I've read, it is not suppose to be any more deadly than the regular flu, so this is why I did not pay too much attention at first, if this is true, then why be so secretive about it? I think somebody knows more than the average Joe, and they don't want a mass-hysteria situation. But who am I to guess!
I do realize that this thing might end up keeping some people who have their referrals from being able to travel for a little while. Also, there are rumors that the CCAA will not send out any more referrals for a while, at least until this starts to clear up I guess.
For those of you who are among the ones who already have your little ones photos, who could not possibly travel soon enough anyway, without this crap thrown into the mix, I'll be thinking of you daily (not that I don't already!) and sending mental hugs!
This is just CRAZY!
On a good note, I've got all day tomorrow and Friday with both my girls, so I just might post another video!

Lovin' this video thang!

2009-04-22T20:18:00.001-07:00

O.K. now I think I'm on a roll!
After over three years of having this blog, I know y'all have seen many pictures of my girls, but you haven't gotten the clear picture until you see them in action.
It was beautiful outside today, so I took advantage of it. Enjoy!

Oh, in case you're wondering, Madilyn is just fine, she was just a little embarrassed. My girls are too funny!

Also, there are early rumors out that the CCAA has started matching, usually referrals aren't far behind, let's just hope they cover many, many days!!!

Redneck Easter Egg fun!

2009-04-20T22:24:00.000-07:00

O.K. so I've FINALLY figured out how to upload my videos to my computer.

What a pain in the @ss too, I followed the directions that came with my handy dandy little High def Sony camcorder, and I was able to view them in the program that you have to use to download them onto your computer, but when I came in here to put it onto the blog, it was a no go. Well, after much researching to try to find out how the heck I can see them in any other program, it's Done! Now I have not tested this yet, so I hope you all can see and hear this video.

How many do you see?

2009-04-05T20:14:00.000-07:00

Let's play a little game shall we.

In this photo, how many candles are there?

This is no trick, just a question.

If you say three, then you are correct.

Well, what does a cupcake with three candles stand for?

Today is our third anniversary.

Not our wedding anniversary, but it has been three years since our paperwork was logged into the system at the CCAA.

Yep, three years. Who would have EVER thought this adoption would take that long? And the sad thing is, we're not even done yet. We have no idea how long it will end up being.

Some of the girls I have been able to meet during this wait have already been introduced to their precious little ones, and some got referrals Friday, some others are going to see their babies faces for the first time tomorrow, and I am so excited for them ( I will be stalking their blogs all day tomorrow for updates) and in a way, I can live vicariously (spelling?) through them till it is our turn. There are all sorts of rumors out there that things are about to speed up. Well, we sure hope so!

comin' up for a bit of air

2009-02-25T20:06:00.000-08:00

Hi, hello there, my name is Angela, nice to meet you!

Teehee, just kidding, I figured it had been so long since I posted, I should introduce my shabby self.

To be quite honest I've really been struggling with this whole blogging thing for a while, as I'm sure you can see, if there is anybody still out there.
But I do still want to, that's the thing, I just don't feel like there's anything to be said. This blog started out to be for our adoption, and yes, we are still adopting, it's just taking a wee bit (insert sacrasm here) longer than we had planned for. As pretty much all of you know, and have at times felt the same way.
Anyway, I truely feel like this is our year, and I know it is the year for many of you, and especially the girls that I've had the pleasure of meeting in person. I do keep up on all of your blogs, I just don't comment a whole lot. And I am stalking RQ (although not as much as you are) I'm excited to see how far this next bach of referrals will go. So anyway to fill some of you in who are not on this crazy ride, As of today, the CCAA has referred up through March 2, 2006. We are April 5, 2006. Yes, if you just look at it, it seems so close, but they are only getting through days at a time, sometimes only a couple, so in the big picture it could still be another year. I don't want to even think that way though, so I'm being positive, and sending good vibes to who ever it is in charge over there.

On another note, my kitchen is almost done! We got the knew cabinets in November, I just put down the new tile floor, and backsplash, I really want to post pictures, but it's still got a few things to go before I reveal the biggest remodel job we have done to date, and there's been ALOT! I LOVE IT!!!

Well, what do y'all think about AI this year? I don't particularly like the way the judging/voting is going, 9 people out of twelve are gone in just one night??? Even if there is someone really great like Danny from last week, if people forget to vote, then that's it. I meant to vote last week, but forgot, I was sweating it while watching to see if he made it!
I was watching tonight with my DH, and asked him if he thought one of the guys looked like someone else, and he totally agreed, he didn't think of it before, but when he started singing, he said that it was soooo them, as in the same person. What do y'all think?

Adam Lambert from this year (I voted for him tonight)

Kimberly Caldwell from (I think) the second season

These photos don't show the similarities as much as if you see him live/on T.V. Especially when he smiles, he looks JUST like her!

I don't know when the next time I will post, but I will try to more often, can't make promises though!!! Take care!

Want some

2009-01-15T21:50:00.000-08:00

Make a Smilebox greeting

So I'm a slacker!

2009-01-12T20:20:00.001-08:00

I know, I know, I have been a major suck munch at blogging lately. Sorry, I honesty am struggling with it, I try to get the urge, but it's usually just not worth it. I don't think if there ever were that many folks reading my blog, they have probably moved on to more exciting stuff! But, I figured for the few who do still check in every once in a while, I should post something, so here we go.
The Holidays came and went. I was so busy as usual, I hardly had time to enjoy it. I always tell myself to get more done ahead of time, and I really thought I did this year, but there always seems to be something esle we need to do/get. Oh, well, maybe next year.
I have more pictures than words so we'll just do it this way.

The girls had a great time chatting it up with old St. Nick/Santa Claus

And I had to get some of the girls in front of the tree!

We always decorate cookies for Santa, however we usually do it several days before. Yeah, I was in a rush to get them done before the girls went to bed on Christmas Eve.

And then we forgot to put them out, and DH went to wake up Lily, so she could put some out with milk and carrots for the reindeer.

And I could not let them go to bed without getting the P.J. pics!

For the past couple of years I've gotten some sort of ornament for our daughter to be, and this year was no exception.

Anyway, yes, our Christmas was magical, we were blessed to be with each other...

We saw a Heavenly Angel!

We played reindeer games!

And as always Santa brought way too much!!!

I finally got a tiny new camcorder, yes ours worked, but hey the new ones are so small, and maybe now I'll be able to figure out how to post videos!

I said maybe, bare with me please, it will take me a while to figure it out! Does anybody have this particular kind? I've only fiddled with it a short time, but love it already!

Now for some gossip, do any of you watch The Bache*lor?

I barely caught the tail end of last weeks' show, when DH came into the room and said a girl from here was suppose to be on it. Then I really started to pay attention. I almost died when I saw her! You see I'm a shopper, yes I know I need help, but back to the story. I have met this girl a few times in Gymboree.

I had never seen her daughter though, she always came in the store alone. But let me tell you, her little girl is one very well dressed little lady! She spends a small fortune on her clothes!
Other than those few times, I do not know her, so I can not say if she is nice or whatever, she seemed nice, and from what I've seen on the show so far I'm liking her! She is one of the only ones that seems sincere. I actually remember when the plane went down here at the airport that killed her husband and his brother, so sad! I had no idea who it was then, and certainly did not know it was her husband. I can't wait till next weeks show, me and DH had tears after they showed the clip of her on the beach when they surprised her with her daughter Sophie.

Oh, just thought of something, I have Gymbucks and they start this week. I had just seen her a few weeks ago, so who knows maybe I'll see her again, I don't know what I'd say to her though! HMMM! If only I could sneak my camcorder into the store.

Have a great week!!!

Family Fun

2008-12-14T21:52:00.000-08:00

Last Saturday Dec. 6th, we took the girls on an outing to pick out a Christmas Tree for our Family room. We've never had a real tree before, I had never wanted one. But last year I got to thinking, once we finished the front room, I could put my fake tree in there with all my nice glass and breakable ornaments on it, and we could get a real one for the girls to put their ornaments on, and we could make some like I did when I was little. It was REALLY cold outside, and the girls were just about ready to go almost as soon as we started walking around. Soon though they started running around and having fun. It was the perfect day for it, and I guess everyone had the same idea, they were VERY busy! I wish I had known before we went that we could have brought Jack, he would have loved it. Many people brought their dogs, well, maybe next year. The girls and I have started making some ornaments, and I will have to post pictures soon, but here's some of our day at the farm.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Halloween and other things!

2008-10-30T18:57:00.000-07:00

First, I want to say thank you to all who sent cards, and posted such sweet comments. It really means a lot to me, and I know I am not alone, in my thinking that our pets are like our children, and are very much a part of our family, and work their way into our hearts.
We are doing O.k. for the most part, when I say we, I mean me. I think that the girls are still at the age, where they don't completely get that it is final. Just today, we passed by the vet, and Lily asked if Dakota was still there, if he was in a cage. I have told her over and over that he is not coming back, she acts like she understands, we have also scattered part of his ashes in the yard, but she is not upset at all by it. I guess I'm fortunate in the fact that they are at that age. I could not imagine if they were as upset as I have been.
Jack is still doing pretty good, he's such a sweet, SWEET boy. Normally, the dogs were in a seperate part of the yard, mainly because I did not want the girls stepping in doggy poo. I have been letting Jack out, and just leaving the gate open. He is really good, so far has not torn up anything, or touched anything. I've watched him, and usually even though the gate is open, if we are not out there he stays in the pen anyway. We brought him in the other night because the temp was below freezing outside. We have always done this, but I did not know how he would do the first time being alone. I put down a blanket in the laundry room, patted the floor, and he curled up and layed down. I did not however have the heart to close the door, so I put up a baby gate. I heard him barely whine one time, and then nothing for the rest of the night. Did I mention he's such a good boy?

Well, I finished making the girls costumes the other day, and cleaned up a corner of the play room to take some pictures. I can not help but to laugh every time I see Lily in her costume! Madilyn is adorable of course (if I do say so myself) but Lily is just hilarious!
She told me last year what she wanted to be this year, so I've had a whole year to think on it, I bought the fabric back in September, but kept putting it off, cause I just did not know how I was gonna go about making it. Madilyn's was easy, just normal kind of patterns, but for Lily's there was no pattern, had to wing it. So how do you think I did?

Cute huh? O.K. you can stop laughing now.

So we went outside to carve our pumpkin. I had to run back in to grab my camera.
The girls where just having too much fun to not capture it somehow.

They're not the only ones having a good time. As soon as I brought the pumpkin outside, Jack was so excited. And when I started cutting into it, he was all beside himself thinking it was for him.

I couldn't help it I caved in and gave him some, he LOVED IT! and found every little scrap.

Anyway, I uploaded the pictures just now, and was struck by something. I love my camera, and it really takes great pictures. Now, I have heard before from some (ghost believing) people that sometimes orbs will show up, and that could be a ghost. Mind you, I've had this camera for a couple of years, and nothing has ever shown up like this before.

In the picture below, to the left of Lily, by the tree, there are four orbs in various sizes. I called my DH up to take a peek, and while he was coming up the stairs, I was explaining to him about the orbs, and how Dakota is still here with us, and right when he saw the picture, he said, it's a dog's face, and pointed to the fence, I had not even seen it until then, I was just looking at the orbs. But wow, it does look like him! It's to the right top of the little tree, in the right side of that larger orb. Also, in the left of the picture, there is a really big orb where Jack is sitting.

I knew my boy was still here! I believe you can click on the pics to make them larger.

Hope you all have a great Halloween!

Could never forget...

2008-10-14T07:45:00.000-07:00

I’ve been thinking long and hard on how I would go about writing this post.
Let me just start at the beginning.
Thirteen years ago while my DH and I were dating, he moved into an apartment with one of his friends. Pretty soon, we began throwing around the idea of getting a puppy. We had not really talked much at that point about where our relationship was heading, would we get married at some time? maybe. It was agreed this puppy would be both of ours.
We started looking at adds in the paper, and went to see some really cute puppies, but when we saw the parents, it didn’t feel like the right “breed” for us. After a couple of weeks of looking at the adds in the larger town’s paper, one night after work I drove home, it was a Wednesday, and in my parents town the newspaper only comes out once a week, on Wednesdays. When I got home, the paper was sitting on the table, so I thought why not, probably wouldn’t be anything in there, but it won’t hurt to look. I could not believe when I read “Golden Retriever puppies, FREE TO A GOOD HOME.” I called immediately, even though it was a little late. I apologized, and asked if they still had any left. She said that only two were left, so I told her I would come to see them the next day. She said that another lady wanted one too, and if I wanted to get to pick which one I wanted I should come get one right now. I got the directions to their house, and I hurried out the door! It was now dark outside, so when I got there I could only see them using my head lights. They were both little boys, and I just picked the fluffiest and biggest one. I was in love!!!
That first night he slept in a box that I pushed up right next to my bed. I kept checking on him throughout the night, cause he was so quite, I was not expecting that. I’ve had many puppies before, and they would always whine, and cry when left alone. I knew this one would be much different from any I have ever had before.
He slept in a box at DH’s apartment for about the first week, he outgrew it pretty fast. He was the typical puppy as far as chewing stuff up went. He had a couple of accidents too, but he was COMPLETELY house broken within two weeks. After that he never went in the house. We started sharing custody of this puppy due to our work schedules. I worked M-F, and DH went to the University, and worked some during the week, and some on the weekends. So he stayed at the apartment during the week, I would go over during lunch to let him out, or just to check on him, and then Friday night he would come home with me for the weekend.
What would we name him? Good question. Poor thing did not get a name right away because we could not agree on anything. We looked at baby name books, the Bible, you name it, and now I don’t even know where we came up with it, but he did eventually get named Dakota.
Over the next four years, DH moved a couple more times, and Dakota just went with the flow, Still coming home with me on the weekends. In February of 98 DH and I got engaged, and shortly after he moved back in with his parents to save money, so Dakota got to come live with me full time.
We moved to Florida after we got married, and we had to leave Dakota at my parent’s house until we bought a house of our own, it was only about three months, but there was not enough room in our little apartment for us and all the animals too, I have three cats also!
In January 2001, I went to Petsmart one weekend, and came home with Jack. He broke my heart, and I had to have him. He was not yet neutered when we adopted him, so he and Dakota got into a couple of “arguments” at first, but within a short amount of time they were best buds!
Both of our dogs got to be here when we brought both of our babies home from the hospital, they handled everything so well.
We have really been fortunate to have such a great dog, and now I have to share the hard part of this story.
For the past several years, I knew we were limited in our time with Dakota. He lost his hearing completely, for some reason, he would bark at night, we used to could just tap on the window, and he would stop, but he couldn’t hear us banging on the window anymore, we live in a subdivision, and we have heard the neighbors yelling for him to hush. I wanted to explain to them that he can’t hear, but I never got the chance to. He also has had bad hips, and it started out just occasionally limping or just being slow to get up, but the past few months, it was very obvious he was hurting, even with pain meds. My husband has been saying we needed to put him down, but for me I just couldn’t do it, he still seemed happy, and healthy, and he loved his food.
Unfortunately a couple of weeks ago, I started to notice a difference in his walking. He almost seemed like he was drunk, he would lose his balance, I just kept watching him. From that time, he went down hill very fast. He would sleep most of the time, staying in his dog house, only coming out to eat, and then not even eating with the excitement of it like he used to, I had to feed him out of my hand. He would lose his balance so much he fell a couple of times, and he was holding his head funny. What hurt for me just about the most, was he stopped giving kisses. This was a dog who gave kisses quite freely, to the point where we had to make him quit.
Now it was time for me, as painful as it was, I had to admit it to myself, he was not happy anymore.
I know I could have taken him to the vet to see what was wrong with him, but in my heart I knew it would only prolong things, his suffering, and mine, plus I did not want to put him through any testing.
The weekend before, I was trying to find the words to explain this to the girls. I knew Madilyn would not fully understand, I tried to start and tell Lily while we where on the way to the store one day, I got as far as saying “Lily, you know Dakota is really sick,” then I lost it when she said, “Yeah, he’s sick but we will give him medicine, then he’ll get better.” I said “No honey, he’s not gonna get better.” She then said “but if we don’t play with him when he dies, he will be all alone.” At that point I couldn’t even see to drive, I could not do this. I would be strong and take Dakota, but DH would have to tell the girls.
I have only had to put one other animal to sleep, and I was younger then. It was a cat that we had for about 10 years, and on that day, even though I planned to stay with her, when I got there, I just couldn’t. I have always regretted that, I should not have chickened out, I should have held her tightly.
I really wrestled with this decision, it did not come easily for me. Many of you know how much I love animals, and for me I just can’t help to think, it is not up to me to say when it’s time for an animal to die, that should be left up to the one in Heaven. But after doing research, I felt a little bit more at ease with it. This is one small part of what I found, and after reading it, I had no more doubts.
~ Remember, dogs are not afraid, they are not carrying anxiety and fear of the unknown. So for them it's only about whether this day holds enough companionship and ease and routine so that they would choose to have those things more than anything else and that they are able to focus on those things beyond any discomfort or pain or frustration they may feel. How great is his burden of illness this day, and does he want/need to live through this day with this burden of illness as much as I want/need him to? If I honestly believe that his condition is such, his pleasures sufficient, that he would choose to persevere, then that's the answer and we press on.
If, on the other hand, I can look honestly and bravely at the situation and admit that he, with none of the fear or sadness that cripples me, would choose instead to rest, then my obligation is clear. Because he needs to know in his giant heart, beyond any doubt, that I will have the courage to make the hard decisions on his behalf, that I will always put his peace before my own, and that I am able to love him as unselfishly as he has loved me.
I have cried so many tears this past week, mostly before I took him, I think mainly because I felt guilty, and also because I hurt for Jack, because he would be losing his best friend, his constant companion for the past seven and a half years. I had to stay with my boy, even though it tore me apart, I held his face and kissed his sweet soft muzzle. It was very quick, and also VERY peaceful, he did not seem scared to be there at all. As hard as it is to say, I actually felt relieved, while I was in agony, and through my tears, I felt at peace with it, cause I KNEW HE WAS NOT IN PAIN ANYMORE, and I knew he was once again running and jumping and playing like he once had done. The vet was very respectful, and told me I could stay with him as long as I wanted, and then he left us alone.
We decided to have him cremated, this house is not “our home” in the respect that this is not where I see us staying for the long haul. I would have chosen to burry him at my parent’s house, he loved it there so much, and loved running through their pasture. They live over two hours from us, and it would not have been a pleasant trip. We are going to scatter some of his ashes here. We told the girls so Jack can play with his spirit, and not be lonely. And scatter the rest in the pasture he loved so much.
Matt explained it to the girls this way. He told them when he was a little boy and when they had cats that were old or sick, and ready to die, the cats would go off into the woods, make a nest, and go to sleep, and never wake up. But we don’t live near any woods, and he can’t go off to build his nest, so mommy will take him to some people who will help him build his nest.
To say that I am heartbroken would be an understatement. He was one of the greatest, sweetest dogs I’ve ever known. He loved every creature, and everyone he met. He loved his baths, and even more loved rolling in the grass afterward. He loved his walks too (before his legs hurt too much) he would get all excited when he saw you coming with a leash, and even then he would always grab the leash in his mouth and pull you, as in saying “would you come on already!” I will miss him so, I’ll miss his funny personality, how he wiggled in between your legs, his kisses, and his smile, you’re probably thinking dog’s smile? He did, you can see it in some of the pictures.
I have tried to spend every possible spare moment with Jack. He is really doing better than I anticipated. I think he knew Dakota was sick. It is so hard for me to lock him back up at night, alone. I’ve started walking him nightly again. I quit a while ago, because I felt bad not taking Dakota along, he wanted to go so badly, but I know it would have hurt him too much to go. And he also barked the whole time we were gone. We took Jack to Petsmart the other day, and for a hike, he’s not used to this much exercise, he’s just a little (ahem) chubby, and he’s probably thinking, “What the heck is this, boot camp.”
I know this will take a while, he has been a part of our family for so long, he was our first “baby!”
And we will never ever forget him!

Warning, get the tissues ready!!!

2008-08-04T20:54:00.000-07:00

As I was posting my 3 words last night, I had the T.V. on, was not really watching, and I'm not even sure what channel it was on, but this video clip caught my attention. After blubbering like a baby, I hurried and finished my post so I could go to find out more about this story. I have watched this numerous times, and I still get teary eyed after watching it. I just spent this whole evening watching the whole story in parts. If you are touched as much as I was it's not hard to find out more. There is even a recent interview with the two fellows that was envolved, and just listening to them tell it again after almost 40 years, you can tell they truly had love in their hearts! I'm only posting the short clip, but there are many different one's on You*tube, along with the whole story.
Amazing!

3 words

2008-08-03T19:40:00.001-07:00

Yep, it's that time again!

At first I was NOT looking forward to Lily going back to school, and on some levels that feeling is still lingering, but then the screaming and the fighting and the CONSTANT bickering between my two girls just pushes that little feeling into the hidden corners of my mind!!!

We went shopping for her school supplies a couple of weeks ago, and got all that taken care of. It seems like whoever I talk to about school supplies is somewhat shocked at the little amount of stuff we have to buy. I guess we live in a good area, we had heard this was a good school system before we moved here, and this is one of the main reasons we did, but at that time I did not know how good it was until last year. My sister has told me horror stories of all the things they have to buy, and the fees that each class has to pay, that was for her first grader last year. Anyway, here was the list for this year at Lily's school.

12 glue sticks (white or purple)
3 boxes of 24 crayons (regular size)
1 8-pack washable markers (no neon)
4 packs of sharpened #2 pencils (40 total)
1 single subject spiral notebook (wide rule)
1 composition notebook (wide rule, no grid)
2 packs of pencil top erasers
3 plastic folders with prongs and pockets, 2 paper folders without prongs
small plastic supply box (6x9)
First Grade writing supplies (purchase from local school $3.00)
1 pack of 8 dry erase markers (fat)
1 watercolor paint set (8 colors)
1 ½ inch 3 ring binder (white with clear pocket on front)

I'm not quite sure yet what the First Grade writing supplies are, I went up to the school and asked, they just said to ask her teacher. Oh well, it's only 3 bucks.

Well, tomorrow we are off to meet her First Grade teacher, and I'm a little nervous. I have many friends who are teachers, and I don't want to offend anyone. We liked Lily's Kindergarten teacher, on a personal level. But we had several small issues last school year, and even though she was nice, I'm not so sure she was the best teacher for our Lily. Did Lily learn, YES, she is supper smart, and was above the charts in all areas, but we had some issues that we just marked off as adjustment issues, seeings how that was THE FIRST TIME she has ever been in that type of environment, she never was in daycare or even any type of mother's day out, she's always been with us, or at least someone in our family. Not that she is shy, on the contrary, she is a very independent and outgoing child. She just was not used to the whole listening to orders, and following directions thing. As for the teacher, she was young, probably has only been teaching for a couple of years, and goes strictly by the book! I'm sorry, but not all children learn at the same rate and on the same timetable. I don't think she got that. It's funny cause at first I was relieved that she was young, I did not want some old bitty in there being a witch to my precious angel. Now I'm not so conserned if it is an older teacher, and actually hoping that it is someone with many more years of teaching experience. At least someone who understands that each child learns at a different speed than others!

We shall see soon!

Since you asked

2008-08-02T19:12:00.001-07:00

Well, to answer a few questions, I figured I'd make an entire post about this. I was going to just make a comment, but then I thought I should post a couple other photos as well. So here goes.
Yes, I did paint the character on our cornhole boards. He is quite cute if I do say so myself.
The picture that I posted before was just of the little fellow, but here's one of the whole board. I got the demensions on line, so it is made according to the standard 24 x 48 inch boards. The hole is suppose to be 6 inches, but when DH was cutting, they ended up being a tad bigger, not enough to make a big difference though.
It took me a week to paint them, and I REALLY (really!) wanted to put "cornhole" on it in funky lettering, but when I drew it out, it didn't fit well, I should have put the square with Mr. Corny (y'all help me think of a name for him, PLEASE!) up a little higher on the board, then it would have worked, but oh well, I like it enough this way.
Now, I'm thinking of how to make a score board. I've got an idea, but we shall see!

Does this help?

Now, on to my little fellow. I was looking at different things online, we are not huge sports fans, so I did not really want to put a team logo on it. I thought about flags, and found a confederate flag I liked, but then I could not find a union flag, so onto something else.
Well, my girls like the Veggie Tales, and I thought it would be cute to make a kid friendly board, so I made this little guy to look like them. I used Larry the cucumbers eyes.
My DH (upon seeing them for the first time) said "Great, we're gonna get sued by the Veggie Tales"
No, they don't have a corn character I already looked that up!
So anyway that is how I got the idea for our game, and I had fun doing it too.
Of course, painting the kitchen just isn't as much fun, although I'm diggin the color, but you'll have to wait to see it!

See the resemblance?

On a side note, this is kind of a funny story. We live in a subdivision, and we are in the middle of a culdesac, so our yard is really wide, but the only down side we have is the neighbors in the back. They are on the close side. When we first moved here, I planted some trees along that fence, and eventually they will get tall enough for a privacy thing, but anyway. They are nice enough people I suppose, it is a couple about our age, but they don't act like they want to be friendly other than the occasional wave. They have a pool, and are outside all the time in the summer. Well, I had my boards out under our back porch to paint them, so I'm sure they saw what we were doing, they have a two story house, so our current privacy fence does not do much, hence the reason for my planting the trees.
Last summer they had pool parties quite often, and I had just mentioned this morning that they really have not had many people over this year. I spoke too soon!
They had a party this afternoon. And guess what they were playing?
Yep, CORNHOLE!!!
This is the first time I have seen them playing it, so I'm pretty sure it was not their's, probably one of their friends, but I just thought that was too funny that I just made ours, and they are now playing it too!!!
~Be back tomorrow~

3 words (right on!)

2008-07-27T20:42:00.001-07:00

Y'all are so smart!

Hee,hee, I really had fun designing and painting our cornhole boards!

My DH thought I had lost it. At first he did not like the name of the game, but now that we have played a little, he loves hearing the girls scream out "CORNHOLE"!

It has been raining here so we had to bring them inside to play, I will have to post pics later!

Busy, busy, BUSY!

2008-07-23T20:15:00.000-07:00

Here's just a few photos of what I've been doing for the past several days.

Primer?
done
Painting?
almost done
Sewing?
done
Playing?
hopefully this weekend!
Any problems?
only one

DH doesn't like the name of the game!!!

3 words (Take a guess!)

2008-07-20T18:59:00.001-07:00

I know some of you will get this! Just take a guess!!!

The evidence

2008-07-19T20:23:00.000-07:00

As most of you already know (seeing how my little ole blog don't have many readers, and those who do were probably there) there was an amazing party that I had the pleasure of attending again this year in Georgia. There were a few ladies and kiddos who I had not yet gotten the chance to meet, and let me say, IT WAS SO NICE TO MEET YOU!!!
There were some who could not be there this time around, and you were sorely missed!
After reading some of the other girls posts about this event I could not possibly do it as much justice, so I will only say, a GREAT TIME was had! I was one of the 'campers' in the group, and yes I was happy! Saw the cutest shirt at Cracker Barrel the other day it was a smiley face with what looked like a fishing hat on, and it said "Happy camper" on it, I was sooooo tempted!!! Unfortunately they only had kids sizes.
So any way I am posting the GREAT video that Sassy Stacy/Tracy made, love watching it, and can't wait till next year!

Update: having trouble uploading the video, trying to figure things out!
Please stand by!

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

3 words

2008-07-13T20:01:00.001-07:00

Here I come!!!

2008-07-10T05:50:00.000-07:00

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3 Word Sunday

2008-07-06T20:31:00.000-07:00

Yes, we did have a fun filled 4th of July! My parents came up, we cooked out, the kiddo's played on the water slide, and we went to a fabulous fireworks show! Hope y'all had a great one too!

Well, I've been playing around with my pictures as you can see. Thanks Maryellen for letting us know about that GREAT website! I could spend hours creating some really neat looking pictures. All of these fireworks pics I took using my tripod, and they turned out pretty good, but I did brighten them up just a bit!

Well, got lots to do, planning a little trip, so I've got to go get ready for that!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

3 words (just for you Mel)

2008-06-29T14:01:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned before, I made Lily an ABC quilt for her finishing Kindergarten. Well, Mel, I know you wanted to see it, so I finally got around to taking a picture with Lily holding it up.
She really loves this quilt, now I have to get my rear in gear and do some more quilting!

On a side note: what is the deal with my girls! Ever since school got out for summer, they have been non stop fighting, ALL THE TIME!!! Driving me a little nutty!
If that's not bad enough, the other day we hosted a play date with a couple of her friends from school and their sister's that are Madilyn's age, well we got a new blow up slide, and the thing is huge! One of the girls came up to me and said "Mrs. _____" Lily is um, pulling her hair" and about that time I hear Madilyn SCREAMING, so I jump up and run around this monster of a thing, and see Lily trying to drown Madilyn. Not really, I'm sure she did not know that would happen, but poor little Madilyn's face was only and inch from the water, and yes, Lily was trying to push her under. I asked what she was doing, and she said she was playing the big bad wolf, and later said that Madilyn has to learn how to put her head under the water. Well, we had a very serious conversation about (1) the fact that Madilyn is scared to put her face under water and (2) you NEVER push someone's face in the water. She now knows that it could hurt them, and the end would not be good. I swear they play so nice with OTHER kids, but eachother, HA, they sure know how to push the other's buttons!

3 words!

2008-06-22T20:06:00.000-07:00

3 words

2008-05-25T21:11:00.001-07:00

Well, she did it! Lily made it through her first year of school!

There were times we just wondered if this was the right thing for her. We talked about maybe trying to homeschool, but my patience level would not have allowed it! In the end, we are pretty happy with it all! Thursday was her last day, and I have to say I was a little sad to see it come to an end. I am happy about not HAVING to get up quite so early for a while, but still, just a little bit sad. I know she liked going, and she made some friends, who we will try to see this summer. I have met several of the moms, and three of them have girls that are close to Madilyn's age, so we have all agreed to get together for play dates, not only for Lily's friends, but their siblings too. Hopefully it will help with the cabin fever through the long hot summer days! We are so proud of how far Lily has come in such a short amount of time.

I had asked her teacher if there would be any kind of Kindergarten graduation, and she said no, public school's don't do that. So, we had a little party of our own. I had made an ABC quilt for Lily, and gave it to her, she LOVES it, I will have to post pics of it, pretty cute have to say! We got her a little cake, and man it was good, it's sitting in the fridge taunting me now!!!

Hope next year she will have just as much fun!!!

3 words

2008-05-11T19:33:00.000-07:00

Well, it was pretty easy coming up with three words for this weeks post!

My babies are the best things I have ever done in my entire life!

They make the sun shine everyday, even when it's pouring outside!

I am so lucky to have them, just can't wait to get my next one too!!!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY to all the moms out there, the ones who already have their babies to kiss goodnight, and the ones waiting to!

3 words!!!

2008-05-04T21:03:00.000-07:00

Sorry I have not posted in a while, but to be honest, it's been pretty quite around here lately.

I was so looking forward to this time of year, I love watching the races, and have been rooting for someone to win the triple crown for the past SEVERAL years! Even when Madilyn was born, I was in my hospital bed, and I just HAD TO WATCH the Belmont Stakes, the third race, I don't remember what horse it was at the time, I think Cigar, but I was so bummed when he did not win.

The past couple of years though, I have had mixed feelings about the whole thing. I still love watching them, but hey I love horses so any chance I can get to see these amazing animals, I will! But ever since Barbaro I get a little anxious thinking who might be next.

I did not get to watch the Kentuck Derby this year, Lily had a Birthday party to go to, and I tried to leave early, but it just did not happen. DH called me on my way home, and wanted to know if I wanted to hear what happened. I was ready to walk in the house with my hands over my ears, and look it up myself. But he kept asking, but do you want to know WHAT HAPPENED! I asked if Big Brown won ( I did not want him to ) and he said yes, I wanted the filly to win, and he said, "well, she came in second, and then she collapsed." My heart sunk!

This whole thing should never even happen! It does simply because greedy people want the money.

Horses do not fully mature until they are around 5-6 years old. But they start trainging racehorses earlier around 1-2, and they are racing by three or sooner. Their bones are still growing! But the way the owners look at it, well, it costs money to keep the horses, and the sooner they train them the more money they can make. If they held on to them until they where 5-6, then it would cost the owners more ! SUCKS! but it's the sad, sad thruth.

I'm not gonna say I won't watch any more, cause that would not be me, but I sure do hope that they realize this is just cruel, and decide for some kind of changes! If you think it does not happen that often, think again. Just at one race track in California from 2004-2006 55 horses were put down because they broke bones. It's just we don't hear about the normal everyday races.

What a beautiful animal too!

How do I look???

2008-04-22T20:36:00.000-07:00

I saw this on a friend's blog, and thought I'd give it a try. Funny but she actually looks like me, oh, I'd say about 15 years ago. Uggh, do I feel old!!!
Got to start my diet again!
Now y'all go give it a try.

Update! I just noticed while searching a little that it seems I have now changed clothes! OOPS! I was playing on the website, and did not know that when you change it on there it automatically changes it on you blog too!
Again for anyone who saw a half naked me, I apologize!!! How imbar-rassing!
Hee, hee!

3 Words!

2008-04-13T20:32:00.001-07:00

Happy Sunday everbody! Well it's time again for my three words. It's kind of funny cause I have wanted to talk about this for a while. A few weeks ago I was browsing through some of my favorite blogs, and noticed a couple of them where referring to a blog about a husband and wife who had a premature baby 14 weeks ago. They had a little girl who was born at 24-25 weeks. She is surprisingly doing well so far. But that is not the only heart wrenching part of this story. The mom was born with CF, Cystic Fibrosis, and a couple of years ago, she started to not do so good. Her doctors put her on the national organ donation list, she needed a double lung transplant. Shortly after, she discovered she was pregnant. They had to take her name off of the list. Her health started to decline, so her doctors advised to go ahead and deliver the baby early. Soon afterward she was put back on the list, and almost two weeks ago she got the call. She finally has a new set of lungs. I have been checking her husband's blog (http://www.cfhusband.blogspot.com/) daily just to make sure they are still doing O.K.
I do not know these people but my heart was drawn to their story and I wanted to share it with you. I could not even imagine going through one of those medical issues, but for their family to go through two all at the same time, and to be so positive and humorous through it all is just mind boggling for me!
The funny part is, about two months ago I had read about this book in people magazine, it was written by a father who lost his son in a horrible shoothing while on vacaiton in another country. This father decided to donate the little boys organs, and has since talked to hundreds of other families who have either donated or were recipients. I ordered this book and started reading it immediately. It did not take very long to finish. It is about his story, and stories of many others. It was VERY TOUCHING to say the least. If you like tear jerkers, I highly recommend this book:

And you can purchase it here: http://www.amazon.com/Gift-that-Heals-transformation-donation/dp/143435069X

Little did I know until recently that April is Donate Life Month, so I thought it would be appropriate for me to have this be my three words for this week:

These are just a few statistics of organ donation:

Nearly 100,000 men, women and children are waiting for organs for transplantation in the United States (kidneys, livers, hearts, lungs, pancreas and intestines).

Each day, an average of 18 people who are waiting for organs in the United States, die because no organs could be found for them. This means that each year, more than 6,000 people die in the United States waiting for organ transplants.
Every 13 minutes, a new name is added to the national waiting list for organs in the United States.
One organ donor can save up to eight lives. One tissue donor can save or improve the quality of life for up to 50 people.

And you can go here: www.organdonor.gov/donor/registry.shtm to sign up to be a donor.

Just to let my family know in case you didn't already. I decided a long time ago, that if anything should happen to me, I want to donate my organs, and tissue, I don't think I would be needing them where I hope to be going.

I know that it is a difficult thing to talk about, and I don't think I have discussed it before, that's why I wanted to do it here so there would never be any reason to say, "we just don't know if it's what she would have wanted to do."

I just made it easy for you!

Watch this! it's amazing!

2008-04-10T08:26:00.001-07:00

3 Words!

2008-04-06T20:14:00.000-07:00

And AT LONG LAST I have a pantry! OMG people, you would not believe how happy I am!

Third house we have owned, but the first one to have this lovely thang!

We're getting there, slowly but surely. I've worked my pattutie off this week trying to get things done in here. Now off to start primming the front rooms!

Oh, by the way yesterday was our TWO YEAR LID! Holy cow we've really been waiting that long? At least I have stuff to keep me busy!

To answer Pipo's question, I have no idea, that is so far off to me right now, but I'm sure there will always be gardening for me to do!

Thank gawd!!!

2008-04-04T19:23:00.001-07:00

We finally heard back from our home owner's insurance about our roof. They are gonna pay to replace it!!! I am so thrilled beyond words right now! Something is finally going our way. At least since we don't have to fork out the money ourselves, I will hopefully be able to get my kitchen cabinets a little sooner. I've been really busy this week and my house is a wreck. The contractor came out to finally finish up, but I was not happy with the way they did our drywall, it was hung just fine, but they did not mud it quite good enough for me, so I went to Lowe's as soon as they left, and then started on it myself. It is finally done, and sanded, so then we had sheetrock dust EVERYWHERE! Laundry has been pilling up, so I will have to get to that this weekend. Today I dusted and vacuumed, and mopped up all the dust, and put primmer in my pantry. I went out tonight and bought the shelves, will put those in also this weekend. Woohoo I will finally have a pantry!

We are also all battling some kind of crud. DH was out of work a couple of days, and now Madilyn is caughing up a lung. There's always something exciting happening around here!

See y'all Sunday!

3 words

2008-03-30T18:40:00.001-07:00

We had lots going on this past week! First of all I got Poison Ivy (Oak, Sumac, what the hell ever!) and it is NOT a pretty sight! I got it probably Easter weekend at my parents house, digging through some flower beds. Should have known.

Madilyn was just not quite herself since last weekend either, I took her to the doctors on either Monday or Tuesday (can't remember which) cause she was complaining that her ear hurt. She did have some fluid in it, but the DR. said there was no puss. He went ahead and wrote a prescription for an antibiotic, but I did not get it filled yet. She has not complained since then, so I hope it's gone.

Getting really irritated with our contractor. He keeps saying they will come out to finish up, but then don't show up. I want my drywall done, I want to finally be able to put stuff in MY PANTRY!

Was going to go to a birthday party yesterday, but little Madilyn came down with some kind of rash, I thought oh no she's gotten poison ivy too. The only weird thing was, it came up within a few hours. It looked REALLY BAD it was all over her little legs and rear end, up her arms, and on her face, should have taken a pic! I Took her in to see a Doctor, and they said it did not really look like poison ivy, but some other kind of allergic reaction. Yeah, well it's gone now. We are thinking it was caused by drinking some Dr. Pepper.

My 3 words are for my girls this week. We were at their Mimi's house, and they came running in from the bathroom with lipstick. I'm surprised this is the first time they have ever found this fun little tube of red stain. At first I wanted them to put it away, but then I quickly said for them to wait, I had to grab the camera! My little clowns!

3 word Easter Sunday!

2008-03-23T20:48:00.001-07:00

* We had a great weekend!

* Lily was out for Spring Break last week, and we REALLY enjoyed not having to get up early! We probably got up just as early, but at least we did not have to rush to get her dressed and ready to go. On Monday I took the girls to our normal spot for Easter Pictures. It was quite chilly out, but at least it was a pretty day! There were lots of kids running around, I guess everybody had the same idea.

* Nothing was done to the house this week, NOTHING! And it felt good, but I'm still itching to get done with it all! The insurance adjuster is suppose to come out this week to take a look at our roof. Crossing my fingers and toes!!!

* Took another trip to the Dr. on Thursday, Lily now has an ear infection, AGAIN!

*Nothing much else, just a Fun Filled Easter!!!

(Now where are those baskets of candy, the girls will never know! Hee, hee)

3 Word Sunday

2008-03-16T18:51:00.000-07:00

Wow, what a week! I hardly even know where to begin. Let me see, well, after last Sunday I was really starting to get excited about our home remodeling projects. The shed is up, the porch has begun, and the drywall has gone up on our inside renovations. Well, let me say It went down hill pretty quickly. Thursday morning when I walked into the kitchen to get Lily some breakfast, I stepped in a small puddle of water. I first thought juice or water had been spilled, but Madilyn was still asleep, and me and Lily had just gotten up. So, as I took a towel over to clean it up, I noticed it was in an odd spot. It was right in the transition from our kitchen to our den. As I got down to look closer, it seemed to be coming from under the floor. Yeah, well that's cause it was! I immediately went into freak out mode! My first thought was that the pipe that we moved for the ice maker burst, but the floor over there was not wet. I looked up under the sink, and it was soaking wet! I yelled upstairs to DH, he was like hold on, and I was like um, no we have a cerious water problem! Get your @#% down here now! By the time he came down, I was already starting to pull up the floor. Let me add here that the previous (lovely) owners put down a floating laminate floor. There was not just a little water under it, there was a river! DH had to go to work, and Lily had to get ready for school, so I had to stop for a brief moment. After they had both gone, I kept tearing up the floor, and it only got worse! The water had gone about 3\4 the way across the kitchen in both directions. Luckily by that time, the workers on our porch got here, and I asked them if they could help. What happened was, DH wanted a water filter installed at our kitchen sink. In order to do that my BIL (bro-in-law) had to put in some kind of splitter on the pipe. Well, it was not quite tight enough. From looking at it dripping it did not seem like a bad leak, but if it had been dripping all week, we did not know cause the floating floor. And yeah, it was floating al right! So, anyway the guys fixed the leak, and I resumed my mission to tear up the floor. Took a while, but it's all gone. We have already bought 18 inch porcelain tiles to put down, so I did not care about the floor in the kitchen, what I was worried about was our new wood floors in the den. I know at the threshold they got wet, but it does not seem to have gotten to them enough to cause problems. Thank you God!

So you would think how could things get worse, Ha, THEY CAN!!!

The next morning I woke up around 4-ish to the sound of rain, GREAT! They started putting shingles on the porch, but did not get to finish, so I knew it was going to leak. Ok, I don't think I have mentioned the fact that there was already a covered porch, but the way that it was put on by the (oh, so lovely) previous owners, it was done wrong, and it leaked all the time, but at least it leaked on the outside, so we thought. We had it torn off, and started over. When I woke up by the alarm clock, DH came in and said Lily is not going to school, her eye is red, and it itches. Yeah, she has pink eye, we think, the doctor does not want her to come in so they called in a prescription. Back to the main story, I tried to go back to sleep, since the Dr. does not open till 7:30. Then I hear the back door open and DH groans, and slams it shut. He comes back to tell me it is leaking. I decide to go ahead and get up, cause now I won't be able to go back to sleep anywho. Go in the kitchen, and the ceiling is wet, GREAT! The one spot where they ran out of shingles was over our den and kitchen. I go get dressed to climb up in the attic, cause I want to see where the leak is coming from, and I can't see that leak cause of the way our ceiling is vaulted in the den, but I do see a couple of REALLY BAD rotten boards. it is rotten in the spot where the old porch was connected to the house. Let me say right now, we had a home inspection before we bought this house, and specifically asked them about the way the porch was added, and the little dip in the roof, in the exact spot of the leak. They told us that it was fine, and it dipped due to the fact of the weight being put on the underneath boards. We also asked them about the shape of the shingles. They told us that our roof was good for another 5 years. we knew that we eventually were gonna have to replace the roof, but I was really mad about our new discovery. On the ceiling in the kitchen, there is a square where you can tell they have replaced it, and would you know it is in the same spot as the leak and the dip. So it has leaked there before, and they repaired the ceiling. But the thing is, today it was not leaking there. When I went up into the attic, and saw this leak, and saw that the water was dripping, I also saw why it was not leaking through the ceiling. Some smarty had placed a plastic pan to catch the drips, and it was slanted at an angle so that the water would run down and leak through the eves outside. I was sick to my stomach to say the least. We were furious at both the (oh, so lovely) previous owners, and also with the two guys who did our home inspection. I know that they could not have climbed up all the way into our attic, cause if they did they could not have missed seeing this. Not only that but when our contractor for the porch and shed got there, they QUICKLY started working on putting shingles up so at least no more water would be coming in. He climbed up in the attic with me so I could show him, and he noticed right near where the leak is, that someone, had written with a black marker on one of the beams, this: where 2 nails are discolored about 2 " apart by nails Leak.

Again, if the home inspectors had looked around in our attic they would have seen this! AGAIN, we are so furious, that is what we paid them for, was to inspect this house to make sure it is sound. I swear, I am NEVER buying a house again! We will be building our next house.

I checked with my sister in law who happens to be a lawyer, Hi E! And we are pretty much stuck. There's probably nothing we can do but fork out the money to replace the roof ourselves. Yeah, by the way, from what our contractor said, there is no way those shingles would last five years! Our only hope would be if we had some kind of storm damage, and home owners insurance would cover it. They replaced the roof on our last house due to hail damage, and those shingles looked way better than these.

Oh, I forgot to mention, in our kitchen, I was planning on painting the cabinets, but now from the floor flooding issue they are water damaged, and I could only imagine how much damage was done to the under side of the cabinets and the wall behind them. So we are now gonna have to completely gut the kitchen, and get new cabinets. It's kind of funny, cause DH has wanted to do that all along, but I did not want to spend that much money, so I would paint them. And now we've done a switcharoo, he thinks they are fine, and I want nice new REAL WOOD ones! The ones in there now are not real wood.

Yesterday, our friends were gonna come up for a visit, but at 6 a.m. miss Madilyn decides to throw up for a couple of hours. So needless to say they stayed at home.

Some good news, storms where coming in, and the sky got really dark, so I turned on the weather channel, and a severe thunderstorm warning was issued, and they said it could contain distructive winds, and damaging hail. We could never be so happy to hear that! We kept looking out the window, and I pulled my car into the garage, and shortly after, WE SAW HAIL!!! After a while they had reported dime size hail here in our town, and yep, DH is gonna definately call insurance bright and early Monday morning!

I can honestly say that I am a little (Ha, alot) stressed right now! Please keep us in your thoughts, and hope for the best that insurance will cover the cost of our roof!

Oh, I forgot to mention, we received our I-171! woohoo, it's about time!!!

3 Word Sunday!

2008-03-09T20:33:00.001-07:00

YES! I might actually make my goal after all.

Remember how I oops, accidentally took down sheetrock from some walls?

Well, I am now worry free. We had company this weekend, and all of the major projects that we wanted to do are done! The front two rooms have become one, the stupid stairs are no longer blocking the doorway, the water line got moved, so we could move the fridge, and I HAVE STUDS UP FOR MY PANTRY! This is the third house we have owned, and it will be the first one that we have a pantry in the kitchen, so exciting! We did have to put up a beam across the front rooms, cause of the load bearing wall, but it looks so much better and open. And even though we built the pantry in the kitchen, and moved the refrigerator over, it looks so much bigger in there, I would have thought the opposite. I am so relieved to know that this will all get done with in the next couple of months!

Sorry, I did not post pics! We have been on the go all weekend, and I am just too pooped to clean all the dust up from the torn up sheetrock, and the concrete being chiselled up to move the water line. Will get to that tomorrow!

3 word Sunday

2008-03-02T17:31:00.001-08:00

Yes, it's time to start diggin in the dirt! I always say I'm not going to plant much this year, but then "the feeling" hits me, and I go nuts. We have FINALLY put borders around our flower beds in the back yard, and I added a couple of new ones, so here we go! Plus, we are having a shed built, and it is where I had my garden last summer, so I'll have to pick a new spot for that. I just might have to make a trip to the nursery this week!

My rose bushes are starting to get leaves and buds!

Hyacinth popped up the other day!

And some of my Daylilies are starting to come up!

I'm so ready to start seeing some color outside!!!

3 Words!

2008-02-24T19:48:00.001-08:00

As some of you already know, my Friend Melissa, has suggested we all start what she is calling 3 word Sunday. She got the idea from watching Good Morning America, which I used to ALWAYS watch, until I had kids. So, anyway what we are suppose to do is think of three words that described our week, then either write them down, use pictures, sing it or whatever you can think of to tell your 3 words.
Now, since my little experience with the USCIS in Atlanta, I will dedicate my first 3 words to the lovely lady who ticked me off Thursday, and for those of you wondering what the outcome was, she has not responded back yet.
Melissa, this was a great idea, and now at least I'll be posting once a week!

WHAT!!! Somebody hold me back!

2008-02-21T18:23:00.000-08:00

OMG people! Remember the post about us having issues with trying to renew our I-171?

To refresh, I sent in our new I-600a way back at the first of August. We received our fingerprint appointment, and it was scheduled for Saturday September 1st. We asked for a Saturday, simply because it would be easier for both of us to get down there (over an hours drive) on the weekend now that Lily is in school. We drove down, got there early, and wondered why there were no other cars around AT ALL!!!

Well, they were closed, for the Labor Day weekend! WTF, Please excuse my French.

We got a new appt, and went in on September 22.

Then I get a letter from them saying that they needed an updated homestudy. I sent the one that we did in January 2007, well that was not new enough for them, so we had to get our social worker to do ANOTHER one before the end of the year.
The state sent it to the Atlanta USCIS office on December 21, so I'm guessing they got it by Christmas. Now I have not heard anything since then, I was starting to wonder. So this morning I sent them an email, asking for information on our file. You would not believe the response I received!

Have you been fingerprinted, or did you reschedule your fingerprint appointment?

WHAT!!!

I am beyond mad right now, and how come I always get emails or the like either on the weekends or at night when every office is CLOSED!

I certainly hope y'all are having a better evening than I am!

Happy Heart Day!

2008-02-14T19:06:00.000-08:00

Happy Valentine's Day!!! Hope y'all had a great one.

My day started out like all others, until my girls gave me my Valentine cards, thank you sweeties!
Funny thing about today, you see I got to go somewhere this morning, and well, let's just say that my husband was not the only man to see my "goodies" today. Yeah that, and all I really want to say about it is yuck! But we all must go once a year to make sure all the parts are still there and in working order. Well, mine are there, and we'll find out in a few weeks if they are still in working order. It was quite funny joking with my DH about that!
Now on to something more fun shall we. I went to the grocery store yesterday, and as soon as we walked in the door these were screaming my name.

Who doesn't love Krispy Kreme doughnuts? They were so yummy too, the only thing I would have changed would be to have them cream filled. Yeah, I'm gonna start my diet again one of these days, but NOT TODAY! hee, hee snort!

Lily was so excited to go to school today, so she could pass out her Valentines. I remember when I was little and we would go around the class and put them in a box that we decorated. Ah, the memories. I was so glad to hear that they would still be doing this, these days you just never know.

It was actually nice outside today, so when we got back from picking Lily up from school, we went out in the back yard. Looked over my flower beds, and spring is right around the corner. I finally got around to trimming my rose bushes down, and I need to try to figure out where I can squeeze another one (or two, or three) in this year.

Sorry for the boring post, I'll leave you now (before I tell any more about the lovely experiences of the day) with a few pics of the girls.

***Sorry if I gave out too much information*** I hope you all take your happy little selves in to see your DR on a regular basis.

Oh No!!!

2008-02-09T21:33:00.000-08:00

O.K. maybe I got a little carried away! You remember when I said that we were about to start some home remodeling/knocking down walls? Yeah about that, well how can I say oops!!!

From everything I've read about knocking down walls, they say that if the attic joists are in line and parallel with the wall, then it is not a load bearring wall. Well, a while ago, I went up in the attic, and looked around. From what I could see, the posts were going the same way the walls that we want to take out are, so this week I started tearing down the sheet rock.

Let me back up a little. When we bought this house, we did not really know what to do with the two front rooms. We don't have formal dinning room furniture, nor did we really care to purchase any, and have a formal dinning room. We are pretty much relaxed, and it would probably never get much use. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE furniture, and if we ever won the lottery, and could build our dream house, well then sure I'd have a nice dinning room with a big ol' table, but for know we're doing just fine without it!

So, back to the story. The house originally was a one story house, but at some point there was an addition put on over the garage and laundry room area. So they had to add stairs right, to be able to get up there. So, some really smart guy thought they could put them here:

BLOCKING THE DOORWAY!!!

(PLEASE excuse the mess in the background, that is my new stove, still in it's box, and our new flooring!)

Well, yeah, that's what we thought too when we first looked at this house, but we knew we could change the layout, and the price was good for the amount of space, so we bought it. Why not?

When they put in the stairs, it is in the room that was originally the dinning room. But now it makes the room just too small to use it for that. The other room was I guess the formal living room. It's kind of on the smallish side too. So, we thought we could knock the wall down that is separating the two, and whalla we have a nice long, much more usable space, right?

Plus, when I started doing some measuring, I noticed that the walls in these two rooms plus the walls in our kitchen and den, do not match up. I had figured that there was a hidden space in between our kitchen and the front living room. From my (expert, HA!) calculations, it was about 2 feet wide by 5 feet long.

So, our thinking would be to open up this space, and add square footage to our living space, this is where I had planned to put this:

Our old T.V. cabinet that I just finished painting and distressing!

Well, the good news was that I was right, there is a hidden space back there, and gosh darnet if it wasn't 2x5! I was so excited! But then when I chipped a little off of the wall that is behind our fridge, the wall that we were planning on openning up for the doorway, and closing off the one in front of the strairs, I noticed that the water pipe, the one for the ice maker, is coming from under the slab. BIG FAT CRAP!!! Right smack dab in the middle of where the new door will be! We knew this could be the case, but we hoped that they had ran it through the walls. Now we need to do some figuring out which way to move the water line, either dig a channel in the concrete, or cap off that one, and run a new one from the launry room.

AND FOR THE REALLY BAD NEWS! While DH was up in the attic figuring out where the plug wiring runs, he noticed that the one spot where our walls are, you know, the ones we are gonna tear down, yeah those. The attic joists turn for some stupid reason, and those walls are load bearing! Crap turds! Might I relay the message about me already taking the sheet rock off?

Yep, all gone!

Well, I pretty much felt like total horsey poo for the rest of the morning!

Now, what to do? Well, we are probably not gonna be able to open up that little space, the one that was hidden, we might could open up part of it, and make it into a built in and a T.V. could go there, which is what I had originally planned, but NOT what DH wants to do. He wants to close it back up, except for the end, and put a skinny little access panel, and keep it back there for storage/wiring for computers/T.V.'s and such.

As for the other walls, they are still coming down by golly, there are ways! We can either put up a major support beam (I did not really want a beam going across the middle of the ceiling , but if that's our only option so be it) or maybe we can put supports up in the attic. I dunno, my brother in law is a builder, and he will have to climb up there and check it out to see what way to go. This, what I thought we could do ourselves, and save the $$$, will now be a little bit more complicated, and I assume a little more expensive, but it will be done. My original goal for all of this was by this summer.

We shall see!

Extreme Makeover, Den edition

2008-01-29T18:44:00.000-08:00

I know I've been a slacker lately, but I promise I will try to do better at posting! Like I had mentioned before, we are SLOWLY doing a little of a remodel around our house. I painted this room, our den probably a year ago, but we had not done much of anything else until recently, so I did not want to post pictures (except of our Christmas Tree) of this room, simply because I was embarrassed about the nasty carpet. But anyway, I'm almost done in here, just need to do a window treatment, hang a new ceiling fan, make some throw pillows for the couches, and hang pictures on the walls. Oh, and stain and put together the square coffee table I just got.
When I put the flooring down it REALLY made a difference, and it finally feels like home in here!
Take a look-sie at some before and after pics. I'm usually horrible about starting a room, and forgetting to take a before photo, so when we bought this house, before we even moved in I took pictures of every room, knowing full well, that each and every one was gonna get a make over!

Yeah, I know, it was NASTY!!! But it has good bones!

And after (almost!)

Hubby's new T.V. Yep, I know, just a little bit BIG!

MY NEW COUCH! ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT!!! It is not as red/orange looking in person, it's a medium brown color. we were unsure about these when we saw them on Sams Club website just because of this, but they sent a sample, and it is a beautiful brown! Also, this is the first time we've ever gotten furniture (much less paying this price) from an online store without ever even sitting it it first. I searched all over for sectionals, and most of them just were not compfy, but this one, it is really soft, and well, LOVE IT!

Leather kids club chair that I won! Isn't it too cute? Thanks again Mary Ellen!!!

Now, HOPEFULLY I'll be able to get more done soon, and post those pics too!

My big girl!

2008-01-23T19:45:00.001-08:00

My computer is finally up and running, but still having some issues, such as videos, can't watch any on my computer, the whole box just shows white, nothingness! I could not even upload these photos into a slide show, same thing, just white! Anybody have a clue as to why? What can I do? But the good news is, I can post them this way, so here we go!
Lily turned the big 6 years old on the 17th, and we had her party the following Sunday.
The day before was the snow storm (HA, lasted a couple of hours) so we had fun for a little while out in the wet cold with the girls, will post those pictures soon, maybe tomorrow! I was all excited about the snow, could not sleep, kept wanting to get up and peek out the window. We did get to build a snowman, he was pretty sad. Did not get to make snow ice cream, it melted too quick, but there's always next year, right?
Onto the party girl. She was super excited about her party, and for weeks, was counting down the days, or shall I say how many more sleeps. I can not believe it has been six years since I first held her in my arms. She is growing up so fast, and will soon be taller than me, which won't take too long, Hee, hee! Makes me sick, she's so skinny, with the longest legs! That's alright though, DH has the guns ready to clean, you know when she's like 30 and is able to start dating.
Happy Birthday my sweets!

(Sorry Auntie Jen Jen, I REALLY wanted to put these pics and more into a slide show with music just for you, cause I know how you like to watch them at work, with the box of tissues at hand!)

Just a quicky!

2008-01-11T13:36:00.000-08:00

NO NOT THAT! Shame on ya'll!
Well, DH gave me a new computer for Christmas, since my old one was slowly dying, but for some reason, it could not connect to the internet, until now. This is the reason for no posts! I will have to come back and fill in later with pictures and all, but wanted to do a quick post, cause now (the day we finally get my computer fixed) we are shutting the whole thing down. I am going to be painting my Hubby's office this weekend, and we've got to clear it all out! Once I paint, I will be putting down the hardwood floor, so I don't know when we will have everything back to operation mode again. I finished (almost, except for decor) the den, and it looks amazing, whole new house! I'm so excited and want to show it off, but will have to wait till later. I put hardwood in there, and our new leather couches came Wednesday, and another little surprise. It makes the rest of the house look so crappy, I want to hurry and knock down the walls in the front, to finish it all! Pictures and more to come later, ya'll have a GREAT weekend!!!

Visit with Santa

2007-12-23T21:03:00.000-08:00

Lily's last day of school before Christmas break was Friday, she only had to go for half the day. I picked her up at 11:00 and we changed clothes and headed to the mall to visit Santa. I have been very fortunate to have girls who are not terrified of the big old guy like so many I have seen in the past. Even though they may not look thrilled in some of these photos, they did like being there, and of course was smiling before and after the picture was shot.
Lily's first Christmas 2002

2003

Madilyn's first 2004

2005

2006

And this year!!!

Just for some laughs, I thought I'd share some funny Santa photos I got in an email the other day. Keep in mind that I do not know any of these people, so if you may be one of them please don't come after me!

Oh Christmas Tree!

2007-12-19T18:30:00.000-08:00

I promised Catherine I would post pictures of my Christmas Tree, well here it (they) is!

I put it in the Den this year because we are about to start on our wood floors, and need the front room to put all of our crap! We had to move our love seat catiwompas, but It is growing on me that way! We are also fixin to get our new leather couches, one is already on it's way, but the other has not been shipped yet. I'm really so excited to start on the house remodeling, y'all don't even know!

The tree on my mantle was made by my Grandmother, and I have always loved it. She made it using jewelry, and it really sparkles. When my Grandaddy past away in January this was the first thing I told anyone I would like to have. I have promised my sister I will make her one, but sorry, have not done it yet, but I will!!!

Now for a little Christmas fun! I received this in an email, but thought I would like to do it this way instead! Anyone want to play along? Just leave me a comment and I will sneak a peak of your answers on your blog!

Christmas ?'s and answers!

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Mostly wrapping paper, but occasionally bags if it is a hard item to wrap.

2. Tree-real or artificial? Fake! but next year when our house is finished, I would like to put the skinny fake one in the front room, for my fancy ornaments, and in the den, have a real one for the fun, family ornaments. The girls will love making some, I'm sure!

3. When do you put your Christmas tree up? I try to by the 1st of December.

4. When do you take the tree down? Depends, sometimes we go out of town right after Christmas, so in that case when ever we get back, and pretty much when I feel like it!

5. Like eggnog? NO

6. Do you have a nativity scene? Yes, I have a really nice creche made by DH's Grandfather, and I have the Fontanini figures. I did not put it up this year though, do to lack of usable space.

Next year though!

7. Favorite gift received as a child? OMG we were really overloaded with toys and such when I was little, but I guess I would have to say anything put into our stockings. Me and my sister would sleep in the same room on Christmas Eve and whoever woke up first would wake up the other, it was usually 2:00 or so, and we would go out and get our stockings, go back and jump in bed, to keep warm, and dig everything out of them. Then we'd go back to sleep till morning (still dark probably around 5:00 or 6:00) then go see what else we got! Loved the stockings!!!

8. Hardest person to buy for? Any of the men in my family!!!

9. Easiest person to buy for? My girls, they love anything!

10. Worst Christmas gift? Can not think of anything!

11. Mail or email a Christmas card? Snail mail all the way.

12. Favorite Christmas movie? It's a wonderful life.

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? A little all year long, just if I see something I'll go ahead and pick it up, the hard part is finding where I hid it!

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? No!

15. Favortie food to eat on Christmas? Sausage balls, peanut butter balls, home made sugar cookies!

16. Clear or colored tree lights? a little of both, depends on the mood. When clear first came out in the 80's I loved them, but now when I see colored, it reminds me of when I was a kid.

17. Favorite Christmas song? Can not name just one, love them all!

18. Travel during Christmas or stay at home? Since we have young children, we do not go anywhere on Christmas Eve or Christmas day, that's our time! I don't mind if people come to our house, but I'm not going anywhere!

19. Can you name Santa's reindeer? Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comit, Cupid, Donder (No I did not spell it wrong! When the guy who first wrote the book "T'was the night before Christmas" wrote the original manuscript, it was suppose to be Donder, but over time it got changed to Donner!) and Blitzen, and of course Rudolph!

20. Angel or Star on top of the Tree? Star

21. Open presents on Christmas Eve or morning? Christmas Morning! My parents use to let us open one on Christmas Eve.

22. Most annoying thing about this time of year? Hectic schedules, and not enough time to relax! Oh, I almost forgot, the Bah Humbug that I married!!! Such a scrooge!

23. Do you have your Christmas dinner on the Eve or Christmas day? Christmas Day!

24. Did you get underwear as a present when you were a kid? No, I did get P.J.'s though! But my DH did and sometimes still does just as a joke.

25. What is the best Christmas present you have ever given anyone? It was a little late, but my DD Lily, she was born mid January! First Grandaughter on both sides! She was my best present that year too!

Now come on, you know you want to play!!!

Long Weekend trip up North!

2007-12-14T06:01:00.001-08:00

Last weekend I got on a plane (all by myself) and went up North to visit DH's family. I was so excited to hear that they had a winter wonderland waiting for me!
Every year his Grandmother hosts an all girl ornament exchange. There is a different theme every year, and they draw names. I love getting into the spirit this way!
When my plane landed my DH's sisters were waiting to pick me up, then we stopped by a few stores on our way to the house.
It did not take long before we got on our snow suits and hit the hills! I thought I was gonna kill myself, but it was so much fun sledding down the big hills in the front yard. She lives on 10-12 acres, so we had many to choose from. I was a little worried about my diet, I've done really good, and have lost about 12 pounds, but well, you just can't diet while at Grandma's house! After sledding, my worries melted, as it is quite exhausting climbing back up, we took many little breaks!
I can't believe that these people have never made snow ice cream! I made some, and it was yummy! I stocked up on some good string cheese and cheese curds, had to get another carry on, but it's well worth it. Our plane was suppose to leave Tuesday, but there was a slushy storm coming through, so we got canceled, and then we left on Wednesday. Even though I missed my girls, and wished that they could have come to see so much snow, I was not too dissapointed to stay an extra day! Hee, hee!!!
Oh, I've also got some news of the mice, will have to post about that another day!

Little of this, little of that!

2007-12-05T20:51:00.000-08:00

As I mentioned before Lily's tooth was loose, well we went out of town for Thanksgiving, and what do ya know it fell out. She was playing with Madilyn and her cousins and the adults were all in the kitchen, when I had just made my prediction, that she would probably loose the tooth before going back to school on Monday. It's funny too, cause she was eating a rice crispy treat that her daddy made, and her Mimi said she thought it would come out by getting stuck in this gooey treat. Well, not even two seconds later, we hear Lily screaming "My tooth fell out!" I go running in, and they were all running around in circles, so I said "knowbody move!"
I'll tell you those front baby teeth are just tiny! We finally found it. She was a little upset, but the water works started when she asked if it was bleeding, then she lost it. Of course the Tooth Fairy came! Man, she is quite generous these days! I only got coins when I was little. I was not prepared for her to loose it so soon, all I had was a $5 or a $50. Well, needless to say she WAS NOT gonna get $50!!!

Shortly before it fell out!

And shortly after, I had to wait for the tears to dry up!

Well, in the fall when the weather started to get cooler, I saw a little visitor in my garage one day. I had spotted him a few times, and was gonna get something to take care of it. Cute little creatures, but I DO NOT want them sharing the same roof as me! Well, life happens and time goes by very busily (word?) so I kept forgetting to get traps or those things to chase them away with some high frequency waves. Last week I had taken Jack for a walk, and came back, I was in the process of taking the garbage out for the next day's pick up, when I started to hear some major squeaking from across the garage. Of course I go to investigate, and this is what I found!

Cute little bugger huh? But as I said, I DO NOT want him in my garage! Way too close to my living space!!! He was down inside of a big garbage can that we don't really use, I don't know how he got in, but he could not jump out. There was lint in there from my dryer with a couple of pieces of paper, so I started to pull some of it out slowly with a broom stick. All of a sudden I saw two!

Then three!!!

OMG people! After freaking out (not really, I'm not scared of them, just don't want them around! I run in to get DH and the girls, of course they want to play with them, NOT DH, he feels the same as I do, well not exactly, he wants me to put traps down that smash their little heads in. Well that's just not me, as some of you already know! So what do I do?

I start to try to catch them in a smaller receptacle, a sand bucket. I will say they are smart too, two of them went right on in, the third one was a big fat pain in the ass! Stubborn little thing! would not budge! Anyhoo, I finally round them up into a small clear tote, but I did not have a lid that properly fit, so one squeezed out and got away, then another! I wasn't gonna loose them all, I put the tote back down in the big garbage can, I was gonna take them down the road and find an abandoned shack some where, so they could stay together, and keep warm, far away from me! Hubby was not happy as it took me over an hour trying to round them up in the first place. So, I put the garbage can back where it was, and put a ramp up to the top, hoping that the other two would climb in and then I can take them off. The next morning, I go out, and YES, there are two, just have to wait on the third. Well, it has now been almost a week, and that third one is still hiding out somewhere, we've seen him scooting around, so yesterday I went and bought a live trap, hopefully he will find it soon!

Two waiting for their stubborn brother (or sista)

Of course what does my DH say as soon as I lost the other two, after I tell him my plan? "Well, is there any water in there for him?" HA!!! Why yes there is, NOW, he got me thinking so I put a little dish in for him, and there was a snack bar of some sort, it had already been chewed into, I guess that's what attracted them in the first place, so I threw it back in!
Ah, this is my life!
Oh, and to all the chicks who refer to me as Snow White, Madilyn has watched Cinderella several times this week, and they have now named the mice after her friends in the movie!!!
Introducing Jaq and Gus gus!
Must be something about the Disney Princesses!!!
GO FIGURE!!!

Much ado about nothing!

2007-11-20T19:01:00.000-08:00

Can not believe how horrible I've been lately with posting to this blog! I just really have not had much energy to do so lately, and from reading other's blogs, something is going around.
I will now try the much loved bullet system.

* Has it really been almost a month since my last post?

* Thanksgiving will be good this year! In a whole new way!

* Will Lily ever NOT be afraid of the potty? ARGH!!!

* Social Worker coming Monday to update the homestudy, yet again!

* Home demolition coming up soon, yeehaw!

* I will kill a cat (over exagerating) soon, if he does not stop spraying outside my house!!! Not my cat by the way!

* Hate losing bets with the hubby! Hate it!

* Getting colder down here, love digging the sweaters out! Had a marshmallow roast with the girls, cool night, felt so good out.

* Gas prices going up again! Always, around Holidays and summer vacations! Conspiracy I tell you!

* Loving this bullet thing, no wonder ya'll are raving about it!

* Started diet, going good, but Turkey day's coming! BIG SIGH!

* I love my girls!

* Lily's losing her first tooth, she really does not want her tooth to fall out.

* Should be cleaning, but don't feel much like getting my butt outta this chair!

* Hope you all have a great weekend!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Happy Halloween!!!!!!!

2007-10-31T21:56:00.000-07:00

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Share Photos - Free Video Hosting O.K. ya'll I'm tired, I dated the first photo (Lily's first Halloween) wrong, it should be 2002 instead of 2004.Yeah, I'm an idiot! I'm gonna just blame it on my little (ongoing) infection!!!

I have what growing where?

2007-09-19T19:39:00.000-07:00

Well, first off let me apologize for not filling ya in on my nose job! All went (kinda sorta) well, and I am back to normal (again kinda sorta)
I was scheduled to have my surgery on Monday morning the 10th. I was starting to really hurt, so I asked the Doc if I could go ahead and start on my antibiotic. I get the O.K. and the Friday night before, I take my first dose. We had company over for the weekend, so I had spent the week beforehand cleaning. I start to notice a rash coming up around my neck on my shoulders, and around the back of my neck. I don't really think much of it, cause both times I was in the hospital after giving birth, I got that same rash, but nothing else. Well, next morning I take my a.m. dose, and not even 30 minutes goes by before I am in the bathroom with stomach/bowel issues ( I won't go into that, I think you all know what I'm talkin about) and then start REALLY not feeling good, nausea, vomiting = NOT GOOD! Call the doctor, and they say to stop taking it, REALLY, you don't say!
My husband thinks I am now getting the stomach bug that the girls are still dealing with, but no I know my body, and that's not it.
All day Saturday I was in the bed, no kidding, I felt like the worst host in the word! I had planned on making this amazing stuffed meatloaf and a potato casserole meal (really good, made them both before, and the hubs who hates meatloaf, LOVED IT)
One of the only times I ventured out, I came into the kitchen to the worst smell ever, Pizza! I had to go back to bed!
We had a really rough night, Lily starts throwing up again (she came home early from school Thursday and stayed out Friday)
Sunday I didn't feel great either, but at least the nausea was gone, just felt weak and tired. I knew I needed to eat something, cause they tell you not to eat anything after 11 the night before surgery. Not too hungry but I know I need to.

Might I mention, when our guests came down for breakfast, DH tells them Lily is sick again, and to run, run fast! He starts getting sick too! GREAT!

So glad I did, I was starving the next morning, and my surgery wasn't until 10:30.
The surgery was not bad at all, I didn't need to take any pain meds, felt great in recovery, this place was set up so nice! The rooms (private) were very fancy like a nice hotel room, and they brought me drinks and pudding. The worst part was having that stupid gauze pad taped to the end of my nose to catch the blood from dripping! So they keep me all day, and DH comes to pick me up around 6:30 ish. I don't know who was worse off, me after having surgery, or the hubby driving with a cooler next to him in case he had to hurl!
Go home feeling great eat cheese burgers, take a long nice hot bath and go to bed( on the couch, cause for three nights I can't lay down, but have to sit up at a 30 degree angle)
Bam, next morning I am feeling sick(damn stomach bug! GO AWAY!!!) don't want to get up, I had a bad night could not get compfortable on the couch, DH is still sick, needless to say Lily did not make it to school today either, she stayed out yesterday just to make the scheduling easier.
Let me tell you I did not feel like a normal human being again until Thursday night. But long ugly story short, we are all alive and well finally! Hope that thing never comes around our house again!
Now, for the diagnosis of what was in there (in my sinuses) I had a post opp appt. Friday morning, I was so scared to go, I didn't want him touching my nose, it doesn't hurt unless I wipe it, or accidentally bump it. He basically was just making sure I was doing O.K. and to tell me that they had done a culture of the stuff that he scrapped outa there, and it shows SOMETHING growing in there, some kind of Staph infection, but they are not done watching it yet, to know what kind of meds to put me on.
Well they called this morning and I have a Staphylococcus infection. So now I have to take another type of antibiotic for two weeks, to make sure it is gone! I am dreading starting this medicine, I don't want to have another reaction like before! We got our new fingerprint appt. for this Saturday morning, and I am thinking of waiting until after to start, just in case! I don't want to have to go through this (scheduling fingerprint appt) again, NEVER do I want to have to do this again!
So there you have it, my boring little week! Wish me luck Saturday, that the office will be OPEN this time! If not I'm sure you'll hear on the nightly news about this crazed woman going loopy in Alabama!!!

Yeah, I'm having a nose job!

2007-09-05T20:07:00.001-07:00

O.K. I went to the doctor this morning.

Wait, let me back up a little bit!

Almost three years ago, I had a root canal done on my upper left back tooth. For over two and a half years nothing, no feeling, no pain, nuttin!
This past April though it starts hurting, and when I say hurting, that is almost an understatement, It is absolutely undoubtably KILLING ME!
I've had two babies, and that pain was nothing compared to this! It was the same pains I was having before I had the root canal.
So my first thought is that I must have an infection in that tooth, maybe from a crack or something.
Well, I go to the dentist, and she takes x-rays, and sees nothing wrong with that tooth, but she does notice that my sinuses look cloudy. So she prescribes me an antibiotic, and a pain med.
Shortly after I start on the antibiotic, the pain fades away. The pain med on the other hand made me puke my guts out (sorry if this is too graphic!)
Well almost immediately after I'm done with the medication, the pain comes back. Now I am scared cause we were going to Destin that weekend, and my BIGGEST FEAR is hurting to that degree again. So I call the dentist back, to ask for some other pain med. She writes me something else, plus another round of antibiotic.
For almost two months, no pain, life is great, and then BAM, it starts AGAIN! So now I go to the Endodontist who did my root canal, he takes more x-rays and again, doesn't see a thing. So he tells me that we could do the root canal over (free of charge) or for me to go to an ENT (Ear, nose and throat DR.) Plus he writes me another script for pain AND another antibiotic. Well, if I'm gonna go to an ENT, I don't really want to start on an antibiotic, and then it clears up WHATEVER I have and they don't see anything, so I just wait. And keep putting it off. This is about the time that I am gonna go meet all the girls at the Bloggy bash! Just don't feel like going to another doc right now. So I go to Georgia, but knowing that the pain is slowly coming back (it always starts out mild, and then works up to an unbearable level) I get the prescription filled just in case! Boy am I glad I did, as the first night that I was there, it got to the unbearable level, and so I start on the meds, and have a HORRIBLE sleepless night! This time though I had a 10 day dose, and as usual the pain fades and goes away.

For a little while!

Now a month after the Par-tay, it's back. So, by golly I'm going to an ENT! All the while not thinking that it was my sinuses, I could have sworn it was THE tooth!
Well, I went last week, and they sceduled me for a CT scan (cat scan) this morning.
And let me tell you I was SO CLOSE to going ahead and having the tooth pulled before today.
Well whataya know, I have a major sinus infection! It was so cool looking at the scans of my face. He didn't even have to point it out, I could see where the infection was!
So now I get to go Monday morning for a Functional Endoscopic Sinus Surgery!
Oh, boy what fun!
Sounds exciting doesn't it? Are you jealous?
I also have a deviated septum! So for him to be able to do the other procedure, he has to fix this first! AGAIN, WHAT FUN!!!

When it rains!

2007-09-02T20:41:00.001-07:00

O.k. ya'll, I am sorry in advance if I seem a little pissed off in this post!!!
At the beginning of August I sent in my application to renew our I-171, so I wait for our fingerprint appointment for almost 5 weeks before I get it, I was starting to really worry that maybe they did not receive all of my paperwork, cause the first go around it came really fast within a week or two at the most. So when I do get it, I of course tear it open to see when we will be heading to Birmingham, I had asked them to schedule us on a Saturday, since Lily is in school now it would just make more since and be easier, my DH wouldn't have to take off of work, any way as you can see in the above photo, they did indeed give us a Saturday app.

We drove to my in-laws house Friday night, they live closer to the office than we do, plus we bought season football tickets, so we figured we would go to the game that night.
Well, on the way down Lily starts saying her tummy hurt, cause she ate too much at school. I also noticed that she started to sound a little stuffy, like a cold was coming on.
We get there, they run around playing with their cousins, and then later, my DH says, "I think Lily has a fever." GREAT!!! Sure enough 101.4! Plus she starts saying her legs hurt, now I'm worried, and thinking Meningitis. I don't even know for sure what the simptoms of that are, just thought of it.
Now, me and my sister in law (who I love dearly, Hi Haha!) have had discussions before about people who bring their sick kiddos around our children, knowing full well that they are sick.
Let me just say for all to hear, "I swear, I did not know Lily was getting sick!!! therefore if your little ones come down with something, don't blame me! Pu-leaze!!!
We all go to bed, all is well!

Get up Saturday morning bright and early cause it takes about an hour to get to the immigration office, pull up driving directions from mapquest, just to make sure we don't get lost, and cause us to be late. And we head out, beautiful morning, nice drive, and we get there a little early. We notice that there are NO OTHER cars or people anywhere around. So we sit in the car until 9:00. We get out go to the door and it is locked. WHAT THE F@#*!!!
Then we notice this taped to the window!

Now, I know some of you home girls (you know who you are) think that this little southern bell is just the sweetest thing, HA!!! You would have been quite suprised to hear all of the different language I can use when I'm mad, and boy was I!!!!!!!!!
MAD AS HELL!!!
So, what do we do now, I call the 800 # that is listed on the letter, and what do you know, they are closed!
Hello, this is a government office, and they make this kind of error! Holy crap what else do they screw up!!!
I am so freaking pissed I am sitting there on the drive back, in tears!
We get about 20 miles away, and DH says, "we should of took pictures of the sign" Shi#$@$!!!
I had my camera with me and didn't even think of it cause my mind was in total caos at the moment. My sister who works not far from there, took the pics for me, THANK YOU!!! We might need the proof if they try to give me a hard time (dare they even try!)

So you would think not much could happen to make the day worse, think again!

Later in the day about 30 minutes before we walk out the door to go to the game, Miss Madilyn throws up all over Mimi's floor! Just lovely!

This was just a wasted trip any way you look at it. And again, Haha don't blame me if your babies get sick!

Needless to say, we did not stay for very long, we wanted to get home, where there is a great pediatric E.R. if things get as bad as they have before. Both of my girls have been there when they have gotten dehydrated from throwing up, but we have the best meds for it now! Zofran! I love this drug, it makes it so much nicer when your babies are sick.

So, anyway, we get home, and of course they act just fine and dandy in there Bama gear!

Oh well, please keep your fingers crossed that my dear little angels get to feeling better soon!

Also, for anyone who has dealt with the Atlanta USCIS office, if you have contact info other than that stupid fax number please feel free to share! As I will be on the phone first thing Tuesday morning!!! Wish me luck.

School days

2007-08-23T20:49:00.000-07:00

Wow ya'll, I'm sorry I have not updated for a while!Miss Lily is doing pretty good in school. We had a couple of little bumps in the road at first. Her school is pretty new, and I guess when they built it they wanted all the new gadgets. Well, when we took her to open house the night before her first day, we noticed that they have automatic toilets in the bathrooms. Well, I knew we were gonna have issues, as Lily is (and always has been) terrified of those potties!!!
Yeah, I picked her up on her first day, and she had a sticker on her shirt, from the school nurse. So I asked her what the sticker was for, and she said the lady gave it to her when she went potty. Well, she didn't say much else, and I figured something must have happened, for her to have went to the nurse. Not an hour after we got home, her teacher calls, and says
"I know you told me she was hesitant about going."
Um, no! I told you she was scarred to death of them!!!
Anyway, she tells me Lily cried and shook, and refused to go into the bathroom, she pretty much held it all day, until rest time, when they were laying on their mats, and Lily was crying, and shaking, and she asked her if she had to pee, and Lily finally said she did "really bad," but still did not want to go into those bathrooms, so her teacher took her to the nurses office, and she finally went in there. So, long story short, we went out on field trips to the mall, and Wal-mart (several times) to "practice" using the potty by herself.
Hopefully she is doing better, I have not heard from her teacher, she told me she would email me if we were still having issues, so I take that as a good sign. The first few times I took her, she cried when I left. The first day I was o.k. but the second day, it just tore my heart right out. And I cried driving away.
But now, she seems to REALLY be liking it, although it is still like trying to pull teeth getting her to tell you what she did in school today!

They don't give the Kindergartener's much home work (thank goodness) but they do want
us to ready with her every night, which we did anyway, so no big deal! She has brought home
a couple of things that they did in school, and last week she came home with some drawing that some of the kids did. I guess they made it "Lily day" cause the drawings where all of Lily.
They were so cute! Of course my DH comes home and laughs (not in front of Lily) about a couple of them. He said one of them looked like a cross-eyed peanut, and then another looked like a severed head in a box. I'll have to scan them and let you all see. One little girl who is in her class is Asian, and she drew Lily so pretty!
Now for Miss Madilyn! I figured she would have a hard time adjusting to Lily not being there.
Nope, doesn't seem to miss her at all! I think she kindof likes having me and all of the toys to herself. And on one of the first days, Matt asked her before he went to work what she wanted
to watch, and she said, "a movie I want to watch!"
Also, I am so excited!!! We did not lose our nap time like I thought we would! We had to move it to an earlier time, but it works! Of course I have to set an alarm clock to make sure we don't over sleep. But man I was not looking forward to not getting my naps! I know, it sounds funny, a grown up taking naps, but I've been used to it for 5 1/2 years now, so when I don't get one, I'm so beat! Plus I stay up really late at night, and if I didn't take naps, then I would have to go to bed earlier, and therefore I would not have as much time to check up on all "my stuff,"
My bloggy friends, and emails!!!

Well, the other day, I was upstairs checking something on the computer, and Madilyn
comes up there with me, she brings a couple of toys. I'm not really watching what she
is doing for a while, but then I look over and see this:

Yeah, she must of been bored! She hung this little dolly up by a ribbon on the treadmill. I told her not to touch it, I had to go grab my camera! It was just too funny!
I also have to say, it is REALLY nice not hearing screaming over toys, and fighting since Lily went to school, as much as I hate to say it!!!
We're doing pretty good!!!

For Lily, my BIG little girl!

2007-08-06T11:50:00.000-07:00

A TOUCH OF LOVE

You were six months old and full of fun,

with a blink of an eye you were suddenly one.

There were so many things we were going to do,

but I turn my head and then you were two.

At two you were still dependent on me,

but independence took over when you were three.

Your third Birthday, another year I wished to ignore,

but as I lit the candles there weren't three but four.

Four was the year that you really strived,

why, look at you now, you're already five.

Now you're ready for books and rules,

this is the year that you go to school.

That big day came you were anxious to go,

we walked to the bus, going oh so slow.

As the bus drove away and you waved good-bye,

I felt a lump in my throat and a tear stung my eye.

For when the bus brings you home and you jump to the ground,

you'll be wearing your cap and graduation gown.

Time goes by so fast its hard to believe,

why just yesterday you were at home with me.

So I am holding these moments as close as I dare,

In a twinkling, a woman will be standing there.

-author unknown-

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Share Photos - Free Video Hosting

Well, as I'm sure you've guessed, Lily started kindergarten today. The days that I could sleep in are over (sigh!) now it's 6:15 a.m. And wow, that is a toughy! We all packed up, headed out, and of course got stuck in school traffic. When we got there Matt stayed in the car with Madilyn, and I walked Lily to her classroom. Nobody was in there yet, so we waited out in the hall. I was told that for the first week I could walk her in, but after that I needed to drop her off around back. The kids all go into the gym, where their teachers are waiting, and then they all walk single file to class. Yeah, sorry, but I'm not just dropping my baby off at the door. Next week (and maybe a little longer) I'm going to walk her into the gym.

They have it really organized, and it really is a nice school, as much as my DH won't admit it. It could be the best private school in the world, and he would still find reasons to complain. But, who can blame him, it's only his little angel we're talking about!

She was doing o.k. but while we waited I think it sunk in that I was really going to be leaving her there, and she started saying, "I'll miss you mommy," and "I love you the bestest", it was hard but I kept my composure. The hardest part came when the teacher and class walked in, and she went in with the other kids. They all sat in the floor by the door, and me and another mom were taking pictures, and when I blew Lily kisses, she returned them, and started tearing up, I had to wave bye and leave. I know she will be o.k. as soon as they start playing, she'll snap out of it. Hopefully anyway!

Madilyn on the other hand wanted to go to HER school too, and she screamed all the way home!

This will be a big adjustment for all of us, but with time, I hope it will become easier to handle.

Fun filled day!

2007-07-29T22:06:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we took the girls out to a park for a picnic and well, just to let them run, get tired, so we could go home and take a nap! Yeah, I know it sounds bad, but we like our nap times! The park is pretty big, with a small lake, a playground area, picnic tables throughout. We brought some kiddie fishing poles, but my DH rigged them and we did not want to look too redneckish (there was lots of other families there, guess they had the same idea as us!) so they got left in the car. I recently found out that my camera can be programmed to take black & white shots, so I had fun with that! Thanks Kris!

We didn't do too much else this weekend, just kindof took it easy. We did rent a cute movie for the girls to watch on the "big screen." Ya'll would laugh, promise we don't rig up everything, but hey whatever works! We have a projector screen, but it's not big enough for DH (it's like 60-70 inches) so he had me make a really big one out of a king size sheet, the picture is flawless though and the girls LOVE IT!!! Oh, the movie we watched was "flushed away," I had never heard of it before, but it really was cute, and the kiddo's liked it, so now it's on the list of things we need to get!

Lily starts school (kindergarten) next week, so I took her up to the school today to take some pictures marking this BIG event, I will publish those at a later time, working on something!

Hope ya'll had a great weekend too!

Bodacious Blogger Break '07 and Friends!

2007-07-26T20:23:00.000-07:00

This past weekend was one truly wonderful experience for me. I met some of the nicest ladies from all over the country, and one "Foreigner." sorry Catherine, couldn't resist! Love you!

I have been reading all of their posts about this party, and been racking my brain to try to put into words my feelings for my new friends.
Well, I received an email from my mom today, and after reading it, well, this pretty much sums it up!

When I was little, I used to believe in the concept of one best friend, and then I started to become a woman. And then I found out that if you allow your heart to open up, God would show you the best in many friends.
One friend is needed when you're going through things with your man. Another friend is needed when you're going through things with your mom. Another will sit beside you in the bleachers as you delight in your children and their activities. Another when you want to shop, share, heal, hurt, joke, or just be. One friend will say, "Let's cry together," another, "Let's fight together," another, "Let's walk away together."

One friend will meet your spiritual need, another your shoe fetish, another your love for movies, another will be with you in your season of confusion, another will be your clarifier, another the wind beneath your wings.

But whatever their assignment in your life, on whatever the occasion, on whatever the day, or wherever you need them to meet you with their gym shoes on and hair pulled back, or to hold you back from making a complete fool of yourself .. those are your best friends.

It may all be wrapped up in one woman, but for many, it's wrapped up in several.. one from 7th grade, one from high school, several from the college years, a couple from old jobs, on some days your mother, on some days your neighbor, on others, your sisters, and on some days, your daughters.

So whether they've been your friend for 20 minutes or 20 years, AND ONLY IF YOU'D LIKE TO, pass this on to the women that God has placed in your life to make a difference.

Nuff said?

Love ALL MY FRIENDS!!!

Old and new! Thanks Tracy for putting this photo montage together for us all!!!

Little fur baby!

2007-07-25T18:25:00.000-07:00

O.K. peeps! This little fellow has been seen umpteen times in my backyard! Is he not THE cutest little thing? And I say HE, because I looked (my SIL asked) and he looks just like a male kitten, so I assume it is a he. Yes, I did look!

He's been in my garden too, there are bite marks on my cantelope. That's the only thing he has nibbled on, so I may not actually get to eat any this year. I'm planning on planting some sort of greenery (spinach or lettuce) for him, so maybe next year he'll stay out of the veggies!

He tried to get away at first, but calmed down when I started petting him. Love little babies!

More to come from the PAR-TAY, promise!

Fuzzy, Furry, Fun! Past life???

2007-07-25T18:19:00.000-07:00

You Were a Rabbit

You are fast thinking and tend to live by your wits.
Getting over fears is important to you, as is strengthening intuition.

What Animal Were You In a Past Life?

Recipe!

2007-07-22T21:07:00.000-07:00

O.K. first of all, I have not downloaded any pictures yet from the BLOGGY BASH 2007, so bare with me. After having many people requesting the recipe for my cheesecake here it is! Make it, and enjoy!!!

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Crust:

1 1/2 Cups graham cracker crumbs
1/3 Cup Sugar
1/3 cup butter

Melt butter, then mix in sugar and cracker crumbs, press into the bottom of a greased 9 inch springform pan. Stick in the oven for just a few minutes.

(We like it thick, so instead of making it with the measurements above, I doubled it, plus I mixed chocolate graham crackers with cinnamon ones)

Filling:

4 boxes Cream Cheese
1 1/2 Cups sugar
3/4 Cup milk
4 eggs
1 Cup sour cream
1 Tbls. Vanilla
1/4 Cup flour

Mix softened cream cheese and sugar, add in milk.
Add eggs 1 @ a time.
Mix in sour cream, vanilla, and flour.

Pour into pan, bake for one hour. Turn off oven (do not take a peek, do not open the door!!!)
cool in the oven for 5-6 hours (that's the hardest part!)

For the toppings, I used Mrs. Richardson's Butterscotch, and Hot fudge, but stores down here don't carry it, we got it in Wisconsin, I also crumbled up pecans. But I made it before plain, and it is quite yummy that way too!

Yummy, yummy, YUMMY!!!

2007-07-17T19:57:00.001-07:00

Over a month ago, I attempted to make my first ever Cheesecake. I found the recipe online, and needless to say, it did not last very long!

This weekend I am attending a (much anticipated) girl's party, and I planned on making

the same cheesecake, except this time I made the crust a little different, and it is a turtle, meaning it has yummy butterscotch, hot fudge and pecans drizzled all over it, and man it was so hard not to go ahead and dig in!!!

For those of you that will also be attending this PAR-TAY, get ready to indulge in a little piece of heaven!

Side note to myself: Man, I hope this thing is good, or else I will never hear the end of it, these girls can be brutal!

It's a small world!

2007-07-08T21:17:00.000-07:00

Wow, it really is a small word after all! Well, it all started a couple of weeks ago. I was out walking Jack (he's a little overweight, so he's on a diet) and a couple drove past us in a car and waved. By the time we got around a curve in the road, I saw their car sitting in the driveway of this house that I just love the color of, we are eventually gonna paint ours, and I REALLY like this color, so anyway, I decided to go ring the door bell, to ask if they knew the name of the color. Really nice lady, but they are renting the house, and so have no clue about the color. They have since moved out, there was a FOR RENT sign in the yard for only a short period of time. Saw the moving van, with some folks moving in, nothing exciting, just stuff! We go walking every night, so no I am not stalking people here!

Fast forward to yesterday, Lily was with me walking Jack, and I was (trying) to walk Dakota, when we got to the end of our street and turned, we could see a guy with three little kids, two blonde headed boys, and a black haired little girl. Well, I thought Hum! I wonder, so we took a little detour and took the dogs to the park to get a closer look. Sure enough she was Asian, so I asked if she was from China, and the guy says yeah, so I proceed to tell him about us adopting too, and we talked for a few minutes, then his wife drives up in the car, and I talk with her for a few minutes too. Buy the way, cutest little thing EVER! Her name was Alice Ann, and she is about two.

They said that they just moved here, and have not joined the local FCC group yet. Well, the dogs are getting restless, and so we start to walk again, and the wife drives up the hill, and the guy starts walking the kids back home, going the same direction we are headed, so we kept talking. And I almost flipped when he stops in front of OMG! THE HOUSE with the color that I love! I am still thinking some sort of sign here! And I was just wondering if there were any adoptees in our neighborhood. And you can see their house from our backyard, the are so close. I sure hope they are still living here by the time we get our little one!

Sorry, I know for some of you I have just been rambling on, but to me it was amazingly weird!

Howdy!

2007-07-02T20:48:00.001-07:00

Well, well, I've been having some fun! A little over a year and a half ago, my DH's sister and her husband got two yearlings, one filly who's name is Trixie (pictured above) and a stud colt who has been known by many things, starting with Hank, they did not like that name, so when they brought them home, it changed to Sampson, but was called all kind of things one of them being Satan. Believe it or not they got these two beauties from a lady who breads Paints, in Mississippi. When solid foals are born, she automatically decides to take them to auction when they are old enough. Well, when she met my SIL she told them, if they drove all the way to pick them up, then they could just have them!!!

Trixie was actually the troubled one to begin with, it took them around 6 hours just to get her on the trailer, then she was so skiddish, they could not get her halter on when it fell off. But now she's a really sweet horse, she's easy to work with, and is just BEAUTIFUL! she started out being a Bay, but it looks like she's more of a Buckskin.

Now Sampson ( known to family and friends as Sam) has always been a bit of a bully, not in a mean way, but well, he's just got too much hormons running through him! If he sees you with food, look out, he'll push you over to try to get it. They are planning on getting him gelded sometime soon, if they decide to keep them. My sister in law is the one who just had her SECOND set of twin boys, and she pretty much has her hands full, not to mention the chickens, dogs, cat, and garden, to have to take care of. So any way, for now they are here, and I will take full advantage to be able to play with them. They will be three years old next April, so are not quite old enough to break yet, but they have been able to put the saddle and bridle on them a couple of times, and my BIN has gotten up on Trixie several times, and Sam a couple. I was down last weekend, and got up on Trixie (not gonna post those pics!) she's really not gonna be that hard to break, but Sam, well, again, something's gotta go!!!

Inching closer!

2007-06-12T20:02:00.000-07:00

WooHoo!!! Well it's about time! Just got the GREAT news from our agency, we are finally out of the review room!!! It only took 14 months, that's not too bad, ahem!
Actually they said that all of April is out of review, we were LID April 5, 2006.
I really am excited, but I thought I would be a little more so, it's just that even though we are now only waiting for our referral, that may take another year. Let's just hope not, shall we?

My little three year old!

2007-05-30T20:18:00.001-07:00

Happy Birthday my little Madilyn! We had her Birthday party this past weekend, but her Birthday is not actually until June 4th. I can't believe she is already 3, wow time goes by fast! It's sad but we started this adoption process when she was just 16 months old, ARGH!!! Hopefully we will be able to complete it before she graduates from High School! She picked Hello Kitty a while back for the theme of her party, and I had fun making the cake as always! It was actually easier this year, I found a Hello Kitty candle, and just stuck it on the cake.

I only had to mix three different colors of icing, instead of several, so it did not take as long as normally. I know that it would probably be much easier (and less expensive) to just buy a cake, but hey, I enjoy doing it, and I hope that they will remember and appreciate that I did.
This is one of the things that Matt does'nt understand, he thinks I have too much to do, and not enough time to spend making things that I do. I just can't help it, that's me, and these are the kinds of things that I take to heart, I want to pass these things down to my kids, and that's just one of the ways that I can show them just how much I love my little girlie girls!

Over all I think the day was perfect, the weather was great, we had a big blow up water slide set up for the kids and for the little ones Mimi (Matt's mom) set up a pool. There was hotdogs for lunch ,we thought about wings, but did'nt think that the kids could handle the hot sauce, by the way if ya'll like wings, there is a great place it's Buffalo's Wild Wings, and OMG they're good! MMMMM!!! They have lots of sauces to choose from, and you can buy the stuff in bottles to take home, our fav's are Spicey Garlic, and Asian Zing.
Well, We are gonna be a little busy the next week, so there will be no new posts coming. But I will of course be checking in on all of my bloggy friends!

I got gas! Quite a conspiracy!

2007-05-22T14:39:00.001-07:00

Wow ya'll! Here we go again, I went to get gas today, and could not believe they're doing it again! I swear it's a conspiracy, every year before Spring Break (that's when it first started going up) they start bumping up the prices on us. They know everybody is about to start going on vacations, so they (in their small little minds, who think knowbody will notice) up the prices. I mean this is the second year (that I've noticed it) they've done this at this time of year. And what are we to do about it? Pretty much nothing, they know we want to travel, so they know we have no choice but to pay, it just makes me mad!
Sorry, nothing to do with adopting, just had to fume a little!

Beach Babes!

2007-05-15T20:49:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago we made a quick trip to the beach. Lily was 19 months old the last time she went, so I don't think she remembered it. This was Madilyn's first experience with the sand, and the ocean, and I'm sure you can see, she just had a ball! Yeah, well, maybe not so much. She did like playing in the sand with her bucket and shovel, but that's pretty much it. Lily on the other hand LOVED it! On the way down, they wore these cute little tee shirts that I found at Wal-mart, are'nt they cute??? And it says it all, we heard that so many times I lost count. It was very nice weather wise, but the water was on the cold side for me, quite chilly! Hopefully it won't be so long till our next trip!

Backtracking to Easter

2007-05-02T21:17:00.000-07:00

O.K. sorry folks, blogger is not cooperating again, so this is the only way I could go about posting pictures, one at a time. So anyway, just to let you know we DID have a nice Easter. Even though it was a bit on the cold side, it was nice hunting eggs, and NOT sweating, and getting ate up by bugs! At least it did'nt rain.

2007-05-02T21:13:00.000-07:00

2007-05-02T21:12:00.000-07:00

2007-05-02T21:11:00.000-07:00

2007-05-02T21:10:00.000-07:00

It's working!!!

2007-04-29T20:35:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it! I just was assuming that it would not work, and tried, well there we go. I sure hope it was just that one time, and from now on I can post pictures again! Please, Please, Please!!!

Well, anyway, this picture is one that I took at night, I went a little crazy with the rose bushes this year, I have planted 8 new ones and have one on the way, any way we were getting ready to go out of town the other night, so I went out to water my plants, and the laundry room light was on, this rose bush is planted directly under the window, and I thought it was so pretty, how the light made this rose just glow! I went in to grab my camera, and then spent about 30-45 minutes trying to get the perfect shot!

Is it EVER GONNA HAPPEN?

2007-04-18T21:05:00.000-07:00

Sorry ya'll I'm sitting here just about in tears I am so angry with my computer! I got a new camera for my Birthday (over a month ago) and was so excited to start using it. Now, I have the hardest time downloading them onto the computer. Matt finally figured it out, and now either my computer won't allow me to, or blogger is messing up, I don't know which, but I'm just tempted to throw the whole thing out the window!!! Maybe I'll be able to post pictures again one day!

Second set is here!!!

2007-03-15T20:50:00.000-07:00

I got a call from my sister-in-law last night, and she was having some contractions, I asked when they started, and she said, "when did they start, or when did I start keeping up with them?"

Well, needless to say, only a few hours later, the two little angels where born. I have not seen them in person yet, they live a few hours away. I will be heading that way tomorrow morning. I won't say to much about them, without the approval from the parents, but they are all doing fine, and are (might I say) extremely healthy boys. She's a trooper!!!

Apparently her first set of twin boys, who are two, don't really think much of the newbies right now, they went to see them, one was fascinated, one could care less, so the mom says.

It's funny, I had Lily three years before she had the boys, and when Madilyn was about nine months old, and we also started this adoption process 8 months before she even got pregnant with the new babies, and now she's ahead by two, AMAZING!!! You go girl!

Yep, the gestation of an elephant! That's what we are in, that about sums it up!

Nothing much, just jibber jabber!

2007-03-08T20:07:00.000-08:00

Well, not a whole lot has been happening around here lately, just kind of playing around! The snow fell a few weeks back, and we almost waited too late to go out and play, it was almost just really cold moosh (is that a word?) I tried to make snow ice cream, but it did not work out too well. Maybe one day we will get some GOOD snow! It's only been about 14 years since we saw a snow storm down here, so I think we're due a good one!

We planted some little flowers in the flower boxes on the girls' playhouse, we'll see how long they make it, either they will die from lack of care, or from being tortured by a two year old!

On the adoption front, we have now been waiting 11 months (since the 5th) and I honestly feel like, where did the time go, hopefully it will keep slipping by un-noticed, so it won't be too painful.

My sister-in-law will be having her second set of twin boys by next week, a c-section is scheduled for Friday (Dr. moved it up from the 20th) so if ya'll get a second, just send some little positive vibes her way, I think she's been through enough, and deserves a (little) rest!

Hello Kitty!

2007-02-21T21:50:00.000-08:00

Well, I was doing my nightly blog reading, and came across the cutest thing! There is a certain orphanage in Jiangxi (spelling?) province, were they use Hello Kitty chairs to take the referral pictures. Check them out here, www.julydragonflies.com/FengCheng/HKClub.htm

YEAH, I'M A PIG!

2007-02-18T22:29:00.000-08:00

According to the Chinese Zodiac, I was born in the year of the Pig! 2007's new year starts today, and babies born this year are also Pigs. So will our baby be a pig? WHO KNOWS!!!

Here's a little info I found on the Pig people, and this year's Golden Pigs!

Intellectually curious, honest and tolerant, those born in the Year of the Pig can be relied upon for their loyalty and often make true friends for life.
Like the knights of old, Pigs are often highly regarded for their chilvary and pureness of heart, and will often sacrifice their own well-being for the greater good.
The Pig can be very naive, however, and may easily fall victim to the unscrupulous who take advantage of their idealistic nature - as Pigs see everyone as loyal and caring as they are. Although forced to play the fool many times, they will just as likely hold fast to the notion that everyone is at heart decent and admirable.
Stubbornly optimistic, the Pig will not tolerate those with well-meaning advice on how to be a Pig, but since they dislike quarreling and discord their anger usually cools quickly. Sometimes looked upon as a snob, the Pig just finds it right and natural to exhibit good manners whenever possible. Their main goal in life is in serving others, and no matter how difficult circumstances become the Pig will never waiver or retreat, forging ahead in the sure knowledge that all will be well.
Pig people love to read, are generally thirsty for knowledge, and not readily talkative, but if presented with an opportunity to discuss topics of interest with like-minded individuals Pigs may find themselves talking non-stop for hours!
People born in the Year of the Pig are trusted associates in whatever career they happen to choose and often shine as entertainers, social activists or politicians.

The lunar calendar gives each year one of 12 zodiac signs with years rotating through the five elements - gold, wood, water, fire and earth. Children born when the "Year of the Pig" coincides with the element of gold are said to be blessed with exceptional wealth, happiness and prosperity. The golden luck of the child is supposed to rub off on the parents. That might explain why the Shanghai Population and Family Planning Commission expects 7,000 more births in that city alone. This year of the "Golden Pig" occurs only every 60 years.

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

2007-02-14T20:57:00.000-08:00

I was searching for Valentine's Day clip art today, and I found this poem, and thought it was too cute!

Hope ya'll enjoy it now, ya hear!

Redneck Valentine

Kudzu is green, my dog's name is Blue

And I'm so lucky to have a sweet thang like you.

Yore hair is like cornsilk a-flapping in the breeze.

Softer than Blue's And without all them fleas.

You move like the bass, Which excite me in May.

You ain't got no scales But I luv you anyway.

You're as graceful as okry Jist a-dancin' in the pan.

Yo're as fragrant as SunDrop Right out of the can.

You have all yore teeth, For which I am proud;

I hold my head high When we're in a crowd.

On special occasions, When you shave yore armpits,

Well, I'm in hawg heaven, I'm plumb outta my wits.

Still them fellers at work They all want to know,

What I did to deserve Such a purty, young doe.

Like a good roll of duct tape Yo're there fer yore man,

To patch up life's troubles And stick 'em in the can.

Yo're as strong as a four-wheeler Racin' through the mud,

Yet fragile as that sanger Named Naomi Judd.

Yo're as cute as a junebug A-buzzin' overhead.

You ain't mean like no fire ant Upon which I oft' tread.

Cut from the best pattern Like a flannel shirt of plaid,

You sparked up my life Like a Rattletrap shad.

When you hold me real tight Like a padded gunrack,

My life is complete; Ain't nuttin' I lack.

Yore complexion, it's perfection, Like the best vinyl sidin'.

Despite all the years, Yore age, it keeps hidin'.

And when you get old Like a '57 Chevy,

Won't put you on blocks And let grass grow up heavy.

Me 'n' you's like a Moon Pie With a RC cold drank,

We go together Like a skunk goes with stank.

Some men, they buy chocolate For Valentine's Day;

They git it at Wal-Mart, It's romantic that way.

Some men git roses On that special day From the cooler at Kroger.

"That's impressive," I say.

Some men buy fine diamonds From a flea market booth.

"Diamonds are forever," They explain, suave and couth.

But for this man, honey, These will not do.

For you are too special, You sweet thang you.

I got you a gift, Without taste nor odor,

Better than diamonds it's a new trollin' motor.

-author unknown-

I hope you all have a Happy Valentine's day! My honey brought home my favorite desert from Romano's Macaroni Grill. I've mentioned it before in one of my "tagged" posts. You have to try this if you have one close by. They are called desert raviolli, and OMG are they heavenly!!!

See you later Alligator!

2007-02-11T20:21:00.000-08:00

Saying goodbye seems like such a final thing to say to a loved one. We say it every day, but we don't really mean it, do we? I mean the majority of the time, we say it knowing that we will see that person again at some point in the future. When I was little we always (instead of goodbye) said "see you later alligator" and in response, the other would say "after while crocodile." It just sounds more appropriate. So now my kids say it ( actually Madilyn mixes them together, but that's o.k. she gets the jist of it) It's fun that way!
Well, last week, I had to say goodbye to a man that meant so much to me. My Grandfather, who was such a sweet fella, passed away at the age of 87. We kind of knew it might be coming, he had Alzheimer's for several years, but he still knew everybody. It took a turn though, back in October, and he had to go into a nursing home. I HATED that, and knew he would have hated it too, and I know it was a hard thing for my Uncle's to do. Any way, my mind is set on the fact that we WILL see each other again some day, so to this man, the most WONDERFULLY SWEET GRANDADDY, I say to you "see you later alligator!"
MUCH LOVE!!!

Honoring a fallen star!

2007-01-29T21:00:00.000-08:00

Well, today was a sad day for many Race Horse fans. Barbaro, the Kentucky Derby winner was put to rest this morning, after many months of recovery from his broken leg.
I hated to hear this, I was so hoping he would survive. I was pulling for him to win the Preakness, and as soon as he broke through the gates early, I knew he would not win the race, but little did I know (or even imagine) what was about to happen next. It broke my heart when I saw him hoping, and knew immediately that his leg was broken.
My heart goes out to his Owners, Trainers, Veterinarians, and his Jockey for never giving up on this beautiful horse!
He will never be forgotten.

Tagged again!

2007-01-15T21:17:00.000-08:00

Oh, my! It's already January 15th, were did the time go. Sorry I have not posted for 2 weeks, we've been really busy! I am really embarassed to say, that my Christmas tree is still up, just have not had the chance to take it down yet.

Anyway, Melissa has tagged me, so here goes!

A. Available or taken: Taken!
B. Best friend: Matt
C. Cake or Pie: Cake, but it really depends on what kind of cake, and what kind of pie!
D. Drink of choice: Ice Tea
E. Essential item you use every day: Contacts!!!
F. Favorite color: Green
G. Gummy bears or worms: I would have to say bears, those worms look to much like fishing worms!
H. Hometown: Pinson, Centreville
I. Indulgence: CHOCOLATE
J. January or February: January, New year, Lily's birth month!
K. Kids & names: Lily Faith, Madilyn Eve, and ????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
have no clue what we are gonna name the next!
L. Life incomplete without: the computer!
M. Marriage date: April 17th
N. Number of siblings: 1
O. Oranges or Apples: Don't eat fruit much, but would have to say apples (granny smith)
P. Phobias or fears: Fear of dying and leaving my babies without a mommy!
Q. Favorite quote: Leave her alone!
R. Reason to smile: Lily and Madilyn
S. Season: Winter! Love the snow! I'm so jealous of you Lisa!!!
T. Tag: Mary-Mia ( yeah right, like you have the time!) Carla, Dawn
U. Unknown fact about me: Wait till my kids are in bed to have my desert, I don't like to share my sweets!
V. Veggie you don't like: Beats, yuck!
W. Worst habit: picking at my nails
X. X-rays: had abdominal one done in September
Y. Your favorite food: Mexican
Z. Zodiac: Pisces

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

2006-12-31T21:07:00.000-08:00

Happy, Happy New Year everybody! I hope this year will bring you all much joy and peace within! Plus, for all my bloggy friends who I have had the GREAT pleasure to meet (through cyberspace) I hope we all get to meet our precious little ones this year! I know some of you already have experienced that great moment, and for you, I hope this year brings many wonderful moments where you can make lots of great memories!
Hurry up shiny New Year, drop that ball!!!

From our family to yours - Merry Christmas!

2006-12-24T22:13:00.000-08:00

Here comes Santa Claus, here comes Santa Claus right down Santa Claus lane!

Wow, our girls were so excited about tonight being the night that Santa comes! I did'nt think that they would EVER go to sleep. Lily kept saying "Mommy, I'm asleep!" and I would have to say, "Lily, you're not asleep if you still talk to me! Go to sleep so Santa can come, and bring you stuff!" I should have kept count on how many times those words came out of my mouth.
Well yesterday we decorated Christmas cookies, so of course we had to put some out for Santa.

We hope all of you have a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS, AND A SAFE AND HAPPY NEW YEAR TOO!!!

2006-12-24T22:12:00.000-08:00

We'll just sit here and wait!

2006-12-24T22:10:00.000-08:00

Cookies for Santa! Oh, and carrots for the deer too!

2006-12-24T22:09:00.000-08:00

2006-12-24T22:08:00.000-08:00

Big hugs!!!

2006-12-24T22:06:00.000-08:00

Love my sister! This is the picture that went out in our Christmas cards this year.

2006-12-24T22:05:00.000-08:00

Our two precious gifts!

2006-12-24T22:04:00.000-08:00

Little lady!

2006-12-24T22:03:00.000-08:00

Such a big girl!

2006-12-24T22:02:00.000-08:00

Lily with her Gingerbread Church!

2006-12-24T22:00:00.000-08:00

Madilyn with her house!

2006-12-21T20:10:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas

A friend has this video on her blog, and I wanted to share it too! I hope by next year this song will take on a different meaning to us, than it does right now!

2006-12-19T22:02:00.000-08:00

Well, we finally finished decorating our house last weekend, we did'nt go all out this year. We just put up icesickle lights outside, and put up the tree, and stockings, and a couple other little things here and there.
I found an ornament that I just had to have this year for our little girl. I could'nt bring myself to hang the other one just yet, mainly because we don't even know if she's born yet, and because we have not decided on a name for her, so when I saw this one on Ebay, I got it for this year, as a kind of "waiting for" her ornament.

I am also posting another poem I found, enjoy!

Oh! Christmas Tree,
all candy caned,
all green, all glowing bright.
Oh! Christmas tree all tinseled, rained,
all dressed in colored light.
Oh! Christmas Tree an angel stands,
she guards above each bough.
She smiles o'er your rainbow dress
and knows that even, now.
The gifts, the wrappings about your feet,
those presents on the floor.
Are but, the simple actions of
our love and nothing more.
Just some sweet, kind, thoughtfulness,
at this His time of year.
To show you, our angel and our God
His love is living here.
by Linda A. Copp

Santa Claus!

2006-12-14T21:10:00.000-08:00

Well, Miss Madilyn is back on her little feet, so we headed off to the mall yesterday to see Santa Claus!

The girls were both so excited to tell him what they wanted for Christmas! I am so lucky that both of my girls are great with Santa Claus ( and the Easter Bunny for that matter) I know some kids just do not want this person or thing touching them much less holding them! I will be extremely fortunate if our third is the same way!
Oh, Melissa, your post about your troubles with Holiday pictures and kids faces, these are some of the cuter ones, there were some that I just could not bring myself to posting!

Also in the spirit of the season, I found this little poem I wanted to share with you all. For now my girls are not old enough to question it, but I know the day will come, and I REALLY dread that day!

Daddy, Are You Santa Claus ?

“Daddy, are you Santa Claus?”
my daughter asked today
with all the innocence of youth about to melt away
I’ve always hoped this day would come when she was with her Mom
She’s sensitive, I’m hesitant the words may come out wrong
An awkward kind of silence as she peered into my eyes
about to learn the righteousness of “ grown-up people’s “ lies
I crossed my fingers, took a breath and pulled her on my lap
kind of just like Santa does beneath his Christmas cap
“Santa Claus is all the love that fills my heart with joy
when I remember happiness and comfort as a boy
and Santa Claus is all your dreams and wishes coming true
protecting all your innocence to keep the world from view
and Santa Claus is all the words we feel, but never say
and hope that you can understand their meaning, Christmas day"
“Daddy, are you Santa Claus?” she would not be denied
I hugged her reassuringly but deep inside... I cried...

by Jim Morton

Our unplanned trip!

2006-12-11T20:53:00.000-08:00

Wow, was our weekend something else!
Friday night both girls were acting just fine, running around, playing. First thing Saturday morning, Madilyn starts acting funny, being clingy, wanting me to be right there, she did not eat much breakfast, and then BAM all of the sudden, she starts throwing up. Poor little thing could not keep anything down all day long, so after our nap, we got up, and it started again, so I did not want to wait it out, I have had to take Lily to the Emergency room before for being dehydrated, and wanted to catch this before it got that bad. So at about 4:30 I take her to the E.R. (let me stop for a second just to state the fact that this is no ordinary E.R. it is for Pediatrics only!) We never even had to sit down in the waiting room, they took her right back, for those lucky ones out there who have never been to an Emergency room this is a WONDERFUL thing, I had to take Matt once, and we sat out there for at least 4 hours. But back to my story, love the Pedeatric E.R.
They hooked her up to an I.V. right away, because her heart rate was 160, and they said it normally should be anywhere from 100-120, so they knew she was already dehydrated. Also, when I got her undresses the nurse noticed a rash, very lightly all over her little body, so she did a Strep test, and guess what, it came back positive! My baby has Strep! OMG! I have no idea where she could have gotten it. So anyway, they start giving her antibiotics in her I.V. and after a while she starts acting a little better. The E.R. Doctor calls her Pediatrician to see what they want them to do. They said to just keep her until she goes pee pee. Well a couple of hours pass, I had already gotten her to drink juice and a pop sickle without throwing it back up, but she just would not pee, so they called the Dr. again, and at this point (about midnight) they decided to admit her into the Hospital overnight.
Boy, that was a rough night!!! Neither one of us slept very well, not to mention, I had not prepaired to spend the night! I was starving, did'nt eat supper! So the WONDERFUL nurse brought me a sandwitch, chips, and a drink (at one in the morning!) Finally around 2 she pee pee'd, but still the night was bad, they woke her up around 5:30 to draw blood, by then she was so tired, she was just laying there. All day Sunday, I was doing everything I could to get her to drink something! She did not want any part of eating or drinking. Our doctor decided to keep her over night AGAIN! So at this point, I had been wearing the same clothes for over 24 hours, so Matt brought a change of clothes for me, and some things so I could take a shower. Sunday night was much better, she was sitting up playing with some toys that the nurse brought in. She still was'nt eating or drinking, but her personality was coming back a little. But finally Monday morning we were able to bring her home! I don't know who was happier, me or her! Ever since she walked in the door, she's a totally different child than the one stuck in the hospital bed. She's drinking, and eating little bites at a time. I'm sure her throat hurts, I have never had strep, but I could imagine it must be bad, especially for a two year old.
Well, sorry for such a long post, just keep thinking of her for me! And I'm crossing my fingers none of the rest of us get it!

Holiday eating tips!

2006-12-06T22:57:00.000-08:00

I thought this was too cute to not post it on my blog! I got this in an email from my mother in law, thanks Mimi!
Subject: Holiday Eating Tips (the fun kind)
1. Avoid carrot sticks. Anyone who puts carrots on a holiday buffet table knows nothing of the Christmas spirit. In fact, if you see carrots, leave immediately. Go next door, where they're serving rum balls.
2. Drink as much eggnog as you can. And quickly. Like fine single-malt scotch, it's rare. In fact, it's even rarer than single-malt scotch. You can't find it any other time of year but now. So drink up! Who cares that it has 10,000 calories in every sip? It's not as if you're going to turn into an eggnog-aholic or something. It's a treat. Enjoy it. Have one for me. Have two. It's later than you think. It's Christmas!
3. If something comes with gravy, use it. That's the whole point of gravy. Gravy does not stand alone. Pour it on. Make a volcano out of your mashed potatoes. Fill it with gravy. Eat the volcano. Repeat.
4. As for mashed potatoes, always ask if they're made with skim milk or whole milk. If it's skim, pass. Why bother? It's like buying a sports car with an automatic transmission.
5. Do not have a snack before going to a party in an effort to control your eating. The whole point of going to a Christmas party is to eat other people's food for free. Lots of it. Hello?
6. Under no circumstances should you exercise between now and New Year's. You can do that in January when you have nothing else to do. This is the time for long naps, which you'll need after circling the buffet table while carrying a 10-pound plate of food and that vat of eggnog.
7. If you come across something really good at a buffet table, like frosted Christmas cookies in the shape and size of Santa, position yourself near them and don't budge. Have as many as you can before becoming the center of attention. They're like a beautiful pair of shoes. If you leave them behind, you're never going to see them again.
8. Same for pies. Apple. Pumpkin. Mincemeat. Have a slice of each. Or, if you don't like mincemeat, have two apples and one pumpkin. Always have three. When else do you get to have more than one dessert? Labor Day?
9. Did someone mention fruitcake? Granted, it's loaded with the mandatory celebratory calories, but avoid it at all cost. I mean, have SOME standards.
10. One final tip: If you don't feel terrible when you leave the party or get up from the table, you haven't been paying attention. Reread tips; start over, but hurry, January is just around the corner.
Remember this motto to live by:"Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, martini in the other, totally worn out and screaming,
"WOO HOO what a ride!"

A little Excited now!

2006-12-04T20:54:00.000-08:00

Wow, we just got word that April is in the review room! That means for the next couple of months I will be on pins and needles hoping that they don't need any more information, cause from what I've heard, if they ask questions, that could put you back until the question is resolved. Some people have been set back by a month or more. So needless to say, I will be sweating!
In the mean time, I quess I'll continue passing the time like always, shopping. Here's some more evidence of my shopping spree.
The first set is a pair of adult/ladies PJ's. For anyone interested, I got them at Aeropostle(spelling???) The pants were only $5.99, and the top (which I did'nt see, I asked if they had any shirts that match the pants, and she went and got one from the back) was $2.99! They have the cutest Pandas with lollipops on them. I also found a pair of undies, from somewhere else a while ago, but I will not be posting the picture of them, thank you very much!
I will probably be taking these with us, when ever that time comes! They are so soft too.
The second set is from Gymboree, it's for our little girl, and I just can't resist the Pandas!!!