Chick TV

I loooove this show. Chris on the other hand not so much. I don't watch much TV...to busy reading blogs! I have three must see shows, Boston Legal, Grey's and October Road. Tonight was the last show for October Road. I hope it gets picked up next year......I need to know what happens to Nick and Hannah! LOL

Wish I had Better News

The latest adoption rumors…. suck. Since it is only the beginning of the week I am sure the rumor mill will get quite a work out by Friday. In case you were still trying to pick your self off the floor after the 3- year wait rumors from last week, you might want to just go ahead and lie down. It seems that the White Swan Hotel will be closing in December for 10 months.

Source: www.lifeofguangzhou.com
The White Swan Hotel in Guangzhou will embark upon a 10-month renovation this December, after the recent approval from Guangdong Provincial Government.

The five-star hotel plans to close its business entirely during the large-scale renovation, which will cost 530 million yuan (67.9 million USD).

The facade, rooms, lobby, air-conditioning systems, power supplies and parking lots will all be renovated. A new 1,000-square-meter convention center and a multi-floor underground parking lot will be built.

Following the re-development, rooms will be larger, but somewhat fewer than the present 843.

The renovation designers are the ones who drafted the original design of the White Swan Hotel some twenty years ago, in order to maintain the style continuity.

The hotel is the fourth five-star hotel in the city to undergo significant renovations in recent years, following the Dong Fang, Garden and China hotels, following increasingly severe competition in the top-end hotel business, with more premium hotels entering the Guangzhou market.

(By Ronald Li and David Kelleway)

I Got Nothin....

It seems that I don't have much to blog about....ok except for the cross dressing immigrant hater. But I digress, Connie and Melissa have both posted a list of the things they CANNOT do. So with nothin exciting to blog about here is my list:

1. I cannot totally stop swearing. I have tried and have improved but sometimes "shit" is the only thing I can come up with.

2. Make lasagna. I have tried. I have followed someones grandmother's recipe from Italy and my lasagna always sucks.

3. Feed the dogs from the table.

4. Let the dogs "kiss" my face. ( I know Colleen and Melissa....but they lick their butts!)

5. Work year round. I love my teacher school schedule.

6. Stand by and watch someone be cruel, mean or rude.

7. Eat caviar. Those little egg things make me gag at the sight of them..

8. Go one day without laughing.

9. Move back to Massachusetts.

10. Go a day without talking to my husband.

11. Get to work early.

12. Wear a bikini.

13. Run a marathon or compete in a triathlon ( there are people who do these things for fun???)

14. Put something together that has 1000+ pieces.

15. Drink wine....I am a beer girl.

16. Pick up dog poop or dog puke without gagging. ( Ben and Hannah have weekly poop patrol)

17. Eat just one potato chip.

18.Stop dreaming of our girl in China

19. Stop giving our kiddos a kiss before they go to bed

20. Pretend to like someone....I am polite, but if I don't like someone it's hard for me to fake it!

Off To a Weird Start.....

I started this post at the beginning of the week when I had my the first sign that it wasn’t going to be a regular week.

• On the way to school I spotted a car with 3 crazy bumper stickers…. one had a picture of the confederate flag and it said, “worth fighting for”, the next one said, “Speak English or Leave”, and the third on said, “ Illegal immigration is a form of ethnic cleanings.” Ok I know that I live in the South and these types of bumper stickers are not uncommon. The freaky thing was the person who was driving the car…was a cross dressing man!! I swear I can’t make this crap up! I have seen this particular man dressed as a woman at the grocery store. And I need to add not nicely dressed and with bad hair. If there is by chance a man reading this who likes to wear women’s clothes please listen… “ I t is not easy being a girl, it takes work fellas.”

• Hannah told her soccer coach that she could not head the ball because her mother told her not to because she could damage her Frontal Lobe. LOL True, her crazy mother did tell her that. Her coach said something to the effect that she might want to find a new sport to play. Wasn’t that nice. I am thinking they may need to work on some more basic skill like trapping the ball or throwing the ball in correctly…and if they aren’t going to head the ball the right way they will get hurt. Ummm these are 9 and 10 year old girls. She will not be on this team next year.

• We were talking about our flight to China. Chris and I have playfully argued about flying coach or business class. I am determined to get bumped to business class. I read on APC that people have played the adoption card and asked if they could bump up to business and that it was pretty easy and not necessarily as expensive as if you book business class. Anyway we were talking about that and Ben said and I quote “ Mom, if it’s a guy at the ticket counter just use your woman magic and we will get bumped up no problem.” Chris and I almost died laughing!!

• I have been to so many trainings this year (state improvement grants, crisis intervention training, EC conference etc) and each time I have to fill out a professional leave form. Our school secretary, who is fabulous by the wayJ, has been trying to track me down to fill out a form for a training that I went to the first week of April. I have been to so many trainings I couldn’t fill out the form until she told me what other teachers were out that day! This would be a sign that I have been out of the building waaaay too much this year!

• I walked into one of my classes to see one of my first grade students wearing Mickey Mouse ears. Hmmmm... He did go to Disney over spring break. So I asked A, “what’s up with the Mickey Ears??” His reply, “I have not been listening very good this week, we think the extra set of ears might help.” I love this kid….he cracks me up!!



And it is only Wednesday.......

OHHHH NOOOOO!!!!

Back to school tomorrow, Hannah and I aren’t really ready. Ben is at a technology conference with a club from school until Tuesday. Hannah and I have figured out that we only have 52 days until summer vacation. I finished everything on my to do list. We had fun and are pretty well rested; we just want a few more days. Plus it is rainy and cold, perfect weather for hanging on the couch watching a movie. But it is no use, up at 6:00 am and out the door around 7:00. Have I ever mentioned how much we looove summer vacation??? Only 52 more days…….

** Update! I think we might have counted weekends but we only have 38 DAYS LEFT OF SCHOOL!!! Ahhh we feel much better now....

Spring Break

Hannah with Daisy and Murphy


It is our last day of spring break..*sigh* We hung out and relaxed. We made a "to do" list and got most of it done. We still have to switch out our winter clothes,it might be easier to do if it would please get above 70 degrees! Ben and I both have homework to finish yuk.....but we still have the weekend!

My big assignment for the week (other than sleeping late) was to get everything together for our homestudy. At least this time around it is easier. No seals, stamps etc. Got our background checks done, by the way speeding tickets show up on that! Dropped off health forms, made the kids appointments for their check-up we should be ready to write another couple of checks for our I-171H by the end of the month. With this rate of check writing I am never going to get new family room furniture!

Please be sure to got to Tracy's blog and see first "hand" the agony of defeat! Gooooo Gators!!!

Are You Kidding Me!?!?!?

Isn't life funny... I had finished eating my yummy spicy noodles tonight (I'm not a huge fan of Easter dinner) when I decided to have my fortune cookie. This was my fortune!!! Well there you have it, in a nutshell or ummm in a fortune cookie my mantra for the rest of the wait. I promptly taped this fortune onto my laptop just in case I forget. Feel free to print out this fortune out and put it near your computer:)

A New Day......

Well it is the day after the 2- day referral batch, how are you feeling? Yesterday was a tough day for me. The realization that with each referral group I don't necessarily move up in the line but get bumped back a little. China adoption is not for the faint of heart that is for sure. So in the next couple of days we will all begin to brush ourselves off and begin to look to the future with our little girls. You not convinced?? We do each month after referrals come out! This one just stung a little more than usual due to the number of days referred.

We will wait......... because that is what we promised our babies.

The Journey

Today is our first day of our much needed spring break. I wish it was starting off better than the CCAA only matching 2 days of LIDS. My heart breaks for those late October LIDS who thought for sure they would be next. There is one friend in particular that my heart goes out to, she is a terrific person who will look back on this journey and be amazed by her strength and determination to be with her daughter.

The two days worth of LIDs has freaked me out on yet another level. It is quite possible that we will not complete our adoption until this time next year. That is insane. Chris mentioned that he thought I have been less focused on our adoption and more relaxed since I put all of Sophie’s stuff away. I think that he is right in some ways, but on the other hand I feel much sadder about the wait. Sophie’s things are put away, but not a day goes by that I don’t think about her, and the day she will be physically part of our family. I guess I just feel less optimistic, I know that we will have Sophie home before I age out of the China adoption program, but the thought of another year is crazy.

Florida vs OSU.....AGAIN!

Here we go again....and our sad Buckeye Blogging friends need to start preparing for another defeat by the Gator's! Tracy and I are trying to come up with a little wager for the NCAA mens basketball championship game. Any suggestions?? I suggested that the losing team post a picture on their blog holding a sign with the final score....large enough to read Tracy! We are open to suggestions, but remember our kiddos will be in on the fun:)