I’ve been tagged

She Tagged me!

I’m It! Lisa Tagged me!

The idea is to pick 5 and complete the sentences, then pass this little meme on to 3 more of your blog pals! But no tag backs!

If I could be a scientist…
If I could be a farmer…
If I could be a musician…
If I could be a doctor…
If I could be a painter…
If I could be a gardener…
If I could be a missionary…
If I could be a chef…
If I could be an architect…
If I could be a linguist…
If I could be a psychologist…
If I could be a librarian…
If I could be an athlete…
If I could be a lawyer…
If I could be an innkeeper…
If I could be a professor…
If I could be a writer…
If I could be a backup dancer…
If I could be a llama-rider…
If I could be a bonnie pirate…
If I could be a midget stripper…
If I could be a proctologist…
If I could be a TV-Chat Show host…
If I could be an actor…
If I could be a judge…
If I could be a Jedi…
If I could be a mob boss…
If I could be a fast food restaurant worker…
If I could be a preacher..

If I could be a scientist… I’d find a cure for cancer. And AIDS of course. Cancer really pisses me off. It’s so indesciminate. You can be perfectly healthy, not smoke and get it and die. I’d also invent a mega sunscreen for pale people like me that would smell great, give you a non streaky, non orange fake tan, wouldn’t sting your eyes, would sparkle of course, and wouldn’t come off until you wanted it to.
If I could be a judge…I’d lock up child molesters, domestic abusers, rapists, and murderers for life at the first offense with no parole. And I’d make sure their cellmate was a pissed off burly man named Snake who needed a girlfriend.
If I could be a TV-Chat Show host… I’d interview all my favorite celebrities. I’d have my research department find local people doing good all over the country and I’d fly them out to my show. Then I’d take all the millions of dollars I made and I’d finance adoption for people like us.
If I could be an innkeeper…Oh, I love this one. I’d have a cozy bed and breakfast in the NC mountains. We’d have horses and croquet on the lawn. There’d be badminton and pancakes anytime you wanted them. And if you adopted you’d get a free night at the inn.
If I could be a bonnie pirate…This is my favorite one. I’d have a fabulous ship. I’d never steal or pillage. I’d be independently wealthy from my talk show days. I’d live in an amazing house with tons of windows and big porches all round on a gorgeous island in the Bahamas with Jon and our 5 Chinese children. We’d have hammocks all over the place. A steel drum band would play music all the time. We’d wear sarongs and go barefoot and drink lots of fruity umbrella drinks. Oh, and we’d zip around the island on brightly colored Vespa scooters. Then when we felt like it we’d take our fully equipped ship and the steel drum band out to explore the islands. All of our friends would come too of course!

Ok, now I tag…Andrea, Sara, and Shannon O..

Fortune

All things Chinese are appealing to me right now. I love these silver items. The fortune cookie is actually a little trinket box. And the take out box can be used for all sorts of things. I’m such a party planner at heart that I can see these being used at my shower. But you don’t plan your own showers. So I’ll just leave little hints for the shower fairies!

Worth the Wait

I’m having a really hard time not buying all the adorable baby stuff I’ve been seeing. Luckily (for my willpower and pocketbook) we are poor, I am still jobless, and we don’t know how old Lingling will be. So there’s no sense in buying certain things now. Plus, I can’t go too crazy and put the cart before the horse. I don’t want to fill my house with fabulous things for her and have something go wrong. We won’t start major shopping until we are DTC (when our dossier gets sent to China). Then we’ll have about 6 months to wait (and shop!) until we get matched with Lingling. Until then I can still gaze longingly at the objects of my desire. ***Click all images to enlarge*** Like this FABULOUS diaper bag. Ok, so I already love dragonflies. Then they went and put them on a gorgeous shade of pinky red and made an affordable dressy diaper bag. Only $18.95 at Adopt Shoppe! This would be my 2nd diaper bag. I’d have one in a more sturdy fabric for everyday use.

Then there are these adorable mary jane socks at Uncommon Goods. Uncommon Goods has a ton of stuff that I’d put on a wish list if they had one. Like this ladybug hat. Ladybugs are considered good luck by the Chinese. *That’s a bit of forshadowing for you. I’ve got a ladybug project in the works. One of my absolute favorite items at Uncommon Goods is this onesie: I love the message on it so much. It’s so fitting. It only fits up to age 6 mos though, and the babies are at least 6-8 mos when we adopt. I wish I could screenprint myself so I could get that saying on something that would fit Lingling. Ah well, I can always paint that message on a little plaque for her room.

How do parents control themselves with so much retail cuteness out there???

New Favorite Quote

Jon’s parents took us to dinner at this cool restaurant downtown named Palomino and when the waitress brought the check she also passed out these cute little quotes. Mine is so perfect: I am always doing things I can’t do—that’s how I get to do them.-Pablo Picasso.

Pug Pile

Just another gratuitous pug shot for you. They were so cute sleeping all piled up on my MIL’s lap the other day!

Local China Connection

Ok, so the picture has nothing to do with this post, but it’s just so daggum cute. I took this picture of Jake a week ago on my Mom’s stairs. I love this picture- he’s very photogenic.

My Mil is a librarian and there is this older couple who volunteer at the library. Their son and his wife adopted a little girl from China. So information got passed around and I was able to talk to the son. He was so nice and offered tons of advice and information about the process. He even recommended his agency. They were so impressed with the agency when they adopted their little girl that they are going through the process again with the same agency. They brought Abby home at age 2 & 1/2 last August and are at the home study stage for child #2 right now. He said Abby is doing great. They adopted an older child because he is 50 and his wife is 45. Jon and I will hopefully be referred a much younger baby because we’re younger. They are a really nice couple who are totally willing to help us and guide us through the process. I can’t tell you how awesome that is! We’ve felt kind of alone in all this since we don’t know anyone else in real life who’s done this. We’ll all be meeting up soon. I can’t wait to see their little girl.

I hadn’t spent much time thinking about the flight over to China until talking with that Dad. He told me it was 14 hours from Chicago, where they changed planes. And that because of the time changes that they took off at 12:30 pm and landed in China at 2:30 pm the same day! They were chasing the sun! The whole time zone thing blows my mind anyway, but what really boggles my brain is what are we going to do on a plane for 14 hours?! I can only sleep for so long. Will there be enough to drink? I’m a big drinker. It’s been rumored that I snore and I don’t want to bother people. I’m going to have to bring a BIG book that is remarkably interesting. Jon’s going to go insane. He’s 6′ 5″ and doesn’t fit well into those seats as is. His knees get bruised because there’s just not enough leg room. We may have to strap him to the wing!

Pug Perch

Ike loves to perch up on the back of the sofa and watch what’s going on in the kitchen when I’m cooking or cleaning. So cute. I realized it’s been entirely too long since I’ve posted pictures of our puggies. Here’s one of Miss Kea. She’s recently discovered the joys of the belly rub and has assumed the belly rub position. Click on the photos to enlarge.

Slow and easy

When Lisa was in town last time, she noticed a major difference in how us Southerners treat time vs. up North. We had 10 am appointments that were supposed to last 2.5 hours. We didn’t leave the salon until 3pm. I had to call the nail place twice to push back our appointments there since we were running long with massages and facials. Lisa couldn’t believe it. How casual we all are with time down here. And I’ve been surprised when visiting up North how quickly things move.

Example: Let’s say it’s 10am and we’re going to the store to buy lunch fixins. Here’s how it would work down here vs. up there.

South: Someone announces that we need to go to the store. It’s 10am. We discuss what we want at the store, call and see do any of our loved ones need anything at the store, get ready to go to the store, drink some sweet tea, answer the phone, clean the kitchen while on the phone, get in the car to go to the store, stop at the post office on the way, visit with a friend we see outside of the post office, get to the store, buy what we need, buy a lot of things that were not on the list, visit with a friend we spot in the aisle, load the care, make another stop at a different store on the way home since we’re near it, get home, unload the car. It is now 2pm.

North: Announce we’re going to the store. Get in the car and go. Buy what we need. Come home and unload car. It’s now 11am.

I used to date a guy from Maine and once when we were in Maine visiting his family they announced they were going to the store, did I want to go. So I’m getting ready to go and they’re already in the car! Amazing how fast these people move! Must be the cold Northern air!

Story People

I discovered Story People at a tiny gallery in Blowing Rock, NC about 7 years ago. I became addicted. Brian Andreas is the artist and he creates prints, cards, sculpture, furniture, the works. But the thing that gets me in my heart are the words, the little stories. I gave this one to Jon on our first anniversary (paper anniversary). It is called No Words. It says:” I read once that the ancient Egyptians had fifty words for sand & the Eskimos had a hundred words for snow. I wish I had a thousand words for love, but all that comes to mind is the way you move against me while you sleep & there are no words for that.” It summed up how much I love him- so much that it’s almost more than I can stand. I visit the Story People site often, to catch up on new stories. I found one recently, called Such Small Things, that is serving as more motivation to bring Lingling home. It says: “For a long time there were only your footprints & laughter in our dreams & even from such small things, we knew we could not wait to love you forever”.

So go check out Story People. I bet you’ll find something that says what you’ve been feeling. Oh, and bring tissues- you’ll be teary eyed in no time!

***DISCLAIMER to swearing post below:

I do say ass, damn, and hell. On occasion I may say the s word, but I don’t like to. I like a PG13 house. I do not condemn people who curse. It’s not my place to judge, so I don’t. My husband has a mouth like a sailor and I love him. My best friend swears with the best of them and tries to get me to say bad words. Peer pressure!

I just think that it loses it’s effectiveness when people swear casually. If you are very angry and swear using the same words you used that morning to talk about your coffee, is your point made? Do you really get anyone’s attention? Now, if I yell a swear word it’s like the earth stops spinning for a moment and people actually say things like “OMG she just said bleep” and they pay attention to what I have to say. It’s very effective.

I also think it’s lazy and common. You can totally not pussyfoot around and still not use swear words. Come up with some better vocabulary words. You can’t find some other way to describe what you’re talking about than bleeping bleep bleep?

Now, this is just my opinion and if you want to tell me to bleep off then I understand. But don’t expect a swear word retort from me. I’m the worst cusser and you’d probably hear something back like “Fine you shitblocker.” And that just doesn’t make a bit of sense to anyone.