Little Snowflakes

Yesterday, my dear friend Laura gave birth to two of the most beautiful little snowflakes. Her sons Carter and Connor, are sweet and soft and smell like baby powder and all the good things that babies smell like. They coo and cuddle, and nuzzle. They bury their little noses in your shoulder and tuck their tiny feet and hands underneath their bodies. They are absolutely precious and with her permission, I am sharing their story and photos above. As you will see, Uncle AB and Auntie CB made a visit both days and got lots of good pics (some borrowed courtesy of Eric and Laura). We make an appearance toward the end of the show.

In this unique world of adoption I sometimes get so focused on our process that I forget how many different ways there are to adopt. When Laura and I met, she had a five month old daughter (who I have often bragged about on here, and who shares my own Keira's name). As time went by, and we started our Chinese adoption - Laura and Eric made mention that they too were looking into adoption for their second child. After lots of research Laura found Snowflake Adoption.

Unlike any other form of adoption I had heard of, Snowflake is the adoption of fertilized embryos. Along the lines of life beginning at conception, many couples after going through in-vitro fertilization have several fertilized embryos remaining. Typically they are frozen and in many cases never implanted. Snowflake Adoption is unique because it allows families with remaining frozen embryos to adopt out those little "snowflakes" to families wiling to give life to those children. You are still required to do a mound of paperwork, and a homestudy, and are matched accordingly with a family. Both families in this process must approve of the other and there are both open and closed adoptions.

In this case, Laura adopted several embryos from a family and successfully implanted on her first try. The boys stayed strong and above you have the amazing story of a family whose lives have been changed by the beauty of adoption in one of its most unique forms.

Mother and babies are healthy and happy - the boys were over six pounds each and Laura carried to 37 and a 1/2 weeks (you go girl!). I just stand in awe of the miracle of these little boys...Laura is in many ways both their bio mom and their birth mom. It's her blood that helped develop their little bodies, and certainly she carried them for nine months. And yet, they also have genetic parents who entrusted them to Laura and Eric to raise and to love.

What a miracle and what an amazing blessing!

Hugs,
cb

I Don't Have, Fretting, and Blessings

Well, I think it goes without saying that we are still reeling from Friday's news. See the post below if you're out of the loop. (take a tissue).

Amidst all the happiness and joy and amazement (and more joy) - there is still the referral acceptance that needs to be sent, the final installment to the agency (cough!! thought we had several more months to come up with that) and so much more. How about the rest of our vaccinations? Yellow Fever anyone? How about flying to Africa? So much for cheap...kiss it goodbye.

I was all set to do the Three Words challenge floating around, and wham! How about getting your referral six months early instead? Happy Birthday, Merry Christmas, Happy Easter and Happy Sadie Hawkins! So after Friday when the dust settled, I put my head on the pillow and tried to sleep (HA! - Nice try!) and thus started the actual "Three Words" challenge.....it went like this....

I don't have a painted or put together in any way, shape, or form nursery for him
I don't have a changing table
I don't have boy clothes (well, ok - a couple things - but all in 12 months and up!)
I don't have bottles (seriously...how did I miss that? I guess I thought Keira would probably not be on bottles anymore and it never really crossed my mind)
I don't have infant toys (again - all for an older 12 months and up baby)
I don't have a carseat ($@(*&$(*#&$)
I don't have a pack n'pl@y
I don't have a stroller (no idea what I was thinking)

(Shall I keep going???? Seen enough????)

Right now, our needs outweigh our capacity to keep track of them. We started a spreadsheet on Sunday (don't laugh) and tried very valiantly to list what we "thought" we needed. Seriously though - how am I supposed to know what I need when I've never done this before? On the other hand, I've spent quite a bit of time caring for or being around children - so I do at least know the basics. I just wish I could close my eyes and it's (snap) done! Where is M@ry Poppins when I need her? Spoon full of Sug@r anyone??

In trying to make this list, we got to a point, ten minutes in, where we literally had to shut the laptop and step away. It was overwhelming. As THRILLED and HAPPY as we are to have our referral and to see our sons face (and OMG are we thrilled) - I can't emphasize enough how unprepared we are feeling. On the bright side, we do have about three months to pull ourselves together, get done what needs doing, and cross off the items on our list. And I, like my Mother, feel that it will all work out and come together just fine and dandy. Trying not to sweat the small stuff right now...but still need to get busy and make the most of this three months.

Technically, we still have three major steps to complete before travel which are referral acceptance, Court Date and approval, and then travel schedule and arrangements. This will take about/around/roughly three months. We are still planning on travel between May and June.

We had a great call with our agency tonight and got lots of info about travel, etc. We will get monthly updates - but our first one won't be until the end of March. Meanwhile, we got another very stern warning not to share his info, pictures, or details on the internet or any other forums for that matter. Scary! So I have to be very careful what I talk about on this blog - much as that kills me - in regards to Quint. It's seriously painful not to get to show you his sweet little face! I promise to make up for it just as soon as I can get him in my arms. PROMISE!

Blessings to Share:

• Time-frame moved significantly up means less chance to have to delay KJ's process - can't tell you what a blessing that it. Still expecting her referral sometime next year - Jan-March.
  
• Travel in June means AB will be home for the summer and I will not have to venture into this new land of parenting alone all day. I foresee lots of time at the pool this summer with our little man! Who knew?!?!?
  
• He is beautiful and I have no doubts that it's inside and out
• When we look at his picture, we smile and say "hi, son!"
• People are calling us Mama and Daddy (smile)
• The enormous amount of e-mails and comments on the blog that we got from all of you made us feel like our euphoria was contagious!! Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for all of your kind words and well-wishes. It was a tremendous, tremendous blessing to us this weekend!
  
• Getting to see a few of my lurkers come out to say "Hi!" I've been wonderin' about you!
  
• The people from all over who have actually written to me to say "what can I do?" At this point, we're still in a daze - not even sure what we need to do. Just know there is a lot of it. But still, thank you thank you thank you!! You are precious friends!
• Yesterday, AB called me in the kitchen and stood in front of the kitchen cabinet, doors open. He said "well, whaddya think? We move this here, that there, and this whole shelf becomes the baby's? For bottles, cups, plates, whatever..." I wanted to hug him for days over that one. I think I will.

-Cb

WHAT JUST HAPPENED!!!!!!!

I don't even know how to type this.....

I'm freaking out....

Today we got a call...

THE call...

You know...the kind that comes with lots of information and pictures...

OMG
OMG
OMG

Ya'll - we are PARENTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And we are FREAKING OUT!!!!!

Let's run down the day in short (or long) detail. I know you wanna know...so why hold out on you!

First off - normal day - nothing unusual. Dossier went to Ethiopia two weeks ago this coming Monday. We had a standard conference call scheduled for Monday with the agency. We assumed we would hear something at that time about where our dossier was - of course we expected it was still in translation - as was told to us originally.

I was out and about with my boss and the cell phone rang. It was AB.

Christie: "Hello?"

AB: "Where have you been?!?!?!? OMG!!! I've been trying to reach you!?!?!?!"

Christie "Why??? What happened? Who died?!?!?" (seriously...it went through my mind...)

AB: "WE HAVE A SON!!!! WE HAVE A SON!!!! OMG!!!! WE HAVE A SON!!!!"

Christie: "What? .........(silence.....) Huh? Say what now? Slow down. What did you just say?

AB: "WE HAVE A SON!!!! WE HAVE A SON!!!! OMG!!!! WE HAVE A SON!!!!"

Christie: "What??? What are you telling me? (increased panic and shock - adrenaline rushing through every single fiber of my being) What are you telling me? STOP! What the heck are you saying to me?????"

AB: "Stay put - I'm on my way to you".

I moved zombie-like back to the car (my boss consoling me and holding my hand) and somehow we made it back to her house - where Anton was already waiting for me. We just looked at each other and shook our head and just stood in shock. I mean, what can you say. It's only been two weeks, folks. Look at my last post for crying out loud. I am used to waiting. It sucks, but my China process has conditioned me for it and I've learned to expect the worst case scenario. Sad but true. We honestly expected our referral in September or thereabouts. Needless to say, we did call our agency and did get all the information we needed as well as a picture of our baby boy.

Because of rules surrounding adoption through Ethiopia, we cannot - sadly - share his amazing, gorgeous picture with you or the details of his report. And oh, how I wish we could. You will have to take my word for it when I tell you that he is PERFECT and we are BLESSED! And no worries - as soon as he's home (which we're told will be between April and June - OMG!) we will be posting a MESS of pictures of him for you all see and enjoy! Trust me - this little man is precious! One look and we were utterly hook line and sinker over him.

So there you have it. Go figure - thank you Lord - you must have known that my poor tired childless heart couldn't take another long wait! So not to leave you without any action - here are the pictures our friends took while we were on our call today with the agency and seeing our son's face for the very first time. It was AMAZING!

This is us trying desperately to just get the freaking e-mail open and up.
It took forever - felt like it anyway...

And here we are getting our first look at Quint - he is just gorgeous...I don't know how else to tell you - I mean, it's not exaggerating - this kid is gorgeous! All we could do was freak out.

Still can't freaking believe it as we stare at his face and find out the details about him. It's so surreal - I mean - surreal does not cover it. There are no words...
Not only are we in shock - but we are amazed that we should be so lucky! Oh my, I just got weepy trying to type this...

I don't know what else to say - and I've probably gone on too much - but what the heck! It's my referral day and WHO KNEW!!!!

WHAT JUST HAPPENED, MY FRIENDS!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

Sweet Addictions

Can't even say enough drippingly good things about my favorites...but Lost...oh my - some people say you're either a Sawyer girl or a Jack girl. I'm a Kate - equal opportunity gal...sees the high level of potential in both. Ya feel me? I freaking love the twists and turns in this show. I will seriously be grieved when it's all over. Sob!


Oh my good lawd in heaven - I don't know if these parents are for real or not - (horror!) but I literally guzzle popcorn and soda down like I'm watchin a bad slasher movie when this is on. The parents on S.N. have got to display some of the worst parenting I have ever seen in my life. Then I tell AB "oh just wait - God is gonna get us sooooo good for laughing at these poor saps. And we've got two coming!". Uh-huh...just you wait 'enry iggins'....just you wait!


Ok, call me crazy but from Season - whatever 1 or 2 - I've been a fan of Survivor. And I can't stop watching - even thought it basically the same dang thing over and over again. Take a group of people who are all different. Throw in some radical ones to really toss the salad. Strand them on an island with nothing but their stupid bikinis and "buffs". Watch as they unravel and eat disgusting things and try to win money. I know. At least I admitted at the header that I'm addicted. Have mercy on my poor reality tv junkie addicted boob-tube-ness.

Oh, and sorry, but I love Jonathan P. He totally cracks me up and his sense of humor and witty refrains are right up my alley. I hope he wins. Or whatever.
O.M.G. Can I just say...LOVE THIS SHOW! And if you haven't seen it - good night peeps - get on the bandwagon. It's called Moonlight - Friday nights. LOVVVVE IT. Vampires meets CSI - and it's insanely well done. Blondie on the right is the only freaking human left in this little triangle and she's in love with the hunky bunky in the front - that would be the main character, Mick. Oh and he's like 90 years old. And a blood-sucker - but a good one. Do no harm type. Only kill the baddies. That sort of thing. Sooooo good. Check it out!


Peace out peepalicious'

Ahem

Tackled

Well, it had to be tackled. I could stand the sight of it no longer. And what I noticed was that it got much worse before it got better. But I promised pictures of the process and so...

This is pretty grim. I was feeling like I was drowning in stuff. I couldn't quite make myself figure out where to put things.

Stepped out for a minute and took a picture. When I look at the above, I actually feel the hives returning. This cleanup took an entire day. I'm not very efficient, I guess.

OMG - I can see the floor.

You know how when you're cleaning up a space, and you're actually "de-cluttering" - you actually end up with all these little things that have no home. Little items that you have to decide to chuck or keep and if you keep them, you will have to exert brain cells to figure out where they will go? This happened times 100. Some were trashed out of shear "I need this to be over" emotions that would wash over me.

And finally. Still have Quint's crib in there, and still have some of his stuff - but leaps and bounds better from the previous post.

This corner was rediculous 24 hours ago. Now it's at least workable. I usually do my scrapbooking in here. (when I actually do it). But that's Quint's stuff under the table - organized and together - as opposed to being in every possible corner and space. And I can still work at the table! Two for one!

OMG - not only can you see the floor - but you can't see anything that doesn't really belong. Jeesh. I'm so happy I could cry!

When AB came home tonight, he walked down the hallway and I heard him say..."good grief! I can see my daughter's room again!"

Uh-huh. Nuff said.

The next thing you know...

How do you go from this....

and this...

and, oh my...this...

To all this??....




Allow me to tell you...

TWO FREAKING YEARS PEOPLE. THAT'S HOW.

There...now that that's off my chest. I can tell you that what used to be an emotional space has now become a dumping ground for everything that doesn't belong. It's like the Island of Misfits for our home ~ and I could point out a hundred different items in the room that don't belong. Like the two Christmas towels and four Christmas cards that somehow got missed when we packed up the holiday decor to the attic. Or the bunny rabbits and "Happy Easter" signs that are waiting to be put up around the house. There is also the crib for Quint's nursery and all his various items that we've been accumulating, like the large red star sitting on top of that box under the table. There's the crap load of my scrapbooking supplies. Three "Web.kinz" stuffed animals, one small bottle of blue frosting dye, two packs of invitations, three rolls of wall border, a large sign that says "BATH", a clock, six books, yards and yards of mismatched ribbon scraps, a large blow-up mattress and pillow for the snoring storm that AB's surgery caused, seven different baskets of varying shades, one empty laundry basket, a Veggie T@les CD, a box full of markers, curling ribbon, party cups and napkins, cupcake wrappers, an air pump, an empty Tiff@ny's box (what? It could make a good...well, something!) and did I mention a large zip lock bag of misc. hardware?

This is freaking rediculous.

I miss KJ's nursery terribly - but you can only hold out for so long on having an entire 10x10 room go completely unused in an already small three bedroom home. How long can you just let the space sit empty and heartbreaking? The next thing you know, you move your scrapbook table in there and make it a "creative space" until baby arrives. Then you just "temporarily" place unused items such as baskets, party supplies, and extra pens in there. Next you blow up a mattress after a rough night of tossing and turning next to the king of all snorers. Then before you know it, Quint's stuff is starting to pile up (as his room is currently occupied by me - his home office mama). A star here, an outfit there, a lamp shade over here, and well...there's the big crib and mattress. So all of a sudden, I walk by there tonight and I say "what the frig is happening in here!?! We worked so hard on this room and it's almost laughable what it has become." So - no more nonsense - time to clean up the party supplies, re-organize the chaos, and re-claim baby girl's room. It will soon be time to ramp up for a 2nd nursery overhaul in the home office and we need to be fit as a fiddle and ready for...well, organization at the very least.

Believe it or not - those picture above of the absurd mess you see are NOT MY STYLE. I like order, organization, labels, clutter-free, crap free spaces.

So, we'll do a take-two soon and get some new pictures of that space back to normal. I hope. It's now or never people - I've got a little man on the way and if I think I'm busy now...

HA!

Mmm, mmm, good...

I don't recommend stuff on here too often, but I just have to ask:

Have you all read this book?

I thought it was a teeny bopper book and at first glance that's what it seems - but oh contrare...it's mmm, mmm, good. If you like a little mystery, a lot of action and suspense and a big huge romance between a 100 year old vampire and a beautiful girl who is human - then seriously...

Run, don't walk people - that's all I can tell you....utterly deliciously addictive. And the good news is, it's a series and there are three more after it and a movie being filmed as we speak.

Oh my, so good. I promise you will not only love it, you will not be able to put it down.

Happy Valen"times"

My funny valentine
Sweet comic valentine
You make me smile with my heart
Don't change a hair for me
Not if you care for me
Stay little valentine stay
Each day is Valentines Day

For really real really?

Part of the fun of our Ethiopian adoption is being able to have access to information that we have not had with our China process. For instance, we got to track our dossier's journey from the states to the United Kingdom and on to Addis Ababa. We know that it arrived yesterday and is now being prepared for translation.

Also we got something yesterday that after over...let's see...two plus years of waiting we have yet to see from our China process. A travel packet. Yesterday, AB and I sat at the kitchen table for a couple of hours dissecting and voraciously devouring an inch thick packet of detailed information about the next steps of our Ethiopian adoption journey. Down to the airline we can book with that flies non-stop to Ethiopia, the forms we will fill out on the plane ride over, the places we can stay once there, the things we can expect, and the money we will need, what the sign will look like that our driver will hold up when he comes to get us at the airport. You name it, it's in there. We even got a sample copy of a referral so we would know what we were looking at when ours came and how to read it. OMG. Pinch me.

I think a couple times we just looked at each other and said "is this real?" We feel so shell shocked from a) having information at our fingertips and b) feeling as if this might actually happen, that we aren't quite sure what to do with ourselves. We're so used to just waiting and waiting, and waiting with no information - that we practically have whiplash from going the other direction.

Several people have asked us "what happens now" - and since the process is quite different from the China adoption process, we wanted to give a little run-down on what we're expecting. (Especially since we are actually in the position of knowing what happens next).

Keep in mind of course that our dossier process took six months to assemble and was harder than we anticipated. Also, even though the below seems easy as pie - it involves an intricately woven path through each step and relies heavily upon people will special knowledge of how these adoptions work. I thank God we will have an attorney in Ethiopia advocating with the courts on our behalf and that of our little man. I also thank God, we will not have to be present on the court day and that our agency arranges it as such. So keeping that in mind...

• Right now our dossier will be translated and then submitted to the board at the orphanage.
  
• After careful review and when a child closely fitting our request is available, the orphanage will then refer us our child (this can take anywhere from 8-20 weeks for the orphanage we are using - but is not set in stone and can be longer or shorter).
• We review his medical history, etc. and then accept or decline the referral (ha! as if...)
• Our documents get submitted to the court system. Once our court date is set and arrives, a judge will hear the case and will rule based on the information he or she has to determine guardianship. If all goes well, we will be granted custody of Quint and in that moment, he will become ours legally - though he will remain a warden of the orphanage until we can come and get him. This is done through the use of a power of attorney. We will not need to be present.
• Our court documents are translated and our child will receive a final medical exam - which will all go to the US Emb@ssy.
  
• We go to Ethiopia - typically a five day visit - to get Quint. We will have an Emb@ssy appointment, get a Vis@ for him, spend time at the orphanage, sightsee, shop a little, and come home!

Based on the estimated timeframe provided to us for each bullet point above (which I omitted in the interest of time), we figured that we were looking at a low end wait of June. The long end wait was November or nine months until referral and travel was complete. Either way, I was just happy to think he would be home for the holidays! But today I contacted our agency and said that I just wanted to see if our projected estimate was right - somewhere between June and November. They wrote us back to say that actually, the wait for an infant was currently between only four and six months. So in other words, between June and August. Gulp.

Pinch me. No really...

For real?

Naaaahhhh...

Really?

Get outta here...

CAPITAL O.M.G. !!!!!!!!!

I got the e-mail only moments ago...

"Dear Anton and Christie:

Your Dossier was sent to Ethiopia today and we are so excited for your family!
Enjoy this wonderful accomplishment in your adoption journey!"

To say I can hardly contain myself is seriously not doing this emotion justice. Knew it was coming and still couldn't prepare myself for how good it feels.

Lord, it's all up to You now!

Mommy and Daddy are coming, son!

Well...wait...um....yeah...what's that now?

Sorry to be a slacker - but I'm overwhelmed this week and last. I'm underwhelmed - actually. I've got 100 different irons in the fire and I'm starting to sweat into my eyeballs - the kind where it burns - but your hands and full and you can't wipe it away.

I have lists for my lists right now. That is really annoying.

I have not been able to sleep properly for two weeks.

I have not been able to say "whew! got that done!" in 14 days because every time I finish anything - another task is added.

I will not have one single night this week - except Monday - that we will be at home together in the evening without company or having gone to someone else's home.

I have to get to Sunday and through it - if I can do that right now - I'll be in decent shape.

I don't like to plan parties. Period. I'm not good at it and my creative juices pretty much stop flowing after I've said "ok, I'll do it".

What is the dang combination for simple party punch? The kind that's red with like, ginger ale or seven up in it? Help me here people - the searches I've done have only yielded the most elaborate of punch recipes and I'm not going to all that trouble. I just want the punch that's red and tastes like Hawaiian punch with a fizz to it. Help me - for the love of God. How do I make that in bulk for like 200 people?

I don't like football - no secret over here. But I really liked the superbowl. We discourage perfection around here, and so it was nice to see the wild card take it.

I miss my mother.

I haven't scrapbooked, really scrapbooked in many, many months. But I have enough supplies to open a small store. Pathetic.

I have lists of household chores that are sitting, have been sitting, for months. I'm getting sick of staring at those unfinished projects and yet no time to do them. Grrrr.

I have yet to hear if my dossier has passed inspection and will go to Ethiopia - I'm starting to get annoyed over here.

Someone I care about very much had to say goodbye to us last weekend, and that hurt like getting stabbed in the heart. I am still reeling from that one. Can't even really be sure I've digested it fully. SH - you are missed. They made a mistake. Simple as that.

Anton is still snoring. I'm literally listening to it as I type this. Poor guy. It takes three months for the surgery to be totally effective. In fact, we were told it would get worse before it began to get better. Uh-huh. You can feel sorry for me now. The couch is my best friend. And it's not even that good of a friend... The blow-up mattress is also nice. Not really.

I have no clue how many of your posts I have missed / not commented on this week - but it is not for lack of trying. I do love you and your blog. I do love reading it. I've just totally maxed out my brain bandwidth. I have no more room for information to come in without something coming out and I can't afford to lose any details right now. Maybe next week, but not today.

I actually stopped all my chaos today for a half hour and made a cake. Like Betty-freaking-Crocker style with the really fattening frosting in the tub. Oh yeah. Yellow buttery cake with chocolate frosting. Wanted to lick the freaking pan clean - but had way too much work to do and couldn't afford a sugar induced coma. Settled for a nice small piece. Lame.

I plotted out my trips and travel this year - and it is a lot more than I thought it would be between work and family, and ohhh, you know - a little trip to Africa. I'm gonna be a world traveler by the end of the year. omg. That is so great.


There you have it...and I'm spent.

The Good things that Come

Last summer, Robyn and I and the hubbys went to Six Fl@gs. While there, as we were walking along I shouted "STOP!!" On Robyn's hair had landed a beautiful little lady bug - and I had to take a picture so she could see her fortune! You see...


one thing Robyn had, that none of the rest of us had - was a 2005 LID. A 2005, December 20th LID. Are you seeing where I'm going? For the first time in this journey - I have a very dear and close friend who I live life with that was going to be getting her referral imminently. I can't adequately express the depths of our joy, happiness, excitement, DELIRIUM - that we, as her friends are feeling. It's pretty much FREAK OUT mode. Since we all have active LID's (except for Kelley, our honorary adoption veteran and mama to two amazing girls), we've been waiting - nay - grasping for this moment for years, literally. To have one of our sista's finally cross the finish line is, well - simply indescribable.

And then it's all downhill for us - 2008 is going to be a very big year for this Posse.

Valerie 1-4-06 LID
Erin 2-6-06 LID
ME!! 3-29-06 LID (well, we don't expect her to be home this year, but still...)

It's like a cascade of yummy baby goodness! Not to mention my sweet little man coming home this year!! OMG! We're dripping in babies by Christmas!

So, without further adooooooo (and I can't believe I am FINALLY getting to do this...)

I want to introduce to you my dear sweet little "niece". I just sobbed when I opened up the e-mail - it really does happen!!!

Shu Xian Zhu soon to be Avery Kristine Xian

Born April 30, 2007 (just nine months old last week!!)

She is currently in the Jiangxu Province

WELCOME little Avery! You are GORGEOUS! You just won the Mommy and Daddy lottery! Your parents, as you will soon find out, are the very best of people. You will absolutely love your family and never know a day without love and devotion.

PLEASE stop by and give Robyn and Paul some serious happiness - they have waited soooo very long for this and have definitely paid their dues.

Congrats you guys - we love you so much and could not be HAPPIER for you!!!!!!

XOXOXOXOXOXO

Politics Schmolitics

Or am I the only one?

Boo.

Already tired of the nonsense and we've only just begun...

Duke it out guys! Go on! Let me know who wins...

And before the haters in the crowd throw me to the sharks - I am a registered voter and yes I do. It's not that I have no views or beliefs, or that I don't feel passionately one way or the other - it's that I hate camPAINS. And yes, I know that is spelled wrong. Jeesh. Work with me people.

I'm cranky tonight. No idea why. Maybe because the burger I had made me rumbly in the tumbly. Yes, I said what you think I just said. I'm also feeling snarky - so maybe I'm better off to not post this after all...

Nah....what would a blog be if you couldn't let it all hang out at least once in a while.

I watched Spanglish tonight and I liked it. But I didn't like the ending. Somebody please tell me how anyone could marry, let alone stay married to a woman like "Deborah". OMG. Everytime she opened her mouth, I wanted to throw my slipper at the TV.

Which brings me to another point. When you work from home, you wear slippers. No? Well, I do. My extremeties are always so friggin cold. I can't stand it. So, yeah - there I was in my slippers and jammies, freezing, and wanting to yank the left slipper off and hurl it. But it required effort to reach down, and then there was the holding of my breath to take it off and sit back up. Because that's what happens when your gut is in the way on said reach.

Speaking of being out of breath - or holding it - thought about how I really should be going to the gym. Seriously - like, thought to myself tonight during a rumbly session "I really should invest in a treadmill" - and then followed that with the standard "who needs a treadmill when they can walk around suburbia with the dog for free?" - and quickly followed that up with an "ahh, screw it - who needs suburbia with the dog, when both the dog and I are prefectly happy to sit here and watch Spanglish with our fast foodie burger and shake. But I digress...

Yeah, so politics just drive me nuts. We're going into a recession. We're hated by a bunch of countries who burn our flag in the streets, or whatever. We're a slumping economy in the middle of a bazillion dollar presidency camPAIN (did it again) and I'm just wondering if anyone thought to say "hey, we could use some of this bribe money for good?" But they won't. No worries. We'll be ushering in the next president during our nationwide depression/recession. Good times.

Peace out.

(I told you I was cranky - it's the IBS - what can I tell you?)

Deliciously Cute Ribbonlicious Tags

Ok, ya'll - go give Kelley at Li Tian Designs some blogger love and get one of her adorable Bag Tags with your darlin's name on it! I just got mine and LOVE, LOVE, LOVE them! They are gonna be so cute on their diaper bags! Hiding behind the ribbons are the attachment clasps.

Thanks Kelley - you're so talented I could puke! LOVE THEM!