I'm Giddy with Adoption Joy!!

Lisa and Doug have their baby. (see below)

Cindy and Brent have their travel dates

Joan and Robert will have their referral in days.

Kathy is Soon, Mick is after that, and then MEEEEEEEE!!!!

The next cut off seems pretty solid at this point. The 21st of November. Yeah! It's what I expected, but like last month, my joy comes from the fact that I'm not getting pushed back anymore. I'm still on track for a December referral. (November and January are still options, but the closer we get, the more the odds narrow.) I'm pretty darn excited about this! Really, it's only 4 months away! Four months. That's barely anytime at all.

Vacation 2007

I said I would blog about the vacation ages ago. It almost seems pointless now that it has been so long, but there are some great pictures, so I'll just give the summarized version in mostly photo form. First, the main reason we went was so that Jeff could spend some time with his parents. He spent the mornings with his Dad, Ronald, and his Dad's twin, Donald. (No, I'm not kidding) They spent the time fishing and playing cards. Lots of fishing...and lots of playing cards!!

We also spent a lot of time with Jeff's nephew Brian (of Elmo fame) and his lovely wife Audrey who is expecting in January.


Since Audrey and I are both expecting, we naturally spent a lot of time talking babies. And I know what I said before about shopping, but I was on vacation... and Audrey took me to stores.... that were having sales. What's a girl to do? We also went to a fabulous consignment store. Oooooh, even Jeff did some damage there.








We also got to meet another family who will be in our travel group. (Hi Dawn!) I would have gotten some pictures, but it was my first time meeting them and I didn't want to be the dork who walked in with a camera saying, "uh...can I take your picture for my blog?"

We also got to go to Jeff's brother's house. I always like going there because they have an orange grove. A real live tropicana-sends-the-pickers type grove. They have cows, horses, chickens, and alligators! The hightlight of the trip was trying to lure the alligator out of the pond with ribs tied to a string. Unfortunately, my camera died right before we got to the pond, but I swear it's true!

And here's some more random pictures that I just liked.
Jeff and the Boar Head. Practicing Gang signs

Jeff's brother's cows.

Where to get a hot dog in Jeff's home town.
.
The biggest rainbow I've ever seen.

Jeff's niece mugging for the camera.

I wish I'd gotten a picture.

Today I went to the fitness store to get a magazine holder for my treadmill. Jeff waited in the car because it's a small item and I'll be right back. So I go in, and the only sales guy is asleep. He's sitting behind the counter with his hands on the counter and his head hanging between his arms. His whole body vibrates with every snore. And make no mistake, he's snoring something fierce.

hello? .... Hello....HELLOOOOO!
Sir? .... Excuse me?... HEY!

I go outside to tell Jeff I can't wake him up. He says try again.

I tried again adding a loud knock on the counter and poking him with a pen. Still nothing. I go back to the car for my phone, grab a business card and call him. He kind of grumbles when the phone rings, but he STILL doesn't wake up. I left a message that sounded something like, "You're asleep. I'm standing right next to you and I don't know what to do."

Finally, someone who turned out to be a friend of his walked in. He was comfortable going behind the counter and shaking the guy awake. He explained his friend was on pain killers. Want to talk about embarassed? Try the moment he saw all the drool on his shirt. I felt really bad. I should have just let the poor baby sleep.

In the end he gave me the nicer one for the price of the cheaper one. After I left I realized....If I only had my camera!

For my Family and Friends who aren't completely obsessed with China adoption blogs like I am.

There are 2 blogs you should be following right now.

1. Stephanie
is in China right now and just got her daughter today.

2. Lisa
is leaving for China tomorrow.

Both are great bloggers and friends (If I may be so bold, I've never actually met Stephanie, but she seems lovely)

Anyway, this would be a good way for you to get an idea of just what Jeff and I will go thru when we get to China. Bookmark them and check in regularly over the next two weeks. I promise you'll be glad you did.

My niece arrived today!

Link to my sister's blog

This is what happens when you give my nephew a camera and a Tickle Me Elmo

Harry Potter Talk

If you don't know already (but I don't know how you could have missed it), I work for the post office. This morning we received "The Harry Potter Talk" We were given clear instructions on delivery. We are absolutely not to deliver them on Friday! We are to ensure that every book is delivered on Saturday. If we return to the post office with an undelivered book, we will be sent right back out.

We were also encouraged to knock and wait for someone to physically hand the book to, instead of our typical ring-and-run, in an effort to prevent thievery. Fortunately, I'm still off on Saturday and won't have to deal with it.

I've been with the post office for over 10 years and to my recollection, we have never had a meeting to discuss a single mailing. Its all very exciting!! (for dorks like me)

Harry Potter Panic

I was going to start blogging about our recent vacation. I'm fairly certain I can eek a good number of posts from that, but I had to first blog about my Harry Potter Panic.

It's only 2 days away and I didn't pre-order a copy!! How stupid is that?!! In frustration, I called Barnes and Noble to reserve a copy. They let me do it, but warned me they may not receive enough copies to cover all their reservations. What?! I didn't realize I might not get one at all. So I called Borders and they wouldn't let me reserve one. They put me on the waiting list. Oh, dear! Next I called Wal-Mart. Surely they're not having a Harry Potter Midnight party, but they ARE! Wal-Mart doesn't reserve copies, so I have a good shot if I show up on time, but get this: Their Party starts at 7:30. At 8pm they start handing out armbands to determine the order of sale to take place at midnight. Wow.

So guess where I'm going to be Friday night? Wal-mart's Harry Potter Party. (Just for the armband, i'm not hanging around til midnight.) Jeff thinks I'm retarted for needing the book this weekend, but he'd better hope I get one or it's going to be miserable weekend for both of us.

AND....due to a scheduling error, I am off on Saturday! It's like it was meant to be!

Ahhh....home.

We made it home from vacation. It wasn't at all what we planned, but very nice anyway. We didn't go to the Space Center. We didn't rent a boat. We didn't ride bikes, or exercise at all.

Instead, we relaxed.

We shopped. We ate. We played cards. And we spent time with family.

I met more of Jeff's family. We met another couple who will be in our travel group. And...prepare yourself....we went fishing for alligators. I'll blog more about that soon, but I wanted to let you know I'm back, and I'll be visiting all the blogs again soon.

My Newest Niece

I'm sure my sister won't mind me posting the recent sonogram of baby Abigail, my newest neice. We're all about babies here, aren't we? I think she's gorgeous in all her in-utero squished-ness. Looks like it's getting pretty tight in there.


Now here is Abby's big sister Georgia as a baby. Notice the nose? They have the same nose.


And here we have Abby's Mom, my sister, as a baby, and then as she is now. Notice her eyes? See how they slant sort of down at the outside corners? Now go look at Abby again. Do you see it?



My sister and her husband must both have strong genes that are duking it out in their kids. As they get older, especially, Jeffrey is looking so much like Jeff, and Georgia is a little Deanna. I'm making bets Abby goes the way of the girls in the family. Just a guess.

In case you'd like to follow along with the story of Abby, head on over to my sister's blog. She puts on a pretty good show over there. While I'm just killing time here, her blog has purpose. I recommend it.

My Sister's Blog

Another Baby!!

There's another referral in my little circle of waiting friends.

Now run on over to Cindy and Brent's blog and see how gorgeous their new baby Claire is.


Cindy and Brent's blog

One of the problems with the wait.

In the beginning we were so excited we started shopping right away. We got our LID and thought we had to get our nursery ready NOW because there is so much to do!! Must get busy!!

Now the nursery has been sitting there, ready for a baby for a year and a half. I still love everything I bought, but if I were doing it now, i would certainly do somethings differently. I would have picked different bedding and I might have picked different furniture.

Same with the stroller. I like our stoller just fine. It's been in the garage for about a year. It's awesome really, but tonight at Wal-mart, I played with the Fisher-Price, fake Bugaboo. I LOVE it! I want it! I must have it! I'm not going to buy it yet because I've learned my lesson with the nursery. And besides, it's kind of silly to own two stollers while you still have no baby.


I believe I've sworn off any more purchases until we have an actual referral in hand. Until we know that baby we are shopping for.

HOWEVER, I reserve the right to make purchases if:
1. I won't run across it again.
2. It's a super-good deal.
3. I'm having bad day and only buying cute baby things will make me feel better.

Referral stuff

The next batch of referrals are on the way. They cover 7 days worth of LID's. Its pretty much what I expected, so we are still on track for a December referral.

At least, we're not getting pushed back another month.

That's good.

It's the Ozonator, stupid!

Remember the hot tub? How could you forget, it's the subject of every other post!

Quick summary: We buy hot tub. It leaks. They send new hot tub. It leaks, too. They send technician to figure out problem. No problem detected, but leak dries up.

Then last Sunday, the leak begins again. We use every obscenity and march our angry selves back to the store and demand our money back. (In the nicest way possible.) The seller, Dave, says, "it's not going to happen." He is a mondo-jerk. Very, very jerky. He calls the manufacturer, the manufacturer calls us, and no one is any real help. They tell us they will be sending us another hot tub. The third.

So we write our nasty letters to the CEO, the director of marketing, and plan what we'll do if that doesn't work. In the mean time, Jeff, my genius husband, takes the front panal off the thing and investigates. The pan is full of water. We sit. We stare. And then Jeff sees the leak. It's the ozonator. Plain as day, the leak is coming from the ozonator. The tub is fine! Hoorah! And just so you know, the ozonator is the only seller-installed item. The jerk and co.

So I call my only contact with the manufacturer, Bart, and tell him what we found. He can't believe his tech didn't find it. I'm still not sure he believes me, but if you sit there for any amount of time, you can see the ozonator dripping. I called Bart because I want nothing to do with Dave ever again. We'll find a new place to buy chemicals.

Did Dave ever call us? Nope! I predict he will come by tomorrow while we are at work and replace the ozonator without ever calling us. Did I say what a jerk he is? So we placed our new, uninstalled door to block the entry to the sunroom, so hopefully, he'll get the idea I don't want him there alone. I want him to have to face us and replace the piece of crap ozonator he gave us. He probably gave us a used one.

Do you understand what happened here? It was the ozonator all along. The moved the ozonator from tub #1 to tub #2, so both tubs were fine. Dave cost the manufacturer quite a bit of cash with the replacement tub and the tech's trip, and all he had to do was give us a functioning ozonator.

Jerk.