Open for bidness

The fabulous Jane is officially my first real customer on Etsy at my Bellatini shop! I feel like a grown up business woman! Jane bought Margarita and Lola earrings. Margarita is pictured here. I've been working on more jewelry to list (and knitting scarves too) but since Gigi is at Mardi Gras with my camera (and Harry Connick Jr!) I won't be able to list any more until later. I'll be sure to post when my shelves are stocked! Thanks again Jane!

WCOG Recap

click to enlarge
Friday night was my sister's Women's Circle of Giving party. There was a great turnout and we collected tons of teddy bears and books for the children's hospital. I'm so proud of Sara and all the work she did to make this first party a success. All the women were just great and everyone really hit it off. I can't wait for the next gathering!

Separation Anxiety

Saturday 2/25/06
I dropped my Mom and Hale (henceforth to be referred to as Papa and Gigi in an attempt to get myself used to calling them this, as switching back and forth confuses the grandkids) off at the airport this morning. I lent them my camera to take to Mardi Gras. This will be the longest I've been without a camera in over 5 years. I take pictures every single day. My purse closes easily now. So sad. As I was hugging Gigi goodbye she was telling me what to do if she died on the trip and one of my first thoughts (because I knew she wouldn't die on the trip) was "Can someone call me so I can go get another camera before next weekend?".

Party People say ho-oh!

Last night I went to a Party Lite party at Shannon's. That was a lot of fun and they have a ton of cute stuff. I hadn't been to one of those in years. Tonight I'm going to a different sort of party. My sister has put together a little charity group called Women's Circle of Giving. Tonight is books and bears. We're bringing books and bears to the party then next week Sara and I will take them to the children's hospital. Tomorrow I'm taking my Mom and Hale to the airport. They are off to New Orleans for Mardi Gras. This hotel where Hale's company will be having a big conference soon is sponsoring them. They are flying them down, touring them around, and putting them up in the hotel. Mom and Hale will be in the big parade on a float with its own bar on it (!) and they will be in full costume. So fun! Can't wait to see the pictures from this trip!

Displaced

Displacement: According to Freudian psychoanalytic theory, displacement is when a person shifts his/her impulses from an unacceptable target to a more acceptable or less threatening target.

Yesterday my mom and I went to visit my Grandmommy. You may remember that she is dealing with Alheimers. She's getting worse and worse. My mom called to remind her to shower and dress and we took her to lunch. We made sure she took her pills and I hooked up her dvd player so she can watch the Golden Girls. I wrote down directions so she can switch between the tv and dvd.

On the drive home my mom and I talked about how scary this disease is. How we are scared that we'll get it as well since it is hereditary. How we never know how Gmommy will react to us. How worried and terrified we were to find out Gmommy has walked the 3 miles to her nearest grocery store- alone.

I didn't cry all day. But I could hardly get to sleep last night even though I'd barely slept the night before. Both nights with Alzheimer thoughts running through my mind. I said my prayers as usual and as usual asked for special care for my Gmommy.

Then today instead of taking care of business, crossing things off my list, being productive, I sat and watched Elizabethtown and cried for almost the entire 2 hours of the movie, and even for part of the credits. Cause, you know, a Cameron Crowe movie is a much less threatening target.

Slack blogger recap

How did 5 days go by and I forgot to blog? Busy busy.
Friday- Jon and I had dinner with my mom and Hale at this restaurant around the corner from our house that we've been meaning to try since we moved here. It was soooo good and had a fabulous atmosphere with excellent service. Problem? The cheapest entree was $18 and that was chicken! Yikes! So we'll be sticking to the ramen noodles for a while! We had a great time talking with Mom and Hale as they are off soon to Naw'leans for Mardi Gras!

Saturday- Worked some in the morning then went over to my mom's. Jake was spending the night with Papa and Gigi (Mom and Hale) and it was his first big sleepover there without his mom. I brought him some Spiderman stickers which he loved. Ooh- Spiderman stickers! Then I showed him his other sursie- his very own peppermint lip balm. He loves my mint lip balm that I got in my stocking this year. But at $8 a tube I can't afford that habit. I found peppermint Chap Stick and figured he'd still get the taste without being able to eat it. As soon as the lip balm came out of my purse he threw those Spidey stickers to the ground and acted like I'd just given him the Holy Grail of the pre-school set. He clutched that chap stick and applied over and over. "My lip?" Yep, yours to keep. His eyes wide he stuffed it into his pocket then would pat his pocket and check for the beloved chap stick. Who knew all it took to make a kid's day was $1.19 and a quick trip to Tar*get? Jake fell asleep on me as we watched a movie with his "Shanny lip" in his little fist.


Sunday- I went back over to my mom's and we took Jake to Pets*mart to look at the puppies. A local shelter usually has a handful there for adoption on weekends. Jake had a big time and we saw the biggest pug I'd ever laid eyes on. Behold the 35 pound Bud: Bless his heart the poor thing could barely breathe! His mom acted like she couldn't figure out why he was so fat at only 4 years old (!!!). I'm thinking he doesn't drive himself to the buffets lady! After Petsmart we picked up my sister Morgan from work then took Jake home. We visited for an hour or so. Jake is so smart and loves my camera. He knows to look on the back to see the pictures. I showed him how to scroll through the pictures and press the capture button when he wanted to take a photo. Kid learned quick. He took 54 pictures in less than an hour! He didn't quite get the whole look into the screen thing to line up his shots and took the first couple photos with the lcd screen pressed to his chin. But he caught on pretty quickly- minus the whole lens thing. Quite a few of his photos include his little fingers or have an orange tint due to his fingers over the flash. But still not bad for a 2.8 year old! Here's one of my favorites:


Monday- I spent some time online looking for a kid's digital camera to no avail. Most of the ones I found cost as much as a grown up's and/or had terrible reviews. The LCD screen is a must because Jake likes to check his work. Any suggestions? As much as I love him he is still only 2.8 years old and a $99 digi cam is not in the budget for a toddler. Today I also spent some time having yet another discussion with my dear husband about the joys of Tupperware. I LOVE L.O.V.E. Tupperware with a passion and we have quite the collection. Yet when I open the fridge I still see things like this: My boy refuses to use it. "Why dirty up something else?" Ok, do you see the bowl inverted over the pot? That's a large salad bowl from our wedding pattern. Precariously perched atop a saucepan with about 1/4 of the pot full of mac and cheese. So until he's finished eating this mac and cheese both the pot and the bowl are out of commission and in constant danger of falling to the floor. Tupperware bounces and is dishwasher safe. All I'm saying people.

Tuesday- A week or so ago I got a call from a head hunter about a job for me. I hadn't applied anywhere since last summer so I was surprised. While I'm totally digging the work from home gig this job I interviewed for today pays very well, has good benefits, and get this: provides adoption assistance! It may mean I'd have to re-enter cube land hell and possibly even wear pantyhose again, but it would so be worth it for adoption assistance! I have my final interview Friday so we'll see how it goes. Fingers crossed!

After Life

I recently watched the Japanese movie "After Life". The premise is when you die you go to a waystation where workers help you examine your life. You must choose one defining moment, and that is the moment you will relive for all eternity. As you can imagine it is a sad movie. But it really makes you think. If your memory were erased, all but the one memory you choose, what would you pick? I wonder if my moment has happened yet? Has yours? What would you choose?

Tarjay

Latest Target finds:
-Window Markers by Crayola. Love these. Used them to leave love notes to Jon yesterday on every available glass surface in our home. Especially proud of "You are so hot" with flames drawn on microwave door.
-I love the dollar spot section at Target and was so excited to see egg shaped sticky notes. My Gramy uses post its all the time in her cards and letters and I knew she'd love them. So I picked up a pack, got home and realized they were really a deck of cards. Doh!

In adoption news, our physicals are scheduled for the end of this month. Jon is freaking out over the having blood drawn part and wants to know if he can just slice himself open before we go. Yeah, cause that would look great on our paperwork.

xoxo

Happy Valentine's Day!
pugs and kisses,
Shannon, Jon, Ike & Kea

And they call it Puggy love

Ike had a big time with his Valentine cookies my inlaws brought over for the pugs.
A special thank you to Ani and Alfred's Mom for the fabulous Valentine surprises I received this weekend! You guys are the best! I've got my seeds growing Ani. And AM, the pugs have already devoured their treats, just like Jon and I have devoured ours! Thank you! xoxo

Nursin, Brunchin, Smokin

Man, what a day. First poor Shannon calls to tell me she threw her back out. As I'm getting ready to go help her out Jon slips in the bathroom. On the way down he knocked over some dark plum eyeshadow that exploded everywhere. He's fine though. I went and took care of Shannon and got her situated on the sofa with snacks and drugs. Then I met Jon and my inlaws at brunch. After brunch Jon and I headed up to Marc and Sara's. Marc bought a new grill with a smoker so he and Jon smoked some cheese and made beer can chicken while we played with the boys and watched "In Her Shoes". Jon had brought a cool hat home for Jake. Jake loves it. I think Jon's going to be living out his rocker kid fantasies with his nephews. Joey's trying so hard to walk. He can make it halfway across the room now. He gets so excited!

Gettin Bloggy with it

Today we had our second Lifebook meeting. Shannon and Susan met over at my house and we all rode together. The meeting was good and informational, but most of us couldn't stop thinking and talking about Susan's trip to China on WEDNESDAY! So excited for her! I can't wait to see them all as a family when they return! After the meeting we went to Cheesecake Factory and hung out chatting. We talked about how some of our "real life" people thought meeting Bloggy people is weird. And I guess at first it might be weird. But I am so thankful for this blog and the people that are now a part of my life because of it. I have friends now who I can't imagine not being in my life. And the cool part is we all got to know a little about each other through our blogs. I think it is way cool that you can get to meet people with similar interests or hobbies etc. and you aren't limited by geography or your daily routine anymore. Technology is cool.

Bellatini

I have set up a little shop on Etsy to sell some of my jewelry and other creations. I will have stock pieces as well as make custom items. All proceeds go directly to our adoption fund. By the end of this weekend I hope to have all the shelves stocked so to speak. Please stop by and check out the goods!
***Update- I just received an email from Etsy saying they had a crash and lost all info uploaded in the last couple days. So there is nothing in my shop right now. I have to re-stock. Check back throughout the weekend. Thanks!
***Weekend got crazy busy so it will be another little bit before everything is uploaded.

We've got a gusher!

This morning I had my stitches out. My mom went with me to the doctor. She's looking for a new doctor and I just love mine so she wanted to check him out. She grabbed my camera and took way too many pictures. I will spare you the gross ones. I didn't heal like my Dr. wanted me to. When he pulled out the stitches my cut came open and started bleeding again while my mom yells "Oh my God, we've got a gusher! I can see your liver!". I'm surprised we weren't booted out. They put some sort of strip band aid type thing on me I have to keep on for a week and then they'll check it. Hopefully I'll heal up. I'm still itching and my skin is all raw from all the bandages. Plus I'm pretty sure my file has been flagged because of my mom's behavior. You don't want your mom flirting with the doctor as he's snipping and ripping!

Getting drilled

This morning I had a little cavity to deal with at the dentist. While there he smoothed out my front teeth. Apparently I'd never worn down the little peaks your teeth make when you get your adult teeth. It always got on my nerves that they were a little scallop-y looking. I also had a little chip in one of my front teeth. He bonded that one for me too. I'm really pleased. I have grown up teeth now!
Then this afternoon I went and had the color touched up on my ladybug tattoo and had the guy add a dragonfly. I love it now- it is perfect. It symbolizes God watching over me and Jon on our journey to our girls in China. Every journey starts with a single step so that's why it is on my foot. My clumsy self totally fell up the steps going into the studio and I skinned and bruised my shins, completely losing any cool points I may have had. But I did well under the needle my artist said. Much better than last time!

Welcome to the house of pain

I got my period today. I don't normally mention that sort of thing except that sort of thing rarely happens around here due to my PCOS. Last time it happened was August 2005. So I'm sure in no time it will be kicking my ass uterus. I'm also lucky enough to get my period during the same week I have a dentist appointment (Wed), get my stitches out (Thurs), and have a tattoo touch up (Wed). I hear they don't sedate you when they take out your stitches. Oy. By Friday I am sure gonna need a fun cocktail!

Close, but no "It's a boy" cigar

Some of you may remember last summer when I was offered a baby at the salon. Well we didn't hear anything else about it. Then we did. Everything has played out and now I can tell you the story.
The second week of November I had a couple of messages from the girls at the salon. We played a little phone tag and then one of them, we'll call her Betty, finally said in her message that the mother from last summer came in and wanted to talk to me. OMG. So before I called back I talked to Jon on the off chance that the girl wanted us to have the baby. Jon wasn't crazy about the idea (since we'd already become attached to Ling Ling) but left the decision up to me. I figured here we are an infertile couple being offered a baby. You take it. I called back and was told the birth mom came into the salon asking for my name and number. Betty asked was it ok if she passed on my info. I said absolutely and also make sure she knows we've already had a home study. So Betty called Birth mom. Birth mom told Betty she was meeting with an adoption attorney, that her and her boyfriend were both on board with adopting the baby out to us. So we checked with our attorney and discussed whether or not we'd be able to be ready for a baby in such a short time. She was due December 27th so we had about 6 weeks. We were excited to hear that Birth Mom was expecting a boy. Now our family would surely be complete. And, the baby boy would be almost a year old by the time we were to travel to China. We scrambled around making sure we could get a nursery together. Oddly enough, the day we got the call a case of Enf@mil formula was delivered to our house for some reason. Our family was so excited. We also found out the Birth Mom had not told her family that she was pregnant, so we figured with only a little over a month til the due date, it was almost a sure thing. Then Thanksgiving came and went, then December. We never heard from her. Betty at the salon never heard from her either. We will probably never know what happened. Our guess is that she went home (up North somewhere) for the holidays and her family talked her into keeping the baby. It would break our hearts to think she gave him to someone else. Hopefully, whatever happened, she's ok and so is the baby.

Shoe pimp

I suppose everyone will be talking about the Super Bowl today. I watched mainly for the commercials (not so great this year) and I was rooting for Seattle to win their first ever. Oh well.
So instead of rehashing football plays I thought I'd pimp out my new favorite shoe. Last November (04) I bought my first pair of Lands End All Weather Mocs. My cousins in law (is that even a term) were raving about them while we were Christmas shopping. So I picked up a pair in black. They are awesome. Light weight and so comfy. I normally despise any shoe that requires a sock and covers my whole foot, but these are different. Now I have them in mohogany and charcoal too. My sister is wearing them and I've even made a believer out of Jon. Now I just hope we go to China when it's cool out so I'll know what shoes to pack!

Lifebook

This morning Shannon and I went to a meeting about Lifebooks. When you adopt it is a nice thing to make for your child. Most kids would have scrapbooks or photo albums from pregnancy/birth on, but our photos start with a referral. So a lifebook is something you put together explaining as much as we can about her origins.
Anyway, Shannon and I were the only people there that don't have our children yet, and many of the other women brought their girls. OMG. I was surrounded by cuteness. Ages 2-5. One little girl really took to me and at one point reached out and grabbed my shirt wanting to sit in my lap. So I got to hold her for a good bit. Besides Gwen, this was my first personal encounter with children adopted from China. It was so great to see them all playing together. And it was so neat to realize that there really are a lot of people out there in my situation. I even met one mom who lives in my neighborhood. Man, if I didn't have motivation to finish our paperwork before, I sure do now!

Kinda like tomatoes, and other randomness

Is there anything you didn't used to like but you do now? I used to hate tomatoes but now I love them. I feel the same way about Brian Austin Green. When he was on 90210 I couldn't stand him. Now he's on Freddie and cracks me up. I love him!

I'm working from home now. Not all the time, sometimes I still go into the office. But working from home is so awesome. I'm getting a lot done around the house in between work stuff. Funny though, now that I'm not consistently in an office I'm falling behind in my blog reading.

I'm getting a little better with my Chinese. Shannon and I listen to Pimsleur's book on ipod trying to learn Chinese every time we're in the car. So far I can say:
I'm an American. -Like that won't be obvious.
I can speak English.
Excuse me
May I ask...
Hello
How are you
I'm well
I can't speak well. - Duh.
I can speak a little Mandarin.
- Which is such a lie. They shouldn't start out the book by teaching you to say I can speak Chinese. No I can't. Amy at China East still doesn't understand a word I say. You should end the book by learning I can speak Chinese. I love how they teach us to say I am an American. Like a couple big white people, me with bright blonde hair and a Southern accent, won't stick out like a sore thumb!

I should have waited to tell anyone we're adopting. Every. Single. Time. I see certain people they ask how it is going. Only because they are nice and care about us. But it takes so long. What was I thinking? And Amy at China East can't understand what I'm saying in English or Chinese when I tell her we are still doing paperwork. I wonder how you say "I was too excited and couldn't keep my trap shut" in Mandarin?

Going to the chapel

I am finally at liberty to announce that my Mom and Hale are engaged to be married! Christmas Eve Hale asked us girls if it would be alright if he asked our mom to marry him. He then turned to Mom and got down on one knee. It was so sweet! I couldn't blog about it until the entire family/friends were notified. We are currently planning a destination wedding for this summer. So exciting!