First Timer!

Wednesday, for the first time ever, I donated blood!!

Let me back up and explain why it too so long for me to do it.

When I was a child, I had hepatitis. I was sick and I honestly don't even remember having it as I was that ill. If someone hadn't told me that I had had it, I wouldn't even know.

As far as I understood, I was sick enough for my brain to block it all out. To this day I don't remember the 'bad' parts. I do remember when I was on the mend and I was allowed to go outside for the first time in FOREVER. I went over to the neighbours house and she and another neighbour friend were making a snowman. I went over to play and join them.

They yelled that I had cooties and ran away and wouldn't play with me. It was traumatic. THAT is my memory of having hepatitis.

But I digress...

I was always led to believe that I couldn't donate blood. I never really investigated it. A few years ago I made a call to Canadian B1ood Services and asked a few questions and they said that no I couldn't donate. However, if I wanted to go through a battery of test and documents and paperwork then they would investigate it for me. I left it at that.

However, on Wednesday our work had it's quarterly blood donor drive and I went up to talk to a nurse. She pulled out this HUGE book and looked through it and informed me that if I had had hepatitis before I was 11 then I eligible to donate!

YAY!! I was in grade 4 when I was sick and was about 8 or 9 - certainly not 11.

I filled out all the paperwork required and took the plunge! Really how can you not when you can do it during you work day and all I had to do was walk up a flight of stairs!

I felt so good and lucky that I was healthy enough to donate to someone who was in need.

What a great day! I even got a sticker, cookies and juice!!

Wednesday

So what is happening in my life...LOTS! I am not prepared to talk about some of it just yet, but safe to say it is exciting!

I am VERY much liking the evenings and the brightness. I can't wait for the mornings to get bright. I start work at 6:30am and it is still dark then.

My work hours are going to change in July and I am NOT happy about it. However, it is not an option.

I don't know that we will ever go to China for Pumpkin. I don't even have a clue as to how many months it has been. Since Dolores stopped counting, I don't get a reminder any more!

BBQ season is in full swing - well, lets be honest, I BBQ all winter. Tonight's BBQ dinner was YUMMY!

I am still unsure about energy saving bulbs - they take so long to get bright.

I could probably live on popcorn.

My sister is doing the Ride to Conquer Cancer - you can sponsor her here if you are so inclined.

I like the colour blue.

My dry skinned hands are looking forward to the warmer weather.

Is there going to be any more snow??

Stuff

I am in a blogging rut. Not just posting but with reading also.

Most of the blogs that I read are Chinese adoption blogs and frankly, they are generally a bit stale these days. There is not much happening in the program. No one is getting excited about their referrals - there are no referrals coming.

What blogs do you read - even if they are adoption blogs I am thinking that I want to expand my repertoire.

Today the weather warmed up to -1C. What a nice break from yesterday's start of -29C.

We are having friends over on Saturday. This makes me happy.

The days are SLOWLY getting longer. Again, this makes me happy.

Dinner was really good tonight. I even have leftovers for lunch at work tomorrow.

I wish I was more creative.

I have a girls lunch on Sunday - looking forward to that.

Will the groundhog see his shadow? How much longer will winter be?

My bamboo plant never seems to change. Doesn't grow, doesn't die. Odd

I am really liking the new show OFF THE MAP.

I have a spot on my back that gets itchy all the time. It is the same spot.

That's about it for me right now.

Winter

HAPPY NEW YEAR READERS!!

I don't think I was ever a fan of winter - even as a child. You would think that all kids would like to play in the snow and build forts and snowmen. I can really say that I was never a fan.

What I do remember about snow and being outside when I was little was freezing cold feet. Freezing cold fingers. Nose hairs stuck together because of the cold OR a constant drip of the nose that usually ended up in your mouth.

I also remember the lung shrinking that you felt when you breathed in the cold air. I remember the moisture of the mitten and on your face when you would put your mitten up to your face to warm the air.

I tried skiing - I thought, if I enjoyed a winter sport, maybe I would enjoy winter more. That wasn't too successful either. I kept getting cramps in my feet and when you have those ski boots on, getting them off to deal with the foot cramps was just not going to happen.

I constantly wondered how I could make the spring come sooner. What could I do to make the snow go away to make way for the better weather. I thought if there was no snow, then there was no winter.

My solution - as a child - was to take all the snow around my house and lay it out on the road, on the side walk anywhere I could smooth it out. After the smoothing process, I would stomp it, breathe on it, spread it out more. When it turned to water, I would get more snow from pile and do my best to melt it.

I REALLY thought that if I could melt all the snow, then spring would come.

These days I am an adult and I still have the same distaste for winter and snow. However, now, instead of laying the snow out and trying to melt it, I drive through as much as I can on the edges of the road to spread it out and hope that the smaller piles melt faster and spring will be on it's way.

Another Year

Yet another year has passed on the calendar - and in our wait as well.

Apparently, while I wasn't looking, we passed our 4 year LID. I can say that I don't give our adoption much thought these days. It doesn't seem real and I honestly don't believe that it will happen for us.

We have a 'bail out' date in our mind and unless things change and speed up quickly, we are not going to make it. I think that waiting 8 years for an adoption is ridiculous and we won't be waiting that long.

There are so many things we did wrong during the preparation for this adoption. So many questions that we didn't ask and so much misinformation we got from our agency. If we were to do it all over again, we wouldn't.

Apparently I am a little bitter today...

On that note, I wish the one or two remaining readers that I have a Happy and Healthy New Year! May the wishes you have for you and your family be realized.

Until next year...

Overwhelmed

Overwhelmed is how I am feeling these days. There is so much on my plate and some days I think I am going to break.

I recently 'received' a new project at work. It is something new and unfamiliar to me with a huge learning curve and I am trying to grasp my head around it. It is important and I am nervous. I don't do nervous well. It isn't often that I feel like this. Of course all my previous duties are still the same at work, this is just added on top of it.

I am not at the 'dread' stage, but certainly overwhelmed.

Home life is crazy right now too. With Christmas on the way and shopping, wrapping etc. my brain is full - over full really and I don't know that I can put anything else inside of it.

I am over half way through the shopping. I have more to go and LOTS of wrapping and delivering to do before I will start to be able to breathe again.

There are other things going on in my life right now too that take both time and brain power.

I KNOW it will get better, but right now I am not able to see the light at the end of the tunnel...soon, I hope soon!

OPPS!!

Today at work I was working away and using "PASTE" in our computer program at work. I was doing some mindless work going from one item to the next. I took a little break and looked at some e-mail and then I copied one of the e-mails to use in a blog post. Then I went back to work doing my mindless task. Well...I ‘pasted’ the e-mail/blog post into the work computer program and hit COMMIT. It is done – DONE!!

There is no deleting it! That was the ‘beauty’ of this new system – there are no deletes EVER. If you make an error you do another entry and say that the last entry was an error.

Not quite sure what to do about a ‘blog post’ entered as an entry in error. Anyone who looks at that item from here until the end of time will be able to read what I wrote...

OPPS!!

Stuff

Today when I got home from work there was a UPS truck outside of my door. I quickly jumped out of the car because I didn't want him to have knocked on the door and driven away as there was no answer.

We arrived at the door at the same time. I called out to him that I was there and he handed me the two packages.

I came inside, put them down and didn't think about them again. Tonight when I was tidying up, I saw the packages again. They had all sorts of bar codes on them. I then thought about the bar code reader app that I had installed on my new toy. I decided to get it out and see what the reader would say.

Up until this point I had scanned bottles of water, packages in the cupboard etc. So I thought this would be a real test.

I scanned the bar code and it took me to a web page for UPS and and there was a delivery receipt saying that the package was "Left with the Lady".

It is a small thing, but I thought it was cool.

That is about all that is on my mind right now. Well not really, but that is all I am going to share at this particular moment!

New Dinner

I am the cooker in the family. I plan, shop, cook and sometimes clean up. Husband and I have a menu plan and that has certainly helped, however, making the weekly menu is torture for both of us.

Last week Husband was away at a conference. At this conference they were giving away calendars with recipes on them. Husband came home wanting to try this one so I thought I would give it a try.

First off it says total time - 20 minutes - cooking and prep. It was much longer than that. That said, if my kitchen was a bit bigger and I could just push things aside and deal with them later, perhaps it would be quicker.

Anyway...Here is my Asian Bok Choy Stir Fry!!

The Ingredients

The Sauce

The Meat (I forgot to picture it while it was cooking)

Bok Choy and Garlic cooking

Adding Snow Peas

Adding the Sauce

Putting it together with the meat

The Finished Product!

It wasn't bad. Husband enjoyed it more than I did. I am sure it will end up on the menu at some other time.

Memory

At work I have a locker in the change room that I used when I went to the gym – DON”T LAUGH!!! I haven’t used the locker in…a while.

I really didn’t even know what was the in the locker as it has been so long.

The “been so long” part was a problem. I had absolutely no recollection of what the combination was for the lock – NONE, nope, nada. That was about 2 years ago.

Last week, I was walking down the hallway at work and the combination for my lock just popped in my head – JUST LIKE THAT!! I don’t know where it came from or even if it was the right combination. I headed over to the locker room and after trying a few different locks (as I couldn’t ‘quite’ remember which locker it was either) BOOM – It opened!!

I was actually quite stunned that it opened and then excited to see what was in there – or not excited if it was stinky gym clothes from a couple of years ago. The excitement didn’t last long. There was nothing to get excited about in there. I kept repeating the combination over and over in m head until I got back to my desk so that I could write it down.

Funny thing about memory, I can still remember my high school locker combination like it was yesterday... 7-57-34

Things on my mind

• If your shoes are too heavy, get lighter shoes rather than dragging your feet.

• How come the grocery store never has the bananas at the right ripeness for our purchase?

• How do you know when a pomegranate is ripe?

• My favourtie Montrealers are in town.

• I bought myself a new toy.

• I should post more pictures.

• Family is who you say it is.

• I don't know where all this blogging urge has come from.

• I am happy the new TV season has started - favourite new show so far (I have only watched 2) Hawaii Five-O

• Girls weekend this weekend!!!

Thats about it for me right now - there are more things on my mind, but not that I am going to post here.

AAAHHHH

I have been playing around with my blog and I shouldn't do such things...

This is going to be a work in progress while I learn HTML and how to change things...

Bear with me.

Have you ever...

Have you ever thought how great it is that you don't have any nerves in your elbows?

Have you ever thought how the trees know to change their leaves?

Have you ever wondered how planes get off the ground and stay in the air?

Have you ever wondered where wind comes from?

Have you ever wondered what would happen if they shut off Niagara Falls?

Have you ever wondered how a childs body knows to shed baby teeth and start adult teeth growing?

Have you ever wondered how some people get their drivers licences?

Have you ever wondered why some people are so incredibly horrible?

Have you ever wondered why you connect with some people and others not at all?

Have you wondered what happened to me and why I am suddenly blogging again?

Hello

Hello from the random blogger.

I know I neglect this blog...No apologies.

Next topic - I was at work the other day and I was talking to someone that I don't normally talk to. He was yipping away and that was fine. He then told me that his wife was pregnant! YAY! I was happy for them. He asked if we were going to have any more children. I said I didn't know. I haven't told anyone at work about our adoption.

He then proceeded to tell me about his friend who adopted from China and all the crap that he had to go though and how it is all a money grab and it is a big conspiracy from China to get more money from North Americans. He said it is all about greasing palms and paying for the politicians.

My mind was racing. I was stunned really. I just didn't know what to say, so I said REALLY - he said yes this is what he found out from his friend. I said that I didn't think that that was how it really was and he was insistent that it was.

He was telling me how much it cost and there was no way that it should cost that much. I tried to say that I was sure that part of the cost included their travel to China. He didn't respond to that.

He then started that it was a baby buying scheme and that the Chinese don't want their girl babies and this is the best way to for them to get rid of them.

WHAT???

My phone rang at that moment and I was rescued. I honestly didn't know what to say to him. I have spoken to him before and he has strong opinions on everything and doesn't want to hear anything that anyone else has to say that contradict what he is thinking.

I just continue to be shocked that people are so narrow minded and they think they know so much about something that they know NOTHING about.

I Remember...

I remember when I used to think that blogging was one of the best things ever.

I remember when I used to walk around thinking and composing blog posts in my head all day.

I remember when I used to plan things that I could blog about.

I remember when I thought that I was actually going to get a daughter from China.

I remember when I was so excited thinking about the impeding referral of our daughter.

I remember when I wanted to stay home all day and read adoption blogs.

I remember when I believed what our agency told us.

I remember when I this blog held MUCHO importance to me.

I remember when I was not so cynical about the whole process.

I remember when Dolores and I would talk about our trip to China together to bring home our daughters.

I remember when I was so naïve about adoption related things.

I remember when our agency told us we would have our daughter in summer 2007.

I remember when our agency told us we would have our daughter by the end of 2008.

I remember when our agency told us we would have our daughter by 2010.

I remember the day our agency told us not to expect a referral before 2015.

I remember the moment I lost all faith in our adoption.

Brownies

This afternoon we are going to a friends house for a gathering. It is a pot luck. Among other things, we are bringing dessert. Part of that dessert is brownies. I was in the kitchen and I prepared the brownies and put them in the oven. I then puttered about and did some other things while they were baking. Gathered other things that we needed.

I don't like to venture too far away from the oven or the timer when I am baking. I have been known to go upstairs and putter and then not hear the timer and forget all about what I was making.

So I was on the main floor and the timer went. I proceeded to the kitchen and opened the oven, had on my oven mitts and pulled the brownies out of the oven.

They were jiggly. Brownies shouldn't be jiggly. That is a bad sign.

I then really looked at the brownies and not only were they jiggly, they were totally uncooked.

I forgot to turn on the oven...

Oooppss...

So now I am still here on the main floor, waiting for the brownies - in the turned ON oven - to bake. We are supposed to leave at 2:00...I am not thinking that that is going to happen!

99 Things

Pinched this off K1's blog.

Here are the rules:
Bold (since I can't "bold", the ones I have done are GREEN) the things you’ve done and post this list on your blog then leave me a comment and tell me you did this I can go see. I bet this has gone around the blog world already, so if you've done it, let me know.

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyworld
8. Kissed a stranger at midnight on New Year’s Eve
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Written something that was published
11. Bungee jumped or parachuted
12. Walked across the Golden Gate Bridge
13. Been in a fist fight
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Seen the Rings of Saturn with a telescope
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when not ill
24. Built a tree house or snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Fired a gun
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Visited the Leaning Tower of Pisa
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal
44. Visited Africa
45. Cried yourself to sleep
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Visited the Eiffel Tower
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Pretended you cooked something from scratch when you didn't
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie or commercial
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold something door to door
62. Gone whale or dolphin watching
64. Donated blood, marrow, etc
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Held onto a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten frog legs or caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Time Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Done something illegal
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Sang a solo
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Climbed a mountain
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had surgery
89. Directly saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Seen a loved one die
94. Given birth to a baby
95. Visited the Alamo
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Sent a text message while driving
99. Been stung by a bee


54 bolded or made GREEN - I am impressed!! I can't say that I even want to do all of them, but there are a few on there that I would be willing to do/experience.

Blank

I try and get out to walk every day. I usually make it and walk for about 30 minutes or so.

While I am walking - there are many thoughts going through my head. Many times I am composing FANTASTIC blog posts in my head.

Unfortunately my memory is not very good. By the time I get home and I am ready to sit at my computer, I have not only forgotten the contents of these fantastic posts, I have also forgotten the topics!

Then when I sit down at my computer, I stare at a blank screen and well, you know the rest - there isn't anything posted on my blog.

I am getting a new deck and it was just finished today - when I get it all organized I will post some pictures. I can't wait to get out and use it and hook up the BBQ again.

We had a great time in Montreal with 3D. I wish they didn't live 5 1/2 hours away.

There is something wrong with my jaw muscle. It HURTS! It comes and goes and I can't open my mouth sometimes. I had to cancel my dentist appointment on Thursday. There was no way that I could keep my mouth open for an hour.

Between now and the end of summer, we are busy all but 3 Saturdays.

I don't much listen to the radio anymore.

I am liking that summer is here/coming.

I don't have any getaway vacations planned.

I had pizza for dinner.

That is about all that I can come up with right now!

Randomness

Here are some current thoughts on my mind:

• The trees are budding and spring has sprung. I survived another winter!!

• There is as much sugar in orange juice as there is in Coca*Cola

• Unfortunately - I LOVE Coca*cola
  

• Bloglines is not working properly. Feeds are VERY slow to show - sometimes DAYS!!

• Google Reader is much better
  

• I won a prize for being Rhondas 40,000 visitor (o.k. I may or may not have been her 40,000th - but I was close!!)

• I am still without a computer and still waiting for it to be repaired

• I have to prepare to switch to my summer purse

• I spent the night puking - I am still not dressed - It is 4:00pm

• I haven't puked in quite a few hours
  

• D & S are needing to post some pictures of their newest family member Jinx!!
  

• My grocery list is getting long - my fridge is getting empty. I have to get to the store

• I need to update my sidebars of my blog
  

So there you have the current thoughts on my mind. Scary isn't it...

Hair Update...

As a follow up to the HAIR post - I have more thoughts and answers to questions...

I was reminded (thanks Kerri) by a reader on the HAIR post about nose hair - that is icky too. While I thought and contemplated nose hair (I know, I know) - EAR hair popped into my mind also - ICK!! I am not a fan of either one of those.

A reader asked what else goes on in my brain if I am blogging about hair - Michele - I think it would scare you to know what goes in inside my brain - TRULY!!

I would also like to clarify that Mark does not WAX his chest.

I do think that hair grooming is something that guys just don't talk about. Not being a guy I wouldn't really know - but that is my guess.

Now rogue eyebrows just popped into my head...

O.k. time for another topic!!