OWIE THAT HURTS!

Well I’ve been absent from the scene for the last few days because I some how managed to pull a number of muscles in my neck and back. I’ve spent the last 3 days laying flat on my back and staring at the ceiling of my bedroom, or if I was feeling very adventurous, on the couch watching tv. Not very fun. I have NO IDEA what I did, I just woke up Sunday morning in excruciating pain, unable to move, twist my head or bend over. I went to the doctor and got some happy pain pills, which work primarily by putting me into a coma.  LOL

Not much fun. I’m still hurting, but it’s not nearly as bad as it was. Missing a few days of work has put me way behind, so I’m playing catch up today. Grrr.  Anyway, I’m inching my way back to normal now…

 

I'M COOTIE FREE!!!

I finally got my forms filled out by the doctor for my medical clearance. The good news is I’m officially cootie free and have a normal life expectancy (whew!) The other good news is that I didn’t have a stroke in the doctor’s office when I showed up and the forms were STILL MIA!! I really thought the doctor was trying to do me in, but after a frantic scramble of about 10 minutes, he managed to find them and fill them out. He even said nice things about me, so I’m going to forgive and forget. (Just this once) 

    Now I’m waiting on one last letter of recommendation from a friend, and then I will officially be done with all the documents needed for the home study. I have the envelope ready to go to my social worker. Oooh ahhhh.   I don’t know what I’m doing next, I’ll have to consult my BIG BOOK OF THINGS TO DO.   I feel like I should have received an appointment to get finger printed by now, but I haven’t. It will be one month officially from the receipt letter I got from them on Monday, so I guess I will wait until then before I start flipping out.

retail therapy

So sad, yet so true. Nothing perks you up after a fight with the doctor’s office then spending money on my not yet born child. I just bought some doll clothes for Emily. (they are for her DOLLS, not for her) So cute. Check out my new favorite on line store: http://www.linglings.com/ I feel so much better now! Hee hee

ON MY LIST! GGRRRRRRRRRRRR!!

First let me say that I LOVE my doctor. He is wonderful, funny, and always gives me a hug whenever I go in with the plague. Last time I was there with a sinus infection, he started me laughing and I started coughing so much that two nurses came into the room because they thought I was dying!!! With that being said, his staff SUCKS.  GRRRRRRR!!!  I went in for my physical last week and gave him 2 one page forms to fill out. The top half of each form, I already filled in for him! So they say, we’ll call you Monday or Tuesday and you can pick them up. Well not hearing from them, I called yesterday afternoon. They couldn’t find the forms!!! So after keeping me on hold for 12 minutes, they say, we’ll find them and call you back. Did they call?? That would be a big fat NO!!  So I called this morning. Well the girl who knows won’t be in until 8:15. Can I call back? SURE, I have NOTHING ELSE TO DO!  When I call back, they tell me the girl won’t be in until 10, could I call back then?   That is when I lost it.  I have to keep calling to find out weather or not you LOST the paperwork I gave you a week ago?  Give me a break.  I finally got someone to go talk to my doctor who very calmly told them, oh yes, it’s right here, I’ll fill it out today.  I’m so pissed right now. I had to make FIVE phone calls, all because no one talks to each other in the same damn office!    They are on my list today, and being on my list is not a good place to be. GRRRRRRRRR!!!!

 

 

 

Very Good Article

Check this out. It’s one family from Oklahoma that recently adopted from China. But it gives a great background on why there are so many girls to adopt and what the process entails. I think it’s very well written too, the adoptive father is the journalist!   Check it out here:

 

http://www.newsok.com/more/adoption

 

 

 

I survived the weekend!

You may think surviving a weekend is pretty easy to do. Those people have not spent a weekend at Camp Sheila, aka my mom's house. My mom likes to keep busy, and she wears us all out trying to keep up with her. I knew my weekend would be busy, and it was. Mom likes her dance card to be FULL. :-) In any case, I had a great weekend, and I slept like the dead last night, until some fool called me at 1:30 in the morning. He had the wrong number. I do not like to be woken up in the middle of the night by some drunk dummy who can't dial a number. The guy sounded like James Earl Jones and was looking for Barry. Are people even CALLED Barry anymore? Ugh...
Despite the early morning interuption from Senor DumbButt, the weekend was great. My sister's shower was the best bit, if I do say so myself. She had 25 people show up, and everyone brought the cutest stuff. Plus, my Aunt and cousin came all the way from Boston to visit with us. They are so much fun, I wish we lived closer to each other.
In adoption news I finally got my Criminal Background checks on Friday. It took me longer to find a parking space downtown then it did to get the paperwork. This is what a criminal background check consists of in my county: I fill out 1/2 a piece of paper with my name and address and they STAMP it, and that's it. $5.00 a piece for the chick to STAMP the paper. What a rip off. sheesh. Anyway, it's done, and that's one less thing on my list of "things to do to get Emily"!
Hope everyone is having a good Monday.

My Crazy Busy Weekend

My weekend is going to be INSANE -mostly in a good way, but also just a lot of running around.  I’m only working ½ day tomorrow (yay!)  and then here is my schedule. Go to doctor and show them my arm, so I can prove I don’t have TB. (remember the physical I had?)  Go home and get the doggie and my stuff. Go downtown and get 2 copies of my criminal background checks.  Next, off to Winston to visit with mi familia and my Aunt & cool cousin Leanne who are down from Boston. On Sat. we are having a baby shower for my sister. (FUN!)  I was tempted to put up a picture of an ultrasound she had done yesterday, but I think she would kill me if I posted her uterus on the web. HA HA HA HA  Then Sat night we are having a birthday party for my brother in law and Aunt. Then Sunday we are celebrating Father’s Day. I went to the market today to get cards just for this weekend and I ended up buying like 5 cards. Sounds a little crazy right? Still, I’m looking forward to it. Plus, it’s the first weekend in a month I don’t have to clean my house. LOL and that’s a reason to party right there!!   Anyway, that’s it from me for a few days. Hope everyone has a fun weekend.

 

 

Physical CHECK!

OK, so I survived my physical. They poked me quite a bit. I never noticed before how quickly your blood shoots out of you and into those little tubes! I was pretty startled today, but then I remembered they make those tubes vaccuum-ish, so it is being sucked into the tube, not just shooting out of my arm like that. HA HA HA What a relief, eh? Anyway, my doctor is a good guy and he had no problem filling out all the extra forms for the adoption. (I have one for the home study and one for my dossier) I should have all the results from the labs they ran next week, so he said he would call me when it was all ready and I could come by and pick up the forms. So YAY. One more thing done.
Not much else going on with me. I have Tae Kwon Do tonight, HI-YA! so that should be fun. I'm still admiring my pretty house! That's about it for now.

YAY It's over!

The home study visits are finally complete. My house looked WONDERFUL, if I do say so myself. My social worker came to visit on Sunday, spent all of about 10 mins at my house, got the tour, said I was fine and left. I’ve been cleaning my house for THREE WEEKS, and she was there TEN MINUTES. But that’s okay. My house is beautiful. I took pictures for my dossier and everything. Oooh ahhh. I’m almost afraid to touch anything, it looks so perfect and I don’t want to mess anything up! LOL 

 

The other good thing that happened this weekend was I went to a cookout with my FCC Single Mom’s group. Only it kind of rained, so we ended up eating inside. But still it was nice. They are great group of ladies and I’m glad I met them (and their cutie daughters.) They are quick to give advice and helpful hints. And everyone is just as friendly as can be. Admittedly, we don’t have much in common besides adopting a daughter from China, but since that is such a BIG thing, it works out fine. We made plans to have another evening together in July. I’m so proud of myself for getting this together.

 

So, next on the adoption schedule, I have a physical tomorrow so that my doctor can say I have a normal life expectancy. (let’s hope!) Then I really get to cracking on my dossier paperwork. Ooh ahhh. I still haven’t heard back from BCIS about when I get fingerprinted, so I may have to call them in a few days.  More fun things to look forward too!  I know you’re jealous. Hee hee

 

YAY FRIDAY

Today is going to be a good day. I’m having a cook out tonight with my FCC Single Mom’s Group. And I like most of them, so that’s good. Then this weekend will be the final meeting with my social worker. This is the one where she comes to my house. I have to say the house is looking pretty good, but I will be SO GLAD when this bit is over. The other good thing is that I’m starting to get in reference letters my friends wrote for me, saying what a good Mom I will be. That is always a warm fuzzy.  Plus, today is a PAY DAY! What’s not to love!

Wish me luck with the house walk through!

 

Review of where I am in the process

I've been asked a lot here lately, When is Emily going to be here? The answer, unfortunately is not until next Aug. That isn’t two months from now, that is Aug (or Sept) of 2006. The next immediate question is Why does it take that long?!?!? Trust me, that isn’t my choice. It just is the way it goes. It takes a LONG time. My biggest hurdle will be waiting to submit my dossier, because my agency won’t let me do that until Nov or Dec, even if I have it ready prior to them. Then the next longest bit is the waiting for the referral which takes 6 to 7 months to get after I submit my dossier. So below are the steps (this is pretty rough) to give you an idea. I’ve put a star by the ones I’ve finished.

* I fill out the application to Adoptions Together

*They send me the “blue book” which lists all the documents and things I need to do in a time line.

*I find someone (a social worker) to do my home study

*Meet with the social worker 3 -4 times.

get a physical (to be done June 14)

* apply with INS,

get fingerprinted (awaiting appointment from INS)

* Collect required documents for home study

Get completed home study back from social worker (hopefully to have this by July 4^th)

Collect required documents for dossier

Send off documents for authentication (to the county and then the state department)

Put everything together in a DOSSIER.

Send to agency for review

Agency reviews, sends to China.

China matches me up with my Emily

China sends “referral” a picture of a child with a brief medical report

I accept the referral (or not, but I doubt that)

Wait for China to set an appointment date at their consulate so I can go there and finish the paperwork

Get a date, make travel arrangements

Fly to China, Get Emily Do some cultural tours, fill out yet MORE paperwork.

Fly home and live happily ever after.

MATH NIGHTMARE!

I woke up at 5 am this morning with the sudden realization that it will be ME who has to help Emily do her math homework. You do not understand what kind of panic this put me in. I can’t possibly be held responsible for teaching her complicated stuff like FRACTIONS and PERCENTAGES and nightmare of all nightmares, LONG DIVISION.  I totally woke up and was making myself try to multiply in my head, while I was still in bed, just to see if I could try and figure it out. No good.  I hate all that stuff. I’ve hated pretty much all math since about the 3^rd grade on, once they started that you can’t add apples and oranges crap. Thank GOD for the person who invented calculators. I couldn’t survive without them.  For those of you who know me, you may be asking yourself, ‘doesn’t Shannon work in FINANCE? Doesn’t her whole job revolve around math skills?’  *sigh*  Yes, that is all true. However, fractions rarely come into play when paying or creating invoices. Nor have I ever done a long division problem without a calculator. And managing inventory really only requires the ability to COUNT, so that I can do.   I long ago decided that any math homework that needed to be done could be taught by my husband, who I would of course marry for his math skills. But now, I’m getting a child and I have no mathematically gifted husband!!!  That means, I’m either going to have to suffer through fraction homework myself, or find me a math superstar to marry in the next 7 or 8 years.   Where does one go to find a math superstar? Are there “math bars” out there? Do you buy a math man a beer, or does he prefer something more scientific to drink? Like, beer in a beaker? LOL  SEE! THIS is why I’m single!  I’m a total nutcase who can’t add ½ + 1/4 !!!!   Poor Emily. A life full of tutors awaits her.  At least I can read. And spell. That counts right? I’m not going to be the worse mom ever because of this, am I?   

 

 

 

 

Shopping Queens!

Well I had a very good weekend. I got some productive cleaning done on the house (YAY)  Still just a few more things to tackle before the big visit next Sunday, so I think I will survive.  The main thing I did this weekend was SPEND MONEY! I went shopping with other adoptive pals Karen and Shannon. (a different from me Shannon) We hit the kids clothing stores hard, and I have to say I went a little overboard. But Emily will definitely not be running around naked for awhile. Ha ha ha. It was really fun, and it was the first time I let myself buy Emily really anything. I mean I’ve gotten her one pair of skorts before this, so it was time. I put everything in her closet when I got home and it just made me so happy.  I know, it’s a silly little thing, but it really just made it feel a LOT more real to me.   

The only bad thing was reviewing my checkbook this morning. OUCH. So I’ll just be really really good the next couple of weeks.   

Anyway, other than all that, I managed to squeeze in a movie, the Longest Yard, which was pretty good. I would recommend to see it if you get a chance, or rent it later. It was funny.  

Tonight I have my last Brownie Troop meeting at Chuck E Cheeses. We had planned to go last week but the place lost power (they blew a transformer or something) the night we were supposed to eat there.  This is our end of year party, and should be fun, if somewhat loud. I’ve never been to Chuck E Cheese before, so I’m kind of looking forward to it.  I’ll really miss seeing the girls over the summer, but I went ahead and signed up for next year, so I will be able to see them all in Sept.  They’ll be so big then!!  Anyway, I figured my involvement with the troop next year would help with the infernal waiting until I get Emily.  I’m already tired of it and I have a whole 14 – 15 MONTHS left!  *sigh*   Still, it’s good to be involved, have something to look forward to, right? 

 

 

3rd Home Study Visit CHECK!

I like making a list and then checking things off. It gives me a feeling of accomplishment. (I’m such a dork, no?) 

 

 Anyway, my 3^rd home study visit was last night, again at her office. CHECK! It went very well. She told me again how impressed she was with me and how organized I am. Ha ha ha…good thing she didn’t read my freaking out post from yesterday!!  She is coming to see my house June 12, so I officially have 2 weeks to get my house clean to my satisfaction.  She also said not clean up special on her account.  So, I think I will be doing a lot less freaking out, and a lot more hiding things in closets.   Thanks for everyone’s comments yesterday, you significantly calmed me down!   I’ll just be glad when this bit is over. I’m thinking I will get the final home study report by the end of June, so that is good news.

 

The other fun (and sad) thing I did last night was have one last dinner with my friend V before she heads back to Italy today. Now she is all married and junk, so it’s official, she is a MRS.  It’s a little weird to think of her like that, but she is just so happy, that I’m thrilled for her. The fun part was dinner with her family, and the sad part was saying good bye, because I’m not sure when I will get to see her again. I just went to visit her in April, so I probably won’t be making any trips to Italy for a few years. I’m hoping she’ll come back to see her parents again in the next year or two.  *sigh*  this leaving an ocean away from each other really stinks.  Still, I’m glad she is happy and it was really great to get to see her get married.   

 

I guess that’s it from me for now. I have a big shopping spree planned this weekend with Karen. Nothing cheers you up like retail therapy!  Hee hee