Killing Time

So I'm at "work" with nothing to do. I guess I just type too fast. My "boss" is in a meeeting and I don't want to disturb her, but I have completed the list I was given this morning. (Acutally I completed it an hour ago and have been poking around ever since.) I'm not going to bother leaving early as I have to pick hubby up after work and then go to the garage to pick up our car. Why is noone on msn when I'm bored at work?

All this time leaves me pondering the big questions of life. What does one renovate when one lives in a brand new house? I am contemplating a tile backsplash in the kitchen. Then there's the basement- what was an easy decision has been complicated by the future plans for a fourth bedroom down there. W is very excited that he'll get to sleep in the basement in a couple of years. We have a makeshift den set up there now with an old couch and a new TV (oh by the way, goaliemom, we got a good deal on a TV!) and a soon to arrive eliptical. The next step is actual walls and a floor. I just don't know where the walls are going any more. And now that we're adopting, we don't have the money to do the whole thing anymore- ah yes, back to life on a budget.

We think- for the twentieth time- that we have made up our minds about which country we're going to pick- we're back to Thailand, and pretty soon it'll be too late to change our minds.

Meeting is done- gotta go

Once again my hubby has brought his work home with him. It's kind of a joke around here, our way of saying that we're getting sick. I guess it's an occupational hazard when you're a pharmacist and come into contact with every bug out there. I'm just thanking my lucky stars it's not the barfing flu. It all started Thursday afternoon when W said he had a headache- he NEVER gets headaches. By that evening he was running a nice little fever and has lost his appetite. Yesterday he was rosy cheeked and hot upon waking and had very little energy all day. It calmed down in the afternoon and then did the usual suppertime spike. Thankfully, he slept all night, but this morning has a fever and headache again.

This morning, hubby woke up and his first words were, "where's the Advil?". So he remains in bed as well with a drink by his side feeling pretty yucky. It's just me and J, and I'm so thankful. If there's anyone in this house that I don't want getting sick, it's J. Not that he's high risk for anything- except drama. When W is sick, he's such a trooper. He just kind of lays around, has lots of naps, and likes to watch TV and play computer. When E is sick he's your typical sick grown man- needs lots of TLC, but as long as I keep him comfy enough up in bed and keep him medicated, he's pretty low maintenance (although I have always wondered why guys get to go to bed when they're sick and moms still do mom stuff). J is a different story- the drama goes to a whole new level when he's sick. It would really be quite funny if it wasn't so annoying. His whole world is ending. He walks around looking as pathetic as he can, just moaning about nothing in particular. I SO hope he doesn't get this flu.

Off to check on the sickies- so much for the family trip to Wal-Mart today.

Movies to never watch.

Disclaimer- do not read this blog if you don't like to know how movies end.

Perfect storm.

White Squall.

Pay it Forward.

Why, you may be asking, would one want never to watch these critically acclaimed movies? Well, let me tell you- in each of these movies, one or several of the favorite characters DIE.

Perfect storm- based on a true story, so they coudln't really change the ending. Watched it several years ago with hubby, and he thought I knew how the story went. But NOOOO- noone ever told me that NONE of the fishermen returned. I thought at least ONE of them would have lived to tell the tale that became a movie. Nope. They just speculated the entire sequence of events because there was NOONE left to tell them. This ruined the entire movie for me.

White Squall- another seafaring movie. I have learned to avoid them. (Although Master and Commander has restored my faith them in them somewhat). Big storm at sea- not EVERYONE dies this time, but the wife does. This ruined the entire movie for me.

Pay it Forwards- now this was a movie that got a lot of attention. It's been on my list of "Must-see" movies for quite some time now. A friend of mine (with whom I shall have to have a little chat) loaned it to me and didn't feel the need to warn me about the ending. The first hour and 40 minutes were FANTASTIC. LOVED IT. And then, just after I told hubby what a great movie it was and that he must see it, the little boy who started all the good stuff got stabbed! I was SO mad- I now hate the entire movie.

SO if any of you ever want to loan me a movie and it has a sad ending- DON'T. No ifs, ands or buts- just DON'T. Movies are for entertainment. It's OK if they make me cry, but by the end of the movie, they must be happy tears. Don't even get me started on the Shadowlands. If a true story doesn't end happily and with inspiration, they shouldn't make a movie of it. Either that, or on the back of the case where they explain the rating (ie violence, coarse language, etc) they should be required to tell you that people you like won't be there by the end of the movie and that if you hate sad endings you should not watch this movie. There's enough of that crap in life. I don't need to watch it on the screen.

Snow covers a multitude of dirt.

I love Christmas. But I also love after Christmas. By the time New Year's comes, I want my neat tidy house back, the decorations look more like clutter and I'm always ready to take them down. We are fully back into our routine now, and I love it. I feel so productive and the kids have lots to occupy them with school and all the new toys.

The holidays were great though. Lovely visit with the folks, and lots of new fun things to do. W kicked off the new year with a hockey tournament. His team didn't win any games, but in their first one he scored his team's only goal and got named by the other team as the MVP. He was a pretty proud little guy (and so was I!).

On the adoption front- not too much new. We have decided on India- seems to fit our needs the best. We are just finishing up our homestudy. Just have to get the last few references in from family and friends, and then we can put all the paperwork together and send it off to the government. Then it's hurry up and wait. If things happen quickly we could have our new little girl by next Christmas (what a present!), but more likely it will be well into '09 before we head off to India.

The weather has been so weird the last few days- 9 and 10 degrees in the middle of January. It's been good, as we've lost almost 2 feet of snow around here and you can actually see our driveway again (and drive down it without risking life and limb). But I find myself wanting just a little more snow again. The dog is coming in with muddy feet all the time. Her poop is surfacing everywhere in the back yard- thought I wouldn't have to play "Find the poop" with the kids until spring. And it's just messy and dirty looking out there. As tired as I am of the snow, it is pretty and hides a lot of mud.

Nothin else to say today. Tired and fighting a cold- I'm off to make some chai. MMMMM.....

Christmastime is here...

Back to the song titles. :) Well, hubby is officially on Christmas vacation, and as I type this he is off shopping with his homey to buy Christmas presents for the wives (ie me and B2). We spent the morning as a family stacking wood out on the front deck. The boys helped- loading logs on the sled and pulling it up to the deck, unloading it, and then tobogganing back to the wood shed. We got a large chunk of it moved, but there's still lots more to do.

Christmas will be a fun one this year. I've had to start putting presents under and around the furniture as we have already run out of room under the tree. I think it's a combination of a low tree with not much present-room, some bigger than usual boxes this year, and the fact that I'm using insurance money to replace things under the guise of gifts. Mom and Dad are due to arrive in a couple of days, and then our company will be complete for this Christmas. I am already looking forward to '09 though, when we plan to use the lodge in Alabama for all of us to be together; with a few new additions being J and our new little one.

And I'm very glad for facebook- got in touch with an old friend the other day. I haven't seen her since we moved up here, and we've only talked I think three times on the phone since then, but I've discovered that about some of my friends. There are a few who I can talk to only once or twice a year and see even less than that. Of course there are e-mails and facebook to help keep in touch, but when we do talk it's like we do it ever day. We spent a couple of hours catching up and having some great laughs. They have a VERY cute little 3 year old whom I have yet to meet, and her hubby has made a career move to the RCMP. He's like the ultimate mountie- think of Paul Gross in Due South, and that's what he looks like.

Well, my boys are sitting at the school desk anxiously awaiting my company to draw Christmas trees. I guess the rest of the housework can wait. And doing the church service for tomorrow. And my reading up on adoption. And... oh, nevermind.

So many countries....

So little time. We have it narrowed down to two. After making up our mind for certain for about the third time, settling on Thailand, we found out we qualify to adopt from India as well thanks to the lifting of a restriction that said one of us had to be of Indian decent. India has mostly girls and they are usually less than 1 year old at the time of referral, so we think this is it. We think. So hard to decide! But the wheels are rolling anyway.

Yesterday we had our first meeting with a social worker, and we really like her. Turns out she is a fellow maritimer, and even though she went to the rival high school, I think we'll get along just fine. (Her first apartment was on Primrose St!)

So now we have homework before we get together again- I have been at it all day, filling in all the details of my life, booking appointments for physicals and fingerprinting, and looking up financial details about myself that even I don`t know. There is SO much paperwork. But it will be worth it- we are getting really excited.

The homestudy usually takes 3-4 months, but apparently people have done it in as little as one month. This, of course, I took as something of a challenge. The time it takes depends on how fast we can fill out paperwork and complete the other homework, so I figure since there`s so much of this process that we can`t control, I want to make the parts that I can control go as quickly as possible. The boys don`t like the thought of having to wait so long for a little sister either, so speeding it up is what everyone wants!

And, joy of joys, we are now on highspeed. It comes in and out, but someone is coming to remedy that tomorrow, and then I just have to get the new e-mail working, and we`ll off into cyberspace and able to talk on the phone at the same time- what a concept.

So that`s the latest in my life. Oh, and Christmas baking and Christmas wrapping and Christmas shopping and trying to fit some school in this week. (Not being entirely successful there...) Ah well, `tis the season.

Haven't blogged in a while. Not that things haven't been happening. But my time on the net has been spent elsewhere- researching, mostly. Most of the folks who read this blog already know what I've been looking up- international adoption. E and I have decided to pursue it. We're thinking a little girl from China, but we may look at other countries as well. Some leads we have gotten tell us that the wait for China can be up to 5 years, and other countries are much shorter waits. But we have a meeting with an agency that deals with China this weekend, and next week we are attending an information session with another agency that deals with about 6 countries. We'll see what happens. We're quite sure we're supposed to do this, though, and the boys are ecstatic about the thought of having a little sister. They are all ready to share a room again so she can have J's room, and were quite put out when I said it would probably be at least a year before we'd have her (didn't have the heart to tell them it would be probably be more like 2 or 3!).

Other than that, life progresses as normal. School, housework, blah blah, blah. The Christmas parties have started, with one for church last week, and two of E's work parties next week, both of which include the kids, which will be fun. J's birthday party (Bowling with a few friends) is on Sunday, and the following Sunday will be when we put up the tree. Should be interesting between the puppy and the cat. I wonder if it will even survive. Ah well, it's not like we have any old heirloom decorations we don't want to get broken this year.

This weekend I'm off to a retreat with church stuff. Not because I'm involved in the ministries, but because I'm our associate pastor's assistant extrordinaire. In other words, it's a working weekend for me. Computer stuff, organizing the snacks, and leading in some singing time. A little bit of everything. It will be fun, but I won't be here on the day of J's b-day (Saturday). I will be calling him, and E has lots of fun stuff planned to do- just the guys. But I'm back first thing Sunday morning and will be here for the party. J is fine with it, and was glad to be assured that he could still open his present on Saturday. :)

The only thing I haven't figured out yet is when I'm going Christmas shopping. I have the PEI gifts to mail away, but as for the boys, I have no idea. I'm thinking of calling J and farming the kids out for a day- Saturdays are not an option between now and Christmas. Then I can take her kids for a day in exchange. Time to send an e-mail...