What a year

I am trying to figure out how to spend the last day of the year. I don't believe in resolutions, so at least making lists wont be on our list!

One year ago

at this exact moment in time 1 year ago I was on my 25th straight hour at work. I ended up working 26 hours. Crazy. Ike changed our lives so much, but I have absolutely LOVED spending the past year at home with little A.

School started

and now I barely have time to breathe. So much to read, so much to write, so much to memorize. I am taking English, History, Math, and Geology. Yeah, bit much for 1 semester. Oh well, I am off to study.. again.

Death by girls retreat

We had a fabulous time at our girls retreat this weekend. I barely survived it!

Google maps tried to kill us, it sent us off into circles in the back woods. They are officially fired! We managed to navigate to the house, it was gorgeous. We had a nice dinner and then I had a nice long midnight swim.

On Saturday we went to the Comal river to go tubing. On the way there I bought a hat. We got to the river and had to stand in line for a tube. It was hot, it was sunny, and it was a LONG line. 1 hour later I started to feel a bit off. My ears started ringing and my vision started clouding over. I managed to walk over to sit under a tree before I started losing conciousness. I somehow kept upright but was OUT of it! They said I stopped sweating and my lips were white. Chemist S took my hat off and poof, 30 seconds later I was coming around. Stupid hat tried to kill me with heat exhaustion.

Right after I got home I slipped on the stairs with my socks..again. I sprained my ankle, popped my hip and scraped the skin off my arm. AWESOME!

At the beginning of the trip the tooth with the bridge from the evil doctor started hurting. It was pretty darn painful but livable with some pain killers. On the ride home it started feeling like someone shoved a screwdriver up into my face.. awesome, nothing like a nice infection.

So, after multiple attempts on my life I am bruised, sore, and scraped. I had some antibiotics at home that I started taking, so hopefully I wont die from a blood infection. Yeehaw!

Open adoption and new grief

I sent an email tonight to little A's birthmom and I was thinking about a conversation I had with her when we were ending our visit in January.

This was her fiance's first time to meet little A, and after dropping us off he cried. At some point during our journey we have all cried, alone and together. It was our journey and the choices that we made together as a family were hard, for S, for little A, for her family, for us and our family, we all grieved. It was the happiest time for us but at the same time it was very very sad. We have an amazing relationship with little A's birthfamily, but there are still tears at times.

Anyway, back to my point, her fiance was crying because now he has joined in the grief. He loves her so much and though he was not in the picture at the time of the adoption, he is now part of the family. He sees little A, sees how much she looks like S, and the decisions that were made 4 years ago hurt his heart.

It is an amazing journey we embarked upon 4 years ago, and every day we grow and learn from it.

An odd thing to remember

Once upon a midnight dreary I was a thin young lass.

Toooo thin.

5'7" and about 110 lbs.

Scary thin.

And then I met hubby, got married and put on weight as people do. It took a while though before I really noticed the fat cells around my belly. I remember quite clearly the day that I did realize it though, which is an odd clarity in more normally fuzzy cell banks that reside in the brain. I was at work, the job before the airline, and went to the restroom. As I sat down I felt skin fold over and touch that I had never felt before, it was kind of an odd sensation and I spent quite a few fascinated minutes staring in the mirror figuring out that my chest and my tummy had somehow managed to reach out and shake hands. Not a happy day.

Truly an oddly clear memory that came to me tonight out of nowhere.

Now I need to reverse 8 years and go back to the time before skin could touch!

Yay

Christmas comes early when you can see the end of the summer of hell. And it is super awesome when you find out that the summer of hell is ending earlier than expected.

YAY!

Bruised

I fell on my arse today... literally. Crazy slippery slope at the creek got the best of me. I sat in the slime that I slipped on for a while catching my breathe and assessing the damage. E walked over to me and told me I should be more careful, quite perceptive for a 5 year old.

My bum is bruised, luckily (other than the kids) there were no witnesses.

MMM hubby is doing laundry. He has a little addiction to downy, our laundry smells good. He uses so much downy that the entire room is filled with the smell when he brings the hot laundry in.

Old Friends

It is weird running into old friends, even if its only on the internet. Some friendships last forever and the conversation flows so easily. oddities those are.

I need to sleep, I am babysitting tomorrow... but that is a conversation for later. My plan is to wear the kids down until they are just too tired to fight and fuss. If all else fails we can go searching for the alligators that I know are somewhere at the creek.

Erghhh

I think a spider bit my foot.

I don't feel well today, more allergies than spider bite, but that bugger is itching like CRAZY. Hurts when you scratch it so there is no relief. Maybe some ice will help.

Watched four French films this weekend, Little A was out of town so we didn't have to stick with the G rated selection. It was very nice and relaxing. I wish I felt rested but I don't, up all night sneezing and wheezing. Maybe a nap will help, and I must go searching for some keys!

A Wild Hair

I want to learn French, along with little A and J, save up money and go live in Paris for a few months. Nothing permanent, just a furnished apartment that we can live in while we absorb the city and practice our newly learned French.

Little A has to start school next year so the timing is perfect.

Just need passports, visas, permission, some sort of job so we can buy food and pay rent, and a lot of money.

Oh were is that fairy godmother of ours?

Burned burned burned

We stayed at splashtown FAR too long today. Little A rubbed off all the sunscreen under eyes because she kept going "under the sea". Her little cheeks are burned to a crisp... much fun this evening chasing her down with the aloe vera every hour!

Next time we go we are not staying as long! Plus I need to get a babysitter so J and I can go and enjoy the rides!!

Damn

I can't write about it, but things happened this week that have permanently altered my perception of people. And not in a good way.

It's like becoming paralyzed. You wake up one day, walk to the bathroom, sit down and never stand up again. If I had known that I would never again stand up off the toilet I think I would have grabbed a brownie before I went in.

I am not stuck on the toilet, but I can't write about what IT is due to the sensitive nature of the issue, the people involved, and the publicity of this forum, but my future self that will one day read this will know.

Last Thursday was a day that will alter a lifetime.

Rat Pix

Scary books and funny movies.

I am trying to read House of Leaves... I think I made it all the way to page 19 before I freaked out and threw it in the freezer. Jay has taken over the reading of it for now and I have been working on 3 other books. I really shouldn't read this many at once but I think it is a defense mechanism to keep me away from HOL. That sh** is scary, and I am hard to scare!

I watched "He's just not that into you" tonight, that was funny stuff. Very quirky and humerous, it was kind of like a horoscope in that it was vague enough to be relatable to everyone, but smart enough to keep you interested.

I also watched "My Bloody Valentine", not scary at all, lots of gore, almost everything one looks for in a cheesy horror movie. Me likes me slasher movies and this one is in 3D... bonus if you can tolerate the headache the glasses cause.

Oh Rats

Today I was walking out to go water the garden when I noticed the plants by the house wiggling. I didn't investigate as I had little A with me and didn't really want to get chased down by a snake. After picking two large cucumbers out of the garden we were bringing them inside when this big freaking rat showed up and stood staring at us on the front porch. I swear he gave us the finger before slowly moving down the path and hiding in some leafy plants. He looked a little mangled, his throat looked cut open and one of his front paws looked gimp. I think he had a fight with the cat. I haven't seen the cat since I let him out earlier, makes me wonder if this big freakin rat got him.

Ok, I exaggerated, he didn't give us the finger, he just banged his two fists together at us (like Ross in Friends).

I will post the pictures I took of him (from the safety of the house) later.

Where has the time gone?

My little girl is now 4... where did the time go? I am so happy that I am at home now to enjoy this a lot more. She is changing so fast and there is no way to hold on to her.

We have been doing crazy amounts of construction around the house, it is looking so nice. The rats are not enjoying it as much as we have, they have declared war against us and have been waging nightly raids the likes of which I haven't seen since the baboon nazi's march across Europe.

Pests are embarrasing, probably shouldn't mention them but there is just not much else to talk about these days.

Nerdish

Sunday night Phil came over and we knocked out Rock Band. 84 songs in a row (over the span of 2 days). It was oddly satisfying to finish it. Bit peeved that we didn't get more than just a different looking icon though. Oh well, at least we didn't get called Fags. (south park reference)

We are gearing up for Little A's birthday party. These things are expensive. But worth it, it will be 2 hours of lotsa fun.

I am going to make her birthday cake... or birthday cupcakes. I got a cute little pan with butterflies on it that I need to start practicing with. Gotta master the fine art of cupcake making.

I have reached my limit

on being sick...

Allergies, sinus infection, strep throat, it just never seems to stop.

I would

like to see Cuba and Egypt, not sure that it will happen in this lifetime.

Fun facts

I just showed my father-in-law the current picture of Charles Manson, his response was "awe f-k it looks like me!". I had not made that connection but after he said it now I can't stop making it. Does that mean that hubby will someday look like Manson as well? At least he doesn't have the swastika on his head.

I no longer have flight benefits, I am officially confined to the traveling distance of a car, it is not a good feeling. My passport expired at the first of March so I was already confined to this country, but now the cage has truly dropped on me.

We made our last trip to Vegas last weekend. Took little A with us and showed her the sights. Got stuck at the airport and had to spend the night there 1 last time. It wasn't the best trip ever but it was the last one and it was sad. I nearly cried at the Bellaggio showing little A the fountains... remembering the endless amount of coins I threw in that fountain wishing for a baby and then finally being able to show my baby the fountain.

Look at the Baboons!

No wait don't look!! R and I had the distinct honor of watching our 3 year olds see their first monkey lovin experience. They didn't even notice anything unusual whilst R and I were horrified at the Baboons makin the nooky right in front of us.

Just another day at the zoo!

XMAS IN NYC

Nothing says Christmas festivities like Shrek?
We spent far too much time at Toys R Us on Times Square. Umm, yeah it was cold! In-laws are fans of night at the museum.
Little A was having a tantrum, so no Imagine picture for her! She wanted to roll around in the yellow snow.
Tavern on the green was AMAZING (and expensive!) our waiter knew we did not belong there and treated us as such. Falala lala laa

Blog break over

Didn't really mean to take a break, just been so darn busy!

We spent Christmas in New York, it was fantabulous!! I would do it again in a New York minute!

Spent New Years eve at my parents celebrating Christmas, kind of weird celebrating a week late but totally worth New York!

Drove with my mom up to Kansas, suffered through staying at my aunts house as much as I could, flew home, flew back and went and stayed with Shanell and the kids. Met her fiance, super nice guy. Aubrey had a blast and is going through withdrawal from not having kids around. Drove home on Monday through the ice storm in Oklahome, freakin crazy weather!

I came down with a stomach virus, fever on Sunday, bad stomach since then. I am looking forward to feeling like a human being at some point. Niece is in the hospital with the flu, poor thing!

Lets see, what else is of interest? My aunt lives with an illegal immigrant who is raising roosters for cock fighting in my grandpa's airplane hangar, he likes to sit out there and snort coke while poking his chickens.. I kid you not. Hopefully she has seen the error of her ways and thrown him out, but loneliness makes people accept bad things.

Little A had a good visit with her big sister and little brother, she followed her sister around like a shadow, and griped about her brother doing the same haha! Shanell's fiance has a daughter the same age as Little A's big sister so she had 2 to follow around.

On friday we saw snow flurries, J got out the fire pit and space heater for the garage. We roasted hot dogs and marshmallows out there in the cold, I think it was the best thing I have ever eaten! I love that family so much.

Little A is in the playhouse closet trying to fashion diapers for her babies, I am so glad that I am at home with her and am able to watch her daily changes, she is amazing.

Anyway, I think that is all I have to update. Hubby finally joined facebook, maybe someday he will get around to reading this!