Nothing new...

Just writing to say there's nothing to write about...
No adoption news.
The trash is STILL in our front yard looking very ugly.
I love my new laptop.
I miss the kids so much and look at their pictures and videos everyday.

What do you think?

Taking a poll:

Do you think the trash men will pick up ALL of this?

I'm having a hard time believing it but Jim says SURE!

They haven't even been around in an entire week! It's starting to look like a jungle around here.

Good news though, we got our cable, phone and internet back today!

PS: my birthday was Saturday and my dear hubby got me a FABULOUS Dell Latitude D630 Laptop... oh la la... now if I can just figure out how to use it!

AOK!

Hi Everyone-
Thanks for your sweet thoughts and concerns about us. We're great!

I'm back at work now - time to rest!
We didn't have power for 2 1/2 days but Jim bought a generator on the 2nd day to keep our fridge and freezer cold as well as plugging in our cell phones. The cell phone thing didn't matter though because most of the towers were down and it was nearly impossible to get through to anyone. We lost 2 trees and a few shingles off the roof and there was a bunch of debris and trash everywhere but we made out very well compared to others who had trees fall on their homes or cars - or those in Galveston who lost everything.

Picture this:
Me in 60F weather, donning goggles and a t-shirt + shorts, diving into the pool with a fishing net, scooping up the foot-deep leaves at the bottom of the pool! It took HOURS to clean the pool but is now sparkling! I was shivering it was so cold.
A lot of people are still without power, my next door neighbor included. They say about 50% will be restored in Houston by 9/23. We are so fortunate.

Thanks again for the nice comments and good wishes sent our way.

At least this was a distraction from my never-ending adoption thoughts!

Hunker Down!

This phrase always cracks me up - I had to look it up to make sure it was actually in the dictionary and it is. Texans and Geraldo Rivera say this a LOT!

It's not exactly what we're doing (crouching, squatting) but we are getting ready to greet hurricane Ike tonight. We're far enough inland that we should only get Cat. 1 force winds - 80MPH, maybe a few trees down, power outages, etc. but it's definitely not a life or death situation like those in Galveston.

I grew up in New Orleans so I'm desensitized to hurricanes but my hubby grew up in the tiny town of Bark River, Michigan so this will be his first hurricane.

So, he's been working feverishly all day cutting plywood...again (we used our Hurricane Rita plywood left overs to lay the attic) and this is what the front looks like: An abandoned home! Both our neighbors next to us are boarded up too and now we are going to HUNKER DOWN!

Wish us luck!

Top 10 Tips - Good info

I've been collecting sites, lists, blogs etc. since we started this process in Dec. 06. Whenever I come across something of interest, I save it to my favorites. Well, my favorites list is huge and overflowing! I've been slowing going through them, deleting what I don't need any longer and rediscovering some others.
I came across one that I really liked and I felt the need to post - just in case someone can use it.
The title is "Top Ten Tips for the First Year of Placement" by Deborah Gray, MSW, MPA.

Here's the link: Top Ten Tips for the First Year of Placement

If anyone out there has any other suggestions of things they've tried and worked (or not), please...share!

Oh, and I want to thank Megan in Washington for the wonderful fleece suit and rubber pants!
We are both members of the Yahoo Group: Snowsuit Swap - it's for people who are adopting and need a snowsuit for just one trip. If you have one, you send it to whoever needs it and they just pay for shipping - Megan refused to let me pay! SO SWEET. Thank you Megan!!