Thief

I am pathetically boring. Really, nothing is even remotely resembling exciting is going on right now. I have lots of semi-interesting posts running around in my head, but apparently I'm too lazy to do anything about any of them. Therefore, for your entertainment, I swiped the following from Cecily:

Have you ever? Game

Taken a picture naked? Have you lost your mind?!?
Made out with a member of the same sex? Nope.
Danced in front of your mirror? Of course.
Told a lie? Never to G., but yes.
Gotten in a car with people you just met? 110 down the highway, in full Rocky Horror duds...
Been in a fist fight? Nope. Probably a good thing. I would have gotten my ass kicked, anyway.
Had feelings for someone who didn’t have them back? Um, yeah. Hasn't everyone?
Been arrested? Nyet.
Left your house without telling your parents? Nope. I've snuck out of other people's houses without telling my parents, though. Does that count?
Ditched school to do something more fun? Once in high school. I was boring even then. But when college rolled around, I was a skipping machine.
Slept in a bed with a member of the same sex? Yes. And I'm not telling.
Seen someone die? No.
Kissed a picture? Yes. When I was eight I owned a full length poster of Shawn Cassidy. God, he was cute!
Slept in until 3? see answer to ditching school question
Laid on your back and watched cloud shapes go by? Not often enough
Played dress up? Sure. see answer to getting in a car with strangers.
Felt an earthquake? Nope. I never know we've had a tremor until I hear it on the news.
Touched a snake? Yes.
Ran a red light? Yes.
Had detention? Nope. Again, I was goody-two shoes in high school
Been in a car accident? a few fender-benders. Nothing really serious.
Pole danced? God, I can't even imagine the embarrassment.
Been lost? In most ways.
Sang karaoke? A couple of times. But it takes a lot of margarita's to get me there.
Done something you told yourself you wouldn’t? see answer to karaoke question.
Laughed until something you were drinking came out your nose? Making wine come out my nose is actually a goal of a friend of mine on our twice yearly winery trips. They are almost always successful. By the way, it hurts.
Caught a snowflake on your tongue? Can't wait to do it again with my daughter
Kissed in the rain? Once or twice
Sang in the shower? All the damn time
Got your tongue stuck to a pole? Hell no!
Ever gone to school partially naked? No, but I went to work once and was there about an hour before I realized I'd forgotten to put on a bra that morning. Oops.
Sat on a roof top? Yeah, but I didn't enjoy it. I'm scared of heights
Played chicken? Not by choice. Again, see answer to car with strangers question.
Been pushed into a pool with all your clothes on? Yes.
Been told you’re hot by a complete stranger? Not lately. Got whistled at by a guy when I was 12 though.
Broken a bone? A toe.
Mooned/flashed someone? Yes. Strip Monopoly. That's all I'm saying.
Forgotten someone’s name? Actually, I'm really good at names.
Slept naked? Every night
Blacked out from drinking? Nope.
Played a prank on someone? Yes.
Felt like killing someone? Oh yeah
Made a parent cry? I have no doubt.
Cried over someone? Sure.
Had sex more than 10 times in a weekend? Nope.
Had/Have a dog? Let's count. Cindy (collie) as a kid. Freckles (english setter mix) til I was 18. Homer and Megan (labs) til just a few years ago, Ollie (brittany) and Greta (german shorthaired pointer) now.
Been in a band? Nope. But I used to sing with a local Sweet Adelines chapter. We were great!
Drank 25 sodas in a day? Lord I don't think so.

That Last Post Took Me 3 Freakin' Days To Coordinate

Blogger really needs to let me post more than 5 pics at a time. I'm just saying.

Mama Crack

I understand that admitting you have a problem is the first step to recovery. I'm not sure I want to recover from this particular addiction, but since my credit card has started hanging out at the local mall whispering "Hey buddy, got any of the good stuff?" to total strangers, I guess I need to try. Here goes....

Hi. My name is Dee and I'm a baby girl clothes addict. I always have been and I suspect I always will be. Years ago, I bought baby clothes when there was no baby in sight. Nobody in my family had a little girl right then, and I didn't know anyone who was about to have a little girl. The dress in question was just too cute for some little girl I would someday know, not to own it. I saved it til one of G. nieces had a daughter about 2 years later. I told you it was bad...don't say I didnt' warn you.

Whenever this adoption process has me ready to beat my head against a wall, I feel the need to shop. And not just any old shopping will do. It must be girl clothes. Luckily, the local Children's Place outlet and E-bay have been happy to enable me.

I may need an intervention.

http://www.kodakgallery.com/Slideshow.jsp?mode=fromshare&Uc=vzruxyr.8249i20j&Uy=qrgf2o&Ux=0

Worst Case Scenario

About 6 weeks ago, shortly after G. and I turned our dossier over to The Agency for submission to the CCAA in Bejing, we started trying to play guessing games about our referral. You'd think we'd know better by now, wouldn't you? I know its early, and nothing's predictible in adoption, but we were just guessing after all. What could it hurt? However, to estimate a referral you first have to have a Log In Date (LID). That is the day your dossier is officially received by the CCAA.

If you remember, our dossier to China date (DTC) was 01/20/06. Generally, dossiers from clients of The Agency are logged in about 3 weeks after LID. Now, sometimes you don't find out for a few more weeks, but by then, part of your referral wait has already passed. And lately, they seemed to be coming more quickly. One friend, with a DTC of 12/02/05, not only had a 12/19/05 LID, but she found out about it before the end of the year. We were DTC just before Chinese New Year, so we knew that might add a few extra days since all of China parties like its 1999 for an entire week during CNY. Fine. No problem. Nothing we could do about it anyway, but no big deal.

We figured one of three things would happen:
1) It Would Be Great, But Not Bloody Likely: The Agency's staff in Bejing translated that sucker faster than they had ever translated anything ever before and got it to the CCAA in record time. Even with the CNY slowdown, if we were really lucky we would have a LID of 02/03/06 or 02/10/06.
2) This Is Your Best Bet: The Agency's staff in Bejing took an average time to translate and CCAA logged it in just as they normally would. It would be just like any other dossier they received for the last year or so. LID would be 02/17/06 or 02/24/06. CNY is a major holiday after all.
3) The Absolute Worst Case Scenario: The Agency's staff in Bejing partied during CNY so hard they didn't realize the holiday was over and kept partying. When they finally came to, the CCAA would take an entire month (the most time allowed) to officially document that they had our paperwork. LID would be sometime in early March. I didn't even bother to consult a calendar for dates. THAT is how remote I thought this possibility to be.

So then we waited. Patiently. Really patiently. No, I mean really patiently. I was a model of god-damned restraint. Hard to believe, I know. But I was. I waited until late last week (5 weeks after DTC) before meekly asking our program director if, perhaps, they had heard anything, maybe??? Of course, she hadn't. And giving credit where its due, she is wonderful about keeping everyone up to date on the latest as soon as she hears.

Today, we finally got the big news. Wanna guess what our LID is? Oh, come on. Take a guess. Bet you can't.

03/02/06. Notice me NOT jumping up and down with joy. In fact, when I first saw the e-mail this morning, I cried. I tried not to, but I did. It still felt like our daughter wasn't getting any closer, that everything that could possibly get between us, was doing just that.

According to the CCAA, they received a record number of dossiers just before and just after CNY, which is why it took them so long to log it in.

We probably wont' have a referral until March 2007, with travel in May or June. A full 24 months after we started the whole process. And as hard as that is to fathom, as hard as that news is to deal with, I have to keep thinking that if we weren't persuing this adoption and going through this particular bit of pain and heartache, May or June of 2007 would still roll around, right on time, and we still wouldn't have a family. At least now that we have our LID, we know she is going to be with us, someday. Maybe not as soon as we'd like, but someday. And I guess, that for us, no matter what else happens, is the best case scenario of all.

Sad & Angry

I knew it was coming. There's been plenty of press leading up to it. But it still pisses me off.

Assholes.