A collection of items completely unrelated to each other

More work was done on my house yesterday. All sorts of men tramped through with their nail guns. Then my carpet was cleaned. I'm so tired of my house being a construction zone.

In other news...on our way to IKEA Monday we saw an interesting site. A dump truck had run off the road and was stuck in the ditch. Took 2 tow trucks to pull it out.

In family news...my littlest sister is contemplating dating a guy who's shorter than her. Since she's 5'11" it isn't hard to find boys that don't measure up height wise. He's cute as can be, funny, and gets along great with the fam. She says she doesn't mind the difference. I hope they work out. I dated a shorter guy once (he said he was 5'9". I'm 5'7". 5'9" my ass) and lemme tell you it was hard to get over the shortness. I often felt like a giant dinosaur. Could you get over it? Have you?

Bonjour Y'all!

I think the news of an IKEA being built in Charlotte really killed our motivation to go down to the one in Atlanta. I had a bunch of returns to make, and we needed a couple things, plus we wanted to scope out the cribs. We "tried" to go a few times. Then finally yesterday, at noon, we left. Noon people. We live 4 hours away. We made it a quick trip and got home by midnight. I wish we had been more organized so we could have stopped by Casa Shanahan to meet Maisie, but that will have to wait for the next trip. I tell ya, Monday is the day to go. It was deserted. Of course they were blown out of product too, or "temporarily oversold" as they like to say, but we still got most everything we needed. This billboard cracked me up. Click to enlarge- it's a little fuzzy as I was doing about 70 mph. It says Bonjour Y'all and is an ad for a new exhibit- Louvre Atlanta.

I swear you see the most interesting stuff on road trips. There are billboards we always pass on the way to ATL and I always forget to take photos but they are for a place called Cafe Risque. They advertise adult toys and good food- couples welcome! Now, I have a problem with those combo restaurants like KFC/Taco Bell (stick to one thing please) so you know I'm not pulling over at Cafe Risque for my road dinner. While I do admire their ability to rhyme and their clever name, no matter how good their food is I don't wanna find a "BOB" (battery operated boyfriend) in my dinner, thank you very much.

Limonata

Painting the kitchen. Got bored with the family room color and started trimming out the breakfast area & kitchen. Now I have 2 ghetto painted rooms instead of 1 completed room! Doh!

Ooh that smell, can't you smell that smell?

The other day CSP and I were running some errands. At a stop light I pulled out some Johnson & Johnson lotion and applied it to my hands.

CSP: That smells.
me: What? It smells like babies.
CSP: Ugh. Babies stink.

Lounge lizards

Why my pugs choose to lounge on the backs of the sofa and chair is beyond me. They end up getting sucked into the furniture and all my cushions are smooshed!

No longer a blank canvas

CSP & I have tired of living in our white house. Every wall and all the trim is painted the same builder white. So yesterday we went paint shopping. We picked out paint for all of the downstairs and the master bath. I still don't know for sure what colors we're going to do in the rest of the upstairs but you gotta start somewhere, right? For our family room & most of the downstairs (hallway, entry, etc) we chose Angora. The master bath will be Unique Gray (I have a master plan, trust me). The 1/2 bath downstairs is Rhapsody Lilac. And the kitchen will be Limonata (a lime green). We painted the family room last night, although I think more paint got on Molly than on the walls.Kiki stayed out of the way and napped through the whole thing-waking just long enough for a photo op!

Adoption Update

That my friends, is our i600A form heading off to the USCISSCIS whatever, office on Monday. It arrived safe and sound on Tuesday. I was so nervous sending it off with the check. And I mail a bigger check than that every month for our mortgage. But this check made me sweat. I wanted to hand deliver it. But I trusted UPS and they delivered. And now we count. Our SW is saying there's about a 100 day wait on approval so that's our estimate on about when our dossier will be complete. And then we wait for a referral. Some of you have asked about when we should get our child. We don't know for sure, but we have an estimate. Until then we're keeping things hush hush on the bloggy front. Don't wanna jinx it, and we'd like to keep this at least semi private until it's kind of a done deal with a referral. I will tell you we're still asking for a girl, would like twins but hear they are incredibly rare. So you'll still hear about Ling Ling. We are sending our periodic adoption updates via email to friends and family. If you aren't on the list and would like to be, shoot me an email heyshannyATgmailDOTcom.

Tongue tricks

My sister Morgan can lick her elbow. Can you?

Deep

As I was doing my make up yesterday I actually thought "I hope Ling Ling likes make up as much as I do. I sure do love make up."
I swear I'll work on other, more important parenting things like morals and values. But I do hope she's a girlie girl like me. Cause don't think I haven't already planned outfits and hair dos.

Hola Kitty

Saturday my Mama, Papa, & Gmommy came and got me and we went to see Night at the Museum (very cute). We had some Mexican for dinner then met up with Morgan, Sara, Marc, my nephews & a million other children for Joey's 2nd birthday party at Build a Bear. The next 2 hours were a blur of stuffed animals, cupcakes & squealing. Jake & Joey had a big time. I didn't want Ling Ling to be left out so I built her a Hello Kitty. So cute!

More photos here of HK in all her finery. Yes she is carrying a purse. Yes she's wearing matching panties. Yes I tend to go overboard.

One ring to rule them all

Last month I posted a picture of a sausage ring I'd made. Some of you commented that you'd like to know more about it. I used to be a Pampered Chef consultant (great way to make money to pay for our wedding). That's when I learned the ring technique. The ring is made up of crescent roll dough with a filling inside. In this case I filled it with sausage and cream cheese, but the possibilities are endless.

Other rings you can make (click on the links for the recipes):

• cheeseburger ring: ground beef, cheddar cheese, ketchup, mustard
• chicken & broccoli ring: chopped chicken breast, shredded cheddar, broccoli, little bit of mayo to hold it all together (the linked recipe has it in a braid, but I find the ring easier to make and more visually appealing)
  
• ham florentine ring: ham, swiss cheese, spinach
• taco ring: ground beef, cheese, salsa
• cherry cheese ring: like a round cherry dessert
• apple ring: kinda like an apple pie or tarte with a hole in it
  

Once you master the ring technique, it's super easy and quick. Plus it really seems to impress people. I serve rings at showers and get togethers and always get oohs and ahhs. The only way I can get CSP to eat broccoli is by hiding it in a ring with some chicken. Another reason I like the ring is that you can come up with just about any combination of ingredients for the filling and it will turn out great. Plus, the hole in the middle is great for garnishing. Put a little bowl of salsa in the middle of the taco ring, or a pile of sliced tomatoes in the burger ring hole- you get the idea. For those of you who don't use baking stones- mine looks like it does because it is seasoned. There's a saying- the worse it looks, the better it cooks!
So I made another ring & took pictures as I went. Hey, I'm here for you.
Click here for step by step photos.

L to the A to the M to the E

Can I just tell you how much I hate songs with spelling in them? Take the Fergalicious song for example. I heard that thing like 941 times before I could figure out what they were spelling. I just wanna listen to my music. Sometimes I'll listen to deeper, thought provoking stuff. But if it's all poppy like Fergie I really don't want to have to do homework to figure out what's going on.

Mirror, mirror

CSP & FIL installed our new mirror & light fixture in our master bath. Yay! No more sheet mirror and Hollywood lights. And the best part about this mirror? It was free! My old boss gave it to me. Woohoo!

Birthdays!

Today is my nephew Joey's 2nd birthday & Molly's 1st birthday. Unca Jon & I got Joey the tiniest pair of Crocs with Mater & Lightning McQueen Jibbitz. He loves them! I also brought Jacob Mater & Lightning Jibbitz for his Crocs. We had dinner over at Mama M's house (BIL's mom). Cousin E & Aunt J were there too. Cousin E was adopted from Russia and is now 6. We're certainly going to have a United Nations family!
Molly has resigned herself to the life of an old lady- spending the evening watching tv, wrapped up in her blanket, knitting.

Dreams really do come true!

IKEA is coming to Charlotte! Woohoo! No more multi hour drives to Atlanta just to make exchanges cause I can't read Swedish! Low priced good tasting coffee for coffee snob CSP! CSP came bounding into our bedroom while I was ironing his clothes this morning to announce that it had been confirmed (rumours have been circulating for a couple of weeks now) and that I should get a job there for the discount. Just try and keep me away!

Mama & Daddy to be

Thank you for all of your good luck vibes! Our SW visit was nice and laid back. SW even brought her adorable little girl who was adopted from China. She's 2 now and was so sweet. By the end of the 2 hour visit she was climbing all over me, shoes and socks strewn about the family room, and playing with the pugs. So, we're approved and now we start the NC paperchase!

Why we should all read directions

Ok so you all know Airborne right? The health product that you take before you fly or whenever to keep you from getting sick? Well I'm using it for the first time and I really like it. I was on the phone with my sister today and asked her if she'd ever used it. She tells me they just bought some and she could only stand it for a few bites. Um....bites? She said she thought the tablets were awfully big and could not see the appeal of the product as she's standing in her kitchen foaming and popping at the mouth. Then she thought maybe she should read the directions and sure enough...you don't eat them! You pop them in water and drink it! The ironic thing was, when I asked her about Airborne I was about to tell her the story I heard while watching Ellen. Apparently one of her viewers also ate the tablet, but while waiting to board a plane. She chewed the whole thing and was foaming all over the place. Then she drank some orange juice since it tasted so bad, but that made the foaming worse. And the kicker was they let her on the plane no questions asked! Here I thought I was about to relate a story about a one in a million occurance...ha! I was laughing about that all day!

Snork

Well, I spent the weekend trying to get over this nasty plague. I'm up to the sneezing, coughing, snorking phase now. Meanwhile, CSP spent the weekend installing all of the lighting fixtures we've had sitting in boxes for weeks. He put up ceiling fans in the family room, kitchen, screened in porch, & master bedroom; lighting in the entry, hallways (up & down), breakfast room, laundry, half bath, master closet & master bath. AND he hung the big mirror in our master bath. Our house is finally starting to look more like a home. I CAN NOT wait to be able to start painting! And hanging things on the walls! Ooh, just remembered I need to take a photo of the m.bath, but I have been updating my 365 project with photos of his hard work. Click here to check, check, check- check it out.

Oh, and please keep good thoughts for us as we have our social worker visit tomorrow. She has to check out the new digs and make sure we're still fit to be parents.

Girl just can't catch a break

I guess it's true that everything happens in 3s. First my house is a construction war zone. Then my Pappy dies. And now I'm sick and missing both my Mom's & Olivia's birthday parties. I was over at my sister's house the other day, laying on the sofa with my eyes closed. All the sudden something is in my mouth. Joey had stuck his medicine dropper in my mouth. And of course he wouldn't need a medicine dropper if he wasn't sick. They've both been coughing til they puke and now I am too. Nice.

Memorial

I know I say this a lot, but y'all are the best. I can't tell you how comforting it was when I posted about my Pappy's death and then instantly saw emails and comments galore. A big internet hug from y'all made it much easier to deal with. There's a memorial in Florida on Saturday. I don't know if I'm going to go. Our social worker is coming Tuesday. I'd have to leave first thing in the morning then turn around and come home Sunday. This wouldn't give me any time down there with my Nanny. And she needs me now more than Pappy needs me at a memorial. I talked to Nanny this morning and she would rather me come down for a week a little later. We just can't afford 2 Florida trips- not with an adoption trip looming on this year's horizon. I feel bad for missing the memorial though. Ugh. I hate this. But I adore you guys. Thank you.

Pappy

My Pappy died today at 1:15pm. He's my father's father. A retired minister and WW2 veteran with a sharp wit and a big heart under a gruff exterior. He's the one who went blind from diabetes and would watch his giant plasma tv with his binoculars. He met my Nanny during the war over in Ireland and brought her home to the US. They've been in love ever since.
I was the first grandchild and he carried me around everywhere. I was born in Florida just outside of Orlando. We went to eat at Disney every Sunday after church. He'd carry me on his shoulders so I could see Cinderella's castle better. I sure did love him. Still do. I'm so glad Sara and I went down to see him last summer. I only wish he could have met my children- he was so supportive of the adoption.
He was 87 and will be missed.

Just gimme a sign

So, as we've discussed, CSP & I have been discussing what to do about our adoption. I've been praying on it every night. Well, I've been praying for children for a loooong time, but just recently I've been asking for guidance and direction about our adoption and what to do. I know some might find it kooky or whatever, but I really do feel like God has a plan for us and that everything happens for a reason. There's a quote I saw recently that summed up what's been going on lately.

"We must be willing to let go of the life we have planned, so as to have the
life that is waiting for us." - EM Forster.

And then Thursday a man walked into my home and basically told me exactly what we needed to do about our adoption. I mean, he didn't lay it all out with a Power Point presentation or pie graphs. He basically heard me on the phone with Jon talking about it and told me he didn't mean to over hear but...... And the next thing you know it was just all so clear. I don't want to get in to too much detail until we have something concrete to really tell you, but I can say I feel a whole lot better about the situation. And it feels good to have a plan in motion again. I'm excited. And Jon's excited. And I really think it's gonna work out this time.

Mi casa es su casa

The week before Christmas I saw The Holiday. It was really cute (definitely a chick flick) and was based around the premise of home exchange . Basically Kate Winslet & Cameron Diaz, well their characters, swap homes for 2 weeks. I think it's a great idea. And the website featured in the movie is real. There are homes all over the world. You can swap with anyone. While the idea of a total stranger staying in my house for a few weeks while I'm thousands of miles away is a little off putting, the idea of staying in their house is very interesting to me. Just think of how cheap your trip would be if you didn't have to pay for a hotel! Plus, I love to see how other people live. Of course, you have to live somewhere that people would want to visit in order for the swap to work. And while I adore our little town, and we're not far from Charlotte, this area isn't known for its tourist attractions. There are also hospitality exchanges where you go stay with someone for a bit in their home then they come stay with you for a bit. I do that now with friends that live far off, but I don't know how I'd feel if I accidentally saw a stranger make that mad naked dash to the bathroom in the middle of the night!

Why we may need to have some talks about our parenting styles

I was eating my cereal while checking my email this morning. The pugs were begging to lick my empty bowl (even though I still had a ways to go). I told them "Girls, it doesn't help you get my bowl faster when you scratch up Mommy's legs."
Then Jon yells from the family room "Shred her!"

Later....
J: It will be nice to have a kid around here. I can tell her to go do stuff.
S: Well yeah, Marc's got Jake trained to go get him beers!
J: Oh, it's going to go WAY beyond that.

Working it

A few of the drywall workers trying to fix our ceiling while covering everything we own with gritty, white dust.
My house was a maze of plastic sheet walls all day. I was trapped in the kitchen for hours listening to the workers speak Spanish. Must learn Spanish.

Ok, ok I'll tell you why he was sleeping in the closet

This is why: that is my family room ceiling. Note the sexy builder's choice light. Our master bedroom, dining room, and breakfast room ceilings look the same way. This is why we still have boxes all over the house that remain unpacked. Our lovely builder, CP Morgan left our house in a wreck and said it was ready to close. Let me tell you we will never build a house with them again, nor will we ever recommend them to anyone. Don't get me wrong, we love our neighborhood and our house, but the experience has been just awful. I can't tell you everything that's happened in one post as your eyes will tire from reading and fall out of your head- the post would be so long. But I want to get the word out to as many people as possible to spare folks the agony that is working with CP Morgan.
Right now there are 6 men in my house sanding, nailing, painting, and fixing things. All things that we pointed out needed repair back in August before we closed in September. And now all of our things are covered in a thick layer of white drywall dust. They were here all day yesterday too. Jon couldn't sleep the night before worrying, so he caught a nap before work in the closet- literally the only space there wasn't work being done.
We haven't been able to install ceiling fans and lighting because of the ceiling repairs. We couldn't unpack most things cause that would be more to dust after the repairs. We haven't been able to paint. Or set up our bed and other furniture properly cause it would have to be moved.
Everything on the 3 page list of items to be repaired we were assured were normal by our then construction manager. He's since been fired. It took an angry letter to the home office, multiple phone calls, a 3 hour meeting with CP Morgan execs, more phone calls, and another meeting to get these things repaired.
CP Morgan's slogan is "More Square Footage, Less money". It should be "More headaches, Less Satisfaction". I swear to you they sucked every bit of excitement and happiness out of building our house. Trust me when I tell you, spend the extra money. You truly get what you pay for.

Coming out of the closet

My husband and pugs are currently napping in our bedroom closet. By choice. My life is never boring.

Keeping Track

At our old house we had a chalkboard wall with a calendar on it. I missed having a calendar in plain sight. I realized my Crayola glass markers worked on the fridge and I was back in business!

In stitches

I got my stitches out on Friday. That's what my wound looked like before. It's healing pretty nicely now. My doctor said I'm doing really well. I still have some achey pain if I try and lift anything too heavy or bend my hand a certain way, but I can't tell you how cool it is to wake in the morning brace free and be pain free!

As far as the 365 project goes...I'm using Photoblog for this project. They put your pictures in a cool calendar format so it's easy for me to keep to the project. Click here to see my progress so far. A whole 2 days worth!

Something else I wanted to share with y'all is this beautiful box my little sister Morgan made for Jon & me for Christmas. It's to hold mementos from our adoption journey. I love it so much. Please click to enlarge. She stained the wood and hand painted the lady bug. On the edge of the lid she painted "Our Journey". I've planned on writing letters to Ling Ling and this is the perfect place to store them with other mementos.

365

I read about Project 365 over at Shanntastic and I'm in baby. I already take my camera everywhere I go and I like the idea of looking back on your year and seeing a little of your life each day. I remember one day when we photographed our whole day. A bunch of us bloggy people did it and it was so interesting. Just regular stuff like our commute to work, what we had for lunch, the view from the sofa, etc. It was a cool look into other people's lives and I'm always interested in that. So anyone else wanna join in?

Happy New Year everyone! Ours was low key and chill out with the family, but fun as always. I'm looking forward to this year. It's gotta be good. The last couple have been kinda crappy so it can only get better right?