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Saturday, March 31, 2007

hope hope and more hope

tomorrow morning, well in a few hours that is, I will be at the hospital for the birth of my new niece or nephew. Exciting! I know, some of you might think, "well why is she doing that - going to the hospital after having such bad experiences with IF and miscarriages and such" - well, this is my niece or newphew being born and born to parents that struggled to achieve this miracle pgcy. I am excited for them and this makes my drive even more solid to want to adopt soon so we can have cousins the same age to be able to have fun together and many play dates etc....

Speaking of adopting, nothing .. nada... zilch in the way of calls or potential leads. I am thinking we need to expand our "advertising" by leaps and bounds. I can't believe we have waited over a year so far. Yes, the agency did say it could take 18-24 months to have a potential match and baby in arms, but dangitalready, I am tired of waiting. We waited and waited with baited breath for nearly 8 years going through infertility and now another year on top of that for the adoption wait. We have been patient, but that is wearing thin now. We were going to renew our homestudy a few weeks back., but that has been pushed off a few more weeks (for good reasons by our social worker). I know the agency is trying hard to advertise and network so I don't lay fault on them at all. I just need to get my butt in gear to maybe send out our profile to several contacts I have too. This means working on a new pictures profile set up. I am thinking of hiring a service to help us. (our agency owner does this). AND then sending out a "cover letter" if you will, to explain that we are wanting to adopt and maybe just maybe we will be blessed with an independent contact of a potential situation. Ahhhh, I will NEVER GIVE UP HOPE.

I babysat tonight for C & G and it was so nice to see their son D and daughter B. We had a great time coloring, chatting, playing Power Rangers and watching Shrek 2. Love that movie btw. Did I hear rumors that there is a Shrek 3 coming out?

C passed my name onto 3 or 4 other couples for babysitting jobs. YEAH. BUT I had to warn C that our camping season is fast approaching (2 weekends booked in April already) so if she emails me then I will email her my camping schedule so I can book other dates around there. She knows that the funds I make from babysitting are helping with the adoption fundraising so she is so kind to help pass out my contact. AND I LOVE BABYSITTING. These kiddos are so sweet to me and I really enjoy the constructive time plus it keeps me thinking that my motherly skills are being sharpened for when we become parents too. hehe

Oh, my tulips.. They are so beautiful, even if it is only 4 of them. I promise I will post pictures this weekend.


GO CARDINALS. I will try and post some pictures from the Cardinals game Sunday. FUN.

Prayers go out to my cousin that is ill with cancer. I hate CANCER. I FUC*ING HATE IT.

Ok, off to bed and then to the hospital in a few hours.

Cheers for a great weekend.

Tuesday, March 27, 2007

21 items on ebay for fundraising for adoption..

Come check them out.

The perfect gift for that new baby in your life or a perfect shower gift for the new mom-to-be.

my ebay items

ALso, would love your feedback on these items. Do the auctions look ok?

We have raised the 350.00 for our next part of the homestudy renewal that I hope to call and book here in the next 3 weeks or so. YEAH. CASH(or check actually but worth cash!!!) and then I plan on paying the next step with cash. Oh, we did pay the cash for two co-pays for our physicals, 20.00 each. 10.00 to the state criminal background check, What else? Hmmm, at least those were cash paid items. I love it.

Every little bit helps. Thanks to my mom and her hard work with helping me make these baby bottle holders and blankets and roll pillows.

If you ever find something you want to list on ebay, but don't have the time, I am at yoru service. The service donation fee you would give goes directly towards our adoption costs. I will even breakdown the costs for you as to what they went for. Items for example: Vintage albums, those little waterford crystal ring holders for women. Brand name jeans for women and kids. It takes some research on my part to find what sells, just tell me what you have and I can set it up for you and give you a % of what would cost you to have me list and sell it for you.

Trying to think of a clever "ebay Store" name. any suggstions ?

Monday, March 26, 2007

4 tulip buds? OMG.. Yes indeed

While walking out of the house to leave for work, I stopped and looked at the rising tulip stalk I mentioned in my earlier post and OMG.. there are 4 buds on there. I was laughing so hard. This mishap of a once planted upside down bulb (not my doing), thought to have been dug up, now producing miracle bulbs of tulip has 4... count them ONE TWO THREE FOUR buds on it and are about a week from blooming. WOOOOHOOOOO. My green thumb is at work. Eventhough I did not do a darn thing except try to dig it up one day and missed it, My bulb populated itself and now has quadrupled in quantity. I LOVE IT. Maybe next year it will quadruple again.. and so on.

Ahhh, got the window fans out of the attic and put them in action yesterday afternoon to bring in the cooler air and let me tell you, it is great sleeping weather.

Friday, March 23, 2007

Spring makes me happy

Bring it on. I love watching the trees bud and bloom. I love the yellow Forsythia Bush that is blooming in my back yard and along the highway 40 ramps. Tulips are staring to come up.

I have one lone tulip coming up in the yard. It is a red bud or at least it was the last few years.

There is a story behind this tulip. ( I will take a picture and post it when it blooms). The people that lived here b4 us prior to 1994 planted hundreds of tulips in the backyard and front yard. Well when we moved in in December of 1994 I had no clue what was plated here until the Spring of that year. Nice tulip leafs, but no buds, no flowers... What? Yes, the idiots that planted them put everyone of them UPSIDE DOWN in the ground. You might ask why this Upside down is so important.. well, the blub of a tulip has to be planted a certain way so the growing leafs and stalk that produce the flower bud grow straight up into the air. If you plant them upside down then the growth is stunted and the stalk never produces a flower bud thus no flower cups. I love tulips, but I knew I had to dig them up. I spent 2 nights doing this that Spring. I did not have a place to plant them again after relandscpaping. So no more tuplips.

Or so I thought.

I noticed 2 years after I dug them all up that I have one tulip leaf bunch coming up in the dirt along the front of my porch. The leafs only got about 2 inches tall and quickly died. So I did not try and dig it up. I thought it has totally died and it would not come back, but I was wrong. The next Spring it came back and even taller. So I dug it up. The next Spring, another taller set of leaves showed up. What? I dug them up! Well I must have missed a little bulb in the dirt and with moving the dirt around it must have set itself Upright ... SO for the last several years I have been the proud mamma of one lone Red tulip in my yard. I love it. I look forward to it growing each Spring. Then I get sad when the pettles fall off. BUT I know it will come back strong the next year.... FUN.

Spring also brings the new hope that the phone starts ringing soon with potential birthmother situations. This time last year we had gotten a call already to possibly show our profile to a situation, but we had decided to decline the situation. BUT it gives me hope that there are possible situations to come sooner than later.

Tomorrow is the baby sale(read previous post). I asked my friend K to go with me and she offered to drive. FUN. I hope she finds a few things for her girls. I know I don't have much to buy, but I will always find a good bargain or two that I can't pass up. I can't buy any more gender specific items since we don't have a match with a potential birthmother yet so I will refrain from buying any. Well, ok, maybe one or two outfits. Maybe. LOL

Our weekends are quickly booking up with things to do now. Camping soon, more babysitting, family member due with our next niece or newphew in a few days from now. Birthday party for my to be 1 year old niece. Then we get to book our homestudy renewal date for later in April or early May. I like being busy with fun things like this.

Prayers to a friend from the old IF support group. She and her DH are adopting and even had their new son in arms in another state, but the birthfather surfaced just after the birth and apparently got custody of the baby. I am so heartbroken for R and her DH. Prayers for healing for them.

Ahhh, the landscaping guy just showed to measure for an estimate on our backyard to resod it. We have grubs and he said they will have to kill those first and then kill out the grass(weeds) before they can till the yard to level it and then lay the new sod. FUN. I want a nice green grass, but the landscaping company will do a little research first on what grass grows well in this climate (hahaha stick around st. louis, the weather will be different tomorrow!!!) and what grass will hold up with 3 dogs that will need to use the yard for a potty. The front yard is very plush and won't need to be worked on. I can't wait for the new grass though. Oh and the cost is very very minimal compared to having to be deal with the possiblity of divorced from doing the work on the yard ourselves. LOL If you have ever worked on a project with your spouse/so then you know what I mean by possible divorce.

I need to get busy working on cutting out more bottle holders this weekend.

CHEERS TO SPRING.

Saturday, March 17, 2007

baby mania sales .. I so can't wait

I went to edwardsville il today to the kids resell-it-sale and bought nothing. not realizing until I pasted it, edwardsville high school was having a babymania sale too so I quickly whipped a u-turn in the wendy's ( I miss wendy's in st. louis btw) and went back to the high school. I went in (2.00 admission) and asked the ladies at the font desk if they advertised this sale anywhere in st. louis and they said no. So I gave them my info to contact me to consider being a vendor next march. I only did that because I hope to have a baby in arms by then so I can go back and buy buy buy buy. WOW - the huge gymnasium and another room (maybe the cafeteria) were jammed packed with mothers selling their kids things. Sure, there were some that did not have very nice items, but triple fold over them were mothers selling nearly new and in some cases brand new items with tags on them still for very reasonable prices (*unlike the kids resell-it-sale who are higher priced and the line is too long of a wait as it is one sale/one check out*). Each mom had a table area about 9x9 feet and had clothes racks and or tables filled with items. I got there kind of late ( I think they only hold it from 8 - 11 am) so I quickly made my way through both rooms. I scored one john lennon blanket - looks new-, about 5 outfits that are gender neutral - because we don't know if it will be a boy or girl when we have a match with a birthmother eventually- and a pack of brand new (3) onsies (0-3 mos) for 50 cents. Oh and I got a brand new in package pair winnie the pooh socks that cost me 25 cents (the package was marked 4.99 from the store). I left out of there with a plastic grocery bag full of great buys for under 10.00. I can't wait to go back when we have a baby so I can buy gender specific clothes.

I asked a mom that had a table if they always hold this sale on the same weekend and she said for the most part yes! So mark your calendars for the 3rd weekend in march 2008. I will hopefully be contacted by the group that puts this on so I can get a specific date again next year. Now these types of sales are my favorite. I know, some may cringe at the idea of buying used clothes, but let me tell you I am picky. I don't buy tattered items. I will hunt in deep piles of clothes for the best looking and most durable clothes and bedding. My sister has taught me well. I love yard sales, yet I have walked away from yard sales because the people have their items too highly priced and stains all over their items. I learned at an early age it was ok to buy from yard sales as long as the items is not tattered and has a great lasting wear to them. Jeans are a hot buy(adult). Heck, my sil buys jeans at the resell it store an then goes to ebay and sells them for even more. LOL Some sellers don't know what they have, yet some do and just want to get it out of their house. That benefits so many, including myself and my family.

Thanks to those moms with a good bargain.

btw, I have my comments on moderation so I can see them by email during the day. I can't post here from work but I can read my email so don't be afraid to post, I promise I will approve your comment as soon as I get home. LOL

oh.. btw also.. our homestudy has been postponed. I will call the social worker in mid-April to set it up again for later April or early May. This is actually a good thing. It will give is more time once we are approved towards the next year. Make sense?

Wednesday, March 14, 2007

Rain in the summer time

well, it isn't summer, but rain indeed.. nice thunderstorm just rolled atop our house. I love this weather, but my bones don't like it. LOL We have had the heat off and the windows open for the last few days and oh it is so nice. Nice to air out the winter blah house, sleep well in the cool window breeze, enjoy the birds chirping when I let the dogs out at 4:45 am or so. Fun.

Speaking of 4:45 am... I hate that we have to lose 1 hour sleep with daylight savings, but I so love the longer daylight hours. It is dark when I get ready for work, but that will soon change as the days get longer.

Our first camping trip is coming up soon. Can't wait.

Off a 1/2 day tomorrow to keep cleaning the house. Well, the house is clean except for my future craft/sewing/scrapbooking/hobby room downstairs. I did say scrapbooking, didn't I? damnitalready, I swear I promised I would not get into it, but it is grasping me quickly. I need to go take a few classes at the local archivers and get some tips on what to do for pages, but my biggest hurdle is to PRINT PICTURES. I have not printed pictures on a regular basis for many months now, more like 2 years. YIKES> I guess that is why I am interested in diving head first into scrapbooking. I want to create these beautiful pages and have planned on working on a few in the next couple of weeks. The friend we camp with scrapbooks too so I will pick up some tips from her. I have near zero supplies, but I know I am frugal and will find great deals! Would you believe I find scrapbooking things at yard sales ? Yes indeed. That I look forward to.

ok, off to bed so I can be fresh for the home study tomorrow night with the social worker.

Monday, March 12, 2007

DuuDuuusstt... aahhhhchoooooo

We are in full mode for cleaning out the dust from our house. It has only been 2 weeks (cleaned 2 monday nights ago, fully dusted and swept) and let me tell you we are being taken over by the dust bunnies. I know the doggies are shedding like crazy so it is even worse. I wish I could hire a cleaning lady to just come dust ever 2 weeks. LOL BUT I reserve those funds for our future adoption.

No, no calls yet from the agency. BUT holding onto hope that the calls start coming in soon. This time last year a few calls came in so we were excited to think that can happen again!

The social worker will be here Thursday at 6 pm. I can honestly say I am 3/4 as nervouse as I was from last year. OMG .. the support group friends warned me we would not have to clean like mad people for our home study last year, but we did and I know now that we over did it. This home study renewal?, nah,,,,, nope... I won't wear myself out like a mad dog. I know we clean every few weeks top to bottom for a reason and it is time to do it again so this time around I feel it is a routine cleaning yet for a good purpose.

Ok, off to bathe the doggies. Then clean the fish tank that only has one resident in it now. Bah.

GOTTA LOVE THIS WEATHER. I LOVE SPRING, wait.. the only thing I hate about Spring is that we lost an hour on our sleep(which this insomniac so misses ever minute I lose).

BTW, Note the change in the funds on our 2500.00 goal. I managed to sell another few hundred dollars of my ebay items. YEAH! We will be paying Cash earned for our homestudy renewal this time around of $350.00. We spent 10.00 total on the Crimal background check this time around too and 40.00 on co-pays for the doc visits. I think that is it for fees for this renewal. Let me think on that one.

Thursday, March 08, 2007

going going going..

14 lbs gone

I am 14 lbs down from the middle of November when I joined Weight Watchers. YEAH. It is a slow process, but rewarding at the same time. Just in time for SPRING.

Things for the adoption front are ok... I have my physical booked for tomorrow for our home study renewal. DH has his physical booked for Tuesday and then we have our in house home study renewal visit one week from tonight. Cleaning house already. I like the fact that we have to clean the house as we have been slacking on that, plus the doggies need baths. LOL.

Prayers and hugs for those that have recently had + news and those that have had hard negative news in relation to Trying to conceive and adopting. MAJOR HUGS for those with sad heartbreaking news.

I am ready for SPRING.. Bring it on.


oh, sorry I have not logged on in a while, but blogger changed their log in process to be related to signing into gmail now. ARRGGHHH. Finally got it all set so I can now log in and post. YEAH. I hate it when I am comfortable with things and the world desides to chang up things.

I have not babysat in ages and today I finally got a call to babysit again, but dang it already we are busy next tuesday night and wednesday night in prep for the home study so I can't babysit. I actually miss those kiddo's. I told their mommy to tell them I said hello. I hope we can catch up soon. Mommy C said they just have been watching the budget so they have not even had another babysitter fill in. I was also thankful because mommy C passed my name onto another couple for sitting. FUN. I know camping season is coming up so I hope I don't miss out on the fun dates to meet up and watch C's son and daughter.

Email me if you need a baby sitter in the local St. Louis City/S. County / West County area. I am infant cpr certified and have babysat since I was 15 and have good references if needed. I also will drive myself to your place so you won't have to pick me up and drive me home after a night out. LOL I know that is hard for some couples when they need a babysitter. I accept checks because I like to take that check and directly deposit into our adoption savings account. If you pay cash, I SPEND IT. Bahaha

Ok, off to sell our Cardinals opening day tickets for standing room only because we scored party box tickets. GO CARDINALS. Wouldn't that be sweet if the Cardinals can repeat?! St. Louis would sure be the buzz of MLB.

Thursday, March 01, 2007

Related? Do you ever run into

do you ever run into someone with your maiden last name? In a way I did. One of my ebay items I sold this weekend was bought by a lady with my maiden name. I won't post what that name is, but it is not a very common name. Irish, yet, but not one you here of too often. Not like the name of Jackson or Smith! I went to print out her ebay shipping tag tonight and realized that her last name was the same as my maiden name so now I wonder if she is some long distant relative or maybe if she married into the family?
hmmm

Ever have that happen?