Happy Halloween 2011

 

 Thank goodness the Dougster is a great carver!

 

 

 

 

(The jar is part of an incomplete project; maybe next year!)

Happy Halloween!

 

Steel Going Strong

The traditional 11th anniversary gift is steel.  I think this particular material is symbolic this year, as it will take a whole lotta toughness to walk a second adoption journey. 
 

That handsome man above drives me crazy, yet still makes me feel all tingly inside.  Yeah, that's not normal Emily talk right there, but it's true.

This morning I FINALLY submitted our state application and most of the supporting documents.  YAY!  Now if I could just find those darn SS cards...

Gush Worthy

I always forget the before picture of a project.  SIGH.  So let me use a little imagery with you.  Imagine GREEN indoor/outdoor carpeting...from the 1970s...in a laundry room.  Yes, we lived with that for nearly 3 years in this house.  With cats using this room as their primary space.  Ew-ww.  We* finally tackled 95% of the project this weekend!

 

 The laborer at work.

 

Next up, the last bit of floor when our NEW WATER HEATER gets installed in 2 weeks!  THIS is the kind of shopping that delights me!

*Let's be honest: Doug did all the hard, physical work.  But I did all the planning and supervising! :)

Faith, Hope, Love

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.  
--1 Corinthians 13:13

Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase.  
--Martin Luther King

Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul...
--Emily Dickinson

 

Hello, Pot!

Unfortunately, I am not known as a great housekeeper.  But let the record show that I am not the only one in our house who is messy and unorganized.  Here is a peak at one spot on the hubs' dresser:

Now, please note what is directly behind that hat full of coins...

...Yep, that's right, the coin bucket.  Really, Doug?  Really?

30-Day Blog Challenge: Day 8

Day 8: A place you've traveled to

Yes, I realize it says "A" place you've traveled to.  But I'm going to mention more than one.  It's my blog, dang it! ;)

I don't consider myself that well-traveled, but when I stop and make a list I'm actually doing pretty well.  As a child, as I've mentioned numerous times, we went to PCB, FL every year for vacation.  In addition to that, I visited my aunt in Austin when I was a mere 2, and I visited Virginia with my grandmother and cousins when I was in the 4th grade.  That was probably the extent of my traveling until I went to Mexico for spring break senior year.  We love to tell those stories!  When Doug and I got married, we honeymooned in Montego Bay, Jamaica.  Then two years later I started traveling with my job.  For a long time I kept a list:

• Orlando x2
• Charleston (Hollar, Holly!) x2
• Nashville x2
• Omaha
• Atlanta x too many to count
• New Orleans x3
• Little Rock
• San Antonio x2
• Biloxi x2
• Dallas
• Tampa
• Memphis
• West Monroe, LA*
• Baltimore
• Logan, UT
• Chicago 
• Lexington

My favorite place we went was Logan, UT, which is near Salt Lake City.  It was so different from here, and I was with a really fun group that trip.

Of course, then we made the most important trip of our life in May 2006 to Guatemala City.  That was right after my West Monroe trip, so that makes WM seem better in hindsight.  What a trip.  Story still to come about that part of the adoption journey.

In December 2006, I went to NYC for the first time.  I do so love it.  My first two trips there (out of three) were amazing.  It's a dead tie on which was better.

Hey, where did this elephant come from?

The Tin Years

I've always dreamed of reaching the tin or aluminum anniversary (HA!), and now we have! I had to look up why such a random gift is the denoted 10-year anniversary gift. I was shocked and pleased to discover:

The pliability of tin and aluminum is a symbol of how a successful marriage needs to be flexible and durable and how it can be bent without being broken.

I raise my glass to a patient man who has moved with me four times, who followed me to Guatemala and back with our baby, who has lived with me through six years of school, and who has been gracious enough to let our pet count grow to 6 (then 7, then back to 6, then 7, then back to 6). And endured a dirty house for 3,650 days.

Someone give this man a medal!

Note: Pictures are crappy quality due to taking pictures of pictures!

I love you, DM(P)S!

By the way, I've missed my ring a whole lot -- it's too little right now.
I had to lotion my hand to get it on this morning.
BUT, that is part of my weight loss goal!

The Rocket Pop

This silly little story is such a good snapshot into why Doug and I work. Our best times are the moments when we are laughing uncontrollably about the stupidest things no one else would think are funny. Like that time we laughed for 10 unspeakable minutes after imitating Poco's meow. But I digress.

One night in 2005 (I think, not 100% accurate on that), Doug and I headed to Columbus to watch a friend in a karaoke contest. My mom was out of town, and my dad was in his boot (source of injury escaping me right now...was it stepping off a feed bag wrong? oh well). I believe our friend made it into the top 3 that night before we headed home once we realized my poor dad was in excruciating pain. On the way home, I stopped at a gas station and sent Doug in to get me AN ICE CREAM ON A STICK. That fact is very important to remember. Doug returned with A ROCKET POP. I ABHOR rocket pops. I'm not a big fan of popsicles, sherbet or anything not dairy that is in the freezer section. And I'm not really a big fan of ice cream in a bowl. It has to be ICE CREAM ON A STICK. And I flipped The Bitch Switch. I had a fit. My dad tried to take Doug's side, which just fired me up even more. So Doug started eating the rocket pop, and doing so in a very annoying way. Slurping, "ummm, it's so good," and offering me a lick every few miles all the way back to WP. And after every time, he would giggle. It was at this point I realized he had had more to drink than I had previously realized.

The mere mention of the words rocket pop can still make us laugh.

A River Runs Through It

Doug has entered dangerous ground. I turned on the sound machine last night, went to the bathroom, came back and got in the bed, and after a minute I said, "this doesn't sound like the ocean." Doug: "that's because I changed it to running stream." THE MAN WHO CAN SLEEP THROUGH A TORNADO THINKS HE HAS THE RIGHT TO TOUCH THE SOUND MACHINE BELONGING TO THE PERSON WHO HASN'T SLEPT THROUGH THE NIGHT IN 3 YEARS?!? DOES THAT SEEM LIKE A WISE MOVE?!?

Tupelo, if your beer doesn't get delivered one day, it's because I bashed his head in during the night with the sound machine.

I Dream of Seagulls

I PURCHASED A SOUND MACHINE FOR SLEEPYTIME YESTERDAY! WOO HOO! We got ready for bed, Doug plugged it in, turned and said, "Which of the 10 sounds would you like?" Uh, duh, OCEAN WAVES. If only it didn't have a 60 minute automatic shutoff.

I Blame the Nightlight

I have a confession to make. I love sleeping on the couch. I am not mad at Doug, I just love sleeping by myself now that I caught Erica's lightest sleeper disease. Not that I'm in her category, but I'm damn close. There is no one else to bother me in the living room, except Priss who is so excited to be with me and away from Elliott that she is a perfect angel. And I sleep so soundly! Until at 1:30 am a little child comes running in there to tell me he tee-tee'd in the bed. Please take note that he didn't wake up his daddy who was LAYING RIGHT BESIDE HIM. So Mami gets up and changes him and puts a towel down so he can go back to sleep without major interruption. But then I had to get in the bed with them b/c he insisted. AND SO HELP YOU IF ANY OF YOU MAKE NOTE THAT HE SHOULD NOT BE IN MY BED; YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED. Anyhoo, I had plugged in the nightlight in the hall earlier, and I guess that's what made me think EVERY 20 MINUTES from 1:30 to 5 am that it was already 5 am. I almost drove Doug crazy kicking him and asking him what time it was b/c I thought he was going to be late for work. Over and over again. But then again, maybe now he will realize what it is like to be awakened over and over again by the other person's insanity in the bed.