Sunday, November 29, 2009

28

28: New Look - Change can sometimes be refreshing. It was about time for me to retire the pink and brown. I am quite fond of these cute little birdies. You like it?

Saturday, November 28, 2009

26, 27

26: Good weather - We made a 6 hour drive up to Minnesota to spend Turkey Day with Nathan's sister and his parents. It made the trip a lot less stressful that the weather (for the most part) cooperated.

27: Close Family - My Friday started super early...5am to be exact...waiting for Joann's Fabric to open so me, Janus and Alice could score some $1.49 flannel. I spent the rest of my day playing games and hanging out with fam...and napping. :) It is nice to have some family within a reasonable driving distance.

(Alice and I waiting in the frozen-ness of Minnesota)

Thursday, November 26, 2009

25

25: Muscle Relaxers.

No explanation needed.

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

24

Sure my car is smashed and sure my neck feels like crap and sure the muscle relaxers make me dizzy...but guess what I get to drive for the next week or so??




24: Swank Rental Car

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Aren't Mondays just the best??!? (...23)

This is how my Monday started:


I was on my way to work and some young kid slammed into me. I got to ride in an ambulance and everything.

So for 23?? I am thankful to be alive. If I had been a second faster, he would have hit me right on the driver's side door. He didn't even see me until he hit me...he didn't brake at all. I'll know more tomorrow after I hear from his insurance company. Right now I am in serious need of painkillers.

Monday, November 23, 2009

20, 21, 22

20: Fridays - Need I say more??

21: Christmas Decorations - I know, I know...Christmas is still over a month away, but we just couldn't help ourselves. We started putting up all the decorations Saturday and finished them up Sunday after church. I'll post pics once we're all decorated. It is amazing the affect a lit Christmas Tree has on my mood. You just can't help but smile when you see it. :)

22: Pre-Thanksgiving Dinner - I made a big, yummy meal and had some of our friends over for a Pre-Thanksgiving Dinner. We played Disney Monopoly again...I didn't win this time. :( It was nice to spend the evening with friends.

Friday, November 20, 2009

19...a.k.a. Flashback to the 70's

This past week was Employee Appreciation week at my job. Today was 70's day. You better believe I JUMPED at the chance to get my hippie on. I altered some jeans, made a matching sash, and accessorized. The sad/funny part? I didn't have to buy any jewelry...I had it all back from my hippie phase. Good thing I'm a hoarder and never throw anything away. :)


There was a costume contest for the office and I won second place!!! The lady who won 1st place totally deserved it too...she's in her sixties, and she wore a sparkly, rainbow body suit - then she added an afro and a pound or two of glitter. A woman after my own heart. :)

So for the 19th, I'm grateful I got to play dress up - and that I won fifty clams to do it. :) I seriously love those bell bottoms...I wonder if I could wear them every week.


OH - and I almost forgot. We had our adoption intake interview this morning (which went fantastic!)...and I wore my hippie get-up to it. Yep, yep, I did.

Thursday, November 19, 2009

16, 17, 18

16: Motivation - For some reason this past weekend (and Monday) sparked some motivation in Nathan to want to clean up our second bedroom...and the motivation was contagious. We made some great headway on that room - hopefully we can get it set up soon. I'm thankful that Nathan caught the motivation bug and that he passed it to me.

17: Cool new Knife Block - I got this in the mail on the 17th. Coolest knife block ever. Thanks mom! I can now be civilized and keep all our knives in a block and not all stuffed in a flower vase.

18: 4th Floor Living - If we didn't live on the fourth floor I might not ever get any exercise. I try and take the stairs whenever possible and most days it is the only form of exercise I get. I'm grateful that I have the ability to walk and to climb stairs and for those 57 stairs I hike up and down every day.

Monday, November 16, 2009

20,000

A little over a year ago, my blog hit a milestone...10,000 visitors. Last Thursday (11/12/09) at 12:21 pm I got my 20,000th visitor.

Just wanted to take a quick sec and tell you all thanks for listening. :)

13, 14, 15

13: Movie Night - Friday night Nathan and I made Muddy Buddies. mmmm... add popcorn and a Diet Coke and you've got perfect movie treats. :) Movie nights with my schnookums and my fur children are the best.

14: Goodwill - I made a trip to Goodwill with a couple close friends and I am always amazed at the deals we find there. I have found many treasures there...remember this? And this? And these? Not to mention the clothes...I've scored a pair of jeans from GAP, a pair of Tommy Hillfiger Khakis, a DKNY long denim skirt, many shirts and a couple dresses. All in awesome condition, most brand new. (Goodwill tip: find one in a 'ritzy' area...they tend to have nicer stuff) Yesterday I scored an armload of Disney hardback books ($0.89/ea), another pair of GAP jeans ($4.99...brand new), and three shirts ($3.99/ea). It has been nice to have Goodwill as an option for us, with a tight budget new clothes seem a bit out of reach, but you can't pass up brand new GAP jeans for $4.99!

15: Sunday Night Football - Pats v. Colts baby!

Friday, November 13, 2009

12

12: My Sweetie :)

On November 12, 2001 Nathan and I went to dinner. During the whole meal he was distracted - the Utah Jazz were playing and the game was being shown on the TV over my shoulder. After dinner he wanted to take a quick drive up to the foothills and check out the beautiful views...I almost said no, I was pretty ticked about being ignored during dinner. We drove up to the foothills in North Logan, and while we were admiring the view, he gave me this:


Eight years later I'm still grateful I said yes.

Thursday, November 12, 2009

11

11: Veterans - My husband is currently serving our country as a Navy Musician. My grandfather was in the Army in WWII. I am grateful for those who voluntarily put their arm to the square and serve our great country...whether they are playing a horn, guarding a fence line, swabbing the deck or crunching numbers.
(I'm also grateful for those who love veterans...Nathan got to eat free tonight at Applebee's)

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

At ease

With all the craziness going on with health-care reform and Ft Hood another big news item hasn't been the big media circus that it could have been. Tonight John Allen Muhammed (the DC sniper) was executed in Virginia.
I was driving to work this morning when I heard a little news snippet mentioning that the execution was scheduled for today pending clemency being granted by the governor. After I got home tonight I checked CNN and sure enough, he had been executed...and it was the strangest thing. I felt a sense of relief.
We lived in Virginia at the time all that craziness was going on. We were not right in the thick of it, but we were about 30-45 minutes away from one of the shootings. I was going through some pretty dark stuff and one day something snapped. I was at the base running around the track and as I turned the bend I looked across the field and saw an 18-wheeler in the parking lot across the street. My heart started pounding and I KNEW that there was someone in that truck that was going to shoot me. I KNEW it. I sprinted to my car, got inside, locked the doors and hyperventilated/sobbed UNCONTROLLABLY for 10 minutes. I remember the fear. I could taste it. I was afraid for my life and I just KNEW someone was going to harm me.

That was my first anxiety attack.

Since then I have had some serious issues all centering around safety and security. (I was diagnosed with OCD in 2004 and a majority of my obsessions and compulsions manifest in things related to safety) I remember several nights in Newport when Nathan would be on tour, locking myself in our bedroom with the cats and all the knives in the house. For the first couple years we lived there I refused to leave the windows open at night (even though we lived on the second floor) and I would get up multiple (like 4 or 5) times a night to check and make sure the windows were not only shut - but locked.
I have always felt that the fractured emotional state I was in while we lived in Virginia coupled with the very real-ness (at least to me) of the sniper shootings broke something in my brain.
As time has passed the fear has begun to go away and I have fewer and fewer anxiety ridden moments. As crazy (and horrible) as it sounds I hope that with this execution my mind can somehow put itself at ease and finish repairing whatever snapped that day on the track.

9 & 10

9: Leftovers - We don't usually have leftovers, so my lunch is PB & J...which is totally cool, but it gets old week after week. Friday night I made a huge wok of jambalaya (mmm..) and I still had a little left for lunch on Monday. My lunch was the envy of the lunchroom.


10: Pre-made cookie dough - A few weeks back I bought some frozen cookie dough (Otis Spunkmeyer!) from one of the ladies at work...her daughter was selling them for her school. I had completely forgotten about it until she brought it to me today. I'll give you one guess what we had for dinner. :)


(I think it is funny that both of these were food...)

Monday, November 09, 2009

8

8: Beautiful Weather - We have seen unseasonably warm weather the last week here in Chi Town. According to the weather forecast it is about to come to an end. I'm glad we got it while it lasted...Saturday was absolutely BEAUTIFUL!

FSA

FSA is a support group for all parties involved in adoption. We went to our Chapter's Annual November Conference on Saturday. It was exciting to meet some other couples who know what we're going through and who have been through it and survived. I spoke with the Chapter Chair and told her to put me to work. I want to get involved, I want to help out and get our Chapter active. Well, I've already started. I created a Facebook page for our Chapter, and Nathan and I are now volunteering as the Media/PR Coordinators. I have started contributing to the Chapter's blog. You can read my first post here. I am really excited for this new adventure. Even if it is not directly moving our adoption process forward I feel like I'm doing something.

As far as our adoption is concerned, we will be meeting with our social worker for our intake interview in a little over a week. It is still surreal to me that we are actually moving forward. I think being busy with the FSA Chapter will help with all the nervous energy I will have waiting for things on our end to go through.

Sunday, November 08, 2009

Adoption Tax Credit

I couple years ago I found this blog whose author is a very outspoken, active adoption advocate. She (Mrs R) is also unbelievably strong in the face of hard, hard things. She had a post the other day explaining about how the adoption tax credit came to be and how now there are some lawmakers who want to do away with it. Without this adoption tax credit we (and probably many other couples) would have a lot tougher time financially with affording adoption....because adoption is e.x.p.e.n.s.i.v.e.

So why am I telling you this? Well...I want you to contact your legislators and tell them to make the adoption tax credit permanent. How do you do this?


Help Make the Current Federal Adoption Credit Permanent by Writing to your Representative. Here is how:

If you don't already know who your Senators and Representatives are, you can find out at www.congress.org. There is a search box right in the middle of the front page, just put in your zip code.
Once you see who your reps are,
see if they are already a co-sponsor of HR 213. Go here and check the top box to see if your rep is listed.
Go back to the congress.org website and click on their name, then click on the Contact via web form link. Or you can find their e-mail addresses on the Senator’s or Congressperson’s Web site. (I thought the contact form on the congress.org website was easiest)

What do you say?

If they are already a sponsor, thank them for their support. Tell them why it is important to you. This is what I said:

Thank you for your support of HR 213. My husband and I are hoping to adopt and the adoption tax credit is a large part of making that a reality for us. Adoption is expensive and the tax credit will be very helpful to us.

Thank you again, your support of this bill is helping build families!! :)


If they are NOT a sponsor, encourage them to support HR 213. Even if you have not adopted and/or never plan on it...you can help. Tell them you have friends who are adopting or who have adopted and that this tax credit will help them.



I know it seems a little complicated, but taking a couple minutes could help keep this tax credit available and help build many, many families. If you have a few spare minutes please think about sending a quick note to your legislators. :)

4-7

4: Fireplace - it was chilly tonight, and boy have I loved having a fireplace to warm my toes.

5: Sleeping in - Thursdays I usually work the 12-8 shift at work, which means I gget to sleep in...and anyone who knows me knows how much I love my sleep. :)

6: Bruce & Sara - We had the Fishers over for dinner tonight and they are fantastic people and excellent friends. We laughed so hard tonight...you should have seen us...four thirty (ok...Sara's not quite there yet and I got a little over a year) somethings playing DISNEY Monopoly.

7: FSA Illinois - Our conference today got me all excited (more to come on this)

Wednesday, November 04, 2009

Wanna help?

November is National Adoption Month...kinda fitting since we are just beginning our adoption journey. One thing (of many) things about adoption that is so frustrating is the financial aspect. We are saving on our part and I plan on applying for every grant out there (there are a few...not many...but a few)...but in the end we will still have to come up with many thousands of dollars. That just brings a baby into our home, we'll still have all the 'regular' expenses like diapers, clothes, formula, bottles, car seat, stroller, etc, etc, etc, etc....that come with having a baby. I've been trying to think of things I can do to raise a little money, because every little bit helps. (If you have any ideas - I'd love to hear them!)
I decided to kick off our adoption fundraising efforts by doing a Scentsy party. (Since I'm a Scentsy consultant..it works out pretty well) If you want to get in on the fun and help us raise some fundage, then all you have to do is place an order. Scentsy is a perfect gift idea for those people on your list who you never know what to get...there are also small items (less than $5) that work great for teachers and girls at the office. You can call me (if you need my phone number or email, leave a comment with your email and I'll send ya mine...then I'll delete your comment), email me or go to my website. If you are thinking "WHAT THE HECK IS SCENTSY??!?" then we need to have a chat. Seriously. Call me, text me, chat with me on facebook, email me...Scentsy is wicked cool.

I plan on ordering on Monday next week, so you should have everything in hand by Thanksgiving. If you like close to me, I have all the testers you are more than welcome to borrow and if you live in the Beehive state, my mom has an additional set of testers.

Think ahead to your holiday shopping and see if I (and Scentsy) might be able to help you out...and also you'll be doing us a favor too.

Check out their cute limited edition holiday warmers:




And you better believe this one will be making an appearance with our holiday decor this year:
(I mean, COME ON....it's called HOLLY...)

Tuesday, November 03, 2009

#3


3: Winston - Oh how I love that after a 4:30am alarm, a 45-60 minute drive to work, a long day at work, a 45-60 minute drive home in heavy traffic, and a trek up four flights of stairs in 4" heels I can open the door and see this cute little guy waiting for me. EVERY. DAY. He promptly meows, rubs on my legs and jumps up on the table by his food dish. He sleeps by my feet every night and if I'm home alone, he is my little grey shadow. I just love this little bugger.

30 Days of Thankful: 2009


Last year I followed a friend's example and did 30 Days of Thankful. Everyday I noted something that I was thankful for that day. It helped me to look on the bright side and keep a more positive attitude.

I decided that I want to do it again this year. Wanna join me?
(If you wanna join in, let me know, I want to do a special set of links for 30 Days of Thankful people on my sidebar...cause reading about other people's gratitude helps me to be grateful too)


To Start:
1: Daylight Savings - that extra hour is welcome every year. It really makes a difference when my 4:30 am alarm goes off

2: Early Bedtime - I got off work at 3:00, got home at 4:30, had dinner made, eaten and cleaned up so I could get to bed by 7:30. I plan on taking some sinus drugs and a sleeping pill...bring on a good night's rest. :)