My Birthday Rocks!

Ok, that's a bit of an exageration. It did rock, but my body is so tired that it stopped rockin' somewhere around 10 am. As I have mentioned before, my mother is freakishly strong. She also will not stop until a job, no matter how big, is completely done. While my mother and I are very much alike, we differ on one major thing: she is best first thing in the morning, I'm best late at night. Before I even rolled out of bed around 8 am, she was already outside working on the walkway. However, while I am in here updating my blog, she is already fast asleep in bed. I've had to poke her the last 1 1/2 hours to keep her up long enough to finish the show we were watching.

We got a lot of stuff done and I promise to post photos when I have the time and energy to do so. We finished mulching, (which very similar to munching--which we also did a lot of), we finished the pathway and worked on another project that we had not planned on. We won't have a chance to paint my spare bedroom or work on the mural for MayLing's room, but for the first time since I have moved into this house, I actually like the way the front of it looks. It looks like a real house and it is very inviting. AND, I don't think anyone is going to break their ankle on my walkway anytime soon!

1 Day to B-day

Ok, for any of you that have tried to get a hold of me by phone or e-mail, I've been incommunicado. Since I have dial-up my phone rings busy and I don't have call waiting...I know, I know but it always feels rude and it's more expensive so I don't have it. So, since I am still anxiously waiting to hear about the job I interviewed for last week I'm trying to keep my calls and e-mails to a minimum during the day.

I'm feeling pretty nervous about this wait...I was told they would have a decision by mid to late week and I have 1 day down and 2 more days to go. Fortunately my mom is visiting for my birthday and we are keeping very busy. Otherwise, I think I'd be going to crazy from boredom and anxiety.

We are keeping very busy. I was just about passed out on the couch at 7 pm tonight until mom got me moving again. Those of you that know me or follow this blog know what a nightmare my yard has been for me. For my birthday my mother is volunteering labor and $$ to pay for yard stuff. So, today we got some mulch put down and tomorrow we will finish mulching and work on creating a better walkway. The current one is just beggin' for a broken ankle. Yesterday an elderly lady and her grandson came to the door asking to use the phone because their car broke down in front of my house. I was embarrassed that they had to walk through the mess. Well, no more! I will soon join the cult of people proud of their yards. I forgot to take 'before photos', but I will definitely get some 'after' shots.

Exotic Feline Rescue Center--Part 2

I really wanted to post a video I shot while hangin' with the big cats on Sunday, but I have dial-up. So, right now I am at Tony and Fil's house with a high speed cable modem and I'm ready to download!
The picture quality isn't great, but you can see the lions straight ahead. What I really want you to notice is how loud they are. It was incredible! So, turn your speakers up, shut your eyes and see if your pulse races a bit.

Enjoy!

Birthday Week has Commenced!

I know the majority people only get to celebrate their birthday for a day, but I have been fortunate to stretch mine out all week! Officially, I think it commenced on Friday evening when mom and dad came to town to take me out to dinner. However, Michael upped the ante today by taking me out for my "birthday surprise". Yesterday he started dropping hints--wear comfortable walking shoes and clothes you aren't afraid to get dirty in. What the heck? Today I was told that I might want to bring a camera and there was potential for sweating. I was really wondering what he had planned, but it was awesome! I don't know how he'll be able to top this for next year or what I am going to do for his big day this year!

He took me to Center Point, Indiana, about an hour west of Bloomington. Really, there is nothing out there except for the Exotic Feline Rescue Center.

It really is incredible! They have 190 exotic cats (big kitties!) and it is an amazing experience. Truly very Jurassic Park. Some of the cats have double fences and all are electrified, but it is nothing like a zoo. The greenery is grown up and you get the feeling that you are walking through the jungle without fences. HOWEVER, you can hear the big cats talking to each other. It is very loud and reverberates throughout the compound. I gotta tell you, it made the hair on the back of my neck stand up!

Saturday Morning Musings

What...can it be? I actually have some moisture on my patio? Did it actually rain? Hallelujah! Although our brothers and sisters an hour north of us have been hit by multiple storms the last few weeks, Bloomington has not had any rain in over a month. Really, it's been a month since we had any recordable rainfall. I'm not quite sure this will even count, but at least it looks wet. It's August in Indiana and I haven't mowed my lawn since last month. No joke. It's been 4 weeks since I last mowed. Everything in the yard is dead and brown, I have huge cracks in the dirt going through my flower garden and let's not talk about my vegetable garden. The poor thing looks scorched. I did have some good eatin' though. I ate my corn, green beans, and tomatoes. The rest, well, the rest looks like the butt end of a crematorium.

I had Part Deux of my two part interview yesterday morning. While waiting for my name to be called my former co-worker/supervisor came in. She is currently working for this company and has really enjoyed her work. It was so great to see her. I think the interview went fine. Some of these questions I just don't have a response for. "Name an event that happened while working at Select that you really disagreed with management. What did you do and what was the outcome?" Honestly, short of closing us down, I never really had any significant complaints. What am I supposed to say? For the most part they treated me well and I respected their decisions. Whenever I didn't understand their requests or disagreed with them, I would speak to my CEO privately. Problem solved and most times I was happy. The interviewer would not indicate if she thought I would be hired or not. She did say that were looking "at a lot of internal candidates". I do know that they always hire insiders first, but there are 2-3 open positions and I've had insiders advocating on my behalf for over a month now! Hopefully my interview on Thursday was strong enough to sway them towards me. I REALLY want this job (ok, that was a whine in case you couldn't hear it). Say a prayer for me, friends.

PS--I had the strangest sense of deja vu while sitting in this woman's office and being interviewed. It was bizarre. I know I have not met her prior to this week, but it was so familiar I could have sworn I had been there before. What the heck does that mean?

Why does summer TV suck so bad?

Really, why does summer TV suck so bad? I was deperately wanted some mind numbing TV last night (more about why later) and I tuned into "According to Jim". I've only seen 3 episodes EVER, and wouldn't you know, 1 of the ones I had seen was on last night. Same problem tonight. I watched Supernatural (ahhhh) and tried to find something else to watch afterwards. The only thing I could find was the show about people that go missing (the title escapes me) and again, I had seen this exact episode last season or the season before. I really dislike violence against women or shows where women are victimized so I quickly tuned out.

Ok, onto why I needed mind-numbing TV. Yesterday morning I received a phone call from the business I submitted my application to again on Monday. I went from dead sleep to doing a "phone interview". Seriously. I had to spit my retainer out before I answered the questions. So, I must have passed that phase because then she asked to set up an interview for next Friday. I agreed. She also wanted me to fill out some sort of online personality test (just to prove I'm not coo coo). Within half an hour of completing that task she called me back and asked to move up the interview time to Thursday afternoon, the following day. Today I received a phone call in the afternoon asking me to bump the appointment up another 15 minutes. Sure, thing. No problem, I'll be there.

So, I was quite excited because this is the job I have really wanted and since I was already turned down once, I was even more anxious to make a good impression.

I think the interview went well. I liked what she had to say about the job and when she gave me the tour and introduced me to people, I realized I had already worked with or known these people in some other capacity. And I love Rita, the nurse that runs the CPR education department on the third floor, because as we walked past her office she asked what I was up to. I told her I was in the middle of a job interview and she turned to the woman interviewing me and said, "You have to hire her. She is the best." Awww, thanks, Rita! I was able to meet with the physician who oversees the department and he grilled me for a few minutes. He seemed to like my answers so that is another good check in my box. She wants me to job shadow a nurse before we proceed any further. The nurse is someone I met through a friend several years ago. We both attend the same parties, so there is another connection. I have one more interview with HR tomorrow. Pray/cross your fingers/send some good vibes that everything goes well! I'm so excited. And if I don't get the job my poor friends are going to have to scrape me off the floor.

Disclaimer

I have no idea why the last paragraph of my previous post is in large print or why the color looks "off". I've attempted to correct it, but with no success. Sorry.

Ok, I'm running out of interesting titles

Ok, here are the updates:

• Still nothing on the job front. I re-submitted my application to the unnamed business that I was blackballed by. I even hand delivered it to the person responsible for that particular department and I called the department when I was done to let them know I had re-submitted. I don't know about this one. I have NOT been called by any of the many places I have applied for over the last month and the one place I did interview at has hired a former co-worker of mine.
  
• If last week was the week for manly house stuff, this is the week for girly house stuff. I hate grocery shopping (love cooking, though), I hate doing laundry, and I really hate doing dishes. I've done all three today. Oh, here is the best part of my day: I saved over $10 using coupons and with the Kroger discounts saved a total of $29.36. Yep, no kidding. Nearly $30 in savings. So, I have made a tuna corn chowder that is totally addictive. Like, totally, dude. I'm also making a tomato barley soup and a cabbage sausage soup. Soup is definitely my comfort food. Ahhhhh.
  
• I'm having a Birthday Bash next weekend and so far about 9-10 people have RSVP'd. That's pretty cool. I really thought it would be Sherry, Marshall, Rosa and me eating burgers and singing Happy Birthday so it's nice that people want to party. I thought it would be a bad idea since it was a long holiday weekend. If my own family wasn't going to make it, I didn't have much hope of anyone else showing up. I really don't care about presents, but I love to spend time with my friends and with the job loss a lot of us need a reason to party.
  
• And lastly, I've been thinking of my daughter nearly non-stop. I think there are invisible threads that keep us linked to the ones we love even when we aren't around. About 10 years ago I was working night shift as a nurse in a hospital in Terre Haute. I would typically get home around 8:30 am and have to be up again by 4-4:30 pm. On this particular day I sat up straight in bed around 2:30 (I'm a little fuzzy on the exact time now, after all, it has been 10 years) and I knew something had happened to my sister. I began by calling her home, then her work place and then my mother. Around and around I called these places and no one knew where she was. She was supposed to be at work at 3 pm and hadn't called in to say she would be late. Finally, at 6:45 as I was getting ready to go to work again, my mom called. Sarah had been in a really bad accident at the exact time I had woken from sleep. Her car was totalled and was smoking when she finally got out of it. I knew that something had happened to her. Maybe the connection I feel now isn't to my child, but to my daughter's birth mother. I pray that she is happy and healthy and able to carry our child to term without difficulty. I can't imagine what she must be feeling. Is she excited to be pregnant or is she worried about what comes next? I hope she is supported.
  
• I have been diligently going to the gym for the last week or so. It's true, I swear. I always complain about the crappy genetic material my parents bequeathed to me, but I did receive one of my mother's good attributes. That lady is freakishly strong. I realize I will never ever be as strong as my mother, but I am able to build muscle quickly and I do regain strength pretty quickly. The change in my respiratory status has been remarkable. Unfortunately the Y closes for it's annual cleaning on Friday so I will have to continue what I have started some other way for the next 2 weeks.
  

MayLing, my girl

I've been thinking a lot of my daughter lately and I'm sorry for those of you that have had to listen to me jabber on about her. Since I dreamed of her last week I simply can not get her out of my head. I'm feeling overly emotional and each little tender moment I see between other moms/dads and their daughters makes me get all misty. The nursery is essentially done so I like to go in there and sit and imagine what it will be like when my daughter is home. I made the mistake of turning on the TV tonight and Raising Helen was playing on AMC. Why the heck is AMC playing a chic flic? Anyway, I didn't get all sappy over Helen, but I was sad during the final scene when Helen was reading the letter her deceased sister wrote prior to her death. She died in an accident so she obviously didn't plan to die. I can't image how hard it would be to plan for a time when I couldn't be there for MayLing. I didn't want to think about it. I can barely stomach the thought of daycare, much less having her be raised by someone else.

I had a restful weekend. I enjoyed Saturday's weather IMMENSELY. I enjoyed it so much I actually had a bit of sunburn by the time I got home last night. I didn't think I was out that much, but perhaps the walking with Sherry did it? I went hiking a bit later that evening, but I don't think the sun really hit us with the tree coverage. And wouldn't you know it, my pink was faded back to white by the time I got up the next morning. I don't quite understand it. Most white people burn and stay burned for a while. I'm Casper colored, I am red for a few HOURS and then fade to Casper once again. It's just a little odd.

Since I have extra time, I've gotten back into the routine of going to the gym. I had no idea how out of shape I was. It's horrifying, really, it is. I'm quite weak, but I tend to bulk up pretty quick so hopefully a little diligence will go a long way. I went to the gym 4 times last week and I could really tell a difference in my breathing! On Saturday afternoon I thought it felt like my lungs were burning when I took a deep breath. That's because they were! I was finally getting air in the bases of my lungs again for the first time since February. Wow, what a great feeling. That, right there, is incentive for me to continue and to push myself harder. I really want to be in good shape before I go to China and it's best to set these habits now before I return to a working life.

Other ruminations at 12:30 am

Why do I never remember to take out the trash until I'm nearly in bed? I swear, one of these nights I'm going to surprise a peeping tom as I come wheeling around the corner of the house with my humongo trash bin.

I had a realization Wednesday after talking with Terri. RQ has reported that families are being referred boys instead of girls and corrected special needs (cleft lip, extra digit removal, etc.) and I realized something...I'm ready for anything. I did not make my nursery girly. I painted it blue of all colors! The sheets have some pink in them, but only because I received them from the woman who sold her crib, mattress, changing table, etc. all together. So, if the CCAA would refer me a son, I would be thrilled to bits! I don't have many clothes so if I received a son it would not be a great loss. In fact, the family down the street promised me their boys' clothing if I should have a son (they have 3 sons, all about 11-13 months apart--yikes!). I've had a boy named picked out almost from the time I name MayLing. Both names have a personal meaning for me so I am ready!

As far as the corrected special needs, I'm fine with that too. I was a "special needs" baby myself with a correction. I have lived a good life and the surgery hasn't interfered with living my life. So, all I can say is, bring on my baby!

2 weeks until my birthday/14 days until my birthday

I finished Forever Lily last night simply because I must finish everything I start. It was a stinker. The interplay between the two women was very interesting, but I didn't feel she spent much time digging into that. Most of the time was spent on her dream sequence/previous life experience and psycho babble. Don't get me wrong, I'm a HUGE advocate for mental health services. My mother is a therapist and I've seen the good that I can do, but this author makes them look like the crazy snake handlers at some faith churches. Took a good thing and went a little tooo far. I was really appalled at her lack of knowledge of Hong Kong and China. She didn't seem to know the people, the countries, the culture or anything. I thought that was strange for a woman who believed she was once Chinese. If we are able to reincarnate (which I don't believe in), wouldn't some residual knowledge of her culture be retained?
I was most irritated by a sentence in her eipilogue. Her family stopped in Hong Kong in 2004 en route to their second Chinese adoption and she says this of her daughter as she is walking down the street in HONG KONG: You are nearly six years old; where have you come by such dignity. Your very presence frees them of their guilt, Lily; perhaps you understand this. The people of HK don't have any guilt. The two countries, although ruled by China, operate as separate entities. The people in HK aren't even aware of the plight of girls in China. Trust me, when I told my family there that I was adopting from China they couldn't understand why. HK also doesn't have any limitations on the number of children they can have. Why would they have guilt over my Chinese girl? Anyway, the book really ticked me off. I'm afraid people will read it and actually believe it without actually getting a chance to experience China for themself.
I heard back from the woman that called me earlier today about the job I wanted. She said her boss actually called over to the HR office requesting my file. They told her I had never applied! So, Kathy gave me the job codes for the 2 jobs they thought I should apply for. I'm going to call tomorrow and insist they send my file to that department. If they can't, I want to know why. Hopefully it is just a misunderstanding, but somehow I doubt it. My previous boss was fired less than a year after I left so that should make her less than credible.

Blackballed!

Wow! I just received in interesting phone call...well, let me back up a little bit. Within 24hrs of learning that my job had ended I had 3 job leads. Two of 3 leads were with the company I used to work for (for the time being they will remain nameless, but they are a very LARGE company here in town). I applied for the 2 jobs and I had insiders on both of these jobs that were ASKING me to come work with them. I submitted the applications and resumes. Waited a week, called to inquire about the positions and was told "yeah, we have gone another direction." On both, what the heck? Both the positions were still listed on their job website. I suspected I had been blackballed because my previous boss at this unnamed place had said to me when I left, "if you leave, you are never coming back." I believed that she was going to place a flag on my personnel file so I went to HR and reviewed my file. I was surprised to find all the notes and letters my fellow employees and patients had written about me. They were so impressed with my work they had written these things and I never knew about it. There was not one bad thing in my entire file so I thought, well, if they flag it I won't get hired, but if they bother to open the file they will see I was an exception employee. Ok, fastforward to 5 minutes a go. I received a phone call from one of my insiders on the job I really wanted. She asked if I had applied for it (her boss was requesting me as well) and I said, "yeah, weeks ago but they said they went a different direction." She was shocked! They were waiting for HR to forward me file and HR never did. I was blackballed. So, she is going to give my cell number to her boss and she should be calling me today. Say a prayer that I find the right words to say. I don't want to sound whiney, but I think they should take the time to LOOK in my file.

The Table!

Ok, finally blogger is allowing me to upload some of my photos. This is a photo I took on Sunday or Monday. On the left side of the photo is the table as I received it. On the right side of the photo is what it looked like after I sanded it down.










The finished product! Not a great photo due to glare (high gloss polyurethane), but it looks fabulous!














The stain without the gloss.

Home Improvements and other things

Well, I am nearly finished with the table and chairs. I finished staining at 1:30 am (final coat since the others were still too light for my liking). I forgot to clean my brush last night so I'm waiting for it to try a bit before I start putting polyurethane on them. It's hard work and very tedious, but I'm enjoying myself. The problem is that I just don't have the space to do these projects so I have been carrying them out in the living room. It should be completely done today...I'm going to put a couple coats of lacquer on. Goin' for the big shine!

I picked up a book last week that I had heard about in one of my adoption magazines. It's called Forever Lily: An Unexpected Mother's Journey to Adoption in China by Beth Nonte Russell. I'm halfway through it now and I have to say, I really don't like it. If I understand correctly, this is supposed to be autobiographical account of how she came to adopt from China. She didn't pursue the usual channels, like most the readers of this blog. She was accompanying a woman who was adopting who didn't/wouldn't bond with her baby. She basically gave Russell her child. Although the writer claims to have traveled the world extensively this is her first trip to China and she seems to complain about it. A LOT. Every culture has some undesirable aspect to it. Those that are adopting from China should KNOW this before they ever submit a dossier. I guess I get tired of all the adoptive parents complaining about the fact that their daughters were abandoned because they were girls. If they hadn't been abandoned, they never would have become their daughters, would they? I'm not saying it is right, far from it, but put yourself in the shoes of the birth parents. If you haven't already read it, I suggest reading Karin Evan's book The Lost Daughters of China. She really delves into these issues in detail. China is not the only country to place more value on the life of a son. India has a growing crisis, much like China, with an orphanage overpopulation of girls. The majority of Middle Eastern countries still place more value on male lives than female lives. When I worked in Terre Haute I worked with a LOT of Middle Eastern and Indian physicians. These a**holes actually made me walk 10 feet behind them. Whenever I would walk next to them to update them on how crappy their patient was doing they would speed up so we would not be confused as equals. Heck, in our own great nation women still make only 70% of the dollar men make. Just because we aren't abandoned here doesn't mean we are equal to men. We also know China is a communist country. We know they don't support religious freedom..well, they don't support many freedoms that we enjoy here. We aren't going to change them. Like any country, democracy is something they are going to have to find on their own. We have seen how well it works when we force our version of it on others. I'm not saying that the author calls the Chinese idiots, but it is obvious that she sees some serious flaws in their views. One last complaint about this book--she has a mysterious dream sequence weaving throughout the book. In the dream she is Chinese and has been chosen to be empress (not yet sure what dynasty she is in at this point). It just seems to be overkill.

Anyway, thanks for letting me rant. I'm hoping the next half of the book will strike a better chord with me. On the positive side, she is good at describing her bonding with "The Baby" and you can feel as horrified as she that any adoptive parent would opt to send her new baby back to an orphanage.

Monday Morning

Yow-za! I've suspected for about a year that I have arthritis in the middle fingers of my right hand, and now there is little room for doubt. I woke up this morning with swollen middle knuckles and unable to bend without pain. Must have been all that sanding yesterday.

I woke up this morning with dreams of my daughter still in my mind. It has been months since I dreamed of her. I can only assume it has to do with my 6 month LID yesterday. I dreamed that I had the referral and was in China to pick up MayLing, but I couldn't figure out why I was allowed to get her when I had only waited 6 months. No one else with my LID was traveling and she wasn't a special needs or waiting child. She was only about 6-7 months old and very small. She would cuddle up against my neck and I called her my little cuddle monkey (where did that come from?). I suspect she is probably in utero or may not even be conceived, but I pray that she is safe and happy. I pray that her birth mother is supported by friends and family and that this isn't a scary or stressful time for her.

Ah, there is no better way to start the day than dreams of my daughter still lingering in my mind!

Six Months!!!!!

That's right, folks, I'm six months into it now!! I'm hoping I only have another 12 months to wait until I receive my referral, but it, like so many other things, is completely out of my hands.

After the disastrous week I had last week (no job, no interviews, sick, PMS, etc.) I had a much better weekend. In fact, I've had a fabulous weekend! After my violin lesson yesterday morning I came home and fell into the routine I started last week (laying on the couch and watching TV) and I looked around and thought, "I have stuff to do here!" Honestly, the longer I laid there the more my ugly brown mantel started bothering me. It has never fit into the room so I thought it was time to do something about it. I sanded it down, primed it and painted it to match the built-in bookcase in the living room. With that done, I looked around and thought "I can't stand the color of the table and chairs mom and dad brought over!" Just so you know, I don't know squat about this kind of stuff, but now is the time to learn. I hand sanded that badboy by the time I went to bed and today after church I began working on it again. Since I didn't pay for it I'm not the least bit bothered about making it look ugly. By the time I go to bed tonight it will be stained and then I will polyurethane it tomorrow. When I first found out I had lost my job I viewed it as a time to get stuff done and it's time to get started. Now I have a list of things to work on. So, if you call and I don't answer it's because I'm elbows deep in paint.

Gripe, Gripe, Gripe

Gripe #1--I've lost a fork. Lest you think I sit around counting my forks, let me reassure you I don't, but I really feel wiggy when I lose things. I decided to eat dinner in front of the TV last night, and when I finished my meal, laid my plate and fork down on the table long enough to rub my full belly. When I got up to take them to the kitchen I couldn't find the fork! The plate was there, but no fork. I am really beginning to wonder if my couch is eating stuff.

Gripe #2--I have the stomach flu. Yep, if life wasn't sweet enough right now, I come down with the stomach flu. It hit Monday afternoon and by the following afternoon the heaves had stopped, but, uh, other things remained. Including dizziness and fatigue. On the positive side, I haven't worn a bra in 3 days so not is bad.

Gripe #3--Unemployment sucks. I really thought I would handle it better, but I'm having trouble keeping track of the days. After the above mentioned nausea passed, I've spent considerable time poring through the classifieds and monstor.com and careerbuilders.com and I gotta tell you, it doesn't look good. I've already been turned down for the analyst job and then I was turned down for the media buyer position. I've applied at 5 other places and I haven't heard anything. Every morning I look for a job, but nothing is showing up. Hopefully I will feel back to normal tomorrow because I want to file for unemployment and visit an employment agency. I'm applying for everything that just requires a BA or BS degree. Pray for me, send positive thoughts my way or wave a magical stick in my direction, I think I'm going to need some help.

PS--I wouldn't have been so annoyed about losing a fork if I had more to do. I'm bored people and it is too hot to go outside. All the projects I want to work on require that I be outside or spend $$.

PPS--I can't seem to win a lousy game of Solitare on the computer. C'mon, enough is enough!

What kind of Tattoo Should You Get?

You Should Get An Asian Inspired Tattoo

Mysterious and expressive You like to show off, but you also like to keep some allure

What Tattoo Should You Get?

Evidently I got the right one! Who knew I was so simple to figure out?

Check out this website: http://china.sunjournal.com/
It is a beautiful website about a bunch of college students that go on an 18 day tour of China visiting various orphanages and taking care of the kids. They have pictures of the kids and of the activities and you see some great orphanages and some really poor ones that don't have much support.

Day 5: The End

Kristen left this morning and the house has felt very, very quiet since then. Safe travels and I can't wait until our next adventure!

Kristen and Sammy the Bear

Day 4: Bloomington

After church we made a quick stop at a restaurant in town and noticed that a certain segment of B-town's population was out en masse. Welcome to Bloomington! We are a town full of diversity and we all seem to live harmoniously together. After lunch (a necessity considering our next destination) we headed to Oliver Winery. This was the first time I had visited the winery in a number of years also. It felt good to re-discover my adopted home town again.

I have to admit, I drank the wine a bit fast and was feeling it for a while. It really made me sweat more than anything which wasn't a good idea since it was hotter than hades out there. Literally, my eyeballs were sweating. I could barely see to take pictures.
The fountain outside Oliver Winery.

After drinking (and buying) we returned home to work on the nursery. Not only did we work on it, we finished it! I painted the clouds on the ceiling as Kristen directed me from below and documented the event. She has eagle eyes and managed to find spots on the walls that needed more paint and re-painted those areas. As if that wasn't exciting enough, we got the crib set up and the room is all arranged! Now I just need the mural and to hang some decorations from ceiling. I think the butterflies I bought in Nashville will be perfect in there!
Siva trying to help.

Day 3: Nashville, baby!

Mom and Dad e-mailed me to say that they would be arriving today around 11:30 am. It was nice to be able to sleep in and leisurely get moving. Mom and Dad did indeed arrive at 11:30 and brought Grandma H.'s sewing machine/desk with them. She died nearly 10 years ago and not much was left that my aunts didn't pick through. This desk with a sewing machine, her wedding ring, some unfinished quilts and a small table were all that survived. At some point I will take the desk/sewing machine into a sewing repair shop to make sure that it is in good working order, but until then it will make a nice desk for writing out my checks.

The four of us had Mexican for lunch and if it hadn't been so darn hot I would have had a margarita. By 1:30 Kris and I were back on schedule and en route to Nashville. I have to admit, it has been years since I actually walked around and shopped in Nashville. What a cool little place. I could have bought a lot more than I did and will have to make a return trip sometime soon. I got some pretty butterflies to hang in MayLing's nursery and I finally found 2 matching wooden boxes that I have been hunting for forever. I always wanted a wooden box (that locked) to hide my little treasures as a kid and now MayLing and I will have matching boxes. I plan on putting little notes in there, her referral photos, a lock of hair from her first haircut, etc. When she is older I will give it to her. The second box will be a keepsake box for me. OR, if I am able to adopt a second child I will use it as his keepsake box.
At a shop in Nashville...I just can't help myself...these hats are so cute!

We shopped until we were too hot to shop any longer. Just kidding...we shopped until the stores closed around 6-7 pm. After making dinner, we both passed out on the couch to watch "the boys" (you'll just have to ask).

Day 2: FTIA

My day was already off to a good start....the CCAA updated its website and referrals have been sent for familes logged in through November 21, s005....whoohoo!

Once ready Kris and I began our road trip to Evansville to see our agency, FTIA, and meet our coordinator. I had met my first coordinator in January when I dropped off my dossier, but as you may recall, I was recently switched to Natascha and was anxious to meet her. We made a brief stop in Greene County to pick up DeLene, another adoptive parent also working with Natascha at FTIA. In hindsight I realize I really should have MapQuested the directions, but I thought we would be ok. We were, but it took us a little longer to get to our destination.

Natascha and me

Kristina and me

FTIA World Headquarters

Even though this was my second trip, it was still an incredible experience. This is where families are made every day! Can you imagine a job like that?!?

After doing a little shopping in Evansville (I haven't a clue where anything is located) we headed back to B-town. Unfortunately the power was out when we returned home so were forced to change our dinner plans slightly. We ate out and then went to see....drumroll please...The Boure Ultimatum. Oh, mama, Jason Bourne looks good!

Kristen's Coming!

Kristen is coming today! I'm so excited. We weren't planning on meeting again until October, but with the job loss and hopefully (say a prayer, cross your fingers) a new job coming up soon, I will be newly employed and won't likely have any vacation days to use. I spent the morning and afternoon cleaning, not only because Kris was coming for a visit, but because between the 3 car loads of things my parents sent with me or brought since their move PLUS all the stuff from my office that I needed to bring home...well, let's just say you really couldn't get in the front door safely. Just ask Sherry. She saw it and although she was polite about it, I'm sure she would agree it was a disaster. My house looked so nice by the time I was done! I should have taken a picture.
Kristen arrived in the late afternoon and after getting settled in we ordered some pizza from Aver's (the best gourmet pizza in town!). Another great thing I love about Kristen....we both LOVE the same movies! It is hard to find a female friend that likes action movies and Kris does. So we planned out our movie choices for the weekend. Thursday we saw Transformers and although I didn't watch the show as a kid (no TV), I really enjoyed it. It was really a let down when we left and my Honda didn't transform into a Mercedes.

Evil Mayhem

I have finally reached my breaking point. I arrived at the office this morning ready to carry on yet another day of tedious tasks. This time I was asked to clean out our education person's office. Why am I cleaning out her office when she can be cleaning out her own office? I do not know. The really disgusting thing is that she is a slob...she has post-it notes everywhere, little pockets of paper all tucked into all sorts of books and cabinets. If that wasn't awful enough, I found some of her used dental floss and was forced to dispose of it. Ick! She left a crappy little clock behind that never kept accurate time, so I, with great pleasure, destroyed it. Yes, people, I have finally reached my breaking point and I am going nutty locked in that office all day either doing nothing, or sorting other people's files.

Today my team had to go through HR files and old filed payroll records since 2001. It is highly unethical for us to do that since it gave us access to fellow employee's personal information as well as their income. So, when Tracie went to take her daughter to some employment I taped her phone with packing tape so that she couldn't lift the phone from the desk mount.

Finally the CEO consented and told me I didn't have to come back tomorrow. He is supposed to call and leave a voice mail if he needs me next week. So, I decided to give him a little encouragement not to call me. I taped his office door closed packing tape. And just to be fair to our HR director for requiring my team to go through her files while she was doing taking care of personal things on work time, my team went through the taped everything in her office. Kellianne taped her chair so that she will stick to it when she sits on it, she strung tape across the office so that she will walk into it and get stuck and then she taped nearly inch of the door shut from the inside. Yes, my friends, I have had enough....and I laughed the entire time. Better to go out like this than to feel sad like I did yesterday. I've had 4 1/2 mostly great years with Select and this just seemed fitting. It's too bad I won't be there to see the looks on their faces!