Gilligan's Island

Photo from our fun in the sun this past weekend. My nephew, my sis, and I.

p.s. I got an A in my summer school class! YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!

Summer fun at Beauty Bay

My sister, nephew Thomas, and I headed out to my mom's house today. We spent the afternoon playing in the lake. We worked on our tans (they did, I'm such the office worker and am now sporting quite the raccoon eyes and sunburn) floated around in the lake, chatted, and took the catamaran out for a couple spins.

So. much. fun. Mom snapped a few pictures and will send them as soon as she has time to download them.

What do you think? **update**

I came across this darling little table and chairs over at Eliza's Story. Do you think it would look good with the crib bedding I've picked out? I'm a bit worried about the green on the table, the green paint I have is apple green, but it's the accent color in the baby's room. It's very reasonably priced. What do you think? Be honest and please leave a comment. :-)

My crib bedding

The little table and chairs

Speaking of cribs, how long do kids stay in cribs? When do they move to big girl beds?

**update**

I missed my window... :-( The table and chairs are no longer the raging deal they were yesterday and there is only one left in stock. oops.

Thanks for the comments! ;-)

This and that...

My internet is up down up down at home. Cable man is coming again to check the line and switch out the modem if needed on Friday. Needless to say it is driving me nuts. Why? Cause I’ve got some blogging to do! Currently, I am typing this in word, saving to my t-drive, taking to work and posting first thing in the morning. Not fun. Oh well.

First up, my bloggy pal Heather sent beach time presents for our gift pal exchange. The box arrived on my 7 month LID anniversary and I happened to be reading her blog when the doorbell rang with the delivery. How crazy is that?! I’d post pictures, but don’t have anyway to upload them yet. Thank you Heather, everything…the watermelon floaty, cute outfit, sand tools, and sunglasses are super cute!!

Now for some updates....

• Remember this crazy post? Well, my stress level has decreased immensely. I have a feeling it was mostly due to being behind and not having my summer school class finished. Now that it’s finished, I can breath again. Plus, I don’t have to worry about any more school until August 20th. Not much of a break, but a break nonetheless.

• My foot is better, but nowhere near fixed.. The first cortisone shot did nothing and I was in pain the entire time I was in ND for my grandma’s birthday. I called the Dr. and demanded an appointment as soon as I returned, as I was in worse pain then before the stupid shot. He saw me right away and said “well, I’m kind of glad the shot didn’t work”. What? I wasn’t really seeing things quite that way.... Turns out, it was just allowing him to rule out what isn’t wrong with my foot. The first shot was injected into my joint. Clearly, my joints are fine as I was still in major pain. So, what did he do? He gave me another cortisone shot, this time in the nerve ending. Now, I am not one to really care one way or the other if I have to have a shot. However, after experiencing the first cortisone shot, I really wasn’t looking forward to another. Anyone ever had one? Not fun. I almost passed out…he injected the needle and then MOVED IT AROUND while continuing to inject the steroids into my nerve ending. Ouch. So, I have a swollen nerve ending in my foot. He sent me out the door and told me I was only allowed to wear my crocs and tennis shoes for two weeks. I see him again next week and I suppose he’ll have me fitted for inserts or something as the pain is still there. Not as bad, but certainly nowhere near 100%. Can I tell you how much I look forward to growing old with my feet? Uggggggggh!
  

• House hunting is progressing. I am seeing 5 listings this Friday; I wonder if any of them will be the one?

• Just got word that my 6 month old nephew is up on all fours...as in practicing his downward facing dog. I do believe he will be crawling in no time!
  

I’ll post pics when internet is back up and running on the home front!

shhhhhhhh! Do you hear it?

It's the rumblings of an airplane in the sky...


with my summer school class coursework safely aboard....

I didn't think I would EVER get that crap finished.

Hittin' the books

No more blogger for me until my classwork is in the mail.

:-)

I can't resist posting this photo of my nephew, snapped about a month ago when my sis asked me to babysit for the first time (finally). Too bad the babysitting session only lasted 14 minutes! His Dad got off of work early and retrieved the little guy just as we were getting settled. The only thing I had time for was a few smooches and this photo...so cute.

Check out the baby crocs!

Hello, my name is worry wart. **updated**

I am stressed. I am worried. Everything feels like it crashing down on me at this very moment. I know its bad when I wake up in the morning and puke...and it happened this morning. No, I am not pregnant...wouldn't want to do anything to jeopardize the adoption now would I?

First up, my class work for my summer school class is not finished and I am supposed to have it in the mail by oh um…SATURDAY. I’ll be lucky if I get it mailed by Monday. I’m mad at myself because this is all my doing. procrastination

Buying a house is like buying a car - - but worse. It’s totally exciting, but very time consuming and stressful. Here’s what has me stressed out about this little task right now… Apparently when one mentions that one is buying a house EVERYONE AND THEIR MOTHER has a real estate agent that I should use. So, now I’m overwhelmed and worried about who I should choose and who am I going to piss off if I don’t choose to use their real estate agent.

I have family coming to visit early August, and August thru September. Operation deep clean is on my mind.

Why oh why did I say yes to Chinese lessons when all of the above is going on. I know why I did, because I really wanted to do it, but the reality of it is that it’s just another thing I’ve added to my plate that I did not have time for right now. I will say that I do enjoy my tutor immensely, and I am glad I am doing it. I just wish the opportunity would have presented itself at a different time.

Here’s the other thing I do. I tend to keep my worries bottled up inside. Then it gets to the point where I just have to get it out there so that I can ease my mind a bit, come up with a plan of attack I suppose. Perhaps that is why I am laying it out there in blog land.

My brother and I had some good discussions about my constant worries when we were in ND. I don’t know how he does it, but he doesn’t seem to worry all that much. I mean, I'm sure he does, but it doesn't seem to consume him. After spending a couple days together in the same hotel room, our first mini China practice trial run, he could see that I worry way more than the average Joe. I have got to figure out how to manage this, should I start seeing a shrink or something? I feel like all I do is WORRY. It’s weird. Oh wait, shrinks are out of the question...wouldn’t want to do anything to jeopardize the adoption now would I?

Perhaps I should just quit adding to my plate and take care of the stuff that’s already on it.

Yeah, that sounds good. Ok, time to prioritize and come up with a plan of attack.

Someone please have some stiff drinks for me while you are all partying your rears off down south. Wish I could be there with you....

~~~~~update~~~~~

oops. I have caused quite a stir. I forget how many people I know and love read this blog. Shortly after posting, all hell broke loose. Phone calls, emails, and even a personal visit to my office (thank you L), everyone is worried about me now (which is not what I was meaning to do in any way shape or form). It's easy to forget who reads, most of my comments are from adoptive parents and I don't really know ya'll in person..so sometimes it just spills out. Plus, I'm pretty good at keeping it all in (not good) and then wham! you get a crazy post. :-) I didn't mean to worry anyone, but gosh...as L pointed out, "see how many people care about you?" I do. Thank you.

Bonus to sharing my worries (sheesh, I should try it more often), L came up w/ a good solution to my real estate agent worry.

Seriously, I am ok....

Crazy

Whoa. Anyone else watching this season? So many twists and turns, keeping me on the edge of my seat for sure!

A couple of pics from ND!

Here are a few of my favorite pics from my trip.

First up, my Grandma giggling with her great grandson Thomas. I just love the way he is looking at her. Totally precious!! Little Sammy, on the right, is my cousin Gale's little girl. I love her dimples!

My grandma and I at her 80th birthday tea party. I love this picture and it's the only one I have of just the two of us together.

My nephews and I at the tea party..

7 months LID

Howdy! I'm back.

My trip to the Midwest for Grandma’s 80th was good times all around. It was hotter than hell, but it was so good to see everyone and catch up. I have tons of pictures and a few good stories. Well, one not so good. There is a reason why folks call Northwest Airlines Northworst Airlines. My 4 month old cell phone crapped out on me as well. I felt so out of touch all weekend, it was driving me nuts. Anyhoo, it’s back to the grind for me!

Oh and how bout’ those referrals! Love seeing the babies every month!

So much for catching up....**updated**

It didn’t happen over the weekend and now its Tuesday already. Sheesh, where does the time go? I did manage to catch up and read up on a few of you….but not like I wanted to. Plus, I haven’t posted about anything in ages. Life is busy right now and my blog is being neglected. I’ll get back into the swing of things eventually.

Random bullets of my world right now...

• My mom and I are taking 10 lessons in beginning Chinese and we have our own personal tutor! So fun, but so hard. I will surely devote an entire post to this subject.
• I’m heading to the Midwest Thursday, meeting up with the family and celebrating my Grandma’s 80 birthday!
• Remember my I’m not taking any graduate classes this summer I want to relax attitude? Yeah, right…apparently relax is not in my vocabulary. I ended up taking a class and need to finish it up in the next two weeks.
• Remember my major purchases? Well, major purchase # 2 is in the works and I’m hitting it hard (meaning house hunting!!!) when I get home from grandma’s b-day. Whoooeeee!
• I’m also taking a couple of non-credit short Internet courses in HTML and Dreamweaver later this summer. Should be interesting and since they aren’t credit classes, I can just print the lessons off and take my time learning the material.
• There is something seriously wrong with my foot. My family has bad feet and apparently I do as well. It’s to the point where the pain is so bad some days I can’t walk (but I do anyway and just suffer through the pain). I go see the podiatrist later this morning. Sigh.
• I’m back on the weight-loss wagon and am so proud to report that I lost 4.2 pounds my first week back at weight watchers (again)!! Yay!
• I wish I would have been able to meet up with Kristen and Heather this past weekend. Sounds like you had a great time. I wish we lived closer to each other!
• I am totally NOT in the monthly adoption funk this month. I am thrilled for the families who are about to see their babies faces for the first time and am equally cool with the rumors being reported. I think it might have something to do with the CCAA visits a last week. Reading RQs post, seeing that the CCAA has finally acknowledged, maybe addressed is the better word, the MAJOR slow down…well, it just gives me peace to know that things will continue to plug along slowly but surely and I know at some point it will be my turn.
• I purchased a cute little unfinished wood rocking chair last night at Michael’s. It was on sale for $20.00 and is going to look great painted in my nursery colors.
• Nephew Thomas has his first tooth and is so fun to be around. He gives me so many smiles and giggles. I loves him! He is also in love with his Johnny Jumper.
  
  Have a wonderful 4th of July and be safe! I don’t want to be reading about any fireworks mishaps! Safety Sara has spoken.

**Back from the foot doc, xrays look good, joints look good but a bit of inflammation in the area that is causing me the trouble. He gave me a cortisone shot and wants to see me in three weeks. With my family history of foot feet? issues, I may need to be fitted for orthopedics. great.