Thank you, Merci, Xie xie

First, thank you for all of your support and kind words. It really means a lot to me and CSP. I pass on to CSP the things I learn from y'all and we've both come to rely on my bloggy friends as a support system, esp with the adoption. We're still mulling things over.

On a lighter note.... I thought I'd share some of the fabulous gifts I received for Christmas. M&L (honorary aunt and uncle) really spoil us. And they really know us well and are incredible gift givers. They gave me this cute retro cell phone receiver in pink. It really works! And it's awesome cause now I can cradle the phone between my head and shoulder.
They also gave me this gorgeous tea set. I'm a tea drinker and have been wanting to start a tea pot collection and now I can!

One of the wonderful gifts from my in-laws was a book I've been dying for:I Like You by Amy Sedaris. I just love her and this book is a riot while still being informative.

On my side of the family we don't exchange gifts amongst the adults, only the kids get presents, but CSP is an only child and we're still non parents (for now) so we still exchange with his parents and M&L. We keep it modest though since we're on the adoption budget. Our gifts went over really well. They included flameless candles which were a big hit since both couples have pets and are wary about lighting candles with the pets in the house. I absolutely LOVE it when I seem to pick out the perfect gift for someone, especially hard to buy fors like my in-laws & M&L. I can't wait til we can include our children in the Christmas mix!

Adoption Update: the new regulations

So, as many of you have already heard, the CCAA has issued new regulations for adopting from China. I'm touched by the amount of email I've received from you guys regarding the new regs and how or if they could effect us. When the rumors started I got in contact with our agency to discuss our options as there are a few of the requirements that we will not meet.
Here is where we stand: we could send our dossier to China, have it go through the process there and wait for who knows how long up to and including a year, to have China turn us down if they make their new regs retroactive. We would lose a LOT of money and time and would be emotionally devastated. Plus then we'd have to start the process over with another country.
Or we we could send our dossier to China, have it go through the process there and wait for approximately 2 years and be referred a child or twins. That would be ideal (minus the looooong wait).
Or we pull out of China and go with a different country within our agency. We're not crazy about this option as we would prefer not to adopt from the other countries that our agency works with for various reasons including cost, multiple trips, etc. CSP's job will not allow for multiple or long trips to Eastern Europe, and our bank account won't allow for the higher costs that come with adopting from there or Guatemala.
Or we could pull out of China and go with another country and another agency. This would mean forfeiting the approx. $5000 we've already paid to our agency, but we'd be able to go with our 2nd choice for country.
Or we could go domestic. We'd discussed this before we chose China, and for various reasons we are not crazy about that idea. We don't want the birth parents finding us or bumping into us at T@rget. And we especially couldn't handle it if the birth parents changed their minds on us and took our baby away. Fostering is another option but neither of us could handle them taking a child away from us after we'd bonded with him/her.
Our social worker is scheduled to come here for our new house inspection on the 16th. Before she comes we have some decisions to make. We've been talking everything over and doing a lot of praying and consulting with our nearest and dearest on our next course of action.

Whatever we decide we may keep it a private decision for a while. This whole thing has been emotionally draining. I've been very blue over the last few weeks because of it. The idea of abandoning China breaks my heart. We've been in love with China and Ling Ling for 2 years now. We've worked so hard to prepare for her. Leaving China feels like leaving Ling Ling and that hurts. But when we discussed adoption at the start we knew we didn't care where our children came from, we just wanted them to come home.

Ike

Some of you eagle eyed readers noticed the absence of Ike from the Christmas picture. Ike has found a new home. Well, we found one for him. You see, Ike was a barker and a marker. He peed on everything. You literally could not put a thing down on the floor without him peeing on it. He peed on every piece of furniture over and over- ruining furniture and carpet alike. We tried everything and worked with our vet to overcome these problems for the 3 years he lived with us. Finally we figured it out- he wanted to be an only pug. Our house was going on the market and I knew we could never sell it with him living there (it got really old having to constantly take down the drapes to wash and press them to get rid of the pee stains). But we loved him and didn't want him to go to just any home. He needed to live with someone who understood how to be a good pug owner. So I contacted Mid Atlantic Pug Rescue and turned him over to them knowing they would find a good home through their thorough screening process. And they did. He lives with a middle aged gentleman who used to show pugs. He's the only dog in the home and he's thriving. You can click here and see how he's listed as a success story. I didn't blog about it when it happened (in June) because with my ablation surgery and putting the house on the market it was just too much stress and I just couldn't handle it if someone blasted me for being a bad pug mom. We've received updates through MAPR that he's very happy and that's all I ever wanted for him. And you know what? Kea is happier too. She now goes outside to potty without a fight. We knew Ike bugged her but didn't realize to what extent. We ended up having to pay $3000 for a carpet allowance when selling our house because of the damage he did, not to mention all the furniture he ruined. He was a lot of fun and had he come with a manual at birth that said "hey, I gotta be the only dog, yo." then things would have been different. We just had no way of knowing when we added to our puggy brood. It was a really tough decision and I cried that whole day, but we had to do what was best for the family. And now he's made someone else very happy so that's a great bonus too.
So, that's what happened to Ike. No, you didn't miss anything. I was just hesitant to talk about it cause it made me sad. But it was for the best. And hey, we've still got 2 sweet little puggy girls over here who never tire of attention and internet lovin!

And you, you light up my life

CSP and I haven't exchanged Christmas presents the last couple of years since we've been doing things like buying houses and trying to adopt children. But he did let me pick up a pair of these cool light up knitting needles that we saw at Michaels. We had to run in to pick up a yarn needle (mine's still boxed up somewhere and I needed one to finish a scarf for Olivia). Yes, I decided to knit a scarf a week before losing right arm function. But I figured out how to wedge a needle into my bandage and knit using mainly my left hand. I'm crafty that way. And I actually finished the scarf in time! (must remember to photograph scarf) Anyway, how cool are those needles?? Great for knitting in the car during long drives at night or while we're watching movies. And my nephews think I have 2 magic wands.

Christmas Re-cap

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! Mine was busy and good. Christmas Eve Eve I baked like a wild woman and made 3 mini loaves of beer bread:, about 723 pumpkin muffins (some mini, some regular, some with chocolate chips, some with peanut butter chips):, and a batch of almond cookies (some with chocolate chips):. All of the above were made with mixes from Tastefully Simple What? you thought I was a scratch baker? I've got one arm!
Christmas Eve I finished gift bagging some gifts (again with the one arm- no wrapping of presents) then I went to my sister's for a little while. My Dad and stepmom came into town to stay with them. I visited for a little while then went home to meet up with CSP to head to his parents' house. We stopped at Jack in the Box on the way since every Christmas Eve his mom serves oyster stew and I hate oysters, plus eating soup with my left hand before a photo op was a dicey proposition. M&L were there (fabulous couple who are basically the cool aunt and uncle the universe forgot to give us). We had a big time and stayed way too late.
Christmas morning we went to my sister's to see what Santa brought my nephews. Man are they so cute and they were so, so excited about everything. After a couple of hours we went home and I finished up cooking green bean casserole, crock pot mac & cheese, and corn casserole. Then we piled all the food up in the car and headed to my mom's. There was way too much food at her house.We ate then settled in to watch a couple of movies. We got home late again then made sure to sleep in nice and late the next morning!

Deck the pugs!!

Merry Christmas
xoxo
Shanny, Jon, Kea & Molly

Christmas Bloggy Parade of Homes!

If you'd like to participate in today's Christmas edition of Bloggy Parade of Homes please go take pics of your house then post in my comments that your pics are up. Now, on to my house. Click photos to enlarge.
No tree this year since we just moved in, but I did manage to put up a few decorations.



Not bad for a one handed lefty girl huh? Ooh and I found these clip tacks that made hanging lights so easy!
Merry Christmas!!!

My right hand man

I have never had so much to blog about, or so many cards and letters to send, until this past week when I couldn't use my right hand at all. Let me tell you, living one armed is hard. Don't believe me? Take your dominant hand and strap it to your body and not get it wet and live for a week. Jeesh.
Friday I went for my follow up dr's visit and he cut off the cast. Oh, the relief of finally being able to scratch my itchy arm! I'm in a wrap now, I still can't write without a good bit of pain, still can't grip anything, but it is getting better and better every day. Without my wrap on I can type for a few minutes so I wanted to update. My dr says I'm doing well and we'll look at operating on the other arm in a few weeks. I go back the 29th to get my stitches out.
I learned that if you take your percoset too close together you get really happy and things are freaking hilarious.
I'm having cabin fever. Jon won't let me drive so I've been trapped here until his days off. My meds make my vision all blurry so I can't read too much, nothing is on tv. But my mom's coming to take me to a movie later so I can get out of the house. Yay!
I've been enjoying all the Christmas cards that have been arriving- such cute ones!
Ok, time for me to go try this shower thing on my own. CSP had to bathe me last time (he's been taking really good care of me). I can't hold both my hair dryer and my brush, and make up application is tricky at best with my left hand, so I've been looking like a raving crack ho lately!

PS- BPOH participants: please have your photos ready to post on Wednesday!

The Chronic-what-cles of Grandmommy

I think my title may be a little obscure. But any time I think of the word chronicles I think of that Adam Sandberg skit/song about the Chronicles of N@rnia from SNL.
Anyway...since my Gmommy moved in with my mama she's been keeping us up to date with Gmommy happenings via email. Here was the first big update:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ok, this is bad..........but, I think we're ok now.
Mom got up in the middle of the night, she said to go to the bathroom. She decided for some reason to go downstairs. She doesn't put her slippers on right as they are meant to be pulled up over the whole foot. Instead she just slips her toes in. This may be what caused her to stumble. She fell down the stairs! I heard her fall and went running down there. Everyone came running. She's OK. However, she cut or tore the skin on her elbow and she is banged up quite a bit. She was very, very shaken; as were we! This all happened around 1:30 am. We were up for most of the night. Going forward, we are securing a gate at the top of the stairs and a large poster size sign saying "STOP!" and then directing her to the bathroom that is RIGHT BESIDE HER BEDROOM! I'm emailing this to you because I just can't talk about it without crying like a baby and I'm at work. Last night was one of the most horrible moments of my life. I can't express the shear terror that went through me, us. We held her and rocked her and talked to her until she became stable again. She finally went back to bed and stayed there the remainder of the night. I checked her out again this morning at 7:00 and she looked fine (other than the bruises) and said she felt fine. I think I'll soak her in a warm bath when I get home.
She said she wanted to go jogging later so I think she's ok!

Then this came the other day:
Well, perhaps we need to start a new blog about the tales of your Gmother. This afternoon
when Gmommy was complaining of serious pain in her abdomen, Hale ran through a series
of questions trying to determine the problem. When reporting back to me the situation, he said, "Well, I know she's never had appendicitis" How's that? "Because she dropped
her pants and showed me!" That's it folks...Hot as Hale has seen the Gpatch! OMG!

And this:
And the beat goes on......the part I left out was: As you know we have had a time with Gmommy wanting to feed Sam (Mom's dog) everything in site and sneaking him food (people food)
Like a young child, she can't seem to understand that he has no interest in salad, bannanas, pickles etc. She also can't understand that some things are bad for
pets...anyway.............When Hale was away yesterday running errands she apparently
took this opportunity to give Sam a little snack. Hale returned to find about 25 Oreo
cookies scattered about the entire upstairs. She fed them to him one at a time. All
this went down before the trip to the emergency medical hospital.

and then today she says, "You know that friend of yours, well,....I don't know sometimes
he's kind of crazy. But I didn't pick him. He's yours. Not my problem". and then she
said, "I'm takin my dog with me when I go"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I love how Gmommy keeps referring to Hot as Hale (my stepdad) as Mom's friend. And the Gpatch! So funny!

Christmas Survey

Because my right arm doesn't work I thought I'd take this quiz and post it post op. If you'd like to play, please leave your answers in my comments. I can't type but I can read!

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate?? Hot chocolate, I can only drink a few sips of egg nog- too rich!

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? Wraps them and puts them under the tree.

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? white lights on house, white and blue on tree

4. Do you hang mistletoe? No

5. When do you put your decorations up? The first weekend in December

6. What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)? Ham and mac and cheese

7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child? Coming down the steps every christmas morning

8. When and how did you learn there was no Santa? I have no idea, can't remember that far back.

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? Not as a kid. Now we do cause we alternate between my parents' & Jon's parents' houses.

10. Snow! Love it or Dread it? I love it & wish we had more of it! I'd love a white Christmas!

11. Can you ice skate? Used to be able to, it's been a while so not sure now.

13. Do you remember your favorite gift? Nope, to many years for that

14. What's the most important thing about the Holidays for you? FAMILY

15. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert? Pie!

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? vegging out with the fam watching movies (A Christmas Story) and just hanging out.

17. What tops your tree? A stained glass star

18. Which do you prefer: Giving or Receiving? Both, I love to receive but I also enjoy watching people get excited especially the little ones

19. What is your favorite Christmas Song? Santa Claus is coming to town by Bruce Springsteen & Silent Night by Stevie Nicks.

20. Candy Canes- love em or leave em? Love them

21. Favorite Christmas movie? A Christmas Story- "It's a major award!"

Happy Holidays!!

My public

Thank you for all your sweey commenys and emails. You guys wovk! I 'm on pervcoset anf typing wiyth my left hand. CSp loooved that yall commented on his post. I think it has gone to fis head. He keeps bringing jars to me and fays can you open tghis for me to which I reply hah very funny. He said aftwer this same exchange this morningn ":well, at least my public gets my humor!". You're his public. Hr has a public!

Happy, Happy Birthday Baby!

pre-written before surgery

Today is my cutie pie husband's 35th birthday. We are so old. I thought I would take this opportunity to list a couple of reasons why I think he's so great.

-He helps around the house.
-He worries about me.
-He can't wait to be a dad.
-He's a really funny guy. Although you might not find that out til you've known him a few years- he's really shy.
-He loves IKEA as much as I do.
-When I bend over he comes up behind me and makes that "unh unh" sound while bumping into my bottom. A little high school of him, but it lets me know he still thinks I'm hot.
-His idea of pasta is noodles with cream of mushroom so just about anything I cook gets rave reviews.
-He likes to watch Family Feud with me and yell at the tv.

Many, many more reasons, but my arm's aching so I've gotta cut it short. Happy Birthday Hot Stuff Husband!

p.s. Yesterday was our sweet Kea's 3rd birthday!

She lives!

Hey this is the husband. She is O.K. Nothing exciting to report which is the way we want it. She is in a lot of pain but that is expected. She thanks you for your comments. She enjoyed reading them when she got home from the hospital. We will update later if her arm falls off or with any other exciting developements.

Under the knife

It's a little after midnight and I have to be at the hospital at 6 am. My surgery is at 8. I've been so busy the last couple of days getting ready. Going grocery shopping & doing laundry. Today I had lunch with Shannon then came home and cooked like a mad woman.Above you see 2 containers of spaghetti sauce (1 for lasagne and 1 for spaghetti), 1 container of sauce for beef stroganoff, and the big orange bowl is full of CSP's favorite dip- sausage/velveet@/salsa. Then I made dinner, which was really breakfast. Scrambled eggs and this: A ring of crescent roll dough with a sausage/cream cheese filling.
I think we'll be all set now for the next few days food wise. I can go to bed right after I answer a couple of emails, order Christmas pug photos, and send my library book request list to my MIL.
I'm a little nervous about tomorrow. Lots on my mind. I found out today that one of my favorite aunts is in the hospital. She had a nose bleed the other day that wouldn't stop. The doctor sent her to the hospital and they've discovered she has leukemia! This is so awful. She's under going a bunch of tests to see how advanced it is.
I was able to secure an appointment with our social worker to come check out the house but she can't come til mid January! I wish it were sooner. I want to get this dossier done!
Ok, I'm gonna wrap stuff up and get upstairs. Oh, I've pre-written a couple of posts (things I wanted to tell you anyway) for the next couple of days. But I will get CSP to at least update to post on the surgery.

If I had a million dollars...

I'd so ditch most of our Christmas ornaments and go with all the cool new colors out there. Like these lime green, aqua, hot pink ones. I also saw a black and white tree and it was just stunning. Sigh. Looks like we'll be stuck with what we've got for a long time. We went to Km@rt our first Christmas together and decided on a blue and silver theme, and while I like it, I'm a little bored with it and frankly, I have the shopping disease.
Anyway, I'm gonna do the Christmas edition of BPOH! So take your photos and be ready to post them on the 20th. That gives me a week to recover and everyone still has plenty of time to decorate. And be sure to leave a comment here with your email address if you're not already on my email list for reminders.

I'm leaving in a few to go to the hospital for my pre op blood work. I have so much I need to do before I lose my right arm! So many posts I want to write (of course NOW is when I remember all the things I want to blog about).

Have a great weekend and get to decorating and picture taking!

Conked out

CSP and Molly fell asleep in front of the tv the other night. It's like the Unabomber is sleeping in my easy chair with his watch pug.

Sharing is caring

Because I love free things more than CSP hates that our names are on random mailing lists (I even get offshore betting guides for some reason), I thought I'd share a coupld of fabulous opportunities with you.
1. Jibbitz is running a cool deal through 12/31/2006. Buy 3 get 1 free. Enter this code: HFACUVBHAK4Q They have been adding new styles all the time. Like Chinese symbols and a Pirate flag. Note to Jibbitz: you may want to consider easier coupon codes cause dude, I had to check that like 3 times to make sure I typed it right.
2. Sephora has an awesome gift bag with 10 big samples if you spend over $50. Good samples too.

Also, to answer some questions- I am having both arms operated on. The right one first on Monday then when that heals the left one, probably in February. Recovery time is about a week with the bandages on, then soreness is expected for about 3-4 weeks.

And as for a holiday Bloggy Parade of Homes...I really want to do it, but we'll see how my arm is. I'm right handed and typing and mousing will be wierd I'm sure. But I hope to do it!

Handy dandy

I've been getting some emails about my surgery and the recurring theme is "what a crappy time for surgery". Last year I had to have a d&c just a couple of days before Christmas and this year I'm having the carpal tunnel surgery so I guess I'm getting used to it. I just can't wait for my arms & hands not to hurt anymore. Thanksgiving was tough as it was served buffet style and after adding just 1 item to my plate I couldn't hold my plate any longer with just one hand. I can't hold a magazine in one hand and flip through with the other. I'm losing strength and grip and I'm having trouble opening bottles and jars now. Talking on the phone is a painful activity unless I can go hands free or cradle the phone between my head and shoulder. I had wanted to knit a scarf and hat for a Christmas present but it hurts too much so I may have to put that off.
I have a week until my right hand surgery and I can't wait. I have so much to do in the next week- preparing my house for Christmas, wrapping presents (good thing I'm finished with my shopping), finishing my Christmas cards (I have a few left if you want to get on the list, just email me your address if I don't have it), taking the pugs' picture for the cards, unpacking some more boxes from the move. So much. I want to cook and freeze some meals since cooking with my left hand will be a challenge.
Now would be a good time to hire that personal assistant. I wonder if I could get one that would work for leftover Halloween candy?

Where I talk about a bunch of random stuff then can't come up with a witty title

My Grandmommy (the one with Alzheimers) has been in town all week. She's declining pretty rapidly. They (my mom and aunt) took her car away so she tried to drive the riding lawnmower to the store (5 miles away). So they took that away and she walked to the store. All of this for a pack of smokes. My Aunt Nina is adding on to her house (yep, apparently you can add on to a trailer) a little apartment for Gmommy, but until that's done Gmommy will be living with my mom. I took G out for the day on Wednesday. It's so weird/sad cause sometimes she's still right there with it. She's cognizant enough to know what's going on (she told me today "I'm not all there up here anymore") but she has major memory slips, lots of confusion, and focuses on strange things. I think living with my mom will be good for her. Hot as Hale works from home ("your mom's friend" as G calls him), so he can keep an eye on her while Mom's at work.

As for me, I had a follow up appointment with my neurologist who did some more tests and referred me to a surgeon. I saw the surgeon today and will be having my right arm operated on on the 11th. Boy, it's sure easy to take your arms for granted. I didn't realize how much I do with my right one. Just visiting the loo will be a whole change in operation. I tried it tonight with Lefty and it was kind of awkward and uncoordinated. My Dr. says I'll be bandaged up for about 5 days then it will take around a month before it feels better again. The cool part though? I don't have to go under general anesthesia, just local. So I can watch! I wonder if they'll let me take pictures?

To end on a less depressing, medical note, I stopped by my sister's the other day and found my youngest nephew hanging out in his mama's lingerie.
Oh! And, I found one of my very favorite Americ@'s Funniest Videos clips online. It features a pug and I have it saved on our DVR. It cracks me up every single time. It is only about 30 seconds so be sure to watch til the end. Check it out!