Monday, September 29, 2008

Willing the door to open

Remember how I said that Dexter has taken to staring at the pantry door where the cat treats are and "willing" it to open. All the cats around here seem to think that if they stare at a door long enough, it will open. Here is proof that he stares at the door.

The other two cats have come to listen for Dexter to meow and watching what he does to see if they can get in on the good stuff too. Here is Misty seeing if Dexter has stared at the door long enough to get it to open. She thinks if she stares too they have a better chance of it really happening.

They're either kissing in anticipation of it opening or they're plotting how to make it happen faster.

Ah, yes, it finally worked. Dexter is trying to remember exactly where the treats are. I wonder how often they do this when we're not home and how long before they give up.

Thursday, September 25, 2008

Biology and idols

We sure had interesting conversations for the first hour we were all home together this evening. Weird stuff. Birth control and how it works, why boogers are sticky (this from the college biology student-both girls have biology classes right now) and multiple other things that were not really dinner conversation. I digress.

Still no adoption news. J's birthday is next week. This is his 4th birthday since we've "known" him and it hurts so much to be apart from him again. Sigh...

Our ladies group at church has been doing a study by Lysa TerKeurst and she writes at one point that anything we desire more than God is an idol. I had to take a close look at my desire for J to come home and make certain that I was not allowing it to be an idol. Then today our previous pastor sent us some verses from Isaiah 43 to encourage us. One of them was "Whenever you have thrown away your idols, I have shown you my power." How cool is that?

Monday, September 22, 2008

When cats get drunk

This is how I found Sanomae the other day, looking into the litter box. I don't know why it struck me as so funny, but it did. I went to get a camera and couldn't find one and figured she'd be gone for sure by the time I got back. Then the camera wouldn't work and I had to get another one. I really thought she'd have moved by the time I got back but she hadn't. All I could think of for a caption is "When cats get drunk."
She just kept staring at the litter box. It made me think of a Bill Cosby bit I heard one time about a drunk sitting in front of a commode saying, "Oh, here it comes."

Here she's looking at me like, "What? You've never stared at the litter box before?"

In other news, my dad called the doc today and he has an appointment tomorrow. Does that mean he's not "such a man" as I pointed out in my last post? Hmmm. I think it means he's really hurt and is really thinking about that shoulder surgery he had several years ago.
A blimp flew by the other day. Or floated, or whatever it is that blimps do.

That about covers it from here, for now anyway.

Saturday, September 20, 2008

More ado about nothing

T's ankle is looking much better. My mom's hip is on the mend, we think. Dad is not doing that well yet. He is thinking about that rotator cuff surgery he had a few years back and wondering if he did something to disrupt that. Don't mention doc to him though. Oh no. He'd much rather suffer and guess and speculate what's going on than to actually try and find out. He's such a man.

My friend's arm is 85% healed and her momma's bone has not collapsed in. They were concerned about that because of osteoporosis.

We have officially called a new pastor. Thank you, God.

Flannery Vandango is running like a champ. Shhh, don't tell her though. I think she's temperamental.

We still don't have many gas stations in the area that actually have any gas to sell. Hmmm. How is that situation where you live?

No gas in Cap Haitian either. And based on the blogs I read about Haiti, lots of suffering going on.

Nothing new under the moon in the adoption process. Sigh...

The new strings on the guitar sound great. I really ought to change them more than once a year or so. But they're elixers and I don't play that much. But they really sound good when I change them. Eeny, meeny, miny, moe.

Lord, I wish it would rain here. Every time I close the back hatch on Flannery, dust poofs up and chokes me.

Yada, yada, yada.

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

I'm "skeered"

It started a few weeks ago when my best friend broke her wrist, which I posted about earlier. Since then her mother broke her wrist and her mother-in-law fell and busted her lip and had to get 5 stitches. My mom's hip has been giving her trouble and she has gone to the chiropractor. Then T rolled his ankle as you can see in the post below this one. T's parents house/generator got hit by lightening. And today my dad came off his horse. She got spooked by a deer and took and sharp right while he went straight. He hit his left shoulder on a rock and is pretty sore. I'm skeered. I might lock myself in a padded room for a while, LOL.

Apart from some "fibro flu" (the "achy, scratchy throat, feeling like I'm coming down with the flu until I get a chance to sleep" that I experience with fibromyalgia) I had a pretty good day. I did a little shopping, fun stuff not "had to get it stuff" and was able to find a gas station that had gas. Flannery Vandango never missed a beat today. I got some new guitar strings (Elixer light, nanowebs) and strummed a few guitars and plunked a few keyboards. I also found a couple of DVDs that I've been looking for. Someone else cooked for dinner (at church) and we had our Bible study and got through our praise team practice fairly quickly. Not too bad a day. I'm still considering that padded room though.

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

A fly on the wall

Someone asked for a general update on all of us. You know who you are. So, I thought I'd do a little update on all of us. If you were a fly on the wall at our house....

Me. I work part-time at an antique store and like my job. I meet lots of interesting people and enjoy and appreciate the people I work with and for. I also am still signed up for volunteering as an abstinence educator but have not taught any classes so far this school year. And, I'm still leading music at our church. I seem to struggle the most with the adoption process. It's probably the whole mothering and nurturing thing that I'm not getting to do with this child. It hurts, bad.

T. He works as a computer tech. We call him the dyslexic computer geek. He also likes his job. He runs the sound board and power point at church as well as serving as a deacon. He is also on the pastor search committee. He has been working on his '66 chevy step side for 2 years now. It's kind of an off and on project that stems around having money and time. We never seem to have enough of those two things. He is the general mechanic and handyman around here too. This is a pic of his current boo boo. Yep. Turned his ankle. He does this on a regular basis but he did a good job on this one. Isn't it pretty?

R is enjoying her first semester at college except for one class. One out of five isn't bad. She works at the same place that I do and she sings with us on the praise team at church. She also plays the keyboard some of the time. I guess the people are used to us switching back and forth now. She is still writing songs and stories when she finds the time and she enjoys her critters too. She wishes she had more time to spend riding her horse.

A is loving her second year of high school. She is in a drama class and they are getting ready to do a play. Are you surprised? She continues to crack us up with her funny humor and we all marvel at her interesting take on life that shows up in her photography. She is generally happy but can occasionally give in to "a mood". She is helping with the costumes for the current play and really likes doing that. She works for her nanny, helping out around the house and yard. That nanny pays her a lot better than I ever got paid for the same kind of work. Hmmm.

J. The last little update I got on J was when I posted that last pic of him. The lady who took the pic said she was visiting her son at the O and she had a terrible headache and J was trying to do tricks to help her feel better. She said he did a cartwheel off the steps just before she took that pic.

The animals are full of themselves right now. Sanome has enjoyed the laundry again today and has been running all over the house. She carries her toys around and plays with them. Misty invited herself to the pastor search team meeting that was held at our house recently. She meowed at everyone and rubbed on their legs. She also took magnets off the refrigerator and played hockey with them. Then she stole the people's chairs if they got up for something. She's a hoot. Dexter has really been into treats lately. He stares at the cabinet where I keep them, willing it to open and give him a treat. The dogs are busy scratching and barking and sleeping in the flower beds. Oh, and bringing dead animals into the yard. We still aren't sure if they are hunters or gatherers. The horses are fine. Lillybet is still at the neighbor's enjoying her new life as a goat.

I think that about covers everyone. Thanks for joining us for that installment of "a fly on the wall."

Friday, September 12, 2008

Pics and stuff

I tearfully packed up J's birthday gifts today. This is his 4th birthday since we've "known" him. We've been in the process for 3 years now and he was 7, just about to turn 8 when we started paper chasing. It breaks my heart. That's all I've got to say about that.

In other news, several gas stations in the area are out of gas today. Zoiks! We got two of our 4 driveable vehicles topped off last night. Flannery Vandango only acted up once today. Yay. Licia has a few more pics/stories on the RHFH blog. Check them out. My heart goes out to these people.

And here are a few pics. Guess who? Yup, Sano loves the laundry. Here she's covering her eyes from the flash and willing me to not take more pics of her.

This is what my kitchen table looked like Sunday evening. Computers, keyboards, recording equipment...bread.

This is what the living room looked like. Boxes, guitar cases, and laptop cases on the chairs.

What were they doing with all this equipment?

They were recording songs they wrote.

Ah, life is good.

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Remembering and more Haiti flooding news

For a couple of first hand stories check out Lori's blog at http://www.xanga.com/haitinurse4life and the Livesays at http://livesayhaiti.blogspot.com I hope those are links to them.

Did you think about 9-11 today? Do you remember what you were doing when you found out? I do. I wasn't in a very good place but I remember it well. I remember driving through Atlanta and there was very little traffic and listening to the news on the radio. I was with my MIL and SIL and nephews. T was at a tech conference and he said everyone was just standing around watching the news. The girls remember being at school and them turning the TVs on so the kids could see some of what was happening.

The girls and I went shopping this evening. It's almost always fun to go shopping with them. We have a consignment shop that we really like and we all get big piles of clothes and take them into a large fitting room and try them on. If one daughter doesn't like something or it doesn't fit, sometimes the other will try it on. We laugh and joke and help each other pick things out and hang things back up.

Flannery Vandango is acting weird. Sometimes she stutters and carries on like she's dying and other times she runs great. Go figure. We've been trying to dx her problem for a couple of weeks. We've tried lots of little things. I guess we'll try a few more.

Maybe I should do a thankful list. I'm thankful for my hubby and kids. I'm thankful for our pets that make us laugh. I'm thankful for the pastor search team meeting last night. I'm thankful that we're all relatively healthy.

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Look at this

For some more pics of the flooding in Haiti, look at Licia's blog. Please consider helping them if you can. http://haitirescuecenter.wordpress.com

Sunday, September 7, 2008

Please pray for Haiti

With Ike on top of all the flooding from Hanna, the people of Haiti really need our prayers. Gonaives is the 4th largest city in Haiti and about half of the homes are under water. Bridges are out in several places leaving the north cut off from Port-au-Prince. Food and fuel that gets shipped from Port is not going to get through with the bridges out. The G'parent's blog has a report, as well as Leslie and Chris Rollings and Not a nurse/RHFH. The links to them are under my "Blogs I read" section. Check them out. Also take a look at MFI's website and their "up to the minute" pics. Hopefully, this is a link; http://www.missionaryflights.org/Latest.htm

I got a new pic of J. He's not smiling but he's wearing a shirt that we gave him at Christmas. I was afraid that it might be small on him. Ha! We didn't get to talk to him today because of the weather. Maybe tomorrow.

Thursday, September 4, 2008

Not much blog worthy going on

We're still here. A lot of "busyness" going on but not much to blog about. The cats haven't even done anything funny lately. We haven't had any rain since the remains of Fay came through. School is good for both girls. Work is good for both parents. That's about it for now.