Good Morning!

Oooh, blogging in the morning. If feels sort of weird. Jeff and I stayed home today because the hot tub guy is supposed to be coming. Jeff is actually working from home, but since I can't do that, it's like a mini-holiday. I slept late. I'm probably going to watch a movie, wait for the hot tub guy, then when he's done, Jeff and I will head to the park. Oh, Bonnie may go to the vet as well. I'm not sure yet. Her eyes are all goopy like she has an eye infection. If it still keeps up today, I'll take her this afternoon.

We've been awfully busy lately, but in a good way. It's been distracting from the upcoming referral batch. Rumors were good, now they're bad. We'll know the truth in another few days at least.

Boring post, I know, but that's about it for now.

The Saga Continues...

The new Hot Tub leaks. No one knows what's going on. Also, it's tripping the breaker. I never got a return call from the local dealer, but the manufacturer called to apologize and say how embarassed they were. In the past year, there have been 3 leaks nationwide and 2 of them are ours.

The next step is to have a technician sent from Utah to find out what's going on. He should be here next week. Ugh.

Are you tired of Hot tub talk?

Just a bit more...I swear. There's exciting goings-on here at Chez Georgia. Our supposedly "leak-proof" spa started leaking. The company is shocked! What? This almost never happens. We'll bring a new spa pronto!

Jeff and I kept using the leaker until another could get here from Utah. It seems the Mormans make our hot tub. And the delivery guy told me that in his almost year of working there, they have never had to replace one like this. We so lucky.

And at this very moment, the guys are struggling to get the old one out. It is definately a tight fit. I think one of our ceiling fan blades is bent and the concrete pad our AC unit sits on is broken. Good thing we hadn't put a new door back on yet!

I'm very anxious to get the new one in. I truly hope this one is a goodie since it has become part our nighttime ritual.
Brush teeth? check.
Wash contacts? check.
Have hot tub time? Ahhhh....

Oohp, the new one is about to come in. These guys work fast. Even emtpy, the spa weighs 800lbs! We won't be able to use it tonight, since it takes hours to get back up to temperature, and of course, we'll be scrutinizing the new one for any leak-type potential. The last one started a tiny leak about the 4th day we had it, so I don't suppose we'll be putting the door back on for at least a week or two.

Must go watch without being spotted. I don't want to be the women that watches over their shoulders (how annoying), but I'm dying to see what's going on. Thus....nervous blogging.


***Update***
Okay, it's all in and currently filling up. But now I feel terrible because as they were leaving, they had me sign a form for the exchange and at the bottom of the form it said in red letters. Tips are welcome. They were leaving. And I was flumoxed. I had no idea you tipped spa delivery people. Tipping always makes me nervous. I don't like to make a production out of it. I merely leave it on the table or counter and slide away. My nervousness usually leads to severe over-tipping. And what do you tip a delivery person? a percentage? a few bucks? a twenty? There were three guys. One will be coming back later to bring a chemical he forgot. Do I hand him something then? Why am I such a putz?

Anniversary

Today marks another anniversay. The Big 17! Seventeen months since being logged in. We're getting close to 2 years since the beginning of the process.

Here's the interesting thing. I don't really care right now. I read on other boards about how people are hurting because of the wait. I'm not really. Sometime recently, Zoe moved back to being that fictional kid who might one day join our family. I don't pine. Don't cry. Haven't been in her room in weeks. I'm not talking about her every chance I get. On mother's day, a lot of my customers asked me if I had children and mostly I just said, "no." Before, that would have been the perfect opportunity to go on and on about my daughter who has in all liklihood already been born in China.

If you told me we weren't getting our referral until next year, I'd probably say, "darn....bummer." Whereas before that would have left me crying for days.

I don't know what happened. Perhaps the wait has finally beaten me into submission. This is definitely a better place to be, but although I'm not sad, I'm not excited either. Kind of like my cat who watches the bug crawl by, but can't be bothered to get up and chase it. That's me right now.

So four or five months more? Okay.

Going Green...or....Sucked in by Oprah

I saw these water bottles on Oprah's Earth day show. They're made of aluminum and oh-so-attractive. I never thought about the impact of all those individual water (or soda) bottles that we use daily. Since I'm very vigilant about recycling them, I fancied myself quite the do-gooder, but if you really think about it, there is still a lot of energy needed to manufacture the bottles, transport them to me, transport the empties, and recycle the plastic. Also, I probably spent $2/day on my vending machine diet Cokes.

I didn't pay too much attention to the bottles until I saw them again on Pomagranate (Fruitful, now?) under the "we recommend" column. I thought it was quite a coincidence and went to the company website. My first thought, "Good Lord, that's a lot of money for a water bottle." But still....so pretty! And have you ever had water from a plastic bottle that's been in the sun? Taste like plastic, huh? And if you ever put something like Crystal Light in them, they are forever stained and you have to work really hard to get the taste out.

So I bought some of these, and love them! It looks like Papa, Mama, and Baby Bear's water bottles! There's no funky taste, and they clean completely due to some coating on the inside.

Now I take my pretty bottle to work and everywhere, really. I fill it up several times a day. In the past week alone, I've saved over $10 and at least 20 individual bottles. I expect that soon I will be over the shakes from my caffeine withdrawal. Even better, Jeff, who doesn't drink enough of anything, now fills his with green tea on the way to work. We're saving money, getting healthier, and look....so Pretty!

Here's the link, if you're interested.

Keeping busy...

Not much blogging going on lately. We've been keeping busy. The mail has been crazy heavy (which is surprising this time of year) Jeff has been working longer hours with extra projects at work. And although we're not doing home improvements anymore, we still seem to always have something to do. And a hot tub to spend time in. I'm telling you, it's a great way to pass the time.

I thought this summer would be interminably long, with nothing but work and waiting for Zoe, but in fact, it's passing rather quickly, and I'm finally at peace with the wait. I still think about Zoe every day...many times a day, really, but it's not as hard as it has been. I think about all the things we have to do before she comes and the times doesn't seem as long.

I really feel October is our month with November travel. I'm not worried about the wait between match and travel, since we aren't shopping or registering until we have a referral in hand. That should take care of that time. My only goal now is to fill the time until match. And here's how I plan to do it:

Work: I'm working every Saturday possible. I thought working so much overtime would make the time pass faster, and it does. Individual weeks seem long, but weekends fly by!! I was going to stop to spend more time with Jeff, but it makes so much more sense to work all the overtime I can until Zoe. Also, I earn extra days off which will help me stay home with Zoe longer.

Running: Okay fine...jogging. I've started again, and signed up for another half marathon in the fall. If we don't get a referral in Oct, I'm thinking about a marathon in November. So now Jeff and I will spend every Sunday morning at the park logging in miles. Then Sunday afternoons will be spent in the hot tub. Hopefully, my butt will also earn a little extra room in my airline seat, and I'll look super-fabulous in all my China pictures.

Friends referrals: We get to watch 4 of our friends get their referrals over the course of the summer as well as follow their trips to China, and meet their babies. To be able to share this joy with people we've met along the way is propably the best thing for easing the burden of the wait. We've seen a few babies come home, but those coming up have truly suffered this wait with us. Their joy will be our joy!

Social Activites: Still have monthly bunco and monthly waiting family gatherings. Trying to schedule more friend time as well.

Holidays: Memorial, the 4th, and Labor Day will all come before referral. That should kill some time.

Trips: We're thinking of going to Florida this summer. Although the trip would be nice, i'm still trying to save all my off days for Zoe. Hopefully, we can get some of the Florida relations up here (hint, hint)

Misc: Birth of our newest niece, release of final Harry Potter book, knitting project (diaper covers), And then there are always the normal things...housework, yard work, laundry that never ends, Ooh, and some good TV this summer should help. The Closer finally starts back in June, and So You Think You Can Dance, which I like better than American Idol.

October is less than 5 months away. I can do it!

Do you mind if I show off a little?

The hot tub arrived today!! It's Big! And it was delivered by hunky firemen who double as spa delivery guys!

Here a picture from the recent party. Look in the back right. That's our dinky old hot tub. Pitiful.

And now here's a simliar angle with the new hot tub in the background.


More pictures. But really, they don't do it justice. We're still waiting for it to heat up. Then we're going to hop in and sample the different jet packs. If we don't like any of them (as if!) We can return them and try out new ones. C'mon....heat up, already!!




**Update**

Spa...very nice...relaxing..mmmm...sleeeepppyzzzzzz...

Can't sleep....must blog...

Holy Cow, it's 3 in the morning and I'm having dreams of hot tubs and tie-dying t-shirts with Julia Roberts (who is very pregnant and made the cutest shirt with hand prints over her very large belly) and someone else who i think is Kathy over at Waiting for Chani. (Hi Kathy!) I'm too tired to make a link right now. It's a bit of work with my browser, what with going to find the html code and all. Of course, by the time I typed all this, I could have gone and found it.....oh, bother. I told you it was late.

The hot tub dreams are because we bought one today. A really nice one. I'm very happy about it, really. But when we got home we realized it wouldn't fit thru our door like we thought. It's going in the sunroom. So Jeff started removing door trim and the jam. I'm still worried about the opening. We'll have to have a handyman come and fix what Jeff will do to get it in. Then, of course, we need an electrician for a 220 outlet out there. Our current dinky hot tub was just fine on 110.

I know what you're thinking... "Georgia, how can you justify the expense of a new super-awsome, mac-daddy, hot tub, when a)you already have one, and b) you're suppose to be saving for this China trip?" Well, let me tell you! Our current one is really not much more than a heated kiddie pool. But we still used it daily all fall/winter. So we KNOW this one will get used even more. We can use it all Summer, too, since the temps can go lower. Also, it should last forever since it will be inside (if we can make the opening big enough, that is.) And as far as the cost.....we've been considering vegetarianism for quite some time, you see. Lots of spaghetti and ramen in our future, Amen.

I still can't explain dreaming about Julia Roberts or the tie-dying, which I have never done.


Oh, and while I'm up, I should talk about the adoption stuff!! Referrals are coming and they're for 3x's the number of days we were thinking they would be for. Although it's still not that much, when you're expecting really horrid news, and only mildly bad news shows up, you think it's practically miraculous!

And this effects (affects?) us how? Well, I'm proud to say I haven't pushed back our expected time line. (and that's saying somthing) I have a good feeling about October, with late November travel. Could be a month earlier, could be a month later, but I think a December referral is out of the picture and that makes me pretty darn happy.

Anything else I can talk about while I'm here?.....hmmmm.... not so much. So Good night! Tomorrow I'll take some pictures of my new improved doorway Jeff's making for the hot tub.

Oh, okay let me go rustle up a link for hot tub. It's big enough for company, so if you won't laugh at me in a bathing suit and you bring the Corona, consider yourself invited!

The new baby.