Eeeeeaster eggs and bunny ears....

LOOK! Me in a dress! Well.... not really, it's a skirt, but STILL!


I don't know why my Easter outfits always have to be black...ish.



Marc and I colored easter eggs with Laney and Charlie. (my niece and nephew.)







My sister's birthday was last week. We took some fun pictures with Bmama. (my 88 year "old" grandmother)



(notice my sister putting devil ears on Bmama.... as if!)


And I taught Laney how to make bunny ears. (She's four...and it took a lot longer than I would have thought!)







And..... most of all.... I've been avoiding doing anything, even blogging because I've had this hanging over my head.



Yes, that's right. That is about .... oh, I'd say six to seven loads of clean clothes. I have been putting off putting up the clothes for almost three weeks now.

You know, I really don't mind doing laundry. I love the smell of Tide....and of fabric softeners, and fabric sheets. I like to clean out the lint trap on the dryer. AAACK! Dusty! I even fold the clothes straight out of the dryer. The freshly cleaned clothes, neatly folded in the laundry baskets, even make it up three flights of stairs to our bedroom.........

but I HATE..... I repeat.... LOATHE to put the clothes up.

I don't know why, I just do. It's not that bad once I get started. I think it has something to do with the actual process that I make myself go through. You see, I must make the bed and then sort the clothes into separate piles depending on where they go. (underwear piles, sock piles, hanging clothes piles, and so on and so forth....) It's enough to make anyone MAD. And I can't just put up one basket. NO. I must wait until all of the laundry is clean before I make my epic journey to put it up.

So finally..... after putting this off for two weekends, tonight ....... I put up the laundry.



(ALAS!) But then I realized that there is still a load in the washer and also one in the dryer. Hmmmmmm. Maybe I can wait until next week to put those up.

Thank goodness it's Friday..... well, close enough.

Shooooo, am I glad the last day of my work week is tomorrow. I get Friday off! Yay for that! This week has been tough. I like my new job, but I miss my friends terribly from my last job. I miss you guys!! I'm so lonely at work without ya'll!

I am such a creature of habit, and this week has put me through the ringer with all of the newness. I have a different lunch hour (way to freakin' early for me!) And also, I'm not sure what to do with myself while on break so I've been riding around aimlessly. Ah well. I'm sure I'll get back in a rut quickly enough. (Cause that's where I like to be.) ;)

Another reason for such an unsettling week........



"Wow! Did I do that?" said Gizamee. Yes you little blankety-blank kitty cat, you missed the litter box too many times and we had to cut out our carpet! Man, I hate for anything to be messed up in the house, and a big gaping hole in the carpet falls into that category.

But it is almost the weekend...... and this is all I'm going to be doing:

Something old, something new....

Today was my last day at FC. ;( I was so very sad to leave all of my friends. They gave me a beautiful lucky bamboo arrangement, along with a gift card that I will have no problem in using up immediately, and an ice cream cake! Yum! I'm going to miss them so much!




Thursday, I start my new job at FNB. So..... we'll see how that goes! Wish me luck! (Yay for lucky bamboo!)

What to do....What to do.

Having Children shouldn't be this hard. Am I just delusional in thinking this? A little girl is supposed to grow up, fall in love, marry a wonderful man, and then have children. There shouldn't be any major decisions to make. It should just happen. But you know...... it doesn't always happen that way.

I have lost my way a little. Yesterday, I read this article. I must say it has upset me quite a lot. If it's true, I have been misguided in thinking that I would be saving an orphan girl from a country that doesn't want her. But if it is true about the parents waiting four or more years to adopt domestically from China..... I don't want to take their children from them. Special Needs adoption from China would still be an option, but can I take it? Can I handle picking out a child and not getting her? Can Marc handle this? Or should we choose another country? It would be so much easier to go to say...Russia than to deal with all of the China unknown.

I have just been searching for a sign. From God. Searching for him to tell me what to do, what to believe, and what to hope for.

This would all be much simpler if I could figure out exactly what the pull to China adoption is. Is it because I lost my little girl in such a way....... do I need redemption? I want so terribly to save a little girl from suffering. And in return, to save myself from suffering?

Harry Potter Doldrums

Ok....ok, so I started re-reading the Harry Potter books again in January. Yes.... I know..... AGAIN?
This time, I began reading the series because I've had time to let book seven sink in, and I wanted to re-read the entire series back-to-back to get the full effect. I'm at the end of book six now, and about to begin the final Harry Potter book (that I've only read once before!) But you know......then what?



I've read and reread these books so many times through the years while impatiently waiting on the next Harry Potter installment that I kinda don't know what to read now. And also..... I mean.... how many times can a person reread Harry Potter? (2 times per year 2000-2006 until the last book came out in 2007 = 16 times including this last reading!)
I mean the Dumbledore being gay explanation from J.K. Rowling made things a little interesting at first, but.....you know....not really.

I've even read the British version.



(not that much different except a jumper to them is a sweater, and tennis shoes are trainers.) (Oh yeah, and they eat something called... Spotted Dick.)
I am not even lying, ya'll. I looked up the recipe!

But!

That's not all.
I have just realized that I do the same things over and over and over again. It's not just Harry Potter.... oh no.
It's EVERYTHING! ;) Take for instance, Friday at work, I asked my co-worker to bring me a pack of Handi-snacks cheese and crackers from the breakroom. Everything was fine until she called me from said breakroom and told me we were out of cheese and crackers.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ok.
"How about cheese and pretzels?"
Ok.
So she brings me the cheese and pretzels, and they were very good. I said, "These are great! How can you not like cheese..... and you know....pretzels?" But the very unclear point I am trying to make here is that I would've never tried the pretzels had the crackers been there.

Is my whole life like this....? Yeah. It is.

And my poor husband. Bless his heart. He has to deal with this everynight.



Well, what can I say. I love me some greenbeans!



But any way you stack them..... still greenbeans.

Maybe, it's just a comfort thing. Maybe I'm OCD or something. I don't really think so though, because I usually don't freak out if I can't have something. I think it's more to do with actually deciding to do something else.
It's easy to just go to Chick-Fil-A and have a "six pack kid's meal with a medium tea" every single day (which I did for about .... oh, I'd say six years because I worked close by to a Chick-Fil-A, and they have killer tea!) than to try and decide where I'd like to go for lunch.

I'm a creature of habit....what can I say.
But can someone please tell me what to read now? Because you know, I don't have TV, and my only other option is to watch the live stream of QVC on the internet. So before I become on a first name basis with QVC customer service, or the UPS guy, I'm in desperate need of a good book....maybe even a good book series. Oooh yeah, and I'll get totally immersed in it for a couple of years. That'd be great. Anybody?

The shiny guy always worries.

Have you guys seen this?



Star Wars According to a Three Year Old.

Cat Attacks! $%#@#$!

My husband built such a beautiful house, and I think I did a pretty good job of making it a home.

However, we have three cats. Need I say more? Our three cats want to trash and slash our sweet home. And if they don't trash it, the steps that we take to keep them from trashing it......pretty much make us look like, well, trash.

Case-in-point......

This is what our stair case newel posts used to look like:



But now, due to kitties trying to make them into a clawing tree trunk; they now look like this:



Yes, that's right folks, my dear husband put DUCT TAPE (sticky side out) around our newel posts. ***sigh***



Also, the carpet..... ****cringe!****





And the lovely chenille couch (so soft) looks fine far away, but close up: @#$^&%*!!!




The suspects are as follows:



a.k.a. Macy: Guilty of getting shut in or out of rooms and trying to dig her way through the carpet. Also, guilty of only drinking fresh water from the bathtub, and waiting till we are asleep and jumping into our bed and trying to sleep on my head.



a.k.a. Itchymink: Guilty of hairball extractions on the carpet, missing the liter box, clawing only the best furniture, and meowing incessantly.



a.k.a Thirsty: Guilty of clawing anything and everything, eating too much, and bullying the other kitties.

BUT!

I must say that I love my Kitties! They keep me company, they greet me at the door when I come home, they eat bugs, and make me laugh when I'm down. My kitties are so sweet!






They are sweet asleep, in boxes, and in bags.

But which one of you has floured feet!!!



Stay off the counters! Don't claw the furniture, stairs, or any woodwork for that matter! Stay out of the dryer, and don't shed on my bed!

I'm gettin' a dog......or better yet, a fish! ;)

Hair Colorful......

In the light of recent, boring, humdrum, pathetically uninteresting days.... I decided to spice things up.
Well, atleast to spice up my hair. See........(yay for new hair!)




I haven't been to a real, bonafide beauty operator (as my papa called them) in forever to have my hair colored. Actually, I haven't had my hair colored by a professional since I was in high school when my family freaked out because I had dyed my hair black, and my mom wanted my hair a more "natural" color for graduation.
I usually just took things into my own hands seeing as how I was practically in Cosmetology School for about six years.......
Yep, that's right folks, I am a beauty school DROP OUT!

So in honor my "new hair,"
I'm gonna give a tour of my past Do's.......(but really ya'll Don't!)


Whoa! That's a little toooo far back! (Junior High!) Oh my goodness, heh.


This was my senior year in high school. Notice the black hair. (and my sister!) (She's older....by only 10 months... but still!)



Short hair....... (this was early in the "dating Marc" days)


I tried blonde.....but...ahhhhh....no.


Red...... yea.....ummm a little better.


Short black hair......


Stripes! (A bit like I have now........huh.)


Red ...... again. (At my papa's old shop)


Long, dark brown...... this is closest to my natural color.
I think. hmmmmmm.


Arwen hair. (Halloween and Marc's a Chipmunk. I mean a chip monk. I kidd you not.)


This was right after I had about 15 inches cut off. (Also, I'm at a "Marc's" family function. Wonder why I'm makin' that face?)


aaaannnnndddd back around to black again. (Me and Marc at the Grove Park Inn waiting on the Gingerbread comp.)

Hmmmm, does anyone see a trend?
I need to try something different. Maybe I'll get a Perm!!! ;) phhhffff!

Free Hugs in China!!!

I can't help but smile when I watch this video.....

Maybe, just maybe, if I have a daughter in China, someone will hug her. ;)

Ahhh..... Valentine's Day.

Look what my sweet husbink gave me for Valentine's Day!



Being that my good friend and potter doesn't live around here anymore.....(snifflesniffle) My husband went to a local pottery show and picked out a beautiful vase for me. He said it looked like me and looked "oriental." awwww!

Also I thought the kitten on the card he picked out looked like "Thirsty" my favorite cat (shhhh, don't tell the others!)
But then we found pictures of Thirsty when he was a kitten.....hmmm.....not so much! I don't remember his ears being so ..... batlike. ;)



So we had a nice romantic dinner and a very nice Valentine's day. But I ate toooo much chocolate. They shouldn't put different sayings on Hershey's Kisses. I kept wanting to know what the next one had written on it! uhhhhhhh.

Look what i found at BIG LOTS!

I have no idea why I bought this..... but I did.

I think I need help. heh. ;)

Gingerbread....smells so good!

*I'm already visualizing my Gingerbread for this years Grove Park Inn Gingerbread Competition. I probably will change my mind at the last minute (as I always do!) But this year I am planning on doing blank-blankety-blanken. (You didn't really think I was gonna tell, did ya?) ;)

My 2007 entry was designed out of complete frustration of ..... precision. I was planning on doing something totally different, but I became sick of straight patterns and correct proportions. (More like straigh-ish patterns and in-correct proportions!) I am NOT a precise person people! So, I came up with a design totally free-form. (Much to the relief of my husband who usually has to make the patterns for me, but NOT this year!) Ha hah!

This entry was called "The Christmas Spirit." (Though second guessing myself now, I think it should have been called "The Spirit of Christmas," but I digress.)

The spirit of Christmas in my opinion, encompasses Peace, Love, and Joy.



Peace..... being the miracle of the Christmas story. The Nativity.



Love.... embracing everything to do with family, friends, home, and church.



Joy.... letting the inner-child in all of us to sparkle and wish, hope, and dream.







Also, notice the bluebird on the mother's shoulder, and the red thread trailing out of her hand leading to the back to the little girl looking out the window making a wish. I wonder what she's wishing for? ;)




Symbolism, Symbolism, Symbolism people! ;) That's what I'm all about. He! He!

Eagle vs. Shark

Marc was out doing something weekend before last ....hmmmm, what was that? Anyway, I decided to rent a movie on itunes. (Yay for renting movies on itunes!) I found the cutest movie! I loved every minute of it, and I made Marc watch it when he got home. The characters are so endearing! At first glance it looks a little....weird, but give it a chance!

For some odd reason, it reminds me of Junior High. Heh.

You have to start somewhere....

***Gasp***! Look at my beautiful blog-land created by the very talented and patient Rebecca! Thanks Girl!

This blog is for my friends (one of whom is too far away...come back!) and family to help you all stay up-to-date on all of my flip-flop decisions and goings on. "Narcus" and I are on a journey full of very difficult decisions all with possibilities of wonderful outcomes to start a family. Again. ***sigh*** We still miss our Anna Grace terribly, and I imagine we always will, though it hasn't even been two years since we lost her. You all know the difficulties that we face with the chromosome abnormalitiy that we are dealing with. Our options for having a biological child are...... precarious. Scary. Unsure.

But we have other options.....

China adoption: This is the one that I have latched on to. This is the one that has given me hope and joy. We were SO close to putting in our application last month, only to find out that the wait has gone from two years..... to possibly five and six years. Yikes! So... I added our names to the China special needs list because it is possibly faster, only to fall in love with a little girl I call "Tinkerbell." And then the terrible heartbreak because we didn't get in line fast enough. She was referred to another family, and I'm so glad she will be with a family, but..... I don't know how to pick a child from a list, to search my soul and make the decision to bring this child home, only to not be able to do so in the end because we didn't act fast enough. I tried not to fall in love with her, but.... how could I not.

Taiwan Adoption: This is a new hope. I don't know a lot about it, but I have an info packet zooming it's way to us in the mail. (Hopefully it'll be at the post office today because I've already had three days of PO Box disappointment. I get that a lot. I keep waiting on something ...... though I don't know what. Weird.

Kazakhstan Adoption: This could also be a possibility. It just hasn't been at the top of the list because it makes me nervous not to have a formal "referral." Basically you go when you are accepted and "pick out" your child. Whoever they have available at the time. Notice I said "pick out." Hmmmm.... see above for difficulties that I have with that. ;)

Sperm donors: wellummmmmzzhow........ this just doesn't feel right on so many levels to me.

Pre-implantation Genetic testing: this was what we were told would be an option when we were going through hell. But alas, after all is said and done, now we have been told that they would have to develop a test (read...it doesn't yet exist) to look for the chromosome #12 issue that we have. And, even then there would be no guarantees. Lovely.

And....we could also try again naturally. Since we don't have fertility issues per se, we could try again, but ....... scared scared scared scared are we.

This photo says it best:

Confusions..... ah yes. I know him very well. ;)


Thanks to crazyauntpurl for this photo. See my links!

So .... my typical day entails flip flopin' around to each of these options. We have options. So that's good. Everyone has to start somewhere.

Love everyone! Miss you Jess! Come home! ;)