Tuesday, May 27, 2008



The hubbs and I had a really good memorial weekend! This picture is from Soundset 2008, and that's what we did all day on Sunday. Soundset is a music festival with local and some not so local hip/hop artists. They said that there were about 12,000 people there, and I can definatly believe it. The music was good, and everyone was pretty nice. It did rain a bit, but we didn't get any of the bad stuff like the tornados that they forecasted. I think I might have spotted a funnel cloud at one point though. It's a good thing I don't remember enough from my Meterology class to have been too worried. The day went really fast, but my feet were still screaming by the end of the day. We went home and ordered a pizza and I was in bed by 10:00pm. I'm such a party animal, NOT!
Then, on Monday, I spend most of the day cleaning my stinky carpets. Hubbs asked if I wanted to go see the new Indiana Jones, but I was too tired, so we BBQ'd, and again I was in bed by 10:00pm.

Thursday, May 22, 2008

10 strange/unusual things that most people don’t know about me

1. I have 4 brothers and 2 sisters. Most people don’t realize I have 3 brothers who live in Duluth with my dad and step-mom Kathy. Not because I hide them, but they usually only meet the 3 sibs that live in the cities because we see each other often.
2. I have this blog and 2 others.
3. I have psoriatic arthritis and have IV infusions of my medicine every 8 weeks
4. My grandfather was a professional figure skater in the Ice Follies before going into the Coast Guard; I share the name of his skating partner Gretchen.
5. I learned to knit when I was about 7 years old
6. I met my husband when I was 16; he was 15
7. I share the same birthday 1/22 with my cousin Matt, he’s 10 years younger
8. I didn’t have a cavity in my teeth until I turned 25
9. I bought the house I grew up in10. As a kid I had a crush on my second cousin Brett.

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Dinner Date

Grandma Midge

When I was in my early twenties I lived with my Grandparents for a year. It was really great because I had my own bathroom, I could come and go as I pleased, and I had dinner with them a couple of nights out of the week. When it came time to move out on my own Grandma Midge suggested that we still have dinner together one night a week. So, that began our tradition. Within a month we added my sister Mo and my cousin I. Our weekly meals lasted until Grandma passed away Dec 2004. I really miss that time to catch up with Grandma and my sis on the weekly basis. Not to mention all the tear enducing belly aching laughfests that ensued on most nights.


Tonight my sister and I are going out to dinner. Although, it's not going to be homemade, and Grandma won't be there I am looking forward to having a great time with my sis.

Last picture taken of Me and My sis at my Grandma's in 2004

Monday, May 19, 2008



This past weekend we spent some time on our boat fishing. Most of the day we didn't catch a darn thing, but toward the end of our trip we began to catch pan fish; Lots of Sunfish. It brought back wonderful memories I have from my childhood.
Just about every weekend as a child until a few years ago was spent at the cabin. I still remember the musty smell of the cabin as it was opened for the first time every spring and the crisp cold air as we closed up the cabin each fall.
So much of my happy childhood memories are from that place. I remember fishing on the dock with my grandpa using cane poles outfitted with only a bobber and a hook, climbing the red ladder onto the dock after swimming for hours until I was so exhausted I could barely eat dinner before falling into bed. I miss so much making a huge breakfast on Sunday morning and playing lawn jarts while we had peanuts and apple juice.
I can’t think of a time when I laughed, played, and felt more at peace then the time spent at our cabin. It’s was magical.
I want my kids to have this experience. I don’t care if it’s at home in the back yard, or daytrips we take as a family. I want them to experience this kind of “magic”.

Friday, May 16, 2008


I took our kitty Boo's to the vet on Tuesday. We recieved an update on prognosis last night. Unfortunatly, it's not good. His cancer is progressing at a fast rate, and there isn't any treatment for it. His kidney's are still functioning, but he is now anemic. His tumors will continue to grow and could eventually cause him pain. It will require pain medication soon. The vet said that we will take things week by week and see how he's doing. As long as he's still eating and not in much pain we are supposed to keep him comfortable and give him all the attention he wants.

It's so sad to know that you pet is sick and you cannot do anything to make them well. He's not young by any means. But, if he didn't have Feline Luekemia he would have a good amount of time left to live. My poor little man.

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Announcement

We got the news today that my sister-in-law is expecting a baby in December. Two years ago when she told me she was pregnant with her little man, I was upset because it was not me who got to announce a pregnancy. This time, I knew they were trying to have another baby, so I thought I wouldn't get upset because that I have adoption to look forward to and that would ease the hurt. To my surprise it has not. As soon as I got the news it knocked the wind from me. Why not me?
DH and I have not been trying for about a year now, and even if we were it would take a miracle. Trouble is, I believe in miracles. I know that this feeling will pass as it has done before, and I am truely happy for A and I can't wait until the newest little one arrives.

Friday, May 9, 2008

Finally. Done.

Everything went off without a hitch! Our last meeting is done. The only thing she's waiting on before starting her report and approving us is a meeting with Andy, Jerry's friend that lives with us and his backround check. Whew! That makes me feel bunches of relief. We also decided that we are going to look at kids that are Legal Risk, meaning termination of parental rights has been granted, but is being appealed by one of the parents, etc. This will open us up to more children, and hopefully will get us matched sooner. Nothing wrong with that right? Our SW assures us that most contested termination of parental rights do not get overturned. She's only seen one and that's because the father was not served with his papers correctly.
Also, I gave into my DH's wishes and we put on our paperwork that we want 2 max. I don't want to talk him into something that he's not comfortable with, especially when it come to children.
Just an hour to go before our scheduled last homestudy interview, and I am very excited. Jerry and I went through the survey again about the types of children we could parent. Some of the questions that they ask are really hard to answer out of context, like:
Would you be willing to parent a child that's aggressive?
Well, what do you mean by aggressive?
Would you be willing to parent a child that had a low birthweight?
Well, what kind of effect did it have on the child?

What good do they think this survey is going to do? Most of the questions we answered "Would Consider". So, basically, show us everything, we will read the files and decide if we fit with them. The only things we said we didn't want is a child who abuses animals, since we have 4, or a child that sexually abuses other children, as we have many children in our neighborhood and nieces and nephews to protect.

Thursday, May 1, 2008

She's Back, and We are Scheduled

Yay! Just talked to our Social Worker and we are scheduled for our last Homestudy visit next Friday morning! That's fabulous. I am very excited and am glad to now have the date to look forward to. If all goes well we will be looking at starting to be matched this summer. That would be great. In the ideal world I would love to have kiddies by fall so that we can do all the fun Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas stuff with them.

Last Thursday night I had dinner with my Auntie B and she mentioned that she read The Secret by Rhonda Byrne and had practiced it in her life with good results. On Monday when I was at the store, I bought the book. I began to read it and so far it says that the universe is governed by the Law of Attraction. Whatever you think about will come to you. That means that if you think happiness and love, the universe will provide you with more happiness and love. It also means that if you worry about not having happiness and love that you will not receive happiness and love.
Now, I have always been a person to think positively when encountering a situation that is described to me by others from their lives, but I have a harder time thinking positively when it comes to my own life. If the book holds true, I will have to stop all the negative self talk and start expecting that good things will happen to me, and believing that they will.
It’s funny because I have heard the same things said by so many people in different ways like the pastor on Sunday, therapists, poets, philosophers, and many others. We’ve all heard the saying, "If you believe, you can achieve." It's supposed to work with everything. I am going to put this to practice creating our family.