With Six You Get Eggroll

Hot, Hot, Hot

2007-08-10T17:43:00.001-05:00

Dudes, it is scorchin' here in the South. I've been back from La La Land( more on my visit later) for two days and the heat is killing me. The AC can't keep up so we are using fans as well. Tried to get my neighbor ( who is in his late 70's) to come hang over here today but he said he was okay. He doesn't have AC at all so I was worried. Talked to him a few minutes ago and he's fine. We are heading to the beach tomorrow and he's taking care of the cats so he said he would stay over here some while we are gone.

Bubba Doo is going to his regular puppy camp. I looked into some that have AC but he was too late to sign up for the one with open play and the others have regular kennels . Just can't do that to the boy. He needs play time. I think I will send one of the fans with him just in case. Am I an over-protective Mama? I wonder how this bodes for the future. Hmm.... I am posting a pic of Bubba as the one I had on here has disappeared.

2007-08-09T16:16:00.001-05:00

LARRY

I am sorry to say that Larry passed away last week while I was in LA. Hubby was home and didn't realize for several days ( not sure how that happened). We buried him in the backyard in a little boat I made with blue silk and paper. He was with us for two years. I am a bit sad. I went to feed him this afternoon but his tank is empty. We will get a new fish next week.

Pain

2007-07-11T11:19:00.000-05:00

Warning... this is a bitch fest post. Just got back from the Orthopedist. Got prescribed more Lortab which I hate to say I have to take daily or am completely useless. I expressed concern over this to the Doc and she told me basically that 90% of people get over this type of injury no matter what while the other 10% have to resort to more stringent pain management (ie epidural shots or back surgery). NO WAY am I having back surgery!!!!! That is just too F-in scary for words. I got the name of an acupuncturist. The Doc says she ( pin lady) is actually Chinese so she (Doc) feels more comfortable giving out her name as she has some distrust of Westerners practicing Eastern medicine. I was also ordered a Tens (sp?) machine for electric stim on my back in the privacy of my own home. This I am Very excited about. It almost makes up for all the sweaty butts I had to touch when I lived in VT and worked for a chiropractor setting patients up with the stim machine. Not quite, but almost.

Hubby and I went out Sunday and bought a real drafting chair for my studio. I have never been so enthralled by a piece of furniture. It has adjustable height (fits both the drawing board and work table!) AND adjustable back rest ( up, down, side to side) and foot rest. It beats the living hell out of the bar stool I've been using.

I am working days and nights to get ready for a conference in 3 weeks. I work until the pain pill wears out and then decide if it is too late to take another and keep on trucking or give it up and go to bed (with the heating pad). This probably isn't helping the back situation but what's a girl to do?

More later and a promise to be more upbeat!

Procrastination

2007-07-05T17:48:00.000-05:00

I have a conference in LA at the beginning of August. There is a portfolio display and I am trying to update the thing. Yet what am I doing? Lurking. Checking out all the other blogs, reading Rumor Queen, etc... It doesn't help that people are starting to get this months referrals. I have to keep checking to see who has them, right? Anyway, I'm off to my studio ( room with litter box) to work some more. Just trying to stay more current with my postings.

The deal with my back

2007-07-03T10:52:00.000-05:00

So for anyone who is interested in my Bootcamp story here it goes. Have you ever heard of an exercise called the " Parachute"? Well, what happens is one partner gets down on her hands and knees ( kind of like you would for leap frog but with a straight back) and the other partner lays on you. She puts her stomach on your back and then puts here arms and legs straight out like she's parachuting. This pose is held for one minute. Well, my back has caused me problems since college but has been fine lately. Still, when hubby said, "should you really do this", I chose to ignore him. I mean, who wants to be the wuss in front of all those people? Not me!! So I pair up with this girl who has a few ( 20 or so) pounds on me and off we go. I did the balancing first. It's harder than it looks. Also, all I could think is " I must be killing this girl". When we switch I immediately know that this was a BAD idea but what does one do? I already knew she was self conscious about her weight ( aren't we all) and I was not about to tell her she was too heavy and get off. I stuck it out. The conclusion is two herniated discs one of which is causing severe sciatica. Ugh. So no more Bootcamp. I am doing some swimming. Also a great thing about painkillers is that they dampen your appetite (lol) !

Where have I been ?

2007-06-08T15:24:00.000-05:00

Okay, two excuses.

1. The mouse broke. We decided to get a new wireless mouse and keyboard. Had to wait several days

2. Massive back injury. Thank you Boot Camp.

So mainly I have been laying around with pain pills and a heating pad. Was feeling a bit better after physical therapy last week but did some stuff in the pool and now am a mess. MRI is scheduled for Monday. Joy...

I will post the ugly details of the injury etc... later. I've been sitting too long now. I just had to look at all the new referral pic.s that have been posted!

LID !

2007-06-08T15:21:00.000-05:00

We have our official Log In Date. It is April 30, 2007. For anyone not in the know that is where our actual "count down" starts. Before anyone gets too excited please keep in mind that the wait for baby referrals keeps lengthening. In fact, when I plugged our date into an online calculator we were given anywhere "from spring 2008 up to 2031". Not so funny!!!

Weird Dreams

2007-05-07T10:49:00.000-05:00

I've been having a lot of weird dreams lately. Last night's takes the cakes, though. I dreamed that we had a small girl ( maybe five or six) don't know where she came from. She did resemble a little girl I babysat for one summer after college. Anyway, then out of the blue ( you know how it is with dreams) there was a fat little baby. He wasn't ours but someone had obviously given him to us. I say "he" but for the better part of the dream we couldn't figure out if it was a boy or girl or if it had a name already. Most of the dream concerned trying to find the right stuff for a baby because we weren't at all prepared and every time we did find something the little girl said it was hers. Also the baby who at first couldn't even hold up his head was running around and tumbling from things. Then I really had to pee but couldn't get two seconds away to do it and when I finally had a ( very brief) moment to myself I realized that there wasn't a real toilet in the bathroom, just a training potty. Well, I had to go so I did. The dream ended with me finally realizing that if I changed the baby's diaper I would know which sex it was. So I asked the baby if he needed a diaper change and he said "yes" because at this point he was talking just fine ( I could've asked if he was a boy or girl but didn't think it would be nice) . He was definitely a boy with a really gross diaper. That was when I realized that we didn't have any diapers in the house. Then I woke up.

Not Dead Yet

2007-05-03T12:25:00.000-05:00

Well, I managed to make it through Monday's horror-fest. Just barely. Thankfully, they are talking of splitting up the "fit" folks from the rest of us. That would be nice. Today I am praying for rain. Thunder. Lightening. Went to the gym yesterday but would like a few more days on my own before going back to Boot Camp. Everyone do a Rain Dance for me.

What Have I Done??

2007-04-30T11:08:00.000-05:00

Oh My God! I have signed up for Body Boot Camp this summer through hubby's work. What in the hell possessed me do do this?
days a week for one hour each of strenuous exercise in front of my husband and I don't know how many of his coworkers. I must be out of my mind. I get winded walking up hills in our neighborhood! The embarrassment will be acute. Of course, Hubby knows that I am out of shape. It'd be hard for him not to have noticed as I've gained almost 35 lbs. since we met ( I would like to attribute a good portion of this to the fertility drugs but as I've been off them for more than a year...) and I've been smoking like a freight train while paperchasing. I'm just not sure he really understands the extent. So, I'm off to buy a cheap heart rate monitor. The Boot Camp email suggested this. If no more posts ensue then you know that I have actually died during Boot Camp Hell.

I hereby bequeath :

To my Dad - all of my Sci-Fi and fantasy books.

To Jen and Dayna jointly - all other books. Fight it out girls.

To my husband - all artwork. It ought to be worth something after I snuff it.

To Dayna - exception to the above. The drawing of you I made our first semester of college. You know, back before asking someone to pose like that would've had us all screaming about Back Fat. I keep meaning to frame it for you but as you well know, I am slack.

To Jen - all of my disco Cd's as well as my Pride and Prejudice DVD. I wish you the joy of Colin Firth in a wet shirt.

Sadly, that is all my treasured stuff except for shoes. Unfortunately, I don't know anyone else with midget feet.

Cross your fingers for me. I need it.

Elvis Has Left The Building

2007-04-28T12:03:00.000-05:00

This is gonna be a short one. Just to let everyone know that we have an official DTC ( dossier to China ) date. It is April 27, 2007. Now it may take as long as 36 months to get our referral but we are SOOOOO happy to have all of the paperwork done. I'm sure we will get sick of the wait but for now it seems like a huge weight has been lifted! We celebrated by going to our favorite Chinese restaurant last night. Mmmm.

Speeling (oops! SPELLING)

2007-04-18T14:48:00.000-05:00

Just a note to say that I don't spell very well. I usually use spell- check but sometimes not. Also, I can only type by the hunt and peck method. So when you see all those irritating mistakes just feel sorry for me (ha ha) and try not to let it bother you too much.

Dossier Done ? I think not...

2007-04-18T14:37:00.000-05:00

Okay, so I got the dreaded call from GWCA just a few minutes ago. It turns out that they are worried that hubby's records are not enough. Because he was born in Switzerland we had originally been told that a copy of his US Passport would do the trick. Now with all of the new rules starting to go into effect our agency is worried that CCAA will pull our Dossier and send it back if it does not contain an actual ( translated) birth certificate from switzerland. Thankfully, and God bless my Mother-in-Law here, we have a copy on hand that is several differnt languages including english. It's just that now we have to drive to the State Capital to have it Certified and then expidite it through Washington with the courier. I am trying to be philosophical about it all but sometimes... Well, you know. It just brings me down. I do give kudos to our agency for asking us to do this now, just in case, instead of the "wait and see" atitude. If it came back a month from now I'm pretty sure that philosophy would be out the window and I would be a Madwoman;)

Sweet and Sour

2007-04-17T12:23:00.000-05:00

Well, I can hardly believe it but the Dossier is Done! We sent it out Fed Ex yesterday and it was received at Great Wall this morning at 8:45 am. I keep waiting for a phone call to tell me that we have forgotten some vital piece of information! I think not though. I double and triple checked everything before packing it up. It should be sent to China this Friday. We spent a lot of time deciding which picturs to sent. You know, do we look happy?, do I look fat?, which shot makes our house look the biggest? That sort of thing. I mounted them on blue card stock and added some stickers ( feeling too drained to draw any) to show "we are at the beach", "this is hubby's birthday dinner", "we are on a ski vacation", etc... since captions are not translated. I will post one or two of them here.

There aggravaiting news is the rumor of extended waiting times for referrals that are going around. According to some of the latest polls ( based on current wait times) our projected date for referral could be as long as 36 months. Yep, that's 3 years folks. Of course no one Really can say what will happen but even our agency has addressed this concern leading me to believe that it is a very real possibility. So hubby and I have decidec to plan some trips that will be hard to do when we have a family to pass the time. I am trying to think of some good ones...

WOO HOO !!!!!

2007-03-30T19:17:00.000-05:00

Hubby and I took Bubba Doo to the dog park today and guess what was in the mail when we got home - our 171-H form! Yay! Now we have everything we need to get certified, etc... We are hoping that we can get everything done and sent to China by the end of April. It's totally amazing. We only had our fingerprints done on March 13th. Two and a half weeks. That's got to be some kind of record response. We were resigned for a 90 day wait. Had everything else ready to send out on Monday figuring we would get all of that done and pay to have the 171 form expedited when we got it. So cool. We are soooo excited!

Thursday Thirteen - 13 Reasons I Must Quit Smoking (Again)

2007-03-29T11:42:00.000-05:00

Okay, we all know we shouldn't smkoe. I quit for quite a long time but Fell off the wagon pretty hard last summer during a trip to London ( where it seems like EVERYONE smokes). I have been struggling to quit again ever since. Sometimes I do great for several weeks and then some stress hits and I lose all control. The simple fact is that I enjoy smoking. Still, must quit. Here are some reasons- some are no-brainers , some are just personal.

1. Health (obviously)

2. Hate feeling like a social pariah

3. Don't want to set a horrible example for my children ( whenever they arrive)

4. I would love to be able to race my friend Jen doing laps in the pool and come anywhere close to beating her

5. Lines around the lips are incredibly unattractive

6. The money I would save would pay for my hair appointments

7. It would be nice to have minty fresh breath

8. By the same token, it would be nice to buy a great perfume and actually smell like it

9. I'm tired of going outside everytime I want a cigarette (rain, cold, wind, pollen) and I absolutely refuse to smoke in my house

10. This cannot be helping my sinus issues

11. I waste quite a lot of time smoking

12. I really don't want to look back on even more journal entries where I bitch about my habit

13. Seriously, it just looks low-class these days doesn't it?

Living In A Yellow Cloud

2007-03-29T11:37:00.000-05:00

Spring is here! Yes, I am terribly excited by this , however, I would like a nice rain storm. Everything is covered in a yellow haze. When the wind blows I can actually see the pollen blowing across the yard. If I sit outside for more than 30 minutes I am covered myself. The Jackal and Space Ghost , being normally white, are now a nice sring green. Also, I believe Bubba Doo has allergies. Believe me when I say that you don't want to be any where near a Great Dane with allergies when he sneezes!

My Cool New Look!

2007-03-26T12:50:00.000-05:00

Heather over at Digging A Hole To China has pimped my blog! It is soooo cool! I knew it would look great based on her site but I am so happy with it. Now I will for sure make more time to blog!

Thursday Thirteen - 13 things I've been doing instead of blogging

2007-02-15T11:10:00.000-05:00

Okay, been VERY busy the past couple of weeks so That's what I'll 13 about :

1. Sketching, resketching, etc...

2. Turning said sketches into finished drawings

3. Helping out with school bookfairs - I will never fully be able to quit this job :)

4. Stretching copious amounts of silk onto stretchers frames

5. Missing my Illustration class to do actual illustrations...

6. Painting finished illustrations onto silk

7. Listening to books on tape while painting

8.Gathering more paperwork for "the chase"

9. Traveling to NYC for Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators

10. Meeting Tommie De Poala (sp?) - that's right

11. Scary critque from Art Director of Bloomsbury Press ( actually went rather well)

12. More travel

13. Work at the bookstore and general getting myself back together

So, that's what I've been up to and why I've been incomunicato for a while.

Thursday Thirteen - Things I Did Yesterday To Get Ready For The Home Visit

2007-02-01T10:00:00.000-05:00

1. Took down 2 of the nude paintings in the house ( left three up but two were full frontal and in the Bible Belt you just never know...)

2. Got on my hands and knees to scrub the bathroom tile grout. How does cat hair get stuck there??

3. Made sure there were no Bubba boogers on the walls. Yeah, you read that. He can sneeze snot rockets from two feet above the baseboards to five feet. Gotta keep an eye out for that sort of thing!

4. Read, reread, and reread again the list of documents to be handed over.

5. Asked hubby to pick up muffin mix on the way home from work so the house would smell "muffiny" this morning. Didn't realize the muffin pan was rusted so made "muffin loaf" instead. It wasn't done before she left but the house smelled great!

6. Swept, swiffered, mopped the floors.

7. Actually moved furniture to make sure animal hairs were ALL GONE. Did I really think she was gonna look behind my dresser?

8. Repotted and trimmed (in one case tossed) house plants. Don't want DG seeing that I can't keep a plant alive. LOL.

9. Moved some furniture around- just a bit- so the house would be more Feng Shui. It does look more "harmonized"

10. Washed the bedspread in the guest bedroom (something I normally only do the night before guests arrive) so as to remove mounds of cat hair. All four cats immediately converged on bed for the rest of the day and night. Shit, that reminds me. I think I left a blanket in the washing machine overnight.

11. Cleaned off the back deck and washed the table out there. Now completely covered in snow.

12. Restacked the linens in the linen closet. Yes, I know that was anal.

13. Despite supposed diet ate a Take Five bar and then had frozen pizza for dinner (at 9:45pm).

One more thing checked off !!

2007-02-01T09:09:00.000-05:00

The DG came for our Home Visit this morning at 7:30am. She drove through all of the snow and ice. What a woman. The visit was a lot easier than we thought it would be. She just walked through the house ( which was spotless due to my maniacal cleaning spree yesterday) and then we sat down and talked over coffee. Easy-peasy. Only one more visit to go and the Home Study will be complete. Now I must go and have MORE COFFEE :)

Doctor

2007-01-30T17:11:00.000-05:00

One more thing out of the way. Hubby and I had our physicals today. All went well. We are apparently very healthy people although both heavier than we thought! Hubby says that the doctor's scales were wrong but I have a sneaking suspicion that they weren't. Dg is coming for the Homstudy Thursday at 7:30am. Sooo much still to get done before that happens. Also, I don't know how I am going to pretend to be human that early in the morning. Hell, I don't even want to speak to anyone before 10:30am. I'm not sure I can even work the coffee maker that early. This is going to be interesting!

Thursday Thirteen - My favorite 13 Children's Books

2007-01-25T21:27:00.001-05:00

These are not necessarily in order.

1. Where's Wallace by Hilary Knight : a precurser to the Waldo books but with an actual story and terrific illustrations

2. The Lorax by Dr. Seuss : a must have to teach the little ones about conservation and the environment

3. I Will Never Not Ever Eat A Tomato by Lauren Child : one of the Charlie and Lola books ( they now have a tv show on Disney) - it won the Kate Greenway Medal, kind of like the Caldecott

4. Where The Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak : speaking of the Caldecott

5. Eloise by Kay Thompson : this is just the most fun, said to be based on Liza Minelli who lived at the Plaza Hotel and was Kay Thompson's Goddaughter, illustrated by Hilary Knight

6. Olivia by Ian Falconer : if Eloise was a pig she would be Olivia

7. Franny B. Kranny There's a Bird In Your Hair by Harriet Lerner, ill. by Helen Oxenbury

8. Toot and Puddle Top of the World by Hollie Hobbie

9. I Am Not Sleepy and Will Not Go To Bed by Lauren Child : this is always a favorite a bookfairs

10. The Librarian by Sarah Stewart, ill. by David Small : based on a real woman

11.A Bad Case Of The Stripes by David Shannon ( of No, David! fame) : has some of the best illustrations I've ever seen

12. Horton Hears A Who by Dr. Seuss

13. Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes : for anyone out there who has an unusual name

Book Meme- I've finally been tagged!

2007-01-22T15:24:00.000-05:00

So here's the deal: 1. Pick up the book nearest
2. Turn to page 123
3. Write down lines 6-8
4. Tag 3 people

1. First Test by Tamora Pierce. This is Book 1 of the Protectot of the Small Quartet.

What if he thought she was being impudent? But there was something about him, a sort of waiting kindness that made her want to answer him frankly. To her relief, Myles chuckled.

Don't know what it's about as I just started last night before bed.

2.Going Postal by Terry Pratchett ( part of the Discworld series - a new and addictive discovery I've made recently).

He speeded up, and the floor disappeared from under his feet. The light vanished. He was briefly and horribly aware of dry letters all around him, falling with him.

Moist, the protagnanist, has just figured out how the 5 previous Postmasters met their ends.

3.Brothers by Da Chen. Haven't read this one yet. It is on my nightstand for when I finish First Test. It was released this past September.

"No, what good are you? The military chief! Can't you just cancel the order?..."

Just started this blog recently so I don't know who to Tag. How about anyone who reads this who has their own blog?

Bigtime Saturday Night

2007-01-22T14:47:00.000-05:00

9:15pm on Saturday night. Are we out with friends? No. Having a "Date Night"? No. Even hanging out watching a movie... No! We are in the bedroom; hubby zoning out while creating his own universe with his computer and me reading a book and lounging with the puppy. Why? Well, the paperchase has officially started ! I spoke with our Social Worker (henceforward to be known as the Domestic Goddess or DG for short) Thursday afternoon and picked up all of our Homestudy paperwork. The same day I received a call from our Dossier consultant (DC) and got all that paperwork. So there I was all pumped up and, let's be honest, freaking out a bit 'cos now it's all happening and there was no way I could sleep. Spent most of Thursday night on the couch watching old movies on TCM. Found out Friday from DG that there is a training session Saturday morning at 8:30am. It is 3 1/2 hours away from us. We had to go though, or wait until Mid-April for another chance. Of course we weren't about to put it off! Again -no sleep. Finally just got up at 4:30am and had breakfast and coffee. We were still late for the seminar. Anyone who knows how slow I move before 10:30am will not be surprised at this. The seminar was very informative and we met some nice people but by the time we were done we were completely overwhelmed. I mean, there is just so much information and the stories are joyous as well as heartbreaking. We were totally stretched thin. So by 7pm we were in pj's so tired we were almost hallucinating. I let Bubba up on the bed which we Never do. Just needed some puppy cuddles, you know? The kitties seemed bemused but not pissed. Anyway, Sunday was fine. Had some fab sleep Sat. night and woke Sunday and did some retail therapy:) . Hubby brewed up a batch of beer. Spent last night sorting through documents, etc... This morning I sent DG and DC both long lists of questions to make sure I understand everything correctly. Bubba keeps looking at the bed...

With Six You Get Eggroll

2007-01-17T17:47:00.000-05:00

Larrykins

Mary- mary

Space Ghost

Queen Otifa

Jackalpuss

Why the title of the blog? Mostly because I think it's cute. I love all the Doris Day movies and this is the title of one of them. Also because we already have six "children" of our own. One Great Dane, Four cats, and one fish. Bubba's picture is already posted. I am going to try and put up everyone else's. How's that for a family?

"Congratulations"

2007-01-15T16:18:00.000-05:00

We have faxed our Agency Agreement and our 1st Prgram Fee to the agency. Waiting to get all our paperwork. In the meantime I look at other blogs, scan RQ, and think about our nursery :) .
My Mom is now VERY excited and is writing down all the family names she can think of. Yay!! hubby and I are still wrapping our brains around everything. All of our friends have been so supportive. I have one friend who is currently in the Waiting for Referral period and she said something interesting to me. She has one biological child and said how one big difference between pregnancy and adoption is how people first react. Apparently everyone says "congratulations" when you are pregnant nut you get all sots of things when you are adopting. So in my head I have been calculating the "congrats" I get against the "other". Luckily just about everyone we have told has been in the "congrats" category. How awesome is that?

Such Cute Babies

2007-01-03T18:11:00.000-05:00

I've just been looking at the rumor Queen site. I am so happy for all of those families who have received their referrals. All of the babies are adorable. I can hardly wait to get started. Our application is still in limbo. The holidays got it a bit delayed. I did talk to someone at our agency and she looked over everything and said it was good.

We told all of the family over the holidays. Most everyone was Way excited for us. Christmas Eve when the whole extended fam. was around (that's 27 people not including drop-in friends) my cousin had news that she and her husband are adopting! All the merriment and happiness surrounding our news and the thought of two new additions to the crew got to my mom a little. So by the time we had left she was looking through the China Sprout catalog I had borrowed from a friend. My mom LOVES a catalog! It didn't hurt that the Reader's Digest had an article about Chinese adoption in it. She has read Reader's Digest my whole life.

We went ahead and got certified copies of oyr marriage license and my birth certificate. Hubbies will be a bit more complicated since he was born in Switzerland. Just CANNOT WAIT to get started!! All of those beautiful babies...

Application at Agency

2006-12-19T15:49:00.000-05:00

So I called the agency yesterday to satisfy my paranoia that our app. had been lost. The super-nice lady at the agency said the app. arrived Thursday and was in the process of being reviewed. Woo-hoo!! We may not hear for sure until after Christmas because of Holiday hours but I'm psyched just to know that it's in someone's grubby little mitts (lol).

On another note (well sort of a similar note), I just received my copy of China's Lost Girls in the mail. I'm going to spend some time learning about this blog stuff. It should keep me occupied until the hubby is home and we can watch the DVD together.

First Post

2006-12-14T18:13:00.000-05:00

This is my first post. I have to get Digging a hole to China to pimp it 'cos it looks pretty sad. My husband and I , after several years of trying to get pregnant on our own, have decided to adopt. We hope to adopt from China and just sent our preliminary app. to the agency. That was on Monday. Our contact said we'd probably hear by Friday but I'm doubting that. If we had been smooth we would've over-nighted the papers. Oh well...