Things I love about Autumn

1. Seeing Abby in footed pajamas!
2. Hot cappucinno
3. Cuddling with a blanket to watch a movie
4. Making soup
5. Seeing my breath in the air
6. My heated mattress pad
7. Sweaters and Sweatshirts
8. Seeing the leaves change colors
9. Searching for the perfect pumkin
10. Fall Sports
11. Hay rides
12. Harvest Moon
13. Bonfires - especially roasting marshmallows!

Our Little Rainbow

Tackle-It Tuesday

It is 8:45 am and among other things on my "To Do" list is this:

Clean off these desks!!

Check back later (much later) to see how the "tackling" went.

Now it's 3:00 pm and here's the results:

Yeah! I got it done!

Now, I do have some filing to do, but at least I have a clear work space.

Just so you know, it was imperative that I clean this off and find all my receipts. Last week, I didn't enter my receipts into the checkbook and I got an overdraft charge from the bank.

"NO," you say. "Not Shagga!"

Yes, me! So it was mighty important to clean off and balance the checkbook so that won't happen again.

And it's done.

Maybe next week I'll tackle the office closet. Hmmm.

Travel Group

Last week, someone in our travel group (for our trip to China) started email introductions. There are 9 other families and we've been "introduced" to 7 of them. It's been nice to hear where everyone is from and what their family is like.

When we adopted Abby, I thought I was informed of the process. I did my paperwork and then waited like the agency said. They thought it would be 8 months before our referral, so I tried not to think about it and just went about my daily business. Plus, we were remodeling the room that was to be Abby's so that took up time.

When we got "the call" only 5 months after LID, I was completely shocked! I think know I remember saying, "NUH UH!!" (Daddy would be proud!) Then we traveled, and we met our group in Beijing.

This past January, I started reading adoption blogs and MY, OH MY, was I missing out on all the info out there to be gleaned from Bloggy Land. There are people who track how many days China takes to move a dossier from LID to Review Room (never knew what that was before) to Matching Room and everything in between. They track how many LIDs are matched every month and when the Travel Approvals go. Some even are able to track the DHL shipment that has their referral from China to their agency! What??? I don't know where or how they get that information. But I'm glad they pass it on.

Because the wait was so short last time, I was fine not knowing anything. Ignorance is Bliss, right? But now that I know the wait will be long, I'm glad to have others to wait and commiserate with. That's where our Travel Group comes in. We are all from the same agency and all have the same LID. So we'll all get our referrals at the same time. Some of them mentioned in their emails that they were hoping that we could help each other with the wait.

I'm glad that we're getting to know our group so early in the process. Maybe it will make the trip less stressful for us. And just maybe, we can help the first-timers with their fears of the unknown. I know it would have helped us with Abby.

Ode to a winter appliance

Fall is here! Time to get out the sweaters and the heated mattress pad!

I love my heated mattress cover. I sing its praises all winter long. I've even bought a couple to give as gifts. I love to spread the warmth. :)

My love of said cover began when we bought our current house. It is over 130 years old. There are no heating ducts to the second floor (except the bathroom, thank the Lord). Our bedroom is over the dining room and there is a hole in our floor covered by a nice heating grate. The hot air from the downstairs is supposed to rise to the second floor through this grate. Hmmm. When it's 32 or colder outside, that air has a hard time staying warm downstairs, let alone making it's way up through that hole. And the air outside in Northern Ohio stays around 32 for several months of the year. Brrrr!

So, that first winter, we bought the Rest Warmer Automatice Mattress Pad by Chatham. For the queen and king sizes, they have dual controls. Yeah! Cause you know that hubby and I never have the same internal thermostat readings.

An hour or so before bed, I turn it on high and then when it's time for bed, it is all toasty warm. Put a down comforter on the bed and it's like a little oven. Toasty!

I have been known to forget to turn it off (or down) before I fall asleep. That was not a pleasant sleeping experience. More like a sauna. Not good.

I think we took it off the bed last April. Should I wait til October to put it on again? It just seems like it should have more time off.

Then again, it was in the forties when I woke up this morning.

I guess this was more "prose" than "ode." Oh well, you get the picture.

Wordless Wednesday

These pictures were taken on November 8, 2004-- the day we became a forever family.

For more Wordless Wednesdays go to 5 Minutes for Mom

It's been a week

since I blogged last.

How can that be? Did I have nothing to say? or no motivation to say it? Rest assured, I have been reading blogs.

What have I been doing? Well, last Tuesday I read FlyLady's website and decided to clean a little. And I guess after that, I was a bit distracted.

Oh yeah, we canned (again) on Wednesday and Thursday and it completely wore me out. And it completely destroyed my kitchen. Tomato juice was everywhere. I spent all day Friday cleaning it up. My stove will never be the same. I'm looking to replace it with stainless steel. But that probably won't happen anytime soon.

I wiped tomato juice off the wall/back splash of my counter today. Guess I didn't get it all clean the first time.

BUT, the tomato sauce is soooooooooo good!! I made spaghetti sauce last night for dinner. Yummy!!!

In other news, Abby is doing well. We went to the library again today. She checked out Beauty and the Beast again. Yeah! We DO also get books to read at night or whenever. Her current favorite is Angelina Ballerina. (I know that book and movie titles are supposed to be underlined, however, I don't know how to do that so they're italicized.) We got an Olivia book, too. That little pig is so precocious. Love her!

And Abby has been "writing" her name. Well, she traced the letters I wrote out for her. But still, pretty good, eh?

It seems that she is better with her left hand than the right. But she eats with her right hand. Maybe she'll change one or the other. Or maybe she'll be ambidextrous. Hmmm.

That's all for now. Will try to do better this week.